1181 



VAMPIRE. 



VARANID^E. 



1182 



Ita most common application is to the parta of dehiscent fruits, these 

 parts being in moat cases the representative of the carpellary leaf. 



VAMPIRE. \Ve subjoin a cut of the common Vampire-Bat. 

 [CHEIROPTERA.] 



Skeleton of Vampire. (De Blainville.) 



VAMPIRUS. [CHEIROPTERA.] 



VANADIUM, a metal discovered in 1830 by SefstriJm, and named 

 from Vanadis, a Scandinavian divinity; it has since been found by 

 Professor Johnston : the former obtained it from the iron of Taberg 

 in Sweden, and from the slag of the ore ; the latter from a new mine- 

 ral occurring at Wanlock Head, which he found to be Vanadiate of 

 Lead. The metal is obtained from the native Vanadiate of Lead. 

 [LEAD.] 



VANADURITE. [LEAD.] 



VANDA, a genus of Plants, the type of the tribe Yandex, of the 

 natural order Orchidaceas. 



VANDE'LLIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Scrojihulariacea. The species are natives of warm parta of the world, 

 such as India, Birma, China, and Brazil, forming smooth or hairy 

 herbs, with tetragonal stems ; leaves opposite, usually toothed. 



r. diffiua, a native of Brazil, thought to be found also in the 

 peninsula of India. It is the Caaetaica of Pison, and described by 

 Dr. Hancock as emetic, and its decoction as useful in fevers and liver 

 complaints. 



VANKLLUS. [CHARADHIAD.S.] 



VANGA. [LABIADA] 



VANGUE'KIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Rubiame. The species are few in number, of which the principal are 

 I', edulii of Madagascar, and the Indian V. tpinota. Both species 

 form small trees or shrubs, having ovate or oblong petiolate leaves, 

 with lanceolate stipules, solitary on both sides. .The fruit of V. edulii 

 is eaten by the natives of Madagascar and of Mauritius, where it 

 has been introduced, as well as into the peninsula of India. V. ipinosa, 

 the Mayna of the natives of Bengal, but which is found in many parts 

 of the plains of India, is a distinct species, though united to the above 

 by Sprengel in his ' Syst. Vegetabilium.' It is said to be also found 

 in China. The fruit is eaten by the natives of India. 



VANILLA, a genus of Plants, the type of Lindley's natural order 

 VaniUacew. The name ifl derived from ' vaynilla,' a diminutive of 

 'vayna,' which in Spanish signifies a knife or scissor-case, the fruit being 

 long and cylindrical, and like the sheath of a knife. The species are 

 generally supposed to be confined to Brazil, Guyana, and the West 

 Indies, but several have been described by Schiede from Mexico. 

 Species have also beej found in Penang, Singapore, and Java. 



The species of this genus are climbing plants, but are not epi- 

 phytic, as many of the Ochidacece, although in climbing up trees they 

 put forth roots as holdfasts, which are capable of absorbing nutri- 

 ment for the plant when other modes of supply are cut off. The 

 leaves are fleshy, sub-cordate at the base, and articulated with the 

 stem ; the stem is square, and frequently climbs to a height of 20 or 

 30 feet ; the flowers are fleshy ; the perianthium is articulated with 

 the ovarium, and frequently calculated ; the sepals and petals are 

 nearly equal, conformed and free at the base ; the labellum is entire, 

 connate with the column, concave and barbed in the middle; the 

 column is elongated and apterous; the anthers are terminal and 

 opercular ; the pollen-masses are two, bilobed and granulose ; the fruit 

 is siliquiform, fleshy, and dehiscing at the side; the placentic, from 

 3-6, covered with seeds ; the seeds are globose, and covered with a 

 closely adnate testa. 



Lindley enumerates eight species as belonging to this genus, two of 

 which have been found in Asia and six in America, The fruits of 

 most of them are aromatic, and on this account have formed a consi- 

 derable article of commerce from their consumption as a luxury. 



V. aromatica, Aromatic Vanilla, has ovate-oblong acuminate sessile 

 leaves; perianth campanulate, with five undulated acuminated laciniic ; 

 the labellum acuminate, cucullate at the base, with an elevated naked 

 tui'ldle line. Thin species is the Epidendrum Vanilla of Linnseus, 

 and is a native of Brazil, and was supposed at one time to yield all the 

 vanilla of commerce. Under this name have been included two or 

 three species of Vanilla, one of which is probably the only species that 

 yields vanilla. The vanilla which is added to chocolate, custards, and 



many kinds of confectionary, to give them a pleasant flavour, is the 

 produce of V. aromatica. [VANILLA, in ARTS AND So. Div.] 



3 1 



Vanilla aromatica. 



I, branch with flowers; 2, branch with fruit; 3, section of fruit showing 

 the three placenta) and indefinite seeds. 



VANILLA'CE^E, a natural order of Plants, formerly regarded by 

 Lindley as a distinct order, but now embraced in the sub-order 

 Arethusece, of the order Orchidacea;. 



VARA'NID^E, Varaniana, a family of Lizards, designated by Messrs. 

 Dumdril and Bibron as Platynote or Broad-Backed Saurians, and 

 thus characterised by them : Body very much elongated, rounded, 

 and without a dorsal crest, supported on strong legs and feet, with 

 distinct and very long but unequal toes. Tail slightly compressed, at 

 least twice longer than the trunk. Skin furnished with enchased 

 scales, which are tuberculous, projecting, rounded upon the head as 

 well as upon the back and sides, always distributed in rings or 

 circular bands, parallel under the belly and round the tail. Tongue 

 protractile, fleshy, similar to that of the serpents, that is to say, 

 capable of elongation and of being withdrawn into a sheath, narrow, 

 and flattened at the base, and deeply divided and separated into two 

 points which can be divaricated as in the Ophidians. 



Linnseus arranged these Satirians under the great genus Lacerta, 

 Daudin separated the larger portion of the species under the generic 

 appellation of Tupinambia. 



Dr. J. E. Gray, in his 'Synopsis' (1827), arranged under his family 

 Varanidce the genera Varanw and Draccena of Merrem, which he 

 very well characterised. No such family as the Varanidce appears in 

 Dr. Gray's Table, published in the British Museum Synopsis (1842), 

 and the British Museum Catalogue (1845) ; but the Monitoridce (which 

 are the first family of the Leptoglossce, the first group of his Sauria) 

 consist of the genera Psammosanrus, Monitor, Polydcedalws, Empa- 

 guiia, and Hydrosawus, [MONITORID.E.] 



Next to the Crocodilidce, the Varanidce attain the greatest size of 

 any of the Saurians ; indeed Herodotus, .ilium, and others regarded 

 them as terrestrial crocodiles. 



The Varanidce are divisible into two distinct groups : the eminently 

 terrestrial group, whose abode is far from the waters, in desert and 

 sandy places ; and the aquatic group, consisting of those which inhabit 

 the banks of rivers and lakes. 



The first have the tail entirely conical and nearly rounded, and it 

 would appear at first sight to be useless, if not In the animal's way : 

 but as Nature makes nothing in vain, Wagler's notion that it acts as a 

 necessary counterpoise to the trunk is probably, so far as it goes, 



