662 



INDEX. 



Vampyre,i\\e American, described, i. 473; blood-sucker, 

 474; Ulloa's report on this subject confirmed, ib. 



Vansire. a kind of ferret from Madagascar, described, i. 

 415. 



Vapours, noxious, in mines, i. 36; (see Gas); inflam- 

 mable, in Persia, 40. 



Vuri, a kind of monkey, i. 510. 



Vascular tissue of plants, ii. G01. 



Vegetable Kingdom, discoveries therein by the micro- 

 scope, ii. 595 ; Pritchard's remarks thereon, ib., 696; 

 microscope reveals a beauty in vegetable structures 

 not discoverable by unaided sight, 596 ; Brown's ex- 

 periments on the pollen of plants, ib.; remarks con- 

 cerning molecular activity as exhibited both in the 

 mineral and vegetable kingdoms, ib.; circulation of 

 fluids in plants, ib. ; Pritchard's account of the cy- 

 closis, 597 ; aquatic plants in which the circulation is 

 readily observed, ib. ; respiration of plants, ib. ; the 

 cuticle and stomata, ib.; singular alternate action of 

 plants, ib.; a flower, microscopic examination of, ib. ; 

 petals, ib. ; absorbents, ib. ; stamens, filament, and 

 anther, ib.; the pollen, ib., 598; true farina, 598; pis- 

 til, germen, style, and stigma, ib. ; pistil, how impreg- 

 nated, ib. ; seeds, their forms and appendages, ib. ; 

 seed-lobes, heart, ib. ; radicle and plumula, ib.; seeds, 

 how to be microscopically observed, ib. ; pappus, or 

 down, ib.; its uses, ib. ; ala, or wing, and its uses, 

 599; poppy seeds, their conformation, ib.; calampe- 

 lus scaber, seed of, ib.; French marigold, seed of, ib. ; 

 theca, or seed-vessel, of moss, ib.; puff-ball, seed of, 

 ib. ; seeds of fern, ib. ; polypodium of the oak, seeds 

 of, ib.; plant, or tree, leaves, ib.; their composition, 

 ib.; skeleton leaf, ib.; Baker's observations on the 

 leaves of plants, ib. ; leaves of stinging nettles, GOO ; 

 the ferns, their seed-vessels, capsules, sporules, and 

 frond, ib. ; the mosses, and septa of, ib. ; sphagnum, 

 or bog-moss, leaf of, ib. ; algae, ib. ; lichens, 601 ; fuci, 

 or sea- weeds, ib.; singular species, ib.; confervae, in- 

 cluding chara and nitella, in which circulation is very 

 apparent, ib.; mouldincss, plants of, ib.; fungi, their 

 formation, &c., ib.; old opinions concerning, and re- 

 marks thereon, ib.; fungi producing dry rot, smut, 

 &c., ib. ; woody formations, ib. ; stem, cuticle, bark, 

 liber, sap, pith, ib.; cellular tissue, ib.; woody fibre, 

 vascular tissue, ib.; microscopic examination of these, 

 ib., 602; spiral, annular, and ducted vessels, 602; for- 

 formation of trees, ib. ; aloe, microscopic view of 

 transverse section, ib. ; of fibres of the palm, ib.; 

 transverse section of clematis, ib. 



Vegetables, their analogies to animals, i. 1 46 ; compara- 

 tive number of vegetables and animals, 147, ra.; dif- 

 ferent generative powers of vegetables and animals, 

 150, n.; most useful, 149; few noxious, ib.; organs of 



^generation in, 1 53, n. ; fossil remains of, ii. 594. 



Venom of the serpent, the bag of, described, ii. 416; ap- 

 pearance of, through a microscope, 417; taste of, ib.; 

 has been drunk without producing a bad effect, ib. ; 

 Lucan's observation of this, ib.; how fatal introduced 

 into the circulation, ib., 41 8; experiment showing the 

 potency of, 418; doubts, ib. 



Venomous Serpents, seat of the venom in the animals, ii. 

 416; fangs, ib.; teeth, ib.; venomous bag, ib.; the 

 fangs and the operation of wounding, ib., 417; ap- 

 pearances and effects caused by the wound, 417; the 

 venom, ib.; habitudes, 418; food, ib.; manner of the 



^attack, ib. 



Vessels of vegetables, spiral, annular, and ducted, ii. 602. 



Vesuvius, volcano of mount, i. 42; eruption of, in 17U7, 

 ib.; one in 1717, described by Berkley, 4244. 



Vilirio (jenus of infusoria, ii. 629. 



Viper, manner of its motion, 412,413; the, of Great 



different ages, ib.; rendered indistinct by excessive 

 brightness of the object, ib. ; why, ib., 1 95. 

 Voices of birds, observations on the, ii. 4; of the various 

 singing birds, described, 1 37 ; of American singing 



Volcanoes, i. 40 and n.\ their causes, 40; enumeration 

 of, 41 45; whether they proceed from deep regions, 

 41. 



Volvox genus of infusoria, ii. 627. 



Vorticella (jenus of^infusoria, ii. 634. 



Vulture, its relative position among birds, ii. 40; dis- 

 tinctive qualities, ib. ; varieties, the golden particu- 

 larized, 40 43; localities of different species of vul- 

 ture, 41, 42, n.', black vulture described, ib.; question 

 whether the vulture is led to its prey by sight or 

 smell, 42, n. ; parts of the animal, 42 ; service of, in 

 Egypt, ib.; habits there, ib. ; in America, ib.; skill in 

 tearing a body to pieces, and manner of feeding, 43; 

 sloth and voracity, ib. ; hostility to the crocodile, ib. ; 

 nests, ib.; the king of the vultures described, ib., 4-1. 



Wagtails, account of the, ii. 153, 154, n. 



Walfisclioas, the Icelandic name for the food of tlu< 

 whale, ii. 253. 



Wall-bees. See Bee. 



Wanderow, a kind of baboon, an account of the, i. 501 5 

 and n. 



Wapiti, a North American deer, i. 328, n. 



Warblers, ii. 153, .; pensile warbler, ib. ; superb war- 

 bler, ib. 



Warine, a Brazilian monkey, i. 508. 



Washington, bird of, described, ii. 37, 38, n. 



Wasp, very different from the bee, ii. 528; the, de- 

 scribed, ib., 529, n.; voracity and fierceness, 529; dis- 

 tinctions of the communities of the, 530; account of 

 the formation of its nest, ib. ; materials, ib. ; dome, 

 531 ; comb, ib. ; pillars and stories, ib. ; cell, ib. ; 

 worms and their processes, ib. ; formidable to other 

 insects, and voracious, 532 ; effects of winter on the, 

 ib.; the solitary wasp, 533; its apartment, ib. ; egg, 

 ib. ; provisions, ib. ; death, ib. ; emerging of the young, 

 ib.; account of the wasp of the West Indies, 534; the 

 tree wasp, 533, n. 



Water, i. 65; its penetrating nature, ib.; absorption oi 

 by various bodies, ib., n. ; its subservience to vegeta- 

 tion, 66; rain-water, ib. ; spring-water, 67; river-wa- 

 ter, ib.; stagnant, ib. ; sea- water, ib.; mineral and 

 medicinal, 68; impurities in, ib.; operation of cold 

 and heat on water, 6870; compression of, 70; fluid- 

 ity, ib.; science of, or hydrostatics, 71 ; paradoxes in, 

 71 73; its ascent in fine glass tubes, 73. 



ment showing this, ib., and n.', the method of cure 

 prescribed by Celsus, ib.; flesh said to be medicinal, 

 421 ; Swedish viper, ib., n. 



Vision, errors in, i. 192, 193; does not give us an idea of 

 distance without the aid of touch, 193; experiment 

 on tins subject, ib., 194; near-sightedness of, 194; at 



Waves, velocity of, i. 90, n. 



Wax, how collected by the bee, ii.^516. 



Weasel, its size and proportions, i. 411 ; description of 

 the, ib. ; its noxious nature and habits, ib. ; method 

 of stealing and eating its prey, ib., 412; parturition of 

 the, 412; effluvia, ib.; affection for putrefaction, and 

 instance of, ib., 413. 



Weasel kind, animals of the, their characteristics, i. 41 0; 

 fur, ib., 418; method of taming the, 411, w. ; anec- 

 dotes of the, 412, n.\ their odorous glands, 410; habi- 

 tudes and shape, ib.; size, 411. 



Weaver-fish, ii. 324. See Trachinus. 



Web of the spider, how formed, ii. 440, 441 ; of the gar- 

 den-spider, 441 ; spun into thread, 442. 



Werner, his theory of the earth, i. 17; classification of 

 rocks, 18. 



Whale, its greatest size, ii. 250; its amazing appearance, 

 ib., 251 ; seven varieties of the, 251 ; the great Green- 

 land, described, ib., 253, .; its skin, 251; tail, ib.; 

 scarfskin, real skin, blubber, 252; cleft of its mouth, 

 ib.; whalebone, ib.; cyes,ib.; ears, ib. ; spouts or nos- 

 trils, ib.; its internal structure, ib. ; fidelity, ib.; fe- 

 male and young, ib., 253; gregarious, ib .; food of the, 

 ib.; inoffensiveness, 254; its enemies, ib.; historical 

 notice of the whale fishery, ib., 255, .; nations thnt 



