394 TAG. 
eggs of the frog, which is extremely unlike the 
animal in its perfect state, seeming to consist 
only of a head and tail. The head is large, black, 
and roundish, the tail slender, and margined 
with a broad, transparent fin. Its motions are 
very lively. Its food consists of small water 
plants and different animalcula. The mouth has 
very minute teeth. About five or six weeks after 
it is hatched, the first change takes place. The 
hind legs first appear, and gradually increasing 
in length and size, are succeeded, in about two 
weeks, by the fore legs, which are formed at an 
earlier period beneath the skin. The tail now 
decreases, so that, in a day or two, it is quite 
obliterated. After this change the animal leaves 
the water, and covers the shores in myriads. The 
sudden appearance of such multitudes of young 
frogs has probably induced the popular but 
groundless belief of their having fallen from the 
clouds in showers. It has now become a perfect 
frog. Tadpoles, just after they are hatched, are 
perfectly transparent; and, when placed before 
the double microscope, the pulsation of the heart 
may be easily seen, and the blood protruded 
thence may be observed in its passage through 
the whole body. 
TASNIA. See Worms (INTESTINAL). 
TAG. A sheep of the first year. 
TAGETES. A genus of hardy, ornamental, 
exotic, annual plants, of the jacobea division of 
the composite order. Fourteen species have been 
introduced to Britain from Mexico and South 
America ; and all thrive in any common soil, and 
are propagated in the ordinary manner of hardy 
annuals. One, 7’. lucida, has entire leaves, and 
all the others have pinnate or bipinnate leaves ; 
one, 7’. patula, has variegated flowers of yellow, 
orange, and blood-colour, and all the others have 
yellow flowers; two, 7’. lucida and T. corymbosa, 
have a height of less than 20 inches, and most of 
the others have, or may have, a height of about 
2 or 3 feet; two, 7. patula and ZT. erecta, are 
among the most common and most highly ad- 
mired beauties of the annual flower-border, and 
have been described, under their popular names, 
in the articles Arrican Maricoup and Frrencu 
Marigoup, and most of the others are more or 
less worthy of abundant diffusion. The slender- 
leaved, in particular, 7’. tenwifolva, may be selected 
as well deserving to compete with the two old 
favourites. It was introduced from Peru in 1797; 
and is noticed as follows in one of the florist pe- 
riodicals of 1845 :—“ It is one of the best annuals 
for bedding out with which we are acquainted. 
The plant forms a dense compact mass of small 
twiggy branches, having numerous, slender, pin- 
natifid leaves, and a profusion of moderate-sized 
orange-yellow, marigold-shaped flowers. The 
leaves are curiously marked with a row of what | 
| appear to be minute orange-coloured dots, but 
8 Seok. 
which are in reality minute glands, the secretions 
of which give the plant a very agreeable balsamic 
fragrance, — very agreeable indeed when but 
——————— 
TALC. 
slightly experienced, but if in too large a quan- 
tity, partaking of what is regarded as the dis- 
agreeable odour of the common marigold. The 
flowers are composed of five roundish florets, 
which have a deep notch at the end. This plant 
is an incessant flowerer. If sown in the spring 
with other annuals, and kept in pots tillthe time | 
of planting out, it blooms from the earlier part 
of the summer quite up to the time of frosts, 
when all flowers of a kindred nature are cut off. 
One quality of it which can hardly be sufficiently 
admired is, that it never appears littery from 
the decay of the old flowers. At the end of every 
small lateral shoot, a blossom is produced; this 
opens in due time, and continues in beauty its al- 
lotted period ; and then, ere it fades and becomes 
unsightly, the fresh lateral shoots rise and spread 
just above it, producing more flowers; these 
again are followed in the same way, and so on 
without intermission ; so that the plant always 
looks as if robed in its holiday suit.” 
TAIL. The free, projecting, flexible prolonga- 
tion of the vertebral column in most species of 
vertebrated animals. It sustains a terminal fin 
in fishes, a fan or rudder of large feathers in 
birds, and a brush or mop or whip of long hairs 
in quadrupeds; and it serves the first for regu- 
lating motion through the water, the second for 
balancing flight through the air, and the third 
for protecting and defending the body from the 
attacks of insects and from other nuisances. The 
tail of a horse usually comprises thirteen bones, 
and comprises a museum of the most beautiful 
contrivances for combining gracefulness of ap- 
pearance with whip-like utility. A fracture of 
it sometimes occurs from entanglement or vio- 
lence, and is perceptible generally by the eye and 
always by the fingers, and must be reetified by 
either amputation or resetting,—the latter ef- 
fected by means of a cord with a small weight 
attached to it passed over a pulley. The tail of 
a well-bred horse is set on high, and neither 
seems to be merged between the hips, nor ap- 
pears to spring saliently from the back-bone, but 
projects and descends in a graceful curvature. 
Two cruel usages in the treatment of horses’ 
tails are noticed in the articles Docxine and 
NIckIN@. 
TAIL-SLIP. An imaginary disease in cattle. 
See the article Patsy. 
TALAUMA. A genus of ornamental, ever- 
green, fragrant, tropical plants, of the magnolia 
family. Its plants are nearly allied to the true 
magnolias, but require hothouse treatment. Se- 
veral species, with respectively white, cream- 
coloured, and striped flowers, have been intro- 
duced to Britain since 1828; and they love a soil 
of peaty loam, and are propagated from layers. 
TALC. A well-known and widely diffused 
species of mineral. It is rarely seen under a dis- 
tinctly crystalline form. Its primary form is 
believed to be a right rhombic prism of 120° and 
60°. It is sometimes seen in minute hexagonal. 
