CATALPA. 



CATCH-WEED. 



Mexico and the southwestern parts of the 

 United States, though it has not been found 

 east of the Mississippi. Its general colour is 

 gray, marked with large fawn-coloured spots, 

 bordered with black, forming oblique bands on 

 the flanks. It is about two feet long from the 

 end of the snout to the origin of the tail, which 

 measures about two feet 



4. The Canadian Lynx, or Fdis Canadensis of 

 Buffon, inhabits the Canadas, Labrador, &c. 

 Its tail is very short, and black on the posterior 

 half. The ears are terminated by a small tuft 

 of hairs. The colour of the body is grayish, 

 with yellowish or pale brown points below, 

 and some black lines on the head. Total 

 length two feet three inches, the included tail 

 being only three or four inches long. 



5. Another species of wild cat, called by na- 

 turalists Felis rufa, or Red Cat, the Clm 



of furriers, is found in the forests of New York, 

 Pennsylvania, and Ohio. This is rather smaller 

 than the common lynx, the head and back be- 

 ing of a deep red, with small spots of blackish 

 brown, throat whitish, breast and belly of a 

 clear reddish white. 



6. Another lynx of large size, found on the 

 northwestern coast by Lewis and Clarke, has 

 been called by naturalists Felis fasciata. This 

 Dr. Harlan thinks is probably the same as that 

 described by Mr. Nuttall in his Travels in Ar- 

 kansas. Its tail is very short, white, with the 

 point black. The ears are furnished with pen- 

 cils of hair, and black externally. The fur 

 is very thick, of a brownish-red colour, with 

 stripes and points above. 



7. The common American Mountain Cat or 

 Catamount (Felis montana), has been also 

 named the Mountain Lynx and Mississippi Lynx. 

 It is found in the Alleghany mountains, from 

 New York to Florida. The tail is very short, 

 and in colour gray. The ears are destitute of 

 pencils of hair, and externally blackish, with 

 whitish or yellow spots within. Length three 

 or four feet including the tail. 



8. Another species has been found on the 

 borders of the Yellow Stone river, in size about 

 one half larger than the domestic cat, the tail 

 being only two inches long. It is the Lynx 

 aitrctis or Golden Lynx of Rafinesque, so named 

 from its clear, brilliant yellow colour. It is 

 spotted with black and white. The ears are 

 without pencils. 



CATALPA (Bignonia catalpd). A shrub 

 growing in England thirty or forty feet high ; 

 its beautiful pendulous flowers bloom in Au- 

 gust. It has a peculiarly large bright green 

 leaf; loves heat, and does not blow in wet 

 summers. It is tolerably hardy; easily raised 

 from layers or seed. 



The catalpa is an American tree which Mi- 

 chaux says begins to be found in the Atlantic 

 States, on the banks of the Savannah river, 

 near Augusta, Georgia, and west of the Alle- 

 ghanies, on the banks of the Cumberland, be- 

 tween the 35th and 36th degrees of latitude. 

 Further south it becomes still more common, 

 and abounds near the borders of all the rivers 

 which empty into the Mississippi, or which 

 water West Florida. Michaux expresses sur- 

 prise that this tree should not have been 

 naturally distributed in the lower part of the 



Carolinas and Georgia, and in East Florida, 

 which lie so near the country of its primitive 

 growth. This is the more strange from the 

 fact that the catalpa manifests a great tend- 

 ency to spread itself abroad by means of its 

 winged seeds, and has in so many instances 

 left the vicinity of dwellings where it was 

 planted as a shade tree and mixed with the 

 natives of the forest. It may, for example, Le 

 seen along the banks of the Schuylkill, and 

 many other places, growing wild. 



In the South it frequently exceeds fifty feet 

 in height, with a diameter of eighteen to twenty- 

 four inches. Its ample heart-shaped leaves, 

 clusters of rich and beautiful flowers, long 

 bean-shaped seed-pods, and wide spreading 

 summit, give a strong character to this tree, 

 which differs from all others in the fewness 

 of its branches. 



That the catalpa is a tree of rapid growth 

 is proved by the distance of the annual con- 

 centrical circles. Its wood is of a grayish 

 white colour, of a fine texture, very light, and 

 very brilliant when polished. It resembles the 

 butternut wood, with the exception that the 

 butternut wood is of a reddish hue, and is less 

 durable when exposed to the weather. Posts 

 of the caiHipa perfectly seasoned have been 

 proved to be very lasting. In the spring, if a 

 bit of the cellular integument of the bark be 

 removed, a very offensive odour is exhaled. 

 The honey collected from the flowers of this 

 tree is somewhat poisonous, its effects, though 

 less alarming, being similar to those produced 

 by eating that collected by bees from the yellow 

 jasmine (Geselminum nitithim'). 



In the Southern States the catalpa is called 

 Catawba tree, after the name of the Indian 

 tribe that formerly inhabited a large part of 

 the country from which the tree was first pro- 

 cured. The French of Upper Louisiana call 

 it Bois Shavanon, from the Shavanon. or Shaw- 

 nee nation which once existed- in West Ten- 

 nessee, watered by the Cumberland river. (Mi- 



The rapid growth of the catalpa in almost 

 every situation in which it can be placed in 

 the Middle States, and the adaptation of its 

 wood to posts and other useful purposes, make 

 it deserving the attention of the farmer wher- 

 ever other kinds of wood are scarce, especially 

 the kinds suitable for fences. 



CATARACT. In farriery, a disease in the 

 eyes of horses, in which the crystalline humour 

 is rendered opaque, and the vision impeded or 

 destroyed. The only certain method of cure 

 in these complaints is to remove the lens by 

 means of extracting or couching. By the first 

 mentioned operation, an incision is made into 

 the eye, and the opaque lens taken out ; by the 

 second, it is depressed by the point of a couch- 

 ing needle thrust into the eye, and, being car 

 ried to the lower part of the chamber of the 

 eye or vitreous humour, it is left there to be 

 absorbed. The first operation is the more 

 effective, but the more hazardous of the two, 

 owing to the inflammation which succeeds. 

 The second is tedious and sometimes fails, but 

 it is free from the risk of inflammation. 



CATCH-WEED, CLEAVERS, or GOOSE- 

 uRASS (Gaiium Aparine, Eng. Flor. vol. i. p. 



271 



