698 



CAR A PA CARDIUM. 



The only difference between them and the true 

 Cwyphcus is, that they have their head oblong and a 

 little elevated, and their eyes in a medium position, 

 instead of having the head high and rounded, and the 

 eyes much depressed. See COKYPHOSNA. 



CARAPA (Aublet). A genus of tropical trees 

 belonging to Decnndna Monogynia of Linnfeus, and 

 to the natural order Mcliacete. Generic character : 

 calyx leathery, in four lobes ; petals spreading, and 

 somewhat leathery ; urceolus bearing fleshy stamens, 

 having eight teeth ; filaments linear, emarginate ; 

 anthers oblong, attached to the interior fide of the 

 filaments ; style thick and short ; stigma broad, mar- 

 gin furrowed, disc perforated ; drupe large, sapless, 

 globular, four-valved ; nut inclining to eight-sided, con- 

 taining one seed. These trees grow strongly in our 

 stoves ; having large glossy foliage, for which they 

 are chiefly admired. They are propagated by cut- 

 tings. 



CARAPUS. A genus of malacopterygeous, or 

 soft-finned fishes, without ventral fins. It is closely 

 allied to the celebrated electric eel (Gynmatut 

 electricus), but it is without the electrical quality, 

 and also without the proper characteristic of the 

 Gymnoti, as it has the body covered with scales, 

 whereas the Gymnoti, of course, have none. Its tail 

 is much pointed. It is found in the fresh-water 

 rivers of North America, but it is a fish of small 

 value or interest. It would seem that, as is the case 

 with the common eel in England, there are two 

 species of this fish the one with the muzzle blunt, 

 and the other with it pointed. 



CARAWAY is the Carum Carui of Linnaeus. 

 It belongs to Pentandria, and to the natural order 

 UnibcUiferce. It is an herbaceous biennial, and culti- 

 vated in England and olher parts of Europe for its 

 seeds, which are indispensable to the confectioner 

 and druggist. 



CARDAMINE (Linna3us). A genus of herba- 

 ceous annuals and perennials, growing in water or in 

 moist ground. They belong to the Tetradynamia 

 class of Linnaeus, 'and to the natural order Crucifera;. 

 Generic character : calyx erect ; pod linear ; style 

 very short, or none ; valves plane, nerveless ; seeds 

 in one viscera. C, pratensis is the common cuckoo- 

 flower, one of the earliest spring flowers frequent in 

 damp meadows. 



CARDAMOMUM is the A/pinia .Cardamomum 

 of Roxburgh. The seeds, produced by a perennial 

 herb in India, are of a fine aromatic flavour, and 

 much used as a spice in high cookery and confec- 

 tionary, as well as in medicine. 



CARDIOSPERMUM (Linna:us). A genus of 

 ornamental climbing plants, chiefly natives of South 

 America Linnaean class and order, Octandria Tri- 

 gynia ; natural order, Sapindaccee. Generic charac- 

 ter : calyx funnel-shaped and fbur-lobed ; petals four, 

 inserted in the calyx ; stamens inserted in a double 

 order on the calyx, opposite the petals ; anthers two- 

 celled, bursting longitudinally ; style acute ; fruit 

 nut-like, one-seeded ; seed pendulous. Several of 

 this genus are in our hothouses. They are grown 

 on loam and moor-earth, and propagated by cuttings. 



CARDITA (Lamarck), Ckama( Linnaeus). This 

 genus of molluscs was included in the genus Chnma 

 by Linnaeus, from which, however, it most essentially 

 differs, the teeth being of another form ; the valves 

 are always equal, and the shell is never affixed by its 

 lower valve to other bodies. The shell is equivalved, 



regular, and inequilateral, the greater number of 

 species appearing longitudinal, from the great elonga- 

 tion of the anterior side. The hinge has two unequal 

 teeth, one short, straight, and placed beneath the 

 umbo, the other oblique, marginal, and prolonged, 

 being inserted into a corresponding fossuli. The 

 valves are more or less strongly ribbed, smooth, or 

 imbricated ; the internal margin crenated or plaited. 

 De Blainville, in his System of Malacology, has 

 arranged the species of Cardita in the following 

 order : first, those thatare elongated, slightly notched, 

 or gaping at the inferior side of the ligaments, con- 

 cealed as in the C. crassicostrt, forming the group 

 of Mytilicardia ; secondly, the oval species, the 

 inferior sides of which are nearly straight, or slightly 

 arched, crenulated, and completely closed, forming 

 the group Cardiocardita, as in the Cardita Ajax ; 

 thirdly, such as are nearly round, or suborbicular, 

 the inferior side rounded, denticulated, still more 

 equilateral, with the two teeth shorter and more 

 oblique, constituting the genus Vencricardia of La- 

 marck, of which the V. imbricata is an example ; and 

 lastly, the elongated species, very inequilateral, the 

 summit turned forward, two short divergent cardinal 

 teeth, besides the lamellar one ; the ligament very 

 long, slightly, or not at all salient ; the abdominal 

 impression sometimes a little placed backward, forming 

 Lamarck's genus Cypricardia, an example of which is 

 the Cardita guinaic. 



C, caliculata. 



Lamarck enumerated twenty-five species of Cardita; 

 of which one only is fossil ; eleven Vcncricudia, all 

 fossil, with the exception. of one ; and seven Ci/pri- 

 cardice, four of which are recent, and inhabit the seas 

 of warm countries. 



Some of the species are presumed to spin a byssus, 

 and it appears that they all of them live in situations 

 only occasionally overflowed by the sea. 



CARDIUM (Linnaeus, Lamarck). From the 

 constantly well-defined characters of this genus of 

 molluscs, little or no change has taken place in the 

 arrangement of modern naturalists and that of the 

 great Linnaeus. It is an interesting and elegant 

 family of shells, whose symmetry of form is not sur- 

 passed by any other mollusc ; they are variously 

 sculptured, and the convexity of the valves, like the 

 genus Pcctcn, is ornamented with numerous longitu- 

 dinal ribs, more or less elevated, armed in many with 

 spines ; others are imbricated, or have hollow scales, 

 and some merely marked with variously arranged 

 striae. The interior part is smooth, or only grooved 

 at or near the margin, the valves are equi valve, sub- 

 cordiform, apices protuberant, slightly curved forward ; 

 a complex hinge similarly formed of two cardinal teeth 

 oblique and conical, and two other lateral teeth, 

 inserted at a distance from each other, on each valve ; 

 the ligament is dorsal, very short, and the two mus- 

 cular impressions on the valves generally but slightly 

 marked ; the increase of their growth is very distinctly 



