426 



ENDROMIS ENTADA.. 



by glass and mats in severe weather. Or if laid in a 

 sloping bank of dry sand, in a shed or dry cellar, the 

 endive thus protested will keep good for a consider- 

 able time. That planted in frames in October and 

 covered with glass, or such as has been planted on 

 dry borders to be occasionally covered with straw, 

 comes in for spring use, and lasts till succeeded by 

 lettuce. 



The different varieties of this plant cultivated in 

 Britain are, the green curled, white curled, green 

 broad-leaved, and white and new Batavian. The 

 two first are preferred for their elegant appearance at 

 table, and the last are mostly used for stewing, but 

 are excellent and wholesome salad herbs. 



ENDROMIS (Ochsenheimer). A genus of hand- 

 some moths (Lepidoptera Nocturnu), belonging to the 

 family BombycidcE, and to the section having the 

 wings entire, and forming a triangle in repose. The 

 body is short and thick, the wings somewhat pellucid, 

 the palpi scarcely visible, and the antennae in both 

 sexes bipectinated. The type of the genus is the 

 beautiful and rare moth known by collectors under 

 the name of the Glory of Kent, Boinbyx versicolor, 

 Linnaeus, which is of a rich brown colour, variegated 

 with black streaks, and paler markings. The female 

 is larger than the male, and of a paler colour. It is 

 found very early in the year. We have seen the 

 males flying with great velocity in the afternoon 

 towards the end of March, in Coombe-wood, Surrey, 

 in search of their sluggish females, which, from want- 

 ing the spiral spring and socket at the base of the 

 upper wings, are unable to effect such a powerful 

 flight. Mr. Haworth was of opinion that the males of 

 this species " assembled," as the gathering together 

 of many of this sex in search of an individual of the 

 other, is termed by aurelians ; but from the continued 

 ' rarity of the species in our cabinets, this can scarcely 

 be the fact. 



ENGID^E (MacLeay). A family of coleopterous 

 insects, belonging to the section Pentamera and sub- 

 section Necrophaga t or those species which feed upon 

 dead animals and vegetable matters. The Eiigidce 

 seem to be more attached to the latter, since it is in 

 putrid fungi, and in the neighbourhood of decayin^ 

 trees, that they are more generally found. Many of the 

 species are of a flattened form, with the body highly 

 polished, enabling them to make their way with facility 

 under the bark of trees ; indeed, some of the species 

 were arranged by Latreille amongst his Xylophoga, 

 although the tarsi do not agree with the general struc- 

 ture of the true Tetramera, amongst which they were 

 placed. It is true that many of them are not deci- 

 dedly pentarnerous, but their general appearance and 

 their habits bespeak their affinity with the more typi- 

 cal species, such as Engis, Ips, &c., rather than with 

 the longiconws or weevils. Indeed, these insects 

 appear to be exceptions to the system founded upon 

 the number of joints in the tarsi, rather than proofs o! 

 its incorrectness. The body is more elongate than in 

 the Silphidce and Nitidulidce, and the antennae are 

 short and terminated by a club, composed of two or 

 three joints. 



It is difficult, in our present ignorance of the larvae 

 of many of the genera of which this family is pro- 

 visionally composed, to assign exact limits to it, or to 

 give other than very general characters. The lower 

 jaws are generally elongate, and terminated by a 

 strong brush of hairs ; the palpi are short, and either 

 filiform or but slightly clavate, and the legs are shor 



and slender. Mr. Stephens adds " The family evi- 

 dently requires sub-division, although in habit and 

 economy, so far as known, there is great similarity, 

 which, probably, only arises from the juxtaposition 

 of the genera of which it is at present composed ; 

 the species usually subsist on decaying vegetable 

 matter, either on fungi, agarics, the putrid sap of 

 decaying trees, or upon flowers : they are found at 

 the roots of grass, beneath bark, in fungi, and but 

 rarely if ever, in putrid animal substances." Illustr. 

 Brit.' Ent. iii. p. 57. 



The species are generally of small size, indeed 

 some of them are amongst the most minute of the 

 insect tribes ; the Atomaria mimdhsima being scarcely 

 one-hundredth part of an inch in length. The principal 

 genera are Cryptophagits, Atomaria, Engis, Ips, Nemo- 

 soma, Cerylon, and Latridius, to which Sylvanus and 

 Mycetophagus may be provisionally added. 



The typical genus Engis has the body oblong, oval 

 and convex, the antennae short, thick, with a three- 

 jointed club ; the legs are short and stout, and the 

 tarsi five-jointed. There are several British species, 

 the type being the Dcrmestcs scanicits, Linnaeus, a 

 species about one-sixth of an inch long, found in boleti, 

 &c. Some of the exotic species are of a much larger 

 size, and must be of infinite service in clearing away 

 the putrifying masses of vegetation which abound in 

 tropical climates. 



ENKIANTHUS (Loureiro). A genus of beauti- 

 ful and highly ornamental Chinese plants, belonging 

 to the tenth class of Linnaeus, and to the natural order 

 Ericece. Generic character : calyx bracteate, five- 

 cleft, persisting ; corolla bell-shaped and slightly five- 

 cleft, with five nectariferous cells in the bottom ; sta- 

 mens inserted into the base of the corolla ; filaments 

 pilose and dilated at the base ; anthers two horned, 

 having double pores which open at the apex ; style 

 filiform and persisting. Drawings and specimens 

 of the E. qtiinqueflora were first brought to England, 

 under the name of Andromeda arborca, in 1 794, 

 as no small plants were purchasable at Canton in 

 the previous year, but living plants were received 

 in this country in 1812. No plant is more regarded 

 by the Chinese as a domestic ornament than this 

 when in flower. Small branches of it are sold in the 

 streets of Canton about the first of March, and nearly 

 for the same purpose as holly and mistletoe are sold 

 in London before Christmas, viz., for decorating places 

 of worship, and for placing before the images of Joss 

 in their houses. The branches are cut from the trees 

 just before the flower-buds are expanded, and placed 

 in vessels of water, where they bloom beautifully. 

 The flower-buds being terminal, and each containing 

 four, five, or six flowers of a delicate pink colour, hang 

 gracefully from the point of every spray. As the 

 leaves are not produced in water, and as the spray is 

 arranged very neatly in the vessels, they are aggre- 

 gately a beautiful object. Every street window is 

 more or less decorated with these flowers in the season, 

 and which shows that there must be vast numbers of 

 the trees in the vicinity of the city, and yet not one 

 small plant could be round in the nurseries in the 

 spring of the year 1794, though twenty dollars were 

 offered for a potted plant. Another species, the 

 E. reticulata, was added to our collections in 1822; 

 and as they are nearly deciduous trees, hopes may be 

 entertained that they may be in time inured to our 

 climate. They are propagated by cuttings. 



ENTADA (Adanson). A genus of plants found both 



