UNICORN VALERIANE.E. 



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very best adapted for cattle. The cattle were no 

 there until they were artificially introduced by man 

 Is this an anomaly in nature ? Is it an instance o 

 imperfection of the system, one where the state o 

 the country was the very best adapted for certain 

 animals, and yet nature did not provide these animals 

 and thus allowed her own bounty to run to waste ? 



This is a very important question, and one which 

 involves far more than we would at first suppose. I 

 will be most readily understood by propounding 

 another question : was the discovery of America by 

 Columbus, and the extension of that discovery by hi 

 followers, a work entirely originating with man, or 

 was it part of that grand system of the economy o 

 the earth's surface, of which man can understand anc 

 know only a very little ? We cannot by possi- 

 bility suppose that these things took place without 

 the knowledge of the Omniscient Ruler of the system 

 of things, or in opposition to the laws which He has 

 ordained for the government of our planet ; but the 

 field which this question opens is much too wide for 

 our investigation ; and therefore we leave it to the 

 consideration of the reader, for the stimulating ol 

 whose inquiry we have merely thrown it out as a 

 hint. 



UNICORN of the ancients. See the article 

 ANTELOPE, species Abu-harbe. 



URANOSCOPUS Star-gazer. A genus of 

 spinous-finned fishes which belong to the perch family, 

 and to that division of them that lurk in the mud or 

 lie at the bottom of the water, in order to seize their 

 prey as it passes over them ; they are in general armed 

 with strong and sharp spines upon some part of their 

 bodies, by means of which they can inflict severe 

 wounds ; but whether they employ these in the cap- 

 ture of their prey, or merely as defences against the 

 predatory fishes, such as the rays and ground sharks, 

 which have the mouth on the under side, has not 

 been ascertained. 



Of course the star-gazers, like all other bottom 

 fishes, have the abdominal fins jugular or under the 

 throat, in advance of the pectorals. They have the 

 head of a cubical form, with the eyes on the top 

 (hence the name) ; they have the mouth cleft verti- 

 cally, the operculum toothed in the under side, a 

 strong spine on each shoulder, and six rays in the 

 gills. They have within the mouth a sort of filament 

 which they are said to put out, as a lure to small 

 fishes, as they lurk in the mud ready to receive the 

 dupes into their capacious mouths. They are found 

 in the warm seas. One, the U. scaber of the Medi- 

 terranean, is a shapeless fish, of a greyish-brown 

 colour with white spots, and having the spinous part 

 of the dorsal separated from the soft part. Others 

 have them joined. These fishes, shapeless as they 

 are, are eatable. 



URANIA (Fabricius). A genus of very singular 

 and beautiful exotic lepidopterous insects, placed by 

 Latreille amongst the butterflies, but evidently form- 

 ing a distinct family ; the antennae are filiform with 

 the tips setaceous ; the palpi are elongated, with the 

 last joint naked ; the hind wings are tailed. Mr. 

 MacLeay has published an interesting memoir on the 

 genus in the Zoological Society's Transactions, de- 

 tailing the natural history and habits of a West Indian 

 species. M. Sguanzia has also published some ob- 

 servations at variance with those of MacLeay, in the 

 Transactions of the French Entomological 'Society. 

 The genus seems most naturally to connect the but- 



terflies with the Hesperris phinges, the habits of the 

 perfect insects being diurnal, the flight being in the 

 hottest sunshine. 



URTICA (Linna3iis). A well known genus of 

 herbs and undershrubs, found in every inhabited part 

 of the world, and in English lists known as nettles. 

 The flowers are monoecious, and the genus belongs 

 to the natural order to which it gives a title, namely, 



URTICE^E. A natural order containing twenty- 

 four genera, of which there are above two hundred 

 species. It contains plants of very different aspect, 

 and of very different qualities. Worthless weeds and 

 the most useful fruits, poisonous and sanative, ugly 

 and graceful plants, are here united ; and yet there 

 is a similarity, especially in their fibrous constituents, 

 which connect the whole. The opponents of the 

 Jussieuan system have fixed on this order as a deci- 

 sive proof of the incongruity of the whole natural 

 system ; but their opposition is gradually subsiding, 

 though it cannot be expected that difference of opinion 

 on Jussieu's scheme will entirely cease until the whole 

 is re-arranged. 



There are two circumstances belonging to the 

 history of the common nettle (U. dioica) worthy of 

 notice. The first is that of the pollen being discharged 

 from the anthers in jets like the smoke from a pistol ; 

 and secondly, that the nettle is never seen far from 

 the habitations of man. 



VACCINIE^E. A natural order including only 

 two genera, namely, Vaccinium and Oxycoccus. Of 

 these there are fifty-six species already described, 

 and are natives of North America, Europe, and Asia. 

 The O. macrocarpus furnishes the cranberries sent 

 from North America, and the O.palustris those of Eu- 

 rope. V. myrtillus is the well known whortleberry. The 

 order consists of shrubby plants, with aqueous juices, 

 round or angled stems and branches ; alternate simple 

 leaves ; the petioles short and without stipules ; the 

 inflorescence is solitary or racemose, the flowers 

 regular and united ; the tube of the calyx is adnate 

 to the germen, from four to six toothed, or entire ; 

 the corolla epigynous ; the stamens in one series, and 

 borne on an epigynous disk ; filaments free, anthers 

 terminal and prolonged into horns ; the germen is 

 inferior, surmounted by a torus, which bears both the 

 corolla and stamens ; the fruit is a berry, four or 

 five-celled, few or many seeded. This order is now 

 merged in Ericacece. 



VALERIANE^E. Containing five genera, and 

 of these above fifty species ; the stems are somewhat 

 "ointed, the leaves opposite and variable in form ; the 

 inflorescence in terminal, and is cymose or corym- 

 aiform panicles ; the flowers are united, and either 

 ivhite, pink, or blue, seldom yellow or purple ; the 

 ;ube of the calyx is close to the germen, the limb 

 toothed or cleft ; the corolla epigynous, and also 

 cleft ; stamens five or less, borne on the tube of the 

 calyx, the filaments free, anthers ovate and incum- 

 jent ; the germen is formed of three carpels, the 

 style filiform, and the stigmas free or concrete ; the 

 ruit is capsular, dry, and indihiscent. 



The valerians are mostly ornamental, the leaves 

 jenerally esculent, and used as salad ; instance, V. 

 olitoria, the lamb's- lettuce ; the roots of the peren- 

 nial species are aromatic, and highly stimulating. 

 The natives of India employ the roots of V.jatamansi 

 as a perfume ; it forming the spikenard of the 

 ancients. The species are all easy of cultivation 

 FFF2 



