OZOTHAMUS PAGURUS. 



383 



as well as of the racoon and some other quadrupeds, 

 which feed upon oysters, both by night and day. 

 Bunches of them, sufficient to fill a bushel, are 

 found matted, as it were, together, and the neigh- 

 bouring inhabitants will light a fire upon the marsh 

 grass, roll a bunch of oysters upon it, and then eat 

 their contents. This barrier of oysters, like rocks of 

 coral, must offer the strongest resistance to the force 

 of the tide." We will merely add, that the oyster 

 affords one of the most striking instances of the 

 wisdom and goodness of God towards man, in pro- 

 viding for his wants an inexhaustible store of nu- 

 tritious food ; proving also the constant conclusion 

 to be drawn, that the good things allotted to man's 

 use immensely exceed the noxious ones, and, by their 

 abundance, seem to point out that which must be 

 best for his consumption. 



OZOTHAMUS (Dr. Brown). A genus of soft- 

 wooded shrubs, natives of Van Diemen's Land. 

 They bear syngenesious flowers, and of course belong 

 to ComposilcE, They were called Eupatorium by 

 Labillardiere. They succeed well under green-house 

 management. 



PACHIDENDRON (Willdenow). A genus of 

 succulent plants, natives of the Cape of Good Hope. 

 They are closely allied to the genus aloe, and were 

 united to that genus by Mr. Haworth. Like the 

 aloes they have hexandrous flowers, and belong to, 

 HemerocalMeae. Their chief distinction is their 

 arborescent part, and they thrive in lime rubbish soil, 

 with moderate watering. They are increased by off- 

 sets. 



PACHYTA (Megerle). A genus of longicorn 

 beetles, belonging to the family Lcpturidie, having the 

 body short, the elytra broad and sub-parallel, entire at 

 the tips. These are handsome beetles, of which there 

 are three or four inhabitants of this country, including 

 the Lcptura collarls, Linnaeus, which is about one 

 third of an inch in length, of a black-blue colour, 

 with the thorax and abdomen red. They are found 

 in flowers. 



PyECILOPODA, (Latreille). An order of crus- 

 taceous animals belonging to the great division of 

 Entomostraca, having the legs of variable form, the 

 anterior, of an indefinite number, being formed for 

 walking, or prehensile, whilst the posterior are lamel- 

 liform or pinnated, and either natatory, or serving 

 as organs of respiration (branchue). It is, how- 

 ever, especially by the absence of jaws and under 

 jaws that they are distinguished from the other crus- 

 tacea, these organs being either replaced by the basal 

 part (coxa), of the six pairs of fore-legs, which are 

 furnished with minute teeth, or the oral apparatus, 

 consisting in an external siphon, in form like an inar- 

 ticulated rostrum, or in other suctorial instruments 

 whose structure is not well determined. The body is 

 generally covered either entirely, or for the most part, 

 by a shield-like carapax of a single piece in the greater 

 number, but bipartite in a few, and always exhibiting 

 a pair of eyes when the organs of sight are present. 

 Two of the antennae (chelicera, Latr.) are in general 

 chelit'orm, and perform the office of pincers ; the num- 

 ber of the legs is generally six pairs, in some, however, 

 there are only five pairs, whilst a few have eleven 

 pairs. They are generally parasites, living upon the 

 bodies of other aquatic animals, especially fishes. 



This order comprises^ two principal sections or 

 suborders : 



1. Xyphosura, Latreille, in which the carapax is 

 bipartite, the suctorial apparatus wanting, and 

 its_ place supplied by the dilated bases of the 

 fore-legs. Typical genus Limulus, or king 

 crabs. See LIMULUS. 



2. Siphonostoma, Latreille, in which the mouth 

 is more or less evidently suctorial, and the 

 carapax composed of a single piece. There are 

 two families, Caligida: and Dichelestionidce. 

 (Lernaeifonncs, Latreille.) 



PJ3DERIA, (Linnaeus.) A genus of evergreen 

 shrubs, natives of the Mauritius and China. Their 

 flowers are pentandrous, and their berries are transpa- 

 rent. They belong to Rubiacca: ; grow rapidly in the 

 stove, climbing and supporting themselves on other 

 plants, and are increased by cuttings. 



P^EDERUS, (Fabricius.) A genus of small but 

 handsome rove-beetles, Staphylmidce, belonging to 

 the sub-family or tribe Stenides, (see BHACHELYTRA,) 

 having the attenna? inserted before the ^eyes, filiform 

 or gradually thickened and longer than the head, the 

 body long and narrow, the jaws toothed internally, 

 and terminated in a point, and the tarsal fourth joint 

 bifid. The type is the Staj)hylinus riparius, Lin- 

 naeus, about a quarter of an inch long, of a red 

 colour, with the head and tip of the abdomen black, 

 and the elytra blue. These insects are found upon 

 the margins of water and in other damp situations, 

 their motions being in general very quick. 



P^ELOBIUS(Schonherr). As restricted by British 

 entomological authors, this genus of water beetles 

 {Dyticidai} comprises but a single species, Dyticus 

 Hcrmanni, Linnreus, which has an exposed scutellum, 

 the legs gressorial, and the body very convex. It is 

 nearly half an inch long, and of a reddish brown colour, 

 with the surface of the elytra black. It is a local 

 insect, but occurs in some abundance in some of the 

 ponds round London. 



P^EONIA (Linna?us). A very conspicuous ge- 

 nus of herbaceous and suffruticose plants, chiefly na- 

 tives of the northern parts of the world. The flowers 

 are polyandrous, and belong to Ranunc.ulace(B. The 

 roots are, for the most part, thick and fleshy, and the 

 flowers are large and of the most brilliant colours. 

 There are five half-shrubby species, introduced from 

 China ; and a great number of herbaceous sorts, 

 obtained from Siberia, and other parts of the 

 northern hemisphere. The shrubby sorts are in- 

 creased by cuttings or layers, and the herbaceous 

 species and varieties by division of the roots. The 

 pasonias were highly esteemed by the ancient Greek 

 physicians, but their praises are too extravagant for 

 sober repetition. Among other superstitions, they 

 believed it to be of divine origin, an emanation from 

 the moon, and that it shone during the night, &c. 

 Modern times are not, however, free from some 

 remnants of these absurdities. " The anodyne neck- 

 laces," says Burnett, " still sold to prevent convul- 

 sions in children, and to ease dentition, are made of 

 beads turned from the root of the common paeony." 



PAGURUS (Fabricius). A remarkable genus of 

 long-tailed Crustacea (Mctcrura], distinguished by 

 the slender texture of the shell or carapax, and the 

 fleshy structure of the abdomen, which is generally 

 twisted on one side and bag-shaped. The two fore- 

 legs are terminated by a didactyle claw, the four 

 following by a simple point ; but the four posterior, 

 which are smaller than the others, are armed at the end 

 by a small pair of didactyle claws ; the basal joint 



