\ 
| manuring land and feeding hogs. 
— 
STICKLEBACK. 
A few are herbaceous evergreens, with sub- 
shrubby stems and pink flowers; most are per- 
ennial-rooted herbs, with annual stems, and 
either pink, white, violet, or purple flowers; and 
nearly all have a height of between 15 and 30 
inches, and bloom in the end of summer and 
beginning of autumn. Most love a soil of peaty 
loam; and all are propagated by radical division. 
STEWARD. See AcEnr. 
STICKLEBACK, — scientifically Gasterosteus. 
A genus of fishes, of the mailed cheeked family 
of acanthopterygians. The common stickleback, 
G. aculeatus, abounds in the fen-ponds, canals, 
new ditches, and other fresh-water accumula-_ 
tions of many parts of Britain; and is obtained 
in large quantities and extensively used for 
It has com- 
monly a length of not more than two or three 
inches. Its back and sides have an olive green 
colour; and its belly is perfectly white. It has 
three dorsal spines; and one variety of it has 
_ scaly plates only on the pectoral region,—while 
| another variety has them to the very end of the 
tail_—The lesser stickleback, G. pungitvus, is a 
very small fresh-water fish, and has nine very 
short dorsal spines.—The larger stickleback, G. 
spinochia, is a salt-water species of a slender and 
elongated form, with fifteen short dorsal spines. 
STICTA. A genus of lichens, of the ceno- 
thalamous tribe. The lung species, S. pudmo- 
nacea, is useful for dyeing. It hasa reticulated 
structure, an olivaceous colour, and a size of 
about two inches, and grows on the trunks of 
trees throughout the year. 
leg of the horse. 
bone of the thigh and the patella or knee-pan ; 
and it is much strengthened by some of the 
tendons of the strongest muscles of the upper 
part of the thigh passing into it and over it, and 
co-operating with its own proper ligaments to 
give it force and tension. 
STIGMA. The summit of the style or pistil 
of a flower. It has no cuticle, and is either 
humid or papillose. 
STIGMAPHYLLUM. A genus of ornamental 
tropical plants, of the Barbadoes cherry tribe. 
It takes its name from the foliaceous structure 
of its stigma. Two species, the auricled-leafed 
and the awn-leafed, the former about 10 feet 
high, the latter about 20 feet high, and both 
yellow-flowered, evergreen climbers, propagable 
from cuttings, have been introduced into British 
collections from Brazil. 
STILE. A fixed means of enabling a foot 
passenger to go over or through a fence. It has 
a great variety of forms; but ought, in every 
instance, to be substantial, facile, and of such 
structure as neither to weaken the fence nor to 
induce any passenger to make trespasses or dila- 
pidations. A common and very good kind con- 
sists of strong bars about three feet wide, fixed 
Hight other species | 
inhabit the trees and woods and rocks of Britain. | 
STIFLE-JOINT. The lower joint of the hind | 
It comprises the tibia or lower | 
STIPA. 
in upright posts, with a step nailed crosswise to 
stumps on each side, and raised half way up the 
frame; but a much more convenient and, in all 
respects, better kind, is a cage wicket. See the 
article CagEu-GatE. 
STILLINGIA. A genus of exotic yellow-flow- 
ered plants, of the spurge tribe. A herbaceous 
evergreen and a deciduous shrub of it have been 
introduced to British collections from North 
America, and two tall evergreen shrubs from 
China and Ceylon; and one of the latter, the 
| tallow-bearing, though a mere hothouse curiosity 
with us, possesses economical adaptations in its 
native country. This genus was named in hon- 
our of Dr. Stillingfleet. 
STILT, — Himantopus Melanopterus. A rare 
and curious bird, of the long-billed family of 
waders. Its total length is about 13 inches; its 
legs are remarkably long and slender; and, to- 
gether with the toes, have a pink colour; its head, 
neck, and breast, and the under parts of its body 
are white; and its back and wings are nearly 
black, tinged with green. It has sometimes been 
killed in some of the counties of England; but 
is only an occasional visitor to our shores; and 
has not been often or closely observed in its 
habits. 
STIMULANT. A substance which increases 
the irritability of the living animal or vegetable 
fibre. In veterinary medicine, internal stimu- 
lants require to be used with great caution ; but 
external ones, in many cases, are obvious and 
valuable remedies. See the articles Corpran and 
EMBROCATION. 
STING. A small, tubular, awl-shaped organ | 
or process, for discharging a minute quantity of 
a powerfully venomous fluid. The sting of an 
insect is nearly allied in structure to an oviposi- 
tor; and the sting of a vegetable is a process of 
the stem or leaf, and is well exemplified in the 
common nettle. 
NETTLE. 
STINKING HOREHOUND. See Barzova. 
STIPA. A genus of grasses, constituting, with 
the genera aristida and cheetaria, the family Sti- 
pace in the one-flowered paniculate tribe. One 
species grows wild in Britain; about a dozen 
species have been introduced from America, 
Siberia, and Continental Europe; and about 
twenty-five more are known. All the intro- 
duced species are hardy; all but one are peren- 
nial; about one half have a height of two or 
three feet; and the majority have a curious or 
interesting appearance; but none are fitted to 
rank as agricultural plants. 
The feathered species, popularly called feather- | 
grass, Stipa pennaia, inhabits the dry mountain- 
ous rocks of some parts of Britain, and has a 
place as an ornamental or curious plant in many 
a garden, yet is a doubtful native. Its root is 
fibrous and perennial; its culms are from 12 to 
24 inches high, and thickly covered with foliage ; 
its leaves are long, narrow, acute, roughish, and 
339 | 
| 
See the articles Insect and | 
