817 



STRATIOTES. 



STREPTOSPONDYLUS. 



918 



iron pyrites, silica, &c., introduced through the apparently solid 

 texture of the external parts according to the peculiar circumstances 

 of the operation. Thus by a peculiar species of electrical transfer, 

 analogous to what is supposed in the cose of mineral veins, the 

 internal cavities become filled, and the result is the septarium, for 

 whose formation internal heat was once deemed necessary by the 

 advocates of the Huttonian hypothesis. (Playfair, ' Illustrations,' 

 p. 30.) Derived from sources so various, and aggregated under 

 aqueous agencies so diversified in respect of power and direction, it 

 ia not surprising that the stratified rocks present themselves in a 

 variety of appearances. It is clear that in the same bed of the ancient 

 sea, or on the same basin of the actual sea, contemporaneous surfaces 

 of deposition might extend over calcareous, argillaceous, arenaceous, 

 and pebbly deposits : that in different basins contemporaneous deposits 

 might be extremely unlike ; and that metamorphism, more or less 

 important, must be allowed to have often further increased such 

 original diversity. Yet, notwithstanding these limitations, it appears 

 to be a fact sufficiently established that there are general characters 

 of mineral composition and structural aggregation which are asso- 

 ciated with the strata of each great period of the earth's history, so 

 as more or less completely to distinguish one period from another. 

 [GEOLOGY.] 



STRATIO'TES, a genus of Endogenous Plants belonging to the 

 natural order Hydrocharidocece, It has a 3-parted calyx and 3 petals. 

 The male flower baa 12 or more stamens surrounded by numerous 

 abortive ones. The female baa 6 deeply bifid styles. The berry ia 

 inferior, 6-celled, and many-seeded. 



S. aloides, Water-Soldier, has sword-shaped triangular ciliate spinous 

 leaves. The root creeps extensively in the mud, and sends out rigid 

 leaves like those of an aloe. The stalk is compressed, 5 or 6 inches high, 

 with two leaves near its summit The flower is white and delicate. It 

 is a very ornamental aquatic plant, and is found in ditches in the east 

 of England. It remains under water during the greater part of the 

 year, but raises itself to the surface on special stalks during the 

 season for fertilising the seeds. 



STRAWBERRY, the English name of the fruit and plant of the 

 Fragaria, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Jioiacece. 

 The fruit of the Fragaria is one of the most delicious of our summer 

 fruits. The name Fragaria U derived from the Latin Pmgum : and 

 the English name from the practice in this country of cultivating the 

 plant with straw surrounding it 



The genus Prayaria is known in its family by possessing a calyx 

 with a concave tube, the limb of which, is 10-parted, and the outer 

 5 segments accessory; 5 petals; stamens and carpels indefinite, the 

 latter placed upon a fleshy and succulent receptacle, forming the juicy 

 and succulent part of the fruit 



The species are perennial plants, throwing out runners ; the leaves 

 are trifoliate, each leaflet being coarsely toothed ; the receptacle on 

 which U seated the carpels, and which is called the fruit, ia round, 

 and assumes a variety of colours from a scarcely perceptible pink to 

 a dark red. 



Several species of this genus have been described. Linnams gave 

 only two ; but Wildenow admitted eight ; and Don, in ' Miller's 

 Dictionary,' enumerates fourteen. Ducbesne, who is followed by 

 many French botanists, makes only two species, and makes the 

 species of other writers varieties of these. All of them are natives 

 of temperate or cold climates ; and are found in Europe, America, 

 and the mountains of Asia. 



F. vctca, Wood or Alpine Strawberry, has plicate leaves, pilose 

 beneath ; the sepal* reflexed, and the hairs on the peduncle pressed 

 down. It is found wild in woods and on hill-sides throughout 

 Europe, and is abundant in Great Britain. Duchesne describes eight 

 varieties of this species, mostly characterised by the different form of 

 the fruit or fleshy receptacle. Many of these produce the cultivated 

 varieties which are known in gardens. The F. v. itmperjlorens produces 

 the Red, the White, the American, and Danish Alpine strawberries, all 

 of which are of a fine flavour, and gnatly valued. F. v. minor pro- 

 duces the Red Wood-Strawberry, or Frasier d'Angleterre, and the 

 White Wood-Strawberry, both very fine kinds. To the F. v. eflagdlii 

 belongs the Red and White Alpine Bush-Strawberry, but these do 

 not produce so good fruit as the last 



P. collina, the Hill Strawberry, has the sepals erect after flowering, 

 and the hairs on tho peduncles and calyx erect. This species is a 

 native of Switzerland aud Germany, and is characterised by its pro- 

 ducing green fruit. The varieties of strawberries which are called 

 Green are the produce of this species. In flavour and size they are 

 only a second-rate strawberry. 



f. Majaufea, the Majaiife of the French. 



F. etjtior, the Hautbois Strawberry, has the sepals reflexed on the 

 peduncle, the hairs of the peduncles and petioles extending horizon- 

 tally. It U a native of North America, nd is occasionally found in 

 groves in the south of England. Tho shape, size, and colour of the 

 fruit of the Hautbois are subject to great varieties, according to its 

 mod* of cultivation. It is the parent of a great number of sorts 

 known in gardens, must of which, when properly managed, produce 

 fruit* of a Bret-rate kind. 



F. Viryiniana, the Virginian Strawberry. 



F. grandiflora, Large-Flowered Strawberry, is a native of Surinam, 



and has furnished our gardens with the sorts called Pine Straw- 

 berries. 



F. Chilensis, Chili Strawberry, is a native of South America, both 

 in Chili and Peru. 



STRAWBERRY-TREE. [ARBUTUS.] 



STREPSI'CERUS. [ ANTILOPEJE. ] 



STREPSILAS. [CHABADRIADfi] 



STREPSI'PTERA, an order of Insects, remarkable for having the 

 anterior wings transformed into a pair of short, slender, contorted 

 appendages, whilst the posterior are very lar?e, aud fold in the manner 

 of a fan. The mouth is armed with two slender acute jaws and two 

 2-poiuted palpi. The tarsi are 2- 3- or 4-jointed. The larva is vermi- 

 form, and has no feet The pupae are inactive. They are all very 

 small creatures, the largest not so long as a quarter of an inch. Tho 

 larva) are parasitic on the bodies of wasps and bees. The perfect insects 

 are very short-lived, but very active. 



These insects are the Rhipiptera of Latreille (Diptera Rkipidoptera 

 of Lamarck). Their systematic position has been much debated. 



They were first observed by Mr. Kirby, who gives the following 

 account of his discovery : Observing acarus-like animals infesting 

 the abdomens of various Andrerue, he attempted to remove one, and 

 to his surprise drew from the body of the bee a white fleshy larva a 

 quarter of an inch long, the head of which he had mistaken for an 

 acarus. " How the animal receives its nourishment seems a mystery. 

 Upon examining the head under a strong magnifier, I could not dis- 

 cover any mouth or proboscis with which it might perforate the 

 corneous covering of the abdomen, and so support itself by suction ; 

 on the under side of the head, at its junction with the body, there 

 was a concavity ; but I could observe nothing in this but a uniform 

 unbroken surface. As the body of the animal is inserted in the 

 body of the bee, does that part receive its nutriment from it by 

 absorption ? After I had examined one specimen, I attempted to 

 extract a second ; and the reader may imagine how greatly my astonish- 

 ment was increased, when, after I had drawn it out a little way, I saw 

 its skin burst, and a head as black as ink, with large staring eyes, 

 and antenna! consisting of two branches, break forth and move itself 

 briskly from side to side. It looked like a little imp of darkness just 

 emerging from the infernal regions. I was impatient to become better 

 acquainted with so singular a creature. When it was completely dis- 

 engaged, and I had secured it from making its escape, I set myself to 

 examine it as accurately as possible, and I found, after a careful 

 inquiry, that I had not only got a nondescript, but also an insect of 

 a new genus, whoao very class seemed dubious." (' Monographia 

 Apium Angliaa,' voL ii. p. 111.) 



Stylops and Xenot are the only two genera belonging to thia order. 



(Westwood, Families of Insects.) 



STUEPTAXIS (J. E. Gray), a genus of Mollmca, separated from 

 Helix on account of the eccentricity of the penultimate whorl. 

 [HEI.ICID.B.I 



STREPTOSPO'NDYLUS, H. Von Meyer's name for an extinct 

 genus of Reptiles belonging to the Co3loapondyliau tribe of the Croco- 

 dilian order in the arrangement of Professor Owen, who thus defines 

 the vertebral characters of this highly-interesting form, the Steneo- 

 sauriti roitro-major of Geoffroy, and the Crocodile d'Honfleur of 

 Cuvier : 



" The distinguishing vertebral characters are a ball-and-socket 

 articulation of the bodies of the vertebra;: but the positions of the 

 ball and cavity are the reverse of those in the existing crocodiles, the 

 convexity being on the anterior part of the vertebra), and the con- 

 cavity directed backwards. In the anterior vertebrae, which have the 

 ribs articulated with the body, there is a deep pit beliind the costal 

 articular surface ; the transverse process rises by four salient ridges, 

 one from each oblique proceasi, and the two inferior and principal ones 

 from the base of the neurapophyais ; these ridges converge at an acute 

 angle as they ascend, and meet at the under part of the trauverse 

 process, so as to include a triangular space, which is deeply concave. 

 A third salient ridge ascends from the fore part of the base of the 

 ueurapophysis to the anterior oblique process, nearly parallel with the 

 posterior of the two last mentioned ridges, so that the side of each 

 ueurapophysis appears as if marked wilh the letter N in high relief. 

 In the cervical and anterior dorsal vertebra) there are, instead of a 

 single inferior spinous process, two ridges, which terminate each in 

 front by a tubercle." (' Report on British Fossil Reptiles : ' British 

 Association.) 



Portions of the remains of this animal have been found in the 

 Oolite in the vicinity of Chipping Norton, among which the anterior 

 hulf of an anterior doreal vertebra belonging to this animal, and in the 

 collection of Mr. Kingdon of that town, is minutely described in 

 Professor Owen's report. Other vertebra) were also found. 



A portion of a compressed conical hollow tooth, with a brown 

 dense glistening dentine, resembling that of the Megalosaurus, was 

 associated with the vertebra. The length of thia fragment is 2 inches 

 4 lines, but both ends are wanting. The breadth is 8 lines; the 

 thickness 5 lines. 



" If it really belongs to the Streptoipondylus," says Professor Owen, 

 " it confirms the view of the affinity of that genus to Megalosaurus, 

 which has been suggested by the characters of the vertebra," 



Professor Owen notices a posterior dorsal vertebra from the jet-rock 



