SCI 



PIPRINJE. 



PISSODES. 



362 



L** 



v . 



- ^ 



Me'.opia gajft.ln. 



1 



v, v 







Rirda'ohu pimitutlll. 



fire-red ; abdomen whitish ; throat yellow. The female has the head 

 dotted with yellow point,*. 



It is a native of Australia. 



Mr. Caley states that this species is called Diamond Bird by the 

 settler', from the spots on its body. He adds that it is reckoned a 

 valuable bird on account of its akin, that it is not very plentifully 

 met with, and that it inhabits both forest-land and brushes, at least 



IB had seen it in both. (' Description of the Australian Birds in the 

 lollection of the Linncean Society,' Vigors and Horsfield, in ' Linn. 

 Trans.,' vol. xv.) 



Mr. G. R. Gray makes the Piprina the second sub-family of the 

 Ampelidte, Pachycephalince being the first ; and he arranges under it 

 the following genera : 1. Phamicircus, Sw. (Pipra, Wagl., Ampdis, 

 Linn., Querula, Cuv.). 2. Metopia, Sw. (Pipra, Licht.). 3. Pipreola, 

 Sw. 4. Pipra, Linn. (Manacus, Briss.). 5. Pipracidea, Sw. 6. lodo- 

 pleura, Sw. (Pardalotus, Less.). 1. Calyptura, Sw. (Pardalotus, Vieill., 

 Regulut, Licht.). 



PIRE'NA. [MELANIA; MELASOPSIS.] 



PIRIME'LA (Leach), a genus of Brachyurous Cruetacea. It is 

 placed by M. Milne-Edwards among the Canceriens Arque"s, or those 

 crabs which have no clypeiform prolongation on the sides of the cara- 

 pace, which is much wider than it is long, arched in front, and strongly 

 truncated on each side posteriorly. 



Carapace regularly arched on its anterior moiety, and strongly trun- 

 cated on each side of its posterior moiety ; much wider than it is 

 long; convex, and strongly bossed. The front narrow, and armed with 

 three pointed teeth. The latero-anterior borders are directed very 

 obliquely backwards and outwards, and are armed with four com- 

 pressed and triangular teeth. The orbits present two teeth and two 

 fissures above, a sharp tooth at the external angle, and a fourth at the 

 internal and inferior angle. 



P. denticulala is found on the coasts of Europe, England, and France. 



Pirimcla deitticulata. 



PISA. [MAIIM.] 



PISCl'COLA, a name for the Hirudo Piscium. [ANNELIDA.] 



PISCICULUS, a generic name for the Sticklebacks. [GASTER- 



OSTEUS.] 



PISCI'DIA (from ' piscis,' a fish, and ' ctedo,' to kill or destroy), a 

 genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Leguminosa. It has u 

 campanulate 5-cleft calyx, an obtuse keel, and a papilionaceous corolla. 

 The stamens are monadelphous, with the tenth one free at the base. 

 The style is filiform and smooth, the legume pedicellate linear, fur- 

 nished with four membranous wings, the seeds separated by a spongy 

 substance. The species are West Indian trees, with broad unequally 

 pinnate leaves and terminal panicles of white and red flowers mixed. 



P. erythrina, Dogwood, is a tree about twenty feet high. The 

 leaflets are in pairs, from 3 to 4 together ; they are oblong or obovate, 

 rounded at the base, downy on both sides when young, but smooth 

 when old. The racemes are compound, axillary, staminal. The 

 flowers whitish tinged with purple. This plant possesses the peculiar 

 property of intoxicating fish ; the bark of the root is the part used. 

 Dr. Hamilton, in a paper read before the Medico-Botanical Society of 

 London, gives a lengthened account of this process and of the pro- 

 perties and uses of this plant. He says that a preparation of the root 

 is infused into the water containing the fish, which HOOU rise to the 

 top. They float perfectly insensible along, and are easily taken by tho 

 baud ; they recover on being thrown into pure sea-water, and neither 

 their flavour nor wholesomeness is in any degree impaired. The 

 eatue ge.-.tleman made a series of experiments on himself as to the 

 effect of a tincture of this plant. Labouring under an attack of severe 

 toothache, he took a powerful dose of the tincture, which was succeeded 

 by a profound sleep and entire relief from pain on awaking. As a 

 topical application to carious teeth he found it equally successful, and 

 came to the conclusion that the tincture of the Dogwood is more 

 powerful than that of opium. The root-juice is used to poison the 

 arrows with which birds are shot in tho Antilles. It is said to be an 

 effectual remedy for mange in dogs: it is also reputed to possess 

 tanning qualities. It is one of the best timber-trees in Jamaica; the 

 wood is coarse, heavy, resinous, and almost imperishable, lasting 

 equally well in or out of water; hence it makes excellent piles for 

 docks and wharfs. 



P. Carthaginentit is a native of Jamaica, Guadaloupe, and Carthagena, 

 on the mountains. It closely resembles the former species, and is 

 scarcely distinguishable from it. 



(Don, Dichlamydeoui Plants; Lindley, Flora Medico, ; Burnett, 

 Outline! of Botany.) 



PISCIS. [Fisii.] 



PISI'DIA. [POHCELLANID*.] 



PISI'DIUM. [CYCLAmDj?.] 



PI'SODUS, a genus of Fossil Fishes. 



PISOLITE, or Pea-Stone, a variety of carbonate of lime, which 

 occurs in globules from one-eighth to half an inch in diameter, im- 

 bedded in a calcareous cement; they usually consist of concentric 

 lamellae, in the midst of which is generally a grain of sand. 



PISSODES. [CuncULio.] 



