PANICLE. 



PAPAVER. 



IH 



of UM bead. UM breath of the body, and the 

 of the tail, which b nearly equal to that of the body, and 

 (boat the greaUr part of iU extant of nearly the tame 



width, tapering only rightly toward* the end, where it is rounded 

 ad almost truncate. Mr. Bennett further remarlu that a peculiarity 

 ia Uw> distribution of the wale* of If. TVMMuictu U the oemtioo of 

 UM middle serifs of them at a abort diitanoe anterior to the extremity 

 of the tail. *o that the Uut four tmurene row* oonaut of four scale* 

 each, each of the preceding row* having five. (' Zool. Proc.,' 1884.) 



Dr. Andrew Smith *ay* that only one solitary specimen of this 

 if lain wa* obtained by the expedition before reaching 26 8. lat, and 

 bat two more between that parallel and the tropic of Capricorn, 

 tboofh other* were known to have been captured in the latter tract, 

 while UM traveller* were actually traversing it He think* it very 

 questionable if the animal be eo rare in nature a* the result of their 

 experience might iodine men to believe. He U of opinion that iU 

 extreme icarcHy probably ari*e* from it* having long been zealously 

 ought after by the native*, who cherub a belief that it either ha* 

 aome influence upon cattle, or, at Irait, that certain observances in 

 respect of it have an effect upon them. Whenever a specimen is 

 eeeond it U submitted to the fire in *ome cattle-pen, apparently a* a 

 burnt oBering. for the increase of the health and fertility of all cattle 

 which may afterward* enter that fold. Dr. Smith *tato, that not 

 May rear* ago a specimen wa* captured in the northern part of the 

 Cape Colony, which render* it probable that the specie* wa* at one 

 scattered over the whole of South Africa, and that it* almost 

 Barance from the more southern districts had arisen from 

 a* are now operating to effect a similar result in the 

 Hera we have another cause for the obliteration of a species. 

 uu of their aggression ha* wrought up the shepherd or the 

 grienltorist to the destruction of some ; but in this case a specie* ia 

 probably dying out under the influence of a superstition. 



Dr. Smith relate* that when M. Temminctii is discovered, it never 

 attempt* to escape, but instantly roll* itself up into a globular form, 

 taking especial care of it* head, which is the only part that is easily 

 injured- Ante constitute its chief and favourite food, and these it 

 scare* by extending it* projectile tongue into holes which may exist 

 in the habitation* of these insect* or which it may iteelf form ; and 

 by mean* of the glutinous matter with which it* tongue is 

 a full load ha* been received, a sudden retraction of the 

 r muscles carries both into it* mouth, after which the ants 

 are immediately (wallowed. (' Illustrations of the Zoology of South 

 Africa.') 





: - 



PANICLE. [Ijrrix>ncE*ct] 



PA'NICUM, a grno* of Onuses the name of which is applied to 

 one of UM JBJCSM (Millet) by the Romans, and which, Pliny states, 

 is so-called Pom it* flowen being in a panicle ; though others derive 

 the name from 'pania,' bread, from it* UM* as such. The genus 

 contains a very large number of species, which abound in the hot 

 parts of the world, though a few extend to higher latitudes and ascend 

 UM cool mountain* of hot countries. They are chiefly valuable a* 



The genus Panic** U distinguished by having a 2-flowered spikelet, 

 with the lower flower masculine or neuter, and the upper hermaphrodite. 

 Olomes 3, unequal, concave, blunt Itaac. palese 2, stamens 8, some- 

 time* neuter, the upper palea and the stamens abortive. Fertile 

 flowers, paleei 2, unequal, concave, the lower one embracing the upper ; 

 soles S ; stamens 3 ; style* 2, ovary sessile. 



P. mitiattmm. Millet, is the best known species, being cultivated in 

 the south of Europe as well a* in tropical countries. Two varieties 

 sr* well known, on brown, the other yellow-coloured, imported from 

 the Mediterranean chiefly for feeding poultry, but forming in the 

 oath of Europe a* well a* in India a portion of the food of the 

 inhabitant*. In the latter country it U cultivated in the cold weather 

 with wheat and barley, and the only on* of the small grain* that is so 



at that season of the year. It is the Cheena of the Hindoos, Arab 

 Dukhun, Persian Urzun. P. MUiart is another specie* generally culti- 

 vated on an elevated rich soil in the peninsula of India : the seed U 

 one of the sort* of dry or small grain which forms an article of diet 

 of the Hindoos who inhabit the higher lands, and cattle arc fond of 

 the straw. 



I', frttmntaceum, the Sham* or Samwuk of the natives of India, is 

 a wholesome and nourishing grain, and forms there an article of diet 

 chiefly of the lower classes. There are several varieties of it, \\hi.-h 

 yield from 50 to 60 fold ; it delight* in a light, tolerably dry, rich 

 soil ; the same ground yields two crops between the first of the rain* 

 in June, July, and the end of January, in the Circars, but only one 

 crop in the northern provinces. Besides these, wbicli are the most 

 commonly cultivated species, the grains of other species of Panicum. 

 growing in a wild state are collected, and form articles of diet with 

 the poorer classes of the natives of India, as of P. ttoridtun (Bur-tee), 

 P. Hetoput (Kooree), P. httpijulum (l)hand). 



The uses of this genus are not confined to its grain, for the herba- 

 ceous part of several species forms the most valuable pasture grasses 

 of the hot countries both in the Old and New World. Some of the 

 specie* of Panicum of the Brazils are of gigantic stature, and yet 

 tender and delicate in their herbage. The Coapim de Angola of Brazil 

 grow* 6 or 7 feet high, and other equally gigantic species constitute 

 the field crops on the banks of the Auiazonas; while P. maximum, or 

 Guinea Grass, forms the most valuable pasture for cattle in Jamaica. 

 This is said to have been introduced into that island from the coast of 

 Africa, the seeds having been transmitted as food for eome birds which 

 were sent to Chief Justice Ellis. The straw of several of the species 

 is esteemed as fodder for cattle in India, but no pasture grass in any 

 country is probably more highly thought of than the Doob of India, 

 which by the Brahmins is held sacred to Ganesha (Janus ?) under the 

 name of UoorwaL This is fortunately the most common species 

 throughout India, and forms probably three-fourths of the food of 

 their horses and cows. It is seldom cultivated, but Europeans in the 

 northern parts frequently form lawns by planting small pieces of this 

 grass, which forms excellent hay. The usual mode of obtaining it is 

 to send out the grass-cutters into the uncultivated parts of the country, 

 who scrape off the ground the creeping steins and leaves of this 

 species, which is easily distinguished by its smooth and creeping habit ; 

 its spikes being fascicled and digitate, filiform, from 1 to 2 inches long, 

 with the flowers disposed in two rows on the under side. It is the 

 /'. dactylon of botanists, and occurs also in England. 



PANOPEA. [PTLOR1DJ!.] 



PANORPA. [NEUBOFTERA.] 



PANOKPES. [BEMBEX ; CHBTSIDIDA] 



PANSY, a corruption of the French word I'onscc, is a name now 

 chiefly applied to the garden varieties of Viola tricolor, V. Allaica, and 

 others, which are commonly cultivated under the name of Heart's- 

 Ease. [VIOLA.] 



PANTHER. [FEUD*.] 



PANTHOLOPS. [ANTii.orp.] 



1'ANTODA'CTYLUS, a genus of Saurian Reptiles. 



PAPA'VER, a genus of Plants the type of the natural order Papa- 

 veracea. The history of this, like that of many other cultivated plants, 

 is little known, as well as the time when it began to be cultivated for 

 the sake of its inspissated juice, though it was well known to the 

 Greeks, and cultivated at very early periods on account of its seeds. 

 (Theoph., lib. ix. cap. xiii., ed. Bodicus and Stapel, p. 1097.) 



Some authors are of opinion that it is the MTJKWC of Dioscorides, and 

 that the kind with black seeds was called 'Aypia, and that with white 

 seeds "Hotpot ; and that it is the juice of this plant which Hippocrates 

 recommends under the name of uiris pfaaroi, or 'juice of the poppy.' 

 Pliny (xx. c. 18) uses ' opium' to express the inspissated juice of the 

 poppy. Sprengel, in his 'Hist Rei Herb.,' i. p. 176, quotes Diosc., 

 lib. iv. c. 65, as referring to Papavtr tomniferum, and to P. KJiaat ; 

 but in his edition of that author (ii. p. 600) he mentions only the 

 latter plant; hence we may infer that he conceives the former to have 

 been unknown, as he nowhere else mentions it We do not in this 

 instance get the same degree of assistance as in many others from 

 Arab author*. Opium is described by them under the name of 

 Afeeyon, while Apaynum is quoted by Dr. Ainslie as its Sanscrit 

 name. The poppy plant is described by the Arabs under the name of 

 Khushkhush, while the Sanscrit is Chosa ; and the Persian and Hindoo, 

 Post The specie* of Paparer are chiefly found in Kuropean coun- 

 tries ; but a few species extend to the Caucasus and Armenia, and one 

 species grows in the Himalayas, though Egypt is the country where 

 we find the earliest notice of the opium poppy. This species is now 

 common in most parts of Europe, but having been so long cultivated, 

 it may appear indigenous in many countries where it has only escaped 

 from cultivation. It is, as is well known, extensively cultivated in 

 India, but it can nowhere be seen in a wild state, as the climate is too 

 hot to support it except for a few months in the year. 



The genus Papaver has two convex deciduous sepals; petals 4 ; 

 stamens numerous ; style wanting ; stigmas 4 to 20, radiating and 

 senile upon a disc which crowns the germen ; capsule obovate, 1 -celled, 

 opening under tbe crown of the stigmas with short valves ; placenta) 

 intervalvular, incomplete; flower-stalks indexed at the apex before 

 the flowers have expanded ; the flowers of all are large and showy, but 



