021 



ERYTHROPHYS. 



ESOX. 



023 



long slender white bulbs), is a native of woody subalpine places among 

 bushes and stones, in Croatia, Idria, and about Laybach ; it also occurs 

 in Switzerland, but more seldom, and is also met with in the north of 

 Italy. It is not mentioned in the Floras of the south of Europe, 

 Two or three varieties are known in gardens as gay hardy flowers 

 appearing early in the spring ; one with purple, a second with white 

 flowers, and a third, elevated by some into a species, with a somewhat 

 stronger habit of growth. 



E. Americanum is said to be emetic. 



ERYTHROPHYS. [CucuLiM.] 



ERYTHROXY'LE^E, a group of Exogenous Plants, considered by 

 gome as a distinct natural order ; by others as a subordinate division of 

 Malpiyhiacece. They have alternate stipulate leaves and small pallid 

 flowers. The calyx is 5-lobed ; the petals are 5, with a remarkable 

 appendage at their base, which afford one of the marks of distinction 

 between Erythrosylete and Malpighiacere ; the stamens are 10, slightly 

 monadelphous. The ovary is superior, 3-celled, with 3 styles, and 

 solitary pendulous ovules. The fruit is drupaceous. Some of the 

 epecies of Erythrorylaa, the only genus, have a bright-red wood, 

 occasionally used for dyeing ; but the most extraordinary species is 

 the Erythrorylon C'uca, an account of the inebriating effects of which 

 is given under COCA. 



jErythroiylon laiirifolium. 



1, a calyx with the monadelphous stamens ; 2, a petal \dth its appendage ; 

 3, the ovary, with the three styles ; 4, a half-ripe fruit j 5, a transverse section 

 of the same', showing that one only of the seeds comes to perfection, the two 

 others being abortive. 



ERYTHROXYLON. [COCA.] 



ERYX, or ERIX, a genus of Serpents separated by Daudin from 



Enjx Sengaleniit. 



Boa, and differing from it in having a very short obtuse tail, and the 

 ventral plates narrower. The head of Ery.c is short, and the characters 

 enerally would approximate the form to Tortrie, did not the confor- 

 mation of the jaws place it at a distance from the last-named gonus. The 

 bead besides is covered with small scales only. Eryx has no hooks at 

 the vent. 



SCALLONIA'CEjE^scaMontacfe, a small natural order of Exogenous 

 Plants, related to the genus Rlbes, in the opinion of some, but to that of 

 Saxifraga, according to other botanists. It consists of shrubs with ever- 

 green leaves, which often emit a powerful odour like that of melilot ; 

 their flowers are red or white, and often are quasi-monopetalous, in con- 

 sequence of the approximation of their petals. They have an inferior 

 many-seeded ovary, with two large placenta; in the axis, a definite 

 number of epigynous stamens, a single style, and minute chaffy seeds 

 with a very small embryo lying in oily albumen. All the species 

 inhabit South America, on the mountains, especially in alpine regions. 

 Escallonia rulira, E. Sfontemdensis, E. illinita, and others, have now 

 become common in warm sheltered gardens in this country. 



Escallonia terrain, 



1, a flower magnified, without the petals ; 2, a transverse section of the 

 ovary. 



ESCHARA. [POLYZOA.] 



ESCHSCHO'LTZIA, a genus of beautiful yellow-flowered Plants 

 belonging to the natural order Papaveracea, inhabiting California and 

 the north-western coast of North America, and now become extremely 

 common in the gardens of Great Britain. They are known by the 

 base of their calyx remaining at the base of the siliquose fruit in the 

 form of a firm fleshy rim, by their calyx being thrown off like a 

 calyptra when the petals unfold, and by the stamens being inserted 

 into the edge of the permanent rim of the calyx. Otherwise they are 

 very near our sea-shore Glaucium. Two certain species only, E. Cali- 

 fornica and E. crocea, have yet been introduced ; a third, E. compacts, 

 is figured in the 'Botanical Register,' but it is probably a mule 

 between the first two. It has been recently proposed to alter this 

 name, which has a barbarous sound and appearance, for the more 

 harmonious one of Ckryseis, and it is hardly to be doubted that the 

 latter will be adopted. (Botanical Register, t. 1948.) 



ESOX, a genus of Fishes established by Liunams for the reception 

 of the Pike and some allied forms. It is now subdivided, and the 

 resulting genera, with the Flying-Fish (Exocelus), constitute the family 

 Esocidie. The genus Esox, as at present received, has for its type the 

 Eox Lucius of Linnteus, the Common Pike. The generic character 

 is founded on the form and armature of the organs of mastication. 

 The jaws, palatine bones, and vomer are furnished with teeth of 

 various sizes. The head is oblong, obtuse, depressed, and large in 

 proportion to the body. The dorsal fin is placed far back and over 

 the anal. Both these fins are entire, which is also the case in tha 

 genus Belone, of which the Gar-Fish is the type (Esox Belone of 

 Linnseus) ; but in that fish the head and jaws are greatly produced, 

 the latter being linear and pointed. Scomleresox (the Saury) is a 

 third genus of this family, having a head resembling that of Belone ; 

 but the anal and dorsal fins are divided posteriorly into finlets 

 resembling those of a mackerel. Hemiramplms is a curious genus of 

 Sea- Pikes, in which the upper jaw is extremely short, while the lower 

 one resembles that of the gar-fish. Exocetw, the Flying-Fish, was 

 distinguished from Esox by Linnaeus. [ExoCETUS.] It has the head 

 comparatively short, the dorsal and anal fins placed much farther 

 forward, and the pectoral fins so Large as to serve the purpose of 

 wings, or rather of parachutes, which sustain the fish in the air for 

 some time after it has sprung out of the water. 



