7G4 



CELSIA CENTENUS. 



try to Europe by the first traders to that distant 

 empire. Seeds wore^on inquired for, easily obtained, 

 and safely brought to Europe, where they, as tender 

 annuals, have been propagated ever since. The 

 celosia, gomphrena, and amaranthus, were all at first 

 included under the general name of amaranthus, 

 their seeds and habit showing great resemblance. 

 They all yield seeds freely in this country, are 

 sowed in seed-pans placed in a hotbed in March, 

 whence they are potted singly, first in small and 

 afterwards shifted into larger pots, and nursed on 

 heat till about the end of May, when they go into 

 the greenhouse to flower. 



The different modes of flowering of the amaranth- 

 aceae are most remarkable ; some are arranged in long 

 erect or dangling branched spikes, others in compact 

 globular heads ; some are in little tufts in the axils of 

 the leaves, and the celosia, instead of spikes or sphe- 

 rical heads, has its stem flattened and extended late- 

 rally ; the crest compoundly waved and duplicated ; 

 and the whole thickly beset with minute bractes and 

 flowers. This aggregated and contorted formation 

 of the flower stem is increased by suitable culture ; 

 and many practical florists excel in bringing them to 

 a monstrous though at the same time a most interest- 

 ing size ; the crest of some of these productions of 

 skill, sometimes measuring twenty inches in length 

 and eight or ten inches across ! 



CELSIA (Linnaeus). A genus of hothouse and 

 greenhouse herbaceous annuals, natives of the south 

 of Europe, Africa, and India. Linnaean class and 

 order Didynamia Angiospermia ; natural order Solanece. 

 Generic character: calyx five-cleft; corolla tube 

 short ; limb rotate, in five lobes, the two upper ones 

 small, the lower large ; stamens ascending, long- 

 bearded ; anthers incumbent, roundly-kidney-shaped, 

 bursting upward ; style bearing a capitate stigma of 

 two lobes ; capsule two-celled, two-valved ; seeds 

 rough. These are pretty little plants and flower 

 freely under the ordinary management of a stove or 

 greenhouse. They are usually raised from seeds. 



CELTIS (Linnaeus). A genus of shrubs and trees, 

 natives of different parts of the world. Linnaean class 

 and order Polygamia Monceda; natural order Urti- 

 cece. Generic character: calyx in five or six parts, 

 style none ; stigmas variously divided ; drupe a one- 

 seeded berry. The North American and European 

 nettle-trees have been long cultivated in our nurseries, 

 and are generally seen in pleasure-grounds and shrub- 

 beries. They deserve a place in every arboretum, as 

 they are, strictly speaking, forest trees. Propagated 

 by layers and seeds. 



CELYPHUS(Dalmann). An extraordinary genus 

 of dipterous insects, belonging to the section Atheri- 

 cera of Latreille, family Mitscidte, and sub-family 

 Gymnomyzides, having the body short and thick, with 

 the antennas longer than the head, and apart at the 

 base, but more especially distinguished from every 

 other known group of dipterous insects, by the im- 

 mense development of the scutellum, which is so 

 large that it entirely covers the abdomen and wings, 

 in which respects it resembles the hemipterous genus, 

 Scutellera. The species are of a small size, being 

 ornamented with purple and reddish tints ; one only 

 is recorded in the Regne Animal, namely, the C. 

 obtectus of Dalman from Java. M. Weidemann has 

 however described a second, and we are in possession 

 of a third species, recently brought from the East Indies. 

 Nothing is known of the habits of the group, but, 



from the great size of the scutellum, we 5-lionld 

 conceive that the insects can make but little u*c of 

 their wings, which it would appear must be very 

 inconveniently acted upon by the scutellum. 



-CEMBRA. The Pinus cembra of Liiimtus. 



CENC H RUS (Linnceus). A genus of grass found 

 in different latitudes belonging to Triandria Mono- 

 gynia, and to the natural order GraminetE. 



CENIA (Comrnelin). An annual uncultivated 

 plant found at the Cape of Good Hope. It belongs 

 to Composites, and is of no known value. 



CENTAUREA (Linnaeus). An extensive genus 

 of European herbs mostly perennials. Linnaean class 

 and order Syngenesia Frustranea; natural order Com- 

 positcE. Generic character: anthodium bellying, egg-' 

 shaped, scaly, scales either entire or prickly ; florets 

 of the ray neuters, and tubular ; receptacle bristly ; 

 pappus, of chaffy bristles, deciduous in a ring ; hilum 

 of the seed, on the side of the base. The centaurcas 

 or napweeds are generally coarse-looking herb?, 

 though some of the foreign ones are ornamental, and 

 admitted into the flower-garden. The cultivated 

 species are easily propagated either by seed or by 

 divisions of the root. The black, brown, and greater 

 napweeds, are common in British meadows ; and 

 the blue-bottle of our corn fields is really an elegant 

 plant. 



CENTAURIUM is the specific name of one of 

 the Eriihrceas, arid one of the most beautiful of British 

 plants. 



CENTENUS (Tenrecs). A genus of mammalia, 

 belonging to the second, or insectivorous, family or 

 division of Cuvier's great order, Carnassierx. 



These animals are sometimes popularly denomi- 

 nated Madagascar hedgehogs ; and they have some 

 external resemblance to the hedgehog properly so 

 called, but still they differ sufficiently from them, and 

 also from all other animals, for entitling them to be 

 classed as a separate genus. The number of species is 

 not great ; the locality in which they are found native 

 is limited ; and both the habits and the appearance are 

 peculiar. They are not confined to the island of 

 Madagascar, but occur in Bourbon, and Mauritius, 

 and they may perhaps also be met with in some of 

 the smaller islands of the Indian ocean, which lie 

 toward the eastern coast of southern Africa; but 

 they have not hitherto been found on continental 

 Africa, or in any other part of the world, save the 

 small locality above mentioned. This locality is 

 peculiar in many parts of its natural history, especially 

 in its zoology ; and it probably contains more animals 

 not to be met with in any other place, than any 

 region of similar extent. As is the case with most 

 places which contain peculiar animals, those found 

 only in this locality generally partake of the charac- 

 ters of more than one genus of those met with in 

 other parts of the world. 



Tenrecs have many of the anatomical characters 

 of hedgehogs, as well as a good deal of the general 

 appearance. They have clavicles; and their intes- 

 tines are all of small diameter, and without caeca. 

 Their skin is also beset with bristly spines, but it is 

 not moveable so as to enable them to roll themselves 

 into a ball, as is the case with the others. Their teeth 

 bear, perhaps, more resemblance to those of the mole 

 than any other animal ; only they have two incisors 

 less in each jaw, and one grinder in each side of the 

 upper jaw. Their four upper incisors are bent, and 

 the six lower ones have trenchant edges, with lateral 



