subrotunda. The five spired ventricose turbo with a roundish mouth.
The colour white and opake. From Reculver: very rare.
TURBO STRIGATUS. Fig. 16. T. tribus anfractibus primo strigis tribus
transversis apertura subovata. The three spired turbo, the first spire
with three transverse ridges and a suboval aperture.
The colour opake white. From Seasalter: very rare.
TURBO ALBIDUS. Fig. 17. T. turritus septem anfractibus strigatis
apertura ovali. The taper turbo with seven ridged spires and an oval
aperture.
The colour opake white. From Sandwich: rare.
TURBO CARINATULUS. Fig. 18. T. turritus carinatus septem anfractibus
apertura coarctata marginata. The taper carinated turbo with seven
spires and a contracted marginated aperture.
The colour opake white. From Sandwich: very rare.
TURBO CLATHRATULUS. Fig. 19. T. clathratus sex anfractibus apertura
ovali marginata. The barred six spired turbo with an oval marginated
aperture.
The colour opake white. From Sandwich: exceeding rare.
TURBO CRASSUS. Fig. 20. T. crassus clathratus quinque anfractibus
apertura rotunda marginata. The thick barred turbo of five spires and a
round marginated aperture.
The colour opake white. From Sandwich: very rare.
TURBO PUNCTATUS. Fig. 21. T. turritus perversus novem anfractibus
punctatis apertura coarctata. The reversed taper turbo of nine dotted
spires and straitened aperture.
The colour light-brown opake. From Sandwich: not common.
TURBO SHEPEIANUS. Fig. 22. T. sex anfractibus reticulatis apertura ovali
submarginata. The six spired reticulated turbo with an oval
submarginated aperture.
The colour semipellucid white. From Shepey island: very rare.
TURBO SANDVICENSIS. Fig. 23. T. tribus anfractibus reticulatis apertura
unidentata. The three spired elegantly reticulated turbo with a one
toothed oval aperture.
The colour pellucid white. From Sandwich: exceeding rare.
TROCHUS.
_THE TOP-SHELL._
TROCHUS FUSCUS. Fig. 24. T. umbilicatus quinque anfractibus marginatus
apertura subrotunda. The five spired umbilicated marginated top-shell
with a roundish aperture.
The colour opake brown. From Sandwich: common.
BUCCINUM.
_THE WHILK._
BUCCINUM OBTUSULUM. Fig. 25. B. ampullaceum tribus anfractibus apertura
ovali. The bellied whilk of three spires with an oval aperture.
The colour opake white. From Faversham Creek: very rare.
BUCCINUM LONGIUSCULUM. Fig. 26. B. turritum quinque anfractibus apertura
ovali. The taper whilk of five spires with an oval aperture.
The colour white semipellucid and glossy. In Faversham Creek only; but
not uncommon there.
VOLUTA.
_THE VOLUTE._
VOLUTA ALBA. Fig. 27. V. alba opaca longitudinaliter striata. The white
opake volute. From Sandwich and Shepey island: not uncommon.
This shell resembles Mr. Pennant’s voluta Jonensis, but differs in the
form of the aperture, as well as in the size.
BULLA.
_THE DIPPER._
BULLA REGULBIENSIS. Fig. 28. B. crassa apertura medio coarctata. The
thick dipper, with a compressed aperture.
The colour white and opake. From Reculver: very rare.
NAUTILUS.
_THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS._
NAUTILUS BECCARII. Fig. 29. N. spiralis umbilicatus geniculis
insculptis. The spiral umbilicated nautilus with deep joints.
The colour, while the fish is alive, is a fine pellucid crimson; when
dead, is white. It is found alive on the fucus vesiculosus, and is a
very common shell on all the coast, and seems to be an universal litoral
one, by the numbers found at Rimini, and in the sand of the South Seas.
Lin. S. N. p. 1162, No. 276. Nautilus Beccarii. Planch. Tab. 1. Fig. 1.
Gualtier, Tab. 19. Fig. H, H, I.
NAUTILUS CRISPUS. Fig. 30. N. spiralis geniculis crenatis. The spiral
nautilus with crenated joints.
The colour opake white. The finest specimens are from Shepey: not
uncommon.
Lin. S. N. p. 1162, No. 275. crispus. Planch. T. 1. f. 2. Gualt. T. 19.
f. A. D.
NAUTILUS CALCAR. Fig. 31. N. spiralis apertura lineari geniculis
elevatis. The spiral nautilus, with a narrow aperture and raised joints.
The colour opake white. From Shepey island: not common.
Lin. S. N. 1162, No. 274, calcar. Pl. T. 1. f. 3, 4. Gualt. T. 19. f. C.
B.
NAUTILUS LÆVIGATULUS. Fig. 32. N. spiralis geniculis lævibus. The spiral
nautilus with smooth joints.
The colour semipellucid, white and glossy. From Sandwich and Seasalter:
not common.
NAUTILUS DEPRESSULUS. Fig. 33. N. spiralis utrinque subumbilicatus
geniculis depressis plurimis. The spiral subumbilicated nautilus, with
many depressed joints.
The colour opake white. From Reculver: very rare.
NAUTILUS UMBILICATULUS. Fig. 34. N. spiralis umbilicatus geniculis
sulcatis. The umbilicated spiral nautilus, with furrowed joints.
The colour opake white. From Sandwich: not common.
NAUTILUS CRASSULUS. Fig. 35. N. spiralis crassus utrinque umbilicatus
geniculis lineatis. The thick spiral doubly umbilicated nautilus, with
fine joints.
The colour opake white. From Reculver: exceeding rare.
NAUTILUS LOBATULUS. Fig. 36. N. spiralis lobatus anfractibus supra
rotundatis subtus depressioribus. The spiral lobated nautilus, with the
spires rounded on the upper side, and depressed on the under.
The colour opake white. From Whitstable: not common.
NAUTILUS CARINATULUS. Fig. 37. N. oblongus carinatus apertura lineari
ovali. The oblong carinated nautilus, with a narrow oval aperture.
The colour whitish, transparent like glass. From Seasalter and Sandwich:
very rare.
NAUTILUS SUBARCUATULUS. Fig. 38. N. subarcuatus geniculis exertis. The
bending nautilus with raised joints.
The colour opake brown. From Shepey island: very rare.
MYTILUS.
_THE MUSCLE._
MYTILUS PHASEOLUS. Fig. 39. M. lævis valvulis antice inflexis. The
smooth muscle, with the valves inflected in front.
The colour brown and glossy. From a fresh water stream near Faversham:
common.
MYTILUS PUNCTATULUS. Fig. 40. M. subrhombiformis punctatus. The
subrombic dotted muscle.
The colour pellucid white. From Sandwich: common.
MYTILUS DISCORS. Fig. 41. M. discors areis tribus distinctis. The
divided muscle.
The colour opake brown. From Sandwich: not common.
Lin. S. N. 1159, No. 261. Da Costa Br. Conch, p. 221. Tab. 17. f. 1.
where it is exactly described, and as badly engraved.
ANOMIA.
_THE SCALE._
ANOMIA SQUAMULA. Fig.42. A. squamula. The scale anomia.
The colour opake white and glossy. From Sandwich: not uncommon.
Lin. S. N. 1151, No. 221. This shell is well described by Da Costa; but
neither he, or Mr. Pennant, have caused it to be engraved.
ARCA.
_THE ARC._
ARCA MODIOLUS. Fig. 43. A. oblonga striata antice angulata. The oblong
striated arc, with the foreside angulated.
The colour opake white. From Sandwich: not uncommon.
Lin. S. N. p. 1141, No. 171. Arca Modiolus.
CARDIUM.
_THE COCKLE._
CARDIUM MURICATULUM. Fig. 44. C. subcordatum antice muricatum. The heart
cockle, with the front muricated.
The colour opake white. From Shepey island: not uncommon.
LEPAS.
_THE ACORN-SHELL._
LEPAS STRIGATULUS. Fig. 45. L. balanus striatus apertura obliqua. The
striated acorn-shell, with an oblique aperture.
The colour light brown. From Sandwich, on the roots of sea-weeds, the
finest specimens on lobsters: not uncommon.
ECHINUS.
_THE SEA-URCHIN._
ECHINUS LOBATULUS. Fig. 46. E. subrotundus planus lobatus. The flat
roundish lobated echinus.
The colour opake white. From Reculver: rare.
ASTERIAS.
_THE STAR-FISH._
ASTERIAS TRIRADIATA. Fig. 47. A. triradiata lævis. The smooth
three-rayed star-fish.
The colour white, transparent as glass. On all the different shores that
have been examined.
Having thus described a few specimens of those pleasing microscopical
objects, minute shells, I shall agreeably to the intimation given in the
note to page 613, proceed to
A DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF A VARIETY OF VEGETABLE SEEDS.[155]
[155] To the names as given by Dr. Parsons, those adopted by Linnæus
are here added.
LITHOSPERMUM OFFICINALE. Plate XV. Fig. 1. Ibid. Linn. Gromwell. This
seed is in figure exactly like a human heart without the auricles, but
has no flat or depressed part on its sides; it is pretty circular round
its thickest part, and terminates in a blunt cone. At the thickest
extremity there is a circular roughness, which is the umbilicus, and
from thence to the cone on the shortest side it is bisulcated
longitudinally; so that the space between the sulci is a kind of ridge,
nor do either sulci or ridge extend to either extremity of the seed; the
rest of the surface is smooth and polished, the ground a light
ash-colour, with a shade or cloud of yellow or brown.
These seeds are very hard, and the ash-coloured shell is brittle like
that of a hen’s egg; which being broken, appears to be lined with a
light olive-coloured uniform membrane, which encloses a nucleus of a
Spanish snuff-colour, pretty smooth, and of the same form with its
shell, being in close contact with it all round.
The natural size of a middling grain of this seed is about the eighth
part of an inch long, and the ninth of an inch in diameter at the
roundest part.
CYMINUM. Fig. 2. Cuminum C. Linn. Cummin. This seed is double, though
fixed side by side to one little stem; both which while together seem
like one, and are ribbed in an uneven manner longitudinally, having
great numbers of little threads or fibres sticking out all over them,
which makes them look hoary. They are thick in the middle and run to a
cone at each end. At the upper extremity there is an appearance like a
bifurcation in the stilus, each of them belonging to its particular
seed; this appears when the seeds are separated.
These seeds are of a darkish straw-colour, the little threads or fibres
being much lighter than the body of the seed. Each of these seeds
contains in it a kernel of an olive-colour, and exactly in shape like a
waterman’s boat, and of the same proportion, having a concave and convex
side; the latter has a blunt ridge like the keel of a boat, and the
former has a white line from one end to the other, which proves to be a
ridge, to which the stilus that rises from the little stem of the seed,
adheres to support it.
When the seeds are together upon the stem their length is about the
fifth part of an inch, and about an eighth part of an inch in the
broadest part.
PAPAVER ALBUM. Fig. 3. P. somniferum. Linn. Poppy. This is a little
yellowish white seed exactly resembling in shape a sheep’s kidney,
having a yellow place about the hollow part, which is its umbilicus,
analogous to the hollow part of the kidney into which the blood-vessels
(emulgents) enter.
If it be viewed on the back or convex part, concealing the hollow, it is
exactly shaped like an egg, having one end somewhat rounder than the
other.
All over its surface it has superficial cells, formed by ridges that
rise from the surface, which are some heptagons, some pentagons, but for
the most part hexagons, though not precisely of equal sides; and the
bottoms of these cells seem to be very porous.
The seeds seem very light and springy, as a gentle blast of ones breath
is capable of blowing them away, or a touch of any thing of making them
roll a considerable way. As to their size, they are not above a
twenty-fourth part of an inch long, and about a thirtieth part broad or
thick.
CARDUUS BENEDICTUS. Fig. 4. Centaurea Benedicta. Linn. Blessed Thistle.
The body of this seed is about twice as long as it is thick, is round
and shaped much like a nine-pin, only instead of being small at the
upper end, it has a stricture, from whence arises a beautiful crown of
ten angles or points, out of which come also ten aristæ or spiculæ like
ivory, about the length of the body of the seed, running taper upward,
and set round in an uniform manner. Within the circle of these long
spikes there are ten more, which are but very short, and of the same
colour and consistence with the others. When these are all plucked off,
the vestiges of the circles they form appear in the upper surface of
the crown; in the middle of which a little process arises, but very
superficially. That part which appears circular is white, and the rest
of this surface, of the corona, of the same colour with the rest of the
body of the seed, which is a sort of an olive-colour.
The body of the seed is of the sulcated kind, and looks exactly like a
fluted pillar, and the surface shines as if varnished with some gummy
substance.
At the lower or small end of this seed, there is an opening reaching up
above a third of the length of the body of the seed, which discovers a
white root, shaped like a cone at the bottom, and rising thicker by
degrees till it divides into three limbs; these run taper upwards, till
they are lost in the parenchyma of the seed, which at the place of their
entrance appears somewhat fungous, but is more compact and clammy
through its substance.
The length of the body is more than two eighths of an inch, and the
aristæ exactly the same length. The corona is its umbilicus.
PLANTAGO. Fig. 5. P. Major. Linn. Plantain. By the imperfect idea we
have of this seed from its minuteness, it may seem like a flea, as any
small speck would, if a little oblong; yet its form is not constant,
that is, there are scarce two of them precisely alike, some being
perfectly elliptical, some with blunt angles, and some approaching a
spheroid. They have a whitish mark on one side, which is the umbilicus
of the seed, from whence the first rudiments of the plant spring, and
the surface is entirely granulated over, and has a general appearance
like some kinds of plumb-stones; the surface also shines a little, as if
oiled or moist, and their colour is brown. One of the seeds cut
transversely appears to have the shell or covering pretty strong in
proportion to its size, which contains a parenchyma that is very porous
and succulent. It is about a sixteenth part of an inch long, and a
twenty-second broad.
STAPHIS AGRIA. Fig. 6 and 7. Delphinum S. A. Linn. Stavesacre. The seeds
of this plant are rough and angular, inclining to a triangle, although
imperfectly so. They may be considered as having a basis or apex; the
basis is thick and clumsy, and the apex runs to an angular point, which
point is the umbilicus of the seed, out of which its first rudiments
arise; it also has a convex and a plane or concave side; the former,
Fig. 7, is rough, by reason of its being covered all over with porous
cells, the ridges of which are also depressed or indented with rough
pores, and granulated as if stuck full of sand. The concave surface,
Fig. 6, is also rough, but not in the same manner, and so are the sides,
which have a little flatness; these also are porous and sandy, and
before the microscope, shine, and are coloured like dirty brown
sugar-candy. The concave surface, notwithstanding the roughness, has one
longitudinal ridge, and sometimes more, running from the basis to the
apex, which has the same granulated surface with the rest. It contains a
parenchyma, which is of a yellowish grey colour, and is moist and
succulent.
This seed is in its natural size about two eighths of an inch long from
its basis to the apex, and near as broad; however, some are broader in
proportion to their length than others, and they are one eighth of an
inch thick.
ANISUM. Fig. 8 and 9. Pimpinella A. Linn. Anise. Two of these seeds grow
together upon one little stalk; when they are pulled asunder, they
appear to have a flat and a convex surface. On the convex surface, Fig.
8, each seed has three ribs placed at equal distances from one another,
which are porous and a little rough, being of a straw-colour; and the
spaces between them are also rough and porous, but of an olive-colour.
The flat surface, Fig. 9, has a white ridge running longitudinally from
its basis to the apex in the middle; this white ridge or line serves to
cling to the stilus, upon which it sticks. The stilus is also white, and
has the same contexture with the ridge, and is bifid, in order to
support two seeds with their flat sides together, which keeps them the
more compact and less liable to injuries than if a single seed stuck on.
It is certain, a single stilus would do as well to support two seeds as
the bifid one, for even the two stick together as if single, if there
was not a necessity for a double stilus, for a very important reason;
which is, that when the seeds are ripe, they would stick on a single
one, till the time of their being scattered about would pass, which
would be a detriment to their propagation; but the stilus being double,
and of a springy nature, the two parts are glued together, as long as
moisture remains about the seeds capable of keeping them together; but
when the seeds are grown ripe and dry, then this moisture is exhaled,
and the stilus, as well as the flat surfaces of the seeds, begin to
contract from their former plumpness; the stilus first begins to split
asunder, and thereby separates the two surfaces of the seeds, each of
which sticks loosely to its particular limb of the stilus; till at
length the remaining moisture exhaling more and more, it grows rigid,
and cracks with a blast of wind, and so the seed is scattered or sown in
the ground in its due time. This is a most excellent provision of
nature, and highly worth regard.
When the two seeds are sticking together, they have a round end which is
the basis, and grow smaller by degrees upward, till they become an apex,
having upon each seed a kind of fungous or bulbous corona, which is the
umbilicus of the seed; and the shape of the two together may be
compared to that of a given fig reversed. The parenchyma of these seeds
is that of a pale greenish olive-colour. They are more exactly of a size
than most other seeds, and are each one-eighth part of an inch long, and
more than half that breadth.
FŒNICULUM DULCE. Fig. 10 and 11. Anethum F. Linn. Sweet Fennel. In
viewing these seeds, they do not look much unlike one species of the
cucumber in general, some of them being thicker and longer than others,
and some straighter; but upon applying the microscope, the ridges appear
high, and form deep furrows.
Two of these seeds grow together upon the same little stalk, which is
divided, like that of the anise seed, into a double or bifid stilus, in
the same manner, and for the same reasons; when the two are pulled
asunder, they appear to have a flat surface, Fig. 10, and a round and
ridged one, Fig. 11. On the former, these characters are conspicuous:
viz. 1. The whitish cortex or covering of the seed shews its edge
distinctly. 2. Withinside this edge a white fungous substance appears
running parallel to, and in close contact with it, on each side from end
to end, being both together about one-third of the breadth of the seed;
and between these, in the center, there appears a dark brown elliptical
substance, which, upon separating the cortical and fungous coverings,
appears to be a nucleus, whose internal substance is of an olive colour
and something succulent. On the external surface there appears three
high ridges, and when the flat faces of the seeds are close together
upon the stilus, so as to seem but one, these three ridges on each seed
and the two edges of each meeting firmly together, form eight regular
ridges equally divided upon that round body that we have before said to
resemble a cucumber. The extremity which is fixed to the stem is
smaller than the other; the latter has a fungous kind of process
arising from the body of the seed, which is the umbilicus of the seed.
The ridges are of a light straw-colour, and the bottoms of the sulci
they form are darkish. A middling seed is somewhat more than two-eighths
of an inch long, and above half that breadth.
GRANA PARADISI. Fig. 12 and 13. Amomum G. P. Linn. Grains of Paradise.
These seeds are of an irregular form, but may be said to have a basis
and apex; the basis is generally so flat as to render it capable of
standing well upon it; the sides consist of several flats and angles,
and the apex looks very much like the mouth of a purse drawn or gathered
up close together.
The body of the seed is of a reddish brown colour, the surface much
granulated and rough; and the apex, which is its umbilicus, degenerates
from this reddish brown colour into a yellow, appearing in little oblong
ridges or plates.
Upon making a transverse section of this seed, a most beautiful
appearance presents itself; the external cortex is very thin, and
retains the same colour through its substance with the outer surface;
this incloses a black, porous, pitchy substance, which is much thicker
than the cortex, in close contact with it, and at the angles of the seed
is pretty considerable. Next to this the parenchyma appears, as white as
the finest white salt, and radiated from the center outward; and in this
transverse section seems to have a round hole in the center of one of
the divided parts, and a process answerable to it in the other. If a
longitudinal incision be made through the middle, the appearance will be
as in Fig. 13, when the center of the white parenchyma appears exactly
like a modern vinegar glass, commonly called a cruet, the bottom of
which tends obliquely towards the basis, and the top towards the apex of
the seed. The surface of this part looks polished, and the colour is a
yellowish olive; nor does it look unlike a gummy or resinous body;
however, we cannot be certain what its substance is, notwithstanding its
great resemblance to that kind of matter. The white parenchyma is very
singular, being almost divided into two lobes by this little cruet,
whose top runs up into or is lost in a remarkable circular part, which
has a rising towards the umbilicus of the seed in form of an acorn, and
this rising stands in the open place, into which the pursy umbilicus
leads. As to its natural dimensions, an ordinary seed is somewhat more
than the eighth of an inch long, and about an eighth thick.
PETROSELINUM. Fig. 14. Apium P. Linn. Common Parsley. The seeds of this
garden parsley, being of the umbellated kind, grow two upon a little
stem, whose bifid stilus supports them like the ammi or smallage; they
are striated or ribbed like those, having three of such ribs on the
convex part, spread further asunder, and being much more conspicuous
than those of either of the seeds just mentioned. There is another rib
which runs on each side of the seed, which is its lateral rib, and that
which runs round the edge of the flat surface makes it resemble the edge
or gunnel of a barge or lighter, to which each of these bears some
resemblance. This seed is considerably larger than either, and much
longer in proportion to their size; the colour of the interstices
between the ribs is a dusky olive, and the ribs of an oaker yellow. They
are pretty round where they rest on the stem, and run up elliptically to
an apex, where there is a fungous corona, which is the umbilicus. In
making a transverse section through the middle of one of them, the
parenchyma appears of the same form with the cortex, having this
remarkable property, that between the ridges or ribs are canals, formed
of the cortex and the surface of the parenchyma, containing a brown
balsamic fluid, with which they are filled from one end to the other of
the seed; and in some seeds this balsam appears all round between the
parenchyma and the cortex. This will be further explained when we come
to speak of the seseli, in which this is so apparent, that a transverse
view of that seed will serve for both. The parenchyma is somewhat
succulent, and of a greyish olive colour. An ordinary seed is one-eighth
of an inch long, and about a sixteenth thick.