m 
L I B 
L I B 
L I B 
that of the disc plumy ; the calyx scarious. 
There are three species, shrubs of the Cape. 
LfAi RIS, a genus of the class and order 
syngenesia polygamia sequalis. The calyx 
is oblong, imbricate, awnless, coloured down, 
leathered coloured ; receptacle naked, hol- 
low, dotted. 1 here are eight species, herbs 
of America. 
LIB'LL, injurious reproaches or accusa- 
tions written and published against the me- 
mory of one who is dead, Or the reputation of 
one who is alive, and thereby exposing him to 
public hatred, contempt, and ridicule. 
^ ith regard to libels in general, there are, 
as in many other cases, two remedies ; one 
by indictment or information, and the other 
by action. 1 he former for a public of- 
fence; for every libel has a tendency to the 
bleach of the peace, by provoking the per- 
son libelled to break it; which offence is 
said to be the Same in point of law, whether 
the matter contained is true or false; and 
therefore it is that the defendant on an in- 
dictment for publishing a libel, is not allowed 
to allege the truth of it by way of justifica- 
tion. But in the remedy by action on the 
case, which is to repair the party in damages 
for the injury done him, the defendant may, 
as lor words spoken, justify the truth of the 
facts, and shew that the plaintiff has received 
no injury at all. The chief excellence there- 
fore of a civil action for a libel consists in 
this, that it not only affords a reparation for 
the injury sustained, but it is a full vindica- 
tion of the innocence of the person traduced. 
3 Black. 125. 
By a late statute, the jury are acknow- 
ledged to be judges both of the law and the 
fact. 
Libel, in the ecclesiastical court, is the 
declaration or charge drawn up in writing, 
on the part of the plaintiff, to which the de- 
fendant is obliged to answer. 
Libel, in the law of Scotland, signifies an 
indictment. 
LIBELLULA, dragon-fly, a genus of bi- 
sects of the order neuroptera. ' I he generic 
character is: mouth furnished with several 
jaws; antennae very short; wings four, ex- 
tended; tail (in the male) hook-forcipated. 
The libellula', or dragon-flies, sometimes 
called by the very improper title of horse- 
stingers, exhibit an instance scarcely less 
striking than the butterfly of that strange dis- 
similitude in point of form under which one 
and the same animal is destined to appear in 
the different periods of its existence. Per- 
haps few persons not particularly conversant 
in the history of insects, would imagine that 
these highly brilliant and lively animals, 
which may be seen flying with such strength 
and rapidity round the meadows, and pursu- 
ing the smaller insects with the velocity of a 
hawk, had once been inhabitants of the wa- 
ter, and that they had resided for a very 
long space of time in that element before 
they assumed their flying form. Of the li- 
belluke there are many different species, 
both native and exotic. The most remark- 
able of the English species is the libellula 
varia, or great variegated libellula. This in- 
sect makes its appearance principally towards 
the decline of summer, and is au animal of 
singular beauty: its general length is about 
three inches from head to tail, and the wings, 
when expanded, measure near four inches 
from tip to tip ; the head is very large, and 
affixed to the thorax by an extremely slender 
neck ; the eyes occupy by far the greatest 
part of the head, and are of a pearly blue- 
grey cast, with a varying lustre ; the [font is 
greenish yellow ; the thorax of the same co- 
Tour, but marked by longitudinal black 
streaks; the body, which is very long, slen- 
der, and subcylindrical, is black, with rich 
variegations- of bright blue, and deep grass- 
green ; the wings are perfectly transparent, 
strengthened by very numerous black reti- 
cular fibres, and exhibit a strongly irides- 
cent appearance, according to the various 
inflexions of light ; each is marked near the 
tip by a small oblong square black spot on 
the outer edge ; the legs are black, and the 
tail is terminated by a pair of black forci- 
pated processes, with an intermediate shorter 
one of similar colour. Sometimes this insect 
varies ; the spots or marks on the abdomen 
and thorax being red or red-brown instead of 
green. 
The female libellula deposits or drops her 
eggs into the water, which sinking to the bot- 
tom, are hatched, after a certain period, into 
hexapode flatfish larvae or caterpillars, of a 
very singular and disagreeable aspect. They 
cast their skins several times before they ar- 
rive at their full size, and are of a dusky 
brown colour. The rudiments of the future 
wings appear on the back of such as are ad- 
vanced to what may be called the pupa or 
chrysalis state, in the form of a pair ot oblong 
scales or processes, and the head is armed 
with a most singular organ for seizing its 
prey, viz. a kind of proboscis, of a flattened 
form, and furnished with a joint in the mid- 
dle, the end being much dilated, and armed 
with a pair of strong hooks or prongs. This 
proboscis, when the animal is at rest, is fold- 
ed or turned up in such a manner as to lap 
over the face like a mask; but when the 
creature sees any insect which it means to 
attack, it springs suddenly forwards, and by 
stretching forth the jointed proboscis, readily 
obtains its prey. They continue in this their 
larva and pupa state for two years, when, 
having attained their full size, they prepare 
for their ultimate change; and creeping up 
the stem of some water-plant, and grasping 
it with their feet, they make an effort, by 
which the skin of the back and head is forced 1 
open, and the inclosed libellula gradually 
emerges. The wings, at this early period of 
exclusion, like those of butterflies, are very 
short, tender, and contracted, all the rami- 
fications or fibres having been compressed 
within the small compass of the oblong scales 
on the back of the larva, or pupa ; but in the 
space of about half an hour, they are fully 
expanded, and have acquired the solidity and 
strength necessary for flight. This curious 
process of the evolution or birth of the libel- 
lula generally takes place in the morning, and 
during a clear sunshine. The remaining part 
of the animal’s life is but short in comparison 
with that which it passed in its aquatic state, 
the frosts of the close of autumn destroying 
the whole race. They are also the prey of 
several sorts of birds. 
The libellula depressa is a smaller or 
shorter species than the preceding, though 
with a considerably broader body in propor- 
tion. The male is of a bright sky-blue, with 
the sides of the body yellow ; the female of 
a line brown or bay, with yellow sides also. 
The wings in both sexes are transparent, ex- 
cept at the shoulders, where they are eac 
marked by a broad bed or patch of brown 
with a stripe of yellow ; the tips of each wing 
have also a small oblong-square black spot 
on the outer margin. The larva of this spe- 
cies is of a shorter form than that of the pre- 
ceding, and is of a greenish-brown colour. 
The libellula virgo is one of the most ele- 
gant of the European insects. It is much 
smaller than the libellula varia, and is distin- 
guished by its very slender, long, cylindric 
body, which, as well as the head and thorax, 
is usually either of a bright but deep golden 
green, or else of a deep gilded blue." The 
wings are transparent at the base and tips, 
but are each marked in the middle by a very 
large oval patch or bed of deep blackish or 
violet blue, accompanied with iridescent 
hues according to the direction of the light : 
sometimes the wings are entirely violet-black, 
without the least appearance ot transparency 
either at the base or tips; and sometimes j 
they are altogether transparent, without any 
appearance of the violet-black patch which 
distinguishes the majority of specimens; and 
lastly the insect sometimes appears with 
transparent wings, but shaded with a strong 
cast of gilded greenish brown, each being 
marked by a small while speck at the exte- 
rior edge, near the tip. 
A much smaller species than the preced- 
ing, and equally common, is the libellula 
puella of Linnaeus. This varies much in co- 
lour, but is generally of a bright and beauti- 
ful sky-blue, variegated with black bars on. 
the joints, and with the thorax marked by 
black longitudinal stripes. The wings are 
transparent, and each marked near the tip 
with a small oblong-square black marginal 
spot. 
The exotic libellulx are very numerous. 
Among the most remarkable may be num- 
bered the L. lucretia. It is a native of the 
Cape of Good Hope, and is distinguished by 
the excessive length of its slender bodv, 
which measure not less than five inches and' 
a half in length, though scarcely exceeding 
the tenth of an inch in diameter. The wings j 
are transparent, of a slender or narrow shape, 
as in the L. puella, to which this species is ; 
allied in form, and measure five inches and 
a half in extent from tip to tip. The colour 
of the head and thorax is brown, with a vel- 
lowish stripe on each side, and the body is of 
a deep mazarine-blue. See Plate Nat. Hist, 
figs. 250, 25 I . 
LIBERALS, in Roman antiquity, a per- 
son who from being a slave, had obtained his 
freedom. The difference between the li- 
berti and libertini was this: the liberti were 
such as had been actually made free them- 
selves, and the libertini were the children of 
such persons. 
LIBRA, the balance, in astronomy, one of 
the twelve signs of the zodiac, the" sixth in 
order ; so called because when the sun enters 
it, the days and nights are equal, as if weighed 
in a balance. 
Authors enumerate from ten to forty-nine 
stars in this sign. 
Libra, in Roman antiquity, a pound 
weight ; also a coin, equal in value to twenty 
denarii. 
L1BRATION, in astronomy, an apparent 
irregularity of the moon’s motion, whereby 
she seems to Vibrate about her axis, some- 
times from the east to the west, and now and 
