MYRISTICACEA 



MYRKHIS. 



Ml 



til* circulation, narcotic effects. In moderation they promote the 

 appetite and wUt digestion. 



kVIU.STICA'CE^E, Xntmtgt, a family of Plant! belonging to the 

 division of Diolinoiu Exogen*. The specie* are tropical, fragrant, 

 aromatic tree*, with an utringent juice, alternate coriaceous simple 

 learn, without stipules, and dicocious flowers. Of the flowers, the 

 males) have monadelphous stamens ; the females hare a single 1 -celled 

 orary, containing an erect seed ; and both have for calyx a tubular 

 coriaceous envelope, with from 2 to 4, usually 3, valvate teeth. Their 

 fruit is a 2-valved succulent capsule, containing a single seed enveloped 

 in an aril, and consisting of ruminated albumen, abounding in a power- 

 ful and agreeable aromatic secretion ; the embryo is very small, and 

 placed in a cavity at the base of the albumen. 



The order is nearly allied to Anonacaz, from which however it differs 

 very remarkably in the total want of a corolla, and in the reduction 

 of the number of carpels to one. To station it in the artificial division 

 of Apetalous Exogens, as is usually done, is to violate every principle 

 of natural classification. 



The Nutmeg of the shops, which is the seed of if. ojfcf imJti, ia the 

 only product of the order employed officinally. [M YBISTR-A.] Other 

 species bear fruit that may be employed aa a substitute, but they are 

 all inferior to the real Oriental Myrittiea. 



This order embraces 5 genera and about 35 species. The genera 

 are, Afyrutita, Ftroio, Kntma, Pyrrkota, and Jfyalottcmma, 



Virola tebifcra yields a fatty oil on being heated. Pyrrhota tingcnt 

 yields a crimson dye, with which the natives of Amboyna stain their 

 teeth. 



MYRMECOBIUS. [MARSLTIATA.] 



M YRMKCOPHAOA, the genus of Edentate Animals to which the 

 great Ant-Eater, M. jubata, belongs. This animal has not often been 

 teen in Europe. Two specimens were exhibited alive in the Gardens of 

 the Zoological Society during the summer of 1S54. An account of the 

 anatomy of this creature was given by Professor Owen to the meeting 

 of the British Association at Liverpool, in September 1854. [ANT- 

 EATER.] 



M YRMK'LEOJf, a genus of large Neuropterous Insects, the larvte 

 of which are remarkable for their habit of entrapping their prey by 

 means of pitfalls. Among the many accounts which have been pub- 

 lished of their operations, one of the best and moat recent is that 

 given by Mr. Westwood, in the ' Magazine of Natural History ' for 

 1838, and in his Introduction. " Some larvae of the common species, 

 ityrmeleon formicaUo" (the Ant-Lion), writes that naturalist, " which 

 I brought alive to this country from France, afforded me ample 

 opportunities for watching their proceedings. It is in very fine sand 

 that the larva makes its pitfall. When placed upon the surface, it 

 bends down the extremity of the body, and then pushing or rather 

 dragging itaelf backwards by the assistance of its hind legs, but more 

 particularly of the deflexed extremity of its body, it gradually 

 insinuate* itaelf into and beneath the sand, constantly throwing off 

 the particles which fall upon, or which it shovels with its jaws or legs 

 upon its head, by suddenly jerking them backwards, 



' Otuque post tcrg-am magna jacUU parentls.' 



Proceeding in this manner, in a spiral direction, it gradually diminishes 

 the diameter of iU path, and by degrees throws so much of the sand 

 way as to form a conical pit, at the bottom of which it then conceals 

 iteelf, its mandibles widely extended being the only parts that appear 

 above the surface ; with these any luckless insect that may happen to 

 fall down the hole is immediately seized and killed. When the fluids 

 of the victim are exhausted the ant-lion, by a sudden jerk, throws the 

 dry carcass out of the hole : should, however, the insect by chance 

 escape the murderous jaws of iU enemy, the latter immediately com- 

 mences throwing up the sand, whereby not only is the hole made 

 deeper, and iU sides steeper, but the escaping insect is probably hit, 

 and again brought down to the bottom of the pit It is chiefly upon 

 ante and other soft-bodied insect* these larva) feed. They are how- 

 ever capable of undergoing long fast*, for one of my larvae remained 

 from October till March without food. Previous to assuming the 

 papa state, the larva forms a globular cocoon of less than half an 

 inch in diameter of fine sand, glued with silken threads spun from a 

 slender telencopic-like spinneret, placed at the extremity of its body, 

 and lined with fine silk. The pupa is small, not being half an inch 

 long, inactive, and with all the limbs laid at rest upon the breast. 

 When ready to assume the perfect state, it uses it* own mandibles, 

 which are quite unlike those of the larva and imago, to gnaw a hole 

 through the cocoon, and pushes iUelf partly through the aperture in 

 which it leaves the pupa skin. Immediately on assuming the perfect 

 state, the abdomen is almost immediately extended to nearly three 

 time* it* previous length." 



MYRMICA, a genus of Insect* belonging to the order Ilymcnoptcra, 

 and the family Formicitia. It is one of the genera formed out of the 

 Linruean genus Formica. Unlike that genus however, it possesses a 

 stiug. The peduncle of the abdomen is composed of two knots 

 the antenna? are rxpoeed ; the maxillary palpi are long and G jointed, 

 and the mandibles triangular. M. rubra ia a common British 

 specie*. 



JCYROBALANS. This is a name applied to the almond-like kernels 

 of a not or dried fruit looking like a plum, of which there are several 



sort* known in the East. They are the produce of various species of 

 Ternuialia, aa T. BeUtrioa, T. C'kebula, T. cilrina, and T. anyiulifulia. 

 They vary from the size of olives to that of gall nut*, and have a 

 rough, bitter, and unpleasant taste. Many of the tree* of this tribe, 

 which are all native* of the tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and 

 America, are used for tanning, and some for dyeing. They are highly 

 valued by elvers, creating, when mixed with alum, a durable dark- 

 brown yellow. Myrobalans fetch in the Bombay market 8*. to 2ti. 

 he Surat candy of 821 Ibs. The bark and leaves of T. Calappt' 

 i black pigment, with which Indian ink is made ; the seeds are eaten 

 ike almonds. A milky juice ia said to flow from T. anguttifolia, which, 

 when dried, is fragrant, and, resembling Benzoin, is used as a kind of 

 ncense in the Catholic churches in the Mauritius. The fruit of 

 T. BeUeriea, and of T. CMbvla, both useful timber-trees, indigenous to 

 he East Indies, are used medicinally as a tonic and astringent One 

 lundred and seventeen cwts. of Myrobalaus were shipped from Ceylon 

 in 1845. 



The annual imports of Myrobalans into Hull, amount to about 

 [600 cwts. The quantity which arrived at Liverpool was 185 tons in 

 1849, and 851 tona in 1850; 27,212 bags in 1851, and 19,946 bags in 

 1852 ; they came from Calcutta and Bombay, and are also used for 

 dyeing yellow and black. The price in January 1853 was 6*. to 12. 

 >er cwt The average annual imports into the United Kingdom may 

 xi taken at 1200 tona. 



Myrobalans is also the English name given by Lindley to the 

 natural order Combretacete, which yields these fruits. [COMBRETACE.S ; 



EilBLICA.] 



(Symonds, Commercial Product* of the Vegetable Kingdom.) 

 M YROSPERMUM, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Amyridacea. It has a 5-toothed campanulate calyx ; 5 petals, the 

 upper one largest ; stamens 10, distinct ; ovary stipitate, oblong, mem- 

 branous, with 2-6-ovulea; legume with a winged stalk, terminating iu 

 an oblique iudehiscent 1-cclled 1-2-seeJed samara. The species are 

 trees with dotted leaves. 



M. Peruifenun (ifyroxylon Peruiferum, Limueus), Balsam of Peru 

 Tree, The stem of this plant yields the Balaam of Peru. It has a 

 thick smooth straight trunk with a gray coarse bark, which is filled 

 with resin. The leaves are pinnated, and marked with transparent 

 dots ; the leaflets alternate, of 2, 3, 4, or oven 5 pairs, ovate-lanceolate, 

 icute, coriaceous at the apex, somewhat emarginate, shining above, 

 hairy on the under side ; calyx campanulate ; petals 5, white, the 

 upper rcflexed, broad, roundish, emarginate, the other 4 distinct, 

 linear-lanceolate, reflexed, spreading; stamens 10, distinct, shorter 

 than the petals ; anthers mucronate ; seed roniform, lying in yellow 

 liquid balsam, which hardens into resin. 



Balsam of Peru occurs in two states ; one called the white, the other 

 the black. The former results either from spontaneous exudation 

 from the bark, or from incisions made in it ; it is also found in the, 

 inside of the aeed-veasel wrapping the seed. At first it is liqu 

 the consistence of recent honey, of a light yellow colour, of an agree- 

 able odour, resembling vanilla, and a somewhat acrid, bitterish, but 

 aromatic taste. Its specific gravity is less than that of water. Heated 

 in a platinum spoon it bums with a white smoke, which reddens 

 litmus paper, and leaves no residual ash. It is completely soluble in 

 alcohol, and also in ether, except some white material which separates 

 from it. It contains much benzoic acid. By distillation with water 

 it yields a volatile oil. By exposure to the air it hardens, and is then 

 termed Opobalaamum Siccum, which must not be confounded with 

 the true Opobalaamum. [BALSAMODEKDKOX] Balsam of Tolu is also 

 sometimes called Opobalsamum. 



Black Balaam of Peru ia stated to be procured by boiling the resinous 

 bark of the trunk and branches of the tree. Martins conjectures 

 that it is procured by subjecting these parts and the pods to a kind 

 of dry distillation, or ' distillatio per deaccnsum,' similar to that by 

 which tar ia obtained from pine-trees. This balsam has the consistence 

 of syrup, but does not solidify with age, is scarcely tenacious, of a 

 blackish-brown colour, and not transparent, somewhat oily to the 

 touch, odour agreeable, balsamic, resembling vanilla, taste acrid, 

 balsamic, bitterish, and enduring. Scarcely igniting when in contact 

 with flame ; not yielding by distillation with water any volatile oil, 

 and not perfectly soluble even in absolute alcohol. Its chief consti- 

 tuents are the oil, which cannot be termed volatile, two kinds of resin, 

 and benzoic acid. 



M. Toluifenun (Tolvifrra Haliamum, Miller, Myrorylon Toluifera, 

 Humboldt), Balsam of Tolu Tree. It is very like the last, and by 

 some botanists has been regarded aa a variety. The leaflets are then 

 membranous, obovate, taper-pointed ; the terminal one larger than tho 

 others. This tree yields Balsam of Tolu. It flows from incisions in 

 the tree, and is of the consistence of a strong turpentine. It is sent to 

 Europe in earthenware jars or in tin cases. It becomes tenacious with 

 age, and in cold weather may be fractured, but melts again in summer, 

 or with the warmth of the hand. It is of a yellow or brownish colour, 

 transparent, with the taste and odour of the white Balaam of Peru. 

 [BALSAMS, in ARTS AMD Sc. Div.J 



(Lindley, Flora Medico.) 



MYROUNGA. [PuociD*.] 



MYRRH. [BALSAMODKSDROS.] 



MYRRHIS, a genus of Plant* belonging to tho natural order 



