129 



HORNBLENDE. 



HOTA. 



130 



It is a native of India, the Himalaya Mountains, Java, and most of 

 the islands of the Indian Archipelago. 



The species of Bitceros are very numerous. 



HORNBLENDE, a Mineral belonging to the group of the Anhydrous 

 Silicates of Magnesia. An account of its general characters and for- 

 mation is given under AUQITE. It is subject to numerous varieties 

 differing much in appearance, arising from isomorphism and crystal- 

 lisation. Alumina enters into the composition of some of them, and 

 replaces part of the other ingredients. 



The varieties are divided into light and dark coloured. 



To the light coloured varieties belong Tremolite or Grammatite, It 

 comprises the white, grayish, and light-greenish slender crystallisations, 

 usually in blades or long crystals, penetrating the gangue, or aggre- 

 gated into coarse columnar forms. It is sometimes nearly translucent. 

 The specific gravity is 2'93. 



The light-green varieties are called Actinolite. Glassy Actinolite 

 includes the bright glassy crystals of a rich green-colour, usually long 

 and slender, and penetrating the gangue like tremolite. Radiated 

 Actinolite includes olive-green masses, consisting of aggregations of 

 coarse acicular fibres, radiating or divergent. Abestiform Actinolite 

 resembles the radiated, but the fibres are more delicate. Mastive 

 Actinolite consists of angular grains instead of fibres. The specific 

 gravity is 3'02 to 3'03. [AcrixoLiTE.] 



Atliestut is also included under this division. [A8BESTU9.] 



To the dark-coloured varieties belongs Pargasite, a term which is 

 applied to dark-green crystals, short and stout, of bright lustre, of 

 which Parga in Finland is a notable locality. 



The term Hornblende is applied to the black and greenish-black 

 crystals and massive specimens. It contains a large per-centage of 

 oxide of iron, and to this owes its dark colour. It is a tough mineral. 

 Pargasite and Hornblende both contain alumina. 



The varities of Hornblende fuse easily with some ebullition, the 

 pale varieties forming a colourless glass, and the dark a globule more 

 or less coloured with iron. Hornblende is an essential constituent of 

 certain rocks, as syenite, trap, and hornblende-slate. 



Actinolite it usually found in magnesiau rocks, as talc, steatite, or 

 serpentine. Tremolite occurs in granular limestone and dolomite ; 

 Atbettiu occurs in the above rocks, and also in serpentine. 



(Dana, Manual of Mineralogy.) 



HORNBLENDE-SCHIST. Under this term M'Culloch ranks a 

 variety of mineral aggregates in which hornblende abounds, and 

 which are mostly but not universally <Jf laminated structure. Horne- 

 blende-Schist is commonly associated with gneiss, less frequently 

 with mica-schist, and seldom forms alone any considerable mountain 

 masses. It follows the contortions of gneiss, and is traversed like it 

 by granite veins. (Glen Tilt.) Hornblende is rarely associated with 

 argillaceous slate, as in Ben Lair, in Skiddaw, Cader Idris, and near 

 the granites of Cornwall. In these cases its origin may perhaps be 

 due to the action of the contiguous heated granitic masses, and such 

 rocks may be considered ' metamorphic.' They are considerably 

 different from the Hornblende-Schists of Glen Tilt, lona, and Ross- 

 shire. (M'Culloch on ' Rocks.') 



HORN-EEL. [AMMODTTE8.] 



HORNE'RA, a genus proposed by Lamouroux to include a small 

 recent stony Polypifer, which Solander ranked among the Millepores, 

 and Lamarck among the Retepores. Like the latter genus, it has 

 cells on one side only : they are arranged almost in quincunx, on 

 diagonal lines ; the opposite side is slightly furrowed. (Lamouroux, 

 ' Tableau Mdthodique.') 



HORNET. [VE8PIDJ!.] 



HORNET-MOTH. [SpHiNonxE.] 



HORN-FISH. [SYNONATHIM:.] 



HORN-POPPY. [GLAUCIUM.] 



HORNSTONE. [QCABTZ.] 



HORSE. [EQUID.K.] 



HORSE-CHESTNUT, the Jticvlu* Bippocattanum of botanists : it 

 is said to derive its name from the practice among the Turks of feed- 

 ing their horses on the seeds of this tree. [^EscuLns.] 



HORSE-RADISH. [COCHLEARIA.] 



HORSE-TAIL. [EQUISETUM.] 



HORTI A, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Rutacete. 

 H. Braziliana possesses in its bark properties resembling those of 

 Cinchona, but in a less degree. 



HORTULIA. [BoiDA] 



HOT-SPRINGS. [GEYSERS.] 



HOTTO'NIA, a genug of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Prim.vlar.nr. It has a 5-parted calyx, divided almost to its base ; the 

 seeds, with the hilum, close to one end ; the stamens, 5, inserted and 

 included in the tube of the corolla ; the capsules many-seeded and 

 5-valved, with 10 teeth. 



//. paliutrii has the flowers whorled, stalked, and seated upon a 

 long solitary cylindrical common peduncle, the corolla longer than 

 the calyx, the leaves pectinated. It is a native of Great Britain in 

 ponds and ditches, and is called the Water-Violet. The leaves are 

 submerged and crowded ; the flowers rising above the water are of a 

 purple and yellow colour. It is a pretty plant, but possesses no useful 

 available propertied. 



(liabington, Manual of Britith Botany.) 

 HAT. HIT. DIV. YOL. m, 



HOUND (from the German Hund), a name generally applied in 

 the British Islands to those varieties of the Dog which are employed 

 in hunting the Deer, the Fox, the Hare, and the Otter, by scent. The 

 hound employed for following depredators, and used so much in the 

 old Border times, was called a Blood-Hound. [BLOOD-HOUND.] The 

 Greyhound, which follows its four-footed game by the eye [GBAY- 

 HOCND], is not a hound in the proper acceptation of the term adopted 

 by sportsmen ; for that appellation is confined to those varieties of 

 the Dog which are trained to that species of chace called Hunting, 

 which implies that the dogs so employed follow their four-footed game 

 by the scent principally. 



In addition to the Blood-Hound, the Stag-Hound, the old Southern 

 Hound, the Fox-Hound, the Harrier [HARRIER], and the Beagle 

 [BEAGLE], were the hounds of greatest note. Some of these varieties, 

 the old Southern Hound for instance, which was slow but very sure, 

 and with a fine deep-toned voice when it gave tongue in earnest, are 

 gradually disappearing ; and indeed the pace required now in most 

 kinds of hunting, except otter-hunting, but especially in fox-hunting, 

 has brought into demand a breed of hounds whose fleetness requires 

 the best and fastest horses. The old fox-hunter of the early part of 

 the last century would find himself 'nowhere' on a good day in Leices- 

 tershire, could he now be present. His horses and hounds were bred 

 with a view to endurance rather than speed ; and if he were to appear 

 at a modern ' meet,' he would see that an entire revolution has taken 

 place in the system. Whether this is an improvement is a question 

 which will be answered differently, according as the respondent may 

 prefer the old-fashioned slow bunting, where all the sagacities of the 

 hound were minutely developed, not without a good deal of ' music,' 

 or the rapidity which makes a good run now-a-days very like a race. 

 The young, bold, and well-mounted rider will generally prefer the 

 latter. 



The Southern Hound, which is supposed to have been of very high 

 antiquity in Britain, is large in size, strong, and of majestic aspect, 

 long but round in the body, deep in the chest, and his ears are long 

 and sweeping. The tone of his cry is deep, rich, and mellow. He 

 will hunt the coldest scent, and persevere long after lighter hounds 

 have given it up ; but he is very slow. The author of ' Rural Sports ' 

 saw a pack of these hounds in Lancashire, where they were kept to 

 hunt hares, and the least of them stood twenty-two inches. The 

 huntsman went with a pole on foot. 



As a contrast we may notice the celebrated match made between 

 Mr. Barry and Mr. Meynell to run a couple of each other's fox-hounds 

 a drag, from the rubbing-house at Newmarket town-end, to the 

 rubbing-house at the starting-post of the Beacon-course, for five 

 hundred guineas. The match came off on the last day of September, 

 and was won by Mr. Barry's Bluecap and Wanton, which came in 

 very close to each other ; Mr. Meynell's nearest hound, Richmond, 

 being beat by upwards of a hundred yards. The ground was crossed 

 in eight minutes and a few seconds ; and of sixty horses that started 

 with the hounds only twelve were up. Cooper, Mr. Barry's hunts- 

 man, came in first, but it is asserted that the mare that carried him 

 was completely blind at the conclusion of the run. The famous 

 Will Crane, who rode Rib, a king's-plate horse, was only in the 

 twelfth. Colonel Thornton's Merkin, which was sold in 1795 for 

 four hogsheads of claret, the seller to have two couple of her 

 whelps, ran a private trial of four miles in seven minutes and half a 

 second. 



Our limits will not permit us to go into the details of this, to many, 

 interesting subject ; and we must refer the reader to Somerville's 

 ' Chace,' Beckford's ' Thoughts upon Hunting,' ' The Sportsman's 

 ' Cabinet," Daniel's ' Rural Sports,' the Sporting Magazines, and, most 

 especially, ' Nimrod,' for further information. 



HOUND'S-TONGUE. [CYNOOLOSSUM.] 



HOUSE-LEEK. [CBASSULACE^E ; SEMPEBVIVUM.] 



HOUSE-MARTIN. [HIRUNDINID-E.] 



HOUSE-SPARROW. [PASSEB.] 



HOVINIA, a genus of Plante belonging to the natural order 

 Rhamnacecr. The peduncles of //. dulcis become extremely enlarged 

 and succulent, and are in China in much esteem as a fruit, resembling 

 in flavour, it is said, a ripe pear. Some species are astringent. 



HOWLET. [STRIGID.K.] 



HOY A, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Asclepia- 

 dacece. It has a 5-cleft rotate corolla. Coronet of appendages 

 depressed, 5-leaved ; leaflets spreading, fleshy, with the inner angle 

 extended into a tooth lying upon the anther. Anthers terminated by 

 a membrane. Pollen-masses fixed by the base, converging, compressed. 

 Stigma not pointed, or scarcely so. Follicles smooth. 



H. viridijlora is a native of Coromandel, Sylhet, and the Nilgherry 

 Hills. It has opposite, stalked, broad, cordate, or ovate leaves, not 

 sinuate at the base, pointed, membranous, smooth, from 3 to 4 inches 

 long ; petioles from 1 to 2 inches long ; umbels lateral or axillary, 

 simple, many-flowered. Flowers numerous, green, with pedicels as long 

 as the peduncle. Corolla flat; crown of appendages turbinate, truncate. 

 Anthers reflected over the stigma. Follicles horizontal, obtuse, about 

 3 or 4 inches long, and 4 inches in circumference. The root and 

 tender stalks produce nausea, and promote expectoration. The 

 leaves peeled and dipped in oil are used by the natives of India 

 as a discutient in the early stages of boils; when the disease 



