7S9 



€i)e dTrnisiu'j) at SSfltanj). 



[nige 



in baskets*, coarsely-cut Ohio, German, 

 Varinas, or Havaunah leaves : Returns, 

 -which consists of the refuse of the various 

 1 processes of manufacture ; and other kinds 

 known bv the name of the countries from 

 I which thev are derived. Of roll tobaccos, 

 ! the principal kinds are Pigtail, Negro-head, 

 I and Cavendish. Pigtail is the damp leaves 

 spun into cord upon a wheel. The varieties 

 of cigars and cheroots are too numerous 

 for mention. Cigars are made by rolling 

 fraernents of leaves called fillings in a 

 strip of leaf, and then winding a finer 

 strip spirally round it. For all the above 

 purposes, except for Bird's-eye, the leaves 

 are stripped of their midribs, technically 

 termed stalks, and these are used in snuff- 

 making; but some snuffs are made from 

 the entire leaves. Scotch, Irish, and 

 Welsh high-dried snuffs are dried or 

 roasted previous to grinding, but Rappees 

 are ground moist. [A. S.] 



NICOTIANIH. A volatile oil containing 

 the odorous principle of tobacco. 



NICOTINE, or NICOTINA. A colourless 

 liquid alkaloid, the poisonous principle of 

 tobacco. 



NICTAGE. (Fr.) MiraUlis. 



NID D'OISEAU. (Fr.) Neottia nidus 

 avis. 



NIDOSE. Having a disgusting smell be- 

 tween that of burnt meat and rotten eggs. 



NIDULANT, NIDULATE. Nestling. 

 Lying free in a cup-shaped or nest-like 

 body : as in the genus Xidularia, or the 

 baskets of Marchantia. Also lying loose 

 in pulp, like the seeds of true berries. 



NIDULARIACEI. A natural order of 

 gasteromycetous Fungi of a very singular 

 1 structure. The peridium or common outer 

 covering, which consists of one or more 

 , coats, sometimes separable from each other, 

 contains one or many sporangia, which are 

 free or attached to the walls by an elastic 

 i cord. These consist of a cellular dark coat 

 I enclosing hyaline cells, from which rise 

 J sporophores terminating in the centre and 

 | bearing naked spores. The structure is in 

 i fact that of one of the hypogasous Fungi 

 reduced to single isolated cells, each sur- 

 rounded by a separate coat and collected 

 within a common envelope. In Sphcerobo- 

 lus the sporangia are reduced to one, which 

 is exploded with violence in consequence 

 of the eversion of the inner membrane of 

 the reridium. The species are partly Eu- 

 ropean and partly natives of hot climates, 

 or of countries where there are no great 

 extremes of temperature. Atractobolus, 

 which should shoot out a spindle-shaped 

 sporangium, appears to be nothing more 

 than the eggs of a mite of the genus Rhi-. 

 pignethus, but highly curious as containing 

 cellulose in the inner membrane, a very 

 rare circumstance in animals, though not 

 without example, as it occurs also in Tuni- 

 cata. [M. J. B.] 



XIDULARIA. A genu3 of gasteromy- 

 cetous Fungi closely allied to Cyathus, but 



distinguished by its simple peridium.which 

 either bursts irregularly or opens by a cir- j 

 cular mouth, and its sporangia, which are ! 

 destitute of any umbilical cord. No species I 

 has yet occurred in Great Britain, though j 

 two or three are European, nor can they I 

 boast of the elegance of Cyathus and Cru- \ 

 cibulum, however interesting they may be 

 in connection with these genera. IV. den- 

 tata is probably a Sphcerobolus. [M. J. B.] 



NIDULARIUM. The mycelium of cer- 

 tain fungals. 



NIELLE. (Fr.) Agrostemma Githaqo; 

 also Nigella arvensis. — DES CHAMPS. 

 Agrostemma Githago. 



NIEREMBERGIA. A genus of Atropacece 

 (Solanacea;), consisting of decumbent her- 

 baceous plants, natives of South America, 

 with alternate leaves, and flowers on short 

 stalks opposite to the leaves. The corolla, 

 which is usually white or purple, is funnel- 

 shaped with a slender tube, and a spreading 

 five-lobed limb; stamens five, of unequal 

 length, projecting more or less and some- 

 what united at the base ; stigma kidney- 

 shaped, concealing the anthers; fruit a 

 two-valved capsule, concealed by the per- 

 sistent calyx. Four or five elegant species 

 are cultivated in this country. [M. T. M.J 



NIESHOUT. The South African Sneeze- 

 wood, Pteroxylon idile. 



NIGELLA. The English name of Fennel- 

 flower has been given to the plants of this 

 genus of Ranunculacece, in consequence of 

 their finely-cut leaves resembling those of 

 fennel. About twenty species are known, 

 all erect annuals bearing solitary terminal 

 flowers, and chiefly natives of Asia Minor 

 and the countries bordering the Mediterra- 

 nean. Their flowers are sometimes sur- 

 rounded by a leafy involucre, and have Ave 

 coloured spreading deciduous sepals, from 

 five to ten petals, numerous stamens, and 

 from five to ten single-celled ovaries partly 

 cohering by their bases and terminated by 

 long simple styles, ultimately becoming 

 dry seed-vessels more or less connected to- 



Nigella sativa. 



gether and opening along their inner edge. 

 The seeds are numerous, black, acrid, and 

 aromatic. N. sativa, or an allied species, is 

 supposed by some to be the Fitches men- 

 tioned by the prophet Isaiah (xxviii. 25, 27). 



