760 



C E C R O P I A C E D R E L E /E. 



Cecilia ibiara. This is a short and thick species 

 with a blunt muzzle, the circular folds of the skin 

 very distinctly marked, the mouth under the snout 

 something like the mouth of a shark, and furnished 

 with conical teeth. This species has twenty-five very 

 distinct rings round the body, which are rendered 

 more conspicuous by the ridges being white, while 

 the ground colour ot the animal is black. This spe- 

 cies is very common both in Brazil and Guiana ; and 

 it is met with in the soft and wet ground, at the depth 

 of three feet below the surface. We should have 

 mentioned, that when full grown it is about a foot 

 long, and an inch in diameter. 



C. tcntaculata. This species has the circular folds 

 much more numerous, but they are chiefly on the tail, 

 where they are arranged two and two, and on the 

 body and tail together there are about one hundred 

 and thirty. This species is black, and marbled with 

 white on the belly. 



C. gelatinosa was the first species known and de- 

 scribed. It is long and slender, cylindrical in the 

 section, of a brownish colour, and marked with a 

 lateral line. It contains between three and four hun- 

 dred folds on each side. It is about a foot in length, 

 and the thickness of one's little finger. This is the 

 species which was described erroneously as being 

 met with in Ceylon. 



C. albiventris. The body of this species is slender, 

 round, black, but marked on the under side with 

 irregular patches of white and yellow. Its mouth 

 opens below the snout, and its teeth are very short 

 and slender. 



C. lumbricoides. This is the longest and most 

 slender of all the species. It is two feet in length, 

 and only a third of an inch in diameter; and the 

 rings upon it are so very minute that they cannot be 

 seen, but by the help of a microscope. Its colour 

 is blackish. This is the species which is said to in- 

 habit holes in the ground, in the same manner as the 

 common earth-worm ; and in form it is certainly the 

 most singular of vertebrated animals. 



There are probably many other species besides 

 those which we have mentioned ; but from the ob- 

 scurity of their habits little is or can be known 

 respecting them, so that what has been stated must 

 suffice for our purpose ; they however form an ad- 

 ditional curious feature in the zoology of South 

 America, which is different from any other part of 

 the world in every thing that it produces, even when 

 they have so much external resemblance as to have 

 been classed together. 



CECROPIA (Linnaeus). A genus of ornamental 

 trees, indigenous to the West Indies and Brazil. 

 Linnaean class and order Dicecia Triandria ; natural 

 order Urticece. Generic character : flowers in a dense 

 spiked bundle, which has a deciduous spatha. Male 

 flowers : calyx turbinated, angular, with two holes at 

 top ; stamens two or three, exserted through the 

 holes ; anthers oblong and four-sided. Female 

 flowers : calyx bell- shaped, two-toothed ; stamens 

 sterile ; stigma sitting ; acenium attached to the 

 calyx. The cecropia is placed in Dicecia Diandria, 

 by Sprengel. They are propagated in our hot- 

 houses by cuttings., and grow best in a loamy soil. 



CEDAR OF GOA is the Cupressus Lusitanica of 

 Tournefort, and the C. glauca of Lambert. It is a 

 native of Portugal, and requires the protection of a 

 glazed frame in this country. 



CEDAR OF LEBANON is the Cedrus Labani 



of botanists, formerly called Pinus Cedrus by Linna-us. 

 It is one of the most remnrkable exotic trees culti- 

 vated in this country. They were introduced as far 

 back as HiS.'J; and there are but few old country 

 seats in this kingdom which do not possess a few of 

 these cedars. Many majestic specimens are met 

 with in different parts ; but in no situation have they 

 thriven more prosperously than at the celebrated 

 residence of Moor Park, in Hertfordshire. So nume- 

 rous and large were they on this estate that, about 

 1798, scores of them were felled for sale, containing 

 four and five loads of timber in their butts only. 

 These fine trees were mostly purchased by London 

 builders for quartering at a low price ; the timber 

 being found far inferior to the common Scotch fir. ' 

 They are trees of very striking character, and give 

 an air of grandeur to every scene in which they 

 appear. There are two or three varieties of this 

 tree ; some assume the conical figure of the other 

 cnniferce ; others extend their branches horizontally 

 from the top of a short thick trunk, forming a dense 

 canopy over head : others again are very much di- 

 vided near the ground into many upright stems, 

 which with their horizontal spray, form in the course 

 of years a vast bush. 



This tree is raised from seeds which ripen in 

 England, or from seeds imported from the Levant. 

 When got from the cones, which is a work of some 

 difficulty, they are sowed in deep seed-pans or boxes, 

 and when fit for removal the seedlings are placed 

 and nursed in pots, until they are large enough to be 

 planted out for good. While nurslings, many of 

 them, require a stake, to which a leader must be 

 constantly kept trained, in order to ensure a regular 

 growth. 



CEDRELE^l. Mahogany family. A natural 

 order of dicotyledonous plants, containing fire or six 

 genera, and about fourteen species. It is nearly allied 

 to Meliaccee, of which Decandolle makes it a sub- 

 division, and is chiefly distinguished by its winged 

 and indefinite seeds. 



Its essential characters, according to Brown, are : 

 calyx five-cleft, persistent; petals five, sessile, inserted 

 at the base of a sternmiferous disk ; stamens ten, in- 

 serted on the outside, below the apex of a hypogynous 

 disk; those which are opposite the petals, sterile; 

 anthers acuminate, bursting longitudinally ; disk hy- 

 pogynous, cup-shaped, with ten plaits ; ovary superior, 

 five-celled; style simple; stigma deeply four-lobed, 

 peltate ; capsule separable into five pieces, which are 

 combined at the base, before bursting, with a short 

 central axis ; placenta central, with five longitudinal 

 lobes ; seed erect or ascending, with the apex termi- 

 nated in a wing ; no albumen. 



The plants belonging to this order have alternate 

 compound leaves, without stipules, and a terminal 

 inflorescence. They possess bitter and astringent 

 properties, combined with an aromatic principle, and 

 in general they are useful as febrifuges. 



They are found in America and India, but none 

 have as yet been detected in Africa. The chief 

 genera of the order are Cedrcla Swietcnia, chloroxylun, 

 Flindersia, Oxk'ya, and carapa. 



There are several species of Ccdrela, or bastard 

 cedar, some of which attain the height of seventy or 

 eighty feet. The wood of these plants, which is 

 agreeably fragrant, is one of the kinds of cedar of 

 commerce, and is imported in considerable quantities 

 from New Holland. This wood, which is soft and 



