564 



RESEDA R HAP ON TIC A. 



be ready to perform the same office, in the event of 

 any casualty happening to them. Generally the real 

 fangs are the ones most in advance, though this is 

 not always or necessarily the case. The fang is, how- 

 ever, always the largest one, or, if there are two fully 

 developed ones in the same side of the jaw, the proba- 

 bility is that they are both capable of instilling poison 

 into the punctures which they make. Of this sub- 

 division of the waters not of the fresh water only or 

 chiefly, but rather of the sea the land ones, some of 

 which grow to the length of seven or eight feet, have 

 been confounded with the crushing serpents, which 

 are not poisonous ; and indeed there are many points 

 in the history of both which have not yet been cleared 

 up in a very satisfactory manner. The naked ser- 

 pents are perhaps the most singular of the whole 

 order. They are, in some respects, more like worms 

 than serpents, and they spend no small portion of 

 their time deeply buried in the mud and slime of the 

 marshes, but still they are vertebrated animals, and 

 true serpents. 



Of the Batrachia, the frogs, after which the order 

 is named, are by far the most numerous, and the 

 most widely distributed. But, as we have already 

 given some notice of them in the article FROG, we 

 . need not add any more in this place. The other 

 members of this order do not admit of being classed 

 into any group more comprehensive than genera ; 

 and of some of these there is only a single species, 

 and that species both local and rare in its locality. 



We must now close this very brief and very im- 

 portant notice of the class of reptiles. If our limits 

 had admitted, we could easily have made it longer ; 

 but there are so many parts of it upon which we 

 have no correct information, and indeed no informa- 

 tion at all, that a greater number of words would 

 not have afforded a corresponding increase of infor- 

 mation. Yet the reptiles are in themselves a very 

 singular department of living nature ; and, although 

 none of them are inviting animals, and some are very 

 repulsive, yet they occupy a place which renders the 

 knowledge of them of great importance in obtaining 

 a proper understanding of the other parts of the sys- 

 tem, as they stand intermediate between the mam- 

 malia and birds on the one hand, and the fishes on 

 the other ; and also between the past and the present 

 in the hitory of the globe and its inhabitants. 



RESEDA (Linnaeus.) A genus of annual, biennial, 

 and perennial herbs and undershrubs, belonging to the 

 natural order to which the genus gives a title, viz. : 



RESEDACE^E. A natural order, containing a 

 single genus, but of which there are twenty-three 

 species. They are mostly worthless weeds, found in 

 Europe and North Africa. They differ from the 

 order Cruciferce in the capsules being unilocular, 

 and the stamens indefinite, as well as in the seeds 

 being destitute of an umbilical cord. Except the 

 JR. odorata (mignonette), for its delightful fragrance, 

 and the R. luleola, the dyer's wood or weed, cultivated 

 for yielding a yellow dye, none of the other species 

 are worth notice except to botanists. They are in- 

 creased from seeds. 



RESTIACE./E. A natural order, containing nine 

 genera and twenty-nine species of " rigid inelegant, 

 often leafless plants, with the habit of Cyperacece, or 

 true Juncece," They are weeds of the southern 

 hemisphere, and uncultivated. 



RHAGIONID^E (Leach; LEPTIDES,- Macquart). 

 A family of dipterous insects, belonging to the divi- 



sion Brachocera of Macquart, having the wings 

 slightly extended during repose, and not resting 

 upon each other, with several complete cells. The 

 antennae are short, with the third joint mallet-shaped, 

 with a terminal seta ; the palpi are filiform, or conical 

 and external, the proboscis generally exposed ; the 

 anterior trochanters elongated, and the tarsi with 

 three pulvilli. 



This family is but of moderate extent, the species 

 being of a moderate size. They are often met with 

 upon the trunks of trees and on flowers, and occa- 

 sionally are to be observed sucking the juices of 

 other small insects which they have captured. The 

 genera are Rhagio, Leptis, Chrysopilus, Spania, Clino- 

 cera, and Atherix. The typical genus, Rhagio, is 

 distinguished by having the palpi generally lying 

 upon the proboscis, the third joint short and conical, 

 and the style of the antennae terminal. There are 

 several British species, the type being the Hhfigio 

 scolopaceus, a common species, half an inch long, with 

 the thorax black, the abdomen buff colour, with a row 

 of black spots. This insect is well known to fisher- 

 men under the name of the down-hill fly, the insect 

 being always observed, immediately upon settlincr 

 upon the trunk of trees, to fix itself head downwards! 

 The habits of one of the insects of this family, the 

 larva of which feeds upon ants, is detailed under the 

 article LBPTIS. 



RHAGIUM (Fabricius). A genus of coleopte- 

 rous insects, belonging to the family Lcpturidte, 

 having the antennae not more than half the length of 

 the body, and the terminal joint of the palpi large 

 and triangular ; head large, nearly square ; and the 

 thorax with a lateral spine. They are handsome 

 insects, of moderate size, which frequent flowers, 

 especially those of the white-thorn. Types, Leptura 

 inquisitor, bifaciatum, &c. 



RH AMNACE^E. A natural order, chiefly shrubs 

 and trees, containing eighteen genera and above one 

 hundred and seventy-one species. They have simple 

 alternate, rarely opposite, leaves, and small, free deci- 

 duous stipules, which are sometimes wanting. The 

 inflorescense is either axillary or terminal, and seldom 

 solitary ; the calyx free, or adherent to the germen, 

 without sepals ; the petals stand on the throat of the 

 calyx ; the stamens are definite, opposite the petals, 

 if present, and alternate with the clefts of the calyx ; 

 the germen is free, or more or less adherent to the 

 calyx, and immersed in the fleshy disc, and two or 

 four-celled ; the styles are equal to the carpels, and 

 the stigmas are simple. 



In this order we find the buckthorn, Christ's-thorn, 

 zizyphus, the jujube, &c. Many of the species are 

 medicinal, or useful as dyes ; and the Zizyphus lotus 

 yields a fine African fruit. The fruit of the Z. vul- 

 gaiis and Z.jujuba are favourite desserts in Italy and 

 Spain, either fresh or dried, as a sweetmeat ; and a 

 pleasant pectoral lozenge is made of them by the 

 French pharmacians. 



The leaves of Ceanothus Americanus form the New 

 Jersey tea, and are used in some parts of America 

 instead of the Chinese leaf. 



All the genera are easily propagated, and thrive in 

 loamy moor-earth. 



RHAPONTICA (Decandolle). A genus of 

 hardy perennial herbs, mostly natives of Switzerland. 

 They belong to Composite, and were formerly called 

 Centaurea by Linnasus. They are increased by divi- 

 sion, and do well in the common soil. 



