170 



APEIBA APHTDjE. 



on the tops of bamboos and other tall and flexible 

 stems. In maintaining its balance in such situations, 

 it uses its long arms something in the same manner 

 as a rope-walker uses his pole ; but still the action 

 is very different, for the rope-walker balances himself 

 on points of support, without any thing that can be 

 called grasping, whereas the ash-coloured gibbon 

 merely balances itself upon the powerful grasp of its 

 hind feet. Those feet have all the toes true as in 

 the black gibbon, and therefore they suit better for 

 grasping small stems and twigs than those which 

 have them partially united. 



Such are at least the principal species of the ape 

 genus, so far as at present known ; but it is highly 

 probable that more intimate research in the Oriental 

 isles, and the analogous portion of the Malay penin- 

 sula, may farther increase the numbers. There is 

 no well-authenticated account of their appearance 

 in any other part of the world than the south-east of 

 Asia, where, as has been hinted, the weather is pretty 

 nearly uniform all the year round, the soil uniformly 

 fertile, the forests thick and tangled, and the trees 

 abounding in fruit, some species of which is almost 

 always in season. Those forests are close and luxu- 

 riant; but they are not so tangled and interlaced 

 with creeping plants as the forests of the humid parts 

 of tropical America. They seem to differ also from 

 the forests of tropical Africa, in which, with the 

 exception of the baobab and a few others, which 

 grow straggling and generally alone on the rich 

 plains and bottoms, the trees are thin topped, and 

 do not form a canopy. Few of them, in propor- 

 tion, too, bear fruit fit even for ape's food ; and there- 

 fore they are not proper localities for animals whose 

 march is almost exclusively among the branches. 

 They suit better with the baboons, which can walk 

 upon all fours with considerable rapidity. 



APEIBA (Marcgraav). A genus of four species oi 

 ornamental timber trees from South America. Lin- 

 iKL'an class and order, Polyandria Monogynia. Natural 

 order, Tiliaccce. Generic characters : calyx five-cleft, 

 coloured within, deciduous ; corolla, petals five, some- 

 what clawed smaller than the calyx ; stamens very 

 short ; anthers long egg-shaped, outside swollen, with 

 two leafy lobes at top, exterior ones sterile ; style 

 elongated, dilated at the top into a funnel-shaped 

 toothed stigma; capsule round, depressed, leathery, 

 many celled ; seed small, roundish, and nestling in 

 the pulp. Some botanists describe this genus under 

 Aublctia. 



APETALOUS PLANTS are (otherwise called 

 monochlamideous) all such as bear flowers having a 

 calyx but no corolla. Of these there are twenty- 

 seven orders, containing two hundred and fifty-six 

 genera, and two thousand six hundred and twenty- 

 eight species. Young botanists arc often puzzled in 

 applying the proper terms to the parts of apetalous 

 flowers ; but they may be guided by this rule, viz., 

 whenever there appears only one floral envelope or 

 outer expansion round the central members of the 

 flower, that envelope is to be considered as the calyx, 

 whatever may be its form or colour. Such a member 

 is called perianthium (round the flower), and is, in 

 this sub-class of the Jussieuau arrangement, generally 

 simple. As instances of this mode of florescence the 

 mezerion and marvel of Peru have the calyx highly 

 coloured, and bearing the semblance of a corolla, 

 though, according to the above rule, these coloured 

 parts are calyces and not corollas. 



This circumstance shows that the corolla is not an 

 essential part of a flower, nor when present, is its n?e 

 or function in the economy of the plant very apparent. 

 It is generally the most delicate and fugitive member 

 of the flower ; and neither from texture or position 

 can it afford much protection to the more essential 

 and reproductive organs. Still, however ignorant we 

 may be of the real use of the corolla, we may rest 

 assured that it answers some important purpose ; its 

 deMcacy of texture, and powerfully reflective surface of 

 every ray of light, is not merely ornamental : they are 

 at least attractive to the honey*sceking insect, which 



-transports ilie fertilising- meal 



From flower to flower- 

 Then act in nature's office, bring to pass 

 The glad espousals, and ensure the crop.'' THOMSON 



In this view the high colours of the corolla 

 are of the greatest importance ever, more than we 

 are aware of ; for who can estimate the good per- 

 formed by the unconscious bee flitting from flower to 

 flower, who can fully appreciate how much man is 

 beholden to their interference in perfecting the fruits 

 of the earth ? 



Other circumstances deserve remark : where 

 colour is wanting in the flowers we often see it 

 bestowed on the foliage : example, amarantus tri- 

 color ; and where flowers are inconspicuous they are 

 often highly odorous : instance, mignonette. 



APHANIPTERA (Kirby). Aptera (Linnaeus 

 Lamarck). Rhyngota (Fabricius). Suctoria (La- 

 treille). An order of insects including the common 

 bed-flea and the fleas of various animals. This is an 

 osculant order, and is distinguished from the other 

 Aptera of Linnaeus in undergoing a regular metamor- 

 phosis. The larva is vermiform, the pupa incom- 

 plete, and inclosed in a coccoon. Probably the 

 common flea and chigoe would form distinct genera ; 

 there are many species belonging both to birds and 

 quadrupeds ; amongst the latter the squirrel, the 

 mole, and soft haired animals appear subject to them. 

 Besides their metamorphosis, they are distinguished 

 from the Aptera by the number of segments into 

 which their body is divided, and by their penta- 

 merous tarsi. The following are the characters as 

 given by Messrs. Kirby and Spence : 

 Metamorphosis incomplete. 

 Body apterous, compressed. 

 Mouth rostrulate, the labium and palpi being 

 elongated. 

 , Tarsi pentamerouS, or five-jointed. 



Under the head of FLEA, we shall give its popular 

 and natural history ; and under the head PULEX, we 

 shall give all the genera as described by the latest 

 authors. 



APHANOCHILUS (Bentham). An herbaceous 

 perennial, introduced from Nepaul, belonging to the 

 order Labiatce. It is the same plant called mcritha 

 blanda by Mr Lindley. 



APHELEXIS (D'. Don). A genus of ornamental 

 green-house under-shrubs, introduced from the Cape 

 of Good Hope. Linnaean class and order, Syngencsia 

 superjlua. Natural order, Composita;. There are four 

 species, and they were formerly supposed to be cither 

 elichrysums or xeranthimums by other botanists. 



APHID^E (Leach). An extensive family of in- 

 sects of the order Homoptera, and embracing the 

 genus Aphis (Linnaeus). This family has the tarsi 

 two-jointed, the first joint very short : rostrum in 



