CYPR/EIDJE. 



CYPK.EIDJE. 



282 



they are sometimes popularly confounded. They differ in their stems 

 being usually solid, not hollow, and angular, not round ; in the sheaths 

 of their leaves not opening on one side, but forming perfect tubes 

 when the stem is pulled through them ; in their male florets having 

 no pale* nor any covering to the stamens except a single bract, while 

 the bisexual florets have nothing more than a few hypogynous bristles 

 superadded ; and finally, in their embryo being inclosed in the albu- 

 men, and not lying at one side of it. There are other distinctions 

 besides these, but what have been mentioned are the most remarkable. 

 A large proportion of the order bears the name of Sedges, and hence 

 the Sedge Family or Tribe is given to these plants as their English 

 appellation. They are mostly inhabitants of marshy or swampy 

 grounds ; a few are met with on dry upland pastures, and a good 

 many are alpine plants. They occur in all parts of the world, and 

 are generally abundant, but little or nothing has been discovered of 

 their uses ; their most common application is to the manufacture of 

 what are called erroneously rush-mats and rush-bottoms for chairs. 

 The plant used in this country for such purposes is not any kind of 

 rush, but the cyperaceous species Scirpw lacustris. It is not a little 

 remarkable that, nearly as these plants are allied to Grasses, they 

 scarcely at all participate in the nutritious quality of that useful 

 order ; it is only among the coarse bad herbage of marshes that they 

 are allowed to form a constituent of hay. 



The following is a synopsis, of the British genera of this order : 



Tribe I. Cyperete. Flowers perfect. Glumes 2-ranked. 

 Perigone absent. 



Cyperui 2 species. 



Kckientts nigricani. 



Tiiba II. Sclrpea. Flowers perfect. Glumes imbricated 



on all sides. Perigone absent. 



Cladium mariscus. 



Khyncopura ... 2 species. 



Eltocharit ... .4 species. 



Scirpui 14 species. 



IS/!/xmut ... .2 species. 

 Eriophorum . : . . 6 species. 



Tribe III. Elyneit. Flowers diclinous. Perigone absent, or 



formed of one or two scale*. 

 Kobresia caricina, 



Tribe IV. Flowers diclinous. Nut completely inclosed iu 



the urceolate perigone. 

 Carcx 72 species. 



(Babington, Manual of British Botany, 1851.) 



C VPR^E'ID^E, the Cuwry Family, Cowries, or sometimes Gowries 

 Porcellanen of the Germans ; Porcelaines (Porcelain shells) of the 

 French a family of Marine Gasteropodous AfoUutca, well known in 

 commerce from one of the species (C. Afoneta) being used in some 

 parts of the East as a circulating medium. 



This group of shells is characterised by the auimal being unisexual, 

 elongated ; head distinct, with two conical or subulate tentacula of 

 some length, at the external base of which are situated the two sessile 

 eyes on small projections ; mouth vertical, at the bottom of a small 

 cavity, and containing a lingual riband, or lamina, beset with tentacles 

 and prolonged in the abdomen. Branchial cavity open, situated near the 

 back of the neck ; gills arranged in a longitudinal pectinated series on 

 the inside of the columella on the left side of the mantle ; siphon very 

 short, and formed in the mesial line by the edges of the two lobes. 

 Mantle bilobated, the lobes very large with extended aliform edges, 

 capable of being reflected over the back of the shell so as to join on 

 the mesial dorsal line. Foot oval, elongated, very large. Vent at the 

 extremity of a tube behind the branchial cavity. Male organ situated 

 more forward, and communicating with the orifice of the deferent 

 canal by means of a furrow. Adult shell involute, highly enamelled, 

 oval or oblong, more or less rounded or cylindrical, with a small and 

 imbedded spire; aperture longitudinal, nearly straight, toothed, or 

 plaited, on each side, with a channel or groove at each end, inner lip 

 flattened or sub-concave, outer lip involute. No operculum. 



fection : " The shell alters its appearance considerably according to 

 the age of the individual, and exhibits three very distinct stages. In 

 the young or first stages the shell is generally smooth, of a plain 

 grayish colour, or with three longitudinal bands, and the upper part 

 of the inner lip is smooth, convex, the lower part flat or concave ; 

 the outer lip thin. In the second stage the shell begins to assume 

 more the character of the genus, as the outer lip begins to be in- 

 flected or rather thickened, and approaches nearer the perfect appear- 

 ance of the species as the second coat of colour is deposited; but 



Cypr&a (Trivia) 

 a, the animal Men from above ; 6, side \icw of the saim\ 



Dr. J. E. Gray, whose arrangement we select as being in our opinion 

 the best which has hitherto appeared, thus notices the very great 

 change of form that the young shell undergoes iu its progress to per- 



a Exanthema, illustrating the stages of gruwth. 

 ff, younff shell in the first stage, seen from above, view of the back ; fc, the 

 .iiinf showing the columella and the thin edge of the outer lip ; c t nn advanced 

 4tage, view of back (the apex is already sinking, and the thickened lips 

 are formed) ; rf, still further advanced (the mantle has begun to secrete the 

 enamelled spotted coat on the aide, but the transverse stripes are still visible) ; 

 e, the perfect shell, all traces of the transverse stripes lost under the enamelling 

 of the thickened spotted coat ; /, view of under side of the perfect shell. 



differs from it in the want of thickness of the shell and the spire being 

 more distinct, and in the want of the dorsal line, which is usually 

 distinct in the third or perfect state, where the last coat has been 

 deposited, and the aperture is more plaited on both sides. The colour- 

 ing, or at least the disposition of the colouring here, is a much more 

 certain characteristic of species than either the general outline of 

 form or size, the Utter of which is exceedingly various. In this 

 family I have often observed full-grown specimens of C. Aral/tea from 



