Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/885

This page needs to be proofread.

TREE SORREL romer. The A. gryllus (Dum. and Bibr.), or Savannah cricket, occurring from New England - the gulf of Mexico, is about H in. long, with elongated pointed head, a triangular dusky )t between the orbits ; body ashy above, rith a green and sometimes reddish dorsal ne, and three oblong black spots margined nth white on the sides. It may easily be domesticated ; it makes immense leaps ; it is intermediate between the ranidce and hyladce, having the aquatic habits of the former and the method of watching for its prey of the latter ; in consequence of the smallness- of the disks it cannot adhere to the under surface of smooth bodies. The Hying tree frog of Borneo (rhacophorus), according to Mr. Wallace, has its very long toes fully webbed to their ex- tremity, so that by expanding these webs and inflating its body, it is able to use them as a parachute or sailing membrane in its descent TREGELLES 855 Flying Tree Frog of Borneo (Ehacophorus). from high trees. The frog is 4 in. long, deep green above, yellow below ; the webs of all the feet cover a surface of 12 sq. in. ; at the ends of the toes are the usual disks for adhesion. This is the only aerial batrachian known. TREE SORREL, or properly Sorrel Tree, a North American tree of the heath family (ericacece), formerly known as Andromeda arborea ; when later botanists subdivided Linnaeus's genus An- dromeda, this was placed by itself in a new genus, oxydendrum (Gr. 6fi>f, sour, and divdpov, a tree), a name which recognizes the marked acid character of the foliage; it is also known as sour-wood. The only species, 0. arboreum, is found from Ohio and Pennsylvania south- ward, especially along the mountains, where it is met with as a large shrub, or in favorable locations it forms a tree 40 or even 60 ft. high. Its leaves are deciduous, serrulate on the mar- gins, with slender petioles, and being pointed at each end they have much the appearance of those of the peach. The flowers, which ap- pear in June and July, and even later, are in long one-sided racemes which are clustered at the ends of the branches ; the corolla is ovate with five teeth, white, and in size and arrange- ment upon the stem bear some resemblance to those of the lily of the valley ; after the flowers fall the small pyramidal pods remain white for a long time, and at a little distance appear like Sorrel Tree (Oxydendrum arboreum). flowers. The wood of the tree is of little value ; the leaves are pleasantly sour, and are chewed by hunters to allay thirst. The tree is hardy north of its natural localities, and endures the climate of Boston. As an ornamental tree it possesses many merits, not the least of which is that of flowering when only a few feet high ; when it is 10 or 15 ft. high it forms a spread- ing head, to which its fine spray gives a very light appearance, and when covered with its abundant clusters of delicate white flowers, it is a truly beautiful object ; in autumn the foli- age takes on a pleasing dark crimson color. TREFOIL. See CLOVER. TREGELLES, Samuel Prideaix, an English scholar, born in Falmouth, Jan. 30, 1813, died in Plymouth, April 24, 1875. His parents were Quakers, but he himself became connected with the Plymouth Brethren. He was edu- cated at Falmouth grammar school, was em- ployed in the iron works at Neath Abbey, Glamorganshire, and in 1836 became private tutor in Falmouth. He devoted himself to the study of the Scriptures in the originals and the old versions, especially the Syriac, and edited " The Englishman's Greek Concordance to the New Testament" (8vo, 1839); "The English Hexapla," with a historical account of the English versions of the Scriptures (1841) ; " The Englishman's Hebrew and Chaldee Con- cordance to the Old Testament" (2 vols., 1843); and "Hebrew Student's Manual," com- prising Hebrew reading lessons, and the book of Psalms with interlinear translations (1845) ; and he translated, with additions and correc- tions, Gesenius's " Hebrew and Chaldee Lexi- con to the Old Testament" (4to, 1847). Dr. Tregelles visited the continent several times for the purpose of collating the principal un-