9 IS 



STRYGOCEPHALUS. 



STURNIDjE. 



916 



S. St. fgnatii, St. Ignatius's Bean, has ovate acute glabrous leaves; 

 pyrifonn fruit with many seeds, and 4-flowered axillary peduncles. 

 It is a climbing shrub, without tendrils, bearing long drooping white 

 flowers, which have the scent of jasmine. This species is the Jgnatia 

 amara of Linnaeus, but has been referred to the present genua by later 

 botanists. It is a native of Cochin-China, the Philippine Islands, and 

 other parts of Asia. This plant is called Papeeta in India, and is 

 used l>y the native doctors as a remedy in cholera, but is administered 

 in conjunction with Jehiree (Cocot Maldivica). When given in over- 

 doses the symptoms are those of poisoning by strychnia, as vertigo, 

 convulsions, &c,, and the remedy used for these effects is lemonade in 

 large quantities, which is said to afford relief speedily. 



& colubi'ina, Snake-Wood, or Snake-Poison-Nut, is a climbing plant 

 with simple tendrils; leaves oblong or oval, obtuse, 3-nerved, shining; 

 ovaries many-seeded. It is a native of the coast of Coromandel and 

 of Silhet. It has small greenish-yellow flowers, and fruit as large as 

 an orange, of a yellowish colour. It is called by the Telingas Naga 

 Munadi, and is considered by the Indian doctors as an effectual 

 remedy for the bite of the Nagra, or Cobra di Capella, a well-known 

 poisonous snake ; for this purpose it is used both externally and inter- 

 nally. It should however be stated as the result of the observation 

 of the most intelligent travellers, that these vegetable remedies are 

 not to be depended on in cases of bites of serpents, and that where 

 danger is apprehended the only effectual remedy is excising the 

 wound. The wood of this and other species of the genus is brought 

 to this country, ai.d is known under the name Lignum, colubrinum. 



.$'. Ticute, Tjettek, or Upas Tieute, has elliptical, acuminate, 3-nerved, 

 glabrous leaves, and simple tendrils which are thickened opposite the 

 solitary leaves. This plant is a climbing shrub, and is a native of 

 Java, and is said to be the true Upas-Tree of that country. It is 

 undoubtedly the most poisonous species of the genus, and yields the 

 greatest quantity of strychnia. There are several other plants which 

 are called by the name of Upas in various parts of Asia. The natives 

 of Java prepare from this species one of the most deadly of the 

 various poisons that are used by barbarous nations for producing 

 death by the wounds occasioned by their arrows. 



K tosifera, Wooraly, Urari, or Poieou-Plant of Guyana, has a 

 climbing stem, thickly covered with long spreading reddish hnirs; 

 coarse, rough, 5-nerved, ovate, or oblong, shortly acuminate leaves ; 

 large round fruit. This plant is a native of Guyana, and was brought 

 to this country by Sir Robert Schomburgk. It had long been 

 suspected that the poison used by the American Indians for their 

 arrows was a species of Strychnon, but such is the secrecy with 

 which they gather the plant and prepare the poison, that all inquiries 

 had been frustrated. Sir Robert's long stay in Guyana has ena- 

 bled him to decide this point: by bribing some of the natives, he 

 induced them to guide him to a spot where their famous Urari 

 flourished, and on arriving at the place, found it to be the species of 

 Strychuos above described. In the preparation of the poison, the 

 Urari is not the only ingredient, but forms about half of the bulk of 

 the ingredients used. For a full account of the discovery of this plant, 

 and the mode of making the poison, with its effects on the animal 

 economy, the reader is referred to Sir Robert Schomburgk's account 

 of the Indian arrow-poison. ('Annals of Natural History,' vol. vii. 

 p. 407.) It is remarkable that the poison prepared from this plant, 

 though destroying life co rapidly when applied to a wound, may be 

 taken into the stomach in doses of several grains without producing 

 any ill effects, and it has even been proposed as a remedy in many 

 diseases. It must be admitted however that it is a dangerous remedy 

 to administer, as by coming in contact with the slightest abrasion of 

 surface or ulceration, it might immediately destroy life. 



.\ ]Mudo-quina, Quina do Campo, has short-stalked, ovate, quin- 

 tupled-nerved leaves, which are callous at the edge, and smooth or 

 nearly so above. It is a native of Brazil, and forms a scrubby plant 

 about 12 feet high, with a corky bark. Its fruit is a smooth shining 

 berry of a yellow colour, containing only four feeds. This plant is 

 not poisonous, and is remarkable for its bitterness, which gives it a 

 resemblance to the Gentians and Cinchonas. The fruit of this species 

 is eaten by the native children. The fruit also of another species, S. 

 brackiata, is eaten by deer in Peru, and that of <S>'. tpinosa, a Malagash 

 plant, i greedily devoured by swine. 



BTRYGOCK'PHALUS. [BRACHIOPODA.] 



STUROKON. [STnmoMn*.] 



STUUIO'NIKvK, a family of Fishes belonging to the section 

 Chfrndropterygii, the species of which are distinguished from others 

 of the section by the gills being free, as in ordinary fishes, thus 

 differing from the second great division of the fishes having a cartila- 

 ginous ckcleton, such as the Sharks and Rnys, in which the gills tire 

 fixed, and have their outer margin attached to the skin. The 

 fflwiaimi*, or Sturgeon Tribe, have moreover but one opening to the 

 gills, and this is protected by an opcrculum. 



Four genera are contained in this family, Accipemer, Spatuluria, 

 Chimara, and Callorhynchut. To the first of these genera belongs 

 the Common Sturgeon (Accipenier Xlurio, Linn.), which is not uu- 

 frequently met with in mouths of English rivers. It is of an elongated 

 form, and has the body protected by numerous indurated plates, 

 which are arranged in longitudinal series; the head is entirely 

 covered by bony plates; the muzzle is elongated, and more or less 



HIT. HIST. D1V. VOL. IV. 



pointed ; and the mouth, which is placed on the under side of the 

 head, is tubular, and destitute of teeth : on the back is a single 

 dorsal fin, which is placed on the hinder third of the fish ; the tail 

 is forked, and the upper lobe is the largest, as in the Sharks. 



"In the northern part of Europe," observes Mr. Yarrell, "thin 

 fish is much more numerous than with us, and extensive fisheries 

 are established for its destruction. Caviar is made of the roe of the 

 ft-mal"; isinglass is obtained from the dense membrane forming the 

 air-bladder ; and the flesh, besides being preserved by salting and 

 pickling, is in request for the table while fresh, being generally stewed 

 with rich gravy, and the flavour considered to ba like that of veal. 

 The flesh, like that of most of the cartilaginous fishes, is more firm 

 and compact than is usual among those of the osseous families." 



Two species of Sturgeon have long been distinguished by the 

 fishermen of the Solway Frith, the one with a blunt nose, and the 

 other with a sharp nose : the latter is the more common of the two ; 

 the former has been described by Dr. Parnell, in the 'Transactions 

 of the Royal Society of Edinburgh' (vol. xiv. pi. 4), and is intro- 

 duced by Sir. Yarrell, in the Supplemeut to hia 'History of British 

 Fihes.' 



Several very distinct species frequent the rivers of Russia, and 

 will be found described and figured by M. A. Loretzky, in the third 

 volume of the 'Transactions of the Imperial Society of Naturalists 

 at Moscow.' Three species are found in the rivers which flow iuto the 

 Black Sea, and moreover North America possesses species which are 

 peculiar. 



The genus Spatularia is distinguished by the enormous prolongation 

 of the muzzle, the sides of which are dilated. The general form of 

 the body nearly resembles that of the Sturgeons ; but the gills are 

 more open, and the opereulum is prolonged iuto a membranous point 

 behind ; the mouth is deeply cleft, and well provided with small teeth ; 

 the lobes of the tail are very nearly equal. Hut one species of this 

 curious genus is known (Squatus Spatula, Mauduit), and that is au 

 inhabitant of the Mississippi. 



Cltiitutra, Linn. Although placed in the present section, the 

 Chintierte differ considerably from the Sturgeons, and are in fact very 

 nearly allied to the Sharks. " Though in these fishes there is but one 

 apparent gill-opening," observes Sir John Richardson, in his 'Fauna 

 Boreali- Americana,' " the gills in reality adhere by a large part of their 

 borders, and there are consequently rive holes communicating with 

 the external gill-opening." They have a rudimentary operculum con- 

 cealed by the skin ; and their jaws, still more reduced than those of 

 the sharks, are furnished with hard plates, four above and two below, 

 in place of teeth. The males are distinguished by trifid bony appen- 

 dages to the ventral fins. The eggs are large and of a coriaceous 

 texture, and have flattened and hairy margins. The snout, supported 

 like that of the sharks, projects forwards, and is pierced with pores 

 arranged in tolerably regular lines; the anterior dorsal fin is armed 

 with a strong bony spine, and is placed over the pectorals. 



In the genus Ctiimcera, as at present restricted, the snout is conical ; 

 the second dorsal fin commences immediately behiud the first, and 

 extends to the tip of the tail, which is elongated and pointed, and 

 terminates in a long filament : on the under side the tail is also fur- 

 nished with a long but narrow fin. Only one species is known, the 

 Northern Chimxra (O. monttroaa, Linu.). This fiah inhabits the 

 European seas, and is said to be frequently caught following the 

 shoals of herrings, on which it preys. It is usually two or three feet 

 in length, and the general colouring of the body is silvery-white, but 

 the upper parts are mottled with browu. 



The rext genus differs from Chimccra chiefly in having the snout 

 terminated by a largish fleshy appendage. The second dorsal fin is 

 placed over the ventrals, and terminates opposite the commencement 

 of the lower tail-fin. The only species known until very recently was 

 the Antarctic Chimaera (0. CatlorUynchus, 1 .inn. i, au inhabitant of the 

 South Seas. A second species of Caliurhynchua is described by Mr. 

 Bennett under the name of 0. Kmythi, in the zoological appendix to 

 Beechj's ' Voyage;' and more recently Sir John Richardson describes 

 a species of the present genus (0. Tasrnaniut), which he regards as 

 distinct It is from Port Arthur, Van Dierneu's Laud. 



STURMIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Oi-chi- 

 dacete and the tribe Malaxideie. It has a patent perianth ; lip anterior, 

 trect or oblique, entire, dilated, much larger than the sepals; stigma 

 roundish ; rostellum obsolete, but with au appendage consisting of 

 two tubercles ; anthers terminal, deciduous, moveable like a lid, with 

 two distinct cells; column elongated ; germeu on a twisted stalk. 



S. Loeselii has the leaves oblong-lanceolate ; stem triangular ; lip 

 obovate, longer than the petals; flowers from 6 to 12, in a lax spike, 

 yellowish in colour ; the sepals lanceolate ; petals linear ; the hyber- 

 uaculum is large, ovate, inclosed in the whitish sheaths of the decayed 

 leaves. It is the Liparii of some authors. It is found in spongy bogs 

 in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, but is very rare. 



(liabiugtou, Manual of Jlritisk Jiotany.) 



BTU'RNID^E, Mr. Vigors' name for the Starling Family, belonging 

 to his order Jnsesioret. 



Linnfcus placed his genus Slm-mui, consisting of only five species, 

 among which the Water-Ouzel appears ai titurnus Cinclus, between 

 Mn ml a, and Turdus, in his order Passeres, Cuvier arranges the 

 Starlings between the Cassiques (C'aaticus) and the Crows (Gamut). 



3 p 



