64) 



UANELLA. 



RANUNCULUS. 



SCO 



having the same effect as the Cocculiis Indicm, which is not however 

 known in the East Indies, where this plant grows. In the form of 

 powder it is a powerful emetic. An infusion of the bark of the root 

 is employed to produce nausea in bowel complaints. 



R. uliyinosa, the Bog-Randia, has almost terminal opposite thorns, 

 tetragonal branches, oblong leaves somewhat cuneated, glabrous. The 

 flowers solitary, sessile, almost terminal. It is a' native of the East 

 Indie?, in moist places. The flowers are large, white, and fragrant, 

 and in twos or threes at the top of the branchlets. The berry is 

 about the size of a pullet's egg, ash-coloured or olive-gray, and 

 2-celled. The seeds are fiattiah, nestling in the pulp. The flowers 

 of this species render it deserving of a conspicuous place iu the 

 hot-house. 



(Lindley, Flora Medico.) 



RANELLA. [SIPHONOSTOMATA.] 



RANGIFER. [CERVIDJJ.] 



RANICEPS, a genus of Subbrachial Malacopterygious Fishes, 

 belonging to the family Gadidce. It has the following characters : 

 Head depressed; body compressed; two dorsal fins, the first very 

 small, the second dorsal and the anal fins elongated; ventral fins 

 small, the first two rays lengthened and separated. 



R. trifurcatut, the Lesser-Forked Beard, the Tadpole-Fish. Pen- 

 nant describes two species of Ranicept as belonging to the British 

 Fauna, R. Jago and R. trifurcatut. Dr. Johnston, of Berwick, was 

 the first to suspect they might be the same fish ; and Mr. Yarrell, 

 after comparing Dr. Johnston's specimens with descriptions by Mr. 

 Couch, of Cornwall, comes to the conclusion that the two species 

 mentioned by Pennant are one and the same. It is a rare fish ; but 

 Mr. Thompson records a specimen as taken in Ireland, and Dr. Parnell 

 describes it in his ' History of the Fishes of the Frith of Forth.' 



(Yarrell, Ifittory of Brituh Figltei.) 



RA'NID.. [AMPHIBIA.] 



RANINID^E, a tribe of the family Apterura, belonging to the 

 section of Anomourous Decapod Crustaceans. 



This tribe, in its general form and in the conformation of its feet, 

 approaches very closely to the Hippidie, and especially to the Albiaiea. 



[HlPPA.] 



l;.tt,ina dentata, 

 a, seen from above ; b, seen from below. 



The carapace is convex laterally, nearly straight from before back- 

 wards, wide and truncated anteriorly, and gradually narrowed back- 

 wards. The ocular peduncles are lodged in the orbits, but are bent 

 (coud(!s), and composed of three moveable pieces. The internal 

 antenree have DO Cossets, and are not capable of bending themselves 

 bock under the front; the external antennae are very short and very 

 stout at their bases. The external jaw-feet are very much elongated, 

 but not pediform, and behind their insertion the pterygostomian 

 regions of the carapace unite themselves to the sternal plastron, 

 without leaving any aperture for the entry of the water into the 



branchial cavity. The sternal plastron is very large anteriorly, but 

 becomes linear between the third or fourth last pair of feet. The 

 anterior feet are very much compressed, and their immoveable finger 

 projects but very little, so that the moveable finger is bent back 

 against the anterior border of the hand, nearly as in the subche- 

 liform feet. 



M. Milne-Edwards makes this tribe consist of three genera, thus 

 characterised : 



(Linear between the f c *3S on the exO 

 r n, r t tJ ternal border a 1 



ggj sr.iS!ft"t ssssrv 



. , Second joint oftholnot enlarged exter- 



sternal 

 plastron. 



R ... 



externid antenna; j nally J 



Very wide between the base of the second 1 



pair of feet, which are widely separated V Raninoidei 

 from the third pair. 



Ranina dmtata may be taken as an example of the tribe. It 

 inhabits the Indian Seas ; Mauritius. 



Rumphius states that it conies to land, and creeps even to the tops 

 of houses. 



Cancer donipes, figured by Rumphius, and confounded by most 

 modern authors with Raninoidei Icevis and Albunea, Symniita, appears 

 to belong to this genus. 



In the neighbourhood of this tribe M. Milne-Edwards places Eryon 

 Caribemii of Frdmiuville. 



The fossil designated by Rauzani as Ranina A Idrovandi belongs, in 

 the opinion of M. Milne-Edwards, to the tribe of llaniuians, and may 

 be referred to the genus Ranina. 



RANUNCULACE-iE, Crowfoots, a natural order of Exogenous 

 Plants. The species are herbs, rarely shrubs, with an acrid watery 

 juice, and generally with much-divided exstipulate leaves, the petioles 

 of which are dilated and sheathing ; sepals 3 to 6, usually deciduous, 

 sometimes deformed ; petals 3 to 15, sometimes anomalous, at other 

 times suppressed; stamens hypo<rynous; anthers adnate; carpels 

 numerous, 1-celled, or united into a single many celled pistil; ovary 

 one- or more-seeded, the ovules sutural, styles simple; ovules ana- 

 tropal ; fruit either consisting of dry achenia, or baccate with one or 

 more seeds, or follicular with one or two valves. Seeds albuminous, 

 when solitary either erect or pendulous ; embryo minute ; albumen 

 horny. The Buttercup or Crowfoot Family characterise a cold damp 

 climate, and when met with in the tropics, they occur on the sides 

 and summits of mountains. There are about a thousand known 

 species, of which l-5th is found iu Europe and l-7th in North America. 

 The plants of this order have narcotic acrid properties, and are 

 usually more or less poisonous. The acridity varies at different 

 seasons, and in different parts of the plant ; it is frequently votatilised 

 by beat, and destroyed by drying. Some of the species are bitter and 

 tonic. Dr. Wright remarks that notwithstanding the ancient reputa- 

 tion of this order as medicinal agents, nearly the whole have fallen 

 into disuse, owing to the uncertainty of their action. 



The illustrative genera are A conilum, which furnishes Aconite, or 

 Monk's Hood. [ACONITUM.] Clemantii. [CLEMATIS.] Coptis. [Corns.] 

 Delphinium, the species of which are known as Larkspurs. [DELPHI- 

 NIUM.] Jlellcborut, the Hellebore of the ancients, famed as a drastic 

 purge. [HELLEBORUS; PJEONIA.] Nigella. [NIQELLA.] RannnctUus, 

 Crowfoot, or Buttercup, whence the order is named. [RANUNCULUS.] 



(Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom ; Balfour, Clawbook of Botany.) 



RANUNCULUS (from ' rana,' a frog, because many of the species 

 inhabit humid places frequented by that reptile), a genus of Plants, 

 the type of the natural order Ranunculacece. It has 5 sepals, occa- 

 sionally 10, with a nectariferous excavated scale at the base. The 

 stameas and ovaries are numerous, the achenia ovate, somewhat com- 

 pressed, mucronate, arranged on globose or cylindrical receptacles. 

 The species are mostly acrid, and if applied when fresh to the skin will 

 produce blisters; this quality is destroyed by drying or by heat. 



R. aquatilit, Water-Crowfoot, has a floating stem and submersed 

 leaves divided into numerous capillary segments spreading on all sides. 

 The floating leaves are reniform, from 3- to 5 parted, the lobes wedge- 

 shaped, toothed at the top, the petals obovate, larger than the calyx, 

 the flowers white. It is a native throughout Europe, Western Asia, 

 North Africa, and also in America and England, in pools and stagnant 

 waters. It is the Barpdx'ov TfoapToy of Dioscorides, 2. 206. Some- 

 times it produces very large flowers, and makes a handsome show in 

 ponds and ditches. The curious variety in the floating and immersed 

 leaves adds greatly to its beauty. Dr. Pulteney contradicts the asser- 

 tion of its deleterious qualities, and says that it is not merely harmless 

 but nutritive to cattle, and tells us that on the borders of the Avon 

 the cottagers support their cows and horses almost wholly on this 

 plant. Hogs are also fed upon this plant, and appear to thrive on it, 

 so that it seems we cannot class this species with others of the same 

 genus aa having poisonous qualities. 



R. flammula, Flame-Crowfoot, is a smooth plant with a rooting 

 decumbent stem, branched, leafy, and hollow, sometimes hairy near 

 the top. The leaves are on flat channelled half-sheathing stalks, 

 alternate, usually ovate, lanceolate, but varying much in breadth 

 often serrated. The flowers are terminal, opposite the leaves, and u' 



