PSITTACin.E. 



PSYLLA. 



qakatly rnsrnnhling the barking of * dog ; and in 

 Yu's 'New Zrniaud' we an informed that the Xator kypopolitu. 

 known then by the name of Kaka, U ' capable of learning to imitate 

 the human TOMB to a remarkable decree. . . The cry of thu bird, 

 I ranging at lar/e in the wood*, u hanh and disagreeable in the 

 OM.' Although I cannot avert it for a certainty, I hare every 

 a to believe that both three birds frequently descend to the 

 f round and grub up with their lengthened bills the bulbous and other 

 roots which form a portion of their food, particularly a* I have found 

 earth etill adhering to the mandible* of the specimens I have examined ; 

 besidte which, I have been informed by Captain Sturt that a parrot 

 inhabiting Australia, having a similar bill, but belonging to another 

 group, is frequently in the habit of no doing." 



' 



e 



Long -Billed Parrot (Xtttor pniuttiu). 



The genera Piitlatula and Agapornit appear to be the most diminu- 

 tive of this extensive and interesting tribe. The latter, a ready 

 example of which occurs in the Love-Birds, BO extensively petted, and 

 remarkable for their sexual attachment, was separated frt>m I'tittacula 

 l.y Sir W. Jardine and Mr. Selby. 



Tl.- following cut will give some idea of the form of Ptittacute 

 ' of Swiinson). 





LOT* Bird (riillacvta Tomato). 



Th student should carefully consult the monograph of Kuhl, and 

 that of Wagler : and of illuntrated works should direct his attention 

 more particularly to Ix> Vaillant's ' 1'erroqunts,' with figures after the 

 Mkbnted BlrabMd| Lear's ' Parrots ;' Swainson's 'Zoological 

 lUuatraUons,' 1st and 2nd series; and Selby's ' ParroU,' containing 



saatful figure* after Lear, though on a small scale, and 

 forming the 6th volume of the 'Ornithology' of the 'Naturalists' 

 Library.' -*( 



Thoee who krrp bind belonging to this [group would do well to 

 study their natural habits, if they wish to i keep them in health. 

 Some, as we have seen, live upon the necUr of flowers, others on soft 

 fmiu, and others again on hard fruit*, for breaking which they are 

 gifted with a powerful vice of a bill. We have known a case where 



the upper mandible of the bill of a patrol of this last description, 

 which had been kept upon soft food, grew to such a length as to begin, 

 to penetrate its throat. To such a moderate proportion of hard food, 

 such as almonds, and even harder food, should be presented. Some 

 of the tribe have bred in captivity ; and there is little doubt that if 

 pairs were kept in good roomy cages, with a part of them so fitted up 

 as to remind them of their favourite hollow trees, and furnished with 

 dry rotten wood or vegetable earth, the instances would be compara- 

 tively frequent. 



PSITTIROSTRA, M. Temminck's name for a genus of Omnivorous 

 Bird', which he places between the Crossbills (Lojria) and the 

 Bullfinches (J'yrrhula). 



PSOLIU.'E. a tribe of JSchinodermata, in the order Jfolflhurladir. 

 The only British genus, included by the late Professor E. Forbes in 

 this tribe, is I'tolut, which is thus characterised : Body irregular, 

 ascidiform ; suckers in five rows, three only of which are developed 

 and placed on a soft foot or disc ; teutacula ten. 



P. phantaptu (Holothuria phantaput, Linnxus), the Snail Sea- 

 Cucumber, is an inhabitant of the British Seas. It is of a brown 

 colour, has the head reddish-white with orange spots and orange ten- 

 tacula, the body covered with pectinated scales, or ruga. It adheres 

 to substances with great firmness by means of its ventral disc. " So 

 powerfully does it adhere," says Professor E. Forbes, " that I have 

 known the head of the animal carried away by the dredge when it 

 brought up entire every other fixed animal which it came in contact 

 with." It is found in European seas, and the genus ranges to the 

 Indian seas. Professor Forbes says, " The Ptolut ternaria of Jiiger 

 and Lesson, should form the type of another genus, distinguished by 

 its twenty tentacula. The genus Cuvieria of Peron should be united 

 with Ptoliu." 



(Forbes, Jfutory of Srititlt Star-Fuhei.) 



PSOLINUS. [PESTACT*.] 



PSOPHIA, a genus of Birds. The P. crepilaru, is called the Agami. 

 [AGA.MI.] 



PSOPHOCARPUS. [Doucnos.] 



PSORA'LEA (so called from the Greek ^apa\4ai, ' warted,' on 

 account of most of the species being covered with little tubercles), a 

 genu of Papilionaceous Plants belonging to the natural family of 

 Leyuminoice, characterised by the tube of the permanent calyx being 

 xprinklcd with callous points. Sepals 5, united to the middle ; 

 stamens 10, usually diadelphous. Legume indehiscent, 1 -seeded, some- 

 times ending in a beak. Leaves of various forms. Flowers blue, 

 white, or purple. The species, about CO in number, and natives of 

 different parts of the world, are cither herbaceous plants or low 

 shrubs, some of them ornamental, and all of them easy of culture. 

 They may be propagated either by cuttings or seeds, which they 

 produce abundnntly. 



P. aculenia, the Bread-Root of North America, is cultivated along 

 the banks of the Missouri and in other parts of that country. The 

 roots, which abound in farinaceous matter, are, liko the tubers of the 

 potato, employed as food, especially during the winter months. In 

 this climate it will grow in the open air, but requires the protection 

 of a frame to produce abundant crops of roots. P. corylifolia is 

 diffused over every part of India, especially in the vicinity of villages, 

 during the rainy and cold seasons. It is employed as a stomachic and 

 deobatruent. Other species are also used medicinally. P. glandulotn 

 is called in Chili, Coulen, Culen, or Cullen. Some of the native tribes 

 make a very intoxicating kind of beer from a variety called Yellow 

 Cullen. 



PSYCHOMYA. [NEUROFTERA.] 



PSYCHO'TRIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Cinelimacae. It is characterised by having a calyx 5-parted, some- 

 what entire ; corolla regular, funnel-shaped, 5 (rarely 4) cleft; stamens 

 5, rarely 4, exserted or included within the throat of the corolla. 

 Stigma bifid. Berry drupaceous, crowned with the limb of the calyx, 

 usually marked with 10 ribs, and containing two nut*. Nuts ribbed; 

 single seeded. Trees or shrubs ; rarely herbaceous plants. Some of 

 the species are ornamental in foliage, and one, /'. paratitica, as 

 its name indicates, is found growing on trees in the West India 

 I-! .iii.l- 



Several of the species are supposed to posses* considerable medici- 

 nal properties. P. emetica is a small under-shrub, a native of New 

 Granada on the banks of the Magdalena, and probably of other parts 

 of South America, ; the Cepkalit cmttica of some other authors. The 

 stem is erect, simple, hairy, and tomentose ; leaves oblong-acuminate, 

 narrow at the base, membranous, ciliate, rather hairy on the under 

 Niirfacc ; stipules very short, ovate-acuminate ; peduncles few-flowered, 

 axillary, sub-racemose. This specios has long been celebrated as 

 yielding the black or Peruvian or striated ipecacuanha, which, analysed 

 by Pelletier gave of emetine 6, fatty matter 2, and of starch and 

 ligneous matter (the latter bearing but a small proportion) 92. P. 

 hertiacta Is an Indian species used for the same purposes. The roots 

 of P. rulphurea and of P linctoria are employed in dyeing. 



PSYLLA (Qeoffroy), a genus of Insects belonging to the family 

 Aphida, which, according to Latrcille, forms the second family of the 

 llomopteroiin I/emiptera. 



The Piylla are minute insects, allied to those commonly called 

 Plant-Lice, and live upon trees and plants, from which they derive 



