M Y R I S T I C A M Y R M E L 1 O N I.D JE. 



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We find in our own rivers that brilliant lightning and 

 loud thunder invariably send down the fish ; so that, 

 although there is often good fishing in a shower, there 

 is seldom, if ever, good fishing in a thunder shower. 

 Now, if we find this in our latitudes, where the elec- 

 tric action of the atmosphere is so mild and limited, we 

 may be prepared for finding it to a much greater extent 

 in those tropical climates where this action is at a 

 maximum. To what depth the sea may be so much 

 electrified, even in the most violent thunder storms, 

 as to benumb the muscular irritability of fishes, we 

 are unable to say ; but there is no doubt that they 

 are possessed of means which give them warning of 

 the approach of such storms, and that they avoid 

 them. The fishes of the present genus are found in 

 the tropical seas of both hemispheres, but not in 

 cold or temperate latitudes. Nothing whatever is 

 known of their manners. 



MYRISTICA (Linnaeus). A genus of three spe- 

 cies of tropical trees and shrubs, one of which is the 

 cultivated M. moschata, the true nutmes, being the 

 type of the order Mymticete. Generic character : 

 flowers dioecious ; calyx three-toothed ; stamens form- 

 ing a thick column ; anthers linear, two-celled, united ; 

 style short, pyramidal; stigma of two lobes; drnpeone- 

 seeded,nut covered with an arillus ; arillus fleshy ; al- 

 bumen firm,veined,and marbled. Of the several species 

 of Myrislica, the common nutmeg is the most valuable 

 and best known ; aromatic fruits are, however, borne 

 by others, such as the M. otabn, which is the nutmeg 

 of Santa Fe, and M. Horsfieldia, which is a native of 

 Ceylon, where there are several other varieties. The 

 fruit of J/. tomcnto&a is often fraudulently mixed with 

 ordinary nutmegs, but it is an inferior spice. 



The English residents at Bencoolen, and other set- 

 tlements in that part of the east, cultivate the nutmeg 

 with success ; but they do not seem to thrive in the 

 West Indies. The nutmeg or seed, with its arillus or 

 mace, are powerful carminatives, and in large doses 

 are dangerous, but in proper doses are cordial medi- 

 cines. The natural order to which this genus gives 

 a title is 



MYRISTICE JS, which contains only one other 

 genus, viz., Hcrnandia, of both of which there are 

 only six species as yet described, three of each genus. 

 The Hernandias are large Indian trees, called by the 

 English Jack in a box, from their fruit being sonorous 

 when shaken. Nutmeg plants are as yet scarce in our 

 collections, but the Hernandias are common and easily 

 propagated. 



MYRMELIONID^E (Leach). A family of neu- 

 ropterous insects, having the tarsi five-jointed, the 

 body long arid slender, the head not produced into 

 a rostrum, the antennse thickened at the tips, the 

 wings of equal size, and in repose applied against 

 each other above the back, like the roof of a house ; 

 the ocelli wanting, and the legs short. These insects 

 are found in warm situations in the meridional coun- 



tries of the Old and New World ; they fly but little 

 during the day, remaining quiet amongst the leaves 

 of different plants. The habits of the Iarva3 are, how- 

 ever, quite the reverse of this. In this state the insect 

 is known under the name of the ant-lion (Myrwfleon 



': formica leo, Linnaeus), which it has obtained from 

 the great havoc which it makes in destroying ants 

 and other small insects in an exceedingly ingenious 

 manner. The abdomen is very large, in proportion 

 to the rest of the body, and fleshy ; the head small, 

 flattened, armed with two Ions' jaws like horns, or 

 rather more like a pair of calliper compasses, but 

 serving as instruments of suction instead of mastica- 

 tion, being channelled on the under side. These 

 organs have indeed been described as perforated and 

 tubular, but such is not the case ; the maxillae, which 

 have been overlooked or considered as a portion of 

 the mandibles, fitting into the channel, and assisting in 

 suction ; the body is grey or sand-coloured : although 

 provided with legs, these organs are so unfitted lor 

 active motion that the insect is unable to follow its 

 prey, like the larvae of the Hemerobiidce, which in 

 several respects it very much resembles ; indeed its 

 ordinary motions are either backwards or sideways. 

 How then is this slow unwieldy animal to obtain a 

 supply of food, consisting as it does of insects of such 

 activity as the ants ? This is effected by means of a 

 snare or pitfall, which it excavates in the sand, at the 

 j foot of which, when completed, it takes its station ; but, 

 : lest its hideous form should alarm its victims, it buries 

 j itself at the bottom, leaving only the head exposed. 



Pitfall of the Ant-lion. 



These pitfalls vary in diameter from one io throe 

 inches, according to the size of the larva by which 

 they are constructed. When the insect has fixed 

 npdn a spot for its retreat, it first marks out a circle, 

 to which the exterior of its intended pit is to extend : 

 it proceeds working backwards, shovelling or scoop, 

 ing the sand by means of the fore leg on the side 

 which is nearest the centre of the hole, upon the back 

 of its head, and which it then, by a sudden jerk, throws 

 several inches beyond the circle ; in this manner it 

 proceeds circle after circle, but alternately reversing 

 its position, so that the opposite leg may alternately 

 be employed as a shovel ; and so quickly does it carry 

 on its operations, that in the course of half an hour it 

 has raised a cone of sand equal in diameter to the 

 diameter of its pit. Sometimes, however, it meets 

 with serious obstacles pieces of stone, &c., interrupt 

 its path, and which require the greatest exertions to 

 remove ; sometimes it is able to effect this, which is 

 done by jerking the stone with its jaws beyond its 

 burrow ; but, in case the stone is much heavier than 

 itself, it contrives to place the stone upon its back by 

 the alternate motion of the rings of the body, and in 

 this way carries it up to the margin of its cell, when 

 it rolls it awav. Sometimes indeed it is unable to 

 perform this, and, after various ineffectual attempts, is 

 compelled to quit the spot and recommence the fonn- 

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