MONOTROPA. 



MONSTER. 



nt in the urethra, which last opens into the cloaca. Thoir hit . 

 niittrnt male organ lies hid, when in repose, in a theath which opens 

 by means of a Dole toward* the bottom of the cloaca. Their uterus 

 merely consist* of two canals which open separately, and each of them 

 by a double orifice into the urethra, which is large, nml, as in the male, 

 has iU exit in the cloaca. It was for a long time doubted whether 

 these animals were oviparous or viviparous, but there is now every 

 reason for believing that the young are excluded from the body of 

 the parent alive. Though they have no pouch, they still possess the 

 supernumerary bones which exist in the Martufiiala. [MAHSLTIATA.] 

 In other parts of their osseous structure they are remarkable for 

 possessing a sort of clavicle, placed more forward than the ordinary 

 clavicle, and analogous to the os furcatoriun, furcifonu bone, or merry- 

 thought, in birds. The corscoid bone also reaches the sternum. The 

 yes are very small, and there is no external concha to the ear. Two 

 genera only are known, Echidna and Ornithorhynchiu [ECHIDNA ; 

 ORHITHORIIVSI-HGS.] 



MONOTKOPA (from fudw, one, and rpidroi, a turn), a genus of 

 Plants belonging to the natural order Ericareir and the tribe Mono- 

 tropetc. It is often regarded as the typo of an order, Afonotropacett. 

 It has a 4-5 parted calyx ; a corolla of 4-5 petals each, with a hooded 

 nectariferous base ; 8-10 stamens with kidney-shaped 1 -celled 2-valved 

 anthers ; a peltate stigma ; the capsule 5-cclled, 5-valved. many-seeded. 

 The species of this genus are singular-looking plants, found growing 

 at the roots of trees, and destitute of the green and bright colours 

 which characterise the other forms of vegetation. 



If. Hypopityt, Yellow Birds'- Nest, has 'the flowers in a drooping 

 cluster, lateral ones with 8 stamens, the terminal ones with 10 stamen*, 

 the fruit erect, the bracts and flowers glabrous externally. The stem 

 nf this plant attains a height of 6 or 8 inches, is succulent, simpl", 

 clothed with ovate scales, terminating in a short cluster, dingy yellow, 

 at length turning nearly black ; the flowers with large scaly bracts. 

 It is a native of Great Britain. This, with the other species of Mono- 

 tropa, being constantly found at the roots of trees, was supposed to be 

 parasitical upon them ; recent researches have however led to the 

 conclusion that in the case of this species such an opinion i erroneous. 

 Mr. Rylands, in a paper published in the ' Phytologist,' page 341, has 

 given the result of a very accurate investigation of this subject, and 

 has proved that the fibrillic of the roots ot Monotropa possess spongioles 

 and take up their nutriment in the same way as other plants. Most 

 specimens of Jfonolropa, when recently dug up, present masses of a 

 fibrous substance, which adhere to their fibrils and the roots of the 

 plant near which they grow, so closely, that they were supposed to bo 

 portions of the roots of the Monotropa. On examining this fibrous sub- 

 atance with care, Mr. Rylands found that in all cases it consisted of a 

 species of byssoid fungus which had been developed upon the roots of 

 the Monotropa, having no organic connection with the plant. The 

 species of fungus varied in different specimens, and were found to 

 belong to hitherto undescribed forms of Cryptogamia. There can be 

 little doubt that the other species of ifonotropa are of the same nature 

 as Hypopilyi. and that their parasitism is imaginary. Some writers 

 have referred the species here described, and two others, to a genus 

 called Hypopityt. This includes the European species, whilst the old 

 genus Monotropa embraces two American species, M. Moritoniana and 

 if. wivCoro. The last species have not the musky semi-fragrant odour 

 of those belonging to the genus Jfypopityt. 



(Don, IHthlamydtout Planti ; Phytologitt, vol. i. ; Bftbington, 

 Manual of Britith Botany.) 



MONOTROPA'CE-iE, Fir-Rapa, are a small natural order of 

 Monopetalons Exogenous Plants, said to be parasitical upon the roots 

 of pines and other trees, and covered with brown scales instead of 

 leaves. They resemble Orobanchoxta, from which they difiVr in their 

 regular flowers and multilocular ovary. In natural classifications they 

 are usually placed in the neighbourhood of Ericacea, on account of 

 their flowers being monopetalons with hypogynous stamens. The 

 species are natives of Europe, Asia, and North America in cool places, 

 especially in fir-woods. There are only six genera, Monotropa, J/i//n>- 

 Pteroipora, Schicrinlzia, CorallophyUum, and PHoluma. The 



species are about ten. Their uses are few. Some of them have n 

 delicate smell of violets or pinks. The North American Indians aro 

 said to employ Pteroipora Andromedta as an anthelmintic and diapho- 

 retic. [MONOTBOPA.] (Undley, Vegetable Kingdom.) 



MONKADITK, a Mineral belonging to the silicate of magnesia 

 isrlm It occurs massive. Cleavage, one distinct, and another im- 

 perfect. Colour pale yellowish, verging on red. Hardness nearly that 

 of felspar. Lustre vitreous. Specific gravity 3-2673. It is found at 

 Bergen in Norway. It* analysis by Erdmann gives : 



Silica ....... 66-17 



Magnesia ...... 31-63 



Protoxide of Iron ..... 8-66 



Water ....... 4'04 



- 100-40 



MONSTER, or MONSTROSITY, a term applied to those indivi- 

 duals amongst plants and animals which prevent any irregularity in 

 their general form or the form of the organs of which they are 

 composed. 



The term Monstrosity is often applied to those anomalies only which 

 are apparent externally, and which produce more or less deformity ; 



but, in a scientific point of view, it includes every variation, either 

 external or internal, in any organ, from its most general or natural 

 conformation ; and it is in the latter sense that we shall here treat of it. 



Monsters were formerly regarded as sports or prodigies of nature, 

 and these ignorant notions, with respect to their true character, con- 

 tinued prevalent among all classes of people until the commencement 

 of the last century, and are even now held by the uninformed. By 

 the physiologist however the study of the various anomalies of organi- 

 sation in plants, animals, and man are now viewed as a branch of 

 natural science. An accurate anatomical examination of monstrosities 

 and a minute acquaintance with embryology and structure, have 

 shown that the formation of these different imperfect beings is 

 governed by the same laws which preside over the formation of perfect 

 individuals ; the only difference being, that the process of develop- 

 ment in the former cases has been perverted or arrested or increased 

 in its course during the growth of the embryo or germ. 



The true nature of monstrosities is more easily recogniaed in the 

 vegetable than in the animal kingdom. We shall therefore speak first 

 of monstrous growths in plants. The study of such growths is not u 

 mere matter of curiosity, as their structure tends to throw light on 

 the true laws of development amongst plants. Although direct obser- 

 vations are more easily made on plants than on animals for the 

 purpose of ascertaining the facts of their history during growth, it i< 

 nevertheless interesting to obtain a confirmation of these facts from 

 the forms which monsters assume, these forms in the majority of 

 cases being permanent conditions of the stages of growth through 

 which plants pass. In these forms nature presents us with as it were 

 experiments to test the truth of the general laws of morphology. 



This subject can perhaps be best illustrated by reference to special 

 instances. To begin with the Leaves. [LEAF.] In the history of the 

 normal development of the leaves, it is found that they are always 

 <t in an alternate manner, one leaf above the other, but subse- 

 quently in many plants, and even whole families, the leaves become 

 opposite or whorled. In the case however of individuals it not un- 

 frequently happens that the leaves of opposite or whorled le.-urd 



in a spiral upon the stem. (Lankester in the ' Report of British 

 Association,' 18th meeting, p. 85.) 



In the conversion of the leaf-bud into the flower, one of the earliest 

 changes that takes place is the conversion of the leaves into the organs 

 called Bracts. [BRACTS.] Instances are very often seen of monstrous 

 forms of plants in which the leaves are not converted into bracts but 

 retain their leaf-like character. This frequently occurs in the species 

 of Plantago, giving the inflorescence a singularly different character to 

 that which occurs under normal circumstances. 



The leaf-bud is always seated in the axil of the leaf, but in the case 

 of the bracts forming the involucre of the Contpotita: neither leaf-buds 

 or flower-buds are seated in their axils ; but in the cose of the monstrous 

 variety of the common daisy [BEI.IJS], known by the name of Jlcn 

 and Chickens, flower-buds are developed in the axils of the bracts. 



Next after the bracts the Sepals are formed in the flower-bud. 

 [CALYX.] It not unfrequently happens that during the growth of 

 cultivated plants, the sepals are found assuming the appearance 

 of leaves. This is especially the case with the cultivated roses. This 

 tendency to recur to the condition of the leaf is sometimes a normal 

 tendency of plants. Thus, hi the case of CalycophyUtun Stanleyanum, 

 one of the sepals after the corolla drops off begins to grow into a 

 beautifully rose-coloured leaf. Other instances of this kind are seen 

 in the order Cinchonaceie. In plants with inferior fruits [Fur IT] the 

 germen seems to contract an adhesion with the lower part of the 

 sepals which thus produces the peculiar character of these fruits, such 

 as the gooseberry, the currant, the apple, and the pear. In these 

 fruits it is not uncommon to find amongst them leaves growing from 

 the surface of the fruit, indicating the tendency of this sepallary part 

 of the fruit to assume the condition of the leaf. The most remarkable 

 example of this tendency of the sepal to assume the condition of the 

 leaf has been observed in the Ooat's-Beard (Trayopogon pratmtit), in 

 which the pappus surrounding the minute flower which represents 

 the calyx has been found to have assumed the character of the leaf. 



It frequently happens where one of the parts of a flower have a 

 tendency to rvlapso to the foliar condition, that the whole of them 

 partake of this character. Thus Mr. Austen hss recorded very accu- 

 rately the changes observed in a monstrous form of the White Clover 

 (TrtfMum repent). The following changes were observed in his 

 specimens : 



" 1. Calyx. The calyx-teeth often riie into single leaves, but when 

 compound leaves are formed the division seems to be as follows : thn 

 two large equal teeth, which are opposite the vexillum, form one 

 serrate leaf, and another leaf is formed from the three remaining 

 teeth. 



" 2. Corolla. The part which here most frequently reverts to a leaf 

 is the vexillum, and this is a perfect one. Of these leaflets, the aim 

 are often seen forming simple leaves, as also the carina; but their 

 perfect union into a ternato leuf is less common. 



"8. Stamens. Whatever changes the flower may exhibit, these 

 organs are always in a state to be recognised, and their reversion to 



