VENUS DE MILO 



6055 



VERA CRUZ 



Consult Gayley's Classic Myths in English 

 Literature and in Art; Fairbanks' A Handbook 

 of Greek Religion, 



Related Subjects. The following articles in 

 these volumes will make clear the references in 

 the above discussion of Venus: 

 Jupiter Venus de Milo 



M:irs Vulcan 



Xyniphs 



See, also, Mythology, page 4041. 



VE'NUS DE MILO, me'lo, a magnificent 

 marble statue of the Greek goddess Venus, or 

 Aphrodite, one of the treasured possessions of 

 the Louvre, in Paris. It was found by a peas- 

 ant in 1820 on the Island of Melos, where it 

 had remained 

 hidden for cen- 

 turies in a niche 

 of the wall of 

 an ancient thea- 

 ter. It had suf- 

 fered severely 

 during the cen- 

 turies. When 

 discovered it was 

 in two parts. 

 After its restora- 

 tion it was given 

 to Louis XVIII 

 of France, and he 

 presented it to 

 the Louvre. Who 

 the sculptor of 

 this admirable 

 work of art was 

 and when it was 

 executed is un- 

 known, but it is 

 undoubtedly 

 a work of the first 

 or second century 

 B.C., and is an 

 adaptation of a 

 statue of the god- 

 dess by Scopas. 

 In nobility of 

 ption and 

 beauty of workmanship the Venus de M 

 lucnce of Greek sculpture of the 

 d of glory the era of Phidias. In t lit- 

 re it is placed at the end of a long corridor 

 of statuary, where it dominates everything 

 around it. See SCULPTURE. 



ilt Fnrt ur.'lngler's Masterpieces of Greek 

 'nrr. translation by Sellers. 



VENUS'S FLYTRAP, or DIONAEA, dio 



i. an interesting plant of the sundew family. 



VENUS DE 



which bears leaves designed to serve as traps 

 to capture insects. These insects make up for 

 a deficiency of nitrogenous plant food, as the 

 plant grows in 

 soil in which ni- 

 trogen is lacking. 

 It is found natu- 

 rally only in bogs 

 in North and 

 South Carolina, 

 but is occasion- 

 ally grown in 

 greenhouses as a 

 curiosity. The 

 flower stalk, bear- 

 ing at the top a 

 cluster of small, 

 white blossoms, 

 rises from a tuft 

 of oddly-shaped 

 leaves. These are VENUS'S FLYTRAP 

 in two parts, a lower, bladelike portion and an 

 upper one consisting of two lobes hinged to a 

 midrib. The surface of each lobe bears a few 

 sensitive, hairlike processes, and the edges are 

 fringed with sharp bristles. An insect alighting 

 on one of these hairs is caught between the two 

 lobes, which close together like the sides of a 

 trap. The soft parts of the insect are then di- 

 gested by a fluid secreted by special glands, and 

 when the food is entirely assimilated the trap 

 opens, and the plant is in position for another 

 victim. It is an interesting fact that after a 

 leaf has functioned in this way a few times it 

 loses its vitality and dies. See CARNIVOROUS 

 PLANTS. 



VERA CRUZ, va'rah krooz' , the chief sea- 

 port of Mexico, is situated on the Gulf of 

 Campeche, an arm of the Gulf of Mexico (see 

 colored map, opposite page 3768). It is 263 

 miles by rail and 193 miles in a direct line east 

 of Mexico City, and occupies a low, marshy 

 plain extending for about a mile along the gulf. 

 Guarding the harbor is the old Spanish fortress 

 of San Juan dc Ulloa, on a rocky island half a 

 mile from the shore. Vera Cruz is a walled 

 of interesting appearance, with wide, straight 

 streets and coral limestone houses, built in 

 Spanish style. Its unhealthful situation and 

 depressing climate of the region have 

 hindered the city's development, but it is out- 

 living its reputation as "the City of the Dead" 

 through the construction of modern drainage 

 and water systems and other sanitary improve- 

 ments. Due credit for improved conditions 

 should be given to the United States marines 



