II 



COLCHICUM. 



COLEOPTERA. 



62 



COLCHICUM, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Melaathaceie. It has a coloured funnel-shaped perianth, with a very 

 long subterranean slender tube, anil a somewhat campanulate 6-parted 

 limb ; 6 stamens inserted into the throat of the tube ; a 3-celled 

 ovary ; numerous ovules in 2 or 4 rows ; 3 long filiform styles ; 

 stigmas somewhat clavate ; capsule 3-celled, 3-partible, opening 

 inwardly; seeds numerous, roundish, with a shrivelled skin. 



C. autumnal?, Meadow Saffron, is a plant with a solid bulb-like 

 rootstock, found wild in various parts of Europe, as well as in Great 

 Britain, and forming a gay carpet in the autumn in the fields, where 

 its lively purple crocus-like flowers spring up. Its under-ground 

 stems, or bulbs, as they are called, and its seeds, abound in an acrid 

 stimulating deleterious principle, which has been carefully examined 

 by modern chemists, and the plant forms an important article in the 

 Materia Median, large quantities of both rootstocks and seeds being 

 annually consumed in the manufacture of Eau Meclicinale, and other 

 medicinal preparations. The rootstock is irregularly egg-shaped, and 

 covered with a dry brittle brown skin ; at its base it bears a bud, 

 which feeds upon the parent stock, exhausting and finally replacing 

 it every year. Its flowers are large, pale purple, and spring up in the 

 autumn without leaves, forcing themselves readily through the soil, 

 and expanding just their orifice, together with the anthers and 

 stigmas, above the surface of the soil, while the tubular part with 

 the ovary and filaments, remains enveloped in membranous sheathing 

 spathes below the soil. Each stock produces six or eight of these 

 flowers. The stamens are six, the ovaries three, each with a long 

 thread -shaped style, and not adhering in any degree to the tube of 

 the flower. These are succeeded by three little follicles, which 

 slightly adhere to one another by their inner edge, and in the spring 

 are elevated above the soil by their lengthened footstalk. At this 

 time, too, the foliage makes its appearance in the form of an erect tuft 

 of broad, oblong, shining, sheathing leaves. Each follicle contains 

 several oblong seeds. It is found in the moist rich pastures of 

 Kn_"Und, and in various other countries of Europe. 



Colchicum is so very like an autumn crocus that an inexperienced 

 observer might readily mistake the one for the other. They are 

 however to be distinguished by the crocus having only three stamens, 

 one style, and an inferior ovary, while the Colchicum has six stamens, 

 three styles, and a superior ovary distinctions of no little importance 

 when the poisonous qualities of Colchicum, in which the crocus does 

 not at all participate, are considered. 



For medicinal purposes the rooUtocks of Colchicum should be col- 

 lected at Midsummer, and they should be used immediately ; for at 

 that time the peculiar principles which they contain are in the 

 greatest state of concentration. If they are employed at a time when 

 the plant is in a state of growth, especially when it is coming into 

 flower, those principles are partly lost and decomposed by the growth 

 of the plant, and there is no certainty as to the quantity of Colchicia 

 that a given weight of the rootstock will yield. 



Other species of Colchicum are cultivated for the sake of their 

 flowers, but they are of no medicinal importance, and are very badly 

 distinguished from each other by botanists. 



Three different parts of C. autumnal* yield an active principle used 

 in medicine, but they respectively contain it in the greatest intensity 

 at different seasons of the year ; the connus (incorrectly called root 

 or solid bulb) having it in perfection about June or July, the flowers 

 in September, and the seeds the following spring. .The cormus and 

 seeds are most frequently employed in Britain ; but should the proper 

 period (Midsummer) for collecting the cormi be neglected, the flowers 

 may be substituted, though they can only be put to immediate use, 

 as they do not keep well The cormi are found at various depths 

 under ground ; when very deep they are not so good, being the pro- 

 duce of old exhauned plants. Each cormus is about the size of a 

 hazel-nut or walnut, ovate or heart-shaped, consisting of a white 

 flashy succulent substance, which, when cut across, exhibits roundish 

 plates. It is somewhat flatter on one side, on which also may be dis- 

 covered a groove, in which is lodged the germ of the flower-stem of 

 the following year. The recent cormus has a nauseous radish-like 

 odour ; when dried, no odour ; the taste is sweetish-bitter, leaving an 

 acrid sensation in the throat. 



The seeds, which should be collected in May, are small, globose, 

 about the size of a grain of millet, of an obscure fawn-colour, opaque, 

 rough, and wrinkled, with a white hilum at the base, very hard, 

 tintgti, and difficult to reduce to powder. The relative proportions 

 of the constituent ingredients of the coruius differ greatly, according 

 to the season of the year when it is taken up for examination, as 

 Stolze's analyses demonstrate. The active principle of Colchicum 

 wan long considered to be the same as that of Veratrum, and hence 

 called Veratria ; but Geiger and Hesse have shown that it is different, 

 and have termed it Colchicia. The seeds contain this principle, and 

 likewise some thick oil. Colchicum imparts its active principle 

 partially to water, but more so to acetic acid, proof spirit, and wine. 

 A *imp is sometimes formed of it, but it does not keep well. 



' '' 1 1 . K. I ' i i , KS K !: I >. [ liRASStCA-l 



!''>[, KoTTKKA (*o*t($irTfj>a), a name first applied by Aristotle 

 Anim.' i. Sic.), and now universally adopted, to designate one of 

 I- r- into ivliicrli Insect* are divided, the species of which order 

 are commonly known by the name of Beetles. 



Nearly all true Insects, or those Annulose Animals which have six 

 legs, exhibit, in a more or less developed state, four wings, or mem- 

 bers, which, although they may not enable the animal to fly, occupy 

 the same situation, and are analogous to those which in many insects 

 are true organs of flight. 



These members are modified in various ways to suit the habits of 

 the species or of the groups in general ; but in those insects whose 

 habits are of a nature not to require the power of flight they are very 

 seldom entirely wanting, being found either in a rudimentary state, 

 or modified in their structure so as to perform some other office. In 

 those instances where the win;-;s are only rudimentary, we cannot 

 often assign any positive use for them ; we can only perceive that the 

 affinities of the individuals exercise an influence in these respects 

 that is to say, those species which belong to groups where the indi- 

 viduals generally possess perfect wings, will often possess these 

 members in a rudimentary state, when from their habits they do 

 not require the power of flying. It appeared necessary to make 

 these few general remarks before proceeding to give the distin- 

 guishing characters of a Coleopterous Insect, in order that the 

 nature of these characters and the departures from them might be 

 understood ; for it is difficult to give a strict definition of any group 

 of animals. 



The insects, then, which constitute the order Coleoptei-a may be 

 characterised as having four wings, of which the two superior are not 

 suited to flight, but form a covering and protection to the two inferior, 

 and are of a hard and horny or parchment-like nature, and when 

 closed, their inner margins, which are straight, touch and form a 

 longitudinal suture (fy. 16, c) ; the inferior wings, when not in use, 

 are folded transversely under the superior, and are membranous. 

 From this character of having the wings in a sheath, the term 

 Coleoplera was applied, it being composed of the two Greek words 

 xo\f6t, a sheath, and irrepi, wings. The superior wings, which form 

 the sheath, are generally called elytra. 



The principal exceptions to this general rule are as follows : those 

 beetles which have no under-wings, or have them in a rudimentary 

 state, as in Carabut cancellalus, and those in which the elytra are 

 soldered together at the suture, in which case W3 believe no under 

 wings are ever found. Another species of Carabut (C. violaceus) and 

 many among the Heleromera afford examples of this exception. There 

 are several beetles in which the elytra do not close at the suture, and 

 in which the under-wings are not protected by them. Such is the 

 case in the genera Sitaris, Ripiphorm, and others, in which the wing- 

 cases, or elytra, are somewhat pointed ; and in the genus Molorchus, 

 among the Cerambycid<t, the wing-cases are very short, and the wings 

 are not folded beneath them when at rest. In the Staphylinidce the 

 wing-cases are also very short, but the under-wings, by a series of 

 folds, are, when not in use, entirely concealed beneath them ; and 

 as in this tribe the elytra form a straight suture when closed, the 

 only exception consists in the greater number of folds in the under- 

 wings. 



Numerous other exceptions might be noticed, but we shall merely 

 mention the genus Meloe, where one elytron partly folds over the 

 other ; the families Lampyridce and Telepknridcc, in which the elytra 

 are comparatively soft and flexible; and the glow-worm, the female 

 of which beetle has neither elytra nor wings. 



The larvae of Coleopterous Insects are generally composed of 

 thirteen distinct segments, the head included. They are almost 

 always of an elongate cylindrical or slightly depressed form ; the 

 body is often soft and fleshy, and of a white colour : in these the head 

 is always of a firmer texture, being of a horny nature. The principal 

 parts of the mouth are the same, as to number, as in the perfect 

 insect, although the parts are (as far as our observations go) always 

 differently formed. The head i.i furnished with two antennae, which 

 are generally minute, and composed of four joints ; and ocelli, or simple 

 eyes, are, on each side, situated near the base of the antenna. The 

 body is furnished with six legs, which are attached to the first three 

 segments, or those next the head, a pair to each : the legs are small 

 and usually terminated by a simple claw. Sometimes, in addition to 

 the ordinary legs, ihe larva is furnished with false legs (often termed 

 pro-legs) ; these are fleshy tubercles which the animal can protrude 

 at pleasure, and are used to propel the body. Some larvae have only 

 two of these pro-legs, which are attached to the apex of the terminal 

 segment of the abdomen, or placed beneath that segment; and in 

 the larvae of the species of Cerambycida each segment of the body 

 is thickened in the middle both above and below : those parts the 

 animal has the power of protruding considerably, by which means it 

 is enabled to thrust itself forwards or backwards in the holes in 

 the trunks or boughs of trees which are formed by its feeding upon 

 the wood. 



The larvao of groups (generally believed to be natural) very closely 

 resemble each other, though those of different groups are sufficiently 

 distinct ; hence a knowledge of the larvae is of great use in determin- 

 ing the natural affinities of species when their families or sections are 

 not well ascertained. 



We select as an illustration of the principal characters of a Coleop- 

 terous larva, that of one of the LamMicorrux, a group which comprises 

 the common Cockchafer, and where the larva generally, if not always, 

 have their body bent under at the apex. 



