62 
These scales are usually of an oval or elongated form, and trun- 
cated at the tip, where they are occasionally divided into teeth; 
but sometimes they are conical, linear, or triangular. They 
are fixed in the wing by means of a narrow pedicle, and are 
most commonly disposed in transverse rows, placed close to- 
gether, and overlapping each other like the tiles of a roof. In 
some instances, they are placed without any regular order, and 
in certain cases there appear to be two layers of scales on both 
sides of the wings. When they are rubbed off, the w ing is found 
to consist of an elastic membrane, thin and transparent, and 
marked with slightly indented lines, forming a kind of groove for 
the insertion of the scales. The latter are so minute that they 
appear to the naked eye like powder or dust, and as they are 
very closely placed, their numbers on a single insect are aston- 
ishingly great. Leeuwenhoek counted upwards of 400,000 on 
the wings of the silk moth, an insect not above one-fourtb of 
the size of some of our native butterflies. But how much infe- 
rior must this number be to that necessary to form a covering 
to some foreign butterflies, the wings of which expand upwards 
of half a foot; or certain species of Moths, some of which (such 
as the Atlas Moth of the east, or the Great Owl Moth of Brazil,) 
sometimes measure nearly a foot across the w ings ! A modenr 
mosaic picture may contain 870 tesserulaj, or separate pieces, 
in one square inch of surface ; but the same extent of a butter- 
fly’s wing sometimes consists of no fewer than 100,736 ! ” 
101 Mango, Naturalization of. The Mango, so celebrated in 
the East, for its delicious fruit, has been ripened in England, 
by Earl Powis; and, in the opinion of naturalists, familiar 
with Indian botany, might be more extensively cultivated here, 
than from its usual arboreous nature, might be supposed possi- 
ble. Mr. Royle states, (Illust. Himalayan Mountains, part 6), 
that “by grafting and transplanting, the ordinary growth is 
much impeded, and shrubs of less than four feet in height 
have borne in the Saharumpore Botanic Garden, (Norlh India) 
about a dozen mangoes. It would be necessary only to imitate 
tbe climate, by giving a greenhouse cold in winter, rapidly rais- 
ing the heat in February and March, and continuing it till May 
and J une, or about the accession of the rains, when the addition 
of moisture to the heat is indicated, as the mangoes only per- 
fectly ripen after the atmosphere has become moist in the rains. 
]01» Mechauic's Ma^. June, 1835. 
