250 



AURICULA AUTO MOLITE. 



On such a stage as this auriculas are kept during 

 spring, summer, and autumn : and if they can be suf 

 ficiently protected during winter also. Constant care 

 is required to supply them with water, light, and air 

 as best suits them, in such quantity and at such times 

 as the experienced cultivator only knows how to 

 afford. In their progress towards blooming, if more 

 than one truss ot flowers appear, the weakest must be 

 displaced. And when the preferred truss begins to 

 open its florets, these, if too numerous, must be thinned 

 leaving no more than will form a well-balanced heac 

 of flowers. Small pointed scissors are used to cut oul 

 the supernumerary pips ; from seven to thirteen ol 

 the strongest being considered enough. Shading the 

 plants while in bloom supporting the weak stems by 

 hooked wires giving water in moderate quantities to 

 the roots only preventing the visits of slugs, wood- 

 lice, earwigs, &c., require the daily attention of the 

 florist ; and when the flowering is over his attentions 

 do not cease. The plants must next be removed to 

 the summer station, and there receive over again the 

 necessary treatment, as before detailed. 



A fine auricula should have a strong elastic stem, 

 bearing the truss at some height above the leaves. 

 The parts of each floret, are the tube, the eye, and 

 the exterior circle containing the ground colour with 

 its margin ; these three should be proportional ; that 

 is, supposing the diameter of the floret to be divided 

 into six parts, the eye should occupy three (the tube 

 being one), and the ground-colour the remainder. 

 The face of the floret should be round, not starry ; 

 the anthers should be bold, filling the tube well, and 

 surrounded by the raised edge of the tube, called the 

 cup. The eye round this cup should be a regular 

 circle, purely white, and smooth ; encircling this is 

 the ground colour, which should be intense and rich ; 

 either in an unbroken band, or in very distinct patches, 

 somewhat suffused into the margin. The ground 

 colour should be black, purple, blue, or bright pink ; 

 but glowing scarlet, or deep crimson, edged with 

 green, are highly prized. 



AURICULA (Larnarck). VOLUTA (Linnajus). 

 The animal of this genus has its foot entire. The 

 shell is thick, solid, more or less smooth, oval, 

 oblong ; the spire short and obtuse ; the aperture 

 entire, oblong, enlarged, rounded in front, becoming 

 much narrower backward ; the edges disunited, the 

 right constantly thickened and turned outwards ; the 

 left, or columellar side, almost always presenting one 

 or several teeth, or thick decurrent plaits, on the 

 columella. 



These sh.jlls were blended promiscuously with the 

 Volutes of Linnaeus, from which Bruguiere removed 

 all those not possessing a notch at the base into his 

 genus JBulinus, not considering that the plaited, or 

 callous columella, distinctly indicated the dwelling of 

 a differently organised animal. Lamarck has conse- 

 quently constituted the present genus. He had ima- 

 gined that the Mollusks, with a plaited column, the 

 aperture without a notch at the base, and the margin 

 smooth and sharp, were river shells, and therefore 

 formed them into a separate genus, under the name 

 of Conovulus ; but, from the subsequent observations 

 of De Valenciennes, it was discovered that they arc 

 terrestrial, and Lamarck has included them in the 

 present genus, which he divided into two ; first, the 

 species having the right lip reflected ; and secondly, 

 those having the right lip plain and sharp. De Blain- 

 ville has divided this genus into five species ; the first 



having the columella redge, with three thick plaits or 

 folds, and the internal part of the right lip denticulated 

 its whole length, as in the A. scarabaeus here figured ; 



A. scarabceus. 



the second species having the columella with two 

 thick decurrent plaits, and one tooth behind (consti- 

 tuting the genus Carychium of Muller, and P/ioetia of 

 Gray), as A. myosotis ; the third species, which have 

 only two decurrent folds in the columella, as in A. 

 Judce ; the fourth species, in which only one plait in 

 the columella exists, as in A. Sileni ; and lastly, such 

 species as have their lips without either teeth or 

 plaits, as in A^lincala. 



The number of recent species thus circumscribed 

 amounts to eleven or twelve, of which three very 

 small ones are European ; the others are from the 

 banks, particularly, of the Indian and American 

 Archipelago. Lamardk enumerates seven fossil 

 species, and De France nine, but some of them are 

 true pcdipes, and the turriculated species certainly 

 are not of this genus. 



The name is derived from a fancied resemblance 

 to the ears of some animals. 



These shells seldom present any vivid colouring or 

 elegant pencilling ; they are for the most part covered 

 with a thick epidermis ; but they are frequently de- 

 licately sculptured, and form a pleasing and interest- 

 ing genus, easily distinguished from the Volutes by 

 the characters pointed out. Their rank in modern 

 malacology will be seen by referring to the article 

 Auriculacea, of which they form the second genus. 



AURICULA JUD^E, a fungus so called, belong- 

 ing to the genus Exidca, found on decayed trunks of 

 elder. 



AURICULACEA (De Blainville), a portion of 

 which were blended with the widely-diffused Lin- 

 naean genus Valuta. The bodies of these mollus- 

 cous animals are spiral, with snbcylindrical tcntacula, 

 inflated at the summit, clumsily contractile, having 

 the two eyes placed at their internal base ; one upper 

 tooth is opposed to a tongue provided with little 

 liooks. The shell is thick and solid, the opening 

 more or less oval-shaped, always much larger, rounded 

 in front, and somewhat narrowed by one or more 

 teeth, or thick columellar plaits. 



The animals of this family are phytophagous, and 

 onstantly inhabit the sea-shores, being even some- 

 times momentarily covered by the water. 



This is the second family of the order Pulmo- 

 branchiata, class Paractyhalophora, in De Blainville's 

 Malacology. 



AUTO MOLITE. A species of the mineral 

 ermed corundum stone. It occurs at Fahlun, in 

 Sweden, and is usually imbedded in talc-slate, along 

 with galena. Automolite resembles both ceylonite 

 and spinel, but it is distinguished from the former by 

 ts more distinct green colour, foliated fracture, infe- 

 ior hardness, and superior specific gravity ; and from 

 he latter by its colour, inferior lustre, perfect cleavage. 



