614 



MALACANTHUa 



MALACOLOGY. 



C. Tomato. Both species mo*t probably yield the leaves which were BO 

 highly esteemed in ancient times, and are still as extensively employed 

 in eastern countries, and may be found in every Indian bazaar under 

 the names of Tuj, or Tej-Pat, or by the Arabic name of Saduj-Hiudee. 

 They are analogous in all respects to bay-leaves produced by the 

 La<tna nobUit, and are in fact the bay-leaves of India. The name 

 Malabalhrum no doubt is derived from Tamala-putra, or Tamala-leaf, 

 as was first indicated by Oaroias : " Appellant autem Indi folium 

 Tamalapatra quam vocem Oneci et Latini imitantes corrupt* Malafia- 

 tlkrtim nuncnparunt" These are brought from the interior of almost 

 inaccessible forests, and necessarily stripped from the branches for 

 the facility of carriage ; hence most probably originated the fables 

 with which their early accounts are accompanied. 



MALACANTHU& [UaBlDi] 



MALACHITE. [COFFER.] 



HALACHIUM, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Catyopkyllacar. It has 5 sepals ; 5 bifid or entire petals; 10 stamens 

 and 5 styles ; the capsules opening with 5 bifid valves. 



If. aqttaticutn, Water Chickweed, has a decumbent stem, angular, 

 ascending, and covered with glandular hairs; cordate-ovate leaves, 

 acuminate, Semite, the lowest one stalked ; flowers scattered, solitary, 

 in the forks of the stem ; petals bipartite, rather exceeding the calyx ; 

 capsule exceeding the calyx. It is usually found in wet places in 

 Great Britain. 



(Babington, Manual of Britith Botany.) 



MALACOLITE, or MALAKOLITH, a Mineral belonging to the 

 Pyroxene series. [AUGITE.] 



MALACO'LOGY. The science of Molluscous or Soft-Bodied Animals 

 (MoAoxii and Adyor) includes the knowledge of such animals, whether 

 protected by shells or entirely naked, and their distribution into 

 classes, sub-classes, families, genera, and species. In this more extended 

 and philosophical view of the subject, the science of Conchology may 

 now be considered as merged ; and the more modern classifications are 

 based upon the anatomy of the soft parts and the habits of the animals, 

 as well as upon the structure of the shells in those molluscous forms 

 which have that protection. [CoxcHOLOOY.] 



The shell-collector of former days looked upon his drawers, if they 

 were rich in rare species or varieties, as containing an assemblage of 

 gems ; and indeed the enormous prices given for fine and scarce shells, 

 joined with the surpassing beauty of the objects themselves, almost 

 justified the view which the possessor took of his cabinet of treasures. 

 They were to him really " Les Delices des Yeux et de 1'Esprit ; " and 

 the energetic zeal with which he collected and the sacrifices that he 

 made to procure a fine and perfect Many-Ribbed Harp, a Gloria Maria, 

 or Cedo Nulli, among the cones; an Aurora, or Orange-Cowry, a 

 Valuta avlica, or Valuta Junonia, Ac., were only comparable to the 

 extravagances of those visited by the tulip mania when it was at its 

 height But though they were the delight of his eyes, they were, in 

 nine cases out of ten, little more to the owner of them : they were 

 mere trinket* on which he looked dotingly without knowing, and 

 xcarcely wishing to know, the organisation of the imiml whose 

 skeleton only was before him. This innocent trifling came at last to 

 be viewed in iU true light by some collectors worthy of better employ- 

 ment, who put off childish things, and went deeper into the subject. 

 Lister, Adanson, Linnaeus, Poli, Cuvier, Lamarck, DC Blainville, and 

 others, gave dignity to this department of zoology, and gradually 

 raised the science to its proper rank ; whilst the comparatively im- 

 perishable nature of the covering of the testaceous mollusks became, 

 in the bands of such men as William Smith and his followers, among 

 the most valuable records by which the stratification of the earth's 

 crust could be demonstrated, and iU geological history deciphered. 



[QlOLOOY.] 



We must first examine what animals are included under the general 

 name of Afotliuca, or, if M. De Blainville's term be adopted as being 

 the more comprehensive, Malacoiaa, or ilalacoioaria. 



The MoXitia of Aristotle, his "Oorpw, or 'OffrptutASipfta, and his 

 MoAoxArrfNua, are distinguished by him from the Fishes as not having, 

 like the latter, blood ; which must be understood as meaning that 

 they were without red blood. The MaAdxia are further described as 

 having all the fleshy parts external and the solid or firm parts internal, 

 and are thus distinguished from the 'Uarpax/Sipua, which are defined 

 as having the fleshy parte internal and the solid parts external The 

 are described as also having the solid parts of their 



bodies external, and the soft and fleshy parts internal, but as being 

 protected externally by a crust instead of a shell, and having ambula- 

 tory feet 



Thus the MoAoWia and 'OarptutMtfia of Aristotle, who is followed 

 by .,-Klian and the Greek naturalists generally, correspond with the 

 Nuked and Testaceous Molltuta of the moderns. 



Pliny and the ancient Latin zoologists employ the same denomina- 

 tions an the Greeks, though they have translated them by the terms 

 Moliia fur the Naked, and Ttttacea for the Shell-protected Molluscs. 



Upon the revival of letters, we find Bel on, Koudelet, Geimcr, and 

 Aldrovandus adopting the denominations of the ancients, and Jonston, 

 in his general compilation, continuing the same under the general 

 terms of Usanyuia, or Hcangnia a>i>tatica ; and the more particular 

 ones, as applicable to the animals immediately under consideration, of 

 MoUw, or Moiltuca, and Talatta, or C'onchylta, 



Our countryman John Kay, who has justly been called the Precursor 

 of Linnaeus, and whose systematic views on the subject of zoology 

 are well worthy of the attention of the student, appears to have been 

 the first who applied the term Permit, or Worms, to all Invertebrate 

 Animals (with the exception of Insect* and Crustaceans), whose blood 

 or circulating fluid is white, and who employed the term Forma 

 (Mollmca) and Vtrmet (Tatacea) to denote the divisions of Aristotle. 



Lister, in his ' Synopsis Methodic* Conchyliorum,' cannot be con- 

 sidered as having done much as a systematist, and though that zoolo- 

 fist gave the anatomy of many molluscous animals, as had been done 

 y Fabius Columns before him, and Willis, Swammordam, and others 

 after him, little appears to have been effected for a principle of classi- 

 fication resting on their external organisation or their form, and still 

 less for one resting on their internal structure. 



Linnams, in his ' Natural Division ' of Animals into three sections, 

 depending on the structure of the heart and on the circulating fluid, 

 makes hia third section consist of those animals which have an uni- 

 locular heart without an auricle (inauritum), and a white and cold 

 circulating fluid (sanie frigida, albida). This section he separates into 

 two sub-divisions : the first (Antennata) consisting of the Insects 

 (Imecta) ; the second consisting of the Worms ( Vermei). 



The following is his definition of his class Vcrma: Cor (heart) 

 uniloculare, inauritum, sanie frigida. Spiracula (respiratory organs) 

 obscura. Maxillae (jaws) multifarim, variaj variis. Penes (intromis- 

 sive generative organs) varii Hermaphroditis Androgynis. Sensus 

 (organs of sensation), tentacula. Caput nullum, vix Oculi, non Auras, 

 Xarcs. Tegmenta (covering or integument) calcarea aut nulla, nisi 

 spinae. Fulcra (organs of support or motion). Nulli Pedes aut 

 Pinnae. 



The class so defined and the very definitions will show how very 

 limited the knowledge of the structure of such animals was in the 

 time of the writer -consists of the following orders in the ' System* 

 Naturae ' : 1, Intettina ; 2, Molliaca ; 3, Tettacra ; t, Lithophy/a ; fi, 

 Zoophyta. 



The order Mollutca consists of the following genera arranged in the 

 subdivisions here given : 



MOLLUSC A. 



0. Mouth above. Animal fixing itself by its base. 

 Actinia. Atcidia. 



ft. Mouth anterior. Body perforated with a small lateral foramen. 



Limax. Aplytia. Dorit. Tethii, or Tetkyi. 



y. Mouth anterior. Body surrounded anteriorly by tentacles. 



Jfotothuria. Tcrelella. 



8. Mouth anterior. Body brachiatod, or furnished with arms. 



Triton. Sepia. Clio. Lcriuea. Scyltea. 



1. Mouth anterior. Body pedated. 

 Aphrodita. Nereit. 



f. Mouth below, central. 



Meduta. Atteria, or Atteriat. Kchinut. 



In the above assemblage of animals we find a very heterogeneous 

 arrangement ; AfoUtuca, Radiata, and the genus Lerntra (which last 

 belongs to Cnutacca) [LEKN.EAD.K], being there collected together. 



The order Tatacea, ' Testaceous simple Molluscs, covered with a 

 calcareous shell,' consists of the following subdivisions and genera : 



TISTACIA. 

 * Multivalvia. 



Chiton (Animal Dorit). Lepai (Animal Triton). Pholat (Auim.i 

 Atcidia). 



" Bivalvia: CONCH*. 



Mya (Animal Atcidia). Solen (Animal Atcidia). TMina (Animal 

 Tetiiyt). CarUium (Animal Tetliy*). Mactra (Animal Tethyt.) Donax 

 (Animal Tethyt). Fcnui (Animal Tethyt). Spondylia (Animal Tethyt). 

 Chama (Animal Tethyt). Area (Animal Tethyt!) Ottrea (Animal 

 Telhyt). Anomia (Animal Corpus Ligula, emarginata, ciliata, ciliis 

 valvulae superior! amxis. Brachiis 2, linearibus, corpora longioribus, 

 cimiiivontibus, porrectis, valvulio nlternis, utrinqtie ciliatis, ciliis 

 affixis valvulis utrisque). Mytilui (Animal Ascidiat). Pinna (Animal 

 Limax). 



*** Univalvia Spira regular! : COCHLEA 



Argonauta (Animal Sepia). Naulilut (Animal ' Rumpb. Mn ,' 

 t. 17, f. D). Conut (Animal Limou). Cypraa (Animal Lima*). Bulla 

 ( Animal Limax). Valuta (Animal Limax). Buccinum (Animal /,.'. 

 Strombut (Animal Limax). Mwtx (Animal Limax). Trochiu (Anim.il 

 Limax). Tnrbo (Animal Limax). Helix (Animal Limax). Ncrita 

 (Animal Limax). llaliotit (Animal Limax). 



**" Univalvia absque Spira regularl 



Patella (Animal Limax). Dentalium (Animal Terebella). Serpula 

 (Animal TerebcUa). Teredo (Animal Terebetta). Snbella, (Animal 

 Xereit). 



This arrangement makes each of the generic characters reside in the 

 shell, which in treated aa the habitation of the ' animal.' Any one 

 who examined this method soon found that it was impossible to affix 

 any definite idea to many of the inhabiting animals, and but a vague 



