POL 



POM 



The P. paradiseus, or Paradise poly- 

 ueme, or Mango-fish, inhabits the Indian 

 and American seas, and is thirteen inches 

 long 1 , elegantly shaped, and with thoracic 

 filaments frequently far larger than the 

 body ; its colour is yellow. At Calcutta 

 It is in the highest estimation for the 

 table. 



P. plebeius, or the grey polyneme, 

 abounds on the Malabar coast, and has 

 five filaments on each side, but all rather 

 short. It is sometimes four feet long, 

 and is in some parts of India denominated 

 the royal fish, from its extraordinary ex- 

 cellence. The application of the epithets, 

 royal and plebeian, to the same animal, 

 constitutes a curious coincidence : the 

 former probably refers to the plainness 

 of its appearance, and the other to its 

 exquisiteness for food. 



P. niloticus, is both in form and taste 

 superior to every other fish in the rivers 

 which flow into the Mediterranean or At- 

 lantic seas. It is covered with scales, re- 

 sembling the most brilliant silver span- 

 g-les, and is of the weight of thirty, in 

 some instances, of seventy pounds. It is 

 a native of the Nile, and Mr. Bruce has 

 minutely detailed the process adopted by 

 the Egyptians for taking it, by a cake of 

 flour, dates, and other ingredients, with 

 a considerable number of hooks conceal- 

 ed in it ; but attached to a string held by 

 the fisherman, who floats on the stream, 

 upon a blown-up goat's skin, in order to 

 sink this mass, and then returns to the 

 bank. He then fixes the line to some 

 tree, connecting it with a bell, the sounds 

 ttf which give him notice of the success 

 of his experiment, being produced by 

 the twitchings and pulls of the fish. 



POLYPE, or POLTPUS, in zoology, a 

 small fresh-water insect of a cylindric fi- 

 gure, but variable, with very long tenta- 

 cula. See HYMUA. 



POLYPODIUM, in botany, a genus of 

 the Cryptogamiu Filices class and order. 

 Natural order of Filices, or Ferns. Gene- 

 ric character: capsules distributed in 

 roundish dots, on the back or lower sur- 

 face of the frond. There are one hun- 

 dred and thirty-seven species; most of 

 these are of American growth, and very 

 little known in Europe, except from 

 dried specimens, not always collected 

 with judgment enough to show satisfac- 

 torily the true characters of the fronds 

 and fructification. 



POLYPREMIUM, in botany, a genus 

 of the Tetrandria Monogynia class and or- 

 der. Natural order of Caryophyllei. 



Scrophulariae, Jussieu. Essential charac- 

 ter : calyx four-leaved; corolla four-cleft ; 

 wheel-shaped, with obcordate lobes; cap- 

 sule compressed, emarginate, two-celled. 

 There is but one species, viz. P. pro- 

 cumbens, a native of Carolina and Vir- 

 ginia. 



POLYTRICHUM, in botany, a genus 

 of the Cryptogamia Musci class and or- 

 der. Natural order of Musci or Mosses. 

 Essential character : capsule lidded, on a 

 very small apophysis or receptacle ; cap- 

 sule, villose. There are nineteen spe-* 

 cies, chiefly natives of the north-west 

 coast of North America. 



POM ACE JE, in botany, the name of 

 the thirty-sixth order in Linnjeus's Frag- 

 ments of a Natural Method, consisting of 

 genera, which have a pulpy esculent 

 fruit, of the apple, berry, and cherry 

 kind ; such are the primus, pyrus, ribes, 

 &.c. The plants of this order are most of 

 the shrub and tree kind: the roots are 

 branched, fibrous, and long. In the drop- 

 wort they consist of a number of oval 

 knobs, which hang, or are fastened toge- 

 ther by slender fibres : hence, its English 

 name, and ulso the Linnaean name, spiraea 

 hlipendula. The stems and branches are 

 cylindric ; the bark is thick and wrinkled. 

 The buds are of a conical form, placed in 

 the angles of the leaves, and covered 

 with scales, which lie over one another 

 like tiles. In the apple, pear, plum, &c 

 besides the buds of the leaves, there are 

 scaly buds or eyes of a different form, 

 from which proceed bundles or clusters 

 of flowers. The leaves, which differ in 

 form, being in some genera simple, in 

 others winged, are, in the greater num- 

 ber, placed alternate. The flowers are 

 universally hermaphrodite, except in the 

 spinea aruncus, in which male and fe- 

 male flowers are produced upon distinct 

 plants. The flower-cup is of one piece, 

 with five divisions, which are permanent, 

 and placed above the seed-bud, in the ap- 

 ple, currant, &c. ; in others they fall off" 

 with the flower, or wither upon the stalk. 

 The petals are five, inserted into the 

 tube of the calyx. The stamina are ge- 

 nerally twenty and upwards, attached also 

 to the margin of the tube of the calyx, 

 the anthers are short, and slightly attach- 

 ed to the filaments. The seed-bud is 

 single; and the seed-vessel is a pulpy 

 fruit of the apple, berry, or cherry-kind. 

 Those of the apple kind are divided in- 

 ternally into a number of cells. The 

 seeds "in the pomegranate, apple, and 

 currant-trees, are numerous; in the ser- 



