Aphthonite

( Min.) A variety of Tetrahedrite, q. v. Aphyllous, a. [Gr. a, priv., and phyllon, a leaf.] ( Bot. ) Destitute of leaves, at least in the form of foliage. Apia'ceæ, UMBELLIFERS, n. pl. ( Bot.) An ord. of plants, all. Umbellales. - Diag. Didymous fruit, and a double epigynous disc. They are herbaceous plants, often milky, with solid or fistular furrowed stems. Leaves usually divided. Flowers in umbels, white, pink, yellow, or blue, generally surrounded by an involucre. Calyx superior. Petals 5, inserted on the outside of a fleshy epigynous disc; æstivation imbricate, rarely valvate. Stamens 5, alternate with the petals. Ovary inferior, 2celled; styles 2, distinct. Fruit consisting of two carpels, separable from a common axis. Seed pendulous, usually adhering inseparably to the pericarp, rarely loose; embryo minute, at the base of abundant horny albumen.- The Umbellifers are common in all northern countries, inhabiting groves, thickets, plains, marshes, and waste lands. This large order is one of those in which plants occur with extremely different secretions. They all appear to form three different principles: The 1st, a watery acrid matter; the 2d, a gum-resinous milky substance; and the 3d, an aromatic oily secretion. When the 1st of these predominates they are poisonous, as Æthus a cynapium and Cicuta maculata. The 2d in exce converts them into stimulants, as the A afœ tid a. The absence of the two renders them useful as esculents, as Celery, Parsley, . The 3d causes them to be carminatives and pleasant condiments, as Pimp in ell a, Anisum, and Coriandum sativum. Api'cius, the name of three celebrated Koman gluttons. The first lived under Sylla, the second under August us and Tiberius, and the third under Trajan. The second expended immense sums in gluttony, and was the inventor of several sorts of cakes. Finding his wealth re duced to a sum of $60,000, he, thinking he must starve, poisoned himself. Apic'ulate, A picul a ted, a . [From Lat. apez , a point. Terminating in an abrupt short point or tip. A'pidæ, n . pl . ( Zool .) The bees, an extensive family of insects, belonging to the ord. Hymenoptera. The spe cies are numerons, and they po e a long proboscis which distinguishes them from the Andrenida . They are divided into several large groups, as the Panurgida , solitary bees, which resemble the Andrenidæ, and of whose habits little is known correctly. The Melectida, or cuckoo-bees, which are parasitic, making use, as the cuckoo does, of the nests of other species. The Mega chilidæ, containing a number of species, which, from their respective economy, are called mason-bees, and upholsterer-bees. The species of the gen. Osmia construct their nests of minute grains of sand, cemented together with a glutinous secretion. The gen. Anthocopa is called the tapestry-bee, from its using portions of the wild scarlet poppy to form its nests. The species of the gen. Mega chile, on the other hand, form their nests in the trunks of decayed trees, and line them with pieces of leaves of a circular form, so admirably adjusted, that, although not covered with any coating of gum, they are honey-tight. The gen. Anthidium belongs to this group The Scopulipedes are named from the females having a very thick coating of hair upon their hind-legs. They make a loud humming noise when they fly. Among them are the carpenter-bees, Xylocopa , which tunnel into wooden posts, palings, , forming burrows to the length of 12 to 15 inches, and 1⁄2 in. in diam. (See Fig. 944.) These four groups are all solitary bees; differing in this respect from the succeeding, called Sociales , which contains those species living in communities or societies. Among these is the gen. Bombus , or humble-bee, which forms its nests underground in meadows, ., and lives in societies consisting of 50 to 100 individuals. But the most important species of this group, and of the whole family, is the hive-bee, Apis mellific a , which, considering its domestic importance, will be separately examined under the common name BEE. IMG:content-0252.jpg:[graphic][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][merged small][merged small] "One copy of this paper may serve a dozen of you, which will be le than a farthing apiece." Each by itself; for one; as, they cost one dollar apiece . A'piine, n . [Lat. apium , parsley.] ( Chem .) An uncrys tallizable alkaloid from common parsley ( apium petrose linum ). Form . Co4H14013Apiocri'nus, n. ( Pal .) A gen. of fo il Crinoidea bo longing to the oölitic formation. A'pion, n. (Zool.) A gen. of insects, family Curculio nid a , q. v.