4-2 



jEGIPHILA jTEA. 



The second species (T. Craboniformii), the lunar 

 hornet moth, inhabits the poplar and sallow. The 

 Caterpillar is of a whitish colour, with a brown spot 

 on several of the segments near the legs; it feeds 

 under the bark of the sallow. Stephens saw them in 

 profusion flying heavily along on the south-west border 

 of Dareuth Wood in Kent, in the beginning of July 

 1817. 



yEGIPHILA (Jussieu). A family consisting of 

 seven species of hot-house ever-green shrubs, indi- 

 genous to the West India islands. Linnaean class and 

 order, Teirandria Monogynia. Natural order, Verbe- 

 nacccB. Generic character : calyx of four teeth ; corolla, 

 the tube longer than the calyx, the limb in four open 

 divisions, carrying four equal projecting stamens. 

 Style deeply divided. Fruit, a pod, or capsule of four 

 plices, and seeds. 



jESCHYNOMENE. Hot-house annuals, and trees 

 mostly natives of warm climates. Linnsean class and 

 order, Diadclphia Decandria. Natural order, Legumi- 

 nosa. There are eleven species known, some of them 

 have exceedingly splendid flowers. 



jESCULUS (The Horse Chestnut). A term de- 

 rived from the Latin word esca, food; and applied to a 

 genus of plants belonging to the natural family Hip- 

 pocastanete, and to the class Heptandria, order Mono- 

 gynia, of the Linnaean system. 



Generic characters : calyx, bell-shaped ; petals, four 

 or five, with an ovate limb; stamens, having their 

 filaments curved inwards ; capsules, rough and prickly; 

 leaflets, nearly sessile. The five species known are 

 hardy trees, remarkable in general for the beauty of 

 thnr foliage and flowers. Of these the aesculus hip- 

 pocastanum, or common horse-chestnut, is familiar to 

 every one. The native country of this tree is yet 

 imperfectly known. It is generally said to be indi- 

 genous in the northern parts of India, but it has not 

 been found by the most recent travellers in those 

 parts. It is said to have been brought to Constanti- 

 nople in 1550, and to have been afterwards introduced 

 by Clusius into Austria, whence it has been spread 

 over Europe, and has been long cultivated, and thrives 

 well in Britain. It is clothed with dense foliage, and 

 sends out branches to a great width. Its large cones 

 of white flowers, spotted with red, render it very orna- 

 mental in avenues and pleasure-grounds. But it is 

 never cultivated for the purpose of furnishing timber. 

 The young branches are said to grow with amazing 

 rapidity, acquiring an inch in length in the course of 

 twenty-four hours. The fruit, dried and powdered, 

 has been used as a medicinal snuff for the cure of 

 headach and sore eyes. A decoction or infusion of 

 the fruit has also been drawn up the nostrils for a 

 similar purpose. The seeds are large and farinaceous, 

 and have been used as food for animals. The bark is 

 bitter and astringent, - and has been used, chiefly on 

 the Continent, as a substitute for Peruvian bark. It 

 has been used successfully in intermittent and con- 

 tinued fever, as well as mortification. The bark 

 may be given in the form of powder, in doses of thirty 

 or sixty grains ; or in the form of extract, in doses of 

 five or eight grains. According to the French che- 

 mist Pelletier, it does not contain an active alkaline 

 principle, like the Peruvian bark. Starch has been 

 obtained in considerable quantity from the horse- 

 chestnut. The tree also contains so much potass that 

 it may be used in the place of soap. 



The horse-chestnut thrives best in rich light earth, 



but it will grow even in sandy or gravelly'soil. 

 variety is cultivated with striped leaves. 



HORSE CHESTNUT (JEsculusHippocastanum). a, Flower, show- 

 ing the seven s-tamens and single pistil ; b, the fruit. 



JEscuhis Ohioemis. The American horse-chestnut, or 

 Ohio buck-eye, is found abundantly on the banks of 

 the Ohio, between Pittsburgh and Marietta. It is a 

 tree of moderate growth, generally attaining the 

 height of ten or twelve feet ; sometimes, however, it 

 is thirty or -thirty-five feet high, with a diameter of 

 twelve or fifteen inches. The leaves are large, being 

 nine or ten inches long and six or eight broad. The 

 flowers are very numerous, of a white colour, and 

 grow in clusters. The fruit is only half the size of 

 the common chesnut. The cEsculus glabra, or 

 smooth-leaved horse-chestnut, and the cesculus pattida, 

 or 'pale-flowered horse-chestnut, are also natives of 

 North America, and are found in Virginia, Pennsyl- 

 vania, and Kentucky. The only other species, the 

 (Bsculus rubicunda, or carnea, ruddy horse-chestnut, is 

 distinguished from the rest by its beautiful scarlet 

 flowers, and is said by some to be a native of North 

 America, but this has not been accurately ascertained. 



An allied genus, which has received the name of 

 Pavia, and the species of which are very common in 

 America, where they are known under the name, of 

 buck-eye, has often been confounded with the horse- 

 chestnut. The smoothness of the capsules, or seed- 

 vessels of the pavia, is, however, an excellent dis- 

 tinguishing character. 



AESTIVATION, or Prcefloration, is a term illus- 

 trative of the mode in which the various parts of a 

 flower are arranged when in bud or previous to expan- 

 sion. Thus we have the imbricated (Estivation, when 

 the divisions of the corolla, called petals, cover each 

 other partially, as in the rose, pear, and cherry, before 

 expansion ; and the puckered (Estivation, when the 

 petals are folded in different directions, as in the poppy. 

 The aestivation is generally similar in plants belonging 

 to the same natural famity. 



jETEA (Lamouroux). A polypidom of the first 



