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dairy and for draught. The district of the Pontine marshes is the spot which may be considered as their principal station. In India this animal is occasionally used for the saddle, as a substitute for the horse.

The buffalo, like other animals of this genus, admits of varieties as to size and figure. Of these, the most remarkable is the small naked Indian buffalo of Mr. Pennant, which is the size of a runt, with a nearly naked body, thinly beset with bristly hair; the rump and thighs quite bare; the first being marked on each side with duský stripes pointing downwards, the last with two transverse stripes; the horns compressed sideways, taper, and sharp at the point. It is a native of India. Another variety, still smaller, is said to occur in the mountains of the Celebes, which are full of caverns. This variety is of the size of a middling sheep, and is seen in small herds, very wild, and difficult to be taken; and even in confinement are so fierce, that Mr. Pennant records an instance of fourteen stags being destroyed in the space of a single night by one of these animals, which was kept in the same paddock. Fig. 4.

Bos moschatus, or musk ox, having very long pendant hair, and horns (in the male approximated at the base) bending inwards and downwards, and outwards at the tips. It is a native of North America, where it appears to be a very local animal; being found first in the tract between Churchill river, and that of the Seals, on the west side of Hudson's bay, and is very numerous between the latitudes 66° and 73° north, which is as far as any tribes of Indians go. This animal is but of small size, being rather lower than the deer, but larger or thicker in body. The hair, in the male, is of a dusky red colour, extremely fine, and so long as to trail on the ground, and render the animal a seemingly shapeless mass, without distinction of head or tail; the legs are very short; the shoulders rise into a lump, and the tail is short, being a kind of stump of a few inches only, with very long hairs. Beneath the hair, on all parts of the animal, is a fine cinereous wool, which is said to be more beautiful than silk when manufactured into stockings and other articles. The horns are closely united at the base, bending inwards and downwards; but, turning outwards towards the tips, which are very sharp; near the base the horns are two feet in girth, but are only two feet long, when measured along the curvature;

the weight of a pair, separated from the head, is sometimes sixty pounds.

Bos grunniens, or yak, (having, with cylindric horns curving outwards, very long pendant hair, and extremely villose, horselike tail), is about the height of an English bull, which he resembles in the general figure of the body, head, and legs; it is covered all over with a thick coat of long hair; the head is rather short, crowned with two smooth round horns, which, tapering from the root upwards, terminate in sharp points; they are arched inwards, bending towards each other, but near the extremities are a little turned back.

They are a very valuable property to the tribes of itinerant Tartars, called Duckba, who live in tents, and tend them from place to place: they at the same time afford their herdsmen an easy mode of conveyance, a good covering, and wholesome subsistence. They are never employed in agriculture, but are extremely useful as beasts of burden; for they are strong, sure-footed, and carry a great weight. Tents and ropes are manufactured of their hair; and among the humbler ranks of herdsmen, caps and jackets are made of their skins. Their tails are esteemed throughout the East, as far as luxury and parade have any influence on the manners of the people. In India no man of fashion ever goes out, or sits in form at home, without two chowrabadars, or brushers, attending him, each furnished with one of these tails mounted on silver or ivory handles, to brush away the flies. The Chinese dye them of a beautiful red, and wear them as tufts to their summer bonnets. The yak is the most fearful of animals, and very swift; but when chased by men or dogs, and finding itself nearly overtaken, it will face its pursuers, and hide its hind parts in some bush, and wait for them; imagining that if it could conceal its tail, which was the object they were in search of, it would escape unhurt.

Bos caffer, or Cape ox, (having the horns very broad at the base, then spreading downwards, next upwards, and at the tips curving inwards); inhabits the interior parts of Africa, north of the Cape of Good Hope, and is greatly superior in size to the largest English ox. It is of a very strong and masculine form, with a fierce and malevolent aspect. Its colour is a deep cinereous brown; the hair on the body is rather short, but that on the head and breast very long, coarse, and black, hanging down

the dew-lap, like that of a bison; from the hind part of the head to the middle of the back is also a loose black mane; the tail is nearly naked at the base; the remainder being covered with long loose hair. These animals are found in large herds, in the desert parts beyond the Cape; and, if met in the narrow parts of woods, are extremely dangerous, rushing suddenly on the travel ler, goring and trampling both man and horse under foot. It is also said, that they will often strip off the skin of such animals as they have killed, by licking them with their rough tongues; as recorded by some of the ancient authors of the bison.

- BOSCIA, in botany, a genus of the Tetrandria Trigynia class and order. Calyx four-toothed; corolla four-petalled; capsule four-celled. One species found at the Cape.

BOSEA, in botany, from Bose, a senator of Leipsic, a genus of the Pentandria Digynia class and order. Essential character: calyx five-leaved; corolla none; berry oneseeded. There is but one species, viz. B. yervamora, golden rod tree, is a strong woody shrub, with a stem as large as a man's leg, the branches come out very irregularly, and make considerable shoots in summer; these branches retain their leaves till spring, when they fall off and new leaves are produced soon after. It is a native of the Canary islands, and is also found in some of the West India islands.

BOSSIÆA, in botany, a genus of the Diadelphia Decandria: calyx two-lipped, the upper lip inversely heart-shaped; banner with two glands at the base; keel of two petals; legume pedicelled, compressed, many-seeded. One species, a native of New Holland.

BOSTRICHUS, in natural history, a genus of insects of the order Coleoptera: antennæ clavate, the club solid; thorax convex, slightly margined; head inflected and hid under the thorax. There are about 30 species. They are a very fertile and voracious tribe, and destructive to woods, making those deep irregular channels, so often observable in the bark and wood of trees. They are found chiefly in Europe and America.

BOTANY, is that science which teaches a knowledge of the vegetable kingdom, as its name, derived from Soravn, an herb or grass, expresses. This word may be easily traced to its primitive ßow, or Booxw, to feed, and since plants have ever been re

garded as the food of a large portion of animals, the aptness of its derivation is apparent. This study, in its most limited sense, includes the practical discrimination, methodical arrangement, and systematical nomenclature of vegetables; while in a more enlarged view, it comprises the anatomy and functions of their several parts, together with the various qualities and uses which render them serviceable either to mankind or the brute creation. In this respect botany may be considered as a vast and almost boundless study; nor is the merely systematical department of botany, or natural history in general, when cultivated on philosophical principles, inferior to any other science, in extent or utility, as an exercise for the discriminative powers of the mind. The necessity of a regular me. thod of classification, which is calculated to arrange and dispose the whole vegetable kingdom, cannot be doubted, since the most experienced and intelligent botanists of the present day have scarcely been able to reckon, within ten thousand, how many species of plants there may be in the world.

An attention to the vegetables on all sides spread around him, must have been one of the earliest occupations of man in a state of nature; and this attention was doubtless quickened to a further contemplation of their beauty and utility when it was discovered, that independently of affording gratification to the senses, some were provided as an aliment for the body, and that others contained a soothing balm for corporeal sufferings. Hence we may infer, that the study of plants has, through every age and in every clime, excited the attention of mankind; yet it is truly remarked by a late elegant writer, Dr. Pulteney, that, "in the enlightened ages of Greece and Rome, and under the most flourishing state of Arabian literature, botany, as a science, had no existence. Nor was it till some time after the revival of learning, that those combinations and distinctions were effectually discovered, which in the end, by giving rise to system, have raised the study of plants to that rank it holds at present in the scale of knowledge.”

In the early history of Britain, we find that herbs were cultivated and studied with considerable assiduity by the Druids, who applied this knowledge with much effect to the purposes of superstition as well as medicine, and thus appropriated to themselves the offices both of priests and phy

sicians. Historiaus inform us that the misseltoe was held by our ancestors in such veneration, that it was only allowed to be cut by a priest, and with a golden knife; when thus prepared, it was dispensed as a charm to prevent sterility, and to overcome the fatal effects of poison. We learn from Pliny that various superstitious rites with respect to many other plants were also carefully observed by the Druids. Vervain and savin were among the number; the former of these being used as a means to conciliate friendship, and the latter as an antidote to misfortunes. A small portion of the mountain-ash was believed to act as a charm against the powers of witchcraft, and this idea is still prevalent in the highlands of Scotland, where it is usual to drive cattle with a switch of this tree in order that they may be preserved from the evils of enchantment.

The Saxons appear to have made but little proficiency in the investigation of plants, though some of the Saxon manuscript herbals shew that the study was not altogether disregarded by this people. Their chief aim was to be acquainted with plants in a medicinal point of view. Botany indeed was involved in the utmost obscurity, being merely studied as an auxiliary to astrology, even to the middle of the 16th century, for at that period was published "A Lyttel Herbal of the Properties of Herbs, newly amended and corrected, with certain additions at the end of the bok-, declarying what herbs hath influence of certain starres and constellations, whereby may be chosen the best and most lucky times and days of their ministration, according to the Moon being in the signs of Heaven, the which is daily appointed in the almanack; made and gathered in the year M.D.L. xii. Feb. by Anthony Ascham, Physician." London, 1550. 12o.

But from these times of ignorance and barbarism, in which the fairest of sciences was converted to the most foolish of purposes, let us now turn to the contemplation of the first gleams of wisdom that darted through the clouds when rent asunder by the inventors of systematical botany. Conrad Gesner, at Zurich, and Cæsalpinus, at Rome, towards the end of the 16th century, entirely independent of each other, first conceived the idea of a regular classification of plants by their flowers and fruit, to which, as Dr. Smith has observed, "the very existence of botany, as a science, is owing," Upon this plan various systems

have been framed by succeeding botanists, but before we enter upon this subject it will be essential, in the first place, to understand the general anatomy of plants, and lastly, the nature and functions of their particular organs.

It will readily be admitted that the most convenient mode of coming to a knowledge of the anatomy of vegetables, is to begin from their external covering, the epidermis, 'or cuticle. Various theories have been formed respecting its uses to the vegetable body, but physiologists have mostly agreed that it was designed as a guard against the injurious effects of the atmosphere upon the vital parts of plants, since this, as well as the human cuticle, is merely a dead substance. The infinite variety of appearances which the epidermis assumes in different plants is peculiarly striking. It is commonly transparent and smooth; sometimes it is hairy or downy; sometimes of so hard a substance, that even flint has been detected in its composition. Hence the Dutch rush, equisetum hyemale, serves as a file to polish wood, ivory, and even brass.

Under the cuticle is found a substance, which till very lately has been but slightly noticed by physiologists. This is the cel lular integument, analogous to the rete mucosum of animals; it is like that of a pulpy texture and the seat of colour. It is com. monly green in the leaves and stems, and is dependent for its hue on the action of light.

When the cellular integument is removed, the outer surface of the bark presents itself, which, in plants or branches that are only one year old, consists of one simple layer, often scarcely separable from the wood. In the branches and stems of trees it consists of as many layers as they are years old; the innermost of these is called the liber, or inner bark, in which the vital functions for the season are carried on, and in the meanwhile materials for the new liber are secreted and deposited on the inside; the latter is destined to perform the requisite functions in the ensuing spring, when the last year's liber is united and assimilated to the outer bark as its predecessors had been. It appears also from the experiments and observations of Duhamel, Hope, Knight, aud others, that the liber deposits also matter for a new layer of wood. The bark owes its strength and tenacity to innumerable woody fibres, mostly longitudinal, though connected laterally so as to make a kind of net-work. This reticula

tion is so perfect and beautiful in the daphne laghetto, or lace bark of the West Indies, that it may be stretched laterally into a kind of gauze, sometimes used for articles of ornamental dress. The bark contains, in appropriate vessels, the principal secreted fluids of trees in great perfection. Its medicinal virtues in many instances are familiar to us; the Peruvian bark affords "a cooling draught to the fevered lip;" while that of the cinnamon yields a rich cordial; that which is stripped from the oak is used for the purpose of tanning, for which several other kinds are of inferior utility. When a wound is made in the bark it heals, though slowly, by the lateral extension of the portion which is left. Immediately under the bark is situated the wood, which forms the great bulk of trees and shrubs. This also consists of numerous layers, as any one must have observed in the fir and many other trees. Each of these layers is moreover composed of other thinner ones; their substance consists of innumerable woody fibres, and is perforated by longitudinal sap-vessels, variously constructed or arranged in different trees, and intermixed with other vessels containing secreted fluids or air.

It would be superfluous to enlarge on the economical uses of wood in every country, from the most barbarous to the most refined. Of this material the savage forms his club and his spear, while the civilised part of mankind convert it to the purposes of comfort and luxury. Many conjectures have arisen among philosophers with respect to the manner in which the circular layers of wood are annually formed, and the effects which heat or cold may have on their formation. Cold seems to condense the operation, as well as for a time to interrupt it; since in the trees of hot countries these rings or layers are scarcely perceptible. In many trees more or less of the outermost layers continue for a time of a different colour and texture from the inner ones, and are called by workmen the sap. Such layers are unfit for any lasting service. The laburnum shews them very distinctly, and the oak likewise. It was long a matter of great uncertainty how, or whence each new layer of wood was added to the former ones. Malpighi and Grew, the first physiologists who gave attention to the subject, formed, without any mutual communication, an opinion, which proves to be correct, and to which we have already alluded, that the bark deposited every year from its own

substance a new layer of wood. Hales thought this new layer proceeded from the wood of the former year; Linnæus presumed that it was secreted, internally, next to the pith. The experiments of Duhamel and Hope confirmed the sentiments of Grew and Malpighi; and at present there is no kind of doubt upon this subject. A layer of wood being formed every year, it is evident that the age of a sound tree may be known from counting its rings when felled; and it has been observed that hard winters are recorded in this natural register by certain rings being more dense than the rest. In the north side of a tree also they are usually more narrow than on the south; and upon this principle a mode for travellers to find their way through an unknown forest has been suggested, namely, that by felling a tree they might ascertain the points of the compass; but we humbly conceive that much more obvious means for the same purpose are within the reach of every traveller, and that the one recommended is somewhat like telling

what hour of the day

The clock doth strike by algebra."

Within the centre of the wood is the

medulla, or pith, which is a cellular substance, juicy when young, extending from the roots to the summits of the branches. In some plants, as grasses, it is hollow, merely lining the stem. Linnæus believed this part to be analogous to the nerves of animals, and the immediate cause of the growth and evolution of all their parts; that it

was always struggling, as it were, to overcome the resistance of their woody substance, and that it did accordingly elongate itself and cause the increase of the vegetable body in young and tender parts, where that resistance is least. The formation of seeds he conceived only put a final stop to its extension by the production of offspring from it. Facts are not wanting in support of this hypothesis; but there are many more conclusive ones against it. The real use and physiology of the part in question stil remains in great obscurity.

OF ROOTS.

In defining the parts of vegetables it is found most commodious to begin from the bottom, proceeding upwards. Hence the root, which is the first part produced by a germinating embryo, comes first under consideration. Its presence seems necessary to plants, as it serves to fix and hold them

In the earth, from which they imbibe nourishment through their elementary tubes. Sea-weeds, however, afford an exception to this, for they are nourished by their surface, the root serving only to fix them to a convenient spot.

A root is either annual, biennial, or perennial. The first kind live but one season, as barley; the second survive one winter, and perish at the end of the following summer, after perfecting their seed, like wheat; if, however, any circumstances should prevent their flowering they may live several years till that event takes place. Perennial roots are such as remain and produce blossoms for an indefinite term of years, like those of trees and shrubs in general, and of many herbaceous plants whose stems are annual.

The body of the root is denominated eaudex; the fibrous, which is the only essential part, radicula. This latter is strictly annual in all cases, and is what serves for absorbing the nutritious fluids of the soil. It is necessary for the botanist as well as the farmer and gardener, to be well acquainted with the several kinds of roots, which differ materially in their nature aud functions. Those of a fleshy nature most powerfully resist drought, and are, as Dr. Smith has suggested, reservoirs of the vital energy of the vegetable. We have, with the permission of this gentleman, adopted in the following pages those leading ideas upon the subject before us, which are detailed and exexemplified more at length in his "Introduction to Physiological and Systematical Botany," to which work we must refer those of our readers who wish for more deep in/formation than our limits will allow.

Roots are distinguished as follows: 1st. A fibrous root, radix fibrosa, consists entirely of fibres, as in many grasses, and a number of annual herbaceous plants. These can but ill bear a continued deprivation of moisture or nourishment. The fibres carry what they absorb directly to the base of the stem. Botany, Plate I. fig. 1.

2nd. A creeping root, repens, is a sort of subterraneous stem, spreading horizontally in the ground, throwing out abundance of fibres, as in mint and couch-grass. Weeds furnished with such a root are amongst the most pernicious, being so difficult to eradicate. Nature, however, having furnished them with so powerful a mode of increase is very sparing in the production of their seeds. Fig. 2.

3rd. A spindle-shaped root, fusiformis, is common in biennial plants, though not

confined to them. The radish and carrot have spindle-shaped roots, producing numerous fibres for the absorption of nutriment. Such roots may be transplanted with great safety in the torpid season of the year. Fig. 3.

4th. An abrupt or stumped root, præmorsa, like that of the primrose, is as it were bitten off; hence many plants furnished with it have obtained the whimsical name of devil's-bit. Fig. 4.

5th. A tuberous or knobbed root, tuberosa, a very important sort, appears under a great diversity of forms. In the potatoe it consists of fleshy knobs connected by com. mon stalks or fibres; these knobs are biennial, formed in the course of one season, and destined to produce fresh plants the following year. This is the case with the oval or hand-shaped roots of the orchis tribe. Some herbs, indeed, have perennial knobs to their roots. Fig. 5.

6th. A bulbous root, bulbosa, consists of a kind of subterraneous bud, being either solid, as in the crocus; tunicate, as in the onion; or scaly, like that of the lily. Fig. 6. These roots, like the knobs above-mentioned, are reservoirs of nourishment, or rather of the vital powers, during the winter. After flowering and leafing their herbage and fibres decay, and the roots may then be removed or kept ont of the ground for a time without any hazard. When fresh fibres are formed it is fatal to disturb them.

7th. A granulated root, granulata, agrees in physiology with the last, being a cluster of little bulbs or scales connected by a common fibre, as in the white saxifrage and wood sorrel. Fig. 7.

OF BUDS.

Buds of trees have a great analogy with the bulbs and knobs of the roots in herbaceous plants. In them the vital principle is latent till a proper season for its evolution arrives. For this reason buds are essential to the trees or shrubs of cold countries, and are formed in the course of the summer in the bosoms of their leaves. The plane-tree has them concealed in the base of its footstalk, which answers the purpose of protection. In most instances they are guarded by scales, furnished with gum or woolliness as an additional defence. Till buds begin to vegetate they very powerfully resist cold, and are scarcely known to suffer at any season, but it is quite otherwise when they have made ever so slight an effort to develope themselves. Plants are propagat

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