INULA IRIDINA. 



88(5 



entomology, in which the habits and manners of in- 

 sects are introduced, that it would be useless t , say any- 

 thing 1 in its praise. Its distinguished author d Jinl 757. 

 REDI (Francisco). An Italian naturalL.., who, by 

 his work published at Florence, in 1668, entitled 

 Expcrimenta circa Generationem Insectorum, com- 

 pletely overthrew the doctrine of spontaneous gene- 

 ration. 



ROSEL VON ROSENHOFF fAugust Johann.). A 

 German naturalist, author of various works upon 

 entomology, and particularly a beautiful work in 4 

 volumes, 4to., with many plates, in which the habits 

 and transformations of many interesting species of 

 insects are recorded. It appeared in 1746, and was 

 continued until 1761. 



SAVIGNY (Jules Caesar). A French naturalist, 

 distinguished by his elaborate researches into the 

 comparative structure of the mouths of insects and 

 other annulose animals, and author of Memoires sur 

 les Animaux sans Vertebres, and of the plates which 

 illustrate the annulose portion of the magnificent 

 French work upon Egypt, undertaken by order of 

 Napoleon. The labours of this distinguished natu- 

 ralist have cost him his eye-sight. 

 i SAINT FARGEAU (M. le Comte Lepelletier de). 

 A French entomologist, who lias confined his atten- 

 tion to the Hymenoptera, distinguished by his Mono- 

 graphia Temhredinetarurn, by numerous articles in 

 the last volume of the Encyclopedic Methodique, and 

 by his work upon the Hymenoptcra in general, forming 

 a portion of the Suites a Burton. 



SCHONHERR (C. S.). A Swedish entomologist, 

 distinguished by an elaborate work, in course of pub- 

 lication, upon the Curculionid;e, in 6 volumes, 8vo. 

 and which, in fact, forms a continuation of his Syno- 

 nymia Insectorum, a work in 4 volumes, 8vo., con- 

 fined to the synonymy of the Coleoptera. 



STEPHENS (James Francis). An English entomo- 

 logist, and author of a most laborious, systematic, anc 

 synonymicul Catalogue of English Insects, of all the 

 Orders, and of Illustrations of British Entomology 

 consisting of descriptions thereof. Of the latter work 

 the coleopterous, lepidopterous, and orthopterous por 

 tions are now completed, and the Hymenoptera are 

 in course of publication. 



SWAMMERDAM (John). One of the fathers of en 

 tomology, chiefly distinguished by his Biblia Naturae 

 a work in 2 volumes, folio, with 53 plates, in which 

 the transformations of many insects were completely 

 traced from their various stages. This work, there 

 fore, in conjunction with that of Redi, completely 

 established the real nature of insect metamorphoses 

 It has been translated into English by John Hill 

 whose edition was published in 1758. 



WIEDEMANN (G. R. W.) Professor of Natura 

 History at Keil, and successor of Fabricius, whos 

 attention hus been chiefly confined to exotic Diptera 

 His chief work, Ausscreuropaische Zweifl. Insekten 

 is in 2 volumes, Svo., and was published in 1828. 



INULA (Linnaeus). A large genus of annua 

 and perennial herbs, chiefly natives of Europe. Thej 

 bear yellow discous flowers, and belong to Composite 

 They thrive in any common garden soil. 



IODAMIA (of De France) is a fossil shell re 

 united to the genus Birostrites, of which it may b 

 considered only a species. 



1POMOZA (Linnaeus). A very extensive genu 

 of annual and perennial climbing plants, from almos 

 all parts of the world. They are nearly allied to con 



olvulus, and some of them bear remarkably hand- 

 ome flowers. Class and order Pentandria Mwiogy- 

 ia, and natural order Convolvulacetz. They are, in 

 ultivation, usually trained to columns or on trellis- 

 ork, and are easily managed plants, whether in the 

 tove or greenhouse. 



IPS (Herbst). A genus of coleopterous insects 

 elonging to the section Pentamera, and family 

 ^ngidcB, having the body of an oblong-oval form, and 

 epressed, with the third joint of the antennae longer 

 ban the second, and the club large and rounded. 

 These insects are generally found under the bark of 

 lecayed trees, where they feed upon sap, for lapping 

 which the terminal lobe of the maxillae is elongated. 

 The species are chiefly confined to Europe, and are 

 generally ornamented with red or yellow spots upon 

 a black ground. The British species (of which four 

 lave been described, but to which number another, 

 rom the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, captured by 

 he Rev. Mr. Little, must be added) are generally 

 rare, and do not exceed one-fourth of an inch in 

 ength. The type of the genus is the Silpha -pus- 

 \ulata of Linnaeus, which is of a black colour, with 

 'our irregular red spots on the elytra. 



IRIDE^E, a natural order of plants, comprising 

 already above thirty-six genera, and between four and 

 five hundred species. Many of the most beautiful gems 

 of flora are found in this order, namely, Iris, Ixia, 

 Crocus, Tritonia, Gladiolus, Antholyza, Tigridia,&c. &c., 

 they are all plants of peculiar interest as to the modi- 

 fications of structure they present,both in the organs of 

 vegetation and fructification. They form a very natu- 

 ral assemblage, in all of which, excepting the crocus, 

 the leaves are equidistant, and rise in general from that 

 kind of stem called a rhizoma, either extended, as in 

 iris, contracted as in crocus, or still less developed, as 

 in those which have fibrous roots ; that is, where the 

 inferior caudex is at once divided from the crown into 

 fibres without forming even the plate of the crocus, 

 which is called a Iccccs if very thin, or a combus if col- 

 lected into a thicker mass. Thelridea are easily known 

 by the outward dehiscence of their erect anthers. The 

 germen is inferior arid three-celled, the placentae axial, 

 the ovules many, and the albumen hard or horny. 

 Although the crocus alone has aromatic stigmas, a 

 great uniformity prevails among all these plants in the 

 properties of other parts. Their fleshy root stocks 

 contain much fecula, impregnated with an acid bitter 

 principle ; hence, both Iris Germanica and pscudaconts 

 have been employed as purgatives and emetics ; and 

 / Florcntina, from its agreeable odour, to make tooth 

 and hair-powder, and to keep up the discharge from 

 issues. Pallas says, that the roots of/, dichotoma are 

 eaten in Siberia; and, according to Thunberg, the 

 Hottentots roast and eat the roots (or rhizomas ?) of 

 /. edulis. The seeds of I. pseudacorus, when roasted, 

 form a very excellent substitute for coffee. 



IRIDINA (Lamarck). Some slight difference in 

 the formation of the hinge of these shells induced 



Lamarck to. separate them from the genus Anodcn, to 

 which they have since been united by more recent 

 writers ; the substance of the shell is also constantly 

 more solid than that of the Anoden. It has a brilliant 

 rose-coloured, peachy interior, particularly iriidescent, 

 and is found in the rivers of warm countries. Until 

 the more extended researches of recent travellers, 



this shell was of great rarity ; and in Du Bois' Epi- 

 tome of Lamarck's arrangement, only two examples 



are named : one in the present Provost of Eton's 



