VEGETABLfl AND ANIMAL LIFE. 



9S 



it to us, that we obtain that beautifuF plant which, under the name of rose= 

 wood,* is now so great a favourite in our drawing-rooms. 



The acacia nilotica^] or gum- Arabic tree, is a rich instance in proof of 

 the same observation. Its root tiirows forth a fluid that smells as offen- 

 sively as assafcetida ; the juice of its item is severely sour and astringent 

 tke secernents of its cutis exude a sweet, saccharine, nutritive gum, the 

 common gum- Arabic of the shops, and its flowers diflTuse a highly fragrant 

 and regaling odour. So the Arenga palm produces sugar, an excellent 

 sago, and a poisonous juice that even irritates the skin. 



But perhaps the laurus, as a genus, offers us the most extensive variety 

 of substances of different qualities. This elegant plant, in one of its spe- 

 cies, gives us the cinnamon tree ;J in another, the cassia, or wild cinna- 

 mon ;§ in a third, the camphor tree ;ii in a fourth, the alligator pear in a 

 fifth, the sassafras ;** in a sixth, a sort of gum-Benjamin,tt though not the 

 real gum-Benjamin, which is a styrax ; while in a seventh, the 1. caustica, 

 it exhibits a tree with a sap as poisonous as that of the manchineel. 



And truly extraordinary is it, and highly worthy of notice, that various 

 plants, or juices of plants, which are fatally poisonous to some animals, 

 may not only be eaten with impunity by others, but will afford them a sound 

 and wholesome nutriment. How numerous are the insect tribes that feed 

 and fatten on all the species of euphorbia, or noxious spurge! The 

 dhanesa, or Indian buceros, feeds to excess on the nux vomica ; the land- 

 crab|| on the berries of the hippomane or manchineel-tree, and the loxia 

 (grossbeak) of the Bahamas on the fruit of the amyris toxifera^ or poison- 

 ash. §§ The leaves of the kalmia latifolia are feasted on by the deer and 

 the round-horned elk, but are mortally poisonous to sheep, to horned 

 cattle, to horses, and to man. The bee extracts honey without injury from 

 its nectary, but the adventurer who partakes of that honey, after it is de- 

 posited in the hive-cells falls a victim to his repast. 



There are some tribes of animals that exfoliate their cuticle annually, 

 such as grasshoppers, spiders, several species of crabs, and serpents. 

 Among vegetables we meet tvith a similar variation from the common rule, 

 in the shrubby cinquefoil,llll indigenous to Yorkshire, and the plane-tree of 

 the West-Indies,1F^ which most readers know sends forth every spring new 

 colonies by means of runners, as we usually denominate them, in every 

 direction, that shortly afler they have obtained a settlement for themselves, 

 break oflT all connexion with the partmt stock. 



Among animals, some are locomotive or migratory, and others stationary 



* A bahamifera, t MimossL nilotic a, Linn. t h. Cinnamomum, 



I L Cassia, \\ L. C amphora. ^ L. Per sea. 



** L. Sassafras. ft L. Benzoin. Xl C Aucer Ruricola. 



§§ See on this subject the following curious papers in the Swedish Aniceoitates Academics, 

 vol. ii. art. 25 par Sueisens, by N. L. Hesselgrj-n. The same subject coutiiiued by G. P. 

 Tengmalon, Amoen. Acad. vol. x. art. x. U«us Histurite Naturalis, by M. Aphonin, art. 

 147. Id. in respect to birds, entitled Esca Avium domesticarum, by P. Holmbergen, p. 481, 

 art. 163. 



It is also well worthy of remark, that various herbaceous plants which spring up among 

 others that are esculent, yet are rejected by cattle when offered alone, gire a higher relish 

 and even salubrity to the fodder with which tttey are in<ermixed. This, as Sir J. E. Smith 

 has admirably observed, is particularly the case with the grasses. " As man cannot live on 

 tasteless unmixed flour alone, so neither can cattle in general be supported by mere grass, 

 without the addition of various plants, in themselves too acid, bitter, salt, or narcotic, to be 

 eaten unmixed. Spices, and a portion of animal food supply us with the requisite stimulus or 

 additional nutriment, as the ranunculus tribej», md many others, season the pasturage and 

 fodder of caXile.^^-— Engl- Flora, vol, i, 



!! I! Potentilla frtUicosa. ITIT Platanus occidentaM 



