5SO 



BLOOD F L O W E R B L U E - B I II D. 



one energy ; but we must not pursue the sulijec 

 further. Sec L.IKE. 



&LOOD FLOWER. The Hcemanthus cocciiici, 

 of Linna'iis. A splendid family of bulbous plants 

 natives of Africa. They belong to Ilcjcaiidria Mo- 

 nogt/iiia of the sexual system, and to the order Ama- 

 ryllidcrjB of Jussieu. Generic character : spatha 

 consists of from four to six valves, containing man.) 

 flowers, and persisting ; corolla tubular below, liml 

 six-parted, regular, erect ; stamens springing from the 

 tube of the corolla, protruding ; filaments awl-shaped 

 anthers incumbent ; style simple ; berry three-celled 

 seeds trigonal. Like all the lily tribe this genus is 

 most showy ; and if a single flower enriches our 

 assemblages of plants, how much more magnificent 

 must acres of them appear in their native place! Amid 

 the burning sands of Sierra Leone they appear in all 

 their glory ; the desert is cheered by the brilliant 

 patches of the blood-flower, seen profusely scattered 

 around ; and though in the dry season the vitality 

 of almost all herbaceous vegetation suffers, yet that 

 of the H<emanthui is safe, secure in its investment 

 of thick abbreviated leaves, which guard the living 

 principle. * 



BLOOD WORT is the Sangumaria Canadensis of 

 Linnaeus. This plant is also called Pucoon. 



BLOW-FLY (Musca [Sarcophaga] carnaria, Lin- 

 nseus). A species of dipterous insect, belonging to 

 the family Musckia;, exceedingly troublesome in 

 summer, in consequence of its incessant endeavours 

 to deposit its offspring upon our animal food. It is 

 of a black colour,^with four longitudinal grey lines on 

 the thorax ; the abdomen is chequered with black and 

 grev, and the legs are black. It is as large as, but more 

 slender, than the bluebottle-fly. These insects are of 

 great service in the economy of nature, their province 

 being the consumption of dead and decaying animal 

 matter ; and in order that the most effectual measures 

 may be taken for the performance of this duty, nature 

 has endowed them with the singular power of hatching 

 their young in their own bodies, so that no time is 

 lost by the insects remaining in the egg-state when 

 deposited upon the decaying carcase. These insects 

 have consequently been termed viviparous ; but 

 Messrs. Kirby and Spence object to this term, since 

 none of these embryos are nourished, as in the true 

 viviparous animals, within a uterus, by means of a 

 placenta, but receive their development within true 

 eggs, which are hatched in the body of the mother. 

 This is confirmed by the observations of Degrer.who 

 discovered eggs in the body of this fly. The num- 

 berless minute larvae contained in the abdomen of 

 the blow-fly are arranged in a remarkable manner ; 

 being of an oblong form, they are placed in an up- 

 right situation, side by side, against each other, and 

 are coiled up in such position, somewhat resembling 

 a roll of riband, which, when unfolded, was discovered 

 l>v Reaumur to' be nearly two inches and a half long, 

 although the body of the parent is scarcely one-tenth 

 of that size. Each of these larvae has a distinct 

 envelope, of the finest membrane, which, however, is 

 not entirely divided from that of those adjoining to 

 it, but appears to be one tube, which becomes ex- 

 tretnely slender between each individual, so as, when 

 drawn out, to look like a chain. In another species 

 of mttsca, which Reaumur observed to be similarly 

 ovo-viviparous, the young larvas were found to be 

 heaped together without any other order than that of 

 being longitudinally laid side by side. 



But it is not alone in the production of living off. 

 spring that these insects are so admirably fitted for 

 the performance of the functions assigned to them. 

 It was asserted by Liun;us, that three flesh Mies 

 would consume a dead horse as quickly as a lion. 

 This, however, must be understood us having refe- 

 rence to the offspring of such three flies ; and as a 

 proof of such assertion, it has been ascertained, that 

 a single female of the Musca cu nutria will give birth 

 to 20,000 young, which mu.st, of course, IK; gradual! v 

 developed, as they will necessarily occupy several 

 days in being deposited by the parent. Each of 

 these grubs, in twenty-four hour?, will, in conse- 

 quence of its intense voracity, have increased in 

 weight not less than two hundred times, and in five 

 days they acquire their full size. 'It requires about 

 the same period to undergo the pupa state, so that, 

 in a fortnight's time, there are descendants of the 

 first brood in existence. When ready to appear in 

 the perfect state, and to quit the shell-like cocoon in 

 which they have passed the pupa state, the enclosed 

 flies burst forth at one of the extremities of their case. 

 This is effected by the dilatation of the leather-like 

 front of the head, which is alternately pushed forward 

 and withdrawn, and by the swelling out of the checks ; 

 by this means a small circular cap, w Inch appears in 

 this group of insects to be especially employed for 

 this purpose, is detached, producing an aperture 

 sufficiently large for the escape of the fly, which at 

 this time exhibits as it were only the rudiments of 

 wings, these organs being twisted up in several 

 crumple-like folds, but which, in the space of a veiy 

 few minutes, are gradually stretched out, when the fly 

 appears in its perfect form, and is ready to assume all 

 the energies of its species. 



BLUE-BIRD, or BLUE-ROBIN (SlaJla, Swain- 

 son). An American genus of small dcntirostral birds, 

 allied to the robins arid chats of the old continent, 

 but sufficiently distinct from these to form a separate 

 and natural division. The form is rather similar to 

 that of a robin, but somewhat more slender ; the bill 

 s of a stouter make, the wings are longer, and more 

 itted for protracted flight, and the tarsi are consider- 

 ably shorter ; the whole form, indeed, indicating 

 nore arboreal habits than those of their ncare.-i. 

 analogies in the old world, and it does not appear, 

 rom the minute descriptions of various observers, 

 hat they find their food so much on the ground ; 

 although, like the robin of this country, they are sure 

 o be seen hopping fearlessly about wherever ground 

 ms been turned up. Three species only are known 

 at present, and these are showy birds, remarkable 

 or the rich sky or ultramarine blue of the upper 

 >arts, and which forms the predominant tint of their 

 )lumage. Their bills and feet are always black. 



These birds belong to a highly natural and tolera- 

 jly well defined group or division of the Sylviada:, . 

 or warbler family, and which various writers have 

 designated by the term Saxicolitue, from the wheat- 

 ear genus, . Saxicola, considered the standard of the 

 division. It contains also the robin, chat, fantail, and 

 edstart genera, with several other forms from different 

 >arts of the globe, amongst which may be reckoned 

 in interesting genus in New Holland (Petroica), per- 

 orming in that country the office of the redstarts 

 uul robins of Europe and Asia, the chats of Africa, 

 and the blue-robins of North America. 



All these various birds have a considerable resem- 

 blance in their appearance, in their actions, and 



