662 



INDEX. 



Vampyre, the American, described,!. 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. 



Vari, a kind of monkey, i. 510. 



Vascular tissue of plants, ii. 601. 



Vegetable Kingdom, discoveries therein by the micro- 

 scope, ii. 595; Pritchard's remarks thereon, ib., 596'; 

 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 plurnula, 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- 

 Jo.8 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, fiOO; 

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

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

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

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

 cluding charu and nitella, in which circulation is very 

 apparent, ib.; mouldiness, 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., 60:2; 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. 



Vefjeialilefi, their analogies to animals,!. 146; compara- 

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

 ferent generative powers of vegetables and animals, 

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

 generation in, 153, 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. ; 

 lias 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. 

 4l6; 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 1707, 

 ib.; one in 1717, described by Berkley, 42 44. 



Vibrio flenus nf infusoria, ii. 629. 



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

 Britain, 4 18, 419, . ; resorts, ib. ; properties, ib. ; eggs, 

 420; abstinence, ib.; torpidity during the winter, ib.; 

 how taken, ib. ; salad-oil a cure for its bite, experi- 

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

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

 421 ; Swedish viper, il>., n. 



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

 distance without the aid of touch, 19:5; experiment 

 on this siihjec', ib , 1<J4; near-sightedness of, 194; at 



different ages, ib.; rendered indistinct by excessive 

 brightness of the object, ib.; why, ib., 195. 



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

 singing birds, described, 1 37 ; of American singirip; 

 birds, 146. 



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

 of, 4145; whether they proceed from deep regions, 

 41. 



Volvox flenus of infusoria, ii. 627. 



Vorticella genus 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, .; black vulture described, ib.; question 

 whether the vulture is led to its prey by sight or 

 smell, 42, . ; 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., 44. 



W 



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



Walfifchoas, the Icelandic name for the food of the 

 whale, ii. 253. 



Wall-bees. See Bee. 



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

 and n. 



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



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

 bler, ib. 



Warinc, 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, .; 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 of 

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

 tion, 66; rain-water, ib. ; spring-water, (>7; river-wa- 

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

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

 and heat on water, 68 70; compression of, 70; fluid- 

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

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



Water-fowl, characteristics of, ii. 200; toes, ib. ; legs and 

 feathers, ib.; oil and skin, ib.; classification of, 201. 



Water-hen, the, distinguished from the coot, ii. 197; the 

 bird described, ib., 198; its habitudes, ib. 



Waves, velocity of, i. 90, n. 



Way, how collected by the bee, ii. 516. 



Weastl, its size and proportions, i. 411 ; description o;' 

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

 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. 410; 

 fur, ib., 418; method of taming the, 41 1, n. ; anec- 

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

 tudes and shape, ib.; size, 41 1. 



Weaver-fish, ii. 324. See Tracldnus. 



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. 2.50 ; its amazing appearance, 

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

 land, described, ib., 2.53, n.; its skin, 2.51; tail, ib.; 

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

 ib.; whalebone, ib.; eyes, 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.; inofftusivcncss, 254: its enemies, ib.; historical 

 notice of the whale fishery, ib., 255, n. ; nations th'vt 



