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VENUSIA (mod. Venosa, q.v.)

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 1015 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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VENUSIA (mod. Venosa, q.v.)

VENUSIA (mod. See also:
VENOSA (anc. Venusia, q.v.)
Venosa, q.v.) , an See also:

ancient See also:

CITY (through Fr. cite, from Lat. civitas)

city of See also:

APULIA (sometimes APPULIa in manuscripts but never in inscriptions)

Apulia, See also:

Italy, on the Via See also:

APPIA, VIA

Appia, about 6 m. S. of the See also:

RIVER

river Aufidus (Ofanto), and not far from the boundary of Lucania (hence See also:

HORACE [QuINTus HORATIUS FLACCUS] (65-8 B.C.)

Horace describes himself as " Lucanus an Apulus anceps, nam Venusinus arat finem sub utrumque colonus "). It was taken by the See also:

Romans after the Samnite See also:

war of 291 B.C., and became a See also:

COLONY (Lat. colonia, from colonus, a cultivator)

colony at once, no fewer than 20,000 men being sent there, owing to its military importance. Throughout the Hannibalic See also:

WARS

wars it remained faithful to See also:

Rome, and had a further contingent of colonists sent in 200 B.C. to replace its losses in war. Some coins of Venusia of this See also:

period exist. It took See also:

PART

part in the Social War, and was recaptured by See also:

QUINTUS

Quintus See also:

METELLUS

Metellus See also:

PIUS

Pius; it then became a See also:

MUNICIPIUM (Lat. munus, a duty or privilege, capere, to take)

municipium, but in 43 B.C. its territory was assigned to the veterans of the triumvirs, and it became a colony once more. Horace was See also:

BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742–1791)

born here, the son of a freedman, in 65 B.C. It remained an important See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place under the See also:

EMPIRE

Empire as a station on the Via Appia, though See also:

MOMMSEN, THEODOR (1817–1903)

Mommsen's description of it (Corp. Inscr. See also:

Lat. ix. p. 45) as having See also:

BRANCH (from the Fr. branche, late Lat. branca, an animal's paw)

branch roads to Equus Tuticus and Potentia, and See also:

KIEPERT, HEINRICH (1818-1899)

Kiepert's maps annexed to the See also:

VOLUME

volume, do not agree with one another.

Remains of the ancient city walls and of an See also:

AMPHITHEATRE (Gr. 441, around, and O&arpov, a place for spectators)

amphitheatre still exist, and a number of See also:

INSCRIPTIONS (from Lat. inscribere, to write upon)

inscriptions have been found there. Jewish catacombs with inscriptions in See also:

HEBREW

Hebrew, See also:

Greek and Latin show the importance of the Jewish See also:

POPULATION (Lat. populus, people; populare, to populate)

population here in the 4th and 5th centuries after See also:

Christ. (T. As.) See also:

VENUS

VENUS'S See also:

FLY (formed on the root of the supposed original Tent. fleugan, to fly)

FLY-See also:

TRAP (0. Eng. treppe or traepee, properly a step, as that or which an animal places its foot and is caught, cf. Ger. Treppe flight of stairs)

TRAP (Dionaea muscipula), a remarkable insectivorous plant, a native of See also:

North and See also:

South Carolina, first described in 1768 by the See also:

AMERICAN

American botanist See also:

Ellis, in a See also:

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

letter to See also:

LINNAEUS

Linnaeus, in which he gave a substantially correct See also:

account of the structure and functions of its leaves, and even suggested the See also:

PROBABILITY (Lat. probabilis, probable or credible)

probability of their carnivorism. Linnaeus declared it the most wonderful of See also:

PLANTS

plants (miraculum naturae), yet only admitted that it showed an extreme See also:

case of sensitiveness, supposing that the See also:

INSECTS

insects were only accidentally captured and subsequently allowed to See also:

ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli

escape. The insectivorous See also:

HABIT (through the French from Lat. habitus, from habere, to have, hold, or, in a reflective sense, to be in a certain condition; in many of the English senses the French use habitude, not habit)

habit of the plant was subsequently fully investigated and described by See also:

Charles See also:

Darwin in his See also:

BOOK

book on insectivorous plants. The plant is a small See also:

HERB (Lat. herba, grass, food for cattle, generally taken to represent the Old Lat. forbea, Gr. 4op(3i1, pasture, <0p/3Ew, to feed, Sans. bharb, to eat)

herb with a rosette of See also:

RADICAL (Lat. radix, a root)

radical leaves with broad See also:

LEAF (O. Eng. leaf, cf. Dutch loof, Ger. Laub, Swed. lof, &c.; possibly to be referred to the root seen in Gr. Ma-eta, to peel, strip)

leaf-like footstalks. Each leaf has two lobes, See also:

STANDING

standing at rather less than a right See also:

ANGLE (from the Lat. angulus, a corner, a diminutive, of which the primitive form, angus, does not occur in Latin; cognate are the Lat. angere, to compress into a bend or to strangle, and the Gr. ayKOS, a bend; both connected with the Aryan root ank-, to

angle to each other, their edges being produced into spike-like processes (fig. I). The upper See also:

SURFACE

surface of each See also:

LOBE

lobe is covered with See also:

minute circular sessile glands, each consisting of from 20 to 30 cells filled with purplish fluid; it bears also three See also:

FINE

fine-pointed sensitive bristles arranged in a triangle (fig. 3). These contain no fibro-vascular bundles, but See also:

PRESENT

present an See also:

ARTICULATION (from Lat. articulare, to divide into joints)

articulation near their bases, which enables them to See also:

BEND

bend parallel to the surface of the leaf when the lobes See also:

close.

When the bristles are touched' by an See also:

INSECT

insect the lobes close very sharply upon the See also:

HINGE (in Mid. Eng. henge or heeng, from hengen, to hang)

hinge-like midrib, the spikesinterlock, and the insect is imprisoned (fig. 2). If very minute, and so not See also:

worth digesting, it is able to escape between the interlocked spines; nitrogenous See also:

MATTER

matter, FIG. 1.—Leaf of Venus's Fly-Trap (Dionaea to pour out an See also:

ACID (from the Lat. root ac-, sharp; acere, to be sour)

acid muscipula), viewed laterally in its ex- secretion containing panded See also:

state, slightly enlarged. (After a ferment or See also:

ENZYME (Gr. Eve uµos, leavened, from v, in, and Om, leaven)

enzyme, Darwin.) similar to that ex- creted by the leaves of the See also:

SUNDEW

sundew, which rapidly dissolves the soft parts of the insect. This is produced in such abundance that, sure, a singular difference in evident relation to the habits of the two plants. Like the leaves of Drosera, however, those of Dionaea are completely indifferent to See also:

wind and See also:

RAIN (O.E. regn; the word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Regen, Swed. and Dan. regn; it has been connected with Lat. rigare, to wet, Gr. 13pixeav)

rain. The surface of the blade is very slightly sensitive; it may be roughly handled or scratched with-out causing See also:

MOVEMENT

movement, but closes when its surface or midrib is deeply pricked or cut. Irritation of the triangular See also:

AREA

area on each lobe enclosed by the sensitive bristles causes See also:

CLOSURE (Fr. clooture)

closure. The footstalk is quite in-sensitive. Inorganic or non-nitrogenous bodies, placed on the leaves without touching the sensitive bristles, do not excite movement, but nitrogenous bodies, if in the least degree See also:

DAMP

damp, cause after several See also:

HOURS, CANONICAL

hours the lobes to close slowly. So too the leaf which has closed over a digestible See also:

BODY

body applies a See also:

GRADUAL (Med. Lat. gradualis, of or belonging to steps or degrees; gradus, step)

gradual pressure, which serves to bring the glands on both sides into contact with the body.

Thus we see that there are two kinds of movement, adapted for different purposes, one rapid, excited me- If the See also:

ORBIT (from Lat. orbita, a track, orbis, a wheel)

orbit of Venus See also:

lay in the See also:

PLANE

plane of the See also:

ECLIPTIC

ecliptic, it would be seen to pass over the disk of the See also:

sun at every inferior See also:

CONJUNCTION (from Lat. conjungere, to join together)

conjunction. Transits But the inclination of the orbit, 3° 36', is so large that a of Venus. transit is seen only when the See also:

earth and Venus pass a See also:

NODE (Lat. nodus, a loop)

node of the orbit at nearly the same See also:

time. The earth passes the See also:

LINE

line of nodes about the 7th of See also:

JUNE

June and the 7th of See also:

DECEMBER (Lat. decent, ten)

December of each See also:

YEAR

year. The date of passage is about a See also:

day later in each successive more usually, how-ever, it is retained between the lobes, which gradually but firmly compress it, node near enough to these See also:

DATES

dates to be until its See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form is dis- in of The tinguishable from ur times a period 243 years. without. The leaf 1518 to 2012 shows the See also:

law of recur- thus forms itself into 1769 June 3. a temporary See also:

STOMACH (Gr. vrbsaxos from arbga, a mouth)

stomach, December 1874 9. and the glands, 7. 1882 December 6. hitherto dry, com- 4. 2004 June 8. mence, as soon as 2012 June 6. excited by the ab- sorption of a trace of when Darwin made a small opening at the See also:

BASE

base of one lobe of a leaf which had closed over a large crushed fly, the secretion continued to run down the footstalk during the whole time—nine days—during which the plant was kept under observation. The closing of the leaf is due to a redistribution of See also:

WATER

water in the cells brought about by a See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change in the See also:

PROTOPLASM

protoplasm which follows the Live bristles. Though the bristles are exquisitely sensitive stimulation of the sensi- FIG.

to the slightest contact with solid bodies, yet they are far less sensitive that' those of the sundew (Drosera) to prolonged pres- B 2.-Leaf of D. muscipula closed over Insect. A, viewed from the See also:

side; B, from above. chanically, the other slow, excited s. chemically. Leaves made to close over insoluble bodies reopen in less FIG. 3.—A, sensitive bristle than twenty-four hours, and are and glands of D. muscipula; ready, even before being fully ex- B glands. paneled, to shut again. But if they have closed over See also:

NITROGEN [symbol N., atomic weight 14.01, 0=16]

nitrogen-yielding bodies, they remain closely shut for many days, and after re-expanding are torpid, and never See also:

ACT (Lat. actus, actum)

act again, or only after a considerable time. Even in a state of nature, the most vigorous'leaves are very rarely able to See also:

DIGEST

digest more than twice, or at most thrice, during their See also:

LIFE

life. VENUS'S LOOKING See also:

GLASS, a popular See also:

GARDEN (from O. Fr. garden, mod. Fr. jardin; this, like our words " garth," a paddock attached to a building, and " yard," comes from a Teutonic word for an enclosure which appears in Gothic as gards and O. H. Ger. gart, cf. Dutch gaarde and Ger. .garten)

garden name for See also:

CAMPANULA (Bell-flower)

Campanula See also:

SPECULUM

Speculum (or Specularia Speculum), from the old name for the plant, Speculum Veneris. It is a See also:

COMMON

common cornfield plant in the south of See also:

EUROPE

Europe, and is grown in gardens on account of its brilliant See also:

PURPLE

purple See also:

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

flowers.

End of Article: VENUSIA (mod. Venosa, q.v.)

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