47 



]'Y.\>MKXK. 



EAQLE-WOOD. 



df* at UM jaws sinuatod or toothed, Mid the lower jaw* corneou* 

 and toothed. The genun Ityruuta embrace* the largest and moat 

 robust forma of the inaect kingdom. They are, nevertheless, quite 

 harmless. None of the apeciea are found in thi* country, and only 

 one in France. The largest forma are found in the tropical part* of 

 India and South America. The habit* of theHe insects are much 

 the aame wherever found. They bury themselves by day in hole* in 

 the ground, or in the decaying trunks of trees. At night they are 

 aeen flying about the trees. The females are more numerous than 

 the male*, and do not possess the horns, which give the males so 

 remarkable an appearance. The more remarkable species of this 

 genus are the Elephant and Hercules Beetles. The latter is of a 

 gloeay black colour. In the males the thorax is developed into a 

 thick and curved horn, which is bent downwards at the tip, a 

 similar horn projects from below which point* upwards, so as to 

 come in contact with the former. The entire length of this beetle- 

 is 6 inches. 



DYSti'MKNK, a genus of Brochyurous Cnutacta belonging to 

 the division Notopoda, founded by Latreille. The ocular pedicles 

 longer than those of Dromia. The shell is wide, nearly heart-shaped 

 and truncated posteriorly, hairy or bearded. The two posterior feet 

 only dorsal, and much smaller than the others. 



D. kitpida, the only species known to M. Latreille, is found in the 

 Isle of France. 



Dynomfne kupida. 



DYSCHIRIUS. [CLIVINA.] 



hVSCLASITE, a Mineral consisting of hydrous silicate of lime. It 

 occurs in white fibrous masses, consisting of delicate fibres of a whitish 

 or yellowish or bluish colour. It has a hardness of 4'5, and a specific 

 gravity of from 2-28 to 2.38. It is easily gelatinised in hydrochloric 

 acid. It is found in the. trap of the Faroe Islands. A variety called 

 Otenite is from Greenland. 



DYSDERA, a genus of Spiders. The species have 6 eyes, placed 

 in a curve resembling a horse-shoe open in front ; the mouth-claw? 

 very large, and produced in front ; the maxilla: straight, and dilated 



at the place of insertion of the palpi. The typo of the . 

 rrjfArina, which is not an uncommon species in Great Britain. It i* 

 mostly found under stone*. 



DYSLUITE, a Mineral, a variety of Spinel. It occurs crystal lined 

 in regular octohedrons. Its cleavage is rather imperfect, parallel with 

 the faces of the octahedron. The colour is yellowish-brown or gi 

 brown. Fracture oonchoidaL Hardness 4-5. Somewhat traus] 

 opaque. Lustre vitreous, inclining to resinous. Specific gravity, 

 4-551. It is found at Sterling, New Jersey, with FrankliniU and 

 Troottitc. The following is an analysis by 1 >r. Thomson : 

 Alumina ... ... 30'490 



Oxide of Zinc 16-800 



Peroxide of Iron 41-934 



Protoxide of Manganese . ... 7-600 

 Silica ... ... 2-966 



Moisture 0-400 



It becomes red before the blowpipe, but loses it* colour on cooling, 

 nvsniui.. [Coal.] 



DYSOPUS. {CHEIROPTERA.] 



DYTI'SClD.t:, a tribe of Pentamerous Coleopterous Insect*, 

 founded on the genus Itylitciu of Linnaeus. It now includes the fol- 

 lowing genera : Palobivt, Malm, Co/itotomtu, Eunecla, Agabut, 

 llybiut, Colymbda, Aciliia, JJydalievt, Dylitoa, Cybuttr, Coptlalu*, 

 Anitomera, Zocco/iAiVtu, Noteriu, Jfyilrocanl/iiu, and Supki*. 



The insects composing these genera are almost all oval and flattened 

 in form. They are very variable in size, some being very minute, 

 others several inches in length. Their four posterior extremities are 

 ' longer than the anterior, flattened, and ciliated. They are all aquatic 

 insects, and organised for swimming, though at the same time capable 

 of flying through the air with facility. They live in fresh water, and 

 swim with great rapidity, chasing other water-insect*, and .- 

 them with their anterior feet. Although capable of existing . 

 time under water, they are obliged to ascend at intervals to the sur- 

 face to breathe. This they effect by remaining quiet, when their 

 bodies, specifically lighter than the surrounding fluid, rise to the sur- 

 face obliquely, their heads downwards, so that the extremity of the 

 abdomen, at which the stigmata of the trachea: are situated, is exposed 

 to the air on reaching the surface. At night they fly from one pool 

 to another, and hence are often met with in places flooded by t< 

 rary rains. The larva: of the Dytitculct leave the water mid bury in 

 the earth before changing into pupa;. Thus they are at first aquatic 

 insects, next terrestrial, and in tln-ir final stage amphibious. 



The typical genus Dytiscos has engaged the attention of Dr. ' 

 who enumerates ten European, one African, and six An, 

 species. 



DZEGGUETAI. [Eqcro*.] 

 H/KllEN*. 



E 



EAGLE. 

 EAGLE-WOOD, one of those substances of which the name, 

 from similarity of sound in a foreign language, has been converted 

 into another having no reference to it* original signification. It is a 

 highly fragrant wood, much esteemed by Asiatic* for burning as 

 incense, and known in Europe by its present designation ever since 

 the Portuguese visited and imported the substance direct from the 

 Malayan island* and the kingdom of Siatn, where it has always been 

 abundant, and long established a* an article of commerce. The 

 Malayan name Is Agila, whence the wood was called Pao-d'Agila by 

 the Portuguese, and ha* since been converted into Pao-d'Aguila, and 

 Pao-d'Aquila, Bois-d'Aigle, Eagle-Wood, and Agel-Hout 



From the Malayan Agila ha* probably been derived the Sanscrit 

 Agara, whence we have the Hindoo Aggur, if not from the more 

 familiar appellation of Oaroo, by which Eagle- Wood is also known in 

 the Malayan Archipelago. In Persian works on Materia Medica in 

 us* in India, we learn from Dr. Royle (' Illustr. of Himal. BoL' Ac.) 

 that several kind* of fragrant wood are described under the Arabic 

 name Aod (Haud and Ud of Garcia*), and that he himself obtained 

 three kinds in the bazaars of India, called Aod-i-Hindee, Aod-i-Chinee, 

 and Aod i-Kimaree (evidently the AM 'emericum of Arabian authors) ; 

 and that with the above Hindoo a Greek synonym, Agallochee, is also 

 given, and more especially applied to Aod-i-Kimaree, which is also 

 called Aod i-Bukhoor, Incense- Wood. As Agallochee is no doubt a 

 corruption of the Agallochum of Dioscorides, described by him a* a 

 fragrant wood from India and Arabia, it in interesting to find that 

 the translators from the Greek into the Arabic of the school of Baghdad 

 settled these synonyms at a time when they must have been well 

 acquaint-.!, from their profession and position, with the substance* 

 to which both the Greek and Arabic names were applied. Srapion 

 and Avicenna describe several kind* of this fragrant wood, and the 

 latter under both Agalngen or Aghaloojco, and A.-1. whieh intli 

 version i* translated Xyloaloe, a name that wa* applied by the later 

 Greek medical writers to Agallochum, whence we have lignum aloes, 

 lign-aloe, and aloc/t wood, the origin of which it U difficult, if not 



impossible, to ascertain, unless we suppose it to be a corruption of 

 Agila; for the bitter, scentless, spongy-textured stems of the pnn- 

 Aloe could not afford any substitute for this fragrant wood, or be 

 thought to yield it, at least by the Arabs, who were well acquainted 

 with and accurately describe aloes, and the place, Socotra, where tho 

 best kind is found. Though Dioscorides notices only one, wlm-li 

 some supposed to bo the Tarum of Pliny, several kinds of Agallochum 

 are described by Serapion and Avicenna, which, as it is not possible 

 at present to identify, it in unnecessary to notice, and therefore we 

 shall refer only to the three kinds which have been traced to the tree* 

 yielding them, by naturalist* who have visited the countries where 

 these are indigenous. 



An Ayiiitn brara (wild) is mentioned by Garcia* as produced near 

 Cape Comorin, in the southern part of the Indian peninsula, and in 

 the island of Ceylon ; but the tree yielding this wood has not been 

 ascertained. Rumphius ('Herb. Amb.' ii. p. 40), describes two kinds 

 of Ayallocktm tpurium, found in Borneo and Sumatra, on.- .>!' wliii -U 

 he calls Garo Tsjampaca, which is described as having leaves and 

 flowers resembling those of the celebrated Cliainp:i(.l/iV/i(itVir/<nmpa<:a), 

 and may be a specie* of the same genus. A third kind of ,"|> 

 Agallochum, differing much from the others as well as from tho 

 genuine, be describe* in another part of his work, ii. p. 240, as the 

 produce of his Arbor txctccaru, so called from the acridity of it* juice 

 Minding people, and which is the K.mtciirin ayalloc/ia of Linntcus. 

 Considering that Rumphius, in originally describing this tree, has 

 said ' Lignum hoc tantam cum agallocha similitudinem,' and as 

 affording a substitute for that substance, it is not surprising that it 

 should be frequently quoted a* the tree which yield* the genuine 

 agallochnni, or aloes-wood. Nut. I'li.inn.') stated that 



he had seen a genuine specimen of the wood <( this tree, and that 

 it* fragrance cannot be compared with the agallochnm of l.omvii-o. 

 Dr. Roxburgh im-nti'iiis that the wood-cutters of the delta o( 

 Ganges, though well acquainted with th highly acrid and 

 dangerous milky juice of this tree (there called gcria), do not mention 

 agaUocbum of any kind being found in this tree. 



