A M S O X I A A N A B A S. 



97 



am* tiling subsequently seen, tliat the assertion is 

 evidently founded in an error as to what measure his 

 quarts really contained, and it needs no learned com- 

 mentator to prove the tact, since Pliny the younger, 

 whose temperance formed a theme of praise to his 

 friends and contemporaries, used to provide for each 

 of his guests a supper consisting of three snai/s, ! 

 two eggs, a barley cake, with sweet wine and snow. 

 This delicacy is said to have been introduced by 

 Fulvius Hirpinius a short time before the wars of 

 ('a-sar and Pompey ; after which they were regularly 

 imported from the interior of Africa, Asia, &c. in vast 

 quantities, forming a considerable article of commerce. 

 Ampulla, from whence their name is derived, was a 

 small wide-mouthed bottle holding a given measure of, 

 liquid, and it is most probable that these snail shells, : 

 in their greatest size, were capable of containing some ! 

 quantity bearing a relative proportion to that quantity, 

 whatever it may have been. 



This genus is evidently intermediate with the 

 Paliidime and Naticac, and the species now con- 

 stituting it, arc probably all rluviatile. Lamarck 

 enumerates eleven; and all of those whose habitats 

 are known, come from the rivers of Africa, India, and 

 South America : none have been found in Europe or 

 North America. Several species are found in a 

 fossil state. 



Ampuliaria r 



Blainville forms three divisions of the Ampullarije. 

 The first he calls normal or dextral, of which the figure 

 given of the Ampul/aria rugtixa is the type ; the 

 second is sinister, or with the whorls .turned, to the 

 left hand ; and ihe third sinister shells, of which the 

 very wide umbilicus is spirally carinatcd. 



AMSONIA (C. Amson). A genus of three species 

 of herbaceous perennials from North America. They 

 belong to Pentandria Aloiwgi/nia and to the natural 

 order Apocynece. They are pretty little plants, and 

 easily propagated by cuttings or by dividing the 

 roots. 



AMYGDALOID. A geological term descriptive 

 of one of the varieties of the trap-rock formation. 

 The base of amygdaloid is described by Brongniart 

 as being petrosilex (compact felspar). Dr. Maccul- 

 loch observes that the base is commonly indurated 

 clay. Clay, claystone, and compact felspar, are de- 

 scribed as passing into each other ; nodules of various 

 substances imbedded in a base or paste of petrosilex 

 or indurated clay, constitute amygdaloid ; it is there- 

 fore a purphyritic rock, but the imbedded substances 

 are occasionally wanting, when the rock becomes 

 simple, at least in appearance, and is closely allied to 

 cornean ; but when the nodules have disappeared 

 through disintegration or decomposition, leaving the 

 cavities they once occupied, the rock resembles a 

 cellular lava. The minerals most commonly imbedded, 



NAT. HI>T. VOL. I. 



are agate, quartz, nusotypc, analc'imc, stilbite, cha- 

 basie, prehnite, carbonate of lime, green earth, litho- 

 maro-e, and iron pyrites. Amygdaloid generally 

 occurs in large masses, rarely in veins. The trap- 

 rocks of Derbyshire are sometimes amygdaloidal. 



AMYRIS (Myrrh scented). A genus of tropical 

 trees and shrubs from South America. They belong to 

 Octandria Monogyttia, and to the natural order, Tcre- 

 b'mlhacece. They have a calyx of four persisting 

 teeth ; having clawed petals situate below the ger- 

 men ; stamens shorter than the petals ; gynoba-is 

 thick and formed like a disk ; germen one-celled, 

 stigma sitting ; drupe a papery nut. The resinous 

 gum of some of the species is an excellent perfume ; 

 almost all of them produce some valuable gum or re- 

 sin. A. Gileadeniis produces the celebrated " Balm 

 of Gilead." It is a shrub with purplish branches, 

 with crowded tcrnate leaves,' and protuberant buds, 

 loaded with balsamic resin. 



A NAB AS. A very singular genus of spinous-finned 

 fishes belonging to Cuvier's family of P/tan/i/^/ciis 

 Labyrinthifurmes, or those which have the upper part 



Anabas. 



of the pharynx furnished with little branch-like ap- 

 pendages and cells. This formation, which is peculiar 

 to this family a family consisting of only a few 

 genera, all of them natives of warm climates, and 

 most of them inhabiting fresh water enables the fishes 

 to subsist for a longer or shorter time out of the 

 water, as they can keep their gills moist by gradually 

 discharging the water contained in the labyrinthal 

 sacs of the pharynx, and thus breathe freely after the 

 body is completely dried. Hence they are often 

 found marching, in such fashion as fishes can march, 

 along the dry land, climbing the sides of tanks and 

 ponds, and even, in the genus under consideration, 

 climbing trees, though the last feat is a little doubtful. 

 There is no question, however, that these fishes are 

 sometimes found alive with their bodies perfectly- 

 dry upon dry land ; that they leave the water volun- 

 tarily, or at least, without being forced out of it by 

 enemies, as is the case with the flying fishes of the 

 warmer seas; and that when the purpose of their 

 land journeys is accomplished, they return to the 

 water, and resume the functions of fishes there. 



This curious habit in fishes was known to the, 

 ancients ; and Theophrastus expressly mentions little 

 fishes resembling mullets, which leaped out of the 

 water, and could climb. There is no doubt that ho 

 alludes to the genus Anabas, which is very common in 

 India, and was, in all probability, seen during the ex- 

 pedition of Alexander, and probably known to the 

 Egyptians long before that period". It docs not 

 appear, however, that the ancients were at all ac- 

 quainted with the peculiar organisation, by means 

 of which these fishes are able to breathe with gills 

 when on dry land, and exposed to the ardour of an 

 Indian atmosphere; for, at that time, the exact cor- 

 O 



