DIDERMUM DILLENIACE^E. 



281 



their permanent connection with the teats, these little 

 animals may be observed holding on by the sides and 

 legs of their mother, with a firmness that would ot 

 be expected in creatures which are apparently so 

 small and so helpless. The species now under notice 

 are inhabitants of the woods, in which they prey upon 

 very small animals ; and the mother may be seen with 

 ten or a dozen little ones, riding on her sides or back, 

 and she holding them on with her prehensile tail while 

 she moves from branch to branch. 



The THICK-TAILED OPOSSUM Didclpfnts macroura. 

 This is a species considerably larger than the former, 

 and though it has hitherto been described as a native 

 of Paraguay, it is probable that, like the rest, it may 

 be pretty generally distributed over the warmer parts 

 of America. It. is larger than the species last described, 

 being about eleven inches in length. The tail is very 

 thick for so small an animal, being not less than three 

 inches in girth at the root. It is covered with hair 

 of smooth texture for the first third, and the remain- 

 ing two-thirds towards the tip are scaly, and it is all 

 black, except an inch and a half at the point, which is 

 of a white colour The upper part of the body, the 

 under part of the head, and round the eyes, are bright 

 cinnamon brown ; the face and the feet are of the 

 same colour, but deeper. The cinnamon colour in 

 the female is brighter than that in the males. The 

 teats of the female are contained in an elliptic fold, and 

 there are frequently more on one side than on the 

 other. This species is said to be a little more ener- 

 getic in its characters than some of the rest of the 

 genus ; but its manners, like those of most of the 

 others, are imperfectly understood. 



SHORT-TAILED OPOSSUM Didelphus brachyura. 

 This is a very small species, not exceeding five or six 

 inches in length, and with the tail only about two 

 inches and a half. It is understood to be that which 

 is described by Buffon under the title of the Touan. 

 The upper part of the body is blackish ; the cheeks, 

 hroat, flanks, and inside of the thighs and paws are 

 iright red ; and the centre of the under part pure 

 .vhite. The female has not fewer than fourteen teats 

 situated in the folds of the groin, which are absorbed 

 when she ceases to suckle. The odour which the male 

 emits, when irritated, is described as being very un- 

 pleasant. In some parts of the country these animals 

 live in holes of the ground, which they dig for them- 

 selves, but in other situations where the surface is dif- 

 ferent, and there are hollow trees, they burrow in these. 

 Delphinus pusilln. This species, though named by 

 authors, and particularly described by D'Azzara as 

 his No. 6 of these curious animals, is not so clearly 

 established as most of the others. It is described as 

 being about seven inches in length, exclusive of the 

 tail, the last three inches of which part is naked and 

 prehensile. A circle round the eyes is black, with white 

 markings of the eye-brows, separated by a triangular 

 spot of a dusky hue. The general colour of the body 

 is that of the shrew, or a sort of dark mouse colour ; it 

 is described as inhabiting near the dwellings of the 

 Indians in Paraguay, and throughout the greater part 

 of the valley of La Plata, and having many of the 

 characters of a common field-rat or mouse, at the same 

 time that it retains the marsupial structure and charac- 

 ters, and the general appearance of the rest of the 

 genus. 



Such is a brief outline of most of the particulars 

 which are known respecting the appearances, habits, 

 and localities of this genus generally, and also respect- 



ing the individual species of which it is made up. In 

 an economical point of view they arc animals of small 

 value, though the foetid odour of the living animal 

 does not extend to the flesh, which is eaten by the 

 Indians ; but in a natural history point of view, they 

 are far more interesting and important. 



DIDERMUM (Savigny). A genus of mollasc* 

 united to the genus Synoicum of modern authors. 



DIDYMOCARPE^E. See CYRTANDRACE*:. 



DIGITALIS (Linnteus). A well-known germs of 

 European herbs, some of which are biennials, though 

 the chief part are perennials. Linnaean class and 

 order Didynamia Angiospermia, and natural order Scro- 

 phularia. The foxglove is common on every hedge- 

 bank, and no wild plant is more ornamental than this. 

 In the gardens there is a white variety, though this is 

 also found wild in some places. Two plants, namely, 

 Isojilexis Canariensis, and /. sceptmm, were formerly 

 ranked among the foxgloves, but are now separated 

 by Dr. Lindley. All are easily propagated by seeds. 



DIG1TARIA (Scopoli), is the common finger- 

 grass of Britain, and elsewhere. 



DILATRIS (Linnaeus). A genus of greenhouse 

 perennials from the Cape of Good Hope. Class and 

 order Triandria Monogynia, and natural order Hcenw- 

 doraceee. Generic character : calyx corolla-like, of 

 six petals, hairy without, and regular ; stamens six, 

 inserted in the base of the calyx ; three of them short 

 and sterile, and three long ; style filiform ; stigma 

 simple ; capsule three-celled ; seeds three or six pel- 

 tate. The bulbs or tubers of this plant thrive best in 

 sand and leaf-mould, and are increased by offsets or 

 seeds. 



DILL. Is the Anethum graveolens of Linnaeus, and 

 is cultivated as a pot or sweet herb in gardens : it 

 belongs to the same family as the fennel, so much used 

 as a sauce for mackerel, &c. 



DILLENIA (Linnaeus). A beautiful and large 

 forest tree, a native of India, named in honour of 

 J. T. Dillenias, once botanical professor at Oxford. 

 It belongs to Polyandria Polygynia, and gives a title 

 to one of the Jussieuan orders, viz., Dilleniaceee. 

 Generic character : calyx of five, leathery, persisting 

 sepals ; petals five, and somewhat leathery ; stamens 

 very numerous, inserted into the receptacle ; anthers 

 oblong and erect ; style none ; stigmas level, persist- 

 ing, and disposed in a circle; berry many -seeded and 

 many-celled. This is one of our first-rate stove plants, 

 and may be propagated by cuttings, or, which is better, 

 by imported seeds, sown as soon as they arrive in this 

 country. Mr. Sweet observes of this plant that the 

 leaves are so delicate, that tobacco smoke, or a tem- 

 perature below sixty degress of Fahrenheit, injures 

 them very much. 



DILLENIACE^E, a natural order of dichlamy- 

 deous dicotyledonous plants, containing sixteen known 

 genera, and about one hundred species. It is closely 

 allied to magnoitaceae, from which is is distinguished 

 by the want of stipules and the quinary arrangement 

 of the parts of fructification. It also bears an affi- 

 nity to RanunculacetB, but differs in its habit and in 

 its persistent calyx. 



The essential characters of the order are : perianth 

 with an imbricated aestivation ; sepals five, persistent, 

 two exterior and three interior ; petals five, deciduous 

 in a single row, hypogynous ; stamens numerous, 

 hypogynous, arising from a torus, either distinct or 

 polyadelphous, and either placed irregularly round the 

 pistil or on one side of it ; filaments filiform, dilated 



