AUXIS-AVICULA. 



257 



down all moral obligation, and disposes man to follow 

 the other habit of the spider, and, by the withdrawal 

 of the tie of moral affection, to cat up his brother 

 whenever strength suffers and opportunity favours. 

 This subject is one of a very serious nature, as it 

 destroys the respect and confidence which should be 

 reciprocal between man and man, makes merchandise 

 of the affections, undermines the foundation of indi- 

 vidual happiness, and predisposes to crime by the 

 removal of every restraint but the penal statute, 

 which men, in the hour of secret temptation, always 

 trust to their good fortune that they shall avoid. 



This subject is so often alluded to in those parts of 

 the present work which are intended to impress upon 

 the reader the nobler use of the application of natural 

 history in promoting human happiness, that, though 

 there are many to whom no explanation of this de- 

 parture from the common practice will be necessary, 

 yet, for the sake of others, a sentence or two may be 

 given. There are in this country plenty of naturalists, 

 but the fashion of the. times confines their labours in 

 the way of writing to reports and monographs on 

 single points, which, though of great value to the pro- 

 fessed student, are not adapted for general readers. 

 The books for these, and especially those which pro- 

 fess to instruct the young in the study of natural his- 

 tory, are not the productions of naturalists, but of 

 compilers, who cull from all quarters those anecdotes 

 and descriptions which appear to be the most striking 

 and effective ; and who, by way of giving the whole an 

 air of originality, interlard their works with descants 

 which have the pernicious tendency above alluded to. 

 We have no such objectionable matter in the old 

 books, which were the productions of authors Ray's 

 " Wisdom," for instance, or Derham's " Physico- 

 theology" which makes us regret that the Rays and 

 Derhams of our time will not condescend to school 

 the public by means of books as wholesome in sub- 

 stance as they are popular in form. Of course w'e do 

 not mean to affirm that all the popular literature of 

 the present day has this tendency. On the contrary, 

 the desire to illustrate the greatness and goodness of 

 the Creator, by a reference to his work?, appears a 

 peculiar characteristic of modern cheap literature. 



AUXIS. A genus of spinous-finned fishes, be- 

 longing to the mackerel family, and partaking partly 

 of the characters of the mackerel, and partly of 

 those of the tunny, though it docs not, at least in 

 the European species, attain the size of the latter. It 

 has the corslet of large and rough scales on the 

 thorax, and the pectoral fins of moderate size, as in 

 the tunny ; but the two dorsal fins do not run into 

 each other as in that fish, they are separated as in 

 the mackerel. There is one European species, found 

 in the Mediterranean, which is the Scomber Lnrochc 

 of Risso. It is both a handsome and a valuable 

 fish. The colour on the upper part is bright blue, 

 marked with waving bands of a blackish colour. 

 The flesh is of a deep-red colour, but boils a little 

 paler; when fresh, it has something of the flavour of 

 salmon, and is much esteemed. In the West Indian 

 seas there is another species, which is much sought 

 after for the table ; it is there called the tunny, and 

 sometimes attains the size of that fish, or from 400 

 to 500 pounds in weight ; but those which are of 

 smaller dimensions are more palatable. Like all the 

 rest of the family, they are surface fishes, keeping in 

 shoals, and frequenting particular stations only, but, 

 like most surface fishes, they are easily caught. 

 NAT. HIST. VOL. I. 



AVENS, the English name of what botanists call 

 Geum. Limuean class and order, Icosandria Polygynia; 

 natural order, Rosaccce. Generic character : calyx 

 ten-cleft ; segments alternately smaller ; corolla five- 

 petaled ; stamens inserted in the base of the calyx ; 

 styles persisting, jointed or kneed, hooked or bearded 

 at top, sideling ; receptacle dry ; caryopsis many, with 

 the styles attached. There are twenty-one species, 

 two of them British weeds. Some of them are showy, 

 and have a place in every flower garden. 



AVERRHOA (Linnaeus). A genus of two species, 

 of beautiful trees, natives of India, China, &c. Lin- 

 najan class and order, Decandria Penlagytiia; natural 

 order, Ojcalide<x. Generic character : calyx five-cleft, 

 or of five sepals ; corolla petals spreading, longer 

 than the calyx ; stamens alternately longer, joined in 

 a ring at the base (in A. Carambola the stamens are 

 alternately abortive) ; anthers somewhat round ; style 

 simple ; stigma headed ; berry large, with five fur- 

 rows and five cells ; seeds attached to the centre of 

 the angles. These trees, particularly the Carambola, 

 are met with in every garden in India, where the green 

 fruit are used for tarts, and taste very much like those 

 made of gooseberries. Indeed, the British settlers 

 call the fruit Corornandel gooseberries, but the fruit 

 are called Carambolas by the Portuguese. The fol- 

 lowing is a reduced figure of the foliage, flowers, and 

 fruit. 



A. C-irambola. 



AVICENNIA (Linnaeus). An East -Indian 

 downy-leafed ornamental tree, introduced into this 

 country in 1793. Linnaean class and order, Didy- 

 namia Angiospermia ; natural order, Myopor'uuc. 

 Generic character : calyx of five equal parts ; co- 

 rolla tube bell-shaped, limb of four spreading parts, 

 segments leaning a little back ; stamens protruded ; 

 style short; stigmas two, pointed; fruit leathery, two- 

 valved, one-seeded, seeds sprouting. 



AVICULA (Lamarck). Mytilus hit-undo (Lin- 

 naeus). This genus of shells has very properly been 

 separated by Lamarck from the Liunaean Myttli. The 

 form of the shell is scarcely less remarkable than 

 that of the genus Malleus, although of a distinct cha- 

 racter. The principal part of the shell, containing 

 the body of the animal, is obliquely attached to a 

 long saight transverse base, and somewhat resembles 

 the wings of a bird ; the two extremities of the base 

 (which are frequently elongated and of unequal length) 

 may be compared to the tail, so that the shell, when 

 partially expanded, presents the appearance of a bird 

 flying, from which fanciful resemblance the name of 

 the genus, Avicitla, a little bird, doubtless is derived. 

 A A 



