M A L C M I A M A M M A L I A. 



Linnaeus, a fine ornamental tropical fruit- tree,culti vated 

 in its native country. The flowers are ieosandrious 

 and the plant associates with the Myitaccee. 



MALCOMIA (R. Brown), a genus of annuals, 

 several of them very pretty ornaments of the flower 

 garden. They belong to Crudfens, and one species 

 has been loiiir known as the Virginia-stock seeds. 



MALENTOZOARIA. See MALACOLOGY, of 

 which it forms the subtype. 



MALLOW is the Malva of botanical authors ; a 

 genus of plants found in every quarter of the globe. 

 The European species arc mostly annuals. The South 

 American are for the most part under shrubs ; and 

 the African, especially those found at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, are evergreen shrubs. They are all 

 easily increased. 



M ALPIGHIACE^E. A natural'order, containing 

 above thirteen genera, and nearly four score species. 

 They are all tropical, and consequently are kept in our 

 stoves in light loamy soil, and propagated by cuttings. 



The genera included in this type, are small trees or 

 shrubs, with apposite or alternate leaves, in general 

 with stipules, and without dots or punctures. The 

 inflorescence is axillary or terminal, solitary or aggre- 

 gate, often racemose, the pedicles having bractes, 

 and sometimes articulated, and the flowers regular and 

 united. 



The calyx five-sepaled, slightly connected by their 

 claws, often glandular and persistent. Corolla is of five 

 petals, which are free and inserted below thegermen. 

 The stamens are definite, seldom less than ten ; 

 the filaments free or connate ; the anthers erect, 

 roundish, two-celled, and opening lengthwise by 

 chinks. The germen is formed of three united car- 

 pels, one or several celled ; ovules solitary or pendu- 

 lous, the styles distinct or connate, and the stigma 

 headed. The fruit is succulent or dry, three or one 

 lobed and celled, the seeds solitary, with or without 

 albumen. 



Of the uses or properties of these plants, there is 

 very little known ; several have fragrant flowers, and 

 the bark of some is bitter and astringent. The fruit 

 of the Malpighia is eatable, and commonly known as 

 the Barbadoes cherry. That of M. gtabra is esteemed 

 in the British West Indies and on the American 

 continent. M.saccharina is the sugar plum of Sierra 

 Leone, and is brought in great quantities to the mar- 

 ket in Freetown ; and M, punicifolia, the bark of 

 which is astringent, and the fruit when preserved deli- 

 cious, yields a gum resembling gum-arabic. M. urcns, 

 sctosa, and several other species, have leaves thickly 

 armed with stinging hairs, like those of the Mncnnn 

 pruriens, its fruit is insipid, but the bark is astringent. 



The order contains the following genera: Tribe 1. 

 Malpighia, Byrsonima, Bunchosia, and Galphimia. 

 Tribe ti. Gacrtnera, ThryaHis, and Asicarpa. Tribe 3. 

 Hirci'a, Tnoptcria, Tetrapteris, Bannisteria, Hetero- 

 ptem, and Vitlmmtnin. 



MALTHINUS (Latreille). A genus of coleop- 

 terous insects, belonging to the family of Tclephoridcs, 

 and distinguished by having the elytra shorter than 

 the abdomen, and consequently not covering the 

 wings when folded ; the last joint of the palpi is ovoid. 

 These are small active beetles frequenting flowers, 

 and often of a pale colour, with yellow tips to the 

 elytra. There are about a score British species. 



MALVACEAE. A natural order containing twenty- 

 two genera, and above three hundred and ninety-one 

 species. Some of the most splendid flowering plants 



belong to this order, as the Althaeas, the Sulas, and the 

 Hibiscuses. Many are esculent and nutritive, and 

 almost all are innocuous. The Gossypium which 

 furnishes the cotton wool of commerce is found in this 

 order, and many are medicinal as well as dietetic. 

 They are herbs, shrubs, or trees, with alternate simple 

 leaves, petiolate, stipulate, and for the most part 

 covered with stellate down. The inflorescence is 

 axillary or aggregate, and the flowers regular and 

 united. The calyx is five-sepaled, supported by 

 larger or smaller bractes ; a torus surrounds the base of 

 the germen, and bears both the petals and stamens. 

 The petals are equal in number with the sepals, and 

 are exserted alternately with them. The stamens are 

 indefinite, filaments monadelphous, and the anthers 

 one celled, kidney-shaped, and burst transversely. 

 The germen is formed of several carpels set round the 

 axes of the flower, more or less distinct, and one or 

 many seeded. Styles equal in number to the carpels, 

 distinct or united, and the stigmata variable. 



Botanists arrange this order in two divisions. The 

 first has the calyx double, and contains, Mai-ope, 

 Malva, Nuttallia, Ketaibelia, Althaea, Lavatera, Ma- 

 lachra, Urcna, Pavonia, Mrtlva viscits, Lt-brelonia, 

 Hibiscus, Thespesia, Gossypium, Redoutea, and Lopi- 

 inia. The second division has the calvx simple, and 

 comprises, Palavia, Cristaria, Anoda, Periptera, Sida, 

 and Lagimea. 



MAMMALIA, (animals which suckle their young 

 with milk, furnished by the mamma;, or teats, of the 

 females). These constitute the most characteristic 

 order in the animal kingdom, and have the system 

 of sensation most perfectly developed. In common 

 language they are termed quadrupeds, or four-footed 

 animals, but this term is not correct, inasmuch as all 

 birds, and many reptiles and fishes, have four ex- 

 tremities, analogous to those of the mammalia, 

 though differing from them in various particulars, 

 according to the modes of their action and the 

 elements in which they live. Linnaeus was the 

 first who applied the name mammalia as a general 

 expression for them ; and no name could have been 

 more happily applied, inasmuch as it is common to 

 the whole, and can be applied to no other animals 

 whatever. It was long thought that the ornitho- 

 rhvnchus of New Holland, which has the mouth 

 formed like the mandibles of a duck, and a single 

 opening to the body as in birds, formed an exception 

 to this general law ; but more careful observation has 

 shown that this animal suckles its young with milk, 

 as well as the more characteristic mammalia. 



All the mammalia have a double heart, with two 

 ventricles for propelling the blood, on esystematic or 

 propelling it over the whole body, and the other 

 pulrnonic, or sending it to the lungs ; and they have 

 also two auricles as appendages to the heart, one for 

 receiving the blood from the lungs and transmitting 

 it to the systematic ventricle, and the other for 

 receiving the blood from the system generally, and 

 transmitting it to the pulmonic ventricle. The blood 

 of all is red and warm, but differs in its temperature 

 in different species. It is aerated wholly in the lungs, 

 and not partially by air cells or the coats of the 

 arteries as in birds, and it is more minutely distributed 

 over the system than in any other class of animals. 

 They have also the nervous system, upon which, as 

 we usually suppose, sensation and animal intelligence 

 more immediately depend, much more developed than 

 any other animals ; and therefore, though there are great 



