1049 



GLYPH1S. 



GMELINITE. 



crop of lettuce or onions between the rows. During summer keep 

 the ground free from weeds, and when the subordinate crop comes off 

 hoe and dress the ground. At the close of autumn, or as a winter 

 dressing, fork or dig between the rows to stir and refresh the surface ; 

 and cut down the decayed stems. After three or four years' growth 

 the main roots will be of a mature size, and fit for consumption or 

 the market. It is an excellent plan to cover the crowns of the plants 

 in winter with good rotten dung, as it not only preserves them from 

 severe frosts, but is washed down by the rain and becomes valuable 

 nourishment to the roots." 



G. echinala has oval lanceolate leaflets, mucronate, glabrous ; 

 stipules oblong, lanceolate ; spikes of flowers capitate, on very short 

 peduncles ; legumes oval, mucronate, 2-seeded, echinated by bristles. 

 It is native of Apulia, on Mount Gardano, and in the northern pro- 

 vinces of China and of Tartary. The whole plant is glutinous to 

 the touch. The roots are horizontal, in taste like the Common 

 Liquorice. 



(Don, Dichlamydeoiu Plants ; Lindley, Flora Medico,.) 



GLY'PHIS, a genus of Fossil Placoid Fishes from the London 

 Clay. (Agassiz.) 



GLYPHISODON, a genus of Acanthopterygious Fishes belonging 

 to the family Scuenida. The gill-covers are entire, and they have a 

 single row of trenchant and sometimes notched teeth. The species 

 are found in the Atlantic, but are more abundant in the Indian Seas. 



GLYPTOCE'PHALUS, a genus of Fossil Cycloid Fishes from the 

 London Clay. (Agassiz.) 



GLYPTODON (Owen, EO named from the fluted character of its 

 teeth), a genus of extinct Fossil Animals belonging to the order 

 Edentata, and allied in form and structure to the modern Armadillos. 

 The first notice of the discovery of the remains of the skeleton of a 

 large edentate animal, with fragments of a tesselated bony armour, 

 similar to that of the Armadillo, appears in the note appended to the 

 end of Cuvier's chapter on the Megatherium, in the 4th edition of the 

 ' Ossemens Fossiles,' published in 1823. This notice occurs in an 

 extract from a letter addressed by D. Daniasio Larranaga, curd of 

 Monte Video, to M. Auguste St.-Hilaire. The facts stated in this letter 

 are as follows : A femur was discovered in the Rio del Lance, branche 

 du Saulis Grande, which weighed 7 Ibs. ; it was short, but might be 

 from 6 to 8 inches in width ; it resembled in every respect the femur 

 of an Armadillo ; with it was found a portion of tesselated bony 

 armour, of which the curd promises to send one of the component 

 pieces to M. Auguste Geoffroi. The tail was very short and very 

 stout ; it had in like manner a bony armour, but this was not verti- 

 cillate or disposed in rings. These fossils were stated to have been 

 met with near the surface of the earth, in alluvium or strata of 

 transport, indicative of a very recent epoch. Similar fossils are said 

 to occur in analogous strata near the Lake Nirum, on the frontier of 

 the Portuguese colonies. 



These remains were supposed to belong to the Megatherium, and 

 Cuvier does not appear to suspect that they belonged to anything 

 else, as he merely remarks that the Megatherium had pushed its 

 analogies with the Armadillos so far as to be covered like them with 

 a scaly cuirass. 



Subsequently remains of this kind were sent to England, and in 

 the meantime M. Laurillaud and Mr. Pentland, on comparing these 

 with those originally sent to England, came to the conclusion that 

 they belonged to the genus Dasyput. This however was doubted by 

 Mr. Clift and Professor Owen, seeing that the conformation of the 

 alveoli of the jaw indicated a dentition differing more widely from 

 that of the existing sub-genera of Armadillos than their respective 

 dental characters differ from one another. " It was at this conjunc- 

 ture," says Professor Owen, " that Sir Woodbine Parish received the 

 intelligence of the discovery of an entire skeleton, covered with its 

 tesselated coat of mail, about 5 feet below the surface, in the bank 

 of a rivulet near the Kio Matanza, about 20 miles suuth of the city 

 of Buenos Ayres ; and with the account of this remarkable discovery 

 there was at the same time transmitted a drawing or sketch of the 

 whole animal, which has since been lithographed, and one of the teeth 

 of the fossil itself. This tooth Sir Woodbine Parish obligingly sub- 

 mitted to my examination. Its general structure proved it to belong 

 to an animal referrible to the Edentata of Cuvier ; but its character 

 was so peculiar that I had no hesitation in pronouncing it to differ from 

 that of any known edentate animal, recent or fossil, and from its 

 intimate texture, to be indicative of a new sub-genus of the Armadillo 

 family, for which I proposed the name of Gl'jptodon, in reference to 

 the plated or sculptured character of the tooth." 



The (jlyptodon differs from the Megatherium not only in the form 

 and structure but in the number of its teeth, which appear to be 

 eight on each side of each jaw, as in the section of Armadillos called 

 Cubattout by Cuvier. It differs from the Armadillos in the form of 

 the lower jaw, and in the presence of a long process descending from 

 the zygoma, in both which respects it resembles, and evidently indi- 

 cates a transition to the Megatherium. 



Numerous remains of this curious and interesting animal have been 

 found in various parts of the country, and a very fine specimen, with 

 the coat of mail almost entire, is to be seen in the museum of the 

 College of Surgeons. Portions of this animal are also to be seen in 

 the collection of the British Museum. 



Although, when tho remains of the Glyptodon were first brought 

 to Europe, it was not thought improbable that the Megatherium also 

 was inclosed in a gigantic suit of armour, no remains that could be 

 regarded as the tesserae of such a covering have yet been discovered. 

 It is always difficult however to establish a negative, but the follow- 

 ing arguments have been adduced by Professor Owen against this 

 supposition, and will be probably regarded by most naturalists as 

 conclusive : 



" 1. The opinion of Cuvier and Weiss, in favour of the Meyatherium 

 being so armed, rests ou no better ground than the mere fact of bony 

 armour of some gigantic quadruped and the skeleton of the Mega- 

 therium, having been discovered on the same continent. 



" 2. The skeleton, or its parts which have been actually associated 

 with the bony armour above mentioned, belongs to a different and 

 smaller quadruped. 



" 3. No part of the skeleton of the Megatherium presents those modi- 

 fications which are related to the support of a bony dermal covering. 



" 4. The proportions of the component tesserjo of the bony armour 

 in question to the skeleton of the Glyptodon, are the same as those 

 between the dermal tessera) and skeleton of existing Arma- 

 dillos, but are vastly smaller as compared with the bones of the 

 Meyatherium. 



" 5. No bony armour composed of tessera;, having the same relative 

 size to the bones of the skeleton of the Megatherium, as in the 

 Glyptodon and existing Armadillos, has yet been discovered. 



" 6. The skeleton of the Meyatherium has never been found asso- 

 ciated with bony armour of any kiud, neither have its parts been 

 found associated." 



(Owen, Proceedings of Geological Society, vol. vii., 2nd series.) 



GLYPTO'STEUS, a genus of Fossil Ganoid Fishes, from the Old 

 Red-Sandstone of Elgin and Clashbennie (Agassiz) : two British species. 



GMELI'NA, an Asiatic genus of Plants named after Gmeliu, the 

 author of ' Flora Sibiriea,' belonging to the natural order Verbenacece, 

 of which only one species was formerly known, but five are described 

 by Dr. Roxburgh, and a sixth (with some doubtful species) noticed 

 by Dr. Wallich, in his ' Indian Catalogue.' 



The genus is characterised by having a small 4- sometimes 5-toothed 

 calyx, the corolla large, obliquely campanulate, the border irregularly 

 4-parted, something like those of foxglove in shape, but mostly yellow 

 in colour. Stamens 4, didynamous, with the anthers 2-cleft. Germ 

 superior, 4-celled ; cells 1-seeded ; attachment sub-superior. Drupe 

 with a nut, from 1- to 4-celled. Embryo erect, without perisperm. 

 All the species of Gmelina form shrubs or trees, of which the latter 

 are valued for their timber. They are found in the islands of the 

 Indian Ocean, extending thence into the Malayan and Indian penin- 

 sulas. G. Asiatica and G. parmfolia are common in' various parts of 

 India, and G. arborea extends from Prome and Martaban even to the 

 Deyra Valley, in 30 N. lat. 



The leaves of G. parvifolia, are remarkable for rendering water 

 very mucilaginous, and are employed medicinally in India ; but G. 

 arborea (Goornbar and Koonihar of the natives) appears to be the 

 most valuable for its timber, as, besides being spread over a wide 

 extent of territory, it attains great size. Dr. Roxburgh mentions it 

 squaring into logs of from 18 to 24 inches, which are occasionally 

 nearly 30 feet long. The wood resembles teak, the colour being the 

 same ; the grain rather closer, but it is somewhat lighter. It seems 

 particularly valuable for situations where it is exposed to both the 

 influence of air and of water. One experiment was made by placing 

 part of an outside plank in the river Hoogly, a few miles below 

 Calcutta, " a little above low-water mark, exactly where the worm is 

 thought to exert its greatest powers." Dr. Roxburgh states, that 

 "after remaining three years in this situation, though examined from 

 time to time, the piece was cut, with the view of carrying a 

 specimen of it to England; and to my great joy, I found it as sound 

 and every way as perfect throughout as it was when first put into 

 the river." (' Fl. Ind.,' iii. p. 85.) In another experiment this wood 

 remained good for seven years, while teak, similarly placed, required 

 to be replaced after six years. Hence Dr. Roxburgh suggests experi- 

 ments on and employment of this wood in ship-building. 



GMELINITE, or HYDROLITE, a Mineral belonging to the group 

 of Zeolites. It occurs crystallised. Its primary form is a rhomboid ; 

 usual form an hexagonal prism ; cleavage parallel to the primary 

 planes. Fracture uneven. Hardness 4 '5. The colour white, passing 

 into flesh-red; streak white; lustre vitreous; translucent. Specific 

 gravity 2'05. 



Before the blow-pipe it increases in bulk, and assumes the appear- 

 ance of an enamel, but does not melt into a glass. It is found in the 

 Viceutine; at Glenarm, county of Antrim, in cavities in amygdaloidal 

 rocks ; and also in North America. [CJIABAZITE.] 



The following is an analysis by Connell from Glenarm : 



Silica . 48-56 



Alumina . IS'05 



Lime . 513 



Soda . . 3-85 



Potash 0-39 



Peroxide of Iron O'll 



Water 21'6G 



9775 



