CRYPTANDRA. 
910 
ornamental, Cape-of-Good-Hope, evergreen un- 
dershrubs, of the wild-olive tribe. Three species, 
C. uniflora, C. grandiflora, and C. ciliata, former- 
ly belonging to the genus Passerina, were de- 
tached from that genus, and erected into the 
genus Cryptadenia, by Professor Meisner. The 
name Cryptadenia alludes to ‘the concealed 
glands,’ which are situated within the tube of 
the flower. C. uniflora was introduced to Britain 
so long ago as the year 1759, and has ever since 
been cultivated in the royal garden at Kew; and 
it possesses considerable beauty, carries a profu- 
sion of flowers, and continues somewhat long in 
bloom ; yet it is still scarce and but little known. 
Its stem and branches have a twiggy and heath- 
like appearance, and rarely attain a greater 
height than 8 or 9 inches; its leaves are linear 
and acute; and its flowers are produced singly 
at the ends of the numerous little twigs, and are 
pinkish-lilac and hypocrateriform, each having a 
small narrow tube, and a spreading limb of four 
| ovate acute segments. 
CRYPTANDRA. A genus of curious, orna- 
‘mental, Australian, evergreen undershrubs, of 
the buckthorn tribe. The sweet-scented species, 
C. suavis, was introduced from the Swan river in 
1844. Its form is neat; its leaves are small and 
ovate-oblong; and its flowers are small, white, 
campanulate, and drooping,—they exist in pro- 
fusion over all the side-branches,—they are indi- 
vidually insignificant, but aggregately conspicu- 
ous,—and they bloom in January, and are as 
fragrant as the flowers of the hawthorn. Five 
other species were introduced during the twenty 
years preceding 1838, and four of these are white- 
flowered and about 20 inches in height. The 
generic name alludes to the concealed position of 
the stamens. 
CRYPTOGAMOUS PLANTS, or Cryprogamra. 
_ Plants whose organs of fructification cannot be 
seen by the naked eye, or are otherwise obscure 
and ‘concealed.’ They are contradistinguished 
from phzenogamous plants, or such as have their 
organs of fructification ‘manifest ;’ they consti- 
tute the last or twenty-fourth class in the Lin- 
nan arrangement; and they are nearly identi- 
cal with the Acotyledons and the Cellulares of 
the natural systems of botany, See the articles 
AcotyLeponous Puants and Cxruiunarss, The 
Cryptogamia are distributed, in Linnean botany, 
into the nine orders Filices, Equisetaceze, Lyco- 
podineze, Marsileaceze, Musci, Hepaticee, Algee, 
Lichenes, and Fungi. 
CRYPTORHYNCHUS. A genus of coleopter- 
ous insects, of the weevil group. One of its spe- 
cies, C. lapathi, commits great depredation upon 
trees and osiers in the south of England. It is 
nearly half an inch long, and of a dull black col- 
our, with a band of white scales across the base 
and the apex of its elytra. It bores cylindrical 
holes in the stems and the larger branches of 
willows, alders, and other aquatic trees; and 
these holes so admit the moisture of the atmo- 
‘inch in length. The berries grow in clusters; 
CUCKOO. 
sphere, and accelerate the decomposition of the 
woody tissue, as to occasion the overthrow of 
many trees by gales of wind. The same kind of 
mischief is perpetrated by the caterpillar of the 
goat-moth, and by several other larvee; and all 
these, on this account, are popularly designated 
“ auger-worms. ” 
CUBE, in geometry. A solid body, consisting 
of six equal square sides. The solidity of any 
cube is found by multiplying the superficial area 
of one of the sides by the height. 
CUBE, or Cusic Numper, in arithmetic. That 
which is produced by the multiplication of a 
square number by its root; thus 64 is a cube 
number, and arises by multiplying 16, the square 
of 4, by the root 4. 
CUBE ROOT. A number or quantity, which, || 
if multiplied into itself, and then again by the 
product thence arising, gives a product equal to 
the number or quantity whereof it is the cube 
root; as, 2 is the cube root of 8, because twice 2 
are 4, and twice 4 are 8. 
CUBEBS. The dried berries of a tropical 
plant, of the pepper genus,—P2zper cubeba. This 
plant grows in great abundance in Java, and is 
also a native of Batavia, Nepaul, the Mauritius, 
and Guinea. When young, its branches are long, 
creeping, and stoloniferous, and its leaves are 
about an inch and a half in length, and have 
footstalks as long as themselves; but when old, 
its branches are quadrangular and flexuose, and 
its leaves are not quite an inch in length, and 
have channelled footstalks of only about half an | 
they are round, plump, heavy, and about the 
size of pease; they have a grateful fragrance, 
and an aromatic, pungent, slightly bitter taste; 
they possess stimulating, diuretic, and slightly 
purgative properties; and they are used in the 
Kast as a spice and a stomachic, and in Europe 
for the cure of venereal ‘diseases. 
CUBIT, in the mensuration of the ancients; | 
a long measure, equal to the length of a man’s | 
arm, from the elbow to the tip of the fingers. 
Doctor Arbuthnot makes the English cubit equal 
to 18 inches, the Roman cubit equal to 1 foot, 
5°406 inches, and the cubit of scripture equal to 
1 foot, 9°888 inches. 
~ CUCKOO. A genus of birds, characterized by 
a bill of moderate size, short tarsi, and tail com- | 
posed of ten feathers, The bill is compressed, 
and slightly arched. The greater number of 
species belonging to this genus are found on the 
ancient continent. Only one species is a native 
of Great Britain, and very few belong to Europe. 
In America no true cuckoos are found, for the 
genus coccyzus differs very essentialiy from them 
in its habits. The cuckoos are especially distin 
guished by their habit of laying their eggs in the 
nests of other, and generally much smaller birds. 
What is still more singular, it has been found, 
by very careful observations, that the young 
cuckoo, shortly after being hatched, throws out 
