849 



FLYING. 



FCENICULUM. 



810 



the Lejndoptera, the two wings ou either side, being provided with 

 a distinct set of muscles, act independently of each other, and are 

 detached. The anterior and posterior wing are nearly equal in size, 

 and the surface of the four wings, compared with the weight of the 

 body, is greater than in Coleoptera and Hymenoptera. The velocity 

 of the Dragon-Fly is very great, and necessary on account of its 

 predaceous habits. They chase and capture the insect on which 

 they feed with great ease, and the beauty and rapidity of their 

 evolutions in the chace are worthy of attentive consideration. 

 Leuwenhoek observed one of this tribe in a menagerie 200 feet in 

 length, chased by a swallow. The insect flew with such velocity, 

 and turned to the right and left in all directions so instantaneously, 

 that the swallow, with all its powers of flight and tact in the chace, 

 was unable to capture it the insect always keeping about 6 feet in 

 advance of the bird. Tht wings are attached to the upper part of 

 the body, about the centre of gravity, by which the animal is kept 

 steady during flight. 



Fig. 11. Dragon Fly. 



In the Ifymenoptera (jig. 12), the ratio of the area of the four wings 

 to the weight of the body is less than in the Dragon-Fly ; and they 

 are consequently obliged to make a far greater number of strokes in 

 the same interval of time ; because, both in birds and insects, when 

 nil other things remain the same, the number of strokes made by 

 the wings will vary as the square root of the weight directly, and as 

 the area of the wings inversely. 



The area of the anterior and upper wings (jig. 7, a) is much 

 greater than that of the posterior. The Humble-Bee has about 

 1-1 2th of a square inch of surface of wing to each grain weight of 

 its body. 



Fig. 12. Bees and Snapdragon. 



Be are celebrated, not only for the geometric instinct which they 

 display in the structure of their hexagonal cells so as to provide 

 RAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. II. 



themselves with the greatest amount of room in the hive, whilst 

 occupying the least possible space, but they are also known to fly 

 between two distant points by the shortest road that is, by the 

 straight line. In consequence of the small amount of the surface 

 of wing in the ffymcnoptera, the Humble-Bee, Wasp, and Hornet, 

 cannot fly with much speed against a strong wind; and in that 

 direction the fleet schoolboy is enabled with ease to outstrip them. 

 The Ichneumonece are provided with a larger surface of wing, as 

 compared to the weight of the body, than the Bees. 



The mechanism of the locomotive organs of birds and insects 

 provides us with all the data necessary for the study of aerial 

 progression. It affords ample proof that to render a man whose 

 weight is 150 Ibs., capable of supporting himself in the air by means 

 of a pair of artificial wings, with the same facility as birds and insects, 

 would require an extent of surface far beyond the control of his 

 muscular force; and hence we conclude that the art of flying by 

 means of muscular exertion, however applied, is denied to man. 



FLYING-DRAGON, or FLYING-LIZARD. [DRACONINA.] 



FLYING-FISH. [DACTTLOPTERUS ; EXOCETUS.] 



FO'DIA, a genus of Mollusca established by Bosc, and generally 

 arranged by zoologists at the end of the simple Ascidians, and next 

 to Sipapillaria ; It is not better known than the last-named genus. 



Fodia rubescent. 



It has the following characters : Animal oval, mammillated, d ivided 

 throughout its length by a vertical partition, which contains the 

 stomach, into two unequal tubes, opening at each extremity by an 

 orifice, the upper oue being a little sunk, and irregularly deutated, 

 and the lower edged by a circular border forming a kind of sucker 

 (ventouse), and serving to fix the animal. 



Bosc founded the genus from a mollusk found on the coasts of 

 North America. 



FCENI'CULUM, a genus of Exogenous Plants belonging to the natural 

 order Umbellifera;, to which the common herb called Fennel belongs. 

 It was formerly considered a species of A-nethum, but since the re- 

 modelling of the natural order Apiaceie by Koch, it has been univers- 

 ally looked upon as a distinct genus. Anethwm in fact belongs to the 

 sub-division Peucedanc<e, with thin flat fruit, while Fwniculum form.s 

 part of Setelineee, the fruit of which is tapering or very little com- 

 pressed, and by no means flat. 



/'. rulyare, is a biennial plant with leaves cut into hair-like 

 segments, yellow flowers, and glaucous stems. The fruit is ovate, not 

 quite two lines long, pale bright-brown, smooth, the ridges sharp with 

 but little space between each, the lateral ones rather the broadest, 

 terminated by a permanent conical disc. Common on chalky cliffs in 

 the southern parts of England, and everywhere cultivated 1'or the 

 sake of the agreeable aromatic quality of its leaves. Oil of funnel is 

 obtained from the fruit. 



F. dulce, the Finocchio Dolce of the Italians, is an annual sort which 

 is cultivated in Italy as celery with us ; and its blanched stems are said 

 to be an excellent vegetable, resembling celery, but more tender and 

 delicate, with a slight flavour of common fennel. The summers of 

 England are not warm enough to render it possible to cultivate this 

 successfully. 



1'. piperitum is a wild Fennel, occurring on dry elevated hills in 

 Sicily, where it is called Finocchio d'Aeino. It is known from Common 

 Fennel by its long slender stem, short rigid leaves, and very hot 

 biting fruit. 



f. Panmorium is cultivated in various parts of Bengal, under the 

 name of Panmuhuree. or Mudhoorika in Sanscrit. Its fruit has a 

 warmish very sweet taste, and aromatic smell, and is much used by 

 the natives with their betel and in their curries. The root is white, 

 nearly fusiform, and almost simple ; the stem is erect, branched from 

 the base to the top, from 2 to 4 feet high, the branches erect, round, 

 and smooth, with a uniform pale-glaucous tinge and not striated. 

 The umbels are terminal, rather concave, but not regular ; the flowers 

 small, bright deep-yellow, the petals long, ovate, with their points 

 rolled in. The stamens longer than the petals. The fruit is used 

 medicinally in India as a warm aromatic and carminative. 



P. Capente is a species little known, with a thick esculent aromatic 

 root, found in the interior of the Cape of Good Hope. 



/'. tingetana is a native of Africa, in the province of Tangiers. It has 

 a taper branched stem ; the leaves are supra-decompound and shining ; 

 the segments oblong lanceolate, cut and toothed ; the upper petioles largo 

 and sheathing. The umbel is terminal on a short stalk ; the lateral 

 flowers are few, the male on longer stalks. Sprengel considers this the 



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