yields a considerable portion of the well-known 
dragon’s blood of commerce; and it was intro- 
duced from India, in 1819, for ornamental cul- 
ture in British hothouses. A sort of tincture of 
dragon’s blood, or solution of it in arrack, is re- 
commended by the Tamul physicians as an ex- 
ternal application in cases of syncope and exces- 
sive languor; and the seeds of the plant are eaten 
by the Amboynese, in the hope of rendering 
themselves hardy in constitution, and invulner- 
able in war.—See the article Dragon’s BLoop.— 
The true species, Calamus verus, is sometimes 
called the small common rattan, and usually 
grows to the height of about 20 feet. It is used 
by the inhabitants of its native country for 
wickering chairs, couches, and beds, and for 
making mats, cages, baskets, and strong cables ; 
and it is occasionally burnt by the painters, to 
furnish a black pigment. It was introduced to 
Britain, about twenty years ago, from Cochin- 
China.— The cable species, Calamus rudentum, 
| sometimes called the Great rattan, is much thicker 
_ than the preceding species, and grows to an en- 
| ormous length. 
It abounds in the woods of the 
southern parts of India; and, in consequence of 
its great strength and toughness, is often used in 
a green state for binding wild elephants, dragging 
sawmy coaches, and serving other purposes of a 
very powerful rope. It was introduced to Bri- 
| tain from India in 1812.—The white and the 
zalacea species, the former about 50 feet high, 
the latter about 20 feet high, and both of an in- 
teresting character, were introduced from India 
in the same year as the great rattan.—Seven or 
eight other species are known to botanists ; and 
the fruit of one of these, C. viminalis, is eaten by 
the common people of India. 
CALAMUS AROMATICUS. See Acorvs. 
CALANDRA. A genus of coleopterous insects, 
of the curculio tribe. They possess more bad in- 
terest to the English farmer than any other genus 
of weevils. Their antennz are inserted behind 
the middle of the rostrum, and are eight-jointed 
and geniculated ; the terminal joint of the an- 
tenn is a large knob, and the six succeeding 
joints are short ; the rostrum is long, and slightly 
bent; the thorax is narrower before than behind, 
and somewhat long and depressed ; and the ab- 
domen is pointed at the apex, and depressed in 
the body, and longer than the elytra. 
The palm species, Calandra palmarum, is an 
inhabitant of South America, and lives, during 
its larva state, upon the pith of palms. Its pre- 
-vailing colour is dull velvet black; the upper 
part of its proboscis is provided with a tuft of 
black hairs ; and its whole length is of the en- 
| ormous extent of about an inch and a half. The 
natives of South America eat its larva as a great 
delicacy —The rice species, Calandra oryze, is 
distinguishable from our common corn weevil 
principally in having four red spots upon its 
elytra ; and it feeds upon the rice grain in the 
' countries of the East in the same manner in 
CALANDRA. 
which the corn-weevil feeds upon wheat in the 
granaries of England. 
The grain-weevil species, Calandra granaria, is 
the only one which can be properly regarded as 
a native of Britain, and is so notorious for its | 
devastations upon the stored produce of our corn- 
fields as to concentrate in itself nearly the whole | 
interest of the genus. Its antennee are scarcely 
longer than the head and the rostrum; the ter- 
minal joint of its antennz is a somewhat ovate 
club, and the radical joint so elongated as, when | 
bent backwards, to reach to the thorax ; its ros- 
trum is rather long; its thorax is elongate in 
body, and a little narrowed in front, and is cov- 
ered with large oblong punctures; its elytra do | 
not quite cover the abdomen, and are marked 
with deep lines, faintly punctured in the bottom ; 
its legs are rusty red and rather short; its entire 
length is nearly two lines; and its prevailing col- 
our is pale when it emerges from the pupa state, 
and brown or pitchy when it attains maturity. | 
The larva is a small whitish worm, about a line | 
in length, comprising nine segments, the body | 
soft,.the head harder, and the only external | 
organs a pair of strong jaws. The pupa is white 
and somewhat transparent, and lies within the 
envelope of a grain of wheat nearly like the ker- 
nel of a nut within the shell. The rapidity of 
the transmutations, or the duration of the several 
states preceding the perfect one, is greatly influ- 
enced by temperature, and therefore varies in dif- 
ferent countries, and in any one country in differ- 
ent seasons. But on the average, about forty or 
forty-five days transpire between the period of 
fecundation and the evolution of the perfect 
beetle; and the larger proportion of this time is 
consumed in the larva state. The insect is fear- 
fully abundant in the south of France; it is also 
disastrously plentiful in all the southern coun- 
ties of England; but it gradually decreases in 
number toward the centre and the north of Eng- 
land; and it becomes so comparatively scarce as 
not to perpetrate any very serious mischief in Scot- 
land. The fecundity of the female is so vast that, 
in a Single season, upwards of 23,000 individuals 
may descend from one mother; so that when the | 
breeders are numerous, the progeny may amount 
to such countless millions of millions as almost to 
possess the power of an Egyptian plague. 
The grain-weevil inhabits granaries and other 
places in which corn is stored. The female, with 
her rostrum, perforates the skin of one grain, de- 
posits an egg in the perforation, and closes the 
aperture with a glutinous matter; and she pro- 
ceeds thus with grain after grain till the whole 
of her eggs are deposited, never placing two or 
more eggs in one grain, but using as many grains 
as she has eggs. The larva is usually hatched in 
the course of a few days; and, by means of its 
pair of jaws, it feeds upon the farina of the grain, 
and continues to scoop it out and eat it till the 
whole is consumed. The pupa is now evolved by 
transformation of the larva, and lies enveloped 
