DELPHINIUM DENTAIU A. 



271 



first tvaiisl'ormation, it seems dull and inactive, and is 

 generally covered with a light floss of the substance 

 already mentioned ; but having changed its skin, which 

 it leaves perfect and attached to the leaf, it becomes 

 lively, active, and voracious, and joins in the works of 

 propagation and destruction. There can be no doubt, 

 or at most but little, that the Aphides (as the writer 

 erroneously termed the insect to which they, indeed, 

 bear much resemblance in their habits), do not select 

 the sugar-cane merely as a medium for the deposition 

 of their eggs, but that, like millions of other creatures, 

 they also regale themselves with its sweets, and from 

 their numbers, literally to bleed the plant to death. 

 Like most of its tribe, it produces the substance called 

 honey dew, so much so, that the upper surface of the 

 leaf infected is covered over with it. This substance 

 when dry, becomes black and of a light texture, which 

 being nearly insoluble in water, destroys and interrupts 

 the action of the atmosphere, and aids in the general 

 destruction of the plant." 



DELPHINIUM (Tournefprt). An extensive 

 genus of herbaceous plants, natives of many different 

 parts of the world. Linmean class and order Poly- 

 andria Trigynia, and natural order Rdiiiniciilacece. 

 Generic character : calyx corolla-like, of live sepals, 

 the upper one spurred ; corolla of one or four petals, 

 the upper one having a posterior horn, the lower 

 sometimes cleft ; stamens below the germen ; filaments 

 dilated at the base, and short ; anthers terminal, oval, 

 two-celled, cells bursting outwardly ; styles three or 

 five, and short ; stigma cmarginatc ; capsules one, 

 three, or five, having membraneous follicules, and with 

 a placenta fixed to the suture ; seeds angular and 

 albuminous. From the peculiar form of one of the 

 petals, these plants have received the English name 

 of larkspur, and whether annuals or perennials have 

 always a place in flower gardens. The first are 

 every year raised from seed, the second are increased 

 by dividing the root. The flowers are not only re- 

 markable in form and variety of colours, but also for 

 the intensity of their various tints ; the double D. 

 grandiflorum is perhaps the deepest blue of any flower 

 we possess. 



DELPHINULA (Lamarck ; TOKBO-DELPHINUS, 

 Linnaeus). This genus of shells, possessing the round 

 aperture of the genus Turbo, probably induced Lin- 

 naeus to consider it of that family ; but the united mar- 

 gin of the mouth at once distinguishes it from the tur- 

 bines. In many respects it approximates to the genii 

 Scalaria, like which it has its whorls sometimes drawn 

 out and detached ; but its nacreous substance, in ad- 

 dition to the following distinctions, clearly proves it a 

 not allied to the family. The shell is solid, conical, 

 or sub-discoid, umbilicated, thick, pearly within and 

 under the external coloured coating : the aperture i 

 entire, round, or sometimes trigonal ; the whorls of the 

 spire rugged on the outside, and angular on the side 

 of the umbilicus (which is filled with short spines 

 proceeding from the interior side of the whorls not 

 observed by Lamarck), no columella is visible, a cal- 

 careous operculum externally tuberculated, which also 

 Lamarck presumed to exist, but probably had not 

 seen ; the exterior of the whorls is armed with spines 

 depressed and singularly palmatcd at the summits 

 tubercles, or scabrous striae, which we have said, give 

 it a ragged appearance. Its pearly substance proves 

 it a marine shell, and distinguishes it from the terres 

 trial genus Cyclosioma, though its rounded opening 

 would otherwise entitle it to be ranked with them, ir 



o far as that distinction holds good. Common as this 

 hell is, it is remarkable that the animal is unknown, 

 mt every reason exists to rank this genus in the second 

 ;lass, ParacfpJtalop/wra ; second order, Asiplionobran- 

 hiata -, second family, Cricostoma. It appears to occupy 

 natural position in following the genus Turbo, and, 

 receding the genus Turritella. All the known species 

 nhabit the Indian ocean, and abour four are described. 

 There are, however, more known in a fossil state. De 

 France, indeed, enumerates thirty in the formation 

 irior to the chalk stratum. 



DEMETKIAS (Bonelli), a genus of coleopterous 

 nsects, belonging to the section Pentmnera, family 

 Carabldec, and sub-family Bruchinidcs, having the body 

 ong and flattened, the tarsi have the penultimate 

 oint bilobed, the chin is obscurely toothed in the 

 centre, and all the palpi have the last joint rather 

 dilated at the base, and pointed at the extremity. 

 There are but few species of this genus which seems 

 to be confined to Europe, two only are British ; the 

 ype, Carabux atricapillus (Linnaeus), is of small size, 

 and chiefly found under the bark of trees. It is of a 

 .nifT colour, with the head and breast black, and thorax 

 reddish. 



DENDROBIUM (Swartz). One of the most 

 elegant of the epiphytes found in the East Indies and 

 New South Wales. It belongs to the class and order 

 Gi/namlria Monandiia, and to the natural order Orc/ii- 

 dcec. It may be increased by division of the root, 

 and though its natural station be on the stems of trees 

 when wiM, it grows well in pots of moor turf. It 

 thrives best in a moist stove, and flowers frequently. 



DENTALIUM (Linnaeus, and modern authors). 

 This very singular genus of molluscs is so generally 

 well known that an elaborate description of them 

 would be superfluous. The shell is a conical testa- 

 ceous tube, nearly regular, slightly curved, gradually 

 attenuated towards the posterior end, and open at 

 both extremities, resembling an elephant's tusk in 

 miniature, whence its name. Some species are lon- 

 gitudinally ribbed, others with slightly marked annular 

 ribs, formed by the different stages of growth ; but 

 the greater portion of these shells are smooth on the 

 exterior. The animal's body is lengthened, subver- 

 miform, enveloped in a fistulous mantle, terminated 

 by a belt or thickened band, pierced in its centre by 

 an orifice with fringed edges ; the foot altogether an- 

 terior, probosciform, terminated by a conical append- 

 age, received into a species of cup with festooned 

 edges ; the head is distinct, oval, a terminal mouth in 

 the middle of a digitated lip, a pair of lateral jaws 

 armed internally with very singularly formed dental 

 processes. The D. elepkttntininn illustrates the spe- 

 cies having ribs or striae longitudinally placed ; the 

 1). cnlnlis those which are nearly smooth, or merely 

 presenting the striae of progressional growth ; and to 

 these may be added such species as are narrowed 

 towards their orifice, and the interior doubled bv 

 another tube, forming DC France's genus EntaHiiw. 

 The precise position these molluscs should occupy in 

 the system of malacology cannot at present be finally 

 determined upon, as a further examination of the 

 animal is indispensable. The comprehensive mind of 

 the great Swede suggested their being allied to the 

 Carinaria and Patella, and modern authors have there- 

 fore placed them provisionally in the third sub-class 

 Ptmtcephalophara fiermaphrodtfe, first order Cirr/io- 

 branchiala. 



DENT ARIA (Linnaeus). A genus of tuberous 



