A II T O C A R P E JE. 



209 



to witness any tiling like the same spreading of legs 

 in order to obtain a base to stand on, in vertebratec 

 .miinals, we should at once set them down as utterly 

 aefofnaed. 



Another circumstance which points out the com 

 parativelv little freedom and range which there is ii 

 the joints of articulated animals, is the way in wliicl 

 the mouth opens. In all the vertebrata, the jaws, or 

 in most cases only the under jaw, open downwards 

 and the two are always placed horizontally, the one 

 upon the other : the great flexibility of the neck enables 

 a mouth opening in that manner to get at and seize 

 the food better than if it opened in any other ; and ii 

 those which have the neck rigid, and which are in- 

 variably inhabitants of the water, the element ii 

 which they move compensates for the rigidity. But 

 in the articulata, there is no motion of the neck b\ 

 which the mouth can be guided to the food. The} 

 must advance upon it by progressive motion of the 

 whole body, and therefore the jaws open laterally 

 and both mandibles have an equal degree of motion 

 The senses of the articulata are not well under- 

 -lood. Many of them have eyes, and these of course 

 have the faculty of sight ; but their senses of hearing 

 and smell arc; very obscure, not only as respects the 

 organs in which they may be understood to reside, 

 but as respects the fact of their being possessed by 

 tin 1 animals or not. Their eyes are sometimes placed 

 upon stalks or peduncles. At. other times there are 

 two kinds of them in the same animal : one kind 

 simple and usually placed on the top of the head, the 

 other kind compound, often very large in size, and 

 placed at the sides. 



The animals in this grand division are, however, so 

 numerous, and differ so much from each other, that 

 no common description can reach the details. The 

 orders are tolerably distinct; and under the names 

 of them will be found the distinguishing characters of 

 each. See ANNELLID^E, ARACHNIDS, CRUSTACEA, 

 and INSECTA. 



ARTOCARPEjE the Bread-fruit Tribe. A 

 natural order of plants, containing many genera and 

 species, which, from their value and importance, de- 

 mand special attention. This order is by some au- 

 thors looked upon as a subdivision of the urticese, or 

 nettle tribe. The order is thus characterised : 

 flowers monoecious, in heads or catkins ; calyx di- 

 vided, membranaceous ; stamens uncertain in num- 

 ber ; ovary free, one or two-celled ; style single, 

 thread-like ; stigma bifid ; fruit usually a fleshy re- 

 ceptacle, covered with numerous pericarps, lying 

 amongst the persistent calyces, or enclosing them 

 within its cavity ; occasionally consisting of. a single 

 nut, covered by a succulent involucre ; seed solitary. 

 The plants of this order are trees, shrubs, or herbs, 

 inhabiting chiefly tropical regions, more especially the 

 Ivist Indies. In this family, of which the Fig may 

 be looked upon as the type, we meet with plants 

 having very opposite properties, some being nutri- 

 tious and salutary, as the bread-fruit, fig, and mul- 

 berry, while others, like the antiaris, are acrid and 

 poisonous. 



Most of the plants yield a milky juice, possessing 

 a considerable degree of acrimony. This juice is, 

 however, occasionally bland, and becomes an article 

 of food. Many of the plants which yield an acrid 

 juice furnish fruit of a mild and nutritive quality, and 

 in some instances the fruit is acrid in its young state, 

 but becomes innocuous when ripe. 

 NAT. HIST. VOL. I. 



We shall illustrate this important order by alluding 

 to several of the genera included under it. 



The genus Artocarpus (a term derived from two 

 Greek words signifying bread and fruit), whence the 

 name of the order has originated, is one of the most 

 interesting. 



Bread Fruit. 



The Artocarpus innsa, Bread-fruit tree, a native 

 of the Moluccas and the South Sea Islands, attains a 

 height of thirty or forty feet, with a diameter of a 

 foot or a foot and a half. It abounds in a milky 

 viscid juice, and its leaves are two or three feet long, 

 and often a foot and a half broad. Its fruit is fleshy, 

 as large as a good-sized melon, and is used as a sub- 

 stitute for bread. It is baked as bread after the cen- 

 tral pith is removed. When roasted or boiled, it is 

 said to taste like the potato. The properties of this 

 tree are summed up by Dr. Hooker in the following 

 manner : The fruit serves for food ; clothes are 

 made from the fibres of the inner bark ; the wood is 

 used for building houses and making boats ; the male 

 catkins are employed as tinder ; the leaves for table- 

 cloths, and for wrapping provisions in ; and the viscid 

 milky juice affords bird-lime. 



The Artocarpus intcgrifolin, Jack tree, or Entire- 

 leaved Bread-fruit, is found in the East Indies, espe- 

 cially in the Molucca islands, and has, along with 

 :he last mentioned species, been introduced into the 

 West Indies. It is a tree about thirty feet high, 

 laving leaves from four to six inches long, and pro- 

 ducing a fleshy oblong yellow-coloured fruit, which 

 sometimes exceeds seventy or eighty pounds in 

 weight. The fleshy part of the fruit is used for food, 

 and forms a considerable part of the diet of the na- 

 tives of Ceylon. It has a strong sweetish smell, is 

 not relished by strangers at first, and seems to be dif- 

 icult of digestion. The seeds resemble chestnuts, and 

 re esteemed excellent. 



The Fictis, or fig, is another important genus in- 

 cluded in this order. This genus is one of the most 

 extensive among plants. Many of the species attain 

 i gigantic height, and are remarkable for their fructi- 

 ication, their milky juice, and the affinity they bear 

 o the bread-fruit. The genus abounds in the tropi- 

 al parts of Asia. In Dr. Wallich's catalogue, a 

 Kindred and five species are enumerated. 

 X 



