considered, and justifying the idea that it 

 is itself a mere Janus, whose face is green 

 and short on one side, and spotted and long 

 on the other? Then, if such apparently 

 honest species as C. Egertonianum, ventrico- 

 sum, and Loddigesii are hut counterfeits, 

 what warrant have we for regarding the 

 other so-called species as not being further 

 examples of plants in masquerade? For 

 ourselves we cannot answer the question : 

 nor should we be astonished at finding 

 some day a Cycnoches no longer a Cycnoches, 

 hut something else : perhaps a Catasetum. 

 If one could accept the doctrine of the 

 author of the Vestiges, it might be said that 

 in this place we have found plants actually 

 undergoing the changes which he assumes 

 to be in progress throughout nature, and 

 that they are thus subject to the most 

 startling conditions only because their new 

 forms have not yet acquired stability.' 



The principal species of this curious ge- 

 nus are C. Loddigesii, ventricosum, and chloro- 

 chilon, which have a sessile perfectly entire 

 fleshy lip ; and C. pentadactylon, aureum, 

 maculatum, and Egertonianum, with a 

 stalked flat lip, whose edges are broken up 

 into numerous finger-like rays. These 

 plants are all from Tropical America, and 

 chiefly from the central states. See Lr/D- 

 DBMANNIA. 



CYDONIA. A genus of the pomaceous 

 division of the Rosacea?, allied to Pyrus, 

 from which it is distinguished by its leafy 

 calyx-lobes, and the many-seeded cells of 

 its fruit, those of Pyrus being disper- 

 mous. It comprises a few species, one of 

 which is the well-known Quince ; and 

 another, C.japonica, one of the most orna- 

 mental deciduous shrubs in our gardens. 

 The latter reaches some five or six feet in 

 height, and is clothed in summer with oval 

 crenately serrated leaves having kidney- 

 shaped serrated stipules, and in spring 

 with a multitude of glowing red flowers, 

 to which it owes its beauty. [T. M.] 



The common Quince tree is called C. vul- 

 garis. The name of Cydonia was given to 

 this by the ancients from its growing 

 abundantly near Cydon, in the isle of Crete, 

 now Candia. It is stated by some authors 

 to have been introduced from Greece to 

 Italy ; but this can only refer to a particular 

 variety, for Pliny in his fifteenth book says, 

 ' There are many kinds of this fruit in 

 Italy, some growing wild in the hedge- 

 rows, others so large that they weiph the 

 boughs down to the ground.' Sir Joseph 

 Banks [Trans. Hort.Soe.i. 153), referring to 

 Martial (xiii.24), states that the Romans had 

 three sorts of Quinces, one of which was 

 called Chrysomela from its yellow colour ; 

 they boiled them with honey as we make 

 marmalade. According to the best modern 

 botanists, the species grows spontaneously 

 on the hills and in the woods of Italy, 

 in the south of France, in Spain, Sicily, 

 Sardinia, Algeria, Constantinople, the 

 Crimea, and in the south of the Caucasus ; 

 it also grows abundantly on the banks of 

 the Danube. It is found in Cashmere, 

 and even in the north of India, according 



to Drs. Roxburgh and Royle. - De Candolle 

 thinks its native country extends perhaps 

 as far as Hiudoo-Coosh ; but it is not culti- 

 vated in the north of China. In Imiretta, 

 a region in the interior of Mingrelia, a 

 variety is said to have been found with 

 fruit as big as the head of a child. It ap- 

 pears from the above that the Quince is 

 indigenous over a great extent of Europe 

 and Asia, and that it is likewise found in 

 the north of Africa. Phillips says in his 

 Historical and Botanical Account of Fruits 

 known in Great Britain, 'The learned Goro- 

 pius maintains that Quinces were the 

 golden apples of the Hesperides, and not 

 oranges, as some commentators pretend. 

 In support of his argument, he states that 

 it was a fruit much revered by the ancients, 

 and he assures us that there has been dis- 

 covered at Rome a statue of Hercules 

 that held in its hand three Quinces ; this,' 

 he says, ' agrees with the fable which states 

 that Hercules stole the golden apples from 

 the gardens of the Hesperides.' Galesio, 

 in his treatise on the Orange, has shown 

 that the orange tree was unknown to the 

 Greeks, and that it did not naturally grow 

 in those parts where the gardens of the 

 Hesperides were placed by them. The 

 Quince tree, according to the Hortus Kew- 

 ensis, was introduced into this country in 

 1573 ; but Gerarde, who was alive at that 

 date, says it was often planted in hedges 

 and fences to gardens in his time, and from 

 this it may be concluded the tree was com- 

 mon long before the period above men- 

 tioned. 



The Quince is a hardy deciduous tree, 

 fifteen to twenty feet high, with numerous 

 crooked branches, forming a bushy spread- 

 ing head; the leaves are roundish or 

 ovate. The flower-buds push early in 

 spring, and elongate into a branch, with 

 i five or six leaves, and at the extremity a 

 ; single flower, white or pale red and of 

 large size, is produced as late as May or June. 

 The fruit is large, roundish, turbinate, 

 I pear-shaped, or irregularly oval, according 

 j to the variety. On approaching maturity 

 it assumes a fine golden yellow -colour, 

 giving the tree a very ornamental appear- 

 ance. The Portugal Quince is considered 

 the best, hut it does not bear so abundantly 

 as the more common apple and pear-shaped 

 varieties. All the varieties have a strong 

 odour, with an austere flavour, so that they 

 are unfit for eating raw ; but the fruit is 

 much esteemed along with apples in pies 

 and tarts, and in confectionary it forms an 

 excellent marmalade and syrup. Indeed, 

 the name of marmalade is said to be de- 

 rived from Marmelo, the Portugese name 

 of the Quince. The plants are much used 

 as stocks for pear trees, especially those 

 intended to be kept- dwarf. [R. TJ 



i CYLINDRENCHYMA. Cylindrical cel- 

 lular tissue, such as that of Confervce, of 

 many hairs, &c. 



| CYLINDROLOBUS. Eria. 



CYLISTA. A genus of Leguminosm, 

 j found in the Bombay districts of India, 



