Glycera

“ Accordingly, when on one occasion Stilpo, at a banquet, was accusing Glycera of seducing the young men of the city, (as Satyrus mentions in his Lives,) Glycera took him up and said, "You and I are accused of the same thing, O Stilpo; for they say that you corrupt all who come to you, by teaching them profitless and amorous sophistries; and they accuse me of the same thing: for if people waste their time, and are treated ill, it makes no difference whether they are living with a philosopher or with a harlot." ”

“ The Gaul remembered a certain gold ring with a finely carved onyx, which long years ago he had taken from Glycera's finger, for she had another one like it, and which he had given to Sirona on the day of their marriage.
"It is strange!" thought he, "what we give to women to bind them to us they use as weapons to turn against us, be it to please some other man, or to smooth the path by which they escape from us. It was with a bracelet of Glycera's that I paid the captain of the ship that brought us to Alexandria ”

“ The prostomium, though narrow, is long, conical, annulated, and carries at its apex four very small tentacles; at its base a pair of palps. Special retractile gills are present. The armed pharynx is very long, and when protruded appears wider than the animal. The members of this family are without any system of blood-vessels, but the coelomic corpuscles are coloured red. Glycera has four jaws, the parapodia are all alike (Fig. 136, C) . G. capitata Oerst. is 2 or 3 inches in length, is yellowish in colour, with a dark-red median line. It may be found burrowing in sand. ”

“ One day at table Stilpo the philosopher accused Glycera of corrupting the manners of youth.
“My friend,” said she, “we are both to blame; for you, in your turn, corrupt their minds by innumerable forms of sophistry and error. And if men be rendered unhappy, what signifies it whether a philosopher or a courtezan be the cause?”
It is to her that a joke, somewhat hackneyed but seldom attributed to its real author, was originally due. A gentleman presenting her with a very small jar of wine sought to enhance its value by pretending it was sixteen years old. ”

“ Atlantic and Mediterranean. A second species, which is much larger and flesh-coloured, also occurs.
Fig. 171.—Glycera meckelii Aud. and Edw. with pharynx everted, × 1. (Règne Animal.)
Goniada is distinguished from the preceding by the fact that the parapodia suddenly change in size and character at about one-third the length of the body. The pharynx has numerous paragnaths. G. maculata Oerst. occurs off our coasts.
Fam. 11. Sphaerodoridae.—The dorsal and ventral cirri of each segment are spherical. The chaetae are usually jointed, and there is an aciculum to each {321}parapodium. ”

“ The plant here figured, and very generally known to the Nurserymen, in the neighbourhood of London, by the name of Glycine rubicunda, is a native of New South-Wales, and was introduced to this country about the same time as the Glycine bimaculata already figured.
It is a shrubby, twining plant, running up to the height of five, six, or more feet, producing blossoms abundantly from April to June, which are usually succeeded by seed-vessels which ripen their seeds with us.
The flowers though large and shewy, have a kind of dingy or lurid appearance, which greatly diminishes their beauty. ”

“ Rachilla slender and cylindrical.
Glyceria fluitans, Br., is very similar, but longer (6 mm.) and more slender; the palea scabrid with truncate or ragged tips, and the inner palea not punctate. Yellow. (Fig. 46.)
146
Glyceria aquatica and G. fluitans are sweet grasses of value in water-meadows only. The “seed" is not often met with.
Not only with the Poas, but also with Catabrosa are there difficulties in determination. Molinia and Kœleria also present difficulties with Glyceria: the former has fewer and feebler nerves. Digraphis and Arundo are easily distinguished by the basal hairs. ”

“ All are native to the Cape of Good Hope and can endure little cold. They are admirably suited for window and greenhouse culture and are interesting subjects for interbreeding, though no startling results should be expected. The winter-blooming varieties grown by florists, such as the Bride, Delicatissima, and Peach Blossom, belong to the hybrid section known as Gladiolus Colvillii, which is, without doubt, a hybrid between G. cardinalis and G. tristis. ”

“ Well, to say the truth, the Lady Gycia is not at all to my taste. It is a cold, insipid style of beauty, at the best; and she is as self-willed and as straitlaced as a lady abbess. I suppose she is well matched with the Prince Asander?
Meg. Well, he is a handsome lad enough, and virtuous, but weak, as youth always is, and pliable. Now, for 49 myself, I am happy to say I am steadfast and firm as a rock.
Mel. Ah, my lord, if all women saw with my eyes, there would not be such a run after youth. Give me a mature man, who has seen the world and knows something of life and manners. ”

“ To which to look but Cherson; and I know,
From trusty friends among them, that even now,
Perchance this very day, an embassy
Comes to us with design that we should sink
Our old traditional hate in the new bonds
Which Hymen binds together. For the girl
Gycia, the daughter of old Lamachus,
Their foremost man, there comes but one report—
That she is fair as good.
Asan.
My lord, I pray you,
Waste not good breath. If I must sell myself,
It matters not if she be fair or foul,
Angel or doubly damned; hating the race,
Men, maidens, young and old, I would blight my life
To save my country.
11
King. ”

“ Rare or scarce gladiolus seeds, particularly those resulting from difficult crosses, should not be risked under ordinary garden or field conditions of growth. We naturally wish to bring to maturity every possible plant that the ideal we are breeding for may not be lost, if it should by chance be included in the number. If grown in pots or boxes the first season, with due care every good seed is likely to produce a vigorous bulb that may be planted out next year. ”

“ Oh, my lord, forbear! The Empress! and I 48 have never been out of Cherson! You flatter me, you flatter me, indeed. That is the way with all you courtiers from Constantinople. Now, if you had said that my Lady Gycia was beautiful——
Meg. My dear lady, I do not admire her in the least. She has no manners, really—nothing, at any rate, to attract a man of the great world; a mere undeveloped girl, with all the passion to come. No, no, my good lady, give me a woman who has lived. We courtiers know manners and breeding when we see them, and yours are simply perfect, not to say Imperial. ”

“ In the early Pleistocene epoch, when South America became connected with North America, some of the glyptodonts found their way into the latter continent. Among these northern forms some from Texas and Florida have been referred to Glyptodon. One large species from Texas has, however, been made the type of a separate genus, under the name of Glyptotherium texanum. In some respects it shows affinity with Panochthus, although in the simple structure of the tail-sheath it recalls the undermentioned Propalaeohoplophorus. ”

“ Gladiolus prefers a light loam, or a moist sandy soil. Fresh manure will prove injurious. Mr. Allen tells us, in his book on "Bulbs, etc.," that "flowering bulbs of this plant may be produced from seed with a certainty of a greater variety and a chance for some remarkable forms. There is," declares he, "no other pleasure in gardening equal to that which comes from the growing of Gladiolus from seed." It is claimed for the Gladiolus that if cut for decorative use when the first flower on the stalk opens the spike will develop better in water than if left out in the open sun. ”

“ The Greek with the Cimmerian. Father, pray you,
Send them away, with honour if you please,
And soothing words and gifts—only, I pray you,
30
Send them away, this Prince who doth despise us,
And his false retinue of slaves.
Lama.
My daughter,
Thy words are wanting in thy wonted love
And dutiful observance. 'Twere an insult
Unwashed by streams of bloodshed, should our City
Scorn thus the guests it summoned. Come they must,
And with all hospitable care and honour,
Else were thy sire dishonoured. Thou wilt give them
A fitting welcome.
Gycia. ”

“ Exeunt omnes except Asander and Gycia; Lysimachus and Courtiers by one door, then the Chersonites by another opposite.
Asan.
Dearest of women,
How well this fair head will become a crown!
I know not how it is, but now this blow
Has fallen, it does not move me as I thought.
I am as those who come in tottering age
Even to life's verge, whom loss of friend or child
Touches not deeply, since the dead they love
Precede them but a stage upon the road
Which they shall tread to-morrow. Yet am I
182
Young, and thou too, my Gycia ”

“ Gladiolus cruentus, blood red and white, pollenized with a selected Childsii variety resulted in the magnificent scarlet hybrid Princeps, acknowledged the first of its color yet produced. The latest species of importance to be widely used is G. Primulinus, recently found in the Zambesi Valley, South Africa. It is a vigorous species with narrow blooms, [Pg 79] pure bright yellow in color. The hybrids largely partake of this coloring, and it appears only a matter of time when good self-yellow varieties, comparable in size and finish to the best red and pink kinds will be bred. ”

“ If a considerable quantity of seed is to be sown a board frame eight inches deep, with bottom lined with one-half-inch mesh netting, and sunk in the ground, will give complete security from moles and similar vermin. If ordinary poultry netting is stretched over the top, additional security against surface marauders is given. Hand hybridized seeds are too precious to risk in ordinary unprotected soil. Five thousand seedling bulbs may be grown in a frame 4×6 feet, if seeds are thickly enough sown. [Pg 89]
CHAPTER IV. Gladiolus Species. ”

“ Margins and keel rather rough.
These two species of Glyceria are distinguished by their shoot-sections and the ridges of the leaves of G. fluitans: they often occur in the same ditch.
They cannot readily be confused with others on account of their aquatic habit, and the characters given. The only other aquatic or semi-aquatic species are forms of Catabrosa, Digraphis, Arundo, Alopecurus geniculatus, Molinia cærulea and the rare Calamagrostis. ”

“ There are, as before stated, some qualities which are requisite to a good gladiolus, but this demand does not draw close or inflexible lines. There are hundreds of varieties in existence which possess the necessary traits in a considerable degree, and more are being produced every year by the growing of seedlings. ”

“ In a few years many of their choice varieties seem to have dwindled away to almost nothing, or to have disappeared entirely, while they have a burdensome surplus of some others. They wonder why this is so, and some become convinced that the gladiolus will in time revert to some original species. Nearly all such cases may be accounted for by considering that some varieties multiply very much faster than others, both by bulblets and the formation of new bulbs. ”

“ The animals wander about in companies, inhabiting chiefly the dry, rocky, mountainous regions in the interior of West Africa, feeding on the peculiar vegetation that they find there; digging up the roots of grasses, and gnawing with their strong jaws the roots and stems of an extraordinary short, woody, top-shaped plant, known as Welwitschia, which produces in its youth two leaves, and never more in its lifetime, though attaining to a great age. ”

“ Gentle stirring of the water caused them to emit Glochidium in large masses, if the movement was not so violent as to cause alarm. The long slimy masses of Glochidium were observed to be drawn back again within the shell of the mother, even after they had been ejected to a distance of 2 or 3 inches.
It is a mistake to assert that the young Glochidium can swim. When they finally quit the mother, they sink to the [148] bottom, and there remain resting on their dorsal side, with the valves gaping upwards and the so-called byssus streaming up into the water above them. ”

“ These plants would meet at Orotava with the care and climate necessary for their preservation. At Durasno, the protea, the psidium, the jambos, the chirimoya of Peru,* (* Annona cherimolia. Lamarck.) the sensitive plant, and the heliconia, grow in the open air. We gathered the ripened seeds of several beautiful species of glycine from New Holland, which the governor of Cumana, Mr. Emparan, had successfully cultivated, and which grow wild on the coasts of South America. ”

“ Glycyrrhiza is extensively cultivated in Greece, Italy, France, Russia, Germany, the Danubian Provinces, southern China, northern Africa, and to some extent in England. In the Italian province of Calabria licorice is planted with peas and corn. In the course of three years the roots are collected, the juice expressed and root evaporated to the proper consistency for shipping. New crops are grown from cuttings of the rhizomes. There is an excellent quality of licorice grown in the vicinity of Smyrna. The principal commercial varieties are grown in Spain, southern Russia, Turkey and Italy. ”

“ The gladiolus is horticulturally the most important member of the Iridacæ or great Iris family and has long been the most popular of all summer-flowering bulbous plants, ranking in general usefulness even such prime favorites as the dahlia, the canna and the lily. Almost one hundred and fifty species have been from time to time described by botanists, but only a fraction of the number has thus far proved of value in breeding and development work. Fourteen or more species are natives of Southern Europe and Western Asia, but these have always been of minor importance as garden plants. ”