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ARGYREIOSUS ARISTOLOCHI^E. 



One peculiarity of the colouring of this splendid 

 bird is, that the whole effect is produced with scarcely 

 any assistance from metallic lustres and reflections. 



Gigantic Argus. 



These birds are very large, far exceeding in size 

 any of the other known pheasants. They are birds 

 of the mountains, and as such may probably be met 

 with along the heights of the eastern peninsula as 

 far as China ; though hitherto their localities have 

 not been much examined, and but little is known of 

 them in a state of nature. It is understood, however, 

 that their habits are similar to those of the other 

 pheasants, only that they do not perch in trees at 

 least not habitually. When marching about on his 

 native pastures, under the brilliant sky, and with the 

 incense-loaded breeze, which plays with perpetual 

 health on the mountain tops of that paradise of the 

 world, the argus-pheasant must be a splendid bird, 

 probably the most splendid of the whole of the 

 feathered race ; and as there is heat and light to 

 bring out and display his colours with the utmost 

 perfection, and an atmosphere to stimulate to the 

 utmost, yet without fatigue or exhaustion, he must 

 be seen to greater advantage than any tenant of the 

 woods or of more confined places. He stands nearly 

 five feet in height, and those masses of feathers which 

 are studded with eyes, each present a beam of glories 

 two feet and a half long, and at least nine inches in 

 breadth. The carriage of the head, too, is majestic ; 

 and during the breeding season, all the naked skin 

 on the head and throat is a fine pure red, contrasting 

 beautifully with the brightgolden yellow of theirides, 

 and the paler yellow of the bill. The bird seems 

 rare ; but with proper attention it might, perhaps, be 

 introduced, andnnade to breed in this country. 



ARGYREIOSUS (so named from its silvery 

 colour). A genus of Acanthopterygous, or spinous- 

 finned fishes, belonging to the mackerel, and, like the 

 rest of that family, a surface fish, but differing greatly 

 in form and in the structure of its fins. By Linnaeus 

 and his followers it was included in the genus Zeus, 

 the type of which is the celebrated John doree, a 

 genus which with them was not a little confused. 

 There is only one known species, which is the Zeus 

 vomcr of Linnaeus. It is a fish of the clear and deep 

 waters on bold shores ; and it is not a little singular 

 that the two localities in which it is most abundant, 

 if not the only ones in which it is found, are the 



shores of Norway and those of Brazil. The body of 

 this fish is greatly compressed and enlarged in the 

 vertical diameter, so that the profile is very much 

 elevated. The first dorsal fin is long, and the second 

 of considerable length, and some of the rays of both 

 are prolonged into filaments. The ventral fins are 

 also very much produced, and the fish can extend 

 them laterally so as to present a sort of broad base, 

 and thereby steady its thin and elevated body. Not- 

 withstanding its ungainly form, it gets through the 

 water with considerable rapidity, but its food and 

 habits generally are little known. 



ARISTEA (Linnaeus). A family containing five 

 species of handsome blue flowering herbs, natives of 

 the Cape of Good Hope, belonging to the Lin- 

 naean class and order Triandria Monogynia; natural 

 order Iridcoe. Generic character : spathas bundled, 

 chaffy, rarely green ; corolla of six regular plane 

 petals, with a short tube ; stamens erect, fixed to the 

 germen ; style cylindrical ; stigma in three heads or 

 flattish ; capsule prismatical, seeds flat. They are 

 green-house plants. 



ARISTOLOCHIjE The Birthwort tribe. A 

 natural order of plants containing only two or three 

 genera, and placed upon the limits of the Monocoty- 

 ledons and Dicotyledons. The order is nearly allied to 

 the Cytinece. Its essential characters are : flowers 

 hermaphrodite ; calyx adherent with the ovary, and 

 divided into three segments ; stamens varying from 

 six to ten, sometimes free and distinct, at other times 

 adhering with the style and stigma ; ovary three to 

 six-celled ; style short ; stigma divided ; fruit dry or 

 succulent, three to six-celled, many-seeded. Herba- 

 ceous plants or shrubs, very abundant in the tropical 

 regions of America. Some of them are climbing. 

 Their general properties are bitter, tonic, and stimu- 

 lating; these qualities reside chiefly in the roots. 

 None of the aristolochiae are poisonous. The chief 

 genera in the order are arlstolochia and asarum. 



The Aristolochia clematis, rotunda and longa, are 

 natives of Europe, and have been celebrated from 

 remote antiquity for their stimulating effects on the 

 female constitution. The first of these species is 

 frequently found among the ruins of nunneries in 

 England, and is known by the name of common 

 birthwort. It was formerly recommended in gout, 

 and is one of the ingredients of the Portland powder, 

 so celebrated for the cure of that disease. The other 

 species have been used in ague and catarrh. The 

 root of the Arlstolochia serpentaria, Virginian snake- 

 root, is an article of the materia medica. It has an 

 aromatic smell like valerian, and a warm pungent 

 taste, somewhat resembling camphor : with alcohol it 

 gives a light green tincture. It is heating and stimu- 

 lating, owing to the essential oil which it contains, 

 and its action is chiefly on the skin and kidneys. It 

 is used in ague and typhus fever. 



The mode in which the seeds of the Aristolochia 

 clematis, and of several other species of the genus, 

 are perfected, is singular, and deserves to be noticed. 

 The stamens and pistils are excluded from the influ- 

 ence of the air by being confined in the globular base 

 of the flower, and the stigma being placed above the 

 anthers it is scarcely possible for the pollen to be 

 distributed upon it by the usual means. This, how- 

 ever, is accomplished by means of the Tipula pennin 

 cornis, a small insect which enters the superior tubular 

 part of the flower, and gets into the lower portion 

 where the stamens and pistils are situated. The 



