API 



[31 ] 



A P 



most destructive to the plants. 

 The best means of destroying them 

 is either by fumigations of tobacco, 

 or by watering the plants with a 

 week solution of the chloride of 

 lime. They are astonishingly pro- 

 lific ; they live in society on trees 

 and plants, of which they suck the 

 juices with their trunk. 



A'PHRITE. (from a0^os, spuma, Gr.) 

 A species of stone composed of 

 carbonate of lime, and thus named 

 from its frothy, silver- white ap- 

 pearance. 



A'pHsizriE. A variety of black 

 tourmaline. 



APHYLLA/NTES. (from a, priv. 0vXXoi/, 

 a leaf, and avdos, a flower.) An 

 apetalous flower; a genus of plants, 

 class Hexandria, order Monogynia. 



APHY'LLOUS. (from a, priv. and 

 0u\Xov, a leaf.) "Without leaves; 

 leafless. 



APIOCKINI'TES ELLIPTICUS. The oval- 

 columned pear-like encrinite. A 

 species of Apoicrinites, thus named, 

 from the elliptical shape of its col- 

 umnar joints. It has hitherto been 

 found fossil only, and in a mutila- 

 ted state, in beds of the chalk for- 

 mation. Miller thus describes its 

 specific characters, " a crinoidal 

 animal, having a column composed 

 of oval joints articulating by a 

 transversely-grooved surface; the 

 two upper joints of the column 

 enlarged, sustaining the pelvis, 

 costa3, &c. The columns provided 

 with auxiliary side-arms. The 

 base formed by numerous irregular 

 columnar joints sending off fibres 

 for adhesion." 



APIOCBINI'TES ROTTJNDUS. The round- 

 columned pear encrinite, so named 

 from the remains of the animal 

 possessing a pear-like form. This 

 Is a species of the genus Apiocri- 

 nites. Its specific characters are 

 thus stated by Miller : "A crin- 

 oidal animal, with a round column 

 composed of joints adhering by 

 radiating surfaces, of which from 



ten to fourteen gradually enlarge 

 at its apex, sustaining the pelvis, 

 costa3, and scapulae, from which 

 the arms and tentaculated fingers 

 proceed. Base formed by exuding 

 calcareous matter, which indurates 

 in lamina?, and permanently at- 

 taches the animal to extraneous 

 bodies. The Apiocrinites rotundus, 

 or round-columned Pear encrinite, 

 has been plentifully found in the 

 neighbourhood of Bradford, near 

 Bath, and at Pfeffingen, in Ger- 

 many. In reference to this species 

 of encrinite, Professor Buckland 

 thus writes: " When living, their 

 roots were confluent, and formed a 

 thin pavement at this place, over 

 the bottom of the sea, from which 

 their stems and branches rose into 

 a thick submarine forest, composed 

 of these beautiful zoophytes. The 

 stems and bodies are occasionally 

 found united, as in their living 

 state ; the arms and fingers have 

 almost always been separated, but 

 their dislocated fragments still 

 remain, covering the pavement of 

 roots that overspreads the surface 

 of the adjacent oolitic limestone 

 rock." 



APLOME. A species of the common 

 garnet, thus named by Haiiy, but 

 differing in this respect, that al- 

 though it commonly occurs in 

 rhombic dodecahedrons, its planes 

 are striated parallel with their 

 lesser diagonal. "W^iss considers 

 that there is no reason why this 

 substance should be deemed a 

 distinct species. 



A'PODA. An order of animals be- 

 longing to the class Echinodermata ; 

 division Kacjiata. They are dis- 

 tinguished from Pedicellata by the 

 absence of the vesicular feet, which 

 peculiarly belong to animals of that 

 order. 



APOPHY'LLITE. A mineral whose 

 constituent parts are silica 50 '76, 

 lime 22-39, potash 4-18, water 

 17*36, and a trace of fluoric acid. 



