PLATALEA. 



PLATINUM. 



Italians; Pal*. Poehe, Cueiller. Trublo (Belon), utd Spatule of the 

 French ; Weioer Luffrlrr uid U>ffrl Gans of tba Germans ; Lepelaar 

 of the Netherlander*; Y Uydon Big of the Welsh; and Spoonbill 

 and While Spooubill of the Kngli.h. 



This bird ha* a very full long occipital erect, formed of looso and 

 subulate leathers. 



Very old mala* bare all the plumage pare white, with the exception 

 of that of the breest, where there is a large patch of reddish yellow ; 

 the extremities of thi* patch lessen into bends which unite on the 

 upper part of the back. Naked akin about the eyes and throat palo- 

 yellow, but slightly tinged with red on the lower part of the throat 

 BUI black, but bluish in the hollow of the furrows, apex ochreous 

 yellow ; iris red ; feet black. Total length 2 feet 6 inches ; length of 

 bill 8 inches 6 line*. 



UM female* are rather lew than those of the male ; the crest is less 

 full and shorter, and the sternal patch is only very feebly indicated. 



Young of the Year. White on leaving the nest, with the exception 

 of the external quills, which are black along the shafts and at their 

 cods ; all the ahafu are also of a deep black. Head covered with short 

 rounded feathers; the bill, 4 inches 6 lines long at most, is of a deep 

 ash-colour, soft, very flexible, and covered by a smooth skin ; iris ash- 

 coloured ; naked parU tarnished white. The yellow uternal patch does 

 not begin to appear till the second or third year. (Temmiuck.) 



Mr. Selby observes that in its anatomy it shows an affinity to the 

 Cranes in the form of the windpipe, which, previous to entering the 

 thorax, undergoes a double flexure to the extent of about two inches, 

 and forms a convolution similar to the figure 8. The flexures touch, 

 but do not cross each other, the points of contact being united by fine 

 membranes. This double flexure, according to Willughby and Tem- 

 minck, was supposed peculiar to the males, but Mr. Selby remarks 

 that Montagu disproves that idea, as the specimen he dissected was a 

 female, and yet possessed the flexure to the extent above described ; 

 and this indiscriminate characteristic was corroborated by the dissec- 

 tion of the specimens which Mr. Selby obtained. 



It feeds on very small fish, spawn, testaceous molluscs, insects and 

 aquatic worms, small reptiles, and the roots of some weeds and grasses. 



The Common Spoonbill haunts the mouths of rivers. Its nest is 

 built sometimes on lofty trees, sometimes in rushes and reeds, accord- 

 ing to circumstances, and the eggs are from two to four in number, 

 generally three, sometimes entirely white, but most frequently white 

 marked with obscure red spots. They bred annually in the time of 

 Kay in a wood at Sevenhuys, not far from Leyden, but the wood has 

 been long destroyed. 



White Spoonbill (Platalta lamniia). 



They are generally distributed throughout Europe. Holland appears 

 to be a principal place for their summer meetings ; and Temminck 

 sUtes that it has two periods of passage along the maritime coasts, 

 and that it journeys with the storks. As winter approaches it migrates 

 to more southern regions till the milder weather recals it. Mr. Ben- 

 nett states that in winter it takes up its quarters in various parts of 

 Africa, extending southwards even to the Cape of Good Hope. It U, 

 he observes, rarely met with in inland countries except on the banks 

 of the larger rivers; but It is by no means uncommon during the 

 season on the coasts of the great extent of country which it em- 

 braces in its visits. In England it only appears occasionally ; Pennant 

 mention, a Urge flight which arrived in the marshes near Yarmouth 

 in April 1771. Montagu records it as having been sometimes seen 

 daring winter on the coast of South Devon, and mentions the receipt 

 of two specimens from that pert of the country, one in November 

 1804, and a second in 1807. Mr. Yarrell records two specimens which 

 were shot hi Lincolnshire hi 1826, and Mr. Selby, when in London in 

 830, obtained a male and female, in fine adult plumage, from Norfolk. 



Dr. Latham states an instance of its occurrence on the Kentish coast. 

 The old quatrain in the ' Portraits d'Oyseaux,' speaks of the Spoonbill 

 under the name of Pale, as living " es marches do Bretsgne." 



The flesh of the Spoonbill, when well fed and fat, is said nearly to 

 resemble that of the goose in flavour. 



1'I.ATANACE.iE, Planet, a natural order of Exogenous Plants. 

 The species are amentiferous trees or shrubs, with alternate deciduous 

 palmate or toothed stipulate leaves, and unisexual naked flowers in 

 globose catkins. The barren flowers with stamens single, mixed with 

 scales. Fertile flowers with ovary 1 -celled, style thick and subulate. 

 Ovules 1-2, orthotropal ; suspended. Nuts clavate, with a persistent 

 style. Seeds usually solitary and albuminous ; radicle inferior. They 

 are natives of the Levant and North America chiefly. They are fine 

 trees, but their timber is not durable. 



Plutanut oricntali*, Oriental Plane, has palmate leaves resembling 

 those of the common Sycamore. It grows in the western parts of 

 Asia, and extends as far east as Cashmere. Its wood is fine-grained 

 and bard, and when old it acquires dork veins so as to resemble 

 walnut-wood. The tree was valued for its shade by the Greeks and 

 Romans, and it was held sacred in the East. P. occidentals is found 

 in most parts of North America, from Mexico as far as Canada. The 

 timber is of a reddish colour, and will not bear exposure to the weather. 

 There is but this one genus in the order and six species. The family 

 resembles Artocarpaceee and Altingiacece. 



(Lindlcy, Vegetable Kingdom ; Balfour, Clou-Book of Botany.) 



PLATANISTA, [CKTACEA.] 



I'LATANTHE'RA, a genus of Orchidaceous Plants, struck off 

 Habtnaria on account of the stigmatic processes of the column being 

 small and inconspicuous, or altogether obsolete, instead of being 

 lengthened into horn-like projections below the arms of the anther. 

 The species are numerous, and inhabit the temperate parts of the Old 

 World, but are rarely ornamental, and never of any known use. The 

 British Flora comprehends two species, P. bifolia and /'. chloranlha, 

 both white-flowered, and called Butterfly-Orchis. [HABEXAMA.] 



PLATANUS. [PLATANACE.E.] 



PLATAX. [CmrroDON.] 



PLATEMYS. [CnELOMA.] 



PLATESSA. rPLEUBONECTID.K.] 



PLATI^-IRIDIUM. {PLATINUM.] 



PLATINA. [PLATINUM.] 



PLA'TINUM, or PLA'TINA, an important metal, although it was 

 not known earlier than about the middle of the last century. It was 

 first made known in Europe by Mr. Wood, assay-master in Jamaica, 

 who met with its ore in 1741. In 1750 he published a paper upon 

 it in the ' Philosophical Transactions.' 



The name of this metal is the diminutive of ' plata,' silver, given to 

 it on account of its colour, and it was originally called Platina del 

 Pinto, because it was found in the auriferous sand of the river Pinto. 

 It has since been found in Brazil, Colombia, St. Domingo, and in the 

 Ural Mountains. 



Platinum is separated from the sand and other matters with which it 

 is mixed, by washing with a great quantity of water, from which the 

 heavier parts of course subside, and these contain the ore in question. 



The ore of platinum is composed of irregular rounded grains, which 

 are sometimes flattened; they are of various sizes, often very small, 

 and occasionally they exhibit traces of crystallisation ; but these are 

 probably derived from the presence of some other metal These grains 

 possess no cleavage. Fracture hackly. Hardness 4-0 to 4-5. Specific 

 gravity 17 '332. Opaque. Lustre metallic. Colour steel-gray. 



Berzelius has analysed many varieties of this ore, from which we 

 select two examples : (1) the ore of Barbacoas, in the province of 

 Antioquia, Colombia, and (2) that of Ooroblagodat in Siberia : 



Platinum 

 Palladium 

 1th odium 

 Iridium . 

 Osmium 

 Iron . 

 Copper 

 Gangue . 



(1.) 

 84*0 

 1-06 

 3-46 

 1-46 

 1-03 

 6-31 

 74 

 60 



(2.) 



1-00 

 M5 



P7<M M -- 



The following are the properties of pure Platinum : Its colour is 

 grayish-white, intermediate between silver and tin. When it is free 

 from iridium, it is so very ductile, that it may be drawn into very 

 fine wire, not exceeding the 2000th part of an inch in diameter ; it is 

 also very malleable, and may be beaten into thin leaves. According 

 to Berzelius, when perfectly pure, it u softer than silver, and it is 

 susceptible of receiving a fine polish. Of all metals it is the least 

 expansible. Its density varies : when fused, it is 19'50 ; when forged, 

 it is as high as 21 -4 to 21 &. 



Platinum suffers no change by exposure to the air, nor is it oxidised 

 when heated in it It does not under any circumstances decompose 

 water. It in infusible in the strongest heat of a smith's forge, but it 

 may be melted by voltaic electricity or by the oxyhydrogen blow-pipe. 

 Of all metals, except iron and copper, it is the moit tenacious ; a wire 

 of the diameter of 0787th of a line is capable of sustaining a weight 



