HEMLOCK SPRUCE FIR HERA CLEUM. 



Sibthorpe. The other plants which have been named 

 as affording the Condon : viz., the Cicuta virosa, 

 (Enanthe phellandrium, and JEthusa cynapium, are 

 not found in any part of the country. The hemlock, 

 however, is, like others mentioned, a poison to some 

 animals, and innocuous to others. It is said to be 

 fatal to kine, but that horses, goats, and sheep, may 

 feed upon it without danger ; and most brute animals 

 can eat it when dry with impunity. Although, whether 

 fresh or dry, it is poisonous to man, yet thrushes will 

 eat the seeds, which are more potent than the leaves. 



HEMLOCK SPRUCE FIR is the Abies Cana- 

 demis of the Hortus Kewensis. An American fir, 

 so called from us branches in tenuity and position 

 resembling the foliage of the common hemlock. 



HEMP is the Cannabis saliva of Linnaeus. An 

 agricultural annual plant of large stature, and which 

 affords the hemp of commerce. Of hemp there are 

 two principal varieties, esteemed by some writers as 

 distinct species : viz., the European hemp, with oppo- 

 site leaves ; and the Indian, called in the Peninsula, 

 Bang, the leaves of which are alternate. In India, 

 hemp is cultivated as a luxury, and used solely as an 

 excitant. It possesses peculiar intoxicating powers, 

 and produces luxurious dreams and trances. The 

 leaves are sometimes chewed or smoked as tobacco. 

 A stupifying liquor is also prepared ; arid they enter 

 with opium, betel-nut, sugar, &c.,into various narcotic 

 preparations. 



In Europe it is largely cultivated, but exclusively for 

 its use in the arts. Its fibres are tough and strong, 

 and peculiarly adapted for weaving into coarse fabrics, 

 such as sail-cloth, and twisting into ropes and cables. 

 Immense quantities are imported into this country 

 for the use of the navy, and large stores kept ; for it 

 is not a profitable crop in a well-peopled country 

 where corn is in great demand. The seeds abound 

 in oil, which is relished by the Russians as food ; in 

 other countries it is chiefly used by painters, or to 

 burn. The seeds are nutritious, and form a favourite 

 food of cage-birds. But hemp-seed has the very 

 singular property of changing the colour of the 

 plumage of bullfinches and goldfinches from red and 

 yellow to black, if they are fed on it for a long time, 

 or in too large a quantity. 



HEMP AGRIMONY is the Enpatorium canna- 

 binum of Linnaeus, a British plant, found in damp 

 places. It belongs to the natural order Composites. 



HENBANE is the Hyoscyamus niger of Litincctis, 

 a British biennial herb, found in rubbish heaps, or on 

 uncultivated ground. It belongs to Solancce. Hen- 

 bane is a powerful narcotic, and when taken in any 

 considerable quantity proves quickly poisonous to 

 men and most brute animals ; swine are said to be able 

 to eat it with impunity. 



HEPATIC A (Dilwin), a genus of beautiful little 

 flowering plants belonging to the natural order Ramm- 

 culacecE. The H. tri/oba, with its varieties of blue, 

 red, white, and snow-white blossoms, are in every 

 flower-garden, and appear among the earliest gems of 

 the season. It was called Anemone hepatica by 

 Linnaeus. 



HEPATIC^E, a natural order of the first class in 

 the second grand division Ccllulares, and comprises 

 small creeping plants, with their leaves arranged in 

 an imbricated manner. They differ from lichens in 

 structure, colour, and fruit ; from mosses in the 

 dehiscence of their capsules. Their qualities are 

 mild, if any, and some of them are fragrant. 



HEPI ALID.fi (Stephens). A family of noctur- 

 nal lepidopterous insects or moths belonging to the 

 subsection of which Bonibyx is the type, and forming, 

 with the Bombycidce and two other families, the Lepi- 

 doptera pomcridiana of Stephens. The antennas are 

 very short and necklace-shaped, being simple or but 

 slightly pectinated, although in one of the, genera, 

 Zeuzera, they are stronsly pectinated at the base. 

 The spiral tongue, which forms so conspicuous a fea- 

 ture in the lepidopterous character, is here obsolete, 

 and even the palpi are sometimes represented only 

 by a slight tuft of hairs. The wings are large, narrow, 

 and deflexed, when at rest. The larvae are large, 

 naked fleshy caterpillars, which feed either on the 

 roots of vegetables or burrow in the soft wood of 

 various trees. They are furnished with sixteen legs, 

 eight of which are abdominal and two anal. The 

 chrysalis is cylindrical, having the abdominal segments 

 strongly armed with small hooks, whereby, immedi- 

 ately previous to assuming the winged state, they are 

 enabled to push themselves forward to the surface of 

 the ground, or to the outside of the tree in which 

 they had the instinct, whilst larvae, to form a burrow. 

 In their habits, therefore, these insects nearly approach 

 to some of the aberrant Crepusciilaria or JEgerti&z, 

 the larvae of which feed upon the pith of various trees, 

 and, like them, they are occasionally obnoxious, de- 

 stroying trees and other useful plants. The family 

 comprises the three English genera Hepialus, Cosstta, 

 and Zeuzera. 



In the first named genus the antennae are much 

 shorter than the thorax, and setaceous. The cater- 

 pillars live under ground, feeding upon the roots of 

 plants. These rnoths, of which there are six British 

 species, are termed Swifts by collectors, owing to their 

 rapid flight ; the females are generally much larger 

 than the males, and differently coloured, although 

 their markings are similar. One of the species, Hepi- 

 alus humuii, is very common in grassy places during 

 the month of June. The male is of a pure silvery 

 white colour, but the female is of a yellowish buff 

 with darker markings. The male is remarkable for 

 its singular mode of flight, which resembles the motion 

 of a pendulum; and as this is continued for a great 

 length of time over one spot (where the female is pro- 

 bably stationed), and as the insect is often observed 

 in country church-yards, the harmless insect has got 

 the credit of being nothing less than the unquiet ghost 

 of some person over whose grave it happens to be 

 seen hovering, and has accordingly thence obtained 

 the name of the ghost moth. This species varies in 

 the expansion of the wings from one inch and three 

 quarters to three inches. 



The genus Cossus contains the large dingy coloured 

 moth known by the name of the goat moth, from the 

 strong scent emitted by its larva. See GOAT MOTH. 



The genus Zeuzera contains but a single British 

 species.the wood-leopard moth, Z.yEsew/i.distinguished 

 by having the basal half of the antennae in the males 

 strongly bipectinated, and in the females wholly, 

 whilst the terminal half is quite naked. The cater- 

 pillar feeds upon the wood of the apple, pear, an i 

 other trees, but it is a rare species. 



HERACLEUM (Linnaeus), a genus of the largest 

 herbs produced in Europe. In England it is called 

 cow-parsnep, or kexes, and is very common in damp 

 meadow ground, making the hay coarse, and of less 

 value. To free a meadow of this plant it should he 

 grazed with sheep till late in the spring. The sheep 



