132 



the useful secretions which are procured from them. 

 Woods and forests, both in cultivated and savage 

 countries, consist in most instances of trees belonging 

 to this family. They are remarkable for their size, 

 the rapidity with which they grow, and the majestic 

 appearance which they present. They are almost 

 invariably natives of the northern, although occa- 

 sionally found in the southern hemisphere, and may 

 be said to supply, by their dense persistent leaves, the 

 place occupied by the evergreens of warmer climates. 



CONIROSTRA, one of the divisions into which 

 Cuvier arranges his great order of Passerine birds, 

 and which expresses generally that the bills of such 

 birds are more or less of a conical form, that is, thick 

 at the base, and tapering to the point. For a more 

 particular account of the propriety of using the name, 

 and of the place which the birds hold in the system, 

 see the article BIRD. 



CONIUM (Linnaeus). Is the well-known and 

 dreaded hemlock. The spotted hemlock of this coun- 

 try is accounted highly poisonous, though it is useful 

 in some cases when applied outwardly. Two of the 

 South American species, namely, the C. arracacha 

 and the C. moschatum, are both cultivated there for 

 the sake of their large parsnep-like roots, which are 

 useful articles of diet among the natives. The arra- 

 cacha is now under a trial of naturalisation in this 

 country, with the expectation that, if hardy enough for 

 our climate, it will prove an important addition to 

 our stock of culinary vegetables. 



CONNARACE^E. A natural order of dicotyle- 

 donous or exogenous plants, containing five or six 

 genera, and between twenty and thirty known species. 

 This family is by some authors looked upon as a dis- 

 tinct order, while by others it is considered merely as a 

 section of Terebinthacece. It is nearly allied to Legu- 

 minoscc, from which it is distinguished by the radicle 

 being at the extremity most remote from the hilum. 

 From Burseracece, Cassuviece, and other terebintha- 

 ceous orders, it differs in the total want of resinous 

 juice. 



Considered as a separate order, its essential cha- 

 racters are : Flowers hermaphrodite, rarely unisexual ; 

 calyx five-partite, regular, persistent; petals five, in- 

 serted on the calyx, with an imbricated, rarely valvate 

 aestivation ; stamens ten ; filaments usually monadel- 

 phous; carpels five, one-styled, distinct, sometimes 

 solitary by imperfection ; seeds erect, from the bottom 

 of the cell, in pairs or solitary, with or without albu- 

 men, often axillate ; radicle superior, at the extremity 

 opposite the hilum ; cotyledons thick and fleshy in 

 the seeds without albumen, foliaceous in those with 

 albumen. 



The plants belonging to this order are trees ,or 

 shrubs, with terminal and axillary flowers, in racemes 

 or panicles, and compound alternate leaves, without 

 dots or stipules. They are found in the tropical 

 regions of Asia, Africa, and America. Little is 

 known in regard to their properties. 



The chief genera of the order are : Contiarus, Om- 

 phalobium, and Cnestis. 



CONOCARPUS (Jacquin). A genus of shrubs 

 and trees, natives of the West Indies and South 

 America. Linnaean class and order Pentandr'ui 

 Monogynia, and natural order CombretacecE. Generic 

 character : flowers in a head ; calyx pitcher-shaped, 

 five-cleft, and deciduous ; stamens five (ten), inserted 

 in the calyx ; anthers heart-shaped, two-celled, burst- 

 ing lengthwise ; style and stigmas simple, scaly, 



CONIROSTRA CON OP I D jE. 



corky, one-seeded. This is called the button-tree 

 in Jamaica, and has been many years in European 

 collections. It thrives in a mixture of loam and 

 moor earth, and is propagated by cuttings. 



CONOCEPHALUS (Thunberg). An exotic- 

 genus of orthopterous insects, belonging to the section 

 Sallatoria, and family of Gryllula; (Leach), or grass- 

 hopper, with long slender antenna?. 



CONOLITES (Lamarck). A fossil genus ot 

 molluscs. The shell is nearly straight, or only 

 slightly curved, the sides very thin, the cavity filled, 

 through its whole length, by a succession of simple 

 chambers, increasing from the first to the last, which 

 is at a great distance from the opening ; the siphon 

 is central or marginal. The genus is subdivided into 

 four species, but the distinctions are extremely minute, 

 and considerable doubts exist as to the propriety of 

 separating it from some others of the family Ortho- 

 cerata. Authors have variously named the species, 

 which confirms the difficulty of distinguishing them. 

 De Montfort calls one Acheloite, another Amimomius, 

 and a third Tluilamnhts. 



CONOPID^E (Leach). A family of dipterous in- 

 sects, belonging to the section Athericera, having for 

 its type the genus Conops of Linnaeus, and distin- 

 guished by the mouth being elongated into a slender, 

 pointed, and elbowed proboscis. The nerving of the 

 wings is very simple, and resembles that of the do- 

 mestic fly. The family comprises the genera Cephcnes, 

 Conops, Zodion,and Myopa, having the body long and 

 narrow ; and Buccntcs, Proscna, and Stomoxys (form- 

 ing the family Stomoxyda: of Meigen and Stephens), 

 having the body short, and very much resembling the 

 common fly. 



The structure of these different genera are very 

 diversified, as are also the habits of such as we are 

 acquainted with. The larvae of conops are stated to 

 reside in the abdominal cavity of the humble bee 

 (Bombm}, and St. Fargeau states, that he had noticed 

 the conopides introducing themselves into the nests 

 of wasps, so that he supposes that the larvae of the 

 former, in all probability, subsist upon those of the 

 latter. Latreille also says, that Conops rujipcs has been 

 observed in a recently developed state, with the w ings 

 still soft, to come out of the body of a bombus. An 

 apod larva found in the body of the stone humble bee 

 (Bombus lapidaria], and considered by Latreille and 

 others to have been that of the same species of conops, 

 has been made the subject of a valuable memoir by 

 Messrs. Audouin and Lachat, contained in the first 

 volume of the Memoirs of the Natural History Society 

 of Paris. The conops, when arrived at the perfect 

 state, frequent flowers, as do also the zodions and 

 myopic. M. Robincau Desvoidy has informed M. St. 

 Fargeau, that a larva which he had found in the body 

 of a caterpillar produced a fly of the latter genus. 

 In like manner the larvae of Bucentes, observed by 

 De Geer, had been reared in the chrysalis of a moth, 

 although the perfect insect, as well as the prosenae, 

 live upon flowers. The genus Stomoxys comprises 

 that tormenting insect which is so often mistaken 

 for the domestic fly, and which does not cease its 

 irritating attacks until the first frosts of winter. 

 The name of the genus indicates the cause of this 

 irritation, being derived from the Greek, and signify- 

 ing sharp mouth ; the proboscis being very acute and 

 horny, so as to enable it to puncture not only the skin 

 of man, but also the tougher coats of the ox and horse. 

 After it has filled itself with its sanguinary repast, the 



