A C /E N A A C A L L E S. 



11 



its taste is very astringent. On account of its astrin- 

 gent property, it is used in various diseases as a medi- 

 cinal agent of considerable efficacy. 



The Acacia discolor, and several other species 

 known in Van Diemen's Land, nndcrtlie general name 

 of Wattle, furnish much of the timber used in that 

 part of the world. 



From the bark of the Acacias, found in Van Die- 

 men's Land, more especially the Acacia decurrens 

 and mollissima, aa astringent extract was lately pre- 

 pared and imported into Britain for the purpose of 

 tanning leather. It was found, however, that the 

 expence of the extract was fur too great to render it 

 a marketable commodity, arid the bark itself is there- 

 fore now substituted. Occasionally a quantity of the 

 Mimosa Bark, as it is termed in commerce, is imported 

 into London. The bark is of little value in Van 

 Diemen's Land ; and although the freight and duty are 

 considerable, still so long as the Acacias continue to 

 be cut down, in that country, for the purpose of clear- 

 ing the ground for cultivation, the price must remain 

 in some degree moderate. The Mimosa Earth is 

 more astringent, and possesses a more powerful tan- 

 ning property than the oak bark, but it imparts to 

 the leather a reddish tint, which renders it fit only for 

 sole leather. The Mimosa Bark, however, when 

 mixed with acorns, may be used for the tanning of 

 dressed leather. 



The Acacia decipiens, found in New Holland, was 

 formerly mistaken for a fern, and called fern-tree, on 

 account of its long flowcrless brunches. The Acacia 

 melanoxylon, denominated in Van Diemen's Land, 

 Black-wood, is a beautiful tree, with foliage reaching 

 to the ground. It grows to a considerable height, but 

 does not attain a great diameter. Of late years various 

 new species of acacia have been collected in Aus- 

 tralia, by Mr. Allan Cunningham, Mr. Fraser, and Dr. 

 Lcber. 



The acacias arc propagated by seeds, or by cuttings 

 put into sandy soil, under a bell-glass, and kept warm. 

 The (lowers of some of the species of acacia are used 

 by the Chinese for dying a yellow colour. 



In our shrubberies the Robinia Pseudo-Acacia, or 

 Locust-tree, an elegant|shrub, bearing white pea-shaped 

 blossoms, occasionally tin-red with pink, is commonly 

 cultivated under the name of Acacia. 



For the better distinguishing this numerous family 

 botanists have arranged the species into five divisions, 

 founded on their different modes of foliation, and these 

 divisions have again been subdivided into sections, 

 founded on their manner of flowering, or on the 

 absence or difference of their armature. A few of 

 the speeies are climbers, and many, indeed a whole 

 division, are marked dub'ue, not being sufficiently known 

 to .distinguish to which section they belong. The 

 name ACACIA has also been given to many other 

 speeies of plants, viz. to a species of Darlingtonia, to 

 a Gagnebina, and to several of the genus PROSOPIS. 



AC/ENA (Vahlenberg). Agenus consisting of ten 

 species of curious evergreen herbaceous exotics, chiefly 

 from South America, towards the Straits of Magellan 

 and New Holland. They belongtothe Linnaean class 

 and order Dinudriu Di^i/nia, and to the natural order 

 ZiV.svKvw, tribe Sanquisorbece. 



A ( : ;E N IT US (Latreille). A genus of insects of the 

 order Hymenoptera, family Ichncumonidee. Generic 

 character : superior wings, with the first sub-marginal 

 cell very large; the two discoidal cells situated lon- 

 gitudinally, one above the other ; mandibles bidentate, 



or notched at their extremity ; palpi with their joints 

 not very unlike each other; oviduct covered at its 

 base by a large scale. 



To this genus belongs the Ichneumon dubitator 

 of Panzer's Fauna Insectorum Germanica. It is cer- 

 tainly a rare species in this country ; but the insects 

 of this family have been greatly neglected by ento- 

 mologists. Gravenhorst, in his work on the Ichncu- 

 monidae, has enumerated seven species. Many of the 

 ichneumons may be found on umbelliferous plants, 

 upon which the respective species deposit their eggs ; 

 and it would be highly desirable if we could identify 

 the larvae, for there is no doubt, from what we have 

 observed, that each caterpillar has its own peculiar 

 parasite, and that nothing is left to chance. The 

 rarity of many of the moths in the larvae state will 

 also account for the scarcity of certain species of this 

 family of insects. 



ACALEPHA. Animals forming the third class 

 of Cuvier's Zoophytes. This name is given to them 

 from the faculty several of them have of stinging the 

 hand when touched. Their form is always circular 

 and radiated, and their organisation complex. Their 

 mouth serves also as an anus ; their stomach, being in 

 the form of a sack, is sometimes prolonged in radiated 

 intestines, through different parts of their body. 

 These, probably, replace the vessels they otherwise 

 are deficient of. They are divided into three families. 

 The fixed species include the Anemanie$, the Zoanthes, 

 and the elegant Lurernaria, belonging to this class. 



The free species float on the sea, and their brilliant 

 legions cover an immense extent with phosphorescent 

 light during the absence of the sun. 



Another species is the Hydrostatic ; which are so 

 called from having one or more bladders filled with 

 air, by means of which they remain suspended in the 

 water. 



Lamarck has separated the Acalepha into the dif- 

 ferent sections of the two orders, which form his third 

 class of invertebrated animals, called Radiata. 



ACALLES (Schonherr). A genus of insects of 

 the order Colcopttra, family Curculionidce. Antennae 

 genitucated, twelve jointed, rather stout ; funiculus 

 seven jointed, its two basal joints .obconic ; the re- 

 mainder subrounded, and slightly coarctate ; the club 

 short, ovate, acuminate. Rostrum longer than the 

 thorax, stout, a little bent, inserted during repose in a 

 deep elongate pectoral groove, which is strongly mar- 

 gined : eyes minute : thorax rather long, convex, 

 lobate behind the eyes, narrowed in front, the base 

 truncate : scutellum wanting : elytra connate, subgib- 

 bous, embracing the sides of the abdomen : legs rather 

 stout, the intermediate pair shortest ; tibiae slightly 

 compressed, the apex furnished with a stout tooth 

 within. 



Ac. Ptinodcs. Piceous ; with scattered cinereous 

 scales above, and erect muricated black spinulose 

 ones : eyes- brown : thorax deeply punctate : elytra 

 dilated before the middle, attenuated posteriorly, 

 deeply and coarsely punctate-striate ; variegated with 

 cinereous ; beneath rufo-piceus, densely clothed with 

 cinereous scales : legs and rostrum rufo-ferruginous : 

 antenna; pale testaceous. 



Curculio Ptinoides Marsham, length one line and a 

 quarter. 



Inhabits sand pits and gravelly places, at Coombe 

 Wood, Surrey ; Darcnth, Bcxley and Charlton, in 

 Kent. The above situations may be searched in the 

 months of April, May, and June by the young ento- 



