PHEBALIUM PHILEDON. 



435 



of the Australian species of this family, from the 

 collection of the Rev. F. W. Hope. The figure is 

 about half the natural length. 



PHEBALIUM (Ventenat). A genus of ever- 

 green shrubs from New Holland, belonging to the 

 natural order Ruitwcce. In greenhouse collections 

 they thrive well with the ordinary management. 



PHILADELPHIA. A small natural order 

 containing only two genera, viz. Philadclphus, and 

 Decumaria. Of the former there are fifteen, and of 

 the latter three species, already described. The Phi- 

 ladclphi are very ornamental plants, possessed of 

 neither deleterious nor useful properties ; but some 

 are so strongly scented as to cause headache when 

 introduced into nosegays. The calyx is turbinate, 

 with the limb in four divisions. Petals four or five, 

 inserted into the calyx. Stamens attached to the 

 throat of the calyx, and shorter than the petals. 

 Style four or five parts, stigma oblong, capsule four 

 or rive-celled and many-seeded. 



The Decumarias are climbing shrubs from North 

 America, with icosandrous flowers, having a many- 

 toothed bell-shaped calyx. Petals from seven to ten, 

 stamens numerous, anthers double, style cylindrical, 

 stigma peltate, with many rays, capsule valveless, 

 and many-celled. They are hardy plants, and increased 

 bv layers or suckers. 



"PHILANTHUS (Fabricius). A genus of hy- 

 menopterous insects belonging to the fossorial Acu- 

 leata, and family Crabronidce, but confounded by 

 that author with the genus Ccrceriis, Latreille, from 

 which it differs in having the abdominal segments 

 not narrowed at the base, without any peduncle, and 

 with the second submarginal cell not petiolated as in 

 Cerccris ; with this genus, however, it agrees in the 

 predatory nature of its habits, and which render the 

 Philnnthi some of the most obnoxious of insects in 

 places where they abound. Fortunately only one of 

 the species has been found in this country, P. an- 

 drogenetis, Rossi, and that occurs but very rarely. 

 The typical species, P. ap'worus, has formed the 

 subject of a very interesting memoir by Latreille, 

 of which the following is a concise abstract. The 

 females of this insect make their nests in sandy 

 places, where they form deep and cylindrical bur- 

 rows, in which they deposit a considerable number of 

 honey bees, (Apis meUiJica), which they slightly 

 wound with their sting at the moment when they 

 bury them, their victims still retaining a little life, and 

 capable of a little motion, which is to be perceived 

 even at the end of many days. When the nest is 

 sufficiently stored with these poor insects, the females 

 deposit an egg in the midst, and close up the cell. 

 They then commence another nest for the reception 

 of another egg, and so on until their supply of eggs 

 is completely exhausted. Latreille, in order to ascer- 

 tain the amount of destruction which a hive in the 

 neighbourhood of the nests of these insects might 

 undergo, opened, in the first place, the body of the 

 female PIrilanthus, in order to count its eggs, and 

 thus he ascertained that the ovary appeared only to 

 contain five or six eggs, of an elongated cylindrical 

 lorm, and white colour. Each female, therefore, 

 destroys at least six bees, and probably a greater 

 number, as Latreille could not assert that each 

 larva consumed only one bee, many of which were 

 rejected and others abandoned. Latreille moreover 

 counted on a space of ground, 1-20 feet long, about 

 fifty or sixty female Philanthi occupied in the con- 



struction of their nests. This space of ground, there- 

 fore, at the lowest calculation, must be the tomb of 

 between three and four hundred bees. 



The larva is produced from the egg in a very short 

 time, and in a few days consumes the food laid up for 

 it in store. It then forms a cocoon, which appears 

 rather to be a viscid secretion, than to be spun with 

 silk, and which when dry becomes a flexible mem- 

 brane. Within this cocoon the larva remains un- 

 changed for many months, and does not become a 

 pupa until the end of the winter, and hence there is 

 only a single generation in the course of the year. 

 The food of the different species varies in its nature, 

 some preferring Andrence. In the perfect state, they 

 very much resemble wasps, and feed upon honey, 

 and the nectar of flowers; whence evidently is derived 

 the generic name, which signifies lovers of flowers. 

 This genus is not numerous in species ; and the colour 

 of the insects is generally black, varied with yellow. 



PHILEDON NECTAR-SUCKER (Meliphaga). A 

 genus of anizodactylic birds, which, as their name 

 imports, subsist, in great part, upon the sweet juices 

 which they gather from the nectaries of flowers. This 

 is a peculiar mode of feeding for birds, and these 

 birds are peculiarly organised, so as to adapt them to 

 it. They also inhabit peculiar localities, where the 

 productions of the vegetable kingdom are of a different 

 character from what is met with any where else. The 

 species of this genus are numerous ; but notwith- 

 standing their numbers, they are not generally dis- 

 tributed even in corresponding latitudes. There are 

 none in America, in Europe, in Africa, or in conti- 

 nental Asia ; and we believe there are few in those 

 Oriental Isles which may be considered as partaking 

 of the Asiatic character, or intermediate between it 

 and the islands which spot the wide Pacific. New 

 Holland, and especially the scattered isles which 

 geographers include under the general name of Oce- 

 anica, are the only countries where birds of this 

 genus are found ; and though there are many of them 

 in European museums, and some of them are very 

 numerous in their native countries, their manners are 

 very little known. 



In the isles and regions of perpetual verdure, 

 where some plants are always in flower, and many 

 trees are rarely found without both flowers and 

 fruit, these birds keep constantly flitting about from 

 spray to spray, collecting the means of their sub- 

 sistence. 



They have frequently been confounded with other 

 tribes of birds, such as the bee-eaters, the creepers, 

 and even the thrushes, from all of which they are 

 separated by distinct characters and habits, so far as 

 the latter are known or can be guessed at. It is 

 highly probable that the mistakes of the more early 

 describers, respecting their proper place in the system, 

 have been among the causes why so little attention 

 has been paid to the ascertaining of their proper 

 function in nature. This is indeed greatly the case 

 with all the birds of Oceanica ; and yet in their num- 

 jers, the beauty of their plumage, and the singularity 

 of some of their forms, they are among the most 

 interesting of all birds. It should seem, however, 

 that those who visit these islands are far more anxious 

 ;o bring home the mere skins of the birds, often muti- 

 ated or in bad condition, than to bring any portion 

 of their history, or of the relations which subsist 

 Between them and the other productions of nature in 

 the countries which they inhabit. The absence of 

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