474 PIPERACE^S PI 



our article above referred to, headed CHEESE HOPPER, 

 or CHEESE MITE, we unintentionally confounded to- 

 gether two insects which are found in cheese, namely, 

 the cheese-hopper or larva of the Piophila casei, and 

 the cheese-mite Acarus lactci. We are indebted to 

 an obliging correspondent for pointing out this mis- 

 take in the Entomological Magazine, and which we 

 take the earliest opportunity of rectifying. The article 

 in question is confined to the operation of the first- 

 named insect and its transformations ; with the ex- 

 ception of the following passage, relative to the larvae 

 which, feeding upon cheese, are said " to cause it to 

 decay ; the fine powder which we perceive, and which 

 is so highly pr'r/.ed by the gourmand, being nothing 

 else but the excrement of these grubs." This para- 

 graph which, by an oversight, was introduced into our 

 account of the larva of the Piophila, although the writer 

 thereof had often watched the mites under a micro- 

 scope, relates to them and not to the former. The 

 anonymous writer thus proceeds, " when a cheese is 

 infested with the hoppers there is no powder, but, on 

 the contrary, a moisture * ; now a cheese that is at- 

 tacked by the mites is always powdery wherever they 

 harbour. Any dairy-maid knows that if the cheese 

 is not well pressed, to separate the whey entirely 

 from the curd, it will be much more liable to the 

 attacks of the hopper-fly than if it had been pressed as 

 it ought to have been. They also call a cheese that 

 is decayed by having the maggots in it, the ' wet rot,' 

 in contradistinction to the ' dry rot,' which the mites 

 generally, but not always, accompany. There is also 

 a very great difference in the attacks of the two in- 

 sects. The hoppers being always found in the interior 

 of the cheese without any visible external aperture ; 

 the mites are as constant to the exterior, and never 

 penetrate into the inside (unless there are cracks in 

 the cheese), until the outer part where they are is 

 entirely consumed." Entomological Magazine, vol. iii., 

 p. 502. We are thus happy in being enabled to 

 correct any errors into which we may unintentionally 

 have fallen in the course of our work, deeming accu- 

 racy of far greater importance than wilful ignorance. 



PIPERACE./E. A small natural order, consisting 

 of three genera and seventy-one species. The genera 

 are Saururus, Piper, and Piperoma. In general the 

 peppers are much more valuable in commerce than 

 as ornaments in gardening. Their flowers are incon- 

 spicuous, and the habit and foliage afford very little 

 variety. They are herbaceous or shrubby plants with 

 knotted stems, and opposite or verticillate leaves. 

 The petioles are sheathing at the base, but without 

 stipules, and the lamina is simple, entire, and often 

 fleshy. The inflorescence is spadix-like, the flowers 

 bracteate, stamens definite, the anthers erect, one or 

 two-celled, opening lengthwise, shedding smooth grains 

 of pollen. The germen is superior and one-celled. 

 The stigma one or more and sessile. The fruit is 

 indehiscent, with a fleshy mesocarp, containing one 

 or more roundish seeds. 



The Piper and Piperomias are all tropical plants, 

 abounding in the hottest parts of the East and West 

 Indies. Their fruit are warm and even acrid spices, 

 and the pungent aromatic principle so familiar in 

 culinary pepper is common to the whole group. The 

 black, the long, the cubeb, and the betel peppers, are 

 the best known and most valuable. These, or some 



* The impression still remains in the mind of the writer hereof, 

 that he Uas aeeu the hoppers in cheese which exhibited no 



T T O S P O R A C-E JE. 



one of them, are cultivated in Java, Sumatra, Borneo, 

 and in the Phillippine Isles, and grow in the greatest 

 abundance in Malabar, constituting one of the prin- 

 cipal articles of export. The two sorts of pepper 

 knosvn as the black and white are the produce of the 

 same plant : the black is the fruit entire, the pericarp 

 being allowed to dry on the seed : the best white 

 consists of the ripe seeds which have fallen from the 

 plant, and are picked up by poor people from under 

 the vines. The largest quantity, however, is produced 

 by steeping the black pepper in warm water, and 

 rubbing oft' the pericarps : much of the pungency, 

 however, is thus removed, but it becomes a more 

 sightly condiment. 



The betel-pepper leaves are chewed with slices of 

 the areca nut, as tobacco is in Europe ; and, from its 

 intoxicating powers, as well as from it allaying hun- 

 ger, it is one of the most common luxuries of the 

 East. 



PISCIDIA (Linnaeus). A genus of West Indian 

 trees, belonging to Leguminosae, and commonly called 

 red Jamaica dogwood. In our collections they are 

 rambling growing plants, often requiring to be cut 

 down. 



PISMIRE. One of the ordinary names for the 

 ant. 



PISTACIA (Linnaus). A genus of deciduous 

 trees, natives chiefly of the south of Europe. They 

 belong to TerebintkaceoE. In countries where these 

 trees abound, the nuts are used as food, and great 

 quantities are exported to foreign countries. The 

 flowers are dioecious, and the male flowers are sus- 

 pended over those of the female trees by the cultiva- 

 tors to insure a crop. The P. k-ntiscits affords the 

 true mastic of commerce. In this country the Pis- 

 tacias are treated as greenhouse plants, and are in- 

 creased by cuttings, or by grafting to unite the two 

 sexes. 



PISUM (Linnaeus). The P. sativum is the com- 

 mon pea of our gardens and fields ; a leguminous 

 genus needing no description. Field peas are usually 

 sown in February or March ; and, in order to have a 

 succession of young pods for the table, peas are sown 

 in every month from October to July. 



PISUM. A genus of molluscs established by 

 Megerle, now united to the genus Cyc/as, of which it 

 may be deemed a species. 



PITCAlRNIA(Heritier). A genus of rigid spiny 

 herbaceous perennials, bearing a spike of hexandrous 

 flowers, and belonging to Bromdiacce. They are 

 natives of tropical America, thrive and flower freely 

 in light soil, and are increased by suckers. 



PITCHER PLANT is the Nepenthes d'lstillatoria 

 of Linnaeus, a curious herbaceous bog plant, a native 

 of China. The}' are grown with great success in our 

 damp stoves. The flowers are dioecious, and the 

 genus belongs to Cytineee. 



PITTOSPORACE^E. A small natural order 

 of beautiful shrubs and small trees comprising four 

 genera, viz., Bellardicra, Pittosporum, Ihtrsaria, and 

 Senacia, Of these together there are twenty-two 

 species already described. The leaves are simple 

 and without stipules, with white or yellow flowers. 

 The order is distinguished by the imbricate aestiva- 

 tion of the sepals and petals, which last, as well as 

 the stamens, are five and seated below the germen, 

 and by its minute embryo. The Pittosporum tobira 

 is nearly hardy, and expands its sweet-scented flowers 

 in favourable situations in the open borders. 



