B R Y A - B R Y O P H Y L L U M. 



are esteemed a winter vegetable, one sowing about 

 the middle of April on a bed of dry rich soil, sowed 

 with an ounce of seed, will furnish plants enough for 

 winter and spring consumption for any moderate 

 family establishment. Brussels sprouts should be 

 planted in rows, two feet asunder every way, on rich 

 well digged ground, and afterwards kept free from 

 weeds and fallen leaves. To have true seed, it is 

 recommended to save it from the side branches, it 

 being found that seeds from the crown do not give 

 the true character for which this vegetable is so much 

 esteemed. 



BRYA (Patrick Brown). Bryo, to sprout; seeds 

 germinate before falling. This is a genus of two 

 species ; one, a native of Jamaica, and there, from 

 the colour and hardness of its wood, is called ebony ; 

 the other has been, according to Loddiges' catalogue, 

 received from Sierra Leone. They have Monadel- 

 phous flowers, and belong to the natural order Le- 



BRYAXIS (Knoch). A genus of coleopterous 

 insects, belonging to the minute but very singular 

 family Psclaphidce. The tarsi are furnished with a 

 single claw; the maxillary palpi are rather short, and 

 the body is broad or ovate, with the extremity of the 

 antennae thickened. These insects are of small size, 

 and are usually found in damp places amongst moss, 

 during the winter and spring. We have met with 

 several species in Battersea fields. Nine species are 

 recorded as British in the works of Messrs. Curtis 

 and Stephens, but of these the Pselapkus insignis of 

 Reichenbach is an Euplectus, according to M. Aube, 

 whose memoir we have already alluded to in the 

 article BRACHELYTRA; and the Psclaphus nigriventris 

 of Denny belongs to the genus Batrisus of Aube. 

 We take this opportunity of introducing the article 

 upon an allied genus, which was accidentally omitted 

 in its place. 



ARCOPAGUS (Leach). A genus of coleopterous 

 insects, belonging to the family Pselaphidee. The 

 body is short and convex ; the maxillary palpi ter- 

 minated by a large hatchet-shape point, and the 

 antennae eleven-jointed, with the basal joint larger 

 than the second. They reside in moss, &c., growing in 

 damp situations and in marshes, throughout the year. 

 There are four British species. There are some 

 sexual peculiarities in this genus deserving of notice : 

 the tibiae of the fore legs in the males is notched, 

 which character Mr. Curtis considers as characteristic 

 of the genus ; but Mr. Denny, in his beautiful work 

 on this family, has also noticed it in another genus, 

 Bryaxis. Moreover, as he observes, that the notch 

 varies in size in the same species (B. fangicornis'), we 

 may perhaps conclude that this is a specific instead 

 of a sexual character, and consequently that two 

 species of the present genus have been regarded as 

 the opposite sexes of the same species. 



In one sex (respecting which a difference also 

 exists) the first joint of the antennae is produced into 

 a fine point on the inside. 



BRYO NY is the Bryonia dioica of Linnaeus, a 

 genus of herbaceous climbing plants, consisting of 

 twenty-three species found in every quarter of the 

 world. They bear unisexual flowers, and belong to 

 the order Ct/curbitacece. The red-berried bryony is 

 frequent in hedges every where in England, and is 

 easily known by its long rambling shoots climbing 

 among the thorns of the hedge, dearing bunches of 



red nauseous berries in the autumn, and particularly 

 by its immense tuberous root, sometimes weighing 

 several stones. " These roots have been formerly, 

 by impostors, brought into the human shape, carried 

 about the country, and exhibited as mandrakes to the 

 common people. The method which these impostors 

 practised, was to open the earth round a young 

 thriving bryony plant, being careful not to disturb 

 the lower fibres of the root ; to fix a mould, such as 

 is used by those who make plaster figures, close to 

 the root, fastening it with wire to keep it in its place, 

 and then to fill in the earth about the root, leaving 

 it to grow to the ? hape of the mould, which is effected 

 in one summer." Lind. The root has been long 

 used medicinally, it being highly purgative and acrid. 



BRYOPHILA (Ochsenheimer). A genus of 

 lepidopterous insects, belonging to the section Noc- 

 turna, and family Noctuidce. The body is very slender, 

 thus differing from the majority of the family (w hich 

 are termed simple-horned full bodies) ; the wings are 

 slightly deflexed during repose. These insects, of 

 which there are two British species, are amongst the 

 smallest and most elegant species of the family ; they 

 are found upon old walls, &c., the larvae feeding upon 

 the lichens which grow there ; the moths are about 

 an inch in expanse, of a white or greenish hue, 

 prettily variegated with black markings. The type 

 of the genus is the marbled beauty, Noctua per/a, of 

 Haworth, common in the neighbourhood of London. 



BRYOPHYLLUM (Salisbury). Bryo, to grow, 

 and phyllon a leaf; young plants produced from the 

 crenatures of the leaves. This curious plant belongs 

 to Octandria f Tetragyniet of Linnxus, and to the natural 

 order Crassulacece. The generic character consists 

 in the flower having four sepals, four petals united 

 into a cylinder, and many-seeded. This plant differs 

 from the generality of others, by bearing young pro- 

 geny on the edges of its leaves. In ordinary cases 

 the young of plants are produced from seeds, or from 

 buds attached to, and springing from, the stem or 

 roots. These vital gems are either visible or hidden, 

 and come forth under favouring circumstances of time, 

 place, and temperature. Such plants are clothed 

 with leaves also ; but they are simple appendages, 

 and possess in themselves no reproductive principle, 

 nor are they constituted like the stems and roots in 

 having a vital membrane. But the leaves of the 

 plant we are noticing are actually foliaceous parts of 

 the stem, and possess similarpowers of reproduction ; 

 inasmuch that buds are not only present in the 

 notches of the leaves, but are actually developed 

 there, and fall to the ground perfect plants. 



Viviparous progeny are produced by many differ- 

 ent descriptions of plants, and in various ways. 

 Bulbs put forth offsets, as the tulip ; tubers increase 

 their numbers by a similar process, as the potatoe ; 

 the strawberry, and many kinds of grass, send out 

 runners, spreading far and wide. Of these powers 

 of plants, it is evident that that of the bryophyllum 

 is only a modification ; but certainly very curious ; 

 being so unlike the ordinary modes of the reproduc- 

 tive processes of the vegetable kingdom. To pro- 

 pagate this plant, and there are a few others pro- 

 pagated in the same way, it is only necessary to take 

 a leaf and lay it on the damp surface of a pot of 

 earth ; roots are quickly exserted, and several young 

 plants obtained. It is a stove plant, requiring a dry 

 porous soil, and very little water. 



