ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



2V 



I he European- Ane)no)ie patens, and is distm- 

 uuislicd iis the variety NuttaUiana. Gr. It j^rows 

 souiewliut sjiai-iniily <in univi'lly liills, ov banks, 

 ill niirllierii llliiidis. in Wisconsin and Minnesota 

 iiim-e alinndantly. and tlieiice we.«twavdly to tlie 

 lloclsv Mountains. Tlwtlowcr (Fig. 13.5, a) usually 

 uiaUes its appearanee early in April. Itisofpretty 

 laiiii' si/.c. and of a bluish-purple color, varyinji' 

 In a lii;lil lilue. The flower has not the usual 

 lud sits of floral leaves, i. e.. calyx and corolla, 

 liiil only the external set of sepals, which, how- 

 evei-. are iietal-like in texture and color. There 

 are usually six of these sepals, from one to one 

 and a half inches lonii', ohloiiii-. and covered cx- 

 tcnially with scattered silky hairs. 



The flower blooms before the development of 

 the leaves, and at tirst seems to be closely sur- 

 rounded by the involucre of finely dissected 

 leaves which is just below it; but it gradually 

 inishes itself up on a stem, which finally becomes 

 I wo or three times as long as the portion of the 

 >icni below the involucre (Fig. 135, 6). Finally 

 file sepals and stamens drop oft", and a head of 

 fifty to eighty seeds, with fine silky tails an 

 inch and a half long, is matured. During this 

 finic. also, the radical leaves (Fig. 135, c) are 

 developed. The whole plant is at first covered 

 Willi silky hairs, which mostly wear oft' with age. 



In the north of Europe this plant and a nearly 

 allied species, Anemone Pulsatilla, are well 

 known as the Pasque flower, or Easter flower, 

 and they are often used to decorate the churclies 

 during Easter. The Pulsatilla has also attained 



Ix tropical countries many species of plants 

 live entirely upon what they obtain from the 

 air. They usually grow upon trees, but not in 

 tlie manner of parasites, because they do not 

 insinuate their loots into the tissues of the tree, 

 or plant, and draw from it its juices. These are 

 called Epiphytes, or air-plants. It is stated that 

 in the island of Java there are over three hundred 

 species of Orchidaceous plants of this character. 

 The Spanish Moss of our Southern States, which 

 is seen hanging in long, tangled threads from 

 the branches of trees, belongs to this class of air- 

 plants. Many lichens growing on bare rocks are 

 true epiphi/tes, as is also a species of lichen (I'ar- 

 iiielia moUinscula, Ach.) which grows on the 

 arid plains of the Rocky Mountain region. 

 Parasitic planis differ from air-plants in not only 

 growing upon other plants, but in drawing their 

 sustenance from them. The Mistletoe strikes its 

 roots into the branch on which it grows so tho- 

 roughly as to be inseparable from it, 



VEtiET.Vr.LK (lELIi! 



FELIX SCIIAAN, 



PART I. 



Ill our niicroseopical investigations we meet 

 with two kinds of objects — those originating in 



the iiiiiii-ral kingdom, as crystals, their polari/a- 



classed in two grand subdivisions, viz., the Vege- 

 table and Animal Kingdoms. In both wo find 

 one common ground form of being, the cell. 

 This is the foundation-stone of the entire "Vege- 

 table and Animal Kingdoms, and is a subject of 

 overwhelming importance. We propose at this 

 time to discuss the vi^gelable cells, in their 

 different phases of generation, lite and death. 



The vegetable cell is c |,o>c(l of an outer 



coat of cellulose, inclmlini; iloscjy another of 

 nitrogenous matter, calliM I lln' luimonlial \csicl(\ 

 This contains certain siilistanccs, as starch, fat. 

 crystals, chloropbyl, granular matters, gas, and 

 a nucleus called cytoblast, which contains one or 

 more nucleoli. Let us iiass in re^^ew all these 

 parts, in order to have an acquaintance with the 

 whole cell. 



1. The Cellulose. — The cellulose pure is while, 

 transparent, diaphanic, insoluble in water, in 

 spirit of wine, ether, or the fixed ov etheric oils. 

 Feeble solutions of acid exert but little action 

 upon it, even by boiling ; it is the same with 

 feeble alkaline solutions. The resistance which 

 the cellulose opijoses to these reactives varies, 

 however, witli its cohesion; tbe newly built 

 cellulose alters easier tban that of older forma- 

 tion. 



Concentrated snliihurie acid (SO") transforms 

 the cellulose into a substance called "dextrine.'" 

 Nitric acid (X O') traiislbinis it into an exceed- 

 ing combustible and exiilosive substance known 

 under the name of ■'cotton-powder." Boiling 

 nitric aciil transforms cellulose into oxalic acid. 

 A.eiic :ici(l does not attack the cellulose. The 

 ceiliilo-e (lo.s not change its color by the addi- 



fi fan aqueous solution of iodine: but when 



the sulphuric ai-id has coinnienced its disaggre- 

 gation, the iodine gives it a beautiful blue hue. 



This chemical reaction is one of those we use 

 to ]irove the existence of cellulose uiidc^r the 

 microscope. The eheniical composition of cellu- , 

 h)se is ivpivs.'iited by carbon'-, hydrogen'", and / 

 oxygen "'. 



Some may wonder how we are able to give 

 these tacts on si inlying a membrane not thicker 

 than one teii-thousandth-^iart of an inch. "We 

 state these facts liy way of isolation — by taking 

 divers parts of veai-lables and submitting them 



