238 



M E R I A N I A M I C R O G A S T E R. 



a hood, and is black at the base and tip, and white in 

 the middle part. The neck and upper part of the 

 back black, broken by two bars of white extending 

 from the breast. Under part white, passing into 

 reddish brown backwards, and' delicately marked with 

 black on the sides and flanks. The primary quills, 

 and the tail feathers, of which there are twenty, are 

 dull black. The smaller coverts are ash, but the greater 

 coverts and secondaries form two white lines and two 

 black ones in the middle of the closed wing. The 

 female is smaller than the male, and tinged with 

 russet colour. 



MERIANIA (Swartz). A genus of beautiful 

 West India evergreen shrubs, known by the name of j 

 the mountain or Jamaica rose. The Howers are de- 

 candrous, and the plants belong to Melastomacece. 

 They succeed in the stove, and may be increased by 

 cuttings! 



MESEMBRYANTHEMUM (Linnaeus). A nu- 

 merous genus of succulent plants, commonly called 

 the fig-marigold, from the shape of their flowers, 

 which are icosandrous, and their fig-like fruit. They 

 belong to the order Ficoideee, and are chiefly natives 

 of the Cape of Good Hope. So numerous are the 

 species, that they are divided into eight sections, 

 significant of their forms or manner of growth. The 

 dwarf kinds should be kept in small pots in very 

 sandy or gravelly soil, and require but little water at 

 all seasons, but particularly when they are dormant. 

 They only require to be defended from frost in a 

 green-house or frame, and are easily propagated by 

 cuttings kept dry till they produce roots. 



MESPILUS (Linnaeus). Is the generic name of 

 the common medlar, of which there are three sorts 

 cultivated for their fruit, and one species, the M. 

 grandiflora, is ornamental. The flowers are icosan- 

 drous, and belong to Rosacece. See MEDLAR. 



MESSERSCHMID1A (Linnaeus). A genus of 

 trees and climbing shrubs, natives of the West Indie?, 

 formerly called Tournefortia. They belong to Bora- 

 gincce. They are stove plants ; but as their flowers 

 are by no means showy, they are only met with in 

 general collections. 



METROSIDEROS (Gsertner). A fine ornamental 

 genus ot trees and shrubs, chiefly found in New Hol- 

 land. They belong to Myrtaceae. One of the species, 

 .M. tcrus, is the true iron-wood of India, and so hardy 

 and heavy as to be fit. for the construction of ships' 

 anchors. This tree is kept in our stoves, and grows 

 well with ordinary treatment. The New Holland 

 species are green-house plants, and all require a mix- 

 ture of loam and moor-earth -, and propagation by 

 cuttings of the ripened wood. 



MEXICAN LILY. Is the Amaryllis regince of 

 Linnaeus. One of the most splendid of the tribe. 



MEXICAN TIGER FLOWER. Is the Tigri- 

 dia pavonia of Jacquin ; an estimable though a very 

 fugitive gem of the flower garden, but remarkable 

 both in form and colour. 



MEZEREUM. Is the Daphne Mezereum of Linnaeus, 

 one of our most common ornamental shrubs. 



MICHAELMAS DAISY. Is the Alter Tra- 

 descanti of Linnaeus, a common inhabitant of our 

 -flower borders. 



MICHELI A (Linnaeus). A genus of lofty trees 

 and straggling 'shrubs, natives of India and China, 

 belonging to Magnoliacete. The flowers are yellow 

 and beautiful, and the trees may be propagated by 

 cuttings or by grafting on the purple Chinese Magnolia. 



MICONIA (Ruiz and Pavon). A genus of ever- 

 green tropical shrubs, separated from the genus Me- 

 lastoma, though closely allied thereto. The foliage 

 is good, the flowers white, lilac, or rose-coloured. 

 They affect a soil of loarn and moor-earth, and may 

 be propagated by cuttings. 



MICROGASTER(Latreille). A genus of minute 

 parasitic hyrnenopterous insects, belonging to the 

 i'amily Ichneumonida: and sub-family Braconidce, hav- 

 ing the second submarinal cell minute, the abdomen 

 and ovipositor are small, the lower parts of the mouth 

 are not elongated, and there is not any remarkable 

 space between the jaws when closed. These little 

 insects are amongst the most destructive enemies of 

 various smooth lepidopterous larvae, amongst which 

 the caterpillar of the common white butterfly of the 

 cabbage (Pontia brassicce) affords the most common 

 example, and which is often observed, after it has 

 ceased feeding and taken its station upon some out- 

 side window-frame, paling, &c., to produce a great 

 number of minute oblong balls of silk of a pale yellow 

 colour, instead of undergoing the ordinary transform- 

 ation to a chrysalis. These little balls are the cocoons 

 of a small species belonging to the present genus, of 

 a black colour with yellow legs (M. glwneratus], the 

 eggs of which had been previously deposited by the 

 parent fly, in the larva upon the body of which it 

 takes its station, repeatedly plunging its ovipositor 

 between the rings and lodging an egg at each thrust, 

 the larva appearing all the while to take but little heed 

 of the proceedings of its enemy. The little parasites 

 as soon as hatched feed gregariously upon the fatty 

 substance of the larva, bursting out simultaneously 

 when full grown, and immediately encasing them- 

 selves in the yellow cocoons above mentioned, and 

 which, as observed by Mr. Haliday, the indefatigable 

 historian of these minute tribes, " are composed of a 

 very fine glossy silk of one colour, which can be 

 wound off like that of the silkworm, whilst in most of 

 the remaining Ichneumones they are of a gummy tex* 

 ture and banded. They are arranged in various 

 modes, examples of which, and a minute account of 

 the process of construction, may be found in the 

 second volume of Reaumur's Memoirs. The larvae 

 are generally supplied with a twofold secretion of 

 silk, that which comes out first being of a looser and 

 coarser texture, and serving for a common envelope 

 for the whole society. The sections into which the 

 genus has been divided do not appear to be charac- 

 terised by a particular disposition of the cocoons, as 

 this differs in species the most nearly related ; some 

 are collected into a ball, and entirely concealed within 

 a thick cottony mass attached to a stalk of grass (as 

 M. globatus, imbricalus, c.) ; others are fastened' 

 round a twig, and arranged side by side like the cells 

 of a honeycomb (M. alvearius, alvearifex}. In many 

 they are scattered or collected in an irregular heap, 

 and" covered with a loose web of open texture, but 

 tough, as is the case with M. glomeratus, the most 

 familiar species which keeps down the numbers of the 

 common white butterfly. A correspondent in Lou- 

 don's Magazine, vol. iii. p. 52, affirms that the cater- 

 pillar of the butterfly spins the outer web over its 

 parasites, and Goedart has written the same ; Madame 

 Merian has a similar statement relative to the cater- 

 pillar of the Cynthia Cardui, and its microgaster. I 

 am more inclined, however, to place my faith in the 

 usual accuracy of Reaumur. It would be a singular 

 fact that the caterpillar of a butterfly, which for it* 



