Apex

“ The apex and a few of the surrounding nodes are shown at the right, while the base or spine forms a projecting lip at the left. A coil of clay forms the apex. This is carried outward in a sinistral spiral to the noded shoulder. We have here a suggestion of the origin of a favorite decorative motive, the scroll, a clew, however, which the paucity of examples makes it difficult to follow up satisfactorily. ”

“ All the specimens of this insect are so extremely variable that it is almost impossible to adequately describe the species. The apex of the fore-wing is always very acute; the termen is bowed just below the apex, and is furnished with slight indentations of variable depth. The termen of the hind-wing is also furnished with variable indentations. ”

“ Flowers: male pale yellow sometimes tinged with purple; female light yellow-green, with semiorbicular scales and short-oblong bracts emarginate and denticulate at the broad obcordate apex furnished with a short strongly reflexed tip. Fruit cylindric, slightly narrowed to the rounded and sometimes retuse apex, puberulous, bright green, 2′—4′ long, with scales usually about two thirds as long as wide, gradually or abruptly narrowed from their broad apex and three or four times as long as their short pale green bracts ”

“ In the perfect insects the antennæ of the males are simple, stout, and compressed, rather serrated, pilose at the apex; those of the females slender, a little serrated towards the apex, which is acute. Head of moderate size, and very hairy; maxillæ obsolete; palpi short, and densely covered with scales, triarticulate, basal joint short, second as long as the other two, robust, the terminal one the length of the first, slender and subfusiform. Thorax and abdomen both rather robust, the latter a little tufted at the extremity in both sexes: wings deflexed ”

“ Flowers: male yellow tinged with red; female with scales rounded above, much broader than long and shorter than their oblong pale yellow-green bracts rounded at the broad apex terminating in a slender elongated tip. Fruit oblong-ovoid or nearly oval, rounded at the somewhat narrowed apex, dark purple, puberulous, about 21⁄2′ long, with scales twice as wide as long, at maturity nearly half covered by their pale yellow-green reflexed bracts; seeds 1⁄8′ long, with dark lustrous wings much expanded and very oblique at apex. ”

“ Since the dawn of our history, until the present moment, the Heads have maintained their lives by draining blood from the veins of thousands of Apexans yearly!"
The Americans' faces whitened. "What do you mean?" breathed Ward.
"I mean that the artificial blood pumped by mechanical hearts through the brains of the Heads—yes, and that is now being pumped through my own!" cried Spiro bitterly—"is manufactured from human blood. Human blood is the basis of it. And to get that blood every Apexan must yield his quota in the temple. Slowly but surely this practice is sapping the vitality of the race. ”

“ The apex is left open, with a triangular wing or flap on each side, and the windward flap constantly stretched out by means of a pole inserted into a pocket in the end of it, which causes it to draw like a sail, and thus occasions a draught from the fire built upon the ground in the centre of the lodge, and makes it warm and comfortable in the coldest winter weather. ”

“ We continue our Illustrations of these pretty little land-shells, of which all the species, as we before remarked, are natives of the South Sea Islands, and very little known to collectors. The present is distinguished by the thickness of its spire, the apex being more suddenly pointed. ”

“ The surface of the male, when seen in certain directions, is of the most brilliant azure-blue, the whole of the exterior margin of the primary wings surrounded with black, and near the apex are two small white spots, the anterior one longitudinal, the other orbicular. ”

“ Before reaching the apex (A) , she cuts with her jaws the apex-line, but, as she keeps constant hold in front of the cut by her first and second pairs of feet, and has a communication in the rear through the line which most spiders always attach to a point behind them, she does not fall, neither is the net loosened beyond a certain limit; it usually seems to recoil about an inch; this recoil tends to entangle the prey like the original snaps of the net. The spider again advances, gathers the radii together and cuts them all, still keeping the line out behind ”

“ The apices, furthermore, are regular dust and gas traps, especially the right apex, which usually is the first to be affected by consumption, because the air-passage leading to it is wider and less crooked than that leading to the left apex. All impurities inhaled into the lungs, and especially all dust, first make their way to the apices, and there settle, unless they are kept in motion by bodily exercise. Elimination, too, is more difficult in the apices than in the inferior lobes. ”

“ Leaves up to 5 cm. long, 3 cm. broad, obovate, rounded at the apex, produced into a short broad petiole, articulated to the branches, glabrous. Inflorescence terminal, in large lax cymose panicles. Calyx campanulate, with very short lobes. Petals 1 cm. long, 2·5 mm. broad, oblong, with a small apiculus at the apex. Stamens 5, alternating with the petals; filaments 5·5 mm. long, linear, tapering upwards; anthers more or less crescent-shaped. Hypogynous glands oblong, rounded above. Carpels 5, free; ovary ellipsoid; style 3 mm. long, terete; stigma small, capitate.{148} ”

“ Eyes brown, large, and placed close together. Thorax green, with three black longitudinal stripes at top, and with several others running obliquely on its sides. Abdomen, next the thorax, large and green, with black transverse stripes, but of a sudden becomes very small and slender for about five-eighths of an inch; black, with yellow rings; afterwards it becomes broad near the extremity, where it is black, the apex being yellow. Legs black. Wings transparent, except a small slender spot near the tips of each on the anterior edges. ”

“ Stamens numerous, distinct, truncated at the apex. Torus concave, bearing stamens externally, and ovaries within. Ovaries free: ovules solitary, (?) pendulous from the apex. Style longish, subulate. Stigma acute. Carpels numerous, ( 10-15) all united, enclosed within the enlarged tubular calyx. Seeds solitary, compressed, pendulous from the apex of the carpel. Trees or shrubs : leaves oblong, lanciolate, acuminated, glabrous : flowers axillary, solitary, or several together, from a short peduncle, or abortive branch: corolla slender ”

“ The genera contained in this family may be thus distinguished.
1. Calyptræa. Conical; apex central, septum spiral, cup-shaped, or forked; including Infundibulum. Fig. 234 to 238.
2. Crepidula. Apex terminal; septum flat, reaching half across the aperture. Fig. 239.
3. Capulus. Conical; apex obliquely curved, no septum. Fig. 240.
4. Emarginula. Apex curved backwards; a notch in the anterior margin; including Parmophorus. Fig. 241, 242.
5. Cemoria. A slit near the apex. Fig. 244.
6. Fissurella. A slit upon the apex. Fig. 245.
7. Rimula. A slit near the margin. Fig. 243.
8. Ancylus. ”

“ CONE. This mathematical term is used by conchologists in its utmost latitude of signification to express a body, which in its formation, commences in a small point, called the apex, and increases in width towards the conclusion or base. It is applied to all shells, whether the increase in width be gradual or sudden; or whether in its growth, it takes a straight, oblique, curved, or spirally-twisted course. In this sense, a bivalve would be described as a pair of rapidly enlarging, oblique cones, and the aperture of every spiral shell would be its base. ”

“ In loose flat silky tufts; l. imbricate, lowest lanceolate, muticous, upper obovate-oblong channelled, the broad diaphanous apex continued into a long hair, nerve not reaching apex; basal cells elongate diaphanous, upper large rounded thickened; caps. ovate, lightly striate, sub-cernuous, furrowed when dry; lid convex with an obtuse point; cal. ”

“ With Apis, the genus of the hive-bee, we come to the most highly-specialized members of the family—better known, perhaps than any other insects, on account of the long domestication of many of the species or races. In Apis the workers differ structurally from the queen, who neither builds cells, gathers food, nor tends brood, and is therefore without the special organs adapted for those functions which are possessed in perfection by the workers. ”

“ When any species of aphis becomes well established on a plant,
F??. 8 9 . The way an aphis feeds on the juices of a plant A, an aphis with its beak thrust into a rib of a leaf. B, section through the midrib of a young apple leaf, showing the mouth bristles from the beak of an aphis penetrating between the cells of the leaf tissue to the vascular bundles, while the sheath of the beak is retracted by folding back beneath the head
the infested leaves (Fig. 88) may be al- most as crowded as an East Side street on a hot summer after- noon. ”

“ If man really sprang from apes, according to the law of phylogeny, a child ought to be born with a hairy body. But now it comes into the world as smooth as an angel, often without hairs even on its head. It is a disgrace to me that I served the Ape-king, the seducer of my youth! ”

“ The larva of the aphis lion has no distinct thorax. Its legs are attached to the upper segments of the body, and its metamorphosis is like that of the corydalus.
When about to become a pupa, it makes for itself a little covering of white silk. ”

“ On the under side of these, you will find the aphis by hundreds, of all sizes, from those just hatched to the perfect insect with wings. All appear to be engaged in sucking the bitter juice from the tender leaf and stalk. The ants are among them by scores. (They are often accused by the careless observer of the injury, instead of the aphis.) ”

“ Its nostrils, unlike those of every other bird, are at the tip of its beak, which is swollen and sensitive; and Dr. Buller says that as it wanders about in the night it makes a continual sniffing and softly taps the walls of its cage with the point of its bill. But the apteryx is one of those odd geniuses which come into the world too soon, and perish ineffectual. Its kindred are all extinct, and so will it be ere long.
When we come to the beasts we find the right conditions at last for the growth of the nose. Take the horse for an example of the average beast without idiosyncrasy. ”

“ The different kinds of apes, which approach the nearest to the human figure, are distinguished from each other by the tail. Their shrewdness is quite wonderful. It is said that, imitating the hunters, they will besmear themselves with bird-lime, and put their feet into the shoes which, as so many snares, have been prepared for them. [108] Mucianus says, that they have even played at chess, having, by practice, learned to distinguish the different pieces, which are 103 made of wax. ”

“ So sudden and unaccountable is their appearance, that there are many persons who have maintained, and vast numbers still firmly believe, that the aphis is spontaneously produced from the juices of the plants it affects. The rose-grower will go into his garden and watch the young shoots from the leaves making vigorous progress, and he smiles to himself at the thought of how soon the sprays will be covered with rich blossoms. ”

“ Like all insects the aphis has its special insect enemies, among which the lady-bird ("lady-cow" in Worcestershire) is the most important. It lays its eggs in clusters on the hop-leaf, and in a few days the larvæ (called "niggers") are hatched, aggressive-looking creatures with insatiable appetites. It is amusing to watch them hunting over the lower side of the leaf like a sporting dog in a turnip field, and devouring the lice in quantities. ”

“ The life-history of the rose-aphis, small and familiar as is the insect itself, forms one of the most marvellous and extraordinary chapters in all the fairy tales of modern science. Nobody need wonder why the blight attacks his roses so persistently when once he has learnt the unusual provision for exceptional fertility in the reproduction of these insect plagues. The whole story is too long to give at full length, but here is a brief recapitulation of a year's generations of common aphides. ”

“ The extreme length of the limbs and the absence of a tail are other features of these small apes, which are thoroughly arboreal in their habits, and make the woods resound with their unearthly cries at night. In agility they are unsurpassed; in fact they are stated to be so swift in their movements as to be able to capture birds on the wing with their paws. ”

“ After killing an animal I would give the skin to the Apaches to have it dressed for me, and they turned me out some elegant deer, lion and beaver skins, softly dressed, with the fur perfectly preserved. Having discovered the tracks of a very large lion along the river-bottom, I summoned Nah-kah-yen and Nah-tanh to accompany me on the hunt for his majesty. ”

“ As I write I see a fascinating sight: three black apes sitting under the roof in such a position that I can only see their faces, and they are all leaning their chins on a beam, and with their wrinkled faces and gray beards are looking exactly like ——-. It is most interesting to be among wild beasts, which, though tame, or partly so, are not in captivity, and to see their great sagacity and their singular likeness and unlikeness to us. ”

“ Again, A. apicalis is an animated, fussy species, always restless, and seldom silent. I resolved to keep an eye open for others. About a mile away, and in similar scrub, I came across a second pair, and, though it was early in the breeding season, I resolved to watch them, in the hope that they were building. After the exercise of much patience, I followed them to a sheltered spot in the scrub which they seemed loth to leave. There I spied a neat, dome-shaped nest, placed low down, without any concealment, in the tea-tree scrub. It looked remarkably substantial for an Acanthiza's nest. ”