HER 



HES 



feet state, but disguises under which ani- 

 mals lurk. They have no business with 

 the propagating of their species, but are 

 to be transformed into animals of another 

 kind, by the putting off their several cov- 

 erings ; and then only they are in their 

 perfect state, and, therefore, then only 

 show the differences of sex, which are al- 

 ways in the distinct animals, each being 

 only male or female. These copulate, and 

 their eggs produce those creatures which 

 show no sex till they arrive at that perfect 

 state again. 



HERMAPHRODITE Bowers, in botany, are 

 so called on account of their containing 

 both the antheras and stigma, the sup- 

 posed organs of generation, within the 

 same calyx and petals. Of this kind are 

 the flowers of all the classes in Linnaeus's 

 method, except the classes Monoecia 

 and Dioecia ; in the former of which 

 male and female flowers are produced 

 on the same root ; in the latter, in dis- 

 tinct plants from the same seed. In 

 the class Polygamia, there are always 

 hermaphrodite flowers mixed with male 

 or female, or both, either on the same 

 or distinct roots. In the plaintain-tree 

 the flowers are all hermaphrodite ; in 

 some, however, the antherae, or male or- 

 gan, in others the stigma, or female or- 

 gan, proves abortive. The flowers in the 

 former class are styled female herma- 

 phrodites, in the latter male hermaphro- 

 dites. Hermaphrodites are thus as fre- 

 quent in the vegetable kingdom as they 

 are rare and scarce in the animal one. 



HERMAS, in botany, a genus of the 

 Polygamia Monoecia class and order. Na- 

 tural order of Umbellatae or Umbelliferae. 

 Essential character : hermaphrodite, um- 

 bel terminating ; involucre universal and 

 partial; umbellets with truncate rays, 

 the central one floriferous; petals five; 

 stamina five, barren ; seeds in pairs, sub- 

 orbiculate : male, umbels lateral, with 

 universal and partial involucres ; umbel- 

 lets many-fiowered ; petals five ; stamina 

 five, fertile. There are five species. 



HERMETICAL seal, among chemists, 

 a method of stopping glass vessels, used 

 in chemical operations, so closely, that 

 the most subtile spirit cannot escape 

 through them. It is commonly done by 

 heating the neck of the vessel in a 

 flame, till ready to melt, and then twist- 

 ing it closely together with a pair of 

 pincers. Or vessels may be hermetically 

 sealed by stopping them with a glass 

 plug, well luted. 



HERNANDIA, in botany, fromJFrancis 

 Hernandez, a genus of the Monoecia Tri-, 



andria class and order. Natural order of, 

 Tricoccae. Lauri, Jussieu. Essential cha- 

 racter : male, calyx three-parted ; corolla 

 three-petalled : female, calyx truncate, 

 quite entire ; corolla six-petalled : drupe 

 hollow, with an open mouth, and a move- 

 able nucleus. There are two species, 

 viz. H. sonora, whistling hernandia ; and 

 H. ovigera, egg-fruited hernandia. The 

 first mentioned is un upright lofty tree, 

 with a beautiful head ; the flowers are 

 of a pale yellow^ colour, in panicled ra. 

 cemes ; the calyxes of the fruit are also 

 yellow. Jt is very common in the West 

 Indies, in gullies, near rills of water ; the 

 English there call it jack in a box. Dr. 

 Patrick Browne attributes the whistling 

 noise to the cups that sustain and part- 

 ly envelope the nuts ; these, he adds, are 

 very large, and as they move in the 

 wind, produce sound enough to alarm 

 unwary travellers. The seeds are very 

 oily. 



HERNIARIA, in botany, English rup- 

 ture-wort, a genus of the Pentandria Digy- 

 nia class and order. Natural order of 

 Holoraceae. Amaranthi, Jussieu. Essen- 

 tial character : calyx five-parted ; corolla 

 none ; stamina five, barren, besides the 

 fertile ones ; capsule one-seeded. There 

 are four species; as none of these plants 

 possess any beauty, they are rarely culti- 

 vated in gardens. 



HERON, in ornithology, a bird of the 

 ardea kind, with a hanging crest. See 

 ABDEA. 



HERRING. See CLUPEA. 



HESPERID^:, the name of the nine- 

 teenth order of Linnseus's fragments of 

 a natural method, consisting of five gene- 

 ra, among which are the caryophyllus 

 or clove-tree: and the myrtus, myrtle; 

 allspice or pimento. The plants of this 

 order are of the shrub and tree-kind, 

 and chiefly ever-green. The bark of the 

 stalks is slender; the leaves are generally 

 opposite, but in the myrtle, the leaves 

 are placed opposite, at the bottom of the 

 stalks, and alternate above. The buds 

 are generally conical, concealed in the 

 cavity, which is formed by the footstalk 

 of each leaf at its origin. The flowers 

 are commonly hermaphrodite : in a spe- 

 cies of the myrtus, however, they are 

 'male and female upon different roots. 

 The calyx is pkced above the' seed-bud : 

 the petals are three, four or five in num- 

 ber; the stamina are upwards of twenty, 

 nearly equal, and attached in several 

 rows to the middle of the tube of the ca- 

 lyx. The seed-bud is large, and placed 

 below the receptacle of the flower; the 



