BLACKWELLIA BLAPS. 



507 



We may mention here a curious habit which, in 

 confinement, is observable in several of the smaller 

 birds, but more particularly in the fruit-eating warblers. 

 They will occasionally be taken with a sudden and 

 remarkable fit of activity, darting backwards and 

 forwards about their cage, now here, now there, faster 

 than the eye can follow, with crest and feathers of the 

 throat erect, and uttering all the time a loud check, 

 or tckut, which varies a little in the different species. 

 After continuing thus for two or three minutes, they 

 cease almost as suddenly as they began, and hop 

 quietly about as if nothing had happened. 



BLACKWELLIA (Commelin). Agenus of five 

 species of hot-house evergreen shrubs, belonging to 

 the class and order Dodccandria Pentagynia of Lin- 

 naius, and to the natural order BomaStieOf. Generic 

 character : calyx nearly superior, in five reflexed 

 lobes, often bearing glands ; corolla, five small petals 

 inserted on the calyx ; stamens imposed on the calyx, 

 and dilated at the base, anthers somewhat round, 

 opening at the top ; style filiform ; seed vessel one- 

 celled, with many seeds. The B. fiujifolia is said to 

 have fine bunches of "starry white fragrant flowers." 



BLACK- WOOD is the MeUiamamclmwxylon of 

 the Hortus Kewensis. It is an ornamental hot-house 

 tree, said to be a native of St. Helena. 



BLADDER KETMIA is the Hibiscus trionum 

 of Linnaeus. It is an ornamental annual, and is usu- 

 ally sown in our flower borders ; being a native of 

 Italy. 



BLADDER-NUT is the Staphylea pinnata of 

 Linnaeus. Of this family there are three species ; 

 one of which is a tree from Jamaica, and two are 

 shrubs, one of which, the S. pinnata, is found wild 

 about Pontefract in Yorkshire. These plants belong 

 to the fifth class and third order of the sexual system, 

 and to the natural order Celastrinea;. Generic cha- 

 racter : calyx, inferior, large, coloured ; corolla, five- 

 petalled, drooping ; capsule, two or three inflated ; 

 seeds, two on each cell. The inflated seed vessel 

 gives the name to the plants. 



BLADDER SENNA is the Colutca arborescent 

 of Linnaeus. There are five species, natives of the 

 south of Europe. Class and order Diadelphia De- 

 candria, and natural order Legnminoste. Generic 

 character : calyx, of five teeth ; two callosities at 

 the base of tlvi standard, keel obtuse ; stigma unci- 

 nate ; pod with a foot-stalk, inflated, membranaceous. 

 Although this is not the true senna of the shops, the 

 plants are supposed to possess qualities somewhat 

 similar, and may be used either as laxatives or 

 purgatives. 



BL^ERIA (Linnaeus). A genus of Cape of Good 

 Hope shrubs, containing eleven species, all more or 

 less ornamental. They belong to the class and order 

 Tetrandria Monogynia, and natural order Ericece. 

 Generic character : calyx, four-cleft ; corolla, some- 

 what bell-shaped, and also four-cleft ; stamens im- 

 posed on the receptacle, in some species protruded ; 

 anthers, two-celled, without horns, rarely with ; style 

 simple, exserted ; stigma obtuse ; capsule four- 

 celled, quadrangular, angles bursting. These plants 

 have some resemblance to heaths, and as such deserve 

 admission into every green-house collection. 



BLAKEA (Linnaeus). A genus of two species 

 of beautiful tropical shrubs, belonging to the class and 

 order Dodccandria Monogj/nia, and to the natural order 

 Melastomece, Generic character: calyx, membra- 

 naceous, six-angled, limb repandous, the base sur- 



rounded by an involucrum-like fringe of from four to 

 six leaflets ; corolla composed of six petals ; stamens 

 seated below the germen, anthers standing in a circle; 

 style simple ; stigma peltate ; capsule a berry, in- 

 vested by the calyx, six-celled ; seed, angularly oval. 

 The Blakea is one of our finest stove plants, and as it 

 is frequently in flower, is on this account more valu- 

 able. One peculiar characteristic of the Blakeas is 

 the regular division of the foot-stalk of the leaves, by 

 which the face or disk is separated into a given 

 number of spaces ; hence the specific names trinervia, 

 and <[uin(]uenervia. 



BLANDFORDIA (Smith). A family of two 

 species of herbaceous perennials, natives of New 

 Holland. Class and order Hexandria Monogynia, 

 natural order, Hemerocallideee. Generic character: 

 periantheum, simple ; calyx tubular, opening into five 

 lobes; stamens inserted in the tube ; anthers, date- 

 shaped, standing on their base ; style, awl-shaped, 

 stigma simple ; capsule prism-shaped, three-parted ; 

 seeds in two rows attached to the margin of the 

 suture ; testa, lax and downy. The Blandfbrdias are 

 fine showy plants, with umbels of flowers, and well 

 worthy cultivation. 



BLAPS (Fabricius). A genus of beetles, belong- 

 ing to the section Heteromcra and division Melastoma 

 of Latreille, forming the type of the family Blapsidce 

 of Leach. The insects composing this family are 

 of obscure or black colours ; they are destitute 

 of wings, and the maxillary palpi are terminated 

 by a large hatchet-shaped joint ; the body is 

 oblong or oval. The elytra are generally soldered 

 together, and deflexed at the sides so as to embrace 

 the margins of the abdomen. They frequent dark, 

 close, and damp places, as stables, cellars, wash- 

 houses, &c., where they lay concealed during the day, 

 under stones, in holes, &c. They are furnished with 

 an internal apparatus for secreting a liquid of a brown 

 colour, and of an acrid, irritating, and very disagree- 

 able odour, which is ejected at the sides, and not from 

 the extremity of the terminal segment of the body, to 

 the distance of six or eight inches. The hind legs 

 are only furnished with four tarsal articulations. The 

 species are of a moderate or small size. The insects 

 are nearly related to the Tenebrionidse and Pimeliidae 

 both in their structure and habits ; from the former 

 they are easily distinguished by their apterous and 

 broader-formed body, and by the conical terminal 

 joint of the palpi, and from the latter by the character 

 of the palpi. Although destitute of wings, nature has 

 not given them by way of compensation, the power of 

 running with that agility which distinguishes those 

 ground beetles (Carabidae), which are similarly 

 circumstanced. This slowness of motion is, indeed, 

 an attendant peculiarity resulting from the nature of 

 their food, which consists, not of living insects like 

 that of the Carabidse, but of putrescent animal or 

 vegetable matter. 



Here then we have, amongst some of the lowest, 

 animals, an example of that adaptation of means to 

 the end, which is more perceptible, simply from the 

 increased facility of observation, amongst the larger 

 animals. Carnivorous animals, or rather, animals of 

 prey living prey are necessarily endowed with 

 great celerity of motion, to enable them to obtain 

 their necessary supplies of food, which would other- 

 wise escape pursuit ; and we accordingly find the 

 tiger beetles, ground beetles, and others exceedingly 

 active, even where destitute of wings but herbivorous 



