111 onxua. 



water's edge was i feet. It ran up the bank in a serpentine course, 

 ppraaahi^ nearer to UM surface of the earth towards ite termination, 

 at which part UM nest, composed of dried grass, and weeds strewed 

 the fear, is situated ; but none had been as yet made in this 

 jw. The termination, of UM form shown in the cut, measured 



OROBANCHK. 



131 



1 foot in length by 6 inches in breadth. Mr. Bennett found the whole 

 ailejjl of the borrow, from the entrance to the termination, to be 



M fee* by actual measurement. He observes that the burrow* are 

 situated above the luual river height, but do not appear to be above 

 the extensive flood* of the river, which frequently take place during 



Borrow of OnulAwlywAiu. (Bedoerd from Bennett, ' Zool. Trans.') 



Authors generally describe two species, namely, 'Orm'MorAynrAu* 

 r/, and OriUor*y*fAiu /tucw ; but the probability U that they 

 are but varieties of one species, if indeed the difference may not be 

 merely that of age or sex. The males are rather larger than the 

 femalm, and Mr. Bennett considers the average length to bo from 

 1 foot 6 inches to 1 foot 8 inches. A male shot in the Yas River 

 measured, from the extremity of the mandible to the extremity of 

 UM tail, 1 foot 7 1 inches, and a female shot in the same river was 1 foot 

 7 inches, measured in the same way. 



The spar of the male has been pretty generally considered as a 

 weapon of oflence, and a very venomous oue ; but Mr. G. Bennett's 

 experimenU go far to prove that this idea is unfounded. He thus 

 relates his experience in the case of a wounded male just taken out 

 of UM water : " Hating heard so much related about the injurious 

 Acts mulling from a puncture by the spur, I determined to avail 

 myxlf of the opportunity to ascertain the correctness of the assertion. 

 Taw wounded state of the animal presented no objection to the expe- 

 riment, as hi one published account, in which the poison is reported 

 to have produced such terrible effects, the animal was also mortally 



dwL As soon therefore as it became lively I put ite ' poisonous 

 ' to the test I commenced by placing my hands in such a 

 er, when seising the animal, as to enable it, from the direction of 

 pan, to use them with effect : the result was that the animal 

 strenuous efforts to escape, and in these efforts scratched my 

 a little with the hind claws, and even, in consequence of the 

 n in which I held it, with the spur also. But although seized 

 so roughly, it neither darted the spur into my hand, nor did it even 

 n attempt so to do. As however it had been stated that the 

 i throws itself on the back when it uses this weapon (a circum- 

 aot very probable to those who have any knowledge of the 

 ). 1 tried it also in that position; but though it struggled to 

 rrgaio it* former posture, no use was made of the hind claw. I tried 

 several other methods of effecting the object I had in view, but as 

 all proved futile, I am convinced that some other use must be found 

 for the spur than as an offensive weapon. I have had several subse- 

 quent opportunities of repeating the experiments with niml. not in 



miauled state, and the resulU have been the same." 

 ORVUa fKBAXt-ii-i] 



'CE,K, Broom- Kafxt. a natural order of Monopetalous 

 i, growing parautically upon the roots of other species, 

 and, > is very usual ill such eases, producing no true leaves, but fur- 

 Dished with brown or reddish scales in their place. They have a 

 didynamoue structure, irregular flower., and a superior ovary with 

 toor or man parietal placentae, which spring up from the surface of 

 UM carpels in parallel lines covered with microscopical seeds containing 



mfamto embryo lying in abundant albumen. On account of their 



monopetalous flowers, they are usually stationed by 

 writers in UM vicinity of Scnpltutariacta, but in many 

 coWeepupd better with the typical form of Otntianactae. 

 i the order U represented by the genus Orabancht itself, 

 (CM* of which, called Broom-Rapes, are found in field., 

 i of broom, fane, hemp, clover, bed-straw, 4c. O. miro, 

 * of thrm. has hitherto been discovered only upon basalt 

 ad trap rocks in the Hebrides and adjacent shore*, and near Belfast 

 [OftOBAircn.] The quality of these plants seems to be generally 

 atriomt, but they hare bera little investigated. The order con- 

 Uins 12 green and IK specie*. 



A plant of Anoplanlhia unj/lonu. 1, a corolla slit open ; 2, the ovary with 

 iu ttyle and itigma ; S, the same, cut across to bow the placentation. 



OROBANCHE (from tpo/3os, a kind of vetch, and &yx u , to strangle, 

 because its species grow on the roots of vetches, and were supposed 

 to destroy them by strangulation), a genus of Plants, the type of the 

 natural order Orobanchacca. It has 2 lateral, undivided or cloven 

 permanent sepals ; a riugent withering corolla, the upper lip concave, 

 notched, the lower reflexed, in three unequal wavy lobes ; a gland 

 under the ovary ; the anthers sagittate with the lobe* pointed at the 

 base ; the filaments almost as long as the tube of the corolla, downy 

 and glandular ; the capsule ovate, pointed, with four parietal parallel 

 placenta:. The species are parasitical, usually simple, rarely branched, 

 scaly erect herbs. Eleven species of this genus are British. 



0. major (0. Itapum), Greater Broom-Rape, has the sepals 2-nerved, 

 equally bifid, nearly as long as the tube of the corolla, the corolla 

 bell-Khaped, yentricose at the base, in front arcuate ; the lips wavy, 

 obsoletely denticulated (not fringed), upper lip helmet-shaped, scarcely 

 omorgiuato ; sides patent, middle lobe of the lower lip much longer 

 than the lateral lobes ; the stamens inserted at the base of the corolla, 

 glabrous below, their upper part and the style glandular pubescent 

 This plant is a native of Europe, growing parasitic upon broom, furze, 

 and other shrubby leguminous plants, on a barren and dry soil. It 

 is abundant in some parts of Great Britain. It is very bitter, and is 

 a powerful astringent 



0. minor, Lesser Broom-Rape, has the sepals many-nerved, the lobes 

 of the lower lip equal, the stigma bi-lobed. The lobes of the stigma 

 are purple, the anthers yellow when dry. It is found in Europe para- 

 sitical upon the roots of the Trifolmm prateiut. Although it it 

 sometimes very abundant, it does not appear to injure the crop of 

 clover. It is constantly found in many parts of England with the 

 clover crops. 



0. rubra has the corolla glandular, pubescent externally, and the 

 upper lip internally, the lips acutely denticulated, the stamens inserted 

 near the base of the corolla. It is a native of the north of Ireland and 

 of Cornwall in England. It has a sweet scent, and U found parasitical 

 upon the Thymut Serjiyllum, Common Thyme. 



0. caryophyllacea has the corolla tubular, bell-shaped, curved on 

 the back; the stamens inserted above the base; the corolla hairy 

 within. The stigmas ore of a dark purple, the anthers at first purple, 

 yellow when dry. It has been found in Siberia and Italy, and on the 

 Himalaya. It has been found also in the county of Kent in Englaud, 

 where it is parasitic on the roots of Galium Mollugo. 



0. elatior has the corolla curved, tubular, slightly compressed above ; 

 the upper lip 2-lobed, toothed ; the lobes indexed ; the stigma yellow. 

 It is a native of Europe, and is parasitical on the Ccntaurca Scabioia. 

 It grows in Great Britain, but is a rare plant 



0. Iledtra has the middle lobe of the lower lip of the corolla 

 longest; the stigma yellow. Found in Europe, parasitical upon Ivy 

 (ll-'tera Helix). 



0. atnUta has a calyx of 4 sepals, tubular, with triangular subulate 

 teeth shorter than the tube of the corolla; the corolla tubular, slightly 

 curved in front, the middle of the tube compressed on the back ; the 

 throat slightly inflated externally ; glandular lobes of the lips obtuse 

 with reflexed margins, lower lip hairy within, suture of the anther 

 Ulry. It U a native of Europe, in Austria, Italy, Germany, and the 



