F A S C I L A R F A - F I C O I D E M. 



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sport, is worth attending to, the more so that the 

 same application very speedily takes down the heat 

 of the temper of other animals. When dogs fight, 

 there are no means of putting an end to their hostilities 

 so speedily and so certainly as by sousing them each 

 with cold water ; and it is very probable that, in many 

 other cases of animal irritation or stubbornness, the 

 same application would be equally effective. Indeed, 

 if in all cases in which animals naturally ferocious 

 have been brought into subjection and obedience, 

 the different steps by which this result has been 

 arrived at had been carefully noted and duly ar- 

 ranged, we should have been in possession of a body 

 of highly valuable practical information upon a sub- 

 ject of which we are in a great measure ignorant. 

 Nor is there any doubt that if this could be fully 

 and judiciously made a matter of science, very many 

 of those creatures which we now pass by as useless, 

 and persecute as noxious, might long ere now have 

 been useful and obedient servants, and that whether 

 they belong to one or to another of those classes 

 which have sufficient size and strength for taking a 

 part in labour. It is principally with a view to 

 recommend this, that we have written the present 

 article, because the subject is one upon which we 

 must have a great deal of practice before we can 

 have any theory. 



FASCIOLARIA (Brugnieres ; MUREX, Linnaeus). 

 This genus of molluscs was classed by Linnasus with the 

 Murices,-and the French naturalist Brugnieres appears 

 to have been the first to point out the propriety of a 

 separation ; but he was not sufficiently accurate in 

 his observations, and confounded them with the genus 

 Fusus, also another of his own separations from the 

 Murices. The Fasciolarice may at once be distin- 

 guished from the Murices, by never havii/g any vari- 

 ces, though it has a canal at the base; from the Fusus, 

 they differ by having plaits on the columella. This 

 circumstance brings them nearer to the G. turbinella, 

 but in that the position of the plaits is transverse, 

 while the shells of the present genus are spirally ob- 

 lique. The form of these shells is fusiform, the spire 

 of a moderate length, the aperture oval, lengthened, 

 nearly symmetrical, terminated by a rather long 

 straight tube, the external margin sharp, and the colu- 

 mella furnished with two or three oblique plaits ; the 

 whorls of some species are nodulous, it has an epi- 

 dermis, and possesses a horny operculum. The name 

 of the genus is derived from fasciola, which word 

 describes its characteristic distinction. Modern natu- 

 ralists form a natural association of the species, as 

 follows : those whose shape is fusiform, but not 

 tuberculated ; secondly, those of the same form but 

 with tubercles ; and lastly, such as are like the last 

 division, but with the spires turriculated. Eight spe- 

 cies are described by Lamarck, one only being found 

 in the Mediterranean, the others are principally from 

 the Indian Seas ; about the same number of fossil 

 species are known. 



FERONIA (Latreille). An extensive genus of 

 coleopterous insects, belonging to the section Pcnta- 

 mera and family Carabidce, forming the type of one 

 of the divisions of the sub-family HARPALIDES, which 

 see. 



FERRARI A (Linnreus). A genus of bulbous 

 plants introduced into Europe from the Cape of Good 

 Hope. Class and order Monadelphia Tiiandria, 

 and natural order Irideae. Generic character : 

 flowers in a spathc : corolla in six oblong undulated 



segments, the outer ones broadest ; stamens, filaments 

 joined to thetubo ; anthers rather egg-shaped, double, 

 style filiform ; stigmas three to six, pencil formed ; 

 capsule below three-celled. The Ferrarias bear beau- 

 tiful flowers, and thrive in sandy loam ; like Lrifts, 

 they should be kept in a frame and perfectly dry 

 when not growing, but regularly watered as soon as 

 they present their leaves. 



FERULA (Linnaeus). This is the giant fennel of 

 botanists, and consists chiefly of large coarse-looking 

 herbs, found over all the northern parts of Asia and 

 Europe. The genus belongs to the fifth class of 

 sexual botany, and to the natural order Umbellifera. 

 Two of the species, viz. Perslca and assafoetida, 

 yield the medicinal gum, known by the latter name. 

 The plants are cultivated in Persia, whence the drug 

 is exported to all other parts of the world. 



FESTUCA (Linnaeus). A genus of grass found 

 in almost every quarter of the globe, and one of the 

 most useful in pastures, particularly those for sheep. 

 Twelve species are agricultural ; and the pure seeds 

 of most of them may be purchased at the shops of 

 agricultural seedsmen. 



FICARIA (Dillwyn), is a common weed found in 

 damp woods. It is called pillwort, from the shape 

 of its little bulbs, which lie on the surface of the 

 ground, appearing like scattered grains of wheat. It 

 belongs to the natural order Ranunculacece, and was 

 considered a ranunculus by Linnaeus. 



FICOIDE^E. This natural order contains all 

 those plants known by the name of fig-mary- 

 golds, or mid-day flowers, so denominated from 

 their usual time of flowering. They are herbaceous 

 plants or under shrubs, with opposite or alternate 

 fleshy, simple leaves ; of very curious and often gro- 

 tesque forms, and destitute of stipules. The inflores- 

 cence is for the most part terminal, seldom axillary, 

 and the flowers are regular and united. The sepals 

 are definite, usually three in number, but varying 

 from four to eight, more or less connate at the base, 

 and either free or adherent to the germen. The 



Ficoideoe. 



petals mostly indefinite and often connate, sometimes 

 five alternate with the sepals, and occasionally abor- 

 tive when the inner part of the calyx is coloured. 

 The stamens are indefinite and seated round the 

 germen ; filaments free ; anthers oblong, incumbent, 



