969 



SUN-ROSE. 



SWALLOW TRIBE. 



970 



heads are large, from one to two feet in diameter, and composed of a 

 multitude of flowers of a beautiful yellow colour, terminal, solitary, 

 inclined, the disc vertical and ofteneat facing the south. This species 

 is the largest of the genus. It is indigenous in Mexico and Peru ; it 

 was early introduced into Europe after the discovery of America, and 

 has since been very generally cultivated in gardens, on account of its 

 very large and handsome yellow flowers. The plant however in 

 Europe never attains the height nor the flowers the size they do in 

 their native soil and climate. The albumen of the seeds of this plant 

 contains a large quantity of oil ; and it has been proposed to cultivate 

 it for the sake of obtaining this oil, which is very palateable, and 

 might be used for the table. Cows and oxen, horses, sheep, pigs, 

 rabbits, and poultry are all fond of it. When terrified in the same 

 manner as the seeds of coffee they make an agreeable drink, which 

 may be used as a substitute for that article. 



H. multijlonis, Many-Flowered Sun-Flower, is not so high a plant 

 as the last, nor are its flowers so large. It has vivacious roots, which 

 produce numerous herbaceous stems, which are branched and rough ; 

 its leaves are alternate, petiolate, dentated, the inferior ones are heart- 

 shaped, the superior oval and acuminate ; the heads of flowers are 

 numerous and not inclined. It is a native of Virginia. 



H. tuberosus, Tuberous Sun-Flower, or Jerusalem Artichoke. This 

 latter name is a barbarous corruption of the Italian Girasole, this 

 species having been introduced into Europe at the Farnese Garden at 

 Rome, whence it was originally distributed. The roots are com- 

 posed of a number of oblong tubercles, very large and fleshy, reddish 

 outside and white within, resembling a potato ; the stems are herba- 

 ceous and upright ; the leaves are alternate and opposite, petiolate, 

 oval, rough ; the heads of flowers are yellow, and small compared 

 with the two preceding species. It is a native of Brazil. In France 

 it is also known by the name of Topinambour and Poire de Terre. 

 According to Braconnot and Payen, the tubers do not contain fecula, 

 but a vegetable principle called Inulin or Dahlin. These tubers, 

 when cooked, form a good substitute for potatoes, and by some are 

 even preferred. 



Some of the species secrete a resinous juice, which is found to 

 exude from the various organs of the plant. This is most observable 

 in the B. thurifer, in which the resinous matter runs down the stem. 

 This is sometimes observed to occur in the flowers of II. annum. 

 The H. Indicut of Linnseus and our gardens is probably only a 

 variety of Jf. annum, and is not a native of India, as its name would 

 imply. This last species, according to Dr. Royle, is cultivated by the 

 natives of India for the purpose of obtaining oil from its seeds. 



SUN-ROSE. [HELIANTHEMUM.] 



SUN-STONE. [FELSPAR.] 



SURF-DUCK. [DUCKS.] 



SURIANACE^E, the name given to a supposed order of Plants repre- 

 sented by a solitary species, Suriana maritima, found on the coast of all 

 tropical countries. It is a woody plant, with alternate leaves without 

 stipules ; hairs capitate, pointed. Flowers racemose ; calyx 5-parted, 

 slightly imbricated ; petals the like number, equal, shortly clawed ; 

 stamens indefinite, hypogynous, placed in a single row ; filaments 

 subulate, anthers roundish, incumbent, bursting internally by two 

 longitudinal fissures ; carpels 5, distinct, attached to a very short 

 gynobase, 1 -celled, with two ascending collateral ovules ; styles rising 

 from near the base of the carpels^; stigmas simple ; pericarp woody. 

 Seed solitary, erect, compressed. In some respects it may be compared 

 with Coriafiaceae and Cranesbills, but its annular embryo is so pecu- 

 liar as to indicate a somewhat different relationship ; and this indeed 

 has led Dr. Wight to suggest an affinity to Phytolaccads. 



(Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom.) 



SURIRELLA. [DLATOMACE.C.] 



SU'RNIA. [STRIGID*:.] 



SUZANNITE, Sulphato-Tricarbonate of Lead, a Mineral occurring 

 crystallised in two forms, namely, an acute rhomboid and a right 

 rhombic prism. Cleavage of both forms perpendicular to the axis, 

 and very distinct. Colour white, gray, pale-yellow, or green. Streak 

 white. Hardness 2'5. Transparent, translucent. Specific gravity (i"2 

 to 6'4. It is found at Lead-Hills, in Scotland. Its analysis by Brooke 



Carbonate of Lead 

 Sulphate of Lead 



72-5 

 27-5 



-100 



SWALLOW-HAWK. 



SWALLOW TRIBE, Hirundinidai, a family of Insectivorous Birds, 

 in which the powers of flight are very highly developed, but which 

 have the feet comparatively weak. 



Belon placed the Swallows at the end of bis birds, immediately 

 following his Petit Mouchet, or Moineau de Hayo, which is engraven 

 with a fly in iU mouth. Brisson arranges the Swallow, together with 

 the Goat-Sucker [CAPBIMCWID.*] in his eighth order, consisting of 

 birds which have the bill very email, compressed horizontally at its 

 base, and hooked at its end, its aperture being larger than the head. 

 This order stands between that containing l/'jiujia and Promeropi and 

 that containing Tanyara and the Finches. 



The genus Hirundo is placed, in the twelfth edition of the ' Systema 

 Naturse,' between Caprimnlgui and Pipra, in the second division of the 

 Patieru, namely, Citrviroitrei, 'mandibul. superior, npice incurvata.' 



In Latham's method it also appears in the second section of the Passeres, 

 which is characterised much in the same way. In Lace'pede's arrange- 

 ment, Hirundo and Caprimulgus form his third order of birds (first 

 sub-class and first sub division) with ' Bee tres court,' standing between 

 the antecedent order, consisting of those with the ' Bee droit et menu ' 

 (the last genus of which is Motacilla) and the succeeding one, com- 

 prising birds with ' Bee arqueY the first genus of which is Glaucopis, 

 M. Dume'ril arranges the Swallows in his sixth family (Ptanirostres or 

 Omalorampha) of the Passeres. Meyer's Chelidones (his sixth order) 

 consist of Hirundo, Cypsdus, and Caprimulgus. The same genera 

 appear in Illiger's method as his family Hiantes, the last of his order 

 Ambulatores. In Cuvier's system the Swallows and Goatsuckers, 

 including Podargus, form his family Fissirostres, which stands between 

 the Dentirostres aud Conirostres. M. Vieillot's Chelidons are placed 

 between his Baccivores and his Myotheres, in his second tribe (Aniso- 

 dactyli). M. Temminck's eighth order, embracing the Swallows and 

 Goatsuckers, stands between the orders consisting of the Kingfishers 

 and the Pigeons. In M. Latreille's method the first genus of the first 

 family (Latirostres) of his second order (Pasaereaux) contains the Goat- 

 suckers and Swallows. 



Mr. Vigors states that the families which compose the first tribe 

 (Fissirostres) of his second order (Insessores) are distinguished from 

 those of all the other, except the Tenuirostrea, by their habit of feed- 

 ing on the wing. From the latter, or the Suctorial Birds, which meet 

 them at one of the extremes of the tribe, and of which the typical 

 families feed also on the whig, they are distinguished, he observes, by 

 their animal food, which they take by their bills or in the gape of their 

 mouths ; while the Tenuirostres live chiefly upon vegetable juices, 

 which they extract with their tongue. " The Fissirostres," says Mr. 

 Vigors in continuation, " depending so much on the powers of their 

 wings, exhibit a proportional deficiency in the strength of their legs. 

 These members are not only shorter and weaker than in the other 

 Perchers (the typical families of the Tenuirostres here again being 

 excepted, which correspond with them in this particular also), but 

 they have their external toes in general to such a degree united with 

 the internal, for the most part as far as to the second phalanx, that 

 they are deprived of the free play of the joint ; and the bird is thus 

 rendered nearly incapable of using its legs in walking, or for any pur- 

 pose besides that of mere perching. But even in this particular a group 

 of the typical family appears deficient; for the toes of the genus 

 Cypselus, being all placed in front, seem to assist the bird only in 

 suspending itself, where other birds would perch. All the families of 

 the tribe are again united by a striking conformity in their mode of 

 nidification. They deviate from the manners of the Perchera in 

 general in forming their nests on the ground ; or if, like some of the 

 Hirundmidce, they choose elevated situations for that purpose, they 

 build up the exterior of their nests with earth cemented into a solid 

 substance, and thus preserve a similarity in their construction to those 

 nests which are actually formed on the ground. The two typical 

 groups of this tribe may be observed to be separated from the other 

 three by the shortness of their bills and the wider gape of the mouth. 

 Their mode of seizing their prey is conformable to these characters : 

 they receive it in full flight into the cavity of their mouths, which 

 remain open for that purpose, and where a viscous exudation within, 

 and a strong reticulated fence of vibrissso on the exterior, assist in 

 securing the victim : while, on the other hand, the longer-billed 

 families catch their food by their bills. The series of succession in 

 the tribe may be stated as follows, the typical families being placed 

 in the centre : 



" Meropidee. 



Hirundinidcc. 



Caprimulgidcr. 



Todidce. 



Halcyonidce." 



After alluding to the approximation between the MeropidcE and 

 Hirwndinidce, Mr. Vigors notices the union between the latter and 

 the Caprimulgidce. [CAPRIMITLGID-E.] 



Prince Bonaparte arranges the Hirundinidce as the second family of 

 the Passeres; and in the first section of that family (Ambulatores). 

 The following are the Prince's sub-families and genera : 

 a. Cypielince. 



Genera : - Cypselus, 111. ; Chaetura, Sw. 

 b. Hirundinince. 



Genera : Pronge, Boie ; C/telidon, Boie ; Cotyle, Boie ; and Hirundo, 

 Linn. (Cecropis, Boie). The family stands between the Caprimulgidw 

 and the Ampelidce. 



Mr. G. R. Gray divides the Fissirostres, into two sub-tribes: 1. 

 Fitsiroslret Nocturnce, consisting of the family Caprimulgidoe, with its 

 sub-families ; and, 2. Fissirostres Dim-nee, the first family of which last 

 sub-tribe is Jlirundmidce, with the following sub-families : 



1. C'ypselince. 



Genera : Cypidus, 111. (Apus, Scop. ; Micropus, W. and Mey. ; 

 Hirundo, L.); Macroptery.'-, Sw. (Macropterus, Sw.), Hemiprocnca 

 Nitzch., A canthylis, Boie (C'litctura, Steph.; Hirundo, L.), Ooltocalia, 

 G. R. Gray (Hirundo, L.). 



