766 



H O G - H O M O P T E R A. 



of a black shining colour, varying from one-sixth to 

 one-third of an inch in length, 

 HOG. See Scs. 

 HOG-NUT is the Cart/a porcina of Nuttal, a 

 North- American tree allied to our walnut. The flow- 

 ers are monoecious, and the caryas are placed in the 

 natural order Juglandece. They are commonly called 

 hickory nuts, are less grateful than the walnut, but 

 still wholesome and nutritious. The best are those 

 of the C. olivcefoiinis and sulcata, the kernels of both 

 of which are excellent. 



HOITZIA (Jussieu). A genus of handsome flower- 

 ing plants from Mexico. They rank as greenhouse 

 evergreen shrubs, and belong to Polemoniacece. Ge- 

 neric character : calyx five cleft, supported at the 

 base by several serrated bractea ; corolla, funnel- 

 shaped, the limb divided into five lobes ; stamens 

 protruding ; capsule three-celled, three-valved, and 

 many-seeded. These plants thrive in a mixture of 

 sandy loam and moor-earth, and are propagated by 

 cuttings. 



HOLLY is the Ilex aquifolium of Linnseus, a well 

 known evergreen shrub, a native of Britain. The 

 common holly, or holrne, or hulver of which we have 

 many varieties, is the only British species of Ilex. 

 Here it seldom exceeds the size of a bush, though in 

 some places, both in France and England, they grow 

 forty or fifty feet high. Its prickly leaves fits it well 

 for hedges, and when Dutch gardening prevailed here 

 gardens were portioned out by well-clipped holly 

 hedges. The celebrated Evelyn had one at Says'- 

 court, four hundred feet long, nine feet high, and five 

 feet broad, which he had planted at the suggestion of 

 Peter the Great, who resided at his house when he 

 worked in the dockyards at Deptford. And in his 

 " Sylva," he asks with rapture, "Is there under heaven 

 a more glorious and refreshing object of the kind 

 than such an impregnable hedge, glittering with its 

 armed and varnished leaves, the taller standards at or- 

 derly distances, blushing- with their natural coral." The 

 finest holly hedges in Britain, or perhaps in Europe, 

 are at Tynningham. the seat of the earl of Hadington, 

 in East Lothian. The holly is a slow growing tree, 

 and the timber is among the hardest of the white 

 woods. It is much used by turners, and especially in 

 the manufacture of Tunbridge ware. The liber abounds 

 with a tenacious liquid, which, when separated by 

 bruising and maceration, is known as bird-lime. 



HOLLYHOCK is the Althaea rosea of Cavanille, 

 a native of China, and one of the principal ornaments 

 of our gardens. The hollyhock is a biennial, and 

 therefore, to keep up a stock, seed must be sown 

 every spring, usually in a hotbed, and there nursed till 

 the plants are large enough to be put out in the open 

 borders. Thev are usually planted in shruberies. 



HOLMSKIOLDIA (Retzius). A genus of two 

 beautiful plants, one an evergreen shrub from Peru, 

 and the other a climber from India. They belong to 

 the natural order Verbenaceee. Generic character : 

 calyx large, spreading, coloured, faintly five toothed ; 

 corolla tubular, limb divided into two short lips, the 

 upper one two-lobed, the lower one three-lobed, side 

 lobes short, middle one oblong, entire and deflexed ; 

 stamens protruding, bearingr oval anthers ; style fili- 

 form ; stigma unequally double ; berry four-lobed, 

 clubbed, one-celled and many-seeded. This genus 

 was called Hastingia by Smith, and Platunium by 

 Jussieu. They grow in any light rich soil, and are 

 propagated by cuttings. 



HOMALINE^E. A small natural order, contain- 

 ing four genera, namely Homalium, Blackwellia, As- 

 tranthus, and Aristotelia. These are tropical shrubs 

 or small trees, with simple, entire, alternate, impunctate 

 leaves, and free deciduous stipules. The inflorescence 

 is spicate, racemose, or paniculate ; the pedicels 

 without bractea, and the flowers regular and united. 

 Little is known of the general properties of the H<>- 

 malineae. Aristotelia maqui is the maqui of Chili, the 

 berries of which are eatable ; they are about the size 

 of peas, of a very dark purple colour, becoming ulti- 

 mately black, and of an agreeable acid flavour. The 

 native Chilians make a wine of their juice, and in a 

 fresh state they are esteemed as a febrifuge, and 

 reputed to be serviceable in malignant fevers. The 

 bark is astringent, and contains so much gallic acid 

 that it blackens rapidly the instruments with which 

 it is cut. Tli is is the plant which Dombey used 

 with such remarkable success in Chili, in the year 

 1782. 



HOMERIA (Ventenat). A genus of bulbous 

 stemmed herbs, natives of the C'ape of Good Hope. 

 Monadelphia Triandria,&n& natural order Iridece. Like 

 all the rest of the order the flowers are conspicuously 

 beautiful, and are cultivated like other Cape bulbs, 

 in a mixture of sandy loam and moor-earth ; kept 

 quite dry when dormant, but watered freely when 

 growing. This genus was formerly called Moraa, 

 by Jacquin and other botanists. 



HOMOPTERA (Latreille). A sub-order, ac- 

 cording to Latreille and Kirby (or a distinct order, 

 according to Leach, MacLeay, &c.), of insects sepa- 

 rated from the Linnnean order Hcmiptcra, having the 

 wing-covers generally deflexed, of the same consist- 

 ence throughout, the antennae mostly short, and ter- 

 minated by a bristle, and the body convex and thick, 

 with the thoracic segments united into a mass, the 

 first very generally shorter than the second ; the pro- 

 boscis also arises nearer to the posterior part of the 

 head, sometimes even appearing pectoral. All the 

 insects of this group subsist upon the juices of vege- 

 tables, which they obtain by the assistance of their 

 articulated proboscis, and sometimes, as in the case o. 

 (he aphides and sugar-cane fly (Delphax tacharicora), 

 the mischief which they occasion is very extensive. 

 The females are furnished with a scaly ovipositor, 

 composed of three toothed saws, lodged, when at 

 rest, in a bivalve sheath at the tip of the under side o. 

 the abdomen. With this apparatus they are enabled 

 to make an incision in the leaves or stems of plants, 

 nto which they afterwards introduce their eggs. 



Latreille divides this sub-order into the three fol- 

 lowing divisions : 



1. The CicadaricE, having the tarsi three-jointed, 



and the antennae very short, terminated by a 

 fine bristle, comprising the families Cicadidce, 

 Fulgoridte, and Cercopidce. 



2. The Aphidiens, having the tarsi two-jointed, and 



the antennas longer, without a terminal bristle, 

 containing the families Aphides and Psyllidce. 

 Latreille also here places the TAripsida;, but 

 its organisation renders this location doubtful. 



3. The Gallinsecta, having the tarsi one-jointed, 



terminated by a single claw. The males have 

 two .wings, and are destitute of a mouth. The 

 female is wingless, and furnished with a 

 sucker. Comprising the single family Coccidce. 

 For an account of these families, &c., see the 

 several articles thereon. 



