133 



HURA. 



HY^ENINA. 



134 



to substitute an ordinary bitter for that of the Hop must necessarily 

 fail, unless a compound can be so artfully constructed as to contain in 

 due proportions the principles of bitterness, astringency, and aroma. 



The aromatic bitter gives to the Hop a very marked power over the 

 digestive organs when debilitated. A narcotic property has also been 

 ascribed to this article, which is denied to it by some writers, who 

 attribute the intoxicating power of beer entirely to the alcohol and 

 carbonic acid which it contains. Yet there can be no doubt that 

 tincture of hops, and even extract of hops, possess sedative powers, 

 and often procure quiet and sleep, where opium cannot be borne. 

 Decoction does not seem to be a judicious mode of preparation, and 

 should not be practised. Lupuline has been administered alone, but 

 this doeg not possess any advantages over the common plan. [Hops, 

 in ARTS AND So. Div.] 



HURA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Euphor- 

 biaccce. It has monoecious amentaceous flowers ; the male flowers 

 have a truncate calyx ; numerous stamens united into a solid column ; 

 female flowers with 1 style ; stigma with 12 or 18 rays; capsule with 

 12 or 18 cocci. 



If. crepitans, Sandbox-Tree, is a native of the West India Islands, 

 Mexico, and Guyana. It is a tree abounding in milky juice. Leaves 

 cordate, acuminate, entire, or very slightly toothed, stalked, smooth, 

 coriaceous, with simple veins passing from the midrib to the margin 

 in a curved direction, within a quarter of an inch or so of each other, 

 and connected by numerous oblique veinlets ; stipules large, ovate, 

 leafy, deciduous; petioles as long or rather longer than the leaves, with 

 2 glands at the apex. Male flowers arranged in an erect long-stalked 

 axillary conical catkin, composed of imbricated 1-flowered scales; 

 calyx short, urceola'.e, truncate ; column of stamens surrounded hi the 

 middle by 2 or 3 rows of tubercles, each of which bears an anther 

 on its under side. Female flower solitary at the base of the male 

 peduncle, or near it ; calyx urceolate, entire, or dividing eventually 

 into 3 parts ; stigma very large, diitcoidal, peltate. Fruit a depressed 

 umbilicated woody capsule, about the size of a middling apple, with 

 from 12 to 18 furrows, which separate into as many cocci, which fly 

 asunder, each opening into two valves with great elasticity when dry 

 and fully ripe. The milk is so venomous as to produce blindness in a few 

 days after touching the eye. Seeds a violent drastic dangerous purga- 

 tive. Aublet states that negro slaves to whom one or two seeds had been 

 administered in the form of an emulsion, were nearly killed by them. 



HURAULITE. [MANGANESE.] 



HURO'NIA, the generic name assigned by Mr. C. Stokes to certain 

 remarkable articulated bodies, of a partially radiated structure, found 

 in the transition limestone of Lake Huron by Dr. Bigsby. Until 

 lately these fossils were referred to the group of Polypiana, but from 

 a careful study of specimens more complete than those which he first 

 observed, Mr. Stokes has found that the parts represented as lamelli- 

 ferous corals are really only the siphuncular portions of shells of 

 Ctphalopoda, which may be included in the family of Orthoceratites. 

 The structure of the siphuncular parts in these and other chambered 

 nhells from the limestone of various parts of North America, hag led 

 Mr. Stokes to propose two other new genera, namely JL ctinocerat and 

 Ormocenu, whose characters, as well as those of Jfurmia, can only be 

 well traced in comparison with the ordinary structure of OrtlMcerou. 

 [OKTHOCKBAS.] 



HU'URIA, Daudin's name for certain Indian Colubers, the scales 

 or plates on the base of whose tails are constantly simple, and those of 

 the point doulilf. 



HL'TCHINSIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Crucifera, named in honour of Miss Hutchins. It has an entire 

 elliptical pouch ; boat-shaped valves, keeled, not winged at the back ; 

 weds 2 in each cell ; petals equal ; filaments simple. 



II. petraa U a rare plant, found on limestone rocks in Great Britain. 

 It has pinnate leaven ; a branched leafy stem ; petals scarcely longer 

 than the calyx ; pouch obtuse at both ends. The stem is from 2 to 

 4 inches high. Flowers small. 



(Babin<cton, Manual of Briluh Botany.) 



HYA-HYA. [TABERNJSMONTASA.] 



HYACINTH, a Mineral, consisting of silica and zirconia, trans- 

 parent, and of a red colour. [ZIRCON.] 



HYACINTHUS, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 LUiaeete and the tribe Scilicet. One of the most common of our 

 garden plants is the 11. orientalu. The genus formerly included two 

 species of British plants, which are now referred to the genera 

 Endymion and Miucari. [EUDYMION ; MUSCABI.] For the culture of 

 these plants see HYACINTH, in ARTS AND Sc. Div. 



HY.KXA. [HV^NINA.] 



IIY./ENA-DOG, an animal found in the south of Africa, more 

 especially the Cape. In size and form it is smaller and more slender 

 thini either the hyaena or the wolf. It is the Wild Dog of the settlers 

 at the Cape. M. Temminck first described it as a hyrena (Hyaena 

 picla), but subsequently regarded it as a species of dog. Desmarext 

 considered it a species of Canii, and recorded it as Cams piclm. 

 Brookes gave it the generic appellation of Lycaon ; and Fischer, in 

 his ' Addenda et Euiendanda,' quotes it as C'anit Lycaon, and, in his 

 ' Index Nominum,' refer* to it as Lycaon tricolor of Brookes. Cuvier 

 place* it among the dogs. Dr. J. E. Gray places it among the Canina 

 in his order Fclida. He calls it Lycaon tenaticiu, and gives the fol- 



lowing synonyms in addition to the above : Canis aurews, Thuuberg; 

 Canis Hytenoides, Cuvier ; Hycena venatica, Burchell ; Kynos pictms, 

 Riippell ; Lycaon typims, A Smith. It is also known by the common 

 names Simir and Slelbia. 



In the number and form of its teeth the Hyseua-Dog agrees with 

 the dogs, as well as in its general osteological structure, which presents 

 a remarkable difference from that of the hysena. Externally it ia 

 distinguishable from both the hyscnas and the dogs in the proportional 

 length of its legs and the form and proportions of the body. There is 

 no mane as in the hyffinas, and the tail resembles that of some dogs. 

 The head is hysena-like, and, like the hyaenas, it has only four toes to 

 each foot. 



Its colour is reddish or yellowish-brown, variously mottled in large 

 patches along the sides of the body and on the legs, with black and 

 white intermixed. Nose and muzzle black, with a strong black line 

 passing from them up the centre of the forehead to between the ears, 

 which are very large, black within and without, and furnished with 

 a broad and expanded tuft of long whitish hairs arising from their 

 anterior margin, and filling up a considerable part of their concavity. 

 Beneath each of the eyes a lighter patch. Tail moderate, covered 

 with long bushy hair, and divided in the middle by a ring of black, 

 below which it is nearly white, as are also the fore parts of the legs 

 below the joint. Mr. Bennett, who thus describes the animal, had an 

 opportunity of seeing a living specimen in the Tower of London ; but 

 he observes that their colours and markings are subject to variation 

 in different individuals, though their general disposition and appear- 

 ance are similar. 



Mr. Burchell, who brought to this country the first specimen, and 

 pointed out the distinguishing characters, describing it under the name 

 of Jlyoma venatica, states that it hunts in packs, at night by preference, 

 but frequently in the day. He describes it as swift, fierce, and active, 

 so that only those animals which are gifted with great neatness cau 

 escape from it. It attacks sheep openly and fearlessly ; it approaches 

 oxen and horses more cautiously, advancing upon them by stealth, 

 biting off the tails of the oxen, and injuring the horses, especially 

 young colts, so severely that they rarely survive. 



Mr. Burchell's specimen continued ferocious though he kept it 

 chained up in his stable-yard for more than a year, and the man who 

 fed it " dared never to venture his hand upon it." It however became 

 familiar with a dog, its companion. The Tower specimen arrived with 

 a young Cape lion, with which it agreed perfectly till the lion became 

 too strong and rough in his play, when the Hya;ua-Dog was associated 

 with a Striped Hyama and two Spotted Hyasnas, and all lived tolerably 

 well together in the same den. 



Mr. Swainson gives the name of Hycena-Dog as the English synonym 

 of Proteles. [AARD-WoLF.] The animal which is the subject of this 

 article he describes under the name of Lycaon, the Hunting Dog. He 

 arranges both under the family Felidit, where they had been previously 

 placed by Dr. Gray. 



Two very fine specimens of this animal are now living (1854) in 

 the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park. They are young, and 

 excessively playful, seldom allowing each other to rest a single 

 moment. 



HYvENANCHE, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Eupliorbiacea. H. ylolom yields a fruit which is collected by the Capo 

 Colonists, and when powdered is used as a poison for hyaenas by being 

 rubbed over meat. 



HYvENINA, the name of a family of Digitigrade Carnivorous 

 Mammalia, distinguished by having then- fore legs longer than their 

 hind legs, by their rough tongue, great and conical molar, or rather 

 cutting-and-crushing teeth, projecting eyes, large ears, and a deep and 

 glandular pouch beneath the anus. 



Dental Formula : Incisors, ; canines, ; molars, = 34. 



'6 'l l' '44 



The false molars, three above and four below, are conical, blunt, 

 and very large. The upper flesh-tooth (caruassiere) has a small 

 tubercle within and in front, but the lower one has none, and presents 

 only two trenchant points. The whole of the dental and molar organi- 

 sation, and indeed the whole cranial structure, appears to have been 

 formed with a view to the bringing into the most available action the 

 formidable natural instruments which enable the Hyccnas to break 

 the hardest bones. 



Dr. Buckland gives the following account of the feats of a Cape 

 Hysena which he saw at Oxford in the travelling collection of Mr. 

 Wombwell, the keeper of which confirmed in every particular the evi- 

 dence given to Dr. Wollaston by the keeper of Exeter 'Change, and 

 noticed in ' Reliquiae Diluvianac,' p. 20 : " I was enabled," says Dr. 

 Buckland, " to observe the animal's mode of proceeding in the destruc- 

 tion of bones. The shin-bone of an ox being presented to this Hyasna, 

 he began to bite off with his molar teeth large fragments from its 

 upper extremity, and swallowed them whole as fast as they were 

 broken off. On his reaching the medullary cavity the bone split into 

 angular fragments, many of which he caught up greedily, and swal- 

 lowed entire. He went on cracking it till he had extracted all the 

 marrow, licking out the lowest portion of it with his tongue : this 

 done, he left untouched the lower condyle, which contains no marrow, 

 and is very hard I gave the animal successively three 



