RUDBECKIA SABAL 



579 



mond, it is the most valuable of the precious stones. 

 The most highly prized varieties are the crimson 

 and carmine-red. These gems are generally found in 

 alluvial deposits, especially in Ceylon and Pegu ; 

 those from the former place being of a pale colour. 



RUDBECKIA (Linnaeus). A genus of orna- 

 mental herbs, chiefly natives of America. It belongs 

 to the Hcli(tnthc(B section of the natural order Com- 

 posite. The flowers of several of the species are 

 showy, and are fitting to be planted in shrubberies, 

 or among the larger growths of the flower garden. 



RUMEX (Linnaeus). An extensive genus of her- 

 baceous plants, mostly natives of Europe. It belongs 

 to Polygonncece. The various kinds of docks and 

 sorrels are well known plants, some few of which are 

 cultivated, either for medical purposes or as pot-herbs. 



RUMINANTIA. Those mammalia that chew 

 the cud. See MAMMALIA. 



RUSCUS (Linnaeus). A genus of low evergreen 

 shrubs, belonging to Smilaccce. The undershrub 

 sorts are hardy and common in our ornamental 

 plantations, and called butcher's-broom. Their 

 foliage is remarkable, inasmuch as leaflets are borne 

 on the disk of the larger leaves. There are three 

 or four species which are climbers from South Africa : 

 they are all propagated from suckers. 



RUTACE^E. A natural order containing thirty- 

 seven genera, and one hundred and sixty-two species 

 already described. They are an interesting, though 

 a heterogeneous group, natives of all countries and all 

 situations. The type of the order is the common 

 garden rue, one of the most disagreeable scented 

 plants ; and with it are associated both shrubby 

 and arborescent plants. They have all opposite or 

 alternate leaves, with or without stipules, and for the 

 most part punctate. The inflorescence is variable, 

 either axillary or terminal, and solitary or aggregate ; 

 the flowers regular or irregular, and in general united. 

 The calyx is formed of from three to five sepals ; the 

 corolla of five petals; the stamens are from five to 

 ten, some of which are occasionally abortive ; the 

 disk is sometimes dilated and sometimes absent ; the 

 germen is formed of from three to five carpels, dis- 

 crete or conjoined ; the cells usually two-celled ; the 

 styles free or connate, and the stigmas simple or 

 dilated. The fruit is most frequently capsular, the 

 seeds are from abortion less in number than the ovules, 

 with usually a crustaceous or membranous testa. 



The genera here connected are divided into four 

 tribes, viz., Riitecc, Diosmece, of which last there are three 

 sections, Cttsparica; and XanthoxylecE. Most of these 

 are strong-scented plants, and several of them are 

 medicinal, especially the Guaiacums; and the wood 

 of G. ojficinalc yields the timber called lignum vitce, 

 so useful to turners and cabinet-makers. The common 

 rue, formerly so much extolled for its great and vari- 

 ous virtues, is now almost neglected, except by village 

 doctresses. 



The Diosmas are all favourite greenhouse plants, 

 and easy of cultivation. 



RUTELID.E (Mac Leay). A family of very 

 splendid coleopterous insects belonging to the section 

 Pentamcra, and sub-section Laweliicornes, having the 

 body short, rounded, and generally highly polished ; 

 the head and thorax are not armed with horns indi- 

 cating the diversity of the sexes, the anterior margin 

 of the labrum is exposed ; the maxillae are scaly, trun- 

 cated, and toothed at the tips ; the mesosternum is 

 often produced in. front into a strong spine ; the scu- 



tellum is generally large, especially in the genus 

 Macraspis, the tarsal claws are often of unequal size, 

 and the mandibles are corneous. The species are 

 almost exclusively tropical, and inhabitants of the 

 new world; and from the scaly structure of the maxillae, 

 and the terminal teeth with which they are provided 

 (and which are similar to those of the Melolon- 

 thidaE], it is most probable that these insects in the 

 perfect state feed upon leaves, as do the species of 

 the last-mentioned family. The splendid colours also 

 with which they are adorned, indicate them to be 

 species which are abroad by da}'. The genera are 

 Hexodon, Cyclocephala, Chrysophora, Chrysina, Rutela t 

 Pelidnola, Oplogiiathus, Macraspis, Chasmodia, and 

 some others recently proposed. Of these genera, 

 the most remarkable are Chrysophora and Chrysina, 

 in both of which the posterior legs of the males are 

 very large and thickened, with the tibiae curved and 

 terminated by a strong hook. To the first of these 

 genera belongs the splendid Melolontha chrysochlora 

 of Latreille, figured in the Voyage of Messrs. H umboldt 

 and Bonplarid, and subsequently in Mr. Griffith's 

 Animal Kingdom, and the Naturalists' Library, 

 Beetles.pl. 14. Like the common cockchaffer, this 

 species lives in society, and was sometimes observed 

 in great numbers by the distinguished voyagers above 

 named. It has been generally supposed, Latr. (Regne 

 Animal, v. p. 552), that the extraordinary insect figured 

 by Shaw under the name of Scarabaus macropus (a 

 copy of which is here given), belonged to the same 



genus as the former; but the writer hereof having been 

 favoured with a sight of a specimen of this very rare 

 insect recently obtained by J. G. Childern, Esq., is 

 enabled to state that it belongs to Mr. Kirby's genus 

 Chrysina, which was established upon the inspection 

 of females alone. 



The genus Rutela, Latreille, is rather numerous, 

 and is distinguished by having the legs of equal size 

 in both sexes ; the scutellum small, the mesoster- 

 num not reaching the base of the fore legs, and the 

 body oval. 



RYE is the Sccnle ccreale of Linnaeus, one of our 

 cultivated cereals, belonging to the Grammes, and 

 extensively cultivated both in the north and south of 

 Europe as bread corn. In Britain it is but partially 

 cultivated, and then only for gingerbread bakers and 

 as early spring food for cattle, or for the straw of 

 which mattresses and straw-hats andj^ bonnets are 

 made. 



SABAL (Adanson). A genus of palms, natives 

 of the tropics. Some of them are lofty trees, and one 

 of them, the Palmetto, is perhaps the smallest of all 

 O.O2 



