A D U L A R I A & G E R I E D J. 



41 



five segments ; corolla, inserted above the germer 

 and divided into four or five segments ; fruit, a fou 

 or five celled berry. The only known species is th 

 Adoxa Moschatellina, or Tuberous Moschatell, a nativ 

 of Great Britain, found in woods and shady places 

 and sometimes even growing on the tops of th 

 Highland mountains. It is a very delicate plant 

 The flowers in the evening are said to emit a musk 

 smell. 



ADULARIA. This mineral, which is bette 

 known by lapidaries as moonstone, was first describe 

 by Professor Pini, of Milan. He named it Adularu 

 Felspar, in the belief that the mountain on which h 

 had collected it was named AduUi ; but the truth is 

 the mountain of Adula where he procured it is no 

 situated near St. Gothard, but in the Grisons. 



The variety of adularia which exhibits a bluisl 

 pearly light is much valued by jewellers. It is cu 

 in a low oval form, and in such a manner as to presen 

 the pearly spot in the centre of the gem ; it is set in 

 rings or brooches, with rubies and emeralds, wit! 

 which it forms an agreeable contrast. Sometimes 

 ring-stones of it are set round with diamonds, and its 

 pearly light forms a striking and agreeable contrast 

 with the lustre and colours of that gem. The finesl 

 specimens are brought from Ceylon ; but even there 

 perfect stones are rare. 



Another variety of adularia, found in Siberia, is 

 known to jewellers under the name of simstone. \\ 

 is of a yellowish-grey colour, and numberless golden 

 spots appear distributed throughout its whole sub- 

 stance. The decomposition of light which produces 

 this singular optical illusion arises either from minute 

 fissures, or the irregular cleavage of the mineral. 



--ECID1UM (Persoon). A genus of plants be- 

 longing to the natural family of Fungi, or the mush- 



jEciniuM CANCELI.ATUM ; (i, n leaf upon which it is seen grow- 

 ing of the natural size; b, iiericlia, magnified. 



room tribe, and to the class Cryptogmnia of Linnaeus. 

 This fungus consists of small membranous sacs or 

 protuberances, which are found parasitic on the leaves, 

 bark, fruit, &c., of several plants ; such as the fir, violet, 

 gooseberry, barberry, dandelion, hawthorn, nettle, 

 primrose, &c. The membrane forming the sac has 

 received the name of Peridium. It pierces the bark 

 or epidermis of the leaves, and encloses very minute 

 dust-like seeds or sporles, which are ultimately dis- 

 charged by an opening in its side or summit. In 

 NAT. HIST. VOL. I. 



consequence of the seeds being contained in a mem- 

 brane, the genus has been referred to a division of 

 the fungi which has been denominated Aiigiocarpi. 

 There are upwards of thirty known species of the 

 genus, and they receive their names from the plants 

 on which they are found. Link has divided this genus 

 into three sub-genera, the fficidium, properly so called, 

 the RtEstclia and Peridernium. The JE. cancellation 

 here represented, belongs to the second of those 

 divisions. It is often found on the leaves of pear 

 trees. To the third division belongs the JEcufiuin 

 jrini, remarkable for being the largest species, and for 

 growing, not upon the leaves, but upon the bark of 

 the pine tree. They vary in colour; 'the species 

 which grow on the gooseberry and barberry leaves 

 are red, that found on the Scotch fir is yellow, and 

 that on the meadow-rue bright orange. The ^Ecidia 

 cause considerable deformities in the plants on which 

 they grow, and some of them are decidedly injurious. 

 The gooseberry aecidium is said frequently to destroy 

 the young fruit of that plant ; and the species found 

 on the barberry has been stated, though perhaps 

 erroneously, to be hurtful to corn growing near it. 



^EGERIED^E. A family of insects belonging to 

 the order LcjAdoptera, or those which have the wings 

 covered with scales, or more strictly speaking with 

 minute feathers, and to the division of that order 

 which are crepuscular, that is who seek their food, or 

 otherwise appear, chiefly in the twilight. This family 

 are less crepuscular in their habits than most of the 

 division ; for though they do not come abroad at mid- 

 day they are seldom found on the wing after night 

 begins to close in. They bear fully as much resem- 

 blance to bees, hornets, or wasps as to the moths, or 

 even to the Sphingidce with which they were con- 

 founded by Linnaeus ; but though in appearance they 

 resemble those insects, they have none of their habits, 

 and indeed none of the characters of the order to which 

 these belong. In the caterpillar state they prey 

 upon the smaller and more succulent twigs of plants, 

 more especially of the currant and other fruit-bearing 

 rushes, and hence they are some annoyance to garden- 

 ers. They are popularly called hornets, or sphynges, 

 and another epithet is usually added, expressive of 

 ;he better-known insect which they most nearly re- 

 semble, as the "bee," the " wasp," and that which is 

 troublesome to growers of small fruit is called the 

 ' currant hornet sphynx," from the plant which it 

 chiefly infests. The last species (JE. tipuliformis] is 

 he most common in Britain. 



They are active swift-flying insects, and rest with 

 he wings stretched out horizontally, and the brush 

 ' Ich terminates their abdomen spread out. One 

 _. jus (JEgeria) have the antennae as long as the 

 >ody ; the other genus (Trochilium') have, theirs 

 hort and stout. Of the first genus we have two spc- 

 nes which are indigenous to this country. Several 

 >ther species are found on the continent, and also 

 n India, South America, and New Holland. 



The genus Trochilium consists of several species, 

 rf which three are British, which are found to inhabit 

 lie poplar and lime trees about the end of June. The 

 aterpillar of the hornet moth ( T. apiformis) is whitish,, 

 tfith an obscure line down the back ; head large and 

 rown, and it feeds on the wood and shoots of the 

 bove trees. This beautiful and interesting insect is 

 ound occasionally very early in the morning on Jrae 

 ees, near Wanstead in Essex. 

 G 



