This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project
to make the world's books discoverable online.
It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject
to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books
are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.
Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the
publisher to a library and finally to you.
Usage guidelines
Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.
We also ask that you:
+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for
personal, non-commercial purposes.
+ Refrain from automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.
+ Maintain attribution The Google "watermark" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.
+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe.
About Google Book Search
Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web
at http : //books . google . com/|
^
Digitized by
1
Google A
i
^^
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION* TO HER MAJESTY.
Natural History
OR
Suona ^ib'man oi "Cfet dBnglis^ Cgjtinpabxa/*
CONDUCTED BY
CHAKLES KNIGHT.
Volume I.
LONDON:
BRADBURY, EVANS, & CO., 11, BOUVERIE ST., FLEET ST., E.C.
SCRIBNEE, WELFORD, & CO., 654, BROADWAY, NEW YORK.
1866.
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
it (.t-KSlS
209395)
PIAR -7 i9l7
NOTICE.
Since the publication of the ^^ Natural Hibtort'' Division of the Engush GYCLOPiEDiA,
our knowledge of the laws which regulate the various phenomena of life has been largely
increased. In the Supplement which is being prepared, the principal discoveries and the
results of recent investigations — embracing the many facts which have accumulated, the
hypotheses that have been started, and the various theories that have been established —
will be carefully set forth, so far as they serve to illustrate the progress of this great
department of Science.
In the current numbers of the Re-issue, a reference {See Supplement) is made at the
end of those articles to which it is intended to add further information.
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
NATURAL HISTORY.
VOLUME I.
AAKD-VAKK.
AARD-VARK.
AABD-VARK {Oryeteroput, Geoffiroy), in Zoology, a weam» of
animalH belonging to the class Mammalia, and order Edentata,
The Oryeteroput is now separated from the Myrmecophaga, or
Ant-Eaters of Linnsras, with which it had been formerly associated.
In its anatomical stmoture it bears a much doser relation to the
armadillos than to any other quadrupeds, not even excepting the
ant-eaters, with which it was formerly associated. Like these animals,
the Oryeteroput is provided with large and powerful oJaws, for digging
up roots and insects, and for forming subterraneous burrows ; and,
like them, has neither incisors nor canine teeth. Its molar teeth,
however, are altogether peculiar, both in form and structure, and
have no resemblance to the teeth of any other known animal. Of
these there are five large ones on each side (both in the upper and
under jaws), which are always permanent ; and a variable number of
from one to three smaller ones, placed in front of the others, and appa-
rently representing the false molars of ordinary quadrupeds. The first
of the lai^ molars is smaller than any of the other four, and of a
cylindrical form, somewhat compressed or flattened on the sides; the
second is rounder; the third and fourth are each composed of two
similar cylinders, as it were, soldered together; and the last is a
simple cylinder, like the first and second. Immediately in front of
these are the small or false molars, which, falling annually, vary in
number according to the individuaL Properly speaking, the teeth
of these animals are destitute of real roots, and are therefore, like
the tuAa of the elephant, and the indsors of the rodentia, capable of
being indefinitely increaised, by the deposit of new matter on the
under extremity, to counterbalance the continual wear of the upper
surface.
In the form of the extremities the Oryeteroput resembles the
armadillos still more nearly than in the nature of its dental system.
The legs are remarkably diort and stout ; the feet plantigrade (that
is to say, the animal walks upon the whole sole of the foot^ as in man
and the bear, instead of bringing the point of the toe only in oontaot
with the ground, as may be obs^n^ed in the dog, horse, &c.) ; and the
toes, of which there are four on the fore feet and five on the hind, are
armed with extremely laige and powerful claws, flattened horizon-
tally, and scooped or hollowed out on the under surfiice, so as to form
a most efficient instrument for digging and burrowing beneath the
surface of the earth. This process is still further feusilitated by the
oblique form of the anterior extremities, arising from the unequal
length of the toes ; the two interior being considerably longer uian
the others, and the whole Himinialimg gradually from tile index (or
toe corresponding with the fore-finger) outwards. In other parts of •
its anatomy the Oryeteroput resembles both the armadillos and the
ant-eaters, and particularly in the form and structure of the stomach
and alimentaiy canaL The reader who is desirous of further informa-
tion upon these subjects may consult Cuvier's ' Logons d' Anatomie
Compap^' and his great work, * Sur les Ossemens Fossilee,' ftx)m
which the details here given are for the most part abridged.
The only species of this curious genus with which soologista are at
present acquainted is the Aard-Vark {Oryeteroput Capenti^ It is an
animal extremely conmion in some parts of SouUiem Africa, though,
from its nocturnal habits and extreme timidity, it is not so frequentiy
seen as many others which are in reality scarcer. Its colonial name
of a&rd-vark, or earth-pig, by which it is known among the Dutch
^habitants of the Cape of Good Hone, is derived as well from its
habit of burrowing as from the general appearance which it beacs^ at
HAT. HWP. DIT. VOL, L
first sights to a small, short-lagged pig. This animal, when full ^wn,
measures about three feet five inches from the snout to the origin of
the tail ; the head is eleven inches long ; the ears six inches ; and the
tail one foot nine inches. The head is long and attenuated ; the upper
jaw projects b^nd the lower, and ends, as in the common hog, in
a truncated caUous snout, having the nostrils pierced in the end of
it ; the mouth is small for the size of the animal, and the tongue fiat
and slender, not cylindrical as in the true ant-eaters, nor capable of
being protruded to such an extent as in these, animals: it is^ however,
Amrd-Vark {Oryet^rcfut OaptntU).
covered in like manner with a glutinous saliva, which firmly retains
the ants, upon which the animid lives, and prevents those which once
come in contact with it frT>m escaping afterwards. The ears are large,
erect, and pointed; and the eyes, which are of moderate size, are
situated between them and the snout, about two-thirds of the distance
from the extremily of the latter. The body of the aard-vark is thick
and corpulent; the limbs short and remarkably strong; the hide
thick, tough, and nearly naked, having only a few stiff hairs, of a
pale reddish-brown colour, thinly scattcured over it, excepting on the
flips and thighs, where thev are more numerous than ekewhere. The
tail is about half the length of the body and head tog^ether, and, like
the body, is nearly naked ; it is extremely tiiick and cylindrical at the
base, but decreases gradually towards tiie extremity, and ends in a sharp
pointb
Thus formed, the aard-vark is in all respects admirably fitted for the
station which nature has assigned to it in the grand economy of the
animal kingdom. It feeds entirely upon ants, and in this respect
fulfils the same purposes in Southern Africa which is executed by the
PangoUnt in Asia, the Myrmecophaga in America, and the SAiema in.
Australia.
These insects raise mounds of an elliptical figure, to the height of
three or four feet above the suzfboe of tne ground ; and so numerous
Digitized by
Google
AARD-WOLF.
AARD-WOLF.
ftre these gigaatio ant-hills in some parts of Southern Africa, that they
are frequency seen extending over the plains as far as the eye can rrach,
and so close together that the traveller s waggon can with cJUfficulty pass
between theuL They abound more especially in the Zeurevelden, or
sour districts, so called from producing a kind of sour grass ; are seldom
found on the karroos or downs, and never in very dry or woody districts.
By constant exposure to the rays of a powerful tropical e\m they become
so hard and indurated on the outer surmce that they easily support the
weight of three or four men, and even a loaded waggon will sometimes
pass over without crushing them. Litemally these mounds are of a
spongy structure, something resembling a honeycomb, and are so oom-
pletely saturated with animal oil that ^ey inflame without difficulty,
and are an excellent substitute f6r Wood or ooal.
Wherever ant-hills abound the aaid-Vaii: is sure to be fpxmd at no
great distance. He constructs a deep burrow in the immediate vicinity
of his food, and changes his residence only after he has exhausted his
resources. The facility with which he burrows beneath the surface
of the earth is said to be almost inconceivable. We have already
seen how admirably his feet. and claws are adapted to this purpose;
and travellers inform us that it is quite impracticable to dig him out,
as he can in a few minutes bury himself at a depth far beyond the
reach of his pursuers ; and, further, that his strength is so great as
to require the imited efforts of two or three men to drag him from his
hole. When fiiirly caught, however, he is by no means retentive of life,
but is easily dispatched by a slight blow over the snout. The aard-
vark is an .extremely timid, harmless animal, seldom removes to any
great distance from his burrow, being slow of foot and a bad nmner,
and is never by any chance found abroad during the day-tima On
the approach of night he sallies forth in search of food, and, repairing
to the nearest inhabited ant-hill, scratches a hole in the side of it just
sufficient to admit his long snouts Here, after having previously
ascertained that there is no danger of interruption, he lies down,
And, inserting his long slender tongue into the breach, entraps the
tots, which fly to defend their dwdOdngs upon the first alarm, and,
hiounting upon the tongue of the aai^-vark, get entangled in the
glutinous saliva, and are swallowed by whole scores at a time. If
unintermpted, he continues this process till he has satisfied his
appetite; out on the slightest alarm he makes a precipitate retreat,
and seeks security at the bottom of his subterranean dwelling. Hence
it is that these anirnaln are seldom seen even in those parts of the country
in which they are most numerous. Like other nocturnal ftniwiala^ which
pass the greater part of their lives in sleeping and eating, they become
exceedingly fat, and their flesh is consiaerMl to be a wholesome and
palatable food. The hind-quarters, particularly when out into hams
and dried, are held in great esteem.
AARD-WOLF {Protdet, Is. Geof.), in Zoology, a genus of digitigrade
carnivorous mammals, founded by M. Isidore Qeoffiroy St. Hilaire, for
the purpose of giving a place to a new and singular quadruped brought
some ^ears ago from Cafiraria by the traveller Delalande. This
genus IS interesting to the zoologist, as forming the intermediate link
which connects the civets with the dogs and hysenas — ^three genera
which have hitherto stood, as it were, insulated from surrounding
groups, and widely separated from one another. The dogs and hyaanas,
indeed, had been united a short time previous, by the discovery of an
intermediate species in the same locality which has since produced the
Ptoteles; but it is this latter species alone, which, utdtmg the cha-
racters of all these three genera, enables us to trace their natural
affinities, and to assign to th^m their proper position in the scale of
existence.
To the external appearance and osteological structure of an hysena
this truly singular animal unites the head and feet of a fox, and
the intestines of a civet. lU teeth are remarki^ble : the permanent
canines are tolerably lai:ge,'but the" molars are small, and separated
by intervals. It has five toes on the fore feet, and four only on the
hind ; the innermost toe of the fore foot is placed, as in the dogs, at
some distance above the others, and therefore never touches the ground
when the animal stands or walks. The legs also are completely digiti-
grade ; that is to say, the heel is elevated, and does not come into
oontact with the surface, as in man and other similarly formed animals,
which walk upon the whole sole of the foot, and are thence said to be
plantigrade. It is of great importance to remark the difference between
these two modifications of the locomotive organs, because they have a
very decided and extraordinary influence upon the habits and economy
of animal life. Digitigrade animate, whidi tread only upon the toes,
and carry the heel considerably elevated above the ground, have much
longer legs than plai^tigrade animals, and are, therefore, espedally
fitted for leaping and running with great ease and rapidity. Accord-
ingly, it wiU be observed that the horse, the stag, itie antelope, the
dog, and other animala remarkable for rapidity of course, partake
strongly of this formation ; and even tiieir degree of swiftness is accu-
rately measured by the comparative elevation of the heeL Inattentive
observers sometimes misapprehend the nature of this peculiar con-
formation of the extremities of digitigrade animals, and are apt to
confound the hough with the ankle, azid to mistake for the knee what
is really the heel of the animal Thus we have heard it said that> in
the hind legs of the horse, the knee was bent in a contrary direction
io that of man. This is bv no means true : a little attention to the
viccession of the different joints and articulationfl^ iriU show that what
is called the cannon-bone in the horse, and other digitigrade animals,
in reality corresponds to the instep in man ; and that what is generally
mistaken for the knee really represents the heeL
In the particular case of the ProteUs the natural effect of the digiti-
grade formation is, in some degree, lessened by the pec\iliar structure
of the fore legs, which, contrary to the general rule observable in most
other animals, are considerably longer than the hind. In this respect,
also, the Protelea resembles the hyeenas ; and in both genera this
singular disproportion between the anterior and posterior extremities
abridges the velocity properly due to their digitigrade conformation.
This genus contains but a single speciea
Aard.Wolf {Ptrotele$ LaUmdii^
The Aard-Wdlf, or Earth-Wolf (Protdea LaJUmdii, Is. Geof. ; Viverra
cristatat Sparr.), is so called by the European colonists in the neighbour-
hood of Al^oa Bay, in South Africa, tiie locality in which M. Delalande
procured his specimens of this animal. The size of the aard-wolf is
about that of a fWl-grown fox, which it further resembles in its pointed
muzzle ; but it stands higher upon its legs, its ears are considerably
lai^r and more naked, and its tail shorter and not so bushy. At first
sight it might be easily mistaken for a young striped hysena^ so closely
does it resemble that animal in the colours and peculiar markings of
its fiir, and in the mane of long stiff hair which runs along the neck
and back ; indeed, it is only to be distinguished by its more pointed
head, and by the additional fifth toe of the fore feet. The fur is of a
woolly texture on the sides and belly, but a mane of coarse stiff hair,
six or seven inches in length, passes along the nape of the neck and
back, from the occiput to the origin of the tail, and is capable of being
erected or bristled up, like that of the hyaena, when the animal is
irritated or provoked. The general colour of the fur is pale cinereous
(ash-coloured), with a slight shade of yellowish brown ; the muzzle is
black and almost naked, or covered only with a few long stiff mous-
taches. Around the eyes, and on each side of the neck, are dark
brown marks ; eight or ten bands of the same colour pass over the body
in a transverse direction, exactly as in the common striped hysana ;
and the arms and thighs are likewise marked with similar transverse
stripes. The legs and feet are of an uniform dark brown in front,
and gray behind. The long hairs of the mane are gray, with two
broad rings of black, the second of which occupies the point ; those
of the tail are similarly marked, and equally long and stiff; whence
it appears as if the mane and tail were clouded with an alternate
mixture of black and gray. The ears are gray on the interior surface;,
and dark brown on the outer.
In its habits and manners the aard-wolf resembles the fox : like
that <^y>iTnft.1, it is nocturnal, and constructs a subterraneous burrow,
at the bottom of which it lies concealed during the daytime, and only
ventures abroad on the approach of night, to search for food and satisfy
the other calls of nature. It is fond of the society of its own species ;
at least, many individuals have been found residing together in the
same burrow ; and, as they are of a timid and wai^ character, they
have generally three or four different entrances to their holes ; so tiiat,
if attacked on one side, they may secure a retreat in an opposite direc-
tion. Notwithstanding the disproportionate length of their fore legs,
they are said to run very fast ; and so strong is their propensity to
burrow, that one of M. Delalande's specimens, perceiving itself about
to be run down and captured, immediately ceased its flight, and began
to scratch up the ground, as if with the intention of making a new
earth.
M. Isidore Geoflfroy St. Hilaire has bestowed upon this species the
name of ProUles Laiandiif but Sparrman and Levaillant mentioned
the aard-wolf long before the date of M. Delalande's journey ; and
the former has not only described it with tolerable accuracy, but has
even ascertained its true generic characters. (Sparrman's ' Travels,'
vol ii, p. 177.)
In the ' Second Voyage' of Levaillant, vol ii, p. 860, mentiop is
likewise made of this animal under the appellation of * Loup de Terre,
which is a simple translation of its colonial name, aard-wol£
Sparrman mentions having found ants in the stomach of the Prddeif
Digitized by
Google
6 ABDdfEK.
and these inaocta, it may be obaerred, are also a faTourite food of
the bear.
ABDOMEN, the Bdly, finom abdo, to hide, becauBe it oonoeals or
hides its oont6iit& The last syllable is only a termination. The
Lower Bdly, Itrnu Venter, Alvus, Gutter, &c. ko., are synonymouBL
The human body is divided by anatomists into three portions — ^the
oead, the trank, and the eztremitiee. The head and trunk enclose
cavities which contain the organs or the instruments by which the
most important functions of the living body are performed. The trunk
forms two cavities, the superior of which is termed the Thorax or
• Chest, and the lower constitutes the Abdomen.
In the artificial skeleton nothing is shown, because nothing remains
except the mere framework of we body, or the bones ; but in the
natural state, when the soft parts remain as well as the bones, there
is a complete partition between the cavity of the chest and that of the
abdomen {jig, L, 1, 2). This partition is effected by means of an organ
which is termed the Diaphragm (Jig. L, 1, 2), a name derived from a
Qreek word signifying to divide. The dif^hragm is composed partly
of membrane, but chiefly of muscle (Fig. IL) It is placed transversely
across the trunk at about its
middle portion, dividing it
into two pretty nearly equal
halves (Pig. L) But the dii^
phragm is a moveable body ;
it is, in £EUjt, one of the main
ofgans of respiration : its chief
function consists in alternately
increasing and fiitninijihiTig the
capacity of the thorax and
abdomen, for the purpose of
respiration. But since tne very
partition which separates these
two cavities from each other is I
perpetually changing its rela-
tive position — ^nowencroaching
upon the one, and now upon 2 •
the other — ^it is obvious &at
their natural ci^Muaty must be
constantly varymg.
The cavity of tibe abdomen
is bounded above by the
dii^hragm (Fig. L, 1,2), below
by the bones of the Pelvii or
basin (Fig. L, 3, 3), which
may be considered as belonging
to the bones of the lower ex-
tremities, before and at the
sidesby the abdominal muscles,
behind partly by the muscles
of the loins, and partly by the
bone of the spin& The Spine Fio. I.
is composed of a number of
separate bones, each of which is termed a Vertebra. The vertebrsd are
finnly united together, and by their union form what is commonly
called the back-bone, termed by anatomists the Spinal Column, or the
Vertebral Column.
The cavity of the abdomen is lined throughout by a thin, but dense,
finn, and strong membrane, termed the Peritoneum, from a Greek
word signifying to extend aroimd.
We have thus spoken of the abdomen as a cavity, but without
explanation this mode of expression may occasion misconception.
During the state of life there is
no cavity. The abdomen is always
completely full Ithas been stated
that the diaphragm alternately
enlarges and diminishes the space
proper to the abdomen; but the J
abdominal and lumbar muscles, |
which form so large a part of the I
boundaries of the abdomen in \
front, at the sides and behind, in
like manner, alternately contract
and relax. The consequence is,
that a firm and uniform pressure
is at all times maintained upon
the whole contents of the abdo-
men, so that there is always the
most exact adaptation of the con-
taining to the contamed parts, yiq. II.— DUphragm, remored ftromitu
and of the viscera one to the natural situation between the Chest
other, not the slightest space or and Abdomen,
cavity ever intervening, either
between the walls of the abdomen and its viscera, or between one
viseus and anothen By the cavity of the abdomen, therefore, is not
meant what the expressioii might at first view seem to denote, namely,
avoid or emp^ space; but the term is merdy employed to mark
the extent of the boundary within which the abdominal viscera are
ABDOMINALEa 6
The abdomen, for practical purposes, is artificially mapped out into
the fallowing regions.
Two imaginary lines are drawn across the abdomen, one of which
is supposed to extend from about the seventh rib on one side to the
Mime poiat on the opposite side (Fig. III., 1, 1). The second line is
supposed to extend f^m the fore part of ihe lurge bone of the pelvis
to the same projecting point on the other side (2, 2). These lines mark^
out three large and distinct spaces (8, 4, 5). The space above the
upper line is termed the Epigastric Region (8). The space below the
lower line is termed the Hypogastric I&gion (5). The space included
between the two lines is termed the Umbilical Region (4).
Two lines are next supposed to extend verticallv, one on each side,
from between the seventh rib to the prominence formed by the large
bone of the pelvis (Fig. III., 6, 6). By these vertical lines the three first
regions are still further
subdivided in the follow-
ing manner : — The right
and left parts of the
Epigastric Region form
two distinct regions (7,7) ;
these are termed theright
and left Hypochondriac
Regions (7, 7); while the
oentral part retains the
name 01 the Epigastric
Region (8). In like man-
ner the right and left
parts of the Umbilical
Region form two distinct
regions (8, 8), which are
termed the Lumbar Re-
gions (8, 8), while the
central part retains the
name of the Umbilical
Region (4). Moreover,
the right and left parts of
the Hypogastric Kegion
are at the same time each
divided into two, which
are termed the Iliac Re-
gions (9, 9), while the
central part is termed the
Region of the Pubis (5).
The term Abdomen,
as applied by entomolo* p^^ j^j^
gists to Insects, has a ' '
somewhat different signification from the same term when applied
to other animals, being u^ for the whole portion of the body
of an insect belund the corselet (tJwrax), and mcluding the back as
well as the belly. It consijBts, in most cases, of a number of rings
without any jointed members for locomotion, and uniformly encloses
a portion of the intestines, though sometimes but a very small one.
These rings, or very short hollow cylinders, are severally united with
each other by a joint, by a membrane, or sometimes by an intimate
junction, the exact line of which is not very apparent. The rings in
some cases, as in the grub of the chameleon-fly, slide into one another
like the tubes of an opera^lass. Each ring is technically termed a
segment (tegmentum), virtually composed of two principal pieces, which,
when distinct, are termed arches ; the upper the arch of the back, the
under the ardi of the belly. In some cases these two portions are not
distinct, but, when they are so, the two borders usually come into
contact When they do not, but remain free, one usually, more or
less over^ps the other, as in bees. In caterpillars, grubs, and wingless
insects, such as the flea, where the joining of the corselet with the
abdomen is not apparent, the abdomen may always be known by the
legs never being jointed with it ; and in caterpillars it usually consists
of all the body behind the six fore legs^ which are always on the
corselet
ABDOMINALES, in Zoology, the name of a group of fishes, to which
different naturalists have attached a more or less extensive signification,
Salmon, glTen as a spedmen of the fiunily of Abdominalea.
according to the particular principles of their several systems. The
classification of fishes given by LinnsBua is founded qpon the presence
and position of the ventral fins (thoee of the belly) in relation to the
Digitized by
Google
ABELS TREE.
1
ABIES.
peetoral (those of the breast) ; and these he regards as analogous to
the fore and hind members of quadmpeds, and to the wings and feet
of birds. Linnaus includes, in his order Abdominales, all those species
which have the ventral fins plaoed behind the pectoral, or upon the
abdomen, the cartilaginous fishes alone excepted; which, i^rthe
example of Bay, Willoughby, and Artedi, he very properly considers
as forming an order apart This arrangement is not now genmdly
adopted, but the term AhdomindUs denotes a family, or suMi vision,
of malacopterygious (or soft-finned) fishes, only ; and, in this restricted
sense, includes the g^reater number of the fresh-water species, as wdl
as those which, like the salmon, periodically migrate from the ocean
to deposit their spawn in fresh-water lakes and rivers. M. Cuvier
subdivides this family into five subordinate groups, all of which he
has defined by appropriate and imequivocal characters. He denomi-
nates these sub-families, Cyprinoldes, SUuroldea, SaUnonoUkSf Clupeoldea,
and Ludolda respectively, from the carps, silures, salmonai, herrings,
and pikes, the typical genera from which their characters are severally
taken.
ABELE TREE, in Botany, the English name of the PopuUu alba,
[POFULUa.1
ABELMOSCHUS^ in Botany, a genus of the Mallow tribe^ usually
referred to H%bi»cus. [Hibiscus.]
ABERDEVINE (Cardudis spinus, Cuvier; FringUla ligurina,
Ranzani), sometimes called the Siskin, a well-known song-bird,
which has some resemblance to the green variety of the canary-
bird, but there is considerable difierenoe in individual birds with
respect to the brightness of colouring. The colours of the male
in fill plumage are as follows : top of the head, black ; ear coverts,
Aberdevine, or Siskin (OardwlU tpmus),
dusky; a line above the ey^ ; sides of neck, throat, and chest, lemon
yellow ; back and shoulders, dark olive green, with obscure dusky
dashes; qnins, brown, with an oblique yellow bar and another
above, produced by the yellow edging of the greater coverts ; flanks,
dusky, vnth a few brown dashes; rump, yellow, slightly washed
with green ; two middle tail feathers, dark brown, the rest yellow,
tipped with brown ; bill and legs, brown colour. Length, ii inches.
Ta&, short and forked The plumage of the female is less bright and
decidedlv marked
Sepp has delineated the nest of the aberdevine in the deft of an
oak, built with dry bent mixed with leaves, and profusely lined with
fealJlers ; the base neatly rounded, and the feathers projecting above
the rim, and concealing the eggs, which .are blueish-white, speckled
with purplish red, like those of the goldfinch. Temminck, again,
says it biulds in the highest branches of the pine.
It breeds in the north of Europe, and only visits Britain, (Germany,
and France in the autumn and winter. It is represented in some
books as very irregular in its migration, particularly to this country;
but we suspect that this opinion has arisen from irregular obser-
vation, for, since our attention has been directed to the subject, we
have remarked its arrival about Lee, in Kent, to be almost as regular
as the departure of the swallows, which takes place about the same
time. During its winter stay with us, the aberdevine feeds chiefly on
the seeds of the birch and alder.
As a cage-bird it is frequently paired with the canary, to produce
what are turned mule-birds ; but it is, besides, a livdy and persevering
songster.
ABIES, in Botany (the Fir), a genus of trees of the Coniferous tribe,
well-known for the valuable timber which is produced by many of the
spedes. It was formerly considered a part of the genus Pinut ; but
modem botanists have made it a distinct genuQ. The English appd-
lation is the Saxon /icrA-w^ic^ fir-wood,
Oen&ic Character.
Flowers monosdous.
Malet. Catkins simple, solitary, terminal, or axillary. Stamens
obtuse, and often callous at the apex, terminated by a jagged
membrane.
FemaUt. Catkins somewhat cylindrical ; their scales two-flowered,
imbricated, and having frequently at their base externally a bractea,
which is either very short or lengthened beyond the scales themselves,
and terminated by a taper point.
Cones more or less cylindrical ; the scales imbricated and woody,
but not thickened at the extremity; seeds ending in a membra-
nous wing.
Embryo about the length of the seed, with several dosely-packed
ootyledons.
Trees of various sises, usually with a straight, conical, undivided
trunk, from which proceed spreading, horizontal, or drooping branches,
arranged in a pyramidal manner. Leaves either solitary, or collected
in little fascicles, deciduous or evergreen.
From Pinui (the Pine-Tree) Abies (the Fir-Tree) is obvioudy
disting^shed by its more pyramidal form, and br its leaves arising
singly from aroxmd the stosi, not by twos or threes, or a greater
number, from out of a membranous shrivelling sheath, as well as by
the characters in the fructification above described Its species form
four very natural tribes, of the first of whidi, the Silver Fir may be
taken as the representative ; of the second, the Norway Spruce ; of the
third, the Larch ; and of the fourth, the Cedar of Lebanon. As most
of these are interesting, either for the excellence of their wood or as
objects of ornament, we shall briefly notice those that are at present
best known. Those who wish for further information should consult
Mr. Lambert's 'Monograph of the Genus Pinus,' L. C. Richard's
' Mdmoire sur les Conif^res,' Michaux's ' Histoire des Arbres Forestiers
de I'Am^rique Septentrionale,' Loudon's 'Arboretum et Fruticetum
Brxtannicum.'
Sect. I. — Silyer Fibs.
Zeave$ growing tingly rov/nd the branchet, and aU twned towarde
one tide.
Abies PiceOf the Silver Fir (Abies pectinata, De Candolle; Pinus
Picea, Linxueus). Leaves arranged like the teeth of a comb, some-
what emaiginate, of a whitish colour imdemeath. Cones erect,
with very blunt closely-pressed scales, which are much shorter than
the taper-pointed inflexed bracts. It is a native of the mountains of
Silver Fir {AInes Picea).
the middle and south of Europe, in stony, dry, exposed ntuations.
Its favourite district seems to be on the Pollino and in the forest of
Rubia, in the kingdom of Naples, where it is found in all its grandeur,
often growmg from 180 to 150 feet in height, and richly meriting the
name putcherrima (most beautiful), appli^l to it by, VijqgiL This tree
is readily, known by its leaves having their points all turned towards
the sky, and being mealy undemeatib, as well as by its long, erect,
stalkless cones, of a greenish-purple colour, bristling with reflexed
taper points of the bracts that subtend the scales. It is the Sapim
Digitized by
Google
ABIES.
ABIES.
10
of the French. Planks of indifferent quality, on account of their
Bofbieaa, are sawn from its tnmk, which also yields Burgundy pitch
and Strasbui^g turpentine. For its successful cultivation in this
country it requires strong land, such as wiU suit the oak, and a
sheltOTed situation ; it will then become a very lai^ tree. From a
communication to Mr. Lambert^ it appears that trees hav&been felled
which, at 100 years of age, contained six loads, or 240 cubic feet, of
timber. It is said by some to grow slowly for the first fifteen years,
but afterwards with great rapidity. A plant in Wobum Park is
recorded to have grown for 110 3^ears at the rate of one foot in height
and nearly three and a half cubic feet per annum. Its trunk some-
times arrives at 150 feet in height^ and six feet in diameter.
Antiquarians, not considering that this plant is the real Abiet
jmUA/errima of Virgil, and of the Roman authors, have lost themselves
in vain attempts to reconcile the declaration of Csesar (' De BeL Gal,'
v. 12), that he found in Britain all the trees of Gkul, except the beech
and abies,' with the well-known fact that fir-wood is abundant in our
ancient mosses, and has been met with even beneath the foundations
of Roman roads. What Csesar meant was, no doubt» that he did not
meet with the silver fir in Britain. Of the pine he says nothing, and
therefore it is to be presumed that he found it. ^
Abies Sibirxca, the Siberian Silver Fir (Pinus Sihirica and Pinut
Pickia of the gardens). Scarcely anything certain has been pub-
lished of this tree, which, according ,to Linnaeus, Mr. Lambert^ and
others, is Uie same as the Abies pieea. Gmelin describes it as a native
of aU parts of Siberia as far as 58** N. lat. in mountainous regions,
especially in the upper country lying between the Irtish and the Ob,
where it forms dense woods.
Abies grandiSf Great Califomian Fir (Pmus grcmdis, Douglas and
Lambert). Leaves long, narrow, very blunt, whitish beneath, all
turned one way. Cones oblong, erect, rather curved, with very broad,
uneven, downv scales, which are longer than the bractese. Found, by
Mr. Douglas, m low moist valleys m northern California, where it
attains the height of 200 feet The wood is soft, white, and of inferior
quality. Cones from three to four inches long ; bracts very shorty
jagged, two-lobed, with a short intermediate point.
Abies baUamea, the Balm of Gilead Fir {Abtes balsamifira, Michaux ;
Pimu baUamea, Lambert). Leaves flat, silvery-white beneath, either
emaiginate or entire at the point, all curved towards the upper side.
Cones cylindrical, oblong, erect, purple, with rounded, even, undi-
vided soalee. Found, along with Abies nigra and Abies alba, in the
coldest parts of NorUi iijnerica, but fdways in detaphed indivi-
duals, never in large masses. It extends also along the ridge of the
Alloghaniee as far as the crests of the mountains of North Carolina.
It forms a small slender tree, rarely more than iO feet high, with a
diameter of from 12 to 15 inches. The cones are four to flve inches
long, and about an inch in -diameter. ' Its wood is lights of a pale
yellow oolour, and but slightly resinous ; it is of litUe value, and is
chiefly split up into staves for fish-barrels. The English name has
been given in consequence of a resemblance between the clear trans-
parent greenish-yellow turpentine, which is obtained from numerous
cysts in its bark, and the Balm of Gilead of the shops. The turpentine
is commonly known under the name of Canadian Bajsam. In
England this is a small tree of very ornamental appearance when
young; on the skirts of plantations, but it rarely acquires any
considerable sixe.
Abies nobilis, Large-Bracted Fir {Pinus nobilis, Douglas and Lam-
bert). Leaves very numerous, falcate, all turned one way, of
nearly the same colour on both sides. Cones oblong, erect, with
rounded brood scales concealed by the long wedgeHBhapied two-lobed
jagged scales, which are bent back, and terminate abruptly in a rigid
elongated point. It is a majestic tree, forming vast forests upon the
mountains of northern California, where it was found by Mr. Douglas.
The timber is said to be of excellent quality. The cones are about
six inches long.
Abies Fhttefi, the Double Balsam Fir {Pinus Frateri, Pursh and
Lambert). Leaves linear, emarginate, silvery-white beneath. . Cones
oblong, squarrose. Bracts somewhat leafy, inversely cordate, mucronate,
reflexed. A native of the mountains of Carolina and Pennsylvania. .
Abies Webbiana, Webb's Fir {Pinus WObicma, Wallich and Lam-
bert; Pinus spedabilis, Lambert). Leaves linear, solitary, flat> all-
spreading, and turned one way, silvery-white beneath, with a deep
notch at the extremity. Cones oblong, erect^ obtuse, with very broad,
rounded, even scales. According to the account of Captain Webb,
who first discovered it^ this remarkable species attains the height of
80 or 90 feet, with a diameter near the groxmd of $ or i feet. Its
wood seems to be valuable. From what has been reported of its
general appearance, it is probably one of the most interesting species
that has yet been discovered. Inhabiting the colder regions of northern
India, and found among plants which are more Siberian in their
character than Indian, there can be no reasonable doubt of its being
well able to withstand the rigour of the winters of this country.
Abies Oanadentis, the Henuock Spruce Fir (Michaux ; Pifnus Cana-
densis, Lambert). Leaves flat, arranged irregularly in two. rows;
when young downy, as well as the young slender branches. ' Cones
veiy small, ovate, sharp-pointed, with rather acute, even, entire scales :
seeds very smalL — The most northerly situation in which this tree is
found 10 about Hudson's Bay, in lat 51**. Near Quebec it forms
extensive forests ; in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Vermont, and the
upper part of New Hampshire, it is extremely common ; but in the
middle and southern states of North America it is confined to the
Alleghanies and their dependent ridges, where it inhabits the sides of
torrents and the bleakest situations. It is a noble enpecies, rising to
the height of 70 or 80 feet, and measuring from 2 to 3 feet in diameter.
It appears to be of slow growth, not arriving at its full dimensions in
less than 200 years. When from 25 to 80 feet high its form is exceed-
ingly elegant, but when old its huge limbs are apt to be rent and
broken \fj winds and snow ; and their naked stumps, sticking out
beyond the young and verdant foliajro, give the trees an air of decre-
pitude and decay. The wood is of little value, being neither sound
nor durable. The bark is valuable for tanning ; mixed with oak-bark,
it is said to be much better than oak-bark alone.
Abies Brwnoniana, the Deciduous Silver Fir (PiMU Brwrwniana,
Wallich ; P. dwmosa, Lambert). Leaves fiat, all turned
oneway, serrulate towards the points, covered beneath
with a miUL-white bloom. Cones terminal, erect^
ovate, blunt> very small, with lax, ovate, very blunt
scales. — ^Fbund in the northern parts of India in the
provinces of Nepaul, Bootan, and Gossain Than. It
IS a tree 70 or 80 feet high, with a clear trunk of
from 15 to 20 feet, and a spreading very branchy
head. The wood is of bad quality, bdng liable to
waxp.
Abia reUgiosa, the Sacred Mexican Fir (Pinus
reUgiosa, Humboldt and Kunth). Toung branches
quite smootii. Leaves arranged in two rows, sharp- Cone of it Brmo^
pointed, covered beneath with a glaucous bloom. nimCa.
Found by Humboldt, on the lower hiUs of Mexico, at an elevation
of iOOO feet Deppe and Schiede found it upon the oold moun-
tains of Orisaba, at the highest limit of arborescent vegetation. It
is described as a lofty tree, reMmhMng Abies picea and Abies balsamea,
frx>m which it is distinguished by its shisurp-pointed leaves. The flowers
are unknown. The branches are used for adorning the churches in
Mexico. According to Mr. Lambert, the cones are like those of the
cedar of Lebanon, but smaller, and almost black.
Abies htrteUa, the Hairy Fir {Pinus hirtdla, Humboldt and Kunth).
Young branches covered with hairs. Leaves arranged in two
rows, flat> acute, covered with glaucous bloom beneatL Known
only from the incomplete account*of Humboldt, who found it on the
mountains of Mexico, growing at an elevation of between 8000 and
9000 feet He describes it atf a small tree, three or four times as high
asaman.
Abies Smithiana, the Indian Silver Fir {Pinus Smithianei, Wallich).
Leaves slender, foiu>comered, whitish beneath, a little turned towards
one side, dark green, from one
inch to one .and a half long: Cones
from four to six laches in length,
erect, ovate-oblong, with obovate,
rounded, even scales. A native of the
slopes of the HimalayaMoimtains. It
is a tree of enormous size, with nearly
opposite branches, covered with short
down, and so arranged as to form
generally two rows.
Sbot. IL— Spbuob Firs.
Leaves gromng singly round the
branches, and aU spreading equally,
Abies exedsa, the Norway Spruce
Fir (De Candolle; Pinus abies, Lin-
nseus). Leaves scattered, some-
what four-cornered, mucronate.
Cones cylindrical, pendulous, with
blunt^ wavy, slightly-toothed scales.
It is a native of the mountainous
parts of the north of Europe, where
it sometimes constitutes, as in Nor-
way, the principal timber. It is
found all over Siberia as high as 70°
N. lat, in which region it is a certain
sign of the presence of springs of
fresh water, for it is only seen in
moist and springy places. When
growing singly in rich soil, separated
from other trees, this forms one of
the most beautifiil objects that can
be imagined, with its long drooping
branches touching the very ground. Gone of the Indian SilTer Fir.
and its regularly pyramidal figure :'
but in other situations, in plantations where the trees are crowded
and deprived of their lower branches by want of light and air, it
becomes, after nine or ten years, an inelegant plant of little value
except to be cujb for poles. When in perfection (and occasionally
it %rrives at its greatest perfection in this country), it acquires a
stature of 150 feet Its wood is of a white oolour, of a fine eveo
Digitized by
Google
11
ABIEa
AUTTM.
11
grain, and yeiy durable : in the market it is known under the name
of White Deal or Christiama Deal In Norway it arriyes at maturity
in 70 or 80 years. Trees of such an age are what are usually out
down for exportation, tmd each yields on an average three pieces of
elasticity. It ib employed for the yards of ships ; and in America^ in
districts where the oak is scarce, also for their knees ; floors are
occasionally laid with it^ but it is not well adapted for this usage, as
the planks are apt to split. From its young branches is extracted the
Essence of Spruce, so well known as a useful antiscorbutic in long
yoyages. According to Mr. Lambert, the curious Dwarf Spruce, called
Pinut elambrcuUiana, is probably a yarieinr of Alnet fidgrck
Abiet DouglaiU, the Douglas Fir {Piim» tcue^oUa, Lambert;
Pimu JhvgUuU), Leayes spreading equally, de^ green, whitish
beneath, obtuse. Cones cemuous, oyate-oblong, with rather uneyen
cartilaginous scales, much shorter than the bracts, which are three-
toothed, the lateral teeth bein^ membranous, with the intermediate
ones much longer and more n^d. According to Mr. Douglas, the
disooyerer of this gigantic spemes, it is found in immense forests in
North-West America from 49^ to 52" N. lat The trunks yazy from
two to ten feet in diameter, and from 100 to 180 feet in height.
Occasionally it arriyes at still greater dimensions. It is an eyeigreen
tree, with an erect taper trunk, which when old is ooyered with a
rugged bark from six to nine inches thick, abounding in a dear
yellow resin, and making excellent f ueL The young branches have
their bark filled with receptacles of resin, as in theBalm of Qilead.
Norway Spruce Fir {Abiea exeelsa).
timber, eleyen or twelye feet long. The Spruce is readily known by
its leaves of one uniform dull green colour, spread equally roimd the
branches, and by its long pendant cones.
Ahia orierUalu, the Oriental f^ (Pinus orieniaUa, liinnfisus and
Lambert). Leaves very short, uniformly imbricated, quadrang^ular,
with a callous point Cones ovate, cyUndrioal, pendulous, their
scales somewhat rhomboid. To botanists this is luiown chiefly by
a figure published by Mr. Lambert after a drawing by Aubriet, the
draughtsman who accompanied Toumefort in his journey to the
Levant It was found by that traveller in the mountains south-east
of Trebisond, above the convent of St John. It has been subsequently
met with by Russian botanists in the woods of Mingrelia, and was
seen near Teflis by Sir Gore Ouseley ; but little has been added to
our knowledge of the species. The young branches are said to be
hairy. The leaves are very short and dense. The cones are small
and pendulous, of an ovate, tapering figure.
Abie$ alba, the White Spruce Fir (Michaux; Pinua alba, Lam-
bert). Leaves rather glaucous, spreading equally round the branches,
four-cornered, somewhat pungent Cones narrow, oval, tapering
towards the point, with even undivided scales. Found along with
Abies nigra in the colder regions of North America. Accordmg to
Michaux it does not advance so far to the northward as that species,
from which it is known not only by its smaller sise, the trunks rarely
exceeding 40 or 50 feet in height but also by the bluish oast which
characterises the foliage, and which gives it a much lighter appearance
than the sombre Abtea nigra. Dr. Richardson, however, states that
it was the most northerly tree observed in Franklin's first Polar
Journey. The timber is of inferior quality. fVom tJie fibres of the
root, macerated in water, the Canadian Indians prepare the thread
with which they sew together the birch-baik that forms their canoes.
Its resin is also used to render the seams water-tight The bark is
said to be occasionally used for tanning.
Abiet nigra, the Black Spruce Fir (Michaux; Pityv* nigra and
rubra, Lambert). Leaves spreading equally round the stem, short,
four-cornered. Cones ovate-oblong, obtuse, with ragged rounded
scales. It is a native of the most indement regions of North America,
especially iu swampy situations snd in the yalleys between ridges of
low hills, where the soil is deep, black, and humid In such situations
are found the finest forests of this species, and there, although the
trees are fo crowded together as often not to be more than four or
five feet apart, the timber arrives at the height of 70 or 80 feet, with
a diameter of from 15 to 20 inches. The firs in the Isndscapes of
northeiTi scenery illustrating Franklin's first ' Polar Expedition ' are
of this spedes, which, however, Dr. Richardson did not observe
higher than 65** N. lat The trunk is remarkable for the perfect regu-
larity with which it diminishes ttom the base upwards. The head is
of a regularly pyramidal figure, the branches spreading almost horizon-
tally, and not inclining towards the earth, as in the Norway Spmce.
The timber is of great value, on account of its strength, lightness, and
Cone of DoQglas Fir.
The timber is heavy, firm, of as deep a colour as yew, with very
few knots, and not in the least liable to warp. The growth is exceed-
ingly rapid.
A considerable number of plants of this important spedes are now
scattered among the parks and woods of this country, some hundreds
having been raised and distributed by the Horticultural Sodety ; it
appears to suit this climate perfectly, and to be likdy to prove more
valuable than even the larch itself, bemg evergreen, end fully as hardy.
Ahie» Mendedi, the Mensies Fir (Pivmi Metmetii, Douglas and
Lambert). Leaves very short, rig^d, rather sharp-pointed, whitish
beneath, spreading reg^arly roimd the stem, very dedduous. Cones
oblong, composed of very lax, ragged, retuse, ovate, thin scales, much
longer than the narrow, serrated, concealed bracten. Buds ovate,
acute, covered with resin. It is a native of Northern California, where
it was found by Mr. Douglas, who describes the wood as being of
excellent quality.
Sect. III.— Larohb.
Leanset growing in clusUrt ; deciduout, •
By some botanists this section is considered essentially different
from Abies; but the want of any dear diBtinctive characters, either
in the mode of growth or the oigans of fructification, induces us to
concur with Linnrous, Jussieu, and Richard, in considering the Larch
as belonging to the same genus as the Spruce. The leaves of the
former are dustered or fasdculated, meidy in consequence of the
imiversal non-development of lateral branches; so that the leaves
themselves make their appearance without a perceptible central axis.
This is proved not only in the Cedar of Lebanon, but even in the
Larch itself, by numerous cases where the branches being less abortive
than usual, lengthen enough to display their real nature.
Abies Larix, Richard ; the Common Larch Fir (Pinm Ixmx, Lin-
nssus; Lairix Ewropofa, De Candolle). Leaves clustered, dedduous.
Cones ovate-oblong, blunt It is a native of the mountains of the
middle of Europe, of Russia, and of Siberia. In the latter country it
is the commonest of all trees, delighting in dry elevated situations,
where it forms vast forests, sparingly intermixed with pines. Its
trunk grows very erect, with graceful drooping branches, gradually
diminishing from the base to the apex, and giving it a regularly
pyramidal form. In the spring, when its young leaves have just burst
into Ufe, it has a peculiar bright yellowish-green tint, which is possessed
by no other tree of our foresla. The Larch has been now for many
Digitized by
Google
IS
ABIBS.
ABIEa
ymn extennyely oiiltiT»tod upon barren exposed Imd, both in England
and Scotland, and it has been found one of the nkost profitable of all
trees to the planter, provided the land be well drained ; but it will
not Buooeed in swampy situations. It grows with great rapidity, is
subject to yery few accidents, transplants with but litUe risk, and
iroduoes timber of great excellence imd value, not only for domestic
it for naval puiposes. In moimtainous districts in Scotland the
bui
14
thickened at the margin. Hount Lebanon and the range of Taurus
are the native spots of this most stately and magnificent tree, which
compensates for its want of height by its huge wideHq>reading arms,
each of which is almost a tree in itsdf. According to Labillurdiire,
a French traveller in Syria, the largest of those now remaining on
Lebanon is at least nine feet in duoneter. The trees are held in
great veneration, and a holiday is set apart for the Feast of Cedars.
Its growth is far from being so slow as some imagine ; on the oon-
trary, the observations of those who have cultivated it with care prove
that it will vie in rapidity of growth with almost any forest tree.
Cedar^wood has the reputation of being indestructible; instances
have been named of its having been taken from buildings uninjured
after a lapse of two thousand years. But it appears highly probable,
from some interesting observations made at Tangier by lir. Druxnmond
The Larch {AhUa Larix).
Duke of Athol has planted it in immense quantities ; and it ajipearB,
from a report of that nobleman to the Horticultural Socie^, that in
situations 1500 to 1600 feet above the level of the sea, he has felled trees,
eighty years old, which have each yieldedsix loads of the finest timber.
From the boiled inner bark, mixed with nre-flour and afterwards
buried for a few hours in the snow, the hardy Siberian hunters
prepare a sort of leaven, with which they supply the place of common
leaven when the latter is destroyed, as it fre(^uently is, by the intense
oold to which hunters are exposed in the punuit of game.
The bark of the Larch is nearly as valuable to the tanner as oak-bark ;
it also produces the substance called Venice turpentine, which flows in
abundance when the lower part of tne trunk ox old trees is wounded.
A sort of manna, called Brian9on Manna, is exuded from its leaves
in the form of a white fiooeulent substance, which finally becomes
concreted into small lumps.
It is believed that this species was the frlrvs of the ancient Qreeks.
The orig^ of the more modem word larix is uncertain.
Ahia miicroearpa, the Bed Larch Fir (Pinus microcarpa, Lam-
bert). Leaves clustered, deciduous. Conesoblong, small; their scales
erect, dose-pressed, the upper ones much smaUer than the lower.
This is a graceful tree, with much of the habit of the common Larch,
from whidi its very small cones, of a bright purple in the summer,
readily distinguish it It is a native of Korth America. This tree is
by no means so well adapted to the planter^s purposes as the common
Larch, growing very much smaller. The wood is so heavy that it will
scarcely swim in water.
Abie$ pendula, the Black Larch Fir (Pmus pendula, Lambert).
Leaves clustered, deciduous. Conesoblong, with numerous spreading
scales, which gradually diminish from the base to the apex of tne cones.
Branches weak and drooping. It is a native of North America, where
it is found growing in a rich clay soil, mixed with sand, in cold
mountainous districts. When cultivated in this country it is an
elegant tree, having a good deal of resemblance to the common Larch,
but being of a br^hter green colour, and much more graceful. The
leading shoot will often begin to droop at the height of 16 or 20
feet horn the ground, and, after gradually acquinng a horizontal
direction, will bend towards the earth so as to form a natural arch
of great beauty. The wood is less valuable than that of the common
Larch.
Sboc it. — Cedabs.
Ahia CednUf the Cedar of Lebanon Fir (Pkim Oednu, Linnsras
and Lambert). Leaves clustered, evergreen. Cones oblong, very
obtuse^ end, with broad dosely^paokea scales, which are a little
The Cedar of Lebanon [AUes (kdrua).
Hay, that the indestructible cedar-wood iras the beautiful, hard, deep-
brown timber of Thi^a artievlata, the Sandarac Tree. The wood of
Ahie$ oednu produces deal of very indiflTerent quality.
Abiet Jkodara^ the Sacred Indian Fir {Pitim Deodaniy Lambert).
Leaves evergreen, in clusters, acute, triangular, stiff Cones
growing in pairs, stalked, oval, obtuse, erect; the scales closely
packed, veiy oroad, and nearly even at the margin. It is a native of
the mountains of Hindustan, near the town of Rohilcund, on the
mountains of Nepaul and Tibet, at a height of 10,000 or 12,000 feet,
and also in the woods of Almora. It is a large tree, with a trunk
about four feet in diameter, resembling the Cedar of Lebanon, frx>m
which it dififers in having its cones upon stalks, and its leaves longer
and more distinctly three-sided, and also in the quality of its timber.
The Hindoos are said to call it the Devadara, or God Tree, and hold
it in a sort of veneration. Its wood is extremely durable, and so
resinous that laths made of it are used for candles. Spars of it have
been taken out of Indian temples, known to have been erected from
200 to 400 years, uninjured except in those parts which originallv
were sap-wood. This tree has been extensively cultivated in Englanc^
and seems to be realising the favourable anticipations which were
formed on its first introduction.
To the species now enumerated, the following almost unknown kinds
have to be added : —
AhU$ Kmapferi (PinuM Kom/pferi, Lambert). A native of Japan,
found wild upon the mountains of Fako.
AHa TkvmbtrgU {PkMU O^wibergii, Lambert). A scarce plant
in Japan.
Ah%e$Mowi (Siebold). Found in Japan, as well as the two following.
Its wood is in great estimation for its whiteness and fine grain.
Ahiet Torano (Siebold).
Alne$ Araragi (Siebold). Wood brown ; used for various domestic
purposes.
CuUivaiiofk
The genus of resinous plants called AhUs, which we have thus
describ^ comprehend many forest trees of great importance ; and
it will be, therefore, proper to add a few remarks on their cultivation.
Some of them, such as the Larch, the Norway Spruce, the Silver Fir,
and the Balm of Gileod, are raised in the nurseries annually in the
Digitized by
Google
16
ABIETINSLS.
ABOU-HANNESL
16
open ground, in laige quantities, for the supply of our plantations ;
others, such as the Cedar of Lebanon and the Douglas Fir, are
procured in much less abundance, and are treated with more care,
being usuallj kept in pots until thej are finally committed to the
earth in the situation they may be subsequently destined to occupy.
All the species are propagated by seeds; they may also be propa-
gated both by inarching and by cuttings ; but it is found that plants
so obtained are either yeiy shortiived or stunted, unhealthy, and
incapable of becoming yigorous trees. In some of the species, such
as the Balm of Oilead and the Silver Fir, the scales of the cones readily
separate from their axis, so as to render the extraction of the seeds a
simple and easy operation ; but in others, such as the Larch and the
Spruce Fir, the scales will neither separate nor open : in such cases it
is necessary to dry the cones as mudi as possible, then to split them
by means of an instrument passed up their axis, and afterwards to
thresh the portions so separated till the seeds can be sifted out.
Like other resinous seeds, these are perishable unless sown within
a few months after the cones have been gathered; they will, however,
keep much longer in the cone than if separated ; wherefore, they should
always be imported in that state.
It IS usual m the nurseries to sow them in the spring in beds of light
soil, in which no recent manure has been mixed ; they are buried at
various depths, according to the force of the vital energy of the species.
This has been found by experience, as it is said, to be one inch deep
for the Silver Fir; half an inch for the Spruce, Balm of Oilead, and
Cedar of Lebanon; a quarter of an inch for the Larch; and lees for
the American Spruce ; it is, howisver, probable that these depths are
of veiT little importance. In order to protect the surface of the beds
from being dried while the young seeds are sprouting, it is generally
overspr^id with a thin laver of long straw, which is removed as soon
as the crop begins generally to appear. During the first season the
seedlings remain undisturbed ; the only attention they receive being
to keep them from weeds. In the following spring the young plants
are taken up carefully, and their roots, being a little shorten^ are
imbedded in rows about six inches apart, where they remain for one
or two years. After this Uiey are transplanted into quarters, in rows
a foot or nine inches apart, the plants being about six inches from
each other. Having remained in this situation for a year, they are
fit. to be transferred to the plantation, or they may stand two years
in the nursery quarters, and then be taken up and replaced in a
situation of the same kind, if circumstances should render such a
proceeding desirable. On no account, however, should they be
allowed to remain in the quarters more than two years at a time
without 4)eing taken out, of the ground, because they are apt to form
long and strong shoots, which are destroved in the process of trans-
plantation, so that the life of many must he either materially injured
or wholly sacrificed.
None of the firs should be transplanted at a height exceeding three
feet, for the reason last mentioned ; and the Ltm^ is the only kind
that will remove advantageously even at this size. The Spruce and
its allied species may be removed more successfully when fix>m a foot
and a half to two feet high. To this there is no other exception than
that of plants that have been constantly reared in pots, as the Cedar
of Lebanon ; these may be safely removed at any size, if the trans-
plantation is carefolly attended to, because their roots are iminjured
in the operation. It should however be remembered, in finally
planting out large firs which have been always kept in pots, that
it is absolutely necessary that their roots should be spread out among
the earth as much as may be practicable without straming or breaking
them ; because, while in pots, they necessarily acquire a spiral direction,
which they will not afterwards lose unless it is destroy^ at the period
of final transplantation ; and, if they do not lose it, they are apt to be
blown over by high winds, on acooimt of their roots not having pene-
trated into the eurth far enough in a horizontal flirection to form the
requisite stay to support the trunk and head.
Where great importance is attached to the raising the seeds of rare
species of fir, it has been found a very beneficial practice to place them
between two turfs placed root to root, the one upon the other, and to
watch them till the seeds begin to sprout; they are then to be sown
in the usual way, when every seed will usually succeed.
No trees are more impatient of pruning than these. They exude,
when woimded, so large a quantity of their resinous sap as to become
weakened even by a few incisions ; and, if they have sufiiered many,
they are long before they recover from the e£fects. So great is their
symmetry, and so uniformly will their branches form under favourable
circumstances, that it will rarely happen that a necessity for the use
of the pruning-knifevcan arise. The great rule to be observed in their
management is to allow them ample room for the extension of their
branches; if this is attended to, their beauty is not only ensured, but
the rate at which they will form their timber will be a full recompense
for the space they may occupy.
ABIETINEiB. [Coiofebji].
ABOMA, a large species of serpent^ which inhabits the fens and
morasses of South America, the Boa cenehria of Linnaeus. [Boidji.]
ABORTION, a term used in botany and horticulture. In Botany,
abortion is employed to express the absence of an organ in relation to
an ideal type. Thus the flowers of ScrofiMLariacea and Lamiacea
have their s^ials and petals arranged with the number five. According
to a very general law the stamens equal in number the petals and
sepals, but in this case they do not. In the majority of instances the
stamens are but four : hence it is scdd that one stamen is aborted or
there is an abortion of one stamen. The want of harmony betwem the
parts of the flower generally is thus spoken o£ In other instances,
where the ovules are numerous and the seeds only one, two, or three,
the remaining ovules are aborted.
In Horticulture, the premature development of the fruity or any
defect in it, is called abortion.
ABOU-HANNES (NutMniv* IhU, Cuvier; TawtaUm ^tkiopictu,
Latham), an African bird, which has occasioned much discussion
among the learned as to its identity with the ancient Ibis. The
attention of Bruce was attracted, during his stay in Upper Egypt> by
some birds called by the natives Abou-Hannes, whose forms reminded
him of the ibis, as represented on Egyptian monuments, and repeated
observation confirmed him in the opinion of their identity with the
ibis of the ancients. This identity was subsequently corroborated by
the distinguished naturalists, Qeofroy and Savigny, who accompanied
the French expedition into Egypt> and procured anumber of specimens.
M. Savigny published his observations in a small work (' L'Histoire
Nat et MythoL de I'lbis'), now very scarce, and Baron Cuvier also
gave a memoir on the Egyptian ibis in the ' Annales du Museum' for
1804, in which he has deariy proved, from the comparison of a mummy
ibis with a stufied specimen, that the true ibis is not the TaiUaliu Ibu
of Linnteus, that being a much larger bird, but is really a species of
curlew. This bird appears to be also a native of regions very remote
frt)m Eigypt.
Herodotus attributes the veneration of the Egyptians for the ibis,
to supposed services rendered them by the biixl in freeing their
coun^ fh>m winged serpents. That the ibis, however, could not feed
True White Ibii {yumeniua J6m].
upon serpents appears nearly certain from anatomical inspection. The
bill, for example, being long, slender, considerably curved, blunt on
the edges, and expanded and roundish at the point, could neither
divide nor pierce serpents ; and indicates rather an aptitude to dabble
in marshy and moist grounds.
On the other hand. Baron Cuvier found, in the mummy of the ibis,
remains of the skin and scales of serpents, and hence it has been
inferred that the birds might have been serpent-eaters. This inference,
however, is at variance with the observations made in Egypt by M.
Savigny on a great number of individuals, in the crops of which he
uiiiformly found land and fresh-water shells {CydoatomcUaf AmpuUaruE,
Plcmorbis, <fec.), and these shells were ^ways entire when their
inhabitants had not been previously digested.
It does not appear that the ibis breeds in Egypt; but, on the
testimony of the inhabitants, it arrives as soon as the waters of the
Nile begin to rise, augmenting in numbers as the waters increase, and
diminishing as they subside, and disappearing when the inundation
terminates. These birds, on their arrival, repair to the low lands,
which are first covered with water; but when the waters become
deeper and spread wider, the birds betake themselves to the higher
lands. They afterwards approach the river, where they establish
themselves by the sides of the canals and on the small dykes, with
which the greater part of the cultivated grounds are surroimded. •
The bird in question sometimes lives solitary, sometimes in small
troops of from eight to ten. Its flight is lofty and powerful, and it
utters at interyals hoarse cries. When it alights on a fresh piece^ of
land, it remains for hours together occupied in tapping the mud with
its bill, in search of worms, &c. It walks leisurely step by step, and
has not been observed to run, Hke our curlew {Nwneniut arquataf
Latham), to which it otherwise bears some resemblance.
The Egyptians call the bird Ahou-Menzd, which literally means
Digitized by
Google
ABOUSCHOll
ABS0R3PTI0N.
18
'Father Siokle-Bill,' the bill being curred like a uokle. The
iEthiopian name, Ahott-Hmmei, means ' FatherJohn,' becaiifle, as
M. Dnmont suppoeeSi the bizda arriye about Stw John's day.
Tbe following is the earliest account that we have of the ibis, from
an eye-witness (Herodotus, iL 76) : — ** The ibis is all over very black :
it has the legs of a crsne, and a beak considerably curved : its sise is
about that of a enx. Such is the appearance of the black ibis, which
fights sgalnst the serpents. But the other ibis, which is more of a
domestic bird (for there are two kinds), has the head and sll the neck
bare of feathers : it is of a white colour, except the head, neck, and
the extremitiee of the wings end tail, all which parts are very black.
As to its legs and beak, it resembles the other kind of ibis." The
bkck ibis, according to Herodotus, devoured the winged serpents
which yearly attempted to make their entry into Egypt from Arabia.
It is needless to add that these winged serpents are a fable. Strabo,
who himself was some time in Egypt, gives the following account : —
'* The ibis is the tamest bird of all : in form and sise it is like tiie stork.
But there -are two varieties of colour, one of which is that of the
stork, and the other is all black. Every street in Alexandria is filled
with them, partly to the benefit of the citizens, and partly not The
bird is useful so far as it devours all kinds of vermin, with the
garbage of the shambles, and the refuse of the eating-houses, &a"
Here Strabo makes no distinction between the two, except in colour,
and he describes both species as living on all kindis of garbage. He
has probably confounded the real ibis snd the stork.
ABOU SCHOM, the Arabic name of a species of fox (C7aftif
vthrtegatiu.)
ABRAMIS. [Brbam.]
ABRAXAS, a genus of nootonal Lcpidoptera, to which belongs
the common Magpie Moth, A. grouuUmaict. The caterpillar of this
moth attacks the leaves of gooseberry and currant bushes at the
b^cimiing of the summer. It is of a ydlowish white colour, with an
orange stripe on each side, snd oov/ered with black spots. The
chrynlis is black, relieved at its pointed end with orange circles.
The expanded fore-wings of the perfect insect measure about one inch
and a half across. The wings are of a yellowish white colour, variously
jotted with black. The fore-wings have a band of pale orange. The
body is orange, spotted with black. The sggs are deposited on currant
or gooseberry leaves in July or August, and the caterpillars are hatched
in September. To get rid of the attadks of these creatures, they may
be picked off, or dusted with the powder of white hellebore, or the
leaves of the plants attacked may be burned.
ABRAZITE {ZeagimUej Gtioumdine), a mineral belonging to the
group of aluminous hydrated silicates, with alkaline and lime basest
It contains, besides sUica and water, about 26 per cent of alumina,
with 14 per cent of lime snd potash.
ABROCOMA. [Habboooma.]
ABBOMA (from a and fipAfta, ' not fit for food,' in opposition to
Theobroma, 'food for gods'), a genutf of plants belonging to the
natural order ByUneriactas. The species consist of small trees, with
hairy lobed leaves and extra-axillary or terminal few-flowered
peduncdes at the tops of the branches.
Abroma tmgutta is a handsome tree, with drooping purple flowers,
seated on peduncles opposite the leaves. It is a native of the East
Indies. The fibrous tissue of the bark of this plant is manufactured
into cordage.
ABRUS (firom afifisy soft), a genus of plants belonging to the
pi^Hionaceous division of the order LeffwrninomE. The calyx is
bluntly 4-lobed, with the upper lobe broadest The legume is
oblong, compressed, and 4-64eeded. There is but one species, A.
preccUmua, which is a delicate twining shrub, with abruptly pinnate
leaves, bearing many pairs of leafleta It is a native of the East
Indies, but is also found in the tropical parts of Africa snd America,
where perhaps it has been introduced. The seeds of the commoner
variety are red, with a black spot, whilst other varieties produce
various coloured seeds. These seeds are in much request as ornaments
amongst the inhabitants of the countries where they grow. They are
strung as beads, with shells, and other hard seeds. Tney are brought
to Europe from Guinea and the East and West Indies. They are used
frequently as beads for rosaries ; hence the name preccUoriuB given to
this species. The leaves and roots of this plant secrete the sweet
substance which characterises the liquorice plant (Qlyeyrhiea glabra).
In the West Indies it is called Wild Liquorice, and used for the same
purposes as the common liquorice. The seeds have been accused of
possessing narcotic properties, but this is an error. When swallowed
they are very indigestible.
ABSORBENT STSTEM. The delicate vessels which in the bodies
of vertebrate animals are engaged in carrying the food and other
matters into the circulation, have this nameu It^oonsists of two
principal divisions, which may be r^mrded as two different sets,
given off frx>m a common stem. One of these takes its origin in the
walls of the slimentary canal, more especially the small intestines, and
is called the ' lacteal ' system, fr«m the white colour of the liquid it
takes up ; whilst the other commences in the substance of the body,
more especially the skin and neighbouring parts, and is called the
'lymi^tic' system, from the colourless fluic^ called lymph, which it
The Ladeals are the smalT system of vessels by which the chyle, or
KAT. HIST. DIT. VOL. L
nutritive part of the food, is conveyed from the intestines to the left
subclavian vein, in which it is mixed with the blood. They have their
origin in the viUi of the small intestines, which are short hair-Hke
processes, each consisting of a fine net-work of lacteal vessels siu*-
roimded by capillary arteries and veins. On the outside the villi are
covered with cells, which absorb the chyle before it is conveyed to the
loops of the lacteals in the interior of the villus. From the villi the
chyle is carried, between the layers of the mesentery, through
numberless converging branches, to the thoracic duct, the main tnmk
of the absorbent system, which, at the part where ike chief lacteal
branches join it, is dilated into what is ciJled the Receptaculum ChylL
The villi have no visible apertures for the entrance of the chyle, but
the walls of the lacteal vessels themselves are extremely thin and
permeable, and tiieir canals are furnished with numerous and delicate
valves, like those of the veins [Ciboulation of thb Blood], to
prevent the fltud which they contain from descending again to
their absorbing extremities. In their passage through the mesentery
the lacteals traverse numerous mesenteric absorbent glands, where
they communicate with veins, and the fluid contained in them
is exposed to the influence of the blood, from which it acquires
colouring matter and fibrine.
The LymphatieM consist of minute branched tubes of extremely
delicate membrane, whose extremities are arranged in a more or less
dense net-work in every part of the body. From this net-work they
gradually converge into a succession of branches of increasing sise, and
terminate in two main trunks, called the right and left great Lymphatic
Veins, through whidi the lymph is poured with the chyle from the
thoracic duct into the right and left subclavian veins. The lymphatios
also communicate with the veins at some other parts of their course,
chieflv near their minute extremities, and more rarely by larger
branches. They have in their interior numerous delicate valves formed
of crescentic folds of the lining membrane, like those of the veins and
of the lacteals [Circulation of the Blood], and, like them, pre-
venting the retrograde course of the contained fluid. The valves of
the lymphatics, however, are much more closely set than those of the
veins, so that, when full of fluid, Uie spaces between them being most
distended, they give tiiose vessels s knotted or beaded appearance, by
which they are easily distinguished from veins of the same sise. In
the course of the larger lymphatios there are numerous glands of the
same nature as those found in the course of the lacteaLs. They are
called Lymphatic Glands. To each of these there pass two or more
lymphatic vessels, which on entering them become extremely tortuous,
and after varied convolutions and anastomoses, terminate in nearly the
same number of branches, which again pass frx>m the gland, and pursue
their course towards the main trunk. These glands attain their fullest
development in man and the mammalia. They are far less numerous
in birds, and are entirely wanting in the fish and amphibia. ^ The
function performed by these glands is somewhat obscure, but it has
been recently suggested by Professor Bennett, of Edinburgh, that their
function is to prepare or produce the colourless corpuscles of the
blood. [Blood.] He arrives at this conclusion from having observed
that in cases where these glands or the spleen are inflamed, or in a
condition of increased action, that the colourless corpusdes of the
blood can be seen under the microscope to be in larger quantity than
is normal. (Bennett, On Zeucocythemta,)
ABSORPTION, one of the first and most essential of the functions
of animal and vegetable tissues. Both animals and plants grow and
perform other vital functions through the agency of materials derived
nom without. The passage of all substances from the exterior to the
interior of their IxKlies is effected by the function of absorption.
This function is performed in all cases by the aid of animal or
vegetable membrane.' This membrane is always in the form of the
wallB of cells or the walls of vessels formed out of ceUs. Whether the
function of absorption be performed in animals or plants, there are
certain general conditions of the membrane or cells through which it
takes place, that are necessary in all cases. In the first place, as
liquids are found to pass through the walls of cells and membranes,
it is necessary that they should be permeable. This is found to be
the case in all organised bodies, and in proportion to the permea*
bility of the tissue is the activity with which absorption is performed.
In certain parts of plants, as well as animals, the cells become almost
impermeable, and these are the parts which cease to grow or to perfonr
active functions. Such are the duramen or heart-wood of trees, and
the nails, hairs, horns, and teeth of animal bodies.
During the performance of the various functions in which absorption
is required, both liquids and gases pass through the ceU-membrane
or cdl-wall Liquids containing salts in solution pass into the plant
and animaT in the supply of food for nutrition. Gases, including the
vapour of water, are also absorbed by the cells of plants as a nutritive
process, and by those of animals during the performance of the
respiratory function. This transmission of fluids through organic
membranes is sometimes referred to as a peculiar vital proper^ of
animal and vegetable tissues; but it seems to depend considerably on
the physical properties of the fluids and tissues. Organic membranes,
when separated from the living structure, have the power of absorbing
fluids, and if two fluids of different densities are s^Murated by a mem-
brane, the flow through the membrane will be greater from, the thinner
fluid to the thicker wan the contrary. This action, which has been
0
Digitized by
Google
19
ABSORPTION.
ACAOJUL
called £ndo9mo»U [Endosxosib], seoms to be a modification of that
very general law of attraction by which solids are attracted towards
each other, as w^ as liquids and gases, and which lies at the
foundation of those phenomena attributed to capillary attraction.
Although It would appear as the result of this law that there must
be two currents, the one passing out and the other in, this does not
always take place, as the perpetual remoyal, for the purposes of the
system either of the plant or of the animal, of the matter absorbed,
prevents the action of the outgoing current^ which has been called
Exoimosia.
The cells and surfaces which carry on absorption in the VegetdbU
Kingdom vary according to the circumstances of the plant In the
simpler plants, such as the lower forms of AlgoB, which consist of one
or only a few cells, the whole of the cells are equally employed in
absorbing. But as we ascend to plants where the Tegetative and
reproductiYe organs are distinct, there we find absorption performed
more abundantly by the former. In the higher forms of phanerogamic
plants the active duties of absorption are performed by the roots ; the
loose tissue at the ends of the fibrils of these organs being remarkably
adapted for the performance of this function. The same power is
also possessed by the recently formed tissues in the stems of these
plants, and thus the food — ^the sap — ^is carried from the soil to the
branches of the plant, which are covered with leaves. The cells of
the leaves are adapted to the exhalation of the fluid which has been
absorbed below, and thus a perpetual demand for new supplies ia
created. Not that the leaves are always exhaling ; in moist states of
the atmosphere and at night they probably also absorb. This function
is also undoubtedly performed by the stems of the leafless Euphor-
hiaeea and by the Cadticece, whida, possess very small roots, and will
even grow without them.
Absorption in the Animal Kingdom, although performed upon the
same general principles, and being adapted to attain the same general
ends, presents more various modifications of form and greater com-
plication than in the vegetable kingdom. In the first place, the nature
of the fluids taken up differs, more especially in the class of cases where
that function is adapted to nutrition. Plants derive their food from
the mineral kingdom. .Animals obtain their food from plants. Plants
live on carbonic acid, ammonia, water, and various salts. Animals live
on substances elaborated out of these compounds in the cells of plants.
In the next place, animals receive their food into an interior sac or bag
called a stomach, whilst plants plunge their absorbent cells into the
soil from which they derive their nutriment. In the higher forms of
aiiimals, a system of vessels called absorbents [Absorbent Stbtbh]
is made subservient to the ends of the function of absorption — an
arrangement which is found nowhere to exist in the vegetable
kingdom. In the lower animals, as in tho sponges and some of
the infusoria, the function of absorption is performed by contiguous
cells almost as simply as in plants. In certain parts also of the higher
ftninmla^ we have absorption carried on in the same way as in the cells
of cartilage, and in the contiguous cells of the mucous and cutaneous
membranes. In none of the invertebrate animals have we any special
absorbent system at alL In the animal kingdom the circulating
system has tiie power of absorption in even a greater degree than the
absorbents themselves. From the structure of the walls of the veins,
arteries, and capillaries, and the knowledge of the fact that there is
constantly passing through them a dense liquid — the blood — we should
expect that these organs would offer the necessary conditions for absorp*
tion. This has been proved by direct experiment. M.M. Tiedemann
and Omelin found that when such substances as gamboge, madder,
camphor, musk, and assafoetida, which are easily detected by their
oolour and odour, were introduced with the food into the stomach,
they were seldom found in the chyle in the time that they had found
their way into the blood, and some of them even into the lu^e. It
was also foimd that if poisonous substances were introduced into the
intestines, ond secured in one place by two ligatures, and eveiy other
part cut away but the artery and vein, they exerted the same
influence on &e system, and in the same time as usual; whil^ if
the intestine was treated in the same manner, and all parts cut away
but the laeteals, the evidences of absorption were deferred for a much
longer period than usual From these experiments and others it would
appear that tho laeteals are adapted for receiving only a certain class
of compounds, more especially of an oleaginous and albuminous
kind.
That part of the absorbent system called Lymphatics were at one
time supposed to be engaged in conveying to the blood the used-up
matters from all parts of the body preparatory to their final expulsion
from the system. The nature, however, of the dear fluid lymph which
is contained in them does not support this opinion, and as this lymph
has a composition very like to the blood without its red corpuscles,
it is infeired "tiiat the office of the lymphatics is to assist in the
preparation of materials for the blood. These materials being
scattered all over those parts of the system on which the lymphatics
are distributed, it is to the blood-vessels that the office must be
assigned of taking up effete matter, and carrying it into the blood.
That the general cutaneous and mucous surfaces of the body will
both exhale and absorb, are well-known facts. The skin, through its
penpiriferouB glands, which perform their function through the agency
of cdli^ exhales moisture, whilst it is also a powerful absorbent surface.
It is proved by direct experiment, that the human hand is capable of
imbibing, in a quarter of an hour, an ounce and a half of warm water,
which, for the whole body, is at the rate of biz or seven pounds per
hour. An interesting narrative is on record of a ship's crew who
were exposed at sea for several days in an open boat; they had
consumed all their water ; they had no fluid of any kind which they
could drink; they soon began to suffer from thirst; the feeling at
length became intolerable, and the drinking of sea-water was found
only to increase its intensity. When nearly exhausted, they were
exposed, during several hours, to a heavy shower of rain. As soon
as their clothes became thoroughly wet their thirst began to abate,
and before the rain had ceased their thirst was gone. They did not
£eu1 to profit by this experience. From this time each man, as soon
as he began to feel thirsty, dipped his shirt in the sea-water and wore
it next his skin, which had invariably the effect of removing his thirst,
the absorbents taking up the particles of water, but rejecting the
saline matter dissolved in it. The mucous surfiEice of the lungs is con-
stantly engaged in throwing off the vapour of water and carbonic add,
and absorbing oxygen gas. It is also through the pulmonary surface that
poisons are introduced into the blood, which result in the production
of disease, as small-pox, measles, scarlet fever, and others. The different
relations of absorbing surfaces to poisonous substances is an interesting
subject. Thus, poisons which may be introduced with impunity into
the stomach wiU destroy life when applied to the minutest wound in
the skin, as in the case of the poison of venomous serpents, and
the Woorara poison. This has been proved not to depend on any
decomposition taking place upon the surface of particular membran^
as the Woorara has been introduced into the stomach and bladder,
and when rejected has been foimd to retain its primitive destructive
power.
ABUTILON (afivrCKov, the Qreek for mulberry-tree, which the
species of this genus resemble), a genus of handsome plants, belonging
to the natural order Malvaeea, The species of this genus, amoimting
to about 80, have been removed from Sida. They have a naked five*
cleft calyx, with a multifid style, capsular one-celled carpds, 6-80
in a whorl Several of the species are cultivated in this country.
A. striatum blossoms freely nearly all the year round, when turned
out under a wall in Hampshure. A. viHfolium, A, venoaum, A, rvfi-
nerve, and A. poeonifiorwn, are also tolerably hardy species. The
plant known as Bencao de Decs, in the province of Rio Janeiro, in
Brazil, is \he A, escvknivm. It has large purple solitaiy axillary
flowers, which are dressed and eaten with their viands by the
inhabitants of Rio. In cultivation the species require a light rich
loam and peat-soil, and should be propagated by striking cuttings in
sand in a close frame or under a glass in summer.
ACA'CIA, the name of a plant belonging to the order LegwnUnoaoSt
mentioned by Dioscorides, as a useful astringent thorn, yielding a
white transparent gum. The account given by this Greek author,
meagre as it is, accords so well with the gum-arabic trees of modem
Egypt, that we can scarcdy doubt their identity. Accordingly it is
to these, and to others closely related to them, that the cla8si(»d name
is still applied.
Amonigst modem botam'sts the Acada is a very extensive genus of
trees or shrubby plants, inhabiting the tropical parts of both the Old
and New World, and, in a very few instances only, extending into
temperate latitudes ; although over the whole of Australia, and its
dependent islands, the spedea are spread in much abundance. There
are nearly 800 species.
Gtmeric Character. — ^Flowers polygamous. Calyx, with either fou*
or five teeth. Petals, either four or five; sometimes distinct from
each other, sometimes adhering in a monopetalous corolla. Stameus
varying in number from 10 to 200. Pod not separating into many
joints ; juiceless, two valved. The species are extremely variable in
the structure of their leaves and flowers. Some of them have true
leaves that are twice or thrice pinnate, with a multitude of minute,
shining, or at least even, leaflets ; others have in a perfect state no
leaves properly so called, but in their stead the leaf-stalks enlai^, .
and assume the appearance, and no doubt also the functions, of true
leaves : species of the latter description are known by their spurious
leaves being expanded vertically, instead of horizontally as in leaves
of the ordinary construction. By these very remarkable points of
difference in stmcture the species may be conveniently separated into
two great subdivisions.
I. Leaves pinnated in various degrees. About 200 species known.
Acacia Catechu (WUldenow), ^e Catechu Acacia {Mimosa caieehu^
Linufflus). Spines growing in the place of the stipules ; when yoimg.
straight, but afterwards becoming hooked. Leaves in ten divisions :
leaflets in fh)m 40 to 50 couples, linear, downy ; With one depressed
gland at the base of the leaf-stalk, and from two to three between the
upper di'^ions. Flowers arranged in <^lindrical spikes, which grow
two or three together. It is a tree witn a tolerably high and stout
stem ; and is found in mountainous places in the East Indies, espe-
cially in Bengal and Coromandel It is moat common in Canara and
Bahar. Its unripe pods and wood yield, by decoction, one of the sorts
of catediu, or terra-japonica. [Catechu.]
Acacia Arahica (Roxburgh), the Gum-Arabic Tree. Spines growing
in pairs. Branches and leaf-stalks downy. Leaves in from four to
six divisions ; leaflets in from ten to twenty couples, oUong-lineari
Digitized by
Google
n
ACACIA.
ACACIA, FALSE.
with a gland between the lowest, and often between the outermost
diviaiona Heads of flowers growing in threes upon stalks. Pod
neoklaoe^haped. It is an inhabitant of the East Indies, Arabia, and
Acacia Catechu.
Abyssinia, where it forms a tree 13 or 14 feet high, of inelegant
appearanoe ; easily recognised by its long curved pods, which are
diyided into a number of round compressed joints, byTneans of con-
Acacia Arabica,
tractions between the seeds. This is one of the plants that yield the
usefal substance called Qum-Arabic, which is procured by wounding
the bark ; after which the sap runs out, and hsurdens into transparent
lumps, of various figures, very similar to the concretions found upon
the bark of the cherry-tree in this country. Qum-Arabic is also pro-
duced abundantly by some of the species nearly related to this, such
as A. NUoiica, or vera, found in Egypt; A. Fhreribergii, a native of
Dongola ; A, tortUis, a common plant in the west of Nubia, Kordofan,
and Arabia, especially upon Mount Sinai ; and A. Seyal, an inhabitant
of Upper Egypt, Nubia, and western Arabia. It is supposed that
Gum-Arabic is collected indifferently from aU these, and that the
gums of Jidda and Bassorah, Qum-Thur, and East India Gum, are
only picked samples. Qum-Senegal is the produce of a distinct
■pedes, called A, Senegal, foimd in Arabia and the interior of
Africa.
Aeaeia diteolor (Do Candolle), the Purple-Stenyned Acacia (Mimosa
ditcdlor, 'Bot Bepositoiy*), has no spines; the leaves have five pairs
of pimua. It is a middle-sized tree, foimd in the southern parts
of Australia and in Van Diemen's Land, where it, in common with
many others of the same genus, is called Wattle. It appears better
adapted than most oiher Aush^an species to support our winters.
Hear London it succeeds perfectly well, aU wmter long; in the
open air, if wrapped round with mats, and it is to be presumed that
there is no obstacle to its being almost naturalised in Devonshire
and Cornwall and the west of Ireland. It is readily known by its
bluish stems and leaves, which are slightly stained with dull purple,
and form a strong contrast with its long erect bunches of yellow
blossoms.
Acacia pvheseent {* Hortus Kewensis'), Downy Aoada. No spines.
Leaves with from three to ten pairs of pinnsa. It is a native of the
east coast of Australia. In this country it is one of the most beautiful
of green-house plants. If allowed to grow freely in the border of a
good conservatoiy, it attains the height of 10 or 12 feet ; and in
January and February produces a vast abundance of yellow blossoms,
which weigh dovm the slender graceful branches, and perfume the air
with a weak but pleasant odour.
Acacia Julibritsin (Willdenow), Silk-Tassel Acacia {Mimosa Jvlibris-
tin, Scopoli). No spines. Leaves with from eight to twelve pairs
of pinnsB. It is a native of Persia and of the Levant Its specific
name is Latinised from two Persian words— ^wZ, a rose; and ebnuchim,
silk. In the coimtries where it grows wild it becomes a small tree,
remarkable for its light airy foliage, and for the great beauty of the
clusters of lilac flowers, the long and slender stamens of whida stream
in the wind and glitter in the sun, like a number of silken tassels
artificially fastened to the bougha This species is now oommonly
cultivated in the warmer parts of Europe.
Acacia aearUhocarpa (Willdenow), Prickly-Fruited Acacia. Spines,
from the place of the stipulse, gro^nng in pairs, and hooked. Leaves
in from six to eight principal divisions. It is a native of Mezioo,
where it forms a small tree, with flesh-coloured flowers.
The Black Wood.of Van Diemen's Land is the timber otAoaeia
mdofnoxyUm ; and the astringent Jurema Bark of Brazil is the produce
of Acacia jurema.
II. Leaves pinnated in the young plant; in the old, consitting ofnotkmg
hut the verticaUy distended leaf-stalks, called PhyUodia, About 100
species.
Acacia decipiena (' Hortus Kewensis'), Paradoxical Acacia. Stipules
spiny, deciduous. Phyllodia either triangular or trapezoidal; their
midrib nearest the lowest side, and lengthened into a spine ; a single
glandular tooth on the upjper edge. Flowers in nearly solitary com-
pound heads. This species is remarkable for the blunders to which
it has given rise. When botany was only a science of names, its
flowerless branches were taken for the leaves of a kind of fern ; and,
at a later period, when botanical geography was as yet unheard of, it
was believed to be a native of the north-west coast of North America.
«It is an inhabitant of the south-west coast of Australia, where it forms
a bush of singular aspect. In this countiy it is cultivated in the
green-house, and it flowers in March, April, and May.
Acacia Sophorce (' Hortus Eewensis '), Fragrant Acacia. Phyllodia
narrow. Heads of flowers in dense slender racemes. Pods long,
curved, tapei>pointed,a little con-
tracted between the seeds. It is
a native of the south side of
Australia and of Van Diemen*s
Land. In this country it is a
very ornamental greenhouse plant,
which, if planted in the open
border, will grow as high as eight
feet. Few plants are more worthy
of a permanent station in a good
conservatory.
Acacia longifoUa (Willdenow),
Long-Leaved Acacia. Phyllodia of
a narrow lanceolate form, tapering
to each end. Spikes of flowers
axillary, growing in pairs, on short
stalks. It is foimd very commonly
on the eastern coast of Australia,
especially in the neighbourhood
of Port Jackson, whence it was
introduced into Great Britain,
among the first of the natural
productions of that remarkable
country.
CuUivation. — The species of this
genus are increased artificially in
two diffbrent ways. Most of them
may be multiplied by cuttings
struck in silver sand, placed under
a bell-glass, and kept in a warm
I)lace, to which no direct solar
light has access. Such of them,
however, as do not increase vnth
sufficientcertainty by this method, _. ^ .
A. Jtdihrissin for instance, have Fragrant Acacia,
the power of producing shoots from pieces of their root plaeed in
earth in a hot-bed ; and by these the nurserymen generally propagate
them. Their seeds also are veiy often received, and frvm tiiese they
can, of course, be multiplied in all cases.
ACACIA, FALSER or Locust Tree, [Bobinia.]
Digitized by
Google
ACADIOLITE.
ACALEFHJS.
34
ACADIOLITE, one of a group of minerals of doubtful identity,
oompoeed of nearly 50 per cent, of silica, with alumina, lime, soda,
potash, and water.
ACALEPHuE (firom heaX'h^j a nettle), SeorNeUUi, a class of
marine invertebrate animalB, belonging to the sub-kingdom Radiata.
It is now made to include a large number of animals, of which the
genus Meduta of Linnaeus may be taken as a type.
The genus Meduaa was placed by Linnaus m the second section of
his Verme8f yiz. MoUtuea. The MoUtuea were divided into six
sections in the 'Systema Natune ; ' and in the last of these, consisting
of those molluscous forms which had a central mouth below, Meduaa
stood as the first genus, followed hjAtteriag and JSchinut. The third
section of Vermei (Tetiaeea)^ with Chiion at its head, immediately
followed. In this arrangement Meduaa came between Nereis and
Aatencu ; but in the body of the work' it stands between Sepia and
Aitericu,
The following is the Linnsean definition of the genus Meduta : —
Body gelatinotis, orbiculate, depressed. Mouth beneath, central
The genus contained 12 species, and these consisted not only of
true MeduatE, but of such genera as Porpita and VdeUa.
The AeaUpka of Guvier (his third class of Zoophytes) comprehend,
to use his own terms, Zoophytes which swim in the sea, and in whose
organization may be perceived vessels, which in truth are most
frequently nothing but productions of the intestines, hollowed in the
parenchyma of the body.
Cuvieor^s first order of Actdepha, or Sea-NetUea, consists of the
Sifnple AcalepJuB, which he characterises as floating and swimming in
the sea by means of the contractions and dilatations of their body,
their substance being gelatinous, without apparent fibres. The sort
of vessels which are seen in some are hollowed in the gelatinous sub-
stance ; they often visibly come from the stomach, and do not give
place to a true circulation.
The genera contained in this order are the great genus Meduaa,
Linn., with its subgenera Porpita and Vdella.
The great genus Meduaa is characterised as having a disk more or
less convex above, similar to that of a mushroom, and called the
umbrelkL Its contractions and dilatations concur to the motivity of
the animal The edges of this umbrella, as well as the mouth, or the
suckers, more or less prolonged into pedides, which take its place, in
the middle of the lower surface, are furnished with tentacles of veiy
different form and size. These different degrees of complication have
given rise to very numerous divisions.
The ArachnodemuUa form the second class of M. de Blainville's
Aetinotoariek He observes that this class corresponds exactly to th€^
genua Meduaa of Linneeus.
The following is IL de Blainville's definition of this genus : —
Body free, r^^ularly oval or circular, subgelatinous, covered with
an extremely fine skin, which is but little or not at all distinct,
sustained or not by a solid subcartilaginous part, and provided with
very diversiform radiated appendages.
Intestinal canal limited to the stomach, and provided with a single
orifice.
Ovaries multiplied, radiated, and opening in the interior of the
stomach.
M. de Blainville goes on to state that their form, which is regular,
is nearly always circular (the Veldlat alone being oval), sometimes
discoid or spheroidal, but most frequently hemispherical, which
causes them to resemble our umbrellas, and has given rise to the
distinction of their body by that name. This body is sometimes
furnished in addition, in its circumference, with more or less long
cirrhi, to which the name of tentacles, or better, of tentaculiform
oirrhi, has been given.
The lower surface of the umbrella, he observes, is sometimes entirely
naked, but in other cases is provided with numerous and dispersed
tentaculiform suckers, as in the Porpita and VeLdUs, or else with very
diversiform appendages, capillaceous at least at their extremity, whidii
Boologists have termed arms, whence the denomination oi Brachideoua
which they have given to some species. These appendages or arms
are sometimes free from their base, but in other cases are united,
which unity produces a sort of peduncle, which has originated
the designation of Pedunculated for tiiose species that are so pro-
vided. In the middle of the lower surface of the umbrella of these
Meduaa is sometimes a species of peduncle formed by a probosddi-
form prolongation of the buccal orifice, and they are then called
Prohoaeideoua ; but in the greater number of cases, the middle of
the lower part of the umbrella is occupied by a more or less con-
siderable mass, attaching itself to the body by foiir roots, in the
form of a cross, so as to divide the buccal orifice into four semi-
lunar parts. This pedimcle, terminated by more or less numerous
capillaceous divisions, has caused the name of Pedunculated, or
Polyatomatoua, to be applied to those Meduaa which are provided
with it.
The first subdivisions of the Araehnodermata established by M. de
Blainmlle depends on the existence or absence of a solid piece for the
support of the umbrella or body of the animal, and consists of the
Cfirrhigrada, which are provided . with that support, and of the
Pulmograda, which are without any such support. These orders,
observes 11 de Blainville, are farther distinguished ' by the very
different nature of the appendages with which t|ie umbrella is
furnished on the buccal surface.
The difficulty of examining the Aealepha is, from the ver^ nature
of their texture, considerable, and that of preserving them m spirit
great It is not, then, to be wondered at that a great portion of their
organisation remained for a long time in obscurity, and that much
relating to it still remains to be cleared up. To observe them with
anything like a satisfactory result, they must be studied on the spot,
and while they are alive ; and thus it is that several points relative to
their organization and habits, and their generation especially, have
only lately been cleared up. The possibili^ of fairly preserving them
in spirit is shown in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in
London, where, in the department comprehending the first division
of the reparations of Kat Hist, in spirit, several of the Acalephans,
(No. 64 to 78 A, both inclusive) are to be seen so preserved. In the
following remarks the structure of the typical Meduaa will be more
especially referred to.
The disk presents a uniform cellular appearance internally, and the
cellular substance is very soft. In its mass no fibre has hitherto, we
believe, been traced, and indeed the quantity of solid matter in the
whole animal must be very smalL Those who have taken Meduaa
out of the sea, and laid them upon a dry board or dry stone, must
have observed how soon they sink into a sort of deliquescence.
Spallanzani came to the condusion that the sea-water penetrating the
organic texture constitutes the greater part of the volume in the
Meduaa, some of which when newly taken out of the sea weighed 50
ounces, though their dried remains gave a weight of little more than
5 or 6 grains. A fine muscular membrane appearing, when examined
with a magnifying glass, t6 be composed of numerous fieshy fibres
disposed in, small bundles, radiating as regards the axis of the Meduaa^
and adheriiig closely to the gelatinous substance of the disk, may be
seen in some species stretch&g over a given extent of the lower suHiace
of the umbrella, a little within its outer margin. Portions of the disk,
or umbrella, have been cut from these animals whilst they were alive :
those portions which had no part of this muscular membrane attached
to them exhibited no signs of motion ; in those, on the other hand,
whose coimection with the muscular membrane was preserved, the
reciprocal contraction and dilatation were continued for some time.
Those Pvlmograda which have cilia around their margins. have also
circular vessels running along their bases, and most of the projectile
and extensile tentacles and filaments have sacs and canals with con-
tained fiuids at their roots. If these cilia may be regarded, and they
doubtiess may be, as one of the causes, and a principal one, of loco-
motion, the pensile tentacles of the Meduaa may be viewed as ancillary
at least to that faculty, though tiiey probably are principally employed
as nutrient organs. They are hollow and simple, and appear to
increase in their extensibility in proportion to their connexion with
the appendages of the digestive cavities, or when furnished with a
veside at their base. Suckers are found at the extremities and along
the sides of these tentades in several of the genera, so as to enable
them more securely to catch the floating destined prey, or to assist in
anchoring the Meduaa when it would rest, as we have reason to
believe it occasionally does.
Nervoua Syatem and Senaea, — ^We are not aware of any quite satis-
factory demonstration of a nervous system in the Acalephans. Dr.
Grant indeed (' Zool. Trans.,' vol i) notices a structure in Cydippe
which in his opinion can only bdong to that system ; but Eschscholtz,
whose labours in investigating the organization of this class were not
small, failed to discover nerves in the lai^est which he examined.
That they enjoy sight has been a question. Ehrenberg has endeavoured
to show that Meduaa aurita possesses eyes in the form of small red
points visible on the surface of the eight brown masses which are
round the circumference of the umbrella ; and he has compared these
so-called eyes to those of certain Jtotifera and Entomoatraca. He con-
siders the glandular body at the base of the pedide to be an optic
ganglion, and notices its connection with two filaments that decussate
about the middle of their course ; and he views these as constituting
part of a nervous cirde, situated, for the greater part of its extent,
directiy along the bases of the row of tentacles surrounding the
umbrella, and so forming a sort of outer wall of the circular vessel or
appendage of the intestinal cavity which runs round the maigin of
the umbrella. He also describes another nervous cirde, formed
of four ganglion-hke masses. These he states to be disposed round
the mouth, and to be each coxmected with a corresponding group of
tentacles.
But the general opinion seems to be that touch is the only sense
possessed by the Acalephans, as far as proof has hitherto gone. That
they are sensible to light, though the evidence in favour of their
possessing sight properly so called may not be deemed condusive, will
be generally admitted. It is said that some of the smaller tribes have
been known to shun a bright lights and to sink into deep water to
avoid it
The chief seat of the touch appears to be in the tentacula and cirrhi
with which the majority of Acalephans are furnished. Many of them,
as we have ourselves observed, make no sign when wounded extensivdy
in the umbrella or disk.
Muacvlar Syatem, — In most of the spedes of PuUnoyrade Meduaa
distinct muscular fibres exists which present the peculiar markings
Digitized by
Google
ACALEPRS.
ACALEPHiS.
obfleired on the fibres of Toluntary xnueoleB. Where these csanot be
seen, tissue consisting of a granular substance exists which possesses
the peculiar power of contraction. Professor K Forbes says^ that he
has "paralysed one side of a JRhizoBtowui Aldrcvamdif whose disk
measured more than a foot across, by removing with a scalpel the
bands of that hal^ whilst the other side contracted end expanded as
Skixostoma eerulea (CaTier).
usual though with more rapidity, as if the animal were alarmed or
suffering:'' The tentacles or most species nure capable of wonderful
extension and retraction, moyements which must be effected by means
of muscular tissue.
Food and Digutum,-^The food, small fishes and marine snimals,
both living and dead, is probably conveyed to the mouth not only by
the tentacles end dniii with which the greater part of the Medutce are
furmshed, but also by contractions in the timbrella or disk itsell
Fishes of some size have been found dead and entangled in the tentades
of Medu$<E, kflled most probably by that benumbing or stinnng qualitv
which has obtained for them ihe name of Sea-Nettles, mfessor E.
Forbes, speddng of the habits of Sartia tubfdotOf says, "being kept in
a jar of sslt water with small Crustacea they devoured these animals,
80 much more highly oiganised than themselves, voraciously, appa-
rently enjoying the destruction of the unfortunate members of the
upper claBses with a truly democratic relish. One of them even
attacked and commenced the swallowing of a Lizsia odoptmeUUa,
quite as good a Medusa as itself. An ammal which can pout out its
mouth twice the length of its body, and stretch its stoma(Ui to corres-
ponding cUmensions, must indeed be ' a triton among the minnows,'
and a very terrific one too."
By the investigations of M. Milne-Edwards principally, we now know
that all the Pidmoffrada have gastric cavities, but all have not mouths
in the ordinary acceptation of the word. In Bhwutoma, for instance,
the only communication between the stomach and the outer sur£sce is
carried on through numerous branching canals in the pensile arms.
In most cases a system of vessels is observed proceeding directly from
the stomach, partly nutritive and partly respiratoiy, but there does
not appear to be any distinct blood-vessels. From the recent researches
of Vm, Leuckart, and E. Forbes, it does not appear that any special
blood-fluid exists amongst the spedes they have examined.
BeproducHveSyHemmd Devdopment. — The majority of the Acalephn
have very distinct r^roductive glands. In the Pulmograda they are
placed either on the surface of the sub-umbrella, or on the inner and
upper part of the cavity of the peduncle. In most cases these animals
appear to be bisexual, though the two sexes are often united in the
same individual; but Milne-Edwards, Wagner, and Will have observed
individuals vrith sperm-odls only, and with germ-cells only. Although
probably in all cases reproduction takes place by conjunction of these
cells, the Medata^ Uke some other lower animals, have the power of
nrodudng their offiipring by germination. This fsct was fint made
known by Sars in 1836. PVofeesor E. Forbes, in his great work on
the British Naked-Eyed Meduss, says, " I have observed four modes
of propagation by germination among the Medusae. 1. Qermination
from the ovaries, as observed by Sars. 2. Qermination from the
peduncular stomach. 3. Germination from the walls of a tubular
proboscis. 4. Qermination fr>om the bases or tubercles of the four
marginal tentacles in Santa proUfera," In order to suggest the naturo
of thii mode of reproduction, Forbes has the following passsge: —
"What strange and wondrous changes t Fancy an elephant with a
number of little elephants sprouting from hie shoulders and thighs,
bunches of tusked monsters hanging epaulette-fiAshion from Ids flimks
in every stage of advancement. Here a young pachydenn almost
amorphous, tiiere one more advanced, but all ears and eyes ; on the
right shoulder a youthfrd Chuny, with head, trunk, toes, no legs, and
a shapeless body ; on the left, an infant better grown, and struggling
to get away, but his tail not suffidentiy oiganised as yet to permit of
libwty and free action ! The comparison seems grotesque and absurd,
but it really expresses what we have been describing as actually ooouz^
ring among our Naked-Eyed Medusn 1 "
The history of the development of the ova is not less interesting.
When first produced they are retained in the interior of the oreatnre
until they are oovered with cili% when they pass out^ and are found in
the water resembling)^. 1. In the course ox a littie time it attaches
itself to some fixed object, and then puts out four arms. In the
first stage we have an infusorial animalcule ; in the next> ^. 2, we
have a x^tifer or hydroid polype. Not only have we the resemblance to,
but some of these forms have been shewn by Steenstrup ('Alternation
of Qenerations ') to have been mistaken for permanent states of other
animals. The first four arms are succeed^ by four more^ Af'^* &t
tlus stage germs or buds frequentiy grow from, its side, fig. 4 : the
polypiform body then lengthens, and at last becomes wrii^ed. Jig, 5 :
depressions appear, and the elongated body is out ud into a series of
horiiontal dices, from the edges of which tentades grow. Jig, 6 :
layer escapes, and presents itself in the form of a young Medusa, fig, 7.
Such is the histoiy given bv Steenstrup, in one of the common forms
of Pulmograde Medusa, and such with modifications appear to be the
changes which each ovum of the Medusa passes through before it
becomes a Ailly devdoped animaL
Power of Swinging,— i:he name Aealepkaf Sea-Netties, suggests this
property. It is not, however, improbable that thii ftmction is possessed
only by a few spedes. Some possess this property in a remaikable
degree^ as the Oyanea capillaia, which is a terror to bathers in our
teas. At most two or three others possess it in relation to the human
skin. ^ It is probable they exert greater power over their prey or their
enemies amongst the lower clftssea The stinging power is supposed
to redde in small capsular hairs, which are founa in the tissues of
the AcaUpha as well as in AcUnus and other polypes.
Photpkoretcence, — On whatever property this phenomenon depends,
there is no doubt that it is possessed in a high oegree by almost every
spedes of MeduscB, The circumstances, however, on wMch it depends
seem to be littie known. On some occadons the Aealepha with other
marine ereatures will give out abimdance of light, whilst at other times
not a glimmer can be observed. ^
The Aealepha have been divided into four fSamilies : the Pvlmograda,
the Oiliograda, the Cirrhigrada, and the Phyeograda. The following
is the arrangement of the PtUmograda given by M. de Blainville, who,
by intercalating the genera of P^ron and Leeueur, and of Eschsohdts,
the existence of whidi he is fieu: frx>m guaranteeing; gives us the follow-
ing synoptic table : —
PULMOGBADA, or MSDUSASIA.
Sect. 1,— Simple,
Genera : Sudor a, Sphyra, Phorcynia, EuLymene, Charybdaet.
Sect. IL^TeiUacfdated.
Qenoa : Beremcef ^quorea, MetOTiemOf PoUxtna, ^gina, CSmma,
FoveoUOf Eurylna, Pegatia, ObeUa,
SscT. IIL-Sub-Proboecidean,
Genera: Oceemia, AglamrOf Melicerte, Oylacie, ThamHumHat, Tima,
CampaneUa,
SsoT. lY.— Pro^cseuiAm.
Genera: Oritkyia, Cferyonia, Saphenia, Diamaa, Limche^ Pctvcnia,
Lytimorea, Sthenonia,
SsoT. Y,—BrachuUtmt and Pedimeuiated,
Genera: Oeyrik, Oaeeiopeei, Aurdia, Mdiiaa, Svagoreif Oep^
ShiMoetoma, Chryeaora, Pelagia,
We now proceed to Uj before the reader examples of these stvefal
sections.
Digitized by
Google
AGALEPH2B.
ACALEPHiE.
SBcnox L
Generic CharacUr, — ^Body yery much depreeaed, diaooid, umple,
without tentacular drrhi, without either pedundea or appeudagea,
and offering within only ramified canala opening (s'abouchant) by four
large trunks, in the form of a croaiy into a amall central cavity without
extmnal werture.
Example, £udora tmdulota (Pdron and Lesueur).
there was a membrane on the lower rorface, and he inquires whether
thia was not perhaps B<)me remains of the stomachal cavity.
Cuvier united this genus with the Qerycnia, Eschscholts places it
in his family Berenicida, and unites Eurytde with it.
Chari/bdeBa,
Oeneric Character. — ^Body hemispherical, sub-conical, or even semi-
elliptical, furnished on its circumference with foliaceous subtentaoular
lobes, hollowed below by a great stomachal excavation with an aperture
as large as itsell
Exunple, Charybdcea peripkyUa (P^r. and Lea.).
Section U.
.Squorea,
Oeneric Character. — Body slig^y diversiform, Aimished at its
circumference with a cirde of filamentous tentacular cirrhi, often
very long, and more or less numerous, a good deal excavated below,
with a median orifioe often at the exia^mity of a sort of circular lip,
which is more or less projecting or provided with tentacular fringes.
Stomachal appendages linear, numerous, or sacciform and not
numerous.
Example, jBquorea cyanea {F6r. and Les.).
ira6i/a<.— South Seas.
Eudora mtditlota,
a, view of the upper tide ; h, in profile, or with the edge of its disk towards
thespecUtor; 0, view of the knrer side.
M. de Blainville remarks that he only knows this genus from the
characteristic and short description given by P^ron and Lesueur. He
doubts whether this Medusa has not a mouth ; for he thinks that the
centre of the reunion of the four laige trunks of the canals ought to
Charifhdaa per^pkftta,
be Tsgaxded as a stomach. He further inquires whether the individual
figured was complete. He layi that Id licsueur informed l)im that
JBjuorea eyansa,
a, the animal complete ; b, a portion thereof.
M. de Blainville divides this genus into the following sections : —
*
Maxginal cirriii very numerous; stomachal appendages equally
numerous and linear.
A Lip simple.
Qenus jEquorecL
B. Lip fringed.
Qenus MeBonema. (EscL)
* *
Marginal cirrhi as well as the stomachal appendages sufficiently
numerous, or not numerous.
C. Cirrhi sufficiently numerous, originating opposite to the trian-
gular stomachal appendages.
Qenus Polyxena, (Each.)
D. Cinhi and sacciform stomachal appendages few.
Qenus jBgina. (Esch.)
We have selected a genus of the first subdivision for illustration.
SBonoN IIL
Oeneric Character — ^Body hemispherical, provided at its circum-
ference with tentaculiform cirrhi which are bulbous at the root ; veiy
much excavated beneath, and having in its middle a free pedunculiform
stomachal cavity dividing itself into daviform canalsy and terminated
by a simple buccal orifice.
Digitized by
Google
« ACALEPELfi.
Examplfi, Thamnantioi cymbaUHdea. (Med, cym. Slabber. ; Dumcea,
eymb,, Ltm.)
ACAL£PHi&
to
ThaumatUitu eymbaUndea,
Placed by F^ron among his OceanicB.
BabUcU. — Coasts of Europe ; Holland.
Tima.
Qenerie Character, — Body hemispherical, depressed, furnished on its
droomference with a circle of tentaculiform drrhi, which are short
and numerous ; not much ezcayated beneath, and prolonged into a
very thick conic peduncle, which is ^tirely exserted, and terminated
Tima flavilahri»»
by a plicated enlargement ; buccal orifice at the centre of four labial
appendages; stomachal cavity in the enlargement of the peduncle,
and giving origin to four ascending canals, and communicating with a
mai:g^ial canal
Example, TimaJlavUabrii,
ffabitat.—The Azores,
Sbctiok IV.
Diancea (Quoy and Gkum.)
Generic Chairacter. — Body hemispherical, furnished on its circum-
ference with a Small number of tentaculiform cirrhi ; excavated beneath
Qenerie CfKarader. — ^Body subhemispherical, with neither cinhi nor
tentaculiform marginal cilia ; rather deeply excavated beneath, with a
long, median, probosoidif orm prolongation, having at its root six or
ei^t braohideous appendages, furnished with radidfoEm sadkers.
Four ovaries.
Example, Fawmia Octonema. (Orithyia OetonemOf Lam.)
JJoMtoe.— South Seas.
Dianaa,
Jjjftnnotxcu
Oeneric Character, — ^Body subhemispherical, furnished on its cir-
cumference with very fine, short, and numerous tentacular cilia;
rather deeply excavated beneath, and provided with a long proboscidi-
form prolongation, having at its base eight bifid and findy divided
appendages. Four ovaries, in the form of a cross.
Example, Lymnorea triedra, (DiaMsa triedra, Lam.)
ira6tta<.— South Seas.
Favonia oetontma.
and provided at its middle with a strong exserted proboscidiform
^pendage, with four bradddeous appendages at its eztzemity.
I^fmmorea triedra,
a, the disk Men tnm above.
SscmoN V.
Pdagia,
Qenerie Charaeter, — ^Body subhemispherical, lobated, aurioukted,
famished on its circumference with a few tentaculiform oiirhi ; eight
inferior i^Mrtures at the extremity of a fistulous pedunde piamed
Digitized by
Google
St
AClLLEPnM.
ACALEPOS.
with four rery airong and foliaoeous arms. Four oyariei. Stomach
with ceeiform appcodages.
Example, Pdagia Lcikhe, Each. (CyameaLabiekt, Quoy and Oaim.)
Felagia Labieht.
Hhigottoma,
Cfenerie Cfhetraeter. — ^Body circular, hemispherical, provided on its
circumference with lobes or festoons intermingled with auricles, largely
excayated below, with four semilunar orifices, produced by four roots
of insertion of a considerable pedunculated mass, afterwards divided
into eight very complex bracbideous appendages furnished with fibril-
lary suckers, without a median prolongation. Four ovaries, in the
Species having a peduncle of insertion for the root^ with radical
appendages, besides those of the arms.
B.
Species havixtg a very short peduncle of insertion, without radical
appendages, besides the four bifid arms. {Evagora, F6t.)
We have given an illustration of the first. The specnes grows to a
very large size.
Chrytoftra,
Cfaurie Charaeter. — ^Body circular, hemispherical, festooned, and
provided with at least twenty-four tentaculiform drrhi on its circum-
ference ; excavated internally into a considerable cavity with sacciform
appendages ; communicatmg externally by a single orifice, pierced in
the centre of a median pedimcle, provided with distinct brachideous
appendages. Four ovaries.
Example, Cktytaora l^Uea.
ShUottoma Ouvieri,
shape of a cross. Stomachal cavity very laige and vascular at its
drcumference.
Example^ JSAtsoffonui (hmeri,
^oMof.— European Seas.
K do Blainville separates the genus into two dirisioiis.
Okryaaara luUa,
a, one-foorth of the disk or umbrella, teen from below ; ft, disk without its
■ppendages.
The Pulmograde Medusas have been recently studied with great
care by Pkx>fe88or E. Forbes, and he proposes to divide them into two
groups according as their eyes or ocelli are covered or destitute of this
protection. When any of the more common forms of Medusce are
examined, as the species of Jthixoatoma or Pdagia, it will be found
that the maigins of the ocelli are protected by more or less compli-
cated membranes, hoods, or lobed coverings. This character accom-
panies another of great importance, that is, the possession of a
complicated anastomosis and ramification of the vessels. In the case
of Tkawnantuu and other genera it will be found that the ocelli are
either absent or entirely naked, and this condition is accompanied
with a verjr simple vascular system. Hence Professor Forbes proposes
the followmg classificatiotL
L SrsaANOFTHALiCATA {<rrrfav6sy covered).
Qenera. AwtUa, P^ron; Meduea, Eschscholts; Pelagia, P^n and
Digitized by
Google
ACALEPHiB.
AOALEPH^
84
Lesueur; CkryMaarOf P^ron; RhizotUmOy Cuvier; Cotttopeo^ P^ron;
OyaMt€^ P^ron.
II. Otmnofhthalicata (yvyat6sf naked).
1. YeaselB branched ( WiUtiadce).
Oenii& WiOtia, Forbes.
2. Veflflelfl simple. Ovaries convoluted, and lining the pedunculated
stomach (OceanicUe).
Qenera. Twria, Lesson ; Sapheniciy Escbscholtz ; Ocecmto, P^ron.
8. Vessels simple, eight or more. Ovaries linear, in the course of the
vessels on the sub-umbrella {jBquoreadce).
Genera. Stomchraehium, Brandt ; Polyxenitiy Escbscholtz.
4. Vessels simple, eight. Ovaries as many as the vessels, small, in
the course of the sub-tunbrella {Cfirceadce),
Qenus. Circe, Mertens.
5. Vessels simple, four. Ovaries four, in the course of the vessols
on the sub-umbrella {Oeryoniadoe).
Genera. Qtryonia, P^ron ; Tima, Escbscholtz ; Oeryonoptis, Forbes ;
TkawmanHoi, Escbscholtz ; StabberiOy Forbes.
6. Vessels simple, four. Ovaries in the substance of the peduncle
{SarncuicB),
Genera. Sania, Lesson; BovgainttUea, Lesson; Liatia, Forbes;
Mooderia, Forbes ; Eu/phyea, Forbes ; Steenatrttpici, Forbes.
This arrangement applies to the British genera only, the species of
which, with figures, are described in Professor Forbes's 'Monograph of
the British Naked-Eyed Medusad/ published by the Bay Society.
The second order of the AcaJ^pha are the CiLioaRADA, of whiq^ De
Blainville gives the following definition : —
Body gelatinous, very contractile, free, diversiform, evidently binary
or bilateral, sometimes appearing subradiated, provided with a kind
of straight ambulacra, formed by the approximation of two series of
vibratory cilia.
Intestinal canal complete, or provided with two orifices, a mouth
and a vent
The term OiUograde has been given to these MeduscB on account
of the minute oigans called Vibratile Cilia, with which they are
covered.
ArrangemefU,
De Blainville, whose amended arrangement we take, observes that
SYstematists have hitherto agreed to imitate Gmelin more or less on
the subject of the place of the CUiograda in the animal series, that is
to say, in making them a genus approximating to the MedutcB ; and
he instances Lsmciarck, Cuvier, Latreille, and Oken, as not having
expressed any doubts on the subject.
Genera.
1. BerSe,
a. Species whose cilia are smaller than the uiterstioeB which separate
them. (Genus, Berde of Escbscholtz.)
Example, Berde ovata. Those found by Browne seldom exceeded
three inches and a half in length, or two and a half in the largest
transverse diameter. "This beautiful creature," says Browne, ' Jamaica,'
T). 384, " is of an oval form, obtusely octangular, hollow, open at the
larger extremity, transparent, and of a firm gelatinous consistence ; it
Serde ocata.
contracts and widens with great facility, but is always open and
expanded when it swims or moves. The longitudinal radii are
strongest at the crown or smaller extremity, where they rise from a
▼eiy beautiful oblong star, and diminish gradually from thence to
the maigin : but each of them is furnished with a single series of short,
delicate, slender appendices or limbs (the cilia) that move with great
celerity either the one way or the other, as the creature pleases to
direct its flexions, and in a regular accelerated succession from the top
VA& Hm. Diy. vou i.
to the margin. It is impossible to express the liveliness of the
motions of those delicate organs, or the beautiful variety of colours
that rise from them while they play to and fro in the rays of the sun ;
nor is it more ea^ to express the speed and regulari^ with which
the motions succeed each other frx>m the one end of the rays to the
other." Dr. Browne frequently met with tiiese animals to the north
of the western islands (West Indies).
fi. Species whose cilia are twice as long as the interstices.
(Genus, Medea, Eschscholte.)
Example, Berde r^fetcem.
y. Species whose ^ia are situated in two ambulacral ridges.
(Genus, Pandora, Escbscholtz.)
Example, BerSe PUmingii.
2. Cydippe,
Body regular, free, gelatinous, divided into eight sections, more or
less distinct, by as many double longitudinal rows of vibratoiy cilia.
An internal cavity, with a large buccal (?) aperture, whence issue, and
are prolonged more or less below, a pair of long appendages, which
are retractile, and also furnished with vibratory cilia.
Example, Cydippe pileiu ; Medusa pileus, Gmelin ; Berde pUeut,
Lamarck; Plewohrachia, Fleming; Eucharit, P^ron, who really
established the genus ; but Escbscholtz having transferred the last
name to a genus of Ciliobranchians, De BlainvUle prefers following
him, to avoid greater confusion. [Beboe.]
-^^1
BerSe {Cfydippe) pileus,
8. CaUianira. [Calliaitiba.]
4. MnemuL
Bodv smooth, oval, elongated vertically, very much compressed on
one siae, and as if lobated on the other. Buccal opening between the
prolongation of the sides ; conical appendages, on which the rows of
vibratoiy cilia are ranged.
Example, Mnemia fieteroptera, CaUianyra heteroptera of Chamisso,
thus described by Chamisso and Eisenhardt : — Body hyaline, cylin-
drico-tubular, dilated at one extremity, with a transverse mouth, into
which it was impossible to penetrate. A laige cestoid wing on each
side, with vibratory cilia on its edges ; six intermediate smaller wings,
of which the four inferior (buccal) are lanceolated, ciliated on titie
edges, and attached to the base of the body ; two superior cestoid
wings uniting themselves to the two large lateral ones, which P^ron,
according to the desoribers, erroneously regarded as branchisa.
5. Cdtymma, [Caltvma.]
6. Axiotima,
Body a little elevated, a little compressed, or subcircular, prolonged
to the right and left into a sort of appendages, bearing the series of
cilia towards their terminal half only, and up to their end. Mouth
.small, entirely deprived of labial appendages.
Example, Axiotima QaXdis, Escbscholtz. Locality, South Seas,
near the equator.
7. Sucharis (Escbscholtz).
Body oval, sufficiently elevated, slightly compressed, or subcircular,
covered with papillae, with the ambmacra of natatory cilia extended
from the summit to the base. Mouth smsll, provided with two rather
long pairs of appendagea
Example, Eucharis Tiedmanni, Escbscholtz. Locality, seas of
Japan. This name had been employed, as we have seen, by P^ron, to
distinguish another genus of Ciliograda, and should not have been
transferred : for in all such cases confusion must be the consequence.
The student must now remember that the Eucharis of P^ron and that
of Escbscholtz represent two different generic forms.
8. Ocyrde,
Body gelatinous, transparent, vertical, cylindrical, provided above
with two lateral musculo-membranous, bifid, thick, wide lobes, and
with two fleshy ciliated rib-like elevations, with two other ciliated riba
upon the edges between the lobes : aperture provided with four ciliated
arms.
Example, (kyrde crystaUina, Rang, who founded the genus. Do
D
Digitized by V^UOQIC
Sf
ACALEPBJE.
ACALEPHiB.
Blainville thinkfl that it bears much resemblance to the last species of
CaUianira — CaUianira kexagona f
9. AleynOe,
Body gelatinous, transparent, yertica], cylindrical, with eight
ciliated ribs, hidden in part under the vertical natatory lobes. Aper-
ture provided with four ciliated appendages.
Example. Alcyn6e vermictdaiii, Rang, who established the genua.
Locality, coasts of BrasiL
10. Cettrni,
Body gelatinous, free, regular, very short, but extended or prolonged
on each side into a long riband-Hke appendage, bordered on each
angle with a series of vibratory ciUa, thus forming four ambulacra^
Ouium Veneris,
two on each side. Mouth inferior and mesial, aocompanied by a pair
of long, ciliferous, retractile and simple appendages.
Example, Cettwn Veneris, Leeueur.
Although there is not much
resemblance between this singular
genus and the typical forms of
Ciliograda, yet they are connected
by a succession of intermediate
links. If we refer to the genus
CaUianirOf we shall find that its
globular body is so extended
laterally as to have a wing-like
appendage on either side. In
other genera these lateral ap-
pendages are still more extended,
until the globular body in the
centre is entirely lost The ali-
mentary canal of Cestwn runs
across the middle of its length,
and from it extends, as from the
stomach of the Medusce, a series
of gastric canals which carry the
nutriment to all parts of the body.
The third order is the Cirrhi-
ORADA. They are thus called from
the cirrhi which are attached to
the disk upon which their oi^gana
are disposed. These cirrhi are,
some of them, tubular, and are
furnished with suckers. The
ciecal appendages are attached
to their base, in which are pro-
duced the ova, which pass out at
the mouth of the cirrhi. The
following is De Blainville's defi-
nition of the order : —
Body, oval or circular, gela-
tinous, sustained in the interior
of the dorsal disk by a solid sub-
cartilaginous part, and provided
on the lower surface of the disk
with tentactiliform cirrhi, which
are very extensible.
Qenera.
1. VdeUa,
Body membranous, oval, veiy
much depressed, convex, swollen,
sustained above by a transparent
y , ,, . oval subcartllaginous piece,
" " ^' marked with concentric striae, and
ff, upper side ; h, lower side. surmoimted by a vertical and
oblique crest, concave below, with
a sort of mesial nucleus, offering a central mouth at the extremity
of a proboscidiform prolongation, surroimded by tentacular cirrhi of
tw9 kinds, the external being much longer *h*^n the internal ones.
De Blainville observes that Imperato and Colimma would appear to
be the authors who first noticed the animals which constilHite thi£
genus, established, at first, under the name of PhyUidoce, by Patrick
Browne, and figured by him in his 'History of Jamaica,' tab. 48, fig. 1.
Forskahl, who gave a very good description of it, arranged it under his
genus HolothwicL Loefling made it a Medusa, denominating the species
known to him Medusa VeUUa, a name adopted by Linnasus in the
' Systema Naturs.' Dana (' Soc Roy. de Turin,' 1766) proposed the
name of Armenistartu for it ; and Lamarck published it under the generic
appellation of Velella, by which it is now generally known to naturalists.
This form is widely difilised, and has been found in the seas of
Europe, America, Asia, and Australasia. One of the species, V. livfibosa,
is often taken on the southern coasts of England. The animals are met
with far at sea, and often huddled togetiier, young and old, in con-
siderable masses. Sailors are said to fry and eat theuL
The PhyUidoce labris ccendeis, the SaUy-Man of Browne, appears to
be the VdeUa cyanea, of Lesson and Gamot^ and one at least of the
species which gave rise to the Medusa Velella of Linnaeus and Qmelin
(Lamarck quotes the last name as well as Browne's PhyUidoce, as
synonyms of his VeUUa muUca).
2. HataruL
Body oval or circular, sustained by a subcartilaginous, compressed,
elevated pieoe, with a muscular, moveable, longitudinal crest above^
concave below, and provided in the
middle with a free proboscidiform
stomach, and with a single row of
marginal tentaculiform suckers.
E^hscholtz established this genus
for some very small cirrhigrade animals,
whose back is sustained by a subcar-
tilaginous piece, not elevating itself in
the dorsal cavity, and which only offer
mai^al cirrhi on the central surface.
JZotenamftrate. highly magnified. 5« ?^^!' after observing that
Forskahl has figured with his HoLothwria
spirants {VdeUa limbosa of Lamarck) some very small animalw, which
M. Eschscholtz himself regards as closely approximating to his
Bataria cordata, says that it seems possible that the Batarice may be
only degrees of development of Veldla. Example, RcUaria mUrata,
8. Porpita,
Body membranous, regular, circular, depressed, slightly convex above;
internal cartilaginous support circular, with its surface marked by con-
centric striae crossing
radiated striae, cover-
ed on its upper sur-
face by a delicate
membrane merely.
The body is concave
below, and the infe-
rior surface is frir-
, nished with a great
i number of tentacula^
j I of which the exterior
I ones are the longest^
and furnished with
small cilia, each ter-
minated by a glo-
bule : they sometimes
contain air; and the
internal ones are the
shortest, the most
simple, and the most
fleshy. In the centre
of these tentacula is
the mouth, in form of
a small proboscis,
which leads to a
simple stomach, sur-
rounded by a some-
what glandular sub-
stance.
Cuvier, from whom
a great portion of the
above description is
taken, says, in the
last edition of the
' R5gne Animal,' that
there is but one
species (PorpHa gi-
garUea) of a beautifrd
blue colour, from the
Mediterranean, and
other warmer seas.
Lamarck, who esta-
blished the genua
for on animal which
had been placed among the Medusa by Linnseos, gives four species*
Porpita gigantea,
a, upper side ; b, lower side.
Digitized by
Google
» ACALEPHJB.
but De BlainTiUe and MM. Chamisso and Einenliardt ooincide with
Cuvier in believing that they are all referable to one, though the
former admits that the fact Ib still
Kunewhat doubtful He observes
that Boflo's species, Hclothuria
appendictUaiiif (Porpita appefidictt-
lata. Lam.) was evidentlvestablished
on an impaired animal Eschscholtz,
under the name of Porpita Mediter-
ranea, conjoins three of Lamarck's
spedesy and describes three new
ones, taking for his character the
proportion of the cartilaginous VxotXe ot Pwpita glandifera.
disk, and especially that of the marginal cirrhL
Oeoffraphical I)utributum.^Like that of VeteUa, very wide. Bosc,
who met with them at sea, says the animal has the appearance of a
24-eou8 piece borne along by the waves. Examples, Porpita gigarUea,
and P. gUmdiftra,
L Polj/bi-achionia, (Guilding).
Dorsal support (sustentaculum) cartilaginous, naked, flattened,
rounded, radiated, concentrically striated; mantle (pallium) narrow,
firee, surrounding the support; arms numerous, parallel, of various
lengths, elon-
gated, afi&xed
beneath, with
a power of
taking a de-
clining posi-
tion for the
purpose of
taking prey.
Mouth below,
central, purse-
shaped, exten- '
sale. Tentacula
many, varying [
in form, sue- :
torial, cover-
ing the whole
ventral sur-
fece. Eggs,
Tery small,
innumerable,
nestled among
the tentaoula.
Example, Po-
lybrachionia
LinncBana.
This genus
has been esta-
blished by Jlr.
Guilding, who
describes the
support as
broad and
vitreous, the
body as ceru-
lean, the ten-
tactda as pal-
lid, and the
arms, which
are in a triple
series, glandu-
lous, the glan-
dules being
pedunculated.
The diameter
of the mantle,
exclusive of Polybraehionia Linn€tana, enlarged
^e arms, is ^^ ^pp^r side ; J, lower side,
stated to be
eleven and a half lines. Mr. Guilding states that the animal is
wonderfully beautiful, swimming, or rather floating on the serene
surface of the Caribean Sea in calm weather, and embracing its prey
by the sudden downward application of some or all of its arms,
which are easily broken by attrition.
We think there is hardly enough to warrant a generiQ separation in
this case; the species bears a strong resemblance to the Porpita
cceruUa of Eachscholtz. Mr. Guilding observes that the Medusa
porpita of the 'Anucnitates Academicse' seems nothing more than
the central disk of some species deprived of all thp 9igan8 of the body.
The fourth order is the Phtsoqrada. The structure of the
creatures belonging to this order were but little known till the
publication of Mr. Huxley's researches, in 'Philosophical Transac-
tions ' for 1849. They are allied to the preceding oraer both in the
conformation of the gastric organs and in their means of locomotion.
The principal difference between this and the preceding families i^,
ACALEPHiB. 88
that we here lose the radiate form, and observe in the creatures which
belong to it a lateral symmetry. This order is now made to include
the genus Phyaalia and its allies, which are possessed of an air-bag,
by means of which they float through the ocean, and also the various
forms of DipkydoB. These two forms were included by Cuvier in his
division of Hydrostatic AcalephcB. Before referring to their arrange-
ment, we shall give the principal results of Mr. Huxley's researches
into the anatomy of these creatures, as given by him in the 'Report of
the Twenty-First Meeting of the British Association for the Advance-
ment of Science.* We shall speak first of the DiphydcB. If one of;,
these creatures is examined, it will be found to consist of two trans-"
parent crystalline pieces, which look, when taken out of the water,
Ukc morsels of cutglass. One or both of these pieces contains a wide
cavity, lined with a muscular membrane, by the contraction of which
the animal is propelled through the water. The attachment of the
posterior piece to the anterior is very slight, and when detached it
will swim about independently for hours together. It was tills cir-
cumstance which led Cuvier to suppose that the two pieces were two
independent animals, and in this he has been followed by the majo-
rity of zoologists. He describee the two individuals as always together,
one including itself in a hollow of the other (I'un s'emboitant dans
un creux de I'autre), an arrangement which nevertheless permits their
separation without the destruction of life. They are, he observes,
gelatinous, transparent^ and move very nearly like the Medusas, The
including individual (I'emboltant) pit>duces from the bottom of its
hollow a chaplet (chapelet) which traverses a demi-canal of the inclu-
ded individual (l'emlx>it^), and would seem to be composed of ovaries
and of tentacula and suckers like those of the preceding genera.
Cuvier then goes on to state the divisions estabhshed by MM. Quoy
and Gkdmard, according to the relative forms and proportions of the
two individuals. Thus in the Diphyea, properly so called, the two
individuals are nearly alike, pyramidal, and with some points round
their opening, which is at the base of tho pyramid. In the Calpes,
the included individual has still the pyramidal form, but the inclu-
ding individual is very small and square. In the Ahyles, the included
individual is oblong or oval, and the including rather smaller and bell-
shaped. In the CvhoideSf it is the included individual which is small and
bell-shaped ; the including individual is much larger and square. In
the NaviculeSf the included individual is bell-shaped; the including
individual laige also, but slipper-shaped (en forme de sabot). Cuvier
concludes by remarking that there are many other combinations.
There are two prominent forms of Diphyda, the Monogastrie and the
Pdygastric, In the former a single polype is developed in a special
cavity of the anterior piece. In tibe polygastric a long chain of such
polypes, each enveloped in a littie tnmsparent braot> occupies a
similar position. These polypes have no oral tentacles ; but a long
thread-like tentacle, bearing lateral branches, which are terminated by
small sacs, is developed from the base of every polype. The small
prehensile sac has a peculiar form, but is only a dilatation of its
pedicle. It is much thickened on one side, and contains a great number
of the stinging hairs to which we have before alluded. The repro-
ductive oigans are medusiform bodies, which are developed by
gemmation from the pedicle of the polype.
In the Polygastric JDipkydos new polypes are continually being
produced by gemmation at the attached extremity of the polype-
chain, and in all the species the same gemmation is continually going
on among the prehensile and reproductive oigans.
The structure of the other forms of Physograda are modifications of
a common type, in the main identical with that of the IHphyda^
The great difference is in the absence of the air-oigan, or float The
same continual multiplication of parts by germination goes on among
the PhyssophoridcB as among the JHphyda, and the structure and
mode of development of the young oigans are the same. Great variety
is presented by the reproductive organs, from the form of mere sacs
to that of freeWimming bodies precisely resembling Medusas, and
developing the generative elements only subeequentiy to their
liberation. In Physalia the female organs are free-swimming medusi-
form bodies, while the male organs are simply pyriform sacs.
As a general conclusion it may be stated that the Physograda are
essentially composed of two membranes, an outer and an inner, which
are called by Mr. Huxley 'foimdation membranes,' since every oigaa
is formed by the modelling into shape of one or other or both of these;
commencing as a simple process, or diverticulum, and assuming its
perfect form by a gradual change of development. The stomach has
no walls distinct from those of tiie general varieties. The reproductive
organs are always developed externally. The stinging hairs, or thread-
ers, are found in all the species in the greatest abundance.
The following is the arrangement of these creatures according to
M. de BlainviUe :—
Phtsoobada.
•
Natatory organ simple and lamellar.
1. Physalia,
Generic Character.— Body oval, rather elongaiBd, more narrow and
proboscidiform anteriorly, hydatiform in the middle, attenuated and
obtuse posteriorly; mouth star-shaped and terminal; anus lateral;
a foot u fonn of a crest or oblique laminai directed from before
Digitized by V^UOQIC
ACALEPHiE.
ACALFPHiR.
backwards; branchisB very anomalous, and composed of a great number
of diversiform cirrbous productions ; organs of generation terminating
at tbe anterior third of the right side hj two closely approximated
orifices.
Example, Phi/tcUia AretJtuta,
This is the Arethuta of Browne ; Medusa CaraveUa of Miiller and
Eschscholtz ; Phytalui Pdagicut of Liamarck ; the Portuguese Man-of-
War of English yoyagers. This Phytalut is an inhabitant of the warm
seas, but a shoal of them are sometimes driven into our bays,
particularly on the south-west coast
Example, Bhizophyta planottoma, P^ron. {Bkiaophyta P&onii,
Each., ' Acaleph./ p. 148, No. ii, t. lZ,fig. 3.)
Species whose tentaouliform productions are covered with cirrhiform
fihunents. Natatory organs mJmown. (Qenus Epibulia, Esch.)
Example, Bhizophyta JUtformit. {Phyaophm^ JUtformitf Fonk.)
Phffialut Pelagiem / the crest not txpanded.
* *
Locomotive organs complex and vesicular.
2. Physsophora,
Generic Character. — Body more or less elongated, cylindroid,
hydatiform in its anterior part, provided below with two series of
vesicular diversiform bodies, vnih. a regular aperture, and behind with
a variable number of very diverse cirrhiform productions, two of
which are longer and more complex than. the others; mouth at the
extremity of the hydatiform part ; anus terminal
Example, Phyuophora Muzonema.
M. de BlfdnviUe states that the PhyssophoroB differ from the Phytalice
in swimming or floating in a vertical position, the air-bag being
above and the cirrhiferous productions below. The distinction of the
species appears to him to depend especially on the number and form
of the natatory organs.
8. JHphyio.
Generic Character. — ^Body cylindrical, elongated, contractile, mus-
cular, composed of three parts, the anterior part vesicular, the middle
part bearing on its lower part two hollow natatory organs, placed one
before the other, and the third part (which is the longest) provided
above with a fibrillo-capillaceous plate, and below with cirrhiform
productions ; mouth terminal
Example, Diphyta tmgvlaru (Quoy and Qaimard; 'Astrolabe,
Zoologie ').
4. Bhixophyta.
Generic Character. — Body free, transparent, very contractile, very
much elongated, swollen at one extremity into a sort ofaeriferous
bladder with a terminal orifice, provided throughout its length with
scattered tentaculiform productions mingled with cirrhiform filamenta
This genus is divided by M. de Bloinville into two sections.
a.
Species with simple tentaculiform productions. Natatory organs
hollow. (Qenus Rhisophyta,)
1. Jthiaophytaflliformit; 2. Physaophora Mwumima,
• * *
Species provided with two sorts of locomotive organs, the Ulterior
ones hollow, the posterior solid.
5. Apclemia,
Generic Character. — Body very much elongated, cylindrical, vermi-
form, provided anteriorly with many hollow natatory organs in two
rows, and behind with solid squamous organs, between which come
forth tentaculiform cirrhi, fumifdied with vermiform suckers.
Example, Apolemia Urania^
6. StephanonUcu
Generic Character. — ^Body in general very much elongated, cylin-
drical, vermiform, covered throughout its extent, except in the lower
median line, with squamous natatory organs, fall and di^rlBed in
transverse bands, between which come forth, and especially inferiorly,
long, very much diversified cirrhiform productions, mingled with the
ovaries. Orifices of the intestinal canal terminaL
Example, Slephanomia Amphitridcs, P^ron et Lesueur ('Voyage
aux Torres Austr.,' p. 45, pL 29, fig. 6).
7. Protomedea.
Generic C haraeter. ^-Body free, floating, cylindrical, fistulous, very
long, provided above with an imbricated assemblage of gelatinous
Digitized by
Google
JlCJlLKPBJE.
ACALEPHiE.
bodies (in two aHemate rows) which ore fUll and hippopodiform,
and throughout the rest of its length with filamentouB^ cirrhoua,
transverse aeriee, and with a yariable number of filamentoua
diverBiform productions. Mouth and anus terminal
Example, Jthodophysa Udianthut,
1, a portion of Apchwtia Urania,
a^ a part ttill more highlj magnified ; h, a tingle tucker.
diTersiforin productions. Mouth proboscidlform, at the extremity of
a tort of veaieular stomach.
Example, ProUnnedca lutea,
8. Bhodophyicu
Gmtric CharacUr. — ^Body shorty cylindrical, fleahy, swollen above
Mkodophfta EelUnUhus,
into an auriferous bladder, and provided below with a variable number
of gelaftizioas bodies, which are full, costiform^ forming a single
Cfueuhatiu cordiformit.
Prciomedea IvUa,
DiPHTDA.
Diphyda whose anterior part has but a sin^^e cavity (Monogastric).
Qenera.
1. Cucuhalm.
Body provided with a lar^e probosoidiform exsertile sucker, with a
bxmch (grappe) of ovaries at its base, lodged in a large bingle excavation
of a natatory anterior cordiform organ, receiving also the posterior,
which is also cordiform and hollowed
into a cavity with a posterior and sub-
oval orifice.
Example, Cttcubalua eordiformU, the
only species cited of the genus esta-
blished by MM. Quoy and Gaimard.
Length, two lines. Differs from the
other Diphydotf first, in having the
nucleus much less hidden and sunk in
the anterior natatory body, which has
moreover only one large cavity in which it is plunged ; secondly, in
having the oviferous production very short ; and, lastiy, in the mode
of locomotitn, for the animal always swims vertically.
2. (hcuJOm,
Body furnished with a great exsertile proboscidifonn sucker, with
a bundi of ovaries at its base, lodged in a deep excavation, the only
one in the anterior natatory
organ, i|i form of a hood, in
which the posterior i3 inserted
(s'emboite); the latter is te-
tragonal, and pierced behind
with a rounded terminal orifice.
Example, CucuUuiDorei
(Quoy and Gaimard).
lity. New Guinea.
8. Cfymba {NaceOe).
Body furnished with a laige
exsertile and proboscidifonn
sucker, having at its base a Oueullus Doreyonut.
mass of ovariform oi^ans,
lodged in the single and rather deep cavity of a naviform natatoiy
oigan, receiving and partially hiding the posterior natatory organ,
which is sagittiform, pierced behind with a rounded orifice crowned
with points, and hollowed on its free border by a longitudinal gutter.
reyanvs
Loca-
Digitized by V^nOU
glQ
48
ACATiEPHJB.
ACALEPHiB.
Example, Cymha sagittata (Quoy and Oaimard) ; NacdU tagittata
(De Blainyille). Locality, Straits of Gibraltar.
Cfmba $agittata,
H. de BlainTille remarks that he ought to observe that M. Eschscholtz
says that this genus, to which he imites the two following genera,
possesses an anterior natatory oxgan with two cavities, and of these
the natatory cavity projects in the form of a tube. M. de Blainville
further observes that this genus does not differ from the CucvUif
except in the form of the natatory organs ; in fact» the disposition of
the nucleus in the bottom of the single cavity into which the anterior
oiigan is hollowed, and the penetration of the posterior oi^an into this
■ame cavity are absolutely the same as in the two preceding genera,
as 11 de Blainville has been able to satisfy himself from, the examina-
tion of many individuals preserved in spirit.
4. Cvho\dt8, ^
Body nudeiform, provided with a large proboscidiform sucker,
surrounded by an
hepatic mass, having
fi at its base an ovary,
whence proceeds a fili-
form ovigerouB produc-
tion, contained in a
large, single, hemisphe-
rical excavation of an
anterior, cuboid, nata-
tory organ, much
^ larger than the pos-
terior one, which is
tetragonal, and nearly
entirely hidden in the
first
Example, CvboUa vUreua (Quoy and Gaimard). Locality, Straits
of Gibraltar.
This again, according to M. de Blainville, is a genus scarcely
distinguuuiable from the preceding genera^ and only by the form and
proportion of the natatory organs.
5. Ermeagona.
Body nucleiform, provided with a laige exsertQe sucker, haying at
its base an assemblage of ovaries, whence proceeds an oviferous pro-
duction. Anterior natatory oigan enneagonal, containing with the
nucleus in a single (?) excavation the posterior organ, which is much
smaller, with five points, and canaliciuated below.
Example, Bnneagona hyalina (Quoy and Gaimard).
OuboXdei titrtuM,
a, naturtl size ; ft, magnified.
^^^B
16
Enneagona hyalina,
1, 1 a, 1 h, JSntteagona hyalina under different aspects ; 1 e, visceral part ;
I df nnoleas.
6. Amphiroa,
Body nucleiform, of considerable volume, furnished with a probos-
cidiform stomach, having at its base a bimch of ovaries, prolonged
into along filament, contained in an anterior, polygonal, short, natatory
organ, cut squarely, with a single cavity in which the posterior organ,
which is equally shorty polygocued, and truncated, is inserted.
Example, Amphiroa alata (Lesueur). Locality, Seas of Bahama,
DiphydcB whose anterior part is furnished with two distinct cavitieB.
1. Cdtpe.
Body nucleiform, without an exsertile proboscis, having a sort
of aenferous vesicle, and at its base an ovary (?) prolonged into a
long cirrhigerous and oviferous production. Anterior natatory
oigan short, cuboid, having a distinct locomotive cavity ; posterior
natatory ozgan yery long, truncated at the two extremities, not
penetrating into the anterior organ, and provided with a round
terminal aperture.
Example, Calpe perUagona (Quoy and Gaimard). Locality, Straits
of Gibraltar?
Amphiroa alata,
1,1a, Amphiroa alata ; 1 i, its nnelens extracted.
Cb/jM pentagona,
1, Oaipe pentagona (profile) ; 1 a (under aide) ; 1 i, nnoleni.
2.Ahyla,
Body nucleiform, inconsiderable, with a very long dirhigerous and
oviferous production. Anterior natatory body much shorter than the
other, subcuboid, with a distinct cavity for the reception of the anterior
extremity of the posterior natatory body, which is polygonal and
very long.
Example, Ahyla trigona (Quoy and Gaimard). Locality, Straits of
Gibraltar.
Abyla trigona,
1, Ahyla trigona ; 1 a, posterior part ; 1 h, anterior or visceral part
8. Diphyet,
Body nucleiform, indistinct, situated in the bottom of a deep cavity,
whence proceeds a long tubular production, furnished throughout its
extent with proboscidiform suckers, having at their root granular
corpuscles and a cirrhiferous filament Natatory bodies nearly equal
and similar; the anterior with two distinct cavities, the posterior with
a single one, with a round aperture provided with teeth.
Example, Diphyet Bory (Qiloy and Gaimard) ; Diphyes campaiMdifara
(Eschscholtz).
Doubtful species, or those with one part only.
1. Pyramid
Body free, gelatinous, crystalline, rather solid, pyramidal, tetragonal,
with four unequal angles, pointed at the summit, trimcated at its base,
Digitized by V^Uijy It:
ACALEPH^
ACALEPH^
with a single rounded aperture communicating with a singla deep
cayity, towards the end of which is a granular coipusde.
EiLample, Pyrcmit tetrag<ma (Otto).
Id
Diphyet Sory.
1, the entire animal (profile) ; 1 a, anterior part of the same; 1 h, posterior
part ; 1 c, animal magnified ; 1 d, posterior part of the same.
If. Eschflcholtz makes this organised body a species of his genus
Eudaxia, which comprehends Cucvhalm and CwvMi of Quoy and
Gaimard, admitting that the two nata-
tory organs are intimately united so as
to form, apparently, but one.
2. Praia.
Body subgelatinous, rather soft,
transparent) binary, depressed, obtuse,
and truncated obhquely at the two
extremities, hollowed into a cavity Pyrami* tetragona.
of little depth, with a round aperture nearly as large as the cavity,
and provided with a laige canal or furrow
above.
Example, Praia dubia (Quoy and
Gaimard).
8. Telragona.
Body gelatinous, transparent, rather solid,
binary, of an elongated, paralldopiped, tetra-
gonal form canaliculated below, truncated
obliquely anteriorly, pierced behind by a gaping
orifice fiinushed with symmetrical points, and
leading into a long blind cavity.
Example, Tetroffona hitpidum (Quoy and
TOroffona hitpidum,
1, ntrayona hxMpidwn; 2, 3, 4, details of the same.
4. Svlcvleolaria.
Body subcartilaginoua, transparent^ elongated, cvlindrold, traversed
throu^out its Icoogth by a very large furrow, bordered with two
membranes, truncated at the two extremities, with a posterior aper-
ture, with appendicular lobes on its circumferenoe, and loading mto
a very long and blind cavity.
Example, SulaUeolaria quadrivalvit (Lesaeur). Locality, Mediter-
ranean (ISrioe).
SulcuUolaria quadrivalvu,
A genus characterised by De Blainville, who found it established in
the figures of Lesueur, from those figures ; but the foimer is stronglv
inclined to believe that the genus is foimded on the part of an anima^
and not on an entire one.
5. Oaleolaria,
Body gelatinous, rather firm, perfectly regular, symmetrica], sub-
polygoniJ or oval, compressed on the
sides and furnished with two lateral
rows of extremely fine cirrhi A large J
posterior aperture pierced in a sort of
diaphragm with appendicular lobes,
binary above, leading into a luge
cavity with muscular walls. An ovary
at the anterior superior sur£EU»,
coming out by a mesial and bilabiated
orifice.
Example, GaleotariaauitraliSfBerMet
aut^ralit (Quoy and Gkdmard).
6. Rotacea,
Body free, gelatinous, very soft, transparent^ suborbicular, with a
single terminal aperture at one of the poles leading into an oval cavity
which co^imimicatee with a depression, whence proceeds a drrhiger-
ous and oviferous production.
Example, Jtosacea CetUetuU (Quoy and Gaimard).
OaUolaria mutraUt.
Sotaeea OtuimtU.
7. NoctUuea,
Body free, gelatinous, transparent^ spheroidal, reniform, with a sort
of infundibuliform cavity, whence proceeds a proboscidiform contractile
production.
Example, Noctiluca miliarit (Lamarck).
M. Surriray, a doctor of medicine, while investigating the cause of
the phosphorescence of the sea-water at H&vre, appears to have beeo
the first who observed and
called attention to the genus
NoctUnca, which he described
and figured in the memoir
that he communicated to the
class of sciences of the French
Listitute. Its size hardly
equals that of a small pin's
head, and it is as transpa- KceWuca maioHi,
rent as crystal; he found it
very common in the basins at H&vre, sometimes in such abundance
as to form a considerably thick crust (croilte asses ^paisse) on th«
Digitized by V^UOQIC
47
ACkLEPHJR,
ACANTHION.
mirface of the water. It has also been obeerred in England as the
cause of phoephoresoence in the ocean.
8. DoUolum,
Body gelatinous, hyaline, cylindrical, truncated, and equally atte-
nuated at the two extremities, which are laigely opened and without
apparent oigans.
Example, DoUdwn MediUrrcmewn (Otto).
11 Otto describes the oigamsm on which he has established this
genus as swinmiing by ejecting and absorbing the water by means of
the alteniate dilatation and contraction of its two orificea M.
Belle Chiaje ('Mem.,' tom. iii) seems inclined to believe that the
DoUolwn of Otto is merely a fragment of a species of ffolotkuna,
which he names ffolothwria inhcerent. De Blainville observes that if
Otto's description of the motion, &c., above stated, be correct, it is
probable that the animal is a true Biphore,
"Among the genera," says De Blainville, "ineertce sedit, which,
wrong or rights have been connected with Phyuophora or Diphyes,
without even being very certain that they are anirnals, we shall cite
the following genera intentionally omitted in our work."
Oupiditet (Quoy and Gaimard), placed among the. PhyuopkorcSf
whose capsules are disposed on each side of a very long axis,
established on an organised body, figured pL 87, fig. 4 — 16 in the
zoological part of the ' Voyage of the Urania' l^ot having met
with this animal in their second voyage, MM. Quoy and Gumard
doubt (' Astrolabe, Zoolog.,' t. iv. p. 53 n.) whether it is an incom-
plete Phystophora or a St^honumiae {Stephanomia t) with hollow
natatory organs. Cuvier places the genus between Hippopm and
Racemi9,
Polytoma (Quoy and Qaimard, 'Zool. of ihe Uranie,' pi. 87, fig. 12,
18), which may be defined to be an oval mass of p'lobular trivalvular
corpuscles (corpuscules globuleux conmie trivalves), and which
MM. Quov and Qaimard conceive to be rather a Biphore than a
Phyaoffraae,
Tetragona (p. 10), (Quoy and Qaimard, 'ZooL of the Uranie,' pL 86,
fig. 11). This the authors themselves ('Astrolabe,' iv. p. 108) have
recognised as being nothing more than the posterior point of viphya
hiapida.
RacemU (Delle Chiaje, Cuvier), figured by Delle Chiaje, ' Mem.' tab.
50, t 11, 12, and described as a globose vesicle endowed with a very
quick motion, and disposed towards an ovate shape ; but» observes
De Blainville, the figures and description are too incomplete to affbrd
a supposition of what it is ; in fact, Delle Chiaje confines himself to
stating that his Bacemii ov(Ua executes all the rotatory and rapid
motions at the surfieu>e of the water, and that those of each vesicle
are so lively that it has been absolutely impossible to perceive
the aperture with which, according to Delle Chiaje, they are pro-
vided. Cuvier only adds to the description of Delle Chiaje, who
also places RacemU near the PhyMtophorcef a small membrane with
which each veside is furnished. SL De Blainville concludes by
observing that he had seen a drawing; by M. Laurillard, which had
been taken at Nice from one of these organised bodies while alive,
and that he supposed that it might well be a mass of eggs of
Afoausca,
Belationa of the Acalephce to the other InvertebrtUcL — Mr. Huxley, in
his memoir before referred to, proposes to consider the Acalepfue in
some new relations. The presence of stinging hairs in these animals,
in common with the ffydroid, Sertvlarian, and Anthozoic Pclypee,
he regards as a fact of primary importance. He endeavours to show
that this fact, combined with the radiate polype form, and the compo-
sition of the body of two distinct membranes, forms a very good
positive character for a group embracing the Hydr&id and Anthozoic
Polypes, and the AcaUphce. He proposes to give the name of Nemor
tophora {* thread-bearers ') to this group, in allusion to the charac-
teristic presence of the ' thread-celL' Frey and Leuckart had, how-
ever, applied the term C(deTUer<Ua to the same group. It will admit of
subdivision into two equivalent subclasses: one including the
BydrOfd Pclypei, the ZHphyda, Phyuophorida, and Medutidof, in
which the stomach is not distinct from the common parietes, and
the reproductive organs are external; the other, embracing the
Anthowoic Polypes and BerOida in which the stomach is distinct
from the common parietes, and the reproductive organs are intemaL
The author proposes the terms Anacioa and JBcioa for these
two divisions. These groups mutually represent each other as
follows : —
Air^fiCiOA.
Bydroldce,
Corynidce,
Pennatulidce,
BeroUke.
JEciOJL.
Actiniada.
Zocmthidcg,
Phyuophorida,
Meiutida,
On these grounds Mr. Huxley proposes to break up the class Radiaia
of Cuvier into four groups. Supposing the Ccdenteraia to form a sort
of central group, we have, on we one hand, the Atcidiant and the
BryoMoa leading to tiie MoUueca ; on the other, the Echinodermt and
the Eniowoa leading to the Amvuiosa: whi]i# the Pot/ygattriOf Sponges,
and Oregartnado! conduct us towards the lowest plants. These rela-
tions may be thus represented : —
MOLLUSOA.
AirsxjiMk,
r
Asoidians. Bryosoa. Echinodermata. Entoioa.
RADIATA.
CJELUfTBBATA.
Ansecioa. Moios^
Protozoa.
Polygastrica. Spongiadse. Gregarinadtt.
Fossil Impbxssiohb of MsDU&sf
Mr. Babbage, in his paper ' On Impressions in Sandstone resembling
those of Horses' Feet,' December, 1886, in which he noticed those in
the channel of a stream on the extensive moor called PwU-y-Duon,
about seven miles from Merthyr Tydvil, to which his attention was
drawn by Mr. Guest of Dowlais, and the analogous casts in the old
red-sandstone of Forfarshire, there called Kdpies' Feet> described
some observations made by Sir C. Lyell, on impressions left by
Medmce on the rippled sand near Dundee. On amoving the gelati-
nous body of the animal, a circular space was exposed, not rippled,
but having around half the border a depression of a horse-shoe fonn.
These marks, however, were not considered by Sir C. Lyell as identical
with those called Kelpies' Feet^ but merely so far analogous as to
invite further observations, and to make it desirable to possess
drawings of the impressions which diflferent species of Medusa leave
when thrown by the tide upon a beach of soft mud or sand. (* GeoL
Proc.,' voL ii.) [See Sdpplembnt.]
ACANTHA'CE^, an order of plants belonging to the Monopeta-
lous division of Dicotyledons. Its type is the genus Acanthus. The
species are herbaceous or shrubby ; they are extremely common in
every tropical country. Many of tiie species are mere weeds ; others
bear handsome flowers with gaudy colours, but seldom with any
odour; a vexy small number have been occasionally employed
medicinally as emollients or diuretics.
The roots of Acanthacea are either annual or perennial. The
stems are usually four-cornered when young, but afterwards become
nearly round ; their inside is occupied by a large proportion of pith,
Analysis of Aeanthaeem,
which is enclosed in a thin layer of imperfectly formed wood ; and at
each joint there is a slight tumour with an articulation, bv which
they are readily known from both Scrophviariacece and Verbenacece.
Their flowers are often enclosed within large, leafy, imbricated
bracts (1). The calyx (2) is usually composed of either four or five parts,
which overlap each other, and occasionally grow together at the
base. ^ The corolla (8) is monopetalous and irregular. The stamens (4)
are either two or four, but in the latter case are of unequal lengths.
The pistillum (6) is superior and turcilled. The seed-vessel (5) con-
tains two cells, which burst when ripe, often with elasticity, and
expose a few roundish seeds hanging to the cells by curious-hooked
processes.
The stems of all the species emit roots veiy readily from their
tumid articulations ; on which account gardeners universally inovase
them by cuttings of the full-grown branches. They are always easy
to cultivate, provided they are not kept in too cold or too dry a
situation. The annual kind» freely produce seeds, by which they are
readily multiplied.
The most common genera are Justicia, Acanthus, RueUia, Thunberffia^
BarUrick, Eranthemvm, Lankesteria, and Benfreya.
(Brown's Prodromus Flora Nova HoUandia: Bartling's Ordines,
NaiuraUs ; Lindle/s Introduction to the Natural System ; and Nees von
Esenbeck's Exposition, in the third volume of Dr. Wallich's Planta
Asiatica RoHores.)
ACA'NTHION, in Zoology, a genus of Rodentia, estoblished by
11 F. Cuvier, and embracing two species, which are only known, at
present, by tiieir osteology. In the number and form of their teeth«
Digitized by
Google
ACANTHODERMA.
ACANTHURUS.
50
these animalfl agree in all respects with the oomznon poztsupine
from which, indeed,
thej only differ in the
general form or outline
of the cranium, and the
comparative develop-
ment of the bones of
the fBice and skuU;
characters which have
no very assignable in-
fluence upon the habits
and economy of animal
life. There has been
some difference among
zoologists as to the use
of this term. Thus,
AcantMon of F. Curler
is Acantherium of J. E. Gray, whilst the Accmthion of Gray includes
Skull of AcanthioB.
BkoU of Poronplne.
both the genera Eystrix (Porcupine) and AccmthUm of F. Cuvier.
(Waterhouse, Jtodentia.)
ACANTHODEHMA, a fossil genus of fishes, from Glaris. (Agassiz).
ACANTHO'DES, a genus of fossU Ganoid fishes, established by M.
Agassiz. The species occur in the carboniferous strata near Edin-
burgh. (Agassiz.)
ACA'NTHOPHIS (from AKca^a, athoni, and itpis, a snake), in
Zoology, a genus of venomous serpents, allied to the vipers, but dis-
tinguished by having a single series of plates beneath the tail, except
towards the veiy extremity, where they are, in some cases, separated
into two small rows. The bodies and tails of these animals are
elongated and cylindrical ; their heads roimd, obtuse, rather promi-
nent over the eyes, and covered in front with nine or ten polygonal
plates. The back and upper surface of the tail are coverea with
reticulated scales of a rhomboidal form ; the breast and belly are
covered with single transverse plates, as is likewise the tail, excepting
towards the very extremitv, which is sometimes furnished with a
double row of plates, as in the common viper. The tail is terminated
by a little spur, or homy excrescence, which has suggested the name
of AcaiUhophtM (that is ' thorn-snake ') for this genus. It springs out
of the very end of the tail, and does not appear to be of the same
utility as the two homy spurs which grow upon each side of the anus
in the Pythons and Boas, and which, being retractile, or capable of
being erected and depressed at will, execute important functiona in
the economy of these animals.
TtHoiAMmthophii.
The head of the AcofiUhophu is broad and compressed, the mouth
capable of great distension, and furnished, on each side, besides the
retractile poison-firngs common to all the family of truly venomous
serpents, with a double row of sharp curved teeth. The species of
this genus are of small size, reside on the surface of the diy land, and
feed upon frx>gB, lizards, and small mammals. They are viviparous,
and secrete themselves in rat-holes, or beneath the roots of trees.
They never strangle or crush their prey by coiling themselves round its
body,, but expect a more speedy and certain victory from, the deadly
effects of their poison. The species best known are—
The AcaiUhophit eeratiiniu, first described by Merrem, and so
named f^m the general similarity which it bears, at first sight, to
the CeratteSf or Homed Viper, in its short body, large flat heid, and
eyes surmounted by prominent scales. The length of this species is
about fifteen inches, of which the tail measures rather more than a
fifth pert ; the body is thick in proportion to its length, having a
VAT. BOB, DIT. YOL. L
circumference of two inches and a half in the middle, frx>m whence it
gradually tapers towards either extremity. The native country of
this species is unknown.
AMnihophit oeroitiniu.
The Accmthophii Brovmii is briefly described by Dr. Leach, and
figured in the firat volimie of the * Naturalist's Miscellany.' The
specific name is g[iven out of compliment to Mr. Robert Brown, the
celebrated botanist^ from whose manuscripts the brief description of
Dr. Leach was taken. The body is said to be of a unifomi dark
brown, the under lip whitidi, the upper with a transverse groove in
ftont^ the tail smaU and rather abroptly contracted at its junction
with the body, and the apex compressed laterally. This is probably
the Death Adder, or Tammem, referred to by Mr. G. Bennett^ in his
' Wanderings in New South Wales.' It is a hideous and exceedingly
venomous roptile.
ACANTHOPTERY'GII (from Akco^o, a thorn, and wr/pwl, a wing),
in Zoolo^, one of the three primary divisions, or natural orders, of
fishes. The fishes aro divided into three orders— the Chondroptayffii
(ftt)m x^f'Spof, cartilage, and vr^pv^ a wing or fin), or cartiiaginoua
fishes, without a solid bony skeleton ; AeaiUliopterygiif fishes having
bony dLeletons with prickly spinous processes in the dorsal fins;
and Malacopierygii (fiaXaK6s, soft, and irr4pv^, a wing), fishes with
bony skeletons indeed, but with soft articulated radii in the dorsal
fins. These divisions wero first emploved by Willughby and Ray.
Cuvier divides the Acanthopterygious Fishes into fifteen natural fami-
lies, which he c^ after the names of their typical or most common
1. Percid<B, including the common Perch, the Sea-Perch, the Barber
of the Mediterranean, the Weevers, the Staigazers, and the Sea-Pike.
2. TrigUdOt which include the Gurnards, the Flying-Fishes, the Bull-
Heads, we MlUer^s-Thumb, and the Sticklebacks.
8. Scicenida, which include the Maigres, the Stone-Perch, the Drum-
heads, the Bed-Throats, and a nimiber of other fishes leas known.
4. Sparida, including the Sea-Breams, the Spanish Bream, the GiH-
Head, and Black Bream.
5. Menidce, a small family whose species are not much known.
6. Squamipennea, including the duetodons and other curious fishes^
as the Ck)achmen, the Horsemen, and others. •
7. ScmberidcB include the Mackerel, the Tunnies, the Sword-Fishes,
the Pilot-Fishes, the John-Dory, and the King-Fish.
8. Tcenidce, ^i^filnd^rg the Scabbaid-Fish, the Hair-Tail, Bed-Band-
Fish, and others,
9. Theutyea, including the Jjancet-Fishes, and some other genera
remarkable for their powerful cutting spines.
10. AnahadcB include the Climbing Perch and other allied freeb
water fishes.
11. MugiUdm include the Gray MuUeti the Bamando of Nice, and
some others.
12. CMiioda include the Blenpiee, the Gobies, or SeapGodgeons, and
the Dragonet*
18. Zophiada include the Anglers, the Fiahing-Frog, or SearDevil,
and the IVog-Flshes.
14. labrida include the Wrasses, or Bodk-Fiabes, the < Old THves of
the Sea,' the Captains, and the Scams.
15. PittvlaHda, include the Pipe-Mouths, the Snipe-Fish, the Se»
Trmnpet, or Bellows-Fish.
ACANTHUHUS (from Sicoytfo, a thorn, and ohpd, a taQ), a genus of
Acantiiopteiygious Fishes. It contains a great number of species,
many of which are remarkable for the beauty of their external forma,
and the variety of their colours. They are distinguished from proxi-
mate genera by the form of the body and tail, which are exceedingly
compressed ; by their trenchant teeth, denticulated like a very fine
comb ; but above all by the moveable spines, edged and sharp like a
Digitized by V^UOQIC
n
ACANTHUS.
ACANUS.
lancet^ with which they are aimed on each aide of the tail, and with
which they inflict dangeroua woundB upon the hands of those who
touch them incautiously. It is this circumstance that has acquired
Outtodon OkirurgUHt. (Blooh.)
for the Aeanthmri the names of Doctors and Lancet-Fishes, by which
they are well known to the English aailora and colonists. These
AniTTiftU have the mouth small, and the muzzle rather advanced. They
are among the small number of fishes which live entirely upon
vegetable substances, feeding only upon Fuci, and other marine
plants; their intestinal canal is consequently longer and more
complicated than in other spedes, and their flesh has a peculiar
flavour, very different from that of fishes in general The duigerous
weapons with which nature has provided these otherwise harmless
fiahes are well calculated to defend them from the attacks of
their enemies. They abound in all the tropical aeas, both of the
East and West In<ues, and are never known to advance beyond
the tropics ; consequently they are unknown in the more temperate
latitudes.
ACAN^THUS. Under this classical name have been described, by
ancient authors, at least three totally different plants. Ftrsthr, a
prickly tree with smooth eveigreen leaves, and small round saffron-
coloured berries, frequently alluded to by Virgil ; this is oonjeotured
to have been the HoUy. Secondly, a prickly Egyptian toee, described
by Theophrastus as having pods like those of a bean ; it is probable
that this was Uie Acacia Arabica. Thirdly, a herb, mentioned bv
Dioscorides, with broad prickly leaves, which perish at the approach
of winter, and again sprout forth with the return of spring. It is said
that the idea of the Corinthian capital of Qreek oolumns was taken
from some of the leaves of this Aeanthut. To this latter plant the
name is now applied. The word, in aU casea^ alludes to the prickly
nature of the leaves or stems.
In modem botany Aeanthut is a genus of herbaceous plants found
in the south of Europe, Asia Minor, and India, belonging to the
natural order AearUhoMJe,
The commonest spedes is Aeanthut moBit, or Brankursine, a native
of many parts of the South of Europe, growing in shady moist places,
among bushes. Its stem is about two feet high, and is covered from
the middle to the top with fine laige white flowezfl^ slightly tinged
with yellow. The leaves are huge, sof^ deeply cut^ hairy, and
ahining, and surround the lower part onlv of the stem. Both the
leaves and the roots, whidi are perennial, abound in mudlage, which
has caused them to be substituted in domestic medicine for l£e maiah-
mallow. It is this roedes which is usually supposed to have given
rise to the notion of the Qredan capital But it wpears, fi^om the
investigation of Dr. Sibthorp, that it is nowhere to be found, dther
in the Qreek islands, or in any part of the Peloponnesus ; and that the
plant which Dioscorides must have meant was the Aeanthut tpinotutf
still called Acoytfo, which is found, as he describes ii> on the borders of
cultivated grounds, or of gardens, and is firequent in rocky moist
situations. This spedes differa firom A. moUit in having a dwarfer
stem, flowers tinged with pink instead of yellow, and spiny leavee,
much more deeply cut. Both the one and the other are half-hardy
perennials, incrcwsed by division of the summit of the root They
have been long cultivated in the gardens of Ghreat Britain, but periaL
if not protected from severe frost
A'CANUS, a fossil genus of fishes, firom Glaris. (Agassis.)
ACA'RIDiE, a division of Araehnida [Abachnida], whidi oompre*
hends the small apider-like animals popularly termed Mites (ileort),
as well as Water-Mites and Ticks. Some of these are wanderers on
land or in water ; others are fixed upon various animals, whose blood
or humours the^ suck, and even insinuate themselves beneath the akin,
and often multiply prodigiously.
These minute animalfl are not considered by modem na^bnralists to
rank amonff insects, on account of their structure being very different,
jtnd frx>m their having, in most cases, like spiders, eight feety while no
insect has more than six feet Their mouths, in some, are furnished
with jaws {mandUmla), dther having pincers or clawsi, but concealed
in a projection of the oreast-plate {ttenmm) in form of a lip ; in others
it is in the form of a syphon or sucker ; and in others it presents a
simple cavity. 11 Latreule makes four divisions of the AcaridcB : —
1, Mites {Tromhiditet) ; 2, Ticks {lUcinUet) ; 8, Water-Mites (ffydraeh-
neUce) ; and 4, Flesh-Worms (Miervphthira),
All the creatures now embraced in this fionily were induded by Lin-
nsBus under his genus ilcems, and the whole of the spedes are populariy
called Mites, or AearL They are all vexy minute, some being almost
miorosconicaL They are very generally distributed. Some are paradtic,
whilst others are free. The itch is now well known to owe its exist-
ence to a creature of this tribe. Others live naturally in the human
skin, whilst beetles and other insects are very liable to be attacked
bv them. They are found on the leaves, fruit, flowers, and bark of
plants ; and on all kinds of providons^ as flour, dried meat^ dried
cheese, and putrid animal matters.
Amongst the tme Mites {Tromhiditet, Latreille), the following com-
mon forma are placed : —
The Domestic Mite (Acamu damettieutf De (}eer), is very commonly
found in collections of insects and stuffed birds, and is exceedingly
destructive to cabinets. Camphor has some effect in destroying thu
pest» but is not powerful enough to prevent it altogether. Moistening
*fA
Domtstio Mite {Aaarut domttticut.)
the specimens with a weak solution of corrodve sublimate, is said to
prove an effectual preventative. The species found in flour and on
food is called A, Farina,
The Itch Mite {Aearut JScahiei, Fabridus, Sarcoptet Oalei, L.) is a
microscopic animal, found under the human skin in the pustules of
a well-known cutaneous diseasa It has a remarkable suctorial appa-
ratus, by means of which it secures its hold under the epidermis of
the skin, into which it has the power of penetrating. This animal is
most effectually destroved by sulphur ; uul indeed this is a specific
for the diseaso which the Aeanu produces.
Itoh Mite {Aaamt SeMtL)
The Sugar Mite {Aeanu taeeharinum) is found in the brown sugar
of commerce. Thirty-five out of thirty-six specimens examined oy
the analytical commisdoners of ' The Lancet^' bought in the shops of
London, in 1850, were foxmd to oontain these creatures.
The Bed Spider of the hot-houses is the Aearut teilariut. It is the
nest of hot-houses and green-houses. Though so small as scarody to
be seen by the naked eye, its effects on plants are vexy obvious. These
creatures live upon the juices of the plant which they attack, and also
prevent the function of the leaves from being properly performed. They
are best destroyed by sulphur. The mode of applying itis to sprinkle the
sulphur on the hot pipes or on plates ; afterwards^ the planta ahoold
Digitized by
Google
63
ACARUa
ACER.
be syringed. Other n>ecie8, as A, kortentii, A, holoiericeut, A, ffenicth
lattu, attack Yarious plants, and the best
way of treating them is the same as the
above.
The Sparrow Kite (Acartu pa$tennut,
Fabrioiiia) is distinguished by the remark-
able size of its third pair of legs.
Geofflroy called ii^ the Bat Tick, and •
Latreille foimerly placed it in his genus
JSareoptes,
A vexy interesting form of these crea-
tures is that first described by Dr. Simon,
of Berlin, as inhabiting the sebaceous
sacs and hair-follicles of the human skin.
He called it an Acanu, but Professor Sparrow Mite.
Owen regards it as a lower form of one of the higher dlvieions of
Araeknida. He names it Demodex FoUicvlorwn. It has also been
described in this country by Mr. Erasmus Wilson, under the name of
£niomon FoOicfdortmL It has an elongated body, with eight short
legs, and is foxmd veiy commonly in the sebaceous follicles of the
nose. In its parasitical habit it resembles some of the lower forms of
the Onutcicea, as the CyiMthoe and Bopyrut; and, perhaps, through
the Tardigrade^ it has a relation with the Rotiferct,
The Ticks (JJiantte*, Latreille) are, some of them free, some parar
sitia The latter have no eyes. They embrace the genus Ixodes, which
are well known from attaddng cows, horses, dogs, and even tortoises.
They bury their suckers so deeply in the skin, that they frequently
cannot be taken away without tearing the flesh. They deposit a
prodigious quantity of eggs, which are discharged from the mouth.
The genus Argot is found on pigeons and other birds. The A, Penicus
is the Tenomous bug of Miana.
The Water Mites (ffydrachndke) live only in the water. They are
often parasitic on aqiiatic insects. Dugte has recently made some
important observations on the development of these mites, in which
he shows that in theis earlier stages of growth they have but six legs.
If this be correct, it will probably lead to the rejection of Latreille's
fourth division, theiftcropA^Aira, which are characterised by possessing
six legs, as they are probably only earlier stages of some of the higher
forms.
ACARUa [Acawdjl]
ACCIPENSER. JBturionidjl]
ACEPHALOCYST, one of the sunpleet forms of Entotoa, also called
Eydatid. [Entozoa.j
ACER, a name given l^ the Romans to a tree called MapU by the
English. It is now applied to a genus of arborescent or shnibby
plants, niany of which are extremely valiiable for the sake either of
their timber or of their ornamental appearance. It is the type of the
natural order AceracetE. It has the following characters : — ^Flowers
green and inconspicuous, either containing stamens only, or pistik
only, or both united, upon the same individual. Calyx divided into
five lobes, of uncertain length. Stamens occasionally five ; more fre-
quently vaiying fix>m seven to nine. Leaves in all cases simple.
Fruit double ; each division containing one single^weded cavity, and
extended at the back into a kind of wing, called Kty in English, or
Samara by botanists.
1. Acer obUmgwn, Oval-Leafed Maple, an evergreen tree, of rapid
growth, native of the northern parts of India, both in Nepaul
and Kumaon. It is probabh^ confined to the hot valleys of those
regions, for it has beeoi found incapable of supporting the climate of
England.
2. iloer Umgatwn (Wallich), the Polished Maple. Leaves oblong,
taper-pointed, slightly serrated, shining, green beneath. Flowers white,
in branched erect thyrses. Keys broad, short, smooth. It is found
in the woods of the higher mountains of Nepaul, and also in the Alps
of Sirmoor, where it acquires a trunk thirty or forty feet high, and
fix>m three to four feet thicL Its growth is slow ; its timber is said
by Dr. Wallich to be used by the inhabitants of Nepaul for rafters,
beams, and similar building purposes.
8. Acer Tataricwn (Linnsus), the Tartarian Maple. Leaves heart-
shaped, oblong, unequally serrated, usually undivided. It forms an
ornamental tree, or rather laige bush, frrom fifteen to twenty feet high,
often met with in gardens and plantations. Its native oountries are
the southern provinces of Russia in Asia, whence it extends as far
as Hungaiy, there finding its most western limit. From its keys,
deprived of their wings, the Calmucs form, by the aid of boiling water,
an astringent beverage^ which, mixed with an abundance of milk and
butter, forms a favourite article of their diet. The wood is hard and
white, mixed with brownish veins.
4. Acer striatum, the Striped-Bark Maple {A, Peiuuylvanieum,
Linnaeus). Leaves roundish, finely serrated, divided at the upper end
into three nearly equal tapering lobes ; when young, covered with a
mealiness, which is gradually thrown off as they increase in sise. It
is a native of North America, from Canada to the high lands in Georgia.
In those countries it forms a considerable part of Uie undeigrowth of
the woods, among sugar-maples, beeches, birches, and hemlock-spruce
firs. It rarely exceeds eight or ten feet in height, except in a vexy few
favourable situations, wh^ it win occasional^ grow double that height.
Its wood ii Tii7 whiter and is used by the North Americans for imay-
ing cabinet-work ; its shoots afford food to various animals, especially
to the moose-deer, in winter and spring, whence it has acquired the
name of Moose- Wood. In Europe it is occasionally seen in planta-'
tions, where it is remarkable for the bright rosy tint of its yoimg leaves
in spring. When ctdtivated, it fr^uently grows to thrice its native
size^ in consequence of being grafted upon the Sycamore Maple.
forms of the lesTes of Spedes of Maple.
Z. A, Tatarieum. II a vod h. A, Oretieum.
10. A. MOfMpe«ni/antrai. 7 a. A, ojm/tM. 8 a. A, obtu$ahim,
4. A, ttriatum. 5. A, barbaium,
5. Acer harhaium (Michaux), the Bearded Maple. Leaves heart-
shaped, three-lobed, nearly equally serrated ; the lobes of nearly equal
sise, or the lateral ones much the smallest ; nearly smooth beneath.
It is a native of deep pine and cedar swamps in Jersey and Carolina,
where it forms a small tree.
6. Acer tpicatwn, the Spike-Flowered Maple {A, mofUcmwn, Alton).
Leaves heart-shaped, smooth above, downy and glaucous beneath, of
an oblong figure^ with about five unequal, tapering, coarsely and
unequally serrated divisions. It is a native of the United States and
Canada. The red colour of its keys in the autumn forms its principal
beauty.
*!, Acer opuhu (Alton), the Queldres-Rose-Leaved Maple. Leaves
more or less heart-shaped, roundish, five-lobed, smooth beneath. It
is a small tree^ ten or twelve feet high, foxmd in France, especially in
Dauphiny.
^, Acer fibimatmi^ (Willdenow), the Neapolitan Maple. Leaves
heart-shaped, roundish, five-lobed, woolly beneath ; the lobes either
obtuse or pointed, and coarsely serrated. Flowers in drooping corymbs.
Hungary, Croatia, and many parts of Italy, produce this beautiful
spedes. On all the hills and lower mountams of the kingdom of
Naples, in Camaldoni, Castellamare, and the Abruxzi, it is found
abundantly, growing usually to the height of forty feet ; it is extremely
striking, with its x^ddish-purple branches, in uie wood of Lucania,
between Rotonda and Rubia ; and in the Basilicata and Calabria it is
said, by Tenore, to acquire colossal dimensions. It is certainly very
m'ngiilar that so fine a tree as this, occupying so laige a tract of
country, frequently visited by English tourists, should be ' almost
unknown in this country ; and yet, although it is perfectly hardy, and
very easily multiplied, it is scarcely ever met with in any but botanical
collections.* There are two forms of the leaf— one with blunt, and the
other with pointed lobes.
9, Acer campettre (Linna)us), the Common Maple. Leaves heart-
shaped, with three or five deep segments which are not serrated, but
generally two-lobed or three-lobed, and narrow at their base ; downy
beneath — at least, when young. Branches covered, when old, with a
corky baik. Flowers in erect, branched, downy corymbs. Keys short,
smooth, with nearly parallel edges, diveiging at right angles. Found
in eveiy hedge-row in England, and sprrad over the greater pert of
Europe. It is said not to be indigenous in Scotland, and on the conti-
nent it does not approach the north nearer than the southern provinces
of Sweden. It advances as far to tfie eastward as the range of the
Caucasus, where it disappears. In England ^is is either a bush or
a small tree, of inelegant appearance, and its wood is of little value^
exoept for the use of the torner, who makes it into cups, bowli^ &c.
The Common Maple is sometimes planted by formers upon bad land,
for the purpose of fencing ; for which, however, it is ill adapted.
. 10. Acer Monepettulammn (Linnseus), the Montpellier Maple. Leaves
deciduous, veiy slightly cordate, and downy at the base, with three
peifBctly entire^ neaily equal, diveiging lobes, slightly hairy beneatl^
Digitized by
Google
«^ ACER.
It U found in dry stony situations in Languedoc, Dauphiny, Provenoe,
and Piedmont; it even occurs as far north as the departments of
the Rhine.
ACER.
M
33. A. LohelH.
23* A. triocarpon.
20. A, taceharinwm,
18a. A^caudatunu
24. A, rvbrum,
6. A, spicstum.
lb. A, opulut, 15. A, tttrculiaeeHm, U, A, obtusaium,
11, Acer Oraicum (LinnsBOs), the Candian Maple. Leaves ever-
green, variable in form, wedgenshaped at the base, leathery, glossy,
smooth, with three entire or serrat^ lobes, of which the side ones are
the shortest^ sometimes undivided. It is a native of the mountains
of Candia and the Qredan Archipelago ; it is frequently cultivated in
the South of Europe.
12. Acer heterophyUum (Willdenow), the Variable Maple. Leaves
eveigreen, ovate, unequally-serrated, entire or occasionally three-lobed,
very glossy. This is the plant sold in the English nurseries under the
name of A, OreUcum, It is rather delicate, and is a native of the
Levant.
18. Acer pieudo-platamu (Linnseus), the Sycamore Maple. Leaves
heart-shipped, coarsely and unequally seirated, glaucous and downy
on the veins beneath ; with five lobes, of whidi the lower ones are
generally the smallest This noble tree is scarcely met with in a
truly wild state beyond the limits of middle and southern Europe : it
is occasionally seen on the lower ridges of the Caucasus, and does not
appear to extend much farther eastward. In Italy it is said to arrive
at its greatest degree of perfection, acquiring the height of 50 and 60
feet Its English name has originated in an erroneous notion that
this is the sycamore of Scripture— a totally different tree, the Fiau
Spcamorut, It flourishes in many parts of England : many varieties
are known to gardeners.
14. Acer macrophyUum (Pursh), the Broad-Leaved Maple. Leaves
deeplv heartahaped, not serrated, divided into five deep, spreading,
alightly-lobed segments, the middle one of which is often narrow at
its base, and the lower ones generaUy smaller than the others ; when
young slightly downy, when old shining and perfectlv smooth : is a
native of the north-west coast of North America, wnere its timber
is used.
15. Acer atercuUaceum fWallich^, the Shady Mi^le, is a large tree,
with a trunk often three feet in diameter; found in NepauL
16. Acer viUoeum (Wallich), the Shaggy Maple, is a very large tree,
found on the Himalaya Mountains, approaching the limits of perpetual
snow in Sirmoor and Kumaon.
17. Acer oMliratum (Wallich), the Curve-Keyed Mc^le, is a laige
tree, native of the r^ons towards the Himalayas, in Kumaon and
Srinaghur.
IS, Acer ca/udatwn (Wallich), the Long-Pointed Maple. It is a native
of the highest regions of Nepaul, of Sirmoor, Kumaon, and Srinaghur.
19, Acer PkUanofdet (Linnseus), the Norway Maple. Leaves heart-
shaped, veiy smooth, except at the axils of the veins ; five-lobed, the
lobes taper-pointed and diverging, with a few taper-pointed diverging
teeth. This is a fine tree, with very handsome gloeirp^ deep-green
leaves, for the sake of which it is a great deal cultivated. The noi&em
and midland parts of Europe, and the north of Asia, as far as the Ural
Mountains, produce this species. In the Russian Empire it passes
from the state of a shrub, in the northern provinces, to that of a
handsome tree with a trunk two feet thick, in the more southern
districts. Its wood is valued for turners' work. From its ascending
sap a kind of coarse sugar has been procured, in the same way as
from the A, eaocharinwm, in America. Two varieties are known to
gardeners ; one, the Silver-Striped, in which the leaves are slightly
stained with white ; and the other, the Cut-Leaved, in which the
leaves are deeply and irregularly jagged. When the foot-stalks of the
leaves are broken they exude a nulky fluid.
20. Acer taecharinum (Linnaeus), the Sugar Maple. Leaves heart-
shaped, glaucous beneath, vexy smooth, except at the axils of the
veins ; five-lobed, the lobes taper^pointed, and very coarsely toothed
Flowers in nodding corymbs. Keys not much c^veiging. From a
iitUe to the north of the Saint John, in Canada, to the woods of Upper
Virginia, and probably still farther south, this species prevails ; and it
forms a large portion of the vegetation of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,
Vermont^ and New Hampshire, sometimes becoming as much as 80 feet
high. In the autunm the woods of those coxmtries are dyed of a
crimson hue by the changing leaves of the Sugar Maple. The wood
is hard, and has a satiny Tustire, but it is readily attacked by insects,
and is not of much value, except when its grain is accidentally waved,
and then it is in request for the cabinet-makers. The younger Michaux
states, that it may be at all times known from that of the Red Maple
by a vexy simple test If you pour a drop or two of solution of
sulphate of iron upon the wood of the Sugar Maple, in a minute it
becomes of a greenish cast, while that of the Red Maple becomes deep
blue. The saodiarine matter contained in its ascending sap is the
principal cause of this species being in so much request From this,
obtained by tapping the trunk in tne spring during the Epace of six
weeks, a vexy considerable quantity of a fine brown sugar is procured ;
as much, it is said, as 88 lbs. per tree. The Sugar Maple does not
generally succeed vexy well in England, where it is rarely seen ; and
even when in health does not attain a height of more than fifteen
or sixteen feet
21. Acer nigrwn (Michaux), the Black Sugar Maple. This plant is
a native of wTnilar situations with the last, of which perhaps it is
only a variety.
22, Acer Lobdii (Tenore), LobeVs Maple, is found among the
mountains in the nox-bh of the kingdom of Naples.
2Z. Acer eriocarpon (Michaux; A. datycarpwn, Willdenow), Sir
Charles Wager^s Maple is found in most parts of North America on the
eastern side, where it is commonly called White Maple. It grows with
great rapidity, and is extremely common in the plantations of all
Europe, where it is remarkable for the deep crimson hue of its leaves
in autumn. Its wood is lights and of little or no value except to the
Digitized by
Google
ACERAa
ACONITU^L
68
turner. It is said to make excelleiit charcoal for gunpowder. The
nnraeiTmeii UBuallj call this species the Cut-Leaved Scarlet Maple.
2i. Acer rubmm (LimiflBus), the Bed or Scarlet Maple. The deep-red
colour of the flowers in the spring; and of the keys and leaves in
autumn, have given rise to the name of this species, which Ib found,
from Canada to Florida, growing in swamps along with alders. Its
wood is used by the Americans for articles of furniture, and is also in
request for the stocks of rifles— for which, when it Ib what thev call
' curled,' its toughness renders it well adapted. Two varieties of this
species are cultivated in this country, under the names of A. coedneum
•ad A, imUrmedimk,
25. Acer eireinatum (Pursh), the Curled Maple, grows on the north-
west coast of North Axnerica, and is a small, scrubby, worthless tree.
(hUUeaUon, — ^The hardy maples, which are the only kinds of any
importance in tlus country, are all increased either by seeds or layers.
The Buropean spedes readily yield their keys, which should be gathered
when fully ripc^ and immediately buried in heaps of river sand, where
they may remain till the following February; they may then be sown
in beds; rather thinly, and, when one yeat* old, should be transplanted,
and treated like ottier forest trees. They ought never to be headed
back, as oaks and Spanish chestnuts are. From layers thev all make
exoeUent plants very rapidly. They are occasionally budded upon the
common sycamore, but this mode is little practised in EnglancL
ACERAS, a genus of Orchidaceous plants, of which one species, the
A. cmikropopharct, is found growing in Ghreat Britain. It is a small
plants firam 8 to 12 inches in height. It has a long lax spike of
greenish yellow flowers, the parts of which are so arranged as to give
them the appearance fk the small figure of a man : hence tlus plant
has been called the Man-Orchis.
ACEBATHEIUUM. Some Fossil Hhinaeerata have been thus
named by Kaupi
ACEBDESE^ in mineralogy, a hydrous sesquiozide of Manganese,
called also MamgemUe, Vaneties of it have been called NewkirkUe and
VaroaeUe,
ACERACEiE, an order of Poln>etalous Dicotyledons. Their flowers
•re unsymmetrical, their stamens hypogynous, their fruit is wioged, and
their petals have no appendages upon them. The species are all trees or
shruba^with opposite stalked ezstipulate leaves, and are found exclusively
in the north of Europe, Asia, America, and India. A sweet mucilaginous
sap is common in these plants, from which sugar can be manufactured.
1. Uniseziua Flower. 3. Stamen on Disk. 8. Stamens separate.
«. Petal. 5. Blsexnal Flower. 6. PittiL 7. Fruit. 8. Seed.
9. Embryo.
ACERVULAltlA, a genus of Fossil MadrephyUioea,
ACHILLEA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
OompatUaf consisting of 60 or 70 spedes, foxmd exclusively m the
colder diinates of the northern hemisphere. This genus is found in
the suborder Oarymbifera, and is distingmshed by the florets of the
duk being hermaphrodite and tubular, and the tube being plane,
compressed, and two-winged. The fruit is compressed, and has no
pappus. Thete are five British species. A. Ptarmiea is an abundant
plant, and on account of its strong odour is called Sneeaewort
A. milUfoUftm has got its specific name from the segmented character
of its leaves. It is called in English Millefoil and Yarrow. This
plant has the tome and stimulant properties of the sub-order to which
it belongs in a slij^t degree, and on that account has been employed
as a remie^ in some diseases, but its medical properties are very feeble.
ACHILLE^UM, a genus of Fossil SpongiadcB, of whidi two spedes
ocemrinthe cretaceous strata of England. (Ooldfuaa)
AUUlME^ES (from a, prefix, and x«<)<a> "winter), a genus of plants
bdonging to the order ^^BfiKroceee. The spedes of this genus are very
numerous, and, although not useAil, they are many of them exten-
sivdy cultivated, on account of the beauty of tiidr flowers. In con-
sequence of their general culture, a great many varieties of the spedes
are becoming known. After flowenng, the stems die down ; and the
tubers should be dug up, and kept free from frost and wet till Januair,
when, by planting them in succession, flowers may be obtained till
the summer. They may be planted in a mixture of loam and leaf-
mould, with a litde silver sand. They can be placed out in the
summer, but require shading on hot days.
ACHIHUS, a genus of flat-fish, bdonging to the sub-branchiate
dividoQ of MalfeejpierygU. In external form these fishes resemble the
oommon sole^ Like the Pleuronectet in general, they have the body and
tail very much compressed, and the eyes both on the same side of the
head; but they are easily distinguished from all other genera of
flat-fish by the total want of pectoral fins.
Aohirut marmoraiui.
The spedes of Achirut have no air-bladder, and consequently remain,
for the most part, at the bottom of the sea ; being, in fact^ ungifbed
with the facmty of increasing or diminishing their specific gravity,
which the poasesdon of this important oxgan bestows upon ordinary
fishes. Their power of locomotion in o&er directions is however
condderable ; and, notwithstanding the disadvantages of their form,
and the oblique direction in which this necessarily compels them to
move, their motions are firequentl^ very rapid. Their habits, as
fMT as at present known, are similar to those of the Plewroneetet, ■
They are found in the warmer regions both of the East and West
Indies, but not in deep water, or in ntuations far removed from land ;
they abound along the shores, and furnish a plentiful and wholesome
food to the inhabitants.
Various spedes of A chirm have been enumerated by coologists, the
most remarkable of whidi appeara to be the Adurvs marmoratui of
Lac^pMe. The fiesh Ib of a delicate flavour, and highly esteemed : it
inhabits the coasts of the Isle of France. The Achirut pavcnicm is
distinguished by the beauty of the spots, which, like the eyes on the
peacock's tail, cover its body ; and the il. fatcictiUUiu and A. biUneaiue
are easily recognised by the characten firom which they respectivdy
derive their names. The former is found on all the coasts of America
and the West Indies : the latter inhabits the shores of China, and
feeds upon small Crustacea and moUusca.
ACHLTA, a genus of Cryptogamous plants, bdonging to the order
CkmfenHicecB, It Ib oomposed of a single tubiform cdl, which expands
at the end into a large cdl, which is cut off from the lower portion
of the tube by the formation of a partition. In this enlarged cell a
circulation of granular partddes has been observed. In the course of
time cdls are formed in this enlarged cavity, and fill it up. The parent
cdl eventually bursts at some spot, and allows of the escape of the
endosed cells ; but before this takes place the cdls in the interior move
about, and, after their escape, exhibit for a considerable time an active
movement They are good examples of the Zooepore, They soon
attadi themsdves to some fitting object, and grow into little plants,
like their parent. A similar process goes on in most of the Al^ but
is not so easily observed as in this case.
The only species of AcKLya which has been described is the A,
prdUferOf whicn is foxmd paradtic upon fish and other aquatic Aw^malff,
This plant is more espeddly devdoped on fish and aquatic reptiles
kept in confinement It was first observed on gold fij£, but severd
writers have described it as existing on other animals, as the Stickle-
back, Water Salamander, Frog, and Newt.
(i2eporfo (myotony, Bay Sodety, 1845 ; Lindley's VeffeUOU Kingdom.)
ACHMITK [EuCHThlOERITB.]
ACHBAS, a genus of tropical plants bdonging to the natural order
SapotaeecB, It has a cdyx divided into six parts ; a corolla monope-
talous, divided into six lobes ; stamens twdve, of which six are sterile
and six fertUe ; and an ovarium, with from six to twdve cdls. The
fruit resembles an apple, with from one to twdve seeds, contained in
hard bony nuts, which have a shining coat, and a long hard scar over
the whole of their inner angle.
The genus contains only one spedes, whidi yidds a copious milky
fluid when wounded. Its leaves are entire, leathery, undivided, ahining,
of a lanceolate form, without stipules. The flowen are laige^ white,
bdl-duqped, and grow ^singly from the axils of the leaves. This is
called, XQ the West Indies, the Si^>odilla Hum. The fruit in sise and
shape resembles a bergamot pear ; like the medlar, it is only eaten in
a state of decay ; before that period it is austere and uneatable, but in
the proper state it Ib so rich and sweet as by some to be conddered
only inferior to the orange.
ACHYBA'NTHESy a genus of plants bdonging to the order Atna^
ranUieecB. A. atpera and A. frwticoea are used in Lidia as remedies in
dropsy: A, globiUtfera ib used in Madagascar as a remedy in syphilis.
ACIDA^PIS, a genus of fossil Onutaeea, of the group of TrUohitet ;
found in the Wenlock limestone. (Murchison.)
ACONITE, WINTER [Erahthb.]
ACONI'TUM, a genus of plants bdonging to the natural order
iZcHMmcMlacM. Fh>m veiy early times it nas borne the same nams^
Digitized by
Google
ACONTIAS.
ACROCHORDUa
and has been known for the dangerous properties of many of its speoies.
They are all hardy herbaceous plants, many of them of great beauty;
and are so easily cultivated, that one of them, A. Napdlut, is found in
dvexy cottager's garden. The English call them Wolfs Bane. From
all other ranunculaceoua plants Aeonitum is at once known by its
having the very large uppermost segment of its calyx overhanging the
petals and other parts in the form of a helmet
The conmion species, A, Napdlutf is one
of those in which the greatest degree of
virulence has been found to reside. It is a
native of alpine pastures in Switzerland and
other mountainous parts of Europe. Its
leaves are very dark green, deeply cut into
from five to seven long segments. The
stem is about three feet high. The flowers
are in long, stiff spikes, and of a deep blue
colour; they appear from May to July.
All the parts of this plant are extremely
acrid, especially the roots, which are
scraped and mixed with food to form a
bait for wolves and other savage ftnimftln,
Poisonous properties are probably found
^ in all the species of the genus. A. cam-
maruMf A. lycoctonuftif and A, arUhora are
certainly equally dangerous. None of
them however, noi^l. Napellua itself, can
be compared for fatal energy with the
dreadful Bikh of Nepaul, the Ac<mitum
feroXf which seems to possess the con-
AeonUumTfapellui. centrated power of all the European
• species.
ACO'NTIAS (from Akow, a javelin), the name of a genus of serpents
established by Cuvier, for the purpose of diBtingmshing certain species
hitherto placed with the genus Anguit, or common sna^ke. This genus
is characterised by the absence of all the bones which represent the
extremities in the genus AnguU, while it retains the structure of the
head conmion to these
animals and to the
lizards, and has the
body similarly covered
with small scales only,
without the homy
plates which guard its
\mder surface in the
common serpents, and
protect them firom in-
jury in the various
rapid motions which
they perform. The
species of Actmtiat
seem thus to afford a
link between the com-
mon snakes and true
serpents.
. As might naturally
' be expected from this
conformation, the pro-
gressive movements of
the species of Aconticu
are very different fipom
those of common ser-
pents. Thev do not
glide along the surface
like these animals, but
boldly carry their heads
and breasts erect ; and
if closely pursued de-
fend themselves cou-
rageously, and dart
with the velocity of an
arrow against their
. ^. ^, assailant Though
AeontuuM^Uagn.. dreaded in their native
countries, because confounded with their venomous congeners, these
animals are perfectiy harmless, and neither possess the means nor
have the desire of being injurious. They have no poison fangs,
and their cheek-teeth are so small as, in some species, to be barely
perceptible^ Their habits are gentle ; and they are so timid that
they generally fly at the least noise, or, upon the slightest appear-
ance of danger, conceal themselves imder some shrub or tuft of
grass, or even buiy themselves under-groxmd when no other refuge
is at hand.
They are, generally gpeaking, of a small size ; and, as their mouths
are not susceptible of the enormous dilatation possessed by the true
serpents, thev are incapable of swallowing any animal approaching to
their own dimensions, and feed upon worms and insects. Different
speoieB of Acontuu are foimd in almost every part of the old world.
The arid pla^ of Syria and Palestine produce a species which has been
mentioned by the prophet Isaiah (xxxiv., 15), under the Hebrew
denomination Kippot, improperly translated ' the great owl ' in our com'
mon version of the Sacred Scriptures, but which the learned Boehart
(' Hierozoioon,' pars post lib. liL cap. xi) has* shown^to reifer mors
properly to tiie AeonHat, or Anguii jaeuku, the Dart Snake of the
Greeks and Romans. Other speoies inhabit Asia Minor, Elgypt, and
Persia; India and China have also their AomUioi; and the Cape of
Good Hope produces a spedes without eyes.
Of the common Egyptian Acontias many faUes are reoorded by
ancient authors, principally arising from oonfounding this really barm-
less species with the more deadly and venomous Morpents of the same
localities.
ACORI'K^ ACORIDKfi, or ACORA'CKfi, a small natond oider
of Endogens, with the following essential character : — ^The fiowen are
hermaphrodite, surrounded witii scales. The spathe is leaf4ike^ but
not rolled up. The stamens are complete, placed opposite the scales,
and have two-celled anthers which are turned inwanis. The ovaries
are distinct The fruit is baccate, juicy at firsty but finally juioeleas.
The seeds have the embryo seated in the axis of a copious albumen.
The rootstock is jointed ; the leaves sword-shaped, and embracing each
other in the bud. Such is the character given this order, whi<£ was
first separated from AraeecB bv Agardh, and the separation was after-
wards adopted by Schott, Link, and Lindley. The genera assigned to
this order by Lindley were Aconu, Opmnottaehpt, Ttipittra, and A»pi-
dislra. The two last genera are now assigned by the same author to
the order Liliacea. Tbis small group of plants in its geographical
distribution is confined to the eastern hemisphere. None of them
have the acrid properties of some of the AracecB, The Scorns CakuMU
is a British plants and has slightiy aromatic properties. — {Lindley,
Vegetable Kingdom.)
ACORN, the English name of the frrdt of the oak. rQucB0XJ8.1
A^CORUS, the botanical name of the plant that producee the arag
called in the shops Calami aromoHcut. It is the tjrpe of the natunS
order Acoracece, It is found
abundantly in the fresh-water
marshes of many parts of
1 England. It has a perennial,
creeping, horizontal stem, as
thick as the finger, the whole
of the under side of whic^
sends down roots into the mud
or earth, in which the plant
uniformly grows. From this
spring many deep-green
sword-shaped leaves, about
three feet long. In the midst
of all is a leai-like stem, from
below the point of which
protrudes a cylindrical or
rather conical spadix of
greenish flowers, which are so
closely packed together that
the stalk is not to be seen.
The leaves when bruised are
fi-agrant; for which reason
thby were formerly employed
to strew the floors of rooms,
or of churches, under the
name of rushes. This prac-
tice is still maintained in
some places, where the plant
is common, as at Norwich, the
cathedral of which dty is
strewed with sweet rushes
upon certain high festivals.
The flowers are so seldom
produced, that it is a common
belief that they never are
borne. Calamtu anmuUicut
is slightly aromatic^ and is
' occasionally used as a stimu-
AeonuCMamut, lant; but is of very Httie
importance. The part em-
ployed is the dried creeping stem, or, as it is improperly called, root
ACOTYLE'DONES, or ACOTYLEDONE^E, the name of the first
dass in Jussieu's ' Natural System of Botany.' It is derived from tiie
circumstance of all the plants which it comprehends vegetating with-
out the aid of the seed-lobes called cotyledons. Such plants are also
in all cases destitute of flowers, and are in fact the same as what
LinntBus called Oryptogamia. They are also called CeUmlaret,
ACOUCHY, a small species of Cavy. [AaouTLl
ACRITA (from AKpiros, indistinct), a division of the dass Radiata,
adopted by Owen, and applied to the Accdephce, the PoUyp^era,
except the Bryozoct, the Potygattricot and certain forms of Aitosoo,
in none of whidi are the indications of a nervous system dedded, and
they constitute the lowest forms of the radiate group of i^nima1«_
ACROCHOHDUS (from ixpoxopiin', a wart), a genus of serpents
discovered in Java by the trayeller Homstedt It is eMJly distingiiiihed
Digitized by
Google
01
ACROCULTA.
ACROGENa
62
from oihfln of the iimoziofiB fionilj of wi^f>ent8 by the XDnumersble
small Boales which ooyer every part of the head and body both abore
and below, and which in preserved specimens, or when the live
a>mn^1 distends the
Jeroehordw Jopameut.
lungs and body with
air, aanmie the appear-
ance of so many granu-
lated warts or tuber-
desL This circmn-
stance has suggested
the name of Acroekor-
dm. The head of the
aoroehord is flat, the
month is provided with
a double row of small
sharp teeth, but with-
out poison-fangs, and
the throat is capable of
enonnous dilatation.
The tongue is short
and thid[, the vent
simple and without the
homy spun which are
common to many other
genera of serpents.
The only species of
which much is known
is ^ the AerockorduM
JmmAem of Lac^pMe
and others. This
animal averages firom
six to ten feet in
lengthy and the body
grows gradually thicker
from the head to the
vent» and there sud-
denly contracts^ so as to fonn a veiy short slender tail. In
the thickest part of the body, inmiediately above its junction
with the tail, the individ^ial procured by Homstedt, of which
the entire lei^h was eight feet three inches, measured three
inches in diameter, whilst Uie greatest breadth of the tail did not
exoeed half an inch, and its length was scarcely a ninth part of
that of the whole body. This individual was a female, and, when
opened, was found to contain five young ones perfectly formed,
and about nine inches in length. It was caught in a plantation of
pepper-trees, and the Chinese, who accompanied Homstedt, cooked
and ate its flesh, and reported it to be of a most delicious flavour.
The stomach contained a quantity of half-digested fruit, from which
it has been inferred that thu serpent is frugivorous. Cuvier, however,
doubts on this point.
ACROCUXIA, a fossil genus of Gasteropoda, allied to the NeriUdce,
It occurs in Palaeozoic str^ (Phillips.)
A'CRODUS, a ^us of fossil Placoid fishes, established by H.
Agasmit. The species occurs almost ezdusively in the lias and oolite.
One British species (A. minimut) is referred to the keiiper series by M.
Agassiz. It occurs at Aust Cliff in the bone-bed. The others abound
at Lyme Regis. Batii, and Stonesfield.
ACRO'OASTEB, a oenus of fossil fishes. (Agassiz.)
ACROGENS (frcmi itpos, the topmost, and ywydw, to produce), in
Botany, one of the primairclasses of the Vegetable Kingdom, accord^
to the Natural System. This class, with identical limits, is also known
by the following designations : —
AcotyUdom (Jussieu), so named from the fiiot of the absence of
cotyledons amongst this dass of plants.
ExembnfonaUB (Richard), designating the absence of any regular
embryo in the reproductive odls, or sporea
CUOMlcura (De CandoUe), denoting the general absenoe of vascular
tissue and the prevalence of cellular tissue in these plants.
AgamuB, of various authors, implying the absence of the necessity of
the union of two cells in order to reproduce a new individual
Oryptogamia (Linnaus), intended to convey the idea that if two
cells were neceasaiy to the reproduction of the new plant in this class,
it was not obvious, as in the Fhsenogamoua plants.
The Acrogau, as equivalent to the above exprdtadons for the same
dafli, embrace all those plants which are included in the above defi-
nitionsL This term itself is, however, only applicable literally to those
plants which, destitute of flowers, jpoaaess a stem growing in a manner
distinctive horn those called JSxogent [Exoobnb] and Endogem
rEKDOOEn]. It has been thus restricted by Lindley in his * Vegetable
Kingdom,' and he places the stemless flowerless plantain another class,
called l%aaog€ni. The structure of the stem, however, is at beet an
artificial character, and the adoption of the terms for the daases
expressive of its characters, has rather been accidental than necessary.
On this account it is perhaps better to regard the ThaUogem as a
section of Acrogens than an independent and equal group.
The stems of Aerogem differ much in appearance from those of
Exogens and Endogens. The wood is not secreted firom lavers of
tissue, which have the power of reproducing regular lonee of wood,
as in Exogens, or a regular arrangement of vascular and cellular
tissue, as in Endogens. There is generally but a single ring of vascular
bundles even in the Ferns. These vascular bundles do not go on
Chnoophora exeelta, an acrogcnoos Btem.
increasing in size, but are all developed together. The lower part of
the stem does not continue to increase in size, and its growth is deter-
Portion of oatiiido of stem of Chnoophora ezcelsa,
mined by the development of new vascular bundles in connection
with the leaves of the point or upper part of the stem : hence their
name. In the Liverworts and Mosses there is oaly a simple vascular
bundle in the centre of the steuL In Itoetet ioo there is a ring of
vascular bundles. Science is very deficient in good observations on
the structure of the stems of these plants.
The reproduction of the Acrogens is not so simple as was at one
time believed. The recent researches of Suminki, Hofl^eister, and
Digitized by
Google
ACROOENa
AGROLEPia
64
oihen, nhow that in the Fenu and many other Acrogens the spore is
but a tranaitionaiy condition^ which results in the production of two
sets of cells, by the union of whioh alone oan a new indiyidiial be
produced. [Plants, Reproduotiow iif.]
External portion of an Acrogenoua ttem.
Section of Btcm of AUophUa vettita.
Till ne of an Aorogenous item.
The following is an analysis of the alliances and orders found in the
class of Acrogens, according to the system adopted by Ldndley in his
' Vegetable Kingdom.' Thus
Asexual (?) or flowerless plants, Acrogens.
Stem and leaves distinguishable. True Aoroosns.
Stem and leaves indistinguishable. Thallogens.
Alliances of Thallooens.
AlffdUt. — Cellular flowerless plants, nourished through their whole
surface by the medium in which they vegetate ; living in water, or very
damp places ; propagated by zoospores, oolourod spores, ortetraspores.
/'ttf?^a^--Cellular flowerless plants, nourished through their
thallus (spawn or mycelium); living in air; propagated by spores
oolourles or brown, and sometimes endosed in aad ; destitute of
green gonidia.
LichenaUt. — Cellular flowerleas plants, nourished throng^ their
whole suiface by the medium in wnich they vegetate ; living in air;
propagated by spores usually enclosed in asd, and always having
green gonidia in their thallua
Natural Ordert ofAlgaUt.
1. DiatimaeecB, — Crystalline angular fragmentaiy bodies, brittle,
and multiplying by spontaneous separation.
2. ConfervauoB. — ^Vesioular filamentaiy or membranous bodiei^
multiplied by zoospores generated in the interior, at the expense of
their green matter.
8. fueacecB, — Cellular or tubular unsymmetrioal bodies, multiplied
by simple spores formed extemallv.
4. CeramiacecB. — Cellular or tubular unsymmetrical bodies multi-
plied by tetraspores.
5. Charaeece. — Tubular symmetrically-branched bodies, multiplied
by Bpiral-ooated nucules filled with starch.
Natural Ordert o/Fv/ngalet.
6. JBymenomyetUt, or Agarieaeea.^Qu(am generally quatemate on
distinct sporophores ; hymeniiun naked
7. OatUramyeeUi, or Lycoperdacea, — Spores generally quatemate
on distinct sporophores ; hymenium enclosed in a peridium.
8. ConiomyeeUit or Ureainaeea, — Spores single, often septate on
more or less disUnct sporophores; flood of the fruit obsolete, or
mere pedundes.
9. byphomyeeUt, or Botrytaeea. — Spores naked, often septate;
thallus flocooee.
10. Aic&myceUi, or Hdvdaota, — Sporidia oontained (generally eight
together) in ascL
11: Phyaomyodet, or ifttcoracecBL— Spores suxrounded by a vesioalar
veil or sporangiiun ; thallus floocose.
NatwraL Orden oflAehendUi.
12. Oraphidaeea, — ^Nudeus breaking up into naked spores.
18. CoUemacea. — ^Kudeus bearing asoi ; thallus homogeneous, gela-
tinous, or carfeilsginoua
14. ParmdiacetB. — Nudeus bearing asd; thallus heterogeneous,
pulverulent^ or odlular.
Alliances of Acrogens.
MuicaU$, — Cellular (or vascular) spore-cases immersed or calyp
trate, i. e. either plunged in the substance of the frond, or enclosed
within a hood, having the same relation to the spores as an involucre
to a seed vessel
LycopodaUa. — Vascular; spore-cases axillary or radical, one- or
nym^-celled ; spores of two sorts.
Ftlicale$. — Vascular; spore-cases maiginal or dorsal, one-oelled|
usually surrounded by an elastic ring ; spores of but one sort
Natwral Ordert of Mutealet,
1. Hepaticoi.
15. JUcciaeeee, — Spore-cases valvelees, without operculum or elaters.
16. Marchantiacea, — Spore-cases valvdess, or bursting irregularly,
without operculum, but with daters.
17. JungermawUaceoL — Spore-cases opening by a definite number
of equal valves, without operculum, but with daters.
18. EquisetacecB, — Spore-cases pdtate, splitting on one nde^ without
operculum, and with an elater to eveiy spore.
2. Mueci,
19. ilncJresacsa;.— <Spore-oa8es opening by valves^ with an operculum,
without elaters.
20. ^ryooecs.— Spore-oases valveless, with an operculum, without
daters.
Natural Orden of LycopodaUa,
21. Lycopodiaeea, — Spore-cases one- to three-celled, axillazy, repro-
ductive bodies similar.
22. ifar«tf«ica».— Spore-cases many-celled, radical (or axillary),
reproductive bodies dissimilar.
Natural Ordera of FUiealea.
28. OpKiogloaaaeece, — Spore-cases ringlees, distmct^ two-valved;
formed on the margin of a contracted lei3l
24. Polypodiaeea, — Spore-cases ringed, dorsal or maiginal, distinct,
splitting irregularly.
25. .Dana;a6e(P.---Spore-caBes ringless, dorsal, connate, splitting
irregularly by a ventral cleft.
(Lindle/s Vegetable Kingdom ; Schldden's Principlea of Scientific
Botany, translated by Dr. Lankester; Henfre/s Report <m ike Higher
Oryptogamoua Planta, at the Twenty-first Meeting of the British
Assodation.)
ACRO'QNATHUS, a genus of fossil Cydoid fishes, found in th«
chalk of Sussex. (Agassiz.)
ACRO'LEPIS, a genus of fossil Ganoid fishes, found in the ma|<^
nesian limestone of Durham. (Agassiz.)
Digitized by
Google
65
ACROPTERia
ACTINIADJE.
ACROTTERIS (ftom tucpos, a pointy and wrfyu, a fern), a genus of
Ferns allied to Atplenivm,
ACROSALE'NIA, a genus of Focunl E^^modennata, (Agassiz.) It
occurs in the Isle of Sheppy.
ACBOSTICHON (firom axpos, a point, and rrlxos, a row), a genus
of Feins, meet of which require stove heat in cultiyaidon. The whole
of the species now referred to this genus are extra-European, being
inhabitants of the West and East Indies, and Australia.
AGROTE^MNUS, a genus of Fossil Q^noid Fishes. il./Vi5a is found
in the chalk of Sussex. (Agassiz.)
ACT'.£A. Under ihe name of Htcrri, the Greeks described a medi-
cinal plant, which the modems haye ascertained to be what is now
called Sambueua Ebulus, rSAMBUons.] Linnasus applied the name to
a genus of perennial herbaceous plants found in various parts of
Europe, and the north of Asia, and America, belonging to the natural
order S4MMineulaee(B, and only in a slight degree resembling the
species intended bv classical authors. The genus thus understood is
kiiown from all others of the Ranunculus tribe by its anthers being
turned inwards, so that when they burst the pollen may immediately
fall upon the stigma, while its flowers have only four sepals and
four petals. The properties of all the species are nauseous and
deleterious, as might be expected from their affinity to the poisonous
Aconite.
One species, Aei€Ba tpicaUi^ a common European plants is found
occasionally in the north of Torkshire among bushes ; it is popularly
called Black Baneberries and also Herb Christopher. It has purplish-
black juicy fruits, which would be dangerous from their tempting
appearance, if the fetid odour of the leaves did not prevent their
being touched.
Another* species, the A, eimieifuga, a Korth American plants derives
its name from the belief that its fetid leaves have the power of driving
away bugs.
ACTINIA- rAcmiUDJB.]
ACTINI'ADib, a family of Helianthoid Polypes, having for its type
the old genus Actinia/ the Sea Anemoniet. It has the following
characters. Animal single, fleshy, elongate or conical, capable of
extending or contracting itself, fixed by its base, but with the power
of locomotion ; mouth m the middle of the upper disk, veiy diltttable,
siuTOunded by one or more
rows of tentacula ; oviparous "•• *•
and viviparous ; marine.
The internal structure of
the ActtnitB has been care-
fully investigated by Spix,
Tesde, and others. They pos-
sess an alimentary cavity,
with a single aperture,
very lanm at tiie lower end,
and so uastio and contractile
that it can easily be turned
inside out The cavity is
surrounded with flat muscles,
running lengthwise and
P««J1«L ^ . , Smtll Leathery iUiimal-noirer
The egg oigan iovantm), {AoHnia coriacea),
according to Teale's obser-
vations m Actinia coriacea, ^^^' *•
forms elongated masses '
attached along the inner
border of a series of organs
called leaflets, flg. 2, A A.
" Each ovary is composed of
several folds or plaits, which,
when unfolded, show this
structure to be about three
times the length it assumes ^
when attached to the leaflet. ^
By carefriU^ spreading out
these folds, the ovary, with
the assistance of a lens, is
seen to consist of two very
delicate layers of membrane, &
envelc^ing a closely com- Vertical seetloii of the above, to show its
pacted layer of ova. After ^^^ The ■kta**'*** **'^**^"'
«ivelopii^theova,themem.***; The bate; by which the aaimali. fixed
branous layers are placed m ^ the rocks,
apposition, and form a kind c. The three rows of feelers (tentacula).
of mesentery, by which the d. The mouth.
ovary is attached to the in- e. The stomach,
temal border of the leaflet" /. Longitudinal museles.
The AetiniacUe propagate all ff- Point in which they unite,
the year round, although * *• The orarles, which open by their OTi-
perhaps in some species ttie ^^^ *°^ *^« "tomach.
ova are d€poeited most abtmdantly in autumn. The ova are roundish,
and like those of polypes in general, are moved by means of vibratHe
cilia, which cover their surfkce. After being discharged from their
parent they move about actively for swnd days, during which they
undeigo some change in form. They thX relax their activity, the cilia
Hat. mSfT. DIY. YOL. L
ma. The ovaries greatly magnified.
h. The oviduct.
e. Eggs.
d. Ditto, with the first appearance of the
embryo.
«. Ditto, farther advanced.
/. Ditto, ditto.
Fxo. 4.
are absorbed, they attach themselves to a spot^ and pass through a
series of forms, before arriving at maturity.
Although Spix has described in Actinia coriacea a nervous syBtem,
this has not been confirmed by more reoent observers.
The habits of the A ctinim have been studied by the Abb^ Dioquemare
and others. *. The forms of ActinioB vaxy according to their contraction
or expansion, presenting in-
numerable varieties. Their Fto« S.
expansion is said to be amore
certain indicator of fine
weather than the rise of the
barometer; but this cannot
be practically taken advan-
tage of except during summer,
as the cold of winter drives
iheActimcB from the shore to
the deeper waters, where the
temperature is more equable
and mild. On ftli««g»Ticf their
place of abode, some abandoir i
themselves to the mercy of |
the waves, others creep along
the bottom, turning them-
selves inside ont^ and making
use of their tentacula as
feet When they find a
suitable place, they fix them-
selveai, often so firmly, that
they cannot be detached
without tearing their bodies.
Our distinguished y^ngiiaii
naturalist, Ellis, has given a
very minute and, so far as it
goes, an accurate account of
these M^iTwoJ" in the 'Philo-
sophical Transactions,' voL
Ivii, part of which it may be
interesting to quote : —
"The lower part," he says,
''of these bodies have a com-
munication with a firm,
fieshy, wrinkled tube, which
sticks fast to the ro<^ and
sends forth other fleshy tubes,
which creep along them in
various directions. These are
full of difiiarent sizes of these
remarkable animals, which rise
up irregularly in groups near
to one another.
"This adhering tube, that
secures &em hst to the
rock or shelly bottom, is
worthy of our notice. The
knobs that we observe are
formed in several parts of it
by its insinuating itself into
the inequalities of the coral
rock, or by graspiog pieces of
shells, part of n^ch still
remain m it^ with tiie fleshy
substance grown over them.
This shows us the instinct of
nature, that directs these
aniTnals to preserve them-
selves from the violence of
the waves, not unlike the
anchoring of mussels, by their
fine silken filaments that end
in suckers; or rather, like
the shelly basis of the Serpula,
or worm-shell, the tree-oyster,
and the slipper-bamadle, fta,
whose bases conform to the shape of whatever substance they fix
themselves to, grasping it fast witti their testaceous daws, to with-
stand the fiuy of a storm.
" When we view the inside of this animal dissected lengthwise, we
find a little tube leading from the mouth to the stomach, from whence
there rise ei^t wrinkled small guts, in a circular order, with a yeUowish
soft substance in them ; these bend over, in the form of arches, towards
the lower parts of the bulb, from whence they may be trooed downr
wards to the nairow part of the upright tube, till they come to the
fleshy adhering tube, where some of them may be perceived entering
into a papilla, or the beginning of an animaj of the like kind^ most
probably to convey nourishment till it is provided with daws : the
remaining part of these slender g^ts ore continued on their fleshy tube,
without doubt, for the same purpose of producing and supporting
more young ones from the same common parent
DistribuUon of the nerves at the base of
the Aetiniw, according to Spix.
o. The nervous ganglions.
h. Nerves,
c Nerves of eosmumieatio& between the
ganglions.
d. The longitudinal musdes.
Fxo. 5.
Longitudinal Muielei, with the fiselers
(magnified).
Digitized by
Google
ACTINIAD^
ACTINIADJL
''The many lon^tadinal fibres Uiat we diBCOver lying pftraUel to
each other, on the inside of the semi-transparent skin, are all inserted
m the several claTvs roond the animal's mouth, and are plainly the
tendons or musdes for moving and directing the daws at the will
of l^e animal : these may be likewise traced down to the adhering
tube."
A strong light incommodes the Actinia, noise startles them, they
are a£fected by odours, and fresh water causes them to die. These
various feelings originate in their great irritability, which appears to
increase accordmg to their sufferings. They can support a temperature
as low as 45**, and up to 140% Fehr. ; but beyond these extremes they
perish. They, are often left expomd to the air during spring-tides ;
but in such cases they always retain a great quantity of water, which
they squirt out with force when molesteid.
These singular creatures have a power of reproduction equal to that
so well known in the Fresh-Water Polyp (Polypui viridia, Bory., Mydra
viridis). They may be cut perpendicularly or across, and eadi cutting
will give origin to a new animaL The young AcHma are seen issuing,
already formed, sometimes from the mouth ; and sometimes the base of
the old animal is dissevered, a portion remaining attached to the rock,
where it continues to live, increasing in sise, beooming more and more
rounded, while, in a short time, a mouth, stomach, and tentacula are
formed, presenting a complete ilc^io. At length, the side-portions
of this base give out globules^ which are detached, fix themselves upon
adjacent rocks, whore they grow, and produce a new colony like the
parent a-niTnal.
The ActinicB feed upon small crustaceous and molluscous animals
and fishes, which they seize with their tentacula^ and afterwards
disgoige what they cannot digest They are foimd in every sea, some
suspended from the vaults of sub-marine reefis, others covering the
more exposed sides of rocks with a sort of flower-like tapestry, and
some confining themselves to the smooth sands, on the surface of
which they spread out their tentacula, and even withdraw under the
sand when danger threatens. Each spedes, indeed, generally selects a
peculiar haunt Some of the spedes have the power of stinging, like
the AcaUphcBf which depends On their poeseesing in their structure
the same organ as the Aealepha, and other forms of polypes, and known
under the name of Thread-Cells, or Stinging Hairs.
Many of the spedes are used as food in tropical countries, on the
coasts of which they are more numerous than in colder oUmatea.
The genera comprising the family AcCvniadce form several natural
groups:
A, Such at have the tentacula reduced to the form of tuberdet,
A single spedes, constituting the genus Ditcotoma of Leuckarty
belongs to this division, which cannot be regarded as certainly
established, the genus referred to having been founded on a specimen
preserved in alcohol, which alters materi&Qy the forms of seapanemonies.
Ehrenberg asserts that it is his Acttnia brevicirrhata, which has yeiy
small and numerous tentacula. Ex. JHecoioma mmmiforme.
JBdwardsia vutita*
B, Such Sea-Ajiemonies aa have iimple tentacula,
following are the prindpal genera :-^
Of these the
1. MinyaSf Cuvier {AeHmiata, Blainville), Free AeHmce having more
or lees globose bodies inflated at one end, and having at the other a
disk covered by a great number of very short tentacula. Cuvier placed
this genus among the Behinodermata, but the observationa of Lesoeor
and Quov, who have seen the living animal, place it without a question
amonff tiie true AcHmadce. As many of the usuallv fixed spedes are
capable of swimming and of inflainng their suctorial disks, it is by no
means sure that sudi is always the habit of Miniyae ; indeed, we
have observed an allied and undeeoribed animal which inhabits the
Mediterranean, swinmiing at the sur&oe of the sea in winter, but
vdien confined in a glass of vrater it atUiered to the sides in the maamer
of anil c^Miia properly so called.
Exanvple, Mim/yoM cyanea.
2. MoecAataf Benieri, vermiform and free, and, according to Da
Blainville, incrusted with adhering substances. It is said to live fioating
in the sea. Both Ehrenberg and Ihi jardin have supposed that there
was some mistake regarding this genua, and that it might have been
founded on specimens of A cHnia (Oribrina) hdlie. It is more probably
however identical with the Edwardtia of M. de Quatref ages (' Annales
des Sdenoes Naturelles,' 1842), founded on some remarkable vermiform
Aeiiniada whidi are invested with a sort of tube to which sand and
gravd adhere. Three spedes of Bdwardtia have been discovered by
the author of the genus on the west coast of France, and a fourth in
the Qredan Ardtipelago by FMfessor £. Forbes^ the habits of which
are very remarkable. It can move up and down freely in its mem*
branous tube, and when kept for some time in sea-water, the tube
having been ix^uied, it came out of it altogetiier and moved about
twisting its body in the manner of some AnneUdee. On being supplied
with sand and graved it pro4>9eded to construct another tube, rolling
itself up in the sand and secreting glutinous matter for the membraaoos
lining. It ei^ voradoualy, and attacks such animals as come within
reach of its tentacula. It lives buried in sand, and in placee a few
inches below sea-leveL
8. IkumUhue, Forbes ('Annab of Natural History,' voL r,, 1840.)
A single spedes only is known. •
The body is free, and tapers
posteriorlv to a pointy which is
probably buried m the soft mud
among which it lives. The mouth
is round, and surrounded by nu-
merous long filiform tentacula.
The lUtanthue ScoHcue was found
in four fathoms of water in Loch
Ryan.
4. Actima, Linnsras, now re-
stricted to such spedes as hav^
simple tubular retractile tenta^
oula, and adhere by a broad base.
Ehrenberg has separated such
Actinice as have a glandular
epidermis, under the name of
Oribrina, From the glands
protrude long filaments, the uses
of which are unknown. The
tentacula of all the spedes are
(oontraiy to the suppodtion of
Ehrenborg) perforated at thdr
extremities. The subgenus IhiaiUhue SeeHnu,
Adamsia has been constituted,
by Professor R Forbes, for the reception of the curious paramtical
Actinia maoulata, which envelopes the mouths of dead shells, generally
sdecting such as have been previously invested by the Alcyonidium
echinatwn. As such shells are frequently inhMiited at the same time
by the Hermit Crab, not a few naturalists have mistaken the ooind-
dence for some necessary and mysterious friendship of the zoophyte for
the crustacean.
A large number of species ot Actima have been described, but many
of them not with suffident distinctness, and it is probable many more
will be ultimatdy ascertained. The following are common species on
the British coasts :
The Stout-Armed Animal-Flower {Actinia eraeaicomii, Miiller) is
three inches broad, with a leathery unequal envdope of an orange
colour; the tentacula in two ranges, umially marked with a rose-
. coloured ring. Its abode is commonly in the sand.
The Purple Animal-Flower {Actinia Jlieeembrytmthemum) has a soft
skin, findy striated, usually of a beautiful purple, often douded with
greeiL The tentacula, to the number of a hxmdred, vary much in
colour. When the tide retires this spedes may be seen ornamenting
the searrocks with its beautiful colours — "purple, violet, blue, pink,
yellow, and green, like so many flowers," says M. I^miouroux, ''in a
meadow."
The White Animal-Flower {Actinia IHanihus, Ellis) is four or
more inches broad, of a white colour ; the margins of the mouth are
expanded into lobes^ all f urmshed with innumerable tentaoulm There
is an inner row of these, stUl larger.
In his ' British Zoophytes,' Dr. Johnstone enumerates twenty spedes
of the genus Actinia, as foux^in the British islands. It ia, however, a
question whether all these aR roally different q>edes; as few animals
Digitized by
Google
ACTINIAD^.
ADANSONIA,
have a greater tendea<^ to
of tlUia genuB.
asBuxne different forms than the members
Btoat-Armed Animal-nower {A, cnmioomis).
Pnrpls Animal-Floirer {A. nuitwibryanthemum). White Animal-Flower
{A. DiatUhut).
6. Anihea, Jolmstone, incladeB saoh Aetiniai as have not the power
of retraotizig their tentacula. Several of the species grow to a large
size.
Example, Jn^Aea TM^ Johnstone, 'Brit Zoophytes,' p. 222, fig. 88.
6. AeiinolobcL, Blainyille {Metridium, Oken), species in which the
oral disk is divided at the margin into more or less rounded lobes,
which bear short simple tentacula.
Example, A, diantkut, 'PhiL Trans.,' vol Ivil, tab. 19, fig. 8.
7. Capnea, Forbes, of which one species onlj is known. The disk
is round, with sereral drcles of exoeedinglv short tubercular i«tractile
tentacula, and the body it^in part invested with a peculiar epidermis,
which is divided at the margin into eight lobes.
Example, C. sanguinea, ^'AnnaLs of Natural History/ voL viL,
pi 1, % 1.) Irish Sea.
Otpnta ianguinosn,
0. 8ea-AnenumU»lwvingfM>reorUupiv^^
8. Actiiieria, Quov and Gaimard. Such as have the entire disk
covered bv very small villose ramified tentacula.
Example. A. viOota, Quoy and Qaimard. ('Voy. Astrolabe, Zooph.,'
pi 49, figa. 1, 2.) Tonga islands.
9. Aetinodaidron, Quoy and Qaimard. Species having very long
arboreeoent tentacula disposed in one or two series on the oral disk.
Example, A. dU:y<nkMeun^ (' Voy. Ast,' pi 48, figs. 1, 2.) This
aniinal is more than a foot in height, and secretes a stinging mucus.
10. Thcdauianthui, Leuckart One species only is known, the
T. otter f an inhabitant of the Red Sea, figured in the plates to Riippell's
'Voyage.' Its tentacula are numerous^ short, and pinnate. It is
probably identical with the Epidadia of Ehrenberg.
11. ffeterodactyUif Ehrenberg. The tentacula are of two sorts,
some simple and others pinnate.
Example, ff. HempriML Bed Sea.
12. Me^aUeHtf Ehrenberg, founded on an animal from the same
locality with the last, and characterised by having all the tentacula
arborescent, but the internal ones ate the larger and more pinnate, and
have their extremities hollowed into a sort of so<±et
Example, MegdUetU ffempricML [See Supplsmknt.]
ACTrNOCAMAX, a division of Betemnites, proposed by the late Mr.
liiller of Bristol, upon the supposition that the species which he
ranked in it had no true alveolar cavity or phi^gmacone. The
correctness of this view is doubtful The species belong to the
cretaceous strata. [Belemkite.]
ACTINOCARPUS (from cucrly, a ray, and Jcopr^Jj, a fruit), a genus
of plants belonging to the order AlitmacetB. One of the species of
this genus, A. damatanium, is a British plants though rare. Like the
order, it is an aquatic plant, and has cordate^ oblong, floating leaves,
with white flowers. Another specieii^ A. minor, is sometimes found
cultivated in our gardens.
ACTINO'CERAS, a genus of Fossil Cephalopoda, separated from
Orthocerat by Mr. Stokes. The species belong to the Pal»oBoio strata.
A. SUnmsii occurs in Irebmd.
ACTINOCRINITES, a genus of Crmoidea [Encbinites], con-
taining many species. It occurs in Silurian and Carboniferous
strata. (Miller^
ACTI'NOLITE, a crystallised mineral of a green colour, a variety
of hornblende, found in primary stratified rocks, and occasionally in
trap-rocks. The name is derived from ljcr\p, a ray of light, and
KlBos, a stone, from the crystals being arranged in tiie form of rays.
It occurs in masses or asbestiform.
ACU'LEUS, or PricJde, in Botany, is a hard, conical, often curved
expansion of the bark of some plants, such as the rose, and is intended
either for their defence against enemies, or to enable them to hook
themselves upon their neighbours, so as to gain a more fr«e access to
light and air, or for other purposes unknown to us. The prickle is
composed entirely of cellular tissue, which is at first soft and flexible,
and onlv acquires its hardness and rigidity when old. In some respects
it may be compared to a hair, from whioi it chiefly differs in its lai^ge
sise and greater permanence. Care must be tsJLen by the young
botanist not to coxiifoimd the prickle with the spine or thorn, which
is of a totallv different nature. [Spots.] They may be distinguished
by the prickle breaking readily from the bark, and leaving a dean scar
behind ; while the spine cannot be torn off without rending through
the bark into the wood itsel£ Leaves are often metamorphosed into
spines, but never into aeuUL
ADAMANTINE SPAB, a simple mineral, more commonly deno-
minated Conmdum by mineralogists, the name given to it in India,
from which country it was first brought to Europe. The first
specimens of it were sent by Dr. Anderson, of Madras, to Mr.
Benr, a lapidary in Edinbuivh, as the substance used in India to
poliui masses of crystal and all other precious stones, except the
diamond. It was examined by Dr. Black, who ascertained its peculiar
nature^ and from its great hardness he called it Adamantine Spar.
With the exception of the diamond, it is the hardest substance
known. It contains about 90 per centb of alumina, a little iron, and
a little silica, is usually of a pale grey or greenish colour, but is also
found of various tints of red and brown. It is usually met with in
rough ill-defined crystals, in granite, and sometimes in primary
limestone, and is found in Chma, many parts of India, and occa-
sionally in different parts of Europe. Emery, the well-known
substance used in the cutting and polishing of glass, in polishing
steel, making razor-straps^ and similar purposes in the arts, is a
granular variety of Corundum, usually veiy much mixed with iron
ore. It is chidiy imported from the Isle of Naxos, in the Grecian
Archipelago, but is also foxmd in Saxony. The SappMre is a
remarkable instance how the mysterious chemistry of nature in the
mineral kingdom produces from the same elements substances the
most different in external form ; this beautiful precious stone yielded
by the analysis of Chenevix 94 per cent, of alumina; and Tennant
foxmd in emery, when freed firom its admixture of iron, 92 per oent
of the same earth. The sapphire is, after the diamond, the most
valuable of gems; it is usuallv dark blue, but also occasionally colour*
less, and the predous stones called by li^idaries Oriental Ruby, Oriental
Topaas, OrietUal Am«thytt, and Oriental Emerald, are red, yellow, violet^
and green Sapphires, distinguishable from the other gems of the same
name which have not the prefix Oriental, by their greatly miperiar
hardness and greater specific gravity. Sapphires are found in gravel
and sand in the island of Ceylon and in Pegu, but they have never
been seen in a matrix. They are also occasionally found in gravel in
different parts of Europe^ and thev have been met with of a clear
blue colour and cnrstallised, in the lava of Nieder Meodig, near
Andemach on the Rhincu
ADANSONIA, so called in honour of Michael Adanson, the French
naturalist, is an extraordioary tree foxmd in Africa within the tropics,
particularly in Senegal, where it is called Baobab,
Digitized by
Google
71
ADAPIS.
ADHESION.
The celebrated traveller Humboldt conBiden it as the 'oldest
organic monument of our planet,' in consequence of the calculations
of Adanson that specimens, still found on the north-west coast of
Africa, are probably 5000 yean old ; these calculations are, however,
>pen to many objections.
In appearance, Adanaonia is unlike any other known tree: the
enormous dimensions of its trunk bear a striking disproportion to
the other parts. It is not unusual to find a trunk not more than
12 or 16 roet firom the root to the branches, with a circumference
of 76 or 78 feet The lower branches are very long, and at first
horizontal, extending perhaps 60 feet ; the conse<^uenoe of which is
that thiy bend down to the ground, entirely hidmg the trunk, and
giving the tree the appearance of a huge mass of veidure. The wood
is very soft, even when in perfection, and is subject to a disease, which
may be compared to the very malady of which its celebrated dis-
coverer died — a sort of softening of all the hard parts, so that the
least storm is sufficient to overthrow and dismember its enormous
bulk. A curious practice prevails among the negroes of hollowing its
trunk out into chambers, and therein depositing the bodies of male-
factors, or of persons to whom the usual rites A sepulture are denied.
In this situation the bodies become dried up, and soon acquire the
state of perfect mummies.
Adanioma belongs to the natural order Bamhaeemf among which it
is at once known by a broad tube of stamens and deciduous calyx,
combined with a woody dosed fruity containing a soft pulp.
The onlv species is Adamonia diffUaiOf the Monkey-Bread, Sour
Qourd, Lalo Plants kc, of the African negroes. The leaves are deep
Leaf and flower of Adan$onia di^Uata,
green, and divided into five unequal parts, each of which is of a
narrow lanceolate figure, and radiates from a common centre, the
outermost divisions being the smallest The flowers grow singly in a
pendulous position from the bosom of the leaves, are very large,
white, crumpled at the edge, and have the petals Very much reflexeid.
The stamens are very numerous, and are collected into a tube, which
spreads at the top into a sort <k umbreUa-like head, from the midst
of which arises a slender curved style, terminated bv a rayed stigma.
The fruit is an oblongs dull green, downy body, eight or nine inches
long, containing several cells, in each of which there is a number of
hard shining seeds immersed in a soft pulp, which is scarcely jmcf.
From this pulp the negroes prepare an acidiilous drink, much used m
the fevers of uie country. The bruised leaves, in a dry state, form a
substance called lalo, which they mix with their food and imagine is
useful in checking, or coimteracting, the effects of profuse perspi-
ration. Like the rest of the order, Adaruonia is emollient and
mucilaginous in all its soft parts. [See Supflbmint.]
' ADAPIS, in Zoology, the name of a genus of Fossil Pachydermatous
(thick-skinned) mammals, described by M. Cuvier, in his great work
' Sur les Ossemens Fosdles,' voL iiL p. 265. The word is found in
Qesner, as a synonyme of the common rabbit (not, as stated in the
reference to Cuvier just given, of the ffyrax), and is appropriated to
the present genus, from the presumed similarity in size, oiganizatioii,
and habits, which probably existed between the hedgehog (Eyrax
and the f osidl spedes.
Skull of the Foiitt Adt^it.
The remains, upon which IL Cuvier has founded this genus Adafus,
the only specimen which he was able to procure during a period of
twenty-five years devoted to researches after fossil bones, consist of
three fragments of skulls, found in the plaster quarries of Mont-
martre, Paris, celebrated for the enormous quantity and variety of
the remains of extinct animals which they have produced, and which, •
in the hands of M. Cuvier, have effected such improvements in the
kindred sdences of zoology and geology. The first of these fragments
is a head, nearly perfect on the side, imbedded in the mass of gypsum
which contained it ; and exhibiting the dentition nearly in a perfect
form. The general outline of this skull dosely resembled that of the
hedffehog, but it was about one-third larger : there were four incisor
teeth in each jaw, trenchant or edged and oblique ; followed, on each
side, by a canine tooth, of a conical form, but in other respects
differing little fixnn the molar teeth in length and figure. Of these
latter there appear to have been seven in eadi side of eadi jaw. Two
other fragments procured by M. Cuvier — one a })ortion of a lower
jaw, another of an upper jaw — served to complete his description, by
supplying some of the back teeth which were wanting in we more
perfect roedmens.
ADDA, the Arabic name of a small spedes of lizard (Scineut offici-
TidUt) odebrated by the eastern physicians on account of its pretended
efficacy in the cure of elephantiasis, leprosy, and other cutaneous
diseases, to which the Arabs and inhabitants of Egypt are peculiarly
subject ; and of which, according to Bruce, they are more afraid than
of the plague itself.
The Adda, as described by Bruce, is about six indiee and a half in
length ; the body and tail are cylindrical, the latter thick at the base,
and ending in a very sharp point; the head is conical, and the mouth
provided with two rows of small feeble teeth ; the face is covered
with five black lines, whidi cross one another like a net; the body is
of a light straw colour, crossed with eight equidistant bands of black,
and the scales are so finely polished that thev almost appear as if they
had been varnished. The adda is found in Arabia, "Emit, and Nubia ;
it is particularly abundant in the ndghbouriiood of the andent Meroo
(near the Kile, about 17^ N. lat) ; and, in shorty throughout every
part of the sandy deserts of Asia and Africa, wherever the dighteet
traces of moisture exist '' It burrows," says Bruce, ** in the sand,
and performs the operation so quickly, ina,t it is out of sight in an
instant, and appears rather to have found a hole than to have made
one : yet it oftoi comes out during the heat of the day to bask itself
in the sun ; and, if not very mufihfrightened, will take refuge behind
stones, or in the withered, ragged roots of the absinthium, dried in
the sun to nearly its own colou^
ADDAX. [AlTTELOPE.]
ADDER, a name of the common viper. [YiferidaI
ADELFORSITE, a variety of mineral, induded under Heulandita,
[Hbulaicditb.]
ADELO'CRIKUS, a fossil genus of Crinoidea, from North Devon.
ADHEiSION, in Botany, is applied to the union of parts which arc
separate in other plants, or in younger states of the same plant
Many of the characters which cause uie diversity of appearance in
the vegetable kingdom originate in the adhedon of a few very simple
oigans ; and what we are accustomed to oondder parts* of extremely
different nature, only seem so in consequence of the way in which
such adhedon occurs. Thus, the stem of a tree is not a homogeneous
mass of vegetable matter, perforated by holes, or filled by little
cavities caused by the extrication of air in it when in a soft state, but
is produced by the adhedon of certain dementary bodies, oalled
Cellular Tissue and Vascular Tissue [Tissues, Vegetable], arranged
in a definite manner, which varies in every spedes ; ndther is a leaf, or
a fruit, or a fiower, a mere mass of pulp, or an expandon, like the honi
of an animal, but also consists of these same dementaiy oigans in
a state of adhedon.
Digitized by
Google
n
ADHESION.
ADIPOSE TISSUR
74
Gnided bj these fsMstSy modem botanists haye made use of this
property of adhesion to explain the nature of ererj organ that plants
bear, and there are few anomalies that are not due in a great measure
to the union of contiguous parts.
Some leayes are said to be stem-dasping, or amplezicaul, when their
baoe partially surrounds the stem (fig. a); while some stems are said to
be perfoliate, when they seem as if they pierced through the leaf, as
in Bu/pUMTwa^ roimd^iliwn (fg*h)\ but the latter differ ftom the
former only in this, that in the first the lobes at the base of the
leaf embrace the stem without adhedng, while in the second they not
only dasp the stem but grow together where their margins come in
ccittact Some leayes are hollow, as in the Pitcher Plant, and these
were formerly thou^t to be special organs with which no analogy
oould be diB^yered; they are now known. to be leayes which haye
rolled up so that their opposite margins come in contact and adhere.
Other leayes, growing from opposite sides of a stem, adhere in conse-
quence of their bases becoming connate (fig, c), as in the honeysucMe ;
and finally there acD others, many of which grow in what botanists
call a wh(nl, that is to say, all round a stem upon the same plane, and
adhere by their margins into a sheath (fig. cQ, as in Catuarinek
In other organs adhesions of a similar nature occur.
In the calyx, all the sepals, or parts^ are often distinct^ as in the
RammcuUu ; but they also often adhere by their edges, into a sort
of eup» as in the cherry. In the corolUb the petals are either all
■eparate, as in the rose, or they adhere by their edges into a cup or
bell, as in the different heaths^ Camponulaf andthelike.
Similar adhesions take place between the stamens. In tiie rose tiiey
are all distinct firom each other ; in the geranium they slightly adhere
st the base (fig. e) ; in the mallow they adhere into a tube, except
near the upper extivmity, where they are not united, and haye their
ordinary appearance (fig, f) ; in other plants they grow together ioto
a soHd tube in which no trace of separation can be discoyered, as in
thegenus Ouarea (fig. g).
Fmally, in the pistil there are certain parts called carpels, each of
which is a hollow body tenninated by a style and stigma. These
carpels are hollow, because they are formed of a flat oigan, doubled
up so that its edges come in contact and adhere to each other.
Sometimes onl^ one carpel is present in a flower, as in the cherry
(fig- A) ; aometimes seyeral, as in the rose (fig. «). In the Ntgdla, the
styles of the carpels are all distinct (fig. k), but in the lily and
the myrtle (fig, I) the styles of the carpels adhere so completely that
there seems to be but one. In the apple, the calyx sebms to grow
from the top of the frnit ; this is caused by the carpels haying at a
yery early period adhered to the inside of the calyx, which afterwards
grows WTth their growth, and, finally, leayes its extremities in a
withered state near the top of the curpels : in the cherry, on the
contraiy, no adhesion eyer takes place between the cupel and
the calyx ; and, consequently, when the frxut is ripe, there is no trace
of the latter upon its upper end. In the raspberry, the fruit is
enabled to slip like a thimole from off the receptacle, because the
carpels all adhere by their sidea
(De Candolle, TKSorie SUmentaire de la Botaniqw; Lindley, IfUro-
duietum to Botany ; Schleiden, PrincipUs of Seieniifie Botamu.)
ADIANTUM (iSlayrov), a genus of Ferns, so called by Uie Qreeks
because the leayes are of mick a nature that water will not readily
moisten them. The plant described by Hippocrates and his successors
under this name appears to haye been the A, CapUhu Veneritf or
the Maiden-Hair Fern — a rare European spedes, occasionally met with
on moist rooks, and old damp widls, eyen in this countiy. From
other genera of the same tribe it is known by its size, or masses
of roi^oductiye partides, being situated ui)on the mai^gin of the
leayes, and coyered oyer by a thin curyed scale which separates from
the leaf by its inner edge.
The number of spedes is yery considerable, probably not far 'from
80 or 90, aiid, as is the case in all extensiye genera of Ferns,
comprehends eyery degree of diyidon of the leayei^ from perfect
simplidty to the most compound conditions. All those in which tho
leayes are much diyided are remarkable for the yery delicate elastic
stalks on which the broad leidiets aro attached ; it is to this circum-
stance that the name of Maiden's Hair has been giyen to the European
spedes. The genus is scattered oyer all the world, from Europe to
New Zealand^ but is not found in any high latitudes in either
hemisphere. By far the greater part of the spedes inhabit damp
tropical woods.
A. Capillua Veneris is a dark-green stemlees plants found in damp,
rough rooky places, by the side of water-courses, and on the edge of
wells, whero the air is keen and dry. Its leayes, which aro from six
to fifteen inches high, haye a blackish-purple highly-polished stalk,
diyided into a great number of yery slender ramifications, frt>m the
extremities of which proceed the thin, delicate, wedgo«haped leaflets,
which aro notched irregularly upon their upper edge, and haye the
most graceful appearance imaginable when growing a little aboye
the eye, and gentiy agitated by the wind. Wonderful medicinal
properties were once ascribed to this spedes, but they hftye long since
been discoyered to haye no existence except in the exag^^eration of
fanciful practitioners. All that can be discoyered in it is a slight
but pleasant aromatic flayour; the French occasionally use it in
slight coughs. CapiUaire is prepared by pouring boiling syrup upon
the leayes of this spedes, or of A. peaaium, an American plant of
larger growth and far lees diyided leayes ; a little flayour is afliarwards
giyen with orange-flowers.
ADINOLE, a laminated yariety of Fehroar, sometimes called
Fusible Homstone, Leelite, and Petro-silex. [Fsuspab.]
ADIPOSE TISSUE is usually associated with Areolar Tiseue
[Arbolab Tibsus], the two being gencnndly known coUectiydy as
CelMar Tistue. U must be distinguished from Fat [Fat], adiposo
tissue being a membrane of extreme tenuity in the form of dosed
cells or yedcles, while fat is the material contained within them. The
membrane of the adipose yedcle does not exceed the 20,000th of an
inch in thickness, and is quite transparent ; it is moistened by watery
fluid, for which it has a greater attnu^on than for the fat it contains.
ESadi yedde is a perfect little oigan, yarying, when fiilly deydoped,
tram the 800th to the 800th of a line ; mmute capillaries may be
obseryed on their external Boittce, (Fig. 2). When fat-yemcles aro
deponted together in large numbers, as is usually the case, they assume
a more or less regular polyhedric form from their mutual pressure.
Fio. 1.
When tiie fiivt traces of fiitt appear is not accurately known. In a
well-formed fiye-months' human fcstus, Valentin found in the subcuta-
neous cellular tissue of the sole of the foot not merdy fktcells, such
as occur in. adults, yaiying frx>m the ordinary size to the 125th or
100th of a line, within and around which wero numerous small yedcles
(fig.h <^)f hut other forms which throw more light on their structure
and deydopment In some the surrounding cell-membrane was much
moro distinct than as it occurs in adults (h). In othen there appeared
to be a depontion of fat, not occupying tne whole space of the cell (c) ;
the remainder of the cell haying oft«i a striped or streaky appearance,
and forming a lateral projection; this is seen in c, and m a more
marked degree in d and e. In other fat-cdls there were obseryed to
Digitized by
Google
75
ADIPOSE TISSUE
ADIPOSE TISSUE.
be two vesicles, separated by a septum, against which they wore
|>artial]y flattened hv pressure (g), or merely separated by a constriction
m the external walls, as in f. This form leads us to oondude that
Fio. S.
fat-oellB increase by division. The fat-vesicle of the human subject
contains Margarin, a solid fat^ and OUin, a fluid fat These sometimes
separate spontaneously, presenting a very beautiAil microscopic
appearance. The margann collects in a spot on the inner surface
of the cell-membrane^ and presents the appearance of a small star,
whilst the olein occupies the remainder of the vesicle, unless when the
quantity of ftt in it is rather smaller than usual, in which case we
may observe a little aqueous fluid between the olein and ^
ceU-membrane. (Fig, 1, h.)
The chemistry of the substances Margitrin and Olein is somewhat
complicated, but the Amotion of the adipose tissue cannot be explained
without it These two substances, with Stearin, are the most widely
distributed fats in the oiganic kingdom, but th^ are not the only
ones. The^ were formerly regarded as salts formed by fatty adds with
OHycervn, Recent investigations have however diown that this view
re(juires a slight modification. Berzelius thinks that glycerin does not
exist ready formed in the neutral fats, but that it is a product of the
formation of soap ; and he considers the base of the neutral fats to be
the oxide of a radical ^C, HJ which he terms Lipyle, Glycerin is then
formed fh>m two eqmvalents of the oxide of Upyle, wiui three equi-
valents of water: 2 C, H, 0 + 8 H 0=C« H. 0. If to this we add
one equivalent of watw, we obtain the usiud formula.
According to this view, which w supported by Redtenbacher,
Varrentrap^ and Mulder, the base of every neutral fat yielding glycerin
is a compound which is represented bv d, H, 0.
The most important of the fatty acids are : —
Stearic Add C^, H„ 0, -h H 0
Maigaric Add . . . . C^ H^ 0, -h H 0
OldcAdd C^H^O^ + HO
These are universally diffused in plants and animals ; and, combined
with the oxide of lipyle (C, H, 0), they form the neutral fats-nrtearin,
maigarin, and olein ; and tms is the form in which they most commonly
occur in the oiganic kingdouL Sometimes^ however, a more powerful
base (potash, soda, Ac.) removes the oxide of lip|vle, and there are
then formed compounds of the &t^ adds with alkaues.
In connection with this subject, Mulder observes that " when salad-
oil is conveyed into the stomach, it mav pass unchanged into human
fat^ for both consist of maigaiin and olein, altiioug^ in different propor-
tions ; and as margarin and olein are found in many v^etables used
for food, nothing is more simple than to assume that these substances
are directiy transferred, without change, into the fats of the animal
body.
'' But if these same vegetables aie eaten by a sheep, the olein and
margarin must undergo some diange in the body of the animal, since
mutton-fat contains a large amount of stearin. In this case the change
is easily understood, for 2 eq. margaric add (C^, H^, Oq) = 1 eq. stearic
add (Cos Hm Os) -i- 1 eq. oxygen. Thus, from two equivalents of
margaric aod one equivalent of stearic add is produced, and one
equivalent of oxygen is given oflEl In all probability such a deoxidation
of the maigaric acid in the food of the sheep is really effected ; a^d
on the contrary, when mutton-&t is used for food by man, stearic add
is most probably converted into margaric add by the alMorption of
oxygen." It is now believed by our first phydologbts, that the neutral
fats taken as food do not directiy form fatty tissue^ but that they enter
the blood in a saponified state. In fact the alkaline character of the
bile as it enters the duodenum renders it impbadble'for the fat to
enter the blood without undeigoing this change. ' If it be saponified,
we readily understand how compounds of fat^ adds and soda should
exist in the blood and in various parts of the body. When a soda-
soap however exiifts in the blood, it cannot form a neutral fat^ such
as maigarin or olein, without combining with glycerin. This leads
to the inquiry, in the first place, whether these soaps meet with
glycerin ; and secondly if they do, whether the glycerin would combine
with the fatty adds and form neutral fats. There is good reason for
believing that both these questions may be answered in the negative,
for the glycerin set f^ when the soda^oap is formed, is most probably
at once decomposed ; and further, glycerin will not remove the soda
from the fatty add and form a neutral fat
It has been suggested by Mulder, that although (^yoerin will not
enter into this combination, the oxide of lipvle in a nascent state may
do so, and that in this manner the fatty acids may be converted into
neutral fats, and deposited in the cellnlar tismie, and other parts of the
body. We have already shown that (according to the opinion of
Berzelius) fflyoerin is tlie oxide of the radioid (C, H,) lipvle. The
second oxide of this radical exists in lactic add, wmch is supposed by
the great nujority of diemists to be present in most parts of tiiebody.
When lactic add (C^ H. 0^} is sublimated, we obtun a white subli-
mate, the compontion of which is C, H, 0, ; while the composition of
the oxide of lipyle is C, H, 0.
It may happen that there are causes of deoxidation at work in the
system, by which some of the substances usually oooverted into lactic
acid are xnade to produce oxide of lipyle, which in the nascent state
unites with the fatty adds, forming neutral fats.
Hence in all probability the neutral fats are not deponted directly
and unchanged in the cdlnlar tissue, but are first saponified, and
entering tiie blood as maigarate and oleate of soda, are again reduced
to neutral fats by the influence of lactic add.
The next question for our consideration is the formation qffat — a
subject which has given rise to much angiy and intemperate discussion
between the leading chemists of France and Germany. Dumas, who
may be regarded as the representative of the French sdiool, maintains
that all the fat of animals originates in and is obtained fixmi plants ;
while Liebig, on the contrary, maintains that a })ortion of it is formed
by the animal itself, from starch, sugar, and gum. The goose was the
anixnal respecting whidi the dispute originated. When fattened with
Indian com, the starch must, according to Liebig, have been changed
into fat, because he had found but a minute quantity (about 1 part
in 1000) of fat in that kind of grain. Dumas however extracted 9 per
cent of fat from Indian com (or ninety times as much as Liebig), and
thus he foimd in the food which the goose had eaten much more fiat
than had to be accounted for. The actual fact is, that the amount of
fat in this grain is so variable that no condudon can be drawn from
the experiment Liebiff quotes many examples of substances which,
although they contain little fat, are well known by experience to be
especially fit for fattening the animal body. Rice, peas, beans, and
})otatoes are all known to possess this property ; yet rice gives only
0*2 to 0*8 per cent of matters soluble in ether (the ordinary means of
determining the amount of fat^ ; peas 1*20 to 2*1 ; beans 0*70, and
dried potatoes 0*85 per cent Thus any animal that has eaten 1000
pounds of one of these substances ma^ obtain from them 2 to 8, 12 to
21, 7, or 84 pounds of fat respectivdy. He makes the foUowing
calculations : — ^Three pigs to be fattened in thirteen weeks require
1000 pounds of peas, and 6825 pounds of boiled potatoes, the latter
being equal to 1688 pounds of dry potatoes. These contain in all 26
pounds of fiat, the peas yielding 21 pounds, and the potatoes 6. One
fattened pig gives on an average 50 to 55 pounds of fat, the three
yidding 150 to 165 pounds. Each pig before fattening contains on an
average 18 pounds of fiat— that is, 54 pounds for the three. If to these
54 pounds be added 26 pounds contained in the food, we get 80 })ounds ;
and if we subtract these frt>m 150 to 165 pounds, there is a remainder
of 70 to 85 pounds of fat produced from the starch, ftc., of the food.
Liebig's opinion is further strengthened by the droumstance that some
fats are undoubtedly produced in the body, as, for instance, the fats
peculiar to the bram, ChoUtterin, Oeiine, Phoeenine, &c. To obtain
these from other fiat requires just as much a new arrangement as if
they were produced frt>m starch ; hence, in a sdentific point of view,
there is nothing improbable in tiie suppodtion that animals are able
to produce fiats.
With regard to the formation of fat in plants, it is worthy of obser-
vation that all seeds which yield oU on pressure — as the castor-oil seed,
hemp-seed, &c. — contain starch in their eariy stases, this starch
disappearing as the oil increases, and when the seed is completely
developed not a trace of the starch remaining^ This renders it
probable that these fatty matters are formed firom starch. From their
ultimate compodtion it is obvious that whenever fats are produced
frt>m any substance there must be produced at the same time dther
highly oxidised compounds^ or else that oxygen must be itself liberated.
Liebig observes that if frt>m the formula for starch, C|, H^q 0|o , we
take nine equivalents of oxygen, there will remain in 100 parts —
C,, 79-4
Hxo 10-8
0 9.8
The empirical formula for fat which comes nearest to this is C„ H,o
0, which gives in 100 parts —
C.j '. 78-9
H,o n-6
0 9-5
According to this formula on equivalent of starch, in order to be
converted into fat, would lose one equivalent of carbonic add and
seven of oxygen, or (expressed in symbols) C^, H„ 0^= C^i H„ O
+ C 0,-h 7 0.
Digitized by
Google
ADJUTANT.
uECIDIUM.
73
The mme point is also clearly shown hj contrasting the ultimate
composition of starch and fat
Staroh. HomanFat. (Cherreul.)
Carbon . . . 44*91 . . . 7900
Hydrogen . . 611 . . . 11-42
Oxygen . . . 48*98 . . . 9*58
Ab we are not acquainted with any constituent of plants which con
take up the oxygen thus liberated in the formation of fat, we must
regard this as one of the sources of the oxygen given off by plants.
Vulder has given the following scheme as iUustrative of the mode in
which starch may poasibly be conyerted into fat or oil in the vegetable
kingdom i—
C H 0
To 7 equiv. of starch . . . . 84 70 70
Add 8 equiv. of water ... 88
84
78
78
84
84
8
44
40
4
a
4
2
69
84
78
78
And we have ....
Which are equal to
1 equiv. of maigaric acid
1 equiv. of oleic acid
2 equiv. of oxide of lipyle
69 equiv. of oxygen
Making as before
As to the mode in whidi fat is deposited, there is reason to believe
that it is immediately formed out of the blood, without any glandular
apparatus for secreting it, bv the capillary arteries of the adipose
veaides. By chemical amdysis, the materials of fat, like those of all
the other seicretiona^ are found to be contained in the blood.
As diffused over the bodv, the adipose membrane consists of mannon
which vary considerably m their magnitude and shape. In some
places they are rounded, in others pear^iaped, and in the median line
of the abdomen, egg-shaped. The distribution of the membrane is
exceedingly unequair There is, in general, a considerable layer imme-
diately beneath the skin ; and espedallv between the skin and the
abdominal muscles, where it occasionaUy accumulates in enormous
TnTiiwofl, Between the folds of the membranes which form the omentum
and meeenterv there is usually a large quantity; also around the
heart and the kidneys ; on the face, and especially on ike cheeks, and
in the orbits of the eyes ; in the palms of the hsmds, the soles of the
feet ; the pulp of the fingers and toes, the flexures of the joints, the
fibres of muscles, and the sheath of vessels. In most of these organs
it never entirely disappears, whatever be the degree of leanness to
which the body may be reduced ; while in the cranium, the brain, the
eye, the ear, the nose, and several other organs, there is none, what-
ever be the degree of corpulency.
The functions of the adipose tissue are manifold and apparent
1. It fills up interstices, and acts as a kind of pad or cushion for the
protection of oxgans which would be otherwise imured by the move-
ments of the body; so essential does it appear m some parts that
even where there is great emaciation it does not wholly disappear.
2. By its non-C(mducthig power it assists in maintaiTiing the heat of
the bodv when exposed to external cold. It is foimd in immense
quantities in the animals inhabiting the Arctic Seas, as in the whale
tribe, and also in all animals living in the colder parts of the earth.
Z. It acts as a storehouse for fuel during times of necessity. Some
•"iw>a1« are exposed to a want of combustible food in the winter time,
and they aocoDiingly become fat in the autumn, and are thus supplied
with material for Tnftfnfjifnmg their animal heat It is well known
that fats are amongst the most important agents of food by which
anbnal heat is maintained. Anfmalw that hybemate depend solely for
their existence upon the fat deposited in their bodies, which ts
gradually consumed during hybernation. 4. The presence of fEit
seems to fiivour the development of protein tissues. It is always
found in the ova of ftninnua before the embryo is formed. The
administration of oik in certain diseases attended with emaciation, as
in phthisis, has beeoi found most beneficial, and appears to act favour-
ab&, by aswinting the development of protein tissues
(Lebinann, Phy$iologieal Uhemutry; Kolliker, ffandXmch der OewAe-
IcAre ; Carpenters Prineipla of Phynohgy)
ADJUTANT. [Crawbb.]
ADCNIS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order JZomm-
erdaeeat and containing many species of veiy great beauty. The name
is merely poetical AdonU is distinguished firom Raminculut by the
want of a littie scale at the base of me petals, and from other genera
of the order by the numerous hard, dry, sharp-pointed gndns of which
its fruit consists.
Botanists divide the genus into two sections, the first ef which
comprehends all the annual kindl^ the second all the perennials. Ten
species are spoken ot as belonginff to the first section, inhabiting corn-
fields and similar dry exposed j^aoes, chiefly in the south of Europe
and north of Africa. Some of them have deep oiimson flowers, as
A, amiwmnaUM, the common Fheasant's-Eye of our gardens ; in others
the blossoms are yellow : it is not improbable that they are fdl varieties
of the same spedesL
Of the peruinial kinds, A, vemaUi, which is common in gardens in
Eoglandy ]b found in a wild state abundantiy on all the mountains
of middle Europe. Its flowers have frt>m ten to twelve petals of a
yellow colour, and of a brilliancy which is rendered the more «lft««ling
by the deep green tuft of finely-divided leaves among which they
expand. It is only a few inches high, anH is one of the early har-
bingers of spring. Three others are described, all mountain plants,
resembling A, vemaHt in general appearance, but perhaps still more
beautifuL They seem to have been occasionally brought to this
country, but to have been soon lost again.
Nothing has been remarked as to the sensible properties of these
plants ; they doubtless partake of the acridity so prevalent in their
tribe.
ADCyJAf a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Araliaeea,
The only species of this genus is the A. MoichatdUna, which is a little
inconspicuous plant foimd in woods and groves in all parts of Europe.
It is common at Charlton and Hempstead, near London, and in many
other spots in England.
From a granular rooty which when dry is white as snow, arise, early
every spring, a few leaves about four or five inches high, divided into
three principal divisions, each of which is also three-leaved, with every
lobe deeply cut into roundish segments. The stem that supports the
flowers has two opposite leaves, like those of the root, only they have
a short stalk, and consist of but three leaflets. The flowers have a
musky smell, are pale green, and are collected in littie round heads.
Each one consists of a superior calyx of five lobes ; there are no petals ;
the stamens are ten ; the styles five ; and the ovarium contains five
cells. This last ohuiges to a succulent berry, having five compressed
seeds.
In English this is called Mosohatel ; it is a pret^, interesting plant,
much sought after by the curious for the sake of its deUoate, modest
appearance. No known medioinal properties belong to it
ADULABIAy a synonym of Felspar. [FxlbfabJ
^CI'DIUM, a genus of minute parasitic plants belonging to the
natural order Fwigi, found in great abundance in tiiis and other
northeni countries. By some modem writers it has been combined
with Undo and others ; but it appears diitinotiy characterised by its
peridium, or enveloping membrane, having a tubular form, and being
altogether distinct from the outide of the plant on which it grows.
The species are umversally parasitic upon the leaves or flowers or
bark of living plants, where they are generated beneath the cuticle
Thdir structure is of the most simple kind ; <*^"^fMng of nothing more
than a littie mass of excessively minute sporules, or reproductive
partides, much smaller than the finest sand, molosed in a thin bag, oi
1. jE&kUtm ctmeOUamky on a leaf, natural liae. f . Peridia, magnified.
8. ifi^icUiMiSfrftiridtff, natural iixe. 4. Peridia, magnified. A. Spomlet.
either a fibrous or reticulated structure, whfch in time pierces the
cuticle under which it lies, gpradually assumes a tubulac appearance^
and finally bursts at the apex for the purpose of enabling the sporules
to escape.
Digitized by
Google
JEGAGRUa
AEROLITES.
A great many spedea are found upon the weeda and trees of Europe,
▼arying in colour, nxa, and form. Of these the two following are
among the most common : —
JBeidivm caneeUatvmf the Pear JSoidium. This plant is often very
common in the latter months of autumn on the back of the leayes
of the cultiTated pear-tree, to which it gives a singularly warted aspect
It makes its appearance, crowded in little patches of a pale brown
colour, which, when examined with a microaoope, are aeen to coosiBt
of numerous oval bodies, about a line long, rather tiie broadest towaids
the upper end. These bodies are, when young; slightly furrowed, but
at a more advanced period they divide into tough parallel fibres, which
open at the sides, but do not separate at the apex. Through the
passages thus formed between the fibres fiill the sporules, or seed-like
partides.
To inaccurate observers this species would appear an aggregation of
the nests of some minute insect^ for which we know it to be often
mistaken. It probably does not produce any iigurious effect upon the
plants it attacks, for it generalhr makes its appearance late in the
season, when the leaves have nearly completed their office for the year.
JScidvum JBerberidii, the Barbeny Blight. The bright orange powder
that collects upon the leaves and flowers of the common Barbeny con-
sists of the sporules of this species, which aro dischaiged firom thou-
sands of little tubular apertures, that spread in patches over all the
tender parts. These apertures aro the open ends of the peridia in a
state of maturity, and aro borderod at first by a ragged toothed mem-
brane, which finally falls away. Thero is a popular notion that Barbenr
bushes blight corn. The rust of com is a spedes of Puecinia [PuoonoAj,
and it is not improbable that the spores of jScidkian from the Barbeny
may produce Pttceinia on the coni.
(Hendow's Jowmal ef the Rafftd AgrieuUurcd SociOy, 1841.)
.SOA'aRUS, a wild species of Ibex, called Paseng by the Persiana
[OOAT.]
.SOOPODIITH (from &(, a goat, and voSi^r, a little foot), a genus
of plants bdonging to tiie order Uwhdl^era, One spedes^ JB. poda-
graria, ia common throughout the whole of Europe, and grows
abundantly in Great Britain. It has a stem one or two feet high, with
furrows. The leaves aro two or three times temate ; the leaflets unequal
at the base and acutdy senate. It has a oreejping root, and grows in
damp places. Although well known, and havmg the names of Goat-
Weed, Ash- Weed, Heri> Gerard, and Wild Masterwort^ it seems to possess
no medicinal properties. Linnaeus says that it is boiled when young,
and eaten as greens in Sweden.
AE'LODON, the generic title applied by H.Ton Meyer to the fossil
crocodile or gavial of Monheim.
AEROLITES, called also Meteoric Stonei, aro bodies which have
fiillen on the earth from the atmosphero, and aro named from &V>
atmosphere, and \t$os, a stone. We possess historical records
from very romote antiquity, and numerous writers in all ages have
mentioned instanoeB of the romarkable phenomenon of stonv bodies
having been seen to fall from the sky ; yet, till within the last fifty
years, all such accounts wero treated as tales of the ignorant and super-
stitious. The first man of sdence who directed attention to the subiect
of aerolites was Chladni, a German philosopher, who, in a tract published
at R^ and Leipzig, in 1794, upon the mass of native iron found by
Pallas in Siberia, maintained the credibility of the traditions of that
and other stony bodies having fiillen from the air. His sagacious
inductions, although they fkiled at the time to make any great impres-
don, proparod philosophers for a mora willing reception of the evidence
as to two instances of the same extraordinary event, which were diortly
afterwards brought under their notice. In 1796 a stone waa exhibited
in London, weiglung 66 pounds, whidi fell at Wold Cottage, in Tork-
shira, in Deoembor of the preceding year ; but^ although the faxst was
attested by several credible witnesses, the posdbility of sudi an occur-
rence was still doubted. It was remarked, however, by Sir Joseph
Banks, that there was a great resemblance between the Torkshiro stone
and one in his possession, sent to him from Italy, with an account of
its having fallen from the doud% along with many others of a similar
nature, near Sienna, in July, 1794. In the year 1799 Sir Joseph Banks
received a circumstantial account^ accompanied by spedmeos, of a fall
of stones from the atmosphere, which was said to have taken place
near Benares, in Hindustan^ in the preceding December; and as
these specimens were also neariy identical with the Torkdure stone,
incredulity began to give way. It was not, however, till the appear-
ance of the odebrated paper of Howard, in the ' Philosophical iVans-
actions' for 1802, giving an account of his analysis of the Benares
stone, that men of sdence declared their bdief in the phenomenon,
supported, as the evidence then was, by the researches and opinion of
so cautious and accurate an inquirer ; and a fall of stones at L' Aigle,
in Normandy, whidi took place in the following year, at the time the
mempir of Howard was in the hands of the public, removed all doubt
The Institute of France deputed the cdebrated Biot to examine, on
the spot, the whole circumstances attending this remarkable event ;
and the result of his labours will be found in his report^ in the seventh
volume of the * Mdmoires de I'lnstitut' He satisfied himself of the
authentidty of the facts whidi had been narrated ; and the
he collectea on the ground, being analysed by Y auqudin and
yidded the same result as the analysis of the Benares stone bv Howard.
An account of tiie droumstances that attended the fall of stones at
Benares and at L'Aigle will convey the best idea of the phenomenon,
not only as it occurred in these two cases, but in most other instances
of which a circumstantial description has been preserved. They are
always accompanied by a meteor, which at night appears like a burning
fiery ball, surrounded by a brilliant vapour, and with a tail like a comet ;
in the day, on accoimt of the strong light of the sun, and the smoke
and vapour evolved, the meteor looks more like a small doud of diffe-
rent colouTB^ and of a m'ngnlar form, which, after a powerful explodon,
seems to burst and scatt^ its contents.
At a short distance from Benares, on the 19th of December, 1798, a
very luminous meteor was observed in the heavens, about dght o'clock
in tiie evening in the form of a large ball of fire ; it was accompanied
by a loud noise, resembling that of thunder, which was immediatdy
followed by the sound of the feill (^ heavy bodiea On ftTMm'i^mg the
ground, it was observed to have been newly torn up in many places,
and in these stones were found of a peculiar appearance, most of which
had buried themsdves to the depth of six inches. At the time the
meteor appeared the sky was perfectly serene ; not the smaUest vestige
of a doud had been seen since the 11th of the month, nor were any
observed for many days after. It was seen in the western part of the
hemisphere, and was only a diort time visible. The Ught from it was
so ereat as to cast strong shadows from tiie ban of a window upon a
dark carpet, and it appeared as luminous as the brightest moonlight
Many of the stones were collected, and some of them weighed two
poundseach.
On the 26th of April, 1808, at one o'dock in tiie afternoon, the sky
being dear, with the exception of a few light douds, a ball of fire was
observed in Normandy, in many places &x distant from each other—
namdy, Caen, Falaise, Alen9on, Verneuil, and Pont Audemei^— which
moved repidly from south-east to north-west; and about the same
time, in the district of L'Aigle, loud explodons were heard, whidi lasted
from five to six minutes^ resembling the sound of cannon and musketiy,
and were followed by a long-continued noaae, like that of many druma
The meteor from wmch the noise proceeded appeared not so much like
a ball of fire, but rather like a small rectangular doud, which, durmg
the phenomenon, seemed not to move ; but the vapour of which it
consisted was sent out, after each explodon, in all directions. It seemed
to be about half a league north-west from L'Aigle, and must have been
at a very oondderable devation, as it appeared to the inhabitants of
two villages, more than a league distant from each other, to be imme-
diately over their heads at the same instant. Throughout the whole
district over which the doud hung there was heard a JiimnTig noiae^
like that of a stone from a sling; and a vast number of stones fell to
the ground. The n>ace on which they fdl formed an dlipse of two
leagues and a half long by one broad, the larger diameter being from
south-east to north-west^ the direction in wmch the meteor moved :
the largest stones wero found at the south-east end of the dlipse, and
the smallest at the oppodte extremity. Above 2000 wero collected,
and they varied in weight from 2 drachms to 17 pounds and a hal£
ASroUtes, when taken up soon after their fall, aro extremdy hoi
They aro generallv angular, of prismatic and pyramidal forms, the
angles bdng rounded ; thdr broken irregular surface is coated with a
fused black crusty like varnish, sddom exceeding a quarter of a line in
thickness. When broken, they differ a littie in appearance ; but they
are, for the most party composed of a collection of small spherical
bodies, of a grey colour, imbedded in a gritty substance, and often
interspened with ydlow spots. One of the most remarkable drcum-
stances is the great similarity of compodtion of all the meteoric stones,
on whatever part of the earth they have fallen. Iron is found in dl,
and in a oondderable proportion, partiy in a malleable state, partly in
that of an oxide, and always in combination wi^ a greater or leas
proportion of the rare metal called nickel The earths silica and
magneda and sulphur constitute the other diief ingredients; but
the earths alumina and lime^ the metals manganese, chrome, and
cobalty together with carbon, soda^ and water, have also been found
in minute and variable quantities, but not in the same spedmena.
The variations discovered by analysis are never, however, sumdent to
destroy that affinity of external character by which they aro instantiy
recognised. No new substance, nothing with which we are not already
acquainted, has ever been discovered in their composition. Bu^
dthough all the constituent dements are found in different mlnerd
substancea, no combination of them, similar to that in meteoric stones,
has ever been met with, either among the stratified rocks of any period
of formation, or among the unstratified rocki^ or among the products
of any volcano, extinct or in activity. Their specific gravity is about
8*60, but varies according to the proportion of iron whidi they contain.
They are sometimes very friable, sometimes very hard ; and some that
aro friable when they first fall, become hard afterwards. In size they
vary from 2 drachms weight to 800 pounds. One of the stones which
fdl at L'Aigle yidded by the analysiB of Th&iard, —
Silica 46 per cant
Magnesia 10 „ „
Ij?^- *« « »
Nickd 2 „ „
Sulphur 6 „ „
and Laugier afterwards discovered the presence of dirome in it
FVequentiy small detached portions of malleable iron are dissnmlnated
Digitized by
Google
AEEOLITEa
AEROLITES.
through the zxuuh^ and the black crust acta powerfiilly on the
magnet.
The appearance of these bodies is not periodica], nor connected
with any particular state of the atmosphere, Aor of the weather; and
they have fallen in all climatesy on eveiy part of the earth, at all
■PMons, in the night and in the day.
Chladni has compiled a yeiy copious catalogue of all recorded
inBtanopiB, from the earliest times : of which twenty-seren axe previous
to the Christian era ; thirty-five from the beginning of the first to the
end of the 14th century; eighty-nine from the beginning of the
15th to the date of the fiUl at L'Aigle at the beginning of the
present century. Ih 1887 M. Quetelet, of BrusselSy published a
catalop^e of remarkable meteors, and again in 1841. Mr. Henick,in
America^ and M. Chasles, in IVance, also published lists in 1841.
The latest accounts have been published by Professor Baden Powell,
in the 'Transactions of the British Association,' since the year 1847.
Numerous as the instances are in which these phenomena have
been -witnessed they can form but a small proportion of the whole
amount^ when we compare the small extent of surface occupied by
thoeo ci4>able of keepmg a record of such events, with the wide
ezpazue of the ocean, the vast uninhabited deserts, mountains, and
forests^ and the countries possessed by savage nations. Many of
those which occur in the night must also escape observation even
in civilised countries.
Among the more remarkable fastancfis to be met with in ancient
authors, the following may be mentioned. Livy states that^ in the
reign of Tullus Hostilius (about 654 B.O.), a uiower of stones fell
on the Alban Mounts not far distant firom Rome. Plutarch, in
the ' Life of Lysander/ describes a stone that fell at ^gos Potami,
in the Hellespont^ near the modem GkiUipoli, about 405 B.a, which is
also mentioned by the elder Pliny (iL). who says that it was to be
seen in his time, that is, five himdred years afterwards, and that it
was as lai^ as a waggon, of a burnt colour, and its fall was accom-
panied by a meteor. It is also recorded in the ' Parian Chronicle.'
The mother of the gods was worshipped at Peasinus, in Oalatia, imder
the form of a stone, which was said to have fallen from heaven ; and
that stone, in consequence of a treaty with Attslus, king of Peigamus,
was solemnly brought to Rome by Publius Scipio Nasica, about 204
years B.C., and placed in the temple of Cybele. The sun was
worshipiied at Emesa, in Syria, under the form of a laige, conical,
black stone, which, as the people about the temple reported, fell upon
the earth. It was afterwaids brought with great pomp to Rome by
KagabaluB, who had been high-priest of the temple ; and the descrip-
tion of it, given by Herodian (v.), accords witii the appearance of
a meteoric stoneu In China records exist of occurrences of this
kind during a period of 2400 years. These were translated by M.
Biot ; and to give an instance of the nature of these records we may
state that between the years A.D. 960 to 1270 no lees than 1479
meteors axe registered. Of course these were not all aerolites. The
great stone at Cholula in America was asserted by the Mexicans to
have fallen from heaven.
One of the cases of more modem date, most circumstantially
described, is that of the stone which fell at Ensisheim, in Alsace,
in 1492. The emperor Mft-HTniliftTi being there at the time, ordered
an account of the event to be drawn up. It weighed 270 pounds ;
and was afterwards suspended by a chain in the church at Ensisheim
far three centuries. During the French Revolution, it was carried off
to Colmar, and many pieces were broken from it One of these is in
the museum at the J ardin dee Plantes, in Paris ; it is identical in
composition with other meteorio stones, and contains native or
malleable iron. What remained of the precious relic has since
been restored to the good people of Ensisheim, and it now stands
near the great altar in their church.
Besides aSrolites properiy so called, masses of malleable iron, often
of vast sixe, have b^ found in situations, which, together with their
composition, leave no doubt as to their b^ng of meteoric origin. An
rmmtmmgk mass, seeu by Pallas in Siberia^ which forms the sutject of
Chladni's tract in 1794 above alluded to, was found quite insulated,
at a great elevation on a mountain of slate near the river Tenesei,
removed fbom everything that could excite suspicion of its being a
production of art, and totally different from any ore of iron seen either
before or since that time. The tradition waa^ that it had fiillen from
heaven, and, as such, was held in veneration by the Tartars ; but it
was removed in 1749 to the neighbouringtown of Erasnojarsk by
the inspector of the iron mines there. The mass, which weighed
about 1400 lbs., was of an irregular form, not solid, but cellular, like a
sponge, the cells containing small granular bodies of a glassy nature,
afterwards fbund to be the sim^e mineral olivine, so common in
basalt The iron was tough and malleable, and, according to the
analysis of Howard, yielded 17 per cent of nickel; but Elaproth and
John found a much smaller proportion of nickel, and Laugier found,
by another analysis, silica, magnesia, sulphur, and chrome. The
disagreement of such skilfrd operators shows that the mass was not
imiform in its composition. Another vast mass of meteorio iron was
found in South America, in the jurisdiction of. Santiago del Estero,
U)out 500 miles north-west from Buenos Ayres, and is described in
a memoir in the Spanish language, printed in the 'Philosophical
Transactions' for 1788, by Don Rubin de Cells, who was sent by the
VAT. mST. DIT. VOL. L
governor of the province to examine it. It lay in a vast plain of
above 100 leagues in extent, half sunk in the ground, and the sise ^
such as, estimating it by iJie specific gravity of iron, would j '
weight of more than 18 tons. According to the analysis of ]
and of Howard, it contains 90 per cent of iron, and 10 of nickel
Specimens of this mass, which were sent to the Royal Society by Don
Rubin de Celis, are in the collection of the British Museum. A mass
of meteorio iron at the Cape of Good Hope, mentioned by Bairow in
his 'Travels in Africa,' as an artificial production, is described by
Van Marum in the 'Haarlem Transactions,' a large portion of it having
been sent to the public museum there by the governor of the colony.
The mass, when found, was equal to about 177 lbs., but much had
been cairied away. The i9)ecific gravity is 7*604. Tennant found it to
contain 1*10 per cent of nickel, and a trace of carbon, and Stromeyer
detected cobalt in it^ which last metal has also been found, by Dr.
Turner in some meteoric iron from Buenos Ayres. Another mass
was found in Brazil, about 50 leagues from Bahia, tiie weight of
which was estimated at 14,000 lbs. ; a fragment of this, analysed by
Dr. WoUaston, yielded 4 per cent of nickel Many other instances of
similar masses of iron might be mentioned, which are evidently of
meteorio origin; but the only instance on record of iron having been
actually seen to fail from the atmosphere, is that which took place at
Agram, in Croatia, in 1751. On the 26th of May, about six o'clock in
the evening^ the sky being quite dear, there was seen a ball of fire,
which shot along with a hollow noise from west to east, and after a
loud explosion, accompanied by a great smoke, two masses of iron feU
from it^ in the form of chains welded together.
Aerolites and meteoric iron are not the only products of meteors
which have fallen upon the earth after explosion. Numerous instancae
are mentioned of black and red dust^ which has covered great tracts
of land ; and it is remarkable that such dust has generally been found
to contain small angular grains resembling augite. There have also
been cases of the fall of a soft gelatinous matter of a red colour like
coagulated bldod, which have given rise to the stories of the sky
having rained blood. Such appearances have not unfrequently
accompanied the fall of stones. On the 15th November, 1775, rain of
a red colour fell around Ulm and the Lake of Constance, and on the
same day in Russia and Sweden. The red water was of an acid taste,
probably from the presence of sulphuric acid ; and the precipitate,
which was flaky like snow, when dried, was attracted by the magnet
In the night of the 5th March, 1808, a red dust» in some p^ces
accompanied by rain, fell in different parts of Italy. In Apulia, there
was first a veiT high wind with much noise, and then a reddish-black
cloud appeared ooming from the south-east, from which there fell a
yellowish-red rain, and afterwards a quantity of red dust It
continued the whole of the fbllowing day and put of the succeeding ;
the dust was examined, and was not found to be volcania Fabroni, in
the 'Annales de Chimie,' tom. Ixxxiii, says, that near Arezzo, in
March, 1813, the ground being then covered with snow, there was a
ahower of fresh snow of a red colour, which continued for many
hours, accompanied the whole time with a sound like that of the
violent dashing of waves at a distance ; the greatest fall was accom-
1 with two or three explosions like thunder. The red snow
melted, a precipitate was obtained of a nankeen colour, which
d silica, lime, alumina, iron, and manganese.
The origin of this remarkable class of natural phenomena is
involved in great obscurity, and many different theories have beeoi
proposed to account for them. By some they have been supposed to
be bodies ejected from distant volcanoes belonging to our earth,— a
coDJeoture which is refuted by every circumstance connected with
them. No substance in the least resembling aerolites has ever been
foimd in or near any volcano ; they fEdl fr^m a height to which no
volcano can be supposed to have projected them, fax less to have given
them the horizontal direction in which meteors invariably move for a
oonsiderable part of their course. Another hypothesis is, that
meteoric bodies are formed in the atmosphero, which is equally
untenable ; for, in the first place, thero is no ground for supposing,
from any discoveries yet made in chemistiy, that the elements of
which they are composed exist in the atmosphere ; and even if they
did, the enormity of the volume of the atmosphero, attenuated as it
is at the great height from which the meteors fall, which would be
required to produce a solid mass of iron of thirteen tons weighty
places the conjecturo beyond all credibility. A third hypothesis is,
that they are bodies thrown out by the volcanoes which are known to
exist in the moon, with such force as to bring them within the sphere
of the earth's attraction. This hypothesis was so far entertained by
Laplace, that he calculated the degree of lunar volcanic force that
would be necessary for this purpose. He calculated that a body
projected from the moonp with a velocity of 7771 feet in the first
second would reach our earth in about two days and a half; but
Olbers and other astronomers are of opinion that the velocity of the
meteors, which has been estimated in some cases to be at first equal
to some miles in a second, is too great to admitx>f the possibility of
their having come from the moon. The theory which is most
consistent with all knovm facts and laws of naturo is that proposed by
Chladni, namely, that the meteors are bodies moving in space, either
accumulationB of matter as originally oroated, or fragments separated
from a laiger mass of a similar nature. This bpinion. has also been
Digitized by
Google
iLESCHINITE.
-ffiTHUSA.
81
ftdTinoed by Sir Humphrey Davy, at the concluaion of one of his
impen in the 'Philosoimical Transactions' for 1817, giving an aocount
of his researches on flame. It is idso the opinion of Sir John
Herschel and Alexander yon Humboldt ; the latter of whom, in his
'Cosmos,' deyotes a large space to the consideration of this highly
interesting 8ul]!ieot
Those who wish to inyestigate this curious subject will find it most
ably and copiously treated in Chladni's woxlc, UAtr Pevter-MeUore,
Hna aher die mU dentdbm herabgefaUmen Manmf Vienna, 1819,
which is a second edition of his flnt treatise. The lAikologie Atmot-
phirique of Izam may also be consulted ; also a good compilation by
Bigot de Morogues, entitled Mimcire Hittorique et Phytiqtte iur Us
CMUa det Pierra, Orleans, 1812; Humboldfs Cotmot; and the
Qitarterly Review for December, 1852. [See SuPFLiMBirT.]
AESCHINITE, a mineral of which the principal sslt is a titanate
of siroonia. [TiTAinniL]
^'SCULUS, a genus of plants belonging to tiie natural order
ffippocattanecs. It consists of trees found in the temperate parts
of America and Asia, remarkable for the beauty of their flowers and
leayes, and for their fonning in some sort a type of tropical yegetation
in northern latitudes. It must not be confounded with the iusculus
of the Romans, which was a kind of oak. [Qusbcus.] The best
known species is the Common Horse-Chestnut {jBtcfUue Hippoeaa-
Ummn), a yer^ handsome timber-tree, formerly much used for
ayenues^ and still extensiyely planted whereyer round masses of wood,
or gay flowering trees, are required. Its bark and its nuts are also
among the niore useful products that the hardy trees of this climate
sfford. It is yery singular that the natiye country of this species
should be unknown. One writer says it inhabits the northern parts
of Asia ; another, that it is found in the cold proyinces of India ; and
a third assigns it to the mountain-chains of Asia Minor ; while all the
positiye infoimation that books really afford is, that it was brought to
Vienna from Constantinople in the beginning of the 16ih centuiy,
and was thence dispersed through idl Europe. The popular name
of HoTM^hestnut has arisen horn, the custom among the Turks
of erinding the nuts and mixing them with tiie provender giyen
to horses that are broken-winded. Starch is also yielded in yery
considerable quanti^ by the nuts; and, deprived of its bitterness by
maceration in weak ley, has been recommended as excellent nutritious
food for horses, goats, oxen, and sheep. The general characters of
the Horse-Chestnut are too well known to require description. As a
forest-tree, it is well adapted to light lands, upon which it will thrive,
although they may be very sterile ; in tenacious olay, it is always
stunted and unhealthy, as in the Regent's Park ; in rich alluvial soil,
it acquires its greatest beauty. The timber is soft and spongy, and
Uor4e-CUei»Qiut {Jitculut Sippooatttmum),
therefore of liUle value. There are no yery old specimens in this
country, the spedee having been introduoed, ss it is said, only
in 1688.
A second species, the .^eetUui Ohiotentit, is found wild in North
America, on the banks of the Ohio, between Pittsbui^ and Marietta.
In stature It varies from 10 to 35 feet ; and difiers from the
common kind in having larger and much more imdulated leaves. It
has been cultivated for some years in this country, but has never
flowered.
Besides these, a third species, uBeeuhu cornea — or, as it is sometimes
called, JEecuhu rvhicmdoy or roHa—\B occaaioxially met with in
gardens. Its origin is unknown. For all purposes of ornament^ tiiis
is much superior to the co«nmon kind.
The Buck's-Eve Chestnuts of North America belong to the
genus Pcmek [PAyiA.]
The flrst two species of Horse-Chestnut are propagated by sowing
their seeds either in the autumn at such a deplii below the surfooe as
to be secure from the attacks of mice, or else in the sprmg ; but in
the latter case they must be preserved during the winter in heaps of
sand. The seeds should not be placed less than six inches apart
in the beds, because the leaves are so large as to require more than
usual space to expose themselves to light The last species, azid th«
varieties of the first^ not yielding seeds, are multiplied by budding
upon the common Horse-Chestnut.
AESHNA. In this recent genus of Xt(6a«Zuia Mr. Strickland rankv
a fossil insect firom the Liss of Warwickshire.
AETHOPHTliLUM, a fossil genus of plants from the Eeuper
Sandstone. (Brongniart)
iBTHU'SA is a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
UtnheUiferce, which includes among its species one of the most
poisonous plants known in Europe.
jBthuta Cynapivm is a little annual plants found commonly in gar-
dens and fields, resembling the common parsley so much that it haa
JEtkuta Oynapium,
acquired the vulgar name of Fool's Parsley. From a taper whitiah
root arises an erect branchy stem, about a foot high, genendly stained
with purple near the ground. This is covered by finely-cut shining
leaves of a deep green, much resembling those of Qarden Parsley,
from which they are laiown thus : in the true Parsley, the leaves are
twice pinnated or divided, and the leaflets are broad, and cut into
three wedge-shaped toothed lobes ; in the Fool's Parsley, on the other
hand, the leaves are thrice pinnated, and the leaflets are narrow,
sharper, and jagged; besides which, the leaves of Fool's Panley have
a disagreeable nauseous smell, instead of the flne upomatic odour of
Common Parsley. When in flower, JSthuea has its principal umbels
destitute of inyolucra, while the partial umbeli are furnished with an
involucrum, consisting of four or five narrow sharp leaves^ hanging
down from one side only of the common stalk ; this Isst circumstance
will distinguish it when in fiower, not only from parsley, but from all
other Brituh umbelliferous plants.
Many dangerous accidents have occurred from, mistaking this plant
for parsley. The symptoms attendant upon poisoning by .^ScAiisa are,
swimming of the head, nausea, cold perspiration, and dullineas at the
extremities. To counteract its effects, emetics are recommended, and
the immediate! use of weak vegetable acids, such as lemon-juioe,
vinegari or sour wine.
Digitized by
Google
65
AETOBATES.
AQAMA.
AETO'BATES, a genuB of foasU fishes allied to the Rays. The
species are found in the London da/ of Sheppey. (Agaasiz.)
AOALLOCHUM. [Exoscaria; Aquilariacks ; Eaoub-wood.]
AGAIiMATOLITE(a]8oi>a^O(2ite,jBt;<2ste»fi,Zar(2»te). This mineral is
found in China, and is seldom brought into this country except cut
into vaiiotis figures. Less characteristic varieties have been found in
Transylyania and Saxony ; it is found also in Wales. Occurs massiye.
Fracture coarse splintery, imperfectly slaty. Soft Colour white,
with a shade of gray, green, yellow, red, or brown, none of them
bright Streak shinmg. Unctuous to the touch. Slightly trans-
lucent^ but in most cases only the edges. Specific gravity 2*815.
Before the blowpipe infusible, but becomes white. Partly soluble
in sulphuric acid, leaving a residue, chiefly of silica.
Analysis of the Chinese variety by Vauquelin : —
Silica 56
Alumina 29
Lime 2
Protoxide of Lron 1
Potash 7
Water 5
100
A'GAMA, in Zoology, a genus of reptiles belonging to the order
Saurianif and £unily fyuaniant, of Baron Cuvier.
In the form of their beads and teeth the s^ies of Agcma resemble
the common liEards, but difier in the imbricated scales which cover
their tails. These animals have the bod^ thick, and shorter in pro-
portion than the generality of the saunan fSeaxiily ; the skin is lax,
and capable of being distended or pufifed out with air at the will of
the reptile ; the whole body, as well as the head, neck, and feet, is
covered with minute rhomboidal or hexagonal scales, often prolonged
in the form of little spines, and bristling when the body is inflated
wiUi air. The head is short, broad, and flat> particularly towards the
occiput ; the neck also is short, and the tail seldom longer than the
body. These proportions give the Agamas much of the hideous and
diogusting appearance of toads. Li many parts of South America
they are called Chameleons, from their power of dilating the skin
with air, and imitating, to a certain extent, those aninialw in the
various hues which they are capable of assuming. In other respects
the various species of Agamas difier so considerably from one another,
as to have induced Baron Cuvier to arrange them in separate sub-
genera, distinguished by the form of their scales and the presence
or absence of pores in the thighs. Generally speaking, the Agamas
have no thigh pores ; some however are provided, as is the case with
many other saurian reptiles, with a row of these pores along the inner
sur&ce of each thigh ; some species have the toes so short and rigid
as to compel them to live entirely on the surface of the eartl^ where
they reside among rocks and heaps of stone, and conceal themselves
in the crevices; oHbhers again, which have long and flexible toes, ascend
trees with great fiicility, and sport among their branches with the
utmost security. All are of a diminutive size, and, like most other
reptiles, feed upon insects and other small ftTiimals : one or two
species however are reported to be herbivorous. Their geogra-
phical distribution is vexy extensive, and embraces all the hot and
most of the temperate parts of the known world: Asia, Africa,
Australia, and South America have each their appropriate species,
which often differ from one another very slightly.
The most remarkable species are, of those without pores on the
interior &ce of the thighs : — ^The Muricated Agama {Agama mwicatii,
Cuvier), first described by the celebrated John Hunter in tiie
zoological part of White's 'Voyage to New South Wales.' It is
one of the most common lizards of that colony ; measures upwards
of a foot in length, comprehending the tail, which is twice as long as
the body, and, Arom the great length and perfect division of its toes,
readily ascends trees, and lives entirely in the woods, where it hunts
about for insects and caterpHlara Its general colour is a brownish
gray, marked with dusky bars, which run in a longitudinal direction
on the body, but transversely on the legs and tail The scales which
cover the upper and outer part^ of the trunk and extremities are
rhomboidal and carinated, or elevated into sharp-pointed ridges,
forming parallel lines or rows of spines upon the back and sides,
from the shoulders to the veiy point of the toiL The head is covered
with similar scales, all directed backwards and prolonged upon the
occiput into a crest of weak spines. The toes of all the feet are well
separated, and furnished underneath with small pointed scales ; the
two middle toe^ of the hind feet are nearly twice the length of the
othersL
The AffOttia harbata of Cuvier is another roecies from the same
locality. It is rather larger than the Muricated Agama, but preserves
the eame relative dimensions, and lives in the forests in the same
manner. This species is figured and described in White's 'Voyage,'
p. 255, but was considered by Mr. Himter as a mere variety of the
former.
Other species of this division, having pores on the inner surface of
the thighs, are the LeMepit {A. guUaia of M. Cuvier) of Cochin-
China, with white ravs and spots on a bright blue ground; the
TropidoUpu (A: wndwaia)^ of a uniform dark blue colour with a
white cross on the throat, and which, as well as the kindred species,
A, nigrirCoUarig and A, cydurus, described by Spix, inhabits various
parts of South America ; the Brachylophei {A, vUtaia), which seems
to form the connecting link between this genus and the guanas, from
which latter it is distinguished only by the absence of teeth in the
palate ; it is foimd in India, and has light blue bands upon a dai^
blue ground : and lastly the Phyiignathes (A. cocincimu), from the
Malayan Peninsula, remarkable for its large size, uniform blue
colour, but more particularly from being one of the very few
species of saurian reptiles which feed upon vegetable substances.
Baron Cuvier asstires us that it lives entirely upon fruits and nuts.
Of the Agamas without pores in the thighs, the principal species are,
the ^inous Agama {A, acuUata) of a vellowish gray colour with
numerous transverse brown bands. All uie upper parts of the body
are covered with elevated scales, forming small pointed pyramids of
four-sides ; the body is short and thick, the tail likewise short, the
head broad and fiat, and the b«(Uy protuberant Excepting in the
length of the tail, and the body being covered with scales, the whole
animal has much of the form and appearance of a fn^ or toad : it is
found at the Cape of Good Hope, and is of larger size than the
generality of the other species.
The Tapayaxin i(A. crbicvlarU) of South America is very similar
to the species last described in its form and proportions, but is
still shorter and thicker. The extraordinary figure of this reptil*
Digitized by
Google
AQAMM.
AGARICUS.
88
approaching almost to the form of a perfect sphere, its broad flat
head, ita skin covered with small tubercles or warts interspersed among
the scales, and the faculty which it possesses of distending its body
with air, and to a certain degree aswiming different shades of colour,
have caused it to be sometimes compared to a toad, and sometimes to a
chameleon ; but the truth is, that it has no actual relation or affinity to
either of these ftnimiLlg, but is indebted solely to its naturally disgusting
aspect for the calumnies which the early Spanish writers have heaped
upon it. The Tapa3raxin inhabits the mountainous and rocky parts
of South America, from the Isthmus of Darien to Patagonia.
Other sub-genera and species belonging to this division of the Agamas
are — Trapelut (A. jEgyptictu), remarkable for its change of colour, even
more sudden than that of the true chameleon ; the A. calotet, of a
bright blue colour with transverse white marks on the sides, from
the Molucca Islands; the Lophyrea {A, giganteaf Kuhl), with a crest
of long elevated spines on the neck ; and the Lyriocephaliu {A. sctUata),
which has a simiLEur elevated crest along the back, and the tail keel-
shaped. This latter species, in many respects a most singular reptile,
inhabits Bengal, and lives upon fruits.
For ample details concerning the specific differences of the AgBmas,
we refer the r^er to the works of Cuvier, Daudin, and MerreuL
A'QAM^, in Botany, is a name given bysome authors to the large
division of the Vegetable Kingdom called Howerless Plants, and may
be considered equivalent to the older term, Ciyptogamic [Aobooens.]
A'QAMI {Trophia crepitans, Latham), an interesting bird, sometimes
also termed the Qold-Breasted Trumpeter, classed by Pallas among
Cranes, by Biisson among Pheasants, and making the first genus in
Agami,
Temminck's Alectorides. It is the size of a pheasant or large fowl,
being 22 inches in length, but appears laiger from having a long neck,
and from standing high on its legs. It bears some slight resemblance
to the pheasant in the glossy iridescent green on the breast^ and in a
space round the eyes naked of feathers ; but has a very diort tail,
consisting of twelve black feathers, over which the long, loose, silky
Bcapulary rump-plumes hang droopingly. Its long greenish legs
assimilate it to wading birds {Orallatoret), but it is said not to have
the habits of these, never visiting fens and the margins of water, and
living wholly in upland forests and arid moimtains. It inhabits the
forced of tropical America, and never visits the cleared groimds or the
settlements. According to M. Monoucour, it is very gregarious, being
foimd in numerous flocks, which walk and run, but r&rely fly, an<^
when they do, seldom rise more than a few feet above the surface of
the ground. Even when pursued they trust most to their speed in
running.
Several naturalists have given accounts of the Agami in a domestic
state. Its docility and attachment to man are remarkable. "The
Agami," says Monoucour, "is not only tamed easily, but becomes
attached to its benefactor with all the fondness and fidelity of the dog ;
and of this disposition it shows the most unequivocal proofs. When
bred up in the house, it loads its master with caresses, and follows his
motions ; and if it conceives a dislike to persons on account of their
foibidding figure^ their offensive smell, or of injuries received, it wiU
pursue them sometimes to a considerable distance, biting their lega^
and testifying every mark of displeasure. It obeys the voice of its
master, and even answers to the call of all those to whom it bears no
grudga It is fond of caresses, and offers its head and neck to be
stroked; and, if once accustomed to these familiarities, it becomes
troublesome, and will not be satisfied without continual fondling. It
makes its appearance as often as its master sits down to table, and
begins with driving out the dogs and cats, and taking possession of the
room ; for it is so obstinate and bold, that it never yields, and often,
after a tough battle, can put a middle-sized dog to flight. It avoids
the bites of its antagonist, by rising in the air, and retaliates with
violent blows with its bill and nails, aimed chiefly at the eyes ; and
after it gains the superiority, it pursues the victory with the utmost
rancour, and, if not parted, will destroy the fugitive."
The peculiar noise which these birds make, without opening the
bill, is one of their most remai'kable characteristics. This noise is no
doubt produced by a peculiar conformation of the oxgan of sound
According to Pallas, the larynx, which is on the outside of the breast,
is about as thick as a swan's quill and almost bony, becomes much
more slender, loose, and cartilaginous when it enters within the breast,
where two semicyrindrical canals of a membranous texture, and
capable of being extended, proceed from it. The air-bag on the right
side descends to the pelvis, and within the breast it is divided into
three or four cells by transverse membranes. The air-bag on the left
side is narrower. Vosqiaer tells us that the sound is sometimes
preceded by a wild cry, interrupted by a call somewhat like ' scherck,
scherck,' and then follows the characteristic noise somewhat resembling
the cooing of pigeons. It utters, in this way, five, six, or seven times,
with precipitation, a hollow noise nearlv resembling the syllables 'too
too, too, too, too, too,' resting upon the last a very long time, and
sinking the sound gradually toll it terminates. During this, the breast
is seen to heave, as in birds while singing, though the bill remains shut
It is, no doubt^ produced by the air pressed up from the lower air-bags
on the light and left above descril:^ which, meeting with the trans-
verse membranes in its passage, causes them to vibrate and soimd, and
this is communicated to the suiroimding muscles, and by these to the
external air.
The Agami, like the rest of the Alectorides, builds no nest, but
scratches a shallow place at the root of a tree where it deposits its
eggs, from 10 to 16 in number, and of a light green colour. They are
somewhat larger than a hen's egg, and of a rounder fonn. The do^n
remains a long time on the young, and grows into long silky plumes,
very close, like fiir, and it is not till they are one-fourth the size of the
adult birds that the true feathers appear.
Dr. Latham tells us, that " one of the Agamis, a young bird, found
its way into a farm-yard in Surrey, and associated with the poultry.
It was perfectly tame, and, on one occasion, acconipanied the hounds
for three miles, and kept up with them. It was last in the possession
of Lord Stanley, but died on its way into Lancashire."
AQARIC-MINERAL, an earthy variety of calcareous spar, resem-
bling chaUL It is also called ^de-Milk, [Calcareous Sfab.]
AGARI'CIA (Lamouroux), the Mushroom Madrepore, a genus of
coral madrepores, so called fix)m its resemblance in form to mushrooms
{Agarici). The animal inhabitants of Agaricia are unknown, with the
exception of a single species observed by M. Lesueur on the shore of
St-Thomas in the Antilles. Lamarck enumerates five species, and
Parkinson severL
AGA'RICUS is the generic name by which aU the species of
Mushrooms properly so called are collectively known. It com-
prehends such plants of the fungus tribe, as have a cap (or pileus)
of a fleshy nature, supported upon a distinct stalk, and a number of
parallel unequal vertical plates or gills arising out of the cap, and
inclosing the particles by which the species are reproduced ; particles
which the vulgar call seeds, and botanists sporules. This genus, now
divided into a large number of sub-genera, consists of not fewer than
1000 species, inhabiting meadows, and heaths, and rooks, and masses
of decaying vegetable matter, in the whole of Europe, and in many
other parts of the temperate regions of the earth. Among them a
large proportion are poisonous, a few are wholesome, but hj far the
greater number are altogether unknown in regard to their action upon
the human constitutioiL The species are often extremely similar ; there
are no means of distinguishing botanically the tribes that are poisonous
from such as are wholesome, l)ut in every case practice is requifflte to
determine that point independently of general structure. It is for
this reason that the use of wild mushrooms is so dangerous. Indeed
there is this most remarkable fact connected with their qualities— a
fact which seems to show that their properties depend upon climate
and situation, and accidental circumstances, rather than upon any
specific peculiarities — ^those kinds which are wholesome in one country
are not so in another ; thus, in Great Britain, the Common Mushroom,
Agaricus campestrU {fig. 1), the Fairy-Ring Agaric, A. prcUennaifig- 2),
and the A. Qeorgii, are the only sorts that it is quite safe to eat ; while
the Fly Agaric, A, mutcarius {fig. 8), and A. virtmu ''{fig. ^)j; *^
extremely poisonous. But in other countries of Europe it w
different. In Rome one of the few mushrooms excluded from
the markets by the goverrmient inspectors is the A. cam^*^**M. 1°
France, in Italy, and especially in Russia, a usual aliment is afforded
by a great variety of species whidh, although very common in ™**
Digitized by
Google
AOATR
AGATE.
00
country, it wovild be extremely dangerous to eat ; and, on the other
hand, even the dangerous A, fnutcariui is a species of food in
The following characters will serve to distinguish such Agarios as
are poisonous or suspicious : —
1. Such as have a cap veiy thin in proportion to the gills.
2. Such as have the stalk growing from one side of the cap.
3. Those in which the giUs are all of equallength.
4. Such as have a milky juice.
5. Such as deliquesce ; that is, run speedily into a dark watery liquid.
6. And lastly, every one that has the collar that surrounds the
stalk filamentous, or resembling a spider's web.
As to the rest, the eatable lunds that can be safely employed In
Great Britain are the following : —
A. campestritf the Common Mushroom {fyf. 1), the species that is
so commonly raised artificially for food. This Ib readily known in
any state by its fragrant odour, by which alone it ma^ be always
recognised, and the absence of which is extremely suspicious. When
in a very young state it resembles little snow-white balls, which are
called Buttons ; afterwards it acquires a stalk, separates its cap, and
becomes shortlv conical, with liverooloured gills, and a white thick
fleshy cap, marxed with a few particles of gray. At a more advanced
age -Uie cap Ib concave, the colour gray, and the gills black ; in this
state it is called a Flap. [Fuhgl]
A. Georgii is like the latter, but its gills are always yeir pale, and
its flavour inferior. It is said oocasionaQy to wei^ as much as 14 lbs.
A, pratefuis, or oreada, the Faizy-Ring Mushroom, is so well known
by its popular designation as to require no description. Well may it
have gained that name ; for, in former times, there would, doubtless,
be great dififlculty in imagining how such produotioni(4x>illd spring up
in a few hours in the regular rings they appear in, vdthout the aid of
some supernatural agency. The use to which this species is usuaUy
applied is that of being powdered and mixed with rich sauces, after
having been previously strung upon a line, and dried in the shade.
Dr. Badham, in his work on 'The Esculent Funguses of Britain,'
shews that a laige number of other species may be eaten with
impunity. Great caution is however necessary, and no person
should venture on the eating of strange species unless practically
acquainted with their distinctions. Dr. Badham's work contains
drawings of the species which will greatly assist those who may be
desirous of distingnishing the edible kinds.
Eatable Agariei,
Poisonous Agariei,
A'GATE, an ornamental stone used in jewellery, and for some
purposes in the arts: it is sometimes called Scotdi Pebble. The
name is derived from the Greek Ax*^"»»> * atone described by
Theophrastus, and which, he says, came from the river Achates, in
Sicfly, now the Drillo, in the Val di Noto. It is one of the numerous
modifications of form imder which silica presents itself, almost in a
state of purity, constituting in the agate 98 per cent of the mineral
The silicious particles are not so arranged as to produce the tran-
■parency of rock crystal, but a translucent, sometimes almost opaque
■ubetance, with a resinous or waxy fracture; and a variety of shades
of colour are produced by a minute quantity of iron. The same
stone sometimes contains parts of different degrees of translucency,
and of various shades of colour; and the endless combinations of
these iiroduce the beautiful and singular internal forms, for which,
together with the high polish they are capable of receiving, agates are
pmed as . omamentsd stones. Although occasionally found in other
rocks, they are most usually met with io that variety of the trap
rocks called.Amygdaloid or Mandelstein, forming detached rounded
nodules, not cemented to the base or mass of the rock, but eosilv
separable from it^ and having generally a thin laver of green eartL
interposed, and a rough irregular exterior, as if moulded on the
asperities of the sides of a pre-existing cavity. The silicious particles
have often, but far JBrom constantly, arranged themselves in thm layers
parallel to the external surface of the nodule ; sometimes the nodule
IS not solid, but a hollow space is left in it, studded with crystals of
quartz ; and not unfrequently crystals of carbonate of lime and other
minerals, totally distinct in composition from that of tiie agate, are
superimposed on the quartz cxystals.
Tlie theory of the formation of agates is a problem of great difllculty,
and we must be much Airther advanced than we are, in our knowledge
of the chemical processes of nature in the mineral kingdom, before
we can expect to throw any light on this very obscure subject The
great supply of agates is from a class of rooks to which all geologists
now assign an igneous origin, analogous to that of lava in existing
volcanoes. The theory divides itself into two parts ; first, the forma-
tion of ^e cavities in which the agates are found ; and, secondly, the
filling of these cavities. With regard to the first, we have many
analogies from modem lavas, and from procooDes of urt, to guide us to
a pre&y satLef actory conclusion. Gases are evolved in great quantities
by v6lcanoes, and u produced at the same instant with a flow of lava,
they would rise in bubbles in the melted mass ; but in proportion as
that became more viscid they would rise with greater difficulty to tiie
surface, and when it consolidated would fonn cavities, the shape of
whidi would be determined by the nature of the pressure of the
Burrounding viscid lava. To account for the filling up of the cavities
three theones have been proposed : one supposes die silicious matter
to have been introduced in aqueous solution firom without, and to
have been gradually deposited in the cavities; another, that, in
obedience to some peculiar laws of attraction, it has separated from
the net of tlie rook, and insinuated itself into the hollows left by the
gases; and a third, that these hollows were filled bv the sublimation
of the silica and other materials from the rest of the mass by the
action of heat Each hypothesis is supported by particular cases,
which it satisfiBotorily explains, but there are probably as many agaibst
as in favour of each ; all of them imply conditions of chemi<»l action
different from anything of which we have had experience. We fre-
quently find, it is tru6, masses of silicious petrified wood in which
hollows of the tree have been filled with agate, not to be distinguished
from many nodules found in the trap ro^ ; and that the matter of
the agate must have been introduced into the wood by aqueous
infiltrations there can be no doubt: but, in this case,* the whole
substance of the sustaining mass, the wood, is penetrated by silidous
matter ; and the difficulty of the theory of infiltration, in the case of
the trap rocks, oonsiBts in the absence of any trace in the rock of the
channel by which the solution of silidous matter could have airived
at the cavity. The following section of an agate is a good example
of the filing up ^
of a cavity by -
infiltration, for
it is evident
that the sili-
dous matter,
in whatever
way it may
have arrived,
was introduced
at the point a,
and that there
was a gradual
deposition of it
Such examples |
would be more
frequently met
widi, if there
was anything Agate,
in the external
coat to teU us in what direction to slit the stone : this same specimen
might have been cut in many directions without throwing any light
upon its mode of formation, and the section we now see was an
aoddental cut in the right direction. An attentive consideration of
the products of volcanoes may lead to some satisfactory condusion ;
for although agates have not been found in lavas, cavities in them are
often partially or entirdy filled vrith minerals distinct from any in the
rest of the rock. , , , , , ^ .
Agates are often found as loose pebbles in the beds of nvers, or m
gravel, but in these cases they have been derived from the disinte-
gration of Amygdaloids, the base of which is very often subject to
decomporition when exposed to air and moisture, and then the silicious
nodules fall out They vary in size from that of millet seed to a foot
in diameter; but one, two, and three indies in diameter are the most
common. ... -i i • 5 • i. xi.
The stones distinguished by mmenJogists and lapidanoe by the
Digitized by
Google
AGATHIS.
AGAVR
names of CameUan, Caloedony, Onyx, Sardonyx, MoohapStone, Blood-
stone, ChrysopFBae, and Plasma, are so closelv allied to agate, that
they may be oonveniently described under this head. In chemical
composition they are not distinguishable, except in the case of the
chrysoprase by its colouring matter. — Camdian, so called because
some kinds are of a flesh colour (corruf, Latin for flesh), is that yariety
of a unifoim colour which is of most common occuirenoe : oamelians
are never figured or striped. The colours are shades of red and yellow,
the deep dear red being the rarest and most yaluable. The great
supply of camelians is from Japan, where they exist in yast quantities,
and they are also imported from Bombay, being collected in the
province of GKuEerat ; but the best, according to Niebuhr, come from
the Qulf of Cambay. Many of the antique gems are engraved in
camelian, and it is now much used for seals.— CoZoecioiiy, so called
from having been eariy found at Cakhedon (sometimes incorrectly
written Chalcedon) in Bithynia, opposite Constantinople, is also of a
unifoim colour, generally of a milky white or pale yellow, like turbid
jelly, often with an internal wavr structure in the form of stalactites,
and very generally with a pecunar. mammillary suifiAoe. It is found
in great abundance in the Faroe Islands, in Iccdand, in Cornwall, and
many places of Great Britain, as well as other countries ; sometimes
in laige masses, from which cups and other venels are formed. Pliny
describes it as being found in the neighbourhood of Thebes in Egypt
and as brought to Rome from Carthagei — Chut is a kind of granular
calcedony, and forms a transition to the rock called JffamtUme, —
Onyac In this agate the silioious particles are arranged in altemkting
horizontal layers of opaque white and translucent blue, gray, or brown ;
and because tiiese have a resemUanoe to the marics on the human
naU, the stone was called from the Greek word for nail, 6rv^, It was
known to the ancients, and was employed by them, as it is now, for
those beautiful gems called cameos, the figure being cut out of the
opaque white, the dark part forming the groimd, or the contrary. It
is most valuable when the contrast of colours is strong, and when ^e
layer is thick enou^ to give a high relief to the object to be engraved.
In the royal Ubraiy at Paris, there ia an antique cameo out out of an
onyx with four layers, representing the apotheosis of Augustus, eleven
indies by nine, which is supposed to be the finest in existence. Agates
with an onyx structure are not imcommon, particularly among odce-
donies, but the finest are brought from India. Cameos are sold at
Rome which are made from a thick shdl, having difierent coloured
layers like an onyx. — Sardonyx is a variety of onyx which is supposed
by some to have received its name from having been brouj^t from
Sardes, in Lydia. By others it has been said that the name comes
from Sardo, the Greek name of Sardinia, there beiDg some reason for
thinking that the Carthaginians brought the stones from that island,
and exported them during their occupation of it. In this the opaque
white alternates with a rich deep orange brown of considerable trans-
lucency, and as tins is of rare occurrence the sardonyx is of greater
value. The finest are brou^^t from the east^ and some antique gems
are formed of thenL — MochorSUma and Mou-Agatea are semitransparent
calcedony, induding various ramified forms, produced by iron, manga-
nese, bitumen, and chlorite or green earth, but sometimes also, as has
been proved by Daubenton and MaoCullooh, produced by the presence
of real vegetable bodies, such as Oonferva and mosses. The first are
found in Guzerat, but received their name from having been brought
from Mocha, in Arabia. — Bhod-StonCf or Heliotrope, is a green agate
coloured by chlorite, with numerous bright xed spots like drops
of blood. It is also called oriental jasper. — Chrytopraae (from
XinwioSf golden or beautiful, and wpdirov, a leek) is a rare apple-green
calcedony, found in Silesia, which owes its colour to the presence
of the metal nickeL — PUuma is another scarce green semitransparent
calcedony, but of a dark tint, which, in the opinion of MacCulloch, is
coloured by chlorite. — Sard is a deep reddish-brown variety.
The great supplv of the figured agates of commerce is from Ober-
stein, in the old Palatinate^ about 80 miles east of Trevei^ and 45 miles
south of Coblenz. When they were used as buttons, knife-handles,
&C., the trade was more extensive than at present They are found
in many parts of Scotland, especially at the Hill of Kinnoul, near
Perth, where there is an amygdaloidal trap very full of fine specimens.
A'GATHIS is the generic name given by botanists to the trees,
known in common language by the name of Dammar and Kawrie
Pines. These plants belong to the natural order Conferee, from all
other spedes of which they are known, firstly, by their broad, lance-
shaped, leathery leaves, the veins in which are numerous and neariy
parallel, diveiging a little at the base, and converging at the apex ;
and, secondly, by their seeds having a wing on one side instead of
proceeding from the end.
The Danunar Pine (Agathis loranthifolia), or the Pinui JDammara
of LinnKus, is a laige tree found on the very siunmits of the mountains
of Amboyna, Temate, and in many of the Molucca Islands. When
young it has something of the aspect of a young cedar, the wood of
which it is said to resemble. It is occasionaUy cultivated in the
hot-houses of curious persons; but is of little value except for its
resin, which, when pure, is white, dear, and brittle as glan, but in
time becomes amber-coloured.
Its timber is represented to be light and of imerior quality, wholly
imfit for any situation exposed to wet, but answering tolerably weU
for in-door purposes.
The Kawrie Pine {Agathia Atutralii) grows only in New Zealand, in
the forests of which it attains a considerable hei^t, with a straight
dean stem, which from its lightness and toughness, has been found
well calculated for the masts of ships. It is distinguished from ^e
Dammar Pine by its narrower and more acute leaves, and by its more
rapid mode of growth.
AGATHOPHTOiLUM (from itryaOhs, good, and ^AXoy, a leaf), a
genus of plants bdonging to the natural order LaMraeea^ one species
of which, the A, anomoiticum, yidds the dove-nutmegs of Madagascar.
AGATHC/TES (from iyalMrjis, goodness), a genus of plants belong-
ing to the natural order OenHanaeece. It is distinguished bv having a
rotate 4-parted corolla, with two pores at the boie of each segment.
A. ^iragta is a wdl-known spedes, a native of Kepaul, Kumaon, and
the Himalayas. The specific name is an imitation of the Sanscrit and
Bengalee names. This plant has been known for agreat length of time
as a remedy in India, but has oi^ recently been introduced into
European practice. It is an annual plant, about three feet high,
flowering in the rainy season. The whole plant is taken up, and the
proper tmie for collecting it is just when tlie flowers begin to wither.
When dried it has an intensdy but agreeable bitter taste, and is destitute
of aroma. The root is possessed of the greatest bitterness. The
bitter prindple is readily imparted to water and to alcohol [Chibatta,
Eva. Ctc, in Abt8 ahd Sa Diy.]
AGATE, a genus of plants bdonging to the natural order,
AfMryllidaeea^ The spedes are known by the name of American
Aloes, and produce dusters of long stiff fleshy leaves, collected in a
drde at the top of a vetr short stem, and bearing flowers in a long
terminal woody scape. With DcryanUha and Yucca it forms in the
natural order AmairyUidacca an instance of high development both in
Y^getation and fructifioatitfn, compared with what is more generally
characteristic of that tribe. If a CrvMun or an AmaryUU had the
stem elongated into a woody trunk, instead of being contracted into a
short disk, lying at tiie bottom of a scaly bulb, the affinity between
them and Agane would at once be obvious.
There are many spedes of this genua^ one only of which requires to
be mentioned.
Agave Amerieanaf or the American Aloe, is a plant which, when full
grown, has a short cylindrical woody stem, which is terminated by
American Aloe {Agave America$ta),
hard, fleshy, spiny, sharp-pointed, bluish green leaves, about aix feet
long, and altogether resembling those of the arborescent aloes. Each
of these leaves will continue to exist for manv years, so that but a
small number have withered away by the time the plant has acquired
its full maturity. It is commonly supposed that this occurs only at
the end of one hundred years ; but this, like many other popular
opinions, is an error; the period at wlidch the Agave arrives at
maturity varying, according to drcumstances, from ten to fifty, or
even seventy years. In hot or otherwise favourable climates, it grows
rapidly, and arrives sooner at the term of its existence ; but in colder
regions, or under the care of the gardener, where it ia frequently
Digitized by
G6ogle
AGE.
AGE.
94
impracticable to attend to all the circumstances that accelerate its
deyelopment^ it requires the longest period that has been assigned to
it. Having aoqtiired its full ^wth, it finally produces its gigantic
flowepntem, after which it perishes. This stem is sometimes as much
as 40 feet high, and is suirounded with a multitude of branches
ammged in a pyramidal form, with perfect 83nzunetrY, and haying on
their points dusters of greenish-yellow flowers, which continue to be
produced for two or three months in succession. The natiye country
of the American Aloe is the whole of America within the tropics,
fiKvm the plains nearly on a level with the sea, to stations upon the
mountains at an elevation of between 9000 and 10,000 feet. From
these r^ons it has been transferred to almost eveiy other temperate
coimtry ; and in Italy, Sicily, and Spain, it has already combined with
the date and the paJmetto to give a tropical appearance to European
Independent^ of its beauty and curiosity, this plant is applicable
to many useM purposes. Its sap may be made to flow by incisions
in the stem, and fdmishes a fermented liquor called by the Mexicans
Pulque ; from this an agreeable ardent spirit^ called Vino Mercal is
distilled. The flbres of its leaves form a coarse kind of thread, and
are brought to this country under tiie name of Pita Flax ; the dried
flowering stems are an almost impenetrable thatch ; an extract of tiie
leaves is made into balls, which will lather water like soap ; the fresh
leaves themselves cut into slices are occasionally given to cattle ; and,
finally, the centre of the fiowering stem split longitudinally is by no
means a bad substitute for a European razoinrtrop, owing to minute
particles of silica forming one of its constituents.
AQE. The term of human existence is divisible into distinct
periods, each of which is distinguished by characters peculiar to itself.
These charaoters, as-fer as they are external, are obvious to every one ;
but these external characters depend on internal states which are not
obvious, and which have been discovered only by careful and perse-
vering research. And the curious and interesting facts which those
researches have disclosed, show that the different epochs into which
life 18 divided are not arbitrary distinctions, but arise naturallv out of
constitutional differences in the system, dependent on different
physiological conditions. The natural epochs of human life are six,
namely, the period of infimcy, childhood, boyhood or girlhood, adol-
escence, manhood or womanhood, and old age. The space of time
included in the fint four of these periods is fixed. In all peroons after
the lapse of a certain number of years, a definite change in the system
unifonnly takes plaoe^ in consequence of which the peculiarities which
distinguiBh one period give place to those which charaoteriBe the
Bucoe^Ung. Thus the period of infiincy, commencing at birth, extends
to the end of the second year, the point of time at which the fint
dentition is completed : the period of childhood, commencing at the
close of the second year, extends to the termination of the seventh or
eighth year, the point of time at which the second dentition is com-
pleted : the period ot boyhood or girlhood extends firom the seventh
or eighth year to the commencement of the age of puberty ; that is,
in general, in this country, in the female, frmn the twelfth to the
fourteenth yeur, and for the male, firom the fourteenth to the sixteenth
year : the period of adolescence extends from the commencement of
the period of puberty to the twentieth year of the female, and tiie
twenty-fourth of the male : the period of womanhood extends firom
the twentieth, and of manhood, firom the twenty-fourth year, to an
age neither determined nor determinable with any degree of exactness ;
because the point of time at which mature age lapses into old age
differs in every individual It differs in many cases by a considerable
number of years ; and it differs according to primitive constitution, to
the management of early infbncy and childhood ; according to regimen,
exercise, occupation physical and mental, and the several other
circumstsnees included under the general term ' mode of life.'
It is an observation femiliar to every one, that some persons are
older at fifty than others are at seven^, while instances every now
and then occur in which an old man who reaches his hundredth year
retains as great a degree of juvenility as the majority of those who
attain to ei^ty. The period extending from the age of thirty or forty
to thai of extreme old age is then the only variable period in the term
of human existence ; the only period not fixed by limits which it is
beyond the power of man materially to extend or abridge.
The ohsnffes which take place in the system at the different epochs
of life consist of changes in the physiosl condition of the body, and
are intimstely ooxmected with and munly dependent on the operation
of a principle of consolidation^ tiie influence of which, commencing at
the fhrst moment of existence, continues, without intermission, until
the last moment of life. By this principle the body is changed, first
from the state of a fluM into that of a solid ; and next^ fh>m a soft
and tender solid, into a solid which slowly, imperceptibly, but never-
theless uninterruptedly, increases in firmness and hardness.
When first the human embryo becomes distinctly visible, it is
almost wholly fluid, oonsistmg only of a soft gelatinous pulp.
[FoETiTS.]- In this gelatinous pulp solid substances are formed, whidi
grsdually increase, and are fashioned into organs. These organs, in
their rudimentary state, are soft and tender, but^ in the progress of
their development, constantly acquiring a greater number of solid
particles, tile cohesion of which progressively increases, the organs at
length become dense and firm. As the soft solids augment in bulk
and density, bony particles are deposited, sparingly at first and in
detached masses, but accumulating by degrees: these, too, are at
length fashioned into distinct osseous structures, which, extending in
every direction, until they touch at every point, ultimately form the
connected bony frame-Work of the system. This bony fSabric, like the
soft solid, tender and yielding at first, becomes by degrees firm and
resisting, fitted, as it is designed, to be the mechanical support of the
body, and the defence of all tiie vital pigans.
Wldle the osseous system is thus extending in every direction, and
everywhere increasing in compactness, the progressive consolidation
of the body is equally manifest in all the tissues which are composed
of the cellular membrane as well as in all those which possess a fibrous
nature. The membranes, the ligaments, the tendons, the cartilages,
gradually increase in firmness and elastidW, and proportionally
diminish in fiexibility and extensibility ; and this change takes place,
to a considerable ext^t, in the muscular fibre ako, as is manifest firom
the toughness of the flesh of animals that are used for food, the degree
of which every one knows is in proportion to the age of the animal ;
and firom the conversion in extreme old age, in many parts of the
body, of muscle into tendon, a denser material being substituted for
theproper muscular fibre.
The steady and increasing operation of -the principle of consolidation
is still more strikingly manifest in the depomtion, as age advances, of
bony matter in tissues and organs to which it does not naturally
belong, and the'ftmctions of which it immediately impairs and
ultimately destroys. The textures in which these osseous depositions
most commonly take place are membranes, tendons, cartilages, and
the coverings of the viscera, but above all the coats of the blood-vessels,
in consequence of which these higUy flexible, elastic, and moveable
organs become firm, rigid, and immoveable. But even when not
converted into bone, several of these structures lose their flexibility
with advancing age, and acquire an increasing degree of rigidity. This
is strikingly manifest in all the parts of the apparatus of locomotion ;
in the joints, the mechanical contrivances for racilitating motion, and
in the muscular fibre, the generator of the power by which motion is
produced. The joints in old age are less pliable, less elastic, and more
rigid than in youth ; flrst» because the ligamentous and cartilaginoua
structures of which they are composed are more dense and firm ; and,
secondly, because the oily matter which lubricates them, and which
renders their motions easy and springy, is secreted in less quantity,
and of inferior quality. Induration and proportionate deterioration
take place then in the muscular flbre, the origin of the motive power,
and in the joints the instrument by which the operation of the motive
power is fiicilitated ; and consequently the movements become slower,
feebler, less steady, less certain, and less elastic.
But among all the changes induced in the body by the progress of
age, none is more remai^ble, or has a greater influence in diminishing
the energy of the actions of the economy, and in causing the ultimate
termination of all those actions in death, than tiie change that takes
place in the minute blood-vessels. The ultimate divisions^ or the
smallest branches of the arteries and veins, the capillary vessels, as
they are tenned, are exceedingly abundant in the early periods of life,
and are as active as they are numerous. The capillary arteries, the
masons and architects of the system, by the agency of which all the
structures are built up, and all the parts of the body grow and are
developed, are numerous and active m the early stages of life, while
they are oanying on and completing the organisation of the firame.
But ttom. infancy to childhood, firom childhood to youth, firom youth
to maturity, and firom maturity to old age, the number and activity of
these vessels progressively diminish. Their coats, like other soft
solids, increase in density and rigidity ; their diameter contracts, many
of them become completely impervious and ultimately disappear.
The diameter of the capillary vems, on the contrary, emarges. The
ooats of the veins, originally thiimer than those of the arteries, instead
of thickening and contracting, seem rather to grow thinner and more
dilatable : hence their fulness, their prominence, their more tortuous
course, and their greater capacity. At the two extreme periods of
life the quantity of blood contained in these two sets of vessels is
completely inverted. In infancy, tiie proportion of blood contained
in the capillaiy arteries is greater than that contained in the capillary
veins ; in youth, this disproportion is diminished ; at the period of
maturity, the quantity in one set, nearly if not exactly balances that
in the other ; in advanced age, the preponderance is so great in the
veins, that these vessels contain probably two-thirds of the entire mass.
This dififorence in the distribution of the blood, at the different epochs
of life, affords an explanation of several important phenomena
eoimected with health and with disease. It shows, for example, why
the body grows with so much rapidity at the early periods of life ;
why it remains stationary at the period of maturity ; why it diminishes
in bulk as age advances ; why a plethoric state of the system affects
the arteries in youth, the veins in age ; why hsemorrhage, or a flow of
blood, is apt to poceed in the young from the arteries, and in the
aged firom the veins; and so on.
The growth of the heart does not keep pace with the extension of
the sanguiferous system, nor does its force increase with the augmenting
density and resistance of the solids ; hence there is a disturbance of
the balance between the forces of propulsion and of extension which
increases with advancing age ; the diminished energy of the heart being
Digitized by
Google
AGE OF ANIMALa
AQE OF TREEa
indicated by the languor and Blownen of the pulse, often not exceeding
fifty puUations in a minute, and Bometimes sinking even lower than
this. Hence, not only is leas blood sent to the Beveral organs, but that
which is sent is less completely acted upon b^ the air in respiration
on account of the diminished quantity which is transmitted through
the pulmonary system of yesaels; hence, the diminution of all the
Beoretions, and hence, finally, the faQure of the function of digestion,
the source of the materials from which the blood itself is prepared and
its losses replenished.
Upon the whole, then, it is clear that two great changes take place
in the physical condition of the body in the progreaa of age ; firsts a
gradual diminution in the quantity of the fluids, both of the entire
mass contained in the system, and of the ^proportionate quantity
contained in each organ; and secondly, a progressiye augmentation
and induration of the solids. With this change in the physical condition
of the body is uniformly combined a no less important change in its
vital action. Progressively and proportionally as the solid parts
increase in density and rigidity, they decrease in irritability and
mobility ; that is, they are less sensible to the influence of stimulants,
and the power of contraction resident in the muscular fibre is less
excitable.
AOE OF ANIHALa It is often a matter of great practioal
importance to possess some means of determining the age of animala,
The data that exist at present are, however, very inadequate to
determine this point. Amongst domestic animals the age may be
judged of by the presence^ absence, or change of certain oigans in the
body.
The age of the horse is known principally by the appearance of the
incisor teeth, or, as they are technically called, the nippers. Of these
there are six in each jaw, broad, thin, and trenchant in the foal, but
with flat crowns marked in the centre with a hollow disk in the adult
animaL The foal- or milk-teeth appear fifteen days after birth ; at the
age of two years and a half the middle pair drop and are replaced by
the cozresponding permanent teeth ; at three years and a half the two
next^ one on each side, fall and are likewise replaced ; and at the age
of four years and a half the two external incisors of the first set drop
and give room to the coiresponding pair of permanent teeth. All
these permanent nippers, as we have already' observed, are flattened
on the crown or upper surface, and marked in the centre with a
circular pit or hollow, which is gradually defaced in proportion as the
tooth wears down to a level with its bottonL By the degree of this
detrition, or wearing of the teeth, the age of the animal is determined,
till the eighth year, at which period the marks are generally effaced ;
but it is to be observed that the external incisors, as appearing a year
or two after the intermediate, preserve their original form propor-
tionaUy for a longer period. After the eighth, year the age of the
horse may be still determined for a few years longer by tibe appearance
and comparative length of the canine teeth or tushes. These, it is true,
are sometimes wanting, particularly in the lower jaw, and in mares
are rarely developed at aU. Those of the under jaw appear at the age
of three years and a half, and the upper at four; tiU six they are
sharp-poiubed, and at ten they appear blunt and long, because the
gums begin about that period to recede from their roots, leaving them
naked and exposed ; but after this period there are no further means
of judging of the horse's age, excepting from the comparative size,
bluntneas, and discoloured appearance of the tushes. The duration
of the horse's life seldom surpasses thirty years, though there have
been instances recorded in which it is said to have extended to double
that period.
In cattle with horns, the age is indicated more readilv by the growth
of these instruments than by the detrition and succession of the teeth.
The deer kind, which shed their horns annually, and in which, with
the single exception of the rein-deer, the^ are confined to the male
sex, have them at first in the form of simple prickets without any
branches or antiers ; but each succeeding year of their lives adds one
or more branches, according to the species, up to a certain fixed
period, beyond which the age of the animal can only be guessed at
from the size of the horns and the thickness of the burr or knob
at their roots which connects them with the skulL In the common
sti^, the pricket or first horn falls during the second year of the
animal's life, and is replaced by one with a single antler, and called,
from this circumstance, the fork. This again faUs during tiie third
year, and is replaced by the third horn, whidi, as well as the fourth
or following pair, have commonly three or four, and 'sometimes even
five branches. In the same manner the number of antlers goes on
increasing till the eighth year of the animal's life, beyond which
period they follow no fixed rule, though they still continue to increase
in number, particularly towards the summit of the horn, where they
are often grouped in the form of a coronet, and in this state they are
called royal antlers. The fSallow-deer, the roe-buck, and others of this
genus, present similar phenomena ; the number of the antlers increases
according to certain fixed rules up to a certain period, beyond whidi
the age can only be determined, as in the stag, by the comparative size
and development of the burr and shaft, or that part of the horn frt>m
which the antlers grow. In the former species, the prickets of the
second year are replaced by homs bearing two antlen^ and already
beginning to assume the palmated form which distinguishes them
from the antlers of most other deer. Afterwards this palm increases
in breadth, and assumes an indented form on the superior and
posterior borders : these are the fourth horns, which are died in the
animal's fifth year, and are replaced by others in whidi the palm is
cloven or subdivided irregularly into distinct parts, so that the hoins
of old animals frequently assume a great diversity and singularity of
form. From this period the homs begin to shrink in size, and an
even said to end in becoming simple prickets as in the first year.
The homs of oxen, sheep, goats, and antelopes, which are hollow
and permanent, are of a very different form, and grow in a different
manner, frx>m those of the deer kind. These, as is well known,
consist of a hollow sheath of horn, which covers a bony core or process
of the skull, and grows from the root, where it receives each year an
additional knob or ring, the number of which is a sure indication of
the animal's age. The growth of 'the homs in these animals is by no
means uniform through the whole year, but the increase, at least in
temperate climates, takes place in spring, after which there is no
further addition till the following season. In the cow kind, the homs
appear to grow uniformly during the first three years of the animal's
life; conse<}uently, up to that age they are perfectly smooth and
without wrinkles, but afterwards each succeeding year adds a ring to
the root of the hom, so that the age is determined by allowing three
years for the point or smooth part of the horn and erne for each of the
rmgs. In sheep and goats the smooth or top part counts but for one
year, as the homs of these animals show their first knob or ring in the
second vear of their age ; in the antelopes they probably follow the
same rule, though we have very little ^owledge of their growth and
devdopment in these animalsL
There are very few instances in which the age of animals belonging,
to other daases can be determined by any general rules. In birds it
may be sometimes done by observing the form and wear of the bill ;
and some pretend to distinguish the age of fishes by the appearance of
their scales, but their methods are founded on mere hypotheses, and
entitled to no confidence. The age of the whale is known by the size
and number: of laminse of whale-bone, which increase yearly, and, if
observation can be relied upon, would sometimes indicate an age of
three or four hundred years for these animals.
AOE OF TREES. Plants, like animals, are subject to the laws of
mortality, and seem mostly to have a limited period for their existenca
It is chiefly to annual and biennial plants that what may be called
a precise period of duration is fixed ; a period determined by the
production of their fruit, and not capable of being prolonged beyond
that event, except by artificial means. Plants that live for a long time
belong either to the class of Endogent or Exogtm,
To the first of these classes belongs the PaLm Tribe, and some other
tropic^ trees. There is scarcely any well-attested evidence of these
plants ever acquiring any considerable age. It has indeed been
supposed, that certain Brazilian oocoaruut palms may be from 600 to
700 years old, and that others probablv attam to the age of something
more than 300 years. But the method of computing the age of palms,
whidi is either by the number of rings externally visible upon their
rind between the base and summit of the stem, or by oomparing the
oldest specimens^ the age of which is unknown, with young trees of a
known age, is entirely ooiyectund, and not founded upon sound
physiological considerations; besides which, the date-palm which is
best known to Europeans, does not at all Justify the opinion that
palms attain a great age; the Arabs do not assign it a greater longevity
than frt>m two to thrae centuries Independently of this, the mode
of growth of such endogenous trees as palms seems to predude the
possibility of their A-ruAmg beyond a definite period of no great
extent. The diameter to which-their trunks finally attain is very
nearly gained before they begin to lengthen, and afterwards all the
new woody matter, whidi every successive leaf necessarily produces
during its development, is insinuated into the centra. The consequence
of this is, that tne woody matter previously existing in the centre is
displaced and forced outwards towards the drcum&rence. As this
action is oonstantly in progress, the droumference, which in the
beginning was soft, becomes gridually harder and harder, by the
pressure from withhi outwards, till at last it is not susceptible c^ any
further compression. After this has occurred, the central parts will
gradually solidify by the incessant production of new wood, which
thrusts outwards the older wood, tall at last the whole stem must
become equally hard, and no longer capable of giving way for the
reception of new matter; for what has once been formed always
remains, and is never absorbed by surrounding parts. It is probable,
for Uds reason, that endogenous trees, sudi as palms, attain no
considerable age, and that the duration of their existence must be
abeolutdy fixed in each spedes by the power they may respectively
have of permitting the descent of woody matter down their centre.
In exogenous trees it is quite the reverse, and to their existence no
limited duration can be assigned. In consequence, first, of the new
woody matter which is constantly formed breath the bark near the
circumference of their trunk, and, secondly, of the baric itsdf being
capable of indefinite distention, no compression is exercised by the
new parts upon those previously formed ; on the contrary, the bark is
incessantly giving way to make room for the wood beneath it> while
the latter is, in consequence, only glued, as it were, to what succeeds
it, without its own vital powers being in any degree impaired by
compression. It is in the newly-formed wood that the greatest degree
Digitiz.ed by
Google
AGE OF TREEa
AGE OF TREEa
of vHalitj residM: in the old wood near the centre life in time
becomes extinct ; but aa each sucoeaBiYe layer poBaeaBes an existence in
a great degree independent of that which preceded it, the death of
the centr^ part of an exogenous tree is by no means connected
with any dimmntion of vitality in the circumference. Hence it is that
hollow trees are often so healthy ; and that trees in the most yigorous
state are often found decayed at the heart without any external sign,
as timber-merchants frequently discover to tiieir cost Of the many
remarkable cases upon record of aged trees the following are among
the more interesting :—
At Enerdie, the birth-plaoe of Wallace, three miles to the south-
west of Paisley, stands an oak, in the branches of which tradition
relates that on one occasion that chieftain concealed himself with three
hundred of his followers. However improbable the latter circumstance
may be, it is at least certain that the tree may well have been a
remarkable object even at the period assigned to it by tradition,
namely, in the beginning of the 14th centuxy; and if so, this
individual must be at least 700 years old. Its branches are said to
have once covered a Scotch acre of ground ; but its historical interest
has rendered it a prey to the curiosity of the stranger, and its limbs
hare gradually disappeared tiH little remains except its trunL
Tke Wallaoe Oak.
Of ancient yews several autiientic instances can be named. At
Ankerwyke House, near Staines, is a yew older than the meeting of the
Engliah barcms at Ruiujmede, when they compelled King John to
grant Magna Charta. This tree, at 8 feet from the ground, measures
9 feet 8 inches in diameter; and its branches overshadow a oucle of
The Ankerwyke Tew.
SOT foet in dremnf erence. The yews of Fountains' Abbey, in Toikshire,
are probably more than 1200 yean old, and to othen an age of tram
2600 to 8000 years has been assigned.
VAT. B38T. DIT. VOL. L
Even this degree of antiquity is, however, much less than that of
the Baobab trees of Africa, estimated by Adanson at 5160 vears ; and
the deciduous cypress of Chapultepec in Mexico, which the yoimger
De CandoUe considers still older.
The following list of old trees is trom Moquin Tandou's ' Terato-
logic V^gdtale :* —
There are known —
Palma of
SOO. 800 year
Cerois
800 „
Chirodendroa .
327 ..
UlmuB (Elm)
845 „
CnpreMos (Cypreai)
S8S „
Heder»(Ivy) . .
.
448 „
Aoer (Maple) .
816 „
Larix (Larch) .
•
M8, 878 ..
Cutanea (Chettaat)
860, 6S6 ,.
Citnu (Oraogea, Lemons,
Ac.)
400, 800, 640 u
Platanus (Plane)
720 „
Cednu (Cedar) .
.
300, 800 .,
JogUna (Walnut) .
800 „
TilU (Lime) i
,
864, 880, 800, 885, 1076 „
Ablet (Spruee)
. . 1800 „
Qnercus (Oak) .
.
660, 800, 860, 1000, 1600 „
Olea (Olive) .
700, 1000, SOOO „
Taxus (Tew)
.
1814, 1466, 8588, 8880 „
SehnbertU .
8000. 4000 „
LegominoMB
.
2058, 4104 „
6000 „
Dracaena (Dragon Tree)
•
6000 „
The way in which the age of some of these spedmens has been com-
puted is twofold ; firstly, l^ comparing them with other old specimens,
the rate of growth of which is known; and secondly, by cutting
out a portion of their circumference^ and counting the number of
concentric rings that are visible. For in exogenous trees the woody
cylinder of one year is divided from the succeeding one br a denser
substance, which marks distinctly the line of sepantion of the two
years.
In the oouive of inquiries into the method of computing the age of
ancient trees, a discovery has been made of some importance to timber
growers, inasmuch as it shows that those who plant for profit alone
should not allow their trees to grow beyond a certain number of years,
varying according to species : for it has been found that so far are
exogenous trees from continuing always to increase in diameter at the
same rate, that every kind diminishes in its rate of growth after a
certain age :— the oak, for example, between its fortieth and its sixtieth
year, the elm after its fiftieth, the insruce-fir after its fDrtieth, and the
yew probably after its sixtietL With reference to this subject^ Pro-
fessor De CandoUe has cooBtructed a table of rate of growth, which we
subjoin.
Table of the rate oflncrease in Diameter of certain Exogenous
Trees, expressed in lines.
S
QMnrat
MUlU>
ion. til
7Mn old.
flon.tas
jcmold.
BtaB
TMnsU.
Tew
Yti. In.
1 to 10
54
10
18
48
16
8
10 . 20
62
16
33
61
44
H|
SO . 80
54
22i
39J
58
584
IS
80 . 40 .
60
18
88
78
72
lOj
40 . 50
48
18J
S3
46
88
«i
7
60 . 60
44
14
IH
57
74
isi
60 . 70
56
io|
9
46
78J
8
70 . 80
44
11
^k
29
66
80 . 00
82
l\
A
80
59
90 . 100
82
8
24
45
100 . 110
30
H
7|
32
80
110 . 120
36
9
Bi
28
80
»4
120 . 130
30
9
8
20J
24
180 . 140
o|
10
22
24
140 . 150
10
8
28
18
150 . 160
H
n
SI
19
160 . 170
9
9
80
m
170 . 180
10
8
19
23
180 . 190
9
8
18
30
190 . 200
9
7
SI
84
200 . 210
9
8
22
34
210 . 220
7
22J
26
220 . 280
6
21
86
280 . 240
8
22
28
240 . 250
8
201
26
850 . 860
tk
24
860 . 270
8
17i
270 . 880
8
2G
280 . 290
H
23
290 . 300
4
29
800 . 310
9
16
810 . 820
8
16J
820 . 880
8
21
Digitized by
Google
AOENEIOSES.
AGOUTL
100
AOENEIOSES, in Ichthyology, a genus of Abdominal Malacoptery-
gious fiflhea, separated from the SUwrei by Lao^pkle, and containing
two species, both from the fresh-water lakes and riYers of Surinam.
AGQERZEEN. [Ahtilopm, Strepticerot.]
AOILA-WOOD. [AQuiLARiAaBJi.J
AGNO'STUS, the remarkable fossil genua of Oimdaeea usually found
with A»aphu$ Buchii and other trilobites in the lower Paleozoic strata.
(Brongniart) Called BaUut by Dalman. It abounds near Llandeilo
and Christiania.
AQNOTHEHIUM, a fossil genus of Mammalia. (Kaup.)
A'GONUS, in Ichthyology, a genus of Acanthopteiygious fishes,
first separated from the Cotti by Bloch, and afterwards adopted, by
Lac^pMe and Pallas, under the difierent names of Atpidophortu and
Phalangiitet. The greater number of the species belonging to the genus
Agonut are found in the northern Pacific Ocean, particularly along the
coast of Japan, and northward as far as Behring's Straits. They are
all of diminutive size, never exceeding nine or ten inches in length, and
are nowhere used as an article of human food. One species only, the
Affonut Aeeipmterinus,
Pogge (A. Furopanu), inhabits our own coast, as weU as the coasts of
France, Holland, Iceland^ and even Greenland ; it is also found in the
Baltic, but^ according to Baron Cuvier, never in the Mediterranean,
though Brunnich expressly affirms the contrary. (Hittoire NaturdU
de Poiuont, of Baron Cuvier and M. Valenciennes.)
AGOUTI (Datyproeta, Illiger; Odoromya, F. Cuvier), In Zoology, a
genus of animals belonging to the class Mammalia and onler Rodentia.
The most prominent zoological characters of the Agoutis are found
in the nature and conformation of the feet and toes. The toes are
provided with large powerful daws, and yet the animals make no use
of them in digging or burrowing; th^ are pretty long and perfectly
separate fix>m one another, enabling them to hold their food between
their fore-paws, and in this manner to convey it to their mouth. Like all
other aniznals which are thus accustomed to use the fore-paws as hands,
they have a habit of sitting upright upon their hind-quarters to eat^
and frequently also assume the same position when they would look
around them, or are surprised by any unusual sound or occurrence. Their
food is exclusively of a vegetable nature, and consists most commonly
of wild yams, potatoes, and other tuberous roots : in the islands of the
different West India groups they are particularly destructive to the
sugar<»ne, of the roots of which they are extremely fond. The planters
employ every artifice for destroying them, so that at present they have
become comparatively rare in the sugar islands, thouj^ on the first
settlement of the Antilles and Bahamas they are said to have swanned
in such ooimtless multitudes as to have constituted the principal article
of food for the Indians. They were the largest quadrupeds indigenous
in these islands upon their first discovery. The same rule of geogra-
phical distribution holdsgood generally in other cases, namely, that where
groups of islands are detached at some distance from the mainland of
a particular continent, the smaller spedes of inhabitants are usually
found spread over both, whilst the larger and more bulky are confined
to the mainland alone, and are never found to be indigenous in the
small insulated lands.
Though the Agoutis use their fore-paws as hands to hold their food
whilst Uiey eat^ yet their toes are nevertheless rigid and inflexible,
and their daws laige, blunt, and nearly straight. They are conse-
quently deprived of the power of ascending trees ; and as they also
do not construct burrows, they wander at laige among the woods,
sheltering themsdves beneath fallen timber, or in the hollow of some
decayed tree. Here they produce and nurture their young; bringing
forth, according to some accounts, three or four times in the year ;
according to outers, never having more than a single litter in the same
season, and even that consisting of not more than two or three indi-
viduals. It IB probable, however, from the amazing numbers of these
animals found m all the hotter parts of South America^ notwithstand-
ing the destruction made among them by small carnivorous am'mals,
as well as by the Indians, and likewise frt>m the close affinity which
they bear to the hare and rabbit of our own country, that the AgoutiB
are tolerably prolific. The young are brought forth with their eyes
dosed, as in the case of most of the JtodeiUia and Ckumivora ; but they
are covered with hair, or rather small bristles of the same colour as
the mother : they soon acquire the use of their limbs, and learn to
shift for themsdveiL
Tlie hind legs of the Agoutis are considerably longer than the fore,
and their pace is tolerably rapid for a short distance. But they sddom
trust to speed of foot for their safety, but seek for shelter and security
in ihe first hollow tree, or under the first rock they meet with. Here
they allow themsdves to be captured, without any other complaint or
resistance than the emission of a sharp plaintive note. The head of
the Agouti is lai^ the forehead and face convex, the nose swollen and
tuberous, the ears round, shorty and nearly naked, and the eyes large
and blade The hair is annulated in different degrees wiUi black,
yellow, and green ; it is generally coarse and bristly, like the weak
spines of a hedgehog, though in one species it apprMtches in finenesB
to the frtr of the rabbit ; the tail is most commonly a mere naked
stump or tuberde, which in the Acoudiy alone attains any apparent
length, and is covered with a few short scattered hairs. The teeth are
twenty la all ; namely, two incisors and eight molars, four on each
side, in each jaw. The latter are all nearly of the same size, oval in
fiffure, and with fiat crowns, which exhibit the different convolutions
of the enamel as it penetrates the softer materials of which the body
of the tooth is composed. It is impossible from mere description to
convey an idea of the intricate figures which these convolutionB aamime ;
and we, therefore, refer to the annexed figure, where a and 6 in the
diagram represent respectivdy the upper and lower jaws, and the
figures I, 2, and 8, the appearances of the teeth at different ages, or
after different degrees of trituration : No. 8, representing the teeth
y
Teeth of the Agoati, flrom CaTier*s * DenU dee Hommifiret.'
shortly after they begin to wear ; No. 2, their intermediate state ; and
Na 1, when very much worn. The teeth are exclusivdy adapted for
vegetable food ; they are essentially formed for grinding and bruising,
not for cutting and tearing. The stomach and intes^es therefore,
which are always in harmony with the organs of mastication, are fitted
only for the digestion of vegetable substances. The flesh of theee
onimftlM is white and tender ; it is a very common and favourite article
of food in South America, and is dressed like hare or rabbit The
following flnpedes are distinctly known : —
1. The Common Agouti (DaByfroda Aguti), sometimee called the
Long-Noeed or Tdlow-Rumped Cavy, from its long nose and the preva-
lent cdour of its back and shoulders, is the size of a middling hare,
being one foot eight inches in length, and about deven or twdve inches
hi^ at the croup. The head resembles that of Uie rabbit, the noee is
thick and swollen, the face ui^ed, the upper lip .divided, the ean
round and naked, the eyes large, the upper jaw considerably longer
than the lower, and the tail a zuiked flesh-coloured stump. The hairs
of the upper and fore parts of the body are annulated with brown,
yellow, and black, which give the animal a speckled yellow and green
appearance on the neck, head, back, and sides ; on the croup however
they are of a uniform golden yellow, much longer than on any other
part of the body, and duvcted backwards ; the breast, belly, and inner
side of the fore-arms and thighs are light straw colour, and the mous-
taches and feet blaoL The general length of the hair on the upper and
anterior parts of the body is about an inch, that of the croup is upwards
of four mdies long, and all, excepting the short coarse fur of the legs
and feet, and that on the breast and bdly, is of a stiff harsh nature,
partaking more of the quality of bristles than of simple hair.
2. The Black or Crested Agouti {Datyproeta criitata), is rather impro-
perly called the Crested Agouti by M. Qeoffroy Si Hilaire, ainoe the
hairs of its head and neck do not exceed those of the shoulders and
back in length. It is consideiably smaller than the Common Agouti,
being about the size of a rabbity whilst that spedes i^proadies the
dimensions of the hare. Its general proportions and form, however,
are the same; but the hairs of the back and sides, instead of being
annulated with various-coloured rings as in that spedes, are neainj
uniform black, whilst the long hairs of the croup are perfectly so ; the
bdly and legs are equally covered with diort dark hair. There is
Digitized by
Google
101
AQRIMONIA.
AGROSTIS.
102
not anj appearance of cresty and the tail is still shorter than in the
Common Agouti Both this speoies and the former seem to inhabit the
■ame olixnatee— Surinam Quiana, and Brazil; the Conmion Agouti,
Blade or Crested Agouti {Datvproeia eristata).
howerer, appearing to have a rather more extensiTe range, and to
be likewise found in the West India Islands, and even as far south
asPSfaguaj.
S. The Aoouchj, or Olive Agouti (Datyprocta A eueht), is considerably
smaller than either of the foregoing spedee, and is at once distinguished
by the greater length of its &1, which is upwards of two inches in
length, not much thicker than a crow's qui^ and covered with short
scattered hairs like those on the tail of a rat In other respects it is
The Aoooohy {Jkuffprocta AcueM^.
of the same form as the Agoutis ; has the same naked round ears, the
same huge black era, and the same olive-green colour mixed with
yellow and blacL The hairs of the croup are not so long as in the
Agoutis, but are perfectly black ; and all the imder-parts of the body,
the breast) belly, and interior of the arms and thighs, straw-coloured
with a tinffe of red. The hair of the legs and feet is short and black,
and that of the bodv much finer in quality than the hair of the AgoutLs.
It inhabits some of the West India Islands, Quiana, and the northern
parts of BradL
4. White-Toothed Agouti (Jkuyprocta croeonata, Wagler) is a speoies
founded by Wagler upon a specimen brought by Spix from the
river Amazonas. It is about the same size as the Common Agouti,
but it differs in its incisor teeth being entirely white, in having
the tani shorter, the nails shorter, and the general hue of its fur
much richer.
5. l)atyproda prymnolopha is a species described by Wa^er, which
inhabits Guiana. It is one of the most beautiful of the species, and
is readily distinguished by the broad black band which runs along the
hinder half of the back, and is continued to the tail
6. The Sooty Agouti {Datyprocta fuUgiru>i<iy Wagner). This species
is the same as the D. mgricana of Natterer and the D. nigra of Dr. J.
E. Gray. It is readily distinguished by its black colour and laige
size. It inhabits the northern provinces of Brazil
7. Azara's Agouti (Datyprocta Azara\ a species inhabiting Para-
guay, Bolivia, and the southern parts of Brazil Mr. Waterhouse says
it is identical with Dr. Gra/s D, punctata.
AGRDfO^IA, a genus of plants belonging to the order Botaeea,
It is known from all the other geneiu of the same tribe by its having
only two or three pistils enclosed in the deep tube of its calyx, from
7 to 20 stamens, and small-notohed petals.
The conmion species, Agrimonia Eupatoria (Common Agrimony),
is an erect, hairy, herbaceous plant, frequent by the side of hedges in
fields, on iiie slorts of woods, and in simUar situations all over England.
Its lower leaves are interrupted-pinnated, with Uie leaflets of an oval
form, and coarsely serrated. When bruised, they yield a slight but
pleasant aromatic odom:. The stem is nearly simple, and a foot and a
lialf or two feet high. The flowers, which are small and yellow, are
succeeded by little bur-like fruits.
The leaves, which are astringent and aromatic, have been foimd
usefrd in the jpreparation of fever-drinks, and for the cure of slight
inflammation m tne mouth or throat; on this account Agrimony is
always reckoned one of our wild medidnal plants^ and la often
employed as an ingredient in herb-teas.
Oommon Agrimony {Affrimonta Ry^toHa).
AGRIMONY. [AaRDCONiA.]
AGRIOPES (^jrriopiw,Cuvier), in Ichthvology,agenusof Acanthop-
terygious fishes, belonging to the feunily which M. Cuvier denominates
Jouet Cwrattiet, and which are distinguished frt)m other families of
the same order, by having the suborbital plates extending backwards
over the cheeks, so as to cover either the whole or the greater part of
them, and thus defending them, as it were, with a buckler or cuirass.
But what particularly cQstinffuishes the Agriopee from most other
genera of fishes is, that they have only nine rays in the pectoral fins,
a ntunber very rarely found in this class of animals. Three species
are enumerated by Messrs. Cuvier and Valenciennes : —
1. The Agriopus torvut. This fish inhabits Table Bay and the seas
around the Cape of Good Hope, where it is called by the Dutch
colonists Zee-Paard (or Sea-Horse). This fish exceeds two feet in
length, and is oommon in the markets of Cape Town.
2. The Warty Agriope (A, verrw!09tu\ is so called frt)m having the
■kin of the head and body entirely covered with prominent conical
tubeitiles, surrounded at the base with small papUls. It grows to
the same size, and inhabits the same localities, as the preceding species.
8. The Agrioput Perwfiamu is found in the neighbourhood of Lima,
and grows to the length of eight or nine inches.
AGROSTEMMA (from irypis, a field, and ^iu/ta, a crown), a genus
of plants belonging to the
SUeneout division of the
order CaryophyUaceat, It
has several species, the
best known of which is
the Com Cockle, which is
now referred to the genus
LychnU [LtohnibJ or
QithagOm
AGRO'STIS, a genus
of Grasses, consisting
of a considexable number
of spedes with looee-
branoned capillary pani-
dee of flowers, and a creep-
ing habit Among British
grasses, it is at once
known by the glumes (a)
or outer scales of each
flower being two in
number, unequal in size,
of a membranous tex- i&
ture, and containing but i
a single floret; while the
palesB, or inner scales^ are
short, very thin, almost
transparent, and two in
number, ^e larger of ^
them oocasionally having ^ AgrottU alba,
an awn at its batuc
Two species only are natives of this country — one of which,
Digitized by
Google
108
AL
AlZOOJf.
lOi
A, vulffarii, is found eveiywhere in dzy, exposed, barren situations,
and is of yery little value to the farmeri except for its earliness ; the
other, A, tUba, is equaBy abundant in marshy places, where it forms
a Yaluable pasture. Xfnder the name of Irish Florin Grass, this
specieB has been the object of much attention from experimental agri-
tmlturists, some of whom haye extolled its qualities yery highly as a
manh-fodder; but the experience of others does not confirm their
ojunion; nor does it appear to thriye in England so wdl as it is
represented to do in Ireland, where its yigour is such as to haye led to
the belief that the Irish plant is a distinct speciee, called A. ttolonifera.
In England it is best known, along with A, mdgarit, under the name
of Quitdi, or Quicks, and is generally extirpated as a troublesome
weed, in consequence of the rapidity with whidi, by means of its
creeping, rooting, yiyaoioos atems, it spreads and oyeiruns pasture-
and garden-ground.
AI. [Bbadtpus.]
AIR-SLADDER, a peculiar oxgan with whi^ the great minority
of fishes are proyided, and by which they are enabled to adapt the
specific grayity of their bodies to the yarious pressures of the super-
incumbeat water at different depths. It is composed of a lengthened
sac, sometimes simple, as in the common percn, sometimes divided
into two or more compartments, by a lateral or transyerse ligature,
as in the trout and salmon, and, at other times, furnished with
appendices, more or less numerous according to the particular species.
In all cases, it is composed of a thick internal coat of a fibrous texture,
and of a yery thin external coat ; the whole being enyeloped in the
general coyering of the intestines.
The modifications of this organ are infinitely yaried in different
genera and species of fishea In the greater nimiber of instances it
has no external opening, and the air wkb. which it is found distended
is belieyed to be produced by the secretion of a certain glandulous
organ, with which it is in all these cases provided. This air has been
examined, and found to consist of oxygen and nitrogen, but with less
oxygen than common air. In freeh-water fishes, tiie air-bladder
communicates sometimes with the oosophagus, and sometimes with
the stomach, by means of a small tube; and it is observable, that
in the greater number of these instances, in which it has a direct
external communication with the intestines, the secreting glands
above mentioned do not exist ; thus giving us strong reason to believe
that its Amotions and uses are not tmiformly the same in all the
different classes of fishes. A very limited number of species, among
others the common eel, have air-bladders not only opening by an
external duct, but likewise provided with secreting glands ; and thus
ooeupying an intermediate station between the two larger classes, at
least as far as the nature and functions of this oigan are concerned.
In general, all fishes which ei^joy great powers of locomotion, and
have occasion to pass through various degrees of superincumbent
pressure in their rapid transitions from the sur£BU» to the bottom of
the ocean, are provided with this important organ ; and so indispensable
is it in their economy, that those which, for the sake of experiment,
have been deprived of it^ have sunk helpless to the bottom, and
there remained incapable of moving, or even of maintaining their
equilibrium. But to fishes whose habits and oiganixation confine
them either to the surface of the water or to the bottom of the sea^
and whidi, therefore, do not require to pass through different depths,
or to enoounter different degrees of pressure, the poesession of an air-
Uadder is by'no means so essentially requisite. Accordingly we find,
that all the different species of rays and PUwroncetet or flat-fish, such
as skates, soles, turbots, brills, etc., which live only upon the coasts
and sand-banks at the bottom of the ocean, as well as the mackerel
and others which find their food entirely at the sur&ce, have no
air-bladder; and so small is the relation of this otherwise imi>ortant
oigan to the general conformation of fishes, that we sometimes find it
present in one species, and wanting altogether in another of the same
gentis. Although it does not appear that the air-bladder is connected
with the function of respiration in fishes, it occupies the position, and
has the same relations, as the lungs in reptiles. It is, in fact, the
homologue of these ozgana Fishermen are well acquainted with the
nature and functions of the aiivbladder, or, as they most commonly
call it, the Swim, They are accustomed to perforate this vessel wit&
a fine needle in ood aoid other species which require to be brought
freah to market, sometimes from a very great distance. By this
operation, the confined air is allowed to escape^ and the fish oonstrained
to remain quiet at the bottom of their well-boats, where they live for
a veiy considerable period. Cod-sounds, which are brought in great
quantities from Newfoundland, are nothing more than the salted
air-bladders of these fishes* The Icdand fishermen, as well as those
of America, prepare isinglass of a very excellent quality from cod-
sounds, thou^ they are not acquainted with the method of darifying
xt^ which the Russiana practise in preparing isinglass from the sound
of the sturgeon.
( Owen, LeetyiteM an ChmparoH/ve AwHtomyt toL il)
AIR-CJSLLS, in plants, are cavities in the leaves or stems, or other
parts containing air. In water-plants they have a vexy definite form,
and are built up of little vesides of cellular tissue, with as much
regulari^ as the walls of a house ; they no doubt enable the plant to
float lliey are well seen in the structure of the VicLoria regia. In
plants which do not floaty the form of the air^ells is lees definite;
they often appear to be mere lacerations of a mass of cellular sub-
stance, and their object is unknown ; well-known instances of their
presence are the chambers in the pith of the walnut-tree, and the
tubular cavities in the stem of the bamboo, and other Grasses.
AIR-PLANTS are so called because they possess the power of living
for a considerable time suspended in the air. It is however a mistake
to suppose that tiieee plants are naturally suspended freely in the air,
and tnat such a situation is that in which they will thrive ; they will
only exist in air for a shorter or longer period, according to the spedes
and to other circumstances, but in the end they wiU perish. This
arises from tbe fact that all plants require inorganic as well as oiganic
oonstituentfl, and although these latter dements can be eapplied from
the air in the form of carbonic acid, ammonia^ and water, the former
cannot
There are two different tribes to which tiie na^ of Air-Plants baa
been applied; of which one^ containing the moas^lika TiUandtia
utneoidet, which hangs in festoons from the branches of trees in the
hot damp forests of tropical America, and the fragrant T. xiphioida,
which adorns the balconies of the houses in Buenos Ayrea, is called
by botanists BramdiacecB; the other, abounding in spedes of the moit
different nature and appearance, is named Orchidaeece,
Till within a few years the cultivation of Air-Plants of the Orckit
tribe was supposed to be attended with insuperable difficulties ; and of
the many hundreds of beautiful spedes that are found in foreign
countries, scarcdy any were known in Europe, except from drawings^
bad descriptions, and imperfect dried specimens.
The native countiy of these curious plants is wherever a climate is
found in which heat and moisture are in excess. Within the tropics
in Asia, Africa, and America^ in damp and shady forests, by the side
of fountains, within reach of the ^>ray of waterfialls, perched upon the
brandies of trees, or clinging to rocks and stones by means of their
long and writhing roots— creeping among moss, rearing their flowers
in we midst of brakes and other moisture-loving tribes — ^in all such
situations they are found in abundance. The prineipel stations for
them are the woods of Bozi) and Peru, the lower mountains of Mexico,
the West Indies, Kada^pBuscar, and the adjoining islands, and the whole
of the Indian Archipelago; in Java alone nearly 300 speduBS have been
discoyered.
The conditions under which Air-Plants, of the kind now described,
naturally thrive are — 1. high temperature; 2, diffused light, like that
of a shady grove, and not direct solar light ; S, a great degree of
dampness ; and, 4, a perfect free^fm from stagnant water sound their
roots : for on the trunks of taaes or on stones and ro^cks no water can
lodge, and all the moisture they recdve must necessarily be in the fomi
of vapomr or of &lling rain. And it is to circumstances of this nature
that the gardener has chiefly to attend. Damp, shade, heat, and good
drainage will be his objects; the three former will cause him do
trouble, but the latter will require him to alter entirely his usual
mode of cultivation. Instead of considering in what kind of soil his
Air-Plants are to be placed, he will endeavour to dispense with soil,
and to supply its place with bits of rotten wood, chopped moss in very
small quantities, fragments of half-baked pottery, audi as garden-polB.
and the like.
Another point of great importance in the cultivation of these plants
is, securing for them a season of repose. In their native climate',
although they have no winter, they have a period of comparative re^t
from growth, and securing for them this repose whilst under cultui-u
is a gr^ secret of success. It is to a knowledge of this, taken in
coigunction with the circumstances before exjplained, that we owe the
remarkable improvement that has taken place m the mode of cultivating
these plants in Qreat Britain.
(Lindley, OUervaHona in the JVaiMaeHont of tkeSbrtituUural Sodetyt
voL I, New Series, p. 42, and the later volumes of the JBotanical
Beffister.) pEpiPHTnBB; OBCHiDAcaLiB.]
AIR-VESSELS, in plants, are what botanists call Spiral Veatdt.
It is supposed by some that these are the only parts through which
air is conveyed into the vegetable system, and it has been proved that,
in some cases at least, the air that they contain consists of a laiger
proportion of oxygen than atmospheric air. But it is doubtfrd whether
the action of these vessels is more than local, and it is certain that air
has tolerably free access to many parts, as the leavei^ for example, by
means entirdy independent of the spiral vessels.
AIRA, a genus of Grasses bdonging to the tribe Setieriea, and
distinguished by possessing a lax panicle, two-flowered glumee^ the
outer pale terete on the back, and a dorsal awn. There are several
spedes, but that whidi is best known is A. cceapitotcL, the Tufted Hair-
Grass. It has long and flat leaves, with a fibrous perennial root It
flowers in the beginning of August, and reaches a height of four feei
It grows naturally on marshy damp soils, in the form of large tufts.
It is a wiry harsh grass, and is rejected by domestic ftnimnlw. It may,
however, be advantageoudy sown as a cover for game, and also bv the
side of ponds and mardies for snipe and wild fowL (Lawson, Acrot-
tographick.)
AITONIA (after Mr. W. Aiton, for many years head-gardener at
Kew), a genufl of plants bdonging to the order Mdiacea, The A.
Caperuis is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and is cultivated in our
greenhouses.
AIZOON. [TsTBAGomiLC&a.]
Digitized by
Google
103
AJOWAMa
ALBATROSa
109
AJOWAMS, or AJWAMS, tho ladian name for the fruits of
XTmbeUiferouB plants belonging to the genus PtychotU. They are
chiefly employed in yeterinary medicine.
ALABASTEB, a white stone used for ornamental purposea The
name is deriyed from Alabastron, a town of Egyp^ where there
appears to have been a manufactory of small vessels or pots, made
of a stone found in the mountains near the town. These vessals
were employed for containing certain kinds of perfumes used by the
ancients m their toilet, and with which it was the custom to anoint
the heads of their guests, as a mark of distinction, at their feasts.
There are in Horace many allusions to this custom. In like manner,
Mary, the sister of Laaarus, poured upon the head of our Saviour, as
he sat at supper, ''yezy precious ointment" from an alabaster-box.
Vessels of a similar form, although not made of the white stone, bore
the same name amongst the Greeks and Romans.
There are two kinds of white stone to which antiquaries and
artists give the name of alabaster : the one is a carbonate of lime ;
the other is gypsum, or sulphate of lime. Man^ of these ancient
perfume-yessels are inade of the compact cmtallme mass deposited
from water holding carbonate oi lime in solution, which is found in
many places in almost every country. When the deposition takes
place on the ground, it forms what mineralogists call a stalagmite,
from a Greek word signifying a drop, and it is often composed of
layers distinguishable by <Hfferent degrees of translucency, giving the
stone the ap|>earanoe of the striped agates, called onyx. [Agate.]
Hence, aooording to Fliny, the alabastrites was sometimes called
onyx. But it is easy to ascertain of which of the two kinds a vessel
IS composed, for carbonate of lime is hard, and effervesces if it be
touched by a strong acid ; but sulphate of lime does not effervesce,
and is so soft that it may be scratched with the naiL The term
alabaster is now generally applied to the softer stone. This last,
when pure, is a beautiful semi-transparent snow-white substance,
easily worked into vases, lamps, and various other ornament^ but it
is seldom found in masses large enough for statuary ; and, indeed,
artists would be unwilling to execute any great work in a material so
veiy Liable to injury. The finest quality known is fo^nd in the
neighbourhood of Y olterra in Tuscany, and it is cut into a variety of
works of great taste and beauty at Yolterra, Florence, Leghorn, and
other places in that part of Italy, whence they are sent all over the
world, and sold at very reasonable prices.
Alabaster is' found in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, and is manu-
factured at Derby into small ornaments and tov& [Gtfsuu.]
ALABAUDINE, a name for Manganese-Blende, a sulphuret of
manganese.
AL ABES, a genus of fishes belonging to the order Malacopterygii,
and family Apodet. This genus, which consists of a single species of
small size, a native of the Indian Ocean, resembles in most respects
the common Conger-Eel {Murama) of our own seas.
ALARIA, a genus of sea-weeds. [Auam],
ALAUDA. JAlaudinjb],
ALAUDIN^ a sub-family of birds belonging to the order
Pasiermce, and the family Coniroetree, ia thus characterised by
Mr. Swainson: —
Bill more lengthened than in any of the FringiUidoi; the tip
entire or obsoletely notched. Tertial quills considerably lengthened,
pointed, and generally as long as the quUls. Claws very slightly
curved ; the daw of the outer toe alwavs shorter than that of the.
inner toe ; the hinder claw considerably lengthened^ and either nearly
straight or very slightly curved.
Alaudu, (Linn.)
Bin cylindrical ; nostrils concealed. Wings very long ,* no spurious
quill ; the firsts second, and third quills longest, and nearly equal ;
the rest considerably graduated ; tips of the lesser quills emarginate.
Tail forked. Head crested. (Sw.)
The Larks are characterised by their having the hind-claw, which is
like the fore-daws, somewhat straighty and longer than in the pipits
and the wag-tails. The bill is strai^ht^ and rather short and strong,
the upper mandible being arched without any notch, and not longer
than the under. The nostrils, situated at the base of the bill, are
oolong, and protected by small plumes and bristles directed forwards.
The feathers on the back part of the head can be raised up at the will
of the bird into the form of a crest
Various spedes of larks are found in all parts of the globe, and are
everywhere distinguished by their vigilance and their singing. They
are peculiarly birds of the fields, meadows, and other open places. The
conformation of their feet» except in a few instances, such as the wood-
larl^ does not adapt them to perch upon trees. They aocordinglv
always build on the ground, mJdng in general a rather slight though
neat nest, and laying about five eggs, usually of a grayish white, with
specks of a brown colour. They frequently rear two broods of young
during the summer.
They are almost all birds of passage ; for even in Britain, where some
remain during the winter, the greater number flock together and
migrate, either southward or to the sea-coast During these migra-
tions immense numbers of them are caught in nets for the table, parti-
culariy on the continent, where small birds are more sought after for
this purpose than in Britain.
" ZocalUiei, — ^Europe and America.
^Lt*. Sw.iiuaja couBideru this as the FiasiiHMtral ty2)e.
Example: — Alaitda arvenais. This is the AlowttCf Alouette Ordi-
naire, and Ahuette dee Champi of the French; Zodola, Lodola
Canterina, Lodola di Pauo, and Lodola di Montagna of the Italians ;
Peld Lerehe of the Germans ; Hedydd and Uchedydd of the andent
British ; and Skylark (in Sootch Lavrock) of the modem British
The Skylark is too well known, from its inexpressibly beautiful song,
dianted forth far up in the air when at Uberty and in its natural state,
to require any description.
Pood, — Insects and their larvae, with many sorts of seeds and grain.
Neat, — On the ground. Eggji four or five, greenish white, spotted
with brown.
Loealiliea, — ^All the parts of Europe ; also in Asia and the northern
parts of Africa, but not in the south of that vast continent (Temm.) ;
the whole of Europe within the temperate zone, many parts of Asia,
and the north of Africa. (Selby.)
CalejuMa, (Linn.)
Bill thick, much oompressed; i^ culmen curved and convex ; the
commissure arched ; the tip of the upper mandible wide above and
inflexed. Wings long or moderate; tke first quill very small and
spurious; the second nearly equal to the third and fourth; lesser
quills shorty emaigiaata. Tail slightly forked Lateral toes equal
Africa. The Dentirostral type — C, magniroetris, ' Ois. d'Afr.,' pL
198. (Sw.)
Sub-genera : — Myrafra, Uovat — ^Bill as in Calendula, Wings short,
rounded; greater <^iul]0 havdly longer than the secondaries and
teitials ; the first quills spurious, half the length of the second, which
is shorter than the third ; the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth equal, and
longest Tail short, even. Legs long. — If, Javanic€t, 'Linn. Tr.,'
xiii 169. (Sw.)
Braconyx, Sw. (JBrachonyx). — ^Bill as in CalendulcL Hinder claw
very short Wings and tarsi much lengthened Africa. (Sw.)
Agrodroma. (Sw.)
Bill slender, considerably compressed; both mandibles of equal
length ; the tip of the upper one not reflected over the lower, and
with a small notch, almost obsolete. Wings long ; the first four quills
nearly equal ; the rest rapidly diminishing, and emaiginate at their
tips ; tertials lengthened, pointed, as long as the quills. Tail moderate,
even. Legs pale, long, slender. Tarsus longer than the middle toe.
Lateral toes equal, but the outer claw shorter than the inner. Colour
brown, lark-like. Distribution universaL The Inseesorial or pre-
eminent ty]^e^Agrodroma rufeecent, * EnL,' 661| t L (Sw.)
Macronyx, (Sw.)
Bill slender, compressed, thrush-like, entire ; nostrils large, naked,
the aperture lateral Wings short ; the primaries not longer than the
tertiids, the first four of equal length ; secondaries long, emarginate.
Tail moderate, even. Feet enormous. Tarsus and hinder toes very
long^ and of equal length Lateral toes unequal, the inner shortest
Africa. The Rasorial type— Jf . ;tor*cottt», 'Ois. d'Afr.,' pL 196; M,
fiavigatter, Sw., 'Birds of West Africa,' ('Naturalists' Library/ Omi-
thology, vol viL, p. 216.)
CerthUa/wda. (Sw.)
Bill slender, lengthened, more or less curved ; nostrils round, naked.
Wings very long ; the first quill spurious ; the three next nearly equal
Tail moderate, even. Feet lengthened; the lateral toes equal ; length
of the hinder daw variable, althou^ typically short and straight.
Africa. The Tenuirostral type—C^rtAOottda Itrngi/rotAra, ' Ois. d'Afr./
192; aUfoMciata, Riipp^, ' Atlas,' plate 5; a mvota^ Sw., ' Birds of
West Africa' (vol viL, p. 216.)
Sudi are Mr. Swainson's views as to the arrangement of this sub-
family. [FRnreiUJDii.] The genus Anihue, Bechst, is placed by Mr.
Swainson at the end of his sub-family MotacUliaw (Wagtails), under
his family Sylviada (Warblers).
Ponil La/rka,
Dr. Buckland fiffures a lark (Alavda) among the land Mammifens
and Birds of the third period of the Tertiary Series, in the first plate
of the illustrations of his 'Bridgewater Treatise.' He had previously
noticed the remains of the lark in Eirkdale Cave. (' ReUquia Dilu-
vianss,' pp. 16, 84, plate xL, ff. 24, 26.)
ALBATROSS (iHomedea), a genus of web-footed birds, comprising
three spedee— the Albatross of China (D. fuliginoaa, Latham) ; thf;
Yellow- and Black-Beaked Albatross (D, cMororynehos, Latham) ; and
the Common Albatross {D, exvlana, Linnaeus.) The genus is princi-
pally distinguished by the following characters : — a very strong, hard,
long beak, which is straight to near the extremity, when it suddenly
curves. The upper mandible appears composed of many articulated
pieces, fiirrowed on the sides, and crooked at the point ; the lower
mandible smooth and cut short ; the nostrils lateral, and placed like
small rolls in the furrow of Ihe mandible ; the feet short ; the three
toes long and completely webbed ; the wings very long and narrow.
The name Albatross is a word apparently corrupted by Dampier from
the Portuguese Alcatraz, which was appUed bv the early navigators of
that nation to cormorants and other la^ sea-birds.
The Common Albatross is the spedes which is most frequently met
with in the seos of Southern Africa. It is the largest searbird known.
Digitized by
Google
107
ALBIN.
ALBINOa
The top of the head is a ruddy gray ; the rest of the plumage is white
with the exception of Beyeral trumverw black bands on the back, and
Common Albatroei {Diomedea exulant),
a few of the wing featherB. The feet and membrane are of a deep
flesh colour ; the bill a pale yellow.
The weight of this bird has been variously stated from 12 to 28
pounds; and a similar difference appears to exist in authors with
respect to the distance between the extremity of the extended wings.
Forster says above 10 feet ; Parkins, 11 feet 7 inches ; Cook, 11 feet ;
another says 12 feet; a specimen in the Leverian Museum measured
18 feet ; and Ives (p. 5) mentions one, shot off the Cape of Qood Hope,
which measured 17^ feet frx>m wing to wing.
We can, from this circumstance, readily understand the exten-
sive range in which the Albatross is found; not being confined, as
Buffon imagined, to the Southern Ocean, but being equally abundant
in the northern latitudes, though Forster says he never observed it
within the tropics. These birds are seen in immense flocks about
Behring's Straits and Kamtchatka about the end of Jime, frequenting
chiefly the inner sea, the Kurile Islands, and the Bay of Pentschinensi,
whereas scarcely a straggler is to be seen on the eastern or American
shore. They seem to be attracted thither by vast shoals of fish, whose
migratory movenients the albatrosses follow. On their first appearing
in those seas they are very lean, but, frt)m finding abundance of foo^
thev soon become fat. Their voracity is so grea^ that they will often
swallow a salmon of four or five pounds wei^t
Thev do not, however, confine themselves to fish, but will prey on
any ower sea-uiimal ; and Cook's sailors caught them with a line and a
hook. The Kamtchatkadales take them by fieuitening a cord to a large
hook, baited with a whole fish, which the birds greedily seize. Their
usual food, however, seems rather to be fish-spawn and small shell-fish.
Notwithstanding their strength, they never venture to attack other
sea-birds, but are, on the contrary, attacked by the gulls. ** Several
laige gray gulls," says Cook, " that were pursuing a white albatross,
afforded us a diverting spectacle : they overtook it, notwithstanding
the length of its wings, and they tried to attack it under the beUy,
that part being probably defenceless : the albatrooB had now no means
of escaping but by dipping its body into the water; its formidable bill
seemed to repel them.
Their fiesh is tough and dry ; but the Kamtchatkadales take them
for the sake of their entrails, which they blow up, and use as buoys for
their nets. They employ the wing-bones also, which Edwards says
are as long as their whole bodv, for tobacco pipes.
ALBIN, a white variety of ApophyllUe, [Apofhtllite.]
ALBINOS, a word of Portuguese origin, by which the Portuguese
voyagers denominated tiie white negroes whom they foimd on the coast
of .^rica. These negroes were iSso termed Z^cBthiopet — a term
signifying white negroes. Both names are now used, but the former
popularly, to designate individuals who exhibit characters similar to
those observed in the white negroes, among whatever race or in
whatever country the variety may arise.
These m'nyilw beings are distinguished frt)m other individuals of the
human race by remarkable characters, which are invariably the same
among whatever people or under whatever external circuxniBtances the
variety ia found, ^eir most striking peculiarities consist in the
coloiur of their skin and in that of their hair and eyes.
Their skin is of a pearly whiteness, without any admixture whatever
of a pink or a brown tint. In the snow-white skin of the fairest
European woman theris is always some tint of a pink or brown colour,
but in the Albinos the skin ia wholly destitute of either tinge, and is
of a dull pearly whiteness. It is often not soft and smooth in proper
tion to its whiteness, as is generally the case with the blonds of the
European race ; but, on the contrary, is rough, dry, and harsh.
The whiteness of the hair always corresponds to the whiteness of
the skin. Not oidy the hair of the head, but also that of the eyebrows,
eyelashes, beard, and even the soft down that covers the external
surface of the body, has the same unnatural whiteness.
With this whiteness of the skin and hair is cozmected a still more
striking peculiarity, namely, a redness of the eyes. That part of the
eye called the iris is of a pale rose colour, while the pupil is intensely
red : in a word, the eye is exactly similar to that of many forms of
white animals, as the white rabbit, rat, mouse, &a
This peculiarity depends upon the absence of certain ceUs in the
body, ca&ed pigment-cells, which, wherever present, give a more or
less dark ooloiu* to the sur^Eiace on whioh they are developed. It is the
formation of ihese cells in the skin and hair, and in the interior of the
eye, that gives the various colours to these parts of the body ; and
when these cells are absent they present the appearances observed in
Albinos. In the skin the part which secretes these cells is the upper
surface of the cutis, or true skin. They are mixed, however, with
varying proportions of colourless cells. These cells together constitute,
when they lie fiat upon the surfeu^e of the body, the epidermis, or
scarf-skin. The cells which have not yet become hardened were
supposed to form a soft layer, which was called the rete fnuamm, or
mucous layer. It is in the black races of mankind that the pigment-
cells most abound, and just in proportion as the skin is fair do we find
them deficient in quantity or less dark in colour : but in the furest
races these pigment-cells are found. In the same manner their
presence in the hair produces the various shades of colour obserred
m this appendage of the skin, and they may be very numerous in the
hair and not so in the skin generally. The eye requiring for its function
a dark chamber, has devdoped in its interior a large quantity of
pigment-cells, constituting the pigmentvm rUffrum of its interior
membranes. What is true of man is also true of the lower animals,
and the colour of their skin and hair dependa on these peculiar cells.
The anatomical condition of Albinism is the absence of the
pigment-cells. In the complete Albinos they are everywhere absent
from the skin, the hair, and the eyes. It is this which gives the
unnatural whiteness to the skin and the hair, and the redness to
the eyes ; this latter phenomenon resulting from the delicate blood-
vessels reflecting the colour of the blood in them, an appearance
which is entirely absent when the pigment^^ells are deposited as
usuaL
On the other hand it appears that there is a tendency in some
animals which have natux^ly only a few pigment-cells to develop
them in greater number than usual, as we see in the occasional
presence of black sheep in a flock. Black varieties and white varieties,
with a mixture of the two colours, are not at all uncommon amongst'
our domesticated animals. . Of the causes which produce this pecuUar
affection of the organs in question we are ignorant ; and the speculations
of Buffon on this subject afford a striking example of the absurdities
into which men, even of acute minds, fall when they substitute
conjecture for investigation, or deem it consistent with the spirit of
philosophy to place trust in fancy, when they are without knowledge.
Thus, aasuming that white is the primitive colour of nature, he says,
that this colour may be varied by climate, food, and' manners, to
yellow, brown, or black; that these colours may, imder certain
circmnstances, return to the primitive colour, but so much altered,
that it has no resemblance to the original whiteness, because it has
been adulterated by the causes that have been assigned. Nature, he
tells us, in her most perfect exertions, made men white ; and this same
Nature, after suffering every possible change, still renders them white;
but the natural or specific whiteness is very different from the
individual or accidental It is useful, occasionally, to recur to what
was formerly considered, and is still sometimes considered, as an
explanation of the phenomena of nature.
Some writers represent the peciiliarities which distinguish the
Albinos as altogether the result of disease. They found this
opinion on the roughness and harshness of the skin, on the tender-
ness of the eyes, and the comparative physical weakness of these
individuals. But the harsh and almost leprous appearance of the
skin, though sometimes foimd, is by no means universal; the
tenderness of the eyes arises from the increased sensibility of the
organs in consequence of the abstraction of the dark-coloured
substance by which, in the natural state, they are defended from
the light: and, even admitting it to be a fact, which however does
not appear to be fully established, that these persons are physically
weaker than other men, it would not follow that this weakness is the
result of disease. As far as can be judged from external appearance,
and from their accounts of their own feelings. Albinos appear perfectly
healthy, and many do not exhibit a single mark of disease whatever. It
is also certain that domestic animals which exhibit varieties perfectly
analogous to those of the human Albino are free from disease. This
peculiarity has been observed in the sheep, pig, horse, cow, dog, cat-,
mouse, ferret, monkey, squirrel, rat, hamster, guinea-pig, mole,
opossum, martin, "^eaaeH, roe, fox, rhinoceros, elephant, badger,
beaver, bear, camel, buffalo, and ass; and even in the crow, blackbird,
canary-bird, partridge, common fowl, and peacock. It is remarkable,
Digitized by
Google
109
ALBITK.
ALCYONIDA
110
however, that it has never been seen in any cold-blooded animal In
all the Tnn.Twma.1iiL and birds just enumerated, the nature and
characters of the deviation seem to be perfectly analogous to those
of the human Albino. The pure whiteness of their skin and other
integumentg^ and the redness of the iris and pupil, mark the same
deficiency of colouring matter. A white mouse, possessed by Blumen-
bach, exhibited the same inability to bear the lijgfht which has been
observed almost universally in the human examples; the animal
kept its eyelids closed even in the twilight.
The physical, intelleotua], and the moral qualities, associated with
this singular conformation of the body, have not been stated with
distinctness and accuracy. It would seem that the Albino is both
physicaUy and mentally somewhat weaker than other men. All
accounts agree in representing his physical strength as inferior to
that of persons of the ordinary conformation. Saussure, in his
'Voyage dans les Alpes,' exurenly states, in relation to two boys
whom he examined with much attention at Chamouni, that, when
they were of a proper age, they were unable to tend the cattle like
the other diildren ; and that one of their imdes maintained them out
of charify, at a time of life when others were capable of gaining a sub-
sistenoe by their labour. Wafer, the old To^ager, in bu account of
the Indifl^ Albinos in the Isthmus of Danen, while he represents
them as being as nimble in the moonlight as the other Indians, states
that they are not so strong and lusty. But in what degree their
intellectual powers are coodSned, or whether indeed there be any
decided inferiority, we have at present no means of fonning an
accurate judgment
Some inconvenience certainly arises from the conformation of the
eye peculiar to Ihe Albinos. A strong light cannot be borne, and
even the fuU glare of day appeals to excite some degree of imeadness.
Hence the eydids are usually more drawn over the ball of the eye
than is common with other persons, and the eyes are generally wei^
tender, and watery ; while vision is more agreeable and more perfect
in twi%ht. But the inconvenience of an ordinary degree of lights
and the advantage of imperfect darkness, have been exaggerated.
It would seem that there is a greater tendency to the formation of
this variety in some parts of the world than in others. It is mors
common among the African and the Indian tribes than among the
European people. In the Isthmus of Darien, and in some H the
oriental islands, it is so frequent that some writers have oonoeived
that those persons fbrm a distinot and peculiar tribe ; but for this
opinion there is no foundation. Mr. Bowdich, however, states that
the king of Ashantee, who seems to have considered persons of this
description as a great curiosity, and to have indulged his taste for
collecting them in a truly Oriental manner, had assembled about him
nearly a hundred white negroes. Blumenbach states that he has
himaelf seen sixteen Albinos in various parts of Qerma^; and
examples have been not unfrequently found in Denmark, &igland,
Ireland, France, Switserland, Italy, the Grecian Archipelago, and
Hungary. It is common in both sexes, but it would appear to be
somewhat more fr^uent in males than in females.
ALBITE, a mineral of the Felspar group, in which the Pptash of
felspar is exactly replaced by soda. It includes Perieline, Tetartine,
CamatUe, and Cleavlanditt. It occurs maarive and crystallised.
Primary form a doubly oblique prism. Cleavage parallel to the
primary planes. Colour commonly white, sometimes gray, greenish,
bluish, or red ; streak white. Fracture uneven. Hardness 6*0. Lustre
pearlvon the cleavage planes, vitreous in other directions. Transparent,
translucent Spedfio gnmiy 2*6 to 2*68. The massive varieties have
a laminar structure. Found in Norway, Sweden, Dauphiny, St-
Gothard, Scotland, and accompanying felspar in most of its
numerous localities; fix>m this it differs ohieflv in containing soda
instead of potash. Analysis, by Stromeyer: silica, 70*68; alumina,
19-20; soda, 9*06; lime, 0*28.
ALBUCA (aibtUy white), a genus of plants belonging to the natural
order LQiacece, The species are mostly found at the Cape of Good
Hope. They are cultivated in this country, and require the treat-
ment of greenhouse bulbs.
ALBUICBK. — In plants this term has been improperly applied to
the substance which' in some seeds is interposed between the
embryo and tiieir coal It varies very much in density, and other
characters, and is often the most valuable part of a plant In the
oococ^nut it is the meat, the milk being a fluid uncondensed portion
of it ; in the ooifee-seed it is the part that is roasted ; and in com it
is that which is ground into flour. The oil of the castoroil plant,
and of the poppy, the aroma of the nutmeg, and the greasy nutntious
substance that forms chocolate are all the produce of albumen. In
the ivoiy-nut it is the hard part from which it has acquired its
nama
This substance in the beginning ii of a pulpy nature, and is the matter
in which the younf embryo first makes its appearance ; in this state
it is present in aU plants, but as the embryo, for the nutriment of
which it is destined, increases in size, the albumen is gradually
absorbed by it, either wholly, as in the turnip, the pea, the bean, and
the like ; or in part only, the residue being of a consistence varying
between softness, as in the poppy, and extreme hardness, as in the
date-palm. FSesd.]
Botanists mid its preitnoe in abundance, or its total or almost total
absence, a character of very great importance in distinguishing^ the
different tribes of plants.
ALBURNUM, in plants, is that part of the stem of trees which
timber-merchants call Sapwoad, It is the newly-formed unchanged
wood lying immediately below the bark, and is always of a very light
colour. It is the principal channel through which the crude sap i»
conveyed from the roots into the leaves, and is, therefore, an indis-
pensable part in all exogenous trees. [^zooEire.] It consists of deli-
cate fibrous tissue; in which respect it differs from Rearttoood, or
Dnramen, in which the tissue is combined with BoUd secretions, the
nature of which varies with species. It is probably on the latter
account that heartwood is so much more durable than sapwood ; for
simple fibrous tissue is in itself very perishable, and it only ceases to
be so in consequence of the presence of secretions of a less destruo-
tible character.
While many plants have the alburnum and heartwood distinctly
sen>arated, there are others, technically called Whitewooded Trees,
which consist of nothing but alburnum. This arises from their not
forming any solid secretions which can give durability to the central
parts ; nence all such trees are quickly perishable^ aoid are generally
unfit for any but temporaiy purposes.
ALCA (duvier), the Auk, a genus of Web-Footed sea-birds, which
has a singularly-formed bill, b^ng very broad when viewed laterally,
straight towards the base, but much curved towards the point Both
the mandibles are half covered by projecting feathers, and furrowed
near the point. The upper mandible is crooked, and the under forms
a projecting angle. The nostrilB are towards the middle of Ihe sides
of the upper mandible, being very narrow and idmost dosed by a
membrane covered with feathers. The legs are short, and placed far
back, so that the birds when standing have their backs nearly perpen-
dicular. There are only three toes fully webbed, the ba^ toe beinf
wanting. The daws are somewhat pointed. The wings are short, ana
the first quill is as long as the second, or perhaps a UtUe longer.
Only two n>edes are known, the Great Auk {Alea impennii), and
the Razor Bill (Alca Torda), both natives of the British Isles. [Auk.]
ALCEDO (Limueus), Kingfisher, a genus of birds of which the
characteristics are : — Thib bill long, straight, quadrangular, thick, and
pointed ; the tongue short, fieshv, flat, and slightly arrow-shaped at
the point ; the nostrils at the side of the base of the bill running
obliqudy, and nearly dosed by a naked membrane ; the legs with the
shank {iar»ui) short ; the feet with three toes forward, the outer joined
to the middle one as feu* as the second joint ; the inner one sixnilarly
joined as far as the first joint Thehind toe is broad at the base. The
wings have the first and second quills nearly equal, but these are
shorter than the third, which ia the longest in we wing.
There is only one spedes of Kingflsher {Alcedo Itpida) indigenous
to Britain. It is the most beautiful of our native birds. More than
sixty spedes have been described by naturalists, chiefly natives of Asia
and Africa, and all distinguished by the splendid colours of their
plumage. [Halotohida]
ALOES, the Elk. [Deer.]
ALCTNOE. [AOALEPHJB.J
ALCTONELLA (diminutive of Alcyonitm), a genus of animals
bdonging to the Fresh-Water Polyzoa, or Aseidian Zoophytet. The
spedes of this genus were originally regarded as plants. They are
composed of a fleshy sponge-like mass, which consists of vertical,
segregated, membranaceous tubes, whidh open on the sur&oe. In
these tubes the polypes are seated, which are asddian ; the mouth is
endrded with a siogle series of fi^orm tentacula, whidi, like those
of the whole fiqnilv, are depressed or incomplete on one ride. The eggs
are contained in the tubes, and are coriaceous and smooth.
The most common spedes is the A. %tagnorvm of Lamouroux, which
is commonly found in stagnant waters, especially when they contain
iron in solution. The polype-mass of tins spedes is a sponge-like
substance^ somewhat dastic, of a blackish green colour, and is
more or lees apparently porous. It is composed ot tubes which rise
from the base to the surf&ce, and are connected together by a firm
transparent gelatinous substance. The walls of the tubes are composed
of a thin pelludd colourless membrane, through which the ova in their
interior can be easily seen. The ova are very numerous, although the
animal itsdf is comparativdv rare, abounding at one season, and
almost absent at another, in the same pond.
This animal was origioally described by Trembley in 1741, and
although he was perfecUy aware of its nature at that early period, it
has be^ often described since both as a plant and a sponse. One of
the best modem accounts is that of Mr. T. P. Teale, in the first volume
of the ' Transactions of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Sodety.'
(Johnston, BrUiA Zoophytes^
ALCTONIDiB, a funily of the Asteroid Polypes, oontainmg the
genera A Icyonivm and SareodielyofL They are distinguished from the
PeiMoiuluUB (Sea-Pens), and the OorffoniadcB (SearFans), by the polype-
mass being tough and fiediy, without any distinct axis^ but strengthened
by the irregular distribution of calcareous spicules. The polype-cells
are placed in the fieshy mass, and scattered over its sur&oe.
The best known of the spedes of this ftmOy is the AleyonUm
digitatum, which was described by EUis under its popular name of
Dead Man's Hand, or Dead Man's Fingers. It has been described by
natoialists by other names, especially LolnUaria ; but this is inadmissible,
Digitized by
Google
Ill
ALCYONIDIXBL
ALQJE.
Ill
OB haYing been previously employed to name a plant. Aleyonium ia
deriyed from Alcyon, the kingfisher ; and this word means sea-foam,
of which the kingfishers were supposed to make their nests.
The species in question ia one of the most conmion of our maritime
productions, and is found on stones and shells and rocks, and can
frequently be collected at the low-water mark during a spring-tide.
It sometimes coyers the object to which it is attached as a mere crusty
at other times it rises up in one or more conical masses. Where there
is only one, the fishermen giye it the name of the Cow's Paps, from its
resemblance to the teat of the cow's udder. The skin is tough, and
when examined presents httle radiated points, which indicate where
the tentacles of tne polypes exist The tentades are shorty obtuse, and
ciliated on the margins. The polype-oeUs are placed just under the
skin, at the termination of a series of aquiferous canals which run
throughout the polype-mass. These tubw communicate with each
other, so that many of the polypes are, as it were, collected together,
forming a compound animal The space between the tubes is occupied
by a loose fibrous network, forming losenge^haped compartment!^
with smaller meshes in them. These interstices are filled with gela-
tinous matter, in which irregular calcareous spicule lie embedded.
The oya are developed in the polype-tubes, and are about the size of
a grain of sand. They are produced in spring and summer, and
ultimately dischaiiged from the mouth of the polype.
A second species of Alcyonitun, A. gUmarUuin, has been described
by Dr. A. H. HassalL
The genus Sarcodietyon has been described by Professor Edward
Forbes. It differs from Alcycnium in the incrusting, creeping, and
anastomosing form it assumes. Its polypes also are distant from each
other, and placed in uniserial prominent cells. It has eight pinnated
tentacula. Only one species hiuB been described^ & cateacUa,
(Johnston, BrUiah Zoophytet.)
ALCTONIDIXnd (from Alcyoniumf on account of its external
resemblance), a genus of animals belonging to the Infundibulate section
of the Polyzott, or Atciduxn Zoophjitea. It presents a fleshy yariously-
lobed mass, containing in it 5-sided cells, which contain ascidian
polypes surrounded with a double sheath. The most common species
of this genus is the A, gdatinowm. It is one of the most common
productions of the sea-shore, and few persons can have been at the
seaaide without having noticed it The older botanists described it
as a plant Qerard in his ' Herbal ' says : — " This is a ver^ succulent
and fungous plant of the thioknesse of one*s thumbe ; it is of a dark
yellowish colour, and buncheth forth on everie side with many unequal
tuberosities or knots." He called it the ' Sea Ragged Staffe.' Ray
called it a Fuctu; but Lamouroux, who first classed it amongst
plantar has the honour of having discovered that it was studded all
over with polypes. We are indebted to Dr. Arthur Farre for a very
elaborate account (' FhiL Trana,' 1839) of this creature. The polype-
m%Bs grows naturally in deep water attached to old ahells and stones.
It is however washed upon most of our coasts after every storm. The
mass is clustered or fingered, and rises to the height of from 6 to
12 or 18 inches. It resembles a compact sponge, but is more pellucid
and gelatinous. The sur&ce is smooth, but is speckled with dots
which indicate the spots where the polypes are contained. The
polypes are so closely connected with their cells that it is impossible
to separate them without mutilation. The tentacles are 16 in number.
Two other species have been described as frequent on the British
coasts, A. hir§tUvm and A. parantium.
(Johnston, Britith Zoophytes,)
ALCYONIUM. [Aloyokida]
ALDER. [Ajlnus].
ALECTO (one of the Furies of the Greek mythology), a genua of
Infundibulate Polyzoa, characterised by the creeping and branched
character of its polype-masa There are several species, all of which
are found attached to old shells and stones, and are mostly dredged
for in deep water.
ALETHOTTERIS (Sternberg), a genus of Fossil Ferns, mostly
from the Coal formation. {Pecopterit of Brongniart)
ALETRIS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
LUiacetE, One of the species, A. fdrinota, is the most intense bitter
known. It is found in fields and the edges of woods veiy commonly
in the United States, and is used in infusion as a tonic and stomachic.
Large doses produce poisonous effects.
AlEURITES, a genus of Euphorbiaoeous plants, many of the species
of which are now referred to Oroton, [Cboton.]
ALEXANDRITE, a name given to specimens of the mineral Chry-
aoberyl, brought from the UraL [Chbtbobebtl.]
ALGiB is the name given by botanists to the tribe of plants which
comprehends the Sea-Weeds, Lavers, and fresh-water submersed
species of similar habits. In structure they vary through a vast
variety of intermediate gradations, from the state of simple microscopic
vesicles to branched woody individuals many fS&thoms in length.
Some of them are only visible to the naked eye when they are
collected in heaps ; of this nature is the green and red slime that we
find in damp walks, at the bottom of shaded walls, and in similar
situations ; othen grow together in the bed of the ocean, and when
they rise to the surface fonn floating banks of such extent as to
impede the course of ships; of this kind are the Chorda JUum, or
Sea Cat-Gut^ of Orkney, meadows of which have been seen in Scalpa
Baj ; and the Gulf-Weed of navigators, which, according to Humboldt»
being cairied by the Gulf Stream, forms two banks in the great buon
of the Northern Atlantic Ocean, one of which stretches over 11 degrees
of latitude, and the other over 4 degrees.
The plants included imder this designation are every day becoming
better known through the influence which the microscope and better
methods of inveatigation an producing in every department of
natural histoiy. Under the term Alga Linnteus included the
Lichens and other plants as an order in the class Oryptogamia, or
Aerogmt. The Lichens have been long ainoe sepsiated; but the
plants that are now ordinarily called Alga present differences quite
as wide as any that separate the orders of the class Exogent, so that
we cannot r^aird the term Aha as of only ordinal valuer Dr. Lindley,
in his 'Vegetable Kingdom, constitutes an alliance which he csIIb
A Igata, and which he makes to embrace the following natural orders :—
1. JHatomaeea, or Brittlewortai
2. Confervacees, or Confervas.
8. FucaceOf or Sea Wracks.
4. Ceramiacea, or Rose TangLes.
5. Charaoea, or Charads.
The first of tiiese orders includes the Jktmidea, which are almost
entirely microscopic. They are hardly oompr^ended under the
term Alga at all [Diatomacejb ; Dwjmtdk^.] It is onlv veiy
recentiy that naturalists have come to the condusiGn that they are
plants. The Charads, or fifth order, present in many respects a
much higher development than the rest, and may be justly regarded
as not belonging to Alga, [Chabacbil] The relation of these
groups to each other and the animal kingdom may be seen in the
following diagram, given by Professor Harvey in his work on the
'British Algs.'
As Mr. Harvey is the most recent writer on this subject we shall
follow him in this article. He divides the Alga into three sub-dassea
1. MdanoaperfMeB, which are marine pluits of an olive green, or
olive brown colour, having a moncociouB or dioecious fructification.
The spores are oliveHX>lourod ; each enveloped in a pellucid akin, and
either simple, or separating into two, four, or eight sporules. They
possess arUheridui, or transparent^ orange-coloured, vivacious ooipusde^
moving by means of vibratile <n\it^
2. IViodotpermea, which, with one or two exceptions, are marine
plants, mostiy of a rosy red or purple colour. The fructification is of
two kinds : either of spores in external or immersed conoeptacles, or
densely aggregated together and dispersed throughout masses of the
frond; or of tetraspores of a red or purple colour, eztemal, or
immersed in the fh>nd, and each enveloped in a pellucid skin whidi
at maturi^ separates into four sporules. Some pooesB antberidia
which are nUed with yellow corpuscles.
3. ChhroapermeoB, which are marine or fi«sh-water plants of a
green colour. The fructification is dispersed throu^ all parts of the
frond. The spores are green, formed within the oeUs, and often at
maturity having vibratile cilia. They produce also gemmules, or
external vesidee^ which contain a dense^ daik^odlouxed, granular mass,
which finally separates from the Arond.
Digitized by
Google
113
ALGiE.
ALOJE.
114
The MeUmospermece include the following orders : — FucaceaSf
Sporochnaoea, Laminariacece, IHctyotacea, ChordariacecB, Ectocar-
The FucactCB^ which have for their type the genuB FwyiUf are all of
them marine plants. They are of an olive brown or greeniah colour,
and very fine in their texture. The cellular Btruoture of which all
the Alga are composed is in these plants in a very condensed state,
awniming a leatheiy and sometimes even a woody character. The
base of tiieir stem or stipes forms a dense shield-like root^ whilst their
upper part is (tften expanded into a broad foliaoeous appendage. The
reproductive organs consist of small black or very dark spores, which
are collected into sori or are found scattered on various parts of the
frond. These spores are enveloped in a thick gelatinous mucus,
which seems to be a provision for the purpose of attaching them more
securely to the rocks on which they grow in the midst of the restless
element to which they are constancy exposed. They are of very
rapid growth, and only a few months serve to cover a surface of
naked rock with a forest of various species of i^uci Kelp is manu-
factured from the species of plants belonging to this section of A Igm ;
the one most commonly collected for this purpose is the Fuctu
veticuioius. Kelp is not now manufactured to any great extent in
this country, but a few years since it was a source of great wealth in
the Western Islands and the western shores of Scotland. [Kslp.]
At one time the quantity made in Scotland and its acyaoent isles was
not less than 20,000 tons annually, which sold at the average price of
102. per ton.
Of all the species, that which is the most common is the Fucua
vttieulotut, great quantities of which are cast upon our ooasta, and
which is known by its strap-
shaped, olive-gp^een, forked divi-
aioDS, having little yellowish oval
uneven pods at their points, and
by the crackling noise it makes
when trodden upon; a drcum-
stance whidi is owing to its stems
having a considerable number of
air-bladdflTB, by means of which it
floats. The structure of the pods
is highly curious. Externally they
ooDsist of a hard rind, covered
with tumours, each of which has a
little hole in its oentre. Internally
they contain a soft mucous sub-
stance, in which lie, next the rind
vid immediately below its tumours,
a number of round balls (a).
These little balls are composed of
jointed threads (6) which hold
together a great many little oval
grains (c) enveloped in a sort of
jelly. These grams are the spores
by means of which the plant is propagated, and when ripe they are
discharged through the holes in the tumours above described.
Although, from the simple structure of the Algos, we should not
expect that tibey would elaborate many of those secretions which in
higher plants are found subservient to the use of man and other
»jtimaiu as food, yet among many of these a gelatinous matter is
secreted, which is nutritious. In Qobhland, the F. vetieulotui is given as
provender to hogs, and hence is called Swine-Tang. Many other animals
will also eat this plant as food, in times of scarcity. It is also collected
in Jersey, and when dried is used as fuel The fishermen both of our
own and the Dutch ooasts use this Fvtcui and the F, terraiua for pack-
ing up their fish ; the latter is however preferred, as^ from containing
less mucus, it is less likely to ferment. The Fuci were at one time
used considerably in medidne, as well as other forms of Alg<B, but
since the discovery of their active principle, iodine [Iodins, Enq. Cra,
AsTS ASD So. Drv.], they have been comp«ratively little used. Accord-
ing to Ecklon, the Laminaria huccinaliB of the Cape of Gfood Hope is
the sea-weed that produces the greatest quantity of iodine.
T|ie Sargauum vtOgare, or .Tropic Orape, the Fucut trntam of older
writers, is remarkable for the immense quantities in which it occurs in
certain portions of the ocean. It only grows within forty degrees of
the equator, on each side, although occasionally thrown up by currents
on our own shores. In some parts of the ocean it is so constant that
it is said to assist pilots in rectifying their longitude. It was the
occurrence of immense fields of these weeds that struck the sailors of
Columbus with so much awe, and led them to suppose that Providence
had determined to ftxistrate their course, which nearly terminated in
the giving up of their great attempt to discover the New World.
AUtria eaeuletUa, when stripped of the thin part, forms a part of the
simple &re of the poorer classes of Ireland, Scotiand, Icdand, Denmark,
and the Fnroe Isluids.
The SporoeknacecB are a small group, composed of the Scatter-Tuft
(JSparochmui) and three, other genera, which are remarkable for bearing
little tufts of fine green filaments on the fixmds. They are of an olive
or yellowish green colour : they become flaccid on exposure to the air,
acquiring a ve^igris colour, and possess the property of decomposing
other Alff(B with ivhich they may come in contact
VAT. mat, DIV. YOL. L
I\ieut teiieulotus.
The Laminariacece, or Tangles, have a densely fibro-ceUular structure
and their spores are collected togethw in sori on the surface of the
frond. These plants are coriaceous or membranaceous in structore,
and are little changed by exposure to the air. Some of them are used.
Laminatia etculerUa is an edible spedes. It grows to the length of
20 feet, and the midrib, stripped of its membranaceous covering, is the
part that is eaten. L. sacchairirM, or the Sugar Sea-Belt, is said to be
eaten by the Icelanders. In Japan it is also considered a great delicacy.
L, digitata, or Sea-Wand, is eaten in Scotland, and is cried about the
streets of Edinburgh as Tangle, Many of the sea-weeds belonging to
this and other genera have been found to make excellent manure for
grasB-land& Kdp has in many instances been used, and it has perfectly
succeeded. It has been tried as a top-dressing, and singly or in
oombination with other manures on com, pasture, potatoes, turnips,
&;a, with the best effect
To this section belongs the Chorda JUum, SeapWhiplash, or Sea-
Whipcord, which is often found 80 or 40 feet in length. The fiond of
this plant is hollow within, interrupted at short distances, an arrange-
ment which appears to be for the purpose of enabling the plant to
float in the water, and thus securing the same end as the more highly
developed vesicles of Fiteu$ venculonu.
The Dietyotaeeaf or Sea-Networks, are a larger section than the last,
and are characterised by the beautifully reticulated texture of the tegu-
ment Their fix>nds are of various forms, but all of them are ribless.
The Chordariaeea and FetooarpaeecB have their fronds formed of
jointed filaments, which are either fr^ee or united into a compound body
The Fctoeairpacea are olivaceous or green marine plants; their
fructification is monoBdous, the capsules external, and the globules
placed between swollen ramulL It contains the genus Eoioearpui and
two others.
The FhodotpermecB include the following orders: — Jthodomelacea
LaurenciaceoB, OoralUnaeecef Ddetaeriacea, Bhodymmiaeea, Orypto-
nemiaeetE, Ceramiaeece, These orders are distinguished by their
brilliant and littie-fSeding tints, their leaf-like fronds, and the collection
of their spores into sori, or, if scattered, by the spores being arranged
on a ternary plan. The Chondrus^erieput, or Carrageen Moss, belongs
to the order Otyptonemieieecg, In Ireland it is used extensively as an
artide of food, and has lately been sold in London as a substitute for
Iceland Moss. It is frequently employed, instead of isinglass, for the
mani^^aoture of blano-mange and jellies. It has a slight bitter flavour,
which may be removed by steeping for some time previous to boiling.
Another genus of the same order is Oelidiwn, A species of thu
genus is said to be the substance collected by the swallows and
used in the construction of the edible nests of Java. Strange as
it may seem that a taste for birds' nests should exist among any
people, yet so strong is this taste in China, that tiie trade in birds'
nests forms a very lucrative and extensive branch of commerce.
Burnett, in his ' Outlines of Botany,' observes, " It has been estimated
that 242,400 lbs. of birds' nests, worth in China 284,290Z. and upwards,
are annually exported from the Indian Archipdago." The only pre-
paration the birds' nests undergo is that of simple drying, without
direct exposure to the sun; iSter which they are packed in small
boxes. They are assorted for the Chinese market into three kinds,
according to their qualities ; and the common price for birds' nesta
of the first sort at Canton is no less than 8500 dollars the pecul, or
51. IBs. 1 id. per lb. ; for the second, 2800 Spanish dollars the pecul ;
and for the third, 1600. The collecting these birds' nests, according
to Mr. Crawfrird, is as perilous a toil as our fearful trade of gathering
samphire ; for he says, " The nests are obtained in deep and damp
caves, and are most esteemed if taken before the birds have laid their
eggs. The coarsest are those collected after the young have been
fledged. The finest nests are the whitest ; that is, those taken before
thev are defiled by the young birds. They are taken twice a y^ear,
and if regularly coUected, and no unusual injury offered to the caverns,
the produce is very equal, and the harvest very little if at all improved
by being left unmolested for a year or two. Some of the caverns are
extremdy difficult of access, and the nests can only be collected by
persons accustomed from their youth to the office. In one place the
caves are only to be approached by a perpendicular descent of many
hundred feet by ladders of bamboo and rattan, over a sea rolling
violentiy against the rocks. When the mouth of the cavern is attained,
the perilous office of taking the nests must often be performed by
torch-light^ by penetrating into the recesses of the rock, where the
slightest trip would be instantiy fatal to the adventurers, who see
nothing below them but the turbulent surf making its way into the
chasms of the rock." (Crawford's 'Eastern Archipdago.')
Several other spedes of Odidiwn are made use of as food, more
especially in the East, where they are added to dishes to render the
hot and biting condiments more palatable.
The Iridea edulia, Edible Dulse, is a favourite food with many of the
Ortutaeea, as lobsters, crabs, &c. : it is also eaten by fishermen, both
raw and roasted. It is said to resemble in flavour roasted oysters.
The ffalymmia pahnata was at one time used as a masticatory, but
its use has been supplanted by tobacco. It is still, however, used as
a popular, remedy in scorbutic and other cutaneous diseases. " To
the Icelanders it is a plant of condderable importance. They prepare
it by washing it well in fresh water, and expodng it to dry, when it
gives out a white powdery substanoe, which is sweet and palatable.
Digitized by
Google
115
ALO^
ALQM.
m
and coven the whole plant They then pack it in oukB to keep it from
the air, and thus preserve it ready to be eaten, either in this state with
fish and butter, or, according to the practice of wealthier tables, boiled
in milk, and mixed with a little flour of 17& The cattle are also very
fond of this sea-weed, and sheep are said to seek it with such avidity
as often to be lost, by going too Ua from the land at low-water."
(* Quart Rev.,' vii. 68.) From tips latter drcumstanoe it was oaUed
Fueut ovinuSf or Sheep Dulse. In Kamtchatka it is used for makings
fermented beverage, which is easily produced on account of the great
qusLtity of sugar this plant oontams.
Amongst the Sh/odymeniacea is the genus GraeUUnria, the species
of wfaddi are also used as food, and one of them, 0, liehenoideif is highly
valued in Ceylon and other parts of the East, and bears a great
resemblance to 0. compreua, a species of the British coast, and which
Dr. GreviUe says is little inferior to the firsts and has been used in this
countiy both as a pickle and a preserve. The O. tenax, the Fucub
tenax of Turner, is invaluable to the Chinese as the basis of an excel-
lent glue and varnish. ** Though a smsll planty" says Dr. Greville,
" the quantity annually imported at Canton from the provinces of
Fokein and Tchikiang is stated by Mr. Turner to be about 27,000 lbs.
It is sold for 6d. or 8d. per pound, and is used for the purposes to
which we apply glue and g^um arabia The Chinese employ it chiefly
in the manu&cture of lanterns, to strengthen or varnish the paper, and
sometimes to thicken or give a gloss to silks or gauze." Mr. Neil^
thinks it probable that the gummy matter called chm-chou, or hai-tsai,
in China and Japan, may be composed of this substance. Windows
made of slips of bamboo, and crossed diagonally, have frequently their
interstices wholly filled with the transparent glue of hai-tsal
A celebrated vermifuge on the Continent is prepared from the
SdmirUhocorton^ a genus which grows in the Meditexranean, and goes
by the name of the Coralline of Corsica. It has a]so been recommended
as a remedy in cancer, but is seldom used in this cotmtiy.
TheP/ocamiiMii, or Hau>Flag {IkUa9eriacta\ is one of the most elegant
plants of this section. It was formerly used much in the construction
of artificial landscapes on paper, and its collection and preparation
gave employment to many of the poor on our coasts.
The order Cer€miacem contains six genera, one of which is the
Qriffithtia^ a plant named after Mrs. Griffiths, who has done much to
advance the knowledge of the order Alga in Great Britain. The
most extensive genera in this tribe are ColaUhamnionKDA Potynj^ftonia.
Most of the species belonging to these two genera are natives of the
sea, and are found attached to rocks, and to shells, stones, and
corallines which are thrown up by the waves. Many of them are also
found parasitic upon the larger sea-alga, as the various species of
Fuem and others.
The Chlorotpermecg include the orders Siphonaeeof, (hnftrvacea^
^vaeecBy OitciUatoriacecB, NottoeacecB, and Palmellaeea
The order Siphonacea consists of plants which are found in the sea,
in fresh water, or on damp ground, of an herbaceous green colour.
The frond is either compoeeid of membranaceous, filiform, continuous,
simple, or branched tubes, or formed of a combination of similar
tubes, forming a spongy or onistaoeous, globular, cylindrical, or flat
body; the reproductive organs are vesides produced on the outer
sur&ce of the tubes, filled with a dark green granular mass. This
tribe contains four genera : Codium^ Btyoptia, Vaiueherifi, and
Botrydium, The most interesting genus is Vaucheria, on account
of the remarkable obaervations that have been made upon its repro-
ductive granules by Unger and other botanists. [Vauchbbia.]
Codivm, the Sea-Puise, is a hollow, sub-globose, dark green plants
composed of an interwoven mass of tubular continuous filamente, the
repx^uctive vesicles being attached to the filaments nesr the surface
of the frond. There are two British species found on submarine
rocks. JBryoptit has two British species, which are slso marine plants.
The frond is membranaceous, filiform, tubular, cylindrical, glistening,
branched ; the branches are imbricated, or distichous and pinnated,
and filled with a fluid containing minute granules. Their numerous
branches give them the appearance of feathered mosses — hence their
name. Botrydimn (from Ek^rpvs), a G^|fe-Bunoh, is nothing more than
a spherical vesicular receptacle, filled with a watery fluid : it opens
at the apex, and has, descending from the lower part, a bunch of
radical fibres. In structure this plant resembles Cbdtum, but it is
much smaller, the receptacle not b^ng bigger than a grain of mustard,
and it grows upon the ground in moist shady situations. Granules
are contained in the watery fluid within the plant, and when the
weather is dry, the upper part of the receptacle collapses, giving the
plant a cup-shape.
The ConftrvQ^cecB are for the most part green plants, but sometimes
pink or brown. The fructification consists of a granular, coloured
internal mass, which assumes various forms.
The genus Conferta, although still containing numerous spedes,
has been much reduced by the formation of new genera. It has
however still an indefinite character, on account of the comparatively
little attention which the order Alga has received from botanists.
The *' filaments are articulated, free, distinct, uniform, simple or
branched. Fruit (?), an internal, coloured, granular mass (endo-
chrome). Colour green, rarely puiple or orange." The species of
Conferva are found wherever there is water. In running streams
ihev sttafih themselves to the stones at the bottom, and are so
abundant frequently in stagnant ponds and pools as to eonoeal
everything else. Some few of them are found in sea-water, and
some on dry land. Some of th^ species have been found developing
their peculiar forms under the influence of the ingredients of different
' mineral-springs ; and one, the (kn^trca tAermaZtt, is only found in ther-
msl springs. Under favourable circumstances they sometimes go on
developing to an immense extent in lakes or ponds in which they
grow. They are generally at first green, but as they ascend to the
surface of the water, and are exposed to the air, they become whitish.
The rapidity of the growth of these plants is sometimes very
extraordinary, and lakes, and even the ocean itself, are covered for
several miles with floating masses of Cknrferva several inches in depth.
Of the various species of Cvnferva, the 0. frada, the C. criipata,
and O, riwlarii are most abundant in this country. These plants are
frequently called Crow-Silks, and in some parts of the country, when
dried, they have been used for the purpose of stofi^g beds, also as
wadding for stuffing gsrments. Dr. Lightfoot says he has seen at
Edinburgh a kind of paper manufactured from the fibres of Conferva
fritetci, O. agagropUa, Globe Crow-Silk, or Moor-Ball, is found with
its filaments rolled up into the form of a ball, so that it has the
appearance of the balls of hair oocasionslly found in the stomachs of
animalft It is an inhabitant of lakes, but is rarely found. It is not
fixed to anything, but floats about at the mercy of the waves. The
balls vary in diameter from hslf sn inch to four inches.
The genus Hydrodictyon has fiilsments which form a network with
regular polygonal meshes, and vivipsrous articulations. There is but
one species, the H. ulricvJUUvm, Common Water^Net, which is a rare
plant, and found only in ditches and pools in the middle and southern
parts of England. It is a beautiful plsnt, forming a tubular net,
which floats freely in the water. The meshes of the net-work are
pentagonal or hexagonal, and vary in diameter from half a line to
half an inch, and the fiilaments from the width of a humsn hair to
that of the oocurseet hog^s-bristle.
The genus Mov^eotiOf named after J. R Mougeot, a German
botanist, has articulated simple filaments, which are finally united by
transverse tubes. The endoohrome is granulsr, at length forming
roundish globules at the point of conjugation. This is ^ne of the
genera of confervoid plante whose filaments are said to unite before
reproduction takes place. That this conjugation does take place
previous to their granules possessing any reprodac^ve power, in
msny of the species, there can be no doubt But there are many
species of Conferva which belong to the conjugate group of genera,
in which the phenomenon of conjugation does not take place previous
to reproduction. These exceptions occur more particularly in the
genus Zygnetna. [Ztohxma.] Several species of Mottgeotia are found
in Great Britain ; the most common is the M. gem^kxOf which is
abundant in pools and ditches, sometimes covering a space 30 or 40
feet in diameter, and being of a yeUowish-green or dull yellow colour.
The filaments are exceedingly fragile.
The genus Tyndaridea hss simple filaments, inosculating hj
transverse tubes. The endochrome is in two roundish mannfii, which
after conjugation unite to form a single globule. The species are
found in ponds and ditches, mostiy oonunencing their existence at
the bottom of the water, and after a littie time rising to the surface,
where they form masson varying in size, of a yellowish and yellowish-
green colour.
The Ulvacea include plants which are found in the sea, in fresh-
water, or on the damp ground : they are generally of an herbaceous
green or fine purple colour, and have a thin, tender, membranaceotu,
reticulated structure, rarely gelatinous ; they are generally furnished
with a very minute scutate root, which is either expanded or tubular
and continuous ; the reproductive organs consist of roundish, mostly
quatemate granules, or minute opercular grains, which are imbedded
in the delicate membtane of the plant This order contains about
ten genera, of which the five following are British i—Porphyra, Ulva,
Tetraaporot Enieromorpha, and Bangia,
Porphyra (from wofipiiptos), the Purple Laver, has a plain frond,
exceedingly thin, and of a purple colour. The reproductive organs
are of two kinds: — 1, Roundish granules arranged in foun, and
imbedded in the whole substance of the/rond ; 2, Masses of smaller
ovate granules, which are scattered without order, chiefly towards the
margin of tiie frond. Four species of the Purple Laver are enums'
rated. The most common is the Porphyra laeiniatOf which has its
fronds sggregatedand deeply cleft> the segments dilated, and variously
out and waved. This plant is common in the sea fix>m spring to
autumn, and grows on rocks and stones, whence it is often torn by
the violence of the waves, and thrown on the shore. The frond of this
plant abounds in a viscid gelatinous matter, which is said to be vei7
nutritious. On this account this plant, under the name of Laver, is
much eaten in many places, especially the south of England. When
collected, it is kept in jara with salt, and when brought to the table
is served up with lemon-juice. Dr. Lightfoot states that in the
Western Isles it is gathered in the month of March, and that, when
pounded and macerated with a little water, the inhabitants eat it with
pepper, vinegar, and butter. It is sometimes stewed with leeks and
onions. But although this plant is abundant enough, it is only ver^
partially used as an article of diet
Ulva the Green Laver, has a membranaceous frond of a green colour
Digitized by
Google
117
ALOiE.
ALQM,
118
with its reproductive granules arraDged in fours. There are seven
British species of Ulva : three growing in the sea, one in fresh water,
and three in damp places on the land.
U. latitnmaf the Broad Qreen Laver, has a plain, widely-oblong or
roundish frond, waved, and of a green oolotur and tender substance.
It is an abundant plant on the rocks and stones of the sea in sununer
and autumn. In common with U. Ltictuca, the Lettuce Qreen Laver,
it is gathered and eaten in the same way as the Purple Laver. It is
also known under the name of Oyster Green. This plant is populsrly
supposed to be good for scrofulous habits. It is sometimes applied to
the forehead to relieve headache in fevers, and also to procure sleep.
U. buUoBO, the Blistered Green Laver, is the fresh-water species. It
has an obovate, saccate frt>nd, which is gelatinous, and at length
becomes irregularly expanded, waved, and buBate. It is a veiy fre-
quent plant in stagnant pools and ditches of fresh water, often covering
Uie ^hole suifaoe of the water, and giving it the appearance of being
in a state of fermentation. Microscopically examined, this is an object
of no common beau^ ; it seems as if composed of little green balls,
about as big as the blood-ceUs in the human blood, having no sort of
adhesion with each other, but holding together by a transparent thin
jelly. It is by these little green baUs, or by the matter they contain,
that the Ulva is propagated. The ocftnmon Laver of the shops very
nearly resembles it, but is a marine spedes. The terrestrial species
of l/Zva are found growing on walls, roc^ the roo& of thatched houses,
and especially in places exposed to much moisture. U. thermaUa grows
in hot^rings at a temperature of 117** Fahrenheit.
The genus Tetnupora, named ttom the qiiatemary arrangement of
its granules, inhabits fresh water, and includes two British species.
The frt>nda are tubular or inflated, and gelatinous.
The Bntenmorpha, Water-Gut, has a tubular, hollow, membra-
naoeouA frond, of a green colour and reticulated structure; the
reproductive granules are arranged in threes or fours in the reticu-
lations. Seven or eight species of this genus have been described as
British. They are lul inhabitants of the sea» or of pools and ditches
of salt-water, with the exception of E. intettinaliBf which is also found
in fresh- water pools. All the species are long, varying from two or
ihne inches to three feet in length, and whoi floating in the water
very much resemble the intestines of an animal — Whence their name.
Bangia was named after Hoflbnan Bang; a Danish naturalist, who
wrote a work on the (kmderwz. It has a flat, capillary, membranaceous
frond, of a green, reddish, or purple colour.
The order OteiUaioriacece is composed of plants which are green or
brown in colour, with continuous tubular filaments, seldom branched,
though often joined together so as to appear brandied. The fructifi-
cation consists of an internal mass divided bv transverse septa, finally
separating into roundish or lenticular sporidia. This tribe of plants,
like the others, is found wherever there is water, and is more abundant
in fr-esh water than in the sea. There are however many of them
found in the sea, and also in mineral-waters Many of the species,
especially of OtcQitUoria, are endowed with a power of movmg so
appuren^y spontaneous, that some naturalists have placed them among
animals, as well as the more minute forms of plants belonging to the
order A Iga, Captain Carmidhael, who devoted much attention to this
subject, has made the following observations, which were published
frtmi among his MSS. by Mr. Harvey : — " I have been induced to
bestow considerable attention on such of the species as fell under my
notice, on account of the singnlar motion remarked in the filaments
hy various naturalists ; and I do confess that the result is something
like conviction that they belong rather to the animal than to the
vegetable kingdom. This motion or osdllaidon has been attributed
to various causes — ^to the rapidity of growth, to the action of the
light, or to the agitation of the water m which the specimens were
immersed for inspection; but none of these afford a satis&ctory
explanation. The last may be put to the proof by a very simple con-
trivance. Let a small portion of the stratum be placed in a watch-
glaas nearly filled with water, and covered with a circular film of talc,
so that its edge may touch the glass ; the water will be rendered as
fixed as if it was a piece of ice. The g^ass may now be placed under
the microscope, and the oscillation of the filaments viewed without
an^ risk of disturbance from the agitation of the water. Bjr following
this course it will be speedily perceived that the motion m question
is entirely independent of that cause. The action of light as a cause
of motion cannot be disproved, because we cannot view our spedmens
in the dark ; but indirectly there is nothing easier. If a watch-glass
ehaiged as above be laid aside for a night, it will be found that by
next morning not only a considerable radiation has taken place, but
that multitudes of the filaments have entirely escaped from the
stratum ; both indicating motion independent of light Rapidity of
growth will show itself in a prolongation of the filaments, but will
not account for this oscillation to the rig^t and left, and still less for
their travelling in the course of a few hours to the distance of ten
times their own length from the stratum. This last is a kind of motion
unexampled, I believe, in the vegetable kingdom. There is another
point in the natural historv of the Otcillatoriea, which favours the
opinion that they are animalcules. It is the extremely linlited term
of their existence. The commimity, if I may so call it, lives for several
months ; but the individuals die off, and are succeeded by others with
a rapidity to which there ib no parallel among genuine plants. If a
small portion of stratum, say one-fourth of an inch in diameter, be left
for three or four days in a watch-glass filled with water, the whole
area of the glass will be found coveiod with a thin transparent pellicle
or incipient stratum, derived from the filaments that had successively
radiat^ and died in the course of that short period."
There are sevcoal genera in the order (keilUUoriacece>-^8tiff(mema
has cylindrical, cartilaginous, branched, inarticulate filaments, inclu-
ding granules ranged in transverse dotted rings. Scytonema has
branched, fiacdd, tough, continuous, tubular filaments, with brown
or olive-«oloured endochrome, which is transversely striated, and at
length separates at the strise into lenticular sporidia. Calothrix has
erect tufted or fasciculate filaments destitute of a mucous layer,
fixed at the base, somewhat rigid, without oscillation. The tube is
continuous, and the endochrome is at length dissolved into lenticular
sporidia. Many of the species of Calothrix are parasitical on other
plants. It is to this genus that the Conferva nwea of Dillwyn belongs.
It is the Calothrix nivea of Agardh. This plant is remarkable for its
habitat in springs impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen. It was
first found in the sulphur-springs of Croft in Yorkshire, by Dr. Willan.
and has since been found bv other obanrvers. Dr. Daub^ny found it
in many of the sulphur-springs of the Continent, and Dr. Lankester
collected specimens at Mofiat, Harrowgate, Askem, and other places
where there were springs impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen.
The decomposition of this plant, probably mixed with the remains of
other organic beings inhabiting the springs, has led to the supposition
that the springs in which it was found contained a pseudo-organic
matter whi(^lias beoi called by the names of Baregine, zoogene, and
^airine. This was the opinion of the late Professor Anglada ; but
Dr. Lankester, having been able to form glairine by the decomposition
of the filaments of Calothrix nivea, renders it probable that there are
no compounds in mineral-waters, except the 8alti^ which have not
been derived from plants or animalcules inhabiting the waters.
('Annals of Nat. Hist,' 1841 ; ' Notice of Plants and Animals found
in Sulphureous Waters,' by K Lankester, MD.) The genus Lyngbya
has froe, flexible, elongated, continuous, decumbent filaments, destitute
of a mucous layer; the endochrome densely annulated, and separating
at the annuli into lenticular sporidia. This genus was named after
H. C. Lyngbye, a Danish botanist, and author of a work on the Alga
of Denmark. Some of the species are vexy common. The L. muroZu
is found almost on every damp wall or walk, forming an intensely
green stratum of indefinite extent, which is very conspicuous after a
shower of rain. Other species are parasitic upon some of the Fwsi
and are found in the sea.
The genus OtciUatoria has rigid, elastic, oscillating, simple,
continuous filaments, which are invested by a common mucous
matrix. The species are veiy numerous, but many of them are very
difficult to Hinf.iTigniph, They are not all found immersed in water,
but always occupy damp places. The 0. ieMiisnma is an inhabitant
of the warm springs of Bath, occupying broad velvet-like patches of a
dark green colour. Its if^^giiUr appearance. Sir J. E. Smith observes,
** arises from Ihe filaments being collected together into little ascending
tufts, apJNtfently rooted in the muddy deposit of the water. Eatik
tuft proves^ on examination, to consist of simple, reniform, even
filaments, crowded together, and quite pellucid and equally destitute
of joints and branches ; their diameter is not more than an 8-lOOOth
or 10-lOOOth piurt of an inch."
OtciUatoria dittorta, o, natural sise ; &, e, magnifled.
The order Nogtocacea consists of plants with elliptical or globose cells
connected in gelatinous moniliform strings. The filaments are separate,
or several are united together in a gelatinous frond. The cells com-
posing the filaments are of two kinds; first, a set of a bright green
colour, which constitute the greater part of the filaments, and
secondly, solitary cells of different form and size to the lost, destitute
of colour, and covered with ciha. They occur at intervals m all the
filaments, and are caUed 'connecting cells,' or 'heterocysts.' They
probably represent the antheridia in the higher plants. Tb^
Digitized by
Google
119
ALGiE. FOSSIL.
ALLIGATOR.
130
lioaiocacea are chiefly found in fresh-water streamB and damp
ditches.
The Palmdlaeea are amongst the lowest forms of the Alffce. They
consist of globose or elliptical cells, which are more or less distinct,
and are coUected together by means of a string-layer into a fh>nd.
The genus Protoeoecut has only one species, the P. tUvaiis. This little
plant has gained a large share of attention on account of its being
supposed at one time to be the cause of red snow. Now however the
animal kingdom has put in a claim for a share in the production of
this phenomenon. [Skow. Red.] Most of the species of MctmatoeoecuM
are of a red colour, and give an appearance like that of blood to the
rocks on which t^ey grow. These appearances have often been
regarded with a superstitious eye, and looked upon as warnings or
omens from Heaven. One of the species of PalmeUa, the P. etntefUOf
has a dark blood-red colour, and on that accoimt has been called 'gory
dew.' It occurs on white-washed walls, especially in damp cellars ;
and in such situations has sometimes given occasion for alarm, on
account of its having the appearance of stains of blood. The other
vpecies of Palmetta have various colours, as yellow, green, and black.
They are fotmd in fresh water streams and on rocks on the seanshore.
(Harvey, Britith Marine Alga; Hooker, Briiiah Flora; Agardh,
Speciea Alga/rwn ; Greville, Alga JBritannica ; Lindley, Vegetable
Kingdom; Hassall, FreaJi-Water Algce; Burnett^ (huUnee of Botany.)
ALGM, FOSSIL. The remains of sea-weeds in a fossil state are
less common than their probable abundance in the ancient ocean and
the generally marine origin of the strata might lead us to suppose.
This arises perhaps from the cellular texture and destructible nature
of the marine plants. Traces however of several genera occur in
Silurian, Carbomferous, liaasic, Oolitic, Cretaceous, and later deposits.
ALGAROBA BEAN. [Cbratoitia.]
ALHAGI (from the Arabic Aghul or Algti^, a genus of plailts
belonging to the natural order Legwninoia^ The species are imder-
shrubs or herbs with simple leaves and minute stipules. The flowers
are red, and disposed in racemes along the peduncles.
A. Maurorvm is a native of the deserts of Egypt» Syria, Mesopo-
tamia, and other countries of the East. This pluit yields a species of
manna which is called Trungibin or Terengabin. It is chiefly gathered
in the neighbourhood of Tauris where the plant grows abundantly.
The manna is a natural exudation from the leaves and branches of
the plants and is most abimdant during hot weather. In Arabia it is
supposed that the manna falls from heaven on the plant. It flrst
appears in the form of a small drop as of honey, which goes on
increasing in size till it is about as large as a coriander seed. The
manna yielded by this plant does not appear to be imported into this
country. It is principally made use of a^ the present day in Persia,
and is known by the name of Persian MamuL It is employed as food
for cattle. Two other species, A. Camdonun and A. Nipoudenaitf are
described by botanists, and cultivated in the greenhouses of this
country. Tiiey also yield mamuL
ALISMA. [ALiaifAOSJE.]
ALISMA'CEiE, a natural order of plants belonging to the class
Endogent, It is known from all the other orders of the same division
by its genera having the
sepals and petals perfectly
distinguishable from each
other both in colour ahd
situation, and by their
carpels being extremely
numeroua In many points
they approach very nearly
to the Crowfoot Tribe
(Ranwnculaeea), from which
the structure of their
embryo «nd their endoge-
nous ioo49 o| growth dis-
tinguish tiiem.
All the species are aquatic
plants, witii rather broad-
ribbed leaves and white
flowers. They appear to
be destitute of any active
properties, except a slight
degree of acridity, which
» however does not prevent
the rhizoma of some of them
from being eaten in China.
The order receives its
name from the genus A litma,
one species of .which,
Aliema PUsiUago. a common
Great Water Plantain {Ali»ma Plantago), . ^^ ^^j^^ ^^ q^^^ Britain,
in wet ditches and by river sides, has had the imfounded reputation
of being a cure for hydrophobia. Its powdered root is given in doses
of from half a drachm to a drachm, either infused in wine or mixed
with syrup.
ALKANET. [Ahohusa.]
ALLAGITE, in Mineralogy, is a variety of the tri-sHicate of
Manganese.
ALLALITE, in Mineralogy, a variety of Dioptide or Pyroxene,
[Ptboxbwe.]
ALL AMANDA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
ApocynacefB, It was named after Frederick Allamand, a surgeon who
travelled in Guiana, in 1769, and afterwards in Russia. He was a
correspondent of Linnasus.
The specie8x>f this genus are shrubs yielding ^ milky jvioe, with
yerticillate leaves, and many-flowered peduncles of large yellow flowers.
They are worthy of cultivation on acooimt of the beauty of their
flowers and foliage. They are all natives of South America, azid when
cultivated require a strong moist heat to make them flower freely.
An infusion of the leaves of A, cathartica is said to aci as a
powerful purgative, and an overdose to produce poisonous efiectai
ALLANITE, in Mineralogy, a synonyme of Orthiiey which is one
of the silicates of cerium mixed with other substances. [Obthits.]
ALLIGATOR, a name originally given by the British Co^oniBta of
ihe Southern States of the North JUnerican Union, to a large specie?
of reptile closely resembling the Crocodile of Egypt, but which
modem researches have shown to possess characters generically dififering
from those of that animal The word is supposed to be a corruption
of an old Indian name. According to its modem acceptation among
zoologists, the name is no longer confined to the q>ecie8 most
commonly found in Carolina, Louisiana, and the other Southern
States of the Union ; but it is applied generically to all the other
American species which agree with it in its most prominent and
influential characters, and which have been called Caymans, Jacar^
&C., by the Spaniards, Portuguese, and Indians of South America.
The characters which are proper to the Alligators, and by which ^ey
are distinguished from the Crocodiles of the Old World, are by no
means of such importance with respect to Uie influence they may be
reasonably supposed to have upon the habits and economy of these
animals as to warrant the formation of these reptiles into a distinct
and separate genus : their manners and habits are precisely thoee of
the true crocodiles, and if they differ in certain minor details of
stracture, this difference should be considered not as a generic charac-
ter, but as purely spedfia
M. Cuvier thus diotinguishes the Alligators from the true Crocodiles :
"The alligators have the head less oblong than the crocodiles; its
length is to its breadth, measured at the articulation of the jaws, as
throe to two ; the teeth are unequal in length and size ; there are at
least 19, sometimes even as many as 22, on each side in the lower jaw,
and 19 or 20 in the upper. The front teeth of the imder jaw pierce
through the upper at a certain age, and the fourth from the front,
which are the longest of all, enter into corresponding holes of the
upper jaw, in which they are concealed when the mouth is dosed
The hind legs and feet are round and neither fringed nor pectinated
on the sides; the toes are not completely webbed, the connecting
membrane only extending to their middle; and finally, the post-
orbital holes of the cranium, so conspicuous in the tme crocodiles,
are veiy minute in the alligators, or even entirely wanting." The
Crocodiles, properly so called, on the contrary, have the head at least
twice as long as it is broad ; 15 teeth on each side of the lower jaw,
and 19 on each side of the upper. The incisor or front teeth, as in
the alligators, pieroe through the upper jaw, at a certain age, but the
fourth or lai^gest of the lower jaw, instead of being received into a
corresponding hole of the upper, passes into a notch on each side of
it; and finally, the hind feet are bordered by a denticulated fringe,
and the toes are completely united by a swinmung membrane.
The characters here reported as peculiar to the alligators and croco-
diles respectively, are evidently not of sufilcient iivportance to exert
any very sensible influence upon their general economy. Of the
characters and organic modifications which they possess in cominon,
the principal is the long taper tail, strongly compressed on the sides,
and surmounted towards its origin with a double series of keel-shaped
plates, forming two upright denticulated crests^ which, gradually con-
verging towards the midSe of the tail, there unite and form a single row
to the extremity. Its great sLse, and laterally-compreased form, render
the tail an organ of the utmost importance to the crocodiles and
alligators : it is troe that its weight materially impedes their motkns
on dry land, but it is a most powerful instrument of progression in the
water, and influences the aquatic habits of these animals much more
than their webbed feet The latter character, indeed, is comparatively
of little weight : the hind feet are only used to aarist the progression
in slow and gentle motion, but in all sudden and violent actions the
tail alone is the active instrument; and even when the animal is
surprised on land, as we are assured by Adanson, it becomes a
powerful weapon of offeiyse. The compression of the tail is not
peculiar among reptiles to crocodiles, though so powerfully influencing
their habits ; but the second character wmch is common to the entire
genus, namely, the palmated or semi-palmated hind feet, is exhibited
by no other genus of reptiles, though all are more or leas addicted to an
aquatic life. This f&ct sufficientiy demonstrates the small influence
which the palmated form of the extremities exerts upon tiie economy
of these animals in general Still this character is by no means devoid
of importance, though in proportion to its utility in aquatic progroosion
it renders the terrestrial motions of the animals extreme^ slow and
awkward ; and this effect is still farther increased by the length and
weight of the tail at one end, and by the jmatomioal structore of tho
Digitized by
Google
121
ALLIGATOR.
ALLIGATOR.
1S2
neck at the other. Each of the cervical yertebrsB haa on either aide a
specieB of fiAlae rib, and their meeting at the extremities along the whole
zieck completely hinders the animal finom taming its head to either side,
and renders all ita morements stiff and constrained Neither is the jmce
of the crocodiles on land so swifb as to make them objects of fear to
ordinary quadrupeds ; a man can easily outstrip them, and so sensible
are these animals of their own inferiority in this respect^ that they
immediately retreat to their more congenial element upon the most
distant appearance of the human species.
The ouer general characters of the crocodiles and alligators consist
in their long flat heads, thick neck and bodies, protected by regular
transverse rows of square bony plates or shields, elevated in the
centre into' keel-shaped ridges, and disposed, on the back of the neck,
into groups of different forms and numbers, according to the species.
The mouth is extremely large, extending considerably behind the eyes,
and furnished in each jaw with a single row of conical teeth, all of
different sizes, and standing apart from one anotiier : these are Ixollow
within, and never vary in number, but are successively pushed out and
replaced by others of laiger dimensions, as the animals increase in age
and size. The tongue is shorti and fleshy, and attached to the under
jaw throughout its whole extent. It is consequently incapable of
protrusion, and from its small size and backward position seldom seen
even when the animal opens its mouth, which circumstance occasioned
the belief so universally prevalent among the andents, that the croco-
dile was altogether deprived of this organ. The eyes are placed on
the upper surface of tiie skull, are much approximated towards one
anofther, and provided each with three. distinct lids : the nostrils form
a long narrow canal, placed at the extremity of the muzzle ; the ears
are dosed externally by two fleshy valves, and beneath the throat are
two small pouches or glands, wmch open externally and contain a
muaky sub^ance^ Finally, the feet are provided with five toes before,
long and separate, and four behind, more or less perfectly united by
membranes : of these, the three interior alone on each foot are pro-
vided with daws, so that the two outer toes on the fore-feet, and one
on the hind, are constantly olawless.
Habitt of the AUiffotor. — It is reported by Pliny, that the Egyptian
crocodile retires to a secret cave or hiding-place, on the approach of
winter, and spends three or four of the coldest months in a state of
lethaigy, and without taking any food : this phenomenon, usually
called l^bemation, is almost universal among reptiles and serpents,
at least in temperate and high latitudes, and has been repeatedly
observed with regard to the alligators. On the approach of the cold
season these i^wirnnlw bury themselves in the mud at the bottom of
some stagnant pond, where they remain concealed and inactive tiU
the return of spring. Travellers assure us that they are never to be
found in running streams, but that they frequent in preference some
stagnant pend or the creeks of laige rivers. Here they may be seen
in almost oountiess multitudes, for they are extremely numerous in
the remote unfrequented parts of South America, protruding their
large flat heads through the leaves of the Nymphcea, PorUederiaf and
other aquatic plants which cover the aaifauce of the water, and
watching for prey ; or sometimes basking in the sun or sleeping on
the banks. They never come on shore, except during the hottest
part of the day, and always retire to the water on the approach of
night, during which time they are extremely active in search of
prey. Their food oonsists principally of fish, and it is conjectured
by some physiologists, that the musky fluid, secreted by the glands
mider the throat, acts as a kind of bait to attract their i»ey. The
alligators are seldom known to attack the human species, unless in
defence of their eggs or yotmg; the females of these reptiles are
reported to exhibit a much stronger degree of maternal afifection for
their offspring than usually belongs to their class. They generally
lay from fldfty to sixty eggs in <me place, of about the same size as
those of a goose, which they oover up with sand, and leave to be
batched by the heat of the sun; never however removing to any
great distance. When the young ones come forth, they are about
five or six inches long; and are immediately conducted to the
water by the female alligator. Seldom more than half the entire
brood live to reach the water. Many are destroyed while in the egg.
The vultures waylay and watch the female alligator when she goes
ashore to deposit her eggs^ which they scratch up and devour as soon
as she retires. Nimibers of them also fall a prey to the grown males
of their own spedee, and to various descriptions of ravenous fishes
which greedily devour them. The Indians eat the flesh of the
alligatotB, notwithstcviding its strong musky flavour; and even Euro-
peans, who have suooeeded in overcoming tikeir prejudices so far as to
partake of it^ report it to be both delicate and savoury. A single
peculiarity of habit seems to distinguish the alligators from the real
crocodiles : the former never leave the fresh water, whilst the latter
are known to frequent tiie mouths of laige rivers, and even to pass
between different islands, at considerable distances from one another ;
and so perfectly is this chancteristic of the two sub-genera» that the
'crocodile of the West India Islands differs from all the other American
spedes, and exhibits only those modifications which properly belong
to those of the Old World-
It was only at the conmienoement of the present century that the
different spedes of alligators were properly distinguished from one
another, or even that tiiey were suspected to be specifically different
from the crocodile of the Nile. This distinction is entirely duo to the
late Baron Cuvier, and since the publication of the first edition of his
work 'Sur les Osaemens Fossiles' little further addition has been
made to the subject. He enimierates three spedes, which he has
definitely characterised ; and describes a fourth, which he suspects to
be distinct, but of which he did not at that tiJoie possess a suffident
number of spedmens to enable him to determine the question.
1. The Alligator {Orocodilus Lucius, Cuvier) properly so called,
which inhabits the fresh waters of the Carolinas, tiie Mississippi, and
other southern parts of the United States, and of whose fierceness and
voradty Bartram has related such extraordinary accounts. It grows,
according to Catesby, to the length of 14 or 15 feet, the head being
one-seventh of the entire length, and half as broad at the articulation
of the jaws as it is long. It appears to be more fierce and voradous
than the South American species, often attacks men and quadrupeds
whilst bathing or crossing the rivers, and is even said to prefer the
flesh of the negro to all other food ; probably because the slave is
more exposed to its attacks than his master. The alligators prey
chieny by night ; they assemble in vast numbers, besetting the mouth
of some retired creek into which they have previously driven the fish,
and bellowing so loud that they may be heard at the distance of a
mile. To catch the fish they dive imder the shoal, and having
secured one, rise to the surface, toes it into the air to get rid of
the water which they necessarily
take in along with it, and catch it
again in its descent. When how-
ever they succeed in capturing a land
animal, which is too laige to be
swallowed at a single mou^ul, thev
oonceal the body beneath the bank
till it begins to putrefy, for as their
teeth are not formed for cutting
or masticating, they are unable to
tear the tough flesh in its fresh state ;
it is then dragged on shore and
devoured at leisure. When about
to lav, the female digs a deep hole
in the sand, and depodts her
eggs in layers, separated from one
another hy intervening strata of
leaves and dry grass. It would *
appear that she lays only one batch
of eggs during the same season,
though in the hotter parts of South
America, if the report of Laborde .
is to be depended on, the Cayman, I ^
or alligator of Surinam and
Cayenne, lays at two or even three *
different periods of the year; but Oerrical rutca of Alligator,
as each batch is said to consist of only twenty or twenty-five eggB, it
is probable that the whole does not exceed the number usually
asdgned to the common alligator. The female of this latter spedes,
it is said, never loses sight of her nest till the young are hatched, and
for months afterwards affords them the most unremitting care and
protection.
This spedes is frequently found up the Missisdppi hi^er than the
Red River. In general, the alligator of North America buries himself
under the mud, at the bottom of the swamps and matahes which he
inhabits, as soon as the cold weather fairly sets in, and continues in a
lethargic sleep till the return of spring. During the very severe frosts,
sensation is so completely suspended, that the b^^dy of the animal may
be cut into slices without dispelling his lethargy ; yet it is never actually
frozen, and the partial return of a few hours' bright sunshine is at all
times suffident to restore suspended animation. It is particularly in
the rivers, lagoons, and swamps of Florida, G^igia, South CaroUna,
and Louisiana, that the alligator reaches his greatest dimensions.
Bartram foimd immense numbers of alligators and fish in a mineral
spring near the Musquito River, in Flori<^ though the water, at ita
exit from the earth, was neariy at the boiling point, and strongly
impregnated with copper and vitriol
Beddea the characters common to all the American crocodiles, this
spedes exhibits the following modifications which distinguish it from
others : — The snout is flattened on its upper surfoce, and slightly tuned
upwards at the extremity; the rides of it are nearly parallel, and the
nose forms a regular parabolic curve. It was this similarity to the
head of a pike that gave to the present spedes the name of Orocodilus
LueiuB, or the Pike-Headed Crocodile. The internal rim of the orbits
is large and protuberant, but without being united by a transverae crest
as in the CrocodUus Mclcropc, or Spectaded Alligator. The external
openings of the nostrils are separated by a long knob ; the skull has
two shallow, oblique, oval pits, in the bottom of which are two small
holes. On the back of the neck are four principal plates, elevated in
the centre into keel-shaped ridges ; and in front and rear of these
respectivdy, two smaller ones of similar fonn. The back exhibits
18 transverse rows of similar plates, the flrst with only two crests or
ridges, then two with four, afterwards three with six, then six with
eight, then again two with six, and finally, the last four rows with four
crests each. The ridges or crests on the body are of nearly equal siz^ ;
Digitized by
Google
123
ALLlaATOft.
ALLIGATOR.
those of the tail are much lai^r, and amount to 88 in all, 19 before I species shows not the slightest trace of those postorbital perforatioas,
the union of the two lateral series, and as many afterwards. The whidi are so conspicuous in the oroeodile of the Nile^ and moze or
eol nir is a deep greenish-brown aboTe, and light-yellow on the under { less dereloped in all tha other species*
Trcnk cf the lame ; Tcntnl upeet
Ontline of the head and uUerior parts of
Cyoeodilut Luciu$, seen ttom ahore.
sur&oe of the body ; the sides regularly marked with alternate bands
of both these colours.
2. The Cayman {CrocodUut palpebroBut^Cnvier) is at once distinguished
from all other species by the bony structure of the eyebrows, which
fonn Utrge knobs of the size of a man's fist ; and by the small extent
of the membrane connecting the toes of the hind feet, which in
prepared specimens can soanely be recognised. The skull of this
This is the oommon species of Surinam and Ouiana : it is there
called Cayman, a word most probably of natire origin, whilst the
following species, which is likewise found in the same countries, though
its more appropriate locality would appear to be Brasil and Buenoci
Ayres, is distinguished by the name of Crocodile. The Cayman does
not attain so laige a size as the other species, nor will he venture to
attack a man on diy land, or even in the water, so long as he keeps hia
legs and arms in motion. The female deposits her eggs in a single
layer, and after covering them slightly with sand, abandons them
to the vivifying influence of the tropical sun, wiUiout taking any
further charge either of them or of the young progeny.
8. The CrocodUut trigonatut of Sdhneider is a species of crocodile^
exhibiting all the peculiar characters which properly Hinfit^g^iiBh the
alligators of America, and yet suspected to be of African origin. It is
even so closely allied in form and general characters to the CavuMUh
Digitized by
Google
125
ALLIGATOR,
ALLIUliL
IM
that Baron Cuvier hM desoribed it as a mere vsrietj of that speciea.
The principal diatinctiou between this and the foregoing species consists
in a ridge which rises in front of the orbits, and runs towards the
■nout^ and a small notch in the posterior border of the skull ; the
second row of cervical plates is lai^r thfm the others, and towards its
Oerrical PUtes of the Cayman Cenrical Plates of C.iyigonaiw,
{C. palp^rotui.)
middle are two or three small scales, with irregularly diiposed crests;
the ]ai;ge ridges assume the form of scalene triangles, which gives the
whole animal a rough and bristly appearance ; there are 16 transverse
bands on the back, the number of plates appearing to vary according
to the species, and from 19 to 2^ on the tail, 9 or 10 before the junction
of the lateral ridges, and from 10 to 17 afterwards. Nothing whatever
is known of the manners or habits of this species or variety.
4. The Jacar^ {OrocodtUu scUroptf Schneider) appears to be spread
over the whole of tropical America, but is more especially nimierous
in Brazil, where it attains a very large size, snd is found in all the rivers
and lakes. Its head is more attenuated than
in the alligator of North America ; the sides
converging towards the snout^ so as to form
very nearly an isosceles triangle ; the surface
of Uie bones of the skull has a rough scabrous
appearance, as if arising from disease ; the
orbits of the eyes are surrounded by large
prominent rims of bone, and these are. con-
nected together by an intermediate ridge,
giving the whole very much the appearance
of a pair of spectacles; finally, the skuU is
pierced by two very smiall holes behind the
orbits. The cervical plates are remarkably
large; they are arranged in four transverse
bands, of which the first two contain four
each, and each of t^e others two. The
transverse bands of the back vary according
(o age, and it would even seem according to
the individual ; they most commonly consist
of two rows, vrith two plates each, four with
six, five with ei^t» two with six, and four
with four. The colour of the animal is
greenish-brown above, marbled irregularly — — ^
with diflTerent ihades of green, and pale Cervical Plates of the Jacar*
gpeenish-yellow below. TWs species grows ^ ' ** •^'^'•^
to the size of from 14 to 18 feet in length ; the whole length is from
eight to eight and a half times that of the head.
The Jacur^, according to Azara, are never known to attack men, or
even dogs, in passing the rivers, unless it should happen to be near the
place wha« they have deposited their eggs ; and even then, they are
never known to prey upon the body, contenting themselves with the
fish and water-fowl which they find so plentiful in their own element
During the night they are exceedingly active, and always keep in the
water, showing only their heads above the surface, but towards the
middle of the day they come ashore to enjoy the heat of the sim ;
they Uien sleep profoundly, but always retreat to the water on being
disturbed. The eggs are about the size of those of a goose ; they are
white, and much sought after by the free Indians, who also eat the
flesh of the Jacar^ itself, though it has a strong musky smell, and
scarcely any juice. The female deposits her eggs in the sand in a
single layer, and covers them with straw or leaves ; few of them,
however, escape the quick eye of the vulture, and even many of the
young fiiU a prey to the fuU-grown nudes, which at the period of
their first appearance, in the hottest part of summer, are puticularly
fierce and ravenous, the marshes which they inhabit being then dried
up, and tlieir food difi&cult to obtain. This species appears to have
pretty neariy the same range towards the south of the continenty that
the aOigator, or pike-headed crocodile, has to the north. According
to Azara it is never found beyond 82* of south latitude. Many
interesting facts regarding the habits of this species are recorded in
the narratives of Prince Maximilian, Spix and Martius, and other
Brazilian travellers. [Cbooodilia, Sufplbmekt.]
ALLIUM, a very extensive genus of bulbous Monoootyledonous
plants, belonging to the natural order LUiacete* The spedee are
all remarkable for having, in a greater or less degree, the odour of
garlic, and for the agreeable stimulating efifects that acoompany it
For this reason some of them have been objects of cultivation from
the highest antiquity.
As 'a genus. Allium is known among other ZUiaeetBf by the
flowen growing in round heads or umbels, bv the perianth being
deeply divided into six spreading lobes, and by having a capsule with
three angles, three valves, and ^ree cells, sometimes so deeply lobed, '
as to have the appearance of six cells. The number of species is vtery
considerable; they are almost exclusively natives of the northern
hemisphere, and are principallv found wild in the meadows and groves
of Europe, in the north of Asia, and the north of I^ypt ; a small
proportion only inhabiting corresponding latitudes in North America.
Many of them are handsome flowering plants, but as they are mora
important on account of their useful properties, we shall confine
ourselves to some account of the kinds commonly cultivated in the
kitchen-garden.
Allium CepcLt the Common Onion, is too well known to require
description. It is not certain of what country it is a native, but it
has from time inmiemorial been cultivated in Egypt Its varieties
are not very numerous, considering that it is slmost exclusively
increased bv seed : the most remarkable are the Blood-Red Onion,
which is the most pungent; the Strasbuig Onion, which is the
hardiest; the Silver^kinned Onion, which is the smallest, and the
most fitted for pickling; and the onions of Portugal and Tripoli,
which are the largest and the most delicate. In this country
the bulbs do not generally arrive at the lai^ge size of those imported
from Portugal and Spain; but skilful gardenen have nevertheless
succeeded in procuring them fully as fine. Their method has been
to take the small onions of a late-sown crop of the previous year, and
to plant them in rows in the beginning of April, laying them on the
sunace of the soil, each surrounded with about a himdful of decayed
and nearly dry manure. All the time that is usually lost in seed-
sowing is thus avoided, and the moment the bulbs push forth new
roots, they find themselves in the midst of an abundant store of
food, which continues to supply them with nutrition during the
whole of the growing season. As they advance in size, the soil round
the bulbs is frequently disturbed by the hoe, for the sake of ex^sing
as much as possible the carbonaceous matter of the manure to the
action of the atmosphere. This process is only discontinued when
the leaves b^in to turn yellow ; the bulbs are then allowed to ripen
as usuaL
AUium sehcmopratum, the Chive, is a little tufted plants with
slender, cylindrical, taper-pointed, dark-green leaves ; its flowen are
arranged in a smsll compact round head, and are of a purplish or
pale violet colour ; the bulbs are small, long; and white, and grow in
dense, matted tufts. It is a native of the mountainous regions of
Europe, from Lapland to Italy ; and is found here and there in Great
Britam. It is more employed by the French for their cookery than
in this country.
AUium JUtuloium, the WeUih Onion, is a native of Siberia, and is
supposed to have gained its English name from having been imported
originally from Q^many, with the name Walsch, or foreign, attached
to it It is a perennial, and cultivated chiefly for the purpose of
being sold in the markets when very voung, at which time its flavour
is ddicate ; its hardiness enables it when young to brave our spring
cold better than the common onion.
AUitun Asealonieum, the Shallot^ a native of Asia Minor, is in many
respects similar to the chive, from which it is known by its larger
leaves, its smaller and more deeply-coloured flowers, and by its
stamens having alternately throe pomts on the filaments. It more-
over produces bulbs of sufficient size to be fit for use, and accordingly,
while the leaves only aro employed in the chive, the bulbs aro the
parts sought for in the shallot These multiply abundantly, so that
every year, whrni the crop is taken up, thero is plenty of small bulbs
whidi can be reserved for planting the succeeding season, while the
fine fully-formed ones are selected for the kitchen. To obtain the
bulbs in the greatest perfection, they should not be buried in the
earth, as is the common practice, but merely placed on the surface of
the soiL
Allium »aiivum, Qarlic, has been found wild in Sicily, and some
parts of Provence. Its stem is simple, erect, and furnished with flat,
narrow, pointed leaves ; the flower^eads have usually a number of
little bulbs lying among the flowers, which are white or pinkish ; the
bulbs are remarkable for the development of the greater part of the
axillary buds of their scales ; these buds grow rapidly, and acquiro a
bulbous state, and form what aro called the cloves of the garlic, which
are the parts employed in cooking.
AUium ophiotcorodon, Rocambole, or Spanish Shallot^ is very
slightly different from garlic, being chiefly distinguished by its larser
size in all the parts, and by the upper part of its stem being generally
twisted spirally just before flowering. It is a native of most parts of
the south of Europe.
Digitized by
Google
127
ALLOCHROITR
ALLUVIUM.
IS
Allium porrvm, the Leek, has, like mftiiy other cultiTated plants, I
disappeared iu a wild state, so that its origin is unknown. It is a
broaid-leaved succulent species, not oapable of forming a bulb, because |
the leaves do not perish till the plant itself dies away, but producing
instead a cylindrical body composed of the tender, colourless bases
of the leaves, which are rolled round each ol^er in a compact manner.
As the ezoellenoe of the lo^ depends entirely upon the large size
of this part^ the attention of the cultivator is exclusively directed to
that before all other considerations. It has been found that no
method is so successful as to sow tiie seed early in a light and well-
manured soil, and then, when the young ledcs have arrived at the
thickness of the little finger, or even sooner, to drop them into holes
about 2^ or 8 inches wide, and 6 inches deep, in the bottom of which
some very fine manure has been deposited.
• ALLOCHROITE, in Mineralogy, a variety of Gaznet, charaoterised
with other minerals by possessing free silica. [Garhet.]
ALLOMORPHITE, in Mineralogy, a variety of Heavy Spar, whibh
it a sulphate of barytes.
ALLOPHANE, a mineral belonging to the group of Clays whibh
contain a huge proportion of water. It occurs reniform, botiyoidal,
globular, ana massive. No deavage. Colour blue, green, brown.
Fracture conchoidaL Hardness S'O nearly. Lustre vitreous, trans-
parent» transluoent. Specific gravity 1*852 to 1*859. It is found at
Baalfold in Thuringia, at Schneebexg in Saxony, and other pkces.
Its analysis, by Stromeyer, gives :— Silica, 21 '922; alimiina, 82-202;
lime, 0*780 ; sulphate of lime, 0*517 ; carbonate of copper, 8*058 ;
hydrate of iron, 0270 ; water, 41*801.
ALLSPICE. [EnoBinA.]
AJjLUVIUM, a name given to those accumulations of sand, earth,
and loose stones or gravel brought down by rivers, which, when
spread out to any extent^ form what is called Alluvial Land. The
word is derived from the Latin verb alluere, signifying 'to wash upon,'
as the sea does upon the coasts, or a river upon its banks, and is
chiefly used as a term in geology. Many geologists restrict the
expression to such water-worn materials as have been deposited either
recently or within the historical era, and which do not include the
remains of extinct species of organised bodies : but as there are
similar aocumulations of transported materials, belon^;]ng to almost
every geological period in the history of the earth, it is an unwar-
ranted restriction of the term to confine its use to the recent period
only. There is, no doubt, thia distinction between modem alluvia
and those of ancient periods, that in the latter, besides the remains
of extinct species of animals and plants, there is more frequently a
consolidation into stone. To these last accumulations of water-worn
materials some geologists apply the name Dilwimm, which is objection-
able, because it expresses, not a particular state of the materials,
but a theory of their formation ; that is, that they were produced
by a deluge, — some indeed go so far as to assert that they were
accumulations from the Mosaic fiood. The word Alluvium might be
conveniently used as a general term, and we might say Ancient
Alluvium and Modem Alluvium, as the French geologists say Terraint
de Tramport—Aneieni and Modema. We might go farther, and say
Secondary and Tertiary Alluvium, and the Alluvia of particular
groups of strata.
In treating of this subject we have to consider three operations :
1, The disintegration and decay of the superior crust of the earth by
the action of meteoric agents, of tides, currents, and streams ot
running water ; 2, The transportation of the loosened materials by
streams and currents ; and 8, The deposition of the matter at the
bottom of rivers, lakes, estuaries, and the ocean. The surface of the
earth is subject to unceasing changes from the operation of three great
classes of agents, namely, the meteoric, the aqueous, and the igneous.
Under the first of these classes are comprehended, the air of the
atmosphere, the vicissitudes of heat and cold, moisture and rain, lig^t,
electricity, and the wind : under the second class, running water of
every kind on the surface of the land, the tides, waves, and currents
of the sea as they strike against its shores : the third class comprehends
volcanoes and earthquakes, which will be discussed under another
head. It is the second class with which we have chiefly to do at
present, and we shall only briefly touch upon the first as subservient
to the subject with which we are occupied.
All rocks, and indeed almost all mineral substances, have a greater
or less tendency to combine with the oxygen of the atmosphere^
espeoiallv when under fiEivourable circumstances of heat and moisture,
and prooably also of electricity and light : carbonic acid and water
also are absorbed by rocks in considerable quantity ; and the efiect of
these oombinations, whether chemical or mechanical, is to loosen the
cohesion between the partides of the stohe, and induce a tendency to
disintegration. This separation of the parts is very much accelerated
by those sudden expansions and contractions which are occasioned by
vidssitudes of temperature, and especially during frost, when the
imbibed moisture is converted into ice. This slow and silent work of
waste is unremittingly going on wherever rocks are exposed to the
weather. No snecies of stone is exempt ; and even granite, which in
general is so little subject to change as to be proverbially a symbol of
endurance, and is selected for our bridges and other great works of
architecture^ under particular circumstances of constitution and
exposure, is remarkably disposed to disintegration. " The granite of
some parts of Finland," says Mr. Strangwaya^ "is so liable to decom-
position, that a great boulder of it may often be seen with a hole cut
in it laige enough to admit a cart and horse ; and the stone, though
at a sm^ distance it seems calculated to last for ages, ia cut down
and shaped away with the same ease, and much in the aame manner,
as a hay-rick." The same agents sometimes give mora marked prooti
of their destruottve power, when lighlziing shiven a pinnade of rock,
or when a mass of water, enclosed in a cleft and converted into ice,
rends, by its great expansive force, vasts blocks asunder. The effect
of these several indefatigable agents, all working together, with graviir
in their favour, is a system of universal decav and degradation, whi(i
may be traced over the whole surface of the land, from the mountain-
top to the seasihore. The wind, thou^ it may sometimsa detach
partides, is diiefly instrumental in transporting to a distanoe matter
already separated. Every drop of rain that faUs, as soon aa it touchea
the ewth becomes an instrument of destraction, and the minute
fragments which eveiy shower washes away are hurried along the
streams into a river, and are either deposited at a lower levd, or are
transported to the sea : thus, a solid body which once formed a part
of a mountain-top among the Andes, after being swept along for
thousands of miles through the bed of a river into the waten of the
AUantic, ma;^, by ocean-currents, be deposited at the bottom of the
Qulf of Mexico, while the fragment with which it was once united
may be carried far into the deptiis of the Pacific. '
To this assertion of the constant waste of the land, and the
conduil^ons which are drawn from it, it has been objected, that we
can hutUy discover any diange in the shapes and altitudes of moun-
tains, that the forms of many lands have continued unaltered since the
earliest records, and that even productions of human art exposed to
the action of the weather for many centuries have undergone no
perceptible decay. No doubt the prooess is dow, if compared with
the progress of events in which the human race has had concern, but
no one will deny that riven are loaded during every flood with solid
matter; and, as the matter so suspended can onlj be derived from
the land, it necessarily follows that a continuance of the process muat
in time wear down the loftiest mountains, where the rocks are not
protected by a covering of turf horn the action of the destradave
agents. Of the rapidity of this vraste we have no means of judging;
and any attempt to express our conjectures by figores would be little
better than an idle occupation. It is almost within our own time
that anv accurate measurements of heights have been made : and aa
two estimates of the same mountain, made with all the accuracy of
which our instruments are capable, often give a diflerence of several
feet, we aro not even now able to leave behind us data by which posterity
may mark the progress of this spedes of geological change; for the
removal of such a mass of matter as should <iimini>>i the height
of a mountain by three or four feet, by ordinary agents, may require
thousands of yean for its accomplishment. If Mont Blanc, by our
most accurate measurements, be now 15,744 feet above the level of
the sea, and if the geologisti, many centuries hence, by newly-diicovared
methods not liable to error, should find it only 15,740, it would be
impossible for hyn to know whether the difference was to be set
down to geological change, or to the imperfSection of the instromenta
of his ancestors.
In geological speculations we must lay amde all condderations as to
time : we have only to do with that dement when our inquiries relate
to man ; and if we ara to be guided by andogy in our reasonings, we
must be satisfied that a space of time of vast duration must have been
requidte to produce any great amount of geologicd dumga We lee
even in many chemicd processes, that long-continued action gives
birth to substances which could not otherwise be obtained, — aa, for
example, crystala of felspar are formed if the heat be maintained for
some weeks, but not otherwise; and long-continued action in the
great laboratory of Nature has no doubt been an equally powerful
instrument.
Although we can, in strictnesB, only say that certain geologicd
events must have preceded others, we are not warranted in with-
holding any length of time for the accomplishment of the change,
\nerelv because we are imable to form a conception of an indefinite
period : it would be as irrationd as if we wero to withhold our assent
to some of the established truths in astronomy, merdy because we are
incapable of forming an idea of indefinite space. It has been
eloquently add by Playfair, that ** It affords no presumption sgainsi
the reality of the progress of decay that, in respect of man, it is too
slow to be immediatdy percdved. The utmost portion of it to which
our exj)erience can extend is evanescent in comparison with the
whole, and must be regarded as the momentary increment of a vast
progresdon, circumscribed by no other limits than the duration of the
world. Time performs the office of integrating the infinitesimd parts
of which this progresdon is made up ; it coUects into one sum, and
produces from them an amount greater than any that can be assigned."
But slow and silent as the work of these agents of destruction is, we
have only to direct our view towards those parts of Uie earth where
the machinery of Nature is to be found on its grandest scde, to be
sendble of the prodigious effects which their unceasing operation
must produce in the long lapse of ages.
The force of water, when directed against any obstade in its course,
is veiy considerable, even by its own wdght done, especially if it be
Digitized by
Google
180
ALLUVIUM,
ALLUVIUM.
180
flowing oTer a highly-inclined Burfaoe ; but its destractlTe power is
greatly augmentea if it be loaded with sand and grayeL In floods,
▼eiy considerable blocks are carried by the stream to great distances ;
for it must be remembered that these sre much more easily moved in
water than on land, in consequence of the law in hydrostaUos, that a
solid body ftilly immersed in water weighs so much less tlum it does
in air by a sum equal to the weight of the mass of water which it
displaces. If the water flows with a velocity of 8 inches per second,
its force, when free from suspended matter, is sufficient to tear up
flne day ; 6 inches per second, fine sand ; 12 inches per second, fine
gravel ; and 8 feet per second, will tear up beds of loose stones of the
size of an egg The flood occasioned by the bursting of the banier of
a lake in the valley of Bagnes near Martigny, in the Vallais, moved at
first with the tremendous velocity of 88 feet per second, afterwards
diminished to 18, and 11 ; and at the end of its ooursey when the
water reached the Lake of Qeneva, it was still runnins; at the rate of
6 feet per second. From the barrier to this pointthe fiJl is 4462
feet ; the distance is 45 miles ; and the mass of water passed over this
laige space in 54 hours. It swept along houses, bridges, and trees;
masses of rock equal in dimensions to houseai, wluch it tore out of an
ancient alluvial soil, were carried a quarter of a mile down the valley.
A flood which happened in the noiih of Scotland in 1829 afforded
numerous examples of the power of running water to transport large
blocks of ston& In the river Nairn, a fragment of sandstone rode,
14 feet long, by 8 feet wide, and 1 foot thick, was carried above 200
yards down the river. The river Don forced a mass of 400 or 500
tons of stones^ many of them 200 or 800 pounds weight, up an indined
plane, rising 6 feet in 8 or 10 yards, and left them in a rectangular
heap, ^at 8 feet deep, on a flat groimd. The small rivulet called
the College, in Northumberland, swollen by a flood in August, 1827,
carried several masses of stone^, weighing from a half to thne-quarters
of a ton, two miles down its course ; a lazge block, weighing nearly
tiro tons, was transported to the distance of a quarter of a mUe.
Thus it appears that the instruments of waste employed by Nature
are far more powerftil in their effects than is generaUy supposed. It
is also evid ent that such powers, unremittingly exerted, must, after a
long period, cause changes in the configuration of the earth's surface^
and we shall now proceed to point out some of the efibots which are
produced by the working of this powerfal machinery.
The cause of the formation of valleys is a subject of great controversy
among geologists. Some ascribe their formation to ezteaordinary floods^
waves^ or deluges, which in their sudden passage scooped out the land ;
others, to the gradual efiidct of those natural ag^ts of whose existence
and power we have had experience. It may fairly be presumed that^
when the continents were raised out of the sea, their surfaces did not
present a uniform plain, but were broken by numerous ridges and
mequaliUes, and tnat the ridges themselves were travened by
numerous fissures, one of the efibots of the power by which th^
were raised. The first rains that fell, and the first springs whici
btust forth, would neceasarilv collect in the lowest levels, and thus
the diraction of the great truxuc of a river would be determined; and
it might also happen that other clefts— depressious at a higher level —
would communicate with this main channel But that every such
great depreasion would have a direct communication with the sea, and
that sudi a combination of subordinate valleyB ss compose a river-
system could have been formed by the breaking up of the earth's
crust, either by elevation or subsidence, can hardly, we think, be
maintained by any one. A river^ourse, or system, may be not inaptly
compared to a picture of a great troe, whose branches gradually
diminish in sisei, but increase in number, aa ihay recede from the
stem. The great trunk of the river is divided into many branches^
which spring from it at various distances from one another; and these
again are subdivided into an infinity of smaller ramifications^ each
diminishing in size as it increases in distance from the main trunk —
a regular communication being kept up between every point and the
line of greatest depression; ''forming together a system of valleys
communicating with one another, and having suck a nice adjust-
ment of their declivities, that none of them join the principal valley
either on too high or too low a level" Some idea may be formed A
the extent to whmh the surface of the land has thus be«i frurowed by
ineans of the subordinate streams that feed a great river, from whii
^ede says of the tributaries of the Isar, wluch, flowing from the
Tyrolese Alps^ snd pMsinff by Kunioh, joins the Danube some miles
above Ftasao. This river is fed on its right bank l^ 488 streams, on
its left by 800; thefozmer joiningthe main bed by 59 (Aannels, the latter
by 44. But the Isar is only one of the 84 great branches of the Danube,
and holds only a fourth rank among them ; snd even the Danube is a
river of the third magnitude in the physical history of the earth.
We have direct proofii of the power of watir to wear a channel in
the hardest rocks in almost every country, and even in a remarkably
short time^ A stream of lava, poured out from ^tna in 1608, floweol
serosa the bed of the Simeto, the laigest river in Sicily, which flows
along the base <^ the mountain and mils into the sea near Cataniiu
The stream has now out a passsge through the hard rock^ which is
only a litae less compact than basalt^ to the depth of from 40 to 50
feet^ and from 50 to several hundred feet wida
The Nertnlddl^ a river of Hindustan, has worn a ohannel in a
basaltic rock to the depth of 100 feek Ftofeasor Sedgwick and Sir
VAZ HHT. Dry. YOU !•
Boderiok Hurchison state, that in the enormous masses of horisontal
coarse conglomerate, found in many of the valleys of the Eastern Alps^
rivers have often scooped out goiges to the depth of 600 or 700 feet;
and that in the valley of the Inn, near Innspruck, snd in that of the
Drave, between Elagenfrirt and Marburg^ there are splendid examples
of these phenomena.
The rock over which the water of the Niagara is precipitated at its
celelnated FaUs is undergoing a daily waste ; so that the cataract has
receded nearly 50 yards in the last 40 years. The river below the
Falls runs in a channel above 150 feet deep, and 160 yards wide^ for a
distance of 7 miles, where it emeiges into a plain ; and this channel
has evidently been formed by the same operation as that which is now
in progress. Sir Charles Lyell computes, from this and other data,
that the FsUs have been 80,000 years in wearing this channel The
waste is accelerated by the action of the water at the Falls on an
under-bed of soft clay, which being washed away leaves the superin-
cumbent limestone steta unsupported, when tiiey fall down in huge
mnsnoo. A slmilsr effect is produced, even in mountains of considerable
elevation, when the superficial water, or undeiground springs, obtain
access to an inferior bed of soft materials^ and ^adually wash it away.
This took place in 1806 at the Bossberg, near the Lake of Zug m
Switserlan^ a mountain more than 5000 feet above the level of the sea.
The stony Tnassos which were imdermmed were inclined at an angle
of 45**; and thus slid down, covering the valley below with an
enonnous heap of hlockB ot stone and earth, and overwhelming seyeral
villages, in which above 800 persons perished.
There are many valleys and narrow defiles, which, on aooountof deep
lakes that occur in tiiem, the bazrien by which they are indosed, and
the levels of the a4Joining country, could not have biMn formed by the
action of the waters now passing through them, however much we may
suppose them to have been swollen by floods. In such esses, elevations
and subsidences of the land, brougjht about bv those subterranean s^ts
which give rise to earthquakes^ must be looked to ss the most rational
explanation. But there is perhaps not one of these which has not
been subsequently modified m a considerable dsgree by the action of
running water operating during a long period.
The wearing and transporting powers of rivers depend upon the
volume of water, the quantity and sise of the solid matter suspended^
and the velooiiy with which it moves. A river generally runs with
greatest rapidil^ in the higher parts of its course, where indeed it
often consists of a succession of torrents and cataracts for msnv miles^
but it has not vet acquired its fall destructive force, because the mass
of water is still comparatively small, nor has it yet become loaded
with solid matter. In the lower part of its course, long before it
joins the sea, it has usually reached a level country, and there its
velocity becomes greatly retarded. The Senegal hi Africa does not^
aocordmg to Adanson, fall more than 24 feet from Podor to the see,
a distance of 60 lesgues. The destructive force is« thus lessened by
the <iimiiii«hA.i Telocity, snd by the consequent inability of the stream
to drag itsheavyartiUeiy along with it It is, therefore, in the middla
part of its course that a river commits the greatest wsste^-rsfter.it has
acquired a considerable volume, has become loaded with solid matter,
and, from the indinaticn of tiie ground, still possesses power to wield
its more mighty weapons of destruction.
The increase of the vdlume of water in rivers during the flood-
seasons is often prodigious. The bed of theMississippi,at Natches, sbout
800 miles above New Orlesns^ measuring slong the course of the river,
scarcely exceeds a mile hi breadth when the water is low; whereasmtha
flood-season the mass of water is nearly 80 miles wide. The Orinoco^
at St-Thomai^s, 200 miles from its embouchure^ is aoout 84 miles wide
m the dry season; but when flooded, its waters^ according to Dupens^
stretch out to the enormous breadth of 70 miles.
The loss of destructive power, by diminished ydodty in the level
country, is sometimes compensate^ in a considerable degree^ by the
effects inoduced by the weight of the great volume of water impmgmsr
certain parts. This will be better undsratood by the annexed
When the river, in its oblique coutm at the entrance of the pI^Siv
strikes agamst the bank a, it roeedily forms a steep or vertical cliff
which turns off the water in its downward oouzse into sn opposite
dueotion. The river now &Ua with its whole force against the pdnt c^
whid^ m its turn, becomes predpitoui^ and deflects the water towsrds
the point a; snd in this manner the process is repeated* sA short
intenrsl^ producing a series of salient and re-entering anglesL
The diagram represents a river after the process of erosion has ood>
siderably advanced; at first the course would be much less tortooos.
If the oounixy be composed of rock, both banks are usually steep;
but if the ground consist of looser materials, the spaces between the
precipitous parts of the banks— that is, between the salient angles—
Digitized by
Google
131
ALLUVIUM.
ALLUVIUM.
133
consist of flat) fertile, aUuTial land, with a grayelly bottom, the gradual
creation of the stream. - Sometimee the course of we riYcr is so tortuous
that two points, A and m, may be within a few hundred yards of each
other, and yet^ following the line of the stream, they may be some
miles asunder. In this case, the narrow neck of land is acted upon
doubly ; for the force of .the water is directed against it on each side.
In time this isthmus is breached, and the river either flows entirely
through the new channel, or, dividing, forms the land A into an island.
Sudi tortuous courses, when they are cut through solid rock, as in
the case of the Moselle, whose banks are sometimee 600 feet high, are
among the strongest proofb of the destructiTe power of running water,
for no sudden deluge, however powerful, oould hare scooped out such
a trough ; and that a deft of such a nature should be occasioned by
any disruption of the earth's cnut, is not less improbable. More
sudden and therefore more striking instances of the waste of the land
occur where a river flows through a lake^ and by its wasting action
causes a breaking-down of the bairier. We have already aUuded to
the bursting of a lake in the valley of Bagnes in Switaenand. That
flood was produced by the melting of ice, which, falling in successive
seasons from neighbouring glaciers, had formed so continuous a mass
as to dam up the water of a stream which flowed in the bottom of the
valley. If the barrier of a lake consist of strata of rock, supported by
beds of clay or sand, and if, by any change of drcumstancee, .the
running water get access to this inferior bed, and gradually wash
it away, the superincumbent rock, thus undemiined, suddenly breaks
down, and devastation and ruin overwhelm the country below.
The distance to which the detached fragments are carried depends
upon the volume of water, and the nature of the ground over wmch it
flows. The torrents from the south-western Alps, rushing over a steep
uninterrupted dope, transport large blocks to the sea; but a river
that runs through a long stretch of levd countiy deponts the grosser
matter in the upper part of its course^ and oairies to its mouth only
that which is more eadly hdd in suspendon. The larger stones, after
being detached from their parent rock, hove therefore to undergo an
intermediate process of abradon, by bdng rubbed against each other
in the bed of the stream before their partides are findlv committed to
the deep. If a river pass through a lake^in its course, the solid matter
will be depodted in that trough until it has filled it up ; and if the
lake be very large, even the lighter particles will have time to fall,
and the water will flow out dear from the other extremity. The
Lake of G^eva affords a remarkable instance of this process ; for the
Rh6ne^ where it enters, is extremely tnibid ; but at Qeneva^ where it
leaves the lake, it is beautifully tnmsparent. At the upper end there
is a tract of alluvial land nearly 8 miles in length, which has been
gradually formed by the depodts from the river ; and some measure
of its progress is obtained by the change in the dtuation of the town
of Port Vallaia, which was once at the water's edge, but in the oourae
of about 800 years has been left a mile and a half inland. Other
torrents, on botii ddes of the lake, likewise pour in laige quantities of
solid matter ; and thus, dthough from its great depth a long period
must elapse if the present order of nature remains undisturbed, the
Leman Lake will be converted into green meadows, and cattle will
graze where there are now 160 fkthoms of water. Nor is this an
extravagant expectation, or more than has taken place elsewhere in
past time& The vast fertile valley between the Vosges Mountains
and those of the Black Forest, through whidi the Rhine flows for
above 100 miles, between Strasburg and Worms, without fSslling more
than two feet in a mile, is in great part covwed wil^ alluvium, and is
filled to an unknown depth under the soil with sand and gravel
dmilar to that now transported by the Rhdne. There is every reason
to bdieve that this valley was at one time the site of a lake far larger
than that of (Geneva, and probably quite as deep.
The Rhine, in the higher part of its course, is filling up the Lake
of Constance, where a oondderable tract of alluvid Uma has been
formed ; and, after issuing pure from the lower end, it appears fix>m
the observations of Hammer to have carried on the work of destruc-
tion so powerfully in the comparatively short distance between the
Lake of Constance and the bottom of the falls at Sdiaffhausen, as to
have supplied materials sufficient to fill up several lakes beitween
Schaffhausen and Strasburg, beddes the gx-eat lake bdow Strasburg
already spoken of. There are numerous inBtanofis of this gradual
filling up of lakes, espedally in the courses of the greater rivers, as in
the Danube between Ulm and Neubuig above Vienna, and most
eminently so in the case of the St.-Lawrence. Simond states that
the river Lint, in Switaerland, is perpetually filling up its old channel,
and overflowing into a new one, m consequence of the mass of
rubbidi and stones brought down from the Glarus Mountains ; and
that the level of the Lake of Wallenstadt had been actually raised 10
feet in the previous 60 years by this accumulation. If the river does
not meet with lakes in its course, and flows over a great extent of
country having a slight degree of inclination, the transported matter
very often so accumulates as to raise the bed of the stream itself.
One of the most striking instances of tills kind is affbrded by the Po,
the common receptacle of the waters of the numberless torrents
which rush down on both ddes of it, loaded with spoils from the
Alps and Northern Apennines. The effect of this has been that the
river has frequently stufted its course ; and, to prevent the damage
that ensues from such events, the inhabitants of Lombardy have
protected thdr lands by embankments, which confine the river to \\m
chaimel. This, however, is a work of incessant labour, and deoeptiye
security, for the accumulation of matter in the bed goes on with
unremitting constancy ; and, to prevent the water fr^m overflowing,
the matter must be taken fr?om the bottom and thrown upon .the
banks, sometimes as mudi as a foot in a season. The effect of thia
has been, that in the lower parts of its course the Po runs on the top
of a high mound, which even overtops'the houses in Ferrara.
In a mountainous country where the land rises rapidly from the
diore, the rivers descending over a steep bed sweep all the contents
into tiie sea. If the neighbouring sea be deep, and tne tides be strong,
an estuaiy or inlet is formed at the mouth of the river— that is, the
sea forms a deep indentation into the land, of a triangular shape,
forming what Rennell and other geographers have fancifully called a
'negative ddta.' If, on the other hand, a low didving diore, and the
absoice of strong tidd currents &vour the gradual and tranquil deposit
of the solid matter brought down by the river, an extendve level of
alluvid land is formed. In this case the main river, at a distant point
inland, often divides itself into two streams, whidi, graduallv diverging
until they reach the sea, indoee a triangular space of land having the
form of the fourth letter of the Qreek alphabet. A, and hence called a
deU€L The mass of water does not^ however, long continue divided
into two streams only ; the process of separation is repeated severd
times, and thus the ddta is traversed by severd channels, and the
great river empties itself into the sea hymaaj mouths, as may he seen
hy the inspection of the Nile and Ghuoges m any map of Egypt or
Hindustan on a tolerably large scde. In this way a delta is formed at
the mouths of the Rhine, RhAne, Po, Danube, Wolga, Nile, Indiu,
Ganges, Orinoco, and many others. The magnitude of the ddta,
generally, dthough not dways^ corresponds to the volume of the
waters by which it has been created. The head of that of the Rhine
is about 90 miles distant ftom the generd line of sea-ooast of Holland ;
and dthough the name of the main river is almost lost by the fsub-
dividon of its waters and the junction of other rivers, we indude
within the Rhine delta the whole of the low-land from the neighbour-
hood of Calais to the north-eastern diores of the Zuyder Zee, which
makes the base of the triangle neariy 200 miles. The head of the ddta
of die Ganges is 220 miles frx>m the sea, its base is 200 miles long,
including we space occupied by the two great arms of the Ganges
whidi bound it on either dde. The tract in the lower part of this
ddta, called the Sunderbunds, a wildemeas infested by tigers and croco-
diles, is, according to Rennell, equd in extent to the prindpdity of
Wdes. The whole of a depodt within a delta, as well as much above
and on eadi dde of it, is therefore an encroachment of the land upon
the sea, and in many riven this growth of the land is in a steady pro-
gress of advancement; as, for example, the dty of Ravenna, formerly
a seaport of the Adriatic, is now 4 miles inknd. There are causes,
however, which often prevent the frurther increase of a delta after it
has advanced a certain length : such seems to be the case with the delta
of the Nile, which does not advance with the rapidity that might be
expected from the quantity of matter brought down by the river.
[Nile, in Gboo. Drv.j
Great as is the amount of new land thus formed, it is insigiuficant
in comparison with the quantibr of solid matter carried down by rivers,
and deposited in the depths of the sea. It is impoedble to form any
estimate of this upon which reliance can be placed, because no accurate
observations have been made to supply the data. To come to anything
like a satis&ctory condudon, it would be neoeasazy to have a verticd
section ol the river at a given point, obtained by numerous soundings,
so as to get the profile of the bed, and by observations at different
seasons to get the mean hei^t ; we must also have the results of expe-
riments throughout the year, to sscertain the mean velodty, and the
volume of solid matter contained in a given bulk of the water. The
quantity of mud and sand poured by the Ganges into the Bay of
Bengd is so great, in the flood-season, that the sea recovers its trans-
parency only at the distance of 60 miles fix>m the coast Sir Charles
LyeU, in his 'Prindples of Geology,' makes a cdoulation (founded upon
the computations of Higor Rennell) as to the mean quantity of water
disdiarged by the Ganges into the sea, by which he shows that, sup-
posing the water to contain one hundredth part of solid matter, a maBS
equd in bulk to the greatest of the Pyramids of Egypt is brought down
by the Ganges every day. The* sea is discoloured for many leagues
frx>m the mouths of the Orinoco, and the solid contents, swept by ocean-
currents through the GKilf of Paria, after bdng partiy depodted on the
shores of Giuana and the island of Trinidad, are carried into the Carib-
bean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. By the observations of Colond Sabine,
it appears that the muddy waters of the river Amazonas may be distin-
gddied 800 miles horn its moutiL The great badn of the Amasonas,
which is drained by that mightiest of rivers and its vast and countless
tributaries, embraces an area, according to Humboldt, only onedxth
less thm the whole of Europe, and through this the main stream flows
for nearly 3400 miles. The river, at the point where its waters unite
with those of the Atlantic, is, according to the same illustrious traveller,
40 miles broad.
If a river loaded with sand encounter a marine current at its mouth,
the effect frequently is to throw up a great sand-bank or bar, oft^ to
the detriment of the navigation in the adjoining sea, and sometimes
to the entire destruction of a harbour. If such sand-banks be thrown
Digitized by
Google
133
ALLUVIUM.
ALLUVIUM.
1S4
up opposite to the delta of a great river, they accelerate its formation,
for uie matter brought down, in place of being carried hr out to sea,
Lb deposited in the intermediate space, and the sand-bank in time
becomes united to the delta.
An eztensiye waste of the land is in constant progress along every line
of coast which presents an abrupt fisuse to the sea. The amount and
rapidity of that waste depend upon a variety of circumstances : — ^the
nature of the rocks of which the diffli are composed, according as they
are capable of long resistanoe, or are easQy acted upon by the weather
and the sea ; the force of the tides and currents ; the greater or less
frequency of storms ; — all these aooelerate or retard the destructive
force of ihe ocean. In this case also, as well as in the action of running
water on the land, the force is greatly augmented when the water is
chazged with solid matter. The violent surge of a tempest dashing
agaii^ a diff detaches laige blocks, and sweeps them away ; but the
next returning wave hurls them back again against the cliff, and thus
a powerful artillery is supplied by the knd for its own destruction.
When we look upon a map of the world, and see the irregular form
and indented line of coast of every continent and island, we have before
us the most irresistible proof of the powerfcd force of the waves, and
that the line of the shore must have been formed, in a great di^p^ee,
by the action of the sea.
The east and south coasts of Qreat Britain, from the nature of the
rocks of which they are composed, and from the violent storms to
which they are exposed, are extremelv subject to decay. The Shetland
and Orkney Iskmds are laid open to the whole violence of the waves of
the Atlantic, and the ocean-current runs in the Pentland Frith, in
ordinary spring-tidea^ at the rate of I04 miles an hour, and about
18 miles during stonns. The steep clifib on the shores of the
Shetland Ialan£ are hdlowed out mto caves, so that the sea enters
in some places to the depth of 250 feet» lofty arches are worn in pro-
jecting rocks, and almost every promontoiy ends in a cluster of pillars,
obeliakB, and towers, the last fragment of extensive continuous strata.
In stormy winters, vast blocks are moved from their seat, overturned,
dashed into the sea, or carried considerable distances up acclivitie&
In this case, even, rocks of the hardest composition have been unable
to withstand the force with whidi they have been assailed. Islands
have been wholly destroyed, and the remains of others rise like the
ruins of a Palmyra in the desert of the ocean. Representations of
these have been given by Dr. Hibbert in his description of the Shet-
land Idandsy and tiie following i^ a copy of one x>f the most striking.
' In the year 1795 a village on the coast of Eoncardineshire was swept
away by a storm in one n^t, and the sea penetrated 150 yards inland,
where it has maintained its ground ever since. Almost the whole
coast of Yorkshire, from the Tees to the Humber, is in a state of
constant decay, especially between Flamborough Head and the Spurn
Pointy the rate of encroachment at Owthorpe being at present about
four yards in a year. An inn at Sherringham, on the Norfolk coast>
built m 1805, 70 yards from the sea, in 1829 was separated only by a
small garden from the edge of the diffi There is now a depth of water
suffident to float a frigate at one point in the harbour of that place,
where, cmly half a century ago, there stood a cliff 50 feet high, with
houses upon it. The whole site of andent Cromer now forms a part of
the Qerman Ocean. Dunwidi, once a flourishing and populous town,
and the most considerable sea-port on the coast of Suffolk, has been
gradually swept away, so that there now only remain about twenty
houses. The church of Beculver, on the coast of Kent, was nearly a
mile inland in the reign of Henry VIII. ; it is now little more than 60
yards from the water's edge.
The whole coast of Sussex has been incessantly encroached upon by
the sea from time immemorial ; tracts of 400 acres have been carried
away at one time ; and the old town of Brighton, which stood between
the site of the present cliff and the sea in the reign of Elizabeth, has
been wholly destetiyed. The projecting foreUnd of Beachy Head is
falling away rapidly : in the winter of 1852 many large portions gave
way aod ful into the ae&, among which were some of a picturesque
form, known as the Charleses, which were mudx visited by tourists.
By the undermining of the sea on the coast of Dorsetshire, in
1792, a portion of land 000 yards from east to west, and a mile and
a quarter from north to south, sunk 50 feet in 24 hours. The island
of Heligoland, off the entrance of the river Elbe, has been reduced to
the fourth part of ito size within the last 500 years, and since 1770 has
been divided into two parts, the channd between them being navigable
by large ships. Nowhere has the sea made greater inroads man on the
coast of Schleswig. The island of Nords&and, in the earlier part of
the 18th century, was separated from the main-land by a narrow
stream, and was 50 miles long and 85 broad, populous and highly
cultivated In the year 1240 a great part of it was destroyed, and at
the end of th^ 16th century it was reduced to an area of 20 miles in
circumference. The industrious inhabitants endeavoured to save their
territory by the erection of lofty dikes ; but in October, 1634, a great,
storm devastated the whole island, destroyed 1840 people, and 50,000*
head of cattle ; and three small idets, which have since condderably
diminished, were all that remained of the once fertile and populous
Nordstrand
It would be superfluous to give, in this plaoe, farther instanoes of
the like nature : those we have already mentioned have all ocpuned
within the histoijcal era ; others, however, still more remarkable in
extent) date from a much earlier period of the earth's history, and the
evidence of their occurrence is supplied by the identity in compodtion
of the oppodte portions of the separated lands. There is every reason
to believe that England once formed a part of France : the di£b on
the oppodte ddes of the channd are identical with those at the Straito
of Dover ; and between Folkestone and Boulogne a submarine chain
of hills is, in some places, only 14 feet bdow the surface at low water.
From the (German Ocean to the Straits the water becomes gradually
more shallow, diminishing, in a distance of 200 leagues, from 120 to
18 fathoms ; and in the same manner, frt>m the Struts to the mouth
of the English Channel, there is a gradual incresse of the depth of the
water, so that at the Straits there is a ridge with a fdl to the west and
to the east. In the wearing of the ddes, and consequent widening of
the Straits, which is now going on, we see only an advanced stage of a
work of destruction which has been many thousand years in operation.
That Sicily was at one time united to Italy was a tradition in the time
of ViigU e ^neid,' iii. 414) :—
* Th* Italian ahote
And fair Sidlla'a ooaat vera one before
An earthquake oanaed the flaw : the roaring tides
The paaaage broke that land from land diridea ;
And where the landa retired the mahing ocean ridea.**
Dryden's 2Van«.
AH modem obeervationB on the structure of the oppodte shores,
the bottom of the intervening sea, and the violence witn which it is
often agitated, give every degree of credibility to the tradition. But
as Sicily is in that part so frequently convulsed by volcanic fires, it is
very probable that subterranean movements have greatly contributed
to the formation of the Straits of Messina. In like manner, there is
every reason to believe that the idand of Ceylon was at one time united
to the continent of Hindustan. [Adam's Bridge, in Oeoq. Div.]
Humboldt is of opinion that the Caribbean Sea was once mediteira-
nean, indosed by a circuit of land, of which St.-Domingo, Jamuca, and
Cuba» are the principal renudns ; and the whole form of the land from
the promontoiy of Yucatan, through the above-named idands to
Trimdad, and the coast of Cumana, with its deeply-indented shores,
the numerous idets and shoals, give countenance to the coi^ecture,
and justifies the belief that we see in the West India Idands the
monuments of the irresistible force of the waves of the Atlantic,
co-operating with subterranean agency, through an indefinite succes-
don of ages.
To what, it may be asked, does all this lead ? If such a constant
destruction of the land be a part of the system of Nature, it necessarily
follows^ that, if her laws continue to endure, the whole of our preeent
continents must in time disappear under the sur^eice of the sea.
Undoubtedly to that, and to no other ooncludon must we arrive ; but
such a transference of the land which now rises above the surface of
the sea is in perfect accordance with what geology tells us has been
the economy of Nature in times past All the stratified masses of
which the crust of the earth is composed, however high their podtion
may now be, must at one time have been at the bottom of the sea ;
and the materials of which they are composed must have constituted
the component parts of other rocks, which, in a former condition of
the earth's sur&oe, must have been acted upon and abraded by similar
agents. In every (^reat group of strata we find beds composed of
luge water-worn fragments, materials supplied, most probably, by
rivers which had a rapid descent to the sea; but as such water-
courses form but a small proportion to those which traverse low and
level countries, and carry only the finer partides to the sea, so we
find that the beds of conglomerates bear only a small proportion to
those strata the materiaJb of whidi are in a comminuted state — an
additional fact in support of the doctrine, that the formation of strata
in past times took place imder circumstances andogoitf to those which
are now in progress ; that is, that the laws of Qie material world
have continued unaltered. But renovation as well as decay is a part
of the economy of Nature ; and the same subterranean forces which
raised our present continents, may, in after 1^^ repeat th« DinooBau
Digitized by
Google
135
ALMANDINE.
ALOE.
136
Mid other Alps and other Andes may be produced from the materiaU
which are now washed from our shores, and are accumulating in
the unfathomable depths of the ocean. We can in no way conclude
these obserrations so well as by quoting the following eloquent passage
from the < niustrations of the Huttonian Theory:' — "How ofb^
these vicisBitudes of decay and renovation have been repeated, it is
not for us to determine : uiey constitute a series, of which we neither
see the beginning nor the end — a droumstance that aooorda with what
is known concerning other parts of the economy of the world. In the
planetary motions, where geometry has carried the eye so far both
into the future and the past» we discorer no mark either of the
commencement or the termination of the present order. It is
. unreasonable, indeed, to suppose that such marks should anywhere
exist. The Author of nature has not giren laws to the universe,
which, like the institutions of men, cany in themselves the elements
of their own destruction. He has not permitted, in His works, any
symptom of in&ncy or of old a^ or any si^ by which we may
estiftiate either their future or their past duration. He may put an
and, as He no doubt gave a beginning, to the present system, at some
determinate period; but we may safely conclude that this great
catastrophe will not be brought about by any of the laws now existing,
and that it is not indicated by anything which we perceive."
ALMANDINE, in Mineialogy, the precious Garnet It is the
mineral which is most commoiSy employed in jewellery under the
common name of garnet It is a silicate of alumina and magnesia.
[Qaritit.I
Almanain&'Rubv is a name given to a variety of Spinell which is
an aluminate of magnesia. [SpiinLL.]
ALMOND. [Amtgdalub.]
ALNUS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order BehUacea.
It was formerly united with the birch in the same genus, but modem
botanists have separated it, because its fruif is wingless and its stamens
only four.
Several species are described in botanical works, most of which are
found in America, between the mountains of New Granada and
Hudson's Bay : a small part belongs to Europe, and northern and
middle Asia. Of these, tiie only species that ne«d be noticed here are,
the Common Alder, the Turkey Alder, and the Heart-Leaved Alder.
Alrniu glutinoio, the Common Alder, is an inhabitant of swamps and
meadows in all Europe, the north of Africa and AaA, and North
America. Iti favourite station is by the side of rivulets, or in the
Common Alder {Atwut glutinoM),
elevated parts of marshy land where the soil is drained ; it does not
thrive so welL^ plaoed in absolutely sts^nant water. Next to the
charcoal froniBlacK Dogwood {Rhamnm franffula), that supplied by
the Common Alder is of the best quality ; and thu tree is in conse-
quence extensively cultivated in plantations for use in the manufac-
tories of gunpowder. Its juice contains a great abundance of tannin,
^hich renders the bark valuable for taumng, and the young shoots
for dyeing various colours when mixed with other ingredients ; the
veiny knots of its wood are cut into veneer by cabinet-makers for
ornamental purposes; and its stems, hollowed ou^ are among the best
materials, next to metal, for water-pipes and imderground purposes.
Its foliage being laige, and of a deep handsome green, the alder is
rather an ornamental tree ; and when old it frequently becomes «>
picturesque object^ if unbroken or uninjured by the hatchet of the
woodman.
Several varieties of the Common Alder are met with in collections,
and among them one, called the Cut-Leaved, which is extremely
ornamental when yoimg : there is also another, with very much-lobed
leaves, called the Hawthorn-Leaved, in which almost all trace of the
usual appearance of the alder has cUsappeared.
Alnus incanc^ the Turkey Alder, or Upland Alder, is distinguished
from the preceding by its more erect mode of growth, and by its
leaves being destitute of clamminess, but covered instead with copious
white down on the under side. It is fotmd all over continental Europe,
from Sweden to the north of Italy, and esst beyond the Caucasus, as
far even as Tra^inf/»>i>^fr.lrR Like the Common Alder, it shows itself in a
number of varieties, among which several are of dwarfish stature ; but
its general character is to grow more rapidly and to acquire a larger
size than the Common Alder. What mi^es it particularly valuable is,
that it will grow on light land where there are neither rivulets nor
ditches ; an important property, as it can scarcely be doubted, from its
appearance, that it possesses wnatever usefhl qualities are found in the
Common Alder. Botanists seem to suppose that the Turkey Alder is
their A. obUmgattif but this is a manifest error.
A. cordifdia, the Heart-Leaved Alder, resembles but little in
appearance either of the preceding. It forms a rather la^e and very
handsome round-headed tree, witii broad, deep-green, shining leaves,
deeply heartshapcMl at the base. It grows with rapidity, and is one of
the most interesting ornamental trees that have of late years beeo
introduced into cultivation. Though a native of the kingdom of
Naples, and a most distinct species, its very existence was unknown
till within a few years. It is a perfectly hardy plant, notwithstanding
its southern station.
All the Aiders are increased with great facilily by layers ; they will
also strike readily enough from cuttings, but the latter are longer in
becoming huidsome plants. Common Aider is obtained by the nursery-
man from seed ; which should, if possible, be sown in very light, rioi,
damp soil, in the autumn, soon after it is ripe. If kept till the
spring, even if preserved in sand, it loses in a great degree its power
of vegetating ; and if not kept in sand, it will scarcely ever grow at all
ALOE, a genus of succulent plants belonging to the natural order
LiUaoea, It comprehends a very considerable number of species
which diflbr from each other exceedingly in the sise, form, and surface
of their leaves, in stature, and in the colour, size, and structure of
their flowers. The greater part of them are mere objects of curiosity,
and are only seen in collections of succulent plants ; but among them
are species of much value, on account of their yielding the well-known
medicinal drug called Aloes.
From what particular species the resinous substance called Aloes is
procured, and whether the difibrent samples known \mder the name
of Hepatic Aloes, Socotrine Aloes, and Horse Aloes are yielded by
difibrent species, or are only di£Ebrent qualities of the same species,
are points not settied.
Ail that appaani certain is that plants nearly related to Aloe perfo-
Uata of Linnseusi, which some consider distinct species, while others
pronounce them mere varie^iM of each other, are what the drug is
prepared frouL In all probability, all the species of the genus having
an arborescent stem and thick succulent leaves will yield the substance
equally welL
That which has the reputation of producing the best sloes is
A. Socotrind, a plant having, when old, a round stem 8 or 4 feet
high ; leaves of a sword form, 14 to 2 feet long, sharp-edged, sawed,
hard, and pungent at the apex, often collected in clusters at the top
of the stem ; and red flowers tipped with green, borne in clusters on
tall stdks which rise erect from among the leaves. This is a native
of the Cape of Good Hope, and the island of Socotra, but it is now
commonly cultivated in the West Indie& The processes of preparing
the drug are various. Sometimes the leaves are cut off at their base
and plaoed in iron vessels to drain, until they have discharged all their
juice, which is then inspissated ; in other places, the leaves are cut
mto slices and boiled for ten minutes, after which the water in which
they have been boiled is evaporated ; occasionally pressure is resorted
to for the purpose of procunng the greatest quantity of juice.
Socotrine Aloes seem to be the purest kind obtained by draining
only; Hepatic or Barbadoes Aloes, which are obtained from the
Aloe vulgarii, are less pure, and may be obtained by boiling or
slight pressure; while Horse Aloes are undoubtedly a coarse prepa-
ration of the dregs of the last-mentioned. [Aloes, in Abts i^i>
SaDiv.]
No plants can be more easy to cultivate artificially than the Aloe
Tribe. They are incapable of parting rapidly with water, and therefore
require to be planted in a soil that is very slightiy retentive of moisture,
so that they may not be gorged with it by their roots ; for this reason,
they are potted in a compost consisting of littie more than lime rubbuh
mixed with a small quantity of ordinary soil, and carefully drsined.
Digitized by
Google
137
ALOPECURUS.
ALUMINITE.
133
They require a gpreen-house which ia capable of being maintained
tot a temperature of not less than 40° in the depth of winter, at
which time they should have no water whatever ; in the summer they
want no fire-heat» but may ba watered regularly, the supply being
always in proportion to their rate of growth and to the temperature
of the air ; that is to say, when in full growth and in a high tempe-
rature, ti^ey may have abundance of water, and when growing slowly
in a low temperature they should have but y^ little.
AliOPECUHUS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Graminaeecs. It is distinguished
from all other British grasses by
its flowers, which grow in close
cylindrical heads, consisting of
two glumes of equal size and a
keeled compressed flg^ire, in-
closing a single pcdea, from the
base of which arises an arista
or beard. It contains many
species.
Alopecttnu pratentis, the
Meadow Foxtail Grass, is a valu-
able plant to the fimner. It is
BO much larger thim any other
British species oi Alopecurus as
to be easily reoognised ; and from
PkUvm pratente, which it re-
sembles, it may be inmiediately
known by its not having two
palese, and by its beard proceed-
ing from its palea and not from
its glomes. It grows commonly
in meadows, where it fonns
rather a coarse but an abun-
dant and early herbage, of ^
which catUe are veiy fond.
In such situations it is in-
valuable, but it becomes
worthless if sown on li^t diy Meadow Foxtail Grass {Alopecttnu
BoiL praUntU),
A. agrettu^ Slender or Field FoxtaQ Grass, has a fibrous root, and
blossoms in July or August Although a troublesome weed amongst
wheat, it is useful for sowing on light sandv soils on the sea-ooast In
such situations it grows better than even the oonmion rye-grasses.
ALOYSIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
VerbenacecB, A, cUriodora is the Sweet^oented Vervain of qur gardens.
[VERBE5A.]
ALPINIAy a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Zinffi-
heracea. The species have thick tuberous horizontal roots. The stems
are numerouB and perennial, with lanceolate leaves, having a slit ligulate
sheath. The flowers are in panicles, or loose racemes or spikes. The
tube of the csoroUa is short, the inner limb I-lipped. The filament of
the stamens linear. The fruit is capsular and 8-ceUed, with winged seeds.
A. Qalomga is a native of Siunatra, and is cultivated in the Indian
Archipelago. Its roots arepungenty acrid, and aromatic, and are often
substituted for ginger. They are sold by druggists under the name
of Golofnga major, A plant related to, if not identical with, the
A. exaUata of Meyer, the Eenealmia exaUaia of Linnteus, is called
Corowatti in British Guyana, and is described by Dr. Hancock as
a bitter pungent plants and when taken acting as a diaphoretic and
diuretic, and in large doses as emetia [Galanga.]
ALTERED STRATA. In addition to the consoUdation and
division by cracks, joints, and fissures, to which all rocks have
been subjected, in unequal degrees, there are special cases of
uncommon induration, internal re-arrangement of particles, and even
the production of new mineral ingredients, which happen in the strata
near to rocks of igneous origin, and along certain great fractures and
flexures. Heat is usually appealed to for these effiects, and justly;
but in addition to mere pecvading warmth. Von Buch supposes
▼aporisation of some ingreoients (as magnesia, which converts lime-
Btone to dolomite), and the solution of others in hot water, to be
necessary to explain the various contents of mineral veins.
, ALTERNAJION OF GENERATIONS, an expresssion introduced
into natural history by Professor Steenstrup, a Danish naturalist^ to
designate the difitoenoe of form observable between the parents and
mlmediate o£bpring in the lower animals, as in the Acalepha
[AcALXFHiBl Salpa [Salfaobje], and some others. [Geitxbations,
AltirwatilJ
ALTH.£A, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Malvaeeeg, It is kaown by its double calyx, the outer whorl of which
has six to nine sepals, whilst the inner has five. A, oJ^Mnalis is the
Marsh-Mallow, a plant the use of whose mucilaginous roots and leaves,
m all cases in which emollient or demulcent substances are required,
» of great antiquity. It is a common European plant, and is often
found in marshes, especially near the se% in great abundance. It is a
Ifreimial, with a carrot-shaped white fleshy root, as thidk as the
thumb, and a foot or more long. The stems are two or three feet
high, covered all over with a soft down, which also is found on the
leaves, to which it gives a hoary aspect. The leaves are soft, stalked,
often a little heart-shaped, divided into three or five shallow serrated
lobes. The flowers are of a pale rose colour, and appear in very short
clusters from the bosom of the leaves ; their calyx is 5-toothed, and
surrounded with eight or ten or even more bracts. The corolla and
other parts are like tiiose of the Common Mallow. The demulcent
lozenges sold in the shops under the mame of PAte de Guimauve, arc
made of Marsh-Mallow.
MarriiOfallow {Altluea officinalis).
AUhaa roMCL the Hollyhock, is another spedes. It is found wild
in China, and d now extremdy common in our gardens. Linnaeus
considered it a distinct genus, which he called Alcta,
ALUM-ROOT, the root of Gtranivm macuUUum, It contains alum,
and is a powerful astringent [Gebaitiuil]
ALUM-SLATE, a rook frt>m which, as its name implies, alum is
prepared. It is found in Germany, Sweden, &c ; and in Yorkshire a
stratum occurs, which, according to Mr. Winter (Nicholson's 'Journal,'
Na 25, p. 241), is 28 miles in length, extending from 10 miles to the
southwajxl of Whitby to 18 miles to the northward ; the cliffii are in
general precipitous, god their height is from 100 to 750 feet The
colour of this shite is bluish-gray : its hardness varies ; fit the top part
of the stratum it may be cnunbled between the fingers, whereas %t a
considerable depth it is as hard as roofing-slate. The snedfic gravity
is about 2*48. By exposure to tiie air it effloresces, and acquires ^o
taste of alum. Alum-slate has not been accurately analysed; it
contains silica, alumina, and, before efflorescence, probably pyrites or
bisulphuret of iron.
At Hurlett, near Paisley, and Campsie, near Glasgow, alum is
manufactured from what appears to be slateHolav impresnated with
bisulphuret of iron ; it is obtained firom old coal-pits, and having been
long exposed to air and moisture, sulphate of iron and sulphate of
alumina are formed, and orystaUise so as completely to destroy the
texture of the slate.
This double sulphate of iron atid alumina occurs in the form of soft
delicate fibres, easily separable from each other ; it is nearly colourless,
of a silky lustre^ and resembles asbestos in appearance. It is readily
soluble in water ; the solution yields crystals of sulphate of iron ; and
when potash-salts are added to the remaining solution of sulphate of
alumina, crvstals of alum are immediately formed ; and this is the
process of uum-making already noticed.
ALUM-STONE, a mineral which occurs in a secondary rock at La
Tolfa in Italy, and is there used in tibie preparation of alum ; it is found
in small masses and veins, and according to Cordier it eidsts in most
burning volcanoes. It is said to be met with also in Tuscany and
Hungary.
This mineral is either massive or crystallised ; the former is usually
grayish-white, and sometimes red. It is translucent, easily frangible,
scratches calcareous spar, but is scratched by fluor spar. When heated
by the blowpipe it decrepitates, and by continuing the heat emits a
sulphureous sinelL
The crystals are generally situated in the cavities of the massive
substance; they are small, shming, sometimes externally brownish;
their form is an obtuse rhomboid, variously modifled.
Both varieties have been analysed— the massive by Yauquelini and
the dystallised by Cordier ; the results are—
Maasire. CrjBtalUaed.
Solphnrlc add • • . S5'00 Salphwic add . • • S5-495
Alomina «... 48*93 Alumina . • • • S9'654
Potash .... 8-08 Potash .... 10*031
Silifla S4-00 Water, a trnco of oxide of
Water .... 4.00 iron and Iom . . • 14*880
100*00 100*000
ALUMINITE, in Mineralogy, a variety of native Sulphate of
Alumina, also called Webtterite, It is found in reniform masses and in
botryoidal concretions in Halle in Plrussia, Epemay in Fnaot, and at
Digitized by
Google
139
ALUMO-CALCITR
AMABYLLIDACEiE.
140
NewhaTen in Siusex. It has a white or yellowish-white colour. It
is Bofb and friable, and has an earthy fracture. It is occasionally
translucent^ but more frequently opaque. It has a specific gravity of
1*7. It IB a hydrous sub-sulphate of alumina^ and has the following
composition : —
Sulphiuio Acid 2327
AlwmiTiA 29*87
Water 46*86
100*00
ALUMO-CALCITE, a mineral belonging to the group of Clays con-
taining a laige quanti^ of water. It occurs in the defbs of ironstone
veins at Eybenstock, in the Erzgebiige. It is massive^ and has a white
colour inclining to blue. It has a white streak, a conchoidal fracture,
and is so soft that it may be crushed between tiie fingers. It adheres
strou^y to the tongue. The specific gravity is 2714. Its analysis by
Kerstan gives —
Silica 86*60
Alumina 2*25
Lime 6.25
Water .... 4*90
[Alum-
10000
ALUNITE, in Kineralogy, a name for the Alum-Stone.
STOirsJ
ALVEOLITES (Lamarck), a genus of Fossil Polypiarui, from the
Cretaceous and Tertiary Strata.
AMADOU, the name of an inflammable substance occasionally
used as tinder. It is prepared from the dried plant of the BoUtut
igniarius, steeped in a strong solution of saltpetre, and cut into thin
riices. This plant grows horisontally frt>m the sides of the cherry,
the ash, and other trees. When it first makes its appearance it is a
little round wart-like body, the size of a pea of a yellow colour, and
BoMui iffniariut.
of a soft yielding substance ; it gradually increases in size and hardneas
till it becomes of a darkish-brown, azui is as large as an apple. It
afterwards takes a horizontal direction, forms a border and becomes
covered with numerous closely-packed tubes oniits under surface,
i^hich are exceedingly minute. When the plant is full grown the
tubes are of a reddish-brown colour, and of a hard woody texture ;
and the upper surface is of various colours disposed in gray, brown,
or clouded concentric elevated circles. The plant is perennial, and
increases yearly in size.
AMABANTA'CEiE, Amaranths, a natural order of Apetalous
Dicotyledonous plants, remarkable for the dry coloured m^es of
which all their bracts and floral envelopes are composed — a character
by which they are principally known from Chenopodiacea, Their
essential distinction is briefly this : calyx, diy, coloured, not fidling
away; petals, wanting; stamens, five or more ; ovarium, quite simple,
superior; fruit, an utricle, containing .a single seed, which has an
embiyo curved round a central farinaceoUs albumen; leaves, destitute
of stipules.
The species are found chiefly in tropical countries, where they are
often troublesome weeds. The Cock*s-Cdmb, the Globe- Amaranth, the
Prince's-Feather, the Love-Lies-Bleeding, of our gardens, belong to
this ord6r.
Many of the species are used in the countries where they grow as
pot-herbs, and mdeed none of them present any tmwholesome
properties. The seeds of AvMur<aUkv* frumaUaceus and A, Anardhana
are gathered as com crops in India. A large number of the species
have a reputation for posbessing medicinal properties, hui, as is the
case with the majority of such remedies, they seldom bear out the
encomiums bestowed upon them by the ignorant (Lindley, * Vegetable
Eliiigdom.')
Amaranthui polygawwa,
1. A calyx and bract with stamena. 2. The aame with the piatiL
3. The piatil opening. 4. A aeed.
6. A aced cat down, ahowing the embryo. 6. The embryo. All magnified.
AMARYLLIDA'CRfi, AmarylUds, the Narcissus Tribe, a natural
Amaryllis reticulata, dlminiahed in alee.
1. The flower cat open. 2. A atamen the natural aixe.
order of .Monoootyledonous plants^ to which the Daffodil, the BeUadonna
Digitized by
Google
141
AMAZONSTONR
AMETHYST.
141
Lily tfnd Guenuey Lily, the showy BnmfiTigias ond Blood-Flowen
(Jffcefnanthui) of the Cape of Qood Hope, and the American Aloe belong.
They are characterised by having six stamens, a highly-coloured flower,
and an inferior ovary. The beauty of their blossoms serye as a doak
to their poisonous properties, and shows how little the external
appearaucee of plants are to be trusted in judging of their virtues.
To form an opinion only ftom their aspect^ these would be pronounced
the most harmless of juants, while in fact their bulbs are dangerous
poiaons. The juice of that of ffionanthtu toxiearim is inspissi^ed by
the Hottentots, who smear their arrow-heads with it ; other kinds
are not less fatal, and even the common daffodil and snowdrop contain
within their bulbs an acrid irritating principle which renders them
emetic. Like many other poisonous families, this occasionallv secretes
a kind of foocula, or flour, which, when separated from the juice that
is naturally mixed vrith it, becomes a wholesome article of food. The
aiTow-rL.ot of Chili is yielded by an AUtrGmeria, which belongs to
AmafyUida«€g,
The, species, wMch are chiefly scattered over Brazil, Africa, and
tropical Asia, are nearly all bulbous ; a few only acquire a high degree
of development, and lose their bulbous character, as the JhrfarUhet,
Affove, and LiUoBo, [Aoaye.]
AMAZON-STONE, in Mineralogy, a green variety of Felspar.
[FklbpabJ
AMBER, a carbonaceous mineral which occurs in beds of lignite,
in Greenland, Prussia^ France, Switaerland, and some other oountrie&
The greater portion of it comes from the southern coasts of the Baltic
Sea, where it is thrown up between Eonigsbeig and MemeL (Ber*
ceHus, 'Traits de Chimie,' vi 589.)
It is also stated ('Annales de Chimie,' xvi 215) that it is obtained by
mining at a distance of 200 feet from the sea, and at a depth of about
100 feet, and is found in small cavities. It is occasionally met with
(Aikin's ' Diet of Chemistry,' i 57) in the gravel beds near London,
in which case it is merely an alluvial deposit Amber occurs generally
in small pieces, which are sometimes colourless, frrequentiy light-
yellow or deep-brown, and veiy oonmionly translucent; two laige
masses have, however, been found, one of them weighing upwards of
thirteen pounds, and the other more than eighteen.
Amber is rather harder than common resins, which it resembles
in several properties : it is susceptible of a good poUsh, and when
rubbed becomes electrical ; indeed the word dechieiiy is derived from
ffA<«r^r, the Ghreek name for amber. Its density varies fsom. 1*065
to 1 "070. When bruised it exhales a slight aromatic odour ; and when
heated to 448" Fahrenheit it melts, inflames, bums with a bright
flame, and emits a smell which is not disagreeable.
Th» subject of the origin of amber is one which has been much
diacuased. According to Berzelius ('Chimie,' vi 589), it was origi-
nally a resin dissolved in a volatile oil or natural balsam. The procnb
of tiiiis opinion are, he conceives, numerous. Thus, it has often the
impression of the branches and bark upon which it has flowed and
solidified ; it often contains insects, some of which are so delicately
formed, that they could not have ocouired except in a very fluid mass.
Dr. Brewster (' Edinburgh FhiL Journal,' iv. 382) concludes, from an
examination of the optioal properties of amber, that it is an indurated
▼egetable juice.
Amber consists of a mixture of a volatile oil, two resins soluble
in alcohol and in ether, succinic add, and a bituminous body that
resists the action of all solvents^ and which is the principal part of
amber.
Water does not act upon this substance ; it does not even dissolve
any of the succinic add. Alcohol takes up a soft) yellow, limpid
resin. Cold concentrated sulphiuic add dissolves amb^ ; the solution
baa a brown colour, and when water is added to it, the greater part
of the amber is predpitated. Nitric add converts it into a resinous
sabatance, and dissolves it totally.
When amber, in the state of fine powder, is boiled in a salution
of potash, a great quantity of succinic add is dissolved.
According to Drapiez, tiie composition of amber is as follows :-*
Carbon 80*59
Hydrogen 7'81
Oxygen 6-78
Ashes 8-27
Lofli 210
100-00
The ashes consist of lime, silica, and alunmUL This analysis can only
be oonddered as an approximation.
Amber is employed for ornamental purposes, in the manufacture
of necklaces, ftc. It is used also for preparing amber-vamish, for
obtaining a peculiar oil used in medicine, and it yidds succinic acid
employed in chemical investigations.
AMBERQRIS, a substance of animal origin, found prindpallyin
warm climates, floating on the sea, or thrown on the coasts. The
best comes from Madagascar, Surinam, and Java. It has been found
in the intestinal canal of the Phyteter mcurocephalutf mixed with the
remains of several marine animals which have served it for food. On
this account it has been supposed to be a morbid product analogous
to biliary oalcoli
Ambeigris of good quality is soli^, opaque, of a bright gray colour,
which is darkest externally, and intermixed with yellow or reddish
strin. When it is heated or rubbed, it exhales an odour which is
agreeable to most persons. It is sufficiently soft to be flattened
between the fingers. Its fracture is fine-grained, with traces of
lamellar structure. The heat of the hand is suffldent to soften it.
Its specific gravity varies from 0*908 to 0*920.
When ambezgris is heated with boiling alcohol of the specific gravity
0*888, untlL it is saturated, a peculiar substance, called Ambrein, is
obtained as the solution cools, grouped in mamnullated, small,
colourless crystals. The solution, by evaporation, yidds a further
portion of ambrein, which may be rendered pure, by bdng redissolvad
in aloohol, and then crystalUsed.
Ambrein, thus obtained, is brilliant, white, and insipid ; it has an
agreeable odour, whidi appears, however, to be adventitious, because
it is diminished by repeated crystallisations; by fudon or a long-
continued gentle heat it acquires a reshious odour. Nitric add con-
verts it into a peculiar add, called Ambreie Acid. The oaustio alkalies
do not form soap with it.
According to Juch and Bouillon-Lagrange^ benzoic' add exists in
distilled ambergris ; by the analysis of Joh^ ambergris appears to be
composed of ambrdn 0*85, an extractive matter soluble in alcohol,
and probably containing benzoic add, 0*025 ; watery extract with
benzoic add and common salt, 0*015 ; with 0*11 not accounted for.
Ambeigris is used as a perfume ; and as the alcoholic solution is the
most odorous preparation of it, it is generally employed in that form.
AMBLIGONITK, a mineral, consisting of phosphate of alumina
and lithia. It has a greemsh-white colour, and oc^nirs both masdve
and in rhombic prisms. It is found at Chursdorf, near Penig, in
Saxony, and at Avendal in Norway. The cleavage is paralld to
the ddes of the prism. It has an uneven fracture, and in thin
laminie is tranduoent or transparent The following is the analysis
of Berzelius : —
Phosphoric Acid 54*12
Alumina 88*96
Lithia 6*92
100*00
AMBLYSE'MinS (Agassis), a Fossil Fidi, from the Oolite of
Northamptonshire.
AMBLyUHUS (Agassis), a genus of Fossfl Fishes, teom the Lias
of Somersetshire.
AMBUKIA, a genus of plants bdonging to the natural order
Chmopodiaeea, several of the spedes of whi(m yidd volatile oils that
are employed as medicines m the countries where ^ey grow.
A. anihtfrnifiaica is a native of North America, and its oil is extracted
and used as an anthelmintic under the name of Worm-Seed Oil
AMELANCHIER (the Savoy name of the Medlar), a genus of
plants belonging to the sub-order Pomea {Pomaeea, Lindley),,of the
order PoioeecB, It has a 5-cleft calyx with lanceolate petids, and an
ovary of 10 cells, with a solitary ovule in each. The mature finiit is 8-5-
ceUed, with one seed in each oelL The spedes are small trees^ mik
dmple serrated dedduous leaves^ and racemes of white fiowers,
A, wlgariif the common species, is a native of rugged plaoea
throughout Europe. It is the AvotUa rotundifoUa of Persoon.
A, io^iyapkm, the Qrape-Pear or Canadian Medlar, is a very com-
mon plant in Canada ; it is also a native of Newfoundland, Virginia,
and the higher parts of Columbia. It is a shrub 6 or 8 fSset in height,
with a puiple fruit.
A, ovoUm is also a shrub 6 or 8 feet high, and is a native of North
America, throughout Canada ftom Lake Huron to the Saskatchewan
and Mackenzie rivers, and as far as the Bocky Mountains. Sir John
Richardson says that it " abounds on the sandy plains of the Sas-
katchewan. Its wood, named by the Crees Mewut-^wU^iUUiek, is
prized for making arrovra and pipe-stems, and is thence termed by
the Canadian voyageurs 'Bois de Fldche.' Its berries, about the size
of a pea, are the finest fruit in the country, and are used by the Crees
under tiie name of MeesoMteootoom-meena both in a fredi and dried
state. They make a pleasant addition to pemmioan, and excellent
puddings very little inferior to plum-pudding."
Another North American species is known by the name of A»
tanffuitnea. Its fruit is of a blood-red colour.
(Don, Dichlamydeovt PlanU.)
AMENTA'CEuE, a name sometimes ^van to a group of plants,
chiefly forest-trees, found in the north of Europe, Asia, and America ;
the flowors of which are arranged in a dense cylindrical dedduous
spike, called by botanists an AvMMtwn, Such are &e poplar, the birch,
tne hazel, the willow, the oak, and many others. But as these genera
are in feuit constructed in' very diBRnent manners, Amentaeeat are more
correctly separated, by modem botanisto, into several di£forent orders.
[CoBTijLCius ; Salioao&b ; Bbtulaoejb, fta]
AMETHYST. This name has been applied to two predons stones
of essentially different natures. The Oriewtal Amdhytt is a rare
variety otAacmamtiM Spar [ADAiCAirrnri Spar] or Oorimdum, The
Oceidental, or Common Amithyit, now to be described, is a variety
of quartz or rock crystal, which is met with in manv parts of the
worid, as India, Siberia, Sweden, Germany, Spain, ftc It occurs
in various forms, as masdve, in rounded pieces, and cryHtaUised. The
Digitized by
Google
148
AMMANIA.
AMMONITEa
m
primary form of the cryBtal, like, that of quarti^ ia a diglitlj obtuae
rhomboid, but it is uraaUy found in the aeoondaiy form of a 6<«ided
prism, terminated at one or both ends by a Cndded pyramid; some-
times, though rarely, the prism is wanting, and the pyramids being
then united base to oase, the secondary crystal is a dodecahedron with
triangular faces.
The amethyst is principally distinguished firam common quarts by
its colour, which is occasionally of eyeiy shade of yiolet, or rather
purplish-yiolet, and this in the perfect amethyst is pratty equal
throughout the crystal : yery commonly the summits only of the
crystiJ are amethystine, the lower part beinf nearly colourleai, or
tinged with green. By long-continued heat the colour is destroyed
and the crystals become white and opalescent Sometimes the cirstals
are aggregated or fiasciculated ; in the Palatinate they are found lining
geodes of agate, and in Silesia capillary ciystals occur mixed with
micaceous iron ore.
The crystals of the amethyst yary from diaphanous to translucent,
and they exhibit yarious degrees of splendour, both externally and
internally. The fracture is commonly conchoidal, and the firagments
are of indeterminate form. Like quarts, the amethyst is sui&ciently
hard to giye fire with steel and to scratch glass ; and has also been
found, like it, with cayities contAiuing water; it is infusible by the
common blow-pipe. According to Rose^ it consists of—
Silica 97*50
AliiTnina •2<^
Oxide of Iron and Manganese ... *60
98-25
AJOCAKIA (in honour of John Amman, a distinguished botanist),
a genus of plants belonging to the natural order LffthnuetB. The
species are aquatic plants, with smooth opposite entire leayes,
4-comered stems, and small pink or red flowers. They are natiyes of
both the Kew and Old Worlds, and yery generally distributed. One
species, A, veiictUoria, has a strong peculiar smell, and the leayes are
yery acrid. They are used by the natiye doctors of India for the
purpose of raising blisters, which they do in the course of half
an hour.
AMMODYTES, a genus of fishes belonging to the diyision of
Apodal Malaeopteryffii and family AnamUida. The body is yery long
and the head lanceolate. On the ba^ is a dorsal fin extending nearly
its whole length. The anal fin is also long ; and the caudal, which is
forked, is separated from both the dorsal and anaL Two species
occur on the coasts of the British Islands, the Ammodyta tdoia$iiu$
and the Ammodytea Umceok The former is the laiger, and is distin-
guished by the greater sise of the head, and by the dorsal fin, which
commences in a line with the extremities of the pectorals, whilst in
the A. lancea it commences in a line with the middle of the pectorals.
The Sand-Ed, by which name the first species is popularly known,
attains a length of between 12 and 15 inches. When aliye the back
is of a dark bluish-green, and the sides and belly bright silyery-white.
It frequents sandy shores in great numbers, but is capricious in its
visits, more so than its congener. At the ebbing of the tide it buries
itself with great dexterity and rapidity in the wet sands to the depth
of from 4 to 6 inches, whence it is extracted by means of yarious
instruments, such as peculiarly formed ffripes and sickles with blunt
edgv, made for the purpose. It is mu<£ esteemed by fishermen as a
bait, and is also sou{^t after on many parts of the coast as an article
of food, being yery delicate eating when fresh, and excellent when
dried in the sun and grilled.
The Ssnd-Launce, Ammodytet lancea, is a smaller species, and usually
of a more brownish hue, with a tinge of red about the head. It is
moi« abunduit than the Sand-Ed, and has always been distinguished
from it by the fishermen, though for a long time confounded with it
by naturalists. The distinctions between the two species were first
pointed out by M. Lesauyage of Caen. Both appear to be generally
distributed through Northern and Western Europe^ In Scotland thie
Sand-Eel is known by the name of the Homer, and in the Isle of liui
tiie two mcies are distinguished firom each other as the Gray Gibbon
and Red uibbon.
(Tarrell, ^rif tt4^ttM,yoLiL; TumSl, FUhet of the Frith rf Fwih.)
AMMONITES, a fossil genus of Cephalopodous MolUiica, allied to
the recent genus NaiUUus, The species are known by the old Latin
name Oonm Afnmonii, These Oormta AfnmoM$, Comes dAvmon at
the FVenoh, were so called from a fSancied resemblance to the horns
with which the head of Jupiter Ammon was sculptured. In the earlier
times their orisin was ysiiously accounted for. Some thou^t them
petrifactions ^ real rams' horns, taking the name aboye-mentioned
m a strict and downright matterof-fact sense ; others thought they
were the curled tails of certain animals; some took them for petrified
marine worms rolled up ; others saw in them coiled serpents, whoice
thmr were called Snak»«tonea. The I^ends of the saints inyested them
with a sacred interest
Of thoosaad makee, each one
Was changed into a coil of stone,
When holy Hilda pnty*d.
And the prayer, we are told, was not only foUowjid by petri&ciion, but
by decapitation. We beUeve that there is a similsr traditienof St
iLsyna, who, when she found herself in a wood at Keynsham, between
Bath and Bristol, suirounded by seipents, changed them by the fanroor
of her deyotions into headless stones. Nor were these opinions con-
fined to the mere yulgar. Wormius described Ammonites as petrified
adders. Langius considered them to be either the yertebne of serpents
or conyduted marine insects. These notions were not lost on the
dealers ; and there are few fossil collections which do not even now
possess what was called 'a perfect Comu Ammumii,' th^t is, an Ammo-
nite with a caryed serpent^s h6ad ingeniously fitted on to the fossil
shell by way of aperture. Our limits will not permit us to dwell on
this fabulous part of the history of Ammonites nirther than to observe
that other learned men, Torellus Sarayna, fVacastorius^ and others,
considered them as hum Naturce, formed hy the plastic power of the
earth. The andents held them in hi^ estimation as yery sacred and
of the highest yalue to the dreamer. Thus Pli^ C Hist Mund,'
xxxyi 10), ** Hsmmonis comu inter sacratissimss ^tmopise genunas,
aureo colore, arietini oomus efligiem reddens, promittitur pnediTina
somnia representare ;" and eyen to the present time the Indians sre
said to ascribe extraordinary properties to thena.
To the Boologist Ammonites are objects of great interest^ and to the
geologist they are of the utmost consequence. " It is essy," says Ifr.
Phillips, in his ' Quids to Geology' (8yo. 1884), '' to see howimportanl^
in questions concerning the relatiye antiquity of stratified rocks, is a
knovrledge of Ammonites, since whole sections of them are characteristic
of certain systems of rocks." (sea 82.) Dr. Buckland (' Bridgewater
Treatise,' p. 388), thus comprehemdyely describes the range of these
extinct cephalopodous mollusks : ''The family of Ammonites extends
throug^ the entire series of the fossiliferous formations, from the
transition strata to the chalk indusiye."
According to Mr. Owen's system, the Ammonites form the fourth
genus of hu second famijk (AmmoniHdcB) of his first order Tetra-
frrafwAtato, of the dass Cephalopod<t, In the opinion of all natu-
ralists this great group of fossils requires to be subdiyided. The
GoniatiUt [Gokiatitxs] of the Palseosoic rocks haye been efiiootuaUy
separated ; the CeraiUee of the triassio strata may be also withdrawn,
but stiQ the number of genuine Ammonitee which remain is too
enormous to be treated except in sections more or less founded on
structural aiBnitie& Without discussing what may be the best
principles for such a classification, we may refer to that of Von Budi,
as most generally accepted by geologists. This is mainly founded on
a consideration of the sutures, or sinuous lines at the surfiBce of the
shell, formed by the edges of the diaphragmal plates which separate
the chambers.
To ittustrate this yiew of the subject we subjoin a few examples of
characteristic Ammonitic sutures.
ilaiSMfrfMf JtiU0v{f (Sowerby). From KeUoway rook.
^■VTIA -^vVTW-
AmmimiU$rrakatmiBowtithj). RomfhsUas.
AMmmttM veMutue (PhiUips). F^om Speeten Olay.
Digitized by '
Google
Itf
AMMONITES.
AMMONITES.
140
The following are Von Buch's groups, with their prevalent geological
distribution : —
Ariete9.---The back vn usually broad, and oarinated (often a furrow
on each aide of the keel) ; the ribs are simple and strong. The
■utuxal line formed upon the following general model :— •
The group of Arietet, including A. BvMamdi, A. Conyhwuri, &a,
belongs almost wholly to the Lias formation.
Faisiferi, — ^The back is narrow, acuminated to a sharp keel (no
furrow on its sides) ; the ribs are elegantly and sigmoidally bent.
The sutures differ fix>m those of Aridetf the dorsal sinuB D being
much less deep, with divexving and not puralld sides ; the sinusL
ia yery much deeper, and tmre are three or four smaller ones, a a'
a", near the inner edge of the whorls. The latter whorls usually
embrace the preceding ones.
These AmmomUB are numerous in the Upper Lias and Lower Oolite
formations. A, Strangwaptii of Sowerby is an example. {Amtnonita
WaleoUn does not belong to this divisioa)
AmaUkei. — The back is generally acute and keeled, the keel
generally crenated ; the ribs generally a little sigmoidal ; the latter
whorla embracing the preceding one& The sutures are in general
form much like those of the last division, but more richly la(Sniated
and foliaceous.
This group belongs to the Upper Lias and Oolitic formations.
Ammonitei amaltkeut of Schlottheim (A, Stoketii, Sowerby) is an
example from the Lias.
Capricomi, — The back broad, without a keeL The ribs simple,
straight, strong, and crossing the back. Inner whorls exposed.
The sutures often approach to those of the Arietea in respect of the
sinus D ; but the posterior edge of D, L, and 1 range on the same
line, and the undulations are all lower and less foliaceous than in the
Faiciftri and AmaltheL Ammonitei planicoit<Uut (Sowerby) ia an
example. The species are oonmion in the Lias.
PlamUati. — The back and sides rounded; no keel; the inner
volutions exposed. The ribs are often divided over the.dorsal region.
The sutures are remarkably laciniated and complicated ; the sinus (L)
extremely deep, and generally trifurcate.
The species occur commonly in the Lias and Oolitic formations.
Ammonitei eommwiis (Sowerby) is an example from the Lias; A,
plieatUu (Sowerby) from the Coralline Oolite.
Donati. — The back is broad and not keeled; the whorls often
quadrate : the ribs are simple on the aides, but divided over the
back, and generally bear a tubercle at the point of division.
Ammonitei Lavcei (Sowerby) is an example from the Lias.
Corcnarii. — The back without a keel, usually broader than the
sides ; the ribs are straight and simple on the sides, but divided into
two, three, or more, as they cross the back, and the point of division
is usually sharply tuberoulate. The sutures resemble those of the
PlannlaH. The species occur in the Oolites, as A, Humphraianui
(Sow.) ; A, Cfowerianui (Sow.) ; and in the Lias, as A, Bechei (Sow.).
Macrocephali. — ^The back is without keel, and round and broad, and
the umbilicus deep. The ribs are straight on the umbilical faoe and
simplct, but sometimes arched, and generally divided across the back.
The sutures resemble those of the PUamUUi, but are somewhat
differently proportioned to the dorsal and umbilical surfiitoes. The
i^>ecies occur in the Oolite and Chalk. The Ammonitei iublcnit
(Sow.), is a good example, from the Kelloways Rock.
ArmaH, — The back without a keel, often broader than the sides ;
ribs tuberculated on the 8ide& The inner whorls exposed. The
suturea have the dorsal sinus (D) large and deep, the latmJ sinus (L)
widely removed from it and very deep, and somewhat triftiroate.
Occurs in, the Lias- and Oolite, and more plentifully in the Chalk.
Ammonitei Bakoria of Sowerby is an example.
Omati. — ^The back flat or even hollow, narrow, and not keeled;
the broad sides joining it at a right angle, marked in general by a
row of snuJl tubercles or the numerous fine ribs which cross the
back and toward the inner edge unite in parcels to form acute or
knotted ridges. (The old sheUs are often plain.) The sutures have
the dorsal sirras (D) shallow, the lateral (L) deep. The species are
almost confined to the Oxford Clay and Kelloways Rock : as A.
CaUoviemii (Sow.) ; A. Jhmeani (Sow). ; A. gemmatui (PhiL), &c.
(Von Buch riffhtly separated from these the Dentati in his original
memoir, though they have been injudiciously reunited again.)
Dentati. — To this group we leter Ammonitei ipUndeni, A, lautui,
A. dentiitui, Ac of tiie Gault. The back is flat or concave, and
margined by tubercles, or prominent ends of strong ribs, often united
near the inner edge into tuberculated ridges, but not crossing the
back. The sutures resemble in general form the preceding.
FUxuoii. — ^The back narrow, with borders tuberculated or serrated
by the terminations of the ribs, and in a young state with a tuber-
arax. rir. diy. you u
culated keeL The ribs are ridged or tubercled near the inner edge.
This group is quoted from the upper Oolitic and Chalk formations,
and A. atper and A, JUxuotui are examples.
The classification above sketched is very far from perfect *^ It is
difficult to define the groups, when we pass from the typical to the
ordinary species, and there are many forms which rwise to be
included in the formula. Still it is an admirable sketch, and when
the Ammonitida are fully developed, according to the principles thus
exemplified by Von Buch, we shall have them x^oognised, not as a
genus with subdivisions, but as a femuly including many genera.
(D'Orbigny's * Palaeontologie Frangaise;' 'Annaleedes ScL Nat,' 1841,
N.S., xvi p. 118, also (1829) xvii 267 ; xviiL 417 ; xxix.*6.)
Having given this i^etch, it will be necessary to meet the question
whether the Ammoniiei were external or internal sheila. Cuvier and
Lamarck thought that they were internal The former says (' R^gne
Animal,* last edition), ''The smallness of the last chamber might
induce us to believe ibat, like the Spirula, they were internal shells."
Mr. Owen, in his arrangement above quoted, says, "Animal unknown,
presumed to resemble the Nautilus; shell external .... The last
chamber the largest and lodging the animal;" and probably tbw was
the actual state of things. Dr. Buckland, in his ' Bridgewater Treatise,'
says, " The smallness of the outer chamber or place of lodgment for the
animal is advanced by Cuvier in favour of his opinion that Ammonites,
like the Spirula, were internal shells. This reason isprobably founded
on observations made upon imperfedt specimens. Tne outer chamber
of Ammonites is very seldom preserved in a perfect state ; but when
this happens, it is found to bear at least as laise a proportion to the
chambered part of the shell as the outer cell of uie ifauiilui PompiUui
bears to the chambered interior of that shelL It often occupies mora
AmmotUtti ohtuttu, a, h, o, d, outer ehamber.
than half^ and, in some cases, the whole circumference of the outer
whorL This open chamber is not thin and feeble, like the long
anterior chamber of the Spirula, which is placed within the body of the
animal producing this shell, but is nearly of equal thickness with the
sides of the close chambers of the Ammonite."
It should be remembered that the specimen is appaientiy imperfect
at the aperture. The siphon or tube of communication may be traced
from df where it opens into the last or outer chamber, along the edge
Ammonitit rMtraim*
Digitized by
Google
147
AMMONITES.
AMMONITES.
148
of the section, e, f, g, h, «, to the very nudeiia of the ahelL The waTed
transvene lines represent the partitions of the chambers.
The large proportion of the outer chamber is reiy strongly marked
in speoimens of AmmonUet rottnttvif that haTe the aperture perfect or
nearly so.
** Moreovei\" continues Dr. Buckland, "the margin of the mature
Ammonite is in some species reflected in a kind of scroll, like the
thickened maigin of the shell of the garden snail" (hourrdet of the
French), " giving to this part a strength which would apparently be
needless to an internal shell. The presence of spines also in certain
species (as in AfMnonitet airmaius, A, Sowerhit) affords a strong argument
against the theory of their having been internal shells. These spines,
which haye an obvious use for protection, if placed externally, would
seem to have been useless, and perhaps noxious, in an internal position,
and are without example in any internal structoe with which we are
acquainted."
Sir Henry de la Beche has proved from the mineral condition of the
outer chamber of Ammonites from the Lias at Lyme R^gis, that the
entire body was contained in it^ these animals having be^ suddenly
destroyed, and buried in the earthy sediment of which the Lias is
composed, before their bodies had either undergone decay or been
devoured by the then existing crustaceans.
Dr. Buddand very happily illustrates the different arrangements bv
means of which a union of lightness and strength is secured to the shell,
both from the external conformalion and the mode in which the trans-
verse plates are disposed ; and as our limits will not allow us to enter
minutely into the subject^ we must refer the reader to the ' Bridgewater
Treatise' for the interesting details, which show that a more perfect
■instrument for affording universal resistance to external pressure— an
instrument in which the greatest possible degree of lightness combined
with the greatest stren|^ was required — could scaroely be imagined ;
and must confine ourselves to the doctor's summary : — "As the animal
increased in bulk, and advanced along the outer chamber of the ahell,
the spaces left behind it were successively converted into aiz^«hambers,
simultaneously increasing the power of the float. This float being regu-
lated by a pipe passing through the whole series of the chambers " (see
the cut of Ammonitei dbhmu), "formed a hydraulic instrument of
extraordinary delicacy, by whidi the animal could at pleasure control
its ascent to the surface or descent to the bottom of the sea. To
creatures that sometimes floated, a thick and heavy shell would have
been inapplicable ; and as a thin shell indosfaig air would be exposed
to various and often intense degrees of pressure at the bottom, we find
a series of provisions to afford resistance to such pressure in' the
mechanical construction both of the external shell and of the
internal transverse plates which formed the air^hambers. First,
the shell is made up of a tube coiled round itself, and externally
convex. Secondly, it is fortified by a series of ribs and vaultings
disposed in the form of arches and domes on the convex surface of
this tube, and stiU further adding to its strength. Thirdly, the trans-
verse plates that form the air-chambers supply also a continuous
succession of supports, extending their ramificationl^ with many
mechanical advantages, beneath those portion! of the shell which,
being weakest^ were most in need of them."
AmmonUei with perfieet moaths.
Rcinecly/ Yon Buch,t Zieten,t and De Haan § are among those
• Maris protogai NantUos et Argonaatoa, vnlgo (hmua AmmoHU, In acnro
Coburgico et Tieino reperinndoa, dflieripdt et delineavit, ete., D. I. C. IC. £ei.
neckc. Cobnrfi, 1818, 8to.
t Ucber die Ammoniten la den ilteren Gebirgi^Schiehteii. Gelaaen in der
Akademle der WiMenschaften, am 1 April, 1880. 4to. Beoneil de Planchee
de F^trifloationt remarqnablefl, par Leopold de Bach. Berlin, 1831, folio.
t Die Yenteineniiiffen Wartemberffs, tc. Btattgart, 1880, and following
years, folio.
S Specimen Philoeopblonm Inang:nrale, ezhibens Monographiam Ammo-
niteorum et Goniatiteorum, cto. 1825. LogduAi BaUv.
who have written treatises on this interesting genus, or haye illtu.
tratedit
The species of Ammonites are veiy numerous, and although tiie
arrangemmt of Yon Buch is at present the best, it is probable tkt
when more is known of the form of the aperture, it will serve u a
leading character.
AmmonitM with perfect mwxihB.— iOimtinued.)
Digitized by
Google
110
AMMONITES.
AMOMUM.
160
The aoeompanying cut«, which are copied from De Blainyilley will
not only give the reader Bome idea of the shape of the aperture, but
alflo of the eztemal appearance of the shell, whUe the following, from
Dr. Buckland'a ' Bridgewater Treatiae,' will oonvey. a notion of the
ooncamerations in some of the species. An internal view of a Tory
simple form of these and of the siphon or pipe will be seen in the out
Oeologieal Dufn^ti^ioik— Professor PhillipB, in his < Guide to
Geology/ published in 1834, since which tmie numerous additions
hare been made, thus distributee the Ammonites among the differoit
formations.
SUBGENERA OF AMMONITES.
•
1
1
1
1
1
1
a
1
i
=H
1
1
1
1
1
In Tertiarjr StraU .
In CreUoecnu System . .
J ^
, ,
, ,
2
4
, ,
, ,
, ,
, ,
9
14
IS
2
2
In OoUtie Syitem .
, ,
, ,
, ,
22
27
10
26
i
11
11
11
4
5
S
.,
S
IS
In PriBMry StraU . . .
17
Total, 228 spedet.
CfeographieaZ DittrthuiioiL — As the Ammonites were evidently prin-
cipal agents for keeping within bounds the moUusks, &c., the orusta*
cttDs, and perhapa fiahea of the periods prior to the Chalk Formation,
and belongmf^ to the latter epoch, we should eipect to find them
"widely distributed. Accordingly, they occur in Europe, Asia, and
America in strata apparently of the same date. In aome instances,
the genera and eyen the species are identical Dr. Qerard found in
the Himalaya Mountains, at an elevation of 16,000 feet^ AmfMnitei
H^o/cotttiand AmmoniUi eommunitf fossils that are found in the Lias of
Lyme Regis. M. Menard met with one in the Maritime Alps at an
eleyation of 1600 toiaes. Their numbers must have be^ C^reat.
H. Dofresne infonned Lamarck that the road frt>m Auxerre to Avalon
in Buigundy was absolutely paved wjith them. The individual
agency too of aome of these carnivorous instruments for preserving
the balance of marine animal power must have been of no small
importanoei Lamarck says that he has aeen Ammonitee of two feet
(French) in diameter. Mr. James Sowerby and Dr. Mantell record
Ammonites in the Chalk with a diameter of three feet ; and Dr. Buck-
land states that Sir T. Harvey and Mr. Keith measured Ammonites in
the Chalk near Margate which exceeded four feet in diameter; and
this in cases where the diameter could have been in a very small
degree enlaiged by pressure. [See Sufpluoiit.]
AMOIBITEI in Mineralogy^, a variety of Arsenical Nickel, containing
from 40 to 50 per cent, of mckel and 14 per cent of sulphur.
AMCyMIJM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Zingiheroeta, It consista of apecies having white flowera collected
in dose heads, which arise frt>m the base of the leaves, and only
just raiae themselves above the ground ; the lower lip of the flower
is very broad and large compared with the others, and the other has
a two-lobed crest ^The seeds are contained in a looae akin, and are
inclosed in a rather tough capsule, which is separated into three
cells by as many membranous partitions, and finally opens into
three valves. The leaves are of a bzoadly lanceolate or oval figure
tapering to the point, and enwrapping the stem like a sort of''
A. Cardamomtttn has a root-stock creeping under the surface of the
aoil like that of the Ginger, but it ia amaller. The stems rise
obliquely to the height of from two to four feet. The leaves are
alternate. Flowers in spikes, seated in lanceolate acute villous
Bcarious ash-coloured bracts. The tube of the corolla slender. The
anther double, with a lai^ three-lobed concave crest. The fruit a*
capsule containing roxmdi^ angular dotted brown seeds. This plant
is a native of the mountainous parts of Java and Sumatra, and is
commonly cultivated in the gardens of India. The seeds are aro-
matic, and are used by the Medays instead of the true Cardamoms,
which are the produce of the Eletta/ria Cardanumwn. [Elbttaria.]
Sir J. K Smith states that this plant ia the Amomwn verum of tho
older botonistSi
JUnOMtMN MWXmMIOMIIM.
A. cmguitifoUvm is a shazp-leaved species, and a native of marahy
ground, in Madagascar. It is cultivated in the Mauritius. It has a
deep blood-red calyx, and the outer segment of the corolla is rod.
The whole plant is aromatiq, and the fruit constitutes the Cardamomum
majue of the older writers.
A, aromatic¥m is a native of the valleys on the eastern frontiers
of Bengal The frxut has similar qualities to those 'of the
true Cwdamoms, for which they are often sold to the druggists of
India.
A, Cfrana-ParadUi has a perennial root-stalk, giving off erect fclender
stems, 8 feet high. . The leaves are numerous and crowded. The
capsule is large, 14 inch long, and half-an-inch in diameter. It haa a
very strong aromatic odour and flavour. The seeds have the aame
properties as the Cardamoms. ^ The plant is a native of Quinea, near
Sierra Leone. The fruits are known by the name of Qraina of
Paradiae, and Melligetta or Malagueta Pepper.
A, grandifiarwn, of Smith, ia alao a native of Sierra Leone. It has
large flowera, and yields seeds, which difier from those of Oraius of
Paradise in being gray or lead-coloured, much less polished, and
possessing a totd^v different flavour, resembling that of camphor.
Thev may be used for the same purposes as the Cardamoms.
The Cardamoms of commerce are the capsulea, which are gathered
as the seeds ripen, are dried in the aun, and are then fit for aale. The
amall capaules, or Lesser Cardamoms, are the most valuable. [Carda-
MOMB, in Abtb AiTD So, Dnr.]
(Ldndley, Flora Medico.)
Digitized by
Google
Ill
AMPELIDEJE.
AMPHIBIA.
m
Amomum grandifiomm,
u. The lip and a back Tiew of the anther.
h. A front Tiew of the anther.
e, Oaljz.
d. Stigma.
AHPELIDE JS, one of the xiames of the Vine Tribe. [ Vitacjba]
AMPHERrSTUS, a FobbU Fiah, from the Isle of Sheppy. (Eonig,
Icon, FotsiL)
AMPHI'BIA ^from the Greek word ifuptfiios, which dgnifies
'having a double life' ), the name of an order of the class of lUpHlet.
In common oonyersation we are accustomed to call all mtLmm»\^^ such
as seals, otters, beavers, &c., amphibious, whose ozganisation disposes'
them to resort indifferently either to the land or water for procuring
food, and other purposes, or ifi^ose habits are at once terrestrial and
aquatic; thus we usually denominate the Conmion Campagnol
(Arvicola amphibia), and the White-Bellied Shrew {Sorex focUms),
the Water-Rat, and Water-Shrew respectively, and consider them in
every respect^ aa amphibious animals. But in this sense of the word
every land-animal is more or less amphibious, for all resort occasion-
ally to the water, and, with the single exception of man, all appear
to have an instinctive power of swimming. Previous to the time of
Linnseus, the earlier naturalists attached no more definite meaning to
the word than that which was sanctioned by popular custom, and
which, it will be observed, is more properly expressed by the term
aquatic The great Swedish philosopher, however, rejected this vague |
and improper signification, and applied the term generally to the
third class of his system of zoology, which comprised not only all
the animals since more properly denominated J2g)«tlei, such as the
tortoises, lizards,* serpents, and frogs, but likewise ti^e Caitilaginous
Fishes. Linnnus was evidently ignorant of the true characters and
natural Hmits of this class of animals. The term Amphibia ma
certainly very applicable to many of the genera and species which
it embraced, but with regard to the great minority pf them it was m
absolute misnomer. The shark and the ray are as incapable of
existing out of the water as man^ of the common lizards are of
living in it, and consequently neither the group which Linnxiu
proposed to establish, nor the name by which he designated it, has
been adopted by mote recent zoologists. The Cartilaginous F^hes
have been refeired to the other aquatic tribes, with which their
habits and oiganic oonformatiun naturally connect them, and the
remainder of the dass, which stands in Qmelin's celebrated edition of
the 'Systema Naturae' under the name of Amphibia, is admitted
into modem systems under the more appropriate designation of
ReptiUt,
Taken in its strict and literal sense, the term amphibious would
applv only to such animals as have the power of living indifferentlj
at the same time, either upon land or in water. To fulfil this
condition it is necessary that a truly amphibious animal should be
provided with the means of breathing in either of these elemente,
that is, that it should simultaneously possess both lungs and gilk
Kow there are four genera of batracluan reptiles which actually do
possess this extraordinary double apparatus for extracting the principle
which supports animal life indifferently from either element; and
these, as Baron Cuvier has justly observed, comprise in reality the
only known vertebirated animals which are truly amphibious. They
are the Axoiotlt, the Menobranchi, and the Siretu, all of which inhabit
the rivers and lakes of America, and the Proteut, which is found in
subtorraneouB streams connecting certain lakes in Camiola and
Hungary. Tlieee, then, are the only strictly amphibious reptiles ; but if
the term is takenrin a little more extended sense, it may, without impro-
priety, be applied to the entire order of BeptHa which M. Brongniart,
and after mm most modem naturalists, denominate Bairachiam,
because all these animals, without exception, breathe by means of gills
in their tadpole state, and only aoquire lungs when they assume the
more mature and perfect form of reptiles. In this sense the term is
now employed by Rnglish naturalists.
Some, indeed, as Mr. Bell, Dr. Grants and other writers, separate
the Amphibia from the Reptilei, as a distinct dass.
The Amphibia differ essentially from the other three orders of
Reptiles : Chdoniant (Tortoises), Sawiant (Lizards), and Opkidians
(Scurpents). They have no ribs, or rudiments of ribs only. Their akin
is naked, being without scales. They have feet The male has no
external oigans distinctive of sex. In we Frog Tribe the ova are fecun-
dated on their exclusion from the body of the female : they are shelless
and generally laid in the water. The young, which are called Tadpola,
when first hatched, breathe by means of branchise, or gills, veiy much
after the manner of fishes, being in their early stage of growth quite
unlike their parents, and, in that state, forming a natui^ passage to
the last-named dass of animals. These branchise disappear in the
higher Amphibians, and one order has therefore been named the
Caducibranchiate Amphibia, which have been divided into — first,
the Anouroui or TaUUu Batrachiafu, having no tails except in their
young state, including the Frogs and Toads ; and second, the UrodUa
or Tailed Batrcujhiantt such as &e Salamanders.
Under the Perennibranchiate Amphibia are included the Pntteru,
Siren^ Menobranchui, and AxolotL
The following arrangement of the Amphibia or Batrachtam has
been published bv Messrs. Dumeril and Bibron, in their elaborate
' Erp^logie G^n^e' :—
NuU.
Four or
two.
Body, varied in form ; »kin naked ; moat Areqnently without either earapace or scales.
Head, with two oecipital condyles, not carried upon a narrower neck.
Charaetera ^ Feet, variable; as regards their presenoe, their nnmber, their proportion ; toes most frequently without elaws
Sternum, moat frequently diatinet, never united to the ribs, which are short or null.
^ Male organa of generation not projecting. Eggs with soft not calcareous shells. Young, subject to metamorphoaia.
Suborders. Groups. Famlliea.
^^^jParomllaf .... Ophiotomet 1. OcecUioidtt.
i Distinct Phaneroglo$9M : ( Toothed : enda of toes ( Little or not dilated . < S. Bami^farmn,
with the upper { \ Very dUated . . . S. EyUtf^rmM,
Jaw . . ( Without teeth 4. Buffm^fonnet,
NuU T%rynaglo9»e» 5, Pipwfonna.
With neither hdea
norbranehisB ArStodirei 6.
WithsUUordis.) _. , .^ ,,. . ,, (NuU 7
i-«* K«i^ } 2)rinuUodire§ : with branchi© .
(^ tinet holes
In this article we shall speak of the oiganisation and natural history
of the Amphibia in two groups: first, the Anovrout or TaUUst
Amphibia, and secondly, the UrodUa or TaXUd Amphibia,
Anourous or Tailliss Aufhibia.
SkdeUm, — ^The skull, in the Reptiles generally, is made up of the
■ame parts nearly as that of the znammiferous animals, though the
( Visible and persistent
Sttkanandridet,
Amphiumndtt,
8. ProUtdu,
proportions are different. But the lower Amphibia, which approach
the fishes in this particular, have not the internal cavity corresponding
so completely with the surface of the enoephalon as the other Reptiles.
The skull is very much flattened ; and small as the cerebral cavity is,
it is by no means filled with the brain. It is narrower and more
elongated in the species which pass their whole lives in the water than
it is in the Anowrviu Amphibia, or True Frogs.
Digitized by
Google
AMPHIBIA.
AMPHIBIA.
154
The yertebral column commenoes at the posterior part of the head,
aDd, unlike the rest of the Reptiles, the Bairachiaru, like the raysy the
Bharks, and the mamraiferous animals, possess two condyles situated
on the sides of the Tertebral hole. In the Tadpole the vertebrse are
of the same calibre throughout^ but a difference takes place when the
limbs are developed. At this period, the yertebral canal diminishes
gradually in length, the spinal marrow contracts, and no trace of the
canal is left in ti^e elongated coccyx. It is in the TaUlett Amphibia
that the yertebral column is shortest, for the Frogs haye only ten and
the Pipas but eight yertebne.
As a general rule, the anterior extremities are shorter than the
posterior limbs; but in some of the Frogs especially, the lower
extremities are twice or thrice as long as the anterior feet, as might
be expected in animals whose progression is principally effected by
leaps. Ribs there are none ; but the sternum is highly deyeloped and
a large portion is very often
cartilaginous. It reoeiyee an-
teriorly, or in its mesial por-
tion, the two davides and
two coraooids which fit on to
the scapula. The whole makes
a sort of band which sustains
the anterior extremities, and
an elongated disk which forms
a support for the throat, and
assists in the offices of de- >
g^utition and respiration.
Another disk extending back-
wards, being for the insertion
of the recti muscles, protects
the abdominal yiscera in
some species. The pelris is
well developed in the Frogs,
especially in the Pipa, and
though apparently deprived
of all traces of a tail after
undergoing their last trans-
formation, there remains, in-
ternally, a true coccygeal piece,
most frequently even moveable
and elongated, but without
anything like vertebral form.
The bone of Uie humerus or
arm is single, and is long m pro- o^cicwin
portion to the bones of the fore-aim, which are united throughout thdr
length, their duality being manifested by a simple furrow or depression.
These bones are distinct in the reptiles generally, and the radius is
generally rather the longest ; the ulna is prolonged backwards into a
kind of olecranon, and sometimes this apophysis is distinct, and
becomes a sort of seeamold-bone in the thick part of the tendon of
the extensor musdes. The Pipas, the Tortoises, and the greater
part of the Saurians have this conformation. The bones of the carpus,
or wrist, exhibit nothing extraordinary in their structure ; nor do
those of the fingers, whidi are without naUs or daws, require particular
notice.
The bones of the well-devdoped pdvis present considerable
differences in the various genera of Anourous Ampk&>ia, Thus in the
Frogs (l^ma) and the Tree-Frogs {ffyla)^ the oesa ilii are very much
eloi^ted, articulated in a moveable manner on the sacrum, and very
mvudk approximated below towards the cotyloid cavity ; so that the
two heads of the thigh-bones seem to be placed in contact^ a
conformation whidx much influences the action of the posterior limbs
npon the trunk in Uie execution of the motions of swimming and
leaping. In the Ptpa, or Surinam Toad, the ossa ilii are very much
widened at the point of junction with the sacrum, which is, itself,
dilated, forming a strong union by means of a true symphysis. The
femur, or thigh-bone^ is very much dongated, and slighUy curved in
the form of &e letter S in the Frogs {Bona), and in the Tree-Frogs
{ffyla) ; it 18 a little diorter in the Toads {Bfrfo), and is flattened in
the Pip<L The bones of the l«g (tibia and fibula) are, in the Reptiles,
generdly distinct; but in the Anounmt Amphibia, BanOf Hylay and
jPipa, for instance, they are so soldered together as to form but a
single articulation with the femur and tarsus, and to present the
appearance of a single very-much-dongated bone, which some have
erroneoody oonsideied as a supernumerary bone, or second femur.
The knee-joint and articulating bones are so dii^sed that the feet
have always a direction outwards. In the Reptiles generally, the
posterior feet are more developed than the anterior limbs ; and this
modification is particidarly observable in the Anourout Amphibia, which
have the tarsus so much elongated as to induce some to consider the
first bones composing it to be a fibula or tibia. The bones of the
metatarsus coirespond to the number of toes.
The Teeth, — ^As these are very important organs in the whole of
the Amphibia, we shall now present an abstract of this subject from
Professor Owen's celebrated work entitied ' Odontography.' He remarks
that the variations which the dental system presents in the Amphibia
are more conspicuous in the number, situation, and structure of the
teeth, than in their form or mode of attachment Certain Batraohians^
he observes, are edentulous, the genus Hylapletia among the Tree-
Frogs, for example, and the Bufonidas, or Toad Family, with the
exception of some spedes of Bmnbinator, The teeth when present
are described by him as g^erally numerous, simple, of small and equal
size, and dose-set^ either in a single row or aggregated, like the teeth
of a rasp, and he points out a characteristic condition of the dental
system in fishes, namely, the absence of teeth on the superior maxillary
bone, as being continued in those genera of Perennibranchiate Batra-
chians which stand lowest in the class of Reptiles ; not only the superior
maxillary teeth, but the bones themselves are absent^ he observes, in
Siren, Menobrcmchua, and Proteut. In the Siren, he describes the
lower margin of the intermaxillary bones, and the sloping anterior and
upper margin of the lower jaw, as trenchant, and each encased in a
sheath of firm, albuminous, minutely fibrous tissue, harder than horn.
The bones thus armed slide upon each other, he teds us, like the blades
of a pair of curved scissors,
when the mouth is closed,
and are well adapted for
dividing the bodies of small
fish, aquatic larvae, worms, fta
The homy substitute for teeth
in the lower jaw is supported
by the bony element corre-
sponding with the premandi-
bular of the Lepidonren.
[PBOTOFTSBua.] A second
bony pieoe applied to the
inner surface of the branch of
the jaw (representing the
splenial or opercular dement
in the jaw of the oroco-
dJe) is beset with numerous
minute pointed teeth, set in
short oblique rows, and di-
rected obllqudy backwards.
The palatal surface of the
mouth is described as present-
ing on each side two flat»
thm, and moderatdy broad
bones^ forming an apnparentiy
sin^e, oblique^ oval plate^
which converges to meet its
^ _ feUow at the anterior part of
Common Frog. ^^ ^^ ^ ^ coiyomtiy to
constitute a broad rasp-like surfitoe in the form of a chevron. The Pro-
fessor regards the anterior long plate on each ride as the representative
of the divided vomer, and it supports 6 or 7 oblique rows of small .
pointed retroverted teeth ; the smaller posterior plate, whidi he thinks
may probably be the homologue of the pterygoid, is beset with 4 rows
of similar teeth ; and thus we have 10 or 11 rows on each side of the
chevron of the palate. The greatest number of dentides (11 or 12)
is in the middle rows; in the Ulterior and posterior rows they are
fewer ; all are of similar size and form, corresponding with those of
the lower jaw opposed to theuL " The condition of the dental system
in this, the lowest of the dass of reptiles," says Mr. Owen, " is not
without interest, independently of the absence of the superior maxillary
teeth, and of the presence of the palatal and inferior maxillary denU
en ccirde." If, for example^ the dense sheath of the trenchant anterior
parts of the upper and lower I'aws had been completdy calcified and
converted into hard dentine, the correspondence b^ween the Siren and
the Lepidotiren would have been very striking in this part of their
structure ; but the maxillary sheaths of the Siren being composed of
horn, and being moreover easily detached from the subjacent bones,
much more dosely resemble the dedduous mandibleslof the Tadpoles
of the higher Batrachians. (Part ii, pp. 188, 189.)
In the AxoloU also the idithyic character of the rasp-like teeth are
aggregated in numerous rows upon the palatal region of the mouth,
and upon the splenial or opercular element of the lower jaw ; but here,
Mr. Owen observes, the superior maxillary bones are devdoped, and
support teeth. The premandibular and the intermaxillary bones, he
adds^ instead of presenting the larval condition of the homy sheath,
have their alveolar border armed with a single row of small, equal,
fine, and sharp-pointed dentides, which are continued above along the
nuucillaries ; tnus, he observes, establishing the commencement of the
ordinary Batrachian condition of the marginal teeth of the buccal cavity.
As in we Siren, the dentigerous bones of the palate consist of two
plates on each side ; the anterior pair, or vomers, converge and meet
at their anterior extremities^ and the minute dentides whidi they
support are arranged quincundally. The posterior pair of bones
continued backwaids, according to the usual dispodtion of the ptery-
goids, abut against the tympanic or quadrate bones ; and the dentides
are confined to the anterior part of tneir oral surface, resembling, in
their arrangement and anchylosed attachment^ those of the palatal
series, of which they are the posterior termination.
The superior maxillaries and their teeth are, it appears, wanting in
Menobranehut [Nscturus] ; but in this form an advance to a higher
type of dentition is perceptible by the arrangement of the teeth in a
mngle row, both upon the roof and at the maigins of the moutiL The
Digitized by
Google
18S
AMPHIBIA.
AMPHIBIA.
lU
intennazillary bones are produced backwardt, and the single row of
amall pointed teeth which thej support is opposed to a siznilar series
upon the premandibular bones below. The palatal teeth form a single
row on each of the broad bones which correspond with those described
by CuTier as the divided Tomer in the higher Batrachians, and extend
backwanis upon the pterygoids^ which support a few teeth.
The three preceding genera are perennibranohiate, sad though the
Proteus, like them, always retains its external gills, it offers a further
advance to the dentition of the higher BatraohiAns, and to that of the
Amphiwma especially. Each intermaxillary bone carries on its alveolar
border a'row of 8 or 10 minute, fine, sharp-pointed teeth, and each
pemandibular bone is armed with a greater number of similar but
larger teeth, arranged also in single series. The palatine bones (two
vomers of Cuvier) support a row of denticles, similar to the inter-
maxillary cresoentic series, and parallel with them ; but Mr. Owen
points out that the horns of the palatal dental crescent are continued
much farther back, terminating, as in Menobtxmehut, on the anterior
part of the pterygoid bones. Twenty-four teeth are contained in each
naif of the " oresoentio or chevron-shaped seriea^" as the arrangement
is appropriatelv designated by the Professor, who adds that the
superior maxillary bones are represented in this form by mere
cartilaginous rudiments.
The Ampkimwia, like the Proieui, presents the Batrachian disposi-
tion of the teeth in a single dose-set series along the alveolar border
<^ both upper and lower jaws. * " The upper series extends along
well-developed maxillary and intermaxillary bonea^ and in tiie extent
of Uie maxillary and palatal seriei^ especially in Amphiwna tridaetyUmf
the indication of a highly interesting character in regard to the affinities
of an extinct race of gigantic Batrachians with biconcave vertebrae is
disoemible."
In the Amphiiima the palatal teeth nm in a single dose^et row
along the lateral margins of the vomer^ forming an acute angle at its
anterior portion, whence the series is extended backwards on either
side nearly longitudinally, and parallel with the maxillary teeth. " Ail
the teeth are conical, pomted, slightly curved backwards and inwards ;
their pouxts glisten with a yellow metallic lustre," whence Dr. Mitchell's
name ChirywiotUa. The number of teeth in Ampkiwrna meamt is
considerably less than in Amphuma tridactylm^
"The MeMpome exhibits," says Professor Owen, '* the same essen-
tially Batrachian condition of the teeth as the Amphnma ; but in their
disposition, and in the dispontion and form of the vomer, it makes a
near approach to the Caducibranchiate ffroup, and allies itself most
closely with the gi^tic Newt of Japan (iSie&oUia, Bonap.), and with
that equally mpantio extinct species of Newt so noted in palaeontology
as the ffomoJHlwm Tuti$ of ScheuchMr. In the peraistence of the
branchial apertures, and the more complex straotnre of tiie os byoides,
the Mmopome however
manifests its generic
distinctness from the
SiebMitk The single ;
dosenwt series of smiJl,
equal, conical, and
slightiy-recurved teeth
describes a semidrde
on both the upper and
lower jaws: the row
of simUar but smaller
teeth on the anterior
exp«nded border of the
divided vomer runs
paralld with and at a
short distance behind
the median part of the
maxillary series. The
premandibular teeth
are recdved into the
narrow interspaoe be-
tween the two rows in
the upper jaw when the
mouUi is dosed. The
teeth of the Mencpotne,
as of the Amphiwma,
are anchylosed by their
base and part of its
outer side to a sUghUv
devated external al-
veolar ridge.
"Subokk<k-^The Pe-
rennibranchiate or Fidi-
like Amphibia, doubt-
ful reptiles' as they
have been termed, .lead by so easv a series of transitions to the
Cadudbranchiate group, in which all external tracdof the branchial
apparatus is lost, that the artificial nature of such a division of
the order is evident, and some naturalists have even hesitated
whether to separate, generically, the last of the Perermibranchians
from the spedes SithMia gigantea, with which the description of the
dental system in the higher division of the Batrachians is here com-
Skeleton of Daetylethra Lalandii.
The fignres on each tide show the difference of the sternum in the Common Frog, and in the
J>Qetylethra ; a represents the sternum of the former ; h that of the Utter.
mencod. As regards the teeth, the difference between the great
aquatic Salamander of the volcanic mountains of Japan and tlmt of
the Alleghanies is very slight^ and merdy specific ; the form, disposi-
tion, and attachment of the teeth are the same in SiAoldia as in
Menopome; thev diffScr dightly in the relative siiEC, those of the
Japanese Newt naving the advantage in this respect^ with a somewhat
deeper implantation of their andiylosed base^ and the alveolar parapet
of the intermaxillary bones is higher and is slightly incurved. There
are 14 teeth in each intermaxmary, 72 in each superior maxilkiy,
and 64 teeth in each vomer of the Sidtoldia ffipantetL"
All the CaducibroMtckiaU Amphibia with tails, as the Newts and
Land Salamanders, have teeth on the inferior maxillary and vomerine
bones, as well as on the intermaxillaries and superior maTillsrim
The Frogs have no teeth on the lower jaw, thou^ in some spedes
(Ccralophryt for example) the alveolar edge of the lower jaw-bone is
finely notched or dentated. The £^fomaa, as a general rde, aie
toothless, but in the Bombinatora the subgenus Myladacli^ has
teeth upon the vomer, and Sckrophryi has teeth on both the iniet-
maxillary and maxillary bones.
Muscular System, parUcularly as rdalimg to LoeomoUtm. — The
musdes destined to give activity to the framework, examples of
which are given bdow, are, like those of all the Reptiles, remarkable
for their irritability. There are not wanting soologists who have seen
Toads, Salamanders, Tortoiaes, and Serpent^ deprived of their heads
and skins, but kept moist, display muscular motion for whole wedm.
In the Auowrom Amphibia, the fVo^ especially, the musdes of the
abdomen are more devdoped than in the other ReptileB^ offiaring in
this particular some analogy to the abdominal structure of the
Mammifers. But it is in the dispodtion of the musdes of the thigh
and 1^ in the Frogs and others of tins group, that the greatest singu-
larity is manifested. These, whether taken oo^jointiy or singly, present
the greatest analogy with the muscular arrangement of tiie same parte
in Man. We fina the roimded, dongated, conicd thi^ the knee
extending itself in the same direction with the thigh-bone, and a
wdl-fashioned calf to the leg, formed by the belly of the gastrocnemii
muscles. It is imposuble to watch the horixontd motions of a frog in
the water, as it is impdled by these musdes and its webbed feei,
without being struck with the complete resemblance in this portion
of its frame to human conformation, and the almost perfect identity
of the movements of its.lower extremities with those of a man making
the same efforts in the same dtuatioiL
We have seen that the ribs are absent in the Afwurom AmpMbiOf
and the functions of respiration, as wdl as those of deglutition, being
carried on by means of particular musdea^ as we diall presentiy have
to notice, those bones would have been mere incumbrances. In the
Frogs, the muscles are not attached to the skin, whidi envdops the
whole muscular airaoge-
ment in a sort of insu-
lated, inaendble, move-
able bag: in the
UrodHet, on the con-
trary, the integoments
serve as the point of
insertion to almost all
the active organs of
motioiL
The locomotion of
the Anourous Atn-
phibia on land- consists
in walking, running,
and leaping, in it^
^ various modificatioDs;
the latter bdng the
motion most prevdeni
The greater part of
them are excellent
swimmers; snd when
thev betake themselves
to this exerdse, the body
isextendedhorizontally,
and the animd is pro-
pelled by.themeduuuam
of the lower extremi-
ties done— amechanism
admirablv adf^ted to
this mode of progres-
don, as well as to the
other varices of move-
ment whidi the necee-
dties of the aiiimd re-
quire. By the aid of
these wdl-devdoped lower limbs, and the prodigious power of their
muscular and bony levers, a Frpg can raise itself in the air to twenty
times its own height^ and traverse, at a single bound, a space more
than fifty times the length of its own body.
JXgestive Oryans. — The Anourous Amphibia, in their adult state,
are, like the greater part of the existing Reptiles, carnivorous, and
swallow their living prey without mastication. The mouth in many
Digitized by
Google
157
AMPHIBIA.
AMPHIBIA.
ia
of them is wery wide ; so wide, indeed, in Bome (the large Frogs and
Bipas, for infltanoe), as to wimit of their swallowing yertebrated
animalB; bat inseeti, annelides, and mollusks form the chief portion
of their food. They have no true fleshy lips, nor indeed have any of
the Reptiles; but the fresh-water tortoises are furnished with folds of
skin as a oovering for their cutting jaws, and perhaps as a more
complete apparatus for shutting the mouth. The same conforma-
tion is observable in the greater number of the Tadpoles of the
Batrachians, the larger portion of which, in their adult state, have
the lower jaw received under a soft skin which ooyers and edges the
mandible. The branches of the lower maxillary bone are rarely
soldered at the symphvsiB, and sometimes, as in the genera Bona
and ff^a, there is, at tae point of junction, a mere cartilage which
admits of a certain amount of motion. In the Frogs and the UrodUes,
the number of pieces composing each of the branches amounts to three.
One of these pieces correaponds with the symphysis, and is armed with
teeth; the second serves for articulation, and the third is situated
backwards, and prolonged below. On the palate of many of these
Amphibia are certain processes which may be termed teeth ; but these
are pointed, and not tubercular, as the old error of naming some of the
teeth of foadl fishes BufcmUn might lead us to suppose. These palatal
teeth form a part of the bones to which they are attached, as in the
case of fishea.
The tongue petfonns a leading part in the capture and deglutition of
the prey. La the greater portion of this group the structure of this oigan
ia altogether anomalous, and its insertion is equally at vanance with the
mode adopted in the otiier vertebrated animals. It is veiy soft, fleshy
almost throughout^ and is not supported at its base by an os hyoldes.
Its attachment is the leyerse of that generally seen, for it is fixed in
the concavity which is formed by the approach of the two branches of
the lower jaw towards the symphysis. In a state of repose, and when
the mouth ia shut, this tongue^ which has its root^ so to speak, in the
interior edge of the anterior part of the lower jaw, has its free extremity
in the back part of the mouth and before the aperture of the aiz^passagee ;
but when tbe animal puts it forth, it is considerably elongated and
thrown sharply out of the mouth, as if by an effort of expulsion. The
end reaches to a considerable distance, as, turning on the pivot of its
anterior fixtore, it is reversed in such a manner that the surface which
was below wlien the tongue was in the mouth, and in a state of repose,
ii^ when it is thrown out, above ; and when the tongue is returned
into the month, the surface, which was an instant before above,
r»umes its original position, and is again beneath. The organ is
armed with a toiaciouB viscous secretion; and when it touches the
prey, the latter acUieres so firmly to it, that it is carried back with the
tongue into t^e mouth. There it is, in most cases, compressed, involred
again in a glutinous sort of saliva» and almost instantly submitted to
the act of deglutition. The motion of throwing out and retuniing
the tongue is often performed with a rapidity which the eye can
hardly follow. If any one will observe a toad in a melon-finune, he
will see the ants or ower insects which come within shot of its tongue
dimppear ; but his vision must be very acute and prompt to detect the
action of tiie tongue. The musdes, whose office it is to move the bones,
cartilages, and other parts of the mouth, act more especia]ly upon the
lower jaw, upon the bone of the mandible, and upon the tongue, which,
after being shot forth as we have endeavoured to describe, is returned
and swallowed, as it were^ with the captured prey, and the act of
dariutition is continued till the food is lodged in the stomach.
The pharynx in mammiferous animals consists of that backward
cavity of the throat, into which the lower orifices of the nostrils, the
orifice of the mouth, the canal of the ear, the larynx, and the casophagus
open ; but in the reptiles there cannot be said to be any true pharynx ;
for the nostrils, as well as the glottis, open into the mouth, the oaso-
phagos commences immediately behhid the nostrils, and the muscles
that act more especially upon these parts and upon the tongue are
those that b^;in the act of de|;lutition : we shall presently see that
these same muscles are also put m requisition to force the air necessaay
for respiration into the glottis and trachea, in order to supply the
cftvily of the lungs. The stomach of the Arwvunmt Am^Kihitk does not
require any particular notice ; but the maxim that the more carni-
vorous an anunal is, the shorter and the less flexuous is its intestinal
eanal, is well illustrated in that tribe. The TadpK)le, which lives upon
vegetables, possesses an extremely long digestive tube ; but in its
periect state, and when its appetite nas become altogether carnivorous,
the intestines become very much shortened, losing four-fifths of the
length which distinguished them when the animal was in its early staffs
of ezirtence. The vent is rounded and wrinkled. The liver generally
consists of three lobes, and the gall-bladder adheres to and is hidden
in the concavity of the liver, very high up. The spleen in the Frog
and Toad is rounded, not of large dimemdons, and situated in the
mesial region, under the intermediate lobe of the liver. There is also
ft pancreas, and the chyliferous veins may be distinctiy traced. The
digestive oi^gans vary considerably in, the Tadpole. In this early stage
they have a mouth furnished with lips, and homy cutting processes,
that act as jaws hi the division of the vegetable food which forms their
principal nourishment, and their intestinal canal is coiled spirally
yithin their large rounded abdomen. The metamorphosis is complete,
internally as well as externally, when this armed littie mouth is
(^ged into the widely-opening gape, which reaches beyond the eyes^
and the animal swallows its living pr^ entire. In this their last stage
they can endure a long abstinence. They grow slowly, and they live
to a considerable age. The skin which edges their jaws is wo%
and forms a sort of gum or external lip ; their under-jaw is received
into a kind of rim or eroove, which nms along the upper-jaw, and its
two branches are slightiy moveable towards the symphysis: this
junction of the jaws is as complete as the shutting of a well-fitted
lid of a snuff-box.
OvrcuUaingSyaten^ — ^The curculation in the Anourom Ampkihia vaziea
with the different metamorphoses which the animal undergoes. In
the early or tadpole stsffe the whole of the blood is driven by the heart
into the branchial vesseLs, the circulation at that period being the same
as it is in fishes. The apparently single auricle (for according to the
observations of Dr. Davy and of Messrs. Saint Ange and W^bert, it is
in fact separated into two divisions), or rather the partition which
exists at the point where the oxygenated blood arrives through the
pulmonary veins, can hardly be said to be distinct, and the venous
blood, which is poured into it by the large vena cava, penetrates
finally into the single ventricle, which, by contracting, pushes the blood
into the single arterial trunk, furnished at its base, near the valvules,
with a sort of bulb, or contractile swelling. This artery, which
contains the black or venous blood, is divided into two trunks, one
directed to the right, the other to the left; and these are then sub-
divided into two, three, or four branches, according to the number of
the branchial leafiets : on their arrival there, they inosculate with the
venous trunks, and ly that time the blood has assumed its arterial
qualily and colour. These arterial veins unite successively, so as to
form, by means of two principal trunks, the origin of one great artery,
or aorta descendens. which is, at the point of its formation, plaoed
near the head, to which it gives off many branches, and continues to
descend down the vertebral column.
But when the time of metamorphosis arrives, and when the animal
which had been breathing by means of gills is to respire through the
medium of lungs, an entire and necessary change takes place. In
proportion as the branchin of the Tadpole are destroyed aftd absorbed,
the calibre of the venous arteries, which were distributed to them,
diminishes gradually, till they are at last entirely obliterated. The
first of these vessels then develops itself, and receives on each side the
whole of the blood, giving off three principal trunks — one for the
head, corresponding to the carotid artery ; one for the anterior limbs,
or a branchial artery ; and one, the longest of all, for the cellular lung,
which is of consicferable volume. The rest of the principal trui&
follows the medal line, and unites with its congener, so as to form a
true aorta for the supply of the viscera and lower extremities^ Hrhioh
acquire their large dimensions at this period.
keapiraiory SytUim and VoeaL OrgaiM, — Theabsence of theribs prevents
any application of costal influence upon the respiratory organs of the
An/owrout Amphibia^ as is the case with the mammiferous animals ; but
though their form, as well as the medium in which they live, is so
totally di£forent in the early and late part of their life, the principle of
action on these organs is nearly the same. The young may be said
to swallow water, or at least receive it into the cavity of the mouth,
before they force it into the branchial vessels ; and though the mode
of breathing is so entirely changed in after-lift^ the operation consists
in the perfect animal of a succession of deglutitions A air.
When the Amphibia leave the ogg^ tiieir branchisB appear externally
like littie coloured fringes on each side of the neck, and so they remain
in the UrocUUs, as long as their lungs are not suffidentiy devdoped to
serve for complete respiration. But in the Frogs and the Anouroui
Amphibia the flrst stage of the animal's life endures but a short time.
It soon assumes the Tadpole form, with an enormous belly and head,
in one undistinguished outline, and a lon^ tail At this period the
branohiie, or gills, are hidden, being contamed in a cavity, and then
the water enters the mouth b^ the orifice of the nostrils, which are
supplied with valves. When m the cavity of the mouth, which is
well dosed on aU sides, with the exception of the throat, where are
placed the branchial slits, the water, acted upon by the muscles which
cover them, traverses these spaces, and bathes the branchise before its
exit through the branchial holes. The blood which is pushed into
these branchi» is then distributed, as it is in the fishes, and passes, as
we have seen, fiY>m the arterial venous vessels into the arteries which
unite to form the aorta.
On acquiring their perfect form, and when the obliteration of
certain points, and the development of the others, have adapted the
Anowwu Ampkitfia for breathing air, by means of its two large
lungs, the muscles employed in deglutition are the great agents for
carding on the respiration. The anterior nostrils^ as we have before
stated, open neariy straight, by means of simple apertures in f^nt of
the palate ; the tongue is appued as a kind of stopp,4r upon the back
noetnls, and the trachea is terminated by a glottis opening into the
mouth. The air thus imprisoned is forced or pumped at each gulp
through the glottis, to be distributed over the lungs.
In the museuih of the Royal College of Surgeons are several
preparations, illustrative of the aSration of the blood, by means of
branohiie, in the early stage of Jtana paradoxa, and also of the mode
of respiration in the adult forms of the same group of animala
The activity of respiration is inereaaed in proportion to the elevation
of the temperature of the surrounding air. M. Delaroche found that
Digitized by
Google
190
AMPHIBIA.
AMPHIBIA
Frogs exposed to a tempeFatore of 27 degrees Centigrade (80* Fahr.),
absorbed four times as much oxygen as those submitted to a tem-
perature of 6 or 7 degrees (42'* to 47' Fahr.) only.
The oigans of the Toiee in the Anouroui Amphibia are only put in
action, generally speaking, at the season of reproduction, and then
prindpslly by the males : their croakings and <sies seem intended to
make the one sex sensible of the presence of the other. The trachea
is indeed very short in- the Frog ; but it is longer in the male than it is
in the female, and the rima glottidis is also longer in the former.
But in some Frogs the males are distinguished by peculiar membranous
bags. Thus, the Qreen Frog has two dieek-pouches, which are inflated
by the animal in the breedmg season, by means of two apertures dose
to the rLma glottidis; and the chord» Tocales are very large and
distinct in many species. The glottis bears, apparently, oonaidenble
analogy to the upper laiynx in birds ; but m the birds the Toice
reoeiyes its modincation onl^ from the edges of the glottis^ which
shuts the trachea at the point where it opens into the mouth ; the
sounds being produced by the lower laiynx, which is formed at the
point of junction of the two branches which constitute the origin of
the trachea. When the air-passages of the reptiles emit soundi, they
are produced b^ the single larynx and the glottis : from the absence
of moveable lips, and the velum palati^ or their inconsiderable
development, those sounds cannot be much modified. Nevertheless,
the vood powers of these animiJs vary very much, according to the
varying mechanism manifested in each. The cries of the different
species of Rana, from the well-known croaking of the Common Frog
to ^e bellowing of the Bull-Frog ; the shrill trebles of the species of
Hyla, of the males especially; the flute-like and metallic sounds
occasionally given ou^ and the sort of seemingly ventriloquous
grumbling which some spedes of Toads exert^ are vocal sounds
emitted above the larynx — a sort of fSalsetto or voe$ di teito— from
the buccal cavity, or some of the accessory sacs.
Connected with the phaenomena of bieathing^ it should be stated
that the naked skin of the Froge, and indeed of the Batrabhians
generally, has the power of acting upon the air in such a way as to
fulfil, in a great degree^ the functions of the lungs, and that aerated
water may be made subservient to this cutaneous rei^iration. The
experiments made on frogs which have been kept m vessels, ^d
under water chaiged with air renewed from time to time, and on
toads wMdi have been kept alive for months in nets sunk under
running water, at a low temperature, without any direct access to
atmospiieric air, prove this. These powers, the faculty of enduring
long abstinence, their hybenation, and the age (as great as 86 years)
to which the Aiwuroua Amphibia are said to attain, naturally lead us
to the consideration of the stories told of the discoveiy of toads,
'antediluvian toads' as they were once called, inclosed in solid rocks
and in the heart of trees, where they had been supposed to have
existed, for centuries, deprived of the possibility of access to either
food or air, though when found they were alive and vigorous. Nor
do these stories rest solely on the doubtful hearsay evidence of unedu-
cated persons. Thus Smellie, in his 'Philosophy of Natural History,'
alludes to the account in the ' Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences '
for the year 1719, of a toad found alive and healthy in the heart of
an old elm ; and of another discovered in the year 1781, near Nantz,
in the heart of an old oak, without any visible entrance to its
habitation. From the size of the tree it was concluded that the
aniQial must have been confined in that situation at least 80 or
100 years. He adds, that in the many examples of toads found in
solid rocks, exact impressions of their bodies, coiresponding to their
respective sizes, were unifoimly left in the stones or trees from which
they were dislodged ; and he asserts that it was said that there existed,
when he wrote, a marble chimney-piece at Chatsworth with a print of
a toad in it ; and that there was a traditionaiy account of the place
and manner in which it was found.
That frogs, toads, snakes, and lizards "occasionally issue from
stones that are broken in a quany, or in sinking wells, and sometimes
even from strata of coal, at the bottom of a coal-mine," may be readily
admitted ; but, as Dr. Buckland well observes, in a paper recording
some experiments on this subject — and to these we shall presently
allude—" tiie evidence is never perfect to show that the reptiles were
entirely inclosed in a solid rock ; no examination is ever made tmtil
the reptile is first discovered by the breaking of the mass in which it
was contained, and then it is too late to ascertain, without carefully
^placing every fragment (and in no case that I have seen reported
has this ever been done), whether or not there was any hole or
crevice by which the animal may have entered the oavitv from which
it was extracted. Without previous examination, it is almost im-
possible to prove that there was no such communication. In the
case of rocks near the surface of the earth, and in stone quarries,
reptiles find ready admission to holes and fissures. We have a
notorious example of this kind in the lizard found alive in a chalk-pity
and brought alive to the late Dr. Clarke." The same author remarks,
that the first effort of the young toad, as soon as it has left its tadpole
state, and emerged from the water, is to seek shelter in holes and
crevices of rocks and trees. " An individual, which when young may
have thus entered a cavity by some very narrow aperture, would find
abundance of food by catching insects, which like itself seek shelter
within such oavitiei^ and may have soon increased so much in bulk
as to render it impossible to go out again throu^ the nanow ap6^
ture at which it entered. A small hole of this kind is very likely to
be overlooked by common workmen, who are the onlv people whose
operations on wood and stone disclose cavities in the mteiior of sadi
substanoes."
Without, then, attempting to throw discredit upon the obserrations
published upon this curious subject by authors whose bharaetsr for
veracity is unquestionable^ — those of Ouettard, in 1771 C M^moirB sor
diff($rentes Parties des Sdenoes et des Arts,' tooL iv.) ; of Edwards, 1824
(' De rinfluence dee Agens Physiques sur la Vie ') ; uid of Mr. Thomas,
in Silliman's Journal, in addition to those above alluded to for
example— we may conclude with Dr. Buckland, in his remarks on the
last publication, that the several authentic and weU-atteeted cases to
be foimd in such memoirs, "amount to no more than a repetition of
the facts so often stated and admitted to be true^ namelv, that reptiles
occur in cavities of stone, and at the depth of many feet in soil and
earth ; but they state not anything to disprove the poasihihty of a
small aperture by which these cavities may nave had oonununication
with the external surfkoe, and insects have been admitted. The
attention of the discoverer is always directed more to the toad than
to the minutia of the state of the cavity in whidi it was contained."
Dr. Buckland made some experiments on this subject which he
commenced in November, 1825. He caused 12 droular cells to be
prepared in a large block of ooaxse Oolitic Limestone, from Heddington
quarry, near O^dbrd. Each cell was about 1 foot deep, and 6 inchei
in diameter, and had a groove or shoulder at its upper margin,
fitted to receive a circular plateof s^ass, and a otronlar date to protect
the glass ; the margin of this douUe cover was closed round, and
rendered impenetrable to air and water, by a luting of soft day.
Another block of compact silioious sandstone (Pennant Qrit, of the
Bristol coal-formation) was made to contain 12 snaaller ceUa, each
6 inches deep and 6 inches in diameter, and each under the same
double cover as the first-mentioned cells. A live toad was placed in
each of these 24 cells on the 28th November, 1825, and the double
cover of glass and slate was placed over each of them, and cemented
down by a luting of day. Dr. Daubeny and Mr. DUlwyn, who were
present^ ascertained and noted the weight of each toad (they had all
been imprisoned together in a cucumb^ frame, some of them for two
months previously), as it was immured. The largest weighed 1185
grains; tiie smallest 115 grains; and they were dlitributed equally,
small and large, among the Limestone and Sandstone odls. The blocks
were buried in the euth of Dr. Buokland's garden, 8 feet deep. On
the 10th of December, 1826, these blocks, which had remained
unopened from the period of their inhumation, were examined.
Every toad in the smaller cells of the Sandstone block was dead, and
so much decayed, that they must have been dead for some months.
The greater part of those in the larger cells of the oolitic block were
alive. No. 1, which weighed when placed in its cell 924 grains, was
reduced to 698 grains. Na 5, whose weight at the same period was
1185 grains, had increased, it is asserted to 1265»grainB. Dr. Buckland
observes, that the glass cover over tlus toad's cell was slig^tiy cracked,
so that minute insects might have entered; but none were discovered
therein. In another cell, the glass of which was broken, and iti
tenant dead, there was a lai^ge assemblage of minute insectB ; and a
similar assemblage was observed also on the outside of the glass of a
third cell. In the cell. No. 9, a toad which weighed at its entrance
988 graina, had increased to 1116 grains. The glass cover of this cell
was entire, but the luting that secured it was not attentively examined ;
and Dr. Buckland observes, that it is probable that there was some
aperture by which small insects found admission. No. 1 1 had decreased
from 936 to 652 grains.
The result of Dr. Buokland's experiments was, that all the toads,
both large and small, inclosed in Sandstone, and the small toads in
the Limestone, were dead at the end of IS months, a fate which befel
all the large ones also, before the expiration of the second year : these
last were examined several times during the second year, through the
glass covers of their cells, but without removing them to admit air;
they appeared alwavs awake, with open eyes, and never in a state of
torpor; but at eadi successive examination they became more and
more meagre, till at last they were found dead. The two toads which
when first examined had increased in weighty and were at the end of
the first year carefully closed up again, were not exempt from the
common annihilation, but were emaciated and dead before the
expiration of the second year.
when Dr. Buckland inclosed these toads in stone, he at the same
time placed four other toads, of moderate size, in three holes cut for
that purpose, on the north side of the trunk of an i^ple-tree. Two
were placed in the largest cell, and each of the others in a single cell,
the cells being nearly circular, about 5 inches deep snd 8 inches in
diameter. These were carefully closed with pluss of wood, so as to
exclude access of insects, and were apparentiy air-tight Every one
of the toads thus 'pegged' in the knot^ entrails of the tree was
f oimd dead and decayed at the end of the first year.
Four toads were^ at the time the others were shut up, each placed
in a small basin of plaster of Paris, 4 inches deep and 5 indies in
diameter, having a cover of the same material luted over them : these
were buried at tiie same time and in th^ same place with the blocks
of stone, and on being examined at the same time with them, in
Digitized by
Google
m
AMPHIBIA.
AMPHIBIA.
]«l
Doeember, 1826, two of the toadB w«re dead; the other two aliTe, but
greatly emaciated.
Dr. Buckland oondndee from the experiments generally, that toads
cazmot live a year excluded totally from atmospheric air ; and from
the experiments made in the larger cells in the Oolite, that there is a
probability that those animals cannot survive two yean entirely
excluded from food. (' Zoological Journal/ vol. v. p. 814.)
Ahtorption of Air and Waier, Bxhalation, and Trcmtpiration. — A
rapid process of absorption and evaporation of fluids, by th& pores of
the skin, gives to the Anotiroiu Amphibia the power of resLsting heat.
If a frog be plun^ into water, of a temperature of 4/^** Centigrade
(104** Fahr.), it will not, it is asserted, live more than two minutes,
though the head be left out so as to enable it to reroire freely; yet a
frog will sustain the action of humid air heated to the same tempera-
ture, for four or five consecutive hours. A sudden transition, however,
from a low temperature to a high one, is generally speedily fatal to
these animals. Their proper balance of animal heat is kept up by a
regulation of the evaporation of liquid absorbed, or by the transpiration
of the matter, the quantity of which is augmented in proportion as
the external heat is more intense ; and the animal resists it as long
as the moisture is not desiocated by the air. When it can no longer
repair the loss of the moisture already taken up, by a fresh absorption
of liquid, it perishes. The Frogs, in this particular of their organisa-
tion, have been compared to the vessels which in Spain are called
Alcarazas, used for ooofing water, by the transudation permitted by
their poroua structure. Dr. Townson, who made obeervationB to
Bome extent upon this subject, and had two frogs, which he named
Damon and Musidora, found ^t a frog would sometimes absorb in
half an hour as much as half its own weight in water, and, in a few
hours, nearly its entire weight. When the animal so filled was placed
in a warm and dry situation, it gave off this fluid nearly as rapidly as
it had accumulated it. He contends that the Frog Tribe never drink,
and general observation goes to prove that ^e Frogs, Tree-Frogs, and
Salamanders do not swallow liquids, being supplied by the process
before mentioned. The meagreness of some of these animals, in a
state of comparative desiccation, and their apparent plumpness after
they have renewed their supply of moisture, is very striking. K,
when BO supplied, they are suddenly surprised, they can get rid of
their load instantaneously. Few who have come on a frog by surprise,
in a moist meadow, have not observed that, during its flrst leap, it
emits a quantity <k liquid f^m its vent. " Whatever this fluid may
be," says Dr. Townson, '' it is as pure as distilled water and equally
tasteless. This I assert as well of that of the toad, which I have often
tasted, as that of frogB." This fluid is the liquid absorbed, by the
skin of the abdomen principally, and for which toads and frogs are
ever on the look-outb The dew on the herbage is a frequent source
of this necessary supply, and in dry seasons toads will bury themselves
in moist sand or earth for the purpose of sucking up through their
Bkin any aqueous particles which may be around them. The fluid
is oontaaned in a sac, generally consisting of two lobes, situated in
the lower part of the abdomen under the viscera, and is conducted to
the receptacle by particular vessels, which are certainly not the ureters
or ttrinaiy canals from the kidneys: these urinary canals have their
nit lower down in the cloaca. Blumenbach, and even Cuvier, in his
' Lefons d' Anatomie Compar^e,' considered this bilobated bag as
the urinary bladder in the frog and toad ; but Townson shows that it
has no connection with the ureter, whidt, as we have seen, has its
posterior opening lower down in the cloaca, while these receptacles
temunate in the front of that intestine.
^rstn, Nervoui Spsiem, and Senta. — The brain and nervous system
of the Anourotu Amphibia are, as in the Reptiles generally, composed of
ui encephalon consisting of a cerebrum, cerebellum, and medulla
oblongata; a spinal oord; and the nerves which are given off
<nnn these sources to the different organs of the body. So far the
ajstem is modelled upon that of Mammiferous Animals and Birds,
but the cerebellum is proportionally much less. The Reptiles have
also a ganglionary nervous system, or a great double sympathetic
nerve.
Touek-^The naked skin and its sensibility to variations of tempe-
rature would seem to indicate a considerable degree of perception, as
to the physical and even chemical nature of the bodies with which it
comes in contact But touch, properly so called, can hardly exist
in a high state of development in the greater part of the Anourous
Ampkihia. They have, indeed,, no nails on their toes, which are much
longer in the frogs than in the toads ; and in many of the genera and
species the toea are terminated by fleshy appendages, as in Pipa,
which has also an elongated fleshy muzzle ; the Tree-Frogs (Bpla) also,
have the extremities of their toes dilated into fleshy disks, which, like
the acetabula of the SepiadcB, adhere by their circumference. These
«nable the animals to walk in all directions upon flat surfoces, and to
adhere to them even when the^ are of the smoothest nature. The
Mnse of touch is probably more highly developed where this organi-
sation is manifested.
Tatte, — Probably not at all acute. The tongue, as we have seen, is
u organ for the capture -of the prey, which is swallowed entire
almost in the same moment that it is taken.
StnelL — ^This sense would seem to be almost rudimentary in the
A.mphibia. A simple opening pierced from the end of the muzzle to
»AT. nisT. Dnr. vol. l
the f^nt of the palate, with a fleshy and concave membrane at its
external extremity, moving in unison with the respiratory action, is
strongly contrasted with the intricate and beautifiil structure of the
nasal organs which are so highly developed in the CamivoroaB
Mammalia and Birds.
ffearing. — ^There is a considerable diffsrenoe in the structure of the
organ of hearing among the Anovrous Amph4bia. The Pipa, for
instance, hss a sort of small valve upon the tympanum, somewhat
similar to that possessed by the crocodiles^ and probably intended to
protect the membrane agiunst the pressure ef the water when the
animal resorts to great depths, ffyla and Mana have the tympanum
distinctly manifested by the delicacy of its structure when compared
with the other integuments of the head. In the Toads the tym-
panum is not apparent. Examples of the structure of the ear may
be seen in some of the preparations in the museum of the CoU^ge A
Surgeons.
Sight. — ^The precision with which a Toad measures the distanoe of
an insect, and captures it with its tongue the moment the victim is
within reach of that organ, shows a high and accurate development
of the organs of sight, as applicable to short distances at least The
pupil is, in general, round, but in the Anourous Amphibia whose
habits are nocturnal (the toad, for instance) it is angular or linear. The
humours vary in their proportions in the different genera, but the
crystalline humour has been noticed of greater density and of a more
spherical figure in the aquatic species. The orbits are generally
incomplete, and sometimes protected, as in CenUophrys, by folds of
thickened cuticle.
Beproduetion, — The special reproductive tissues of the male in the
Anourous Amphibia are situated in the cavity of the abdomen below
the kidneys, and the deferent canals terminate in the cloaca. The
ovaries in the females are found in the same situation with the oor*
responding parts in the males, and are of considerable volume. Their
free extremity forms a sort of trumpet-shaped opening, and the oviduct
terminates in Ihe cloaca, whence the egga are excluded. Blumenbaoh
describes the Frogs of his country as having a lar^ egg*cavity, divided
by an internal partition into two parts, from which two long convo-
luted oviducts arise, and terminate by open orifices at the sides of
the heart The ovaria, he says, lie under the liver, so that it is
difficult to conceive how the eggB get into the above-mentioned
openings. The egg-cavity, he adds, opens into the cloaca^ The Toadsi,
according to him, have not a large egg-cavity; but their oviducts
terminate by a oommon tube in the doaciL
At the season of reproduction, besides the vocal manifestations,
there are others which visibly diBtingnish the male in many of the
Amphibia. At each croak, the male Qreen Fro|;s project from the
commissure of the mouth two globular bladders mto which the air is
introduced, and the throat swells and becomes coloured. In the males
of the Red Frog the thumbs of the anterior feet become oonsiderabW'
swollen and covered by a black and rugose skin at this period.
The eggs are not fecundated until after th/sy have been extruded into
the water. These eggB are enveloped in a sort of delicate, mucous,
permeable membrane; they are^ when excluded, most frequently
agglomerated either in glutinous masses or chaplets, and increase
considerably after they are plunged in the water. There are however
some curious modifications of the disposition of the eggs in^ certain
species of the Anourous Am^ibia. In the Toad, called by Laiurenti
from its habits Bufo obsteiricans, the male, for instance^ alter the
exclusion of the eggs, takej up the chaplets, and disposes them round
his thighs, something in the form of a figure of 8. He is then
said to carry them about till the eyes of the embryo become visible.
At the proper period for hatching, he ooiiveys his progeny to some
stagnant piece of water, and deposits them, when the eggs break and
the tadpoles come forth and swim about The male Pipa, or Surinam
Toad, as soon as the eggs are laid, plaoes them on the bade of the
female, and in that situation they become fecundated. The female
[see figures} then takes to the water, and the skin of her back swells,
and forms cellules, in which the eggs are hatched, and where the
young pass their tadpole state, for they do not quit their domicile
till s^r the loss of their tail and the development of their legs.
At this period the mother leaves the water, and returns to dry
land.
Swaxnmerdam gives the number of eggs in a female frog as 1400,
and M. de Montbeillard counted 1800. In these eggs tiiere is a
greenish albumen which is not easily coagulable. The yolk or vitellus
is absorbed by the» embryo, and an abdominal dcatxix indicates the
umbilicus in young individuals. It is not rare to meet with double
germs in a single egg, but most of these prove abortive, though some
produce monsters with two heads, six legs, and two tails, as well as
hermaphrodites. In our dimatee, the early part of the spring is the
season of mating, when the frogs and toads of both sexes quit the
localities of their late hybernation and their ordinary haunts, and
move instinctively to those stagnant waters whidi are proper for their
purpose, and where they are then collected in swanna
The yoimg of the Amphibia enter life under an entirdy different
form from that which they are afterwards to assume ; and undergo,
like the insects, a series of metamorphoses or transformations, till
Ihey arrive at their perfect state. In their first stage, the young have
an elongated body, a laterally compressed tail, and external brauohiss;
Digitized by
Google
AMPHIBIA.
AMPHIBIA.
Ml
their small mouth is fiirniflhed with homy hooks or teeth for the separa-
tion of vegetable matter, and they have a small tube on the lower lip
by which they attach themselTes to aquatic plants, fta The extemal
branohife next disappear, and become ooTcred with a membrane,
being placed in a sort of sac under the throat ; and the animal then,
as we have observed when treating of its respiration, breathes after
the manner of fishes. The head, which is furnished with eyes and
nostrils, is confounded with the large globular trunk distended with
the great extent of the digestive canaJ, and it has a large tail for
swimming. In this state it is called in English a TadpoU, and in
French Titctrd, from the great apparent volume of the head. Soon
the posterior limbs are gSradually put forth near, the origin of the
tail, and are developed first ; the anterior feet then beg^ to show
themselves ; the tail graduidly becomes leas and less, short^is, shrinks,
and seems at laet to be absorbed ; the mouth widens, and loses its
homy processes or jaws ; the eyes are guarded bv 'eye-hds ; the belly
lengthens and diminishes in comparative size ; the mteetines become
short ; the true lungs are developed, and the internal branchiee are
obliterated; the circulation undergoes an entire change; and the
animal, hitherto entirely aquatic and herbivorous, becomes carnivorous,
and for the most part terrestrial.
Mr. Thomas Wharton Jones ('ZooL Proc.,' March, 1837) observes,
that when the right gill of the Tadpole dLra^pears, it is not, as is
usually supposed, by the closure of the fissure through which it
protrudes, but by the extension of the opercular fold on the right
side towards that of the left, forming but a single fissure, conmion
to the two branchial cavities, through which the left gill still pro-
trades. He also remarks, that conditions analogous to those widck
occur during several stages of this process exist in the branchial
fissures of the Anguilliform genera, Sphagebranehtu, Monopterut, and
Sfffibranchus.
PartietUair Excretwns. — The alleged venom of the Common Toad,
so long a subject of popular belief, had been rejected by many modem
natundists, among whom Cuvier may be particularly mentioned. Dr.
Davy, however, found the venomous matter to be contained in
follicles, chiefly in the true skin and about the head and shoulders^
but also distributed generally over the body and on the extremitiesi
Pressure causes this fluid to exude or even spirt out to a considerable
distance, and a sufficient quantity may be thus collected for examina-
tion. Dr. Davy found it extremely acrid when applied to the tongue,
resembling the extract of aconite in this respect ; and it even acts
upon the hands. With a small residuum it is soluble in water and in
alcohol ; acetate of lead and corrosive sublimate do not affect the
BolutionsL It remains acrid on solution in ammonia; and when
dissolved in nitric acid, it imparts a purple colour to it Combined
with potaah or soda, it becomes less acrid, apparently in consequence
of partial decomposition. It is highly inflammable as left by evapora-
tion of its aqueous or alcoholic solutions ; and the residuum which
appears to give it consistence seems to be albumen. More acrid than
the poison of the most vei^mous serpents, it produces no ill effect
when introduced into the circulation. A chicken inoculated with it
was not affected. Dr. Davy coigectures that this ' sweltered venom' is
a defence to the Toad from carnivorous animals ; and we have seen a
dog, when urged to attack one without hesitation, drop the animal
from its mouUi in a manner that left no doubt that he had felt the
effiBcts of thifl excretion, which Dr. Davy thinks may be auxiliary in
decarbonising the blood.
The Toads are also said to possess, besides, two glandular masses
(parotidB), which, when pressed, exude through small holes a yellowish
thick humour of a musky odour. The other odours also which many
species of Toads produce, it does not seem yet ascertained from what
source, are very remarkabla Roeeel, author of the beautiful work on
Frogs, compares some of these to the smell of garlic or of volatilised
Tapour of arsenic, or even ignited gunpowder; others again, he says,
produce an effect on the nose like the vapour of horse-radish, mustard,
or the leaves of monk's-hood rubbed between the fingtra. In one
instance only he states it to be probable that this emanation
comes from the cloaca; and such seems to be the opinion of M.
Dum^ril, who states that he has been assured that, in certain
instances, the water in which some of these animals had been placed
and there purposely irritated or excited, had become so acrid that the
tadpoles of frogs and saUmanders introduced therein hardly survived
the immersion.
Oeographieal Dittnbution and ffabitt, — ^Warm and temperate but
moist climates are the localities most favourable to the Ammroui
Amphibia. Extreme cold is fatal to them, and so is extreme dry
heat They are unable to sustain violent and sudden changes of
temperature. In moderately warm climates, and those where there is
a considerable degree of cold during a part of the year, they buiy
themselves, in wioter, either under the earth or in the mud at the
bottom of the water, and there pass the season of hybernation
without taking food or air, till the ^ring calls them forth ; when the
same frog wluch had passed so many months without respiration
would expire in a few minutes if prevented from shutting its mouth
and so supplying itself with air by deglutition. The general habits of
the tribe may be collected from the different sections of this article,
and from the descriptions of those forms in it which may be noticed
in the course of this work.
The following cuts will convey to the reader an idea of Mm« d
the leading forms among the Anourous Amphibia in their adult state :^
llarsh Frog (Sana paluttris). Two-thirds natonl size. Europe
Ceratophry* granota. Two-thirds natuni size. America,
Common Toad (Bttfo tmlgaru). Half natural sise. Europe.
AVith an under view of the foot.
Bfla Ueol^r, Half natnral aiae. Sovth AiLcrica.
Digitized by
Google
les
AMPHIBIA.
AMPHIBIA*
IM
Eit(fy$toma mturmoratum, India*
Kpa morutro9a, Lanrenti {Atterodaetylut, Wagler), Surinam Toad, famale,
ndoeed. The upper fimire shows the disposition of the cells, and their situation
in the skin, which is turned back, and the muscle seen below. The small sepa-
r*tc flcvM ar* Tadpoles, in different stages of derelopment.
(hfrhfnehui hicolor. South America.
Messrs Dum^ril and Bibron {* Erp^tologie ') make the Bufoniform
Family of the Anourout Amphibia {Anoures Phan^roghsaee) consist of
the foUowing genera : —
DendrobateSf WagL (ffylapUna, Boie, Tschudi) Example, Dendro-
batea tinetorifu. (Cayenne.)
Bhinoderma Dam. and Bibr. Example, Rhinoderma Darvnnit.
(Chile.)
Atdopnt, Dnm. and Bibr. Example, Atdopui JUrveieeni. (Guyana.)
JSufo, Lanr. Example, Bufo vulgaris, the Common Toad. (Europe,
Japan.) Messrs. Dum^ril and Bibron reoord 18 species of this
genus.
Phryniteuty Wieg. (CkawMia, Tschudi.) Example, Phrynitcut
nigricani, Wieg. (Montevideo.)
BraekycephakUf Pitzing. {Bphippiferf Coot.) Example, Brachy*
eej^udui ephippiwn, Fitzing. (Bradl, GKiyana.)
Hylasdaeiyhtty Tschud. Example, Hyladaetyhu hdleaiut. (Java.)
PUdropus, Dum. and Bibr. Example, Pleetroput pictus. (Manilla.)
Bngytkma, Fitzing. (Mieropa, Wagl. ; StenocephahUf TschudL)
Example, Bngyttoma ovale, (Surinam, Buenos Ayres.)
Uperodon, Dum. and Bibr. Example, Uparodonmarmoratut. (Monta-
valle, Indian Peninsula.)
Brevicept, Merrem {Engyitoma, part, Rtring.; Syttoma, Wagl,
Tschudi). Example, Brevioept gtbhotui. (South Africa, near the Cape
of Good Hope.)
Bhinophrynmt, Dum. and Bibr. Example, Bhinopbrynus dortalis,
(Mexico.)
Oeographical Distribution of the Family. — ^Messrs. Dum^ril and
Bibron state that the number of species of the Bufoniform Family
known to them (1841) was 85, a much less number than that of the
Raniform Family, which includes 51, and less still than the Hyliform,
or Tree-Frog Family, which comprises 64.
Nevertheless, observe these excellent herpetologists, species of this
family exist in all the five parts of the world, where they are
distributed in a manner not less unequal than the Raniform and
Hyliform species, and always with a greater proportion for America,
whilst the smallest portion of them belong to Europe, which has not
even a single Sf>ecie8 peculiar to itself ; for the two there found, the
Common Toad and the Green Toad {Bufo viridis, Laur.), also inhabit
Africa and Asia, which produce moreover, the one Bufo ^antherinua
and Brevicepa gibbosus, the other Ptectropui pictus, Engy stoma omatum,
JBfyUxda^ylus baleatus, Uperodon marmoratum, and Bvfones cruentatus,
scaber, biporeaius, isos, and asper.
Oceania, which after America is, they observe, best furnished with
Hyliform species, and where two of the Raniform Family are found,
has not hitherto yielded more than a single Bufoniform species, namely,
Phryniscus Australis.
America, besides six species of Bufo, namely, strunumis, mdanotis,
musicus, Americanus, margaritifer, ctOrbignyi, and LeschenauUii,
furnishes Dendrobaies tinctorius, obscwrus, and pictus ; Bhtnoderma
Darunnii; Atdopus fiavescens ; Phryniscus nigricans ; Brachycephalus
ephippium ; and Engystomaia ovale, Carolinense, rugosvm, and microps.
Mr. Darwin, spiking of the Fauna of the Galapagos Archipelago,
says : ** Of snakes there are several species, but all hannless. .Of toads
and frogs there are none. I was surprised at this, considering •how
well the temperate and damp woods in the elevated parts appeared
adapted to their habits. It recalled to my mind the singular stat^
ment made by Bory St. Vincent, namely, that none of this family are
to be found on the volcanic islands in the great oceans. There certainly
appears to be some foundation for this observation, which is the more
remarkable when compared with the case of lizards, which are generally
among the earliest colonists of the smallest islet It may be asked
whether this is not owing to the different facilities of transport through
salt-water of the eggs of the latter, protected by a calcareous coat, and
of the slimy spawn of the former." (* JoumaL')
URODtLEB, or Tailbd Amphibia.
Under this designation the following genera are included : — PUuro-
dHes, Walt^. ; Bradybates, Tsch. ; Salamandra, Linn. ; Pseudosala-
mandra, Tsch. ; Ambystoma, Tsch. ; Onychodactylus, Tsch. ; Plethodon,
Tsch. ; Cylindrosoma, Tsch. ; (Edipus, Tsch. ; Salamandrina, Fitz. ;
Oeotriton, Bonap. ; ffemidacfylium, Tsch. ; Cynops, Tsch. ; ffyriobius,
Tsch. ; Pseudotriion, Tsch. ; Triton, Laur. ; Xiphonura, Tsch. ;
Megalobatrachus, Tsch. (Sicboldia, Bonap.) ; Andrias (fossil) Tsch. ;
Menopoma, Harl. ; Siredon, Wagl. (Axolott); Amphiunui, Gard.;
MenAranchuSf Harl ; Hypockton, Men*. {Proteus) ; Siren ; and many
others.
Skeleton. — The skull of the Terrestrial Salamander {Lacerta Sala-
mandra, Linn. ; Salamandra terrestris, Aldr. and Ray) is well described
by Cuvier as being nearly cylindrical, widened in front in order to
form the semicircular face, and behind for the two crucial branches
resembling those of the frogs, and containing the internal ears. But
though the composition of Uie head resembles that of the frogs in the
back and under parts, it differs remarkably in other parts : there is
no girdling bone {os en ecinture), and the only representation of the
ethmoid bone appears in a membranous state.
Above, the cranium is divided nearly equally between the two frontal
and the two parietal bones. The anterior part of the frontal bones is
articulated forwards with the bones of the nose, and, laterally, with
Digitized by
Google
197
AMPHIBIA.
AMPHIBIA.
the anterior fronUl bonee. The apophyiea liamg ftom the inter-
maxillary bones are yeir lai^ which pUcet the external oflseouB
nostrilB Tery far apart. The nasal bone ia placed on the upper part
of each of them, between the intermaTillary, the frontal^ the anterior
frontal, and the maxillary bones. The anterior frontal bone occupies
the cheek in front of the anterior angle of the orbit, but does not
descend into the cavity, the anterior wall of which is simply mem-
branous Cuvier belicTed that he saw a very small lachrymid bone at
the external angle of the anterior frontal bone. The dental part of
the upper maxillary bone is carried backwards as usual, but without
forming a junction with either the pterygoid or jugal bones. Cuvier
found only two occipital bones, as in the other Batrachians, and each
of them Was intimately united vrith a part analogous to the ospetrosum
(rocAer). A great round hole serves for the en^ to the vestibule, and
consequently to the fenestra ovalis. In the living animal it is closed
by a cartilaginous plate, vdthont any stem, and entirely hidden under
the muadea. To this bone, which occupies the place of both the occi-
pital, lateral, and petrous bones, are attached thne others, the lower of
which (the pterygoid), vrith its triangular figure, brings to the mind
of the observer the three branches of which it is form^ in the frogs.
Its anterior angle, as has been stated, does not reach the maxillary
bone, and ia only connected to it by a ligament ; neither does the
intenial angle reach the sphenoid bone: the external angle exists
under the second of the three bones here noticed, namely, the inter-
mediate bone— that to which belongs tiie facet for the articulation of
the jaw. This bone, Cuvier remarks, is very difficult to define ; and
he further says that he shall perhaps be considered very rash if he
names it the jugal bone, for, Ur from being placed horizontally, and
going forwards to join the maxillary, it lies transversely on the
posterior border of the pterygoid bone; nevertheless, there is a
ligament which unites it to the posterior point of the maxillary bone.
The third and upper of these bones lies upon the preceding, and in
the same direotu>n; it is oblong and flat, and is attached by its
internal extremity upon the lateral occipital bone, without readiing
to the parietal. Supposing the jugal bone to be well named, this
would be the tympanic bone ; and, in fact, if the little plate which
covers the fenestra ovalis had a handle (manehe), it would pass behind
the bone of which we speak, as in the frogs it passes behind the
tympanic bone.
Below there is only a single sphenoid bone, which is oblong. Two
laige triangular bones, which are manifestly analogous to those named
vomers by Cuvier in the frogs, form the flooring of i^e nostrils below,
and give off each a slender apophysis, which extends backwards under
the sphenoid parallel to its correspondent. It is to these hones and
to their apophyses that the two longitudinal rows of the palatal teeth
of the Salamanders adhere. Between the anterior part of these bones,
behind the intermaxillaries^ is a large oval space, which is filled by
the membrane of the palate only; their posterior and dentary
apophysis extends nearly as far backwards as the sphenoid bone.
Perhaps, observes Cuvier, it is divided at certain periods into two by
a suture, and a palatine bone may then be distinguished, but he had
not been able to perceive one. There is in the orbit, at its anterior
wall, a great membranous space between the maxillary bone, the
anterior frontal, and the vomer ; and it is at the bottom of this space,
and in^ a notch of the vomer, that the internal nostril is pieroMi on
each side. The bottom of the orbit, on the side of tiie cranium,
between the frontal and parietal bones on one side, and the vomer and
sphenoidal bones on the other, is occupied by an oblong bone in which
the optic hole is pierced, and which can only answer to the orbital
wing of the sphenoidal bone. It is this part which is membranous
in the frogs, anid has no existence in the serpents, in which the parietal
and frontal bones each nipply it by halves ; here it is elevated to the
state of a particular bone. OAie two occipital condyles are very much
separated from each other, and placed at the two sides of the occipital
hole.
The cranium of the European Aquatic Salamanders differs in general
from that of the Terrestrial in having the entire head more oblong,
(he external nostrils more approximated, the space between the
vomers a simple small hole^ thepterygoid bone a mere plate, wide
behind and pointed before, ko. They auo differ among themselves.
The OS hyoldes is subject to changes in the Salamanders, as in the
firo^ In its larva state it nas two hyoidian branches springing from the
occipital bones, uniting forwards under the lower jaw, and a cartila-
ginous branchial apparatus suspended at the point of union of those
branches, and supporting four arches on each side, the first of which is
attached to an intermediate stem, the three following to a second two-
jointed stem, and these two pairs of stems to an unequal branch, as is
more clearly manifested in the AxclotL The adult Aquatic Salamanders
preserve in the bony state the branches which still are attached below
the fenestra ovalis, and terminate forward by a truncation under Uie
middle of the lower jaw ; but the anterior articulation of these branches
is now become membranous. The unequal stem, in the bony state,
supports on each side an osseous branch consisting of two joints^
termiaated by a cartilaginous point, and moreover, internally, another
branch which is simple and reduced to a filament, which goes from the
unequal stem to the second articulation of the external branch. In
the Terrestrial Salamander, which can only pa^o & ▼oiy short time in
the larva state, all remains cartilaginous. The two suspensive branches
or anterior horns are delicate and flat, and do not join the cnmhun ;
and the unequal stem with its two branches soldered on each tide bv
their two ends, forms only a sin^^e chevron-shaped cartilage, each branci
of which is pierced with a considerable gap. This remainder or vestige
of the branobial apparatus does not prevent the co-existence of a laiyiiz
and the rudiment of a sternum ; both indeed weak and membranous
rather than cartilaginous. The shoulder of the Salamander is very
curious on account of the close junction of its three bones into a single
one, which has the glenoid fosset at its anterior edge, sends towacds the
spine a square lobe slightiy enlaiged above, which is the omoplate, and
towards the breast a rounded disk, slightiy lobated, which is oompoeed
of the clavicle and coracoid bone, where a suture which qpparates them
may for a long time be observed, and where there -always remaina a
small hole. The omoplate has its spinal edge augmented by a cartila-
ginous prolongation. The deido-coraoold is also surrounded with a
great cartilaginous blade in form of a crescent, which crosses upon its
congener under the breast; for the only vestige of a sternum remaining
is a cartilaginous blade placed behind the two preceding, and vhich
represents the xipho'id. The atlas of the Salamander is articulated
with the head by two concave facets, and with the second vertebia by
the face of its body, which is also concave ; for, contrary to the case
of the frogs and lisards, all the anterior faces of the bodies of the
vertebns are convex in the Salamanders, and all the posterior faoea
concave; the upper part is flat The articular apophyses are horiiontid,
and united on each side by a crest, which, Joined to tiiat of the other
side, gives to the vertebra a sort of roof which is rectangular, bat with
its lateral borders a little re-entering. The posterior parts of a vertehn
lie on the anterior parts of that which follows it in lieu of spinoui
apophyses, there is only a slight appearance of a longitudinal ridge.
The body of the vertebra, which is cylindrical and narrowed in ita
middle, adheres under the roof above noticed. The transverse apophyaea
also adhere under the lateral crests, are directed slightiy backwuda,
and divided by a fiirrow on each of their faces, so that their extoemity
has as it were two tubercles for carrying those into which the base of
the small rib is divided. These small rilM adjoin all the cervical, doisal,
and lumbar vertebne, except the atlas, but are (mly two or tluee linea in
length, and are fiar frx>m surrounding tiie trunk or reaching the stenram.
Among the Aquatic Salamanders, the Triton Ganeri hastfie crest of the
dorsal vertebns more elevated and sharp than the Terrestrial Salamander;
this crest is also rather more developed in Triton alpegtru, and even in
Triion jmnctatua and Triton paUnaitu ; but what, adds Cuvier, is veiy
singular, it is precisely in Tritan cruta^iu that this crest is most e&ced,
and the upper part of the vertebra neariy plain. The vertebrae of the
tail (25 or 26 in number) in the Terresteial Salamander have crests and
transverse apophyses like those of the back ; they become smaller and
smaller, and, counting from the third caudal, there is under the body
a transverae blade directed obliquely backwards, pierced with a hole at
its base, which represents the chevron-bones of the lizards and the
other long-tailed genera. Cuvier counted 88 caudal vertebne in the
Trit<m alpettrU and Triton eristattu, 34 in Triton Oemeri, and 86 in
Triton punctatw. They form, he observes, a tail flattened laterally, in
consequence of the elevation of their upper and lower cresta The
bones of the limbs are, says Cuvier in continuation, proportioned to
the smallnesB of the members themselves. The humerus has, above,
a round head ; a littie lower, forwards, there is a compressed and obtoee
tuberosity; and backwards, a littie lower still, another venr pointed
one. Its lower head is flattened from before backwards, and widened
to suit the condyles, between which is an articular head, rounded for
the fore-arm, and above, forwards, a small fosset The Aquatic Sala-
mander has this bone more widened above than the Terrestrial spedeib
The fore-arm is composed of two separate bones. The radius baa a
round upper head, a narrowed body, and a compressed and widened
lower head. The cubit is more equal in sise, and its olecranon is vexr
short and rounded. The carpus has 5 bones and 2 cartilages which
occupy the place of bones, 7 pieces in all: the whole of these are
flat, angular, disposed in a pavement-like order, and in some respecta
announce the structure to be seen in the letk^otaurut. In the first
rank are two, of which the smallest or radial is csrtilaginous. The
greatest belongs to the radius and ulna; between them on the second
rank is a single one ; then come, on the third rank, four for the meta-
carpals. The first remains cartilaginous. The metacaipals ai« short,
flat, and naxrowad in their middle. Cuvier found only one r^*^*^"*
ossified on the first finger, two on the second and fourth, and tiiree on
the third. The variety of points by which the pelvis is attached to
the Bpii^e u, he remarks, a very singular thing. He had individuals of
the Terrestrial Salamander in which it was suspended from the 15th
vertebra (counting in the atias), and others in which it was suspended
from the 16th ; and he refers to a specimen (species undetermined)
seen by M. Schultze, 'in which it was suspended on one side to the
16th vertebra, and on the other to the 17th. With regard to the
Aquatic Salamanders, Cuvier found it oonstantiy suspended to the 14th
in Triton paimatut and Triton alputrit, to the 15th in Trittm pmetatui
and TSritcn Oetneri, and to the 17th or 18th in Triton erittaint. He had
an individual of tiie last-named spedes, in which it was suspended on
one side to the 17th vertebra, and on the otiier to the 18th. The
pelvis itself is quite differentiy formed horn that of the froga The
vertebra which supports it is like those which precede it, and has, like
them, on each side a small rib, at the extremity of which the os ilii is
Digitized by
Google
ie»
AMPHIBIA.
AMPHIBIA.
170
Kupended by a ligament It is cylindrioal, and widens a little on
arriTing at the cotyloid cavity. The pubis and ischium are soldered
together, and form, with those of the other side, from wliich they are
distinct, a laige disk, concave above^ flat below, cut square in fix>nt
and at the anterior puts of the sides, notched laterally and narrowed
behind the cotyloid fosssB, and terminated backwards in a coneave arch.
Forehand of Sieboldta.
Skull of Jf
_m below.
4
8k«]etoD of TerrMtrial laUmsnder. a. Skull in profils ; h, from below.
The pubis remains cartilaginous much longer than the js^^^wn, ?dth
whidti it is united by a suture which makes a cross with the symphysis,
And in front of this svmphysiB is a cartilage in the form of a T in the
muscles, which recalls to the observer ttie marsupial bonsa of the
Digitized by
Google
i71
AMPHIBIA-
AMPHIBIA.
m
Opoasums. The upper head of the femur ia oval ; sb the internal fiaoe
of the neck, there is a very pointed apophysifl, occupying the place of
a trochanter : the lower head is widened and flattened from before
backwarda. There are two bones in the leg. The tibia, which ia very
Btout upwards, haa in front a ridge, which detaches itself from the
upper part of the bone in the form of a slender stem, resembling the
vestige of a fibula discernible in various Rodents, but this does not
prevent the development of a true fibula as large as the tibia, and
which descends a littie lower. There are 9 tarsal bones, all flat and
disposed in a pavement-like order: the lower rank has 5 for the
five metatarsal bones ; the four others consist of one small (tiie tibial)
at the internal border, one great (the fibular) at the external border,
an oblong one between them, placed obliquely and answering to the
tibia and fibula, and one square in the middle of all the others.
Cuvier found but one phalanx on the first finger, two on the second,
three on t^e third and fourth, and two on the last
Reproduction of Parts. — The power of reproducing excised or
injurod parts has been observed in no family among the reptiles
more carefully than in the Tailed Amphibia. Plateretti, Spallanzani,
Murray, and others have recorded their observations with respect to
this power; and Bonnet particularly has given most accurate descrip-
tions and figures of his careful experiments. The arms or thighs of
Tritons amputated sometimes on one side^ sometimes on the other, or
both on the same side, were oonstantiy reproduced, and the tOes were
again gradually formed and endowed with motion. The tail, too, cut
off at various points, was renewed, pushing out by littie and littie from
the amputated base. In one case tne same limb was reproduced four
times consecutively in the same animal Bonnet found that this
reproduction was favoured by heat and retarded by cold. He
observed that the parts of excised limbe were often reproduced
with remarkable alterations, either of defect or excess ; the deficiency
or exuberance of certain parts taking upon themselveB very singular
forms. In many* species of Tritons the long bones of the limbs
detached from their principal articulation, and remaining suspended
by some points which still caused them to adhere to the flesn, were
found completely consolidated in a few days. The most extraor-
dinary observation was that consequent on the total extirpation of the
eye, which was entirely reproduced and perfectiy oiganised at the end
of. a year. Dufay has recorded their faculty of remaining frozen up
in ice for a long period without perishing.
Their tenaci^ of life was strongly shown in an experiment made by
M. DumdriL Three-fourths of the head of a Triton marmoratue was
removed with a pair of scissors. The mutilated animal was placed by
itsedf at the bottom of a large glass vessel in fresh water about half an
inch deep, and which was careAilly renewed at least once a^y. The
animal, although deprived of the fbur principal senses, without nostrils,
without cr^ee and ears, and without a tongue, continued to live and move
slowly. Its only commimication with externalB was carried on by touch
alone. M. Dum^ril relates that it was evidentiy conscious of existence,
and walked slowly and cautiously. It raised the stomp of its neck
towards the surface of the water, and during the first days was seen
making efforts to breathe. In less than three months reproduction
and cicatrisation had so done their work that there remained no
aperture for the lungs, or for food. At the end of three months, M.
Dumdril was compelled to leave it to the care of another during an
absence, and it died, in all probability, as he observes, from want of
attention on the part of the person who undertook the care of it.
This specimen is now preserved in the Paris Museum, and exhibits, as
M. Dum^ril remarks, the singular fact of an animal having lived without
a head ; and a proof of the possibility and neceesily, even in the Batra-
chians, of a sort of re^iration by means of the sBn. In this animal
M. Dum^ril states that respiration was certainly thus carried on for
three months, ^though the stump of the amputated part presented a
cicatrice, the smooth surface of which proved, even when examined
by a magnifying glass, that
there was a complete obtura-
tion of the oesophagus and
larynx.
Dr. Von Siebold has also
recorded his observations on
the reproduction of wounded
^ lost parts in the TViton ni^er.
The following are some of
the more remarkable genera
belonging to the Tadled Am-
phibia: —
ProUmopeie.
Head fiat» broad; two con-
centric rows of teeth (the inner
row palatine) in the upper jaw,
and a single row only in the
lower jaw; tongue tree in
frx>nt; operculum situated
about half way between the
posterior edge of the rictua of
the mouth and the fore-leg;
three opercular oartilagea» between the posterior, two of which form
tha aperture; feet fimbriated on thdr outer edge; toes four on the
Head of Proionepeit, seen from above.
anterior feet, and five on the posterior ; of the latter the fourth aad
fifth are webbed and without daws.
This is the Ahranchut * and Menopoma of Harlan ; Protonopeu of
Barton ; Cryptobranchut of Leukardt and Fitzinger ; Salamandropi of
Wagler.
There are two species known, the Protonopeii horrida and P. fuaea.
The first species is well known. Its lengtii is about two feet ; head
broad and flattened; mouth wide; nostrils projecting; body thick
and stout ; tail compressed vertically, and nearly as long as the body ;
legs stout and short; colour slaty with dark spots on the body; a
dark line runs through the eyes.
This is the Bellbender, Mvd Devil, Ground Puppff, and Toung A tUgator
of the Anglo-Americans ; and FteeK-Salamander of the Germans.
It inhabits the Ohio and Alleghany rivers.
This Batrachian is carnivorous and very voracious ; nothing that it
can devour is spared by it. The fishermen dread it very much, and
believe it to be poisonous. Indeed the appearance of the animal ia
altogether uncouth and forbidding.
Michaux appears to have been the first traveller who discovered
and noticed the Protonopsit, He states that in the torrents of the
Alleghanies is found a species of Salamander, called by the inhabitants
' Alligator of the Mountains,' and that there are some which are two
feet in length.
There is a well-preserved skeleton of Pr§tonoptis horrida in the
museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London.
Protonoptis AlleghtmimuiM,
a. Month open, fbpwing the arrangement of the teeth.
Sieholdia,
Head laige, trigono-ovate ; rostrum produced, vertex convex;
forehead concave; noetrils, in the anterior margin of the maxilla,
approximate; eyes very small, hardly distinguishable; no parotida;
tongue not distinct ; palatine teeth numerous ; a crest on the anterior
margin of the vomers; posterior feet with cutaneous appendages ; toes
small, free, with depressed cutaneous lateral lobes ; tail rather round
at the base, veiy much depressed in the middle and behind, head
thickly covered with glands ; body depressed, with transverse foldj
and a long thick cutaneous appendage on each side.
Figures of the skuU, showing the teetii, of the skeleton of the fore-
hand, and of some of the vertebrse, are given on the preoeding page.
This* is tfie genus Megalobairachus of Tschudi ; but the Prince of
Canine's name, Sieboldiaf has the right of priority. The genus belongs
to the sub-family Andriadina of the Prince's SalamandricUe,
SieboUUa maxima is the Salamandria m^ixima of Schlegel ('Fauna
Japon.,' viL, tab. vi, vii, viiL), and was found by Dr. Von Siebold in
a lake on a basaltic mountain in Japan. He brought away a male and
a female ; but the former devoured the latter during the passage. The
gill-aperture slit always remains open in ProUmoptiMy but in this great
newt the slits are closed. This animal is the nearest living analogue of
Andriae Scheuchaeri, the celebrated Homo DUvmi Tatit of Soheuchxer.
Triton.
Head rounded, convex; vertex somewhat flattened; tongue m»^
semi-globular, sliightiy free at each side, free and pointed behind;
palatine teeth numerous, disposed in two rows; body grannlons;
no parotids ; tail compressed, as long as the body ; glsmdular portf
behmd and over the eves, and a longitudinal row of distant and
similar pores along each side. Toes four on the anterior and five on
the posterior feet Crests of the back and tail (in the male) separate.
Example, Triton crietatui.
The colour is blackish, orange-coloured beneath, sprinkled with
round black spots ; sides dotted with white ; upper lip oveihangiQg
the lower, but not having a distinct lobe ; body waiiy or ^^'^''^'
lated ; tail rather smooth, compressed, sharp, trenchant above and
below. licngth six inoh'M«T
Male (in the;q>ring) with an acate toothed dorsaT OMst; tail with
• Afterwards changed to Menopoma lij Dr. Harlan, Abrattehm havlnff bees
pre-ooonpisd bj Van Haaaelt to designate a ganiu of mnllniks.
Digitized by
Google
173
AMPHIBIA.
AMPHIBIA.
174
a longitadina] white siripe. In winter without a crest^ and much
reaemhling the female.
FemaiU, — No crest ; lower edge of the tail orange.
Ywmg. — Olive-brown with a Bolphureons dorsal line; abdomen
orange, spotted with black ; lower edge of the tail orange-red.
This is the Laceria palutiris of Linnsems; Salamandra aqtuUica
of Bay; Salamandra crutata of Schneider, Daudin, kc; Triton
peUuMtris of Fleming ; Balamand/ra platyeauda of Rusconi ; Molge of
Merrett ; Molffe paluMtria of Merrem ; Grotte Weuier-Salamander and
Sufmrpf-Salamander of Bechstein ; Wcirty Lizard of Pennant ; Common
Warty Newt and Cfreat Water-NwBt of the British.
It is distributed over the whole of Europe, and is found in western
and northern Asia.
H'abiU. — The ponds and ditches of this country abound with this
tiie laifpest Briti^ Newt, and a most voracious animal it is. Aquatic
Triton erUtatw, male, in the spring season, seen from above.
Triton eristatns, female, in the act of oompreMing a turned leaf upon her
included egg. The leaves folded back represent those in which eggs have
already been thus laid. (RusconL)
insects, and indeed any small living animals which come in its way,
are unsparingly devoured. It is a great destroyer of tadpoles, and
the smafier Water-Newt (Lissotritonpunctatvs) frequently fieUls a victim
to its ferocity and voracity. Mr. Bdl has taken them more than once
in the act of swallowing an individual of the smaller species, which
was BO large as to occasion great diffioidty and delay in the act of
deglutition. In swimming, the legs are turned backwards to lessen
resistance, and the animal is propelled principally by the taiL Every
one has observed the Newts, or Efts, as they are called in many places,
floating motionless at the surface of the water, with their limbs
extended at right angles with the body, and their toes spread out
Their progression at the bottom of the water, and on land, is per*
formed creepingly with their small and weak feet
Generation. — For our knowledge of this subject we are chiefly
indebted to the observations of Rusconi Mr. Bell, in his work on
'British Reptiles,' has confirmed most of Rusconi's observations, and
also added some of his own.
Rusconi enters into minute details of the actions of the male from the
time of its first pursuit of the female to the period of fecundation, for
which we refer the reader to the work itself. {* Amours des Salamandres
Aquatiques, et Developement du T6tard de ces Salamandres depnis
rCEuf jusqu* It TAnimal Parfait,' Milan, 1821,) Prior to the time of
depositing her eggs, the female remains immoveable ; at last she moves,
and slowly goes in search of a plant proper for receiving her <
chooeong almost always, when present, the Polyffoman Persicaria, She
first approaches her head to the edges of a 1^, and turns it with her
snout m such a way that the lower surface of the leaf, which was towards
the bottom, is turned towards her breast : then with her fore-paws she
passes the turned leaf beneath her belly, seises it with her hind-pavrs,
and conducts it beneath the vent, folding it at the same time, and
forming with it an angle the opening of which is directed towards the
tail The egg in escaping fh>m the vent would thus pass through the
middle of the angle formed by the leaf, but the salamander stops it
in its fall by her hind-feet, shuts up this angle with them, and thus
forms in the leaf a fold in which the egg is held. Still on the removal
of the feet the egg would fall to the bottom of the water; but the
careful parent, before she quits the leaf, folds it so firmly with her
hind-feet that the gluten with which the envelope of the egg is
surrounded spreads from the pressure on the two internal surfiicee of
the leaf, and prevents the folds from opening. * When several eggs
have been laid in this manner, in different leaves, the female remains
quiet until another male comes to caress her. Rusconi did not
ascertain how long the period of laying continued ; but he found eggs
OS early as the middle of April and as late as the middle of July.
The following figures, given by the same author, exhibit the several
stages of the evolution of the egg which was kept on its proper leaf :
these stages are denoted }9j the dates of the days on which the
drawings were made. Thus, the figure marked 28rd April shows the
egg of its natural size, and the figure below it the same magnified.
April 23. April 26. AprU 28. April 30.
May 2.
Mays.
0 "**y*0 May 5.0
99
The temperature of the water during the period of Rusconi's obser-
vations varied from 22^ to 27** Centigrade (71'6- to 80*6** Fahr.) The
globule in the centre of the ovum is white with a yellow tint, and is
environed with a glairy matter, to which it is not attached, so that it
can move freely in every direction. Its envelope is membranous, of
glassy transparence, and covered with a very clear viscid matter : the
specMc gravity of this matter appears to be less than thai of the
globule. In three days the globule liad imdetgone the change
exhibited at April 26. Under the microscope may be observed in the
embryo the commencement of the parts which are to l>ecome the
head, the belly, and the tail The globule at first becomes enlarged,
then elongated, and its previously smooth sur&ce presents some
smaU eminences. If it has not been fecundated, or has lost its prolific
power, it enlarges, nevertheless, during the first days, as in ordinaiy
cases, but afterwards changes so as to resemble a vesicle half filled
with water : when this appearance comes on, the egg has lost its
vitality.
On the 28th of April (fifth day) the embryo has grown so long that
it becomes bent in order to acconmiodate itself to the circumscribed
envelope. Now the head, abdomen, and tail are easily distinguishable,
and near the head (the larger extremity) small elevations (the rudi-
ments of gills and fore-feet) are perceptible. These parts become
more i^parent by the 30th, when in the concave side of th« Qmbryo
Digitized by
Google
178
AMPHIBIA.
AMPHIBU.
176
and towards the head a amall furrow ia seen which sepfiratea the head
from the abdomen, and the rudimenta of a apine are distinctly Tisible
along its convex border.
By the 2nd of May the position of the embryo is changed, and the
tail has already assumed its oar-like form. The embrro begins to
moTe, and its heart may be seen to beat ; colour, too, oegins to be
present This appears to be a critical state of the embryo ; for alny)st
half of those of which the deyelopment was watched by Rusooni, died
at this period or soon after. Srd May. On one side of the head, and
before the two elevations which are the rudiments of the fbre-feet»
filaments to the number of four on each side may be observed. 4th
May. The changes of position become frequent. In that here presented
the embryo shows the lower part of its head and trunk, which is white
inclining to green. On the chest between the gills of the two sides,
where tiie pulsations of the heart are seen, sxnall irregular blackish
spots are observable. Before the two olaspers ars seen also other
blackish spots, forming the junction of the two bands which run along
the back, as shown in the preceding figure. The circulation of the
blood, which is simple, and performed by a single curved vessel, is
seen in the gills, which are of a glassy transparence, and consist only
of a single filament without leaflets as yet 6th May. Traces of the
eyes may now be just seen ; and the rudiments of the two leaflets are
perceptible on the two longest gills. 6th May. The upper small figure
shows the young Salamander, seen from above, and of tiie natural size,
just escaped from the envelope. Before its escape, the embryo as it
enlarges gradually dilates the envelope, which at last it tears, and so
forces its way out As yet the eyes are scarcely defined, though they
form two prominences on the sides of the head, and its mouth is so
slightly traced that attentive observation is required to detect it ; for
it IS indicated only by a slight transverse depression beneath the head,
and between the two prominences formed by the eves, and in the
middle of the space between the anterior border of the Ikead and the
origin of the neck. Its fore-feet begin to separate like buds from the
gills, which last are gradually furnished with small leaflets.
May 6.
8UgM of derelepment of Trit&n eriitahu after exelnsion from the egg.
a shows the Salamander in this stage, magnified and seen from
below ; hb are the two prominences formed by the globes of the eyes,
and between them is the slight depression which afterwards becomes
the mouth ; e, the hook of the right side ; <2, the gills of the same
side ; r , rudiment of fore-feet of the same side ; / represents the same
seen in profile, and g the same seen from above.
Further stages of development of lYiton eriHatut,
The middle and small figure above shews the natural size of the
Salamander-Tadpole on the 18th of May, twelve days after its exclusion
from the egg. By this time the fore-feet have become lengthened, and
ar« divided at Aeir extremity like a bicuspid tooth ; these two
tubercles elongate, and are converted into two toes. Now the eyes
are disclosed ; the pupil black, the white speckled with various ooloiirs.
The yellow back of the little animal has become green, and the gills
are now furnished with leaflets, in which red blood circulates. The
transverse depression between the eyes above noticed has become a
very large mouth, whose extremities extend on the sides of the head
to the eyes. The head, hitherto narrow behind, has become much
enlarged near the origin of the giUs. The two hooks by idiich the
animal anchored its& have diasppeared, and the opaque body has
become so transparent thai the action of the heart and the form and
disposition of tne abdominal viscera may be observed in the living
animal With this advance in organisation the sluggishness of the
animal has vanished, and its habits are now msnifeeted. It may be
seen near the surface, hiding beneath leaves or swimming with
rapidity. If, while it floats at resty a small aquatic insect should pass
before it near the surfboe, it pursues it deliberately, and as soon as it
approaches within reach, darts upon it and swallows the prsy. Here
then we have the little Salamander in the enjoyment of aetire
animal life.
Farther stages of deTelopment of THton erittatut,
a, shows the yonog Salamander at this stage, natoral sise, seen tnm. ahore ;
and b, the same magnified, seen from ahore and in profile.
By the 28th of May the Salamander has put on the form above
given in the upper figures, Seen from above. About this time the
hind-feet begin to appear, and the fore-feet are well developed ; these
last are, as will be seen, long in proportion to the trunk. The
following are the principal points manifested under the microscope in
this stage : — 1, two small eminences or excrescences, extending from
the axiUse to the abdomen ; 2, the parietes of the abdomen ti&e the
colour of the insects on which the animal feeds ; 8, the changes of
colour from yellow to green, during the growth of the tadpole, are
purely accidental, and commence immediately on the escape of the
animal from the egg ; 4, the inner toes first push forth, and this holds
good also with regard to the hind-feet ; 5, the amylaceous bone of the
oigan of hearing is now formed, and may be seen through the skull
and skin; 6, at this
period, and even sooner,
the itnima-l begins to
expel air from the
mouth. The two lower
cuts show the same
salamander on the
12th June ; the small
figure represents it of
. the natural size snd as
seen from above, and
the larger figure msg-
nified and in profila
Now the hind-feet have
almost attained their
<»i development) though
the fifth toe iswanting.
Last stage of the tadpole of TVUoh eristatuM. The lungs extend about
half-way down the trunk, and are visible through the parietes of the
abdomen. The longest gills, which were furxushed with only 18 or
14 leaflets 18 or 14 days previously, have now nearly 20.
On the 18th of July the young Salamander, as represented above,
had arrived at the maturity of its tadpole state, and it is represented
watching a small moUusk to ascertain whether it is living and fit for
prey. Rusooni found that on this day the gills appeared rather shorter
than on the day before. On the next day the leaflets at the extremities
of the gills were obliterated, and the g^-etem itself was shortened.
On the 27th of July the Salamander had lost even the smallest trace
Digitized by
Google
177
AMPHIBIA.
AMPHIBIA.
178
lAsaotriion punetatuSf seen Irom sbove.
Oj Male, the toes of whose hincUfeet are ftir-
nished in the breeding seeeon with a black,
spotted membrane, in the act of lashing his
tail ; b, female.
either of giUs or of branchial apertures. It respired atmospheric air
only, and haying arrived at its perfect state, made strong efibrts to
escape from the vessel in
which it had undergone
its metamorphoBis.
In its complete state
this species habitually
Uvea in the water, and
is seldom to be found on
land unless the pond*
which has been its abode
IB dried up, and the
animRl finds itself
obliged to walk in search
of another.
The development of
the Common Smooth
Kewt {LmoiriUm pwne-
tains. Bell; Tritonptune'
testes, Auci ; Triton
palM§iris, Laur.; Salci-
mamdra pwnotata, Dand. ;
Molffe punctata, Merr.;
Salamandra exigua,
Busc.; BndBfwmlAzard
of Pennant) was also ob-
served by Ruaconi ; bat
it did not require parti-
cular notice, being very
similar to that of Triton
eriitatni, Triton punc-
iatmt, however, showed
itself much the more
brisk animal of the two;
and the lashings of the tail of t^e male in his approaches to the
female wero mudi more rapid.
Sakmiandra.
Head thick; eyes large ; gape of the mouth ample ; tongue broad ;
palatine teeth arranged in two long series; parotids laige; body
sprinkled with many small glands ; toes free ; tail rather smooth.
Example, Salamandra maculosa, Laur.
This species is black with yellow spots^ and has numerous prominent
warty excrescences on the sides ; tongue very laige ; palatine teeth
epafeolifonn; toes smooth.
This is the Saianumda^ of Gesner; Salamandra torrtatris of
Aldrovaiidus, Bay, and others ; Salamandre de Terre of the French ;
and O^/Uc^ Erd-Salamander of the Gtermans.
It ii^iabits Central Europe and the mountainous parts of the south
of Eoropei
The Land Salamander, unlike the Tritons, is ovoviviparous, though
the young at first inhabit the water and undergo metamorphoses till
they arrive at the mature state which fits them for living upon land,
idiere they haunt cool and moist places, being not unfrequently found
about fallen timber or old walls. Their food principally consists of
insects, worms, and small molluscous animals. In the winter they
retire to some hollow tree or hole in an old wall, or even in the ground,
whCTB they coil themselves up, and remain in a torpid state till the
spring again call^ them forth.
The body of tiie Salamander is laigely covered with warty glands.
These secrete a milky fluid of a glutinous and acrid nature like that
of the toad, which, if not capable of affecting the larger and more
big^y-orgazuaed animals, appears to be a destructive agent to some
of those which are less highly organised. Thus Laurenti provoked
two gray lizards to bite a Salamander, which at first attempted to
escape from them, but being sfciU persecuted ejected some of this fluid
into their mouths ; one of the lizards died instantly, and ttie other
fen into convulsions for two minutes, and then expired. Some of
tUs juice was introduced into the mouth of another lizard; it
became convulsed, was paralytic on the whole of one side, and soon
died.
This is the only foundation for the long-cherished notion that the
Salamander was ota of the most venomous of animals. Nicander, in
his 'Alexmharmaca,' gives an appalling picture of the symptoms pro-
duced by its bite, llie Bomans looked on it with horror, as most
destructive ; and considered it as deadly a part of the poisoner^s
laboratory as aconite or hemlock. Hence came a proverb that he
who was bitten by a Salamander had need of as many physicians as
the animal had spots ; and another still more hopeless : "If a Sala-
mander bites you, put on your shroud."
Not only was its bite oonsidered fatal and the administration of the
animal itself taken internally believed to be deadly, but anything that
its saliva had touched was said to become poisonous. Thus, if it crept
over an apple-tree, it was supposed to poison all the fruit with its
saliva ; and even herbs on wluch the fluid fell were believed to affect
those who tasted them with vomiting. These fables had taken sudi
strong hold, that it was thought wor&y of record in the ' Acta Acad.
Kat Cur.' that a man had eaten a Salamander, which his wife had put
HAT. HIST. DtV. VOL. I.
into his food in the hope of becoming a widow, without suffering any
inconvenience.
But the grand absurdity of all was the belief that the Salamander
was incombustible ; that it not only resisted the action of fire, but
extinguished it ; and, when it saw the flame, charged it as an enemy
which it well knew how to vanquish.
Aristotle, whose Salamandra (caXaiiAvZpa) this appears to be, has
been quoted as giving his sanction to this belief, and indeed he cites
it as a proof that there are animals over which flame has no power :
** the Salamandra, as they say, when it goes through fire, extinguishes
it." (' Hist. An.,* v. 19.) iJow this is evidently only a reference to
report ; and it is not improbable that a copious secretion of the fiuid
above noticed might, in a rapid and short passage, so damp the fire
that the animal might get through comparatively unhurtw ^lian
{n. SI) says not only that it will live in the fiames, but that it attacks
nre like an enemy. Nicander, Dioscorides, and Pliny all add their
authority ; and the latter not only relates that they extinguish fire by
their touch, but that they are withouttsex and produce nothing. He
dwells on their poison as being of the worst description, and is profuse
in his catalogue of remedies. ('Hist. Nat,' xxix. 4.) But even so
late as 1789 there was an attempt to revive-these wondrous tales. A
French consul at Bhodes relates that, while sitting in his chamber
there, he heard a loud cry in his kitchen, whither he ran and found
Ills cook in a horrible fright, who informed him that he had seen the
devil in the fire. M. Pothonier then states that he looked into a
a
Salamandra maculosa, seen f^om above, a, profile of head.
bright fire, and there saw a little animal with open mouth and palpi-
tating throat. He took the tongs and endeavoured to secure it. At
his first attempt the animal, whioh he says had been motionless up to
that time (two or three minutes), ran into a comer of the chimney,
having loi^ the tip of its tail in escaping, and buried itself in a heap
•of hot ashes. In his second attempt the consul was successful drew
Digitized by
Google
179
AMPHIBIA.
AMPHIBIA.
ISO
the onimal out, which he describes as a kind of small Hard, pluDged
it into spirit of wine, and gave it to Buffon. This appears to be yenr
circumstantial, and M. Pothonier, whose head was evidently filled with
preoonoeiyed opinions, may be acquitted of any intention to deceive.
That Ihe slun of an ammal which could resist the action of fire
should be considered proof against that element is not to be wondered
at We accordingly find that a doth said to be made of the skins of
salamanders was incombustible, as is noticed by Marco Polo, who
however was shrewd enough to observe that these fire-proof cloths
were really made of a mineral substance (asbestos, no doubt^ which
the old writers termed Salamander^s Wool). Such most probably was
the Salamander-Cloth sent by the Tartar king to the Roman pontiff,
In which the Holv Napkin {Sudariwn Domini) is preserved.
Among the ower fables may be noticed the belief that the saliva
of the Salamander was depilatory — having the power to remove hair,
and substitute bald places for luxuriant tresses. Martial has an
epigram, of which this notion forms the point (lib. iL, ep. Izvi).
Its hearty worn as an amulet^ was considered to be a prophylactic
against fire, and it was used in medicine to eradicate leprosy.
It could hardly be expected that the alchymists would ne^ect
animals of which such wonders were rife ; and we accordingly find
that Ihe power of transmuting quicksilver into gold was attributed to
them. To this end the wretched reptiles were placed in a vessel on
the coals, and quicksilver introduced tnrough an iron tube was poured
upon them. This experiment was supposed to be accompanied with
danger to the life of the operator. Those who would fiuther dwell
on the legends connected with this subject may consult Funk's work,
' De SalamandraB Terrestris Vita, Evolutione, et Formatione.'
In the catalogue of Ihe specimens of Amphibia in the British
Museum the following arrangement is adopted. The ctUialogue of
the first suborder, the Awmtwu Amphibia, is not yet publiii^ed
(June^ 1868).
Order I. BATRACHIA.
Suborder I. Salzbntia (including ^e Frogs and Toads).
(Arrangement not yet published.)
Suborder II. Qradhhtu.
Fam.L
Name.
Salamandra nigra
Salamandbidjl
Locality.
Europe.
PlewrOoUt WalU .
TriUmPoiretii .
„ crittalMB ...
„ marmoraiua
„ aipuirit
Nciophihalmui mmiatiu
„ vwtdaoou
JSuprocUu piatycephalui
OyncpM jpyrrhigatkr
Taricha toroia .
„ lugubri$
Bradybates ventricoiUi
Lophtnut pvnetahu
„ palmaiut
Ommatoiritcn viUatnt
Seiranota penpiciUaia
Fam.II.
ffyndbiut ne&Wotiw
Molffettriata
Fam. III.
Onychodaet^MS Japanicut
ffderotriton ingent
Xiphowu/ra J^enomana
Ambyttoma CaroUna
„ HgHnwn
„ talpoideum
„ opacwn
„ pvnet^daJtwn
„ maerodactyUm
„ moffortium
„ epitcopui .
)} ^ythronotuim .
„ ScUdemam (f)
froniale (?) .
Ptethodon gUainoiwn
„ granuUUtim
Jkimoffnathus niger
„ fv9CU9 .
„ awiefdatu$
HemiidaetyUim tcrUaiwm
Batraehotepi attenuatui .
tt qtuulridigitatut
Spderpei langicaitda
North Africa.
Europe.
y*
»
North America^ East Coast.
Corsica and Sardinia.
JenpaiL
California.
North America.
Spain.
Europe.
t»
Syria.
Europe.
MOLGIDJL
. Japan.
PLBTHODONnDA
Japan.
North America^ East Coast.
West Coast
East Coast
West Coast
East Coast
Spderpa cirrigtra
„ bUineaia .
„ gtUUhlineata
„ rubra
„ montana
„ talmonea .
„ porphyritiea
„ BdUi
Cfeotriton fiucut
CEdiput variegatiu
Bntatina BtchtchoUzii
Axdotl .
,, maavdata
Order II.
Fam. I.
SiAMia m>axima . .
Protonoptit horrida .
„ futea .
North America, East Cotst
Mexico.
Italy.
North America, West Gout
ft n
Mexico.
PSEUDOSAURIA.
PBOTONOrtlDJl.
. Japan.
. . North America, East Coai4
Fam.IL
Amphiwna meant
Munenopna tridactyla
AxpHnnaDA
. . North America, East Coait
Order IIL PSEUDOPHIDIA-
Fam. L CmxmjiDM,
CcBcHia graeilis .
„ tenlaeuUUa
„ eompreaticauda
„ rottriMia
„ oxyura .
„ aqualoitoma
Siphtmopt inUrrupta .
„ Mexicana
lethyophit gkntinotua .
BMmatrema bwUkUum
Orderly.
Fam. L
Lepidoiiren paradoxa
Protoptenu amneotms
f, rhinocryptit
Tropical America.
Malabar.
West Africa.
Tropical America.
»
Ceylon. '
Tropical America.
PSBUDOICTHYASw
Levwosolkstdm,
. . Tropical America.
. West Africa.
MEANTIA
Pbotbidjl
. Europe.
. . North America, East CoMi
Order V.
Fam. L
Prcteut angwimu .
Neeiurtu maeuUmu
$» uucraUt • , , , ' ff „
Fam. n. SmENXDA
Siren Laeertina Carolina.
„ intermedia .... Texas.
Pteudobranchiu tiriatut . . North America, East Coast
Fossil Amphibia.
Foesil Anourotu Amphibia. — ^Fossil Frogs have been found in the
Coal-formation of the Rhine {Papier-Kohl) in company with the fishei
Leueitew maeru/riu and L. papyraeeta. Two species hare be«n
described, and there are many examples in the museum at Bodd.
In this country specimens are to be found in the collectioiu of the
Earl of Enniskillen and Sir Philip Egcrton, Bart
Palteophrynot Oe$$n§ri, (Tschadi.)
Fottil Toade, — Here may be noticed the fossil specimens from th«
CEningen Bed»— .Som^tmKor CEHin^eiiMr, Agass. (PehpikSMi Aga»ii»H
Digitized by
Google
ISl
AMPHIBIA.
AMPHIBIA.
183
Tflchudi), and PaUeophrynoa Oeaneri, Tschudi (See ' Claasification
der Batrachier' of J. J. TKhudi, pp. 84, 89, tab. 1, ff 2, 8.)
FouU Scdamandrida, — ^Few fonilB have awakened more curioeity
than the Homo DUuvii Tetiit of Scheuchzer, who was unwearied in
collecting oiganic remainfl, which he considered irrefragable evidence
of the general deluge. At length he obtained from the (Eningen Beds
(Miocene Period of Lyell) a fossil which he viewed with transport as
the unequivocal remains of Man himself A short description of this
specimen was published by him in the ' Philosophical Transactions'
for 1726. He again brought forward this piece of 'good fortune' — (in
his rapture he writes the last two words m Greek — ) in his ' Physica
Sacra, where he tells us that previously he had only possessed two
dorsal vertebne. Of the humamty of his prize he certsomy entertained
no doubt. In his rapturous vision he saw in the fossil not only one
part of the human skeleton, but many parts. No fancy could possibly
lead astray in a case where there were appearances of bones^ and flesh,
and even the softer parts of flesh, impressed on the solid stone. Here
indeed was a rari^ above all rarities. He gives no bad figure
of the fossil in tab. xlix. of the work last quoted. When we look at
that figure, it is difficult to conceive how such remains could have
i^peared to a physician, who must have had some acquaintance with
osteology, to be those of man ; and we can only account for it by
the blindness which an excited imagination and a determined adherence
to theory can produce. The iteration and determination of Scheuchzer
had its effect, and naturalists adopted his opinions. Qesner (1768)
appears to have been the first who tnrew deserved doubt on the ulegea
nature of the fossil ; for though he quotes it as an anthropolite, he
nevertheless, having become possessed of a similar specimen, offers
his conjecture that it was a fossil fish {SUvnu glaniSf Linn.), and the
obsequious naturalists were now as ready to foUow him as they had
been eager to run after Scheuchzer.
Geroer's specimen does not appear to have been engraved, nor
another which was said to be m the convent of Augustins at
CEningen; but a third specimen, more complete than Scheuchzer's,
came into the poeaession
of Dr. Ammann of Zu-
rich, and is now in the
British Museum. A
figure of this was pub-
li^ed by Kaig, in the
'Memoirs of the Society
of Naturalists of Suabia.'
Cuvier well observes
that a comparison of
the specimen with the
skeleton of Man must at
once have destroyed the
idea that it was anthro-
polite ; and it would be
a waste of space to repeat
here the details of that
comparison which Cuvier
so well follows out^ and
to which we refer. ( * Os-
semens Fossiles,' tom. v.,
pt 2, p 433, ed. 1824.)
Kaig, after figuring
Dr. Ammann's specimen,
expressly stated that he
had no doubt that the
fossil was a SiUinu, an
opinion which JiLger
refuted by placing by
the side of the figure of
the fossil, one of the
skeleton of SUwruigkmii,
Cuvier disposes of this
opinion with the same
success as attends his
former demonstration. ^
The rounded head and
great orbits of the fossil
struck Cuvier as strongly
resembling the head of a
frogor a salamander; and
he states that^ as soon as
he beheld Kaig^s figure, he perceived in tho vedages of tho hind-feet
and the tail evidence in favour of the last-named genua.
Cuvier, bemg at Haarlem in 1811, ebtained pennission to work upon
we stone which contained the pretended anthropolite of Scheuchzer,
for the purpose of uncovering any bones which might be still
hidden there. During the operation, the figure of the skeleton of
a salamander was placed before the operators; and Cuvier relates
the pleasure which they felt, as they saw, while the chisel chipped
ft^ay pieces of the stone, the bones which the figure had akeady
announced.
But by far the finest head of Andria$ Scheuchzeri is figured by
Tschndi, in his work above quoted, tab. 8 ; and many most interesting
of
AnUrior ^Tt ot Andrias SohsueJkMeri, Tsehadi,
seen from sbore. (Cnvier.)
details tace given in tab. 4 and tab. 5. These show how neariy allied
this gigantic Fossil Newt was to SiebMia fnaxima,
Salamandra ogygia^ Qoldf, is
found in the Braimkohle (Ter-
tiary), where also TrUon Noor
chicuSf Qoldf. occurs. Triton
palustris {?) jotnLu of Elarg is
from the (Eningen Slate.
Under the generic title Sola-
mandroidei, Professor J&ger
described a fossil reptile from
the German Keuper, giving it
the specific name of gigaaUeua,
This fossil now appears to be
identical with Mattodomavunu
and PhytoMwnu, Professor
Owen therefore proposes to
designate this gigantic genus of
extinct Batrachiuis — for to that
order he has satisfactorily shown
that the form belongs — ^by the
name of Ldbyrinthodon (from
the extraordinary structure of ^^
its teeth), in his pai)er ' On the ^p
Teeth of Species of the Genus
JxU>yrinthodon{JI£<uiod<mtauru9,
Salamandroidea andPhytotOMrua
(?) of Jager^ f^m the German
Keuper ana the Sandstone of
Warwick and Leamington.'
The following description of
the teeth of thu animal, from
the ' Proceedings of the Geolo-
gical Society,' will afford both*,
idea of the peculiarity of its
structure : —
" The plan and principle of
the structure of the tooth of
the Zdbynnthodon are the same
as those of the tooth of the
Ichthyotaurui, but they are
carried out to the highest
degree of complication. The
oonveiging vertical folds of the
external cement are continued
close to the centre of the tooth, ^
and instead of being straight i
simple lamellffi, they present a ^
series of irregular folds, Ln-
creasmg in complexity as they
proceed inwards, and re-
sembling the labyrinthic an-
fractuosities of the tnuUce of
the brain; each oonveiging
fold is slightly dilated at its
termination close to the pulp-
cavity. The ordinary laws of
dental structure are however
strictly adhered to, and every
space intercepted by a con-
volution of the folds of the
cement is occupied by corre-
sponding processes of the den*
tine. These characters were
presented J)y a transverse seo- ...i.^ ^^...,,4.^. -^v^. .^ |^^
tion of a fragment of a tooth '^'^^^rioi 8eh0uekB0rt, T»d^^ mm Inn
of the ZabyrifUhodan Jdgeri '^•- ^^"^'^
from the German Keuper, which included, about the middle
third part of a tooth, and Mr. Owen considers that the entire
length of the tooth might be Si inches^ and the breadth at the basis
14 inch.
"The external longitudinal grooves, whi3 correspond to the
inflected folds of the cement^ extend upwards from the base of the
tooth to about three-fourths of its heignt, decreasing in number as
the tooth diminishes in thickness, and disappearing about half an
inch from the summit of the tooth. Each f(^ of cement peoetiatea
less deeply as the groove approaches its termination ; and Mr. Owen
conceives that the structure of the upper part of the tooth may be
more simple than that of the lower, but he has not yet been able to
extend his investigations to it
" The dentine consists of a slender, central, conical column, or
'modiolus,' hollow for a certain distance from its base, and radiating
outwards from its circumference a series of vertical plates, which
divide into two, once or twice, before they terminate at the periphery
of the tooth. Each of these diverging and dichotomizing vertical
plates gives off throughout its course narrower vertical plates, which
stand at nearly right angles to the main plate, in relation to which
they are ^generally opposite, but sometimes altematc^'Many of th«
»t
Digitized by
Google
183
AMPHIBIA.
AMPHIBIA.
1S4
secondary plates which are given off near the centre of the tooth also
divide into two before they terminate. They partake of all the
undulations which characterise the inflected folds of the cement.
''The central pulp-cavity is reduced to a line, about the upper
third of the tooth ; but fissures radiate from ity corresponding in
number with the radiating plates of the dentine. One ofwese
fissures is continued along the middle of each plate, dividing where
it divides, and penetrating each bifurcation and process; the main
fissures extend .to within a line or half a line of the periphery of the
tooth ; the terminations of these, as well as the fissures of the lateral
processes, suddenly dilating into subcircular, ovsl, or pyriform spaces.
All these spaces constitute centres of radiation of the fine calcigerous
tubes, which, with their uniting dear substance, constitute the dentins
The number of these calcigerous tubes, which are the centres of minor
ramifications^ defies all calculation. Their diameter is the jAgfh. of
a line, with interspaces equal to 7 diameters of their cavities.
By the permission of Professor Owen we are enabled to give a
section of this highly complicated tooth, from his elaborate ' Odonto*
graphy' (pL 64, A.), in which the subject is treated with minute
detail ( part ii, p. 208, kc).
TransTerse Section of Tooth of Lahyrinthodon J&geri (Owen) ; 2fa*todon~
saunu JSferi (Meyer) ; natural sise, and a segment magnified, a, pulp-cavity,
from which the processes of pulp and dentine radiate ; (, cement.
In connection with this subject we may call the reader^s attention
to some facts of considerable interest^ which have lately been studied
with much care and success, and have become of such importance as
to constitute a distinct branch of inquiry under the name of
Ichnology ( Ix^j, a footstep, and \6yoSf a discourse).
This department of geological investigation is conversant with the
phenomena of footsteps impressed by animals on the strata of the
earth.
In 1828 Mr. Duncan's account of tracks and footmarks of animals
impressed on sandstone in the quarry of Com-Cockle Muir, Dumfries-
shire, appeared in the 'Transactions -of the Koyal Society of
Edinburgh.' Dr. Buckland caused a living Emys and Testudo GrcBca
to walk on soft sand, clay, and paste or imbaked pie-crust. He foimd
the correspondence of tJie footsteps of the latter with the fossil
footsteps sufficiently dose, allowing for difference of species, to render
it highly probable that the fossil footsteps were impressed by Testudo
OrcBca.
In Saxony, at the village of Hessbei^, near Hildbui;ghausen, fossil
footsteps were^ a few years ago, discovered in several quarries of gray
Quartzose Sandstone alternating with beds of Red-Sandstone, nearly
of the age of the Red-Sandstone of Com-Cockle Muir. Dr. Hohnbaum
and Professor Kaup state that those impressions of feet are partly
concave and partly in relief; the depressions are described as being
upon the upper surfaces of the Sandstone slabs, but the footmarks in
relief are only upon the lower surfaces, and cover the depressions.
In shorty the footmarks in relief are natural casts formed in the
subjacent footsteps as in moulds. On one slab, 6 feet long by 6 feet
wide, many footsteps of more than one animal and of various sizes
occur. The larger impressions, which seem to be those of the hind-
foot, are generally 8 inches in length and 6 in width, and one was
12 inches long.
I The name of Chirotherivm was proposed by Professor Elaup as the
provisional name for the great unknown animal that impressed the
larger footsteps, from a supposed resemblance in the marks of both
the fore- and hind-feet to the impress made by a human hand ; and he
thought that they might have been derived from some quadruped
allied to the MarsupiaLia, Dr. Siekler, in a letter to Blumenbach
( 1834 ), gave a further account of these footsteps. Fragments of
bones were found in the quarries where the footsteps had been
impressed, but those fragments were destroyed.
The existence of footprints of this kind soon became more exten-
sively known. In his address to the Qeologioal Society, in 1840, Dr.
Buckland says : — " Further discoveries of the footsteps of C%«rolA«-
ritim and five or six smaller reptiles in the New Red-Sandstone of
Cheshire, Warwickshire, and Salop, have been brought before us l^
Sir P. ^rton, Mr. J. Taylor, jun., Mr. Strickland, and Dr. Ward.
Mr. Cunningham, in a sequel to his paper on the footmariLs at Storeton,
has described impressions on the same slabs with them, derived from
drops of rain that fell upon thin lamina of day interposed between
the beds of sand. The clay impressed with these prints of ram-drops
acted as a mould, which transferred the form of^ every drop to the
lower Bur&oe of the next bed of sand deposited upon it^ so that
entire surfeices of several strata in the same quany are respectiTelj
covered with moulds and casts of drops of rain that fell whilst the
strata were in procoss of formation. On the surface of one stratum
at Storeton, impressed with large footmarks of a ChirUherwmf the
depth of the holes formed by the rain-drops on different parts of the
same footstep has varied with the unequal amount of pressure on
the day and sand, by the salient cushions and retiring hollows of
the creature's foot; and fcom. the constancy of this phenomenon
upon an entire series of footmarks in a long continuous track, we
know that this rain fell after the animal had passed. The equable
size of the casts of large drops that cover the entire sur&oe of the
slab, except in the parts impressed by the cushions of the feet,
record the falling of a shower of heavy drops on the day in which
this hu^e animal had marched along the ancient strand. Hemispherical
impressions of small drops, upon another stratum, show it to have
been exposed to only a sprinkling of gentle rain that fell at a moment
of calm. In one sznall slab of New Red-Sandstone found by Dr. Ward
near Shrewsbuzy, we have a combination of proo& as to meteoric,
hydrostatic, and locomotive phenomena, which occurred at a time
incalculably remote, in the atmosphere, the water, and the movements
of animals; and from which we infer, with the certainty of cumulative
circumstantial evidence, the direction of the wind, the depth and
course of the water, and l^e quarter towards which the animals were
passing: the latter is indicated by the direction of the footsteps
which form their tracks ; the size and curvatures of the ripple-marks
on the sand, now converted to sandstonei, show the depth and
direction of the current; the oblique impressions of the lain-drops
register the pohit from which the wind was blowing at or about the
time when the ft"*™»^^« were passing."
Soon after this address was delivered, Professor Owen proved the
existence of a gigantic Batrachian at the period when the New Red-
Sandstone was formed, and described three species of LabyriiUhodtm.
He conduded that tl^se cpeatures produced the foot-prints that had
been observed, and maintained the following positions : —
1st Proof from the skdeton that Labyrinthodon had hind extre-
mities much larger than the anterior extremities.
2nd. That the foot-prints of Chirotherimn are at least as much like
those of certain Toads as those of any other animala
Srd. That the size of the known spemes of Labynnthodon corre-
sponds with ihe sice of the foot-prints of the different spedes of
Uhirotheriwn; e.g. Lahyrinthodon Jdgeri, with the foot-print of
Chiroiherium HtrcvJUa (Bgerton) ; Labyrinthodon pcichyffnaihut, with
the foot-marks of the common Oh4rotherium ; and Labyrinthodon
leptognathua with the impressions of the smaller Batrachian figured
in the memoir by Sir Roderick Murchison and Mr. Strickland.
4th. Labyrinthodon occurs in the New Red-Sandstone strata to
which Chirotherian impressions are peculiar. And
Lastly, no remains of animals that could have left such impressions
as those of the Chirothtriwn have been found in these strata, except
the remains of the Labyrinthodon,
Fore and hind-foot of the tame.
It is true that the structure of the foot is still wantang, and that a
more connected and complete skeleton is required for demonstratioD ;
but the cireumstantial evidence above stated is strong enough to
Digitized by
Google
18ff
AMPHIBOLE.
AHPHISB^KA.
186
produce the oonviction that Chirotherian and Labyrmthodontic foot-
unprcflsions are identical ; and that M<utod<m$auru8, Satamandroldes,
Phytotaurutj Chirctherium, and Labyrinthodon are one and the some
genua, whidi ought for the fiitiu^ to be designated by the last-
mentioned name. We owe this evidence, principidly to the use of the
microscope in skilful and judicious hands ; and it is impossible not
to be struck with the wonderful applicability of that instrument to
the lai^gest of created bodied as well as to the smallest, when we look
at the results of Professor Owen's discovery of the highly-organised
dental structure in Lahyrinihodon, an extinct animal of a low grade,
where it could har^ have been expected to occur.
The reading of Frofessor Owen's memoir was accompanied by
the exhibition of a diagram representing a restoration of two species
of LahyriaUhodon, By the Professor^s kindness, we have been enabled
to give a greatly reduced copy of one of them. [See the preceding
column.] The bones which appear within the outline are those which
were known when the paper was read. The animal is represented as
impressing its footsteps on a shore of sand, now New Red-Sandstone.
- There is reason for believing that this Batrachian was not smooth
externally, but was protected, on certain parts at least, by bony scutella.
Spedmena of the foot-prints may be seen in the British Museum
and in that of the Royal College of Suigeons in London.
AMPHIBOLE, a mineral belongiog to the group of silicates of
magnesia, lime, iron, and manganese. [AuaiTE.]
AMPHIBOLI'TE, a name sometimes given to the simple mineral
more commonly adled Hornblende, and which was introduced by
Haiiy, the mineralogist, who uselessly changed many names. He
call^ Hornblende i4mpAt5o2e, because it is easily mistaken for Augite,
another simple min^al closely allied to it m composition, tcom.
iLfi^i^Xos, equivocal
AMPHIDESMA, a genus of Marine Bivalve Shells, which are found
in the sand on the sea-coast of tropical climates. The shells are oval
or rounded, sometimes rather twisted and slightly gaping behind.
They have two hinge teeth in each valve, and often distinct com-
pressed lateral ones. The elastic cartilage is placed in a small
triangular cavity just behind the hinge teetih. The animals of these
shells are tmknown ; but they are supposed to have long e^hons,
like the Tellens, as the shells have a broad deep inflation on the back
edge of the submarginal scar, formed by the attachment of the
muscles which retract these syphons, as in the Tellens, from which
genus it simply differs in the position of its cartilage.
Lamarck gave the name of AmphidesTna to this genus, because he
observed that it had a ligament and a cartilage, which he regarded as
peculiar to this genus, he having, like the rest of the zoologists before
the appearance of the Conchological Observations in the ' Zoological
Journal,' considered what is usually cfldled the ligament of bivalves as
only one substance. It ia however two substances, of very different
structure and use ; the outer, or ligament^ being inelastic, and only
employed to keep the two valves together, is formed of fibres
extending from the edge of one valve to the other; but the cartilage
is elastic, and formed of perpendicular fibres, like the prismatic
crystalline-structured shell, its use being to separate the valves from
one another when the muscles which keep them closed are relaxed.
When the valves are dosed, this part is compressed by their edge.
For this purpose it is sometimes, as in the shell under consideration,
placed in a small triangular cavity close to the hinge, when the shell
is said to have an internal cartilage, the ligament being still in its
visual place. In other shells it is placed, along with the Ugament, on
the maigin of the valves, and is pressed, when the valves are closed,
•gainst the ligament itself, which forms its outer wall. The resist-
ance which the ligament offers is the means of opening the sheU. The
cartilage has opaline reflections, and the cartilages of some large sheUs,
as the mother-of-pearl shells, are sold by the jewellers imder tiie name
of Peacock-Stone, or Black Opals. They are not so much used now
as fonnerly, but they are still much sought after on the Continent^
especia^in Portugal.
AMPHI'DETUS, a genus of Echinidce, found in the Crag of Sufiblk.
AMPHIQENE, a mineral abundani^ in ihe lava of Vesuvius, con-
Bisting of silica, alumina, and potash. [Lbucitb.]
AMPHI'ON (Pander), a genus of Fossil Crustacea (THloHtes), four
5>«cies of which have been described, from Tyrone and Waterford, by
ColondPortiock. ' . ' ^ '
AMPHIOXUS. [BRAN0HI08T0MATA.]
AMPHIROA. [AcALKPHJB.]
AMPHISB^NA (from i^trfiauta, which signifies 'an animal that
ttjn walk m both dhrections ' ), a genus of Serpents, distinguished by
thett bodies haying nearly the same imiform thickness from the head
^ the extremity of the tail, by their small mouths and extremely
ouninntive eyes, their remarkably short tails, and the numerous rings
ofsmall square scales which completely surround this organ and the
*»ay. A rsnge of smaU pores runs m front of the vent> which is
ntaated nearly at the end of the taU ; the jaws alone are provided witii
A nngle row c^ small conical teeth, t^e palate beiiig without any ; and
•▼en those of the jaws are few and distant from one another. They
y^^oTwxver destitute of fangs, and are consequently harmless and
"^^^^▼«i living for the most part upon ants and other small insects,
and mhabtting ant-hills and burrows which they themselves construct
^^'^^ ground. The nature of l^eir food does not require these ft^iTwala
to possess the power of dilating the mouth and gullet to the extraordi-
nary extent that is observed in the boas, pythons, and other serpents in
general, which live for the most part upon animals proportionally much
larger than themselves, and in order to admit the huge mouthful have
the upper and under jaws both equally moveable upon the cranium.
In the Ampkishcena, on the contrary, the upper jaw is fixed to the
skull and intermaxillary bones, as in birds and mammals, so that the
head remains constantly in the same plane with the body — a form
which permits the animal to move equally well either backwards or
forwards, and which has acquired for it the name by which it is
distinguished. [See BoiDjg, cols. 548, 549.]
The head of the Ampkiabcena is so small, and the tail so thick and
short, that it is difficult at first sight to distinguish one from the other,
and this circumstance, united to the animal's habit of proceeding either
backwards or forwards as the occasion may require, has given rise to
the popular belief very generally spread throughout Bra^ and other
parts of South America, the native countries of this genus, that it
possesses two heads, one at each extremity, and that it is impossible
to destroy the animal by simple cutting, as the two heads mutually
seek one another in case of such a serious acddent, and soon re-unite
as if nothing had happened. Ignorance is the parent of superstition
and absurdity, and one wonder naturally produces twenty. It is not
therefore surprising that, among an ignorant and credulous people, the
singularity of the Amphisbama*8 form and habits should have given
rise to this and a multitude of other gross fictions. " Another siiake,"
says Stedman, in his ' History of Surinam,' " which I also observed
here, is about 3 feet long, and annulated with different colours ; it is
coHed Amphisb(ena,£rom the supposition of its having two heads;
and the truth is, that from its cylindrical form the head and tail so
much resemble each other that the error is almost pardonable ; beddes
which, the eyes are nearly imperceptible. This is the snake which,
being supposed blind, and vulgularly said to be fed by the large ants
already described, is in this country honoured with the name of King
of the Emmets. The flesh of the Amphiihcena, dried and reduced to
a fine powder, is confidently administered as a sovereign and infallible
remedy in all cases of dislocation and broken bones ; it being very
natundly inferred that an animal which has the power of heaUng an
entire amputation in his own case, should at least be able to cure a
simple fracture in the case of another." Two centuries have scarcely
passed since opinions equally credulous and absurd were universally
prevalent among the most enlightened nations of Europe, when grave
and learned phydcians administered the bezoar or rhinoceros* horn
with as much confidence as l^e simple Brazilian at the present does the
powdered flesh of the AmpKxsbcencL
The genus AfophUibcena, as at present defined, contains only American
spedes, which are confined to Brazil, Surinam, and other tropical parts
of the Continent Of these the following are the prindpal : —
1. The A. ftUiginosa, the first and still the best-known spedes of
the whole genus, is, like all the other Amphisbsenas, confined to the
hotter regions of South America, and does not inhabit Ceylon or any
other part of the East Indies, as Linnaeus and LacdpMe have errone-
oudy supposed, and asserted on the authority of Seba. The general
colour of this serpent is a deep brown, varied with shades of white,
more or less intense according to the difference of the individual and
the season of casting the old and acquiring the new external skin. It
Amphubana fuliginota {Clothonia Johnifj,
grows to the length of 18 inches or 2 feet, of which, however, the tail
measures only 1 inch or 1 5 lines. The body is surrounded by upwaids
of 200 rings, and the tail by 25 or 80 the eyes are covered and almost
concealed by a membrane, which, added to their natoraQy diminutiye
Digitized by
Google
187
AMPHITHERIUM.
AMYGDALUS.
188
size, has given riae to the popular opinion that the animal waa entirely
deprived of sight ; an opinion extended with no better reason to the
Clommon Blind-Worm {Anguit fragilu). It lives upon worms and
insects, particulariy ants, in the mounds of which it usually conceals
itself. The antipathy which most people entertain against serpents in
general has given rise to a belief common among travellers, that this,
species is venomous, but without the slightest foundAtion in reality, as
it is entirely destitute of fangs, and its teeth in other respects so small
as to be incapable of inflicting a woimd.
2. A, €Ubci, so called from its colour, which is that of imiform pale
straw without any marks or spots. The head of this species is short
and thick, and its mouth small. The body usually measures finom
1 foot 6 inches to 1 foot 9 or 10 inches, and is surrounded by 223 rings ;
the tail is from 1^ to 8 inches in length, and is surrounded by 16 or
18 rings. The tldckness of the body seldom exceeds that of a man's
fore-finger, and is uniform throughout its whole length ; that of the
former species, on the contrary, equals the thickness of the wrist of a
child of 1 0 or 1 2 years old. The ^4 . alba inhabits the same localities and
lives in the same manner as the A. fidiffinota, from which indeed it
differs only* in size, colour, the proportionate length of the tail and
body, and in having the mouth provided with a greater number of
teeth, all, however, equally small and weak.
8. A. ca!ca, a species mentioned by Baron Cuvier in the second edition
of the ' R^gne Animal,' but without any detailed description. It
inhabits the island of Martinique, and is said to be entirely deprived
of sight, at least M. Cuvier was imable to discern anv trace of eyes.
He supposes it^ nevertheless, to be identical with the AmpkMima
vermiadarii of Spix, which ih&i naturalist describes as having eyes
scarcely perceptible.
AMPHITHE'KIUM (Blainville). This Fossil Mammal, from Stones-
field, is now termed Thylacotheriwn by Owen.
AMPHlUMA, a singular genus of Amphibian Reptiles, first noticed
by Dr. Garden in 1771, in a letter to Ldnnseus. The remarkable and
anomalous order Amphibia^ to which this genus* belongs, is more
extensively spread throughout the New World, and exhibits a far greater
diversity of.oivanic modification in the western hemisphere, Uian in
all the rest of the earth together. It is here alone that the Mmoponug,
the Amphiumcef the Axolotlt, the Menohranchi, and the Sirens, are to
be found. I'hese singular animals aboimd in all the lakes and stagnant
waters, and astonish the observer equally by the variety as by the
novelty of their forms. [Amphibia.]
The external form of the Amphiuma is very similar to that of the
conmion eel, but the whole anatomy and physiology of the animal
anproximates it more nearly to the Common Water-Newt (Triton
mirmorata) than to any other known species. From this creature
indeed it differs principally in the extreme length of its body and the
diminutive size 6f its extremities, which rather resemble small tentaculi
than actual legs. The only two known species inhabit the stagnant
pools and ditches in the neighbourhood of New Orleans, and those in
Florida, Geoi^a, and South Carolina. They bury themselves in the
mud at the bottom of the ditches, partictuarly on the approach of
winter, and vast numbers, of them are sometimes found in draining
and clearing ponds, at the depth of 8 or 4 feet from the sur&ce. They
are also capable of existing on land, but as their food in all probability
exists only in the water, they never voluntarily abandon that elements
The two known species, A. didaclyla and A. tridactylOf differ prin-
cipally in the number of their toes, the one having only two, the other
three on each foot.
AMPHODELITE, a mineral allied to ScapoUte, from which it
differs in possessing magnesia instead of lime. It is composed of
silica, alumma, and magnesia^ [Soapolite.]
AMPLEXUS (Sowerby), a fossil genus of MadrephyUiaa, remark-
able for the simplicity of its structure and the variability of its
general figure. It occun in the Mountain Limestone and Devonian
Limestone.
AMPULLA'RIA, a genus of Fresh-Water Spiral Univalve Shells,
which are found in the rivers and ponds of India, Africa, and South
America. They are of a globular or rather depreawd form, are covered
with a thick olive or black periostraca, and often banded. Their mouth
is ovate, with the lips complete all round, and often slightly thickened
or reflexed. The animals are somewhat similar to thC'Common Pond-
Snail (Paludina)f but they have the front of the head nicked aad
furnished with two slight conical horn-like processes ; and they have
long slender tentacles, with the eyes placed on small pedicles at their
outer base :« these horns and the tentacles often contract into a spiral
form. But the great peculiarity of these 'animals is, that, unlike all
other molluscous animals with comb-like gills, they have a large bag
which opens beneath, placed on the side of the respiratory cavity,
which they probably can fill with water; and it is this structure
which most likely gives them the power of living for a long time
out of water, specimens having been brought from Egypt to Paris
alive, by only packing them in a little sawdust. Their operculum
is formed of concentric rings with the nucleus nearly in the centre ;
in the species which come from India, this part is generally shelly,
but in those of America and Africa it is always homy. The Tndian
species lay globular pale-green ^ggs about the size of small peas^
which are placed in clusters on sticks and other things in the ditches;
the ^ggs when dry form most beautiful objects. Some of the African
species are reversed, or have the whorls of the shell turned frt>zn the
right to the left, and these have been separated into a genus, under
the name of Lanittetf on this account It has been generally supposed
by the geologist, that all the species of this genus are purely fr^esh-
water, but the large Egyptian species, A. ovata, discovered by Olivier
in Egypt, lives in Lake Mareotis, where the water is salt ; therefore
there is no proof that some of the fossil species are not marine.
AMPTX (Dalman), a genus of Fossil Crustacea (7Vi2o6tfet), four
species of which have been described by Colonel Portlock, from
'Tyrone.
XMYQDAUEM (Drvpacea of Lindley), a sub-order of the natural
order Rosacea [Rosaceje], among which it is known by its' bearing
the kind of fruit called a*drupe, by the stamens being numerouB and
arising from the orifice of a tubular calyx, and bv the leaves and
other parts of the plant yielding hydro<7anic acid Owing to the
last circumstance, the species are all more or less poisonous, es}>ecially
in those parts where tne prussic acid is concentrated, as the leaves
of the common laurel, the skin of the kernel of the almond, &c. On
the other hand, those parts in which the prussic acid exists either in
very minute quantity, or not at all, as the succulent fruit, and some-
times the kernel, are harmless, and are often valuable articles of. food.
It is on this account that, while the general character of the foliage
Ib either unwholesome or suspicious, the frnit of many of them is
much cultivated. The peach, the nectarine, the plum, the cherry, the
almond, the apricot, prune, damson, and bidlace are produced by
different species of this order.
6
1. An expanded flower.
3. The same eat throagb.
6. Stone.
Amygdahne,
2. The same with the corolla removed.
4. Anthers. 5. Drupe.
» 7. Embryo.
The bark of Amygdalea yields a gum which is similar in its
properties to g^m arable; and an astnngent substance which. gives
some of the species so muc^ efficacy in fevers, that their bark has been
compared for utility to Peruvian Bark.
AMYGDALOID, the name of a variety of the Trap-Rocks, when
in a uniform base there are imbedded round or almond-shaped bodieai,
consisting of agate, calcareous spar, or zeolites, like almonds in a
cake : the term is derived from the Greek i^ivyiaXoti^t, resembling an
almond.
AMT'GDALUS, a genus of plants, the type of the suborder
Amygdalece, comprehending the almond, and the peach and nectarine,
besides a few bushes, the <£ief interest of which arises from their gay
appearance.
A. communitf the Conmion Almond, is a native of Barbary, whence
it had not been transferred into Italy in the time of Cato ; it has,
however, been so long cultivated all over the south of Europe and
the temperate parts of Asia as to have become, as it were, naturalised
in the whole of the Old World from Madrid to Canton. In this
country, it is only grown for the si^e of its beautiful vernal flowers ;
but in the countries that have a long and hot summer, it is the frxdt
Digitized by
Google
189
AMYRIDACEJE.
ANACARDIACE^
KO
for which it is esteemed. This, which is produced in very large
quantities, is partly exported into northern countries, and partly
pressed for oil, or consumed for various domestic purposes. Although
botanists distinguish only one species of eatable almond, yet there are
many varieties, of which the principal are the Bitter Almond and the
Sweet Almond ; of each of which the French and Italians have several
sub- varieties distinguished by the hardness or softness of their shell,
and'the form or size of the kernel These have all been introduced
into Elngland, but none of them are capable of ripening their fruit in
the neighbourhood of London, except in unusually fine hot summers,
preceded by mild and imintemipted springs.
A. Pertica, the Peach, once called the Persian Apple, because it was
introduced from that country into Europe, has for ages been an
object of careful cultivation for^the sake of its delicious fruit, and
has almost naturalised itself in America. In the country round
about Buenos Ayres it is one of the most conspicuous trees, and bears
abundant and delicious fruit. In our gardens many varieties are
known, which are classed under the two heads of peaches and nectarines
according as their fruit is smooth or downy; of the varieties there are
few that are not worthy of cultivation, but the best are, perhaps, the
Bed Magdalen Peach, the Noblesse Peach, the Royal Qeorge Peach,
and the Smith's Newington or Tawny Nectarine. For a late crop of
peaches, the Tdton de Venus may be recommended; but not the
Catherine, nor indeed any of the thick-skinned October peaches,
which, however excellent in the south of Europe, seldom ripen, and
never acquire their natural flavour in this country. For preserving,
the Blood-Red Peach, or Sanguinole, the flesh of which is of the
deepest crimson, is worth a place in a garden.
AMYRI'DACE^, AmyricU, a natural order of plants consisting of
tropical trees or shrubs, the leaves, bark, and fruit of which abound
in fragrant resin. It is imown among the Polypetalous Dicotyledonous
orders by its hypogynous stamens, which are twice as numerous as
the petals, by the large disk in which the ovarium is inserted, by its
one^eeded fleshy fruit, covered all over with resinous glands, and
generally dotted leavea
The species are natives of tropical India, Africa, and America.
This order is remarkable for gelding various fragrant resins as
Myrrh, Frankincense, and other products. The Frankincense of India
is the produce of a species of Botwellut. Olibanum is yielded by
jBotwdUa tenattL Myrm is obtained on the Abyssinian coast from the
Bdbamodendron myrrha. B. OpobaUamum yields the Balm of Mecca.
Bdellium is produced in Africa by B. Africanwn. American Elemi
oomes from Idea Idcariba. Resin of Courina from /. ambrotuKci.
The Gimi EHemi of commerce is said to be yielded by several species
of Amyrit. (Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom.)
A'NABAS (from hfofialyUf to ascend), the name given by Cuvier to
a genus of Acanthopterygious Osseous Fishes, remarkable for the power
possessed by the species of living for some time out of water, and
making their way on land. Tlus power depends on a structure
characteristic of the family of which it ia the type, part of the
pharangeals being labyrinthiform ; that is to say, divided into a number
of irregular lamellae, more or less numerous, forming cavities and
Httle cells capable of retaining a certain quantity of water. This
apparatus is so protected, that when the animals are out of their
native element the evaporation of the contained water takes place
very slowly, and the gUls are kept moist^ by means of which remark-
able provision the fishes of this family are enabled to leave the rivers
and manhes where they usually reside, and to travel over land for
considerable distances, creeping among the herbage or along the
ground. Although this fact has been but recently known to modem
naturalists, the ancients appear to have been well acquainted with it,
and Theophrastus has recorded the existence in India of certain little
fiihes which leave the rivers for a*time, and again return to them : he
doubtless alludes to the Anahas and its allies.
The genus AnahaSf of which there is but one species, the Anabaa
icandeM (Perca scandena of Daldorf, Anthias testudineua of Bloch), is
distinguished by a well-marked character, the borders of its opercle,
auboperde, and interopercle being denticulated, whilst the preopercle
is not so, nor even distinctiy mai^ated. The head is round and
broad ; the muzzle is very short and obtuse, the eye placed very near
its extremity. The mouth is small, and laige scales cover the head.
The body is oblong, compressed centrally and behind. The lateral
line is interrupted at its posterior third, reconmiencing a little lower.
The tail is somewhat rounded. The whole body is covered with large
scales. There is a single dorsal and an anal fin, nearly equal in height^
and in both the spinous rays prevaiL
In colour it appears to vary, being brown or bluish-black or dark
green, paler beneath and having violet fins. In form the individuals
are constant, and reach the length of 6 inches.
This fish inhabits all parts of India and the Indian Archipelago,
living in marshes and feeding on aquatic insects, and Dr. Cantor
observed it at Chusan. Respecting its habits there has been much
discussion. In 1797 a Danish gentleman, M. Daldorf, communicated
an account of its habits to the Limuean Society of London, in which
he stated that he had observed it in the act of ascending palm-trees
near marshes, and had taken it at a height of no less than 5 feet above
the Buifibce of the water, effecting its movements of ascent by means
of its fins and taU and the spines of its operoles, in a similar maimer
to that by which it progressed • along the ground. Another Danish
observer, M. John, published a similar statement, adding that it ia
called in Tranquebar by a name which signifies Tree-Climber. Other
naturalists, who have equally observed it in its native countries, such
Anabas seandens.
Head of Andbett tcandens, laid open to show the peculiar pharyngeal apparatus.
as Reinwardt, Leschenault, and Hamilton Buchanan, whilst tiiey record
its habit of creeping on the ground and living a long time out of water,
deny or omit all mention of its power to ascend trees.
To the same family with Anabiu belong the genera ffdoitoma,
Polyaca^hut, Colua, Macropodtu, Osphromenut, TnchopiUf and SpirO'
branchu, of which the habits are as yet veiy imperfectiy known,
though the peculiarities of their anatomy warrant us m supposing that
they have a similar power of living out of water.
{Linnaan TramacUoru, vol. iiL ; and Cuvier and Valenciennes, ffist,
Nat. de» Poissont, tom. vii)
ANABATHRA, a Fossil Tree, from Allenbank, Berwickshire, is
thus named by Mr. Witham, and figured in * Foss. Yeg.' t 8 and t 10.
A'NABLEFS (from AyegSXrirw, to look up), a genus of Malaoopte-
rygious Osseous Fishes, remarkable for the curious structure of their
eyes, which, in consequence of the division of the iris and cornea by
transverse ligaments, have two pupils, and appear as if double, whilst
there is only one crystalline humour, one vitreous humour, and one
retina. There is no other example known of such a modification of
structure among iheVertebrata. This peculiarity of the AnabUpt has
given rise to several stories of four-eyed fish, with exaggerated
accounts of their habits. The Anahlepi tetrt^hthalfMU inhabits the
rivers of Guyana and Surinam. Its body is cylindrical, and covered
with strong scales ; its head is flattened, and snout blunt. The upper
jaw projects beyond the lower.
ANACARDIA'CE^, Anaccurds or the Caskew Tribe, is a natural
order of plants, consisting exclusively of woody plants, abounding in
an acrid resin, which is easily discovered by bruising tiie leaves, but
which is not indicated by its being collected in transparent receptacles
in t^e leaves, as is most commonly the case. They are polypetalous
dicotyledons, with perigynous stamens, a simple one-seeded superior
fruit, and alternate leaves without stipules.
Their juice is often used as a kind of* varnish, for which it is well
adapted in consequence of its turning hard and black when dry. It
is, however, often dangerous to use, because of the extreme acridity
of the funtes, which are apt to produce severe inflammation in many
constitutions. The best-known genera of the order are, in the first
place, BhuSf or the Sumach, of which so many species are cultivated
in our gardens ; and the PistaciaSy the nuts of which are served at
desserts, and their juice is commonly sold in the shops under the name
of Mastich and Scio Turpentine. Besides these, there are the Chilian
Dwroiuu, which resemble myrties, the Mango, the fruit of which
is so delicious in tropical countries, and the Cashew or Acajou Nut,
Anacardivm, from which the order takes its name.
The last, Anaeardiwn occidentale, is a small tree found all over the
West Indies, where it is much cultivated for the sake of its bunches
of fragrant rosy flowers, as well as of its fruit Its stem, if wounded,
yields abundantiy a milk, which, when inspissated, becomes intensely
black and hard, besides which, it secretes a g^um not inferior to gum
arabia The nut is a kidney-shaped body, seated on a large fleshy
protuberance, and being, in £Ekct, the extremely dilated disk or
receptacle ; the latter is sometimes red, sometimes white. The nuts
contain, in abundance, beneath the outer shell, the black caustic oil of
the order, which, when volatilised by heaty as happens in the process
of roasting, is apt to produce eiysipelas and other diaa^^weable
Digitized by
Google
19L
ANAGALLIS.
ANAKRHICAS.
193
affectioiiB in the face of persoiiB standing over the fumes ; the kernel
is a well-known wholesome article of food. In the West Indies it is
used as an ingredient in puddings, is eaten raw, and is roasted for the
«
^
1. Male flower.
4. Fruit.
Ducaua dependmt,
2. Hermaphrodite do. 8. Back of do.
5. Section of do. All slightly magnified.
purpose of mixing with Madeira wine, to which it is thought to
communicate a peculiarly agreeable flavour. In this country the
Cashetr Nut {Anaeardium occidentale).
Cashew Nut never flowers, and can only be cultivated as a tendei
stove-plant.
The Spondiaa, or Hog Plum, which is the type of the order
Spandiacea, is referred by Lindley to this order. [Spondiaoejb ; Rhus.]
ANAQAliLI^ a genus of plants of the natural order Primvlace(B:
among which it is known by its flat or wheel-shaped coroUaa and by
iU capsule opening into two halves, of which the upper fits the undei
l^e the lid of a Iwx. A very common species is the Pimpernel, oi
Poor Man's Weather-Qlass, so called because its flowers generally open
at eight in the morning and dose in the afternoon, and also revise to
expand in rainy weather. It is a little trailing plant with brick-red
flowers, very abundant in corn-fields ; it was once thought useful in
cases of madness, especially such as arose from the bite of rabid
.animals, but it is in no esteem at the present day. There is a purple
variety called by Sir J. K Smith A. cceruUa. A far more beautiful
species is the AnagcUlia tcneUa (Bog Pimpemel), which grows in the drier
parts of marshes, along with Pinguicula and Drosera; it has delicate
flesh-coloiu^d flowers, in the centre of which grows a cone of stamens
covered all over with glittering transparent hairs; these and its
peculiarly neat appearance, entitle it to be called the queen of British
wildflowers. Some botanists regard it as a distinct genus, and describe
it under the name of Irastkia, One or two foreign species, with largo
blossoms, are cultivated in greenhouses.
ANALCIME, also called Cubidte and Sarcclite, is a mineral belonging
to the group of hydrous silicates of alumina. It contains according
to analyses by Rose and Connell, the following constituents : —
Rose. ConneU.
SiHca 55-12 55*07
Alumma 22*99 22*23
Soda 18-53 13*71
Water 8*27 8*22
99*91 99-28
It is foimd crystallised, the primary form being a cube. The cleavage
is parallel to the face of the cube, but is obtained with difficulty. It
has an uneven imdulating fracture. It scratches glass, but not readily.
It is brittle, and is of a white colour with a shade of red. The streak
is white, and it has a vitreous but not brilliant colour. It is either
transparent, translucent, or opaque. The specific gravity is 2*068. It
melts into a dear glassy globule by the blow-pipe on charcoaL It
gelatinises in hydrochloric add. It is prindpally found in the Basaltic
and Amygdaloidal rocks of Scotland, Ireland, the Tyrol, and other
countries.
ANAMIRTA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Menitpermacece, including some of the spedes of the old genus
CoCCVlliS. [COCCULUS.]
ANAMORPHO'SIS. (Botany.) [Metamobphosis of OBGAjra]
ANANASSA, a" genus of plants belonging to the natural order
BromdiacoK, found wild in the woods of South America, and now
commonly cultivated in the gardens of rich Europeans. It is
distinguished from tiie Bromdia, to which it was once referred, by its
succulent fruit collected in a compact head.
Of Ananassa tativa, the Common Pine-Apple, a great number of
varieties are known, of which the Moscow and Common Queen, the
Black Jamaica, and the Antigua Queen are the best for summer luse,
the Enville and the Trinidad the laigest, the Black Jamaica the best
for winter use, and the Blood-Red the worst for any purpose or
season.
The fruit is a mass of flowers, the calyxes and bracts of which are
fleshy and grow firmly together into a single head ; it is the points of
these parts that together form what gardeners call the jpips, that is to
say, the rhomboidal spaces into which the surface is divided. When
wild, Pine Apples bear seeds like other plants; but in a state of
cultivation, generally owing to the succulence of all the parts, no seeds
are produced, and consequently the plants can only be multiplied by
suckers, or by their branches, which gardeners call the gills and
crown. The latter, which surmounts the fruit, is in reality the end of
the branch round which the flowers are arranged, and if it has any
tendency to ramification, as sometimes happens, it becomes what is
called double.
The Pine- Apple was undoubtedly unknown before the discovery of
America; its incomparable flavour soon however caused it to be
introduced into Africa and Asia, where, in a suitable climate, ^ it
multiplied so rapidly as to acquire as firm a footing in those oountriee
as their aboriginal plants. In Asia it has even improved so much in
quality, that the Birmese Pines, which have never yet reached
England, are said to be the finest in the world. With tins exception
it is believed that we already possess the best varieties that exist ; and
it is undoubted that, except in the kingdom of Birma, the most
delicious specimens of the fruit are produced id England. Within a
recent period Pine-Apples have been imported laigely into England
from the West India Islands, where the cultivation has in consequence
been more carefully attended to, the quality greatly improved, and
this branch of commerce laigely extended. P*inb-Applb, in Abts
AND So. Div.l
ANANCHY'TES (Lamarck), a fossil genus of ^Awwcfcrnurfo, found
abundantly in the Chalk.
ANAHRHICAS, a genus of Acanthopteiygious Osseous Fishes^
established by Linnaus, and retained by subsequent ichthyologists.
They are very nearly allied to the Blennies, so that Cuvier remarked
they might be regarded as Blennies without ventral fins. They have
round smooth blunt heads; elongated bodies, covered by minute
scales ; a single long dorsal fin, and an extended anal fin, both sepa-
rated from the caudal; no ventrals; the mouth armed with formidable
teeth of two kinds, conical incisors and flat grinders. One spedes,
the Wolf-Fish, Sea-Cat, or Cat-Fish {Anarrhiccu Juput of Linnaus), ia
Digitized by
Google
ANAS.
ANATOMY.
common in the northern seas, and in Britain is frequently taken on
the east coast of Scotland and the Orkneys, though rare on the
Knglish shorea. Its range extends to Greenland. It grows to the
length of 6 feet, and is a ferocious and formidable animal, destroying
the nets of fishermen ; when caught ib defends itself to its last gasp,
inflicting severe wounds by means of its powerful teeth and jaws. It
lives chiefly on Crustacea and testaceous molluscs, and, like most fish
which subsist on such food, its flesh is excellent eating, though, from
the ugly appearance of the animal, usually rejected. It finds its way
however to the Edinbuigh market, where, by naturalists especially,
whose knowledge of its good qualities enables them to vanquish
their prejudices against its aspect^ it is much esteemed. The
Cat-Fish is of a light gray colour marked with seven or eight broad
vertical bands of bluish gray. When old it b&comes darker. Its
skin is covered with slima (Tarrell's Britiih Fishes.)
ANAS, the Duck, a genus of birds under which Linnseus included
a great number of species now separated into several genera by recent
naturalists. [Ducks.]
ANASTATICA, a genua of plants belonging to the natural order
CruciferecB. One species, A. hio'ochiuUinaf is the Rose of Jericho.
[Jericho, Bose of.]
ANASTOMOSIS, fiom ii4, through, and arrdtia, a mouth, signifies
the communication of blood-vessels with each other by the opening of
the one with the other. The blood-vessels are the tubes by which
the different parts of the body are supplied with nourishment. If the
blood-vessels destined to nomish a part be obstructed, so that it
cannot receive a due supply of blood, that part must necessarily die,
or, as it is technioUly termed, mortify. But the blood-vessels are
soft compressible tubes, liable by innumerable circumstances to have
their sides brought so closely into contact as to prevent the flow of a
single particle of blood through them. In order to prevent the con-
sequences that would result to the system from the operation of
causes thus tending to impede the circulation, provision is made for
the freest possible commimication between the main trunks of the
blood-vessels and their branches, and between one branch and another.
All the branches which form such communications are called anasto-
mosing branches, and this union of branch with branch ia termed
Anastomosis,
ANATASE, in Mineralogy, a variety of Titanic Add. [Titanium.]
ANATHERUM, a genus of Qrasses, belonging to the group ^of
which species yield fragrant volatile oils. A, muricatum is the Vetian
of the French and the Khus of the Hindoos. Its fragrant roots are
employed in making tatties, covers for palanquins, &c. It is admin-
istered medicinally, and has stimulating and diaphoretic qualities.
A. nardus is also, on account of the volatile oil it contains, called
Ginger-GrasB, or KoobeL
ANATID.£ (Leach), the Duck kind, a group formed by Dr. Leach
to include his genera formed from the great genus Ancu of Linnaeus.
fDucKa]^
ANATOMT, from a Oreek term (&y«ro^4), which literally signifies
' the seperation of a thing into parts by cutting; ' the term Anatomy
is use& to sigmfy particularly, dissection, or knowledge acquired by
dissection. Anatomy is at once an art and a science ; an art, inasmuch
as the puiHuit of it requires skilful manipulation ; and a science,
inasmudli as certain general principles are deducible from it. The
object of anatomy is to ascertain the structure of organised bodies.
Of the two great kingdoms of nature, the inoxganic and the organic,
it oomprdiends the whole range of the latter. Like the oiguiised
kingdom itself, it forms two divisions, the one including the structure
of plants — ^Vegetable Anatomy ; tiie other the structure of animals —
Ammal Anatomy. Animal Anatomy is divided into comparative and
hmnan : Comparative Anatomy includes an account of the structure
of all rlnsBoo of animal «^ excepting that of man ; Human Anatomy is
restricted to an account of the structure of man only. Human
Anatomy is subdivided into descriptive, general, and pathological
Ikscriptive Anatomy comprehends a description of all the various
parts or organs of the human body, together with an account of their
situation, connections, and relations, as these circumstances exist in
the natural and sound, or, as it is technically termed, the normal,
condition of the body. The human stomach, for example, is composed
of a number of membranes, which are united in a particular manner ;
a number of blood-vessels which are derived from particular arterial
trunks ; a number of nerves which proceed from a particular ]>ortion
of the brain and spinal cord ; a number of absorbent vessels, and so
on ; moreover, this organ is always placed in a particular cavity of the
hody, and is always found to have certain specific connections or
relations with other organs. The anatomy of the human stomach
comprehends an account of all the particulars of this kind, which are
uniformly found to concur in all humui bodies in which the confor-
mation is regular or natural ; and so of every other organ of the
body : and because such an exposition of the structure of Uie various
organs include a description of all the circumstances that relate to
their organisation, it is caJled Descriptive Anatomy.
After the study of tiie human body in this mode has been carried
to a certcdn extent, with a certain degree of success, it necessarily
giTes origin to a second division of the science, that termed General
Anatomp. It is found, that many of the circumstances which belong
to any one organ, belong at the same time to several organs ; and that
»AT. HIST. DIV. VOL. I.
thus several individual circumstances are common to many organs.
Of the membranes, for example, of which it has been stated that the
stomach is composed, some are common to it and to the intestines,
to the bladder, to the heart, to the air-passages, and so on. In
like manner with respect to any one of tnese membranes, when its
structure is carefully examined, it is found that in many points its
organisation is exactiy similar to that of all other membranes. This
view extended leads to further important and interesting results.
AH the arteries of the body, whatever their situation, size, or office,
are found to be composed essentially of the same substances, disposed
in nearly the same order and form. All the veins have, in like
manner, a structure essentially the same. AH the absorbent vessels,
all vessels of every kind, all the bones, musdes, and nerves, the whole
external covering of the body or the skin, widely as these various
structures differ from each other, present no material difference as far
as regards the oiganisation of each particular class. Hence various
organs of the body are disposed into what are called common systems,
and these common systems are said to consist of common substances
or tissues. All the vessels, for example, are collected and arranged
under one common class, called the vascular system : in like manner,
all the bones are collected and arranged under another dass, called
the osseous system ; all the musdes imder another, called the mus-
cular system ; all the nerves imder another, called the nervous
system, and so on. The material that enters into the composition of
each of these systems consists of a substance of a peculiar nature ; but
as this substance is more or less generally difinised over the whole
body, entering as a constituent element into the various organs, it is
termed a common substance, or tissue. What is termed the common
cellular or areolar tissue, for example, is the substance which enters
most commonly into the compositition of the organs of the body ;
the muscular tissue is the substance of which the musdes are com-
posed ; the nervous tissue is the substance of which the nerves are
composed : and tihus, the structure of the body, analysed in this
mode, innumerable and complex as the substances appear to be of
which it consists, is ultimately reduced to a very few simple material^
by the combination and modification of which all the different animal
substances are produced.
Qeneral Anatomy also indudes the study of certain fluids from
whidi the membranes or textures are formed. The following is a list
of the fluids and textures, given by Dr. Sharpey in Quain's 'Elements
of Anatomy : * —
The Blood, Chyle, and Lymph.
Epidermis Tissue (induding EpitheHum, Cutide, Nailfl^ and Hairs).
Pigment
Adipose Tissue.
Cellular Tissue.
Fibrous Tissue.
Elastio Tissue.
Cartilage, and its varieties.
Bone or Osseous Tissue.
Muscular Tissue.
Nervous Tissue.
Blood-Vessels.
Serous and Synovial Membranes.
Mucous Membranes.
Skin.
Secreting Qlands.
These textures and fluids will be treated of under their respective
heads.
Descriptive and general anatomy, then, indude an account of the
structure of the body as it exists in the state of health. But there is
no organ of the body, and no tissue which enters into its composition,
which is not subject to disease ; in consequence of disease, the regular
or natural structure of the component substances of the body becomes
changed in a great variety of modes. That part of anatomy whidi
displays these diseased or morbid changes, and which deacribesaU
the droumstanoes relating to them, is oiJled Pathologieal or Morbid
Anatomy. We may say, then, that Descriptive Anatomy comprdiends
an account of all the parts or organs of the body as they exist in the
state of health ; Oeneral Anatomy comprehends an account of all the
separate substances of which those organs are composed, not as these
substances exist combined in organs, but as they form distinct and
pecuUar substances ; Pathological Anatomy comprehends an account
of all the changes of structure produced by disease, whether in
individual organs, or in the primitive or common substances of which
these organs are composed.
The term Anatomy, as we have seen, is diiefly appUed to the sdenoe
which determines the nature and relations of the various organs of
the human body. A general term is here used in a restricted sense.
On the other hand, when we would express the extension of the
sdence of anatomy to the whole animal creation, we employ the
general term with the addition of the word Comparative, This
anomaly has doubtless proceeded from the drcumstance thati till
within a very recent period, the study of animal structure was almost
exclusively confined to the human subject; and that even BoologiBti
were contented with inquiring into the functions of animals, instead
of determining the character of the organs which were oonnaoted
with those functions. By the term Comparative A natom/y is understood
Digitized by
Google
IflS
ANBURY.
ANCYLUa
the science which conveyB a knowledge of the differenoee in the
strnoture and oiganiBation of the whole animal kingdom in all its
olassee, orden, and speoies.
It is evident that a scienoe possessing such an extensive range must
be exceedingly imperfect ; especially when it is borne in mind that
scarcely half a century has elapsed since the first attempts were made
to simplify, by systematising, its almost infinite details. It has
however made sufficient progress, not only to have furnished the
most important aids to the study of human anatomy and physiolc^,
jt>ut to have supplied a secure and broad foundation for all zoological
knowledge, both as regards existing and extinct races. As the basis
of modem zoology, comparative anatomy presents a subject of the
highest interest, and the most successful methods of classification
have been produced mainly by its aid. [Akimal Kinqdoil]
ANBURY and CLUB-ROOT, a sort of Galls produced by msects on
the roots of cabbages, turnips, hollyhocks, and other species of culti-
vated plants, and popularly, but incorrectly, supposed to arise from
peculiarities of soil, or from growing the same crop successively on
the same field, or to be owing to variations of seasons. Nothing can
be more simple than the disproof of all these theoretical notions. If
we take some of the cabbages or turnips, whose roots are infected
with anbury, and keep them in garden-pots covered over with close
gauze, in a short time, if the plants be kept growing, the little weevils,
evolved from the grubs in the interior of the roots, will make their
appearance, ready to multiply their species, by depositing their eggs,
as their parents had done, on the first turnip or cabbage they can find.
The weevil thus arising continues to be no less, but often more,
destructive than the grub had proved to be in feeding on the roots ;
for it thrusts its beak (rostrum) into the seed-leaf of the turnip, and
greatly injures the crop. When the turnip is advanced to Uie rough
leaf, these insects either die, as most insects do, when they have laid
their eggs, or betake themselves to some other plants such as clover,
which is suited 4o their taste.
It will be therefore evident, that no peculiar rotation of crops, nor
peculiar manure for dressing the soil, can be of any avail in preventing
anbury, or in stopping its progress when the insects have obtained a
lodgement within the roots. The destruction of the adult insects
before they have laid their oggs, is the only remedy, though in the
case of so small a species it is peculiarly difficult to effect
ANCHOVT {BnffrauhUf Cuvier), a genus of Abdominal Malacopteiy-
gious Fishes, separated by Baron Cuvier from the C^ifpece, or Herrings of
Linnteus, from which they are distinguished by the superior number
of their branchiostegous rays, amounting to twelve or upwards, by
the gape of the mouth extending behind the eyes, and by the straight
and prolonged form of the superior maxillary bones, which form a
small muzzle, projecting considerably b«yond the mouth. The
genus, as at present constituted, consists of six or seven species, all
of diminutive size, and with the exception of the Common Anchovy
(B, encrtuiehoUu), and a nearly allied species distinguished from it by
M. Cuvier {B. mdeUa), all inhabitants of the tropic^ seas of India and
America. Whether Uiese latter agree with the European species in
the savour and other qualities of the fiesh, for which it is so highly
esteemed, is a doubtful question; at all events we are not aware that
the fishing of the native spedes has ever been attempted either in
America or India.
The Common Anchovr is a small fish, not much longer than the
middle finger, of a bluish-brown colour on the back, and silvery-white
on the belly. The anal-fin is remarkably short, and the dorsal situated
immediately above the ventral ; these characters will serve readily to
distinguish it from the sprat and other kindred species, with whidi it
might otherwise be confounded, and which are, in fact, not unfre-
quently imposed upon the public for the real anchovy. It abounds
in the Mediterranean along the shores of Spain,'Ita]y, and Greece; in
the AtlantLc it is found along the coasts of Portugal and France, and
occasionally has been taken off the shores of England and Holland.
Considerable fisheries of Anchovies are established along the coasts
of Provence and Catalonia; but the most productive of all is off
Gorgona, a small island west of Leghorn. The latter fishery is carried
on only during the months of May, Jtme, and July, at which period the
anchovies quit the deep seas and approach the shores for the puipose
of depositing their roe ; it is then only that they are found in the
Mediterranean, which they enter in enormous shoals, by the straits of
Gibraltar, at the commencement of the breeding season, and leave it^
after fulfilling this duty, to retire asain to the depths of the AUantia
They are fished for only during the night, and are attracted round
the boats by means of charcoal fires which are kept burning in the
stems.
After being caught, the heads, gills, and entrails are separated from the
bodies, whidi are siJted and arranged in small barrels, varying from
5 to 20 pounds in weight : this is the only preparation which they
undergo previous to being sent to market; and if proper means be
taken to exclude the air they will in this state keep for a considerable
period. If, when the banels are open, the fish are found to be small
and firm, round-backed, with a sUveiy-white skin and red flesh, and a
plump compact form, they are probably the true anchovy ; if, on the
contrary, they taper very much towards the tail, are of a dark brown
oolour without, and have flabby pale-coloured flesh, they will probably
turn out to be the Sardine (E, maleUa), another Mediterranean species
frequently mixed with real anchovies, or even sold separately as the
genuine fish.
No condiment is more generally known and esteemed than anchovy
sauce. It was also in use among the Romans, and was one of the
kinds of sauce called Garum, which appears to have formed an indis-
pensable article of seaaoning in their most expensive and luxurious
dishes.
ANCHOVY PEAR [Griaa]
ANCHU'SA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Boraginacea, and to the sub-tribe AnckuaeoL The calyx is 5-fid ; the
corolk funnel-shaped, with a straight tube, the throat being dosed by
prominent obtuse scales ; the stamens are included, and subaessile ;
the fruit a nut, which is depressed. The species are dueflyinhabitaotB
of the temperate parts of the earth, either on the mountains of tropical
regions or the temperate zone. They are aU of them rough plants, aad
are known, as well as the species of LycoptU and Bckimm, by the oom-
mon name of Bugloes. Some of the species have been used in medicine^
while others are employed in tiie arts for dyeing. Two are inhabitants
of Great Britain.
A. offieinaUt, Common Alkanet or Bugloss, has lanceolate hispid
leaves, unilateral crowded spikes, ovate-lanceolate bracts^ the aegments
of the calyx bluntish, hairy on both sides, the scales of the ooioUa
hairy. The flowers are a deep purple. It is an inhabitant of Great
Britain, on waste ground, but is a rare plant In the south of France,
Germany, and Switzerland it is everywhere common, in uncultivated
places, on old walls, and bv the road-side. The young plant ia Bom»
times boiled and eaten. The roots contain a considen^e quantity of
gum, and when boiled yield a demidcent drink, which was once in
repute as a medicine.
A. 9emperviren$f Evergreen Bugloss, has ovate leaves, with lower
leaves on long stalks, the peduncles axiUaiy, each bearing two dense
spikes with an intermediate flower, the segments of the calyx hairy on
the outside only, the bracts minute lanceolate, scales of the corolla
downy, flowers blue, salverahaped This plant is found on waste
ground, near ruins, in Great Britain, but is rare.
A. tindoria, Dyers' Bugloes or Alkanet, has diffbse stems, oblong
hispid leaves, bracts longer than the calyx, the segments of the corolla
shorter than the stamens. The corolla has a deep blood-coloured tube,
with the limb deep blue. The root is woody, descending, and of a
dark blood-red colour. This plant is a native of Peloponnesus, the
island of C^rus, and the deserts about Alexandria. It is cultivated
in the south of FVanoe for the sake of the root, which yields a fine red
oolour to oUs, wax, all unctuous substances, and to spirits of wine. Its
chief use is in colouring lip-salves, ointments, Ac. It is however some-
times employed for staining wood and dyeing cotton. It is also used
for colouring many of the beverages sold under the name of port wine,
and the corks used for the bottles in which this fluid is sold.
A. amgustifolia, Narrow-Leaved Bugloss, has linear lanceolate hispid
leaves, ovate-lanceolate bracts, 6-fid calyx, with blunt teeth. The tube
of the corolla is pale purple, the limb deep blue. In gardens it attains
a height of two feet, but when wild it is not more than a foot high.
It grows in Italy, Germany, and Switzerland, by roadwndee^ amongst
rubbiBh, and on the borders of ploughed fields.
In the cultivation of the species of this genus but little care is
required, as they will grow in almost any soil, and are easily increased
by seed. The A. Capennt, Cape Bugloes, requires the treatment of a
greenhouse plant Many ef them are pretty annuals for the garden,
as A. panictUat<i, A. Barrdi^, &c.
ANCILLA or ANCILLA'RIA, are the names given by Lamarck to
a genus of Spiral Univalve Marine Shells, aUied to the Olives. Like
them they are covered with a hard shining coat, destitute of any
periostraca, and are immured in the large foot of the animal, so that
the middle of the back of the shell can be alone discovered They
chiefiy differ from the Olives in the suture of the whorl, being callou/t
and not furnished with a groove, formed by a thread-like filament
placed at the end of the mantle, which is wanting in this genus : they
are also furnished with a small ovate operculum. The species are
numerous, and are chiefly confined to tropical dimates ; some have a
small tooth, like the Unicom Shell (Monocerot), placed at the end of a
groove crossing the front of the shelL The best-known species is the
Ivory Shell, which with a few others differ from the rest of the genus
in having the front of its axis deeply pierced.
ANCYLO'CERAS (D'Orbigny). This FcasU genus of M. D'Orbigny
includes several species of HamUn (Phillips), from the Speeton Clay
and Lower Greensand.
A'NCTLUS is the name of the shell which is usually called the
Fresh- Water Limpet They are small pellucid conical shells, with
slightly-recurved tips. The cavity is simple, and maiked with a
horseHshoe-ahaped muscular scar near the margin, which is interrupted
on the middle of the left side over the respiratory holes, as in the
genus Syphonariok. Iliis animal, like the Pond-Snail (Limnta), has
two compressed triangular tentacles, with the eyes sessile on the
outer base ; and a respiratory cavity placed on the middle of the
back, with an apertiuw closed by a valve opening in the middle of the
left side.
This genus is very nearly aUied to the Pond-Snail, from which it
chiefly cUffers in the simple conical form of its body and shell ; and
some species, dA Ancylm, are allied to it by having the apex bent on
Digitized by
Google
197
ANDALUSItfi.
ANIMAL KINGDOM.
198
one side, aa if makmg an approach to the spiral fonn. It has been
placed in Bereral orders, but there is little doubt that its true situation
is with the lung-breathing moUusoa. They are found in Europe,
America^ and the West Indies, attached to stones and plants, and they
will live a considerable time out of the water. They are easily known
finom the Sypkonarug, which are the only shells they can be oonPoundod
with, by Uieir being sinistral, rery thin, and covered with a haiiy
periostraca.
ANDALUSITE, a Mineral consisting of
Silica 89-09
Almnina. 58*66
Protoxide of Manganese .... 0*58
lime 0*21
Water 0*99
99-88
It occmiB dystaOised ; its primary form being a right rhombic prism.
It has an uneven conchoidal fracture. Its colour varies from a flesh-
red to a brownish and grayish-red. It has a vitreous lustre. It
occurs both transparent and opaque. The specific gravity is 8*104.
This mineral is found in Spain, France, and North America. The
above malvsis is from an American specimen.
ANEMONE (iamiftAyn) is a genus of plants belonging to the natural
order Jtanuneulaeecg. It consists of lowly herbs, usually perennials,
with white, or purple, or scarlet, or even yellow blossoms, in which
there is no distinct calyx, and which are succeeded by a cluster of
grains, each terminated by a long silky featheiy taiL As the species
generally grow on open plains or in high exposed situations, their
feathery grains produce a singular shining appearance when waved by
the breeze, whence their name, and which literally signifies Wind-
flower, their English appellation.
The Anemones possess, in conmion with other Rammctdacea, an
acrid property. The leaves of A. pviaatilla will raise blisters on the
skin ; if chewed, they produce irritation of the throat and tongue ; and
their roots;, as well as those of j4. pratensis, a nearly related species,
produce nausea and vomiting if administered in very small doses, on
which account they have been strongly recommended by some medical
men in various complainta The following are the most remarkable
species: —
1. A. pnUatiUot or Pasque Flower, grows wild upon exposed downs
in various parts of England, as on the Qogmagog Hills near Cambridge,
the heath at Newmarket, and on open chalky pastures. It has large
ptuple flowers and finely-cut hairy leaves.
2. A. nemorota, the Wood Anemone, is found abundantly in woods
an over England, covering the ground with its neat white flowers
under the shelter of bushes as early as March and ApriL It is a
perennial plant with knobby roots, and a short stem having one
or two smooth, bright-green, deeply-cut leaves. It is poisonous to
cattle.
8. A. pawmvna, the Peacock Anemone, a native of the vineyards in
Provence, about Nice, and in other parts of the south of Europe. This
is not very uncommon in gardens, where it is u«!ually, but improperly,
named A. sUUaia, It is known by its scarlet or scarlet and white
flowers, which are usually double, and have their divisions very sharp-
pointed. It is one of the handsomest of the cultivated species.
4. ii. coronariOf the Common Garden Anemone. Found in a wild
state in moist meadows in the south of France, Italy, and Ghreece, and
different parts of Asia Minor ; Dr. Russell speaks of it as abundant
near Aleppo. In these places it is seen only in a single state, but even
then sporting into a variety of colours, the principal of which are white,
tcariet, and purple in different shades.
5. A. tUdksta is a native of various parts of Germany, France, and
the Levant^ and is also often seen in our gardens, where it is oilled
A. kortama. It differs from the last in having smaller and narrower
petals, very rarely double flowers, a greater tendency to purple in their
colours, and much broader leaves. It is not so liable to vary as the
last species.
ANEMONIES, SEA. [AcnwiADiB.]
ANGEL-FISH. [Squalida.]
ANGEXICA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
UmiMlifarce. It comprehends several species, the principal part of
which are to be met with in botanic gardens ; and one that was formerly
very much cultivated as an esculent plant. This, the Angelica arehan-
gdieOf or Arehangdiea offieinalitf is a native of the banks of rivers and
of wet ditdies in all the northern parts of Europe ; in this country it
grows abundantly on the banks of the Thames below Woolwich, and
in several other places. It is a biennial plant, with a laige fleshy
aromatic root, blackish externally, but white within; and a stout
farrowed branched stem as high as a man. Its leaves are of a dear
bright green, shining, and divided into a very large number of heart-
Ihi4)ed finely-serrated lobes. The flowers are white, and disposed in
rcmiui very compact umbels; they are succeeded by large broad-
'winged grains of a pale yellowish-brown colour. Each partial umbel
u surrounded at its hose by 7 or 8 pointed undivided bracta
For the sake of its agreeable aromatic odour, this plant is much
cuHivated on the Continent. Its blanched stems, candied with sugar,
form a veiy agreeable sweetmeat, possessing tonic and stomachic
^oalitiea. Its roots contain a pimgent> aromatic, stimulating principle.
A Yery common wild species, the Angelica tyhestrit, or Wild Angelica,
which is found all over tiie meadows near the Thames above London,
possesses similar properties.
Atigeliea arehangeliea^ a diminlahed dgure.
1. A partial umbel of the natural sIkc. 2. A separate flower.
8. The back of one of the partial umbels, showing the bracts.
ANGLARITE, a name for the native blue phosphate of iron.
[Iron.]
ANGLESITE, in Mineralogy, a name for the native sulphate of lead.
ANHYDRITE, the Mineialogical name for the native anhydrous
sulphate of lime. It is foimd at Halle in the Tyrol, Bex in Switzerland,
and in the Salt-Mines of Upper Austria and Sahsbuig. A specimen
from Sulz yielded —
Sulphuric acid . .... 56
Lime 42
Silica . 2
It occurs both massive and cr3rstallised. The crystals have the form
of a right rhombic prism. The cleavage is veiy distinct, and parallel
to the terminal planes and their two diagonals, indistinct pazvUel to
the lateral planes. The fracture is uneven. The colour is white, bluish,
violet, or reddish. The streak is grayish-white. The lustre is vitreous
and pearly on the cleavage surfaces. It is transparent and translucent.
It has a double refraction. The specific gravity is from 2*5 to 2*9. Its
hardness 8*0 to 8*5. The massive varieties are amorphous, nodular, or
reniform.
ANIMAL FLOWERS. [Actiwiadjb.]
ANIMAL HEAT. [Hsat, Animal.]
ANIMAL KINGDOM. All natural objects are referred by naturalists
to three great divisions, called the Kingdoms of Nature, These are
respectively called after tiie objects they include, the Mineral Kingdom,
Vegetable Kingdom, and Anim4d Kingdom. Although at first sight
nothing would appear easier than defi^iing these great groups, in such
a manner as to afford an easy means of <&tinction, it is nevertheless
one of considerable difficulty. The difficulty, however, does not lie in
the typical object of each kingdom, as a rock, an oak-tree, and a man,
but in applying the definition to those objects which lie as it were on
the limits of each kingdom. The line is perhaps better drawn between
minerals, and plants and animals, than iM^tween the latter two. It is
usual to speak of minerals as forming the Inorganic Kingdom or
portion of Nature, whilst plants and animals constitute the Organic
Kingdom, The great distinctive character of the Organic Kingdom, is
the fact of their parts originating in and being formed out of cells
which give to them many characters by which they are distinguishe4
Digitized by
Google
109
ANIMAL KINGDOM.
ANIMAL IQNGDOM.
20C
from minerals. Thus they are nnsymmetrioal, whilst mineralfl are
symmetrical ; they grow irregularly, whikt minerals increase in definite
crystalline forms. Each portion of a mineral, however small, consists of
the same elements, whilst any part of a plant or animal may be differently
composed to another part The line in fisust is nowhere difficult to be
drawn, where the presence or absence of cells can be determined.
^ The djstmotions between animals and plants present greater
difficulties, and perhaps no mere structural or formal difference can
be found. Looked at from one point of view, plants and animals form
a great oiganio unity, connected together by their common modes of
cellular growth and Actions ; and when thus regarded, there seems
to be no necessity for drawing an absolute Une of distinction between
one and the other. Naturalists have however regarded them as distinct,
and the study of the two classes of objects have constituted the sciences
of Botany and Zoology. Rude definitions of various kinds have been
laid down to g^de the systematist in his classification of the objects
belonging to each. Aristotle was one of the first who sought a
distinction, and in stating that an animal possessed a mouth whilst a
plant had no such omn, he gave perhaps the simplest and most
generally applicable de&iition th^t ezists. But Aristotle had not the
microscope to direct his inquiries, and by the aid of this instrument
beings can be made apparent to which other distinctions must be
^)plied before they can be arranged in one kingdom or another.
I^ofessor KoUiker describes an animalcule, the Aetinophryt acl of
Ehrenben; ('Microscopical Journal,' Noe. L and iL), in which, though
no mouth is found, the function of digestion is carried on by an
indentation of its skhi, temporarily formed for that purpose. Linnseus,
with no better success, gave the following definition : " Minerals grow,
plants grow and live, animals grow, live, and feeL" To apply this
definition, we must define life and feeling, and this cannot be done in
such a way as to effect the object of the naturalist. Cuvier thought
the possession of a stomach a sufficient distinction for the animal
kingdom, but the nature of a ftomach must first be understood, and
here we have no absolute structural character to guide us. It was at
one time a favourite distinction that animals have the power of motion,
and that plants are fixed, but we know now that many plants move,
whilst many Anitwala are fixed. One of the most recent and philoso-
phical of physiological writers says : ** A plant is an oi^ganised being,
whose vital powers are directed solely to the performance of formative
operations, by which its fabric is not merely built up in the first
instance, but is continually receiving additions during the term of its
existence; and any movements wludh it may exhibit are destined
solely for the furtherance of these opemtions, and must be regarded as
originating in physical or vital f oroea. On the other hand an animal
is an organised being, whose vital powers are not merely directed to
the construction and maintenance of its corporeal fi&bric, but are also
subservient to the operations of the conscious mind, which involve a
continual disintegration of the structures that minister to them ; on
the repair of which, rather than on the extension of the fiibric, after it
has attained its full development, the formative eneigy is chiefly
expended ; and of the movements which it may exhibit, though a
part are still to be regarded as directly dep^icient (like those of
plants) on causes inherent in its material oiiganisation, there is another
party small though it may often be, in which the consciousness and
spontaneity of the individual are necessarily conoezned, and which
must therefore be distinguished as originating 'm. psychical causes."
(Carpenter, 'Principles of Physiology.*)
In this way the naturslist and physiologist have tried to contend
with the diffieull^. Within the last few years chemistry has invaded
the domain of the anatomist, and supplied him with materials for
determining the problem of the difference of animal and vegetable life.
The substances found in animals and plants are found in a great
measure to be formed of four dementi^ carbon, hydrogen, oxygen,
and nitrogen. At one time nitrogen was supposed to <^ifff.|>giiif»h
animal from vegetable subBtance& It is now known, not only that
plants contain nitrogen, but that they supply this and the three other
elements to the animal system. It is foimd that these four elements
are alwavs present in the protopUum nueleut, cy(oblatt, or primordial
iUriele, from which the ceUs of all plants and animals are firat formed.
Bo that they are universally necessary in plants and animals, and have
hence been called Organie Elements, Three compounds of three of
these elements^ carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and called cellulose,
sugar, and starch, were at one time thought to be peculiar to plants.
It Is now known that cellulose is present in many animals, and that
sugar is veiy generally present in certain animal textures and fluid&
Starch yet remains to be found in the animal kingdom, and its
presence in doubtful structures is still regarded as evidence of their
Teeetable nature.
It is clear however that no single character is sufficient to mark the
line between these two kingdoms, and that Uie collective functions
peiformed by animals and plants, accordingly as they are more or less
prominent in organised beings, guide the opinions of naturalists.
The structural characters of 1^i(»l animals are so evidently different
tram the coiresponding forms of plants, that we need not dwell on
them here; but a view of the functions which i»iiTna.la and plants
perform dependently on one another, will give the best possible notion
of their antagonistic nature. One of the great functions performed
by. the animal kingdom is that of Jleepiralion, During this process
the oxygen of the atmosphere is brought in contact with carbon ia
the blood of the animal, and the result is a union of the carbon and
oxygen, and the formation of carbonic acid gas, which is being
constantly thrown off from the structure of the animal— from the
whole surface of the body in the lowest animals, fr^m the gills of those
that live in water, and from, the lungs of those that live in air. It
thus consumes oxygen and gives off carbonic acid. The great function
of plants is antagonistic to this. They take from the air carbonic acid
gas; it is a part of their food. In the tissues of the plant the
carbonic add is decomposed. Its elements are separated ; the carbon
is retained in the plan^ and the oxygen is set free. It thus consumes
carbonic acid ana gives off oxygen. As far as we at present know
there are no exceptions to this law. On tracing the supply of the
carbon which is contained in the animal system, and which combines
with the oxygen, we find that it is derived by the animal from the
plants The food of the whole animal kingdom is derived from the
vegetable kingdom; and the other three elements, as well as the
carbon, which are found in the animal, are thus obtained. The
animal, in like manner, throws off its nitrogen in the forai of
excretions, more especially those of the kidneys^ which, on deoom-
posing, yield ammonia, a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen ; and it
is from this substance that plants |»incipally derive their nitrogen.
Thus, whilst the animal derives the constituent of its body from the
vegetable kingdon^ the plant derives its elements from the nuneiai
kingdoDo. The animal takes up starch, sugar, and protein, from the
plant, but the plant takes up carbonic add and ammonia in their
mineral form. The tissues of the plant are engaged in converting
mineral into organic substances, wlulst the tissues of the animal are
engaged in converting oxiganic substanoes into mineraL
In their relation to the great physical forces, heat lind light, we see
the same antagonism between plants and i^T^imnlff. Light and heat are
essential to the growth of plants. The productions found in their
tissues are but the expression of the amount of heat and lif^t they
have as it were appropriated. Many of the substances thus formed
are taken into the system of n-nimA^la as food; and whilst in the system
of the animal, the heat and the light are again set free in the form of
the peculiar vital animal forces.
It is then by regarding the Animal and Vegetable worlds as exhibiting
a combination of antagonistic and dependent forces in the great circle
of nature, that we shidl best form an idea of the real differences that
exist between these two kingdoms of nature. Having said this much
with regard to the nature of the Animal Kingdom, we shall now
proceed to consider some of the methods which Eave been employed
by naturalists to arrange the various members of which it is com-
posed into groups, for the purpose of exhibiting the relation of one
animal to another, and of facilitating the study of the whole.
In a crude shape, soology, or the arrangement of animals, must have
been one of the eariiest sdenoes that forced itself upon the attention
of the human mind. The very necessity for finding names for the
more obvious divisions of living beings must soon have produced a
daasification into the natural groups of Quadrupeds, Bii^ Fishes,
and Insects; and certain subordinate sections, as, for instance, the
distinction between herbivorous and carnivorous beasts^ granivorous
and carnivorous birds, harmless and poisonous reptiles, must have
followed as a matter of course.
We have in the Bible, and in the engraven and pictorial Egyptian
records, the earliest evidence of the attention which had been paid to
Natural History in general The 'navy of Tarshish' contributed to
the wisdom of him who not only " sps^e of the trees, frtim the cedar
of Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall," but
"also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes"
(1 Kings iv. 10) ; to say nothing of numerous other passages showing
the progress that zoological knowledge had already made.
The Egyptian records bear testimony to a familiarity not only with
the forms of a multitude of wild animft-la^ but with their habits and
geographical distribution.
Although it must be admitted that Herodotus was behind the
sdence of his day in physical knowledge, he who, despising the
sneers of the half-learned at his wondeifuT stories, will bring to the
perusal of his works a fafr share of sdontific acquirement^ will find
many instances of zoological information which have been taken for
the mere tales of this excellent traveller and historian, but which
modem investigation has confirmed. But it is to Aristotle, justly
termed the f&ther of natural history, that we owe the first dawnings
of system founded on the only sure basis — ^the organisation or physio-
logical character of animals.
AristoUe's method was founded on a division of oigana, which may
be arranged, firsts with reference to natural groups (kotA y4ifos or kot'
cZSor), Birds or Fishes, for instance, which depend on a similar structure
of parts ; secondly, according to their excess and defect (koO* ^c^xV
icol IXAcif If'), as, for example, a division of Birds into those with long
bills and those with short bills ; those having crests and those having
none; thirdly, according to their analogies (iror' iafakoyltuf) ; take, for
instance, the comparison of a hoof witii a daw, the wing of a bird
with the fore-foot of a quadruped, a feather with a scale ; and, fourthly,
according to their situation {narh Oiaiv) ; take, for example, animals
which have pectoral mammae : man, apes, and dephants; and animalfl
which have abdominal nfm-mmff* ; dog^s and cats.
Digitized by
Google
201
ANDfAL KINGDOM.
ANIMAL KINGDOM.
20S
The -writen who sucoeeded Aristotle, and mostly copied from his
ample stores were : JEHan, Pliny, Athexueus, Albertus Magnus, Belon,
(leaner, Aldrovandus, and Johnston. Although some of them recorded
new facts they did nothing to supply any fiuther arrangement of the
animal kingdom.
To our countryman Ray we are principally indebted for the first
clear zoological method. Tha/b great natundist, for originality and
oomprehensire philosophical discernment, niay, without hesitation,
be placed next after Aristotle himself.
The brilliant style of Buffon fixed the attention of the civilised
world upon the subject which his eloquence at once rendered capti-
vating. A more severe writer might have done greater things for
natural histoiy as a science, but Bufibn at once secured a willing
audience, and made all Ehirope his dass. To him above all others
may be conceded ti^e merit of malring the subject decidedly popular
at once and for ever. The way was thus prepared for Linnaeus.
In the last edition of the * Systema Natuns,' revised by its great
author, the Animal Kingdom is thus arranged : —
Heart bilocular, with two auricles. J Yi viparoua MeunmaUiL
Blood warm, red.
Heart unilocular, with one auricle.
Blood cold, red.
Heart unilocular, with one auricle.
Circulating fluid {aaniet) cold,
white.
[Oviparous. Birds.
r Arbitrary lungs.... AmpkUnet,
I External gills Fitkea.
I With antennsa InseeU,
I With tentacula.... Vermes,
L MaimmtdicL
Heart bilocular, with two auricles. Blood warm, red. Lungs
respiring reciprocally. Jaws incumbent, covered : teeth inserted in
most Penis mtrans viviparas, lactiferas. Senses : Tongue, Nostrils,
Eyes, fiarsy Papilla. Covering : Hairs, very sparing in the aquatics.
Props (Fulcra) : Four feet, except in tiiose which are meretv aquatic,
in which the posterior feet are conjoined in the fin of the taiL A tail
inmost
IL Birds,
Heart bilocular, with two auridea Blood warm, red. Lungs
respiring reciprocally. Jaws incumbent^ naked, exserted, toothless.
Penis subintrans absque scroto oviparas crusta calcarea. Senses:
Touguei, Nostrils, Eves, Ears without auricles. Covering: Incum-
bent imbricated feathers. Props : Two feet> two wings. Rump heart-
shaped.
IIL Am^^Sfna.
Heart unilocular, with one auride. Blood cold, red. Lungs
breathing arbitrarily. Jaws incumbent. Penes bini Eggs generally
membranaceous. Senses: Tongue^ Nostrils, Eyes, Ears. Covering:
CutaceouOy naked. Props : Various, nuU in some.
IV. Fishes,
Heart onilooular, with one auride. Blood cold, red. Gills external,
compressed. Jaws incumbent. Penes niillL Eggs without albumen.
Senses: Tongue, Nostrils (?), Eyes (not ears). Covering: Imbricated
BcalesL Props : Natatorial fins.
V. Insects,
Heart tinilocular. Sanies cold. Spirades, lateral body pores.
Jaws lateral Penes intrantes. Senses: Tongue, Eyes, Antenna
on a head without a brain (neither ears nor nostrils). Covering :
Cataphraota, sustaining an osseous cutis. Props: Feet^ Wings m
some.
VI. VerfMS,
Heart unilocular, with one ventricle. Sanies cold. Spirades
obscure. Jaws mi:dtifarious. Penes varii Hermaphroditis Andro-
gynis. Senses: Tentacles (no head, hardly eyes, neither ears nor
nostrils.) Covering: Calcareous, or null except spine& Props:
Neither feet nor fins.
This table oondudes with the following summary, which will be
best given in the original form : —
" Vivarium Naturse sic alit Yi plicis forms Animalia.
"ifamma^iapilosa, in Terragndiuntur, loquentia. iivM plumosse,
in aere volitant^ cantantesi Amphibia tunioata^ in calore, serpunt,
aibilantia. Pities squamati, in aqua natant> popyzantes. Jnsecta
oataphraota, in siooo exsiliunt, tmnitantia. Vennes exooriati, in
humido paniduntur, obmutescentes."
It is impossible to enter into the details of the arrangement of
Linneus, without being struck with the comprehensive views of the
author, when the imperfect light that existed at the time is considered.
The subject was now taken up by able hands ; and Pallas, especially
in his anatomy of the Olires, made a great advance in Comparative
Anatomy. Among the most active and enlightened labourers in this
department^ our own John Hunter stands pre-eminent in England and
Blumenbach in Germany.
Bat the time was now come when a new light was to arise ; and
George Ouvier, guided hv his dissections, became the great leader of
his day. The 'Anatonue Compart,' the 'Ossemens Fossiles,' and,
ihially, the * R^gne Animal,' were the results of his acute and compre-
hensive demonsteations. In his hands Comparative Anatomy became
s new power among the dynamics of natural histoiy, and by its aid he
rebuilt the extinct fossil forms that before his time lav scattered over
the face of our earth in wild and apparentiy inextricable disorder.
Well does this extraordinary man enunciate the valuable truth, that
since Natural History has taken Nature for the basis of its distri-
butions, its relationship with Anatomy ha^ become more intimate.
" One of these sdences," aays he,'" cannot take a single step without
the other profitiug by it. The approximatipns which the first
establishes often indicate to the other the researches that ought to be
made." And again, with equal truth he declares, that " the natural
history of an animal is tiie knowledge of the whole animal Its
internal structure is to it as much as its external form, and perhaps
more."
That Cuvier practised what he preached is evident from his own
record of his mode of proceeding in constructing his system : —
" I examined," says he, " one by one, all the roedes whidi I could
procure; I associated those which did not diner from each other,
except in size, colour, or the number of some parts of little importance,
and on these materials founded what I have called a sub-genus.
" Whenever I could, I dissected at least one spedes of eadi sub-
genus; and if those to which the scalpd could not be applied be
excepted, there exist in my book very few groups of this degree, of the
organs of which I cannot produce at least some considerable portion."
As in this work tiie various artides on the Animal Kingdom will
be generally given subordinate to the great divisions indicated by
Cuvier, we have added in the following page his arrangement in a
tabular form.
The following are the distinguishing characters of the great divisions
of this^arrangement : —
Vertebrate Aniftials (Animalia vertebraicL) — They have all red blood,
a muscular heart, a mouth furnished with two jaws placed one either
before or above the other, distinct organs of sight, hearing, smell, and
taste, situated in the cavities of the face ; never more than four limbs,
the sexes always separated, and a very similar distribution of the
medullary masses and of the prindpal brandies of the nervous system.
On examining each of the purts of this great series of animals more
dosdy, there may always be detected some analogy even in those
spedes which are most remote from one another; and the gradations
of one single plan may be traced from man to the last of fishes.
In the second form there is no skeleton, the musdes are attached
only to the skio, which constitutes a soft contractile envelope, in
which in many species are formed stony plates called shells, the pro-
duction and position of which are analogous to that of the mucous
body ; the nervous system is contained within this general envelope
together with the viscera, and is composed of several scattered
masses, connected by nervous filaments, and of which the prindpal
placed over the oesophagus bears the name of brain. Of the four
senses, the organs of those of taste and vision only can be distinguished,
the latter of which are even frequentiy wanting. A single family
alone presents organs of hearing. There is alwavs, however, a complete
system of circulation, and pfurticular otgans for respiration. Those
of digestion and of the secretions are littie less complicated than in
the vertebrated ^tnimiLlg. We will distinguish the animals of this
second form by the appellation of
Mollusc<niS Animals {Animalia MoUmca.) — ^Although the general
plan of their organisation is not so miifonn, as regards the external
configuration of the parts as that of the vertebrates, there is always an
equal degree of resemblance between them in the essential structure
and the nmctions.
The third form is that observed in insects, worms, && Their
nervous svstem consists of two long cords running longitudinally
through the abdomen, dilated at intervals into knots or ganglions.
The first of these knots placed over the oesophagus, and called brain,
is scarody any larger than those which are along the abdomen, with
which it communicates by fileonents that endrde the oesophagus like
a collar. The envelope of their trunk is divided by transverse folds
into a certain number of rings, of which the teguments are sometimes
hard, sometimes soft, but to the interior of which the muscles are
always attached. The trunk often beurs on its sides articulated limba^
but IS frequently unfrunished with them. We will bestow on these
animals the term
Articulate Animals (AnimaUa Arti€tUata.)--lt is among these that
the passage is observed from the circulation in closed vessels to nutri-
tion by imbibition, and the corresponding transition from respiration
in circumscribed organs to that efiected by trachea or air-vessels dis-
tributed through the body. The organs of taste and vision are the
most distinct in them, a single family alone presenting that of hearing.
Their jaws, ^en they have any, are always lateral
Lastiy, the fourth form, which embraces all those animals known
under the name of Zoophytes, may be designated
Radiate Animals (Animalia £adiat€k.)--bi all the preceding, the
organs of sense and motion are arranged symmetrically on the two
sides of an axis. There is a posterior and an anterior dissimilar face.
In this last division, they are disposed as rays round a centre ; and this
is the case even when they consist of but two series, for then the two
faces are alike. They approximate to the homogeneity of plants, having
no very distinct nervous system, nor organs of particular senses :^ there
can scarcely be perceived in some of them the vestiges of a drcula*
tion ; their respiratory organs are almost always on the surface of the
body ; the greater number have only a sac wiwout issue for the whole
intestine ; and the lowest families present only a sort of homogeneous
Digitized by
Google
«»
ANIKAL KINaDOE.
ANIMAL KINGDOM.
»4
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM ABRANOED ACCORDINQ TO THE 8T8TEM OF CUVIER.
f
i
83
CX.A0S T.
MAMMALIA,
inolndlng Eight Orden.
Clam IT.
AVE8,
Indading 8U Orden.
Clam III.
KEPTILA,
Including Four Orden.
f
Malfteopterjgil.
iz
I
{
|7J^ < Bnaehte fixed.
Clam I.
CEPHALOPODA^
baring One Order.
Clam IT.
PTEROPODA,
luring One Order.
Clam III.
GASTEROPODA,
incinding Nine Orden
Clam IV.
ACEPHALA,
induding Two Orden.
Clam V.
BRACHIOPODA,
baring One Order
Class VI.
CIRRHOPODA,
baring One Order.
Clam I.
ANNELIDA,
inelnding ThrM Orden.
ilio
Section II. (
EntomoBtrAcIa, .
dirided into Two Orden. j^
Clam III. f
ARACHNIDA, ■<
Induding Two Orden. (.
Compound eyes
placed on pedicles '
and moreable.
Eyes sessila and
immoreable.
Clam IV.
IN8KCTA,
Indndlng Twelre Orden.
Class T.
ECHINODERMA,
including Two Orders.
Clam II.
INTE8TINA,
including Two Orden.
Clam III.
ACALEPHA,
including Two Orden.
Clam IV.
POLYPI,
induding Thn^ Orden.
Clasi V.
INFUSORIA,
induding Two Orden
OBDvn I.
II. Quadnimana
III. Carnlrora
IV. Rodentia
V. Edentate
VI. Pachrdermato
VII. Rumlnantia
VIII. Cetacea
I. Rapaoes
II. PaaserM
III. Scausores
IV. GallittB
V. Gnlla
VI. PalmipedM
I. Cbelonia
II. Bauria
III. Ophidia
IV. Batraebia
I. Aeantbopterygii
II. Abdominales.
III. 8nb-bnebiaU
IV. ApodM
V. Lopbobruiehll
VI. Pleetognatbi
VII. SfcuriouM
VIII. SeladiU
IX. Cjdoetoml
Man.
Chimpansee.
HjMia.
Rat.
AnnadiUo.
Hog.
Cow.
Wbale.
Hawk.
Swallow.
Woodpecker.
Cock.
Heron.
Duck.
TortoiM.
Lisard.
Snake.
Frog.
Sword-Fiih.
Salmon.
Whiting.
Eel.
HlppeeaspQC
8uD-Fish.
Raj.
Lunprej.
I. Cepbalopoda NautOna.
I. Pteropoda
I. Pulmonla
II. Nudibrandila
III. Inferobranebta
IV. TectlbranchU
V. Heteropoda
VI. PeettnibrancMa
VII. Tubnlibranohia
VIII. Scotlbnnchia
IX. Cyc^branchia
I. TMtseoa
II. AcephaU
I. Bncbipoda
I. CIrrbopoda
I. Tubloola
II. Doraibrancbto
III. Abranchia
I. Deeapoda
II. Btomapoda
III. Amphlpoda
IV. Lnmodlpoda
V. iMpoda
VI. Branebiopoda
VII. Pcecilopoda
I. Pulmonato
II. Traehearla
L MyrUpoda
II. Tbysanonra
III. Parasite
IV. SttCtoria
V. Coleopten
VI. Orthoptera
VIL Hemiptera
VIII. Neuroptera
IX. Hymenoptera
X. Lepidoptera
XI. Rhipiptera
XII. Diptera
T. Pedicellate
II. Eehinodenna
I. Cariteria
II. Parencbyma
Clio anstralii.
Snail.
Qlaocna.
LInguella.
Bunacella.
Carinaria.
Wbelk.
Vermettts.
The Sea-Ear.
Chiton.
Oyster.
AMddia.
Lingnla Anatina.
Bamade.
Ampbitrita.
AmphinomsB.
Gebia slellata.
Phylloeoma.
Gammarus.
Wbale- Loom.
Antlocra.
Bnncblpns (Canoer stagnalis)?
Dichelestinm.
Fhrrnns. (Spider.)
Pbalanginm. .
Centipede.
Velret Spring-Tall.
Flea.
Beetle.
Grawbopper.
Aphis.
AntrLion.
Ichneumon-Fly.
Moth.
Xenos.
Gnat
8ter>Fisb.
Sipunculua.
Cerebntnla. (FtUria.)
Planaria eomuto.
T. Acalepha (simple) Mednsa.
II. Hydroetatiea DIphyee.
{
I. Actinia
II. Gelatlnon
III. Conllina
T. Rotifen
II. Homogenea
Green Actlnlt.
Cristatella.
Coral.
Wheel Animalcule.
Globe Animalcule.
pulp endowed with motion and Benai-
bility. Sinoe the time of Cavier con-
aiderable adranceB have been made,
especiallj in our knowledge of the
lower forms of invertebrate »^niiintt]a^
and many of his orden have been
broken up and considerably modified.
At the time that Curier was working
at his arrangement, and almost oon-
temponmeoosly wilii a similar move-
ment in botany, some of the more
imaginatiTe and philosophic minds
began to peroeive analogies in oigans
and parts of the animal frame, which
previously had only been regarded
under their distinct or individual rela-
tions. The close connection between
the brilliant generalisations of this
nature which first made comparative
anatomists acquainted with the bones
of the cranium and the essential re-
semblanceS) or homologies, as they
are termed, of the component elements
of a vertebra under their varied forms,
for the special purposes of the indi-
vidual, is too dosely connected with
similar researches after resemblance
and analogies in zoology to be omitted
in the present sketch of the history
of that science. Qdthe, the founder
of morphology, or the doctrine of
organic analogies in plants, also made
the first step in the advancement of
similar, or, as they have been termed,
transcendental views, in the anatomy
of animals. The poet's discovery c^
the intermaxillary bones in man, the
first fruits of this essentially syntheti-
cal mode of studying organised beings,
has been succeeded by many similar
brilliant appreciations of true analogies
by his successors Oken and Geofifboy,
and the disciples of their school, which
have more than compensated for the
less substantial results of exuberant
imaginations, which have too often had
the effect of deterring the sober student
of nature from digesting the worka of
authors from which valuable informa-
tion is to be obtained.
Qermany and the Netherlands have
reason to be proud of the names of
Uliger, Temminck, Wagler, lichten-
stein, and BiippelL
In our own country and time, the
Quinary System has been brought
forward and applied by one of our
most accomplished Eoologists in his
' HorsB Entomologicse,' 'Annulosa
Javanica,' his ' Remarks on the Com-
parative Anatomy of certain Birds of
Cuba,' in the 16th voL of the < Trana-
aotions of the Limuaan Socie^,* and
his ' Illustrations of the Annulosa of
South Afrioa,' forming part iiL of Ih>.
Andrew Smith's valuable ' Illustrationa
of the Zoology of South Africa.'
Mr. MacLeay brought to bear on
this subject a comprehensive know-
ledge of natural history, much learning;
and the dose astute reasoning of a
mind of no ordinary powers. The
system has been applied in this country,
by Mr. Vigors, to the Birds, and by Mr.
Bennett, to the Mammalia and Fishes.
With certain modifications it has been
applied, by Mr. Swainson, to the Animal
Kingdom generally, who, in his ar-
rangement in the several volumes of
the ' Cabinet Cyclopedia' written by
him, has however left out Man. On
the continent the Quinary System has
never found favour, and it has now few
if any followers in this country.
The sciences of Zoology and Com-
parative Anatomy have been studied
in England, since the time of Cuvier,
with great assiduity and
Digitized by
Google
205
AKIMALCULEa
ANNELIDA-
200
Amongst the most Bttoceflsfiil cultiTaton of these sciences is Professor
Owen, who, in his com-ses of lectures as Hunteiian professor at the
Royal College of Surgeons, and in his published works, has done much
£or their advancement. ]^ his application of comparatiye anatomy
to the explanation of the structure of extinct animals, he has been
scarcely less successful than Cuvier, as his works on 'Fossil Mammals,'
* Birds and Reptiles of Great Britain,' and his papers on the ' Dinomis,'
-the 'Mylodon/ and 'Olyptodon' testify. He has also successfully
applied the principles of the transcendental anatomists to the eluci-
dation of the structure of the vertebrate skeleton in his work on the
'Homologies of the Skeleton of the Vertebrata.' Added to his great
powers of generalisation, he possesees great industry, and his lecture
on ' Comparative Anatomy,' his 'Odontography,' and midtitudinous
papers, bear witness that there is scarcely any department of our
knowledge of the animal kingdom, that does not beiu* the marks of
his geniua Dr. J. E. Qray, as^hesd of the Zoological department of
the British Museum, has contributed hugely to our knowledge of
ftnimftl forms. His papers in the Magawnee and Transactions of scien-
tific societies amount to nearly 500 separate contributions. The
"Works of Gotdd have contributed greatly to our recent knowledge
of bird& Edward Forbes has most industriously laboured at the
Marine Zoology of the British Islands, and his works' on the ' Star-
Fishes;' the 'Naked-Eyed Jelly-Fishes,' and the 'Mollusca of Great
Britain,' have contributed greatly to extend our knowledge of these
families ; whilst his researches on the distribution of marine animals
in depth, have given a new direction to geological inquiries. To
Professor Bell, Mr. Yarrell, Dr. Johnston, and Dr. Biurd, zoology
m greatly indebted for their works on the 'Mammalia^' 'Birds,'
'Reptiles,' 'Fishes,' and 'Crustacea,' of the British Islands. The
natural history catalogues of the British Museum contain descriptions
of many new species, especially that devoted to the various forms
of Zoophytes, and which has been undertaken by Mr. Busk. One of the
greatest contributions ever made to our knowledge of sheUs, has been
the collection made by Mr. Ctmiing, who is now resident in London.
We ought also to mention the labours of Mr. Darwin on the family
of Cirripedes, the Sea-Acorns, and Barnacles. The voyages of Belcher,
Stanley, Kellert, Ross, Fitzroy, and others have added greatly to the
number of animal forms.
The ' Marine Vivarium,' recently formed at the Zoological Gardens,
Regent's Park, London, will afford great assistance in the study of the
organisation and habits of fishes and of marine invertebrate animals.
Here may be seen, through the walls of glass tanks, in miniature
oceans of sea-water, the daily life of lobsters, crabs, and shrimps
{Crustctcea)y of sea-urchins (EchmidcB), of star-fishes (Attmaa, Stelr
irridiant), of the beautiful sea^nemones, or animal-flowers {AcHnida),
of sea-mice (Annelida) and sea-eggSi of barnacles and sea-aooms
{Cimpeda), and many others.
(Those who would study the subject of the general arrangement of
the Animal Kingdom, are referred to the following works : — Cuvier,
JUgne Animal; Owen, Lectures on Comparative Anatomy; Grant
Comparativt Anatomy ; Patterson, Zoology for Schools; Rymer Jones,
OntUnet of the Animal Kingdom ; Milne-Edwards, Slemene de Zoologie;
Carpenter, PrtneipUt of Physiology.) [See Suppucmsht.]
ANIMAliCULES, in Zoology, is the name which has been applied
to small *m'mftla of various classes, which cannot be distinctly seen
without the use of a microscope, as the minute radiate animal of the
coral, the worms found in paste, vinegar, and vegetable infusions, or
the smaller Crustacea found in poolsi, as the Monoctdi, [InrcBOBiA ;
POLTOASTRIOA ; RoTIFEBA.]
ANKERITE, a. mineral found at Salzburg, in the Alps, and other
parts of the world, consisting of the carbonates of lime, magnesia, iron,
and mauganese in the following proportions: — Carbonate of Lime, 51*11 ;
Carbonate of My^Aiii<>^ 25*7 ; Carbonate of Iron, 20*0 ; Carbonate of
Manganese, 8*0. It occurs cxystalliBec^ and its primary form is a
rhomboid. The cleavage is parallel to the primary planes. The
•olour is white or yellow, or brownish.
ANNEOLiIDA (Cuvier), an extensive division or class of animals,
established by modem naturalists partly at the expense of Linnsus's
heterogeneous class of Worms {Vermes), It was Baron Cuvier who
in 1802 first proposed to distinguish iheAnndida as a class, chiefly
on account of -their blood being of a red colour, as in the leech, and
circulating by means of a double system of complicated blood-vessels.
The name is derived from the Latin word anmulus, a ring, because
the animals arranged under this division always have their bodies
formed of a great number of small rings, as in the earth-worm. Their
external covering, or skin, is soft and pliable ; and their bodies, having
uo bony skeleton, are soft, and in general more or less of a cylindrical
form.
The AnneUda are for the most part oviparous, but the leeches and
earth-wonns deposit what are termed capsules, or membranous
cocoons, containing many embryo young.
There is little variety in their mode of life. Some live in fresh and
others^ in salt water ; and others, like the Hair-Worm (jSordius), are
amphibious. Some species construct tubes in the interior of stones,
vr in shells, which tney perforate, or in madrepores. Some species
Again form calcareous cases, or cement around them various foreign
substances, particularly sand. The sedentary species are timid, and
when taken from their retreats can neither escape nor defend tiiem-
selves. The Errantia, on the other hand, are frequently very nimble,
and can defend themselves well by means of their bristies.
Although manifestly a low group of the Articulate sub-kingdom to
which they belong, Cuvier was so led away by the importemce he
attached to their possessing red blood, that in his latest edition of the
' B^e Animal ' he placed them at the head of the Articulate series,
above the Crustacea, the Arachnida, and the Insects. A very cursory
examination would suffice to show that the Annelida represent the
caterpillar or larval condition of the insects, and could hardly be
regarded as higher in organisation than the perfected insect.
The body of the Annelide is long and soft, and divided into a
nimiber of segments which agree in having the same form and nearly
the same size throughout. In the lower forms, the first segment is
not modified sufficiently to demand the name of a head ; but in the
higher forms it assumes the character of a head^ and has organs
adapted to the performance of cephalic functions.
In the most imperfect Aimelides the organs of motion are suctorial
disks such as are seen in the Trematode worms amongst the Eniozoa.
As we ascend, hairs or hooks project from the lateral segments, as in
the Earth-Worm. In others, bundles of hairs on each side take the
place of locomotive members, as in Aphrodita, These bristles or
bimdles.of hairs act as their weapons of attack and defence, and they
are generally sharp or barbed to assist in that office.
The nervous system of the Annelidos presents a great advance on
that of the class immediately below them, the White-Blooded Parasitic
Worms. It embraces a double central cord or chain of small ganglia
passing from one end of the body to the other. Most of the species
are provided with ocelei or fixed eyes, and the cephalic segment is
furnished with soft cylindrical tentacles which have been called
' antennse.' These are undoubtedly oi^gans of touch, but they difier
structurally from the antennae of insects in the absence of joints. The
mouth is seated at the lower surface of the head, and in some species
there is also a trunk or probosds which the creature has the power
of pulling in at will, and lateral-curved homy jaws. The alimentary
canal is generally straight ; in some species quite simple, in others
having lateral pouches. The anal orifice is situated above and at the
lower end of the body. The blood varies in its degree of redness,
being sometimes very pale, at other times of a greenish hue. It has
no visible corpuscles, molecules, or cells whatever. There is no dis-
tinction into venous and arteriaL The circulating system is very
simple, consisting of a dorsal and ventral vessel with lateral branches
passing to the tegumentary system, the peritoneal and branchial
systems. In the dorsal trunk the blood flows from the tail towards
the head, and in the ventral trunk from the head towards the taiL
The respiratory system is in some of the Annelides adapted for
obtaining oxygen from the air, and in the rest through the medium
of water. The branchial oi^gans or gills by which the blood is aerated
in the water are situated externally, and vary much in position.
These are the general features in the anatomical structure of the
Annelides. They exhibit great variety in their passage from the
lowest to the highest forms. They are divided by Milne-Edwards,
who, after Cuvier, has given this family most attention, into four
orders : —
1. The Dorsibranchialoi or Brrantes, including the SearCentipedes
and Sea-Mice.
2. The TubicolcB, which include those that live in tubes, as the
Serpula,
S. The Taricoke, inhabiting the earth, including the Common Earth-
Worm.
4. The Suctorice, with suctorial disks, as the Leech.
The order DorsibranchiatcB is named from the attachment of the
respiratory organs to the dorsal surface of the body, along the whole
or the grukter portion of the length. All the species belonging to it
are aquatic and worm-like. They are active m their crawling, and
swim with facility. On account of this last &culty Milne-Edwards
has called them Erramtes, to disting^uish them from the next fietmily,
which are characterised by opposite habits. Their head is distinct
from their trunk. They are fdniished with two pairs of rudimentary
eyes. The body is sometimes very long, as in the case of the tropical
Nereids. [Nkreib.] It hajs however in the Sea-Mice considerable
breadth. This genus, the Aphrodita' of Linnaeus, may be taken as the
type of the order.
Cuvier remarks that this genus is easily recognised among the
Dorsibranchiate Annelides by the two longitudinal rows of wide mem-
branous scales which cover the back, and under which are hidden their
branchiae, in the form of small fleshy crests. Their body is generally
flattened in form, and shorter and wider than it is in the other
Annelides. Their very thick and muscular oesophagus is capable of
being extruded like a proboscis. They have an imequal intestine,
furnished on each side with a great number of branched caeca, the
extremities of which go to fix themselves between the bundles of
biistleB that serve for feet
Savigny's Halithcecs consist of those which have three tentades, and
between them a very small crest ; they are without jaws.
Example, Halilhcea aculeata (Aphrodita acuteaUt, Linn.), the Sea-
Mouse.
This is a very beautiful animal, and most superbly coloured. It is
oval, 6 or 8 inches long, and 2 or 3 iuchos wide. The scales of the baQ^
Digitized by
Google
207
ANNELIDA.
ANNELIDA.
20S
are ooyered and hidden by a kind of flocky down, like tow, which
springs upon tiie sides, and from which issue groups of strong spines,
tnat pierce, in part, the flocky covering, and bundles of flexuous
bristles, glittering like gold, and changing into all the colours of the
rainbow. Cuvler says, and without exaggeration, that they do not
yield in beauty either to the plumage of* the humming-birds or to the
most brilliant precious stones. Lower down is a tubercle, out of which
come spines, in three groups, and of three different sizes, and finally
a fleshy cone. There are 40 of these tubercles on each side, and
between the first two are two small fleshy tentacles. There are 15
pairs of scales, which are wide and sometimes pufied up, on the back,
and 15 small branchial crests on each side.
Prickly Sea^ouse {Aphrodita aeuUata),
a, Tentral view ; h, dorsal and lateral view.
Some of the Halithaem {HaUthStM Hermionet, Say.) have no flocky
down upon the back, and such is Aphrod/Ua ffyatrix (genus ffermione,
De Blainv.).
The genus PolynSe, Sav. {Eumolpe, Oken), is another subdivision.
This genus has flocky covering on the back ; the tentacles are 5 in
number, and their proboscis is furnished with homy and strong jaws.
PolynOe Uevis is an example.
Then there are the genera SigoLum and Aeoites of Messrs. Audouin
and Milne-Edwards.
The first of these is more elongated in form than the other
AphrodUa ; it has cirrhi on all the feet. Such is Sigalion MathtUUg,
The second has cirrhi, which alternate with the elytra (as the two
rows of membranous scales which cover the back are somewhat oddly
called, the term being already applied to the homy external wings of
coleopterous insects), in great length ; their jaws are stronger and
better toothed. There is a large species at the Antilles which inhabits
a sheath or pipe of the oonaistenoe of leather.
Here Cuvier places his ChcBtopieruSf which has a mouth devoid of
jaws and proboscis, furnished above with a lip, to which are attached
two very small tentacula. Then comes a disk with nine pairs of feet,
then a pair of long bristly bundles, like two wings. The branchiae, in
the form of plates, are attached rather below than above, and are
placed along the middle of the body.
Example, ChcBtoptenu pergamentaceut. This is 8 or 10 inches long,
and inhabits a pipe of the substance of parchment, in the seas of the
West India Islands.
The nervous system is more highly developed in the Dorsibranchiate
Annelides than in the other orders. It consists of a double chain of
ganglia, but the latter are larger generally, and the cephalic more fully
developed, to accord with their organs of special sense. There are
also observable nerves and ganglia destined to supply the digestive
and respiratory organs.
Although the JDonibrcmchiata are so highly developed, they never-
theless many of them retain the power of regenerating portions of
their body which may be broken off; and in certain species which
divide spontaneously a whole animal is formed from parts that are
separated. In this respect they are related to the lower vermiform
animals included in the ErUozoa. [Ein?ozoA.]
The TubicoloB are characterised by having their branchise in the
form of plumes, or of small arborisations, attached to the head or on
the anterior part of the body ; and nearly all inhabit tubes.
Of those which inhabit tubes, some form a calcareous homogeneous
one, resulting probably from their transudation, like the shells of the
mollusca, but they do not adhere to it by means of musdes ; others
construct a tube by agglutinating grains of sand, fragments of shells,
or particles of sand, by means of a membrane whidi they doubtless
secrete also; there are others again whose tube is entirely
membranous or homy. (' R^gne Animal')
To the first category belongs the genus Serpvla. The species of
this genus are the Tuyaux de Mer of the Frendi, and their twisting
calcareous tubes cover stones, shells, and other submarine bodies. The
section of these tubes is sometimes roimd and sometimes angular,
according to the Q>ecies.
Cuvier describes the animal as having a body composed of a great
number of segments ; its anterior part enlarged into a disk, armed on
each side with many bimdles of stiff bristle-like appendages, and on
each side of the mouth a plume of branchisB in the fonn of a fan,
ordinarilv tinted with vivid colours. At the base of each plume is a
fleshy filament; and one of the two, that to the right or left
indifferently, is always prolonged and dilated at its extremity into a
disk of different configuration, which serves as an operculum, and
closes the aperture of the tube when the animal retires within it
Cuvier further observes that as the most common species haa tlus
disk in the form of a funnel, some naturalists have mistaken it for a
proboscis ; but it is not pieixsed ; and the other species have it more
or less of a club-shape.
The number of species of SerpuLa (Lam.), admitted into the last
edition of ' Animaux sans V ert^bres,' is 60 recent and fossil ; and
M. Milne-Edwards adds many more at the end of the genus ; but he
observes that very little is known of the specific differences presented
by these animals, and that many of the living and all of the fossil
species are characterised in a very doubtful manner. The fossils are
said to be found in the Tertiary, Green-Sand, Chalk (environs of
Miinster and Maastricht), Lias, and Oolite beds, &a Mr. Lea
describes a species, Serpvla omat<i, from the Tertiary of Alabama
(Claibome Beds).
Dr. Fitton records 14 named species and two uncertain species from
the strata below the chalk, ranging from the Upper Green-Sand to the
Kimmeridge Clay.
Sir Roderick Murchison notices Serpulitet and Spirorbia in the
Silurian rocks, Serpulitet longitdmut in the upper Ludlow Rock, and
Spirorbis tenmt in the lower Ludlow Rock, and in the Wenlock
Limestone. He also records the presence of Serpula {Serpula
omphaloldes, Goldl) in the Devonian Rocks of Russia.
Example, SerptUa corUortupliceUa, The tubes of this Serpula are
round, twisted, and about three Unes in diameter. Its operculum is
funnel-shaped, and its branchisD are often of a beautiful rod, or
variegated with yellow and violet It quickly covers vases, bottles, or
other objects thrown into l^e sea.
LoeaiUy, — The Mediterranean and European Seas.
Serpula contortupfteata.
In other species, as for instance of the genus Galeolctria, Lam., the
operculum is flat and beset with points.
Cuvier notices another species from the Antilles {Serputa giganita,
Pallas), which lives among the madi-epores, and whose tube is often
surrounded by their masses. Its brancnise ar^ rolled into a spiral form
when they re-enter; audits operculum Ib armed with two small
branched horns, like the antlers of a stag. This species is the TerdteUa
bicomis, 'Abbild. BerL Schr.' ix.iiL 4; Actinia, or Animal Flower,
Digitized by
Google
aoo
ANNELIDA.
ANNELIDA.
210
Home, * Lect on Comp. Anat' ii pL 1. Upon this spiral rolling up
of the branchise Savigny establii^ed his subdivision of Cymotpvre
Serpul<B, firom which M. de Blainville afterwards established a genus.
The genus Spirwlns, Lam., consists of those SerpidcBvrhoee branchial
filaments are much less numerous, only three or four on each side ;
their tube is rolled up into a tolerably regular spiral, and they are
ordinarily very smalL
Sahdla. — ^The species of this genus have the same body and the
same fan-shaped branchise as the SerpuUe ; but their two fleshy
filaments adhering to the branchise each terminate in a point, and do
not form an operculum ; they are even sometimes absent The tube
of the SabdUe appears, most frequently, to be composed of grains of
sand, of day, or very fine mud, and is rarely calcareous. The known
species are rather large, and Cuvier notices their branchial plumes as
being of admirable delicacy and brilliancy.
Example, SabeUa protvla, Cuv. (Protula Eudolpkii, Risso). This
beautiful and large species, with a calcareous tube like that of the
Serpula, has the branchiae of a rich orang&
TerebeUa. — The species like the greater part of the SdbeUce, inhabit
a fisuititious tube ; but it is composed of grains of sand and fragments
of shells ; their body, moreover, has much fewer rings, and their head
is dififerently ornamented. Niunerous filiform tentades, susceptible
of much extension, surroimd their mouth, and on their ne(^ are
arborescent branchise, not fan-shaped.
Example, TerebeUa conchilega.
AmphUrite. — ^Cuvier remarks that the spedes of this genus are
eaaOy known by straw-like processes ranged in a pectinated form, or
in that of a crown, in one or more rows, where they probably serve
for defence, or perhaps as means of creeping or collecting the materials
for their tube. Around the mouth are very nimierous tentacles, and
on the commencement of the back on each side are branchise in the
form of a comb.
Cuvier's genus AmphitrUe comprehends the Peclinarice of Lamarck,
the AmphictHes of Savigny, the Ckrytodovis of Oken, the Cistenet of
Leach, the SaheUariai of Lamarck, the JlermeUea of Savigny, and the
genus Pheruta of De Blainville.
Siphostoma (Otto). — The species of this genus, which Cuvier suspects
should be referred to this order, have on each articulation above a
bundle of fine bristles ; below, a simple bristle ; and, at the anterior
extremity, two packets of strong and golden-coloured bristles. Under
these bristles is the mouth, preceded by a sucker surrounded by many
soft filaments, which Cuvier thinks may be brandiise, and accompanied
by two fleshy tentacles. The knotted medullary cord may be seen
through the skin of the belly. The S^hoitOTnata live burrowed in
the sand.
Examples, Siphattoma diplochaitoa, Oken; & uncinaia Aud. et
Edw. < Littoral de France, AnneL' pL ix., f. 1.
The dose connection between the ThibicoUe and the J)ornbrancki<U<B
is seen in the fact that the young of these orders pass through
precisdy the same stage before arriving at maturity. It is only during
the last stages of change that the embryoes of TubicolcB manifest their
ultimate destination by the unequal devdopment of certain of Uieir
segments, some of which become almost abortive, whilst others are
disproportionatdy developed.
The TerricolcB have a cylindrical body tapering at both ends. The
segments of their bodies are not well marked, and the head is not
distinct from the trunk. They have neither eyes, mandibles, cirrhi,
nor tuberculous feet This oi-der includes two prindpal groups, one
of which only is terrestrial, whilst the other is aquatia To the
former belong the Common Earth-^yorm (Lumbi'iciu terrestrU), whilst in
the latter is induded the Lob or Lug-Worm (Arenicola), As the
Earth-Worm is so well-known we ah^ refer to its structure and
habits to illustrate the order.
Cuvier remarks that the Lumbrici ought to be subdivided; and
Savigny has, in effect, subdivided the Earth-Worms into the genera
£nterion, Hypogaswi, and Clitellio. Messrs. Audouin and Milne-Edwards
distinguish also the genus Trophonia,
Of these Enterum has upon each ring four pairs of small bristle-like
processes, dght in alL
CliUUio is stated to have two bristle-like processes only on each ring.
SypogcBon has, besides the other bristle-like processes, one on the
back of each ring. (This form is noticed aa being American onlv.)
Tropktmia has on each ring four bundles of short bristle-like
processes, and at the anterior extremity a great number of long and
brilliant bristle-Hke processes which surround the mouth.
Savigny described upwards of twen^ spedes, which he considers
to be distinct, and to have been conrounded previously imder the
name of Lambricm terrettria. M. Morren, in his ' Treatise on the
Natural History and Anatomy of the Lwmbricw terrestrU,* appears to
be doubtful with regard to the number of species described by
Savigny and others, and inclines to the opinion that they are merdy
varieties. M. Milne-Edwards (edit of Lamarck's 'Animaux sans
Yert^bres,' 18SB,) condders the characters on which Savigny relied as
distinctions for dividing the group into the three genera as of little
importance.
Externally the Earth- Worm {Lumibricus terrettru, Linnseus) presents
a body composed of numerous narrow rings closely approximated to
each other ; at about one-third of their \en^ may be seen^ particularly
NAT. BJBT. DIY. VOL. I.
at the season of reproduction the clitellum, which becomes at that
time a highly important agent The colour of l^e body is reddish or
bluish, and of a shining aspect, and the animal has the power of
secreting a viscous substance, which forms a sort of protecting sheath
to its body, and greatly facilitates its progress through the earth.
The animal is eyelesai, and unprovided with either tentacle, branchise,
or cirrhi
JiespircUory Sytttm. — The generally received opinion is that the
blood of the Earth-Worm is aerated by means of lateral series of
small pyriform vesicles, analogous to the breathing sacs of the Leech,
and opening externally by very minute pores.
JHgesiive SytienL^The mouth consists of two lips without tentades
or armature of any description ; but the upper lip is elongated and
proboeddiform. The oesophagus, which is a wide membranous canal,
is continued straight down for half an inch, and ends'in a dilated bag
or reservoir, to which succeeds a muscular stomach or gizzard, disposed
in the form of a ring. The intestine is constricted at each segment of
the animal by a series of ligaments or partitions, connecting it to the
parietes of the body, and swells out the intermediate spaces, when
distended by the partides of earth.
Nervous System. — The nervous system of the Earth-Worm consists
of a double row of small ganglions dose to each other.
OenercUive System. — Allotriandrous, or with male organs so disposed as
to fecundate the ova of a different individual. (Owen.) It has been
doubted whether these animals are oviparous, ovoviviparous, or vivipa-
rous. The fact is, that after fecundation by another individual, the ova,
which are contained in the ovary, are set free in the cavity of the
body by the bursting of the ovary, and are gradually propelled to a
cavity near the anus. In this spot they undergo the usual changes,
and they may or may not emerge from the parent before the egg-
membrane is broken.
Organs of Progression. — ^Earth-Worms creep at a good pace by means
of muscular contraction and dilatation acting on the rings, which carry
on their under-dde the bristle-like processes above mentioned : these
last operate as feet The power of elongation is condderable, and the
anterior part of the animal acts as a sort of awl in penetrating the
earth.
Habits, Jsc. — ^The Earth-Worm, as far as relates to its appearance
above the surface of the groimd, may be considered almost a nocturnal
animal. In the night-season and at early morning hundreds may be
seen, though not one, imless they are disturbed either by moving the
ground or pouring liquids into their holes, is to be found moving about
in the day. The power of reproducing parts after mutilation is very
great in this animal and the whole of the order.
Utility to Man. — The worm-casts, which so much annoy the gardener
by deforming his smooth-shaven lawns, are of no small importance to
the agriculturist ; and this despised creature is not only of great
service in loosening the earth and rendering it permeable by air and
water, but is also a most active and powerfiil agent in adding to the
depth of the soil, and in covering comparatively barren tracts with a
superficial layer of vegetable mould. In a paper ' On the Formation
of Mould,' read before the Geological Society of London, by Charles
Darwin, Esq., F.G.S., the author commenced by remarking on two of
the most striking characters by which the superficial layer of earth,
or, as it is conunonly called, vegetable mould, is distinguished. These
are, its nearly homogeneous nature, although overlying different kinds
of subsoil, and the uniform fineness of its particles. The latter fact
may be wdl observed in any gravelly country, where, although in a
ploughed field, a large proportion of the soil consists of small stones,
vet in old pasture-land not a single pebble will be found within some
mches of the surface. The author's attention was called to this subject
by Mr. Wedgwood, of Maer Hall, in Staffordshire, who showed him
several fidda^ some of which, a few years before, had been covered with
lime, and others with burnt marl and cinders. These substances, in
evexy case, are now buried to the depth of some inches beneath the
turf. Three fidds were examined with care : the first consisted of
good pasture-land, which had been limed, without having been ploughed,
about 124 years before ; the turf was about half an inch thick ; and
24 inches beneath it was a layer or row of small aggregated lumps of
the lime, forming, at an equal depth, a well-marked wlute line. The
soil beneath this was of a gravelly nature, and differed very consider-
ably from the movdd nearer the surface. About three years since
cinders were likewise spread on this field : these are now buried at the
depth of an inch, forming a line of black spots paralld to and above
the white layer of lime. Some other cinders, which had been scattered
in another part of the same fidd, were either still lying on the surfiuie
or entangled in the roots of the grass. The second field examined was
remarkable only from the cinders being now buried in a layer, nearly
an inch thick, 8 inches beneath the surface. This layer was in parts
so continuous, that the superficial mould was only attached to the
subsoil of red day by the longer roots of the grass.
The history of the third field is more com)>lete. Previously to
15 years since it was waste land ; but at that time it was drained,
harrowed, ploughed, and well covered with burnt marl and cinders.
It has not since been disturbed, and now supports a tolerably good
posture. The section here was turf half an mch, mould 21 inches, a
Uyer 1 \ inch thick, composed of fragments of burnt marl (conspicuous
firom their bright red colour, and some of considerable siae, namely,
Digitized by
Google
Sll
ANNELIDA.
ANNELIDA.
2U
1 inoL by i an inch broad, and a \ inch thick), of cinders, and a few quartz
pebbles mingled with earth ; lastly, about il inches beneath the surface
was the original black peaty soiL Thus beneath a layer (nearly
4 inches thick) of fine particles of earth, mixed with some vegetable
matter, those substances now occurred, which, 15 years before, had
been spread on the surface. Mr. Darwin stated that the appearance in
all cases was as if the fragments had, as the farmers believe, worked
themselves down. It does not however appear at all possible that
either the powdered lime or the fragments of burnt marl and the
pebbles could sink through compact earth to some inches beneath the
surface, and still remain in a continuous layer; nor is it probable that
the decay of the grass, although adding to the surface some of the
constituent parts of the mould, should separate in so short a time the
fine from the coarse earth, and accumulate the former on those objects
which so lately were strewed on the surface. Mr. Darwin also remarked
that near towns, in fields which did not appear to have been ploughed,
he had often been surprised by finding pieces of pottery and bones
some inches below the turf. On the mountains of Chile he had been
perplexed by noticing marine shells, covered by earth, in situations
where rain could not have washed it on theuL
The explanation of these circumstances, which occurred to Mr.
Wedgwood, although it may at first appear trivial, the author does
not doubt is the correct one, namely, that the whole is due to the
digestive process by which the Common Earth-Worm is supported.
On carefiilly examining between the blades of grass in the fields
above described, the author found that there was scarcely a space of
two inches square without a little heap of the cylindrical castings of
worma It is well known that worms swallow earthy matter, and
that, having separated the serviceable portion, they eject at the mouth
of their burrows the remainder in little intestine-shaped heaps. The
worm ia unable to swallow coarse particles ; and as it would naturally
avoid pure lime, the fine earth lying beneath either the cinders and
burnt marl, or the powdered lime, would, by a slow process, be
removed and thrown up to the surface. This supposition is not
imaginary, for in the field in which cinders had been spread out only
half a year before, Mr. Darwin actually saw the castings of the worms
heaped on the smaller fragments. Nor is the agency so trivial as it
at &ni might be thought, ti^e great number of Earth-Worms (as every
one must be aware who has ever dug in a grass-field) making up for
the insignificant quantity of work which each performs.
On the above hypothesis, the great advantage of old pasture-land,
whioh farmers are always particularly imwilling to break up, is
explained ; for tiie worms must require a considerable length of time
to prepare a thick stratum of mould, by thoroughly mingling the
original constituent parts of the soil, as well as the manures aidded by
man. In the peaty field, in 15 years, about 3 4 inches had been well
digested. It is probable however that the process is continued,
though at a slow rate, to a much greater depth ; for as often as a
worm is compelled by dry weather or any other cause to descend
deep, it must bring to the surfiEtce, when it empties the contents of its
body, a few particles of earth. The author concluded by remarking,
that it is probable that eveiy particle of earth in old pasture-land has
passed through the intestines of worms, and hence that in some
senses the term 'animal mould' would be more appropriate than
'v^etable mould.' The agriculturist^ in ploughing the ground,
follows a method strictly natural ; and he only imitates in a rude
manner, without being able either to bury pebbles or to sift the fine
from the coarse soil, the work which Nature is daily performing by the
agency of the Earth- Worm.
The most common species of Arenvcola is the A. PUcatorumf or
Lug- Worm, which is oommonly employed on the coasts of this
country as a bait by fishermen.
The genus Nats, of Linnsdus, includes a number of small Annelides,
not well made out They live in holes which they perforate in the
mud at the bottom of the water, from which they protrude the upper
portion of their body, which they are incessantly moving.
The Suctoria are characterised by ihe body of the animals being
destitute of bristles for locomotion, completely apodous, without soft
appendages, and furnished with a prehensile cavity in the form of a
Bucker at each extremity. The head is not distinct, but generally
provided with eyes and jaws.
The principal family of this order is the BirudinidcB, which compre-
hends not only the Leeches properly so called, which live by sucking
the blood of various animahi, but also includes many other worms
which derive their nourishment in a totally different way, and present
corresponding differences in organisation. The affinities between the
leeches and some of the Setiferous Annelidans, as various species of
Na-eis, Lwmbricm, Planaria, &a, are so close that they hardly admit of
being arranged in separate orders, and others of the Leech tribe may
even be confounded with some species of Lemeoe or Epkoa.
The ancients appear to have only known the most common species
of Leeches. Aristotle makes no mention of them, and tiiey do not
appear to have been used in medicine in the time of Hippocrates.
Plmy describes them very clearly under the name of Hiruiinei and
Sanguituga, and distinguishes two species. The Sea-Leech is dis-
tinctly mentioned by Belon, Bondelet, and by all the writers on
natural history since the revival of letters. More recently Linnseus
inoreMcd our knowledge of the number of species, ofwhioh ho desoriboB
eight in the 12th edition of the ' Systema Natune.' Midler afterwards
discovered five or six others, so that Qmelin, in his edition of the
' Systema Naturae,' enumerated fourteen species. Since then, Shaw,
Leach, Dutrochet, Savigny, Milne-Edwards, and others, have found
many more, and the introduction of new zoological methods has caused
a necessity for arranging these various species in different genera, of
which we shall enumerate some of those which are best known.
The True Leeches are all destitute of branchi» or special oigans of
respiration ; and this fimction has been supposed to be effected by
means of the skin generally, but M. Milne-Edwards has recently
stated (as was before observed by Cuvier) that "there exists in these
Anndidce a series of small membranous sacs, each of which commu-
nicates externally by a minute orifice situated on the ventral aspect
of the body: these sacs derive from, the numerous vessels which
ramify upon their parietes a considerable quantity of blood ; water
penetrates into these organs, and seems to subserve a true respiratory
purpose." But though the species of the family Himdinida are not
provided with distinct branchise, these organs are found in a genus
which is generally associated with the True Leeches, and which we
shall place first in the following list of genera : —
1. Branchdlion, Savigny, BranchiobdeUa, De Blainville, PolydorUy
Oken. These names have been given to a worm closely resembling
a leech in external structure (it being furnished with two suckers),
which is found parasitic on the Toroedo in the Mediterranean and
other seas. The Hirvdo hranchiaia, Menzies, a species observed on
the tortoise which is found in the Pacific Ocean, has also been placed
in this genus, though Cuvier says that it ought not to be associated
with it
Hirvdinidos proper.
Section I. — Anterior Sucker teparcUed from the Body by a dittinct
StranguUUion or Neck.
2. Albione, Sav., PorUohdeUct, Leach and Blain., characterised by
the body being bristled over with tubercles. Species all marine;
seven have been enumerated ; two of them are very common in our
seas : — 1, Albione verrucot<i, Hirudo muricata, Linnseus ; 2, Ponto-
bdella apinulosci. Leach : both of these worms attach themselves to fish,
particularly skates; and the latter species is commonly known to
fishermen by the name of the Skate-Sucker.
8. HcBmochariSf Sav. ; Jchthyohdellaf Blain. In this genus there are
eight eyes, the body is narrow, and the jaws scarcely visible. The
only known species is the ffcemocharis Ptacium, Hirudo Piscium, Linn.,
which lives in fresh waters, where it attaches itself to fish, particularly
Cyprini.
Section II. — Anterior Sucker very dightly separcUed from the Body.
4. Oeobdellay Blain., Trochetia, Dutrochet, is distinguished by having
an enlargement round the orifices of the genital organs. We only
know one small species of this genus, the OeohdeUa Trochetiiy which
inhabits our waters, and which frequently comes on land to pursue the
Lumbrici, or Earth- Worms.
5. Pseudobdella, Blain., has the mouth merely provided with folds
of skin, and is destitute of teeth. Only one species is well known, the
PteudobdeUa nigrct, Hirudo rUgra^ Linn., the Common Black licech.
6. Hcemopis, Sav., Hypobdelki, Blain., has the mouth furnished with
a few obtuse teeth. Three species are enumerated ; the best known
is the Hcemopit tanguisorbaf Sav., Hirudo sanguitugaf Linn., the Common
Horse-Leech, which is much larger than the Medicinai Leech, and wholly
of a greenish-black colour. The Horse-Leech has been reported to inflict
dangerous wounds by some observers, while others say that it never
attacks vertebrate animals. M. De Blainville thinks that this discre-
pancy has arisen from this species having been confounded with the
foregoing, the Black Leech, which cannot penetrate the skin of vertebrate
animals for want of teeth. Both these leeches greedily attack the
common earth-worm.
7. Sanguifuga, Sav., Jalrobddla, Blain. The anterior sucker has its
upper lip divided into several segments. Its aperture is transverse,
and it contains three jaws, each of which is armed on its edge with
two ranges of very fine teeth, which enable these leeches to penetrate
through the skin without rnakiug any dangerous wound. This genus
contains the true Medicinal Leeches, eight species of which have been
enumerated : the most common is the Sanguisuga mediciiuUis, Hirudo
medicinalis, Linn., which is a native of all our stagnant fresh waters.
8. Bdella, Sav., has eight eyes and is destitute of teeth : one sx)ecies
is found in the Nile — the Bdella NUotica.
9. NephdiSj Sav., ErpobdeUa, Blain., has eight eyes, and the mouth
is furnished internally with only three folds of sidn. Several species
of this genus are enumerated ; the most common is the Ncphelii
testUaia, Sav., Hirudo vulgaris, Linn. This species has often been
confoimded with the medicinal and other leeches; it is commonly
foimd in fresh waters, and, like all the other species of this genus, never
leaves the water, and is injured by the contact of the air ; so that if
taken out of the water it quickly dies.
Section III. — Anterior Sucker wanting.
10. Cleptina, Sav., Olosaopora, Johnson, Gloasobddla, Blain. This
genus has a widened body and only a posterior sucker; the mouth is
in the form of a proboscis. Cuvier thinks it doubtful whether the
species of this genus should be arranged with the Leech Family ; they
Digitized by
Google
213
ANOA.
ANONACE.E.
214
coDsiKt of little worms which never leave the water, and live fixed to
the stem of aquatic plants, from which they perhaps derive their
nourishment : they never swim, but crawl along.
Besides the genera which we have enumerated, several parasitic
worms, which Uve always fixed to the same part of some animal, have
been enumerated among the Bimdinida?, and have been arranged
by Blainville in the genus Epibdella. He also places several other
species, which are without distinct articulations, in the genus Mala-
cobdtlla. There still remain several doubtful species of Leech, and
some have been confounded with true PlanaricB, which differ from
Leeches in having no sucker at either end. [See Sufplembnt.]
To this order also is referred the genus Gordiua of Linnaeus, but
recent researches have rendered it
highly probable that their relations are
rather with the Eniozoa. [Entozoa.]
(Williams, Report of the Structure of
Annelida, 'Brit Ass. Trans.,' 1851;
Owen, Lectures on Comparative Ana-
tomy ; Cuvier, JUgne A nimal ; Carp)en-
ter, PrincipleM of Phytiology ; Milne-
Edwards, EUmens de Zoologie.)
ANOA, a species of Ruminating
Animals, so very imperfectly known,
that zoologists are undetermined
whether to cdliBider it as an antelope
or a species of buffalo. This uncer-
tainty arises from the fact, that though
the animal has been noticed for many
years, only a few fragments of skulls
and horns have been hitherto brought
to Europe, and even these too im-
perfect to acquaint us with the
zoological characters of the animal.
Judging, however, from these mate-
rials, ttie Anoa would really appear
to be a species in many respects inter- Horns of Anoa,
mediate between the bufialoes and
antelopes, as at present defined ; agreeing with the former in the form
of its horns, and wiUi the latter in their position.
ANOLIS {AnoliuSf Cuvier), a genus of Saurian Reptiles, belonging
to that section of the Iguanias which Cuvier distinguishes by having
teeth in the palate of the mouth as well as in the maxillary bones.
They are readily distiuguished from the Iguaifias, properly so called,
the Basilisks, and other genera of this division, by the peculiar form
of the antepenultimate ph^anx of the toes, which is flattened beneath,
and furnished with a kind of pad or cushion, grooved or striated trans-
versely, and serving to make the animals adhere more firmly to those
substances which they grasp in walking. In this particular point of
their structure the Anolis approach the G^koes, but it does not
enable them to exercise the singular power of walking with the legs
uppermost, like flies on a ceiling, which some of these reptiles possesa
The toes, however, are much longer and better separated thaji those
of the Geckoes, and the claws, instead of being short and flattened,
are long, crooked, and sharp-pointed. The body and tail are long and
slender, as are also the legs, particularly those behind, which are
rather longer than the fore-legs. Each foot has five toes. The whole
body and tail, both above and below, are covered irregularly with
Bnudl round scales, which give the skin a granulated appearance like
that of a fine shagreen.
The Anolis are entirely an American genus, and seem, in many
respects, to supply in the New Woild the place which the Chameleons
occupy in the Old. The colours of their skins change with the same or
even greater rapidity, especially on the loose skin of the throat, which
is constantly distended when these animals are actuated by strong
passions, eitner of fear, anger, or love, and in this state they assume an
endless succession of ever-varying hues. They differ from the Chame-
leons, however, in their more slender and graceful proportions, and in
the great activity of their movements, displaying all the restlessness
and celerity of tne common green lizard of Europe. They frequent
woody and stony situations indifferently, climb and leap with such
swiftness and facility that their motion has been compared to the flight
of a bird ; and, when overheated or fatigued by their exertions, will
stop, open their mouths, and pant like a tired dog. They are extremely
timid and harmless, and feed for the most part upon flies and other smaU
insects. There are two small sub-genera, <Ustingmshed from one another
by the presence or absence of the carinated crest on the upper surface
of the tail The first of these divisions, comprehending those which
have this crest, consists of a number of species definitely characterised
by M. Cuvier, but formerbr confounded under the denominations of
Lacerta principalU and Lacerta biTnacvlata, The principal species
Me the following : —
1. Anoliui velifer, of Baron Cuvier, is of a beautiful dark ashy-blue
coloiur, and perhaps the lai^B;est of the whole genus, the body measuring
a foot in length, and the tsSl being about a foot and a half. The crest
extends along the top of the tail for half its length from the origin, and
is supported by from 12 to 15 rays. The loose skin beneath the throat
extends fr^m ike chin even to the belly, and when not distended forms
a longitudixud fold along the whole under-flur£ace of the animaL
The food, from the observation of Baron Cuvier, would appear, at least
occasionally, to consist of berries and other vegetable substances. It
inhabits Jamaica and the Antilles generally, preferring the woods to
the open coimtry, and lodging in decayed trees or small crevices in the
AnoHus velifer,
groimd, where the female likewise deposits her eggs. It is incessantly
in motion, and when pleased fr^uently emits a low but acute chirp ;
though harmless and extremely timid, it possesses a considerabfe share
of curiosity, and allows itself to be readily caught in little rush snares,
which children in the West Indies amuse themselves by placing in its
haunts, alluring it from its concealment by imitating its voice.
2. Anoliua bimaculaia, of Sparrmann, is little more than half the size
of the former species, but willi the same general form and habits, and
with a similar crest upon the first half of the tail. The general colour
is a greenish blue, clear on the top of the head and neck, but mixed
with -dark brown on the body, tail, and extremities, and marked with
numerous small black spots on the head and sides, and two large ones
on the shoulders, frx>m which it derives its specific name. It is found
in North America, from Pennsylvania to the shores of the Gulf of
Mexico, and in the Antilles.
The second subdivision of the genus Anolitu consists of i
without a carinated crest on the tail, but in no other respect <
from those already described. Of tibese the principal are : —
8. Anolwu eqtustritf of Merrem, of which tiie tail, more flattened
on the sides than in the following sx>ecie8, still retains a slight indi-
AnoUus eqneStru,
cation of the crest which distinguishes those of the former division.
The body of this species measures about a foot in length, and the tail
is nearly a foot and a half.
4. Anolius Cepedii, of Merrem, is a pretty little species, found
likewise in the Antilles, about half the size of the last, of a green
colour, with a short muzzle spotted with brown, an^ except in
the absence of the crest on the tail, very similar to the Anoliiu
bimaculoUa,
5. Anolius lineatus, of Daudin, resembles the last species in its pure
bright green colour, but it is rather laiger, and is marked along each
flank with two parallel lines of oblong bkck spots, the upper of which
passes over the arms and thighs, and the under between the shoulders
and hips. It inhabits different parta of South America*
6. Anolitu huUaris, of Merrem, fiLrst described bv Catesby in his
' Natural History of Carolina,' imder the name of the Green Lizardi
is a very beautiful species, of a greenish gold colour, particularly dis^
tinguished by a black band on the temples, and the elongated and
flattened form of its muzzle.
ANONA'CEiE, Anonadt, the Cuttard-Apple-Tribe, a natural order
of plants consisting of tropical or subtropical trees and bushes, that
usually abound in a powerful aromatic secreUoni which renden
Digitized by
Google
215
ANONACE^.
ANOPLOTHERIUM.
the flowers of some highly fragrant, the leaves of others a grateful
perfume, and the dried fruits of many so highly aromatic as to vie
with the spioes of commerce ; among these last is the Ethiopian
Pepper of the shops, which is yielded by the fruit of Uvaria itromcUica.
Of others of this order, the fruit is succulent and abounds in a delicate
juice, which renders it a pleasant article of food. Under the name of
Sour Sop, Sweet Sop, and Custard- Apple, many kinds are cultivated
in the West Indies and South America. FiniJly, the bark of some
separates readily into fibres which make excellent cordage: a large
tree called in Brazil Pindaiba, and by botanists Xylopia serieeoy is
advantageously employed for this purpose.
The natural order Anonacta: is Imown from all other Dicotyledonous
orders by its flowers having the calyx and sepals arranged in threes,
a number of carpella occupying the centre, as in a ranunculus, and by
the curious circumstance of their albumen, which here constitutes the
bulk of the seed, being what ia called ruminated, that is, perforated in
all directions by twisting and crossing passages, like the nutmeg.
The Sweet Sop (Anon/a squamosa) is often only a small bush, growing
in all the West India Islimds, where it bears a greenish fniit covered
with scales, and having the appearance of a young pine-cone. Its skin
is half an inch thick, and contains an abundance of thick, sweet,
luscious pulp. In many parts of the Indian Archipelago it is a
favourite fruit
for light turnery, and its fruit is good for the dessert
A, paltutris is used for making corks in Brazil
The root ol
Fruit of Sour Sop {Airr.a viuricata).
9 *- O U
Street Sop {Anona squamosa),
1, A caljz opened, the petals having fallen awaj, showing the arrangement
of the stamens and carpels in the inside of the flower ; 2, a stamen ; 3, a seed ;
4, the same cut in half, to show the mminated albumen ; 5, the embryo ; 6, a
ripe fmit, much less than the natural sixe (the projections on its surface are
the points of the carpella which grow together into one fleshy mass, as in the
raspberry) ; 7, a view of the same fruit out in half.
The Custard- Apple (Afuma reiicvlata) is an inferior kind, resembling
the foregoins; but forming a larger tree, and having a much larger
dark-brown miit, the surface of which is netted all over. The bulb
is yellowish or reddish, and of about the consistence of custard.
The Sour Sop {Anona mnriccUa) forms in the West Indies a
picturesque small tree, resembling a laige bay-tree. The flowers are
yellow, and have an unpleasant odour. The fruit is often as heavy as
2 lb., or even 3 lb. ; it is covered all over with weak prickles ; its skin
is yellowish-green, and very thin ; its pulp is more like pith, is as
white as milk, and is sweet mixed with a most agreeable acid.
The Cherimoyer {Anona Chenmolia), is easily known from the
preceding by its leaves not being shining and bright green, but hoary,
with short down, and verv blunt It forms a small tree about 12 or
14 feet high, and is exoeedmgly valued in Peru, wherd it is cultivated
on account of the excellence of its fruit The flowers are very fra-
grant. The fruit heart-shaped, grayish-brown or black, when ripe, with
a scaly rind ; it is white, sweety and rich.
A, sylvaiica is called AraHcu do Mate in Brajdl. Its wood is used
Sour Sop {Anona muricata)^
ANOPLOTHE'RIUM (from & privative, Zw\oy, and Oifp, that is, »
beast without ofiensive arms or tusks), in Fossil Zoology, a genus of
extinct Pachydermatous Quadrupeds, discovered and charactcsrised by
Baron Cuvier. The bones of these singular inhabitants of a former
world, occur in great quantities, mixed with those of the PalcBOtheritm,
another extinct genus of the same order, likewise described by V-
Cuvier, in the gypsum-strata or plaster-quarries in the neighbourhood of
Digitized by
Google
217
ANOPLOTHERIUM.
ANT.
ai8
Paris, and thev aro occasionally, though more rarely, met with in the
neighbourhood of Orleans and C^enoa. Remains also of this genus
hare been found in the fresh-water deposits at the Seafield quarries in
the Isle of Wight
The first character m which the Anoplotherta differ essentially from
all other Pachydermata, whether extinct or recent^ is found in the
number and arrangement of their teeth, which consist of 6 incisors,
2 Gftnines, and 14 molars in each jaw, making in the whole 44 teeth.
These, as in the human subject, are arranged in a continued and
uninterrupted series, without any vacancies between the molars or
incisors and the canines, a circumstance peculiar to this genus of
animals among ihe Pachydermata, and which, besides man, it shares
only with the qhrews and hedgehogs — Mammalia in all other respects
widely different. The canines moreover are perfectly similtur in
form and appearance to the incisors, and might easily be mistaken for
lateral teetn of this description, did not their situation in the jaw,
beyond the maxillary suture, prove their real nature. The four
posterior molars resemble those of the Rhinoceros and Palscotheria ;
that is to sav, they are quadrangular in the upper jaw, and marked in
the lower with a double or triple crescent of enamel, which penetrates
their substance and shows itself on the crowns in the form of salient
ridges.
This 'formation of the oigans of mastication, intimately connected
as these oigans necessarily are with the food and alimentary canal,
demonstrate most ilnequivocally that these animals fed upon vegetable
substances, and that, in all probability, they differed but little in this
respect from the Tapirs and Rhinoceroses at present existing.
The second important character of the Anoplotheria which must
have exercised a very decided influence upon their habits, arises firom
the conformation of the extremities. These, as in Ruminating Animals,
were terminated by two toes, enveloped in small hoofs, sometimes
without accessory or false hoofs behind, as in the Camels and Llamas,
sometimes with one or even two small lateral toes of this description,
as in the Peccaries ; but the bones of the metacarpus and metatarsus
respectively corresponding to these two toes were not united into a
single canon, as they invariably are among the Ruminantia, and this
is in reality the principal difference between the extremities of the
latter AnimRla and those of the Anoplotheria, The structure of the
carpus and tarsus is precisely the same in both genera ; the scaphoid
and cuboid bones, wnich are soldered together into a single piece in
all the other Ruminantia, being separate in the Camels and Llamasy
as they invariably are in the Anoplotheria and other Pachydermata.
These analogies prove that the Anophtherium, which its teeth have
already shown to have been essentially a Pachydermatous quadruped,
approached in many of its characters to the Ruminantia of l^e existing
creation, partaking on the one hand of the characters of the Camels
and Llamas, and on the other of those of the Rhinoceroses and
Peccaries. In the less prominent details of organisation however, the
different species of Anoplotheria present peculiarities which have
induced Biron Cuvier to distribute them in three sub-genenL In all,
the prolongation of the nasal bones deai'ly shows that the Anoplotheria
were not furnished with trunks like the Elephants, Tapirs, and
Palaeotheria ; and their head altogether, judging from the form of the
skull, appears to be intermediato between that of the Horse and that
of the Camel The first subdivision comprehends those species which
M. Cuvier calls —
Anoplotheria proper. They are disting^uished by having all the
lower molars marked by double or triple crescents in a longitudinal
direction, without salient tubercles ; and by a third or supernumerary
hoof on ike fore-feet This division comprehends two species, differing
from one another principally in point of size, the one {A. commwne)
Anophtherium eommwu.
being about the size of the ass, and the other (A, tecundaritm) about
that of the hqg. Both these species have been found in the Isle of
Wight These animals were low on the limbs^ probably like the
Tapirs, but their k>ng and powerful tail, equallmg the body itself in
length, made them still more essentially aquatic animala The great
nse of their members, the depressed and heavy proportions of their
Wies, and their long tails compressed horizontally at the base, must
nave given them much of the extomal form of ue ottor; but they
i«sorted to the lakes and marshes of the antediluvian world, not for
^ puipose of preying upon other animals, but in search of aquatic
plants, whilst the depressed form of their tails shows that they must
have swum and plunged with as much ease and facility as either the
Tapir or Hippopotamus. Like these animals their ears were probably
short and erect, and their bodies sparingly covered with hair, as in aU
the existing Pachydermata. •
The sub-genus Xiphodon differs from that just described in having
the inferior molars tuberculous, and being without the additional or
false hoof on the fore feet It contains but a single species (A . ffracile),
which, judging from the length and smallness of its limbs, and the
elevation of the tarsus, must have presented in every respect a complete
contrast to the A. commune, exhibiting the light form and graceful
proportions of the gazelle. Its course must necessarily have been
rapid, and probably unembarrassed by a long toil ; and, instead of
resorting habitually to the rivers and ponds, Uke the former species,
it must have been confined to the dry land, and, probably like the
gazelles and antelope.^, fed upon dry aromatic herbs, and was pro-
vided with long moveable ears to warn it of the approach of danger.
Anophtherium ffracile.
The third subgenus, DichoUunet, contains three species, all esta-
blished from the observation of detached bones, and of the actual
forma of which it is consequently impossible to give a correct idea.
They differed from the species contained in the two former subdivisions,
principally by having a small additional or false hoof both on the
fore- and hind-feet ; and this character is so well marked in all the
sub-genera of M. Cuvier, that, besides other considerations, it would
suffice, among existing animals, to distinguish three separate genera,
and perhaps should do so in the present instance. The Diehdbunee
were aU of small stature: the laxgest of the three known species
(A, leporinum) was about the size of a hare; the other two
(A, murinum and A, oUiquum) about that of the guinea-pig, were
in all probability the smallest of hoofed quadrupeds. M. Cuvier
supposes them to have been the hares and rabbits of the preadamite
world, but their whole structure seems to approximate them more
oorrectiy to the musks of the present time, and they probably differed
little from these animals either in form or habita. Another species of
this genus was discovered by Mr. Pratt> in the Eocene depoeito at
Binstead in the Isle of Wigfat» and has becu described by Professor
Owen under the name of D, cervinunL
( Cuvier, Ouemene Fosrilet ; Owen, British Fouil Mamm^tl^)
ANOPLURA, afiimily of Insects, including the Aptera of Linnaeus,
and the various fonns of PedietUtu [Pediculus] and Parasitic
Insects of other authors. The researches which were commenced on
this funily by Dr. Leach have been carried on by Mr. Denny, and
resulted in the discovery of a vast number of new forms. The result
is that it has been foimd that every animal is infested with, or, for
some wise purpose is accompanied by, one or more creatures
belonging to this family, having a peculiar form in each species.
Nearly 500 different forms of these curious insecisy all formed on
the type of the common human louse, have been described by
Mr. Denny, in the catalogue of the specimens which at present exist
in the British Museum. In most oases but one spedee of the parasite
exist on one species of animal, but there are instances, as in the eagles
and golla, in which a species of the bird is attacked by five species
of AnoplvTo, The best series of illustrations of these insecto which exist
are contained in Denny's ' Anoplura Britannica,' published in 1B42.
ANORTHITE, a mineral found at Monte Somma, uid, according
to the analysis of Rose, containing : —
Silica 44*9
Aliitnma 84*46
Lime 15*68
Magnesia 5*25
Oxide of Iron 0*74
It occurs crystallised, and has the primary form of a doubly
oblique prism. The colour and streak are white. The lustre is
vitreous, inclining to pearly on the deavage surfitces. It is translucent
and transparent. The specific gravity is 2*65.
ANSER, the Qoose^ a genus of birds which M. Brisson separated
from the genus Anat of Linnnus. Brisson has been followed in this
by Baron Cuvier, Yieillot) Lesson, Drapiez, and Fleming ; while
Latham adheres to Linnreius and Temminok confines Amer to a
section of Amu, [Dt70K&]
ANT {Formica), a well-known genus of insects, which has attracted
Digitized by
Google
219
AKT.
AXT.
230
attention from the earliest ages, on account of the singular economy
and extraordinary industry manifested by the different species. In
the present article we shall confine ourselves to a brief bat methodical
outline of their natural history. In tracing the history of most insects,
it is best^ peihaps, to begin with the ^ggs; but in the case of the ant,
the laying and hatching of the eggs could not be well understood
without an acquaintance with their wngnlaj' manner of pairing, with
which, therefore, we shall begin.
Pa4rmg of Antt. — It may be necessary to premise here, that, aunilar
to bees, a community of ants, whaterer the species may be, consists of
males, which have always four wings ; of females, much larger in size
than the males, which only possess wings during the pairing season ;
and of a sort of barren ieznales, which have been variously termed
neuters, workers, or nurse-ants, and which, so fiu* as we know, have
never been observed to have wings in any stage of their existence.
If an ant-hill be examined any time after midsummer up to the
close of autumn, there may be seen, mixed with the wingless workers,
a number of both males and females furnished with white glistening
wings. These however are neither kings nor queens in the state, at
least so far as freedom of action is concerned, for they aro not allowed
to move without a guard of workers to prevent their leaving the
boundaries, and if one straggles away unawares, it is for the most part
dragged back by the vigilant sentinels, three or four of whom may, in
such cases, be seen hauling along a single deserter by the wings and
limbs. The workers, so far from ever facilitating the exit, much less
the departure of the winged ones, more particularly the females, guard
them most assiduously in order to prevent it ; and are only forced to
acquiesce in it when uie winged ones become too numerous either to
be guarded or fed. There seems indeed to be a uniform disposition
in ^e winged ones to desert their native colony : and as they never
return after pairing, it would soon become depopulated in the absence
of females. The actual pairing does not seem to take place within the
ant-hill, and we have observed scouts posted all around, ready to
discover and carry back to the colony as many fertile females as they
could meet with. Nay, we are quite certain tiiat whole colonies have
been thus dispersed ; and when they did not find fertile females near
their encampment, they have gone farther and fiirther till they found
them, and, if they had gene very far, never returned, but commenced
a number of new estabBshments, according to their convenience. It
is probable that, soon after pairing, the males die, as do the males of
bees and other insects ; for, as the workers never bring any of them
back, nor take any notice of them after leaving the ant-hill, they must
perish, being entirely defenceless, and destitute both of a sting and
of mandibles to provide for their subsistence. The subsequent proceed-
ings of the females are very different, and of curious interest. It was
supposed by the ancients that all ants, at a certain age, acquired wings;
but it was reserved for the younger Huber, in particular, hj means of
his artificial formicaries, to trace the development of the wmgs in the
female from the first commencement, till he saw them stripped off and
laid aside like cast clothes.
This curious process, which was first hinted at by Gould in his
interesting accoimt of ' English Ants,' we have repeatedly witnessed
— ^the females extending their wings, bringing them over their heads,
crossing them in every direction, and throwing them from side to side,
till at length they are disjointed from the body and fall off
FotmdcUion of Colonies. — Some of the females are, after pairing,
usually captured by the working ants, and conducted back to the
•pereat community; and others are laid hold of by straggling parties
of from two to a dozen workers, who do not return to the parent
community, but commence small colonies on their own account. This
explains the common occurrence of a great number of small colonies
being formed in the immediate vicinity of each other, while sometimes
the parent community is thereby quite broken up, and the hill deserted
This happens frequently in the case of the Red Ant {Myrmiea rubra)
and the Ash-Colo\ired Ant {Formica fu8ca)f both very common species
in fields and gardens. In the case of the Yellow Ant {P, flavfiC) agidn,
and the Wood-Ant (F. rvfa), this rarely occurs, the parent community
often remaining in the same spot for years together.
When a female, after pairing, does not chance to fall in with any
scouting parties of workers, she proceeds without their assistance to
found a colony herself in the same manner as is always done by the
females of the social wasps and humble-bees every spring. We have
repeatedly verified this &ct, both by confining a single female after
pairing, and witnessing her proceedings, and by discovering in the
fields single females occupied in laying tne foundations of a future city
for their progeny. We have met with these single females when they
have just begun to form the first cell for the reception of their eggs ;
when the eggs have just been laid ; when the eggs have been hatched ;
and also when a few workers had been reared to assist in the common
labours.
Ck>ntrary to what takes place in most insects, the eggs of ants are
not, when laid, glued to any fixed place, but are found in parcels of
half a dozen or more loosely attached, so that they can be removed at
pleasure during the hatching. It has been shown in the ' Penny
Magazine' (vol. i., p. 60), by a series of minute observations, that the
female earwig moves her eggs with the utmost care from a place which
■he judges too dry, to one which is sufficiently moist ; and m the same
way the female ant, when she founds a colonf without assistance, or
the nurae-ants in a community, change the situation of the eggs
according to the state of the weather or of the day and night— a
circumstance fiivt observed by Dr. King in the reign of King Chariea XL
Heat being indispensable to their sucoesaful hatching, the eggs are
carefully placed during the day near the surface of the ant-hill, bat
so sheltered from the direct influence of the sun as to prevent the too
rapid evaporation of their moisture. During the m^U or in oold
weather, we eggs ure not placed eo high, to prevent the escape of the
heat which they naturally possesa The attention to the state of
temperature occupies much of the assiduity of the female and tlie
nurse^mts.
When the eggs are at length hatched (and during this process we
have already seen that they enlarge in size), the young grubs are
similarly treated with respect to temperature, but greater care is now
taken to preserve them from too great heat, which might prove more
iiijurious than before hatching.
The grubs are fed by the nurse-ants when any of these are in the
colony, and by the mother when she is alone, by a liquid disgorged
from the stomach, as is done in a similar way by wasps, 'humble-bees,
pigeons, and canary birds. It consequently requires no little industry
on the part of a solitary female to procure for herself sufficient food
to supply nutriment for a brood of perhaps a dozen or twenty gnibn,
which are insatiably voracioua
When the grubs are full grown they spin for themselves cocoons of
a membranous texture, and of a brownish-white colour, not unlike
barleycorns in appearance, and indeed mistaken for these by early
observers — a mistake whidi led to the unfounded notion that ants
store up com for winter provision, though, from their always beconung
torpid in the winter, they could have no need of this*; and even were
this not so, they never feed on com, and would probably starve rather
than taste it The authority of Scripture, which has been supposed
to countenance the popular notion, is shown by the Rev. Dr. ^uris,
Messrs. KIrby and Spence, and others, to have no foundation in the
sacred text.
The cocoons are treated precisely like the eggs and the gmbs with
regard to exposure to heat; and the anxiety of the nurse-ants to
shelter them from the direct rays of the sun is taken advantage of on
the Continent to collect the cocoons (popularly and erroneously called
ants' -eggs) in quantity as food for nightingales and larks. The coooona
of the Wood- Ant are the only species chosen ; and in most of the towns
in Germany one or more individuals make a living during summer by
the business.
In the case of moths, ichneumons, and other insects which spin
themselves up in cocoons, the included insect, when the time of its
change arrives, is enabled to make its own way through the envelope;
but though it would appear, from some observations made by
Swammerdam, that ants may, when forced thereto, effect their own
disengagement this is not the usual process. It is the nurse-ants
that cut a passage for them with their mandibles, as was first minutely
described oy Bauron de Qeer and the younger Huber.
Labours of the Working Ants. — ^We have already seen that workers
or nurse-ants have to labour assiduously in placing the ^gs, the grubs,
and the cocoons in due degrees of temperature ; tiutt they have to feed
the grubs by a liquid di^rged from the stomach, and have to dis-
engage the insect at its period of change from the envelope of the
cocoon. They have also to perform the task of forming streets,
galleries, and chambers for the habitation and protection of the
colony, and they exhibit in the work such perseverance and skill as
must excite the admiration of every observer. Many of their processes,
indeed, it is not a little difficult to account for and explain, though
these have been very carefully investigated, particularly by the younger
Huber, in whose work, and in the ' Library of EntertcJning Knowledge
— ^Insect Architecture ' (p. 254 et seq.), may be foimd copious details of
the mining, masonry, and carpentry of varioiis species. We shall here
give an instance of each of those operations.
Mining. — There is an interesting species called the Sang^uinary Ant
{F. sanguinaria, Latreille), reported to have been seen near London,
but which is certainly very rare, if it is found in England. In the
summer of 1882 we discovered several colonies of this ant on the brow
of the heath above Godesberg, on the Rhine ; and being desirous of
taking a number of them alive to England for the purpose of observing
their singular maimers, we waited till the beginning of October, when
they had ceased to work, and had retired for the winter to their
galleries underground After uncovering the thick coping of dry
heath-twigs and grass-stems which was placed over the subterranean
city of the colony so as to defend it from rain and cold, we found
several covert-ways dug into the clay, wide enough to allow two or
three ants to walk abreast; but not an individual now n!iade its
appearance, though some weeks previously we had observed thousands
in all the bustle of industiy ; and we began to fear the whole had
migrated elsewhere. Being anxious, however, to see the interior struc-
ture, we dug in the direction of the covert-ways to the depth of about
six or nine inches, when we came upon a number of chambers com-
municating with each other by galleries, and from an inch to two or
three inches in extent, in each of which a number of ants were lying
along the floor in a half torpid state, being so sluggish that they could
not be brought to run with their usual agility even when irritated
The point which we wish to call attention to here is, that the whole
Digitized by
Google
221
ANT.
AXT.
222
of the apartmentB which we laid open, amounting to a dozen or more
—and there were probably as many more to which we did not pene-
trate—must haye been dug out of the solid clay by the jaws {foaitdwula)
of these little miners. We deemed it singular imt we could see none
of the rubbish lying about, which must have been cleared away from
the interior; and we can only account for this by supposing the
colony long established, and the rubbish battered into the grass by
the weather.
In other instances of mining, such as in the case of the Turf-Ant
(K catpihAm), the clay taken from the interior is built up on the
outside, using the herbage for buttresses to support the walls thus
formed. In the case of the Sanguinary Ants, however, we observed
nothing of this kind, and do not think they ever employ any exterior
masoniy.
Matowry, — The most common of our English ants which employ
masonty is the Tellow Ant (P. fiavtC), whose hills are so usually fdimd
built up in old pastures, a foot or more in height, and from 6 inches
to 2 feet in diameter. For the materials of their building they are
wholly indebted to the soil below, which they quarry out with great
assiduity ; but as they have no means of tempering the day when it
is dry, they are always forced to execute their principal works in
rainy weather. "I was," says Dr. J. R. Johnson, "in the habit of
visiting, almost daily, for a month, an extensive nest of Red Ants, of
which a laz^e flat stone formed the roof. During my visits for the
first three weeks, scarcely a drop of rain had faUen, and the nest
Beemed considerably injured by the continual falling in of loose earth,
which these little creatures with amazing industry removed, whenever
it happened any of the avenues were blocked up. No attempt was
ever made towiurds reparation ; but what was my surprise, on visiting
my little inenda after a two days' heavy rain, to find that the repairs
were ahready completed, and that the upper surface of their habitation
presented as smooth a surface as if a trowel had been passed over it ;
yet all their work they had industriously effected by kneading with
the rain-water the loose earth into a sort of paste. From the nest
being situated in the midst of an extensive heath, where there could
be no supply of water, and from its remaining uiurepaired during
the dry weather, it amounts to a full conviction that ants employ
no other cement than water in the construction of their varied
habitations.
"I have often been surprised at the ingenuity of these little
czeatores, in availing themselves of contiguous blades of grass, stalks
of com, ftc, when ^ey wish to enlarge the boundaries of their abode.
As these are usually met with in the erect position, they are admirably
calculated for pillars ; they therefore coat them over with a fine paste
of earth^ giving them, by additional layers, the solidity they judge
necessary for tlie work on which they are engaged ; they then leave
them to be consolidated by the wind, and afterwards spring a number
of arches, from pillar to pillar, and thus form an extensive saloon.
Should they be at any time in want of small apartments, they have
only to prepture a quantity of moistened earth, and by placing this
between the pillArs, and carrying it up to the roof, leaving here and there
an aperture for entrance^ their object is completely attained."
It is remarkable that the greater part of these masonic labours are
performed during the iiight, or at least in gloomy weather.
Carpentry. — The coping which we have already described as placed
over the subterranean abode of the Sanguinary Ants, and which is
Btill more remarkable in the colonies of the Wood- Ant (P, rufa),
camiot be referred to any sort of carpentry, for the small sticks and
BtrawB of which it is composed are not cut into fitting lengths, but
collected in the vicinity of the hill and laid on it after the manner of
thatch. The term carpentry, however, will apply most justly to those
species which form excavations in the interior of trees, of which the
following is an instance observed in 1832.
We had brought into our garden in the beginning of June, a large
piece of a willow tree, which had been very curiou^y worked out by
the species usually called the Emmet (P, fvliginoiaf Latreille). The
tree indeed from which it had been taken, appeared to have been
destroyed in a great measure from the extensive excavations of these
little carpenters. Yet the portion of the tree alluded to seemed to be
singularly strong, when the great number of the cells and their
peculiar structure was taken into consideration. The walls of these
cells were literally as thin as writing-paper, though not quite so smooth
and even, and they were seldom quite parallel, but arranged, some
perpendicularly, and others slanting in various directions, worked out,
It would appear, upon no previous design, but beginning at any given
point, and only limited in extent by the worker discovering his
approach to one adjacent. The tact with which they chisel away the
wood with their jaws, so as to come so near the next cell without
actoaUy cutting into it, cannot well be accoimted for on any of the.
common principles of human mechanism. It cannot be the result of
vision, from the workerout looking along the level of the plane,' as
one of our carpenters would do, and thence working so as not to cut
through it ; for the wall has, in most instances, though not in all, no
five edge along which such a level could be taken by &e eye. Hearing
might assist them however, supposing workers to be engaged in
chisriling on each side of Uie partition, but it would appear to be
more from touch, or rather that modification of it danominated
tact, which enables them to feel, aa it were, when they have
nearly penetrated the wall, and which consequently warns them to
stop.
It is not a little remarkable, that all the wood which is worked out
by these ants is tinged of a black colour, giving aU their streets and
lanes somewhat the appearance of having suffered from fire or of being
smoked. M. Huber the younger did not succeed in ascertaining the
cause of this black colour. We should conjecture it to arise from
iron contained in the saliva of the ants acting on the gallic add of the
wood, in a similar way as the same wood becomes black when cut
with a knife. The fine glossy black of the ants themselves may
originate from the same chemical principle, and this is rendered more
probable from the excavations made by other species, such as the
Dusky Ant ( P, fuaca, Latreille), not being tinged With this black
colour. Neither are the excavations of the latter so regular in the
form of the cells ; and the delicately thin partitions do not occur.
We have seen several colonies of the Tellow Ant (P, jlava, Latreille)
established in trees, though their usual habits lead them to prefer a
hedge-bank, the dry ridge of a field, or a small knoll on a common.
In none of these however had the workers much trouble in making
their excavations, the trees being in every instance far gone with the
dry rot^ and the chambers were consequently as easy to construct as
in a knoll of sand. In the instance of tiie Black Carpenter-Ant
( P. fuliginoaa ), on the other hand, the wood of the tree selected for
their colony is always hard and tough, the easiness of working it being
apparently considered a disadvantage rather than a recommendation.
We have usually seen these colonies, therefore, in growing trees, the
oak seeming to be preferred to all others ; the honeycomb-like work
does not seem to stop the vegetation, the tree continuing to put forth
leaves and shoots as before it was excavated for the use of the
colony. In the instance which gives rise to these remarks, the willow
tree was indeed dilapidated and shorn of its leaves and branches, yet
was it untouched with dry rot> and the wood was hard and tough.
Pood of Ants, — Some species of ants are carnivorous and will eat
insects, fruits, and almost anything eaten by other animals ; but honey
is the most universal favourite among all the species, particularly the
excretion of the various species of Aphides;, called Honey-Dew. It is
on this account that> wherever Aphides abound, we are always certain
to meet with ants carefully attending their motions and greedily
drinking the honey-dew, which becomess so injurious to plants when it
increases in quantity so as to obstruct the pores of the leaves. It is
stated by Huber and some other authors, that during winter the ants
imprison some Aphides in their cells, or, at all events, take advantage
of individuals of the Grass Aphis ( Aphis graminvm ) in the vicinity
of their hills to obtain honey-dew. We strongly suspect there must
be some fallacy in this statement ; for among numerous colonies which
we have carefolly examined during winter, we always found the
whole population torpid or nearly so, and not fhdined to touch even
honey when we offered it to them. In the case of the Sanguinary
Ants in Germany already mentioned, we have seen that they had
become torpid as early as October, when the weather was still fine and
far from bemg oold. We are therefore of opinion that the statement
will be found as void of accurate foundation as that which represents
ants as stQidng up com for the winter.
MigrcUiona. — We have already seen, under the head of pairing, one
principle in operation for spreading around a parent ant-hUl a number
of young colonies. This indeed may be considered the main principle
of migration; but besides this, the whole of a populous ant-hill
which ihas been established for several years will, frt>m some cause
beyond our means of tracing, though most probably on account of
more convenient forage, at once desert their homes and march to a
new station. Among the Yellow Ants, the Emmets, and the Wood
Ants or Pismires, tins is by no means common ; but it is an every-
day occurrence among the Red Ants, the Aah-Coloured Ants, the Turf-
Ants, and others whose colonies never become very populous, and
are consequently both more easily moved and more eesily provided
with lodging.
<' Immense swarms of ants," to use the words of Dr. Roget,^' are
occasionally met with, and some have been recorded of such prodigious
density and magnitude as to darken the air like a thick doud, and to
cover the ground to a considerable extent where they settled." Mr.
Qleditsch describes, in the ' History of the Berlin Ao^emy,' for 1749,
shoals of a small black ant which appeared in Germany, and formed
high colimuis in the air, risiiig to a vast height, and agitated with a
curious intestine motion, somewhat resembling the aurora borealis.
A similar flight of ants is spoken of by Kr. Acolutte, a clergyman*of
Breslau, which resembled columns of smoke, and which fell on the
churches and the tops of the houses, where the ants could be gathered
b^ handfuhL In the German ' Ephemerides,' Dr. Charles .Rayger
gives an account of a huge swann which crossed over the town* of
Posen, and was directing its course towards the Danube. The whole
town was strewed with ants, so that it was impossible to walk without
trampling on 80 or 40 at every step. And Mr. Dorthes, in the ' Journal
de Physique' for 1790, relates the appearance of a similar phenomenon
at Montpellier. Hie shoals moved about in different directions,
having a mngHlay intestine motion in each column, and also a general
motion of rotation. About sunset all fell to the ground, and, on
<w|Mnming the AutVi they were found to belong to the Pormica n^/iu
of Linnnua.
Digitized by
Google
223
ANT-BEAR.
ANT-EATER
Warn and Expeditumt to capture Slavet. — In the Mune way as the
bees and the wasps of different hires manifest inveterate hostility
when they meet^ ants also of the same or of different species assail
one another when they meet during their foraging exoursionsL Besides
the individual skinxushes which thence occasionally arise, pitched
battles are sometimes fought between the whole or nearly the whole
force of populous adjacent colonies. We have never ourselves witnessed
any very extensives battles of this kind, such as Huber describes, in
which thousands of combatants were engaged, but we have seen as
many as 50 of the Wood- Ants fighting most pertinaciously within the
area of a few inches on what were supposed to be the boundaries of
their several territories. Their bite is so sharp, and the acrid add
which they infuse is so deleterious, that many are thus disabled or
killed outright Huber witnessed on such occasions very extensive
cama^
Besides these skirmishes and battles which occur among all the
species, there are whole communities of wamor-ants, as was first
discovered by Huber, whose history is so extraordinary as almost to
exceed beliefl The details indeed have hitherto been credited chiefly,
if not solely, on the well-known veracity of Huber; but in the autumn
of 1832 we had an opportunity of verifying them both in the Black
Forest and in Switzerland, with respect to the species which he terms
the Amazon Ant (JP. rufetcem, Latreille), and on the Rhine with
respect to the Sanguinary Ant.
Both of these species make war on the ants of a different species
from themselves, particularly the Dusky Ant (F. futea), not for the
purpose merely of gratifying a propensity to oombat, but to make
slaves of the vanquished to do the drudgery of the conquerors at
home. The manner in which they proceed in this aflbir manifests,
BO Dbut as we can judge, deep design, such as might be ascribed to the
counsels of a cunning diplomatist They do not capture the adult ants
and carry them into slavery, but make booty of the eggs and cocoons,
which, after the contest is decided — and the warriors are always
conquerors- are carried off to the Amazonian citadel, and being
hatdied there, the poor slaves are most probably not aware but that
it is their native colony. Huber repeatedly witnessed such expeditions
for the purpose of capturing slaves; but though we were not so
fortunate, we witnessed, in a great number of instances, the slaves at
work for their warlike captors.
The Amazons have not hitherto been found in Britain, and we
were unsuccessful in our attempt to bring over from the Black Forest
a nest of live ones with their slaves which we had placed in a box for
the purpose.
ANT-BEAR, the name commonly given to the MyrtMCophaga jvbaia
by the English at Demerara. [Amt-Eatsb.]
ANT-EATER {Myiyneeophaga^ Linnseus), a genus of Edentaiay dis-
tinguished by their total want of teeth and their hairy covering. The
latter circumstance separates them from the Pangolins (if ontf ), or Scaly
Ant-Eaters of Africa and Asia, which they resemble closely in other
respects, as weU in their general anatomy as in their food and habits.
These two genera form a small but very distinct family of Cuvier's
order EdeiUaitck, differing from the common animals comprised in that
wingiiUr group, as well as frt)m all other known mammalia, by their
entire deprivation of the organs of mastication, and acquiring an addi-
tional interest by the light which their osteological oonformation throws
upon tibe structure and organisation of the Megatherivm, MegaUmyx,
and Mylodon^ those extraordinary animals whose fossil remains have
attracted so much of the attention, not only of the professed naturalist,
but likewise of the public at lax^ The osteology of the skulls and
trunks of these extinct animals presents the closest analogies with that
of the corresponding parts in the Sloths ; so the whole construction
of their extremities appears to have been formed after the same model
as that of Uie corresponding organs of the Ant-Eaters. The head of
these latter animals, indeed, is altogether different from that of the
Sloths : not onlv does it want the organs of mastication, of which they
are deficient only in the incisors, but the bones of the fiice, which in
them are short and roimd like those of apes and monkeys, are
prolonged in the Ant-Eaters, particularly in the Great Ant-Eater (M,
iubata), te double the lengtii of tiie skulL This singular oonformation
arises from the form of the maxillary or jaw-bones, and those of the
nose, which form together a kind of long tube, very small in proportion
te ite length, and almost cylindrical This prolongation of the muzzle
is not carried te so great an extent in either of £e other two known
species of Ant-Eaters ; but even there the construction here described
differs only in degree, and presents, on a more contracted scale, all
the characteristics of iJie Myrmeeophaga jvhata.
It is in the construction of the anterior extremities however that
these animals offer the greatest singularities, and become most
important in their relations to the fossil species. The phalanges or
jointe of the toes, particularly the last, which bear the daws, are
formed in such a manner as te permit them te be bent inwards only,
as in the Sloths ; and for this purpose they are provided with very
powerful ligaments, which keep them, in a state of repose, bent in
along the sole of the foot, and never permit the hand to be completdy
opened, but only half extended, as we sometimes see in gouty or
rheumatic people. The toes themselves axe of verv unequal size, and
even differ in number in different spedes. The Qreat Ant-Bear and
Tamandua have four on the anterior and five on the posterior
extremities, whilst the smallest spedes, called, from thatdrcumstanoe,
M, didactyla, has only two on the fore feet and four on the hind. The
toes themselves, as in the Sloths, are united dosely together as far u
the daws, and are consequently incapable of any separate or individaal
motion, but the disadvantages arising from this circumstance are
more than counterbalanced by the increased strength which it
produces, and the consequent adaptation of the oigan te the pectdiar
purposes of these animals' economy. The claws are all large and
powerful, especially that of the middle toe, of which the dimensions
are quite enormous. Nor do the Ant-Eaters, in waUdng, tread flatly
upon the sole of the foot like the generality of mammalia : on the
oontranr, they rest entirely upon ite outer edge, which is provided
with a large callous pad for that purpose, whilst their toes bong bent
inwards along the palms, the sharp points of their powerful claws are
preserved from being injured by the friction of the hard ground In
other respecte the Ant-EJaters are remarkable for their long cylindrical
tengues, covered with a glutinous saliva, by means of which thev
entrap and devour the insecte upon which they live, and from whi(^
they derive their names, both among naturaliste and common
observers — Myrmecophaga literally signifying Ant-Eater. This
tengue is protractile, and capable of being extended te a sur-
prising distance beyond the snout ; it is nearly twice the length
of the whole head and muzzle together, and when not extended
is kept doubled up in the mouth with the point directed back-
wards. The eyes are particularly small, the ears short and round,
the legs robust and amazingly powerful, but so unfavourably
formed for locomotion, that the pace of these animals is almost as tardy
as that of the sloths themsdves, their greatest exertions not enabling
them te surpass the ordinary walk of a man. The tail is always long:
in the great spedes lax and thickly covered with very long flowing haur,
in the other two, strongly prehensQe, and naked imdemeath. These
spedes consequently dimb trees and reside prindpally among their
branches, feeding upon the wild bees and termites which inhabit the
same situations. The Qreat Ant-Bear, on the contrazy, never quits
the surface of the earth, and confines its depredations entire^ to the
numerous species of large ante which inhabit ite native regions, and
famish him at all times with an abundant and easily-procured nutri-
ment The whole genus is confined te South America, and contains
three distinct and well-defined spedes.
1. The Qreat Ant-Eater (M, jubata, Linn.), called Tamandua by the
Portuguese, and Ant-Bear by the English and Spaniards, is a laige
animal which measures, when fiill grown, four feet and a half from
the extremity of the snout te the origin of the tail The tail itself
is 8 feet 8 inches in length, reckoning to the extremity of the
hair, or measured only along the stump, 2 feet 4 inches ; the head,
184 iiiches frtim the snout te the base of the ear, and 104 inches to
the anterior angle of the eye ; ite drcumference immediately before
the eyes, where it is the thickest, is 14 inches, but from this part it
gradually diminishes te the end of the muzzle, where it measures
only 5i inches. The height of the animal at the shoulder is 3
feet 8 inches, and at the croup cnly 2 feet 10 inches, because, being
Great Ant-Eater {U.Jubata),
perfectly plantigrade, it necessarily stands lower on the hind legs than
CMfore, as may be observed in the common bear, the badger, and other
spedes which partake of the plantigrade formation of the extremities.
The ear is short and round, being an inch and a quarter broad at the
base, and only an inch in length ; the eye is remarkably small, deeply
sunk in the head, and with a naked eyelid ; the head and snout •>
already observed, are prolonged te a remarkable degree ; they are in
form almost cylindrical, and end in a small truncated mufzle, having
Digitized by
Google
225
ANT-EATER.
ant-eater.
216
the nostrils and mouth placed at its extreme end ; the latter is so
small that its whole width scarcely exceeds an inch, and the jaws are
of equal length. The tongpie is almost cylindrical, fleshy, extremely
flexible, and capable of being protruded to the distance of 16 or 18
inches. The toes of the anterior extremities, four in nimiber, are of
nnequal length, the innermost being the smallest and weakest of all ;
the second measures 24 inches in length, and is provided with a
powerful crooked claw nearly 2 inches long, sharp-pointed, and tren-
chant on its under surface ; the third, which is the largest of all, has
a similar claw 2^ inches in length ; and the fourth, or exterior toe,
is provided with a smaller and weaker claw, like that of the innermost.
All these claws, when in a state of repose, are kept bent inwards, and
only extended, or rather half-extended (for the animal cannot open
the fingers farther), when used for defence, or for breaking through
the hard external crust of the ant-hills.
The prevailing colour on the head, face, and cheeks of the Ant-6ear
is a mixture of gray and brown ; that on the upper parts of the body
and tail is a deep brown, mixed with •silvery-white. A broad black
band, bordered on each side with a similar one of a white or light
grayish-brown colour, commences on the chest, and passes obliquely
over each shoulder, diminishing gradually as it approaches the loins,
where it ends in a point. The sides, arms, and thifehs are silvery-gray,
with a slight mixture of brown, marked with two deep black spots,
one on the carpus, and the other on the toes ; the hind-1^^ are almost
perfectly black, and the breast and belly of a deep brown, almost
equally obscure.
The habits of the Great Ant-Bear are slothful and solitary ; the
greater part of his life is consumed in sleeping, notwithstanding which
he is never fat, and rarely even in good condition. When about to
sleep, he lies upon one side, conceals his long snout in the fur of the
breast, locks the hind and fore daws into one another, so as to cover the
head and belly, and tumslhis long bushy tail over the whole body in
Biich a manner as to protect- it from the too powerful rays of the sun.
The female bears but a single yoimg one at a birth, which attaches
itself to her back, and is carried about with her wherever she goes,
rarely quitting her, even for a year after it has acquired sufficient
strength to walk and provide for itself. This improlific constitution,
and the tardy growth of the young, account for the comparative
rarity of these animals, which are said to be seldom seen, even in
their native regions. The female has only two mammae, situated on
the breast, like those of apes, monkeys, and bats.
In its natural state the Ant-Bear lives excliisively upon ants, to
procure which it opens their hills with its powerful crooked claws,
and at the moment that the insects, according to their nature, flock
from all quarters to defend their dwellings, draws over them his long
flexible tongue, covered with glutinous saliva, to which they conse-
quently adhere ; and so quickly does he repeat this operation, that
we are assured he will thus project his tongue and draw it in again
covered with insects twice in a second. He never actually introduces
it into the holes or breaches which he makes in the hills themselves,
but only draws it lightly over the swarms of insects which issue forth
alarmed by his attack. ''It seems almost incredible," says Azara,
" that so robust and powerful an animal can procure sufficient suste-
nance from ants alone ; but this circumstance has nothing strange in
it for those who are acquainted with the tropical parts of America,
and who have seen the enormous multitudes of these insects, which
swarm in all parts of the country, to that degree that their hills often
almost touch one another for miles together." The same author
informs us, that domestic Ant-Bears were occasionally kept by different
persons in Paraguay, and that they had even been sent ative to Spain,
being fed upon brcsad and milk, mixed with morsels of flesh minced
very smalL Like all animals which live upon insects, they are capable
of sustaining a total deprivation of nourishment for an almost
incredible time.
The Great Ant-Bear is foimd in all the warm and tropical parts of
South America, from Colombia to Paraguay, and from the shores of
the Atlantic to the foot of the Andes. His favourite resorts are the
low swampy savannahs, along the banks of rivers and stagnant ponds,
also frequenting the humid forests, but never climbing treee^ as falsely
reported by Buffon, on the authority of Laborde. His pace is slow,
heavy, and vacillating ; his head is carried low, as if he smelled the
ground at every step, whilst his long shaggy tail, drooping behind
him, sweeps the groimd on either side, and readily indicates his path
to the himter ; though, when hard pressed, he increases his pace to a
kind of slow gallop, yet his greatest velocity never half equals the
ordinary running of a man. So great is his stupidity, that those who
encounter him in the woods or plains may drive him before them
by merely pushing him with a stick, so long at least as he is not
compelled to proceed beyond a moderate gallop ; but if pressed too
hard, or urged to extremity, he tiums obstinate, sits up on his hind-
quarters like a bear, and defends himself with his powerful claws.
Like Ihat animal, his usual and indeed only mode of assault is by
seizing his adversary with his fore-paws, wrapping his arms roimd
him, and endeavouring by this means to squeeze him to death His
great strength and powerful muscles would easily enable him to
accomplish his purpose in this respect, even against the largest
<tnimAl« of his native forests, were it but guided by ordinary intelli-
gence, or accompanied with a common degree of activity. But in
HAT. HIST. DIV. YOL. L
these qualities there are few animals indeed which do not greatly
surpass the Ant-Bear ; so that the different stories handed down by
writers on natural history from one another, and copied, without
question, into the histories and descriptions of this animal, may be
regarded as pure fictions. For this statement we have the express
authority of Don Felix d' Azara, an excellent observer and credible
writer, from whose * Natural History of the Quadrupeds of Paraguay '
we have derived the greater portion of the preceding accoimt of the
habits and economy of this extraordinary ftnimal. The flesh of the
Ant-Eater is esteemed a delicacy by the Indians and negro slaves, and,
though black, and of a strong musky flavour, is sometimes even met
with at the tables of Europeans.
2. The Tamandua (M. Tamandua, Cuvier), is an animal much inferior
to the Great Ant-Beai* in point of size, being scarcely so lai^ as a
good-sized cat, whilst the other exceeds the largest greyhound in
length, though, from the shortness of its legs, it is much inferior in
height. The head of the Tamandua is not so disproportionately long
and small as that of the Great Ant-Bear. It is however of the same
general cylindrical form, and equally truncated at the extremity,
aving the nostrils and mouth situated in the same position, and
equally minute, when compared with the size of the animaL Its
whole length, froiii the extremity of the muzzle to the root of the
ear, is 5 inches, and to the anterior angle of the eye, 3 inches ; the
body, from the muzzle to the origin of the tail, measures 2 feet
2 inches, the tail itself being 1 foot 44 inches more ; the height at the
shoulder is 1 foot 3 inches, and at the croup an inch lower ; the length
of the ear is 1^ inch, its greatest breadth an inch, and the greatest
circiunference of the head — that, namely, taken immediately in front
of the ears — 8^ inche& The conformation of the extremities, and the
number of the toes both before and behind, are in every respect the
same as in the Great Ant-Eater ; but the Tamandua differs from this
animal particularly in the prehensile power of its tail, which makes it
essentially an arboreal quadruped, and altogether changes the most
striking traits of its habits and economy. The hair over the entire
body also is of a very different texture ; instead of being long, harsh, and
shaggy, as in the Great Ant-Bear, it is short, shining, and of a
consistence something between the qualities of silk and wool ; standing
out from the body like the latter, and of the same uniform length in
every part The colours of this species, however, are by no means so
uniform and invariable as those of the species already described ; on
the contrary, they' differ more in the Tamandua, according to the
individual, than perhaps in any other known aidmal in a state of
nature. Accordingly many eminent naturalists are disposed to
consider them as forming distinct species, rather than mere varieties
of the same ; and it is not improbable that, when we come to be
better acquainted with this animal in its native woods, their opinion
may be at least partly confirmed.
Tamandua {M. Tamandua),
The eyes of the Tamandua are minute ; the ears small and round ;
the body long and cylindrical ; the legs short and robust ; the tail
round and attenuated, covered with very short hair throughout its
greater part^ but naked underneath towards the point, and strongly
prehensile. There are several varieties of the Tamandua, chiefly
distinguished by differences of colour.
The Tamandua is an inhabitant of the thick primeval forests of
tropiod America; it is never found on the ground, but resides
exclusively 'in trees, where it lives upon termites, honey, and even,
according to the report of Azara, bees, which in those countries form
their hives among uie loftiest branches of the forest^ and, having no
sting, are more readily despoiled of their honey than their congeners
of our own climate. When about to sleep it hides its muzzle in the
fur of its breast, falls on its belly, and letting its fore-feet hang
down on each side, wraps the whole tightly round with itrf tail. The
female, as in the case of the Great Ant-Eater, has but two pectoral
mammse, and produces but a single cub at a birth, which she carries
about with her, on her shoulders, for the first three or four months.
The young are at first exceedingly deformed and ugly, and of a
uniform straw-colour.
Digitized by
Google
227
ANf-EATER.
ANTENNiE.
This animal has a strong disagreeable odour, which is so powerful
that it may be perceiyed at a yery great distance, particularly when the
animal is irritated. Tamandua is the name by which it is known to
the Portuguese of Brazil; the French call it Fourmillier and the
English the Little Ant-Bear.
8. The Little or Two-Toed Ant-Eater (M, didactylOy Linn.) is easily
distinguished from the other two species, not only by ita size, which
does not exceed that of the common European squirrel, but likewise
by the number of its toes, four on the posterior and only two on the
anterior extremities. The form and general proportions of its body
resemble those of the Tamandua, only on a yery reduced scale. Its
whole length, from the snout to the origin of the tail, is but 6 inches,
that of the head not quite 2 inches, and of the tail 7^ inches. This
oigan is consequently rather longer than the body ; it is thick at the
root, and coyered with short fur, but tapers suddenly towards the
point, where it is naked and strongly prehensile. The muzzle is not
■o long, in proportion, as in the otiier two species ; the tongue also is
shorter, and has a flatter form ; the mouth opens farther back in the
jaws, and has a much laiger gape, the eye being situated dose to its
posterior angle ; the ears are short, rather drooping, and concealed
among the long fur which coyers the head and dieeks ; the legs are
short and stout, and the hair yery fine and soft to the touch, three-
quarters of an inch in length on the body, but much shorter on the
head, l^gs, and taiL The general colour is that of straw, more or less
tinged with maroon on the dioulders, and particularly along the
median line of the back, which usually exhibits a deep line of this
shade. This species is said to haye four mammse, two pectoral, as in
those already described, and two others on the abdomen. It is
reported, neyertheless, to haye but a single cub at a birth, which it
conceals in the hollow of some decayed tree. The natiye countries of
the Little Ant-Eater are Guyana and Brazil, beyond which it appears
not to extend farther towards the south, smce Azara is not only
unacquainted with it, but imagines from Bufifou's and Daubenton's
descriptions that it must be the yoimgof his Tamandua. The habits
and manners of this little animal are thus described by Yon Sack, in
his * Narratiye of a Voyage to Surinam' : —
Little Ant-Enfrr (.V. (lidartijht).
** I haye had," says he, " two Little Ant-Eaters or Fourmilliers,
which were not larger than a squirrel : one was of a bright yellow
colour, with a brown stripe on the back ; the other was a sUyery-gray
and darker on the back ; the hair of each was yery soft and silky, a
little crisped ; the head was small and round, the nose long, gradually
bending downwards to a point ; it had no teeth, but a yery long round
tongue; the eyes were yery small, roimd, and black; Uie legs rather
short ; the fore-feet had only two claws on each, the exterior being
much laiger and stronger than the interior, which exactly filled the
curye or hollow of the lai^e one ; the hind-feet had four claws of a
moderate size ; the tail was prehensile, longer than the body, thick at
the base and tapering to the end, which, for some inches on the imder
side, was bare. This little animal in Surinam is called Kissing-Hand,
as the inhabitants pretend that it will neyer eat, at least when caught,
but that it only licks its paws, in the same manner as the bear; that
all trials to miUce it eat haye proyed in yain, and that it soon dies in
confinement. When I got the first, I sent to the forest for a nest of
ants, and, during the interim, I put into its cage some eggs, honey,
milk, and meat ; but it refused to touch any of them. At length the
ants' nest arriycxl, but the animal did not pay the slightest attention
to it either. By the shape of its fore-paws, which resemble nippers,
and di£fer y^iy much from those of all the other different species of
ant-eaters, I thought that this little creature might perhaps liye on the
nymphs of wasps, &c ; I therefore brought it a wasps' nest, and then
it pulled out with its nippers the nymphse from the nest, and began to
eat them with the greatest eagerness, sitting in the posture of a squirrel
I showed this phenomenon to many of the inhabitants, who all assured
me that it was the first time they had eyer known that species of
animal to take any nourishment. The ants with which I tried it were
the laige white termites, upon which fowls are fed here.
" As the natural history of this pretty little animal \b not much
known, I thought of trying if they would breed in a cage ; but when
I returned from my excursion into the coimtry, I foimd them both
dead, perhaps occasioned by the trouble giyen to procure the wasps*
nests for them, though they are here yery plentiful : wherefore I c&u
giye no further description of them than that they slept all the day
long curled together, and fastened by their prehensile tails to one of
the perches of the cage. When touched they erected themselyes on
their hind-1^^, and struck with the fore-paws at the object which
disturbed them, like the hammer of a clock striking the bell, with
both paws at the same time, and with a great deal of strength. They
neyer attempted to run away, but were always ready for defence, when
attacked. As soon as eyening came they awoke, and with the greatest
actiyity walked on the wire of the cage, thou^ they neyer jumped, nor
did I eyer hear their yoice."
ANTAGONIST MUSCLE (from &rr2, against, and irym¥i(oiim^ to
striye), a muscle the action of which is opposed to that of some oUier
muscle. Muscles are the instruments by which, in the animal body,
motion is effected. The object of each muscle lb to produce some
specific motion. Among the yarious motions which are needed in the
animal economy, it necessarily happens that some are directly opposite
to others, and the muscles which accomplish these directly opposite
moyements are said to be with relation to each other Antagonists.
ANTELOPR [Antilopea]
ANTENNiE, horn-like members placed on the head, and peculiar
to Insects and Crustaceous Animals. Their functions are not well
understood, and haye giyen rise to seyeral different opinions among
naturalists. The term is derived from the Latin ant€y * before.' In insects
they are uniformly two in number ; but in crabs and lobet^s there are
more than two. They are connected with the head, always near the eyes,
by means of a ball (oMut) and socket {torulut). They are composed of
minute cylinders or rings successiyely added to each other, to the number
of 30 in some butterflies, and thus forming a tube which incloses nerves
for sensation, muscles for moving, as well as air-pipes and cells.
The form of the antennsd is exceedingly various, some being simple
and some feathered, clubbed, comb-shaped, in endless diversity. In
moths, the female is distinguished from the male by the an^^ni^y* being
more simple. In some moths and beetles the antennae are very long
compared with the length of the body, whereas in the house-fly, and
some other two-winged flies, they are very short. Their length does
not depend on the number of joints, for they may be long when
composed of only three or four piepes, and short when composed of
ten or more pieces.
With respect to the functions of the antennae, it is the most com-
mon opinion, sanctioned by such authorities as Linnaeus and Bergmann,
that they are organs of touch, and are on that accoimt often termed
feelers ; " but," as M. Straus-Diirckheim justly remarks, " this con-
jecture is founded upon facts imperfectly investigated, if not altogether
false. I have made numerous researches on this subject^ and I have
never been able to satisfy myself that insects examine objects by
feeling them with their antennae. On the contrary, I have rarely
observed these animals touch anything with these organs, and when
this did happen, it appeared to be only by accident, and not at all
from design. Many insects, besides, have their antennae so short, that
they would be obliged to stand erect upon their heads in order to come
at the bodies which they might thus wish to explore, and for this
their feet are certainly much better adapted
" Since," continues M. Straus-Diirckheim, " almost all Articulated
Animals possessing a solid skin (peau) have antennae, which are furnished
yrith nerves of an extraordinary thickness in proportion to their own
size, there cannot remain a doubt that they are organs of some sense,
and that too a very acute one.
" I have said that insects are proved, by observation, to be furnished
with an organ of hearing. The solidity of the envelope of antennae
renders these organs well adapted to imdei^o the same vibrations as the
air, in ihe same manner as the strings of an ^Eolian harp vibrate and
emit yarious sounds according as they are differently struck by the air.
In this view, however, we might infer that nature would have made
antennae in the form of rods, consisting of a single piece, in order that
they might be more susceptible of vibrations ; but it ought to be
considered, that these organs would, by such a conformation, have
been much exposed to breaking, while, in consequence of their jointed
form, they have the advantage of regiilating the degree of vibration
at pleasure, as may indeed be observed when insects listen with atten-
tion ; I mean, that the joints of the antennae perform the same functions
as the chain of small bones in the chamber of the human ear, inasmuch
as they form a similar chain, and transmit the vibrations of the air to
the auditory pulp."
Professor Bonsdorff of Abo in Finland, and other naturalists, though
opposed to the views of Linnaeus and Beigmann, have adopted the
same opinion, and regard the antennae as organs of hearing.
There is one other subject connected with the antennae which requires
notice. The younger Huber has attributed to ants the use of certain
signs made with these organs, which he terms ' antennal language,'
understood not only among ants themselves, but also among the
aphides, on which they depend for the excretion popularly termed
honey-dew. The motions of the antennae, however, to which he refers
in proof of his views, do not, so far as we can judge, authorise ua to
<;onclude- that they are used in the way of language, any more thun
Digitized by
Google
ANTENNULARIA.
ANTHROPHYLLITK
230
to theorise in the same way upon the bills of nestling birds which are
opened to receive food, or their wings which are opened and vibrated
rapidly while they receive it. That there is nothing peculiar in this
alleged antennal language, so far as the aphides are concerned, any one
who chooses may prove by taking a pin or a camel-hair pencil and
gently touching the aphis, when it will eject the honey-dew as readily
as in consequence of being touched with the antennas of an ant This
we deem to be quite fatal to M. Ruber's conclusions.
{Ifuect Miscellanies, voL iv., in the Library of Entertaining Knowledge,)
AKTENNTJLABIA, a genus of Sertularian Zoophytes. [Sebtu-
ULBIiJ)A]
A'NTHEMIS is the genus of plants which includes the useful
herb Chamomile. It .belongs to the order Compositce, and is distin-
guished by having the scales uiat surround its flower-heads membranous
at the border, like those of a Chrysanthemum^ from which genus it, in
fact, differs chiefly in the receptacle of the flowers being furnished with
little chafiy projections.
Anthemis nobUis, or Chamomile, is frequent in a wild state on many
of the commons near London, where it adds a peculiar richness of
colour and fragrance to the turf. It is a dwarf plant, with finely-cut
leaves ; its flower-heads are white in the ray, but deep yellow in the
disk. All the parts are intensely bitter, but especially the little yellow
flowers of the disk : for this reason the wild blossoms are far more
efficacious than those of the cultivated sort, in which there is scarcely
any disi, the flowers of the ray having almost entirely usurped their
place. Besides the bitter principle for which Chamomile is so cele-
brated, it has been found by chemists to contain camphor and tannin,
and also a volatile oil of a beautiful blue colour.
There is another wild plant, called Anihemis Cottday or Mayweed,
which must not be confoimded with Chamomile, to which it bears great
resemblance : it may be distinguished by its being an erect branching
plant, with an exceedingly disagreeable and powerful odour.
Anthemis tinctoria is used in France by the dyers for the sake of a
brilliant yellow tint, which is obtained from it.
ANTHER, in Botany, the upper part of the stamen which contains
tlie pollen-ceOs, the function of which is to aid in the development of
the embryo in the ovule. [Stamen.]
ANTElERIDIA, in Botany, organs found in many of the tribes of
Cryptogamic or Flowerless Hants. They have been observed in the
Characese, Horse-Tails, Ferns, Mosses, and Algso, and are supposed to
represent the anthers in Phuierogamio or Flowering Plants. In the
oula of which they are composed certain nioving filaments are observed,
which have received the name of Phytozoa or Spermaiozoids. Many
of these phytozoa move by cilia attached to their surface. For the
nature of their functions, development, and forms, see Repboduo-
TICK, Vbqetable.
ANTHOLI'THES (Brongniart). Some Fossil Plants thus designated
occur in the Coal-formations of Shropshire and Northumberland.
ANTHCPHYLLUM (Schweigger), a Fossil genm otMadrephyllicea.
[Madbephtllkea.]
ANTHCySIDERITE, in Mineralogy, an impure silicate of iron.
ANTHOSPE'RMEiB (from Atfeos, flower, and (nr^pfia, seed), a tribe
of plants resembling Anthospermum (the Amber-Tree), belonging to
the natural order Cinchonacece, It consists of the genera Coprosma,
PhvUis, Galopina, A mbraria, and A nthospermum. They possess dioecious
or nermaphrodite flowers ; a rotate corolla ; styles separating to the
base, ending in an elongated hispid or plumose stigma ; the fruit con-
aists of 2 indehiscent 1-seeded mericarps, or nuts ; the albumen of the
seed is fleshy. The species are small herbs or shrubs, with opposite
or verticillate leaves, and small 1-3-toothed stipules, which are adnate
to both sides of the petioles.
None of the species are used in the arts or medicine ; the tribe is
however interesting as forming a link between the opposite-leaved
Oinch<macecB and ti^e verticillate Jiubiacece, Although most of the
AnthospermecBh&ye opposite leaves, yet several species of Anthospermum
itself, as A. Bergiainum and A. JSthiopicum, have their leaves subver-
tidllate. In Phyllis the leaves occur in ^horls of three or four.
This genus has but a single species, known by the common name
of Bastard Hare's-Ear. It may be cultivated, with other species of
the tribe, in a mixture of loam, peat, and sand.
ANTHOXA'NTHUM, a genus of Grasses, one species of which {A,
odorcUum) is well known to farmers under the name of the Sweet
Vernal Grass. It is a small annual plant, bearing its flowers in short
heads, which are not very compac^ and broader at the bottom than
the top. The flowerets of which it is composed are a pale yellowish-
green; each consists of two sharp-point^ smooth glumes, within
which are two other dark-brown hairy palese, each having an awn at
its back ; the stamens are only two in number. This grass is of little
importance for its nutritive qualities, but it is much esteemed for the
sweet smell of its leaves, which causes much of the well-known
panoe of new-mown hay.
f'NTHRACITE, a black, light, mineral substauoe, regembling
wosd; 90 named from Mpa^ charooal. It is also called BUndOoal,
hficaoie it bums without flame ; and QUnoe-Ooal, from the Qerma^
wofd glam (lustre), because it has often a shiuing surface like graphite
or M»rklmiii^ m it is improperly called, the substance <^ whioh penoiU
•re iBadOb 9od to which it is vezy oloiiely allied in composition, Ja
MMse qrfftMM of minaralogy itli dividod into lUMaive, Mij, ifid
columnar anthracite; but these are mere accidental varieties of
structure, and are aU of the same chemical composition, when the
Sweet Vernal Grass {Anthoxanthum odoratum) .
o, a flower-head magnified. 5, a floweret more magnified,
pure anthracite is separated firom the matrix, or from the foreign
matter with which it is mechanically mixed. Its specific gravity is
about 1400, water being 1000; it is slowly combustible, but without
flame, and contains from 70 to 90 per cent of carbon. Naphtha may
be considered as one extremity of the mineral carbonaceous sub-
stances, and anthracite as the other ; and firom the highly-inflammable
fluid naphtha we have numerous varieties of mineral tar, or petroleum,
bitumen, a^haltum, cannel-coal, caking-coal, slaty-coa^ &c., all dimi-
nishing in inflammability, until at last we come to the blind-coal, or
anthracite. If asphaltum, or indurated mineral pitch, be subjected to
distillation, at a certain stage of the process, when it has lost a part
of the bitumen which it contains, it resembles caking Newcastle coal ;
continuing the distillation, it passes into a substance which is identical
with anthracite, both in appearance and composition. The following
is an analysis of Welsh anthracite : —
Carbon 92-56
Hydrogen 888
Oxygen and Nitrogen .... 2*58
Ash 1-68
10000
It is undoubtedly of vegetable origin in common with all coaL
[Co^l; CoalPlantsJ
ANTHRACOTHE'RIUM (Cuvier), a FossU genus of Pachyderm
Mammals, of which many species occur in Tertiaiy deposits, especially
in the G^yps^ous and Lignitic strata of Paris and Tuscany.
ANTHRI'SCUS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
UmbellifercB and the tribe Scandicvnea. It is known by possessing
little or no calyx, with heart-shaped petals bent down at the point ; a
fruit narrowed below the short beak, and without any ridges. The
beak has flve ridges.
A, sylvestris, Wild Chervil, is known by its terminal stalked umbels,
and its linear glabrous fruit with a short beak. It is a common weed
in hedges and banks throughout Europe.
A. Cerefoliwn {Scandix Cerrfoliwn), the Gkuxlen Chervil, is probably
an escape from cultivation in England. It is pommon 0ootigh in wwte
places. [BOANSIX.!
A, wlgaris has the umbels lateral tad stuJked, and an orate hisplil
point. The leaves are slightly hairy. It is common in tha WMrt9
places of Great Britain. (Babiagton's Mwmtl ^ BriM^ JSMofUf.)
ANTHROPQYLLITS, a minem], conteiningt aooording te mi
analysis \tj Gmelin \-r-
Silica fitf
Firotozide of Iron .IB
ICagnasia .....•• fit
Pkotozido of HaagaaesA 4
Lima ....,.•> %
Alnmina %
Digitized by
Google
Wl
ANTHROPOLITEP.
ANTILOPEiE.
It occurs in cryBtalline masses with a fibrous columnar structure.
The cleavage is parallel to the lateral planes of a rhombic prism and
to both its diagonals. The colour varies from a brown to a yellowish-
brown. It has a white streak and an imeven fracture. The specific
gravity is from 3*0 to 3*3. The lustre is pearly, and inclining to
metallic. It is translucent and transparent on the edges. It is found
at Kongsbei^ and Modum in Norway, in the United States, and in
other placea
ANTHROTOLITES, the name given to Human Fossil Remains.
Although at one time it was thought that human remains were often
found fossilised, the investigations of modem anatomists have shown
that in most of these cases the supposition has been false. Daubenton
first demonstrated that some bones which had long been regarded in
Paris as the remains of a gigantic human being belonged to a lower
tiibe of beings. The researches of Cuvier gave a clue by which all
cases might be tested, and most of the earlier instances brought
forward have been referred to their correct types.
Human fossil bones have, however, been discovered in the Belgian
bone-caverns, with bears, rodents, &c., and are figured by Dr. Schmerling,
in his interesting work on the bones foimd in a cavern near Li^ge.
Dr. Buckland (* Bridgewater Treatise') remarks that frequent dis-
coveries have been made of himian bones and rude works of art in
natural caverns, sometimes inclosed in stalactite, at other times in
beds of earthy materials, which are interspersed with bones of extinct
species of quadrupeds. These cases, he thinks, may be explained by
the common practice of mankind in all ages to bury their d^id in such
convenient repositories. " The accidental circumstance," continues
Dr. Buckland, ** that many caverns contained the bones of extinct
species of other animals, dispersed through the same soil in which
human bodies may, at any subsequent period, have been buried, affords
no proof of the time when these remains of men were introduced.
Many of the caverns have been inhabited by savage tribes, who, for
convenience of occupation, have repeatedly disturbed portions of soil
in which their predecessors may have been buried. Such disturbances
will explain the occasional admixture of fragments of human skeletons
and the bones of modem quadrupeds with those of extinct species
introduced at more early periods and by natural causes. Several
accounts have been published within the last few years of human
remains discovered in the caverns of France and in the province of
Li^ge, which are described as being of the same antiquity with the
bones of hyaenas and other extinct quadrupeds that accompany them.
Most of these may probably admit of explanation by reference to the
causes just enumerated. In the case of caverns which form the
channels of subterranean rivers, or which are subject to occasional
inimdations, another cause of the admixture of human bones with the
remains of animals of more ancient date may be found in the movements
occasioned by running water."
The same learned author observes that the most remarkable and
only recorded case of human skeletons imbedded in a solid limestone
rock is that on the shore of Ouadaloupe, adding that there is however
no reason to consider these bones to be of high antiquity, as the rock
in which they occur is of very recent formation, and is composed of
agglutinated fragments of shells and corals which inhabit the adjacent
water. Such kmd of stone is frequently formed in a few years from
sand-banks composed of similar materials, on the shores of tropical
seas. (* Bridgewater Treatise,* vol. i) One of these skeletons, described
by Mr. Konig (*PhiL Trans.,' 1814) is in the British MuseimL See
further as to the rock in which the skeletons are imbedded, ' Ldnn.
Trans.,' 1818, voL xiL
Dr. Lund published, some years ago, the discovery of human
remains with those of Megatherium, &c. ; and he was of opinion
that the former were of the same epoch as those of the latter. The
cranium had the peculiar shape which distinguishes the ancient
Peravian. [See SuFPLEMEirr.]
ANTHUS (Bechstein), the Pipit, a genus of birds separated by Dr.
Bechstein from the Linnean g^nus AtaucUif a separation followed by
Temminck, Cuvier, Lesson, and Selby, and justly ; for though the
Pipits have a long hind claW, and are usually coloured, like the
larks, their bill is more slender, in consequence of which they
never, like them, feed on grain. In the form of the head, in the
movement of the tail, and their mode of life, they resemble the Wag-
tails (MotaciUa) on the one hand, and on the other the Blue-Breast
{Sylvia Suecica),
Adhering, then, to the distinction of Bechstein, we characterise the
Pipits by the bill being straight, slender, somewhat awl-shaped towards
the point, having the base of the upper mandible keeled, the tips lightly
bent downwards, and notched. The nostrils, situated at the sides of
the base of the bill, are oval, and partly concealed by a membrane :
feet, with the shank (tamui) generally exceeding the middle toe in
length ; toes, three before and one behind, and with the outer toe
adhering to the middle one as far as the first joint ; the hind claw
rather long. The wings have the first quill very short; the third
and fourth the longest in each wing.
A. pratentis, the Meadow-Pipit, known also by the names Titlark,
Titling, Common Titlark, and Moss-Cheeper, is a common British
bird, occurring on the coasts as well as the interior of the coimtry,
and frequenting wet meadows, moors, commons, and pasture-land.
It usually buildi its nest on a grassy bank or beside a tufb or tur£
It is to this species that the young of the cuckoo are most finequentlv
consigned.
A. arhoreiUf the Tree-Pipit, Meadow-Lark, or Short-Heeled Field-
Lark, is a larger bird than the last It is only a summer viidtani
in the British Islands, arriving at the end of April, and departing in
September. Its song is superior to that of the last. It frequentlj
p^Yshes on trees. It builds its nest on the ground.
A. obtcurtu, Dusky or Shore-Pipit, Rock-Pipit, Rock-Lark, Sea-Lark,
Dusky Lark, is larger than the last species, has duller tints, and is
entirely confined to the sea-shore.
A, Spinolettck, Red-Breasted Pipit, has been observed by Mr.
Macgillivray in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh.
A. Jtichardif Richard's Pipit, was first described an a British
species by Mr. Vigors. (Macgillivray, British Birds.)
ANTIARIS is the botanical name of the half-fabulous Upaa-Tree,
of which so many idle stories were propagated some years since by
travellers. It was said to be a large tree, growing in the island of
Ja\ui, in the midst of a desert caused by its own pestiferous qualities;
its exhalations were reported to be so imwholesome, that not only
did they cause death to all animals which approached the tree, but
even destroyed vegetation for a considerable distance round it ; and,
finally, the juice which flowed firom its stem, when wounded, was
said to be the most deadly of poisons. To approach the Upas-Tree,
even for the momentary purpose of wounding its stem and carrying
away the juice, was stated to be so dangerous, that none but criminala
under sentence of death could be found to undertake the task. As
is usual in such cases, this fable is founded upon certain natural
phenomena which occur in Java. There is such a tree as the Upas,
and its juice, if mixed with the blood in the body of any animal, is
speedily fatal ; and there is also a tract of land in the same island on
which neither animal nor plant can exist. But the two circumstances
have no relation to each other : the poisoned tract is a small valley
completely surrounded by a steep embankment, like the crater of a
volcano, and is continually emitting from its surface carbonic acid
gas, which is alike fatal to animals and plants ; on the other hand,
the pnoisonous Upas-Tree is not an inhabitant of the valley, for nothing
can live there, but it flourishes in the woods, in the midst of otiier
trees which are unharmed by its vicinity.
The Upas is a species of the genus AntiariSf which belongs to the
natural order Artocarpea, a group of plants all of which abound in a
milky juice, and many of which are poisonous. (Abtocarpejb.) A.
toxicaria is the true Upas. It is not unlike A. macnyphylla, which
has been found on the north coast of Australia.
TS^<
■T If-
Aniiaris macrophylla.
1, A head of male flowers in the iDTolucrum ; 2, the same divided perpendi-
cularly; 3, a couple of the male flowers; 4, pistil; 5, the same divided
perpendicularly ; 6, a fruit.
ANTICLI'NAL, a term in Geology which expresses the fact that,
from a given line, the strata dip in opposite directions.
ANTIGORITE, in Mineralogv, a sUicate of lime and magnesia, a
variety of Bronzite. [Bronzite.]
. ANTlLOPEiE, in Zoology, a family of Ruminating Mammals,
belonging to the Hollow-Homed group, and distinguii£ed by the
following characters. The horns conical, bent back, cylindriood, or
compressed, and ringed at the base. The luiee (or wrist) in the middle
of the fore-leg. The occipital plane of the skull forms an obtuse
angle with the frontal plane. Core of the horns thin, consisting of
Digitized by
Google
233
ANTILOPE^.
ANTILOPE^.
231
denae bone, often with a dear sinus at the base within. Teats two
or four. Feet-pits in hind-feet and generally also in the fore ones.
Perhaps the most general character belonging to the Antelopes
consists in the form of the horns being round and annulated, or at
least never exhibiting the prominent angles and ridges which diHtinguish
those of the Sheep and Gk>ats. In their particular forms and curvatures,
however, they vary in almost every different species, as among domestic
sheep they do even in different varieties of the same species. Some-
times they form a single bend forwards or backwards, sometimes they
are what is oonmionly called lyrated, or bent first backwards and
then point forwards, in such a manner as, when opposed to one
another, to assume the figure of an ancient Ivre, the brachia or sides
of which instrument were frequently made of the horns of the Doreat
or Common Qazelle, aa appears from the engravings of antique gems
still preserved. In many of the smaller species the bony core, or
process of the os frontis which is inserted into the hollow sheath of
the horn itself, is almost solid, or at least the osseous substance of it
Ib penetrated only by very minute pores.
The possession of 'lachrymal sinuses,' or as they are vernacularly
called with reference to the stag and fallow-deer, ' tear-pits,' is another
cirouxnstance which distinguishes the greater number of the Antelopes,
but which, like all their other characters, is far from being generaL
Hany zoologists suppose these organs to communicate with the
nostrils, so as to enable the animals to breathe freely during their long
and rapid flights when pursued or frightened. Some even suppose
them to be subservient to the sense of smell, and to serve for
detecting the noxious qualities of the numerous poisonous plants
which grow in the deserts, or spring up among the rank vegetation
of tropical climatea It is certainly true that all these animalB possess
a most delicate sense of smell, and that no known quadrupeds can
surpass, and very few equal them in the course. It has been supposed
that these oigans are used when the animal drinks. The anatomy of
the parts dranonstrates that no internal communication exists between
the lachrymal sinus and the nose, or indeed any other organ. The
sinus itself is simply composed of a sac or fold of the skin, of
greater or less extent according to the species, but always capable
of being opened or shut at the will of the animal, and famished at
the bottom with a gland which secretes an oily viscous substance of
the colour and consistence of ear-wax, but which hardens and turns
black upon exposure to the air. The precise function of these oigans
is uncertain ; all that we know with certainty at present is, that many
of the Antelopes which are most commonly brought to Europe and
preserved in menageries, such as the common Indian Antelope and
the Qaselle, make continual use of this oxgan when any strange sub-
stance is presented to their notice, particularly if it be odoi^erous,
and appear to derive great pleasure from protruding the lachrymal
sinus and rubbing its interior surface against the odorous body.
It has been already hinted that the Antelopes are not the only
ruminants which possess suborbital sinuses : in fact, these organs are
more universally found in the deer kind than in the present fomilv ;
but^ on the other hand, as these are the only animals belonging to the
hollow-homed family which exhibit this character, it thus becomes
sufficiently appropriate, and, as far as it goes, serves readily to dis-
tinguish the Aiitelopee from the Goats and Sheep, with which they are
most liable to be confounded. In this respect^ as well as in the
absence of horns in the females of many species, they form an inter-
mediate link between the rest of the hoUow-homed ruminants and
the cervine or solid-homed family : so nearly indeed do some species
of Antelopes approach to the deer kind in general, and so perfectly
similar are they in all their most prominent and essential characters, the
horns alone excepted, that it is often next to impossible to distinguish
the hornless females of the one genus from those of the other.
Besides the suborbital sinus, a few species of Antelopes possess a
different gland, which runs lengthwise between it and the mouth, in
a direction for the most part parallel to the plane of the chaffron or
face and nose, and secretes a dark oily substance; it is, however,
entirely external, and has no internal opening like the lachrymal
sinus, nor are its uses better known than those of that oi*gan. The
former fact^ if it can be relied upon, proves at least that it is a sepa-
rate organ, and not a mere modification of the lachrymal sinus ; and,
consequently, it may be fairly presumed that its function, whatever
it may he, is likewise different Another character, but much more
generally found to distinguish the Antelopes than even the suborbital
sinus itself^ is derived from the inguinal pores, which are sacs or deep
folds of the skin, situated in the groin, opening inwards, and secreting
a glutinous substance similar to that of the gltmds already mentioned.
In the form of the upper lip, an important character among animals
which seek their food on the ground, and in which the lips and
tongue constitute the only organs of touch and prehension, the
Antelopes are as variable and inconstant as in the other characters
already described. In some species it forms a broad naked muzzle,
as in the ox ; in others it is hairy and attenuated, like that of the
goat; and finally, it sometimes assumes an intermediate form, and
presents a modification of both these characters. The females are
furnished with either two or four teats, forming a small udder;
they usuallv bring forth but one at a birth, in a few instances two,
and the period of gestation differs flrom five to eight months according
to the species.
The hair of the Antelopes is generally short and smooth, and of an
equal length over every part of the body ; some however have manes
along the neck and on the shoulders, composed of long bristly hair,
either growing upright or reversed towards the head as in the Oryx ;
and a very few species, like the Onu, are furnished with a beard on
the chin and throat. The ears are commonly long, narrow, and
pointed, smooth on the outside, and filled internally with long white
hair growing in five longitudinal lines, with four naked black spaces
between, and forming Qxe appearance which, in describing these
animals, is usually denominated ttriaUd. The tails are generally
shorty round, and tufted at the extremity, and many species are
furnished with little tufts of long black hair, called scojxe, or knee-
brushes, upon the upper part of the anterior canons, immediately
below the carpal joint.
Generally speaking, the Antelopes are gregarious, and unite in large
herds, either permanently or at particular seasons of the year, but
only for the purpose of migrating in search of more abundant and
grateful pastun^ ; some species, however, reside in pairs or small
families, consisting of an old male and one or more females, with the
young of the two foregoing seasons. They are always extremely
cautious in guarding against surprise, placing sentinels in various
directions about their feeding ground, to warn them of the approach
of danger whilst grazing or reposing ; and their vision and sense of
smell are so acute, that it is only by using the greatest caution and
circumspection that the hunter can bring them within range of the
gun. The names by which the animals themselves are distinguished
in all languages, ancient as well as modem, have a direct reference to
this quickness of sight, and to the brilliancy of the large black eyes
which form so conspicuous a feature in the Antelopes. Thus the
word Dorcoi (dopxAs), the Greek and Roman name of the Gazelle, or
common Barbery Antelope, is derived from the verb 94pKofuu, * to see.'
The common English word Antelope, which zoologists have adopted
as the generic name of the group, is a comipt form of the term
fitfOoXtn^f emploved by Eustathius to designate an animal of this genus^
and literally signifying 'bri^t eyes;' and, according to the learned
Bochart, Tabithaf the name of the disciple raised to life at Joppa^ is
derived from TVe^, the Hebrew name of the common Gazelle, and
alludes likewise to the beauty of her eyes. Among the Greeks and
Romans also, as we learn from Agathias, and others. Dor ecu, Dorcalit,
and JDamaliB, all names of different Antelopes, were common names
of women likewise, bestowed without doubt on account of the remark-
able beauty of their eyes ; and Prosper Alpinus, and more recent
travellers, inform us that Aine el Czazel, * You have the eyes of an
antelope,' is the greatest compliment which at the present day an
oriental admirer can pay to his mistress.
The Bushmen of the Cape often destroy vast numbers of the antelopes
with which their country abounds, by poisoning the springs and reser-
voirs to which they are known to resort^ nor is the flesh ever known
to be injured by uiis mode of slaughter ; they also shoot them with
poisoned arrows, but in this case the parts immediately around the
wound must be cut out before the rest of the body imbibes the poison,
which would otherwise penetrate it^ and render it imfit for food.
Africa may be considered as the head-quarters of the Antelopes.
Australia and Madagascar are, as far as we at present know, com-
pletely destitute of Antelopes, as indeed they appear to be of all
indigenous ruminants. The precise nature of the habitat frequented
by tibese animals has nothing of a uniform character, but> as might
naturally be expected from the different modifications of organic
structure observable throughout the genus, differs acoording to the
particular species. Some frequent the dry sandy deserts, and feed
upon the stunted acacias and bulbous plants which spring up even in
the most arid situations, where the stony nature of the ground gives a
certain degree of adherence to the soil ; some prefer the open stony
plains, the steppes of Central Asia and karroos of Southern Africa,
where the grass, though parched, is still sufficient for their sub-
sistence; some again inhabit the steep rocky mountains, and leap
from cliff to cliff with the ease and security of a wild goat» whilst
others are found only in the thick and almost impenetrable forests of
tropical countries.
Although what are popularly called Antelopes were at one time all
referred to the genus AntUope^ their number has so greatly increased
as to render it necessary to distribute the various species under di^erent
genera. As by far the most extensive and available collection of these
animals for the British student is contained in the British Museum, we
shall follow in this article the arrangement given of these animals by
Dr. J. K Gray in the ' Catalogue of the Specimens of Mammalia' in that
collection, published in 1852.
The family Aniilopea ia divided into two great divisions, the AfUe^
lope$ of the Fields, and the Antelcpa of the Desert. These divisions
are recognised bv a peculiarity of the nostrils, easily perceived. In
the Antelopes of the Fields the nostrils are bald or free fh>m hairs,
whilst in the Antelopes of the Desert these organs are bearded within
or covered with bristles. There are other distinctions, but these are
the most obvious, and readily recognised
AlVTBLOPXB OF THE FIELDS.
These are again divided i&to three groups : —
1. I%e Tnte ArUelopee, which have a light elegant body; alendet
Digitized by
Google
936
ANTILOPE^
ANTILOPEiE.
limba; small hoofg; a short or moderate tail, covered with elongated
hairs i^ the base; lyrate or oooical horns, placed over the eyebrows.
2. The Cervine Antelopes approaching the deer in character. They
have rather a heavy large body; strong slender limbs; a long tail,
cylindrical at the base, with the hair longer at the end, often
forming a compressed ridge. The muffle is like that of the Cervine
Buminanta.
3. The GodU-like Anidopes, which have a heavy body; strong legs;
lai|^e hoofs and false hoo&; very short tail, flat and hairy above;
]:ecurved conical horns.
1. Tinie Antelopes.
Saiga.
The horns are short, strong, lyrate, annulated, and of a white colour ;
the nose is compressed, very high, rounded, the nostrils very close
together; the crumen distinct; the fur soft; the skull has the nose-
opening very large, and extended back over the eyes.
1. Saiga Tartarica (Antilope Colus, H. Smith), the Saiga and Colus,
is the only species of True Antelope which inhabits any part of Europe.
The size of the Saiga is about equal to that of the fallow deer, me
length being four feet; but the form of the body more nearly
resembles that of the sheep, being round and heavy, mth a large
head and short slender limbs, and the whole proportions of the animal
want the usual grace and elegance which conmionly characterise the
antelope tribes. The nose is large, swollen, and cartilaginous, like
that of the elk ; it is marked above by deep transverse furrows or
wrinkles, and, from its great size and protuberance, compels the
animal to go backwards whilBt feeding. The nostrils are laige and
open ; the ears of a moderate size ; the tail from three to four inches in
length; and the lachrymal sinuses much smaller than in .the Indian
Antelope. The hair is imiformly long and flowing over the whole
body, of a grayish yellow colour in summer, and grayish white in
winter on uie upper parts, and white beneath at all seasons; the
knees are furnished with small brushes. The horns of the male are
longer than the head, they are semi-transparent and of a light yellow
colour, which causes them to be much sought after by the Russians
and Chinese for the purpose of making combs, lanterns, and other
articles of domestic economy ; their form is intermediate between that
of the spiral-homed and lyrated groups, being distinctly twisted upon
their axis, though without exhibiting the complete spiral threads
which characterise the horns of the Indian Antelope.
The Saiga is mentioned by Strabo (vii, 312. ed. Casaub.) under
the name of colus {k6\o$). The Polish name of the animal, SulaJs,
appears to bear some resemblance to the name in Strabo. The Tartars
oaU it Ahkak and the Turks Akim, which come so near to the Hebrew
vrord Akko, translated 'wild goat' in our English version of the Scrip-
tures, that we cannot help suspecting that the sacred writers allud«l
to this animal In autunm the Saigas unite into lazge flocks, com-
posed sometimes of many thousand individuals, and migrate southward
m search of a milder climate and more abimdant pasturage ; they
return northward in small families about the conmLoncement or middle
of spring, and generally keep about the vicinity of lakes and rivers,
as they drink a great deal, and, as we are credibly assured, by sucking
the water through their large open nostrils. This last fact is also
stated by Strabo. They like to feed upon acrid, saline, and aromatic
plants, and grow very fat during the summer season ; but their flesh
acquires a disagreeable taste from the nature of their food, and must
be allowed to cool after cooking before it is fit to be eaten. The
females are gravid about six months, from the end of November to
the end of May ; they drop their kids soon after they return north-
ward in the spring, and commonly produce one, rarely two, at a birth.
They inhabit the open steppes and deserts from the Danube to the
Irtish eastward, and as far north as 54"* of N. latitude ; and are
found in Poland, Moldavia, about the Caucasus, and the Caspian Sea,
in Siberia, and in Northern Persia. Their eye-sight is said to be
defective from the reflection of the dry arid plains upon which they
mostly reiiide ; and, though amazingly swift for a short distance, they
are soon exhausted, and easily run down. They are hunted principally
for the sake of their horns and skins, the latter of which, particularly
those of the kids, are much valued for the manufacture of gloves.
The himters muEt always take care to approach them against the
wind, as their sense of smell is remarkably acute. With all these
precautions it is often impossible to get witliin shot of these animals,
as, like many other gregarious species of antelope, they take care,
whilst feeding or reposing, to place sentinels in different directions
round their encampment to warn them of the approach of danger.
Pamtholops.
The horns are elongate, lyrate ; tiie nose (of the males ?) has a
dilated pouch on each side ; the crumen is distinct ; the hair dose,
erect, and spreading ; the nose-opening in the skull is large.
2. Pantholops Bodgsonii {Antilope Hodgsoni, Abel), Uie Chiru, is
believed to be the Unicom of the Bhotias, and supposed by Colonel
Smith to be the animal which iElian describes imder the name of
Kemas, (see also Homer, 'Iliad,' x. 861.) an opinion founded upon
very sUght and not easily tenable grounds. The whole length of this
animal, from the muz^e to the root of the tail, is about 5 feet, its
height 3 feet ; the tail is 8 inohes long ; the head, from the nose to
the root of the horns, 9 inches; the ears 4 iwiim, «nd the )ioms
measured along the curves, upwai^ of % feet The horns grpw upright
from the skull, are strongly compressed on the sides, bent slightly
backwards at first, and afterwards point gradually forwards, thus
assuming a lyrate form, but less stonily marked thsoi in the common
gazelle ; they are surrounded, to within 6 inches of the points, with
&om 15 to 20 annuli, forming prominent knobs in front, but more
obscure on the sides and rear ; the last 6 inches are smooth and
round, and the points rather attenuated. The legs are long and
slender ; but the symmetry of the head is destroyed by two large
fleshy tumours about half the size of a hen*s egg, which grow dose to
the outer margins of the nostrils, as well as by a profusion of brisUy
hair which surroimds the mouth and nose. The body is furnished
with two different kinds of hair, a long external coat of the usual
quality, and a short interior one of fine dose wooL The prevalent
colour of the latter is uniform grayish blue, and the outer coat is
likewise of the same colour at the base, but it is tipped with reddish
fawn, and thus gives the whole of the upper parts a tawny hue,
through which the lower tinge is but &intly visible. The belly and
interior of the limbs are white, the nose and face black, and a dork
brown band passes down the front of each leg.
*The Chiru, according to the information obtained by Mr. Hodgson,
inhabits the elevated plains of Tibet^ but never approaches the
mountains, and is altogether unknown on the Indian side of ^ the great
Himalayan chain. It is gregarious, residing in herds 'of many
hundreds on the open plains, extremely shy and difficult to approach^
posting sentinels in all directions where the herd feeds or reposes, and
flying with astonishing velodty on the first alarm, or intimation of
danger. When brought to bay, however, the males defend themselves
with courage, and in confinement are sometimes mischievous, . and
should be tdways approached with a considerable degree of caution.
They are very jealous and pugnacious, and in their contests often
breaik off one of their long horns — hence the belief in their being
Unicorns. Like most oth^ Ruminants, they are extremely fond of
salt, and during the summer months unite in large herds to visit the
beds of this mineral, which abound throughout Tibet, advancing
under the guidance of an experienced leader, and as usual posting
sentinels to prevent surprise^
Procapra,
The horns are lyrate, strong, and black ; the tail is tapering; the
nose simple, as in Uie sheep ; the muffle and crumen absent ; the feet
with small feet-pits ; the post-comeal sinus large ; no inguinal pores;
the hair dongated, especially above the head and neck ; the knees not
tufted ; the females are hornless ; the teats two ; the male has rather
a large nose-hole ; no suborbital pitf), but very large slits ; the inter-
maxHlary bones short
3. Procapra gtUtwosa {Antilope gutturosa, Pallas), the Dzeren, the
Hoang Yang, Whang Yang, or Yellow Goat of the Chinese, is nearly
H feet in length, and 2 feet 6 inches high at the shoulder ; the body
also is large and corpulent, and the legs shorter than is common to the
Antelopes in general ; the horns are black, lyrated, and marked to within
a short distance of their points with prominent transverse rings; the
suborbital sinuses are small ; the larynx large and salient^ forming;
particularly in the old bucks, a prominent lump on the throat ; upon
the prepuoe of the same sex there is likewise situated a bag about the
size of a hen's egg, which contains a waxy substance similar to that
produced in the analogous organ of the musk animal, but without any
kind of odour ; the tail is short, and the knees furnished with small
bunches of hair, but scarcely sufficiently long and distinct to merit
the name of brushes ; the summer coat is of a grayish fiawn-oolour
above, and white beneath ; that of winter almost entirdy white, being
tinged but slightly with a grayish yellow shade on the back and sides.
The females resemble the males in colour, but are rather of smaller
size, and without horns ; they want the sac on the abdomen, and have
two teats.
The Dzerens inhabit the dry arid deserts of Central Asia, Tibet
China, and Southern Siberia, particularly the great desert of Gobi;
and prefer the most sandy and stony pliuns, feeding upon such scanty
herbage as these localities supply, and avoiding water, to which they
appear to entertain a marked aversion. They are remarkably swift,
take prodigious leaps, and when fri^tened will occasionally pass over
20 or 25 feet at a single bound In spring and smnmer they form small
families which live apart from one another, but in the beginning of
winter they tmite into large flocks, always under the gmdance of an
experienced old buck. They never run, even when pursued, in a confused
crowd, but form single files, and follow dosdy in the footsteps of their
leader. They rarely emit any voice. When taken they are eamly tamed,
and appear to have rather a predilection for the domestic state, often
mixing with flocks of sheep, and approaching human habitations during
the severity of the winter season. Their fledi is tender and well tasted,
and they are a favourite object of chase with the Moguls and Tartars.
The gestation of the females continues from Deoember till the middle
of June, and they produce but a single kid at a birth, whidi grows
slowly, and is long in arriving at maturity. During the first year the
young males have neither horns nor apy appearance of the pro-
tuberance on the throat from which the specific qame qf gutfrnrosaJB
derived ; but these origans are gradually moip9 and more davdoped in
proportion as the ammal advances in age, tiU at Iftst, ia Ttfy ^^
animals, the laryngal protuberanoe attains the dimfi^doiui of 5 inefaes
in length by 3 inches in breadth, and assumes the app^wnnofl of a
Digitized by
Google
237
ANTILOPE^.
ANTILOPEiE.
large and deformed goitre. The females differ from the males by the
abeenoe of this protuberance as well as by the want of horns. Qmelin
denies the antipathy to water which Messerschmid attributes to this
BpecieSy and affirms that when pursued the Dzerens do not hesitate
to throw themselves into the first river they meet with, and that they
swim remarkably well The physical nature of the arid sandy plains
which they frequent, in preference to all other situations, may pro-
bably have given rise to this presumed antipathy to an element which
ihey seldom encounter, as well as to the marked antipathy to woody
localitieB likewise attributed to them, trees and rivers bemg equally
unknown in the indigenous habitats of these animals.
4. Procapra picticoAtdOy the Ragoa, or Gba, is an animal described
by Mr. Hodgson as an inhabitant of Tibet. It has brown hair with
rufous tips; the inside of the ears and limbs white ; and tail black. It
is perhaps the last species in its summer coat.
OaeeUck
The horns black, strong, lyrate ; the face conical, tapering ; the nose
IB simple ; the females have smaller horns ; the fur is short, close-
pressed; the skull has a
suborbital fissure, and a
moderate or very slight fossa
suddenly pressed in before
the orbit.
5. OazeUa Dorcas {Antilope
Dorcat, Pallas), the Gkizelle,
the Algazel, the Corinne, is
3 feet 6 inches in length, 1
foot 94 inches high at the
shoulder, and 1 foot IO4
inches at the croup; the
head is 6 inches long, the
horns 9 4, the ears 4|, and
the tail, with its terminating
tufl, 8 inches. The horns
of the old male are sur-
rounded by 13 or 14 promi-
nent rings, complete and
close togeUier at the base,
more distant, oblique, and
interrupted behind, towards
the points, the last inch or
inch and a half alone being
smooth and free from annuli ;
they rise almost immediately
above the orbits, are black. Group of
almost cylindrical, at first
bent gentiy backwards^ and finally forwards ; in the females they ai^e
much smaller, seldom exceeding the ears in length, surrounded at
the base with a few obscure wnnkles, smooth and polished through-
out the rest of their extent, straight to near the tips, and pointing
inwards. This is the character of the Corinne of Buffon, which
is now considered by the best zoologists to be nothing more than
the female of this species, and not itself a distinct species, as
was formerly supposed. The ears of the Qazelle are long, narrow,
siderably longer, and the whole form lighter and more elegant ; the
face and cheeks are reddish fawn-colour, aiid the nose has a broad
mark of a dark-brown colour, approaching to black ; on each side of
the face, passing over the eyes from the horns down to the nose, there
is a broad white stripe, and beneath this, from the anterior canthus
of the eye, a narrower dark stripe, parallel to it and separating it from
the fawn-colour of the cheeks ; ^e hind part of the head, the back
of the ears, neck, shoulders, back, sides, and croup, are fulvous, of
different shades according to the age of the individual ; all the under
parts are wliite, and this colour is separated from the fulvous of the
sides by a broad dark-brown longitudinal band on the flanks; the
knees are furnished with brushes of dark hair, and the ears are filled
internally with long white hair arranged in three longitudinal striae.
The Oazelle is found in Egypt, Bu-bary, and some say also in Asia
Minor ; but it is very questionable whether the animal of the Levant
does not really belong to a different species. It lives in large troops
upon the borders of the Tell, or cultivated country, and the Sahara,
or desert. When pursued it flies to some distance, then stops to gaze a
moment at the hunters, and
again renews its flight. The
flock, when attacked collect-
ively, disperse in all directions,
but soon unite; and when
brought to bay defend them-
selves with coiirage and obeti-
nacv, uniting in a close circle,
with the females and fawns
in the centre, and presenting
their horns at all points to
their enemies; yet, notwith-
standing their courage, they
are the common prey of the
lion and panther, and are
hunted with great perseve-
rance by the Arabs and Be-
duins of the desert When
taken young, they are easily
domesticated, and soon be-
come familiar. This animal
is frequently cut upon the
monuments of Egypt and
Nubia.
The Kevel of Buflfon, the
Flat-Homed Antelope of Pen-
Gazelles, nant, the AntUope KeveUa of
Pallas, have been described
from young specimens of. this species. The Ariel {A ntilope AmbteOf
Hemprich, A. Cuvieri of Ogil1;>y, and A, leptoceroa of F. Cuvier), seems
to be a variety only.
The Gazelle [Gatella Dor eat),
and pointed; the eyes large, mild, and black; and the tail round,
furnished on its upper surface only with an upright ridge of stiff *black
hair, and termina1»d by a little tuft of the same colour ; the size of
the body is about equal to that of the roebuck, but the legs are con-
Ariel Oazelle {Antilope Arahica).
6. Q, Isabdla, the Isabella Gazelle, has been separated by Dr. J. E.
Gray rom the last species. He remarks that it may be easily known
Digitized by
Google
238
AKTILOPE^.
ANTILOPEite.
from the foregoine by the eoftneiw and fineness of the skin, and the
lower side-streak being of the same colour as the bock, and by having
no dark edge to the anal disk. It is a native of Egypt and Kordofiftn.
7. Q, tubffuttwroia {ArUilop€ subffuttvrosa, Guldenstadt), the Ahu
and Jairou^ is of a pale brown colour, the upper part of the sides with a
broad rather paler streak, the facenrtreak indistinct ; the lower part
of the sides, belly, hinder side of fore and front side of hinder limbs,
and anal disk, white ; the streak on the haunches dark brown; the end
of the tail black. It inhabits all the central parts of Asia, Persia,
Daiiria, the country around Lake Baikal, and from the eastern limits
of Great Bucharia to the shores of the Hellespont. It associates with
its own species in extensive flocks, frequents the open imcovered
plains and naked hills of moderate elevation, and feeds principally
upon the Abnnfhium PorUicum, The flesh is much esteemed, and of
an agreeable taste.
8. 0. SoRmmeringii {AntUape Sommeringiif Cretzschmar), the
AbyRsinian Mohr dLscovered by Cretzschmar in Abyssinia, is
high at the shoulder, and 2 feet 8 inches at the croup ; the length of
the head from the nose to the root of the horn is 7 inches ; that of
the horn 94 inches on the curve, and 74 in a straight line ; and that
of the tail 7 inches without the terminal tuft The hair of the body
is sleek and of moderate length ; on the head and face it is very short
and close, except about the root of the horns, where it is slightly
tufbeds the hair of the limbs is also short, except the tufts below the
knees, which are long, and consist of a mixture of dark brown and
grey hairs. The horns are thick at the base, and annulated with 11
The Abyssinian Mohr ((?. Scemmeni.i/il),
considerably larger than the species of Oazella hitherto described.
The horns are irregularly lyrated, bending boldly outwards towards
the points, and then suddenly turning inwards towards one another,
with a very sharp and well-defined ciirve; annulated with 15
or 16 prominent and complete rings, which reach from the base
to the inward cmrature within about 2^ inches of the points.
The colour of all the upper parts of the body, the neck, shoulders,
back, croup, sides and outward faces of the fore arms and thighs,
is a beautiful clear Isabel or yellowish-dun, the hair being
extremely short, and appearing almost as if it had been clipped
or shorn. It does not lie close and smooth upon the hide, nor
does it all follow the same direction, as in the generality of animals,
but is disposed in innumerable small waves, pointing in dificrent
directions as if it had been regularly shaded and parted on each side,
and appearing glossy or glazed along their ridges with a shining dun
shade, more or less intense according to the light in which it is
observed. All the under parte of the body are of the most pure and
brilliant white, and a large disk of the same colour surrounds the tail,
and passes over the rump and croup. The white of the belly also is
separated frt>m the yellowish dun of the sides, immediately, without
being shaded off. The tail is small and slender, nearly naked at the
root, and furnished at the extremity with a tuft of mixed brown and
^y hairs. The outsides of the legs are very pale fawn-colour, the
msides white, and the knee-brushes white and fawn mixed. The ears
are pretty long and brown, with a narrow black border surrounding
their outer edge. The face is dark brown in some specimens, and
pure black in others, uniform towards the end of the nose, but
curiously mixed with wavy red on the forehead ; on each side of this
a broad white band passes from the root of the horns over the eyes to
the nose, and there is an indication of a small black one from the
anterior angle of the eye to the comer of the mouth, separating this
white band from the cheeks and sides of the lower jaw, which are
uniform fawn-colour. The horns of the female have nearly the same
curvature as those of the male, and are fully as long, but they are
much more slender, and have not such prominent annuli. This is the
only external difierence observable between the sexes. This antelope
frequents hills of moderate ascent and elevation in the eastern pro-
vinces of Abyssinia, and is said to live in pairs, and not to unite mto
lai^ge flocks like the Gazelle and Revel.
9. 0. Mohr {Antilope Mhorr, Bennett), the Mohr or Mhorr, is 4 feet
2 inches long from the nose to the origin of the tail, 2 feet 6 inches
The Mohr {O, Mohr),
or 12 prominent and complete rings, which occupy about two-thirda
of their entire length ; they are round, smooth, and attenuated towards
the tips, which point directly forwards, and are but moderately sharp.
The ears are narrow, erect, and pointed ; the eyes large, dark, and
lively ; and the tail long, naked at the base, and furnished at the
extremity with a tuft of long black hair. The colour of aU the
upper parts of the bodyv of the neck, back, shoulders, sides, fore-arma
and thighs, as well as of the whole throat except a square spot on the
laiynx, is a deep brownish-red ; and a narrow stnpe of the same colour
is continued down the outer face of the legs, both anterior and
posterior, from the shoulders and thighs respectively to the hoofs and
pasterns : the belly, buttocks, posterior face of the thighs and inner
face of the extremities are pure white, as well as the spot on the
larynx above referred to ; and this colour, after spreading round the
entire region of the tail, is continued forwards on the hip in a poioted
stripe on each side, about half way between the croup and the knee-
joint, and reaching nearly over the whole hip. It contrasts strongly-
with the surrounding colour, and has a very singular effect There
is no dark band on the flanks, the light colours of the under parts
being abruptly separated from the darker shade above without any
blending or intermediate colour. The head and cheeks are light fitwn-
colour, intermixed, in front of the horns, with dark brown and gray
hairs, and marked below the opening of the suborbital sinuses with a
small dark spot, representing the black band which passes in some
other species of the last division frx>m the anterior canthus of the eye to
the comer of the mouth : the whole line of the nose and chaffron are
likewise dark brown, mixed with gray in old specimens, and the back
of the ears is fawn-coloured, tipped with black.
It is a native of Western Africa. The species is not found in the
empire of ICarocco, but individuals are occasionally brought from the
opposite confines of the desert ; the animal is much sought after by
the Arabs on account of producing the bezoar-stones so highly valued
in eastern medicine. These stones are commonly called in Marocco,
Baid-el-Mhorr, or Mhorr's Eggs.
The Nanguer {Antilope damctf Pallas) was originally described and
figured by Buffon from materials brought by Adanson frx>m Senegal ;
since that time the animal has not been seen by any naturalist^ and
as the description of Buffon is imperfect, doubt may be entertained
whether it be not in reality the young of the Mohr.
10. 0. rvficollis (AfUUope ruJicolliSf H. Smith), the Andra, is a
beautiful species of Eastern Africa, discovered on the barren wastes
of Nubia by Biippel, and in Senaar and Dongola by Hemprich and
Ehrenbeig. The whole length of this species is 5 feet 4 inches, its
height at the shoulder S feet ; the length of the head is 8 inches, that
of the horns 124 inches, and that of the tail 9 inches. The horns are
precisely similar to those of the Mohr already described, as are like-
wise the general form and proportions of the body. This species is
gregarious, and resides in flocks on the desert between Nubia, Dongola,
and Eordofan.
11. (7. ruffronSf the Korin, is of a bay-brown colour, the sides abov«
Digitized by
Google
241
ANTILOPE^.
ANTILOPE^
2M3
paler, with a broad dark atreak below ; the chest, belly, inside of the
legs, back edge of tarsus, and underside of feet and anal-disk, white ;
the fjEUM bright bay, with a broad white side-streak. Dr.^Ghray says,
" The Kevel figured by M. F. Cuvier well represents this species.
The Corine of the same author, also from Senegal, well represents the
young animaL" The Corine and Kevel of Buffon belong to Q, Dorcas.
Tragopi
Has shorty black, lyrate horns ; a tapering face ; ovine nose ; no muffle
or cnunen ; the fur short, pressed down ; the sides without any dark
streak ; the knees tufted ; the feet with large feet-pits ; the ing^uinal
pits distinot. The female has slender horns and two teats.
12. TragopsBennetUi {AnUlope quadrieomis, Blainville), the Chikara,
Ravine-Deer, Gbat Antelope, Kalsiepie, or Black-Tail, is of a bay-brown
colour, and has the end of the nose and tail black ; the face streaked ;
chest, belly, and inside of limbs, white ; the feet are black or brown.
The Kalsiepie, or Black-Tail, so called by the Mahrattas on account
of the deep black colour of the tail, and distinguished by the name
of the Qoat Antelope by the Europeans, is found on the rocky hills of
the Deocan, and, accorcUng to the report of Colonel Sykee, differs &om
many other antelopes in not being gregarious, there being rarely more
than three or four found together in the same company, and not
un&equently a solitary individual.
Antidorcas
Has lyrate, short, black horns ; a tapering face ; a simple nose ; the
crumen moderate, distinct. On the back it has an extensive white
fold or streak ; the hair is pressed dose ; the knees are not tufted.
The female has small horns, but the number of its teats are not known.
18. ii. Euchore {Antilope Euchorty Forster), the Tsebe, or Spring-Boc,
Prong-Boc, or Showy Ooat, is perhaps the most graceful in its pro-
portions, and beautinilly varied in its colours, of all the antelope tribe.
Imagination cannot conceive a quadruped more light and airy in form,
more delicate in its proportions, or whose movements are executed
with more natural ease and grace, than the Spring-Boc, or, as the
English colonists now imiversally denominate it, Spring-Buck. In
point of size it is nearly a third lazger than the Dorcas. The horns of
the Spring-Buck are rather irregularly lyrated, like those of the species
last described ; they are round, black, annulated very regularly till
within a short distance of the points, spreading first backwards and
widely outwards, and finally turning inwards, and with an almost
imperceptible twist on their own axis backwards. The hair is long on
the upper parts of the body, particularly on the back and croup, but
smooth, sleek, and shining : it is of a beautiful light cinnamon-colour
on the shoulders, neck, back, sides, and thighs ; and of a pure snowy
white on the breast, belly, and inner sides of the limbs, these two
colours being separated on the flanks by a broad longitudinal band of
a deep vinous-red colour, larger and more distinct than in any other
species of Antelope. The whole head, face, cheeks, and chin are white,
with a broad brown band on each side from the eyes to the comers of
the mouth, and a mark of the same colour on the centre of the face,
commencing in a narrow point on the muzzle, and enlarging as it
proceeds upwards till it joins the reddish fawn-colour of the body on
the crown of the head. The eyes are large, lively, and of a brown
colour ; the ears long, small, and cylindrical at the root, then widening
in the middle, and ending in an attenuated point. The neck is long,
slender, and slightly compressed on the sides ; the hoofs are small,
black, and triangular ; the legs remarkably long and slender ; and the
tail small, round, and naked, except a ridge of stiff black hair which
fringes it along the upper surface, and forms a small tuft at the
extremity. But the most remarkable and distinctive character of this
species consists in two longitudinal foldings or duplications of the skin
on the croup, which commence above the loins, or about the middle
of the back, and run in a straight line from thence to the tail The
interior of these folds is lined with long hair of 9 or 10 inches in length,
and of the most brilliant and snowy whiteness ; they are likewise
under the complete command of the animal's volition, and are opened
and shut at pleasure. When closed, which they always are when the
animal is at rest, their lips form a narrow line along the top of the
loins and croup, which, bemg covered by the long cinnamon-red hair
of the back and hips, is scarcely distinguishable, or only as a narrow
white streak; but when the animal leaps or runs, these folds are
expanded, and form a broad circular mark of the purest white, which
extends over the whole croup and hips, and produces a most remark-
able and pleasing effect.
The Spring-Buck is so called from its remarkable habit of jumping
almost perpendicularly upwards, apparently without any other motive
than for its own amusements It resides, in almost innumerable flocks,
on the dry arid plains and karroos of the interior of South Africa,
seldom i^proaching the inhabited districts of the colony, unless in
seasons of peculiar drought, when the pools and pastures of the
interior are dried and burnt up by the excessive heat, and these
animals are compelled to migrate in search of a more abundant
supply. On these occasions they are said to unite into flocks which
often consist of from 10,000 to 50,000 individuals, spreading over the
face of the whole country like a swarm of locusts, devouring every
vegetable substance that they meet with, and scarcely deviating from
their direct path to avoid the men and dogs which endeavour to turn
them into another direction. These vast flocks, according to Mr. R.
O. Gumming, will continue streaming along in an unbroken compact
KAT. HMT. DIV. VOL. I.
phalanx for two or mo're hours. This migration is called at the Cape
a Trak Bokken. So great are their numbers in these migrations that
those which happen to get into the rear of the troop are lean and half-
starved before the migration is concluded, from the advanced ranks
cropping the scanty pastures almost bare, and thus leaving them
nearly destitute of food ; but when the journey is concluded, and the
taoop begins to retrace its steps northward, tiiose which formed the
van during the advance are necessarily in tiie rear returning, soon lose
their plump condition, and are in their turn subjected to want and
starvation. During these migrations they are closely followed by lions,
panthers, hysenas, and wUd dogs, which destroy great numbers of
them. There is perhaps no object in nature finer than a flock of these
beautiful antelopes enlivening the dreary brown karroos of South
Africa with their graceful motions; now leaping perpendicularly
upwards to the height of six or seven feet, displaying at the same
time the snowy-white marks on their croups, and anon flying over the
desert with the speed of a whirlwind. It is only when disturbed or
otherwise excited that they make those extraordinary springs from
which they have derived their name ; nor do they ever display the
white mark on their rump except on these occasions. They are said
to be particularly affected by the change of the weather, and are
observed to leap more than usual before the setting in of the south
wind, which, at the Cape of Gbod Hope, generally betokens stormy
weather, and is always violent and tempestuous. When taken young,
the Spring-Buck is easily tamed, and soon displays all the petulance
and familiarity of the Common Goaty butting at every stranger that
approaches it, and warding off stones or other objects thrown at it
with its horns.
jEpyceros
Has black lyrate horns, elongate, wide-spreading, curved outwards
from the base, then backwards and upwards at the tip ; the face taper-
ing ; the nose simple ; no tear-bag ; the knees not tufted ; the feet wi^
a tuft of black haur near the pasterns ; the female has two teats.
14. jE. melampua (ArUUope melampus, Lichtenstein), the Pallah, or
Rooye-Buck, the Betjuan of the Kaffirs, is a magnificent species oi
South Africa, discovered by Professor Lichtenstein during his travels
in KafEraria, and since foimd in the Betchuana country oti the elevated
plains of Latakoo, by Trutell, Somerville, and Burchell. It is
upwards of 4^ feet in length from the nose to the origin of the tail,
and 3 feet high at the shoulder ; the horns have an irregular lyrate
tendency, bending first forwards and very much outwards, then with
a laige circular sweep inwards, and finally pointing forward again,
approaching within three inches of one another at the tips, after being
nearly a foot distant in the middle : they are about 20 inches long
in adult animals, and surrounded for two-thirds of their length with
irregular rings, often splitting into two, and forming prominent knobs
on the front of the honi, but frequently obliterated, and always less
strongly marked on the sides, which are slightly compressed. In the
beautiful drawing of this animal given in Daniel's ' African Scenery,'
the horns are represented with an imnatural angular bend, which has
misled many describers, and caused even Colonel Smith to describe
them as forming an obtuse angular bend, though he has himself given
an accurate drawing of the pair which we have here described, and
The Pallah {JB. melamput),
which certainly exhibit no appearance of the sudden angle attributed
to them ; which probably arose from the particular position in which
Mr. Daniel's figure was drawn. The horns for a thini of their length
towards the points are black, smooth, and polished. The head, back,
flanks, and outer surface of the legs and tail are of a deep rufous
oolour ; the lips, eye-brows, interior of the ears, breast, belly, interior
Digitized by
Google
MS
ANTILOPE^.
ANTILOPEJS.
of the thighs and arms, and the region below the tail, white ; the
back is marked longitudinally by a band of deep whinitig black, which
divides on the croup, and passes down along each hip in the form of
a crescent^ separating the pure white of the buttocks and interior of
the thighs from the general rufous colour of the upper parts ; the
outside of the knee and heel are likewise marked by brilliant black
spots, which contrast strongly with the general rust-colour of the
extremities, and from wh^ the animal derives its specific name of
mdampus. The ears are T^y long, particularly in the females, which
ore without horns, and of a smaller size than the males, but similar
in other xespects ; the ears are covered on the outside with short red
hair, bordered and tipped with black, and the knees are without
brushes. We are as yet very imperfectly acquainted with the char
racters of this magnificent species of antelope, so that it is not without
considerable doubt, and only on the authority of Colonel Smith, that
we venture to include it in the present group.
The Pallah inhabits Kaffraria and the country of the Bachapins or
Betchuanas, never descending farther south than the Eoosges valley
in the one <Urection and the Kamhanni Mountains in the other. They
reside on the open plains in fEimilies of six or eight individuals, run
with amazing swiftness, and occasionally leap like the Spring-Buck,
which, according to Mr. Burchell, they much resemble in their general
habits and manners. They are extremely numerous on the elevated
plains in the neighbourhood of Latakoo, and constitute a favourite
object of the chase with the natives, as their flesh, though deficient in
fat, is well-tasted and wholesome. Pallah or Pkaala is the Bachapin
name of the animal ; but the mixed Hottentots, who travel into that
country from the Cape, distinguish it by the Dutch term Booye-Boc or
Red-Buck, on accoimt of the prevailing colour of its hair.
Aniilope
Has elongate, subspiral, erect, divei^ging horns; a tapering face; a
simple nose; a large crumen ; the male with a small suborbital fissure,
and a very lai^e suborbital pit; the tubercles and median grooves of
the basi-ocoipital bone well developed.
16, A. Bezoartica {A, cervica/pra, Pallas), the Sasin, or Common
Antelope, is remarkable for the form and beau^ of its horns, which
compose a spiral of two or more turns, according to the age of the
aninaaL This beautiful animal is, when full grown, about 4 feet in
The Sasin, or Common Antelope {A, oervieapra),
length, and 2 4 feet high at the shoulder ; the head, measured from the
nose to the root of the horn, is 7 inches long, the ears 54 inches, and
the tail, without the hair, 6 inches. The legs are long and delicate;
the body round, but lights and well formed; the head small; the eye
lai^, lively, and expressive; the' ears long and cylindrical, the subor-
bital sinus particularly developed, and in continual motion ; and the
horns forming a complete spiral of two or three turns, wrinkled at the
base, distinctly annu&ted in the middle, and smooth for a couple of
inches next the points. The females, and young males for the first three
years of their age, are of a uniform tawny-brown on all the upper parts
of the body, with a light silvery band passing longitudinally from the
shoulder to the hips, about six inches below the spine, on either side ;
the breast, belly, and interior of Uie fore arms and thighs are white;
as is likewise Uie under surface of the tail, which is rather broad,
and furnished with a small tuft of black hairs at the extremity.
After their third year, the males begin to assume the adult colours of
their sex, and gradually darken on all the upper parts of the body,
till they finally become almost entirely black above and white beneath;
the nose, lip^ and a laige oii^cle roimd each eye being likewise white,
but the li^t bands of the sides completely obliterated. The hair is
uniformly short and close over the whole head, body, and extremities.
except on the knees, which are furnished with tufts of loQg bristki,
forming small knee-brushes.
The Sa«ins are so swift that it is useless to slip greyhounds aii»
them; as, unless taken by surprise, which their extreme precaution
seldom allows, it is impossible to overtake them, and exjMrience hu
convinced the Indian sportsmen that the dogs are more likely to be
injured in the chase than the game. The bounds also which these
animals occasionally take, eitl^ for their own amusement or over
the long grass when pursued, are said to be almost incoDceiv»ble.
Captain Williamson, in his splendid woHl on the 'Wild Sports of the
East,' assures us that he has seen an old buck Antelope lead a herd
of females over a net at least 11 feet high, and thai they frequentlj
vault to the height of 12 or 13 feet» and pass over 10 or 12 yaidfl at a
single bound. They reside on the open plains of India, where thej
can see to a great distance in every direction, live in laige families of
from 5 or 10 to 50 or 60 grown females to a single male, and when
they feed, or lie down to ruminate, detach a number of the yonpg
bucks to a distance of 200 or 800 yards on eveiy side to watch orer
the conmion safety. Nothing escapes the notice of these carefiil
sentinels ; every bush or tuft of grass that might be suspected to
conceal an enemy is strictly and attentively examined, and on the
first alarm the whole herd betakes itself to flight, following closely in
the footsteps of the old buck, and is soon beyond the reach of pursuit.
The venison is dry and unsavoury, and being held in small esteem,
consequently holds out no inducement either to the occasional sports-
man or to the professional Indian hunter. The species extends over
every part of India, from the borders of Persia to the most eastern
parts of which Europeans have any distinct knowledge. It is found
on rocky open plains, avoids woody localities and the thick cover of
the forest ; nor is there any certainty of its existing beyond the limits
of India, though many zoologists, from Ray to Hamilton Smith, are of
opinion that it likewise inhabits some parts of Africa. ^ The fakirs and
dervishes polish the horns, and form them into a kind of ofienave
arms by uniting them at the base ; these they wear at their girdles
instead of swords and daggers, which their vows and religious character
prevent them from using..
Tetracenu
Has the muffle large ; the crumen large, longitudinal ; four horps
the front pair very shorty placed over the orbits, the hindmost, which
are conical and straight on the back edge of frontal bone. The akull
is like that of CephalGphu, with the nasal bones not expanded. The
suborbital foasa laiTje, shallow, occupying nearly the whole of the cheek
It has no knee^tufts; and the females are homlefls.
16. T, quadricomU {AntUope quadricornis, Blainville), the Choa-
singha, is about 2 feet 9 inches in length from the muzzle to the root
of the tail ; the tail itself is 6 inches long, and the height at the
shoidder about 1 foot 8 or 9 inches. The superior or common horns
are about 8 inches long, smooth, black, pointed, erect, and moderately
divergent, bending very slightly forwards, and without the least
indication of annulL The spurious or additional pair of horns are
placed in front of these, immediately between the orbits, and consist
of diort, erect, blimt stimips, about three-quarters of an inch in
length, 14 inch in circumference at the base, and of the same smooth
and black appearance as the real horns. The head is 74 inches long, the
ears 4] inches, erect and pointed ; the general colour of the upper
parts is imiform bright bay, and that of the \mder parts silvery white,
more or less mixed with sandy-coloured hairs ; the lips are bordered
with black. The females differ from the males by the absence of
horns, and likewise by being of a lighter colour, which character is
conspicuous at a very early age, and continues throughout life.
This species, as well as ^agopt, called Chikara by the Hindoos,
is common in all the wooded parts of India, particularly in Bengal,
Bahar, and Orissa ; it is monogamous, and Uves in pairs in the forests
and thick jungle, being exceedingly wild and active, and rarely
suffering a state of coidinement inuess taken youxig. During the
rutting season the male becomes particularly mischievous, and it is
then dangerous to approach him, as he butts at everything within his
reach » the female produces two young at a birth, but the period of
gestation has not been recorded. Baron Cuvier supposes, and
apparently with reason, that the ancients were acquainted with this
species, and that the Four-Homed Oryx of uElian refers to the
modem Chikara.
17. T. lodetf the Rusty-Red Chousingha, is an Indian species
described by B. H. Hodgson, Esq.
18. T. paccervit, the Full-Homed Chousingha, is another Indian
species.
19. T. sulqitadricomututf the Jungliburka, is distinguished by its
front pair of horns being rudimentary and tubercular. It is a natire
of Bombay, and there are four specimens, two male and two female,
in the collection of the British Museum.
Calotragus
Has the muffle lai^ ; the crumen arched, transverse ; the homa
subulate, elongate, erect ; the hoofs triangular, flattish beneath, acute
in frt)nt ; the false hoofs small or none ; the crown of the head
smooth ; the tail very short ; the ears elongate ; the knees not tufted;
the females hornless ; the teats four.
20. C, eampettrit {AntUope TVagulm, Lichtenstein), the Stein-Boc
is one of the most graceful and olegant of the antelope tribe. Ita
Digitized by
Google
245
ANTILOMA
ANTILOPEuE.
»6
legB are longer and smaller in proportion to its bulk than in any other
species ; its body is compact and well made ; its head small, pointed,
and ^ding in a well-formed naked muzzle, and its tail reduced to a
mere tubercle, scarcely perceptible among the long hair of the croup
and buttocks. The whole length, from the muzzle to the root of the
tail, is about 8 feet 4'or 5 inches ; that of the head, from the muzzle
to the base of the horns, i inches, and from the same point to the
root of the ear 6 inches, the tail being 14 inch long, and the horns
4 iQche& The height at the shoulder is 1 foot 7 inches, and at the
croup 1 foot 9 inches. The colouring of this species is altogether
peculiar, and alone sufficient to distinguish it from tdl other ruminants.
In general, it is a reddish fawn-colour on the upper parts of the body ;
but this seems to be glazed or as it were overlaid on the shoulders,
back, sides, and hips, with a light dun or silvery-brown hue, arising
from the hairs in these situations being tipped with that colour ; the
noee and legs are dark brown, the br^st, belly, and interior of the
fore arms and thighs white ; the hair of the forehead is long and of a
deep red colour, and a remarkable black line passes from the root of
each horn backwards, uniting between the ears, and forming an obtuse
angle equally as conspicuous in the hornless females as in die homed
males, and affording an excellent criterion by which to distinguish
the species. The horns of the male are small and roimd, furnished
at the roots with a few faintly marked wrinkles ; but smooth and
polished throughout the greater part of their length, and ending in
extremely sharp points, aunost imperceptibly bending forwards. The
ears are extremelv large for the size of the animal, being nearly half
as long again as the horns, and broad in proportion. But perhaps the
most remarkable character of the species, and certainly that which
most definitely distinguishes it from all the other ruminants with
which it is at all likely to be confounded, though it has hitherto
escaped the notice of observers, is the total absence of spurious hoofs,
both on the fore and hind feet, a character which exists also in the
Prong-Buck, and which, as &r as we are aware, no other ruminating
animals of the hollow-homed family possess.
The Stein-Boc resides in pairs on the stony plains and mountain
valleys of South Africa, not however frequenting very elevated or
rocky localities, as its colonial name of Stein-Boc, or Stone-Buck, would
fieem to imply. On the contrary, it prefers the dry open flats, covered
here and tnere, it is true, with l&ige rocks and boulder stones, but
likewise interspersed with clumps of stunted bushes and underwood,
which furnish it with oover. This is the general character of the
South African plains in the neighbourhood of Cape Town, as well as
of the gorges of the moderate hills and mountains, and it is in such
situations that the Stein-Boc is most commonly found. This animal
is, moreover, remarkably shy and timid, runs with extraordinary
swiftness, and when pursued will frequently bound over a space of
12 or 15 feet at a single leap. When closely pressed, and without any
further means or power of escape, it will hide its head in the first
hole or comer it happens to meet with, and thus patiently resign itself
to its fate.. Thougn it cannot be called a rare animal at the Cape, it
is nowhere particularly common, being muchi hunted on account of
the delicacy of its flesh, which frimishes excellent venison, and great
numbers of the young being destroyed by eagles and other birds of
prey. Colonel Smith has described the young of the Stein-Boc as a
different species, by the name of A, rufetcena ; and the A. pcdlida, or
A. pedioiragut, of Afzelius, appears to differ in no respect from the
adult of the present animal, the really distinctive characters of which
have been hitherto very imperfectly reported.
21. C. mdanotit (ArOihpe tnelanatu, Lichtenstein), the Grys-Boc
is a species closely allied to the Stein-Boc, but rather lower on the
legs and more heavily made. The whole length of the body is nearly
3 feety that of the head, from the muzzle to between the ears,
6 inches ; the height at tiie shoulder is 1 foot 6| inches, and at the
croup 1 foot 7i inches ; the horns are 2} inches long, and the ears
5 incnes. The head, as in the Stein-Boc, contracts suddenly before
the eyes, and ends in a pointed muzzle ; the horns are situated imme-
diately above the orbits, straight, upright, pointed, and* shining, with
two or three small anntdi at the roots ; the ears are long, wide, and
open ; and the tail, almost tuberculous, is concealed among the long
hair which passes backwards over the hips. The hair of the body
is uni-ivrBally long, particularly on the hmd quarters ; on the head
and extremities it is, on the contrary, remarkably short. All the
upper parts are of a deep crimson red colour, thinly but regularly
intermixed with long coarse hairs of the purest white, giving the
whole animal a hoary appearance, expressed by its colonial name of
Qrys-Boc, or Qray-Buck, and forming altogether a character not easily
mistaken. The inferior parts are uniform light sandy-brown or red,
the head and extremities fawn-colour; the muzzle, the openings of
the lachrymal sinuses, and an obscure circle about the eyes, as well as
a mark upon the occiput of some specimens, are black, as are likewise
the backs of the ears, which are nearly naked, vnth a few very short
gray hairs thinly scattered over them.
The habits of the Grys-Boc are in most respects similar to those of
ihe Stein-Boc It lives in pairs upon the plains, never unites into
troops or flocks, and conceals itself in clumps of underwood, whence
it is not ea^y driven, Iving close like a hare in her form, and seldom
moving till almost titxlden on. It is common in most parts of the
colony at the Cape, and being less swift than the Stein-Boc is more
easily captured. Its venison is much esteemed, though, like the
generality of antelopes, destitute of fat.
Scopophonu
Has the muffle small and bald ; tear-bag (crumen) transverse ; the
horns subulate, elongate, acute, and slightly recurved at the tips ; the
knees largely tufted ; the inguinal pores distinct and bearded ; the ears
of moderate size, with a naked spot on the outside of their base ; the
hoofs triangular, and false hoofs distinct.
22. 8. Ourehi {AntUope tcoparia^ Schreber), the Ourebi, called
Bleek-Boc, or Pale-Buck, by the Dutch colonists at the Cape, according
to Professor Lichtenstein, is a much smaller species than the Nyl-
Ghau, and differs from all the other species of tne present section by
the large brushes which, in common with many other antelopes, it
has upon the upper end of the canons, immediately below the Knees,
and from which it was called by Schreber A. Mcoparia. It measures
8 feet 8 inches in length from the muzzle to the root of the tail ; the
length of the latter is 8^ inches, that of the head is 74 inches from the
muzzle to the root of the horn ; of the horns themselves 51 inches ;
and of the ears 8} inches. The height at the shoulder ui 1 foot
10 inches, at the croup nearly 2 feet, and the size of the animal, as
well as its general form and propoztions, are nearly those of the
Roebuck, only that the head is longer and more slender. The horns
are awl-shaped, sharp, slender, nearly straight, and bending almost
imperceptibly to the front ; they are surrounded at the base with a
few obscure wrinkles, succeeded by five or six well-defined rings, but
are smooth and black throughout the greater part of their length, and
end in vpry sharp points. The general colour of the upper parts is a
uniformly pale yellowish-brown, darker in some individuals than in
others ; all the' under parts, as well as the chin, lips, and a longitudinal
streak over the eyes in the form of eyebrows, are white, and this
colour likewise spreads over the posterior sur&ce of the hips. The
tail is covered with long bushy hair of a jet black colour, forming a
marked and prominent contrast with the white of the buttocks ; the
ears are edged with a narrow border of dark brown, and inmiediately
beneath their opening at the root there is a remarkable bald or naked
spot of an oval form on each side of the head.
The Ourebi inhabits the open plains of South Africa, and without
being positively gregarious, is fond of the society of its own species.
It is found chiefly in the eastern districts of the Cape Colony towards
Kafiraria ; and its flesh, though dry and destitute of fat, is esteemed
one of the best venisons of the country. Great numbers of these
animals are found on the plains about Zwartkops Bay. When feeding
they straggle confusedly over the plain, and appear to be in company
rather accidentally than by intention; when alarmed also they do
not fly together, but each runs off by itself in whatever direction it
thinks most secure from danger for the moment.
23. S, moTUamis {ArUUope montana, Riippell), the Gibari, is very
like the former, but is of a gray-brown colour, and the temporal spot
much larger, deeper, more distinct and bald, botii when alive and in
the skin. It was found in Abyssinia by Riippell, and tiie late Earl of
Derby received a specimen from Gambia.
Oreotragtu
Has the muffle large ; the crumen arched and transverse ; the horns
subulate, elongated; the hoofs squarish, high, compressed, much con-
tracted, concave beneath ; the false hoofs large, blunt ; the crown of
the head smooth; the tail very short; the hair thick, goat-like,
spread out. The female is hornless, and has two teats.
24. 0. SdUcUrix {Antilope Oreotrcigttt, Forster), the Eainsi or
Elippspringer, is an Antelope which inhabits the most barren and
inaccessible mountains of the Cape, and appears to supply in South
Africa the place of the Chamois and Ibex. The entire length of this
animal, from the muzzle to the root of the tail, is 8 feet 2 inches, its
height 21 inches at the shoulder, and about an inch more at the
croup ; the horns are 8 4 inches long, the ears H inches, and the tail 8
inches. The head is short and small, compressed on the sides, and sud-
denly contracted immediately in front of the orbits, ending in a small,
round, naked, black muzzle; the lachrymal sinuses open by a
moderately-sized circular aperture ; the horns of the male are per-
fectly straight and smooth throughout the greater part of their
len^h, having three or four small but distinct annuli surrounding
their roots ; the ears are large, open, and rounded at the points ; the
eyes large and dark; and the tail appearing extemally only by a
brush of hair which clothes it There are neither inguinal pores nor
knee-brushes, but in place of the latter the knees of some specimens
exhibit a naked callous patch, probably occasioned by rubbing against
the rocks. The general colour of the animal on aU the upper parts
of the body is a lively and pleasing mixture of yellow and green,
resulting from each hair being individually surrounded by alternate
rings of these two colours ; the under parts of the body are light
sandy-red, tinged with yellow : the interior of the ears is filled with
long white hair, a narrow black border surrounds their edges, and the
eyes are encircled by ike same colour. The hair of the body is long,
padded, and stands perpendicularly out from the hide ; that of the
head and extremities is shorter, and lies in the usual direction; in
quality the latter also resembles the hair of common animals, but the
texture of the hair which covers all the upper surface of the body and
neck is altogether peculiar, being similar to that of the Prong-Buck
already described. It is round and hollow internally, and so fragile
Digitized by
Google
247
ANTILOPE^.
ANTILOPE^
21S
thaii it breaks with the slightest touch, crushing like straw when
pressed between the fingers, and so deficient in elasticity that it never
regains its original form. The tail is covered with a small bush of
hair of the same description, but so short as to be scarcely perceptible
among the long hair of the hips. The legs are more robust than
in most other species of Antelope ; and the hoofs, instead of being
pointed and flat beneath, are peHecUy round and cylindrical, being
worn only at the tips, upon which alone the animal treads. This
peculiarity of structure in the hoof, and the nged form of the postem-
joints, which are perfectly stiff, and in a straight line with the canons,
account for the amazing agility which the Klippspringer displays in
bounding among the most dangerous rocks and precipices.
The peculiar habitat of this species makes it impossible to hunt it
with dogs, but it is easily shot as it exposes itself upon the naked
rocks ; and great numbers of the young are destroyed by eagles and
. other birds of prey which inhabit the same localities. In consequence
of this the animal is by no means common, and ia becoming every
day more scarce in situations where it most abounded formerly. The
excellence of its venison and the value of its hair, which is held in
great estimation for stuffing saddles and mattresses, hold out a
powerful inducement to its destruction.
Netotra,giu
Has the muffle large and bald ; the crumen large, deep, and arched ;
the face and forehead not crested ; the ears la^e ; the horns nearly
straight, elongated, strong, many-ringed, inctmibent, nearly parallel
in the direction of the facud line ; no false hoofs ; the tail very short;
the females hornless.
25. N. moschatus is the only species. It is an inhabitant of the
island of Zanzibar. It was first described by Yon Duben. Iklale
and female specimens exist in the Stockholm Museum.
Neotrcigua
Has no muffle ; the nose ovine ; tibe nostrils dose together ; the
crumen roundish ; the horns short, conical, and recumboat ; the tail
very short ; the crown crested ; feniales honilees.
26. N. Saltiana (AntUope Saltiana, Blamville), the Madoqua. This
is perhaps the smallest of all homed animitla^ being scarcely the size
of a good English hare. It measures 2 feet in length from the nose
to the root of the tail, and about 14 inches in height at the shoulder,
the height at the croup being about an inch more. The length of the
head from the nose to the ear is 5 inches, that of the horns 3
inches; the ears are 2} inches long, and the tail 1^ Inch. The horns
of the male are situated in the plane of the forehead ; they are very
sharD-pointed, almost insensibly bent outwards and forwards, provided
on the inner anterior margin with a prominent sharp ridge, which
runs from the base to within a quarter of an inch of l^e points, and
annulated for about two-thirds of iheir length from i^e roots. The
females are without horns, but have, in common with the males, a
tuft of long stiff hair standing upright from the crown of the head,
and forming a small crest, particularly remarkable in the females,
from their not being furnished with horns ; the hair on all other parts
of the body is short, close, and smooth, except on the hind side of
the hips and thighs, where it is rather longer, and radiates outwards
and round the tail, its pure white colour contrasting agreeably with
the colours of the croup and thighs ; the face, forehead, and legs, as
well as the tuft of long hair between the horns, are of a bright and
deep red, as are likewise the backs of the ears ; the neck, shoulders,
flanks, rump, and outsides of the thighs, are of a dear gray colour.
The Madoqtia (JNT. Saltiana),
like that of the American gray squirrels, each hair being annulated
with alternate rings of black and white ; the back, from the shoulders
to the nunp, is a deep reddish-brown ; and the breast, belly, interior
of the fore ftrms and thighs, and hinder surface of the hips, of the
most pure unmixed white, forming altogether a variety, deainees,
and brilliancy of colouring rardy met with among quadrupeds. Th£
tail is very shorty being in fact little more than a mere stump ; ^
ears are round and nearly the length of the horns ; the hoofs snudl,
well-formed, and, like the horns, of a deep blade colour ; the forehead
is perfectly flat, and the head is compressed suddenly bdow the eyes,
and tapers to a small and attenuated snout; the legs are long in
proportion to the weight of the body, and so small that they scaioeij
equal the little finger in thickness.
The Madoqua is found in all parts of Abyssinia, where it vm
originally noticed by Bruce, who discovered it in the oountiy about
the sources of the Abai, or eastern branch of the Nile. Mr. Sah
afterwards procured specimens in the motmtains of Tigr^ and seat
the horns and legs to the British Museum, where they were obaerred
by De Blainville, and described imder the specific name of AutUcfc
SaUiana, in compliment to the distinguished traveller who proeared
theuL More recently complete specimens have been brought to
Europe by Riippell, and Hemprich and Ehrenberg; and the spedm
has been well described and beautifully figured botn by these tnTel-
lers and in the 'Darstellung Neuer oder Wenig-Bekaunter Saugetkiere'
of Professor Lichtenstein. Little ia known regarding the habiti of
this spedes. It is said to live in pairs in mountainous districts ; aod
Pearce informs us that many of the Abyssinians object to- eat its fleih,
from a superstitious belief of its being often found in the sodetj ol
monkeys and baboons.
CephcUopkut
Has a large muffle ; the tear-bag absent, but it is replaced by a
naked glandular line formed of two series of pores on the side of Uie
cheek; the crown crested, forming a tuft between the horns; the
horns shorty conical, placed fiur back on the hinder edge of the
frontal bone, and inclined backwards. This genus contains sevenl
species.
27. (7. qtiodriscopa (^ArUilope quadriteopa, Hamilton Smith), the
Four-Tufted Antdope, is known only from Colond Smith's descziptioii
and figure of a male specimen formerly exhibited at Exeter ChaDge.
The individual from which Colond Smith's description was taken
was brought from Senegal
28. C. Grimmia {AnUlope Grimmia, Desmarest), the Impoon, Duyker,
or Duyker-Boc, is of a yellowish-brown colour, and grayish in winter.
The hair is yellowish, with black tipa The forehead yellowiah-bay;
the inside of the ears, chin, throat, abdomen, . indde of fore and
hind legs, and under side of tail, white ; the feet^ streak on the no«
and up the legs, and upper part of the tail, black ; the ears dong&t^i,
nearly as long as the head, acute ; the horns blade, elongated, sl^er;
the base rugose, subangular in front ; the skull small and shorts
The Duyker-Boc, or Diving-Gk>aty so called by the Daxch of South
Africa from its habit of plunging under the bushes in its passage
through the woods, instead of leaping over them like the generality
of other Antdopes, is a oommon animal in Kaffiraria and in all paits
of the Cape Colony which abound in forest and underwood, from the
cover of which it sddqm ventures, unless occasionally at night to
steal into a neighbouring garden. It is found alone or in pain,
makes its way readily among the thickets and low buahes, and when
pursued will from time to time stand up on its hind legs to look
round it, then dive under the branches to reappear again at some
distance ; and thus altematdy continuing its flight, and standing up at
intervak to watch the motions of its pursuers. The peculiar natore
of the humour secreted by the maxillary glands of this animal hai
given origin to a common saying among the Dutch colonists, that it
carries the gall-bladder imder the eyes. This spedee is most probaUy
the animal of which the female was long since impeifectiy described
by Qrimm, and which has been admitted into syrtematic catdogues
under the name of AntUope Cfrimmia. The A, PlaUmt of Colonel
Smith likewise appears to be identical with, or at most a casiul
variety of the Duyker-Boc, the characters upon whidi the sepantioD
is made being by no means constant^ and some of them even of
doubtful authentidty. The Capita tylvestris (Africana of Orimm), ia
probably this species. Fitomha or PhikUomba appears to be the
Kaffrarian name for all the Bush Antelopes or spedes of Ctpkalopi
29. O. Oampbellia (AfUilope Campbdlice, Gray), the Black-Faced
Philantomba. This species diflers from the Duyxer bv being jnnch
darker and more distinctly grisled or dotted, and the undo side
being much whiter. It is posdble that it is only a variety of that
spedes.
80. a BurchdUi (AntUope Burc^dLii, Smith), Burchell's Buah-Boc.
This species is easily known from the two former by its daiker colour,
and by the under ddes and indde of the legs beins nearly of the
same colour as the back, and not white ; and ako by me shortness of
the intermaxiUaxy bones, and the width of the nose-hole. It inhabits
the districts more or less covered with imderwood in Eaffirland, and
the country north of the Orange River. When interrupted or puiwied
by dogs, it springs with considerable activity over such bushes as
may stand in its course, and endeavours to plunge into the closest
budies for concealment.
81. C. Mado^pM (AntUope Madoqua, Riippell), the Abyssinian Bush*
Gk>at^ is of a yellowish-brown colour, dightly punctulated with
black; the neck is yellowish, the limbs blacker; the fiacestreak and
feet black; the hair rather close-pressed, reddiah-gray at the base;
Digitized by
Google
SIO
ANTILOPE.E.
ANTILOPEiE.
250
Tipper part polished, yeUow-brown, with dark tips; the forehead is
reddish. This species inhabits Abyssinia^ and is the Madoqua of
Bruce.
32. (7. eartmaiut {Sylvieapra coronata, Sundevall), the Red-Crowned
Bush-Buck, is a species found in Western Afnca, and is very distinct
from the last^ its colour being, lighter, and the fur less rigid and
dose-pressed.
33. C. 9tflvicvUrix {AntUope $ylvicuUrix, Afzelius), the White-Backed
Bush-Buck, the Bush-Goat, and Bush-Antelope, is about 5 feet in
length from the muzzle to the root of the tail, 8 feet high at the
shoulder, and 8 feet 2 inches at the croup : the head, measured from
the muole to the base of the horns, is upwards of 10 inches long,
the horns and ears each 4 inches, and the tail with the hair half a
foot The circumference of the horns at the base is 8 inches, and
their distance at the points 5 inches; they grow entirely in the
direction of the forehead ; are pointed, black, shining, nearly straight^
with a slight inclination backwards, and diverging gradually towards
the points. For about half an inch from the base they are finely
marked with a munber of small transverse strise, then covered for
about an inch with little depressions and inequalities, and smooth
from thenoe to the points. The ears are situated rather close to the
horns ;- they are about the same length as these organs, bread, open,
rounded at the top, and nearly nak^ ; the eye-lids are bordered with
thick black lashes; the tail is bushy and pendent; the buttocks nearly
naked; the limbs short and slender; the knees unprovided wiu
brushes ; and the female furnished with two teats. The hair is in
general remarkably short, sleek, and shining, of a deep brown colour,
rather paler on the neck and flanks, mixed with gray on the thighs,
almost yellow on the throat, dim on the cheeks and sides of the jaws,
dear brown on the face, nose, and backs of the ears, and chestnut-
brown on the legs and feet. A tuft of long hair surroimds the base of
the horns, and along the middle of the back is a longitudinal line
of silver^ gray whicd^ expands upon the croup, and is provided with
hair considerably longer than that on the rest of the body. The
tail is black, covered with moderately long hair, and without a
terminal tuft
The proportions of this species are heavy and ungainly, and bear a
considerable resemblance to those of the Hog-Deer of India. The legs
are short and slender, and appear disproportioned to the size of the
body, which is large and heavy ; the helstd, too, is thick and dumsy,
though much attenuated towajrds the muzzle; the neck short and
thick; the croup depressed; and the back very much arched. This
■pedes inhabits the west coast of Africa, about Sierra Leone, and
the sources of the Pongas and Quia rivers. It frequents the
^ckets and underwood of the upland plains and moderate mountain
declivities, keeping close to the cover during the' day-time, and
quitting it only at early dawn for the purpose of feeding in the
neighbouring meadows. It is at this time that it is pursued by the
hunters, who station themselves on the margin of the woods, and
shoot it as it comes out to graze. It is a slow heavy ruimer, as might
be antidpated from the size and corpulent make of its body, and
tiie shortness of its legs. It affords excellent venison, and is much
sought after on that account. It has long maxillary glands, but no
appearance of lachrymal sinuses.
84. C. OgWrii (Aniilope Ogilbif, Waterhouse), the Bhusk-Striped
Bush-Buck, is of a pale bay-brown colour, with a deep black dorsal
s^ieak, pale beneath ; the crown and haimches brighter bay ; the
neck, withers, and side of the dorsal line varied with deep brown
hairs ; the streak up the fore legs, upper part of hock, feet above the
hoofi^ and end of the tail, black. The horns are short, thick, conical,
very rugose on the inner front edge of the base. This spedes is a
native of Fernando Po, and was named bv Mr. Waterhouse after Mr.
Ogilby, the late secretary of the Zoological Society, and the author of
the artide * Antelope ' in the * Penny C^clopsedia.'
85. C. hadnu, the Bay Bush-Buck, is very like the last species, but
is of a darker bay colour; the legs are blackish ; and the neck bright
bay, and not blacldsh-bay as in (7. OgUbiL It is a native of Sierra
Leone.
36. C. dcntUis, the Bay Bu8h-Gk)at> is of a dark-bay colour, with
shoulders and legs darker. The hair is brown, a few hairs on the
h&undies tipped with white ; the crown and nape, and a broad dorsal
stripe, black; a spot over fOLch eye, the lips, sides of chin, front of
cheat, imder side of tail, and inside of the thighs, pale brown. It is a
native of Sierra Leone.
87. C. niger,ihe Black Bush-Buck, is a native of the coast of Guinea,
distinguished by its sooty-black colour.
88. a Nat4denns {AniUope Naialentit, A. Smith), the Natal Bush-
Buck, or Rhoode-Boc, is of a bright red-bay colour, and has short
conical horns. It inhabits the forests about Port Natal and the
country to the eastward, living in the thick brushwood which fills up
the intervals of the larger trees. It feeds on grass, the young shoots
of trees, and Uie delicate twigs of smaller shrubs. It occupies the
same position at Natal that the little Blue Antelope does at
the Cape.
89. C.ruJUatus {AfUilope GWmmiOy H. Smith), the Coquetoon, is of
a deep reddish-bay colour ; the legs, nape, streak on the nose to the
crown, and broad streak on back, blackish-gray ; the ears blackish ;
the crest and upper part of tail black ; the cheeks rather paler ; the
inside of ears whitish ; the horns conical, rather elongated, obscurely
annulated, and slightly recurved. This is the Qrimme of Buffon and
F. Cuvier. It is a native of Western Africa.
40. C. Maxwellii {ArUilope Maxwellii, H. Smith,) the Ouevei, is of
a gray-brown or sooty-black colour. It has a rather rigid fur, and the
abdomen and front of the thighs white. It is the Guevei of Buffon,
the Royal Antelope and Pigmy Antelope of Pennant and ^law. It is
a native of Senegal and Ghunbia.
41. C. pygmofaj (AntUope perpusillaf H. Smith), the Noumetzi, Cape
Guevei, or Kleene-Boc, is about 1 foot high at the shoulder ; the horns
l{ inch long in the mide, three-quarters of an inch in the female, and
the tail about 24 inches. The horns are small, erect, black, slightly
inclined backwards and towards one another at the points, and very
sharp, with seven or eight minute annuli at the base ; the ears about
the same length as the horns, perfectly round at the tips, and nearly
Klcenc-Boc [A. perpunlUt),
naked within ; the head is long and pointed ; the maxillary glands
not parallel to the plane of the face, but nearly in the same line with
the greater axis of the orbits, or rather in lines parallel to them ; the
forehead and nose are brown, bordered on each side by a narrow line
of a sandy-red colour passing from the root of the horns down to the
muzzle ; the upper parts of the body are of a uniform dark slaty-
brown colour ; all the inferior parts, including the region under the
chin, the breast, belly, interior of the fore arms and thighs, and under-
surface of the tail, ashy-gray, inclining to white in some specimens,
particularly m young individuals ; the legs are reddish-brown ; and the
hoofs small, narrow, and pointed.
This species, called by the Dutch colonists of the Cape Eleene-Boc.
Rleene Blauw-Boc, Blauw-Bokje, all signifyinglittle Gk)at or Little Blue
Goaty inhabits South Africa, and lives singly or in pairs among the
bushes. It is extremely active, and of a mild and timid disposition ;
but from the nature of the thick bushes in which it resides is not
often seen even in those diertiricts where it abounds most plentifully.
It is said to exhibit considerable sagacity in duding pursuit, and
when domesticated soon becomes familiar, and learns to distingiush
those about it, and to answer to its name. This species is also the
A, (xertUea of Colonel Smith and the A. pygjncea of M. Desmarest, who
confounds it with the last species.
42. 0. mdanorheuty the Black-Rumped Guevei, is of a gray colour,
with the rump and upper part of the back of a black colour. It is a
native of Fernando Po.
43. C. punctulattu, the Grided Guevei, is a native of Sierra Leone,
and is of a dark fulvous-brown colour.
44. C. Whitfieldii, the White-Footed Guevei, is of a yellowish ash
colour ; the streak over, the eyes, cheeks, throat, belly, indde of the
limbs, and ring round the feet above the hoofs, ashy white. It is a
native of Western Africa.
Nanotragui
Has very short conical horns ; smfd^ roimded ears ; slender legs ; a
subpectinate tail, and small triangular hoofs.
45. N. perpugillua (Capra perputillOf Linnseus), the Royal Antelopei,
the Guinea Musk, and Pigmy Musk, is a native of Guinea. It is of a
fulvous colour, and has tiie throaty belly, edge of the thigh, and tip
of its tail, white.
Pelea
Has conical, erect^ scaroely diverging horns, bent forward at the
tips ; the face narrow and elongated ; the nose swollen ; the muffle
lai^ge, extended far behind the nostrils; the fur soft and woolly; the
hoofs and false hoofii rather large ; the ingiiinal pores distinct ; the
teats four.
46. P. capreola (AntUope capreolut, Liditenstein), the Reh-Boo
Digitized by
Google
S61
ANTILOPEiE.
ANTILOPEiE.
251
or Peele, ia nearly 6 feet in length, and 2i feet high at the ahoulder;
the head is 6 inches long from the muzzle to the root of the
homB ; the ears and tail, without the hair, about the same length ;
and the horns of the old male from 9 to 12 inches. The head is
long, and tapers gradually to the muzzle, which is small, round,
and of a black colour ; the horns are perfectly smooth and without
any appearance of wrinkles or annuli for the two-thirds of their
length next the points, but exhibit a few obscure wrinkles at the
base ; they are remarkably slender, long, straight, parallel, and so
■harp at the points that the Hottentots and Bushmen use them in
place of needles and bodkins ; the ears also are long, very broad at
the base, and attenuated towards the points ; the tail long and bushy ;
the hair, or rather fur, is of a woolly quality, and of a uniform ash
colour on the neck, shoulders, sides, croup, and thighs, and white or
light gray on the breast, belly, and inner side of the arms and thighs.
In yoimg individuals it is beautifully frizzled or curled into distinct
locks, and its colour is much clearer than in the adults, which have it
straight, loose, and often tinged with a sandy-brown hue on the upper
parts of the body. The hair of the legs in the young animal is like-
wise long and curly like that of a yoimg lamb, but in aged specimens
the legs are covered with short close hair of the common quality, and
frequently with more or less of a dark brown colour. The hair of the
head, face, and cheeks is always short, crisp, and close ; it is brown
on the nose, light fawn on the forehead and cheeks, and white about
the margins of the lips and underneath the chin ; the tail is slaty-
gray above, and white below, and at the tip ; and there is a con-
spicuous black spot at the angle of the mouth on each side. The
hairs individually are obscurely annulated with alternate rings of a
gray and light rufous-brown colour, the latter becoming more con-
spicuous as the animal advances in age, and communicating to the
gpeneral colour of the fur the light rufous shade already mentioned.
The Reh-Boc or Rhee-Boc is of a lighter and more graceful form
than the generality of the other antelopes included in the present
section. The body is long and small, the neck particularly so, and
the legs slender and well-proportioned. Its pace, consequently, is
proportionally swift; it runs with great velocity, keeping close to
the ground, and moving by long strides, and with a motion so rapid
and uniform that it seems to glide rather than run. The Reh-Bocs
live in small families of five or six individuals, consisting of an adult
male and three or four females with their young. The males are
pugnacious, and compel the young of their own sex to separate them-
selves from the family as soon as they become adult Their general
residence is on the sides of moderate hills, among stimted trees and
\mderwood, or in the rocky glens and mountain-passes, in the vicinity
of the little pools of water which remain after the winter-torrents
have ceased to flow. Wherever such situations are found, the
Rhee-Boc is not an imconmion animal in South Africa. Its flesh is dry
and insipid, and esteemed less than that of any other of the numerous
Cape Antelopes. The female produces but one at a birth, which
grows rapidly, and, if caught at an early period, is readily domesti-
cated.
EUotragus
Has the horns conical, thick, diverging, bent back and then bent
forwards at the tip ; the face broad ; Uie muffle rather lai^e ; the fur
harsh, and that of the back more or less whorled ; the hoofs and false
hoofiB rather large ; the inguinal pores distinct ; four teats.
47. £. anmdiruiceus {AntUope BUotrag^m, Schreber), the Inghalla
Riet-Boc, or Reed-Buck, so called from its habit of frequenting
the reedy banks and beds of dry water-courses, is 4^ feet in
length, and 2 feet 9 or 10 inches high at the shoulder. The head
is 10 inches long from the muzzle to the base of the horns ; the horns
104 inches in a straight line, and 18 inches along the curves, and the
tail 11 inches. The horns are round, annulated at the base, with
prominent sharp rings and beautifully striated between, smooth and
sharp at the points, and curved forwards with a bold and regular
sweep, so as to form almost the segment of a circle. The ears are
long and pointed, fllled internally with a profusion of whitish hair,
and beneath them, on each side of the head, there is a remarkable
bald spot of an oval form and shining black colour, which is very
characteristic of the species, and readily distinguishes it from all the
other antelopes with which it is likely to be confounded. The hair
over every part of the neck and body is long and rough, of a uniform
dull ashy-gray colour, sometimes tinged wiUi red on the upper parts,
and silvery-gray on the throat, breast> belly, and interior of the fore
arms and thighs. The tail is long and remarkably bushy, being
covered with a profusion of long woolly hair, for the most part of a
white JOT gray colour, with a narrow brown line running down the
middle of the upper side. The females are in all respects similar to
the males, excepting that they are without hoitis, and of rather
smaller stature.
The Riet-Boc is not found in the immediate vicinity of the Cape,
but farther in the interior of the country it is by no means uncom-
mon, living in pairs or small famOies, and, as already observed,
frequenting the reeds and rushy banks of mountain-streams which
flow only during the winter season, and are dried up by the summer
heats. Sometimes also it is foimd in woods along the banks of rivers,
but always in the neighbourhood of water ; and a variety, if not a dis-
tinct species, is even said to inhabit the plains. This is of a veiy deep
reddish fawn-colour, and has been described by Afzelius and Hamilton
Smith as a distinct species under the denomination of A. fulwhrufula.
Excepting in the redder shade of its colour, however, and ^e nams
of Jtoo<U Rhee-Boc, or Red Roe-Buok, by which it is said to be distin-
guished among the Dutch colonists at the Cape, it does not appear to
Rietboc {E, antniinaeens).
differ materially from the common variety, and the slight shades of
variation which it does present, are most probably the effects of its
difference of habitat and other accidental circumstances. The same
may be said of the A. JtahdlinOf or Cream-Coloured Antelope of these
authors, which does not appear to present any characters sufficiently
marked or peculiar to be considered as indicative of a specific dis-
tinction.
48. B. reduneut (ArUilope redunea, Pallas), the Wonto, or Nagor,
known only from the description of Adanson and the figure o.' Bufibn,
is a species so nearly resembling the Riet-Boc that some naturalists
have not hesitated to unite them. It is 4 feet long from Ihe muzzle
to the origin of the tail, 2 feet 4 inches high at the shoulder, and
2 feet 6 indies at the croup ; the head is 9 inches long, the horns 5^
inches, and the ears 5 inches. The horns have one or two annuli at
the base, but are smooth and shining throughout the remainder of
their length ; they are erect^ parallel, and almost straight till within
a short distance of the points, where they curve forwards. The
colour was uniform fawn or pale red, without any white about the
breast or belly, and the hair was long, rough, and undulating, and did
not lie smooth or close to the body— characters which all tend to
approximate the animal to the Riet-Boc, and more particularly to
the variety which is said to inhabit the plains. It is found in the
neighbourhood of Goree, on the west coast of Africa.
Dr. J. E. Qray refers the Bohor {AntUope Bohor, Riippell) as a
variety to this species. He says, " When in Frankfort I observed
that the male AntUope Bohor from Abyssinia was rather lai^ger than
the male of A. redtmca from Senegal, in the same collection, and the
horns more slender; the female was darker and browner than the
male : both sexes have more black in the carpus and tarsus than the
specimen of A. redunca in the same museum.
The genus Raphicerus, of Colonel Hamilton Smith, appears to be a
very doubtful ona Dr. J. R Grav says t^t the author formed it
" from two pairs of horns on part of the frontal bones in the College of
Sui^geons, which he called Raphiceru* <icuticomu and B. aubukUa.*'
The figures are not sufficient to identify the species, and we now
know that the horns differ greatly in individuals of the same species,
and during the growth of the same specimen. R. ctcviicomu may be
the horns of the Duyker-Boc {Cephaloput Grimmiq).
2. Cervine Antelopee.
These Antelopes have rather a heavy body ; an elongated tail, with
short hair at the base, and a tuft of longer hair at the tip ; the horns
elongated and generally of a large size.
Adenota
Has a cervine muffle, cordate, and moderate ; the nose hairy between
and over the nostrils; the horns sublyrate, ringed, when young
recurved ; no tear-bag, or covered by a tuft of hair ; the hair of the
back whorled, and the hair of dorsal-line and back of head reversed;
the tail elongated and hairy.
The only species of this genus is very like the species of Bleotraffutf
but has a smaller and more cervine muzzle and lyrated horns. It
differs from the next genus in the form of the tail and absence of the
mane, and from it and Bleotragtu in having a tuft of hair in front of
the orbit.
49. A,Kob{AntUope adenota, H. Smith), the .£quitoon, or Kob, is of
Digitized by
Google
tfS
ANTILOPEiE.
ANTILOPEuE.
254
a pale brown colour. The end of the nose, the inside of the ears, the
chest, belly, and inside of the legs and thighs, tip of tail, and end-
baud above the hoofs are white ; the front of the fore and hind legs,
and the end of ears and tail, black ; the hair of dorsal-line reversed,
with a whorl on the shoulder and loins. There has been a good deal
JEquitoon {Adenota Kob),
of confusion about this species. The figure that we have given was
referred by Bfr. Ogilby, in the * Penny Qrclopsodia,* to a new species
which he named ArUilope Koba. His description of the animal,
however, refers to the Antilope Sing-Sing of Bennett, the Kohus Sing-
Sing of the British Museum Catalogue. On this species Dr. Qray
makes the following observations : —
''A fine pair has been at Knowsley some years. Thinking them
new I described them as A. anntUipes. Mr. Ogilby has called it the
Kagor ; but it is scarcely the Nagor of Bufibn. An adult male noticed
by Mr. Ogilby as the Eob is now in the museum of the Zoological
Society. Its horns, like the male at Knowsley, are much worn down.
They whistle like a stag. Buffon ('Hist Nat.,' 12—219, 267, t. 82,
pL) figures a skull with horns brought from Senegal, by Adanson,
under the name of Kob, which is also called the Petit Vache Brunt.
Erxleben gave this figure the name of A. Koh, and Pennant called it
the Oambian Antelope (* Syn.* I 39).
"The figure somewhat resembles the head of a half-grown male of
this species, but the horns are longer and have more rings than the
specimen in the British Museum ; but I am inclined to agree with
Mr. Ogilby in believing that it was intended for this species. In the
Jardin des Plantes they called the Sing-Sing the Kob of Senegal. This
may be a mistake for the Koba. I may remark that the horns of the
Koba, in the same plata of Buffon, are represented with more rings
than are mentioned m the description.
"Colonel Hamilton Smith describes two figures, a male and female
specimen, which were alive in Exeter Change ; and figures the male
and its skull and horns under the name of A. adenotOy which well
agrees with this species, and has the peculiar distribution of its hair
—hence its name : but he says, ' It has a lon^ open suborbitcd slit,
and small black brushes on the knees ; * but this I suspect must be a
mistake, as he himself observes that no lachrymal cavity was found in
the skulL He might have mistaken the tuft of hair for the gland, at
the distance at which he saw the specimens.
" He also (* G. A. K' iv. 221) described a specimen which was
in Exeter Change, which he regarded as the Gambian Antelope of
Pennant, and calls it A. forfex. His characters agree in most particu-
lars with this species, but he says, it had ' a long lachrymal sinus, and
had small brufihes on the knees.' If there was not some mistake in
transcribing these descriptions, both these animals should be Gazelku,
but I have never seen any which agreed with them.
" The young male in the British Museum shows the development
of the horns of these aninuds. The upper rings of the growing horn
&Us off in large thick flakes as the horn increases in size beneath :
this explains how the extent of the smooth tapering part of the
horns increases in length as the horn grows ; and how the number of
rings are found to be nearly the same in the various ages and different
individuals of the various species. Mr. Whitfield informs me that
the scrotum is rarely developed or dependent externally in different
kinds of antelopes before they have completed their first year."
50. A. LecMe, the Lech^e. This animal is nearly as large as the
Water-Buck. It is of a pale-brown colour. The orbit and lower part
rf the body is whitish ; the front of the legs is dark brown ; the
horns are elongate and strongly knotted in front ; the withers have a
■mail roundish whorl of hair. It is a native of South Africa on the
banks of the river Zouga, lat 21°. There is a male specimen in the
British Musetun.
Kohus
Has the horns elongated, sublyrate, bent back, and then forward at
the tip ; the muffle cervine ; no tear-bag or inguinal pores ; the hair
rough and elongated ; the neck covered with longer divei^ging and
drooping hair ; the tail rather elongated, depressed, hairy on the sides
and below. The females are hornless and have four teats.
61. Kohus ellipsiprymwus {Antilope eUiptiprymiM, Ogilby), the
Photomok, or Water-Buck. The following is Mr. Ogilb/s description
of this animal in the ' Penny Cyclopsedia :' — The whole length of the
animal from the muzzle to the root of the tail was 7 feet S^ inches;
its height at the shoulder nearly 4 feety and to the top of Uie horn
upwards of 7 feet ; the horns measured 30 inches upon the curves,
the ears were upwards of 8 inches long, and the tail, with its terminal
tuft, 1 foot 9 inches. The horns are very thick and heavy ; they
spread widely outwards, are nearly straight for the first half of their
length, and then turn forwards with a gradual and uniform curvature.
They are surrounded with 24 prominent annuli, forming lai^ge knobs
in front and deeply striated between, but nearly obliterated behind ;
the last six inches are smooth, and the points blunt. Next to the
character of the horns, this species is most readily to be distinguished
by a ribbon of pure white, which passes over the croup and down
each hip, uniting between the thighs, and forming a perfect ellipse,
having the root of the tail in one of its foci, and contrasting most
singularly with the dark rusty iron-gray of the surrounding parts. It
is to this mark, which is so peculiarly characteristic of the species,
that the name of EUipdprijmnus refers. This animal is a native of
South Africa, from whence it was originally brought by Mr. Steed-
man and exhibited with other specimens of South African animals
in the Colosseum, Regent's Park. It has got the name of Water-
Buck from its habit> when alarmed, of rushing into and crossing
very rapid rivers. It lives in small herds on the banks of rivers,
and has not been known to occur south of 26**. The flesh is not
regarded as good for food, as it has a rank pungent smell, and
disagreeable taste.
52. K. Sing-Sing (Antilope Koba, Ogilby), the Sing-Sing. This species
differs in the tints of its colouring as well as the length of its hair at
different seasons of the year. The following are tiie characters of
the species. The colour is reddish or yellowish-gray brown, rather
grayer on the shoulders ; the nose, lips, hinder-parts of the thighs,
under the neck from the ears to the gullet, a streak over the eye, and
ring above the hoois and fahse hoofs, white ; the bellv and 1^^ end
of tail and legs^ from shoulder to hock, black. The females aro
grayer and have the belly and upper part of the legs paler.
This animal is called Sing-Sing by all the negroes. They do not
think that their flocks will be healthy or fruitfid unless they haye a
Sing-Sing with them, just as a fancy is entertained by some persons
in England for having a goat in a stable. The English on the
Gambia call it a Jackass-Deer from its appearance, and it is called
Koba and Elassimause by the negroes at Macarthy's Island. Its flesh
is strong, and not pleasant eating. As far as can be judged by
recollection and description, the adult specimen at Knowsley, the
young male and adult female in the British Museum, the male and
female at Frankfort, and the adult male in the Paris menageries, are
the same species.
Buffon figured ('Hist. Nat,* 210, 267, xii. t 32, f. 2,) under the name
Koba, a pair of horns which were in the library of St. Victor at
Paris. He described them as larger and more curved above than
those of the Kob, 18 inches long, and 5 inches in circumference at the
base ; and he refers them to an animal which Adanson says is called Koba
in Senegal and the Great Brown Cow by the French colonists. Pallas
refers iJ^ese horns to A . Pygargat and the figures and description agree
in many particulars with the horns of that species, but they are rather
longer and have more rings. Pennant (' Syn. Mam.' 38) gave the name
of Senegal Antelope to Buffon's short account and figure, but has
added to it the description and figure of the head of a skin which
came from Amsterdam, and appears to be ^. Caama of South Africa.
Guvier (* Diet. Sci. Nat.' ii 235,) only translated Pennant's name to
A, SenegcUentiB, Erxleben (' Syn.' 293) and Zimmermann (' ZooL' 345)
have translated Pennant's description of his skin from Amsterdam of
A. Caamat and called it A. Kobet, referring to Buffon's description and
Daubenton's figure. Fischer, Hamilton Smith, and M. Sundevall
regard the Koba of Buffon the same as the Korrigum of Denham and
Clapperton ; but the horns of that species are considerably lai^ger and
much thicker at the base than those described by Daubenton, and the
annulations of the horns are higher and more regular. It should be
remarked that Buffon describes his horns as having 11 or 12 rings,
but figures them as having 17 or 18. Mr. Ogilby (' Penny Cyclopaedia '
and 'Proceedings of Zoological Society') considers Buffon's Koba to be
the Sing-Sing, from the length of the horns, and in the number,
disposition, and form of the rings. His figure more nearly agrees with
the horns of that species than of that of the A. Pygarga, to which
Pallas first referred it ; but the horns, according to Dr. Gray, are repre-
sented much more lyrated than any horns of the Sing-Sing ; indeed,
iiot one of the specimens which had come under his observation
had had any inclination to assume that form ; but as this is the only
West-African species which in any way agrees with Buffon's figure,
perhaps it is best to adopt Mr. Ogilb/s suggestion. The name of
Koba or Kob appears to be oommon to many speoiee. Schinc
Digitized by
Google
255
ANTILOPE^
ANTILOPEiE.
erroneously oonsiderB Datnalii SenegaUmU (Antilope adenota and
A.forfeXf EL Smith), as synonyms of this species. (Gray, 'British
Museum Catalogue/ Mammalia, Part III., p. 101.
^gocerua
Has conical, elongate, recurved, rather compressed, ringed horns,
arising immediately above the orbits ; the nape with a linear, erect,
reversed mane ; the tear-bag covered with a tuft of hair. The female
is I omed, and has two teats.
53. j£. Uuaypheeus {Antilope leuccphceat Pallas), the Etaac or Blauw-
Boc is 6 feet in length, and 3 feet 7 inches high at the shoulder ; the
The Blauw-Boc {JE. leueophfcxu).
head is 9 inches long from the muzzle to the base of the horns ; these are
2 feet 2 inches, measured along the curves ; the length of the ears is
8 inches ; and that of the tail, with its terminating tufb, 1 foot. The
horns are round, uniformly curved backwards, and marked with from
20 to 80 prominent and complete rings, the last six inches being smooth,
and the points very fine and sharp. The hide of this animal is perfectly
black, and it is this colour reflected through the ashy-gray hair that
communicates the dark-blue shade which has given rise to the name
of Blauw-Boc, or Blue-Buck, by which it has long been known among
the Dutch at the Cape of Gk>od Hope.
The Blauw-Boc lives in pairs or small families of five or six individuals
on the open plains of South Africa, north of the Kurrichan& It is
dangerous when wounded, and during the rutting season in particular
is said to attack indiscriminately every animal that comes in its way.
It is exceedingly swifL The flesh is eaten, but is not pleasant.
Antilope barbcUaf H. Smith, the Takhaitze, beautifully figured by Mr.
Daniell in the 'African Scenery,' is a variety of this species, and
diflTers from the Blauw-Boc by its long flowing mane, copious beard,
and superior size. This animal inhabits the country in the vicinity
of Latakoo, and is c^ed Takhaitze by the Betchuanas. It is said
to be so wild and ferocious that the natives are afraid to attack it
openly with the assagai, or spear, as they do other game, but take it
generally in pitfalls covered over with sticks and earth. It is
commonly found in pairs upon the open plains, but when dis-
turbed makes for the wooded heights, which are thickly covered
with the common mimosa, upon which both this animal and the
Girafie delight to feed. The name Takhaitze signifies a fierce or
wicked beast, and expresses the dread with which the resolution and
prowess of this powerful animal inspire the Betchuanas, who seldom
venture to approach it openly.
A. equina of Qeoffroy is also a variety of this species.
Another probable variety is the Dacoi, or White-Mouth of the
Mandingos, the Kob or Koba of the Joliffs, the Yache Brune of
the French in Senegal Mr. Whitfield, who has brought several pairs
of horns of this animal to England, says that the flesh is very good
to eat.
64». jE. nigtr, the Black-Buck, is black, with the face white, having a
dark streak. The female and young are brown. This species is
known from the description and specimens of Captain Harris, and also
specimens in M Sundevall's collection.
Oryx
Has elongate subulate horns, ringed at the base, straight or
slightly arched, placed on a line with the face; the neck maned
above and below; a subcervine nose, the nose only mai^gining the
nostrils ; the hoofs narrow in fronts and false hoofs large.
65. 0. Qaz^la (Anlilape Oryx, Pallas), the Kookaam or Gems-Boc
This is the Oryx of Cuvier, the Papan of Buflbn, and the Egyptian
Antelope of Pennant. It is a heavy stout animal, about 5 feet in
length, and 8 feet 2 inches high at the shoulder ; the length of the
horns is from 2 feet to 2^, that of the ears 7 inches, and that of the
tail 13 or 14 inches. The horns are almost perfectly straight, very little
divergent, and situated in the plane of the forehead; they aro
Gcms-Boc {(hyz Gazella),
obscurely annulated for half their length, black, and blunt in the male,
but very sharp-pointed in the female. The ears are large and pointed,
and the tail pretty uniformly covered with long black hair, forming »
1 arge switch. The general colour of the body is dark rusty-iron gray on
the upper parts, and white on the imder, the two being sepasated on the
flanks by a broad longitudinal band of dark brown or black ; and the
hair of tiie back and neck reversed. The head is white, and \a marked
with two transverse bands of deep black, rising from the root of the horns
and passing down the face, then encircling the eye, and uniting under
the lower jaw with those of the opposite side. PYom this point a black
band passes down the throat upon the chest, where it divides into
foiu:, one pair of which pass along the flanks and divide the colours
of the upper and under parts of the body, the other pair encircles
the fore arms ; the thighs are likewise black, whilst all ihe rest of
the limbs is white, except a black mark on the canons. On the upper
surface, the black line passes down the neck and back, and expands
into a broad disk on the rump. These colours are all boldly separated
from one another, and the harshness of their contrast produces a very
singular efiect upon the appearance of this animal.
The Oryx inhabits the karroos of South Africa. It is never found
in the woods, but keeps on the open plains, and lives in pairs or
small £euQuliee of four or five individuals. It is extremely daiigerous
to approach when wotmded, if not completely disabled, making
vigorous use of its long powerful horns, and it is said being not
unfrequently the first to commence the assault We are even araiued
that the lion himself is afraid to attack this powerful and courageous
ft-nimul^ and that sometimes when, pressed by famine, he has ventured
to do so, he has been beaten off with disgrace, or even paid for his
temerity with his life. Captain Cunmiing b&jb that it eats the bulb of
the Water-Root, a Liliaceous plant
56. 0, Beita (Antilopt Beita, Riippell), the Beisa. Two spedmens
of this species exist in the Fnmkfort Museum, obtained in Abyssinia.
They differ from the last species in having no bunch on the throat ;
the mane of the nape is small and indistinct, and they have no dark
mark on the rump.
57. 0. Lmcoryx (AiUiU)pe Leucoryx, Pallas), the Oryx. This species,
also referred to in various writers imder the names of the Milk-
white Antelope, the White Antelope, and the Algazel, is known to
the Arabs by the name of Abu-hard, Jachmur, and Tazmur, and to
the Persians as El-Walrugh-el-Bukras. It is perhaps the most
celebrated of all the Antelope genus, being the species which is
generally supposed to have given rise to the fabulous Unicom of the
ancients. It is indeed, properly speaking, the Oryx of ancient writers,
but many modem authors have followed the example of Pallas
in bestowing that name upon the Oryx QatdLa of Southern Africa,
with which it is impossible that the ancients could have been
acquainted, whilst the present species has received the name of
LeucoryXf from an epithet bestowed upon it by iElian on account of
its white colour. The horns are at first directed in the plane of the
forehead, and have a single gradual and moderate curvature throughout
their whole course, forming, as it were, the segments of a very large
circle ; they are small in proportion to their great length, annulated
about half way up, gradually attenuated, and very sharp at the
points. The ears are long, erect, and pointed ; and the tail is terminated
by a very copiously furnished tuft of long hair of a mixed black and
g^y colour, which reaches below the hocks. The hair on the head,
body, and extremities, is universally short, and lies smoothly along
the hide, except upon the ridge of the back, where it is rather longer,
and reversed, or turned towards the head in a direction contrary to
that on the other parts of the body, and forming a short reversed
mane from the middle of the back to the occiput The head is
Digitized by
Google
S57
AKTILOPE^.
ANTILOPE^.
268
white, with a brown mark descending perpendicularly from each orbit,
and expanding over the cheek, and a similar stripe passing down the
centre of the hce from the horns to the muzzle; the whole neck
i
The Oryx (Oryx leucoryx).
.'ilso, on the throat as well as on the upper part> is of a uniform rusty
brown colour, but, with these exceptions, all the rest of the body, as
well as the legs and tail, are milk-white.
This species is frequently represented on the monuments of Egypt
and Nubia, and particularly in the inner chamber of the great pyramid
at Memphis, where a whole group of these animals is represented,
some being driyen or pushed forwards, and others led by the horns
or by a cord about the neck, apparently by way of tribute from some
subject or conquered nation. With one exception these representa-
tions are invariably in profile, so that only one horn is seen. The
present species is gregaiious, and lives in laige herds in Senaar,
Nubia, and Senegal, feeding principally upon different species of
acacias.
Our engraving of this species is copied from one of M. F. Cuvier,
who supposed it belonged to a different species from the present, and
referred it to theArUilope Oaeella of Pallas and the Algazd of Prosper
Alpinus, both of which we now believe to be identical with (hyx
Leucoryx.
Addax
Has slender, elongated, ringed, slightly spirally-twisted horns,
sloping nearly in a line with the face ; the forehead with long hair ;
the neck with a slight gular mane ; the nose hairy, ovine ; the hoofs
semicircular, thin-edged ; the tear-bag marked with a tuft of hair.
58. A. fKuamaculatut (AntUope Addax, Lichtenstein), the Addax.
Addax {Addax nas<maculaius).
The Addas is mentioned by Pliny under the name of Sirepticeroty
which, says he, the Africans call Addax (or it may be Addas, for the
accusative addacem is the word used in the passage referred to, and
KAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. I.
it may be derived from either of these forma in the nominative).
From the time of Pliny the only information which we had about
this animal till a very recent period was derived from a figure and
description of the skull and horns sent by our celebrated countryman
Caius to his friend Qesner, and inserted in the great work of that
early naturalist : the travellers, Riippell, Hempricn, and Ehrenbei^,
re-discovered this species, and what is singular enough, under the
ancient African name ascribed to it by Pliny, the Arabs still denomi-
nating it Akasch, Akas, or Addas, with the addition of the syllable
Abu (father), which they bestow upon many other animals, aa Abu-
Hannis (Father John) for the Ibis, &c.
The length of the full-grown Addax is 6 feet from the muzzle to
the root of the tail, and its height at the e^oulder 3 feet ; the horns,
measured along the curves, are 8 feet long, the ears 6 inches, and the
tail, with its teraunating tuft, 1 foot. The animal is therefore about
the size of a large ass, of which it has likewise much of the make and
proportions, the heavy head, thick neck and legs, and switch tail
The horns are round, rather slender in proportion to their length,
twisted outwards and describing two turns of a wide spiral, aunulated
to within five or six inches of the points, which are smooth and sharp ;
the form of the horns of the female does not differ from that of tiie
male, but in the young they are almost straight. The ears are pretty
long and proportionidly broader than in most of the smaller ante-
lopes ; the taH reaches almost to the hock, and is terminated by a
switch of long, coarse, gray hair. The whole head and neck, both
above and below, are of a deep reddish-brown colour, except a
transverse mark of pure white across the lower part of the forehead,
between the orbits, which expands on the cheeks and half surrounds
the eyes ; a patch of black curly hair surrounds the root of the horns,
and there is a scanty beard of Uie same colour on the larynx ; all the
rest of the animal, including the entire body from the neck backwards,
as well as the legs and tul, are grayish-white ; the hoofs are black,
and remarkably broad, to enable ike animal to pass more easily over
the fine and loose sands of the deserts in which it resides.
These animals live in pairs on the sandy deserts of Central Africa
and appear to extend over the greater part of the continent.
Hemprich and Ehrenbei^ found them in Dongola; and a pair of
horns were brought from Bomou by Denham and Clapperton, and
deposited in the British Musetmi.
8. OocUlike Antdopes.
These Antelopes have a heavy body ; strong legs ; the hoofs and
false hoofs large ; the tail very short, flal^ and hairy above ; the horns
conical and recurved.
Capricomis
Has short, strong, conical, inclined, recurved horns, arising behind
the orbit ; the nose cervine ; the muffle moderate ; the tear-bag and
interdigital pores laige.
59. C. Swrnatrentu (Antilope SvmcUrensis, Desmarest), the Cambing
Outan, or Sumatran Antelope, first noticed by "Mr. Marsden in his
The Cambing Outan {C, Sumairentis),
' History of Sumatra,' is about 4^ feet in length, and 2 feet 8 inches
high at the shoulder. The horns are 6 inches long, veiy thick at the
base and much attenuated, slightlv and uniformly curved backwards.
The muzzle is distinct and well formed ; the lachrymal sinuses open
by a small circular aperture, and between them and the muzzle, on
each side, is a long linear space, nearly two inches in length by a
quarter of an inch broad, naked, and covered with a soft black
integument, which represents the maxillary gland, and secretes a
particular humour. The ears and tail are of moderate length, the
hoofs very large, the limbs short and stout, and the whole form of the
animal robust and powerful The body is thickly covered with a coat
8
Digitized by
Google
ANTILOPE^
ANTILOPEiE.
of long hair, of a dark-brown colour, almost black, excepting along
the nape of the neck, on the ahouldera, and inside the ears, where it
is white, and under the lower jaw, which is of a deep straw-colour.
The white hairs of the neck and shoulders are much longer than on
other parts of the body, and form a kind of flowing mane ; the hair
on the head and limbs, on the contrary. Is much shorter than else-
where, the knees are wiUiout brushes, and the toil, which is rather
shorter than the ears, is covered throughout its whole extent with hair
of moderate and equal length, and of the same dark-brown colour as
that on the body.
The Cambing Outan, or Wild Qoat, bo called by the Malays,
inhabits the hilly forests of Sumatra, and is described by Mr. Marsden
as being of o wild character, extremely active and sure-footed, with
much of the habits and character of the Common Qoat and Ibex, of
which it has the roving fSsarless eye and bold undaunted bearing.
60. a Bubalina (C. Thar, Ogilby), the Thaar, Thar, Serow, or Imo,
is of a gray, brown, blackish washed colour, with the crown and dorsal
streak black ; the nose, chin, inside of ears, lower part of mane and
legs below the hocks, whitish. It is a native of Nepaul, and is princi-
pally known by the drawings and specimens presented by B. H.
Hodgson, Esq., to the British Museum.
The Thar inhabits the central region of Nepaul, at an equal distance
from the snows of the Himalajran range on the one hand, and the
sultry heats of the low plains of India on the other. It is the most
common of all the wild ruminants which are found in that country,
' and its chase is the favourite exercise and amusement of the hill
tribes. Its flesh is indeed coarse, but there is plenty of it — and these
rude people are easily satisfied on the score of quality, provided the
quantity be sufficient. Its habits are wild and solitaiy ; it is seldom
K>und in herds, however small; the grown males especially live
apart in the mountains, and never seek the society of their species
except during the rutting season. As might be supposed from its
heavy make and short stout limbs, it is a slow runner, and is soon
brought to bay ; but it leaps well, and makes its way over broken
ground with greater ease than in open level situations. It is foimd
from the eastern confines of Nepaul to the banks of the SuUege, but
abounds especially towards the east. The Thars differ from the
Antelopes in being stout clambering animals, but they are not allied
to the Ox-Tribe.
61. (7. critpa, the Japanese Qoat- Antelope, has a harsh crisp brown
or brownish fur, with whitish sides, white cheeks, and legs black-brown.
It is a native of Japan.
NeTnorhedua
Has short, conical, inclined, recurved horns, arising from behind the
orbits ; the nose ovine, hairy ; the fur short
62. iV. OortU {AtUilope GorcUf Hardwicke), the Choral, is of a gray-
brown coloiu:, minutely dotted with black ; cheeks, chin, and upper
part of throat, white.
The Qoral was first described by General Hardwicke in the ' Lin-
mean Transactions.'
This animal inhabits the kingdom of Nepaul, and lives in laige
herds upon the elevated plains which crown the lower ridges of
the Hixnalayan Mountains. It is wild and fleets and when pursued
flies to the rocky hills, where it easily escapes the hunter, and is
indeed rarely taken except by stratagem. Its flesh' is considered
excellent venison. It is entirely confined to the cold upper regions of
Nepaul, and is incapable of bearing the sultry heat of the plains of
Hindustan.
Mazama
Has small, conical, round, nearly erect horns, slightly inclined back-
wards, and recurved at the tip, ringed at the base ; the nose ovine,
hairy ; the fur double, the outer very long, hairy, and dependent,
the under short and woolly.
63. M. Amerieanat the Mazame, or 8pring£uck. The colour of this
creature is white ; the horns and edge of the nostrils black. It is the
Mountain Sheep- Antelope of Bennett, the Rocky^Mountain Sheep of
Jameson. It inhabits the Rooky Molmtains of North America.
Hupicapra
Has elongate slender round horns, nearly erect from above the
orbit, and suddenly hooked backward at the tip; the nose ovine,
hairy ; the frir soft.
si. R Tragui {AtUilope Ru/picapra, Pallas), the Chamois or Qems.
It is the only animal of western Europe that partakes in any degree
of the characters of the Antelopes. The horns are seldom more than
6 or 7 inches long, and are nearly parallel throughout their whole
extent. The entire length of the body is about S feet 3 inches, that
of the head to the root of the horns 6 inches, that of the ears 4
inches, of the tail 3^ inches, a<id the height at the shoulders rather
better than 2 feet. The whole body is covered with long hair, hanging
down over the sides, of a deep-brown colour in winter and brownish
fawn-colour in summer, being in spring slightly mixed with gray : the
head is of a very pale yellow or straw-colour, with a dark-brown band
on each side passing from the root of the ears to the comers of the
mouth, and encircling the eyes and base of the horns ; the tail is short
and black, and the edges of the hips and interior of the thighs and
ears alone white. The face is straight, as in the goat ; the ears small,
erect, and pointed ; and the chin without a beard. In old individuals,
particularly during the severe colds of winter, the cheeks, chin, and
throat turn white, and the breast and belly are at all times of a light
silvery brown or yellow. Underneath the external covering there is
a short thick coat of fine wool, which lies close to the skin, and pro-
tects the animal from the rigours of the cold mountain regions which
it inhabits. The colours of both sexes are the same, but the females
are rather smaller than the males, and have horns less abruptly hooked
backwards. They go five months with young, and kid in March or
April, producing one or very rarely two at a birth, which they suckle
till the October following. The young are at first of a imiform deep
yellowish-brown, with the lower jaw, sides of the head and throat,
white ; and the same dark bands through the eyes as in the adults
only not extending so far back on the head.
The Chamois {Rupicapra Tragut).
The Chamois, like the Ibex, inhabits the loftiest chains of the
primitive mountain ridges, and displays all the vivacity, restlessness,
and agility of the common goat It is extremely impatient of heat,
and during stmimer is only to be found on the tops of the highest
mountains, or in deep glens where the snow lies throughout the
year -J in winter, however, it descends to the lower ridges, and it is
then only that the hunters can pursue it with any hope of success.
Its senses of sight and smell are remarkably acute ; it scents a. man
at a very great distance, and displays the greatest restlessness and
alarm till it obtains a sight of the object of its terror, leaping
upon the highest rocks at hand in order to command a more exten-
sive prospect, and uttering a suppressed whistle or hissing sound,
being all the time in a state of the greatest agitation ; but no sooner
does he appear in sight than it flies with the utmoErt speed, scaling
rocks which few other animals could attempt, and, if not intercepted
by stratagem, soon leaves its pursuers fiu* behind. The tisual and
most successful mode of hunting the Chamois is therefore for a party
of hunters to unite, and surround some mountain-glen which they
are previously known to frequent for the purpose of lying on the
fresh snow during the day-time; towards this point the hunters
advance simultaneously, when the animals, of course scenting those
which come down the wind, retire in an opposite direction and are
intercepted by another party. The food of Uie Chamois consists of
mountain herbs, flowers, and the tender shoots of trees and shrubs ;
it seldom drinks. Nothing can be more admirable than the agility
with which it ascends and descends rocks apparently perpendicular.
It does not descend at a single bound nor in a vertical direction, but
by projecting itself obliquely or diagonally forwards, striking the
face of the rock three or four times with its feet for the purpose of
renewing its force, or directing it more steadil^^ the point it aims
at ; and in this manner it will descend a rock ahnost perpendicular of
twenty or thirty feet in height, without the smallest projection upon
which to rest its feet. This animal is extremely partial to salt^ and
many stones are met with in the Alps hollowed by the oontinua]
licking of the Chamois on account of the saltpetre with which they
aboimd. The species is found in all the high mountain-chains of
Europe and western Asia, in the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Carpathian
and Grecian mountains, the chains of Caucasus and Taurus, and
perhaps in other situations.
AiUiloeapra
Has erect horns arising directly over the orbit, and ending in a
conical recurved tip ; the nose ovine, hairy ; the fur very dose ; the
hairs stiff, coarse, flattened, wavy ; the tail very short.
66. A. Americana (AnlUope furcifery H. Smith), the Cabrit^ or Prong-
Horn, called Cabree by the Canadian Y oyageura, and The G<>at by the
Fur-Traders. This animal measures 4 feet 4 inches from the nose to
the root of the tail ; its height is 3 feet at the shoulder, and the same
Digitized by
Google
ANTILOPKfi.
ANTILOPEiB.
at the croup ; the ears are upwards of 6 inches long, and the tail
about 4 i inches. The horns rise perpendicularly from the skull, imme-
diately above the orbits; they spread outwards, and are perfectly
The Prong.Hom {A, Americana.)
straight till within 2 or 3 inches of the points, where they curve
suddenly backwards and inwards, forming a small hook, like those of
the Chamois. The prong is situated upon their anterior fskce, and in
adult animals about half-way up from the root ; below it the horns
are strongly compressed, rough and scabrous or pearly, like the
antlers of deer ; above it they are round, black, and policed. The
pron^ itself is also very much compressed ; it is little more than an
inch m length, and points forwards, upwfurds, and a little outwards.
The ears are long, narrow, and pointed ; the tail short and bushy ;
the eye laige and lively ; the limbs long and slender; and the whole
form and appearance of the animal peculiarly graceful and elegant.
The head, ears, and legs are covered with short dose hair of the
common description, but that of the body is long and padded, and of
a texture altogether different from that of other animals. It is
tubular or hollow within like the feather of a bird, but so brittle and
devoid of elasticity that it snaps with the smallest effort^ and, when
pressed between the finger and thumb, crushes like a reed and never
regains its original form. It stands directly out at right angles to the
hide, is about 2 inches lon^ on the back, sides, and buttocks, but from
the ears half-way down the neck it exceeds 6 inches in length, and
forms an erect mane, equally conspicuous in both sexes. On the nape
of the neck, shoulders, hackf and hips, it is of a uniform fawn-colour
for half an inch at the point> and light-blue with a tinge of rose-
colour at the root ; on the sides, chesty and belly, the latter colour
prevails at the root, and the point is of a pure and shining white.
The extremities are uniform light fawn-colour throughout^ except on
the interior of the fore arms and thighs, which are whitei A broad
disk of pure white also surroimds the tail, and passes over the croup,
and the throat is likewise marked with two tnmsverse bands of the
same colour. This is the winter dress of the animal ; but Dr. Richard-
son, who has well described it in his 'Fauna BoreaU-Americana^'
informs us that in summer when the new coat appears, it has at first
the ordinary texture and appearance of common hair, and that it only
assumes the appearances here described on the approach of the cold
season.
The Prong-Horn inhabits all the western parts of North America
from the 58** of north latitude to the plains of Mexico and California,
that is, presoming this species to be the Mazama of Hernandez : it is
particularly numerous on the banks of the southern branch of the
Saskatchewan, and on the upper plains of the Columbia River, and a
small herd annually visits the neighbourhood of the station called Carl-
ton House, where some even linger throughout the winter. They are
gregarious, frequent the open phuns and hills of moderate height, never
inhabit closely-wooded districts, and migrate from noith to south
according to the season. When the ground is dear, their speed sur-
passes that of most other animals, but a good horse easily outstrips
them tStar a slight fall of snow. They are extremdy curious, and the
Indians, and even the wolves, as we are informed by Dr. €k>dman,
know how to take advantage of their curiosity to get within reach of
them, by crouching down, and moving forwards or stopping alter*
Dately. The antelopes wheel round and round the object of their
attention, decreasing thdr distance at every turn, till at last they
approadi suffioienUy near to be shot or captinred. This habit
reoden tliem an .easy prey, but as their flesh is not much esteemed
by the Indians, they are only hunted in times of scarcity. Tho
females produce one lud, and occasionally two kids, early in the month
of June.
IL Antelopes of the Desebt.
In this section the animals have a broad nose with the -nostrils
subvalvular, and lined with bristles within. Dr. J. E. Gray divides
these into two groups, the Equine ArUdopes, and the Bovine Antelopet.
1. Eqtkine AfUdopea,
These Antelopes have a broad, depressed, spongy, bristly muzzle,
with large nostnls, covered with a large spongy valve.
Connochetea
Has the horns bent down, and outwards on the sides, broad at the
base, bent up at the tip ; the nose broad, dilated, spongy, bristly ;
the nostrils laxge, operculated ; the tail elongate, bushy, hairy from
the base ; the hoo& compressed in front ; tiie intermaxillary bones
elongated ; the nose-hole rather large ; ihe frontal bone much produced
behind. The female has four teats.
66. C. Onu (AntUope OnUf Qmelin), the Qnu or Kokoon, is about the
size of a well-grown ass. The neck, body, and tail precisely resemble
The Gnu (C. ffnu),
those of a small horse, and the pace also, which is a spedes of light
gallop, is so perfectly similar, that a herd of Gnus, when seen at a
distance flying over the plains of South Africa, might be readily
mistaken for a troop of the wild zebras or quaggas which inhabit the
same localities, if their dark and unifonn colour did not distinguish
them.
The Gnus live in extensive herds on the karroos of South Africa ;
they are natiurally wild and difficult to approach, and when wounded
will turn upon the hunter and pursue him in turn, dropping on their
knees before maldng an attack, and then darting forwards with
amazing force and vdodty. When first alarmed they oommenoe by
flinging up tiieir heels and capering like a restive horse, tossing their
hoards ana tails, and butting at the mole-hills or other olgeote, but
immediately after takmg to flight, and traversing the desert with a
speed whidi soon carries them beyond the reach of danger. They do
not run in a confused crowd like sheep or oxen, but in angle file
following a leader, and have a pleasing appearance as they skim
over the levd plain& They are said to be subject to a cutaneous
eruption at particular seasons of the year, which they sometimes
communicate to domestic cattle, and which invariably ends in
death.
The Kokoon (A. fattrtna, Burchell), is identical with the oommon
Gnu, as may be seen by the specimen named Kokoon by CoL H. Smith,
in the collection of the London Missionaiy Society.
67. C. Gorgon {CaiobHepat Oorgon, H. Smith), the Goigon, or Brindled
Gnu, has a convex smooth face, covered with hair lying towards^ the
nose ; the chest not maned. ■ It is of a black colour, varied, and striped
with gray. It is the Bastard Wilde Beest of the Dutch at the Cape.
It lives to the north of the Nu Gareep, or Black River, and though
herds feed on its banks, yet itns not known to cross it. It occurs on
the large plains north of the Orange River, and when alarmed each herd
decamps in long regular files. The flesh is good to eat, and is muoh
sought after. The Betchuanas use the skins for their cloaks and
mantles.
2. Bovine Antdopet.
These Antdopes have the nose moderately broad, with a moderate
or small bald moist muffle ; the horns high on the frontal ridge ; the
grinders rather small, without supplemental lobes ; the central cutting-
teeth enlarged at the end.
Digitized by
Google
ANTILOPEiE.
ANTILOPEiE.
261
AeUiaphuB,
Has the horns Ijr&te on the upper edge of the rather produced
frontal bones, thick at the base, and suddenly curved at a nearly right
angle ; nose moderately broad, cervine ; muffle moderate, bald, moist;
tear-bag covered with a tuft of hair. The female has two teats.
68. A, Bubalit (AtUUope Bubalis, Pallas), the Bubale, or Bekker-
el-Wash, is about the size of the larvest stag, and la particularly
remarkable for the great length of its head, and its narrow, flat, and
straight forehead and face.
the Mandingoes. This species was formerly regarded by Dr. J. K
Qray as the Koba of Buffon, but he believes now that this animal is
referable to the next speciee.
72. D. PygargcL, the Nunni, or Bonte-Boc, is of a simple red colour ;
the outer side of the limbs darker ; the streak between the homa,
fieuie, and rump above the taU, white ; the temple and upper port of
throat whitish ; the legs whitish, upper and lower part brown, varied.
The female has the throat and under part of the body white. The
terms Kob and Koba are applied to various kinds of antelopes by the
negroes, and this is the species to which Dr. Qray believes the homa
of the animal belong whicn accompany his description of the Koha.
73. 2>. albifnmif the Bless-Boc, is described by Burchea " A half-
grown specimen," says Dr. Qray, " of this spocies, when compared
The B«kker el-Waah (Alcelaphxu Bubalis).
This animal called Bekker-el-WMh. or Wild Ox, by the Arabs, is
common in every part of northern Africa, living in numerous herds
on the confines of the Tell or cultivated parts, and the Sahara or
Desert, and also, according to Captain Lyon, upon the mountains
south of Tripoli. Barbary seems to be the chief habitat of the species,
but it sometimes happens that a few individuals find their way across
the Desert to the banks of the Nile, where, however, they are seldom
seen, and, as it is said, only when they stray from their native habitat.
At the same time it Lb to be observed, that its representation occurs
among the hieroglyphics of the temples of Upper Egypt. Dr. Shaw
informs us that the Bubale ia naturally of a familiar disposition,
that the young calves frequently mix with domestic cattle, and soon
learn to attach themselves to the herd without attempting to escape
afterwards. They fight like the common bull, by lowering the head,
and striking suddenly upwards with the horns, which are formidable
weapons either for attack or defence.
69. A. Caama (Aniilope Caam^ Cuvier), the Lecama, or Harte-
Beest. It is of a gray-brown colour ; the dorsal line, streak on face,
outer side of limbs, black ; a large triangular spot on the haunches
whitish. It inhabits the plains of South Afnca, and is the most
common of all the laige antelopes in that country. It resides in lazge
herds, and is a favourite object of pursuit with the natives and
colonists. Its pace, when at fuU speed, redembles a heavy gallop, but
IS tolerably quick notwithstanding ; and the animal has a habit of
frequently stopping to gaze at its pursuers when it has got to any
distance a-head of them. Its manners are sufficiently mild and tract-
able, but when put upon its defence it makes good use of its powerful
horns, dropping on its knees before charging, and after advancing some
distance in this position, darting suddenly forwards with great force
against its adversary. The flesh is rather dry, but of a fine grain,
more nearly resembling the beef of the ox than that of any other
antelope, except perhaps the Eland, and it has a high game flavom*
which makes it universally esteemed. The female produces but a
single calf, which she brings forth in September or April, and which,
if taken yoxmg, is easily domesticated.
Damalit
Has diveiging, sub-cylindrical, lyrate horns ; the nose moderately
broad, cervine, with a small bald moist muffle between and below the
nostrils ; an exposed tear-bag. The female has two teats.
70. D. lunatug {AntUope Ivnata^ Burchell), the Sassaby, or Bastard
Harte-Beest, is of a rufous glaticous colour, with the outer sides of the
limbs dark. It inhabits the south of Africa, between Latikoo and the
tropic of Capricorn. It lives in herds of six or ten, in the flat or
wooded districts. The flesh is esteemed. When not disturbed it is
confiding and curious, but when hunted it becomes vigilant and shy.
71. 2>. SenegaUnsU, the Korrigum, is of a reddish-gray colour ; the
front of the face, from nose to occiput, a small spot behind the eyes,
a small streak above the angle of the mouth, streak on outside of
limbs above the knees, and tuft of the tail, black. This animal is a
native of West Africa, on the Qambia River and Macarthy's Island.
It is cadled Tonga or Yongah by the Joliflfs, and Tan-Rong by
BleMuUoo {D, alb'\firon»),
with a similar specimen of D. Pygarga in the Enme paddock, was
darker, with a pale spot between the horns, separated by a dark spot
from the white on the face ; the temple was white, with a white spot ;
the legs had a brown stripe down the outer side of the fronts and the
throat and rump brown, the latter without any white spot."
74. D. Zebra, the Doria. The skins, without head and feet, are alone
known of this animal The specific name is commemorative of Mrs.
Ogilby, whose Christian name was Doria. In the ' Catalogue of the
Zoological Society,' it is called the Qilded Antelope. It is a native of
West Africa. The skins are of a bright golden-brown colour, with
several black cross-bands, narrowing at the end.
We might here close our notice of the fiunily of Antelopes, as we
have come to the end of the species in a scientific point of view. But
popularly there is another group of Ruminants, which are known under
the name of Antelopes, and which were referred to the article
* Antelope/ in the * Penny Cyclopaedia.' This group is not large,
but comprises some very interesting forms of the family of Ruminating
Animals. It is called Strfpticera, from the peculiar form of the horns.
Strtpticenx,
Horns subspiral, inclined backwards ; the tear-bag distinct ; the
nostrils nearly together in front ; the forehead flat ; the males not
bearded on the chin ; the fur white, banded or spotted ; the females
have four teats and a small udder. These animals are distin^ishcd
among the Hollow-Homed Bovine Ruminants, by being marked with
white stripes and spots. M. Agassiz has observed that the horns of
the Strqmcerce and the Sheep are twisted in contrary directions.
Bfr. OgUby has observed that the right horn of the l^epneerof is
twisted in the same direction as the left horn of the Sheep, and vice
vend. There are four genera of this family which may be thus
divided : —
L Limbs equal (Natives of Africa.)
a. Nose cervine. Neck, with a Unear mane.
1. Strepsiceros. Horns spiral, keeled
2. Oreat. Horns stnught, with a spiral keeL
b. Nose bovine. Neck, wiii long hair.
3. Tragdaphut, Horns subtriangular, subspiraL
IL Hinder legs short (Natives of Asia.)
4. Portax. Horns shorty subtriangular.
75. Strepiicerot Kudu {AtUilope StrepnceroSf Pallas), the Eechlongole
or Koodoo, is a magnificent animal of South Africa, and one of
the largest of Antelopes, measuring upwards of 8 feet in length,
and being 4 feet high at the shoulder. The horns of the male are
particularly magnificent ; they are nearly 4 feet long, and beautifiUly
twisted into a wide-sweeping spiral of 2^ turns, surrounded by a
prominent wreath which follows all their windings, and is gradually
obliterated towards the points, which are rather blunt and directed
Digitized by
Google
206
ANTILOPE^
ANTILOPE^
886
outwaida. They are thick at the base, and marked for some distance
up with irregpihir wrinkles, but not annulated, dark-brown at the
bottom, black in the middle, and the extreme points whiter They
The Koodoo {Ulrepsicervs Kudu).
spread boldly and widely outwards, and are usually carried couched
on each side of the back, on account of their great weight The
whole make of this animal is heavy ; the head large and ten^inated
by a broad muzzle ; the ears broad and slouching ; the limbs thick
and robust ; and the whole external appearance more nearly resembling
that of an ox than of an antelope. The ground-colour of the back
and sides is a light fallow-brown, with a narrow white ribbon along
the spine, and 8 or 10 similar bands descending from the back, and
passing obliquely down the sides and hips ; the belly and under parts
are pale silvery brown. On the neck and withers is a thin spare
mane of a brown colour, and the chin, throat, and breast are furnished
with similar long hairs, forming a species of beard. The cheeks are
marked vrith two or three round wMte spots, and a narrow gray line
passes from the anterior angle of the eye down towards the muzzle.
The tail is moderately long, and equally covered with short hair.
This magnificent animal inhabits the woody parts of KafiEraria,
principally along the banks of rivers, to which it readily takes when
pursued, and swims wclL It lives in small families of four or five
individuals. When taken young they are readily domesticated, and
show no inclination to regain their original freedom. The females
produce one young at a time. The large antelope called Aggergeen by
Pearce, in his account of his * Residence in Abyssinia,' has been sup-
posed, but with little probability, to be the same as the Koodoo of
South Africa.
76. Oreas Cannae (Antilope Orecu, Pallas,) the Impoofoo, Eland, Cape
The Eland {0. Cantta),
Elk, Canna, or Bastard Eland, is considerably the largest of all the
Antelopes, being the size of a good horse, and measuring 8 feet
2 inches in length, and full 5 feet in height at the shoulder. The
horns of the nude are 1^ foot in length, very thick and heavy, almost
Btaight till within 3 inches of the tips, where they bend outwards.
attenuated at the points, and surrounded throughout the greater part
of their length with a thick spiral wreath, which passes twice
completely round them, and finishes by becoming indistinct near the
points. Those of the females are longer and smaller, and the spiral
wreath is, in some specimens at least, scarcely to be seen. The head
is long and pointed, the ears are large, the neck thick, compressed on
the sides, as in the ox, and furnished undenjeath with a loose hanging
skin or dewlap, fringed along the margin with a border of long hair.
There is likewise a large protuberance of the size of a man's fist on
the larynx ; and it was probably from thib organ, which is likewise
found in the Elk of Europe, that the animal derived the name of
Eland, by which it is universaUy known at the Cape. From the
centre of the forehead to the root of the tail runs a short erect mane
of dark brown hair, which is reversed on the neck, but directed
backwards in the usual manner along the spine of the bacL The
length of the spinous processes of the interscapular vertebree produces
a considerable and sufficiently remarkable elevation of the shoulders ;
but there is no actual himip, as in the Camel or Indian Ox, th&ugh at
first sight such a formation might be supposed to exist. The tail is
upwards of 2 feet long, and terminated by a tuft of long black hair.
.The colour of the body is uniform reddish-fawn on the upper parts,
and white on the under ; the head and neck ashy-gray, but in some indi-
viduals the latter colour extends over all the upper parts of the body.
The Eland is a large heavy animal, which, when full grown, weighs
from 7 to 9 cwts. and, contrary to the usual rule observed among
Antelopes, is commonly extremely fat Its flesh is consequently more
piized tnajn that of any other wild animal of South Africa, and the
large muscles of the thighs, in particular, are held in the highest
estimation when dried and cured, under which form they are
denominated thigh-tongues. The character of this animal is very
mild, and as it were predisposed to domestication ; it is gregarious,
and lives in large herds upon the open plains and low hills, the old
males generally residing apart Elands were formerly very common
in the immediate neighbourhood of Cape Town, but were so much
hunted, that they have long since ceased to fluent the inhabited
districts, and are now rarely met with except in the more distant and
retired parts of the colony. Being generally very fat and pursy, they
do not run well, and are soon fatigued ; it is even said that when hard
run a red oily perspiration has been known to ooze out from the pores
of their skin, and that they occasionallv drop down from plethora.
Like most other animals when hunted, they always run against the
wind. As the carcass is weighty and consequently difficult to
transport, the great object of the hunters, in the chase of the Eland,
is to turn their game in such a direction as to drive it close to their
own residence before killing it ; and in fact the Cape farmers, from
long practice and intimate knowledge of the animal's habits, very
frequently succeed in accomplishing this masterpiece of South African
field-sports. They are so gentle that a man on horseback may
penetrate into the very middle of a herd, without alarming them, and
pick out ihe fattest and best-conditioned, and as the old bulls are
conmionly chosen on account of their greater size and weight, it
not. unfrequently happens that the herd is left altogether without a
male. There are several very fine specimens of this animal in the
Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, presented by the late Earl of Derby.
Mr. Livingstone savs of this animal — " Our party was well supplied
with Eland flesh durmg our passe^e through the desert ; and it being
superior to beef, and the animal as large as an ox, it seems strange it
has not yet been introduced into Englsmd."
77. 0. DerbiantUf the Gingi Jonga, is a species found in Western
Africa on the river Cassaman. It is of a pale reddish-brown colour,
with the front of the face, the neck, the front part of the under-side,
a spot on the front and upper part of the fore leg, and the dorsal
streak, dark black.
Tragelaphtu
Has horns conical, tapering, with only one spiral turn ; tear-bag
distinct ; neck and throat with longer hair ; nape and back with a
more or less distinct mane; legs slender; hoofs and false hoofs
small; females hornless. \ v -d j
78. Tragelaphut Ewrycenu {Antilope Ewycerus, Ogilby), the Broad-
Homed Antelope, has the head pale-brown ; a broad band before the
eyes, and two large spots on cheeks, chin, and front of upper-lip,
white. The horns are elongated, thick, scarcely bent forward at the
tip ; the throat covered with long black hairs ; the specimens of this
species have come from the Bight of Biafra.
79. T. Angani, the Inyala, a native of Natal, is distinguished
from the last species by the slendemess of its horns, the smaller size
of its head, and the dark colour and small size of the bands and spots
on the head.
80. T. 8cripta{A rUilope icripta, Pallas), the Guib, measures 4^ feet from
the muzzle to the root of the tail ; its height at the shoulder is 2 feet
6 inches, and at the croup 2 feet 8 inches ; the horns are 8 inches long,
the ears 6, and the tail 6 inches. The horns are straight, a little com-
pressed and twisted spirally upon their axis, with two wreaths passing
round them strongly marked at bottom, but obliterated within an inch
or two of the points. The general colour is a reddish-fawn marked vdth
white lines and spota The head is unmixed fawn-colour with a dark
mai-k on the forehead and face, white spots in front and beneath each
eye, and another on the cheek, at some distance beneath the opening
Digitized by
Google
267
ANTILOPE^
ANTILOPEiB.
of the ear ; the sidos of the upper lip and the whole space under the
chin are likewise white. The neck is unmixed fawn, deep above and
lighter beneath, with a white mark on the breast : the body likewise
is deep fawn-colour, with a dorsal line of white and black hair inter-
mixed, and rather longer than those on the rest of the body. From
this dorsal line originate 8 or 1 0 narrow transyerse ribbons of pure white,
which pass obliquely down over the ribs and hips, and are crossed on the
sides and flanks by one or sometimes two longitudinal bands of the
same colour, running from the shoulder to the hips on each side, in a
direction parallel to the dorsal line. All these markings are constant
in the species, and equally common to both sexes : they are at reg^ular
distances from one another, and, as Buffon has observed, present the
appearance of a set of small harness. A few small roimd white spots
are frequently also scattered over the hips and thighs, as in the Bosch-
Boc, and the interior of the fore arms, thighs, and legs are likewise of
this colour, but the breast, belly, and under parts of the body in
general are uniform fulvous brown.
The'Guib inhabits the west coast of Africa, from Sierra Leone to the
banks of the Senegal, from the latter of which localities it was first
brought to Europe by Adanson the naturalist. It is said to associate
with its own species, and to form extensive herds, which reside equally
in the forests and on the open plains, particularly in the vicinity of
Podor and Gk>ree, where these animals are very numerous. Quib is
their name in the Jolifif language. The colours are sometimes subject
to a slight variation as far as regards the number of longitudinal and
transverse bands on the sides. Colonel Smith has considered this
difference specific, and has bestowed the name of A. pkaUnUa upon
the variety with a single longitudinal line on the flanks, retaining the
original name of A. tcripta for the variety which is marked with two
of these lines. This distinction, to say the least of it> is extremely
doubtful, and the difference upon which it is founded is in all proba-
bility merely accidental.
81. T. DectUa, the Decula, is of a gray-brown colour. The back
has three or four indistinct cross-bands ; an arched streak on the upper
part of the side, a few spots forming an arch on the haunches ; dorsal
line, streak on nose, and front of fore legs, blackish. It was originally
described by Riippell, and is a native of Abyssinia.
82. T. sylvatica {AtUilope tyhxUica, Sparrmann), the Bosch-Boc,
measures about 4 feet from the nose to the root of the tail, and is
2 feet 6 inches high at the shoulder. The horns are nearly 1 foot in
length, thick at the base and gradually attenuated, but ending in
rather blunt points ; they are twisted on their own axis, but do not
form the wide-spreading spiral curves so remarkable in those of the
Koodoo : from the base, however, two sharp prominent wreaths, one
on the outer and the other on the inner surface, wind spirally round
them for the first two-thirds of their length, and are gradually
obliterated towards the points, which are smooth and polished. The
ears are laiige and rounded at the tops ; the limbs robust but clean
and well-formed; the tail of moderate length, and similar to that
of the common Fallow-Deer. The male and female are of different
colours ; the ground-colour of the nude is a dark sepia-brown above,
and white beneath, the head and cheeks being light and sandy-red,
and the extremities fulvous ; that of the female reddish-£Etwn above
and white beneath. Two pure white bands cross the throaty one at
the junction of the head and neck, and the other at the union of the
neck with the chest ; the lips and chin are also white ; round white
spots mark the cheeks, and sometimes the nose in front of the eyes ;
similar spots are dispersed irregularly over the hips and thighs,
to the amount of a dossen or more on each side, sometimes even
forming interrupted lines. The hair is of moderate length, but it is
smooth and lies close to the body ; the backs of the ears are covered
with short brown hair ; the tail is black above and white underneath,
and the pastern joints are marked behind with two oblong spots of
the same colour. In very old males the legs become almost uniformly
gray, and at all ages there is a white line running down their inner
surface even to the very hoof. All these marks are equally found in
the females, but not being so prominently contrasted, on account of
the lighter groimd-colour of this sex, they are not so conspicuous as
in the males. There is frequently also a narrow white list along the
back, but this is not a constant character in either sex, and is, for the
most part, wanting in the female& The young males are of the same
colour as the adults, but rather lighter, and the white spots on the
hips and thighs more faintly marked.
The Bosch-Boc, or Bush-Goat^ as its colonial name implies, resides in
the woods, which it never quits but during the bright moonlight
nights, or early in the morning, when it comes out to graze on the
border of the forest, or to zoake incursions into the neighbouring
gardens and corn-fields. Its voice resembles the barking of a dog,
and its deceitful tone sometimes leads the benighted traveller into the
most remote and lonely depths of the forest, in the vain search after
some human habitation, which he is all the time leaving behind him.
It is a slow runner, and easily caught when surprised in an open
situation, but it keeps close to -Uie woods, through which it penetrates
with great ease, nmning with the horns couched backwards along the
sides of the neck, to prevent them from impeding its course by striking
against the branches, and having the neck and throat frequently
denuded by rubbing against the underwood, as it forces its passage
through the thick covers. The species is monogamous, the male and
female being always found either alone, or accompanied by one or twu
kids, but never by adult individuals. It is common enough in
Kafifraria, and in such parts of the Cape Colony as have sufficient
forest to afford it a secure asylum ; its flesh makes good venison, that
of the breast being particularly esteemed.
83. Portax Tragocamdua {ArUUope pictct, Pallas), the Nil-Ghau or
Nyl-Ghau, one of the largest and most magnificent Antelopes known,
being upwards of 4 feet high at the shoulder, inhabits various parts of
India, whence it has often been brought to England, where it hves
and breeds, and is not an uncommon ammaL The face of tins species
is long and narrow ; the muzzle large and naked ; the horns about 7
inches long, small, round, and black, rather distant at the base, nearly
parallel throughout their whole length, pointed and slightly curved
forwards ; they are perfectly smooth and without annuli, but rather
triangular at the base, and gradually rounded and attenuated towards
the points. The lachrymal sinuses are large ; the ears 7 inches in
length, broad and rounded like those of an ox ; the neck deep and
compressed like that of the horse, not round and cylindrical a;: in the
llie Nil^hau {Fortax TragooamelvM),
Stag and most other Antelopes ; and the tail broad, equally covered
with hair on the sides and at the root, but terminated by a long black
tuft, and descending to the houghs. The legs are sxnall and well-
formed, the anterior rather longer than the posterior ; and the spinous
processes of the dorsal vertebro so much elevated between the
shoulders as to give the animal the appearance of having a small
hump. When at rest, the feet are gathered close under the body, and
the tail turned in between the hind legs. The hair is uniformly short
and close upon every part of the head, body, and limbs, excepting
along the top of the neck and on the shoulders, where it is long, stiff,
and uprighl^ forming a thin erect mane which extends from between
the ears half-way down the back, and on the middle of the throat,
where there is a species of beard composed of stiff bristly hair. The
general colour is a uniform slaty-blue on the upper parts in the male,
and tawny-red in the female ; on the \mder parts uniform white in both
sexes. The limbs and face are almost brown, and the lips, chin, and
under surface of the tail, white. There is a large white sf>ot on the
throat, and two smaller ones on the cheeks under the lachrymal
sinuses ; the pastern joints are marked in front with one spot> and in
rear with two conspicuous spots of the same colour, which contrast
strongly with the dark brown of the surrounding parts, and have
suggested the specific name of Antilope picta which was given by
Pallas to this animal.
The Nyl-Qhau resides in the dense foi^ets of India, whence it occa-
sionally makes excursions very early in the morning or during the
night, to feed upon the corn-fields of the ruitives which happen to be
situated in the vicinity of the jungle. It is a vicious animM, of very
uncertain temper, and as it is both powerful and resolute;, and fre-
quently turns upon its pursuers, it is seldom made an object of chase
except by the native princes, who employ elephants for this purpose,
or inclose the game in nets. The usual method which the shDiarrees,
or professional himters, employ for its capture is to shoot it from an
elevated platform when it comes out at night or early in the morning
to feed on the confines of the jungle ; this being likewise their mode
of destroying tigers, wild boars, and other beasts which they dare not
attack openly. Even in confinement, and when domesticated from
birth, the violent and changeable temper of the Nyl-Ghau cannot be
trusted. Previous to making an attack, it drops upon the fore-
knees, advancing in this position till within a proper distance, then
darting suddenly forwards with the velocity of an arrow, and with a
force which no ordinary animal can withstand. Yet^ notwithstanding
Digitized by
Google
363
ANTIMONOPHYLLITE.
APR
870
its vigour aad resolution, it ia the most common prey of the tiger,
which the shikarreee often destroy in the very act of derouring the
mangled remama of this animal ; for, when these are discovered, the
hunters always erect their platforms in a convenient situation in the
neighbourhood of the carcass, knowing by experience that the tiger
is sure to return on the following night to glut himself at leisure with
the produce of his previous chase. The Nyl-Qhau has often bred in
confinement, both in this country and in India, The period of gestar
tion lasts eight months, and two young are most commonly pro-
duced at a birth. At first the young males are of the same reddish-
brown colour as the females, and only assume the g^yish-blue shade
proper to their sex on arriving at maturity : their growth is, however,
rapid, and they attain their adult size in the second or third year of
their age.
ANTIMONOPHYLLITE. [Antimony.]
AJ^TIMONY, a silver-white metal, slightly blue, and with a very
brilUant lustre. Its hardness is as great as that of gold. It has a
■pecifio gravity of 6*7 — 6*8. It does not combine with oxygen at the
ordinary temperattire of the atmosphere, but is fused at a temperature
a little below red-heat, and bums very vividly. It is a compact
brittle metal, and is sometimes foimd pure in nature, but never
abundantly. It occurs mixed with lead, silver, arsenic, and other
metals, but its most important ore, and that from which it is
obtained for ooxomercial and medicinal purposes, is the sulphuret.
It enters into composition with other metals in several alloys used
in the art& Type Metal is composed of one-fomih to one-twelfth of
antimony, the rest being lead, tm, bismuth, and copp^. ffard Pewter
is made of 12 parts of tin and 1 of antimony ; Britannia Metal of
antimony, tin, bismuth, and copper. The markets are supplied with
the ores of antimony from Hungaiy, England, France, and lately
from Borneo. The following are some of the forms in which
antimony occurs as a mineral : —
Native Antimony, with a little silver. Stihnile is^ an antimoniate of
antimony, the oxide of antimony acting as an add. There are two
oxides or adds of antimony, both of which are found native, and are
called Antimonie Acid and Antimonious Acid. White Antimony is a
aeaquioxide of antimony. Aniimonophyllite is an impure oxide of
antimony. Oray Antimony is a compound of three of sidphur and one
of antimonv. It occurs in masses or veins in Metamorphio and
Igneous rocxs. It fuses rapidly in the flame of a candle. It is often
seen in long prismatic or acicmar crystals with strong vertical strise.
Zinkenite is a sulphuret of antimony and lead, containing 45 per cent,
of antimony. Ptagionite is the same, but contains only 38 per cent,
of antimony. Feather Ore is the same, with 81 per cent. BotUangerite
the same, with 25 j^ per cent. Jamesonite ia a sulphuret of antimony,
with iron and bismuth, containing 35 per cent, of antimony. Bed
Antimony is also called Kermes Mineral and Antimony Blende, and is a
mixture of the sulphuret and oxide of antimony, containing 75 per
cent, of the latter. Antimoniate of Lead contams 31 per cent, of
antimony. Artenical Antimony contains 62 per cent, of arsenic and
37 per cent of antimony. Berfhierite or Hardingerite is a sulphuret
of antimony and iron. The following are sulphurete of antimony and
lead i—StdnmamiHe, Killbrickenite, Kobellite, WhUe Silver, Oeokronite,
and BouUmgerite.
( Ansted, Elem^entary Churu of Mineralogy, &c.)
ANTIRBHrNUM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural
order Scrophvlariaeece, This genus is the type of a section of the
order to which also the genera LinaritLf AnarrhiMim, Mavrandia,
Galvena, Lophoapermwrnf and Bhodoehiton belong. It is characterised
by a 5-parted o\>IiquB calyx ; a personate corolla, gibbous at the base,
but with no distinct spur ; the lobes of the upper lip erect^ those of
the lower spreading, S^fid, with the middle segment smallest^ and a
bearded palate which doses the mouth ; the capsule 2-celled, opening
by two or three pores at the top ; seeds oblong, minute, with black
testa. The spedes are annual or perennial, rarely shrubby. The
leaves are feather-veined, and entire, opposite below, and usually
alternate abovisL Two of the spedee are indigenous to Great Britain.
All of them produce showy flowers, and are much cultivated in
gardens. Their medicinal properties are not very active.
A. maJHM, Great or Common Snapdragon, has lanceolate, oppodte
or alternate glabrous leaves, racemose flowers, ovate obtuse sepals,
much shorter than the corolla, and the upper lip bifid. Tlus plant
attains a hdght of one or two feet, and has piU7>lish-red or white
flowers. It is found in Great Britain on old walls and chalk diffb,
especially in the neighbourhood of London, but it is undoubtedly a
naturalised plant, being truly indigenous in the south of Europe and
the north of Africa. In gardens a variety is often seen with double
flowera. The leaves are bitter and slightly stimulant.
A. Oro>ntium, Orontium Snapdragon, or Calves* Snout, has linear-
lanceolate oppodte or alternate leaves ; the flowers loosely spiked,
distant ; the sepals linear and longer than the corolla This plant
appears to be tndy indigenous in England and Ireland, where it occurs
in dry sandy and gravelly soils. It is also a native throughout
Europe, in the islaads of the Mediterranean, and the north of Africa.
It has been found in Virginia, but it has been probably introduced.
Its leaves as well as those of other spedes have been used as cataplasms
in indolent tumors.
Don enumerates twelve other spedes, many of which have been
introduced into our gardens. They are pretty border-flowers, and
adapted for rock-work. They are easily cultivated; the perennial
species may be increased by cuttings, and the annual raised by seeds.
The spedes from subtropical districts will however require a frame
or the greenhouse in the winter.
(Babington, Mat¥Ml of Britith Botany; Don, Gardener* t Dictionary.)
ANTBIMOLITE, in Mineralogy, a hydrous silicate of alumina, with
lime and potash. According to Dr. Thomson it occurs in stalactitical-
looking masses about the length and thickness of a finger, adhering to
the summit of cavities in an amygdaloidal rock. In tiie centre of
each stalactite is a crystal of calcareous spar,'or a fibrous-looking
round mass, pretty long, and having a foliated structure and a brown
colour, consisting of cslcareous spar. Colour chalk-whitei Texture
fine sUky fibrous. The fibres diverging from the central nudeus.
Opaque. Dull. Hardness 8'75. Specific gravi^ 2*0964.
When heated it loses water and hydrochloric add. Before the
blowpipe it softens into an enamd, and with phosphate of soda gives
very slowly a transparent colomrlesa glass. It gelatinises in hydro-
chloric add.
Foimd on the seaHshore at Bongore, about four miles from the
Giants' Causeway, on the north coast of the county of Antrim.
Analysis by Dr. Thomson : —
Silica 48*470
Alumina 30*260
Lime 7*500
Potash 4*100
Protoxide of Iron 01 90
Chlorine 0*098
Water 15*820
100-938
ACUTA, from a Greek word, iapr^. The aorta is the great vessel
from which all the arteries of the body which carry red blood derive
their origin. It arises from the upper and back part of the left ventricle
of the heart. Its origin is directly oppodte the lower mazgin of the
cartilage of the third rib on the right side of the chest From this
point it ascends behind the pulmonary artery, still inclining a little
to the right dde of the chest It continues to ascend as far as the
top of the second vertebra of the back. All this part of Uie vessel is
called the Aorta Ateendens, When it reaches as high as the lower
margin of the first rib, it bends obliqudy backwards towards the body
of the third vertebra of the back. This part of the vessel is called
the Curvature or the Transverse Arch of the Aorta. From the third
vertebra of the back, where its arch terminates, it proceeds in a
straight course downwards through the chest, immediately in front of
the spinal column, and towards the left dde of it Through an
opening formed for it in the diaphragm it passes from the chest into
the abdomen. All this part of the vessel, namely that extending
between the termination of the arch and the diaphragm is denominated
the Descending or the Straight Portion of the Thoradc Aorta. Having
passed through the diaphragm into the abdomen, it is called the
Abdominal Aorta. It continues to descend along the front of the spine
a little obliquely, until it reaches the fourth vertebra of the loins :
here it divides into tw<f biftnches of equal size, and may be said to
terminate, for it now loses the name of aorta ; the two great branches
into which it divides being denominated the Common Iliac Arteries.
[Heart.]
A'PATITE, a mineral substance crystallised in 1 ho regular six-dded
prism, usually terminated by a truncated six-sided pyi-amid. It occurs
varioiidy modified by the removal of its lateral sides and angles. Its
spedfic gravity varies from 3*25 to 3*5. It is scratched by felspar,
but scratches fluor-spar. In colour it passes from white through
various shades of yellow to green and blue, and some specimens possess
a red tint It is usually tranducent, but rarely transparent From
the analysis of G. Rose, Apatite appears to be a compound of phosphate
of lime with fluoride of caldum, in which the fluorine is more or less
replaced by its isomorphous element, chlorine.
This mineral principally occurs in the Primitive rocks, and is found
in the tin-veins of St Midiael's Mounts Cornwall, and also in those of
Bohemia and Saxony. It has also been observed in a massive mineral
called phosphorite, which appears to possess a similar chemical con-
stitution, and has been found abunduitly in beds alternating with
limestone and quartz, near Logrosan, in Estremadura in Spain. Since
the practice of applying phosphate of lime to the boU has come into
use, it was proposed to employ tlus mineral ; but it does not ftpp^
that any of the phosphate of lime which is now used in artinciai
manures is obtained fh>m this source. The phosphate of lime thus
employed seems to owe its origin to an oiganic cause. [CoPROLiTBa.]
APE is sometimes employed in Zoology to express a genus of
Quadrumanous Mammals, which closely approadies to the human
spedes in anatomical structure, and is justly regarded as the connect-
log link between man and the lower MiiTnala The word ape seems to
be of doubtful origin : in German it is Affe, from which the verb affen
appears to have come. This is perhaps more probable than to suppose
that affe comes from iiffen. The name exists, with very slight varia-
tion, in all the modem languages of Teutonic origin; as Ape in
English, Affe in German, A op in Dutch, &c These dso are the only
European languages which possess original appropriate names to
Digitized by
Google
ri
APE.
APE.
tn
distiziguiBh these animalH from monkeyB in general Our own language
is even more copious than others in terms for distinguishing the
different characters of this class of animals ; thus we say that on Ape
is a monkey without a tail, and a Baboon a monkey with a short tail,
reserving the term Monkey more particularly for thoae species which
have very long tails ; and though our early writers use these three
words indiscriminately as synonymes, and apply them indifferently to
the same animal, yet the significations here given have generally pre-
vailed since the time of Ray, and are now almost exclusively adopted.
It must be confessed however that these significations are extremely
vague, and certainly do not express the zoological relations which
subsist between the different sections of this group of animals.
According to its modem zoological definition, the genus Ape, or
PitheetUf comprises those quadrumanous mammals which have the
teeth of the same nimiber and form as in man, and which possess
neither tails nor cheek pouches. This definition, whilst^ on ijie one
hand, it excludes certain tailless baboons and monkeys, comprehends,
on the other, the three sub-genera of Orangs, Chimpanzees, and Gib-
bons. Nor are these the only characters which the Apes share in
The Chimpanzee,
common. They, of all other animals, approach most nearly to the
human species in organisation, although their points of inferiority are
more numerous than at first sight appear. The arms are so long as
almost to touch the ground when the animals stand erect on their
hind legs ; but the legs themselves are scarcely one-third of the entire
height The legs moreover are not in the same line with the thighs ;
the knees are turned outwards, and the feet are articulated at the
ankle in such a manner that their sole^ turn inwards so as to face
or be opposed to one another. By these means the Apes are enabled
to embrace or grasp the trunks and branches of trees with much
greater force thim if their members were constructed like our own.
They thus become essentially sylvan or arboreal animals, and never
voluntarily abandon the forests, where they find at once the most
congenial food and the most perfect security.
Their whole oi^nisation peculiarly adapts the Apes to these habits.
Besides the conformation of the extremities just noticed, the fingers
and toes are long, flexible, and deeply separated from one another,
and the thumb, or interior finger, is completely oppoeeable to the other
four, as well on the posterior as on the anterior extremities : thus,
their feet and hands are equally formed for prehension. They are
not Quadrupeds, as Buffon has justly observed, but Quadnimana ; not
four-footed but essentially four-handed animals. One part of their
oi^anisation renders them intermediate between the bats and ordinary
mammals ; another makes them the connecting link between man and
the inferior animals. The great length of the fingers and anterior
extremities, compared with those behind, are precisely what we observe
among winged mammals, only that the fingers are not connected by
a flying membrane; and their economy and habitat equally corre-
spond with this intermediate structure. They are neither confined
to the surface of the earth like the generality of mammals, nor do
they possess the power of elevating themselves into the air, like the
bats; but they choose a middle habitat^ the forests, where they
habitually reside, and where they move about w-ith an ease and
velocity which can only be compared to actual flight. On the other
hand, when compelled by circumstances to traverse any part of the
earth's surface, their pace, properly speaking, is neitiier that of a
biped nor of a quadruped ; they do not walk upright like a man, nor
yet do they walk upon all-fours like the lower animals. The great
length of their arms prevents them from adopting either of these
modes of progression in its simple form, but they avail themselves of
this very circumstance in another manner. Their long arms serve
them instead of crutches, and their pace is precisely that of a lame
man who walks with the assistance of these instruments. From the
Orang-Outan.
oblique articulation of the posterior extremities, they rest only on the
outer edge of the foot, but the wavering equilibrium thus occaaioned
is secured by the long fore-arms, which can easily touch the ground
in all directions ; and, when an advance is to be made, it is accom-
plished by resting the weight of the body upon the half-closed fists,
and then swinging the hinder extremities forward, precisely like a
man on crutches. In their native forests the extreme length of their
fore-arms is turned to the greatest advantage : here it acts upon the
principle of the rope-dancer's balancing-pole, and completely secures
their equilibrium even with the most precarious footing. Thus it is
that travellers have seen the Apes poised at the very extremity of the
slender trunks of the bamboo, waving their long arms from aide to
side with the most graceful and easy motions.
Another circumstance in the structure of the Apes, in which they
differ from most other Quadrumana, has considerable influence upon
their habits ; this is the entire want of a tail Though the presence
of this organ does not always indicate a corresponding fimction, and
though its absence is not confined to this group of quadrmnanous
animals, yet a long tail would seriously embarrass the nearly erect
motion of the real Apes ; whilst its use is in other respects superseded
by the length of the fore-arms, which supply its place in adjusting
the proper balance of the body, the only function which the tail pei^
forms in the common monkeys. But another character of still greater
Digitized by
Google
273
APKREA.
APHia
274
importance diBtinguishes the real Apes firom the rest of the Qaadru-
mana, namely, the want of cheek-pouches. These are sacs or cayi-
ties in the cheeks, which open inside the mouth between the cheek
and the lower jaw, and senre to hold any extra provision which the
animal may not at the moment require. The SemnopUheci alone, of
all the other monkeys of the old world, resemble the Apes in this
respecty and hence arise some of the most striking resemblances which
the characters and habits of these two genera presentw In other
reepects they are sufficiently distinguished from one another by the
long tails of the Semnopitheci, not to mention their extremities of
nearly equal length, and the peculiar structure of their stomachs and
teeth. Another character, which is common to all the other known
Quadrumana of the old continents, is found in some species only of
the real Apes, and is absent in others : this is the possession of Callosi-
ii^, which are naked callous parts of the buttocks, upon which these
animals sit when &tigued by the violent and rapid movements which
they habitually execute. Illiger and some other zoologists have con-
sidered this circumstance of sufficient importance to warrant the
separation of the Ajies into two distinct genera, the one characterised by
the absence of callosities, the other by the presence of them ; but it is
to be observed, that, even where these organs do exist in the Apes, it ia
always in a rudimentary form ; they are never developed to such an
extent as to influence the habits of the animals, and are consequently
unfit to be considered as generic charactera In other respects,
except in these diminutive callosities, the Gibbons do not differ from
the Orangs and Chimpanzees ; they have the same system of dentition,
the same oigans of sense, and the same singular modification of the
locomotive organs ; their manner of life also is precisely the same ;
both -equally take up their habitation in the thickest and most soli-
tary forests ; they inhabit the same countries, and live upon the same
food.
The teeth of the Apes, as indeed of all the other monkeys of the
old world, are of the same number as in man ; nor, as far as the
incisors and molars are concerned, do they present any difierence in
form ; but in the adult animals, and more especially in the old males,
the canines are developed in the same relative proportion as in the
Camivora ; the tusks of the full-grown Orang-Outan are at least as
large as those of the lion, and are most formidable weapons. Unfor-
tunately we know but little of the manners of these Aninmla in their
adult state; but this circumstance gives us strong reason to suppose
that the extreme gentleness and placidity observed in the young
individuals usually brought into Europe do not always oontinue to
characterise them in their native dimates, but that their disposition
alters in proportion to the development of their muscular force, and
that in their adult state they are as formidable and mischievous as
the Baboons themselves.
The oharacters and habits of the Apes present differences which will
be noticed in speaking of the several species. As far however as their
general manners have been observed, they appear to be of a grave
and gentle disposition, totally free from that petulance and mi^shie-
Tous curiosily which so strongly characterise the monkejrs, properly
so called, are very affectionate towards those who treat them kindly,
solemn and deliberate in all their actions, extremely circumspect and
intelligent, seldom moved to violent passion, but peevish and fretful
when crossed or disappointed. They never walk on two legs except
when they have occasion to use the fore hands in carrying something.
Kearly or altogether deprived of calloBities, they do not repose in the
manner of ordinary monkeys^ on their hams, but stretch themselves
on their sides, like human beings, and support their heads upon their
bands, or by some other means supply the use of a pillow.
For an account of the most remarkable Apes see Chimpanzee,
Obaso-Outait, and Qibbox. For an arrangement of the species and
their relation to other Monkeys see Simiajdjb, and Quadrumana.
APEREA, a species of Wild QuinearPig. [Htstricidjb.]
APETAL^, Plants without Petals, constitute one of the divisions
in Jussieu's arrangement of plants according to a natural system.
They comprehend all genera which are Dicotyledonous or Exogenous,
and which have a calyx without corolla. By some they are called
Monochlamydeous. Ae character by which these plants are defined
is as constant as any of those which botanists employ for subordinate
divisions, but it must not be considered absolute ; for not only are
many of the genera which, in consequence of their natural affinities,
are included among Apetalous Plants provided with rudimentaiy
petals, but it occasionally happens that in orders otherwise constantly
furnished with a eorollek, particular genera occur in which no petals
are produced ; a verv remarkable instance of which is to be met with
in the pretty little shore-plant found on most of the sandy beaches of
this country, and called Glatue maritima. This species is very nearly
related to tiie Primrose, and certainly belongs to the same natural
order as that plant, but it has no corolla; in place of which the
border of the calyx becomes coloured, and it therefore apparently
belongs to the apetalous division, although, in reality, it fonns an
exception to the character of monopetalous plants.
APHANESITE, a mineral consisting of arsenic acid and oxide of
copper, with water.
APMERESE, a mineral oonwHting of phosphoric acid and oxide of
copper, and water.
APHIS, the Plant-Louae, or Pueeron, an extensive genua of insects
HAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. I.
belonging to the order ffomoptera. They are interesting to naturalists
on account of their very peculiar economy, and no less so to gardeners
and farmers, on whose crops many species cooamit most destructive
depredations. As instances of the latter we may refer to the Hop-
Fly (A.HvmnH), and the Bean-Dolphin (A. FoIkb), whilst all our garden
flowers, such as the Rose, the China-Aster, the Chrysanthemum, and
others, suffer from their attacks. During the summer of 1833, the
cabbage and turnip crops in Kent were much injured and often
destroyed by countless swarms of A, Brcuaiece,
These insects aro characterised by a soft oval body, a small head,
entire and semi-globular eyes, antemue of seven joints longer than the
body, often setaceous, sometimes thidcened towards the top, the two
joints at the base very short, the next very long and oylindrinaL The
beak {haustdkm) arises from the under {Mirt of the head between the
foro legs, and descends almost perpendicularly. The wings, when
developed, are four in number, but some naturalists represent the
upper wings rather as wing-cases {dytra), from their difference of
texture. The legs are very long and slender, in consequence of which
they walk awkwardly.
At the extremily of the abdomen most species are furnished with a
pair of projecting tubes, through which they eject a sweet viscid fluid,
well known under the name of honey-dew, erroneously supposed to be
an exudation from the leaves on whidi it is found. It is also said that
the Aphides feed on this, which is impossible from the structuro of
their moutha Ants however and bees are very fond of it.
In sketching the history of these singular insects, it will be most
convenient to begin it at the close of autumn, when many of the
species, such as A. QueretUf A. Ro»a, &c., are numerous, some winged
and some without wings, of both sexes, so that while the first may
fly to a distance, the second are confined to their native plant or its
vicinity.
After pairing, the mother Aphis deposits what have been by some
naturalists termed ^ggs, in a place suitable for their passing the
winter; but different places are chosen by different species. Some
choose the oak, and place the ^gggs on an exposed twig high on the
tree, others in the sheltered crevices of bark, or even under ground.
Bonnet seems to be of opinion that the Aphides are always viviparous
and never lay ^ggs, what are commonly called eggs produced in
autumn being a sort of cocoon, consisting of the young Aphis
inclosed in an envelope. From our own observations on those of
the oak, we are convinced that this is the fact ; but we cannot affirm,
upon negative evidence, that none of the species lay real eggs.
The cocoons or ^jgs, whichever tiiey may be, remain torpid during
the winter (the parents having died after producing them), and are
called into life with the return of genial weather in tiie spring. The
number of insects produced must of course correspond to tiie number
of oocoons or eggs laid the preceding autumn, but being all ushered
into active life at the same time, their simultaneous appearance has
led to the popular but erroneous notion, that they are generated by
the air. Bhghting weather, as it is termed, is also accused of spreading
the destructive swarms over hop-grounds or bean-fields, but their rapid
increase is wholly caused by their wonderful powers of multiplying.
All the Aphides, it has been well ascertained, which appear in spring
are exclusively females, no males being found till the autunm ; and
these females are endowed with a fecundity almost incredible. M.
Latreille says that one female during the summer months will produce
about 25 a day, and M. Reaumur calcxilated that one Aphis may be the
progenitor, during its life, of the enormous number of 5,904,900,000
descendants. It is not necessary for the young female Aphides pro-
duced during summer to pair with a mide, which indeed would be
impossible, as no males are then to be foimd ; yet these females go on
producing each their 25 a day of living young ones, all of which become
m a short time as fertile as their parent.
The following calculation of tiie fecundity of a species of Aphis
from Professor Owen's lectures on 'Comparative Anatomy,' will afford
some explanation of the extraordinary numbers in which these
creatures sometimes occur. "The Aphit lanigera produces each
year 10 viviparous broods, and one which is oviparous, and each
generation averages 100 individuals : —
Ist generation 1 Aphis produces
2d „ 100 one hundred
8d „ 10,000 ten thousand
4th „ 1,000,000 one million
5th „ 100,000,000 one hundred millions
6th „ .... 10,000,000,000 ten billions
7th „ ... 1,000,000,000,000 one trillion
8th „ . . 100,000,000,000,000 one hundred trillions
9th „ . 10,000,000,000,000,000 ten quatrillions
10th „ 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 one quintillion.
If the oviparous generation be added to this you will have a thirty
times greater result."
The female Aphides thus produced must be regarded as larvsD, but
they present a more developed condition than the larvs of Coleoptera
and Lepidoptera. The compound eyes are developed on the head, and
the antennsB have acquired their mature form and proportions ; the
six thoracic legs have attained their due growth and development.
The only change which these fertile larva afterwards undergo is
increase of size, and development of the reproductive tissues. In the
Digitized by
Google
S78
APHRITE.
APTERYX.
27<
last generation, which, aooording to the speciee of AphiB, in the
aeventh, ninth, or eleventh, the power which tney posseae of producing
individuals like themselves ceases. In the last generation wings are
acquired, and male insects also with wings appear. It ib these insects
wMch produce eggs, and deposit tiiem where, under the gemal influences
of the sun, they are hatched, and thus produce the multitudes which
make the attacks of these creatures so remarkable.
The number of species of Aphis is veiy laiga In tho 'List of
Specimens of Homopterous Insects' in the collection of the British
Museum, drawn up by Mr. Francis Walker, 826 species of this genus
are described. Almost every species of plant gives support to a
different species of Aphis, each of which has been described with very
great accuracy in the list above mentioned.
The effects of the attacks of these insects is sometimes of national
importance. In the year 1802 the hop-duty fell from 100,0002. to
14,000^., on account of the great increase of the Aphis. - When the
Aphis has been absent the duty has risen as high as 500,0002.
The Aphis Bomb is most destructive to the beautiful plant on which
it is constantly found. Apple-trees and pear-trees are attacked with a
species which injures greatly their produce. In most cases these
insects are green, but a black species attacks the bean; whole acres
of these plants will be suddenly covered by these insects. Their
attacks on all plants seem regulated by the health of the plant. If
atmospheric conditions occur which render plants unhealthy, then the
Aphis makes its appearance. If these cease, the Aphis then disappean
also, and one crop of plants will be attacked several times in the
same year. The Aphides have their natural enemies. The larvse of
the Lady-Bird ((7occtn«2to),the Syrphui or Bee-like Fly, the ffemerobiua
perlOf and several species of IchneumonidUB, devour with great avidity
several species of Aphis.
The chief remedy for the destruction of the Aphis is tobacco.
Where plants can be brought together under cover they may be easily
exposed to tobacco fames, but in the open air this is not so easily
efibcted. In this case the beet plan is to apply the tobacco in
water. The affected branches or parts of plants may be syringed
with the infusion, and afterwards washed with pure water. [See Sdp.]
APHRITE, in Mineralogy, a crystalline variety of carbonate of
lime.
APHRODITA, a genus of Dorsibranchiate Annelides. It is easily
known from the ' rest of the order by two longitudinal ranges of
broad membranous scales covering the back, and under whidi the
gills lie concealed in form of little fleshy crests. The body is
generally flattened, and shorter and broader than* in other Annelides.
[Annelid A-J
APIOCRINI'TES (Miller), a Fossil genus of Crinoidea^ found in the
Oolitic formations and in the Chalk.
ATIUM, a genus of plants belonging to the order UmbdlifercB.
The only species of this genus of any importance is the Common
Celery {Apium graveoleru).. This valuable vegetable is found naturally
in the ditches of almost every part of Europe. It is even met with in
the Falkland Islands, where, if it was originally carried thither,
it has naturalised itself. In this country it is very common in many
places, as for instance in the ditches near SandwicfaL
It LB a remarkable fact that this plant, which is so sweet and
wholesome when cultivated, is altogether acrid and unfit for food
when wild. It is by some supposed that the difference between the
quality of the two states is owing to so large a part of the stem and
leaves of the cultivated species being hidden from the action of light
by the soil which is heaped up about it, and being in consequence
unable to generate in much abundance the peculiar principle on which
the acridity depends. Whatever may be the value of this explanation,
it evidently does not apply to the variety called Celeriac, in which the
sweetness and wholesome character of ciUtivated celery are maintained,
although the leaves are not at all deprived of the full influence of
Kght [Cblert, in Arts and So. Drv.J
APOCYNA'CEi£, Dogbanes, a natural order of plants belonging
to the Monopetalous subdivision of the Exogenous class. Among these
they are known by their flowera being perfectly symmetrical, the
segments of the corolla all twisted one way, like a Catherine-Wheel,
five distinct stamens, a superior ovarium which when ripening
divides into two parts that diverge from each other at right angles,
and by their stems yielding, when wounded, a copious milk. The
milk is generally poisonous, and that quality is general in the order,
which abounds in plants the action of whose juices upon the human
body is more or less violent. Among these, the Tanghin poison of'
Madagascar rTANQHiNiA] and Nttx vomica [Strtchnos] are remarkable
instances. But some of the species are not unwholesome ; as the
Hya-Hya, or Milk-Tree of Demerara, and the Cream-Fruit of Sierra
Leone. Caoutchouc is gelded in abundance by Vahea gummifera,
Urceola datdeOf and WtUughbeia eduUB. Several other species yield
medicinal agents, but they are not much employed in the European
practice of medicine. Considering, however, the great prevalence of
poisonous qualities in the order, drugs obtained from any of its
species shomd be administered with very great caution, until it has
TOen ascertained that they may be employed without danger. The
order ApocywiceaB is only distinguiBhable from AtcUpiadacece by the
stamens being distinct from the pistil, and by the pollen not being
contained in litHe waxy bags.
A'PODES, in Zoology, an order of Fishes, including, according to
the Linnsean system, all those which want the ventral fins, but
restricted by Baron Cuvier to those which, besides possessing this
character, are likewise Malaoopterygioua. In the latter sense, the
Apodal fishes compose a small natural £unily, almost restricted to the
great genus Muttma, and of which the Common Eel offers a good
and familiar example.
APOPHTLLITE, a crystallised mineral, whose fundamental form
is the square prism, fig. I. Its most general modification is obtained
by supposing the angles of fig. 1 cut off, so as to give rise to a plane
triangular surfiaoe, as is seen at a in fiyg. 2 ; these £m»b a, from the
plane cutting deeper into the original crystal till they intersect each
other, frequently lose their triangular form, and of course, at the
same time, the face P again becomes a square, and the prism will be
terminated by the form seen in fig. 3. On account of these modifications,
Apophyllite sometimes assumes the form in fig. 4.
r^ '
/
L
L
/
y
Fig. I.
Fig. 2.
Fig. S.
Fig. 4
The inclination of P on a is 120^ 5'
„ L on a is 128' 20'
„ a on a is 104** 18'
The structure of this mineral is lamellar, and admits of cleavage iu
directions parallel to the sides of the regular prism, but most readily
in the perpendicular to its axis. Its colour is white or gray, some-
times tinged green or red. It possesses various degrees of transparency,
and occura even opaque. In hardness it approaches nearly to Apatite ;
and its density varies frvm 2*3 to 2*5. Before the blow-pipe it forms
a white glass. Its chemical constitution is stated as follows : —
8 {Ca + SSi) + {K + 6Si) + 16 Aq
and the nuneral is therefore an hydrated siHcate of potash and lim&
Apophyllite has been found in the mines of magnetic iron-ore of
Sweden and Norway ; in the lead-mines of the Harz Mountains ; also
in the cavities of several basaltic rocks, at Marienberg in Bohemia;
at Fossa in the Tyrol ; in the Isle of Skye, &a In the basalts it is
usually accompanied by Analcime and StiUrite,
This mineral is sometimes called TetsdiU, Albin is a white variety.
APOTHE'CIA (from the Qreek Ato^vq, a case, a repository), in
Botany, a name given to some of the organs of reproduction in Crypto-
gamia. In Lichens the reproductive matter appears on the surface of its
frond or thallus in two forms. First, in the form of little coloured cups
or lines with a hard disk surrounded by a rim, and containing tubes
filled with spomles ; and secondly, in the form of little heaps of
pulverulent matter, which are scattered over the surfSace of the
thallus. These last are called Saredia ; the first, ApotheeitL These
orf^ans form the principal means of distinguishing the various forms
of lichens, and consequently it has been found convenient to indicate
minor points in their structure by other names. Thus the Apothecium,
which in English is called a Shield, has various names according to it^
form : SctUeUwn^ is a shield with an elevated rim ; Pelia, aflat shield ;
Tubereuiumf a convex shield ; Triea or Oyroma, a furrowed shield ;
lAreUoy a linear shield ; <?2oM«t, a round deciduous shield ; PiUdinm^
an orbicular hemisphericaal shield. The parts of the Apothecium or
Shield have also obtained distinct names : thus PeritAeetiMn is the
inside of tiie shield, in which the sporules are immersed ; HypoUueium
is the substance that surrounds or overlies the perithecium ; NitcUut
IB the disk of the shield, which contains the sporules and their cases;
and A$ei are the tubes in which the sporules are contained.
Apothecia is also the name given to the cases in which the organs
of reproduction of many of the Algm are contained. The reproductive
granules contained in the Apothecia of both Lichens and Alg» are
called by some writen G<mgyU.
APSENDE'SIA (Lam.), a genus of Fossil Polypiaria, frx>m the
great Oolite near Bath.
APTERTX, a genus of Struthious Birds, inhabiting Australia and
the islands of New Zealand. It was first described by Dr. Shaw, who
r^iarded it as an extinct form of bird. It evidently belongs to a
group of birds that were destined to live on the earth, only as long as
they were free from the attacks of carnivorous enemies endowed with
mater powers of motion than themselvos. Kumbera of wingless
birds, not belonging to ihe Struthious division, as the Dodo and
Solitaire, seem lureMly to have beoome eztinot; whilst the smaller
Digitized by
Google
•J77
APTYCHUa
AQUATIC ANIMALS.
278
congeners of the Dinomis are suffering in like manner. The Apteryx
is not however extinct, as many stuffed specimens exist in the
museums of England ; and, at the present moment (June, 1868), there
is a living specimen in the gardens of the Zoological Society, Regent's
Park. Of idl birds at present known the Apteryx appears to have the
wings the most reduced to their simplest rudiments. Its general form
is that of the Pengxun, and in size it is seldom quite so big as our
common goose. The beak is very long and slender, marked on
each side with a longitudinal groove, and covered with a membrane
at its base. It differs from other birds in the completeness of its
diaphragm, and in the absence of abdominal air^^Us. The bones are
not hollow, as is mostly the case in birds ; the sternum is very small,
and the ribs are extraordinarily broad ; the feathers have no accessory
plume, and their shafts are prolonged beyond the back ; the feet have
a short and elevated hind-toe, of which the claw alone is externally
visible.
The native name of this bird is Kitoi-Kiwi, given it on account of
rla peculiar cry. It is a nocturnal bird, and preys on snails, insects,
and worms. Whilst at rest it has the singular habit of resting on the
tip of its bill, which is its most characteristic position.
Apteryx {A. australis).
It runs with considerable rapidity, and when hunted by dogs it
makes a hole in the earth for the purpose of concealment, or it retires
into the natural cavities of the rocks. When attacked it defends itself
with considerable vigour. The natives hunt it for the sake of its skin,
which is used by the chiefs for their dresses, and on this account it is
highly valued.
A'PTYCHUS (Von Meyer), one of the generic names of a singular
Fossil, supposed to be the remains of a Conchiferous Mollusk, or the
opercular shell of a Cephalopod. Its other names are I^onellitet,
IchthyotioffoniUet, and I^paditeM. The species belong to the Ammoni-
tiferous strata, and specimens sometimes occur (as at Solenhofen) in
the last chamber of the Ammonites. The structure is fibrous.
AQUATIC ANIMALS. The element in which animals habitually
reside, or to which thoy occasionally resort for the purpose of pro-
curing food or seeking shelter, is so intimately connected with, and
bears so obvious a relation to, not only their manners and economy,
but likewise their outward forms and internal structure, that it is not
surprising that those who first turned their attention to the study of
zoology, and sought to introduce the principles of classification into
the animal kingdom, should have been so forcibly struck with its
importance as to have made it the primary basis of their system.
"Animals," says Aristotle ('Hist.' b. i. a 1), *'may be distributed into
different classes according to their manner of living, their actions,
their character, and their parts. .... Considered according to their
manner of living, their actions, and their character, they are divided
into terrestrial and aquatic The aquatic are divided into two classes;
the one, as is the case with many fishes, pass their whole life in the
water, breathe that element, and find their food in it ; nor do they
ever leave it : the others obtain their food in the water, and even
habitually reside in it^ but they do not breathe it ; they breathe air,
and bring forth their young on dry land. Among these latter some
aro provided, with feet and walk upon dry land, others have wings
and fly, and others, like the water-serpent, have no feet. ....
Aquatic animals inhabit seas, lakes, marshes, and rivers." These
principles of dasaifioation, in which the habits of animals take prece-
dence of those modifications in their organic conformation which
produce these very habits, have long since ceased to be adopted by
scientific naturalists; notwithstanding which there is perhaps no
inquiry which can engage the attention of the zoologist more fruitful
in extensive views and interesting results than the consideration of
the organic structure of animals in relation to the element in which
nature has ordained them to live.
Those animals which reside entirely in the water, and seek their
food and niurture their young in that element, have their organisation,
even to the most minute circumstance, rigidly adapted to these pur-
poses. The extremities by which progressive motion is performed in
the acts of walking and flying would be a serious impediment to the
movements of animals residing in an element of the same specific
gravity as their own bodies: these organs accordingly are either
entirely wanting, or are reduced to mere rudiments, which serve
indeed to keep the body steady and preserve its equilibrium, but are
entirely useless in assisting its progression. Such are the fins of fishes,
and the flippers, as they are called, of the Whala The real organ of
progression in both cases is the body itself, which is prolonged and
attenuated towards the tail, compressed on the sides, and provided
with extremely powerful muscles, with which, by alternately striking
the water on either side, the animal propels itself forward with a force
and velocity unexampled in any oth^r class of animated beings. It is
upon thb principle Uiat a boat is urged forward by means of a single
oar in the stem. The great majority of these animals not only reside
habitually in the water, and seek their food there, but likewise breathe
that element, and are consequently furnished with an appropriate
apparatus for extracting the oxygen gas from its general mass. These
tribes may reside at any deptii of the ocean and for any length of
time ; they are not under the necessity of coming frequently to the
surface for the purpose of breathing, and their organisation is modified
accordingly. Instead of having the tail broad horizontally, it is broad
in a vertical direction, which enables them to turn with astonishing
rapidity, and is no impediment^ but rather an assistant to their
forward movements. But the case is different in the Whales
and alUed animals, which, though residing entirely in the water,
breathe air by means of lungs like ordinary Mammalia, and are
consequently obliged to come continually to the surface. For this
purpose they are provided with a powerful cartilaginous tail flattened
horizontally, by moving which upwards or downwards as the occasion
requires, tiiey ascend to or descend from the greatest depths of
the ocean with almost incredible speed. Fishes, though capable of
proceeding straight forwards, or of turning with great rapidity, are
comparatively slow in changing their depths ; and if they breathed
air, they would frequently be suffocated before they could arrive at
the surface, from the vertical position of the tail not being adapted to
propel them in a vertical direction. But by a simple change, merely
by the direction of the tail being altered from the vertical to the
horizontal position, the object of natiuv is accomplished, and the air-
breathing Cetaceous Animals are adapted to all the circumstances of
an aquatic life. Another beautiful adaptation is observed in the
position of the manmue, for the Cetacea, like warm-blooded quadru-
peds, suckle their young ; these are situated upon the breast, and
when the yoimg animal requires to suck, the mother stands, as it
were, upiight in the water, with her head and shoulders elevated
above the surface, supporting herself by means of her flippers, or
fore paws. In this position she is enabled to supply her cub with
the food which nature has provided, and which she could not have
accomplished had the mammas been placed in any other position.
There is another extensive tribe of aquatic animals, which are
provided with perfect articulated members, sometimes indeed supplied
with fringes which convert them into a swimming apparatus, but
always adapted to enable the animals to walk or crawl along the
bottom. Such is the case with all the Crustaceous tribes — the crabs,
lobsters, prawns, &c. ; and these animals, as is well known, can walk
on dry laiid with the same ease as at the bottom of the ocean. When
they swim, it is by means of the tail, which is always constructed for
that special purpose, and is laige and powerful.
Nor is the modification of structure less striking when we examine
those land-animals which breathe air, and resort only occasionally to
the water. As they are intermediate in habits, so are they likewise
intermediate in structure between these two extremes ; and the degree
in which their oiganisation is modified, when compared with either
of the two types, is exactly proportioned to the difference of their
habits and economy. All Mammals and Reptiles, for instance, which
seek their food in fresh-water rivers and lakes, partake more of
terrestrial than of aquatic habits. The extent of water with which
they are conversant is, in this case, very small when compared to
the extent of land, and their oiganisation differs but slightly from
that of ordinary land animals ; their extremities are perfectly developed,
and of the ordinary form, the principal difference being that their
toes are united by an expanded web or membrane, which gives the
paw a broad oar-like form, and thus converts it into a convenient
instrument of swimming, at the same time that it scarcely interferes
with the most perfect freedom of walking and running on land. Of
this nature are the extremities of all the vertebrated terrestrial
animals which seek their food in fresh water, the otters, beavers, &c.
among mammals; the whole order of Natatores, comprising the ducks,
swans, pelicans, gulls, auks, pufi&ns, ftc. among the birds; and the
crocodiles, alligators, fresh-water tortoises, and frogs, among the
reptiles. All diese animals are, properly speaking, web-footed, and
their aquatic habits are less prominent and powerful than their
terrestrial ; their organs of motion in feet are but little different frt)m
those of common terresbial animals. In those which frequent the
salt-water, on the contrary, the aq\iatic habits greatly predominate
oyer the terrestrial: they live less on land than in water and the
Digitized by
Google
AQUATIC PLANTS.
AQUAVIVAMUM.
Btructure of their extremitiM approximatefl more to that of purely
aquatic than of terrestrial animalk Their legs are short, and inserted,
or as it were buried, in the common integuments of the body, as far
as the elbows and knees respectively, leaving apparent only a short
fin-like paw, which is unadapted to terrestrial progression, exactly
in proportion to its fitness as an organ of swimming. Their progress
on land is consequently slow and difficult ; they creep rather than
walk, dragging the body along the ground, and leaving a broad mark
behind them. Few species possess even this limited power of terrestrial
motion ; thosa which do however have the structure of the extremities
a little less approximated to the form of fins than the purely oceanic
species. The seals and walruses, for instance, have the bones of the
paws and feet similar to those of ordinary land-quadrupeds, only
much shorter and more flattened, and the hind legs are tiiruwn
backwards in the same direction as the tail. Still they are enabled
to use the extremities in a certain degree for walking or creeping
on dry land ; but the numerous tribes of cetaceous animals, which can
execute no kind of motion whatever out of the water, have the bones
of the anterior extremities flattened and connected together like the
stones of a mosaic pavement, whilst the posterior members are entirely
wanting. The same is the case with the sea-tortoises, or, as they are
more properly called, turtles, when compared with those which
frequent fresh-water ponds and rivers ; the foim of their extremities
approximates more nearly to that of fins than of feet, and their
aquatic habits constantly predominate over their terrestriaL
Thus it is that the peculiar form of the extreniities not only
indicates the degree in which an animal is aquatic, but even the
nature of the element which it frequents. If it inhabits fresh-water
ponds and rivers, its feet are simply webbed between the toes, but in
other respects perfectly developed, and its terrestrial habits predominate
over its aquatic ; if, on the contrary, it inhabits the salt water, its
feet are flattened into the form of fins, the hind legs are thrown
backwards into the plane of the body, and the aquatic habits greatly
predominate over the terrestriaL The first are, properly speaking,
web-footedf the second finrfooted,
AQUATIC PLANTS, or WATER PLANTS, are those plants
which live entirely in water, or which require a preponderating quantity
of water as the medium of their existence The families of plaiits, like
the families of animals tiiat live in the water, are found to belong to
all classes into which the whole have been divided, although those
belonging to the lower classes are by far the most prevalent. Many
of the families of plants having the highest oi^ganisation have members
belonging to them which are inhabitants of the water : of this the
RamunciSAtt aquaiilit ia an example in the natural order RanunciUaeecB,
All the species of the orders Nymphceacete, CaUUrichacetB, Ceraio-
pJiylUtcecBn and PodottemacecB, belonging to the class Exogens, grow in
water. Among Endogens, the orders Butomacecey Naiadacea or
Fhmalet, Pittiftcece^ AlimiacecB, &c. consist entirely of water-plants;
whilst one of the largest of the few families into which Cryptogamic
Plants are divided, the Algaiy consists almost entirely of plants which
live in the water.
For the purpose of studying the distribution of the v^etable
kingdom, water-plants are distributed into several groups. One of
the first divisions that suggests itself in the study of their forms is
derived from the composition of the waters in which they grow.
Thus we have those which grow in the saline waters of the ocean, and
those which grow in the fresh waters inland. Most of the plants
which grow at the bottom of the ocean or float in its waters belong
to the family of Alga. [ALOiE.] There are however many plants
not belonging to this order which require the influence of salt-water
on the soil on which they grow for their production. Thus species
of the genera SalsolOf AnabatiSf SalicomiOy and Glaux will not grow
but where they can feel the influence of salt-water: hence they nave
been called PlanUe Salirue. These plants are found not only where
the sea washes, but wherever salt springs find their way to the surface
of the earth. There is another group of plants which have their
existence determined by saline waters, but ore always found near the
sea or on the banks of rivers to which the sea has access. Such are
species of Chenopodivm, Hdiotropiitm, Vitex, Eryngiunif Samolus, and
the Mangrove (Rhiaophora). These are cidled PlantoB LUioralu, sen
Mariiimce,
The largest proportion of Fresh- Water Plants belong also to the
natural order Algce, although by for the most conspicuous specimens
belong to the tribes of Exogenous and Endogenous planta As the
sea claims nearly all the species of the genus Fucua and its allies, so
the fresh-water claims the majority of the species of the old genus
Conferva and its allies.
AqwUic PlanUf in Horticulture, ore those which naturally grow
in deep water, and are carefully dutinguished by the cultivator from
marsh-plants. The management of them, when they are hardy, is of
the simplest kind, nothing being necessary beyond planting them in
boxes with holes in the sides, and sinking tiiem 8 or 4 feet below
the surface of a pond, so that the boxes lie upon or among the mud
at the bottom.
But for those which demand the protection of the stove or green-
house, some additional precautions are requisite. If left to them-
selves in such situationB, the uniformity of temperature is such as to
deprive ^hem in some measure of the repose that they naturally
I receive from the alternation of seasons ; kept constantly in a growing
I state, their excitability is gradually destroyed, and death' ensues as
a matter of course. The plants which demand special treatment
are chiefly those which belong to the natural order Nympkaeaeeoe,
[Water-Lilt.] The most beautiful of these is the Victoria regia.
Various methods have been recommended ; but they all depend for
their success upon keeping in view the principle of periodical rest and
rapid growth under a high temperature, with but little air during the
season of vegetation. .^^^^ %. .
AQUAY IVARIUM, a term proposed to be applied to arrangements
which contemplate the exhibition of living aqiiatic specimens of
animals inhabiting either fresh or salt water. Although it has been
known from the earliest times that animals living in water may be
kept in small glass vessels for exhibition by the daily supply of
fresh-water, the disooveries of modem chemistry have pointed out
how animals may be kept living in only limited quantities of water
which never demand renewing. The possibility of aooomplishmg
this depends on the absolute balance in nature which exists between
the animal and vegetable kingdoms. [Anuial Kiitqdom.] The one
set of these beings are for ever engaged in giving off whs^ the other
requires, and in taking up what the other rejects. It is thus that the
carbonic acid which is constantly being thrown off the tissues of
animals is taken up by plants, and thus prevented from contaminating
the atmosphere ; whilst the plant is constantly engaged in giving off
oxygen gas, and supplying tiie atmosphere with this element of its
composition which is necessary to the life of animals. The relations
which are thus found to exist on the large scale of the whole surface
of the earth, are found also to occur in a jar of water. If an animal
is placed in pure water it quickly exhausts the oxygen it contains,
and gives out into it carbonic acid gas ; the consequence is, that it is
quickly poisoned unless fresh water with oxygen is supplied. But if
we place with the animal some plant that Uvea in water, it will be
found that the carbonic acid given out by the animal will be taken
up by the plants and that it will give out oxygen in its placeu Thus
the water becomes cleared of its injurious compound, and the needed
element, oxygen, is supplied. This is ideally what takes place in every
pond and pool where the water is fresh, and all that is required to
make the inhabitants of the pond visible is to put the whole pond,
plant, and animals into a glass-case. Such a plan has been tried with
great success, and we propose to call the apparatus in which it is
effected an AquavivariunL
The first experiments w^ere made with fresh-water, and we believe
the public is indebted for one of the earliest accounts of such an
arrangement to Mr. Waiington, chemist to the Apothecaries' Company.
He found out, however, that it was not sufficient to have simply any
kind of plants and animals ; but that, in order to maintain the balance
correctly, it was necessary that certain animals which lived on decom-
posing vegetable matter ^ould be present. At certain seasons of the
year the tendency to decomposition in the water-plants becomes so
decided that the water would be rendered impure if this decomposition
was not arrested. The cure for this was found in the addition of
fresh-water Mollusca to the jars containing such fish as the gold-carp
and stickleback and such plants as the VaUiMwria apiraUs, CaUitriche, •
kc The best kind of snails for this purpose are the various species
of PUmorbtM, Not only is it necessary that this latter precaution be
taken to ensure the success of the experiment, but it is of importance
to guard against the preponderance of animal life. Although in
most cases it appears that there cannot be too many plants for the
health of the animal as long as they grow healthily and do not
decompose, yet it often happens that the excess of animals over
plants in a given space will destroy the balance, and lead to the
destruction of life. We are not aware that any precise experiments
with regard to the quantity of water and the number of plants and
animals have been yet performed. We can however state as a £act^
that a gold-fish has lived for nearly twelve months in about two gallons
of water with several flourishing plants of VcUlisneria tpiralit. It is
probable that a smaller quantity of water would have served equally
welL
Amongst the fresh-water plants adapted for growing in such jars
or tanks as we have mentioned, are the VaUianeria apiralia, various
species of Chora, Anaeharia AlatTuutrum, StrcUiotea Aloidea, CaUiiricke
auJtumnalia, C. vemalia, Myriophyllum apicaiwn, and JRitnuncidua
aquatilia. Such jars afford a good opportunity for cultivating
the various species of fresh-water Confervse, which all assist in
keeping the water pure. One of the most beautiful of these is the
Mi^rodictyon utriculatvm, which may be easily propagated in tiiis
manner.
Although these results have been known for many years, it is only
recently that any attempts have been made to carry out the same plan
with regard to marine animals and plants in sea-water. The only plan
adopted of keeping the Marine Invertebrate Animals was the laborious
one of supplying them every day with water from the sea. For
upwards of thirty years Sir John Dalyell carried on his observations
on sea-animals in the city of Edinbuiigh upon this system. It was
however known generally amongst naturalists, that by exposing sea-
water to the action of the air by pouring it from one vessel into
another, it became perfectly purified. In this way many persons
succeeded in maintaining alive, in the heart of Loudon, Actinut, Star-
Digitized
J by Google
Stl
AQUAVIVABIUM.
AQUIFOLIACE^.
Fishes, and other low forms of marine animal life. It was however
left for Mr. Warington to demonstrate what others had often theorised
on, and that was, that marine plants purified sea-water just as
fresh-water plants purified fresh-water. That the same idea had
occurred to others is proved by Mr. W. Thomson's communications
to the 'Annals of Natural Histoiy' (May 1858), and Mr. Qosse's
account of Marine Vivaria in his 'Naturalist's Rambles on the
Devonshire Coast' The difficulties, however, are greater in main-
taining the balance between the plants and animals in sea-water than
infre^ This ariBes from the more sluggish life, both of marine plants
and tt^nifniLla, and the greater amount of disoxganised matter which they
throw from their surfaces. By care in the selection of sea-weedii,
avoiding those which are large and throw o£f much matter from their
Burface, and not overcrowding the water with animal life, jars or
tanks containing searanimals and sea-plants can be easily managed.
Mr. Warington recommends green sea-weeds, such as the species of
PorpkyrOf ia Mr. Gosse speaks fiavourably of Chondrus erUpuSf Iridaa
edulis^Bud^eDdeueriai. Injarsortankscontainingthese plants various
forms of sea-animals have been successfully kept for many months.
The greatest experiment of this kind which has hitherto been
attempted is in a lai^e glass-building that has been erected in the
gardens of the Zoological Society, Regent's Park It was opened to
the public in May, 1853. This buildmg contains an area of 60 feet
by 25 feet. The sides of this parallelogram are bounded by ponds
of plate-glass, each being about 6 feet in length and 2 feet 6 inches in
depth. They are placed at a height of about 3 feet from the ground,
so that each diviition presents as it were a submarine picture * on the
line,' and may be approached so closely that the minutest animals
not microscopic, may be watched with the most perfect success,
under circumstances which differ as little as possible from those of
nature. The whole of these tanks are supplied with gravel, sand,
rocks, and sea-weeds, so as to imitate the rock-pools left on tiie sea-
shore by a receding tide, which indeed they may be said to represent ;
but with this great advantage to the observer, that instead of looking
vertically into a cavity in which the light becomes less and leas in
proportion to the depth, he has here the means of examining each
animal in its turn, under an effect which is not only most delightful
in itself^ but which, the water being seen in section through perfectly
transparent walla, afford the best possible position for investigating
the structure and functions of the living beings contained in it.
At present the water in the ponds or tanlu in this establishment
has not been left to the purifying influence of the plants which are
placed in them ; a certain quantity of water being supplied to the
freah-water tanks every day, whilst the salt-water is gradually drawn
off and supplied again by dropping, so as to effect aeration by means
of tubes above the tanks. This however is only precautionary, at
the commencement of an experiment on so hu^e a s^e.
The tanks contain fresh-water animals and marine animals. The fresh-
water tanks present all the more common species of British Fishes, as the
Pike, Tench, Perch, Roach, Rudd, Cai-p, Eel, Stickleback, Minnow,
Gudgeon, &c. Some of the lazger forms of fresh-water Crustacea, as the
Crawfish, have also been introduced With these are placed a large
variety of the fresh- water Mollusca, belonging to the genera Limnea,
Planvrbit, Anodon, Unto, &c These tanks have been occupied since
Christmas, 1852, with scarcely any loss.
The marine tanks are those which will undoubtedly always form the
meet attractive featiue in an Aquavivarium, as we are less conversant
with the habits of these creatures of the mighty deep, than with
thoee of our ponds and rivers. In the establishment in Regent's Park
all the classes of the Invertebrate Animals are represented as well as
the fish among the Vertebrate.
Amongst the Radiate Animals none are more remarkable for i^eir
power of resisting destruction than the ActmiadceftJid all experimenters
agree that they are amongst the animals which may be most success-
fully kept in tiie Aquavivarium. All the more common British species
are now to be seen in the Regent's Park, and some of remarkable
size and beauty. The Sertularian Zoophytes and the Polyzoa are also
there, but their animal inhabitants are too minute to be seen with the
naked eye. Specimens of the EchinodermcUa, inclr^^g several forms
of Star-Fishes {Asteriat), the Sun-Star, the common Sea-Egg, and a
species of ffoloihvria, which have lived for some weeks, prove that
undoubtedly these beautiful forms of animal life will live in confine-
ment, and lead to the hope that some of the rarer sorts from tropical
oceans may find their way to our collections.
As was to be expected, the MoUusca thrive. In the sea they play
the same part as in the fresh-water : they are the scavengers of the
ocean. The Pinna, the Oyster, the Pecten, the Cockle, amongst
bivalves ; and the Whelk, the Periwinkle, with many other univalves,
have demonstrated how large a field of observation is in store for
those who study the MoUusca. Several species of those gems of the
ocean, the Nudibranchiate MoUusca, whose forms and colours are
only known to us through the great work of Alder and Hancock, have
been succeasfuUy kept alive; whilst the red leaves of the species
of Rhodymenia have been starred^ with their eggs. Various forms of
Aacidian MoUusca have lived, and complete the evidence that this
great group of animals may be watched in their living habits as easily
as their shells may be examined in a cabinet.
The ArticiUata are represented in these tanks by species of Lobster,
Crab, Shrimp, and Prawn. Though many of these are inhabitants of
the deep ocean, and only reward the labours of the dredger, yet they
Uve perfectly weU in the shaUow lodgings provided for tiiem by the
Zoological Society. These facts demonstrate that amongst the Inver-
tebrate tribes there are none whose habits may not be studied in the
AquavivariuuL
As yet the evidence is not complete with regard to marine fish.
The only species at present tried in Regent's Park have been the
smaller species that frequent the rocky pools of our coasts. Amongst
others, the Cork- Wing {Cfrenilabrua Comubicut), the Fifteen-Spiued
Stickleback, the Long-Spined Cottus, two species of Blenny, and a
Qoby, testify how far this portion of the coUection may be extended.
As far as exp^iment has gone, the success of the Aquavivarium is
complete ; and it is not too much to suppose that the time wiU
speedily arrive when in every exhibition of animal life glass-tanks wiU
be fitted up for the purpose of iUustrating the habits of marine and fresh-
water animals. As there are scarcely any limits to the size of which
vessels made with square plates of glass can be constructed, we may
hope to see sporting in our zoological collections some of the monsters
of the deep of whose actions and life we know absolutely nothings
and of whose forms we only judge by the shapeless masses which
their skins present when stuffed, or their carcasses when bottled in
spirits of win&
Before concluding this article, we would caU attention to the fact
that the principles on which the Aquavivarium is constructed are
also adapted to faciUtate the removal from place to place of marine
and fresh-water animals. These tanks may be easily fitted up on
board ships, and, with a little attention from day to day, many of
those creatures which are only known to the naturaUst by its ^eleton
or its name, might be secured, and brought into our living museums.
{Athenofum, May 28, 1853 ; AnnaU of Natural History, May, 1858;
QoBse, A NatwralitCB RambUs on the Devonsfiire Coast ; Dalyell,
BemarleabU Anifnals of Scotland.)
AQUIFOLIA'CE^ (from aqua, water, Bsxd folium, leaf), ffoUy-
Worts, a natural order of plants belonging to the Polycarpous group of
Polypetalous Exogens. The species consist of trees or shrubs, with
alternate or opposite coriaceous leaves. The fiowers are small,
axiUary, soUtary, or fascicled The sepals 4-6, imbricated in sostiva-
tion ; the corolla i- or 5-parted, hypogynous, imbricated in aestivation ;
the stamens inserted into the corolla alternate with its segments,
filaments erect, anthers kdnate ; no disk : the ovary fieshy, superior,
somewhat truncate, with from 2 to 6 cells ; ovules soUtary, pendulous
from a cup-shaped funiculus; stigma subsessile, lobed; the fruit
fleshy, indehiscent, with from 2 to 6 stones; the seed suspended,
nearly seesUe, with large fleshy albumen, and a smaU 2-lobed embryo
lying next the hilum, with minute cotyledons and superior radide.
(Lindley.)
This order, which is named after the Ilex aqutfolium, the Common
HoUy [Ilkx], was included by Juasieu in RhamrMceas. It has however
been well Characterised by Brongniart, in his memoir upon Rhamueous
Plants, under the name llicinecs.
This order differs from Cclastracea, in which it is often included as
a section, in the form of its calyx and corolla, in the insertion of the
stamens, and in the structure of the ovary and fr^t. It agrees closely
with Ebenacece, from which, according to Brongniart, it only differs in
possessing hermaphrodite flowers, and stamens equal in number to the
segments of the corolla.
This order has but one representative in Eurojpe, the Common HoUy
(Ilex aquifoliwn). The great bulk of the species are found in North
and South America ; some are found at the Cape of Good Hope.
The useful plants of this order are foimd in the genera lUx,
Myginda, and Prinos. Ilex is remarkable for yielding in one of its
species, /. Paraguensis, the alkaloid T/ieine, the same principle that is
found in the Tfiea Chinensis, [Tba, Pabaouat ; Ilex.]
Myginda was named after fVancls von Mygind, a German botanist
M, uragoga is a native of South America, near Carthagena. It has
smaU dark shining red flowers, and bears a red soft fruit about the
size of a pea. It is caUed by the Spaniards Yerva de Maravedi, and a
decoction of the root is used as a diuretic. M. Gongonha, a native of
Brazil, in the provinces of St Paul and Minas Geraes, has also the
reputation of being a powerful diuretic, and its roots are used in
infusion or decoction by the natives.
Prinos (from the Greek for the hoUy, vplvos), Winterberry.
P. verticiUatvs, Whorled Winterberry, is a native of North America,
from Canada to Virginia, in sandy wet woods, and on the borders of
swamps. The flowers are white, and the berries are of a crimson red
The bark is bitter, and has been substituted for Cinchona Bark in the
treatment of fever. It is said to act as an antiseptic, and is used in
America as an appUcation to gangrenous sores, and also in infusion or
decoction, as a lotion in cutaneous disorders.
P. glaber is a low handsome shrub, with white flowers and a black
fruit ; hence, in Jersey, it is called Ink-Berries. It is a native of
North America, from Canada to Florida. Its leaves are said to be a
good substitute for those of the Paraguay-Tea Plant, and are used for
making tea.
There are several other species of Prinos, some of which are hardy,
and well adapted for shrubberies. They wiU thrive in most light
soils, but do best in peat They may be propagated by laying down
Digitized by
Google
AQUILA.
ARACHNID A.
the Bhoots or by seeds. The stoye species should be grown in a
mixture of locun and peat, and cuttings will root freely in sand, under
a hand-glass. Most of the species of Aquifoliaceous Plants maybe
cultivated in the some manner.
(Don, Oardencr' a Dictionary; B\imeit, (hUlinei of Botany ; Lindley,
Natvral Syitem.)
AQUILA, the generic name of the Eagles. (Falconid Ji.)
AQUILARIA. [Aquilariacbj!.]
AQUILARIA'CEiE, Aquilariads, a small natural order of plants
belonging to the Incomplete Exogeus. The species are trees with
smooth branches and a tough bark. The leaves are alternate, entire,
seated on short stalks without stipules, and when full-grown are
smooth and shiny, with very fine veins runniug together into a mar-
ginal vein just within the mai^n. The calyx is turbuiate or tubular,
hmb 5-cleft, segments spreading, persistent, with an imbricated
estivation, the orifice furnished with 5- or 10-bearded scales (mett^
morphosed stamens). The stamens are 5 or 10 in number ; when 5,
they are opposite the segments of the calyx ; the filaments are short
or absent, smooth^ inserted into the orifice of the calyx a little lower
down than the scales, except in cases where they are united to the
tube of the calyx ; the anthers are narrow, oblong, attached by their
back below the middle, 2-celled, opening intem^y and lengthwise ;
the ovary is superior, sessile or stipitate, downy, compressed, 1 -celled,
having internally, upon each flattened side, a linear prominent placenta
resembling a dissepiment, hence spuriously 2-ceUed, with a veir
narrow putition ; ovul6s two, of which one is suspended firom each
placenta, tapering downwards ; the style is either absent or conical
and thread-shaped ; the stigma is simple and large ; the fruit is a'
capsule, pear-shaped, compressed, sessile or stipitate, 1-celled, 2-valved,
the valves bearing in the middle the placentse, which almost touch
each other. One seod is mostly borne on each placenta (one is some-
times abortive) ; the seed rises up by aid of a funiculus, originating
near the apex of the placenta, and is furnished with a tail-like aril,
which descends straight from the hilum to the bottom of the capsule ;
the radicle is strrdght and superior, the albumen is absent, and the
cotyledons thick, fleshy, and hemispherical.
This onler, which consists at present of only three genera, was
constituted by Robert Brown, who regarded it as having so dose an
aifinity with VhaiUetacecB as to see no objection to making it a section
of that order. He also pointed out its relation to Thymdacece, in
which he is followed by Lindley, who says, " Aqutlariace<B chiefly
differ from TkymeUKta in their dehiscent fruit, and probably also in
the direction of their radicle. In both orders the ovary is superior
and 1-oelled; both have similar scile-like bodies at the orifice of the
calyx, and no petals; both suspended ovules, a single style, and
capitate stigma." De OandoUe places the order between Chailletacecs
and TerehintacecB,
All the species of AquHariaceas are natives of the East Indies.
The three genera of this order are A quilariaj Ophioapermum, and
Gyrinops. Of the last two little is known. One species of each has
been described There are three species of Aquilari<L
A. Malaccensis, the Bois (TAigUf or Eagle-Wood, is a native of
Malacca, and produces a whitish-yellow wood. This is the A. ovata
of some botanists. A. Agattochum is a native of the East Indies,
where it is called Ugoor, or Ugooroo, by the natives, and Lignum-
Aloes, or Aloe-Wood, by the Europeans. The wood has a fine scent,
and is supposed to be the Oalambac, or Agallochum, of the ancients.
A. iecundaria is another species which also yields a scented wood,
and has been known in the Materia Medica, and used in perfumery,
imderthe names of Agallochum, Lignum- Aloes, and Aloe-Wood. In a
healthy state this wood is said to be white and inodorous ; but it is
subject to the attacks of disease, which causes the secretion of a
resinous matter, and the wood then becomes coloured, and gives out
a powerful scent This secretion resembles camphor in many of its
properties, and has a bitter flavour: hence the name Aloe-Wood. In
medicine it is recommended in the same diseases as the fetid resins
and volatile oils, and does not seem to possess peculiar properties ; so
that it is not used as a medicine in Europ& The Cochin-Chinese are
said to make their paper from the bark of this or some kindred species
of Aquilaria. These trees must not be confounded with the Aloexylon
AgaUochum, or Aloe-Wood, which is a tree belonging to the natural
order LeguminoacBf and which also yields a scented wood used by the
Chinese in medicine and perfumery.
(Don, Gardmet^t IHctwnary ; Lindley, Natural System; Royle,
Illustratiom.)
AQUILE'QIA, literally the Water-Gatherer, because the leaves
collect water in their hollow, is a small genus of plants, commonly
called Columbines, belonging to the order JianunculacecBf of which
several species are cultivated in gardens. They are known from
Acowitum, to which they are the most nearly related, by the leaves of
the calyx being all of the same form and size, and by the petals
having each a long curved horn or spur at the base. All the species
are handsome perennials, easily propagated by dividing the crown of
their roots : the commonest, hence named A. vutgariif is found in
woods and thickets in this and all other parts of Europe ; it has pro-
duced many varieties, differing in the colour of the flowers, and in
the multipUcation of the petaU, for the sake of which it is commonly
cultivated. The other species are found either in the north of Asia,
or in North America. They are all acrid plants, but much inferior
to Aconite in their medicinal properties ; hence little attention has been
given to them.
A'RACHIS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order LegwM-
noao!. One species, A. hypogcea, is called the Earth-Nut. The circum-
stance by which the Arachu hypogcBa is particularly remariLable is the
manner in which its fruit is produced. Instead of hanging down from
among the leaves in the mangier of other plants, this conceals itself in
the earth, in which it is deeply buried at the period when it beoomei
ripe, a phenomenon which happens thus : — The young fruit, instead
of being placed at the bottom of the calyx, as in other kinds of pulse,
is found at the bottom and in the inside of a long slender tube, which
looks like a flower-stalk. When the flower has withered, and the young
firoit is fertilised, nothing but the bottom of this tube with its contentB
remains. At this period a small point projects from the summit of the
young fruit, and gradually elongates, curving downwards towards the
earth. At the same time the stalk of the fruit lengthens, until the
small point strikes the earth, into which the now h<Jf-grown fruit is
speedily forced, and where it finaDy ripens in what would seem a most
unnatural position. When mature, it is a pale-yellow wrinkled oblong
pod, often contracted in the middle, and containing two or three seedB
the size of a hazel-nut These are considered a valuable article of food
in Africa and the tropical parts of Asia and America. In flavour the
nuts are as sweet as an almond ; and they yield, when pressed, an oil
in no respect inferior to that of olives.
The plant will only grow in a light sandy soil, in which its pods can
readily be buried, and it requires a climate as hot at least as that of
the south of France. Its stems grow from one to two feet high ; its
leaves are composed of four broad and blunt leaflets ; and its flowen
are small and of a pale yellow colour.
ARA'CHNIDA, a class of animals including Spiders, Mites, and
Scorpions, all ranked by Linnseus under Insects, but which are very
properly sei>arated from them, on account of external form, structure,
and habits. The separation was first made, we believe, by Fabridus,
who, looking chiefly to the structure of the month, characterised the
greater number of the animals now ranked under Araehmdot, by the
jaws (inaxiUa) being homy and furnished with a claw (nnogtUa). U.
Lamarck afterwards made the Arachnida a distinct class ; but. we owe
to M. LatreiUe and Dr. Leach the establishment of characters more
precise, and extending to a greater number of genera. Much has been
done in perfecting the knowledge of their structure, manners, and
numerous species by Clerck, De Oeer, Walckenaer, Treviranus, Leon
Dufour, Harold, Straus-Diirckheim, Blackwall, and others. We shall
condense into as short a compass as we can the most important points
investigated by these naturalists.
The Arachnida {Aeera, Yirey) differ from Insects in having no
antennas ; in the eyes being in most species 8, and, even when only
two in number, never being placed lateittlly on the head ; in the legs
being usually 8, though in some species 6, and in others 10 ; and in
their respiratory apparatus consisting of radiated tracheae, communi-
cating with a sort of giUs inclosed in pouches in the lower part of the
abdomen.
The skin or crust of the Arachnida is in general more leathery than
homy ; but whether it be soft, as in most sx>ecies, or hard, as in a few,
it performs a similar office to the bones of larger animals in giving
support to the soft parts and attachment to muscles, the 1^ being
joined upon and radiating from a common breast-plate {sternum)
externally; while, according to Straus-Diirckheim, there is also an
internal breast-plate of a gristly texture («» sternum cartilagineux
intSrieur) in form of a horse-shoe, the two ends of which are directed
forwards.
The greater number of the Arachnida are carnivorous, and are
furnish^ with appropriate organs for their predatory life. Some
parasitic species, such as the minute Parasite Mites {L^i, De Oeer),
which we have observed infesting numerous species of insects, from
the largest butterflies to the smallest gnats, are furnished with a
sucker, in some respects constructed like Qiat of the Gadfly {Tabanus).
In other species, there may be distinguished a pair of upper jaws
SMndibvia), a pair of under jaws (moztUa), carrying jointed feelers
alpi), and between them a sort of tongue formed by a projection
from the breast At the back part of the mouth is placed a piece of
a homy texture, which Savigny, LatreiUe, and Audouin term the
pharynx, forming the entrance into the gullet The gullet, together
with a bulging on the fore part of it, termed the stomach, as well as
the intestines, run in a straight line from the pharynx to the vent
Near the upper portion of the gullet are found salivary vessels, whose
exterior aperture is in the first joint of the upper jaws. The saliva
secreted by these vessels appears to be poisonous. Lower down are
the biliary vessels, which resemble those of insects.
In the greater number of Arachnida there is a complete and very
distinct circulatory system. The heart, which differs materially
from the dorsal vessel by some termed the heart in insects, occu-
pies the abdomen, and its pulsations may be distinguished externally.
It is a thick longitudinal vessel, giving origin to a certain number of
arteries, and receiving veins by which the blood returns from the
respiratory oi^ans in other parts of the body.
The respiratoiy organs have two striking peculiarities, upon which
M. Latreil^ founded his two great divisions ot Arachnida.
Digitized by
Google
ARACHNIDA.
ARALIACEJS.
286
The divinon fumifihed with lur-pipes, similar to those of insects,
comprises Harvest- or Shepherd-Spiders (Phalangia), Mites, and
several other genera. "The presence of air-pipes (trachSes)" says
M. Latreille, " excludes all complete circtdation, that is, the distribu-
tion of blood to different parts, and its return from the respiratory
organs to the heart"
The other division of the class comprises the numerous species of
Spiders, and the Scorpions, which M. Straus-Diirckheim and Leon
Ihifour place first Their respiratory apparatus conslBts of small
cavities formed by the union of a great number of triangular white
lamina of extreme thinness. The number of these is usually two,
but in some species there are four, and in others eight The external
a|>ertures of these, termed spiracles, and, as M. Latreille well remarks,
objectionably itigmata, are transverse chinks, corresponding in number
with the pulmonaiy pouches.
The nervous system of the Arachnida is ganglionic, consisting of
nerve-knots (ganglia). In man and the larger animals, a ganghon is
composed of two substances similar to the cortical and medulls^ sub-
stances of the brain, and differs from nerves in being firmer in texture,
and covered with a membrane of closer tissue. In the Arachnida
these nerve-knots are more concentrated, if the term may be used,
than in Insects, and they are uniform in composition, rather than a
chain of ganglions equally separated. Thus, in the Harvest-Spiders
(Phalangia) tibere are a pair of nerve-knots in front of the gullet, and
at the back of the gullet a medullary mass, apparently consisting of
three ranges of nerve-knots imited.
We know nothing of the organ of hearing in Arachnida, though it
is certain enough that they do hear. Their ^es are aU simple, not
composite, like those of many insects. " Tne eyes of spiders and
scorpions," sajrs Swammerdam, " are externally formed exactly in
the same manner, and are smooth, glittering, and without divisions ;
and are as much diroersed as those that are disposed at random
over the body. The Wolf-Spider, which catches its prey by leaping
on it, has its eyes plaoed in the same manner." In the greater
number of Spiders they are 8 in number, but in some 6 (Dysdera and
Segalria), and in others 2 (Phalangium). The arrangement of the
eyes, when more than two, varies considerably in thed&ferent genera,
and is taken advantage of in arranging them systematically, on the
principle first pointed out by Dr. Lister, and improved upon by
LatreUle, Leach, and Walckenaer. Figures of various arrangements
of the eyes in spiders may be seen in ' Insect Miscellanies,' pp. 125,
126, after Audoum. (* Lib. of Ent Knowledge.')
With regard to the sexes, male spiders are always much smaller
than the females, being often not more than one-fourth the size. The
feelers (palpi), also, in the male are furnished with oigans at the tip,
which are of various forms, but usually bulging, whereas the feelers
in the female gradually taper to a point
Looking at the size of the femiale spider, and the eggs which she
lays, it appears almost incomprehensible how they could be contained
in BO small a body. But, by observing them more closely, it may be
discovered that they have not^ like the eggs of birds, a hard shell,
but^ on the contrary, are soft and compressible. Accordingly, before
they are laid, they lie ia the egg-bag (ovarium) within the spider's
body, squeezed tt^ether in a flat manner ; and only come into a
globular form after they are laid, partly in consequence of the equal
pressure of the air on every side, in the same way as we see dew-drops
and globules of quicksilver formed from the same cause.
The eggs of spiders, it is worthy of remark, are in most cases,
tiiongh not always, placed in a roundish ball; and, as there is
nothing in nature without some good reason, if we can discover it^
we may infer that this form is designed to economise the materials
of the silken web which the mother spins around them by way of
protection. Whether we are right or not in this conjecture, there
can be no question as to the manner in which the ball is shaped, as
the writer has often observed the process. The mother spider, in
such cases, uses her own body as a gauge to measure her work, in
the same way as a bird uses its body to gauge the size and form of
its nest The spider first spreads a thin coating of silk as a founda-
tion, taking care to have this circular by turning round its body
during the process. It then, in the same manner, spins a raised
border round this till it takes ike form of a cup, and at this stage of the
work it begins to lay its eggs in the cup, not only filling it with these
up to the brim, but piling them up above it int^ a rounded heap as
high as the cup is deep. Here, then, is a cup full of eggs, the imder
half covered and protected by the silken sides of the cup, but the
upper still bare, and exposed to the air and the cold. It is now the
spider^s task to cover these, and the process is similar to the pre-
ceding, that is, she weaves a thick web of silk all round them, and,
inclosed in a ball much laiger than the body of the spider that con-
instead of a cup-shaped nest like some birds, the whole eggs are
tball mu
stnicted it
There is a singular mechanism for the purpose of placing the eggs
in the proper position. The eggs, different from what takes place in
birds, are excluded from a cavity just behind the breast Here there
is an organ placed somewhat in the form of a hook or a bent spatula,
which the spider can move in such a manner as to direct every indi-
vidual egg which it lays to the exact spot in the nest-cup where it
wishes it to be plaoed. The sense of touch in this organ must of
course be very acute, as by touch it must be wholly guided ; for its
eyes, though eight in number, and very piercing, are situated on the
upper part of the head, and cannot be brought within sight of the
nest
The hatching of the eggs of one species (Epdra diadema) has been
traced with great minuteness, and the successive evolution of the
embryo figured with great skill, by M. Herold of Marburg.
M. Latreille, whose method has been generally followed both, in
Britain and on the Continent^ arranges the Arachnida into two orders,
as foUows : —
Class.
fPulmonary sacs for respiration ; six to 1
Orders.
J twelve 6ceUi . .^ . . ' } J^««"*o»«Ha.
I Tracheso for respiration: not morel «» * • .
L than four ocelU . . . .}«-«<*«»^
The first order is divided into two families : —
Arachkida
Arachnida
Pvlmonaria,
Families.
Aranddce.
pPedipatpi.
Palpi simple, pediform; mandibles'
armed with a moveable and per-
forated claw, emitting a poisonous
liquid; abdomen inarticulate, ter-
minated by spinnerrls .
Palpi produced, cheliform, or shaped'
like pincers ; mandibles with a move-
able digit; abdomen articulate,
I. without spinnerets .
The Araneidce include our common Spiders. [Araneid-B.!
The Pedipalpi include the Scorpions and their allies. [Scorpio-
nida]
The second order, Trachearia, includes very various fomwi, as the
Pycnogonums and the Mites. [Trachearia ; Acarid^]
AKALI A'CE^, IvyworU, are a small natural order of plants, nearly
related to the Umbdltferas, from which they are solely kno¥m by their
young fruit consisting of more parts than two. The species of this
order, which includes the Ivy [Hbdera], are frequently shrubby, and
not uncommonly furnished with powerful hara prickles; but they
are often also herbaceous and unarmed, like umbelliferous plants
themselves. As an illustration of tiie order, the American Ginseng
(Panax quinqurfolium) may be taken.
Ginseng (Panax quinpiefoluim),
1. A barren flower. 2. A fertile flower. S. Ovarium and styles.
4. Fruit cut in half, with the seeds projecting.
5. A section of a seed, showing its minute embrjo.
This plant, which is nearly related to the celebrated stimidating
drug called Ginseng by the Chinese [Panax], is found occasionally
on the mountains of America, from Canada to the Carolinas. It was
long since introduced into our gardens, but it is now seldom seen.
Digitized by
Google
287
ARANEID^
ARANEIDiE.
This natural order seems to possess litUe or no sensible properties, for
the singular invigorating power ascribed to Ginseng by the Chinese is
considered to be apocryphal.
Many of the species of Aralia, on account of their aromatic pro-
perties, are employed in medicine. An aromatic gum-resin comes from
A. rocemofa, A. hispida, and A. spinota. A. metUdnalis is diaphoretic,
and its shoots are employed in North America as a substitute for
Sarsaparilla. A. edulis is employed in China as a sudorific, and its
young shoots are eaten. The roots of Gtmnera scabra, or Panke, is
used by tanners on account of the tannin it contains. Mr. Darwin
found it on the sandstone-clifi*s of Chiloe, where it resembles rhubarb
on a gigantic scale. One of the leaves measured nearly eight feet in
diameter.
ARANEIDiE, the first family of the first order of the class
Arachnida. [Arachnid a.] They are also called Spinning Arachnida,
from their peculiar habit of producing long filamentous cords with
which they form their nests and webs. It is to this family that the
term Spider is more especially applied ; and scientifically it embraces
all those creatures which are commonly called Spiders. All these are
embraced under the old Linnsean genus Aranea, Externally this
family is distinguished by the following characters: — The palpi
resemble small feet without a
claw at the tip, terminated at
most in the females by a small
hook, but in the males support-
ing various appendages, more
' or less complicated, connected
with the function of reproduc-
tion in this family. The frontal
claws are terminated by a mov-
able hook whioh curves down-
wards, and has on its under-side
a little slit for the emission of
a poisonous fluid which is
secreted in a gland of the pre-
ceding joint. The maxillae are
never more than two in number ;
Spinnerets of a Spider, magnified. ^^ tongue is of a single piece,
always external, and situated between the maxillae, and more or less
square, triangular, or semicircular. The thorax has upon it a V-like
impression indicating the region of the head ; it consists of a single
piece, to which is at-
tached behind a mov-
able and soft abdomen.
This part of the body
is furnished with four
i or six nipples, fleshy
at the tips, round or
conical, jointed, placed
close together, and
^~- , . .^ . pierced at the extre-
Cluwed foot of a Spider, magnified. ^^ ^^^^ ^ immense
number of minute orifices for the discharge of silken threads, which
are produced from matter formed in internal reservoirs. These are
called S])innerets. The legs vary in length, but are composed of seven
joints, of which the first two form
the haunch, the next the femur,
the fourth and the fifth the tibiro,
^ and the two others the tarsus.
W The last is ordinarily terminated
^ by two claws, generally toothed
beneath, and by a third smaller
1 1 daw which is not toothed.
^ The most remarkable function
1^ performed by the A raneidcB is that
|\ of producing silken threads by
means of the spinnerets above
described and figured. From
each one of the minute orifices
of the spinneret there exude as
many little drops of a liquid,
whidi, becoming dry the moment
it comes in contact with the air,
forms so many delicate threads.
Immediately after the filaments
have passed out of the pores
of the spinneret they unite first together and then with those of the
neighbouring spinnerets to form a common thread ; so that the thread
of the spider, when it suspends itself from any object, is composed of
an immense number of minute filaments, amounting even to many
thousands, each of which is of such extreme tenuity that the naked eve
cannot detect them till they are formed into a common thread. The
spinnerets of the same spider differ in structure, and Lyonnet has
shown that one set of spinnerets is employed in producing threads
which are glutinous, whilst another set produces threads which are
smooth. This may be seen by throwing a little dust on a spider's web,
such as that of Epeira diadeni<i, when it will be found that it adheres
to the threads which are spirally disposed, but not to those that radiate
from the oentro to the droumferenoe.
be stronger than the spiral ones.
These last are also fonnd to
Single thread of a Spider, magnified.
Oardeu-Spider suspended by a thread.
The spinnerets are in connection with an internal apparatus which
secretes the mlitter they tiius elaborate. This apparatus consists of
Geometric Net of Epeira Diadema.
a number of intestine-like canals which are united together, and tut
both in number and extent according to the spedes in which they occur.
These canals empty themselves into tubes which open into the spinnerrti^
from whence the thread is extruded.
It is by means of these threads that spiders construct the vanou>
webs which they throw from one object to another, for the purpose of
entrapping their prey. It is said that some of the hunger species con-
struct webs in which even small birds, such as the humming-bird, are
caught and made subservient to the wants of the spider. No sooner £<
an insect or other small animal ensnared than the spider, placed in the
centre of its net, or in a cell built at its side for the purpose of watching.
darts forth, and uses all its efibrts to inflict upon it wounds into whi«^
it pours the venom contained in its frontal claws. When the creature
thus caught offers too great a resistance, so that the spider becomes
endangered, he retires for a time from the contest to renew his strength,
leaving his victim secure in his meshes, and gradually getting exhausted
frt>m the attempts it makes to escape. When the spider returns he
frequently twists the web round and round the body of his victim,
and then either at once commences to make a meal of him, or wait«
till his appetite suggests the proper time for feeding.
Although Spiders are not provided with wings, and are consequentlT
incapable of flight, they have a power of ballooning with their silken
threads, by means of which they can make distant journeys through
the atmosphere. These aerial excursions, which appear to restdt from
an instinctive desire to seek some more favourable spot for the
gratification of their appetite or other cause, are undertaken trheo
the weather is bright and serene, especially in the autumn, both by
Digitized by
Google
ABANEIBJS.
AKAUCARIA.
adult and immattire individcuJa of many memea, and are effected in the
following way : — ^They first mount to the Bummlt of an object^ and
then raise themselyeB still higher by straightening their limbs ; the
abdomen is then elevated into an almost pexpendioular position, and
they emit firom their spinnerets a small quantity of viscid fluid, whidi
is drawn into fine lines by the ascending current of air firom the
heated ground. Against these lines the current of air from below
keeps impinging till the animalH, finding themselves acted on with
sufficient force, quit their hold of the earth and mount into the
air. It has been sometimes stated that spiders can forcibly propel
or dart out Unes firom their roinnerets ; but when placed on twigs set
upright in glass vessels, with perpendicular sides, all their efforts to
escape are unavailing.
The webs named gosaamer are composed of lines spun by spiders,
which, on being brought into contact by the action of a gentle air,
adhere together, till by continual additions they are accumulated
into irregular white flakes and masses of considerable extent.
The poisonous effects of the wounds of spiders are produced by
means of the mandibles, or firontal claws, which are each armed with
a moveable and extremely sharp unguis, near to the point of which is
a minute orifice, whence there is poured out a drop of poison into
the wound. This orifice, which is veiy difficult to detect, com-
municates with a canal in the interior of the mandible ; this canal
proceeds from a gland situated in the interspace of the moscles of the
thorax. The gland consists of a vesicle having internally a number
of spiral filaments, which are connected together by a membrane in
the form of a bag. Although dreadful stories are related of the effects
of the bites of spiders on tiie human body, it appeals from experi-
ments made by Mr. Blackwall on British Spiders, that none of tnese
have the power of producing any ill effects on human beings. There
is still wanting good evidence on which to rest a chaige of poisoning
man by biting Mm, even against the larger forms of spiders, whi<£
inhabit tropical dixnates.
A curious feature in the histoxy of spiders is the power they possess
of reproducing their limbs after they have been broken off This
power, however, is not confined to spiders, as we find it in the
Onutacea [Crustacea], and even in the vertebrate animals amongst the
Amphibici. [Amphibia.] In the case of the spiders, it is never a part
of a limb which is r^roduced, but if a part of a leg is removed, it
proceeds to throw off the remainder, and after the next moult the
missing member reappears.
The species of the family ArcmeidcB are very numerous, and have
been arranged by naturalists under several genera. They have been
investigated with great care by M. Waloken&er, who has made them
the special study of his life, and has drawn up a natural arrangement of
them according to their structure and habits of life. A synopsis of.
this arrangement we subjoin, as by a lit^e study it wiU furmsh an
insight into the surprisingly varied habits of this family : —
TABLE OF THE SUBDIVISION OF THE ABANEIDJE, OB ABACHNIDA FILOSA, INTO GENERA.
Oenera,
MmndMea ar.
ticttlatcdho.
risontaUy;
rnoTing ver-
ttoaUy.
^ I i^«» aggregated.
1/
MandHUeB ar.
tieolated
TcrtlflaU J or
I Bjf» segregated.
JS^ anterior.
Bffe9 anterior
and lateral.
JBya
and
anterior
lateral,
very unequal
in alM.
eUned plane
moring la*
terally.
ne; ) «
Eyet anterior,
almost equal <<
in size.
Mygale.
Oletera.
Filistata.
Hissulena.
Sphodros.
DTsdera.
Segestria.
TTptiotes.
Omosites.
Soytode.
LycoBiiB.
Dolomedes.
Storena.
Cteniu.
Hersllia.
^ Sphacus.
Dolophenes.
Myrmecia.
Ereens.
Platifcelnm.
Attoa.
Delena.
Thomisoa.
Selenops.
Eripns.
Philodromu.
Sparassns.
Cla«te«.
Clnbiona.
Draaaoa.
Clotho.
Emyo.
Latrodectoa.
Pholcna.
Artema.
Tegenaria.
Laeheflls.
Agelena.
Nyasna.
Epelra.
Tetragnatta.
Xnoboma.
Zoaia.
Lynyphia.
Epiflina.
Theridion.
> LaxmbxiooiaM, hiding in holes and fissures.
TuBzoouB, inclosing themaelvea in sUken tabes.
CsLLULxoouB, Sheltering themaelvea in small oella.
> CvBaoan, running swifUy to cateh their prey.
SALTATOBsa, leapbig and springing vith agQity to
selae their prey.
LATxaioaADJB, walking and running sideways or
backwards; oeeaaionally throwing out threads to<
entrap their prey.
Ninmi^, going abroad, but making a web for their
neata, whence iaaae threads to entrap their prey.
FiLrnEL^ going abroad, bat spreading long threada ^
of silk aboat the places where they prowl in order
to entrap their prey.
VMontstf incessantly
ronning or leaping
about the vicinity of
their abode to chaae
and catch their prey.
Voffontet, wandering
abroad and inces-
santly spying out for
prey; no fixed resi-
dence except at the
period of oviposition.
JSrranUt, prowling about
the neighbourhood of
their nesta, or near
the threada which
they throw out, to
catch their prey.
Sedmtit, spinning large
webs to entrap their
prey, lying in wait tn
the middle or at the
side.
TAFXTSLJi, spinning great webs of a close texture
like hammonks, and dwelling therdbi to catch
their prey.
OaBrrxut, spreading abroad weba of a regular and
open texture, either orbicular or spiral, and re-
in the middle or on one side to catch
their prey.
BaTtTBi.jB, spinning weba of an open meshwork and
of an irregular form, and remaining In the middle
or on one side to cateh their prey.
^ yatanttt, swimming in
water and there
spreading their fll*.
ments to entrap tiieir
prey,
{OsfdcpcBdia ofAnaiamy and Physiology, article *Arachnida;* Bhickwall, in IUp<yrt of Brititk AMtoeiation, 1844 ; Owen's Zecturtt
on Comparative Anatomy; Cuvier's Bigne Animal; Imeet ArckiUetwre, in Library of BrUertaining Knowledge,)
Argyroneta.
AQxnTzLJB, spreading filaments in the water to entrap ^
their prey.
TerrettrUt liv-
on land or
in holes in
the ground.
Aqtiatiem, Uv-
ing in water.
ARAUCA^IA, in Botany, is the name of a singular genus of
gigantic Firs, found scattered over the southern hemisphere. It is
known from all the other firs by its stiff broad leaves, by a long leafy
appendage with which the scales of its cones are terminated, and bv
its anthers having many cells. The following species are those which
are best known: —
Arauearia excdta, commonly called the K^orfolk Island Pine, is
found not only in the spot after which it has been named, but also in
several other pkoes m the South Seas, as m New Caledonia, Botany
Island, Isle of Pines, and in some parts of the east coast of
Australia. It is described as a most majestic tree, growing to the
height of firom 160 to 228 feet^ with a circumference sometimes of
more than 80 feet Its trunk rises erect^ and is sparingly covered
HAT. mn. DZY. TOL. L
with long drooping naked branches, towards the extremities of which
the leaves are clustered ; these latter, when the plant is young, are
long, narrow, curved, sharp-pointed, and spreading, but when the tree
is old they have a diorter and broader figure, and are pressed close
to the branches ; old and young trees are consequently so different that
they have the appearance of distinct species. The bark abounds in
turpentine ; the wood, which is destitute of that substance, is wliite^
tough, and close-grained. It was once expected that this tree would
have been valuable for its timber, and that it would have afforded
spars for the navy of great size ; but it has been found on trial to be
too heavy, and so imsound that Captain Himter could only find 7
trees fit for use out of 84 that he caused to be felled. Its wood ia,
however, useful for carpenters' indoor work. Several specimens of
u
Digitized by
Google
S91
ARAUCARITES.
ARDEA.
this tree exist in the coUeotiozM of this ooontrj. Unfortuiiately it
will not live in the open air in the winter, and its growth is so rapid
as to render it yery soon too lai^ for the loftiest greenhooses. A
Norfblk Uland Pine {AraueoHa gxeeka),
supposed species, called the Moreton Bay Pine (AraueoHa Ou/mUng-
ham%)f is scarcely disting^uishable from this. It is a highly interesting
fact, that a plant very nearly the same as this Araucaria exeeUa
certainly once mw in Qreat Britain. Remains of it have been found
in the Lias of Dorsetshire, and have been figured in the Fossil Flora,
under the name of Araucaria jprimceva,
Ara/uearia Dombeyi, or, as it is more commonly called, A. imbrieata,
is a noble si)eoie8, ixihabiting the mountains of the Araucanian Indians
in South America, whence the name of the genus derives its origin.
This species has its branches closely covered with broad, lance-shaped,
very rigid and pungent dark-green leaves ; it produces its branches in
circles around its erect stem ; and when old it acquires an appearance
not very unlike that of the Norfolk Island Pine, only it is mvLoL less
graoefuL Its wood is said to be durable, and it yields a great quantity
of main. Many specimens are now growing in England, and aeem to
bear our winters welL
Araucaria BratiUentii is extremely like the last, but tl^ leaves are
longer, weaker, and less densely imbricated; and it is knuch more
impatient of cold. It is found wild in the southern provinces of
Braza
ARAUCARITES (Presl), a genus of Fossil Plants found in the Lias
of Lyme Regis.
A^RBUTuS, a genus of evergreen shrubs, belonging to the natural
order Erieaeece. It is characterised by its fruit beiog a berry,
containing many seeds. The most remarkable species is the Arbutut
of Virgil, now called A, Unedo, or the Strawberry-Tree, from the
resemblance borne by its berries to that well-known fruit It is a
native of the south of Europe and the Levant. In our gardens it
proves a hardy eveigreen-tree, sometimes as much as 18 or 20 feet
high, bearing its greenish-yellow bloasoms in October and November,
and its bright yeUow and red berries, which are studded with little
projections, in November and the succeeding months. The most
mteresting specimens in this country are at the lake of Killamey,
where they form groves of great beauty. The plant can scarcely
however be oonsidered indigenous to Ireland on this account Its
berries are hardly eatable : taken in too great quantities they are
apt to produce stupefaction ; nevertheless a wine, said to be pleasant
enough, is prepared from them in Corsica.
A. Andraehne, the Oriental Arbutus, is superior to the last in beauty
both of leaves and flowers, but it is much more tender, and does not
bear fruit in Ghreat Britain. It is readily known by its broader and
less serrated leaves, and by its bark peeling off so as to leave the stem
always smooUi and of a dear bright cinnamon-brown. It is a natiye
of the Levant
A. hybrida. Mule Arbutus, is apparently a hybrid between the last
two, agreeing with A. Untdo in the general aspect of its foliage, which
is however larger and more handsome, and with A. And^aclvn€ m
flowers and in Uie deciduous bark. It is hardy, and very ornamental,
but it does not bear berries in Qreat Britain.
A, procera, a native of California, exists in the gardens of this
country. A. putcronata, from the Straits of Magalhaens, is a hardy
evergreen bush, with small, very dark, jpointed and eerrated
leaves, among which hang numbers of soUtaiy white blosaoma
[Abotostaphtlos.]
ARCHER FISH {ToxoteSf Cuvier), a genus of Acanthopterygioaa
Fishes, belonging to the family SquamipcMUBf or those which an
distinguished by having not only the soft parts, but often the very
nnnes of the dorsal and anal fins covered with scales like the rest of
the body, and not always very easily distinguishable from it Though
the single species upon which this genus is founded had been long
known to naturalists, and described under the various namea of
Searut Sehloueri, Sciima jacuUUrix, Labrug §affittariut, snd Colvt
chaiareut, by the different writers on Ichthyology, yet it was left for
Baron Cuvier to point out its appropriate generic charactera, and to
distinguish it definitely from the different groups with whidi it had
been previously confounded. These characters are found in the ahoit
and compressed form of the body; in the dorsal fin being. situated
very £ar t>ack, provided with very strong spines, and like the anal,
which is placed very nearly opposite to it, covered on its soft parts
with large tough scales ; in the short depressed shape of the muzzle;
and in the length of the under jaw, which oonsideraDly surpaasea the
upper, and entails upon the animal the singular habit from which it
has derived the name of the Archer. The giUs have Bix.brBodxio8tegOTiB
rays ; the teeth are small, sharp, and dispersed over the jaws, tongue,
and palate ; the stomach is short and broad, the air-bladder large, and
the pylorus provided with twelve coecal appendices. The only biown
species is —
The Toxatet JacuUUor of Cuvier, which is found in Java and
Sumatra, and has been long celebrated for the singular instinct which
it displays ^in catching fiies and other insects which are its prey.
Comparatively speaking, there are very few species, among Ihe
numerous class of fishes, distinguished by superiority of instinct or
address ; but the very rarity of their occurrence makes the partial
instances which are occasionally met with still more remarkable, and
among these the means which the Archer and a species of C^€^od<m
{O. rattratui) employ for procuring food are entitled to especial
notice. The tubular form of the mouth in these ftnimula permits
them to squirt or project smallquantities of water to some distanoe,
and with considerable force. When, therefore, the Archer perceives a
fly or other insect resting on the leaves of the aquatic plants winck
overhang or swim on the surface of the stream, it projects, or as it
were shoots a single drop, not directly towards the insect, but
obliquely upwards, in such a manner as to strike it in falling, thus
preventing it from perceiving its danger and escaping in time. With
such accuracy is the aim taken, that though frequently projected to
the height of four or five feet, the drop seldom fails to hit ihe mark
and precipitate the insect into the water, where it is, of course, within
reach of the Archer. The fish itself is of a yellowish colour, marked
on the back with five brown spots.
ARCTIC FOX, in Zoology, a small species of Fox (Conu lagoput),
celebrated for the beauty and fineness of its fiu*, which has long been
considered a valuable artide of commerce. The colour of the fur, as
is the case with all animalB which inhabit very high latitudes, varies
according to the season, being slaty blue in sunmier, and pure white
in winter. It is in the latter state that the fur is most esteemed, not
only on account of its colour, but likewise because it is of a closer
and finer quality than at any other time. The soles of the feet also
are at all seasons covered with a thick coat of fur, like those of the
conmion hare, which defends them from the severity of the snow,
and is a character likewise conmion to most other northern ATiimulK-
[Fox.]
ARCTOSTATHYLOS, or Bear-Berry, is a genus of plants till lately
considered the same as Arbutut, from which it is essentially dis-
tinguished by its berries containing only from one to five, instead
of a great many seeds. The common Bear-Berry {A. Uva Urn), is
found wild in the mountainous parts of England and Scotland, and
generally over the whole of the north of Europe. It is a trailing
shrubby plant, with leathery dark-green entire leaves, which are
broadest at their upper end. The flowers are white, tinged with pink,
small, and in dusters. The berries are small and red, like those of
the hawthorn. The whole plant is so astringent that it has been
employed by the tanner with success, and also in dyeing a grayish
black oulour ; it is no doubt the same property which has made it
celebrated for its efficacy in gravel complaints, and in diseases of the
urinary organs. When cultivated it requires to be grown in peat
earth.
ARDEA (Vieillot), the Heron, a genus of birds under which Limueus
comprehended the Cranes and several other divisions now formed
Digitized by
Google
298
ARDEA.
ARDEA.
into distinot eenera by modem naturalists. M. Vieillot followed
Bxiffon in making four divisions of the Herons ; but Temminck, who
has paid peculiar attention to these birds» arranges tliem under one
genus and two sections. The genus Arckct, as Umited hj Vieillot^
is thus characterised : —
Bill strong, straight^ or slightly curved, compressed, acuminated,
Bharp, in most species finely toothed ; the upper mandible somewhat
chaxmeled, and usually notched towards the tip ; nostrils on the side,
almost at the base, slit lengthwise in the groove, and half shut by a
membrane ; eyes with a naked circle aroimd them extending to the
bill ; legs long, slender, and either half-naked or feathered down to
the shank (tarsus) ; the middle fore toe united to the outer one by
a short membrane ; the hind toe articulated interiorly, and upon the
same level as the others ; the second and third quill-feathers of the
wings the longest
Herons.
H. Temminck thus defines the Herons properly so called : — Bill
much longer than the head, as large as it is hig^ or laiger, at the
base; upper mandible nearly straight; a great portion of the tibia
naked. Food, fish principally.
Bill of Common Heron
It will only be necessary to give a sketch of the leading foims of
this group. We proceed therefore to illustrate M. Temmmck's first
Bectiun of the true Herons by the Common Heron, which most authors
consider as the type.
The Common Heron is, in the opinion of Belon and some others,
the *Epvii6s of Aristotle, but we do not consider this as cer-
tain: the term 'Ep€»ii6s is doubtless applied by Aristotle to the
form ('Histb Anim.*, viiL, 8), but what spedee is meant by him
is not so dear. But the ,
bird is, without doubt> the
^rdea of the Romans. It is
the Beecapeaee, Airone, Oca-
CicogTut, and Sgana, of the
modem Italians; the Oaina
of tile Spaniards; Beyger
and Bheier of the (Jemians ;
Himn of the French ; .Oryr
gldt of the andant British ;
and Common Heron, or
Heronthaw, of the modem
Britiah.
Detcriptioru — Plumage
bluiah-ttdi; middle toe, l£e 1 J
nail induded, much shorter |
than the tarsus.
Male and Female after the //
Third Tear. — Long loose
Waok feathers on the /^
bock of the head; similar -^J^
feathers or plumes of a ^^'^JHf
lustrous white depend from
the lower part of the neck ;
the equally elongated and
subulate scapulars are of a ' —
•ilvcry-aalL Forehead, neck. Common Heron {Ardea cinerea),
middle of the belly, border of the wings and thighs, pure white ; oodput,
aides of the breast^ and flanks, deep black. On the fit)nt of the neck
are large longitudinal black and ash spots. Back and wings yery pure
bluiah-ash; bill deep ydlow; iris yellow; naked skin of the eye
bluiah-purple ; feet brown, but of a lively red towards the feathered
part Length 8 feet and upwards. In this state M. Temminck, whose
description we have given, states the bird to be the Ardea cinerea
(male)of Latham ('Index') ; Ardea major of Gmdin; LeHironHuj^
of Buffon; Hiron commw^ of Gerard; Common Heron (male) of
Utham (' Syn.'), Pennant ( ' Brit ZooL'), and Albin ; Aehgrau^ Bheier
of Meyer and others ; and Sgarza eenermo of the 'Stor. degL Ucc.'
Young up to the Age of Three rears:— No crest, or at most the
plumes composing it very short; no long loose feathers at the lower
part of the neck, nor above the wings ; forehead and top of the head
aah-colour ; throat white ; neck dear ash, with numerous spots of a
deeper colour than the ground ; back and wings bluish-ash, mingled
^th brown and whitish ; breast marked with longitudinal spots ;
upper mandible of the bill blackish-brown, with yeUowish spots;
lower mandible yellow ; iris yellow ; skin roimd the eyes greenish-
yeuow ; feet blackish-ash, but yellowish towards the feathered part
In this state M. Temminck considers the bird to be the Ardea cinerea
^male) of Latham; Ardea Bhenana of Sander; Le Hiron, of
Bufifon ; Common Heron (female) of Latham ; Sgana mofMio, of the
' Stor. degL Ucc.' ; and De Blaamoe Beiger (being the young in the first
year) of Sepp.
The edge of the bill is serrated near the point, and the nail of the
middle toe pectinated, as in the Herons generally.
Variety. — Nearly perfectly white. A variety of this description is
figured by Frisch (t 204) ; but it is very rare.
Habits, Food, BeproducHon, Ac. — The solitary habits of the Common
Heron, excepting at the season of reproduction, are wdl known. At
that period they congregate at their breeding stations, or heronries,
for which the loftiest trees are generally chosen. Pennant says that
at Cressi Hall, near Gosberton, in Lincolnshire, he counted more than
eighty nests in one tree. Montagu notices a heronry on a small island
in a lake in the north of Scotland, whereon there was only one scrabby
oak. This being too small to contain all the nests, the herons, n^er
than abandon their sodety and a favourite station, had many of them
placed their nests on the ground. In the south and west of England
the heronries in Windsor Great Park in Berkshire, at Brockley in
Somersetshire, and at Powderham Castle in Devonshire, are worthy of
notice. The nest is built of sticks, and is laige and fiat It is lined
with wool or other soft materials, and on this lining are deposited
four or five bluish-green lustreless eggs. The young are less pre-
possessing in appearance than nestlings in general, but few.of which
are pleasant to look upon, and they remain m the nest for five or six
weeks, during which time the old birds imceasii\gly supply them with
fish, &c There are sometimes deadly feuds between the herons and
the rooks, originating in a dispute for the possesuon of the nest-trees.
Dr. Heyshanrs account of one of these battles at Dallam Tower,
in Westmorland, originating in the felling of the fine old oaks
occupied by the herons, and their consequent attempt upon the grove
in the t^'nure of the rooks, is well worth perusaL The herons had
the best of the fray for two suceessive seasons, and at length a sort
of peace was patched up between the combatants ; the rooks and the
herons severally setting up their nests on a particular part of the now
only remaining grove, and leaving the other moiety to the opposite
faction.
Buffon draws largely upon his imagination for a picture of
wretchedness, and then maxes the heron a personification of it, with
as much foundation as characterises most of his fancies of this
description. When on its fishing station, the bird stands immoveable
as a stump, with the neck bent and between the shoulders, watching
for the passing fish, which it unerringly spears with its sharp bilL
But besides fiw and reptiles, such as frogs, newts, &c., mice, young
water-rats, and even young water-fowl, are occasionally devoui«d by
it Mr. Selby, in his excdlent ' Illustrations of British Omithology,'
gives, on the authority of Mr. Neill, of Canonmills, near Edinbuigh,
two interesting anecdotes in illustration of the habits of this bird in
a state of half-domestication. *' The Common Heron (a male)," says
Mr. Neill, " which was winged on Coldingham Muir in autumn, 1821,
when a young bird, and given to me in 1822 by Mr. John Wilson, of
the CoUege, has since resided in my garden at Canonmills, and is now
so tame that he often follows me, expecting a piece of cheese, which
he relishes. Four years ago Mr. Allan, of Lauriston, sent me a young
female which had been taken during a severe storm. She soon asso-
ciated with the older bird. In summer, 1828, she laid three or four
eggs (I am not sure which) on the top of a wall next to the mill-pond.
She then laid one or two on the flower-border below the wall, and
close by the box-edging : here some eggs were broken by the birds
suddenly starting off when alarmed by strangers walking in the
garden. We supplied their place by some bantam eggs^ and only one
heron egg at last remained. Alas I the poor hen, having strayed to
the maigin of the mill-pond, was shot by some thoughtlees young
man with a fowling-piece. The cock continued to sit for sevend
entire days after the death of the hen, but at last tired. He used to
sit when she went off for food. During the whole time of pairing
the cock was very bold, raising his feathers and snapping his bill
whenever any one approached.
Mr. Neill further adds a fact, showing that the bird can swim upon
occasion. " A laige old willow-tree," vnrites Mr. Neill in continuation,
" had fallen down into the pond, and at the extremity, which is partly
sunk in the sludge, and continues to vegetate, water-hens breed. The
old cock heron swims out to the nest, and takes the young, if he can.
He has to swim 10 or 12 feet, where the water is between 2 and 8 feet
deep. His motion through IJie water is slow, but his carriage stately.
I have seen him fell a rat by one blow on the back of the head, when
the rat was munching at his dish of fish."
Geographical JDietrihution. — Very extensive, and embracing the
greater part of the Old World. (Selby.) It is permanent ia England.
Dr. Latham says, " In England and the milder dimAies this spedee
of heron is stationary, migratoij in the colder, according to the
season ; is rarely seen far north. Inhabits Africa and Asia in general,
the Cape of Good Hope, Calcutta, and other parts of India, and is
found in America from Carolina to New York." With regard to the
American locality. Dr. Latham appears to have taken the Great Heron
{Ardea Herodias, Linnseus), for the Common Heron, which last is
not mentioned by any of &e ornithologists who have made the birds
Digitized by
Google
IM
ARDWICK LIMESTONE.
ARENlCOLA.
of America their study, as an inhabitant of the New World. Dr.
Von Siebold mentions this our European species among the birds
which he observed in Japan.
UtUitv to Man. — In days of old, when the Heron was a principal
feature m the noble sport of hawking, and when the destruction of its
eggs was visited with a penalty of twenty shillings, it seems to have
held as high a place at the tables of the great as it did in the field.
Thus, at the ' intronazation ' of George Nevill, archbishop of York, in
the reign of Edward IV., we find in the bill of fare 400 Heronshawes
and 200 Feasauntes (pheasants) ; and it seems, at one period, to have
been valued as * a dish at the same price as liie latter bird, for from
the prices in the household-book of the fifth earl of Northumberland,
we find Hearonsewys (herons) marked at twelve pence, and pheasants
at the same rate to a penny. At a marriage-feast in Heniy YIIL's
time, we find Heronsews noted at the same price, and at another
marriage-feast in the same vear two dozen Heronsues marked at
twenty-four shillings. In the first of these records no mention is
made of pheasants, but in the second they appear at that earlier time
to have been rather more highly valued than herons, for eighteen
pheasants are priced at twenty-four shillings, the amount placed
against the two dozen herons. And in the charges of Sir John
Nevile of Chete (the knight in whose family the marriages above
alluded to took place), at Lammas assizes, in the 20th year of the
reign of king Heniy YIIL, the pheasants appear to have cost some-
what more than the Heronsews, thirty of vmich are priced at thirty
shillings, while twelve pheassnts cost twenly shillings. The heron-
plume, made up of the fine large depending feathers, especially those
above the wings, was highly valued.
In the present day the bird seems to have simk into comparative
insignificance. Mr. Selby however considers that " the low estimation
in which the flesh of the Heron is now held would seem to be in a
great degree the effect of prejudice, or the fiashion of taste, as under
proper treatment and good cookery the Heron, when fat and in fine
condition, is but little inferior to some of our most approved wild-fowL"
The wdl-known adage expressive of ignorance, "He does not know
a hawk from a hand-saw," is a corruption of " He does not know a
hawk from a heronshaw."
Temminck's second section of Herons consists of the Bitterns,
including the Night Herons. [Bittern ; Ntoticobaz.]
ARDWICK LIMESTONE, a Calcareous Bed, or series of beds,
containing shells and fish-remains, in the upper part of the Coal
Formations of Manchester and Lebetwood. There is a coal-bed above
it at Manchester.
ARE'CA, a genus of Palms containing two species, both remarkable
for the purposes to which they are applied. Areca is distinguished
by a double membranous sheath in which its bunches of flowers are
Betel-Nut Palm iAreea C^teehu),
contained, by its female corollas containing the rudiments of stameiu^
its calyx being divided into three parts or leaves, and its firuit being
a beny or drupe, wi^ a fibrous rind inclosing one seed only. The
leaves of all the species are pinnated, with their stalks ndled up
cylindricaUy at the base.
Areca CcUechU, Betel-Nut Palm, is described by Dr. Boxboigh as
being the most beautiful palm in India, with a remaikably stnidbt
trunk, often from 40 to 60 feet high, and in general about 20 mam
in circumference, equally thick in every part, and smooth. The
leaflets are from 3 to 84 feet long, and widest at the point, whea»
they also are ragged. It is cultivated all over India for the sake of
its nuts, which are about the size of a hen's egg, of a reddiah-yellow
when ripe, and with a firm fibrous rind about half an inch thic^ It
is this nut which, under the name of Pinang or Betel-Nut^ ii bo
universally chewed in the East Indies. It has an austere and astringent
flavour, dependent uoon the tannin it contains, and is not eatible
alone ; but mixed with lime, which no doubt destroys its acidity, and
with the leaf of the Betel-Pepper it becomes milder and pleaaani
The mixture is however still so hot and acrid as to be unfit for the
use of any but persons accustomed to it. It is said to be aromatic and
stomachic, and also to produce intoxication in beginners ; but it is
doubtful whether aU these qualities are not to be asoribed rather to
the Betel-Pepper leaf than to the nut of the Palm. It, or rather the
mixture of the three substances, stains the saliva and teeth of a deep
red colour. It is to the stems of Areca Catechu that the common
black pepper vine is usually trained on the coast of Malabar. (Roxb.)
Areca oUraeea, the Cabbage Palm, is the only other species that it
is necessary for us to notice. The name of this plant is familiar to
most persons from the often repeated fact that a tree of the growth
of half a century is sometimes cut down for the sake of the angle
bud which terminates it, and which is called the cabbage.
The species is found in great abundance in the mountainous parts
of Jamaica and other West India islands, growing to the height of
from 100 to 200 feet^ with a trunk not more than 6 or 7 inches in
diameter. This gives it an extremely graceful appearance, espedaUy
as the leaves grow from the top only, in a kind of tuft or plume, to the
len^^ of 16 feet ; these leaves are divided in a pinnated manner, and
then? divisions are deep green, and several feet long. The unexpanded
leaves are arranged so closely one over the other as to obstruct all
access of light, which causes them to be of a very tender and delicate
nature. It is this which forms the cabbage, which is considered a
great delicacy, either raw or boiled. The nuts, which are about the
size of a filbert and covered with a yellowish skin, are produced in
great abundance upon a very long and branched spadix ; the kernel
is white and sweet.
ARENG, a genus of Palms, the only species of which produces
Sago and Palm- Wine. Areng saceharifera, is described as a plant of
an ugly appearance, having a trunk 20 or 80 feet high^ covered almost
entirely with coarse black fibres resembling horse-hair. The leaves
are from 15 to 25 feet long, and pinnated ; their leaflets, which are
from 8 to 5 feet long; widen gradually to the point, where they are
ragged and prickly, in consequence of the projection of tiieir hard
veins beyond the margin ; above they are of a deep ahinmg green, but
on their xmder surface they are firmly coated with ash-coloured mealy
matter. The stalks of these leaves have intermixed with their coarse
hair stiff bristles as thick as porcupine's quills. Each bunch of fiowers
is from 6 to 10 feet long, and when covered with fruit is as much as a
man can carry. The berries are of a yellowish-brown colour, about
the size of a medlar, and extremely acrid ; each contains three seeds.
This palm is found in all the islands of the Indian Archipelago, in
moist and shady ravines through which rivulets find a course ; it is
much used for the sake of its sap^ which flows in great abundance
from the wounded branches of the infloreeoenoe about the time when
the firxdt is forming. A bamboo bottle is tied to the extremity of an
amputated branch, and removed twice a day, morning and evening.
A single tree wiU yield a large quantity of tins fluid, which when
flrst drawn from the tree is transparent, with the taste and colour of
new wine; after a short time it beoomes turbid and milky, and
acquires a slight degree of acidity. When fit for drinking it is of a
yellowish colour, with a powerful odour and a good deal of astrin-
gency. Strangers do not for some time become accustomed to it It
is exceedingly intoxicating ; but, if drunk in moderation, is said to be
stomachic and wholesome.
Besides yielding wine, the coarse fibres of the stem and leaf-stalks
are manufiEtctured into powerful cables, and the trunk contains a great
quantity of nutritious meal-like sago. Dr. Roxbui^ mentions that
150 lbs. of that substance were obtained from one tree felled in the
botanic garden at Calcutta.
(Roxburgh's Flora Indica, voL iiL p. 627; Rumphius' fferharinm
Amboinerue, voL i The former calls this Palm Saguinu JRumphU.)
ARENlCOLA, a genus of Annelidous Animals, referred by Curier
to the Dorsibranchiate group on account of their external gills. The
general structure and habits of the genus determine most naturalists
in placing it with the Terricolous Amielids. [Annelida.] The gills
are brandied, and placed upon the rings of tiie middle part of the
body only. The mouth is fleshy, more or less dilatable, but there
are no discernible teeth, tentacles, or eyes. The posterior extremity
of the body has not only no gills, but is devoid of the silky bristles
which are found on every other part.
A. Pucatorum, the Lob or Lug- Worm, is the most common species.
It is found very abundantly in the sand of the sea-shore, where its
Digitized by
Google
AREOLAR TISSUE.
ARGULUS.
habits afford a close reeemblanoe to those of the earth-worm away from
the shore. It ia bigger than the earth-worm, aometimes being found
nearly a foot in length. It ia of a reddish colour, and when touched
throws out a quantity of a yellow fluid which stains the hand. It is
employed by fishermen as bait for various kinds of sea-fish.
AREOLAR TISSUE. The nature of this tissue will be best under-
stood if we first describe Fibrous Tistue, of which it may be regarded as
a modification. Fibrous Tisstie is now usually considered under two
heads, namely, as the white and the yellow tissue. White Fibrous Tissue
occurs in ligaments, tendons, and membranes requiring great strength.
On carefully dissecting away the areolar tissue with which it is asso-
ciated, it seems, when ezammed under the microscope, to consist of
extremely delicate fibrillse running parallel to one another, and taking
an undulating course. There is however reason to believe^ it does
not in reality consist of a bundle of fibrilla), but that it is simply a
mass with longitudinal parallel streaks, and which has a tendency to
split up in a longitudinal direction. (Fig. 2, a.)
Tdiiw Fibrous Tissue differs in many essential points from the pre-
ceding form. It is remarkably elastic, is of a yellow colour, and is
arranged in bimdles or fibres, invested by a thin sheath of areolar
tissue. In man we find it extended between the laminso of the ver-
tebrae, in several other ligaments, and in the transversalis fiiscia of the
abdomen. It forms the ligamentum nuchse of animals. Examined
under the microscope it is seen to consist of fibres varying in diameter
from the 5000th to the 10,000th of an inch. They bifurcate, or even
diride into three, and freely anastomose with each other.
Fig. 1.
Tellov Fnnroaa Tisaae showing the curly and branched disposition of its flbrUlsB.
ArtoiUur Tissue is dispersed over almost every portion of the body,
being the substance most commonly (but incorrectly) termed Odbdar
TistiH, The foUowing are the microscopic characters of this tissue,
as described by Bowman and Todd : — " When a fragment is examined
it presents an inextricable interlacement of tortuous and wavy threads,
intersecting one another in every possible direction. They are of two
kinds. The first are chiefly in the form of bands of very unequal
thickness, and inelastic. Numerous streaks are visible in them, not
usually parallel with the border, though taking a general longitudinal
direction. These streaks, like the bands themselves, have a wavy
appearance, but can be rendered straight by being stretched. The
stnaks seen have more the marks of longitudinal creasing than a
true separation into threads ; for it is impossible to tear up the band
into filaments of determinate size, although it manifests a decided
tendency to tear lengthways. The larger of these bands are often as
wide as the 500th of an inch ; the smaller can only be detected with
high powers. These are the white fibrous element. The others are
The two elemettts of Areolar Tissue in their natural relations to one another.
«, the white flbroos element, with celUnnclel, j, sparingly visible In It ; 6, the
VXiaw ftbroos element, showing the branching or anastomosing character of Its
ftbrilUe; e, flbrlUfe of the yellow element, far finer than the rest, but having a
rimilar eorly character ; cf, nucleated cell-nuolel, often seen apparently loose.
long, single, elastic, branched filaments, with a dark decided border,
«nd disposed to curl when not put on the stretch. They interlace
with the oUiers, but appear to have no continuity of substance with
them. They are most commonly about the 8000th of an inch in
diameter. These form the yellow fibrous element.
These two tissues may be most easily diBcriminated by the addition
of a drop of dilute acetic acid, which at once swells up the former
and renders it transparent, whilst it produces no change m the latter.
It thus brings into view
corpuscles of an oval shape,
which are probably tiie
nuclei of the cells from
which the bands have been
originally produced. Oval
corpuscles {Jig. 2, (Q, either
altogether isolated or hav-
ing very delicate prolonga-
tions with the adjacent
threads, are sometimes
noticed. They seem to
be either advancing or
receding stages of the
tissue.
In fig. 3, which repre-
sents the Areolar Tissue
from beneath the skin of a
five-months fostus, we can perceive the cells elongating into fibres.
In a chemical point of view the leading difference between the
white and yellow tissues is, that the former is acted on by acetic acid
in the manner described, and yields a considerable amount of gelatine
in boUing ; while the latter resists the action of acetic acid, and yields
littie or no gelatine.
ARFVEDSONITE, a mineral belonging to the Hornblende Series.
The cleavage is parallel to the lateral planes and both the diagonals
of a rhombic prism. The colour black ; fracture uneven ; hanlness
6*0 ; lustre vitreous and opaque ; and has a specific gravity of 8*4 to
8*5. It is found in Norway and Greenland. Acoormng to analysis
by Dr. Thomson it contains —
Silica 50-508
Peroxide of Iron 85'144
Sesqui-oxide of Manganese . . . 8*920
Alumina 2*488
Lime 1*560
Water 0*960
ARGALI, in Zoology, the name of a species of Wild Sheep (Ovis
Ammon) found on the mountains of Siberia and Kamtchatka.
[OVBJS.]
ARGEMO'NE, a small genus of plants belonging to the natural order
PapavercLcecBf of which three species are ctQtivated in this coimtry as
ornamental plants. They are all natives of Mexico, and are charac-
terised by having six petals and three sepab, a veiy unusual number
of parts in the natural order to which this genus belongs. Their
leaves are prickly, and generally marked with whitish or pale bluii^-
green veins ; the flowers are white or yellow. The commonest species is
A. Mexicana, from the seeds of which iLe Mexicans obtain an oil very
useful to painters; the handsomest is A. grandifiorcb^ the flowers of
which are pure white, and as much as three inches in diameter.
They are all hardy, and will thrive in almost any soil or situation.
Their seeds should be sown in a hot-bed, and the young plants treated
as half-tender annuals.
ARGENTINE, in Mineralogy, a white laminated variety of crys-
tallised calcareous spar containing a littie silica. [Calcabbous Sfab.]
ARGES (Goldfiiss) is the Paradoxides bimucroncUus of Murchison.
ARGULUS, a genus of Entomostracous Crust(tcea, belonging to the
section Poseilopoda, There is but one species of this genus, the
A. foliaceus. This littie creature is not unknown to fishermen, as it
is frequentiy found parasitic upon various kinds of fish. It was first
described by Baker in his ' Employment for the Microscope,' in 1758,
under the name of 'The Louse of the Cu:p and Banstickle or
Prickleback.' It is about the tenth of an inch in length, and is
almost as broad as it is long. The head is In the form of a circular-
shaped shield. The antennse are shorty thick, and two-jointed. Instead
of a second pair of foot^aws it has a pair of circular or disk-shaped
suckerai, by means of which it attaches itself to the animals on which
it is parasitia These suckers are admirably constructed for their
use. Four musdes are attached to the base of each of these oxgans,
and extend up by the sides. By this arrangement the creature can
make use of these organs, by exhausting the air in the same way as in
cupping-glasses, to fasten itself, and also by relaxing the muscles, to
widk, when it wishes to change its position. These littie creatures
are nearly transparent^ or of a slightly greenish hue, so that its
internal organisation can be readily seen by means of the microeoope
by transmitted light The body is marked on both sides by a serfes
of ramifications of a dark colour. The female is larger than the male,
and is distinguished, in addition to the ovary, by a black mark on each,
lobe of the abdomen.
The Ai^gulus is found upon various fresh-water fishes. It is most
frequently met with near London on tiie Stickleback, but it has been
noticed as occurring on the Carp, the Roach, the Trout, the Pike, the
Rudd, and even upon the tadpole of the common Frog. It seems to
abound especially when fish are in ill health.
Digitized by
Google
299
ARIETES.
ARMADILLO.
90O
Although mostly found upon fish it frequently leares them, and
swims freely about in the water. Fish have an instinctive knowledge
of these creatures as their enemy, and it is amusing to watch in a
basin of water the efforts which the stickleback will make to avoid
its minute persecutor ; but the efforts of the fish are in vain, for it is
opposed to a creature which has the power of darting through water
with such rapidi^ that it is almost impossible to follow it with the
naked eye. The females deposit their eggs from 400 to 1 500 in number
on stones or other solid bodies. They are laid side by side in rows and
glued together. They are hatched in about 85 days, and the young
resemble their parents to a greater extent than is Uie case with many
of the forms of Bntomostraca. The best account, with figures and
anatomy, of this parasite, is given in Dr. Baird's ' History of the
British Elntomostraca,' published by the Ray Society. Mr. Tarrell
has given a figure of it in the second volume of his ' British Fishes.'
ARIETES. [Amhoitites.]
ARILLUS, in Botany, is a fleshy expansion either of the umbilical
cord by which seeds are attached to the placenta, or of the placenta
itself. It is never formed till after the fertilisation of the seed, and
is only met with in a few plants ; its use is entirely unknown. The
most remarkable instance of the Arillus among species of common
occurrence is in the Spindle-Tree (Ewmymua Etbropceut), in which it is
the fleshy red covering of the seed that renders that plant so
ornamental in the autumn and beginning of winter. Another
familiar case is the mace of the nutmeg'; this substance is, when
fresh, a crimson lacerated covering of Uie nut, which acquires its
pale-brown colour in consequence of the preparation it undei^goes in
being dried and prepared for market Before the term was thus
•oourately defined, it was applied to a variety of parts of exceedingly
different natures.
ARISTOLOCHIA'CE^, Birtkwortt, consist of a small nimiber of
genera which principally inhabit the hotter parts of the world. They
are in many cases useid medicinally on account of their tonic and
stimulating properties ; and some of them are reputed remedies for
the bite of venomous serpents. The distinguishing characters of the
order reside in the flowers, which have no corolla, and are constantly
divided into three segments ; the number of the cells of the fruit is
also three or six, and the stamens agree in the same ternary character ;
the fruit is always adherent to the calyx, or, as botanists say, inferior.
Notwithstanding the accordance which thus exists between Ariato-
lochiacece and Monocotyledonous Plants in the ternary number of the
ArittoloehuB.
1, A branch of Aristoloehia Sipho ; 2, one of its flowers cut len^wise, show.
inff the Btamens lying in its bottom ; S, a cloBter of stamens ; 4, a seed-Tessel ;
5, the same cat acrow to show its six cells ; 6, a seed ; 7, a seed cut through to
•how the minute embryo lying in the albumen ; 8, an embryo much magnified.
parts of their flowers, their structure is otherwise truly Dicotyledonous.
The arrangement of the woody matter of which their stem is composed
is in longitudinal plates, surrounding a central pith, and surrounded
by baik ; but what is veiy curious, these plates are not placed in
concentric circles like most other exogenous plants, but continue to
increase uniformly and uninterruptedly as long as the plant grows.
[ExooKKS.] The leaves are veined like those of exogenous plants, and
the embryo of the seed has two lobes.
The most common plants of this singular order are the different
species of Atarumt or^ as the gardeners call them, Asarabacca, — ^little
stemless plants with dingy-brown flowers hidden among the leaves.
This colour, which is far from common in plants, appears characteristie
of the whole order, for even in those species which have yellow
flowen, a brown stain seems to be mixed with the colour so as to
change it, or brown spots are scattered over the surface. The moat
remarkable species of the genus Aritt6l4>chia are those which, in many
of the tropical parts of America, excite the wonder of travellers by
the gigantic size or grotesque appearance of the flowers, such as
A. ctfmbifer<iy the border of whose calyx resembles one of the lappets
of a Norman woman*s cap, and measures 7 or 8 inches in length,
A. eordifiora, and A. gigantect, the flowers of which are from 15 to
16 inches across, and are large enough to form bonnets for the native
children.
The properties of this order are generally tonic and stimulating.
Many of the species, as their common name implies, have had
properties attributed to them which they are now known not to
possess ; at the same time some of them are emetic and others
purgative, and they contain undoubtedly plants which might be used
with advantage in medicine. Only one has been much used, the
Arittolochia Serpentaria, [Aribtolochia, in Arts and Sc. Diy.I
ARKTIZITE, one of the names for the group of minerals induded
under SeapolUe. [Soafolite.]
ARBfADILLO {Dasypus, Linnseus), a genus of the daas Mammalia
belonging to the order EdetUcUa, and forming, vrith the allied genera
Chlamy^^onu and Orpcteroputf a small but very distinct family
intermediate between the Sloths and Ant-Eaters, and characterised by
the possession of molar teeth only. The Sloths [Bbadtpub] have not
only the ordinary molar teeth of common quadrupeds, bat arc
likewise provided with large and powerfal canines ; though, as far as
we know anything of their economy, they appear to be a purely
herbivorous family, and to be even incapacitated by other details of
their oi^gamsation for the capture or destruction of a living prey ;
whilst the Ant-Eaters [Ant-Eatbb] are not only deprived of canine
but likewise of molar teeth, consequently are without teeth of any
description, and thus form Uie only family of the order EdaUata that
literally answers to the name and definition. Nor are these the only
distinctions which subsist between the three families of edentulous
mammals which we have here indicated. Others are pointed out in
the articles just referred to, and it will be sufficient to mention, in
addition, that the Ant-Eaters differ from the other two families by the
want of clavicles (a most important and influential element in the
anatomical structure of all vertebrated animals), and the Armadilloa,
the more immediate subject of our present consideration, by the
peculiar nature of their external covering, kistead of hair, the
armadillos are covered with a species of hard bony crust, forming
three bucklers on the head, shoulders, and rump, respectively, the two
latter being connected by a number of transverse moveable bands,
very similar in form and appearance to the plate armour of the
middle ages, from which indeed these animals have acquired the
name of Armadillos — a name of Spanish origin, which has been
adopted by English writera These bucklers likewise hang down on
each side, so as to form an effectual protection to the belly, and
partially to cover the legs and feet ; whilst the pliancy produced by
the moveable bands interposed between the bucklers of the rump and
shoulders, and which are themselves connected by the soft pliant skin
of the animal, permits the most varied and rapid motions. The
bucklers themselves, as well as these connecting moveable bands, are
composed of numerous small polygonal plates, placed contiguous to
one another like the stones of a mosaic pavement, but without any
actual articulation, and they are incapable of separate motion. The
whole thus forms a kind of shelly buckler not uidike that of a lobster ;
and though incapable of actual motion, yet the thinness of the. shell,
and, during life, the pliancy occasioned by the animal oil which
penetrates it, allow it to yield to a certain degree, and thus to
accommodate itself in some measure to the motions of the body. But
t^e great and prindpid motions, as already observed, are entirely due
to the moveable transverse bands, interposed between the two
principal bucklers of the body, and which vary in number according
to the species, and even within certain limits according to the age,
sex, or individual These are situated immediately above the loins,
or in the region to which all the prindpal motions of the animal
economy have been assigned ; the bucklers of the head and shoulders
are entirely disunited, and have none of these moveable bands
interposed between; but that of the head projects considerably
backwards, and affords complete protection to the neck, which is
indeed so short as to be barely distingmshable.
The throat, breast, belly, and thighs of the armadillo are naked, or
covered with a thick granulated skin, thinly famished with warts or
tubercles, which give origin to a few coarse bristly hairs. The com-
missures of the moveable bands on the loins are likewise provided with
a number of long hairs ; but with this exception the body is covered
only by its peculiar shell The tail is straight, round, thick, and
pointed ; it is adapted at the root to a notch or cavity in the posterior
edge of the buckler of the croup, and, with the exception of one
Digitized by
Google
S$l
ARMADILLO.
ARMADILLO.
802
spedei, IB univenmlly ooTered with bony ringfl, formed, like the rings
of the bucklers, of namerous small pieces connected together, but
capable of a certain degree of motion, and thus admitting of conside-
rable flexibility in the tail itself. The head of the armadillos is
flat and terminated by a pointed muzzle, which assists them, like the
snout of the hog ana mole, to turn up the earth in search of roots
and worms. Their ears are erect and pointed, and their eyes very
small They have flat corpulent bodies ; and their legs are so dis-
proportionately thick and short that they barely serve to elevate the
body above the surface of the ground. Their toes, idso, of whidi
there are either four or five on the anterior and invariably five on the
posterior extremities, are remarkably short ; but they are furnished
with extremely long powerful claws, slightly curved, and in every
respect well adapted for digging or burrowing. So rapid indeed are
the armadillos at this operation that they eamly bury themselves to
any depth b^ond the reach of their pursuers. They can only be
forced from their subterranean retreat by directing smoke or water
into their burrows. Their strength and the tenacity of their hold are
80 great^ that they have been known to leave their tails in the hands
of the hunter rather than permit themselves to be drawn forth. Yet
notwithstanding the shortness of their legs and the heavy corpulent
make of their bodies, the armadillos run with a velocity which could
not be anticipated from their general appearance. Most of the species
will easily outstrip a man. ^eir ordinary burrows most commonly
ran for three or four feet at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane
of the horizon, then make a sudden bend, and terminate at the distance
of eight or ten feet from the mouth. Here for the most part they
conceal themselves during the daytime, for the greater number of the
n>eciee are nocturnal, and never move abroad whilst the sun is above
the horizon. This rule however admits of some exceptions — a few
species being found abroad at all times indifferently ; and it has been
remarked that these are neither so swift nor so timid as the nocturnal
species.
The teeth of the armadillos are all of a simple cylindrical form,
and stand apart firom one another like those of the generality of
Cetacea and Reptiles. They vary in number from 7 or 8 to 17 or
18 on each side of each jaw; and are so arranged that when the
mouth is closed the upper teeih fit into the interstices of the under,
and these into the interstices of the upper teeth alternately. The
animals never attempt to bite, nor has nature given them any other
means of defence thim the ease and rapidity with which they avoid
danger by burrowing. Their food consists principally of fallen fruits,
roots, and worms; but they do not reject carrion, and have been
known to penetrate into human graves when not properly protected
by stones or brick-work. Azara informs us that ants are never found
in the districts inhabited bv the armadillos, and that these animals
break into the ant-hills and aevour the insects as greedily as the true
Ant-Eaters. The ordinary food of the armadillos consists chiefly of
the roots of the mnndioc, of potatoes, maize, and other similar sub-
stances of a vegetable nature ; though, as already observed, without
rejecting animid substances naturally soft or so far decomposed as to
be eattly torn without the help of canine teethe They are also very
destructive to the eggs and young of such birds as build their nests
on the ground, and greedily devour worms^ frogs, small lizards, and,
Azara says, even vipers. Tbe chief animal food of tiie armadillos,
however, is derived from the immense herds of wild cattle which cover
the plains and savannahs of ever^ part of South America. These are
rarely slaughtered but for the sake of the hide and tallow ; and as the
carcasses are left to rot on the pampas or plains, the smell soon
attracts vast crowds of carnivorous animals of various species, and
among others great numbers of armadillos, which greedily devour the
half-putrid flesh, and soon become extremely fat and corpulent. In
this condition, notwithstanding the filthy nature of their food, their
flesh is esteemed a great delicacy both by the native Indiuis and by
the Portuguese and Spaniards of America. The animal is roasted in
its shell, and considered one of the greatest dainties which the
country produces.
The armadillos see but indifferently, particularly in bright sunshiny
weather ; but their sense of hearing is extremely acute, and amply
compensates for any imperfection of sight. When alarmed by any
mmsual or strange sound they prick up their ears, stop for a moment
to satisfy themselves of its distance and direction, then commence a
precipitate retreat to their burrow, or, if that be too remote, begin to
construct a new one. Smell is, however, by £sr the most acute of their
•enaea. Azara tellB a singular story, which strikingly illustrates the
intensity of this sense in the armaaillos, as well as the unerring cer-
tainty with which, by a kind of intuitive knowledge of the principles
of engineering, they are enabled to direct their subterraneous course
to any iMurticular point "My friend Nos^da," says he, "having
Arranged a trap for the purpose of taking Chibigouzous, and having
placed in it by way of bait a cock, with a small quantity of maize to
support him, it so happened that a few grains of the maize fell
through between the boards which formed the bottom of the trap.
An armadillo arrived during the night, and wishing to get at the
maize thus accidentally spilt, opened a trench or burrow at some dis-
tance from the trap, and without deviating a hair^s breadth from the
straight line of his direction, pushed it on to the veiy spot where the
grain had fidlen, and possessed himself of the booty.'*^
It is generally believed that the female armadillo brinp forth but
once during tiie year, but she produces at a birth firequenUy six, eight,
or even ten young ones ; yet she has never more thui four teats, and,
according to the report of M. Azara, the most accurate and extensive
observer who has written upon the history of these animals, in spme
species only two— an anomaly with respect to the number of young
and tiie number of teats which appears to contradict the general rule
observable among other mammals. Azara indeed supposes that some
of the young die for want of proper nourishment, and that the mother
only rears those for which she has a sufficient supply of milk. This
is however improbable, as we find it a general rule that only the
number of young are produced at a time that can be sucoes«fully
reared.
The tropical and temperate regions of South America are the
original and proper habitat of all the known species of Armadillos.
Hie armadillos are active hardy animals, and thrive and breed
rapidly with a moderate portion of care in most temperate countries.
Suc^ of the species as prefer a vegetable food, and whose flesh is
consequently the most palatable and wholesome, might even be
domesticated wiUx advantage, and bred in warrens, like rabbits. In
their native climates, however, they still aboimd in such incredible
numbers that the inhabitants will not be at the trouble of rearing
what they can so readily procure to any required amoimt. When
therefore the natives of Brazil or Buenos Ayres maintain the
armadillo as a domestic ^^nimn.!^ it is more for curiosity than for
profit. The woods and pampas supply the wild animal in inex-
haustible abundance. They are most usually taken in traps during
the night; or, when found in open day at any distance from their
burrows, are pursued by small dogs, which intercept their retreat till
the hunter has time to secure them. One species only when thus
attacked has the faculty of rolling itself up into a roimd ball like a
hedge-hog, but they are generally timid and extremely helpless, and
none ever attempt to defend UiemMves either by using their teeth
or daws.
In arranging the Armadillos, Baron Cuvier, for the facility of
definition, has divided them into five small groups.
I. The Cachieameif which have 4 toes on the anterior and 5 on
the posterior extremities, 7 teeth only on each side both of the upper
and lower jaw, a pointed muzzle, and a long tail, surrounded by a
succession of osseous rings, each of which is composed of a number of
polygonal plates arranged in numerous series. The two middle daws
are excessively large and of equal length ; the lateral, particularly the
internal, which represents the thumb, are much shorter, but all are
powerful, trenchant, and wdl fitted for bun'owing. To this division
belongs —
1. JkaypuM Peba (Desmareet), the Peba, called Tatouhou, or Black
Tatu, by the Quaranis, is extremely common in Paraguay, though it does
not extend to the province of Buenos Ayres. This species is well figured
The Peba {Ikuypui Peba),
in the original edition of Buffon's * Histoire Naturelle,' and detoribed
hv Daubenton under the name 6f Ociehicamef which according to
Qumilla is the generic name of the Armadillos among the Indians
on the banks of tiie Orinoco. Azara calls it the Black Armadillo, f^:om
its Guarani name ; and it has been admitted into the generality of
zoological catalogues under the somewhat ambiguous appellationt of
Datyput novetncinctui, D. oetocinetutf and 2>. 9eptemeincht9, — ^three
different species being thus foimed from the same animal, undar
the erroneous supposition that the number of moveable bands
between the bucklers of the shoulders and croup was inyaxiaUe In
the same speoieB.
The length of the Peba, from the snout to the origin of the tail, is
about 16 inches, that of the tail 14 indhM, and its droomfiBmoe at
Digitized by
Google
803
ARMADILLO.
ARMADILLO.
ao4
its base 6 inchoB. The bead is small, long, and strmight; the nose
extremely elongated, taper, and terminated by a sort of small muzzle
something resembling the' snout of a hog; ttie mouth is large; the
eyes small, and placed on the sides of the head ; the ears long, and
plaoed close together; the tail long and attenuated; the legs short;
and the feet small The buckler of the shoulders extends in front
oyer the whole neck, and towards the rear as far as the back, descending
on each side to the dbows. It is composed of small pieces adhering to
one another, and dispoeed in numerous parallel concentric rings, having
the concavity towards the front, the first ring embracing the neck of
the animal The buckler of tibe croup extends from the back to the
origin of the tail, and descends on each side to the knees. It is com-
posed, as in the former case, of small pieces arranged in a great number
of parallel concentric rings, passing transrersely over the hips, but having
their concavity turned in tne opposite direction from that of the rings
on the shoulder, or in such a manner that the last embraces the root of
the tail When viewed externally, the little pieces composing tliese
bucklers have the appearance of irregular tubercles, but when examined
on the under side of the buckler they are found to be hexagons almost
as regular as those of the cells of bees, and fitted as precisely to one
another. Between the bucklers of the shoulders and croup are inter-
posed a variable number of transverse moveable bands marked with
zig-zag lines forming very acute angles, and in some degree gliding over
one another according to the different motions of the animal Out of 14
individuals examined by Azara, there were two with 6 of these moveable
bands, one with 7, seven with 8, and four wiUi 9 ; and it was observed that
the fiill-^wn ones always had the greatest number of bands, which
renders it extremely probable that new bands are detached from the
bucklers as th^ are required by the increasing growth of the animal
The buckler of the heaid desoends from the ears to the muzzle, and
covers each cheek as lar down as the orbits; and there are small
detached scales interspersed in various situations over the throat, the
under-jaw, the legs, and feet, and even on the outer side of the ears.
The tail is extremely long and taper : it is composed of a great
number of osseous rings forming a long tubular case, and connected
like the Joints of a cane. The Peba, or, as it is commonly called in
Brazil, Tatu-Peba, has 32 teeUi, 8 on each side both of the upper and
under jaws. It inhabits Quyana, Brazil, and Paraguay, is a timid
nocturnal animal, tolerably swiit-footed, and very expert in burrowing.
It is never found in the woods, but delights in the open plains and
cultivated fields, and is much hunted by the inhabitants on acoount
of the delicacy of its flesh, which, when roasted in the shell, is £st and
well tasted; it is said to resemble that of a sucking-pig.
2. D. hybridui (Desmarest), the Mule Armadillo, caUed Mlwuriqua,
or Mule Tatu, by the Guaranis, in allusion to its long upright ears,
differs from the last species principally by its smaller size, and the
comparative shortness and smallness of its tail The length from the
nose to the origin of the tail is stated by Azara to be only 11} inches;
the tail itself is 6} inches long, and 3 inches in circumference at the
root ; whence it appears that the tail of the present species is only
half the length of the body, whilst in the Tatu-Peba its dimensions
are very nearly equal The legs of the present spedes are also rather
shorter than those of the Peba, the body is broader and less covered
with hair on the under surfaoei, and the moveable bands generally
fewer in number, and capable of being separated to a greater distance
from one another. Their number generally varies from 5 to 7, without
distinction of sex, but it is to be observed that the former number is
only foimd in very young animalB ; and altogether the small size and
general external resemblance of the two species make it sometimes
difficult to distinguish between the adult M'bouriqua and the young
Peba, especially i[ great attention be not paid to the comparative
length of the biKiy and tail, which forms the only certain criterion.
This species inhabits the open uncovered countiy, like the former,
but extends much farther south, and is common on the pampas of
Buenos Ayre>>
8. JD. Verdadeiro, the Tatu Yerdadeiro, is a species very similar in
size and proportions to the Mule Armadillo ; but the point of its tail
is terminated by a homy case of a single piece ; the moveable bands
are broader, and the plates of the croup-buckler are of considerably
laiger size. We know very little more about this species than Uie
few characters here reported. It inhabits the woods of Brazil, resides
in burrows, and is found abroad at all hours during the day-time.
Koeter is the only traveller who mentions this animal, but Baron
Cuvier had an opportunity of establishing its roecific distinctions by
the examination of some specimens brought to France by M. Auguste
de St. Hilaire.
XL The second subdivision which Baron Cuvier establishes among
the Armadillos, and which he calls Aparas, is characterised by having
the claws and teeth in all respects similar to those of the preceding;
save that the number of the latter amounts to nine or ten on eaS
side both of the upper and lower jaws ; but the animals of the present
group are immediately distinguishable from all others of the genus by
the tacultY which they possess of completely rolling themselvee up
like a hedgehog into a round ball, in which situation they may he
tumbled alwut, or even, it is said, thrown over predpioes, without
receiving any material iiguiy. Thiure is but a single known species.
4. JD. Apar (Desmarest), and J), tridnetug (LinnsBus), the Mataoo,
odJed also Bolha, or the little ball, from its faculty of aasinning a .
spherical form, is nearly 15 inches long from the nose to the origin of
tne tail ; the head is 3 inches long, and the tail not quite 24 inchea
The head is oblong and of a pyramidal form ; the muzzle pointed ;
The Mataoo (D. Apar).
the ears short and nearly round ; and the legs and daws oomparativelT
smaller and weaker than in the other sped^ ; the tail also is mud
shorter, and does not taper so much ; it is fiattened at the root, and
covered above with a roug^ granular crust. The small pieces which
compose the -bucklers and moveable bands are themsdves of very
irregular figures, and disposed in a more confused manner than in
other spedes, bearing no distant resemblance to a number of small
rouffh fragments of stones thrown at random over the surface. The
buckler of the shoxilderB forms a prominent angle on each dde which
advances forwards over the cheek ; it is compoeed of 9 or 10 parallel
bands of small plates, of a polygonal figure, except those of the laii
row, which, like the plates of the moveable bands, form irregular
paralldograms. The buckler of the croup is composed of 1 3 tranavene
rows of small plates, similar to those of the shoulders, and between
the two bucklers are interposed three moveable bands only ; a number
by whidi the Mataco is reiadily distinguishable from all other anna-
dillos, though it is probable that it may vary in a small degree, as it
is found to do in other cases. Its usual resource, and oiUy defence
when frightened or surprised, is to roU itself up ; for it does not con-
struct burrows like the Tatu-Peba, nor does it possess suffident speed
to escape by flight It is found in Brazil, Paraguay, and Buenos
Ayree, but is nowhere very common.
III. The Bncoubertg, or third division of Baron Cuvier, have 5 toes
on the fore feet, and 9 or 10 teeth throughout, but they are prindpally
distinguished by having 2 teeth in the intermaxillary bones of the
upper jaw, representing, as it were, the incisor teeUi of ordinary
mammals, and thus forming an exception, not only to the other
Armadillos, but even to the order of Edentata, which are prindpally
characterised by their want of teeth of thi^ description.
5. D. Encoubert (Desmarest), D, texcinctut (Linnsus), the Poyou, or
Tellow-Footed Annadillo (for thus Azara interprets the name), mea-
The Pojou {D. Eneombtrt),
■ores about 16 inches fh)m the nose to the origin of the tail, which is
itself about half the length of the body. The head is laige, flat, and
Digitized by
Google
905
ARlfADILLO.
ARMADILLO.
aotf
nearly triangular, the face shorty the muzzle obttue, the ears erect and of
moderate size, and the eve small The number of moyeable bands
Tariee from 7 to 8, aocormng to the indiyidual ; the tail is surrounded
at the base with three or four bony rings, but throughout the reet of its
length it is merely covered with regular tuberculous scales ; the inter-
stices of the moveable bands give origin to a great number of long
bristly gray hairs, and the female is provided with only two pectoral
mammae. But independently of all other considerations, the Tatu-
Poyou is easily distmguished from all the other armadillos by the
unusual flatness and broadness of its body, and the consequent com-
parative shortness of its legs. It is very common in Paraguay, and
burrows in the ground with an almost incredible agility. Its strength
and activity are very remarkable ; and notwithstanding the shortness
of its legs, it runs so swift that few men can outstrip it. It is of a
restless unquiet character, bold, curious, and intrepid. When any
noise is made at the entrance of its burrow, or when otherwise tor-
mented, it grunts like a young pig, and comes forth without fear to
investigate the cause; yet when actually attacked it is incapable of
making any sort of defence, and can only save itself by retreating to
the bottom of its hole, or burrowing to a still greater depth. The
Poyou feeds much upon carrion, and for this reason its fLeah, though
fat, is never eaten by the inhabitants of European origin, though we
Indians make no distinction in this respect between it and the other
armadillos. When it stops or rests, it has a custom of squatting dose
to the ground like a hare in her form, and in this situation the great
breadth of the body is remarkably apparent^ being nearly three times
its height
6. J). viUonu (Desmarest), the Haiiy Armadillo, measures 14 inches
in length from the nose to the origin of the tail ; the head is nearly 4
inches in length, the ear two-thirds of an inch, and the tail 5 inches. In
form and appearance this species bears a very strong resemblance to that
last described, but it is of smaller size, and is comparatively better
covered with hair, a circumstance from which it derives the name by
which it is most usually distinguished. The head is triangular, the
muzzle pointed, the ears laige, elliptical, and inclined outwards, and
the number of moveable bands varies from 6 to 7 according to the
individuaL The border of the bucklers, as well ^ the lower side of
the moveable bands, is indented in a remarkable manner, and forms
sharp angular points, which serve to approximate the present species
to the following, not less than to distinguish it from all the oUier
known armadillos. There are eight tee& on each side, both above
and below. Numerous long flexible brown hairs spring from every
part of the body, but more especially from the sides and belly, and
even cover the first half of the tail. The female, as in the Poyou,
has only two pectoral mammse.
This species does not inhabit Paraguay, nor, as far as we ai'e at
present aware, any other part north of the Rio Plata, but it is found
at eveiy step on ike pampas or plains of Buenos Ayres, south of that
river. ''In an expeidition," says Azara, "which I made into the
Interior, between the parallels of 35" and 36" south latitude, I met
with vast multitudes of this species of armadillo, so that there was
scarcely an individual of the party who did not each day capture one
or two at least ; for, imlike the Poyou, which moves abroad only
during the night, this animal is to be found ^t all times, and tipon
being alarmed promptly conceals itself, if not mtercepted. In March
and April, when I saw them, they were so extremely fat that their
flesh Btufeited and palled the appetite ; notwithstanding which the
pioneers and soldiers ate them roaisted, and preferred them to beef and
veal." "The hairy armadillo," continues M. Azara, "like others of
the genus, has undoubtedly a very acute sense of smell, since it scents
the carcasses of dead horses from a great distance, and runs to devour
them ; but as it is unable to penetrate the hide, it burrows under the
body till it finds a place which the moisture of the soil has already
began to render putrid Here it makes an entrance with its claws,
and eats its way into the interior, where it continues feasting on the
putrid flesh, till nothing remains but the hide and bones, and so
perfectly do these preserve their position, that it is impossible, from a
mere external view to anticipate the operations which the armadillos
have been cairying on within." The same author observes further,
that this species never constructs burrows to reside in, that it avoids
low damp situations, and is only found on the dry upland plains.
7. D. minuttu (Desmarest), the Pichiy, measures only 10 inches in
length from the snout to the origin of the tail, which is itself 44 inches
long ; the head is 2 inches and 8 lines long, 2 inches broad across
the orbits, and the ears are a quarter of an inch in length, and very
sharp-pointed. The frontal buckler is composed of irregular plates,
the eyes being small and nearly concealed under its margin ; there
are no plates on the temples, but their place seems to be supplied by
a pencil of stiff brown hairs ; the neck is extremely short, and fur-
nished above with a row of minute s(»deB; the shoulder-buckler
presents nothing remarkable, but that of the croup is deeply indeoited
along the edges, and the moveable bands, to the number of six or
■eren, aooording to the age of the individual, are composed of rectan-
gular plates, bordered on each side by compressed scales, lunated and
pointing backwards. Each scale is more or less distinctly marked
with two longitudinal linear depressions, which divide it into three
parts, of which the middle is plain and of an oblong, figure, but the
lateral are, as it wew, divided mto six or eight tubercles. The claws
KAT. HIBT. DIY. VOL. L
are but moderately developed, the tail is covered with strong scales
disposed in rings, and the interstices of the scales and bands are
frimished with a considerable quantity of hair, tiiough less abund-
antlv and not so long as in the last species.
The Pichiy inhabits the pampas to the south of Buenos Ayres,
and extends from 36° of latitude southward to the confines of Pata-
gonia. It inhabits burrows, to which however it does not confine
itself during the day, like some other species. Its fledi is said to be
remarkably tender and well tasted. Two individuals of this species
which had been brought from Port Desire, on the east coast of Pata-
gonia, lived for some time in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, and
would doubtless bear even the rigour of our more northern climate
without injury or inconvenience. ^
lY. The KaboMoui have likewise five toes, both on the anterior
and posterior extremities, but those of the fore feet are disposed
obliquely, in such a manner that the thumb and index are small, the
middle and fourth toes armed with tremendously large trenchant
daws, and the fifth very small. This construction gives them the
means of burrowing with extraordinary facility, and of clinging to
the ground with such determination and obstinacy that it is with the
utmost difficulty they can be taken from it. They have nine or ten
teeth throughout.
8. 2>. TcUowiy (Desmarest), the fatouay, or Wounded Armadillo, is so
called by the Indians in allusion to its tail, which is naked, or as it
were rudelv deprived of the crust or bony tube which covers this
ot^gan in all the other species. The whole lengUi of the Tatouay, as
given by Azara, is 26i inches, from which if we subtract 74 inches for
the length of the tail, it leaves 1 foot 7 inches for that of the body.
The Tatouay (D. Tatouay),
The tail is round, pointed and naked, with the exception of a few
small round scales or crusts on the under sur&ce of the third ring nearest
to the extremity, which frequently trails along the ground when the
animal vralks ; the rest is covered with soft brown fur, interspersed
with a* few stiff short hairs on the superior surface. The head is
longer, narrower, and more attenuated than that of the Poyou, though
considerably less so than in the Peba and Mule Armadillo ; there are
8 molars on each side of the upper jaw, and 7 on each side of the lower
jaw ; the ears are unusually laijge, beirife nearly 2 inches long, and in
figure forming a segment of a circle ; the body is round : the claws of
the fore feet, particularly that of the middle toe, are excessively large ;
and the female is provided with only two pectoral mammse. The
bucklers of the croup and shoulders are composed of 10 and 7 rows
of scales respectively, each bo&Lq forming an oblong rectangle, those of
the coccia being the largest of all; the moveable bands are 18 in
number, composed of scales much smaller than those of the bucklers,
and of a nearly square figure. The habits of this species are altogether
unknown. It inhabits Guyana and Brazil, and is rarely found south
as far ais Paraguay.
y. The PriodonteSf or last subdivision of the Armadillos, in addi-
tion to the unequal toes and enormous daws of the Kabassous,
have from 22 to 24 small teeth throughout, on each side of the jaws,
making in all from 88 to 96 teeth — a greater number than is found in
any other mammaL This group contains but a single spedes at
present known, namdy —
9. D. gigat (Ouvier), the Great Armadillo, which is nearly 8 feet
3 inches in length, from the nose to the origin of the tail ; the head is
74 inches long, the ears 1} inch, and the taU 1 foot 5 inches. Its
superior size is alone sufficient to distinguish this spedes from all the
other known armadillos, but it possesses numerous other characters not
less remarkable. Its head is proportionably smaller than in the other
spedes, the fordiead is more protuberant, and the fSace fr^m the eyet
downwards assumes a tubular cylindrical form, like that of the Peba;
Digitized by
Google
397
ARMATI.
ABOHA.
801
the Mrs are of a moderate aise, pointed, and habitually cronehed
backwards ; the bucklers of the shoulders and croup are composed of
9 and 18 rows of plates respectirely, and separated by moyeable bands
Great Armadillo (D. ffigat] .
to the number of 12 or 13, formed of rectangular scales, about half
an inch square. The tail is remarkably thick at the root, being
upwards of 10 inches in circumference : it is gradually attenuated
towards the tip, covered with plates disposed in rings at the base, and
forming spiral or crescent-shaped lines throughout the rest of its
length. The claws are remarkably large and powerful, but in their
relative form and dimensions differ little from those of the Tatouay
already described.
This species inhabits Brazil and the northern parts of Paraguay.
It is never found in the open country, but keeps close to the great
forests, and burrows with surprising facili^. Those who are
employed in collecting the Jesuit's Bark fi:equently meet with it in tiie
woods, and report that when any of their companions happen to die
at a distance from the settlements, they are obliged to surround the
body with a double row of stout planks, to prevent it from being
scratched up and devoured by the Great Armadillo.
The remains of Armadillos have been found in the Tertiary Strata,
the most remarkable of which is the OlyptotUm of Owen. [Qltptodon.]
ARMATI. [Ammonitbs.]
ARNI, the native Indian name of the Wild Buffalo. [Boyidje.]
ARNI'CA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Compo-
aitcB, the tribe Venwniacea, the sub-tribe Senecionea, and the division
Eutenecionem, It has a cylindrical involucre, with equal 2-rowed
scales ; the flowers of the disk hermaphrodite, tubular ; the limb
5-toothed; the stigmas thickened above, and terminated with a conical
pubescent apex ; the flowers of the ray female, bearing degenerated
stamens, or witii only the rudiments of an anther ; the achenium
^vinged and striated ; the receptacle naked ; the pappus hairy. One
species of this genus grows in Europe, the A, morUana, and is known
by the common name of Leopaid's-Bane. It has oblong-obovate
nearly entire 6-nerved radical leaves, a few-flowered stem, with villose
or glandulose pubescent peduncles and involucres. This plant is not
foimd in the British Isles, but is abundant in the meadows and forests
of mountainous districts in the middle and north of Europe, and also
on tiie Alps. It blossoms in June and July.
This plant was at one time admitted into all the British Pharmaco-
poeias, but at the present time is only retained in the Dublin. It docH
not appear ever to have been much used in this country, and perhaps
never sufficiently to refute or confirm the strong recommendations of
it by G^nnan writers. In Germany all parts of the plant are used,
the flowers, leaves, and root. The whole plant, but especially the
root, possesses a peculiar aromatic but not pleasant odour, and a
nauseoiis taste, lie plant has been examined by various chemists,
and in every part there has been found an acrid resin and a volatCe oil
In combination with these Chevallier and Lassaigne found in the
flowers an acrid bitter principle, which they have called Amidne, and
the root contains a conaiderable quantity of tannin. In large doees it
produces inflammation of the alimentaiy canal, and coma. In small
doses it acts as a general stimulant, increasing the pulsations of the
heart, and acting as a diaphoretic and diuretic. It is used in Germany
in cases of low fever, also in nervous diseases, in amenorrhcea and
adynamic diseases generally. The root by means of its tannin acts as
a tonic on the system. The root is given in powder in the dose of
about 10 grains, three times a day, or in incision. The flowers are
used in infusion, in the proportion of 1 drachm of the flowers to
80 of boiling water, of whidi 2 ounces may be given at a dose.
In making this infusion care should be taken that the pappus be
prevented from getting into it, by means of straining through a linen
bag.^ The German Fharmacopcsias contain several preparations of
Arnica, amongst othen a tincture, an extract^ an essence ef the
flowers, and a vinogar {Aedwn Armca). Amongst homosopaihic
practitioners the tincture is applied to wounds and bnuses^ and other
external uses, and infinitesimal doses of this substance are rsoom-
mended, according to their practice, in many severe diBrmm.
(Bisohoff, MedicinuchrPharmaceutudu BoUtmk^ 1844; ChrisiiBon'f
AROIDEiEfOr ARACEiE, Aradt^ an order of Monocotyledonoua
Plants, which approach Dicotyledons in the fonn and veining of their
leaves, but agree with the former in everything else of importance.
They are readily known by their flowers being placed very doeelv upon
a cylindrical or lengthened axis, called technically a spadix (Jtg. 2),
which is itself inclosed in a leaf of a peculiar figure, the edges of whidi
are curved inwards till they meet, forming a sort of hollow sheath,
which botanists name spathe {fig, 1).
The fruit is generallv a cluster of little berries, each of which con-
tains a small number of seeds. The flowers themselves are extraoely
variable in structure ; sometimes having neither calyx nor corolla, and
sometimes possessing both those parts; sometimes furnished with
anthers opening in a singular manner by little lobes, or having anthers
of the commonest construction. Many of the species grow upon the
trunks of trees, clinging to them in tropical countries like ivy ; a very
few are found in Europe, and those are always little stemlees herbs ;
a small number are small erect shrubs. They are all acrid in a high
degree, some of them so mtich so as to be dangerous poisons, as for
example the Duml>Gane of the West Indies, which paralpes the
mouth if only chewed. Nevertheless this acrid principle is so lar
removed by roasting or boiling, that the underground stems may in
some cases be used as food. The Colocasia of the tropics, and some
other species, are common articles of food among the negroes ; but
they are said not to agree very well with Europeans. In this country
only one kind of Aroideous plants the Arwm maevlatfim, is found wUd. .
Arum macxUatum.
1, A spathe with the point of the spadix seen within it ; 2, the spadix sept-
rated; S, the ripe ftroit; 4, an oTarium; 5, the same cut perpendicalarly ;
6, one of the little f^nit cut perpendicolaxly ; 7, a seed.
The root of that species which is vulgariy named the Cuckoo Phit, and
its spadixes Lords and Ladies, is eatable when properly prepared, just
as those which have alreadv been mentioned. What is called Port-
land Sago is prepared from it The spadixes of some spedes give out
a fetid smelL The emanations of Arwn DracimctiJM when in flower
produce dizziness, headache, and vomiting.
ABO'MA is the supposed principle of odour in plants, fonneriy
called by Boerhaave SptrUut Rector. This quality generally reaides in
the essential oil ; but there are some vegetables that have a strong
odour which yield but little or no essential oil, as the jasmine and
the violet ; or when an oil in small quantity is procured from them
it has not the powerful smell which, considering the sm^lneaa of its
proportion compared with the fragrance of the plants, it might be
expected to possess. As plants exhale their odour when exposed to
the air, and communicate it to water at a lower temperature than
Digitized by
Google
809
ARONU.
ARRAGONITE.
310
tluit at which it could be distilled, it has been imagined that Bome
principle of a more subtile nature exists in which the odour resides,
and that it is this which imparts smell to the olL In &ot, however,
the property of odour belongs to proximate Tegetable principles of
different kinds, in which there is no reason to suppose toe existence
of any common principle ; essential oil is unquestionably the most
usual cause of its production, and it is capable of being volatilised in
small quantity at a low temperature, and thus difEused through the
atmoronere or communicated to water.
ARONIA, the Linnsean name for a species of plants of the genus
MefpiUu, the Mupihu AmeUmchier, or MetpUua vulgaris, [Amelan-
CBiXR ; MESPiLua.]
ARQUERITO, a native amalgam, consisting of six parts of silver
and one of quickrilver. It has been regarded as native silver. It is
malleable, and is worked with great success in the mines of Arqueros
in Chila
ARRACA'CHA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
l/mbdUferee, which comprehends a species of as much importance in
the tropical parts of America as the parsnip and carrot are in Europe.
This plant, the Arraewha escvletUa of botanists, is cultivated in great
quantities in the neighbourhood of Santa F^ de Bogota, in the cooler
districts among the moimtains, and in other parts of the state of
Colombia, where it is called Arracacha. It resembles the common
henilock in appearance, but the leaves are much broader, the stems
are not spotted, and the flowers are of a dingy purple colour ; it is
also of smaller stature.
The root is of the same nature as the tuber of a potato, only it is
forked, or divided into several lobes, each of which is about the size
of a large carrot. These when fit for eating are boiled like the
potato, and become of a firm but tender consistence, not at all mealy,
and have a flavour intermediate between a chestnut and a parsnip. It
appears that an immense produce of Arracacha is obtained in the
South American provinces, where it has long been as much the staple
nutriment of the population as the potato or the yam in other places ;
perfect its tubers. It is therefore only cultivated now in botanical
collections. (Hooker, Botanical Magasine, tab. 8092.)
ARRAGOnITE, Pritmatie Carbonate of Ume, called by Mohs the
Prismatic Lime-Haloide. It is a mineral substance consisting of
carbonic acid and lime, admitting of cleavage in planes parallel to the
£BU)es of a right rhombic prism of 116'' 5 and 68° 55 , which may
therefore be considered as its fundamental form (fig. 1). The most
general modifications which occur consist either in the removal of the
four acute angles at A by planes a intersecting each other in the
short diagonal B B, and inclined to each other at an angle of lOS** 18',
by which the face P being entirely removed, the form of JC^. 2 is pro-
duced ; or the change may be effected by the truncation of the acute
lateral edges of the prism by planes parakUel to the axis of the ciystsl,
and therefore inclined to the faces L, at 121'* 57^ giving rise to the
form seen in fig, 8. These modified forms usually present themselves
in twin crystals, in which the i^ort diagonals of the prism B B are
placed at right angles to one another, when only two crystals are
present, thus producing a very simple cross. It is usual however that
three of the crystals of fig. 8 cross each other, producing a ciystal of
the appearance of ^^. 4, which at first sight may be mistaken for an
hexagonal prism, but on a doaer inspection it will be found that what
appeared to be a single face is really composed of two planes, making
a re-entrant angle.
The intersections of the individual crystals with each other are
visible both in the lateral and terminal faces, and are indicated in
fig, 4 by the dotted lines. These crystals have been found abundantiy
in a ferruginous clay in Aragon in Spain, where they occur accom-
panied by a sulphate of lime. From this circumstance the mineral
has derived its name. It has also been found very beautifully crystal-
lised in a vein of a massive variety of the same mineral traversing
basalt at Bilin in Bohemia. (Mohs.) Fine specimens have been found
at the following places in England : — ^in the Dufton lead-mines ; in a
cavern of Qrauwacke, near Merridge, Somersetshire ; and also in
several parts of Devonshire, &c. In an old coal-mine six miles south-
B B
Fig. 2.
Ffg. 8.
Fig. 4.
The ArraeMha {Arracacha ucuUnta),
1, A barren flower ; 2, a fertile flower ; S, a stamen ; 4, a petal ;
i, a ripe Aruit ; 6, the tame cut across.
and as it will only thrive in the colder districts, it was once expected
to fonn an important agricultural plant in Europe. It has however
been found upon trial unable to accommodate itself to our uncertain
olimAt0, and to perish as soon as the cold nights and damp weather
of autumn approach, witiiout having been able during the summer to
west of Cockfield, Durham, it is remarkable as occurring depending
from a roof of clay-slate, and accompanied by tubular calcareous
stalactites. (Phillipa) Varieties of this mineral are also common in
beds of iron-ore in the mines of Eisenerz in Styria, and in several
other iron-mines of Hungary, of Transylvania, &c, consisting of
numerous fibrous crystals, of a satin-like lustre, radiating from a
centre, and to these the name of Flot Perri has been applied.
In a chemical and crystallographical point of view ArragcnUt^ is
peculiariy interesting, as presenting to us carbonate of lime differing
in its system of crystallisation from that of the common Calc-Spar,
and thus affording us an instance of the influence of any difference in
the aggiegation of matter in changing its physical properties, as will
be seen by comparing this substance with the rhombohedraJ Calc-Spwr,
with which it agrees in chemical constitution. In the scale of Mohs
its hardness varies from 8*5 to 4, while that of Calc-Spar is 8. The
specific gravity of '
Airagoniteis 2981
Calo^par 2721
They act also differentiy on Ught, the index of ordinary refraction of
Arragonite bemg 1'698
CaloSpar I'Sl^ ^
Attempts have been made to account for these differences by con-
sidering them the effects of small quantities of carbonate of strontia,
which Professor Stromeyer first discovered to be contained in many
specimens of ArragoniU ; but the conclusion is unfounded, as wiU be
seen by the results of two analyses given by Stromeyer : —
'' First. Second.
Carbonate of Lime . . 95-2966 . . 992922
Carbonate of Strontia . . 05090 . . 41048
Wat4ir 01544 . . 05992
Digitized by
Google
311
ARSENIC.
ARTEMISIA.
911
wliere tlie carbonate of strontia is in small and varying proportion,
and must therefore be considered as an accidental impurity.
ARSENIC and ARSENICAL MINERALS. Anenio is found pure
• and combined with other substances, both as an acid and a base.
Those minerals in which arsenic acts the part of the electro-nogative
element or as an acid may be oonsidered as forming a mineralogical
family or class, according to the chemical arrangement of Berzelius.
This family comprehends four genera, a tabular yiew of the principal
species of eadi of whidi is here given : —
First genus.
Species. Metallic or native arsenia
Second genus (metallic arseniurets).
First ipeoieB. Octahedral cobalt pyrites : speiskobalt of the Qensans.
Seopnd species. Hezahedral cobalt pyrites : kobaltglanz.
Third species. Copper nickel: arsenuret of nickel: prismatic nickel
pyrites.
Fourth species. ArBenical silver : octahedral antimony of Jameson :
nlberspeisglanz of Hausnuum : antimonial silver of Phillips.
Fifth species. Arsenuret of bismuth.
Sixth species. Azotomous arsenical pyrites (Mobs).
Seventh speciea. Prismaticaisenical pyrites (Mohs); if iiptclre^ (Phillips):
anenikkies.
Thirdgenus.
Species. White arsenic, or arsenious add.
Fourth genus (compounds of arsenic acid).
First roedea. PkarmacoUte : arseniate of lime.
Second spedes. Cobalt bloom.
Third spedes. Nickel ochre.
Fourth spedes. ScorodUe: martial arseniate of copper from CoxnwalL
Fifth spedes. OlivmUe : of this there are two spedes, the one crystal-
lised in the rights the other in the oblique, prismatic systeuL
Sixth spedes. Buchlare Mica (Mohs) : rhombohedral arseniate of
copper (Phillips) : kupferglimmer.
Seventh spedes. Cube ore : hexahedral Liriconite : arseniate of iron.
Eighth spedes. lUiombohedral lead spar.
In addition to the minerals daased in the above genera, several
other substances contain arsenic, acting, however, as the electro-
podtive element or base : of these there are but two particularly
worthy of attention, namdv, OrpimeiU and Realgar, both of which are
solphurets of arsenic in definite but different proportions. OrpimaU
(A 2, S 8) is the yellow sulphuret of arsenia It is rarely ciystalline,
and contdns 61 per cent of arsenia It is obtained from Hungary,
Turkey, China, and South and North America. It is made use of as
the basis of the pigment called King's Yellow. lUalgar (As S) is the
red sulphuret of arsenia It is found in oblique prisms or maadve.
It comes chiefly from Tranin^lvania and Hungary, with tellurium and
gold ; it is also found in China. It contains 70 per cent of ar^nic,
and IS used in making fireworks.
The geological podtion of Arsenical Minerals is confined to
primitive dirtricts, where they occur in metalliferous veins, usually
associated with metallic sulphurets, to which the arseniurets have
condderable analogy. The only genus which has been found in any
quantity is the second, the most abundant spedes of which are the
arseniurets of cobalt, nickd, and iron, which are found both in veins
and beds. The fourth genus appears to owe its origin to the action
of the atmosphere on the arseniurets ; they occur frequently in union
with the phosphates, with which they are isomorphous; conse-
quently the phosphoric add is frequently more or less replaced by the
arsenic, or the reverse.
The Arsenic contained in any mineral may in general be readily
detected by th^ blow-pipe, owing to the characteristic odour of the
vapour of metallic arsenia In performing this operation it is
necessary to be careful to submit ihe mineral to the interior or de-
oxidising flame, or in order to insure the reduction of the metal more
completely it is advisable to add a small quantity of the powder of
cham>aL This reduction to the metallic state is essential, for it is the
vapour, not of the white arsenic, but only of the metallic arsenic, which
possesses the peculiar smell of garlia If the mineral be, fit>m its
colour, suspected to be orpiment or realgar, it must be mixed with a
small quantity of black flux in a glass matrass, and heated in the flame
of a spirit-lamp, by which the arsenic* will be liberated, and a sul-
phuret of potasdum formed.
Native Arsenic is usually found in veins, accompanied by sulphur
and sulphurets ; it occurs maadve, also in reticulated and stalactitic
shapes, and of a curved lamellar compodtion, exceedingly like the
layers of an onion. When frvotured the new surfiuse presents a
metallic lustre and a tan white colour, which however soon tarnishes,
becoming a very dark gray. It is brittle, has the specific gravity
5*766, and its hardness is 8*5.
According to Mohs it is frequently met with in the mines of
Annabeig^ Sdmeeberg, Maiienbeig, and Freibenr in Saxony; at
Joaehimsthal in Bohemia^ at Andreasberg in the Hers, in the Black
Forest, in Alsace, at Allemont in Dauphiny, at Kongsbei|^ in Norway,
at Kapoik in Transylvania^ and in beds at Orawitza in the Bannat of
Temeswar.
The second genus presents us with a very valuable series of minerals,
owing to propose of the metals with which the arsenic is combined.
[CoBA.LT Orbs; Coppkb Obis.] The arsenical diver, which con-
stitutes the fourth species, has not been suffidentiy investigatad.
Professor Hausmann condders it as a more or lass intimate mixture of
prismatic arsenical pyrites with antimonial silver, a compound according
to Klaproth of 16 to 24 parts of antimony and 84 to 76 of silver. The
same diemist states 96 parts of arsenical silver to contain of
Arsenic 85*00
Antimony 4*00
SUver 12-75
Iron 45-25
Many mineralodsts, on the other hand, consider the antimomal and
the arsenical silver varieties of the same species. The first of these
occurs in crystals and in granular masses ; the latter possesses a curved
lamellar compodtion of thin ciystalline plates. They both readily
tarnish, and assume a dark gray colour. The specific gravity hu
been stated by Hauy at 9*446, bv Klaproth at 9*82. The antimonial
dver is found in veins at Altwolfach in Fiirstenberg, and at Andieae-
berg in the Harz; the arsenical in various mines in the Ears, at
Guadalcanal in Spain, and also in Herland mine, Cornwall, tc It ii
scarcely necessary to mention that this mineral, when found in
sufficient quantity, is highly valuable for metallurgic purposes.
Axotomoua Anenical Pyritei is a compound of arsenic and ircnif
occurring in beds of prismatic iron, and also in primitive mountains,
accompanied by cobalt and nickd, at Schladning in Stytia. Its specific
gravity is 7*228.
Primaitic Artenieal Pjfritea, described by some mineralogiBts under
the name of Mispickd, is composed, according to the analysis of
Stromeyer, of
Iron 86*04
Arsenic 42*88
Sulphur 2108
This mineral possesses a tin-white colour and a metallic lustra
The specific gravity is 6*127, and its hardness 6. It occurs maasiTe,
and also crystallised in the system of the right rhombic prism;
crystals are seen in many modifications of this system ; they admit
of deavage in planes parallel to the faces of a prism whose angles are
111** 12' and 68" 48', which may therefore be conddered as the
fundamental fonn.
This mineral is found commonly in most of the localities of aisenioal
minerals, associated with ores of silver, lead, and tin, both in veins
and beds. It is a product of almost every mine in Cornwall, as well
as those of Saxony, &c Some specimens contain silver, of which the
principal are found at Braunsdorf near Freiberg, in veins of quartz,
traversing mica-slate.
While Anenie, whidi constitutes the third genus, is foimd crystd^
Used in octahedrons, and also in botiyoidal and stalactitic forms,
frequently pulverulent. It occurs in metallic veins, and probably is
the product of the decomposition of other minerals The lustre is
vitreous, and colour white, with a slight degree of transparency. Its
specific gravity is 8*698. It is readily recognised by its behaviour
before the blow-pipe : if alone, bsiog volatilised ; if on charcoal, being
volatilised with the production of the garlic odour.
ARTEMI'SIA, an extendve genus of plants belonging to the
natural order Oompo$U<s, and remarkable for the intense bitterness of
many of its spedes. It is easily recognised by the multitude of fine
divisions into which its leaves are usually separated, and the numerous
clusters of small, round, drooping, greenish-yellow, or browmah flower-
heads, with which its branches are loaded. The flowerets are all
tubular, but those in the circumference of each head are very
imperfect
A. Abnnihium, Wormwood, is met vrith frequently in waste phoes
all over Europe and the northern parts of Asia. Ita leaves have a
sil^ or hoary aspect, in consequence of a thick covering of exceedingly
delicate hairs, and they are deeply lobed. The flower-heads are very
numerous, and of a light buff colour. Wormwood is celebrated for
its intensdy bitter, tonic, and stimulating qualities^ which have caused
it to be an ingredient in various medi(^ial preparations, and even in
the preparation of liqueurs. It derives ^its name from its use in
destroying worms in children. A. pontica has also the same
properties.
A. Draetmcultii, Tarragon, is a Siberian spedes, the stems of
which grow 2 or S feet high, are perfectly smooth, and of a bright
green. Its leaves are undivided, very narrow, smooth, and rawer
succulent; when bruised they emit a stimidating odour, and if
chewed produce a peculiarly pungent moisture in the mouth, which is
so generally conddered agreeable that the leaves are employed as a
pickle, and as an ingredient in some kinds of vinegar. The flower-
heads are small, round, and smooth, and contain seven or eight
flowereta
A. MutdUna has properties intermediate between Wormwood and
Tarragon : from it and A. apicala the bitter aromatic liqueur called
Crdmo d' Absinthe is prepared.
A. Abrotonwtif Southernwood, an odoriferous herb found all over
the south of Europe from Portu^ to the Dardanelles, and thenoe
through Palestine, Persia, and the middle of Asia into China, is
frequently seen in old-fashioned gardens where it was cultivated for
its peculiar aromatic scent. It is a hoary plant, becoming in warm
countries a shrub, and even with us acquiring a woody stem after a
few years ; its branches bear loose panicles of nodding yellow flower*
Digitized by
Google
818
ARTERY.
ARTICULATA.
S14
heads, which are externally gray with down ; the leayea belonging to
the panidea are much longer and narrower than those of the Htem.
A. aeetieOf a Persian species, is said to have a strong odonr of vinegar.
A. Chinauia yields the material from which moxas are made tiiat
are burned npon the human body as a cautery in cases of gout and
rheumatism.
A, maderaapatana and A. Indica are used by the Indian doctors.
The flower-heads of A. Sieberi, Lerckeana^ Ckmitra, and paueifiora
constitute the drugs called Semen contra, or Setnen Cina, which are
Txsed as yermifuges. The same part of A, Vahliana yields the Persian
IVormseed, or Semen Cfince Levanticum ; and that of A. ccendeteenSf
the Semen Seriphii, or Barbotinei A. eamphorcUa and A. OaUica are
iised in France also as anthelmintics under the name of Sangueri^ or
Sanguerite.
ARTERY, firom the Greek iprnpia, signifying an air-yeasel, because
the andents, ignorant of the circulation, and finding the arteries
always empty after death, supposed they were tubes oontaining air.
Why alter death the arteries are empty and the blood accumulated in
the veins will be explained hereafter. By the term Artery is meant
a yeasei which conveys blood from the heart to the different parts of
the body : a Vein, on the contraiy, is a vessel which conveys blood
from the different parts of the body to the heart [Ciboulation or
THE Blood.] All the arteries of the system proceed from two great
trunks immediately connected with the cavities of the heart, namely,
the Pulmonary Artery, which arises from the right ventricle, and the
Aorta, which springs from the left ventricle. [Aorta ; Heabt.]
The arterial system is arborescent, that is, the branches which spring
from the aorta successively increase in number and diminish in size as
they proceed frx>m the heart towards their ultimate terminations in the
system. Each trunk commonly ends by dividing into two or more
branches, the combined area of which is always greater than that of
the trunk frx>m which they spring. The capadty of the branches ia
estimated to exceed that of tne trunks in the proportion of one and a
half to one. The arterial trunk always dividing into branches, and
the larger branches into branches more and more minute, it is obvious
that the blood in the arterial system is always flowing from laiger into
smaller tubea
The arteries are of a yellowish-white colour, loose and flocculent on
their external surface, but their internal surface is smooth and poHshed.
They are composed of three distinct membranes, which are. super-
imposed one upon the other, and which are ultimately united by
delicate cellular tissu& Each of these membranes is called a tunic,
or coat, and each possesses a peculiar structure, and performs a
separate function in the circulation of the blood.
1. The internal tunic consists of a membrane, colourless, transparent,
and thin, yet so firm and strong that it is supposed to resist more than
any of the others the bursting of the artery by the current of the
blood ; for if, in a living animal, the other coats be entirely removed,
this alone is found capable of sustaining the impetus of the circulation,
and ofpreventing rupture from the dictation of the artery.
2. The middle tumo, called also the fibrous and the muscular, is com-
posed of yellowish fibres [Areolar Tissue], which pass in an oblique
direction around the calibre of the vessel, forming segments of cirdee
which are so joined as to produce complete rings. In the laiger
trunks, several layers of these fibres can be raised in succession by
the forceps, so that this coat is of considerable thickness, and it is
proportional^ thicker in the small branches than in the laige trunks.
This coat is firm, solid, and highly elastic. It is the main tunic by
which the artery resists dilatation in the transverse direction, whi<£
it does so effectually that when the left ventricle of the heart propels
a freeh current of blood into the aorta littie or no dilatation of the
veasel is perceptible. The characteristic property of the fibrous coat
is contractility. If it be mechanically irritated, or if a chemical
stimulant, sudi as ardent spirit or ammonia, be applied to it, the
vessel contracts fordbly upon its contents. This contractile power,
which properly belongs to the muscular fibre, induced anatomists to
believe that the fibrous tunic consists of muscular fibres ; but careful
examination has shown that its organisation possesses nothing in
common with that of the muscular tissue, while chemical analysis
has demonstrated that it contains no fibrin, which is the basis of
muscle.
S. The external tunic, called also the cellular, consists of small
whitish fibres, very dense and tough, interlaced together in every
direction. It is much thicker in the lazge trunks than in the small
branches, the reverse of the fibrous coat. Its outer surface is covered
by a loose and flocculent cellular substance, which connects the artery
with the surrounding parts, and particularly with the sheath of the
vessel Its firmness and resistance are so great that it is not divided
however firmly a ligature may be placed around the artery ; and its
elastidty, espedally in the longitudinal direction, is so remarkable
that it has been called, by way of eminence, the elastic coat.
Arteries are themsdves abundantiy supplied with arteries, consti-
tuting their nutrient vessels, and caJled Vaaa Vatomm ; but these
nutrient vessels of the artery form but few anastomoses, that is, but
few communications with any other arteries.
The prindpal nerves of arteries are derived from the ganglionic or
the organic system, but with these are mingled branches derived from
the sentient or the animal system. [Nbrys.] Accordingly, under
ordinary droomstanoes, arteries cany on their functions independenUy
of any influence derived frt>m the brain and spinal cord, but they are
capable of being affected by agents applied to those organs.
Among the physical properties of arteries, the most important are
their extensibility and their elastidty. Their extensibility is diiefly
in the direction of their length.
After an artery has been extended, dther lengthwise or transversdy,
it suddenly retracts on itself when the extending force is removed.
If the finger be fordbly introduced into the section of a large artery,
the sides of the vessel re-act on the finger, and proportionally compress
it If an artery be divided in the dead body, though emptied of its
contents, it maintiainB its cylindrical form, and preserves its capadty
unimpaired. The elastic property on which these phenomena depend
is common to all the coats, but it is greatest in the external tunic, and
least in the intenuil tunic, and it is also much greater in the large
trunks than in the small branche&
The most important vital property of the artery is its contractility,
that is, its power of diminishing its capacity, or approximating its
parietes, and thus proportionally acting upon its contents. Even the
large trunks possess this property in some degree; but it reddes
chiefly in the ultimate dividons of the arterial branches, that is, the
capillary vessela [Capillart Vessels.]
ARTHRO'PTERUS, a Fossil Fish frx}m the Lias near Bristol
(Agassiz.)
ARTICULA'TA, oTAHicviatedAnimaU,toTm^<b third great section
of the animal kingdom, according to the arrangement of Cuvier.
They are so called. because the different portions of their body are
composed of moveable pieces articulated (jointed) to each other.
They differ from the liollusca in generally possessing a flexible
skeleton, and from Vertebrated Animals by the skeleton being
external, while that of the vertebrated is internal Though presenting
condderable diverdty of character among themselves, they are
generally provided with a skin, which is either soft (as in the leech),
or homy and crustaoeons (as in the crab and craw-fish). Certain
families are destitute of feet, but the greater number are provided
with tiiese members, which, when present, are never fewer than six*
The connection of the joints of the members is so close as to permit
only a very limited range of motion to each ; which is, however,
compensated by the greater number of pieces which constitute each
member or limb.
The animals of this dividon have the trunk of the body for the
most part long and cylindrical, and divided transversely into segments.
In the lowest forms of these animals the segments are perfectiy
simple, but as we ascend we observe that gradually the segments
develop lateral organs which are of very various kinds, according to
the character of the animal. In many of the Atmdida and Myriapoda
legs are produced on a large number of the segments, whilst in the
Chruetaeea and Arachnida we find these reduced in number to 8 or
10, and in tiie Insects to 6. Where the object is lightening the body
there the segments are reduced in number and size, as in tiio insects
and the crabs, in the Annelides as the earth-worm and lug-worm, we
have instances of a great extendon of the number of these segments.
In fact, in the same manner as we can reduce the varied bones of the
vertebrate endoskdeton to the type of the vertebra, so may we
reduce the varied forms of the invertebrate articulate exoskeleton
to the typical form of the segment. It results from this that the
parts of thdr skdeton or external organs are symmetrical The
animals of this class are active ; hence their skeletons are light and
thin. The muscles or organs of motion are attached to the interior
of the skeleton ; but as this is hard and unyidding, it is necessary for
it to undergo a process of exuviation, which occurs in all the articulate
dasses. This process of exuviation goes on through all stages of life
in these animals. The material out of which the skdeton is formed
in the minority of cases is the phosphate of lime, the same material
as enters into the bones of the vertebrate classes. In the MoUusca, in
which the skeleton is hard, solid, and unchangeable, the carbomite of
lime is the material employed.
The muscular system is more fully developed amongst the AriicuUUa
than in eitiier the Radiate or Molluscous tribes of the Invertebrate
classes. This corresponds to their greater activity. Perhaps in pro-
portion to their size there are no animals that exhibit so great au
amount of muscular power as the Artieulatct. Throughout the
ftninniLl kingdom we find that the muscular force corresponds with the
amount of respiratory action and the , devdopment of animal heat,
and in various forms of articulate animals this is remarkably
exemplified.
The point in which there exists the greatest degree of accordance
or resemblance among Articulated Animals is the nervous system.
Thdr brain is extremely small, and two nervous cords, surrounding
the oesophagus or gullet, and continued along the abdomen, unite
here and there into knots, or ganglia : in some Ontstcteea it is still
more simple, consisting merely of two knots, one placed at the head,'
the other in the thorax, united by dender threads. The organs of
sense are very imperfectiy devdoped, and in some cases are dtogether
wanting, except the organ of signt No organ of smell has yet been
discovered, unless the antennse of insects be considered sudi. The
eye presents condderable diverdty of structure, being sometimes one
and single, or three united in a triangle ; but in the majority of cases.
Digitized by
Google
S15
ARTICULATION.
ARTOCARPACKfi.
311
it is eompoeed of a oonsidenble number of little plates, or ftoettes
(as in the fly), each of which receives a branch from the optic nerve.
Such eyes are <»lled Compound Eyes, whilst the Single Eyes, which
exist sometimee in conjunction with the compound eyes in the same
individual, are called Oedli. The eye as an organ of sense is first
distinctly devdoped in the Articulate Animals, as many of the organs
which have been indicated as eyes in the Radiate Animals have
probably no relation to the function of vision. Some anatomists have
describeid organs of hearing in the insects, whilst others regard the
antennsB as destined for the performance of this function.
The digestive apparatus of the Artictdata is for the most part in
accordance with their carnivorous habits. Where animal flesh is eaten
there digestion is a less complicated process than where vegetable food
is principally pajrtaken oil The mouth is generally provided with
masticatory organs, which move laterally and are provided with palpi.
Hard parte su^rvient also to the function of preparing the fo<>i for
digestion, are also found in the intestinal cavity. The mucous
membrane which covers &e alimentary passages is of the simplest
kind, whilst those glands which contribute to the digestive functions
in the higher animals, as the salivary and pancreatic glands and
the liver, are either not present or exist only in the most
elemental^ form.
The elongated form of the Artieulaia impresses this character on
their droulating as well as digestive apparatus. In most of the
surticulate tribes the blood moves forwards in one or more large,
dorsal, pulsating, arterial vessels. Side branches from these arteries are
l^ven of^ and terminate in various trunks which convey the blood
backwards to the dorsal vessel The blood is more highly organised,
has a deeper colour, containing a larger quantity of corpuscles and fibrin
than in either the Radiate orMolluscous classes.
The respiration is 'effected either by branchisB, as in those which
habitually live in water, such as the Oruitaceot, or by trache», or
air-tubes formed of three parts, one membrane internal and one
membrane external, both of which are cellular; and a sort of
cartilaginous elastic tube, rolled spirally, and placed between the two
membranes. These tracheo receive air by certain lateral openings
termed Stigmata. More rarely there exist cellular cavities analogous
to lungs. In all instances the respiratory oigans are perfectly
aymmetricaL
The following are the fSeonilies of animals which are referred to the
Articulate Type : —
• 1. EnJUnoaf including various forms of animals that inhabit the
organs of higher anim^ [Entozoa.]
2. Rotifera, or Wheel Animalcules, minute creatures scarcely visible
to die naked eye, veiy abundant in all waters, and formerly classed
with the Infusoria. [Rotifeba.]
8. Aimdida, or Annulose Animals, including the Leeches, Worms,
tmd Sea-Mice, mostly inhabiting water. [Akitblida.']
4. Myriapoda, of which the Galley-Worm (lulut) and the Centipede
may be taken as types, and which occupy an intermediate position
between the highest and lowest forms of the class. [Mtbiapoda.]
5. Inseeta, in which the locomotive power of the class is most fiilly
developed, neariy all possessing wings for flight. [Insscta.]
6. drust<ieea, the insects of the ocean, which breathe by gills instead
of tradie®, and include the well-known forms of Lobstm^ Crabs, and
Shrimps. [Cbustacba.]
7. Oirrktpedia, the Barnacles and Sea-Acorns. They were formerly
referred to the MoUusca, but their structure, habits, and economy
pbuM them amourist the Articulata. [Cibbhipedia.]
8. J rocAmuia, including Spiders, Scorpions, and Mites. They are
distiugmshed from insects by possessing eight logs. Their instincts
and intelligence place them at the head of this class as well as then*
structure. [Abaohnida.]
(Grant, Outlineg of Com/parcUive Anatomy; Owen, Lectwm on
(hmparativt Anatomy; Jones, Animal Kingdom; Cydopasdia of
Anatomy and Physiology ; Carpenter, PrineipUt of Phyridogy.)
ARTICULATION, the term bv which anatoimsts express the union
of the different bones of Uie ueleton. The jimction of any two
bones, however firmly or loosely connected, or in whatever mode the
union may be effected, Ib designated by the name of Articulation.
Commonly two substances are employed as the media by wliich the
connection is established, namely a firm and strong membranous
tissue termed ligament [LioamentJ, which may be considered as the
band by which the bones are tied together, and a peculiar substance
termed cartilage or gristle [Cabtilaob], which is often interposed
between the sur&oes of hhe bones to be united, and which besides
^serving as the bond of union, accomplishes other purposes.
Of fdl the parts of the animal fabric, there is none in which
mechamsm is more clearly or beautifully shown than in the connections
of the bones with each other, and more especially in the structure of
joints.
The objects to be obtained in the economy by the union of the
several bones of the body are various and even opposite, requiring
almost every conceivable variety in the mode of tneir connection.
And such variety actually exists ; but still these varieties admit of
daasification, and they may all be arranged under three heads,
namely, those which foAa Immoveable, Moveable, and Mixed
▲rtloidations.
1. One object to be accomplished by the union of bones ii, to form
a secure situation for tender and delicate structures. AoconUnglytiie
bones are often so disposed as to inclose cavities in which the orguu
that need protection are placed ; such, for example, is the cavity of
the head which inclosea the delicate substance of the bnin ; the
cavity of the spinal column, which incloses the no less delicate
substohce called the spinal marro ^ ; and the cavities of the chest and
abdomen, which indoae soft and tender oxgans, on the secority of
which life depends. Bones forming cavities of tlds dass are genenlly
so firmly umted that they admit either of no motion whatcTer, or
only of a very slight degree of it> the union being effected sometimeB
by the apposition of the surfiu>es of strong and fiat bones ; at other
tunes by the formation of numerous prominences and depresaiona
which mutually receive each other : examples of both these modes of
union are found in the articulation of the bones of the head and
fiaoe. The finnness of the union is sometimes increased by alteniate
indentations and projections, like the teeth of a saw, formed on the
surfiboes of bones, the surface of the one bone being precisely
adapted to that of the other; by this mechanism the bones become
finnly impacted, and deficiency in extent of contact is compensated
by what may be truly called (and it is an admirable example) dove-
tailing. Suture is the term given to this mode of union, and the bones
of the cranium are nicely adjusted and firmly united to each other in
this manner. At other times a ridge is formed in one bone which is
received into a groove fissured in another. The bony part of the
septum which divides the nostrils affords a specimen of this mode of
union, while the teeth are secured in their sockete (that is, a conical
surface is firmly impacted in a cavity) very much as a nail is fixed in
aboard.
2. The Moveable Articulations are those in which the bones are in
contact, but not continuous with each other ; such, for example, is
the union of the arm with the shoulder, the fore arm with the arm,
the wrist with the hand, the lower jaw with the head, the head with
the trunk, and so on. In these cases the articulating surfaces are
mutually adapted to each other, in general one being convex and the
other concave, and the bones are maintained in their situation by the
firm and strong membranes termed ligaments. Sometimes the union
is assisted by the muscles which surround tiie joint, as is strikingly
exemplified in the shoulderjoint, in which the head of the humerus
is kept in contact with the cavity which receives it, partly without
doubt by ligamentous substance, but partly also hr the surrounding
musdes. This is proved by the effect of disease; for if by paraljais,
or any other cause, the neighbouring muscles become very much
weakened, dislocation of the joint readily takes place. Both the
strength of the joint and the range of its motion depend mainly on
the extent of its articulating surface, and on the arrangement of the
ligamentous substance by which the bones are held in their situations.
The extent of contact, and the strength and adjustment of the uniting
band, are different in every different joint, the diversity being regulated
in every case by the kind and degree of motion which it is intended Ih&t
the joint should exercise.
8. The Mixed form of Articulation resembles the Immoveable, in
having the bones connected by an intermediate substance (cartilage),
and the Moveable in admitting some degree of motion between the
surfecea The articulations between the several bones that foim the
spinal column afford examples of this mode of union. There are
numerous modifications of tnese several kinds of articulation, which
are described with great minutenessdn anatomical books, and most of
which are distinguished by specific names.
ARTI'SIA (Presl), a Fossil FUnt from the Coal Formation. At
present the opinion prevails that this is an internal portion of another
plant, and not a palm-stem as once coinectured.
ARTOCARFA'OE^, Artoearpadt, the Bread-Fruit Tribe, a natural
order of plants nearly related to UrticaeecB (the Nettle Tribe), from
which it is BO difficult to separate them by any predse character that
there are many who consider them nothing more than a section of
Urticacece.
Whether a distinct order or a section only of Urtieaeea, the
Arioearpaceoe are known by having flowers with a very imperfectly
formed calyx, no corolla, leaves with conspicuous stipules, a rough
foliage, and an acrid milky juice, which oft^ contains Caoutchouc, or
India Rubber, in abundance; the flowers are collected into round
heads, and the ovules are suspended singly from the upper part of the
solitary cavity of the ovarium. They are distingiushed firom the
Urtieacea! by me position of their ovules, the manner in which their
flowers are arranged, and by their yielding a milky juice ; the juice of
Urtieacea being watery.
The roecies are all found in the wanner parts of the worlc^ and
many of them are natives of the tropics only. Their nulk, which is
always acrid, readers some of them intensely poisonous, as the Upas
Tree of Java [Antiabis], and certain Indian species of Fig [Fxcrs] ;
nevertheless, if the milk is naturally absent from any particular part
of an Artocarpad that part becomes eatable and even wholesome.
Thus the fruit of the cultivated fig, up to a short period before its
maturity, remains milky, and at that time it would prove exceedingly
unwholesome; but when ripe the milk disappears, is replaced by sugar,
and the fhiit becomes, as we all know, extremely wndesoma The
same explanation is probably applicable to the case of the Brend-
Digitized by
Google
317
ARTOCARPUS.
ASARUM.
S18
Fruit) which forms an article of food with the South Sea IslaiiderB.
[ABTOGARrUS.]
A spedes of it n<iartf produces sacbs, hence it is called Sack-Tree. The
following is the process by which these sacks are obtained. ** A branch
is cat oorreeponding to the length and diameter of the sack wanted.
It is soaked a little, and then b^ten with dubs till the fibre separates
from the wood. This done, the sack formed of the bark is turned
inside out, and puHed down till the wood is sawed, with the exception
of a small piece left to form the bottom of the sacL" These sacks
are in general use in the West Indies, and specimens may be seen in
the Museum of the Gardens at Kew. The Water- Vine {Phytocrene)
belongs to this order, Uie sap and porous wood of which when cut
cliachaffges a quantity of pure water, which is drunk by the natives of
the province of Martaban, where it grows. The seeds of many of the
epeoM are eaten in the countries where they grow.
To those unacquainted with botany it may appear strange that the
Nettle and the Fig are both arranged in the same order. If, however,
we investigate Uie matter carefully, we shall find that in the structure
of the stem, leaves, stipules, calyx, stcunens, and fruit, these two
plants are so like each other that it is impossible to discover more
than one solitary essential character, namely that of the position of
the young seeds, by which they can be distmguished ; and that the
differences which meet the unpractised eye are entirely connected
with the sijBe and manner in which the flowers are arranged
ARTOCARPUS, the Bread-Fruit, is the genus which has given its
name to the natural order Artocarpacece, It consists of trees having
stems of very condderable size ; large leaves, which are exceedingly
rough with little points ; stipules like those of the fig ; and monoo-
cious flowers, of which the stamen-bearing ones are disposed in long
duVshaped spikes (Jig. A 8), and the pistil-bearing ones in round
heads (Jg, A 2), which become the fruii^ and often arrive at a very
condderable size (Jig. A 4).
A Bread-Fruit is a fig (Ficus) turned inside out, and mudi larger in
all its parts ; that is to say, the flowers which form the Bread-Fruit
and Fig grow in both cases upon a fleshy receptacle ; but in the former
the receptacle is solid, and bears its flowers externally, while in the
latter it is hollow, and bears its flowers internally.
The stamen-bearing flowers of Artocarpus (Jigt. B, C) consist of a
tubular calyx containing a single stamen ; the pistil-bearing flowers
Bread-Fruit {Artoearpu* incisa),
A, a shoot very rnneb less than the nataral size with stamen-bearing flowers
S ; pistiUbearing flowers 3 ; fruit 4 ; and iU stipdes 1: B, a stamen-bearing
flower ; C, the Mune opened ; D, three pistil-bearing flowers, slioed open at the
bottom to show the ovaries ; E, a portion of the fruit showing the nuU in the
inside.
(Jig. D) consfst of two or three fleshy sepals grown closely together
and meeting at the points, between which passes a long slender sj^le
^th two stimas, which are hairy and cxirved downwards. The
•rary in Mnipl<», and contains but one ovul*. At a very early period
the flowen grow firmly together into a solid fleshy mass, whidi finally
becomes the fruit The seeds are huge nut-like bodies, which lie
beneath the rind of the fruits
Many spedes are known, some of which, as Artocarpus ChapUuhoL
and hirmUa, are large trees, and yield valuable timber in the forests
of Bengal and Malabar. The spedes, however, best known are those
which yield the Bread-Fruit and the Jack.
A. tncifa(the Bread-Fruit) Ib a native of the South Sea Islands
and of many parts of tiie Indian Archipelago; it inhabits only
such places as are both hot and damp. Dr. Roxbuigh complains that
the wmters of Bengal are much too cold for it. In the South Sea
Idands it forms a moderate^ized tree, rarely exceeding 40 feet in
height, with leaves deeply divided into sharp lobes, and sometimes as
much as 8 feet long. The fruit is green and of condderable size,
equalling a melon of the laiger kind in dimensions, and is of many
different forms : one variety produces it free from all spines on the
surface or from seeds internally ; this is the best sort : others ai^
split into deep lobes, or covered all over with the sharp-pointed flf«hy
tops of the calyxes. The nuts, when roasted, are said to be as excel-
lent as the best chestnuts ; but it is prindpally for the fleshy receptacle
that it is valued. When roasted it becomes soft, tender, and white,
resembling the crumb of a loaf ; but it must be eaten new, or it
becomes hard and choky. Others compare the flavour to that of a
roasted potata What we have tasted has been in thin slices which
had been thoroughly dried, and it was very like a piece of dried
biscuit. In ' Avon's Voyages ' it is said to be ddidous when ripe,
and when mixed with lime-juice or orange-juice to have a grateful
tart flavour, not unlike apple-sauce.
It forms so important a part of the support of the South-Sea
Idanders that it was introduced by the British Government into the
West Indies, where it is still cultivated, and whence it has been carried
to the continent of America. It was to obtain this plant that the
unfortunate expedition of Captain Bligh was fitted out. It does not
appear, however, equal to the plantain as an article of human food.
A. wtegrifolia, the Jack, is also a native of the islands of
the Indian Ardiipdagoi and is in its general appearance like the
Bread-IVuit, but its leaves are totally destitute of all laceration, and
its fruit, which is very prickly, weighs 60 or 70 lbs. This latter is
yellow, and constitutes the prindpel part of the diet of the natives in
some parts of India ; but it is said to have an offendve odour, and to
be little esteemed by Europeans : all, however, concur in attesting
the excellence of the nuts when roasted
Like all other Artocarpads this tree exudes a great quantity of a
viscid milky juice, from which the best bird-lime of India is prepared.
(Botanical Magazine, vol. il)
ARUM. [ABOIDEiB.]
ARUNDO, a genus of Grasses, possessing the following characters : —
Spikelets, each containing from two to five flowerets, which are distant
from each other, arranged in two ranks, hermaphrodite, the uppermost
being withered ; glumes two, sharp-pointed, channeled, and keeled,
nearly equal, membranous, as long as the flowerets, and at some
distance from each other ; palesB two, membranous ; the lowermost
Hlit at the end, with a very short beard between the sides of the slit,
covered externally, especially at the lower end and rachis, with very
long silky hairs. The spedes attain a condderable size, sometimes
acquiring a woody stem, and are found in many climates.
Anmao Donax, a native of the south of Europe, the Caucasus,
Egypt, and Siberia, is one of the laigest grasses that we have in culti-
vation ; it is not unusual to see it in rich soil 9 or 10 feet high,
^Yith leaves as broad and as long as the blade of a small sword. A
beautifully variegated variety is usually seen in gardens.
Arundo arenaria, the Sea-Reed, or Marrum-Grass, a dwarf plant
which pierces the sand-banks on the shores of the north of Europe
with its tough subterranean stems, and which thus converts them into
living barriers against the inroads of the ocean, differs a little from
the exact character of Arundo, and is called by modem botanists
Ammophila anmdinacea. It is a very rigid plant, with bluish rolled-
up leaves, and a stem 2 or 8 feet high, terminated by a dense tuft
of flowers.
The Common Reed was formerly referred to the genus Arundo : it
is now placed under Phragmitet. [Phbaoiotes.]
A'SAFHUS (Brongniart), a very extendve genus of Fossil Onulacea
(TriLobUet), most abundant in the lower Pda30zoic Strata. Ataphut
Buchii marks the Cambrian or Lower Silurian, as A. caudatfu is fre-
quent in the Upper Siliuian Beds.
ASA'RUM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Aris-
tolochiaeetg, distinguished by having the cdyx bdl-shaped and 8-
lobed ; the stamens placed upon the ovarium, the anthers adnate to
the middle of the fiuonents, the style shorty stigma stellate, and 6-
lobed ; the fruit capsular and 6-celled The A. Europcewn is known
by having two obtuse kidney-shaped leaves on each stem. It is a
perennial plant, found in woods m different parts of Britain. ^ The
root, which is employed under the name of Asarabacca,^ contains a
camphor-like prindple, and a bitter prindple called Asarin, which is
combined with galUc add. To these it is mdebted for its action on
the human system. Taken into the stomach in a state of very fine
powder, it causes vomiting; in coarser powder, it generally purges.
It was formerly employed as an emetic instead of ipecacuanha ; but,
Digitized by
Google
S19
A8BESTUS.
ASCLEPIAS.
from the violenoe of its effects, it is now properly laid aside in medical
practice : it is still however used in veterinary medicine, to vomit and
purge. The fine powder applied to the nostrils causes sneezing, and
a flow of mucus from the membrane which lines those parts. It is
therefore extensively employed as an errhine, and -is the basis or chief
ingredient of many cephalic snu£f». It is used in chronic inflamma-
tions and some other diseases of the eye, and in headaches. Where
these last arise from disorders of the digestive function, such means
can be of no avail : where they are connected with congestion or
fullness of the vessels of the head, the increased dischai^ge from the
Schneiderian membrane may give temporary relief in the same way
as a few drops of blood flowing spontaneously from the nose, or
obtained by puncturing the membrane. When taken into the stomach
in considerable quantity, it acts as a poison.
ASBESTUS must be considered, in Mineralogy, rather as a term
implying a peculiar form sometimes assumed by several minerals, than
as a name denoting a particular species ; it is in fact applied to varie-
ties of the Amphibolic Minerals, such as Actinolite, Tremoliief &c.,
which occur in long capillary crystals, placed side by side in parallel
position, and thus giving rise to a fibrous mass. As might be expected,
the above conditions are fulfilled in various degrees, and there are
accordingly various kinds of Asbestus. Those varieties, the fibres of
which are very delicate and regularly arranged, are called AmxanUivs, a
Greek term signifying unpolluted, unstained. The individual crystals
are here readily separated from each other, are veiy flexible and
elastic, and have a white or greenish colour with a fine silky lustre.
Though a single fibre is readily fused into a white enamel, in mass it
is capable of resisting the ordinary flame, so that when woven it pro-
duces a fire-proof doth, and hence the name from the Greek Hur^cros,
in the sense of indestructible. The most beautiful specimens have
been fotmd in the Tarentaise in Savoy ; but Corsica must be consi-
dered as its principal locality, from its great abundance. It is also
found in Cornwall, at St. Keveme ; likewise in several parts of Scot-
land. It occurs also in the United States of America, where it is
sometimes used as a wick for an oil-lamp.
Those varieties in which the crystals are coarser, with scarcely any
flexibility, are called Common Asbestus. It is generally of a dull
green, and sometimes a pearly lustre, and readily fuses before the
blow-pipe flame. It occurs more frequently than amianthus, and is
usually foimd in veins traversing serpentine.
There are three other varieties, known by the names of Mountain
Leather, Moimtain Wood, and Mountain Cork, which differ from the
Common Asbestus by the fibres interlacing each other. The two first
have received their names from their appearance ; the third from its
extreme lightness, and from its swimming in water. They have been
found in Scotland.
ASCARIDES. [EWTOZOA.]
ASCI'DIA, a genus of Molluscous Animals belonging to Cuvier^s
order of Acephcice without Shells. Savigny has considered these
animals sufficiently important to constitute a class under the name of
Atcedies (Atcidia) ; while Lamarck has also formed them with others
into a class under the name of Twiiciert {TuniccUa). [Tunicata.]
ASCLEPIADA'CEJS, Atdepiads, a natural oider of Exogenous
Plants, known from all others by the single character of its grains of
pollen adhering together withm a sort of bag which occupies the
whole of the inside of each cell of the anther ; and when it falls out
sticks to glands of a peculiar character occupying the angles of the
stigma. Independently of this drciunstance the anther and stigma
adhere firmly together, and the fruit is a very curious body, consisting
of two carpels, which, when young, are parallel to eadi other, and
united at the point; but when ripe are both on the same plane, point-
ing in different directions, and shedding a large quantity of seed, the
ends of which terminate in long down.
The most important and typical genus of this order is Atclepicu.
It consists of shrubs or herbaceous plants, abounding in an acrid and
usually milky juice, and found in their greatest abimdance in tropical
countries, but rarely in cold latitudes. At the Cape of Good Hope
they form a singular stunted deformed vegetation, in the form of tne
leafless succulent stapelias, the flowers of which are among the most
fetid productions of the vegetable kingdom. A great many species
of Atclepuu inhabit North America, and for their beauty are fre-
quently cultivated in Europe, especially the orange-coloured Atclepias
tvherosa. Their roots are acrid and stimulating, and usually emetic.
Their flowers have curious homed processes ^ded to the corolla.
[ASCLEFIAS.]
The roots of the whole order appear to be acrid and stimulating,
and some of them, as Tylophora <utkmatica and Secamone emetica are
employed as emetics. The Cow-Plant of Ceylon, or Kiriaghuna
Plant {Gymnema lactiferum), yields a milk which the Cingalese make
use of as food. Species of Cynanchum act as pux^gatives. The leaves
of Solenatemma Argd are used in Egypt for adulterating senna.
Several species yield caoutchouc, whilst others afford indigo.
(Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom,)
ASCLE'PLAS, a genus of plants, the type of the natural order
Ati^^piadacece. Many of the species possess powerful medicinal
qualities, and hence the name of the genus from ^sculapius
(Asclepias), the god of medicine. The genus is characterised by
possessing a reflexed 5-parted corolla ; a 6-leaved corona seated on the
Atclepku Ss/riaea,
1, A flowering Bboot; 2, a single flower magnified; 8, the same ceen from
aboTe; the centre is oooupied bj a broad cashionJike ttigma ; 4, theaathen
much magnified, a, one of the homed processes of the corolla ; 5, the same
eat vertioallj, and less magnified, o, one of the homed processes ; 6, poUen
masses, a, the gland ; 7, one half of a ripe fhiit ; 8, a transverse Tiev of its
inside near the point, showing how the seeds are arranged; 9, seed; 10,
the same cut across; 11, the same cut Tertically, showing the embryo; 12,
the embryo separate.
Digitized by
Google
321
ASELLUS.
ASPHALTUM.
821
upper part of the tube of the filamenta ; the leaflets oucullate, having
a horn-formed process protruding from the bottom; the anthers termi-
nated by a membrane ; pollen masses compressed, fixed by the tapering
tops, pendulous; the stigma depressed ; the follicles smooth ; the seeds
coarse. Most of the species are North American herbs, with opposite,
alternate, or yerticOlate leaves.
A. Syriaca, Sjiiua. SwaUow-Wort, has simple stems with lanceolate
oblong or oval leaves, gradually acute, and tomentose beneath; drooping
imibels. Lamarck states that the native coimtry of this plant is Syria
and Egypt The nectaries or leaflets of the corona, like some other
species of Aidepiat, act as fly-traps. The sap of this plant is white,
and contains a considerable quantity of caoutchouc. It has been
recommended as an expectorant. The seeds are covered with down,
which it was at one time proposed to spin into textures for wearing
apparel ; it is, however, more adapted for stufi&ng mjetttresses and
pillows.
A^ Ckurcutavica, Bastard Ipecacuanha, has a simple stem, with
J oblong-lanoeolate glabrous leaves tapering at both ends; umbels
I erect, solitaxy, lateral It is a native of Curagoa, Essequibo, Cumana,
' and Trinidad. Its roots are frequently sent to England as ipecacuanha.
The juice in the West Indies is reputed to be anthelmintic and styptic.
The root dried and powdered acts as an emetic, but not so efficaciously
^ as the root of the true Ipecacuanha (Chepaelia Ipeeacwmha). The roots
of A. prolifera are also emetic.
A. tuberittBf Tuberous Swallow-Wort, has suberect stems, veiy hairy,
and branched at top; scattered oblong-lanceolate hairy leaves; umbels
disposed in a terminal sub-corvmb. It is a native of North America,
in stony places and sandy fields. The roots are fsuned for diaphoretic
properties, and in Virginia it is used for thiis purpose in inflammatory
diseases, more particularly in pleuritis and dysentery. The A . decumhens
of some authors is probably only a variety of this species, and has the
same properties.
Many other species of this genus are used as medicines in the
countries where they grow. The buds of A. stipitacea are eaten by
the shepherds of Arabia after the manner of asparagus in this country.
The whole plant of A. aphylla may be eaten. A. gigcuUea, an East
Indian species, is very poisonous. It kills cattle wluch eat it, but it
is used in EUndoo medicine in typhus fever. The milky sap of A,
lactifera is quite innocuous, and is drunk in India as a wholesome
food; whilst, on the other hand, the milk of A. hmifiwra and A,
\ procera is acrid and irritating. The juice of A. Icmi/lora is used with
butter and lard as an ointment for itch, and that of A . procera is applied
f to hides for removing the hair before tanning. The A. cuihmcUica and
A. vincetoxicum have both active properties, and are now included under
the genus Oynanchym, [Ctnanchum.]
Many of the species of AtcUpiaa are handsome border-flowers, and
worthy of cultivation. They thrive well in peat-earth, or a light rich
mi of any kind. They may be propagated by dividing the root in
the spring, or by sowing the seed. Many of the species will require
protection at the roots during severe winters. The tropical and sub-
tropical species require the ordinary treatment of other stove and
greenhouse plant&
ASE'LLtrS, a genus of Malacopteiygious Fishes, to which WOlughby
referred the Whiting-Pout, and Ling. They are now referred respectively
to the genera Morrhua and Lota.
ASH. [Fraxinus.]
ASP, a name commonly given to several species of venomous serpents.
By naturalists the term is confined to the Vipera aspi%, which is an
mhabitant of the European Alps. The asp which is historically
interesting from having been employed by Cleopatra as the instrument
of her own destruction, is supposed to be the Cerastes ffatsdquistii. The
Asp {aavh) is often mentioned both by Greek and Roman writers. From
various circumstances, however, and particularly from the description
of Pliny (' Nat. Hist.' viiL 85.), it is evident tiiat the most common
and celebrated is the species to which the modem Arabs give the
name of El Haje, or Haje Nascher. This animal measures from 8 to
5 feet in length : it is of a dark green colour, marked obliquely with
bands of brown ; the scales of the neck, back, and upper suiface of the
tail are slightly carinated, and tiie tail is about one-fourth part the
length of the whole body. The Haje is closely allied to the Cobra
Capello, or Spectacled Snake of India, the chief apparent difierence
being its want of the singular yellow mark on the back of the neck,
from which the latter species derives its name. In other respects
these two serpents are nearly of the same size; they are equally
venomous, and both have the power of swelling out the neck when
irritated, and raising themselves upright upon their tails to dart by a
tmgle bound upon their enemies.
The poison of the Asp is of the most deadly nature. Pliny, in the
passage above referred to, gives the following account of this celebrated
serpent : — "The neck of the asp is capable of distension, and the only
remedy against its bite is the immediate amputation of the wounded
part This animal, otherwise so much to be dreaded, has a sentiment,
or rather a kind of afiection, truly wonderful It never lives alone, the
male and female being constantly found together, and if one happens
to be killed, the other seeks with the utmost fury to avenge its death.
It knows and selects the destroyer from among crowds ; it follows him
to great distances, surmounts every obstacle, and can only be deprived
»f its revenge by the most speedy flight, or the intervention of some
>AT. HIST. DrV. VOI.L
rapid river. It is difficult to say whether nature has been more pro-
digal of evils or remedies. For instance, she has bestowed upon this
reptile, so terrible from the deadly e£fecte of its poisoij^ so indifferent
a vision, its eyes being placed on the sides of the head so as to prevent
it from seeing straight before it, that it is frequently trodden under
foot before it is aware of its danger." Forskal, a Swedish naturalist,
who has written on the iMaimala of Egypt, informs us that the jugglers
of Grand Cairo have the art of taming the Haje, as those of Inma do
the <x)bra capello, and teaching it to dance for the amusement of the
populace; taking care, however, to deprive it of its poison fangs^
though even then they avoid its bite when irritated. The habit which
this serpent has of erecting itself when approached, made the ancient
Egyptians imagine that it guarded the places which it inhabitied. They
made it the emblem of the divinity whom they supposed to protect the
world; and accordingly they have represented it on their temples
sculptured on each side of a globe.
ASPAHAGUS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
IMiacem, It is comprised by some botanists under the order Aapho-
ddetB. The species eaten under the name of Asparagus is the A.
officmalia. [Aspabaqub, in Abts aitd So. Drv.) There are a great
number of species, natives of Asia and Africa, which are cultivated
in our gardens rather as matter of botanical interest than on account
of their beauty or utility. The roots of A . racemota and A, adteaident
are employed medicinally in the North of India.
ASPEN. [PopuLUS.]
ASPEROI'LLUM, a genus of Tubicoloua MoUuica, furnished with
a bivalve shell incrusted as it were in a tubular testaceous sheath.
This tubular sheath gradually lessens in diameter to the aperture
which is farthest from the incorporated bivalve. The end nearest to
the bivalve is dilated into a concave disk, with a central fissure, and
perforated with minute but raised holes. The disk is bordered by a
tubular frilL There are but few species, and of these AtperffiUwm
Javanum, known to collectors as the Watering-Pot^ is the most
common.
ASPEHULA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
BubiaeecB or Oaliacece, The genus is known by its funnel-shaped
coroUa, and by the fruit being dry and not crowned with the Ihnb
of the calyx.
A. odaratOf the Woodru£^ has its leaves six or ei^t in a wfaori, with
perfectly white flowers. It occurs in woods, and is found throughout
Europe. It is abundant in some parts of England. The whole plant
is remarkable for its fragrance when dried.
A. Oynanchicha has its leaves four in a whorl, and flowers of a lilac
colour. It is found on dry banks and hills in limestone districts. It
is common in Great Britain, where it is called Quinsy- Wort on account
of its supposed value as a remedy in sore throat. It is slightly
astringent Two other species^ A, arventii and A, tanruMS ^^^
doubtful natives, but found wild now in England.
(Babington's Manual of BrUith Botamy.)
ASPHA'LTUM (a Greek word, (Ur^oXrof, of unknown etymology),
frequently known by the name of Slaggy or Compact Mineral Pitch,
is one of the varieties of Bitumen arising from the decomposition of
vegetable matter. It occurs massive, of a dark brown or black colour,
with a conchoidal fhusture and a resinous lustra It is opaque, and
exceedingly brittle at a low temperature, but softens and fuses by the
•' T
Digitized by
Google
us
ASPHODELE^
ASProiUM.
sti
application of heat ; in denaitj it varies from that of water to 1*6. It
may be reoognised by the following charaoten : - It is insoluble in
aloohol, but soluble in about five times its weight of naphtha^ with
which it foims a good and useful varnish ; its combustion is rapid
and brilliant, with the production of the bitimiinous odour.
It is found in most countries, but most abundantly on the shores
or floating on the surface of the Dead Sea ; at Hit^ above Babylon, on
the Euphrates ; near the Tigris : in Trinidad in the West Indies it
Ells a basin of three nulee in circumference, and of unknown depth.
There Ib a pitdi-spring in Zante which is known to have been at work
for above 2000 years. (Herod, iv. 195). It is also found in limestone
at Bleibeig in Carinthia ; in beds of sandstone in Albania, and in veins
in the Harz in Germany; in Derbyshire, Shropshire, and several
other places. It is the principal colouring matter of the dark indu-
rated marl, or shale, which is found in coal districts.
ASPHODE'LEiG, or the Asphodel Tribe, are Monocotyledonous
Plants, which, although they form a very natural assemblage alone,
are now placed by Lindley as a subdivision of the order IdliacecB,
They are for the most part easily recognised, although hi certain
species and genera they approach other orders so closely as to be
distinguished only with great difficulty. They all have regidar flowers
with 3 sepals, and 3 petols of nearly equal size and colour, 6 (very
seldom 8) stamens, and a superior 3-celled ovary, with only 1 style.
Their fruit is either dry or succulent, and their seeds have a brittle
coat.
Asphoddece are known from Juncerp, or the Rush Tribe, by their
larger and more coloured flowers, and by the hardness of the coat of
their seeds ; from LiHacecBf or the Lily Tribe, by the smallness of their
flowers, and the hard coat of the seeds ; and from MdatUhaeece, or
the Colchioum Tribe, by their single style, and by their anthers being
turned towards the ovaiy. They may be formed into two subdiviBion&
The first, or the AUiaceoua subdivision, in which there is no true
stem, and which consists entirely of bulbous species, the roots being
emitted and perishing annuaUy. To this belong the Onion, Qarlic, and
their allies, together with the Hyacinth, Squill, and Star of Bethlehem
{OmUhogidum), A great quantity of species are favourites with the
Star of Bethlehem {OmiiKogdlum fimbriatum).
1, A flower seen from within; 3, the same riewed firom without; 8, the
stamena and orary ; 4, two atamena apart ; 5, an orary ; 6, Uie same cut per-
pendicolarly ; 7, the same cat horizontally.
horticulturists on account of their early appearance in the spring and
their easy cultivation.
The second subdivision, consisting of the true Asphodels [Aspho-
DELUs] and those which resemble them, have no bulbs, but m their
stead dusters of fleshy roots such as we find in the Asparagus, which
belongs to this subdivuiion ; the stems of these are frequently woody,
but in that case tib.ey are branched : Draccena, or the Qum-Dragon
Tree, is a most remarkable instance of this, it having almost the
appearance of a Dicotyledon when deprived of foliage. This sub-
division also contains Aloes, with their thick fleshy leaves and forked
items. [Alok.]
ASPHODELUS, a genus of plants the type of the natural order
AiphodelecB. It oomprehends some handsome nard^ perennial plants,
with fleshy finger-like roots, and upright undivided annual stems
ooversd with long leaves ; they are among the most highly developed
of the Monocotyledonous pleats of nortixem countries. The most
remarkable species are the following : —
A, ItUeut, the common Yellow Asphodel, Ib a beautiful perennial,
very often seen in cottage-gardens or on the outskirts of shrubberies.
It grows wild in Barbai^, Sicily, Dalmatian the Peloponnesos, and
even spreads into the Crimea. Its stems are from 2 to 8 feet hig^
never branched, and covered all over with long narrow bluish-green
leaves, which have veiy broad sheathing bases. The flowers are
handsome, deep yellow, with a green streak on the outside of eadi
petal The fruit oonsists of red pulpy berries.
Very nearly related to this are A, capiUaria, which diflers chiefly
in its very narrow leaves, shorter bracts, and extremely narrow
divisions of the flower; and A, Sibirietu, figured in the ' Botanical
Register,' plate 1507, which is principiJly known by its dwmrfer
stature, earlier and paler flowers, more glaucous leaves, and shorter
bracts.
A, albuit or the White Asphodel, found all over the southern
provinces of Europe and the basin of the Mediterranean Sea, is aa
frequently seen as the first, and in similar situations. Its flowers are
white with a reddish streak on the outside of each petal, and are
disposed in branched clusters. A, ramonu of many gardens s^eniB
merely a branched state of this species, and several other r^nited
species with white flowers are also in all probability not distinct
ASPIDIAHIA (Presl). Several species of the Lepidodendru of
Sternberg are thus named. They are from the Coal Formation.
ASPI'DIUM, a genus of Ferns, and one under which many species
were arranged by older botanists, which are now placed under new
genera. [Poltpodiacejs.] One of the most remarkable spedea of
this genus is the Atpidium Baromez, or Tartarian Lamb, whic^ hari
been referred by Mr. Smith to the genus Cibotium, This plant, from
its peculiar colour and form, was at one time really supposed to be a
kind of vegetable animal, as the following account from Strays, an
old traveller, proves : — "On the western side of the Volga," he say?,
" there is an devated salt plain of vast extent, but wholly uncultivated
and uninhabited. On this plain, which furnishes all the neighbouring
countries with salt, grows the Boranez or Bomitsch. This wonderful
plant has Uie shape and appearance of [a lamb, with feet, head, and
tail distinctly formed. Boranez, in the language of Musoovy, signifies
a litUe lamb, and a similar name is given to this plant. Its atin u
covered with veiy white down as soft as silk. The Tartars and
Muscovites esteem it highly, and preserve it with great cars in their
houses, whore I have seen many such lambs. The sailor who ^ve me
one of these precious plants found it in a wood, and I had its akin
made into an under-waistooat I learned at Astracan, frx)m those who
were best acquainted with the subject, that the lamb grows upon a
stalk about three feet high ; that we part by which it is sustained is
a kind of navel, and that it turns itself round, and bends do¥ni to the
herbage which serves for its food. They also ftaid it dries up and
pines away when the grass fails." Struys adds many other wonderfdl
things about this plant. His statement is however substantially
correct The rhizoma of the A, Baromez presents a rude resemblance
to an animal It is covered with a silky down, and when cut into has
a soft inside with a reddish flesh-coloured appearance, suflicient to
account for the origin of the fables with regard to its animal nature.
Is is not improbable that this fern dries up when the grass does, but
of course the one has no dependence on the other. The Baromez
possesses the astringent property which is common to all ferns;
hence it has been used as a sl^tia
Aapidium FUix-M<u (now Laatrcea FUix-Maa), the Male Fern, is a
native of Great Britain, and is admitted into the British Pharmaco-
poeias on account of its anthelmintic properties. It has bipinnate
nx)nds, obtuse and serrated pinnules, the sori near the central nerve,
the lateral nerves forked. It is abimdant throughout Europe, and
grows in stonv places on the skirts of woods, in open plantations and
roadsides. The part used in medicine is the root, or rather the root-
stock. Tlus part of the plant is collected for medicinal purposes
between the end of May and the middle of September. It will not
keep wcJl, and should be renewed at least every two years. It ha4
often been chemically analysed, and is found to contain —
Jjigniyi .,..,.., 45
Starch ........ 10
Uncxystallisable Sugar 10
Gum 10
Fixed Oil 7
Resm 4
Salts, Volatile OU 14
100
The ancients used this plant as a vermifuge, but it was neariy given
up by modem practitionera of medicine when Peschier pointed out
the conditions in which he had found it efficacious in expelling tape-
worm. The best mode of admimstering it Ib as an ethenal tincture ;
the ether seems to dissolve the resinous oil on which the active pro-
perties of the plant depend. The dose of the root according to
Peschier is about one drachm.
A, dUcUcUum {Ixattrcea dilatala), a British fern, is often confounded
with the last for medicinal purposes. It has sub-tripinnate finonds ;
oblong, blunt, indso-pinnatifid lobes ; spinose, mucronate segments ;
a deciduous unfringed indudum. This is a common feni, but lees
generally diffused than the last
A, FUix-Fcemwa {Athyrium FUix-Fcemna), Lady-Fem, has a lancco*
Digitized by
Google
&36
ASPIDOPHORUS.
Asa
8241
late piimata frond ; pinnffi linear, acute, regularly pinnate; pinnules
linear^blong, quite distinct, deeply serrate or pinnatifid; segments
with 2 or 8 teetii. This is one of the most beautiful of the ^British
ferna The root is sometimes gathered for that of the Male Fem. It has
'' a short perpendicular root-stock, black externally, with black root-
fibres; and the tufts or bases of the leaf-stalks, which compose the
greater part of it, form a very acute angle with its axis, whHe those
of the Male Shield-Fern extend outwards at a more open angle."
(ChristiaQin.)
(Burnett^ (hitUnei of Botany ; Babington, Manual of British Botany ;
Chriatison, Ditpematory.)
ASPIDOPHOHUS, a genus of Acanthopteiygious Fishes. One
species, the A, EuroptBut is foimd on the coasts of England and
Scotland. It is known by the names of the Armed Bullhead, the
^ogge, the Lyrie, Sea-Poacher, Pluck, and Noble. It is a small fish
seldom exceeding 6 inches in length. (Yarrell, British Fishes.)
ASPIDORHY^NCHUS, a genus of FossU Ganoid Fishes, from the
Lias and Oolite of England. (Agaswir..)
ASPIDU'RA. A fossil species of Ophiuroid Echinoderms is thus
named by Agaasiz. From the Lias of Yorkshire.
ASPLE'NIUM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order of
FenuL [PoLTPODiACKS.] It has elongated straight sori, with an
indusium opening towards the central nerve or midrib. The species
of this genus are known by the name of Spleenworts. Several of them
are oonmion in Great Britain.
A. lanceokUutn, of fiudson, has lanceolate doubly pinnate fronds;
the pinnules ovate and deeply and sharply toothed, or lobed ; the
sori short, nearly margins! It is a native of England and Wales, on
rocks and waUs, but its distribution is very local It is also a native
of France, but its European habitats are few.
A. Adiantum^igrvm, Black Spleenwort^ has triangular attenuated
fronds, twice or thrice pinnate, the pinnie and pinnules triangular,
sharply toothed ; sori elongated, central This plant is a native of
Europe, and is abundantly distributed throughout the United
Kingdom, where it occurs on rocks, walls, ruins, and hedge-rows.
This is one of the ferns formerly much used in medicine, and is stated
by Ray to be efficacious in cough, asthma, pleuritis, jaundice, stone,
gravel, and other diseasea It has not however any reputation
amongst modem practitioners of medicine.
A. But4Mnur€tria, Wall-Rue, has b)pinnate fronds, the pinntdes
rhomboid wedge-shaped, notched or toothed at the end ; the indusium
lagged. This fern is very common on rocks and old walls in Great
Britain and throughout Europe, and is also a native of North
America It was at one time used as a remedy in coughs and
astbmas, obstructions of the liver, and in cutaneous diseases ; but has
now £ftllen into disuse.
A. TrichomaneSf Conmion Spleenwort^ has pinnate linear fronds ;
roundish ovate, crenate, stalked pinnsa ; the nerves forked below the
sort It is very conmion througbout Great Britain on rocks, walls,
churches, ruins, bridges, and hedg^erows. It is a native also of
Europe, AirictL, and the United States. This fern has been also used
in medicine, and for the same diseases as the previous species, but it
has fallen now entirely into disuse.
The other British species of ArpUnifum are A, aUtmifoHvm^ A,
sepUntruyndU, A, mariwwn^ A. vvride.
These and other fems may be easily cultivated by placing them in
situations resembling their natural habitats. They require a pure
atmosphere, plenty of space, and natunJ shade, with a due supply of
water. They may be planted on decayed wood, in holes of rocks and
brick, with almoii any soil One of uie most elmnt modes of culti-
vating them is by means of inverted jars, under which they will thrive
in any sandy or light soil
(Babington, MamuU; Newman, History of British Fems; Ward,
Growth of Plants in Glazed Cases.)
ASPREIX), a genus of Abdominal Malacopterygious Fishes, charac-
terised by the horizontal flatness of the heaa, and the enlargement of
the anterior part of the trunk, arising from an unusual development
of the bones of the shoulder. They are further distinguished firom
the Silwres of Limueus (from which extensive genus, indeed, they were
originally separated by that great naturalist himself) by the propor-
tional length of the tail ; by having the eyes placed in the upper
surface of the head, and the intermaxillary bones concealed beneath
the ethmoid, directed backwards, and furxushed with teeth only along
their posterior margin ; and finally, they, are remarkable as b^ng the
only known fish, not being cartilaginous, which have not moveable
opercular the bones of which these oigans are composed being
soldered on either side to the l^nipanum and pi'e-operculum. The
opening of the gills is consequentlj|r mrmed by a single slit in the skin
immediately behind the posterior side of the head; and their
membrane is composed of nx branchiostegous rays. The lower jaw is
transverse, and the upper projects considerably beyond it, and forms
a small attenuated mukde. There is but a single dorsal fin, which
is of small extent, and situated on the fore-part of the body : the anal
fin on the contrary is very large, and occupies the entire length of the
tail This genus contains but very few species, the principal of which,
the Sikunbs Asprtdo of linnnus, inhabits the rivers and lakes of
North America.
ASSy a well-known and useful domestic animal, whose good qualities
are too frequently undervalued, from being contrasted with those of
the horse, without considering the different nature of the treatment
which these two quadrupeds receive — ^the care and attention bestowed
upon developing the form and cultivating the spirit of the one, and
the neglect and ill ussge to which the other is so generally subjected.
Buffon has well observed that the ass is despised and neglected only
because we possess a more noble and powerful animal in the horse ;
and that if the horse were unknown, the care and attention which is
lavished upon him, being transferred to his now neglected and
despised rival, would have increased the size and developed the mental
qualities of the ass to an extent which it would be difficult to
anticipate, but which eastern travellers who have observed both
animals in their native dimates, and among nations by whom they ar<»
equally valued and the good qualities of each justly appreciated,
assure us to be the fact. Indeed, the character and habits of these
two quadrupeds are directly opposed in iJmost every respect. The
horse is proud, fiery, and impetuous, nice in his tastes, and delicate in
constitution ; like a pampered menial he is subject to many diseases,
and acquires artificisi wants and habits which are unknown in a state
of nature. The ass on the contrary is humble, patient, and contented
with scanty and coarse fare which other cattle reject ; he bears with
Satience and fortitude the most cruel and oppressive treatment ; yet
e is more susceptible of strong attachment than the horse, has
apparently more prudence and reflection, and is capable of a degree of
education which would not be anticipated from the forlorn and
dejected appearance which coarse food and harsh treatment have
rendered habitual to him. In Persia, Arabia, and other eastern coun-
tries however the ass is a very different animal from what he is in
Western Europe. There, instead of being neglected and despised,
half-starved, and treated with cruelty, care is taken to cultivate the
breed by crossing the finest specimens ; even the Wild Ass is procured
for this purpose, the pedig^«es of the different races are carefully
recorded, and the size, strength, and symmetry of the ass so much
improved that he is rendered equal to tiie horse for most purposes,
and in some cases even his superior. ** The asses of Arabia," says
Chardin, "are perhaps the handsomest animals in the worid ; their
coat is smooth and clean ; they carry the head elevated, and have fine
and well-formed legs, which they throw out gracefully in walking or
galloping. They are used only for the saddle, and are imported in
vast numbers into Persia, where they are frequently sold for 400 livres;
and being taught a kind of easy ambling pace, are richly caparisoned,
and used only by the rich and luxurious nobles."
The ass is properly speaking a mountain animal; his hoofs are
long; and furnished with extremely sharp rims, leaving a hollow in
I'lmn^
WUd Abs.
the centre, by which means he is enabled to tread with more security
on the slippery and precipitous sides of hills and craggy pla
The hoof of the horse on the contrary is round and nearly flat
Digitized by
Google
ASSAPANa
ASTACUa
328
andemeath, and wo acconllDgly find that he ia moat serviceable in level
oountriei ; and indeed experience has long since taught ua that he ia
altogether unfitted for croaaing rooky and steep mountaina. Aa
however the more diminutive size of the aaa rendered him compara-
tively lesa important as a beast of burden, the ingenuity of mankind
early devised a means of remedying this defect^ by crossing the horse
and ass, and thus procuring an intermediate animal, uniti^ the aiae
and strength, of the one with the patience, intelligence, and sure-
footedness of the other.
The Wild Ass, called Eoulan by the Persians, is still common in
many parts of Central Asia^ It stands much higher on its limbs, than
the common ass, its logs are longer and more slender, and it is
altogether a more graceful and symmetrical animaL The mane is
oompoaed of short erect hair of a dusky ooloiv and rather a woolly
texture; the colour of the body is a uniform silvery gray, with a
broad coifee-ooloured stripe extending down the back from ^e mane
to the tail, and crossed on the shoulder by a transverse band, as in the
domestic variety. The Koulan inhabits the parts of Central Asia
from 48* N. laJL to the northern confines of India. They migrate
from north to south according to the season. In summer they are
commonly found about Lake Aral, but in autumn tiiey collect in
vast troojps under the oonduct of a regular leader, and proceed
towards the south, arriving at Cuteh and Guxerat in October or
November, and retunung northward again in the middle of spring.
The Penians and Tartan hold the flesh of the Koulan in high esteem,
and hunt it in preference to all other descriptions of game. Olearius
assures us that he saw no fewer than thirty-two wild asses slain in one
day by the Shah of Persia and his court> the bodies of which were
sent to the royal kitchens at Ispahan ; and we know fix>m Martial thai
the epicures of Rome held the flesh of the Onager, or Wild Ass, in the
same estimation aa we do veniBon ( ' Epig.' xiii. 97 ).
From a passage in Pliny (lib. viiL c. 44) it would appear that the
Onager inhabited Africa^ and that the most delicate and best flavoured
lalisiones^ or £ht foals, were brought from that continent to the Boman
markets. Leo Africanus repeats the same story of wild asses being
found in Africa, but no traveller has since met with them, and, so far
aawe at' present know, the species is confined to Asia. It has even
retired from Syria and Asia Minor, where it was formerly found.
ASS AP ANS, the name of a species of Flying Squirrels.
ASTACOLITES, in 2^ology, one of the names given by ancient
geologists to the fossil remains of the Long-Tailed or Lobster-like
Crustaceans. '
A'STACUS (Leach, Desmarest), a genus of Long-Tailed Crustaoeous
Animals, including the common Lobster. It was formed by Gronovius
from the genus GoiMser of Linneus and of ancient authors, which also
comprised the Short-TaUed Crustaoeous Decapods, with the exception
of Bippa, Fabridus broke it down into the genera PagunUf Oalathea,
and SeyUaruM; leaving Astacut to represent a certain number of
Crustaceans, from which he afterwards, having the advantage of
DaldorfTs labours, separated the genera PaZtn«rtw, PaJUtmon, Al^heut,
Penetu, and Orangan, Our countryman Leach, in adopting the genus
as left in its last shape by Fabridus, separates from it the genus
Nephropi, of which there is only one species recorded, the Norway
Lobster (Nephropt Norveffieut). Desmarest adopts the views of Leach,
and the genus Attacut is now reduced to very few species.
Of these species the most interesting, from, their commercial value
as food, are the common Lobster (AttacuB marinvjt) and the Craw-Fish
{AaUicu* fiuvicAUU.)
The Lobster is found in the greatest abundance on the rocky coasts
of tliis kin^om, in clear water of no veiy great depth, at the time of
depositing its e^;gs, about the middle of summer. Pennant mentions
the great quantities supplied to the London markets, in his time, from
the Orkneys and the eastern coasts of Scotland ; and states the nimiber
annually brought in well-boats from the neighbourhood of Montrose
alone at 60,000 or 70,000. But almost incredible as the consumption
of this species is, nature has provided for its security by the most
profuse fecundity. Doctor Baster says that he counted 12,444 eggs
under the tail of one female lobster, besides those that remained in
;the body unprotruded.
Lobsters are very voracious, and the fishery for them is carried on
sometimes by means of traps, or 'pots' (as they are called in some
places), made of twigs, baited with garbage, lowered into the sea and
marked by a buoy ,* sometimes by nets baited with the same materials ;
and in some countries, by torch-light^ with the aid of a wooden
instrument, which acts like a forceps or a pair of tongs.
One of the best narratives of the habits of the lobster extant, is to
be found in the following letter from Mr. Travis, of Scarborough, to
Mr. Pennant, dated on the 25th October, 1768 :—
" We have vast numbers of fine lobsters on the rocks near our coast.
The laige ones are in general in their best season from the middle of
October till the beginning of May. Many of the small ones, and some
few of the larger sort> are good all the summer. If they be 44 inches
long, or upwards, firom the tip of the head to the end of the back
shell, they are called sizeable lobsters. If only 4 inches, they are
esteemed half size ; and when sold, two of them are reckoned for one
of sisa If thev be under 4 inches, they are called Pawka^ and are
notaaleableto tne carriers, thougli in reaUty they are in the summer
months superior to the large ones in goodness. The pinoera of one
of the lobster's large claws are fumiahed with. knobs, and those of the
other claw are always serrated. With the former it keeps firm hold
of the stalks of submarine plants, and with the latter it cuts and minoeB
its food very dexterously. The knobbed, or numb daw, as the fisher
men call it, is sometimes on the right side, and sometimes on the left,
indifierentiy. It is more dangerous to be seised by them with the
cutting daw than the other ; but, in either case, the quickest way to
get disengaged from the creature is to pluck ofif its daw. It leemB
peculiar to the lobster and crab when their daws are pulled off thst
they will grow again, but never so lazge as at first
" The femi^e or hen lobster does not cast her shdl the same year
that she deposits her ova, or in the oommon phrase, is ' in betry.' When
the ova first appear under her tail, they are very small and extremely
black ; but they become, in succession, almost as large as ripe elder
berries before they are deposited, and turn of a dark-brown colour,
especially towards the end of the time of her depositing tiiem. They
continue full and depositing the ova in constant succession, as long as
any of that bUck substance can be found in their body, which when
boiled turns of a beautiful red colour, and is called their CoraL Hen-
lobsters are found in berry at all times of the year, but diiefly in
winter. It is a common mistake, that a berried hen is always in
perfection for the tabla When her berries appear large and brownish,
she will alwaya be found exhausted, watery, and poor. Though the
ova be cast at all times of the year, they seem only to come to life
during the warm summer months of July and August Great numben
of them may then be found, imder the appearance of tadpoles, swim-
ming about the littie pools left by the tides among the rocks, sad
many ahio under their proper form, from half an inch to four inches
in length.
" In casting their shells, it is hard to conceive how the lobster is
able to draw the fish of their large daws outy leaving the shells entire
and attached to the shell of their body ; in which state they are
constantly found. The fishermen say the lobster pines before castings
till the fish in its large claw is no thicker than the quiU of a gooee,
which enables it to draw its piarts through the joints and narrow
passage near the trunk. The new shell is quite membranous at first,
but hardens by degrees. Lobsters only grow in size while their shells
are in their soft state. They are chosen for the table by their being
heavy in proportion to their size, and by the hardness of their sheik
on their sides, which when in j)erfection will not yidd to moderate
pressure. Baniades and other small shell-fish adhering to them are
esteemed certain marks of superior goodness. Coek-lobsters are in
general better than the hens in winter; they are distinguiahed by
tiie narrowness of their tails, and by their having a strong spine
upon the centre of each of the transverse processes beneath the tail
which support the four middle plates of their tails. The fish of a
lobster's claw is more tender, delicate, and easy of digestion, than
that of the tail Lobsters are not taken hero in pots, as is usual
where the water is deeper and more still than it is upon oiu- coasi
Our fishermen use a bag-net fixed to an iron hoop, about 2 feet in
diameter, and suspended by three lines like a scale. The bait is
commonly fish-guts tied to Uie bottom and middle of the net They
can take none in the daytime, except when the water is thick and
opaque : they are commonly caught in the night ; but even then it ia
not possible to take any when the sea has that luminous appearance
which is supposed to proceed frt>m the Nereis noctUuea. In summer,
the lobsters are found near the shore, and thence to about 6 fathoms
depth of water; in winter, they are sddom taken in less than 12 or
16 fathoms. Like other insects [crustaceans] iher are much more
active and alert in warm weather than in cold. In the water they
can run nimbly upon their legs or small daws, and if alanned can
spring tail foremost to a surprising distance, as svrift as a bird can
fly. The fishermen can see them pass about 80 feet, and by the
swiftness of their motion, suppose they may go much farther. Athencfus
remarks this ciroumstance, and says tiiat the incurvated lobsters
will spring with the activity of dolphins. Their eyejs are raised upon
moveable bases, which enables them to see readily every way. When
frightened they will spring from a considerable distance to their hold
in the rock ; and, what ia not less surprising than true, will throw
themselves into their hold in that manner through an entrance barely
suffident for their bodies to pass, as is frequently seen by the people
who endeavour to take them at Filev Bridge. In frosty weather, if
any happen to be foimdnear the shore, they are quite torpid and
benumbed. A sizeable lobster is commonly from one pound to two
in weight There was one taken here this summer which vreighed
above four pounds, and the fishermen say they have seen some which
were of six poimds, but these are very rare."
There is no doubt that the lobater changes its shell annually ; but
the mode in which this operation ia performed is not satisfactorily
known. Some suppose that the old shdl is thrown off, and that the
animal retires to some luriring place to avoid the voracity of his
crust-dad fellows, till his new covering acquires suffident hardness ;
others contend that the process is one of absorption, and these ask,
in proof of their views of the case, what becomes of the old shells
if there is a true ecdysis or moult^ for that the sea^soast at the
moulting period would be strewed with them ? The most probable
conjecture is, that the shell doughs ofif piecemeal as it does in the
Digitized by
Google
829
ASTARTE.
ASTR^EA.
330
crawfish. Lobsters, in common -with most of the Cnistaccans, have
the power of reproduction to a great extent. If a claw bo torn off, it
is renewed; and if it be injured, the animal will sometimes throw
it off hj an effort It seems that any violent shock to the nervous
system will cause this act If a lobster be thrown into boiling water,
it will generally throw off its large claws on the instant; and the
same effect has been produced by plunging the animal, when in full
life, into spirit. Pennant goes so far as to make them out to be very
nervous subjects indeed. " Lobsters," says he, ** fear thunder, and
are apt to cast their claws on a loud clap. I am told they will do
the same on firing a great gun ; and thett when men-of-war meet a
lobster-boat, a jocular threat is ujBed, that if the master does not sell
them good lobsters they will salute him."
That the lobster was well known to the ancients appears from the
reference in Mr.' Travis's letter, and from many other evidences. It
will be sufficient to add that, under the name of iurreuchs, Aristotle, in
tlie second chapter of the fourth book of his ' History of Animals,'
gives a most faithful and elaborate account of the species which is still
an inhabitant of the Mediterranean.
Aitaeut Jluvia/ilis, the Crawfish, is to be found in the fresh waters
of Europe and the north of Asia. It thrives best in rivers, where
in holes in the banks and under stones it lies in wait for the small
molluscous animals, little fishes, the larv8B of insects, and decomposing
animal substances, which form its prey. Desmarest says that it will
live for upwards of 20 years, and that it becomes large in proportion
to its age ; that towards the end of sprine it casts off the pieces
which form its shell, and some days after becomes covered with a
crust as solid as the former one, but larger, sometimes by as much as
one-fifth. The eggs, which are excluded about two months after
impregnation, are collected under the lower part of the body or tail,
aa it is popularly called, after the manner of the hen-lobster. From
these proceed the young crawfishes, which are very small and soft,
but which bear an exact resemblance to the parent, under whose tail
they are nursed for several days.
The crawfish is taken either b^ nets or by bundles of thorns in
which flesh in a state of decomposition is placed. It is also taken by
iuserting the hand into the hole which it mhabits ; and at night it is
caught by means of lighted torches. [Crustacka.]
ASTA'RTE, a genus of Conchiferous Molluaca, with two muscular
impressions and a simple mantle-Une. The hinge has two divaricated
teeth in the right-hand valve; in the other, one distinct and one
obsolete tooth, and the rudiment of a lateral tooth. The ligament is
external
The species consist of some of the Veneres of Montagu, one of
which is a OrasnruL (Lam.) Some of them are English shells, and
they are generally found on the sandy mud of coasts at a depth which
ranges from near the surface to ten fathoms.
The Crag, the Green-Sand, and some of the old foasiliferous beds
afford many species.
A'STER, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order ChmpotUce,
and comprishending a great multitude of species scattered over all
parts of the world, especially North America and Australia. Many
of them are handsome herbaceous plants, others are small-leaved
shrubs, and the remainder are mere weeds. (Nees von Esenbeck, * G^era
et Species Astoroarum.')
Although the number of species of this genus is very great, none
of them are of any use to man. A large number are cultivated,
and wc are indebted to their very handsome flowers for some of the
greatebt ornaments of our gardens at the latter end of summer.
One of the species^ AtUr Tripolivm, is a British plant. It is very
common in muddy salt marshes. It has a stem from I to 2 feet high,
which is erect, hollow, leafy, and many-flowered. The flowers are
yellow in the disk and lilac in the circumference. Sometimes the
latter are wanting.
ASTERACAlfTHUS, a genus of Fossil Pkcoid Fishes, includmg
five British species, from the Oolitic and Lias Formations. (Agassiz.)
ASTERI'AD^, a fiunUy of the order Echinodermata including the
true Star-Fishes. This family is distinguished from the rest of the
order by the body being more or less lobed, and the lobes channeled
beneath for cirrhi, which act as suckers and are the organs of motion.
Professor K Forbes in his 'History of British Star-Fishes' has
arranged the British species of this family imder four heads : —
1. The UratterUg, Stellate Star-Fishes with rounded arms and four
ranges of suckers in each avenue. Of this family there is only one
genus Urtuter, inhabiting the British coasts. Of this there are four
vpeciea — U.glacialu, U. rvhent, U, violacea and U, hUpicUk
2. The Solatterice, also stellate (sometimes multi-radiate), with
rounded arms, but only two ranges of suckers in each avenue. To
this tribe belong the genera Cfribdla and Solatter of which C, ocuUUOf
C. roteOf &. endecOf and S. pappota inhabit the British coasts.
8. Ooniastmicef which are pentagonal and have two ranges of suckers.
The British genera of this tribe are AMlerina, PcUmipet, and GonioMter.
The species are A. gibbosa, P, membranaceuMf 0, Temjpletoni, and G.
equettrtM,
4. Atierics, Stellate Star-Fishes with the upper surfeuie of the body
flat It includes the British genera Atterioi and Luidia, Each of
these have one species^ A, omrcmHaea and L, froffUiitima. [EoHiiro-
DERKATA.]
Asteriaa tessetata,
ASTEHIAS (Lam.), a genus of Radiated Animak widely diffused
over the seas. The Linnsean genus comprises every form of radiation
which appears in the tribe, but the genus Atterioi of Lamarck
includes only the Star-Fishes properly so called. These are divided
into two sections, 'the Scutellated Star-Fishes,' and 'the Radiated Star-
Fishea.' The former have an angular body, the lobes or rays of which
are short, their length not exceeding the diameter of the disk : the
latter have a body furnished with elongated rays, whose length far
exceeds the diameter of the disk. The foUowing is a general description
of the animals to which the name Atteriat has been applied : —
Each ray is furnished with a longitudinal furrow on its lower side,
and itna furrow is pierced laterally with small holes, through which
pass the feet or tentacula, which are membranous, cylindncsl, and
each of them terminated with a little disk, which performs the office
of a cupping-glass, somewhat in the same manner as the acetabula or
suckers of the cuttle-fishes. By elongating or shortening these
numerous little organs, and by fixing them by means of their terminal
disks, the progressive motions of the Star-Fish are regulated. The
rest of the lower surface is furnished with small moveable spines,
which also assLBt progression. The whole surface is also pierced by
pores, through which pass tubes much smaller than the feet, serving
probably to absorb the water, and to introduce it into the general
cavity, for the purposes of a kind of respiration. A laige stomach
lies dose to the mouth ; and two ramified caeca, each suspended to a
kind of mesentery, are given off to each ray, which lb also furnished
with two ovaries, by means of which the animals are supposed to
reproduce their species without the aid of a second individual A fine
cord, which surrounds the mouth and sends a branch to each arm, is
considered as the development of their nervous system. [Abtebiadjc ;
ECHINODERICATA.]
ASTERI'NA, a genus of Star-Fishes, including the smallest of the
British species, A. ffibbo$a of Pennant The Gibbous Starlet has a
5-sided btxly, which is thick and covered above and below with
short spines ; the avenues are bordered by a single row of spines, and
the suckers are in two rows. De Blainville makes out of this species
two, which he caUs Atterioi miniUa and A, pvlcheUa, A. gibbosa is
found very generally around the British Islands, and also in the
Mediterranean, and on all the shores of Europe.
ASTEROID A, a group of Zoophytes, belonging to the Anthotoa
or Polypifera, [Polypifera.]
ASTEROPHYLLI'TJES mrongniart), a genus of Fossil Plants con-
taining many species ; from the Coal Formations of Europe and America.
ASTEROPTY'CHIUS, a genus of Fossil Placoid Fishes, from the
Mountain Limestone of Ireland. (Agassiz.)
ASTRiEA, a genus of Radiate Animals belonging to the family
Astrttn rotuloia.
Polt/pifera. The species are found sometimes incrusting marioe
Digitized by
Google
331
ASTRAGALUS.
ATELES.
3S2
bodies, Bomeiimes collected in a hemlBpherical or globular mass,
which is occasionally lobated. The upper surface is covered with
orbicular or subangular starry disks, which are lamellar and sessile.
Each disk is the seat of .a polype, with a single row of numerous
arms, in the centre of which is the mouth. Lamarck divides these
corals into two sections : the first, consisting of species whose starry
disks are separated from each other, leaving interstices between
them ; and the second, of species whose starry disks are contiguous.
Of the first section, A. rotulota, an inhabitant of the West Indian
seas, is an example ; of the second, A. favota, common in the seas of
the East Indies affbnls a good illustration. The species are numerous.
Astma favota.
ASTRA'QALUS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Legvmwotcs. It has the calyx 5-toothed ; the keel of the flower
obtuse ; the stamens diadelphous ; the legume bilocular or half-
bilocular, from the upper suture being bent in so much. Tho species
are shrubs or under-shrubs.
A, hypoghtti*, the Purple Milk-Vetch, is a native of Europe in
graveUy and chalky places.
A. glyq/phyllotf Liquorice- Vetch, is another British species. It has
a sweetish taste in its leaves, but they are not pleasant, and cattle do
» not eat it.
A, veruB, Qoat's-Thom, is the plant which is said to yield Gum
Tragacanth. It is a smnll bush with pinnated gray leaves, terminated
by a spiny midrib and naif-covering clusters of axillary pale yellow
flowers. It grows in the Levant. The gum is a natural exudation
from the pl^t Many other species of Astragalug, as A. Creticut,
A. gwnmifeTf A, aristcUus, and^. atrobilifera, are now known to yield
this substance. The species of Astragalus are very numerous, and
above 250 have been described by botanists. Many of them are culti-
vated, most of them being hardy plants, but they are not remarkable
for their beauty.
ASTRAKANI'TE, a variety of native sulphate of magnesia (Epsom
Salts), which is called EpsomUe,
ASTROCA'RYUM, a genus of Palms found in small groups, or in
single specimens, in the tropical parts of America, of middling stature,
and of a very singular appearance on account of tho spines with which
they are armed. Their stems are covered all over, except at the
places where the leaves are set on, with stiff and very niunerous
prickles. The leaves are pinnated. The fruit resembles cocoa-nuts.
These plants are found exclusively in South America, where several
species were collected by Dr. Von Martins, the great illustrator of the
Palm Tribe. Among the more remarkable are Astrocarywn murimuri,
a common inhabitant of swampyplaces in the neighbourhood of Para,
where it is called Murumurd. The flesh of the fruit resembles the
melon in flavour and the musk in odour, and is considered a great
delicacy by the Americans. We give a figure of it in -the next column,
but so much reduced that the armature of the stem cannot be shown.
The leaves are foimd to form an excellent thtitch.
Another species, A. airif has very hard wood, which is much used
for bows and similar purposes, where hardness and toughness are
required.
The fibres of the leaves of il. Tt^iwna are greatly valued for fishing-
nets. (Martins, Palms, p. 69, &c.)
ASTROCRINI'TES (Austin), a genus of Fossil Crmoidea, from the
Mountain Limestone of Yorkshire.
ASTROLO'MA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Epacridacece, One species, the A, hvmifusa, yields the Tasmanian
Cranberry. The fruit is of a green or whitish colour, sometimes
slightly red, of the size of a black currant, and consisting of a viscid
apple-flavoured pulp, inclosing a laige seed. It grows singly on the
tnuling stems of the plant The flowers are of a beautiful scarlet.
(Lindley, Vegetable Ki/ngdom,)
ASTROPECTEN, a genus of Star-Fishes, including the AsUria^
aurantiaca of MUller and others, which is called Astrapecten irregulant
[ECHIHODERMATA.]
Aatrocfu-yum murimttri,
ASTROPHY'TON, a genus of Star-Fishes, remarkable for tbe
branched character of its rajrs. One species, the A. scnteUvm, is
British. It is however a rare animal ; and although occasionally found
in other places, is most commonly caught off the Shetlands : hence
it is called the Shetland Aiigus. (Forbes, British Star-Fiskes.)
ASTUR, a genus of Hawks formed by Bechstein, and chancteriaed
by a short beak bent downwards from the base and convex above,
with somewhat oval nostrils. The feet are rather short, and the
toes (of which the exterior are united at the base by a membrane)
are long.
Numerous species of this genus are diffused over all parts of the
world; but Europe only contains one, Astw pcUumbariuSf the Gos-
hawk, so highly prized by the falconers of old, and funous for its
flights at cranes, geese, pheasants, and partridges. PFalcoiodje.]
ATACAMI'TE (Chloride of Copper, Muriate of Copper). It occurs
massive, pulverulent, and crystallised. Its primary form is a right
rhombic prism. The colour is green, of various shades, but chiefly
emerald green. The streak is lighter. The fracture uneven. Hardness
3*0 to 3*5. Lustre vitreous. Transparent to opaque. Specific gravity
4*4. It is found at Remolenos in Chili ; tho pulverulent variety at
Atacama in Peru. The massive variety is reniform, with a fibrous
structure. The analysis by Proust is as follows : —
Muriatic Acid 10*6
Oxide of Copper 76*6
Water 128
100-0
ATELES, a genus of Sapa^ous, or American Monkeys, called also
Spider Monkeys, formed by M. Geoffrey St. Hilaire, and presenting
numerous and remarkable modifications of organic structure, which
readily distinguish them from all other groups of Qnadrvma/Mi. The
most prominent characters of the genus consist in their long, attenu-
ated, and powerfully prehensile tails ; fore hands either entirely deprived
of thumbs, or having only a very small rudiment of that organ ; and
their dental system, which, like that of all the American Quadrumanes,
consists of two molar teeth in each jaw (one on each side) more than
are foun<^ either in man or in the kindred genera of the Old Worid.
The first and last of these modifications are common to the Aides and
other American genera ; the second is shared with them only by the
Cohbif a small African genus, consisting only of two species, neither of
which has been observed by any zoologist since the aays of Pennant^
and with whose other characters we are very imperfectly acquainted.
The A teles are fruther distinguished by their small round heads, corpu-
lent bodies, and remarkably long slender limbs, which characteristicB
giving these am'malB much of the general appearance of a spider, hare
Digitized by
Google
ATELES.
ATELES.
334
procured for them the appellation of Spider-Monkeys, by 'which they
are commonly known. Like the other Q^adnlmana of the New World,
they are destitute of cheek-pouches and callosities — characters which
approximate them in some measure to the real Apes. The skull of the
AteUa is rounder and the brain larger than in the common monkeys ;
the forehead also is more derated, and the muzzle less prominent.
The eyes are widely separated from one another by the Imse of the
nose ; the nostrils open laterally, and are separated by a thick carti-
laginous partition ; the ear only differs from that of man in having no
inferior lobe ; the mouth is small, the lips thin and extensible, and the
hair generally long, coarse, and of a glossy appearance.
But they are chiefly distinguished by the organs of locomotion. The
anterior extremities, in particular, are by their length and the slender-
neflB of their form out of all proportion with the other parts ; they ai*e
in general, as above observed, destitute of thumbs ; or if some .species
are provided with this organ, it is only in a rudimentary form, and
eoDfiiBts merely of a flat naO, or at most of a single joint. On the
posterior extranities, on the contrary, the thumb is largely developed,
placed far back towards the heel, and is completely opposeable to the
lingers. But these animals possess, in their long and muscular tail,
an organ of prehension much more powerful than the other extre-
mities ; it executes in fact all the functions of a fifth limb, though
probably, on aocoimt of its distance from the seat of sensation, it is not
endowed with a very delicate sense of touch. For six or seven inches
from the point it is naked and callous on the under surface ; and it is
by this portion that the animal hangs suspended from the branches,
or swings itself from tree *x> tree with an ease and velocity almobt
incredible.
Their entire oiganiaation is adapted exclusively to an arboreal life ;
on the earth nothing can be more awkward and embarrassed than
their motions. They trail themselves along with a slow and vacillating
gait, sometimes using their long fore-arms as crutches, and resting upon
their half-closed fists whilst they project the body and hind lega forwa^rd ;
at other times walking in a crouching position on the hind legs only,
balanced by the long arms and tail, which are elevated in fr^nt and
rear respectively, and always ready to take advantage of any object by
which to avail themselves of their natural powers of progression.
But in proportion to their embarrassment on a plain surface is their
dexterity and agility among the trees of their native foresta Here
they live in numerous troops, mutually support one another in danger,
beat and expel the lees favourably organised Salus from the vicinity of
their cantonments, and exercise a perfect tyranny over all the other
arboreal mammals of their neighbourhood. Though leaves and wild
fruits compose the principal part of their food, yet they do not reject
flesh, but hunt after insects and the eggs and young of birds, and are
even said to adopt the stratagem of fishing for crabs with their long
tails. They are exceedingly intelligent, easilv domesticated, and soon
become strongly attached to those who treat them kindly : they exhibit
none of the petulance and insatiable curiosity of the common monkeys ;
their character, on the contrary, is grave, and approaches even to
melancholy : but if their passions are less violent, and more difficult
to excite, their affections are infinitely stronger ; and if they are without
the amusing tricks of the monkeys, so likewise are they without their
fickleness and mischief.
Dampier relates, that when a troop of Atelea have occasion to pass
any of the larger rivers of South America, they select a situation in
which the trees are highest and project farthest over the stream ; then
mounting to the topmost branches, they form a long chain by grasping
one another^s tails successively. This chain being allowed to hang
freely at the lower end, whilst it is suspended from the top, is
put in motion, and successively swung backwards and forwards till it
acquires an impetus sufficient to carry it over to the opposite bank.
^Vhen this is accomplished, the animal at the lower end catches the
first branch w<hich comes within his reach, and moimts to the highest,
where as soon as he is firmly attached, the other end of the chain is
permitted to swing, and thus the whole troop are passed over. The
AteleSf as well indeed as all the other American Quadrumanes, are
esteemed as an artide of food by the native Indians ; and even Euro-
peans, whom curiosity or necessity has induced to taste it, report their
flesh to be white, juicy, and agreeable. The only thing disgusting
about it is a strong resemblance which the whole body, and particularly
the head and hands, bear to those of a yoimg infant. Nor is it without
being strongly disposed to question the nature of the act^ that Euro-
pean sportsmen, unaccustomed to shooting monkeys, witness for the
first time the dying struggles of these animals. Without uttering a
complaint^ they silently watch the blood as it flows from the wound,
from time to time turning their eyes upon the sportsman with an
expression of reproach which cannot be misinterpreted : some travellers
even go so far as to assert that the companions of the wounded individual
^fnJl not only assist him to climb beyond the reach of further danger,
but will even chew leaves and apply them to the woimd for the pur-
pose of stopping the hemorrhage. The following spedes of A teles have
been distinguished and characterised by naturdists and travellers : —
I. A. pantBCus (QeoS.), the Quata, or as the French write it Coaita,
is a huge spedes, covered with long coarse hair of a glossy black
colour; the beUy is protuberant, the head small and round, the
limbs long and dender, the fore hands entirely deprived of thumbs,
the taU robust and powerful, the eyes and cheeks deeply sunk, and
the face copper-colour. On the back and outddes of the limbs the
hair is very long and thick, but the belly and groins are nearly naked,
and the mammsB of the femdes are placed in the armpits. The hair
The Quata {Aleles pantsctu).
of the head is directed forwards, and the ears, concealed beneath it,
differ from those of the human species only in having no inferior lobe.
This species is very common in the woods of Surinam and Brazil. It
is active and intelligent, and unites considerable prudence and pene-
tration to great gentleness of disposition. They go in large companies,
and when they meet with a man or any animal which is strange to
them, come down to the lower branches of the trees to examine them,
and having satisfied their curiosity, begin to pelt them with sticks, and
endeavour to frighten them away. They cannot leap, but exhibit the
most surprising agility in swinging from tree to tree. Acosta, in his
' History of the West Indies,' relates the following anecdote of a
Quata which belonged to the Governor of Carthagena : — '' They sent
him," says he, " to the tavern for wine, putting the pot in one hand
and the money in the other ; they could not posdbly get the money
out of his hand before his pot was full of wine. If any children met
him in the street and threw stones at him, he would set his pot down
and cast stones against the children, till he had assured his way, then
would he return to carry home his pot. And what is more, although
he was a good bibber of wine, yet he would never touch it till leave
was given him-'*
2. A. marginaim (Geoff), theChuva, closely resembles the Quata in
phvdognomy, dze, and proportions. The quality and colour of the
hair are also the same in both, except that the face of the,Chuva is
surrounded with a rim of white, which on the forehead pturticularly
is broad, and directed upwards, so as to encounter the ndr of the
ocdput and form a low crest on the top of the head. The hair of the
fore-arm is directed partially towards the elbow ; like that of the body
it is long and coarse, and though perfectly black, has not the glossy
appearance of the Quata's covering. The face is nearly nake<{ and
tan-coloured ; the palms of the hands, soles of the fee^ and callous
part of the tail are violet-black, and the whole skin beneath the hair
appears to be of the same hue. The dispodtion and manners differ in
no respect from those of the Quata.
3. A, ater (F. Cuvier), the Cayou, is considered by Messrs. Gkoffroy and
Desmarest as a variety of the Quata ; but F. Cuvier, from observa-
tions which he made upon the living animd, has recognised and
described it as a distinct spedes. It must however be confessed that
it approaches so nearly to the Quata as to render further observations
necessary to determine the question of their specific difference. The
size, form, and colour are the same in both, and the only marked
distinction reported by M. Cuvier consists in the colour of the face,
which is black in the Cayou and copper-coloured in the Quata. " The
hair," says M. Cuvier, " is long, and of a harsh silky quality. It is
rather shorter on the head and tail than on the rest of the body,
where it falls backwards in the ordinary way, but on the head it is
directed forwards, and falls over the face."
4. A, BelzebvJb ((^eoff.), the Marimonda, has the top of the head,
the back, ddes, and externd surface of tho extremities black, and all
the imder parts, the cheeks, throat, breast^ belly, inside of the limbs,
and under surface of the tail for its first hdf, white, with a slight
shade of yellow. The naked parts are violet-black, except immediately
about the eyes, which are surrounded hy a flesh-coloured drcle.
This species, according to Humboldt, replaces the conunon Quata in
Spanish Guyana, where it is extremely common, and is eaten by the
Digitized by
Google
335
ATELES.
ATELES.
5K
Indiana. " It is," Bays this celebrated traveller, '' an animal very alow
in its movements, and of a gentle, melancholy, and timid character ;
if it occasionally bites, it does so only in its fits of terror. The Mari-
mondas unite in great companies and form the most grotesque groups
Old World. Except in the total want of the thumb on the anterior
extremitiea, the A, ^roc^nok^ec approaches very neazly to the foUqwiog
species, and appears indeed to be intermediate between it and tb
common Quata.
7. A, hypoxanlkut (Kuhl), the Mono, or Miriki, inhabits the {(mti
in the interior of Braail, and, as has just been observed, approscbes
The Manmonda {Ateies lielzcbttb).
All their attitudes announce the extremity of sloth. I have frequently
seen them, when exposed to the heat of a tropical sun, throw their
heads backwards, turn their eyes upwards, bend their arms over their
backs, and remain motionless in this extraordinary position for many
hours together." The young of this species appear to have the upper
parts of the body mixed slightly with gray, but this mixture gradually
disappears as it grows towards maturity, till the adult animal presents
the uniform black above and white below, as already described.
5. A, mdanocheir^ Geoff., with the native Indian name of which
we are unacquainted, is also a distinct species. The head, members,
and tail are black or dark brown on the superior surface ; the internal
face of the arms and fore-arms as far as the wrists, and of the thighs
and legs, the under surface of the tail, the throat, breast, belly, and
sides of the hips, are white or silvery gray; the shoulders are
yellowish gray, and the remainder of the upper parts of the body, as
well as the whiskers, are pure gray ; the four hands and the naked
part of the tail are black, as are also the face, the cheeks, and the under
half of the nose ; but round the mouth and eyes the fvsx is flesh-
coloured. The hair is imiformly of a silky quality : that on the black
and white parts is of the same colour throughout^ but on the gray
parte it is annulated with alternate rings of black and white. This
species, as well as all those hitherto described, is entirely deprived
of the fore thumb, and does not even exhibit a rudiment of that
organ. Only a single individual has been observed alive ; its manners
are the same as those of the Atdea in general, but its habitat has not
been definitely determined.
6. A. ArachnoldeSy or the Brown Quata, as it is called by Baron
Cuvier, partakes in fact very much of the characters and appearance
of the common Quata, £rom which it is principally distinguished by
its uniform reddish-brown colour. This species when full grown
measures rather more than 2 feet in length ; the tail is about 2 inches
longer than the body ; the fore legs are 1 foot 9 inches long, the hind
legs 1 foot 8 inches, and the hands 6 inches. The hair is shorty fine,
and soft, and that of the forehead is directed backwards, contraiy to
what is usually observed in the other Ateles ; the back and upper
parts of the body are, generally speaking, well covered with hair, but
the breast, belly, and groins are nearly naked, or at least sparingly
covered with scattered hairs, of a longer and coarser quality than
those on other parts ; the root of the tail is rather thick and bushy,
but it is graduidly attenuated towards the point, and for the last ten
inches naked underneath. The general colour is uniform chestnut-
brown, the first of these colours becoming clearer and more intense
upon tfto head, and more especially round the eyes ; the forehwwi is
bordered by a circle of stiff coarse black hairs, beneath which a
semicircle of light silvery gray passes over the eyes in the form of
brows, and becomes gradu^y more and more obscure, till it is finally
l'>8t in the uniform reddish-brown of the temples. The face is naked
and flesh-coloured, the under parts of the body of a silvery gray
slightly tinged with yellow, with the exception of the abdomen, which,
as weU as tiie inner surface of the thighs, and the naked stripe
underneath the tail, are of a bright red colour. The manners and
habits of this species are unknown in its native forests. Those which
have been observed in a state of confinement exhibited all the
gentleness and listless apathy of character which distinguish the A teles
from the common monkeys of South America, as eminently as they
do the Qibl^ns of the Indian isles from the other Quadrumanes of the
The Mono {Aielea hj/poxanthtu).
very nearly to the A. Arachnoidal as well in the colour of its far as
in the general form and proportions of its body and members;
but it is readily distinguished from that species as well as from all the
other AteUa hitherto described, by the presence of a small rudimentair
thumb on the fore hands. The face also is more imiformly cortred
with hair than in the generality of the other species, being naked odI;
about the region of the eyes ; the hairs which compose the eyebrows
are long, black, and directed upwards : the cheeks, lips, nose, and a
narrow line descending; from the forehead, are covered with abort bairs
of a pale yellowish-white colour ; the chin also is furnished ^itb abort
hair of the same colour and quality, but intermixed with thinly
scattered long black hairs, forming a species of beard, and extending
over the upper lip in the form of thin moustaches. The ears are
small and nearly concealed by the hair of the head, which though n<3t
veiy long is thickly furnished, and of a pale gray colour eligbtlj
tinged with yellow. The whole body and members are of a uniform
grayish-fuwn colour, only differing in the greater degree of intensity
which distinguishes the back and upper parts from those beneath, and
in the lighter gray tinge which predominates on the extremities. The
backs of the fingers are hairy down to the very nails, and there ii a
rudiment of .a thumb on the fore hands, covered with a short
compressed nail.
The Mono was discovered by Prince Maximilian of Neuwied, during
his travels in Brazil. It is the lai^gest species of the Quadrumanea
which inhabit the part of the country through which that acientific
traveller passed, and though sufiiciently common in particular distnct^
appears to have upon the whole but a very limited geographical range
Its hide is said to be more impervious to moisture than any oth^
description of fur known in that part of the world, and for thin
reason the Brazilian sportsmen have cases of the skin of the Mono
made to protect the locks of their g^uns from the rain.
8. A, subpentacUtctylut (Geoffrey), the Chameck, the last apeciea of
the genus distinctly known at present, resembles the Mono in baring
a small rudimentaiy thumb on the anterior extremities, but it is
without a nail, and in other respects the two ^nimnla are sufficiently
distinguished bv their difference of colour and habitat The Cbameck
indeed approaches more nearly in external form and appearance to the
Quata than to any other of its congeners, being furnished with a
similar coat of long dense hair, of an intense and imifonn blade
colour ; but it may be readily distinguished from that species by the
presence of the rudimentary thumb on the anterior memhera, as weU
as by its size, which considerably exceeds that of the Quata. It has a
protuberant muzzle, and its lips, like those of the Quata, are capable
of prolongation; the forehead is high; the faoe^ cheeks, eaifl> and chin,
Digitized by
Google
8S7
ATHANAS.
ATROPA.
are naked and of a brown colour, with a few long black bain thinly
scattered over them ; the hair of the head is long; matted, and
directed forwards over the forehead, that of the body and members
very long and thick ; the fingers, bol^ upon the anterior and posterior
extremities, are long, slender, and nearly naked ; the tail is considerably
longer than the body, very thick and covered at the base with close
shaggy hair, but attenuated towards the point, where it is more
sparingly furnished with shorter hair, and entirely naked underneath.
This species inhabits Guyana and some of the neighbouring provinces
of Brazil Von Sack, in his * Voyage to Surinam,' gives the following
account of its manners imder the name of Quata, with which species
its general appearance probably causes it to be frequently confounded.
** The Quata," says this author, " is of a very docile disposition, and
capable of being quite domesticated. I have seen a pair of them at a
ffentleman's house at Paramaribo which were left quite at liberty.
When the female negroes were employed at their needlework, they
used to come and sit amongst them, and play with a piece of paper,
and afterwards go out to gambol upon the trees, but never went over
to the neighbouring gardens ; and they knew well the usual hour of
dinner at their mastei^s, when they would come to the gallery, look
in at the windows, though without attempting to enter into the room,
being aware that this was a liberty not allowed them ; they therefore
patiently waited for their dinner on the outside."
ATHANAS (Leach), a genus of the Long-Tailed Onutaeea, bearing
much resemblance to Lytmata (Risso), from which it di£fers in havixijg
the first pair of feet of larger size than the rest, while the second pair
of Lytmaia are the largest. It is small in size, and has been taken on
the south coast of England and on the shores of France.
ATLANTA, a genus of the ffeteropodous MoUmca of Lamarek,
which Cuvier places next to Oarin<xria. The animal is very small,
and the shell very delicate.
Lamanon thought that he
had discovered in one of
these e^ells the original t>f
the fossil Ammonites, or
Comua Amwumit, which
however must have be-
longed to the class of
Cephalopodous Mollusks,
or cuttle-Uke animals.
Atlanta inhabits the Indian
seas. [Gasteropoda.]
Lesueurdescribes another ^
marine genus, Atlas, which ^
must not be confounded
with the above. Atlas has
no shell ; and Cuvier con- Atlanta PeronU. a, natural 8ir.o.
fesses his inability to class it^ '' so confused," says he, '' is the descrip-
tion." De Blainville thinks that it belongs to the same family as
Gasteroptera, and places it accordingly under Akera, though he con-
fesses that it is not entirely known.
ATLAS, the first vertebra of the neck, so named because it sustains
the globe of the head. It differs in several important cireumstances
from all the other vertebns that enter into the composition of the
spinal oolimm, because it has distinct and peculiar offices to perform.
It has to support the head, and to allow it the power of exercising two
different kinds of motion, namely, a motion forwards and backwards,
or that of flexion and extension ; and a rotatory motion, or the power
of describing a certain portion of a circle, as it does when it turns from
side to side. These motions are accomplished by the peculiar mode
in which the head is connected to the atlas, and the atlas to the
second vertebra of the neck, the Verttbra dmtaJta^ or Axis. The head
is so united with the atlas as to form a perfect hinge-joint^ that is, a
joint which admits of flexion and extension, or a motion forwards and
backwards. The second vertebra, the dentata, forming a pivot on
which the atlas turns, and therefore called axis, is united with the
atlas in such a maimer as to constitute a perfect rotation-joint^ or a
joint which admits of a rotatory motion. The head being firmly con-
nected with the atlas and carried round with it whenever the latter
tarns upon its axis, it is plain that by the combination of the two
joints, namely, the hinge-joint and the rotation-joint, the head can be
moved in every direction — forwards, backwards, and frt>m side to side.
In the construction of these joints such is the perfection of the
mechanism that these combined motions are attained to the utmost
extent, and are performed with the greatest ease. The connection of
the different parts with each other forms a union 'of amazing
strength and security, and at the same time certain organs of extreme
delicacy and of vital importance are effectually guarded from ii^ury.
[Spifnal Column, under Skeliton.]
A'TRIPLEX, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
ChenopodiaeecB and the tribe Atriplicecs, It has monoecious rarely
perfect flowers, the perigone of two more or less connected parts, two
stigmas, a fr-ee membranous pericarp, a crustaceous testa ; tiie seed is
vertical, attached by a lateral hilum, either near the base or by means
of an elongated funiculus in the middle of the side ; the radicle basal ;
the stamens five, continuous. Most of the species of this genus are
insignificant weeds, and are sometimes troublesome pests m corn-fields.
Bnbingt'jn, in his ' Manual of British Botany,' enumerates ten species
JTAT. HI8T. DIV. VOL. L
as inhabitants of Great Britain. The most common forms of the genus
on cultivated lands are A. angustifolia, A. erecta, and A. patukt. Mr.
Babington has described a new species, which is also found not
unconmionly in the United Kingdom. This is A . ddtoidea (Babington) :
it has an erect stem with ascending branches; opposite leaves, all
hastate-triangular, with two descending lobes unequally dentate or
sinuate-dentate ; the perigone of the fruit ovate-triangular, dentate,
tunicated on the back, rather longer than the fruit, collected into a
many-flowered, branched, dense panicle; seeds smooth, shining.
A. roseoy A, ktciniata, A. UttoraUs, are frequent plants on the sea-shore.
A.prastrata is a coast plant, but is rare in Great Britain, and Babington
suspects that it may be a maritime form of A. patula,
A'TROPA, a genus of Dicotyledonous Plants belonging to the
natural order SolanacecB, and consi sting for the most part of poisonous
species. It is distinguished from otiber genera of the same natural
order by its regular bell-shaped corolla, its 5-parted permanent
calyx, which never acquires a bladdery appearance, and by its succu-
lent fruit.
Atropa BeUadonna, Deadly Nightshade, or Dwale, is found not
unfrequenUy in thickets and hedges in this country. The whole
Deadly Nightshade {Atropa Belladonna).
1, A corolla cat open, showing the position of the stamens ; 2, the calyx,
with the pistil ; 3, a berry eat in half 'to show iU two cells, in each of which
are several seeds.
plant is of a lightish green colour, except the flowers, which are large
and of a dingy brownish purple, and tiie berries, which are of the
rich deep bl^^ of black cherries. The root is perermial, the stem
grows about 2 feet high, and the leaves are acute, with an oblong
figure, tapering to each end. The flowers are bell-shaped, laiger than
those of the harebell, and placed singly in the bosom of the leaves.
The border of the corolla is cut into 5 equal lobes ; there are 5 stamens,
a tapering pistil with 2 cells, and many seeds in the ovary, a long
slender style, and a flattened stigma slightiy divided into two lobes.
The odour of the whole plant is nauseous and oppressive, as if to warn
us of its venomous nature. It is in the leaves, root, and berries that
the poison resides, and particularly in the berries, which from their
resemblance to cherries have often been eaten by children with fatal
consequences. The active property of Belladorma, though, most com-
monly remarked in the friiit^ exists also in the leaves, and especially
in tiie roots, both of which have the same acrid narcotic property.
They have nevertheless been frequentiy employed medidsiall^, and
extract of Belladonna u one of the most energetic preparations m the
modem Materia Medica.
Atropa Mamdragora, or Mandrake, is another species still more
venomous and dangerous than the last. It is found in manv parts of
the south of Europe, particularly in the Grecian i^ands, where it is
common. Its root is a lai^ dark-coloured fleshy mass, often divided
into two or three forks, which have be«n fancied to resemble a human
body ; this circimistance, and its well-known poisonous qualities^ gave
I
Digitized by
Google
839
ATRYPA.
ATYA.
sio
it in the days of popular ignorance and credulity the reputation of
oeing endowed with animal feelings ; the roota were said to ehriek
when torn from the earth, and it was accounted dangerous to disturb
them.
Mandrake {Atropa Mandragora),
This remarkablo plant has no apparent stem, but its long hairy
sharp-x>ointed leaves lise from the surface of the ground, and form a
deep green tuft, from the midst of which the flowers rise on slender
stalks about two inches long. Their corolla is of a whitish colour,
stained with veins of dingy purple ; the fruit is pale orange-coloured,
and about as large as a sparrow's egg. The smell of the whole
plant is very fetid.
Atropa phytaloideSf a plant called Alkekengi in gardens, where it
is often cultivated as a hardy annual, belongs now to the genus
Nicandra.
ATRYPA (Dalman), a subdivision of the great genus Terehratvloj
chiefly (if not entirely) confined to a fossil state, and to the Palaeozoic
Strata. Many of the Spiriferas of Sowerby (as S. glabra^ S. fimbriaia)
and some of the TercbrcUiUce of the same author (as T. pugnut), have
been referred to this genus. T. psUtacea is the recent analogue.
ATT ALE' A, a genus of Palms, found chiefly in the tropical parts
of America, where it occupies the richest soil and the hottest forests,
rarely ascending the sides of mountains, or spreading from the woods
into the open coimtry. It extends, according to Yon Mortius, as far
south as the tropic of Capricorn. It belongs to the same division of
the natural order PcUmaceoe as the cocoa-nut» from which as well m
from all its immediate allies, except Areng [Arenq], it is distinguished
by its nut containing three cells and three seeds. It is described by
Von Martius as consLsting of lofty or middle-sized or even occasionally
stcmless species, with a thickish trunk, the wood of which is soft and
of a reddish-brown colour ; it is irregularly marked externally with
scars, and is terminated by laige pinnated leaves, the stalks of which
are broad, and the segments smoothish, rather thick, plaited, and
neat-looking. The bunches of fruit are simply branched, but are
often of a vast size, and hang down from the bosoms of the
leaves, covered with brownish nuts, the seeds of which are eatable.
Several species are known, of which the most remarkable are the two
following : —
AttaUa funifera, called by the natives Piacaba, is found in the
native for^its of the maritime provinces of Brazil, where it is one of the
most valuable gifts which the bountiful hand of nature has conferred
on man. The best cordage in South America for naval purposes is
manufactured from the fibres of the leaf-stalks and other parts; such
ropes are of great strength, and are extremely durable in salt water :
no other cables are employed in a great part of the Brazilian navy.
Hus species does not grow more t^m from 20 to 80 feet high ; its
nuts, which are about as large as an ostrich's egg, have a hard shell
like that of the cocoa-nut.
AttaUa compta, another species, is equally useful, but for different
purposes. This plant, the Pindova of the old writers on Brazil, and
the Jndajk of the modem Portuguese, forms delightful groves in the
interior of the country, growing from 20 to 50 feet clear of its branch-
like leaves ; the latter are from 15 to 20 feet long, and about 8 feet wide.
The fruit is the sixe of a goose's egg, and contains an eatable kernel,
of which the negroea are fond. Its leaTea form an exoeUent thatdi,
and are woven into hata mats, and baskets.
Attalea compta.
AttaUa tpeciota is the plant which, in the provinces of Maranlu3
and Para, furnishes the nuts which the Brazilians bum for the purpoee
of smoking- the juice of Siphonia eUutica, or Indian Rubber, until it
becomes bUck.
A'TYA, a genus of Crustaceous Animals, thus characterised by
Leach : —
Antennso, interior, furnished with two bristles, inserted in the same
horizontal line ; exterior, inserted below the interior, about the length
of the body, furnished at the base with a great scale which is
unidentate, or one-toothed, externally.
Pedipalpi external, the last joint shbrtest ; flagrum elongated.
Feet : the two anterior pairs equal, penultimate joint shortest ; last
joint divided ; lacinia) equal, furnished at the apex with long cilia ;
third pair huge, unequal, furnished with a very short nau; two
posterior pairs furnished with a moderate-sized naiL
Tail, with the exterior lamella bipartite.
Atya
"It forms," says Leadi, ''a peculiar subdivisioa of the Shrimp
Family, and one species only is known."
Digitized by
Google
Ml
ATYLUS.
AUGITE.
84J
A'TYLUS^ ft genuB of Crustaoeoiu Anlmak, tbiu chaFacterised by
Leach: —
Antennsd oompoeed of four joints, the last of which is formed of
Beveral minute artioulationB : upper ones rather shortest, with the
second joint longer than the
third ; under ones with the
aeoond joint rather shorter
than the third.
Eyes alightly promxnenty
inserted on a process be-
tween the tipper and lower
antwuiw.
L^gp fourteen; first and
second pair furnished with , ,
a smaU oompressed hand, ^'y'"* carmaiM*.
which has a moveable thumb; the other pairs having only a simple
claw.
Tail, on each side, with a triple series of double styles ; upper part
on each side anned with a small spine or style.
Body (including the head) composed of twelve joints. Example —
Atylua carineUUB {Qammanu earinattu, Fabr.).
AUCHE'NIA, a genus of Ruminating Mammalia. [Llama.]
AU'CUBA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Comacece, Only one species is known. It is a Japanese plant, com-
monly cultivated in the gardens of this country as a hardy evergreen
shrub, remarkable for its shining pale-green leaves motUed with
yellow, hence sometimes called Variegated La^reL It is described by
Thunbeig as growing to the height of a man or higher, and as com-
mon in various places in Japan, both wild and eultivated. Its fruit,
which it bears in March, is a red berry, about the size of that of a
laurel, and containing a single stone^ with a bitter nauseous kemeL
This plant is dicecious, and in this country we have only the pistilli-
ferous flowers. The plant, however, which is cultivated in this country
is only a variety : in its natural state it is said to have brownish-green
leaves without any blotdies.
AUQITK The minerals to which this name has been applied
present us with some of the most interesting and at the same time
most difficult investigations that can &11 under the notice of the mine-
ralogist and diemist^ and have frequently occupied the attention of
the most eminent men in both sdenoes. Nor are these bodies
unworthy of such attention ; for not only would a thorough knowledge
of their constitution, and the relation which they bear to other mine-
rals, particularly to the genus HorwUende, tend muchtothep^ection
of the mineralogical inrstem ; but, owing to their frequent occurrence
in nature, and from their forming one of the principal ingredients in
many porphyritic and trap rocks, such as the Syenite, DiaUage, and
Schorl-Ro«ks, Qreenstone, &c, they form a class of bodies of the
highest importance to the geologist. A due regard to the circum-
stances which are favouraU^ to the formation of one or other of the
species, to the ezdusion of the rest, would be likely to afford a safe
guide in many geological inquiries into the character and formation
of rocks of igneous origin. Werner was the first to divide a large
class of minerals bccurriDg commonly in basalt, lavas, and other
volcanic rocks, into two species, to which he applied the names of
Augite and HtlnUiUfnde. This division was founded on the difference
existing between the crystallised forms and structure, which, according
to the experience up to that time, were never associated with each
AugUe, m Pyroxene,
ng.i.
JlombUndtf or Amphihele,
Fig. 2.
Inclination of M on M is
87'» C
ladlaaUon of M on M is 124'' 31'
Monr
188» 33'
Mono:
117*44'
Mont
186' 27'
P onM
lOa"* 18'
tone
120° 57'
M
9
Pen —
104' 57'
- on r
106=* 6'
M
s
r on r
r H
148'' 25'
-on —
104* 57'
r M
9 H
Bj -, — , is mesat the edge formed hy the intersection of the faces « and «,
9 U M and M, fto.
other. The same division was shortly after adopted by Haiiy, who
applied to them the names of Pyroxene and Am^ibole, and gave the
measurements, determining the oblique rhombic prisms, with thei?
most general modifications characteristic of either species, which
however we have modified by the later measurements of Rose,
Mitscherlich, and Eupffer.
Professor Mohs, however, together with Professor Jameson of
Edinburgh, has used the term Augite to denote the eighth genus of
their respective systems, which consists of the four species designated
as follows : —
First species. The ObUque-Edged Augite, corresponding with the
Augite of Werner, and Pyroxene of Haiiy.
Second species. The Straight-Edged Augite, corresponding to.
Hornblende and Amphibde,
Third species. Pritmatoidal Augite, containing as sub-species the
minerals Sj^idote or Zoiaite.
Fourth species. Prismatic Augite; Tabular Spar or Wottaatonite.
Berzelius, on the contrary, viewing the subject in a chemical point
of view, has been induced to use the term Augite or Pyroxene, Horn*
blende or Amphibole, in the same signification as employed by Werner
and HaUy. According to him, the Augites are composed of one equi-
valent of the bisilicate of lime unit^ with one equivalent of the
biailicate of magnesia.
There are several varieties of this genus formed by the removal of
the magnesia or lime, which are replaced either by one or both of the
isomorphous substances — the protoxide of iron, and protoxide of
manganese. Of these the following are the principal : —
1. JHopeide, which may be considered as the type of the Augite
Genus, is readily recognised by the form of its crystal given in fig. 1,
and by the direction of its four cleavage planes, the most perfect
corresponding with the faces M, those in ike direction of r and I being
lees easily obtained ; and by its pale-green or grayish-white colour,
and vitreous lustre. Its hardness is 6'6, and its specific gravity is
8*299. Alone before the blowpipe it melts into a colourless semi-
transparent glass ; with borax, very readily into a transparent glasa
It consists chiefly of silica, lime, and magnesia, as will be seen by the
following analysis of a variety from Tammare by Bonsdorff : —
Silica .
. 54-83
Protoxide of Iron
. 0-99
Lime
. . 24-76
Aliin^JTia- . . •
. 0-28
Magnesia
. 18-55
Loss by heating .
. • 0-32
99-73
Several varieties, little differing from the above, ure called Bachalite
and FoMoMe, names indicative of their locality.
2. Hedenbergite consists chiefly of silica, lime, and protoxide of iron,
as may be seen by the following analysis by G. Rose of a variety from
Lunabeig : —
Silica 49-01
Lime 20*87
Protoxide of Iron ' 26*08
Protoxide of Manganese with Magnesia . . . 2'98
98*94
It is of a dark-green colour, sometimes nearly black.
S. Sahlite, those varieties in which the magnesia is only in part
replaced by protoxide of iron, and which may be regarded as consist-
ing of one equivalent of Hedenbergite united with two of JHopeide.
A variety is called MalakotUk. ('Anwendung der Lothrohrs,' by
Berseliua)
4. DiaUage. The difference in the analysis by Eohler of two speci-
mens, the first from Tuscany, the second from Ulthenthal in the
Tyrol, were as follows : —
Snica 58*20 56*81
Lune 1908 219
Magnesia 14*91 29*67
Protoxide of Iron . . . . 8*67 8*46
Protoxide of Manganese . 0.88 0*61
Alumina 2*47 2*07
Water 1-77 0-21
100*48 100*02
This variety is characterised by its mothei^of-pearl lustre, and by
its possessing the most perfect cleavage in the direction of the diagonal
of the prism. It is seldom foimd in ^rfect cryatals. Its most general
colour is a bronze yellow.
5. Sypereihene, which is very similar in its general appearances and
characters to DiaUage, is a biailicate of iron and magnesia. Both of
the last-mentioned varieties may be distinguished from the former, as
well as fix>m each other, by means of the blowpipe, and by attending
to the following characters as stated by Berzelius : —
DiaUage alone in a matrass decrepitates, becomes of a lighter colour,
and gives off a little water.
On charcoal it is with difficulty melted on the edges into a gray
scoria.
With borax it is with difficulty fused into a clear glass, somewhat
coloured by the protoxide of iron.
It is decomposed by the phosphate of soda and ammonia, with the
development of the siUca.
Myperethene, on the contrary, when heatod alone in the matrass,
deorepitatee slightly, gives out a little water, but does not change it0
Digitized by
Google
AUOITE.
AUK.
SM
i^paaFance ; while on charcoal it readily fomiB a green opaque glaaa,
as is also the case when heated with borax.
The salt of phosphorua does not apparently decompoae it, but the
mineral at first ^becomes rounded on the edges, and may at length be
entirely ftued.
The structure also deaerres particular attention, the deayage-planes
Sn Mypertihaie being perfect, both in the direction of the fitoes r
and M, the latter of which are obtained in Diallage with veiy great
difficulty.
We have now described the Tarious spedes generally considered as
comprehended within the genus Augite or Pyroxene ; but Professor
Gustaye Rose has endeavoured to prove the necessity of uniting Augite
and MomUende {Pyroxene and Amphibole) into one genus. His argu-
ments for* this union are the following :— He first shows that the two
prisms of AugUe and JSomJblendef however different in appearance,
admit of being derived the one from the other, according to the laws
observed to connect the ciTBtallographic forms of varieties of the same
genus in other
minerals. To show
this, let the accom-
panying parallelo-
gram, whose semi-
diagonals are a and
hf represent the
horizontal section
of the prism of
Augite; since the
whole angle of this
prismatAis87''6',
h is the tangent of
an angle of 43' 83' ;
if this tangent be doubled, the corresponding angle will be found to
be 62* 16' 26", the double giving 124* 80' 50 ', an angle agreeing most
doeely with 124* SI', the angle obtained by Hitscherlich in a spedes
of Hornblende when measured by WoUaston's reflecting goniometer.
The larger parallelogram, therefore, formed by doubling the diagonal 6,
is the horiaontal section of the prism of Hornblende,
A similar rdation is also a^roximately true for the inclination of
the faces e in Augite and r in Hornblende; for if the angle 120** 67' of
by Rose.
His argument drawn from the chemical constitution of these
minerals is by no means so satis&ctory; for though in HorMende we
find a series of bisilicates of the same bases, and as it were running
parallel with those already described as Augitee, the circumstance
observed by Bonsdor£^ that all the varieties of Hornblende contain
fluorine, while Oustave Rose has been unable to detect that dement
in Augite, weakens the connection between these minerals, and renders
the detennination of what part the fluorine acts in their constitution
a most desirable object. Our ignorance on this point, however, and
the difficulty of determining what is the action of the alumina, which
occurs in oondderable quantity in some HornblendeBf prevent us from
forming any opinion from the results of chemical analysis.
The observations of Rose, however, on the Qreenstone of the
Uralian Mountains, tend to prove the existence of that connection
between the forms of Augite end Hornblende which is essential to
their constituting one genus, in a more satisfactory manner than any
remark hitherto made. He discovered in a soft grayish Qreenstone,
near the village of Mostowaja, which is dtuated north of Katharinen-
Durg, and on the road to Newiansk, and also at the gold-washings of
CavdUnski, near Miask, in a Gtreenstone somewhat hiuder and duker
than the former, imbedded crsrstals, having the form of Augite, but
not its cleavage planes, these last being found to coincide with those
of Hornblende. This mineral was therefore either Hornblende in the
form of Augite, or Augite with the cleavage planes of Hornblende,
At the \111age of Muldakajewsk, near l£ask, he discovered still
more interesting crystals embedded in a Qreenstone similar to that
last described. They were abundant, and possessed the form of A ugite :
the smaller crystals had cleavage-planes paralld to the mdes of the
prism of HonMende, and were similar in tiieir appearance and colour
to those obtained from CavellinskL The larger crystals, however,
possessed a kernel of a grass-green colour, and of a lighter tint and
greater lustre than the exterior. This kernel differed from the darker
exterior portion of the crystal, the latter giving the deavage of
Hornblende, while the former presented those of Augite, with faces
suffidently bright and perfect to admit of measurement by the reflect-
ing goniometer.
The observations of Mitscherlich and Berthier on the formation of
Augite as an artifidal product, are so interesting in themselves and
throw so much light on the nature of Augite in general, and on those
aystals we have just described, for which Rose proposes the name of
UralUe, that«we cannot omit to notice them in this places Mitscher-
lidi has observed that at many foundries in Sweden and Qermany the
Bcorias possessed the form, structure, and chemical composition of certain
minerals found in nature. From this source he has obtained upwards
of forty varieties; and among these specimens possessing the form
and structure of Augite are fluently found, whereas HonMendt has
never been discovered. Quided by tnese observations, a mixtoie of
silica, lime, and magnesia, in the proportion indicated by the fonnula
of Dioptidei given bdow, was submitted to fusion in the porcebin-oTeDg
of Sevres, near Paris. On examination, the mass was found to have
been completely fbsed: it possessed deavage-planes coirespondiDg
with those of Augite, and- a hollow formed in the centre from the con-
traction in cooling contained crystals of the form of Jig, 1. By these
prooesses they failed in obtaining aystals either of the form or stnio-
ture of Homilende,
Professor Q. Rose, in accounting for this production of i«^ to
the exclusion of Hornblende, was led to consider that it was not the
absence of the fluorine, or any error in the pxx>portion of the elements,
which prevented the production of Hornblende, but that it was the
effect of the rapid cobling. This he fully confirmed by the following
experiments : — ^A li^t-groen varietv of Hornblende, the StraJdttem of
the Qermans, from Zillerthal in tne Tyrol, was submitted in a plati-
num crudble to the heat of a porcdain oven. It was completelj
fused, and in cooling had formed fibrous tufts of dark crystals, which
however admitted of measurement by WoUaston's goniomet^, when
the angles were found to correspond with those of ^«^^ A specimen
of Diopeide, of the same locality, was also fused ; it cooled into a dark
mass, but regained its former structure.
We may therefore consider it to be demonstrated that ii^ is
formed whenever the process of cooling, and consequently of cryatsl-
lisation, is n^iid; and Hornblende, whai it is conducted more slowly.
Many circumstances confirm this view: the £^rafiy(«s of Rose appear
to be its natural consequence ; for aa by the laws of calorie we know
that the quantity of heat lost during equal portions of time varies
with the temperature, the exterior portions of the crystd from this
cause alone must have ciystallised under a more gradual loss of heat
than the interior, while at the same time the temperature wodd he
maintained by the specific heat given out by the parts first consolidated.
The general localities of AugiU and HoniUnde, and the minerals with
which they are found associated, afford another argument in fiivonr
of this suppodtion ; for Hornblende is usually met with in Syenite,
Trachyte, and Lava, accompanied by Quarts, Fekpar, Albite, &&,—
minerals which deddedly require a dow process of cooling for their
formation ; on the contiaiy, Augite occurs in Basalt and Lava with
Olivine, which Hitsdierlich has re»pognised in the scorise of various
foundries, and which is therefore formed by a process of rapid cooling.
We are thus able to account for H. von Buch's remark in his obserra-
tions on volcanoes, that those Lavas which contain Fdspar have
Hornblende, but no Augite,
Induced by these circumstances Rose, in a tabular view of the
minerals which he has added to his ' Elements of Ciystallogr^^hy/
published at Berlin in 18S8, has united into one genus tiie foHowing
spedes.
1. Diopeide . . . . Ca ai» -H Mg *Si«.
%8Miie CaSi^.*.^lsi«.
8. Hedenbergite . . . Ca SP -4- Fe Si>.
4. BasdUic Augite . . Ca, Mg, Fe, Al, Si
5. Rot?ibraun8temerz , Mn Si'.
6. Acmite 8 Na Si> -h 2 Fek^
7. DiaOage . . . .MgSi» + ^}s?.
8. Bromite Mg Si'.
9. Hypertthene . . . Mg Si' -H Fe Si».
10. Uralite
11. Tremolite . . . . Ca Si» + 8 Mg Si«
12. AntophyUite. . . . Fe Si^ -i- 9 Mg Si'.
U. Slrahlstein. . . . Ca, Mg, Fe, i^ Si
14. Basaltic Hornblende Ca, Mg, Fe, Al, Si
AUK, the common name for certain sea-bu^ of the family Alcada,
including species of the sub-genera Alc€t, Fratercula, Mergulut, and
Phalerie,
Alca, [Alca.]
The true Auks, though they are strictly oceanic birda, scarcdy ever
leaving the water eoccept for the purposes of reproduction, will some-
times proceed swiftly though awkwardly on foot when pursued on
land. They breed in laige companies, in caverns and rocky dil^
layixig only one disproportionately large egg. Their food, which they
obtain by diving (an operation in which they are materially assiated
by their wings aa well aa by their feet), consists of smaU fiahea,
crustaceans, and other marine ft^nimftia ^e young are said to be fed
from the crops of their parents, not only before they are able to leave
the place of their birth, but also for some time afterwards.
The genus Alca, aa it is reduced by modem ornithologists, indudes
but two spedea The first of these, the Qreat Auk {Alca trnpennu,
Linnaeus), is remarkable for the imperfect devdopment of its winga
It seldom leaves the Arctic Cirde and the regions bordering on % vA
Digitized by
Google
345
AUR
AUK.
S4t
is a rape visitant to tbe British Islea Dr. Fleming however gives an
account of one taken alive at St. Kilda, where they are sometimes
known to breed, which, even with a long and heavy cord tied to its
Great Auk {A/ca impennia).
leg, swam under water with extraordinaiy speed. The power of
the apparently useless wings as organs of progression was still more
strongly shown in the Qreat Auk chased ineflfectually by Mr. Bullock
during his tour to the Northern Isles ; for the four oars of the bird
are said to have left the six-oared boat of his pursuers iar behind.
According to the same authority, only a single pair had been Imown
to breed in Papa Westra for several years. Newfoundland is recorded
aa one of their breeding places, and Pennant relates that the Esqui-
maux who frequented the island made clothing of their skins. In the
ocean that washes the Faroe Isles, Iceland, and Qreenland, where
they dwell in great numbers, they may be frequently seen on the
floating ice ; but Pennant says that they are observed never to wander
beyond soimdings, and that seamen (urect their measures according
to their appearance. *
The food of the Qreat Auk consists principally of fish ; and the
Lump-Fish (Cyclopterua Iwmpud) is said to be its favourite morsel.
The length of the bird is somewhat under three feet. The winter
plumage, which begins to appear in autumn, leaves the cheeks, throat,
fore part and sides of the neck white. In spring the summer-change
begins to take place, and confines the white on the head to a large
patch, which extends in front and around the eyes ; the rest of the
nead, the neck, and upper plumage is of a deep black. There is a
specimen of the bird in its summer dress in the British Museiun. The
Qreat Auk breeds in June and July, laying one egg, about the sise of
a swan's, of a whitish-yellow, marked with numerous lines and spots
of black, which have been supposed to bear some resemblance to
Chinese characters.
In the Black-Billed Auk, Bazor-Bill, or Murre (Alca iorda, Linnseus),
the development of the wings is carried to the usual extent necessary for
the purposes of flight, though the bird uses them with great effect as
oars when swimming under water.
The northern hemisphere, where they are widely diffused, is the
region allotted to these birds ; but it is in the higher latitudes that
they swann. In England, the Needles and other adjacent precipitous
cli£Bi have a fair share of them ; and here, as in other places, the
' dreadful trade ' of taking their eggs, which are esteemed a delicacy for
salads especially, is carried on. In Ray's ed. of Willughby the habits
of the Bazor-Bill are thus described : — " It lays, sits, and breeds up
its young on the ledges of the craggy diffs and steep rocks by the
seashores that are broken and divided into many as it were stairs or
shelves, together with the Coulter-Nebs and Guillemots. The Manksmen
are wont to compare these rocks, with the birds sitting upon them in
breeding-time, to an apothecary's shop— the ledges of the rooks
resembling the shelves, and the birds the pot& About the Isle of
Man are veiy high cliffs broken in this manner into many ledges one
above another from top to bottom. They are wont to let down men
by ropes from, the tops of the cliffii, to take away the eggs and young
ones. They take also the birds themselves when they are sitting upon
their eggs, with snares fastened to the ends of long poles, and put
about the necks of the birds. They build no nests, but lay Uieir eggs
upon the bare rocks."
On the coast of Labrador they abound, and the thousands of birds
there killed for the take of the breast-feathers which are very warm
and elastic, and the quantities of eggs there collected, amoimt to almost
incredible numbers.
The summer and winter dress of the Razor-BiU, though different.
r.tt/.u|--Bill (Aim luiftii).
do not vary so remarkably as the plumage of many other birds. In
the summer dress, the white streak whid^ goes to the bill from the
eyes becomes very pure ; and the cheeks, ^ux>at, and upper part of
the front of the neck are of a deep black, shaded with reddish. In
winter the throat and fore part of the neck are white.
The young of the year is by the best authorities supposed to be the
Alca Pica of Qmelin.
The Razor-Bill is little more than 15 inches long. The egg (for they
lay but one) is very lai:ge in proportion to the bird, being about the
size of that of a turkey, but of a longer shape, pointed towards the
smaUer end, white or sometimes yeUowish, blotched, and streaked
with dark brown, chiefly towards the lai^r end.
Fraiercula,
Leaving the true Auks we come to the genus Fraiercvla, Briss.
(MornMfi, lUiger), of which the Labrador Auk, Common Puffin, or
Common Fuffin {Fratereuia Aretiea).
Coulter-Neb (Fraiercula Arctica, Mormon fraiercula^ Temm., Alca
Arctica, Linn.), may be taken as an example.
Selby jgives the following account of the habits of this bird, and is
corroborated by others who have written on the subject : — " Although
the Puffin is found in very high latitudes, and its distribution through
the Arctic Circle is extensive, it is onl^ known to us as a summer
visitant, and that from the south, makmg its first appearance in the
vicinity of its breeding stations about the middle of April, and regu-
larly departing between the 10th and 20th of August for the southern
coasts of France, Spain, and other parts of Europe, where it passes
the remainder of the year. It breeds in great numbers upon Priest-
holm Island, off the coast of Anglesey, on the Isle of Man, and most
of the islands indeed of the English and Scottish coasts. Many resort
to the Faroe Islands, selecting such as are covered with a stratum of
vegetable mould ; and here they dig their own burrows, from there
not being any rabbits to dispossess upon the pcu-ticular iilets they
frequent. They commence this operation about the first week in May,
and t^e hole is generally excavated to the depth of three feet^ often
Digitized by
Google
847
AUK.
AURANTIACEA
M
in a ourying direction, and occasionally with two entrances. When
engaged in digging, which is principally performed by the males, they
are sometimes so intent upon their work as to admit of being taken
by hand, and the same may also be done during incubation. At this
period I have frequently obtained specimens by thrusting my arm into
the biuTow, though at the risk of reoeiving a severe bite from the
powerful and sharp-edged bill of the old bird. At the farther end of
this hole the single egg is deposited, which in size nearly equals that
of a pullet^ and, as Pennant observes, varies in form ; in some instances
one end being acute, and in others both equally obtuse. Its colour
when first laid is white, but it soon becomes soiled and dirty from its
immediate contact with the earth, no materials being collected for a
nest at the end of the burrow. The young are hatched after a month's
incubation, and are then covered with a long blackish down above,
which gnulually gives place to the feathered plumage ; so that at the
end of a month or five weeks they are able to quit the burrow, and
follow their parents to the open sea. Soon after this time, or about
the second week in August, the whole leave our coasts, oommcucing
their equatorial migration. At an early age the bill of this bird is
small and narrow, scarcely exceeding that of the young Razor-Bill at
the same period of life ; and not till after the second year does this
member acquire its full development, both as to depth, colour, and its
transverse furrows."
In rocky places (Dover cliffs for instance) they deposit their single
egg, as Montagu observes, in the holes and crevices. The length of
the bird is about 12 inches. The half of the bUl nearest the head is
bluish ; the rest red. The comers of the mouth are puckered into a
kind of star. The legs and feet are orange. The plumage is black
and white, with the exception of the cheeks and chin, which are
sometimes gray. The young pickled with spices are by some con-
sidered dainties ; they are also occasionally potted in the north.
Sprats are supposed to be the principal food of the PufiBn, but there
ia little doubt that other fishes and crustaceans are acceptable to the
bird.
Mergultu,
The Little Auk, Common Rotche, or Sea-Dove (Mergulus mdano-
leueos of Ray, Uria Alle of Temminok, and AUa AUe, Liniueus), is an
example of the genus Mergviut of our coimtryman Ray.
Little Aak (ITn-^tu meJanoleueog).
The Little Auk braves the inclemency of very high latitudes, and
oongregates in great flocks far within the Arctic Circle. The inhospit-
able coasts of Greenland and Spitsbergen are the dwelling-places of
these birds, and thousands have been seen at Melville Island. In
those dreary regions they are said to watch the motion of the ice, and
when it is broken up by storms down they come in legions, crowding
into every fissure to banquet on the crustaceans and other marine
animals which there lie at their mercy. It can hardly be called an
occasional visitant to this country, for those which have appeared here
have been evidently exhausted birds, buffeted by storms and dri\*en
hj contrary vrinds far from the spot congenial to their habits. The
Little Auk is between 9 and 10 inches in length ; the bill is black, and
the legs inclining to brown ; "the plumage is black and white, and in
winter the front of the neck, which is black in summer, becomes
whitish : the change takes place in the autumn.
The bird lays only one egg of a pale bluish-green, on the most
inaooessible ledges of the precipices which overhimg the ocean.
Phaleris.
The Perroquet Auk {PhalertM paittacvla, Temminck, Alca ptiUacvla,
Pallas), may be taken as an illustration.
Ramt.chatka and other northern regions shelter these birds in
abundance. They swim and dive adimrablv. Stories are told to
prove their unsuspicious character; and it is said that the natives
place a dress with liu:ge sleeree near their holes and burrows, into
which the artless birds, miHt4Jring the sleeres aforesaid for their own
retreats, creep and are taken.
About midsummer they lay one large egg nearly of the sise qf a
hen's, with brown or dusky spots on a whitish or yellowish ground.
The Perroquet Auk is about 11 inches in length. From behind the
Perroquet Auk [Phalerit pnttacida),
eye a tuft of white feathers, which hang on either side of the neci[,
shoots forth. The head, neck, and upper parts are black, blending
into ash-colour on the fore part of the neck ; the under parts from the
breast are white ; the legs are yellowish. In the old bird the bill ia
red, while the young one has it of a yellowish or dusky colour.
(Yarrell, BritUK Birds.) [See SappLEMnrr.]
• AIJ'LOLEPIS, a genus of FossQ Cycloid Fishes, from the Chalk of
Sussex and Kent. (Agassiz.)
AULOTORA (Goldfuss), a genus of Fossil Polypiaria, from the
Silurian Strata.
AURANTIA'CEiE, Citron Worts, or the Orange Tribe, are Dicoty-
ledonous Polypetalous Plants, with dark-green jointed leaves, filled
Common Orangro {Cilrut Auranlium).
1, A flower with iU calyx, corolla, sUmens, and style ; 2, a portion of the
stamens ; 3, an ovary cut through transyersely ; 4, a fruit cut through in the
same direction.
with fragrant ossential oil collected in little transparent dots, and a
superior ovaiy changing to a succulent berry, the rind of which is
Digitized by
Google
»»
AURELIA.
AVERRHOA.
300
alao filled with finigrant esflential oil. No natonl order can well be
mora stricUj defined tlian the Orange Tribe, and none have properties
more uniform and definite. It conaiatB of treea or shrubs foond
ezdnsiYel^ in the temperate or tropical parts of the Old World, and
unknown m a wild state in America. Their flowers are usually odori-
ferousy and their fruits subacid ; the rind has some shade of yellow.
They principally differ from each other in the number and proportion
or arrangement of their stamens, in the number of cells or seeds in
^e fruit, and in the texture of the rind of the fruit, which does not
always pull off as in the orange, the lemon, the citron, and their
congeners, but is frequently a mere skin indosiog the pulp. [Citrus.]
The natural order which is most nearly allied to the Orange Tribe is
that called XantkoxylacecBf into which the oranges pass by their
climbing genus, Lavanga, and which differ principally in having a
hard dry mdt which splits into several carpels.
The Orange, Lemon, Lime, Shaddock, Pompelmoose, Forbidden
Fruit, and Citron, are the produce of this order. The Wampa, a fruit
hig^y esteemed in China and the Indian Archipelago, is produced
by Cookia punctate^. The fr>uit of Qlyeotmia cUrifolia is delicious ;
that of Triphtuia is very agreeable. The jSgle Marmdoa ia used
in medicine : a perfume is prepared from the rind of the fruit, which
itself is delicious to the tajste, and acts as a laxative medicine. The
leaves of Feronia eUphaiUwm have a very agreeable smell Orange
flowers yield a delicious odour, and the oils of Bei^mot and Lemon
are obtained from the rind of the fruit of species of Citrus.
(Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom.)
AURE'LIA, in Entomology, a name given to that state of an insect
which is between the caterpiUar and its final transformation, and is
conmionly called a Chrysalis or Pupa. The term Aurelia was first
i4>pUed by the Romans, and that of Chrysalis by the Greeks, to
certain butterfly pupra which have a golden colour. In England,
those of the Peacock-Butterfly ( Vanessa Id) and the small Tortoise-
Shell Butterfly ( Vcmessa Unices) are beautiful examples, and may be
seen in abundance hanging to the common stinging nettles about the
latter end of the month of June. [Pupa.]
AURICHA'LCITE, a carbonate of Copper and Zinc. It occurs
amorphous, sometimes granular, or in radiating masses. Tho colour
is green. It is slightly transparent. Hardness but slight. It is
found at Loktewsk in tho AltaL The analysis by Bottger gives —
Oxide of Copper 28 19
Oxide of Zmc 4584
Carbonic Acid 16*06
Water 991
100
AURI'CULA, the name given to a oommonly-culiivated species of
the genus Primvla. [Primula.]
AURFCULA, a genus of Phytophagous or Plant-Eating Trachdi-
podout MoUuaea, whose organs of respiration are formed for breathing
air. Cuvier observes, that the species of this genus differ from all the
Pulmoniferous Aquatic MoUusks which precede them in his system, in
having the columella or pillar of the shell marked by large plaits.
The species of Awrictda appear to live in the neighbourhood of rivers,
lakes, or morasses, and their respiratory system, though formed for
breathing air, is so framed as to enable them to sustain any vicissitudes
to which sudi a locality might render them liable. AurictUa Midce
(Lam.), Voluta Auris Midce (Linn.), the Midas's Ear of collectors, is a
good example of the genus.
Midas's Ear {Auricula MitUe),
It is said to be an inhabitant of the East Indies. Lamarck also
names the Moluccas as its locality.
The following is the generic character : — Shell somewhat oval, or
ovate-oblong; aperture longitudinal, narrowed above, and with the
base entire; pillar with one or more plaits ; outer lip either reflected
or simple ana acute.
The true AuricvlcB are the inhabitants of warm climates. There is
one in the south of France, near the shores of the Mediterranean
{Auricula mfoiotis of Drapamaud), but it is a small species.
AUROTELLINITE, a mineral containing Gold combined with
Tellurium.
AUST CLIFF. In the Bone-Bed of this famous locality, usually
classed with tho Lias Formation, occur a few organic remains which
appear to belong also to the Eeuper deposits. This has been thought
a sufficient reason for removing these beds out of the Lias. But if
we regard their mineralogical and geological relations, this displacement
will hardly be allowed.
AUTOMALITE. [Gahnite.]
AUTOMOLITE, a variety of Spinel [Spinel] containing 84 per
cent, of oxide of zinc. It is mfusible alone, and nearly so with borax.
It occurs in granite tit Haddam, in Connecticut, together with Beryl,
Chrysoberyl, Qamet, &c ; also near Falun in Sweden, in Talcose Slate.
AUTONCMEA (Risso), agenus of Long-Tailed Decapodous Crustacea,
founded on AtUonamea Olivii, which ia a littie more than an inch in
length, and bears great resemblance in form to Nika and Alpheus,
Autonomea lives solitarily in sea-weed, &c, and the female produces
red ^gs, which she carries with her about the middle of summer. It
is foimd in the Adriatic Sea.
AVANTURPNE, a variety of Quartz, remarkable for the brilliancy
with which it reflects light, the effect being in general produced by
fine points of Mica imbedded within the crystalline mass. From this
circumstance it is sometimes used in jewellery, but is of littie value.
AYE'NA, the botanical name of the genus to which the cultivated
Oat belongs. As understood by Linnasus and the writers of his
school, it comprehended many very distinct forms of Grasses, as well
as the common cultivated kmds ; but by other botanists it is moro
correctly, limited to the species that yield com, and to such as are
closely idlied to theuL They are known by their lax panicles, their
two loose membranous glumes, and by the small number of their
florets, each of which has one of its husks or palete armed with a strong
twisted beard or awn. The grain is generally, but not xmiformly,
closely invested vrith the hardened husk.
The Common Oat {Avena sativa), is that which is most generally
cultivated for the use of man. Like most other oom-plants its native
country is unknown; it cannot however be supposed to be the
offspring of cultivation or of chance, but is more likely to be an
inhabitant of some of the northern provinces of Asia to which
Europeans have little access. [Oat, in Abts and So. Drv.]
The Tartarian Oat is considered a distinct species, on account of its
more compact and one-sided panicle, and of both its florets having a
beard; it is however doubtful whether it can be regarded as anything
more than a variety of A. sativcL Botanists call it A. orientalis, but
its native country seems as uncertain as that of the last.
The Naked Oat (^1. nuda), so called because its grain is loose in the
husk, is found wild in many parts of Europe, and by some is thought
to be a mere degeneration of ihe Common Oat It is common in
Austria, where it is cultivated for its grain, which is however small,
and not much esteemed.
The Chinese Oat {A. Chinensis), is another species, the grain of which
is loose in the husk. It is said to have been procured by the Russians
from the north of China along with their tea. This species is the
most productive of all the known kinds, every flower producing from
three to five grains, which are large and of excellent quality. It is
however said to be difficult to harvest on accoimt of the grains not
adhering to the husks, but being very easily shaken out.
Besides the species cultivated for the com which they yield, thero
is another that deserves to be noticed on account of its remarkable
hygrometrical action. This plant, the Animal Oat of gardeners, the
A. sterUis of systematic writers, is something like the Common Oat
when young; but when ripe its grains are inclosed in hard hairy
brown husks, from the back of which rises a stout bent and twisted
awn. Usually two such husks grow together, and separate fi'om the
stalk by a deep oblique scar. Taking the scar for the head of an
insect, tiie husks with their long stiff brown hairs resemble its body,
and the two bent awns represent its legs. In this state fishermen use
a smaller but nearly allied species, called Havers (A.fatua) instead of
artificial flies for catching trout When the Animal Oat is ripe it falls
out of its glumes, and in warm dry weather may be seen rolling and
turning about on its long ungainly legs, as they twist up in conse-
quence of their hygrometrical quality. It necessarily advances as it
turns over, because the long stiff hairs upon its body catch against
every littie projecting point on the surface of the soil and prevent its
retreat Nothing can be more curious than to see the path of a
garden-walk covered with these things tumbling and sprawling about
in different directions, until their awns are so twisted that they
can twist no further. They then remain quiet till the dews fall, or
they are moistened by a shower, when they rapidly untwist and run
about with renewed activity, as if anxious to get out of the wet
AVENS. [Geum.]
AVEHRHOA, a genua of plants belonging to the natural order
Oxalidacece, It consists of two species, bol£ of which form small
trees in the East Indies. They are remarkable for their leaves, which
are pinnated, possessing in a slight degree the kind of irritability
found in the sensitive plant, and for their fleshy oval fruits with five
thick longitudinal wings. From the otiier genus of OxalidacecB they
are known by this character, independentiy of all others.
In the Carambola (A. carambola) the leaves are smooth, the
flowers of a violet-purple, and the fruit about the size of a goose's
egg ; it is of a pale yellow colour, and is said to be agreeably acid
in the East Indies. It was expected that it would prove worth culti-
vating in the hothouse for tiie dessert, but it proves upon trial to
Digitized by
Google
SSI
AVES.
be insipid, and nmoh inferior to the common fruit of the European
marketa.
The other species, called the Beimbing (A, hilimbi), has downy
leayes, and fruit resembling a small cucumber. The fruit is intensely
acid, and cannot be eaten raw. It is pickled or candied, or a syrup is
obtained from it by boiling with sugar, and its juice is found an
excellent agent for removing iron-moulds or other spots from linen.
To the Malays it answers the same purposes as the citron, the goose-
berry, the caper, and the cucumber of Europe.
AVES. [BiBDS.]
AVES ( Fossil ). Fossil Birds have been recognised by bones and
foot-prints in the Red-Sandstone of Connecticut ( Hitchcock ), in the
WefJden of Sussex ( Mantell ), in the Chalk of Maidstone ( Owen ), in
the Tertiary Beds of England and France ( Cuvier ), in the bone-caves
of Kirkdale (Buckland), and in many late deposits. From New
Zealand comes the Dinomis of Owen, f Dinornis.]
AVICE'NNIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Myoporaeea. The calyx is 5-parted, persistent, the segments erect,
subovate, obtuse, concave ; the corolla monopetalous, 2-lipped, upper
lip square, emarginate, flat, lower bifid, with ovate, equal, flat divisions,
tube bell-shaped, short ; the stamens 4, didynamous ; ovary 2-celled ;
style, subulate, erect, length of stamens ; the stigma bifid, acute, the
lower division bent down ; the seed single, large, albuminous. The
species are natives of Australia and America.
A. tomerUota, White Mang^ve, has cordate ovate leaves, tomentose
beneath. It puts forth twigs from the stem, resembling those of the
common mangrove. The bark is foimd to contain tannin, and is used
in Rio Janeiro for tanning.
A. retinifera is a native of New Zealand, and is said by Forster to
yield a green resinous substance that Ib eaten by the New Zealanders
as food. It Ib remai^ble also for its clusters of large flowers. A.
nitida is a native of Martinique.
(Burnett, OtUline$ ; Lindley, Natwral Syttem.)
AVI'CULA, a genus of Marine CoTichifera, or Bivalves with unequal
valves, in which Sowerby, with much show of reason, includes the
genus MdcagHnay also formed by Liamarok. The shell in both is
foliaceous externally ; and internally, of a brilliant pearly lustre. The
left-hand valve is contracted and notched posteriorly ; and so is the
right, but very slightly. Through this sinus passes the byssus, by
which they are moored to rocks and other marine bodies. The
ligamental area is marginal, and broadest in the centra ; and thera is
generally a small tooth in each valve near the umbones. This is
most conspicuous, generally speaking, in Avicrda (LaoL), but is not
always found, while it is often present in Lamarck's MeUagrince,
though it is sometimes absent The muscular impression is nearly
central, somewhat orbicular, and large.
Avi(^Ua, then, as characterised by Sowerby, will comprise two
sections ; the first including those species which have their base, or
hinge-line, considerably prolonged ; the second embracing those which
ara without that prolongation — in other words, the Mdeagnna.
Both sections ara the inhabitants of warm climates. Avicula
macroptera may be taken as an eiuunple of the first section.
Avicula macroptera.
Avicula margaritifera {Mdeagrina mowgaritiferOj Lam., Mytilut
margaritiferut, Linn.), conmionly known as the Pearl-Oyster, the
source whence the most precious pearls ara derived, will afibrd an
illustration of the second section.
The shell itself is imported in great quantities, for the manufactura
of' the nacre, or motherK>f-pearl, into buttons, knife-handles, paper-
knives, &0.'; but its great oommeraial value rests on the pearls which
it contains. For these beautiful productions, which may be considered
as extravasated nacre, thero ara fisheries in both hemispheres. The
pearl of great price, however, is found in the East, whera the principal
fisheries, at Ceylon, Cape Comorin, and in the Persian Qulf,ara earned
AVOCET. 851
on by means of divers. Captain Perdval, in his ' Account of Ceybn,'
has given the best description of the pearl-fishery there. [Shxll.]
Pearl-Oyster {Atfieula margaritifera).
The flgve represenU a young individual. The shell grows to a large sise,
and then the delicate foliations disappcsar.
ATOCET, the common name of the Btcwrvirottra Avocetia. U
belongs to the order of GraUatores, or Waders, and the family
Scvlopacida,
The Avocet (IUcurviro$tra Avocetta).
The genus Jtteurvirostra includes other species besides the Avocei
The muddy shores of the ocean and the banks of scstuaries are their
favourite haunts, whera they feed on aquatic <tnim«LlR^ guch as the
smaller oonchifers and mollusks, and the spawn of fishes. They are
deep waders, but do not seem to be adepts at swimming. The Avocet
is the only. European species, and has been long remarked for the
singularity of the shape of the bilL ** Thera needs no great pains be
taken, or time spent m exactly describing this bird," says Kay in his
edition of Willughby, " for the singular bill rafiected upwards is
sufficient alone to churacterise and distinguish it from all other birds
we have hitherto seen or heard o£" It is widely diffused through the
temperate climates of Europe. Siberia, the shores of the Caspian,
and the salt-lakee of Tartary, ara also stated to be plentifully supplied
with these birds, and it is said to be met with in Egypt and other
parts of Africa. In England they wera formerly found on the eastern
coast below the Humber, and in Bomney Marah, but recently they
have become mudi more scarce. Mr. Yarrell says that some years
ago *' mora than twenty specimens wera received at Leadenhall Market
for sale within one month ; but now scarcely an example appears once
in a year."
Pennant well describes the Avocet's bill as "verv thin, flexible, and
of a substance like whalebone." Buffon makea it toe subject of one of
Digitized by
Google
383
AWLWORT.
AXIS.
his lunentationB upon the eiron of nature and her niggard diflpodtion
in providing for some of the leaa favoured of the animal creation.
But in truth no organ could, have berai devised more admirably
adapted for the function which it haa to perform than the bill of the
Avooet^ as he who has seen the bird scooping; probing, or apparently
patting and beating the water and soft mud*with it» while the
mandibles aotas a strainer and retain the prey, wiU readily acknowledge.
The Avocet frequently wades up to the breast^ and its long legs are
well formed for this purpose ; for they are compressed latenlly, and
present but a thin edge, so as to offer hardly any resistance to the
medium through which they have to make their progreesL Though
the feet are pahnated, they appear to be adapted not for swimming;
but for supporting the bird upon the ooze, after tiie maimer of the mud-
boards used by fowlers, and figured by Colonel Hawker ; this office the
feet of the Avocet execute in perfection. Montagu says, "We
remember one of this species being wounded in the wing; and floating
with the tide for near a mile, when it was taken up alive without ever
attempting to swim ; so that the palmated feet seem only intended to
support it on the mud.*'
The nests of the Avocet, which are very inartificial, are generally
formed in the spring, in marine marshes, where the driest point is
selected. They breed in the fens of Lincolnshire and Norfolk. The
eggs are greenish, spotted with* brown or black. When disturbed
Boon after the young are hatched, they fly round and round, repeating
their peculiar cry 'twittwit' incessantly, and are said to feign
lameness like the lapwing, to decoy the intruder away.
AWLWORT. [SUBULABIA.]
AWK, or ARI^STA, in Botany, the beard of gnsses, is a rigid
bristle, often hairy, and frequently twisted, proceeding from the back
of some of the envelopes of the flower. It is oft^ employed for
systematic puipoees in consequence of the number of modifications to
which it is subject It appears to be one of the veins or ribs of the
envelopes, unusually lengthened, and separated from the cellular
substance to which it belongs.
AXE-STONE, a silicate of alumina and magnesia. It is a hard
tough stone, of a greenish colour. Also called Jade, Nephrite, and
Ceraunite,
AXIIjLA, in Botany, is the angle formed by the separation of a leaf
from its stem ; hence the term ' axillary ' is applied to anything which
grows from that angle. It is at this point that buds appear, whether
they are to be developed as branches or as flowers ; and it is a remark-
able circumstance that they never appear anywhere else except when
they are adventitious and unconformable to the usual order of growth.
For this reason the position of buds upon a branch will show in
what position the leaves have grown, notwithstanding the leaves
themselves may have fidlen off, and the soars whence they fall have
disappeared.
The axilUe of all leaves contain rudiments of a bud in a greater or
leas degree of perfection, and are capable, under favourable circum-
stances, of bringing it to full development. Gardeners sometimes
profit by a knowledge of this law, to propagate plants in which, from
the dose manner in which the leaves are arranged upon the stem, it
would be impossible to increase them by the ordinary modes. Thus
a hyacinth Dulb is a short branch With rudimentary leaves, called
scales, growing closely over all its surface ; and consequently at the
axilla <^ each rudimentary leaf there exists a bud either latent or
mamfeet Under ordinary circumstances, two or three oidy of those
buds develop near the outside of the bulb, in the form of cloves, or
young bulbs ; but if at the time the bulb is just banning to ^w,
the central shoot is destro^ed^ either by cutting it across or seanng it
with a hot iron, the nutritive matter which was laid up in a bulb, not
being expended upon producing flowers and leaves, will be diverted
into other channels, and exercising its vital force upon the axillary
buds, will cause them to develop in great numbers ; and thus the
hyadnth will be increased with rapidity, instead of by the slow pro-
duction of two or three cloves yearly.
Although buds, or bulbs, which is the same thing; are universally
axillary to leaves, and indeed to every part which is theoretically a
modification of a leaf, yet one leaf cannot be axillaiy to another leaf,
although it may seem so in consequence of the inciment development
of an axillaiT branch to whose system it belongs. Thus in pine-trees,
the clustered needle-shaped leaves seem to be axiUaiy to the withering
rudimentaxT leaf that grows round their base ; but in reality ea£
duster of leaves is a small branch without perceptible axis, as is
proved by .the Cedar of Lebanon, where the axis sometimes lengthens
and sometimes does not
AXINITE. This mineral usually occurs crystaUiied in flat
prismatic crystals, with very sharp
^dges, from which it has received
its name. The fundamental form >^ / ^
is a double oblique prism, from
which Neumann has obtained the
following angles : —
M on T = 13«* 24' and W 36' / / m
P on H » 184° 48' and 45** 12"
P on T « 116' 89' and 60' 21'
It is imperfectly deavable in the direction of the faces P and M. Its
colour is dove-brown, sometimes inclining to plum-blue ; sometimes
VAT. BZ8T. SIY. YOL. L
transparanty at other times only translucent on the edges ; its lustre is
vitreous. The specific gravity of a crystallised variety from Cornwall
is stated bv Mobs to be 8*271, and its hardness 6'5 to 7.
Before the blowpipe it readily fuses with intumescence into a dark-
green glass, which in the oxidiiung flame becomes black on account of
the presence of super-oxide of manganese. With borax the glass is
either green from iron, or of an amethyst tint from manganese, accord-
ing as it has been exposed to the interior or exterior flame of the
blowpipe. By frising it with sulphate of ammonia and fluor-spar, the
presence of boraoic acid may be detected. The following is an analysis
by Wionnann of a variety from Tresebuig, Harz : —
Silica 4600
Alumina 19*00
Lime 12*50
Peroxide of Iron 12*25
Peroxide of Manganese 9*00
Magnesia 0*25
BoradcAdd 200
100-00
Beraelius, however, has marked the iron and manganese as protoxides.
This mineral is not very abundant ; it is found at Thum in Saxony,
whence it is sometimes called Thumerstona It occurs at BotaUack,
near the Land's End, Cornwall, both crystallised and forming a rock
with Tounnaline and Garnet
AXI'NUS (Sowerby), a genus of Fossil Cimchiferck, of which some
spedes occur in the Magnesian Limestone, and one in the London
C^y. To those which are found in the Magnesian and other Palaeo-
zoic Limestones Mr. Eling applies the title of Schiaodve,
AXICrriMA. [ACALSPHiB.]
AXIS, in Anatomy, the second vertebra of the neck, on which the
Atlas, the first vertebra, moves. [Atlas.1
AXIS, in Botany, a term that ia appHea to the root and stem of the
whole i^ant. The result of placing the seed of a plant in a place fitted
for its growth is the development of the embryo. The plumule
ascends into the air, whilst the radicle descends towards the earth.
The former is said to be the ascending axis of the plant, the latter the
descending axis. It is around these axes of growth that all other
parts of the plant are arranged. Those which are found upon the
ascending axis, or stem, are cdlectively termed the appendages of the
axis, and individually constitute the scales, leaves, bracts, flowers,
sexes^ fruity and modifications of those parts of the plant ; all these
parts are in connection with the vascular system of the axis, and
must not be confounded with mere expansions of the epidermis and
the like, such as ramenta» thorns, &c.j which have no real connection
with the axis.
The cause of the direction taken by the ascending and descending
axes of plants has been variously explained. This is evidently a com-
plicated question, and one which involves the great mass of facts in
the orgamsation of plants, and probably animals, which determine
their peculiar forms, habits, and movements. Dutrochet says — ** The
downward direction of the roots may appear easy of explanation : it
may be said ihat» like all other bodies, they have a tendency towards
the centre of the earth, in consequence of the known laws of gravity
(as is the opinion of Knight in ' PhU. Trans.' for 1806) ; but on what
prindple then is to be explained the upward tendency of the stem,
which as in diiect oppodtion to those laws ? And here lies the diffi-
culty. Dodart is the first who appears to have paid attention to this
circumstance ; he pretends to explain the turning backward of seeds
sown in an inverted position by the following hypothesis: — He
assumed that the root is composed of parts that contract by humidity ;
and that the stem^ on the contrary, contracts by dryness. For this
reason, according to him, it ought to happen that when a seed is sown
in an inverted podtion, the radicle will turn back towards the earth,
which la the seat of humidity ; and that the plumule, on the contrary,
turns to the sliy, or rather atmosphere, a drier medium than the
earth. The experiments of Du Hamel are well known, in which he
attempted to force a radide upwards and a plumule downwards by
indoaing them in tubes which prevented the turning back of these
parts. It was found that as the radicle and plumule could not take
their natural direction, they became twisted spirally. These experi-
ments, while they prove that the oppodte tendendes of the radicle
and the plumule cannot be sltered, still leave us in ignorance of the
cause of such tendencies." The well-known fiict of the stems of plants
seeking the light when confined in dark places, has led De Candolle
and ower observers to attribute the tendency of the stem to an upward
growth to the influence of light Another well-known fact, tnat of
the tendency of the roots of pluits to grow towards water or moisture,
might have suggested water as a cause of the tendency of the root to
grow downwards. Observing that the ascending axis of plants is
always coloured, and that the descending axis is white, Dutrochet
suspected that the action of light on the coloured parts of the plant
was the cause of its growing upwards. He found by experiments on
the MirdbUii Jcdapa and other plants, that although roots have in
general no tendency towards the light, yet such a dispodtion does
become manifest provided the terminal shoot of a root becomes
dightly green, as occadonaUy happens. He found that the ends of
the roots of MirabUit Jalapa became occadonaUy coloured, and on
2 ▲
Digitized by
Google
866
Axia
A7AT.V.A.
356
plfi^Tig the pLanU in damp mo8B, he found theM roote had a tendenoj
to oome to the surfkoe towards the light Not only is this the caae,
but the oolourless stems of such plants as SaffiUaria tagittifolia are
known to assume the directions of roots. In this plant " shoots are
produced from the axillso of all the radical leayes which grow at the
bottom of the water. These shoots haye their points directed towards
the sky, like those of aU vegetebles. The young stems which are
produced by these shoots are entirely colourless, like roots; and
mstead of taking a direction towards the sky, as coloured stems would
do, they lead downwards, pointing towards the centre of the earth.
This subterranean stem next takes a horisontal course, and does not
assume any tendency towards the sl^ until the points become ffreen."
(Meyen, Pjlanam-Phytiol^^ ; Lmdley, Introduction to Botany;
Dutcochet^ Ann, det Seienca NcUvrelUt, xxix., 1883.)
AXIS, a species of Indian Deer. The word is also used generically
to denote a small group or sub-genus of solid-homed ruminants, pre-
soiting the same characters and inhabiting the same climate as the
Common Axis. [Cebyidjb.]
A'XIUS, a genus of Long-Tailed Decapodous Onutacea, founded by
Leach on Axiui stirhynchuSf which is about 8 inches or 84 inches in
length, and rarely found on our coasts. It has been taken near Sid-
mouth and Plymouth. Desmarest, with much reason, considers this
genus entirely artificial ; and thinks that it ought not to be separated
from CaUianatta. [Callianassa.]
AXOLCyTL {Oyrinm, Hernandez and Shaw), a genus of Amphibia
belonging to a group called Perennibranchiate, as thev retain their
gills throughout life. They are distinguished from other genera of
the same family by haying four feet farniBhed with four toes before
and fiye behind. This group contains the genera — Axolotet, Jifeno-
branchw, Proteut, and Sirenus; and comprises animals which possess
at the same time both lungs and gills, and which are consequently
organised to liye either on luid or in water. [Amphibia.]
Tlie Axolotl was the earliest obseryed of these remarkable aniinals.
At the period of the Mexican conquest the Spaniards found this animal
in great abundance in the lake which surrounded the city of Mexico, to
the inhabitants of which capital it then furnished, as it still continues
to furnish to their successors, an agreeable and much-esteemed article
of food. Hernandez, who seems to be the first writer who actually
described the Axolotl, expressly mentions it haying been thus used
by the ancient Mexicans ; and adds that the flesh was considered as
an aphrodisiac, that it was wholesome and agreeable, and tasted not
unlike eel Succeeding authors, without taking the trouble of
obserying for themselyes, were content to copy what Hernandez had
said before ; but distorting his short desciiption by absurd comments
of their own, and adding the figures of ftir difTerent species, the whole
subject became at length inyolyed in such inextricable confusion that
finally aU memory of the Axolotl was lost, or the animal itself con-
sidered as a fictitious being. The late Dr. Shaw howeyer, who receiyed
a specimen of the animal direct from Mexico, recognised in it the
Axolotl of Hernandez, as is proyed by his haying used the generic
term Cfyrinut in his account of it published in the ' Naturalist's Mis-
cellany,' which had been originally applied to it by its first deacribcr,
though Baron Cuyier seems disposed to depriye the British naturalist
of tUs credit, and to ascribe the sole honour of re-discoyering the
Axolotl to Baron Humboldt It is indeed true that Dr. Shaw subse-
quently described the same animal in the third yolume of his 'General
Zoology' imder the yery different name of Siren pitci/ormii ; but this
only proyes that he considered it, as Baron Cuyier was himself
afterwards inclined to do, not as a perfect animal, nor in fact as the
type of a new genus, but rather as the immature state of some species
Mionging to a genus already known. To Baron Cuyier himself
howeyer we are indebted for the complete description and elucidation
of the form and organic structure of this curious reptile. Two
specimens brought by M. Humboldt from Mexico were submitted to
the examination of the French naturalist, whose researches on the
subject of their anatomy, compared with Uiat of the kindred genera,
are recorded in his 'Recherches sur les Reptiles Douteux,' inserted
in the zoological part of Messrs. Humboldt and Bonpland's Trayels.
A detailed examination of all the Batrachian Reptiles, and more parti-
cularly a careful inyestigation into their anatomical structure during
the tadpole state, and the gradual change which they undergo in
passing from this state to their matiue and perfect form, led Baron
Cuyier to establish as an unquestionable fact that certain of these
animals retain both lungs and gills throughout the entire period of
their existence ; but whilst he ui^esitatingly announced this fact with
regard to the Siren and Ftoteus, he was disposed to consider the
Axolotl as the tadpole of some of the larger species of American
•alamanders — an error induced as well by ikte general similarity which
these animals bear to one another as by the immature age of the
■pedmens of the Axolotl which were submitted to his obseryation.
Succeeding naturalists adopted M. Cuyier's yiews upon this subject ;
but that great zoologist himself subsequently altered his original
opinion, and candidly confesses in the second edition of the ' Rigne
Animal ' that the concurrent testimony of all original obsenrers oyer-
balanoes the mere deductions of the physiologist^ howeyer plausible
or apparently well founded.
Tne generic characters of the genus Axototl, Cuyier {Axolotet, Owen,
CfyHmUf Hernandez), in addition to those aboye mentioned, consist
in haying the gills formed of three long ramified or branch-like prch
eesaes on each side of the neck, four toes on the anterior extremities
and fiye on the posterior, and teeth in the yomer as well as in both
jaws. The tail is compressed on the sides like that of the common
Water-Newt {Salamandrapalmata), and surroimded both on the upper
and under surfaces by a thin erect membranous fin, which is prolonged
upon the back, but becomes gradually narrower as it approaches the
shoulders, between which it finally ceases. The head is broad and
flat ; the nose blunt ; the eyes situated near the muzzle ; the tail
neariv as long as the body ; and the toes unconnected by intermediate
membranes. The singular form of the gills will be beet understood
from the accompanying figure, which represents the under jaw and
throat of the animal as seen from beneatL
Axolotl [Oyrinm eduiit, Hernandes).
The Axolotl of the Mexicans {Oyrintu edidit, Hernandez), when
full grown, measures about 8 or 9 inches in length ; its groimd colour
is a uniform deep brown, thickly mottled both on the upper and under
surfaces of the head and body as well as on the limbs, tail, and dorsal
and caudal fins, with numerous small round black spots. The head
and body are larger and broader than in the genendity of reptiles,
and but for the long tail which terminates the latter the whole animal
might be not inaptly compared in form to a large frog ; the gills are
prolonged into three principal processes, with numerous smaller
ramifications from the sides of each, the whole being as long as the
fore legs, and resembling three small branches ; the legs are short,
though fully deyeloped; and -the toes are long, slender, separate, and
without claws. The communications which open from the gills into
the mouth are four in number, and of a size considerably larger than
those of the kindred genera ; they are coyered externally by a spedes
of operculum formed by a fold in the skin of the head.
Tne Axolotl is yery common in the lake of Mexico, and, according
to Baron Humboldt, likewise inhabits the cold waters of mountain-
lakes at much greater eleyation aboye the leyel of the sea than the
plains surrounding that dty. It is commonly sold in the markets of
Mexico, and esteemed a luxuiy by the inhabitants. It is dressed
after the manner of stewed eels, and seryed up with a rich and
stimulating sauce.
Professor Owen has described a second species under the name of
Axolotet mactUata, which also is an inhabitant of Mexico.
AYE-AYE. [Cheibomtb.]
AYMESTRY LIMESTONE, one of the calcareous bands in the
Upper Silurian series which has been produced by coral and shell
accumulations amidst the masses of aigiUaceous sedilments. It is not
traceable b^ond the districts of Ludlow, Abberley, Malyem, Wool-
hope, May Hill, and Usk. It is partially characterised by Penlamenu
Knightii.
AZA'LEA, in Botany, is the name of a genus belonging to the
natural order Ericacea, and consisting of shrubs remarkable for the
beauty and fragrance of their flowers ; on which account they are
yery generally cultiyated in Europe^ By some botanists the genus is
esteemed the same as Bhododendron^ in which it is accordingly sunk;
and it must be confessed that it is difficult to point out any positive
character except the thin and generally deciduous leaves by which
Atalea can be distinguished from Bhodoaendron,
The forms of Azalea may be reduced to four principal heads, to one
Digitized by
Google
a'>7
AKAMgA,
or other of whioh all the species are referrible — ^namely, 1, those with
glatinoTU flowers and short stamens ; 2, those with glutinous flowers
and stamens much loz^g;er than the ooroUa ; 8, those with flowers that
are scarcely at all glutinous, and stamens much longer than the ooroUa;
sad 4, those with flowers that are scarcely at all glutmous, and short
stamens.
Section L — FUwers covered viih numeroua glutinous hain. Stammu
littU ornotataU longer than the tube of the corolla,
1. Asalea vwccweK Linn. (A, odorata, vUteUa, fitaa, lueida of various
authors). Leaves shining, green on both sides, fHngedatthe edge. A
native of swamps, copses, and wet and shady woods, throughout the
United States of North America, from Canada to Qeoi^gia. It is a shrub
from 8 to 8 feet high, with the young branches covered with numerous
stiffish brown hairs. The leaves are bright green, shining, and smooth
on the upper side; paler but not at all glaucous on the under side. The
ilowers are deliciously ftragrant, usually white or nearly bo, with a
long narrow tube, and a contracted limb with narrow sharp-pointed
divisions ; they are covered all over externally with glutinous brownish-
purple glands. The stamens are not so long as the segments of the
corolla, bat longer than its tube. It is one of the most common
species and the most fragrant
2. AMoUa glauoa, Lamarck. Leaves dull green, somewhat wrinkled
and wavy at the edge, glaucous on the under side, fringed at the edge.
Found in dayey swamps in the middle states of North America, where
it flowers ra&er earlier than the last In a wild state it is a much
rarer plants and does not grow so tall ; its white flowers appear in the
utmost profusion, and are very like those of A. vifcoM, but the stamens
are a little longer. In the nurseries it is called A. ffiecoea Jlorihwida,
Section IL — Flowere covered with numerous glutinous hairs. Stamens
much longer than the corolla,
3. Azalea mtid<tj Pursh. Branches with very few hairs. Leaves
smaU, rather leathery, shining, and smooth on both sides. Found in
deep mossy swamps on the mountains of North America, from the
state of New York to Viiginia, flowering in June and July. The leaves
of diis plant> which appear a little earUer than ih.e flowers, are dark-
green, shining, and smaller than in any other species : the only parts
which are hidry are the midrib and the maigin. The flowers are
whiter with a red tinge, and glutinous ; their tube is a litUe longer
than the segments ; the calyx is very short ; the stamens are longer
Uian the corolla. It is doubtful whether this is to be met with in
cultivation.
4. Asalea hispida, Pursh. Branches clothed with numerous stiffish
hairSb Leaves long-lanceolate, covered with bloom on both sides,
hairy on the upper surface, and smooth on the lower. A native of the
borders of lakes; and on the highest part of the Blue Ridge in the
state of Pennsylvania^ flowering in July and August. An upright
shrub, growing 10 or 15 feet hign, with a bluish tmpect, by which it
may be recognised at a distance.
5. Asalea pontica, Linn. Leaves large, not shining, puckered,
reflexed and wavy at the edge, green and slightly hairy on both sur-
faces. Flowers yellow, long-stalked, covered with long hairs and
glutinous glands. Common in the Crimea^ the Caucasus, and the
eastern parts of Poland, rendering the whole country a brilliant giurden
with its golden fragrant flowers during the month of May. Alwough
found on the mountains, it is by no means an alpine piant> but dis-
appears in the higher regions of the air, where the Pontic Khododendron
takes its place. Its flowers abound in a fluid nectar, which is said to
render poisonous the hon^ collected by the bees at the time of its
blooming. It is readily known by its large yellow corolla from sJl
the American species : in the gardens it deviates to a pale straw colour,
which is called white by collectors.
Section IIL — Flowers with scarcely any glutinous hairs. Stamens
much longer than the coroUa,
6. Asaiea peridymena, Persoon (A, mtdiJUtra, Willd. ; peridy-
menoides, Michaux ; coednea, spedosa, rubra, rutilans, catmea, eUba,
papilionaeeet, paHUa, polyandra, of the Qardens). Leaves flat, nearly
nnirlens, except the midrib, which is bristly. Tube of the corolla
much longer than the limb, whidh is white. Found wild on the sides
of hills, in woods all over North America, where it is called Upright
Honeysuckle — a name which it well merits for its fragrance and
bean^. It is a smaller plant than A» viseosa, rarely exceeding the
height of a man, and being generally much shorter, and excee&ij^y
branched. By botanists it was formerly distinguished by its flowers
appearing before its leaves, whence it was oaUed A, nudijiora ; but as
this is an uncertain droumstance, the name we have adopted from
Penoon deserves the preference. Its leaves are bright green, and
AZURITE. 868
nearly smooth on the upper side, flat» and by no means puckered or
wavy ; their under side and the branches are dightly downy, and their
maigin covered with stiff hairs.
7. Atalea eaneseens, Hichaux {A. hiedlor, Pursh^. Leaves hoaiy,
especially beneath, where they are also downy ; their midrib without
any stiff hairs. Tube of the corolla of about the length of the limb,
which is white. On barren sandy lulls, in the southern parts of the
United States^ on the banks of rivers in South Carolina^ and on the
mountains of Viiginia, this spedes grows wild ; it resembles A, peridy'
mena very much, but is a tenderer plant> and has the same gray
appearance which renders A. glauoa so conspicuous an object Its
flowers are small and white, with a deep rosy-red tube ; they appear
the earliest of the American species.
8. Asalea calendulaeea, Micnaux. Leaves convex, shining, bright
green, slightly hairy on both sides, reflexed and wavy at the edge ;
their midrib without stiff hairs. Tube of the corolla not longer than
the broad orange-coloured or scarlet limb. A native of moist places
in the southern states of North America ; sometimes inhabitizig tiie
banks of rivers, but more frequently adorning the mountains with a
garment of living scarlet
9. Azalea arhorescens, Pursh. Leaves covered on the under side by
a glaucous bloom, and smooth on both sides. Tube of corolla longer
than the segments. Calyx with leafy divisions. The only botanist
who has described this remarkable plant is Pursh, who says it grows
on rivulets near the Blue Ridge in Pennsylvania, flowering from May
to July. He speaks of it thus : — ** This beautiful species has, to my
knowledge, not vet been introduced into the gardens. I have only
seen it in its native place, and in the garden of Mr. John Bertram, near
Philadelphia. It rises from 10 to 20 feet high, and forms, with its
elegant foliage and laige abundant rose-coloured flowers, the finest
ornamental shrub I know. The flowers are not so much pubescent aa
the rest of the species ; the scales of the flower-buds are large^
yellowish-brown, surrounded with a fringed white border."
Section IV. — Flowers entirely desMute of giMiimaus hairs. Stamens
short. OoroUa helldiaped.
10. Azalea Sinensis {A. pontica; A, Sinensis, 'Botanical Register,*
plate 1258). Leaves downy on both sides, sharp-pointed, gUucous
beneath, reflexed and wavy at the edges, flowers covered extemallv
only with a fine silkiness ; their tube much shorter than the bell-
shaped limb, the divisions of which are acute. Introduced from China
by the late Mr. W. Wells, of Redleaf, about the year 1826, and supposed
to be a native of that country. Its leaves are verv like those of Azalea
pontica, except that they are glaucous underneath, and its flowers are
of a bright dear ochry yellow ; it is even supposed to be a mere
variety of that spedes. Its bell-shaped corolla, however, without any
glandular or other conspicuous hairs on the outside, and with scarody
any tube, distinguishes it sufficiently. The segments of the ooroUa are
broadly ovate^ dightly wavy, and the upper one is distinctly dotted in
the maimer of a riiododendron.
11. Azalea Indica, Linnaeus. Leaves obovate, flat, green on both
sides, and very abimdantlydothed with stiffish brown hairs. Flowers
<}uite smooth externally ; their tube much shorter than the bell-shaped
limb, the divisions of whidi are rounded. Calyx small and very
hispid ; stamens flve. This and the following are the most beautiful
plants which exist in the rich flora of China, where they fSw exceed
in splendour of appearance the camelliss, moutans, chryranthemuma,
and roses of that fevoured dimate. This forms a bush varying in
height from two to six feet, with the branches usuallv drooping, and
covered when young with rigid brown hairs. The leaves are deep
green, flat, and half eveigreen, usually tinged with brown, in conse-
quence of the many brown hairs with which they are dothed. The
flowers are large and showy, and gaily marked with briUiant colours.
The calyx is very small, axid dosely covered with stiff hairs. There
are many varieties, of which the Brick Red, the Double Purple, and
the Variegated are the prindpeL
12. AzeSea ledifdia. Hooker. Leaves obovate, flat, evergreen, green
on both ddes, and clothed with brown hairs. Flowers quite smooth
externally ; their tube much shorter than the bell-shaped limb, the
divisions of which are dilated and wavy. Calyx with leafy acute
sepals ; stamens ten. A native of China, and less impatient of cold
than the last, from which it chiefly diflfors in its leafy calyx, eveigreen
leas rusty shhiing leaves, laiger floweni, and more numerous stamens.
There are two varieties in the gardens, the White and the Royal
Purple, or Phcsnicea.
A'ZUl
'ZURITE, a term used by Phillips to denote LasulUe, under whidi
name this mineral is most generally described by mineralogists
riiASTTLiTX.] It is different from Asure-Stone, by whidi name Lapis
Lazuli, the Ultramarine of painters, is sometimes known.
Digitized by
Google
060
BABIANA.
BABOON.
800
B
BABIA'NA, & genus of plantfl belongiiig to the nAtnral order
IridaceoB, It derivee its singular name from Babianer, which
the Dutch colonists ciJl these plants, because their round subtorrsnean
stems are greedily eaten by baboons. It differs from OUadAclug in
its round leather<x>ated seeds, and in the flowers having the tube of
Ixia, and ffom Ixia in their haying the irregular limb of Qladiolut.
Fourteen or fifteen species are known, among which are some of the
handsomest of the Cape Bulbous Plants, as they are oonmionly though
incorrectly called. Of these all have narrow, plaited, sword-shaped
leaves, rising from a cormus which is covered with rigid, netted,
brown scales ; this part, which is sometimes called the bulb, some-
times the root, but which Ib in reality a short undexground stem, is
propagated by one or mora young buds near its point, which shoot up
at the season of growth, feed upon the old cormus till they have sucked
it quite dry, and by that time become new oormi themselves elevated
upon the point of the original one. In this way the undeivround
oormi gradually rise towards the surface of the earth, and afford an
instance of vegetable progression which by some has been adduced as
extremely remarkable, but which is in £iict, if the phenomenon be
rightly considered, precisely analogous to the progression of the stem
of a tree into the air by the formation of fresh branches year after year.
The flowers of Babiana are yellow, purple, and even scarlet, of
considerable size, and extremely handsome. They are produced in
perfection, provided the plants are so cultivated as to be exposed
abundantly to air, light, warmth, and moisture, when in a state of
growth, and preserved cool and dry while in a state of repose. It is
in the plains of the Cape of Gk>od Hope that these plants are found,
where l^ey are exposed for two or three months, at the most^ to rain ;
and where, during the remainder of the year, they are buried beneath
a soil so dry that even succulent plants themselves can scarcely con-
trive to exist upon it.
Bahiana ttUphureeiy one of the commonest species, grows about a
foot high, with oblong, plaited, haiiy leaves, and a one-sided spike of
BabiatM ntlphurea,
A, a diminished flgnre of the flowering spike ; B, one of the cormi, showing
how they gradually ascend by rising annually upon the remains of oormi of
former years.
four or five flowers. The latter are about two inches long, of a pale
sulphur-yellow, with a short sky-blue tube and eye ; the segments
are oblong, slightly wavy, nearly equal in size, and spreading nearly
equally round three short erect stamens. The style and stigma are
sky-blue ; the latter very narrow and channeled.
BABINGTONI'TE, a mineral which occurs crystallised. Its primary
form is a doubly oblique prism ; the colour is black or greenish-black ;
the fracture uneven; .hardness, 6*5 to 6'0; lustre, vitreouB; it is
fidntly translucent ; the specific gravity is 3*5. It has been found at
Arendal in Norway, the Shetland Isles, and in the United States at
Charles-town, Massachusetts. The following is the analyns by Arppe
of a specimen from Arendal : —
Silica 5i'i
Protoxide of Iron ....... SI'S
Lime 19-6
Magnesia 2*2
Protoxide of Manganese 1*8
Alumina 0*3
Volatile matter 0*9
BABIBOU'SSA is sometimes called the Homed Hog by traT^Uen,
fix>m the great length and curved form of its upper tusks, which pierce
through the upper lip and grow upwards and backwards like the
horns of the Rwninantia. It is a species of wild hog which inhabits
the woods of Java, Celebes, and others of the laiiger Sunda Isles.
From its more slender proportions and longer limbs, compared vnth
other species of the same genus, this animal has been likewise called
the Stag-Boar, and was not altogether unknown to the ancients ; at
least it seems probable that it is tiie Sua telracerot of ^li^n (lib. xviii,
cap. 10), and Ib plainly referred to by Pliny (lib. viii., cap. 52). [Suidjl]
BABOON {Oynocephalut, Ouvier), a genus of Quadrimana, or Four-
Handed Mammals, which forms the last link in the chain that unites
the Simiada, properly so called, with the lower animals. The zoolo-
gical or technical name of this genus, CynocephaluM, is from a Greek
word used by Aristotle and other ancient writers to designate the
common species of Bgypt and Arabia, the C. Hamadryat of modem
writers, and is plainly derived frt>m tiie marked resemblanoe which
the head and face of these animals bear to those of a dog, and which,
in truth,^ constitutes the most distinctive character of the genus. The
origin of the common name Baboon is a subject of greater doubt.
Skmner and other British etymologists are content with deriving it
from our vernacular word Babe, without considering that the German
Pavian, the Dutch Baviaan, the French Babouin, and the Italian
Babbuino, are manifestly but so many difierent modes of writing tiie
same term. A more probable origin of aU these terms- appears to be
the Italian Babbuino, frt>m which is likewise derived, according to the
opinion of Aldrovandus, the vulgar Latin word Papio, applied by the
writers of the 16th and 16th centuries to these animals, and which is
itself a diminutive of the common Italian wordBabbo, which answers
to our Papa.
Though the Baboons differ widely from the other groups of quadni-
manouB animals, and may be readily distinguished at sight even by
those who are not much in the habit of observing them, yet it has
been found not a little difficult to form such a simple definition of the
genus as will comprehend all the species properly belonging to it, and
also distinguish them from those which appertain to the proximate
genera, Maeacm and Cercopithecui. The most marked and prominent
of the characters which more inunediately distinguish the Baboons
from the other SimiadtE consists in the great prolongation of the face
and jaws, and in the truncated form of the muzzle, which gives the
whole head a dose resemblance to that of a laige dog, and from which,
as already observed, the Greeks and Romans very appropriately deno-
minated them OynocqthaU, or Dog-Headed Monkeys. In the ordinaiy
QttCMirufiiana, which have the head and face round, as in the human
species, the nose is flat» and the nostrils situated about half-way
between the mouth and the eyes, the whole bearing no nnf»t
resemblanoe to that of a man who has lost the greater part of his
nose : but in the Baboons this organ is prolonged uniformly with the
jaws ; it even surpasses the lips a little in length, and the nostrils
open at the end of it exactly as in the dog. Here there is a marked
difierenoe in form and development from what we observe in the Apes
and other higher groups of QuadrwnancL The great length of the
face detracts from tiie size of the skull ; the organs of mastication are
strongly developed to the prejudice of the brain and intellectual func-
tions ; the facial angle, which has been generally regarded as a pretty
accurate measure of the mental capacity, is reduced to 80% whilst it
is never less than 45** in the Monkeys, and among the Apes amomits
even to 60" or Ofi"* ; and the character of the Baboons, as might be
readily suspected from these indications, is less docile and intSligent
than that of the kindred genera. To the same prolongation of the
face, and preponderance of the anterior part of the head, is to be
attributed, at least in a great measure, the fact that the Baboons lees
frequently assume an erect posture thim any of the other Q»adrMmana,
and are less capable of maintaining it for any length of tima The
weight of the long nose, to which the small size of the skull forms but
a very inefficient counterbalance, fatigues the muscles of the neck,
and constanthr tends to make the animal seek for support upon all
fours, as may be observed in a dog or a bear; and in fact the Baboons
are but very little superior to these animals in the facility with which
they maintain themselves in an uprighj posture.
Digitized by
Google
Ml
BABOON.
BABOON.
362
In their native motmismB the ordinary food of the Baboons is
benioB and bulbous roots, but in the yioinity of human habitations
tiiey make incursions into the cultivated fields and gardens, and
destroj a still greater quantity of grain and firuits than they cany
away with them. In w^-inhabited countries where they are likely
to meet with reaistanoe, their predatory incursions are usually made
during the night, and .traveUers assure us that^ taught by experience
of the risks to which .they expose themselves during such expeditions,
ihsj place sentinels upon the surrounding trees and heights to give
them timely warning of the approach of danger ; but in wilder and
more solitary districts, where the thinness of the population and the
want of fire«nns place them on some degree of equalling with the
inhabitants, they make their forays in the open day, and dispute with
the husbandman the fruits of his labour. " I have myself," says
Pearoe, in his ' Life and Adventures in Abyssinia,' " seen an assembly
of hage monkejs (haboonsl drive the keepers from the fields of grain,
m spite of their uings and stones, till several people went from the
yfOa^ to their assistance, and even then they only retired slowly,
•eexng that the men had no guns." Some travellers even assert that
if the troop happens to be surprised in the act of pillaging, the senti-
nels pay with their lives for their n^lect of the general safety ; but
howeyer this may be, it is certain that individuals are frequency met
with which exhibit marks of iU-usage from their companions, and
which even sometimes appear to have been expelled from their
lodety. Others assure us that the troop sometimes forms a long
chun extending from the vicinity of their ordinary habitation to the
guden or field which they happen to be engaged in plundering, and
that the produce of their theft is pitched from hand to hand till it
reaches its destination in the mountains. By this means they are
enabled to cany off a much larger booty than if every individual
laboured for his own peculiar benefit; but notwithstanding this
attention to the general interest, each takes care before retiring to
iill hiB cheek-pouches with the most choice fruits or grains which he
can proourei, and also, if not likely to be pursued, to carry off
quantities in his handk After these expeditions the whole troop
retiie to the mountains to enjoy their booty. They likewise search
with avidity for the nests of birds, and suck the eggs ; but if there be
young, they kill them and destroy the nest ; as, notwithstanding the
evident approximation of their organisation and appetites to carni-
vorous animals, they are never known to touch a living prey in a state
of nature, and even in captivity will eat no flesh but what has been
thoroug^y boiled or roasted. In this state we have seen various
baboons enjoy their mutton-bone and pick it with apparent satisfiao-
tion; but it was evidently an acquired habit^ like that of drinking
porter and smoking tobeicoo, which they had been taught by the
example of their keepers.
Of all the Qmuirumana the Baboons are the most frightfully ugly.
Thdr small eyes deeply sunk beneath huge projecting eyebrows, their
low contracted forehead, and the very diminutive size of their cranium
complred with the enormous development of the face and jaws, give
tiiem a fierce and malicious look, which is still further heightened by
their robust and powerful make, and by the appearance of the enormous
teeth which they do not fail to displav upon tiie slightest provocation.
The fierceness and brutality of their cnantcter and manners conespond
with the expression of their physiognomy. These characters are most
strongly di4>lAyod by the males ; but it is more especially when, in
addition to their ordinary disposition, they are agitated by the passion
of love or jealousy that their natural habitudes carry them to the
most furious and brutal exoess. In captivity they are thrown into the
greatest agitation at the appearance of young females. It is a common
practice among itinerant showmen to excite the natural jealousy of
their baboons by caressing or offering to kiss the young females who
resort to their exhibitions, and the sight never fails to excite in these
aninuds a degree of rage bordering upon frenzy. On one occasion a
laige baboon of the species which ii^abits the Cape of Good Hope
{CJi»octphalu8 pcreariui) escaped from his place of confinement in the
' Jardin des Flantea ' at Paris, and far from showing any disposition
to return to his cage, severely wounded two or throe of the Keepers
who attempted to recapture him. After many ineffectual attempts
to induce lum to return quietiy, they at length hit upon a plan which
was suooessfni There was a sinall grated window at the back part of
his den, at which one of the keepers appeared in company with the
dau^ter of the superintendent^ whom h^ appeared to kiss and caress
within view of the animal. No sooner did the baboon witness this
familiarity than he flew into the cage writh the greatest fury, and
endeavoured to unfasten the grating of the window which separated
him fi[om the object of his jealousy. Whilst employed in this vain
attempt the keepers took the opportunity of fastening the door and
securing him onoe more in his place of confinement Nor is this a
solitary instance of the influence whidi women can exert over the
passions of these savage animals : generally untractable and incorrigible
whilst under the management of men, it usually happens that baboons
are most effectually tamed and led to even more than ordinary
obedience in the hands of women, whose attentions they even appear
to repay with gratitude and affection. Travellers sometimes speak
of the danger which women run who reside in the vicinity of the
situations which these animals inhabit, and affirm that the negresses
on the coast of Guinea are occasionally kidnapped by the baboons,
and carried off to their fastnesses : we are even assured that certain
of these women have lived among the baboons for many years, and
that they were prevented firom escaping by being shut up in caves in
the mountains, where however they were plentifully fed, and in other
respects treated writh great kindness. It is to be observed however
that tiiese accounts rest upon authority which is by no means unex-
ceptionable. Credible and well-informed modem travellers do not
rekte them, and even their older and more credulous predecessors
give them only firom hearsay.
In addition to the mental and physical characters already mentioned,
the Baboons, besides the great development of their canine teeth, are
distinguished by having a fifth tubercule upon the posterior molar of
the under jaw, in which respect they differ from the Apes and
Cercopithecif and resemble the Macaci and Semnopiiheci. They are
furnished with laige callosities and capacious cheek pouches, and
their tails, always shorter than those of the Macacks and Monkeys,
are carried erect at the root> and then hang pendant perpendicidarly,
like that of a horse which has not been truncated. Those species
which have very short tails carry them upright and erect The bones
of their cheeks also are protuberant and form large swellings on each
side of the nose ; and though this character is more strongly marked
in the Mandrill and Drill than in the other species, yet aU exhibit it
in a greater or less degree. It is only since the labours of Messrs.
Geofih>y and F. Cuvier have developed the true generic characters of
the different groups which compose the family of Q^adrumanckj that
we have become acquainted with the geographio&l distribution of these
animals, and the habitats of the different genera. We have thus
learned that the Q^adrumana of the African continent are as distinct
from those of Asia in their zoological characters as they are in the
localities which they inhabit ; in fact, among upwards of fifty species
of Simiada belonging to the Old World there are only two known
instances of an Asiatic genus occurring in Africa, or of an African
genus occurring in Asia. One of these instances is even doubtful,
since the animal to which it refers, the Common Magot or Barbary
Ape, though generally considered as a Macack, is in r^ty an inter-
mediate species between that genus and the Baboons, which it resembles
equally in its habitat as it does in its powerful and muscular frame,
and in its general habits and character, and from which it only differs
in the comparative shortness of its &ce and the less truncated form of
its nose. These, to be sure, are very essential characters in the true
Baboons; but in all departments of zoology we find intermediate
species, which partake as it were equally of the characteristic forms
and oiiganisation of two or even three conterminous genera, and
which it is often impossible to include in either without a considerable
relaxation in the strict import of their respective definitions. The
other instance to which we have alluded regards a real species of
Baboon, the Oynocephahu Mamadryas of authors, which is found in
Asia and Africa, and which forms the only indisputable instance of
any quadrumanous animal being common to both these continents.
In other respects the Baboons are a strictly African genus. They
inhabit all the great mountain ranges of that continent^ frt)m the
shores of the Mediterranean to the Cape of Good Hope, and are
capable of supporting a much lower degree of temperature than any
of the other Q^adrwncma, The lofty mountains of Samen in Abys-
sinia, and the bleak and desolate range of the Sneeuwbexigen in South
Africa, are both tenanted by numerous troops of these animals, which
appear to prefer the more rigorous climate of these elevated regions
to the hot and sultry forests of the lower plains. Fischer eniunerates
eleven different species of baboons, but it is evident that some of those
which he describes are the females or young of other species ; and in
fact the most judicious naturalists, those who describe from their own
original observations, do not reckon more than five or six. The
following are very distinctiy marked, and have been universally
admitted: — ^
1. (7. poroariui rOesmarest), the Chadma. The colour of this species
is a uniform dark nrown, almost black, mixed throughout with a dark
green shade^ deepest on the head and along the ridge of the back, and
paler on the anterior part of the shoulders and on the fianks. The
hair over the whole body is long and shaggy, more particularly on
the neck and shoulders of the males, where it forms a distinct mane ;
each hair is of a light grav colour for some distance from the root,
and afterwards anntdated throughout its entire length, with distinct
rings alternately black and dark green, sometimes wou|^ but rarely
intermixed with a few of a lighter and yellovrish shade. The green
predominates on the head more than on other peats ; the face and
ears are naked, as are likewise the palms of the hands and soles of the
feet ; the interior surfaces of the arms and thighs are but thinly
covered with hair, which is long and of a uniform dark-brown colour ;
the hair on the toes is short, bristiy, and uniformly black ; the neck
and shoulders of the male are furmshed with a mane of long shaggy hair,
which is wanting in the fsmales and young ; and the cheeks of both sexes
have small whiskers directed bacd^vTards, and of a grayish colour.
The tail is rather more than half the length of the body, and is termi-
nated by a tuft of long black hair; the skin of the hands, face, and
ears, is of a very dark violet-blue colour, with a paler rin^ surroundipg
each eye ; the whole of the upper eyelids are white, as m the Mansa-
bey {uercopitheeut fidiffinotui) ; the nose projects a littie beyond the
upper lip, the nostrils are separated by a small depression or rut» as
Digitized by
Google
BABOON.
BABOON.
364
in the dog and other carnivorous animals, and the oallositieB are less
strongly marked than in most other species of this genus. In the
adult animal the muzzle is extremely prolonged in comparison with
the skull, which is proportionately contracted and flattened : the
young on the contrary have the region of the brain much larger in
The Chacma {C. porearius),
proportion to the length of the face, the head considerably rounder,
and in form resembling that of the adult Monkeys {CercopUheei).
The Chacma, so called from the Hottentot word TChackamma,
the aboriginal name of this baboon in South Africa, is one of the
largest species of the present genus, and when full grown is equal in
size, and much superior in strength, to a common English mastiff.
This animal inhabits the mountains throughout the colony of the
Cape of Qood Hope, and associates in families more or less numerous.
They are still found on the Table Mountain above Cape Town, though
they do not exist in such numbers as they appear to have done
formerly. Still however they pay occasional visits to the gardens at
the base of the mountains, and with such skill and caution, that even
the most watchful dogs, as we are assured by Professor Lichtenstein,
cannot always prevent them. "Although," he remarks, "Kolbe
somewhat exaggerates the regular and concerted manner in which
their robberies are carried on, yet it is very true that they go in large
companies upon their marauding parties, to support each other recip-
rocally, and carry off their plunder m greater security." Their common
food consists of the bulbous roots of different plants, particularly of
the Babiana [Babiana] ; these they dig up with their fingers, and
peel them with their teeth, and heaps of the parings are frequently
seen near the large stones upon which the baboons delight to sit and
look round them. In ascending the kloofs or passes in Ihe mountains
of South Africa, which are frequently steep, narrow, and dangerous,
travellers often disturb troops of these animals which have been
sunning themselves on t^e rocks : if not attacked they scamper up
the sides of the mountains yelling and screaming ; but if fired at and
woimded, they no sooner get beyond the range of the g^un than they
commence rolling and throwing down stones, and otherwise resenting
the injuxy. A full-grown Chacma is more than a match for two
good dogs, and though there is no animal which hounds pursue with
so much fury, yet the boers of the interior would rather set their
dogs upon a Hon or panther than upon one of these baboons.
2. 0. Hamctdryaa (LinnsBus), the Derrias, the most celebrated of
all the Baboons, and probably the only species of this ffenus known
to the ancients, inhabits the mountains of Arabia and Almsinia, and
grows to the size of a laige pointer, measuring upwards of 4 feet
when standing erect, and 2^ feet in a sitting posture. The face of
this species k extremely elongated, naked, and of a dirty flesh-colour,
with a lighter ring surrounding the ejres ; the nostrils, as in the dog,
are separated by a slight furrow ; the head, neck, shoulders, and all
the fore part of the body as far as the loins, are covered with long
shaggy hair ; that on the hips, thighs, and legs, is shorty and contrasted
with the former has ^e appearance of having been dipped, so that
the whole animal bears no unapt resemblance to a French poodle.
The hair of the occiput and neck is upwards of a foot in lengtn, and
forms a long mane which falls back over the shoulders, and at a
distance looks something like a fall short doak. The whiskers are
broad and directed backwards so as to conceal the ears ; their colour,
as well as that of the head, mane, and fore part of the body, is a
mixtture of light gray and cinereous, each hair being marked with
numerous alternate rings of these two colours ; the short hair of the
hips, thighs, and extremities is of a uniform dnereous brown colour,
rather lifter on the posterior surface of the thighs than on the other
parts ; a dark-brown line passes down the middle of the back, the
hands are almost jet black, and the feet are rusty brown. The tail ii
about half the length of the body, and is carried drooping as in other
baboons; it is terminated by a brown tuft of long hair; the
callosities are large and of a dark flesh-colour; the palms of the
hands and soles of the feet dark-brown. The female when full grown
is equal to the male in point of tSz»y but differs considerably in the
length and colour of the hair. This sex wants the mane which
ornaments the neck of the male, and is covered over the whole bodj
with short hair of equal length, and of a imiform deep olive-brown
colour, slightly mixed with green. The throat and breast -are bat
sparingly covered with hair, and the dun on these parts, as well as on
the face, hands, and callosities, is of a deep tan-colour. Hemprich
and Ehrenberg in their ' Symbols Phydcss' compare the female Derrias
to a bear, whilst the copious mane which adorns the fore quarters of
the male gives to that sex much of the external form and appearance
of a small lion. The young of both sexes resemble the fenuJe, and
the^ large whiskers and manes of the males only begin to make
their appearance when the animals arrive at their fiill growth and
mature age, that is, when they have completed their second dentition.
At this period they undergo as great a change in their mental
propensities as in their physical appearance. While young they are
gentle, docile, and playful, but as soon as they have acquired their full
devdopment, they become sulky, malicious, and morose.
This species inhabits Arabia and Abyssinia, but is not found either
in Egypt or Nubia, though its figure is often sculptured on the andent
monuments of both these countries. Hemprich and Ehrenberg found
large troops of them in Wadi Kanun and in the mountains near the
dty of Oumfud in the country of the Wahabees, as well as in the
mountains above Arkeeko on the Red Sea ; and we learn from Sdt
and Pearce that they are extremely common upon all the high lands in
Tigrd. The travellers above-mentioned found troops of 100 and upwards
in the neighbourhood of Eilet, in the chain of the Taranta. These
were usually composed of ten or twelve adult males, and about
twenty adult females ; the remainder of the troop was maide up of the
young of the four or five preceding years. When seen at a distance
approaching a small stream for the purpose of quenching their thint»
they bore a dose resemblance to a flock of wild hogs ; and it was
observed that the young ones always led the van, and that the old
males brought up the rear, probably for the purpooe of having the
whole family continually under their immediate observation. The
Arabic name of thisanimal is Robah or Bobba ; the Abyssinians call it
Derrias, according to Pearce's orthography, or Earrai, according to the
spelling of Hemprich.
The name of this spedes in the andent Ethiomc or Geez, the
learned language of the Abyssinians, is Tot or Tota. The figure of this
animal in a sitting posture is common upon the ancient monuments of
Egypt and Nubia ; small metal images of it have been dug up among
the ruins of Memphis and Hermopolis, and mummies containing the
embalmed body of the animal are still found among the cata6omba
Strabo indeed (p. 812), in mentioning Hermopolis as tiie centre of
the adoration paid to the CynocephcduM, says l^tthe Babylonians in
the vicinity of Memphis paid divine honours to the Ckb%t: yet
though the geographer makes use of very different names, and though
these in reality apply to very different animals, there is good reason
to believe that they both refer in the present instance to the same
species ; no quadrumanous animal is ever found represented upon the
sacred monuments of andent Egypt except the Baboon nor have the
imi^ges of any other spedes ever been dug up in seardiing for
antiquities. One or two instances, indeed, occur in the representations
of profane subjects, such as the procesdon of a returning conqueror,
in which Monkeys ( Cercopitheci ) are introduced, as for instance the
painting discovered at Thebes by the late Mr. Salt and represented
by Minutola ( tab. xii., fig. 9 ), in which a monkey is represented riding
on the neck of a camdeopard; but this was manifestly intended
merely to fix the locality of the country or people whose subjection
the triumph was meant to commemorate, and by no means indicates a
partidpation in the divine honours which were paid to the baboon.
Ndther does the female ever appear to be represented as an object of
worship ; all the figures and images seem to be those of males, as ii
proved by the mane which covers the neck and shoulders, and which
gives a fullness to the fore part of the body in this sex which is
wanting in the other. ^
S. C. papio ( Desmarest ), the Common Baboon, is of a uniform
yellowish-brown colour, slightly shaded with sandy or light red upon
the head, shoulders, body, and extremities ; the whiskers alone are of
a light fawn-oolour ; the face, ears, and hands are naked and entirely
black, the upper eyelids white and also naked, and the tail about
half the length of the body, but not terminated by the tuft whidi
distinguishes it in the last two spedes. The hair of the occiput and
neck is rather longer than that on the neck and shoulders, but is
neither so long nor so thick as to give it any resemblance to the mane
of the Chacma or Derrias ; ndther is the face of the present spedes
so much prolonged as in these two animals; the nose however is
advanced rather beyond the extremity of the lips, and has the nostiilB
opening as in the other baboons ; the dieeks are condderaUy swollen
unmediately bdow the eyes, after which the breadth of the ftoe
contracts suddenly, giving the munle or noM the appearance of
Digitized by
Google
965
BABOON.
BABOON.
906
hBTUig been broken in that situation bj a heavy blow. The whiskers
are not so thickly furnished as in the species abready described ; they
are however equally directed backwards, but do not conceal the ears,
which are black, naked, and lees regularly oval than in man and the
generality of the SimioB. The under parts of the body, the breast^
belly, abdomen, and inner face of the arms and thighs, are very
sparingly fumished with long hairs of a uniform brown colour. The
females and young differ in no other respect from the adult males,
except in being of a lighter and more active make.
This species inhabits the coast of Guinea, and is that most
commmonly aeeii about the streets, and in menageries and museums.
In youth it is gentle, curious, gluttonous, and incessantly in motion,
Hinadring its lii>s quickly, and chattering when it wishes to beg oontri-
bations from its visitors, and screaming loudly when refused or
tantalised. Ab it grows older however it ceases to be familiar, and
aasumes all the morose look and repulsive manners which characterise
the baboons in general The specimen observed by Buffon was fall
grown, and exhibited all the ferocity of disposition and intractability
of nature common to the rest of its kind. ** It was not," says he,
''altogether hideous, and yet it excited horror. It appeared to be
continually in a state of savage ferocity, grinding its teeth, perpetually
restleasi, and agitated by unprovoked fury. It was obliged to be kept
shut up in an iron cage, of which it shook the bars so powerfully
with its hands as to inspire the spectators with apprehension. It was
a stout-built animal, whose nervous limbs and compressed form
indicated great force and agility ; and though the length and thickness
of its sha^^y coat made it appear to be much larger than it was in
reality, it was nevertheless so strong and active that it might have
readily worsted the attacks of several unarmed men."
i. 6. Momcn and C. Maimon ( Linnaeus ), the 3£andiill, is the largest
of the whole genus, and may be readily distinguished from all the
other baboons by the enormous protuberance of its cheeks, and the
bright and variegated colours which mark them, as well as by its short
opright tail The full-grown Mandrill measures above 5 feet when
The Mandrill {O. Mormon aad O. Maimon).
standing upright ; the limbs are short and powerful, the body thick
and extremely robust, the head large and almost destitute of forehead,
the eye-brows remarkably prominent, the eyes small and deeply sunk
in the head, the cheek-bones swollen to an enormous size, and forming
projections on each side of the nose as large as a man's fist, marked
transvenely with numerous alternate ribs of light blue, scarlet, and
deep purple ; the tail not more than a couple of inches in length, and
generally carried erect ; the callositieB large, naked, and of a blood-
red colour. The general colour of the hair is a light olive brown
above, and silvery gray beneath, and the chin is fumished underneath
with a small pointed yellow beard. The hair of the forehead and
temples is directed upwards so as to meet in a point on the crown,
which gives the head a triangular appearance ; the ears are naked,
Angular at their superior and posterior borders, and of a bluish black
colour ; and the muzzle and lips are large, swollen, and protuberant.
The former is surrounded above with an elevated rim or border, and
tnmcated like the snout of a hog — a character which we have observed
in no other baboon, and which leads us to susx>ect that the Mandrill is
the species that Aristotle incidentally mentions by the name Choero-
^***ci«f (xoipowf^icof), (* Hist Anim.,' lib. iL cap. 2), and which may
have been brought into Er^)^ ^^ Gh-eece by the merchants who kept
up a regular intercourse oetween Egypt and the countries of the
interior. There are other considerations which give a strong degree
of •probability to this conjecture. The short, indeed almost tuber-
culous, tall of the Mandrill, for instance, would have led Aristotle to
compare it with the ape or PithectLt («(^icoi), rather than with the
other Simiada, all of which have tails of considerable length ; and the
tnmcated form of the snout would readily suggest its similarity to the
^ (X«^0* ^® <"^ aware that the ChceropUheGtu of the Greek
philosopher has been generally identified with the Common Baboon or
the Derrias ; but neither of these species possesses any character which
justifies that supposition; and oesides, the Derrias is indisputably
allowed to be the species designated by the much more appropriate
name of Oynocephalut (m/roKc^oXos). Nor does the Mandnll differ
much in its general form and appearance from the Pithecut of Aristotle,
which was the common Magot or Barbary Ape {Afaeactu inuu») : there
is no very great difference in the size of these animals, their oolour is
very nearly the same, both are equally remarkable for the powerful
make of their bodies, and the sinewy character of their short stout
limbs ; and in fttct the only striking difference which exists between
them is the prolonged, truncated, swinish snout of the one, and the
roimd head and short &uce of the otlier. Thus we can very satisfac-
torily aoooimt for both members of the compound name employed by
Aristotle ; nor can an objection be fairly taken to the approximation
which we have here made of his Chiropithecua to the Mandrill of
Guinea^ on account of the extremely limited knowledge which the
ancient Greeks possessed of the western coasts of Africa ; since we
know that they were well acquainted with other ftnimftla from the
same or even a more remote locality ; such, for instance, as the Gnu
(AniUope Onu), which is clearly the C(Uoblep<u of ancient writers, and
the Pecasse or buffiBLlo of the Gold Coast.
The females and young Mandrills differ from the adult males in the
shorter and leas protuberant form of the muzzle, which is moreover of
a imiform blue colour ; the cheek-bones have little or no elevation
above the general plane of the face, nor are they marked with the
longitudinal furrows which give the other sex so singular an appear-
ance ; at least they are far from being so prominently developed. It
is only indeed when they have completed their second dentitaon that
these characters are fully displayed in the males, and that the extremity
of the muBzle assumes that bright red hue by which it is so remarkably
distinguished.
The Mandrill is often mentioned by travellers, and bears the diffe-
rent names of Smitten, Choras, Boggo, Barris, &o., according to the
language or dialect of the tribes in whose territories it has been observed.
Those which have been observed in a domestic state are generally
remarked to have had a strong taste for spirituous and fermented
liquors. A remarkably fine individual, which was long kept at Exeter
Change, and afterwards at the Surrey Zoological Gardens, drank his
pot of porter daily, and evidently enjoyed it. In a state of nature his
great strength and malicious cnaracter render the Mandrill a truly
formidable animal. As they generally march in large bands, they
prove more than a match for any other mhabitants of the forests, and
are even said to attack and drive the elephants away from the districts
in which they have fixed their residence. The inhabitants of those
countries themselves are afhud to pass through the woods unless in
lai^ oomponies and well armed ; and it is said that the Mandrills
will even watch their opportunity when the men are in the fields, to
plunder the negro villages of everything eatable, and sometimes attempt
to carry off the women into the woods.
5. C. leucophceus (F. Cuvier), the Drill, is a species only recently
admitted by the most iudioious modem naturalists, though long sinqe
The Drill {O. IweopJuBUi).
described by Pennant^ and after him by various other writers. It is
likewise a native of the coast of Guinea, and like the Mandrill is dis-
tinguished by a short erect stumpy tail, scarcely two inches in length,
and covered with short bristly hair. The cheeks are not so protu-
berant as in that species, neither are they marked with the same
variety of colours ; and the size and power of the ^n^"-! are much
inferior. The ooloiirs of the body bear some resemblance to those of
the Mandrill, but they are more mixed with green on the upper parts,
and are of a lighter or more silvery hue beneath. The head, back,
sides, outer surface of the limbs, a band at the base of the neck, and
the backs of the fore hands, are fumished with very long fine hair, of
a light-brown colour at the root, and from thence to the point marked
Digitized by
Google
867
BACCA.
BADGER
with alteniaU rings of black and yellow, the two last colours alone
appearing externally, and by their mixture giving rise to the greenish
shade that predominates over all the upper parts of the head and body.
The under parts of the body are equally covered with long fine hair,
but of a uniform light-brown or silvery-gray colour, and more spcuingly
furnished than on the back and sides; the whiskers are thin and
directed backwards ; there is a small orange-coloured beard on the
chin ; the hair on the temples is directed upwards, and meeting from
both sides forms a pointed ridge or crest on the crown of the head ;
and the tail, short as it is, is terminated by a small brush. The face
and ears are naked, and of a glossy black colour like polished ebony;
the cheek-bones form prominent elevations on each side of the nose^
as in the Mandrill, only not nearly so laige ; neither are they marked
wiih tibe same series of alternate ridges and furrows, nor with the
brilliant and varied colours which render that species so remarkable ;
tiie palms of the hands and soles of the feet are also naked in the
Drill, and of a deep copper-colour ; the colour of the skin, when seen
beneath the hair, is uniform dark-blue, and that of the naked callosities
bright-red. The female differs from the male by her smaller sise,
shorter head, and much paler colour; and the young males exhibit
the same characters up to the time of their second dentition.
The Wood-Baboon, uie Cinereous Baboon, and the Yellow Baboon of
Pennant^ are all manifestly referrible to this species, and differ onlv
from the difference of the age and sex of the specimens from which
he took his description. The habits and manners of the Drill have
not been observed in a state of nature, nor do we find the animal
itself indicated in the works of any of the travellers which we have
consulted. In its native country it is probably confounded with the
MandriU, at least by casual and passing observers, but it is frequently
brought into this country, and is well known as a menagerie-animaL
Its habits in confinement do not appear to difier in any material
respect frx)m those of its congeners.
BA'CCA, the technical name by which botanists distinguish the
fruit commonly called a Berry. "While however the "Rngliah word is
familiarly applied to all soft frrdts, of whatever construction internally,
it is strictly speaking made use of to designate those fruits only which
have a thm skin, are pulpy inteniallv, and have several seeds finally
lying loose in the pulpy mass; warn are the gooseberry, currant^
grape, fridt of the potato, kc When a fruit has only a fleshy rind,
without any internal pulpiness, as is the case with the capsicum,
it is not called a Beiry, but a Berried Capsule. It will be seen
that this definition excludes the berries of the hawthorn, the rasp-
berry, the orange, the rose, fta [Poms; ETiSRio; Hespsbidium;
Ctnabbhodok.]
BA'CCHA, a genus of Insects belonging to the natural order Diptera
and family Syrphida. The species of &is genus of two-winged flies
are peculiar in having the two basal joints of the abdomen remarkably
long and slender, with the remaining joints depressed, and suddenly
increased hi breadth. They are generally of a black or bronze colour,
with yellow spots or markings. They are met with near London, and
fj^uent flowers.
BACILLA'RIA, alargefamily of Infusorial Animalcules, constituted
by Ehrenberg, who includes in it upwards of 80 genera. The silicious
shields of these animalcules are amongst the most numerous of the
forms of Microzoaria in the Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Supei^cial
Deposits. Xcmthidia occur in the Chalk and its included nodules of
flint: OaUlondlcBf Naviculce, Actmocydi, Cotcinoditci, Chmphonema,
and other genera, abound in the white Tertiary Marls of Greece, Italy,
Bohemia, England, and North America. The Silicious Beds of Bohemia
(Polierschiefer), which are 14 feet in thickness, contain innumerable
shields of Navicuke, and probably few of the superficial lacustrine
deposits of Europe are wholly devoid of these exuviie. [Diatomacsa]
BA'CTBIS, a genus of Palms, consisting of a considerable number
of spedes, found about rivers and in maruiy places in America within
the tropics, especially near the Line. Their trunk is usually of
moderate height, or even dwarfish, never exceeding 20 feet ; sometimes
having the stout tree-like aspect of palms in general, but often
more resembling reeds. They often grow in dense patches, forming
impassable thickets, on account of the numerous, long, hard, black
spines with which the stem is protected. The wood is generally
hjBird and black towards the outside, but pale yellow internally, with
black fibres. The leaves usually grow all over &e surface of the sten^
instead of being confined to the summit only. They have extremely
spiny stalks, and are either pinnated after the manner of the date-palm,
or merely consist of two broad, sharp, diverging, plaited lobes. The
fruit is small, soft, with a subacid rather fibrous pulp inclosed in a
bluish-black rind, and affords a grateful frxut to small birds.
Baetrii aecmthocarpa, a species which grows 12 or 15 feet high in
the primaeval woods about Bahia, forming patches SO feet in circum-
ference, and having elegant pinnated leaves 6 or 8 feet long, with stout
spines on their stcJks, yields an extremely tough thread, frt>m which
the natives, who call it Tucum, manufacture strong nets. Its drupes
are of a kind of vermilion-red, bristling with shortblack prickles.
Martins mentions 17 other species.
BACULI'TES, a genus of Lamarck's Polythalamous or Many-
Chambered Cephalopods, belonging to the family of AmmonUtt.
Bactditet, which was first discovered by Faigas de St Fond in the
limestone of Maeetricht, is only known in a fossil state, and is com-
paratively abundant in the limestone of Valognes, in Normandy.
The sh^ is straight, more or lees compressed, conical, or ralher
tapering to a point, and very much elongated. The chambers aro
W
Bactru acanthoearpa.
sinuous^ and pierced by a max^ginal siphon, and the last chamber u
several inches in length. Bctculiiet vertd>ralitf Montfort, affords a
good example of the genus. [Ammonites.]
BaeuHUt verUiralit,
a, b, Portions of BaeuliUs verUbralii ; e, a detached piece of the same.
BADGER (MeU$, Cuvier), a genus of Plantigrade Carnivorous
Mammals included by Linnaus among the Bears, but, as well as the
Gluttons, Racoons, Coatis, &c., very properly separated from that
group by succeeding naturalists.
This genus, as definitely characterised by modem zoologists, is
distinguished by a system of dentition which is in many respects
analogous to that of the Moufettee (MephUu), a genus of Obmtvora,
which indeed is scarcely to be recognised as dmering from the badgers
except in the plantigrade or rather semi-plantigrade formation of
their extremities. There is nothing remarkable either in the sise or
number of the incisor or canine teeth ; the grinders however are in
some respects peculiar, and it is this part of the dentition which
principally distmguishes the Badgers. There are 4 false molars in
the upper and 8 in the under jaw, 2 and 4 on each side respectively,
followed by a camassier and a single tuberculous tooth of large
dimensions. The whole system is better adapted for masticating and
bruising vegetable substances than for cutting and tearing raw flesh ;
Digitized by
Google
Me
BADG&R.
BADGER.
370
and in fact the Badgers are much leas camirorouB than any other
animal of the order to which they belong, except perhaps the bears.
The quality of the food is in all cases necessarily dependent upon the
nature of the dentition. The principal character of the feet in the
badgers conosts in their having fire toes both before and behind,
short, strong; deeply buried in the flesh, and furnished with powerful
compressed claws, admirably calculated for burrowing or turning up
the earth in search of roots. The 1^ are short and muscular ; the
body broad, flat^ and compact ; the h^id more or less prolonged ; the
Buout pointed ; the ears small, and the tail short Beneatii the anus
there is an aperture of considerable size which opens transrersely,
and exudes from its inner surface a greasy or oleaginous matter of
Tery offensiye odour. The same formation is observed in many other
genera of carnivorous mammals, though the qualities of tiie substance
Becreted differ according to the species. In the Civets and Qenetsi, for
instance, its smell is so pleasing as to entitle it to the rank of a
perfume ; whilst in the Moufettes, on the contrary, its odovr is so
extremely fetid as to have acquired for them above all other linimala
the generic name of MepkUu, or Stinkards.
The Badgers sleep all day at the bottom of their burrows, and move
about during the night in search of food. They are fluently accused
of destroying rabbits, game, and even young lambs ,* but roots and
fallen fruits appear to constitute the chi^ part of their food, and they
certainly exhibit a more marked taste for vegetable than for animal
food, at least when kept in confinement. With the poweiM claws of
their fore feet they construct a deep and commodious burrow,
generally in a sandy or light gravelly soil; this has but a single
entrance from without, but it afterwards divides into different
chambers, and terminates in a round apartment at the bottom, whidi
is well lined with diy grass and hay. The habits of the badgers are
extremely solitary ; they are never found in company even with the
females of their own species, and as they sleep all day rolled up in
their bed of warm hay at the bottom of their holes, they are always
fat and in good condition : their flesh is relished in many places as an
article of food. They carefully remove everything of an offensive
nature from their earths, never deposit their excrements in the vici-
nity of their habitations, and are even said to abandon them if acci-
dentally or intentionally polluted by any other creature. In its
geographical distribution the genus extends throughout the whole of
Europe, Northern and Central Asia, and North America : we have no
aooounte of its extending into Africa or South America, in the former
of which continents it appears to be represented by the Battel (Chdo
mdl\vcr<if Desmarest), and in the latter by various species of Moufettes
(MephUit), Australia possesses no species of mammal belonging to
the Plantigrade Family, at least none has been hitherto discovered in
that country ; and in the Eastern Peninsula and Isles of India the
place of the Badger is supplied by the Telagon (Mydaws mdicept,
F. Cuvier).
The number of species which zoologists admit into the genus Mdes
is very limited indeed. All writers, without exception, have followed
F. Cuviet's example in excluding the Indian Badger, for the pur-
pose of making it the type of a new genus, though for what reason it
would be difficult to say, since the dental system of this animal has
never been properly described, and in all its other characters it differ^
in no respect from the Conmion Badger. Many again are disposed
to ooiuddar the American Badger as only a simple variety of the
European : so that according to these authors the genus includes
only a single species. The observations of Sir John Richardson how-
evur have placed the distinctness of the American animal beyond
a doubt; and so long as we have no definite obeervations to con-
tradict the appoximation, we shall continue to associate the Indian
speciea with the genus to which its known characters so nearly assi-
milate it.
1. Jf . vulgaris (Desmarest), the Common Badger, is about the size of
a middling dog, but stands much lower on the legs, and has a broader
and flatter body. The head is long and pointed, the ears almost con-
cealed in the hair of the head, and the tail so short that it scarcely
reaches to the middle of the hind legs ; the hide is amazingly thick
and tough ; the hair uniformly long and coarse over the whole body,
and trailing along the ground on each side as the animal walks. The
Badger and its congeners offer a strange intermixture of colours, which
is seen in no other mammal, except those of the genera Oulo and
MepkUig, which, as already remarked, approximate so nearly to it in
many other respects : in general the dai^er shades are found to pre-
dominate upon the back and upper parts of the body, and the lighter
below; but in the animals above-mentioned this general rule is
reversed, and it is the light shades which occupy the back and
shoulders, whilst the dark ones are spread over the breast and abdo-
i. The head of the Badger for instance is white, except the
on beneath the chin, which is black, and two bands of the same
lur, which rise on each side a little behind the comers of the
mouth, and after passing backwards and enveloping the eye and ear
terminate at tiie junction of the head and neck. The hairs of the
upper port of the body, considered separately, are of three different
colours, yellowish-white at the bottom, black in the middle, and ashy-
gray at we point ; the last colour alone however appears externally,
and gives the uxdfoim sandy-gray shade which oovers all the xn>per
parts of the body : the tail is furnished with long coarse hair of the
■AT. HIST. WV. VOL, I
same colour and quality, and the throaty breast^ belly, And limbs are
covered with shorter hair of a uniform deep blacL
Though the Badger is found throughout all tiie northern parts of
Europe and Asia» it is rather a scarce animal everywhere. Its food is
chiefly roots, fruits, insects, and frogs, but it likewise destroys the
eggs and young of partridges and other birds which build on the
ground, and attacks the nests of the wild bees, which it robs with
imponity, as the length of its hair and the thickness of its hide render
it insensible to the sting of the bee. It chooses the most solitary
woods for its residence, is quiet and inoffensive in its manners, but
when attacked defends itself with a courage pnd resolution which few
dogs of double its own size and weight can overcome. It bites
angrily, and holds on with great tenaoity, which it is enabled to do
the more easily from the peculiar construction of the articulation or
hinge that connects its under jaw with the skull, and whi<^ consists
of a transverse condyle completely locked into a bony cavity of the
cranium. The Badger is not mentioned by Aristotle, and possibly
may not be found in Greece, as the ancient language of that country
has not even a name for it, and as it is less common in the southern
than in the northern parts of Europe. PUny however notices it under
the name of Mdit (viiL 38), and various other Roman authors have
spoken of it. More recent writers also use Taxtu^ pexhaps derived,
]ike other Roman names of northern animals, from the German
language, in which the Badger is called Zacht or J>ack8 ; in Dutch
Dot. The female brings forth her young in the early part of spring,
to the number of three, four, or five ; she continues to suckle Uiem
carefully for the first five or six weeks, and afterwards accustoms
them gradually to shift for themselves. When taken young tiiey are
easily tamed, and become as familiar and playful as puppies ; they
soon leam to distinguish their master, and show their attacnment 1^
following or fawning upon those who feed them; the old however are
always indocile, and continue solitary and distrustful under the most
gentle treatment.
llie Badger is hunted in some parts of the country during the
bright moonlight nights, when he goes abroad in search of food. The
hide, when properly dressed, makes the best pistol furniture; the
hair is valuable for making brushes to soften the shades in painting;
and the hind-quarters, when salted and smoked, make excellent hams.
This kind of food indeed is not so universally esteemed in our own
country as in China, where Bell informs us that he saw dozens of
Badgers at a time hanging in the meat-markets of Pekin ; but there
is no reason why it should be inferior to the flesh of the bear, which
is imiversally esteemed by all who have tasted it
2. M. Labradorica (Sabine), the American Badger, measures, when
full grown, about two feet and a half from the muzzle to the root of the
tail, which is six inches more. Its snout is less attenuated than that
of the European species, though its head is equally long ; its ears are
short and round, the claws of its fore feet much longer in proportion
than those of Uie common s^>ecies, its tail comparatively shorter, its
fur of a quality altogether different, its colours also very different,
and its appetites more decidedly carnivorous ; the head and extremi-
ties alone are covered with short coarse hair ; all the other parts of
the body are famished with remarkably soft, fine, silky for, upwards
of four inches in length, and differing only in being raUier more
sparingly supplied on the under than on the upper parts.
The American Badger is called Brairo and Simeur by the Canadians,
Mistonusk and Awawteekseoo, or the Digging Animal, bv the Crees, and
Chocartoosh by the Pawnee Indians. Its fonn and habits have been
weU described by Sir John Richardson in his admirable 'Fauna
Boreali-Americana.'
" The Mela Labradorica," says Sir John, " frequents the sandy plains
or prairies which skirt the Rocky Mountains as far north as the banks
of the Peace River, and sources of the River of the Mountains, in lat
68**. It aboimds on the plains watered by the Missouri, but its exact
southern range has not, as far as I know, been defined by any traveller.
The sandy prairies in the neighbourhood of Carlton House, on the
banks of Uie Saskatchewan, and also on the Red River that flows into
Lake Winipeg, are perforated by innumerable badger-holes, which are
a great annoyance to horsemen, particularly when the ground is covered
with snow. These holes are partly dug by the badgers for habitations^
but the greater number of them are merely enlargements of the bur-
rows of the Acdomys HwtdU and Bichardaonii, which the badgers dig
up and prey upon. Whilst the ground is covered with snow, the
badger rarely or never comes from its hole ; and I suppose that in
that climate it passes the winter, from the beginning of November
till April, in a toroid state. Indeed, aa it obtains the small animals
upon which it feeds by surprising them in their burrows, it has little
chance of digging them out at a time when the ground is frozen into
a solid rock. Idke the bears, the badgers do not lose much flesh
during their long hybernation, for on coming abroad in the spring
they are observed to be very fat As they pair however at that
season they soon become lean. The badger is a slow and timid
anxmaJ, talang to the first earth it meets with when pursued ; and
as it makes its wa^ through the sandy soil with the rapidity of a
mole, it soon places itself out of the reach of dan^. The strength
of its fore feet and daws is so great^ that one which had insinuated
only its head and shoulders into a hole resisted the utmost efforts of
two stout young men, who endeavoured to drag it out by the bind
2b
Digitized by
Google
871
BADISTER.
^ALAmrnja.
n
le§^ and tail, until one of them fired the contents of his fowling-piece
into its body. Early in the spring however, when they first begin to
stir abroad, they may be easily caught by pouring water into their
boles ; for the ground being frozen at tiiat period, the water does not
escape through the sand, but soon fills the hole, and its tenant is
obliged to come out. The American Badger appears to be a more
carnivorous animal than the European one. A female which I killed
had a small marmot^ nearly entire, together with some field mice, in
its stomach. It had also been eating some vegetable matters." As
to the southern limit of the geographical range of the species, at
least in one direction, it is known to inhabit Mexico, as appears
from the detailed and correct description of Fernandez, who
calls it by the native name of Ilaooyotl or Coyotlhumuli ; and a very
fine skin was some time ago sent from California to the Zoological
Society.
8. M. eoUaritf the Indian Badger, called Bhalloo-Soor, or Bear-Pig,
by the Hindoos, is about the size of the Common Badger, but stands
Indian Badger {MeU$ eollarU).
higher upon its legs, and is at once distinguished by its attenuated
muzzle ending in a truncated snout, like that of the common hog,
and by its small and nearly naked taU. The whole height of tfaSs
animal is about 20 inches, and the length of its tail 9 mches. It
has the body and limbs of a bear, with the snout> eyes, and tail of
a hog. Its ears are shorty completely covered with hair, and sur-
rounded by a slight border of white.
The individuals, a male and female, observed in the menagerie
of the Governor-general at Barrackpoor by the French naturalist
Duvancel, who furnished Mons. F. Cuvier with the materials for his
description, were remarkably shy and wild. The female however was
less lavage than the male, and showed a certain degree of intelligence,
which gave reason to believe that, if taken young, this animal might
be easily domesticated. They passed the greater part of the day
buried beneath the straw of their den in deep sleep. All their move-
ments were remarkably slow. Though they did not altogether refuse
animal food, yet they exhibited a marked predilection for bread,
fhiits, and other substances of a vegetable nature. When irritated
they uttered a peculiar kind of grunting noise, and bristled up the
hair of their back ; if still further tormented, they would nuse them-
selves upon their hind legs like a bear, and appeared, like that animal,
to poflsem a power in their arms and claws not less formidable than
their teeth. This is confirmed by Mr. Johnson in his ' Sketches of
Indian Field Sports.' "Badgers in India," says he, "are marked
exactly like those in England, but they are laiger and taller, are
exceedingly fierce, and will attack a number of dogs. I have seen
dogs tiiat would attack a hysna or wolf afraid to encounter them.
They are scarce, but occasionally to be met with among the hills. In
their nature they resemble the bear."
BADI'STER, a genus of Insects belonging to the order CoUoptera,
and tunilj ffarpalidcB, This genus, together with the genera Trmor-
phvi, LictmUf ltemhu$t and DiccduM, form a conspicuous group among
the Cvumiwira of the Beetle Tribe. [Licnnis.]
BAfiTIS, a genus of Insects of the order Neuroptera, and family
BphemeridcB, This is one of the four genera of the British family
of May-Flies. The generic characters are taken from the number
of wings, and the setae, or hair-like appendages to the abdomen.
The genus JBpJiemera has four wings and throe setae; BaStia has
four wings and two setae; Brachycereua has two wings and three
setae ; and Cloion has two wings and two setae. These setae are of
great use to the little animal in steering its way through the air
whilst performing that beautifully undulating fiight which all must
have observed. It is to the first of these genera {Ephemera) that the
common May-Fly belongs.
BAGO'US, a genus of Insects belonring to the order CoUop-
tera, and family Ourculionidce, The litUe Beetles composing this
genus are all of a mud-colour, and feed upon aquatic plants, probably
both in the larva and imago states. There are six or eight species
found in England.
BAGSHOT SAND. One of the lower memben of the Tertaarr
Group of England is thus designated.
BAIKALITE, a light-green variety of Augite, deriving its name
from its locality, the mouth of the river Sljumank% which &B1 mto
LakeBaikaL [Auoite.]
BALA LIMESTONE, one of the most interesting of the Calcanom
Deposits which have b^en examined by Professor Sedgwi^ in tb
midst of the Schistose Rocks of North Wales. There are two ba&di
of this rook, exhibited on the west of the Berwyn Mountains and od
the east of Bala Lake. Two miles north-east of Bala the limeito&e
and the schistose rocks in which it lies may be well seen, and
numerous fossils may be gathered at this and at many other pointt in
the vicinity of Bala, on both sides of the lake. Professor Sedgwid
has satisfied geologists of the true position of these rocks witii refi^
enoe to the slates of the Berwyn range, and the flags and elates of
Llangollen. The series is in two parts, thus : —
Upper Part Flags and schistose beds of Llangollen, with upper
Silurian fossils.
Lower Part Schistose beds with limestone bands, the lowest of
which occur at Bala, and yield lower Silurian fossils.
This is the view of Professor Sedgwick, and the Bala and Llandeilo
limestones are thus nearly coevaL
BAL^'NA (from the Greek «<£Axuj/a), the Latin name of tiie Com-
mon or Greenland Whale, and adopted by naturalists as a gtnienc
term, to comprehend all the other species which agree with it in thdr
zoological characters. [Cstaoea.]
BAL^ENO'PTERA. This term was invented by Lac^pMe, to
denote those whales which are distinguished by having an adipose fin
on the back, whence they are called Finners by sailors, and which he
proposed to separate from the other BakewB for the purpose of fonn-
ing them into a distinct genus. The character however upon whkh
he proposed to make this separation is utterly void of importaoce,
and exercises no assignable influence upon the habits and economr c<f
animal life. His division is consequently vicious, and cannot b«
admitted into a natural or philosophical system of mammalogy, it
least for any other purpose than as a matter of simple oonrenieooe.
The word itself is compounded of the terms balana^ a whale, md
mipoVf a wing or fin.
BALANI'NUS, a genus of Insects belonging to the order Oiof-
tera, and family Cwculionidcc The species of this genus are all
remarkable for possessing a long slender rostrum or snout, which is
furnished at the tip with a minute pair of sharp horizontal jaws : thii
instrument is used by the animal in depositing its egga, which are
generally placed in the kernel of some frmt
Balaninut Nucum, the Nut-Weevil, deposits its eggs in both the
common nut and the filbert^ having bored a hole for that pnipoie
/
T^ttUWeevil {Bahtnmtt* JVtioan).
1, The tip of the rostrum magnified, showing the Jawa, a a; 2, side riev d
the same ; 8, the larva ; 4, the pupa. The larva, pupa, and perfect InKct, ire
each represented rather larger than the natural aise.
while the nut is young and tender. When about to perfonn this
operation, the little animal may be seen travelling over the not, and
feeling with its antennse to discover a convenient situation, in teleci*
ing which it shows great care. The root being determined on, it cats
a hole with the jaws at the top of the snout until it readiea the
kernel ; in this hole the egg is deposited, which in a short time »
hatched and becomes a maggot or larva. The nut being bat alightly
izgured contiifues to grow and ripen, while the larva feeds upon it«
kernel In course of time this larva gnaws a hole in the shall,
through which it makes its escape^ and immediately buirows into tb«
ground, where it assumes the pupa state, from which, in the foUowi^g
Digitized by
Google
S7S
BALANOPHORACKfi.
BALAS RUBY.
>74
Bmumer, the perfect inBect proceeds. The preceding figure repreeenta
a nut which has been pierced by the larva.
BalaninuB Glandium, another species of the same genus, attacks
the aoom in the same manner as the one above mentioned does the nut
BALANOPHORA'CEuE, Oynomoriunu, a natural order of Parasi-
tical Plants belonging to the sub-class JlhitanthecB, They grow upon
the roots of woody plants, in tropical coimtrieB, rooting into their
wood, from which they draw their nutriment^ as the mistletoe from
the branches of the thorn. None of the species have fully-formed
leaves ; but, in lieu of them, closely-packed fleshy scales clothe their
stems and guard their flowers in their infancy. Succulent in texture,
dingy in colour, and often springing from a brown and shapeless root-
stock, JBalanophoracecB remind the observer of Fungi more than of
flowering plants : and in tact they appear intermediate in nature
between the two. If they have flowers and sexes, both are of the
simplest kind; and their ovules, instead of changing to seeds, like
those of other flowering plants, become, according to Endlicher, bags
of spores, like those of true flowerless plants. Even their woody
system is of the most imperfect kind, for it is either entirely, or almost
entirely, destitute of spiral vessels. It is probable that numerous
genera and species of this singular order still remain undiscovered in
the depths of tropical forests, where they lurk among the herbage, and
are not likely to attract the attention of the mere flower-gatnering
traveller. All the species, with the exception of one found in Malta,
are natives of the tropics. The species have had a reputation as
styptics. The Cynomorium coccinewniy or Pungta Melttenm, has been
employed for this purpose. Various species of HeUma have had a
similar reputation. Poppig says the Chnbrophyton is eaten in Peru.
The species of Sarcophyte have an atrocious o^our.
Bakmophoraeem,
0, A head of flowers cut through vertically ; », a highly-msgnifled view of a
portion of the receptacle with two fertUe flowers ; 0, a male flower in the midst
of some fertile ones ; d, an ovary ; «, a ripe ftroit ; /, a transverse section of
the same ; f , a vertical section of the same ; h, a Jointed hair of the receptacle.
BALA'NTIA, ftom fiaXivriov, a bag or pouch, the generic name
which tbe German naturalist lUiger gave to the animals commonly
called PKaUmgen {Phakmgitta) : tbe latter name he reserves for the
PtUmritti (Petavrut) of other zoologists. [Marsupiata.]
BA'LANUS, a genus of Sessile Cirrhipeds or Barnacles, formed by
Bruguik^B from some species of the genus Lepat, Linn. Balanui offers
a great variety of form ; but the shell will be found to consist of six
valves, four of which are comparatively large, coalescing at the sides,
and forming iJtogether a rude hollow cone, whose aperture is closed
by an opezcolum of four valves (between tiie two foremost of which
iwie the jointed feather-like tentacula), and its base by a testaceous
plate.
The genua is most widely difihised, and abounds upon almost all
bodies, whether fixed or moveable, that offer an opportunity for it to
attach itself to them, and are immersed in the sea. On rocks left dry
at low water, on ships, on timber, whether floating or at rest^ on lobstei^i
and other crustaceans, on the shells of conchifers and moUuaks, colonies
of Balani are to be found.
BcdoMU Piittactu {Lepa$ PtiUaeus, Molina) is described by Captain
P. P. King, R.N., in his ' Description of the Cirrhipeda, Conchifera,
and MoUusca, in a Collection formed by the Officers of H.M.S. Adven-
ture and Beagle, employed between the years 1826 and 1830 in
surveying the Southern Coasts of South America, including the Straits
of Magalhaens and the Coast of Tierra del Fuego.'
a, Balanut Prittaet$$, aboot one- fourth of the natural su«.
b. The opercular valves, natural size.
'* This cirrhiped," writes Captain King, '' which at Concepcion de
Chile is frequently of a larger size than 54 inches long and 84 inches
in diameter, forms a very common and highly-esteemed food of the
natives, by whom it is called Pico, from the acuminated processes of
the two posterior opercular valves. The anterior and posterior oper-
cular valves, when in contact, present some resemblance to a parrot's
beak, whence Molina's name. It is also foimd very abundantly at
Valdivia and at Calbuco, near the north of the island of Chiloe. It
occurs in laige bimches, and presents somewhat of a cactus-like appear-
ance. The parent is covered by its progeny, so that large branches
are found composed of from 50 to 100 distmct individuals, each of
which becomes in its turn the foimdation of another colony. One
specimen, in the possession of my friend W. J. Broderip, Esq^comnsts
of a numerous group based on two large individuals. They are
collected by being chopped off with a hatchet. At Concepcion, where
they are found of larger size than to the southward, they are principally
procured at the island of Quiriquina, which lies across the entrance of
the bay; whence they are exported in laige quantities to Valparaiso
and Santiago de Chile, whero they aro considered as a great delicacy;
and indeed with some justice, for the flesh equals in richness and
delicacy that of the crab, which, when boiled and eaten cold, it very
much resembles."
The spined and smooth varieties of Balanut Montaguif Sowerby
(AeoMta ifofUtLffui, Leach), afford examples of those species which live
in sponges.
a, BaUmu$ Moniagvi,
h. Variety without spines, and with a flat btse.
Fossil Bidani have been found in the later deposits, and species are
recorded from the beds at Piacenza, Bordeaux, Paris, Essex, &o.
[C1BBHIFEDA.I
BALAS RUBY, a term used by lapidaries to designate the rose-red
varieties of Spind. [Spinel.] It should be carefully distinguished
Digitized by
Google
376
BALBUSARDUS HALI^TUS.
BALSAMODENDRON.
from OriaUal Ruby (the Sapphir^, a gem of muoh greater rarity and
value. [Adamantinb Spar.]
BALBUSARDUS UALIiETUS, a name for the Bald Buzzard or
Osprey. [FALCX)NiDiB; Ospret.]
BALD BUZ2^RDy one of the English names for the Osprey or
Fishing Eagle, Uie Faleo HtUicBttu of LinnsBus, Pandion Halicetut
of Savignv. [FALOONiDiB ; Ospret.]
BALIO^TICHUa A fossil plant in the Laminated Lithographic
Limestone of Pappenheim, is named Baiiottichui amatut by Sternberg.
BALISTES, a genus of Fishes belonging to the order Pleetognaih^
and fiimily ScUrodermet of Cuvier. These groups are intermediate in
point of structure between the coomion or osseous tribes and the car-
tilaginous tribes ; for though the skeleton is in reality of a fibrous or
bony texture, it ossifies very slowly, and is never entirely complete ;
the ribs ia particular usually remain imperfect throughout the whole
period of tne auimars life. The maxillary and intermaxillary bones,
again, form but a simple piece, distinguished only by a slight suture
or furrow at the point of junction, and the palatal arch is soldered
firmly to the skull, and consequently devoid of individual motion.
The opercula and gUl-rays are concealed beneath the skin, which gave
origin to an opinion, at one time common even among professed
naturalists, tliat these fishes wanted the branchial apparatus altogether.
The BalitleM are particularly distinguished by the vertical compres-
sion of the body, by having eight teeth arranged in a single row in
each jaw, and a scaly or granulated skin. They have two dorsals ; the
first composed of numerous powerful spines, articulated to a peculiar
bone, itself articulated to the skull, and furnished with a longitudinal
furrow for the reception of the spines, which can be erected or
depressed at the will of the animal ; the second large, soft, or without
spmee, and placed opposite to an anal fin of similar structure. Like
other genera of the same order, the BaUstes have no ventral fins ;
notwithstanding which, however, their skeleton is furnished ¥dth a
complete pelvis, suspended fix>m the bones of the shoulder. The
intestinal canal is large, but without cseca, and the air-bladder of
considerable size. These fish abound in aU the seas of the torrid zone,
where they swim on tiie sui*face of the water, particularly in the
neighbourhood of rocky coasts and coral reefs, feeding with avidity
upon the polypi of the i-eefs, and shining with the most brilliant and
varied colours. Their fiesh is at all times very indifferent food, and
is said to be actually poisonous during the period that the coral-wonns
are in season. The species are very numerous. They are easily dis-
tinguished by the rhomboidal form of their large and hard scales,
which are disposed in regular rows, not overlapping one another as in
the generality of fishes, but merely touching at their edges, and thus
giving the whole body the appearance of being divided into so many
regular compartments. Though, as already observed, they have no
TfuX abdominal fins, yet a few isolated spines are often found in the
vicinity of the pelvis, which have been generally considered as repre-
senting these oi^gans ; and the greater number have the sides of the
tail armed with one or more rows of strong spines curved forwards.
«. BA'LLOTA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
LahuU<Bt and the tribe Siackydea, It has the anthers approximating
in pairs, the cells divei^ng, bursting longitudinally. The upper lip
of the oorolla is erect, concave, the lower three-lobed, the middle lobe
cordate. The calyx is funnel-shaped, with five eqiial teeth. There
are two British species of this g^us, B. foetida and B, ruderalis,
B. fcaida is the most common plant, and goes by the name of Hore-
hound. TheWhiteHorehoimd is the if arfti6iiMi»tn«^are. [Marbubium.]
.BALM. [MiLisaA.]
BALSAM. [IMPATIENS.]
*BALSAMI'FLU^, Lu^Udambart, a natural order of plants con-
sisting of only one genus, Li^(uidambar, first indicated by Theodore
Nees von Esenbeck, defined by Dr. Blume in his ' Flora Jav»,' and
adopted by Lindley in his ' Vegetable Kingdom' under the name of
AUingiaeea. It is intermediate between the Willow and Plane Tribes,
from the former of which it diff'ers in having a 2-ceUed fruit and down-
less seed, and from the latter in having numerous seeds. It consiBte
of lofty trees, flowing vdth balsamic juice, bearing the flowers in small
scaly heads, vdthout either calvx or corolla, and having tiie stamens
in one kind of head and the pistils in another. The different species
yield the resinous fragrant substance called Liquid Storax, which is so
much prized by the inhabitants of the East. [Liquidambab ; Storax,
in Abtb and Sa Dnr.]
BALSA'MIKA, one of the two genera of which the natural order
BaltamvMcea consists. It differs from ImpaHens in having all its
anthers 2-celled, its stigmas distinct^ and the valves of its fruits curling
inwards when bursting. There are numerous species, seve^ of which
have very himdsome flowers. They are chiefly found in the damper
MTts of the East Indies ; but the only one that is much known in
Europe is the common Garden Balsam {Balsamina hortentU), which
in its double state has been an object of cultivation since the earliest
records of modem horticulture. This plants which is supposed to be
found wild in the mountainous parts of Silhet^ in the form of what
botanists call B<dtamina tripetala, is one of those species which not
only has a tendency to vary with double flowers, but has also the
power of continuing to produce them when renewed from seeds. On
this account it particularly deserves the attention of the cultivator,
especially as it may be brought by art to a state of beauty equalled by
few plants. All that is necessary in order to secure fine T^lafttTJp^ {^^
first to save the seed with great care from the finest and moat doable
fiowers only, throwing away all whole-coloured and single blossomB ;
and secondly, to cultivate the plants with a due regard to ^ natural
habits of the species. A native of the hot damp shady woods of
Silhet^ it is incapable of bearing much drought or bright sunshine. It
should therefore be raised in a hot-bed, treated with great care as a
tender annual, grown in rich soil, sheltered from excessive sunliglit,
and kept constantly in a damp atmosphere, but freely and fully venti-
lated. It should not however be stimulated into extremely rapid
growth until the plants have become stout bushes and the flowers have
grown to the size of small peas. At that time the plants shotild have
all the heat and moisture they can bear, and the most brilliant flowen
the plant is capable of producing will be the result. In the latter
stage of growth great care is still to be taken to expoee the plants fully
to air.
BALSAMINA'CE^, a small natural order of plants belongiDg to
the Gynobasic group of Dicotyledons, and principally distinguished
from Geraniacece by their many-seeded fruit and unsymmetrical flowen.
They are succulent herbs, most abundant in hot countries, with simple
opposite or alternate leaves, and showy flowers^ with a spiur to their
calyx. They have no sensible properties of importance, but are the
ornament of the damp or swampy places in which they grow wild
The order is remarkable for the elastic force with which the valves of
its fruit contract and reject the seeds.
Impatimu Noli-tangere,
a, a calyx magnified, with one of the petals ; ft, the fh>nt of aa anther ; e, the
back of the aame ; d, an ovary eat across ; e, the ripe fruit ; /, the same in the
act of bursting and scattering its seeds ; p, a seed ; A, the same eat transversely.
BALSAMODE'NDRON, a genus of oriental trees belonging to the
natural order Amyridcicecef and remarkable for their powerftil balsamic
juice. They have small green axillary dioecious flowers, a minute
4-toothed persistent calyx, four narrow inflected petals, eight stamens
inserted below an annular disk, from which eight little excrescences
arise alternating with the stamens, and a small oval drupe with four
sutures, and either one or two cells, in each of which is lodged a single
seed. The leaves are pinnated, with one or two pairs of leaflets, and
an odd one.
B. OpobcUtamumf the Balessan of Bruce, has a trunk from six to eig^t
feet hi^ furnished with a number of slender branches ending in a
sharp spine. The leaves consist of from five to seven sessile^, obovate,
entire, and shining leaflets, within which are placed the small flowers,
which grow in pairs on short slender stalks, and are succeeded by
small oval plums. From this is distinguished the
B. GUeadmse, supposed to be the fiaXtrdfiav itpBpop of Theophrastus,
which is described as a middle-sized tree, with the leaflets growing in
threes, and the flowers singly. But it is probable that, as these balsam-
trees are foimd in the same places, and produce the same substance,
they are in &ct nothing but varieties of the same speciea They both
produce three different substances : 1, Balm of Mecca, or Balm of
Digitized by
Google
377
BALTIMORITR
BAM6USA.
878
Bttltamodendron Myrrha,
Qileftd, or Opoba]mmum ; 2, Xylobalaamum ; and 3» CarpobalBamum ;
the fint obtained from the trunk of the bakmn-trees by aimple inci-
sion ; the seoond by boiling the branches and skimming ofif we resin
as it rises to the surface of the water ; and the thud by simple
pressure of the frxiit They are no longer met with, even in gardens,
about Gilead in Palestine.
B. Myrrha is a small scrubby tree found in Arabia Felix, near
Gison, Bcattered among species of Acacia, Euphorbia, and Moringa,
Both its wood and barii have a strong
and remarkable odour. The branches
are stiff, short, and spiny ; the leaves
composed of three oboTate unequal
leaflets, with distinct orenatnres, and
the fruit a narrow, oval, furrowed
plum, surrounded at the base by the
persistent calyx.
B. KaiofhiE £Bwer spines, and downy
and more distinctly serrated leaves.
Its wood, which is red and resinous, is
a common article of sale in Egypt
Whatever maybe the product of the
last spepies, which Forskal states to
produce the myrrh of commerce, it is
now certain that this 'substance is
yielded by Balsamodendron Myrrhat,
which Ehrenberg found on the fron-
tiers of Nubia and Arabia, bearing a
substance identical with the myrrh of
the shops. It is therefore no longer
to be doubted that the suggestion of
Bruce^ that it is the produce of a kind
of Mimosa — a most improbable circum-
stance, by the way — originated in some
incorrect observation.
B, Zeylanieum is mentioned as a
fifth species, producing oriental Elemi,
which is veiy different from theAmeri-
cankind; but of this too little is known
to enable us to do more than advert
to its existence.
Myrrh, a natural g^m-resin, the source of which was long doubtful,
was observed l^ Ehrenbeig to exude from the bark of the above-
mentioned species of balm, much in the same way as gum tragacanth
exudes fiY>m the Attragalv* vents. It is at first soft, oily, and of a
yellowish-white colour, tiien acquires the consistence of butter, and by
exposure to the air becomes harder, and changes to a reddOsh hue.
As met with in commerce it is of two kinds, that which i^ called
Myrrh in Tears, and that called Myrrh in Sorts.
Dr. Von Maitius mentions a White Myrrh, which has a very bitter
taste like colocynth, and an external appearance like ammoniacum ;
it is probably ammoniacum treated with tinctmre of colocynth.
Another false myrrh may be distinguished by its transparency and
less bitter taste. JBalbavb ; Myrrh, in Arts and So. Div.]
BALTIMORITE, a mineral which is a variety of Serpentme, and is
composed of longitudinal fibres adhering to each other. It has a
silky lustre, is opaque, but in thin pieces translucent on the edges. Its
hardness is less than that of calcareous spar. It is found at Baltimore,
United State& The following is the analysis by Dr. Thompson : —
Silica 40-96
Magnesia S4*70
Protoxide of Iron 10'05
Alumina 1-60
Water 12-60
BAMBU'SA, the Bamhoo, a genus of Grasses, weU known for its
great economical importance, but consisting of species which are very
imperfectly underrtood by botanists. It is remarkable in structure,
among other things, for having only one st^le, which is more or less
deeply two- or three-parted, three minute scales at the base of its ovary,
and six stamens.
It is doubtftil whethw nature has conferred upon the inhabitants of
hot countries any boon more valuable than the Bamboo, unless it be
the CooosrNut ; to such a multitude of uaefbl purposes are its light,
strong, and graceful stems appUcabla These are universally pu£ed
forth by a strong, jointed, subterranean, creeping rootstock, which is
the true trunk of the Bamboo, the shoots being the branches. The
latter are hard externally and coated with flint ; in the inside they
are hollow, except at the nodes, where strong partitions stretch across
the inside, and cut off the interior into a number of doeed-np cylin-
ders. In the cavity of these oyUnders water is sometimes secreted,
or, less eommonly, an opaque white substance, becoming opaline when
wetted, consisting of a flinty secretion, of whidi the plant divests
itself, called Tabasheer, concemiBg the optical properties of whidi
Sir David Brewster has made some curious discoveries.
In their manner of growth they exhibit a beautiful example of a
contrivaaoe by which they are enabled to grow into the dense tufts
which they usually foim. When full-grown a bamboo is a straight rod,
bearing a number of stiff branches, which shoot at nearly right angles
from the main stem ; and it ia difficult to conceive by what arrange*
ment such a stem elevates itself through the dense mass of rigid
branches which cross each other in every direction. This is however
contrived by nature in a very simple manner. The young shoot of a
bamboo, whatever its lenjgth may be, when it is first produced, is a
perfectly simple sucker, lUce a shoot of asparagus, but having a sharp
point, and in this state it pierces readily the dense overhsnging
branches ; it is only when it has arrived at its full length and has
penetrated through all obstacles, that it begins to form its lateral
shoots ; and these, which are emitted horizontally, readily inteipose
themselves between the horizontal laterals of the bamboo stems among
which they grow. In the words of Dr. Roxbux^gh, the shoots, on
their first I4>p!earance, resemble a large straight elephant's tusk invested
in stout leathery sheaths.
The purposes to which different species of Bamboo are applied are
BO numerous that it woiild be difficult to point out an object in which
strength and elasticity ieire requisite, and for which lightness is no
objection, to which the stems are not adapted in the countries where
they grow. The young shoots of some species are cut when tender,
and eaten like asparagus. The full-grown stems, while green, form
elegant cases, exhiding a perpetual moisture, and capable of transport-
ing fresh fiowers for hundreds of miles : when ripe and hard they are
converted into bows, arrows, and quivers, lance-shafts, the masts of
vessels, bed-posts, walking-sticks, the poles of palanquins, the floors
and supporters of rustic bridges, and a variety of similar purposes.
In a growing state the spiny kmds are formed into stockades, which
are impenetrable to any but regular infiuitiy, aided by artillery.* "By •
notching their sides the Malays make wonderfully light scaling-ladders,
which can be conveyed with facility where heavier machines could
not be transported. Bruised and crushed in water, the leaves and
stems form Chinese paper, the finer qualities of which are only improved
by a mixture of raw cotton and by more careful pounding. The leaves
of a small species are the materiid used by the Chinese for the lining
of their tea^hests. Cut into lengths and the partitions knocked out^
they form durable water-pipes, or by a little contrivance are made into
excellent cases for holding rolls of paper. Slit into strips they afford
a most durable material for weaving into mats, baskets, window-blinds,
and even the sails of boats. Finally, the larger and thicker truncheons
are exquisitely carved by the Chinese into beautiful ornaments. It is
however more especially for building purposes that the bamboo is
important. According to Marsden, in Sumatra the frame-work of the
houses of the natives is chiefly composed of this material In the
floorings, whole stems, four or five inches in diameter, are laid dose to
each other, and across these stems laths of split bamboo about an inch
wide are fastened down with filaments of the rattan-cane. Tlie sides
of the houses are closed in with the bamboo opened, and rendered fiat
by splitting or notching the circular joints on the outside, chipping
away the corresponding divisions within, and laying it in the sun to
dry, pressed down with weights. Whole bamboos often form the
upright timbers, and the house is generally roofed in with a thatch of
narrow split bamboos, six feet long, placed in regular layers, each
reaching within two feet of the extremity of that bcmeath it> by which
a treble covering is formed. Another and most ingenious roof is also
formed by cutting large straight bamboos of sufficient length to reach
from the ridge to the eaves, then splitting them exactly in two, knock-
ing out tibe partitions, and arranging them in close order with the
hdlow or inner sides uppermost ; after which a second layer, with the
outer or convex sides up, is placed upon the other in such a manner
that each of the convex pieces falls into the two contiguous concave
pieces, covering their edges ; the latter serving as gutters to cany off
the rain that falls upon &.e upper or convex layer.
The different species of BanUnua may be oonveniently distributed
in three sections.
I. Anatic Bamboos, with the Flovjcrt either tn Spikes or Panicles.
1. B. arundinacea, Boxburgh. Spiny. Leaves very narrow, covered
with asperities on the margin and upper surface. (Called Bans
in Bengal.) Common in ridi, moist soil, among the mountains of
India. The stems grow in dusters, frv>m 10 to 100, from the same
root-stock, and are straight for 18 or 20 feet When in flower it is
usually destitute of leaves, and as the extremity of every ramification
is covered with blossom, the whole tree seems one entire immense
panide. Its seeds are used as rice. Tabasheer is found in its joints.
2. B, strieta, Boxb. Somewhat spiny. Flowers in extremely
compact whorls. Said to be a smaller species than the last : it grows
in a drier situation, has a much smaller cavity, and is very straight
Its great strength, solidity, and straightness render it much fitter for
many uses, ^om this the shafts of lances are made in India.
8. jB*. vulgaris, WendL Not spiny ; leaves very narrow, covered at
the edge and on the upper mr&^oe with asperities. Found in the
East Indies, whence it is thought to have been carried to the West
Its stems are firom 20 to 80 feet long, and as thick as a child's arm.
4. B. spinosa, Boxb. Strongly armed with both single and com-
pound spines ; leaves very narrow, rardy more than six inches lonf .
{Behor Bans, in Bengal) Common about Calcutta, and in the south
of India, forming an impenetrable jungle ; also often cultivated round
Indian villages. It has a smaller hollow than most of the others, and
is consequently stronger thsn many of them. Dr. Roxburgh describes
it as rising in such dense tufts as to appear Uke a single trunk at some
Digitized by
Google
S79
BAMBUSA.
BAMBUSA.
380
difltanoe ; and by help of their spiny branches ao bound together that
it is a most arduous task to out down an old dump of them. The
stems are from 80 to 50 feet long.
6. B, TuldOf Roxb. Not spiny ; leaves broad, rounded or heart-
shaped at the base. (Tulda Bans in Bengal; Peka Bant of the
Hindoos.) Common all over Bengal. Its growth is so rapid that the
stems, which are sometimes as much as 70 feet long and 12 inches in
dronmference, rise to their full height in about 30 .days. Before their
lateral shoots are formed, they are described as resembling fishing-rods
of immense size. The young thick shoots, when about two feet high,
are tender, and form an excellent pickl& It is chiefly used for
scaffolding and for covering the houses of the natives ; it is found to
last much longer if steeped in water some time before being used. Of
this species Dr. Roxburgh mentions several varieties. Jowa Bans is a
larger variety, with longer and thicker joints; BatirU Bans has a
]aiiger cavity, and is chiefly used to make baskets. Behoor Bans is of
a small size, very solid and strong, much bent to one side, and armed
with numerous strong thorns. A staff of it is placed in the hand
of every young Brahxmn when invested with the sacerdotal robe. It
is probably a distinct species.
6. B, BcUcooa, Roxb. Not spiny ; leaves narrow, heart-shaped at
the base. (Balcoo Bans in Bengal) A native of Bengal, and even
more gigantic than the last. It is reckoned by the workers in bamboo
the very best for building purposes. Previously to being used, it is
immersed in water for a considerable time. Two varieties are distin-
guished : Dhodi Bakoo, the larger, and Balcoo Bans, which is smaller
and stronger, with a leas cavity.
7. B. BlumeanOf Schultes. Armed with triple recurved spines :
leaves very narrow, quite smooth, suddenly tapering into a short stalk.
A native of Java. Stems about as thick as a child's ann.
8. B, agrestis, Poir. Stems crooked, at the lower part very spiny ;
leaves narrow, small, smooth. On mountains, and in dry and desert
places in all China and Cochin China ; it is common also in various
islands in the Malay Archipelago. Its crooked sometimes creeping
stems and rugged aspect distinguish it The trunk is a foot thick,
and the joints (we presume near the base) a foot and a half long, and
often nearly solid.
9. B, Thmiarsii, Kunth. Stems very much branched. Found wild
in Madagascar, where however it is not believed to be indigenous.
10. B. mitiSf Poir. Stems perfectly unarmed ; leaves very narrow,
and clasping the stems at their base. Cultivated in the fields and
hedges of Cochin China, and found wild in Amboyna, where several
supposed varieties exist Its stems grow SO feet long, and are said by
Rumphius to be the strongest of all the species, although its sides are
thin. It is sometimes as ^ck as a man's leg.
11. B. maximOf Poir. Stems very straight^ branching only near the
sunmiit) and densely covered with spines. The most gigantic of all
the species, from 80 to 100 feet high, and sometimes as thick as
a man's body. Its wood is however very thin. It is found wild
in Cambodia, Bally, Java, and various islands of the Malayan
Archipelago.
12. B. aspera, Schultes. Stems covered all over with a sort of
white mealy down. Found at the foot of mountains in Amboyna,
with stems from 60 to 70 feet high, and as thick as a man's thigh.
It does not branch, but emits little hard spine-like roots at its nodes.
18. B, opus, Schultes. Leaves very large, taper-pointed, and gra-
dually narrowing to the base, extremely scabrous at the edge. Aiio-
ther gigantic species, vdth the dimensions of the hast, growing on
Mount Salak, in Java.
14. B. BUung, Schultes. Leaves ver^ laige, taper-pointed, narrowed
at the base into a sort of bristly reiry short stalk, very scabrous at the
edge and on the upper surface. Foimd in Java with the last, and
remarkable for its extremely broad and scabrous leaves. Its dimensions
are not stated.
15. B, nigra, Loddiges. Not spiny. Stems slender, swelled at the
nodes, dark-brown, and polished, not more than a man's height
Leaves narrow, very smooth, rounded and narrowed at the base into
a short stalk ; ligule with long stiff fringes. A native of the neigh-
bourhood of Canton, where its beautiful slender stems are cut for tiie
handles of parasols, walking-sticks, fta It is by far the most patient
of cold, having been living for several years without protection in a
morass in the garden of ^ the London Horticultural Society, and is no
doubt capable of being aoclimat^^d in the south-west of England or on
the west coast of Ireland.
16. B, arisUUa, Loddiges. Stems slender, smoothf not spiny.
L^kves very smooth, narrowed gradually at the base into a short
stalk; with downv fringed sheatha Ligules divided into very long
coarse fringes. Nodes mealy when young. Native of the East
Indies. A very elegant species, related to the last
17. B. nana, Roxb. A native of China. It makes most beautifhl
dose hedges.
18. B. pvbescens, Loddiges. Not spiny. Toung shoots, leaf-«heaths,
and leaves on the under side, covered with wort down. A very
remarkable species, obtained by the English from the collections of
France. Its native country is unknown. The stems are 80 feet long;
and an inch and a half in diameter.
19. B, striatck, Loddigea^ Not spiny. Stems slender, polished,
yellow with green stripes. Leaves narrow, rather glaucous on the
under side, tanering into a short stalk at the base, quite smooth,
except a few snort black hairs on the sheaths. A native of Chint.
Often cultivated in the hot-houses of England on account of its
beautiful variegated stems. Ghx>w8 about 20 feet high.
20. B, glauca, Loddiges. Not spiny. Stems very slender, pala
green. Leaves very sinall, not downy, taper-pointed, almost heart-
shaped at the base, covered on the under surface with veiy dose
bright glaucous bloom. Leaves scarcely above an inch long, and not
more tlum two lines broad. A native of India» whence it was piocund
by the Messrs. Loddiges. A very remarkable spedes, not growing
above 2 feet high, with entangled branches.
IL Asiatic Bamboos, with the Flowers not Pamded, InUinsiMpU
Terminal Whorted Spikes.
21. B. verticUlata, Willd. Leaf-sheaths covered vnth stinging haliB.
Stems whitish. Fifteen or sixteen feet high, and when ^ill-grown of
a pale colour, which becomes nearly white in drying. The hairs of
the leaves occasion so much itching, that this kind is troublesome to
collect It is the Ldeba aU>a of Rumphius, who says the edges of
its leaves are so sharp as to wound the gatherers. It is found in
Amboyna.
22. B, atra. Leaf '«talks covered with stinging hairs. Stems black
and shining. Very like the last^ and found also in Amboynx It
chiefly differs in the colour of the stems. It is the Ldeha nigra of
Rumphius.
23. B. prava. Leaves very large, stiff, and broad, extremely hispid
with stinging hairs. The most oonmion in Amboyna, forming laige
woods, which come down to the coast It flourishes equally in dry and
moist situations, and is readily known from the oUiers of this section
by its very large leaves, which are as much as 18 inches long and
8 or 4 inches broad.
2i. B. pieta. Joints very long, variegated with white and green.
Leaves narrow and not very hauy. Common in Cerama, Eelanga,
Celebes, and some other Malayan ieJands. Its joints are as much as
4 feet long and about 2 inches thick : the wood is thin, and it is con-
sequently used principally for light walking-sticks; it is however
extremely strong.
25. B. Amahvssana, Joints short Leaves with stinging hairs on
the upper part of the stem, but smooth* near the ground. Leaa
straight, and more short-jointed than any of the preceding species of
this section. Its wood is very thick. In Amboyna and Manipa.
26. B. mvJUipUx, Lour. Stems long-jointed, not spiny. LeaveB
stingless, narrow, and clasping the stems at their base. Cultivated in
the north of Cochin China for hedges. Its leaves are very narrow,
and of a brownish-green. The stems are about 12 feet long and an
inch thick.
27. B. tabacaria, Poir. Stems slender, very straight^ of nearly
equal thickness, branched ; with very long rough joints. Wild in the
black and argillaceous soil of Amboyna, Manipa^ and Java, in the
plains and moister parts of the mountains. Its stems are nearly
solid, and excessively tough and hard. The joints are 8 or 4 feet
long, and not thicker than Uie little finger. When polished they make
the finest pipe-sticks. The outside is so haixl, that it emita sparks of
fire when struck by the hatchet The species runs very much at the
root
III. American Bainboot,
28. B. Ouadua, Humb. Leaves very narrow, covered with asperities
at the edge and on the undeinnirface. Found in warm and temperate
places, on the western side of the Cordilleras of New Granada and
Quito, growing like a tree SO or 40 feet high, with a knotted, ahiniog
trunk 16 inches in diameter. The leaves, which are 6 or 7 inches
long, are not more than 6 lines broad.
29. B. latifoUa, Humb. Leaves narrow, but oblong; extremely
smooth. About 25 feet high, drooping at the point, with shining
joints 2 feet long and about 4 inches thick. The leaves are the same
length as in the last, but thrice as broad. It is found in the damp
shady woods on the banks of the river Caasiquiare in tropicd
America.
80. B, Tagoara, Nees. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, rounded at the
base, and then narrowed into a very riiort stalk. Stems 20 to SO feet
long, and 4 to 6 inches in diameter, with joints from 6 to 18 inches
long; the leaves are 9 or 10 indies long and full 2 inches wide.
Found by Yon Martins in woods 1800 feet above the sea, on the
mountain called Serra do Mar, towards Quarantinqueta, in the
province of 8t Paul's, Brazil
81. B. pmrvifiora, SchuHesL An obscure n>ecies, fcmnd on the
mountains of Peru, in Huanoco, by Hsanke. The stem is said to be
branched, and the leaves lano»«haiped, taper-pointed, with a scabrous
lere can be no doubt that many other species of this carious
genus are to be found in the tropical parts of Asia and America. It
is also not improbable that some of the foregoing may be repetitions
Travellen who have opportunities of procuring wild specimens of
bamboos should dry a small branch with the leaves, and if possible
the flowers, and should, at the same time, put by a portion of the
lower part of the stem, 6 or 7 feet long^ marked so as to correspond
with the dried specimen.
Digitized by
Google
M
BAMLTTE.
BAKKSU.
364
(Roxburgh, Flora Indices, voL IL ; RtiinpliiuB» Mo'barvum Afnbai-
ntntt, YoL iv. ; Romer and Scfaultes, Syttema VegetdbiUwn, voL vii)
BAMLITE, a mineral of a white or grayish-white colour. It is
columnar ; has a hardne8Ss6 and specific grayitys:2*98. It ocean in
Norway, and consists of —
Silica 59*6
Alumina 42*0
Peroxide of Iron 1*0
BANCHUS, a genus of Insects belonging to the order Hymenoptera.
BAND-FISH. [Cepola.]
BANDICOOT {Peramdes, QeoS. St Hilaire), a genus of Marsupial
Mammals, which appears to occupy, in Australia, the situation which
the Shrews, Tenrecs^ and other Ihaectivora fill in th^ Old World.
The species of Penunelet called Bandicoots by the colonists (a name
which properly belongs to the Qreat Rat of India^ Mui giganUtu, but
which, from a vague resemblance in size and appearance, the early
colonists of Sydney applied to the animals at present imder con-
sideration), though they agree in the most prominent characters of
their dentition with some of the Maraupiatay and in the form of their
extremitiee and the number of their toes with others, yet difier
essentially from all in their habits and economy. [Marsupiata.] In
the number, form, and arrangement of their canine and molar teeth
they agree in all respects with the Opossums of America and the
Dasyures of Australia ; that is to say, that they have 2 canines and
14 molars in each jaw ; but they differ widely in the number of their
incisors, and in this respect offer a unique combination which is found
in no other known genus of mammals. Of the incisor teeth there are
10 in the upper jaw, and only 6 in the lower; and the external on
each side, particularly in the upper jaw, is insulated, and stands apart
both from the canine and from the other incisors ; it is likewise much
larger than the intermediate incisors, and its form is that of an
ordinary canine tooth, of which indeed it appears to exercise all the
functions.
The hind legs are considerably longer than the fore, and the number
and form of th» toes are in all respects similar to those of the
kangaroos. It was this similarity that induced M. Qeoffiroy St Hihdre
to suppose that the pace of the Bandicoots also resembled that of the
kangaroos. This, howeyer, is far from being the case. The dispro-
portion between their anterior and posterior extremities is by no
means so great as to compel the Bandicoots to hop upon the hind legs
onljy like the kangaroos, though it is certainly sufficiently so to
prevent them from walking like ordinary quadrupeds. Their actual
pace resembles that of the hare, and consists of a succession of leaps
from the hind to the fore feet, but it is not very rapid, nor can they
maintain it for any great length of time. On the fore feet there are
five toes, of which the three middle are long and stout, but the lateral
ones are so short that they do not touch the ground, and are conse-
quently useless in walking, though they may be of great service in
burrowing. The hind feet have but four toes each, and of these the
third is the largest of all, whilst the two internal are united \mder the
same skin, and appear externally like a single toe armed with two
claws.
This is precisely the arrangement and form which we find in the
kangaroos ; but the feet of ti^e Bandicoots differ, in being provided
with broad powerful daws, which enable them to burrow with
astonishing facility, and to scratch up the groimd in search of roota
They likewise differ from the kangaroos in having a small fleshy
tubercle, in lieu of a thumb, upon the hind feet, and in having the
last or ungual phalange of all tiie toes divided in fh>nt by a small
incision, as in the pangolins and ant-eaters, a structure which gives a
much firmer attachment to the claw, and vastly increases their power
of burrowiog. In other respects the Bandicoots are chiefly
characterised by their long attenuated muzzles, short upright ears,
lengtiiened bodies, and moderate rat-like tails, which are not prehensile,
as is the case with many genera of this order, nor have these animals
the power of ascending trees. With rqgard to the period of gestation,
the number of young, and the mode of their introduction into the
abdominal poudi, it is only known that they resemble the other
marsupials in the premature production of their young, and in
nourishing them for some time afterwards in the abdominal pouch of
the mother, and that this pouch contains the mammary organs for
that purpose.
Three or four of the species are well made out^ but with regard to
the rest there is still some doubt.
1. P. namUa (Qeo£ St. Hilaire), the Long-Nosed Bandicoot^
measures about a foot and a half in length from the extremity of the
muzzle to the origin of the tail ; the head is 4 inches long, the tail
6 inches, the hind legs also 6 indies, and the fore legs only 3 inches.
The ears are erectf pointed, and covered with short hair ; the eyes are
particularly small ; the nose remarkably long, pointed, and naked at
the extremity ; and the tail attenuated, and, though better covered
with hair, bearing some resemblance to that of a laige rat. ^ This
organ is not used by the Bandicoot to support the body in a sitting
posture, l&e that of the kangaroo, as has be^ imagined by M. Geoffix>y
St. Hilaire, to whom we owe the first description of this spedes as
well as the eetahliahment of the present genus ; ndther are the pro-
gressiTe movements of these animals similar to tiiose of the kangaroos,
•a the same eminent soologist conceived, from the form and propor-
tions of the extremities, that they might be. The pace of the
Bandicoot as already observed resembles that of our hares and
rabbits, which certainly approximates more nearly to the saltigrade
Long.No8cd Bandicoot {P. naauta).
pace of the kangaroos, gerboas, and helamys, than any other kind
of locomotion with which we are acquainted. So far M. Geoffh)y*s
conjecture was well founded, and he has certainly good reason in his
observation that analogous structures rarely deceive us in reasoning
upon their fimctions. The external coat of the Long-Nosed Bandicoot
is composed of coarse bristly hair, in colour very neariy resembling
that of the common Rat (Mua decwnanus)^ except that it is of a more
sandy shade on the upper parts of the body, and of a more dear
silvery white beneath ; under this long outer hair there is an interior
coat of soft ash-coloured wool or fur, which protects the animal from
the cold and variations of temperature, for it appears to be an iohabi- ^
tant of the mountainous parts of Australia, principally if not
exclusively. The tail is of a rather darker colour tiian the body, tfnd
the whole animal, except in the great length and pointed form of the
nose, has much the appearance of an ovei-grown rat. The form and
characters of its teeth would lead us to suppose that it fed upon
insects and other similar animal substances. In the neighbourhood
of human habitations they frequently enter into the granaries, and
do as much mischief to the com as the rats and mice of our own
coimtry.
2. P. ohetula (Geoff), the Blunt-Nosed Bandicoot, first described by
Dr. Shaw under the names of the Porcupine Opossum and Diddphyi
obestUa, is readily distinguished from the last spedes by the shortness
and bluntness of its snout and by the broad roimd form of its ears.
The arrangement of the teeth also differs in some degree from that of
the Long-Nosed Bandicoot The external incisors are more nearly
in contact with the canines and central ii^cisors on each side of them ;
the molars immediately succeeding the canines, and answering to the
false molars of the camivora, are contiguous to one another and of a
triangular form ; and the posterior molars are more flattened on the
crowns. This latter character would seem to intimate that the
present species was more purely herbivorous than the last, and future
observation may probably confirm this conjecture. The colour and
quality of the hair and fur are the same as in the Long-Nosed
Bandicoot
3. P. Gtmnii is a native of Van Diemen's Land, where it is very
generally difiUsed. It lives prindpally on bulbs, but also eats insects.
P. lagotis, of Reid, is of a gray colour, and as large as an opossum.
It has been described by Professor Owen under the generic name
Phalacomyt. [Marsupiata.]
BA'NKSIA, an Australian genus of plants belonging to the natural
order Proteacea. It was named in compliment to Sir Joseph Banks.
It consists of bushes or less frequently of small trees, with their
branches growing in an umbellate manner. The leaves are hard and
dry,^ and in young plants always cut at the edges, but in old specimens
undivided. They have a duU green colour on their upper side, and
are usually white, or very pale green, on the lower. The flowers are
long, narrow, tubular, coloured calyxes, without corolla, and with
only four stamens lodged in their concave points. They are collected
into oblong heads, often consisting of 600 or more, closdy arranged,
and do not fall off when the blooming is over, but wither, become
brown, and adhere to the axis of the head. Very few of them are
fertile; the greater part are altogether abortive, and form a sort of
coarse flbrous covering to the singular 2-valved fruit, which is thick
and woody, contains two black-winged seeds, and when it sheds them
opens like an oyster, or any other bivalve shell
These plants are found in sandy forest-land, or on rocks, over the
whole known continent of Australia, but diiefly beyond tiie tropic.
They are caUed by the colonists Honeysuckle Trees, and are considered
in New South Wales as evidence of bad land ; but in the Swan Rivsr
Digitized by
Google
t8S
BANSTICKLE.
BARR
884
colony they occupy the most fertile tracts. Many epecies are no w
cultivated in the conBervatories of Europe, where they are ma ;h
esteemed for their handsome foliage and singular heads of flower «.
I
Sanksitu.
The plant in the foreground is the Bed Banksia of King George's Sound, and
the other the Telhw Banksia of the Golf of Carpentaria, fh>m sketches made
on the spot.
None of them appear to be of much value for timber, although they
make good fire-wood. B. compar and B. $errata (which last is said to
grow 80 feet high, with a stem measuring a foot and a half in
diameter) are the laigest species which have been mentioned by
travellers on the east coast. On the west coast> in Swan River colony,
B, grandis reaches 50 feet in height, with a trunk 2^ feet in diameter.
A considerable quantity of 'honey is secreted by their flowers, and
collected by the natives of King George's Sound, who are extremely
fond of it
BANSTICKLE. [aASTEBOBTEUS.]
BANXRING, the Sumatran name of a small arboreal animal,
discovered by the late Sir Stamford RafiSee, which is intermediate in
its nature and habits between the Shrews and Squirrels. [Tupaia.]
BAOBAB. [Adansonia.]
BAPTA, a genus of Insects belonging to the order Lepidoptera and
family Qeometridcp. The species of this genus are among the thin-
bodied day-flying Moths. Mr. Stephens, in his 'Illustrations of
British Entomology,' confines this genus to two species : Bapta bimor
culata, White Pinion-Spotted Bapta, which is of a beautiful white
colour, and has two brown spots on the front edge of each of the
anterior wings; and Bapta punctata, Clouded-Silver-Bapta. This
differs from the first principally in having the tips of the anterior
wings clouded with brown. Both species are occasionally met with
in woods in the neighbourhood of London.
BARB, the name of a noble breed of horses reared by the Moors
of Barbaty and Marocco, and introduced into Spain during their
dominion in that country, where however it has been suffered to
degenerate greatly since their expulsion. The noble race of Barbary
Qorses which we commonly call Barbs are of rare occurrence even in
their own country, where the tyranny of the governors holds out no
inducement to private individuals to rear an animal of which they
may be deprived without scruple or compensation by the first man in
power who happens to fancy it. It is only among the wild nomadic
tribes of the desert, whose roving habits and inhospitable country
place them beyond the control of the ordinary powers of the state,
that this breed exists in perfection. The common horse of Barbary
is a very inferior animal, which, if originally derived from the same
source as the noble race of Barbs, has greatly degenerated. In the
beauty and symmetry of their forms however even the latter are far
from excelling : their valuable qualities — and in these they are perhaps
imequalled by any other breed in existence — are, unrivalled spe^
surprising bottom, abstinence, patience and endurance under f&tigue,
and gentleness of temper. Their points would not please the critical
eye of a member of the Jockey Club : the head is laige and clumsy ;
the neck short and thick; the chest broad and powerfiu; yet the body
and legs are so long and slender as to resemble those of a greyhound.
and form a perfect contrast to the rest of the animaL Bat the Moon
do not regard the external appearance of their horses so much as their
temper, speed, and capability to endure f&tigue; and the animals
which possess these valuable qualities are cherished with all the
kindness and attention that are bestowed on children. Their mode
of treatment is very different from that practised in Europe. They
are very early accustomed to the saddle, are mounted at two years
old, and have their manes and taUs cropped till the age of six, under
the supposition that it adds to their strength and bottom. After this
period uiey are never dressed, nor are their manes and tails combed ;
if dirty they are washed in the next stream, and some are even said
to be offended by Europeans patting their horses with the palm of the
hand, from an apprehension of its injuring their coat. They are never
castrated, nor have the Moon the bad taste to seek to improve upon
nature by cropping the ears and tails of their horses, as is practised
by some nations ; 'a Mussulman will neither mutilate nor sell the skin
of 'the beast of the prophet,' the noblest of animals. The horses
alone are used for the saddle, the mares being kept for breeding,
except among some of the predatory tribes of the Desert^ who find
that the neighing of the horses is apt to betray their approach, and
give notice of their coming to the caravans wluch are the objects of
their attack. Walking and galloping are the only paces which these
ajiimalw are allowed to practise ; and it is even considered vulgar to
trot or canter. Generally spesking, the Moors avoid giving their
horses violent exercise, or overheating them, except upon extraor-
dinary occasions ; and among the Desert tribes it is only in thdr
cavalry exercises, such as throwing the lance, Ac., that their speed is
at aU put forth. On these occasions however they are not spared,
and it is surprising with what rapidity and precision they perform
the different evolutions. These indeed are not so complicated as the
tactics of more civilised nations, but they are mudrmore severe upon
the cattle, and would soon break down the best of our European
breeds. The great exercise of the Moorish cavaliy consists in
galloping their horses at the veiy height of their speed for the
distance of about a quarter of a mile, and then making them stop
suddenly short, while the rider delivers his spear or fires his musket;
and of this amusement the people are so excessively fond, that they
frequently continue it for hours together without a moment's inter-
mission to breathe or change their horses. Tet notwithstanding such
violent exeroises, veiy litUe care is afterwards taken of the horses ;
still they are said to be long-lived and remarkably free from diseaawi
Such distempers as farcy and glanders are unlmown; spavin and
mullender are of very rare occurrence.
The Moors never make hay, but feed their horses upon chopped
straw and barley, which they eat out of a nose-bag put over their
heads, as is the custom in England ; in spring they are chiefly fed
upon grass. In the stables there are no mangers, but the hoiiBes are
fastened by means of two iron pins driven into the ground, one before
and the other behind, to which the fore and hind legs are respectively
fastened in such a manner as to prevent the animal from moving more
than a foot either backwards or forwards : their collar is also made
fast to the front pin, which is provided with a ring for that purpose,
and they eat their provender off the ground. Formeriy it was the
practice for the Moors, in shoeing their horses, to cut off the front
part of the hoof ; a flat shoe of a triangular shape was then put on,
with one of the sides in fronts and the other two nearly meeting in an
acute angle behind the frog : but this unnatural mode of disfiguring
these noble animals was put an end to about the year 1700, by an
order of the Emperor Muley Ishmael, who commanded thai thence-
forth all his subjects should upon pain of death, shoe their horses
with round shoes. The Berbers and Kabyles, the aboriginal inhabi-
tants of the country between the Sahara and the shores of the
Mediterranean, and who are now for the most part confined to the
mountainous and most inaccessible districts of North Africa, never
shoe their horses at all ; yet so hardy are these animals, and so much
tougher are their hoofs than those of our own horses, that Windus,
who in tiie beginning of the last century accompanied a Britash
embassy to the court of the emperor of Marocco, and who has left an
interesting acooimt of his journey, assures us tiiat he saw one of them
which had travelled 50 miles wi&out resting, and that though he had
been twice during the journey obliged to cross a mountain full of
rocks, yet it was not perceived that he had the least crack in his hoof,
nor any apparent iigury of his feet
There is a particular breed of the noble Barbs, called Sk*r%bah
Et^reeh (literallv Wind^ucker), or the Desert Horse, which is only
found among the tribes of the Sahara, and which, when transported
beyond the sands of the Desert, soon languishes and dies. The fleet-
ness, temperance, and endurance of this animal, if we are to believe
half the stories related bv traveUers, almost surpass the bounds of
credibility. '* When thou shalt meet a sh'rubah er'reeh," says a Moorish
proverb, " and sav to his rider, ' Salam Alikum,' before he can answer
'Alikum Salam,' he will be far from thee, for his speed is like the
whirlwind." By the assistance of this animal, or of the Heirie, or
Desert-Camel, the Arab can upon an emergency cross the Sahara in
a short time. The Sh'rubah Er'reeh, however, is neither so useful
nor so economical an animal as the desert-camel ; it is true that his
speed is greater, but he is neither so abstemious nor so enduring.
The Heine will travel for 16 or 20 successive days, and requires but
Digitized by
Google
S85
BARBAKEA.
BARBETa
a handful of dried dates in the morning, and a supply of water every
third day ; upon an extraordinary emergency he can even travel for
kLx or seven days withodv this important element ; but the desert-
horse must have a feed of camel's nulk once a day, and for this purpose
iher^ must be a oouple of female camels wherever he goes. Camel's
milk is his only sustenance ; and indeed it would be difficult to find
him any other in the parched and arid deserts which he inhabits ; he
does not like wheat, hay, straw, or any ocher kind of food, and if forced
to live upon these substances, soon loses all his valuable qualities. In
his native countxy the desert-horse is principally employed for the
purpose of hunting the ostrich and gazelle, at which sports he is
amazingly expert, nor is there any other being that can equal these
jiniTTitt^lg in speed. When brought to Marocco, as is sometimes the
case, these horses soon decline under the change of food and climate.
" Alkaid Omar ben Daudy," says Jackson in his ' Account of the Empire
of Marocco,' "when governor of Mogodor, had two Saharawan horses
in his stables ; but fioding it inconvenient to feed them constantly
upon camel's milk, he resolved to tiy them on the lumal food given to
Barbary horses. He accordingly had their food gradually changed,
and in a short time fed them altogether with barley, and occasion-
ally with wheat and straw ; they grew fat, and looked better than
before, but they lost their speed, and soon afterwards died, as
if nature had designed them to be appropriated solely to that
district whose arid and extensive plains render their use essentially
necessary."
BARBA^EIEA (from a former name, Herb St. Barbara), a genus of
plants belonging to the natural order Cruciferce. It has a terete
H-edged pod, the valves convex, with a prominent longitudinal nerve ;
the stigma capitate, the seeds in a single row. Barharea belongs to
the first sub-order of CrudfercRj SiliquoacBf which possess a linear or
linear-lanceolate pod opening by two valves. The species of Barbarea
are perennial herbs, with fibrous roots and erect stems. The flowers
are yellow, arranged in racemes ; the pedicles without bracts.
B. mUgariif Common Yellow Bocket, Common Winter Cress, Herb
Stw Barbara, has the lower leaves lyrate, upper pair of lobes as broad
as the lai^ roundish subcordate terminal lobe, the uppermost leaf
undivided, toothed; young pods obliquely erect; seeds scarcely longer
than broad. It is a native, in damp moist places, of Qreat Britain,
and throughout Europe ; also of North America. This plant has a
bitter nauseous taste, and is sometimes cultivated as a spring salad.
In Sweden the leaves are boiled and eaten. It is often cultivated in
gardens, especially a double variety, which forms a handsome border-
plantw
B. pnjBcox, Early Winter Cress, has the lower leaves lyrate, upper
pair of lobes as broad as the roundish subcordate terminal lobe, upper-
most leaf pinnatifid, with linear oblong entire lobes. It is a native of
France and Great I^tain ; abundant in North America. It is called
in Germany Amerikanischer Kraut ; in French, Cresson d' Am^que ;
in England, American Cress, Black American Cress, French Cress, and
Belle-Isle Cress. It is used as a salad, and is more bitter than the
common Water-Cress. It can be raised for eating all the year round.
In cultivating, it should be grown from seeds, a quarter of an ounce
of wiiich will serve for sowing 10 feet of drilL
B. arauUa and B, atricta are two species described by Babington,
and lately added to the British Flora. A few others are found in the
northern parts of Europe and America. With the exception of the
Double Tellow Rocket, none of the species are worth cultivating as
ornamental. This plant may be propagated by cuttings^ suckers, or
dividing the plants at the root.
(Don, 0€uraenei^§ Dictionary ; Babington, ManwiL)
BARBEL {B<»rbut, Cuvier), a genus of Abdominal Malacopterygious
Fishes, belonging to the Carp Family (Cpprinidaf), and distinguished
by the shortness of their dorsal and anal fins, by a strong spine, which
replaces the second or third ray of the dorsal, by four betsuxls or fleshy
tentacnla, which grow from the lipe, two at the nose, and the other
two at the comers of the mouth, and by having but three branchios-
tegous rays. Like the great minority of the abdominal soft-finned
fidbes, the Blvbels are a freshwater genus, and certainly among the
least carnivorous of the whole class. They feed almost entirely upon
aquatic plants and roots, to obtain which they bore into the bulks of
the ponds and rivers in which they reside, using their snout for that
purpose like a hog.
Barbu$ vutgarii, the Common Barbel, sometimes measures S feet in
length, andweig^firom 15 to 18 pounds. The section of its body
forms an elongated ellipse ; its scales are small, its head smooth, its
eyes lai^e and contiguous to the nostrils, apd the lateral line straight
and nearly parallel to the back. Its pectoral fins are of a pale brown
colour, its ventral and anal tipped with yellow ; the tail is slightly
bifurcated, and of a deep purple, and the general colour of the scales
is pale gold, edged with black on the back and sidee^ and silvery-white
on the belly. The dorsal fin is armed with a strong serrated spine,
with which it scmietimes inflicts dangerous wounds on the hands of
the fishermen, and does considerable damage to their nets. The barbel
is found only in deep and still ponds, and ia sluggish rivers which have
little or no current In the hot sununer months the barbels abandon
for a time the deep pools and ponds which had protected them from
the severe winter frosts, and make excursions into the shallower parts
of th<) stream in search of food. Their habits are noctiunal, and they
MAX. BIBZ. DIY. YOU L
are fond of the society of their own species, being generally found
together in large companies. Their fiesh is extremely coarse and
unsavoury, and their roe in particular is said to produce vomiting.
Common Barbel {Barhu$ wigarit),
purging, and slight swellings in those who incautiously eat it. The
barbel is a very common fish in. the Thames, where it is tsken rather
on account of the sport for the angler than the goodness of the fish.
The Binny, or Barbel of the Nile, \& so like the Common Barbel of
our European rivers, that it might readily be mistaken at first sight
for that fish ; but a little observation will show that it Lb proportionfdly
shorter and thicker, its back more arched, and it is particularly distin-
guished by having the first three rays of the dorsal fin so closely united
as to have the appearance of almost forming but one single spine.
The Binny is very common in the Nile ; it grows to a large size, some-
times weighing, according to Bruce's statement, upwards of 70 pounds,
and is described as being a firm, delicate, and well-flavoured flsh. The
traveller just mentioned gives an interesting account of the methods
which the Egyptians employ for the capture of the Bmny, and for
preserving it alive tilT they require to dress it, or have an opportunity
of disposing of it Having kneaded together a quantity of oil, day,
flour, and honey, with some chopped straw or other similar material
to unite the d^erent parts of the composition, the whole is formed
into a mass, in size and appearance resembling a Cheshire cheese,
round the sides of which, in different parts, are stuck small pieces
of dates saturated in honey. Seven or eight stout hooks, each
having a separate line of strong whip-cord, and baited with a date
steeped in honey, are concealed in the centre of the cake. The fisher-
man then, bestriding his inflated goatskin, paddles himself and hii
burden out into the middle and deepest part of the stream, where,
having sunk the whole mass, he carries the cords attached to the hooks
on shore, and fastens each of them separately to the branch of a paJm
stuck finnly into the ground, and having a small bell suspended from
the top of it He then goes off about his work, which, upon such
occasions, is always contiguous to the river, and within hearing of t&e
bells. In a short time the action of the water begins to dissolve the
mass of paste at the bottom of the river, and the small pieces of dates
getting detached from it float down the river, and are greedily caught
and devoured by the Binnies. These naturally ascend the stream in
the direction from which they perceive their favourite food to proceed,
and having arrived at the mass of composition, begin, as is their
custom, to root and bore into it, till they at length arrive at the dates
inside, which they ravenously swallow, and are of course caught by
the hook concealed within. In its struggles to escape the Esh neces-
sarily pulls the line and the palm branch to which it is made fast on
shore, when the ringing of the bell gives notice to the fisherman.
" The fisherman," says Bruce, ** runs immediately to the bell, and
finding thereby the particular line, hauls his prisoner in« but does not
kill him : the hook being large, it generally catches him by the upper
jaw, which is considerably longer l£an the under. He then pulls nim
out of the water, and puts a strong iron ring through his jaw, ties a
few yards of cord to it, and returning the fish to the river, fastens him
to the shore : so he does with the rest, for very rarely is there a single
hook empty. Those who want fish at Gii*g^, a large town opposite,
or at Achmim itself, come thither as to a fish-market, and every man
takes the quantity he wants, buying them alive. Fish when dead do
not keep in Egypt, which makes tiiat precaution necessary. We
bought two, which fully dined our whole boat's crew ; the fisherman
had 10 or 12 of them fastened to the shore, all of which he pulled out
and showed us."
BARBERRY. [Berbbbis.]
BARBERRY-BLIGHT. [iciDiUM.]
BARBETS, the English name for a family of birds of the order
Scantorea, or Climbers ; Les Barbus of the French, and the genus Bucco
of Brisson and LinnsBus. They are distinguidied by their large oom<»l
beak, which appears swollen, as it were, or puffed out at the sides of
its base, and is bearded (whence their name) with five tufts Of stifif
bristles directed forwards. One of these tufts is behind each nostril,
one on either side of the lower mandible, and the fifth is under tiie
symphysis.
Their short wings and heavy proportions do not admit of swift
flight ; and their prey consLsts of insects and young birds, which they
surprise, and also of fhiits. Their nests are generally built in the
20
Digitized by V^UOQIC
987
BARBETa
The Barbets are divided into the three following
holes of trees,
sub-genera :
Sub-genoB Pogonitu,
Poganiat (lUiger) is fdmiBhed with one or two strong teeth on each
side of the npper mandible, and the beard is veiy strong. Africa and
the Indies are the places where they are found, according to Cuvier,
who says tiiat the species of this sub-genus feed more on fruits than
any of the others. Pogonias hirautiu (Swainson), an African species,
is a good example.
BARCKHAUSIA.
S8I
Puff-Birds, as they are called, give them, as CuTier obeerrss, an air of
stupidity, which their melancholy and solitary habits do not losaeD.
They are said to feed entirely on insects, and all the recorded spedes
are American. In Paraguay, according to Azara, they are ajled
Chacurus. Temminck affixes the name C<tpUo to this sub-genua.
TanuUia macrorhynchot (Swainson), which that author obtuned from
southern Brazil, and which he is disposed to consider a yariety of the
Pogcniaa hirstttus.
Sub-genus Bucco,
Bueeo (CuTier), Ctvpiio (Yieillot), embraces the true Barbets, which
hare the conical bill slightly compressed and a little elevated in the
middle. Their plumage is, generally speaking, gay ; and they are to
be found both in Africa and Asia. During the breeding season they
go in pairs, but congregate in small flocks during the remainder of
the year. The Buff-Faced Barbet (Bucco Lathamt} affords an example
of the true Barbets.
Boff-Fsoed Barbet {Buoeo Lathami),
Tffctnhfrm refers to a specimen in the British Museomi and says that
its native place is uncertain.
Sub-gentw TamaHa,
Tamaiia (Cuvier), the name by which one of these birds is known
in Brazil according to Harcgrave, comprises those spedes which have
the bill a little more elongated and compressed, and slightly curved
at the extremity. The great head, short tail, and large Dill of these
Tamatia mOtirmrhynchot.
greater Pied Barbet of Latham, will give a good idea of the chaneter
of these birds.
Swainson gives the following interesting account of their habits :—
'' There is something very grotesque in the appearance of all the Puff-
Birds, and their habits in a state of nature are no less singular. Thej
frequent open cultivated spots near habitations, always perching on
the withered branches of a low tree, where they will sit nearly motioD-
less for hours, unless indeed they descry some luckless insect psBsiog
near them, at which they immediately dart, returning again to the
identical twig they had just left, and which they will sometimes
frequent for months. At such times the disproportionate size of the
head is rendered more conspicuous by the bird raising its feathers so
as to appear not unlike a puff-ball ; hence the general name they have
receiv^ from the English residents in Brazil, of which vast county
all the species, I believe, are natives. When frightened, this form is
suddenly changed by the feathers lyixig quite flat They are very
confiding, and will often take their station within a few yurds of the
window. The two sexes are generally near each other, and often on
the same tree."
The length of this species is about eight inches. Plumage black
and white, except the belly and vent, which are tinged with bu£
BARBUS. [Babbbl.]
BARCKHAUSIA, the name of a genus of plants belonging to the
natural order Componta, the tribe Cichoracete, and the sub-tribe
Lactucece, It has many -flowered heads, a double involucre, the inner
of one row, the outer of short lax scales ; the fruits 4-comered, all (or
the inner ones only) gradually contracted into a long beak. This
genus has several European species, two of which only are natives of
Great Britain. The flowers are yellow or pale purple. Some of the
species are cultivated in gardens, where they form a pretty and easily
cultivable border-plant. The British species are — B, taraxadfolia,
with rough runcinate-pinnatifld leaves, erect heads, bristly and downy
involucre covering half the pappus, its outer scales ovate-lanceolate
with a membranous margin, herbaceous bracts, the fruits sll equally
beaked. B, falida, with hairy runcinate-pinnatifid leaves, nodding
unopened heads, hairy and downy involucre as long as the pappus, its
outer scales lanceolate, acute, downy; the margmal fruits slightly
beaked, shorter than the involucre, central ones with long beaks
equalling it. The first species has a stem one or two feet high, yellow
flowers, purple beneath, and is found in limestone districta The
second has a stem from six to twelve inches in height, with yellow
flowera It grows in chalky places in England, but is a rare plant
B, idOiOt a German species, has been lately found in several du-
tricts of Great Britain, but it appears most probable that this specie*
Digitized by
Google
BARIDinS.
BABK.
MO
has been introduced by means of clover and other seeds used for
agricultund purposes.
(Koch, Flora Oermanica; Babington, Manual of Briltsh Botany ;
Phytoloffittf Tol L)
BARI DIUS, a genus of Insects of the order CoUoptera and family
Ourculionid(B, These are cylindrical little beetles which feed upon
aquatic plants. They are generally of a black colour, and more or
leas covered with a whitish down.
BAKIS, a genus of Insects belonging to the order CoUoptera
snd fiunily OurculionicUB. The epecies of this genus feed upon the
dead parts of trees. One of the species, Bari$ lignariut, feeds upon
the ehn tree, both in the larva state and that of the perfect insect.
When the little beetle is about to lay its eggs it genendly selects the
interior of a hollow tree for that purpose, and bores a hole with its
short snout in the dead wood where it is still tolerably sound ; this
being accomplished it enters the hole, hinder part firsts deposits its
eggs, and dies : the hole being only just the size of its cylindrical body,
it thus forms a protection for its young by stopping the hole so that
no other insect can enter. It is not Imown that it ever attacks any
other wood but that part where the sap hss ceased to flow, and conse-
quently the tree can receive no injury from this little weeviL
BARI'TA, the name given by Cuvier to a genus of Birds which he
places among the Shrikes, but which Vigors considers to belong to the
family of Crows.
The following are the characters of Barita : — Bill hard, long, and
strong, convex above, slightly hooked at the extremity, near which
both mandibles are notdied ; nostrils lateral, and longitudinal near
the base ; legs stout ; outer toe joined to the middle one as far as the
first joint ; inner toe entirely free ; hind toe elongated ; claws strong
and curved.
Barita Tibieeny the Piping Crow, common in New South Wales,
where Quoy and Qaimard, the able naturalists attached to Freycinet's
Expedition, saw numbers of them on the Blue Mountains, living gre-
gariously in small troops, will serve as an illustration of the genus.
ripiug Crow {Burita Tiliccu).
The bird brought home by Freydnet reached France alive, and by
its good-natured and amusing manners became a great favourite while
on ship-board. It was a skmul mimic, and clucked and cackled like
a hen ; but its imitation of a young cook was complete. It had been
trained to whistle airs at Port Jackson, and some of these it appeared
to forget, but recollected them on being prompted.
BABE^ in Vegetable Physiology, is the external coating of the stem
and branches of plants, ensheathing the wood. In woody Exogent it
separates spontaneously from the wood in spring and summer, and in
herbaceous plants of the same dass it may be easily removed with a
little care ; but in Endogetu and Acrogent it is so continuous with the
central put of the stem tiiat it can never be divided except hj
violence, and by lacerating the tissue which lies immediately below
it. This difference arises from the manner in which the plants of
these three great natural classes respectively grow. Exogens add
annually new matter to the inside of their bark and the outside of
their wood, which renders it necessary that a spontaneous separation
of wood and bark should take place in order to make room for the
newly-generated substance ; but Endogens, which grow by addition to
their centre^, and Acrogens, by elongation of their point, require no
saoh separation. [Exoojnrs ; Endooeks ; Aobooens.]
BaA may be ooosidered to originate thus : — Whem a plant \a in the
state of embryo, that part which finally develops into a stem and
root> or, as botanists say, into the axis of growtii, is something like
two cones applied to each other by their bases, but it will simplify
our ideas if we consider it as a cylinder. In a dormant state it con-
sists of nothing but cellular substance ; but in Exogens, as soon as the
cotyledons, or seed-leaves, are roused into growth, woody matter is
generated in the form of a number of little bundles, which are
arranged in a circle (a a) about, half
way from the centre to the circum-
ference, thus forming a sort of hollow
cylinder within the first. The cylinder
so commenced cuts off the cellular sub-
stance into two parts : one central (&),
which finally becomes pith, and the |
other external (c), which becomes bark ;
the two maintaining their connection ^
by means of the passsges {d d) between
the woody bundles (a a). These pas-
sages ultimately become the medullary
processes. The direction thus given in
the beginning to the several parts in the
interior of an exogenous stem is never afterwards departed from, bat
all the additions which are subsequently made are moulded, as it
were, upon this original form. The woody bundles (a a) increase in
size by growing outwards, and consequently the medullary processes
are extended ; the bark continues to grow and give way to the pressure
of the wood from within, till at last a yearns increase has been accom-
plished. Up to this time no separation between the wood and the
txirk has taken place ; but in a second year, as it is necessaxr for the
new' matter to be added to the outside of the wood and to uie iaside
of the bark (at d d), a spontaneous separation of the two takes place
over the whole surface of the wood, Ihe medullary processes softening,
stretching, and growing externally, in order to admit of such a sepa-
ration. But Endogens and Acrogens always retain their bark in the
same connection with the wood as it is in Exogens at the end of the
first year, there being no necessity for a separation between the two
in order to admit of subsequent growth.
In its anatomical structure bark consists of a mass of cellular tissue
pierced longitudinally by woody matter, which is composed entirely of
woody tubw without any trace of vessels, but which is sometimes
accompanied by long fistular cavities, in which resinous, or milky, or
juicy, or other secretions are lodged.
In the first year of its existence bark is a cylinder, the woody
matter of which is a continuation of that of Ihe wood itself. In
Endogens and Acrogens it undexgoes no material increase or alteration
subsequently, unless it be that the parts are increased in quantity
without shifting their position. But in Exogens, in consequence of
their wood being annually augmented by external additions, as before
stated, the bark undergoes annual changes. Corresponding with the
annual additions to the wood are annual addilions to the inside of the
bark, consisting of a cellular layer overspreading the whole of the
inside, and then a layer of woody matter, which answers to the spaces
of wood- included between the medullary processes. These aimuai
additions, which are called the liber (whence books which were written
upon such layers, properly prepared, were called libri), must therefore
be exactly the same in number as the annual layers of wood, and
would be arranged with equal regularity if the bark were not affected
by any disturbing cause. But in consequence of the wood's perpetual
increase in diameter there is an incessant lateral strain upon the
liber, so that after the first year there is little trace of regularity to be
discovered in the structure of the bark. It soon becomes a mere
confused mass of woody tubes and cellular tissue, in which all trace
of annual concentric formation has disappeared. The manner in
which it was originally generated is however said to be detected in
some plants by the facility with which the bark will peel into^ layer
after layer ; but it mav be doubted whether this phenomenon is not
more connected with the original arrangement of the tissue of which
the bark is composed than with the annual formations. These layers
are sometimes so numerous that as many as 150 have been separated
on a single tree.
When the bark of an Exogenous tree is examined, it will be found
to consist of four parts or layers, which to a greater or less extent can
bo made out in every tree. These layers have been technically called
the Bpidermit, the Epiphknm, the Mesophknm, and the Endophlceum,
The Epidermis is but a continuation of that layer of condensed
cellular tissue which is found on the external surface of every part or
oi^gan of the plant. It varies in thickness as well as compactness in
almost every tree. It is frequently split up by the growth of the
layers which lie beneath it, and with the next layer is separated fh>m
the stem in large pieces, as is the case in the common Birch {Beiula
alba). Like the epidermis on the leaves, it possesses stomates, which
in the case of plants, as the Cactacea, seem to possess the power of
performing the functions of the same organs on the lea£ The em-
dermis is variously coloured as well as affected by the colour of the
layer immediately beneath it
The Epiphlanim is the outermost layer of bark ; it is composed of
cellular tissue, and when cut through presents imder the microscope
a tabular appearance indicative of pressure above and below. This
Digitized by
Google
{991
BARLEKUl
BASALT.
-layer is very Tariable in its development SometimeB it grows to a
very remarkable extent^ as is seen in the Cork Oak {Quercua Suher),
in which the layer of the bark used for making corkB, k4i», is the
endophlsenm. On this account it has been called the Suberous Layer.
It occurs in other plants besidee the Querctu Svher, and constitutes a
very pretty variety of the conmion elm, in which, in consequence of
the growth of the suberous layer, the stem becomes quite altered in
ohanioter.
The MtiopKLoeum lies immediately beneath the epiphlaeum ; it con-
sists of a layer of polyhedral cellular tissue, and in the cells of which
it is composed the colouring matter of the bark is deposited. It is in
these cells that chlorophyle is deposited in the stems of most young
plants, which give to them their green and fresh wpearance. Even when
the epidezmis has assimied another colour the epiphlaeum often appears
quite green, as is the case in tiie common Klder (Samhucua nigra).
The mesophlseum, with the epiphlaeum above it, is often split bv
the growth of the endophlaeum beneath, giving to trees the rough
bh)ken surface which they often present The mesophlaeum and
epiphlsBum are occasionally thrown off from the same cause as the epi-
dermis. The under layers grow rapidly, and the union between them
and the upper layers being maintained by no oxganic matter, the latter
.is thrown oft This takes place in the Plane (PZotaniu), in which large
masses of the epiphlaeum are constantly flaking off New cellular layers
in this case are formed below, and it is supposed that this process ex-
plains the reason of the tolerance which the planes exhibit of a London
atmosphere. In other trees the function of the bark is interfered with
by the nartides of carbon and perhaps gases affecting the function of
the barx, whUst the plane, constantly renewing the outer layers of
its bark, is not liable to this interruption. Whether this explanation
be the true one or not ^^ ^ certainly very remarkable, tliat of all trees
the plane flourishes beet in the squares of the metropolis.
The Endophlcewnt or Liber, is we inner layer of the bark, and con-
sists of woody fibre as well as cells, that is, of vascular as well as
cellular tissue. The vascular tissue grows here in the form of bundles,
as it does in the wood itsell Its fibrous character is made manifest
during the growth of many trees. In the vine it is thrown off with
the layers above it by the growth of the wood underneath. In the
Lace-Bark Tree (Lagetta Lintearia), the growth of the wood beneath
the bark causes such an arrangement of the fibres that they are separated
from one another, but making junctions where they cross, they form
a natural kind of net-work, which has been employed as a substitute
for artificial net-work in the construction of ornamental clothing.
The liber of the bark of plants is much less dense than the wood ;
hence, where pliable matenals are required, it is often made use of, as
in the construction of mats from the bark of a species of 7\2ta, and the
use of the bark of various trees in different parts of the world as a
substitute for cordage.
The bark is nouriwed in the same manner as the wood of the tree,
by sap carried into the stem from the roots below. The cellular and
vascular tissue of which it is composed, as long as they live, are
capable of producing new cells, by which a new and increasing growth
is ever supplied.
(Schleiden, PrineipUa of Scientific Botany; Lindley, Introduction to
Botany; Balfour, Manual of Botany,)
BARLEHIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
AeanthaeetBf and characterised by the spiny processes of its bracts,
the laige size of the upper and lower sepals, and its funnel-shaped
corolla, which is often so twisted that tiie upper segment becomes
lowest The species are natives of various parts of tiie East Indies.
A few of them nave been introduced to our gardens, of which Barleria
lupviina, with its large bracts resembling hops, and B. Prionitis, a com-
mon swamp-plant in Java, are the most remarkable. They all require
to be cultivated in a hot-house, and are propagated readily by cuttinxs.
BARLEY. [HoRDEUM.]
BABOLITE, ai^onym of Witherite, the native carbonate of Baiytes.
[Babttes.]
BAHOmETZ, a singular vegetable production, of which, under the
name of Scythian Lamb, many fabulous stories are told. It was said,
among other things, to be part animal, part v^etable, and to have the
power of devouring all other plants in its vicinity. It is in reality
nothing but the prostrate hairy stem of a fern called Aapidittm Baro-
mettf which, from its procumbent position and shaggy appearance,
looks something like a crouching animal, just as the haizy tawny end
of the Trichomanes CanarienHt looks like a hare's foot> whence its
English name of Hare's Foot Fern. [Aspidium.]
BABREN FLOWERS, in Botany, are either those which bear onlv
stamens without a pistil, or which have neither stamens nor pistil
Flowers of the former description are very common : those of the
latter kind are chiefly found in Grasses and Sedges, where they oft«i
consist of nothing more than a deformed scale.
BARRIS, a name given on the coast of Guinea to two very different
animals, the Chimpanzee or African Ape {Pithecui Troglodytes), and
the Mandrill (Oynocephalue Mormon), a large and formidable species of
baboon. [Ape; Baboon; Chimpanzee.]
^ BARSO WITE, a mineral occurring in massive and in granular dis-
tinct concretions. Its colour is snow-white ; fracture splintery or
imperfectly foliated; hardness 5*5; lustre of the compact varieties
dull ; of the granular, feebly pearly ; translucent on the edges. The
specific gravity is 2'740. It occurs at Barsowakoj, in the Ural ICoun-
tains. It has the following composition : —
Silica 49-08
Alumina 82*76
Lime 18*16
BARTSIA (in honour of John Bartsch, M.D., a friend of Linnseug),
a genus of pUmts belonging to vhe natural order ScrophnlanaeecB. It
has a bell-snaped 4-fid calyx, a tubular ringent corolla, a pointed many-
seeded capsule, the seeds compressed at the hilum, with winged ribs
on the back. There is but one British species, the B, alpina, which
has ovate, opposite, blimtly-serrate, slightly-dasping leaves. It is a
rare plant, and only found in alpine pastures. The B. Odontita of
Smith's 'English Flora' is now referred to the genus BuphratiOjU
B. Odontites, [Euphrasia.] B. alpina is foimd in subalpine regions
throughout Europe.
B, maxima has a branched stem, opposite lower leaves, altemate
superior ones, oblong, bluntiy and coarsely toothed; lower lip of
corolla longer than tiie upper one, seg^nents of the lower lip obtaae,
equal in size. It is a native of Candia, and attains a height of one
and a half or two feet. B, I^ixago is a native of the south of Europe
and Asia. B, acuminata is found in America. B, viteota of Smith is
now Trixago vieeota. It has opposite leaves, the upper ones alternate,
ovate-lanceolate, sessile, acutely serrate. The genus Trixago ^en
from Bartsia in its seeds being slightly angular, very minutely crenato-
ribbed, with a basal hilum. Babington and Koch both adopt the genu
Trixago, but the latter refers B. viacosa of Smith to the genus Ev^rana.
(Don, Gardener^ M JHctionary ; Koch, Flora Qermamca; Babington,
ManuaL)
BARTTES, or BARYTA, the Oxide of Bcurium, The Oxide of
Barium is found in the earth in combination with adds, principBlly
the sulphuric and carbonic.
Native Sutpkate of Barytes, known by the name of Eea»y jS^,'also
ffepcUUe and Bologna Spar, presents itself in various forms, as cryBtal-
line, fibrous, saocharoid, compact, and earthv. The crystals are usually
tabular, in modified rhombic and rectangular prisma. Its degree of
hardness is from S to S*5, and the speofic gravity from 4*3 to 4'7.
Some varieties are fetid when rubbed. It is composed of sulphuric
acid 84, and barytes 66. It decrepitates before the blowpipe, and
fuses with difficulty. It is distinguished by its heavy qiedfic gravity
from CeUstine and Arragonite, and firom the various carbonates by not
effervescing with acids, ffeavy Spair is often aasodated with the ores
of other metals.
This substance is much used in the art& It is ground up and used
as white paint, and also for adulterating white lead. Mixed with
equal parts of white lead, it is sometimes called Venice White; and
another variety, witii twice its weight of barytes, is called HanUmrgk
White ; and another, one-third white lead, is called Dutch White. The
barytes in these mixtures seems to prevent the white lead from being
tarnished by sulphuretted hydrogen, and they are therefore preferred
for some kinds of painting. The variety called Bologna Spar le highly
phosphorescent after calcination. Allomorphite is a synonym of
Heavy Spar, Cawk is a massive variety. J)reelite is a sulphate of
baxytes and lime.
Native Carbonate of Barytee, Witherite, BarolUe, is remarkable for its
high specific gravity, being 4*8. It is prismatic, and occurs generally
in 6-sided prisms, or modified rhombic prisms, very imperfectly
cleavable. it is also found in globular botryoidal slutpeB, showing a
prismatic structure. It is brittie, and decrepitates before the blow-
pipe, fusing easily into a transparent globule, which becomes opaque on
cooling. It effervesces with nitric add, and is composed of baryta,
77*6, and carbonic acid, 22*4. It is found chiefly at Alston Moor in
Ciunberland, and Anglezarke in Lancashire, and also in Styria.
Witherite is a poisonous mineral, and is used for killing rats. It is
also employed in pyrotechny for TnaUng the nitrate which gives a
yellow colour, and it is used as a water-colour. Baryto-Calcite and
Brondite are varieties, the former from Alston Moor in Cumberland,
the latter from Bromley HilL They consist of the carbonate of lime
and baryta. Sulphato-Cas'honate of Barytes is a variety containing the
sulphate of barytes.
(Dana, Manual of Mineralogy,)
BARYTO-CALCITE. [Babttim.]
BARTTO-CELESTINE, a sulphate of Barytes and Strontia
[Stbontia, see Surp.]
BAHYT0-8TR0NTIANITE,a carbonate of Barytes and Strontia.
[Strontia. see Sufp.]
BASALT, a hard dark-coloured rock of igneous origin. The
chemical composition is variable, as appears firom different analyses,
two of which, by Beudant and Phillips^ are as follows : —
Beadant.
Phillipa.
BeauUen.
Dlfferenoe.
Silica . . 59*5
44-50
. 15*00
AliimiTm. , , . 11*5
16*76
5*25
Lime ... 1*8
9*50
8-20
Magnesia . . . 0*0
Soda ... 5-9
2-26
2*60
2-25
8*80
Potash . . 1-6
0*00
1*60
Oxide of Iron. . 20*2
20-00
0-20
Oxide of Manganese 0*0
0-12
0-12
Digitized by V^:iO(
)Qle
m
BASALT.
BASALT.
SM
True Uasalt has been regarded as composed of Augite, Fekpar, aud
oxide of iroD ; but this definition is fiur too limited for either theoreti-
cal or practical purposes, unless the constituent minerals be considered
of variable chemical compositions, as appears to be the case. Since
Augite and Hornblende may, from the researches of Rose, be regarded
as ^e same mineral, it follows that a yerv fine-grained Greenstone,
containing a considerable perK^ntage of oxide of iron, can, even under
this definition, be considered a true Basalt. There can indeed be little
doubt that the same igneous rock has been termed Greenstone when
the grains of Felspar and Hornblende were sufficiently distinct, which,
when exceedingly fine-grained, has been named Basalt Basalt can
only be considered as one variety of that mass of melted rock which
has been ejected at various periods from beneath the crust of the
globe, and to which various names have been assigned, according to
the characters which circumstances have impressed upon different
portions of it
Like others of the same class, Basalt occasionally passes into many^
rocks which have been in a state of fusion beneath the surface of the
earth, and subsequently ejected. Dr. Hibbert notices a passage of
Basalt into Granite in the Shetland Islands. (Brewster's ' Edinbuigh
Journal of Science,' voL L p. 107.) When however we view the mass
of igneous rocks generally, it appears that Basalts are the products of
comparativdy late geological epochs. We may therefore infer that
during the earlier states of our planet, conditions were not fiivourable
to their production, or at least to their propulsion to the surface ;
though probably some varieties of Hornblende Rock, particularly when
impregnated with much oxide of iron, do not differ materially from
fiasalt in their chemical contents. The mode of occurrence of these
rocks and of Basalts is however very different.
Basalt is a rock of very extensive occurrence on the surface of the
earth, and is very frequently detected in the vicinity of volcanoes,
both extinct and active. The greatest mass of Basalt yet observed is
that noticed by Colonel Sykes in the Deccan, constitutinji: the surface
of many thousand square miles of that part of India. This immense
mass of Basalt is either massive, prismatic, or globular, occurs in hori-
zontal beds, and is traversed by d^kes [DtkeJ of Basalt, which some-
times cross each other. There is no trace of any crater in this
basaltic region; and indeed this is the case with numerous other
districts of Basalt, whence it has been inferred that such tabular masses
have not been ejected from a conical vent similar to those of volcanoes,
but that the Basalt of which they are formed rose through cracks and
fissures while in a highly liquid state, spreading out in sheets of
melted matter over the adjacent rocks.
As Basalt ]% frequently columnar, it is a rock which has excited
much popular attention, and
travellers have been some-
times induced to describe
rocks as basaltic merely be-
cause they were colmnnar,
which however is a character
that this rock possesses in
common with many others of
igneous origin. When Basalt
occurs in horizontal tabular
maKses, and is columnar, the
columns are generally perpen-
dicular, as in the annexed
figure. When Basalt forms
the substance of a perpendi-
cular dyke, cutting through
other rocks, and is columnar,
the columns are usually hori- „
contal, in the manner repre- ^
Rented beneath, a beiug the
basaltic dyke, and & 5 the rocks
through which the dyke passes.
Basaltic columns are some-
times also curved, and of this
mode cf occurrence there is a
beautiful example in the island
ofStaffa.
When basaltic columns are jointed, and exposed to the dejtructivis
action of breakers on a coast, they often present the appearance of
■ome great rnined
work of art Such
deceptive appear-
ances are however
not confined to,
coasts, for in some
countries, and es-
pecially in India,
masses of Basalt
rise suddenly from
the plains, and the
broken columns,
nhooting upwards, may readily at a distance be mistaken for
bmkUngB. When viewed from above, the heads of a number of
iMsaltic columns, it Tinbroken, appear like a pavement composed
of numerous polygonal pieces of stone fitted into each other, as in the
following figure.
According to Mr. Gregory Watt the
columnar structure of Basalt is due to
the pressure of numerous spheres or
spheroids on each other during the cool>
ing of the rock, such spheres or sphe-
roids being produced in planes of refri-
geration or absorption. This author £
took seven cwts. of an amorphous Basalt I
named Rowley Rag, kept it in fusion
for more than six hours, and cooled it so gradually that eight days
elapsed before it was taken from the fuinace. The shape of the mass
was uneven, and while the thinner portion was, in consequence of
more rapid cooling, vitreous, the thicker was stony, the one state
passing into the other. It was observed that numerous spheroids had
been formed, sometimes two inches in diameter. They were radiated
with distinct fibres, the latter also forming concentric coats when
circumstances were favourable to such an arrangement When the
temperature had been sufficiently continued, the centres of the
spheroids became compact before they attained the diameter of half
an inch. When " two spheroids came into contact no penetration
ensued, but the two bodies became mutually compressed and sepa-
rated by a plane, well defined, and invested with a rusty colour," and
when several met they formed prisms.
The following are Mr. Gregory Watt's inferences from these facts :—
" In a stratum composed of an indefinite number in superficial extent^
but only one in height, of impenetrable spheroids, with nearly equi-
distant centres, if their peripheries should come in contact in the same
plane, it seems obvious that their mutual action would form them into
hexagons ; and if these were resisted below, and there vna no opposing
cause above them, it seems equally dear that they would extend their
dimensions upwards, and thus form hexagonal prisms, whose length
might be indefinitely greater than their diameters. The farther the
extremities of the radii were removed from the centre, the greater
would be their approach to parallelism ; and the structure would bo
finally propagated by nearly parallel fibres, still keeping within the
limits of the hexagonal prism with which their incipient formation
commenced ; and the prisms might thus shoot to an indefinite length
into the undisturbed central mass of the fiuid, till their structure
was deranged by the superior influence of a counteracting cause."
(' Observations on Basalt, &c ; ' ' PhiL Trans.,' 1804.)
According to this. theory, which is certainly the best hitherto
framed to account for the colunmar structure of Basalt, the irregu-
larity of the prisms would
obviously depend upon the un-
equal distances of the centres
^ " ' of the spheroids, and the con-
sequent unequal pressure ; and
it is further inferred that the
joints sometimes observable
in basaltic columns correspond
with the concentric coats
noticed above. Two of the
most beautiful examples of
columnar Basalt hitherto dis-
covered are found in the British
l8land8,oneformingthe Giant's
Causeway, on the north coast
of Ireland, and the other
at Stafia, among the Hebrides.
The largest columns yet ob-
served are found at Fairhead
at the former place, where,
according to the accurate
measurement of some by the
Ordnance Trigonometrical Sur-
vey of Ireland, they are 817
feet in height^ the sides of
these enormous prisms occa-
sionally measuring 5 feet
Some non-colimmar Basalts present no trace of any particular
arrangement of parts, while othera show a globular structure, so that
when the rock becomes more decomposed it has the appearance of
numerous bomb^ells and cannon-baUs cemented together by a ferru-
ginous substance. This globular structure is sometimes also apparent
when the decomposition of the rock has not been considerable, being
well exhibited in the concentric arrangement of coats of Basalt round
centres at variable distances from each other.
Other Basalts are amygdaloidal, containing a varietv of substances,
such as Agates, Onyxes, and other minerals, which nave been infil-
trated into cavities formed by bubbles of gas or vapour while the rock
was in a state of fusion. As these bubbles have sometimes been
lengthened by the flow of the rock before it finally cooled, the infil-
trated contents filling such lengthened cavities have the appearance of
almonds sticking in the mass of the rock, whence the name amygda-
loid. When, as sometimes occurs, a great tabular mass of Basalt is
composed of superimposed beds, some columnar, some amorphous,
Digitized by
Google
895
BASANITR
BASSIA.
•ad others amygdaloidal, these characters are sufficient to authorise a
ooDclusion that the whole mass has not heen produced at one upburst
of Basalt^ but that there were several flows of melted matter to which
different conditions gave different characters ; the amygdaloidal struc-
ture particularly pointing to the absence of very considerable pressure
upon the Basalt so characterised, before it became solid.
BASANITE, a variety of Jasper.
BASICERINE, a hydro-fluonde of Cerium.
BASIL. (Calamtiitha.)
BA'SILISK (BatUucus, Daudin), a genus of Saurian Reptiles,
belonging to the'Iguanian Family. It is to be observed that the
Basilisk of modem Erpetology is a very different animal from the
~ Basiliak (ficurtklffKos) or Royal Serpent of antiquity, the Tiepha or
Ttiphoni of the Hebrews, which is translated Cockatrice in our English
version of the Scriptures, and which was formerly the subject of so
many fabulous narrations. [Cockatricb.]
The Basilisks are distinguished from other genera of the Iguaaian
Reptiles by the absence of the lax and dilatable skin under the
throat, by the want of thigh pores, and still more particularly by the
elevated crest or fin which, like the dorsals of some fishes, runs along
the whole length of the back and tail, and is supported by the spinous
processes of the dorsal and caudal vertebne. To the occiput is
attached a membranous bag, which the Basilisk has the power of
distending with air, or emptying, as its occasions require, and which
appears to supply in this genus the absence of the dilatable skin on
the throat, with which nature has furnished the guanas, either as a
reservoir to contain a quantity of fresh air to supply their necessities
while diving, or by enlaiging their magnitude without adding to their
weight, to assist them in the actions of swimming and in keeping the
head above water, or perhaps for both these purposes. In the parti-
cular case of the Basilisks, their aquatic habits are still more power-
fiUly increased by the vertical fin of the back, which, like that on
the tail, is capable of being erected or depressed at the will of the
animal, and consequently, whilst it does not impede its motions on
the dry land, greatly facilitates its power of swimming and mcving
about in the water. In short, these animals may be said to carry
about with them a portable swimming apparatus, which is of the
utmost service to them as aquatic animals, without encumbering
them at other times, — a beautiful provision of nature to supply the
deficiency of palmated or webbed feet, which, as in the case of ail other
palmated animals, would have reduced the progression of the Basilisks
on land to a slow and awkward gait, and rendered it altogether
impossible for them to ascend trees or move securely among their
branches. Yet their whole organic structure, the length of their
limbe, and the division and flexibility of their toes, all announce the
rapidi^ of movement and arboreal habits of these animals, in which
are united, by the most simple means, functions and habits the most
directly opposed to one another. The genus Ophryeua of authors
exhibits much of the same structure, though perhaps not quite so
strongly developed, nor is it easy to conceive any just grounds for
separating these animals from the Basilisks. Two species only are
usually referred to this genus.
1. B. mitratui (Daudin), the Hooded Basilisk, measures 7 or 8 inches
from the nose to the origin of the tail, which is itself nearly twice as
Hooded Basilisk (27. mitraiu$).
long again, being 19 or 20 inches in length. This animal is easily
recognised by the generic characters already described, and more
especially by the bag or hood of the occiput, which may be said to
be in a manner peculiar to it, since it is but slightly indicated in the
other species ; this bag, when distended with air, is about the size of
a pullet's egg. The general colour is a mixture of vinous and sandy
brown, slightly marbled on the back and sides with different shades of
blue, and silvery-white on the belly. Transverse bands of a deep-
brown colour, but broken and irregular, pass down the sides from the
dorsal fin to the flanks ; two small whitidi bands pass over the eyes
and firom the comers of the mouth, and are prolonged upon the sides
of the neck ; and the tail is so remarkably attenuated towards the
extremity, as to show the articulations of the vertebrse beneath. This
spedes iiJiabits Guyana and the tropical parts of South America
generally. Its habits have been sufflcientiy noticed in speaking of the
goneral characters of the genus.
2. B, AmhoinentU (Dandin), the Crested "RiMriliA a large specHB,
upwards of 8 feet in length, is of a green colour, marked with white
lines on the head and neck, brown on the bade and tail, and sQveiy-
white on the beUy, irregularly dotted with numerous white points.
This species, as its scientific name imports, is an inhabitant of
Amboyna and the islands of the Indian Archipelago generally. It
keeps in the vicinity of rivers and fresh-water poids, where it loves to
bask on the branches of the trees which overhang the stream. Ob
the first appearance of danger it drops into the water, and conceals
itself beneath some rook or stone, whence it may be taken with Hie
naked hand, or with a noose, for it is a stupid and timid animal It
is caught for the sake of its fiesh, which is white and as tender as
chicken ; in taste it is said to resemble venison. The female deposits
her eggs in the sand, and leaves them to be hatched by the sun, psyiag
no attention afterwards to her young progeny.
BASILOSAURUS, the generic title proposed bv Dr. Harlan for a
large fossil animal, of which the remains were collected in Tertiaiy
Strata on the river Washita in Louisiana. The JMiimiJ was probablj
70 feet long. Professor Owen has referred it to the Cetaceans, under
the title of Zeuglodon Cetoida.
BASIN. In Geology, depressions of the strata occasioned by
synclinal dips are thus designated, espedally such as are on a large
scal& Thus the Tertiaiy Basins of London, Hampshire, and Paris,
resting on Chalk ; the Coal-Basm of South Wales, resting on Old Red-
Sandstone ; and, in a larger sense, the European Basins between the
Ural, the Scandinavian chains, and the Pyrenees, Alps, &e. Some of
tliese Basins are due to the original circumstances of deposition ; ethos
have acquired their configuration from elevations and depressions of
particular geographical areas.
BASSE, a Fish. [Labraz.]
BA'SSIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natonl order
SapotaceoB, It has a calyx of four or five leaves, a monopetalous
fleshy corolla, with its border generally 8-parted, and a great number
of stamens. The ovary terminates in a long taper style, and contaiBs
from six to eight 1-seeded cells. The fruit has a pulpy rind, wi^
not more than three or four cells, the remainder being abortive.
The species are found in the East Indies and in Africa, where they
are of great economical importance on account of tiie abundance
of a sweet buttery substance which is yielded by their seeds when
boiled.
B, butyraccOf the Indian Butter-Tree, the Fulwa, or Phulwa»rTrec,
is found vrild on the Almora hills in India, where it grows to a
Indian Butter-Tree (Bassia butyracea).
considerable size, its trunk sometimes measuring 50 feet in hei^t, and
5 or 6 feet in circumference. It has broad, oval, long-staiked leaver
from 6 to 12 inches long, smooth on their upper surface^ hairy on
their under. The flowers, which are laige and pale-ydlow, bang down
near the tips of the branches, from the axils of the leaves, tad
generally grow three together. They are succeeded by smooth. palp7
Digitized by
Google
S97
BASSUa
BATATAa
896
fruits, about as lai^ge as a pigeon's egg, usually containing two or three
roundish light-brovm seeds. From these is produced a fat-like
substance, which is a kind of vegetable butter, concerning which we
find the following information in the 'Asiatic Researches,' by Dr.
Rozbuxgh : — '* On opening the shell of the seed or nut, whidi is of a
fine chestnut colour, smooth and biittle, the kemd appears of the
size and shape of a blanched almond. The kernels are bruised on a
smooth stone, to the consistency of cream, or of a fine pulpy matter,
which is then put into a doth bag, with a moderate weight laid on,
and left to stand till the oil or fftt is expressed, which becomes
immediately of the consistency of hog's-lard, and is of a delicate
white colour. Ita uses are in medicine, being highly esteemed in
rheumatism and contractions of the limbs. It is also much valued,
and used by natives of rank as an unction, for which purpose it is
generally mixed with an tUr (aromatic oil) of some kind. Except the
fruit, which is not much esteemed, no other part of the tree is used.
After the oil has been expressed, the dregs are employed by the poor
as food. This Phulwara Butter will keep many months hx India
without acquiring any bad colour, taste, or smell, and might no doubt
be substituted advantageously for animal butter. The timber is of
no value, being nearly as light as that of the Semul, or Cotton-Tree
{BonUxix keptapkyllum).'*
B. longifoUay the Indian Oil-Tree, is a large tree, a good deal like the
last, but its leaves are narrower, and its flowers much more fleshy.
It is a native of the peninsula of India, and is found in plantations
along the southern coast of Coromandel, where it is called the Illupie-
Tree, Its fruit is yellowish, and yields by pressure a valuable oil,
which is used by the poorer natives of India for their lamps, for soap, and,
imrtytad of better oil, for cookery. The flowers also are roasted and eaten
by the Indian peasants, or bruised and boiled to a jelly, and made into
small balls, which are sold or exchanged for fish, rice, and various
sorts of small grain. The wood is as hard and durable as teak, so that
this is one of the most generally useful trees found on the continent
of India.
£. kuifolia, the Mahwa, Madhaco, or Madhooka-Tree, has oblong
leaves, and a corolla with a very protuberant tube. It is a native of
the mountainous parts of the Circars and of Bengal, where it forms a
middling-sized tree. Its wood is hard and strong, and proper for the
naves of wheels ; its flowers are eaten raw by the natives and by
jackals, and they yield by distillation a strong intoxicating spirit.
From their seeds a considerable quantity of greenish-yellow oil is
obtained, which is found useful for the supply of lamps ; it is,
however, inferior to that of the last species. It is curious that this
oil stains linen or woollen cloth as animal oil does, while the fi&tty
nibstanoe of the B, hUyracea possesses no such property, but when
rubbed on doth leaves no trace behind.
A fourth spedes has been named B. Parhii and is beUeved to be
the Shea-Tree, or African Butter-Plant, which is so very important an
artide of African internal commerce ; and which it would apparently
be extremely desirable to introduce into the West Indies and Bengal,
as a new source of internal wealth. This is the plant which is
frequently spoken of by Park in his ' Travels in Africa' : —
" The people were everywhere employed in collecting the fruit of
the shea-trees, frY>m which they prepare a vegetable butter, mentioned
in the former part of this work. These trees grow in great abundance
an over this part of Bambarra. They are not planted by the natives,
but are found growing naturally in the woods ; and in clearing wood-
land for cultivation, every tree is cut down but the shea. The tree
itself vezj much resembles the American oak, and the fruit, from the
kernel of which, first dried in the sun, the butter is. prepared by
boiling the kernel in* water, has somewhat the appearance of a
Spanish olive. The kernel is envdoped in a sweet pulp, under a thin
green rind ; and the butter produced from it, besides the advantage
of its keeping the whole year without salt, is whiter, firmer, and to
my palate of a richer flavour than the best butter I ever tasted made
of cow's milk. The growth and preparation of this commodity seem
to be amongst the first objects of African industry in this and the
neighbouring states, and it constitutes a main artide of their inland
commerce."
Duncan has also given an account of this tree, and expressed his
oonvietion that it might become an important article of conmierce
between Europe and i&ca, as it is available for all the uses for which
the hard oils are used in the arts and manufactures.
BASSUS, a genus of Insects, bdonging to the order HymmopUra,
and the fiunily iraconidcB, These are four-winged flies, with long and
narrow bodies. They frequent the flowers of mnbelliferous plants.
BAT. [Cheiboftera.]
BATAllA, lyAnra's name for the Bush-Shrikes, forming the
genus ThoMwiophUuM of Vieillot.- Mr. Swainson considers the ^ical
group to consist of the spedes with long tails ; and of this dividon,
TkamMopkUuM Vigonii (Such), Vamga Mtriata (Quoy and Oaimard),
may be taken as an illustration.
Dr. Such states this to be the largest species yet known, and gives
18 inches as the length of the body. The bill is black, and very much
oompreaaed. In the male (whidi is the sex here figured) the back,
wings, and tail are black, broadly banded with fulvous, and the imder
part of the body is a dirty whitish-brown. On the head is a rufous
crest whieh is blackish at the apex. In the female the bands are
whitish and the crest blackish, and the under part of the body ash*
colour.
77iamHophilus Vigoraii,
Thamnophilua ncevius, the Spotted Shrike of Latham, is an example
of the round and comparatively short-tailed division.
Spotted Shrike (Thamnophilus nwviu$).
Leach thus describes it from a specimen in the British Museum : —
''Black; back and bellv ash-coloured ; the former anteriorly spotted
with white ; quills of the wings externally, and the tips of those of
the tail, white ; under part of the body ouBh-colour, of which colour
the back partakes in a condderable degree."
BATATAS, the Malayan name of a Convolvulaceous plant, the root
much eaten in the south of Europe before the cultivation of the
potato, which both became a substitute for it^ and appropriated iU
name. It has generally been oonddered a species of ConvolviUus;
but Profe^r Choisy in his recent dasdfication has erected it and a
few others into a peculiar genus, distinguished by having an ovary
with four cdls, in each of which there is only one seed.
The only spedes of any general interest is the Bataiat edtdit, the
OonvohuluM BattUoi of authors, the Sweet Potato. This plant, origi-
nally found wild in the Malayan archipelago, has been gntdually dis-
persed over all the warmer parts of the world, where it is still an object
of culture for the sake of its roots, which, when roasted or boiled, are
mealy, fwwt, and wholesome, but slightly Iwfttivo. It is a perennial
Digitized by
Google
BATOLITES.
BEACHES, RAISED.
4(4
pknt, with long creeping siemB, leares variouBl^ lobed and angled,
and pale purple flowers about an inch long. It u impatient of cold,
and oonaequently unfit for cultiyation in the northern parts of the
Sweet PoUto {Batatas edulU),
world ; but it is a productive agricultural plant in many warm
countries. It is partially cultivated in the south of Spain and of
France, whence its roots are sent to the markets of Madrid and Paris,
where they are held as a delicacy. They however have the great fault
of keeping badly, being very apt to become mouldy and to decay,
unless extraordinary pains are taken to preserve them dry. They
are sometimes raised in the hothouses of the curious in this country.
B, Jalapa has none of the properties of the plant after which it is
named. rCoNVOLyuLACE&J
BATOLI'TES, a genus of FossU Shells established by Montfort^ and
placed by him among his CoquUUt UnivcUva Cloiaonniea, Montfort
states that these sheUs acquire a very great length, and that they
constitute masses of rock in the High Alps. [Bibostbiteb ; Hip-
PUBITES.]
BATRA'CHIA, FOSSIL. The number of Fossil Reptilia referrible
to this division is gradually enlarging, thou^ still very smalL To
the Anourous Batrachians we must, with Jager and Professor Owen,
refer the Labyrinthodons of the New Red-Sandstone Series of
Warwickshire and Wirtemberg (which include the Cheirotheria
whose foot-prints ornament the Ked-Sandstones of England and
Germany) ; while tiie tertiary fossil of Oenin^n (which Scheuchzer
imagined to be a human skeleton) is determmed by Cuvier to be
analogous to the Newt of Europe and the Menopoma of North
America. Remains of Frogs and Salamanders occur in the Tertiary
Brown Coal-Beds of the Rhine Vallev. [AmfhibiaJ
BATRACHITE, a mineral, which is a variety of (Hwine,
BATRACHOSPERMEiB, a tribe of plants referred by some writers
to the order FucacecB, It Ib regarded by Harvey as an aberrant group
of Ohloroapennece leading through Edoearpacea to Mekmotperme<E.
[Algjb.] The species have a polysiphonous firond compoeed of a
primary thread, surrounded by parallel accessory ones. Tne vesicles
are terminal or lateral and clustered.
The principal genus of this family is Batrachoipermum, which have
got this name from Bdrpaxos, a frog, and rwipfAo, a seed, on account
of their gelatinous fronds giving them the appearance of the ova of
the Amphibia. The species are flexible, and have a gelatinous cha-
racter. The surfiftce is covered with innumerable little hairs, looking
like oilia, which give them a very beautiful appearance under the
microscope. They mostly inhabit pure and. ruiming waters where the
force of the stream is not considerable. On removing them from the
water the hairs, which are expanded whilst immersed, coUapBe, aod
they appear like masses of jelly without any traces of ommiaation.
8evei«l species of this genus have been described by Dr. Hauall u
inhabiting streams in the neighbourhood of London. B. nmiUfome
is figured in Lindle/s ' Vegetoble Kingdom,' p. 20 ; and B^au^ hai
figured some of his new species in his ' British Fresh-Water Algc'
BATRACHOSPERMUM. [Batrachospebm&b.]
BATTUS, the generic title proposed by Dalman to replace the name
Aanottut which Brongniart gave to some minute trilobate Ontgtaeea
which occur in the SUurian Limestones of Norway, Wales, &c.
BAUHI'NIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Leguminotte, Linnseus applied the name very happily to commemo-
rate the merits of the two Bauhins, for the genus is remaikable for its
leaves being generally divided into two twin lobea
The species are usually twining plants, found in the woods of hot
countries, and often stretching from tree to tree like living cables,
forming with other plants
an almost insormoantable
obstacle to the trayeller
who would penetrate the
recesses of a tropical foreit
Some of them however aie
small trees, as for example
B.pomUa^ which in Jamaica
is called Mountain Ebony,
because its wood is sheathed
with black. Their flowen
are often very beautiful,
for which reason they have
long been cultivated in the
hot-houses of Europe ; but
they are too impatient of
the wretched treatment
they usually receive in
stoves to flourish and pro-
duce their noble blossoms. So long as these plants are cramped in
earthem pots we must not hope to see in Europe those noble flowen
which are described by the travellers who have visited the foreata of
America and India.
The bark. of B. raeenvota and parv^flora has been employed in
making ropes. A brownish-coloured gum is said by Roxbui^h to be
yielded by B. retusa. A gum is also collected from B. emarginata m
the Deyra Doon, which is called Sem-ke-gond. The flowers and buds
of B. tomentota are dried, and used in India as remedies in dysenteiy.
Their astringency is probably due to the presence of tannin, and one
species, B, variegaiOf has a su£Scient quantity of this substance in iti
bark to render it useful in tanning. The leaves of various Bauhiniaa
are used in Brazil under the names of Unha de Boy, or Ox-Hoof, as
demulcent remedies.
BDE'LLIUM, commonly called a gum, but in realiU a gum-reein,
the origin of which has been a subject of doubt. It would appear that
there are several kinds of Bdellium, the source of two of which seems
now to be ascertained ; the others are matters of controversy. The
Bdellium of the ancients, said by Pliny (xii. 9) to be brought from
Bactria and other parts of Asia, still comes from Asia. The BdeUium
of Africa is yielded by the Balaamodendron Afriecumm* Dr. Royle
says that Indian Bdellium is produced by a species of Battamodendfimj
called by Dr. Roxburgh Amyrit Commiphora (*FL Ind' il, p. 244),
AmyrU AgaUocha (* Calcutta Catalogue,' p. 28), the native name of
which is GoopL (Royle, * Illustrations of the Flora of the Hima-
layah,* part vl, p. 176.) The opinion of its being obtained from a
palm, either the Lontarui domettica (Gaertn.) or the BorauufifMl^'
formiSf is very improbable. This substance occurs in masses of
variable size and shape, sometimes as large as a walnut^ in oblong or
angular pieces of a yellow, red, or brownish colour. The dewesi
pieces are transparent; the odour is weak and pecidiar; the taste
bitter, balsamic, and resembling myrrh or Venice turpentine. It is
tolerably brittle atO^e ordinary temperature of the atmosphere, but
with a slight increase of heat the finer kinds may be kneaded between
the fingers. Its specific gravity is 1*371.
Resembling myrrh in appearanoe, it also resembles it in its effects
upon the human system, and is often fraudulently substituted for
it; it is however weaker, while it is more disagreeable and acnd
[BALSAMODENDROir.] It wsa formerly used in many oompounds and
plasters, such as Diachylon. It is now disused in Britain ; but is to be
found intermixed with gum-Arabia
The Sicilian Bdellium is produced by the Jknteut HiipatMiu
(Decand.), the D. gummifer of Lamarck, or perhaps the J), g^f^*^
(Linn.), acoordmg to Bocoone (* Museo di Piante Rare della Sidlia, Ac,
touL XX.), which grows on the islands and shores of the Mediterran^
The Eg^tian Bdellium is conjectured to be produced by the Bo-
nutut fiSMUiformia (Linn.), the Chamigropt Avmaif, or the Hypka^
cueiphera (Pers.) . .
The Bdellium mentioned in the second chapter of GenesiB is
obviously a mineral, and has no reference to the substances above
mentioned.
BEACHES, RAISED, a term introduced into modem Geolo^ w
characterise a very numerous dass of gravelly, sandy, and sheuy
Digitized by
Google
401
BEAD-TREE.
BEAR.
401
depoettB, which have been onoe parte of the eearbed, and have been
raised to constitute dry land in very modem geological periods. It ia
scarcely poeaible to assign exactly the limits of these formations, even
by the aid of the organic remains which they contain ; for while some
raised beaches contain only species now living in the adjoining sea,
others include one or more extinct species, and thus conduct by insen-
sible gradations from the almost modem shell-beds of the raised
shores of the Forth and the Clyde, and the variously elevated shell-
socumulations of Uddewalla and other points of Sweden, to the still
richer and more ancient (though still to be called Newer Pleiocene)
deposits of Sicily. The term Pleistocene (meaning ' most recent') which
has come into use, meets this difficulty but feebly, and in fact only
draws an arbitraiy or epochal line, inst^td of the soft gradations of
long periods which really appear in nature. Nearly all the British,
Irish, and European shores furnish examples in abundance : as the
shores of the Forth and Clyde, the coasts of Yorkshire and Lancashire,
the coasts of Cornwall and Devon, of Wexford, Normandy, Sweden,
and the Mediterranean.
BEAD-TREK [Meua.]
BEAQLE, a small well-proportioned hound, slow but sure, having
an excellent nose and most enduring diligence, formerly much in
fashion for hunting the hare, but now comparatively neglected, its
flace being occupied, where hare-himting is patronised, by the Harrier.
Habbteb.]
^
The Beagle.
These were the little hounds so much prized by ' the good old
Engliah gentleman;' for at a trifling expense, and greatlv to the
del^ht of the neighbouring rustics who followed on foot, he could
keep his ten or eleven couple, not more than so many inches high
individually, and, mounted on his easy pad, would generally make
certain of killing his hare, though it fx^uently cost him two or
three hours to perform the feat During this protracted chase he
had ample leisure for enjoying the sight of his admirably-matched
pack running so well together that ' they might have been covered
with a sheet,' and for gratiipying his ears with their tuneable cry.
The hare distanced them immeasurably at first, and in the course
of the run she might be observed to sit and listen ' sad on some little
eminence,' but
** In loader peals, the loaded winds
Broagfat on the gathering storm " —
and after exhausting all her speed, shifts, and doublings, she almost
always fell a victim to their persevering and destructive instinct.
A well-bred beagle of the proper size, which should not exceed that
above mentioned, is a very pretty and symmetrical variety. This
symmetry (the term is used in relation to the purposes for which the
dog is employed) was the result of much care among amateurs, who
spared no efforts to bring it to what they considered the standard of
perfection.
Some prided themselves on the diminutive but still effective size of
their packs. Daniel and others have not forgotten to commemorate
Colonel Hardy's ' cry of beagles.' They amounted to tai or eleven
couple, and were always carried to and from the field in a pair of
panniers upon a horse's back. Small as they were, they rarely failed,
though they could never get near enough to press ike hare in the early
part of the run, to stick to her and worry her to death at last
Such diminutive hoirnds are sometimes called Lap-Dog Beagles and
Rabbit Beagles.
The fairy pack above alluded to had a little bam for their kennel,
where also their panniers were kept. The door was one night broken
open, and every nound, panniers and all, stolen ; nor could the dis-
consolate owner ever discover either the tiiieves or their booty.
BEAM-TREE. [Ptbub.]
BEAN. JFaba; Phasbglus; Doliohob; Viciba]
BEAN-OOOSE. [Ducks.]
BEAR, the English name for a family of Plantigrade Mammalia,
forming a natural group, with six incisor teeth and two canine teeth
in each jaw, twelve mouurs in the upper and fourteen in the lower jaw ;
pentadactyle or five-toed feet, armed with strong claws ; and a wort
SAT. HIHT. DIV. VOL. I.
taiL The Bears exhibit but a comparatively small carnivorous de-
velopment ; for notwithstanding their strength, their dentition, par-
ticularly in the form of the crowns of their molar teeth, indicates a
propensity bordering on the firugivorous exclusively. Aristotle well
knew this, and thus described the habits of the Bear ( ' Nat Hist.,'
viii 5) : — ** But the bear is an omnivorous animal, and by the supple-
ness of its body climbs trees and eats the fruits and also legumes. It
also devours honey, having first broken up the hives ; crabs too and
ants it eats, and also preys upon flesh." Aristotle then describes how
the animal attacks the stag, the boar, and even the bull.
The ranger in the ' Tour on the Prairies ' notices the honey-seeking
propensity in language which, though not quite classical, is truly
nomadic : — " The bear is the knowingest varmint for finding out a
bee-tree in the world They '11 gnaw for a day together at the trunk,
till they make a hole big enough to get in their paws, and then they'll
haul out honey, bees, and all." And indeed it appears that although
they are omnivorous, th^ for the most part rarely devour flesh unless
pressed by necessity. Their claws too, though formidable weapons,
are not retractile, and are more calculated for digging and climbing
than for tearing prey. It is their general characteristic to lay them-
selves up in caves or hollows for the winter, which they pass in a
dormant state, and without taking food The female produces her
young at this season.
European Bear a,
Unut Arctoi {Linn.), the Brown Bear, "Apicros of Aristotle, the Ourt
of the French, Orto of the Italians, Bar of the (Germans, Bj5m of the
Swedes. This appears to have been the only species certainly known
to Linnaeus ; and though zoologists are not without their suspicions
as to some of the species since recorded, the number of those which
can no longer be considered doubtful will prove how much this depart-
ment of Natural History has been enriched since his time. The Brown
Bear is widely difilised The mountainous districts of Europe, from
very high latitudes (Arctic Circle) in the north, to the Alps and
Pyrenees in the south ; Siberia, Kamtchatka, and even Japan, to the
eastward, and a portion of the northern regions of America, form the
range of its geographical distribution. Africa and the Moluccas have
been added ; but it is far from improbable that these localities have
been assigned to it by travellers who have taken some other species
for it
To the Kamtchatkans this Bear seems to give the necessaries and
even the comforts of life. The skin, we are told, forms their beds and
their coverlets, bonnets for their heads, gloves for their hands, and
collars for their dogs ; while an overall made of it, and drawn over
the soles of their shoes, prevents them from slipping on the ica The
flesh and fat are their dainties. Of the intestines they make masks
or covers for their fiEtces, to protect them from the glare of the stm in
the spring, and use them as a substitute for glass, by extending them
over their windowa Even the shoulder-blades are said to be put in
requisition for cutting grass.
The Laplanders hold it in great veneration, and, according to Leems,
called it the Dog of (}od; for it appears that among the Norwegians
there had long been a proverb, that it had the strength of ten men
and the sense of twelve. They never, says the same author, presume to
call it by its proper name of Quouzhja, lest it should revenge the
insult on their flocks ; but make mention of it as Moedda-Aigja, or
the Old Man with a Fur-Cloak (' senem cum mastruc& ').
The Brown Bear is a soUtaiy animal Its retreat during the period
of hybernation is the natural hollow of a tree, or some cavern ; and
if these are not to be found the animal constructs a habitation for
itself, sometimes by digging, sometimes by forming a rude kind of
hut or den with branches of trees, lined with moss. Here it retires
when fat with the summer's food, and remains dormant, without
taking any sustenance, till the ensuing spring. Cuvier makes the
period of gestation about seven months, stating that they couple in
June, and that the birth takes place in January ; and the same number
of months is assigned in the artide in the old French ' Encydop^e^'
taken from observations of the bears kept at Berne. The cubs when
first bom are not much larger than puppies. They are long-lived,
for it appears that one of the Berne bears had been confined there
81 years ; and another, bom there, is spoken of at the age of 47 in
the menagerie at Paris. They are^excellent swimmers, notwithstand-
ing their uncouth appearance. Mr. Lloyd, in his ' Field Sports of the
North of Europe,' gives a very interesting account of the habits of
this species, and of his adventures in hunting it
That the Brown Bear was at one time common in the British
Islands there can be no doubt The Caledonian bears (another name
for BritiBh with the Romans) were imported to make sport for the
Roman people, to whom the excitement of witnessing the suffering of
man and beast in its most distressing shape seems to have been but
too welcome. From the well-known lines of Martial, descriptive of
the dreadful punishment of the malefiaotor Laureolus, it appears that
they were sometimes used as instruments of torture : —
Nnda Galedonio sic peotora pnsbait vrto,
Non falsi pendens in cruce Laureolos.*
Ray quotes authority for the Brown Bear having been one of the
• We are quite aware that some oommenUtors are of opinion that Martial i«
here speaking of a mimic scene, and that the verses which fbUow those shore
2d
Digitized by
Google
BEAR.
BEAR.
Wdflh beaito of chaae, and Pennant adduces the plaoes which retained
the name of Pennaiih. or the Beards Head, as evidenoe that it existed
in that principality. In the ' History of the Gordons ' it is stated
that one of tha^familyi so late as the year 1057, was directed by the
Iring to cany three beats' heads on his banner, as a reward for his
ralour in sUying a fierce bear in Scotland.
For many yean it has been swept away from our islands so com-
pletely that we find it imported for baiting, a sport in which our
nobility, as well as the commonalty, of the olden time — nay, even
n^ty itself-— delighted. A bear-bait was one of the recreations
offered to Elizabeth at Keoilworth, and in the Eaii of Northumber-
land's * Household Book' we read of 20t. for his bear-ward : — " Item.
My loide usith and aocustomyth to gyie yerly when his lordshippe is
at home to his bar-ward, when ho comyth to my lorde in Cristmas
with his lordahippe's beeets, for makynge of hia lordshippe pastime,
the said xij days, xxs." In Southwark there was a regular bear-
garden, that disputed popularity with the Globe and the Swan
theatres on the same side of the water. Now however, so much do
tastes alter (in this instance certainly for the better), such barbarous
sports are banished from the metropolis. (Stat 8 Wm. IV. cap. 19,
sec. 29.)
The firm support afforded by the well-developed sole of the foot
enables the Bears to rear themselves with comparative facility on their
hind feet, and this has been taken advantage of to teach fhe animal
to dance in an erect position. The discipline put in force to produce
this accomplishment is said to be so severe that it is never foigotten.
Baron Cuvier, in his * Oasemens Fossiles,' distinguished the Black
Bear of Europe under the title of Urstu niger EuropceuSy observing
that the frontal bone was flattened, and that the well-marked depres-
sions and ridges of the skull, for the reception of the strong muscles
of the lower jaw, were evidence of its being more decidedly carnivorous
than the Brown Bear; but in the last edition of his ' R^e Animal'
he confesses his doubts about the data on which he had come to this
conclusion, and it is probably a variety only. The usual size of the
Brown Bear is about 4 feet in length by about 24 feet in height The
daws are 2 inches long, very much curved and nearly equal
Common Brown Bear {Urtut Arctot).
F, Cuvier has figured the bear of the Pyrenees and of the Asturias,
whose fur in its youth is of a yellowish white colour. The hair of the
feet is an intense black. This is most probably only a variety, though
perhaps a distinct one, of Urtut Arctot. The Barren-Ground Bear of
America Sir John Richardson is inclined to believe now is a variety
of this, and not of the next species, as he at one time was inclined
to ^jhiTilr,
American Bean.
27. Americamti, American Black Bear, or Musquaw. — ^Pallas first
described this species (the Sass of the Chippewayan Indians and the
Musquaw of the Crees), whose general proportions are smaller than
those of U. Arctot. The head of the American Black Bear is narrower,
the ears more distant, and the muzzle more prominent, and it wants
the depression above the eyes. The fur is composed of soft smooth
hairs, which are of a glossy black for the greater part of their length,
instead of possessing the shaggy and woolly character of the compa-
ratively grizzled fur of the Brown Bear, except on the muzzle, which
is clothed with short thick-set hairs, brown on the upper part and
paler on the side. The tail is apparent! v more promment, and the
sharper and more curved olaws are nearly hidden m the hair.
quoted are not gwiaine ; but the expression * non flilsA oraoe ' is pretty strong ;
and if the rest of the verses are allowed to be Martial's, there is no doubt that
be here dsseribes a real spectacle. Whichever be the troth, the horrible nae
to which these bears were oocasionaUj pnt in the arena is but too evident
The BUok Bear inhabits eveiy wooded district of the ATnerictn
continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and finom Carolina to the
shores of the Arctic Sea. It still occurs, though not very often, in
the Blue Ric^, in Vixginia. Its southern boundary is placed at the
Isthmus of Panama. Man has however gradually driven it from its
haunts to make way for his works, and has compelied it to tske refuge
in the mountains and the iwitnAnnA inland forests. In Canada it is
still abundant, and it is tolerably numerous on the western coast is
far as Califomia.
Black Bear {Vhut Aateriemmu),
It is smaller than the other American bears, the total length of an
adult seldom exceeding five feet Its favourite food appears to be
berries of various kinds, but when these are not to be procured it
preys upon roots, insects, fish, eggs, and such birds or quadrupeds as
it can surprise. It does not eat animal food from choice, for when
it has abundance of its favourite vegetable diet it will pass the carcass
of a deer without touching it It Li raUier a timid animal, and will
seldom face a man unless it is wounded, or has its retreat cut off, or
is urged by affection to defend its young. This bear when resident
in the fiir countries almost invariablynybemates, and about lOOC
skins are annually procured by the Hudson's Bay Company from Black
Bears destroyed in their winter retreats. It generally selects a spot
for its den under a fallen tree, and, having scratched away a portion
of the soil, retires to it at the commencement of a snow-storm, when
the snow soon fumishes it with a close warm covering. Its breath
makes a small opening in the den, and the quantity of hoar frost
which occasionally gathers round the aperture serves to betray its
retreat to the hunter. In more southern districts, where the timber
is of a larger size, bean often inciter themselves in hollow trees. The
Indians remark that a bear never retires to its den for the winter
imtil it has acquired a thick coat of fat; and it is remarkable that
when it comes abroad in the spring it is equally fat, though in a few
days thereafter it becomes very lean. The period of the retreat of the
bean is generally about the time when the snow begins to lie on the
ground, and they do not come abroad again until the greater part of
the snow is gone. At both these periods they can procure many
kinds of berries in considerable abundance. In latitude 65" their
winter repose lasts from the beginning of October to the first or second
week of May ; but on the nortiiem shores of Lake Huron the period
is from two to three months shorter. In very severa winters great
numben of bears have been observed to enter Uie United States from
the northward. It is not however true that the Black Bears generally
abandon the northern districts on the approach of winter, as has been
asserted, the quantity of bear-skins procured during that season in all
parts of the fur-countries being a sufficient proof to the contrary. The
females bring forth about the middle of January ; and it is probable
that the period of their gestation is about 15 or 16 weeks, but it has
not been precisely ascertained. The number of cubs varies from one
to five, probably with the age of the mother, and they begin to bear
long before they attain tl^eir full size.
It will be observed that the period of gestation attributed to the
Brown Bear is seven months. Cuvier says that they couple in June,
and produce their young in January. Sixteen weeks is tne probable
time allotted to the American Black Bear for the same purpose by Sir
John Richardson, from whom we give the above account, and who
had the best opportunities of collecting evidence on the subject The
bean kept in the fosse at Berne frimished the proof of gestation for
seven months ; but it is so characteristic of the lamily for the females
to conceal themselves, that in a state of nature little evidenoe to bo
depended on for its accuracy can be obtained. ** No man," according
to Brickell, "either Christian or Indian, ever killed a she-bear with
young ;•' and Sir John Richardson's numerous inquiries among the
Indians of Hudson's Bay ended in the discovery of only one hunter
who had killed a pregnant bear.
Digitized by
Google
406
BEAR.
BEAR.
4M
The Talue attached to the skin of the Black Bear— a Talue yeiy
much decreaaed, for the skin that once fetched from 20 to 40 guineas
is now hardly worth more than from 20 to 60 ahiUinga — and the high
esteem in which the Indians held their flesh, caused great havoc
among them. The importation into England in 1788 amounted to
10,500 skins, and ascended gradually to 25,000 in 1808, sinoe which
tone there appears to have been a considerable decline, as in a table
of exports and imports of skins in Great Britain, published in the
Catalogae of the Great Exhibition (vol ii, p. 529), the number of
bear-ekins is 9500; of these 8000 are sgain exported, so that the
consumption in Great Britain is only 1500 annually. It is nevertheless
used for military purposes in this country, as for caps, pistol-holsters,
rugs, &c It is hence called often the Army Bear.
The Black Bear is re^^arded with much superstition by the Indians.
The foDowing account is given by Mr. A. Heniy : — " In the course of
the month of January I happened to observe that the trunk of a very
laige pine-tree was much torn by the claws of a bear, made both in
going up and down. On further examination I saw that there was a
large opening in the upper part, near which the smaller branches were
broken. From these marks, and from the additional drcumstanoe
thst there were no tracks in the snow, there was reason to believe that
a bear lay concealed in the tree. On returning to the lodge I commu-
nicated my discovery ; and it was agreed that all the family should
go together in the morning to asaLst in cutting down the tree, the
girtii of which was not less than three fathoms. The women at first
opposed the undertaking, because our axes being only of a poimd and
a half weight were not well adapted to so heavy a labour;, but the
hope of finding a large bear, and obtaining from its fat a great quantity
of oil, an article at the time much wanted, at len^ prevailed.
Accordingly in the morning we surrounded tiie tree, both men and
women, as many at a time as oould conveniently work at it ; and there
we toiled like beavers till the sun went down. This day's work carried
us about half-way through the trunk, and the next morning we renewed
the attack, continuing it till about two o'clock in the afternoon, when
the tree fell to the ground. For a few minutes everything remained
quiet, and I feared that all our expectations would be disappointed ;
but as I advanced to the opening there came out, to the great satis-
faction of all our party, a bear of extraordinary size, which I shot.
The bear being dead all my assistants approached, and all, but parti-
cularhr my old mother (as I was wont to call her), took the head in
their hands, stroking and kissing it several times ; begging a thousand
pardons for taking away her life ; calling her their relation and grand-
mother ; and requesting her not to lay the fault upon them, since it
was truly an Englishman that had put her to death. This ceremony
was not of long duration, and if it was I that killed their grandmother
they were not themselves behindhand in what remained to be per-
formed. The skin being taken off, we found the fat in several places
six inches deep. This being divided into two parts loaded two per-
sons, and the flesh-parts were as much as four persons could carry.
In all, the carcass must have exceeded five hundred-weight. As soon
as we reached the lodge the bear's head was adorned with all the
trinkets in the possession of the family, such as silver arm-bands, and
wrist-bands, and belts of wampum, and then laid upon a scaffold set
up for its reception within the lodge. Near the nose was placed a
Itfge quantity of tobacco. The next morning no sooner appeared
than preparations were made for a feast to the manes. The lodge
was cleaned and swept, and the head of the bear lifted up, and a new
Stroud blanket which had never been used before spread under it.
The pipes were now lit, and Wawatam blew tobacco-smoke into the
nostnls of the bear, telling me to do the same, and thus appease the
anger of Uie bear on account of my having killed her. I endeavoured
to persuade my benefactor and friendly adviser that she no longer had
any life, and assured him that I was under no apprehension from her
di^leasure; but the first proposition obtained no credit, and the
second gave but little satisfaction. At length the feast being ready,
Wawatam made a speech resembling in many respects his address to
the manes of his relations and departed companions ; but having this
peculiarity, that he here deplored the necessity under which men
laboured thus to destroy their friends. He represented however that
the misfortune was tmavoidable, since vnthout doing so they could
by no means subsist. The speech ended, we all ate heartily of the
bear's flesh ; and even the head itself after remaining three days on
the scaffold, was put into the kettle."
The Cimuunon JBear is a variety of this species. There is a specimen
in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, which was presented in 1829,
BO that he is now at least 24 years old. His mate cued in 1849. The
Yellow Bear of Carolina, and the Ours Gulaire {Unus gulcuii of
Qeoffroy), with a white throaty are also varieties.
U. omatut (F. Cuvier), the Spectacled Bear, inhabits the Cordilleras
of the Andes in Chile. Its fur is smooth, shining, and black, vnth the
following exceptions : — Its short muzzle is of a dirty yellow or buff
colour, and there are two semicircular marks of the same hue, remind-
ing the observer of a pair of spectacles, above the eyes ; the under
parts of the throat and neck and the upper part of the breast are
whitiBh.
U, ferox {Danit ferox, Gray), the Grizzle Bear of UmfreviUe,
Grisly Bear of Mackenzie, Grizzly Bear of Warden, Urnu einereut
of Desmaresty Umu horrHnlit of Say, Meesheh Musquaw or Meechee
Musquaw of the Cree Indians, and Urau ferox (Lewis and Clarke,
who first accurately described the animal, calling it often the White
Bear), is nearly double the size of the BUck Besor. Cuvier however,
Spectacled Bear {Ursu9 omattu).
in spite of its size, regarded it as a variety of U. Aretoi, Lewis and
Clarxe give the measurement of one as 9 feet from the nose to the
tail, and state that they had seen one of lai^ger dimensions. Eight
hundred pounds is reported to be the weight to which it attains.
The length of the fore foot in one of those measured by the
traveDers above quoted is given as exceeding 9 inches, that of the
Grisly Bear {Urstu ferox).
hind foot at 11} without the talons^ and the breadth 7 inches. The
claws of the fore feet, which are a good deal longer and less curved
than those of the hind feet, measured in another individual more than
6 inches. This part of its organisation is well adapted for diggings
but not for climbing, and the Mlult Grisly Bear is said not to ascend
treea. The muzzle is lengthened, narrowed, and flattened, and the
canine teeth are highly developed, exhibiting a great increase of size
and power. The tiul is very small, and so entirely lost in the hair
which covers the buttocks, that it is a standing joke among the
Indian hunters, as Sir John Richardson observes, when they have
killed a Grisly Bear, to desire any one unacquainted with the animal
to take hold of its taU. The fur, or rather hair is abundant, long, and
varying through most of the intermediate gradations between gr^
and blackish brown, which last is prevalent and more or less griz^eo.
On the muzzle it is pale and shorty on the legs it is darker and coarser.
The eyes are small and rather sunk in the head.
Unwieldy as this animal appears, it is capable of great rapidity of
motion, and its strength is overpowering. The bison contends in vain
with the Grisly Bear. The conqueror drags the enormoiis carcass
(weighing about 1000 lbs.) to a chosen place, digs a pit for its recep-
tion, and repairs to it till the exhausted store compels him to renew
Uie chasa And yet he will be satisfied with fruits and roots ; and on
his diet depends the aggravated or mitigated ferocity of his disposi-
tion. This animal is very tenacious of life. The long daws are strong
Digitized by
Google
un
BEAR.
into necklaces, and highly prised by the IndiaoB as trophies of their
prowess.
The following account of the habits of the Qrisly Bear is given by
Sir John Richardson : — " A party of royagers who had been employed
all day in tracking a canoe up the Saskatchewan had seated themselTes
in the twilight by a fire, and were busy in preparing their supper,
when a large grisly bear sprang over the canoe that was tilted behind
them, and seiaing one of the party by the shoulder carried him o£El
The rest fled in terror, with the exception of a metif named Bourasso,
who, grasping his gun, followed the bear as it was retreating leisurely
with its prey. He cidled to his unfortimate comrade that he was
afraid or hitting him if he fired at the bear, but the latter entreated
him to fire immediately, without hesitation, as the bear was squeezing
him to death. On this he took a deliberate aim, and discharged his
piece into the body of the bear, who instantly dropped its prey to
pursue Bourasso. He escaped with difficulty, and the bear ultimately
retreated to a thicket, where it was supposed to have died ; but the
curiosity of the party not being a match for their fears the fact of its
decease was not ascertained. The man who was rescued had his arm
fractured, and was otherwise severely bitten, but finally recovered. I
have seen Bourasso, and can add that the accoimt which he gives is
fully credited by the traders resident in that part of the countiy,
who are best qualified to judge of its truth from their knowledge of
the parties. I have been told that there is a man now living in the
neignbourhood of Edmonton-house who was attacked by a grisly bear,
which sprang out of a thicket, and with one stroke of its paw com-
pletely scalped him, laying Iwre the skull, and bringing the skin of
the forehe«l down over the eyes. Assistance coming up, the bear
made off without doing him further injurv, but the scalp not being
replaced the poor man has lost his sii'ht, although he thinks his eyes
are uninjured. Mr. Drummond, in nis excursions over the Rocky
Mountains^ had frequent opportunities of observing the manners of
the grisly beura, and it often happened that in turning the point of a
rock or sharp angle of a valley he came suddenly upon one or more of
them. On such occasions they reared on their hind 1^, and made a
loud noise like a person breathing quick, but much harsher. He kept
his ground, without attempting to molest them ; and they on their
party after attentively regaxding him for some time, generally wheeled
round and galloped off; though, from their known disposition, there
is little doubt but he would have been torn in pieces had he lost his
presence of mind and attempted to fly. When he discovered them
from a distance he generally frightened them away by beating on a
large tin-box in which he carried his specimens of plants. He never
saw more than four together, and two of these he supposes to have
been cubs ; he more often met them singly, or in pairs. He was only
once attacked, and then by a female, for the purpose of allowing her
cubs to escape. His gun on this occasion missed fire, but he kept
her at bay with the stock of it until some gentlemen of the Hudson's
Bay Company, with whom he was travelling at the time, came up and
drove her off. In the latter end of June, 1826, he observed a male
caressing a female, and soon afterwards they both came towards him,
but whether accidentally or for the purpose of attacking him he was
uncertain. He ascended a tree, and as the female drew near fired at
and mortally wounded her. She uttered a few loud screams, which
threw the male into a furious rage, and he reared up against the trunk
of Uie tree in which Mr. Drummond was seated, but never attempted
to ascend it. The female in the meanwhile retiring to a short distance,
lay down, and as the male was proceeding to join her Mr.. Drummond
shot him also. From the size of their teeth and claws he judged
them to be about four years old. The cubs of a grisly bear can clmib
trees, but when the animal is fully grown it is unable to do so, as the
Indians report, from the form of its claws."
Hie Rocky Mountains, and the plains to the eastward of them,
particularly, according to Mr. Drummond, the districts which are
interspersed with open prairies and grassy hills, are the chief haimts
of the Grisly Bears. To the north Uiey have been observed as £Eir as
61* of latitude, and it is supposed that they are to be foimd still
farther. To the south it is said that they extend as fi&r as Mexico.
There are three voung specimens of this animal at present (1858) in
the Gardens of ihe Zoological Society, Regent's Park.
Atiaiic Bean,
Urtui coUaru (F. Cuvier), the Siberian Bear, approaches closely to
the Brown Bear {Urttu Aretot), and is at best a doubtfid species.
The hair in quality and colour is much the same with that of the
Brown Bear, with the distinction of a laxge white collar which passes
over the upper part of the back and the shoulders, and is completed
upon the breast
U, I%ibetanui (Hdarctoi TUbtiamm), the Tibet Bear.— M. Duvaucel
discovered this species in the mountains of Sylhet, and Dr. Wallich
found it in those of NepauL The Tibet Bear has the neck remarkably
thick, and the head fiattened, the forehead and muzzle forming almost
a straight line. The ears are of a large size. Its clumsy limbs support
a compact body, and the claws are comparatively weeJL Its general
colour is black ; but the lower lip is white, and there is a large mark
of the same colour, somewhat in the form of the letter T, supposing
the stem of the letter to be placed in the middle of the breast, and
the forks to pass up in front of the shoulders. In bulk it is about
BEAR. m
intermediate between the Sloth Bear (ProehUM Uhiatm) ud^
Malayan Bear {Uram MalayoMu). Mr. Bennett, in his 'Tow
Menagerie,' gives a figure and description of one which wu brooght
Siberian Bear {Urtut eottaria),
from Sumatra, and could not be prevailed on to touch fiesh either nv
or cooked, bread and fruits fonmng his only food. In his dispostkn
he was moderatelv tame, and particularly fond of play.
U. habdlinutf Lsabella-coloured Bear. — ^Dr. Honfield first described
this species from a skin forwarded from the mountains of KeptoL
The skull had been removed, but the front teeth in both jawi and the
claws remained.
Tibet Bear {Unua Thibetamu).
" Our animal," says Dr. Horsfield, "is of a habit decidedly difRsrent
from that of several species of Urtut fh>m the same part of the world.
which have been recently added to the systematic catalogues, Dsxnelj,
the Unut TkibetanMt, the Unut labitUut, and the Unm Malajf«»^
All these have a jet-black fur, a semilunar mark of a white colour od
the breast, and other peculiarities affording types of sub-genera, among
which Prochihu and JSdarctot have been de&ied. Our animal, on the
contrary, appears to resemble the European bcArs in its structure, as
far at least as can be determined from the parts which have been
preserved in the specimen. Among these, the claws afford the best
means of comparison; they are small, obtuse, and straight, while
those of the Anatic bears above mentioned are lai^ge, strongly eurred,
acute, and fitted for climbing." A living specimen of this spedea is
now to be seen in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park. It is a
native of the whole Himalayan range, and is so light-coloured as to hsTe
led to the supposition that it was another form of the White Bear.
Ur8u» SyriactUf the Syrian Bear. — The she-bears which came out
of the wckhI, "and tare forty and two" of the mockers of Eliaha
(2 Kings u. 23, et seq.), are probably the first bears on record. Theet
bears of Syria may be occasionally traced in subsequent histoiy.
Thus Matthew Pans, in his 'England,' relates how Godfrey pux
Godefridus), as he was riding for recreation in a neighbouring wood
during the siege of Antiooh {Antiochiam Mmorem), saw a poor
Digitized by
Google
400
BEAR.
BEAR.
Btnmger, who was loaded with a bundle of dry wood, flying from an
enraged bear, whereupon Qodtrej gallantly went to the rescue, and
the bear turning upon him he was iinhorsed, the horse being wounded
by the bear, and fought on foot, when, after a severe struggle, in
which he reoeivedamost dangerous wound (*' Tulnus fere letiferum"),
he buried his sword up to the hUt in his savage adversary, and killed
him. The historian, in continuation, relates the great joy of the
army at QodBney's recovery. ('Hist, of England,' torn, ii p. 84, folio,
London, 1640.)
Syrian Bear {Urstts Syriactu),
The Syrian Bear frequently preys on animals, but for the most part
feeds on vegetables. The fields of Cicer arieiintu (a kind of chick-pea),
and other crops near the snowy region, are often laid waste by it.
The skin is sometimes fulvous brown, and, as has been stated,
sometimes fulvous white,- varied with fulvous spots. These changes
are supposed to have been occasioned by the abrasion of the long hsar,
whereby the woolly fiir beneath and that of the head become exposed.
Two veiy fine specimens of this species, a male and female, are living
m the Zoologicfd Qardens, Regent's Park.
U. labiaius {MdwnLS Lybius, Meyer), Labiated Bear or Sloth Bear.
Phis uncouth animal, on its arrival in Europe about sixty years ago.
Sloth Bear {Urms laliatus).
▼as taken for a Sloth and obtained the name of Bradypus pentadactyhu
and Urtinui, Five-Fingered Sloth, Sloth Bear, or Ursine Sloth. By
the two last names it was formerly shown in menag^es; and
Bewick gave an excellent portrait of it in his ' Quadrupeds,' as " an
animal which has hitherto escaped the attention of naturalists."
Heyer called it a Mdanut ; and Fischer a Chondrorkywhut. It is
the Bradyput wtHmu of Shaw (though it bears no relation to the true
sloths either in structure or habits); the Unut labi<Uu$ of De
Blainville ; and the Uriut hngirostris of Tiedemann ; the Ours
Pareiseux and Ours Jongleur of the IVench. The short limbs, the
depressed air of the head, surmounted by the hillock of a back, and
the whole contour of the apparently unwieldy mass, give the idea of
ileformity, and make it a favourite with the Indian mountebanks or
jxigglers, who rely much on the attraction of its ugliness.
The cartilage of the nose is capable of extension, and the lips of
considerable protrusion, as may be seen if the spectator hold a morsel
of fruit or biscuit at a proper distance for exciting the animal to exert
this faculty. The muzzle is elongated, and, with the ends of the
feet, is wlutish or yellowish. The forehead rises almost abruptly
from the muzzle. The fur, with the exceptions above noticed and
that next mentioned, is deep black, with here and there some brown
spots, and is rather long, particularly round the head in old indi-
viduals. Upon the under side of the neck and breast is a white mark
resembling the letters Y or T. In bulk it is about the size of the
Brown Bear.
The food of this species in a state of nature is said to consist of
fruits, honey, and the white ants, which are so destructive. It
inhabits the mountainous parts of India, where its retreat is stated
to be in some cavern. Major (now Colonel) Sykes noticed it in
Dukhim (Deccan).
In captivity it appears to be mild, but melancholy. A pair were
kept for some time in the garden of the Zoological Society. They
lived very sociably, and oft^ lay huddled together, uttering a kind
of rattling but low whine, or purring, which was continuous and
monotonous, but not entirely unmusical : indeed, by more than one
who heard it, it was termed their song. The paw was g^erally at
the mouth when they made this noise. A living specimen is still to
be seen in the Zoological Gardens.
U. Malayanutf Raffles (Hdcurctoa Malayanut, Horsfield), the
Malayan Bear, the Bruang of the Malays, is jet-black, with the
muzzle of a yellowish tint, and has a semilunar white mark upon
the breast. Dr. Horsfield observes, that the lai^gest prepi^red
specimen which he had examined measured 4 feet 6 inches along the
back.
Malayan Sun-Bear (l/ViiM — Jlelarctot—Malayanwi),
The sagacity of the Malayan Bear is said to be great, and its liking
for delicacies extreme. The honey of the indigenous bees of its
native forests is supposed to be a favourite food ; and certainly the
extreme length of the tongue is well adapted for feeding on it
Vegetables form the chief diet of this bear, and it is said to be
attracted to the vicinity of man by its fondness for the young shoots
of the cocoa-nut 'trees, to which it is veiy injurious; indeed Sir
Stamford Raffles found those of the deserted villages in the Paasumah
district of Sumatra destroyed by it. It has not unfrequently been
taken and domesticated.
In confinement it is mild and sagacious. Sir Stamford Raffles thus
describee the manners of one which appears to have been desenredly
a great favourite : —
" When taken young," he says, "they become very tame. One lived
for two years in my possession. He was brought up in the nursery
with the children ; and, when admitted to my table, as was frequently
the case, gavei a proof of his taste by refusing to eat any fruit but
mangosteens, or to drink any wine but champagne. The only time I
ever knew him to be out of humour was on an occasion when no
champagne was forthcoming. It was naturally of an afifeotionate
disposition, and it was never found necessary to chain or chastise him.
It was usual for this bear, the cat, the dog, and a small blue moimtain
bird or lory of New Holland, to mess together, and eat out of the
same dish. His favourite playfellow was the dog, whose teasing and
woirying was always borne and returned with the utmost good
humour and playfulness. As he grew up he became a very powerful
animal, and in his rambles in the garden he would lay hold of the
laigest plantains, the stems of which he could scarcely embraoe, and
tear them up by the roots."
Digitized by
Google
411
BEAR.
BEAR
411
There are Bereral tpecimeDB in the gardens of the Zoological Sodetj,
BegenVs Park.
U. Bury^pilut (ffdarctot BwytpUut of Horsfield), the Bomean Bear,
differs from the MaUjan Bear principally in haying a large orange-
ooloured patch, deeply notched at its upper part, upon the chest In
Bomean Bear {UrMus — Helarclos — £uijnpUus).
sise it is supposed to be rather less than the last. The individual
, which was exhibited in the Tower of London, and from which Dr.
Horsfield wrote his description, measured along Uie back from muz«le
to tail 8 feet 9 inchea It was obtained in Borneo when veiy young,
and during the voyage was the constant associate of a monkey and
- other animals. In confinement its manners greatly resembled those
of the Malayan Bear. Its habifcs in a state of nature do not appear to
be known, but are most probably similar to those of the Malayan
species. Dr. Horefield, speaking of its habits in captivity, says —
"The ffelarctos readily distinguishes the keeper, and evinces an
attachment to hiuL On his approach it employs all its efforts to
obtain food, socoDding them by emitting a coarse but not unpleasant
whining sound. This it continues while it consumes its food, alter-
nately with a low gruntmg noise ; but if teased, at this time, it
suddenly raises its voice and emits at intervals harsh and grating
sounds. Our animal is excessively voracious, and appears to be
disposed to eat almost without cessation. When in a good humour,
it often amuses the spectators in a different manner. Calmly seated
in its apartment, it expands the jaws, and protrudes its long and
slender tongue as abore described. It displays on many occasions not
only much gentleness of disposition, but likewise a considerable
degree of sagacity. It appears conscious of the kind treatment it
receives from its keeper. On seeing him it often places itself in a
variety of attitudes to court his attention and caresses,* extending its
nose and anterior feet, or suddenly turning round exposing the back,
and waiting for several minutes in this attitude with the head placed
on the ground. It delights in being patted and rubbed, and even
allows strangers to do so; but it violently resents abuse and ill
treatment, and having been irritated, refuses to be courted while the
offending person remains in sight."
The individual whose manners are here described fell a victim to
its voracity. During the hot weather of the summer of 1828 it over-
gorged itsialf one morning, and died within ten minutes after the
meal Its skin is preserved in the Museum of the Zoological Society.
African Bears.
The existence of bean in Africa has been more than doubted.
Even Cuvier, who saw the weak points of the negative evidence on
this subject^ says, ''the existence of bears in Africa is not so
indiq>utable."
Pliny (viiL 86) observes, that it was recorded in the Annals that
Domitins ^nobarbos, the curule .£dile, in the consulship of M. Piso
and M. Messala (b.c. 62) exhibited a hundred Numidian Bears, and as
many .Ethiopian hunters in the circus, and adds his wonder that the
bears should have been called Numidian, as it was evident that no
bears were produced in Africa. In the 57th chapter of the same
book he makes the broad assertion that in Africa there are neither
boars, nor stags, nor eoats, nor bears.
«* Prosper Alpinns/' says Cuvier, "attribates beam to "Egypt, bat
which were assuredly no bears at all, for he states that they u« of
the sise of a sheep, and of a white colour. Never did one of the
naturalists of our expedition see there any true bean." Brace mjt
positively, that there is no bear in any part of Afrios.
The inclination of Cuvier^s mind, seems to have been agaiDst the
existence of bean in Africa ; and yet the record of the annalist quoted
by Pliny, and the numerous passages concerning Lybian Bears in
Herodotus, Virgil, Juvenal, Martial, and others, make a* strong cue
for their existence.
It was reserved for Ehrenberg to solve these doubts m great
measure. Writing on this subject, he says — " Moreover, we ourselTes
have seen in the mountains of Abyssinia, and therefore in Africa
itself, an animal most like to a bear (nay, why had I not said— a
bear f) and hunted it repeatedly, but in vain. It is called by the
natives Karrai.*' He then goes on to state, that he can giye to those
who are interested in the geographical distribution of the bear, true
tidings of a blackish plantigrade wild beast most like unto a bou*, in
the mountains of Abvssinia, though neither Bruce nor Salt make
mention of it ; and that, according to the description of the inhabi-
tants, the mountains of Arabia Felix are inhabited by a similar or
the same blackish bear, said to be remarkable for its lengthened
muzzle. He adds, "Fonkal moreover has brought tidings of an
indigenous Arabian bear."
Marine Bear,
U. maritimutf Linn. {Thalarctoi ffuuritiMUi, Gray),'* the Polar Bear,
or Ice Bear. — ^Martens was one of the first who distiDgmshed this
Polar Dear ( Urtus — Thaiaretos — mariiitnu*) .
species from actual observation. The Brown Bear, as has been stated,
appean to have been the only species known to Linnseus. It is not
indeed till his 10th edition that he shows any suspicion that the Polar
Bear was distinct ; and in his last he only ventures to say, in a notice
appended to the description of Urnu Arctot, "Ursus tnaritmut
albus major arcticus. Martens, i^ptteft. 78. t. o. £ c. forte distincta
species est, nobis non visa, capite longiore, collo angustiore."
The habits, and many parts of its organisation adapted to those
habits, of the Polar or Sea Bear, I'Ours Polaire of the French, Urm
maritimu* of Endeben, Ursut marinut of Pallas, Unut albut of Bris8on|
Tkalarctot tnarUiimu of Gray, according to the testimony of all
zoologists, have confirmed the accuracy of Martens.
An inhabitant of the dreary regions which surround the Nw^
Pole with eternal frost, and of those coasts which are rarely free
from ice, the Polar Bear is alifiost entirely carnivorous, in a state of
nature. Animals of the land and of the sea, birds and their eggs,
the dead and the living, are alike devoured. An admirable gwinunor
and diver, and of great strength, ho chases the seal with success, and
is said to attack the walrus itself. Cartwright relates an anecdote m
proof of his agility in the water. He saw a Polar Bear dive after a
salmon, and the bear dived with success, for he killed his fish. Capt^
Lyon gives the following account of its hunting the seal :— " The bear
on seeing his intended prey, gets quietly into the water, and swims
until to leeward of him, fcom whence, by frequent short dives he
silently makes his approaches, and so arranges his distance, that at
the last dive he comes to the spot where the seal is lying. If the poor
animal attempts to escape by rolling into the water, he frUs mto the
bear's clutches; if on the contrary he lies still, his destroyer makes a
powerful spring, kills him on the ice, and devours him atleisora
The same author informs us that ibia bear not only swims witn
rapidity, but is capable of making long springs in the water. Sabine
states that he saw one about midway between the north and soutn
shores of Barrow's Straits, which are 40 miles apart, though there was
no ice in sight to which he could resort for rest.
The floating carcasses of whales and other marine animals fom a
ooooderable part of its food, and the smell of the burning kreng olten
Digitized by
Google
413
BEAB.
BEAR.
4f4
brings it to the whale shipe. Sir John RiohardBon aaya, that it does
not disdain, in the absence of other food, to seek the shore in quest
of berries and roota The Polar Bear moves faster on firm ground
than might be supposed from his appearance. Captain Lyon describes
its pace when at full speed, as '' a kind of shuffle, as quick as the
Bharp gallop of a horse."
This species is of a more lengthened form than that of the others,
the head is yerj much elongated and flattened, the ears and mouth
oomparatively small, the neck very long and thick, and the sole of the
foot veiy lai^ The fur is silvery-white tinged with yellow, dose
short and even on the head, neck, and upper part of the back ; long
fine and inclined to be woolly on the hinder parts, legs, and belly.
The sole of the foot exhibits a beautifU instance of adaptation of
means to an end, for it is almost entirely covered with long hair,
affording the animal a firm footing on the ice. The daws are black,
not much curved, thick and short. Captain Lyon's crew found none
of the terrible effects (skin peeling off, &c., &c.) from eating the flesh,
ascribed to it by some of the earUer voyagers.
The accounts given of the siss, strength, and ferocity of this animal
by the early navigators are appalling ; but the accuracy of modem
investigation has diissipated a gcMxl d«J of the awe with which it was
regarded, and has gone far to prove, that the excited imagination of
•ome of the narrators has led them beyond the truth.
The gallant adventurers who conducted the modem northern
expeditions penetrated hx beyond the points formerly reached, and
had opportunities of observing numbers of Polar Bears. The greatest
length from nose to tail, recorded by Captain Phipps, is 7 feet
1 inch, the weight of the beast being 610 pounds. Sir John Ross
records the measurement of 7 feet 10 inches, and the weight of
1 160 pounds ; and Captain Lyon states, that one which was unusually
large measured 8 feet 7^ inches, and weighed 1600 pounds. The
greater number of full grown individuals are spoken of as far inferior
to these in dimensions and weight
Two very fine specimens are at present living in the gardens of
the Zool<^cal Society, Regent's Park.
Pennant states that Polar Bears are frequent on all the Asiatic
coasts of the Frozen Ocean, from the mouth of the Obi eastward,
and that they abound in Nova Zembla, Cherry Island, Spitsbergen,
Greenland, Labrador, and the coasts of Baffin's and Hudson's bays,
but that they are unknown on the shores of the White Sea. Sir
Edward Parry saw them within Barrow's Sti*ait8 as far as Melville
Island ; and, dtuing his daring boat-voyage, beyond 82** N. lat. Sir
John Richardson says, that the limit of their incursions southward
on the shores of Hudson's Bc^ and of Labrador, may be stated to be
about the 55th panUleL Sir John Franklin learnt from the Esquimaux
to the westwai^ of Mackenzie River, that they occasionally, though
rarely, visited that coast Captain Beechey did not meet with any in
his voyage to Icy Cape.
As the Polar Bear resides prindpally on the fields of ice, he is
frequentlv drifted far from ^e luid. "In this way," says Sir
John RichardMU, "they are often carried from the coast of Greenland
to Iceland, where they commit such ravages on the flocks that the
inhabitants rise in a body to destroy them." *
The Esquimaux account of the hybernation of this spedes is thus
related by Ci^tain Lyon : —
"At the commencement of winter the pregnant she-bears are very
fat, and always solitarv. VThen a heavy fall of snow sets in, the
anhnal seeks some hollow place in which she can lie down, and then
remains quiet while the snow covers her. Sometimes she will wait
until a quantity of snow has fallen, and then digs herself a cave : at
all events, it seems necessary that she should be covered by and lie
amongst snow. She now goes to sleep, and does not wake until the
^ring sun is prettv high, when she brings forth her two cubs. The
cave, by this tune, has become much larger, by the e£foct of the animal's
warmth and breath, so that the cubs have room enough to move,
and they acquire considerable strength by continunllv sucking. The
dam at length becomes so thin and weak, that it is with great difficulty
she extricates herself, when the sun is powerful enough to throw a
strong glara through the snow which roofs the den. The Esquimaux
affirm, that during this long confinement the bear has no evacuations,
and is herself the means of preventing them by stopping all the
natural passages with moss, grass, or earth. The natives find and
kill the bears during their confinement by means of dogs, which scent
them through the snow, and begin scratching and howling yerv
eagerly. As it would be unsafo to make a large opening, a long trench
is cut, of sufficient width to enable a man to look down, and see
where the bear's head lies, and he then selects a mortal part into
which he thrusts his spear. The old one being killed, the hole is
broken open, and the young cubs may be taken out by hand, as,
having tasted no blood, and never having been at liberty, they are
then very harmless and quiet. Females which are not pregnant roam
throughout the whole winter in the same manner as the sajBles. The
oouplmg time is in May."
That part of these accounts which relates to the non-hybemation
of some of these bears is corroborated by Sir Edward Parry, who
saw them roaming in the course of the two winters which he passed
on the coast of Melville Peninsula.
That the Polar Bear will subsist on vegetable diet was proved in
the case of two which lived and throve for yesn in the Fretich
menagerie without being allowed to touch animal food. The indi-
vidual kept in the Tower in the reign of Henry IIL seems to have
been indulged in diet and recreation more congenial to its habits, for
there are two of the king's writs extant in <moice Latin, directing
the sherifEs of London to furnish four-pence a day for ''our white
bear in our Tower of London, and his keeper," and to provide a
muzzle and iron-chain to hold him when out of the water, and a long
and strong rope to hold him when he is fishing in the Thames.
(Madox, 'Exchequer Writs.')
FoM JBeart.
The fossil remains of these animals, when first found, ministered,
as might have been expected from the spirit of the sge, to the specu-
lations of the lovers of the marvellous, and figured in the medical
prescriptions of the lime. The caverns of the neighbourhood of the
Harz were ransacked for them ; and their supposed virtue as medidnes,
under the title of fossil Unicorns' Bones, procured a ready sale. In
the 'Protogeea' of Leibnitz, there is a figure of one of these fossil
unicorns, the product of an imagination suffidently lively.
But it was not till the year 1672, as Cuvier observes, that any
notice, truly osteological, appeared on the subject^ when Hayn gave
some representations of their bones brought from a cave of the
Carpathians, as those of dragons; and, bv way of helping the evidence,
informed his readers that there were still to be found in Transylvania
dragons alive and fiying.
These were the remains of the extinct Bear of the Caves (Unu*
9peUeta)f an animal which must have been the lai^gest species of the
genus. Rosenmiiller, in 1794 and 1795, gave the figure of a cranium
from Ghulenreuth; and John Hunter, in the 'Philosophical Trans-
actions' (1794), described the bones found there ; and the Maigrave of
Anspach the caves.
Blumenbach distinguished the skulls found in the caverns as those
of two distinct spedes, and gave them severally the names of Urtut
tpdoeuB and Urw» arctMeua, which Cuvier adopted, expressing
however his opinion that they were only varieties of the same
spedes. Goldfruas described a spedes as U. priicui from the same
remains.
The prindpal caverns in which these remains have been found are
those of Scharzfeld and Baumann, the latter of which owes its name
(Baumann's Hohle) to a wretched miner, who in 1670 lured by the
hope of finding ore sought its recesses. There he wandered, alone
and in darkness, three days and three nights. At length he found
his way out, but in so exhausted a condition, that he only returned
to the light of day to die.
The caverns of the Carpathians supplied the dragons' bones
above mentioned.
In Franconia, near Muggendorf, the caves are numerous, and abound
in bones. Here are the caverns of Gailenreuth, Rabenstein, Kiih-
loch, &a
The south-west border of the Thuringerwald has those of Glficks-
brunn and Leibenstein, near Meinungen, and Westphalia those of
Kliitexhohle and Sundwick.
In England the' remains of Bears have been found in the laigest
numbers in Kenf s Hole, near Torquay. They have also been found
in Tertiary depodts at Grays in Essex, Bacton in Norfolk, in the
valley of the Severn near Tewkesbury, the Manea Fen in Cambridge-
shire, atNewboum in Suffolk, and in other places. Professor Owen, in
his 'History of British Fossil Mammals,' refers these remains to U.
Ardotf U. pritcnt, and U. tpeUnu, He doubts the existence of the
fossil spedes U. arctoideu* and U. planut. Dr. Buckland (' Reliquia
Dilurianse') thus describes the scene in the cavern of Kiihlodi : — ** It
is literally true^ that in this single cavem (the size and proportions
of which are nearly equal to those of the interior of a laige church)
there are hundreds of cart-loads of black animal dust, entirdv
covering the whole fioor, to a depth which, if we multiply this depth
by the length and breadth of the cavem, will be found to exceed
5000 cubic feet. The whole of this mass has been again and again
dug over in seardi of teeth and bones, which it still contains
abundantly, though in broken fragments. The state of these is vexy
different from that of the bones we find in any of the other caverns,
being of a black, or, more properly speaking, dark umber-colour
throughout, and many of them readily crumbling under the finger
into a soft dark powder, resembling mummy powder, and being of the
same nature wiUi the black ea^Srth in which they are imbedded.
The quantity of animal matter accumulated on this floor is the
most surprising and the only thing of the kind I ever witnessed ;
and many hundred, I may saythousand, individuals must have
contributed their remains to make up this appalling mass of the dust
of death. It seems, in great part, to be derived fh>m comminuted
and pulverised bone ; for the fleshy parts of animal bodies produce,
by meir decompodtion, so small a quantity of permanent earthy
redduum, that we must seek for the origin of this mass principally
in decayed bones. The cave is so dry, that the black earth lies in
the state of loose powder, and rises in dust under the feet : it also
retains so large a proportion of its original animal matter, that it is
occadonally used by the peasants as an enriching manure for the
ac|jaoe&t meadows." The following is added by I>r. Buckland in a
Digitized by
Google
4X9
BEAR-BERRY.
BEAVER.
a
c
note : — ** I have fUted, that the total quantity of animal matter
that Ilea within this cavern cannot be computed at less than 5000
cubic feet. Now, allowing two cubic feet of dust and bonee for each
individual animal, we ehidl have in this single vault the remains of
at least 2500 bears, a number which may have been supplied in the
space of 1000 years, by a mortality at the rate of 2^ per annum."
The remains of Urntt tpetcBOi have been found near Steyer, in
''Jpper Austria. Necker de Saussure found them also in the clefts of
the rocks containing iron ore at ELropp, in Carniola.
The remains of bears have been detected generally in the. ossiferous
caverns of the south of France. The bones found in the lai^gest
proportion at the Orotte d'Echenoz, on the south of Yesoul, by M.
Thirria, and examined by Cuvier, were those of Urtm tpelcnu. Bones
of bears have been also found in the osseous breccia at Pisa, Nice, kc
Urtua tpdaut (Blumenbach), Great Cavern Bear. The skull of this
extinct species is considerably raised above the root of the nose, so
that the forehead, which presents two convex elevations, is a good
deal curved. Its size is about one-fifth laiger than the largest of
those of the Brown Bear {Unua Arctoa), or of the Polar BeBr.
U. pritctu (Gbldfuss), has a smaller skull, and differs less from the
crania of living bears than that of the preceding species.
We ought not perhaps to conclude this article without referring to
those hybrids which were supposed to be the offspring engendered
between a dog and a bear.
Even at the present day
there is an inclination to
believe in the existence of
such animals, but we need
hardly observe that it is
extremely improbable, to
use no stronger term, that
two animals differing so
widely in their dentition
and general structure, in
the periods of gestation
and in their habit^ should
produce a mule. An ac-
r count of such a creature
_ ,. is given in the * Histoires
Prodigieuses extraictes de
plusieurs Fameux Auteurs, Qrecs et Latins, sacrez et prophanes,
divis^ en Cinq Tomes, le Premier par P. Boaistuau, Tome Premier,
Paris, 1582.' A drawing of the a.tiitt]i^] is also given, of which we
present a copy.
This animal the author states he saw in England in the reign of
Elizabeth, but the probability is that the author was deceived by the
English bear-wards and dog-fighters of Elizabeth's time, and that
some dog, selected for its bear-like appearance in certain points, an
appearance aided by cropping the ears and tail, and other skilful arti-
fices, was palmed upon hun and upon others as a hybrid engendered
between a dog and a bear. [See Scpplemimt.I
BEAR-BERRT. [ABcrosTAPHTLoaJ
BEAR'S FOOT. [Hellbbobub.]
BEARDIK [GoBiTis.]
BEAUMONTI'TE, a mineral, a hydrous crenatp-silicate of Copper,
containing 15*8 per cent, of crenic acid. It is of a bluish-green to
greenish-white colour, and pulverulent when dry. It is found at
Chessy, dep. of RhAno, in France. ( Dana, Manual of Mineralogy.)
BEAYEk, the Kaglish name for the genus Castor (Cuvier), one of
the order of rodent or gnawing animals (Rodentia, Cuvier, Gliree, Lin-
nseus), with 2 incisors, or cutting teeth, and 8 molars in each jaw,
20 in all; and particularly distinguished from all ihe rest of that
order by a broad horizontally-flattened tail, which is nearly ovii, and
covered with scales. There are five toes on each of the feet, but those
of the hinder ones only are webbed, the webs extending beyond the
roots of the nails. The second toe of these last is furnished with a
double nail, or rather with two, one like those of the other toes, and
another beneath it^ situated obliquely with a sharp edge directed
downwards. There is also, as Sir John Richardson observes, a less
perfect double nail on the inner toe of the hind feet.
The incisor teeth of the Beaver are broad, flattened, and protected
anteriorly by a coat of very hard orange-coloured enamel, the rest of
the tooth being of a comparatively soft substance, whereby a cutting
chisel-like edge is obtained ; and indeed, no edge tool, with all its
combinations of hard^ and soft metal, could answer the purpose better.
In fact, the beaver^s incisor tooth is fashioned much upon the same
principle as that followed by the tool-maker, who forms a cutting
instrument by a skilful adaptation of hard and soft materials till he
produces a good edge.
But the natural instrument has one great advantage over the
artificial tool ; for the former is so organised that as fast as it is worn
away by use a reproduction and protrusion from the base takes place,
and thus the two pairs of chisel-teeth working opposite to each other
are always kept in good repair, with their edges at the proper cutting
angle. When injury or disease destroys one of these incisors, its
a^Ugonist, meeting with no check to resist the protrusion from
behmd, is pushed forward into a monstrous elongation. So hard is
the enamel, and so good a cutting instrument is the incisor tooth di
the Beaver, that when fixed in a wooden handle, it was, acoordini to
Sir John Richardson, used by the Northern Indians to cat bone, and
fashion their horn-tipped spears, &a, till it was superseded by the
introduction of iron, when the beaver-tooth was supplanted by the
English file.
The power of these natural tools is well described by Lewis and
Clarke, who saw their effects on the banks of the Miaeouri. "T\»
ravages of the beaver," say they, " are very apparent ; in one pUce the
timber was entirely penetrated for a space of three acres in front on
the river, and one in depth, and great part of it removed, although
the trees were in large quantities, and some of them as thick is the
body of a man."
Sir John Richardson thus speaks of this part of their opentiooi:-
** When the beaver cuts down a tree it gnaws it all round, cutting it
however somewhat higher on the one side than the other, by which
the direction of its faU is determined. The stump is conical, and oi
such a height as a beaver sitting on his hind quarters could makei The
largest tree I observed cut down by them, was about the thickneH of
a man's thigh (that is 6 or 7 inches in diameter), but Mr. Graham an
that he has seen them cut down a tree wMch was 10 inchtt in
diameter." Beavers have no canine teeth.
Castor Fiber of Linnaeus {Castor Americanus of F. Cuvier), the
American Beaver, is the aoimal of whose mgacity, and even ndal
American Bearer (Castor Fiber).
polity, such wonderful tales have been told. The beet account of ^ia
animal is that given by Heame : —
"The beaver," he says, "being so plentiful, the attention of my
companions was chiefly engaged on them, as they not only furnished
delicious food, but their skins proved a valuable acquisition, being a
principal article of trade, as well as a serviceable one for clothing.
The situation of the beaver-houses is various. Where the beaven aw
numerous they are found to inhabit lakes, ponds, and rivers, as well
as those narrow creeks which connect the numerous lakes with which
this country abounds ; but the two latter are generally chosen by then
when the depth of water and other circumstances are suitable, as they
have then tiie advantage of a current to convey wood and other
necessaries to their habitations, and because, in general, they aie more
difficult to be taken than those that are buUt in standing water.
They always choose those parts that have such a depth of water aa
will resist the frost in winter, and prevent it from freezing to the
bottouL The beavers that build their houses in small riiers or creeks,
in which water is liable to be drained off when the back supplies are
dried up by the frosty are wonderfully taught by instinct to provide
against that evil by making a dam quite across the riv^, at a
convenient distance from their houses. The beaveivdams differ in
shape according to the nature of the place in which they are boiH.
If the water in the river or creek have but littie motion the dam is
almost straight ; but when the current is more rapid it is always made
with a considerable curve, convex towards the stream. The matenali
made use of are drift-wood, green willows, birch, and poplarS) if they
can be got ; also mud and stones intermixed in such a manner aa mast
evidently contribute to the strength of the dam ; but there is no other
order or method observed in tiie dams, except that of the work being
carried on with a r^^ar sweep, and all the parts being made of equal
strength. In places which have been long frequented by bearos
undisturbed, their dams, by frequent repairing; become a solid bank,
capable of resisting a great force both of water and ioe ; and as the
willow, poplar, ana birch generally take root and ahoot up, they us
degrees form a kind of regular planted hedge, which I have seen m
some places so tall that birds have built their nests among the
branches.
Digitized by
Google
417
BEAVER
BEAVER.
"The beayer-houses are built of the same materialB as their dams,
and are always proportioned in size to the number of inhabitants,
which seldom exceeds four old and six or eight young ones ; though by
chance I have seen above double the number. Instead of order or
regulation being observed in rearing their houses, they are of a much
ruder structure than their dams ; for, notwithstanding the sagacity of
these animals, it has .never been observed that they aim at any other
convenience in their houses than to have a dry place to lie on ; and
there they usually eat their victiials, which they occasionally take out
of the water. It frequently happens that some of the large houses
are found to have one or more partitions, if they deserve that appel-
lation, but it is no more thana part of the main building lefb by the
sagacity of the beaver to support the roofl On such occasions it is
common for those different apartments, as some are pleased to call
them, to have no communication with each other but by water; so
that in fiict, they may be called double or treble houses, rather than
different apartments of the same house. I have seen a laige beaver-
house built in a small island that had near a dozen apartments under
:>ne roof; and, two or three of these only excepted, none of them had
any communication with each other but by water. As there were
beavers enough to inhabit each apartment, it is more than probable
that each fiftnuly knew their own, and always entered at their own
doors, without any further connection with their neighbours than a
fricncUy intercourse, and to join their united labours in erecting their
separate habitations, and building their dams where required.
Travellers who. assert that the beavers have two doors to their houses,
one on the land side and the other next the water, seem to be less
acquainted with these animals than others who assign them an elegant
suite of apartments. Such a construction would render their houses
of no use, either to protect them from their enemies, or guard them
against the extreme cold of ^'winter.
" So far are the beavers from driving stakes into the ground when
building their houses, that they lay most of the wood crosswise, and
nearly horizontal, and without any other order than that of leaving
a hollow or cavity in the middle. When any unnecessary branches
project inward they cut them off with their teeth, and throw them in
among the rest, to prevent the mud from falling through the roo£
It is a mistaken notion that the wood-work is first completed and then
plastered; for the whole of their houses, as well as tneir dams, are,
from the foundation, one mass of mud and wood mixed with stones,
if they can be procured. The mud is always taken from the edge of
the bank, or the bottom of the creek or pond near the door of the
house ; and though their fore paws are so small, yet it is held dose up
between them under their throat: thus they carry both mud and
stones, while they always drag the wood with their teeth. All their
work is executed in the night, and they are so expeditious that in the
course of one night I have known them to have collected as much as
amounted to some thousands of their little handsfuL It is a great
piece of policy in these animals to cover the outside of their houses
every fall with fresh mud, and as late as possible in the autumn, even
when the frost becomes pretty severe, as by this means it soon freezes
as hard as a stone, and prevents their common enemy, the wolverene,
from disturbing them during the winter; and as they are frequently
seen to walk over their work, and sometimes to give a flap with their
tail, particularly when plunging into the water, this has without
doubt given rise to the vulgar opinion that they use their tails as a
trowel, with which they plaster their houses ; whereas that flapping of
the tail is no more .than a custom which they always preserve, even
when they become tame and domestic, and more particularly so when
they are startled.
'* Their food consists of a large root, something resembling a cabbage-
stalk, which grows at the bottom of the lakes and rivers. [Nuphco'
luiea, aooordmg to Sir J. Richardson, the common yellow water-lily.]
They also eat the bask of trees, particularly those of the poplar,
birch, and willow ; but the ice preventing them from getting to the
land in the winter, they have not any barks to feed on in that season,
except that of such sticks as they cut down in summer, and throw
into the water opposite the doors of their houses ; and as they
generally eat a great deal, the roots above mentioned constitute a
principal part of their food during the winter. In summer they vary
their diet by eating various kinds of herbage, and such berries as
grow near their haunts during that season. When the ice breaks up
in the spring the beavers always leave their houses, and rove about
until a utUe before the fall of the leaf, when they return again to
their old habitations, and lay in their winter-stock of wood. They
seldom begin to repair their houses till the frost commences, and never
finish the outer coat till the cold is pretty severe, as hath been already
mentioned. When they erect a new habitation they begin felling the
wood early in the summer, but seldom begin to build until the middle
or latter end of August, and never complet-e it till the cold weather
be set in.
" Penons who attempt to take beaver in winter should be thoroughly
acquainted with their manner of life, otherwise they will have endless
trouble to eflfoct their piupose, because they have always a number of
holes in tiie banks, which serve them as places of retreat when any
injtuy is offered to their houses, and in general it is in those holes that
tbejare taken. When the beavers which are situated in a Onall
riTcr or cieek are to be takeD, the Indians sometimes find it neoessary
to stake the river across, to prevent them from passing ; after which
they endeavour to find out tJl their holes or places of retreat in the
baiJca This requires much practice and experience to accomplish, and
is performed in the following manner : — Every man being furnished
with an ice-chisel, lashes it to the end of a small staff about four or
five feet long ; he then walks along the edge of the banks, and keeps
knocking his chisel against the ice. Those who are acquainted with
that kind of work well know by*the sound of the ice when they are
opposite to any of the beavers' holes or vaults. As soon as they
suspect any, they cut a hole through the ice big enought to admit an
old beaver, and in this manner proceed till they have found out all
their places of retreat^ or at least as many of them as possible. While
the principal men are thus employed, some of the understrappers and
the women are busy in breaking open the house, which at times is no
eafify task, for I have frequently known these houses to be 5 or 6 feet
thick, and one in particular was more than 8 feet thick in the crown.
When the beavers find that their habitations are invaded, they fly to their
holes in the banks for shelter ; and on being perceived by the Indians,
which is easily done by attending to the motion of the water, they
block up the entrance with stakes of wood, and then haul the beaver
out of its hole, either by hand, if they can reach it, or with a laige
hook made for that pturpose, which is fastened to the end of a long
stick. In this kind of hunting, eveiy man has the sole right to all
the beavers caught by him in the holes or vaults; and as this is a
constant rule, each person takes care to mark such as he discovers by
sticking up a branch of a tree, by which he may know thenL All that
are caught in the house are the property of the person who finds it.
The beaver is an animal which cannot keep under water long at a
time, so that when their houses are broken open, and all their places of
retreat discovered, they have but one choice left> as it may be called,
either to be taken in their house or their vaults ; in general they prefer
the latter, for where there is one beaver caught in the house, many
thousands are taken in the vaults in the banka Sometimes they are
caught in nets, and in summer very frequently in traps.
" In respect to the beavers dunging in their houses, as some persons
assert^ it is quite wrong, as they always plunge into water to do it^
I am the better enabled to make this assertion from having kept
several of them tUl they became so domesticated as to answer to their
name, and follow those to whom they were accustomed in the same
manner as a dog would do, and they were as much pleased at being
fondled as any animal I ever saw. In cold weather they were kept in
my own sitting-room, where' they were the constant companions of the
Indian women and children, and were so fond of their company that
when the Indians were absent for any considerable time, the beaver
discovered great signs of uneasiness, and on their return showed equal
marks of pleasure by fondling on them, crawling into their laps, lying
on their backs, sitting erect lue a squiirel, and behaving like children
who see their parents but seldom. In general during the winter they
lived on the same food as the women did, and were remarkably fond
of rice and plum-pudding ; they would eat patridges and fresh venison
yeiy freely, but I never tried them with fish, though I have heard they
will at times prey on them. In fact there are few graminivorous
animals that may not be brought to be carnivorous."
Mr. Broderip, in his 'Note-Book of a Naturalist,* p. 1, gives ac
interesting account of the manners and habits of a pet Beaver during
its captivily. It manifested the same instincts, though exercised
upon very different materials, as those described so graphically in ^o
above passage from Heame.
Little need be said of the value of the frir of the Beaver in commerce,
a value greatiy heightened by the proclamation of Charles I. in 16S8,
expressly prohibitmg the use of any materials except beaverHstuff or
beaver'Wool in the manufacture of hats, and forbidding the making of
the hats called 'demi-castors,' unless for exportation. Tms prodamation
was an almost exterminating death-warrant to the poor bcAvers. They
were speedily swept away from the more southern colonies, and the
traffic became for the most part confined to Canada and Hudson's Bay.
The havoc made amongst them, even at that period, may be imagined
by an inspection of the imports of 1743. In that year the Hudson's
Bay Company offered for sale 26,750 beaver-skins, and in the same
year 127,080 were imported into Rochelle. These, it will be remem-
bered, are only the l^gal returns, making no allowance for smuggling.
In 1788 upwards of 170,000 were exported from Canada, and in 1808
126,927 were sent from Quebec alone to this country. The value of
these last has heem estimated at 118,9942. Is. dd, sterling, at an average
of ISa, 9d for each skin. These nimibers, as might be expected,
could not be kept up without almost total extermination ; and we
find, accordingly, that in 1827 the importation into London from a
fur country of more than four times the extent of that which was
occupied in 1743 was but little beyond 50,000. At the present time
(1858) about 60,000 beaver-skins are annually imported into this
country, of which 12,000 are again exported. Many other materials
are now employed for making hats.
The Beaver, although some have considered it another species, is
an inhabitant of Europe. The earliest notice of the European Beaver
(Kdtrrttp) is in Herodotus (book iv. c 109), who describes it as inhabit-
ing a large li^e in the country of the BucUni, a nation whom he places
on the east side of the Upper Don (iv. 21). He says that the skm was
used for clothing. Aristotle (book viiL c. 5) mentions the European
2 M
Digitized by
Google
419
BEAYBR.
BeaTer under the name of itiarttpf but only mentions it ; while Pliny I
(yiii 80, and xxxii 8, fta) well deBoribee it^ and is diffuae on the |
subject of the celebrated Gastoreom, so much valued as a medicine
among the ancients, and which long held a high place in the Materia
Medica of the modems, causing the penecution of this unfortunate
animal before its fur became an object of traffia Pliny points out
the frauds of dealers, but shows that he did not know what the
oostoreum reslly was. " Castorea testes eorum," writes Pliny (book
xzxiL c. 8), and the ancients inform us that the animal used to bite
off the part when hunted, well knowing that with the possession of
the desired castorea the persecution would cease. This however is
untrue, as it would be utterly impossible for the animal to do so if it
wished. Cuvier gives the following account of the oigans which
secrete this substance : — ** De grosses poches glanduleuses qui abou*
tissent k leur prepuce produissent une pommade d'une odeur forte,
employ^ en m^cine sous le nom de oastoreum." Sir John
Bichardson thus speaks of this substance : " I have not had an
opportunity of dissecting a beaver, but I was informed by the hunters
that both males and feniales are furnished with one pair of little bsgs
containing castoreiun, and also with a second pair of smaller ones
betwixt Uie former and the anus, which are filled with a white fatty
matter, of the consistence of butter and exhaling a strong odour.
This latter substance is not an article of trade ; but the Indians occa-
sionally eat it) and also mingle a little with their tobacco when they
smoke. I did not learn the purpose that this secretion is destined to
serve in the economy of the animal ; but from Uie circumstance of
small ponds when inhabited by beavera being tainted with its peculiar
odour, it seems probable that it affords a dressing to Uie fur of these
aquatic animalp. The castoreum in its recent state has an orange-
colour, which deepens as it dries into bright reddish-brown. During
the drying, which is allowed to go on in the shade, a gummy matter
exudes tfajrough the sack, which the Indians delight in eating. The
noale and female castoreum is of the same value, ten pairs of bags of
either kind being reckoned to an Indian as equal to one beaver-skin.
The castoreum is never adulterated in the Fur Comitries."
The same traveller says that the call of the beaver in the pairing
season is a kind of groan, and gives the following as the dimensions
of a full-grown beaver killed at Great Slave Lake, and now .in the
museum of the Zoological Society : —
Inches. Lines.
Length of head and body .... 40 0
„ head alone ..... 7 8
„ tail, scaly part .... 11 6
Distanoefbom tip of nose to anterior part of eye 2 10
Distance from the posterior part of the orbit
to anterior part of the ear . . . 2 5
He also gives the following account of the flesh, which, as much has
been said of its delicacy as food, is interesting : — "The flesh of the
beaver is much prized by the Indians and Canadian Voyageurs, especi-
ally when it is roasted in the skin, after the hair has been singed off.
In some districts it requires all the influence of the fur trader to
restrain the hunters from sacrificing a considerable quantity of beaver
far every year to secure the enjoyment of this luxury ; and Indians
of note have generally one or two feasts in the season, wherein a
roasted beaver is the prime dish. It resembles pork in its flavotir,
but the lean is dark-coloured, the fat oily, and it requires a strong
stomach to sustain a full meal of it. The taU, which is considered a
great luxury, consists of a gristly kind of fat> as rich but not so
nauseating as the fat of the body.
Pennant says that the geographical range of the American Beaver
commences in latitude 60"* or about the River of Seals, in Hudson's
Bay, and terminates in latitude 80*" in Louisiana; but Say places
their limit at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi, about seven
degrees farther to the northward of Pennant's southern boundary.
Richardson observes that their most northern point is probably on
the banks of the Mackenzie (the largest American river that falls into
the Polar Sea, and the best wooded, owing to the quantity of alluvial
soil by which it is bordered), as high as 674" or 68" N. lat ; and that
they extend east and west from one side of the continent to the other,
with the exception of the barren districts. He further states that
they are pretty numerous to the northward of Fort Franklin, and
that, from the swampy and impracticable nature of the country, they
are not likely to be soon eradicated there.
The following varieties of the American Beaver have been noticed : —
Var. o. C. P. nigrciy the Black Beaver.
Var. 0. O. F. varia, the Spotted Beaver. They have a large white
spot on their breasts.
Var. 7. 0, F, albct, the "White Beaver. This variety is an albino.
The Little Beaver is the C(utor Zibethicus of Linnsaus, Fiber
ZtbetMctu of Cuvier, Ondatra of Lao^kle, the Musk-Rat of Canada,
and Musijuash of the Cree Indians. [Musquash.]
F. Cuvier has pointed out some slight differences in the skulls of
the European and American beavers which he had examined for the
purpose of, showing that they are distinct Baron Cuvier, in the last
edition of his 'Regno Animal,' expresses his uncertainty, notwith-
standing scrupulous comparison, whether the beavers which live in
burrows along the banks of the Rhdne, the Diuiube, the "Weser, and
other rivers, are especially different from those of America, or whether
BEAVER. 43C
their vicinity to man is the cause that hinders them from building.
He does not appear to have been aware of the colony described by
M. de Meyerinc^ in the ' Transactions of the Berlin Katoral History
Society' for 1829, as having been settled for more than a oentary on
the small river Nuthe, a short distance above its confluence with the
Elbe in a lonely canton of the Magdeburg district This litUe asso-
ciation, it appears, amounted in 1822 to 15 or 20 indiriduals only ;
but they Were co-operative and industrious beyond what might have
been expected from their numbera Burrows of thirty or forty paces
in lengtn on a level with the river, having one opening beneath the
surface and another on land ; huts eight or ten feet hi^ formed of
branches and trunks of trees laid irregularly and covered with earth ;
and a dyke of the same materials, so well wrought that it raised tk
water more than a foot^ were the results of the persevering and
ingenious labours of the little band.
The American Beaver near the settlements at the present day is
sad and solitary like the European Beaver; his works have been
swept away, his associations broken up, and he burrows in the same
manner. Such beavers are called Terriers. Pennant indeed mentiona
them as a variety which wants either the sagacily or the industry of
others ; but he is much nearer the truth when he says, in the same
paragraph, " Beavers which escape the destruction of a community
are supposed often to become Terriera" They are also called Old
Bachelora
The following anecdote, related by Qeoffroj St HHaire in tiie
12th volume of the ' M<Smoires du Museum aHistoire Naturelle,'
shows that the European Beaver has the same sagacity as its tnna-
atlantic brethreiL One of these beavers from the ]^6ne was confined
in the Paris menagerie. Fresh branches were regularly put into hi?
cage, together with his food, consisting of l^^umes, fruits, &c., to
amuse him during the night, and minister to his gnawing propensity.
He had only litter to shidd him from the frosty and the door of hL
cage closed badly. One bitter winter-night it snowed, and the snov
had collected in one comer. These were all his materials, and the
poor beaver disposed of them to secure himself from the nipping air.
The branches he interwove between the bars of his cage, precisely as
a basket-maker would have done. In the intervals he placed his
litter, his canots, his apples, his all, fashioning each with his teeth so
as to fit them to the spaces to be filled. To stop the interstioes he
covered the whole with snow, which froze in the nighty and in the
morning it was found that he had thus built a wall which occupied
two-thirds of the doorway.
That the Beaver was formerly an inhabitant of the British Islands
there is no doubt Qiraldus Cambrensis gives a short account of
their manners in Wales ; but, even in his time (he travelled there in
1188), they were only found on the river Teify. "Two or three
waters in Uiat principality," says Pennant^ " still bear the name oi
Llyn yr Afango, or tne Beaver Lake. * * * I have seen two of
their supposed haunts; one in the stream that runs through Nant
Francon, the other in the river Conwy, a few miles above Llanrwet ;
and both places, in all probability, had formerly been crossed by
beaverdams. But we imagine they must have been very scarce even
in earlier times. By the laws of Howelda the price of a bearer's
skin was fixed at 120 pence — a great sum in those days."
The Beaver also appears to have existed in Scotland. Boethiu;;
enumerates the Beavers, ' fibri,' among the animals which abounded
in and about Loch Ness, and whose nirs were in request for expor-
tation towards the end of the 15th century. Dr. Walker, in his
' Mammalia Scotica,' states, on the authority of Giraldus, that Beaveiv
formerly existed in Scotland. Tradition refei's the name and arms of
the town of Beverlev in Yorkshire to the fact of Beavers having
abounded in the neighbouring river Hull. (Owen, 'British Fossil
Mammals.')
Fossil Beavers.
M. Gothelf de Fischer was the first to announce the existence of the
remains of an extinct animal allied to the Beaver. These remains,
consisting of a fossil cranium, were discovered on the sandy borders
of the Sea of Ajsof. Cuvier admitted the specific distinctness of this
animal, and adopted the name Castor trogwUherium, Professor Owen,
in his history of ' British Fossil Mammals,' describes the structure of
the teeth in this animal from a specimen in the oollection of John
Hunter in the Royal College of Surgeons of England, which was found
in Walker's Clifl^ Norfolk, and from a specimen in the possession of
Sir Charles Lyell foimd in the Norwich Crag at Cromer. From an
examination of these specimens Professor Owen was enabled to add
considerably to the details of our knowledge of the structure of this
animal On this ground he proposes to constitute for this species a
new subgenus, and to call it Trogontherium Owrieri, From the cha-
racter of the remains of the Trogontherium, Professor Owen concludes
that it must have been much larger than the European Beaver. That
the European Beaver is distinct and not the degenerate descendant
of the great Trogontherium, is proved by the fact that the remains of
beavers in no respect differing either in size or in anatomical cha-
racters from the Castor Fiber of the present day co-existed with the
TrogOTUJieriiMn.
Remains of the Common B>eavcr have been discovered by Mr. Green, in
company with the extinct Mammoth, in the lacustrine formations at
Digitized by
Google
BECCAFICO.
BEE.
ttf
Bacton. Remains of the Beaver have also been found in the olifb at
Mundedej, and in the oyster-bed at Happisburg in Norfolk ; also in
Uie fluTio-marine crag at Thorpe in Suffolk, and from a formation
earlier still in the fluyio-marine crag at Sisewell Qiq) near Southwold,
SuffoIL M. Fischer also reoeived the remains of another Beaver with
those of Troffontharium from near the lake of Rostoff, in the depart-
ment of JaroBslow, and which he called Trogontherium Wemeri, but
which Cuvier recognised as the remains of the Ck>mmon Beaver.
BECCAFI'CO, the Italian name for Btccafigo, or Fig-Eater; Bee-
jigHe of the French ; FicediUa of the Romans ; and SmcoaI^ of the
Gneks. Prince Boni^arte, in his ' Speochio Comparativo/ observes
that this name is applied to different birds of the genus Sylvia (Sylvan
Warblers), whenever they are fat, and in a good state for the table.
They are gen^ratlly fruit-eaters in the season ; but the true Beccqfico,
with its 'came squisita,' is, according to the Prince, the Sylvia hor-
trntis of Bechstein. [Sylvia.]
BECHBRA, a genus of Fossil Plants proposed by Count Stember]^.
Beckara Charafat^kis occvirs in the strata of Coalbrookdale. In this
genus Stembeig included the Gyrogonitei, or fossil Chora of the
Tertiary Strata of the Isle of Wight.
BECKER, or Braize, a Fish. [Pagbus.]
BEDSTRAW. [Galium.]
BEE, the name common to all the species of a very numerous
tibe of Insects of the order ffymenoptera.
In England alone about 250 species have been discovered. Eirby,
in his beautiful monograph, 'Apum Angliss,' divides them into two
great groups — Apis and MeliUa, which differ principally in the pro-
boscis. In Apis the tongue (Jig. 3, c),
or central part of the proboscis, is ^
generally long, and the proboscis itself
has two joints, one near the base, and
another about the middle ; that at the
base directing it outwards, and that in
the middle directing it inwards : when
folded, the apex of the tongue points \
backwards. In MdUta the tongue
IJg. 1, a) is shorty and the proboscis
has but one fold, which is near the
base ; and when folded the apex of the
tongue points forwards. These two
groups are also subdivided by Eirby, J
andthe character of each subdivision ,1
is given in detail ; but he did not 1
think proper to give names to these ^
smaller groups. It has however since
been thought necessary to consider the
smaller groups as genera; and hence
they have all been named, the greater .
portion of them by LatreiUe. When |
the smaller groups were considered |
genera, the gnater ones became £ami- ^
lies, and are named Apida and Andrew
Mb by Dr. Leach.
The species of AndircBwida, which
are very abundant during the spring pig. i.-.The uMler side of the
months, frequent grassy banks; the Head of one of the Andrwnida
males are generally seen flying about {MtlUtu^ Eirby), showing tho
hedgea The females usually construct proboscis, a, the tongue,
their nests underground; for which
pupose they generally select a bank in a southern aspect : some
species choose sandy situations, while others prefer a heavier boiL
The female having fixed upon a convenient spot, excavates a cylm-
drical hole, from five or six inches to a foot in depth, and only just
large enough to allow her to enter; at the bottom it is slightly
increased in width, and rendered smooth by being hned with a
glntmous substanca The labour of forming these cells is consider-
able, for the soil is removed grain by grain, and deposited round the
entrance of the hole, so that a litUe hillock is formed. The cell
bcmg completed, her next object is to furnish it with poUen ; this is
coUected from flowers, and carried on the tibiae of the hmder l^s,
which are thickly furnished with tolerably long hair, among which
the pollen is carried untQ she arrives at the ceR When a sufficient
quantity of poUen is coUeoted, and made into a kind of paste by the
addition of a portion of honey, it is formed into a little ball, lu which
an egg is deposited; the mouth of the cell is then carefully closed, to
prevent the entrance of other insects. The egg soon hatches, and
becomes a Uara, which feeds upon the poUen until it is all consumed;
the larva then turns to a pupa, and the pupa to the perfect insect.
It is remarkable that the Androsnida seldom make their appearance
after the spring months and early part of the summer, although ^e
eggi laid at^at time have undergone all their metamorphoses (m
many instances) by the autumn. The newly-disclosed insect remains
all the intermediate time in a torpid state. We beheve that the
species only live one year, for in the autunm we have found many of
them on the ground dead, and the inner part of their body devoui-ed :
this is probably done by a spider which is found in the same situations.
The habits of the species of ApidoR are more variable : many exca-
vate their cells in wood ; some, like the cuckoo, make use of the neste
of other species ; others again do not excavate cells, but make use of
any hole already formed, or of some other situation convenient for
that purpose. Of this last description a species of the genus Anthi
dium has afforded a remarkable instance. This bee is nearly the
size of the Hive-Bee, but is broader in proportion, and is easily
distinguished frx)m all the hitherto-discovered British species, by
having a series of bright yellow spots on each side of the abdomen.
A feinale of this species has been known to build her nest in the lock
of a garden gata The nest consists of a number of cells formed of
down ooUeoted from the Anemone syhestris, and probably from other
wooDy-leaved plants, scraped off by the bee with its jaws.
The flight of this insect is exceedingly swift ; but when it has dis-
covered a flower on which it intends to settle (generally that of the
blind nettle), it stops suddenly, poises itself in the air for a few
seconds, and then darts upon the flower, dislodging any bee which
may have settled upon it before.
Bometimee it appears more anxious to dislodge other bees, and to
prevent their gauiering honey, than to collect for itself, for it flies
about from flower to flower, and pounces upon all it meets with.
Anthophora retuta is another bee, which in its flight very much
resembles the one just described. This bee is considerably larger
than the Hive-Bee : the male is brown, sometimes inclining to an
ochre colour, and is remarkable for the three long tufts of hair which
are attached to the middle leg, two of them to the tip of the iabm
(that on the posterior part bemg very long), and another to the tip of
the tarsus. The female of this species is so much unlike the male,
that it has been thought by many to be a distinct species. It is
entirely black, except the outer side of the hinder tibiae, which is
covered with red haus : it is without the tufts on the intermediate
leg. This species constructs its cells in the sides of banks, generally
choosing those which are perpendicular.
It is to this same family that the Hive-Bee belongs, to the history
and economy of which we shall confine ourselves.
ThQ Apis meUificOy Hive-Bee, or Honey-Bee, has for many ages justly
claimed the attention and study of naturalists. Among the earliest
of its observers may be enumerated Aristotie and Virgil ; also Aristo-
machus of Soli in Cilicia, and PluliBCUB the Thasian. Aristomaohns,
we are told by Pliny, attended solely to bees for fifty-eight years ; and
Philiscus, it is said, spent the whole of his time in forests, investigating
their habits. (Plin. xi 9.) Both these observers wrote on the Bee.
In modem times the labours of Swammerdam, R^umur, Bonnet^
Schiraoh, Thorley, Hunter, Huber, and others, have added greatiy to
our knowledge of this interesting spedes.
Fig. 2. — ^The three descriptions of Bees of a Hive.
a, the Male or Drone ; &, ttie Neuter or Worker ; <?, the Female or Qaecn.
The lines denote the natxiral length of each.
The Honey-Bee always lives in society with many of its own speoies.
In its natural state it generally constructs its nest m hollow trees ;
Digitized by
Google
423
BEE.
but throughout Europe it is now rather a rare ooouirenoe to find it
otherwise than domesticated.
Each Bodetj or swarm is composed of three descriptions of Bees —
the Male^ or Drone; the Neuter, or Worker; and the Female, or Queen.
The Drone, or Male Bee, in general form, is almost cYlindrical, the
separation between the thorax and abdomen being much lees distinct
than in the females or neuters. The head is la^e, rather narrower
than the thorax : the eyes are veiy large, and meet at the vertex of
the head, but divide as they approach the forehead; dose to the
point of separation there are three stemmata. The antenna are
13-jointed. The thorax is thickly covered above and beneath with
short pale brown hairs resembling velvet. The length of the abdomen
is scarcely greater than is its breadth, and it is terminated obtusely :
it has only foiur segments visible fix>m the upper side, the anal seg-
ments being hidden beneath the others. The bual and apical segments
are each thickly covered with pale hairs. The colour of the abdomen
is black above, having the edge of each segment of a light brown
colour; the underside of the body is also pala. The legs are black;
the inner side of the hinder legs is covered with pale down. All the
daws are divided, the inner part being nearly equal in length to the
outer part. The wings are large, and rather longer than &e body ;
the anterior wings are rather acute at the apex.
The Drone may be readily distinguished from the queen and
workers by its greater breadth, large eyes (which meet at the top of
the head), and the abdomen having only four segments visible from
the upper side. The wings are much longer in proportion than those
of the worker or the queen, for in this sex they reach beyond the
extremity of the abdomen.
The number of drones in a hive is remarkably irregular, varying
from 600 or 700 to 2000 ; but the proportion is not regulated by the
number of bees contained in the hive^, for a small swarm will some-
times possess as many drones as a large one.
The time required to complete the metamorphosis of the drone is
as follows. In three days after the deposition of the egg the larva
inakes its appearance : about the middle of the seventh day from this
time, the larva, having then arrived at its full growth, spins its cocoon,
a silken substance with which it lines the interior of its cell : this is
accomplished in about a day and a hal£ It then turns to the pupa,
and ultimately to the perfect insect, having been aboiit 24 days from
the laying of i^e egg to the coming forth in the winged state.
The Neuter, or Worker, is of a dark-brown colour, approaching to
black ; the head and thorax resemble thoae of ike female, but the
head has black hair on the vertex. The abdomen is conical, and
composed of six distinct segments : the basal one is thickly covered
with hair, the other segments are sparingly clothed. The legs are
black : the plantse of the hinder legs are transversely striated on the
inner side. The wings when dosed nearly reach to the apex of the
abdomen.
In about four days after the egg of the Worker has been deposited
the larva is hatched, and in five or six days more (according to the
weather) it is full grown ; it is then sealed up in its cell by the nurse
bees with a covering of farina mixed with wax. As soon as the larva
is inclosed it spins its cocoon, which operation requires about 86
hours : it then turns to the pupa, and in about eight days more to the
perfect insect ; having been 21 days in existence, that is, from the
time the egg was laid until the insect has attained its perfect state.
The numbers of workers in a well-stocked hive is about 15,000 or
20,000. The occupation of these bees is to collect honey, pollen, and
propolis ; to build the combs, and to attend upon the young.
Fig. 3. — a, the proboscis of the Hive-Bee ; e, the tongae ; h, the hinder leg
of the Worker.Bee ; d, the part on which the pollen is carried.
Honey is collected by means of the proboscis. To a common
observer this instrument appears to be a tingle tube, through which
it is thought the honey is conveyed to the stomach by suction ; but if
BEE. 4M
we examine the proboscis through a lens of very moderate power, we
find that it is composed of five very distinct parts, a central stalk and
four lateral ones, two on each side. The central part is that which ia
prindpally used in collecting honey : this part is not perforated, but
18 a flat cartilaginous substance, and is used as a tongue in lapping up
the honey, which is then conveyed to the pharynx, and is afterwards
disgorged into the cells of the comb, part being used for the porpoie
of feeding the young, and the remainder stored up for the winter's
consumption.
PcUen is collected frvm the anthers of flowers, and is carried on the
outer surface of the tibisB, or middle joint of the hinder leg : this part
of the leg is very broad ; on one side it is concave, and fnmidied with
a series of strong curved hairs on its margins, forming a natural
basket admirably adapted to the purpose for which it is used. Thin
substance mixed with honey forms tke food of the lanre, for which
purpose alone it is collected.
In many instances it is onl^ by the bees travdling from flower to
flower that the pollen or farma is carried from the male to the
female flowers, without which they would not fructify. One species
of bee would not be sufficient to fructify all the various sorts of
flowers, were the bees of that spedes ever so numerous, for it requires
species of different sizes and different constructions. " M. Sprengel
found, that not only are insects indispensable in fructifying different
spedes of Irit, but that some of them, as /. Xi^iwn, require the
agency of the larger humble bees, which alone are strong enough to
foroe their way beneath the stile flag ; and hence, as these insects are
not so common as many others, this Iris is often barren, or bears
imperfect seeds."
PropoUs is a resinous unctuous substance, of a reddish colour, and
is collected from the buds of trees : it is not only used in lining the
cells of a new comb, but it is sometimes kneaded with wax and used
in rebuilding weak parte. It ia also used in stopping all the crevices
in the interior of a hive. The workers whidi arrive laden with this
substance are relieved of their burden by others ; these in their turn
distribute it among many, who employ it for the purposes above
mentioned.
Nature has provided checks to prevent the too n4>id increase of the
various spedes of insects. Among those of the Hive-Bee, the hornet
and wasp, and two or three spedes of moths, commit great devasta-
tion. Wasps frequently take possession of a hive, and after destroy-
ing, or causing their weaker neighbours to desert the hive, consume
all the honey it contains, and sometimes even construct their own
nests in the hive. Achtrowtia <Uropos, the Sphinx, or the Death's-
Head Hawk-Moth, which is almost as laigo as our common bat,
sometimes makes its way into hives, and consumes mudi of the beeif
stores. This insect has the power of emitting a peculiar sound, not
unlike that of the queen-bee : this sound ia supposed to have the
same effect (that of rendering the workers motionless) as that emitted
by the queen.
Two other moths commit great devastation in hives : these are
small spedes {OcUleria alvearia, and Q, meioneUa — ^the Honey-Moth,
and the Honeycomb-Moth, which, in spite of the guards constantly
kept at the entrance of hives, gain admittance, and deposit their oggs
in the combs. The larvae hatched frt>m these eggs form passages
through the comb in all directions, spinning a s^en tube as they
proceed, which it appears is too strongior the bees to destrov, and of
course tiiey cannot sting the larvsd. Theee larvae generally oolige the
bees to desert the hive after a short time.
In attending upon the young the labour of the workers appears to
be divided : a certain number always remain brooding over the cells
and feeding them, while others are employed in collecting honey. It
is these last that are the prindpal secreters of wax, and are called
Wax- Workers : the former are called Nurse-Bees.
The Queen-Bee is of a dark-brown colour : the head is thickly for*
nished with ydlow hairs, except on the forehead, where the hair is
nearly black ; on the vertex there are three small convex simple eyes,
or stemmata. The antennae are yellow beneath and brown above, and
composed of twelve joints, the basil joint is more than one-tiiird of
the whole leng^, the remaining joints are bent forwards, and at M
angle with the first. The thorax is covered with pale-brown hairs.
The abdomen is the shape of an elongated cone, and nearly smooth,
exhibiting six distinct segments above : the under dde of the body
and the base of each segment above are of a paler colour than the
remaining parts. The legs are of a brownish yellow : the femora and
tibiae of the anterior legs and the base of the femora of the posterior
legs are brown. All the claws of the tand are divided, the inner divi-
sion being much shorter than the outer one. The wings are short and
small in proportion, scarcdy reaching more than half the length of
the abdomen.
This sex is furnished with a bent sting ; in the neuter the sting is
straight ; the male has no sting. The Queen-Bee resembles the worker
in the shape of the head and thorax ; but the great length of tiie
abdomen and the paler colour of the legs and antennae^ are its chief
distinguishing characteristics. There is but one queen in a hive, who
is treated witii the greatest attention by all the otiier bees. It might
be wondered how they can distinguish the queen from any other bee,
the interior of the hive being quite dark : in this the antenns are
their sole guide, for if the workers be prevented toudiing her oocar
Digitized by
Google
485
BER
BEE.
4SW
Bionally with the antennsa they proceed as if she were lost. This has
heen satisfactorily proved by some ingenious experiments by Huber.
If by accident the Queen be killed, or if she die, her dead body is still
treated with attention, and for a time even preferred to any other
queen.
The Queen being accidentally or intentionally removed from a hive,
her absence is soon discovered and great disorder follows ; but this Ib
only temporary, for in a few hours preparation is made to replace her
Ices. The lanrsd of neuters from two to three days old are selected
for Uiis purpose: the cells containing them are each enlaiged by
sacrificing three adjoining cells, and in this space the workers build a
cylindrioil tube which surrounds the young larvsd, which are then
supplied with the same food as that given to the ordinary royid larvae,
and which is more pungent than that given to common larvse. In
about three days' time a perpendicular tube is constructed and joined
to the mouth of the cell just described ; into this the larva gradually
makes its way, moving ia a spiral direction. It then remains two
days in a perpendicular position, the head being downwards, after
which it turns to the pupa and then to a queen. As several hatch
nearly at the same time, the strongest stings the others to death, and
becomes ruler of the hive. From this it is evident that the worker-
bees are imperfect females, requiring only a slight difference of treat-
ment in the larva state to become queens or fertile females.
If the Queen be removed from a nive, and a stranger be immediately
introduced, she is surrounded and kept prisoner until she dies of
hunger ; for the woxkers never sting a Queen. If) however, 18 hours
have eh^Mcd since the loss of the former queen, the stranger is
better received, for although she is at first surrounded, she is ultimately
set at liberty, and treated with all the usual attention ; but if 24 hours
hnve clasped before the strange queen be introduced, she is at once
admitted to the sovereignty of the hive.
While the Queen remains ia a hive, the introduction of a strange
queen will occasion a disturbance, somewhat similar to that which
takes place when two or three young queens escape frx>m their cells at
the same time : both the stranger and the reigning queen are sur^
rounded by the workers, and the escape of either being tiius prevented,
they are soon brought into contact. A battie ensues, which ends in the
death of one of them, and the other then becomes ruler of the hive.
The sole occupation of the Queen is to lay eggs in the various cells
prepared by the workers for that purpose, for she takes no care of the
young herself. Until she Ib about eleven months old, the egga laid
are nearly all such as will turn to workers, but at the completion of
that period, which most frequentiy happens in the spring time, the
queen commences the great laying of the egga of males ; at this time
the queen will lay from 2000 to 8000 ^;gs, sometimes from 40 to 50
a day being laid during the months of l£^^ and April. There is also
anothcF laying of the eggB of males in the autumn, but this is not so
considerable. In the interval, the eggs of workers are almost exclu-
sively laid.
There seems to be a relation between the laying of the eggs of males
and the construction of royal cells, for the workers always commence
the oonstmotion of the latter at the time that the female is laying the
eggs that are to turn to drones.
The royal cells are very different from those of the male or worker,
and are generally suspended jaom the edges or sides of the comb :
their number varies
from two or three to
twenty, thou|^ the
latter ia a very un-
usual number. In
form they are very
much like a pear, J \
having the thickest ■ i
end joined to the I j
comb, the other end, I /
at which part the 1 '
mouth or entrance of
the cell is situated,
hanging downwards.
In these cells the
queen deposits the
egsn of future queens, „, , „^ ^ . « „ ,^ ,
2 intervals of at W ^^' ^'"^^^ *^*'^''" ^"' "' ^^"^ ^^^'^ ^' the same,
a day, and always during the period of laying the eggs of males.
When the Queen is about to lay, she thrusts her head into a cell
to ascertain its fitness ; she then inserts her abdomen, and in a few
seconds withdraws it, leaving an egg at the bottom of the cell fixed
in an upright position by a riutinous substance at one of its ends.
The egK is about one^w^fth of an inch long, and of a cylindrical
form, w^ rounded ends. When the larva emerges from the egg, it is
immediately supplied with food by the nurse-bees. This larva may be
seen lying in a curved position at the bottom of the cell, where it con-
tinues to grow until it has completely filled up the space ; when it is
fall grown it lies horizontally with its head towaixLB the entrance.
The food g^ven to the larva Lb a mixture of fiuina, honey, and water,
which is converted into a whitish jellv by elaboration in tiie stomachs
of the nurse-bees : the proportions of farina and honey vary according
to the age of the young, and we believe that the food is not given
directly to the larva, but disgoiged into the ceU, so that the insect up
surrounded with it But when the larva is nearly full grown, its food
is sweeter (probably containing a greater proportion of honey), and
Ib applied by the nurse-bees directiy to its mouth, somewhat in the
manner of a bird feeding its young.
J
Fig. 5. — a, the Egg ; h, the Larra ; c, the Papa of the Worker-Bee ; and
d, the head of the Larva magnified.
The drone and worker-bees are of a grayish colour when they first
leave their cells, and several days elapse before they are strong enough
to fiy ; but the queen is kept prisoner in her cell for some time after
she has assumed the imago state. The reasons for this imprisonment
we shall presentiy show.
When the larvso in the queens' cells are about to change into pup»
the old queen begins to exhibit signs of agitation — running carelessly
over the cells, occasionally thrusting her abdomen into some of them
as if about to lay, but withdrawing without having done so, or
perhaps laying them on the side of the cell instead of at the bottom.
She is no longer surrounded by her usual circle of attendants, and
her agitation being communicated to all she passes, at length a general
confusion is created, till at last the greater portion of the bees rush
out of the hive with that queen at their head. It is thus that the
first swarm quits the hive, and it is invariably conducted by the old
queen.
At any other time the queen would have been unable to fly, the
great number of eggs contained in her abdomen rendering her too
heavy ; this however Ib sufficiently reduced after the great laying just
described to enable her to fiy with ease.
An unerring instinct obligee the Queen to leave the hive at this
time, for two sovereign never can co-exist in the same community ;
and had she not left it the young queens (now just about to qtdt their
cells) would inevitably have been killed oy her. Let us now observe
what is gomg on in the hive which has just been deserted by its
queen. It would seem as if it were too much reduced by the departure
of the swarm, but it must be borne in mind tiiat this event never
occurs except in the middle of the day and during veiy fine sunny
weather, when a large portion of the bees are abroad gathering honey
and pollen ; and if the nive contain a numerous colony, these on their
return, together with those which have not been disturbed during
the gener^ confusion, and a considerable number of young brood
continually hatching, form a sufficient stock, and perhaps even enough
to send off another swarm.
In two or three days* time from the leaving of the first swarm
perfect order is restored in the hive, and the nurse-bees continue to
attend upon the young, carefully watching the queens' cells, and
working at the outsides by removing the wax from the surface. It
is said that the wax is removed in order to facilitate the exit of the
young queen ; but although the removal of it may thus be of service,
we are not inclined to think it is done for that purpose.
The eggs are laid in the royal cells at intervals of at least a day,
and it consequentiy follows that the completion and closing of these
cells must lake place at different times : we say completion, for at
the time the queen lays the eggs the cells are only half formed, and
resemble the cup of an acorn. When the cells have been closed about
seven days the yoimg queen cuts away with her jaws the part of the
silken covering at the mouth of the cell, and if permitted would make
her escape ; but the bees guarding the cells solder the covering vdth
some particles of wax, and keep her prisoner about two days, in which
time me obtains sufficient strength to be able to fiy immediately on
quitting her prison. It is difficult to imagine by what means the bees
guarding the royal cells can judge of the fitness of the inclosed female
for liberation. The most probable conjecture is, that they judge by
the quality of the sound emitted by the prisoner at this time. This
sound consists of a number of monotonous notes so rapidly repeated
as almost to appear one continuous sound. The sound is produced
by the vibration of tiie wings, and probably becomes shaiper and more
audible as the bee acquires strength.
The young queen upon being liberated immediately approaches the
remaining royal cells, and would destroy their contents by tearing
them open and mortally woimding her rivals with her sting ; but this
is not permitted, for so long as there is a sufficient number of guards
they bite and drive her away. She has the power however of arresting
tins ill-treatment for awhile by emitting a peculiar soimd, which has
such an effect on the sentinels that they remain motionless ; and she
sometimes takes advantage of this to make an attack upon the royal
cells. But as the sound ceases when she moves the charm Ib dissolved,
her guards recover their power, and she Ib again driven back.
After a time the young queen, owing to her strong desire to attack
the royal cells and the constant repulses she meets with, becomes
extvemely agitated, and by running quickly over the cells and group*
Digitized by
Google
BBE.
42S
of workers oommunicateB Uer disorder to a great portion of the bees, ;
80 that a Urge number quit the hive and cluster about the outside,
and after a short time the voung queen leaves the hive with a swarm.
Thus it is that the second swarm is thrown off. It seldom happens
that a hive sends off more than two or three swarms ; after which, {
unless the hive be an extremely populous one, there are so few bees i
left that there is not a sufficient number to keep proper guard over
the royal cells. The young queens consequently make thdir escape,
two or three at a time, in which case a contest takes place between
them, and the strongest remains queen of the hive, after destroying
all the royal larvee and pup» that remain.
But if the hive be an unusually populous one there may be four or
five swarms sent off, all accompanied by the same circumstances as
those just related. In case a hi^e is poorly stocked at the time of the
great laying of male eggs no royal cells are built, and consequently no
swarms leave. After the swarming a general massacre of the drones
takes place : these defenceless individuals (for the male has no sting)
are stung to death by the neuters.
When a swarm quits a hive it usually clusters on a tree or bush in
the neighbourhood, and if it be not hived it will shortly leave this
situation, and take possession of an old tree or part of an old buildincr.
It is said that bees send out scouts before leaving the hive to search
for a convenient situation for their new abode, and that they may be
seen going badkvnekrds and forwards to the spot fixed upon some HtUe
time before the swarm departs. The clustering of the swarm probably
proceeds from a desire in the bees to be congregated together prior
to their last flight. As soon as the bees have taken poaaeasion of a
new abode, or have been hived, they commence building the comb.
It has been stated that the first swarm is always conducted by an
old queen, and the following swarms by the yoimg queens as they are
sucoessivdy hatched. The latter are in a virgin state, but not so the
former, nor do these require farther intercourse with the male. About
two or three days after quitting her cell, and the fifth day of her
existence in the win^^ state, the young queen quits the hive, and
after reconnoitring its exterior and making herself acquainted with its
situation by flying from it and returning several times, she then soars
high in the air, forming spiral circles as she ascends. This ascent is
generally preceded by a flight of drones, and it is at this time (whilst
on the wing) that the sexual intercourse takes place. The queen is
never observed to quit the hive but at this time, and hence it is sup-
posed that this one intercourse is sufficient to fertilise all the eggs
she may ever lay. Huber decidedly ascertained that it was sufficient
for two years. We think it very improbable that a queen would live
much beyond that time. In about 46 hours after the intercourse
with the male has taken place, at which time a part of the comb would
be constructed in the new hive, the queen commences laying her eggs ;
those first deposited being such as will turn to workers, as before
described.
l%e Conttruction of the Comb, — In the 'Introduction to British
Entomology ' by Kirby and Spence, after referring to the various
accounts of ancient and modem writers on this subject, it is observed,
" StiU the construction of tiie comb of the bee-hive is a miracle which
overwhelms our faculties." John Hunter, who was the first to discover
the true origin of wax, imagined that the waxen scales (which we
shall hereafter mention) bore some proportion to the different parts
of the cells in the formation of which they were used, and thus fm>
nished a guide to their construction. Some naturalists have conjec-
tured that the antennse, mandibles, and other parts of the body were
used to measure the work, and firam this they have endeavoured to
account for the accuracy of their proceedings. The latter coxnecture
appears incompatible with instinct, while the well-authenticated mode
of proceeding in the construction of the comb throws great doubt on
the former.
Upon examination of various combs, the partitions between all the
ordinary cells (both at the sides and bottoms) are found to be exactly
the same in thickness, and the cells hexagonal with angular bottoms.
Exceptions to this general rule are occasionally found, and it is by
observing these exceptions with attention — ^by observing the various
modifications of the work under extraordinary circumstances, that
some idea of the principles which guide the bee in its operations may
be formed. The royal cell is a remarkable exception ; its form we
have alreac^ described. In the oi*iginal construction of this cell, a
profusion of material is always disposed of, particularly at the
junction of the cell with the comb. The extra quantity of wax in
this part, and on the surface of the cell (which is also unusually
thick) is, however, soon reduced by numerous circular excavations,
the depth of which varies according to that of the wax, and in the
mass nearest the comb they actually become cells, though in most
instances unfit for use. These cells are invariably cylindrical, with
concave bottoms, except they come in contact with oUiers, in which
case the wax is always removed from the interstices thus formed,
either at the aides or at the bottoms ; and the partitions are thus
reduced to the same thickness as those between the cells constructed
m the ordinary way. Hence we frequently find, in these parts, cells
with one side circular and the other angular ; the situation of the
angles being invariably determined by the poBition of those cells with
wmch they are in contact.
To work in circles or segments of circles appeal's most compatible
Fig. 6.
with animal mechanism acted upon by instinct^ for we oburve ih&i
the works of almost all insects (perhaps we may say almost all aoimalft)
proceed in circles or segments of cirdes. The cells of almost all the
various species of bees are of this oonstrueticMi, and we find thatt
under peculiar circumstances, those of the hive-bee are so likewise, as
in the case of the queen's cell, and in some of those cells dose to it,
and sometimes in otiier parts of the comb, in cases where an accideat
has been repaired.
If some hive-bees could be made to work in a large solid maaa of
wax, the first cell formed would moat
probably be cylindrical, with a hollow
circular bottom ; this would also be
the form of the following cells unleu
they came in contact with each other ;
and, in this case^ supposiDg the cir-
cumferences of three cylinders were to
touch, the bees working in each of
these cylinders would cut away the was
at a, a, 0, {fig, 6). But supposing the
wax block were excavated on one of
its sides, into the greatest number of
equal-sized oylin<kn that it would
admit of, it would then follow that
each cyUnder would be suirounded
by six others, this being the only number of equal-sized circles which
may be placed round one of the same magnitude ; by the same role
of removing the wax from the interstioeB, each of these cylinders
would become hexagons. Again, tap-
.••'"■*-. ,'•' '■'._ posing this block to be a flat masB of
'v *' '\ equal thickness in all parts (the ordi-
\ nary thiekneas of a comb), this block
i being cut into cylinders of equal
/ diameter on both addea^ abd the base
of each cylinder being exactly over
parts of three opposing ones (as repre-
sented in fig. 7), when the wax is cut
away at the interstices, as at the Bides,
it follows that the bottoms of the
cells will be each composed of three
*-..___..''' equal rhombu»-Bhaped pieces. Hence
^' y we have cells exsictly like those of
^' ' the hive-bee, but not constructed in
the ordinary way, though upon such principles as analogy points
out (a circular form being the basis of the work), and in such a wav
as we have observed, they do occasionally proceed. If we allow that
the basis of the work of the hive-bee be circular, the royal cell forms
no exception to the general rule, so far as the principle of its con-
struction is concerned.
Let us now examine the construction of the comb in its usual way
of proceeding : —
The first operation is the formation of wax ; this is not, as many
have supposed, the farina collected from flowers, but is secreted by the
insect at the time of building the combs. For this purpose the wax-
workers suspend themselves in festoons from the top of the hire.
Those which first reach the top fix tiiemselves by the daws of the
forelegs to the roof, and are followed by others which attach them-
selves to them, until an inverted cone or festoon of bees is formed,
each end of which is attached to the roof of the hive. Before the
commencement of the new oomb^ the interior of a hive prosents a
series of festoons of this description, intersecting each other in aU
directions, the beee remaining in perfect repoiBe.
At this tkne the wax is secreted and mues ita appearance in little
scales which exude between Idhe segments on the under side of the
abdomen, eight scales being visible in eac^ bee. Thu9 wax being
secreted, one of the bees commences the oomb; having detached
itself from the festoon, it makes its way to the roof of the hive, and
after clearing a space by driving away the other bees, it detaches one
of the scales from the abdomen bv means of its hinder legs : this is
then conveyed by the fore legs to tke mouth, where it is masticatec^
and impregnated with a frothy liquid by the tongue, in which process
it obtains a Whiteness and opacity which it did not before poaseaS'
The particles of wax are then applied to the roof of the hive.
Another scale undergoes the same process, and is attached to the first
The bee thus continues labouring until all its scales are disposed of;
it then quits its situation and is followed by another bee, which
proceeds with its scales in the work already begun, depositing the wax
in a straight line with the former deposition. The same operation a
performed by many other bees, until a oonsider^le block is deposited.
This block is generally about five or six lines long (a line is equal to
one-twelfth of an inch), the height two lines, and the thickness
half a line ; and it is upon this that the formation of the cells
commences.
We have seen that the foundation of the block is the work of one
bee, so likewise is the commencement of the cdls; — the former is tje
work of what is called the wax-workers, which, we are informed by
Huber, do not possess the power of sculpturing the ceUs ;— the celJfl
are mode by the sculpturer-bees, who are smaller than the waz-workera
No sooner is the block large enough to admit a scnlptuxer-bee betwMB
Digitized by
Google
IM BEE
the wax-workers, than the excavation commenceB. There Beems to be
an instinctive desire to perform the work of excavation wherever
there is room, even though there may not be sufficient to form a
perfect cell ; for we never observe a solid piece of wax in any part of
a comb. On the contraiy, if by any accident there has been space
unoccupied by cells, we find that the wax has been excavated at that
part as much as was practicable.
The bee, impelled by instinct to deposit wax and to excavate, and
also guidcKl by an acute sense of feeling in the antennas (probably
through the elasticity of the wax) as to tho degree to which the
excavation should proceed, forms the comb ; and in so doing it seems
to act, not from choice, but from a necessity imposed upon it by two
antagonist principles, — one causing it to deposit and excavate wax, and
the other acting through the antenmc, and limiting the degree of
excavation.
It is to this desire for performing the work of excavation that we
attribute the small excavations about the royal cells, which are said to
be for the purpose of facilitating the exit of the young queen. If the
wax were removed for that purpose, we do not see why the operation
should not be confined to that part through which she makes her
escape. On the other hand, if from the wax of the royal cells being
thicker than it is in other parts of the comb, the workers are induced to
make excavations, and desist only upon the thickness being reduced to
that of the ordinary partitions, it follows that it will at last become
uniformly thin, as described by Huber ; the reason here given differing
from Huber's, but we think more in accordance with the habits and
economy of the animaL
■ In forming the cells, a hollow is first excavated on one side of the
wax-blocks ; this excavation is rather less than the width of a cell,
and is immediately followed by two of a similar description on the
opposite side of the block. The particles of wax removed in excava-
tion are kneaded by the jaws of the bee and deposited on the edges of
the intended cells; the two latter excavations (6, h^fig^ 12) are neces-
sarily on each side of the first (o^ fig. 12), though close to it In
placing the two last-mentioned cells, the bees avoid the opposite part
on accoimt of the thinness of the wax, and the size of the wax-block
will not admit of their being remote from the first.
BEE.
480
1-Iff. 8.
Fig. 9.
\m7- "T
Fig. 10.
"^^F
Front. Side. Back view.
The front, side, and back riewi of the block on wbich
the fintt excftTations for the cells are made.
Fig. II.
Fig. 12.
Fig. 11, Front view magnified. Fig. 12, Transverse section through the
The above are representations of the block and its excavations at
this period. Supposing the parts at which the circles nearly come in
contact with each other to be of the thickness proper for the partitions
of the cells, the parts marked a in the front view and section (JigB, II
and 12) being more than the necessary thickness, the bees will (accor-
ding to the instinctive principle before mentioned) naturally remove
what there is superfiuous, thus forming an angle, determined by two
intersecting vertical planes at the bottom of the cell, inasmuch as at
the same time the parts marked &, in the back view and section (fig».
10 and 12), will also be removed. The partition between these
two 1a«t-mentioned cells thus becomes perpendicular and of equal
thicknean, and is exactly opposed to the angle at the bottom of the
first cell.
By this time the necessary secretion of wax has taken place in all
the bees composing the festoons^ and they are all anxious to dispose
of their scales
of wax. The
flculpturer-
bees are also
active, conse-
quently more
wax is added
to the maigina
of the ori^nal
block, and
more exca-
vations are P*g- 18.
formed. Supposing the block to have increased to double its original
length and width, there would then be room for parts of four more
exc&vtttioos, on the side on which the first was made (Jig, 18).
The same operation of reducing the wax in the thick parts marked
c having taken place, the sides of tho first oell also become straight
and perpendicular, and by reducing tho wax at the parts dU> the
proper thickness in all the cells, the bottom of the first cell, and
upper parts of the two cells beneath, in the diagram, become two-
sided. The work on the opposite side of the comb being in the same
state of forwardness (for after the commencement it proceeds equally
at rll parts), will appear thus —
Fig. 15.
Fig. 14.
In the above figure the augles at the bases of the cells are cut into
the partitions of the opposing cells, and hence it is clearly seen that,
from the position of those cells, the perpendicular partitions of the
cells on this side must be longer than those of the otuer, and that the
cells themselves must have three quadrilateral plates for their bases.
In carrying up the sides of the cell, tho form is regulated by the
intersection of the surrounding circles, as represented in fig. 15. But
the circles described in fig. 15, parts
of which are shown in most of the
other figures, represent those which are
inclosed by the hexagons ; whereas we
believe the natural circumference of /
each cell (supposing it to be cylindri-
cal) is that by which the hexagon is
inclosed ; hence it will be necessary to
imagine the circles partly intersecting
each other. {
It has now been demonstrated that
the cells of the first tiers on each side
are pentagonal ; that the bases of those
on one side are each composed of two
plates, while those of the other side
are each composed of three plates;
and that, according to the laws laid down, they could not have been
otherwise : now as this accords with all the accounts given of the
proceedings in the construction of the comb, it seems to prove that
the laws which we have laid down, as guiding their formation, are
correct.
We have now followed the progress of the work until the com-
mencement of the second tiers of cells : it is unnecessary to describe
the formation of these and the following tiers. It is shown that^
according to certain laws, the first tiers of each side of the comb
become pentagonal, and according to the same laws it is clear that
the second and following tiers must become hexagonal ; for the two
sides forming the lower boundary of ^ach cell of the first tier, also
form the upper boundaries (or partitions) of two cells of the second
tiers. As the upper part of the first tier is determined by the roof of
the hive (represented by the horizontal line in diagram 13), so is the
upper portion of the cells of the second tier determined by the lower
portion of those of the first tier ; thus, the upper portion of each cell
of the second tiers being composed of two planes meeting at an angle,
and the work continuing, as in the progress of the first tier, four more
planes will be constructed to form the lower portion, and complete
the hexagon. It is thus that all the ordinazy cells of a comb are
hexagonfd, and we believe it is clearly shown that they could not be
otherwise, according to the mode of proceeding in their construction.
Their form depends entirely upon the commencement of the work,
which necessarily throws t£e cells in such a position that each cell
must be surrounded by six others, and consequently have six sides,
each side being the common partition of two cells ; and so long as
the cells are of equal diameter they must each be opposed to parts of
three other cells on the opposite side of the comb, in such a way that
supposing the external surface of the bottom of each cell were hemi-
spherical (which would be the case were the wax not removed from
the interstices), each hemisphere would touch three others ; but the
wax being removed from the interstices and reduced to an equal
thickness at all parts, and the bases of the sides of a cell net bemg all
in the same plane, Uie bottom of each cell is thus formed into l^ree
equal rhomboidal pieces in three different planes, the three angles at
their junction being respectively the lowest pajrts or the farthest
removed from the mouth of the celL
In working the cells, the wax is always foimd a little thicker on t^e
Digitized by
Google
481
BEE.
BEE-EATER.
4SI
edges, thus giving additional strength to them. It has been asserted
that this extra thickness is added upon the completion of the cells ;
but as we have never observed a ceU, even though in a state of pro-
gress, without it, we think the more probable conjecture is, that tiie
bees, in working the sides of the cells, desist upon arriving near the
top, and thus leave that part thick, as it is found to be.
The ordinary cells of a comb are of two siises ; those designed for
the male larvsB being rather larger than those of the ordinary sixe in
which the^ neuter lorvsB are reared. The width of the former cells is
about 8} lines, and that of the latter 2|. A comb is always commenced
with the small-sized cells. Hence, when the larger cells are con-
structed, instead of being opposed to three others they encroach upon
a fourth, and their bases are consequently composed of four plates
instead of three : at first a minute lozenge-shaped piece is visible at
the top of the basal part (Jg, 16, a) ; this gradually increases in size
as the one on the opposite side decreases (Jig. 16, 6).
When the ftill size of the cell is attained, the top and bottom pieces
{fig. 16, c, c) are equal; but as soon as a sufficient number of the larger
cells is formed, the lower lozenge gradually decreases, while the upper
one {fig. 16, e, e) increases in size until there are but three plates again
visible {fig. 16, d, d).
Fig. 10.
It is almost always found that the excavations for cells, formed by
different insects, in whatever situations they may be, aro exactly pro-
portioned to their size. Hence it is extremely difficult to account
for the enlargement of the cells of the bees, as just described. We
will however venture an opinion^ in hopes of calling attention to the
subject.
In the former part of this account it has been stated that no sooner
is a portion of the comb finished than the queen deposits eggs in the
various cells, and that the cells first formed are always those of the
smaller size, which are excavated by what are termed the sculpturer-
bees, or nurses, which are less than the wax-workers.
We imagine that when the eggs hatch, the small bees, or nurses,
are more particularly engaged in attending upon the young ; and that
the lai^e-sized workers then conmience the excavation of the cells
themselves, and thus make cells of a larger diuneter than those made
by the nurses.
Huber states that the description of bees called wax-workers have
not the power of sculpturing the cells ; but at the same time he owns
that he was unable to follow the proceedings in the construction of a
comb for any considerable time after the commencement. During the
time of his observations, however, he invariably found that the smaller
bees were the sculpturers.
The interior of a hive consists of a number of combs arranged per-
pendicularlv ; these are fixed to the roof of the hive, and are parallel
to each other, the space between them being about half an inch.
When the first comb has advanced in size, so as to consist of two or
three rows of cells, two other combs am conmienced, one on each side
of it, the work proceeding as in the first ; these again are followed in
their turn by two others. As the comb advances in size it assumes a
form nearly circular, and is still joined to the roof of the hive only ;
the work proceeds by adding wax to the margin of the comb exactly
at the junction of the opposing cells, and thu is no sooner deposited
than it is cut away and worked mto cells. These cells are not equiJly
deep throughout ike comb, but their depth gradually decreases as they
approach the maigin : a comb in its progress has the form of a double
convex lens.
The form of the comb, as above described, is that of a new one ;
but in the honey-storing season the sides of the comb are joined to
those of the hive, to give strength to hold the additional weight ; the
cells are also lengthened, so that the surface of the comb then becomes
even. The cells are not quite horizontal, the orifice being generally
a little higher than the base, most conmionly four or five degrees, but
sometimes considerably more. When a comb is first completed, it is
of a dull white colour and of a weak substance ; it isf however soon
strengthened by adding propolis to the maigin of the cells, and lining
their interior with threads of the same matmaL
The cells of a comb are used for the purposes of storing up honey
for the winter, and in them the larvsQ are reared. Pollen, or bee-bread,
is also stored up in some of the cells. Many larvae may be reared in
the same cell, and as each spins a cocoon or web on its sides which is
never cleared out> it thus becomes at last too contracted to contain
larvee ; it is then used for one or both of the other purposes above
mentioned. When a hive is well stored with combs having empty
cells, the workers disgorge the honey into these receptacles ; but in
Mse ceUs are wanted they retain the honey, and wax is secreted for
the purpose of building more combs.
Honey is never consumed but in cases of the greatest neoesnty ; but
iS soon as a cellis filled it is sealed up with a waxen covering
During the progress of a comb in building, the slightest intermpiion
is likely to alter its form ; and as the space between each is always
kept exactly the same, it frequently happens that the whole of the
I combs are affected by any accident happening to one. Fig. 17 illiu-
trates an instance of this sort, which we have seen —
Fig. 17.
Fig. 18.
but it also frequently happens that an interruption in one comb ii
corrected in those that foUow. A curious instance of this nature we
have iJso observed (Jig. 18).
In both these instances the form of the comb was affected by a
stidc being placed across the middle of the hive, to enable the owner
(as we believe) to remove the hive with less danger of the combs giving
way.
The latter case is so ingenious that at first it appears more like an
operation of reason than instinct : it is nevertheless to be accounted
for upon the instinctive principles with which these aninuds worL
The course of the first comb being altered, the two adjoining ones
would naturally follow its line ; but if those next beyond them on each
side were in a state of forwardness, the workers would be obliged to
discontinue the two former, as shown in the figure, to avoid coming
in contact with the two latter ; for it appears to be a law in the con-
struction of new combs that a certain space shoiMd be always left at
the margins ss well as between them.
In addition to the construction of the comb, the bees when in
danger of attacks from their enemies barricade themselves. Sometimes
the entrance of the hive is nearly blocked up with wax and propolis,
and at others a wall of that substance is constructed just behind that
part ; this wall is perforated with holes only just huge enough to
admit of the egress and ingress of the bees themselves. The fortifica-
tions are occasionally much more ingenious and complicated. Weak
hives are sometimes exposed to the attacks of strange bees, and in
such cases fortifications would be constructed ; but it is more particu-
larly to prevent the ravages of the Acherontia cUropot that this care is
taken. As this moth only makes its appearance in the autunm, these
fortifications are removed in the spring, a time when they would be
of the greatest inconvenience, as the hive is then extremely populous.
Huber states that *'the entrances formed in 1804 were destroyed in
the spring of 1805. The Sphinx {Acherontia atropoi) did not appear
that year ; but it returned in great numbers in the autumn of 1807.
By speedily barricading themselves, the bees prevented their threat-
ened ravages ; but before the departure of swarms in May, 1808, they
demolished l^e fortifications, whose narrow passage prohibited free
egress to the multitude."
The principal authors who have written upon the habits of bees are
as follows :— Aristotle, History of Animals, book v.; Pliny, Natural
History, book xL ; Swanmierdam ; a translation into EngUah, torn
the Dutch and Latin original edition of his work, has been made by
Thomas Floyd, entitled. The Booh of Nature, or tfie History of Insects;
R^umur, in the fifth volume of his M^moires pour servir d VHistoire
des Insectes, 1784-42; Schirach, Histoire NaturdU de la Beine des
AheilUs, 1771; Riem, Contanplation de la Nature; Bonnet, torn, v.,
4to ed, and tom. x., 8vo. ; John Hunter, Philosophical Trcmsactions for
1792 ; Thorley, Female Monarchy : being an Inquiry into the Nature^
Order, and Cfovemment of Bees ; Wildman, A Compiete Guide for the
Management of Bees, 1819 ; Huber, NouveUes Observations twr ks
AheiUes : a translation into English of this work was published in the
year 1821, entitied. New Observations on the Natural History of
Bees; Edward Sevan, M.D., The Honey-Bee, Us Natural History,
Physiology, and Management, 1827 ; Kirby and Spence, Introdnctm
to Entomology ; T. Rymer Jones, Natural History of Animals, vol. a ;
Insect Architecture, in Library of Entertaining Knowledge,
BEE-EATER, the vernacular name for a species of bird belongmg
to the genus Merops, Linn., one of the familv Meropidte, and of the
Syndactylous Tribe, which have the external toe nearly m long ss
the middle one, and both joined together up to the penultmiate
articulation. ^^
The birds of this genus take their prey, consisting of wasps, bees,
Ac., like the swallows, while on the wing ; and, as Cuvier obeerves,
it is remarkable that they are not stung by theno. The species
are numerous, and many are figured by LevaiUant Their ^^J^
formed in the banks of rivers, where they dig deep holes ; and th^
geographical distribution is over the wanner regions of the on
Digitized by
Google
«M
BEE-EATEB.
BEOONIACE^
484
oontinaaty Java, ko., and Australia (Paramatta), none of the genua
having been found in America, where their place appears to be
supplied by the Motmots (PrionUeSf Uliger). Their brilliant plumes,
of colours which change according to exposure to light, the prevalent
hues being azures and greens, remind the observer of the kingfisher^s
gorgeous dress. A familiar example of the genus occurs in Uie bird
whose English name is at the head of this article — the Qu^pier
vulgaire of the French, the Mangia-Api and Lupo d'Api of the
Italians, the M4po^ of the Greeks, and Meropt Apiaicr of Lina»ua
Bee-Eater {Meropt ApiatUr),
In the south of Europe it is frequent in the summer. Sicily,
Sardinia, Italy, the south of France, and Germany possess it, and
on the southern border of Bussia it is numerous. It is found in
Turkey and in the Grecian Islands, and in autumn migrates towards
Egypt. It breeds in holes in the banks of the Don and the Volga,
laying from five to seven white oggs in a nest coniposed of moss, ac
Hsseelquist says that it is found in the plains of Galilee, and thEit it
is called Varuar by the Arabs ; and Temminck, that the individuals
found at the Cape of GkK>d Hope differ in nothing from those killed in
Europe. Bay, in his edition of WiUughby, observes, "It is not
unfrequent in the Campagn of Bome : for that we saw it there to
be sold in the market more than once. It is not foimd in England
that we know of. Bellonius writes that it is so common in Candy
that it is seen everywhere in that island. Aristotle tells us i^t it
feeds upon bees, whom all other writers of the history of animals do
therein follow. But it feeds not only upon bees, but also upon
CicadaSy beetles, and other insects. Tea, as Bellonius relates, upon
the seeds of the nipplewort^ bastard parsley, turnip, &a, not abstaining
from wheat and other grain. From its exact agreement in the shape
and make of its body, bill, and feet with the kingfisher, we suspect
that it likewise prejrs upon fish.
''Bellonius, in the first book of his observations, writes thus
concerning the Meropi, Flying in the air it catches and preys upon
bees, as swallows do upon files. It flies not singly but in flocks, and
especially by the side of those mountains where the true thyme grows.
Its Foice is heard alar off, idmost like the whistling of a man. Its
singular deganoe invites the Candy bojrs to hunt for it with Oicadce,
as they do also for those greater swallows called Swifts, after this
manner : — ^Bending a pin like a hook, and tying it by the head to the
end of a thread, they thrust it through a Vicaaa (as bo^ bait a hook
with a fly), holding the other end of the thread in their hand. The
Cicada so iGsistened flies^ nevertheless, m the air, which the Meropa
spying, flies after it with all her force, and catching it, swallows pin
and all, wherewith she is caught"
The passage in Aristotle, mentioning the Meropi as one of the
enemies most destructive to bees, is in the 40Ui chapter of the 9th
book of his 'History of Animals ;'^and. there are others in the Ist
chapter of his 6th book, and in tie* 13th chapter of his 9th, wherein
he notices the peculiarity of its making its nest in holes in the
earth.
The spedes^ although not common, may be considered as an occa-
sional vudtant to this country. The first record of its appearance is
in the third volume of Uie ' TransactioDS of the Jiinnsean Sooiety/
VAT. mux. pnr you l
team which it i^pears that on "July 2, 1794, the president communi-
cated an account of Meropi AptoiteTf the Bee-Eater, having been shot
(for the first time in Great Britam) near Mattishall, in the county of
Norfblk, by the Bev. Mr. George Smith. The identical specimen was
exhibited by permission of Mr. Thomas Talbot, of Wymondham. A
fiight of about twenty was seen in June, and the same flight probably
(much diminished in number) was observed passing over the same
spot in October following." Since then four or five specimens have
been recorded to have been shot in the counties of Suffolk and
Norfolk, one in Dorsetshire, three in Devonshire, one in Cornwall
and one in Ireland. (Yarrell, Briiish Birdi.)
BEECH. [Fagub.]
BEK8HA, a genus of Grasses nearly allied to BcmUnua, with which .
it is actually combined by some botanists, but from whidi it differs,
according to the concurrent testimony of all authors, in the other-
wise in<^odible circumstance of its seeds being inclosed in a fleshy
pericarp.
Two species are known, both of which have the aspect of the spine-
less bamboos. Of these Beeaha baccifera is found on the mountains
of Chittagong in India, where it is called Pagu TuUa, growing in dry
places on the sides of hills, where the upper str&tum of soil is sandy.
According to Boxburgh's ' Flora Indica,' the circumference of the
steins near the base is 12 or 18 inches, and their height from 50 to 70
feet — "beautifully erect, and without the least flexure or inequality
of surface ; bare of branches, except near the extremity. It perishes
after yidding its fruit. It yields more or less Tabasheer, of a silicious
crystallisation ; sometimes it is said the cavity between the joints is
nearly tilled with this, which the people cbXL Choona, or Lime."
('Flora. Indica,* ii 197.)
Beeiha Fax is a smaller species, not above 18 feet high. It is found
in Amboyna and other parts of the Malayan Archipelago, where it is
applied to many useful purposes. It is the Artmdarbor cratium of
Bumphius's ' Herbarium of Amboyna.'
BEET. [Beta.]
BEETLR This term has frequently been used as the name oom-
tikon to the species of the faimly Scardbceida, but it is more commonly
and properly used to designate those insects which are covered by a
strong homy substance, the abdominal part of the body being pro-
tected by two sheaths under which the wings are folded. Hence the
term is imionymous with CoUoptera, [Coleoftera.]
BEGONIA. [BEOONiAOEiB.]
BEGK)NIA'C£!^, Begoniadif a natural order of Exogens, consisting
of three genera, Begoina, Bupelalum, and IHplocUnivm. The species are
159, and are found exclusively in the dampest parts of the tropics in both
the New and Old World, particularly in Asia and America. Thev have
perfectly unisexual flowers, with a superior calyx, generally coloured
pink, consisting in the sterile flowers of from 2 to 4 pieces, and in the
fertile flowers of from 5 to 8 piecea The stamens are nun^erous ; the
^■ii» \^i/
BepoiUaeem,
1, A sterile flower ; 3, a fertile one ; 3, the same in boi ; 4, the haULgrown
ovary and stigmat ; 5, fruit ; 6, the same cat through horUontally ; 7, aeeds
the natural aise ; 8, one iced magnified ; 9, the same out through to show the
embryo in its ])a|i|ral poeition in the albumen ; 10, an embryo separate.
style simple ; the stigmas three, often forked, and having a wavy or
twisted appearance. These latter originate trom a 3-comered 8-oelled
ovary containing a multitude of little seeds, which changes to a thin-
sided capsole with 8 extremely unequal wings. The leaves are alwayi
3 J
Digitized by
Google
486 BELKHNITELLA*
more or leaa unequal-Bided, «nd have highly-deTeloped memfaranooB
gtipules at their base.
It 18 very difficult to tay with what other natural order this has
most affinity. By Link it has been stationed near UwhdlifenB, a most
unintelligible aasociation. Jussieu, attracted by its highly-developed
stipuloB, and apparently apetalous flowers, together with the acid
flavour which is so prevalent in the order, suspected its near alliance
with Pclyg<in(ic«a : while Lindley, with a greater degree of pro-
bability, now makes it constitute a member of the Cucurbital
alliance of his Epigynous subclass of Exogens with polypetalous
flowers.
All the species of the genus, Begonia, of which the order principally
consists have irregular fleshy leaves, often richly coloured with
crimson, succulent stems, and neat-looking pink flowers growing in
few-flowered panicles. Most of the species at present described may
be procured in a living state in the gardens of Europe.
The roots of the various species of Begonia are astringent and
slightly bitter. B, AfcUabarica and B, tuberoea, with others, are used
as potiierbs in the countries where they grow. EndUcher says that
some of the Mexican species are drastic purgatives.
BELEMNITEIjLA. The group of BelemniUe which occurs in the
Chalk Formation, and which is marked on the anterior and ventral
face by a long narrow flssure, is thus named generically by D'Orbigny.
To this group belong A wMkcronaiua, B. granuUttue, B, mctmmiUatut,
&a, in Europe, and B, Americantu in the United States, if this last
be really distinct from B. mucronattte.
BELEMNITES (from the Greek ^x^yamv, a dart or arrow), Pfeil-
stein and Donnerstein of the Qermans, Pierre de Foudre of the French,
a genus of extinct CepkcUopocUme MoQ/ueca, whose conical remains
were for a long time utterly misunderstood. Before the geological
history of this extinct marine animal was well made out, few natural
productions ministered more laigely to tha superstitious feelings of
man. The ancients, it was said, had a legend that they came from
the lynx, and called them Lapides Lyncis and Lyncuria. They were
also, from being found on Mount Ida, and from their supposed
resemblance to those oigans, called Idsei Dactyli, or Petrified Fingers.
This idea was too much in unison with the gloomy imagination of the
northern nations to be lost : we accordingly find the term Devil's
Fingers bestowed on them, and not unfrequently that of Spectre-
Candles.
Afterwards came the age of Thunder-Stones and Picks, when
this fossil was alleged to be the produce of electricity, and was
called by the learned Lapia fidminane. They were also called
Arrow-Heads.
Subsequently, and at the period when organic remains were almost
universally regarded as lunu naturcB, formed by the plastic power of
the earth, the Belemnite was considered, even by those who had
adopted more correct opinions upon the subject of many fossil shells,
to be strictly mineral, — ^to be & stalactite or a crystal ; and by some
who found it in the sandy parts of Prussia, where amber also occurs,
it was supposed to be that substance petrified.
At length it b^gan to be granted that the Belemnite was of organic
animal origin, and the conical cavity at its broader end caused it to
be looked upon as the tooth of some unknown creature ; while some
pronounced it to be a spine, like those of an EchintUf and others gave
way to various conjectures not worth recording. Then arrived the
dawn of Yon Tressau, Klein, Breynius, Da Costa, Brander, and Plot,
who allowed the fossil to be of testaceous origin, but knew nothing
of its relative position. At last, the increasing light of science placed
the Belemnite in a comparatively clear point of view.
A substance with which fable had been so bu^y was not likely to
have been overlooked in the old Materia Medioa : we accordingly find
that it was administered in a powdered state as a remedy for the
night-mare, and for the stone. Dr. Woodward states, that in Olouces-
tershire the powder was blown into the eyes of horses affected with
watery humours ; and in Prussia it is said to have been used when
pulverised in dressing wounds.
The true place of Uie Belemnite is among the CephalopodcL Cuvier
and Lamarck had arrived, at this conclusion, and they also believed
that it wtfs an internal shell. It forms the flrst genus of the flrst
fiBtmily {OrthoeercUa) of Lamarck's first division of the C^halopoda,
namely, the Polythalamous, or Many-Chambered, division.
Miller, in a paper in the ' Transactions of the Qeological Sodety,'
gives the following as the generic character : —
" A cephalopodous (?) molluscous ammal, provided with a fibrous
spathose conical shell, divided bv transverse concave septa into sepa-
rate oell£^ or chambers connected by a siphuncle ; and inserted into a
laminar, solid, fibrous, spathose, subcorneal or fusiform body extend-
ing beyond it, and forming a protecting guard or sheath."
BeUmnitet oanalieulaUu,
Since IGllei^s paper was written many important facts have been
added to our knowledge of the structure of BelemniteB.
BELLEROPHOK. m
In addition to the oiroumstanoes attending the discovery at Solen-
hofen of some traces of the general form of the animal, of whicli the
remains ordinarily found are a part, and of the ink-bag and homy
laminso at Lyme and Whitby, an almost complete restoration of the
Belemnite animal was made from specimens laid open in the eattmg
of the Great Western Railway, near Chippenham in Wiltshire. The
Oxford Clay here excavated afforded to Mr. Pratt and the late Marquis
of Northfljnpton admirable specimens of the phragmaoones and
laminar plates, outlines of some of the soft parts of the body and
arms, and the form and arrangement of the hooked appendagas of
the arms. Indeed one of Mr. Pnttt's specimens reveals the place and
size of the eyes, the funnel or breathizig-tube, the tendinous parts ol
the mantle, and the lateral fins, the ink-bladder, and ink-duoi (Owen,
' Hunterian Lectures,' 1843.) Professor Owen, to whom the finest
specimens of these discoveries were submitted, has found a strong
resemblance between the fossil animal and the group of .recent
Sepioid Animals called Onychoteuthis, on whose arms are not the usual
cusps, but slender homy.hooks. The arms, eight in number, were
equal, slender, and furmshed with hooks through all their length,
alternating in a double row. The fins i^pear round, and a little
behind the middle of the body, as in SepiUa; the caudal extremity
pointed, inclosing the fibrous guard, the anterior extremity of the
laminar plate, under which the ink-W is placed, nearly transrerse,
and not eurched so as from analogy with the sepiosteum might hare
been expected. The Belemnitic Animal — a dibranohiate eight-armed
Cuttle — ^must in some instances, to judge from specimens of the
fibrous conical extremity, have reached (aims included) four or more
feet in length, and its figure appears favourable for swift motion. In
the Lias deposits whole shoals of some of the spedes appear to have
perished together,' and there are found about the cones many indica-
tions of the presence of animal substances.
The geological distribution of the Belemnites has been largely
examined. In 1885 Professor Phillips presented to the British
Association at Dublin a full account of the structures and mode of
occurrence of the British species : assigning names and characters to
the principal groups which occur in the Cretaceous, Upper Oolitii^
Lower Oolitic, and Liassic Strata. M. d'Orbigny also published
results perfectly accordant, derived from a full investigation, especially
of the species occuiing in France. It thus appears that in the first
place Belemnites are confined as a group to the Meeozoic Strata ; that
many species allied to the B. compreuwe of Volts, B. paiectMotsi
of De Blainville, and B, paxiUoeua of Schlottheim, belong to the Lias ;
that others allied to B. eUiptieue of Miller, B. quinquetuleatvi of
De Blainville, B. AdUntii of Volte, belong to the Lower Oolite series;
that others allied to B. ndcatu$ of Miller, B, AUdorfentie of Schlott-
heim, abound in the period of the Oxford Clay ; while B. wucronatutt
B, ^^ladratua, B. Listen, B. attenucUus, and others now ranked as
BelemniteUa by D'Orbigny, characterise the Cretaceous Strata. The
investigations entered into on this subject are yet incompletely pub-
lished ; but the reader may refer with advantage to the Treatises of
De Blainville and Volts, to Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise, D'Orbigny's
PalcBontologie Framboise, and to Owen's HwOerian Lectures, Rgurea
illustrating several points will be found in Mantell's Medals of Oeotton,
voL ii
BELL-FLOWER. [Campakula; Spboulabia; Wahlbhbbboia.]
BELLADO'NNA, the Deadly Nightshade, a violently poisonous
wild plant. [AtropaJ
BELLADO'NNA LILY (Uterally Fair-Lady LUy), a spedes of
AmaaryUiSi so called on account of its beauty and delicate blushing
flowers. It is found wild at the Cape of Gk>od Hope, has become
naturalised in the ditches of Madeira, and is not uncommon in the
gardens of England, where it lives for many years without shelter, if
planted on a sunny- border well protected from wei in winter. Its
stems are about 18 mdhes high, of a rich puipliah green, with a dense
violet bloom spread over them. The flowers grow in a cluster at the
top of the stem, are of a funnel shape, with six divisions earring
bskckwards at the points, and not less than three inches long ; their
colour is a rich but not deep rose, which varies in intensity in difierent
varieties. They appear in August and September, without their
leaves, and give an extrem^y rich and very exotio appearance to the
borders in which they appear. The bulbs may be procured in any
quantity from Madeira.
BELLE DE NUIT, a name given by the French to various kinds
of Bind-Weeds. In tropical countries these plants occur in great
abundance, expanding their large fragrant and delicate flowen of
white, or blue, or lilac, in sucdi magnificence that they may well be
called the * glory of the night.' The spedes to whioh the name u
more particularly applied is what botanists call Ipomaa, or Cfalonye-
tion Bona Nox, whose white flowers have a diameter of five or six
inches^ and open at sunset in the woods of the East and West Indies,
droopmg at daylight.
BELLEHOPHON, a Fossil Shell, the anunal of which is unknc^
Denys de Montfort established the^enus, but he placed it among the
Polythalamous, or Chambered, Sheila De France cut in half the Teiy
specimen which belonged to De Montfort, and thus proved that it
was unilocidflf, like ArgonaMba, It is rich in species^ which occsr
exclusively in the Palaeozoic Formations, as the Silurian ^^^
Devonian Bocks^ and Mountain Limestone. It has been general^
Digitized by
Google
437
^LLtS.
B^LVISUGE^.
referred to the Cephalopodci, and conaidered analogous to Argonauta,
lyOrbigny has however given reasons for ranking it with the Httero-
podout MoUtuca, and compares it with Carinaria,
BeUeroplum hhtlcut.
BELLIS (from bdlus, pretty), a genus of plants belonging to the
natural order Compatita, and to De CandoUe's suborder Coryinhtfeng,
tribe Astoroidea, subtribe Atterineaf division AsterecBf and subdivision
Bdlidea. It has a receptacle wiUiout scales, flowers of the raj
Ugulate, pistilliferous in one row, those of the disk hermaphrodite
tubular, the involucre composed of two rows of equal obtuse sodes,
the receptacle conical, the fruit compressed without pappus. De
Candolle enumerates five species belonging to this genua (hie of
them, the B. perenniSf is the Conmion Daisy, and is a native of Great
Britain and throughout Europe. It has obovate-spathulate single-
ribbed crenate-dentate leaves. It is an exceedingly common plant on
banks and in pastures in Europe. It blossoms nearlv all the vear
roimd, and is constantly found with opened flowers from March to
October. It is subject m its wild state to varieties ; sometimes all the
florets are found ligulate, more rarely they are all tubular. There are
several varieties of the Conmion Daisy cultivated in gardens. There
is a double variety called Laige-Double, another Double-Quilled, and a
proliferous variely known bv the name of Hen-and-ChidLens. These
varieties assume various colours frt)m deep red to pink and white.
Thev are easily cultivated, and form pretty plants for edges and
borders, and continue in blossom a long time.
B. sylvettrU and B, annua are natives of Europe, but are not
Bultivated.
The genus BeUium closely resembles BeUis ; it differs however in
possessing a pappus surrounding its fruits. The species are found in
the^south of Europe, and appear like small species of Bellia.
'on, Manwd; Loudon, Oyclopcedia qf PUmU.)
BELLIUM. [Bbllb.]
BELLOWS-Fl&H. [Centrisoub.]
BELO'KE, a genus of Fishes belonging to the family Esocidoi of the
Abdominal MalacopUrygii, It has a head and body greatlv elongated,
the latter covered with minute scales ; both jaws very mucn produced,
straight^ narrow, and pointed, and armed with numerous small teeth ;
the dorsal fin placed over the anal fin. The species are remarkable
for the green colour of their bones.
One species, the BeUme vulgarii, is common on the British coast
It is known W various names, but more especially that of Qa]>Fish.
It was placed oy Linnseus in the genus iSiox, and being an inhabitant
of the sea, it got the name of Sea-rike. From the fact of its leaving
the deep water in spring to deposit its ova near the shora in the
months of April and May, and thus preceding the mackerel in their
annual visit to shallow water for the same purpose, it has received
the name of Mackerel-Ghiide. Its other Tgngiiith names according to
Tarrell are Qreenbone, Horn-Fish, Long-Nose, Gorebill, and Sea-Needle.
The usual length of this fish is about 24 inches. It has elongated
jaws, beset wiUi numerous minute teeth. The eye is laige. The body
is uniform in depth to the anal fin, thence tapering to the tail The
dorsal and anal fins begin and end nearly on the same plane. The
ventral fins are smalL The tail is forked ; the external long rays are
nearly as long again as those of the centre. The upper part of the
head and back is of a dark greenish blue ; the sides and belly are
silvery white ; the pectoral, ventral, and anal fins white. This fish is
taken off the coast of Berwick during the Mackerel season, and Dr.
Johnston says it is not unfr^uently called a Sword-Fiah. It is
taken also on the Devonshire and Cornish coasts. The fish are
brought into the London markets in the spring, and eaten in
considerable quantities. The fiesh has the flavour of mackerel, but
it is drier. Great numbers are said to be caught off the coast of
Holland, but they are only used there as bait. Mr. Couch says of
the Gar-Fish, that it "swims near the surfiitce at all distances from
land, and is seen not unfrequently to spring out of its element; its
vivacity being such that it will for a long time play about a floating
straw, and leap over it many. times in succession. When it has taken
the hook it mounts to the surface, often before the fisherman has felt
Uie bite ; and then with its slender body half out of the water, it
strugglee with the most violent contortions to wrench the hook from
its jaws. It emits a strong smell when newly taken." In the Ionian
Islands, aooording to Mr. Tonna, it is oau^t by attaching several
lines with floats to a raft In this waj a large number are taken in a
toy short time. Specimens of this fish have been exhibited in the
Aquavivarium of tne Zoological Society, in the Gardens, Regent^s
Park.
There are several other species, some of which are said to attain a
length of 8 feet, and to bite very severely. Their flesh generally ii
wholesome. (Tarrell, Brituik Fithea; Cuvier, Eigne Animal)
BELONO'STOMUS, a genus of Fossil Fishes established by Agassiz.
The British spedes occur in the Lias, Oolite, and Chalk; the foreign
in the Oolite of Pappenheim.
BELOTTERA, a genus of FossQ MoJhuca, established by Deehayes
and described by De Blainville as an animal entirely unknown,
containing in the back part of its muscular envelope a symme-
trical calcareous or bony shell formed of a thick solid summit
very much loaded^ behind, and a front tube more or less complete,
the cavity of which is conical and annular, the iJiell or bone
having wing-shaped appendages without any anterior shield-like
prolongation.
Do Blainville divides the genus into two sections. The first
consists of spedes whose wing-shaped appendages are united below
the summit, and whose cavity is somewluit in the shape of a scuttie
(hotU), Of this section Beloptera sepioidea is given as an example.
Side view.
End view.
Beloptera tepioidea.
Tutcmol cftritf.
The second indudes species whose wing-shaped appendages are
distinct, and whose cavity is completely conical with traces of
chamb^ and of a siphon. Of this
division Beloptera bdemnoidea is
given as an illustration.
De Blainville observes that this j
genus ought to be placed at the end J
of the S^iadcB, or Cutties ; and that I
the first of the species is evidently 1
very much allied to the bones of ^
those animals, while the second
approaches the Belemnites,
After all, the probability is,
that tiiese bodies are only por- Beloptera belemnoidca.
tions of the bones of some of
the Cuttie-Fishes ; and this appears to have been the opinion of
Cuvier.
If a perfect bone of the common spedes of our coasts be dosdy
examined, a structure very analogous to the conical circularly-grooved
cavity of Beloptera, although in a more expanded form, will be
observed. These fossils have been found in the London Clay, and
other beds above the Chalk.
Volts, in his Memoir on Bdemnites, makes Beloptera tepioidea a
distinct geaus tmder the name of Bdoeqna,
BELOTTERA Pe Blainville), the shelly portion of a Fossil Cepha-
lopod, intermediate between Bdemnitet and Sepia, It occurs in the
Frendi Tertiary Strata, and includes B. CWieH, B, compreua, and
B, Bdemnitoidea (De Blainv.). Mr. Morris adds B, anomala and
B, longirottnim, from the English Tertiaries.
BELOSETIA (Voltz). In this genus M. Yoltz ranks two of the
spedes (B, Ou/vieri and B. compretsa) which form part of the Bd(^tera
of De Blainville.
BELVISIA'CEJB:, NapoUon-Wortt, a small natural order of plants,
comprehending only two genera. One of these was discovered in
the kingdom of Owue, by Palisot de Beauvois, who called it NapoUona
in honour of Napoleon I. It was subsequently named Bdvisia after
its discoverer. It has been figured under tne name of Napoleona
imperialis in the ' Flora of Oware and Benin,' where we find the only
account of it. It wss discovered in the neighbourhood of the town
of Oware, growing to the height of seven or dght feet, and loaded with
large broad bright-blue flowers, sitting dose upon the branches. They
are remarkable for having a superior calyx of five pieces, together
with a double monopetalous corolla, of which the outer forms a fiat
crenellated disk, and the interior is divided into a great number of
regular narrow s^^ments. The stamens are only five, or rather
perhaps ten, united by pairs into five parcels, resembling so many
petals. The stigxna is peltate with five angjles, and covers over the
anthers. The fruit is said to be a beny, witii a single cell, containing
a pared of seeds lying in pulp. From such an aeoount it will he
evident to the botani<»J reaoer that this must be one of the greatest
curiomties in the vegetable kingdom.
Pidisot de Beauvois, its discoverer, considered it the type of a new
natural order allied to the Gourds; Brown, we believe, suspects its
relation to the Pasdon-Flowers ; Lhidley originally stationed it near
S^vracecB ; in his ' Nixus,' he |>laoed it near the Campanulas, but in his
'Vegetable Kingdom' places it between Mytiacea and BhitophoraeetB,
The other genus bdoQging to this order is AtUromikot, which is said
Digitized by
Google
489
BELYTA-
BERBERIDACEJE.
440
by Deufontainefl to be a Brazilian genus, but this ia doubtAiL
order has only four species.
This
1, Calyx Tlewed from above ; 3, the same In profile ; 8, the outer oorolla ;
4, the inner oorolla; 6, the itamens seen from abore; 6, one of the stamena
■eparate ; 7, an orary out through.
BE'LYTA, a genus of Insects belonging to the order ffymenoptera,
and family Proctotrvpidce, The species of this genus are minute
foui^winged flies, haying the antennn li- or 15-jointed, filiform in the
malesy and thickened towards their extremity in the females. They
frequent sandy situations.
BEICBEX, a genus of Hymenopterous Insects, forming the type
of the family Bembicidc^ of Leach. The chief generic characters are
as follows: — Palpi very short; maxillary palpi 4-jointed; labial
2-jointed; mandibles with a single tooth internally; the anterior
wings have three submarginal cells (the third extending to the apex
of the marginal), and two recurrent nervnres both springing from
the second submarginal; labium and mandibles prolonged into a
rostrum, or beak; body smooth, nearly conical, but rather £it beneath
— in the male frequently furnished with two or more spines at the
apex. Legs, in tne female spinose, anterior tarsi strongly ciliated,
^nds genus connects Monedida with PhilaofUhm. The species are
peculiar to hot climates, and, in some instances, very much resemble
wasps, both in size and colour. The female forms oblique cylindrical
burrowd in sandy banks, with a cell at the end of each. Her next
object id to collect flies, such as the species of SyrphidcB and Mutctda,
as food for her yoimg. In the excursions made for this purpose, she
is exceedingly rapid in her motions, and produces a loud buzz in
flying. Having furmshed a cell with five or six flies, she deposits a
single ^g in i^ and after having carefullyclosed its mouth, proceeds
in the same manner with another celL When hatched from the egg,
the larva devours these flies, and changes into the pupa state, and
shortly after to the perfect insect. Although these mseots are not
strictly social, as the bees and wasps, yet generally the burrows of
many of the same species are formed in the inmiediate neighbourhood
of each other.
Upon leaving her burrow, the female takes great precaution to
secure its entrance frt>m her enemies, by stopping the mouth with
sand. No precaution, however, is sufficient to protect it frojn the
intrusion of its parasites. Among others, the beautiful Panorpes
camea is enabled, by the spined structure of its legs, to make its
way through the sand-protected entrance — which it takes the
opportimit^ of doing during the absence of the female Benibex,
£jitering with the tail foremost, it deposits an egg, which hatches in
the following spring. The larva of the Bemhex then becomes food for
that of the Panorpet,
BEMBIDIIDJB:, a family of Coleopterous Insects belonging to
the division Cfeodephaga of M'Leay. They an ininute camivorons
Beetles, which generally frequent damp situations, such as the maiginB
of rivers, ponds, and ditches. They are usually of a bright blue or
green metallic colour, having two or four pale yellow spots on the
elytra. It is doubtful whether thjs £unily can hold the same rank in
the Qeodephaga as those of the OarabidcB, ffarpalicUE, kc : the speciee,
however, may be easily distinguished by the minute terminal joint
to the palpL The characters of the several genera contained in this
group are as follows : —
A. Body depressed and linear.
a. Antenn» with the third and fourth joints
equal Xysuunuik
b. Antennse with the fourth joint longer than
the third . . . - . . . COUnnm,
B. Body rather ovate.
a. Thorax transverse, not truncate, heart-shaped :
a. Postoriorly rounded :
1. Whole Taehyt.
2. Emaiginate .... • . PhUocUm.
b. Posterioriy acute ... . Oeyt.
b. Thorax truncated, heart-shaped :
a. The posterior angles very acute and
prominent :
1. Antennee with the third, fourth, and fifth
joints long Peril)*!*!.
2. Antennae with the third, fourth, and fifth
joints short NolaphMi,
h. The posterior angles slightly acute-deflexed :
1. Eyes moderate :
*Thorax rather remote from the abdomen
at the base Zopha.
**Thorax closely united to the abdomen . Tetchypu.
2. Eyes large Bembidmn
IX) cri m
m
1, Head of one of the SemhidUdte, showing the form of the Palpi— «, the
terminal joint ; 2, Thorax of 7b«Ay« ; S, Thorax of PKUoethut ; 4, Thorax of
Oqfs : 5, Thorax of Peryphut ; 6, Thorax of Lopka ; 7, Thorax of Tackuput, ,
BEN-NUTS, the fruit of MfoHnga pterygotperma, from which
Ben-Oil, much used in perfumery, is obtained. [Morinoa.]
BENCAODEDEOa [Abutilon.]
BENINCASA, a genus of plants named by Savi, in honour of
Coimt Benincasa, an Italian nobleman. It belongs to the order
Cucwrbitacea, and has but one species, B. ccrtfera. The fruit is
described as covered with hairs and a glaucous bloom. It grows in
the East Indies. Lindley, in the ' Vegetable Kingdom,' calls it the
White Qourd, and says it is identical with Oucurhita pepo. Ainslie
says that in the East it is presented at every native marriage feast,
and is supposed to ensure prosperity to the married pair.
BENT GRASS. The species of Agrostii have this name. [Agrostib.]
BENTI'VI, or BIENTITEO, the Brazilian name fbr the Tyrannnt
tulphwaHu of Vieillot [Shrikes.]
BENZOIN, the name of a resin yielded by a species of Styrax.
^TTBAZ.] Benzoic Acid is procured from this substance. The word
Bemsoin has also been given by Hayne to the plant whic& yields the
resin.
BERAUNITE, the name of a phosphate of the peroxide of Iron
which has a hyacinl^-red colour, becoming darker on exposure to the
atmosphere. (Dana, Mineralogy.)
BE&BERIDA'CE^, Berberide, the Barberry Tribe, a natond order
Digitized by
Google
441
BERBERJ&
of plants belonging to the olass of* Exogena or Dicotyledons. It
is readily known by three characters: — 1, Its anthers open by
reflexed yalyes ; that ia to say, the face of each cell of the anther peels
off except at the point, where it adheres as if it were hinged there.
2, Its stamens are opposite the petals. 8, Its flowers are iisuaUy
formed upon a ternary plan, there being three or six sepals, and a like
nmnber of petals and or stamens. This last character is more liable
to exception than the two others. The remarkable structure of the
apther is found in no European plants exccDt Berberidacece and the
Laurel Tribe [LAURACEiS] ; and as the latter has neither petals nor a
ternary arrangement of the parts of the flower, it can never be mistaken
for these. The relations of this order are with FtmariacecB, VitacecB, and
Bamuncvlacea, The present order consists of bushes or herbs, extremely
dissimilar to each other in appearance, inhabiting the cooler parts of
the world, being unknown in the tropics except on the tops of lofty
mountains. They are not met with in Africa or the South Sea Islands.
Their juice usualfy stains yellow, and their bark or stems if not woody
are hitter and flhghtly astringent. The bitter leaves of Epimedwm
alpinum are said to be sudorific The seeds of Caulophylhm Thalic-
troides have been employed as a substitute for coffee. The leaves of
Bwgardia chrytagonum are eaten in the East like sorrel. The tubers
of R Bawwolfii are eaten in Persia. Leontice Zeonlopetalum contains
in its roots a sufficient quantity of alkali to render it a substitute for
soap in Aleppo.
Common Barberry {BerherU vulgaris),
I, An expanded flower ; 2, the calyx without the petals ; 3, a petal, with
t stamen in front of it ; 4, a stamen by itself, with the valves of its anther
reflexed ; 5, an ovary cut throngh, showing the position of the ovules ; 6, a
ripe seed ; 7, a section of the latter, showing that the embryo lies in albumen ;
8, an embryo separated from the seed.
BE'RBEBISy a genus of plants belonging to the natural order JBer^
heridaeeoy among which it is immediately Imown by its shrubby habit,
herried fruity and the presence of glands upon its petals. It is also
remarkable for the irritability of its stamens, whidi, when the filament
is touched on the inside with the point of a pin or any other hard
instrument^ bend forward towards the pistil, touch the stigma with
the anther, remain curved for a short time, and then partially recover
their erect position : this is beet seen in warm diy weather. After
heavy rain the phenomenon can scarcely be observed, owing, in all
probability to the springs of the filaments having been already set in
motion by the ^»»hmQ of the rain upon them, or to the flowers having
been forcibly struck against each other. This irritability of the fila-
ment is affected di£forently by different noxious substance& It has
been found by Messrs. Macaire and Marcet^ that if you poison a Bar-
berry with any corrosive agent, such as arsenic or oorrosiye sublimate,
the filaments become rigid and brittle, and lose their irritability;
while, on the other hand, if the poisoning be effected by any narcotic,
such as prussic add, opium, or belladonna^ the irritability is destroyed
by the filaments becoming so relaxed and flaccid that they can be
Mflilybent in any direction. This property is also lost under the
influence of the vapour of ether and chloroform. This motion seems
to depend on the tame property which gives to the free cells of the
lower plants to great A power of motion.
BEBBERia 4ii
The species of this genus are interesting both for their utility and
beauty. The value of Uie bark and root of the Common Barberry for
dyeing leather and linen of a yellow colour Ib well known. Dr. Royle
has shown that this property exists in tlie species of India, especiaUy
in Berberu arittaia ; and it has been ascertained by Vauquelin that a
plant found on the Nilgherries of Hindustan (B. tinctoria) is inferior to
few woods for dyeing yellow. The acid qualily of the fruit has rendered
all the species more or less esteemed ; that of J?. aristcUa andB. Nepalensis
is dried by the mountaineers of India as raisins, and sent to the plains
for sale. The bitterness and astringency of the bark has caused them
to be received into the list of useful medicinal plants ; and it has
been ascertained by Dr. Royle that the A^kiou ly^ucSy (Lycium Indi-
cum) of Dioscorides, concerning which so much doubt has always
existed, was an Indian species of Barberry now called Berberii Lyciwn,
(Royle's ' Illustrations of the Botany of the Himalayan Mountains,' &c.
p. 68.)
The species of Berberis are obviously divided into two great groups,
of which the first has undivided leaves like the Common Barberry,
and the others are pinnated, after the manner of the leaf of an ash-
tree. Botanists call the latter Mahonias. Ash-Barberry may be token
as their Kngliah designation.
Section L Leaves simjde, — Trub Babbbrbibs.
1. Leaves thirif deciduous ; Flowers solitary,
B. StbirieOf Siberian Barberry. — Leaves obovate, obtuse^, deeply and
irregularly toothed ; flowers solitary, shorter than the leaves ; spines
deeply divided into from three to seven shining partitions. A small
shrub found on exposed rocks on the hills and lower mountains of
Altaic Siberia, where it is very common. The berries are, according
to Pallas, obovate, and of a red colour. This species does not thrive
in England, but is always a scrubby bush of inelegant appeai'ance.
2. Leaves thin, mostly deciduous ; lowers in racemes,
B, Oreticaf Candian Barberry. — Spines in three or more divisions ;
leaves small, obovate, acute, nearly free from toothings ; flowers in
very short compact racemes. Not uncommon on the mountains of
Candia and Greece, whence it has been brought to our gardens. It is
a dwarf scrubby biish, looking like a starved specimen of the Common
Barberry. Its berries are said to be black, ovate, 2-seeded, and austere
rather than acid.
B. vulgaris, Common Barberry. — Spines in three deep divisions;
leaves obovate, with fine spiny toothings ; flowers in drooping racemes,
which are longer than the leiaves. This common species appears to
inhabit equally the north of Europe, Asia, and America, in woods and
thickets, especially in limestone countries. De CandoUe remarks that
it extends in Europe from Candia to Chiistiania, and that while in
northern latitudes it is a valley plant, it becomes in the south exclu-
sively a mountaineer, climbing so high on Mount JBtna as to be the
most alpine of the shrubs of the sterile belt of that mountain at the
height of 7500 feet Like all such plants it has in the course of ages
formed numerous varieties ; these are however chiefly confined to the
fruit, there being a great similarity in the foliage of all except one.
This species is usually a bush from four to six feet high ; but in
Italy it oecomes as large as a plum-tree, living a couple of centuries
or more. The wood is hard but brittle, and is chiefly employed by
the dyers for staining yellow. The acid qualities of this fruit render
it unfit to eat raw, but it makes one of the most delicious of preserves.
B, Canadensis, Canadian Barberry. — Spines divided into three eqiial
lobes; branches covered with little elevated points; leaves oblong,
distantly and coarsely toothed ; flowers in corymbose racemes, nodding.
Found m the northern states of North America. It is generally con-
sidered the same as Berberis vulgaris, because the specimens called B,
Canadensis both in gardens and herbaria certainly are so ; but this,
tiie true plant of Miller and others, appears to differ from the oommon
species in the characters here assigned to it; its leaves are moreover
of a thicker texture.
B. a'otcegvna, Hawthorn Barberry. — Spines simple ; leaves oblong,
strongly netted, with a straggling serrature here and there ; flowers
in dense^ drooping, many-flowered racemes, which are scarcely longer
than the leaves. Described by De Candolle from specimens collected
in Asia Minor.
B. Iberica, Iberian Barberry. — Spines often simple, but sometimes
3-cleft ; leaves nearly undivided ; flowers in loose nearly erect racemes,
much longer than the leaves. A native of SpaiiL The berries are
dark purple.
B, Sinensis, Chinese Barberry. — Spines 8-parted or none; leaves
lanceolate, very acute, much netted, entire, or regularly toothed;
flowers numerous, in drooping racemes, which are not much longer
than the leaves. A native of the north of India and of China.
8. Leaves leathery, evergreen ; Flowers solitary, or in dusters.
B, WaUichiana Wallich's Barberry.— Spmes long, slender, 8-parted;
leaves oblong, lanceolate, deep*green, sharp-pointed, flnely serrated ;
flowers -very numerous, in clusters shorter tnan the leaves. A native
of Nepaul, and apparently of the higher part of the country. B, atro-
viridis is another name for this species.
B, dulcis, Sweet-Fruited Barberry. — Spines long, slender, simply
or 8-parted; leayee obovate, obtuse, with or without a bristly pcunt^
Digitized by
Google
443
BBBBEBtS.
BEBIS.
quite entire, giauooua on the under side ; flowers aoUtaxy, on dender
Btalkfl, twice as long as the leaves. A native of the south-weetem part
of South America, from the Strait of Magalhaens to Yaldivia, where
it forms a small evei^green bush. Its fruit is round, black, about as
large as a pea ; it is said to be sweet and well suited for making tarts
or preserving.
B, heierophyUa, Various-Leaved Barberry. — Spines strong, 3-parted ;
leaves obovate, lanceolate, acute, either entire or with from three to
five spiny teeth, very deep green ; flowers solitary, on stalks about
twice as long as the leaves. An inelegant bush about three feet high,
bare of leaves, and having nothing but its rarity to reoonmiend it ; it
is a native of the Strait of Magalhaans ; in the gardens it is usually
called £, ilietfolia ; there is a flgure of it in Hooker's ' Exotic Flora,'
voL L, 1 14.
B. Emparifolia, Crowberry-Lef.ved Barberry. — Spines slender, long,
in three or five deep divisions ; 1/Aves linear, with a spiny point, rolled
back at the edge, collected in bundles in the axils of the spines ; flowers
solitary, growing on stalks about as long as the leaves. A very curious
and pretty plant, .foxmd wild from the Cordilleras of Chui to the
southern pomt of the American continent, over Uie whole of which
country it appears to be very common. In general aspect it is much
more like a Heath than a Barberry.
Besides these species there are several of great beauty as eveigreen
shrubs in South America.
4. Leaves U<Uheiy, evergreen ; Flowers %n racemes.
B, Jtoribwida, Many-Flowered Barberry. — Spines very stifl^ and
3-parted; leaves oblong or oblong-lanceolate, nearly entire or toothed
in various degrees, sometimes very deeply and coanely veined ; flowers
in long loose slender racemes. Apparently extremely common in the
whole of the north of India, where it forms a tall bush, varying con-
siderably in the size and form of the leaves, and in the degree in
which they are toothed, but always well marked by its slender, pen-
dulous, or erect racemes of flowers, which are much longer than the
leaves, and in no degree coiymbosa It is to be found occasionally in
the more choice collections of this countiy. Out of accidental varia-
tions in its mode of leafing and flowering, the spurious species called
B. affinis and B, cenUophylla have been constituted.
B, Asiatica, Raisin Barbeny. — Spines small and weak, simple or
3-parted ; leaves oblong or obovate, acute, somewhat gkuoous beneath,
either entire or coarsely or even flnelv toothed ; flowers in short com-
pact racemes not longer than the leaves. Found in Nepaul and
Kumaon very abundantly, forming a tall bush with the habit of the
common European Barbeny. The fruit is round, covered over with
a thick bloom, and has altogether the appearance of tiie flnest raising
It is produced abundantly in this climate, where the plant is now not
very uncommon. The veiy short racemes are the principal distinction
of this species when in flower.
B, dealbata, Whitened Barbeny. — Spines scarcely any; leaves
roimdish, coarsely-toothed, rather glaucous, white beneath ; racemes
very short and compact, pendulous. A native of Mexico. It is a tidl
slender evergreen bush, with deep-brown branches and scarcely any
spines. The leaves are sometimes wedge-shaped and 3-toothed, but
more fre(juentiy nearly round, with two or three spiny teeth on each
side. It IS sometimes called in the gardens by mistake B, glauea,
which is a different species.
B, aristaia, Bristie-Leaved Barberry. — Spines 3-parted, simple, or
wanting; leaves obovate, acute, shimng on both sides, with a few
bristie-pointed teeth on either edge; racemes always more or lees
compound and corvmboee. A native of the mountains of Hindustan,
extending from the Himalayas down the Nilgherry Hills as far as
Adam's Peak in Ceylon. It is a hardy sub-evergreen bush in the
gardens.
Section IL Leaves pinnated ; aU evergreen, — ^Abh-Babbsbbib.
B, fasciculariSf Califomian Ash-Barberry. — Leaflets ovate, flnely-
toothed, not shining; flowers in short compact clusters; stem tidl
and woody. Found in the moutainous parts of California and Mexico.
A very hiuidsome eveigreen shrub, with pinnated leaves which are by
no means shining, and of a paler green than several of the others.
Mahonia diversifoUa of the gudens seems to be the same as this ;
and the story of its having been brought from Monte Video is probably
not true.
B, AqwfoUwnf Holly-Leaved Ash-Barberry. — ^Leaflets ovate-lanceo-
late, flat, deeply and regularly toothed, remarkably shining ; flowers
in long narrow racemes ; stem tall and woody. A native of North-
West America from California to Nootka Sound, growing in woods,
where it forms a rich and thick iinderwood. Its foliage is of a rich
deep shining green, becoming purple in the winter ; it bears fruit in
some abundance, which consiBts of clusters of roxmdish black berries,
having their surface covered with a rich violet bloom. They have no
merit as fruit, but would probably be greedily sought by game, for
the protection of which in coverts this species seems weU adapted, if
it could only be obtained in sufi&cient quantity. The difficulty of
propagating it has hitherto made it a scarce plant; but seeds might
be easily, obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company's settiements in
l^orth-West America. It most resembles B. fascicularis, from which
its large shining leaves at once distinguish it ; and it is perfectly hardy,
which that species is not : flowers in Mav and June. It has been figured
in the ' Botanical Register,' voL xviL, plate 1425.
B, repens, Creeping Ash-Barbeny. — ^Leaflets few, somewhat glauoooii
especially on the under side, oblong; when old rounded at the point,
with shallow toothings ; flowers in crowded compound erect racemes;
stem very dwarf; runs at the rool Found wild on the east side of
the Rocky Mountains of North America, and perfectly hardy in our
gardens. Its stems do not grow above six or nine indies high, and
are loaded with a profusion of rich yellow flowers, which constitute
the principal beauty of the species. Its fr^t is unknown. A good
figure of it has been published in the ' Botanical Register,' vol xiv.,
plate 1176. Nothing can be more unlike B. AquifolMtm than this ia,
although the two have occasionally been most unaccountably con-
founded.
B. ghtmacea, Long-Leaved Ash-Barberty.— Leaflets numerous, ovate-
lanceolate, coarsely toothed, of a dull glaucous green ; flowers in long
narrow erect racemes ; stem very dwarf; s^es of the leaf and
flower-buds stiff and glumaceous. A native of North-West America,
growing in shady grassy places in woods. The stein of this species
does not grow more than six or eight inches high, and is in &ct
shorter than its leaves^ which consist of about six pairs with an odd
one^ and are jointed at every pair of leaflets in the manner of a bamboo
stem. The fruit is roundish and insipid, of a flne glaucous purple.
This is less rare than B, Aqiiifolium, and is an ol]ject of curiosity
more than of utility. It loves to grow in a shaded American border,
where it is protected from the fiercer rays of the sun. It is figured in
the 'Botanical Register,' voL xviL, plate 1426. BeHteris or Mafumia
is another name for this species.
In addition to these there are the following ^>ecies : — Berheris Let
chenaMitii (the B, Acanthifolia of some), a fine pinnated plant with
round blacx fruity foimd on the Nilgheriy Mountains of India at the
elevation of 8000 feet. Berberis Nepalensis, a native of the mountains
of the north of India, where, according to Dr. Royle, it grows twelve
feet high in shady places, at 5000 and 6000 feet of elevation : this is
a noble species, and ought to be obtained from India at any cost, as it
would in all probability succeed in this climate. Berberis tragacan- \
thoides, with not more than one or two pairs of leaflets, found along
the banks of the river Kur, near Tiflis ; and BeHteris earaganafdia^
a Chinese plant very like the last : both the latter have the points of
the leaves hardened into spines.
BERCHEMIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
RhamnaeetE, Two species ^.vo2u6tft« and ^.Itneato are used in medidne.
BERENQELITE, a mineral resin from South America^ soluble in
alcohol j
BERENICE. [Acalbfhjl] I
BERENI'CEA, a oelluliferous Coralline Fossil, of which B. dUitnaM
is an example, in the Oolite of Wilts*
BERQAMOT. [Citbu&]
BERQERA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Aurantiaeece, B. AOmgU possesses stomadbdc and tonic propecties, sod
an infusion of the leaves is used against vomiting; The green leaves
are used raw in dysentery ; the bsjrk and roots are stimulant
BERGIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
JNaiinaeeOf and named by Linnaeus in honour of Peter Jonas Beigini^
Professor of Natural History at Stockholm. It has a 5-parted calyi,
9 petals, 10 stamens, 6 styles, approximate capsules^ 5-oelled, and
5-valved. The spedee are insignificant weeds inhabiting moist places.
B. Ammanoides, according to Dr. Wright, is an inhabitant of the East
Indies snd bears the limool name of Neer-mel-neripoo, or Water-
Firei Dr. Lindley calls attention to this name as resembling our
Water-Pepper, a name given to the BUuine, the type of the order to
which Lindley has referrod Bergia. Two other species are natives of
the Cape and one of Java. (Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom ; Don,
Diehlemgdeous PUmts.)
BERGKALE, in Geology^ the German term for our Mountain
Limestone.
BERGMEHL (Mountain Meal), a name given in Sweden to an earth
whidi the inhabitants of the distaricts where it occurs have firom time
immemorial regarded as nutritious. It occurs in Sweden on the
shores of Lake Letnaggsjohn near Umea and mixed with flour this
subetance has in times of scarcity been used for bread. It was
examined by Ehrenberg, who found it to contain the remains of
several species of Diatomacece. He considered this fact would
account for its nutritious properties. The vegetable matter howerer
oontained in the silidous frustules of these minute plants must be
exceedingly small, and further evidence would be required to
demonstrate that this substance really contributed to the support of
those who ate it The occurrence of the Dtotomocece^ owing to the
indestructible nature of their frustules or skeletons, is very oommon.
[DlATOVAO&fi.]
BERGTLT, the name of a Fish, also called the Norway Haddock,
the Sebastes Norvegicus of Cuvier. [Sbbabtb.]
BEHIS, a genus of Dipterous Insects, of the family Xylop^affida.
The species of this genus are small metallic-ooloored mes, which
frequent the leaves of plants. Their larvsd feed on putrescent wood.
The generic characters are as follows : — ^Body narrow ; palpi minute,
the third joint thickened a little at the extremity ; the two first joints
of the antenniB equal, third elongate subulate; eyes pubescent; the
Digitized by
Google
4^
BEBEELEYA.
BBRNICLE GOOSE.
44S
BcuteUnm with i, 6, or 8 points ; abdomen with 7 distinct segments ;
the first joint of the posterior tarsi iucrassate in the male; tiie
wings have four posterior cells, and sometimes the indication of a
fifth
The ova of one of the species of this genus (Berit clcwipes) are said
to be ejected from the OTipositor in the form of a little chain, about
an inch long, consisting of a single series of oval eggs, which are glued
to each other in an oblique position. Most probably the eggs of the
other species are ejected in the same manner.
BERKELEYA, a genus of Diatomacea, named by Greville in
honour of the Rev. IdL J. Berkeley, distinguished for his researches
in cryptogamic botany. It belongs to the suborder NavicidecB, and is
characterised by haying linear firustules included within tubular sub-
membranaceous filaments, which are free at one extremity, but have
the other immersed in a gelatinous tubercle. ' B. fragilis is found
parasitic on Zostera marinct, and some of the smaller marine Algce on
the British coasts. £, Adriatica has been found on the coasts of the
Adriatic at Trieste.
BERNICLE GOOSE or CLAKIS, the vernacular name for the
Bernida of Ray, Aruer Bemicla of Fleming ; the Bemide, BemacU
Goote, and Barnacle Ooote of authors. This bird affords an instance
of tiie credulity with which those who in their generation were .
held wise and learned, accepted the most absurd traditions, and
handed them down to posterity with the additional weight of their
Ruthority. A cirrhiped, a marine testaceous animal, the Pentelasmis
anatifera of Leach, AntUifa Icevia of Bruguidre, Lep<u anaiifera of
Limueus, the Duck Barnacle of collectors, was long asserted to be
the parent of the Bemide Goose; This conmion shell is fixed to a
long fieshy pedunde, and is frequently found attached to floating
tinH>er and even sea-weed. The tentacula, which proceed from the
anterior opening of the valves, have an appearance that recalls to the
mind of a casual inaccurate observer the recollection of a feather, and
hence, in all probability, the fable took its origin. " Some/' writes
NutUdl, " even described these supposed embryos as fruits, in whose
stracture already appeared the Uneaments of a fowl, and which, being
forthwith dropped into the sea, turned directly into birds. Munster,
Saxo Orammaticus, and Scaliger even, asserted this absurdity. Fiilgosus
affirmed that the trees which bore these wonderful fruits resembled
willows, producing at the ends of their branches small swelled balls
containing the embryo of a duck, suspended by the bill, which when
ripe fell off into the sea and took wing. Bishop Leslie, Torquemada,
Odericus, the Bishop Olaus Magnus, and a learned cardinal, all attested
to the truth of their monstrous generation. Hence the bird has been
called the Tree Goose, and one of the Orkneys, the scene of the prodigy,
has received the appellation of Pomona."
Not to weary the reader with names, and some of great reputation
might be added, we will proceed to trace the fable as told by Gerard,
merely adding by the way, that one of the other worthies is recorded
to have opened 100 of the goose-bearing shells, and to have found in
all of them the rudiments of the bird completely formed. Gerard,
then, as if determined that no sceptic should have the slightest
ground whereon to rest a doubt^ thus gives his evidence in his
'Herbal*:—
" But what our eyes have seene and hands have touched we shall
declare. There is a small island in Lancashire, called the Pile of
Foulden, wherein are found the broken pieces of old and bruised ships,
some whereof have been cast thither by shipwracke, and also the
tnmks and bodies with the branches of old and rotten trees, cast up
there likewise ; whereon is found a certaine spimie, or froth, thai in
time breedeth unto certaine shells, in shape like those of the muskle,
bat iharper pointed, and of a whitish colour ; wherein is contained a
thing in form like a lace of silke finely woven as it were together of
a whitiah colour ; one end whereof is fastened unto the inside of the
shell, even as the fidi of oisters and muskles are ; the other end is
made fiuA unto the belly of a rude masse or lumpe, which in time
commeth to the shape and form of a bird ; when it is perfectly formed
the ahellgapeth open, and the first thing that appeareth is the foresaid
lace or string ; next come the legs of Uie bird hanging out, and as it
groweth greater it openeth the shell by d^^rees, till at length it is all
come foiih and hangeth only by the bUl ; in short space after it
commeth to fiill maturitie, and falleth into the sea, where it gathereth
feathers, and groweth to a fowle bigger than a mallard and lesser than
a goose, having blacke legs and bill or beake, and feathers blacke and
white, apotted in such manner as is our ma^-pie, called in some places
a pie-annet> which the people of Ltmcaslure call by no other name
^ a tree-goose ; which place aforesaid, and all those parts adjoining,
do 80 much abound therewith, that one of the best is bought for
three-pence. For the trutii hereof, if any doubt, may it please them
^reptire unto me, and I shall satisfie them by the testimonie of good
witneBsea" This edifying deposition is illustrated by a cut of the
goose and of its parent shell.
Now, after tins, can we wonder at the melancholy catalogue of
human beings who have expiated the supposed crime of witchoraft at
the stake on the testimony of their deluded and deludizig prosecutors ?
Here is a man of learning and of considerable accuracy in many points,
Ihe autiior of a valuable work containing much information, who
Svely and deliberately, on the authority of two of the most acute of
Mnaei^ asserts a downright falsehood and courts investigation. He
may moreover be acquitted of any intention to deceive ; but his mind
was filled with previous assertions and preconceived opinions, and his
exdted imagination, like that of the majority of the witnesses against
the unfortunate witches, gave a colour and a form to all he saw and felt.
Gerard published this cdebrated romance in 1636. If we now turn
to Ray's edition of Willughby, published in 1678, we shall see what a
progress had been made towards truth, even in that short space of
time. " What is reported concerning the rise and original of these
birds, to wit, that they are bred of rotten wood ; for instance, of the
masts, ribs, and planks of broken ships, half putrified and corrupted,
or of certain palms of trees [the catkins of the willow] falling into the
sea; or lasUy, of a kind of sea-shells, the figures whereof Lobel,
Gerard, and others have set forth, may be seen in Aldrovand, Sen-
nertus in his ' Hypomnemata,' Michad Meyerus, who hath written an
entire book concerning the tree-fowl, and many others. But that all
these stories are false and fabulous I am confidently persuaded.
Neither do these want sufficient arguments to induce the lovers of
truth to be of our opinion, and to convince the gainsayers. For in
the whole genus of birds (excepting the phoenix, whose reputed
original is without doubt fiabulous) there is not any one example of
equivocal or spontaneous generation. Among other animals indeed,
the lesser and more imperfect, as for example many insects and frogs,
are commonly thought either to be of spontaneous original, or to come
of different seeds and principles. But the greater animals and perfect
in their kinds, such as is among birds the goose, no philosopher would
ever admit to be in this manner produced. Secondly, those shells in
which they affirm these birds to be bred, and to come forth by a
strange metamorphosis, do most certainly contain an animal of their
own kind, and not transmutable into any other thing, concerning
which the reader may please to consult that curious naturalist Fabius
Columna. These sheila we ourselves have seen, once at Venice,
growing in great abimdance to the keel of an old ship ; a second time
in the Mediterranean Sea, growing to the back of a tortoise we took
between Sicily and Malta. Columna makes the shell-fish to be a kind
of Balanm marinua. Thirdly, that these geese do lay eggs after the
manner of other birds, sit on them and hatch their young, the
Hollanders in their northern voyages affirm themselves to have found
by experience."
Here we see the clouds that had obscured the subject nearly deared
away, though there is still a little lingering error in the tadt admission
of the spontaneous generation of the frogs and insects.
It is no small praise to Bdon and some others that, even in their
early time, they treated this fable of the duck-bearing tree with con-
tempt. There has been much confusion in the nomenclature of this
bird. Linnseus considered it as the male of Anser eiT/thropua (White-
fVonted Wild-Goose), and treated Anser Brenta (the Brent-Goose), and
A. Bemicla as synonyms. Succeeding writers continued the mistake
till Temminck and Bechstein, instead of restoring the name given to
it by the older ornithologists, called it Anser Uucopsis, but did not
refer the specific name Erytkroptu to the Anas albifront of Gmelin and
Latham.
Bernicle-Goose {Anser Berniela),
Dr. Fleming, in his ' History of British Animals,' set this right, and
has properly described the Bemide-Goose as Anser Bemicla^ and the
White-Fronted Wild-Goose as Anser erythropus.
Digitized by
Google
447
BEROK
BERYL.
418
The summer lutmita of the Bemiole reach high into northern lati-
lades. Iceland, Spitzbeigen, Greenland, Lapland, the north of Ruasia
and of Asia, and Hudaon's Bay, are recorded as its breeding places.
Sir John Richardson notes it as accidental on the Saskatchewan
{5^" 54' N. lat.) as a passenger in spring and autumn, and gives the
southern states of the North American Union as its winter quarters.
It visits Britain in the autumn, appearing in great numbers on the
north-western coasts, and in the norUi of Ireland. On the eastern and
southern shores of Britain it is comparatively rare, and the Brent-
Qoose occupies its place.
The weight of a Bemide is about five pounds, the length rather more
than two feet, and the breadth about four and a half with the wings
spread. The bill, about an inch and a half long, is black, with a
reddish etreak on each side, and between it and the eyes is a small
black streak. Irides brown ; head (to the crown), cheeks, and throat
white ; the rest of the head, neck, and shoulders black. Upper part
of the plumage marbled with blue, gray, black, and white ; belly and
tail coverts white ; tail black ; flanks ashy gray ; legs and feet dusky.
The eye-streak is much broader in the young of the year than in
the adult ; the xmder parts are not of so pure a white, and the upper
plumage is darker.
The flesh is excellent.
BEHOE, a genus of marine animals established by Miiller,
belonging to the CUiograde Acalepha. Some of the species, as
the common B. PileaSy are now referred to Oydippe. The species,
which are gelatinous, transparent, and either oval or globular, float in
the ocean, where they are widely diffused. Lamarck says that they
are very phosphoric, and that they shine at night like lamps suspended
in the sea, their brilliancy becoming vivid in proportion to the rapidity
of their motions. Their breathing is carried on by means of cilia,
which extend longitudinally and at equal distances along the sui-face
from the mouth to the inferior opening. Fabricius observed minute
crustaceans in the digestive organs, and that when one of these
animals was broken to pieces those pieces still continued to live and
swim about by the action of the cilia, which was still continued. The
Beroes have a rotatory motion, and Bosc observed that they also had
another, produced by an alternate contraction and dilatation.
Messrs. Audouin and Milne Edwards have given a description of
the organisation of the globular Beroe {Beroe PiUusy Lam. ; Plcwro-
brachia of Fleming ; Bucharit of Pdron and of De Blainville), and Dr.
Qrant, in the ' Transactions of the Zoological Society,' has given an
account of its structure. Cuvicr mentions it as being common in the
north — ^where it is said to be one of the aliments of the whale
(BdUBna) — and in the channel on the French coast. It is found very
commonly on the British coasts. Dr. Grant foimd it in the harbour
of Sheemess, in which latter locality he says " the boatmen, who
seemed to be familiar with it imder the name of the spawn of the sea-
Qgg (Echinus), which, it somewhat resembles in its globular and ribbed
form, assured me that often in hot and calm weather the water
swarms with the little medusae in such numbers as to cover the sur-
face in all this part of the sestuary of the Thames. The animal has a
regular oval form, with its longest diameter from the mouth to the
anus, about six lines, and its breadth about four lines. The general
texture of the body is ql^te transparent and colourless." [Aoalkpha]
BERO'SUS, a genus of Coleopterous Insects belonging to the family
ffydrophUidce (Leach). These beetles inhabit ponds, in which they
may often be seen swimming in an inverted position. They most
probably feed upon vegetable substances. The common colouring of
the species is dusky yellow varied with markings of a black or dark
metaUic bronze hue; their form is nearly ovtJ, and the principal
generic characters are, eyes prominent, clypeus entire, antennse nine- (?)
jointed, thorax narrower than the elytra.
BERRY, in Botany, a term confined to such soft and succulent
fruits as have their seeds lying loosely among pulp. The gooseberry,
the currant^ and the grape are therefore genuine berries ; but plums,
' rose-heps, haws, &a, in which the seeds do not lie among the pulp,
are excluded from the definition, although they are all comprehended
under the same name in common languafe. [Fbuitb.]
BERTHELLA, a genus established by De Blainville for a Marine
. Mollusk, found though rarely on the British coasts. It is the Pleuro-
hrancJvus plumula of Montague, and is thus defined by De Blainville : —
Body oval, sufficiently protuberant (&of?i&^) above, and reciurved below,
when in a state of repose, so as completely to hide the head and the
Berihella poro$a,
a, side view ; &, view of back, to show internal shell.
foot^ which last is large and oval, but much less than the mantle.
There is a kind of veil at the anterior border of the head, prolonged
on each aide into a sort of appendage cleft laterally. The two tenta-
culiform occipital auricules are deft' and striated within at their
termination, and approach each other very nearly at their base, which
is thinned out as it were. The eyes are sessile, placed upon the
posterior root of the tentacula. There is but one pectiniform branchia,
which is lateral, attached anteriorly, and in great measure bee
behind. The organs of generation terminate in one large tubercle,
situated before the root of the branchia ; the shell is internal, very
delicate, and oval, with a summit hardly to be distinguished. Forbes
and Hanley, in the ' History of British Mollusca,' pUce it in tiie
family Pleurobranchidee of the Vcuteropoda. Although seldom taken
it appears to have a wide range. It has been foimd at Exmontb,
Guernsey, Salcombe Bay, Milford Haven, Isle of Man, Sound of Skye,
Scarborough, coast of Northumberland, and Malbay on the west
coast of Ireland.
BERTHIERITE. [AirmfONT.]
BERTHOLLE'TIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural
order LecythidacecBf and named after Berthollet the celebrated chemist
The only species is a tree of lai^ dimensions, and forms vast forests
on the banks of the Oronooo. Its stem averages 100 feet in height
and two feet in diameter, not branching till near the top, whence its
boughs hang down in a graceful manner. Its leaves are undivided,
arranged altemately upon the branches, about two feet long and five or
six indies wide, of a brilliant green. Its flowers are yellowish white, with
a calyx having a dedduous border divided into two pieces, a corolla of
6 unequal petals joined together at the base, and a very great ntunber
of white stamens joined into a thick fleshy ring. The fmit is figured
and described by Humboldt as a spherical case as big as a man's bead,
with four cells, in each of which are six or eight nuts ; its shell is ragged
and fiuTOwed, and covered with a rind of a green colour. The nuts
are irregpilarly triangular bodies, having a lutfd shell, which is very
much wrinkled, and which is fixed to a central placenta by their lower
end ; their seed, as is well known, is a firm oily almond of a pure
white colour. They are sold in the shops of London under the name
of Brazil Nuta
" The Portuguese of Para," says Humboldt, " have for a long time
driven a great trade with the nuts of this tree, which the natives call
luvia and the Spaniards Almendron ; they send caigoes to French
Guyana, whence they are shipped for England and Lisbon. The
kernels yield a hirge quantity of oil well suited for lamps." The same
traveller describes himself and his companion Bonpland as having
found these nuts a great luxury when they were following the conne
of the Oronoco. For three months they had lived upon bad choco-
late, rice boiled in water, always without butter, and generally without
salt, when they met with a store of Bertholletia nuts. It was in the
course of June, and the Indians had just gathered in their harvest of
them. The kernels were found delidous when fresh, but unfortunately
they are apt to become rancid on account of the great quantity of ofl
which they contain.
Fruit and Seeds of Bertholletia ezoeha.
BERYL, a mmeral, among the varieties of which are found two of
the most beautiful and costly gems with which we are acquainted,
namely, the Emerald and the Preciout Beryl
They belong to the rhombohedral system of cxyBtallisation, 'I'^y
occurring in regular hexagonal prisms which occur variously modified,
sometimes by the truncation of the lateral edges of the prism, at cms
times by the simple truncation of the terminal edges; but the pnsm
is sometimes terminated in a much more complicated niapner, of
whidi a remaikable instance has presented itself in a crystal in the
possession of Professor Naumann of Freiberg, who has ^'^^^'^^^JJ
them the faces of no lees than six other forma of the rhombohsOT
system. Its general aspect is always that of a hexagonal pnsm, vm
Digitized by
Google
M0 BEBTL.
when the terminal edges are modified there will generally be found a
plane inclined to the lateral planes of the prism under an angle of
119" 68'.
The crystals admit of deayage in the four directions parallel to the
faces of tiie regular prism, that parallel to the terminal plane being
perfect^ the others imperfect and more difficult to be obtained. The
fracture is oonohoidal and uneven; the lustre is Titreous, and it
posseoBes Tarious degrees of transparenqy. According to Mohs the
bardnees varies from 7'5 to 8, the specific gravity from 2*678 to 2*782.
The following are its chemical characters bdTore Ute blow-pipe, as stated
by Berzelius.
Alone it is not easily acted upon, but when thin fragments are for
a long time submitted to a powof ul flame the edges become rounded,
and a colourless vesicular scoria is produced. The transparent varieties
become milky.
With borax it forms a dear and generally colourless glass, which
effect is also produced by sodiL With the phosphor salt it is with
difficultv dissolved without the formation of a silidous skdeton.
Of this mineral we pomess several analyses, of which the following
ore three : the first being an Emerald from Peru, by Kla|>roth ; the
second a Beryl from Siberia, by the Rame chemist; and tne third a
Beryl from Broddbo, near Fahlun, in Sweden : —
Beryl. Beryl.
Emerald. Siberia. Broddbo.
SUica 68*50 66*45 68*35
Alumina 15*75 16*75 17*60
Gludna 12*50 15*50 18*18
Oxide of Iron . . . I'OO 0*60 0*72
Oxide of Columbium . 0*00 0*00 0*27
Oxide of Chromium . 0*80 000 0*00
Lime 0*25 000 000
This species contains several varieties,, of which the two Imown
among lapidaries under the name of Emerald and Aquamarine, or
Precious Beryl, are the most worthy of attention. These varieties,
though distinguished by some mineralogists as forming distinct
spedes, differ however only in colour, the term Emerald being applied
to those possessing the peculiar rich deep green so well known as the
emerald-green, while all the other varieties are comprehended imder
the name of Beryl ; those which are clear, transparent^ and possess a
good colour, present various shades of sky-blue or mountain-green,
being the Aquamarine or Predous BeryL The colour of the Emerald
IB attributed to the small quantity of green oxide of chromium which
has been found in the spedmens from Peru ; while l^e varieties m the
tints of Beryl may be considered to be produced by admixtures of
the oxides of iron, the yellow being the colour of the peroxides of
iron, and the mountain-green and the various shades of blue being the
effect of varying quantities of the protoxide, to the presence of which
the conunon bottle-glass owes its tmt.
The following localitiee produce the finest Emeralds : — The mines in
the Timca Valley, dtuated in the mountains between New Oranada
and Popayan, and not £ur from the town of Santa F^ de Bogota,
where, according to Humboldt^ they are found in veins traversing day-
slate, hornblende-date^ and granite ; the Heubach Valley, in the dis-
trict of Piiugau, Salsbuig; where they occur imbedded m mioa«late,
and are inferior in colour to those from Peru ; varieties have also been
latdy found in some old mines in Mount Zabarah, in Upper Egypt,
ficom which spot the andents are supposed to have derived thdr
emeralds.
The varieties known by the name of Beryl are found prindpally in
Siberia and Bradl : in the former coimtry it occurs in the granite
district of Nertschinsk and also in the Uralian and Altai Mountains,
sometimes in very large crystals, prisms having been found upwards
of a foot in length. In the gramtic mountains of Odon Tohdon, in
Baiiiia, three Yearv interesting mines occur at different devations in
the mountain; m the lowest are found, irreg^arly disseminated
through a maas of semi-decomposed granite mixed with ferruginous
Sand nodules of Wolfrtmi, prismatic crystals of Beryl of a sreenish-
)w colour, rarelv exceeding one indi in length. Some hundred
feet higher occurs the second mine in a vein of micaceous day, from
which the most valuable crystals are obtained ; their colour is of a
pdo but pure green, and Uieir size frequently condderable. The
third mine is situated in a vdn of white indurated day on the summit
of a mountain ; in tins mine the varieties are usually of apde greenish-
blue, but sometimes they are found of a pure but pale sky-blue. They
are here remarkably transparent. Imbedded cxystals and masdve
>'arieties are also found at Limoges, in France ; near Zwiesd, on the
Rabenstein, in Bavaria; at Fimbo and Broddbo, near Fahlun, in
Sweden ; and likewise in some of the tin-mines in Saxonv and Bohemia.
An enormous spedmen is also described in Silliman s ' Journal ' as
having been fouM at Acworth in Kew Hampshire, United States.
Its djmendons are stated to be 4 feet in length and 5( inches across
the lateral planes, and the wdght to be 288 pounds.
Specimens of Beryl have also been found in several of the primary
disteicts of Ireland ; those from the granite of the Moume Mountains,
ui the county of Down, are the finest In this locality they are asso-
ciated with topas, black quartz, felspar, and mica. In Scotland it is
found in the granite at Rubieslaw quarry, near Aberdeen, and also in
broken pieces in the sand of the rivers of that county.
SAT. BUT. DIY. VOL. I.
BETA.
4W
The value of the Emerald depends not only on its size, colour, and
brilliancy, but also on its being free from flaws^ by which this gem is
frequently greatly deteriorated in the eye of the jeweller. The follow-
ing is the rate at which varieties of a fine colour and free from fissures
may be procured, as stated by Beu<hint : —
A stone of 5 grs. from 100 to 120 francs.
„ 8 „ 240 francsL
15 „ 1500 „
„ 24 „ 2400 „
BE^TX, a genus of Fishes of the order Acanthopterygii, and
bdonging to a little group of the family Percidte, in which the species
possess more than seven branchial rays, whereas all the other genera
induded in the first dividon of this order (in which diviuon the
cheeks are not defended by indurated plates) possess seven or less.
Cuvier, in his 'R^gne Animal,' mentions three other genera
belonging to this group : namdy, Moheeninm, Myriprittii, and
Traehichthyt.
The other characters of Beryx are as follows : — ^Ventral fins, with
one spine and ten soft rays ; the back furnished with but one slightly-
extended fin, and some indistinct small spines on its anterior edge.
Several spedes are fossil £. omaiua occurs in the Chalk of Sussex.
Mantdl figured it, under the title of Zeus LewenemiSf in the ' Qeology
of Sussex. Two other spedes occur in the British Chalk.
BESHAN, a name given to the Balm of Mecca, the produce of
BaUamodendron OpobaUamum. [Balbamodendbon.]
BE'TA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Cfhmopo-
diaceoBy among which it is known by its having large succulent roots,
and a green calyx united halfway to a hard rugged nut. The spedes
are found in Europe, the north of Africa, and the western parts of
Ada; four are cultivated as esculents, the others are mere weeds.
B, vtdgariSf Common Beet, is said to be found in a wild state along
the whole of the sea-coast of the Mediterranean, and in £gypt ; it is
however chiefly known as a plant cultivated in gardens, for its carrot-like
sweet and tender roots. Several sorts are mentioned by writers on
gardening, varying in the size, form, colour, and sweetness of thdr
roots : 01 these however two are much more worth cultivating than
the others, namdy, the small red variety and the Ions yellow variety ;
they are the most delicate, the sweetest^ and have we richest colour
when served at table.
B. aUianma, Mangd Wurzd, is a much larger and coarser plant
than the Common Beet, from whidi it is prindpally known by its
roots being marked internally with zones of red and pink or white.
Its native country is unknown ; by some it is reckoned a mere variety
of the Common Beet, but this is scarcely probable, conddering that it
is permanently reproduced from seed ; others state that it is a hybrid
between the Common and Chard Beet, our third sort, of which however
there is ndther proof nor probability. Mangd Wurzel is an object of
extendve cultivation for feeding oatUe; its leaves afford a very
nutritious food for all kinds of live stock, and the rootis^ from their
extreme sweetness, are by many farmers conddered the most valuable
of all the agricultural plants upon which cattle are fed in winter.
Independentiy of their use for cattle, Mangd Wurzel roots have been
extendvely employed in the manufacture of sugar. They are still
employed in franco in the manufacture of sugar : and an attempt
has lately been made in Irdand to use them for the same purpose.
For this, the common red and white Mangel Wurzd will perhi4>s be
found best suited in this country, in consequence of its hardiness, and
the great weight per acre which it will afford ; but the Frendi have
preferred a perfectly white kind, which is said to exceed the former
in nutritive properties, in the proportion of two to one ; they also
grow a sort with white roots and a purple crown, and another white
within, and yellow on the outside. The yellow Field-Beet, which has
been a good deal cultivated in this coizntry, is apparentl;^ a variety of
B. vuigaritf and is too unproductive in most dtuations to bear
comparison with the others.
B, cydcL, Chard Beet, is inferior to the two last in the size of its
roots, but is remarkable for the thickness of the ribs of its leaves,
which are white, yellow, green, orange coloured, or deep crimson, in
different varieties. It is cultivated like the Common Beet, but the
leaves onl^ are used in soups, or their ribs are cut out and stewed
like sea-kaiL They have however an earthy taste, which is not in the
power of cookery wholly to remove, on which account they are little
esteemed. The French call this spedes Poir^ h Cardes. It is add
to have been introduced to France from Portugal; but its native
station is unknown.
B, marUima, Sea-Beet, unlike the three last, is a prostrate plant,
with numerous entangled branches and a tough woody root. It is
found abundantly on many parts of the southern coast of England,
and is a conmion European shore-plant, preferring a chalky soU Its
leaves are small, ovate, deep green, creneUed, rvther sharp-pointed,
flat, succulent, and placed on long stalks. Its flowers are green and
aiTanged in spikes, each being subtended by a small leaf^ brack It
is a perennial, and one of the most valuable plants known for spinach ;
its leaves when dressed are extremely delicate and well-flavoured, and
easily reduced into that pulpy substance which constitutes the great
merit of good spinach. It thrives in a garden without any sort of
care, and is rather a handsome plant when growing among rubbish,
for its leaves are a particularly rich green, and not liable to be scorched
2 0
Digitized by
Google
451
BETEL.
BETULA.
tfz
by the bud, or to bo injured much by inaeoti. It is inereaaed by
seeds, which it yields in i^undanoe. [Beet, in Ams avd So. Dit.]
BETEL, the leaf of an intoxicating kind of pepper. [Fifxb.]
BETEL-NUT PALM. [Abtoa.]
BETHY'LUSy a genus formed by CuTier, and plmoed by him under
his second order of Birds {Lu Pattereamx), in the first tribe (Denti-
rottret), and in the first fiunily (Lamiada). He sajrs that there is but
one species known {Lamma Leveriantu of Shaw, Laniui picatut of
Latham), and that the Ore«t Shrike {Laniut corvimu of Shaw) approaches
it, though L. corvifMwhas the bill more compressed.
VieiUot has changed the generic name to Oitsopiit and Illiger makes
it a Tangeura.
The genus is thus characterised by "Vleillot : — ^Bill short, robust,
swollen, a little compressed towards the end ; upper mandible notched
and cunred at the point : gape ciliated ; the third and fourth qtiills
longest ; outer toes united at their base.
Le VaiUant has figured this bird (plate 60) under the name of Pie
Pie-Oreiche. White and black are the only colours of its plumage,
distributed like those of the magpie which it is said to resemble in
miniature in Guyana and Braril, where it is a native.
BETHT^US, a genus of Hymenopterous Insects of the fkmil^
ProetotrwpidcB, Its principal distlnctiye characters are— antennse gem-
culated, IS-jointed in both sexes; the head is depressed and the
prothorax yery elongate and almost triangular. The wings have only
one laige marginal cell, not closed; abdomen conical; legs shor^
feinora thick.
These little four-winged flies, which are remarkable for their large
depressed heads, are not Yery unlike ants in their appearance, and are
found in flowers and sometimes on the leaves of shrubs, to which they
resort in search of small caterpillars, which they store up in cells to
nourish their future progeny. The principal haunts of tiieee insects
are dry sandy situations.
BETONICA. [Bbtowt.]
BETONT, the common name of the Stachy$ Betaniea [Staghtb],
which was formerly described under the name of Betoniea oJBlcinalis.
BE'TULA, a genus of trees or shrubs, belonging to the natural order
BehUaeecB, It is characterised by its flowers growing in catkins, the
sodes of which are thin and three-lobed, and by the scales subtending
three flat fruits, each furnished with two styles, and expanded into a
thin wing on either side ; these fruits are what are vu^^ularly called
birch-se^s. The species are, with one exception, foimd beyond the
tropic in the northern hemisphere; the species of the southern
hemisphere is a little evergreen plant called B, antarctica, of which
little is recorded except that it inhabits Tierra del Fuego.
The more remarkable species of this genus may be conveniently
disposed according to their prevailing geographical distribution.
Buropean Birchei.
B. alba, the Common Birch. Branches erect^ when young covered
with a short dose down never smooth, and warted ; leaves with a
somewhat rhomboidal form, ovate, generally doubly serrated, with
downy footstalks, acute, but not tapering to the point ; catkins pen-
dulous. A native of Europe from the most northern to the most
southern countries^ in the latter however not appearing except on
mountains at a considerable elevation ; on ^tna it does not occur
below 4762 feet above the sea, according to Philippi It is also found
eastward in Asia, aa fitr at least as the Altai Mountains. Although
this species is not much valued for its timber, it is extremely usenil
for many other purposes. Russia skins are said to be tanned with the
empyreumatic oil of its bark, from which the peculiar odour of such
leather is derived. Cordage is obtaiaed from it by the Laplanders,
who also prepare a red dye from it ; the young shoots serve to nourish
their cattle, and vinegar is obtained frt>m the fermented sap. The
inhabitants of Flnlana use the leaves for tea, and both in Lapland and
Greenland strips of the young and tender baik are used as food. From
the timber are manufactured hoops, yokes for cattle, bowls, wooden
spoons, and other articles in which lightness without much durability
is sufficient ; baskets and hurdles are often made of parts of its shoots ;
and from its rising sap, extracted by means of openings cut into its
alburnum in the spring, and fermented, a kind of wine is obtained
which is of an agreeable quality, but will not keep. During the siege
of Hambuig by the Russians in 1814, almost all tne birch-trees of the
neighbourhood were destroyed by the Bashkirs and other barbarian
soldiers in the Russian service, by being tapped for their juice.
The Birch naturally grows in poor sandy soil, on whidi it thrives
fully aa well as in that of a more fertile kind. It is said to attain
sometimes the height of 70 feet^ with a diameter of 2 feet ; in England
it does not acquire such considerable dimensions. As it approaches
both its northern and southern limits it gradually decreases in size,
conformably to the laws which regulate vegetable development. Its
bark is said to be fvrj durable.
B. penchda, the Weeping Birch. Branches drooping, when young
perfectly smooth, and marked with little pearly specks ; leaves wiS
a somewhat rhomboidal form, ovate, either doubly or sizifi^y serrated,
acute, but not tapering to the point, sometimes slightly hairy ; catkins
pendulous. Very oommon in difibrent parts of Europe, along with
the last, in the properties of which it appears to participate^ and with
which it is often improperly oonfoiuded It differs from the Common
Birch not only in its weeping habit, but also in its young shoots being
quite smooth, bright chestnut brown when ripe, and then covered
with little white warts. The Betula pinUiea of the nurseries is a
slight variety, with a few straggling hain on the leaves and leafiBtalka,
and a less drooping l:abit.
Common Bircb {Betula atta),
I, The insida of a barren scale, with the anthers attached ; 3, inside of •
fertile scale, with the oraties attached ; 8, an ovary eat through perpendiea.
larly ; 4, inside of a scale, with three ripe fruits ; 6, a ripe fhiit of the natonl
slse ; 6, the same magnified ; 7, a transverse section, and 8, a perpendicular
section of the same ; 9, a ripe seed ; 10, an embryo.
B, pube$een$, the Downy Birch. Branches eraot^ covered all over
with very dose down; leaves heart-shaped, ovate, taper^inted,
doubly and sharply serrated, very downy. A smaller speaes than the
first, found in tne bogs of Qermany : a variety of it is called Betuta
wrticifolia in gardens.
B, nana, the Dwarf Birch. Leaves orbicular, crenated, with stron^j
marked veins on the under side; catkins upright. A small biuh,
found in Lapland and the mountainous -pirta of other northern
countries ; it even stretches across the whole continent of Asia as far
as Unalasohka. To the people of the south this plant has no value,
but to the Laplanden it affords a large part of their fuel ; and its
winged fruits are reported to be the favourite food of the ptarmigan.
The place of this is occupied in America by a specieB caUed BifUa
glandvlot(L
A$iaiie Birdket,
B. Bhoj^paUra, Indian Paper Birch. Leaves oblongs acute, with nearly
simple serratures, somewhat heart^haped at the base ; their stalks,
veins, and twigs hairy ; ripe catkins;, erect, cylindrical, oblong; bracts
smooth, woody, two-parted, blunt^ much longer than the fruit, which
has narrow wings. A tree found on the Alps of Qurwal and Kumaon,
where it was discovered by Dr. Wallich, who infonuB vm that its thin
delicate bark furnishes the masses of flexible laminated matter, of
which great quantities are brought down into the plains of India for
linmg Uie tubes of hookahs. The Sanscrit name of the substance is
Booija. (Wall. * Plant A& Rar.,' voL ii. p. 7.) The bark of this speaee
is of a pale cinnamon colour. It is nearly allied to B, papyraeta.
B. acuminata, the Tapering-Leaved Birch. Leaves ovate, lanceolate,
somewhat simply serrated, taper-pointed, smooth, dotted beneath,
leafrtalks and twigs quite smooth ; ripe catkins, very long, pendulous,
cylindrical, crowded ; their rachis and the bracts, which are auiided
at the base, downy. Found on many of the mountains of Ni^ul,
and in the great valley of that counti^, following the course of nvera
B. nitida. Shining Birch.
B, epUndnutachpa, Cylindrical Spiked Birofa. These two last speciee
are found in Kumaon.
B. populifdlia, the Poplar-Leaved or White American Birch. Ostkina
penduouB : branches perfectly hairless, drooping, very much coYort-d
Digitized by
Google
BETI7LA.
BiaNONIA,
with reainooB warts; leaves triangular, tapeivpointed, doubly-toothed,
on \oi^ weak stalks. This species is more an object of ornament than
of utility. It rarely grows more than 20 or 25 feet high, except in
Tery rich soils, when it is said to become somewhat taller. It is a
native of the northern parts of North America, fix>m the lower parts
of New York, New Jeraey, and Pennsylvania, to Canada. MicKauz
says that its bark cannot be divided into thin plates like that of the
Paper-Birch or conmion European species. It is very like the Euro-
X>ean B, pmdula^ from which the characters we have assigned it are
sufficient to distinguish it.
B, nigra (Arwftro, Michaux; B, lannlotaf A. Mich.), the Red Birch.
Branches covered closely with a short thick down, which they do not
lose till the second year; leaves angularly rhomboidal, very deeply
doubly serrated, acute, with the axils and veins of the underside of
the leaf downy; stipules nairow-ovate, membranous, smooth, soon
dropping off A native of the borders of rivers, where it grows
associated with planes, maples, and willows, in the southern provinces
of the United States, delighting as much in heat, according to Michaux,
as many other species do in cold, and therefore the best adapted for
planting in the southern parte of Europe. It is a handsome species,
growing as much as 70 feet high, and from 2 to 3 feet thick, and is
remarkable for its bark not being white and shining, but brown, dotted
with white, and slightly wrinkled. The limbs of the tree are laiige,
and the branches terminate in long flexible pendtdous twigs. Cask
hoops are manu&etured from its shoots when about an inch in
diameter; and all the brooms used in the streets of Philadelphia,
which are &r better than those of Europe, are prepared from its tough
and elastic twigs. In this counlry it is generally called B, angtUakk
B, excdta (B. hOea, Mich.), the Tellow Birch. Catkins erect, short,
thick, nearly sessile ; branches exceedingly downy when young; leaves
rhomboidal, acute without any tapering, finely and regularly serrated,
or nearly entire; on very downy stalks ;, stipules large and membra*
nous. Found chiefly in the coldest parts of North America along with
the Paper^Birch ; south of the Hudson River it becomes rare. Michaux
states that it is principally in good alluvial soil that it thrives, in
company with black and hemlock spruces and ashes; its greatest
height is from 60 to 70 feet, with a diameter of something more than
2 feet It is said to be a handsome tree, with a straight trunk, often
clear of branches as far as 80 or 40 feet from the ground. It is
remarkable for the bright golden yellow of its bark, which shines as
if it had been varnished. It is most like B, nigra, from which its
thicker and more hairy catkins and simply serrat^ leaves distinguish
it, independently of other characters.
B, papyraeea, the Paper or Canoe-Birch. Catkins thick, pendulous,
on long stalks ; branches generaUy more or lees downy when young,
sometimes hairy; leaves ovate, occasionally heart-shaped, regularly or
irregularly serrated, smooth or downy. This, the most valuable of all
the spedes of Birch, is a native of North America, where it grows in
great quantities, not extending beyond 73** to the north nor 48" to the
south, aooordii^ to Michaux. The slopes of hills and valleys, where
the soil is of good quality, are said to be its fnvourite stations : in such
places it often acquires we height of 70 feel
Its wood is sometimes used in North America for cabinet makers'
work ; but it is not of much value for exposure to the weather, as it
soon decays if subjected alternately to damp and dryness. Its bark is
the part which is the most esteemed ; this part is said to be so
durable that old fallen trees are stated to be frequentiy found with
their form so well preserved that one would think them perfectiy
sound, but upon examining them it is found that the whole of the
wood is rotted away, and nothing is left but tiie sound and solid case
of bark. This part is used for a number of useful purposes ; log-
houses are sometimes thatched with it ; littie boxes, cases, &c, and
even hats are manufkotured from it ; but its great value is for making
canoes. For the purpose of obtaining pieces sufficientiy large for
sach a purpose, we are informed by Michaux that the largest and
nmoothest-barked trees are selected. In the spring two droular
inciaions at the distance of several feet are made^ and a longitudinal
incision on each side ; then by introducing a wedge of wood between the
trunk and bark, the latter is easily detached. With threads prepared
from the fibrous roots of the White Spruce-Fir {Abiet alba), the pieces
of bark are sown together, over a lignt frame-work of wood, and the
seams are caulked with the resin of the Balm of Qilead Fir. Canoes
of this sort are so li^t as to be easily transported on the shoulders of
men. It is said that one capable of carrying four persons and their
bandage only weighs from 40 to 50 pounds.
B. lenta {B carpinifolia, A. Mich.), the Soft, Black, or Cherry-Birch.
Catkins short, erect; branches quite smootii; leaves thin, cordate,
oblong, tapering to a poinl^ simply or doubly serrated, downy when
young, smooth afterwards; stipules very huge and membranous.
Nona of the American birdies produce timber so valuable as this ;
whence one of its American names is Mountain Mahogany. Its wood
is hajd, dose-grained, and of a reddish brown ; it is imported into
thia country in considerable quantity, under the name of American
birch, for forming the slides of dining-tables, and for sunilar purposes.
It M abundant in the midland states, as in New York, New Jersey,
and Pennsylvania^ but more to the south it only appears on the
Bununits of the Alleghanies. Deep rich soil is what it prefers ; and
when it attains its greatest dimensions, which are as muck as 70 fDCt
of height,' and 8 feet of diameter,' it is a hamlBcmie tree, budding
remarkably early in the spring, when its leaves are covered wi^h a
short thick coat of down ; this disappears later in the season, and
leaves them of a bright and lively green. It grows with unusual
rapidity. It is rarely seen in this cotmtiy, although it is perhaps one
of the best suited to our climate. The thinness of its kavee,
combined with their oblong figure, distinguishes this from all the
other spedes.
BETuLA'CEj£, Birchvorttf the Birch Tribe, a natural order of
Apetalous Dicotyledonous plants. It was formerly comprehended,
along with other groups, in what were called AmentaeecB, because it
bears its flowers in amenta, or catkiiis; but it is distinguished from all
those which agree with it in this particular, by its flat, one^eeded,
two-celled, membranous fruit, and pendulous ovules. All the spedes
are dther trees or shrubs, with the fertile flowers in one catkin and
the barren in another, and they have in general the main lateral
veins of their leaves running straight from me midrib to the margiii,
without curving inwards. They are found in the colder parts of the
worid, or in mountainous regions in hot countries. The only genera
bdonging to this order are AImu and BehiUk [Alvub; Bbtuul]
Lindley places the order between Myrieaeta and AUvngiacetB,
BEUDANTITE, a black mineral, with a rednous lustre and rhom*
bohedral crystals. It contains oxides of lead and iron. It is found
at Horhausen on the Rhine.
BEWICK'S SWAN, the OygnM BewiehL [OjQtmxM.]
BIAPHO'LIUS (Leach), a genus of Bivalve Shells, indistinojj^
known, and which Rang consklers to be identical witii the genus
BiaUUa of Daudin. [Ptloridia.]
BIB, a Fish. [Mobbhua.]
BI'DENS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Oompo-
gita, the suborder CorynUnferatt tribe Smeeionidea, subtribe ffeUan*
thea, dividon BidaUiSkce. It has monogamous discoidal heads,
sometimes radiant ; the florets of the ray neuter ligulaie, of the disk,
hermaphrodite, tubular; the receptade flat; the involucre of two
rows, the outer row spreading ; the branchea of the style surmounted
by short cones ; the fruit compressed, angular, rough at the edges,
the angles terminating in 2-5 stiff retrorsely hispid bristies. The
genus has been named Bidem from the two bristies which most fre-
quentiy surmount the teeth. A great number of spedes bdonging to
this genus have been described, but they are generally inconspicuous
weeds. . They have been found in Europe and Nortii and South
America. Two are natives of Great Britam in' marshy and watery
phMses, B. lipartiita and B. eemua. The latter is the Cereoptii Bidmt
of Liimffius. (Babington, MomwjH ; Lindley, Na^tural System.)
BIQBONE LICE, a place in Kentucky (ITnited States), where great
numbers of fossil mainmalia occur in a dark-coloured mardiy soil,
covered by gravd and resting on blue clay. The bones of iUphoM
primigenmi and Mastodon maximna are very numerous. With them
lie bones of MagaUmyz Jffferaonii, Bob hombifront. Boa PaUatii, and
OerwuAmericamu, (SUogerB, On American Qeohgy ; British AatociaUon
Bieportafor 18840
BIQBNERI'NA, DOrbigny's name for a genus of ForamMiifera,
which he originally described as minute Cephalopods. There are two
subgenera ; tiie first consisting of the Bigenerina properly so called,
with a central opening, and the other of the QtmmuUMB (D'Orbigny)
with a marginal opening. [Fo&AKiNiriBA, we Supplimiht.]
BIQNO'NIA, a genus ofplants named bv Toumefort after the Abb^
Bignon, librarian to Louis XI V. It forms tne type of the monopetalous
order of Exogens, Bignoniacea. It has a campanulate 6-toothed rardy
entire calyx ; the corolla with a diort tube, a campanulate throaty
and a 6-lobed bilabiate limb ; the stamens four, didynamous^ with the
rudiments of a fifth ; lobes of the anther divaricate ; stigma bilamd-
lated ; capsule siliqui-formed, 2-cdled, with the dissepiment parallel
wHh the vdves ; the seeds in two rows, imbricate, transverse, with
membranous wings. Nearly 100 spedes of this genus of degant plants
have been described. They are usually climbing shrubs furmdied
with tendrils, having oppodte, single, coigugate, temate, piimate, or
digitate leaves. The flowers are mostly in terminal or axillary pani-
dee. The corollas are trumpet-shaped, and are coloured varioudy,
white, yellow, orange, purple, violet, or rose.
All the spedes of this genus are splendid plants while in blossom,
and deserve a place in every coUection. Most of them are dimben^
and adapted for training up rafters and pillars, but they only grow
fredy in stoves. A mixture of loam and peat is best adapted for their
growth, and cuttings will strike readily under a hand-glads in heat,
dther in mould or sand. The spedes known by the name of this
genus which is most abundant in our gardens is the Bignonia radictms.
This and some other spedes of Bignonia are now referred to the
genera Spathodea [Spatsodsa] and Teeoma [Tbcoxa]. It is one of
the few species capable of living in the open air against a wall in this
coimtiy.
B. aquinoxidlis has square glabrous brandies, glabrous corrugate
leaves, oblong lanceolate leaflets, siniple axillary tendrils, 2-flowered
peduncles, terminal ones racemose, foUides linear. It is a native of
Quyana. It is applied by the negroes to swellings of the feet^ with
whidi they are troubled.
B. Uucoxylon is a tree, and has quinate leaves ; ovate-lsaoeolats^
aoomlnate^ glabrous leaflets; terminal, solitary, or twin flowerai This
Digitized by
Google
BIQNOKIAGB^
BILK.
plant ia a native of Janudoa, on the baokf of nrtm. It IiM white
flowers, not unlike those of Daiura Stramonnkm, which oome out
before the leaves. The wood is of a green or yellow colour, and is
sometimes brought into the market under the name of ebony. It is
said to be an antidote to the poison of ManchineeL
B. Chiea is a climbing plant, and has abruptly-bipinnate leaves;
conjugate elliptioovate, acuminate, deeply-cordate, glabrous leaflets ;
axillary pendulous panicles. It grows on the banks of khe Orinoco.
A red matter is extracted from its wood by the Indians, with which
they paint their bodies. It is called Chioa, and has been used in this
country as a dye.
£. aUiaeea has tetragonal branches, conjugate leaves, coriaceous ellip-
tic leaflets, simple tendrils, axillary 6-flowered peduncles, a 5-toothed
calyx. It is a native of Guyana and the West Indies. It has Urge
white flowers, and is distinguished from all the other species by its
peculiar garlic odour ; hence the French name Liane k T AiL
(Don, Qardena^a JHeUonary; De CandoUe, Prodromut; Burnett's
OuUmeM; Oydopcedia of Plants.)
BIQNONIA'CE-fi, Bignoniadi, the Bignonia Tribe, are Monopeta-
lous Dicotyledonous plants, with irregular flowers, a pod-like fruit,
winged seeds without albumen, and usually a climbing habit. They
are mostly idirubs, inhabiting the hotter parts of Asia, Africa, and
America, and unknown in Europe except in a cultivated state ; some
of them are trees of conaiderablo size. They generally are remarkable
for the large size and rich or delicate colouring of their trumpet-shaped
flashers. No sensible properties of much importance have been recog-
nised among them. Several are valuable for their timber, which pos-
seesee extreme hardness. According to Lindley the number of genera
in this order is 44, and the species 460. They are allied to GesneraeecB
toid Cfreseentiaeea. [Biohonia; Eoobemooabpus ; Catalpa; Tbooma;
Jacaranda.]
Bignoniaeem — Bignonia lecti/hra.
1, A corolla slit open ; 2, a eup-shaped disk, out of which the ortrj often
grows, togrether -with the style and stigma ; 3, a young orary ; 4, a ripe pod ;
5, a seed ; 6, an embryo extracted from the integuments of the seed.
BIKH, or BISH, is the name given amongst the Hindoos to a most
powerful and destructive vegetable poison. Dr. Wallich refers the
plant to the AconUumferox, [Acx>iriTniL] It is also called Yish, Viaha^
or Atavisha.
BILBERRY, a beny-bearing shrub, found on the moors of most
countries in Europe. [Vacoinium.]
BILE, an animal fluid of a greenish colour, viscid consistence,
and bitter taste.
The organ bv which the bile is secreted is the liver. The liver is
distuiguished by two peculiarities : first, it is the laigest gland in the
body ; and secondly, it is provided with two distinct sets of veina
The v«ins that receive ^e blood from the viscera of the abdomen,
^hat U frt>m the organs more immediately concerned in the process of
digestion, unite together into a large trunk named the venaportn. Dnt
vein penetrates into the substance of the liver, and ramifies throngi:
it in the manner of an artery ; at the same time the liver reoeiyei
a large quantity of arterial blood by the hepatic artery. [Livxb.] The
ultimate brandies of the vena portte tenninate partly in a set of
vessels termed the hepatic ducts, which contain the bile, and parUy
in a set of vessels termed the hepatic veins, by which a lurge portion
of the blood of- the vena portte is transmitted by the ordinary course
of the circulation into the vena cava, the great vein that returns the
blood from all parts of the body to the right side of the heart
[Circulation of thx Blood.]
This arrangement is peculiar. There is no other g^d in the
body in which the disposition of the blood-ressels is at aU analogous:
there is no other instance in which a vein is sent to a gland sad
distributed to it in the manner of an artery. This peeuharity has
naturally led physiologists to infer that the vein in this case perfonns
the ordinary functions of an artery ; that it carries on the prooesi
of secretion, and eliminates its product, the bile, out of venoas
blood.
But whatever doubts physiologists may entertain by which of the
two great vessels of the livor the bile is secreted, the consent is
universal that the Uver is the gland by which this fluid is formed.
When duly elaborated in this oi^gim, the bile is received from the
secreting vessels by exceedingly minute tubes, the union of which
constitutes the excretory duct of the gland, which is termed the
hepatic duct The hepatic duct passing on towards the duodenum,
which, physiologically considered, is a second stomach [DuoDiinTM],
communicates with a small membranous cyst or bag, called the gall-
bladder, a reservoir for the bile. The duct of the gall-bladder, called
the cystic duct, unites with the hepatic duct, and both together form
a single tube, termed the choledoch duct, which pieroes the duodenum.
Thus the hepatic duct, canring the Inle away m>m the liver, either
conveys it mto the gall-bladder by means of the cystic duct, or
transmits it immediatdy into the duodenum by means of the chole-
doch duct The bile which flows immediately into the duodenum is
called the hepatic bile ; that which is contained in the gall-bladder is
called the cystic bile. There is a striking difference in the external
characters of the two, cystic bile being of a much deeper colour, and
much more viscid, pungent, and bitter than hepatic bile ; but the
difference in their chemical properties, if there be any, has not be^
ascertained : hepatic bile, on account of the difficulty of collecting it
in sufficient quantity, has not been analysed, while some portion of
bile is generally found in the gall-bladder after death.
From actual experiment it would appear that the secretion of bile
is continually going on in the living aratem. In whatever drcum*
stances an animal ia placed — if the orinoe of the choledoch dud be
laid bare— the bile is always seen to be flowing drop by drop into the
intestine. It is observed to flow much faster during the process of
digestion than when the stomach is empty ; and l^ere is reason to
believe that, during the digestive process, the hepatic bile is secreted
in much laiger quantity than when the stomach is empty, and that
it is then conveyed directly into the duodenum. The gall-bladder
fills when the stomach is empty, and when the stomach is full tiie
gall-bladder becomes comparatively empty. The gall-bladder, however,
ia seldom if ever completely emptied. Vomituig contributes more
perhaps than any other action of the system to the expulsion of its
contents. Magendie states that he has often found it completely
empty in animals that died from the effeota of an emetic poison.
The phyaical charactera of the bile are as follows : — In colour it is
always a deep brown, but when seen in thin layers it has a brownish-
yellow tint It is very fluid, being viscid only in new-born infants.
The specific gravity varies from 1.032 to 1.040. On examining with
the microscope bile from the gall-bladder, with which of course a ce^
tain amount of mucus is mixed, there are observed : — 1, Transparent
or grayish round vesicles, about the 700th of a line in diameter ; thej
disappear on the addition of alcohol or ether, and are remoTed by
filtration. 2, Conical yellow bodies, about the 140th of a line in
length, and about the 300th or 400th of a line in breadth, apparently
devoid of nuclei; these are epithelial cells from the gall-bladder.
8, Here and there irregular dark granules, which disappear on the
addition of a solution of potai^ apparently pigment cells. 4, Occa-
sionally minute crystals of cholesterin, occurring aa colourless rhombic
tablets.
Chemically the bile is composed of several elements which have a
tendency to arrange themselves during chemical analysis in very
various forms. Not only are the four orgaiuc elements, carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen present, but also sulphur, phosphorus,
sodium, potassium, calcium, and iron. The union of the oi^gazuo
elements in different proportions will account for the various sub-
stances such as picromel, bilin, choleic acid, colic acid, taurine, &c,
which chemists have described in their analyaes of biles. According
to Dr. Kemp the organic portion of ox-bile may be represented by the
formula 48 carbon, 42 hydrogen, 13 oxygen, and 1 nitrogen. The
following analyses of ox-bile and human bile, by Thenard and
Berzelius, will scire to show the nature of bile aa well as the pro-
gress of chemical inquiry on this subject when contrasted with more
recent analyses. According to Thenard the composition of bile is as
follows : —
Digitized by
Google
457
BILE,
BIMANA.
489
Ox-BiU.
Water 700
Picromel and Resin 84*8
Yellow matter i'5
Soda 4
Phosphate of Soda 2
Muriate of Soda 3*2
Sulphate of Soda 0*8
Phosphate of Lime 1*2
Oxide of Iron a trace.
800*0
ffuman Bile,
Water 1000
Yellow insoluble matter 2 to 10
Albumen 42
Resin 41
Soda 5*6
Salts the same as in Ox-Bile .... 4*5
According to Berzelius, the following is the composition of Human
Bile:—
Water 908*4
Picromel 80
Albumen 8
Soda 4*1
Phosphate of Lime 0*1
Common Salt 8*4
Phosphate of Soda with some lame . . 1*0
1000-0
It will be seen from these analyses that the chief part of the organic
elements was found in the form of picromeL It was in the year 1888
that Demar^y announced that bile consisted essentially of an organic
acid combined with soda. He termed the add choleic, and obta^ed
it in the following manner : bile, firom which the mucus had been
precipitated by alcohol, was evaporated on the water-bath, and 10
parts of the dried residue were diasolved in 100 parts of water, to which
10 parts of hydro-diloric add had been added. Allowing evaporation
at a moderate temperature to proceed, it was obeerred that a darii: green
oil collected on the surface, while at the same time the fluid became
turbid. On remoying the oil and allowing the fluid to rest for some
time, it gradually became dear, with the predpitation of a green
deposit. This dark green bitter precipitate is Demar^ay's choldo add,
and is regarded by him as constituting nine-tenths of tike solid consti-
tuents of the bila It is still mixed with maigaric acid, cholesterin,
pigment, Ac. After their removal it forms a yeUow spongy matter,
which rapidly absorbs oxygen from the atmosphere, is very bitter,
slightiy soluble in ether, soluble in water, and very soluble in alcohoL
The choleate of soda, obtained by adding an alcoholic solution of soda
to an alcoholic solution of choleic acid, and then passing a current of
carbonic add through it to remove the excess of soda, possesses all
the characters of bile ; it yidds on evaporation a brown resinous mass,
and is soluble in water and in aloohoL •
When oholdc add is boiled with hydrochloric add it yidds
ammonia, taurine, and cfaoloidic add ; the latter being insoluble is
deponted. The formuls usually assigned to choleic acid, taurine,
and choloidio add di£fer only slightly from the formula given above
for the oisanic portion of ox-bil&
But it has bieen recently shown by Redtenbadier that taurine
contains as much as 25 per cent, of sulphur.
As an instance of modem chemical analysis we give the two follow-
ing analyses. The bile in these cases was obtained from healthy men,
killed by severe acddents : —
1. 2.
Water 86*00 85*92
Solid constituents . . . 1400 1408
Choleate of Soda . . 10*22 914
Cholesterin .... 016 0*26
Haicparin and Olein 0*82 0*92
Mucus 2*66 2*98
Chlofide of Sodium . 0*25 0*20
Tribanc Phosphate of Soda . 0*20 0*25
Baaio Phosphate of Lime ) ^^.jg ^gg
M *t Magnesia )
Sulphate of Iron . . . 002 004
Peroxide of Iron . traces traces
Platner succeeded in obtaining dioleic add and dioleate of soda in a
ctystaUised form. Sugar has also been reoentiy demonstrated to
exist in the faHe. Gmehn and Stredrar have also obtained from dried
hUe an add which they call dioldc, and other substances have been
procured from the bile of lower animajft
One of the usee which the bile serves in the economy is to produce
a specific ehsoge upon the aliment in a certain stage of the digestive
procasa The first change which the food undergoes after it has been
swallowed is the redaction of it by the stomach into a fluid mass,
the appearance of which varies condderably according to tiie nature
of the food. This fluid mass is termed chyme^ which when aooumu-
lated ui aoertain qusjutify is sent from the stomayoh into the duodenum.
In' the duodenum the food undergoes a further change, and is con
verted firom chyme into the substance called chyle. These two fluids
are distinguished from eadi other by spedfic characters. [Diobbtiov.]
That the bile is tiie main agent in producing the change by which
chyme is converted into diyle is proved by a decisive experiment
porformed by Sir B. Brodie.
This phydologist applied a ligature around the choledodi duet of
an aniinal so as completely to prevent the bile from entering the
duodenum, and then noted the affects produced on the digestion of
the food immediatdy before and immediiately after the operation. The
experiment was repeated several times, and the result was uniform.
The production of the chyme in the stomach took place as usual, but
the conversion of the chyme into chyle was immediatdy and com-
pletdy interrupted. Not the smallest trace of diyle was perceptible
dther in the duodenum or in the vessels which take up the chyle when
formed, namely, the lacteals.
It was at one time supposed that after the bile had perfonned this
function that its compounds were thrown off from the flystem by the
Isowels. But that the bile is not merely an excremeritltlous fluid,
intended to remove effete matter from the blood, but a secretion
essential to the animal economy, was rendered almost certain by the
experiments of Berzeliua, Theyer, and Schloeser, which Showed that
the human fsoooB contained much too small a quantity of a substance
resembling bile, to justify the idea that it was evacuated in this manner.
A further proof that the bile is absorbed and not excreted is afforded
by an examination, made by Enderlin, of the ash yielded by the
contents of the difi^erent portions of the intestinal canal of a hare.
He found that the ash from the contents of the duodenum alone
effervesced on the addition of an acid, thus showing that the choleate
of soda (which yidds the carbonate on incineration) is absorbed
before reaching the jejunum. Sdiwann also established this opinion
beyond a doubly by a series of wdl-devised experiments on dogs. He
tied the ductus choledochus, and at the same time formed a fistulous
opening in the gall-bladder, by which the bile escaped externally.
His most important oondusions are — Ist^ that when the bile does not
get into the bowd its absence is generally perceptible in dogs about
the third day by a marked diminution in weight; and, 2nd, that
unless the diannel for the conveyance of bile to the duodenum is re-
established, symptoms of defident nutrition, wasting, debility, ftc,
ensue, and death is the ultimate consequence.
Upon this ground it was suggested by Liebig that probably sll the
carbonaceous substances of the food were converted into bile before
bdng again taken up into the circulation and converted into carbonic
add for the supply of animal heat It is however certain that a
portion of the bile, in the form of colouring matter, passes ofT through
the intestines, and also that in certain disonoofl it is thrown off in
condderable quantities with the contents of the bowds. It can also
be shown that the quantity of biliary matter formed in the Uver does
not contain more than one-sixth or one-eighth of the qusntity of
carbon that is thrown off from the limgs in the form of carbonic add.
(Simon, Animal Chemutry; Lehmann, Pkynoloaieal Chemittrp ;
Carpenter, Mamud of Physiology; Gregory, Himi-Book of Organic
Chmdstry; Cydopcsdia of Anatomfy and Pkytiologyf artide * BHU* ;
Liebig, Animal Chemittry.)
BILIMBI, the Malayi^ name of the add firuit of a spedes of
Averrhoa, [Aveiirhoa.[
BILLARDIE'RA, a genus of plants named after Jean Jacques
Julien Labillardi^re, a French botanist^ who visited Syria, and
afterwards Australia, in D'Entrecasteaux's Expedition, and wrote
the ' Nov99 Hollandiss Plantarum Specimen,' in two vols., 4to. The
genus belongs to the natural order PiiUaporacm, and has a calvx of
five acuminate sepals, five petals with approximate claws, whi<j^ are
convoluted at their edges, forming a campanulate flower ; an ellipitical
berry terminated by a sl^le. The spedes are called Apple-Berries ;
and Qeorge Don enumerates eight Ther are dimbmg shrubs,
natives of Australia and Van Diemen's Land. The fruit wldch they
bear jb eatabl&
B, Umgifiora has dimbing branches, the younger ones scarody
pubescent; the leaves lanceolate, entire; the pedides l-flowered,
glabrous, one half shorter than the flower ; the berries almost globose,
torose, glabrous.^ This plant is "a fiut grower and abundant flowerer ;
and when in fruit its fine blue berries make a handsome appearance."
(Loudon.)
The other spedes are desirable shrubs for the conservatory. They
thrive wdl when planted ia an equal mixture of loam and peat
Cuttings will readily root in sand under a bdl-glasa. They may be
also rajsed from seed, which they produce in abundance.
(fiyciopadia of PUmU; G. Don, Qwrdma^t BictioTuuy,)
BILLBERGIA, a genus of plants bdonging to the natural order
•BrooM^uicas, named after Billbezg, a Swedish botanist Several speciea
are cultivated in our stoves. They are all natives of South America.
One of the spedes, B, UnetoriOf yidds a colouring matter, whidi ia
used for dyeing in Mexico.
BILLT-BITER, a local name for the Blue Tit [Parus.]
BILOCULI'NA (D'Orbigny), the name of a genus of Poraminifera,
Les Milioles of Ferrussaa
BIMANA, the first order of the dass MammaUaf which includes
the single genus and spedes J^omo sopisnt-^Man. [Man ]
Digitized by
Google
450
BTND-WEED.
BIBDSL
460
BIND-WKKD. [ComroLvuLUB.]
BINNY. rBABBiL.]
BINCyCULuS, Qeoff., Leaeh, a geniu of Entoinortrmooiu OrutUtcea ;
Ajmty Scop., CuY., Latr. ; LimtUut, MiUl., Lam. ; Afonoadui, Liim.,
Fabr. Of these names Apua is that now generally adopted. The
species of this genus are gregarious, and
occur often in innumerable quantities.
Sometimes whole swarms are swept away
by violent winds, and have been seen to
faJI like rain. The spring and the com-
mencement of summer are the seasons
when they are most commonly found ; and
they often appear suddenly in sreat
numbers in accidental rain-water puddles
where they never have been before seen,
as well as in ponds. The generic name
Binoeidut appears to be unnecessary, and
that given by Scopoli should be restored :
the true Ltmuli form a marine genus^
making a natural group of different form
and habits. Linntsus's genus M<mocului
comprehends Aput, Z4fnulut, and other
crustaceans. The species figured is Aput
prodmetut, Latreille (Lepidumu produdut,
Leach; Monoeuhu Aputtlann.). Only one
rdes occurs in England, A, eancriformia
Shield-Shrimp. It is about 24 inches
long, and H inch in diameter; it is of a
brownish-yellow colour, clouded with
marks of a deeper hue. The segments of
the abdomen are each studded over with
numerous short stout hooked spines of a
ApH9 prodvehu, dark brown oolour; while the long caudal
appendages are furnished with numerous
short hairs, or setso. It is a rare creature, and only a few localities for
it have been recorded. [Ehtomostraoa.] (Baurd's JSutvry of the
Britiih BtUomotlraea,)
BIPAPILLAHIA, a genus of Marine Molluscs esUblished by
Lamarck upon a species figured and described in the manuscript
notes of Peron.
BIPES, a genus of Reptiles belonging to the order Saura, or Lizards.
Cuvier dissected one of the species Bipe$ lepidcpodut of Lac^pWe),
and found that, though its posterior and only apparent pair of feet
had the external form of two oblong and scaly plates or processes,
the integument covered a femur (thigh-bone), a tibia and fibula (leg-
bones^, and four metatarsal, or finger-bcnies, but no phalanges
(termmal finger-bones). He also states that one of the lungs is less
by on&-half than the other.
This genus is an example of one of those gradations by which
nature glides from one type of form into another, and is a linlr
between the Saurians (lizards) and the Ophidians (serpents).
The £ipe$ Upidopodui of Lac^pMe is now referred to the genus
PygopuMf of which the following characters are given : scales of the
back keeled ; preanal pores numerous ; the hinder limbs elongated ;
the pupil circular.
former bv its auditory apertures, and by the hollow tubercles new
the anus.^' It is a native of Australia.
Dr. €h:ay has descdbed a second species of Pygopu* as P. iqua-
mieept,
Bipes as an English word is applied to the Anguia hipe$ of LinnsoB,
the Scdotei hipe$ of Gray. It belongs to the order of Tiizards, and is
a native of the Cape of Qood Hope.
BIPHORES, a division of the sheU-leas Acephalous MoOmko,
according to the arrangement adopted in the 'R^ne Animal' of
Cuvier. It includes the genera Saipa and Thalia. [Tuv ioata.]
BIRCH-TREE. [Betxtla.]
BIRD-CHERRT, one of our native wild fruits. TCerisus.]
BIRD-LIME, a glutinous vegetable produoty also called Bitdot
and related to Caoutchoua It is obtainml principally from the inner
bark of the holly, frt>m the berries of the mistietoe, and also other
plants. It is prepared from the holly baric by bruising, long boiling
m water, and fermentation ; the mass is again boiled in water, and
evaporated to a .proper consistence. In different countries various
processes are employed.
Water does not dissolve bird-lime, but separates frx>m it some
mucilage and extractive matter, and a littie acetic add. The alkalies
dissolve it, and so doea sulphuric ether very perfectiy. Dilute acids
soften it, and dissolve a portion ; ooncentn^ed sulphuric acid blackens
and carbonises it, while nitric add renders it yellow, converting a part
of it into oxalic and malic adds, and separates resin and wax ; chlorine
bleaches and hardens it ; alcohol dissolves some resin and acetic add
When heated, bird-lime melts, swells, takes fire, and bums rapidly,
It is probable that this substance results from the decompodtion of
the cellulose of the cells of the plant from which it is obtained. It is
well known that in nearly all decompodtions of cellulose, carbon
remains in excess, and this agrees with the compodtion of visdn,
which contains, aooording to Maoure Prmsep, Carbon 75*6, Hydrogen
9-2, Om;en 15*2. (Schldden, Prmeiple$ of Botany,)
BIRD-PEPPER. [Capbicuil]
BIRiyS-FOOT SEA-STAR. [Paucipw.]
BIRD'S-FOOT TREFOIL. [ORNiTHOPua]
BIRiyS-NEST. [NBomA.]
BIRD'S-NEST, YlELLOW. [Mohotbopa.]
BIRDS, in Latin Aves, in Greek "Opyi^ff (whence Omiiholoffy), a
daas of Yertebrated, Oviparous, Feathered Bipeds, generally formed
for fli^l We say generally, because, tiiough their mechaxusm is in
its most perfect devdopment designed for enabling them to support
their bodies in the air and to make progress in that medium, it is also
calculated for motion on the ground and for perdiing on trees. Some
families indeed are framed entirdy for moving on the ground, and
others for that motion and for wnftlriwg their way both on the surCaoe
of the water and even for a short period below it, without the power
in either case of raising themsdves into the air.
Skdeton,
Skull (Cranium). The first peculiarity whidi strikes an observer,
when comparing the skulls of birds with those of mammifers, is the
absence of sutures in the former, the proper cranial bones being
consolidated into one piece. The skull of birds is articulated to that
part of the vertebral column called the neck by a single condyle or
Pygopm Upidopodu$*
Lac^pMe describes the body and tail of P. Upidopothta ss being
nearly cylindrical, very dender, and a littie like those serpents called
by the IVench Orvets, of which our'oonmion Blind- Worm or Slow- Worm
{Anguu fragilit, Linn»u8) \b an example ; and which, though without
limbs, have some of the rudiments of such members in the skdeton.
The upper part of the head of P. lepidopodut is covered by seven
large scale-plates disposed around an eighth, which is a little larger
thim the others. Each eye is surrounded bv small scaly globules.
The gap^ is suffidentiy large, and the teeth are equal and smalL
The fiat long tongue is without a notch. The auditory orifice is near
the commissure of the lips. The scales which cover the upper part
of the body are lozenge-like, striated, and small, especially those
which cover the most elevated part of the bade ; but the scdes
of the imder x>art of the beUy and the tail are hexagond and smooth,
and those of the two middle longitudind ranks are lai^ger than those
of the lateral ranks. At each extremity of the curve formed by
these tuberdes is to be seen a foot, in which no finger is to be distin-
guished externally, and which is surroimded by very small scdes
on its lower part, and by scdes a degree lees small on its upper
sur&oe. The colour is greenish, varied with some very small black
blotches.
"This reptile," says Lac^pMe, "like the other spedes of jEUpef,
ranks between the oviparous quadrupeds and the serpents; it is
tfdated to the latter by its generd form, aa well as by the figure,
proportion, and distribution of the oodee, while it approaches the
joint, which is dtnated at the front mai:gin of the great oodpitd
opening (foramen magnum), through which, the brain, becoming
elongated as it were into the spind cord, descends into the vertebral
colunm. It is this beautifrd adaptation of structure to the wants of
the animd that gives such a freedom of motion to the head, espedaUy
in a horizontd direction. Take for example the Wryneck (Twnx
torquila), which, as those who have surprised the bird on the neet
wiU readily admits can writhe her head roimd so ss to look the
intruder in the face, hisdng all the while like a snake; by this
'terrible show' many a bii^nesting novice is fri^tened away.
Perfect repose in a bird seems hardly to be ei^oyed without turning
back the head and nestling the beak between the wings ; this attitude
the articulation above mentioned enaliles the bird to command with
the least posdble effort
The orbits are very large in proportion to the skull, to which last
the lower jaw is joined by a somewhat square bone (os quadratnm)
not far fix>m the ear. A small bone rests on the square bone at one
end, while the other end comes against the pdate. When therefore
the square bone is brou^^t forward by depressing the lower jaw, and
also bjr musdes adapted to the purpose, the small bone presses up
against the pdate, and this raises the upper jaw, which contraiy to the
rule in the structure of mammifers is in birds, with but few exceptions,
thus gifted with motion.
Botii jaws are completdy destitute of true teeth, the want of whidi
is, as we ehall presemtiy see, amply compensated. The upper jaw is
Digitized by
Google
401
BIRDa
BIBDS.
49^
either fonned of one piece distinct fix>m the skull and articulated with
it, as in the parrots ; or it is connected with it by means of yielding
elastic bony plates, as in most other birds. These elastic plates
admirably protect the bill (the upper part of which may be considered
as an elongation of the intermaxillary bones) and the skull from the
shocks of the former organ when used in pecking violently against
hard substances.
In a few instances the upper jaw is entirely immoyable. Blumen-
bach gives the Rhinoceros Bird and the Cock of the Wood {Tetrao
Uroffollut) as instances.
Bone$ of the Neck and T^runk. — ^The upper limbs, or, to speak more
correctly, the anterior extremities of birds are calculated for flight,
and entirely useless as prehensile oigans, because the bird depends
principally upon its bill to gather its food. To give a greater freedom
of action to this organ, it was necessary, as the bones of the back have
hardly any motion (tJie dorsal vertebrsd being often anchylosed or
immovably fixed by a continuation of bony secretion), that the neck
should be long and flexible; and eminently flexible it is. In the
mammifers the number of cervical vertebrae (neck-bones) is seven;
the Cameleopard (Giraffe) has no more, and the Elephant and Whale
have no lees. Cuvier indeed gives the Sloth nine. Professor Thomas
Bell however has satisfactorily made out that the additional two are
bones of the back, not of the neck. But, in Birds, nature has made
up for the deficiency of motion in the back (a deficiency absolutely
neceesary to the comfortable existence of the animal, inasmuch as the
back is Uie point of support to the wings) by the free grant of cervical
vertebrae, according to the wants which the peculiar habits of parti-
cular birds require. Thus the Raven has 12 neck-bones, the Domestic
Cock 13, the Ostrich 18, the Stork 19, and the Swan 28, the largest
number it is believed yet detected, while the smallest amounts to 10.
The articulation is so contrived as to produce the greatest mobility,
and that the contrivance is complete is proved by the ability of a bird
to touch every point of its body with its bill.
The vertebra of the back are from 7 to 11 in number. Thei« are
no true lumbar yertebne, for the^ are consolidated into one piece with
the pelvifl (op innominatum) which is elongated, broad, and simple ;
and does not unite below, as in mammifers, to form what is called the
symphynB pnbiB^ but has the lateral portions distinct from each other.
This is the general rule. The pelvis of the ostrich forms an exception ;
for it 18 joined below like that of most quadrupeds. In most of the
quadrupeds the romp-bone (os ooocygis) is prolonged into a tnie-
jointed taiL In birds it never is, but is very short, although it supports
the large tail-feathers (reetrices).
Ten pairs of ribs are said to form tjie maximum among birds ; these,
the true ribs, arejoined to the breast-bone (sternum) by snuJl inter-
vening bonea The fiidBe ribs (those which do not readi the breast-
bone) have a forward direction. There is a peculiar flat process
Skeleton of Sparrow Hawk.
A, Cranium or Sknll. B, Cenrical Tertebras.
C, The dotted lines indicate the extent of the anchylosed vertebra of the bacA.
D, The eandal rertebrsD ; the letter is placed on the ploughshare, or nimp-boao.
£, Bibs. F, Stemom, or breast-bone. G, Farcula, or merry*thoiaght.
H H, asTlcnlar, or ooracoid-bone, ) p^„^ ^^ sidesman.
H», Scapnla, or shoulder-blade, j "«™*"b "*' mwxauuu
I, Hnmems, or bone of the arm.
K, Ulna, i Bones of the fore-«nn : on the nlna is the place of insertion of
L, Badins, / the secondary quills.
M, Metacaipal bones, part of the hand which carries the primary quills.
N, Phalanges of the fingers.
O, Ilium, \
P, Pubis, I Bones of the pelris. .
Q, Ischium, )
R, Femur, or thigh-bone. o o, Patella, or knee-pan.
8, Tibia and fibula, or leg-bones consolidated. T, T, Os calois, or heeUbone.
T y. Metatarsal, or shank-bones. W W, Toes.
Wing-bones in detail.
O, Outline of part of Aironla ; H*, outline of part of seapnla ; I, humerus, or
bone of the arm; E, ulna; L, radius — ^bones of the fore-arm ; on the ulna are
the marks of Insertion of the seeondary quUls; * *, oarpal bones, or wrist ;
Bf M, metacarpal bones ; M*, thumb ; N N N, phalanges of the fingers.
Digitized by V^nO
ogle
BIBDa
BIRDa
directed upwards and backwards attached to the middle pain of the
trae ribs.
The breast-bone (sternum), a part of the greatest conie^uenoe, being
the point of attachment for the most poweorful of the muscles which
set the wings in action, is composed of five pieces strongly joined
together, and prolonged below into a crest (crista) for that purpose.
The greater or less development of this crest or keel, and the greater
or less ossification of the component parts of the breast-bone, depend
upon the wants of the bird. Those birds whose flight is strongest and
most continuous haye the crest very large, and the breast-bone pieces
yery firmly cemented together, as any one may see who will examine
the breast-bone of a hawk, or eagle, or that of a humming-bird ; while
in the ostrich and cassowary this crest is entirely absent^ and the
breast-bone presents a uniformly arched suifSiuse, somewhat like that
of a Highlandei^s target
In the crane and in the male wild-swan there is a cayity in the
anterior part of the breast-bone for the reception of the involuted
wind-pipe (trachea). The connection of the wings with the trunk is
managed by means of the two clavicles, and of that peculiar fork-like
elastic bone commonly called the merry-thought (furcula). This
apparatus operates as an antagonist power to the action which would
bring the wings together in flighty did not these bmies, especially the
merry-thought, keep the shoulders asunder. The greater or less
development of this bone depends on the exigencies of each particular
case. In birds whose flight is long and rapid it is strong, with the
branches widely arched and carried forwards on the body ; in birds
which do not fly at all, in the ostrich, cassowary, and emu, for instance,
the bone becomes a mere rudiment. "In the ostrich," as Macartney
observes, " the two branches are very short, and never united, but
anchylosed with the scapula (shoulder-blade) and clavicle (collar-bone).
In the cassowary there are merely two little procoBses from the side
of the clavicle which are the rudunents of the branches of the fork.
In the emu there are two very small thin bones attached to the ante*
nor edge of the dorsal ends of the davicles by ligaments ; they are
directed upwards towards the neck, where they are fastened to each
other by means of a ligament, and have no connection whatever with
the stemuuL"
The wing-bones are the homologues or representatives of the arms
'^r upper extremities of man and of the monkeya The following are
the bones composing the wing of a bird : — The arm (os humeri) ; the
fore-arm, consisting of two bones (ulna and radius) ; the wrist (carpus),
formed by two bones ; the metacarpus, also made up of two bones ; a
thumb, or rather the rudiment of one, there being but a single bone ;
and two fingers, the finger next the thumb consisting of two portions,
and the other only of one. To this hand are attached the primaries,
or greater quill-feathers ; the secondaries are affixed to the rore-arms ;
and the arm supports feathers of inferior strength and development^
called tertiaries and scapularsi The bone which represents the thumb
gives rise to the bastard quills, and along the base of the quills are
ranged the largest of those feathers which are denominated wing-
ooverta Such is the structure of the ' sail-broad vans ' vdiich wafb the
condor over the Andes.
JB<me$ of the Lower or Posterior Extremities* — These consist of a
thigh-bone (femur) ; leg-bones (tibia and fibula), for there are two,
though the fibula is very small, and becomes anchylosed to the tibia ;
one metatarsal bone (at the lower end of which there are as many
processes as there are toes, each process furnished with a pulley for
moving its corresponding toe) ; anid the toes. Of these, three generally
are directed forwards and one backwardsL This back toe, or great toe,
is wanting in some birds. In the swallows it is directed forvrards ; in
the climbing birds the outer toe as well as the ba<^ toe are directed
backwards. The number of joints is generally progreesiye ; tiie back
toe has 2, the next 3, the middle toe 4, and the outer toe 5 joints.
"The stork, and some others of Xh» QraUa (Waders)," says
Macartney, "which sleep standing on one foot, possess a curious
mechanism for preserving the 1^ in a state of extension, without
any or at least with little muscular eifori There arises from the
fore part of the head of the metatarsal bone a round eminence, which
passes up between the pr^ections of the pulley, on the anterior part
of the end of the tibiiL This eminence affords a sufficient degree of
resistance to the flexion of the leg to counteract the effect of the
oscillations of the body, and would prove an insurmountable obstruc-
tion to the motion of the joint if there were not a socket within the
upper part of the pulley of the tibia to receive it when the leg is in
the bent position. The lower edge of the Socket is prominent and
sharp, and presents a sort of barrier to the admission of the eminence
that requires a voluntary muscular exertion of the bird to overcome,
which being accomplished, it slips in with some force like the end of
a dislocated bone."
Musdes of Motion and External Integwnente,
** The musdes," writes Blumenbadi, " in this class are distinguished
by possessing a comparatively weak irritable power, which is soon lost
after death; and* by their tendons becoming ossified as the animal
grows old, particuhurly in the extremities, but sometimes also in the
trunk."
The pectoral muscles, as we might expect from the form of the
sternum, exhibit^ generally speaking, the greatest development They
are three in number, taking their rise chiefly from the ample breart-
bone^ and all being brought to bear on the head of the arm humerus).
Of these, the first or great pectoral is said, as a general proposition,
to weigh more than all the other muscles put together. Bising from
the keel or crest of the breast-bone, the merry-thoughl^ axul last ribs,
it is inserted in that rough linear elevation which may be observed on
the bone of the arm of most birds. This bone it strongly depresses,
and so produoes the rapid and powerful motions of the wing, which,
acting on the surronndmg air, carries the bird forward in its flight
As an antagonist to the great pectoral musde, the middle pectoral,
which lies under it, and whose office it is to elevate the wing, puts
forth its tendon over the point where the merry-thought is joined to
the clavicle and shoulder-blade. This point of junction acts as a
pulley for the tendon which is inserted in the upper part of the bone
of the arm ; and by this contrivance the elevating power is situated
on the lower surface of the body. The third or small pectoral, aids
the great pectoral in depressing the wing. Thus some birds are
enabled to dart away with the rapidity of an arrow, while others soar
to a height invisible to the gaze of man.
We have already seen that the pelvis is prolonged backwards to a
considerable extent. This formation funushes room for the attadi-
ment of the musdos which set the posterior extremities in motion,
and enables them to perform the functions of walking, hopping,
swimming, .climbing, and perching. To this end there are a set of ,
muscles which go from the pelvis to the toes. One of the flexor or'
bending tendons given off from a muscle which comes from the bone
of the pubis runs in front of the knee, and all the flexors go behind
the heel, so that the mere weight of the bird will bend the toes. Any
one may satisfy himself that this operation is purely mechanical, and
not the result of muscular action, by TnaUng the experiment on a
dead bird ; when he will find that the fiexion of the knee and heel
will at once bend the toes. This admirable contrivance, useful as it
generally is, shows itself in the most striking manner when brought
to bear on the limbs of those birds which roost in trees. When all
the voluntary powers are suspended, such a bird enjoys the most
profound repose, and the most secure position on its perch, without
an effort
The integuments of birds are oomposed of the same parts as those
of the manrmifers, with the addition of feathers, the peculiar covering
common to the whole class. The beak is covued with horn, and at
its base, as in the birds of prey, there is a fleshy part called the cere.
The lower extremities are protected above by a scaly skin, and the
bottom of the foot and toes by a callous modification of the same
integument Some^ the turkey for instance, are furnished with hair
in certain situations. The feathers vary infinitely. When a bird has
just left the egg its covering is a downy kind of hair, several little
bundles taking their rise from one common bulbw This is the origin
of the future feather. A dark cylinder soon makes its appearance,
from the upper extremity of which the sprouting feather emeiges,
while the lower extremity receives the blood-vessels which supply the
vascular nourishing pulp of the barrel When this pulp has per-
formed its office, and the stalk and other parts of the feather are fully
developed, it shrivels up into the well-known substance which evoy
one finds in a quill when he cuts it for the purpose of making a pen.
The details of the development of the feathers are highly interesting,
and have been described at length by F. Cuvier in the ' M^moires da
Museum,' torn. xiiL, and also in the article ' Aves ' in the ' Cyclopaedia
of Anatomy and Physiology.'
The care which nature takes for the development of that particular
part of the plumage first which the wants of the particular bird
demand is remarkable. A young partridge runs off as soon as it is
hatched to pick up the pupe of the ant^ which the parent bird
scratches up for it Some time eUpses before it is necessary that it
should fly ; we accordingly find that the body fh>m the moment of its
birth is protected with a dose-set downy corering, while all the
strength is thrown into the thighs, legs, bill, and neck. The wings
are graduallr devdoped afterwwrds. A young thrush or a yoimg
blackbird is hatched nearly naked, and while its body presents only a
few scattered bunches of weak downy hair-like feathers, great progress
may be observed in the formation of the <}uills and other wing-feathers ;
because from the habits of the bird it u necessary that it should be
able to fly as soon as it leayes the nest
As a general rule the plumage of the cock bird far exceeds in bril-
liancy that of the hen ; and in all such cases the young at first put
on the more sombre garb of the mother. When the cock and hen are
without much difference in this respect^ the young have a particular
distinguishing plumage of their own.
Birds moult or shed their feathers. The summer drees in many
spedes varies from that of the winter.
The mode in which the plumage changes is wdl described in the
'Transactions of tiie Zoological Sodety^by Tarrell; and the same
able zoologist has shown in the ' Philosophical Transactions,' and in
tiie ' Proceedings of the Zoological Sodety,' that the putting forth of
the plumage of the male bird is not confined to the female past the
age of reproduction (so many well-known instances of wluch are
given by Dr. Butter, John Hunter, and others), but that the garb of
the cock is assumed by those hen birds which from malformation^ or
disease are rendered unable to assist in the continuation of the species.
Digitized by
Google
465
BIRDa
BIBDa
469
The following three modes hy which changes in the appearance of the
plumage of birds are produced have been pointed out by Yarrell : —
1, By the feather itself becoming altered in colour. 2, By the bird's
obtaining a certain portion of new feathers without shedding any of
the old ones. 8, Sy an entire or partial moult, in which the old
feathers are thrown off and new ones produced in their places. The
first two of these changes are obseryed generally in the spring, indi-
cating the approach of the breeding season ; the thiid is usually
partial in the spring, and entire in the autumn. The subjoined out is
explanatory of the situation of the principal parts of the plumage,
particularly those most conducive to flight.
A A, Primaiiet ; B B, tertlals ; C C, lesser coverts ; D D, greater eoverts ;
R £, iMstard wing; F F, seapalAm; O, upper tail-coverts ; H, nnder tail-
coverts ; I, tail-feathers.
That the skin and integuments of birds perform the office of
emonotoiy organs appears not only by their moulting, but also by
the quantity of mealy dust separated from the skin in many birds.
The cockatoo, for instance, discharges a quantity of white mealy dust
from ita skin, particularly at pairing time, according to Blumenbach ;
and Bruce, in the appendix to his ' Travels,' gives an account of his
ahooting a large besfded eagle, which, on bis taking it in his hands,
covered him with a powder which was yellow on the breast, where
the feathers were of that colour, and brown on the back, where the
plumage was of the same hue. A heron too which he shot is
described as having a great quantity of blue powder on the breast
and back.
The glands which secrete the oB used by birds in preening and
dressing their plumage are situated on the upper part of the taiL
Water-birds necessarily require a larger portion of this protecting
fluid, and accordingly we find the glands largest in that race.
Reaumur observes, that in that variety of the conmion fowl which
has no tail {Oallua eemuUUw) these glands are absent
Digestive Organs,
The bill has a homy covering which in some degree answers the
purpose of teeth, and indeed it is in many instances notched so as to
represent them. The form of this important organ varies greatly,
but with evidence of the most perfect design in eadi varied instance,
according to the nature of the necessary food. Thus in birds of prey
it well executes the office of a dissecting-knife ; in seed-eating birds it
forma a pair of seed-crabkers for extricating the kernel from the husk
which envelops it ; in the swallows and goatsuckers it is a fly-trap ;
in the swans, geese, and ducks it is a flattened strainer, weU ftirnished
with nerves in the inside for the detection of the food remaining after
the water is strained by that particular operation which every one
most have observed a common duck perform with its bill in muddy
water. In the storks and herons we find it a flsh-epear; and in the
snipes and their allies it becomes a sensitive probe, admirably adapted
for penetrating boggy ground, and giving notice of the presence of the
latent worm or animacule. The food is transmitted firom the bill
through the oesophagus into the stomach, which is composed of three
parts, namely, the crop, which is a dilatation of the oesophagus, and
lies just before the breast-bone ; the membranous stomach (ventiioule
suocenturi^ of the French) ; and the gizzard. The first of these is
furnished with many mucous and salivary glands ; in the next (and
the struoture of this may be best observed m the gallinaceous birds)
tiiere are ft number of glandular bodies which pour out a copious
secretion to mingle with tiie food as it is ground down by the powerful
gizzard, which reaches its highest development in graminivorous birds.
This mill is rendered still more effective by the swallowing of small
hard stones by those birds with their food, a practice which is clearly
instinctive, and carried sometimes to a great extent. In the museum
of the College of Surgeons (London) is a large glass bottie entirely filled
with pebbles, ftc. taken from the stomach ^ an ostrich. The well-
XAT. HXBT. DIY. YOL. L
known experiments of convrring bullets beset with needles and even
lancets into the stomachs of gmminivorous birds, witji the efiRBot of
the total destruction of those sharp instruments in a short period,
need only be referred to here ; but as Felix Plater's observations have
not attained quite so much celebrity we diall shortiy mention them.
He found that an onvz swallowed by a hen was diminished one^ourth
in four days, and that a.louis-d'or lost in this way sixteen grains of
its wei^t
In such birds as nourish their young from the crop the glands swell
very much at the hatching season, and secrete a greater quantity of
fluid than usuaL In the pigeon, which thus feeds its young, thm Is
a spherical bag formed on each side of the oesophagus, a specimen of
wbich may be seen in the museum of the College of Sui^geonsL It is
not improbable that the banter about 'pigeon's mi]k' took its rise
from this part of the economy of the bird.
In those birds which feed on flesh, flsh, or worms, and which oon-
sequentiy do not require so powerful an apparatus, the muades of the
gisosard are reduced to an extreme weakness, and that organ appears
to make only a part of the same membranous bag with tiie ventncule
sucoenturi^.
The food being thus reduced into a sort of chyme passes through
the remainder of the intestinal canal, where all the nutritious parts
are taken into the system, and the remainder is at length expell^ by
the cloaca, where tiie urinary ducts terminate and the organs of
generation are situated. It may be worth mentioning that tiie liver
becomes much larger in domesticated birds than in wild ones (a pro-
pensity which can be increased hv artificial means, as the gourmand
who revels in his 'foies gras' well knows), and that the gall-bladder is
entirely wanting in some birds, the parrot and pigeon for instance.
Hence no doubt the saying, " He has no more gall than a pigeon."
The pancreas (sweet-bread) is of considerable size in birds, but the
spleen is small
Organs of Circulaium, JUspiratum, and Voice,
The heart in this class is of peculiar structure. Instead of the
membranous valve which is present in both ventricles of the heart of
mammifers, and in the left ventricle in birds, the right ventricle of
the heart in the latter is famished with a strong muscle which assists
in driving the blood with greater impetuosity from the right side of
the heart into the lungs ; a stmoture rendered necessary from the
want of expansion of the lungs in breathing consequent upon their
connection with the numerous air-cells. I^e lungs are small and
fiattened, and adhere to the back of the chest in the intervals of the
ribs, and a considerable part of the abdomen as well as of the chest
is occupied bv membranous air-cells with which the lungs conmiunicate
by considerable apertures. In addition to these, a great portion of
the skeleton in most birds becomes a receptacle for air. Instead of
marrow the larger cylindrical bones contain air, and form large tubee^
interrupted only towards the ends by transverse bony fibres. The
broad bones present internally a reticulated bony texture, pervaded
by the same fiuid, communicated from the lungs by small air-cells.
The enormous bills of the toucan and of the hombill are supplied
wiUi air from the same quarter.
The effect of this stracture in lijghtening the body of the bird, and
facilitating its motions whether in flying, swimming, or running is
obvious. Where the demand is greatest (as in birds of the hi^^eet
and most rapid flight) the supply is largest Thus, in the eagle, we
find the bony cells of great size and very numerous. The section of
a head of the Hombill (Buceros JUUnoeeros), here represented, will
convey some idea of the structure of these air-cells.
The organs of the voioe hi bhds bear a strildng resembUmoe to
certain musical wind-instruments. The larynx is double, or rather
made up of two parts : one, the proper rima glottidis, situated at tiie
upper end of tho windpipe ; and the second, the bronchial, or lower
larynx, which contains a second rima glottidis, furnished with tense
membranes that perform in many birds (and especially in ^<>f^_]|^^^
areaqi - - . , _._ -x _
while the upper rima, ]
utterance to the note.
The length of the windpipe and the structure of the lower laiynx
2 n
uurmuva uuiki/ pvnuiriu ux luiuijr hjiaaub \muu. w»|»^»\»«»mj *« -«— »w —■■■■»"
aquatic) the same part as a reed does in a clarionet or hautboy,
le the upper rima, like the ventage or hole of the instrument, gives
Digitized by
Google
4«7
BIRD&
BIRDa
468
vary much in difforent speoies and eyen in the sexes, particularly
among the water-birds. In the domotrtdc or dumb swan the windpipe
is straight ; in the male wild swan the windpipe is convoluted in the
hollow of the breast-bone, like the tube of a French hom.
The following are the conclusions of M. Jacquemin from his obeerya-
tions on the respiration of birds. After observing that the air enters
not only into the lungs and about the parietes of the chest, but that
it also penetrates by certain openings (foramina) into eight pneumatic
bags or air<iells, occupying a considerable portion of the pectoro-
abdominal cavity, and tiience into the upper and lower extremities,
he concludes : — 1st, That the pneumatic bags are so situated as to be
ready conductors of the air into the more solid parts of the body ;
and that the air, by surrounding the most weighty viscera, may sup-
port the bird in flight, and contribute to the £unlity of its motions
when so employed. 2nd, That the quantity of air thus introduced
penetrates the most internal recesses of their bodies, tending to dry
the marrow in the bones and a portion of the fluids ; a diminution of
specific gravity is the result, the true cause of which has been, in
lus opinion, vainly sought in the quantity alone of permeating air.
8rd, That in birds the oxidation of tne nourishing juices is not entirely
effected in the lungs, but is much promoted also in the pneumatic
bags above mentioned, for their contained air operates through the
membranes upon the blood-vessels and lymphatics in contact with
them ; a more complete and speedy oxidation is the result. 4th, That
not only the skeleton, but all the viscera are much more penneable
by air in birds than in any of the other vertebrated animalfl. 6th, That
the air-reservoirs are not always symmetrical, their shape and extent
depending entirely upon the form and situation of the organs among
which they occur ; but the supply is so modified that the total quantity
received into the pneumatic bags on the right side of the body is equal
to that which enters into those on the left ; and indeed wiUiout the
maintenance of this condition the act of fiying would be impossible,
and that of walking difficult 6th, That no portion of a bird's struc-
ture is impervious to air ; it reaches even the last joints (phalanges)
of the wings and feet, and the last caudal vertebnc, or rump-bones.
The quill of the feathers is not excepted, as has been sometimes
asserted. 7th, That the air within the head has a separate circulation,
and does not directly commimicate with the air-pipes of the rest of
the body. 8th, That in no instance does the air come into direct
contact with the viscera or nourishing juices, but invariably through
the medium of a membrane, however fine and transparent. 9th, Tlmt
the volume of air which birds can thus introduce into their bodies,
and the force with which they can expel it, offer the only explanation
how so small a creature as a singing-bird (the nightingale, for example)
is able to utter notes so powerful, and without any apparent fatigue
to warble so long and so musically.
The organs of resi»ratlon in birds, as well as their sexual ozgans,
are, according to Purkinje and Valentin, supplied with cilia on their
sui&ce.
Brain, Nervom Sygtem, and Senset.
The brain of birds possesses the same characters which are to be
found in other oviparous vertebrated A-wimAla^ but its proportional
voliune is its distinguishing peculiarity ; and tiiis volume often sur-
passes the development of ^t oigan in mammif ers. Indeed, in some
birds, and more particularly in some of the songsters, the brain has
been saift to exceed that of man when considered in reference to the
size of the head and of the whole body. The following scale has been
given as an example of the size of the brain in relation to that of the
body .---Eagle, l-260th of the body; sparrow, l-25th; chaffinch,
l-27th ; redbreast, l-d2nd ; blackbird, l-68th ; canarybird, l-14th ;
cock, l-25th ; duck, l-257th ; goose, l-360th. In man the brain forms
from l-22nd to l-38rd of the body; in some apes, l-22nd; in the
elephant, l-500th ; in the horse, l-400th ; in the dog, l-161st : and in
the cat, l-94th.
The size of the brain in birds arises principally from tubercles
analogous to the corpora striata of mammifers, and not fr^m the
hemispheres, which are small, smooth, and without convolutions.
The cerebelltmi is laige, almotst without lateral lobes, and formed
Erincipally by the venniform process. Several parts found in the
rain of mammifers are absent in birds^ and among these are the
corpus callosum and pons Varolii
Of the five senses, sight, smell, and hearing are most acute
inbird&
Sight. — ^We have seen that the bony orbits are of great magnitude,
and the oigans of sight which are contained therein are proportionately
large. In the birds of prey the orbits have the shape of a " chalice,"
says Blimienbach, "or cup used in the commumon service. The
comeiS which is very convex, forms the bottom of the cup, and the
posterior segment of the sclerotica resembles its cover. This peculiar
form arises from the curvatiure and length of the bony plates, which,
as in all other birds, occupy the fr^nt of the sclerotica, lying dose
together and overlapping each other. These bony plates form in
general a fiat or slightly convex ring ; being long and curved in the
Acdpitrea (Hawks) they form a concave ring, which gives the whole
eyeball the above-mentioned form." By means of tluis ring the eye
becomes a kind of self-adyusting telescope, so as to take in both near
and very distant objects.
A representation of the sderotio plates, forming the bony ring in
the eye of the Penguin {Aptenodyta), is here given. They remind
us forcibly of the eye-plates in some of the reptiles, particularly of
those belonging to the eyes of the Enaliosaurians, or foeoil marine
lizards. The penguin has to
adjust its eye for vision botii
k on land and under water. This
/ k contrivance must greatly aasiflt
fl m the adjustment neoessaiy for
I ■ seeing clearly in such different
1 W media.
1 r The crystalline humour is
flat in birds ; and the vitreous
hiunour is very small The
Sclerotic Plates of Penguin {AptmodyUs), colour of the iris varies in
different species, and in many
cases is veiy brilliant. The marsupium, which arises in the back
of the eye, and the use of which is not very clearly ascertained,
is a peculiarity in the ^e of birda They have three eye-lids, two of
which, the upper and lower, are closed in most of the race by the
elevation of the lower one, as may be frequently seen in our domestic
poultry. The owl, the goat-sucker, and a few others, have the power
of depressing the upper eye-lid. Of these birds the upper oily is
furnished with eye-lashes generally; the ostrich, secretary vulture,
some parrots, and a few other birds, have them in both lids. But
the third eye-lid, or nictitating membrane, forms the most curious
apparatua When at rest, this, which is a thin semi-transparent fold
of the tunica ooigunctiva, lies in the inner comer of the eye, with
its loose edge nearly vertical By the combined action of two muscles
which are attached towards the back of the sclerotica, it is capable of
being drawn out so as to cover the whole front of the eve-^ like
a curtain, and its own elasticity restores it to the comer m which it
rested. This, it is said, enables the eagle to look at the sun. The
peculiar movements of this organ may be seen amongst the fine
collection of eagles at the gardens of the Zoological Society in the
Regent's Park.
Hearing. — ^This sense appears to be sufficiently acute in birds, tiiough
(with the exception of the night-birds, the owls in particular) they
have no external cartilaginous ear; and the peculiar valve, partlv
muscular, partly membranous, placed at the auditory opening even
in those birds, has none of the development whidi generally marks
the concha of mammifers. The peculiar arrangement of the oompara*
tively loosely barbed feathers, however, round the aperture (meatus
auditorius) compensates for it; and this arrangement may be weD
seen in the rapacious birds. The membrane of the dram (membnna
tympani) is convex extemallv, and the drums of both ears are
connected by the air<»lls of the skulL There is neither malleus nor
stapes, and their place is supplied by a sin^e auditory bone (ossi-
culum auditus) which connects the membranes of the drum with the
fbnestra ovalis. The Eustachian tubes terminate in a sort of oonmion
aperture on the concavity of the palate. The labyrinth is without a
cochlea ; instead of which there is a short, blunt^ hollow bony process
obHqueljr directed backwards from the vestibule, and divided into
two portions, one of which ends at the fenestra rotunda.
SmdL-^TinB sense in the majority of birds seems to be highly
developed. The olfactory nerve is given off frotn. the foremost part
of the troiA lobe of the bnui), whence it passes along a canal to the
nose, and is ramified on the pituitary membrane, which is spread
over two or three pairs of bony or cartilaginous conch® narium. The
nostrils terminate in different parts of the upper mandible in
different genera; and, according as these apertures are smaller or
larger, or more or less covered by membranes, cartilages, feathera, or
other integuments, the sense is probably more or less acute. But no
bird is without nostrils, though Bunon asserts that several are
unprovided with them: the puffin indeed and some others have
them so small, and placed so closely on the margin of the mandible,
that they are not easily detected.
This^ sense was supposed to have reached its highest point of
perfection in the vultures and other carrion-birds. Poets and philo-
sophers have dwelt on the ' delight ' with which they —
** snulTd the smell
Of mortal change on earth • .
Sagacious of the quarry ftrom afEur."
But, according to the experiments of Audubon (and they were made
with a species which has obtained a reputation for great sagacity in
this way), the nostrils do not seem to have been of the least assist-
ance to the birds in directing them to their prey; while the eye,
even when the birds were far above human sight, appears to have
been infallible. This conclusion has been indeed disputed : but the
facts stated by Audubon are very strong.
Taste. — Though all birds possess a tongue, it is probable that bui
few find enjoyment in the organ as ministering to their taste, and
in those it is soft, thick, and coypred with papilla). Some of the
birds of prey, some of the swimmers, and the parrots generally, have
such a tongue, and there can be no doubt that tiiese taste food of a
soft or fiuid nature, and select that which they like best But in
general the tongue is homy and stiff, and appears unsuited to convey
such impressions, though as an organ for taking food it becomes of
the hignest importance. In the humming-birds and other honey-
Digitized by
Google
469
BIRDS.
BIBDS.
470
suckers it is a tabular pump, and in the woodpedkera it is an insect
spear. In both cases it can be protruded and retracted at pleasure ;
and the simple but beautiful machinery by which this act of yolition
is peifoimed is adapted with the most masterly fitness to the motion
required. Upon examining the tongue of the common green wood-
pecker, we shall find that, instead of being very long, as it is
erroneoudy supposed to bc^ it is reaUv yery short, sharp-pointed, and
homy, with barbs at its suies. Behmd this lies the aingular tcnigue-
bone (oe hyoides), slender, and with two very long legs or appendages
(crura). This is made up of fiye parte, consisting of a single portion
and two pairs of oarti-
lagee. Let us suppose
the tongue to be at rest^ < \
and than the single |
piece lies in a fleshy I
sheath, capable of great '
extension. To this
piece the first pair of
cartilages, which are
situated at the sides Os Hyoides of Woodpecker,
of the neck, are joined, while the second pair, springing from
these, run under the integuments completely oyer &e skull, and,
adyancing forward, conyeige in a kind of grooye, terminating
generally in the right side of the upper jaw. This second pair,
by their ^ilasticity, become the springs which set the whole in
motion. When the organ is to be protruded, the anterior pieces are
drawn together, and enter the extended sheath of tiie single piece :
the tongue is thus elongated as it were, and the bird can thzrist it
far forth.
5r(mch. — Aa applied to external objectethis sense must be,' generally
speaking, yery obtuse in birds. Feathers, homy beaks, uid scaly
skin, do not offiar a safciBfactory medium for conyeying impressions by
contact But in those birds which search for their food in mud
(ducks, for instance), where neither sight nor smeU can be of much
ayail, the bill is coyered with a skin abundantly supplied with
sensation by neryes from all the three branches of the fifth pair,
in order that they may successfdlly feel about for their hidden
Bustenanoa
JUprodmeU(m and MtgraHon,
The continuation of the spades is carried on by eggs, which are laid
in a nest more or less artificial according as the nesthng is more or
less capable of gathering ite own food at the time of ite exclusion from
the ^gg. Of those birds whose young possess this capability in the
highest degree, the male is for the most part polygamous, and does
not pair; but among those whose young depend for some time on the
parents for their sustenance, one male confines his attentions to one
female, aa long at least as the seasons of loye, incubation, and parental
anxiety endure. To the first and second of these seasons we, in great
measure, owe that outpouring of melody which renders our groyes
and gardens so musical in spring.
** There is eyery reason," writes Montagu, " to belieye it is necessary
there should be natiye notes peculiar to each species, or the sexes
might haye some difGlculty in disooyering each other, the species be
intermixed, and a yariety of mules produced ; for we cannot suppose
birds discriminate colours by which they know their specie^ because
some distinct species are so exactly alike that a mixture might take
place. The mides of song-birds, and many others, do not in general
search for the female ; buty on the contaraiy, their business in the
spring is to perch on some conspicuous spot, breathing out their full
and amorous notes, which by instinct the female knows, and repurs
to the spot to choose her mate. This is particularly yerified with
respect to the summer birds of passage. Tha nightingale and most of
ite genus, although timid and shy to a great d^gree^ mount aloft to
pour fortii their amorous strains incessantly, each secmingLy yieing in
their loye-laboured song before the females arriye. No sooner do they
make their appearance than dreadful battles ensue, and their notra
are considerably changed ; sometimes their song is hurried Ihrou^
without the usual grace and el^ance, at other times modulated into
a soothing melo^. The first we conceiye to be a proyocation to
bi^tle on the n^t of another male ; the last an amorous cadence, a
courting address. This yariety of song laste no longer than till the
female is fixed in her dioice, which is in general in a few days after
her arriyal ; and if the season is fftyourable she soon begins the task
allotted to her sex."
We entirely agree with the writer of this animated passage that
^ Tis loye creates their melody," and that the ear is a principal guide
to the hen-bird in her choice of a mate ; but we cannot entirely exdude
the eye when we remember what pains haye been taken in most in-
stances to distinguish the sexes by the colour of their feathered garb,
and eyen in many instances to prepare a nuptial dress ('plumage de
ndces' of the French) for the male, which fades when the season of
loye has passed away.
We 'must not dwell here upon the wonders of birds'-nests, thoir
adminicle structure as places of comfort and concealment, and the
exquisite workmanship of some of them — ^that of the goldfinch, for
instance. In those snug receptades the em are deposited and hatched.
Then the old birds fed all the parent within them, and entirdy forget
their own safety and wante in protecting and pzoyiding for their help-
less nesUinn. This-parental loye changes tlie timid st once to the
braye ; for birds of prey, cate, dogs, and sometimes eyoi man, when
he approaches the sanctuary, are attacked and followed with aagrr
cries. For some time after quitting the nest tins care continueB, till
the nestling is able to proyide for it8el£ Then the whole scene
dianges. The young bud still lingers about the old one, and
approaches it when it finds a worm or insect, expectant of the morsel
At first the youzig bird is unheeded and treated coldly ; but if it does
not take this hint, and perseyeres in ite soUcitetions, the parent,
which but a few days before would haye brayed a hawk or a cat in
ite defence, and woiUd haye been content to sufibr hunger rather than
haye seen it without food, giyes it a buffet^ and thus compels it to
rely on ite own resources.
Few phenomena haye attracted more attention than the migration
of birds. That some of our delicate songsters, with no great power of
wing, should cross the seas periodically, returning, as &ey imdoubt-
edly do, to those spote which they haye before haunted, and whidi
are associated in their memories with the pleasing cares of former
years, exdtes our admiration, if not our astonidiment. As regularly
as the seasons, of which many of them are the harbingers, do these little
trayellers yisit us, and as regularly do they take^thdr departure. The
immediate cause of migration is no doubt to be found in temperature
and food, particularly that which is adapted for the sustenance of the
young; and the instinct of the bird accordingly leads it £rom one
climate to another.
SystemaJtic Arromgement and Natural Hutcry,
Birds appear to haye been objecte of interest from the earliest
periods. In oomparatiyely later times we find tiiem mineling in the
superstitions of Greece and Bome ; and it is eyident that their history
and habite were feuniliar not only to the husbandman and the augur,
but to the great mass of the people. Without such a £ftmiliarity on
the part of the Athenians, Aristophanes would hardly haye yentured
on introducing his audience to Nc^AaicoKicvyta (see his play entitled
'"Opyidts,' ' The Birds ' ) ; nor would other poets, Grecian and Boman,
so often haye referred to these animals as well-known harbingers of
certain times and seasons. But it remained for Aristotle^ and tJ^er
him Pliny, to take up the subject philosophically. The former, in his
' History of Animals/ has distinguished tiie spedes, and recorded the
habite of birds with the accuracy and power which distinguished that
great obseryer ; the latter, in the tenth book of his ' Natiual History*
has displayed much learning but not a great deal of originality.
In modem literature the first writer of note on this subject is Pierre
Belon, who in 1555 arranged these animals according to their habite
and .their haunts. In his system the rapadous birds form the first
diyision, the waders the second, the swimmers the third, and the birds
which nestle in trees or on the ground, the fourth. He was an able
zoologist and aoourato obseryer, and has pointed out the comparatiye
anatomy of birds with reference to that of man especially.
The third part of Conrad Gksner^s ' History of Animals,' published
in 1555, consiste of his treatise on birds, where he has with some labour
collected their yarious national names, and referred to the writers who
had noticed the subject.
In 1599 Aldroyandus of Bologna published his ' Ornithology.' Pur-
suing the plan of Belon, he arranged the birds according to thSr haunte
and their food, adding many new descriptions.
These three works are all illustrated with woodcuts.
In 1657 Johnston published his * Natural History,' a kind of ' Reper-
torium Zoologioum, wherein all that had been done before his time
was condensed, and where eyery monstrous zoological fable was pe]>
petuated, eyen in the copper-plates, which ministered to the appetites
of those who loyed to see what mermen and mermaids were like, and
d^ghted in the sight of " hydras and chimeras dire."
We now approach a period wherein the reign of System commenced ;
and we owe one of the first natural arrangements^ if not the first, to
Frauds WiUughby, an English gentleman, whose ' System of Orni-
thology ' was edited by our cdebrated countryman Bay in 1678, after
the author's death. It is a work of yery great merit. The general
diyisions are two, ' Land-Birds^' and ' Water-Birds.' The land-birds
are further diyided into those which haye a crooked beak and crooked
talons, and those whidi haye those parte nearly straight.
The water-birds are arranged in three sections. The first consiste
of waders, and those which haunt watery places ; the second of those
that are of a '' middle nature, between swimmers and waders, or rather
that partake of both kinds, some whereof are doyen-footed and yet
swim ; others whole-footed, but yet yery long-legged, like the waders ; "
the tldrd is formed by the palnuited birds, or swimmers.
The same friendly office that was performed for WiUughby by Bay,
Dr. Derham executed for the latter, whose 'Synopsis Methodica
Ayium,' a posthumous work, but entirdy completed by the author
before his death, was published by the Doctor in 1718. In this Synop-
sis Ray carried out and further improyed Willughby's system. Upon
the works of these English naturalisto rested m great measure the
zoologi<»l system of LimisQus.
The first sketch of the Swedish naturalist's 'Systema Naturo'
appeared in folio, at Leyden, in 1785. It consisted of twdye pages,
and was, as Linxueus himself says, ** Conspectus tantum operis et quasi
mappa geogsaphioa." £%ht sabseqaflct editionai in various forms,
Digitized by
Google
471
BIRD&
BIBDa
41
with gradually increanng information, were publiahed in variotu
plaoee, and in 1758 the ninth edition ^''long^ auctiua fiMtum a me
^)flo/' Bays the author) was sent forth m 8to. In this edition the
birda are arranged under the same ' orders' as they are in the twelfth
and last edition, which appeared in 1766. The thirteenth edition was
not the author^B, but Qmelin's.
The following are the orders of linnflBus's daas Avet : —
1. Aeeipitrts. Birds of Prey, properly so called.
2. Pica. Woodpeckers, Crows, Humming-Birds, Eingfishen, fta
8. Antera. Swimmers.
4. Oralla. Waders.
5. OdUince. Qallinaoeous Birds (Partridge and Domestic Fowl, for
instance).
6. Pasterei, Sparrows, Pinches, Thrushes, Doyes, Swallows, &c &c.
These orders, some of which are not very natural, include with thdr
subdiTirions 78 genera.
In 1760 appeared the system of Brisson, which diyides birds into
two great sections. The first, consisting of those whose toes are
depriyed of membranes ; the second, of those whose toes are furnished
with membranes through their whole length.
There are many subdivisions, under which are arranged 26 orders,
indUding 116 genera. This able ornithologist owes much of his
celebrity to the minute accuracy of his specific descriptions.
In 1770 Bufibn published the first part of his work relating to birds.
It is marked by we same eloquent animated style which adorns the
rest of his ' Natural Histoiy ; ' but much cannot be said for its arrange-
ment, nor for the justice of some of its conclusions.
Schsoffer, in his ' Elementa Omithologica,' which was given to the
public in 1744, divides birds into two great families, NudipedeB and
Scopoli (1777), in hia 'Introduction to Natural History,' divides
them also into two families ; but he takes his distinction from the
arrangement of the scaly skin on the legs ; the first division or JUtipedea
consisting of those the sldn of whose legs is marked by small polygonal
scales ; the second, ScKtipedes, of those the front of whose legs is
covered with segments or unequal rings with lateral longitudinal
furrow&
In 1781 our countryman Tjatham published his general synopsis,
and in 1787 and in 1801 his two supplements appeared. In 1790 his
'Index Omithologicus,' in two volumes quarto, being an abridgment
of his more extended work, was given to the public Separating, like
Wniughby and Bay, the birds mto two grand division^ land-birds
and water-birds, he arranges them under the following orders, which
include 101 genera : —
Land-Birds. Water-Birda.
1. Aeeipitret. 7. OraUa.
2. Pica, 8. PinntUipedea.
8. Paueret. 9. PaimipedeB,
4. Ookmba.
5. ChXUna,
6. StrtUhitmeB.
In 1799 M. de Lac^pMe published his method, arranging 180 genera
under 89 orders.
In 1806 Dum^ril, in his 'Zoologie Analytique/ divided birds into
dx orders.
The following is Blumenbach's axraogement : —
Land-Birds. Water-Birda.
1. Accipitra, 8. OraUa.
2. Leviroitra. 9. Amerei.
8. Pici.
4. Coraeea.
5. Paneret,
6. OaUina*
7. I^ruthumei,
In 1810 Meyer, in the ' Almanach des Oiseaux de TAUemagne, par
Messrs. Meyer et Wolff,' arranged them under 11 orders.
In 1811 niiger divided them into seven orders, including 41 families.
Then came Cuvier, who in his * Hhgat Animal ' (1817) published the
following method : —
1. AecipUret, 4. QaUincB,
2. Pouaeret, 6. QraUa.
8. Scamorta (Climbers). 6. PaXmipedea.
Vieillot, whose work is dated in 1816, though it did not appear till
1817, distributes buds into the following five orders : —
1. Accipitna, 4. ChraUatorea,
2. Sjfivicola. 5. NaicUorea.
8. UaUinacek
Temminck's arrangement (1815-20) consists of the following 16
orders : —
1. Hapcicea, 9. Pigeona.
2. Omnivorea, 10. QaUinacia,
8. InaecUvarti, 11. Alectoridea
4» Oranivorea. 12. Oovretira.
6, Zyffodaetylea. 18. OraOea.
6. Aniaodactylea, 14. Pinnatipideai
7. Alcyona, 15. PcUmtpidea^
8. CMidona. 16. Inertea,
In 1825 Nicholas Aylward Vigors (following out the prineiple
adopted by William Sharp Mljeay, in his 'Horn Entomologies,'
a work of great learning and deep reasoning) proposed his amaze-
ment of birds aooording to their natural affinities. " I diMOTcnd,"
says the author in his paper in the 14th volume of the ' TtbiiuoUoiis
of the Linnean Sociefy, "as I advanced, that the laiger or primaiy
groups were connected by an uninterrupted chain of affinities ; that
this series or chain returned into itself; and that the groups of which
it was composed preserved in their rogukr succession an analogy to
the corresponding groups or orders of the contiguous classes of soology.
I equally detected the existence of the same principle in moat of the
subordinate subdivisiona^ even down to the minutest^ to a degree at
least sufficiently extensive to afford grounds for asserting its general
prevalence."
Thus, if his five orders
Inaeaaorea,
Baptorea, Ayes. Saaorea,
Nataiorfa, OraUatorea,
be arranged ro\md a conmion centre, the author conceives that they
would be found to be mutoally connected together, and that the phm
which holds good in the genenJ division will be found to be oonfimed
on examining the subdivisions.
The second order Inaeaaorea, for instance^ he divides into fire
tribes: —
Coniroalreaf
J)entiro9trea, Inbbssobbb. Scanawta,
Fiaairoatrea, Tenuiroatrea,
in which he finds a similar connection, as he also does m the fire
£Eimilies into which he further separates each tribe.
In the same year M. Latreille published his method as follows :—
Beetlon 1, Lee Terreetret. Bection 3, Lee Aqnatiques.
1. Bapaoes. 6. EchaaBier&
2. Passereaux. 7. PalmipMes.
8. Giimpeurs.
4. Passevigalles.
5. Qallinao^
These orders include 252 genera.
The method proposed by M. de Blainville in 1815, 1821, and 1822,
and developed by his pupil, M. Lherminier, in 1827, is founded entirely
on anatomical details, and principally upon the compaiatiye develop-
ment of the sternum.
In 1828 M. Lesson published his ' Projet,' wherein he commenon
with the two great divisions 'Terrestrial' and 'Aquatic,' and dis-
tributes the bii^ into nine orders, founded on the form of the toes,
wings, and beak. The ninth order consists of ' Paradoxauz,' to
which he refers the Omithorhynchus.
Li 1881, Mr. Swainson, rejecting the quinariaa theory above aOuded
to, which he had adopted in the ^ear 1824, proposed ^ the second
part of the ' Fbmia Boreali-Americana' oontainmg the birds) a new
arrangement^ which he framed according to the dogma that "the
primaay divisions of eveir natural group, of whatever extent or yalae,
are thi«e^ each of which forms its own circle."
No one can read over the preceding compendium, which only
embraces the more prominent systems, without peroeiying that the
great aim of modem science has been to produce the best nattinl
arrangement. No sooner has one method boon advanced and con-
sidered, than doubts have arisen, and another and another 8ii]l suc-
ceeds. Cuvier expressed his dissent from all the systems which he
had seen ; and it is no doubt as true now as when he expressed his
conviction that the true arrangement is yet to be sought for.
To give a list of all the writers on the Natural Histoiy of Birds
would be quite out of place in a work of this description ; we must
therefore conclude this article with the following enumeration of some
of the most celel»ated authors in this department.
The ornithology of America and the West Indies has been given by
Hernandez Mar(^;rave, De Asara, Sloane, Oatesby, Vieillot^ ITilson,
Spix, C. L. Bonaparte (Prince of Canino), Audubon, Richardson,
Swainson, and Kuttall.
That of Britain by Pennant^ Lewin, White, Bewick, Montagu,
Donovan, Selby, Mudie, Tarrell, Mac^iillivray, W. Thompson, Meyer,
and others.
That of Europe by Temminck ; that of Germany by Meyer and
Wolff; and C. L. Bonaparte that of Italy. Gould's ' Birds of Europe
illustrate the ornithology of the Continent and British Islanda. His
other works on the Birds of Australia, the Humming-Birds, the
Toucans, and various monographs, are amongst the most splendid
contributions to the science of Natural History.
Le Yaillant has illustrated the birds of A&ica and other countriea
The following names of some of those who have also distingnished
themselves as general authors or particular illustrators will readily
occur to the student who enters upon this branch of Natural HiBtoiT :---
Albin, Audebert) Audubon, Bansband, Bechstein, Bennett, Bljth,
Brisson, Brunnich, Buffon, Buhle, Cuvier, Daudin, Desmarest, Edwsrd^
Fleming, Foster, Prisch, Gerardin, Gould, Gray, Gunther, Hardwickc,
Herbert, Houttuyn, Hunter, Illiger, Jardine, Jenner, Leach, I^ear,
Lesson, Macartney, M'Leay, Markwick, Meyer, Naumann, Nilsjon,
Nozeman, Rennie, Rfippell, Sabine, Savigny, Selby, Sepp, SchiBflWi
Shaw, Sheppard* Slaney, Sonnini, Spix, Stephens, H. E. Strickland
Digitized by
Google
473
BIRDS.
BIRDS OF PARADISE.
474
Swainflon, Sweet, Syme, Vieillot^ Yigon, Wagler, Watertoo, Whxtear,
N. Wood, TarrelL
Fotail Birds,
Although the remaiDB of birda in a foaailiaed condition are not
numeroua, yet zecent diaooreriea haye given aa interest to them not
less than to that of any other clasa of animaln. Sir Charles LyeJl, in
his 'Principles of Geology,' says that "the imbedding of the remains of
birds in new strata must be of yeiy rare ocouztenoe, for their powers
of flight insure them against perishing by numerous casualties to
which quadrupeds are exposed during floods ; and if they chance to
be drowned, or to die when swimming on the water, it will scaroely
cTer hi^pen that they will be submeiged so as to become presenred
in sedimentary deposits. In consequence of the hollow tubular
structure of their bones, and the quantity of their feathers, they are
extremely light in proportion to their yolume, so that when first
killed they do not sink to the bottom like quadrupeds, but float on
the suifaoe until the carcass either rots away or is devoured by
predaceous animals." Nevertheless remains of birds have been foimd.
The earliest indications of the existence of birds are certain foot-
tracks discovered by Professor Hitchcock^ of Amherst, in the Triassic
or New Red Argillaceous Sandstones of the valley of the Connecticut
River. These foot-prints occur in considerable nimibers in the district
mentioned, and have been described by geolofljists under the name of
OmithiehmieB. A slab on which these remarlable markings are to be
seen is in the collection of the British Museum. They evidently
belong to birds of a large size, but unfortunately none of the remains
of the creatures to which they belong have yet been discovered. Sir
Charles Lyell has recently examin^ the district in which these
impressions occur, and agrees with Professor Hitchcock in regarding
them as the production of the feet of birds.
Some remains found by Dr. Mantell in the Wealden Strata of Tilgate
Forest, were supposed b^ Baron Cuvier and Professor Owen to belong
to a species of wading bird, but subsequent investigations have shown
that these specimens were portions of the skeleton of a species of
PterodactyL A microscopic examination however by Mr. Bowerbank
and ProfMsor Quekett of specimens since discovered by Dr. ManteU,
has led these gentlemen to conclude that they belong to birds, leading
to the inference that these animals did exist at me period of the
deposit of the Wealden Beds.
In the 'British Fossil Mammals and Birds' Professor Owen Uas
described the remains of a gigantic bird obtained by the Earl of
F.nTiiaHll«i firom the Chalk near Maidstone. The portion described is
regarded by Professor Owen as the shaft of the humerus, and he
concludes that it belonged to a bird closely allied to the Albatross of
the present day. He luis named it Oimoliamii IHomedem,
As we approach nearer the historic period of the earth's aurfaca, the
remaina of the bones of birds become more decisive and more
numefXYUs. In most of the ancient Tertiary Strata remains of several
genera of birds occur. In the Sevalik hills of India the^ are
associated with the remains of several species of proboscidiform
AniTna-lw. In the basin of Paris they have^een found m coigunotion
with the bones of the PdUeotherium, &o, in the Tertiary deposits of
Auvetgne they have also been found, and the ossifi^rous caverns of
ihe continent of Europe and of Great Britain have presented the bones
of numerous species of animals now living, with here and there an
extinct species. These remains however have been sufficiently scarce
to be greatly prized by the collectors of fossils.
In the year 1889 Professor Owen received from Mr. Rule a specimen
of the femur of a gigantic bird, allied to the ostrich and other
struthious birds now m existence. To the bird to which this bone
belonged Professor Owen gave the name of Dinomit, [Dinobnis.]
This specimen was obtained from New Zealand, and quickly
followed by a laige collection of the bones of other extinct birds,
made by Mr. WaKer Mantell of Wellington, son of ihe late Dr.
Gideon ManteU. In this collection, not only were there the bones
of IHnomis, ppnfirming all the anticipations which had been formed
by IVofeesor Owen of Uiis gigantic bird, but also the remaios of
several other species of DinamU, and other genera. The character of
some of these remains^ and their having been found in fire-heaps in
conjunction with human bones, and allusions in the traditions and
songs cf the natives, lead to the undoubted conclusion that within the
historic period the JDinorwk, under the name of 'Moa,' was known to
the Maoris, the native inhabitants of New Zealand. Amongst the
remains is that of a genus called Notomis; and during his excursions
into the interior for £e pun>ose of ascertaining if any of these birds
still existed. Mr. W. Mantell had the good fortune to capture a living
specimen. {NovoEHra, «ee Suff.] It has been described and figured by
Mr. Gould m his ' Birds of Australia,' and an engraving is also given
by the late Dr. Mantell in his popular work descrii>tive of the oxganio
remains of the British Museum, entitled ' PetrifSsctions and their
Teaohingai'
From these facts we are led to conclude that long befo]^e New
Zealand was inhabited by man it was densely peopled by colossal
ftrathious Inrds, of which the Apterwf [Aftebtz], BrackypUrifx
rBBAOHTTTBBTX], and Notomit are but the degenerate representatives.
It is probable also that New Zealand, together with Chatham Island,
Norfi^ Lda&d, and others^ sie but the mountain-tops of a continent^
which was probably covered with these creatures, prsaenting a remark-
able feature in the histoiy of the earth's sur&oe, and affording inter-
esting matter for speculation with regard to the progression of ozganised
life upon the globe.
The history of the New Zealand birds is also one of spedal interest in
connection with a group of birds, some of which also, as the J>odo and
SolUcure [Dodo], have existed within the historic period, but are. now
no longer to be found, and which had their principal seat of existence
in the Mauritius. [See SupfleicektJ
(Ansted, OeoUgy ; Owen, British Fossil MammaU emd Birds ; Owen,
TransacHims of the Zoologieal Society, 1839, 1844, 1846, 1848, 1850;
Colenso, Atmtds of Natural History ; Mantell, Pebrtfaelums and their
Teachinffs ; Strickland and Melville, The Dodo and its Kindred,)
BIRDS' NESTS, EDIBLE. [AloaJ
BIRDS OF PARADISE. With no &mily of birds has fiction been
more busy than with the Birds of Paradise. FK>m one &bulist to
another came the tradition (losing nothing, as is usual with traditions,
in its descent), that these "gay creatures of the element" passed their
whole existence in sailing in the air, where all the functions of life
were carried on, even to the production of their eggs and young. The
dew and the vapoturs were said to be their only food, nor were they
ever supposed to touch the earth till the moment of their death, never
taking rest except by suspending themselves from the branches of trees
by the ahafbs of the two elongated feathers which form a characteristic
of this beautiful raoe. The appellations of Lufit-Yogel, Paradyss-
Yogel, Passaros de Sol, Birds of Paradise, and God's Birds (to say
no&ing of Phoenix, a name which was applied to one of them), kept
up the delusion that originated in the craft of the iahabitants of the
eastern countries where they are found ; for the ziatives scarcely ever
produced a skin in former times from which they had not carefully
extirpated the feet Nor was it only the extreme elegance and rich-
ness of their feathers that caused these birds to be sought as the
plume for the turbans of oriental chiefis; for he who wore that plume,
relying implicitly on the romantic accounts of the life and habits of
the bird, and impressed with' its sacred names, believed that he bore a
charmed life, and that he should be invulnerable even where the fight
raged most furiously.
In vain did honest Pigafetta, who is supposed to have been the first
who introduced these birds to the notice of Europeans, represent them
as being furnished with legs ; in vain was the same truth attested by
Marcgravei, John de Laet^ Clusius, Worming and Bontius (the last of
whom observes on their crooked daws, and even asserts that they
devour little birds, such as greenfinches), and referred to by Hemandea.
A fairy tale was not to be so put down. Aldrovandus himself was
deceived by the birds brought over in the mutQated state above
described, and Joined in the cry against poor I^gafetta, chaiging him
with falsehood. Johnston, in 1657, writes thus oracularly of the Birds
of Paradise : — " It is peculiar to them all to be without feet (although
Aristotle asserts that no bird is without feet^ and Pigafetta assigns to
them feet a hand breadth in length) ;" and this he declares after Clusius
had reftited the absurdity, and haa stated that they had been brought
to HoUand (where Johnston's book was printed) with their feet on ; and
after the publication of Tradesoant's Catalogue, wherein are mentioned
among the ' whole birds' of his museimi "Birds of Paradise, or Manu-
codia£^ whereof are divers sorts, some with, some wiUiout legg&" And
yet this same Johnston has no mercy on that part of the fiable which
asserts that they live on dew, are perpetually flying, and that their eggs
are hatched in a natural cavity on the back of &e male. " Of a verity,"
says the aage, "they must necessarily require rest, and are with ease
suspended to the branches of trees by those threads in their tails."
Willughby and Ray treat these nonsensioal stories as they deserve^
and as was to be expected from their reputation as observers.
The high value set upon these birds awakened the cupidity and the
firaud of the Chinese, who made up from parrots, parakeets, and others,
artificial Buds of Paradise, so dumsily however that it is difKcult to
suppose that Seba, who figures three of them in the 60th plate of his
first volume, could have been taken in by the manifest imposition.
But there is nothing in the text to show that his suspicion was even
excited; and this is the more extraordinary, as he figures two of the
real species (plate 88 and plate 68) with sufldent accuracy.
Limueus, who has commemorated the fable of the wamt of feet in
these birds by bestowiog upon the spedes most extendvdy known the
name of ' apoda,' because^ as he observes, '* the older naturalists called
it footless," says that the food of this spedes consists of the largest
butterfliee.
In the last edition of the ' Systema Naturse' LumsBus gives but two
species of the Birds of Paradise^, to which he applies the generic name^
Paradisea, These two spedes are Paradisea a^p^oda and Paradisea
regia. In Gmdin's edition the number of spedes is increased to eighty
but one of them is the Paradise-Qrakle.
OmithologiBts seem to sgree in placing these birds either among the
Crows {Oorvida) or in their immediate neighbourhood ; and this, from
the form of their beak and legs, and fh>m their habits, to which we
shall presently allude, appears to be their proper place.
Yieillot has divided the Linnnan genus Paradisea into the following
genera: —
Poro^to.— Beak furnished with short feathers to just beyond the
middle, slender, compressed laterally, notched and curved at the tip;
hypochondrialplumea long^ broad, and loose.
Digitized by
Google
475
BIRDS OF PARADISE.
BIRDS OF PARADISE.
476
Of thii geniifl, Parotia 9ex9daoea (Paraditea aurea of QmeUn, Panh
ditea mxtttaeta of Latham, the Sifilet of Buffon) is an AT^np^. Th«
figure repreeents a male.
The Sifllet {Pturotia iexittacea),
XopAormo.— Beak furnished with elongated feathers to just beyond
the middle, narrow above, slender, strai^t, notched, and bent at the
tip ; feathers of the neck long and disposed in a wing-form. Of this
genus, Lophonna tvperha {Paraditea wfierba of Latham, Le Superbe
of Boffon) is an example.
The Superb [Lophorina tuperba),
OmcMwitncf. — Beak furnished at the base with small feathers directed
forwards, slender, conyex aboye, a little compressed at the sides, finely
jagged and bent towards the tip ; hypochondiial feathers broad, elon-
gated, and truncated.
Of this genus, Oineiwnunu regins (ParadUea regia of LinnsBus, Eing-
Bird of Paradise of Petiver, who has this note — '''Brought from the
Molucca Islands, and rarely to be seen here but in the cabinets of the
most curious, as with Dr. Sloan, and in the repository of the Royal
Society" — and Le Manucode of Bufibn) is given as an example. The figure
represents a male.
Somalia, — ^Bc«k robust, convex above, furnished at the base with
velvet feathers, straight^ compressed laterally, jagged towards the tip ;
hvpochondrial feathers very long, flexible, decomposed, or cerviod
plumes moderate and stift Of this there are two sections, the type
being Poradma magtUfiea of Ti«tham (Le Magmfique of Buflbn).
But porhaps the most elegant of all these buds is that which is best
known and most often seen, the Great Emerald, Le grand ^meraude of
the French (ParadUea apoda of LinnsBus).
The cuts, which are taken from Levaillant^ may convey some very
faint idea of the forms of these birds, whose beau^ beggars all des-
cription. Even the magnificent works of Levaillant and Vieillot^
splendid as they are, cannot represent the vivid and changtng tints of
the originals, though the former had the advantage of the pencil a
Barraband, whose drawings have all the life and truth of portniin
To these works, and such as these, and to our museums, those who
wish to have a distinct notion of what nature can produoe in fonn sod
brilliancy of plumage must repair. They are all inhabitantB of New
Ckunea.
King^Bird of PsrsdiM {dncitmrnms refku).
One of the best aooounts we have of the living habits of these Urds
is given by M. Lesson, who, though he deeply laments his short stay it
New Guinea (only 18 days), appears to nave made the best use of
his 1*
Faraditea magnifica,
** The Birds of Pftradise," says M. Lesson, ''or at least the Emerald
(Pairaditea apoda, Linn.), the only species concerning which we posBeBS
authentic intelligenoe, live in troops in the vast forests of the oountiy
of the Papuans, a group of islands situated under the equator, and
which is oomposed of the islands Arou, Wagiou, and the great island
called New Guinea. They are birds of passage^ changing their gusrtcw
according to the monsoons. The females congregate m troops, assemble
upon the tops of the highest trees in tiie forests, and all ay together
to oall the males. These last are always alone in the midst of s(»De
fifteen females, which compose their seras^o, after the manner of
thegallinaoeousbiNb."
IL Lesson then gives the following extract finom his journal, wnttoi
on the spot. After observing that the Birds of Paradise, with the
exception of two species, were brought to the corvette, La CoqmlJe,
by the P^)uaas, and that the quantity afforded reason for suj^oong
that these birds, so esteemed in Europe, were singularly multiphed m
those countries^ he thus continues: —
Digitized by
Google
477
BIRDS OF PARADISE.
BIRDS OF PARADISE.
478
** The Manuoode * presented itaelf twice in our ahooting exonraionB,
and we killed the xnale and female. Thia apedea woidd aeem to be
monogajnouBy or peihapa it ia only aeparated into paira at the period
The Great Emerald {Paraditea apoda), mas.
FaradUea apoda, fern.
of hying; In the wooda thia bird haa no brilliam^ ; ita fine-coloured
plumage ia not diacoyered, and the tints of the female are dulL It
lores to take ita atation on the teak-treea (Arbrea de Teck), whoae
ample fbUage dudtera ity and whose small fruit fonns ita nourishment.
* OtHcimmurMt rwgitu, YleiUoL Manueodiata or Monueodewata is an appeU
UtkmeoirBMm to all the Birds of Paradise, and is said to signify at the Moluooas
* The Bird of God.'
Ita iridea are brown, and the feet are of a delicate azure. The
Pi^uans call it Say&
** Soon after our arrival on this land of promise (New Guinea) for
the naturalist^ I was on a shooting excursion. Scareely had I walked
Bome hundred paces in those ancient forests, the daughtera of time,
whose sombre depth was perhapa the most magnificent and atatdj
aight that I had ever aeen, when a Bird of Paradise strubk mj riew :
it flew gracefully and in undulations ; the feathers of its aidea formed
an elegant and aerial plume, which without exaggeration bore no
remote resemblance to a brilliant meteor. Surprised, astounded,
enjoying an inexpressible gratification, I devoured this splendid bird
with my eyes; but my emotion was so great that I foigotto ahoot
at it, and did not recollect that I had a gun in my hand till it was
far away.
" One can scarcely have a just idea of the Paradise-Birds from the
skins which the Papuans sell to the Malays, and which come to ua in
Europe. These people formerly hunted tiie birds to decorate the
turbuis of their chien. They call them Mamb^ore in their tonffue,
and kill them during the night by climbing the treea where they
perch, and shooting them with arrows made for the purpose, and very
short, which they make with the stem (rachis) of the leaves of a palm
(latanier). The campongs or villages of Mappia and of Emberbakdne
are celebrated for the quantity of birds which they prepare, and all
the art of their inhabitants ia directed to taking off the feet, skinning^
thrusting a little stick through the body, and drying it in the amoke.
Some more adroit, at the solicitation of the Chinese merohanta, dry
them with their feet on. The price of a Bird of Paradise among the
Papuans of the coast is a piastre at least We killed, during our stay
at New Guinea, a score of these birds;, which I prepared for the most
part
" The Emerald when alive is of the size of a common jay, its beak
and its feet are bluish ; the iridea are of a brilliant yellow ; its motions
are lively and agile ; and in general it never perches except upon the
summit of the most lofty trees. When it descends, it is for the
purpose of eating the fruits of the lesser trees, or when the sun in
full power com{Mls it to seek the sbada It has a fancy for certain
trees, and makes the neighbourhood re-echo with its piercing voice.
The cry became fatal, b^use it indicated to us the movements of
the bird. We were on the watch for it, and it was thus that we came
to kill these birds ; for when a male Bird of Paradise has perched,
and hears a rustling in the silence of the forest, he is silent, and does
not move. His call is ' voike, voike, voike, voiko,' strongly articulated.
The cry of the female is the same, but she raises it mudii more feeblv.
The latter, deprived of the brilliant plumage of the male, is dad m
sombre attire. We met with them, assembled in scores, on every
tree, while the males, always solitary, appeared but rarely.
** It is at the rising and setting of the sun that the Bird of Paradise
goes to seek its food. In the middle of the day it remains hidden
\mder the ample foliage of the teak-tree, and comea not forth. He
seems to dread the acorching rays of the sun, and to be unwilling to
expose himself to the attacks of a rival ....
"In order to shoot Birds of Paradise, travellers who visit New
Guinea should remember that it is necessary to leave the ship early in
the morning, to arrive at the foot of a teak-tree or fig-tree, which
these birds frequent for the sake of their fruit — (our stay was from
the 26th of July to the 9th of August)— before half-past four, and to
remain motionless till some of the males, urged by hun^r, light upon
the branches within range. It is indispensably requisite to have a
gun which will carry very for with effect, and that the grains of shot
Siould be large ; for it is very difficult to kill an Emerald outright,
and if he be only wounded it is very seldom that he is not lost
in thickets so dense that there is no finding the way without a
compass.
" The little Emerald Paradise-Bird feeds, without doubt, on many
substances, in a state of liberty. I can affirm that it lives on the
seeds of the teak-tree, and on a fruit called Amihou, of a rosy white,
insipid and mucilaginous, of the size of a small European fig^ and
which belongs to a tree of the genus Fictu,"
M. Lesson then goes on to state that he saw two Birds of Paradise
which had been kept in a cage for more than six months by the prin-
cipal Chinese merchant at Ambovna. They were always in motion,
and were fed with boiled rice, but they had a special fondness for
Cockroaches (EUataX,
Bennett, in his ' Wanderings,' gives the following account of a Bird
of Paradise (Paradiua apoda) which he found in Mr. Beale's aviary
at Macao, where it had been confined nine years, exhibiting no
appearance of age : —
'' This elegant creature has a lights playftil, and gracefrd manner,
with an arui and impudent look ; dances about when a visitor
approaches the cage, and seems delighted at being made an object of
admiration ; its notes are very peculiar, resembling the cawing of the
raven, but its tonea are by &r more varied. During four months of
the year, from May to August, it moults. It washes itself regularly
twice daily, and after having performed its ablutions throws ita
delicate feathers up nearly over tne head, the (juills of which feathers
have a peculiar structure, so aa to enable the bud to effect this object
Its food during confinement is boiled rice, mixed up with soft ^gg,
together with phintains^ and living insects of the grasahopper tE0Mb*
Digitized by
Google
4im
BIRDS OF PARABISK
Bmaua
480
these maeoU when thrown to him the bird contriyee to catch in ite
beek with great celerity. It will eat inaeots in a liying state, but will
not touch tibem when dead.
''I obsenred the bird previous to eating a grasshopper, giyeu him
in an entire or mutilated state, place the insect upon the perch, keep
it firmly fixed with the daws, and divesting it of the legs, wings, &c.,
devour it^ with the head always placed first The servant who
attends upon him to clean the cage^ give him food, ftc., stripe off the
legs, wings, ke* of the insects when ^ve, giving them to the bird as
fast as he can devour theuL It rarely alights upon the ground, and
so proud is the creature of its elegant dress that it never permits a
soil to remain upon it, and it may frequently be seen spreading out
its ^ngs and feathers, and regarding its splendid self in eveiy
direction, to observe whether the whole of its plumage is in an
unsullied condition. It does not suffer from the cold weather during
the winter season at Macao, though exposing the elegant biid to the
bleak northerly wind is always very particularly avoided. Mr. Beale
is very desirous of procuring a Uving female, to endeavour if
possible to breed them in his aviary.
"The sounds uttered by this bird are vety peculiar; that which
appears to be a note of congratulation resembles somewhat the
cawing of a raven, but changes to a varied scale of musical gradations,
as ' he, hi, ho, haw,' repeated rapidly and frequently, as lively and
playAilly he hops round and along his perch, descending to tiie
second perch to be admired, and to congratulate the strancier who has
made a visit to inspect hhn; he frequently raises his voice, sending
forth notes of such power as to be heard at a long distance, and as it
could scarcely be supposed so delicate a bird could utter; these notes
are 'whock, whock, whock, whock,' uttwed in a barking tone, l^e
last being given in a low tone as a conclusion.
''A drawing of the bird of the natural size was made by a Chinese
artist The bird advanced steadfastly towards the picture, uttering at
the same time its cawing congratulatory notes ; it did not appear
excited by rage, but pecked gently at the representation, jumping
about the perch, knocking its mandibles togeuier with a clattering
noise, and cleaning them against the perch, as if welcoming the
arrival of a companion. Aftoir ike trial of the picture a looking-glass
was brought^ to see what effect it would produce upon the bixd, and
the result was nearly the same ; he regarded the reflection of himself
most steadfastly in the mirror, never quitting it during the time it
remained before him. When the glass was removed to the lower
fr*om the upper perch he instantly followed, but would not descend
upon the floor of the cage when it was placed so low.
" One of the best opportunities of seeinff this eiplendid bird in all
its beauty of action, as well as display of plumage, is early in the
morning, when he makes his toilet; the beautiful sub-alar plumage is
then thrown out, and cleaned from any spot that may sully its purity
by being passed gently through the bill; the short chocolate<x>loured
wings are extended to the utmost, and he keeps them in a steady
flapping motion, as if in imitation of tiieir use in flighty at the same
time raising up the delicate long feathers over the back, which are
spread in a chaste and elegant manner, floating like films in the ambient
air.
'* 1 never yet beheld a soil on its feathers. After expanding the
wings it would bring them together so as to conceal the head, then
bending it gracefully it would inspect the state of its plumage under-
neath, This action it repeats in quick succession, uttering at the time
its croaking notes ; it then pecks and cleans its plumage in every part
within reach, and throwing out the elegant and delicate tuft of feathers
underneath the wings, seemingly with much care, and with not a little
pride, they are cleaned in succession, if required, by throwing them
abroad, elevating them, and passing them in succession through the
bill Then turnmg its back to the spectator, the actions above men-
tioned are repeated but not in so careful a manner; elevating its tail
and long shaft-featiiers, it raises the delicate plumage of a similar
character to the sub^lar, forming a beautiful dorsal crest, and, throwing
its feathers up with much grace, appears ajs proud as a lady dressed in
her full ball-dress. Having completed the toilet, he utters the usual
cawing notes, at the same time looking archly at the spectators, as if
ready to receive fJl the admiration that it considers its elegant form
and display of plumage demands ; it then takes exercise by hopping,
in a rapid but gracefm manner, from one end of the upper perch to
the other, and descends suddexdy upon the second perch, dose to the
bars of the cage, looking out for the grasshoppers which it is accus-
tomed to receive at this time. .....
** His prehensile power in the feet is very strong, and, still retaining
his hold, the bird will turn himself round upon the perdu He delights
to be sheltered from the elare of the sun, as that luminary is a great
source of annoyance to him, if permitted to dart its fervent rays
directly upon the cage. The iris frequently expanding and contract-
ing adds to the arch look of this animated bird, as he throws the
h^ul on one side to glance at visitors, uttering tiie cawing notes or
barking aloud. .... Having concluded, ne jumps down to the
lower perch in search of donations of living grasshoppers.
" The bird is not at all ravenous in its habits of feeding, but it eats
rice leisurely, almost grain by grain. Should any of the insects thrown
into his cage fall upon the floor, he will not descend to them, appearing
to be fearful that in so doing he should soil his delicate plumage ; he
therefore seldom or ever descends, except to perform his ablutiona in
the pan of water placed at the bottom of the cage expressly for his
use."
BIRQUS, a genus of Long-Tailed CfruttaeeOf approaching the Hermit-
Crabs {Pagurutj established by Leach. The following are the leading
oharaoters : — ^Middle antennas having their second articulation crested
or tufted ; feet of the first pair of legs unequal, terminated by
pincers or knob-daws ; feet of the second and third pair terminated
simply, in other words, by a single nail ; fourth pair smaller and
didactylous, or terminated by two fingers, one moveable ; fifth pair
rudimentary, very small, but didactylous; carapace somewhat in the
form of a reversed heart, with the apex pomting forwards ; post-
abdomen or tail orbicular, orustaoeous above, ^e plates being sub-
anntdar, or rudiments of rings.
There are two spedes recorded, and of these Birgut Loire, Leach,
Pagumu Latro, Fabr. and Lam., Cancer Latro, Linn., Cancer eruinenatMtf
Bors-Erabbe (Purse-Grab) of Rumphius, is the largest Its rostrum
is terminated by a single point The pincers are zed, the left being
much hunger than tiie rights and both deeply toothed The feet of the
next three pairs are toothed on the edges, and marked with undulated
streaks, tt is a native of Amboyna and other neighbouring iakndii,
where it is said to inhabit the fissures of rocks by day, and to come
forth at nig^t to seek its food on the beach. Mr. Cuming found it
sufficiently abundant in Lord Hood's Island in the Pacific, bat there
the Purse-Crabs dwelt at the roots of trees, and not in holes in the
rocks. When he met them in his road, they set themselves up in a
threatening attitude and then retreated backwards, making both &t
first and afterwards a great snapping with their pincers. There
appears to be a tradition among the natives that it climbs Cocoa-Nat
Trees {Cocat nucifera) in the night to get the cocoaruuts. Linneus,
Herbst, and Cuvier repeat this story, which, as Owen observes, u
confiimed in a degree by Quoy and Gaixnard, who rdate iiai
individuals of this spedes were fed by them for many months on
cocoa-nuts alone; and still more amply by the obseirations com-
municated to him by Mr. Cuming, who states that these Pone-Craba
climb the Pandamu odorcUiaaimua, a kind of palm, for the purpose of
feeding on the small nut that grows thereon, and that he saw them in
the tree.
Linnteus gives the Antilles as the locality of this Purse-Crab, as well
as Amboyna, upon the authority of Rochefort> but this has arisen
from a misunderstanding of the text of Bochefort
In the following passage Rochefort refers to some of the Laud-
Crabs of the Antiliee, and not to the genus Birgu» : —
" What is the more worthy of note relating to these crabs is, that
once a year, namdy, after they are returned from their journey to the
sea, they hide themsdves entirely in the earth for some six weeks, so
that not one appeara During &ia time they diange their skin, or
crust, and renew themselves altogether. Thsj place the earth at this
season so dexteroudy at the entrance of their holes, that one cannot
percdve the opening. This they do that they may not be expoeed to
the air. For when they thus throw adde their old garb, the whole of
their body is as it were naked, being only ooverod by a thin and
delicate skin, which thickens and hardens by degrees into a crust as
solid as that which they have left Monsieur du Montel reports that
he caused people to dig on purpose in those places where there was
any appearance of their lying hid, and having met with some of them,
that he foimd that they were enveloped as it were in the leaves of
trees, which without doubt served them for nourishment and for a
nest during this retreat ; but they were so languid and so incapable
of supporting the fresh air, that they seemed half dead, though in
other respects they were fat and vexy delicate food. The inhabitants
of the Ides call them at this period Purse-Crabs, and esteem them
much. He saw quite close to them their old covering, that is to my,
their shdl, which appeared as entire as if the animal had been 9tUl
within. What is wonderful is, that though he employed veiy good
eyes, he could scarcely observe the opening or slit whence the body of
the animal had come forth and had disen^«ed itself from this prison.
Nevertheless, after having taken great care he remarked in the empty
shells a small separation near the tail, by which the crabs had extricated
themselves."
Then follows the most approved way of dreosing these Land-Crabs
for the table, a mode which is still in practice with little variation in
the West Indies at the present day.
In a manuscript entitied ' M^moires en Forme de Dictionnaire
contenant I'Histoire Naturelle notamment de Cacao, Tlndigo, le Sucre,
et le Tabao, Par M. , Inspecteur pour la Compagnie de Chan-
demagor,' tiiere is a very frdl account of the Land-Crabs (Tourloturoux)
of the Antilles, and the writer of the manuscript^ speaking of tiieir
condition after they have thrown off their old crusts, says, " If they
take the crabs then, they find them covered only with a dight red
skin, tender and delicate as moistened parchment ; the crabs are then
much more delicious than they are at any other season ; they call them
at that period Purse-Crabs" (tom. ii p. 526). The manuscript ia
without date, but was written after the publication of Labat's works,
which the writer quotes.
Bvrgut Latro, which grows to a large size, is said to be excellent
food when properiy prepared. It was a favourite diet with the natives
of Lord Hood s Island, but Mr. Cuming did not taste it
Digitized by
Google
461
BIKOSTBITBIS.
BISON.
483
There are BpecimefDs in the British Museum. Thero is only one
spedee of this genus.
Purae-Crab {Birfm Lairo.)
BIROSTRITES, a genus of Fossil MoUusca named by Lamarck.
He has placed it under his family Hudittes, a fiamily which, as Mr. Q.
Bowerby observes, might be struck out ; for there can be hardly any
doubt that Lamarck has misconceived or misplaced the genera of
which it is composed. G. Sowerby, from an examination of the oast
of the inside of the shell, expresses his conviction that Birottrites
ought to be placed next to Diceraa, or at least in the same fsunily with
Chama and hieeras, inasmuch as it accords very nearly with those
shells in its internal characters. Rang has placed the genera BatoUtea,
Baphcmistea, and AmpUxuty near to this genus.
The following is Lamarck's description of this singular fossil : — Shell
composed of two pieces or valves, which do not unite by the edges of
their base, one enveloping the other, and the dorsal disc of each being
elevated into a nearly straight cone dightly arched within. These
horn-shaped valves are unequal, and diveige obliquely under the form
of a very open Y. It seems as if one valve came out of the base of
the other, and it is always the shortest that is enveloped. Bvrostrittt
uugquUobui is the only species which Lamarck records.
BIRTHWORTa [ARiBTOLOomAOSA.]
BISH. [Bulb,]
BISMO£^, a name given in the Orkneys to the 15-spined Stickle-
back rGLAaixBOfiTsns.]
BISMtJTH, a metal that was unknown to the ancients. It was
referred to by Agricola in his work on mining in 1529, and was subse-
quently described by Stahl and Dufay.
The minerals in which this metal constitutes the principal ingredient
are comparatively few in number ; and of these only two species are of
any importance in a commercial point of view, namely, the native
bismuth, and its sulphurets. The general characters of these
minerals are the following. Before the blow-pipe they are readily
fbsed and reduced to a metallic state, the reg^us itself gradually
subUming if the flame be continued, leaving on the charcoal an
orange-ydlow areola, which however may readily be made to disappear
in the deoxidising flame. When the metallic regulus is fused m an
open glass tube, a yellowish-white sublimate is obtained, and the
rq[ulus itself becomes covered by the fased oxide, which while hot is
of^ a dark brown colour but assumes a yellow tint on cooling. These
minorala are all of them soluble in strong nitric aoid, the solution
rielding a white precipitate on being dropped into water. They are
known and described by mineralogists under the following names : —
Native or Octahedral Biemuthf BitmiUh-Ochre, Priematic Biamuthr
Olanee, Needle-Ore or Acicular Bitmuth-Olance, called by Phillips
PUmbihOupriferout Svlpkuret of Bim/tUh, TeUurbwnuth, formerly
known by the name of Mclybdam Silver.
Natine or Octahedral BiemUh is sometimes found crystallised : the
observed forms are the octahedron, the tetrahedron, and combinations
»f the latter with the dodecahedron, which produce the shape seen
in the accompanying figora
The hceB msfked o belong to the tetrahedron and those marked
with d to the rhombic dodecahedron. The edge between the faces o
is therefore 70'' 32^, between the faces d 120% and in the edges of com-
bination between o and d 144* 44'. These crystals are generally very
iTAT. mar. dit. vol. l
.^^.
miperfect, and the fiEU>es rough and uneven ; they possess a perfect
cleavage paraUel to the faces of the octahedron. The hardness varies
from 2 to 2*6, the specific gravity from 96 to
9*8. The crystals are opaque, possess the
metallic lustre, and the fresh fracture presents
a reddish silver white; but the sufaoe is
usually tarnished, owing to partial oxidation,
and presents a variegated appearance of gray,
red, and blue colours. They may be considered
as presenting us with the metal Bismuth in
a pure stat^ the only foreign matter being
tnooB of arsenic. The occurrence of crystals is
somewhat rare, this mineral being usually found in feathery and
arboresoent forms, and also in dentiform concretions in veins, traversing
gneiss, mica, and clay-slates, where it is usually accompanied by ores
of silver, cobalt, nickel, and iron. It is found at St. Colomb and
Botallack mines in Cornwall, and at Ciistle-OaxTOck in Cumberland, but
in much greater abimdance in the mines of Saxony and Bohemia, at
Johann-Geoigenstadt^ Annabeig, Altenbexg, Schneebeig, and at
Joachimsthal, from whence the greater portion of the Bismuth of
commerce is obtained. It is also found at Beiber in Hainan, at
Loling in Carinthia, and in the Sophia mine at Wittichen in
Fiirstenbeig.
The Biitnuth'Ochre is a rare mineral, which occurs massive and
disseminated. It is of a straw-yellow, passing sometimes into a light
yellowish gray. Its specific gravily is 4*86, and its chemical
constitution —
Bismuth ...... 89'87
Oxygen 10-18
It usually contains small quantities of arsenic and oxide of iron as
impurities. Its known localities are St. Agnes, Cornwall ; Schneeberg
and Johann-Qeorgenstadt^ in Saxony ; and Joachimsthal, in Bohemia.
BitmvUh-QUmce, Biemtaite, a Carbonate of Bismuth, occurs in four-
sided prisms of unknown dimensions, but it is stated by Phillips to
have angles about 91'* and 89*. It is further characterised by its
metallic lustre, and lead-gray approaching steel-gray colour, and ftom
its possessing a perfect cleavage in tllb direction of the short diagonal,
and one less perfect in the direction of the base. According to Mohs
the hardness is between 2 and 2*5, and the specific gravity 6*549. It
also occurs massive of a granular composition, or columnar, the
individuals being long and straight^ and aggregated in various
directions. According to the analysis of H. Rose of a specimen from
Reddarhyttan, it is thus composed : —
Sulphur . . . 18-49 . . . 18*72
Bismuth .... 81*51 . . . . 80*98
Before the blow-pipe sulphur is first driven off, which is followed
by a sublimate having the odour of tellurium, and afterwards
the characters are the same as those of the other minerals of
Bismuth.
BxamuthrBlende is a Silicate of Bismuth.
Other minerals in which Bismuth occurs are Needle-Ore and TtUmt'
hiemuth. Needle-Ore is also called Acicular Biatnuth. It is a
sulphuret of bismuth, lead, and copper, containing a trace of gold.
It comes frem Siberia. Tcllurbismuth, or Tetradymite, is composed of
tellurium and bismuth. It has a foliated structure, and a pale steel-
gray colour. It comes from Schenmitz, and also frem BraziL
(Dana, Mineralogy,)
BISON, the name of a genus of Ruminant Ammnlff belonging to
the fiunily Bovidce, The genus Biaon comprehends two living spedea,
one of them European, now become very scarce and verging towards
extinction ; the other American, and, notwithstanding the advances
of man, still multitudinous.
European Biaon,
As much difference of opinion has prevailed with regard to the
historical records and true characters of the first or European species
of Bison, we shall quote a few of the synonyms of this animal as
given in the Catalogue of the Specimens of Mammalia, in the British
Museiun, by Dr. J. E. Gray.
The Bison Aurochs, or European Bison, is the Boa Biaon of
Linnasus; Biaon Bonaaaus, Dr. J. K Gray; Boa Urua, Boddaert; Boa
Biaon At^rocha, Lesson; Boa Tauma Urua, Gmelin; Boa Bonaaaua,
Brisson ; Biaon Europcetu, Owen ; Boa Biaon aeu Bonaaaua, Wagner ;
Biaon Jul>€Uua, Pliny; Biaon, (leaner, Aldrovandus, and Gilibert;
Urtu, Csesar; Aurocha, Cuvier, Buffon, and Desmoulins; Bonaaua,
Pliny, Gksner, Klein, Buffon, and Ray. It is also i^e Urochs,
Auer-Ochse or Auer-Ochs, Wald-Ochse, Wilder Odis, Berg-Ochs,
Buckel-Ochs, Afrikanischer Wilder Ochs, Preussische und Lithanischo
Auer-Ochs, Zurb, and Ifanistier, of various German writers. To these
various synonyms we may now add that of Biaon priacua of Owen,
as there is no doubt that the bones of the Great Fossil Aurochs
belong to the same species as those now living In the forests of
Lithuania.
The difficulty of identifying this animal has arisen from, the fact,
that besides the Bison there existed at one time in Europe and in
Great Britain a wild ox {Boa primigeniva), whose remains are numerous,
but which has undoubtedly become quite extinct Peimant^ in his
'British Zoology,' after stating his belief that the ancient wild cattle
2 I
Digitized by
Google
4BS
BISON.
BISOH.
484
of our island were the Bkontes jubati of Pliny, thus continues : —
** The Urufl of the Hercynian forest, described by Csesar, book vi,
was of this kind, the same which is called by the modem Qennans
Aurochs, that is. Bos tylvettriM," Now let us look at Cesar's description.
" These Uri arc little inferior to elephants in sixe, but are bulls in
their nature, colour, and figure. Qreat is their strength and great
their swiftness, nor do they spare man or beast when thej haye
caught sight of them. These, when trapped in pitfalls, the hunters
diligently kill. The youths exerdsing themselyes by this sort of
hunting are hardened by the toil ; and those among them who haye
killed most, bringing with them the horns as testimonials, acquire
great praise. But tiiese Uri cannot be habituated to man or made
tractable, not eyen when yoimg. The great sice of the horns, as well
as the form and quality of them, diflfers much from the honis of our
oxen. These, when carefully selected, they ring round the edge with
silyer and use them for drinJung-cups at their ample feasts." Though
there are parts of this description applicable to tne European Bison,
there is one striking character whicn forbids us to conclude that
Csesar^s Urut was identical with it. A glance at the European Bison
will conyinoe us that it neyer could haye afforded the horns whose
amplitude Csosar celebrates. In the ' Archieolog^' yoL iii p. 15, it
is stated that the Borstal horn is supposed to hietye belonged to the
Bison or Bu£Ealo. That it might haye belonged to a BuffiJo is not
impossible, but that it did not belong to a Bison is sufficiently clear
from the following description : '^ It is 2 feet 4 inches long on the
conyex bend, and 28 inches on the concaye. The inside at we large
end is 8 inches diameter, being perforated there so as to leaye the
thickness only of half an inch for about 8 inches deep ; but farther in
it is thicker, being not so much or so neatly perforated." This horn
was no doubt supplied by the Great Fossil Ox, the Bo9 prvnigeitiviu.
Horns were anciently used amongst us in the conyeyanoe of
inheritances ; of which we haye examples in the Borstal horn, and
the Pusey horn. These probably belonged to the Qreat Fossil Ox.
That the common Ox could not be descended from the Bison as has
been conjectured by some, is proyed by the fact that the Aurochs or
European Bison has 14 pairs of ribs, while the Ox has but 18, and
that the legs of the Aurochs are more slender and longer than those
of the Ox and true Buffalo. The European Bison, moreoyer, has but
fiye lumbar yertebrse, while the other oxen, with the exception of
the American Bison, which has only four according to Cuyier, possess
six. [BOVID-B.]
** The front of the common Ox," says Cuyier, " is flattened, and
eyen in a small degree concaye ; that of the Aurochs is rounded into
conyexity (bomb^), though rather less thim that of the Buffido. It is
. square in the Ox, its height
being nearly equal toitsbreadth,
taking for its base an imaginary
line between the orbits. In the
Aurochs, with the same mode
of measurement, it is much
broader than it is high, in the
proportion of three to one.
The horns are attached in the
Ox to the extremities of the
most eleyated salient line of
the head, that, namely, which
separates the occiput from the
front ; in the Aurochs this line
is two inches farther back than
the root of the horns. The
plane of the occiput makes a
sharp angle with the frx>nt in
the Ox ; this angle is obtuse in
Skull of European Bison, front view. the Aurochs ; and lastly, this
quadrangular plane of the
occiput^ as it is in the Ox,
represents a half circle in the
Aurochs."
The figures here giyen were
taken from the skull of the
European Bison or Aurochs in
the museum at Paris. This
must haye been a young animal,
as will be seen from comparing
the representation of its skull
with that of the following speci-
men.
There is now no doubt
that the BUon jvhaiuB of Pliny
(book yiiL c 15, and xxyiiL a
10), which he seems to dis-
tinguish frt>m the Unts, was
the European Bison or Aurochs ;
i»w.flu «f ♦!,-. ....4. Mid though in the 15th chapter
Profile of the same. ^^ ^^^ 8t£book he mentions the
tradition of a wild beast in Pseonia called a Borumu, after he has
dismissed his BisonUt jubcUi, and with eyery appearance of a conclu-
iion on his part that the Bonatm and Biton were not identical
his own description, when compared with that of Aristotle, will
leaye little doubt that the Biton jubatui and Bonatut of PUny and
others, the B6vaff<rot or B6vairos of Aristotle (for the word is written
both ways), and the Bivoty of Oppian, were no other than the Eoropesn
Bison.
Skull of old Eoropean Bison, front view.
Profile of the same.
European Bison {Bison JSuropmu).
Cuyier, in his ' Ossemens Fossiles,' states it to be his opinion that
this animal, the largest or at least the most massiye of all existing
quadrupeds after the rhinoceros, is a distinct species which man has
neyer subdued. Following out this subject with his usual indofftoy
Digitized by
Google
485
BISON.
BISON.
4SI
and ability, that great naturaliat goes on to state that if Europe
poMe«ed a Urut, a Thur of the Poles, different from the Bison or tne
Aurochs of the (Germans, it is only in its remains that this species
can be traced. Snch remains are found in the skalls of a species of
Ox different from the Aurochs, in the superficial beds of certain dis-
tricta This Chmer was of opinion must haye been the true Urns of
the aocients, the original of our domestic Ox, the stock perhaps whence
our wild cattle descended. Professor Owen, in his 'British FossQ
Mammals,' has fully established the distinction between the Aurochs
and the Qreat Fossil Ox, the Urui of the andents, but he has shown
that it is impossible that any of our forms of oxen or wild cattle
should have been descended from this species which is now extinct.
[Boyidjl] The hecui giyen below is figured by Cuvier as of doubtful
character, but if compared with the skull of the Aurochs there can be
little doubt of its identity.
Sknll of ■opposed FomU Aorodha, front view.
Profile of the same.
The remains of the Aurochs have been found abundantly on the
continent of Europe, and been described by Fai^as, Cuvier, and
H. von Meyer. Some of these carry the antiquity of this animal as
far back as the period of the extinct pachyderms of the newer Pliocene
deposits. On comparing these with recent specimens of the Aurochs
from the Lithuanian forests, they are found to be generally of lai^r
siie, to have longer and somewhat less bent horns, but they present
no satisfactoiT specific distinction.
That the Aurochs existed formerly in Qreat Britain is attested
from the discovery of remains of the cranium and horn-cores from
various newer Tertiary Fresh-Water deposits, especially in the counties
of Kent and Essex along the borders of the Thames. In the hall of
the Qeologioal Society of London is a cranium witb horn-cores,
obtained by Mr. Warburton from the Fresh-Water Tertiary deposits
of Walton in Essex. A broken skull was also discovered by Mr. H.
£. Strickland, in the Fresh-Water Drift at Cropthome, Worcestershire.
Professor Phillips, in his 'Qeology of Yorkshire,' records the
discovery of the skull with the cores of the horns and the teeth at
Beilbecks, in Yorkshire. It was accompanied with the remains of
fresh-water MoUuaca and of the Mammoth, Rhinoceros, a species of
Felit, a liuge Horse, a large Deer, Wolf, &a It is to be regretted
that the entire skeleton of the same individual has not hitherto been
discovered, in order that a comparison of the number of ribs between
this elder Bison, and the European and American Bisons of the present
day might be made.
The European Bison, as found at the present day, has a very broad
head and arched forehead. The eyes are large and dark ; the hair on
the forehead is long and wavy, and under the chin and breast it forms
a kind of beard. In tiie wmter the wholo of the neck, hump, and
shoulders are covered with a long dusky-brown hair, intermmgled
with a soft fiir. The long hair is cast in the summer and renewed in
the winter. The tail is of moderate length, covered with hair, and is
terminated in a large tufL The females are not so lai^ge as the males,
and have not so much hair on their bodies.
The districts in which this J^nin^Al jb now found living are compara-
tively limited, as it appears to be confined to the forests of Lithuania,
Moldavia, Wallachia, and some parts of the Caucasus. These animals
have never been domesticated, but herds of them are protected in
certain localities in the forest of Bialowieza in Lithuania, under the
direction of the Emperor of Russia. There are twelve herds thus
kept, each herd being under the superintendence of one herdsman.
The estimated number of all the herds is 800. They feed on man
and brushwood, and the bsjrk of young trees, especudly the wmow,
poplar, ash, and birch. They do not attain their fiHll stature till their
sixth year. They are very diy, and can only be approached from the
leeward, as their smell is exceedingly acute. When accidentally
fallen in with they become furious, and passionately assail the intruder.
^^ffhm taken young they become accustomed to their keeper, but the
Approach of oUier persons excites their anger. Two young specimens
were presented to the Zoological Society of London by the Emperor
of Russia. Although it had been stated that the Aurochs had a
natural enmity to domestic cattie, and that the young obstinately
refiised to be suckled by the domestic oow, the calves sent by the
Emperor were suckled by. a cow in the Regent's Park Gardens, an^
becune very speedily attached to tiieir foster-mother. These creatures
unfortunately died a few months after they had been brought to this
country. A very fine specimen was presented to the BritLui Museum
by tiie Emperor of Russia, which is now to be seen stuffed in the col-
lection. Tne dimensions of this animal are as follows : —
Ft. In.
Length fW>m the nose to the insertion of the tail . 0 10
Height at the withers . . . . ..56
Height at the rump . . . . . . 4 11
Length of head .18
Length of tail . 8 0
American BUon.
We have seen that the European Bison has fourteen pairs of ribs,
while the conmion Ox has but thirteen. The specific difference of the
American Bison is marked by its having fifteen ribs on each side.
Thus, in the Bisons, the supplementary ribs spring from the anterior
lumbar vertebrae, or rather from vertebrae which are lumbar as far as
regards their situation, but dorsal when considered in relation to their
functions. The contour of the skull has much in conmion with that
of the Ehiropean species, but its development, and indeed that of the
whole frame, is much inferior in the female. Beneath is represented
the skull of a young female American Bison, —
Skull of young female American
Bison, Aront ylew.
Proaie of the
same.
and we shall at once see how tame and weak its chiselling is whan
compared with that of the old male.
\
Skull of old male American Bison, firont riew.
Profile of the same.
The American Bison has many points of similarity with the Aurocha.
In both we have the huge head and the lengthened spinal procetses
of the dorsal vertebrw for the attachment of the brawny musdee that
support and wield it. In both we have the conical hump between
the shoulders in consequence, and the shaggy mane in all seasons ;
and each presents a model of brute force, formed to push and throw
down. , . , .
This is the Taurus Mexieanus of Hemandes, who gives a woodcut
of the beast, but not a good one ; the Taureau Sauvage of Hennepu^
who also gives a figure of it, not better than that of Hemande^ and
probably a copy from it ; the Buffalo of Lawson, Catesby, &a, of the
Hudson^s Bay traders, and of the Anglo-Amerioans generaUy; the
Bison of Ray and Pennant; Bot AmerieaiMU of Gmelin; Ajnencan
Wild Ox or Bison of Warden; Peeoheek of the Algonqum Indiana;
Moostoosh of the Crees; and Adgiddah of the Chippewayans, aocordmg
to Sir John Richardson. , , ., ^
Pennant says, " In America these animals are found in the oountnei
Digitized by
Google
49^
BISON.
600 miles we>t of Hudson's Bay ; this is their most northern residenoe.
From thenoe thej are met witb in great droves as low as Cibole
(on the authority of Purohas) in lat 38% a little north of California^
and also in the proTince of Mivera in New Mexico. The species
Amerioan Biaon {BUon Amwrieamu), Females. A BuU inthe diatance.
Amerioan Biaon {Bi90H .JiaHaamia), a Boll.
instantly ceases south of those countries. They inhabit Canada to the
west of the lakes ; and in greater abundance in the rich savannahs
which border the river Mississippi and the great rivers which fall into
it from the west, in Upper Louisiana. There they are seen in
herds innumerable, promiscuously with multitudes of stags and deer
during morning and evening; retiring in the sultry heats into the
shade of tall reeds which border the riven of America."
Joseph Sabine, in the Appendix to ' Franklin's Narrative/ says that
they are abundant in all parts of North America, wherever the pro-
gress of cultivation has not interfered with their range, and that Uiey
are extremely numerous on the plains of the Saskatchewan River.
They are also found, he observes, though less plentifully, in the woods
as far north as Great Slave Lake. The most northern situation in
which they were observed by Sir John Franklin's party was Slave
Pointy on the north side of the lake. In the same work it is stated
that the natives say that the Wood Buffaloes, as they are called, are
laiger than those of the plains, but the difference is not material.
Sir John Richardson, in his ' Fauna Boreali- Americana,' gives the
following compendious history of the geographical range of the
American Bison : — "At the period when Europeans began to form
settlements in North America, this animal was occasionaiUy met with
on the Atlantic coast ; but even then it appears to have been rare to
the eastward of the Appalachian Mountains, for Lawson has thought
it to be a fact worth recording, that two were killed in one season on
Cape Fear River. As early as the first discovery of Canada, it was
unknown in that oountry, and no mention of it whatever occurs in
BISON. 48B
the ' Voyages du Sieur de Champlain Xaintongeois,' nor in the ' Nora
Fran9ia of De Monts, who obtained the first monopoly of the far-
trade. Theodat) whose ' History of Canada ' was published in 1636,
merely says that he was informed that buUs existed in the remote
western countries. Warden mentions that at no very distant date
herds of them existed in the western parts of PennsylYUUSt sod that
as late as the year 1766 they were pretty numerous in Kentucky; but
they have gradually retired before the white population, and are now,
he says, rarely seen to the south of the Ohio, on the east side of the
Mississippi They still exist, however, in vast numbers in Louisiana,
roaming in countless herds over the prairies that are watered by the
Arkansas, Platte, Missouri, and upper branches of the Saskatchewan
and Peace rivers. Great Slave Lake, in lat. 60", was at one time the
northern boimdary of their range ; but of late years, according to the
testimony of the natives, they have taken possession of the flat lime*
stone district of Slave Point, on the north side of that lake, and hare
wandered to the vicinity of Qreat Marten Lake, in lat. 63** or 64°. As
far as I have been able to ascertain, the limestone and sandstone
formations lying between the great Rocky Mountain ridge and the
lower eastern chain of primitive rocks, are the only districts in the
fur countries that are frequented by the bison. In these comparatively
level tracts there is much prairie land, on which they find good grass
in the summer, and also many n;^arshes ovei^grown with bulnishesand
carices,* which supply them with winter food. Salt-springs and lakes
also abound on the confines of the limestone, and there are seTeral
well-known salt-licks where bisons are sure to be found at all seasons
of the year. They do not frequent any of the districts formed of
primitive rocks, and the limits of their range to the eastward, within
the Hudson's Bay Company's territories, may be nearly correctly marked
on the map by a line commencing in long. 97** on the Red River, which
flows into the south end of Lake Winnipeg, crossing the Saskatchewan
to the westward of Basquiau Hill, and running from thence by the
Athapescow to the east end of Qreat Slave Lake. Their migrations to
the westward were formerly limited by the Rocky Mountain range,
and they are still unknown in New Caledonia and on the shores of the
Pacific to the north of the Columbia River, but of late years they have
found out a passage across the mountains, near the sources of the
Saskatchewan, and their numbers to the westward are said to be
annually increasing. In 1806, when Lewis and Clarke crossed the
mountains at the head of the Missouri, bison-skins were an important
article of traffic between the inhabitants on the east side and the
natives to the westward. Farther to the southward, in New Mexico
and California, the bison appears to be numerous on both sides of the
Rocky Mountain chain."
The districts of America which these animals inhabit are described
very graphically in Washington Irving's * Tour on the Prairies.*
The American male Bison, when at its full size, is said to weigh
2000 lbs., though 12 or 14 cwt. is considered a good weight in the fur
countiies. Sir John Richardson gives 8^ feet as its length, exclusive
of the tail, which is 20 inches, and upwards of 6 feet as its height at
the fore quarters. The head is very large, and carried low ; the eyes
tire small, black, and piercing ; the horns are short, small, sharp, set
fiu- apart, for the forehead is very broad, and directed outwards and
backwards, so as to be nearly erect^ with a slight curve towards the
outward-pointing tips. The hump is not a mere lump of fatty secre-
tion, like that of the sebu, but consists, exclusive of a deposit of fat
which varies much in quantity, of the strong muscles attached to the
highly-developed spinous processes of the last cervical and first dorsal
vertebrae, forming fit machinery for the support and movement of
the enormous head. The chest is broad, and Uie legs are strong ; the
hind parts are narrow, and have a comparativelv weak appearance.
The tail is clothed with short fur-like hair, with a long, straight,
coarse, blackish-brown tuft at the end. In winter the whole body in
covered with long shagged hair, whidi in summer falls o£^ leaving
the blackish wrinkled skin exposed, except on the forehead, hump,
fore quarters, imder-jaw, and throa^ where the hair is veir long and
shaggy, and mixed with much wooL Catesby observes uat on the
forehead of a buU the hair is a foot long, thick, and frixded, and of a
dusky black colour ; that the length of this hair hanging over their
eyes impedes their fiight, and is f^uentlv the cause of their
destruction ; but that this obstruction of sight is in some measure
supplied by their good noses, which are no stkiall safeguanl to them.
A bull, says he, in summer, with his body bare and his head mu£9ed
with long hair, makes a very formidable appearance. In smnmer the
general colour of the hair is between dark-umber and liver-brown, and
lustrous. The tips of the hair as it lengiJiens in winter are paler,
and before it is died in summer mudi of it becomes of a pale dull
yellowish-brown. In the female the head is smaller, and the hair on
the fore parts is not so long as it is in the mala
Congregating in vast herds, these animals are said to cover the
wide-extended savannahs of the more southern districts of the north
for miles in extent " Such was the multitude," say Lewis and Clarke,
speaking of an assemblage of Bisons as they crossed the water, ''that
although the river, including an island over which they passed, was a
mile in length, the herd stretched as thick as they could swim com-
pletely from one side to the other." The-same travellers, speaking of
• Oarex is the name of a genua of Ojfperaectt^ a family of planta nearly alHed
to the Orasaes.
Digitized by
Google
480
BISON.
BISON.
another of these grand spectacles, say — " If it be not impossible to
calculate the moving multitude wluch darkened the whole plains, we
are oonvinced ihat 20,000 would be no exaggerated number." Catesby,
after stating that they range in droves, feeding on the open savannahs
morning and evening, says that in the sultiy time of the day they
retire to shady rivulets and streams of clear water gliding through
thickets of tail canes. Dr. James had an opportunity of observing
them on such oocasions, and he thus describes their march : — ** In the
middle of the day countless thousands of them were seen coming in
from eveiy quarter to the stagnant pools ;" and in another place he
says that their paths are as frequent and almost as conspicuous as
the roads in the most populous parts of the United States.
The Bisons, in truth, are a wandering race, the motives of their
restlessness being either disturbance by hunters or change of pasture.
After the fire has cleared the prairie of all the old herbage, the deli-
cately tender grass which springs up in the room of the old wiry
bents that fed the flame offers the most grateful food to the migratory
Bisons: such spots are well known to the hunter as pomts of
attraction to these animals. In the winter, when the snow lies deep
over the vegetation, they scrape it away with their feet to get at the
grass.
Fierce and terrible are the fights among the bulls in the rutting
season, and perilous la the condition of the man who then approaches
them. For the greatest part of the year the bulls and cows live in
separate herds, but at all seasons, according to Sir John Richardson,
one or two old buUs generally accompany a large herd of cows.
These powerful beasts are in general shy, and fly from the face of
man till they are wounded ; the^r then become furious, and pursue
their enemy with the most vindictive spirit, as we shall presently seo ;
but we must first say a word or two on some of the different modes
of hunting them. Du Pratz and Charlevoix give several particulars
of the chMe of these animals by the Indians. If the rifle be used the
hunter ijb careful to go against the wind, for the sense of smelling is
so exquisite in the Bison that it wiU otherwise get scent of him, and
precipitately retire. If he gets within rifle-distance he is carefUl so to
take his aim that the beast may drop at once, and not be irritated by
an ineffectual wound.
But the great himting is, or rather was, somewhat after the caanner
of the Scottish 'tinoheL' A great number of men divide uad form a
vast square. Each band sets fire to the dry grass of the savannah
where the herds are feeding. When the affirighted beasts perceive the
fire approaching on all sides they retire in confusion to the centre of
the square, where the bands close upon them and kill them, as they
are huddled together in heaps, without hazard : 1500 or 2000 beeves
have been given as the produce of such an expedition.
Sir John Franklin, in his account of his tirst voyage, gives us the
following information. After stating that the Stone Indians are so
expert with the bow and arrow that they can strike a very small object
at a considerable distance, and shoot with sufficient force to pierce
through the body of a buffiilo when near, he thus describes a buflalo
or bison pound : —
** The buffalo-pound was a fenced circular space of about 100 yards
in diameter ; the entrance was banked up with snow to a sufficient
height to prevent the retreat of the animals that once have entered.
For about a mile on each side of the road leading to the pound, stakes
were driven into \h» grotmd at nearly equal distances of about 20
yards ; these were intended to represent men, and to deter the animals
from attempting to break out on either side. Within 50 or 60 yards
from the pound branches of trees were placed between these stakes to
screen the Indians, who lie down behind them to await the approach
of the buffido. The principal dexterity in this species of chase is
shown by the horsemen, who have to manceuvre round the herd in
the plains so as to urge them to enter the roadway, which is about a
quarter of a mile broad. When this has been accomplished they raise
loud shouts, and, pressing close upon the animals, so terrify them that
they rush heedlessly forward towards the snare. When they have
advanced as far as the men who are lying in ambush, thev also rise,
and increase the consternation by violent shouting and firing g^ns.
The afl&ighted beasts having no alternative run directly to the pound,
where they are quickly diispatched either with an arrow or gun.
There was a tr^ in the centre of the pound on which the In<£an8
had hung strips of buffido flesh and pieces of cloth, as tributary or
grateful ofbrings to the Qreat Master of life ; and we were told that
they oGcasionallv place a man in the tree to sing to the presiding
roirit as the bumJoes are advancing, who must keep his station imtU
the whole tiiat have entered are killed."
The same author further proceeds as follows : — " Other modes of
killing the bufBilo are praotiMd by the Indians with success ; of these,
the hunting them on horseback requires most dexterity. An expert
hunter, when well mounted, dashes at the herd, and chooses an indi-
vidual which he endeavoun to separate from the rest. If he succeeds
he contrives to keep him apart by the proper management of his
hoTse, though going at fuU speed. Whenever he can get sufficiently
near for a boll to penetrate the beast's hide he fires, and seldom fiEuls
of bringing the animal down ; though of course he cannot rest the
piece against the shoulder nor take a deliberate aim. On this service
the hunter is often exposed to considerable danger firom the &11 of his
horse in the numerous holes which the badgers make in these plains,
and also from the rage of the bufhlo, which, when closely pressed^
often turns suddenly, and, rushing furiously on the horse, frequently
succeeds in woimdmg it or dismounting the rider. Whenever tiie
animal shows this disposition, which the experienced hunter will
readily perceive, he immediately pulls up his horse, and goes off in
another direction." The reader will find some animated descriptions
of such encounters in ' The Tour on the Prairies,' before alluded to.
A great deal of interesting matter on the habits of these «»^imft1a ^inll
also be found in Catlin's ' Letters and Notes on the North American
Indians.'
" When the buffaloes are on their guard," as Sir John Franklin
observes, "horses cannot be used in approaching them; but the
htmter dismounts at some distance, and crawls in the snow towards
the herd, pushing his gun before him. If the buf&loes happen to
look towards him, he stops, and keeps quite motionless, until their
eyes are turned in another direction ; by this cautious proceeding a
skilful person will get so near as to be able to kill two or three out of
the herd. It will easily be imagined this service cannot be very
agreeable when the thermometer stands 80° or 40^ below zero, as
sometimes happens in this country."
This chase of the bison is not unattended with danger, " for," says
Catesby, " when wounded they are very furious, which cautions the
Indians how they attack them in open savannahs, where no trees are
to screen them firom their fuiy. Their hoofs, more than their horns,
are their offensive weapons, and whatever opposes them is in no small
danger of being trampled into the earth."
Sir John Richardson, in his ' Fauna Boreali- Americana/ observes
that "the bisons are less wary when they are assembled together in
numbers, and that they will then often blindly follow their leaden,
regardless of, or trampling down, the hunters posted in their way."
He further states that^ though the gait of these animals may appear
heavy and awkward, Uiey will have no great difficulty in overtaking
the fleetest runner, and gives the following account of the determined
violence with whidi a wounded Bison assails its enemy : — " While I
resided at Corlton-House," writes Sir John Richardson, '' an accident
of this kind occurred. Mr. Finnan M'Donald, one of the Hudson's
Bay Company's clerks, was descending the Saskatchewan in a boat^
and one evening, having pitched his tent for the night, he went out
in the dusk to look for game. It had become nearly dEirk when he
fired at a bison bull, which was galloping over a small eminence, and
as he was hastening forward to see if his shot had taken effect, the
wounded beast made a rush at him. He had the presence of nund to
seize the animal by the long hair on its forehead as it struck him on
the side with its horn, and, being a remarkably tall and powerful man,
a struggle ensued, which continued until his wrist was severely
sprained, and his arm was rendered powerless ; he then fell, and after
receiving two or three blows became senseless. Shortly afterwards
he was found by his companions lying bathed in blood, being gored in
several places, and the bison was couched beside him, apparently
waiting to renew the attack had he shown any signs of life. Mr.
M*Donald recovered from the immediate effects of the in^'uries he
received, but died a few months afterwards. Many other instances
might be mentioned of the tenaciousness with wmch this animal
pursues its revenge ; and I have been told of a hunter having been
detained for many hours in a tree by an old bull which had taken its
post below to watch him. When it contends with a dog, it strikes
violent^ with its fore feet^ and in that way proves more t£an a match
for an English bull-dog."
The same writer says that the fiftvourite Indian method of killing
the Bison Ib by riding up to the fattest of the herd on horseback, and
shootinjg it with an arrow ; and he speaks of the imposing spectacle
which is afforded when a lai^e party of huntera are engaged in this
way on an extensive plain, and of the skill and agility displayed by
the young men on such occasions. The horses, it appears, seem to
enjoy the sport as much as their riders, and are very active in eluding
the shock of the animal should it turn on its purauer. It should be
remembered, on such occasions, that when tiie Bison runs it leans
very much first to one side for a short time, and then to the other,
and so on alternately. This accoimt is confirmed by Catlin in the
work above quoted.
Sir John Richardson also confirms Sir John Franklyn in the assertion
that the mo3it generally practised plan of shooting the Bisons is by
crawling towards them from the leeward, and that in favourable places
great numbere are taken iu pounds.
Though the risk of the chase be considerable the reward is great ;
for there are few animals that minister more largely to the wants and
even to the comforts of man than the American Bison. The horns
are converted into powder-fiasks ; the hide, which, according to
Catesby, is too heavy for the strongest man to lift from the ground,
is very valuable, and is used for a variety of purposes. Purchas
relates that in old times the Indians made the best ot targets^ of it ;
and Catesby says that they make their winter moccassins of it also,
but that, being too heavy for clothing, it is not often put to that use.
Sir John Richardson informs us that the wool has been manufactured
in England into a remarkably fine and beautiful cloth ; and that in
the colony of Osnaboyna, on the Red River, a warm and durable ooanw
cloth is formed of it. Catlin says that " tiiere are by a fair calculation
more than 800,000 Indians who are now subsisting on the flesh of the
Digitized by
Google
401
BI9T0K.
BITTERN.
buffaloea, and bj these ftniTnAlw Bupplied with all the luxuries of lilb
which th^ desire, as they know of none others."
"The flesh of a bison in good condition," says the author last
quoted, " is very juicy and weU-flavoured, much resembling that of
well-fed bee£" Others describe it as bearing the same relation to
common beef that Yenison bears to mutton. The tongue^, when well
cured, is said to surpass that of the common ox as a relish. All
concur in the praises of the delicious hump, rich, savoury, and tender.
This is the fleshy part that covers the long spinous processes of the
anterior dorsal vertebno, and is called ' bos * by the Caxiadian voyagers,
and 'wig' by the Orkney men in the service of the Hudson's Bay
Company, according to Sur John Richardson, who says that much of
the pemmican used by the voyagers attached to the fiir companies is
made of bison meat, procured at their posts on the Red River and
Saskatchewan : he adds, that one bison cow in good condition
furnishes dried meat and fat enough to make a bag of pemmican
weighing 90 lbs.
The taA buUs yield a great quantity of tallow; and Du Pratz
records that 150 lbs. have been procured from a single beast.
Pennant says that these over-fed animals usually become the prey
of wolves, for, by reason of their great unwieldiness, they cannot
keep up with the herd; and, on the authority of Du Pratz, gives
the following account of their sagacity in defending themselves
against the attacks of their fierce persecutors : — " When they scent the
approach of a drove of those ravenous creatures, the herd fliugs itself
iuto the form of a circle : the weakest keep in the middle, the
fitrongest are ranged on the outside, presenting to the enemy an
impenetrable front of horns : should they be taken by surprise, and
have recourse to flight, numbers of the fattest or the weakest are sure
to perish." Sir John Richardson however, speaking of the numerous
wolves on the sandy plains which, lying to Uie eastward of the Rocky
Mountainsi, extend from the sources of the Peace and Saskatchewan
rivers towards the Missouri, says that there bands of them hang on
the skirts of the buffalo herds, and prey upon the sick and straggling
calves, but that they do not» under ordinary circumstances, venture
to attack the full-grown animaL As a proof of this, he adds, that the
hunters informed him that they often saw wolves walking through a
herd of bulls without exciting the least alarm, and that the marksmen,
when they crawl towards a bison for the purpose of shooting it, occa-
sionally wear a cap with two ears in imitation of the head of a wolf,
knowing from experience that they will be suffered to approach nearer
in that guise.
The Grisly Bear is one of the most formidable enemies of the
American Bison; and the strongest bull goes down before l^i"^
[Bkae.]
The Indian is too wild in his habits to submit to the fetters which
an attempt to domesticate animals would impose upon his liberty ; a
child of tne wilderness, he depends on his bow or lus rifle for his sub-
sistence, and wanders free. It is not therefore surprising that no
attempt should have been made by the aboriginal inhabitants to
reduce the Bison to obedience. Catesby however says that these
animals have been known to breed with tame cattle that were become
wild, but that the calves being so too were neglected, " and though,"
he continues, "it is the general opinion that if reclaiming these
animals were not impracticable (of which no trial has been made), to
mix the breed with tame cattle would much improve the breed, yet
nobody has had the curiosity nor have given themselves any trouble
about iV Pennant states tliat the experiment has been made, and
that it has failed, for he thus writes in his 'Arctic Zoology:' —
** Attempts have been made to tame and domesticate tiie wild bison,
by catching the calves and bringing them up with the common kind, in
hopes of improving the breed. It has not yet been found to answer :
notwithstanding tney had the appearance for a time of having lost
their savage nature, yet they always grew impatient of restraint^ and,
by reason of their great strength, would break down the strongest
indosure^ and entice the tame cattle into the corn-fields. They have
been known to engender together and to breed ; but I cannot learn
whether the species was meliorated by the intercourse."
A very fine American Bison bull was shown some years agO in this
countiyas the ' Bonassus,' and under that name found its way into the
epilogue of the Westminster Play as one of the wonders of the day.
It was afterwards purchased by the Zoological Society of London ;
but it had been enfeebled by confinement and disease, and died soon
after the Society became possessed of it. The Hudson's Bay Company
supplied its place by presenting a young cow in 1829, wmch is still
alive in the Qardens, Regent's Park (July, 1853.)
(Owen, Britiih Foatil MommdU and Birdi ; Yasey, DdvaeatiofM of
the Ox-Tribe; Cuvier, Oeaemene FoeeOee ; AuYnnie,Popuiarffietoryof
Mammalia ; ProceedingM of Zoological Society,) [Set Supplbmbht.]
BrSTON, a genus of Moths, belonging to the fiumily QwiMtrtdce.
The principal distinguishing characters of this genus are as follows : —
Palpi short and three-jointed; antenna rather long, and distinctly
pectinated in the males, each joint being furnished with a ciliated
branchy and these branches longest on the central joints (in the females
these Inrandies are wanting, or nearly so) ; body tnick ; wings present
in both sexesy not very thicldy ooverad with soiles, and hence slightly
trmnsparent^ especially in the females. The larva has ten l^gs, and is
elongate, cylindrioal, and tuberculated, and has the head more or less
notched in fh>nt ; it assumes the pupa state underground at the xooti
of trees.
There appears to be an analogical resemblance between these moths
and the NotodorUidce, their larvsa showing that they are not other-
wise allied. The imago state of the species however may be dia-
tinguisbed by the different texture of the wings^ and stmcture of the
anteniuB.
Three species of this genus have been discovered in this ooontiT :—
Bitton prodronuaria, the Oak-Beauty; B. belulmriue, the Pepper-Hoth;
and B, Airtarncf, the Brindled Beauty. The first of these has the
antenna bipectinated to the apex, and the last two have the antemse
simple at the apex in the males.
A prodromaria has the wings of an aah-colonr, or approaching to
white, finely sprinkled with black : each of the upper wings has two
transverse bent fasciss of a brown colour, more or less maigined irith
black, and the under wings have one fBuscia of the same descriptioiL
When the wings are expanded it measures from an inch and a half to
two inches in width.
The caterpillar feeds upon the oak, poplar, &c. The moth is rue,
but is found in the month of March in tne trunks of oak iarees in the
neighbourhood of London, and elsewhere.
B. betularitu has received the name of Pepper-Moth from its beiiig
of a white colour, and, as it were, peppered with black ahnoit
xmiformly over the wings.
This moth is about the same size as the last, and is not unoomm<fii
in the month of June in woods near London, and iu other parts. In
caterpillar feeds upon the oak, willow, poplar, elm, &,c
B. hiriariue is of a brown colour, dotted with gray, with three or
four transverse black bent lines on each wing, and a whitish fiwoa
near the hinder margia It is common among poplar and lime-trres
and is about an inch and three-quarters in expanse. In the femaica
the wings have a greenish hue.
BISTORT. rPOLYOONUM.]
BITTER-BLAIN. (Tandellia.J
BITTER-CRESS. [Cabdamine.]
BITTER-SPAR, a name given to Magnesian Limestone. [Dolomite.]
BITTER-SWEET. [Solanum.]
BITTER-WOOD. [Xylopia.1
BITTERK, Botoivnu (Brisson), a genus of Birds belonging to the
family of Herons, or ArdtlidcR. The following are the chsractan
which principally distinguish the Bitterns from the rest of the
family : — ^Bill strong, about as long as the head, compressed, and
higher than it is broad ; mandibles equal in length, the umier bong
rather the deepest, and slightly curved from the base to the point;
edges of both maxidibles somewhat incurved, vexy sharp, and finely
serrated toward the point. Logs, as compared with those of othen
of the family, rather snort. Kedc also comparatively shorty covered
on its sides and front with long loose feathers which can be erected at
pleasure, and on the back (of the neck) with down, the long loose
feathers of the side meeting behind, and covering the downy part in
certain attitudes, as, for example, when the bird passes throng^ the
reeds and rushes.
The Bitterns comprehended under the Prince of Canine's subgoDua
Botavrut are widely diffused, but being solitary birds, haunting wooded
swamps or reedv marshes, where they generally lie hid all day, and
coming forth to feed at nighty they are seldom seen. There are several
species of this subgenus, and of these the Night Heron or Qoa*
Bird {Ardea NycUcorax^ Linnaeus, Nyctieorax Buropaue, Stephens) k
found both in tiie Old and New World. [Ntcticoraz.]
As an example of the subgenus, the Common l^ttem or IKtioor
(BoUmnu i8SfeUaru,.Steph., Ardea SteUaris, Linn., Ucodlo Lepra and
Trombutto of the Italians, Rohrtrommel of the Qermans, and Boter
of the French) may be taken. The provincial Kngliwh names of Mxre-
Drum, Bull of the Bog^ &a, will occur to many of our readen as beJog
indicative, in common with some of the foreign ones, of the beUowing
or drumming noise for which the bird is so famous. This deep soke
of the ' hollow-sounding bittern ' is exerted on the ground as the
breeding season, about I'ebruaiy or March. As the day deeUnai h»
leaves his haunt, and rising spirally soars to a great hea^t in the
twilight. Willughb^ says that it performs this last-mantioined feat in
the autumn, "making a "i^pilw kind of noise nothing like to
lowing." Bewick says that it soars as above described when it changes
its haunts. Ordinarily it flies heavilv, like the heron, uttering fnn
time to time a resounding cry, not bellowing ; and then WiUn^il?}
who well describes the bellowing noise of the breeding-season,
supposes it to be the night-raven, at whose ' deadly voioe' the snpf-
stitious wayfarer of the night turned pale and trembled. " lUs,
without doubt^" writes Willug^by, "is that bird our common peopl*
call the night-raven, and have such a dread oi, imagining its 07
portends no less than their death or the deatii of some of their near
relatiozui; for it flies in the nighty answers their description of bein^
like a flagging collar, and hath such a Idnd of hooping ay aa tb«|r
talk of" Others, with much reason, consider the Qua-Bird abortt
mentioned (which utters a loud and most disagreeable noise iHiHe oik.
the wing, conveying the idea of the agonies of a person attempting to
vomit), to be the true night-raven.
The food of the Bittern consists for the moat part> as might be
suspected from its haunts, of aquatic «^"^"»*ia. Pennant laja tha*
Digitized by
Google
4fi3
BITTERN.
BITUMEN.
frogs are its prindpal food, adding, "not that it rejects fish, for small
trouta hAve been taken out of its stomach."
The rude nest of the Bittern is generally formed of reeds, sticks,
&C., on some 'tump/ to use Montagu's expression, in a reedy marsh
or well-clothed ro&y moor, and contains four or five pale green eggs.
The time of incubation is about twenty-six days.
In the palmy days of falconry the Bittern afforded the best of spori
We find it mentioned m the 'flights to the field, called great flints.'
" There is yet,** saya Turbervile, '* another kinde of flight to the fielde,
which is called the great flight, as to the cranes, wild geese, bustard,
birde of Paradise, bittors, shovelars, hearons, and many other such
like." Accordingly we find it protected by the severe penalties of
the Stat. 25 Hen. VIII. c. 11, confirmed by stat. 8 and 4 Edw. YL a 7.
One yearns imprisonment, and a forfeiture of eightpence for each egg,
was the punishment awarded to those who destroyed or took away
the eggs of the 'bittour.' When the hawk had 'bound with' the
bittern and brought it down, it was the duty of the folconer to make
in apace to rescue her, by plimging the bill of the bittern into the
ground, to prevent injury to the hawk; for when wounded the
bittern is not daunted, but lies watching his opportunity to dart his
spear-like bill at his enemy as soon as he comes within his reach, and
as he generally aims at the eye, he should be approached with the
greatest caution. The modem sportsman should beat for these birds
with pointers or very dose-hunting spaniels ; for they are moved with
as mudx dif&culty as a jack-snipe, and, like that bird, will often lie till
tiiey are almost trodden on, rather than take wing.
The Bittern was well known to the ancients, and there can be
little doubt that it is the 'Aorcpfor (^EptoBiSs), of Aristotie. (' Hist
Anim.' book ix. c. xviii.) In the same chapter its sluggishness and
the &ble of its origin m>m slaves metamorphosed into birds are
mentioned. Aristotie observes further that the ^i( especially strikes
at the eyes ; and in the edition of Belon (1557), ' enrichy de quatrains,'
we fijid the following verse below the figure of the ' butor : ' —
** £n tm Bator Pholx, pour ml paresse
Fat par les dieux changii dlTinement.
Un paresseux aussi commonement
Est dit Bator, pour son peu d'alcgresM.*'
The flesh of the Bittern was formerly in high esteem (in the reign
of Henry VIIL it was valued at a shilling), nor is it despised in the
present day ; when well fed, its flavour somewhat resembles that of
the hare, nor is it rank and fishy, like that of some of its congeners.
The long claw of the hind toe is much prized as a tooth-pick, and in
the olden time it was thought to have the property of preserving the
teeth.
A paragraph in the last edition of Pennant, signed J. L., written
probably by Latham, states that this bird " is said to inhabit the
greater part of Afirica ; and is certainly found on the coast of Barbary,
Common Bittern {Botaurus itellaris),
at the Gape of Good Hope, and also in India and Ghina." Selby
observes that its geographicad distribution " seems confined to Europe,
extending nearly to um confines of Asia ; " but it was in the collection
formed in the neighbourhood of Trebisond by Keith E. Abbott^ Esq.,
and presented to the Zoological Society by that gentieman. Golonel
Svkes notes it as rare in Dukkun (Deocan), and Mr. Gould as inha-
biting the three continents of the Old World. In Ein^^d indosure
and drainage have made the Bittern a very scarce bird, and its capture
is no longer an ordinary event.
In size the Common Bittern is less than the Common Heron, being
about 24 feet in lengUi. The bill is about 4 inches long, brown above,
greenish below; irides yellow; feathers on the crown black, shot with
green, those of the hinder part of the head, neck, and breast long and
loose; general colour of the plumage dull pale yellow, variegated
with spots and bars of block ; tail short ; legs moderate, pale-green ;
toes and claws long and slender, middle daw serrated on the inner
edge, most probably to aid it in securing its slippery prey.
B. mintUus, the Littie Bittern, is also a sunmier inhabitant of Great
Britain, and is the smallest British example of the family to which it
belongs. It is a native of the southern parts of Europe, the south-
western parts of Asia, and probably of Africa generally. It has been
killed as far north as Sweden. It is found occasionally in Germany,
and is not xmcommon in Holland, and occurs in France, Provence,
and Italy.
B. lentiginotui, the American Bittern, is not quite so large as the
Common Bittern. It is a common bird in America from Hudson's
Bay to Carolina. It has different names in the various states, such as
Indian Billet, Indian Hen, and Dunkadoo. In its habits and voice it
is very like the Common Bittern. It has been shot several times in
Great Britain ; first at Piddleton, in Dorsetshire, in 1804, and since
then in several other parts of the country.
(Yarrell, BritUh Birds ; Thompson, Bii^ds of Ireland,)
BITU'MEN, a Latin word used by Tacitus, Pliny, and other Boman
writers. A considerable number of combustible mineral substances
are sometimes arranged under the head of Bitmnens ; but their pro-
perties vary greatiy in some respects, as, for example, with regard to
solidity, fluicUty, and colour. The term Bitumen is however usually
applied to two varieties, namelv, Atphaltwn [Asphaltum], and a softer
kind called Elattic Bitumenf which we shall now describe.
Elastic Bitumen, sometimes called Fossil Caoutchouc, is a rare
mineral product, whidi has hitherto been found in three places only :
Ist, in the Odin mine, near Castieton in Derbyshire, in a Seconda]7
Limestone, accompanied bv asphaltum, calcareous spar, fluor, blende,
galena, and pyrites ; 2nd, m a coal-mine of Montrdais, a few leagues
from Angers in France, it occurs among quartz and calcareous crystals,
in the veins of grit of the Coal Formation ; Srd, in a coal-mine near
South Bury in Massachussets, United States.
Elastic Bitumen possesses the following characters : — It is brown, or
blackish brown, and translucent in small portions; it is soft and
elastic like caoutchouc^ but sometimes it is as hard as leather : it has
the property, like caoutchouc, of effacing pencil-marks. Its density
varies from 0*9058 to 1*283. It fuses readily, and at a higher tempera-
ture it takes fire and bums with a sooty flune : it sometimes leaves
one-fifth of its weight of ashes, composed chiefly of silica and per*
oxide of iron. If the Derbyshire Elastic Bitumen be subjected to
distillation, it yields addulous water and volatile oil, resembling that
of naphtha in smell : the oil is neither add nor alkaline, slightiy
soluble in alcohol, but readily so in ether; after the distillation of the
water and oil, a brown visdd mass remains in the retort, which is
insoluble in water or alcohol, but is dissolved by ether and by potash.
If the distillation be longer continued, an empyreumatic oil resembling
that of amber is obtained, and a black shining coal remains.
When the Elastic Bitumen of Montrelais is similarly treated, there
is obtained a yellow bitter fetid oil, which is lighter than water and
insoluble in alcohol, but it dissolves in the alkalies.
Elastic Bitumen sweUs when put into oil of turpentine or of petro-
leum ; ether and oil of turpentine when boiling extract a kind of soft
resin from the English and French bitumen, and tiua remains after the
evaporation of the solvent : this resin is of a brownish^ellow colour,
is bitter and inelastic ; its weight is nearly half that of the bitumen
employed.
It is but slightly soluble in alcohol, but readily in potash ; it is
inflammable, and bums with a smell of petroleum ; that portion of
the bitumen which is insoluble in the ether and oil of turpentine, is a
grayish dry mass, resembling paper; it bums with difficulty, and
carbonises ; potash dissolves only a part of it If after separating
these two prindples they are mixed together, the bitumen does not
regain its elasticity.
Concentrated sulphuric add does not act upon Elastic Bitumen ;
but when long boiled with nitric add it yidds resin, tannin, and a
littie nitroperic add. According to the analysis of M. Henry, jun.,
the Elastic Bitumen consists of
Carbon
Hydrogen
Nitrogen
Oxygen .
English.
52*250 .
7-496 .
0-154 .
40*100 .
French.
. 58-260
. 4-890
0-104
. 86-746
100*000 100*000
Beneelius remariLB that the diffiBrsnoe in the quantity of hydrogen in
these specimens is so oonsiden^le, that it is suxpridng their propertisf
are not more disnmikr. [Naphtha.]
Digitized by
Google
495
BIVALVE.
fiLACK-CAP.
496
BIVALVE, a name applied to thoee forms of Shell-Fish whioh have
two shells or valves in contradistinction to those which have one sbell,
and which are called (TiMoafoe. [MoLLnscA.] Before the structure of the
Invertebrate Animals was as well known as it is at tiie present day, the
Barnacles and Sea Acorns, which have several external valves or shells,
were referred to the MoUuteck, under the name of MvJUvoalva,
BIXA, a West Indian genus of plants belonging to ti^e natural order
Flacourtiaceoe. It produces the substance called Amotto. The only
species of any general interest in the genus is the Bixa Orellana, a
native of the Malayan Archipelago, but now extremely common in
the Weft Indies, where it is cultivated in rich moist soil by the sides
of rivers.
JBixa (Jrellana,
1 , A flower seen from beneath ; 2, a petal ; S, an ovary with style and stigma ;
4, a seed cat vertically, showing the embryo ; 5, a ripe fruit.
This plant forms a small tree with deep-green shining heart-shaped
leaves, and clusters of purplish flowers, which are succeeded by capsules
of a heart-shaped form, covered with stiffish bristles, and opening
into two valves which contain, attached to their middle, a number of
seeds covered with a soft, sticky, vermilion-coloured rind. It is the
latter which furnishes the arnotto of commerce. According to F<$e,
this substance is obtained by heaping up the seeds in water for several
weeks or months, and afterwards pressing them, when the colouring
matter separates and is afterwards precipitated ia the water. Or the
pulp is separated by washing and maceration, and the colouring matter
precipitated by the aid of an acid, and caught upon fine sieves. Inde-
pendently of the use of amotto for staining cheese and butter, the
Indians paint their persons with it, and thus, it is said, destroy the
subcutaneous vermin with which they are infested. It acts as a
purgative taken internally ; but its reputed powers as an antidote to
the poison of the cassava are imaginary.
BIXINE^, a natural order of plants named after the genus Bixck
The genus Bixa and its allies are now placed in the natural order
Flacovrtiacca'. [Flacourtiacb^.]
BLACKBERRY. [Rubus.]
BLACKBIRD, the English name for the well-known native songster,
Mervla vulgaris of Ray, Turdus Merula of Linnaeus, the Schwarz-
Drossel and Schwarze-Amsel of the Germans, Merle of the French,
Herla and Merlo of the Italians, and KSrrwpos or Kiacrvtpos of the
ancient Greeks.
The Blackbird is too well known to require a description, but a
word or two on the subject of its habits may not be misplaced. There
are not wanting those who praise the song-thrush at the expense of
the blackbird, alleging thaty though the former commits depi-edation
In our fruit-gardens in summer, it makes amends by On destruction of
the shell-enails (Hdix atpena and If. nemoralia) ; whereas the blackbird
is a most notorious fruit-eater, without any such redeeming quality.
That the thrush does this service is most true, but it is not less true
that the blackbird is particularly fond of the sheU-snails, whidi it
devours in the same way as the thrush. In truth, small slugs and
shell-snails, to use the expression of a garden labourer, form "the
chief of its living," while the thrush is equally fond of fniit in the
seasoii ; but the plumage of the thrush is in its favour, and it is often
pecking away at the fruit without being seen. When disturbed it
glides away without noise ; but the blackbird's sharp cry of alam as
it escapes generally strikes the ear, if its black coat and yellow bill
have not arrested the eye. Thus much in justice to the blackbirdi,
for we know of instances where a war of extermination has been waged
against them while tlie thrushes have b^en held sacred.
Eariy in the spring the Blackbird begins to build its nest. A
thick-set hedge-row, an insulated dose bush, a low ivied tree, are all
favourite places. Moss, small sticks, root-fibres, are the materiala,
with an internal coat of mud-plaster, over which is a lining of fine
dry grass. Four or five eggs of a bluish-green, variegated wiSi darker
markings, are here deposited. Aristotle (book v. c. 18) observes that
it lays twice, and Buffon says that the first deposit ranges from fire
to six eggSy but the second only from four to five. The early seuon
at which it begins to lay is often so cold as to destroy ^e first brood;
moreover, the leafless state of the hedge or bush at that period makes
the np^ an easy prey to the school-boy.
The Blackbird is in general shy, but there are exceptions to the
remark, as is proved by the foUowing statement. In the spring
of 1834 a pair of blackbirds built then: nest in a faggot-pile cloae
to the door of a kitchen-garden in the parish of Sunbuiy,
Middlesex, where the garden-labourers were passing all day long
wheeling manure into the garden, &a The nest was built among
some dead thorns, there piled up, so low that the passer-by could look
into it» and was very mudi exposed ; but the parents, notwithstanding
the curiosity of spectators, In^ught up their nestlinga This was a
late brood ; and as many early nests had been taken in the neigh-
bouring hedge-rows, it is not impossible that the birds, disappointed
of their first brood, might have been driven to choose a spot nearer
the house for security.
Albinos sometimes occur among these birds. Several instances are
recorded : the following is from * Loudon's Magazine' (No. 48, p. 596) -
" In 1829 a blackbird s nest, containing four or five young ones, was
found at Rougham, near Buiy St. Edmunds, Suffolk One of the
youxijg ones differed in colour materially frt>m the rest Its eyes were
red, its bill was yellow (which is not usual in very young blackbirdg).
The nest was not taken till the young were fully fledged. On attempt-
ing to capture them, two or three made their escape ; the white one
was safely caught The red-eyed bird afterwards became nearly or
wholly white, and it still retains this colour." In the British Museum
there is a female of a dusky white or cream-colour with Yorkshire for
its locality. Other instances are recorded.
Bechstein, in his work on Cage-Birds, says, ** The white variety is
very well known ; there is besides Uie stjnoaked, the black with a
white head, and the pearl-gray." The same author gives the following
account of the musical properties of the Blackbird in confinement :—
" Its voice is so strong and clear that in a city it may be heard from
one end of a long street to the other. Its memory is so good that it
retains without mixing them several airs at once, and it will even
repeat little sentencea It is a great favourite with the lovers of a
plaintive, clear, and musical song, and may in these respects be pre-
ferred to the bullfinch, whose voice is softer, more flute-like, but also
more melancholy. The price of these two birds, if well taught^ is
about the same."
Twrdus torquatus is called the Ring-Blackbird. [Tordus.]
RLACE-BONNET, one of the names of the Reed Bunting.
[ElEBSRIZA.1
BLACK-CAP, the common English name for the Black-Cap WaiUer,
Der Monch of the Germans, Fauvette h, T6te Noire of the French,
Caponera Qentile of tlie Italians, Atricapilla of Aldrovandus, Ovrrnca
cUricapiUa of Brisson, MotaciUa atricapiUa and MotaciUa moieAt/a
of Gmelin (the latter being the female), Sylvia atricapilla of Latham
and of Bechstein, and Ourruca atricapiUa of Qould ('Birds of
Europe '). .
"Of aU the birds," says Sweety "that reside in or visit the British
Islands there is none that can come up to the present for song except
the nightingale, and by some persons it is more admired than even
that bird. Its arrival in this country is generally about the first we«
in April, and the earliest that I ever saw was on the 26th of March.
They leave us again about the end of September, sometimes a strag-
gling one may be seen at the beginning of October; the latest I ever
saw in a wild state was on the 15th of that month. When it first
arrives in this country its chief food is the early ripened hemes of
the ivy, and where those are there the blac^-caps are first to be heard
singing their melodious and varied song. By the time the ivy-bernes
are over the little green larvro of the small moths will be gemng
plentiful, rolled up in the young shoots and leaves ; this then is their
chief food until the strawberries and cherries become ripe ; after that
there is no want of firuit or berries till their return, and there is no
sort of fruit or berry that is eatable or wholesome that they will
Digitized by
Google
497
BLACK-CAP.
BLACK-COCK.
refose. After they have cleared the elder-berries in autumn they
immediately leave ua."
Nor la Sweet singular in his eulogy. All agree in praising its
melody. In Norfolk and in other places in Great Britain it is (^dled
Black-Cap {Curruea atricapilla), male.
the Mock Nightingale, and indeed, like the nightingale, it continues
itB Bong far into the night. Bechstein, -who has paid so much attention
to the song of birds, says that it rivals the nightingale, and that many
persons even give it the preferenca " If," adds that author, " it has
lees volume, strength, and expression, it is more pure, easy, and flute-
like in its tones, and its song is perhaps more varied, smooth, and
delicate."
This fruit-eating warbler is one of the PictdvlcB so much prized
under the name of Beccafico, though, as Bechstein well observes, every
taste but that of the palate must be destroyed if this charming bird
18 caught for the table. [Beccafico.J Its fondness for ivy-berries
seems to have been noticed in Italy, where it is permanent, and thence
probably is derived one of its Italian names, Caponera d'Edera. The
difference of plumage in the males and females, and in the yoimg
birds, which resemble the females, may possibly throw some light on
the opinion which Willughby thus mentions : — " The andents report,"
writes Willughby, "that the black-caps {AtricapUUE) in the beginning
of autunm are changed into Ficedulse and Beccaficos by the mutation
of their voice and colour ; from whom, tilll be assured by experience,
I must crave leave to dissent."
There can be little doubt that Willughby had in his mind that
passage in the 49th chapter of the 9th book of Aristotle where the
latter, speaking of the changes of birds, states that the Beccaficos
(2McaXl8«$) and the Black-Caps {M9\aryK6pv(f>oi) are changed into each
other. Indeed Willughby tiius heads his chapter on the Black-Cap : —
"The Black-Cap : Atricapilla aeu Fictdvla, Aldrov. ; called by the
Greeks JmaJCit et McAryivcfpt^f ; by the Italians Capo Negro." The
passage in Aristotle may be thus freely translated : —
" And in like manner beccaficos and black-caps, for these too are
changed into each other. The bird is a beccafico at the commence-
ment of autumn and a black-cap at the decline of that season, and the
only difference is in their plumage and their voice. That they are
the same birds may be seenby observing them beforo the change is
complete, and when they are neither one nor the other."
PHny too appears to have had this passage in his view, though he
does not aclmowledge it^ when he wrote (lib. x. cap. 29) : — " Alia
ntio fioedulis. Nam formam simul coloremque mutant. Hoc nomen
Don nisi autumno habent, postea melancoryphi vocantur."
Belon (ed. 1555, folio) makes the Bullfinch the SvKoXb and Mt \ay-
K^pv^f of the Greeks, and Beccafighi of the Italians, naming it also
AtncajpUla; but in a subsequent edition, 'enrichy de Quatrains'
^■mall 4to. 1557), the Greek, Latin, and Italian names, identifying it
u a Pieedula, as well as the name Atricapilla, are omitted; and the
ftird appears with the provincial synonyms of the Bollfinoh. In other
instances, in that of the rerj next bbd for example, the Greek and
Lfttin names given in the folio edition aro retained.
Upon the whole, thero is reason for coming to the conclusion that
onr Black-Cap is the bird alluded to by Aristotle. Ray seems to have
heen of this opinion, for he thus records it in his ' SynopsLs' : — " Atri-
copilla rive Jfieedula, Aldrov. ; SufcoXli et McXcryic^v^f, GrsDcis ; the
Black-Cap."
It occurs frequently in the greater portion of Europe, through the
northern and eastern parts of which it is widely difiHued. Temminck
says that it is rare beyond the Apennines and I^renees. C. Bonapcote
notes it as permanent and common near Rome. It visits the southern
eoasts of England, from Sussex to the Land's End. It visits Wales,
lai. HIST. DIY. VOU L
and has been taken in the north of Ireland. It visits also Suffolk and
Norfolk, and the northern counties of England. It is a summer visitor
in Deimiark, Norway, Sweden, and Lapland.
The male Black-Cap is nearly 6 inches in length, and about 4} drachms
in weight Upper part of tiie head black ; back of the neck ashy
brown ; upper parts of the body gray, with a greenish tinge ; quilu
and tail dusky, edged with duU green ; breast and belly light ash«
colour ; legs and feet bluish-gray, or lead-colour ; bill brown ; iridet
dark hazeL
The female is of larger size ; the crown of the head is of an umber-
brown or rust-colour; and the plumage generally is darker, and more
inclining to greenish than it is in the miue.
The plumage of the young when they leave the nest resembles that
of the female.
Gardens, orchards, and thick hedges are the favourite haxmts of the
Black-Cap ; and there, among brambles and nettles, or in some low
bush, its nest is built^ Dry stalks of goose-gprass and a little wool,
lined with fibrous roots, and frequently with a few long hairs, with
now and then a little moss on the outside, form the structuro. Four or
five, sometimes six eggs of a reddish-brown, weighing about 35 grains,
mottled with a darker colour, and sometimes dotted with a few ashy
specks, are then deposited. Pennant speaks of a nest which he dis-
covered in a spruce fir. Temminck mentions the hawthorn-bush as
the most frequent place.
The Black-Cap m a state of naturo is with difficulty seen when
singing, at which time it seems to take pains to seorote itselfl White
however, who saw it in this act, says that while warbling the throat
is wonderfully distended.
In captivity it seems to be a great fiavourite not onlv from its song
but from its attractive qualities. Even in a state of nature it is a
mocking bird, and when caged it soon learns the notes of the night-
ingale and canary. The female is also, but in a limited degree, a
Bechstein roeaks of the striking affection which it shows for its
nustress : — '' It utters a particular sound, a moro tender note to
weloome her ; at her approach he darts against the wires of his cage,
and by a continued fluttering, accompanied with little cries, he seems
to express his eagerness and gratitude. A young male, which I had
put in the hot-hoMA<|or the winter, was accustomed to receive from
my hand every tiniel entered a me«J-worm ; this took place so regu-
larly, that immediately on my arrival he placed himself near the liUle
jar where I kept the meal-worms. If I pretended not to notice this
signal, he would take flight, and, pa«ng dose under my nose, imme-
diately resume his post ; and this he repeated, sometimes even striking
me with his wing, till I satisfied his wishes and impatience."
BLACK-COCK, one of tJie English names for the Heath-Cock, the
male of the Black Game or Black Grouse; the Birk-Hahn of the
Germans; Coq de Bruy^re it Queue Fourchue, Coq de Bois, and Faisan
Bruyant (Belon), of the French ; Gallo di Monte, Gallo Cedrone, Gallo
Selvatico, Gallo Alpestre, Fasan Negro, and Fasiano Alpestre of the
Italians; Orrfugl of the Norwegians; Tetrao teu Urogalhu minor of
Willughby and Ray ; Tetrao tetrix of LinntQus ; and Lyrurue tetrix
of Swainson. The female is called a Gray Hen, and the yomig are
named Poults,* a term which is applied to the Black Game generally
on the borders of Hampshire and Dorsetshire.
This noble bird, whose plumage when in full beauty has defied all
pencils save that of Edwin Landseer, the only painter who has given
a true idea of it, is now the largest of its race in the British Islands,
of whose fauna it is one of the principal ornaments. It is, says Tem-
minck, more widely diffused over the central parts of Europe than the
Capercailzie {Tttrao UroffaUas, Pennant); or the Rakkelhto (Tetrao
mediuSf Meyer). In Germany, France, and Holland it is tolerably
plentiful: in the northern countries, such as Denmark, Sweden,
Norway, and Russia it abounds.
Of the southern counties of England, Hampshire, Dorsetshire,
Somersetshire, and Devonshire possess it, and now and then it is seen
in the heathy parts of Sussex and Surrey. In the New Forest^ and
the wild heaths on the bordera of Hampshire and Dorsetshire, in the
neighbourhood of Wimbome, it is perhaps more common than it is
anywhere else in the south. The Quantocks, and some other uncul-
tivated tracts in Somersetshire, and Dartmoor and Sedgemoor in
Devonshire are its head-quarters in those counties; but it is com-
paratively rare.
Staffoidshire has it sparingly, and Northumberland plentiftally.
In the Highlands of Scotland the Black-Cock is abundant^ and it is
found in some of the Hebrides. In North Wales it occurs sparingly,
where it is strictly preserved.
The following account of the haunts and habits of the Blaok-Cock
is from the pen of Mr. Selby : — . . v v
" The bases of the hills in heathy and mountainous districts, which
are covered with a natural growth of birch, alder, and willow, and
intersected by morasses clothed with long and coarse herbage, as weU
as the deep and wooded glens so frequently occurring in extensive
wastes, are the situations beet suited to the habits of these birds, and
« This is an old name for the Black Game. Thus Tarbevile (1611) writea,
" If your goshawk* be onoe a good partridgcr, beware that you let her not Am
the pout or the feasant."
2 K
Digitized by
Google
499
BLACK-COCK.
BLACK-COCK.
6M
most fayourable to their increaBe. During the monthB of autumn and
wtn^cr the males aasociate, and Hto in flocks, but separate in March or
April ; and, being polygamous, each individual chooses some particular
station, from whence he drives all intruders, and for the possession of
which, when they are numerous, desperate contests often take place.
At this station he continues every morning during the pairing season
(beginning at day-break) to repeat his call of invitation to £e other
rally in the midst of a high tuft of heath." This Tetriz, then, which
the Athenians odled Ourax, was not improbably our Black-CocL
Pliny's description (cap. xxiL lib. x.) — " Decet tetraonas buub nitor
absolutaque nigritia, in superciliis cocci rubor" — looks very like our
bird, though the passage occurs in his chapter on Geeie, and so it
struck Belon. The tetraones mentioned in company with the peacocb,
guinea-fowls, and pheasants, in chap, xii of Suetonius (in * Calig.') were
probably the same.
B^^.
Blaek.Oo.ck {Tetrao tetrix).
sex, displaying a variety of attitudes, not unlike those of a turkey-
cock, accompanied by a crowing note, and one similar to the noise
made by the whetting of a scythe. At this season his plumage
extiibits the richest glosses, and the red skin of his eyebrows assumes
a superior intensity of colour. With the cause that urged their tem-
porary separation their animosity ceaaes, and the male birds again
associate and live harmoniously together. The female deposits her
eggs in May ; they are from six to ten in number, of a yellowish-gray
colour, blotched with reddish-brown. The nest is of most artless con-
struction, being composed of a few dried stems of grass placed on the
ground, under the shelter of a tall tuft or low bush, and generally in
marshy spots where long and coarse grasses abound. The young of both
sexes at first resemble each other, and their plumage is that of the hen,
with whom they continue till the autumnal moult takes place; at this
time the males acquire the garb of the adult bird, and quitting their
female parent join the societies of their own sex. The food of the black
grouse, during the summer, chiefly consists of the seeds of some
species of J uncus, the tender shoots of heath and insects. In autumn the
Crowberry or Crawcrook (Empetrum nigrum), the Cranberry ( Vaccinium
oxycoccos), the Whortleberry ( Vaccinium Viiis Idcea), and the Trailing
Arbutus (ArctOita/phylot Uva Urn), afford it a plentiful subsistence.
In winter, and during severe and snowy weather, it eats the tops and
buds of tiie birch and alder, as well as the embryo shoots of the fir
tribe, which it is well enabled to obtain, as it is capable of perching
unon trees without difficulty. At this season of the year, in situations
where arable land is interspersed with the wild tracts it inhabits,
descending into the stubble grounds, it feeds on grain."
LinnsQUs says that the young are brought up upon gnats.
That the Black-Cock was known to the ancients there is little doubt.
Aristotle, in the first chapter of his 6th book, where he is speaking
of the nidification of birds, says that " Those which are not strong of
flight, such as partridges and quails, do not lay in nests (properly so
called) but on the ground, merely collecting together matenals (uXi^i^) :
so also do the larks {K6pv9ts) and the tetrix." At the end of the
chapter he says, '* But the Tetrix, which the Athenians call Ourax,
neither makes its nest upon the bare ground nor yet upon trees, but
upon low plants {M rois x^^M^^&l^^^^ ^vrois) :" answering to Tem-
minck's description — ''niche dans les bruy^res ou dans les buissons:"
to Selby'a — " imder the shelter of a tall tuft or low bush, generally
where long and coarse grasses abound:" and to Qraves's — "on any
diy grass or heath, without any appearance of a nest, but most gene-
Gray Hen {Tetrao tetrix), female.
The flesh of the Black Qrouse is much esteemed. The different
colour of the flesh of the pectoral muscles must have struck every
one. The internal layer, which is remarkably white, is esteemed the
most delicate portion. Belon goes so far as to say that the three pec-
toral muscles have three different flavours : the first that of beef, the
next that of partridge, and the third that of pheasant.
Male. — Weight of a fine specimen about 4 pounds ; bill dusky black;
irides hazel ; head, neck, breast, back, and rump glossy black, shot
with steel-blue and purple ; eye-brows naked, granulated, and of a
bright vermilion red ; belly, wing-coverts, and tail pitch black ;
secondaries tipped with pure white, and formine with the neighbom^
ing coverts a band across each wing ; under tau-coverts pure white;
legs furnished with hair-like feathers of a dark-brown, speckled with
gray ; toes pectinated ; tail black — ^the exterior feathers bend outwards,
and are much longer than those in the middle : this arrangement gives
the singular curvature and forked shape to the tail which distinguishes
the bird.
Ftmalt, — Weight about 2 pounds ; general colour ferruginous, barred
and mottled with black above, paler below, with dusky and brown bars ;
under tail-coverts white, streaked with black; tail orange-brown,
speckled with black, showing a slight disposition to be forked, tipped
with grayish white.
No person is permitted to kill, destroy, cany, sell, buy, or have in
his possession, any Heath-Fowl, commonly called Black Game, between
the 1 0th of December and 20th of August The limitation in the New
Forest, Somerset, and Devon is greater, being from the lOth of
December to the 1st of September.
Several well-authenticated instances have occurred of hybrids bred
between the Conmion Pheasant and the Gray Hen. White, in his
* History of Selbome,' gives an account of a bird, of which the Hon.
and Rev. W. Herbert says, m a note to White's * Selbome,* 1888, "I
saw this curious bird stuffed in the collection of the Earl of Egremont
at Petworth, and I have not the slightest hesitation in pronouncing
that it was a mule, between the black cock and the common pheanni
I did not entertain the slightest doubt on tiie subject : Mr. Alarkwick's
suggestion that the bird may be an old pea-hen is very weak. He
might as well have said an ostrich. Neither in sife, shape, nor colour
had the bird the least affinity to a pea-fowL I can also most poai*
Digitized by
Google
^1
BLACK FISH.
BLADDER.
6Dd
tively assert that this bird was not, as suggested in a note (p. 343), a
hen pheasant with the feathers of a cock. Such birds are well known
to me, and it noways resembled them. To Mr. White's description of
the bird above, where he says that the back, wing-feathers, and tail
were somewhat like the upper parts of a hen partridge, I scratched
out at the time the words ' somewhat like,' and wrote in the margin
' much browner than,* and with that correction I believe Mr. White's
description to be quite correct."
Notwithstanding Mr. Herbert's opinion, Mr. Yarrell has stated his
conviction that the hybrid grouse of Wliite's ' Natural History of
Selbome ' to be a yoimg Black-Cock having nearly completed his first
moult.
Of imdoubted cases of hybrids arising from a mixture with the Gray
Hen, the following are related.
At a meeting of the Zoological Society on the 24th of June, 1834,
Mr. Sabine called the attention of the meeting to a specimen of a
hybrid bird between the Common Pheasant {Pkasianus Colchicus,
Linn.) and the Gray Hen (Tetrao tdrix, Linn.), which was exhibited.
Its legs were partially feathered; it bore on the shoulder a' white
spot ; and its middle tail-feathers were lengthened. Mr. Sabine stated
his intention of entering at some length into the history of hybrid and
cross animals in connection with his description of this bird, which
was bred in Cornwall. This bird was a male.
On the 12th of May, 1835, at a meeting of the same society was
read ' Some Aocoimt of a Hybrid Bird between the Cock Pheasant
(Pkaaianus C6Ukicu$y Linn.) and Gray Hen (Tetrao tetriXf Linn.), by
Thomas C. Eyton, Esq.* This paper was illustrated by the exhi-
bition of the preserved skin of the bird, and also of a drawing made
from it.
The subjoined table shows some comparative measurements between
the hybrid bird in question (the Cock Pheasant) and the Gray Hen : —
Lcn^h of the tarsus
L«ngth of the middle toe ... :
Expansion of the wings . . . .
Lcn^h of the middle tail-feathers . . .
Length of the intestinal canal from vent )
to gizzard f
Length Arom the vent to the c»ca . . .
Length of the cseca
Gray Hen
nybiid
Bird,
female.
Male
Pheasant.
Ft. In.
0 2^
0 2Va
2 0
0 4
Ft. In.
0 2?
0 2\
2 2"
0 7J
Ft. In.
lit
4 2
3 5i
4 0
0 6
2 0
D 6i
2 0
0 4|
0 Bh
The late Mr. W. Thompson, of Belfast, has also described a hybrid
of this kind that was shot in Wigtonshire ( 'Mag. Zool. and Bot.' vol. i.).
Mr. Tarrell, in the second volume of his ' British Birds/ has also
recorded other instances.
BLACK FISH. [Centrolophds.]
BLACK JACK, the name given by miners to the Sulphiiret of Zinc.
[Ziya]
BLACK-THORN. [PBUinis.]
BLADDER^ or Venca Urinaria, so called to distinguish it from the
G all-Bladder, is a musculo-membranous bag or pouch, which serves as
a temporary reservoir for the urine ; it communicates with the kid-
neys by means of the ureters, and opens externally by means of t]ie
urethra.
The urinary apparatus is confined to the red<blooded classes of
animals, all of which have kidneys, whilst some orders and genera
have no urinary bladder. In quadrupeds the bladder is of a pyriform
shape, and is completely surroimded by the peritonaeum or serous
lining of the abdomen ; and.it may be taken as a general rule that it
is smaller, stronger, and more muscular in carnivorous than in grami-
nivorous animals ; in the latter it is almost membranous, and in some
of them is particularly laige.
In the whole class of birds there is no urinary bladder, and the
ureters open into the cloaca, a musculo-membranous bag, which takes
the place of the rectum, bladder, and uterus, and serves as a reservoir
for ihe solid excrements, the urine, and eggs. The urine in these
animals dilutee the faeces, and deposits the carbonate of lime which
constitutes the basis of the shell. The urinary bladder exists in seve-
ral genera and species of fishes.
In the human subject the urinary bladder is placed in the pelvis
or basin immediately behind the symphysis pubis, and before the
rectum, or terminal portion of the intestines, in the male; but
it is separated from it in the female by the uterus and vagina.
Its form and relations vary according to the age of the individual
In infancy it is of a pyriform shape, and is contained almost
entirely in the abdomen, thus resembling its permanent' condition in
quadrupeds. At this period it may be considered as consisting of
three portions; the narrow tiering part, or neck, the upper rounded
portion, or fundus (sometimes called summit), and the intermediate
portion, or body ; but as the pelvis expands the bladder gradually
subsides into i^ and undergoes a remarkable change of form. Thus,
in the adult its figure is that of a short oval, compressed at the fore
iohI back part ; its lower surface ftnlisides on the rectum, and expand-
ing forms what is termed by anatomists the has fond of the bladder.
This change of form is dependent not only upon the enlaigement of
the cavity in which the bladder is contained, but also upon the weigh!
of the fluid which it habitually sustains, and thus in advanced age it
is more deeply sunk in the pelvis than in the middle periods of life.
In the female its transverse diameter is greater than m the male, in
consequence of ^he antero-posterior diameter of the pelvis being
encroached upon by the uterus. Its capacity varies in tke different
periods of life ; and as a general rule it may be said to increase in
proportion as the individual advances in years, and to be greater in
females than in males. Its capacity is modified ia different individuals
by their habits and the natural
exercise of its functions. It is
more particularly changed by
disease; thus, from the effects of
long-continued irritation it may be
reduced to such a state that it
will not contain more than a few
drops of urine ; and, on the con-
trary, when from any cause its
contents cannot be duly evacuated,
it may be distended so as to con-
tain many quarts of urine, and
occupy a large proportion of the
abdomen. Its ordinary capacity
may be estimated at a pint and a
half.
The neck or constricted portion
of the bladder is compared to a
truncated cone, longer at the
sides and below than above. In
infancy, owing to the position of
the bladder, its direction is ,
Fig. 1. — The Ureter*, running ft-om
the kidneys to the hlodder.
a, Aorta ; &, hifurcation ; c, abdo.
oblique; for a ..unnar .^on it jlTn^m" Jd"^t f^ 'bUdd^!
M horizontal in the «dult; ilff,«„te„i,f.Ui^,j'..
differs m structure from the rest
of the oi^an. The neck, which is formed of a somewhat fibrous
whitish substance, is the connecting medium between the bladder
and the urethra. Its posterior part rests on the rectum ; its anterior
is surrounded, at least below and at the sides, by tiie prostate gland,
which is peculiar to the mole, and is composed of an aggregation
of mucous follicles, disposed so as to form three lobes, one on each
side of the neck of the bladder, and one below called the middle lobe,
which forms a slight projection into the opening of the urethra.
The bladder, like tbe other hollow viscera, is composed of three
layers, or coats, united to each other by cellular tissue ; these coats are
the peritonaeal or serous, the muscular, and the mucous. The
peritonaeal coat has been already described as investing only a portion
of the oigan ; it U united to the muscular coat by cellular tissue,
which is extended over the whole of the latter, being however thinner
imder the peritonaeal coat than elsewhere. The muscular coat has
been described by some anatomists as a distinct muscle under the
name of detrusor urinse ; it is composed of pale ffbres interlacing in
all directions. Three distinct layers have been described, but it is
sufficient for all useful purposes to say, that the superficial fibres are
directed in the course of the axis of the bladder; that at the sides
they are more and more oblique ; and that the more internal fibres
assume a circular direction as they approach the neck of the bladder,
so that some anatomists have described them in this part as a distinct
muscle, imder the name of sphincter vesicjc. This reticidated
structure of the muscular coat enables the bladder to contract so
perfectly as to expel every drop of its contents.
When the bladder is much distended, the muscular coat becomes
attenuated to such a degree, that it is difficult to distinguish it from
cellular tissue. Sometiuies its fibres become so much enlarged from
the effects of long-continued irritation and overaction of the oigan,
that they form projecting lines or columns under the mucous coat;
this appearance of the bladder is dessignated by the French Vessie k
Colonnes. The mucoud membrane is occasionally protruded between
these columns, forming sacs, or pouches, in which urinary calculi ars
sometimes lodged ; these calculi are then said to be encysted or
sacculated. The muscular coat is united to the third, last, or muoous
coat by a distinct layer of cellular tissue, to which the term nervous
or vascular coat is sometimes improperly applied. The mucous coat,
or lining of the bladder, belongs to that division of the mucous
membranes denominated genito-urinary ; it not only lines the bladder,
but is prolonged upwards along the ureters into the kidneys, and
downwards along the urethra ; it is of a pale rose-colour, is smooth
when the bladder is distended, and corrugated when it is empty ; it
secretes a viscid fluid termed mucus, which protects it from the
acrimony of the fluid with which it is constantly in contact. Three
openings are seen in it ; two situated posteriorly, about an inch and a
half from each other, which are the openings of the ureters, and one
anteriorly, which is the opening of the urethra. Extending from
the openings of the ureters to that of the lu^thra are observeid twp
prominent lines, which are formed by muscular fibres elevating tbs
mucous coat ; these lines form the sides of a triangle, the base of
which is an imaginary line drawn between the openings of the ureterrj
Digitized by
Google
tos
BLADDER.
BLAMIDJE.
M
the apex is at the urethra. The space thus marked out is denomi-
nated the trigone vesioale ; it is paler than the rest of the internal
surface of the bladder, is possessed of peculiar sensibility, and is
smooth in the contracted as well as in the distended condition of the
bladder.
The two prominent lines which form the sides of the trigone
yesicale, according to Sir C. BeU, are distinct muscl^ the muscles of
the ureters. They have their fixed point or origin at that prominence
or tubercle existing at the inferior surface of the urethra, which has
been already described as formed by the middle lobe of the prostate,
their insertion or moveable point being at the opening of the iu*eters.
Their use is to assist in the contractions of the bladder, to support
and dose the mouths of the ureters, and to preserve the obliquity of
these canals by drawing them down during the contractions of the
bladder. The tubercle whence these muscles are supposed to take
their origin is termed the luette or uvula vesicse ; but these terms
are more particularly applicable to it when enlarged and diseased. It
then forms a prominent tumour at the orifice of the urethra, acts
the part of a valve, and becomes a troublesome cause of retention of
urine.
The arteries of the bladder are derived from the internal iliac and
its branches; its veins empty themselves into the internal iliac vein ;
these vessels are most abun-
dant about its neck and bas
fond. The lymphatics fol-
low the course of these ves-
sels. The nerves are of two
^ kinds, the one derived from
the sacral plexus of the
cerebro-spinal system, the
nerves of animal life; the
other derived from the
hypogastric plexus of the
sympathetic, the nerves of
organic life.
The direction of the blad-
der is oblique, being inclined
somewhat forwards and up-
wards. In proportion to
the degree of distension the
f i fi f obliquity is increased, in
^ consequence of the neck
Fig. a.^Sido view of the Bladder of an being fixed. It is retained
adult male. j^ ^^ position by two lateral
a, Pubea ; h, sacmm ; «, recti muscles ; ligaments, one on each side,
d d, rectum; # bladder; /, vas deferens; ^*^ anterior ligament;
g ureter; *, vedcul. seminaU. ; <, prostate ^^ kterS ligam^ts ar^
gland ; j, urethra ; kkk, perltonsDum, re- , "»w«~ ^^rzi r •
fleeted fhmi rectum upon bladder, thence upon Pfolo^K^^P?* ""^ *^« ^««<^
the recti muscles. ihaca, which passmg down
into the pelvis assumes the
name of fiuKda pelvica, and becomes identified with the prostate gland
and side of the bladder. The anterior ligament is double, and itisformed
by the fascia transversalis, which passing down behind the symphysis
pubis is reflected upon the upper surface of the prostate gland ; from
the point of reflection two strong fasciculi of fibres pass to the anterior
surface of the bladder. These ligaments are sometimes called the
proper ligaments of the bladder to distinguish themfrY>m certain folds
of the peritonseum, sometimes called false ligaments. As the bladder
is peculiarly interesting in a surgical point of view, anatomists have
endeavoured to describe it precisely, and with this view they have
divided it into six regions or surfaces — an anterior, a posterior, two
lateral, a superior, and an inferior.
The anterior surface, in the collapsed state of the organ, lies behind
the symphysis pubis, with which it is connected by loose cellular
tissue; when distended, the bladder rises, and its anterior surface
comes in relation, or in contact^ with the recti muscles of the abdomen.
The posterior surface is covered by the peritonseum, which in the
male is reflected upon it from the rectum, in the female from the
uterus and vagina ; it is then reflected from the sides of the bladder
to the iliac fossse ; at the points of reflection it forms folds, one on
each side and two posteriorly ; these have been improperly described
as ligaments, for instead of confining the bladder they serve rather as
provisions to facilitate its expansion.
The lateral regions are partially covered by the peritonseum ; running
along them we find the umbilical arteries, or their remains, in both
sexes, and the vasa deferentia in the male. The superior region, or
fundus, is partiaUy covered by the peritonseum, which is reflected
thence on to the inner surface of the recti muscles ; it has a fibro\is
cord attached to it termed the urachus, which lies between the
peritoneum and the recti muscles, and being accompanied by the
remaina of the umbilical arteries extends to the umbilicus, where it
becomes identified with the abdominal aponeuroses. This fibrous cord
appears to be useful in retaining the bladder in its situation, for never
in the human subject^ except in certain cases of malformation, which
are very rare, does it present the form of a canal, such as it is found
to be in the young of certain quadrupeds, in which it is the medium
of commimication between the bladder and a bag, or sac termed the
fJlantoid.
The secretion of the urine is performed by the kidneys [Eidnet] ;
it is constantly going on, and does not exhibit those alternations of
action and repose observable in the other secretions.
The urine, being secreted, dribbles along the ureters, and its
descent is probably aided by the contractility of these tubes and the
impulse of the neighbouring arteries. It drops into the bladder and
gradually distends it, but it is prevented from regoigitating
into the ureters in consequence of these tubes taking an oblique
course between the muscular and mucous coats before they perforate
the latter. As the mine acciuiulates, these tubes are more and more
compressed, and the obstacle to reguigitation is increased ; but the
column of urine descending along the tu'eters, being higher than
that contained in the bladder, is not prevented from entering
into it.
When a sufficient quantity of urine is accumulated in the bladder,
vaiying according to the degree of irritability of the organ, a general
uneasy^ sensation is produced, and a more particular one referred to
the trigone vesicale : the diaphragm and abdominal muscles are called
into action, the resistance of the neck of the bladder is overcome (the
sphincter, if we admit its existence, relaxes), the muscular fibres of
the bladder contract, and are able without further assistance to
evacuate every drop of its contents.
BLADDER-CATCHFLY. [SiLiaTE.]
BLADDER-GREEN. [Rhamnus.]
BLADDER-NUT. [Staphtlea.]
BLADDER-SENNA. JColutea.]
BLADDERWORT. [Utricularia.]
BLAKEA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Mekutomacece, named by -Dr. Patrick Browne in honour of Martin
Blake. The species are trees or shrubs with large showy red flowers.
The calyx is girded with from four to six broi^ scales ; the corolla
with six petals ; the fruit a 6-celled beny, crowned with the calyx.
The leaves have from three to five nerves. B. quinqueMrvis, Aublet^
B. tripUnervUf Linnaeus, is a native of Brazil, Guyana, and Tri-
nidad. It produces a large yellow berry, which is eaten in the
countries where it grows. B. parasitica is a native of Guyana and
Maranham, having red flowers. It is a climbing shrubby plant, rooting
itself in other trees. It yields a colouring matter employed for dyeing
red.
BLAPS (Fabricius), a genus of Insects belonging to the order
Coleoptercif of the section ffeteromera, and family Melasotna (Latreille).
The principal generic characters are : — Antennae with the two basal
joints short, their breadth equalling their length; the third joint long,
exceeding that of the two following together ; the three following
joints are longer than broad ; the remaining joints nearly round,
excepting the terminal one, which is round at the base and acuminated
towards its extremity; maxillary palpi with the terminal joint
flattened, and when viewed from above or below somewhat
hatchet-shaped; thorax broad, sides rounded, posterior maigin
straight : abdomen oblong-ovate, exceeding the thorax in width : elytn
generally soldered together, incurved so as to embrace the sides of the
abdomen, more or less acuminated towards the apex, and prolonged to
a point at the apex.
The species of this genus are tolerably abimdant, and frequent
dark damp situations, such as the caverns in rocks, &c. In this
country there are only two well-
authenticated species, Blapt ohtvsa
and B. mortisaga : the latter is very
common in our kitchens and celkiB
(in company with the cockroach) ;
the former is much less abundant
It is occasionally found with K
moriisaga.
Both species are of an obscure
black colour, and about three-
quarters of an inch in length. As B.
b ^ mortisaga is a well-known common
species, we will merely mention
the characters, distioguishing the
rarer one from it. The first striking
difference is the superior breadth in
B. obtuta; the antennse are shorter,
the fourth, fifth, and sixth joints are
o, Blapt ohtitsOf rather above the scarcely longer than broad (while
natural size; 6, an antenna of the j^ j. ^^rtwa^a their length is nearly
same magnified. double the breadth) : the thorax
has its hinder angles rounded (in mortiaaga they are acute) : the legs
are much shorter in proportion, and the elytra are distinctly punctured
Baker relates that he kept a Darkling Beetle (B. mortwaga) three
years without food.
(Kirby and Spence, Introduction to Entomology.)
BLA'TTIDJE, a family of Insects of the order Orthoptera.—
Distinguishing characters : tarsi 6-jointed, the under wings folded
longitudinally only, head hidden by the thorax; body oval or rounded,
and depressed; antennse long and thread-like, and composed of a
great number of very minute joints ; palpi long; thorax lai^go^ slightly
convex, generally broader than long, and as it were a shield, covering
the head and base of the wing-cases, which latter are of a parchment-
!
1/
Digitized by
Google
BLAUW-BOC.
BLENKIUS.
son
like nature, aud ramified with nervefl; oue elytron laps over the
other ; the posterior extremity of the abdomen is furnished with two
conical articulated appendages ; logs furnished with spines.
The BkUtidcB are extremely active voracious insects, some species
apparently eating almost anything that comes in their way. Mr.
Stephens eniuneastes seveii species indigenous to this country, and
four that are not strictly so; among the last mentioned, the well-
known and troublesome Cockroach {Blatta orierUalit) may be enume-
rated. It is said to have come originally from Asia, but on this point
there is some little doubt ; the nocturnal habits and ravages of this
species are too well known to need description. The xnale in its
mature state has wings extending only half the length of the body ;
the female has only rudimentary wings ; her eggs, which are about
16 in number, are deposited inclosed in an oblong, nearly cylindrical,
but slightly compressed case, with an elevated serrated edge on one
side : this at first is of a whitish colour, but after a little time becomes
brown and of a firm nature ; the female carries this case about with
her at first, fixed to the abdomen by a gum-like substance. From this
asylum the young make their escape by emitting a fluid which softens
a part of the case.
The species of this family have been divided into two genera by
Latreille ; Matta and Kakerlae (a named used for the Maitce by the
American colonists), the latter division including those species in which
the females are apterous (of which the B. arientalit forms a type),
and the former those in which both sexes possess vdngs.
The number of exotic species of this tribe is very great ; the
indigenous species of this country are — B. Oernumica, paUens, penpir
ciUmris, Panzeri, nigripes, Iwida, patUcUiy and Lapponica. Most of
these are comparatively small, and are found in woods; the last-
mentioned species is said to swarm in the huts of the Laplanders,
where it commits great havoc, and in conjunction with Silpha
Lappcnica has been known to devour their whole supply of dried
fish in a single day.
(Kirby and Spenoe, Introdtiction to British Entomology ; Stephenson,
lUuttrationa of British Entomology.)
BLAUW-BOC, or BLUE BUCK. [Antilopea]
BLAZING-STAR [Helonias.]
BLECHNUM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order of
Ferns and the tribe AdiasUaria^ It has its thecsa in a continuous
line parallel to the midrib upon the transverse anastomosing veins,
and covered by a continuous scarious indusiiun. There is but one
British species of this gen\is, the B, horeale, Hard Fern. It has
barren pectinate-pinnatifid fronds, with broadly linear rather obtuse
pinna}, fertile frond pinnate, pinnso linear acute. This plant is
exceedingly common in Qreat Britain, and is found almost everywhere
in woods, on commons, heaths, and all uncultivated ground It occurs
in every European list of plants, and has been foimd in Northern
Africa and North America. It is the Lomaria Spicant of Desveux,
who is followed by Mr. Newman, in his * History of British Ferns.*
Linnffius described it as an Osmwnda, The roots of this fern are
black, tough, and wiry ; the rhizoma tufted and hairy. The other
species of Blechnwn are inhabitants of South America, Australia, dnd
the C^pe of Good Hope. They are frequently cultivated in collections
of Ferns. (Babington, McmucU ; Newman, Jaistory of British Ferns.)
BLE'DIUS, a genus of Insects of the order Coleoptera and family
StenidcB, AntemuQ with the basal joint very long, the remaining
joints bent at an angle with the first; maxillary palpi with the
second and third joints lai^ge, terminal one slender; mandibles
armed with a tooth internally towards the apex ; body elongate and
cylindri(»l; head furnished with two tubercles or spines; thorax
armed with a horn in the males ; logs shorty the four anterior tibise
broad and flat> having munerous spines on the external part ; tarsi
four-jointed.
The BUdH appear to be peculiar to the searcoast, where they
barrow in the wet clay or sand near pools of water, by means of the
spined anterior tibiae above described. They are gregarious in their
habits. Three species have been discovered in this country, all
of which are of a black coloiu*, with the wing-cases more or less red.
BUdius tricomiSf in the male sex, has two short horns on the
head, and one long smooth horn proceeding horizontally from the
front of Uie thorax. L«igth about 8-12ths of an inch.
B. Taurus, in the male, has two long and slender horns on the
head ; the thoracic horn is pubescent at the apex ; about the same
tdze as the last.
B. Ruddii has short acute horns on the head, and the thoracic
horn pubescent at the apex ; it is rather less than the two foregoing
eipecies.
BLEHUS, a genus of Insects of the order Coleoptera and family
Ifarpalidce. K^A almost as large as the thorax, the portion joining
the anterior part of the eyes distinctly elevated; antennsa very
long; palpi with the terminal joint somewhat conical and rather
acute ; labium sUghtly notched in front; thorax considerably narrowed
posteriorly ; body elongate and rather depressed ; wings ample ; the
joints of the anterior tarsi of the male dilated.
About six British species of this genus have been discovered, the
largest of whid^ does not exceed 8-12ths of an inch. All the species
ore of a pale-yellow or ochre colour, having more or less of a bluish
•hade on the disc of the elytra, excepting B. consputus, which
although generally placed in this genus we do not consider as strictiy
belonging to it. B. Jasciatus, wluoh may be considered the type of
the genus, is rather more than 2-12ths of an inch in length, and of a
pale ochre-colour, with a blue-black fascia crossing the elytra. This
beautiful littie species has been foimd near London, and in various
other parts ; but, like all the species of this genus^ is rather scarce.
BLENDE, a name particuLurly given to Zinc-Blende, but most
commonly used by mineralogists as denoting an order which in the
system of Professor Jameson, of Edinburgh contains the following
genera : — Manganese-Blende, Zinc-Blende or Garnet-Blende, Antimony-
Blende, Ruby-Blende. The word is probably derived from a German
verb (used only in combinations) signifying to mix : the term 'blende'
signifies a mineral which contains no ore — in fact a pseudo-galena.
[Znra]
BLE'NNIUS, Blennies (French, Baveuses), a genus of Fishes of the
section AcarUhopterygU and family Gobioida (Gk)bies). Both the Greek
and the French names have been applied to this genus frx)m the mucous
matter with which the bodies of these fishes are covered. They
may be easily distinguished by their having the ventral fin placed
before the pectoral, and containing genersJly but two rays. The
head is short and rounded ; teeth long and slender, and placed in a
single row ; body long, compressed, smooth, and posseasing only one
dorsal fin, which extends nearly the whole length of the back ; they
have no air-bladder.
The species of this genus are small, live in shoals, but not in great
numbers. They are very active and tenacious of life, and frequent
rocky coasts, where they may often be found in the pools of water
left by the tide, hiding themselves among the weeds and in the
crevices of the rocks.
The genus Bknnius of LinnsBus, in Cuvier^s 'Rdgne Animal,' is
divided into the following subgenera : Myxodes, Salarias, Clinus,
Cirrhibarba, Marcmoides, OpistognathuSf and Zoarcus, At present we
confine ourselves to the Blennies, properly so called, of which,
according to Mr. Yarrell, we have five species frequenting our coasts.
The first, B. Montagui, Montagu's, or Diminutive, Blenny, is generally
of an olive-green above, spotted with pale-blue shaded to white;
belly white, pectoral fizis spotted with orange. The head, viewed
laterally, forms an obtuse angle in front, and is furnished with a
transverse conic or angular fimbriated crest The dorsal fin has
30 rays, pectoral 12, ventral 2, anal (which extends from the vent to
the taU) 18, and the caudal (which is rounded) 14. It is found on
the south coast of Devon.
B. ocellaris, the Ocellated Blenny, or Butterfly-Fish, is scarcely three
inches long, the head is rounded, the part anterior to the eyes very
short, and above the eyes two slender fimbriated appendages are
Butterfly- t'lsh {liUnniut ocellaris).
situated ; body elongate ; dorsal fin extending from the back part of
the head to the tail, and consists of 26 ravs, of which the first is con-
siderably longer than the rest, the nine following diminish in length to
the eleventh, which is shortest, the twelfth nearly double the length
of the last, from this the remaining rays gradually increase in length
to about half-way, and then decrease towards the tail ; a large dark-
brown spot extends from the sixth to the ninth ray. The pectoral
fins have each 12 rays, ventral 2, anal 17, and caudal 11. The body
is of a pale-brown colour, varied with patches of a deeper hue ; the
pectoral and ventral fins are darker than the others. This spedes
frequents the coast of Devonshire and elsewhere, but is not common.
B. gcUtorugine, the Gattoruginous Blenny, is about five or six inohei
in length ; it is elongate, rather robust anteriorly, the forehead slopes
considerably from the posterior part to the anterior; the head is
grooved between the eyes, and furnished with two branched mem-
branes situated just above the eyelids ; the dorsal fin extends from the
back part of the head to the tail, the central part is very slightly nar-
rower than the rest. The fins and body are of a dark reddliah-brown
colour, the belly and hinder portion of the former is of a paler browD.
The dorsal fin has 33 rays, the pectoral fins are broad and rounded,
and have each 14, the ventral fin 2, and the anal 23 rays ; the tali is
slightiy roimded, and has 11 rays. It has been found in Foole
Harbour and other parts. Not common.
B, pholis, the Shanny. In this species all the rays of the dorsal fin
are nearly of equal length, except the eleventh and twelfth (which are
short) ; the number of these rays is 31, pectoral 13, ventral 2, anal 19,
caudal 1 1 ; the colour is very variable, but consists of shades of brown.
Digitized by
Google
m
HLEPHARIS.
BLIND-WORM.
aj«
B. phoUs may howoTer be readily distinguished from auy of the kuown
British speciee by the absence of the appendages on the head.
B, TarrdUi, the Crested or Yarrell's Blenny. This species may be
known by its elongated even ihape, the nnifSrm length of the rays of
the dorsal fin, the form of the tail (which has the external rays
shortest^ the othen increasing in lengfth to the middle, thus being
somewhat lanceolate in shape), and the four appendages of the head
which are all fimbriated. Two of these appendages are placed one
oyer each eye, and connected by a transverse fold of skm ; behind
these are placed the other pair, which are of a laiger sise. The fin
rays are, dorsal 51, pectoral 14, ventral 8, anal 86, and caudal 16.
This species was formerly confounded with B. podmicomtu and
B. gakrUa, but Valenciennes has pointed out its distinctive characters
and named it after the distinguisned British icthyologist whose name
it now bears. A specimen of this very rare British fidb was exhibited
amongst the earliest specimens in the Aquavivarium in the Regent's
Park, and is BtUl alive (July, 1868). Many other species of Blenny
have been exhibited in the tanks of the establishments All the species
are remarkable for the facility with which they use the ventral fins
for enabling them to cling to and move about upon the rocks and
stones by which they are surrounded.
BLETHARIS, agenus of Aconthopterygious Fishes, which according
to Cuvier belongs to the seventh family of that tribe, called Scombe-
roide$. They may be distinguished by their having long filaments to
their second dorsal, and to their anal fin rays ; ventnds much prolonged,
the spines of the first hardly piercing me skin; body elevated, the
profile with the ordinary degree of curvature.
BLETSIAS, a genus of Acanthoptexygious Fishes, belongmg to the
section having hanl cheeks. Of this genus but one species, BUlonu, is
known, which belongs to the Aleutiaa Islands. Generic characters :
head compressed, cheeks mailed, fleshy barbels under the lower jaw,
gills with five rays ; one dorsal fin divided into three unequal lobes;
ventral fin very small.
BLESS-BOC. [AiraiLOPKA]
BLETHI'SA (Bbnelli), a genus of Insects belonging to the order
OoUoptercB, by some authors associated with the family ffarp<Uid<ej
and by others with the EUxphridcB, The former is probably more
correct^ as doubts may be entertained that the latter fionily is a
natural one. Head lai^, eyes slightly prominent^ mandibles
obscurely toothed; palpi with the two tenninal joints of equal
length, tiie terminal rather ovate, truncated at the apex ; mentum
emarginate anteriorly, the emargination with an obscuris bifid lobe;
antennso short, the tbree basal and base of the fourth joints naked ;
thorax rather shorty rounded at the sides; dytra elongated, very
convex and impressed with numerous small excavations; anterior
tarsi of the male with four slightly-dilated joints.
Of this beautiful genus but one species has been found in this
country, BUthisa muUiptmctata ; and apparently only two others are
yet known on the continent. The species just named frequents
marshy situations, and is often found crawling upon willow-trees ; it
is about half an inch long, and of a rich bronze or brassy hue, by
which characters, combined with the numerous indented points on
the elytra, it may easily be distinguidied.
BLETIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Orchidaeeas.
The corms of Bldia verectmda are said by Dr. P. Browne to have a
bitterish flavour, and when dry to be used with advantage as a stomachia
BLETTING. All ripe fruits after they have been kept for some
time begin to decompose, and the spots formed on the fruit during
this process have been called by Professor Lindley ' Blets.' During
the whole time of the growth of the fruits of plants various important
chemical chacges go on in their tissues, eai^ecially whilst ripening.
These changes have been examined with great care by Beranl. At
first the flesh of most fruits con-iists of fibrous or cellidar tissue,
which is mostly composed of lignine. The liquid of fruits is sap,
which exists between the cells in the intercellular passages. This
liquid, besides a great quantity of water, contains sugar, gum, malic
Acid, malate of lime, colouring matter, a peculiar vegeto-animal
substance (protein), and an aromatic secretion proper to each fruit.
In such fruits as the grape there is tartrate of potash and lime ; in
the lemon and the gooseberry, citric acid. As the process of ripening
goes on, the quantity of water diminishes, and the sugar increases.
This sugar is formed at the expense of the lignine, and is either in a
concrete state, as in the grape, fig, and peach, or fiuid, as in most
fniit». It is after this period that Bletting comes on, and changes
take place in the fruit which render it unfit for the ordinary uses of
man. Bletting is attended with the formation of carbonic add, the
nitrogenised substance enters into a state of putrefaction, and the
sugar undergoes fermentation. These processes are imdeigone most
rapidly when the fruit is exposed to the action of the oxygen of the
atmosphere. The fruits in which these changes have been most
accurately observed are the pear and the apple. A jargonelle pear
was foimd to have sustained a loss of its constituents in the following
proportion : —
Ripe. Bletted.
Lignme . . . 219 . . . 1*85
Sugar . . 11-62 ... 877
Water . 8888 . . . 6278
- ''t acquired rather more malic add, gum, and nitrogenised matter.
The fact has been observed by Dr. Hassall that in all bletted fniiti
there exists a low form of Fungus, which he considers the cause of thf
decay. He found, on inoculating sound fruits, even while growing
on the tree, that he could produce immediately the process of decay,
and wherever this was indicated by bletting, there he discovered the
fibres of the fungus with the microscope. This appearance of the
fungus however is only in accordance with what we know of the
habits of fVmgi, whose sporules, being everywhere diffused through
the air, immediately spring up where a fitting nidus is found for their
growth We find that as soon as a fruit becomes ripe its constituenta
commence union with the oxygen of the air, forming carbonic acid
gas, and it is during this state of their elements that the fungus finds
a soil ready for its development.
Whichever view be taken of the rotting of fruits, their preservation
must be conducted on the same principle, for what will exclude
oxygen will exdude the sporules of fungi. As a simple process it has
been recommended to place at the bottom of a bottle a paste formed
of lime, sulphate of iron, and water, and then to introduce the fhiii,
which has been pulled a few days before ripening. The fruits should
be kept from the bottom of the bottle and as much as possible from
each other, and the bottle should be closed by a cork and cement
In this vray peaches, prunes, and apricots may be kept from 20 days
to a month ; pears and apples for three months. Dr. Haasall recom-
mends that fruits should be washed over with a composition oonsistiDg
of water one pound, shell-lac and borax two ounces
(Lindley, Introduction to Botany; Hassall, Transaetiont of Micnr
tcopUxU Society f vol L)
BLI'GHIA, a genus of plants named after Captain William Bligh,
R.N., master of the Boun^ in the celebrated mutiny, belongs to the
natural order Sapindacece. It has a 6-parted calyx, 5 petids, a veiy
short style, 8 stigmas, and a solitary seed with a very large arUlua
Only one spedes of this genus has been described, the B tapida,
Akee-Tree. It is a native of Guinea, from whence it has been intro-
duced into the West Indies and South America. It is a tree attainisg
a height of 80 or 40 feet. It has pubescent leaves, with three or foar
pairs of ovate-lanoeolate veined leaflets. The fruit of this tree is a
berry of a reddish or yellowish colour, about the size of a hen's egg.
The aril of the seed is pulpy, and of a grateful subacid flavour, and is
eaten in Africa and the West Indies. This tree does not produce
flowers in thii oountry. It may however be easily cultivated. It
grows well in a mixture of loam and peat. Cuttings will strike iu
sand under a hand-glass. They should not be deprived of any of
their leaves. (Loudon, Encyclopasdia of Plants.)
BLIND-WORM, the English name for a spedes of Reptile belonging
to the fEonil^ of Angtndaf Les Orvets of the French, and the genus
Anguia of Limueus. It is also called in England Slow-Worm. The
Blind-Worm {Anguisfragilit\ is common throughout Europe. Ita
length varies from about 11 inches to somewhat more than a foot,
and instances have been given of its attaining more than double that
length. The eyes are small (whence one of its names), and the irides
are red. The head is small, the teeth
are minute and numerous, the neck is
slender, and thence the body enlarges,
continuing of equal bulk to the tip of
the tail, which ends bluntly, and is as
long as the trunk, or body part .The
scales are very smooth, shining, of a
silvered yellow on the upper parts,
and dusky beneath; tbe sides are of a somewhat reddish cast.
Down the back extend three black lines, which clumge with age mto
different series of black specks, and at length disappear. The
general colour of the back may be described as cinereous, with
somewhat of a metallic lustre, and marked with very fine lines of
minute black specks. The dusky belly and the reddish sides are
marked like the back.
The Blind-Worm feeds on earth-worms, insects, kc ; and the slow-
ness of its motion has obtained for it another of its names. Though
perfectly innocuous, it has the character of possessing the most deadly
venom, and is persecuted accordingly. Pennant quotes Dr. Borlase as
assisting this idle and groundless notion, by mentioning a variety of
this serpent with a pointed tail, and adding tiiat he had been infonued
that a man lost his life by the bite of one in Oxfordshire. Now, if
the serpent that bit the man in Oxfordshire had a pointed tail, it
could not have been a blind-worm ; and if the story of the death be
true, he most probably lost his life by the bite of a black or duaky
viper, as Pennant suggests. [Viper.] The coxmtry people still hold
this harmless reptile iu utter abhorrence, and wage an exterminating
war against it : but the reader may be assured that the ' blind-worm's
sting ' exists only.in imagination. The animal is very brittle. • Laurenti
and'others assert that when captured it throws itself into such rigidity
that it sometimes breaks in two. A smart blow with a switch diirides
it; and from this fragility Linnasus gave it the specific name which it
still retains. Cuvier is of opinion that the Anguia eryx of Linnaeus is
oidy a young blind-wonn, which has the dorsal lines well marked, and
that the Anguis divicus, which Daudin* makes an Sryx, is nothing
more than an old blind-worm with a truncated taiL The Blind-Worm,
or Slow-Worm, of the old English authors is the Long Cripple of the
Cornish, according to Borlase, Ormsla and KopparOrm of the ' FauiA
Head of Blind-Worm.
Digitized by
Google
BLINDa
BLOOD.
510
SjiedcA,' L'Onret of Lac^pMe, Blind Sohleiohe of the Qennanfl, AnguU
fragilit of LinxuBiia. It Drings forth its young alive, and it is said
twice.a year, in the seasonB of spring and autumn.
The general opinion is (and we think it well founded) that the
Blind- Worm is the CcBeilia of the Latins, and the T^\«^ and Tv^\tttos
of the ancient Qfeeks, names given in allusion to its supposed Uind-
neas, and that it was sometimes called Ku^ias on account of its assumed
deafness. Belon considers it to be the serpent <»lled Tephloti, Tephliti,
and Tephlini by the modem Qreeks. Columella (' De Re Bustled,'
6. & 17), following the opinion of its deleterious nature, says that its
poison is &tal to oxen, and that the cure is the fles^ of storks,
because they devour this serpent Upon the principle, we suppose,
of counteracting one poison by the application of anotner, a Theriaoa,
or poison-antidote, made from the harmless Blind-Worms {OacUiis) and
the theriacal water was used as a sudorific against the pestilence.
Mx:. Bell says this creature is kept alive with difficulty in confinement.
It feeds on worms, insects, slugs, &a Its habMs are exceedingly gentle
and inoffensive, and even should it attempt to bite when irritated it
is incapable of producing injury. (Bell, British JUptUea,)
BLINDS, a name given in Devonshire and Cornwall to the Whiting
Pout [MOBRHUA.]
BLITUM (from $\irov), a genus of plants belonging to the natural
order C^enopodiaeece. It has no corolla, a trifid calyx, a pistil with 2
styles, a single seed immersed in its berried calyx. Two species of
this genus are known by the name of Strawberry Blite— ^. ecipUcUum
and B. virgatum. The former has its flowers in terminal spikes ; the
latter has its heads lateral and scattered. Some writers nave made
the B. virgcAnm only a variety of the first, but its axillary flowers are
constant. After flowering, the calyx of these two species swells out^
and presents the size, colour, and appearance of the common wood-
strawberry. It is succulent^ stains the hands, and was formerly used
for colouring puddings. The taste is insipid. These plants are not
•latives of Great Britain, but are common on way-sides and in culti-
vated groimds in the south of Europ& The species of Chenopodiwn
are closely allied to those of BlUum ; and Meyer, Reichenbach, and
Koch have referred the European species of Chenopodivm with
vertical seeds to the genus Blitum. These are the C. rubrum, C.
Bonus SeivrievbSf and u glawswa^ of Babington's ' 3£anual of British
Botany,' — all three of which are Linnsean species.
( Koch, Flora Oermaniea ; Loudon, Sncydopcedia of Plants ;
Babington, Manual.)
BLOOD, the animal fluid by which the tissues of the body arc
nourished, and which is contained in the tubes called from their office
Blood-Vesaela
On first flowing from the vessel in which it is contained the blood
is a thick, visdd, and tenacious fluid. In all the more highly-
organised animals it is of a red colour: but redness is not one of its
essential properties. In several tribes of animals which possess true and
proper blood, this fluid is not of a red colour, and there is no animal
whose blood is visibly red in all the parts of the body. The blood of
the insect is colourless and transparent; that of the reptile is of a
yellowish colour; in the main part of the body of the fish, that is, in
the whole of its muscular system, the blood is without colour ; hence
the whiteness of the general substance of the body of the fish : but
in the more important organs, and especially in those which constitute
the circle of nutrition, called the omtns of oi^ganic life, the blood is
of a red colour, as in the heart, the branchin or gills, and so on. In
the bird the blood is of a deep red ; but it is the deepest of aU in the
mammalia. In some species of mammalia it is deeper than in others;
in the hare, for example, it is much deeper than in the rabbit It is
deeper in some varieties of the same n>ecies than in others, and more
especially in different varieties of the human family.
In man and all the higher animals the body contains two kinds of
blood, each of which is distinguished by a striking difference of
colour. Each kind of blood is contained in its own peculiar set
of vessels : the one in the vessel called a vein, hence ciJled venous
blood; the other in the vessel called an arteiy, arterial blood. Venous
blood is of a dark or Modenft-red colour; arterial blood is of a bright
scarlet colour. Venous differs from arterial blood in its most essential
properties no less than in its colour: venous blood is incapable of
nourishing the body and of stimulating the organs; arterial blood is
the proper nutrient and stimulant of t£e system.
The specific gravity of human blood (water being 1000) may be
stated to be about 1055 or 1056, from which standard it is capable of
increasing to 1120, and of sinking to 1026, this being the extreme
range of variation hitherto observed. Venous is heavier than arterial
blood, the former being conmionly estimated at 1052, and the latter
at 1049. The higher the organisation of the blood the g^^'eater is its
specific gravity : hence the specific gravity of the blood of the higher
is greater than that of the lower animals.
There is a remarkable difference in different classes of animals in
the temperature of the blood. In some it is only a degree or two
above that of the surrounding medium. Creatures with blood of this
low temperature are called cold-blooded, in contradistinction to warm-
blooded animals, whose temperatiure is maintained under whatever
variety of circnmstanoet they may be placed considerably above that
of the surrounding: air.
The following table of the temperature of the blood of different
animals, is compiled f^m the researches of Tiedemann and Budolphi
on this subject
Animal. Degrees of Fahrenheit.
Qreat Titmouse 111*25
Swallow 111-25
Ducks and Geese . . . 106 to 111
Common Hen 102 to 109
Species of Eagles, Hawks, &e. . . 104 to 109
Kgeon 106 to 109
Gull . • 100
Bat . 106
Squirrel 105
Ox ........ 104
Ape ... .... 103
Dog 101
Cat 98 to 103
Elephant . . .... 99
Horse 98*24
Man 98
Arterial is wanner by one degree than venous blood.
Disease is capable of effecting a considerable change in the tempera-
ture of the blood. In almost every case of fever the temperature of
the blood differs from the natural standai*d. In the cold fit of
intermittent fever (ague) it sometimes sinks as low as 94** ; in some
types of continued fever it rises as high as 102°. In cholera it sinks
to 90**. In infiammation of moderate severity it exceeds the natural
standard by 4 degrees ; in intense inflammation it is capable of rising
above it as high as 7 degrees.
The blood, whilst circulating in the body is composed of two parts,
a liquid and a solid. The liquid is called liquor sanguinfR, and the
solid, on account of its celluliur character, blood-globules or corpuscles.
When blood is allowed to stand, after it is taken from the body, it
separates into two distinct parts, a solid mass, and a fluid matter in
which the solid mass swims. The solid portion of the blood, which
includes the blood-corpuscles and a portion of the liquor sanguinis
called the fibrin, is termed the Clot, or the Crassamentum ; the fiuid
portion is called the Serum ; and the process by which the separation
takes place is denominated Coagulation.
The change in the constitution of the blood by which this separa-
tion into a solid and fluid portion is effected commences directly the
blood leaves the blood-vessel In about eight or nine minutes after
blood is drawn from a living animal it begins to thicken, and in the
course of a quarter of an hour the dot begins to form, and the
serum exudes. This process arises from the fiiict that the fibrin is
not dissolved, only suspended in the blood, and when allowed to
stand it separates, sinking in the liquid blood, and canying with it
the blood-corpuscles. When the latter separate from the fibrin,
which they do tmder various circumstances, forming a layer at the
lower part of the clot, the upper part of the clot> whidi is of a
yellow or buff ooloiu*, is called thebuff^ coat
The Coagulation of the Blood is not simply a separation of the
fibrin from the serum of the blood, dependent on physical causes, as
is evident from the manner in which it is hastened or delayed by
external causes. Hiis maybe stated without the necessity of making
any inferences from the phenomena presented. Temperature exerts
an infiuence, as cold delays coagulation, whilst moderate heat hastens
its occurrence. Exposure to ^e atmosphere facilitates this process^
as also contact with foreign bodies ; but the exdusion of air delavs it
The cessation of active motion whilst the blood is in the body
hastens coagulation, but movement also gives a tendency to it out of
the body. A mixture of half the bulk of the blood with water
increases the coagulative tendency, but increased dilution diminishes
it. States of we system affbct it Faintness is favourable to
coagulation, but excitement and suffocation retard it Cosgulation is
quicker in arterial than in venous blood. Foreign substances generally
hasten it^ but slkalies delay it
The Clot or Crassamentum separates into two portions — a substance
of a yellowish-white colour forming the top of the clot, and a red
mass always found at the bottom of the clot When the yellowish
substance forming the top of the clot is completely separated fr^m
the red mass it is found to be a solid of considerable consistence, soft,
firm, elastic, and tenacious, or gluey. Its distinctive character is
derived from the disposition manifested by its component particles to
arrange themselves mto minute threads or fibres ; these threads or
fibres are often so disposed as to form a complete net-work. In its
general aspect as well as in its chemical relations this substance bears
a striking resemblance to pure muscular fibre ; that ia, to muscular
fibre deprived of its envdoping membrane and of its colouring matter.
Several names have been ^ven to this substance — ^gluten, ooagulaUe
lymph, fibre of the blood, and fibrin ; the latter is the name commonly
appropriated to it Of all the constituents of the blood Fibrin is by
far the most important Whatever other constituent may be absent,
this in all animals which possess blood is invariably present The
main part of all the solid structures of the body is composed of it ; it
forms the basis of musde, and in the lower animals, in which distinct
muscular fibres cannot be traced, it probably performs the function
of muscle. This substance or some modification of it is also found in
Digitized by
Google
511
BLOOD.
BLOOD.
plants, and w«m8 to be the chemical compotuid with which the active
functions of life are connected.
The second constituent of the Clot» the red matteri being heavier
than the fibrin, gradually subsides to the lower surface, where it is
always found forming the bottom of the dot. The proportion of this
red matter to the fibrin differs in different classes of animals, and even
in the same animal at different times. The greater the energy and
activity of Uie animal the larger is the proportion of the red matter,
and it is also generaUy laige in proportion to the elevation of the
animal temperature.
When a drop of blood is placed under the microscope it is found to
consist of the liauor sangumis and a number of globules or cells. It
is these latter wmch constitute the red matter of the blood. When
careAilly examined these cells are found to be of two kinds — the one
white or colourless, the other red. The former except in states of
disease are far less in number than the latter, and are found to be
identical with cells which are found in the lymph and chyle. Hence
they are sometimes called lymph- or chyle-corpuscles. These white
corpuscles have only of late years attracted much attention, though
they had been described as far back as the time of Hewson. In man
and the mammalia they are often larger than the red corpuscles ; they
may be recognised by their granular appearance, their peculiar
contour, and the irregular shading of their figure. {Pig9. 4 and 5.)
Blood.Corpnscles.
1, Red corpuscles of human blood, exhibiting their flattened surfaces ; 2, the
same, adherent by their flattened surfaces so as to form rolls ; S, red corpuscles
of (Tog's blood ; 4, colourless corpuscles of human blood ; 5, the some, enlarged
by the imbibition of water.
They are also to be distinguished from the red corpuscles by their
different actions towards chemical re-agents ; they are not attacked by
water, but remain in it for a long time without apparent change ; they
are not rendered transparent and dissolved by acetic acid ; they only
become more decidedly granular under its action, and a kind of
nucleus is developed in their centre. As they are in all respects
similar to those of lymph and chyle, and as they have the same
chemical relations, they have been regarded by many as the corpuscles
of the lymph mingled with the blood (Hewson, MiUler) ; others have
viewed them as globules of coagulated fibrin (Mandl, Weber) ; and
others again with more proroiety as blood-corpuscles in progress of
solution or disintegration (Wharton Jones, Hughes Bennett). They
may be seen in the capillary system of living animals (in transparent
structures, as for instance in the frog's foot) swimming with the ordi-
nary blood corpuscles, but not so much moving rapidly in the great
current of the blood as progressing in close contact with the walls of
the vessels in a slower stream. They are not elastic like the ordinary
corpuscles, and seem to stick to each other. The exact functions of
these corpuscles are still unknown, but there are many facte which
seem to mdicate that there is a decided relation between them and
between the nutritive or organic life of the tiBsues.
In addition to these cells, which as we have said are comparatively
rare, an immense number of what are termed * red corpuscles,' but
which usually present a yellow appearance, are present in the red
matter. The blood of numerous animals has been submitted to
microscopic examination by Nasse, Wagner, Quiliver, and other
observers, and in general it is found that these red particles have a
circular form in all animals constituting the class Mammalia. A
remarkable exception to this rule has been shown by Mandl to occur
in the corpuscles of the camel tribe. The mean long diameter of the
blood-corpuscles of the Dromedary he found to be the 8254th of an
inch, while the mean short diameter was only the 5921st of the same
standard. In the Paco {Auchenia paco) and Guanaco (Auchmia glama)
the blood-corpuscles scarcely differed in form and size from those of
the dromedary, whilst in the Vicufia they were slightly smaller. In
structure and magnitude however these oval corpuBcles of the Camelidce
belong entirely to the mammiferous type ; they hajire no perceptible
nadeus like those of birds, and they are not much more than half
the sise of even the smallest that liave been observed in birds or
reptiles.
The difference of size in the corpuscles of different mammalia is
worthy of notice. The average diameter of those of man, according
to Mr. GtiUiver, is the 8300th of an inch ; but the average diameter
of those of the elephant, according to the same observer, is as much
as the 2745th of an inch (which were the largest he observed amongst
the mammalia), whilst those of the Napu musk-deer were no more
than the 12,825th, and some were as small as the 16,000th of an indi
in diameter. There is also an exception to the general statement that
the corpuscles of fishes are oval ; in one class, namely the Cyclo^imi^
or Lamprey Tribe, they are circular. The largest red corpuscles hitherto
observed are amongst the reptile? known as the Siren and the Proteus,
which are so large as even to be visible to the naked eye as very minute
specks.
There can be no doubt that the red corpuscles go through the same
course as other cells. We have imdoubted evidence of their rapid
regeneration in cases where much blood has been lost^ and of the
peculiar power which chalybeate medicines have in forwarding their
production. The precise method in which they are developed is
however not exactly known.
With respect to the chemical composition of the blood-oorpusdes,
the walls are formed of a substance which has been odled globulin,
and which is imdoubtedly a protein compound. The red colour is
due to a pigment which has received the name of Hsematin, and is
inclosed in the vesicles of globulin. It has been generally assumed
that this substance exists in two distinct states in arterial and venous
blood, having in the former an excess of oxygen and in the latter an
excess of carbon or carbonic acid. Mulder has however shown that
its elementary composition is the same whether obtained from arterial
or venous blood, and that it may be represented by the formula
C^^H,, N3 Oq Fe ; the following being the analyses from which he
deduced it : —
Carbon
Hydrogen
Nitrogen
Oxygen .
Iron
1
66-49
5-80
10-54
1101
6-66
2
65-91
5-27
6-58
8
66-20
5-44
10-46
1115
6-75
4
65-78
5-28
10-57
11-97
6-45
5
65-90
5-27
10-61
Aceordin^to
the formnla.
65-84
5-87
10-40
1176
6-64
1, 2, and 8 were arterial, and 4 venous ox-blood ; 5 was the mixed
blood of a sheep.
It may be shown by conclusive experiments that the red colour ia
not dependent on the iron, for that constituent may be removed from
the hsDmatin without materially altering its tint, idthough it is very
firmly combined with the four oiganic elements. The condition in
which the iron exists in hsematin — whether as an oxide, a carbonate,
a carburet^ or in the metallic state — ^has long been disputed. Accord-
ing to Liebig the iron of the hsmatin is the most essential constituent
of the blood in relation to the respiratory process: The following is
his view of the theoiy of respiration : — " During the passage of the
venous blood through the limgs, the globules change colour, and oxy-
gen is absorbed from the atmosphere. Further, for every volume of
oxygen absorbed, an equal volume of carbonic add is in most cases
given out The red globules contain a compound of iron, and no other
constituent of the body contains iron. Whatever changes the other
constituents of the blood undergo in the limgs, this much is certain,
that the globules of venous blood experience a change of colour, and
that this change depends on the action of oxygen. jN'ow we observe
that the globules of arterial blood retain their colour in the larger
vessels, and lose it only during their passage through the capillaries.
All those constituents of venous blood which are capable of combining
with oxygen take up a corresponding quantity of it in the lungs.
Experiments made with arterial serum have shown that when in con-
tact with oxygen it does not diminish the volmne of that gas. Venous
blood in contact with oxygen is reddened, while oxygen is absorbed,
and a corresponding quantity of carbonic acid is fonuML It is evident
that the change of colour in the venous globules depends on the com-
bination of some one of these elements with oxygen ; and that this
absorption of oxygen is attended with the separation of a certain
quantity of carbonic acid gas. This carbonic acid is not separated
from the serum ; for the serum does not possess the property when in
contact with oxygen of giving off carbonic acid. On the contrary,
when separated from the globules it absorbs from half its voltmie to
an equal volume of carbonic acid, and at ordinary temperatures is not
saturated with that gas. Arterial blood, when drawn from the body,
is soon altered ; its florid colour becomes dark red. The florid blood,
which owes its colour to the globules, becomes dark by the action of
carbonic acid, and this chance of colour affects the globules, for florid
blood absorbs a number of gases which do not dissolve in the fluid
part of the blood when separated from the globules. It is evident
therefore that the globules have the power of combinufig with gases.
The globules of the blood change their colour in different gasee ; and
this change may be owing either to a combination or to a decompo-
sition. Sulphuretted hydrogen turns them blackish-green, and finally
black ; and the original red colour cannot in this case be restored by
contact with oxygen. Here a decomposition has obviously taken
Digitized by
Google
61S
BLOOD.
BLOOD.
&U
place. The globulM dftrfcaned by carbonio add become again florid in
oxygen, with diflengagement of oarbonic acid. The same thing takes
plaoe in nitrous oxide. It is clear that they have here undezgone no
docompoaition, and consequently thev possess Uie power of combining
with gases, while the compound tnev form witli carbonic acid is
destroyed hv oxygen. When left to themselyes out of the body, the
compound fomied with oxygen again becomes dark, but does not
reoover its florid colour a second time by the action of oxygen. The
globules of the blood contain a compound of iron. From the neve]>
failing presence of iron in red blood, we must condnde that it is unques-
tionably necessary to animal life ; and since physiology has proved
that the globides take no share in the process of nutrition, it cannot
be doubted that th^ play a part in the process of respiration. The
compound of iron in the globules has the characters of an oxidised
compound, for it is decomposed by sulphuretted hydrogen, exactly in
the same way as the oxides or other analogous compounds of iron.
By means of diluted mineral adds, peroxide (sesqui-oxide) of iron
may be extracted at the ordinary temperature from the Ireeh or dried
red colouring matter of the blood. The characters of the compounds
of iron may perhaps assist us to explain the diare whidi that metal
takes in the respiratory process. "Ko other metal can be compared
with iron for the remarkable properties of its compounds. The com-
pounds of protoxide of iron possess the property of depriTing other
oxidised compounds of oxygen ; while the compounds of peroxide of
iron under other circumstances give us oxygen with the utmost
iacility. Hydrated peroxide of iron, in contact with organic matters
destitute of sulphur, is converted into carbonate of the protoxida
Carbonate of protoxide of iron, in contact with water and oxygen, is
decomposed ; all the carbonic acid is given ofi*, and by absorption of
oxygen it passes into the hydrated peroxide, which may again be
converted into a compound of the protoxide. Not onl^ the oxides of
iron but also the cyanides of that metal exhibit similar properties.
Prussian blue oonteuns iron in combination with all the organic de-
ments of the body ; hydrogen and oxygen (water), carbon and nitrogen
(cyanogen). When it is exposed to ught> cyanogen is given off, ana it
becomes white ; in the dark it attracts oxygen, and recovers its blue
colour. All these observations taken together lead to the opinion that
the globules of arterial blood contain a compound of iron saturated
with oxygen, which in the living blood loses its oxygen during its
I^aasage through the capillaries. The same thing occurs when it is
separated from the body and begins to undergo decomposition. The
compound, rich in oxygen, passes therefore, by the loss of oxygen,
i«to one far less charged with that dement. One of the products of
oxidation formed in this process is oarbonic add. The compound of
iron in the venous blood possesses the property of combining with
carbonic add ; and it is obvious that the globules of the arterial olood,
after losing a part of thdr oxygen, will, if they meet with carbonic
acid, oomlnne with that substance. When they reach the lungs they
will again take up the oxygen they have lost ; for every volume of
oxygen absorbed, a corresponding volume of carbonic add will be
separated ; they will return to their former state, that is, they will
again acquire the power of giving off oxygen. For every volume of
oxygen which the globules can give off, there will be formed (as car-
bonic add contains its own volume of oxygen without condensation)
neither mora nor less than an equal volume of carbonic acid. For
every volume of oxygen which the globules are capable of absorbing,
no more carbonic add can posdblv be separated than that volume of
oxygen can produce. When carbonate of protoxide of iron by the
absorption of oxygen passes into the hydrated peroxide, there are
given off, for every volume of oxygen necessary to the change from
protoxide to peroxide of iron, four volumes of carbonic add gaa. But
from the one volume of oxygen only one volume of carbonio add gas
can be produced. And the absorption of one volume of oxygen can
only cause directly the separation of an equal volume of oarbonic
acid; consequently the substance or compound whidi has lost its
oxygen during the passage of arterial into venous blood,, must have
been capable of absorbing or combining with oarbonic add ; and we
find, in point of fact, that the living blood is never in any state satu-
rated with carbonio acid ; that it is capable of taking up an additional
quantity without an^ apparent disturbance of the fimotions of the
^obules. Thus, for mstsnce^ after drinking effervescing wines, beer,
or mineral waters^ more carbonic add must necessarily be expired
than at other times. In all oases where the oxyp;en of the arterial
globules has been partly expended otherwise than m the formation of
carbonic add, the amount of this latter gas ejcpired will correspond
exactly with that which has been formed^ less however will be given
ont aner the use of fat and of still wmes than after champagna
According to the views now developed, the slobules of arterial blood
in their passage through the capillaries yield oxygen to certain con-
stituents of the body. A small portion of this oxygen serves to pro-
duce the change of matter, and determines the separation of living
ports, and their conversion into lifeless compounds, as wdl as the
formation of iha secretions and excretions. The p^sater part, however,
of the oxygen is employed m converting into oxidised compounds the
newly-formed substances which no longer form part of the living
tissues. In their return towards the heart, the globules which have
tost their oxygen combine with carbonic add, producing venous
blood; and when they reach the lungs an exdiange takes place between
MAX. BJST, DIY. YOL. L
this carbonic add and the oxygen of the atmosphere. The organic
compound of iron, which exists in venous blood, recovers in the lungs
the oxygen it has lost, and in consequence of this absorption of oxygen
the carbonic add in combination with it is separated."
Mulder is strongly opposed to this theory ; he denies that the iron
takes any essential part in the respiratory process; and he refers the
process entirdv to the oxidation of the protein-compoimds. He
alleges the following grounds against the probability of the correct-
ness of Liebig's views : —
1. The iron is so intimatdy connected with the other dements of
hffimatin, that it cannot be removed even by long digestion of this
constituent in dilute hydrochloric or sulphuric add. If these re-agents
cannot effect its oxidation, it is highly improbable that it should be
oxidised in the lungs. Ile^)ecting Liebig's assertion that dilute add>i
remove iron from dried blood, Mulder proves that this fact is value-
less in relation to his theory, because odier constituents of the blood
beddes the hsunatin contain this metal, apparently in an oxidised
state.
2. If, as Liebig asserts, pero3dde of iron exists in arterial blood,
and carbonate of protoxide of iron in venous blood, almost any dilute
add would be capable of removing it. But this is not the case.
Hssmatin properly prepareii may be digested with dilute hydrochloric
or sulphuric add for many days without the least diminution in the
quantity of the iron. From hsematin treated in this manner Mulder
obtained by combustion 9*49 per cent, of peroxide of iron, which is
the constant quantity always left after the combustion of well-
prepared hsematin.
8. The probability that the iron exists in a metallic state is strongly
supported by the observation that hydrogen is evolved when a dot of
blood is digested in sulphuric add, and water is added. Mulder
suggests that it occurs as an int^gnd constituent of haematin in just
the same manner that iodine occurs in sponge, sulphur in oystin, or
arsenic in the caoodyl series.
4. The amount of haamatin in the whole mass of the blood is far
too incondderable to carry a due supply of oxygen to the whole
system.
Having thus shown the prindpal objections to which Liebig's
cdebrated theory is open, we shall endeavour brieflv to explain ike
rival theory of Mulder. It is a wdl-known tact, that the protein-
compounds are capable of undeigoing oxidation when in contact with
the oxygen of the air. When a protein-compound becomes oxidised,
it assumes a plastic character, that is to say, it has a tendency to
become solid and to adhere to solid substances. It has been already
stated that the blood-corpuscles are cells, of which the wall consists
of a protein-compound named globulin. When a respiration is per-
formed, the exterior layer of such of the corpuscles as are exposed in
the lungs to the action of the air, becomes converted into oxidised
protein, it becomes whitish and leas transparent This is the state in
which the corpusdes exist in arterial blood As they reach the
capillary system, this white exterior layer is employed in the change
of material of the hodj, and is in that way consumed Having lost this
white layer, they again become transparent. The dark colouring
substance in the corpusdes of arterial blood, shiniug through a white
layer, must necessarily api>ear of a bright red tint, as may be shown
by pouring dark red blood into a vessd of nulky glass.
The fluid part of the blood called the Serum is a transparent fluid,
of a light straw-colour tinged with green. The proportion of it to the
solid part of the blood, or Clot, differs in different species of animals.
There is a strict relation between its relative proportion and the
strength and ferodty, or weakness and gentleness of the animal It
is small in proportion to the power and fierceness of the animal, and
large in proportion to its weakness and timidity : thus it is small in
the carnivorous animals, and large in the hare, sheep, and so on.
S^um has an adhedve consistence . and a saline taste. Its
diaracteristic property is that of coagulating by heat and by the
application of certain chemical agents. At the temperature of
160° it is converted into a white opaque solid substance, exactly
resembUng the white of egg when hardened by boiling, being in fact
perfectlv pure albumen. Serum contains a quantity of uncombined
alkali, for it converts the vegetable colours to green, and it holds in
solution various earthy and neutral salts. According to M. Le Canu,
who has ZDAde the most recent chemical analysis of serum, 1000 parts
Jl_Ll-*J.t«L
Water 906*00
Albumen 78*00
Animal Matter soluble in water and alcohol . . 1*69
Albumen combined with Soda 2*10
Grystallisable Fatty Matter 1*20
Oily Matter 1*00
Hydrochlorate of Soda and Potash .... 6*00
Suboarbonate and Phosphate of Soda and Sulphate
of Potash 210
Phosphate of Lime, Magnesia, and Iron, with Sub-
carbonate of Lime and Magnesia . . * "91
Loss 1-00
1000*00
If A m^an of cosgulatcd ScTum bc cut into small pieces and placed in
2 L
Digitized by
Google
516
BLOOD.
BLOOD.
ne
the month of a fuxmel, a thin flmd draixu from it, which ii oalled
Serofdty, and which constitiitefl the gravy of meat drened for the
table.
According to H. Le Canu the relatiYe proportionB of the oonsti-
taente of Human Blood to each other, as thej ezirt in most
indiyidualB, is as followH, thi^ table being the mean of two analyiMs : —
1000 parts of Human Blood contain —
Water 78887
Fibrin 2'83
Albumen 67*25
Colouring Matters 126'81
Fatty Katten in Ysrious states .... 5*16
Various undefined Animal ICatten and Salts . . 15*08
lOOO'OO
The relative proportion of the dififbrent constituents of the blood is
constantly varying. Thus the quantity of water, aooording to H. Le
Canu, is capable of varying in 1000 jMurts from 858*185, the maTimnm,
to 778*625, the minimum. In the male the medium quantity is
791*944, in the female 821*764 : the watery proportion also varies
with the temperament. Li the lymphatic temperament, in the male
it is 880*566, in the female 808*716 ; while in tiie sanguineous it is,
in the male 786*584, and in the female it is 798*007.
The proportion of albumen contained in 1000 parts of blood is
capable of varying from 78*270, the maximum, to 57*890, the mini-
mum. The quantity of fibrin varies from 1*860 to 7*286, the medium
of twenty-two experiments being 4 '298. It appeared to be the
greatest m the young or middle aged of the sanguineous tempera-
ment and in the inflammatory state; and least in the lymphatic
constitution, the aged, and -wose suffering under congestion and
htemorrhage.
The proportion of the red particles varies more remarkably than
that of any other constituent of the blood. In sound health the
maximum was found to be in 1000 parts of blood 148*450, and the
minimum 68*349 ; the medium 108*399. In the male, the medium
quantity is 132*150, in the female 99*169. It varies considerably
with the temperament. In the lymphatic temperament^ the medium
quantity was found to be, in the male 117*667, in the female 116*800 ;
in the sanguineous temperament, in the male 136*497, in the female
126*174. According to this statement there are contained in 1000
parts of blood, in a sanguineous temperament, 19*830 more red
particles than in the lymphatic temperament. Both spontaneous
hsemorrhage and the artificial abstraction of blood from the body
diminish the relative proportion of the red particles tax beyond that
of any of the other constituents of the blood This is found on
exammation of the blood in the female after an excessive loss of
blood; and on examining portions of blood taken from the same body
after certain intervals, it was found that a first bleeding fumit^ed in
1000 parts of blood, 792*897 of water, 70*210 of albumen, 9*163 of
soluble salts and extraneous matter, and 127*78 of red particles ; but
a third bleeding a few days afterwards in the same patient, a female,
gave 884*058 of water, 71*111 of albumen, 7*829 of soluble salts and
extraneous matter, and 87*510 of red particles.
According to fmalyses more recent than those of Le Canu, the
following are the ingredients which are found to be present in healthy
blood: —
1. Water.
rPibrin.
2. Protein- J Albumen.
Compounds I Globulin.
(^Binoxide and Tritoxide of Protein.
8. Colouring J Hsematin.
Matters \ Hsemapheein.
ICholesterin.
Serolin.
Red and white Solid Fats containing Phosphorus.
Margaric Acid.
Oleic Add.
Iron.
r Albuminate of Soda (?).
Phosphates of Lime, Magnesia, and Soda.
I Sulphate of Potash.
Carbonates of Lime, Magnesia, and Soda (?).
Chlorides of Sodiimi and Potassium.
.Lactate of Soda (?).
I Oleate and Maigarate of Soda (Q.
Oxygen.
J Nitrogen.
( Carbonic Acid.
Urea — a trace.
Sugar — a trace (?).
It will be observed that there are notes of inteirogation to several
of the salts : the presence of these constituents is denied by Enderlin
and Liebig^s school generally. Their objection is founded on the
circumstance, that if these salts were exposed to a red heat, they
would become converted into carbonates; and that the ash obtained
from the incineration of blood, if examined directly after the
tion, does not contain those salts. As these experiments have
4. Fats.
6. Salts.
7. Oasoa
8.
9.
performed under Liebig^s personal observation, and have been
published in his 'Journal,^ and as fmrther they apply equally to almost
all ^e other fluids of the animal body, we shall give the leading
grounds on which the presence of alkidine carbonates in the ash ii
disproved, and its alkalinity is otherwise accounted for : —
1. The ash does not effervesce on the addition of an acid.
2. Hot water poured over the ash becomes alkaline; it holds in
solution alkaline phosphates and sulphates, chloride of sodium, and
sometimes chloride of potassium, but no other salts.
a. On the addition of a neutral solution of nitrate of mlver to ihiB
fluid, there is a yellow precipitate which is partly soluble in nitric
add; a portion however consisting of chloride of silver remams
undissolved. The addition of nitric add causes no effervescence.
On neutralising the add filtrate with ammonia, a yellow precipitate
of tribadc phosphate of silver (8 A g O, P. OJ is thrown down.
b. On treating the aqueous solution of the ash with a solution of
chloride of caldum, there is a copious gelatinous precipitate of phos-
phate of lime (8 C a 0, P, O.) which dissolves in nitric add without
effervescence. On treating uiis add solution with nitrate of silver,
and neutralising vrith ammonia, the tribasic phosphate of silver i>
predpitated as before. The addition of the chloride of caldum neu-
tralises the previously alkaline fluid. From 1, we see that the
alkaline reaction is not due to the presence of adkaline carbonates;
and 2 shows it is not dependent on the presence of tree potash or
soda, for otherwise the fluid would not be neutralised by the chloride
of calcium. Hence the albumen in the blood cannot exist as a soda
compound (albuminate of soda) ; neither can there be alkaline lactatea,
acetates, nor &tty-add salts in \hat fluid. On the above grounds
Enderlin conceives that we an justified in Mwimmg thai the alkaline
reaction of the ash is dependent on the presence of tribasic phosphate
of soda (8 K a 0, P, O,) ; and as this is the only salt that remains
tribasic at a red heat^ he concludes that the alludinity of the blood.
as wdl as of the aah, is dependent on it. The manner in which he
accounts for the occurrence of carbonates in the analyses of other
diemists is very plausible. On exposing the tribadc phoephate of
soda to the atmosphere^ it becomes converted into 2 N a O, H C,
P, 0«, and N a O, Cf 0„ or phosphate of soda^ in which one atom of
the base is replaced by an atom of water and carbonate of soda.
This question regarding the salts actually occurring in the blood is
however fur from settled, Ludwig having podtively denied Enderlin's
statements. (I^^s 'Report on the Progress of Chemistry,' in
Banking's * Half-Yearly Abstract of the Medical Sdences,' vcL ill,
1846.)
OeneraJly speaking it is only requimte in the analysis of the
blood, to determine a few of the most important constituents; as, for
instance, the water, fibrin, blood-corpusdes (globulin and hsmatin),
and the solid reddue of the serum (uie organic portion and the salts).
For this pur}>oee we may adopt tho following simple plan lately
published by Figuier. It is based on the fact made known many years
ago by Berzelius, that after the addition of a solution of a neutral
salt to defibrinated blood, the globules do not (as before) pass through
filtering paper. On the addition of two parts of a solution of sulphate
of soda of specific gravity 1.180 to one of blood, Figuier found that the
whole of the corpusdes remained on the surface of the filter. The
following are the steps 'of his analysis : — The fibrin is removed by
stirring, dried, and weighed; the weight of the corpusdes is
ascertained by the method indicated, and that of the dbumen by
coagulating by means of heat the filtered solution. The proportion
of vrater is known by evaporating a small known weight of the blood.
The filter containing the corpusdes should be dipped in boiling water,
which removes any sulphate of soda that may be present, and at the
same time renders the corpuscles insoluble. Separate and frequently
difficult processes are requidte to detect those ingredients which occur
in small quantity or only in morbid conditions.
Witii regard to the distinctions between Arterial and Venous Blood,
we have already noticed the circumstance that the external envelope of
the blood-corpusdes becomes converted during the act of respiration
into oxidised protein, and that the bright-red colour of arterial blood
is owing in part to the modifying infiuence of the white investing
membrane. But there is yet ano&er mode in which it acta The
bufiy coat^ whidi is the name given to the superimposed layer of
fibrin in the dot, is frequently observed on the upper part of the dot
in inflammatory diseases as being very apt to curl up and become
concave. Kow this bufiy coat comnsts, for the most part^ of the
oxides of protein — of the very same matter with which the blood*
corpusdes become invested. For this reason the form assumed by
the two laminsB on both ddes of the little flat body — the corpuscle-
must resemble that of the bu£^ coat The tendency to contract and
become bi-concave is so strong, that the central portion of the crusl
becomes entirdy depressed. In this form the corpusdes reflect a
great deal more light than when, in consequence of the removal of
the buffy coat in the capillaries, tiiey have a less bi-concave form.
From four analyses of the blood of horses, Simon deduces the
following rule regarding the chemical differences of arterial and venous
blood : — "Arterial contains leas solid reddue generally than venous
blood ; it contams lees fat^ less albumen, less hsematin, less extractive
matter and salts, than venous blood, llie blood-corpusdes of arterial
blood contain less oclouxng matter than those of Tonous blood."
Digitized by
Google
117
BLOOD-HOnin).
BLOOD-HOUKD.
«U
The arterial blood mm taken from the oarotidii^ and tho Tenoiifl from
thejugolan.
In a medical point of yiew the CGmpoaition of Tenons blood ia the
most interesting, beoaose it is from the Teins that blood is almost
always taken in disease, and becanse yenons blood can natoially
only be compared with Tenons blood for the purpose of ascer-
Uining aaj deriations that maj occur. The following table repre-
Bents the mean composition of human renous blood without refeiwioe
to sex : —
Water 795278
Solid Constituents 204*022
Fibrin 2104
R* 2-846
Albumen 76'660
Globulin 103*022
TTaifwuifciT^ 6*200
Extractive Matters and Salts . . 12*012
100 parti of blood-corpuscles contain 5*7 of hsematan.
Hence the blood contuns about 20 per centb of so^ oonstitnents,
mudi more than 0*2 per cent, of fibrin, and about an equal quantity
of &t; the blood-corpuscles considerably exceed the albumen in
quantity, and contain about 5 or 6 per cent, of colouring matter.
The blood undergoes Tarious modifications in different forms of
diseafle. The extent of these variations is obvious from the
following table, drawn up from Simon's 'Animal Chemistry,' vol i,
p. 246.
The Water may vaiy from .
The Solid Residue „ .
The Fibrin „
The Fat „
The Albumen „
The Globulin „ .
The Ha&matin „
The Extractive Matters and Salts
The following synopsis wiU give an idea of the distribution of the
constituents of the blood.
Water 790*87>k
Albumen 67*80
Oxygen • . • .'^
Kitiiogen ....
Carbonic Acid. .
Extractive Matter
Fatty Matter . .
Salts
Colouring Matter
Fibrin 2*961
Hsematin . 2*27 1 ^.^^ ««w««-«i-- i oiy-on r Clot 180*85
Globulin . 125*68 / ^^***^ ^^'^^^^^ 127 00 J
915*0 to 725*0
275*0 to
85*0
10*8 toatraoe.
4*8 to
0*7
181*0 to
55-1
106*6 to
80*8
8-7 to
1*4
16-5 to
7*6
10*98 I
Serum 869*15
1000*00 1000*00
It wiQ be seen from the previous account that the blood is one of
ihe most important constituents of the body. It is in fkct the prime
Boorce of Uf e;, and is the great medium through which the constituents
of the body pass in their way from the vegetable and mineral kingdoms
to become part and parcel of the tissues of the body. The food is
taken up from the intestines [Food] by the lacteels, and is converted
into blood before it is appropriated in the tissues of the body. The
correspondence between the flesh or tissues of the body and the blood
may be seen in the following statement of the ultimate composition of
the two.
Carbon
Hydrogen
Nitrogen .
Oxygen
Ash
Flesh.
Blood.
51*86
51*96
7*58
7*25
1508
15*07
21*80
21*80
4-28
4*42
The blood is not only the source whence the tissues are supplied
with the fresh materials for their growth, but it is the means by
which effete matters are thrown off from the system. The con-
stituents of the bile, the urine, the perspiration, the expired air from
the lon^ are all found in the blood, and separated from it by the
liyer, kidneys, skin, and lungs. The changes involved in the formation
of these excretions are some of them important- to life, as that of
carbonic add gas during respiration [Rssna^TiOK], which is attended
with the development of animal heat.
Any interruption or impediment to the performance of the functions
of the blood ia attended with disease. Tlus has long been suspected,
but it is only sinoe the employment of the microscope and chemical
analysiB that an^ advance naa been made in studying the relation of
abnormal conditions of the blood to particular diiiieasee of the body.
(Hunter, On the Blood ; Sharpey, Quain's Anatomyt voL i. ; Simon,
Animal C^Umittry, transkted bvDay; Milne-Edwards, article 'JSlood/
'^ Ojfdopcedia of Anatomy and PhynoHogy ; Lehmann, Phjuidlogieal
(^enittry, translated by Day; LieUg, Animal Chemittry; Carpenter,
BwmanPhwioloay)' [&• SuPftDmra.]
BLOOD-HOUND, the name of a hound celebrated for its exquisite
>oent and unwearied perseverance, qualities which were taken advan-
tage 0^ by training it not only to the pursuit of game, but to the
chase of man. A true Blood-Hound (and the pure blood is rare)
stands about 28 inches in hei^t^ muscular, compact, and strong;
the foirehead is broad, and the face narrow towards the muzzle ; the
nostrils are wide and well developed; the ears are large, pendulous,
and broad at the base ; the aspect is serene and sagacious ; the tail is
long, with an upward curve when in pursuit^ at which time the
hound opens with a voice deep and sonorous, that may be heard
down the wind for a very long difftfinoft.
The colour of the t^e breed is stated to be almost invariably a
reddish-tan, darkening . gradually towards the upper parts till it
becomes mixed with blade on the back; the lower parts, limbs, and
tail being of a lighter shade, and the muzzle tawny. Pennant adds,
''a black spot over each eye," but the blood*hounds in ihe possession
of Thomas Astle, Esq. (and they were said to have been of the
original blood) had not these marksw Some^ but such instances were
not common, had a little white about them, such as a star in the
face, fta The better opinion is, that the original stock was a mixture
of tibie deep-mouthed southern hound, and the powerfiol old Tgngliai*
stag-hound.
Gervase ICarkham, in his ' Kaison Rustique,' speaking of hounds,
says : — " The baae-ooloured ones have the second pUuse for goodnesse,
and are of great courage, ventring far, and of a qidoke scent, finding
out vezT well the tumes and windings they runne surely,
and with great boldnesse, commonly loving the stagge more than any
other beast, but they make no account of hares. It is true, that
they be more head-strong and harde to reolaime than the white, and
put men to more peine and travaill about the same. The best of the
tallow sort of dogges are those which are of a brighter haire, drawing
more unto the colour of red. and having therewithall a white spot
in the forehead, or in the necke, in like manner those whibh are all
fallow : but such as incline to a light yellow colour, being graie or
blacke spotted, are nothing worth : such as axe trussed up and have
dewdawes, are good to make bloud-hounds."
Our ancestors soon discovered the infallibility of the Blood-Hound
intradng any animal, living or dead, to its resting place. To tram
it the young dog aoooompanied Iry a staunch old hound was led to
the spot whence a deer or other o^n^-m**^! had been taken on for a T«il«
or two ; the hounds were then laid on anck encouraged, and after
hunting this ' drag' successfuUr, were rewarded with a portion of
the venison which composed it. The next step was to take the
young dog^ with his seasoned tutor, to a spot whence a man whose
shoes had been rubbed with the blood of a deer had started on a
drouit of two or three miles: during his progress the rnnxy was
instructed to renew the blood firom tune to time, to keep the scent
well alive. His circuit was gradually enlarged at eadi succeeding
lesson, and the young hound, thus entered and trained, became at
last fully equal to hunt by itself, either for the purposes of wood-
craft, war, or 'following gear,' as the pursuit after the property
plundered in a border foray was termed. Indeed, the name of this
variety of Obnu domeatiew, to which Linnseus implied the name of
mgtix, cannot be mentioned without calling up visions of feudal
onrtles with their train of knights and warders^ and all the stirring
events of those old times when the best tenure was that of the
strong hand.
Sir Walter Scott gives a striking reality to the scene, when he
makes the moss-trooper, William of Deloraine, who had "baffled
Percy's best blood-hounds," allude to the pleasure of the ohace,
though he himself was the object of pursuit, in pronouncing his
eulogy over Richard Musgrave.
In the same ' Lay of the Last Minstrel' there is one of the best
poetical descriptions of the blood-hound in action, if not the beet; for
though Somerville's lines may enter more into detail, they want the vivid
animation of the images brought absolutely under the eye by the
power of Scott, where the "noble chil^" the heir of Branksome, is
left alone in his terror.
^ Indeed this feudal dog is frequently introduced by our poet, from.
his ballads, where Smaylho'me s Lady gay, wooing the Phantom
Knight to come to her bower, in the ' Eve of St. John,' tells the
spectre that she will " chain the blood-hound," down to that grand
moonlight scene in the ' Legend of Montrose,* where Dalgetty and
Ranald of the Mist are traced to their wood-girt retreat after their
escape from Aigyle's dungeons.
The pursuit of border forayers was called the 'hot-trod.' The
'harried' party and his friends followed the marauders with blood-
hound and bugle-horn, and if his dog could trace the scent into tiie
opposite kingdom he was entitled to pursue them thither.
Sir Walter Scott states that the breed was kept up by tiie Bucdeuch
figtmily on their border estates till within tibe 18th century, and
records the following narrative : — " A person was alive in the memory
of man who remembered a blood-hound being kept at Eldinhope, in
Ettricke Forest, for whose maintenance the tenant had an allowance
of meaL At that time the sheep were always watched at niffht.
Upon one occasion, when the duty had fallen upon the narrator, wen
a lad, he became exhausted with fatigue, and fell asleep upon a bank,
near sun-rising. Suddenly he was awakened by the tread of horses,
and saw Ave men wdl mounted and armed ride briskly over the edge
of the hilL They stopped and looked at the fiock ; but the day
was too far broken to adodt the chanoe of their canying any of
Digitized by
Google
510
BLOOD-HOUITD.
BLOOD-HOUND.
.500
fcfaem ofil One of them, in spite, leaped from his hone, and oomJxig
to the Bfaepherd seiaed him by the belt he wore round hiii wiist j and
setting his foot upon his body pulled it till it broke, and oamed it
away with him. They rode o£f at the gallop ; and the shepherd
^ving the alarm, the blood-hound was turned looee, and the people
m the neighbourhood alarmed. The marauden, however, escaped,
notwithstanding a sharp pursuit This circumstance serves to show
how very long the license of the Borderers continued in some degree
to manifest itselt"
This, perhaps, is the last instance of an attempted 'Border foray'
on record. The times were changed. The nobles had ceased to
pride themselves on their ignoiunce of all the arts save the art of
war, and to make it matter of thanksgiving that they knew not how
io use the pen. Civilisation advanced as learning was diffused, till
the law of the strongest no longer prevailed against the law of the
land. The Blood-Hound, from the nobler pursuit of heroes and
knights, 'minions of the moon,' who swept away the cattle and goods
of whole districts, marking the extent of their 'raid' by aU the
horrors of fire and sword, sank to the tracker of the deer-stealer and
petty felon. About a centurv and a quarter ago, when deer-stealing
was a conmion crime, the park-keepers relied upon their blood-hounds
principally for detecting the thief; add so adroit were these dogs,
that when one of them was fairly laid on, the escape of the criminal
was with good reason considered to be all but impossible. Even
now the breed still lingers about some of the great deer-parks ; and
many of our readers will remember the noble specimen at Richmond
Park, bearing the name of Procter, and the admirable study of his
head engraved by T. Landseer from a painting by his brother Edwin.
Another of this race has been perpehiated by Sir Edwin Landseer.
It belonged to Jacob Bell, Esq., and wss killed by jumping out of a
window, and its accidental death is perpetuated by the artist having
drawn it after death as though sleeping.
This noble variety is now only kept as an object of curiosity and
ornament; for its services have long since been superseded by the
justice's warrant and the police-officer. We find it, indeed, recorded
about 50 years ago, that " the Thrapston association for the prevention
of felons in Northamptonshire have provided and trained a blood-
hotmd for the detection of sheep-etealers. To demonstrate the
unerring infallibility of this animal a day was appointed for public
trial ; the person he was intended to hunt started, in the presence of
a great concourse of people, about 10 o'clock in the forenoon, and at
11 o'clock the hound was laid on. After a chase of an hour and a
half, notwithstanding a very indifferent scent^ the hound ran up to
a tree in which he wss secreted, at the distance of 15 milee from
the place of starting, to the admiration and perfect satis&ction of the
very great number assembled upon the occasion." But this may be
considered more in the light of a proceeding 'in terrorem' than
anything else.
Strong and hardy as the Blood-Hound seems to be, it is unable,
apparently, to encounter a low temperature. Mr. Lloyd, in his
' field Sports,' relates that one presented to him by Mr. Otway Cave
was entirely paralysed by the piercing cold of the northern legions
which were the scene of his exploits.
English Blood-Hound.
ChibanBlood-ffowid. — The reputation which this variety has obtained
for sagacity and fierceness, and the share that the terror of its name
had in extinguishing the last Maroon war in Jamaica, render it an
object of some interest. In 1783 these Maroons had become very
troublesome, and the Assembly, among other plans for suppressing
them, appointed garrisons, from whose barracks excursions were from
time to time made against the insoigento. ** Eveiy banack," says
Brym Bdwiidn^ ^waa alao fanished with a pack of do^ provided
by the churchwardens of the respective panshes, it bemg foreseen
that these animals would prove extremely senrioeable, not only in
goazding against suiprises in the ni^t but in tracking the enemy." The
tbnsome war went on however, till at last articles of pacification with
the Maroons of Trelawney town were concluded on toe Ist of March,
1788. This alliance continued, not without frequent complaints of
the conduct of the Maroons^ till Julr, 1795, when two of these people
from Trelawney town, having been found g^ty by a jury of stealing
some pigs, were sentenced to receive thirty-nine hwhes each, and the
sentence was executed. On their return to Trelawney town their
account drove the Maroons into open revolt^ and a bloody and success-
ful war was waged by these savages against the whol^ force that the
government could direct against them.
At last the Assembly, in the month of September, remembering the
expedient of employing dogs previous to the treaty of 1788, reeolTed
to send to the island of Cuba for 100 blood-hoondla, and to engage a
sufficient number of Spanish huntsmen to direct their oparatioos.
The employment, according to Edwards, to which these dogs are
generally put by the Spaniards is the pursuit of wild bullocks, which
they slaughter for the hides ; and the great use of the dogs is to drive
the cattle frxmi such heights and recesses in the mountainous parts of
the countiy as are least accessible to the hunters. This determination
of the Assembly was not made without some opposition. After much
diMSUssion it was determined to send for the dogs^ and at last after
several delays the comnussioner, who had been dispatched to the
Havanna, arrived at Mont^go Bay on the 14th of December with forty
chasseurs, or Spanish hunters^ chiefly people of colour, and about
100 Spanish dogs.
Dallas, in his ' History of the Maroons,' gives the following account
of the fint appearance of these dogs before the commander-in-chief:
— "Anxious to review the chasseurs, Qeneral Wfdpole left head-
quarters the morning after they were landed before day-break, and
arrived in a post-chaise at Seven Rivers, accompanied by Colonel
Skinner, whom he appointed to conduct the intended attacL Notice
of his coming having preceded him, a parade of the chasseurs was
ordered ; and thev were taken to a distance from the house, in order
to be advanced when the general alighted. On his arrival the commis-
sioner having paid his respects was desired to parade them. The
Spaniards soon appeared at the end of a gentle acclivity, drawn out
in a line containing upwards of fbrty men, with their dogs in frx>Dt
immuissled, and held oy cotton ropes. On receiving the command
* fire,' they discharged their fusils and advanced as upon a real attacL
This was intended to ascertain what effect would be produced on the
dogs if engaged under a fire of the Maroons. The volley vrasno sooner
discharged than the dogs rushed forward with the greatest fury, amid
the shouts of the Spaniards, who were dragged on by them with irre-
sistible force. Some of the dogs maddened bv the shout of attack,
while held back by the ropes, seized on the stocks of the guns in the
hands of their keepers and tore pieces out of theuL Their impetuosity
was so great that they were with difficulty stopped before they reached
the general, who found it necessary to get expeditiously into the chaise
from which he had ali^ted ; and if the most strenuous exertions had
not been made to stop them, they would most certainly have seized
upon his horses."
This scene was well got up, and it had its effect Qeneral Walpole
was ordered to advance on the 14th of January following, with his
Spanish dogs in the rear. Their fame however had reached the Maroons,
and the general had penetrated but a short way into the woods when
a supplication for mercy was brought from the enemy, and 260 of
them soon afterwards surrendered on no other condition than a
promise of their lives.
It is stated that these dogs when properly trained will not kill or
harm the pursued unless they are resisted. '* On reaching a fugitive
thev bark at him till he stops, and then couch near him, terrifying him
with a ferocious growling if he stirs. They then bark at intervab to
give notice to the chasseurs, till they come up and secure their
prisoner."
^ Dallas however, who had his information from the commissioner
himself, William Dawes Quarrell, to whom his work is dedicated, gives
a description and representation of one of these Spanish chasseurs wiih
his dogs ; and he relates the following instances of the strength and
determined ferocity of the latter : —
** The party had scarcely erected their huts when the barking of a
dog was heard near them. They got immediately under arms, aiid
proceeding in the direction of the sound diaooverod a negro endeavour-
ing to ma]|:e his escape. One of the Spanish dogs was sent after him
On coming up the negro cut him twice with his muschety* on which
the dog seised him by the nape of the neck and secured him. Ho
proved to be a runaway — said that he and two other negroes had
deserted the Maroons a tew days before, and that the party was at a
great distance from the town, but that he would conduct them to it
by noon next day."
In the next anecdote recorded by Dallas the attack was fatal both
* A long Btraif ht mutchet, or ooutaaa, longer than a drBgooa*B tvord, ind
twioa as thick, aomethiiif like a flat iron bar sharpened at tbe hnver end, of
which about eighteen inches are as aharp as a raaor. The point is not oalika
the old Bcman sword. Such is Dallas's desoriptioa of tiM <
Digitized by
Google
5S1
BLOODHOUND.
BLOOD-VESSELa
to the unhappy object of it and to the dog : — ** One of the dogs that
iutd been unmuzzled to dxink when there was not the leait apprehen-
sion of any misohief, went up to an old woman who was sitting attending
to a pot in which she was preparing a mess. The dog smelled at it
and was troublesome ; this proyoked her ; she took up a stick and
OhaMear irith Cuban Blood-HoondB.
began to beat him, on which he seized on her throat, which he would
not let go till his head was sererad from his body by his master. The
windpipe of the woman being much torn, she could not be saved."
A dog and a bitch, said to be of the true Cuban Blood-Hound breed,
were some Tears ago brought to this country, where soon after their
arrival the bitch littered ten pups, one of them deformed. The figure
here given is firom one of these pups, which had not attained its full
growth. They are shorter on their legs than the English yariety ; the
muzzle IB shorter, and the animal is altogether smaller, with less of the
hound about it than the English Blood-Hound has ; the height is about
Cuban Blood-Hound.
two feet ; the colour generally tawny, with black about the muzzle;, or
bnndled like some of the Ban-Dogs. They show great attachment,
and are yery gentle tOl seriously provoked, and then their ferocity is
alarming.
In Cuba the common employment of these dogs was to trayerse the
coimtry in pursuit of murderers and other felons, and an extraordinary
proof of their activity is recorded by DaJlas, who states that the event
occurred about a month before the arrival of the commissioner at the
Havanna. Adeet from Jamaica, imder convoy to Great Britain, passing
through the Qulf of Mexico, beat up on the north side of Cuba. One
of the ships, manned with foreigners, chiefly renegade Spaniards, being
a dull sailer, and consequently lagging astern, standing in with the land
at night, was run on shore, the captain, officers, and the few British
hands on board murdered, and the vessel plundered by the Spanish
renegadoes. The part of the coast on which the ship was stranded
being wild and unS^quented, the assassins retired with their booty to
the moimtalns, intending to penetrate through the woods to some
remote settlements on the south side, where they hoped to secure
themselves and elude all pursuit. Early intelligence of the crime
however had been conveyed to the Havanna, and the assassins wore
pursued by a detachment of twelve of the Chasseurs del Re^ with
their dogs. In a few days the criminals were all brought m and
executed, not one of them being in the least hurt by the dogs when
captured.
African Blood-Hound. — On his return from Africa the late Colonel
Denham, then major, presented two dogs and a bitch of this variety
to the royal menagene in the Tower, which, under the care of the
keeper, Mr. Cops, then contained a very choice collection of animals,
Arnc.iu Ulood-lluuiul.
recorded in that interesting publication ' The Tower Menagerie,
London, 8vo, 1829. The Major informed Mr. Cops that with them
he hunted the guseiUe^ and that they displayed great cunning, fre-
quently quitting the circuitous line of scent for the purpose of cutting
off a double, and recovering the scent again with ease. Thev would
hit off and follow a scent after a lapse of two hoiun from the time
when the animal had been on the spot> and this delicacy of nose had
not escaped observation, for they were applied to nearly the same
purposes as the other varieties here mentioned, and were commonly
employed in Africa to trace a flying enemy to his retreat. It is well
remarked in the work last above mentioned that for synmietry and
action they were perfect models, and a regret is expressed that in
consequence of their not having shown any disposition to perpetuate
their race, though they had at the time of making the observation been
three years in England, there appeared to be no chance of crossing our
pointers with this breed. We agree with the writer in thinking that
this blood so introduced would bis a very valuable acquisition. It was
remarked that of the three in the Tower the males were very mild,
but the female was of a very savage disposition.
. BLOODSTONE, also called ffeliotrope, is a deep green stone— a
jaspery variety of Quartz. It has obtained its name from being spotted
with red so as to resemble drops of blood. In addition to silica it
contains oxide of iron and day, which are mechanically introduced^
and in this way the red spots are produced. In the royal collection
at Paris there is a bust of Christ in this stone, so managed that the
red spots represent drops of blood. (Dana, Mineralogy,)
BLOOD-VESSELS. The blood from which the tissues of the body
obtain the material of their nourishment is conveyed fh>m one pari
of the body to another by means of branched tubes which are named
Blood-Vessels. It is carried along these vessels by the impulse given
by the action of the Heart [Heart.] The vessels which carry the
blood fh>m the heart are called Arteries. [Abtebt.] Those which
return the blood to the heart are named Veins. [Vsni.] Whilst a
very generally difiused network of Blood-Vessels exist, connecting th«
arteries and veins, which are called Capillaries. [Cafillabt Vi88KL&]
The Blood-Vessels, whatever may be their ultimate destination, seem
to originate in the same manner. Observations on this subject have
been made by Schwann and Eolliker in Germany, and by Professor
Paget in thie ooontry. The obeervations of the two former were made
Digitized by
Google
6S3
BLUE-BIBD.
BLUE-BREAST.
SM
on the deyelopment of the TeseeU in the germinal membrane of the
9as, and on the capillary blood-yessels of the tail of the larva of a frog,
lou^ Facet's observations were made on the tissues of the festal sheep.
Accordmg to these observers it appears that these vessels originate
from nucleated cells similar to those which at first constitute the
diffarent parts of the embryo. The cell-wall or external envelope of
these cells shoots out into slender pointed processes, such as is seen
in the forms of stellate vegetable tissue. The projections from neigh-
bouriug odls encounter each other, and becommg oiganiodly united,
the intervening walls between the two projections are absorbed, and
thus a continuous tube is produced. In cases where new vessels are
produced in the neighbourhood of old ones, the stellate cells are formed
in the new part» and projections are formed in the old capillary vessels
which unite with the new ones, and thus the circulation is re-esta-
blished. The projections when first united are solid and very slender,
but eventually the intervening substance disappears and the vessels
attain a uniform calibra In growing parts where the web of vessels
is kept up, new ones are constantly, being added by the development
of stellate cells in the interstices of the previous web. Whilst the
capillaries early attain the development at which thev remain, those
vessels which are to become arteries or veins on either side of the
capillary vessels go on increamn^ in size till they acquire the special
membranes or coats which distmguish these parts of the circulating
systeuL This explanation seems however only applicable to ihe smaller
veins and arteries, as the observations of Kolliker would seem to thow
that the larger Blood-Vessels may take their origin in the same manner
as the heart, in which oigan there is first an agglomeration of ceUs,
the interior ones of which become soft, and at last disappear, whilst
the outside ones become firmer and constitute the outer waUs. On
this subject further observations are vnmting.
(Sharpey, Quain's BUmenU of Anatomy ; Schwann, Mierotcopieal
Jlesearehet into the Accordance in the Structure and Growth cf AnimdU
and Plante, translated by H. Smith ; Kolliker, ffandbuch der Qewehe-
lehre der Mentchen; Paget^ Supplement to MUUer^e Phytioloffy, by
Baley and Kirkes.)
BLUE-BIRD, the American name for the Motacilla tiaUe of Linnseus,
Sylvia tialit of Wilson, Saxicola eialit of Bonaparte, Ampdii nalii of
Nuttall, and Erythaca (Sialia) WiUonii of Swainson.
laive beetles and other CoUoptera, frequently of spiders, and sometinMs
of iniits and seeds.
The nest is built in holes in trees and similar situatioDs. The bird
is very prolific, for though the Qggs, which are of a pale-blue colour,
seldom exceed six, and are more frequently five in number, two and
sometimes three broods are produced in a season.
Its song is cheerful, continuing with little interruption frx)m March
to October, but is most frequently heard in the serene days of the
spring.
With regard to its geographical distribution, Catesby says :— "These
birds are common in most parts of North America, for I have seeo
them in Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and the Bermuda Islsnds."
Wilson gives the United States, the Bahamas, Mexico, Bradl, and
Guyana, as its localities. About November it takes its departui«
from the United States.
The whole upper part of the bird, which is about 7i inches loDg, is of
a rich sky-blue shot with purple ; the bill and legs aro black ; shafts of the
wing and tail feathers black ; throat, neck, breast, and sides, partisUy
imder the wings, reddish chestnut; vnngs dusky-black at the tips;
belly and vent white. The female is duller in its colours. It is said
to be much infested with tape-worms.
BLUE-BOTTLE. [Cbntaurba.]
BLUE-BREAST, one of the EngUah names for thlA pretty bird,
which, as Bechstein observes, may be considered as the Imt between
the Redstart and Conmion Wagtail, having strong points of resem-
blance to both. It is also called Blue-Throated Robin and Blue-Thioated
Redstart. It is the Qorge-Bleue of the French, the Blaukehlein of the
Germans, Petto Turchino of the Italians, the Cycmecula of Brisson,
Motacilla Suecica of LiDnaus, Sylvia cyanecula of Meyer, the Blue-
Throated Warbler and Sylvia Suecica of Latham, Phanicena Suecica
of Gould, Ficedula Suecica of EytoxL
i»Jv5-Dird {Motacilla sialit).
Like our red-breast this liftrl4iiger of spring to the Americans " is
known to almost every child, and shows," says Wilson, " as much
confidence in man by associating with him in summer, as the other by
his familiarity in winter.
" So early as the middle of February, if the weather be open, he
usually makes his appearance about his old haimts, the bam, orchard,
and fence-posts. Storms and deep snows sometimes succeeding, he
disappears for a time ; but about tiie middle of March is again seen
accompanied by his mate visiting the box in the garden or the hole in
the old apple-tree, the cradle of some generations of his ancestors."
. . . . " When he first begins his amours," says a curious and
correct observer, " it is pleasing to behold his courtship, his solicitude
to please and to secure the favour of his beloved female. He uses the
tenderest expressions, sits close by her, caresses and sings to her his
most endearing warblings. When seated together if he espies an insect
delicious to her taste he takes it up, files with it to her, spreads his
wing over her, and puts it in her mouth."
The food of the Blue-Bird consists principally of insects, partioularly
Blue-Breost {MotaeUla Suecica).
According to Temminck the Blue-Breast is found in the same coun-
tries which are inhabited by the Red-Breast, and particularly on the
borders of forests, but is more rare in France and Holland than the
latter bird. Bonaparte notes it as accidental and very rare in the
neighbourhood of Rome, and as only appearing in severe winters. In
England it is very rarely seerL Yarrell in his ' British Birds* reeordB
four instances of its having been shot in England.
The food of the Blue-Breast, 4u;cordrDg to Tenmunck, consists of
files, the larvse of insects, and worms. Bechstein says that it also eats
elder-berries. It is one of those unfortunate birds which is called by
some a Beocafico. The nest is said to be built in bushes and in the
holes of trees. The eggs, of a greenish-blue, are six in number.
The following is Bechstein's accurate description of the male :—
." Its length is 54 inches, of which the tail occupies 2^ inches. The
beak is sharp and blackish, yellow at the angles ; the iris is Ixrown ;
the shanks are 14 lines high, of a reddish-brown, and the toes blackish ;
the head, the back, and the wing-coverts are ashy-brown, mottled with
a darker tint ; a reddish-white Ime passes above the eyes ; the cheeks
are dark-brown, spotted with rust-red and edged at the side inth deep
ash-gray ; a brilliant sky-blue covers the throat and hiJf-way down the
breast; this is set off by a spot of the most <l<i««ling white, the size of
a pea, placed predselv over the laiynz, which enlarging and dimininh
ing successively by the movement of this part wb^n the bird sings
pi^oduoes the most beautiful effect The blue passes into a black band,
and the latter into a fine orange ; the belly is dusky-white, yellowish
towards the vent ; the thighs and sides are reddish ; the quill-feathers
dark-brown; the tail-feathers red at the base, and half the summit
Digitized by
Google
S25
BLUMENBACHIUH.
BOBOLINK.
096
black; the two intermediate ones are entirely dark-brown. Some
males bare two little white spots on the throat, some even haye three
while others have none ; these latter are probably very old, for I have
observed that as the bird grows older the blue deepens andtJie orange
band becomes almost maroon."
The female resembles the male in the upper parts. On each side of
the neck is a blackish longitudinal streak passing on the upper parts
of the breast into a lai^ blackish space tinged with ash-colour. On
the middle of the neck is a great spot of pure white. Flanks clouded
with olive, the rest of the lower parts white. The very old females
have the throat sometimes of a very bright blue. This is probably
a sign that they have done laying, and are putting on the plumage of
the male. Bechstein says uiat the females when young are of a
celestial blue tint on the sides of the throat, which deepens with age
and forms the two longitudinal lines.
The young, according to Temminck, are brown spotted with white,
and have all a large white space upon the throat. " Its song," says
Bechstein, " is very agreeable ; it sounds like two voices at once ; one
deep, resembling the gentle humming of a violin string, the other the
soft sound of a flute."
BLUMENBA'CHIUM, a genus of Fossil Alcyonoid Polypiaria,
proposed by Dr. Konig.
BLYSMuS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Cype-
raceiE. The glumes are fertile, the outermost the largest and cmp^ ;
bristles three to six ; style not thickened at the base, persistent, but
})lano-convez, tipped with the undilated base of the style ; the spike-
ets bracteated, alternate, forming a close distichous compoundHerminal
sp^e. Two species of this inconspicuous genus are found in Qreat
Britain. B, eompressus is found in boggy pastures in England and
Scotland. B, rufut inhabits marshes near the sea on the northern
and western coasts. (Babington, Manual.)
BOA, a name applied to various forms of large Snakes. The species
to which this name has been given are mostly included in the ramily
Boidce, rBoro^]
BOAR-FISH. [Capros.1
BOAHMIA, a genus of Moths of the family Geometrida, All the
species of this genus are of an ashy colour, or white minutely dotted
with brown, and adorned with several fascia) of a deeper colour ; the
antennffi of the males, instead of being pectinated, a character common
in the Geometrida, are pilose ; palpi short, clothed with short scales,
three-jointed, the two basal joints of equal length, the terminal joint
concealed ; antennsd simple in the females ; thorax small, velvety ;
wings, when at rest, placed horizontally ; body slender in the males,
in the females shorter and more robust.
Mr. Stephens, in his ' Illustrations of British Entomology,' enume-
rates seven species of this genus, most of which are foimd in woods in
the neighbourhood of London.
BOAT-BILL, the English name for the genus Cochleariua of Brisson,
CaruTOfna of Linmeus, Les Savacous of the French.
This genus of the tzxaS^j Ardelidce (Heron-like Birds) would approach
quite closely, as Cuvier observes, to the herons [Abdba] in regard to
their bill and the kind of food which it indicates, were it not for the
extraordinary form of that organ, which is nevertheless, when closely
observed, the bill of a heron or a bittern very much flattened out.
This bill is of an oval form, longer than the head, very much depressed,
and not unlike the bowls of two spoons placed one upon the other,
with the rims in contact. The mandibles are strong, with sharp edges,
and dilated towards the middle. The upper mandible is carinated,
and hooked at its point, which has a small tooth or notch on each side
of it. The lower mandible is flatter than the upper, straight, mem-
branous in the centre, and terminated by a sharp point. The nostrils
are oblique, longitudinal, and closed.
The first quill is short ; the five next are the longest. The feet are
furnished with foxir toes, all long, and almost without membranes.
Though TOologists have described more than one species, it appears
that they may be referred to the only species yet known, CocUeariut
fuscus of Brisson, Cancroma cocfdearia of LinnaBus, Le Savacou of
Bufibn, the differences on which Cancroma cancrophaga (Linnscus, &c.)
is founded not being allowed to be specific. Leach, in his ' S^oological
Miscellany,' figures and describes tne common Boat-Bill under tiie
title of Cancroma vulgaris, but assigns no reason for altering the
spedfio name given by Linnseus.
The common Boat-cill is about the size of a domestic hen. In the
male, the forehead and upper parts of the neck and breast are dirty
white; the back and lower part of the belly rusty-reddish ; the bill is
black, and the legs and feet are brown. From the head depends a
long crest of black feathers, falling backwards. The female has the
top of the head black, without the elongated crest ; the back and the
belly rusty-reddish ; the wings gray ; the forehead and rest of the
plumage white ; and the bill, legs, and feet, brown.
" This species," says Latluun, in his * Synopsis,' ** for I refer all that
has 1>een treated of above to one only, inhabits Cayenne, Guyana, and
Brazil, and chiefly frequents such parts as are near the water. In
ffuch places it perches on the trees which hang over the streams, and,
like the kingfisher, drops down on the fish which swim beneath. It
has been thought to live on crabs likewise, whence the Limuean name ;
but this is not dear, though it cannot be denied ; yet wo are certain
Jiat fish is the most common, if not the only food."
Lesson (' Manuel ') says, " The Boat-Bill perches on trees by the
nde of rivers, where it lives on fish, and not on crabs, as its name
indicates ;" and speaks of it as inhabiting the inimdated savannahs of
South America, and as being especially common in Quyana.
Boat-Bill {CoHcrotna cochlearia), male.
Leach ('Zoological Miscellany') says that it inhabits Southern
America, and feeds on fishes, vermet, and eruttaeea, in quest of which
it is oonttnually traversing the borders of the sea.
Cuvier (' R^gne Animal ') says that it inhabits the warm and moist
parts of South America, and perches on trees by the side of rivers,
whence it precipitates itself on the fish which afford its ordinary
nourishment.
BOB-0-LINK, or BOB-LINE, the usual name by which the Rice-
Bird, or Reed-Burd— the Skunk-Bird, Seecawk-Petheesew of the Cree
Bob-o-Link {Doliehoftyx oriayvoru$)»
Indians, the Rioe-Bunting of Pennant and of Wilson, Rioe-Troopial
of authors, Jffortvlanui Carolinentii of Catesby, EmbcrvBa orieyvora ef
linnseus, Icterit agripennit of Bonaparte, Dolichonfx orisfVpnis of
Swainsoft— 18 known hi the United States.
Digitized by
Google
w
BOB-0-LINK
Gateeby, WilBon, Audubon, and Nuttall give the moit complete
MoountB of this well-known bird : — " The whole continent of Amenca,"
■ays the latter, ** from Labrador to Mexico and the great Antilles, are
the occasional residence of tlus truly migratory species. About the
middle of March, or beginning of Apnl, the cheerful Bobnv-Link makes
hlB appearance in the southern extremity of the United States, becom-
ing g^^dually arrayed in his nuptial liyery, and accompanied by troops
of hlB companions, who often precede the arrival of their more tardy
mates." (Bartram's < Travels,' p. 295, edit. Lend.) "Their wintering
resort appears to be rather the West Indies than the tropical conti-
nent, as their migrations are observed to take place genenlly to the
east of Louisiana, where their visits are rare and irregular." (Audu-
bon's * Ornithological Biographj^,' vol i. p. 288.) At this season also
they make their approaches chiefly«by night, obeying as it were more
distinctly the mandates of an overruling instinct, which prompts than
to seek out their natal regions ; while in autumn their progress, by
day onlj, is alone instigated by the natural quest of food. About the
1st of May the meadows of Massachusetts begm to re^dio their lively
ditty. At this season in wet places, and by newly-ploughed fieldi^
they destroy many insects and their larvn ; but while on their way
through the souuiem states they cannot resiBt the temptation of
feeding on the early wheat and tender barley. According to their
BuocesB in this way parties often delay their final northern movement
as late as the middle of May, so that they appear to be in no haste to
arrive at their destination at any exact period. The principal busuiess
of their lives however, the rearing of their young, does not take place
until they have left the parallel of the 40th degree. In the savaimahs
of Ohio and Michigan, and the cool grassy meadows of New Toric,
Canada, and New England, they fix &eir abode, and obtain a sufii-
ciency of food throughout the summer without molesting the harvest
of the farmer until the ripening of the latest crops of oats and barley,
when in their autumnal and changed dress, hardly known now as Uie
same spedes, they sometimes show their taste for plunder, and flock
together like the greedy and predatory blackbirds.
The song of the male generally ceases about the first week in July,
and about the same time his variegated dress, which fix>m a resem-
blance in its colours to that of the quadruped obtained for it the
name of 'Skunk-Bird ' among the Cree Indians, is exchanged for the
sombre hues of the plumage of the female. The author alx^ve quoted
thus describes the autumnal migration : —
« About the middle of August^ in congregating numbers, divested
already of all selective attachment, vast foraging parties enter New
York and Pennsylvania on their way to the south. Here along the
shores of the large rivers, lined.with floating fields of the Wild Bice
(Zizania), they find an abundant means of subsistence during their
short stay ; and as their flesh, now &t, is little inferior to that of the
European ortolan, the reed- or rice-birds, as they axe then called in
their sparrow dress, form a favourite sport for gunners of all descrip-
tions, who turn out on the occasion and commit prodigious havoc
among the almost silent and greedy roosting throng. The maricets
are then filled with this delicious game, and the pursuit^ both for
success and amusement along the picturesque and reedy shores of the
Delaware and other rivers, is second to none but that of rail-diooting.
As soon as the cool nights of October commence, and as the wild rice-
crops begin to fail, the reed-birds take their departure from Penn-
sylvania and New Jersey, and in their further progress through the
southern states they swarm in the rice-fields ; amd before the crop is
gathered they have already made their appearance in the islands of
Cuba and Jamaica, where they also feed on the seeds of the Guinea
Grass (iSSt)f|^A«tm), becoming so fat as to deserve the name of ' Butter-
Birds,' and are in high esteem for the table."
Catesby, under the name of Caroline Ortolan, gives the following
interesting account of the Rice-Bird, from which it appears that the
damage done to the farmer by this comparatively weidL agent is very
great:—
** In the beginning of September, while the grain of rice is yet soft
and milky, innumerable flights of these birds arrive firom some remote
parts to the great detriment of the inhabitants. In 1724 an inhabitant
near Ashley River had forty acres of rice so devoured bv them that he
was in doubt whether what they had left was worth the expense of
gathering in. Th^ are esteemed in Carolina the greatest delicacy of
all other birds. When they first arrive thev are lean, but in a few
days become so excessively fat that they flv sluggishly and with diffi-
culty, and when shot frequently burst with thefall. They continue
about three weeks, and retire by the time the rice first begins to
harden. There is something so singular and extraordinary in this
bird that I cannot pass it over without notice. In September, when
they arrive in infinite swarms to devour the rice, they sre all hens,
not being accompanied with any cock. Observing them to be all
feathered olike^ I imagined they were young of both sexes not per-
fected in their colours ; but by opening some scores prepared for the
spit I found them to be all females, and that I might leave no room'
for doubt repeated the search often on many of them, but could never
find a cock at that time of the jear. Early in the spring both cocks
and hens make a transient visit together, at which time I made the
Uke search as before, and both sexes were plainly distinguishable.
.... In September, 1725, lying upon the deck of a sloop in a bay at
AndroB Island, I and the company with me heard three nights suo-
BOG.
ivelv flints of these birds (their note being plainly distinguiahable
from otner^ passing over our heads northeriy, which is their dinci
way firom Cuba to Carolina; from which I conceive, after partaking
of the earlier crop of rice at Cub% they travel over sea to Carolina for
the same intent^ the rice there being at that time fit for them."
Sir John Richardson says that ^e 54th parallel, which it readies
in June, appears to be the most northern limit of the Bob-o-Link, sod
gives a description of a male in its nuptial dress, which was kiUed on
the Saskatchewan in that month in the year 1827.
Swainaon places it as a genus of his third sub-family, Agdma^
in the third or aberrant group of his Siwmida,
Grsssy meadows are the spots usually selected by the bird for its
nest, which is made on the ground, generally in some slighfly
depressed spot, of withered grass» so carelessly bedded together as
scarcely to be distinguishable firom the neighbouring parts of the field.
Here five or six eggs of purplish-white, blotched all over with puzpM,
and spotted with brown round the larger end, are laid.
The length of the Bob-o-Iink is about 7i inches. The male m his
nuptial dI^^ss has the head, fore part of tiie back, shoulders, winn,
tail, and the whole of the under plumage black, going off in^e
middle of the back to grayish ; scwuliuv, rump, and upper tail-
coverts white ; there is a large patch or ochreous yeUow on the nape
and bade of Uie neck ; bill bluiah-blaok, which m the female, young
male, and adult male in his autumnal dress, is pale fiesh-oolour; the
feathers of the tail are sharp at the end like a woodpecker's; legs
brown.
The female, whose plumage the adult male assumes after the
breeding season, has the back streaked with brownish-black, not unlike
that of a lark, according to Catesby, and the whole under parts (tf a
dirty yellow. The young males resemble the females.
BODENITE, an ore of Cerium resembling Orihitc It is found at
Boden in Saxony.
BCEHKERIA, a g^nus of plants belonging to the natoral order
Urticacece, The species were formerly comprehended under the genus
Uriiea. One of the species B, nivea, formerly Utiiea ntreo, ii the
Rheea of Asam, and yields fibres of remarkable fineness and tenacity.
It appears &om the investigations of Dr. Falconer, that the plant
which yields the celebrated grass-cloth of China is identical with the
Asam plant. Several specimens of these fibres manufactured into
light articles of dress were exhibited in the Indian collection at the
Great Exhibition of 1851. The B, nivea is a herbaceous plants with
broad ovate leaves which are downy and white beneath, hence its
specific name. It bears no sting.
BOERHAAYIA, a genus of plants named after the celebrated
Boerhaave, belonging to the natural order Nyetoffinacect. The species
of Boerliaavia have generally emetic and purgative properties, and
have been employed medicinally both by the natives of Peru and the
East Indies, where the species grow. B. inberoaa ia stated by Lindlcy
to be the Yerba de la Purgacion of Peru, and that it is employed as a
culinary v^etable. The root of B. dectmbeM is called Hog-Meai in
Jamaica, and on accoimt of its emetic properties it is sometimes called
Ipecacuanha in Guyana. Sir Robert Schomburgk states that it is
astringent, and is useful in dysentery. B, decumbent and £. hinuta
are also said to possess meidicinal properties. (Lindley, VegOahU
Kingdom.)
BOG. The name of Bog has been given indiscriminately to veiy
difierent kinds of substances. In all cases the expression Bignifies
an earthy substance wanting in firmness or consistency, which state
seems to arise generally (perhaps not always) from the presence of t
superabundant supply of moisture having no natural outlet or drain.
In some cases, where springs of water, or the drainage from an
extensive area, are pent up near the surface of the soil, they simply
render it soft or boggy, and in this state the land ia perhaps more
properly called a Quagmire. A second state of bog is where, in
adcution to the condition just described, a formation of vegetable
matter is induced, which dying and being reproduced on the aui&oe
assumes the state of a spongy mass of sufficient consistence to bear a
considerable weight. Bogs of this description are numerous and
extensive in Irekmd, where they are valuable from the use made of
the solid vegetable matter, both as fuel and as a principal ingredient
in composts for manures. Where the turf has been cut away for thoe
purposes, several bogs have been reclaimed by draining; uul ^^
subsoil is then readily brought into cultivation. Bogs also occur ui
all parts of Great Britain where the form of the surface and the
nature of the euth favour the general condition under which bog u
formed. Thus there are bogs on the high granitic plateau of
C(»nwall, on the road from Launoeston to Bodmin ; and in the lazge
granitic mass, of which Brown Willy is the centre, thebottoma of the
valleys are covered with bogs, the lower part of which is consolidated
into peat. Although peat-moss always springs from some moist spo^
it wiU grow and spread over sound ground, and if not stopped by
some natural or artificial impediment, such as a wall, would overrun
whole districts. In this case.it absorbs any moisture which reaches it,
and retains it like a sponge.
The depth of a bog depends on the level of the surroonding
grounds. It cannot rise much higher than the lowest outiet for the
water. Where there is no immediate ouUet the bog increases, un^
the evaporation is equal to the supply of the springs and rain^ or tui
Digitized by
Google
BOG.
BOG.
H rifles to a lerel with its lowest boimdaiy, where it beoomes the
flotiroe of a stream or river, and fonna a lake. The mud beipg
dopoBLted at the bottom, gradually becomes a true peat, or is quite
reduced to its eleme&tsj^ earths. In this case it may beoomea
stratum of rioh alluvial soil, which some convulsion of nature may
lay dry for the benefit of future ages. From this circumstance has
arisen the great advantage of draLiing bogs, to which the attention
of agriculturists and men of science has often been profitably
directed.
The bogs of Ireland are estimated in the whole to exceed in extent
2,800,000 KngUsh acres. The greater port of these bogs may be oon-
udered as fozming one connected mass. If a line were drawn firom
WicUow-Head on the east coast, to Gkdway, and another line from
Howth-Head, lUso on the east coast, to Sligo, the Efpaoe included
between those lines, which would occupy about one-fourth part of the
entire superficial extent of Ireland, would contain about six-sevenths
of the bogs in the island, exclusive of mere mountain-bogs, and bogs
of no groKter extent than 800 English acres. This district resembles
in form a broad belt drawn from east to west acroas the centre of
Ireland, having its narrowest end nearest to Dublin, and gradually
extending its breadth as it approaches the western ocean. This great
division is traversed by the river Shannoof from north to south, which
thus divides the great system of bogs into two parts. Of these, the
division to the west of the river contains more than double the extent
of bogs in the eastern division, so that if we suppose the whole of the
bogs of Ireland (exclcusive of mere mountain-bogs, and of bogs of less
extent than 800 acres) to be divided into tweni^ IMrts, twelve of these
parte will be found in the western division, and five parteinthe eastern
division of the district already described, while of the remaining
three parts, two are to the south and one to the north of that
district.
The smaller bogs, excluded firom the foregoing computation, are
vexy numerous in some parts. In the single county of Cavan there
are above 90 bogB, not one of which exceeds 800 E^lish acres, but
which coUectiv^y contain about 17,600 English acres, without taking
into the account many bogs the extent of which is from five to twenty
acres each.
Most of the bogs which lie to the eastward of the Shannon and
which occupy a considerable portion of the King's County and the
County of Kildare, are generaUy known by the name of the Bog of
Allen. It must not however be supposed wat this name is applied to
any one gpneat morass ; on the contrary, the boga to which it is applied
are perfectly distinct fh>m each other, often separated l^ high ridges
of dry ootmtry, and inclining towards difierent rivers as their natural
directions for drainage.
The surface of the land rises very qidckly from the Bog of Allen on
all sides, particularly to the north-west, where it is composed to a con-
siderable depth of mnestone gravel, forming very abrupt hiUs. In
places where the jGatoe of the hills has been opened the mass is found
to be composed of rounded limestone, vazying in aao from two feet in
diameter to less than one inch ; the largest pieces are not so much
rounded as the smaU, and frequently ti^eir sharp angles are merely
rubbed o£ They are usually penetrated by contemporaneous veins
of Lydian stone, varying in colour from black to light gray. The
colour of the limestone is usually light smoke-gray, rarely bluiflh-black ;
when it is bluish-black the fracture is large conchoidal; ^t of the
gray is uneven, approaching to earthy. The Lydian stone when unat-
tached to the limestone has usually a tendency to a rhomboidal form,
sometimes cubical ; the edges are more or less rounded ; the longitudi-
nal firacture is even, the cross fracture is conchoidal.
The Grand Canal from Dublin to Shannon Harbour passes through
a considerable part of the great bog-district of Ireland. In forming
this canal it was neoessaiy to make considerable embankments, the
surface-water of the canal being generally on a higher level than the
surface of the inmiediately adjoining bogs. Where this was not the
case advantage was taken of the circumstance to conduct the drainage
of the bogs into trenches for the supply of the canaL
The b<^ situated to the south of the great belt in the centre of
Ireland occur in Tipperary, Kilkenny, Clare, and Queen's County ;
those to the north of that b^ occur in Antrim, Down, Armagh, Tyrone,
and Londondeny.
It appeared firam the examination of the surveyors appointed by
parliament in 1810 to investigate the nature and extent of the bogs in
Ireland, that they consist of " a mass of the peculiar substance culed
peat, of the average thickness of twenty-five feet^ nowhere less than
twelve nor found to exceed forty-two— this substance varying mate-
rially in its appearances and properties in proportion to the depth at
which it lies. The upper surmoe is covered with moss of various
speciesy and to the depth of about ten feet is composed of a mass of
the fibres of .similar vegetables in dififorent stages of decomposition,
proportioned to their depth fh>m the surfitoe, generally however too
open in their texture to be applied to the purposes of fuel ; below this
gmenHj lies a light blackiidi-brown tur^ containing the fibres of moss,
Btin visible thoi^ not pexfect^ and extending to a farther depth of
perhaps ten feet under this. At a greater depth the fibres of vege-
table matter cease to be visible, the colour of the turf becomes blacker
and the substance much more compact, its properties as fdel more
lalu&ble, and gradually increasing in the degree of blackness and com-
VAX. BBC nXV. TOL. L
paotness proportionate to its depth; near the bottom of the bog
it forms a black mass, which when dry has a strong reeembUcce
to pitch or bituminous coal, having a conchoidal fracture in every
direction, with a black shining lus£e, and susceptible of receiving a
considerable polish."
The Burfieuje of Irish bogs is not in general level ; indeed it is most
commonly uneven, sometimes sweUing into hills and divided by val-
leys^ thus affording great facilities for drainage. If one of the bogs of
Inland which have been described occur on low ground, a £etot which
seemed to strengthen the opinion of their having always originated
from the decay of forests. This theory of the original formation of
bogs was at one time vexy generally adopted, but iShe result of more
recent investigations shows that it cannot be supported. That some
bogs may have been formed in this manner is not denied. It is stated
in the * Philosophical Transactions,' No. 275, that " the Bomans under
Ostorius, having slain many Britons, drove the rest into the forest of
Hatfield (in Yorkshire), .which at that time overspread all the low
country ; and the conqueror taking advantage of a strong south-west
wind, set fire to the pitch-trees of which the forest was chiefly com-
posed, and when the greater part of the trees were thus destroyed, tha
Soman soldiers and captive Britons out down the remainder, except a
fewlarge ones, which were left growing as remembrancers of the destruo*
tion of the rest. These single trees did not long withstand tiie action
of the winds, but falling into the rivers interoepted their currents,
and caused the waters to rise and flood the whole flat country ; hence
the oiigin of the mosses and mooiy b<»8 which were afterwards
formed iheHce." This moorland near Hameld, seven miles north-east
from Doncaster, and about Thome, is now a boggy peat covered with
heathy several feet higher than the adjoining land, and vecy wet;
whence it has been aptly compared to a sponge full of water. The
Thome waste with some adjacent tracts and the Hatfield Hoor contain
about 12,000 acres.
Undemeath the' peat in many places the layers of trees are found
which serve to confirm this theory of the origin of these bogs. Some
of them give indications of having been felled by human agency.
In the ' Ordnance Surv^ of the County of Londonderry,' presented
bv Lord Mulgrave to the British Association during its meeting
(Aug. 1885) in Dublin, are some remarks on the subject which are
deserving of attention : —
"In ihe production of hog, JSjphaffMim [Sphoffnum paltutre] is
allowed on aU hands to have been a princ^Ml agent, and superabund-
ant moisture the inducing cause. To account for such moisture various
opinions have been advanced, more especially that of the destraotion
of lar^e fbrests, which by obstructing in their &11 the usual channels
of dnonege, were supposed to have caused an accumulation of water.
That opinion however cannot be supported ; for as Mr. Aher remarks
in the * Bog Reports/ such trees as are found have generally six or
seven feet of compact peat under their roots^ which are found standing
as they grew, evidently proving the formation of peat to have been
previous to the growth of the trees, a fact which in relation to firs may
be verified in probably every bog in this parish, turf from three to
five feet thick underlymff the lowest layer of such trees. This fact is
indeed so strongly ma»ed in the bog which on the Donegal side
bounds the road to Huff, that the turfoutten having arrived at the
last depth of turf, find timber no longer, though formeriy it was
abundant, as is proved by their own testimony, from experience, and
by the few scattered stumps which still remain resting on the present
surfaee. Not so however with oaks, as their stumps are commonly
found resting on the gravel at the base, or on the sides of the small
hillocks of gravd and sand which so often stud the surfaces of bogs,
and have by Mr. Aher been ap^* called islands. He further adds that
in the counties of Tipperary, Kilkenny, &c. they are popularly called
Derries (signifying 'a place of oaks '), a name deserving attention whe-
ther viewed as expressive of the «-g4afcing fiaot or as resulting firom a
lingering traditionaiy remembrance of their former condition, when,
qrowned with oaks, they were distinguishable from the dense forest
of firs alrirfcing the marshy plains around them. The strong resem-
blance to andent water-courses of the valleys and basins which now
contain bogs, and the occurrence of mari and sheUs at the bottoms of
many, naturally suggest the idea of shaUow lakes, a view of the subject
adopted in the. '.Bog Reports ' by Messrs. Nimmo and Griffiths. Such
lakte may have originated in the natural inequalities of the ground, or
.been formed. by the choking.up of diannela of drainage by heaps of
day and gravel, or they may have been reduced to the necessary state
of shallowneBS by the gradual wearing away of obstacles which had
dammed up and retained their waters at a higher level"
The probable process of 'the formation of bog in such cases is thus
explained in the ' Ordnance Surv^ : ' — " A shidlow pool induced and
fftTOured the vegetation of aquatic plants, which gradually crept in
from the borders towards the deeper centre. Mud accumulated round
their root and stalks, and a spongy semi-fluid mass was thus fomed,
well fitted for the growth of moss, which now, espedally Sphagmm^
began to luxuriate. This, absorbing a large quantity of water and
continuing to shoot out new plants above whfle the old were decaying^
rotting, and compressing into a solid substance bdow, gradually
replaced the water by a mass of vegetable matter. In tins manner
the marsh might be filled up, while the central or moister portion
oontanuing to excite a more rapid growth of the moss, it would be
^ 2 K
Digitized by
Google
BOO.
BOID^.
gradually ndaed above tbe edges until the whole suifaoe had attained
an elevation sufficient to dischuge the sur£Eice-water bj existing chan-
nels of drainage, and calculated by its slope to facilitate their passage,
when a limit would be in some degree set to its further increase."
Aooording to the personal observations of Mr. Qriffiths, made during
many yean, the growth of turf in these bogs is very rapid, amounttog
sometunes to two inches in depth in one year : this however is stated
to be an excessive growth under peculiarly favourable drcumstanoes.
The roots whidi were attached to the ground decay, and the whole
of the surfSace becomes a floating mass of long interiaced fibres
which when taken out has been significantlv called in Ireland ' Old
Wives' Tow.' The black mass of the bog is a mud almost entirely
Ibrmed of decomposed vegetable fibres, but not of sufficient specific
gravity to sink to the bottom ; thus producing that semi-liquid state
which distinguishes a quaking bog from a peat-moss. The vegetation
which continues on the surface and at some depth below has the
appearance of a fine green turf. In many oases the roots are so matted
together and so strong as to form a web capable of bearing the gentle
and light tread of a man accustomed to walk over bogs, bending and
waving under him without breaking ; and while a person unsk^fully
attempting to walk upon it -would in&llibly break through and be
plunged in the bog like a venturous skater on unsound ice, the prac-
tisod ' bog-trotter witii proper precautions passes over them in safety.
This has often been of considerable advantage in war or in the pursuit
of illegal employments. The fugitive escapes over his native bogs
where the pursuer cannot venture to follow, or if he does he generaUy
pays the penalty of his ignorance or rashness by sinking in them.
Many examples of this were witnessed in Ireland during the last rebel-
lion/ and many bodies have been found in bogs years after, preserved
from decay and tanned in a manner by the astringent principle which
is always found where vegetable fibre has been decomposed under
water.
When bogs become consolidated or compressed they are called
Peat-Moflses. The consolidation here mentioned must be earned to
a considerable extent before the soil is capable of sustaining such a
growth of timber as it is seen to have fkrequentl^ borne.
An extensive tract of peat-moss (Chat-Moss) in the county of Lan-
caster attracted public attention some years ago, from the drcumstance
of the Liverpool and Manchester railway having been carried through
it. The lengtii of Chat-Moss is about 6 miles, its greatest breadth
about 3 miles, and its depth varies from 10 to upwards of SO feet^ the
whole of which is pure vegetable matter throughout^ without the
slightest mixtiire of sand, gravel, or other material. On the surfiioe
it is light and fibrous, but it becomes more dense below. At a con-
siderable depth it is found to be black, compact^ and heavy, and in
some respects resembles coal : it is in fact exactly similar to the
composition of the bogs of Ireland, as already described.
The Moss is bounded on all sides by ridges of rolled stones mixed
with clay, which prevent the immediate ducharge of its waters. It
is probable that this bar, by interrupting the course of the waters,
originally caused the growth of Chat-Moss. This moss presents at its
edges nearly an upright face ; the spongy surfSsuM of the moss being
elevated at a very short distance frvm the edge from 10 to 20 feet
above the level of the immediately adjoining land. The immediate
substratum to the bog is a bed of silidous sand, which varies from
one to five feet in thickness, below which is a bed of bluish and some-
times reddish clay marl of excellent quality. This marl varies in
thickness very considerably; in some parts it is not more than three
fbet, in others its depth has not been ascertained ; below the marl Ib
a bed of sandstone-gravel of unknown thickness. It is this bed of
gravel which extends beyond the edge of the bog^ and prevents the
direct discharge of the waters from we flat country to the north into
the river IrwelL (See Camden's remarks on this Moss, in his * Britan-
nia,' voL ii p. 966, Gibson's edition.)
About 1797 the late Mr. Roscoe of Liverpool b^gan to improve
Trafford-Moe^ a tract of 800 acres, lying 2 miles east of Chat-Moss,
which operation was so successful as to encourage him to proceed
with the improvement of Chat-Moss, the most extensive lowland bog
in England, including 7000 acres. After making a great variety of
experiments Mr. Roscoe gave it as his decided opinion " that the best
method of improving moss4and is that of the application of a calca-
reous substance, in sufficient quantity to convert the moss into a soD,
and by the occasional use of animal or other extraneous manures,
such as the oourse of cultivation and the nature of the crops may be
found to require."
In June 1833 an ancient wooden house was discovered in Drum-
kelin Bog, in the coimty of Doneg^ in Ireland. The framework of
the house was very firmly put together, without any iron ; the roof
was flat and made of thick oak plsmks. The house was 12 feet square
and 9 feet high : it consisted of two floors one above the other, each
about 4 feet high ; one side of the house was entirely open. The
whole stood on a thick layer of sand spread on the bog, which con-
tinues to the depth of 15 feet below the foundation of the house. On
the same level as the foundation of the house stumps of oak trees
^ere found standing, just sach as had supplied the timber of the
house ; and beneath aU this there are still 15 feet of peat.
Bogs not imfrequently burst out and suddenly cover large tracta
This phenomenon happened in 1885 in Ireland, on a part of liord
O'Neill's estate, on the BaUymena road, in the neic^bouihood of
Bandalstown. On the 19th September an individual near the ground
was surprised by hearing a rumbUng noise as if under the earth, and
immediately after a portion of the bog moved forward a few perches,
when it exhibited a broken rugged appearance, with a soft peaiy
substance boiling up through the chinks. It rexnained in this state
until tiie 22nd, when it again moved suddenly forward, covering corn-
fields, potato-fields, turf-staoks, hay-ricks, fta The noise made by its
burst was so loud as to ahum the inhabitants adjoining, who on
perceiving the fiow of the bog immediately fled. It directed its
course towards the river Maine which lay below it ; and so great Vras
its force that the moving mass was carried a considerable way across
the river. Owing to the heavy rain which had fallen for some time
previously, the river forced its channel through the matter deposited
in its bed, and considerable damage was thus obviated which would
otherwise have occurred from the forcing back of the waters.
The Irish Amelioration Society, the British and Irish PeatCompanj,
and other associations, have of late years been engaged in convnting
turf and peat into charcoal and other products. Charcoal from turf
and peat to a considerable amount has already been made in Ireland.
There are two methods of carbonising the turf or peat, either to
subject it to heat in close Vessels, by which the other products are
saved as well as the carbon, or to pile it in heaps and apply heat, in the
same manner as for wood-charcoaL The heating in dose vessels is
expensive, and there is not sufficient compensation in the distilled
products. The acetic acid and the tar are generally small in quantity
and the gases are defldent in illuminating power : hence the charcoal
is the only product of much value. The charcoal obtained is from
80 to 40 per cent of the weight of the dry turf. The more eoononiical
mode of piling up the turf in heaps has hitherto been found prefe^
able. The soda are regularly arranged, and laid as close as possible;
they are better for being large, say 15 inches long, 6 inches broad, and
5 inches deep. The heaps are built hemispherioally, and are smaller
than those of wood. The mass is allowed to heat more than is necessary
for wood, and the process is very carefully attended to, on account of the
great combustibility of .the materiaL Tlie quantity of charcoal obtained
by this method is from 25- to 30 per cent, of the weight of dry turf.
The charcoal so obtained is very light and very inflammable, and
possesses nearly the volume of the turf. It usually burns with a
slight flame, as the volatile matters are not entirely expelled.
A specimen subjected to analysis gave the following result :—
Carbcm 89*90
Hydrogen 1*70
Oxygen and Nitrogen . . 4'20
Ashes 4-20
100-00
For many industrial purposes chsrooal so prepared is too lights but
compressed turf oonverted into charcoal may attain a density he
superior to wood-charcoal, and even equal to that of the best coke
obtained from ooaL
It is of peculiar importance in the preparation of charcoal from
turf that the material selected should be as free as possible from
impurities. Surfaoe-turf generally contains lesa than 10 per cent of
ash, whilst that of the dense turf of the lower strata sometimes
contains from 20 to 80 per cent, a quantity which renders it unfit
for most practical purposes.
BOG-IBON-OBE, a loose earthy ore of iron, oonsisting of Peroxide
of Iron and water. It is of a brownish-black colour, and occurs in
low boggy grounds.
BOG-MANaANESE, a native hydrated Peroxide of Manganese;
also called Wad,
BOQMABUS, a genus of Fishes, to which the Yaagmaer, or Deal-
Fish is referred by Schneider under the specific title of J?. Idamdicw,
[Tbachtptbrub.]
BOQ-MTRTLE. [Mtrioa.]
BOHEMIAN CHATTERER [Bombyoilla.]
BOHEMIAN WAX-WING. [Bombyoilla.]
BOIDiE, the fourth family of the second order (Opkidia) of Reptila.
This family is known by the following technical characters :— The
ventral shields narrow (except in BUyeria), transverse, band-like, often
six-sided ; the hinder limbs developed under the skin, formed of
several bones and ending in an exserted homy spine, placed one on
each side of the vent ; the tail short, generally prehoiale; the pupil
oblong, erect (except in TcrtHx).
The species live in marshy places. Fixing themselves by the tail to
some aquatic tree, they allow themselves to float, and thus entrap their
prey. They are without venom, the absence of which is amply com-
pensated by immense muscular power, enabling some of the species
to kill laige animals by oonstriction, preparatory to swidlowiog them
whole.
There are few fables which have not some truth for their origio,
The voyages of Sinbad have beoome proverbial; but the stories of
the monstrous serpents in the valley of diamonds, and of the "serpent
of surprising length and thickness, whose scales made a rostiingas he
wound himself along," that swallowed up two of hist companions,
probably had their foundation in tradition^ of the size and strength
of a family of serpents belonging to the Old World, but nearly allied
Digitized by
Google
03 Bom^
in their oxganisaiioii and habits to those which we are about to
consider.
Of the same race probably were the monsters to which the following
allusions are made by andent writers : —
Aristotle (book viiL c. 28) writes of Libyan ser|>ents of enormous
size, and relates that certain yoyagers to that coast were pursued by
Bome of them so laige that they overset one of the triremes. The
two monstrous snakes sent by Juno to strangle the infant Hercules in
his cradle, described by Theocritus in his 24th Idyll, exhibit some of
the peculiarities of these reptiles. The way in which Theocritus
represents them to have rolled their folds around the boy, and relaxed
them when dying in his grasp, indicates the habit of a constricting
serpent Yiigil's Laoooon, and the unrivalled marble group, which
the poet*s description most probably called into existence, owe their
origin undoubtedly to the stories current of constricting serpents.
Valerius Maximus (book i. c. 8, s. 19), quoting Livy, gives a relation
of the alarm into which the Romans under Regulus were thrown by
an enormous snake, which had its lair on the banks of the Bagradas
or Magradas (Mejextla), near Utica. It is said to have swallowed many
of the soldiers, to have killed others in its folds, and to have kept the
army from the river ; till at length, being invulnerable by ordinaiy
weapons, it was destroyed by heavy stones slung from the military
engines used in sieges. But according to the historian its persecution
of the army did not cease with its death ; for the waters were polluted
with its gore, and the air with the steams from its corrupted carcass,
to such a degree that the Romans were obliged to move their camp,
taking with them however the skin, 120 feet in length, which was sent
to Rome. Gellius, Orosius, Florus, Silius ItaUcus, and Zonaras, make
mention of the same serpent nearly to the same effect. Pliny (viiL 14,
' De Serpentibus MftTimia et Bois ') says that Megasthenes writes that
serpents grow to such a size in India that they swallowed entire stags
and bulls. (See also Nearchus, quoted by Arrian, ' Indie.' 15.) He
speaks too of the Bagradian serpent above mentioned as matter of
notoriety, observing that it was 120 feet long, and that its skin and
jaws were preserved in a temple at Rome till the time of the Numan-
tine war : and he adds, that tiie serpents called Boas in Italy confirm
BOlD.fi. CM
my paper would fail me before I enumerated them all; nevertheless
I must say something about the great ones, which sometimes exceed
86 feet in length, and are of such capacity of throat and stomach that
they swallow entire boais." He then speaks of the great power of
distention in the jaws, adding, ** To connrm this there are those alive
who partook with Qeneral Peter Both of a recentlv swallowed hog,
cut out of the belly of a serpent of this kind. They are not veno-
mous, but they strangle by powerfully applying their folds around the
body of a man or other animal" Mr. M'Leod, in his interesting
* Voyage of H. M. S. Aloeste,' p. 812, gives the following account : —
" It may here be mentioned that during a captivity of some months
at Whidah, in the kingdom of Dahomey, on the coast of Africa, the
author of this narrative had opportunities of observing snakes more
than double the size of this one just described ; but he cannot venture
to say whether or not they were of the same species, though he has
no doubt of their being of the genus Boa. They killed their prey
however precisely in a similar manner, and from their superior oulk
were capable of swallowing animals much larger than goats or sheep.
Governor Abson, who had for 37 years resided at Fort William (one
of the African Company's settlements there), described some desperate
struggles which he had either seen, or had come to his knowledge,
between the snakes and wild beasts as wellas the smaller cattle, in
which the former were always victorious. A negro herdsman belong-
ing to Mr. Abson (who afterwards limped for many years about the
fort) had been seized by one of these monsters by the thigh, but from
his situation in a wood the serpent, in attempting to throw himself
around him, got entangled with a tree; and the man being thus
preserved from a state of compression which would instantly have
rendered him qu.iie powerless, had presence of mind enough to cut
with a large knife which he carried about with him deep gashes in the
neck and throat of his antagonist, there^ killinjg him, and disengaging
himself from his frightful situation. He never afterwards however
recovered the use of that limb, which had sustained considerable
injury from his fangs and the mere force of his jaws." All these
gigantic serpents were most probably the Pythons of modem nomen-
clature.
Skeleton of Boa Gmttrictor,
this, for that they grow to such a size that in the belly of one killed
on the Vatican Hill in the reign of Claudius an entire infant was found.
Saetonios (in ' Octav.' 48) mentions the exhibition of a serpent 50 cubits
in length in front of the oomitium. But without multiplying instances
from -^gliftw and others, we will now oome to more modem accounts.
Bontios (y. 28} says, " The Indian serpents are so multitudinous that
According to Plinjr the name Boa was given to these serpents
because they were said to be at first nourished by the milk of cows,
and Johnston and others observe that they derived the name not so
much from their power of swallowing oxen as from a story current in
old times of their following the herds and sucking their udders. Boa
is also stated by some to be the Brazilian name for a serpents
Digitized by
Google
BOID^
BOTDM.
53S
Before entering apon the subdiyuions of this family we will examine
Bome of the most remarkable points in the Btruoture and organisation
<kihe BoidcB,
On looking at the accompanying representation of the skeleton of a
Boa Conttrietor, drawn from the beautiful preparation in the British
Museum, we first observe the strong close^et teeth, of which there
is a double row on each side of the upper jaw; all pointing backwards,
and giving the serpent the finnest nold of its struggling victim,
which is &US deprived of the power of withdrawing itself when once
locked within tJie deadly ja>vs. Serpents do not masticate. The prey
is swallowed whole, and to assist deglutition their under jaw consists
of two bones easily separable at the symphysis, or point of junction,
while the bone similar to the os quadratum in birds, by the inter-
vention of which it is fitted to the cranium, further fiiciUtates the act.
The upper jaw moreover is so constructed as to admit of considerable
motion.
We next observe the spine, formed for the most extensive mobility,
and the multitude oC ribs constructed as organs of rapid progression,
when joined to the belly-scales, or scuta, with which the whole inferior
surface of the body may be said to be shod. " When the snake,"
writes Sir Everard Home, " begins to put itself in motion, the ribs of
the opposite sides are drawn apart firom each other, and the small
cartilaj^s at the end of them are bent upon the upper surfaces of the
abdominal scuta on which the ends of the ribs rest, and as the ribs
move in pairs the scutum under each pair is carried along with it.
This scutum by its posterior edge lays hold of the ground, and
becomes a fixed point from whence to set out anew. TMs motion is
beautifully seen when a snake is climbing over an an^le to get upon a
flat surface. When the animal is moving it alters its shape from a
circular or oval' form to something approadfung to a triangle, of which
the surface on the ground forms the base. The coluber and boa
having laige abdominal scuta, which may be considered as hoofis or
shoes, are tiie best fitted for this kind of progressive motion." (' Lec-
tures on Comparative Anatomy,' voL L)
Sir Everaid, in the same lecture, speaking of the ribs as oigans of
locomotion, says : — *' An observation of Sir Joseph Banks during the
exhibition of a coluber of unusual size first led to this discovery.
While it was moving briskly along the carpet he said he thought he
saw i^e ribs come forward in succession like the feet of a caterpillar.
This remark led me to examine the animal's motion with more
accuracy, and on putting the hand under its belly while the snake
was in the act of passing over the palm the ends of the ribs were
distinctly felt pressing upon the sur&ce in regular succession, so as to
leave no doubt of the ribs forming so many pairs of levers by which
the animal moves its body from place to place." The merit however
of this discovery is due to the sharp-sighted Tyson, who was the first
to observe the locomotive power of the ribs of the Boa.
Sir Everard Home informs us by what additional mechanism this
faculty is effected The ribs, he observes, are not articulated in snakes
between the vertebrss, but each vertebra has a rib attached to it by
two slightly concave surfaces that move upon a convex protuberance
on the side of the vertebra, by which means the extent of motion is
unusually great ; and the lower end of each vertebra having a globular
form fitted to a concavity in the upper end of the vertebra below it>
they move readily on one another in all directions. The muscles
which bring the ribs forward, according to Sir Everard, consist of five
sets— one from the transverse process of each vertebra to the rib
immediately behind it, which rib ia attached to the next vertebra.
The next set goes from the rib a little way fr^m the spine, just beyond
where the former terminates ; it passes over two ribs, sending a slip
to each, and is inserted into the tiiird : there is a slip also connecting
it with the next muscle in succession. Under this is the third set,
which arises from the posterior side of each rib, passes over two ribs,
sending a lateral slip to the next muscle, and is inserted into the third
rib behind it. The fourth set passes fr^m one rib over the next, and
is inserted into the second rib. The fifth set goes from rib to rib.
On the inside of the chest there is a strong set of muscles attached to
the anterior surface of each vertebra, and passing obliquely forwards
over four ribs to be inserted into the fifth, nearly at the middle part
between the two extremities. From this part of each rib a strong
flat muscle comes forward on each side before the visoera, forming
the abdominal musdes, and uniting in a beautiful middle tendon, so
that the lower half of each rib which is beyond the origin of this
muscle, and which is only laterally connected to it by loose cellular
membrane, is external to the belly of the animal, and is used for the
purpose of progressive motion ; while that half of each rib next the
spine, as far as the lungs extend, is employed in respiration. At the
termination of each rib is a small cartilage in shape corresponding to
the rib, only tapering to the point. Those of the opposite ribs have
no connection, and when the ribs are drawn outwards by the muscles,
they are separated to some distance, and rest through their whole
length on the inner surface of the abdominal scuta, to which they are
connected by a set of short muscles ; they have also a connection with
the cartilages of the neighbouring ribs by a set of short straight
muscles. These observations apply to snakes in general, but the
musdes have been examined in a Boa Constrictor 3 feet 9 inches long
preserved in the Hunterian Museum. In all «T\flkftfi^ adds the author,
the ribs are continued to the anus, but the lungs seldom occupy more
than one half of the extent of the cavity covered by the ribs. Con*
sequentlv these lower ribs can only be employed for the paipose of
progressive motion, and therefore correspond in that respect with
the ribs in the Draco volant superadded to form the wings.
The su^oined cut, copied from that given as an illustration by Sir
Everard Home, will explain the articulating surfaces of the vertebra
and ribs ; and on the under surface of the former will be seen the
protuberance for the attachment of the musdes which are employed
in crushing the animals round which the snake entwines itselt
A
The out exhibits two vertebrae, and portions of two ribs of a so-
called Boa Constrictor, drawn from a skeleton sent from the East Indies
by the late Sir William Jones, and deposited in the Hunterian Maaeam.
The letters, a, a, point to the protuberance on the imder surface for
the attachment of the constricting musdes, according to Sir Eveiard
Home.
Though the term Boa Constrictor is used throughout by Sir Evenird
Home in his lecture, there can be little doubt that the serpent sent
frx)m India by Sir WiUiam Jones was a Python. The small specimen
frx)m which the description of the oigans employed in progressiTe
motion was taken may have been a boa. But whetiier boa or python,
it would have had the hooks or spurs near the vent^ and the bones and
musdes bdonglng to these spurs, which are of no small consequence
in tiie organisation of a boa or a python, rudiments of limbs tnough
they be ; these appear to have escaped Sir Everard Home's obserration,
occupied as he was in following out the mechanism of progreaaiTc
motion.
No one can read of the habits of these reptiles in a state of natore
without perceiving the advantage which they gain when holding on by
their tails on a tree, their heads and bodies in ambush, and half
floatiuK on some sedgy river, they surprise the thirsty animal that
seeks the stream. These hooks help the serpent to TTiitintAin a fixed
point ; they become a fulcrum which gives a double power to his
energies. Dr. Mayer detected these rudiments of limb^ and has ^
explained their anatomy. He says that the spur or nail on each ode
of the vent in the Boa Constrictor and other spedes of the genus is a
true nail, in the cavity of which is a littie demi-cartilaginous bone, w
ungual phalanx, articulated with another bone much stronger which
Digitized by
Google-
'n concealed under the skin. This second l>one of the rndiment of a
foot in the Bo€B has an external thick condyle, with which the ungual
phalanx is articulated, as abovo stated ; it presents, besides a smaller
internal apophysis, which places it in connection with the other bones
of Uie skeleton. These bones are the ap^ndages of a tibia, or leg-
bone, tiie foim and reUtive position of which will be imderstood by a
referance to the subjoined cuts, copied firom Dr. Mayer^s ' Memoir/
('Trans. Soc. NaL Curios./ translated in 'Annalesdes Sciences' for
1826.)
The prerious figure represents the tail of a Boa Conttridor;
a, the vent ; b, the hook or spur of the left side ; e, the subcutaneous
muade ; e^ ribs and intercosied muscles ; e, transverse muscle of the
abdomen ; /, bone of the leg enveloped in its muscles ; g, abductor
muscle of the foot; h, adductor muscle of the foot. The arrange-
ment of the scuta, or shields', of one entire piece under the tail,
characteristic of the true Boas, will be here observed. In the Pythons
the shields beneath the tail are ranged in pairs.
We here have a representation of the osteology of this rudimen-
tary limb, taken from the same author. Fig. 1 represents the left
posterior limb of the Boa
ScytaUf seen anteriorly: _, _.
0, tibia, or leg-bone; 6, Fig. 3 K "»•
external bone of the
tanus; e, internal bone
of the tarsus; d, bone
of the metatarsus ^th
its apophysia; e, nail or
hook.
Fig, 2 represents the
same limb, seen pos-
terioriy.
Doctors Hopkinson
and PSnooast have given
in the 'Transactions of
the American Philoso^
phical Soeiety,' held at
FhOadelphiay for promoting useful knowledge (voL v. new series,
part i), an interesting account of the visceral anatomy of the Python
(Cuvier), described l^ Daudin as the Boa reticvlaia. And here it may
be as weU to remark that the difibrences between the Boas and the
Pythons are so small, that the accounts given of the constricting
powera and even of tiie principal anatomical details of the one, may
be taken as iBustrative of the same points in the history of the other.
Perhaps the best way of illustrating the habits of these creatures
in seizing and killing thehr prey is to relate some of the incidents
with which books of travels abound.
Mr. Hliood, in his 'Voyage of H.M.S. Alceste,' gives the following
painfully vivid accoimt of a serpent, a native of Borneo, 16 feet long,
and of about 18 inches in circumference, which was on board. There
were originally two; but one, to use Mr. M'Leod's expression,
"sprawled overboard and was drowned."
" During his stay atRyswick," says Mr. Mlieod, speaking of the
smvivor, " he is said to have been usually entertained with a goat for
dimier, onoe in every three or four weeks, with occasionally a duck or
a fowl by way of a dessert The live-stock for his use during the
passage, consisting of six goats of the ordinaxy size, were sent with him
on boaand, Ave being considered as a fair allowance for as many months.
"At an early period of the voyage we had on exhibition of his
talent in the way of eating, which was publicly performed on the
qnarterdeek, upon which his crib stood. The sliding part being
opened, one of the g^ts was thrust in, and the door of the cage was
■nui The poor goat^ as if instantly aware of all the horrors of its
perilous situation, immediately began to utter the most piercing and
distressing cries, butting instinctively at the same time, with its head
towards mo serpent^ in self-defence.
I' The snake, which at first appeared scarcely to notice the poor
aniinal, soon began to stir a little, and turning his head in the direction
of the goat^ he at length fixed a deadly and malignant eye on the
tremblmg victim, whose agony and terror seemed to increase ; for
previous to the snake seisong his prey, it shook in every limb, but still
continuing its unavailing show of attack, by butting at the serpent^
which now became sufficiently animated to prepare for the banquet
The first operation was that of darting out his forked tongue, and at
the same tune rearing a little his h^ ; then suddenly seizing the
goat by the fore-leg with his fangs, and throwing it down, it was
encircled in an instant in his horrid folds. So qmck indeed and so
instantaneous was the act^ that it was impossible for the eye to foUow
^erapid convolution of his elongated body. It was not a regular
screw-like turn that was formed, but resembling rather a knot» one
part of the body overlaying the other, as if to add weight to the
muscular pressure, the more efiectually to crush the object During
this time he continued to grasp with his fongs, though it appeared an
mmecessaiy precaution, that part of the animal which he had first
•eized. He then slowly and cautiously unfolded himself, till the goat
fdl dead from his monstrous embrace, when he began to prepare
himself for swaUowiog it Placing his mouth in front of the dead
animal, he commenced by lubricatmg with his saliva that part of the
goa^ aad then taking its muzzle into bis mouth, which had, and
BOIDJB. sn
indeed always has, the appearanoe of a raw lacerated wound, he sucked
it in, as fiir as the horns would allow. These protuberances opposed
some little difficulty, not so much from their extent as from their
points ; however they also in a very short time disappeared, that is to
say, externally ; but their progress was still to be traced very distinctly
on the outside, threatening every moment to protrude through the
skin. The victim had now descended as far as t^e shoulders ; and it
was an astonishing sight to observe the extraordinary action of the
snake's muscles when stretched to such an unnatural extent — an
extent which must have utterly destroyed all muscular power in any
animal that was not like himself endowed with very peculiar faculties
of expansion and action at the same time. When his head and nec^
had no other appearance than that of a serpent's skin stuffed almost
to bursting, stul the workings of the musdes were evident ; and his
power of suction, as it is erroneously called, unabated ; it was in fact
the effect of a contractile muscular power, assisted by two rows of
strong hooked teeth. With all this he must be so formed as to be
able to suspend for a time his respiration ; for it is impossible to
conceive that the process of breathing could be carried on while the
mouth and throat were so completely stuffed and expanded by the
body of the goat, and the lungs themselves (admitting the trachea to
be ever so hard) compressed as they must have been by its passage
downwards.-
"The whole operation of completely gorging the goat occupied
about two hours and twenty minutes, at the end of which time the
tumefaction was confined to the middle part of the body, or stomach,
the superior parts, which had been so much distended, having
resumed their natural dimensions. He now coiled himself up again,
and lay quietly in his usual torpid state for about three weeks or a
month, when Ids last meal appearing to be completely digested and
dissolved, he was presented with another goat, which he killed and
devoured with equal- facility. It would appear that almost all he
swallows is converted into nutrition, for a small quantity of calcareous
matter (and that perhaps not a tentii part of the bones of the anibud),
with occasionally some of the hairs, seemed to compose his general
feces. ....
" It vras remarked, especially by the officers of the watch, who had
better opportunities of noticing this circumstance, that the goats had
always a great horror of the serpent, and evidentiy avoided that side
of tbie deck on which his cage stood." (P. 805.)
Mr. Broderip, in the second volume of the ' Zoological Journal,'
after referring to Mr. M'Leod's interesting narrative, of the correctness
of which, as fiir as it goes, he says he has not a single doubt, and
observing that two points in that description struck him forcibly, the
one as being contra:^ to the probable structure of the animal, and the
other as being contraiy to Mr. Broderip's observations, proceeds to
^ve the following account of the manner in which the serpent takes
its prey in this country.
Mr. Broderip had an opportunity of seeing one of these creatures
when kept in- the Tower. The keeper says Mr. Broderip " sent to
inform me that one of these reptiles had just cast his skin, at whidi
period they, in common with other serpents, are moat active and eager
for prey. Accordingly I repaired with some friends to the Tower,
where we found a spacious cage, the floor of which consisted of a tin
case covered with red baize and filled with warm water, so as to pro-
duce a proper temperature. There was the snake, 'poaitis novus
exuviiB,' gracefully examining the height and extent of his prison as
he raised, without any apparent effort, his towering head to the roof
and upper parts of it, full of life, and brandishing his tongue.
" A large buck rabbit was introduced into the cage. The snake was
down and motionless in a moment There he lay Hke a log without
one symptom of life, save that which glared in the small bright eye
twinkling in his depressed head. T^e rabbit appeared to take no
notice of him, but presently began to walk about the cage. I^e
snake suddenly, but almost imperceptibly, turned his head according
to the rabbifs movements, as £^ to keep tiie object within the range of
his eye. At length the rabbit, totally unconscious of his situation,
approached the ambushed head. The snake dashed at him like
lightning. There was a blow — a scream — and instantiy the victim
was locked in the coils of the serpent This was done almost too
rapidly for the eve to foUow : at one instant the snake was motion-
less ; in the next he was one congeries of coils round his prey. He
had seized the rabbit by the neck just under the ear, and was evidently
exerting the strongest pressure round the thorax ef the quadruped ;
thereby preventing the expansion of the chest, and at the same time
depriving the anterior extremities of motion. The rabbit never cried
after the first seizure ; he lay with his hind legs stretched out, still
breathing with difficulty, as could be seen by the motion of his flanks.
Presentiy he made one desperate stru^le with his hind le^ ; but the
snake cautiously applied another coil with such dexterity as com-
pletely to manade the lower extremities, and, in about eight minutes,
the rabbit was quite dead. The snake then gradually and carefully
uncoiled himself, ancL finding that his victim moved not, opened his
mouth, let go his. hold, and placed his head opposite to the fore part
of the rabbit The boa generally, I have observed, begins with the
head ; but in this instance the serpent, having begun with the fore
legs, was longer in gozging his prey than usual, and in consequence of
the difficulty presented by the awkward position of the rabbity the
Digitized by
Google
8Sd
dOIDJB.
BOIDiB.
MC
dilatation and secretion of lubricatixig mucuA were exoeuirei The
serpent first got the fore legs into his mouth ; he then coiled himself
round the rabbit, and appeared to draw out the dead body throu^^
his folds; he then began to dilate his jaws, and holdiog the rabbit
firmly in a coil as a point of resistance, appeared to ezercifle at
interrals the whole of lus anterior muscles in protruding his stretched
jaws and lubricated mouth and throat at first against and soon after
fpradually upon and over hia prey. The curious mechanism in the
laws of serpents which enables them to swallow bodies so dipropor-
tioned to their apparent bulk is too well known to need description ;
but it may be as well to state that the symphysis of the under jaw
wafi separated in this case, and in others which I have had an oppor-
tunity of observing. When the prey was completely ingulphed, the
serpent lay for a few moments with his dislocated jaws still dropping
with the mucus which had lubricated the parts, and at this time he
looked quite sufficiently disgusting. He then stretched out his neck,
and at the same moment the muscles seemed to push the prey further
downwards. After a few efforts to replace the parts, me jaws
appeared much the same as they did previous to the monstrous repast
"I now proceed to the first of the two points above alluded to, and
have to state my opinion that the Boa Conttrictor does respire 'when
his head and neck have no other appearance than that of a serpent's
skin stuffed almost to bursting ; ' and I think that, upon a more close
examination, the same phenomenon would have been observable in
the serpent shipped at Batavia. It is to be regretted that the dissec-
tion of'that serpent appears to have been confined to the stomach ; at
least nothing is said of any other part of the animal. I have never
had an opportimity of dissecting the pulmonary system of a boa, or
of Mitisfying myself as to the structure of the extremely long trachea,
which must be very firm to resist such an immense pressure ; but I
believe, from a near and accurate inspection, in company with others,
that respiration goes on during the period of the greatest dilatation.
While these serpents are in the act of constringing or swallowing their
prejr, they appear to be so entirely pervaded by the JSp<|<s [appetite]
which then governs them, that I am convinced they would simer them-
selves to be cut in pieces before they would relinquish their victim.
I have assisted in taking them up, and removing them with their prey
in their coils, without their appearing to be in the least disturbed by the
motion, excepting that, if alter the victim is no more and the couBtric-
tion is somewhat relaxed, an artificial motion be given to the dead
body, they instantly renew the constriction. When thus employed
they may be approached closely and with perfect securii^ for the
reason above stated, and I have uniformly found that i^e laiynx is,
during the operation of swallowing, protruded sometimes as much as
a quarter of an inch beyond the edge of the dilated lower jaw. I
have seen, in company with others, the valves of the glottis open and
shut, and the dead rabbit's fur immediately before the aperture
stirred, apparently by the serpent's breath, when his jaws and throat
were stuffed and stretched to excess. In the case above mentioned,
where the prey was taken very awkwardly, and the dilatation was
consequently much greater thim usual, I saw.this wonderful adapta-
tion of means to the exigencies of the animal much more clearly than
I had ever seen it before.
" With regard to the next point, it is more difficult to accoimt for
the variance between the agony of antipathy shown by the goat as
described by Mr. M'Leod, and the indifference which I have uniformly
observed in the full grown fowls and rabbits presented to these
serpents for prey. Immediately after our boa had swallowed his first
rabbit, a second was introduced ; but the serpent now exhibited a
veiy different appearance. The left side of his lower jaw was hardly
in its place, and he moved about the cage instead of lying in .wait as
on the former occasion. As for the rabbit, after he had been incarce-
rated a little while, he treated the snake with the utmost contempt,
biting it when in his way, and moving it aside with his head. The
snake, not having his tackle in order, for his jaw was not yet quite
right, appeared anxious to avoid the rabbit, which at last stumbled
upon the snake's head in his walks, and began to treat it so roughly,
that the rabbit was withdrawn for fear of his ii^uring the snake.
This treatment of the enake by the rabbit did not appear to be the
effect of anger or hatred, but to be adopted merely as a mode of
removing something, which he did not appear to understand, out of
his way. I have seen many rabbits and fowls presented to different
si)ecimenB of boa for prey, and I never saw the least symptom of
uneasiness either in the birds or quadrupeds. They appear at first to
take no notice of the serpent, large as it is, and when they do discover
it they do not start, but seem to treat it with the greatest indifference.
I remember one evening going up into the room where one of these
snakes was kept at Exeter 'Change, and seeing the hen which was
destined for the prey of the boa, very comfortably at roost upon the
serpent. The keeper took the hen in his hands and held it opposite
to the head of the snake, without succeeding in inducing him to take
the bird, which, when let out of the keeper's hands again, settled
herself down upon the serpent for the night'
" The only solution which I can offer of the difference between
Mr. MliCod's description and my experience, is one which I do not
propose as absolutely satisfactory, but which may nevertheless be
found to approach the truth. The goats put on board at Batavia for
the serpent, which it appears was brought from Borneo, were in all
probability natives of Java» and ii so, th^ would, according to the
wonderful instinct which nature has implanted in animals for their
preservation, be likely to have a violent antipathy to laige serpeotB,
such as those which there lurk for their prey. The great Python is a
native of Java, and if these goats were wild, or originally firom the
wild stock of the island, their instinctive horror at the si^t of the
destroyer may be thus accounted for. But our domestic fowls and
rabbits (the stock of the latter most pobably indigenous, and that of
the former of such remote importation, and so much changed bj
descent, as to be almost on the same footing), having no such natural
enemy as a huge serpent, against which it is necessary for them to be
on t^eir guard, are entirely without this instinct, although it is stroi^
enough in the case of their ordinary enemies, such as hawks, dogs, and
cats ; and they consequently view the boa which is about to dash at
them with Uie same indifference as if he were a log of wood."
We now proceed to give an account of the genera and specieB of th?
family BoidcCf and in doing this we shall follow the arrangemeDt of
Dr. J. K Qray in the Cat^ogue of the specimens of Snakes ia the
British Museum.
I. TaU prehentUe, itrong ; Head distinet ; MvaU truncated,
<L Subcaudal plate two-rowed ; intermaxillary or incisive teeth
distinct ; superciliary bone distinct
* Crown of head with small shield-like plates.
1. Morelia, Upper and lower labinl shields deeply pitted ; muzzle
with symmetrical shields. There are two species of this genus, one
with, the vertical plate indistinct^ the other with the same plate
distinct : —
M. spUoles (Cohiber argui, Idnnseus, Coluiber BpUoiea, Lao^p^e), the
Diamond-Snake. This species has Uie vertical plates indistinct It
is of a bluish-black colour, very irregularly yellow, spotted, a spot od
the centre of each scale, forming a group of five or six together or a
kind of tied blotch ; occiput wiUi an angular band. It is a native of
Australia.
if. variegaici, the Carpet-Snaka Vertical plates distinet It is
whitish, with numerous irregular black-edged olive cross-bands, with
irr^ular serrated and torn edges ; head oUve, varied with two or three
white spots in the centre of the crown, and a broad short band behiztd
each eye. Several specimens of this species are in the British MuBeam,
brought from Port Essington, Swan River, and other parts of Aus-
tralia.
** Crown of head shielded to behind the eyes.
2. PyOwiL Upper and lower labial shields deeply pitted ; muzzld
and forehead with symmetrical shields ; nostrils verticaL
There are two species of this genus which have been referred to by
many writers as varieties of Boa Conttrictor. They are distingoiBhed
by placing their em in a group and covering them with their body.
TluB statement, wmch was made by Mr. Beimett, and afterrrardB con-
firmed by M. Lamare Picquot, has been doubted, but its truthfulness
has been confirmed by the proceedings of a python in the Qarden of
Plants at Paris.
P. reticvkUus, the Ular Sawad, is distinguished from the next species
by the four front upper labial plates being pitted ; the frontal plate
simple ; the head has a narrow longitudinal brown stripe. It is one
of the most brilliant species of the whole fiunily, its whole body being
covered with a gay lacing of gold and black. It is a native of Bin-
dustan, Ceylon, and Borneo. Several specimens are in the British
Museum, and a living specimen in the gardens of the Zoological
Society, Hegent's Park. It is said to increase till it is more than thir^
feet in length and stout in proportion. The powers of such a gigantic
reptile must be enormous, and it is stated that this serpent is shle to
manage a buffalo. Nor are there wanting horrible instances of msn
himself having fallen a prey to these monsters in modem timea The
story goes that a Malay prow was anchored for the night under the
island of Celebes. One of the crew had gone on shore to search for
betel-nut, and is supposed to have fallen asleep upon the beach from
weariness on lus return. In the dead of the night his companions on
board were roused by dreadful screams: they immediately went
ashore, but they came too late; the cries had ceased, and the wretched
man had breatiied his last in the folds of an enormous serpent^ which
they killed. They cut off the head of the snake and carried it, toge-
ther with the lifeless body of their comrade, to the vessel The right
wrist of the corpse bore the marks of the serpent's teeth, and the dis-
figured body showed that the man had been crushed by the constnc-
tion of the reptile round the head, neck, breast, and thigh. The picture
by Daniell, representing a man seized by one of these monsters, will
be familiar to m^y of our readers.
P. molwnia (CoUtber molurus, linnaeTis, P, Javcmieus, Kuhl, r.
Ti^/ris, Daudin), the Rook-Snake, is one of the species of this &xnJy
often called by the name Boa Constrictor. It is characterised bj
having the two pairs of front upper and three hinder lower labial
shields pitted, with the frontal plate double. The structure of the
head and jaws of this species is seen in the annexed cuts, which wlU
illustrate generally these points in the anatomy of the family. In the
Museum of the College of Surgeons are several beautiful preparationfl
of the structtire of this gigantic snake. Four living examples are now
in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, Regent's Fark. Thisapecwi
is a native of Hindustan, Java, and other parts of Asia.
Digitized by
Google
541
BOIDiE.
BOIDJE.
542
Head of Python molunUf seen from abo o.
Head of the same,
a, upper part of the head, eeen f^om below ; 6, the skull, seen in profile.
3. fforiuUa. Upper and lower labial shielda deeply pitted ; muzzle
and forehead with Bymmetrical shields ; nostrils lateraL There are
three species natiTes of AMca : —
H. NcUalemia {Python Nataleniis, Andrew Smith), the Natal Rock-
Snake. It has two pairs of front upper labial shields pitted, with two
or three supra-ocular shields.
Dr. Andrew Smith, in his * Illustrations of South Africa * gives a
rerr beautiful fig^e of Python Natalefms ; and he states that this
snake, or at least one resembling it in size, was formerly an inhabitant
of the districts now within the Cape Colony, and that the traditions
of the older Hottentots abound with instances of its miraculous
powers. "At present," he says, " it is not to be found within hundreds
of miles of the boundaries of the colony, and few specimens have been
obtained nearer than Port Natal." He informs us that it occasionally
attains a very large size, and according to the natives, individuals
have been seen whose circumference was equal to that of the body of
a stout man. Dr. Smith himself saw a skin which measured twenty-five •
feet, though a portion of the tail part was deficient. " It feeds," he says,
" upon quadrupeds, and for some days after swallowing fodd it remains
in a torpid state, and may then be easily destroyed. The South
Africans however seldom avail themselves of ridding themselves ot a
reptile they view with horror, as they believe that it has a certain
influence over their destinies; and affirm that no person bait eve?
been known to maltreat it without sooner or later paying for his
audacity."
Rock-Snake (Python moluriu).
H, Sebce {Colvher Sebce, Qmelin, Python hivittattu, Kuhl), the
Guinea Bock-Snake and Fetish Snake, closely resembles the last in
many points of structure. It is a native of western Africa, and speci-
mens in the BritiBh Museum have been obtained from Ashantee,
Gambia, and the Gold Coast. There is a living specimen in the
Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, estimated to weigh one hundred-
weight
n, regia {Boa regia, Shaw, Python regiut, Bumeril), the Royal
Rock-Snake, distinguished from the last two by the four pairs of
front upper labials being pitted, the supra-ocular plate single, the
lower labial shields broad, four. It is an inhabitant of Gambia, in
western A&ica. It is of a black colour, marked on the middle of the
back with a series of oblong longitudinal white spots ; the sides with a
series of very large white spots, with one or two oblong black spots on
their upper part ; the head black, with a streak over the nostrils and
the top of the eyes, another from the lower edge of the eye ; the lips,
chin, and beneath white.
4. Idoiii, Upper and lower labial shields pitted ; muzzle and spaoe
between the eyes shielded This genus indudes various species of
Python of otiier authors. Dr. Gray describes four : —
Z. cmethyttinutf the Liasis ; an inhabitant of New Ireland.
L. Macklotii, Macklot's Liasis, an inhabitant of Timor and Samao,
Neither of these is in the British Museum.
X. ChUdrenii, Children's Liasis, an inhabitant of North- Western
Austndia. One specimen in the British Museimi is from Port
Essington.
Z. olivaceckf the Lisalia, also a native of Australia. Specimens have
been brought from Port Essington and Sir Charles Hardy^s Island.
5. Nardoa. Lower labial shields pitted ; crown with eleven symmet-
rical shields. Of this genus there are two species, N, SchUyelii, the
Nardoa of New Ireland, and iV. GUbertii, Gilbert's Nardoa, a native
of North Australia.
b. Subcaudal plates entire, one-rowed; intermaxillary or
incisive teeth none ; supra-orbital bone none.
* Scales smooth ; labial shields pitted.
6. EpiercUes. Forehead with symmetrical shields; crown scaly.
The species are natives of America and the West Indies.
JR angfdifer, the Pale-Headed Epicrates, is a native of Hayti
£* Cenehia {Boa Cenchria, JAxauaoB, Euntctes Aboma, Cuvier)i the
Digitized by
Google
BOID^
BOIDJB.
5U
AbouuL It 18 one of the largest of the family, and sometimes attains
a gigantic size. It is of a yellowish colour, with a row of laige
brown rings running the whole length of the back, and variable spots
7. Xiphoioma. Forehead and crown scaly ; moiile wHh ngahr
shields; labiiJ plates short and all pitted. There is bat ondipeoa
Natal BodcAiake [HorttOia NatdUntU)
Head of Sarhiia Natalett»U.
on the sides. These are generally dark, often containing a whitish
semi-lunar mark. This species, according to Seba, who describes it as
Mexican, is the Temacuilcahuillia (or TamacuiUa Huilia, as Seba
writes the word) described by Hemandes. This species haunts the
marshy places of the warm parts of South America ; there, adhering
by the tail to some aquatic tree, they suffer the anterior part of the
body to float upon the water, and patiently wait to seise upon the
quadrupeds which come to drink.
K maurut, the Brown Aboma of Gray, is of a brown colour, and is
a natiye oC Y eneauela
Aboma {JEpieraUt Otnehria),
of this genus, X. eaninum (Boa canina, Linnaeus, X Ararawhcp
Green Boa (XipkoiowM mmmmi).
Head of Xiphoioma eaninum,
Spix), the Bojobi, or Green Boa. It is a native of America. Jl >'
greenish, with white irregular loogish spots somewhat an&Uianv
Digitized by
Google
545
BOID^
BOIDM.
548
diBposed. This is the Boa viridU of Boddaert, the Boa thaUutma of
Laurent!, the Bojobi of the BrazilianB, the Tetrauohoatl Tleoa (a
Mexican name) according to Seba, and the Cobra Verde of the
Portugueae, who relate that these serpents sometimes remain in the
hoosee, doing no harm till irritated, when
ihey at last bite and inflict a wound full of
danger, not from injected poison, for the
serpent has none, but on account of the
injury sustained by the nerves from the very
sharp, slender, and long teeth. Qreat in-
flammation follows, and the symptoms are
aggravated by terror, so that a gangrene is
the conseq^ience unless the proper remedies
are applied. In the absence of these, certain
death is said to be the consequence of a
severe bite from this serpent. The imme- A portion of the under
diate cause of death is not stated by Seba, P*rt ^ ^1»« ^ <»' »/»*«-
but from the long and penetrating teeth of f«^ eaninum Aowlng the
tte Bojobi it maybe presumed to be o^en S::*''^^^'':^ ^e
tetanus or locked jaw. Seba says that this ^^^^g^
species varies in size, adding that the spe-
cimen from which his figure was taken was more than two cubits in
length. Cuvier is of opinion that the Boa hipnale is only a young
Bojobi or Boa eanina.
living specimens of this isnake are in the Qardens of the Zoological
Society, Regent's Park.
8. UoraUuB. Forehead and crown scaly ; muzzle with regular shields;
labial shields short, hinder ones pitted. There is but one species : —
C. horiulaiMit, the CencoatL It is most extensively distributed in
South America, and amongst the specimens in the British Museum
several varieties can be distinctly observed. This snake, which is the
Colvhcr hofiulaniu and Boa hortulana of Ldnnseus, has been extensively
observed, and has numerous synonyms.
9. Sanzmia, Forehead and crown scaly ; muzzle with reg^ular shields ;
labial shields elongate prismatic.
S. MadoffOiearieimtf the Sanzin of Madagascar, is the only species,
and of this a specimen exists in the Museum at Paris ; there is none in
the British Museum.
10. Ciiftia, Forehead and crown scaly ; muzzle with regular shields ;
labial shields broad, low. Br. Qray remarks of this genus thM it
may be the same as Catarea, " but the scales in the dry specimens are
not keeled ; and the front upper labial shields appear to be pitted,
and the tail is short"
C.futea, a native of India, is the only species.
** Scales smooth ; labial shields smooth, not pitted.
11. Bock Crown covered with scales ; nostrils lateral, between two
plates. There are four species of Boa, all of which have been described
as the Soa Conttrictor, and it is always difl&cult to identify the
particular species of snake referred to by travellers, on account of the
loose manner in which the name is generally employed.
B. Congtrictor of Linnaus (the Boa Corutrictrtx of Schneider, Oon-
ttrictor/ormosiuimui of Laurenti), the Boiguaou, is characterised by the
scaly circle of the orbit being separated from the upper labial plates
by one or two series of scales. It is also distinguished by a large
chain extending the whole length of the back, composed alteniat«[y
of great blackish stains or spots irregularly hexagonal, and of pale
oval stains or spots notched or jagged at either end, the whole forming
a very elegant pattern. Shaw, in his lectures, mentions a skin of
this species measuring 85 feet, preserved in the British Museum, and
adds, that it is probable that many ages ago much larger specimens
might have occurred than any at present to be found, the increased
population and cultivation of most countries having tended more and
more to lessen the number of such imiTwaU The locality of this
species^ acoording to the best authorities, is confijaed to the New
World. Daudin, indeed, believed that it was found in the ancient
continent, bat without sufficient grounds for his opinion. Le
Vaillant and Humboldt brought it from Qnyana, and the Ftince de
Wied found it in Brazil Cuvier gives it as his opinion that there
aie no true boas of laige size in the Old World. All the specimens
in the British Museum are from tropical America.
linnsBua, quoting Dahlbeig, says that the Boa Conttrietor was
worshipped l^ the Americans.
"Snake-worship," says Dr. Sonth^, in his notetf to Madoo, "was
common in America." (Bema Dies, p. 8, 7, 125.) The idol deeoribed,
vii p. 25, somewhat resembles what the Spaniards found at Cam-
peche, which is thus described by the oldest historian of the
discoveries: — "Our men were oonducted to a broade orosse-way,
standing on the side of the towne. Here they show them a square
stage or pnlpit foure steppes high, partly of olammy bitumen, and
partly of small stones, whereto the image of a man cut in marble
was joyned, two foure-footed unknown beastes fastening upon him,
which, like madde dogges, seemed they would tear the marble man's
guts out of his belly. And b^ the image stood a serpent^ besmeared
(Jl with goare bloud, devounng a marble lion, whidi serpent^ com-
pacted of bitumen and small stones inooiporated together, was seven
and fortie feete in length, and as thicke as a great oxe. Next unto
H vrere three rafters or stakes fSastened to the grounde, which three
VAT. HOrX. DIT. TOL Z
others crossed under-propped with stones ; in which place they pumsh
malefactors condemned, for proof whereof they saw innumerable
broken arrowes, all bloudie, scattered on the grounde, and the bones of
the dead cast into an inclosed courte neere unto it." — Pietro Martdre.
This serpent appears to have been the Tlicoatl and Temacuilcahuilia
of the Mexicans. '' It derives its name," says Hernandez, " from its
strength, for Temacuilcahuilia i% 'fighting with five men ; ' it attadcs
those it meets, and overpowers them with such force that if it once
coils itself round their necks it strangles and kills them, unless it
bursts itself by the violence of its own efforts ;" and he goes on to
state how its attack is avoided by the man opposing a tree or other
object to its constriction, so that while the serpent fancies that it is
compressing the man it may be torn asunder by its own act, and so
die. The same author states that he had seen serpents as thick as a
man's thigh, which had been taken when young by the Indians, and
tamed, and how they were provided with a caek strewn with litter,
in the place of a cavern, where they lived, and were for the most part
quiescent except at meal times, when they came forth, and amicably
climbed about the couch or shoulders of their master, who placidly
bore the serpent-embrace (amplexus) of the terrific animal ; or how,
lying ooiled up in folds, and equalling a laige wheel in size, they
harmlessly received the food offered to them. In the descripldon ot
the Temacuilcahuilia we have, allowing for some exaggerations, the
predatoiy habits of an enormous Boa ; and in the relation of the
manners of the tamed constricting serpents which follows it, we find
an engine which might be and no doubt was turned to account by
the ancient Mexican priests.
Soa Cotutrictor.
Specimens of this and the following speoies are living in ths
Gardens of the Zoological Society, Regent's rark.
B, diviniloqua {Contirictor dwinUoquutf Laurenti), the Iiamanda,
is an inhabitant of Santa Lucia, and the specimen in the possession
of the Zoological Society appears to be the only one in Europe.
B. Impet^Uor, the Emperor Boa, is a native of Mexico and
Honduras.
B. Equet, the Chevalier Boa, is an inhabitant of Peru.
12. PdophUeut. Crown covered with irregular plates; nostrils lateral,
between two scales.
P, MadagoBoarentii, the Pelophile, a native of Madagascar, is the
only species.
18. Etmectti, Crown covered with irregular shields ; nostrOs vertical,
between three plates.
R murinui {Boa Scytale and Boa mt^nna, Limueus, Boa aquoHoa,
Prince MaTimilian, Boa gigat, Latreille, Boa Anaconda and Boa
Aboma, Daudin), the Anaoonda. It is a native of tropical America.
Mr. Bennett observes in the ' Tower Menagerie' that the name of
Anaoonda, like that of Boa Conttridor, has been populariy applied to
an the larger and more powerftil snakes. He adds that the word
2 V
Digitized by
Google
5i7
BOIDJS.
BomA
618
appears to be of Ceylonese origin, and applies it to the Python
Tigris.
This species is brownish, with a double series of roundish black
blotches all down the back ; the lateral spots annular and ocellated,
the disks being white, surrounded by blackish rings. The trivial
name murinut was given to it from its being said to lie in wait for
Anaconda {£imect€S murinus),
mioe ; and Seba has given a representation of it about to dart upon ah
American mouse, which he says is its usual food. Such 'small deer'
may be the prey of this species when very young, but it grows to a
size equalling that of Boa Constrictor and EpiercUet Cenchria. We
think it very probable that this is the Culebra de -A^ua of the
Yenesuelans. The other provincial name, El Trasa Yenado, or
' Deer-Swallower,' indicates the prey of the serpent when of mature
age. LinuBdUB says of his Boa SeytaU, " Constringit et d^glutit capras,
oves," &a (It constricts and swallows goats, sheep, ftc.)
The following description of a species, of which a specimen was
forwarded to &e United Service Museum, was given by Sir Robert
Kor Porter : — '* It is not venomous, nor known to ii^ure man (at least
not in this part of the Kew World) ; however the natives of the plains
stand in great fear of it, never bathing in waters where it is known
to exist Its common haunt, or rather domicile, is invariably near
lakes, swamps, and rivers ; likewise close to wet ravines produced by
inundations of the periodical rains ; hence, from its aquatic habits,
its first appellation. Fish and those animals which repair there to
drink are the objects of its prey. The creature lurks watchfully
under cover of the water, and whilst the unsuspecting animal' is
drinking suddenly makes a dash at its nose, and with a grip of its
back-reclining double range of teeth never fiEuls to secure the terrified
besMt beyond the power of escape. In an instant the sluggish waters
are in turbulence and foam, the whole form of the Cmebra is in
motion, its huge and rapid ceilings soon encircle the struggling victim,
and but a short moment elapses ere every bone is broken in the body
of the expiriug prey. On its ceasing to exist the fleshy tongue of the
reptile is protruded (taking a long and thinnish form), passing over
the whole of the lifeless beast, leaving on it a sort of glutinous saliva
that greatly facilitates the act of deglutition, whidi it performs gra-
dually by gulping it down through itn extended jaws— a power of
extension of them it possesses to so frightful and extraonlinaiy a
degree as not to be beheved when looking at the comparative small-
ness of the mouth and throat in their tranquil state. After having
completely devoured or rather hidden its prey in the way described it
becomes poweriess as to motion, and remains in an iJmost torpid state
for some days, or until nature silently digests the swallowed animal
The snake now sent was killed with lances when just regarding its
powers of action.
" The flesh of this serpent is white, and abundant in fat The
people of the plains never eat it, but make use of the fat as a remedy
for rheumatic pains, ruptures, strains, kc When these creatiires are
young the colours on the skin are very bright, and gradually loaethoir
brUliiincy with age."
There is generally in these descriptions an account of the fletby
tongue of the reptile, and of its application to the dead animal for
the purpose of covering it with saliva, previous to the operation of
swaUowmg it A glance at the tongue of a Boa or a Python will
convince the observer that few worse instruments for such a purpoie
could have been contrived. The delusion is kept up by the mode in
which these serpents are sometimes preserved in muBeums, where
they may be occasionally seen with fine artificial, thick, flediy, Te^
milion tongues in the place of the*small dark-coloured extensile oi;gaos
with which nature has furnished them. We have frequently watched
constricting serpents while taking their prey, and it is almoist super-
fluous to add that they never covered the victim with saliva from the
tongue before deglutition. When the prey is dead and the serpent ii
about to swallow it, the tongue of the destroyer is frequently thnut
forth and vibrated, as if indicatory of the desire for food ; but the
mucus is not poured out till it is required to lubricate the dilated jaws
and throat for the disproportioned feast.
14. Chilabothrtu. Crown covered with regular shields; nostrik
lateral, between three scales.
C. inomatua, the Yellow Snake, ia a natiye of Jamaica. The head and
front part of the body olive ; temple with a narrow black streak ;
back with small scattered black oblique cross lines ; hinder part of the
body black, with olive spots. A livmg specimen is in the Qardene of
the Zoological Society.
*** Scales keeled ; lateral shields not pitted ; nostrils between
two plates.
15. UngalioL, Head covered with symmetrical shields. The species
are natives of tropical America.
U. mdanura, Black-Tailed Ungalia, has been found in Cuba.
U, maculata, the Pardaline Ungalia, is found in Cuba and Jamaica.
•••• Scales keeled ; lateral shields not pitted ; nostriLi a
single plate.
1 6. Bnygrut, Head covered with small irregular shields ; nostrils in a
single plate. There are two species, inhabitants of the Ariatic islands
• £. earinatutf the Candoia. It has been found in Kew Quinea.
E. Bibroni, Bibron's Enygrus. A specimen exists in the Museum
atParia
17. Casarea, Head scaly ; muzsle covered with symmetrical
shields ; nostrils in a single plate (?). One species,
C. Duttumierif the Casarea, is found in the Isle Ronde near Kauritiui.
18. Bolyerxa, Head covered with symmetrical shields ; nostrils in
a single plate.
B. mtiticarinata, the Bolyeria» is the only spedee. It is a satire of
Port Jackson, Australia.
IL Tail very short, dighUy or not prehensile; Head indistinctf ihort.
a. Head covered with scales; pupil oblong; scales convex;
subcftudal shield one-rowed ; intermaxillaiy teeth
none; supraK>rbital bone none.
19. Ousoria, Muisle rounded ; ventral and subcaadal plates
narrow ; scales ovate, of bod v and tail smooth.
O. eUgans, the Cusoria, is the only species. Inhabits Aflghanistan.
20. Oongylophis. Muzde wedge-shaped ; jaws equal ; head with
small keeled scales; scales of back keeled ; bodj fusiform.
O, eonica {Boa comco, Schneider; B. ornata, baudin; Er^ Bengal-
ensis and ScytaU coronata, Guerin), the Padain Cootoo. It is a natiye
of Hindustan.
21. Eryx, Muzde wedge-shaped; upper jaw largest; head with
small scales; scales of back smooth, of hmder part of body keeled .
E. Jaculus {Tortrix Eryx, Anguis Jaculus, A. eolubrina, Linneus ;
A, cerastes, Hasselquist, Eryx Ddta, Qeoffroy), the Eryx. This
speeies, known by its distinct gular groove and two pairs of f^ntals,
has been foimd in £Sgypt, Coif u, Xanthus, Naxos, Greece, and on the
shores of the Mediterranean.
R Thebaiious, the Shielded Eryx, has no gular groove, and one pair
of frontals. It is a native of Egypt and the Noru of Africa.
22. Clotkonia, Muscle wedge-shi^)ed; upper jaw laigest; scales
smooth.
a JohmUBoaJohnii, RiLppell, Eryx Joknii, Dumeril, Tortrix Eryx*
Sohlegel, Amphitbcenek, 'Pennv Cyclopssdia^' fig,), the ClothoDii» if
the only species belonging to this genus.
This species is of a reddish brown colour, and is a native of
Hindustan.
h. Head shielded; pupil round.
28. Oj^Androphis. KostrOs in a single shield ; eyes surrounded hy
shields ; intermaxillary teeth none. 7^ genus has three speciea
C. mdanota, the Black-Backed Pamboo. It has a triangular trun-
cated tail The muzzle is black, the end of tail white; the belly
black and white banded ; the tail longer than the hea4. It is a natire
of Celebes.
O, rvfa, the Schilaj Pamboo, with a conical tail and broad muz^a
It is blaok or reddish, often white-ringed ; head and tip of tail black;
Digitized by
Google
U9
BOIS DE COLOPHANR
BOLETOBIUS.
Celebea
J)7^^^^i^!^^''^T^ plate It i8 a native of Pemmg. ' ground nnder the mass, in which they deposit their ^ggs enveloped
n!i.2!?^ describes two varieties, one from Borneo, another from in a baU of the excrement. "«"^ ^ggs enveiopea
There are about sixteen species known : their most common colour
is brown or yellowish, and sometimes black. In this country but two
species have occurred, B. mobilicomia and £. testaeeua, B. mobUicomis
is of a pitchy black colour, and about one-third of an inch long ; the
^^ ^ *1^® °^*le sex has a recurved horn ; antenna with the club
red ; thorax punctured, and furnished with four tooth-like projections
on the fore part; elytra striated; legs and body inclining to a red
colour.
B, Uttacem is entirely of an ochre colour ; head with two tubercles ;
thorax sparingly punctured ; elytra with punctured stria. About the
same size as the last, of which by some it is supposed to be a variety.
Both of these species are very rare.
BOLDOA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Monimiaeea, B, fragram is the Boldu of Chill It produces an
aromatic succulent fruit which is eaten by tiie natives. The wood is
veiyfragrant, and makes a charcoal which is preferred by the smiths
of Chili to that from any other wood. The leaves are also very fragrant
The bark is employed in tanning. (Lindley, Vegetable Kw^gdom.)
BOLE, a hydrous silicate of Alumina, which occurs as an earthy
mineral in amorphous masses in various countries, as in Armenia,
Saxony, in Tuscany, at Sienna, in Ireland, and in ScotUnd in the Isle
of Skye.
The colour of Bole is various, either yellow, brown, red brownish,
or pitch-black. It is dull, has a greasy feel, and adheres to the
tongue. Its fracture is conchoidal, yields to the nail, and the streak
is shining. When put into water it readily absorbs i^ emits bubbles
of air, and falls to pieces. The Armenian Bole, according to Wiegleb,
consists of
Silica 53-18
Alumina 22*67
Iron 1100
Loss 8*20
Padaln Oootoo {GongylophU eoniea).
0. maculaia (Tortrix mactdata, Schlegel ; Angvd$ ie$telata, A, deru-
patOf Laurenti), the Miguel, has a conical tail and narrow musszle.
It IB red or brown, netted with black ; beneath whitish. It inhabits
Ceykn.
Clothonia {Chthonia Johnu),
24. ChariiuL KoetrUs between two shields; eyes stUTOunded by
small scales.
C. Bottce (Tortrix Bottce, Blainville), the Charina, is the only spedes.
It ia (^ a pale yellow colour, with back and tail darker. It is found
in California.
25. Tortrix. Nostrils between two sh^ds ; eyes in a single shield ;
mtennaxillaxy teeth distinct
T. Scytale {Angms ScytaU, Linnseus, A, altera Shaw, Tortrix coral-
IwKtt, Oppell), the Coral Snake. It is a native of tropical America.
BOIS bE COLOPHANE. puRSBBA.]
BOLBO'CERUS, a genus of Coleopterous Insects of the feonily
Ckotrmpida {Scairabmu of Linnseus). The species of this genus are
i'<einarkable for their short compact form, above appearing almost
BphericaL The male is armed with an erect horn springing from tiie
hendf the female has merel v a tubercle in the same part ; uie thorax
iuu frequently four small horns, or tooUi-like processes, arranged in
a transverse line on the anterior part ; the antenna are deven-jointed,
^e three terminal joints form a compact round knob, the middle joint
being almost inclosed by the other two ; one mandible is armed inter-
xi&ny with two teeth, the other is simple; the antorior portion of the
mentum is entire ; the elytra are striated.
These insects Hve upon dung, tad ezoavftte cylindzioal holes la the
mv r . ^^^'^
The Lemnian Bole, called also Lemnian Earth, was andentiy an article
of Materia Medica, and kept by apothecaries in small pieces under the
name of Terra Sigillata : these were impressed on one side with the
figure of a goat) &a According to Plmy it was also used as red
pigment /
Elaproth found the composition of this Bole to be
Silica 66
Alumina 14*5
Oxide of Iron 6
Soda 8*5
Water 8*5
A trace of Lime and Magnesia
98-5
The only Bole at present used is as a coarse red pigment, for which
purpose it is calcined and levigated, and vended in Germany imder
the name of Berlin and English Red.
These earths were formerly employed as astringent^ absorbent, and
tonic medicines. They might be dightiy servioeable as absorbents,
in the same way as putty powder is used in the present day, when
sprinkled over excoriations of the skin. Any tonic power which they
possessed was due to the oxide of iron, which is now administered in
a purer state. These once celebrated articles have fallen into merited
disuse : they are still however employed in the East, and occasionally
as veterinary medicines in Europe, where eartiis of a similar kind are
found abundantiy among volcanic, basaltic, and the older calcareous
rooks, and are <»lled after the dyifferent ooimtries in which they are
found. Those which have less colour are called Bolfut alba, are pro-
cured in Bohemia, Salzburg, &a, and consist of lithomaige, which is
fonned of silica and alumina with water, and a littie oxide of iron.
These substances are extensively employed to adulterate articles of
food, as anchovies; cocoa, and other things having naturally a red
colour. The Bole Armenian must not be confounded with the Lapis
Armenius, which is a native carbonate of copper. The Terra Lemnia
is sometimes employed to signify the pulp of the fruit of the Adan$onia
digitata, the Baobab, or Monkey-Bread, which is used as an astringent
for the cure of dysentery by the inhabitants of Senegal
BOLETO'BIUS, a genus of Coleopterous Insects of the section
Brachdftra (M*Leay), and family Tachyporida {Staphylinui of older
authors.) Qeneric Characten : — Head long and pointed anterioriy;
antennsd with the basal joint rather long and slender; the three next
joints slender, and nearly of equal length, the remaining joints
gradually increasing in width to the last, inclusive; palpi rather long
and slender ; thorax narrower before than behind, the hinder angles
rounded ; elytra smooth, or indistinctiy striated ; body long, widest
at the base, and taperinp; to a point at the apex ; logs moden^ tibiae
spinose, the four posterior with long spines at their apices.
The species of this genus reside in BoUti and other species of
l^mgi, in which they occur in the greatest abundance, particularly
when in a state of decay. They are all exceedingly active, and their
smooth slender bodies and pointed heads render it an easy task for
them to thread their way with rapidity through the putrescent Fwngi
Digitized by
Google
ni
BOLETUa
BOLTEKIA.
6a
B, IwntUut (Linnaus) Ib one of the most beautifal and largest species
of the genus, and is not uncommon. It is about a quarter of an inch
long. The head is black ; the antenna haye the tnree basal joints
yellow, the remaining black, with Uie exception of the terminal joints
which is yellow ; the thorax and legs are yellow ; the wing-cases are
of a blue-black colour, witii an oblique yellow spot on the shoulders ;
the body is yellow, with the apex blacL
About eighteen species of this genus haye been found in this
country, almost all of which are yaried with yellow and black.
Many ha^e the wing-cases yellow, with two black spots, one on each
side of the apex ; some haye also the region of the soutidlum black.
(Stephens, lUuttrcUions of Britith Entomology.)
BOLETUS, an extensiye genus of Fungi, consisting, according to
the old botanists, of leathery masses, which are sometimes of consider-
able thickness, and haying the spores lodged in tubes which occupy
the same situation as the plates in the gills (or hymenium) of the
common mushroom. Fries, the great modem describer of Fungi,
defines the genus thus : — Hymenium formed of a peculiar substance,
altogether distinct from the cap, entirely composed of tubes imited
into a porous layer ; these tubes are undiyided, separable from each
other, long, cylindrical, or angular, open from end to end, and bear
asci (spore-cases) on their inside ; asci cylindrical, with small roundish
spores ; the stalk is central, and of^^en netted ; the cap is fleshy, soft^
spread out into a hemispherical form ; yeil present in many of them.
He includes within his definition but a small number of the old BoUti,
referring the principal part to Polyponu, which is especially charac-
terised by haying the tubes of its hymenium inseparable from the cap,
which is more leathery, and usually without a stalk.
f^
BoUUu tuUut.
The true BoUti are generally found growing on the ground in woods
cad meadows, especially in pine woods : the Polypori are commonly
met with on trees, espeoally pollards. Of the former, seyeral species
are eatable, as B. edulit, B. icaber, B, tubtomentotut, and B, gran^latus ;
others are acrid and dangerous. Of these Dr. Badham, who has
written on the Esculent Funguses of England, reconunends only
B, eduli* and B. acaber.
B. edulit, the Edible Boletus, has the following characters :~Pileus
or cap from six to seven inches across, smooth, with a thick maigin
yarying in colour from light brown or bronze to bay, dark brown, or
Uack, or a mixture of all these colours ; the epidermis firmly adhe-
rent to the flesh, which is fine, and except the part in immediate
contact with the skin, white ; the under surfiftce of the cap nearly flat,
often presenting a circular pit or depression round the stalk ; the
tubes at first white, then yellow, lastly of an oliye or yellow green
tint, in the earlier stage of their growth closed ; afterwards as the cap
expands stopped up with a waxy-looking material of a dirty pearl-
oolour ; stem yarying much in shape at different periods of the growth
of the Boletus, always thick and solid, at first white but soon nhiMigiTig
to fawn-colour, beautifully netted with reticulationsL As the period
of the ripening of the spores adyances the under part of the cap
swells, the waxy matter is absorbed, the tubes present deep and
rounded orifices to the eye, and emit an ochreous green dust, which
consists of spondee. After this the whole fungus becomes flaccid,
the tubes turn to a dirty green, and decomposition rapidly proceeds.
' This Boletus grows in woods consisting of pines, osks, or cbestnais;
it is most abundant in autumn, but occurs in spring and lummer.
Dr. Badham says of other Fungi likely to be comfounded with it :—
! " The B. ecutaneut, which bears some little resemblance to it^ is at onoe
distinguished by haying a cottony fibrillose stem without reticulations,
a downy cap, and dirty yellow dust : neither can it be confounded
with the B, aubtomentoaut or B, luridug, because in addition to many
other points of difference, both these change colour on being eat or
bruised." As an article of diet, Dr. Badham says " It imparts a re'iiih
alike to the homely hash and the dainty ragout^ and maybe truly nid
to improye eyeiy dish of which it is a constituent"
B. acaber has a cap from three to seyen inches across the snr&oe,
which becomes yiseid when moist and is inyariably downy. There we
two yarieties, in one of which the pileus is of a beautiful deep orange
hue and the stem blacL In the other the pileus is gray and the item
covered with orange scales. The flesh is tiiick and flabby, of a dingy
white, not greatly changeable in young specimens, but deepening in
colour when old. It is not so agreeable as the last species.
B. officinaliaf supposed to haye been the 'Ayapuchy of Dioeooridee, is
an old-fashioned medicine remarkable for the extreme acridity of its
powder; it acts as a powerful purgatiye, but is never employed at the
present day.
B. igniariuaf when dried and sliced, furnishes the German Tinder,
or Amadou, a leathery substance sold in the tobacoonistB' ahopa
[Amadou.]
B, deatructor is one of the many speciee of Fungi the rarages of
which are too well known under the name of Dry Rot Their deBtroo-
tiye qualities are not howeyer caused by the fructification, or the part
which we commonly consider the fungus itself but by the ramifica-
tions through the substance of the wood of what botanists call the
Thallus and gardeners the Spawn of such plants, which is in effect
their stem and root in a mixed state. Other species of Fungi produce
<by rot [Mkrulixts.]
BOLITOTHAOUS (Fabridus), EUd/ona of Latreille, Leach, and
Millard, and Opatrwn of some other authors, a genus of Coleopterous
Insects of the section Heteromeia and family Tenebrionidos, The prin-
cipal generic characters are as follows : — Head short, partially hidden
by the thorax, in the males sometimes armed with a horn or tubercle;
antenna yery short and thick, the three or four apical joints much
broader than the rest ; maxillary palpi rather large and distinct, the
terminal joint truncated, its lengUi equalling that of the two preceding
ioints ; labial palpi small ; thorax coarsely punctured or rugose, the
lateral margins more or less toothed ; elytra deeply striated ; legs
short and thick, the anterior tibise compressed.
There are about six species of this genus known : they live in SoMt,
and are of a small size, a short ovate form, and their prevailing colours
are brown-blacL In tiiis country but one species has as yet been dis-
coyered, B, Agarieola or Aganeicola, It is of a brown colour, and
about one-twelfth of an inch long. It is rather local, but where it does
occtir it is found in tolerable abundance.
BOLOGNA SPAR, a yariety of Sulphate of Barytea [Babtto.]
BOLSOVEB STONE. The yeUow Umestone of Bolsover in Derby-
shire is used in the construction of the new Houses of Parliament It
was selected for its durability, strength, fitness for ornamental wuiiL,
and colour. It is a combination of carbonate of magnesia with ca^
bonate of lime [Dolomite] in small granular crystals, without the
slightest trace of organisation, flinty nodules, or other blemishea It
has been subjected to various and seyere mechanical pressures, chemi-
cal re-agents, &c., and has sustained them with credit ; but it is yet to
be seen whether it can withstand the atmosphere of London, which
has destroyed the Bath and Portland Oolites. Many other public
buildings in England haye been built wiUi stone from the same forma-
tion, which is cfldled Magnesian Limestone.
BOLTE'NIA, a sul^nus of Aaeidida, a faniily of the group Tuni-
eata, which, according to W. S. M'Leay, are the animals that connect
the Acrita, or lowest primary division of the animal Idngdom, with
the Molluaca, from which he observes they difier in the followiug
points : firsts in having an external covering consisting of an envelope
distinctly organised and provided with two apertures, of which one is
branchiad, the other anal ; secondly, in their mantle forming an inte^
nal tunic corresponding to the outer covering or test, and provided
like it with two openings ; and thirdly, in haying branchik which
occupy all or at least part of the membranous cavity formed hy the
intenial sides of the mantle. From the Acrii^ the Tunicata (or Mettro-
branchiata, as De Blainyille calls them) differ in having distinct
nervous and generatiye systems, while their intestinal canal is pro-
vided with two openings, both intemaL [Tqnicata.]
. The following is the generic character of BoUenia (Savigny) ts
reformed by M'Leay :— Body with a coriaceous test, supported from
the summit by a long pedide, and having both orifices lateral and
defb into four rays. Branchial pouch divided into longitudinal folds,
surmounted by a circle of compound tentacula, and having the reti-
culation of its respiratory tissue simple; abdomen lateral; ovaiy
multiple.
There are three spedes recorded, namdy, R ovifem, B. fruir
formia, and B, rentformia.
The following is M'Leay's character and description of S. ren**
/offfiai {Aacidia gMftfera, Sabine, A, davata, Fabndus) :— Obscure
Digitized by
Google
BOLTONITE.
BOMBUa
ui
roughiah ; bod^ suVienifoim, the orifices being somewhat prominent;
peduncle termmal ; envelope sub-pellucidy whitish ; mantle or tunic
very thin, provided with transverse circular narrow musdes, which
cut each other veiy obliquely; tentacula about ten or twelve in
number, yexy unequal, davate, with Uie clava plumiform, or beau-
tifully divided into a number of
regular laciniso ; branchial pouch
marked with about fifteen or six-
teen large folds, and having the
net-work simple and regular;
dorsal sulcus haying the two
lateral filaments winged and the i
inteimediate simple ; oesophagus I
descending vertiodly to the lower
end of the body, as suspended,
and there meeting an aaoending
OToidal stomach without any ap-
parent internal folioli ; intestine ^
with an oblong, longitudinal,
open loop^ which is prolonged to
the pedicle ; rectum narrow, sub-
conical, and ascending nearly
parallel to the oesophagus, only
higher ; anus having a scolloped .
maigin; liver coating the stomach
behind the right ovary, and run-
ning from the lower end of the ^.-f"^'
body, as suspended, about half &^
way up ; it is divided into several "^^^ '■
granulated globe^ some of which ^,,,^^ reniformis, from a prcsenred
are separated from the others, specimen.
S^!ri^5^!?Z;^*fe^^ P' ^^'^ ' C, branchial orifice of enre-
owies two, elongate, lobate, situ- i ^ ^^ ^^,^ ^, ^^1
ated on each side of the body, >- ' ' *'
and directed towards the anal orifice ; right ovary straight, daviform,
lying dose within the loop of the intestine ; left ovajy larger and less
lobate, but undulated and extending downwards behind the branchial
vein.
Mlioay gives the northern seas of America as the locality of the
animal. Captain J. C. Ross says that a single specimen was dredged
up frx>m a depth of seventy fathoms near Elizabeth Harbour. He
obeerves that he can add nothing to li'Leay^s admirable description
except that the colour of the body is a very light brown ; that of the
pedicle darker.
The sphere wherein this Asddian moves must necessarily be veiy
contracted. Anchored by its pedicle, the length of its moorings fixes
the limit of its motions, which are most probably confined to the
oecillations arising from the agitation of the wavea Both the body
and pedide, as M'Leay observes, are soabrose, or covered with a rough
surface, which is formed by exceedingly diort coarse hairs. The
original colour he could not ascertain ; but in spirits it was cinereous,
or dirty white, which, he adds, may possibly be the true colour of the
animal, as it is not unfrequently that of the other Atcididcg. M'Leay^s
specimen was brought home from Winter Island by W. N. Griffiths,
Esq., while under the command of Captain (now Sir Edward) Parry.
BOLTONITE, a native anhydrous Silicate of Magnesia. It occurs
massive with a granular structure, or in yellowidi or blmsh-gray
grains. The deavage is in one direction ; the lustre vitreous ; trans-
parent to translucentb It is found disseminated through limestone in
the United States of America, at Bolton, Boxborough, and Nittleton,
Massachusetts ; and Ridgefidd and Reading, Connecticut
BOMBA'CEJS, a group of plants conmdered by some a distinct
natural order, by others as a mere section of Sierculiace<B, They are
usually laige trees, with broad deep-green leaves, and flowers of con-
siderable size. Technically they di^ frt>m Malvacea in having two
oella to their anthers which are often doubled down upon themselves,
in their calyx opening in an irregular rather than a valvate manner,
and in their stamens being usually oollected into five parcels. Their
anthers are often described as having only one cell ; but this is an
inaccurate mode of speaking of them, inasmuch as they are formed
upon the common' tWo^celled type, and merdy have the cells united at
the point of the oonnectiva
Tlds group contains some of the most majestic and beautiful trees
that are known, but notiiing of much medical or economical import-
ance is furnished by them. Their wood is light and spongy; the
long cottony substance foiuid within their fruit, and which has gained
for some of them the name of Cotton-Trees, is too short in the staple
to be manufactured into linen ; and ^e sli^tly add or mucilaginous
qualities that occur in the group are altogether inferior to those of
many Malvaeea. The Baobab Tree is one of them. [ADAireoifiA.]
It is remarkable for the excessive thickness of its trunk as compared
with its height^ and this is a character of oommon occurrence. Seve-
ral American species spread enormoudy near the ground, fonning
huge buttresses with the an^^es of their trunks. This is especially
the case with the genus BHodendnm, which is moreover often defended
by verv* large conical prickles, which do not fall off till they are exfo-
liated Dv tlie gradual distension of the trunk. Among these plants is
a smpilar instance of a flower resembling the paw of some aaimsL
[CHXiBOSTEMOir.] No bombaoeous plants are found far beyond the
tropics.
BOMBAX (from fi6fji$v(^f a genus of plants, the type of the natural
order BombacecB. It has a naked, campanulate, xmequally 2-5-lobed
or truncatdy 5*toothed calyx ; five petals joined together, and some-
what connected at the base with the column of the stamens ; nume-
rous stamens, monadelphous at the base, but free at the apex ; the
anthers inserted at the middle, kidney-shaped or oblong, opeuing
above by a transverse chink ; the capsules laige, 5-celled, 5-valved,
woody; cells many-seeded; albuminous seeds surrounded by silky
cotton. The spedes of this genus are laige trees with a soft spongy
wood, which is freqi;ently used for making canoes. They are natives
of South America and the East Indies.
B. Ceibaf Common Silk-Cotton Tree, has a prickly tnmk, palmate
leaves with five leaflets, turbinate fruit concave at the apex. This
plant is a very large tree, and is a native of the West Indies and South
America. Some of the older travellers gave extravagant accoimts of
its height; it is however frequently seen reaching above 100 feet.
The down, which is contained in the seed-vessel, is very soft, but is
too short to be used in the manufacture of doth. It is made into
hats and bonnets, and used for stuffing chairs and pillows by the poor
people in the districts in which it grows. It is not made into beds, as
it is reputed imwholesome to Ue upon. The trunks of the largest are
made into canoes, and some of these will carry from fifteen to twenty
hogsheads of sugar. Columbus in his first voyage to America speaks
of having seen a canoe made of this tree in Cuba, which contained 150
mei^ When the stem decays it becomes the prey of the larva of the
Macaca Beetle, which when gutted and fried is esteemed as a great •
delicacy in the districts where it occurs.
B, pubeacens has an unarmed trunk, the lower leaves quinate, the
upper ones temate ; the leaflets obovate, elliptical, emarginate, coria-
ceous, smooth, or covered with black dots of stellate pili beneath ;
the pedides inflated and hollow under the flower, and as well as the
calyxes covered with black dots of stellate tomentum; the petals
tomentose, three times longer than the calyx, with a smooth ovary.
This plant reaches from 20 to 30 feet in height It is a native
of Brazil, in the province of Minas Geraes, where the tree is called
Embirussu. The bark is very tough, and is used for making ropes.
The other spedes of Bombax, of whidi from fourteen to twenty have
been described, possess the same general qualities as the two species
described. The wool of the pods of the B. MalahaHcum is used in
India to stuff pillows and beds. B. insiffne is a native of the Birman
Elmpire, and is remarkable for its laige red very showy flowers. All
the species grow best in a rich loamy soil. Cuttings not too ripe,
when taken off at a joint, will root fredy in sand imder a hand-glass in
a moist heat The best mode of propagating them is from seeds
brought from the places of their nattual growth. None of the species
seem to have flowered in stoves, but ^is arises probably from the
want of height
(Burnett^ OtUUnea; Loudon, Enepdopcedia of FlcmU; O. Don,
Qardenei's DicHonary.)
BO'MBUS, the generic name of those Insects commonly called
Humble-Bees : this latter name was derived (Messrs. Eirby and
Spence conjecture) from the German Hummer- or Hummd-Biene, a
name probably given to these insects frH>m the humming sound which
they emit The Bombi belong to the order Hymenoptera and family
ApidoBf and as regards the English species are by for the largest of
the tribe. They may be distinguished bv the following characters : —
Body thickly covered with hair ; head with a longitudmal groove and
an indentation extending across from the upper part of the eyes ; in
this indentation the three stemmata are placed, being arranged nearly
in a straight line ; and it is from the central stemmatum that the
longitudinal groove has its origin, whence it extends downwards;
antennsd with twdve joints ; labrum with its surface uneven ; man-
dibles with several longitudinal grooves on the upper side; posterior
tibiffi compressed, smooth, maigined with strong recurved hairs, and
armed with spines at the apex.
The above are the pecidiarities of the females. In the males the
antennas are thirteen-jointed and considerably longer than those of
the other sex ; the hinder tibise want the corbicula ; the mandibles
are bidentate at the apex and each furnished with a tuft of curved
hairs ; they differ likewise in possessiDg no sting and in the structure
of their daws, but these two last characters are common to the whole
tribe of Apid(B,
The neuter bees resemble the females in every respect excepting
size ; in this they are inferior to the males, which latter are rather
less than the females.
Eirby, in his monograph on the bees of this country, enumerates
87 spedes as bdonging to his- section * * * a 2 : ' this section,
with the exception of a few spedes [PBTTHEans], now oonstitutes the
genus of which this article treats.
The prevailing colours of the spedes are yellow, red, and black :
and as these colours are disposed with a certain degree of uniformily,
we have arranged the following, which form the prindpal part of the
British species, under three hei^ namdy, those which have the apex of
the body more or less red, those which have that part white, and
those in which the ground-colour of the body is yellow or buff: by
this arrangement mudi repetition in the descriptions is avoided.
Digitized by
Google
U8
BOMBUa
BOHBTCIDA
568
Section L Apex of the Body red.
B, lapidariut (female), black. The male ia rather lon|f and narrow;
head and anterior and posterior portions of the thorax yellow.
This species, well known by the name Red-Tailed Bee, is one of the
largest and commonest of the genus ; the females are to be seen in
the spring and summer months; in the autumn, when the males
make their appearance, they are less common.
B, jRaiellut (female). Smaller and shorter in proportion than the
last, from which it may moreover be distinguiahea by having red hair
on the hinder tibise.
B, DerhamelUUf colour ashy-brown. Thorax and abdomen each with
a black fascia. Most probably the male of the last described.
B, eubinterruptuB (female), black. Anterior portion of the thorax
yellow; abdomen with a subinterrupted fascia of the same colour
towards the base.
B, PraJtorum, black. Anterior portion of the thorax yellow.
B. Burrdlamu (male), yellow. Thorax with the central portion
black; abdomen with a black fascia near the middle.
B. CuUumanue (male). Like the laat^ but the fascia of the abdomen
is very narrow, occupying only one segment.
B. DonovaniUut (female), black. Thorax with the anterior portion
yellow ; abdomen with the basal portion yellow. In the male the
anterior portion of the thorax is obscurely coloured.
, Section IL Apex of the Abdomen white.
B, Urrettrie. — This is the laigest and most common of the yellow
and black Humble-Bees. It has the anterior mazgin of the thorax
and the segment next the basal one of the abdomen of a yellow or
buff colour ; the rest of the body is black, with the exception of the
apex, which is sometimes of a dirty yellow colour and at others white.
The neuters of all the species are very variable in size, but in this
there appears to be the greatest extreme ; we have specimens which
are scarcely as large as the common hive-bee.
B. ffortorumf black. Thorax witii the anterior and posterior
portions yellow ; abdomen with the base yellow ; rather less than the
preceding species.
B. Tunstallanue (female), black. Thorax with the anterior and
posterior maigins narrowly edged with yellow.
The insect described by Kirby under the name of LairaUeUa
has lately been discovered by Mr. Pickering to be the male of this
species. It is of a pale yellow colour, with the central portion of
the thorax and two indistinct £Et8ci» towards the base of the abdomen
black.
B. JondLut (male), yellow. Thorax and abdomen each with a
black fascia.
B. lucorwM (male), yellow. Thorax with the central portion black ;
abdomen with the two basal segments yellow, and the two following
black, the remainder whitei
Section III. Qroumd-OoUiwr of the Body ydUno or buff.
B. Muecorum, yellow. Thorax orange.
B, fioraliSf yellow. Abdomen with a black spot on each side of
the second s^gment^ the three following segments with their bases
black.
B. BedkwUheUru, pale buff colonr. Thorax and apex of the
abdomen reddish yellow, the latter with a black fascia in the middle.
B. CvTtieeUue. Like the last> but the abdomen is black, with the
base of reddish-yellow.
B. Foeterdku. Thorax buff coloured, with the anterior part
blackish; abdomen with three obscure black fascial.
(ObservatioxL — ^We have reason to believe the last four to be varieties
of the same species.)
B. Syharum, yellowish-white. Thorax with a bladk fascia ; abdomen
with two black fasciss ; the apex red interspersed with white.
B. fragrant, bright yellow. Thorax with a black fascia.
Of the above species, B. terreetrie and Lapidariue are the largest
B. froffrane, Twnetallamu, and ffortorwn, are the next in size. All
the rest of the species are nearly of a size, with the exception of
B. Praiorum.
The habits and economy of these insects are not lees interesting
than other members of the order Hymenoptera,
In the autumnal months, when the cold weather begins to be felt,
and the various honey-yielding flowers disappear, the male and neuter
Humble-Bees die, havmg performed their allotted task, which as fox
as we can discover, appears to be that of fecundating certain plants,
by conveying the noUen firom the male to the female flowers : a task
which is unavoidaoly accomplished by their visiting different flowers
for the purpoee of collecting honey and poUen to rear their young.
Some female Humble-Bees also die, whereas others (probably those
only which had been reared in the previous summer) seek a con-
venient spot in which they may pass the winter as little exposed to
the cold as possible ; sometimes in rotten wood of old pollard trees^
and sometimes in moss, or among dead leaves, or in fact in almost any
situation which wHl afibrd the desired protection. Here they remain
in a torpid state and without f eod. The warmth of the spring causes
these females again to make their appearance, and having been
impregnated the previous autumn, wey seek a convenient spot
wherein they may conttrooi their nesti. Qraasy bonks are the looali«
ties most firequentiy chosen for this purpose, but various situatioiM,
and even a difference of soil apparently, are selected by the different
species of Humble-Bees; for we obsrave certain species sboundiDg
more in one situation than another, and that in places distant from
each other but similar in character. The nests are sometimes built
upon the ground, but most generally they are in a hole excavated by
the bee. These excavations vary in depth and fonn, even though
made by the same species of bee. In their construction the animal
uses its jaws to dislodge the particles of earth, which are then, by
means of the anterior pair of legs, passed backwards to tiie hinder
pair, which perform the same office : but as the bunrow becomeB
deeper, the whole body of the bee is used to eject the graina of boiL
In saying that the Humble-Bees form the burrows in tiie ground in
which we find them, we speak upon the authority of R^umur, for
although we have fk«quentiy observed the female bee oommeaoe
removing particles of earth, apparently with intent to make such ao
excavation, upon returning to the same spots after a sufficient interval
of time, the work was always abandoned. Huber, who paid much
attention to these insects, says, " I have not discovered in what manner
they excavate the holes which lead to their nests, nor do I know bow
they form the vaults in which they are nlaoed, neither am I aware
whether they always construct these vaults themselves, or whether
they do not sometimes avail themselves of the holes made by molea
or other animals." Upon consulting some other authora, these
points appear to be treated of in too vague a manner. When a amall
cylindrical but generally tortuous gallery is formed, it is terminated
by an arched chamber of considerable extent, and it is in this cham-
ber that the nest is constructed. Those species which do not burrow
in the ground choose a situation in which the herbage is soffidently
thick to afford shelter, and there form on the 8ur£aoe of the ground
an arched chamber of moes thickly matted together. In what manner
the female first commences the interior arrangement of her nest, and
how she brings up her yotmg whilst in her s^itaiy state, Huber and
some of the earlier authors did not ascertain, we are indebted to
M. le Comte Saint-Faigeau for this portion of the present hiatoiy.
This author informs us that having collected a quanti^ of potten and
honey, these substances are formed by the feniale humble-bee into a
ball, in which the eggs are deposited, so that when the egga axe
hatched the larva are surrounded by the substance, which eerves
them both for food and protection. The balls geDerally contain
numerous eggs, and oonsequently when these are hatched numeroua
larvae. Reaumur found them to vaiy from three to thirty. Each
larva feeding upon the food nearest to it, the original crust of their
enclosure becomes thin, and the parent insect then takes care to add
fresh alimentary paste to the weakest parts. When the larvae are
full grown each one incloses itself in a mlken cocoon of an oval fonn
and placed always in a perpendicular position. A certain number of
neuters^ or workers, having undeigone their flinal transformation, the
nest is enlarged, and an inner coating <^ wax is attached to it, and
in those nests which are constructed with moss the particles of wax
are so amalgamated with it that a portion 'of the moss cannot be
removed witiiout injuring the interior more or less. Wax is idso
used by the workers in the construction of little cells for the reception
of honey. Each species of Humble-Bee makes tiiese cdds, aa Huber
informs us, in a different manner ; some construct them on the top of
the cocoons, and of a half oval form ; others build 'them of an cgS*
shape, with the apex truncated. In some again they resemble the
firsts but have a ring of wax within the top^ The next variety is
almost a perfect oval, having but a small opening at the apex.
Lastiy, these Humble-Bees show, says Huber, "that they are not
inferior to the hive-bee in the art of economy. Between four honey-
pots there would necessarily be a vacant space; but this ia occupied
by a fifth reservoir, which is not of the same form as those by which
it is surrounded, but sometimes approaches to a square," &a Aa an
instance of the intelligence of these bees, Huber relates that when a
bee is prevented from obtaining the honey at the bottom of ths
flower by the tube of the corolla being too nairow and deep, ^cy
drill a hole witii their proboscis through the calyx and corolhi right
into the tube, and in this manner tap the vessel containing the liquid
of which they are so fond.
The male Humble-Bees are not reared tiH late in the season, and
do not appear in any abundance tiU the autumn. As in the case of
the hive-bee therefore, they take no pait in the duties of rearing the
young, which it appears are almost entirely under the protection of
the neuters as soon as they are hatched.
When the nest is tolerably well peopled, it presents a mass of oy:^
cocoons spun by the larvae as before described ; interspersed with
which there are numerous masses of an irregular but generally some-
what rounded form, and of a brown colour : some of the laxgeat are
about the sise of a small walnut Each of these masses indoaei
either eggs or Uurvee, and is composed ctf pollen mixed with hon^.
To these must be added the little honey-pots which are irregularly
intenroersed with the cocoons.
BOMBT'CIDiE, a family of Insects of the order L^jridopienh
belonging to the section Lepidoptera noeUuma of Latreille^ or Kotha.
The principal characteristics of this family are— their poasBSfling oiuy
rudimentary mazilUe, remarkably small palf^ and bipeotioated
Digitized by
Google
»7
BOMBYCH)^
BOMBYCILLA.
668
Some of the speoies fly very rapidly, and make their appearance in
the day-time as well as in the evening. The caterpillars of most of
the species are hairy (some produce great irritation to the hand when
touched), and assume the pupa state in a cocoon spun for its protection.
The pupa is simple.
One of the most interesting of the family is the Bombffx Mori, well
known as the moth to which the Silkworm turns. This species which
was originally from China is of a white or cream colour, with a brown
fucia and two or more waved lines of a deeper colour crossing the
upper wings. In this coimtry the eggs of this moth hatch early in
Hay ; the caterpillar or silkworm is at first of a dark colour, but soon
hecomee light, and in its tints much resembles the perfect insect, a
circumstance common in caterpillars. Its proper food is the mulberry,
though it will likewise eat the lettuce and some few other plants ; on
the latter however it does not thrive equally well, and the silk yielded
is of a poor quality.
4
a and b, Botni^ Mori ; 0, the eggs ; d, the pnpa ; 0, silkworm or caterpillar.
The Silkworm is about eight weeks in anivmg at maturity, during
which period it changes its skin four or five times. When tthout to
cast its skin it ceases to eai, raises the fore part of the body slightly,
and remains in perfect repose. In this state it is necessary that it
should continue for some little time, in order that the new skin, which
is at this time forming, may become sufficiently mature to enable the
caterpillar to burst through the old on& This operation, which is
apparently one of considerable difficulty, is performed thus : — the
f6re part of the old skin is burst ; the silkworm then by continually
writhing its body (but not moving from the spot) contrives to thrust
the skin back to the tail, and ultimately to disengage itself altogether;
this Isst part of the operation however is the most difficult, since it
is no uncommon occurence for them to die from not being able to
disengage the last segment of^e body from the old akin.
Those who have reared silkworms must have observed how large
the head is in proportion to the body in those which have just changed
their skins; tlus circumstance is worthy of observation, for in it will
be found a meet beautiful contrivance.
When the larva of an insect has just changed its skin, every part is
soft, and in many eases (such as caterpillars) the greater portion of
the body still remains in tliis flexible state ; but the skin of the head and
some few other parts in all instances soon become hardened, after which
it never growa, The same happens with those larvsd which have the
body in a great measure covered with hard plates^ which circumstance
leaves no parts to enlaiige but such as are flexible. In the instance of
a caterpillar the bodv increases in size rapidly after change of skin,
but the head it will be observed does not enlai^e, and although the
body may have increased very much it does not appear that the skin
baa grown ; it seems only to be stretched with the mcrease of size of
the inner parts. In the case of those larvsB which have the body
cohered with hard plates, it is the skin between the plates that stretches
to allow of growth in the inner parts, so that just before changing skin
a lithe plates are considerably separated.
From the above we conclude that the external covering of insects
does not grow at all, except at the time of repose previous to the
casting off the old skm, after which operation the head and those parts
-wrbich §o<m become hard are sufficiently grown to last until the next
change ; and also that the soft parts of the external covering will
bear stretching to a certain extent and no further when it becomes
r that they should change that covering tog a larger one.
With respect to the silkworm and other caterpillars, an unobserving
person would not readily understand how the head, which is much
fairer than the one the case of which has just been cast off, can have come
out of it ; but if the silkworm be examined just before it is about to
change its skin, it will be seen that such is not exactly the qase, for
part of the new head may be seen thrust out behind the old one, so
that the fore part only is inclosed by the latter.
'When full grown the silkworm commences spinning its web in some
convenient spot, and as it does not change the position of the hinder
portion of its body much, but continues drawing its thread from
various points and attaching it to others, it follows that after a tim^
its body beo<Hnes in a great measure inclosed by the thread. The
work is then continued from one thread to another, the ailkwom)
moving its head and spinning in a zipag way, bending the fore part
of the body back to spin in all directions within reach, and shifting
the body only to cover wi^ silk the part which was beneath it. As
the silkworm spins its web by thus bending the fore part of the body
back, and moves the hinder part of the body in such a way only as •
to enable it to reach the jGeffiher back with the fore part^ it follows
that it incloses itself in a cocoon much shorter than its own body, for
soon after the beginning the whole is continued with the body in a
bent position. From the foregoing account it appears that with the
most simple instinctive principles all the ends necessary are gained.
If the silkworm were gifted with a desire for shifting its position
much at the beginning of the work it could never inclose itself in a
cocoon ; but by its mode of proceeding, as above explained, it indoses
itself in a cocoon which only consumes as much silk as is necessary
to hold the chrysalis.
During the time of spinning the cocoon the silkworm decreases in
length very considerably, and after it is completed, it is not half its
original length ; at this time it becomes quite torpid, soon changes its
skin, and appears in the form of a chrysfJis. The time required to
complete the cocoon is about five days. In the chrysalis state the
anixnal remains from a fortnight to three weeks ; it then bursts its
case and comes forth in the imago state, the moth having previously
dissolved a portion of the cocoon by means of a fluid which it
ejects.
The moth is short-lived ; the female, in many instances, dies almost
immediately after she has laid her eggs ; the xnale survives her but a
short time.
The silkworms, which are most extensively reared for the purpose
of producing silk [Silk, in Abts and Sa Div.], are liable to many
diseases, and none have been more destructive than that called
muscardine. This disease attacks the caterpillar when about to enter
the chrysalis state. It is always attended with the development
within the body of a minute fungus closely resembling our common
mould. It is probable the fungus onl^ attacks those worms which
are predisposed to diBease, but in certam seasons this fungus has been
so extensively developed as to lead to the supposition that it produces
the disease iteelt It Ib very certain that, when this fungus is
prevailing and its spores are introduced into the body of the silk-
worm, it becomes rapidly diseased and dies. The fungus spreads
internally before the death of the worm and afterwards it shoots
forth from the surface of the skin. The chrysalis and moth will have
the disease if inoculated with the fungus, but it only occurs sponta-
neously on the caterpillar. [See Sufplbmemt.]
BOMBYCILLA, a genus of Tooth-Billed Birds (Deniirottrea). Cuvier
places the genus among the Dentiroetral genera of his second order
Fatsereaux; Latreille idso arranges it under that order, but does not
allow it to belong to the DetUirottretf and classes it among his first
family, that of the Broad-Billed Birds {Latiro9tra). Temminck, con-
sidering it to be an omnivorous bird, finds a place for it under the
name of Bombycivora, in his second order Ommvorea. Yieillof s
second order {Sylvicoiai) contains two tribes; and in the sixteenth
family {Baecivari) of the second tribe (Aniaodactyli), the genus in
question will be loimd. Vigors places it in the second tribe DeiUi-
roatre$ of his second order, Inteuorea, or Perching Birds ; and after some
hesitation, and expressing his doubt whether its natural situation is
not in the family MerwUda, is inclined to arrange it provisionally
among the Pipridas, his last family of DerUinfttrea. Bonaparte makes
it a genus of his family SericcUi. Swainson, in the ' Fauna Boreali-
Americana,' arranges it imder his BombycilUntBf a subfekmily belonging
to the abeirant group of his Ampelidce, or Fruit-Eaters ; but in giving
his table of Ampdidea, he expresses considerable doubts on the true
nature of the aberrant divisions. Limueus at one time made it a
Butcher-Bird (Lanhu), and afterwards an Afnpelia. Brisson dassed it
among the Thrushes (Turdus), and Illiger among the Crows (Corvut).
The birds of this genus are known by the FJnglish names of Wax-
Wings or Waxen-Chatterers; and the following are the principal
generic characters according to Temminck :^ Bill short» straight,
elevated; upper mandible curved towards its extremi^, with a
strongly marked tooth ; nostrils basal, ovoid, open, hidden by strong
hairs directed forwards ; feet, with three toes before and one behind,
the exterior toe connected (soudtf) with the middle one; wings
moderate, the first and second quills longest
Only three species have been recorded. The first has a wide
geographical range; the second i« confined to Kcrth America; and
the thud is Oriental
Digitized by
Google
609
BOMBTCILLA.
BOMBYCILLA.
B, fforruUi, Emopean Wax-Wing or Chatterer. This elegaat spedes,
which is also known by the EngUdi names of the Bohemian Chatterer,
Bohemisn Waz-Wmg and Silk-Tail, is Le Jaseur de Bohdme (BufTon,
&&), Grand Jaseur (Temminok), and Gteay de Bohdme of the Froidi;
Garrulo di Boemia of the Italians ; Bothlichgrauer Seidensohwants
(Meyer), Europaischer Seidensehwans, and Qemeine Seidensdiwanx
(Bechstein) of the Qermans ; GamduM Bohemieui of Qesner ; Bomby-
cilia of Sohwenck. ; Ampdit of Aldrovand. ; BombifeiUa Bohemica of
BrisBon; Ampdia gaimUut of Linnsns; Bombyeipkora gamda of
Brehm ; Bombyciphora poUoccelia of Meyer ; B<mbyewara ffomUa
of Temminck ; and BomhycUla gamda of Yieillot.
In addition to the nomenclature above given, the bird is said to
be named by the Italians in some localities Becoo-Frisone, in others,
(Jalletto del Bosco ; and by the bird-catchers of Bologna, Uccello del
Mondo Novo ; by the Germans, Zinzerelle, Wipstertz, Schnee- Vogel
and Schnee-Leschke, and by those in the neighbourhood of Niirn-
berg, Beemexle and Behemle ; by the Swedes, S^den-Swantz ; and by
the Bohemians, Brkoslaw.
That the Bohemian Chatterer was known to the aneients there can
be little doubt; but a ^reat deal of obscurity prevails as to the
names by which it was distinguished. Some have taken it to be the
Incendiaria Avia of Pliny (book z. c. 13), the inauspicious bird, on
account of whose appearance Rome more than once underwent
lustration, but more especially in the consulship of L. Cassius and
C. Marius, when the apparition of a great owl {Bttbo) was added to
the horrors of the year. Others have supposed that it was the bird
of the Hercynian forest (book z. c. 47), whose feathers shone in the
night like fire. Aldrovandus, who collected the opinions on this
point, has taken some pams to show that it could be neither the one
nor the other. The worthy Italian gravely assures his readers that its
feathers do not shine in the night ; fsr he savs he kept one alive for
three months, and observed it at all hours (** quAvis noctis horft con-
templatus sum " ).
It is by no means improbable that this bird was the Ti^dpaXos of
Aristotle (' Hist Anim.,' book iz. c 16).
The geographical range of the Bohemian Chatterer is eztensive,
comprehending a great portion of the arctic world It appears gene-
rally in flocks, and a fatality was at one time believed to accompany
their movements. Thus Aldrovandus observes that laige flights of
them appeared in February, 1580, when Charles V. was crowned at
Bologpua; and again in 1651, when they spread through the duchies of
Modena, Piaoenza, and other Italian districts, carefully avoiding that
of Ferrara, which was afterwards convulsed by an earthquake. In
1552, according to Qesner, they visited the banks of the Rhine, near
Mentz, in such myriads that they darkened the air. In 1571 troops
of them were seen flying about the north of Italy, in the monl^ of
December, when the Ferrarese earthquake, according to Aldrovandus,
took place^ and the rivers overflowed their banks.
Keeker, in his Memoir on the Birds of Geneva, observes that from
the beginning of this century only two considerable flights have
been observed in that canton, one in January, 1807, and the other
in 1814| when they were very numerous, and having spent the winter
there, took their departure in March. In the first of those yearn they
were scattered over a considerable part of Europe, and early in
January were seen near Edinburgh. Savi observes that they are
not seen in Tuscany ezcept in very severe winters, and that the
years 1806 and 1807 were remarkable for the number of them
whidi entered Piedmont^ especially the valleys of Lanzo and Suza.
It has been said that it is always raze in France, and that of late
years it has become scarce in Italy and Qermany; but Bechstein
observes that in moderate seasons it is found in great flights in the
skirts of the foresto throughout the greater part of Germany and
Bohemia, and that it is to be seen in Thuringia only in the winter :
if the season be mild in vexy small numbers, the greater portion
remaining in the north; if the weather be severe, it advances farther
south.
The Bohemian Chatterer must be considered only as an oocaaional
visitant to the British Islands, though Pennant says that they appear
only by accident in South Britain, but that about Edinbuigh they
come annually in February, and feed on the berries of the mountain-
ash ; adding that they also appear as far south as Northumberland,
and like the fieldfare make the benies of the white thorn their food :
he records the death of one which was killed at Garthmeilio in Den-
bighshire in a fir-tree during the severe froBt of December, 1788.
Latham, in a note to this statement, says that the late Mr. Tunstall
informed him that in the winter of 1787 many flodu were seen aU
over the county of York, and that towards the spring a flock of between
twenty and tlurty were observed within two miles of Wydifi'e, his
place of residence. Bewick states that in the years 1790, 1791, and
1803 several of them were taken in Northumberland and Durham as
early as the month of November. Selby says that in the winter of
1810 laxge flocks were dispersed through various parts of the kingdom,
and that from that period it does not seem to have visited our island
till the month of February, 1822, when a few came under his inspeo*
don, and several were again obsMved during the severe storm in the
tnnter of 1823. Montagu says that he received it out of StaSbrdshire,
and that he has known others killed in the more southern oonntieB
in the autmnn and winter. In Mr. Rennie's edition of the ' Onutho-
logical Diotionaxy ' (1838) it appears that one had been shot in the
park of Lord Boringdon at Saltram in Devonshire, and that not \m
than twenty had been killed in the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk
during the three preoeding winters. Graves says that about Christmas,
1808, a number were shot in the neighbourhood of Camberwell, from
one of which, being but slightly wounded, his figuxe was taken. In
* Loudon's Magaone * it is stated that a fine specimen was shot near
Coventiy in December, 1880, where it appeared to associate wiA
starlings^ and that during the same month of the same year six vera
killed in the vicinity of Ipswich. The late Mr. W. Thompson reoortb
various instances of the occurrence of this bird in Ireland. In the
British Islands it more frequently occurs in the north than the south,
and Mr. YarreU states that "the winters of 1787, 1788, 1789,
1790,1791, 1803, 1810,1820,1822,1828, 1880, 1831, 1834, and 1885,
are partioiUaily recorded as having afforded opportunities of obtaining
specimens in some one or other of various northern localitiee.*'
Although called the Bohemian Wax-Wing, it is not more common in
Bohemia than England. In the central and southern parts of the
European continent it is only an occasional visitor.
In northern Russia and the extreme north of Norway, aooording to
C. Xi. Bonaparte, they are seen in great numben every winter, bemg
observed there earlier than in temperate countries. In norUiem Asia
and eastern Europe their migrations are tolerably regidar. Very
numerous flocks pass through Scania in November, and are again seen
on their return in the spring.
But the species is not confined to Europe and Asia. " By a singolsr
coincidance^" says the Prince of Canino, " whilst we were prodaiming
this spedes as American, it was received by Tenuninck from Japan,
together with a new spedes, the third known of the genua." He nya
that his best specimen was shot on the 20th of Maroh, 1825, on the
Athabasca River, near the Rocky Mountains ; and observes that the
species appears to be spread widely, as he had been credibly informed
by hunters that "cedar-buds df a huge kind" had been shot alittle
beyond the Mississippi ; adding that he is at a loss to conceiTe why
it should never have been observed on this side of tiie last-mentioned
river. Mr. Drunmiond in the spring of 1826 saw it near the aouroes
of the Athabasca, and Sir John Richardson observed it in the same
season at Oreat Bear Lake in lat. 65*, where a male, of which be gives
a description, was shot on the 24th of Mav of that year. He also nys
that he observed a lazge flock of at least three or four hundrad on the
banks of the Saskatchewan, at Carlton Houae, early in Hay, 1827.
They alighted in a grove of poplars, settling idl on one or two trees,
and makmg a loud twittering noise. They stayed only about an hour
in the morning, and were too shy to idlow him to approadi within
gunshot
The district where these birds breed is unknown. Bechstein says
that it does not build in Qennany when wild, but within the Arctic
Cirde.
Bonaparte gives a very amiable diaiacter of the European Wax-Wing
in a state of nature, attributing to them a particidar sentiment of
benevolence, even independent of redprocal sexual attraction.
'' Not only," says the Prince, "do the male and female caress and feed
each other, but the same proofii of mutual kindness have been
observed between individual of the same sex." Speaking of their
habits he says, "They always alight on trees^ hopping awkwardly on
the ground Their flight is very rapid : when taking wing they utter
a note resembling the syllableB d, d, ri, but are generally silent not-
withstanding the name that has been given them." Bechstein says.
" When wild we see it in the spring eating, like thrushes, all sorts of
flies and other insects ; in autunm and winter, different kinds of
berries; and in time of need, l^e buds and sprouts of the beech,
maple, and various fruit-ta^ees." Willughby states that it feeds upon
fruit, especially grapes, of which it is very greedy. "Wherefore it
seems to me," he adds, " not without reason, to be called by that name
Ampdis," Bonaparte makes their food to oonsist of different kinds
of juicy berries, or of insects, observing that they are fond of the
berries of the mountain-ash and Pkytdaeca, and that they are
extremely greedy of grapes, and also, thou^ in a less degree, of
juniper- and laurel-berries, apples, currants, figs, and other finiitB.
He adds that they drink often, dipping their bills repeatedly.
In captivity its qualities do not appear to be very attractive,
according to Bechstein, who says that nothing but its beauty and
soardty can render the poesesdon of it desirable, for that it is a stnpid
and lasy bird. Indeed he draws such a picture of its greediness and
dirty habits, that, if it be not overdiarged, few we should think would
wish to have it as an inmate. Leaving out tiie motre unpleasant parts of
his description, we take the following extaraet from his 'Cage Birds' :
— "During the ten or twdve yean Uiat it can exist in confinement,
and on very meagre food, it does nothing but eat and repose for
digestion. If hunger induces it to move, its step is awkward, and its
jumps so dumsy as to be disagreeable to the eye. Its song eonsi^
only of weak and uncertain whistlings a little resembling the thrash,
but not BO loud. While singing it moves the crest, but hardly moves
the throat If this warbling is somewhat unmumoal it has the merit
of continuing throughout every season of the year. When snm
which happens sometimes near the oommca feeding-trough, it knMCB
very violently with its beak. It is eadly tamed." The same author
says, that in confinement the two univenwl pastes appear delicades to
Digitized by
Google
661
BOMBYCILLA.
BOMBYCILLA.
662
it; and it la even satisfied with bran steeped in water. It swallows
everyttiing voracionsly, and refuses nothing eatable, such as potatoes,
cabbage, salad, fruit of all sorts, and especially white bread. It likes
to bathe, or rather to sprinkle itself with water, for it does not wet
iteelf so much as other birds.
It is taken in nooses, to which berries are fixed, which for this
purpose, says the author last quoted, " should always be kept in store
till February. It appears to be frightened at nothing, for it flies into
nets and traps, though it sees its companions caught^ and lumging and
uttering cries of distress and fear."
Length about eight inches ; the size altogether approaching that of
a starling.
Mak, Bill strong; black, except at the bcue^ where the colour
inclines to a yellowish-white; nostrils hidden under small black
feathera Irides purplish-red* Chin and throat velvety black, as is
alao the streak (in the midst of which is the eye) passing from the
bill to the hinder part of the head. Forehead reddish-biown. Head
feathers Iouk, silky, forming a reclining crest approaching to reddish-
chestnut, which the bird con erect or depress at pleasure. Upper
parts purjdish-red, or vinaceous-brown dadied with ash-colour, the
rump liffhtest. Breast and belly pale purplish-ash, tinged with pale
brownish-red. Vent and under tail-coverts orange-brown inclining to
reddish-orange. Greater wing-coverts black, tipped with white.
Lesser wing-coverts of a shade darker than the general tmt of the
upper plumage. Primaries black, with a bright yellow spot near the
white tipjB of their outer webe. Montagu says that the three first are
tipped with white, and the others with yellow on their outer margins.
Secondaries gray, tipped with white on the outer web, and seven or
eight of them terminated with small flattish, ova^ homy appendages,
of the colour of red sealing-wax. Sometimes there are not more than
5 or 6 of these wax-like tips, and in Montagu's specimen there were
5 on one side and 6 on the other. Qravee nves the number at from
6 to 9 (Bechstein at from 6 to 9), and mentions the specimen in Mr.
Haworth's coUection, which had some on the tail, which is black
tipped with yellow, and dashed with aah-colour at the base. Shanks,
toes, and daws, black.
European Waz.Wing {BombyeUla garruta), male.
PenutU, (Generally similar to the male; but the yellow on the
wings and tail is not so bright^ nor are the wax-like appendages so
laige or so numerous.
The flesh of this species is said to be delicate food.
B. Carolinenaiif the American Wax- Wing, or Cedar-Bird^ was
considered by some of the older naturalists to be identical with the
European species, from which it had degenerated.
This species is the Ampdis gamdus, var. fi, of the 'Systema
NatursQ ' ; Qamdim CaroUnentit, le Jaseur de Caroline, the Chatterer
of Catesby ; Twrdus gctmdua CaroUnentis of Klein ; Coquantotot df
Hernandez ; Avis Americana critUUa, Xomotl dicta of Seba ; Chatterer
of Carolina of Edwards ; Cedar-Bird, AmpdiM Americana, of Wilson ;
Hecollet of the Canadiian Yoyageurs; BomhyciUa CciroliMame of
Brisson, Bonapcurte, Audubon, and others. It is said to be found in the
^s-hole extent between Mexico and Canada, and parties are said
3ocasionally to roam as far south as the forests of Ghiyana. In the
United States it is a resident during the whole year, the northern and
middle states being its more usual quarters in the summer, and the
Eouthem in the winter season. It is stated that the bird has been
found on the north-west coast of America, but its northern boundary
HAZ. HX9I. DIY. YOU I>
appeara to fkU short of that of -BomiyciKa^oAcmwo. Saysawitnear
the Wimupeg River, in lat. 50^ and Sir John Richardson states his
behef that it has not been hitherto observed to the northward of the
64th paralleL He says that Mr. Drummond saw several small
flocks on the south branch of the Saskatchewan on the 27th June and
gives a description of a male killed there in lat. 62i** on that day,
1827. He adds that it frequents the northern shores of Lake Huron
and of Lake Superior in summer.
The Cedar-Birds utter a feeble lisping sound, and fly, says Wilson,
"m compact bodies of from twenty to fifty; and usually alight so
close together on the same tree, that one half are frequently shot
down at a time. In the months of July and August they collect
together in flocks, and retire to the hilly parts of the state, the Blue
Mountains, and other collateral ridges of the Alleghany, to enjoy the
fruit of the Vacci^iimn, idiginoawm. Whortleberries, which grow there
in great abundance, whole mountains for many miles beiog almost
entirely covered with them ; and where in the month of August I
have myself found the cedar-birds numerous. In October they
descend to the lower cultivated parts of the country, to feed on the
berries of the sour gum and red cedar, of which last they are immo-
derately fond ; and thirty or forty may sometimes be seen fluttering
among the branches of one small cedar-tree, plucking off the
berries. .... In the fall and beginning of summer, when they
become very £at> they are in considerable esteem for the table ; and
great numbers are brought to the market of Philadelphia, where they
are sold at from twelve to twenty-five cents per dozen. During the
whole winter and spring they are occaaionallv seen ; and about the
25th of May appear in numerous parties, mMng great havoc among
the early cherries, selecting the best and ripest of the fruit." Audubon
says that they reach Louisiana about the beginning of November, and
retire towards the middle districts in the beginning of March. ** The
holly," writes the author last quoted, "the vines, the persimon, the
pride of China, and various other trees, supply them with plenty of
berries and fruits, on which they fatten, and become so tender and
juicy as to be sought by every epicure for the table. I have known an
instance of a basketful of these little birds having been forwarded to
New Orleans as a Christmas present." And delicious these ftiiit-
eating birds (for such is their general diet, albeit they are said to be
excellent fly-catchers) undoubtedly are; though Hernandez, who
met with them near Tetzcuco (apud Tetzcoquenses), says that neither
in their song nor in the flavour of their flesh are they better than
other small birds ("neque est cantu aut nutrimentd cseteris aviculis
commendatior " ). Their appetite is extraordinary : " They goige ^em-
selves," observes Audubon, "to such excess, as sometimes to be
unable to fly, and suffer themselves to be taken by the hand. Indeed
I have seen some which, although woxmded ana confined in a cage,
have eaten of apples until suffocation deprived them of life in the
course of a few days. When opened afterwards they were foimd to
be goi^ged to the mouth."
Notwithstanding this greediness they are, according to some writers,
remarkable for their social and kindly disposition in a state of nature.
Nuttall, on the authority of an eye-witness, states that one among a
row of these birds seated upon a branch, darted after an insect, and
offered it to his associate when caught, who very dicdnterestedly passed
it to the next, and each delicately declining the offer, the morsel went
backwards and forwards before it was appropriated.
After fattening on the fruits of May and early Jime they begin to
turn their attention to the continuation of their species, and com-
mence about the 10th or 12th of the latter month building a nest
lai^ in proportion to the bird, sometimes in their favourite cedar-
tree {Jtmiperus Virginiana, Willd.), but more frequently in the
orchards, generally choosing a forked or horizontal branch of an apple-
tree, some ten or twelve feet frt)m the ground. Outwardly and at
the bottom is laid a mass of coarse dry stalks of grass ; the inside is
lined entirely with very fine stalks of the same material The eggs .
are three or four, of a dingy bluish-white, thick at the great end, taper-
ing suddenly, and becoming very narrow at the other, marked with
small roundish spots of black of various sizes and shades ; and the
great end is of a pale dull purple tinge, marked likewise with touches
of various shades of purple and black. About the last week in June
the young are hatdied, and are at first fed on insects and their larrss,
but as they advance in growth on berries of various kinds.
The following is Nuttall's account of the manners of this bird in
captivity : —
" A young bird from one of the nests described in the hemlock was
thrown upon my protection, having been by some means ejected frY)m
his cradle. In this critical situation however he had been well fed or
rather gorged with berries, and was merely scratched by the fall he
had received. Fed on cherries and mulberries he was soon well
fledged, while his mate in the ne^t was suffered to perish by the forget-
fulness of his natural protectors. Coeval with the growth of his
wing-feathers were already seen the remarkable red waxen append-
ages, showing that their appearance indicates no particular age or
sex ; many birds, in fact, being without these ornaments during their
whole lives. I soon foimd my interesting prot^gd impatient of the
cage, and extremely voracious, gozging himself to the very mouth
with the soft fruits on which he was often fed. The throat, in fact,
like a craw admits of distension, and the contents are only gradually
2 o
Digitized by
Google
5«3
BOMBYCILLA.
BOMBYLID^
set
passed off into the stomach. I now suffered the bird to fly at large,
and for several days he descended from the trees in which he perched
to my arm for food ; but the moment he was satisfied he avoided the
cage, and appeared by his restlessness unable to survive the loss of
liberty. He now came seldomer to me, and finally joined the lisping
muBter-cry of ' tse, tze, ts^,' and was enticed away after two or three
attempts by his more attractive and suitable associates. When young,
nature provided him with a loud impatient voice, and ' t^-did, t^-did,
kal-t^-did ' (often also the clamorous cry of the young Baltimore) was
his deafening and almost incessant call for food. Another young bird
of the first brood, probably neglected, cried so loud and plaintively to
a male Baltimore bred in the same tree, that he commenced feeding
it. Mr. Winship of Brighton informs me that one of the young Cedar-
Birds which frequented the front of his house in quest of honeysuckle-
berries, at lengtn on receiving food, probablv also abandoned by his
roving parents, threw hims^ wholly on his protection. At laige
day and night, he still regularly attended the dessert of the dinner-
table for his portion of fruit, and remained steadfast in his attachment
to Mr. Winship till killed by an accident^ being unfortunately trodden
under foot"
American Waz-Wing {B&mbpeilla Cbrolinmiit), male.
The following is Wilson's description :—" Length seven inches,
extent eleven inches ; head, neck, breast^ upper part of the back and
wing-coverts, a dark fewn colour, darkest on the back and brightest
on the front ; head ornamented with a high, pointed, almost upright
crest ; line fi^om the nostril over the eye to ttie hind head velvety
black, bordered above with a fine line of white, and another line of
white passes from the lower mandible ; chin black, gradually bright-
ening mto fawn-colour, the feathers tiiere lying extremely close ; bill
black, upper mandible nearly triangular at tiie base, without bristles,
short, roundinff at the point, where it is deeply notdied; the lower
scolloped at the tip, and turning up ; tongue as in the rest of the
genus, broad, thin, carldlaginous^ and lacerated st the end; belly
yellow ; vent white ; wings deep skte, except the two secondaries
next the body, whose exterior vanes are of a &wn-oolour, and interior
ones white, forming two whitish strips there, which are very con-
spicuous ; rump and tail-coverts pale light blue ; tail the same, gradu-
ally deepening mto bUck, and tipped for half an inch with rich yellow.
Six or seven and sometimes the whole nine secondary feathera of the
wings are ornamented at the tips with small red oblong appendages,
resembling red sealing-wax ; these appear to be a prolongation of the
shafts, and to be intended for preserving the ends and consequently
the vanes of the quills from being broken and worn away by the
almost continual fluttering of the bird among the thick branches of
the cedar. The feathers of those birds which are without these
appendages are uniformly found ragged on the edges, but smooth and
perfect in those on whom the marks are full and numerous. These
singular marks have been considered as belonging to the male alone,
from tiie oiroumstance perhaps of finding femidebirds without them.
They are however common to both male and female. Six of the latter
are now Iving before me, each with laige and numeroos dusters of
effgs, aad having the waxen i^ppendages in tull perfection. The young
birds do not receive them until the second fall, when in moultiog
time thev may be seen fully formed, as the feather is developed from
its sheatL I have once or twice found a solitary one on the extremity
of one of the tail-feather& The eye is of a dark blood-coloor ; the
legs and claws black ; the inside of uie mouth orange ; gi^ wide ; and
the gullet capable of such distension as often to contain twelve or fifteen
cedar-berries, and serving as a kind of craw to prepare tiiem for
digestion. The chief difference in the plumage of the msle and female
ooniists in the dulneas of the tints of the latter, the inferior appear
ance of the crest^ and the narrowness of the yellow bar at the tip of
the tail"
B. phanieoptercbf the Asiatic Wax-Wing. The discovery of the Bed-
Winged Chatterer, or J^>ane8e Wax-Wing, is one of the fruits of Dr.
Siebold's scientific mission to Japan by the government of the Ket}le^
lands. In size it bean a greater resemblance to the Cedar-Bird than
to the Bohemian Wax-Wing, but differs frx>m both in the nakedness
of the nostrils (which are not hidden by the small feathers of the front,
like the nostrils of the other two species of this small but natural
group), in the length of the crest, and the beautiful black plumes with
whidi it is ornamented, and by the entire absence of tiie wax-like
appendages that tip the secondaries of its congeners.
The length of the Japanese Wax-Wing is six inches and six lines.
The base of the bill is bordered bj a blade band, which passes to the
back of the head, surrounding the eye in its way, and terminates in
the lower crest-feathers, whidh are of the same oolour throughout;
the chin and throat are black; the crest is long, oomposed above of
feathers of an ashy-reddish oolour with an inferior layer of the black
plumes already alluded to ; the breast, upper parts, and wing-coyerti
are of a brownish-ash, and a red band tokverses the wing about the
middle of it; all the quills are of an a^y-black, the greater qniUs
terminated with black and tipped with white ; the tail is of an ashv-
black, tipped with vivid red ; the middle of the belly is of a whitish-
yellow ; and the lower tail-coverts chestnut ; shanks and feet black.
AsiaUc Waz-Wing {BmhyeiUa pXmUeoptera)^ male.
The spedeB is found in the neighbourhood of NangasakL
Temminck, to whom we are indebted for our knowledge of the bird,
which is described and figured in his ' Planches Colorizes,' says that
there is a specimen in the galleries of the museum of the Pays-Bas,
and another in the collection of M. Blomho^ the resident at Japan;
and he observes that the absence of the nostril-plumes furnishes a
proof, also afforded in the genera Oorw* and Qairryla, in contradic-
tion to the opinion of those systematists who would separate the
omnivorous birds with covered nostrils troui those which have those
oigans smooth or naked, and divide them into distinct groups. He
also considers the proper position of the genus to be near the Pirolkt
(Kitta), and the JtoUet (Oolarit of Cuvier, Eury$tomut of Vieillot).
BOMBY'LIDiE, a family of Insects of the order JHptera,
distinguished chiefly by having a long probosds. The body is short
and very hairv. Antennn moderate, four-jointed, the basal joint longi
second very short, third longest^ the apical joint minute and tspeiiiv
Digitized by
Google
m
B0MB7X.
BOlTASIA.
(M
lo a fine point The 1^ are long and very Blander. Winga hori-
sontaL
The speoiea of ihia tribe are all remarkable for their great swiftnees
of flight ; two BpedeB of the genus BombyUua axe not uncommon in
open |>artB of wooda^ frequenting smmy banks^ where they may be
seen, m the month of April, hovering over flowers, from whioh they
mp tiie sweets by means of their long proboaois, which enables them
to do this without settling on the flowers.
^ At one time they wOl he seen apparently quite 'motionless in the
air— for their wings vibrate so rapidly that they cannot be discerned —
a moment after they will mi^e their
appearance at a few yards' distance,
having darted frxmi one spot to the other
with such rapidity that tiie eye cannot
follow them. In their flight 'Uiey emit a
humming sound.
The two species here spoken of are B,
major and B, mednu ; they are about one-
third of an inch long and of a brown
colour ; the former has the anterior part
of its wings clouded with an opaque Sambflim medHn,
brown colour, and the posterior part
transparent — the latter has the wings adorned with numeroua brown
spots, and their anterior portion but slightly clouded.
Mr. Stephens enumerates seven species of this genus as indigenous
to this country ; they are sometimes called Humble-Bee Flies.
BOHBYX. [BoMBTOiD&l
BONA'SIA, a genus of Birds belonging to the TOraonidig (Qrouse
Family). It is thus characterised by C. L. Bonaparte : —
Lower portion of the tarsus or shank and the toes naked ; tail long
and rounded ; the head adorned with a crest, and the sides of the
neck with a m£ The plumage of the female nearly the same as that
of thenude, and varying but little throughout the year.
Swaioson retains the Linnsean name for the bird, and makes
Tdrao the typical group of the subgenera into which he divides the
genus, expreasing however considerable doubt on the value of the
types.
The Ruffed Grouse {Boruuia UmbeUm of Bonaparte; Tetrao
UmbeUut and Tdrao togatua of Linnaeus ; Tek-ao UmbtUuB of Linnsaus
and Swainson) is the Shoulder-Knot Qrouse of TA».]iftip ; the Ruffed
Heathoock or Qrouse of Edwards ; La Gelinote Hup^ de Pensavanie
of Brisson ; La Grosse Gelinotte de Canada and Le Coq de Bruyke It
Fraiae of Buffon ; the Pheasant of the Pennsylvanians, and of the
inhabitants of the southern States ; the White Flesher and Pheasant
of the Anglo-Americans generally.
Audubon says that to the west of the AUeghanies, and on those
mountains, the term Pheasant is generally used to dodgnate the bird,
and that the same appellation is employed in the middle States to the
east of the mountains, till the State of Connecticut is entered, where
the name of Partridge prevails. Lawson uses the term Pheasant
"The pheasant of Carolina differs some small matter from the
Engliah pheasant, being not so big, and having some difference in
feather ; yet he is not any wise inferior in delicacy, but is as good
meat or rather finer. He haunts the back-woods, and Ib seldom found
near the inhabitants." T^lson calls it throughout Pheasant, except in
one place, where he terms it the Pheasant or Partridge of aew
Engknd.'
Aocording to the author last quoted, this bird is known in almost
eveiy quarter of the United States ; is oonmion at Moose Fort, on
Hudson's Bay, in lat 51"* ; frequent in the upper part of Georgia, and
very abundant in Kentucky and Indiana. In the lower parts of
Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, according to the same authority, it is
veiy seldom observed, but on advancing inland to the mountains it
again makes its appearance ; and though it is occasionally met with in
the lower parts of New Jersey, its occurrence there is considered to
be owing to the more northerly situation of the country ; for even
here they are far lesa numerous than among the mountains.
Captains Lewis and Clarke found it in crosaing the Rocky Moun-
tains which divide the basin of the Columbia from that of the
Mississippi, more than 8000 miles by their measurement from the
mouth of the latter river. Sir John Richardson aays that it exists as
far north as the 56th parallel, and that it is very plentiful on the
banks of the Saskatchewan ; adding in a note, that Mr. Drummond
procured specimens at the sources of the Peace River, in the vall^s
of the Rocky Mountains, which do not differ from those killed on the
Saskatchewan. The limit of its southern range has been stated to be
the Gulf of Mexico. Audubon found these birds most numerous in
the States of Pennsylvania and new York, and says that they are to
be met with as you travel towards the south, through the whole of
Tennessee and we Choctaw territory ; but that as you approach the
city of Natchoz they disappear ; nor had he ever heard of one of these
hirda having been seen in the State of Louisiana.
*^ The maimers of the pheasant^" says, Wilson, ''are solitary ; they
are seldom found in coveys of more than four or five together, and
more usually in pairs or singly. They leave their sequestered haunts
in the woods early in the morning, and seek the path or road to pick
np gravel, axkd g^ean among the dippings of the horses. In travelling
among tlie moostains that bound Susquehanna, I was always able to
furnish myself with an abundant supply of these birds every mommg
without leaving the path. If the weather be foggy or lowering, they
are sure to be seen m such situations. They generally move along
with great statelineas, with their broad fan-like tail spread out."
Audubon states that, although they are attached to the craggy sides
of mountains and hills, and rocky borders of small streams thickly
mantied with evergreen trees and shrubs, they at times remove to the
lowlands, and even enter the thickest cane-brakes, where they some-
times breed, and where he shot some, and heard them drumming when
there were no hiUs nearer than 15 or 20 miles. The lower parts of
the State of Indiana, and also those of Kentucky, were amongst
the places where he so discovered them. The following is his
account of their autumnal migrations, which he seems to have first
observed: —
" The ruffed grouse although a constant resident in the districts
which it frequents, performs partial sorties at the approach of autumn.
These are not e|^ual in extent to the peregrinations of the wild turkey,
our Uttle partridge, or the pinnated grouse, but are sufficientiy so
to become observable during the seasons when certain portions of the
mountainous districts which they inhabit become less abundantiy
supplied with food than others. These partial movings might not be
noticed, were not the birds obliged to fly across rivers &[ great bmdth,
as whilst in the mountain lands their groups are as numerous astiiose
which attempt these migrations ; but on the north-west banks of the
Ohio and Susquehanna- rivers, no one who pays the least attention to
the manners and habits of our birds can fail to observe them. The
grouse approach the banks of the Ohio in parties of eight or ten, now
and then of twelve or fifteen, and on arriving there linger in the woods
dose by for a week or a fortnight, as if fearful of encoimtering the
danger to be incurred in crossing the stream. This usually happens
in the beginning of October, when these birds are in the very best
order for the table, and at this period great numbers of them are
killed. If started from the grotmd, with or without the assistance of
a dog^ they immediately alight on the nearest trees, and are easily shot
At length however they resolve upon crossing tiie river; and this
they accomplish with so much ease that I never saw any of them
drop into the water. Not more than two or three days elapse after
they have reached the opposite shore, when they at once proceed to
the interior of the forests in search of places congenial to the general
character of their habits. They now resume their ordinary manner
of living, which they continue until the approach of spring, when the
males, as if leading the way, proceed singly towards the country from
which they had retreated. The females follow in small parties of
three or fdur. In the month of October, 1820, I observed a larger
ntmiber of ruffed grouse migrating thus from the states of Ohio,
nUnois, and Indiana into Kentucky, than I had ever before remarked.
During the short period of their lingering along the north-west shore
of the Ohio that season, a great number of them was killed, and
they were sold in the Cincinnati market for so small a sum as 12i
cents each."
Wilson says that the Ruffed Grouse is in the best order for the table
in September and October. At this season they feed chiefly on
whOTtleberries, and the little red aromatic Partridge-Berries {Oaul-
theria proomnhent), the last of which give their flesh a peculiarly
delicate flavour. With the former the mountains are literally covered
from August to November ; and these constitute at that season the
SBater part of their food. During the deep snows of winter they
ve recourse to the buds of alder, and the tender buds of the laurel
(Kaltthia), He frequentiy found their crops distended with a huge
handful of these latter alone; and addi^ that it has been confidentiy
asserted, that after having fed for some time on the laurel-buds, their
flesh becomes highly dangerous to eat of, partaking of the poisonous
qualities of the plant The same has been asserted of the flesh of the
deer, when in severe weather and deep snows they subsist on the
leaves and bark of the laurel. " Though," continues Wilson, " I have
myself eat freely of the flesh of the pheasant after emptying it of large
quantities of laurel buds, without experiencing any bad consequences,
yet from the respectability of those, some of them eminent phyriodans,
who have particularised cases in which it has proved deleterious, and
even fatal, I am inclined to believe that in certain cases where this
kind of food has been long continued, and the birds allowed to remain
undrawn for several days, until the contents of the crop and stomach
have had time to difluse themselves through the flesh, as is too often
the case, it may be unwholesome and dangerous. Great numbers of
theae Urds are brought to our markets at all times during faU and
winter, some of whidi are brought from a distance of more than a
hundred miles, and have been probably dead a week or two, impicked
and undrawn, before they are purchased for the table. ReguLEktions
prohibiting ihem from being brought to market unless picked and
drawn would very probably be a sufficient security from aU danger.
At these indement seasons however they are generally lean and dry,
and indeed at all times their flesh is £Eur mferior to that of the quul
or of the pinnated grouse. They are usually sold in Philadelphia
market at fh>m thr^uarters of a dollar to a dollar and a quarter a
pair, and sometimes higher."
Audubon observes that they are brought to the market in great
numbers during the winter months, and sell at firom 75 cents to a
dollar a^pieoe in the eastern cities. At Pittsburg he bought them
Digitized by
Google
667
BONASIA.
BONASIA.
some vean ago at 12^ cents the pair. Nuttall BaySy when he wrote,
that they were greatly thinned throughout the more populous parts
of the Union, and that they sold in Philadelphia and New York at
from 75 cents to a dollar a-piece.
The food of the Buffed Qrouse consists commonly in the spring and
fall, according to the author last quoted, of the buds of trees, the
catkins of the hazel and alder, even fern-buds, acorns, and seeds of
various kinds, among which he detected the capsules, including the
seeds, of the common small Canadian Cistus (HdiamihemwnC), At
times he has seen the crop almost entirely filled with the buds of
the apple-tree, each connected with a portion of the twig, the wood
of which appears to remain a good while imdSgested ; cinquefoil and
strawberry leaves, buds of we Azaleas and of the broad-leaved
Kalmia, with the fietvourite Partridge-Berries (Qa/uUheria pracwnbent),
Ivy-Bexries (Oitruthederaeefi), and gravel pebbles, are also some of the
many articles which form the winter fare of the bird. In summer
they seem often to prefer berries of various kinds, particularly dew-
berries, strawberries, grapes, and whortleberries.
We will now lay before the reader the modes of capturing the bird.
The following is Wilson's accoimt : —
** The pheasant generally springs within a few yards, with a loud
whirring noise, and flies with great vigour through the woods beyond
reach of view, beforo it alights. With a good dog however they are
easily found ; and at some times exhibit a singular degree of infatua-
tion, by looking down from the branches when they sit on the dog
below, who, the more noise he keeps up, seems the moro to confuse
and stupify them, so that they ma^ be uiot down one bv one till the
whole are killed, without attemptmg to fly offl In sucm cases those
on the lower limbs must be taken first, for should the upper ones be
first killed, in their fall they alarm those below, who immediately fly
o£ In deep snows they are usually taken in traps, commonly dead
traps, supported by a figuro 4 trigger. At this season when suddenly
alarmed, they frequently dive into the snow, particularly when it is
newly fiJlen, and coming out at a considerable distance, again take
wing. They are pretty hard to kill, and will often carry off a large
load to the distance of two hundred yards and drop' down dead.
Sometimes in the depth of winter they approach the Ikrm-house and
lurk near the bam, or about the garden. They have also been often
taken young and tamed, so as to associate with fowls ; and their eggs
have frequently been hatched under the common hen; bat these
rarely survive until *full grown. They are exceedingly- fondof tiie
seeds of grapes ; occasionally eat ants, chestnuts, blackberries, and
various vegetebles. Fonnerly they wero numerous in the immediate
vicinity of Philadelphia ; but as the woods wero cleared and popu-
lation increased they retreated to the interior. At present (1812)
there aro vexy few to be foimd within several miles of the city, and
those only singly, in the most solitary and retired woody recesses."
Audubon demes that they are ever so easily shot as sticted above.
The pairing time of these birds is mariced by a curious and sonorous
act on the part of the male. Most of the grouse family gesticulate con-
siderably at this period, and some produce very peculiar vocal noises ;
but the Ruffed Grouse inakes the woods echo with the vibrations of his
wingL The following is Audubon's account of this fact: —
"Early in April Qua ruffBd grouse begins to drum immediately
after dawn, and again towards the dose of the day. As the season
advances, the drumming is repeated moro frequently at all hours of
the day ; and where these birds are abundant this curious sound is
heard from all parts of the woods in whidi they reside. The drum-
ming is performed in the following manner : — ThB male bird, standing
erect on a prostrate decayed trunk, raises the feathere of its body in
the manner of a turkey-co<^ draws its head towards its tail, erecting
the feathers of the latter at the same time, and raising its rudff around
the neck, suffers its wings to droop, and struts about on the log. A
few moments elapse, when the biiti draws the whole of its feathers
close to its body, and stretching itself out, beats its sides with its
wings, in the manner of the domestic cock, but more loudly, and with
such rapidity of motion after a few of the first strokes, as to cause a
tremor m the air not unlike the rumbling of distant thunder. In
perfectly calm weather it may be heard at the distance of two hundred
yards, but miffht be supposed to proceed from a much greater distance.
The female, which never drums, flies directly to the place where the
Boale is thus engaged, and on approaching him, opens her wings before
him, balances her body to the right and left, and then receives his
caresses.* ... I have shot many a flne cock* by imitating the
sound of its own wings striking against the body, which I did by
beating a large inflated bullock's bladder with a stick, keeping up as
much as possible the same time as that in which the bird beats. At
the sound produced by the bladder uid the stick, the male grouse,
inflamed with jealousy, has flown directly towards me^ when being
prepared I have easily G^ot it"
The pairing time in April is succeeded by the nidification in the
early part of May. The root of a bush, the side of a fallen log, or
some other sheltered nook in the thickest part of the woods, is
selected by the hen, and there die forms a rudty uest of withered
leaveft and grass on the ground. The eggs, from nine to fifteen in
number, are of a unif oxm duU yellowidi colour, or brownish-white,
and are nearly as large as those of a pullet. Aj soon as the young
are oat of the shell they begin to ran aboat^ and are conducted by
the mother, clucking as she goes, very much like the domeitic bo.
Like her too at night and in bad weather die covers her yom^
ones beneath her wings, and in a wedc or ten days they begin to tiy
their powers of flight. Her manoeuvres to decoy the intmder from
^e spot where her young aro concealed, by counterfeiting UmoMi
and by mimicry of distress, aro well known.
The Buffed Grouse is surroimded by enemies. In addition to the
common persecutor, man, the different species of hawks are on the
watch for these birds, and particularly Uie red-tailed hawk and the
Stanley hawk, according to Audubon. The former of these h&vb,
silently perohed on the tops of trees, seizes his opportimity and djuhtt
irresiBtibly down upon tnem; the latter gliding rapidly through the
woods pounces upon them beforo they are aware of their danger.
Among the quadrupeds, pole-cats, weasels, racoons, oposBumB, and
foxes, aro said by the same author to be destructive foes to them.
The following is Sir John Bichardson's description of a male kiM
on the 4th of May, on the Saskatchewan plains : —
'' Back, rump, and upper tail-coverts chestnut-brown, mottkd and
finely undulated with blackish-brown ; the broad tips and a oordifoni
central mark on each feather pale-gray. Back of the neck, scapiilan,
and wing-coverts having the same coloun ; but the gray tips Terr
narrow, the blackish-brown in large blotches, and instead of oeDfa^
mar^, stripes along the shafts- of orange-brown and browniab-wfaite.
Top and ddes of the head, the tertiaries, and outer edges of the
secondaries, mottled with the same. Eye stripe from the nofirils
whitish. Shoulder-tufts vdvet-bladc, glossed with daik-gneo.
Quills liver-brown, the outer webs barred near the base and mottidd
towards the tips with cream-yellow. Tail gray, findy undolated, tad
also crossed by about nine narrow ban and a broad subterminaloot
of blackish-brown. Throat and breast yellowish-brown, belly a&d
vent brownish-white ; are remotely barred^ but most broadly oo tht
ddes of the belly, with bladdsh-brown, which also forma a band
across the upper part of the breast between the rufb. Inner wing-
coverts and axillaries dove-brown, barred and tipped with wfaik
Bills and nails dai^L horn-colour. A male killed at the same time with
the preceding, and of equal dimenmons, diows more of the diesbut
or orange-brown in its plumage, and the ground colour of its taQ is
yellowidi-brown, the extreme tips and a bur next the broad snbter-
minal dark one being gray. Females have leas of the blackiah-brown
colour ; the shoulder-tufts are orange-brown instead of black ; aod
the subterminal bar on the tail is chestnut-coloured. In young tirds
orange-brown is the prevailing tint of colour. They have a short
orest on the top of the head : a fringed comb over the eye is
EofiRsd Orooac {Bonana Umhellus), male.
the male. Shoulder tufts consisting of dK>ut fifteen fiunhap^
feathflcs. Fourth quill the longest^ slightly mnw^^^ing the third aw
fifth. Tail fan^ahaped, of eighteen feathers, the con'^id pur »«•
Digitized by
Google
BONASSUS;
BONB.
Qum balf aa inch longer than the- outer ones ; the individual feathers
Dearly square at the end. Tarsas feathered more than halfway down
anteriorfy, and about half an inch lower posteriorly. All the toes
strongly pectinatedi"
The dimensions on an ayerage may be taken as 18 inches in length,
and 23 or 24 indues in extent
Sir John Biohardson states, that after a careful comparison of the
Bpedmens of Mr. Douglas's 2Wao Sabini^ deposited in tiie Edinbxugh
Mosenm, they appeared to differ in no respect from the young of
Tetrao UmbMu» (Bonatia), and that the charaoters by which Mr.
Douglas difltingiiiRhflH his bird are equally applicable to the latter.
Douglaa also found in the valleys of the Bocky Mountaios, 64t* N.
lai, and a few miles northward, near the sources of Peace River, a
bird which he regarded as a variety of £, UmbeUtu.
BONASSUS. [BiBON.]
BONE, the oigan which in higher animals forms the basis of the
fabric of the body. Many of the creatures placed at the bottom
of the animal scalcj, composed of soft gelatinous matter, and
buoyant in water, need no solid support; but all animals that
poBseas BoM organs, and whose body rests upon particular points,
mmt have some substance of a dense and inflexible nature to afford
to their various tissues and structures the requisite resistance and
support The substances that serve this purpose are various, but '^le
most common are the salts of lime, sometimes the carbonate, some-
times the phosphate, and at other times both combined in different
proportiooa Carbonate of lime constitutes the solid basis of many
of the compound zoophytes and the corals. It also constitutes the
principal part of the fabric of the shells of MoBuaca. It is found
also in the external skeleton of the Onutacea, as the crabs and lobsters,
but in this instance the phosphate of lime is also present^ and
predominatea It is in the skeletons, of the Vertebrate animals that we
find the phosphate of lime greatly preponderating. This is
characteristic of bone.
When an animal possesses bone as the solid support of its fabric
it indicates a high degree in the scale of oiganisation. Bone ia an
elaborate structure found in no class below the VertebrcUa. Even the
lowest order of this, which is the highest class of animals, is wholly
destitute of it ; for it is not found in large tribes of fishes, the sharl^
the sturgeon, the ray, &o. In these the lesshighly-oiganised substance
called cartilage is substituted, and accordingly these fishes are caUed
cartilaginous in oontradistinction to the osseous; and in all classes below
the cartiLaginous fishes the dense and inflexible substance which sus-
tains the soft parts of the body, and which affords points of resistance
for the action of those parts, oonsistB either of shells or of some
modification, and not of true organised bone.
In general the structure which performs the office of bone in the
lower animals is plaoed on the exterior of the body, and often indeed
forms its external envelope; true bone, on the contrary, is alwa^
plaoed in the interior. Even when it approaches the sui^ce bone is
always covered by some soft part, as musde^ membrane, skin, ftc.
Crast^ shell, horn — the substanoes which form the skeleton of the
inferior animals — are thus eztemal, the soft parts being internal; but
in the hiig^er animals the skeleton is always internal, and the soft parts,
which are sustained by it and which re-act upon it, are external
The office of bone in the animal economy is chiefly mechanical, and
the mechanioal purposes to which it is subservient require that it
should be of different sizes and forms. In the human skeleton there
are commonly eniunerated 260 different bones» which present every
variety of sixe and figure. But all these varieties may be reduced to
three daases : the long and round, as the bones of the upper and lower
extremities ; the broad and flat> as the bones of the skuU ; or the short
ud square, as the separate bones that compose the vertebral column.
The long bones are adapted for motion, the flat for protection, and ihe
square for motion combined with strength. Accordingly the long
bonesi, which are adapted to communicate a free range of motion, are
moulded into lengthened cylinders, and form so many levers, consti-
tuting organs of locomotion exquisitely oonstmoted and combined for
the accomplishment of their offioe, as is seen in the fin of the fish, in
Uie wing of tiie bird, and in the limb of the quadruped. In the
employment of the flat bones for the covering of some of the more
tender and delicate organs, aa the brain and spinal cord, the form of
these bones is such as to add to their strength, as is manifest in the
vaulted roof of the skull ; while in the construction of the vertebral
column, composed of the short and square bones, which are so adjusted
aa to afford a limited range of motion with a great degree of strength,
many and opposite purposes are effected.
The structure, disposition, and oonnection of the individual bones
aooomplish in the most perfect manner the following mechanical
uses :~1. By their hardness and firmness they afford a support to the
Boft partSy forming pillars to which the more delicate and flexible
organs are attached, and kept in their relative positions. 2. By i^e
same properties of hardness and firmness they defend the soft and
tender orgKOB, by forming solid and strong cases in which such organs
are lodged and protected ; as the case formed by the bones of the
cranium for the lodgment and protection of the brain ; by ^e bones
of the vertebral column for the lodgment and protection of the spinal
ttitd ; and by the bones of the thorax for the lodgment and protection
of the lungi^ the hearty and the great vesaaU connected with it 8. By
affording fixed points for the action of the muades, and by assisting
in the formation of joints, they aid and are indeed indispensable
adjuncts to the muscles in aocompUshing the function of locomotioiL
Bone is a complex organ, and the arrangement and combination of
its constituent p«rts are highly curious. It is composed essentially of
two distinct substances, an animal and an earthy matter. The animal
matter is composed of gelatine ; the earthy matter consists principally
of phosphoric acid combined with lime, fonning phosphate of lime.
Tins structure of bone is rendered manifest by subjecting it to
certain chemical processes. If a bone be placed in a charcoal fire, and
the heat be gradually raised to whiteness, it appears on cooling aa
white as chalk ; it is extremely brittie ; it has loist very much of its
weight yet its bulk and shape are liUle changed. In this case the
membranous matter is wholly consumed by the fire, while the earth
is left unaltered. Over the sur&ce of a bone so treated are visible a
number of minute crevices, the spaces which were filled in the natural
state of the bone with the animal matter ; and on breaking the bone
across, the sijae and shape of the cavities which contained tJ^e marrow
become manifest If on the other hand the same bone be plaoed in
an acid sufficiently diluted to prevent its injuring the animal mem-
brane, and yet strong enough to dissolve the phoephate of lime — ^if
for this purpose it be macerated in diluted nitric or hydrochloric add
— every particle of the phoephate of lime may be removed, and the
animal matter alone will remain perfectly uninjured and unaltered.
Accordingly the remaining substance retains tiie exact figure and
dimensions of the originckl bone, but it has lost all its other mechanical
properties. It is so soft and flexible that if either of the long bones
of the human arm — that, for example, called the radius — ^be treated in
this manner, it can vrith the utmost ease be tied in a knot By the
first prooess the earth is obtained, deprived of its animal constituent ;
by the second, the membranous matter firee f^m the earth. In the
bone both are combined ; in every constituent atom of it there is an
earthy in intimate combination with an animal matter. The first
gives it hardness, the second tenacity; and thus by the intimate
combination of these elements two qualities which in unorganised
matter are scarcely compatible are combined. By increasing tiie pro-
portion of phosphate of lime any degree of hardness can be obtained :
the bony portions of the ear, the bony portions of the teeth, for
example, are as hard as marble, or even flint ; but substances so hard
would not do for the ordinary purposes of bone, because they would
be brittie in proportion to their hanlness, and would be productive of
fatal mischi^ wnenever they were subject to any sudden and violent
concussion.
In certain diseased states of the human system the earthy matter
preponderates in the whole osseous system, and in this condition per-
sons are liable to fracture their bones by the slightest accident On
the other hand, the earthy matter is sometimes deficient ; then the
bones give way and beoome bent> and ultimately the body becomes an
immoveable mass. '
Bones not only difibr so much from one another in their comparative
hardness acoordmg to the office which each has to serve that no two
bones possess the same degree of rigidity, but no bone is equally hard
in its entire substance. When a section of a bone is made in such a
maimer as to show its structure throughout, it is seen to consist of two
varietLes, a hard or compact and an alveolap or spongy substance.
In general the compact forms the external and the apongy the internal
portion of the bone ; the compactest part of the bone forms a com-
pletely solid body, exhibitijig scarcely any visible arrangement, without
apparent fibres and iftminm j but towards the inner part of the bone
the substance becomes less and less dense, until at length it presents
the appearance of ininute and delicate fibres, which intersect each
other in every direction, fonning the cells termed cancelli (lattice-
work). The transition from the compact to the spongy or cancellated
part is not marked bv any distinct boundary ; the one passes into
the otiier by insensible degrees, showing that there is no essential
difference bertween them ; and indeed the evidence is complete that,
although in the densest part of the bone there is scarcely any trace of
specific organisation, it is made up of fibres and plates perfectly
similar to those of the spongy or cancellated part, differing from it
prindipiJly in its greater degree of condensation. Often in the centre
of the bone there is scarcely any even of the spongy matter, but a
hollow space ia left> which is filled up with a series of membranous
cells in whidi the substance called marrow is lodged.
In the arrangement of the fibres in different bones, so as to adapt
them to the specific offices they have to serve, there is exquisite
mechanisuL Where the principal object is either extensive protection,
or the provision of broad surfiaces for the attachment of muscles, the
osseous fibres are so disposed as to form fiattened plates, as in the
bones of the skuU. When on the other hand a sy^^m of levers is
wanted, as in the limbs which have to sustain tiie weight of the
trunk, and to confer extensive powers of locomotion, the bones are
modelled into lengthened cylinders, generally somewhat expanded at
the extremities for greater convenience of mutual ooimectiozL The
shank or body of this hoUow cylinder consists principally of compact
with but little spongy matter, while the extremity or. head of it is
principally composed <d spongy matter, with only a thin crustof compact
substanca The principal mechanical property required in every
cyUndxical lever is rigidity, and more espedally the power of resisting
Digitized by
Google
«n
BOKB.
BOT^
671
foroM applied tniunrenelj, that ia, tending to break the cylinder
aoroeB ; it has been often stated that a given quantily of materialB
could not poonblj have been dispofled in a manner better oalcnlated
for such resistance than those in the form of a tube or hollow
cylinder. The hollow stems of vQgetables derire their chief strength
from possessing this form. Bones also are rendered both lighter
and stronger by being made hollow than if the cnrlinder had been
solid ; and as it is in the middle of the shaft that the strain ia
greatest^ so it is here that the cavity is largest and the resistance most
eflfoctuaL
Bone has been recently submitted to rigid chemical analysis, and
the result is that in healthy bone about two-thirds, or 66'7 per cent.,
consist of saline or earthy matters, and 88*3 per cent., or one-third,
of animal matter. The bones of children contain more animal matter,
and of aged persons more earth. Different bones also in the same
skeleton contain different proportions of these constituents. Thus,
according to Dr. O. 0. Rees, the bones of the head and the limbs
contain more earth than those of the trunk. The following are two
ultimate analyses of bone from Dr. Sharpey's Introduction to ' Quain's
Anatomy :' the one is by Bersselius, the other by Mr. Middleton of
University College : —
Bensclias, Middleton.
Animal Matter 83'80 88*43
Phosphate of Lime 51*04 51*11
Gkrbonate of Lime . . 11*80 10*31
Fluoride of Galdum 2*00 1*99
Magnesia, wholly or partially in the state 1 « .^ « t.an
^a^hosphati ... . .} ^^^ ^^^
Soda and Chloride of Sodium . . 1*20 1*68
The phosphate of lime in bones is peculiar, and is known amongst
chemists as the 'bone-earth phosphate.' It is what is called a
tribasic phosphate, consisting of 8 equivalents of lime, 8 of phosphoric
add, and 10 of water, fluoride of oaldum is found in laiger
quantities in fossil than in recent bonee ; and such is its abundance
in some fossils, as those brought from the Sevalik Hills, in India, by
Dr. Falconer, that we must have recourse to the supposition of a
substitution of this substance for phosphate of lime, in order to
account for its presence.
We have referred to the statement that the bones of the limbs
contain more earth than the trunk. The following analysis by
Lehmann shows that the bones of the arms and legs have a different
compostion : —
Humenis. Femur.
Phosphate of Lime and Fluoride of Caldum 56*61 58*98
Carbonate of Lime .... 9*20 9*28
Phosphate of lUgnesia 1*08 1*09
Chloride of Sodium ..... 0*87 0*40
Soda 1*86 1*04
Organic Matter 81*52 28*61
When examined under the microscope, sections of the different
bones present very different appearances, not at first easily reconciled
with a common mode of origm or growlh. The result of a dose
investigation, however, shows that the osseous tissue like all other
parts of the body originates in cells. This fSaot is not easily traced.
Fig. 1. — ^TraniTerae Section of the dense portion of the Femur.
0, Havenian Canals; 5, conoentrio laminn; c, laminas of oonneotion ; d, cor-
poscles with their system of tubes. The parts marked a, h, and d, constitute
an Haversian system.
and we shall first speak here of the appearances presented on a
minute examination of Hie texture of the bone.
Tlie canals whid^ are everywhere found traversiDg variouily the
substance of bone, and giving passue to the blood-venels for thf
nourishment of the tifsue, are caJled Haversian Canals, a name give^
them in consequence of Clopton Havers having been the first who
gave a fuU account of them. The parietes of these canals have a
laminated arrangement The lamin» themselves are numerous and
placed concentrically ; the internal lamina, that which is in imme-
diate contact with the vessel or vessels, being the most distincUj
marked, and eadi succeeding one having a less distinct outline
Beddes the concentric lamii^e, there are others which surround
the exterior of the bone, and may be known as the superficial lanmuBL
In connection with both the conoentrio and superficial lamins are a
third set> which cannot belong to either of Uie other orders, but
which are placed between them, and form the bond of union between
each system.
Much has been latdy written on tha bone-corpuscles. These are
small cells of oval form placed between the laminae, and having
numerous distinct tubes running from them in almost every direction.
They have been sometimes compared to a spider with many lega
The corpuscles, or as they are occadonaUy called the caldgerooB
cells, have a definite relation to the Haversian Canals and to each
other.
The Haversian Canals, the Osseous Laminae, and the Bone-Corpusdes
are therefore the leading points to be mentioned in treating of the
structure of the bone. Upon a doser view, however, it will be seen
that it is only the laminae which are bone ; the canals and corpuscles
are spaces existing in bone, and are not really necessary to the
existence of osseous tissue, though they are requisite where the
amount of substance is appreciable to the unaided senses.
Of the Stibttance ofBontf or ffyalUic Sfibttanee, — The substance of
bone has been conddered, with but one or two exceptions, as homo-
geneous, and without appredable structure. If it be examined how-
ever under advantageous drcumstances, with high magnifying powen»
there wUl be no difficulty in detecting a very definite though delicate
structure. A very small portion of a thin plate of bone should be
taken for the purpose of examination : sudi may be found in the
ethmoid bone of small animals, as of the rat. If the piece is properly
chosen it will be foimd to contain no Haversian Canals nor ooxpusdes,
but wUl be extremely thin and transparent. A piece of this undwill
present a delicate granular aspect with the
surfiace nodulated. This granular appearance
proceeds from the substance of the bone being
composed of minute irregulariy spherical
granules. This structure may be traced with-
out much difficulty in any specimen of bone,
although it varies much in distinctness in
diffierent specimens. The object should be
placed between two slips of g^lass with a little
plain water for examination. A delicate
spiculum from the point where ossification
is going on illustrates the granular tissue ex-
ce^ingly wcdL The granules may be obtained
Fig. 2.~XJltimato os. separated from each other, so that each indi-
■•~* J^*^ obtained ^^^^ j^j y^ examined independently of the
bydep^ring bone of ito ^^^^ When seen in this manner tiieyexhibH
animal matter. ^ tolerably regular character, bdng mostiy
spherical, though a few have an oval form. In a few specimens the
oval form predominates.
Of the Lamina. — The form assumed by the osseous tissue is that of
laminae, and these laminae have a definite arrangement^ so much so
that three distinct systems are recognised, namdy, laminae of the
Haversian Canals ; secondly, the laminae which connect the HaveniaD
systems ; and, thirdly, the laminae which form the surfiaoe of the bone,
and inclose the two previous orders. The laminae of the Haversiao
Canals have a concentric arrangement, and when divided transversely
present a series of more or less distinct and perfect rixigs. They vary
very much in number, but the most common amount is ten or twetve.
Of these, the internal lamina, that which forms the parieties of the
Haverdan Canal, is most distinctly marked, while each succeeding one
as we proceed outwards becomes less distinct Connecting these
Haversian systems is a second series of laminae, without wluch the
fonner would exist but as a bundle of loose tubes (Jig. 1, c). In this
substance we find the laminated arrangement less distinct, hr less
regular, and the laminae individually subject to great irregularity of
thickness. They are generally more transparent than either the
Haversian or external system. The last dividon consists of those
laminae which surround the exterior of the bone. These have greater
individual extent^ but are the least numerous. They are continuons
with the laminae of the Haversian system whenever the latter arrive
at the sur&ce of the bone; the external laminae in this case being
continuous with the inner laminae of the Haverdan systeuL
The effect of madder upon the osseous system, when given to an
animal with its food, may here be noticed, since the colour is imparted
to the laminae. By introducing madder into the stomach, a deep red
tinge is very soon observed : in a pigeon the bones were renaerad
brilliantly red in 24 hours. A similar effect was produced on a voung
pig in three weeks. On making sections of bone so afiected, the
colour is found to be present in tiie external laminae of the bone, and
in theinner laminae of the Haverdan system, thereby proving that the
Digitized by
Google
sn
BONR
BONELLIA.
174
action of oolouring takes place upon those surfaces which lie in contact
with vessels.
Cf the Sa»er$ian CkmaU. — These canals must be considered in rela-
tion to their number, their sizoi and the parts which they contain.
The number of canals in a given space varies perhaps a litUe, but this
yariation wiU be regulated in some degree by we situation of the bone,
but more especially by its age. Thus the transverse section of the
femur of a human foetus of seven months will present many more
canals than a section of equal measurement from the femur of an
adults The size of the Haversian Canals takes a considerable range,
▼arying from the 800th to tiie 600th of an inch. The Haversian
Canals undoubtedly give passage to blood-vessels, this being their
principal if not only purpose.
The Chrpuadee or OdU of Bone cannot be described as having any
definite unnurying shape or size. The general form is a compressed
oval, though not unf{«quently they are drcular. Again, they an
Bometamee almost triangular in their outline, while in other instances
they approach a linear shape. These are the most common varieties
of outlme to which the bone-cells are subject, as they occur in the
bones of man and the higher animala In the four great dasses of
Fig. S.— The Forms araaraed by the Bone-Cells in ICan.
Ffg. 44~-YarioQS Forms of Bone-GeUs in the Bone of the Boa Chnstrietor,
.'wfmalBj namely, Tnammalia» birds, reptileB, and fishes, it has been
shown by FrofSeaor Quekett that there are certain characters connected
with these cells by which a bone of one class of animals may be
distinguished from that of another, and that the sise of these cells
bean a direct relative proportion to that of the blood-ooipusdee. He
has shown that they are smallest in birds, a little larger in mammals,
and laxigest of all in the reptiles ; while in fishes they are altogether
unlike those in the proceeding classes. The importance of this obser-
vation in relation to fossil osteologv is obvious. Connected with the
cells are numerous delicate branchmg tubes, called canaliouli, which
are slightly dilated as they enter the cells. The number arising from
each cell does not allow of any very definite enumeration, since no
two cells will be found possessed of a like number of branchinff tubes.
The gemeral annmgement of the tubes is radiate as regards the cells
which form their common centre. The connections are so numerous
between the tubes and between the cells through the tubes, that a
fiuid introduced into one ceU in a bone, may enter every other cell in
that bone. The cells are situated between the laminm, or on their
surface; but where concentric lamin» occur, as in the Haversian
i^rstem, the oeUa are placed in drcular Unes between the laminsB, each
Ime of cellB having the Haversian Canal as an exit common to it and
the oonneeting laminae. When the canals for vessels are in great
abundance, the bone-cells are more rarely met with ; indeed in some
cases they are almost entirely absent. When the cells are seen by
transmitted lighty particularly in a transverse section of bone, they
aire frequently opaque. There is no doubt that the bone-ceUs peorform
the function of circulation.
Farmali<m of JBone. — The commencement of the growth of bone is
generally nreceded by the formation of a cartilaginous matter which
occupies toe place afterwards taken by bone. From this circumstance
it has been supposed that bone is formed from the ossification of cartilu;e.
This however is not the case, as it is found that although ossification
takes place in the first instance in cartilage, the bony matter thus
formed has not a permanent character. The formation of bone always
takes place in the first instance in the immediate neighbourhood of
blood-vessels in canals excavated in the cartilaginous substance,
.ind the spots where these canals are formed are coEdled centres of ossi-
fication. There is usually one of these in the centre of a long bone
And one at eaeh eiu^ uid frequently another for any considerable
process or projection, such as the trochanter in the femur of the
human body. Up to the time that the bone Ib fuUy formed these
centres are only connected by cartilage, and this arrangement serves
the obvious purpose of allowing the increase of the whole bone by
means of cartilage until the time comes when no further incresse of
si^ is needed. ^ In the early conditions of the i^eleton of the vertebrate
animals there is a much closer correspondence in this respect than is
subsequentiy seen ; for according to the habits of the anixnal the
whole of the cartilage is converted into bone, or by its absorption and
disap]pearanoe separate bones are formed. It is upon this fact that
the science of transcendental anatomy rests, in which the whole of the
modifications of the vertebrate skeleton are referred to departures
from a type which is found generally to exist in the embryo condition
of the whole class. Thus it is found, from an extensive comparison,
that the regular number of distinct bones in the wrist (carpus) and
instep (tarsus) Ib ten, but in the human wrist the number is reduced
to eight and in the instep to seven, whilst the reduction is still greater
in the hoofed mammalia. [Skeleton.]
The structure of the temporary cartilage of bone is precisely the
same as permanent cartilage. The first ctJcareous deposit is made in
the space between the proper' ceUs of the cartilage. These cells
subsequentiy disappear leaving large open areoln having no very
definite form. In these areouB there is subsequentiy deposited a
fiuid blastema containing cells, and through the agency of this
blastema the Haversian canals and canoelli appear to l>e formed,
whilst the interspersed ceUs are changed into the bone-cells and their
projecting canaliouli Although in most instances the formation of
bone is preceded by that of cartilage^ yet this is not universally the
case, as we see bone formed in the substance of the tissues, as for
instance the fibrous membrane. This is seen- in the development of
the bones of the roof of the skull, and also in the growth of bones
subsequentiy to their first development by tiie progressive calo^ca-
tion of the inner layers of the periosteum, or fibrous covering of tiie
bones.
It has been stated that the central cavities of some of the larger
bones are filled with the substance called marrow, an oilv matter
contained in a series of membranous cells, which, like tiiose m whidi
the fat is deposited do not communicate with each other. Even the
pores and cancelli of bone also contain a kind of oUy matter, which
IS supposed to differ from marrow only in poosessing a greater degree
of fluidity. This oily matter is deposited in longitudinal caniBls,
which pass through the solid substance of the bone, together with its
nutrient vessels. The use of the marrow, and of the modification of
it which constitutes the oily matter, is not well understood. Without
doubt it serves the same general use in the economy as the other oily
secretions. [Adipose Tjasna.]
All bones are covered by a membrane, named, on account of its
affording them an external envelope, Periosteum. The outer surface of
this enveloping membrane is connected to the surrounding parts by
cellular tissue, but its inner surf^e is firmly aaherent to the substance
of the bone. This adhesion is effooted by innumerable fibres or
threads, which on examination are found to consist of blood-vesseh.
The periosteum is in fact the membrane on which the nutrient
arteries of the bone rest, divide, and ramify* in order to enter the
osseous substance. These threads are much more numerous in the
child than in the adult ; and accordingly the adhesion of the perios-
teum to the bone is much firmer in the former than in the latter, as
the quantity of blood distributed to the bone is greater. Moreover,
in general the itmer surface of bones is also Imed by a fine and
delicate membrane^ commonly termed the internal periosteum, the
continuation of which forms the membranous bags in which the
marrow is contained.
(Roget, Animal and VegetdbU Phytiology; Southwood Smith,
PhUoiophy of Health; Simon, Animal ChemiOry ; Sharpey, Qica«n<
Anatomy; Cfyclopcsdia of Anatomy and Phynology, articles * Bene,'
' Osaeoue Tuiue* ; Todd and Bowman, PhysMoffieal Anatomy;
Carpenter, Prinoiplee of Phytiologv, Ckneral and Oomparatwe;
Tomes and De Morgan, Structure of Bene, Phil, Trane, j Quekett^
Lectwree on Mialology)
BONE-BEDS. Accumulations of the bones of extinct animals, move
especially of fish and Saurian reptiles, are not imcommon in various
strata, and have had this name given them by geologists. They gene-
rally occur at the termination of one formation and the commencement
of another. These Bone-Beds are local, and are not in any case very
extensive. The thickest and most widely-distributed is that of the
Lias, which seems to mark the commencement of the New Red-Sand-
stone epoch. The most remarkable Bone-Beds are the following : —
Bone-Bed at the base of the Lower Qreensand at its junction with
the Wealden ; at the base of the Inferior Oolite, at its junction with
the Lias ; at the base of the Lias, at its junction with the New Bed-
Marl ; at the base of the Mountain Limestone, at its junction with the
Old Bed-Sandstone ; at the base of the Old Bed-Sandstone, at its juno-
tion with the Ludlow Bock of the Silurian System.
(Brodie, On the Baement-Beds of the Inferior OoliU ; Proe. Choi Soe.)
BONE-DOG, a name given in Sussex to the picked Dog-Fish (^ma-
thias vtUgarte, Bisso). ^ualida]
BONE'LLIA, a genus of Bchinodermata, formed bv Rolando, and
placed by Cuvier in the tenth order of his first dass ox Zoophytes^ the
Digitized by
Google
075
BONaAR.
BOOBY.
67B
Echinoderms {EchinodertMUom JtacKaria) of Lamarck. Thia tenth
order oonsiBts of the Footless Echinodermfl^ and BoneUia forms its
sixth genua. Cuvier says that BoneUia has an oval body and a pro-
boscis formed of a folded fleshy plate (lame) susceptible of great
elongation and fbrked at its extremity. The vent is at the opposite end
of the body ; the intestine is veiy long, being folded several times, and
near the vent are two ramified organs for the parpose of respiration.
The eggs are contamed in an oblong sac which has its opening near the
base of the proboscis.
The animal is described as living deep in the sand, and projecting
its proboscis till it arrives at the water when it is high, or till it
reaches ^e air when the water is low.
The cut represents BoneUia viridia, which is found in the Mediter-
BONOAB, a name given to the Bock-Snake of the East Indies.
[Boida]
BONGARDIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Berheridaeece, [Berberidacxa]
BONITO, the name of Fishes belonging to the family SemJbrida.
They resemble the Tunny. The Bonito is toe Thynmia pelamys, Cuv. ;
the Belted Bonito, Pelamya Sar^a, Cuv.; the Plain Bonito, AuxU
vulgaris, Cuv. [Scombridji.]
BONPLAKDIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Rwtaeece, The only speoiBe described, B. tnfcliaicif yields the Angos-
tura Bark. The genus is now referred to QaUpcML [Gaupaa.]
BONSDORFITE, a mineral belonging to the group of doable
hydrous Silicates of Alumina, to which the term Zeotiiei has bem
applied. The following is the analysis of this mineral by B<msdor^
after whom it is named : —
Silica . 45*06
Alumina 80*06
Magnesia, with a trace of Manganece . . 9*00
Protoxide of Iron 6*80
Water 10*60
100*00
It occurs crystallised in regular six-sided prisms, the lateral edges of
the prism being usually replaced by so many planes that the prism
appears almost cylindnoaL The cross fracturo is oonchoidaL The
texturo foliated, the foliations^ being perpendicular to the axis of the
prism. The colour is a greenish-brown or dark olive-green. Lustro
of the faces like that of talc, of the cross fracturo waxy. Opaque
in thick plates, translucent in thin plates. This mineral is found in
a red granite, at Birkopsokem near Abo in Finland.
BONUS HENRI'C U S, a kind of weed, formerly supposed to poasess
medicinal properties. [Chenopodiuil]
BOOBT, the English name for a genus of Pdeoanida {Diftporw of
Illiger, Morut of Vieillot, Les Fous of the French), separated with
good reason from the true Pelicans by Brisson under the name of
Sula.
The term Booby is moro particularly applied by navigators to that
species (Sula fuaca of Brisson) which inhabits the desolate islandB
and coasts whero the dimate is warm or even temperate throughout
the greater part of the globe. The apparent stupidi^ of the Boobies
is proverbial ; calmly waiting to be knocked on the head as they sit
on shore, or perdiing on the yard of a ship till the sailor climbs to
their resting-place and takes them off with his hand, they fall an easy
proy to the most artless bird-catcher. Even Byroi^'s shipwrecked
wretches, though
" Stagnant on the sea
They Uy like eareases,"
'' caught two boobies and a noddy;" and the incident aotaally did
occur in Blip's celebrated boat-voyage, oonsequent on the mutiny on
board the Bounty, when he and his boat's crew were in a most
deplorable state.
"Monday, the 26th," says Bligh, " at noon, some noddies owne bo
near to us that one of them was caught by hand. ... In the
evening, several boobies flying very near to us, we had tlie good
fortuneto catoh one of them. ... I directed the bird to be Hlled
for supper, and the blood to be given to three of the people who were
the most distressed for want of food. The body, with the entrails,
beak, and feet, I divided into eighteen shares. . . . Tiiesdav, the
26th. In the morning we caught another bool^, so that Prondenoe
appeared to be relieving our wants in an extraordinary manner. The
people wero overjoyed at the addition to their dinner, which was
distoibuted in the same manner as on the preceding evening, giving
the Uood to those who were the most in want of food."
Dampier says that in the Alcrane Islands (Alacranee), on the coast
of Yucatan, the crowds of these birds were so great that he could not
pass their haunts without being incommoded by theic peddng. He
observed that they wero ranged in pair^ and oonjectared that they
were male and female. He succeeded in making some fly away 1^
the blows he bestowed on them, but the greater part remained in
spite of his efforts to compel them to take flight De Gennea, in his
voyage to the Straits of Magalhaens, says that in the Island of
Ascension there were such quantities of Boobies that the sailors
killed five or six at a time with one blow of a stick. The Y icomte de
Querhoent says that the French soldiers killed an iTnTnanwft quantity
at this same idand, and that their loud cries when disturbed at nighi
were quite overpowering.
This apparent exception to the general rule of self-preserving
instinct is so remarkable, that we are led to look for some cause, and
perhaps this is to be found in the structure of the animal; for
according to many writers whose veracity cannot be questioned, the
Boobies stay to be taken and killed after they have become fiurtilmr
with the effect produced by the blows or shot of their persecutors.
In the case of most other animals, whidi, from not Imowing his
power, have suffered man to approach them to tiieir dEst7ucti<»i,
alarm has been soon taken, the idea of danger has been apeedily
associated with his appearance^ and safety has beeoi sou^t in fli^t ;
but the wings of the Boobv are so long and its legs so ahori^ that
when once at rest on level ground the bird has great difficulty in
bringing the foimer into action, and when so surprised it has no
resource but to put on a show of resiBtance with its beak, which is to
be sure generally despised by the aggressor.
In the cases recorded by Bligh the birds were probably fidagued by
wandering too far from the rocky shores, whidi are their oixlinaiy
haunts. There they are generally to be seen constantly on the wing
over the waves which beat at the foot of the crags, intent on fishing.
Though BO well furmshed with oars, they are said to swim but seldom,
and never to dive. Their mode of taking their prey is by ^^aa^ing
down from on high with unerring aim upon those fiishes which fr^
quent the surface, and instantly rising again into the air. They walk
with difficulty, and when at rest on land their attitude is neariy
vertical, and they lean on the stiff feathers of the tail, like the
cormorants, as a tnird point of support The ledges of rocks or difi
covered with herbage are the places generally selected for the nest^
and there in great companies they lay their cgga^ eadi hen bird depo-
siting firom two to three. The young birds for some days after their
exclusion are covered with a down, so long and thidc that they
resemble powder-puffs made of swan's down.
The Boobies seldom wander more than twenty leagues from land,
to which they usually return every evenings and their appeannce is
considered by mariners as a sure token of their vicinity to some
island or coast
The colour of the Sulafiuea, or Brown Booby, ia blackiah-browii, or
ashv-brown above and whitish beneath ; the primaries are black, and
the naked skin about the fiaoe is reddish; the orbits and base of the
bill are yellow, and the point of the bill ib brown ; the legs are of a
straw colour.
In length the Brown Booby is about 2 feet 5 inches, the bill
measuring H inches or th^vabout^ and the tail 10 inches : the yoong
birds are spotted with white and brown.
It is almost impossible to open the pages of the old voyagen who
have fallen in witn these Boobies witlu>at finding Bome eoteztaiiunff
Digitized by
Google
077
BOOBY,
BORAGINACE^
678
Acooants of the oonstant peneoation to which the latter are Bubjeoted
by Ihe Frigatee or Han-of-War Birds. LesBon indeed doubts this.
He wjE, "The boobies haye been so named because it has been
supposed that the frigates compelled them to disgoige the fish which
they had taken ; but this appears to us to be erroneous. The boobv
is warlike, he liyes fearlessly near the fiigate, and swallows the fish
which he has captured in peace." Buffon, Cuvier, and Temminck, on
the contrary, evidently give credence to the narratiyes of the Frigate-
peneontion, and indeed it is difficult to belieye that so many eye-
I should be mistaken.
Brown Booby {Suia fUsea),
Feoill^ fl^ys, " I haye had the pleasure of seeing the frigates giye
chase to the boobies. When they return in bands towards eyening
from their fishingy the frigates are in waiting, and dashing upon them
compel them all to cry for succour, as it wotc, and, in crying, to dis-
gorge some of the fish ly hich they are carrying to their young ones.
ThjiM do the frigates profit by the fishing of the boobies, whidb they
then leaye to pursue their route." Leguat in his yoyage thus writes :
—** The boobies come to repose at night upon the Island Bodrigues,
and the frrigates, which are large birds, so (»lled from their lightness
and speed m saOing through the air, wait for the boobies eyery eyening
on the tops of the trees. They rise on the approach of the latter yery
hi^ in the air and dash down upon them like a frdcon on his prev,
not to kill ^m but to make them disgorge. The booby, struck m
this manner by the frigate, giyes up his fish, which the frigate catches
in the air. The booby often shrieks and shows lus unwillingness to
abandon his prey, but the frigate mocks at his cries» and rising dashes
down upon him anew till he has compelled the booby to obey."
William Dampier obeezres that he remarked that the man-of-war
birdi and the boobies always left sentinels near their young ones,
especially while the old birds were gone to sea on their fishing expe-
ditions ; and that there were a great number of sick or crippled man-
of-war birds which appeared to be no longer in a state to go out for
proyision. They dwelt not with the rest of their species, and whether
they were excluded frrom their society or had separated themselyes
voluntarily, they were dispersed in yarious places waiting apparently
for an opportunity of pillage. He adds that one day he saw more
than twenty on one of the islands (the Alcranee), which from time to
time made sorties to procure booty. The man-of-war bird that sur-
prised a young booby without its guard gaye it a great peck upon the
iMsk to make it disgorge (which it instantly did) a fish or two as big
as one's wrist^ -whi<m the old man-of-war bird quickly swallowed. He
farther speaks of the persecution of the parent boobies by the able-
bodied frigates, and says that he himself saw a frigate fly right against
a booby, and with one blow of its bill make the booby giye up a fish
just swaJlowed, upon which the frigate darted with such celerity that
he seixed it before it reached the water. Catesby and others menti<m
similar anoounters. Nuttall says, " The boobies haye a domestic
enemy more steady, though lees sanguine in his persecutions, than
man ; this is the frigate pelican or man-of-war bird, who with a keen
eye desor^g his humble yassal at a distance, pursues him without
intunnission, and obliges him by blows with its wings and bill to
surrender hJs finny prey, which the pirate instantly seizes and swallows.
.... The booby utten a loud cry, something in sound betwixt
JIAl BUT. DZY. YOL. L
that of the rayen and the goose ; and this quailing is heard more
particularly when they are pursued by the frigate, or, when assembled
together, they happen to be seised by any sudden panic."
Their nests, according to Dampier, are built in trees in the Isle of
Ayes, though they haye been obseryed in other places to nestle on
the ground. They always associate in numbers in the same spot, and
lay one or two eggs. The young are coyered with a yery soft and
white down. Nuttall says that they abound on rocky islets off the
coast of Cayenne and along the shores of New Spain and Caracas, as
weU as in Brazil and on the Bahamas, where they are said to breed
almost eyery month in the year. In summer, he adds, they are net
uncommon on the coasts of the Southern States of North America.
The flesh he describes as black and unsayoury.
Otherspecies of Stda are also called Boobies. [Sula.]
BO'OPS, a genus of Fishes of the order AearUkopUiygii, and, accord-
ing to Cuyier^s arrangement, belonging to the fourth fiunily of that
tribe called Spcuru/ida or Sparida.
This genus is chiefly characterised by the speoieB possessing tren«
chant teeth ; the mouth is small and not protraistile. The species are
generally of brilliant colouring. Most of them occur in the Mediter-
Boopi salpa {Sparut taipa of Linnaeus) is of an oblong-oyate form.
The ground colour of its body is bluish, on which are seyeral longi-
tudinal yellow stripes.
BOOTTIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Hydro-
charidacece, the species of which are eaten as pot-herbsL
BORACITE. [BoROW.]
BORAGE. [BoRAOO.]
BORAQINA^CEjE, Borage- WorU, the Borage Tribe, a natural order
of regular-flowered Monopetalous Dicotyledons, which are readily dis-
tinguished from all others by haying their oyary deeply divided into
four lobes^ from the middle of which arises a single style. They are
moreover characteriBed by their flowers being arranged in a gyrate
Long. Wort {Pulmonaria angwtifolia).
1, A oorolla ; S, the same eat open ; S, the tube of the same ; 4, the base of
the same with the OTsry and its four lobes; 5, ananther; 6,osLlyz; 7, aseottoB
of the oatyx, showing the foor-lobed fruit ; B, a ripe ealyx ; 9, an achenium.
manner before they expand. The Common Borage is often taken as
the type of this order, and in fact represents not only its peculiaritiea
of structure, but sensible properties ; for all the known species agree
in having an insipid juice, and theb snx&oe covered over with stiff
white hairs, idiich communicate a peculiar asperity to the skin, whence
these plants were formerly called Asperifolia, or 'roufh-leaved.* Ju
the structure of their ovary these plimts are doeely allied with
LamiacePf, Their regular flowers and the abswice of volatile oil in
%9
Digitized by
Google
m
BORAQO.
BORKIA.
their leayes, and five BtamenB, at onoe distingaiah them. They alao
resemble Nolanaeeoe, but from theee they are distinguished by their
gyrate inflorescence. The species are principally natives of the tem-
perate coimtries of the northern hemisphere. The properties of this
order are not aotire. Nevertheless sevwal have been used in medicine ;
one species yields alkanet^ and many of them are cultivated. It con-
tains 63 genera and about 600 species. [Anohuba ; Eohium ; Pulmo-
habia; SmHHAioiARiA ; Lithobpebmum ; Mtosotib; Sthfhttuic;
BoRAQo; Ctvoolossuil]
BORA^QO, a genus of plants, the type of the natural order Borct-
ginacea, and placed in the tribe AnehmetB. This tribe is distinguished
by possessing four nuts affixed to an hypogynous disk, with an exca-
vated ^Mtoe surrounded by a tumid nng at their base. The genus
Borago has a calyx with five deep segments ; a rotate corolla with |
the tube very shorty the throat with wort erect emarginate scales ;
exserted stamens, the filaments bifid, the inner fork bearing the anther ;
the anthers linear, lanceolate, connivent in the form of a cone. All the
species are rough pliuits, with fiisiform roots, oblong or lanceolate
leaves, and blue panicled drooping flowers.
B. officinalia, Common Borage, has the lower leaves obovate, obtuse,
attenuated below ; the segments of the corolla ovate, acute, flat,
spreading. The flowers are blue, and the whole plant is hispid, with
tubercled hairs. This plant appears to be originally a native of Aleppo,
but is now naturalised in most countries of Europe. In Great Britain
it is not uncommon on rubbish and in waste places. Borage had
formerly a great reputation as a cordial Its virtues in this respect
must have been overrated, as in conmion with the whole family to
which it belongs it possesses no very active properties. The tissues
contain gum, and on this accoimt it may be used as a demulcent. It
also possesses nitrate of potash, as well as other plants of the order,
whicn renders it slightly febrifuge. Withering says the young tender
leaves may be used as salads or as a pot-herb. Three other species
are described : B, erauifolia, a native of Persia; B. Umgifoliii, from
Kumidia ; and B, lax\/lora, a native of Corsica. They are all plants
of the easiest culture. They may be always propagated by seed,
which should be sown in the open ground. They form pretty border-
flowers.
(Babington, Manual of Britiih Botany ; Q. Don, Cfardena^$ Die-
tiona/ry.)
BOBA'SSUS, agenus of Palms, called Tala m Sanscrit and Palmyra
by the English, in imitation of the Portuguese, who name it Palmeira
Brava. It is defined by Roxburgh as having dioscious hexandrous
flowers ; the calyx and corolla in the males consisting each of three
distinct pieces, and in the females of from eight to twelve in a confused
state ; and the ovary of three cells, changing to a three-seeded drup&
There is but one species according to writers on Indian botany ; but
it is not certain that more tiian one distinct palm is not confounded
under the conmion name of Palmyra.
Boraum JlahdUformii is the onl^ speeies. This plant ffnin all over
India, both on the continent and in the islands, where it is esteemed
of the greatest use on account of the vinous sap and the sugar which
are extracted from it. Its trunk is from 25 to 40 feet high when full
grown, and is perceptibly thicker at the base than at the summit. The
leaves are fEuo^haped, about 4 feet long, and placed upon staJka ef about
the same length, which are spiny at their edges ; each leaf is divided
into from 70 to 80 rays, which are ragged at the end, and the largest
of which are placed in the centre. Thefruit is about as big as a child's
head, three-cornered, with the angles rounded off^ and a little furrowed.
It consists of a thick, fibrous, rawer succulent, yellowish-brown rind,
containing three seeds the size of a goose-egg. When young the shell
of the seed is so soft that it may be readily pierced by the finger, and
the pulpy matter which it then contains is cool and sweet and refresh-
ing ; but when ripe all this changes to a hard bluish albumen, which
is insipid and uneatable. The outer wood of the stem when old
becomes very hard and brown, and although scarcely to bo cut
transversely, nevertheless divides freely in a longitudinal direction :
it is capajble of taking a fine polish, and is fluently made use of for
bows. The young wood in the centre is white, sort» and worthless.
" This magnificent palm," says Sir William Jones, " is justly con-
sidered the king of its order, which the Hindoos call 'trina druma,' or
grass-trees. Van Rheede mentions the bluish, gelatinous, pellucid
substance of the young seeda^ which in the hot season is cooling and
rather agreeable to the taste ; but the liquor extracted from the tree
is the most seducing and pernicious of intoxicating juices. When
just drawn it is as pleasant as Pouhon water fr^esh from the spring,
and almost equal to the best mild champagne. From this liquor,
according to Rheede, sugar is extracted; and it would be happy
for these provinces if it were always applied to so innocent a
purpose."
Tne mode of obtaining the wp of this palm is stated by Rumf to
be by crushing the young inflorescence and amputating the upper
half; the lower is then tied to a leafstalk, and has a vessel usually of
bamboo attached to its end. The vessel gradually fills with sap, and
is removed every morning ; when replaced a fresh slice is cut from the
wounded end of the infioresoence — an operation which is repeated
daily until the whole of the raceme is sliced away. In procuring the
■ugw exactly the same process is followed, but the inaide of the
receiver is i>owdered with limei, which prevcoxts fiarmentation taking
place : the juice is afterwards boiled down and finally dried Ifj
exposure to smoke in little baskets. ,
Palmyra {Bora$tu$ Jtdbell^anmit).
1, A male apadiz ; 3, a female spadix, infloraseence with the ^athea at iti
baae ; S, tha baek of a mala flower ; 4, the fhmt of the aame ; 5, a female
flower; 6, tha aame atripped of ita aoalea and ahowing barren atamena e&Tclopiiif
theorary.
BORAX. [BoROif.]
BCRBORuS (Ipharoeera of Latreille), a genus of Bipterous or
Two-Winged Flies, of the family Muacida, Its chief characters exist
in the posterior thighs, which are much compressed, and the two
basal iomts of the posterior tarsi, which are considerably laiger than
the following. The head is concave in frtmt and reflexed towards the
mouth : the antenna diverge, and are sometimes almost as long as the
fore part of the head. The second cell of the posterior extremity of
the wing (the last of the two which occupy the middle of its length)
is closed before it reaches the margin.
These litUe flies are found in marshy places, and on putrid sub-
stances, but more particularly dung-heaps, in which probably their
larvBB reside ; they are always abundant about cucumber fitunea, and
are of a brownish colour; most of the speoiee when expanded would
scarcely measure a quarter of an inch.
BORECOLE, a variety of Brasiica oUraeta, also called Sprouts.
[Brasbioaokjl]
BORER, a name for the worm-like fish, known also by the name of
the Myxine, the (Mutinous Hag, and Blind Fish. [Mtzinb.]
BCREUS (Latreille), a genus of Insects of the order NewnjAera,
and family Panorpidte. This genus, of which only one spedee is
known {B. Ayemo^u), is not only remiffkable for its structure, but from
the curious circumstance of its having been found in the winter monihs
only, and is said even to have been seen on the Alps running about on
the snow : its most common abode however appears to be in moss. ^
B, hyemaUt is about one quarter of an inch long and of a greenish
colour, with the legs indining to red ; and, unlike tiie rest of its trib^
the female possesses no wings, and those of the male are only rudimen-
tary. The antennse are long and thread-like, the parts of the mouth
are produced into a kind of proboscis ; the abdomen of the feinale is
finished with a large ovipooitor. It is rather a scarce isBect in this
country.
BORNIA, a genus of Foasil Plants teom the Coal FormaiicD,
Including Bomia eqwiteHformiif which Imdley xmnks in AiUropkyUUm
('FossrFlora,'t.l24).
Digitized by
Google
sn
BORON.
BOSWELLIA,
S8i
BORON. HineralB ooxitainioig Boron or any of its compounds aa
an essential component port are comparatively few in number, and
only foimd in a few spote ; it may be therefore considered as one of
the least predominating of the elements. It is the basis of Sassoline,
or native boracic acid ; Borax, or borate of soda ; Boracite, or borate
of magnesia ; DatholUe, or borate and silicate of lime ; and BotryolUe,
It also enters as boracic acid into the composition of Axinite and
Tourmalin^ but only in small quantity, most analyses giving between
two and three per cent, of the acid in the former mineFal, and between
four and five per cent in the latter.
The presence of Boron in any mineral may be readily detected with
the blow-pipe, owing to the beautiful green tint communicated to the
flame by the boracic add. The facility with which the tint is
obtained depends on the element with which the boracic acid is
combined ; in every instance however it may be detected by the
following process : — ^Let a flux, composed of 4 J parts of bisulphate of
potash and one of finely-powdered fluor-spar, oe well mixed witib
about an wqual quantity of the assay, which must then be formed
into a paste by the addition of a little moisture. A small quantity of
this being taken up on the extremity of a platinum wire must first be
dried, and then exposed to a high temperature until it is fused, being
held within but near the extremity of the blue flame. When the
mass is fused it appears for a few moments enveloped in a pure green
flame, which soon disappears, and cannot be again produced. The
theory of the changes is this : — The fluorine of the flux being set free
by the excess of sulphuric acid unites with the boron of the assay,
forming the fluoboracio acid, which at the moment of its volatilisation
communicates the green tint to the flame. This process is, however,
only necessary for the detection of the boracic acid in axinite and
tourmaline, as the flame is permanently coloured b^r sassoline,
boracite, datholite, and botiyoUte ; and the same efiect is produced
by moistening the glass of boron with sulphuric acid and again
fusing it.
The native boracic acid is found aa a deposit in several of the
lagunes of Tuscany, and also in considerable abundance in the hot
springs near Sasso in the same country, whence it has been called
Sasaoline. It occurs in the form of thin scaly particles, or crysttdllne
grains either loose or aggregated in the form of a crust These
crystalline grains are hydrated boracic acid, the constitution of whidi
may be expressed by the formula —
Boron 1 ; Oxygen 6 ; Water 6,
as g^ven by Beraselius, 100 parts of sassoline being composed of boracic
acid 56*37, water 48'68 : their specific gravity is 1'48. The lustre is
pearly, and the colour is grayish or yellowish-white : they are slightly
translucent
It loses its water of crystallisation and fuses at a very low tempera-
ture, forming a glassy globule, which is a non-conductor of electricity,
and becomes resinously electric on friction. It has also been found
more reoentlv by Dr. Holland to be a deposit of the solfatara within
the crater of Volcano, one of the Lipari Isles, being an exhalation of
the funiarolesy around the edges of which it forms thin filaments or
cakes on the surface of the sulphur.
Borax, or borate of soda, is principally employed in the arts as a
flux in several metalluiigical processes, and is very advantageously
used in the process of soldering metals. To Uie chemist it is an
invaluable re-agent in experimenting with the blow-pipe.
Borax is soluble in twelve times its weight of cold and twice its
weight of boiling water, from which it may
be readily obtained in very perfect crystals of
the oblique prismatic system. The more usual
form of these is represented in the accom-
panying figure, where the faces r are the
rertical prism, the angles of which are, accord-
ing to the measurements of PhiHips, 86^ 80'
and 93* 80^, the acuter edge of which is
truncated by M, the obtuser by T, while P
is the inclined terminal plane, and makes
with U an angle of 106** 80'; 0 are the faces of a hemi-octohedron.
The following are the measurements given by Phillips :—
r onr
Ponr
Honr
PonM
PonO
OonO
86* 80'
101' 80'
188' 20'
106° 80'
189'* 16'
122* 84'
It IS rery common to find the edges between 0 and r tnmcated.
The specific gravity varies fix>m 1'5 to 1'7 ; the hardness from 2 to
2'5. When coloured it is of a light yellowish-green : the fracture is
conchoidal and of a resinous lustre.
The chemical composition as given by Berzelius is —
BoradcAcid 86*52
Sod* 16-87
Water 4711 ^
BoraeiU is in many respects one of the most interesting bodies of
the inoi^gaoic kingdom. It was first described by Lasius in 1787
under the name of cubic quartz, and was found in the gypsum rocks
— ur Lune'buig in Brunswick, wnere it occurs in small crystals, which
) perfectly developed on every side and imoedded in the gypsum.
The crystals usually present a combination of the cube^ dodecahednniy
and the two hemi-octohedrons, in which combinations sometimes the
one sometimes the other form predominates. The locality was for
some time the only spot where boracite was found, until the crystals
were discovered in a gypsum rock called Segebei^g in Holstein, at the
foot of which is situated a small village of the same name. The crystals
of the Boracite of this spot possess the same characters as those of
Liineburg, and add considerable interest to the verv peculiar rock in
which they are found, which is itself a very remarkable object from
its abrupt elevation over the sandy plain of Holstein. It is described
in the ' Geognostisohen Aufsiitzen * of Stefiens, who considers it to be
of the same formation as the gypsum of the Paris basin.
Boracite has been analysed by Stromeyer, who found it to be com-
posed of boracic acid 67, magnesia 83. The specific gravity is 2*9 ; it
is transparent, but also frequently opaque ; the hardness is 6*5 to 7 ; it
is brittle, and has a conchoidal fracture. The lustre is yitreous^
inclining to adamantine. The colour is usually a yellowish or greenish
gray.
It fuses easily before the blowpipe, at first with much foam, and
then forms a glass globule, which oiystallises on cooling, so that the
surface is covered with fine acicular points. When just so much soda
is added as will form with it a clear glass, it will then crystallise as
perfectly as the phosphate of lead.
BORRERA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order of
Lichens, named by Acharius in honour of WiQiam Borrer, F.L.S., who
has very success^iUy cultivated Cryptogamio Botany, especially that
of Qreat Britain. One species B. fwfiiracea has the reputation of
being astringent and febrifuge. A genus of Cinchonaceous plants has
also been named after Mr. Borrer. [Bor&ebia.]
BORRERIA, a genus of plants named in honour of William Borrer,
F.L.S.^ It belongs to the natural order Cinchonaceoi, and has the
following characters : — Calyx with an ovate tube, and a pennanent
limb which is parted into 2-4 teeth; corolla salvei>shaped or funnel-
shaped, 4-lobed; stamens 4, exsected or indosed; stigma -bifid or
un(uyided; capsule crowned by the limb of the calyx, 2-oelled,
opening from the apex at the dissepiment when mature, but without
any dissepiment ; cocca or nuts 1-seeded, opening by a longitadinal
chmk insida The species, which are verv numerous, are most of
them herbs or underahrubs, and are neady all natives of tropical
America.
B, ferruginea, has a herbaceous, hard, erect, branched stem;
tetragonal hairy branches ; oblong, acute, obliquely 8-4-nerved leaves,
scabrous above and pale beneath, and scabrous on the nerves from
hairs; bristles of the stipules the length of the sheath; whorls of
flowers globose, terminal, and axillary ; capsule downy, crowned by
the four subulate teeth of the calyx. This plant is a native of Brazil
in elevated pastures in the provinces of Minas Geraes and St Paul
The plant is called Poaya, and Poaya da Haya at Cape Frio. This is
one of the plants which yield a bastard ipecacuanha. The roots are
of a brown colour, and when taken produce sickness and vomiting.
B. Poaya is glabrous, and has a herbaceous simple tetragonal
stem ; sessile oblong-elliptic acute leaves, obliquely 6-nerved on both
sides of the midrib ; the stipules deft into many long bristles ; whorls
of flowers capitate, sessile, few, axillary, and a laxger terminal one;
lobes of calyx 4, lanceolate linear acute, longer than the ovarium ;
corolla smooth; anthers exserted. A native of Brazil in devated
pastures. It has blue flowers. The roots are white, and produce
sickness when taken, and are consequentlv frequently substituted for
ipecacuanha. The leaves when chewed have a sweet taste at firsts
and afterwards an acid one; a decoction of them is sometimea
employed in the cure of colia Upwards of 80 aipeoies of this genus
have been described, of which only the above two appear to be used
by man. They may be cultivated in this countrv in greenhousea A
light soil suits them best, and cuttings of the shrubby pieces readily
strike root under a hand-glass in heat The herbaceous spedas
require the same treatment as other tender ^nn^ii^liy,
(Don, Qardena't Dictionary,)
BOS. [BoviDJB.]
BO'STRICHIJS (Latreille), a genus of Insects bdonging to the
order CoUoptm^Of of the fainily Aylophagu Qeneric characters : —
Body oblong, cylindrical, or nearly so; head rounded, capable of
being retracted within the thorax as fur as the eyes ; eyes dostinotly
projecting ; antenna ten-jointed, short, the three terminal joints large
and distinct, twice as broad as the remainder ; the five following joints
small and close together ; the two remaining, or two basal joints,
slightly thickened ; palpi tolerably distinct, about equal in length to
the mandibles, short, and three-jointed ; thorax convex above, the
anterior part humped ; legs rather short, tard four-jointed, simple.
The insects of this tribe are found on old trees, upon which their
larvss feed, and in so doing tliey generally construct their burrows
under the bark.
Bostrichut capucintu (a rare spedes in this country) is about half an
inch long ; the head, antenn», Uiorax, and legs are Uack ; the rest of
the body is red
BOSWE'LLIA, a genus of balsamic plants bdooging to tha
natural older AmyridacecB. One of the spedes is believed by Cde-
brooke to be the Aifiayot of Theophrastus, and the Hiurta viiya of
the Romans. (' Asiatic Researches,' vol. ix.)
Digitized by
Google
iw)T?Ainr.
BOfANt.
194
It appean that the gum-resin called olibanum ia the firankinoeiiBe
that was lued by the andenta in their religiona oeremoniei. LinnsBna
waa of opinion that it was yielded by the Lyoian jumper ; but that
plant is a native of the aouth of France as well aa of the Levant, and
the boiinistsof that country deny that any such substance is produced
by their juniper. The Greeks obtained their frankincense from
Arabia. The Arabians call olibanum both LubiCn and Cundur ; but
as benzoin is most used at the present day for religious purposes, the
Mohammedan writers of India on Materia Medica apply only the term
Cundur to olibanum. This Cundur has been ascertained by Messrs.
Colebrooke, Hunter, and Roxburgh to be yielded by BotweUia
thurifera or A semMta, It is a large timber-tree found in the moun-
tainous parts of India, yielding a most fragrant resin from wounds
made in the bark. Its leaves are pinnate, and consist of about ten
pairs of hairy serrated oblong Icnflets, each of which is from an inch
to an inch and a half in length. The flowers are pale pink, small,
and numerous. The calyx is 5-lobed, the corolla of 5 downy petals,
the disk a fleshy crenelled cup, and the stamens 10, alternately
shorter. The fruit is a S-sided, S-valved, S-celled capsule, containing
a BiDgle-winged pendulous seed in each cell
From this Roxburgh distinguishes as a different species BotwtOia
glabrcky a plant also yielding a resin which is used for incense and as
pitch in some parts of India* It differs from the last in having no
hairs on its leaves, in its leaflets being often toothless, and in its
flowers being panided.
A substance analogous to olibanum, and used in a similar way in
various parts of the world, is procured from several different trees,
such as, in America, the Croton nitma (Schwartz), C. thurifer (Kunth),
C. adipatui (Kunth) : in Columbia, BatUieria nervifoUa (KunUi) yields
the American frankincense ; the ArnkfrU {Idea Taeomahaca, Ktmth)
wmhnmaea (Linn.), yields also the resin ooumier, likewise called
American frankincense.
Ldetia aipttala (Jacq.) also yields a substance similar to frank-
incense.
Olibanum occurs in commerce of two kinds, the Arabian and East
Indian. The former kind is now seldom met with, and its origin is a
subject of doubt; the latter is obtained from the tree above described,
and to it we limit our remarks. There are two varieties or degrees of
fineness of it, the best called ' olibanum electrum,' or * in grams,' some-
times called 'thus mamus' or 'thus masculum' : the other is termed
' olibanum commune,' or ' in sortis,' also ' f cemineum.' The first occurs
in pieces varying from the size of a hazel-nut to that of a walnut, or
larger, which are roundish or irregular in shape, of a light yellowiah
colour, varying to red or brown in some pieces, opaque or semi-
transparent, the outside often covered with a white powder, and upon
being pounded the whole becomes a white powder. It is very
friable, and breaks with a dull, sometimes even, sometimes splinteiy
firacture.
The second sort is generally in larger pieces, mostly of a dirty-gray
OF fawn-colour, and intermingled with pieces of wood and other
impurities.
BOTANY ia that branch of sdenoe which comprehends all that
relatea to the Vegetable Kingdom. The term Botany is derived
from, the Greek, in which /3ot£^ signifies any kind of grass or herb,
and fiarayucn the art which teaches the nature of plants and herbs.
The structure of plants, their mode of growth, their habits of life,
their mutual relanons, t^eir uses to man or the danger that results
ftt>m their employment^ the station they occupy in the scale of
the creation, and many other similar considerations, form each an
extensive field of inquiry which botany combines into one connected
whole.
Although the limits of the science of Botany can be easily defined
to be the structure and functions of plants, it is not so easy to define
the nature of a plant It is true that with regard to the great mass
of organic forms which belong to the vegetable kingdom uiere is no
difficulty in at once assigning them their position, but there are a
very laige number of organised bodies that stand in such intimate
relations with the animU kingdom as. to create a perpetual difficulty
with regard to their real nature. At the time when it was considered
a sufficient distinction between pUnts and animals that the former
were fixed and the latter had the power of locomotion, huge orders
of beings which are now classed wiui plants were regarded as animals.
To some of these it may be interesting to draw attention, as it is
amongst them that the naturalist is enabled to observe in its simplest
forms the true nature of the functions of vegetable structure. It was
in the laige order Algcf [Aloa], to which belong the various forms of
searweeds, and the lowest orders of plants inhabiting fresh-water,
that those functions were first observed that were supposed to be
peculiar to animals. Amongst the OscUlatoricB it was found that a
number had a distinct power of self-movement, so that as far as these
were concerned it became evident that locomotion would not
distinguish plants from animals. Many of the early observers with
the microscope had also seen that the spores or cells that represented
seeds in the higher plants had the power of motion. In order to
distinguish between these movements and those possessed by the ova
of animals, it was supposed that the latter had cilia whilst the former
had not. linger and Thuret however, in 1848, both announced the
faet that the spores of many AlgcB possess vibratile cilia, not to be
distinguished from those on animal bodies. This important diacovsry
has been followed by a very rigid examination of the various oxganiBsd
bodies admitted by Ehrenberg into the daas of Animalcules, in his
* Infusionsthierchen,' on account of their locomotion by meaxia of cilia.
The consequence has been that large numbers of the Jt^futoria of
Ehrenberg are now regarded as plants. One of the most remarkable
of these is the Volvox globator, or Globe Animalcule, which, although
endowed with cilia and possessing the most active powers of motion,
has through the recent researches of Professor WiUiamson and Mr.
Busk been shown to be an undoubted plant. Not only does the
history of its development and its mode of reproduction bear out this
conclusion, but also tiie presence of starch, detected by Mr. Buak during
the growth of the young VUwyx {* Microscopical Transaetiona,' vol. L
New Series). The placing this form in tae vegetable kingdom ii
important, as a large number of the forms placed by Ehrenberg near
Vdvox must now be regarded also as planta. This serves to remoTs
the anomaly which has sometimes been insisted on, that the lower
animals perform the functions of the higher plants, that ia, take up
carbonic acid and throw out oxygen. The fact is, these lower animals
are plants. [Animal KmoDOH.]
Ehrenberg also describes and figures the families of DiaUmacea
and Deamidea in his Infutoria, They have the power of movement
but are destitute of cilia. The DemnidtoB contain chlorophyle, aie
developed similar to the Alga, and the fact of their conjugating
after the manner of the Zygnamata amongst the Algce, first obeerred
bv Mr. Thwaites, has led naturalists to place tbem amongst planta
Mr. Ralfs, whose work on the ' British DesmidesB ' is one of the best
on the subject^ states that he has found starch universally present
amongst them. The Diatonuuxce are not so decidedly vegetable ia
their nature. Lindley in his ' Vegetable Kingdom,' however, admits
J)iaiomac(gf and regards Detmu^ as a sub-kingdom. The presence of a
shell or frustule of silica, sometimes very complicated in its structurs^
has led Schleiden to reject the Diatotnaeea as plants, whilst Kiitzing
admits some and rejects others. Their general resemblance to
Dewmidece has given them their position in the vegetable kingdom.
On the other hand the Sponges {Spongiada), which were plaoed
amongst anim^lR on account of &e active motile habits of their ova,
seem^ to be destined to classification again with plants when motility
no longer became the distinguishing mark of the two kingdoms.
There are, however, other points of structure which still induce the
zoologist to lay claim to the sponges. The corallines (OoraUina)
which were formerly classed with the sponges, fizst aa plants, then aa
animals, are now again placed with the CeramiaeeaB amongst the sea-
weeds, and have a decided relation to the vegetable kingdom.
From these fiusts it is very evident that no mere technical definition
will enable the naturalist to separate the animal and vegetable
kingdoms, and that it is only by obserying the structure and
functions of organic beings through tiie whole course of their existence
that we can hope to assign them their right position as plants or
In determining the sphere of Botanv by the inquiiy into the nature
of the plant, it will at once be seen that the study of planta cannot
be successfully prosecuted without inquiry into the nature of aniTnale
Again, the chemical elements of which plants and animals are formed,
exert a great influence through their peculiar properties on the life
of these beings. These must be always taken into consideration in
speaking of the structure of a plant or the functions it performs.
Hence we see that Botany is but the part of a great series of facts
in which the inoiganic elements, the oalls of plants, and the cells of
animals, are constantiy taking a part
In order to study Botany therefore successfully, the first knowledge
that is necessary is that of the properties of the elements* which enter
into the composition of plants and animals. These are more espe-
cially four, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, which on account
of their universal presence in plants and animals have been called
oi^panic or necessary elements. In addition to these are found twelve or
thirteen other elements, which not being universally present may be
called occasional or inoiganic elements. Sulphur, phosphorus, calcium,
potassium, sodium, iron, magnesium, iodine, and bromine, are the
most conspicuous of these elements. The organic elements enter
into various compounds which are found in plants, as sugar, starch,
cellulose, protein, chlorophyle, gums, reainsy alkaloids, adds^ Ac;
whose properties should be studied in order that their presence mav
be readily recognised in the dissection of planta. In order to acoomplim
this, re-agents must be employed, as iodine, potaasa, sulphuric add,
iron, and many others, which on being applied to the parts of plants
reveal by their action the nature of the vegetable compounda
One of the most important aids to the study of the straetnre of
plants, and by which the great recent progress in physiology has
been made, is the microscope. The textures of plants as well as
^nimi^la take their origin in cells so minute that they cannot be seen
by the naked eye. It ia in and around these cells that the active
functions of every part of an animid or plant are going on ; and it is
only as the botanist gets to know the nature oi the changes which
the vegetable elements and their compounds undergo in the oella^ of
plants, that he can comprehend the general laws of vegetable li^
Not only is it necessary to the botanist to study these lain by the
aid of the microscope, but the general physiologist and student of tiM
Digitized by
Google
685 BOTAKY.
fimctioiiB of the hmnui body will find it necesBary to begin hiB
inqoirin by the study of the nature of vegetable celk. It waa by
following up the reeearchea made by Schleiden on vegetable ceUs,
that Schwann waa enabled to demonstrate the oellular straotuie of
the animal body, and thus to initiate a new era in physiology. It is
still in the plant that the simplest oondition of the cell is observed.
It is also in the plant that the greatest chemical activity of the cell
exists. The food of animals, and that which constitutes tiie subatance
of the tissues of animals, are all formed in the interior of the cells of
plants. It is the cell of the plant which appropriates the carbonic
acid of the atmosphere, and throws back again into it oxygen gas ;
on the one hand depriving it of an agent destructive to animiJ life,
and on the other supplymg the agent by which alone animal life
could be carried on. It is also in the vegetable cell that the chemist
most seek the solution of some of the most diflScult problems of
his science. The chemist cannot convert carbonic acid and ammonia
into protein, sugar, starch, &c. — ^prooeflses which are going on in every
vegetable cell; he must therefore regard attentively the changes
going on in the cells of plants, if he would manufacture the products
of the vegetable kingdom independent of its aid.
Amongst the practical arts of life a knowledge of Botany is impor-
tant to many. Agriculture and' Horticulture are tiie two arts with
which its relation is the most obvious ; for although a considerable
part of all the practices in each of them grew out of mere experience,
or was discovered by ohacoe, yet there is no possibility of improving
theoi except by other fortunate accidents, or of advancing them at a
moiv rapid' rate, unless by the application of vegetable physiology.
The world, especially that part of it to which these arts belong, is
little accustomed to trace to their source ^e common practices
with which it has been familiar from its infancy ; and it is far from
suspecting that many of the operations which are intrusted to the
most ignorant rustics have one by one and piecemeal been hit upon
during the careful study of nature by philosophers whose names it
never heard. Gardening and Husbandry may be defined as the arts,
firstly, of improving the quality of various useful plants, and secondlv,
of increasing the quantity which a given space of earth is capable
of producing.
To improve the quality of any one plant, and to render it better
adapted to the uses of mankind upon scientific principles^ is a very
complicated process, and is to be effected in many different ways,
all of which require an intimate knowledge of the nature of tiie
vital actions of plants, and of the degree in which they are affected
by either external or internal causes. For example, a particular kind
of flax produces fibres which are too coarse for the manufacturer ; it
is impossible to know how those delicate elementary tubes are to
be rendered fine without being aware of the manner in which vege-
table tissue is affected bv light, air, and earth. The flavour of some
fruit is too add ; it is the botanist only who could have discovered
how to increase the quantity of sac<marine matter. Potatoes are
sometimes watery and unfit for food; we leam from vegetable
physiology that this is often caused by the leaves not being sufficiently
exposed to solar light>' the great agent in causing the production of
vegetable secretions. The leaves of the tea plant are harmless and
oply alightly stimulating in certain latitudes ; they become narcotic
and unwholesome in otiiers; this apparent puszie is explained by
the connection that exists between clunate and vegetation, a purely
botanical qnestion. Certain races of plants may enst, of which one
is too vigorous, the other too debilitated for the purposes of the
cultivator; the botanist shows how an intermediate race may be
created, having the best qualites of both.
Certain vegetable productions are susceptible of being produced in
particular latitudes, othars are not, or not to any useful purpose :
for instanoe^ in Bngland, on account of the want of the necessary
heat at the period of ripening the grape, the vine will never yield
grapes capable of making such wine as even that of champagne, nor
will tobacco ever acquire that peculiar principle which gives it so
great a value in tropioal and subtropical oimates when grown in other
countries; and yet both these plants flourish in the soil of England.
The botaoiist can explain the cause of this, and thus prevent the
commencement of speoulatiomi which can never end except in loss
and disaj^pomtment. .
The quantity of produce which may be procured from ft given
space of ground varies very much according to the skill of the
cultivator, but that skill is in reality the mere application of the rules
of vegetable physiology to each particular case ; an appli<»ktion that
is most frequently made unoonsdoasly, but which nevertheless is
made. We are too apt to overlook causes in effects, and to aacribe
the improvements we witness to a mere advance in art, without
considering that that advance must have had a cause, and that the
cause can only be the working of some master-hand which is after-
wards blindly followed by the community. The crops of orchard-
fruit are doubled and trebled in many places : old exhausted races
are replaced by young, vigorous^ ana prolific ones; the dder and
perry fiMinar winfeelihe benefit of this, but he will forget that he
owes the change to the patient akill of a vagstable physiologist The
produoe of the potata is angmented in the same proportion; twice
at least the ordinary qoanti^ of this important artiole of f oqd may
now be obtained firom'evny field. The peasant will feel the additional
BOTANY.
0M
comfort thus difilised sround him, but he wUl never have heard of
the name of Knight ; nor will he know, after a few years, that the
produce of the land was ever smaller.
Nor is it alone to articles of food that this scienoe is to be ^>plied.
Next in importance to food are fire and shelter, both of which are
mainly furnished by timber. The laws of nature which regulate the
production of this substance are among the most curious in science :
we possess the most absolute control over them ; we hold in our very
hands the means of regulating their action ; and if we neglect them, as
is too often the case, it is not scienoe which is to blame, but those
who undervalue and neglect her. Because trees will grow without
assistance, and because in spite of neglect and ignorance timber is
perpetually renewing itself upoii the earth, we forget that either its
rate of production may be accelerated or its quality improved.
Instances are not wanting where plantations in this country made for
particular purposes at a laige expense have been totally ruined, with
reference to the objects of those who planted them, from ignorance of
the simplest laws of vegetable physiology.
Some allusion has already been imlde to the important results
which arise out of the study of the connection between vegetation and
climate. The quality of all vegetable productions is influenced essen-
tially by external causes ; intensity of light, atmospheric pressure^
humidi^, temperature, and seasons, are the great agents which modify
the tissue, which control development, and which regulate the forma-
tion of sensible properties. Various combinations of these and other
external causes are what constitute diversities of climate, and it is
therefore obvious that the connection between the latter and vegetation
is of the most intimate nature. But as this is a branch of the scienoe
of comparatively modem origin there are few instances of its appli-
cation : one of the most striking was the declaration of Dr. Royle, that
cotton might be obtained in the East Indies equal to the finest from
America — a prophecy which has already been fulfilled, in consequence
of the practical adoption of plans similar to those which he theoreti-
cally suggested. Can tea be cultivated as advantageously elsewhere
as in China 1 Here is a single question of immense importance, in-
volving the interests of millions of human beings, and affecting the
pecuniary interests of Qreat Britain aa much as any commercial
problem ever did. This question has been answered by the botanist
in the affirmative, and already the natives of the East Indies are
supplied with tea from the Himalaya^ and Asam tea may be bought
in the shops of London.
To the medical man the studv of botany is of the highest interest
as the membera of the vegetable kingdom yield to him the most
important means of his art It is only as the properties of plants are
studied that new agents for the alleviation of disease can be expected,
or that substitutes for those slready in use can be employed.
Thus hr we have more especially referred to the study of vegetable
physiology. Systematic Botany bean upon practice not less usN^Uy,
but in a diiibrent way. If the only advantage of classifying plants
were to acquire the power of discovering their scientific names, even
that would have a certain kind of interot, because it would ensure a
uniformity of language in speaking of them ; if it had the additional
property of demonstratLog the gradual connection that is discoverable
between all the beings in the organised part of the creation, of proving
that there is an insensible transition firam one form of living matter
to another without break or interruption, and of explaining in a dear
and intdligible manner the nature of that imiverssl harmony of
which philosophen are used to talk, the interest and importance of
botanical daasifications would be still further enhancecf ; but the
practical importance of them would atill be extremely limited. It is
only when we look to the coincidence between botanical affinities and
sensible properties, and to the external indications of internal qualities,
that we perceive the great features of its utility to man. If the
qualities of every plant required to be ascertained by a circuitous and
tedious series of experiments, no life could be long enough for the
task, nor, if it were, could any memory however powerful remember so
extensive a series of facts ; and if under such circumstsnces botanists
whose whole life is occupied in the study should be unable to master
the difficulties, systematic botany could never be applied at all to any
useful purpose, because it must of necessity be far beyond the
acquirement of those persons who would be most likely to have occa-
sion to employ it But it waa long since suspected that plants which
agree with each other in oiganisation also agree in the aeoretions
which may be supposed to be the result of that organisation. Ion:
nsBus, in his dissertation upon the properties of plsnts, declares that
spedes of the same^genus possess similar virtuea, that those of the
same natoral order aito near each other in properties, and that those
which belong to the same natural dass have also some relation to
each other in their sensible properties. This doctrine is now admitted
on all hands among men of sdence to be incontrovertible, and places
the practical utility of systematic botany in the most striking light
Instead of endless experiments leading to multitudes of incoogmous
and iaolated facts, the whole history of the medidnal or economical
uses of the vegetable kingdom is reduced to a comparvtivdy smaU
number of general laws; and a student instead of being compelled ta
entangle himsdf in a nuun of speeifio dJatineliiona, is onlr obliged in
practloe to make himself acquainted with the more striUng groups ;
and having accomplished this he is enabled to jtidge of the properttsa
Digitized by
Google
B87
BOTANY.
BOTAKY.
of a species he Kad nerer seen before, by what he knows of some
other species to which it is related. Some idea of the extent to which
this power of judging of plants 2k priori is practically useful may be
formed firom tnis — ^that supposing the vegetable kingdom to consist
of 100,000 species arranged in 6000 or 7000 genera, the vast mass of
characters required to disting^h them will be collected under about
800 heads, a knowledge of not more than two-thirds of which will be
required for the purposes of the general observer. Thus the oommon
hedge-mallow is a mucilaginous inert plant, whose woody tissue is tough
enough to be manufactured into cordage; it has certain botani^
charfM^rs, which are readily observed and remembered ; and it belongs
to a group of plants consisting of not fewer than 700 species. It is
only necessary to understand the structure of the common mallow to
recognise all the remainder of the group, and to be aware of their uses
and properties ; so that a person in a foreign country who finds a
plant agreeing with the mallow in those marks by which the MalvcusecB
are known, although lie should never have seen or heard of the plant
before, would immediately recognise it to be mucilaginous and mett,
and would expect to find its vegetable fibre tough enough to be
- manufactured into cordage. It is this class of facts which alone can
lead with any certainty to the discovery in one country of substitutes
for the useful plants of another ; it has shown the similarity between
the violet roots of Europe and one of the kinds of ipecacuanha of
South America ; that the astringency of the aliun-root of the United
States fibads a parallel in those of the geraniums of England ; that
madder has its representative in the Isle of France, cinchona in India,
and that India-rubber trees exist in the esst as well as in the west.
The artist also would confer an advantage on his art by the study
of Botany. It is on account of the utter neglect of any attention to
vegetable forms that in almost all objects of art whm plants are
introduced they are ridiculously wrong. Not only are tnese mon-
strous caricatures of the vegetable kingdom introduced upon our waUa,
carpets, plates, dishes, saucers, kc, but into many of the great works
of art Paintings strictly correct in regard to general outline and
colour are filled up with botanical impossibilities. The plants of
tropical clunates are found flourishing in the forests of Great Britain,
ana an Assyrian monarch is surrounded with the vegetation of the
Kew World. Such anomalies could not exist if the artist studied as
attentively the structure of the v^etable kingdom as he does that of
the human body.
The study of Botany may be divided and pursued undar the fol-
lowing heads : —
1. The Chemistry of Plants, including a knowledge of the physical
and chemical properties of the elements which enter into the compo-
sition of plants. [Secbstions, Yeqxtablb.]
2. The Histology of Plants, including the fiscts connected with the
origin of the vegetable cell, the various functions it performs^ and its
lifb in connection with others in the formation of otgans, [Ckll^
YsoxTABLE ; Tissues, Ysgetable.]
3. The Morphology of Plants, embracing the history of the origin
and growth of the individual oigans of plimts, and the relation of all
forms of oxgans to one another, and the laws which regulate the
changes which the same oigan undergoes in the same and in different
&milies of plants. [Stamen ; Pistil ; Seed ; Flowsk; Fbuit; Ovule.]
4. The Organology of PUmts, including the general phenomena of
the entire life of the plant, and the consideration of the relations which
animals bear to plants, and the way in which they take part in the great
changes going on in the suriaoe of the earth. FStsm ; Root ; Lsav.]
5. Systematic Botany, embracing the principles of classification and
the arrangement of plants in groups according to their relations to
each other. This department of ootany has been only gradually
developed. Under the heads of Exoosns, EifDOOBirs^ and Acboqens
will be found in this work the subdivisions proposed l^ the most
recent writers on systematic botany. In order however to facilitate
the student in discovering the order to which any plant he may
possess belongs, we give here an analyslB of the orders contained in
the Enqlibh CTOLOFiEDiA upon the plan followed by Dr. Lxndley in
his ' Ysgetable Kingdom.'
Claas, EXOGENa
Sub-Claas, Poltfbtaljl (Fetab not united).
L Stamens more than 20 (Polyandrous).
A. OvBiy wholly or partiy inferior
a. Stipules present «
1. Carpels more or less distinct or ^PomaoM,
solitary \ (JRataeeiB.)
2, Cupels combined
Placentas central
Leaves opposite
Leaves alternate
Placentas on the side .
h, Stipxdes absent
1. Caipels more or leas distinct .
% C«(p^» united
Placentas spread about .
Placentas on sides
Petals definite, distinct . . Loiuaeete,
Petals indefinite^ oonfused
Placentas in the oentro
Leaves dotted
Ovary 1-oelled .
Ovary more than 1-oelled
Leaves dotless
Petals numerous
Petals few
Petals narrow
CodooeoL
Petals round
{Almgiaeea.
styles separate PhUadd^pkatete.
B. Ovary superior
a. Stipules present
1. Carpels more or less distinct or solitary
Stemens hypogynous
Carpel solitary ZeguminomL
Oaipels 00 ... . Ma^noUacut,
Stamens perig^nous
Styles coming from apex of carpels
Carpels more than 1 . • Soiocea,
Styles coming £h)m [base of 1 c8krMa6<ri«i«wt
carpels. .... j ^"•f*"**"'*''"*^
2. Caipelsumted; placentas more than 1
Placentas on the side (parietal)
Leaves dotted, dots round
Leaves dotted, dots linear and
round, mixed
Placentas in the oentre
Calyx imbricated
Flowers unisexual
Flowers hermaphrodite
Ovary I-ceued ; sepals 2
Ovary 2 or more celled
Calyx double .
Calyx single
Calyx valvate
Stamens monadelphous ;
anthers 2-celled
Stamens columnar StereuliacetB,
Stamens not columnar . Byttneriacw.
Flae(mrtiaee(g,
Stipkorbiaoea,
Pofiniaeacea.
CfUanaeta.
Oitiaeece,
Stamens monadelphous ; 1 »^ ,
anthers 1-ceUed . r^**"**
Stamens monadelphous ;
calyx irregular
Stamens distinct
V JHpttraeeoB.
5. Stipules absent
1. Carpelsmore or less distinct or solitary
Caipels immersed in a disk .
Carpels not immersed
NeUtmbiaeeoe,
iperigynous .
Stamens hypogynous
Embryo in a vitellus
Embryo naked, very minute
Seeds with an aril
Exarillate; albumen fleshy
Flowers heimaphrodite
Flowers unisexual
Exarillate ; albumen rumi-
nated ....
Embryo nearly as long as seed
Calyx much imbricated
Fruit a legume
Fruit not a legume
Seeds smooth
Seedshairy .
Calyx littie imbricated
raiit not a legume
Fruit a legume
2. Carpels united; placentas more than 1
Plaoentas parietal, in lines
Anthers versatile ; juioe watery
Aathen innate ; juice milky .
Plaoentas parietal, spread over the
lining of the fruit
Plaoentas^Mread over diasefMrnents
Plaoentas central
Stigma broad and petaloid •
Stigma simple
Ovaiy 1-oalled . •
Ovary msny^oeUed
Calyx much imbricatedT
Leaves compound .
CabcmbacM.
DOiemaeea.
Sdtimmdraeta.
>'An(maeece.
ffppericaeeek
AnaeardiaeuB,
Ckupparidaomu
\Plaeowiiacea,
SkkobcUeuh
Digitized by
Google
BOTANY.
BOTANY.
Leaves simple
Petalsequal to tepalfl
Chuiaeea.
MaregraaHae$(B,
Oittaoeok
ManalMeeeB,
Beg<miaeea,
ShemnaoecB,
Jthuophoraeeof.
SamemdidaoefB,
CucwrhUaceas.
OrosiulacecB,
Vmbelltferof.
AraliacecB,
Seeds few
Seeds niune- '
roiiB;<9eUls
flat .
Seeds nume- '
roQs; petals
crumpled .
CUyx little or not at all '
imbricated
IL Stamens fewer than 20 (Oligandrous).
A Omcj wholly or partly inferior
A. Stipules present
Placentas parietal
Placentas in the centre
Flowers unisexual .
Flowers hermaphrodite
Stamens opposite petals
Stamens alternate with petals
Leaves opposite .
Leaves altemate .
6. Stipules absent
Placentas parietal
Flowers unisexual .
Flowers hermaphrodite .
Placentas in the centre
Flowers in umbels ; styles 2 .
Flowers in umbels ; styles 8 .
Flowers not in umbels
Caxpela Bolitaxy
Petals strap-shaped; stamens \AlangiaeetB.
distinct . , t {Ny$9aeeos.)
growing on tnem . . J
Petals oblong; leaves hispid
Cotyledons convolute .
Ck>tyledons flat ■ .
Petals oblong ; leaves balsamic
Carpela divaricating
Leaves altemate : herbs
Leaves opposite : shrubs
CSsrpels parallel, combined
fcalyx valvato; petals oppo- \ j^,,^,,,^ceoB.
site stamens . j««»wn«ww.
Calyx valvate ; petals alter-
nate with stamens
Albumen none •
Albumen copious .
Calyx not valvate
Stamens doubled
Stamens curved
Leaves dotted .
Leaves not dotted
Parts of flower 4
Ovules ascending
Ovules pendulous
Parts of flower not
4; seeds many
Leafy . .
Scalv .
Parts of flower not
4 ; seeds few
E Ovavy ^diolly superior
a. Leaves stipulate
1. Carpels distinct or solitary
Anthers with recurved valves
Anthers with longitudinal valves
Stylefromthe base of the carpel Chrysohakmaeees.
2. Cwpeb wholly combined
Plaoentas parietal
Flowers with appendages Poiiii/loracecB.
Flowers without appendagea
Leaves with round and ob- 1 o«-..,a.—
long transparent dels . |««»y*««*
Leaves dot^es^ «*«**^ T iVoMracw.
when young • . / ••'^^'••'^"''W'
Comhraacea.
ffalaraffaceat.
AnaeardicteecB,
Saxi/roffaeeeB.
ffydrangeaoea.
Onagraeea.
Oornaeea.
MdadamaeeeB.
Myrtaeea.
OnagraettB.
H^HfragoMn,
£$wuonwi$(B»
Motwtrcpaceat,
' |>.9pimiaci0<s.
Serbeiridaeete.
Leaves dotlesSy straight 1
when young ; fruit cap- > VioUicetB.
snlar ....
Leaves dotless, straight '
when young; fruit » Moringaceat.
siliquose . . .J
Plaoentas central
Styles distinct
Calyx in a broken whorl . Slaiinaeect,
Calyx in a complete whorl
Flowers unisexual . JSuphorbiacea.
Iilowers hermaphrodite
Petals minute lUecebraoea.
Petals laige; stamens ]
perigynous; leaves ^OwMMocece:
opposite . J
Petals large; stamens 1
perigynous; leaves \ Saxifragaeea,
altemate . J
Calyx valvate THiacea,
Styles more or less oombined,
gynobasio
leaves
(k^naeea.
leaves
" f ZpgophyUacecB,
OeraniaeecB.
Ozdlidaeecs.
VochyaeecB,
Gynobase fleshy
Gynobase diy ;
opposite .
Gynobase diy;
altemate
Fruit beaked
Fruit not beaked .
Styles more or less oombined,
not gynobasio
CfJyx in a broken whorl
i^lowers spurred .
Flowers not spurred, naked SapindaeetB,
Calyx in a complete whorl
Leaves simple ; sepals 2 . PortulaeacecB,
Calyx valvate or open
Stamens columnar . StereuliaeecB,
Stamens not columnar
Stamens opposite petals
Perigynous . ShamnacecB,
Hypogvnous . . VitacecB,
Stamens altemate with
petals
Anthers porous . TUiaeecB.
Antners slit ; petals 1
undivided . • J
Stipules absent
' L Carpels distinct or solitary
Anther-valves recurved. Berbtridacees.
Anther-valves longitudinal
Fruit a legume; radicle next ~
Tii^irm , , , , ,
Fruit a legume; radicle away '
from hilum .
Fruit not leguminous
Carpels with 1 scale . . Crauvlaeea.
Carpels with two scales . FroncoaeetB,
Carpels without scales
Albumen abundant;
embryo minute
Flowers unisexual . LardktAaUKttam
Flowers hermaphrodite
Embryo in vitellus CahomhaeeoB,
Embryo naked
Albumen solid JZcmtmeiitaeees.
Albumen ™-l^^^
Albumen small or none
Carpels several
Endoeed . •
Naked . .
Carpels solitary
Leaves dotted .
- Leaves dotlees .
2, Carpels oembhied Into a solid pistQ
Placentas parietal
St^mena telradyiuanoiif •
VAmyridaceoB,
yLeguminMim,
[OotmaracetB^
Cdlyctmikaetat,
AfllWptfmUKMCBi
Amyridaeea,
AnacatrdiacetB,
Cfrucifm
Digitized by
Google
Ml
BOTANY.
BOTANY.
Stamens not tetndynamotu
Ilowen with stOTile stameni
Stamens and pistils on
distinct flowers
Pistil-flower crowned Pm^giaota,
Stamens and pistils 1
together; placentce [•J^Zaeowtiaoeas.
lining the firuit . . J
Stamens and pistils 1
together; plaoentie in \MoltAahiaMot,
rows . « .J
Flowers withoat sterile stamens
Disk
stamens i
Disk of flower lai^; '
stamens definite
Diskof flower small or none
of flowOT Urge; 1 01™,,,.^^^^^^
mens indefinite . J ^'^WP«»^»«'«»'
Albumen large
Albmnen sniall
Calyx 6-leayed
Calyx tubular
Placentas coTering dissepiments
Placentas central
Styles distinct
Calyx Talvate
Calyx in a broken whorl
Seeds haiiy
Popaveracea.
Frankeniactm,
Nymphaacea,
ViviancLcecB.
JUawmwriaoea*
Seeds smooth; stamens XrAnaMa.
monadelphous, or free J'*^'»«<'«^
Calyx in a complete whorl
Carpels with a scale 0r<U9¥lacea.
Carpels without scales
Carpels divaiicating . Saxifnigacea,
Carpelsnotdiyarioating Caryoph}^lao§m,
Styles united, gynobasio
Stamens arising from cftales Simarvlbacecs,
Stamens not aniBing from scales
Styles united, not gynobasio
Calyx in a broken whorl
rlowers symmetrical . dutiaceas,
flowers unsymmetrical
Flowers regular
Flowers papilionaoeous PdygalaeecB,
Calyx in a complete whorl
Carpels 4 or more;
antthers porous
Embryo in the axis . Bricaeecg.
Embryo at the base PyrolacecB.
Carpels 4 or moro;
anthers slit
Seeds winged
Leafy. . Oedrdacecs.
Scaly. ifono<ropac0CB.
Seeds wingless
' Stamens united . MtUacea.
Stamens free
Leaves dotted A^tmHacecB.
Leaves dotlen
Leafy • SrexiaeeoL
Scaly MonotropacetB.
Caipels fewer than 4
flowers unisexual . ^npetraeecB.
Flowershermaphrodite
Sepals 2 . P9H¥laeaoeau
Sepals above 2
Stamens hypo-
gynous
^Tamancaoea,
Ovides
ing I
OvnlM
pandift-
lOUS .
Stamens peti-
gynous
Ovules aa-
fOifriOaen,
^^^!^\Brmiac60L
pended ./
Galyx valvate or open
Anthers porous • 3SremMdrwom
Anthers slit
Stameos opposite Ijm--,-™,
petals ... J '•■■■i""«"w«.n*-
Stamens alternate to
petals
Leaves pinnate . Afliyrida«M&
Leaves simple; "
calyx tubular;
stamens hypo-
gynous
Leaves simple ; '
nous
^
9
Ofacoees.
Sub-Classp HovoFKALJL (Petals united into a Tube).
A. Flowers regular
a. 8- 4- 54obed
L Ovary superior.
Leaves dotted SMiacea,
Leaves dotlees
Inflorescence gyrate Bi^raginaeuL
Inflorescence straight
Corolla plaited in aestivation NoUtnaetes.
Corolla flat in estivation . StadehovnaeoB.
h. Ovary not lobed
Carpels 4 or 5, or none
Anthers porous
Seeds winged .... Pyrolaoag.
Seeds wingless
Anthers biporous . Brieaeea,
Anthers uniporous . Fpaeridaeece,
Anthers slit
Stamens opposite petals
Shrubs Myninaeea.
Herbs Prmnlacea.
Stamens not opposite petals
Seeds numerous
Carpels distinct Cfnmulaeea,
Carpels combined . . Monotropaeta.
Seeds few
* Carpels distinct Awmaen,
Caipels combined
Ovules erect
^Estivation imbricate Sapotaeea,
Estivation plicate OtmvobnUaeeot,
Ovules pendulous
Numberof stamens 1 a^^jlh^^,^
sameaspetals . MWW»fl«*
Numberofstamens 1 w^^^^
double petals . /^»«»««^
Carpels usually 8
Infloresoenoe gyrate • MydnphyOacea.
Inflorescence straight
Flowers unisexual
Flowers hermaphrodite
An hypogynous disk
No hypogynous disk . JHapemiaoea,
Carpels 2
Stamens 2
Corolla valvate .... OUacecs,
Corolla imbricate . JanUmacea,
Stamens 4
Inflorescence gyrate
Fruit 1-celled • . HydrofkjflUetm.
Fruit 2H)aUed
Style bifid . . Jghntiaeee,
Style diohotomous . • OMrdkuecb
Inflorescence straight
Calyx in a broken whorl
Leafy • . . . OomwMUmcl
.Scaly .... OMCtitactck
Cajyx in a complete whod
^Floifersi
- "10
Digitized by
PlKMWCCtB.
Google
511
BOTANT.
BOTANY.
m
Carpels Q
Anthers and 1 ^ , . ,
stigma united . / ^'<^^P*a^<^(e'
Anthers and
stigma separate
CoroUaimbri- ^ chuianaccct.
CorolUvalYate Loganiaeece,
Corolla oon- 1 -^
torted . ^Apocynaeea.
Flowers unsymmetrical
Stipules . . Zoganiaeeaf.
No stipules . . StUbacecB,
Carpel single
Stigma simple
Style 1
Fruit spuriously 2-celled . Plantaginacea:.
Fruit X-celled ; seed 1 . SaLvadoracece,
Styles 6 PLwnbaginctceos.
Stigma indusiate .... Brwumiaeece.
B. Flowers irr^ular
a. Ovary i-lobed .... • j^^*^' ^^*''
h. Ovary undivided
Carpel solitary SdagvnactcB,
Carpels 2
Fruit capsular or succulent
Plac^tas parietal
Seeds amygdaloid
Fruttjrucoulent, ^7-}^ Ore»centia^.
Fruit bony, few-seeded . Pedaliacece.
Seeds not amygdaloid
Leafy
Seeds winged . . Bignoniacea.
Seeds wingless . . Gemeracece.
Scaly . . . Orohanchacecg,
Placentas in centre
Albumen large . . . Scrophulariacece.
Albumen none
Seeds winged . . . Bignoniaeea.
Seeds wingless . . AcanthaeecB.
Placentas free, central . . LerUibulariacea,
Fruit nucamentaceouB, 2-celled
Anthers 1-oelled . . Sdaginacea.
Anthers 2-celled . . Stilbacea,
Fruit nucamentaceousy 4-celled
Radicle inferior . . . Verberuicece,
Radicle superior . . . Myoporacece,
II. Ovary inferior.
A. Carpel angle
Anthers united
Ovule pendulous ..... Calyceracece.
Ovule erect Composito!.
Anthers firee
Carpel 1 Dyptacea.
Carpels 3, 2 abortive .... Valerianacccp.
B. Carpels more than 1
Anthers united Loheliaecce.
Anthers free
Stamens 2 Ooiumdliacecp.
Stamens more than 2
Anthers porous .... Vaccinicicae.
Anthers slit
Stigma naked
Stamens 4, 5 . . . . CamparmlaeecB.
Stamens numerous . . . Bdvisiacece.
Anthers and stigmas united . Stylidiacea,
Stigma indusiate . . Goodmiacece,
Stigma simple .
Stipules . . . Cinehonaceot,
Without stipules
Leaves opposite
Stem square . GcUiacecB.
Stem round « Caprifoliwea.
Sub-Class, APETALis, or Incomfletje. (Without Petals, sometimes
without Calyx.)
I. Without a Calyx (Achlamydese).
A. Stipules present
Ovules numeroos ..... Bahamifiwx.
Seeds winged SalicaeecB,
Seeds comose
Ovules solitary or very few
Flowers with stamens and pistils
Stamens unilateiiil .... Chloranthacea*
Stamens whorled .... Saunwaeece.
VAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. L
Flowers unisexual
Carpel solitary; ovules erect
Carpel solitaiy ; ovules pendidous
Carpels tricoccous .
B. Stipules absent
Ovules very numerous
Ovules single or few
Flowers hermaphrodite
Embryo in vitellus ....
Embryo without vitellus .
Flowers unisexual
Flowers naked ; carpel single .
Flowers naked ; carpel double .
Flowers covered; anther-valves re-
curved .......
Flowers covered; anther-valves slit .
MyricaeeoL
Platanaoea,
EttpfiorbiaeecB,
PodottemaouB,
Piperacf€B.
OUacete.
Myricacece,
CaUitrichacecB.
^AtherospermaetCB.
) (CalyeafUhacea.)
Monimiaeea.
Myricacece,
Jugiandaeeoe,
Oucwhitac€(e.
II. Calyx present (Monochlamydae).
A. Ovary inferior
a. Stipules present
Flowers with stamens and pistils Arutoiochiweee.
Flowers unisexual ; fruit in a cup . Corylacece.
Flowers unisexual ; fruit naked
Many-seeded Begoniacece.
1-seeded Artocarpacea.
K Stipules absent
Plowers unisexual, in catkins
Leaves simple, alternate .
Leaves simple, opposite .
Leaves compoimd .
Flowers unisexual, not in catkins
Seeds in apulp
Seeds dry
Numerous Datiscticece,
Solitary Hdwingiacea.
Flowers hermaphrodite
Leaves dotted .... Myrtacece.
Leaves not dotted
Ovary 3- 6-celled . Arittolochiacece.
Ovary 1-celled
^n^o^^^*"*' cotyledons j Comhretaceo!,
Embryo straight; cotyledons
flat
Albumen absent Haloragcuxce,
Albumen fleshy . . Santalacea.
Embryo curved . . . CTienopodiacece,
Ovary more than 1, but not 3
or 6-celled
Embryo straight . Halorcigacea.
Embryo curved . TetragoniaceoB,
B. Ovazy superior
a. Stipules absent
Flowers hermaphrodite
Sepals 2 Portvlacacea.
Sepals more than 2 •
Carpels several, united
Placentas parietal, in lines .
Placentas parietal, diffused .
Placentas in centre
Ovules few
Calyx short, with a '
gynobase.
Calyx short, no gyno-
base
Embryo curved .
Embryo straight .
Calyx tubular .
Ovules numerous
Carpels 2, divaricating
Carpels not divari-
cating; stamens hy-
pogynous .
Leaves opposite .
Leaves alternate .
Carpels not divari-
cating; stamens pe-
rigpous
Fruit licelled
Fruit many-celled
Carpels solitaiy or
separate
Carpels several .
Carpel single
Anther - valves 1 j
recurved, leafy J
2 Q
PapaveracetB,
Fla&mrtiacete,
yRtUcKea,
Phytdlcuieactct.
CdoMtracea,
PenoMcecB,
SaxtfragaeecB.
CaryophyllacecB,
PodoBtemaeea,
PrimiUttcea,
LylhracUB.
BanuncviaeeoB.
[LauracecB.
Digitized by
Google
m BOTANY.
BOTANY.
m
Anther - 7filveB recuired.
I Catijfthacecg,
Carpel solitary
fioaly ....
Anther-valyes slit
^'t^fiuL^t**"'" P^7"^^^^^ )8iiiogimc^.
Fruit alegume . *
Cells of anthers parallel to filameni
Fruit not a legume
Embryo stnught
Albumen present .
Calyx long or tubular
UrlicaceiB.
Base ha^ened
No albumen .
Afioearpacta,
Tube hardened
Embryo hooked
Not hardened
Albumen present
Moraeta.
Stamens embedded
inaepalfl .
Stamens not so
\Proteacea.
Albumen none
Sub-Class, DiCTTOQEira (Lindley).
Ovnlea erect
SlaagnaeecB,
Ovary inferior
JHotconacta.
Oy\des pendulous
Ovaiy superior
Csrpels distinct
Fruit indehis-
cent .
\ Thymdaceoe.
Carpels unit^
Placentas central
Calyx short
Flowers 6-petalled ....
Snilacea.
Leaves with scales .
Slaaffnaceee,
Flowers S-petalled ....
Triaiace(B.
Leaves dotted
Placentas below
Soximryhiaeeet
Leaves smooth
Placentas on the sides ....
PkiUtiacea.
Flowers in iavolucels Polpg<macea.
Flowers naked
Sub-Class, G7MN0GBK8 (Lindley).
Calyx dry
AmaraniacecB,
Stemjointed
QnOacea.
Calyx herbaceous |
Stem continuous
Stamens hy-
pogynous .
Leaves pinnate
Leaves simple
Cycadaeea.
Stamens peri-
gynous
Ovules in cones
fPinacetg, ICwi-
1 /««.)
Flowers unisexual
Ovules solitary
TaxaceoB,
Carpels several, united
Ovules numerous
Chus, ENDOQENS.
Ovules few
Nepenihaeece,
L Flowers complete (having distinct Floral Envelopes).
Leaves alternate
A. Ovary inferior
Dotted ....
Xamthoxylacea.
Flowers gynandrous
OrchidaetCB,
Not dotted .
Euphorbittcea.
Flowers not gynandrous
Carpel solitary
Calyx tubular ....
Veins of leaves diverging from the midrib
MyritHccKeoB.
Anther 1, with 1 ceU .
MaranUticea.
Calyx open
Anther 1, with 2 cells
Carpels seversl .
Anthers 5 or 6
MvMoeea,
Carpel solitary
Embryo straight .
Casuarinacea.
Veins of leaves parallel with midribs
Stamens 3
Embryo curved
ChenopodiaoefB,
Anthers turned outwards
Anthers turned inwards
IridaceoL
h. Stipules present
Stamens 6
Flowers hermaphrodite
Leaves flat
Sepals 2
PortvlacacecB,
Fruit 8-celled ; sepals coroUa-like
Sepals more than 2
Radicle remote from hilum
ffypoxidaeea.
Caroels several, united
Stamens hypogynous
Radicle next hilum .
AmaryUidacctt,
Fruit S-celled ; sepals calycine
Brfmdiacta,
Placentas parietal .
Flaeowiiacetg,
Fruit 1-ceUed ....
Taccae^E.
Placentas central
Leaves equitant ....
Hamodoraeea.
Calyx valvate ; sta-
Stamens more than 6 . . .
MydrwMrocta.
mens monadelphous
B. Ovary superior
Partly sterile
Byttneriacece,
Sepals (adyx-like or glumaceous
All fertile .
Sterculiacets,
Carpels separate, more or less
Placentas diffused ....
Calyx valvate ; sta-
\TiUactm.
BtUotnaeea.
mens distinct .
Placentas narrow ....
AlumacecB.
Calyx imbricated
Fruit beaked
OeraniaeetB,
Carpels in a solid pistil
Petals distinct from calyx
Not beaked. .
Malptghiofiea,
Placentas central
wOWwIwilMiCWe.
Stamens perigynous
Placentas parietal
Mayaeta,
Placentas parietal .
Pauifloraeetg.
Petals not distinct from calyx
Placentas central
Flowers scattered
Jtuneaeeeg.
Leaves opposite
Ounoniacece,
Flowers spadicose .
OrotUiacteB,
Leaves alternate
Sepals oorolla-like
Stamens alternate
>JRhamnaee(E.
Carpels more or leas separate
to sepals .
SeedsoUtary
Palnaeeoe,
Calyx mem-
branous
' Ulmaccas,
Seeds numerous
Anthers turned outwards .
Mdantkacta.
Carpels solitary or separate
Anthers turned inwards
Calyx membranous
lUeeebraeecB.
Parts of flower 6 .
Buiamaeea,
Calyx herbaceous
Parts of flower 2 .
PhUydraeea.
Styles basal .
Ohrysohalanacea,
Petals rolled inwards
Styles terminal, 1 to an ovary
Pontederaee(g,
Fruit a legume .
Legwninoice.
Petals not rolled inwards
Fruit not a legume .
SanguUorbacem.
Flowers with appendages .
GUlienaoM.
Styles terminal, 8 to an ovary
Flowers without appendages
LUiaeea.
Stipules ochreate.
Stipules simple .
Polygonaeece.
Phytolaecacece,
IL Flowers incomplete (Floral Envelopes not distinct).
Flowers unisexual
A. Flowers in glumes
Carpels several, united
Stems hollow
Oraminaeecf,
Stems soUd
Aril present
Scepacece,
Carpel solitary ; seed erect .
Cyperacea,
No aril ....
BetvlaeecB.
Carpel solitary ; seed pendulous .
Eeitiacea,
Seeds numerous
Carpels several, distinct
Flowers not in catkins
EuphorUacea.
Glumes only
Digitized by
Google
5^
bOtANY.
BOTANY.
Cup within glnrnds ....
Carpela seyeral, combined
Placentas parietal ....
Placentas central . . . .
B. Flowers, or with a few Terticillate leaves
a. Flowers on a spadix
Fruit a drupe
Fruit berried ; leares in bud, convolute
Fruit dry; anthers davate, on weak
filaments .
h. Flowers not on a spadix
Aquatic, with pendulous ovules
Pollen globose ....
Pollen confervoid ....
Terrestrial; ovules erect .
Aquatic; ovules erect.
£riQCaulacecB,
Xyridacea,
ButiaceoB,
PandanaceoB,
Aracece.
'Typhaceof.
NaiadacecB.
ZosteraetcB*
Juncaginacea,
Pitiiacea.
Sub-Class Rhizogbns (Rhizanths).
Omles indefinite
Anthers opening by slits .... Cytinacecs.
Anthers bursting by pores .... Raff^etiacem,
Orules solitary . BdUmophoraeecB,
Class, ACROGENS.
L With Stems.
A No distinct axis of growth
Spores without slaters .... Bieciaeece.
Spores with elaters
Spore-case with valves .... Jungermanniaceo!.
Spore-case valveless .... MarcKantiacecg.
B. A distinct axis of growth
Spores with elaters
Spore-case with valves .... JungermanniacecB,
Spore-csse in cones .... Equigetacea.
Sporss without ebtters
Spore-ease on fronds
Kinged Potypodiacece,
RinglesB Danaacea.
Spore-case on edge of frond . • • OphiogU>uacece,
Spore-case in an involucre . . • MariiUacecR,
Spore-case naked
Sessile in the axil of frond • Lycopodiacece.
Stalked
„ , J Andraacetg.
^■1^«« 1 (Mvsci.)
Without valves .... Bryacea. {Mnsci.)
II. Without Stems.
Mycelium present
Spores m fours
Hymenium naked | ^{F^^'
Hymenium indoeed .... I/ycoperd^iCta*
Spore-case single
Sporules naked
Thallus obsoleto .... Uredinact€B.
Thallus floccodC Botrytacea,
Sporules inclosed
In asci ffdvdHaeeos,
In a veil Mttayractce,
Vyoeliam absent
Aquatic
CryBtalline I>i<Uomacea!.
Cellular or membranous
Fresh-water chiefly
Multiplied by aoospores . Conftrvacta,
Multiplied by spiral nucules . Charaeea,
Salt-water
Multiplied by simple spores . . Fucaeea.
Multiplied by totraspores • . Ceramiacta,
Terrestrial
Spores naked Graphidcuxa.
Spores in asci
Thallus gelatinous .... CoOemacea.
Thallus pulverulent .... Parmeliaeece,
It will be seen that many of the orders are repeated in this analysis
under different divisions ; and this arises from the fact that this
aoalysiB is artificial, and only expresses the general characters of each
order. Beeidee this, in the strongest orders, exceptions to some very
geDenl points of structure fr«quentl v occur. Thus we have apetalous
■nd irregular-flowered plants in the polypetalous regular-flowered
order Ranwneulacea, With a little practice such an analysis as the
foregoing wioi enable anv one acquainted with the structure of plants
to refsr any particular plant to its right order, and on turning to the
order in the alphabetioJ part of this work he will find a detailed
sooouBt of its structure and properties.
Before condading this general artide it may not be uninteresting
just to glance at the steps by which the Science of Botany, more
particularly the systematic department, has attained its present
position. In doing this we shall confine ourselves to a mere sketch
of the progress that has been made in elucidating the great prindplea
of Botany by which its rank as a brandi of philosophy is to be
determined.
It is obvious, from various passages in the most andent writers,
that the art of distingmshing certain plants having medical virtues
was taught at the earliest period of which we have any written record ;
and that the cultivation of something more than com was already
understood in the Homeric days, is suffidentiy attested by the
references to the vineyards of Laertes and the g^udens of Alcinous,
and by the employment assigned to Lycaon, tiie son of Priam, of
pruning figs in his father's garden.
The earliest tangible evidence that we possess of the real state of
knowledge upon this subject is afforded by the remains of the writings
of Aristotie and his school. From the absurd superstitions of the
root-cutters {rhigotomi) of this period, it mig^t be imagined that at
this time botany was far from having any real tvrimt^«^t^ • for it is to
them that we have to trace the bdief in the necessity of magical
ceremonies and personal purification or preparation in collecting heite :
some sorts they tell us are to be cut against the wind, others after the
body of the rhizotomist has been well oiled, some at nighty some by
day. Alliaceous food was a necessary preparation for procuring this
herb, a draught of wine for that^ and so on. But in fact at this veiy
time the Peripatetic philosophers were in possession of a considerable
mass of correct information conoeming tne nature of vegetable lifa^
mixed up indeed with much that was fanciful and hypothetical, but
calculated to give us a high opinion of their acuteness and of the
amount of positive knowledge upon sudi subjects which had by that
time been collected. It is by this school that botany must be con-
sidered to have been first formed into a sdence. Aristotie, in all
probability, was its founder ; for it is obvious, from the remarks upon
plants scattered through his books concerning animals, that his
knowledge of vegetable physiology was for his day of a most
remarkable kind. But as the books immediately concerning plants
ascribed to this philosopher are undoubted forgeries, it will be more
convenient to take the works of Theophrastus as our prindpal guide
to a determination of the state of bc^any at the ooxnmencement of
this—
The Pint Era, — At the time when Theophrastus succeeded to the
the chair of Aristotie (b.c. 824) no idea seems to have existed of
classification! nor indeed was its necessity by any means apparent, for
Theophrastus does not appear to have been acquainted with above
355 plants in alL In the application of their names, even to these,
there was so much uncertainty, that the labours of commentators
must be to a great extent bestowed in vain in endeavouring to
duddate them : for instance, Sprengel asserts tiiat the name Aphake
is applied indifferently to the dandelion and to a kind of vetch
{Lathyrue opAoca), and Scorpios to a spedes of broom, to Arnica
Scorpioideif and to a kind of ranunculus. But while Theophrastus
was thus careless in his denominations of species, he has the great
credit of having attended accurately to differences in the organs of
plants, to some of which he gave new and special names ; the form
of leaves, their margin, the manner of their indentation, and the
nature of the leaf-stalk, especially attracted his attention. He
distinguished naked-seeded from capsular plants, and he demonstrated
the a&ence of all philosophical distinction between trees, shrubs, and
herbs, for he saw that myrtie-trees would degenerate into shrubs, and
certain oleraceous plants become arborescent. Cellular tissue is spoken
of as a sort of fiesn interposed between the woody tissue or vegetable
fibre ; and even spiral vessels appear to be indicated imder the name
of hfts ; leaves are oorrectiy said to have their vdns composed
both of woody tissue and spiral vessels, and the parallelism of the
veins of grasses is particularly pointed out ; palm-wood is shown to
b4 extremely different from tmit of trees with concentric lavers;
bark is correctiy divided into liber and cortical integument, and the
loss of the former is said to be usually destructive of life. The
nutritive properties of leaves are dearlv pointed out^ and the power
which both surfaces possess of absorbmff atmospheric nourishment.
Some notion appears to have existed of the sexes of plants, contrary
to the opinion of Aristotle, who denied them to the vegetable
kingdom. In particular Theophrastus speaks of the necesdty of
bringing the male dates into oontact with the females, a fact which
had been stated quite as clearly by Herodotus (L 198) 100-years before ;
but it is plain that he had no correct idea upon this subject^ for in
another place he compares the male catkins of the hacel to the galls of
the Kermes oaL
These points are abundantiy sufficient to show that among the
Peripatetics a considerable amoimt of tolerably exact knowledge of
botany really existed, and that a solid foundation had been laid for
their successors.
And in fact it appears that the impulse they gave to investigation
did for some considerable time afterwards produce a perceptible effect ;
for by the time of Pliny it is evident that a considerable addition had
been made to the stock of botanical knowledge. It is true that it
was much disfigured by the poets, who then as now appear to have
had only a smattering of the sdence of their day ; but it is incredible
Digitized by
Google
BOTAKT.
BOTANY.
<no
that they should have been able to glean that smattering out of any
other field than a very rich one. For example, the sexuality of plants,
which Aristotle had denied, which Theophraotus had adverted to, is
spoken of in positive terms ; grafting, in more ways than one, and
even budding, are spoken of in language which is remarkably precise
for the words of a poet; and although to these operations were
attributed powers which they did not possess, yet it is abundantly
plain that the processes were thoroughly understood. The
*' Angustus in Ipio
Fit nodo Binos ; hue alicna ex arbore gcrmcn
Incladnnt adoque docent inolcsccre libro,"
is as correct a description of the operation called budding as any
modem could give in so many words ; and it is impossible tiiat such
an operation should ever have been devised without a much more
large and accurate knowledge of vegetable physiology than it is
generally believed that the ancients possessed.
From this time forward all inquiry into matters of science began
to decline. Under the later Roman emperors science became gradually
extinguished ; imder the Byzantine princes it can scarcely be said to
have been preserved ; and the little attention it subsequently received
from a few obscure writers rather hastened than arrested its
downfall
Upon the revival of science in Europe the writings of the classical
and Arabian herbalists were taken as the text-books of the schools,
but their errors were multiplied by false translations, their supersti-
tions were admitted without question ; and so little was added by the
monkish authors, that between the time of £bn Beithar, who flounshed
in the 13th century, and the year 1532, when the * Herbarum Vivas
Eicones' of Otho Brunfels, a Bernese physician, made their appearance,
scarcely a single addition had been znade to the slender stock of
knowledge of about 1400 species, which are computed by Sprengel to
have formed the total amount discovered by all botanists, Greek,
Roman, and Arabian, up to the death of Abdallatif of Baghdad.
Brunafels describes the state of botany as being in his day most
deplorable, as being principally in the hands of the most ignorant
persons, and as consisting of a farrago of long and idle commentaries,
disfigured ** by myriads of barbarous, obsolete, and ridiculous names."
He deserves to be mentioned as the first reformer in this science, and
as the earliest writer who earnestly endeavoured to purify the
corrupted streams which had flowed through so many a^es of barbarism
from the ancient Greek and Roman fountains. His example was
speedily followed by Tragus, Fuchsius, Matthiolus, and others. The
knowledge of species rapidly augmented, partly by the examination
of indigenous plants and partly by the remarks of the earlier
travellers, who about the year 1460 began to turn their attention to
the vegetable kingdom ; till at last their abxmdance became so great
as to call for the assistance of compilers capable of digesting what had
already begun to be scattered through numberless works. The first
undertaking of the kind was by Conrad Gesner, a native of Zurich,
who died in the year 1565. This excellent man spent the latter part
of his life in collecting materials for a general history of plants. He
is stated to have caused above 1500 drawings to be prepared for the
illustration of his undertaking, but unfortunately he died before his
project was executed, and bis materials were afterwards dispersed.
He appears however to have brought about one most important
change in science, by discovering that the distinotions and true nature
of plants were to be sought in their organs of reproduction rather
than in those of nutrition. This was assuredly the first step that
had been taken forward in the science since the fall of the Roman
empire, and is abundant evidence of the great superiority of Gesner
over all those who had preceded him. From this time collections of
species were made by numerous writers ; our countryman Turner,
Dodoens, Lobel, Clusius CsBsalpinus, and the Bauhins, were the most
distingulBhed writers between the years 1550 and 1600 ; and among
them the number of known species was so exceedingly increased,
especially by the discoveries of Clusius, that it became impossible tb
reduce them into any order without the adoption of some principle
of classification. Hence originated the first attempts at systematical
arrangement with which commences
The Second Ervk. — It is to Matthew Lobel, a Dutch physician
residing in England in the time of Elisabeth, iJiat the honour is to
be ascribed of having been the first to strike out a method by which
plants could be so arranged, that those which are most alike should
be placed next to each other, or in other words, which should be an
expression of their natural rolations. As may be supposed this early
attempt at the discovery of a natural system was exceediugly rude
and imperfect; it is however remarkable for having comprehended
several combinations which are recognised at the present day : Cuewr-
bitacecB, SteUcUa, CframinecBf LahiatOy Boragvnea, ZeguminotCB, Filices,
were aJl distinctly indicated ; and it may be added, that under the
name of A tphodds he grouped the principal part of modem petaloid
monocotyledons. The reasons however why such groups wero con-
stitifted were not then susceptible of definition ; the true principles
of classification had to be eUcited by the long and patient study of
succeeding ages. Among the foremost to ti^e up this important
subject was Caesalpinus, a Roman physician attached to the court of
Pope Sixtus V. This naturalist possessed a degree of insight into
the science far beyond that of his nge, and is memorable for the
justness with which he appreciated many of the lees obvious dream-
stances which his predecessors had overlooked. For example, he was
awaro of the circulation of the sap : he believed that its ascent from
the roots was caused by heat ; he knew that leaves«are oortical expan-
sions traversed by veins proceeding in part from the liber ; he estimated
the pith of plants at its tme value, and seeds he compared to eggs, in
which there exists a vital principle without life ; but he denied the
existence of sexes in the vegetable kingdom. Improving upon the
views of Gesner, he showed how great is the value of the fructification
in systematic botany ; the flower he said was nothing but the wrapper
of the fruit ; the essential part of the seed he considered to be what
' ia called the coroulum, that is, the double cone of plumule and radicle
which connects the cotyledons. In general his views of vegetable
physiology were much more just than those of his predecessors, and
if he did not avoid the error of supposing certain plants to be mere
< abortions of more perfect species, as many grasses of com, he amply
redeemed his fame by the correction of other mistakes. From diffe^
ences in the fruit and the seed of plants he formed a system which,
though purely artificial and never much employed, had the merit of
calling attention strongly to the existence of a class of important
characters which had previously been either overlooked or onder-
I valued.
But notwithstanding the attempts thus made by a few distinguished
I men to elevate the science to a higher station, and to reduce it to some
general principles, it still continued to languish and to remain for the
most part in the hands of the most ignorant pretenders, and in no
' country more so than in England. We find upon the authority of
the celebrated Ray, that in this country in the middle of the 17th
; century it was in the most lamentable state. At that time the standard
book of English botanists was a publication called Gerarde*s ' Herbal,'
which was, as Ray tells us, the production of a man almost entirely
' ignorant of the learned languages, in which nevertheless all books on
science were at that time written. The principal part of the work was
pirated from the * Pemptadea ' of Dodoens, turned into English by
one Priest, and in order to conceal the plunder the arrangement of
Dodoens was exchanged for that of Lobel, while the whole was made
.up with the wood-blocks of Tabemsemoutanus'B * Kniuterbucb/ often
unskilfully transposed and confoimded. At last a change as sudden as
I it was important was produced in the science by the application of the
microscope to botanical purposes.
The 2%ird Era. — ^About the middle of the 17th oentuiy this instru-
ment was first employed in the examination of the elementary oigans
of plants, about which nothing had been previously learned since the
time of TheophrastuB. The discovery of spiral vessels by Henshaw
in 1661, the examination of the cellular tissue by Hook at a somewhat
later date, at once excited the attention of observers and led at nearly
the same time to the appearance of two works upon vegetable anatomy,
which at once so nearly exhausted the subject that it can scarcely be
said to have again advanced tiU the beginning of the present oentuiy.
Grow and Malpighi, the writers here adverted to, but more especially
the former, combined with rare powers of observation a degree of
patience which few men have ever possessed. They each examined
the anatomy of vegetation in its minutest details, the former princi-
pally in the abstract, the latter more comparatively with the animal
kingdom. Various forms of cellular tissue, intercellular passages,
spiral vessels, woody tubes, ducts, the nature of hairs, the true struc-
ture of wood, were made at once familiar to the botanist ; the real
nature of sexes in plants was demonstrated ; and it is quite surprising
to look back on those days from the present high ground on which
botany has taken its stand, and to see how little the views of Grew at
least have subsequently required correction. From him physiological
botany properly speaking took its origin. Clear and distinct ideas of
the true causes of vegetable phenomena gradually arose out of a
consideration of the physical properties of the minute parts through
whose combined action they are brought about ; and a solid founda-
tion was laid for the theories of vegetation which subsequent botanists
have propounded : to Grew may also be ascribed the honour of having
first pointed out the important difference between seeds with one
cotyledon and those with two, and of having thus been the discoverer
of the two great natural classes into which the flowering part of the
vegetable kingdom is now divided. Grew however was no systematist;
it was reserved for another Englishman to discover the true principles
of classification, and thus to commence
The Fourth Era. — John Ray, a man of capacious mind, of singular
powers of observation and of extensive learning, driven from his
collegiate employments by the infamous commands of a profligate
prince, sought consolation in the study of natural history, to which
he had be^ attached from his youth. Botany he found was fast
settling back into the chaos of tiie middle ages, partly beneath the
weight of undigested materials, but more from the want of some fixed
principles by which the knowledge of tiie day should be methodised.
Profiting by the discoveries of Grew and the other vegetable anato-
mists, to which he added a great store of original observation, he in
his ' Historia Plantamm,' the first volume of which appeared in 1686,
embodied in one connected series all the facts that had been collected
conoeming the stmcture and functions of plants : to tiiese he added
an exposition of what he considered the philosophy of classification,
as indicated partly by human reason and partly by experience; and
Digitized by
Google
601
BOTANY.
BOTANY.
an
from the whole he deduced a daaaificatlou which is unquestionably
the basis of that which, under the name of the system < f Jusaieu, is
everywhere recognised at the present day. For proofs of this we refer
to the memoir of Rat in the Hist., Bioo., &c. Divisiok. We will
only observe here that he separated flowering from flowerless plants;
that he divided the former into monocotyledons and dicotyledons,
and that imder these three heads he arranged a considerable number
of groups, partly his own, partly taken from Lobel and others ; which
are substantially the same as what are received by botanists of the
present day under the name of natural orders. It is singular enough
that the merits of this arrangement of John Ray should have been so
little appreciated by his contemporaries and immedia^ successors as
to have been but little adopted ; and that instead of endeavouring to
correct its errors and to remove its imperfections, botanists occupied
themselves for several succeeding years in attempts at discovering other
systems, the greater part of which were abandoned almost as soon as
they were made known. Rivinus, Magnol, Toumefort, and Linnaeus
were the most celebrated of these writers ; but the two last alone
have had any permanent reputation. Toumefort, who for a long time
stood at the head of the French school of botany, proposed in 1694 a
method of arrangement^ in its principles entirely artificial, but which
in some cases was accidentally in accordance with natural affinities.
It was founded chiefly upon differences in the corolla, without the
slightest reference to physiological peculiarities ; and is now forgotten,
except in consequence of its having furnished some useful ideas to
Jusflieu, as will be hereafter shown.
The Fifth Era. — LinnaBus was a genius of a different and a higher
order. Educated in the severe school of adversity, accustomed from
his earliest youth to estimate higher than all other things verbal accu-
racy and a logical precision, which are often most seductive when least
applicable; endowed by nature with a most brilliant understanding,
and capable, from constitutional strength, of any fatigue either of
mind or body, this extraordinary man was destined to produce a revo-
lution in botany, among other branches of natural history, which in
some respects advanced and in others retarded its progress far more
than the acts of any one who had preceded him. He found the
phraseology bad, and he improved it ; the nomenclature was awkward
and inconvenient^ he simplified it ; the distinctions of genera and
species, however much the fbrmer had been improved by Toumefort,
were vague and too often empirical — ^he defined them with an appa-
i-eut rigour which the world thought admirable, but which nature
spumed ; he found the classifications of his day so vague and uncer-
tain that no two persons were agreed as to their value, and for them
he substituted a scheme of the most specious aspect in which all
things seemed as clearly circumscribed by rule and line as the fields
in the map of an estate ; he fancied he had gained the mastery over
nature, that he had discovered a mighty spell that would bind her
down to be dissected and anatomised, and the world believed him ;
in short, he seized upon all the wardrobe of creation, and his followers
never doubted that the bodiless puppets which he set in action were
really the divine soul and essence of the organic world. Such was
Linnaeus, the mighty spirit of his day. Let us do this great man
that justice which exaggeration on the one hand and detraction on the
other have too often refused to him, and let us view his character
Bol)erly and without prejudice. We shall then admit that no natu-
ralist has ever been his superior ; and that he richly merited that high
station in science which he held for so many years. His verbal accu-
racy, upon which his fame greatly depends, together with the remark-
able terseness of his technical language, reduced the crude matter that
was stored up in the folios of his predecessors into a form that was
accessible to all men. He separated with singular skill the important
from the unimporiant in their descriptions. He arranged their endless
sjmonyms with a patience and lucid order that were quite inimitable.
By requiring all species to be capable of a rigorous definition not
exceeding twelve words, he purified botany of the endless varieties of
the gardeners and herbalists ; by applying the same strict principles
to genera, and reducing every character to its differential terms, he
got rid of all the cumbrous descriptions of the old writers. Finally,
by the invention of an artificial system, every division of which was
defined in the most rigorous manner, he was able so to classify all the
materialfl thus purified and simplified that it seemed as if eveiy one
could become a botanist without more previous study than would be
required to leam how to discover words in a dictionary. Add to all
this the liveliness of his imagination, the skill with which he applied
his botanical knowledge to practical objects, and the ingenuity he
showed in turning to the purposes of his classification the newly-
discovered sexes of plants, and we shall at once comprehend what it
was that exalted Linnseus so far above his contemporaries. But great
as the impulse undoubtedly was which Linnaeus gave to botany, there
were vices in his principles which although overlooked during his life
have subsequently been productive of infinite evil. There is no such
thing as a rigorous definition in natural history ; this fact Ray had
demonstrated to arise out of the very nature of things ; and conse-
quently the short phrases by which species and genera were charac-
terised by Linnaeus were found equally applicable to many other plants
besides those for which they were intended : hence arose a new source
of confusion, inferior only to that which it was intended to correct.
DiflTerantial characters, which would be invaluable if we had all nature
. before us, were found in practice to lead to incessant errors, so soon
' as some new species was introduced into the calculation : they also
! laboured under the great fault of conveying no idea whatever of the
general nature of the plants to which they related : thus the Portu-
' guese botanist Loureiro, who attempted to determine the plants of
I China by the systematic writing of Linneus, fell into the singular
error that the hydrangea was a primrose. With r^^d to his artificial
cfystem of classification, it was found that it looked better in the closet
than in the field ; that the neatness and accuracy of the distinctions
upon which it was divided into groups existed only upon paper, and
that exceptions without end encumbeied it at every turn. This, which
is perhaps inseparable from all systematic arrangements, would not
have been felt as so great an evil if there had been any secondary
characters by which the primary ones could be checked, or if the
system had really led with all its difficulties to a knowledge of things.
But it was' impossible not to perceive tiiat it led in rcNftlity to little
more than a knowledge of names, and that it could be looked upon as
nothing beyond an index of genera and species.
The maxims however of Ray, and the great general views of that
illustrious naturalist, were destined not to fade even before the
meteoric brilliancy that surrounded the throne of Linnseus. A French
botanist, Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, soon entered the field to oppose
the latter. In the year 1789, just eleven years after the death of Lin-
nieuB, he produced under the name of ' Genera Plantarum ' an arrange-
ment of plants according to their natural relations, in which tiie
principles of the great English botanist are tacitly admitted, and his
fundamental divisions adopted, in combination, in part with those of
Toumefort, in part with those which had been proposed by Adanson
in lus remarkable work on the ' Families des Plantes,' and the rest
with what are peculiar to the author himself. Jussieu possessed in a
happier degree than any man that has succeeded hun the art of
adapting the simplicity and accuracy of the language of Linnseus to
the exigencies of science, without encumbering himself with its
pedantry. He knew the impossibility of employing any single charac-
ters to distinguish objects so variable in their nature as phmts ; and
he clearly saw to what evils aU artificial systems must of necessity
give rise. Without pretending then to the conciseness of Linnseus in
forming Ids generic characters, he rendered them as brief as was con-
sistent with deamess ; without peremptorily excluding all distinctions
not derived from the fructification, he nevertheless made the latter
' the essential consideration ; instead of defining his classes and orders
I by a few artificial marks, he formed them from a view of all the most
' essential parts of structure ; and thus he collected under the same
divisions all those plants which are most nearly allied to each other.
Hence, while a knowledge of one plant does not by any means lead to
that of another in the system of Linnseus, it leads directiy to the
knowledge of many more in the classification of Jussieu, which has
accordingly gained the name of the ' Natural System.' This at once
brought the science back to a healthy state ; it demonstrated the pos-
sibilty of reducing the characters of natural groups to words, contrary
to the opinion of Linnseus, who found that task altogether beyond his
powers ; it did away with the necessity of artificial arrangements, and, «
giving a death-blow to verbal botany, it laid the foundation of that
beautiful but still imperfect superstructure which has been erected
by the labours of Brown, De Candolle, Lindley, and others. If the
system of Jussieu were not a return to that of Ray, modified only and
improved by modem discoveries, we should certunly have taken this
period for the commencement of
The Sixth and latest Era in our science. But it was reserved for a
man whose fame lies chiefly in the literary world to effect the last
great revolution that the ideas of botanists have undergone. In 1790,
one year j^t«r the appearance of Jussieu's ' (3enera Plantarum,' the
German poet Gothe published a pamphlet called ' The Metamorphosis
of Plants.' At that time the various organs of which plants consist
had been pretty well ascertained, the distinctions between the leaf,
the calyx, the corolla, the stamens, and the pistil were in a great
measure understood, and the botanists were not a few who fancied
there was nothing more to leam about them. Nevertheless even in
the time of Theophrastus a notion had existed that certain forms of
leaves were mere modifications of others that appeared very different,
as the angular leaves in croton of the round cotyledons or seminal
leaves of that plant: Linnseus himself had entertained the opinion
that all the parts of a flower are mere modifications of leaves whose
period of development is anticipated ('Prolepsis Plantarum'); Ludwig
in 1757, and more especially Wolff in 1768, had stated in express
terms that all the organs of plants are reducible to the axis and its
appendages, of the latter of which the leaf is to be taken as the uni-
versal type. But the theory of Linnssus was fanciful ; Ludwig was a
writer of too little authority in his day to succeed in establiiuung a
doctrine so much at variance with received opinions ; and the theory
of Wolff was propounded in a paper upon the formation of the intes-
tines in animals, which seems attog^ether to have escaped the observa-
tion of botanists. Entirely unacquainted with the writings of the two
latter naturalists, but aware of the ' Prolepeis Plantamm ' of Liimseus,
GK>the took up this important theory, and demonstrated that all those
organs to which so many different names were applied, and which in
fifcct have so many dissimilar functions to perform, were all modificar
tions of one common type — the leaf; that the bract is a contracted
Digitized by
Google
608
BOTANY.
BOTANY.
«M
leaf, tho calyx a combination of seyenl, the corolla a union of sereral
more in a coloured state, the atamena contracted and coloured leayes
with their parenchyma in •a state of disintegration, and the pistil
another arrangement of leayes rolled up and combined according to
certain inyariable laws.
Although at first Qothe's yiews were disregarded, they were gradu-
ally adopted, and formed the basis of inquiries in that department of
botany called the Morphology of Plants. To no one is the science
of Botany more indebted, from his early adoption of the generalisation
of Qothe, than Robert Brown. In hu ' Prodromus of the Flora of
New Holland,' and in a multitude of papers in the * Philosophical' and
'Limuean Transactions,' he proyed not only the truth of Gothe's
law but practically demonstrated its importance: It was neyer with
him a theory, as it was with its diacoyerer, but a great generalisation
which eyery new fact in the yegetable khigdom seryed to confirm.
Nor did he apply it to the superficial facts of the structure of plants,
but working with the microscope he applied it to the deyelopment of
the tissues of plants, and in eyery department of'botany has made it to
bear most abundant fruit With the name of Brown in the modem
history of botany we must also aasociate the name of another English-
man—Dr. lindley, who, by his extensiye knowledge of yegcUble
structures, his indefatigable industiy, and poww of generslisation, has
contributed yery hugely to thfi perfection of the present classification
of plants, as well as to the diffusion of sound general views on the
subject of botany and its practical applications. To De Candolle aln
in recent times the progress ^of botany is deeply mdebted, more espe-
cially for his laborious ' Prodromus of the Vegetable Eongdom,' in
which not only are the orders described, but the genera and spedea
We can only add that in recent times the science of Botany has bwn
indebted to the labours of the following amongst other obseryen :—
Schleiden, Richard, Brongniart^ Tulasne, Unger, Endlieher, Schadit,
Von Mohl, Bischoff, Treyiranus, Lehmann, Suminaki, Hoffmeister, Sir
W. J. Hooker, J. D. Hooker, Henfrey, Bentham, Walker Aniott^
Wright^ WaUich, Royle, Balfour, Babington, Leighton, Ifien, J. J.
Bennett, T. Thomson, Asa Gray, Henslow, Beikeley.
In order to facilitate the study of Botany by the aid of this work,
we giye the following Glossary of the terms employed when descrilnDg
the parts of plants.
A GLOSSARY 07 THE TECHNICAL TERMS MOST COMMONLY EMPLOYED IN BOTANY.
Abnormal, contrary to general mlea.
Aeeumbent, lying against anything, in
distinction to lying upon; as the
cotyledons of some eraciferons plants.
Aeeroie, stiff and slender and sharp-'
pointed, as the leares of a pine-tree.
Aehemuntf a small, hard, one<4ecded
fruit, resembling a seed.
Adeulate, needle-shaped.
Aeinaeiform, scymitor^haped.
Aeinui, a bunch of succulent berries ;
as of grapes.
Acrogen, a plant which grows at its
end only, without increasing in
diameter ; as ferns, and all flower.
less plants.
AeuUate, eoTcred with prickles.
AeuUtu, a prickle.
AeuminaU, tapering to the point, but
flat.
Adnate, growing to anything by the
whole length.
Adventitunu, appearing accidentally.
Aigticationf the arrangement of the
parts of the flower before they expand.
Alabattrtu, a flower-bnd.
Albumen^ a substance interposed in
some seeds between the embryo and
the seed coats.
^{6umtMi, the young wood; sap-wood.
Amentum, a catkin ; the male inflo.
rescence of the haael, &e.
Amplexieaul, clasping a stem.
Atuutomontiff, the growing together
of two parts which meet from
different directions.
Androus, a Greek termination ezprea.
sive of the male sez.
Af^fi^eietuotu, doubled abruptly in
sereral different directions.
AnffiocarpouB, having seeds inclosed in
a pericarp.
Annotimnu, a year old.
Anther, the case containing pollen.
Apttalous, haying no petals.
Apiculate, abruptly pointed.
Apoearpout, where the carpels are dis-
tinct from each other.
Apcphyiit, the enlarged base of the
theca of some mosses.
Apothtemm, the shield, or mass of re-
productive matter of a lichen.
Appmdieulate, having some kind of
appendages.
Arachnoid, resembling a spider's web.
Artolate, divided into little spaces.
Aril, a peculiar wrapper of some seeds ;
as the mace of the nutmeg.
Ariata, the beard or awn of grasses.
A$ei, the cases in which the spores of
lichens are inclosed.
Aacidium, a hoUow leaf looking like a
water vessel; as the pitcher of
Nepenthes.
AtUnvated, gradually tapering to a
point without becoming flat.
Awiculate, having two lobes (like ears)
at the base.
Awn, See Aruta.
Axil, the acute angle formed by the
Junction of the leaf, ftc, to its
axis.
AxUlarp, growing in an axiU
Axis, the root and stem either taken
together or separately.
Baccate, fruit covered with soft flesh.
Barbate, covered with long hairs re-
sembling a beard.
Beard, a tuft of long hairs.
Bieor^ugate, in two pairs, placed side
by side.
Bidentate, having two teeth.
BifariouB, arranged in two rows.
Bifid, divided into two shallow lobes.
Bifoliate, having two leaflets.
B^ureate, twice forked.
Byugout, in two pairs, placed end to end.
Binate, growing in pairs.
Bipartite, divided into two deep lobes.
Bipinnate, twice pinnate.
Biaerrate, twice serrate.
Braehiate, when branches stand nearly
at right angles to the stem tnm
which they proceed.
Bract, the leaf or leaflet from the axil
of which a flower grows.
Bulb, a scaly, underground bud.
Bulbotuber, a short, roundish, under.
ground stem resembling a bulb.
Oadueou$, falling off sooner or later.
Ckeeioue, of a bluish-gray colour.
Omspitoae, growing in tufta.
Ottlear, a spur or horn; aa in the
nasturtium.
Calcarate, having a spur or horn.
Oalyeulatfi, having a whorl of bracts
on the outside of a calyx, or of an
involucre.
Cttlffptra, the hood of a moss.
Oalfx, the external envelope of a
flower.
Oambium, a viscid secretion formed in
the spring between the bark and
wood of Exogens.
Campanulate, bell-chaped.
Canaliculate, channeled.
Oaneellate, a leaf which has veins
without connecting parenchyma.
Capitate, growing In a head.
Oapitulum, a collection of flowers in a
head.
Oapiule, any dry maay-seeded fhiit.
Oarinate, having a kind of kecL
(kamoee, fleshy.
Carpel, one of the parts of a compound
pistil ; a single leaf rolled up into
one of the integers of a pistil.
Carunculate, a seed having ftmgous
excrescences.growing near its hUum.
Caryopeit, a dry one-seeded fruit re-
sembling a seed, but with no dis-
tinction between the seed-coat and
pericarp.
Caudate, prolonged into a sort of talL
Cauiine, of or belonging to the stem.
Certntoue, drooping.
Ohalaui, a spot on a seed indicating
the place where the nucleus Is united
to the seminal integuments.
Ciliated, fringed with hairs like an
eyelash.
Cinereout, ash-coloured.
dreinate, rolled inwards from the point
to the base.
CircumtcietiU, dividing into two parts
by a spontaneous transverse separa-
tion.
Cirrhoue, terminating in a tendril.
Ciavate, club-shaped.
Otaw, the stalk of a petal.
dypeate, resembling a round buckler.
Oochleate, resembling the bowl of a
spoon.
Cbllu$n, the point where the stem and
root are combined.
(Mumella, a central part of the fruit of
a moss, round which the spores are
deposited.
Column, the combination of stamens
and style in Orchideous and other
plants.
Gmoee, having hairs at one or both
ends, if speaking of seeds; being
terminated by coloured empty
bracts, if applied to inflorescences.
Qmduplicate, doubled together.
Cbf^fiuent, growing together so that the
line of Junction is lost to the sight.
Corrugate, growing in pairs.
Connate, growing together so that the
line of Junction remains perceptible.
Connective, the fleshy part that com-
bines the two lobes of an anther.
Oonnivent, converging, aa the anther
of a potato blossom.
Oonoidal, approaching a conical form.
Oontinuoue, proceeding firom something
else without apparent interruption.
Cbntorted, twisted in such a way that
all the parts have a similar direc-
tion, as the segments of the flower
of an Oleander.
Qmvolute, rolled together.
Otreulum, the rudimentary axis which
connects the cotyledons of the
embryo.
Cordate, heart-shaped.
Coriaceous, of a leathery texture.
Cbrmus, a solid, roundish, underground
stem ; as in Crocus.
Obmeous, of a horny texture.
Obmiculate, shaped like a slender horn.
Corolla, the second of tho two enve-
lopes that surround the stamens and
pistil.
Cbrona, a combination of fertile and
barren stamens into a disk ; as In
StapcUa.
Corymbose, when the branches sur-
rounding a common axis are shortest
at the top and longest at the bottom,
' so as to form a level-topped whole.
Cbtta, the midrib of a leaf.
Cbtyledons, the leaves of the embryo.
Orateriform, shaped like a goblet.
(kmelled or Crenated, having rounded
notches at tho edges.
Crested, having some tmusual and
striking appendage arising from the
middle.
Cruciate, when four parts are so ar-
ranged as to resemble the arms of a
Maltese cross.
(Meullaie, hooded, rolled inwards so as
to conceal anything lying within.
(Mm, the straw of
Cupule, the cup of the acorn, the hvk
of the fllbert, chestnut, ftc. ; apenu
liar combination of bracts.
Ckapidate, abruptly rounded off irith a
projecting point in the middJc;
(hitiele, the external skin.
Cyathiform, eup-shaped, more ooa-
tracted at theoriflee than eraterifora.
Cymbiform, having the fonn of a boat
Cyme, an inflorcaeenoe having s
corymbose form, but eonsisUBg of
repeatedly-branched divisioDs.
Cymose, resembling a cyme in appear-
l>eeandroms, having 10 i
Denduoms, falling ofL
Declinate, curved downwards.
Beeumbent, lying prostrate, but risiaf
Deeurrenty produced downwards, as
the base of a leaf down the stem.
Decussate, crossing at right angles.
Dehiscence, the act of opening of anther
or fruit.
Deltoid, having the fbm of a triangle
or Greek A.
Dendroidal, resembling a small tne.
DeiUate, with sharp-pointed notebea
and intermediate curves instead of
re-entering angles.
Depauperated, imperfectly developed;
looking as if ill-formed from traal
of sufficient nutriment.
Depressed, flattened fhun point to base.
Diadelphous, having the stamens in
two parcela.
Diandrous, having two atamwis.
Dichotomous, repeatedly dirided lnt»
two branches.
Dicotyledonous, having two ootyledoitf.
Didynamous, having two pairs of
stamens of unequal length.
Didymous, growing in pairs, or twins ;
only applied to solids and not to flat
surfaces.
Digitate, flngered, diverging tram a
common centre, aa the fingers ttem
the palm.
Dimidiate, half-formed, or halved, or
split into halves.
Dieodous, having atanena on on*
plant and pistils on another.
Dipterous, having two wings.
Discoidal, with the central part of a
flat body differently coloored or
marked from the mai^n.
Disk, a fle»hy circle interpoaed between
the stamena and pistlla.
DissepimenU, the verUoal partitktts of
a compound fruit.
Diriichoms, arranged in two rovt.
Dtvaricofting, diverging at an oMa«e
angle.
Dodeetmdrous, having 12 stamens.
Dolabr^urm, hatchet-shaped.
Drupe, auch a tmlt as the peach, eoa*
aUthigof a stem surrounded by ilesby
or flbrons matter.
Ducts, spiral vesoda that will not
unroll.
Dumose, having a compact bnshy fona.
Duramen, the heart-wood of timber.
Digitized by
Google
COS
BOTANY.
BOTANY. *
600
JMiMoie, eowtnd with bard aharp
points.
jaaterM^ litUe spiraUy-twisted hygro.
matrioal threads that disperse the
spores of Jungennannias.
JKUmsniary orgotu^ the minate parts
of which the texture of plants is
eompoeed.
JSmaviiwmte, haTiog a notch at the
point.
Smtbryo, the rudimentary plant before
germination oommenoes.
Xndoearp^ the hard lining of some
pericarps.
S»dog«nt a plant wliioh increases in
diameter by addition to its centre ;
as a palm-tree.
£n$heatidrou», haTing 0 stamens.
Emsifinrmt harlng the form of a straight
and narrow sword.biade.
J^nearp, the external layer of the
pericarp.
^^idermia, the skin of .a plant, in the
language of some writers; the cor-
tical integument according to others.
Spiffjftumt, growing upon the top of
tlie OTary, or seeming to do so.
Sfmtant, when leaTcs are so arranged
that the base of each is inclosed
within the opposite base of that
which is next below it ; as in Iris.
£sti9aiUm. Bee JEttwatUm,
Fntgtm, a plant which increases in
diameter by the addition of new
wood to the outside of the old wood ;
as an oak-tree.
yarmaeemUf mealy.
roMdaied, banded.
Ta9ietilat0d, collected in dosters.
J'attiifiate, when the branches of any
plant are pressed dose to the main
stem ; as in the Lombardy poplar.
J^lMment^ the stalk of the anther.
Jittfonm, slender and round like a
thread.
lUtular, tabular but cloned at each
end ; as the leaf of an onion.
FlaMli/brm, fan-shapcd.
UofiM^brw^ resembling the thong of
a whip.
JTccHoss, wavy.
JtoeeoM, ooTered with little irregular
patches of woolliness.
JlorH^ a little flower.
ItoaeuU, ditto.
I\aliaeeovaf baring the colour and tex-
ture of a common green leaf.
Foliatum, the arrangement of young
leaTcs within the leaf-bud.
IMlieU, a simple fruit opening by its
rentral sutore only.
Foramat, the passage through the
integuments of an orule by which
impregnating matter is introduced
Into the nucleus.
FonliOf the fertilising principle of
pollen.
Fnmd, the leaf of a fern or of a palm.
FHmi, the ftdl-grown ripened pistil.
FUfadotu, lasting but a short time.
Jhmgoid, resembling a ftmgus; that
ia, irregular in form and fleshy in
textnre.
iWMMnitM, the stalk by which aome
seeds are attached to the placenta.
JWsi/bnn, apindle-shaped, thickest in
the middle, and tapering to each end.
GaJhuha, a small cone whose scales are
all consolidated into a fleshy ball ; as
in Juniper.
OcUa, the upper Up of a labiate flower.
OaMMlote, knee-Jotnted, when a stem
bends coddenly in its middle.
OtUoMc, prominent, projecting.
QlahrouBf haTing no hairs.
OladiatSf the same as enaiform, but
broader and shorter.
Gland, I, the fknit of the oak, the
hazel, *e. ; 2, an eleration of the
cuticle which usually secretes either
aerid or resinoua matter.
Olcndulm; oorered with glands of the
scecmdkind.
OlaveoM, oorered with bloom like a
plum.
QloehidaU, corend with hairs which
are rigid and hooked at their point.
Olume, one of the bracts of grasses.
Qymno»permou$, having seeds which
ripen without being inclosed in a
pericarp.
Oynobiue, an elevated part of the grow-
ing point of a flower-bud, rising
between the carpels and throwing
them into an oblique position.
OjfraU, same as CireinaU. Also, sur-
rounded by an elastic ring ; as the
theca of ferns.
Seutate, having the form of a halbert.
head ; that is, with a 4anoe-8haped
centre crossed at the base by two
lobes of a similar form standing at
right angles with the centre.
Helmet, the hooded upper Up of some
flowers.
JlepUindrouif having 7 stamens.
RexandrouSf having 6 stamens.
Hilton, the scar left upon a seed when
it is separated from the placenta.
HtrnUe, covered with harsh long hairs.
Hymenium, the gills of a mushroom ;
that part in Fungi where the spores
are placed.
Hjfpoorater^orm^nlret'iibAftA ; having
a eyUndrioal tube and a flat border
spreading away f^m it.
Hypogynout, aridng from immediately
below the pistil.
leosandrout, having 20 or more perU
gynous stamens.
Imbrieated, overlapping, as tiles over-
Ue each other on the roof of a
house.
Jnctimftm/, lying upon anything.
Indehi$eent^ not opening when ripe.
InduplieaU, doubled inwards.
JhJtmtim, Uie membrane that overUes
the Bori of ferns.
Inferior, is said of a calyx when it does
not adhere to the ovary ; Is said of
an ovary when it does adhere to the
calyx.
It^floregetnoe, the ooUection of flowers
upon a plant.
Infundibulifonn, shaped like a funneL
limaU, growing upon anything by one
end.
Innowdiom, the young shoots of moeses.
lutercellultMr, that which lies between
the cells or elementary bladders of
plants.
Intemods, the space between two nodes.
Jnterrupted, when variations in con.
tinuity, size, or development alter-
nately occur in parts which are some-
times uniform ; as when pinnated
leaves have the alternate leaflets
much the smallest, and when dense
spikes are here and there broken by
the extension of Intemodes.
Involucre, a collec^on of bracta placed
in a whorl on the outside a oalyx or
flower-head.
Involute, roUed inwards.
LiAeUum, one segment of a corolla,
which is lower than the others, and
often pendulous.
Labiate, divided into an upper and a
lower Up ; as the corolla of dead
nettle.
Lacunou, having numerous large deep
depressions or excavations on its
surface.
Lamina, the blade of a leaf.
Lanceolate, shaped like a lance-head ;
that is, oval, tapering to both extre-
miUes.
Lateral, originating firom the side of
anything.'
Latex, the vital fluid of vegetation.
Xox, not compact or dense.
Leaflet, a division of a compound leaf.
Legume, a kind of fruit Uke the pod of
a pea.
Lenticular, small, ^ depressed, and
doubly convex.
Lepidote, covered with a sort of scnr-
flness.
Leprout, the same.
Liber, the newly-formed inner bark of
Ezogens.
lAffuia, a membranous expansion from
the top of the petiole in grasses.
X«mA, the blade or expanded part of a
petal.
Linear, very narrow, with the two
sides nearly parallel.
Lip, same as Labellum,
Loeulicidal, when the carpels of a com-
pound firuit dehisce in such a way
that the ceUs are broken through at
their back.
LoeuttOf the spikelet, or collection of
florets of a grasa.
Lomenium, a legume which is inter-
rupted between the seeds, so as to
separate into ntmierous transverse
portions.
Lunate, formed like a crescent.
Manicaie, when hairs are interwoven
into a mass that can be easily sepa.
rated from the surface.
Marginal, of or belonging to the edge
of anything.
Medullary, of or belonging to the pith.
Mieropyle, a snuU passage through the
seed, called the foramen when speak-
ing of the ovule. See Foramen,
Mitriform, conical, hollow, open at the
base, and either entire there or irre-
gularly cut.
Monadelphous, with the stamens united
into one parcel.
Monandroue, with one stamen only.
Moniltform, shaped like a necklace.
Monopetalout, with several petals united
into one body by their edges.
Mueronate, tipped by a hard point.
Multifid, divided into many shallow
lobes.
Multipartite, divided into many deep
lobes.
Murieated, covere<l with short, broad,
sharp-pointed tubercles.
Muriform, resembling the bricks in the
waU of a house.
yaoieular, shaped like a very small
boat.
Nectary, any organ that secretes honey.
Hervee, the stronger reins of a leaf.
Node, the part of a stem from which a
normal leaf.bud arises.
Normal, according to general rules.
Nucleue, the central part of an ovule,
or a seed.
Nucule, a small hard seed-like pericarp.
Oblique, larger on one side than on the
other.
Ochrea, two stipules united round the
stem into a kind of sheath.
Oetandroue, having 8 stamens.
Operculum, the Ud of the theca of a
moss.
Ovary, the hoUow part of a pistil con-
taining the ovulea.
Ocate^ having the flgure of an egg.
Ontle, a rudimentary seed.
Folate, the lower surflMe of the throat
of a labiate corolla.
Falea, either the inner bracts of the
inflorescence of a grass, or the bracts
upon the reeeptade of the flower-
head of a Compodta.
Faleaceoue, covered with palen.
FaUnate, the same as Digitate, only the
dividons more shaUow and broader.
Fandwiform, oblong, narrowing to-
wards the base, and contracted be-
low the middle.
Faniele, a compound raceme; a loose
kind of inflorescence.
Fapilionaceoue, a flower consisting of
standard, wings, and keel, Uke that
of a pea.
Fappue, the colyx of a Composita ; as
of a dandeUon.
Farenchyma, the pulp that connects the
veins of leaves.
Parietal, growing from the lining of
anything.
Fectinate, divided into long, close, nar-
row teeth like a comb.
FedaU, palmate, with the lateral seg.
ments lengthened and lobed.
Fedicel, one of a great many ped-
uncles.
Feduncle, a flower-etalk.
Feltate, attached within the margin.
Fentandroue, having 5 stamens.
Ferfoliate, aurrounding a stem by the
base, which grows together where
the margins touch.
Ferianth, a coUection of floral enve-
lopes, among which the calyx cannot
be distinguished ftrom the corolla,
though both are present.
Feriearp, the shdl of a fruit of any
kind.
Ferieheetium, the leaves at the base of
the stalk of the fruit of a moss.
Ferigoue, same as Ferianth,
Ferigynoui, growing from the sides of
a calyx.
Ferieperm, some as Albumen,
Ferittome, a curious set of processes
surrounding the orifice of the theca
of a moss.
Feronate, laid thickly over with a woolly
substance ending In a sort of meal.
Fereonate, labiate, with the palate of
the lower lip pressing against the
upper lip.
Fetal, one of the parts of a corolla.
Fetaloid, resembling a petal in colour
and texture.
Fetiolar, of or belonging to the petiole.
Fetiole, the stalk of a leaf.
Fhyllodium, a petiole transformed into
a flat leaf.Uke body.
Fileue, the cap of a mushroom.
FHoee, covered with short fine hairs.
Finnate, divided into a number of pairs
of leaflets ; bipinnate, each leaflet is
also pinnate ; tripinnate, each se-
condary leaflet pinnated also.
Finnatifid, divided In a pinnated man-
ner nearly down to the midrib.
FistH, the combination of ovary, style,
and stigma.
Fith, the central column of ceUular
tissue in an Exogen.
Flacenta, the part of the ovary to which
the ovules are attached.
Flane, quite flat.
Flumule, the rudiment of a stem in the
embryo.
Fallen, the powder contained in an
anther.
Follen'T\tbe*, the membranous tubes
emitted by poUen after they fall on
the stigma.
Folyadelphout, when the stamens are
combined into more than two par-
cels.
Folyandrout, when there are more than
20 hypogynous stamens.
Polypetaloue, when the petals are aU
distinct.
Fimte, a fhiit like that of the apple,
pear, Ac.
Frt^floreUion, same as JEaiivation,
Frickle, same as Aculeut,
Frimine, the external integument of
the ovule.
Feeudobulb, the soUd above-ground
tuber of some Orchidem.
Fubeeeent, covered with very flne soft
down.
Fulverulent, covered with a powdery
appearance.
Puiamen, same as JSndocar^.
Fyri/orm, shaped like a pear.
Qaartine, the innermost integument
but one of the ovule.
(Annate, combined in flrea.
(iuintine, the innennost integvment of
the ovale.
BacemCf an infloreaoenee like that of
the currant.
Jtaehie, the axis of inflorescenca.
Fadieal, arising fh>m the root.
Jtadiele, the rudimentary root in the
embryo.
Hantenta, soft, ragged, chaff-like haira
growing upon the petiole of fema.
Saphe, the line of communication be*
ttrcrn the hilnm and chalasa.
Digitized by
Google
eo7
BOTAirr.
BOTRYLLIDiE.
608
Saphide; aoiouUr or other orystels
scattered among yegetable tiaaue.
Benifomif kidney-shaped.
Beaupinaie, inyerted, so that the part
which is naturally lowermoet becomes
uppermost.
X*tieuUUed, trayersed by Teins haying
the appearance of network.
JZ«<iiM, blunt, and turned inwards more
than obtuse.
i^Atsoiiui, a creeping stem' like that of
Iris.
JHngeni, same as Fer$onate.
HootStoek, same as Shiaoma.
MoatraU, furnished with a sort of beak.
JUmtlaitt haying the leayes arranged in
little rose-like clusters.
J2tMiitVia<M{, pierced by numerous per-
forations full of ehaify matter like
a nutmeg.
Sumner, the prostrate stem of such
plants as the strawberry.
Sagiitaie, resembling the head of an
ancient arrow.
Samara^ a kind of one-seeded inde-
hiscent pericarp, with a wing at one
end.
8ap-Wood, the newly formed wood,
which has not been hardened by the
deposit of secreted matter.
Sareoearpf the intermediate fleshy layer
between the epicarp and endocarp.
Seals, an abortiye leaf.
Seape, the flowering stem of a plant.
Searious, dry, thin, and shriveUed.
Serobioulate, irregularly pitted.
Seutellum, the fructiiying space upon
the thallus of a lichen.
Seetmd, arranged or turned to one side.
Seeundine, the second integument of
the oyule.
SepaU, the leayes of the calyx.
Septa, same as Dissepiment.
Septieidal, when the dissepiments of a
fruit are diyided into two plates at
the period of dehiscence.
Septifragal, when the dissepiments of
a fruit are broken through their
middle by the separation of the back
of the carpels from the centre.
Sericeous, silky.
Serrate, toothed like the edge of a saw.
SessUs, seated close upon anything,
without a stalk.
Setose, covered with setae or bristles.
Shield, the ftnctiflcation of lichens.
Sigmoid, bent like the letter 8.
SUiele, a short two-yalyed pod, such
as is found in garden cress.
SUique, the same but longer ; as in the
cabbage.
Sinuate, turning in and out in an irre.
gular manner.
Sori, the fructification of ferns.
Spadiceous, resembling a spadix, or
bearing that kind of inflorescence.
Stpadix, the inflorescence of an arum ;
an axis closely covered with sessile
flowers, and inclomd in a spathe.
Spathaceous, inclosed within a spathe,
or bearing that kind cf bract.
Spathe, a large coloured bract which
incloses a spadix.
Spatulate, shaped like a druggist's spa-
tula; that is, long, narrow, and
broadest at the point.
Spike, an inflorescence in which the
flowers are sessile upon their
axis.
Spikelet, one of a great many small
spikes collected in a mass; as in
grasses.
Spine, a stiff, sharp-pointed, leafless
branch.
Spongiole, or Spongelet, the tender
growing tip of the root.
Spore, or Sporute, the reproductive body
of flowerless plants, analogous to the
seed of flowering plants.
Squarrose, composed of parts which
diyerge at right angles, and are irre-
gular in size and direction.
Stamen, the fertilising organ of aflower,
consisting of filament and anther.
Standard, the upper single petal of a
papUionaeeous flower.
Stellate, arranged in the form of a
stor.
Stigma, the upper end of the style, on
which the pollen falls.
Stipe, the stalk that bears the head of
a miuhroom ; also the stalk of the
leaf of a fern ; also the stalk of any.
thing except of a leaf or a flower.
Stipulate, furnished with stipules ; ex-
stipulate, haying no stipules.
Stipule, the scale at the base of some
leaf-stolks.
Stomate, a minute hole in a leaf,
through which respiration is sup-
posed to be carried on ; a breathing
pore.
Strigose, covered with stiff unequal
hairs.
Strophiolate, haying little fungous ex-
cresoences surrounding the hilum.
Stupose, having a tuft of hairs in the
middle or at the end.
StyU, the stalk of the stigma.
Subulate, awl-shaped.
Sjfncarpous, haying the carpels con.
solidated.
Terete, taper.
Temate, united in threes.
Testa, the skin of the seed.
Tetrddynamous, having 6 stamens in
four parcels ; two of which consist
of two stamens, and two of one each.
Tetrandroiu, having 4 stamens.
Thallus, the leafy part of a lichen ; the
union of stem and leaf in those and
some other tribes of Imperfect plants.
Theca, the case which contains the spo-
rules of flowerless plants.
Tomentose, covered with short close
down.
Toothed, the same as Dentate.
Torulose, alternately contracted and
distended.
Torus, the growing point of a flower on
which the carpels are placed.
THandrous, having S stamens.
Trifarious, arranged In three rows.
Trifid, divided into three lobes.
Trifoliolate, having three leaflets.
Tripartite, divided into three deep di-
visions.
Tripinnate, when each leaflet of a pin-
nated leaf is pinnate ; and the leaflets
of the latter are pinnate also.
Tritemate, when each leaflet of a tcr-
nate leaf is temate ; and the leaflets
of the latter are temate also.
Truncate, abruptly cut off.
Tube, the part of a flower where the
bases of the sepals, petals, or stamens
are united.
Tuber, a deformed, fleshy kind of un-
derground stem.
Turbinate, shaped like a spinning top.
Umibel, an inflorescence whose branches
all radiate from one common point.
Umbilieate, having a depression in the
middle.
Umbonate, having a boss or elevated
point in the middle.
Undulated, wavy.
UnguicultUe, ftimished with a claw, or
short stalk.
Ureeolate, shaped like a pitcher.
Utricle, a small bladder.
Vagina, the sheath formed by the con-
volution of a flat petiole round a
stem.
Vahe, one of the parts into which any
dehiscent body divides.
Vascular, containing vessels ; that Is,
spiral vessels or ducts.
Ventrioose, inflated.
Vernation, the manner in which the
young leaves are arranged in their
leaf-bud.
Verrucose, covered with warts.
Versatile, swinging lightly upon a sort
of pivot.
VertidUate, arranged in a whorl.
Vexillum, same as Standard,
rt2fo«f,eoyeredwith long soft shaggy
hair.
Virgate, having long slender rod-like
shoots.
Vitellus, a fleshy bag, interposed be-
tween the embryo and albumen in
some seeds.
VUtale, striped, as distinguished from
fkseiate, or banded.
Whorl, an arrangement ot more ksvei
than two around a common eentre
upon the sanie plane.
BOTAURUS. [Bittern.]
BOTHRIOCEPHALUS. [Entozoa.]
BOTHTNOa)ERES, a genus of Coleopteroua Inaeets of ^ family
CurculicnidiB. It is known by the following chanctezB :— Body
oblong ; rostrum thick, longer tiban the head, bent downwards, and
having a longitudinal elevated line above. Antennse geniculated,
rather short and thick, twelve-jointed ; the basal joint long, thickened
towards the apex ; the second joint short and stout ; the third twice as
long as the last ; the four following short; the eighth rather broader
than the last; Uie remaining or terminal joints form a spindle-shaped
club. Thorax narrower before than behind, the base with an impres-
sion in the middle. Elytra oblong, with an obtuse tubercle towards
the apex. Legs moderate ; femora simple.
This genus apparently links the genera Cleoniu and lAxw
together. The species are in general very prettily mottled, the
common colours being black, or gray, and white. In this coimtry
but one species has yet been discovered, and of that only two or
three specimens have been found: it is about half an inch' long and
of a white colour, having the central part of the thorax, together
with a fascia and four spots on the wing-cases, black. The species
here described is the Bothynoderei albidut {Ourculio aUndm of
Fabriciua).
BOTIA, a genus proposed by Dr. J. K Qray for the Spined Loche,
or Groundling, usually included under Cobitia, [CoBrnBT]
BOTRY'CHIUM, a genus of Ferns belonging to the suborder
Osmwndaceoi and the tribe Ophioglosseaof that family. It has distinct
thecse disposed in a compound spike attached to a pinnate or bipinnate
frond. There is only one species a native of Great Britain, the B.
Lunaria, Common Moonwort. It has a solitary pinnate frond, with
notched or crenate, lunate or fannahaped pinnse. This is not a
very conspicuous fern, but has been observed in almost every part
of Great Britain. It grows on dry open heaths, elevated pasiurea,
and waste lands which are generally shunned by other species of
ferns.
In former times the ferns had a great reputation in medicine, not so
much on account of their obvious as their supposed virtuesi The
lunate-shape of the pinnee of this fern gave it its common name, and was
the origin of much of the superstitious veneration with which it was
regarded. When used it was gathered by the light of the moon.
Gerarde says : — ** It is singular to heal green and fresh wounda It
hath been used among l£e alchymists and witches to do wonders
withall, who aay that it will loose locks and make them to fall from
the feet of horses that grase where it doth grow, and hath been called
of them Martagon, whereas in truth they are tdl but drowsy dreasu
and illusions; but it is singular for wounds as aforesaid." lis
healing powers are now however as much disregarded as its magical
ones.
B. Virffinicvm, the Rattlesnake Fern, is a native of North America,
and is the largest of the species. It is called Rattlesnake Fem'from
the fact of its growing in places where this venomous reptile is usually
found. The other species of JBotryckium are mostly natives of North
America. (Loudon, EncycLopasdiu of Plants; Newman, Bittory qf
British Ferns).
BOTRYLLIDiE, a tribe of Tunicated MoUuica, of which the genus
Botryllus is the type. The species are not uncommon on the coasts
of Britain. They form translucent jelly-like masses of various hues,
sometimes uniform in tint and sometimes beautifully variegated, and
are found encrusting the surface of rocks or attached to the fronds of
some of the large sea-weeds that grow at the bottom of the sea, or pot
unfrequently attached to the other forms of MoUusca. On exa.miniiig
one of these gelatinoiis masses closely they present the appearance of
stars, having a central point and numerous radii Unless examined
closely they present little signs of life, but when a magnifying power
is applied currents of water are seen passing to and from small apertures
with which the surface is covered. Savigny, the illustrious French
naturalist, was the first observer who appr&ended the nature of these
curious beings, and gave an account of their structure in his celebrated
' M^moires sur les Auimaux sans Yert^bres.' Before his time the
BotryUidcs had been confounded with the Polypes, and r^arded as
analogous to Alcyonium. The earliest figures of them are to be found
in tiie 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1757 by Schloaser, who was a
correspondent and friend of John Ellis. The latest researches upou
these creatures are those of Milne-Edwards in 1839, who in a paper
read before the Institute of France fully confirmed tiie correctness of
SavignVs views. The animals of this tribe have been divided into
several* genera, of which the following are British : —
Aplidiwn, Sav. Gelatinous or cartilaginous, with no central cavity,
but a distinct circumscription. Animals 8 to 25 in number, in a
single row, at equal distances from the centre of their common axis.
Three species are given by Forbes and Hanley in the 'British
Molluscs,' but with the statement that they require "careful re>
examination." These are A. Ficua, Linn.; A.faUax, Johnston; ^>
nutans, Johnston.
Digitized by
Google
009
BOTRYOGENE.
BOTS.
610
Sidnyum, Say. The mass presents the appearance of a number of
heads of Hadtepore or Cladooora, each formed of a simple cone trun-
cated and starred at the summit, rising from a common encrusting
base, the whole being grouped closely together. There is but one
speciesy S, tftrbinatum, which occurs abundantly on the north coast of
the Isle of Itfan and other parts of the British Islands.
Polpi^wtunf Say. Mass sessile, gelatinous, or cartilaginous ; poly-
morphous, composed of more or less multiplied systems, oonyex,
radiated, each haying a central cayity, and being more or less
distinctly circumscribed. Indiyiduals 10 to 150, placed at unequal
distances from a common centre. P, aurarUiwn, Milne-Edwards,
has been found at Cullercoats.
Amowroueiumf Milne-Edwarda Mass lobed or encrusting, sessile or
pedunculated, fleshy or cartilaginous, composed of many systems, each
having a central cavity. A. pro^ferunif M. Edwards, has been found
in Belfast Bay. A. Nordmawni, M. Edwards, and A . Arffot, M. Edwards,
have been talcen at Falmouth by Mr. Alder.
Leptodinuniy Milne-Edwards. Mass thin, sessile, encrusting, poly-
morphous, coriaceous or gelatinous, composed of many systems ;
vents opening into a common cloaca. The following species have
been taken on various parts of the British coasts : — L. maculoiwn^
L atperwB^f L. awrevmit L. gelatinowm, L. Listarianum, L. punctatwu.
Diatoma, Gaertner. Mass sessile, semicartilaginous, polymorphous,
composed of many systems, usually circular. Anal and branchial
orifices regularly and equally 6-rayed. Two species, I>. rubrvm and
D. varudottimt are British.
BotryUutf Qaertner. The animals are grouped in single stars, and
lie horizontally with the vent far from the branchial •orifice. The
branchial orifices simple and arranged around a common cloaca.
B. Schlosseri, Pallas. This is the species figured by Sohloeser in the
'Philosophical Transactions.' It is one of tibe most beautiful, as it is
one of the most common species of the family. Living specimens of
this and the other species of BotryUidcB are now in the Aquavivarium
■^^^■■■:
i, A ffTOup oTBotrglhu Sehtoaen upon AMeidia inte$tinatis ; 6, a disk ma^ifled.
Df the Zoological Society in the Regent's Park Gardens. The other
British species are B, polyqfcltu, Savigny ; B. gemmetu, Say. ; B. vio-
laceus, Milne-Edwards; B. Snwwagdut, M. Edwards; B, biviUatua,
H. Edwhrds.
BotrifUoide$, Milne-Edwarda The stars formed by the systems of
these animals are irregular and ramifying. The bodies are placed
vertically and the two orifices approximate. The following species are
British : — B. I^eachii, Sav. ; B. albiccu*^, M. Edwards ; B, roiifera,
M. Edwards ; B. rubrumy M. Edwards.
(Forbes and Hapley, History of British MoUtuect.)
BOTRYOGENE, native red Sulphate of Iron. It occurs crystallised,
the cfTstals being usually aggregated in globular reniform and botiy-
i»itlal masses. The primary form is that of an oblique rhombic prism.
The colour is deep hyacinth-red and ochre-yellow with a yellow
streak. The hardness is from 2*25 to 2*6. The lustre vitreous;
translucent. The taste slightly astringent The specific gravity
2-039. It is compoeed of—
Sulphuric Acid 82*55
Peroxide of Iron 23-86
Protoxide of Iron 10*71
Water 82-85
It is foimd in the great copper-mine of Fahlun in Sweden.
BOTRY'TIS, one of the obscure parasitical genera of Funffi, to
which what is called Mildew ia often attributable. The plants consist
of little cells adhering end to end ; of these a part lies prostrate on
the surface of the plimt that bears them, the other rises erect from
th«* surface and bears a collection of roundish seed-cases at the extre-
^ity. From the spores contained in these cases the plants are propa-
guted, and seeing that their size is so microscopic in all cases as to
escape our vision unaided by glasses, and that what seems to the
aaked eye a thin brownish wlute patch upon a leaf is in reality a
ileose forest of such plants, their power of dissemination must be very
great. They attack the fibres of vegetable fabrics, such as linen and
cotton when placed in damp places, and the decayed stems of various
JTAT. HI&I. DIV. YOL. L
plants, decaying apples, pears, grapes, &c. They are always superficial,
and never intestinal.
BOTS are the Larvae or Caterpillars of the Gad-Fly, belonging to
the order jDiptera and the genus (Estnu, and distinguished by this
peculiarity, that they pass the larval state of their existence within
some living animal, and feed on the juices or substance of that animal.
There are numerous species of them. Every quadruped on which
they prey has its peculiar fly. The notice of a few of those most
commonly known will suffice.
The (Estrus EqtU, or Gad-Fly of the Horse, belongs to the genus
Oiuteropkiliu of some entomolog^ists, so called from its larvae inhabiting
the stomach of that animaL It is distinguished from the other CEstri
by the smoothness of the thorax, and by the eyes in both sexes being
equidistant from each other, not quite half an inch in length, with
gauze-like yellow and brown wings, its chest of a rusty colour
approaching to a brown hue on the sides and with a yellow tinge
posteriorly, its beUy of a reddish-brown superiorly and a dirty gray
beneath, with its extremity almost black. The whole insect is thickly
covered with down. The Gad-Fly is seen in the latter part of the
smnmer very busy about horses: this is the impregnated female
depositing her eggs. She approaches the horse, selects some part
which he can reach with his tongue, and which he is in the frequent
habit of licking ; she balances herself for a moment, and then suddenly
darting down, deposits an egg on one of the hairs, which adheres by a
glutinous substance that surrounds it She continues her labour with
wonderful perseverance until she has parted with fifty or a hundred
eggs, and then having exhausted herself, she slowly flies away, or
drops at once and dies.
If a horse at grass is carefully examined in August, some hundreds
of these minute eggs will be found about its legs and the back part of
the shoulder, and few or none out of the reach of his tongue. In two
or three days these eggs are sufficiently matured to be hatched.
Possibly the horse feels a little incontenience from all this glutinous
matter sticking about and stiffening the hair, and he licks the part^
and by the pressure of the tongue, and the mingled influence of tho
warmth and moisture of it, the ova are burst, and a small worm
escapes from each. It clings to the tongue, and is thus conveyed into
the mouth ; thence it is either carried with the food into the stomach,
or, impelled by instinct, it trayela down the gullet, being too small to
inconvenience or annoy the horse. Thus it reaches the stomach, and
by means of a hook on eadi side of its mouth affixes itself to the
cuticular or insensible coat of that viscus. It scoops out a litUe hole,
into which its muzzle is plunged, and there it remains until the eariy
part of the summer of the following year, feeding on the mucous or
other matter which the coats of the stomach afford. It has now
become an inch in length and of corresponding bulk, and ready to
undeigo its change of form. It detaches itself from the cuticular
coat to which it had adhered, and plunges into the food which the
other and digestive portion of the stomach contains ; it passes with
the food through the whole length of the intestines, and is dischaiged
with the dung. Sometimes it is not perfectly enveloped in the fecal
mass; it then clings to the sides of the anus, and hangs there finnly
until there is a soft place beneath on which it may drop ; it then
hastens to burrow into the earth, and, if it has escaped the birds that
are eagerly watching for it, it has no sooner hollowed for itself a
convenient habitation than a shelly covering is formed around it^ and
it appears in the state of a pupa or chrysalis.
It here lies torpid for a few weeks, preparing to undei^o its last
change. It assumes the form of a perfect fly ; it then bursts from its
prison, rises in the air, and seeks ite mate. The work of fecundation
being accompliahed, the male immediately dies : the female lingera a
day or two in order to find the proper deposit for her eggs, and her
short life also terminates.
It is in the larva or caterpillar state that the Bot is most known.
The stomach of the horse sometimes contains an almost incredible
number of them, the cuticular portion of that organ being in a
manner covered with them. In a few instances ^hey have been
decidedly injurious. Having mistaken the upper part of the windpipe
for their residence, and fastening themselves on the edges of the
opening into it^ have produced a cough which no medicine could
aUeviate, and which increased with the growth of the Bot, until a
degree of irritation vras excited under which the animal sunk. They
have also traveUed farther than the stomach, and have irritated and
choked the first intestine, and thus destroyed the horse ; and, even
in their natural habitation, under probably some diseased state of the
stomach arising from other causes, they have perforated it and
caused death.
These however are rare occurrences ; they are exceptions to a
general rule. The plain matter of fiact is, that a horse that hM been
turned out in July and August, and therefore almost necessarily has
bots, eigovs just as good health as another that has been stabled
during this period. He is in as good condition, and as fully capable
of work when the cuticular coat is crowded with full-formed bots as
he is at any other time ; and his health is unaffected when thsy are
passing through the intestines to seek a new habitation.
A smaller species of Bot, called from its colour the Red-Bot» is
occasionally found in ttie stomach ; but the fly from which it pro<^<eds
has never been accurately described. There ia no ground foi*
S B
Digitized by
Google
611
BOTS.
BOUNCE*
613
the aaseriioa that the red-bot ia more i^jurioua than the com-
mon bot.
A third speeiee, the (Estrut hemorrhoidalis, or Fundament-Bot, ia
better known. The fly ia oonaiderablv smaller than the common
(EttruM BquL It is of a brown colour, with the extremity of the body
rounded and yellow, and the mouth ia fumiahed with exceedingly
sharp pincers. This fly may be seen darting between the thighs of
the horse and around its croup, and following the motions of the tail
until the animal is preparing to dung. During the eracuation of the
dung, and the subsequent protrusion of the intestine, it darts upon
and tears the gut with its pincers, and deposits an egg in eyery
wound. The horse does not seem to sufifer any pain during this
operation, for he stands passive ; and the little worm, soon produced
from the egg, establishes its abode in the place in which it was
deposited. It likewise remains its stated time in the intestine, and
escapes at the same time that the common bot does from the
stomach. These bota are often seen within theyerge of the anus, and
occasionally seem to be productive of a slight degree of irritation.
They are smaller than the common bot, and diBtinguished from the
red-bot by their colour. An injection of linseed-oil will generally
dislodge them.
The (Ettrua Ovit, or Gad-Fly of the Sheep, is a more formidable
insect It is smaller than the Qktrut of the Horse : its body is of a
dark-brown colour, spotted with white, the white sometimes so much
prevailing as to give a grayish hue to the fly. It may often be seen in
copses, and particularly on rails in the neighbourhood of a copse.
I£very shepherd ought to make himself acquainted with it^ for it may
then be easily crushed and destreyed. It prevails moat in June and
July, and is sometimes an intolerable nuisance in woody countries.
If only one of them appears the whole flock is struck with terror ;
and if there is any place in the field devoid of pasture the sheep
crowd to it, turning their heads towards the centre of the group,
with their muxzles to the sand, and their feet in continual motion in
order to secure themselves from the attack of their foe. The (Eitrat
endeavours to get at the inner margin of the nostril, and, darting
upon it with the quickness of lightning, deposits her egg. The warmth
and moisture of the part speedily hatch it, and the little worm
escapes. It crawls up the nostril, it threads all the sinuosities of the
passage, and finds its way to some of the sinuses connected with the
nose. The irritation which it occasions as it travels up the nose
seems to be exceedingly great. The poor animal gallops furiously
about, snorting violently, and almost maddened by the annoyance.
At length the worm reaches some of the convolutions of the turbi-
nated bones of the nose, or the antrum or cavity of the upper jaw,
or the frontal sinuses ; it fastens itself on the membrane by the two
hooks with which, like the others, it is provided, and there it remains
until April or May in the succeeding year.
There are seldom more than three or four of these bote in each
sheep ; and when they have reached their appointed home, like the
bots in the stomach of the horse, they are harmless. Some strange
but groxmdless stories have been told of gleet from the nose,
giddmess, and inflammation of the brain having been produced by them.
The larva or bot remains in the sinus xmtil it has fully grown. It
then detaches itself from the membrane, creeps out the same way by
which it entered, and again sadly annoys the animal for a little while,
the sheep making the most violent efforts to sneeze it out. At length
the grub being dropped, burrows in the earth, becomes an oval and
motionless chrysalis, and six weeks or two months afterwards it
brea^ from its prison a perfect fly. The work of propagation being
effected the male, like that of tiie (Ettrua Equi, dies ; the female
lingers on a littie while until she has safely deposited her ova. She
takes no food, for she has no organs to receive or digest it. She
accomplishes her task and expires.
The (Eitrus Bovitf or Qad-FIy of the Ox, is larger than either of the
others. Its chest is dark-brown with a vellow patch on the back,
and the rounded abdomen has alternate rings of a brown and orange
colour. The fatty and cellular substance beneath the skin of the ox
is the residence of its larvse. The fly almost uniformly selects a
young beai!t in good condition, and, alighting on the back a little on
one side of the spine, it punctures tiie skin and drops one of its eggs
into the perforation, and with it probably some acrid fluid which
causes temporary but intense pain. The ox darts away, and runs
bellowing over the field with his head protruded and his tall extended.
His companions smarting from the same pain or dreading a similar
attack also gallop wildly in every direction, hastening if it be in their
power to some pond or stream where their enemy in afraid to follow
them. A small tumour — a warble — presentiy appears on the back,
which being carefully examined is found to contain a littie white
worm. This worm erows and assumes a daricer colour, and becomes
a perfect bot ; and there it remains abundantly nourished by the fatty
matter around it until the following June, when it begins to eat its
way through the wall of its cell Many a bird aware frOTi the uneasi-
ness of the beast of what is going forward is ready to seize the bot
as it is forcing itself through the aperture which it has made, and the
cattle too instinctively crowd to the water in order that the intruder
may fall into the stream and thus be lost In one of these ways the
great majority of the larvsB perish, but a few reach the groxmd,
speedily burrow into it, pass through their chrysalis state, and
reappear in August in their last and perfect form. They also imm^
diately set to work to secure the perpetuation of their species,
regardless of the annoyance to the animals within whose frame they
find a refuge.
1, The female of the (Estrut Equi nearly double its natural tizc; 2, the
eggs, also magoifted, deposited on and adhering to the hair ; S, Uie bota, one.
half of their natnral sice, adhering by their tentacnla, or hooked mouthi, to
the cnticular portion of the itomaeh. Some of them are sapposed to be reeently
detached, and the exeavatiottB whieh they had made in the cntieuUr coat m
seen ; 4, the fuU.i«rrown bot detached ; 5, the (Eatrtti Oris, or Gad-Fly of tlie
Sheep.
The farmer does not pay the attention which he ou^t to theee
warbles. It is true that the cattie when the tumour has once formed
do not appear to suffer any inconvenience from its existence, and the
farmer is accustomed to associate with the appearance of a few
warbles the certainty of the thriving condition of the beasts ; hut be
forgets the pain and terror which the animal has already suffered and
that which it has yet to undei^o, and he also forgets the deterioratioQ
of the hide. The hole made by the bot in its escape will apparently
close, but not until after a considerable period has elapsed, and neTer
with a substance so firm and durable as the firsts It is easy to destroy
the creature in its celL The pressure of the finger and thumb will
effect it, and while the beast will escape considerable annoyance the
hide will not be damaged.
The goat and the different species of deer, and in fact almost all
animals, have their peculiar tormentors, but the distinctions and habits
of these varieties of the (Ettrua are not well known.
BOTTLE-GOURD. [Laqknaria.]
BOTTLE-HEAD. [Delphisds.]
BOTTLE-TIT. [PARua]
BOULANGERITE, a native Sulphuret of Lead and Antimony. It
occurs massive. The colour is bluish-gray. The fracture exhibits a
crystalline structure. The lustre is metallic. Specific gravity 5*97.
It is foimd at Moli^res in France and at Nertschinsk. The analysis
of the ore from Moli^res by Boulanger gives the following :—
Lead ........ 63.9
Antimony . 25*5
Sulphur 18-5
Iron .1*2
Copper . . . , . . . .0*9
100.0
BOULDER-FORMATION, in Geology, a tiUe which has been
introduced to supplant that of Diluvial Deposits. Till is an equivalent
term employed in Scotland. By various writers these aocumulatioDS
are ranked m the ill-defined class of Pleistocene Deposits. [Supp-]
BOULDERa Of the materials of which superficial deposits of the
debris of ancient rocks are composed some are of lai*ge size, and have
been called Boulders or Erratic Blocks. The portions of smaller siie
are called Gravel Boulders are generally found not hi from the
rocks from which they have been broken, whilst gravel is carried to a
great distance. Instances however are not wanting in which boulders
have been transported an immense distance. They have been traos-
ported from Norway and Sweden to the plains of Germany, and from
the mountains of Scotland and Cumberland to the centre and south
of England. So large are some of these boulders, and the obstacles
such as intervening hills, valleys, and seas so greats that the mode of
their transportation can be accoimted for in no other way than by
supposing that they have been floated across them in masses of ice,
which as they have melted have dropped them in the places where
they are now found when those places were at the bottom of a sea.
The lai^gest boulders seem to have drifted in all cases from northern
and southern points towards the warmer districts in the temperate
and tropical parts of the earth.
BOUNCE, a name given to the large spotted Dog-ilsh {Sq/0^
GcUulMa, Cuvier). [Squalidjb.]
Digitized by
Google
613
BOURNONITE.
BOVID.E.
614
BOURNONITE, a compound of the sulphurotB of lead, antimony,
and copper. It occuni masaive and crystalliaed. The primary form
ifl a right rhombic prism. The cleavage is parallel to the primary
planes and to both the diagonals of the prism. Colour, steel or
blackish-gray; streak siniilar. The fracture uneven, oonchoidaL
Hardness 2*5 to 8*0. Lustre mctallio. Opaque. Specific gravity
6-79 to 6-88. It is found in Cornwall, ClausthaO, Pfaflfenberg, Mexico,
and Peru. The following analysis of the mineral from Cornwall is bv
Hatchott:—
Sulphur . 17-00
Lead . 4262
Antimony . 24*23
Copper ; 12-80
Iron 1-20
97-85
BOVID-fi, a fiunily of the Ungulate or Hoofed division of the
Mammalia, is thus characterised by Dr. J. E. Gray in the * Catalogue
of the Mammalia in the British Museum' : —
Two middle toes separate ; cutting teeth eight below ; upper jaw
callous ; grinders six in each jaw. fVontal bones produced, generally
bearing horns, especially in the jiales. Gullet with two long pouches
just before the stomach, used for holding and soaking the food before
it is chewed. Using their head and horns in defence.
The Bavida include the following tribes : —
Bovma, Cervina, Giraffina, Moachvna, Oamdina.
The tribe Bovina is again divided into the sub-tribes : —
Bovea, Strepncereat, AfUUopea, Caprea, Ovece.
In this article the species of the sub-tribe Bovea which includes
our common Oxen will be described. The Antilopeai and Strep^ieerea
are described under Antilofks, and the other sub-tribes under OvE^
and Caprka.
The Sovtts are characterised by having the horns smoothish, spread
out on the sides, cylindrical or depresaed at the base, situated on the
frontal ridge, and bent laterally outward and recurved at the tips.
The nose is broad, with the nostrils on the side. The skull has no
suborbital pit or fissure; the cutting teeth are nearly equal-sized,
and slightly shelving outwards. The knee (or wrist) is below the
middle of the fore leg, the cannon bone being shorter than the fore-
arm bone.
Dr. Gray observes that the genera of Bovtce may be divided into
grroups by the condition of the muffle. Thus Bot, BU>ot, BUon,
BttbaltUj and Anoa have a naked moist muffle, whilst PoephaguSf
Ovibot, and Budorcat have a hairy ovine muzzle. The first series are
charaoterised in their habits by living on the plains of warm or
temperate regions, whilst the last are inhabitants of mountainous
and snowy regions.
The genera Bot, Bubaius, Bihos, and Anoa are the true Oxen, and
are distinguished from Biton (tiie Bisons) by having tiieir bodies
covered with rather sti£f hair; the shoulder proportioDate to the
haunches, and the cannon bone of the hind and fore legs of equal
Horns cylindrical, conical, nearly circular at the base, curved
upwards and outwards, far apart at the base, on the sides of the
upper part of the ridge at the hinder end of the occipital plane. The
fMoal and frontal portion of the skull equaL Dorsal ridge distinct,
sometimes produced into a dorsal hump.
Boi Taurtu, the BulL The forehead is flat; the withers not
hmnped.
This species is the common Ox, which is so widely diflfused over the
surface of the earth, and of whose utility to man we have very early
records. Dr. Gray gives upwards of forty synonyms for this species.
It is the Boi Tawut of Pliny ; Taurui cattratua of Johnston ; Vacca
of Geaner ; Bot domesticut and Bat Taunt§ of LinnsBus ; the Bull, Ox,
and Common Ox of Pennant and Shaw ; the Stier and Ochs of German
writers ; and Bcsuf of the French ; it is the White Scotch Bull, the
Bisontet jvboH of Boethius ; the White Urus of Colonel H. Smith ;
the Chillingham Bull of Gray ; the Wild or White-Forest Cow and
Bull of Low ; the Wild Cattle of Bewick. Varieties of this species
are known to the grazier by a large number of names : some of these
are generally recognised, and have characteristic types, as the Pem-
broke Bull, the West Highland Bull, the Zetland Cow, the Kerry
Cow, the Aldemey Cow, the Fifeshire Cow, Long-Homed or Lancashire
Bull, the English Short-Horn Cattle, the Short-Horn Ox, the Polled
Suffolk Cow, the Sussex Ox, the Yorkshire Cow. Amongst those
recognised of foreign rearing we may mention the Holstein or Dutch
Bull, the Polish Bull, the Hungarian Bull, the South African Long-
Homed Cattle, Swiss Cattle, Alpine Cattle, the Syrian Ox, Moldavian
Cattle, the Italian Campsgna Bull, Spanish Bulls, Egyptian Cattle, the
Laut of Ainca->J9o« hwrnilU of Frisch, the Galla Ox — Bos Tawnu
Abymmieut of Gmelin, the Cattle of Peauby, the Cattle of Brazil, the
Cattle of Chili, the Nata or Niata of Buenos Ayree, and the Falkland
Islands Wild Cattle.
As this speeisi mi^ be taken as the type of the tribe, we shall
hflte present a sketch of its organisatioa.
We shall first speak of the skeleton. The front or forehead
is wide and flattened ; the lacrymal bone is enlai^ed below, and
leaves no open space between it and the nasal bone. The upper
occipital and parietal bones unite at so early a period into a
single bone, that the calf almost at. its birUi has them already in
the confluent state; but in the earlier stages of the foetus the
two parietal and the two interparietal bones are distinguishable.
The occipital suture remains strong below the occipital crest, and
so differs from the other ruminants ; and the frontal suture reaches
up to this crest, thus forming the principal character of the phy-
siognomy of the Ox. The hole analogous to the sphaeno-palatine
aperture is enormous, and is hidden in the simken space behind the
orbital or supermolar prominence of the maxillary bone; at its
superior border a small portion onlv of the vomer is perceptible.
The tympanic cavities terminate in long sharp points, and between
them the basilary bone presents two strong prominences. The
temporal ala of the anterior sphenoid bone, which in the antelopes
and stags has the crest but slightly projecting, has in the Oxen a
strong and sharp projection.
Teeth of Ox.
The rest of the skeleton is much like that of the other fluminaniit,
and the following cuts will give a better idea than words of the
construction of the extremities.
The anterior angle of the spine of the scapula is prolonged as in
the camels into an acromial apophysis, and the spinid Wder U
rounded; moreover in the Ox the base of the spine towards the
neck of the bone is blended with the anterior border. In the pelvis
of the Ruminants generally the spinal angle of the ossa ilii is wider
and placed more backwards than the external angle, the truncation
of which is oblique and nearly continuous to the anterior border
of the bone. The pelvis of the Ox may thus be easily distinguished
from that of the horse, which has its spinal angle pointed and as
forward as the external angle, which last is more truncated, so as to
be nearly square. The ischium of the Ox moreover is much more
elevated above the cotyloid cavity, the ischial tuberosity is truncated
BO as to present three angles, and the posterior edge of the pelvis forms
a well-marked re-entering angle, whilsl in the horse the same part
is nearly reoUlinear.
Digitized by
Google
615
BOVIDiE.
BOVIDiE.
ei8
The following table of the number of YertebrsD in the Bovea is
giren in Mr. YBaefB 'Delineations of the Ox-Tribe/ and he adds
that the statements, except that with regard to the Tak, are from
his own observations: —
I Amerioan Bison
I European Bison .
I Yak ....
Otydl (Domestio)
Qayil (Asseel) .
OyaU
Jungli Gaa
Italian Buffalo
Indian Buflklo
Buffalo (in Coll. Surg. Mus.)
Qaur ....
, Domestie Ox . . .
! Condore Buffklo
I Manilla Baffklo .
Pegasse ....
Amee
Cape Baflblo
Zamouse ....
Banting ....
Zebu
Galla Ox .
Baekelej ....
Musk Ox.
47 I
50 I
62 I
49
50 j
48 '
48
The organs of digestion of the Ox are formed on the same type
as those of the other Ruminantia. The food on passing down the
OBSophagus enters the large cavity called the ingluvies, or patmch,
where it remains till it is moistened with fluid secreted f]*om the walls
of this bag. Liquids swallowed by the animal appear to be directed
lower jaw and the unarmed front of the upper one, and the muscles
immediately aiding with the upward jerk to separate the bite from
the roots on which it was growing. In a state of domesticated nature,
that is, where the animal roams at large and is not stall-fed or con-
fined to what are called artificial grasses, or to artificial food, we are
told in ' The Swedish Pan ' (' Amsen. Acad.' voL iL) that oxen eat 276
plants and refuse 218 ; that heifers waste away in indosures where
the Meadow-Sweet {Spircea Ulmaria) grows in abundance and'coveR
the ground so that they can scarce maJce their way through it : "the
country people," says the author, ** are amaze^ and imagine that the
Meadow-Sweet affonis them no nourishment ; whereas the goat which
is bleating on the other side of the hedge is not suffered to go in,
though he longs to be browsing on this plant, which to him is delicate
and nourishing food." The leaves of the Long-Leaved Water-Hem-
lock (Cicuta viro$a) are fatal to oxen, whilst the goat feeds heartily
and BiBifely upon it Linnseus found that this plant was the cause of
the terrible disease that raged among the homed cattle at Tomea.
He had scarcely left the boat which carried him over the river to the
fatal meadow before he was convinced. The cattle it appeared died
as soon as they left off their winter fodder and returned to grazing;
the disease diminished as the summer came on, at which time as well
as in the autumn few died. The distemper was propagated irrogukrlj
and not by contagion : the cows were driven in the spring to t^e
meadow where Linneus landed and where he saw plenty of the Long-
Leaved Water-Hemlock, and there they died swollen and in oonvul-
siona In other places the plant was scarce. '' The least attentioo
will convince us," says Linnsous, " that brutes spurn whatever is
hurtful to them, and distinguish poisonous plants from salutary br
natural instinct ; so that this plant is not eaten by them in the summer
and autumn, which is the reason that in those seasons so few cattle
die, namely, only such as either accidentally or pressed by extreme
hunger eat of it. But when they are let into the pastures in spring
partly from, their greediness after fresh herbs and partly from the
emptiness and hunger which they have undergone during a lom^
winter, they devour every gpreen thing which comes in their waj.
It happens moreover that herbs at this time are small and scaroefy
Skeleton of a Cow.
a, Fore-foot of Ox ; J, hind foot of the
same.
into a second cavity called the reticulum, or honey-comb stomach, into
which also the food passes from the first The food is then returned
in the form of little pellets into the mouth, where it is again masti-
cated and moistened with salivary fluid. It once more passes down
the oesophagus into a third cavity, the omasum, called the * many-
plies,' from its plicated structure, and finally passes in a pulpy state
into the reed, or abomasum, from which it is projected into the
intestinea
With regard to their food Oxen are eminently herbivorous, for
though they will browse upon shrubs and trees, grass and herbage is
t? "**P^®' ^^ ^^^ ***"* watch a cow grazing wi^out observing how
J>erfectly the whole mechanism works together — ^the tongue sweeping
m a wisp of herbage into the vice formed by the cutting-teeth of the
supply food in sufficient quantity. They are besides more juicy, &ra
covered witli water, and smell less strong, so that what is noxious i^
not easily discerned frx^m what is wholesome. I observed likewise
that the radical leaves were always bitten, the others not, which con-
firms what I have just said. I saw this plant in an adjoining meadow
mowed along with grass for winter fodder, and therefore it is not
wonderful that some cattle though but a few should die of it in winter.
After I left Tomea I saw no more of this plant till I came to the vast
meadows near Limmingen, where it appeared along the ivMui ; sn^
when I got into the town I heard the same complaints as at Tomea
of the annual loss of cattle with the same cixxsumstanoes." The author
of the ' Swedish Pan' also observes that a hungiy stomach will odea
drive animals to feed upon plants that were not intended for them by
Digitized by
Google
617
BOVIDiE.
BOVIDiB.
618
vsAan. But whenever ibis has happened they, if they escape, become
more cautious for the future, and acquire a certain kind of experi-
ence; and he instances the Monk's-Hood (Aeonitum), which grows
near Fahluna, and is generally left untouched by all the animals that
are accustomed to these places; but if foreign cattle are brought
thither and meet with this vegetable, they venture to take too liurge
% quantity of it, and are killed. He adds that the cattle that have
been reai>dd in the plains of Schonen and Westragothia commonly fall
bto a dysentery when they come into the woodland parts, because
they feed upon some plants which the cattle used to those places have
learaed to avoid. Meadow-Saffron {Coiehicvan cMtumnale) is among
the plants deleterious to oxen if tieUcen in any laige quantity, and
Hellebore (HeUeborus) is also said to be poisonous to them. Tew
{Taxut baceata) is fatal, as it is to herbivorous quadrupeds generally,
the green temptation being probably too strong for cattle kept on short
allowance. Actions-at-law in this country have not been uncommon
against a defendant for not keeping up boimds or hedges whereby the
plaintiff's cattle strayed into places where yew-trees grew, fed on the
branches, and so died.
The period of gestation of the cow is nine months. The normal
number of the offspring is one, though there are not uncommon
inatanoes of the cow bringing forth twins, and rare cases of her pro-
dacing three and even more at a birth. In the case of twins, if they
be male and female apparently, the apparent female is generally barren,
and is oalled a Free Martin (Taura probably of Columella, Varro, and
the ancient Romans).
Mr. Jesse (' Qleanings of Natural History,' 1838) states that if the
cow has twins, one of them a male and the other a female, the latter
is always barren ; but this is an error. " It is a fact known and I
believe almost universally understood," writes John Hunter in his
'Account of the Free Martin,' "that when a cow brings forth two
calves, and one of them a bull-calf, and the other to appearance a cow,
^t the cx)w-calf is unfit for propagation, but the bull-calf grows up
into a very proper bulL Such a cow-calf is called in this country a
Free Martin, and is commonly as well known among the farmers as
either cow or bulL Although it will appear f^m the description of
this animal that it is a hermaphrodite (being in no respect different
from other hermaphrodites), yet I shall retain the term free martin to
distinguish the hermaphrodite produced in this way from those which
resemble the hermaphrodite of other animals ; for I know that in black
cattle such a deviation may be produced without the circumstance of
twins, and even where there are twins, the one a male the other a
female, they may both have the organs of generation perfectly
formed."
Professor Owen in his valuable edition of Hunter^s * Observations'
(1837) adds a note from Loudon's ' Magazine of Natural History ;'
which states that Joseph Holroyd, Esq., of Withers, near Leeds, had
a cow which calved twins, a bull-calf and a cow-calf As popular
opinion was against the cow-calf breeding, it being considered a Free
Martin, Mr. Holroyd was determined to make an experiment of them,
and reared them together. In due time the heifer brought forth a
bull-calf, and she regularly had calves for six or seven years after-
waida Nor are there wanting other cases of fertility under similar
drcumstances.
When a cow has twins and they are both bull-calves the calves are
in every respect perfect bulls, and if cow-calves they are both perfect
cows.
In the 'Nouveau Bulletin des Sciences' is given an account of a
cow which produced nine calves at three successive births : first, four
cow-calves, in 1817 ; second, three, two of them females, in 1818 ;
third, two females, in 1819. With the exception of two belonging to
the first birth all were nursed by the mother.
The origin of our present breeds of domestic cattle has been a sub-
ject of much difference of opinion, arising from the existence of certain
cattle in an apparently wild condition, and which have been supposed
to be desoend[ants of the gigantic Uma described by Csasar as existing
in England during the Roman invasion. The existence also of the
remains of the BIbou {Bison priicui) [Bison] in the Tertiary Beds of
Great Britain have also served to confuse this question. As this ques-
tion is not yet perhaps generally regarded as settled, we shall give the
opinions of some of those who have written on the subject.
Colonel Hamilton Smith, who appears to have taken considerable
pains in investigating the history of the RunUnaiUia generally, and of
the Bovine family particularly, places the fossil species {Boi primi-
genittSj Bojanus and Owen) under £ot (Taunu) Urua, considering the
wild cattle of Chillingham and other parks as the white variety.
Mr. Swainson, in his * Classification of Quadrupeds,' observes that
all writers agree that the lax^ge skulls of oxen found in the more recent
formations belonged to a formidable race of these animals which
existed in Britain in a wild state ; that they belonged without doubt
to the species named Urut by Caesar and other ancient writers ; and
that these skulls not only possess a specific distinction, but exhibit the
type of a form essentially different from that of the Domestic Ox.
" All these skulls," he continues, '' are nearly one-third larger than
those of the Boa Tawrua ;. they are square from the orbits to the occi-
pital crest, and somewhat hollow at the forohead. The horns, placed
at the side of the above crest, show a peculiar rise from, their roots
upwards; then bending outwards, and then forwards and inwards.
No domestic races show this turn ; but numerous specimens of infe-
rior sizes, found fossil in the Cornish mines, have this shape, and the
wild bull of Scotland, the only example of this type now known to
exist, retains it The domestic oxen, on the contrary, of whatsoever
country or breed they may be, have the square concave forehead, with
the horns rising from the ends of the frontal ridge. ... It appears
then that the ancient 27ru«, or Wild Bull, was a pffl*fectly wild, savage,
and untameable animal. Not only does every account handed down
from remote antiquity assiire us of this, but it is even verified bv the
only living example of this form we possess, the Boa ScoticWf still pre-
served in one or two of the northern parks. Although domesticated
so far as to live within such precincts without absolute unprovoked
violence to its keepers, it retains essentially all the savage characters
ascribed to the more powerful species mentioned by the ancients.
Like that also it possesses when at a mature age a kind of mane about
two inches long, and its throat and breast are covered with coarse hair.
These characters, which are never found in the domesticated breeds
of oxen, were no doubt much more highly developed in the ancient
Urua, The second type is the domestic ox ; the external characters
of which, to use the words of Colonel Smith, are * absolutely the same
as the fossil Urua, and the wild breeds differ only in the flexure of
the hom&' But though these two types come so near each other in
external appearance, nothing can be more different than their moral
character ; the Urua, wild, savage, and untameable, remains with all
these propensities unimpaired and undiminished from the period of
its first creation down to the present day. The other, tame, harmless,
and enduring, has voluntarily submitted to the service of man from
the most remote antiquity, and seems to have been a companion of
the earliest inhabitants of the earth."
The allusion here to the Boa Scoticua, the name for the Chillingham
and other wild cattle of this country, is hardly correct. Mr. Vasey, a
recent observer, says, in his * Ox-Tribe,' that they do not exhibit more
wildneas than most domesticated animals when allowed to roam without
restraint; and that their young, when properly reared, are as docile
as those of the ordinary domestic cattle. Nor do they possess a mane,
as has been frequently asserted. The wild cattle breed with the
domestic cattle. The cow goes the same period with young. They
have the same number of ribs, and even their white colour at Chil-
lingham is the result of the destruction by order of the owner of all
Sotted calves that are produced. The following account is given ly
r. Culley, in Bewick, and, as an early description of these animals, is
interesting ; but it is evidently highly coloured, and has misled those
who have relied upon it : —
" Their colour is invariably of a creamy white, muzzle black ; the
whole of the inside of the ear, and about one-third of the outside,
from the tips downwards, red ; horns white with black tips, very fine
and bent upwards ; some of the bulls have a thin upright mane, about
an inch and a half or two inches long. At the first appearance of any
person they set off in full gallop, and at the distance of two or three
hundred yards make a wheel round, and come boldly up again, tossing
their heads in a menacing manner : on a sudden they make a full stop,
at the distance of forty or fifty yards, looking wildly at the object of
their surprise ; but upon the leeust motion being made, they all again
turn round and fly off with equal speed, but not to the same distance;
forming a shorter circle and again returning with a bolder and more
threatening aspect than before, they approach much nearer, probably
within thirty yards, when they make another stand, and again fly off;
this they do several times, shortening their distance and advancing
nearer till they come within ten yards, when most people think it
prudent to leave them, not choosing to provoke them frirther ; for
there is little doubt but in two or three turns more they would make
an attack. The mode of killing them was perhaps the only modem
remains of the grandeur of ancient hunting. On notice being given
that a wild bull would be killed on a certain day, the inhabitants of
the neighbourhood came armed with guns, &c., sometimes to the
amount of a hundred horse, and four or five hundred foot, who stood
upon walls or got into trees, while the horsemen rode off the bull from
the rest of the herd, until he stood at bay, when a marksman dis-
mounted and shot At some of these huntings twenty or thirty shots
have been fired before he was subdued. On such occasions the bleed-
ing victim grew desperately furious from the smarting of his wounds
and the shouts of savage joy that were echoing from every side ; but
from the number of accidents that happened this dangerous mode has
been little practised of late years, the park-keeper alone generally
shooting them with a rifled gun at one shot When the cows calve
they hide their calves for a week or ten days in some sequestered
situation, and go and suckle them two or three times a day. If any
person come near the calves, they clap their heads close to the ground,
and lie like a hare in form to hide themselves : this is a proof of their
native wildness, and is corroborated by the following circumstance
that happened to the writer of this narrative, who found a hidden
calf, two days old, very lean and very weak. On stroking its head it
got up, pawed two or three times like an old bull, bellowed very loud,
stepped back a few steps, and bolted at his len with all its force ; it
then began to paw again, bellowed, stepped back, and bolted as before ;
but knowing its intention, and stepping aside, it missed him, fell, and
was so very weak that it could not rise, though it made several efforts.
But it had done enough, the whole hAitl were alarmed, and coming to
Digitized by
Google
•19
BOVIDiE.
BOVIDuB.
620
its rescue obliged him to retire ; for the dams will allow no person to
touch their aJyee without attacking them with impetuous ferocity.
When any one happens to be wounded, or is grown weak and feeble
through age or sickness, the rest of the herd set upon it and gore it
to death. The weight of the oxen is generally from forty to fifty
stones the four quarters ; the cows about thirty. The beef is finely
marbled and of excellent flavour. Those at Burton-Constable in Uie
county of York were all destroyed by a distemper a few years since.
They varied slightly from those at Chillingham, naving black ears and
muzzles, and the tips of their tails of the same colour : they were also
much larger, many of them weighing sixty stones ; probably owing to
the richness of the pasturage in Holdemess, but generally attributed
to the difference of kind between those with black and with red ears,
the former of which they studiously endeavour to preserve. The
breed which was at Drumlanrig in Scotland had also black ears."
Mr. Bell ('British Quadrupeds,' 1839— the * Ox'), after referring to
Qriffith's ed. of Cuvier for Colonel Hamilton Smith's interesting and
learned dissertation upon the mythology and ancient history of the
Ox, says, "Whether the ox exist now or has existed within the
range of sound historical testimony, in its original state, or whether,
as in the case of the horse, all the instances of the occurrence of wild
oxen of this species now on record have not been derived from the
domestic race, fortuitously escaped firom servitude and become wild, is
a question which it is difficult if not impossible satisfactorily to solve.
The ancient accounts of the Urutf or Wild Ox, declare it to have been
an animal of enormous size and great fierceness ; and the horns are
described as being large, spreading, and acute. In this country and
in many parts of the Continent have occurred numerous fossil bones
of oxen, with large horns, having the form and direction of those of
certain breeds ooJy of our present cattle, particularly of such as are
most wild ; as for instance the celebrated wild white oxen of Craven,
of Chillingham Park, and of Scotland (the Bo$ Seoticu* of some authors).
I cannot but consider it as extremely probable that these fossil remains
belonged to the original wild condition of our domestio ox, an opinion
which Cuvier appears to have entertained, who calls the skulls * Crftnes
semblables k ceaux d'un bceuf domeetique.' They are found only in
very recent deposits, frequently in caverns mingled with the remains
of various other animals, as in the celebrated cave of Kirkdale, and in
different parts of Cornwall and of Devonshire. I have several teeth
and some fragments of bones from Kent's Hole, in the latter county,
where they were found in the same mass with the remains of the
elephant, the rhinoceros, the deer, the bear, and the hyaena. Cuvier
however considers that they existed after the destruction of the latter
■pedes. It has indeed been attempted to prove that the ancient
remains alluded to, together with the CHiillingham and ScoUish breed,
belong to a distinct specific ^^pe from the common domestic ox ; and
some modifications of structure have been cited in proof of this opinion.
It does not appear to me however that these modifications are of suffi-
cient value to constitute specific distinction, as they appertain only to
parts which are veiy variable in particular breeds of the domestic
cattle ; they are, some slight differences in the form and direction of
the horns, and tiie existence in old bulk of a short mdimentaiy mane
and some hair upon the breast. Now, there is certainly no point of
sufficient importance to form a specific distinction, even were the form
of the horns less variable than they are in our domestic oxen. We
require yet a series of well-authenticated and well-directed experiments
on the intermixture of the Scottish or Chillingham cattle with the
domestic breeds, and the fertile or infertile character of the progeny ;
which, if the views I have so repeatedly stated be correct, would at
once decide the question. Even Colonel Smith himself, a high authority
in these matters, although he urges the si>ecific distinction of the two
animals, says, * The character of the domestic oxen is absolutely the
same as the fossil, and the wild breeds differ only in the fiexure of the
horns and external appearance, occasioned by the variations of climate,
food, and treatment.^ But, it may be asked, do variations of climate,
food, and treatment produce specific distinctions ? And yet this dis-
tinction is, as I have just stated, held both by Colonel Smith and Mr.
Swainson. Upon the whole I cannot but believe that the fossil bones
belonged to the original stock of our domestic ox, and that the wild
white cattle (the £oi Scotictu and Urtu Seoticut of the authors just
named) approach so near to it as to leave it a matter of doubt, not
whether they all belong to the same species, but whether this breed
be the actual remnant of that original stock, or the descendants of
domesticated individuals which have resumed in a great degree their
wild character fr^m having ceased through many generations to feel
the effects of human domination."
In his ' History of British Fossil Mammals/ speaking of the Bos
primigeniut, Professor Owen says —
" Of this species we have Uie same examples, short of the still
preserved living animal, as of the bison ; and it is most satisfactory
to find such proof of the general accuracy of the brief but most
interesting indications of the primitive mammalian fauna of those
regions of Europe, which may be supposed to have presented to the
Roman cohorts the same aspect as America did to Uie first colonists
of New England.
" In the same deposits and localities which have yielded remains
of the Aurochs (Buon pritcut) there have been found the remains
of another bovine animal, its equal or superior in size, but differing
from the Aurochs, precisely as the Roman poets and historians have
indicated, by the greater length of its horns.
"The persistent bony supports or cores of the horns likewise
demonstrate by their place of origin and curvature, the su> 'generio
distinction of the great Urus from the bison, and its nearer affinity to
the domestic ox ; whence we may infer that it resembled the ox in
the close nature of its hairy covering, which would make the ahaggy
coat and the mane of the Aurochs more remarkable by compariaoD.
It is much to be regretted, for the interests of zoology, that the great
Hercynian Uri have been less favoured than their contemporaiy
Biaonte* jubcUi in the progress of human civilisation, and that no
individuals now remain f($ study and comparison like the Aurocba
of Lithuania.
'* Mv esteemed friend Professor Bell, who has written the 'History
of Existing British Quadrupeds,' is disposed to believe with Cuvier
and most other naturalists, that our domestic cattle are the degene-
rative descendants of the great Urus. But it seems to me more
probable that the herds of the newly conquered regions would be
derived from the already domesticated cattle of the Roman oolonista
of those 'boves nostri,' for example, by comparison with wliich
Caesar endeavoured to convey to his countrymen an idea of the
stupendous and formidable Uri of the Hercynian foresta. The
taming of such a species would be much more difficult,.aad hit
certain mode of supplying the exigencies of the agriculturist, than
the importation of the breeds of oxen already domesticated and in
use by the founders of the new colonies. And that the latter was
the chief if not the sole source of the ox of England, when ita
soil began to be cultivated under the Roman sway, is strongly indicated
by the analogy of modem colonies. The domestic cattle, for example,
of the Anglo-Americans have not been derived from tame deecendanta
of the original wild cattle of North America; there, on the contrary,
the bison is fast disappearing before the advance of the agricultunl
settlers, just as the Aurochs and its contemporary the Urus have
given way before a similar progress in Europe.
" With regard to the great Urus I believe that this progreBS has
caused its utter extirpation, and that our knowledge of it is now limited
to deductions from its fossil or semi-fossil remains."
There seems to be little doubt then that the Fossil Ox {Bot
primigeniMi) is entirely extinct^ and that all our domestic and wild
cattle belong to Bos Taurus,
English Bull {Bot Taunu)^ short-horned.
B. Indieus, the Zebu, has the following specific charactera:—
Forehead convex ; withers with a more or less large fleshy hump ;
dewlap deep, waved ; the upper part of the rump shelving very
much. Amongst scientific writers this animal has had many
designations. It is the Bos Indieus of Linnaeus, the Bos domttticut
of Hodgson, the Bos Tcmrus Indieus of Fischer, Bos Zebu of J. Brookea,
Bos Taurus Zdm of Wagner. Varieties or particular breeds have alao
obtained a number of distinct appellations, — Little Indian Bu&lo,
Indian Bull, Great Indian Ox, Qun Bullock, Sacred Bull, Madras Ox,
Madhu Qivi Oxen, Seringapatam Oxen, Two-Humped Zebu, Homleas
Zebu, Buchanan Ox, Nepaul Ox, and Javanese Cow.
The domesticated Zebus vary much in their size and the direction
of their horns, but are generally distinguished by a fatty elerated
hump below the neck and over the withers.
The horns of some are short and suberect (Indian Ox), in others
comparatively long and pointed backwards, with an inclination to
curve inwards, as in the more common breeds (Zebu). The ears of
some are of ordinary sise and position (2iebu) ; in others pendulous
(Indian Ox). The dewlap is more or less developed, in some very
lai^^ly. Their colour varies from a light ashy-gray to a milk-white,
and their size from the stature of an ordinary bull to that of a large
mastiff. Many of these varieties mi^ be seen in the gardens of the
Zoological Society in the Regent's Park. The limbs of all are deer
like and elegant. They "are spread," says Mr. Bennett, "over the
whole of southern Asia, the islands of the Indian Archipelago,
and the eastern coast of Africa, from Abyssinia to the Cape of Good
Hope."
In many parts of India the Zebu is placed under the saddle or
harnessed to a carriage, and travels at an easy rate.- It must have
lost much of its fleetness, if the more ancient writen are to be
credited ; for they speak of 50 or 60 miles a day as its usual pace.
Digitized by
Google
ttl
BOVID^
EOVIDiE.
en
whilflb the modermi only allow it 20 or 30 miles. The beef u not
bad, but is neither so sweet nor so good as that of the common
Ox, the hump idways excepted, which when well cooked is yery
delicate.
The Zebus bear a charmed life among the Hindoos, who venerate
them and hold their slaughter to be a sin ; though they do not object
to work them. There are however some particularly sanctified Zebus,
who lead an easy life, wandering about the villages at their ease, and
taking their pleasure and their food where they list, if not prevented
by the contributions of the devout.
inhabits the mai^ins rather than the interior of primaeval forests.
They never ascend the mountains, and adhere like the rhinoceros ti
the most swampy sites of the district they inhabit There is n)
animal upon which ages of domesticity have made so small an
Indian Ox, or Zebu {Bos Indicus) large variety.
They may be seen every day wandering at large in the streets of
Calcutta eatmg rice, grain, and flour in the bazaar ; and the utmost a
native does when he sees them honouring his goods too much, is
to urge them by the gentlest hints to taste some of the good things
on his neighbour's stalL The superstitious regard for these animtus
accounts for the use of cow-dung in the representation of objects on
the walls. This substance is also collected and dried and used for
cooking food, apparently with a religious object in view, as it is used
in Calcutta where wood is in abundance.
Mr. Bennett in his work on the ' (hardens and Menagerie of the
Zoological Society,' has expressed an opinion that the Zebu is but a
variety of the common Ox, but Mr. vasey observes that the number
of the vertebrsB and the period of gestation both differ from that of
the Ox.
B. Jkmle, the Dante. Face rather narrow; forehead very flat,
with the horns on the side of the high occipital ridge; withers
with a small but distinct hump. This animal is not so well known
as the preceding. It is the Boa deg<ms et parviu Africanua of Belon ;
Jwfenca aylvtttrit of Alpinus, Bos Bubalua Africanus of Brisson ; Salam
Buffiilo, Dwarf Bull, Egyptian Zebu, of various writers. Long in
his 'Egypt' says that this animal agrees better with the humped
cattle on the ancient Egyptian tombs than with the Zebus. Mr.
Whitfield brought a pair of these animals to England. The bull is
still living in the gardens of the Zoological Society. He is white,
with a few brown specks on the head. The female is yellow-brown,
with a very narrow nead.
Bubaltu. Horns depressed or subtrigonal at the bdse, inclining
upwards and backwards, conical, and bending upwards at the tip on
a plane rather in front of the occipital ridge ; forehead rather trans-
verse, convex, shelving before and behind; the intermaxillaries
elongate, extending back, and between the nasal and cheek-bones;
teats in a cross series, the outer one rather before the others.
B. brachpcerus^ the Zamouse, or Bush Cow. Forehead flat ; horns
abort, thick, depressed at the base ; ears very large, strongly fringed
on the edge, and with two diverging strongly-fringed lines within ; fur
short, close, brown. This is the Bo$ B^alut of Children, and Boa
Caffer of Ruppell. This animal, according to Dr. Gray, who has
described one in the Surrey Zoological Gardens, differs from the
buffiulo and all other oxen in several important characters, especially
in the large size and particular bearding of the ears, and in being
totally deficient of any dewlap. It also differs from the buffalo in
its forehead being flatter, and quite destitute of the convex form,
which is BO striking in all the varieties of that animal.
B. Buffalua, the Buffalo. Forehead convex, rounded ; horns large,
flattened at the base, black on the plane of the face, bent down and
recurved at the tip ; ears quite half the length of tiie head, slightly
ciliated ; fur rough, irregmar, bristly, often very far apart, on the
face before the eyes two-rowed. This animal is the Boa Buhalua of
Brisson ; the Boa Bubalia of Linnaeus ; Buffle, French ; and Biiffel,
German. A variety was called by Shaw Boa AmeCf which is the
BubtUvs A ma of Hodgsoa
Mr. B. H. Hodgson, who has by his labours thrown so much light
upon Indian zoology, says of the Indian Bufialoes : '* The Bhainsa, or
Tame BuflEalo, is universal in India. The Ama, or Wild Bufialo,
skull and Ilorns of Uie Arnee.
impression as upon the Bufialo, the tame being still most clearly
referrible to the wild ones at present frequenting all the great swampy
jungles of India. In the wilderness as in the cow-house there is a
marked distinction between the long {macrocerua) and curved-homed
(apirocerrta) buffaloes.
** The Ama ruts in autumn, gestating ten months, and produces
one or two young in summer. It lives in large herds, but in the
season of love the most lusty males lead off and appropriate several
females, with which they form small herds for the time. The Wild
BufiiUo is fully one-third larger than the largest tame breeds, measuring
104 feet from snout to vent, and 6 or 6^ feet high at the shoulders,
and is of such power and vigour as by his chai^ frequently to
prostrate a well-sized elephant. It is remarkable for the uniform
shortness of the tail, which does not extend lower than the hock, for
the tufts which cover the forehead and knees, and lastly for the great
size of its horns. They are uniformly in high condition, so unlike the
leanness and angularity of the Domestic Buffalo, even at its best."
The Buffalo has been introduced into Italy, where it is made very
useful as a beast of burden, its great strength giving it an advantage
over horses and ordinary oxen, in the marshy and swampy districts
where the roads are frequently two or three feet deep with mud. A
singular fact with regard to them is, that they thrive best in those
districts which are most infected with malaria. The Manilla Buffalo
is also a variety of this species.
B. CafftT, the Cape Buffalo. Horns black, extremely large, and
flattened at their base, where they cover the front, having a direction
from within outwards and downwards, and then again elevated at
their point ; ears rather pendant, and covered by the horns ; dewlap,
large and pendant; skin with harsh hairs an inch long of a deep
brown or black colomr. Size great, and proportions massive.
Skull of Cape BuiKUo {Bubattu O^f^).
This is the Boa Caffer of Spamnann and other naturalists. Also
known by the name of the Cape Ox. it is a native of South Africa.
The Cape Bufialo congregates in large herds. Thunberg and his
compamons came suddenly upon a mass of 500 or 600, which were
Digitized by
Google
623
BOVID^
BOVIDJS.
gracing in a plain skirted by a wood. The beasts did not see the
intruders till they came within three hundred paces, when the whole
herd lifted their heads and stood at a gaze. After a while the buffaloes
stooped their heads again to feed, and six of the party (three Euro-
peans and three Hottentots), who carried muskets and were accom-
panied by others armed with javelins, marched up to them within forty
paces, when the herd again lifted their heads and were saluted with
a volley, which instantaneously dispersed them, leaving their wounded
to follow as they could. One of these, an old bull, made the travellers
fly, but fell before he reached the wood. This beast was very thick
in the body, with short legs, of a dai-k-gray colour, and almost
destitute of hairs. But if a herd may be approached thus safely, a
■ingle outlying bull or a wounded one appears to be a most formidable
antagonist. The author last quoted was botanising in a wood rather
behind his companions, when Auge, the gardener of the expedition
who went first, suddenly encountered a lai^e old male bufi&do, which
was lying down quite alone in a spot of a few square yards free from
bushes. No sooner did the beast discover the poor gardener than he
rushed upon him with a terrible roar. Auge turned his horse short
round benind a great tree, so as in some measure to get out of the
sight of the bufialo, which now charged straight towards the sergeant
who followed, and gored his horse in the belly so terribly that it
instantly fell on its back, with its feet turned up in the air and its
entrails hanging out, in which state it lived almost half an hour.
In the meantime the gardener and sergeant had climbed up into trees
for safety. Thunberg intent upon his botanising, and with his ears
filled with the rustling of the branches in the narrow pass where he
was against his saddle and baggage, heard nothing of ul this, though
so near. But the buffalo had not done yet. The sergeant had
brought two horses with him for his journey. One of them, as we
have seen, had been already dispatched ; the other now stood just in
the way of the bufifiELlo as he was going out of the wood. As soon as
the infuriated beast saw this second hors^ he attacked it so furiously
that he not only drove his horns into the horse's breast and out
again through the very saddle, but threw it to the groimd with such
violence that it instantly expired, and all the bones of its body were
broken. Just as the buffalo was thus engaged with this last horse,
Thunberg came up to the opening and beheld the frightful scene.
The wood was so thick that he had neither room to turn his horse
round, nor to get on one side; he therefore was obliged to take
refuge upon a tree into which he climbed, leaving his horse to its
fate. But the buffalo had satiated his rage, or did not distinctly see
the new object, for after his second exploit he turned suddenly round
and went off. Thunberg found his companions half dead with fear,
indeed the gardener was so affected that he could scarcely speak for
some days after, and the two surviving iiorses were discovered
shivering with fear, and unable to make their escape. (* Travels.*)
Cape Buffalo (.BtOtalM Oaffcr).
SpaiTinaun (' Voyage to the Cape,' vol ii.) gives a graphic description
of the shooting of one, and of the unconquerable spirit of the animal
even in death. We can only find room for the final act of the tragedy.
" During his fall, and before he died," writes Sparrmann, " he bellowed
in a most stupendous manner ; and this death-song of his inspired
every one of us with no small degree of joy on account of the victory
we had gained : and so thoroughly steeled frequentlv is the human
heart against the sufferings of the brute creation, that we hastened
forward in order to enjoy the pleasure of seeing the buffalo struggle
with the pangs of death. I happened to be the foremost amongst
them ; but thmk it impossible ever to behold anguish, accompanied
by a savage fierceness, painted in stronger colours than they were in
the countenance of this bu£falo. I was within ten steps of him, when
he perceived me, and, bellowing, raised himself suddenly again on his
legs. I have had reason to beUeve since, that I was at the time very
much frightened ; for before I could well take my aim I fired off my
gun, and the shot missed the whole of his huge body, and only hit him in
the hind legs, as we afterwards discovered by the sue of the ball
Immediately upon this I fled away like lightning in order to look oat
for some tree to climb up into." The same author gives the follomag
as the measurement of a buffalo : — Length 8 feet, height 5^ feet, and
the fore legs 24 feet long : the larger hoofs 5 inches over. The dis-
tance between the points of the horns he states to be frequently 5
feet. They are black, and the surface, to within about a third part of
them, measured from the base, is very rough and craggy. A very
lively account of a buffalo-hunt is also given by Bruce. He guesses
the weight of a bull that he assisted in killing at nearer 50 than
40 stones. The homsi, from the root, following the line of their
curve, were about 52 inches, and nearly 9 inches where thickest in
circumference.
The Cape Buffalo delights in wallowing in the mire, and when
heated by hunting throws himself into the first water he reaches.
The flesh is described by some as good and high flavoured, by
others as ill-grained and coarse. The deference in these accounts is
probably to be traced to the sex, age, and condition of the animala
eaten. The rhinoceros-like hide is much sought after for harness, &c
The horns of the domesticated oxen of the Cape .grow to an
enormous size.
Anock. Horns subtrigonal, nearly parallel, round at the tip, depressed
at the base, and slightly keeled on the inner edge, straight nearly on
the plane of the face on the hinder edge of the frontal ridge.
A. depretsicomitf the Anoa. Reddish-brown, with three small white
spots on the cheek. 2^e black, spot on cheek white. Female and
young brownish-black. This animal was first described by Colonel
H. Smith from a head and horns in the College of Surgeons. [A50a.]
He regarded it as an antelope. Since then Quoy and Oainuud have
figured the whole animal, and a specimen exists in the British Museum.
This was brought from Celebes.
Bibot. Horns depressed at the base, directed outwards, posterior
on the hinder ridge of the frt>ntalbone, which is often very prominent,
recurved at the tips. Withers high, keeled, supported by tiie spinous
processes of the dorsal vertebrse, and suddenly lower behind. The
intermaxillaries are short and triangular, and do not reach to the
nasals. There are three species which Professor Sundevsll regards as
subvarietiee of a variety of the common bulL B. frorUaliSf the Gay&
It is the Bot frontalis of Lambert; the Bos Crayet» of Colebrooke;
Gkvaya, Sansc. ; Gkvai or QayiU, Hind. ; Gobaygoru, Beng. ; Oaujan-
gall, Pers. ; Methana, Mountaineers (Cticis, &c) east of Silhet; Shiil,
Mountaineers (CtHcis) east of Chatgaon; J'hongnua, Mugs; Nilnec,
Blrmas ; Gauvera, Ceylon.
It is nearly of the size and shape of the English bulL It has short
horns, which are distant at their bases, and rise in a gentle curve
directly out and up : a transverse section near the base is ovate, the
thick end of the section being on the inside. The front is broad, and
crowned with a tuft of lighter coloured long curved hair. The dewlap
is deep and pendant. It has no mane nor hump, but a considerable
! elevation over the withers. The tail is short, the body covered with
a tolerable coat of straight dark-brown hair ; on the belly it is lighter
coloured ; and the legs and face are sometimes white. (Roxburgh.)
Dr. Buchanan states that the cry of the Gayil has no resemblance
I to the grunt of the Indian Ox ; but a good deal resembles that of the
' buffalo. It is a kind of lowing, but shriller, and not near so loud ha
I that of the European Ox. To this the Gay^l, in Dr. Buchanan's
opinion, approaches much nearer than it does to the buffalo. Mr.
I Macrae states that the Gkyifl is found wild in the range of mountains
that form the eastern boundary of the provinces of Aracan, Chitta-
gong, Tippera, and Silhet The Cdcis, or Lunetas, a race of people
inhabiting the hills inunediately to the eastward of Chittagong,
have herds of them in a domesticated state. The animal is calloi
Gabay in the Hindoo 'S^tra,' but seems however to be litUe
known beyond the limits of its native mountains, except to the inha-
bitants of the provinces above mentioned. The same author informs
us that the Gay^ is of a dull heavy appearance; but at the same
time of a form that indicates much strength and activity, like that of
the wild buffalo. Its disposition is gentle ; even in the vrild state on
its native hills it is not considered dangerous, never standing the
approach of man, much less sustaining his attack. The CtUds hunt
the wild ones for the sake of their flesh. The Oayifl is a forest
animal, and prefers the tender shoots and leaves of shrubs to grass ;
it never wallows in mud like the buffedo. It is domesticated by the
C6cis, but does not undei^o any labour. The cow goes 11 (?) month*
with young, gives but little milk, and does not yield it long ; but that
little is remarkably rich, almost equalling cream, which it resembles
in colour ; the Ciicis however do not make any use of the milk, but
rear the Gav^s entirelv for their flesh and skins, of which last, or
rather their hides, they form their shields. These domesticated herds
roam at laige in the forests near their village during the day, but
return of their own accord at evening, being early tMight to do this
by being fed when young every night with salt^ of whid^ these animals
are very fond. The Hindoos, in the province of Chittagong^ will pot
kill ^is Gaydl (their Gabay), which they hold in equal veneration
with the cow, but they hunt and kill another Gaydl (Asl Gayil or
Selol) as they do the wild buffala The form of the animal, and the
way in which it carries its head, will be understood from the following
figure, which is reduced from that by a native artist, prefixed to
Digitized by
Google
6X5
BOVIDiB.
BOVID.E.
Mr. Colebrooke'B paper (' Aaaiao ResearoheB,' vol viil), to which we
refior the reader for further interestiiig particular!.
The OayU {Sibot frimtaUi).
Mr, Bird proved that the Oayfl will breed with the common Indian
bull. He brought a domesticated female Gayfl from Chittagong to
Dacca, directed a common bull (of the breed D^bw^, a Zebu of the
common kind found in the middle districts of Bengal), which the
female received upon being blinded with a cloth thrown over her eyea
The offspring was a cow resembliug mostly the Gayfl mother; and
from that eow, impregnated by a bull of the same common breed,
another cow was produced, which also had grown up, and was in calf
by a common buU when Mr. Bird wrote his account ('Asiatic
Researches,' voL viil)
Gteneral Hardwicke gives a figure of the head of the true wild Gkyfl,
or as the natives term it, the Asseel Gayfl (a female), from the south-
east frontier of Bengal. The space between the points of the horns
was 14 inchesw
Head of tme or Asseel Oaydl, female {Bibosfi-ontalis),
of Bengal (from Hardwicke).
Soath-east frontier
The Qyall (Bot frotU^it, Lambert) is evidently not a distinct
species.
Mr. Lambert observes that the hair of the hide is soft ; thero is no
crest ; the lower lip is white at the apex, and bristled with hairs.
The band of the forehead, including the bases of the horns, is lead-
colour ; the horns themselves are ^e. Length from the tip of the
nose to the end of the tail 9 feet 2 inches ; from the tip of the hoof
of the fore foot to the top of the rising of the back 4 feet H inches ;
from the tip of the hoof of the hind leg to the highest part of the
niinp 44 feet
Mr. Harris, in his letter to Mr. Lambert, after identifying his
animal with Mr. Lambert's drawing, writes thus : — " The animal
. . . which I have kept and reared these last seven years, and
know by the name of the Oyall, is a native of the hills to the north-
east and east of the Company's province of Chittagong, in Bengal,
inhabiting that range of hills which separates it from the country of
Aracan. The male Qyall is like our bull in shape and appearance,
but I conceive not quite so tall ; is of a blackish-brown colour ; the
boms short, but thick and strong towards the base, round whidi and
across the frons the hair is bushy and of a dirty- white colour; the
chest and forehead are broad and thick. He is naturally very bold,
and will defend himself against any of the beasts of prey. The female
differs little in appearance; her horns are not quite so laige, and her
|IAT. msx. DIV. TOU I.
make is somewhat more slender ; she is very quiet, is used for all the
purposes of the dairy, as also (I have been informed by the natives)
for tilling the ground, and is more tractable than the buffido. The
milk which these cows give has a peculiar richneas in it, arising, I
should conceive, from their mode of feeding, which is always on the
young shoots and branches of trees in preference to maa, I con-
stantiy nuule it a practice to allow them to range abroad amongst the
hills and jungles at Chittagong during the day to browse, akeeper
attending to prevent their stisying so far as to endanger losing them.
They do not thrive in any part of Bengal so well as in the afore-
mentioned province and in tiie adjoining one, Tipperah, where I
believe the animal is also to be found. I have heard of one instance
of a female Qyall breeding with a common bull"
Head of Oyall {Bosfrontali»), * Linn. Trans.'
The Jungly-Qau, Boeuf des Jongles of M Duvauoel, Bo$ Sytketa
of F. Cuvier, is not a distinct species. Dr. Qray says that Duvaucel's
drawing was taken from a hybrid specimen bred between a domettio
Qvall and a Zebu. It was never alive in Paris, nor seen alhre bj
IL DuvauoeL
Jonglj^aa {Bo» 8ylhti«mm\ male.
B, QavmtM, the Qtoxxr or Qaur. Hind hoof only half the siae of the
front hoof Colour brown ; legs white. This is the Bo$ Oour, Traill ;
Bot Cfaurtu, CoL Smith ; Bot aeuleatut, Cuvier.
Dr. Traill remarks that the only animal which appears to have
afi^ty with the Gk>ur is the Bot Gavceut of Colebrooke, but the vety
different form of its head, the presence of a distinct dewlap, and the
general habit of the Qaijal or Qayal, distinguish it from the Oour.
Captain Rogers assured Dr. Traill that neither the descriptions in
Mr. Colebrooke's communication nor the figure of the Qay41 that
accompanies Ihem had any greater resemblance to the Qour than
that general one which subsists between all the animals of this genus.
The sise of the animal is considerable. Dr. Traill gives the dimen-
sions of one not full^ grown, which measured from tip of nose to end
of tail 11 feet 11} mches ; from the hoof to the withers 6 feet
11} inches; and from the withers to the sternum 8 feet 6 inches.
" The limbs have more of the form of the deer than any other of the
bovine genus."
The Qour, according to Captain Rogers, occurs in several mountain-
ous parts of Central India, but is chiefly found in Myn Pftt or Mine
Paut^ a high insulated mountain with a tabular summit, in the
province of Sergojah, in South Bahar. " This table-land is about
86 miles in length by 24 or 25 miles in medial breadth, and rises
above the neighbouring plains probably 2000 feet The sides of the
mountain slope with considerable steepness, and are furrowed by
streams that water narrow valleys, the verdant banks of which are
the favourite haunts of Qours. On being disturbed they retreat into
the thick jungles of saul-trees which cover the sides of the whole
2 ■
Digitized by
Google
627
BOVTDi^.
BOVTDiE.
«8
range. The south-east side of the mountain presents an extensiTe
mural precipice from 20 to 40 feet high. The nigged slopes at its
foot are covered by impenetrable green jimgle, and abound with dens
formed of fallen blocks of rock, the suitable retreats of tigers, bears,
and hyenas. The western slopes are less rugged, but the soil is
parched, and the forests seem withered by excess of heat. The
summit of the mountain presents a mixture of open lawns and woods.
There were once twenty-five villages on Myn P&t, but these have been
long deserted, on account of the number and ferocity of the beasts of
prey. On this mountain however the Oour maintains his seat The
ln(£ans assert that even the tiger has no chance in combat with the
full-grown Oour, though he may occasionally succeed in carrying ofif
an unprotected calf. The Wild BufiG&lo abounds in the plains below
the mountains, but he so much dreads the Oour, according to the
natives, that he rarely attempts to invade its haunts ; and the nunting-
party only met wiUi three or four umas on the moimtain. The
forests which shield the Oour abound however with Hog-Deer,
Saumurs (Sambur Deer), and Porcupines." Captain Rogers, who
furnished the above account^ hunted the Gk>ur in these wild and
romantic retreats, and the a"iTn«^1, it appears, when hit faces his
adversary, ready to do battle. A diort beJlow, imitated best by the
syllables ugh-ugh, was the only cry heard from the Oour, and that
not until after it had been wounded. August is the month in which
the calf is generally dropped, and the period of gestation is twelve
months. The large quantity of milk given by the cow is averred to
be occasionally so ri(m as to cause the calf s death. The first year the
native name of the bull-calf is Purdrah; the cow-calf is called
Par^eah ; and the full-grown cow Ootirin. The Qours herd together
in parties vaiying firom ten to twenty ; they browse on the leaves and
tender shoots of trees and shrubs, and also grase on the banks of the
streams. In the cold weather the saul-forests are their places of con-
cealment^ and the heats bring them out to feed in the green lawns and
valleys. Thev do not it seems wallow in swamp ana mire like the
Buffalo. If tne natives are to be credited the Oour will not brook
captivity ; even if taken verjr voung the mountain-calf droops and
dies. (' Edinbuigh Philosophical Jouxnal,' voL xL) Mr. Hodgson says
it is exceedingly difficult to rear the Gk>ur in confinement, although
attempts are oonstantlv being made by the Court of NepauL
Oeneral Hardwicker Zoological Journal,' voL iii) gives a figure of a
pair of horns of the "Bob Ckmr, or wild bull of the mountainous district
of lUmgurh, and table-land of Sirgoojahs," from which our cut is taken.
The Oour to which they belonged was killed, as General Hardwicke
believed, by the same hunting-party described by Captain Rogers, and
they were presented to the Oener^ by the principal member of that
party. Major Roughsedge. These horns were 15 inches between
the tips.
Horns of Oonr {Bm Gmir), Hardwioko.
B, Baniinff, the Banting, or Sumatran Ox. Colour black, distinct
large spot on rump, and legs white. This is the Bot Banting of Sir
Btamford Raffles, Bot Uue^prymnui of Quoy and Oaimard, Bos Son-
^aicm of Miiller. It is a native of Java, Borneo, and Bali. There is a
Rtufied specimen and skeleton in the Britdsh Museum. Vasey in his ' Ox-
Tribe,' has given a figure, and observes that it " bears some lesemblanoe
to the Oour, but in the skeleton of the Ooiir the sacrum consists of 5
vertebne and the tail of 19, while in the skeleton of the Banting the
sacrum consists of but 4 vertebra and the tail of 18."
The next genus is BUonf of which there are two species, one
European, the other American. [BiflON.]
Pbephagus.^ Horns subcylindrical, curved outward on the front of
the occipital ridge ; nose haiiy, with a narrow bald muffle between the
nostrils ; hoofs moderately thick, not dilated or expanded on the
outer side, square and straight in front ; tail moderate, not reaching
to the hocks, and covered with long hair ; teats four, narrowing behind.
There is but one species, P, grtmrnena, the Yak, or Sarl^ It is
black; the back and tail often white. It is the Botgrwmient of
LinnsBus; Bot Poiphagut of Colonel H. Smith. It has also been
called the OruntingOx, the Orunting Bull, Svora-Ooy, and Bubul.
There are several varieties, called the Noble Yak, the Plough Yak, the
Ghainorik, and Wild Yak. The following notices of the Yak arc
given in the Catalogue of the British Museum : —
" The Yaks dislike the warmth of summer, and hide themselves in
the shade and water ; they swim well ; both sexes grunt like a pig. The
calves are covered with rough black curled hair, like a curled haired
dog. Wh«n of three ino^ths old tli^y obtain the long hair on the body
and tail They willingly live with the common cows, and breed with
them. The long white hairs of the tail are dyed rdd to form the
tufts of hair on the caps of the Chinese. (Pallas, ' Act Acad Petrop.*
1777, 260.)
" The Yaks used for the.plough are ugly and short-legged, and bold
their heads very low. The beautiful long silky hair hanging from
below the belly is almost if not entirely vnintmg in them, no lets
than the bushy tail, which their avaricious ownera coinmonly cut off
as an article of trade. They are guided by the nose. (Hofimdster,
' Travels in Ceylon,' &a, 441.)
" The Yak-Ox used in riding is an infinitely handsomer animal It has
a stately hump, a rich silky hanging tail nearly reaching the gromHl,
twisted noms, a noble beanng, and an erect head (p. 441). They ut
very shy, and kick with their hind feet^ turning their head round
perpetually, as if about to gore their ridere (p. 448).
** Our broad-footed Yak-Ox is the beast with the thick silky white
fringe under the body, and the bushy tail, both of which sweep the
ground. .... As the stecrpness increased, these poor ammak
began to moan, or rather grunt^ in the most melancholy manner, a&d
this unearthly music gradually rose to such a violent rattle, that
driven rather by its irksome sound than by the discomfort of oor
saddleless seat, we dismounted at the end of the first half-lioQr
(p. 448)."
The Yak, or Chauri Oau, inhabits all the loftiest plateaus of high
Asia, between the Altai and the Himalaya, the Belur Tag, and the
Peling Mountains, and is foxmd tame as well as wild. It camiot lire
on the south side of the Himalaya beyond the immediate vicinity of
the snow, where the tribes of Cachars on the juxta-nivean r^ons of the
sub-Himalayas rear large herds of it, and cross-breed with tha
oommon-ox. They rut in winter, and produce voung in antamn.
Coecum simple, not sacked, nor banded, four inches long ; rihs 14
or 15 pain ; true dorsal ridge confined to the withen ; dewlap none.
(Hodgson.)
Ov5>os. Horns very wide, and touching each other at their hase,
then applied to the sides of the head, and having the points enddeply
turned up ; no naked muzsde, and no furrow on the upper Hp ;
chanfrein narrow at the end, very square, resembling that of tho
sheep ; eara short; limbs robust; tail very short
0. moschattu, the Musk Ox. Sise of Highland cattle ; hoins broad it
orifin, covering the brow and whole crown of the head, and toadiing
each other throu^out from before backwards. As each honi rises from
its flatly convex base, it becomes round and tapering, curving directly
downwards between the eye and the ear, until it reaches the angle of
the mouth, when it turns upwards in the segment of a drde to abore
the level ol the eye ; for haJf its length it is dull, white, and rough,
and beyond smooth and shining ; near the point it becomes black
Mask-Ox {Ocibot mosckatus).
General colour of the hair brown, long, matted, and rather curled
on the neck and between the shoulders, where it is rather grizzled, on
the back and hips long but lying smoothly ; on the shoulders, sides,
and thighs it is so long as to hang down below the middle of the Iff •
There is on the centre of the back a mark of a soiled browniah-white,
called by Captain Parry the saddle. On the throat and chest the
hair is very straight and long, and together with the long hair on the
Digitized by
Google
419
BOVID-aa.
BOVmiE.
lower jaw, hangs down like a beard and dewlap. The short tail ia
concealed by the fur of the hips. There ia a lai^e quantity of fine
browniah aah-coloured wool or down among the hair covering the
body. The iiair on the legs ia short, dull brownish-white, unmixed
with wool. The hoofs are longer than those of the Caribou, but so
aimilar in form that it requires .the eye of a practised hunter to
distinguish the impressions. In the cow, which is smaller than the
bull, &e horns are smaller, and their bases, instead of touching, are
separated by a hairy space. The hair on the throat and chest is also
shorter.
This is the Boeuf Musqu^ of Jeremie ; Musk-Ox of Drage, Dobbs,
Ellis, Pennant, Heame, and Pairy ; Bos moschatus of Gmelin, Sabine,
and Richardson (Parry's * Second Voyage ') ; Mateeh Moostoos (Ugly
Bison) of the Cree Indians ; Adgiddah-yawseh (Little Bison) of the
Chepewyans and Copper Indians ; and Oomingmak of the Esquimaux,
llie Barren Lands of America lying to the northward of the 60th
parallel are the principal habitations of the Musk-Ox. Tracks were
once seen by Hearpe within a few miles of Fort Churchill, in lat 59** ;
and he saw many in his first northern journey, in about lat 61°.
Richardson was informed that they do not now come so far to Uie
southward even on the Hudson's Bay shore ; and he adds that farther
to the westward they are rarely seen in any numbers lower than
lat 87°, although, from portions of their skulls and horns which are
occasionally found near the northern borders of the Qreat Slave Lake,
be thinks it probable that they ranged at no very distant period over
the whole country lying between tiiat great sheet of water and the
Polar Sea. He had nut heard of their having been seen on the banks
of Mackenzie's River to the southward of Great Bear Lake, and he
states that they do not oome to the south-western end of that lake,
althoogh th^ existed in numbers on its north-eastern arm. ** They
range, continues he, '' over the islands which lie to the north of the
American continent^ so far as Melville Island, in lat 75% but they do
not, like the rein-deer, extend to Greenland, Spitzbergen, or Lapland.
From Indian information we learn that to the westward of the Rocky
MountainB which skirt the Mackenzie there is an extensive tract of
barren country, which is also inhabited by the musk-ox and rein-deer.
It is to the Russian traders that we must look for information on this
head; but it is probable that, owing to the greater mildness of the
climate to the westward of the Rocky Mountains, the musk-ox, which
affects a cold barren district^ where grass is replaced by lichens, does
not range ao tar to the southward on the Pacific coast as it does on
the shores of Hudson's Bay. It is not known in New Caledonia nor
on the banks of the Columbia, nor is it found on the Rocky Mountain
ridge at the usual crossing places near the sources of the Peace, Elk,
and Saskatchewan rivers. It is therefore fair to conclude that the
animal described by Fathers Marco de Ni9a and Gomara as an
inhabitant of Kew Mexico, and which Pennant refers to the musk-ox,
is of a different species. The musk-ox has not crossed over to the
Asiatic shore, and does not exist in Siberia, although fossil skulls
have been found there of a species nearly allied, which has been
enumerated in systematic works under the name of Ovibos PaUcmtis,
The appearance of musk-oxen on Melville Island in the month of May,
M ascertained on Captain Parry's first voyage, is interesting, not
merely as a part of their natural history, but as giving us reason to
infer that a chain of islands lies between Melville Island and Cape
Lyon, or that Wollaston and Banks' Lands form one great island,
over which the migrations of the animals must have been performed.
The districts inhabited by the musk-ox are the proper lands of the
Esquimaux ; and neither the northern Indians nor the Crees have
an original name for ity both terming it Bison with an additional
epithet"
Sir. John Richardson, who had the best opportunities of coming at
the truth, informs us that the country frequented by the Musk-Ox is
mostly rocky, and destitute of wood, except on the banks of the larger
rivers, which are more or less thickly clothed with spruce-trees.
Their food, he tells us, is similar to that of the Caribou, grass at one
season and lichens at another ; and the contents of its paunch are
eaten by the natives with the same relish as that with which they
devour the ' nerrooks ' of the Caribou. The dung is voided in round
pellets, which are larger than those which oome from the Caribou.
The animal runsfast^ short as are its l^s, and hills and rocks are easily
climbed by this ox of the northern deserts. One pursued bv Richard-
son's party on the banks of the Coppermine River scaled a lofty sand-
cliff with so great a declivity that they were obliged to crawl on hands
and knees to follow the chase. The musk-oxen assemble in herds of
from twenty to thirty, are in their rut about the end of August and
beginning of September, and bring forth one calf about the latter end
of May or beginning of June. Heame accounts for the few bulls
which are seen by supposing that they kill each other in their contests
for the cows.
Richardson thus graphically describes the terror of a huddled herd :
— " If the hunters keep themselves concealed when they fire upon a
herd of musk-oxen, the poor ft^i^nft^lw mistake the noise for thunder,
and, forming themselves into a group, crowd nearer and nearer
together aa their companions fall around them; but should they
discover their enemies by sight, or bv their sense of smell, which is
very acute, the whole herd seek for aaiety by instant flight The bulls
however are Tory irasdbLe^and particularly when wounded, will often
attack the hunter, and endanger his life unless he possesses both
activity and presence of mind. The Esquimaux, who are well accus-
tomed to the pursuit of this animal, sometimes turn its irritable
disposition to good account ; for an expert hunter having proxpked a
bull to attack him, wheels round it more quickly than it can turn, and
by repeated stabs in the belly puts an end to its life.**
Mr. Jeremicj, who first brought the animal into notice, carried some •
of its wool to France, where some stockings were made of it, said to
have been equal to the finest silk. Sir John Richardson says that thia
wool resembles that of the Bison, but is perhaps finer, and would in
his opinion be highly useful in the arts, if it could be procured in
sufficient quantity. The same author informs us that when the animal
is fat its flesh is well tasted, and resembles that of the Caribou, but
has a coarser grain. The flesh of the bulls is high flavoured, and
both bulls and cows when lean smell strongly of musk, their flesh at
the same time being very dark and tough, and certainly far inferior to
that of any other ruminating animal in North America. The carcass
of a Musk-Ox weighs, exdusiTe of the offiJ, about three hundred-
weight, or nearly three times as much as a Barren-Cbound Caribou,
and twice as much as one of ithe Woodland Caribou. (Richardson^
' Fauna Boreali- Americana.')
Budorcat. Muzzle haiiy, with a small naked muffle only edguig
the nostrils ; ears narrow, pointed. The for consists of short, harsh,
adpressed hair; the tail is short, very depressed, and haiiy, like the
tail of a goat; the head is huge and heavy; thelipstaner, and are dad
with hair like sheep; the horns are rotmd, smooth, lunate; they are
nearly in contact on the top of the head; their direction is vertioally
upward, then horizontally outward, or to the sides^ and then almost as
horizontally backward ; itie limbs short and straight ; the hoofs broad.
The only spedee of this genus is the B, taxicola, the Takin. It isthe
NeTnorhadua of Turner. It is an inhabitant of the Eastern Himalaya.
It is called Takin by the Mishmis, and Ken by the Ehamtis. There
has been some difference of opinion as to the proper position of this
animal, but we have followed Dr. J. K Gray in placmg it amongst
the Bovea.
Fotnl BoveoB,
Remains of oxen and deer occur abundantly in the Tertiary Beds,
with extinct spedee of exiating genera of PttdtydermatOf such as the
elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus^ and horsey, the extinct genus
Matiodonf and huge Camivora, as the tiger, hysena, and bear.
The most interesting of these Lb the Bot primigeiUut.
Mr. Woods, in a paper on some fossil bones foimd in Wiltshire, says,
"It has occadoned some speculation among zoologists to appropriate
to the large herbivorous jmimalit, of which these ^ulls and scattered
bones are now the only vestiges, their proper place in the system of
nature. Cuvier however has fixed their characters, and has declared
them to resemble the skulls of the present oxen so closdy, that there
can be little doubt of their having belonged to the stock from which
the latter have all proceeded ; these having however degenerated in
size, and varied from them and from each other in minor points, owing
to differences in climate, food, and other causes depending upon
domestication, their magnitude is at least one-third greater than that
of the largest breed of modem oxen, and their horns are much more
maadve."
We have seen that Professor Owen Lb of opinion that the Bot printi-
genifu is a distmct spedes from the Common Ox. That it is distinct
from the Bison or Aurochs was pointed out by Bojanus, at the same
time we have abundant evidence that it existed in. Gh:eat Britain with
the Aurochs, with the bones of which its remains are found constantly
associated. "The characters of Bot primigenius" says Prdfessor
Owen, "as contrasted with the Biion priseua, may be advantageoudy
studied in the magnificent specimen of an entire akull, from near
Athol in Perthdiire, now in the British Museum. The concave fore-
head, with its slight median longitudinal ridge ; the origin of the
horns at the extremities of the sharp ridge which divides the frontal
from the occipital regions; the acute angle at which these two
surfikces of the cranium meet to form the above ridge, dl idontify
this specimen with the Bot primigeniut described by Cuvier, Bojanus,
and Fremery. The cores of the horns bend at first dightly backward
and upward, then downward and forward, and finally inward and
upward, describing a graceful double curvature ; they are tuberculate
at the base, moderatdy impressed by longitudinal grooves, and
irregularly perforated. The skull is one yard in length, and the span
of &e horn-cores is 3 feet 6 inches ; but other British spedmens of
the Bot primigmim have shown superior dimensions of the bony
supports of the bonis. The breadth of the forehead between the
horns is lOJ inches; from the middle of the occipitd ridge to the back
part of the orbit it measures 18 inches ; the length of the series of the
upper molar teeth is 64 inches^ the breadth of the occipitd condyles
is 6 inches."
The difference between the B. primigeniut and the domestic ox is
seen most in its diminutive size and the comparative shortness as well
as fineness of its horns. Specimens of B. primigeniut have been found
by Mr. John Brown in the London Clay of Clacton, on the Essex coast,
by Mr. H. Woods in the bed of the Avon, by Mr. Wickham Flower in
the London Clay of Heme Bay, and in many other phtces.
In addition to this species Professor Owen describes another fossil
species which ho has named B. longtfront. The first known spedmnn •
Digitized by
Google
m
BOVIDA
BOVISTA.
fta
a.F/ontTieir; 1^ i
JBot primigmiut,
I from below ; c, seen from behind ; d, profile. (CttTicr.)
of this BpecieB was obtained by John Hunter from a bog in Ireland,
and was described by Professor Owen as a distinct spedea. Other
specimens have since been brought to light. Dr. Robert Ball
described, in the ' Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy/ for 1839,
remains of this species, obtained from considerable depths in bogs in
Westmeath, Tyrone, and Longford. Remains of it nave also been
found in Essex, Middlesex, Devonshire, and other parts of England.
Of this species Professor Owen says, ** It has been remarked in a
former section that the domesticated descendants of a primitiTe wild
race of cattle were more likely to be met with in the mountaina tiian
in the lowlands of Britain, because the aborigines, retaining their
ground longest in the mountain fastnessea, may be supposed to have
driven thither such domestic cattle as they possessed before the foreign
invasion, and which we may presume therefore to have been derired
from the subjugation of a native species of Boi.
" In this field of coxgecture the most probable one will be admitted
to be that which points to the Bo9 longifrona as the spedea which
would be domesticated by the aborigines of Britain before the Roman
invasion. Had the Boi prmigerdut been the soiurce we might have
expected the Highland and Welsh cattle to have retained some of the
characteristics of their great progenitors, and to have been distin-
guished from other domestic breeds by their superior size and the
length of their horns. The Kyloes and tiie Runts are, on the contraty,
remarkable for their small size, and are characterised either by short
horns, as in the Boi lonffifront, or by the entire absence of these
weapons."
The following fossil species have been also named : — Bot troekoeenu
^Hermann von Meyer), sub-Apennine beds ; Buffle Fossile de Sib^rie
(Cuv.); Boi {Bison f) bombifrons (Harlan), Big-Bone-Lick, North
America ; Bos Pallasii (Dekay), Bos moschatm foMis (?), Bos aaudicn-
lotus (?) (Fischer), Siberia and North America ; Bos vdaunus (Robert),
Cuasac, Haute Loire.
Abundant remains of the Ox were found by Captain Cautley in the
Sewalik Mountains, at the southern foot of the Himalayas, between
the Sutlej and the Ganges, partly lying on the slopes among the mins
of fallen cli£b, and partly in situ in the sandstone, in company with
the bones of mastodon, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, hog,
horse (comparatively scarce), elk, deer (several varieties) ; Camivora,
canine and feline (comparatively scarce); crocodile, gavial, Enf/tt
Trionyx, and fishes. There were also portions of undescribed
Mammalici.
BOVISTA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Fmgi
This name was given it by Dillenius, and is a Latinised version of
Bofist, its Qerman name. In many parts of England its oonmion
name ia Bullfice, and some writers call it Bull Puff-Ball. The genni
Bovista was at one time included under Lyeoperdon [Ltcopbrdon],
and the type of the K'^o.'^ Bovista gigantea, was called by Linnsoi
Lycoperdon Bovista. The present Lycoperdon Bovista is the common
or Wolf Pu£fBaU. The difierence between the genera is, that Lyco-
perdon has a single peridium, while Bovista has a double one.
The Bovista gigantea, Bull Puff-Ball, Frog's Cheese, and Bullfice,
la interesting on account of the enoimous size it attains. It haa the
form of a flattened ball, at first of a perfectly white colour. Speci-
mens have been gathered measuring as much as 9 feet in circumference.
When they have attained their full size, they begin to change colour ;
the external peridium cracks and peels off, the inner one iJao bunts
at the apex. The interior is composed of a mass of tissue, which
when young is white and moist, but at length becomes coloured and
dry, and on being pressed emits a laige quantity of powdery matter,
which on being examined is found to consist entirely of sporules.
On examining the mass inside it is found to consist of filaments
which are mixed with sporules. Burnett says, "It is probably
the smoke that arises frem these fiingi when bum6d, or some
of their allies, the Lycoperdons, which forms the secret method
advantageously employed by some persons who keep bees, in order
to stupr^ the insects without killing them, while their hives ars
being robbed of all their honey." Geraide says, " The common
people use this fungus to kill or smoulder their h&OB." This practice
has recently led to a curious discovery. Mr. EL B. W. Richardson,
a suigeon, living at Mortlake, struck with the fact of its stupif jing
bees, was induced to try its effects upon other animals Cats and
dogs having been submitted to the action of smoke from the burning
fungus, they 'Were found to be narcotised«in the same manner as if
under the influence of ether or chloroform. A dog with a large
tumour of the abdomen was narcotised, and whiLit under its influence
the tumour was removed, the animal giving no sign of pain. The
narcotic principle seems to be formed during the process of combuatioD.
Mr. Richardson found that it was capable of producing the death of
animals. At present no advantage seems to be gained by adminis-
tering this vapour instead of ether or chloroform ; at the same time,
it is an interesting fact in the history of the properties of plants. It
is curious that this fungus is stated by Dr. Badham to be amongst
those which are eatable. He says however that " no fungus requires
to be eaten so soon after gathering as this," and adds, in a note, thai
he has been informed that it is sometimes served on state occasions
at the Freemasons' Tavern. The best way of cooking it is " to cut it
into slices, and fry these in egg and bread crumba." In Mr. Richard-
son's experiments the dried fungus was employed. An Italian specie^
Digitized by
Google
«33
BOWERBANKIA.
BRACHIOPODA.
the B. furfuraeea, which grows in great abundance on the heaths near
Florenoe, is collected and sold in the markets, and, according to
liicheli, is an esteemed article of food.
(Bischoff, MedicinischrPharmaceutuche Botanxk; Burnett, Outliaies
of Botany: Aa$oeiation Medical Jotumal, No. xxiL)
BOWERBANKIA, a genus of Ascidioid Polypes, or Polyzoa,
belonging to the fietmily VeticulariadcR, It was named by Dr. Farre in
honour of Mr. J. S. Bowerbank. The following character is given by
Dr. Johnston in his 'British 2iOophyte8:' — Polypidom confervoid,
matted or irregularly branched ; the cells sessile, unilateral, irregular;
the inflected portion with a spinous or filamentous rim. The polypes
ascidian, with ten ciliated tentacula, and a strong gizzard. There is
but one British species, B, imbricat€k It has ovate or ovato-cylin-
drical cells, which are irregularly scattered on the polypidom in dense
clusters. In its young state the polypidom Ib creeping and matted ;
but as it arrives at maturity it becomes arbuscular and erect ^ From
this circumstance several names have been given to this species. It
is found growing on the Ftiei and corallines which are exposed at
low water, and very generally distributed on the British coast. It
grows in profusion on the chams of the steam-ferries at Southampton
and Portsmouth. (Johnston, Britith Zoophytes.)
BOWSTRING-HEMP. [Sansbviera.]
BRACHE'LTTRA, a division of the order CoUopterct, The insects
of this section (which answers to Linnieus's genus StaphylifMu) may
be distinguished by the elongate form of the body and the shortness
of the wing-cases, which in most instances scarcely cover one-third of
the length of the abdomen : their mazilUe are furnished with only
one palpus. The apex of the abdomen is provided with two vesicles,
which can be protruded at the will of the animal
The habits of the Brackdytra are very various, but the greater
number of the species are found in putrid animal or vegetable
substances, upon whidi they feed; some are carnivorous. The
shortness of flie wing-cases probably allows of a greater flexibility
in the body.
BRA'CHINUS, a genus of Insects belonging to the order Coleopttra
and the section TrwnecAipennet. Generic characters : — Body oblong ;
head and thorax comparatively narrow, the latter generally somewhat
of a truncated heart-shape; palpi and antennae rather thick, the
terminal joint of the former is slightiy thicker than the basal joints,
and has its apex truncated ; mentum emaiginate, and furnished with
a small tooth-like process in the middle.
The BriU^ini possess a remarkable power of violently expelling
from the anus a pungent acrid fluid, which, if the species be large,
has the power of producing a discoloration of the skin similar to that
caused by nitric acid. A loud report, considering the size of the
insect, accompanies the expulsion of this fluid, which being discharged
instantiy evaporates.
About five species of the genus .SraeAtnttf have been found in this
country, of which B, crepitant is the most common. It is found under
stones, and occurs plentifully in chalky districts^ This species is
rather less than haSl an inch long ; the head, thorax, and legs are of
a yellowish-red colour ; the wing-cases are greenish, or blue-black ;
the antennsD are radish, with the third and fourth joints black.
Many of the species of Brachinut resemble the above in colour. The
species of the genus Aptintu (a genus very closely allied and differing
chiefly in being apterous) are generally of a yellow colour, having
four black spots on the elytra ; the head and thorax are also often
more or lees sufiused with black ; they are likewise of a larger size
for the most part, and aboxmd more particularly in warm dimatea
BRACHIOBDELLA. [Anneuda.]
BRACHIONiEA, a family of animals belonging to the order Bolifera,
It embraces a lai^ number of species formeriy included under the
genus Braehiomu. It is distinguished from other families of Botifera
by the possession of two rotatory oi^gans, and a lorica or shell. The
wheels, or rotatory organs, are apparentiy composed of five parts, three
of which are central, and two lateral ; the latter of which alone form
the true rotatoiy organs, the others being only dilated frontal
portions. Some have two setee proceeding from the rotatory apparatus,
as in Synchaiet, The jaws are supplied with teeth and four muscles.
They are supplied with biliary glands and ovary, male organs, and a
contractile veside. Ehrenberg regards a red spot in them as indica-
tive of the presence of a nervous system.
This funhy comprises the following genera i—Pterodina, Anottrdla,
Brackicmu, LeptuieUa, Euchlanit, JMnocharit, Salpina, Colmdla,
Butulus, Polyarthrek
Ehrenbeig makes seventeen genera; but Dujardin has reduced
the number to ten, on acooimt of the insignincant characters on
which Ehrenbeig's genera are founded.
Braehiomu may be taken as a type of the family, and B. wrceolairia
is one of its most characteristic spedes. The genus Brwhionua has
a single eye (d), and a furcate foot or tail (^. It has a reddish
colour, the shield smooth, with six short spines in front ; the posterior
extremity rounded. The jaws have each five teeth. Both male and
fismale organs sre present. It is a very common species in both brackish
and fredi waters. Dujardin says he has oonstantiy found it in the
cisterns of the Jardin des Plantes, in Paris, and especially in that in
which the aquatic plants grow. A few years ago the waters of the
Serpentine, in Hyde Park, swarmed with this species, and it is veiy
oonstantiy present in the waters supplied to the cisterns of London
for drinking purposes.
Braehionut urceolaru^ highly magnified,
a, |U)tatory cilia ; h, internal branchial organs ; d^ eye ; e, pharynx and Jaws ;
/, atontach ; g, appendagei of stomach ; A, ovary ; ^ tail.
BRACHIONUS. [BRACHiONiEA.]
BRACHIOTODA, or Brachiopodous MoUiuca, Cuvier's fifth class
of MoUusks, the PalUobranchians {PaUiobranchiata of De Blainville),
being the first order of De Blainville's third class of MoUusks
(A cephalophora).
This class, tnough comparatively low in the scale of creation, is
interesting to the physiologist, and of considerable value to the
geologist, who finds in the fossil forms no small portion of those
natui^ medals which indicate the history of the stratification of our
globe. Comparatively few of the spedes exist in the seas of the
present day, but in former periods of the earth's surface they occupied
the position now taken by the Lamellibranchiate MoUtuca,
Cuvier, in his anatomy of Limgvla anatina^ in the 'Annales du
Museum,' first made known that organisation by which the mantie,
in addition to its office of secreting the shelly defence of these
bivalves, is made subservient to the circulating system. Instead of
the branchi® of the ordinary bivalves he found in the situation usually
occupied by them two fringed and spirally-disposed arms, and that the
branchisd presented themselves on the internal surface of both lobes
of the mantie in oblique paralld lines. He further found that these
lobes were traversed by vessels of oonsfderable size, which returned
the blood from the oigans of respiration, and that these branchial
veins terminated in two symmetrical oystemic hearts. Here was a
new type of circulation, and to the mollusks which presented these
interesting and important modifications he gave the name at the head
of our article, significative of the fringed arms which in this class took
the place of the foot or organ of progression in the cockle, &c.
Lamanon and Walsh had previously taken the analogous parts of
Terd>ratvla for branchise, and Pallas, who is not quoted by Cuvier,
describes the arms of Terebratvla with minuteness and accuracy, but
considers them as branchise, and compares them to those of a fisn.
De Blainville, in the ' Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles,' gives
an account of the otganisation of Terebratula. But both Cuvier and
De Blainville were led into error in their attempts to trace out some
parts of the organisation of Terebratula; and it was reserved for
Mr. Owen, in his acute, accurate, and interesting paper 'On the
Anatomy of the Brachiopoda of Cuvier, and more especially of the
Genera Terebratula and Orbicula^* published in the ' Transactions of
the 2k>ological Society of London' (vol. L p. 145), and derived from
the dissection of spedmens brought to this coxmtry by Mr. Cuming
and Captain James Ross, R.N., fully to investigate the subject so as to
leave littie or nothing to be desired upon the subject of the anatomy
of Lingula and of the two genera last named. Our limits will not
permit us to follow the learned author through his memoir, the whole
of which, together with the beautiful illustrations that accompany it,
is worthy of the most attentive perusal by the physiologist and
zoologist The following general remarks from rrofessor Owen's
paper illustrate his views. It should be premised that the Brachiopoda
are cxyptandrous.
** On comparing together," says Mr. Owen, " the three genera of
Brachiopoda above described, we find that although Orbiculaf in the
muscular structure of its arms and the proportion of the shdl occu-
pied by its viscera, is intermediate to Lingula and Terebratula, yet
that in the structure of its respiratory organs, its simple alimentary
canal, and its mode of attachment to foreign bodies, it has a greater
affinity to the latter genus. The modifications that can be traced in
the organisation of these genera have an evident reference to the
dififerent situations which they occupy in the watery element
Lingula, living more commonly near the surface, and sometimes
where it would be left exposed by the retreating tide, were it not
buried in the sand of the shore, must meet with a greater variety and
abundance of animal nutriment than can be found in those abysses in
which Terebratula is destined to reside. Hence its powers of prehen-
sion are greater, and Cuvier suspects it may enjoy a spedes of loco-
motion ^m the superior length of its pedicle. Thv organisation of
its mouth and stomach indicates however that it is coxmned to food
Digitized by
Google
835
BBAGHIOPODA.
BRACHIOPODA-
of a miAute description ; but its oonvoluted intestine shows a capacity
for extracting a quantity of nutriment proportioned to its superior
activity and tiie extent of its soft parts. A more complex and obvious
respiratory apparatus was therefore indispensable, and it is not sur-
prising that ihe earlier observers failed to detect a corresponding
oigsnisation in genera destined to a more limited sphere of action.
The respiration indeed as well as the nutrition of animals living
beneath a pressure of from 60 to 90 fathoms of sea water, are subjects
of peculiar interest^ and prepare the mind to contemplate with less
surprise the wonderful complexity exhibited in the minutest parts of
these diminutive creatures. In the stillness pervading these abysses
they can only maintain existence by exciting a perpetual current
around them in order to dissipate the water alroady loaded with their
effete particles, and bring within the reach of their prehensile organs
the ammalcula adapted for their support The actions of TerebrcUtUa
and Orbieyla, from the firm attachment of their shells to foreign sub-
stances, are thus confined to the movements of their brachial and
branchisl filaments, and to a slight divarication or sliding motion of
their protecting vidves ; and the simplicity of their digestive appa-
ratus, the correspondkig simplicity of their branchue, and the
diminished proportion of their soft to their hard parts, are in har-
mony with such limited powers. The soft parts in both genera are
however remarkable for the strong and unyielding manner in which
they are connected together. The muscular parts are in great pro-
portion and of singular complexity, as compared with ordinary
bivalves; and the tendinous and aponeurotic parts are remarkable
for the similarity of their texture and appearance to those of the
highest classes. By mesns of all this strength they are enabled to
porfoim the requisite motions of the valves at the depths in which
they sre met with. Terebraiulti, which is more remarkable for its
habitat, has an internal skeleton superadded to its outward defence,
by means of which additional support is afforded to the shell, a
stronger defence to the viscera, and a more fixed point of attachment
to the brachial drri.
** The spiral disposition of the arms is common to the whole of the
brachiopodous genera whose organisation has hitherto been examined;
and it is therefore probable that in that remarkable genus iS^ptrt/er, the
entire brachia were similarly disposed, and that the internal calcareous
spiral appendages were their supports. If, indeed, the brachia of
Terebrattda ptiUacea had been so obtained, this species would have
presented in a fossil state an internal structure very similar to that of
Spinfer,
** In considering the affinities of the Brachiopoda to the other orders
of MoUuKa, I shall compare them, in the first place, with the Lamelli-
branchiate Bivalves, to which they present the most obvious relations
in the nature and forms of their oigans of defence. To these they
are in some respects superior. The labial arms are more complex
prehensile organs than the corresponding vascular laminae on either
side of the mouth of the LamellibranchicUa. The whole muscular
mtem is more complex ; and the opening as well as the closing of
the shell beiug r^^tod by muscular action, indicates a higher
degree of organisation than where the antagonising power results
f^m a property of the cardinal ligament, which is independent of
vitality, viz. elasticity. With respect however to the respiratory
organs, the modifications which these have presented in Orbicula and
TerebraitUa show the Brachiopods to be still more inferior to the
LamellibranehicUa than was to be inferred from the structure of the
branchis in Lingula ; and notwithstanding the division of the systemic
heart, I consider that there is also an inferiority in the vascular
system. Each heart, for example, in the BracfUopoda is as simple as
in Atcidia, consisting of a single elongated cavity, and not composed
of a distinct auricle and ventricle, as in the ordinary bivalves ; for in
these, even when, as in the genus Area, the ventricles are double, the
aurides are also distinctly two in number ; and in the other genera,
where the ventricle is single, it is mostly supplied by a double
auricle. The two hearts of the Brcichiopoda, which in structure
resemble the two aurides in the above bivalves, form therefore a
complexity or superiority of organisation more apparent than real
Havmg been thus led to consider the circulating as well as respiratory
systems as constructed on an inferior plan to that which pervades the
same important systems in the Lamellibranchiate Bivalves, I infer
that the position of the BracMopoda in the natural qrstem is inferior
to that order of AcephaUk,
« Among the relations of the Brachiopoda to the Tunicated
AeepihalOf and more especially to the AtciduZf we may first notice an
almost similar position of the extended respiratory membranes in
relation to the mouth, so that the currents containing the nutrient
molecules must first traverse the vascular surface of that membrane
before reaching the mouth ; the simple condition, also, to which the
branchiie are reduced in Orbicula and Ttrdfrat%ila indicates their close
affinity to the AiddUs, But in consequence of the form of the
respiratory membranes in the Brc^chiopMo, which is so opposite to
that of the sacciform branchise of the A§MicB, the digestive mtem
derives no aosistanoe from that part as a receptacle for the food, and
the superaddition of prehensile orsans about the mouth became a
necessary consequence. The Brachiopoda again are stationary, like
the AseUUcB, and resemble the BoUcnicB in the pedunculated mode of
their attachmant to foreign bodies.
"With the Cirripeda their relation is one of very remote analogy,
their generative, nervous, and respiratory organs being constructed on
a difftdrent type, and their brachia maxiifesting no trace of their arti-
culate structure. In all essential points the Brachiopoda cloi^ly
correspond with the Acephalous MoUutca, and we consider them as
being intermediate to the Lamellibranchiate and Tunicate orden;
not however possessing, so far as they are at present known, a distinc-
tive character of sufficient importance to justify their being regarded
as a distinct doss of MoUusks, but forming a separate group of equal
value with the LameUibranchiata,"
The structure of the shells of the Brachiopoda has been atten-
tively studied by Dr. Carpenter, and the results of hii investigations
have been published in his ' Report on the Microscopic Structure of
Shells,' made to the British Assodatioa
The following is De Blainville's airangement of the Braehiopcda,
slightly modified : —
Shell SymmetricaL
Tertbraiula (Bmgui^res). Anunal depressed, circnlsr or oval, more
or less doogated. Bhdl ddicate, eqiulateral, sabtriangdar, inequi-
valve, one of the valves larger and more zoundsd (bomb^) than the
other, prolonged backwards into a sort of bed, whidi is sometimes
recurved into a kind of hook-like process, and pierced at its- extremity
by a round hole, but more frequently divided into a fissure more or
less large and of variable form. The opposite vdve generslly smaller,
fiatter, and sometimes operouliform. Of that oomplicated loop or
internal support to which the arms are attached we shall presently
speak at large. Hinge on the border, condvloid, placed on a straight
Ime, and formed by the two oblique articulating aur&oes of the one
valve placed betweoi the corresponding prtnections of the other. A
sort of tendinous ligament comes forth man the hole or fisiura
above described, by which the animal fixes itself to submarine
bodies.
The following is Mr. Owen's description of the peculisr, complex,
and extremely delicate testaceous apparatus, sometimes called 'the
cazriage-spring ' by oolleotors, attaoheci to the internal surface of the
imperforate valve : —
" The prindpal part of this internal skeleton, as it may be termed,
oonsiBts of a slender, flattened, calcareous loop, the extremities of
which are attached to the lateral elevated ridgee of the hinge; the
crura of the loop diverge, but sgain approximate to each otiier as^ey
advance for a greater or less distance towards Uie oppodte margin of
the valve; the loop then suddenly turns towards the perforate Tal?e,
and is bent back upon itself for a greater or less extent in different
spedes. When the loop is very diort and narrow, as in T. rilreo,
Brug., there is but a small tendency towards a reflected portion ; but
where the loop is of great length and width, as in T. ChiUmitf Brod.,
T. dorsata, Lam., and T. SowerbU, King., the reflected portion is con-
siderabl& The loop, besides being ;fixed by its origins or crora, is
commonly attached to two processes going off at right angles from the
rides, or formed by a bifurcation of the extremity, of a central process,
whidi is oontinueid forwards to a greater or less extent fiom the
hinge; but it is sometimes entirely free, except at its origins, as, for
example, in T.'vitrca. This reflected loop, forming two ardies on
either side the mesial plane, towards which their ooncarities are
directed, I have figured as it exists in T. ChUamt and T. SowerbiL
It is represented of a similarly perfect form in T. daUata, by H. De
Blainville in his ' Malacologie ;' and the same apparatus in T. donaia
is very wdl figured by Chemnits, by Sowerby, and more recently by
Q. Fischer de Waldheim. A similar form is also figured in another
spedes of Terebratula by Poll
" The arches of the loop are so slender that^ notwithstanding their
calcareous nature, they possess a slight degree of elastidty and yield
a little to pressure ; but for the same reason they readily break if the
experiment be not made with due caution. Hie interspace between
£he two folds of the calcareous loop is filled up by a strong but exten-
sile membrane, which binds them together, and forms a protecting
wall to the viscera : the space between the bifurcated process in T.
ChiUniit is also dmilarly occupied by a strong aponeurosis. In this
spedes the muscular stem of eaioh arm is atta^ed to the outer sides
of the loop and the intervening membrana They oommence at the
pointed processes at the origins of the loop^ advance along the lower
portion, turn round upon the upper one, and sre oontinued dong it till
they reach the transverse cormecting bar, where they advance again for
wards, and terminate by making a half-spiral twist in front of the
mouth. It is these fr«e extremities which form the third arm men-
tioned by Cuvier. These arms are dliate on their outer dde for their
entire length, but the cilia are longer and much finer than the braohial
fringes of Lingukt; and except at the extreme ends, which have a
slight incurvation, they are uniformly straight There is thus an
important difference between Lvngvla and those spedes of Terdroi/fda
wmch resemble T, Chilmtit in the powers of motion with which the
arms are endowed; sinoe^ from tneir attadmient to the cdcareooa
loop, they are fixed, and cannot be unfolded outwards as in Xsn^do.
Ovnng to this mods of connection, and their dliated stmctura, their
true nature was much more liable to be mistaken by the eariy oboeir-
ers^ though it H>pefzs not to have esoaped the dismmination of Un-
nsuSy who^ as Cuvier has observed, founded his chsracter of the animal
Digitized by
Google
837
BRACHIOPODA,
BRACHIOPODA.
of Anomia on the orgaiiifiation of one of the jPsrebrattUce which he
included in that genus." *
The recent speoieB are ntunerouB and widely di£Ri8ed, and the genus
appears to be oapable of flo\irishing in extremely warm and extremely
cold regions, as well as in more temperate climates. Thus some of
the species have been found in the Indian seas and at Java {T. Jlavea-
eent, Lam., for example), and 7. ptittacea, brought home from the late
expedition by Captam James Boss, R.N., was fished up from a depth
of twen^-two fathoms near Felix Harbour, in lat. 70** N., on the east
Bide of BoothiiL The average depth at which Terd>ratuUt has been
found ranges fh>m ten to ninety fathoms. De Blainville has thus
gabdivided the species : —
A. Summit of the laiger Talve pierced with a round hole, well defined.
1. Yalvee triangnlar, with a straight anterior border.
Example, Terebraiida digona (fossil).
Terebraiula digoiia,
2. Valves rounded at their anterior border.
Example, TertbratiUa globoaa (recent).
Terebratuta globosa.
8. ValTes raised as it were, or hollowed on the mesial line.
Examples, TerebrcUtUa ionguinect, and Terebratula donata (recent).
5. Trilobated as it were by the projection of the mesial part
Example, Terdtr<Ufda cUcUa (fossil).
Tercbrtttuia alat4»,
B. The heel of the larger valve deeply notched up to the border of
articulation ; notch or fissure rounded.
1. Valves rounded at their anterior border.
Example, Ttrebratvla rubra (recent).
Terebraiula rubra.
2. Valves sub-bUobated by the depression or emaigination, which is
apparent at the anterior border.
Example, Terebraiula Caput SerperUis (recent).
Terebratuta O^put Serpentu.
C. The opening of the heel of the larger valve, marginal, triangiHar,
and elongated.
1. Valves rounded.
Example, Terebraiula Lyra (fossil).
Terebraiula dorsata. Internal views.
Bilobatcd, the valves striated from the summit to the circumfei ciicc,
and deformed as it were at the junction of their border.
Example, Terebraiula deformis (fossil).
'^jwAratula d^/brmi$.
2'crd>ratula Lyra, a, Front view ; b, side view.
2. The valves snb-bilobated.
Example, Terebraiula canalifcra (fossil).
TereifTotula canalifcra,
8. The valves rounded; a mesial partition (cloieon) in the larger
valve, placed between two in the smaller, so as to give in the cast
the representation of five distinct pieces, three for one valve and
two for the other.
Qenus Pentattera, Sowerby. — FossiL
D. Opening of the heel marginal, triangular, but much lai^r trans-
vco^y than longitudinally. Line of articulation quite straight.
1. The small valve provided in its mesial portion with a straight
flattened support, bifurcated at its free extremity ; a partition
{eUriton) in the other valve penetrating into this bifurcation.
Genus Strffffoeephalus^ Dcfrance.— FossiL
Example, 8tryyo€ephalu» huriinu
Digitized by
Google
«S9
BRACHIOPODA.
BRACHIOPODA.
C40
Strygoeephalm Btartini,
2. The lateral parts of the support formed of a yerj fine spiral fila-
ment, so as to produce two hollow somewhat conical masses which
nearly fill the whole of the shelL
Qenus Spirifer, Sowerby.
Example, Spirtfer triffonalit (fossil).
Intenul Tiew of 8pir{fer trigonalia, ihoiring the spiral prooeiset.
E. The upper Talve operculiform or very flat, system of support
beginning to disappear.
1. Upper valve very flat
Qenus Magat, Sowerby. — FossiL
Example, Magog pvmUva,
MagMpumilui,
2. Upper valve very much excavated above, summit of the lower
valve not pierced, and divided into two nearly equal parts by a
well-developed mesial furrow.
Qenus Produeta, Sowerby.— FossiL (See ' Min. Con.,* pL 820.)
Example, Producta Martini.
Frodueta Jtartini,
The fossil Tertbraltida (properly so called) are extremely numerous,
and assist in the identification of strata from the supracretaoeous
iproup to some of the lowest formations in the grauwacke series, both
inclusive.
As neither Peniastera, StrygocephaltUf Spirifer, Maga», nor Producta
has living representatives, ^ey are placed here from the structure
of their shells, which, judging from analogy, would indicate a brachio-
podous construction allied to TVre&ro^iaa. Indeed De Blainville
retains that name throughout ; but we think the differences of con-
formation warrant the separation of the fossils above distinguished, as
subgenera of the Tertbratvlinas, They occur principally in the more
ancient fossiliferous beds.
Thecidea, Defranoe (Tkteidivm, Sowerby). De Blainville thus
describes tiie genus : — " Animal entirely unknown, but very probably
differing but little from that of Orhicula* Shell equilateral, regular,
very inequivalve, and sufficiently similar to the Terebralvla of the
latter sections ; one valve hollowed, the heel or hook recurved, entire,
without a fissure and adhering ; the other flat, operculiform, and with*
out any trace of the internal support.
Hinge longitudinal ; articulation by two distant condyles, as in the
Ter^aiulcBf with a large mesial tooth in the flat valve fitting between
the condyloid teeth of the concave valve.
Example, Theeidvum radiatvm.
The recent species above mentioned is an inhabitant of the Mediter-
ranean, and found among the common red coral of the •Tuscan seas.
The fossil spedes are tolerably numerous, and Sowerby says that
those which he had seen appeared to belong to the chalk, and were
brought from Maastricht, and from Ox^glandes in Normandy.
0
ThteidUm radiatum^ viewed from abcre. a, ast alie.
lAngvla (Brugi^res). Shell subequivalve, equilateral, depressed, %
little elongated, truncated anteriorly ;1he summit mesial and pofte-
rior, with no tnoe of a ligament^ but joined at the extremity to along
fibro-gelatinous pedunde, which is supposed to fix it vertically to
submarine bodies ; but in the specimen of lAnMnda AndAcardu exa-
mined by Mr. Owen, there was no trace of the adhasion of-any foreign
body to the end of this pedunde. Muscular impressions multiple.
Example, Linguia afuUin€L
Littgula anatina.
The recent species have been found at depths ranging from the sur-
face to seventeen fathoms ; and specimens have been taken in hard
coarse sand from four to six indies below the surface of the sand.
Lmgula has been found in a fossil state in the Inferior Oolite of
Torkdiire, in the Old Red-Sandstone f onnation, and in other old fos-
siliferous beds.
Strophomena, Rafinesque (fossil). Shell regular, equilateral, sub-
equividve ; one valve flat, the other slightly excavated : articulation
straight^ transverse, with a small projection notched or dentelated
transvendy. No trace of an internal support
Example, Strophomena rugosa.
Strophomena mgosa. Tiew of lower aide.
As Strophomena has no living representatives, at least none yet dis-
covered, there can be no description of the animal, which is, howe%'er,
judging from the construction of the shdl, most probably brachiopodous.
The fossil genera Plagiottoma, Dianchora, and Podopsit are placed
by De Blainville under this section. [Plaqiostoma ; Diahchora ;
PoDOFBiB.] We do not however think that there is such pregnant
evidence of a true and entire brachiopodous organisation as to warrant
this dedded position under the Brachiopods. Indeed De Blainville
himself says that some of the Plagiostomata are of the family Terdfra-
tula, and that the others (he instances Plagiottoma ManieUii) sfe
entirdy different^ and he allows that these last ought to form a dis-
tinct genus of the family of Subostraceans^ Defrance plsces Pod4tptu
among the oysters.
Digitized by
Google
Ml
BRACHTCERUS.
BRACHYPTERYX.
Shell Un^naimeirioa], Irregular, always Adherent.
Or^ieula (Lamarck). Shell orbicular, veiy much compressed ; ine-
Suilateral, veiy inequivalTe ; the lower valre veiy delicate, adhering ;
tie upper TalTe patelliform, with the summit more or leas inclined
towards the posterior sida Fissure of adhesion in the lower valre
sobcentraL Hinge toothleos.
Sxampls^ Ortieula UmeUota.
OrkmOa tamMosa. A dngto •pedmen, dunriBg the eilia.
The recent species are found attached to stones, shells, sunken
wrecks^ Aa, and have been found at depths ranging from not fur below
the soi^hoe to seventeen fathoms.
Fossil species are said to haye been found in the Lower Greensand
of Sussex, in the Speeton Clay of Yorkshire, in both the great and the
inferior Oolite^ in tae oarboniferoualimestons^ and in the Ludlow Rook
below the Old Red-Sandston&
O. K Sowerby has satisfactorily proved that Lamarck's genus
IHtcma must be expunged, it having been formed from speoimena of
Orbicula NorvegieOj sent by Sowerby to Lamarck.
CrwMa (Retsius and others). G. B. Sowerby, who has done so
much in the thirteenth volume of the ' Linnnan Transactions ' to
unravel the confusion which had previously been created by authors,
gives the following generic characters : —
Shell inequivalve, t;enerally equilateral, rather irregular, orbicularly
Bubquadrate, and flattiah ; the upper valve patelliform, having its
umbo or vertex rather behind the centre ; the lower valve attached by
its outside, the greater part of it being generally extended over the
substance to which it adheres ; and in this respect it differs greatly
from OrhicMla, which is attached by means of a ligament which passes
through a fissure in the centre of the lower valve. There are four
muscular impressions in each valve ; of those in the upper valve two
are in the posterior mai^ and the other two nearer the centre, but
not always veiy near to each other ; of those in the lower valve two
are nearly maiginal and rather distant, but the other two are nearly
central, and so dose together that they appear to form but one : they
in general have a small projection between them ; and the whole of
the muscular impressions in the lower valve are frequently lost by
decomposition in the fossil species, so as to appear only three oblique
perforations, as Lamarck has described them.
Example, Omnia penonata.
Qramia pefmnata. 1, external riew ; 2, 3, internal view.
The recent species (and this is the only one known) is found adhering
to stones and shells at very great depths. It is stated in the ' Zoologi-
cal Journal,' by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, that a specimen of Crania
perganaia was taken by Captain Yidal at the depth of 255 fathoms.
There are seversl fossil species, mostly from Idle Chalk.
The species of Braekiopoda in the British sees are not numerous.
The following are given in Forbes and Hanley's ' History of British
Hollusca/-^
Terebraiula {ffypotk^rit) ptiUaeea, Undoubtedly indigenous, but
ve^rare.
TerebratiUa CfapiU SerpeiUii, It was first described as British by
Dr. Fleming, and has recently been dredged up in oonsideraUa num-
bers in deep water on various parts of the ooast
Terebratnla Cframmn, But one specimen of this has been obtained,
which is now in the possession of Dr. Flezning.
Terebratyla (MtgaihyriM) eitttHula. This spedes, which for some
time was only known as a Crag-FossQ, has been taken in the Isle of
Skye and in the deep-water fishing-grounds of Zetland.
Orattia anamala. This species has been taken several times on
various parts of the British ooast [iSlw SaiTtiMBMT.]
BR ACHY'CERXJS, a genus of Coleopterous Insects 'of the fbmHy
OureuUomdiB (induded in the genus OurcuUo by Liniueus). Generic
characters : — ^Rostrum short ; anteniuB inserted towards the apex of the
rostrum, shorty 9-jointed, the basal joint longest, the terminal joint
forming a Imob ; tarsi with all the joints entire, and without pubes-
cenoebeneath. Hie spedes of this genus sre apterous, and generally
very rough. They appear to be peculiar to the south of Burope and
Africa, and live upon uie ground.
BRACHYPH YliLUM, a genus of fossil plants, supposed to belong
|IA7. BUT. PiV' TQX* J*
to the Oowifera. One spedes, R mammiUare of Brongniart, occurs in
the csrbonaooous beds of the Bath Oolite Formation on the Yorkshire
ooast
BRACHYPODI'NJE, Swainson's name for a sub-family of Bii^
bdonging to the MentUdce, containing Uie following genera, or rather
sub-genera : —
Brachyput, Swainson, thus characterised by him : — Bill short ;
rictus (gape) bristled; feet small, weak; lateral toes equal; hinder
toe as long as the tarsus. Type, Brachypm ditpar, Sw. (Iktrdm
ditpar, Horsfidd).
CMoroptit, Jardine and Sdby. Bill more lengthened; the tip
much hooked; the notch forming a small distinct tooth; rictus
smooth; feet small; lateral toes unequal; the hinder toe mther
shorter than the tarsus.
ISra, Horsfidd. Bill nearly as long as the head, letigthened, conic ;
rictus smooth ; tarsi somewhat lengthened, the anterior scales cUvided ;
tail even. Type, I6ra tcapularii, Horsfidd.
Andropadut, Swainson. Bill short; the upper mandible serrated
near the tip; neck with setaceous hairs. Type, L'Importan, Le
Yaillant
ffcnnatomit, Swainson. Bill short; rictus bristled; lateral toes
unequal; hinder toe shorter than the tarsus. Types: — 1. Chf^to-
rrho€ui, Le Yaillant 2. Tnrdua hoenuurrhout of authors. 8. Turdut
himaeulattu of Horsfield. 4. JBrythrotit of Swainson (Zcmiw Jo€Otfu
of LinnsBus).
Mr. Swainson does not seem to have been aware that the appellation
Brachyput had previously been conferred by Fitzinger on a sub-genus
of Savriang, belonging to the Chalcidei of Daudm, and it should
therefore be no longer used to distinguish a sub-genus of birds. The
term at the head of this artide, which Mr. Swainson has applied to
the sub-fiBtmily, might be changed with advantage; for it may be
liable to create c<mfodon when unexplained by contexts, and leave
the reader in doubt whether a sub-family of birds or reptiles is
intended.
BRACHYPODIUM, a genus of Grasses [GBAimrACBA] bdonging
to the tribe Fut^^dnea of that order. It has unequal many-flowered
glumes ; the outer pdea rounded on the back, setigerous at the sum-
mit, lateral nerves slightly conver^iing, not vanishing upwards ; the
inner palea fringed on the ribs with rigid setss ; the styles terminal.
Two of the spedes, B. tylwUieum and B, piwnalum^ ace British. This
genus is distmguished from Triiieum (Wheat) by the unequal glumes
alone. (Babington, MaiMtal of British Botany.)
BRACHYPTE'RES (Short-Winged Birds), Cuvier^s name for those
birds generslly known by the name of Divers. [Ooltmbida]
BRACHY'FTERYX, a senus of Birds approaching to SaxieUa,
thus defined by Dr. Horsfidd : —
Bill with the culmen carinated between the nostrils, the ndea
being fiattened, and rounded towards the apex, with the sides convex ;
edges subinfleoted ; wings very diort and obtuse : tail moderate and
rounded; feet etongated and weak; the tarn dender; the toes very
deader, and the daws veiy much compressed; hallux or hind toe
compaiativdy large.
Biraehypimyx montana, Horsfidd. The spedes on whidi the genua is
founded has the following characters : — Wei^t of the mde five, and
of the female six drachms. In the male, the head, neck, and breast -
have a dark indigo-blue tint, indininff to black, with a grayish
reflection on the surfiMse^ variegated with lighter and darker shades;
on the throat and the lower part of the neck this odour passes into
gray ; on the f ordiead it is more intense, inclining to black. Above
the eyes is an oblong white nK>t The bade, the wings above the
shoulders, the coverts of the tail, the vent> hypochondria^ and thighs
are deep chestnut-brown, with a ferruginous reflection. The wings
underneath, and the tail at the extremity and underneath, are pure
blaokish-brown ; the shafts of the quill- and tail-feathers are black
and shining. The inner vanes of the quills and the tail-feathers
generally have a very deep brown colour. The exterior vanes of the
tail-feathers are sli^tly tinted with the fsrruginous lustre of the
upper parts. The lower parts of the breast and abdomen are whitish.
Tne plumes on the posterior portion of the body are veiy thickly
disposed; the vanes consist of long, ddicate, silky, pendulous lsminB»
or filaments, forminff a lax covering about the lower parts of the
abdomen, the hypo^ondrifle, and the root of the taiL The iridea
have a dark hue. The bill is blade, and the tarn are deep brown.
The tint of the daws is somewhat lighter.
In the femde^ the dark blue tint> whidi In the male covers the head
and neck, extends over the body generally, and also marks the
exterior vanes of the quilla. The interior vanea of the latter and the
tail-feathers are dark brown, indining to blabk. The throat and neck
underneath have a dark grayiditint. The abdomen is grayish-white.
Over the eyes it has, like the male, a white spoty and the bill and
tarn also sgree with that The covering of the abdomeo, vent^ and
thighs is likewise long, ddicate, silky, and pendulous.
Dr. Horsfidd met with this spedes in one situation onlv, at an
elevation of about 7000 feet above the levd of the sea. He thinks it
probable that it may he found on all the peaks of Java, whidi are
covered with thick forests, accommodated to its peculiir habits. The
recurrence, he observes, of several quadrupeds mdA birds, at a certain
deration, is as regular in that island as that of many plants and.
2 1
Digitized by
Google
tiO
BRACHYPUa
BRADYPUS.
6tl
insects. Although local in its residenoe, Dr. Honfield found the
bird very numerous on Mount Prahu, which, he says, in the luxu-
riance of its vegetation and gloomy thickets, is probably not surpassed
z^-
r.
.-/
Mountaineer Warbler {BrachypUryx montana).
The upper flgnre represents the female ; the lower, the male.
in any portion of the globe. In his daily excursions he uniformly
obsenred and oocasionaily surprised it in its short sallies among the
openings of the forest It was chiefly found on the lowest branches
of trees or on the ground. As the shortness of its wings incapacitates
it for elevated or distant flights, its motions are low, short, and made
with great exertion. It lives in the thickest coverts, feeding on the
larvtB of insects, worms, &a, and there it forms its nest on the ground.
"It utters," says Dr. Horsfield, "almost without interruption, a varied
song. Its common note is a quickly reiterated babbling, resembling
that of the Cfurruca garrula of Brisson, and other birds of this family :
it also has a protracted plaintive note, but it sometimes rises to
higher and melodious warUings, which, in the general silence of these
elevated regions, afford an inexpressible sensation of delight to the
mind of the solitary traveller."
This bird is the Ketek of the Javanese and Mountaineer Warbler
of Latham.
(Horsfield, Zoologieal Reteartheu m Jawi tmd the neig?A<mrinff
lelandt, and Tramadiont of the Linnaan Society, voL xilL)
BRACHYPUS. p&ACHTPODiNJS ; Chaloideb.]
BRACHTTELES, a genus of Quadrymana, separated from AteUt
by Spix, oir account (amonff other diffnenoes) of the veiy small
development of the thumb. [Atblbb.]
BRACKEN. [PnBiB.1
BRA'CON, a genus of Insects of the order ffymenoptera and family
lehneumomdas. The insects of this genus are remaikable for the
hiatus which there exists between the mandiblee and the dypeus.
The maTJllg are prolonged inferiorly ; the second cubital cell of tlM
wing is tplerably large and square ; the ovipositor is long.
BRACT, the last leaf or set of leaves that intervenes betwesQ the
true leaves and the calyx of a plant. When the time arrives for a
plant to fructify, a change comes over its constitution, and parts are
expanded, whidi, although under ordinary circumstances they would
have beoome leaves, vet at this peculiar time are less developed, and
appear- in the form of scales or half-formed leaves. Of these the exter-
nal are braets, the next combine with each other and beoome calyx,
the next assume the form of petals, and so on. Therefore whatever
intervenes between the true leaves and the calyx is bract
BRADYPUS, a genus of Mammals belonging to the otdw Edentata
of Cuvier, and tog^er with the genus Unam, or Ckokepue, eompoaing
a small fiunily to which Cuvier save the appellation of Tardigrada^
ftom. the peccuiar conformation of their extremities, and the remark-
able slovmess of their pace. Both these genera were formerly included
by LioDMus in the same group, under the common name of Bradfpm,
or Sloth; but later soologirts have separated them, on aooountof
certain anomalies in their oi^ganic structure. It must however be
confessed that the two genera of Sloths are closely approximated to
one another in many essential details both of structure and economy;
and this fact is the more remarkable and interesting since the modifi-
cations upon which their generic distinction has been founded are
greater, and, as we might naturally presume, more inflaential, than
tiiose which frequently characterise two different families.
The order Edenlata comprises a number of genera, perhaps the
' most singular and anomalous among Mammals, differing widely from
all other quadrupeds, but unfortanataly possessing so few natand
affinities or relations of resemblance Hpiong tbemBehes, that the
order Edentata is sometimes regarded at the most arbitrary and arti-
ficial of all the primary groups into whidi Cuvier and Qeo£&oy have
divided the Mammalia. The fiuaily Tatdigrada, or Sloths, are more
especially deserving of attention, as mil from the singularity of their
physical structure, and the mistakes which have hitherto prevailed
among naturalists concerning the habits and manners of these lingakr
animals, as on acoount of the relation which they present in their
offteological details to the Megatherium^, the most curious and anoma-
lous ot extinct animals This fSamily is distinguished from the other
Edentata by a short round head, and the presence both of molar and
canine teeth, the incisors alone being deficient ; but above all by the
great lengthi and singular structure of their arms, which, adapting
them to a mode of progression altogether peculiar to themselves, and
consequently disqualifying them for the exercise of that ipedes of
locomotion common to ordinary quadrupeds, have caused them to be
considered as the most miserable and unfortimate of beings, imperfect
monsters of creation, equally remarkable for their disgusting appear-
ance and helpless condition.
Sloth (Bradyput tridactyltu).
To enable us clearly to comprehend the nature and functions of these
animals, it will be necessary to enter into a short deecription of parts of
their osteological structure. The view here given of the skeleton of the
Sloth (Bradypua tridactylm) seems to indicate a distortion of certain
narts and proportions altogether opposed to freedom of motion, at
least of that kind of motion with which we are familiar in ordinaiy
quadrupeds. The arm and fore-arm taken together are nearly twice
as long as the 1^ and thigh, so that if the animal attempts to walk on
all-fours it is obliged to tndl itself painfully and slowly on its elbows,
and if it stands upright on the hind legs the arms are so long that
the fore fingers touch the ground. This disproportion between the
anterior and posterior extremities, obviously deprives these animali
of the power of moving on a plain surface with that speed which is 00
admirable in the generality of quadrupeds ; and accordingly we are
assured by. all observers, that their m(Kle of progression under these
drcumstanoes is of the most slow and painful nature. The Sloths
however are not terrestrial animals, but live entirely among the thi^L
branches of trees in the most extensive and solitary fox^sts. This
remarkable disproportion of their forearms is common to snother
genus of arboreal mammals, the real apes, in which, far from retarding
their motions, this peculiar structure is of the most essentia] import-
ance in adding to their agility. But the Sloths partake of none of
the accessory advanta^ which the Apes possess. They have no
opposeable thumb ; their fingers are short, and so perfectly rigid that
the joints ossify at a very earlv period of the animal's life, leaving
them totally incapable of individual motion, whilst they are at the
same time so completely enveloped m the common integuments of
the hand that notoing is to be seen externally except the immeoM
Digitized by
Google
615
BllADYPUa
BRADYPUa
610
erookfld olawi wHh which they are provided. The wrist and ankle
also are artionlatod or joined to the fore-arm and leg in an oblique
direction ; bo that the palm or aole, instead of being directed down-
wards towards the surface of the ground, as in other animals, is
turned inwards towards the body, in such a manner as to render it
impossible for the Sloth to place the sole of its foot straight down
npon a level surface, but to compel it, under such circumstances, to
rest upon the external edge of the foot. This position is obviously
bat ill adapted for ease or facility of motion. But there is still
If placed upon a plain surface, the Sloth moves with difficulty and
only by seising upon the little asperities which he finds in his way,
and by that means dragging his body slowly forwards, just as we may
observe a bat to do under similar circumstances. But this is a situa-
tion equally foreign to the habits and economy both of the Sloth and
of the oat ; and we are no more justified in judging of the nature of
the one under these droumstances, than we should be in reasoning
upon the habits of the other. The Sloth is eminently an arboreal
quadruped : it is produced, it lives, and it dies in the trees ; it very
aoother singalarity in the structure of the foot of this animal which
materiaUy increases its difficulties of progression on a plain surface.
This arises from the peculiar form of the huit phalanx or joint of the
fingers and toes, that, namely, which gives msertion to the claws,
and which is articulated with the second phalanx in such a manner
as to permit the fingers and daws to be strongly bent inwards along
the palm and arm, but at the same time prevents the animal from
rainng them upwards or opening the hand beyond H certain position.
ThiB structure is exactly the reverse of what we observe in the com-
mon cat, which has the phalanxes of the toes formed in such a
maimer as to keep «the claws habituaJW retracted or drawn up, so
that it requires a considerable degree of muscular force to extend or
depress them. In the Sloths, on the contrary, they are naturally
depressed in the position represented in the figure of the skeleton, and
the muscular force is exerted to expand or open them. The claws
themselves are of a size altogetiier enormous, surpassing the entire
foot in length. They are so sharp and crooked that they readily
eeize upon the smallest inequalitiee in the bark of the trees and
branches among which the animals habitually reside ; and, united to
the great muscular strength and rigid formation of the extremities,
funuah the most powerful weapons of defence. Nor are the form
and articulation of the posterior extremities less singular than.those
of the anterior. The formation of the pelvis alone is of such a nature
as to render it im-
possible for the
Sloths to walk after
the manner of ordi-
nary quadrupeds;
and the mode in
which the hind
I^are articulated
with the pelvis, to
nae the expression
of Baron Cuvier,
seems almost ex-
pressly arranged for
the purpose of de-
privmg the *"^^Tt«l
of tiie use of its
legs altogether.
"Ur says M. Cu-
Tier, "we consider
Uie Sloths in the \
relation which thej-
bear to other am-
Qials, the general
laws of orgBoisation at present existing apply so Uttie to their structure^
the different parts of their body seem so completely contradictoxy
of those laws of co-existence which we have fbund established in the
rest of the ta^^mtA kingdom, that we might be almost tempted to
consider them as the remains of a former order of things, the living
reHcs of thatprecedent nature of which we ore obliced to seek the other
rnhn beneath the surfkee of the earth, and that they escaped by some
minde the catastrophe which destroyed their contemporary spedes."
Formation of the Pelvis.
rarely voluntarily descends to the surfitoe of the earih, and those
therefore who observe it in that situation, have not a favourable
opportunity of judging of its nature and functions.
We are indebted to the valuable observations of Mr. Waterton,
during his 'Wanderings' in South America, for a final and satis-
factory explanation of the apparent difficulties and inconsistendes
in the structure and habits of the Sloth. ** The sloth,*' says this
traveller, "in its wild state, spends its whole life in the trees, and
never leaves them but through force or accident ; and what is more
extraordinary, not upon the brandies like the squirrel and monkey,
but under them. He moves suspended firom the branch, he rests
suspended Arom the branch, and he sleeps suspended from the branch.
Hence his seemingly bungled composition is at once accounted for ;
and in lieu of the sloth leading a painful life and entailing a melan-
choly existence upon its progeny, it is but fair to condude that it
just enjoys life as much as any other animal, and that its extraordinary
formation and singular habits are but further proofs to engage us to
admire the wondeiful works of Omnipotence." Nor are the motions
of this animal so slow while suspended in this strange position, nor
his habitat so drcumscribed as naturalists have hitherto imagined.
" The Indians," continues Mr. Waterton, " have a saying that when
the wind blows the sloths begin to travel. In fact during calm
weather they remain tranquil, probably not liking to ding to the
brittie extremities of the branches, lest they should break whilst the
animids are passing fh>m one tree to another ; but as soon as the
wind rises the branches of the neighbouring trees become interwoven,
and then the sloth seizes hold of them and pursues his journey in
safety. He travels at a good round pace, and were you to see him, as
I have done, passing firom tree to tree, you would never think of
calling him a sloth." Stedman, in his ' History of Surinam,' has an
engraving of a Sloth in this position, which we have copied, as illus-
Mode of progression.
tntting its singular mode of progression. A spedmMi of OhnUtpfm
didaetylMi, the Two-Toed Slc^ is now living in the OaidetiB 9i Urn
Zoological Society, Regent's Park.
Hie conformation of the extremities k not the on^ part oi kU
Digitized by
Google
•ff
BRADWUS.
BHAm.
618
Miatomy in whiolx the Sloth diiTen from otdinary mammftla, The
number and form of the bones which oompoee the trunk, the nature
of its teeth, and the conformation of its stomach and intestines, are
all peculiar. The stomach is divided by transverse ligatures into four
separate compartments, which bear a distant reeemblanoe to the four
stomachs of ruminating animals : they do not however exercise the
functions of these oigans, nor do the Sloths regurgitate their food, or
subject it to a second process of mastication Wlb the ox and the
sheep. The intestines slso are unusually short for an animal which
lives entirely upon vegetable substances, scarcely equalling twice the
length of the body, whilst those of ruminants frequently exceed ten
times those dimensions. Their simplicity and dinunutive size in the
Sloths appear to be compensated by the superior and unusual com-
plication of the stomach, — which, retaining the food for a longer
period than in ordinary non-ruminating animalfl, allows it to be more
perfectly macerated, and prepared for the action of the absorbent
vessels which imbibe its nutritious particles in its passage through
the intestines. The number of vertebras in the necks of mammals is
generally seven, so that the whales and dolphins, which have scarcely
any nedc at all, as well as the giraffe and camel, which have it
developed in a most unusual degree, are all found to agree in this
particular, however widely they differ in other respecte : the B.
tridcKtylui alone forms an exception to this otherwiM universal rule,
in having nine cervical vertebras. What renders this circumstance
still more surprising is, that the neck of the Sloth {B. tridaetylut),
notwithstanding its two supernumerary vertebrse, is far from long —
being on the contrary much too short for its long fore legs if it were
compelled to seek its food on the ground like other animals. But
this defect is compensated, as well by the nature of the situation
which it habitually occupies^ suspended from the horizontal branches
of the trees, as by its power of using the fore paw as a hand in
conveying the food to its mouth, which, notwithstanding the rigidily
of its members, it does with great address with one paw, whilst it
clings firmly to the branches by means of the other three.
The dental system of the Sloths is the most simple that can well be
conceived. They have no incisor teeth, but canines and molars only ;
and in the S. <rtiac(y{tw the canines are diminutive, and in all respects
very similar to the other teeth. The molar teeth are universally eight
in the upper jaw and six in the lower, four and three on either side
respectively. Their oonstrucUon is most simple, consisting merely of
a cylinder of bone, enveloped in enamel, and hollow at bo^ ends, — at
the upi>er by continual detrition, and at the under by default of ossifi-
cation. They have no lamina of enamel penetrating the body of the
tooth, as in other herbivorous animals, which renders them such
effective instruments in grinding and masticating vegetable substances.
Hence it results, that iJie mastication of the Sloth must be extremdy
imperfect, though the defect of dentition is probably compensated in
some degree by the superior complication of the stomach.
The genera irttdjfptu and OhoicBput, together with the extinct fossil
animals which have been called Megatherium and MegalonyXj and
which, with the form and ox^ganisation of a sloth, nearly equalled the
elephant in size, constitute the Cuvierian fekmUy TardigTrtida, Besides
the difference of the canine teeth, which are completely developed in
ChoUgput and in Bradypue, of the same form and subject to the same
detrition as the molars, these two genera are distinguished from one
another by the number of toes on the fore feet, which are three in the
Bretdyput and only two in the OhoUepue ; by the comparative length
of the fore-arms, which are much longer in the former than in the
latter ; by the number of cervical vertebra) in the Bradypm, as already
mentioned ; by the equally unusual number of ribs in ChoUipu9, which
amount to no fewer than forty-six, the greatest number Mtherto
foimd in any mammal, the species of Bradypua having but thirty-two ;
and by numerous other modifications which it is imneoessary to
enumerate.
The Sloths are known to bring forth and suckle their young like
ordinary quadrupeds. For this purpose they have two mammas,
which are situated on the breast ; and the young Sloth, frt>m the
moment of its birth, adheres to the body of itsparent till it acquires
sufficient size and strength to shift for itself Tne head of the Sloth
or Ai {B, tridactyhu) is short, the face small and round like that of
the American monkeys, the ears concealed in the long hair which siu^-
rounds them, the eyes small and deeply sunk in the head, and the tail
a mere rudiment. This species is found only in the most gloomy and
retired tropical forests of South America. The Indians like its flesh,
and are in continual pursuit of it.
In the list of specimens of Mammalia in the British Museum three
spedes of Bradypvt and one of CholcBpui are given. Several varieties
have been described.
B, tridaetylui, the Sloth or Ai It has a short round head, furnished
with coarse sha^ hair, disposed on the crown in verging rays, like that
of the human species ; the face is of a yellowish colour, covered with
very short hair, whilst that of the body and extremities is universally
long and shaggy ; the eyes are encircled by a brown ring ; the hair of the
body varied with irregular patches of dark and light brown, or silvery
white ; between the shoulders there is an oval patch of short orange-
eolound hair, of a finer quality than that found on other parts of &e
body, and divided in the centre by a longitudinal black stripe ; the
throat and breast are frequently of a light straw-colour. The texture
of the hair is altogether peculiar, and more nearly resembles <
or grass shrivelled and withered by the sun, than the hair of c
quadrupeds. It is coarse and flattened at the extremi^, but as i
at the root as the finest spider^s web ; and its dry and withered appear-
ance forms the Ai's principal security against its pursuers, as it renden
it extremely difficult to detect it whilst at rest among the branches
covered witii baik and moss of the same colour. It is only when in
motion ihat it can be readily distinguished from the trunk beneath
which it hangs suspended. In other respects different individuals of
this species differ considerably from one another in the shades and
disposition of their colours, and in the intensity of the mark between
the shoulders ; some even want this latter mark altogether, others are
of a uniform ash-colour over the whole body, and there are others
still which have the hair of the head parted in Uie centre, and hanging
down on each side ; but whether these constitute distinct species,
or mere varieties of the common Ai, is a point hitherto undetermined :
the cabinets of Europe do not afford sufficient msteiials for an exten-
sive oomparison, and no naturalist has ever examined the Aia with
this view in their native regions.
B. torquattit, the Gipakeiou, is a very distinct species, even in the
bony structure of its cranium. Its face is naked, and of a black
colour ; the hair of its body lees flattened and withered-looking thao
in the common species ; the forehead, temples, chin, throat, and breast
covered with reddish or rust-ooloured hair, slightly frizzled ; on the
crown of the head it is long and yellow, and on the rest of the body
pale orange ; but the most distinguishhig mark of the species is a
large blaoc collar which completely surrounds the neck. Beneath thu
outer coat there is an inner one of very fine fur, which is of a dark
brown colour on the collar, but g^radually diminishfw in intenaitj
towards the croup, where it is entirely white.
Both these species feed upon the leaves of treesj, and bring forth
but a single young one at a birth. When in motion in the forests
thev emit a feeble plaintive ay, resembling the word ' Ai,' and which
is tne origin of the name they bear among the Europeans settled is
America. Th^ are extremely retentive of life, and have been seen to
move their legs and exhibit other symptoms of vitality a frill half-
hour after being deprived of the heart and other viscera.
B. gularis, the Tellow-Faced Sloth, is supposed by some to he a
variety of B. tridactyhu.
BRAGANTIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Ariitolochiacea^ One of the species, B. tomentaaa, is said by Dr.
Horsfield to be. intensely bitter, and to be used as a. medicine
in Java.
BRAIK, a soft and pulpy organ, which in man occupies the cavity
of the cranium, and forms one of the central masses of the nerroos
system. [Kbbtous Stbtbic] In man and all the higher animals the
nervous system consists of four distinct parts — the white threads
called Nerves, knots or masses of nervous matter situated along the
course of the nerves called Qanglions, a long cord of nervous matter
filling the cavity of the vertebral or spinal column called the Spinal
Cord, and a luge mass of nervous matter now generally considered
as a continuation and expansion of the spinal cord called the Brain.
The Spinal Cord and Brain constitute the two central masses of the
nervous system, that is^ the immediate seat of the functLons peculiar
to this system.
The general mass of nervous matter designated under the common
term Brain, together with its membranes, vessels, and nerves, com-
pletely fills the cavity of the skulL This mass is divided into three
parts, the Cerebrum, or brain proper, which occupies the whole of the
superior part of the cavity of the cranium ; the Cerebellum, much
smaller tnan the cerebrum, wbenoe its name. Little Brain, which
occupies the lower and back part of the cavity of the cranium ; and
the Medulla Oblongata, by much the smallest portion of the mass,
situated at the basis of the cavity beneath the cerebrum and cere-
belluna. The medulla oblongata passes out of the cavity of the
cranium into that of the vertebral canal by the foramen magnum of
the occipital bone, being continuous with and forming the commence-
ment of the spintd cord.
This general nervous mass is closely enveloped in three distinct
membranous coverings, two of which have been called 'matrea,'
from the fimdfiil notion that they give rise to all the other membraneR
of the body. The external covering termed Dura Mater, from its
being of a firmer texture than the other two membranes, indoaes
the brain with all its appendages, and lines ihe whole internal surface
of the bones of the cranium. It is of a fibrous texture, the com-
ponent fibres interlacing each other in every possible direction, and
forming by their firmness and density the tnickest and strongest
membrane of the whole body. By its external surCsoe the dura
mater adheres everywhere to the inner surface of the cranium, just
as the periosteum adheres to other bones. When torn from the
cranium this surface appears somewhat rough and irr^gulariy spotted
with bloody points, which are the lacerated orifices of vessels that pass
between the membrane and the surrounding bone& These venels
tkte much more numerous in the young than in the adult, and are
most abundant at the sutures or junctions of the bones that compose
the skuU. The inner surface of the dura mater, which is shininff
and smooth, is lubricated and kept in a state of moisture by a fluid
secreted by its own vessels. This membrane performs a twofold
Digitized by
Google
BRAIK.
BRAIN,
office ; H lappliM the place of the periosteum to the inner surface of
the bones of the cnmium, sustaining their nutrient Teeeels ; and it
serres as a defence to the brain, and a support to the di£ferent masses
into which it is divided.
The dura mater gives off several elongations or productions called
processes, which descend between certain portions of the brain;
the most remariuible of which ia tenned the superior longitudinal
process, which extends from the fore to the back part of the skull
between the lateral halves of the cerebrum. Narrow in front, it
becomes gradually broader as it passes backwards, bearing, as has
been conceived, some resemblance in shi^ to a sickle or scythe,
whence the common name of it, fiedz oerebn.
Where the falx cerebri terminates behind, there proceeds a laige
lateral expansion of the same membrane, extending across the back
part of Uie skull beneath the posterior parts of the cerebrum, and
forming a complete floor or vault over the cerebellum. This mem-
branous expansion is called tentorium, the obvious use of which U to
prevent the cerebrum from pressing upon the cerebellum ; while from
the middle of the tentorium proceeds another membranous expansion,
which descends Ji>etween the lobes of the cerebellum, and terminates
insensibly at the edge of the foramen magnum, performing for the
cerebellum the same office as the fiidx performs for the cerebrum :
hence it is called fidx oerebelli
Moreover the component fibres of the dura mater in certain parts
of its course separate into layers, which are so disposed as to leave
spaces between them, for the most part of a triangular form. These
triangular spaces, which are commonly termed sinuses, are lined by a
smooth membrane perfectly analogous to that which lines the veins
in the other parts of the. body, and these sinuses perform the office
of veins, returning the blood from all the parts of the brain to the
neck. Nothing analogous to this structure occurs in any other part
of the venous system. In almost every other part of the body the
pressure of surrounding parts is a most important aid to these
vessels in enabling them to cany on the circulation of the blood ;
but in the brain the venous tubes are guarded from pressure, the
dense dura mater being for this purpose stretched so tensely over
them that the wei^t of the surrounding parts is completely taken
off them.
The smooth surface of the brain which is exposed on the reflection
of the duia mater, is fonned by its second investing membrane which
is named the Tunica Araclmoidea, from the extreme tenderness and
delieaoy of its tissue, which gives it a resemblance to a spider^s web.
This tlun oolourless and transparent membrane is spread uniformly
over the snrfiKse of the brain, covering all the eminences termed
oonvolutions (Jia. L 2, 2), but not insinuating itself between any of
the depressions between the convolutions. {Ftg, tv. 7.) On account of
its extreme tenuity and ita»close adhesion to the membrane beneath
it, it cannot be easily separated from the latter; but there are
situations at the basis where the arachnoid membrane^ as it passes
between opposite parts of the brain, can be seen distinct from the
subjacent tunia
The third investing membrane, the Pia Mater, derives its name
like the former from the tenderness and delicacy of its tissue ; but
unlike the tunica arachnoidea, in which not a single blood-vessel
has hitherto been described, ihe pia mater is exceedingly vascular.
The blood-vessels with which every part of this delicate membrane
is covered are the nutrient arteries of the brain ; before they pene-
trate the brain these vessels divide, subdivide, and ramify to an
extreme degree of minuteness upon the external surface of this
membrane, so that the blood does not enter the tender cerebral
substance with too great force. When a portion of the pia mater is
gently raised from the brain, these blood-vessels appear as exceedin^lv
fine delicate threads, which on account of the elasticity with which
they are endowed are capable of elongation as they are drawn out of
the cerebral substsnce. As the pia mater contains and supports the
nutrient vessds of the brain, this membrane is not only spread as a
general envelope over its entire surface, but it penetrates between all
its convolutions, and lines every cavity which is formed in it.
It has been stated that the large portion of the cerebral mass,
termed the cerebrum, occupies the whole of the upper part of the
cavity of the orsnium. Tne cerebrum is divided into two equal
lateral halves termed hemispheres (fig. i. 2, 2), which have an ovoid
figure somewhat resembling an egg cut longitudinallv into two equal
parts. The hemispheres are separated from eadb other by the
membrane already described, the fiJx cerebri (Jig, i 8) ; and their
inner sides in apposition with the fidx are flattened, while their upper
and outer surfaces are convex, being accurately adapted to the
concavity formed by the inner surface of the bones of the cranium.
Each hemisphere is subdivided into an anterior, a middle, and a
posterior lobe, but it is only on the under surface of the brain that
these lobes are accurately defined. (Fig. ii 1, 2, 3.) The anterior and
middle lobes are separated from each other by a deep fissure named
the fissura sylvia (fig. IL 4), which extends obliquely backwards from
the basis to a oonsiderable depth between the convolutions ; but the
middle is distinguished from the posterior lobe, not by a fissure but
by a superficial excavation on the under surface of the posterior lobe.
(rig. iL 5.) The anterior lobes rest upon the orbital plates of the
frontal bone; the middle lobes are lodged in the temporal fossss
formed by the sphenoid and temporal bones, while the posterior lobes
are supported upon the tentorium.
The whole of the external convex surface of the hemispheres is
divided into numerous eminences termed convolutions, whidi run in
Fig. I. — Upper Surface of the Brain.
1, Cat edge of the bones of the cranium ; 2, superior eonrex surface of the
two hemispheres of the cerebrum, with their convolutions ; 8, separation betwcea
the two hemispheres of the cerebrum, occupied by the falx cerebri.
Fig. II.— Base of the Braia.
1, Anterior lobes of the oerebrom ; 2, middle lobes of the cerebrum ; 8, pos.
terior lobes of the cerebrum ; 4, fissure separating the anterior from the middle
lobes, named the fissura sylvia; 6, situation of the superficial exeaTatioa
forming the boundary between the middle and the posterior lobes ; 6, the twa
kemlspheres of the cerebellum, composed of flattened lamlnv or layers ; 7, the
medulla oblongata, which, in this position of the brain, rests upon and eorers
the vermiform process ; 8, corpora pyramidalia ; 9, eorpora oUraria ; 10, tuber
annulare, or pons varolii; 11, deeussatkm of the eorpora pyramidalia;
a, h, e, d, oerebral nerves.
different directions, and are of different sizes and lengths in different
parts of the hemisphere. (Fig. I 2, 2.) The depressions or fissures
between the convolutions, termed olefbs, or sulci, generally penetrate
the consistence of the brain to the depth of about an inch or an
inch and a half. (Fig. iv. 7.) The greater number of these pursue a
Digitized by
Google
esi
BBAIK.
BIUIK.
ca
zigzftg course, but some run longitudinallj, others obliquely ; some
oommunioate with each other, while others tenninate separately in
the substance of the brain. (Fig, iv. 7.)
The nervous matter constituting the cerebrum is composed of two
distinct substances, which diSer m>m each other materially both in
their colour and condstence. {^ig. iv. 7.) The outer substance is
sometimes termed cineriiiouBy from its being of a grayish-brown
colour ; at other times cortical, from its surrounding &e inner part
of the brain, as the bark the inner parts of the tree ; by some it
is also called glandular, and by others secretory, from the supposition
that its nature is that of a gland, and that it secretes a peculiar
fluid. It is of a softer oonsistence than the inner part, and leaves by
desiccation a smaller quantity of solid residuum. It is composed
almost entirely of blood-vessels connected and sustained by exceed-
ingly fine cellular membrane. Its structure is uniform throughout,
presenting no appearance whatever of a fibrous texture. It gives to
the entire surfiuM of the cerebrum an external coverhig^ generally
about the tenth of an inch in thickness. (Fig. iv. 7.)
The inner substance, termed white or meduUaiy (fig. iv. 7), is firmer
in oonsistence and larger in quantity than the gray matter ; and when
an incision is made into it> its suHkce is spotted with red points, the
cut orifioes of its vessels, which vary in number and size according as
they may be more or less distended with blood. It is now univernlly
agreed that this part of the bndn is composed of fibres. When
examined in its recent and most perfect state, especially after it has
been artifioially hardened and oondensed by the action of heat or
certain chemical substances, if it be carefullv scraped with a blunt
instrument these fibres become perfectly distmct and are of oonsider-
able magnitude, with furrows between them, which for the most part
are placed in such a direction as to conveige towards the base of the
brain. (Fig. iv. 6, 5, 4.) The fibres do not merely miite, forming what
are- called commissures, but they actually exoss each other and pass
into the opposite sides of the body. This decussation of the meduUaiy
fibres has been demonstrated in the most satis&otory manner by
Drs. Qall and Spunheim.
The cerebellum is situated at the basis of the cerebrum towards
its posterior part (Fig. iL 6, 6.) Its form is elliptical, its largest
diameter extending transverselv from one side to the other. (^. il 6.)
Like the cerebrum it is divided into two lateral halves or hemispheres
(Jig. iL 6), which are separated by the fialx cerebellL In the centre of
its upper surface there is a distinct prominence, termed the vermiform
process (fg. ii 7), which may be considered as the fundamental part
of the organ, because, in the lower animals, whatever other parts of
the cerebellum are absent^ this is Invariably present, aflfording thus
the nucleus or rudiment of the organ, finom which, by the addition of
other parts, as the hemispheres or lateral lobes, &c., the more perfect
organ of the higher animal is built up.
The external surface of the oerebellum is divided into flattened
strata or layers (fig, iL 6), separated by fissures which correspond to
the clefts or sulci between toe convolutions. The pia mater, bearing
the nutrient arteries of the cerebellum, passes between every one of
theee fissures; while the tfrachaoid membrane is simply extended
over them. If a vertical section be made through either heooisphere
of the cerebellum, a thidc mass of White substance is seen in the
centre, which, as it divides ixlto the several strata, presents an arbor-
Fig. III.— Yertieal Seetioa of tht Brain.
1, BondlM of mednlUry fibres in the central i»art of the nervons apparat&t ;
2, white natter forming the centre of the fundamental part of the oerebelhun ;
3, veitical eeetion of the oerebeUom, showing the arboreaeeot arrangement of
ita component laminv, and forming the appearance called arbor vits ; 4, sitoa-
tion of the third ventricle ; 6, fibres of white matter, forming the eeptom
lueidom, the medollary layer which separatee the two lateral ventricles tnm
each other ; 6, fibres of white matter, forming the corpus oalloeom, immedi-
ately beneath which are situated the lateral ventrioles ; 7, convolutions ef the
cerebrum.
esoent i^pearance commonly denominated the arbor vitse^ (Fig, iiL 8.)
These strata diverge towards the circumference of the cerebellum,
and are covered externally by gray substance. (Fig. iiL 8.)
In front of the cerebellum is placed a large mass of nervous matter,
forming a very considerable eminence, conmionly termed the tuber
annulare, or the pons varoliL (Fig.iLlO,) The external BorCaoe of thii
body is convex, and it is divided into two lateral halves by a middle
groove. (Fig. iL 10.) It is joined to the oerebrum by two thick white
cords named the crura cerebri, and to the oerebellum by two nmilv
cords named the crura oerebelli. The crura cerebri are continued
(from the tuber) outwards and forwards to the under and middle
part of each hemisphere of the cerebrum, in which th^ are lost In
like manner the crura oerebelli are continued outwards and backwaidi
into the hemispheres of the cerebellum, in whidi they terminate.
The Medulla Oblongata is that portion of the cercAnral maas wfaidi
intervenes between ue tuber annulare and the foramen magnum
{fig. iL 7) : beyond the foramen magnum it takes the name of ipinil
oonL On the anterior surface of tiie medulla' oblongata there are
four eminences oontiguous to each other. (Fig. iL 7.) The two internal
are named corpora pyramidalia, or the pyramids (fig. iL 8) ; and the
two external uie corpora olivaria (fig. iL 9), or the olivary bodiea
If the membranes which invest the medulla oblongata are cuefully
removed, and its middle groove be gently drawn asunder, there wUl
be discovered four or five bands of white substance ascending obliquely
from one side of the medulla to the other. (Fig. iL 11.) T^eee faandi
on eaoh side decussate, some of them passing above and others below
those of the other side, so that they are interwoven like plaited straw.
(Fig. iL 11.) These bands are named the decussating bands of tiie
corpora pyramidalia, and their decussation is conceived to explain the
phenomenon familiar to the physician and surgeon, that when injury
IS done to one side of the brain a consequent distarbanoe of function
is manifested on the opposite side of the body.
Taken as a whole, the nervous mass constituting the brain is strictly
symmetrical, that is, the cliffarent parts of which it is composed are
so arranged, that, if the organ be supposed to be divided into two
lateral halves by a plane passing perpendicularly through its centre,
the parts placed on each aide of this plane have a perfect oorrespondr
enoe with each other, and form in fact reduplications of eadi other.
( Fig. iL) The principal parts of the cerebral mass are thus double,
but they are all united on the median line with their felbws of the
opposite side. This union is effected l^ medulJbtfy bands of various
sues and figures which pass frt>m one to another, called oommissurea.
Thus the double parts of the cerebellum are united by means of the
large mass of cerebral matter already spoken of under the name of
tuber annulare, or pons varoliL (Fig. iL 10.) The hemispheres of the
cerebrum are united chiefly by a broad expsmsion of medullary matter,
which extends transversely across frx>m the bottom of one buniipheie
to that of the opposite side, called the corpus callosum, or the great
oonmiissure of the brain. (Fig. iiL 6, 6.) There are other connecting
bands of smaller si«e b^ which minor portions of the cerebral mass
are placed in commumcation, into a description of which it is not
necessary to enter here.
The cerebral parts are separated from one another at certain places,
and the interval form cavities which are termed ventrides. Of these
ventricles there are commonly enumerated four, all of which are in
communication with each other. By far the largest of these are the
two great cavities called the lateral ventricles, which are situated in
the interior of the hemispheres of the cerebrum. Commencing in the
fore part of the anterior lobes, theee cavities proceed backwanis in a
direction parallel to each other through the middle into the posterior
lobes. Their figure is winding and exceedingly irregular, and they
are separated from each other by a tender mass of medullaiy matter
termed the septum lucidum. ( Fig. iiL 6.) They are lined throu^ut
by a fine transparent membrane, which secretes a fiuid that keeps
them moist, gives them a bright polished appearance, and prerenta
them from uniting. This membrane is the pia mater, which is con-
tinued from the exterior surface of the brain into these interior caTiUee;
and some anatomists describe the arachnoid membrane as accompany-
ing the pia xnater in all its course through the ventrides.
The middle or third ventride is a vertioal fissure between the two
large convex eminences called the thalami optid (fig. iiL 4), situated
in the middle and back part of the lateral ventricles. The fourth
ventride, called also ventricle of the cerebellum, is a cavity of con-
siderable extent situated between the cerebrum, the tuber annulare,
and the medulla oblongata.
For a detailed account of the course of the fibres the reader m
referred to the work of Drs. Oall and Spursheim, entitled ' RedMCchei
sur le Syst^e Nerveuz en g^n^ral, et sur celui du Cerveaa en p«i>
ticulier,' in which the direction of the cerebral fibres is not only
minutely and exactly described, but illustrated l^ excellent drawug
as large as the objeotsi The course of the fibres that compose the
pyramids (/jr. iL 8 and J^. iv. 1) is as follows :— Immediately before
their entrance into the tuber aimulare the pyramids are a litUe con-
tracted. (Fig. iL 8.) As soon as they enter this mass the Py«™*^JIJJ
divided into innumerable bundles of fibres (fig. iv. 3), which are covered
by a thiok layer of transverse fibres (fig. iv. 2) that come from tht
oerebellunL (Fig.iy.Z.) These fibres of the pyramids, thus incressed in
number, ascend, and receive at every point of their course fr^*^**?*
sions, until at their exit (from the tuber) forward and outward th^
form at least two-thirds of the crura oerebri, as is seen »*/^-.}Vr
Followed in their course forwards ttom fig. iv. 8, they are mamfertif
increased at every point by the accession of infinite numbers o*
fibres. (Fig. iv. i.) At th« point (fig. iv. 6) the fibres, now exoeedm^iy
Digitized by
Google
<23
BRAIN.
BRAHA.
6ft4
numoEOiu, maiiifestly assumo a diveiging coorae, prooeeding in every
direction forwards, upwwxia, laterally, andbackwarda (Pig. iv. 6, 6, 7.)
At length tiie radiating fibres, orosaing and interlacing each other in
all directions, form an expansion or tissue, and, being folded in
Fig, IV.— Courae of the fibres of the Brain.
1, £ntranee of the anterior pyramids into 3, the tuber annuhire, or pons
rarolii ; 3, fibres of the pyramidB much increased as they iMue from the tuber
annulare ; 4, 5, continued increase in the fibres of (he pyramids as they advance
oiTlrards towards the conrolutions ; 6, divergence of the fibres of the pyramids;
7, oon volutions of the oerebnun, showing their depth, their gray matter, and
the sulci between them ; 8, oerebellnm.
varioua ways and covered with gray matter, constitute the convolu-
tiona. (Pig. iv. 5, 6, 7, 7.) Thus the pyramids, progressively increased
and developed, form a largo portion of the anterior and middle lobes
of the cerebrum. If the corpora olivaria (fig. ii 9) were traced in like
manner, they would be found to form the posterior lobes of the cere-
brum ; and the origin and source of the fibres constituting the main
bulk of the cerebellum can be demonstrated with the same deamess
and exactnesa
Froxn the preceding account of the structure of the brain, which
shows it to be an exceedingly complex oigan, it might have been
inferred from utalogy that it would receive a laige supply of blood ;
but the quantity actually sent to it is fiEur greater than any analogy
could have led us to sunpose. Haller made a calculation, from which
he concluded that one-fifth of all the blood sent out of the left ven-
tricle of the heart is carried to the head, yet the weight of the brain
in the human subject is not more than one-fortieth of that of the
whole body. Even if this estimate, which is ^erally thought too
laiige, be reduced to one-tenth, according to the idea of Monro, it will
BtiU leave a very great over-proportion. There is no part of the
structure of the brain more curious than the various contrivances
connected with the circulation through the.head, which have for their
object the prevention of this prodigious quantity of blood firom pro-
ducing any usurious effects upontiie tender oerebnd substance^ whether
by its preasure or by its unequal distribution, in consequence of its
stiagnating m the vessels, or of its being too violently propelled against
them. Manv conjectures have been formed respecting the object of
furnishing this organ with such an extraoidmary quantity of blood,
but nothing is really known of the use to which it is applied, though
it maj be admitted, to give a degree of plausibility to the opinion, that
the brain has some analogy to a secreting oxgan. Without doubt one
use both of the ventricles and the oonvolutioiiB is to afford a more
extended surfitce by which the blood-vessels may enter the cerebral
substance at a greater number of points, and consequently in small
quantity at any one point, while at the same time thev are more firmly
supported in their passage by the neater quantity of investing mem-
brane with which they are supplied [Nbbvoub Stbtbm.]
The brain of the vertebrate animals differs considerablv from ihat
of man, and more in proportion to their low position in the scale of
development. The most obvious distinction between the brain of
man and that of the other mammalia is its diminished sise in most
of the latter. The moment the skull-cap is raised, the difference
between the full rounded appearance of the former and the com-
premed flattened shape of the latter cannot fail to be observed. -The
convexity of the middle lobes is strangely lessened, and the posterior
lobe is in a manner lost in quadrupeds. K the brain is now removed
from the cranial cavity, the difference in oi:dk between that of man
and the inferior animals is strikingly displayed. The brain of the ox
scarcely weighs a pound : the average weight of the brahi of the
human being is more thsn 2^ pounds.
In man the brain is supposed to constitute about l-85th part of
the weight of his body. In the dog, averaging the different breeds,
it is l-12(Hh part ; in the horse it is only the 460th party in the sheep
the 750th jpart^ and in the ox the 800th part
As an illustration of the greater size and development of the nerves
of sense in animals, the olfMrtoxr one may be selected. In man, who
haa other means of judgmg oz the quautiea of his food, and of lor-
rounding objects, than by the sense of smell, the olfactory nerve is not
one-fourth the size of that of the horse ; in the ox, which is not so
much domesticated as the horse, and oftener sent into the field to
shift for itself, it is considerably larger; it is larger still in the
swine, which has to search for a portion of its food buried in the earth,
or deeply immersed in refuse or filth ; and it is laigest of all in the
dog, whose acuteness of scent renders him so useful a servant to man.
The different development of the medulla oblongata in different
animals may be adduced as another proof of the admirable adaptation
of each to the situation which it occupies and the functions i^hich it
discharges. The medulla oblongata is the prolongation and conden-
sation of the medullary matter of the brain, and it is the origin of
that portion of the spinal cord which is devoted to organic life. In
the human being, the breadth of it is only a seventh part of that of
the brain ; in the horse and the ox, it is nearly a third ; and in the
dog it is more than a half. In. every part of the brain of the
quadruped the medullary portion preponderates, and the cineritious
is defideni,
In the smaller quadrupeds the comparative size of the brain
approaches nearer to that of the human being. In the mouse it is a
48rd part of the weight of the animal
The brain of the larger birds agrees with that of the mammalia in
the smollness of its bulk, compared with the development of the same
organ in the human being. The brain of the eagle.is not more than
a 260th part of the weight of the bird. The brain of the ffoose is not
more than a 360th part If in some of the lesser birds, as in the
chaffinch and the redbreast^ it approaches to the proportionate size of
that of the human being, it is, as in the smaller quadrupeds, on account
of the quantity of medullary matter required for the origins of the
nerves ; and the cineritious matter forms only a very small part of the
brain. The brain of the bird has no convolutions on its surface ; no cor-
pora striata in the ventricles ; no pons varolii between the brain and the
spinal cord ; and the origins of the optic nerves are separate from the
brain, and lie behind and below it ^ ^ ^
In fishes the brain is yet more diminished in proportionate size.
In some spedes it does not constitute a 2000tii part of the bulk of
the fish. It scarcely half fills the cramal cavity, but is surrounded
l^ a cellular tissue containing a transparent semifluid mass. It
singularly varies in different spedes. It consists of at least four or
more rounded eminences, placed in pairs opposite to each other and
forming two parallel lines ; and there is often only a very slight con-
nection between these lines, or the eminenoes of which either of them
is composed. The two prindpal hemispheres of the brain and the
optic thalaml are always present The olfactory nerves often form a
third pair of tubercles anterior to these and the cerebellum, and are
always found posteriorly on the mesian line. The optic nerves usually
cross each other without any intermingling of medullaxy matter.^ The
cineritious substance is found in an exceedingly small proportion in
the brain of fishes.
There is no brain properly speaking in the Invertebraia. In the worm,
the upper ganglion of the nervous system, which represents the brain,
is placed near to, or may be said to be perforated by, the superior por-
tion of the owophagus, and thence proceed little white threads or cords,
which run along the course of tne digestive canaL In insects the
upper ganglion usually surroxmds the oesophagus, and a ganglionic
system of nerves can generally be traced proceeding from it In the
larvse of insects the brain is inclosed in a homy cavity. The spinal
cord proceeding firom it pursues its course through the whole of the
abdomen, presenting evident ganglia at different points, firom which
nerves are distribute ; while from the intermediate spaces are given
out other nerves without ganglia, presenting a rude but satisfsctoxy
sketdi of the combined systems of sensitive and motor nerves dis-
covered by modem physiologists.
(Quain, EUmenU of Anatomy; Grant, (hUUnei of ComptwaUvt
Anatomy; Carpenter, PrincipUa of Physiology.)
BRAI^, a Fish. [Paqbus.]
BRAKES. rPTBBiB.]
BRAKES ROCK, the vulgar name for iheAUoionu criiputf a plant
belonging to the natural order PolypodiaeecB. AUotorui islaiown by its
nearly circular sori, which ane at length confluent, and are concealed
by the reflexed maigin of the frond. A. critpui has a slender very
brittie stem, which attains a height of from 6 to 12 inches. It grows
in stony places on mountains throughout Great Britain.
BRAHMA, a genus of Fishes of the order Acanthopterygii and fSunHy
Squamipermei. Dorsal, anal, and ventral fins more or less scaly ; body
much compressed, somewhat ovate when viewed laterally ; the head
rather obtusely terminated ; mouth when shut almost vertical ; teeth
slender, placed both in the jaws and palatines ; branchiostttfous rays
seven. But one species of this genus is known, BramaPaiL M. Cuvier
mentions the Mediterranean as the chief locality for this fish, but at
the same time he says that it oceasionally wanden into the ocean.
It appears however tiiat it is not so local as H. Cuvier supposes,
nume^us specimens having been found on different parts of our own
coasts.
Brama Rati measures firom about 1 to 2 feet in length ; it is of a
deep blue colour, becoming silveiy towards the belly. The dorsal fin
has 84 rays and the anal 80 rays. The tail is large andforiced; pectoral
fins rather loog and narrow; ventral fins smiul : the scales extend as
Digitized by
Google
655
BRAMBLE.
BRANCHIOPODA.
K»
fyr M theJawB. The fleah of this fish is said to have an exqulnta
flavour. (Taixell, BrUith Fitha.)
BRAMBLE, the wild bush that bears blabkberriee, belonging to the
natural order RotaeetB. [RuBus.]
BRAMBLING. [FBnraiLLiL]
BRANCHIOTODA, the first order of the division BiUomotlraea
rEvTOMOSiRAOA], of the class Onuiaeea. [Cbustaoxa.] Dr. Baird, in
his ' Natural Histoiy of the British Entomostraca,' thus characterises
it: — Mouth furnished with oigans fitted for mastication; branohitt
many, attached to the feet ; body sometimes naked, but most frs-
quentlv having an envelope in form of a buckler, in some inclosing
only the head and thorax, in others the whole bodv ; feet vaiy in
number, all branchiferous ; antennte two- or four-jointed and genenlly
ciliated ; eyes sometimes two, or even throe, but frequently only one,
or so closely approximated as to appear single. Th^ are all fires and
inattaohed, swimming at large in water. This division of the BiUo-
moitraca includes some of the commonest forms, such as those known
under the name of MonocvUu and the various species of Dapknia,
ihe watei>fleas of popular writers. The following is the arrangement
of this order by Latreille, which comprehends the Lophffropoda of
Baird and others : —
Section L
Lophyropoda.
Feet never more than six, the articulations more or less cylindrical
or conical, and never entirely lamelliform or foliaceous. The branchi»
are not numerous ; and there is but one eye. Many have the mandibles
furnished with a palpus or feeler, and though M. Straus attributea this
oiganisation exclusively to the genera Cypris and Cytherina, which
compose his order of Ottrapoda, the elder Jurine and M. Ramdohr
have shown that it is also characteristic of Cydopa, The autenn» are
almost always four in number, and serve for locomotion. Three
groups are arranged under this section.
Careinoida,
Shell more or less ovoid, not folded so as to convey the idea of a
bivalve, but leaving the lower port of the body uncovered. The
antenna never in the fbrm of rainified arms. Feet ten, more or lees,
cylindrical or setaceous. Females carrying their eggs in two external
bags situated at the base of their tail Some of this division have two
eyes, but the genus Oydopi has but one.
a. Two Eyes.
Shell entirely covering the thorax. Eyes large and distinct
AntenusB intermediate, terminated by two bristle-like appendages.
Under this subdivision Latreille places the genera Zoect, Bosc ;
Ntholia, Leach ; and Oondylwrck, Latreille.
In the genus Z<tea we have an interesting example of the necessity
of observing i^nimA^ln not only in one stage but through the whole
period of their existence. The Zoeapdagica of Bosc, and the other
species of the same genus, are now known to be transitionaiy con-
ditions of the higher forms of Orutlacea, We are indebted to Mr. V.
Thompson of Cork for first having shewn this with regard to Zoea» He
observed that the members of Zoea, fix)m being natatory and deft,
became simple and adapted to crawling only. The animal, when
perfected, was found to be a crab. To complete his proof of meta-
morphosis among the Cruttaeea, he states that he succeeded in hatching
the eggs of the common Crab {Ckmcer pa^urtu), the young of which
were found to be similar in form to Zoea Tawut; and he thenoe
concluded that the crustaceous decapods generally undergo metamor-
phosis, being in the first state of their existence essentiallv natatory ;
and the greater number of them becoming afterwards in their perfect
state incapable of swimming, being then furnished with chels (pincers),
and with feet almost solely adapted for crawling. Mr. Thompson
states that with regard to braohyurous decapods (crabs, &a) he has
ascertained the newly-hatched animal to be a Zoea in the following
genera : Cancer, Oardnui, Portvnus, Eryphia, Oegar-
ciwu, Thdphuio, Pwnoiherei, /nocAK*— eight in all ;
and that in the Jfocroicra (lobsters, &c.) he has asoer-
tained that the following seven genera are subject
to metamorphosis : Fagtunu, PoreeUana, QaUUhea,
Crangon, PaUetnon, Bomartu, Attaeui, The an-
nexed figitfe of Zoea cla/vata (Leach), taken by
Mr. Granch in the unfortunate expedition to the ^»** elavata.
Congo under Captain T\ickey in 1816, will give some idea of the
general form of Zoea.
As an example of this division of Latreille we may give the Nebalia
hipes, which includes the two species N. glabra and N. cUiaia of
Lamarck. This creature has an ovate body of a pale yellow colour,
with a darker longitudinal line along each side ; antenna long, the
inferior pair as long as the body, and setiferous ; beak of carapace
sharp-pointed and moveable ; four pairs of natatorial feet of moderate
length, and setiferous ; caudal appendages rather long, and furnished
at the extremity with one long slender seta and three or four short
seta, not plumose. This species is a native of the sea, and has been
found on the coast of Devonshire, on the coast of Ireland, and the
Shetland Isles.
0. One Eye.
Thorax divided into many segments. The anterior, and muoh the
laigest segment, presents a single eye only, placed in the middle of
the f^ront between the superior antenna. Cyckpt (Miiller), whidi bai
been so well illustrated by the acute observations of the dder JxaJM
and of Ramdohr, is the only genus of this subdivision.
The body of the species of Cydopt is more or less approachmg to
oval, soft or rather g^tinoos, and is divided into two portiona, the
one anterior, consisting of the head and thorax, the other posterior,
forming what is commonly called the tail. The segment inunedistely
preceding the sexual organs, and which in the femsles carries two
supporting appendages in the form of little feet (fulcra, Jorine), may
be considered as ^e first segment of the tail, which is not alwajB
very dearly defined or strongly distinguished from the thorax, and
consists of six segments or joints, the second of which in the maleg is
provided on its lower side with two articulated appendages of varied
form, sometimes simple, sometimes having a snosll diviuon at the
internal edge, and constituting entirely or in part the organs of
generation. In the other sex the female organ is placed upon the
same joint. The last segment terminates in two points forming a
fork, and more or less bordered with delicate beards or penniform
fringes. The anterior portion of the body is divided into four segments,
of which the first and by for the largest includes the head and a
portion of the thorax, wUohare thus covered by one scale common to
both. Here are situated the eye, four antenna, two mandibles (internal
mandibles of Jurine) furnished with a feeler (which is either simple
or divided into two articulated branches), two jaws (the external
mandibles, or lip with little beards, of Jurine), and four feet, divided
each into two cylindrical stems, fringed with hairs or bearded. The
anterior pair representing the second pair of jaws differ a little from
the sucoeedinff pair, and are compared by Jurine to a kind of hani
Each of the wree succeeding segments serves as the point of attach-
ment to a pair of feet. The two superior antenna are longest
setaceous, simple, and formed of a great number of small articulatjonp,
They fiuulitate by their action the motion of the body, and perfom
very nearly the office of feet The lower antenna (antennulee of
Jurine) are filiform, oonsiBting most frequently of not more than four
joints, and are sometimes simple, sometimes forked. Bv their rapid
motion they produce a small eddy in the water. In the males the
upper antenna, or one of them only, as in Cydop$ Castor^ are con-
tracted in parts, and exhibit a swelling portion which is followed by a
hinge joint. By means of these organs, or of one of them, the males seize
either the hind feet or the end of the tail of their females during the
season of fecundation, and are thus often found attached. On each side
of the tail of the females is an oval beg filled with eggs (external oraiy
of Jurine), adhering by a veryfine pedide to the second segment, near it)
junction with the&la^l, and where the orifice of the deferent egg-canal
may be seen. The pellide which forms these bags is only a continua-
tion of that of the internal ovary. The number of contained eggs
increases with age. They are at first brown or obscure, but afterwards
preeent a reddish tinge and become nearly transparent^ without how-
ever increasing in size when the young are about to come forth When
isolated or detached, up to a certain period at leasts the germ periahes.
A single fecundation suffices for successive generations, and tiie same
female can lay eggs ten times in Uie course of three months, so that
the number of births amounts to something enormous. Thus, taking
eight ovipositions and allowing forty eggs for each^ it has been calcu-
lated that one female Cyclops may be the progenitress of four thousand
five hundred millions. The time the foetus remains in the ovary vanes
from two to ten dxyn, the variation depending on the temperature of
the seasons and on oiher circumstances. .
The young at their birth have only four feet, and their body a
rounded and taillees. In this state they are the genus Anymont of
Mttller. Some time afterwards (in about fifteen davs in the montha of
February or March) they acquire another pair of feet ; they im then
the genus NaupHut of the same author. After their first moult they
assume the form and all the parts which characterise the adult state,
but with smaller proportions : tiieir antenna and feet, for exampldi are
oomparatively short At the end of two more moults they are fitfor
the reproduction of the spedes. The greater part of these £fuo-
moitr<tea svrim upon their backs, darting about with vivadty^^
possessing the power of moving dther backwards or forwards. Tasa
food generally consists of animal matter in preference to vegetable;
but in the absence of the former they feed upon substances of tbe
latter description, and it is said that the fluid in which they Uve never
enters their stomachs. The alimentary canal extends from one
extremity of the body to the other. The heart (taking Cydopt Wor
as the subject) is of a shape approaching to oviJ, and situated iimnc-
diately under the second and third segment of the body. Ejcii oi
the extremities of this organ gives off a vessd, the one gomg to tne
head, tlie other to the taiL Immediately bdow is another an«"J«T
organ, giving off also at each end a vessel supposed to '^PJ^f^T.
branchiocardiac canals observable in the circulation of the Decapoaoua
OnutacecL ,^
The genus Cyclopt is an inhabitant of the fresh waters ; and we
select the Common Cyclops, Cydope wlgarit, Leach; ^f^f*"*
quadricomU, Linn.; Cydope qnadricomis, Umer ; Monocle k Queue
Fourchue, Qeoffroy, as an example of the spede&
The
body of the Common Cydops has a somewhat swollen ap^
ad U formed of four rings, and prolonged to about one-tmra
Digitized by
Google
•57
BRANCHIOPODA.
BRANCHIOPODA.
«68
its entire kngth. The tail ooiunsta of seven rings. The posterior
sntennsD (antennules of Jurine) are tolerably lai^e and composed of
four joints, the anterior antenn» are thrice the length of the posterior.
There are seyeral varieties.
Var. a. Reddish ; eggs brown, forming two oblique masses near
the sides of the taiL Total lengl^ eight-twelfttis of a line. This is
the Mtmoeuku quadricomit rubent of Jurine.
Yar. b. Whitish or gray, somewhat tinged with brown, rather
arger than the preceding. Egg-masses greenish, forming nearly a
right an^ with the tail Total length the same as the precedmg.
This is the M, 9. cUbidui of Jurine.
Yar. c Ghreenish. Direction of the two egg-masses intermediate
between that of the egg-masses of the two former. Length nine-
twelfths of a line. M, q. viridis of Jurine.
Cyclops vuigariif magnified.
1, Male of variety a; 2, female of the same; a a, aatenn*; h h, eezaal
orgvjia of the male ; e e, external oTiparous ponchee of the female ; d d, internal
orarioe ; 8, a female of variety 0 ; 4, a young individual of that variety.
Yar. d. Smoky red. General form nearly oval. Eggs brown, com-
posing two masses, which cover a g^^eat portion of the taiL Length
six-twelfths of a line. AT. q. fuscut of Jurine.
Var. «. Of a deeper green than var. c. Eggs obscure green, passmg
a little into rose-colour when hatching is near, forming two masses
attached to the tail, and appearing to be incorporate with it. Length
the same as the preceding, if. q. pratinua of Jurine.
Osfracoda, Latreille ; Otiropoda, SimuB.
The shell of the Ottracada is formed of two pieces or valves repre-
senting those of a conchiferous moUusk or bivalve shell, but homy,
not testaceooB. Aa in the bivalves, the two pieces are united by a
hinge, and when the animal is inactive they dose upon and shut in
the body and the parts. The feet are ambulatory, six in number, uid
none are terminated by a digitated swimming organ, nor aooompanied
by a branchial lamina. The antenns are simple, filiform, or setaceous.
There is but one eye, which is composite and sessile. The.mandibles
and jawB are furnished with a branchial lamina, and the eggs are
situated on the back.
In this division Latreille includes the genera Oifthere, MtUler(CAff*e-
nno, Lamarck) and Cyprit. Cythere has one eye; three pairs offset;
abdomen short ; the mfcrior or pediform antenna fteiiahed with one
VAT. HIBT. DIV. VOL. I.
tolerably long curved and jointed filament. The species are inhabit-
ants of the sea. Th^y have not the power of swinmiing, but sre always
walking among the leaves or branches of the Cor^ervas and Fuei,
where they delight to dwell When shaken out of their hiding places
into a tumbler or bottle, they may be seen to fall in gyrations to the
bottom, without ever attempting to dart through the fluid, as would
be the case with the species of Oypris. Upon reaching the bottom they
open their shells and creep along the surface of the glass ; but when
touched or shaken they immediately again withdraw themselves within
their shell and remain motionless. Dr. Baird, whose work on tibie
British species contains a fund of information on the habits of the
minute family to which these creatures belong, says that the species
" are undoubtedly numerous, and the labours of any inquirer after
them would assuredly be rewarded with success." ' He has described
fifteen species as inhabitants of the British coasts. Several of the
species have been foimd fossil.
CyprU has two pairs of feet, one pair always inclosed within the
shell The two antennso are terminated by a pencil of fine hairs.
The case or shell is suboval, arched, and protuberant on the back or
hinge sidc^ and nearly straight or a little sinuous or kidney-shaped on
the opposite edge. A litUe in advance of the hinge, and upon the
mesial line, is tiie single large blackish round eye. The antenna^
which are inserted immediately below, are shorter than the body,
setaceous, composed of from seven to eight joints, of which the last are
the shortest, and terminated by a pencu of twelve or fifteen fine hairs,
which serve as swimming oigana The mouth is composed of a cari-
nated labrum ; of two laige toothed mandibles, each fiumished with
a feeler of three joints, to the first of which a sinall branchial lamina
of five digitations (interior lip of Ramdohr) is attached, and of two
pairs of jaws ; the two upper, which are much the largest^ have on
their internal border four moveable and silky appendages, and extern
nally a laige branchial lamina pectinated on its anterior edge ; the
second are fonned of two joints, with a shorty ilearly conical, and
jointless feeler, also silky at the end. A sort of compressed sternum
performs the office of a lower lip (external lip of Ramdohr). The feet
nave five joints, tiie third representing the thigh, and the last the
tarsus ; the two anterior ones, much stronger than the rest^ are inserted
below the antennn, directed forwards with stiff hairs on long hooka
collected into a bundle at the extremity of the two last joints : the
four following feet are without these appendages. The second pair,
situated on the middle of the under side of the body, are directed
backwards, curved, and terminated by a long strong hook bent for-
wards; the two last, never showing themselves beyond the shell,
are applied to the sides of the body for the purpose of sustaining the
ovaries, and are terminated by two very small hooks. There is no
distinct joint observable in the body, which terminates posteriorly in
a kind of tail, whidi is soft and bent upon itself underwards, with
two conic or setaceous filaments fringed with three silk^ hairs or hooks
at the end, and directing itself backwards so as to project beyond the
shelL The ovaries form two large vessels, simple and conical, situated
upon the posterior sides of the body under the shell, and opening, one
at the aide of the other, at the anterior part of the abdomen, where
the canal formed by fiie taU establishes a communication between
them. The eggs are spherical
These ftTiitna^la swim with more or less rapidity in the still fresh
waters or gently-running streams which they inhabit^ in proportion as
they bring into action i£e filaments of the antennse ; sometimes they
only show one, at others they put them all forth. Latreille thinks
that these filaments may also anist in respiration. The two anterior
feet are moved with tiie same rapidity as the antennie when the
mniniid is swimming ; when it creeps over the surface of the water-
plants, the progress is slow. The female deposits her «ggs in a mass,
fixing them by means of a glutinous substance on the water-plants or
on the mud. Anchored by her second pair of feet» so as to be safe
from the agitation of the water, she is occupied about two hours in
this operation, the produce of which, in the largest species, amounts
to 24 eggs. Jurine collected some of these at the time of their
exelusion, imd, after having insulated them, obtained another generation
without the intervention of the male. A female which laid her eggs
on the 12th of April changed her skin six times between that day and
the 18th of May following. On the 27th of the last-nsmed month
she laid again, and, two days afterwazds, made a second deposit
Jurine concludes that the number of moults in the young state
corresponds with thp gradual development of the individual
Desmarest considers that they do not undergo a metamorphosis, but
that they present on their exclusion from the egg the form which they
preserve throughout their life. Their food is said to consist of dead
animal substances and of Ctrnferviz, In summer, when the heats have
dried up the pools, they plunge into the humid mud, and there
remain m an apocryphal kind of existence till the rains again restore
them to activity. ■n^i.j
The recent species are numerous ; Jurine described 21. Dr. Baird
describes 15 species as British.
The hard shells of OyprU resist deoompoeitian, hence many are
fossil , ,• . •
Cwri9 Faha, Desmarest, holds a plaoe among the organic ronaina
of the Wealden Rooks of England. Dr. Ktton has recorded it m the
Weald CUiy of the Isle of Wight^ Swanage Bay, ate., and Dr. Hantell
^ 2 u
Digitized by
Google
6S9
BRANCHIOPODA.
BRANCmOPODA.
iu the Ha9tings Saudfl. Besmarest notes the species as fouud iu grout
abundance near the mountain of Qeiigovie, in the' department of the
Puy-de-D6me, and at the Balme-d'Allier, between Yichy-lea-Bains and
Cussao. Their gi-ent fruitfulness and the frequent moults noticed
CSfftris omata (magnified).
Shell yellowish-green, banded with green. A, side riew ; B,. riew looking
apou the hinge. The hands commence behind the eye.
Cypritfiuca (magnified), Straus.
YalTea brown, kidney-shaped, covered with fine soattered hairs. Antennas
with fifteen fine bristles. In the view the raWes are snpposed to be removed,
the outline a a showing their shape and their relative situation ; 5, origin of
the hinge membrane ; 0, eye ; d d, antennv deprived of their bristles ; «, feet
of the first pair ; /, of the second pair ; ^, of the third pair ; A, tail ; i, labrum ;
A, mandible ; /, feeler ; m, Jaw of the first pair ; n, of the seoond pair ;
o, branchia or gill ; p ;, posterior portion of the left ovary ; r, the male organ
according to Straus.
above may account in some measure for the quantities of their
petrified ezuvise. Cyprit has also been found in the Fresh- Water
Limestone, beneath the Mid-Lothian Coal-Field, at Burdiehouse, near
Edinburgh, and in other districts.
Cladocera, Latreille ; Daphnides, Straus. — These minute creatures
have a single eye .only, and are protected by a shell doubled as it were,
but without any hinge, according to Jurine, and terminated posteriorly
in a point. The head, which is covered with a kind of beak-like
armour, projects beyond the shell. There are two antennas, generally
large, in the form of arms, divided into two or three branches placed
on a peduncle fringed with filaments always projecting, and serving
the purpose of oars. The feet, four to six pairs, terminated by a
digitated or pectinated swimming organ, and furnished, with the
exception of the two first, with a branchial lamina. Their eggs are
situated on the back, and their body terminates with a sort of tail
with two delicate hairs or filaments at the end. The anterior part of
the body is somtimes prolonged into the form of a beak, sometimes
into a shape approaching that of a head occupied almost entirely by
one large eye.
Latreille gives the following sub-genera : PolyphetMUf MiiUer ;
Daphnia, MiUler ; Lynceut^ Miiller (CfnlodortUf Leach). This division
in Baird's 'Entomostraca' includes the following families and genera.
Daphnia,
Boimina,
Sida.
Polpphemm,
EwryctrcuB.
Camptocercus,
AUma.
Peracantha,
1. DaphniadcB.
2. Polyphemidm,
8. Lynceidcg.
Moina,
Macrothrix,
DaphneUa.
Bvadne,
Chydorut.
Acroperus.
PUuroxut,
Of these DopAnta is thie most numerous genus ; and though the
tpecles are so extremely small, the observations of naturalists^ and
YHDre especially of Schoeffer, Ramdohr, Straus and the elder ^Jorine^
have rendered its oi^ganisation and habits extremely well known. In
the species of Daphnia one junction of the sexes fooundates the ova
for many successive generations, six at least; their moults an
very frequent ; they lay at first but one egg* then two or three, and so
on progressively as they advance in life tiU their number amounts to
58 in one species (Da/phma magwi) ; and the young of the same
deposit are generally of one sex, it being rare to find two or time
males in a female batch, and vice versA. As the winter approaches
their moulta and oviposits cease, and the frost is supposed to destroy
them, leaving however the ^ggs unharmed, which the genial spring
season hatches to fill the pools with myriads of Da/phnia, Then
those who have microscopes will find ample employment for them.
Every ditch, every pool, every garden reservoir, will fumirii the
observer with Branchiopods.
The species are numerous. The most common is the Wate^Flea,
Daphnia pulex of Latreille, Monoculut pulex of Linnseua, PuUx
aqtuiticui arboretcent of Swammerdam, Le Peiroquet d*£au of
Gbofiroy. Despised as this minute creature may be by those who,
like the orientaHsts, consider sise as absolutely necessary to produce
grand ideas, it has fixed the especial attention of Swammerdam,
Needham, Leuwenhoek, Schoaffer, De Qeer, Straus, and above all, of
Jurine, who, in common with other philosophers of great name, have
found as much interesting information regarding the development
of animal life in the admirable organisation of these animated specki
as is afforded by the largest vertebrated animal [D aphhia.]
Section IL
PhyUopoda,
Distinguished by the number of feet, and by the lamella or folia-
ceous form of the joints, representing, according to Latreille, the
Myriapodt in the claisB Inaeeta. The eyes are always two in number,
formed of a sort of network, and sometimes placed on pedicles ; many
have besides a sing^ smooth eye.
Ceratophthalmck, Latreille, have ten pairs of feet at the least, and
the maximum of those organs in this group is said to be 22. There
is no vesicular body at their base, and the anterior feet are never so
long as the others, nor are they ramified. The body is either incloeed
in a shell-case, like a bivalve shell, or naked, the thoracic divisionB
beiiig each furnished with a pair of feet The eyes are sometimes
sessue, small, and placed yery nearly together ; sometimes, and indeed
most frequently, they are mounted on the extremity of two moveable
pedicles. The eggB are either internal or external, and inclosed in a
capsule.
a.
Eyes sessile, immoveable ; body incloeed in an oval case like a
biveJve shell ; ovaries always internal
The sub-genus Limnadia of Adolphe Brongniart is an example of
this structure. Limnctdia Sermanni (Adol. Brongn.), Daphnia gi^ of
Hermann, occurs in great numbers in the little pools of the forest of
Fontainebleau, and we must refer the reader to Brongniart*s Memoir in
the 6th vol of the 'M^moires du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle' for
its descriptioiL
Each eye situated at the extremity of a pedicle on both sides of the
head; body naked and annulated throughout its length; no
enveloping case or shell; eggs contained in an elongated capsule
situatcKl towards the base of the tail, or at the posterior extremity of
the body and thorax in those which have no tau.
1. With a Tail
To this subdivision belongs the Brine-Shrimp or Brine-Worm,
Artemia or Artemis of Leach, Branchiput of Latreille, and Ckirocephahi
of Benedict Prevost and Jurine. We are now arrived at that develop-
ment of form in the Branchiopods where the numerous legs or feet
become paddles adapted simultaneously to the purposes of locomotion
and respiration.
The Brine-Worm or Brine-Shrimp, Artemia talina of Leaoh, Canctr
toHnut of LinnsBus, Oammarut talinuM of Fabricius, Artemit iolinut of
Leach, Artamitui saHniu of Lamarck, when full-grown, is about half
an inch in length and very transparent : it is said to have been first
discovered in the salt-pans at Lymington by Dr. Maty. There these
animals are found in myriads, in rapid and continual motion in the
salterns, which are the open tuiks or reservoirs where the brine i£
deposited previous to boiling. The brine attains the desired strength
by evaporation from exposure to the sun and air in about a fortnight.
A pint contains about a quarter of a pound of salt, and in this
concentrated solution, which, as Mr. Rackett observes, instantly
destroys most other marine animalH, the Brine-Shrimp revels. It is
further said that these Brlue-Woims are never found in the sun-pans
where the brine is made by the admission of sea-water daring the
summer, and which are emptied every fortnight, but only in the pits
or reservoirs (clearers) where it is deposited after it is taken out of
the pans, and where some of the liquor constantly remains. So
persuaded are the workmen of their utility in clearing the liquor, that
they are accustomed to transport a few of the worms fW>m another
saltern if they do not appear at their own, and they increase greatly
in a few days. Little however was known of the natural history of
this animal till Mr. Thompson published his interesting observations
in the 6th number of his 'Zoological Researchee' (1884). He hai
Digitized by
Google
061
BRANCHIOPODA.
BRANCHIOSTOMA.
MS
there described and iUiutrated the gradual devolopment of the
embtyoy and the metamorphoeee which it undergoes from its first
production until it arrives at a peifect or adult statoi These, he says,
will be found to correspond wiUi those of JBromchipfUy Chirocephalfu,
and Apu», animalw with which its alliance can no longer be doubtftd.
Ariemia bears a long journey very welL We have had a glass jar
full of them in their native brine sent to London. They lived a
considerable time and were in foil life and activity, affor<£ing very
satisfactory opportunities of observing their habits and of confirmmg
the statements of Mr. Thompson. They are constantly gliding vrith
an even motion in the dear circumambient fluid, sometimes on their
backs, sometimes on their sides, sometimes on their bellies, and seem
to move with equal facility in evory direction. Their transparency
and the unwearied undulating motions of their respiratory paddles
render them very interesting objects, and convey a deep impression
of the harmony of adaptation of members to two such apparently
anomalous ends as breathing and locomotion at the same moment.
The salt-pans at Lymington and some salt lakes in Siberia appear
to be the only locaJities where these animals have been hitherto
detected.
BrwadUimt tiagnaU* of Milne-Edwards, Oaneer stagnalit of Linnssus,
Oammanu ttagniUu of Fabricius and Herbet, Apua pitciformis of
Bchoeffer, who found it in a ditch by the road which leads from
Ratisbon to the town of St. Nicholas, Oki/rocephaJhu diaphanm of
Prerost, belongs to this division of Latrellle. It is a British animal,
and is especially known as inhabiting the pools on the road-side of
Blackheath Common. [Chirogsphalt7&]
Branohipui ttofftuOU.
I, Kale, magnified ; a a, oomporite or network eyes ; h h, aatenan ; e e, mandi.
boliform boms ; d, probowddiform moveable tentaoula, roUedspiraUy; », simple
rudimentary eye ; //, leaf-like natatory feet or oars ; ^y male organs ; A A, tall;
4, teiminatbig filameats ; 3, tro&t view of the head ; 8, tail of the female ;
A^egf-poneh; j; ftmale organ; 4, a yoang J^wmAvw* after the first moolt.
2. Without a Tail.
The gemM SvUmene, Latreille^ belongs to thia subjection. The
body is neaily linear, and there are four wort antenna almost filif ormi
of which the two smallest^ which much resemble feelers, are placed at
the anterior extremity of the head, which is fuxniahed with two eyes
mounted on cylindrical pedides. The branchial paddles are 11, and
immediately b^nd them is a terminal demi-globose piece in place of
a tail, from whence issues a long delicate thread-like process, which
may perhaps (according to LatrejJle) be an oviduct. £uUmene tUbida,
whose body is for the most part white, with its posterior extremity
black (Artemia Bulifnene, Leach), the only species described by
Latieille, was found in the Mediterranean near Nice.
Aspidophora,
Of thie last division of the Phyllopoda, Latrellle says that they have
60 pairs of feet, all furnished near their base with a large oval vesicle,
the two anterior feet^ which are much the largest^ resembling antennie.
A large shell or crust covers the larger portion of tlie upper part of the
oody. This shell is free, shield-shaped, notched posteriorly, and
bearing anteriorly on a circumscribed space three simple sessile eyes, of
which the two anterior are lai^gest and lunated. There are two bivalve
ci^)8ulee containingthe eggs, and annexed to the eleventh pair of feet.
Apu$ prodiuetu$ jBmocuLva] is an example. Mr. Thompson figures
a speciee, Apu9 CfuOdingii, from the West Indies, and observes that
there appear to be two European species confounded imder the
QMcifio name caneiifomUa, namely, Schoeflfer's and Dr. Leach's, which
most resemble Apui Ouildingii, and that described by Savigny, in whidi
the elongated shield entirely covers the natatory members.
Mr. Thompson observes that there is a considerable approximation
between ArtemiB and certain TrUobiteg {Bueephalitkua, &c.), nor can
there be any doubt that the analogies of JSranchiput, 8eroli$, and
Lim/ulus all contribute to the rUustration of that most ancient race of
Crustaceans. [Trilobitsb.] (Burmeister, On the Trilobitet.)
BRANCHIO'STOMA, the name given by Costa to the most anoma-
lous of all living fishes, and indeed of all the Verkbrata.
This extraordinary animal was first discovered on the coasts of
Britain, a single specimen having been sent to Pallas from the coast
of Cornwall during the latter part of the last centurr. The great
naturalist of Russia described and figured it in his ' SpicilQgia £k>1o-
gica' under the name of Limax laneeoUUui, believing it to be a mollusk,
though remarking in his description of it on ihe resemblance of some
of its characters to those of a fish. It seems to have been lost sight
of for more than half a century, and with the exception of a brief
reference in Stewart's * Elements of Natural History' we find no notice
of it in any synopsis of animals. In 1834 it was re-discovered by
Costa on the Neapolitan shores, who described it in the ' Annuario
Zoologico ' imder the name of Branchiottcma lubriewm ; and some
years after in his ' Fauna of the Kingdom of Naples' gave a frdler
account of it. Costa first perceived that it was a fish and not an
invertebrate animal, and remarked its affinity to the Cyclostomatinis
fishes. In 1836 Mr. Tarrell gave an accoimt of it in ms ' History of
British Fishes ' under the name of the LaDcelet(il mpAiodnct Umceolatut), '
He had not then met with Costa's account of it. He figured and
described it from a specimen found b^ Mr. Couch at Polperro in Corn-
wall, the first taken in that locality since its original discovery there.
Mr. TarreU gave the first correct notice of the chorda dorsalis and
vertebral coluipn. About the same time, singularly enough, consider-
ing how long it had escaped notice since t£e days of Pallas, it was
taken bv several naturalists on the coasts of Sweden. Lundevall and
Loven found it in Bohuslan in 1834, but did not give an account of
it tin 1841. Betzius had it from the same locality, and published a
notice of it in the 'Berlin Proceedings for November,' 1889, in which
also is a communication on the same subject by Professor J. Miiller.
Rathke gave an account of its structure in 1841. In the same year
Mr. J. Gk)odsir publidied an elaborate memoir on its anatomy in the
' Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinbui^h' for 1841, being the
result of his examination of two examples taken in the Irish Sea by
Professor E. Forbes in 1837. In 1842 a most valuable memoir on this
animal was read before the Royal Society of Berlin by Professor J.
MiQler, and this paper beautifully illustrated appeared m the volume
of ' Transactions' of that society published in 1844.
Besides the instances of its capture above mentioned it has been
since taken by Mr. MacAndrew on the west coast of Scotland, and
b^ Professor Edward Forbes in the iBgean Sea, and by those gentle-
men on tiie south coast of England in 1846.
^e great interest which attaches to this fish depends on the
strangeness of its anatomical characters, the unexampled degradation
of its organisation among the Vtridfraiaf and the link which it forms
between the highest of animals and some of the lowest A verte-
brated animal without a brain, a fish with the respiratory system of a
mollusk, and the circulatory system almost of an Annelide, presents a
combination of characters which must excite the wonder and interest
equally of the phymologist and the systematic naturalist Scarcely
any animal yet discoverod is so likely to change received views of ^
dasBifioation and i^tive order of chanetera as i£e.Lancelet As yet '
however it has attracted but little attention among zoologists, though
the physiologista and anatomists have fully perceived its value. For
these reasons we shall give a fuU account of what is now known
respecting its external character, structure, and habits.
The usual size of the Lanoelet is about 2 inches in length } the
height to the length being as 1 : 10, and the breadth to the length as
i : 10. It is of a lanceolate form tapering to each extremity, and
riband-lik& Anteriorly it terminates in a head scarcely distinguish-
able from the body, apparently pointed, but when exMoined doselv
seems to end in a rounded and somewhat spathulate rostrum, beneath
which is the mouth, a longitudinal opening, fringed on each side by a
row of long filaments which can close in and clasp alternately, so as
to protect the oral opening. Along the back runs a continuous fin,
which dilates nitar the sharp posterior extremity on each side so as to
form a sort of caudal fin. Near the tail opens the vent, in front of
which is a median fin continued to another opening situated a little
behind the centre of the body (poms abdoninalis), and serving as an
outlet for the genital products. Continued from this forwards nearly
to the mouth are two strong lateral folds, mistaken by Pallas for the
margins of a ventral disk, and hence leading him to consider the
animal a Qasteropodous Mollusk. The entire animal is translucent
and of a rilvery whiteness, its sides being marked by the indications
of the lateral ichthyic muscles, which give it the aspect of a small
sand-eeL ,
Oiganisation. Skeleton.— The osseous system consists of a chorda
dorsalis tapering at both ends, and, strange to say, not presenting the
slightest Teetige of a cranium, and of the germs of superior and
inferior inter-spinous bones and fin-rays in the most rudimentaiy
state. The chorda dorsalis is composed of from 60 to 70 vertcbm
Digitized by
Google
aes
BRAKCHIOSTOMA.
fiHAl^CHIOSTOliiu
464
which are also in a rudimentaiy itate, and little more than indicated.
** The chorda dorsalia," to quote Mr. Qoodsir, "is formed externally
of a fibrous sheath, and internally of an immense number of laminn,
each of the sixe and shape of a section of the column at the plaoB
where it is situated. When any portion of the column is removed
Fig.r
r
d
Explanation of the Fignret : —
Flff. 1. The Laneelet, a little larger than life, a, the month ; ft, porne
abdominalia; c, the rent.
Fig. S. View of the animal flrom beneath, a, the month ; h, poms abdomi.
nalia ; e, Tent : d d, rentral folds.
Fig. 9. The neuro^keleton of the Lanoelet, oonaisting of— «» the ehorda
dorsalia ; > 6, the Tesioular genna of the dorsal fin-rays ; c, those of the anterior,
and d, those of the posterior anal fins (from Ooodsir).
Fig. 4. The intestinal system, a, the branchial sao ; ft. the ODSophagos ;
c, greener imd wider part of the intestinal canal ; d, c»cam ; 0, narrower and
posterior part of the intestinal canaL
Fig. 5. Anterior extremity of the body of a yonng animal (from Mailer).
The lateral mnscles are omitted in order to show more clearly the other parts,
a, chorda dorsalis ; 6, its sheath ; e, rounded ' anterior extreinity of the body,
terminating in the dorsal fin ; d, oellolar dorsal fln-rays ; and «, their oontents ;
p, si)inal marrow ; A, eye ; i, labial cartilages ; A, cirrhi of the month ; /, a
mnscle of the labial cartilages, arising firom the fHnged fold between the cavity
of the mouth and branchial carity ; m, wall of the month ; n, finger.formed
fifrnrrs on the wall of the month (ciliated organa) ; o, fringed fold between the
oral and branchial carities ; p, heart-like arch of the aorta, connecting arch
between the branchial heart and aorta ; 9, anterior and superior part of the
btanchial sac, in which the branchial slits are wanting ; r and », branchial ribs ;
^branchial slits ; ti, walls of the belly.
Fig. 6. Transverse section of the body (frtmi MOller). a, chorda dorsalis ;
ft, its sheath ; 0, membranoos layer ; d, spinal marrow, and /, canal above it ;
ff and A, section of fln-rays ; i, lateral mnscles ; k, intermuscular ligament ;
/, branchial sac ; m, ovarla ; n, wall of belly ; o, lateral ventral folds, with their
canal.
Fig. 7. Tiew of the anterior part of the body frtmi beneath, a, mouth ;
ft, cirrhi ; 0, snout ; d, ventral wall ; /, lateral ventral fold.
Fig. 8. View of the underside of the body in the region of the poms abdond-
Lslis. a, ovary ; /, lateral ventral folds ; ^, poms abdominalis.
these plates may be pushed out from the tubular sheath like a pile
of coins. They have no great adhesion to one another, are of the
consistence of parchment, and appear like flattened bladders, as if
formed of two tough fibrous metnbranes pressed together." Besides
the skeleton of the nervous system there is a hyoid apparatus forming
the armature of the mouth, and consisting of two sets of 17 artieo-
lated pieces, from each of which, except two, a ray proceedi. These
rays form the oral airrhi Miiller takes a difBsrent visw of thia
structure, maintaining that it corresponds neither to the jaw-bone
nor to the hyoid apparatus in other animals, but is analogoos to the
cartilaginous ring of the mouth of the lamprey and ihe Myxinoid
fishes, a system peculiar to that familv. There is also in the Lao*
oel^ a series of fine, transparent, cartilaginous, hair-like ribs, 70 to
80 on each side, forming a cage for the proteotioii of the branchiil
cavity.
Nervous System. — ^The spinal cord extends the n^ole length of
the spine, but is not quite so sharp at the fore-end as behind. It
presents no trace of a brain. From 65 to 60 nerves pass off from
each aide of it^ which do not arise by double roots. The details of
this important part of the animal's anatomy are folly given by Mr.
Qoodrir. Miiller and Bathke have observed the existence of rodi*
mentary eyes, consisting of a small black spot of pigment, but not
furnished with any optical apparatus. No traces of organs of BmeOing
or hearing have been met with.
Vascular System. — The observations of Miiller having beea made
on the living animal, he was oiabled to pursue this part of hi
oiganisation further than the other observers. Accordmg to him
the vascular system of this animal corresponds in general anange-
ment with that of fishes, differing however in regard to the hetrt
from that of all other vertebrate animals, and diiq>laying a Btriking
accordanoe with that in worms ; for the hearts in the Bmchiotkma
are not only more divided than in other animals of its claas, but
present entirely the form and distribution of blood vessels, and extend
over wide spaces. The blood is white.
The Respiratory System is constituted by the anterior extremhj
of the intestbud tube, the walls of which are clothed with ribratile
cdlia, and protected and adapted to their office by the peculiar cage-
like skeleton already mentioned, which is further strengthened by
transverse cartilaginous rods, bertween which are numerous <defk%
their openings protected by vibratile cilia. This was first made
known l^ Miiller, who desmbed also a curious apparatus of finger
shaped wheel-organs and fringed folds placed at the entrance of the
branchial cavity, and muring the commencement of the cQitted
portion of the intestinal canal of which the branchial sac forms a pari
At the end of the branchial sac is the poms abdominalis, an opoung
which serves equaUy respiratory and genital purposes.
The Digestive System consists of an intestinal canal and a coBcam,
both of which are ciliated. The latter is considered by Miiller to be
a liver, but the office of a liver appears to be performed equally by the
other parts of the intestines.
The Reproductive System is imperfectly known. As fur aa it hai
been observed it appears in the form of certain bean-shaped bodies
attached to the inner surface of tbe lining of the abdomen on the out-
side of the branchial canals. MtiUer distinguishes the two sexes, but
this part of the histoxr of the Laneelet demands further inveetigatioiL
It is not impossible that the two membranous folds of the abdomen
and their canals may be connected with this system, and serve ma^
supial purposes. This remark, however, we merely throw ont as a
so^pestion.
The Muscular System is highly symmetrical, and consiBts of a series
of lateral muscular bundles corresponding in number, sise, and position
to the vertebra of the chorda dorsalis, and bearing a general resem-
blance to the lateral muscles of the higher fishes. Miiller classes the
muscles of the Lancelot under the heads of— Ist, lateral muscles ; 2nd,
abdominal muscles ; 8rd, muscles of the oral ring and tentacula; 4th,
muscles of the ring between the oral cavity and branchial sac ; and,
6th, muscles of the branchial i^paratus. The skin is thin, tough,
and scaleless.
Habits. — The Lancelot lives in sandy ground at a depth of between
10 and 20 fathoms water. It probably buries itself in the nnd.
When taken it swims rapidly with a snake-like motion, but after t
time setties down, unless disturbed, lying flat on its side. It is very
tenacious of life. We have had it for three hours in a watch-glaai
under the microscope, at the end of which time when disturbed it
seemed as lively as at first It dislikes the light It bears handling
without injury. Its food was found by Miiller in the intestinal canel
of some of the specimens he examined : it consisted of infusorial
animalctdn. The Laneelet does not swallow but simply imbibes its
food.
General Remarks.— " ^oncAiosfofna," says Miiller, "is eridently
a vertebrated animal and a fish. It is distinguished from all other
Veriebrata l^ its peculiar circulatory system, and by the absence of a
distinction between the brain and spiniu marrow ; from all other fiahes
by the extraordinaiy number of branchial ribs, by the union of the
branchial and ventral cavities, and by the combination of the rwP"*:
tory opening with the ventral opening.'* MtQler considers it connected
with tiie Cydostomatous fishes through the peculiar characters of ita
chorda dorsalis and the absence of jaws, but as inferior to thesi in
the absence of a distinct brain and in the peculiarities of its respira-
tory system. " The JBranehiottoma" he concludes, " ranks next the
Cydostomatous fishes, but not among them, being removed from them
by distinctions which are greater than the difitnrences between fishes
and naked amphibia."
Digitized by
Google.
M§
fekAKCtiiffi.
BREAIC.
"Vievred as an entire animal," writea Mr. Qoodairi "the Lancelot
is the most aberrant in the yertebraie sub-kingdom. It oonneota the
VerUbraia not only to the Annulose animals, bat also through the
medium of oertaiu symmetrical Aaeidite (the genus Pdonaia of Forbes
and Goodsir) to the Mollusks. We have only to suppose the Lancelot
to have been deyeloped from the dorsal aspect^ the seat of its respi-
ration to be transferred from its intestinal tube to a corresponding
portion of its skin, and ganglia to be developed at the points of
junction of one or more of its anterior spinal nerves, and inferior
branch of its second pair, to have a true Annulose animal, with its
peculiar circulation, respiration, generative organs, and nervous
Bjstem, with supra-CBSophageal ganglia and dorsal ganglionic recur-
rent nerve.
Taking all we know of the structure of this truly wonderful animal
into consideration, we are inclined to regard it as the relic of some
great order of Fif^es, which in their organisation brought down the
Vertebrated series to a parallel with the lower forms of Molkuca, and
which became extinct in some former epoch of the world's geological
histoiy, and from the unpreservable character of their bodies, and the
absence of hard parts, left " not a wreck behind." The more we know
of nature the more are we convinced that there are no isolated organ-
isma ; that beings apparently anomalous are members of orders either
partially known or for the most part extinct Of all anomalous crea-
tures the jBronc^toj^oma is the most so, and it is much more consistent
with the principles of scientific zoology to admit it as the type of a
distinct order among fishes than to attempt to place it among defined
groups. The strange combination of chamcters which it presents — a
vertebrated animal without a brain, having the respiratory apparatus
of an Ascidian MoUusk, and a ciliated intestinal cavity — ^ii it does
not almost warrant its erection into the type of a class by itself, cer-
tainly la sufficient, and more than sufficient, to constitute it the type of
an order in the lowest of the vertebrate classes.
BRANCHITE, a mineral belonging to the Besin series, and fbund
with Coal.
BRAND, or BURN, a disease in vegetables by which their
leaves and tender bark are partially destroyed as if they had been
burnt ; hence the name of this disease, which is called Brfdure in
French. It has been observed that after the leaves have been wetted
by dews or gentle raiiis so that drops adhere to them, and a bright
sunshine has succeeded, every spot to which the water had adhered
lost its natural colour, aud became of a dark or yellow hue ; and on
closer examination it was found that the organisation had been partly
destroyed, and that these spots no longer possessed the power inherent
in healthy leaves of exhaling the water which circulates through them.
When this disease is extensive, and attacks the bark as weU as the
leaves, it frequently causes the death of the plant, and at all events
enfeebles its growth and prevents its perfect fhictification. The cause
of this, like that of most diseases which are common to plants, has
been vulgarly ascribed to some unknown atmospheric influence ; and
various guesses have been made, which for the most part have little or
no foundation. That which appeared most plausible was, that the
drops of water being apparently globular, collected the light of the
tun into a focus, and produced a sufficient degree of concentration of
the calorific rays to bum the tender substance of the leaves. A little
reflection will soon convince us that this will not bear examination.
The drops which adhere to the leaves and the bark are not globes, but
at best flattened hemispheres, and consequently cannot collect the
rays of the sim into a focus on the surface to which they adhere ;
b^des, the spots are as laige as the diameter of the drops, so that all
the surface that has been covered with water is injured ; whereas the
focus of a globe, such as would actually bum the leaf, must be very
amall in proportion to the lens which concentrated the rays. It is
much more probable that the effect of the water on the tender epider-
mis of the leaf or bark to which it adheres is similar to that which it
has on vegetable matter infused in it ; it softens and dissolves a portion
of it^ especially when the temperature is somewhat raised, and destroys
the vitality. (De Candolle, « Physiologie V^g^tale.)
It is a fact that the principal mischief arises from a sudden change
of temperature soon arter sunrise, especially when there has been a
heavy dew or hoar-frost in the night ; and careful gardeners brush off
the drops from their delicate plants before sunrise to ipiard against
the Brand. Every drop which falls on the leaves of tender plants
from the glass which covers a hotbed in •which they grow produces a
disease exactly similar to that which we have been describing ; and
although the vapour of fermenting dung has a pimgent ammoniacal
smell, it will be found that the water condensed on the glass is nearly
pure, and can have no peculiar corroding effect. It acts therefore
simply as a dissolvent, and by stopping the evaporation, which is
always rapid from the leaves of plants in a hotbed, produces a derange-
ment in their functions, and ultimately disease.
BRANK-URSINE. [Acanthus.]
BRANT AIL, the Redstart. [Sylvtadj!.]
BRA^SICA, a genus of Cruciferous plants, comprehending among
other species the Cabbage, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Borecole, Rape, Tur-
nip, Colza, and the like. It is distinguished from other Cruciferous
genera by the following characters : — Its seeds contain an embryo, the
radicle of which is embraced in the concavity of the folded cotyledons.
Its pod is long, slender, and many-seeded. The seeds are spherical
The calyx is equal at the base, and slightly spreading ; the petals are
undivided ; the stamens entire.
B. oUraeeOf tiie Wild Cabbage, is met with in abundance upon the
clifb of many parts of Europe ; oonunonly in the south part of European
Turkey (especially about Mount Athos), on the coast of Kent near Dover,
and on that of the Isle of Wight, Cornwall, Wales, and Yorkshire. In
other places it forms a broad-leaved glaucous plant, with a somewhat
woody stem, having but slender likeness to its cultivated progeny ; and
it is difficult to conceive by what original discovexy the species was
brought under the influence of domestication so as to have been pre-
pared for the numerous changes and immt>vement8 it had to undergo
before the races of Cabbages, Savoys, JBorecoles, Cauliflowers, and
Broccolis could have been produced.
B. campeaintf the Wild Navew or Turnip, has its leaves lyrate,
dentate, somewhat hispid ; upper leaves ovate, acuminate, deeply
cordate, amplexicaul, glabrous. It grows by the sides of rivers, bv
ditches, in marshes, and the borders of fields in many parts of England.
It IS believed to have been the Foyto^s of Theophrastus. lliis is
looked upon as the original of the Swedish Turnip, whilst a variety,
regarded by some botanists as a species, with a caulescent fleshy root,
csJled B. Bapa, is supposed to be the origin of the Common Turnip.
B. NapuB, the Rape, Colsa, or Coleseed, has the lower leaves lyrate,
dentate, glabrous ; upper leaves oblong, somewhat narrowed below,
with a dilated cordate semi-amplexicaid base. It is difficult to find
any character by which to distinguish this plant from the preceding.
In fact some botanists regard B. Napua as nothing more than m variety
of B. campettris.
B. monefuia has the leaves stalked, all deeply pinnatifid ; the lobes
oblong, unequally toothed, those of the upper leaves linear. The
stem of this plant is prostrate, and the flowers yellow. It is found
<m the western coasts of Great Britain.
BRASSICA'CEiE, the name given by Dr. Lindley to the natural
order Orueiferte. [CRUOirKBA]
BRAUNITE, a native Protoxide of Manganese, containing 79 per
cent, of Manganese. It is a dark brownish-black, with a sub-metsJlie
lustre. It hss a hardness from 6 to 6*5, and specific gravity 4*8. It is
found in Piedmont and Thuringia.
BRATERA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Roioceof. One of the species, B, amthdmintiea, jields the anthelmintic
remedy known by the name Cusso, C^botz, or Eousso. Although its
anthelmintic virtues have been long known, it has only been recently
introduced into Europe. The plant is a native of Abyssinia. [Eousso,
in Arts and So. Drv. V
BRAZIL-NUTa TBerthollbtia.]
BRAZIL-WOOD, the wood of OcBBolpinia Branlientii, [CsaAir
PI»IA.]
BREAD-FRUIT. [Artooarpub.]
BREAM, a name given more especially to the Carp-Bream, but
applied to several other kinds of fislL It is more especially adopted
to designate the species of the genus Ahramis, belonging to the
division of Abdominal McUaeopterygii and the family CyprinidtB. The
chief distinguishing characters of this genus consist in the deep and
compressed form of the body ; the great convexity of the dorsal and
abdominal Une ; the base of the doi«al fin being short, placed behind
the line of the ventrals ; the long anal fin ; and the absence of either
strong homy rays or barbules.
A . Brama, the Bream or Carp-Bream, may be known by its yellowish-'
white colour, which becomes yellowish-brown by age. The irides are
of a golden yellow, the cheeks and gill-covers ^ver-white ; fins light-
coloiued, the pectoral and ventral fins tinged with red ; the dorsal,
anal, and caudfd fins tinged with brown. The Bream is an inhabitant
of many of the lakes and rivers of the continent of Europe generally
as far nortli as Norway and Sweden. It thrives best in this country
in large pieces of vrater or in the deep and most quiet parts of rivers
that run slowly. It occurs near London in the Mole and the Medway,
also in the Regent's CanaL Bloch states that the number of ova in the
female is 130,000. The fiesh of the Bream is generally considered
insipid, although, on account of the sport it affords the angler, it is a
good deal sou^t after.
A. hliecay the White Bream or Bream-Flat, differs firom the Carp-
Bream of the same size, in having the head laxger and the fieshy
portion of the tail deeper. The number of the rays in the
pectoral and anal fins differs considerably from those of the Carp-
Bream. The pectoral fin of the White Bream has three rays and
the anal fin five rays less in number than the Carp-Bream. The
general colour of the sides is silvery-bluish white, without any of the
yellow-golden lustre observable in the last speeie& The irides silvery-
white, tinged with pink. This fish has never been taken of so laige
size as the Cai^Bream. It has been described by Blocl^ who says
it id very common on the continents It is also found in most of
the lakes in Sweden. In England it is not generaUy known. Mr.
Jenyns has recorded its presence in the Cam, and Dr. Lankester took
it in large numbers in a piece of water at Campsall near Doncaster.
Mr. Lubbock has also taken it near Norwich. It varies very much in
its characters, but is undoubtedly a distinct Bpedes.
A, Buggmhagii, the Pomeranian Bream. This spedes of Bream is
at once distinguished from the preceding by the greater thickness of
its body, by the scales being la^or in proportion to its sioe, the anal
Digitized by
Google
487
BRKATHINO-PORES.
BROMELIACE^.
fin being ahorter, and lumng a smaller number of rays. Bloch reoorda
it as beinff oommon in Swedish Pomerania. It ia eyen more rare in
England than the Uwt species. (Tairell, BrUitk Fishes.)
BBEATHINCKPORES, nucroocopio apertures in the cuticle of
plants. [SffOHATn.]
BKE'COIA, an Italian word literally signifying; "an opening or
breaking in any substance," is employed in geology to designate a rock
composed of angular fragments of a pre-existing rock, or of several
pre-existing rocks, united by a cement of mineral matfcer that may
▼ary from oompact to friable. Thus, as in the annexed diagram, the
fragments (which sre shaded) may
be composed either of angular
portions of quarts rock, or any
other single rock, united by a
cement (which is dotted) formed of
the hard siUoeous substance named
chert» or any other hard mineral
substance ; or the fragments mav be ^tngiiliM' portions of many rocka^
such as a mixture of pieces of Jate, porphyries, Umestones, granites,
or others, united by a friable sandstone or any other soft mineral
substance.
The term Breoda has been adopted from the well-known Breccia
marble, which has the appearance of being composed of fragments
joined together by carbonate of lime^ infiltrated among snch fragments
after the latter were produced by some disrupting foro&
Breoo&Bs inform the geologist that the pra-odsting portions of rocks
included in them have not been exposed to considerable friction,
which would have rounded off the i^ngniMy parts ; as has happened in
the case of pre-existing pieces of rocks included in conglomerates.
[CoKGLOMBRATK.1 Hencc the geologist may expect to find the rocks,
whence the angular fragments of a brecda are derived, not fiur distant
from the breccia itself, while the rounded pebbles contained in a
Conglomerate may have been transplanted from considerable distances.
BREISLAKITE, a mineral which occurs crystallised in delicate
capillary crystals of a reddish-brown or chestnut-brown colour, bent
and grouped like wool Its fibres are flexibla It has a metallic lustre.
It is found at Vesuvius and Capo di Bove, near Rome, forming woolly
coatings in the cavities of lavas. It contains silica^ alumina^ and oxide
of iron.
BRENTIDES, a family of Coleopterous Insects, belonging to the
section Bhynchophora and sub-section SecUoomu, Distinguishing
characters : — Body much elongated ; tarsi with the penultimate joints
bilobed ; antennae filiform, or in some with the terminal joint formed
into a dub ; proboscis projecting horinmtally, generally long ; in the
.male longer than in the female ; palpi minute.
The insects constituting this family are among the most remarkable
of the Beetie Tribe, and are almost entirely confined to tropical
dimatee ; only one spedes has yet been discovered in Europe. But
littie is known of their habits, except that they are generally found
crawling on trees, or imder the bark, and
sometimes on flowers. The most common
colouring of the spedes is black, or brown,
with red spots and markings.
The four prindpal genera of the Brentida
are as follows: — Brmtus, Arrkmodet,
Ulocenu, and Cydtu. The ^^us BrtniMt is
chiefly distinguished by having the antennas
11-jointed, dther filiform or sometimes
slightiy enlaxged towards the apex, and the
body linear.
Brtniiu TmtninckU (Elilg), one of the
most remarkable spedes of the tribe, will
give an idea of their general form. It is
found in Java, and is of a blackish colour
varied with red markings, and has deeply-
striated dytra.
In the genus Arrhenodes the rostrum is
{(KlOg). i^o^ <^^ terminated l>y two distinct
mandibles, which are straight and project
considerably in the malea The species inhabit North America, and
one is found in Europe, A, Itaiica,
Ulocerut has the antennas 9-jointed; the last of which forms a
olub.
Cyclas has the antennas 10-jointed ; the terminal joint forms an oval
club ; the thorax is indented in the middle, and the abdomen is of an
oval form.
BRETT. [Rhombus.]
BREUNNERITE is a native Carbonate of Magnoua and Iron. It
occurs crystallised. Its primary form is an obtuse rhomboid- The
cleavage perfect^ paralld to the primary planes. Colour yellow of
difiiarent shades, and black ; streak white ; fracture flat conchoidal ;
hardness 4'0 to 4*5 ; its lustre is vitreous, sometimes inclining to
pearly ; it is transparent and translucent. Specific gravity 3 0 to 8*2.
Found at ZiUerthal in Salzburg and other places in the Tyrol It has
been analysed by Stromeyer and contains
Carbonate of Magnesia S6'05
Carbonate of Iron 18*82
Carbonate of Manganese • . . 0*69
BREXIA'CK£, Breariads, the Brexia Tribe, a natural oxdsr of plants
belonging to the polycarpous group of Monopetalous Exogens. This
order was constituted by Lindley in the first edition of hu ' Natoial
System of Plants.' The following is his description of tiie order :—
C«lyx inferior, small, persistent, 5-parted, aestivation imbricated;
petals 5, hypogynous, imbricated in asstivation ; stamens 5, hypogynoua,
alternate with the petals, arising from a narrow cup, which is toothed
between each stamen ; anthers oval, innate, 2-ceUed, bursting longi-
tudinally, fleshy at the apex ; pollen triangular, cohering by means of
fine threads ; ovary superior, 6-celled, with numerous ovules attached
in two rows to placentse in the axis ; style 1, continuous ; stigma
simple; fruit drupaceous, 5-celled, many seeded; seeds indefinite,
attached to the axis with a double integument, the inner of which ii
membranous; no albumen; cotyledons ovate, obtuse; radicle cylin-
drical, oentripetaL The spedes are trees witii nearly single trunks;
the leaves are coriaceous, alternate, simpla, not dotted, with deciduous
minute stipules ; the flowers are green, in axillary umbdai, surrounded
by bracts on the outdde.
Dr. Lindley remarks that the habit of Brexia is that of some
Myrtinaeea, especially of Tkeopbratta, from whidi it diiEars in being
polypetalous, and the stamens being alternate with the petals. Its
relations are also strong with BhatimacetB and Cela^racea, but its
stamens are hypogynous, and its seeds indefinite. Some resemUanoe
to AnaoardiacetB may be seen in the reduous appearance of the young
shoots, and in its habit It agrees with PiUosporacece in its hypog^ous
definite stamens^ its polyspermous frxdt, and alternate undivided
leaves. There are three spedes of Brexia, all of them degant trees
with a fine foliage. They grow well in a mixture of turfy loam and
peat; and cuttings with thdr leaves not shortened strike readily in
sand under a hand-glass in heat, or a leaf with a bud attached irill
grow. The leaves are covered with a resinous matter which causes
rain to run off them immediatdy, and thus induced Du Petit Thouan
to give these plants the name of Brexia, frt)m Bpc^is, which signifies
'a wetting.' In gardens they are commonly called Theophnstaa,
but they difier oondderably from that genus. All the spedes of
Brexia are natives of Madagascar. The other genera of this order are
Ixerba, ArgophyUum, and Bouttea, There are but six spedee in all
(Loudon, Encydc^padia of Plants; lindley, V^^able Kingdm;
Don, Oardener's Dictionary,)
BRILL. [PlboeonbotidaJ
BRIMSTONE. [Solfhub.]
BRINE-SHRIMP. [Bbakohiofodi : CmBOOJEPHALXT&l
BRITTLEWORTSL [Diatomacka]
BRIZA, a genus of Qrasses bdonging to the tribe Feit%cvnM,
It has nearly equal broad 8-ribbed glumes; 3-8 flowers, densely
imbricated in a short distichous spikdet; the outer palea navi-
cular, hearirshi^ed, obtuse, rounded on the back, unarmed; the
glumes and paleas membranous with a scarious zoaigin; tenninal
styles. Two species of this grsss are natives of Great Britain, the
B. mvMr and M. tnc^or. They are known by the oommon names of
Quaking-Giass and Maiden's-Hair. Their dense dusters of flowen
are hung upon the ends of a very deUcate filamentous peduncle,
forming an degant panide which shakes with the slightest breath of
air, hence the name Quaking-Grass. Both the species grow in
pastures, but do not yidd much nutriment for AniTnalu which feed
upon them. (Babington, Manual of Botany,)
BROADBILL. [DucKa]
BROCCOLL [Brassica.]
BROCHANTITE, a native hydrous Sulphate of Copper. It
occurs C£y8talli8ed, and has for its primary form a right rhombic
prism. The cleavage is obtained with difficulty in the direction of
the lateral faces of the primary form. The colour is emerald-green :
fracture uneven ; hardness 3*5 to 4*0 ; lustre vitreous ; translucent,
transparent Specific gravitv 8*78 to 8*87. It is found in Sibeiia.
The following analysis is by Magnus : —
Sulphuric Add 17*43
Oxide of Copper 66*93
Oxide of Tin 811
Oxide of Lead 1*04
Water . . 11-91
BROME-GRASS. [Bbovub.]
BROMELIA'CE^, or BROMELI^, BromehooHs, the Pine-Apple
Tribe, a natural order of Endogenous plants, taking its name from the
genus to which the pine-apple' was once inoorrectiy referred [AiiTAifikfiSA],
and consisting of herbaceous plants, remarkable for the hardness and
dryness of their gray foliage. They occur in great abundance in the
tropical parts of the New World, or in such extra-tropical countries
as, owing to local circumstances, have a climate of a tropical nature.
Sometimes they are found growing on the earth in forests, but more
commonly they spring up from tiie branches of trees, round which
they coil their simple succulent roots, vegetating upon the decayed
matter they may find there, and absorbing their food in a great
measure from the atmosphere. Their leaves are always^ packed
together so very dosely at the base as to form a kind of cup^ in which
water collects; so that the travdler who ascends the trees on whidi
they grow, if he upset one of these plants, as he easily may, u
unexpectedly dduged by a shower, the source of which he would not
have suspected. The flowers of most are pretty, and of some ot
Digitized by
Google
BROMUa
BR0US80NETIA.
670
them remarkably handsome and sweetrsoented ; bat the fruit is
in no case of any value except in the genus Antmaata, BromeUaeem
may be shortly described as scurfy-leaved hezandrous endogens, with
distinct calyx and corolla, an inferior ovary, and seeds whose embiyo
des in mealy albumen. They are known from AmaryUidacecB by the
last circumstanoe, by their hard scurfy leaves, and epiphytal habit;
from BvrmcuMMcecBf by their leaves not being equitant, nor their fruit
winged ; and from TaeecuecB by all their habit» and their fruit being
3-oelled, with central placentas.
The green fruit of tiie wild Pine-Apple, as weU as Bromdia
Pmffmm and others, are used as anthelmhitios and diuretics in the
West Indies. The leaves of TiUcmdtia usneoides are used for stufi&ng
maUiiQusus. A gum flows from the spike of Pitya lanuginoack A dye
is extracted from the root of BiUbergia tindoriii. Muslin has been
maniifactnred from the fibres of the common Pine-Appla Many
species are cultivated in the hot-houses of this country, the most
beautiful of which belong to the genera Bromdia and Billbergia, They
all grow readily in decayed tan. No species has been yet seen wild
in any part of the Old World. The order contains 28 genera, and
170 species.
BROMUS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Oraminaeea, and the tribe Pesducete. It has imequal many-flowered
herbaceous glumes, the lower being 1-nerved, the upper 8- to S-nerved.
The flowers are lanceolate, compressed. The outer palea short,
(usually) founded on three nerves from below the tip. The styles
below the summit of the fruit lateral The sheaths of the leaves
divided halfway down.
The spedes are generally known under the name of Brome-Qrass.
Four of the species are common in Great Britain.
B. ereehu has an erect stem two or three feet high, and grows on dry
sandy and chalky soila It is known from the other species by the
outer palea being indistinctly 7-nerved and one-third longer than the
smaller glume.
B. asper has its outer palea hairy and 5- to 7-ribbed, with the leaves
broad and hairy. The stem reaches a height of four or five feet. It
grows in damp woods and thickets.
B gt€rilu is a common plant in waste places, and is known by its
outer palea having 7 distinct equidistant ribs. It has large flat broad
pubesoent leaves, and a stem from one to two feet high. It grows in
waste places.
B, diandnu is remarkable for its erect panicle. It is a rare plant.
Some of the species, as B. pwgans and B. ccUharticugf are pui^ga-
tive, whilst B, moUtB is said to possess poisonous properties.
(Babington, MamuU of BritUh Botany; Lindley, Vegetable
Kingdom^
BRONQNTARTIN. [Glaxtbbbitb.]
BRONZITE, a native Silicate of Magnesia. It occurs in massive
aggregations of columnar crystals. The cleavage is parallel to the
latotJ planes and both diagonals of a rhombic prism. Colour brown,
ash-gray, or dark-green, streak lighter; fracture uneven; hardness
between 4*0 and 5*0. The lustre is vitreous, pseudo-metallic on the
cleavage-planes ; translucent in thin lamina ; opaque in masa
Spedfio gravity 8*8. It is found in Upper Styria, the Harz, in
Bityreuth, the Tyrol, and the Lizard district of ComwalL
BROOK-BEAN. [Mentaitthsb.]
BROOKITE, a native Oxide of Titanium. It is met with in thin
hair-brown ciyBtals attached by one edga Its hardness is 6'5 to 6.
Its crystals are secondaries to a rhombic prism. It is found in
Daupluny, and on Snowdon in Wales. It is also said to occur in the
United States of America.
BROOM. [Cttibub.]
BROOM-RAPK [Obobanohb.]
BRORA COAL. Beds of very poor Coal, lying in the midst of the
Oolitic deposits in the district of Brora in North Scotland, and near
Scarborough in Yorkshire, are thus termed. This Coal has been
conjectured to be composed principally of Equiseta,
BRO'SCUS, a genus of Coleopterous Insects, belonging to the section
of the Caraind(Bt called Simplicimani by Latreille. In LatreiUe's
work, however, this genus retains the name of Oephaloteg (given to it
by Boneh^ troia the circumstance of the species possessing an unu-
sually large head), which has been expunged by many naturalists
owing to itB having been previously used to designate a genus in some
other branch of Natural Histdry.
The insects of this genus are remarkable for the almost total absence
of the indented strice on the elytra generally observed in the insects
of the tribe to which they belong, and for the large and strong man-
dibles, the elongate form of the body, and the somewhat heart-shaped
thorax, which is much attenuated posteriorly.
It has the following characters : — Palpi with all their joints of nearly
equal thickness, the terminal joint of the maxillary palpi rather short
and truncated ; the antennae, if extended backwards, reaching to the
base of the thorax ; mandibles unidentate internally ; labrum entire ;
anterior tarsi of the males with the three basal joints dilated.
The species are generally found under stones, ana often accompa-
nied by fragments of numerous other insects devoured by them.
When taken in the hand they will often pretend to be dead, extend-
ing their limbe stiffly, and it is then with difficulty they can be made
to move.
Only one spedes of this curious genus is a native of this eoxmtry,
Broseui cephalotet. It is of a duU-black colour, and varies from
three-quarters to an inch in length : its form is elongate ; the head ia
nearly equal to the thorax in bulk ; the elytra are nearly smooth, the
longitudinal strisB being scarcely discernible. It seems to be confined
to the sea-coast, where it is frequently found under stones or rubbish.
In Stephens's arrangement of British Insects this genus is classed
among the Harpaiida^ About six or seven exotic species have been
discovered.
BRO'SIMUM, a genus of UrticacecB, one species of which is
believed to be tiie Cow-Tree, or Palo de Vacca of South America.
[Cow-Trbb.]
BRO'SMIUS, a genus of Fishes belonging to the section Subbrachial
Malacopterygii, and fisunily Oadida, Generic characters : — Body elon-
gate, and furnished with a single dorsal fin which extends from near
the head to the tail - the and fin is also of considerable length, and
extends from the vent to the tail ; ventral fins small and fleshy ; chin
furnished with .but one barbule. This genus was established by
Cuvier; it is the gentis Oadua of Pennant (' British Zoology '), and
Brotmiw of Fleming 0 British Animals').
But one n>ecies of Broimiui has been found on our coast, and that
appears to be confined to the northern parts ; it is the B. vulgaris of
Cuvier, commonly called the Torsk, and in the Shetlands the Tusk
and the Brismak ; in this latter locality it is abundant, and forms
when barreled or dried a considerable article of commerce. In
Yarrell's 'History of British Fishes' we are informed that this
species also occurs plentifully in " Norway, as fftr as Finmark of the
Faroe Islands, and the W. and S. coast of Iceland," and other parts.
The Tortk {Broamiua vulgaris).
The following is Pennant's description of this fish : — " Length
twenty inches, and depth four and a half ; head small; upper jaw a
littie longer than the lower ; both jaws frirniBhed with a multitude of
small teeth ; on the chin was a small single beard ; from the head to
the dorsal fin was a deep furrow; the dorsal fin began within six inches
of the tip of the nose, and extended almost to the tail ; {tectoral fins
small and rounded ; ventral short, thick, and fleshy, ending in four
drrhi; the belly ftx>m the throat grows very prominent; anal fin
long, and reached almost dose to the tail, which is small and ciroular;
colour of the head dusky ; sides and back yellow, belly white ; edges
of the dorsal, anal, and caudal fins white, the other parts dusky ;
pectoral fins brown." When eaten fresh it is rather tough ; henoe it
is preferred dried, and is prepared in Hie same manner as ling and
cod. Faber says, '' It is thrown up dead in incredible numbers on the
coasts of the Faroe Islands, and the south coast of Iceland, after a
storm." (Yanell, British Fishes,)
BROSS^^LA., a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
EricacM, The fruit of B. cocdnea, like that of fhvUheria proeum-
bens and Aretoiiaphylos alpina, is succulent and gi'ateful to the taste,
and sometimes used as food.
BRCTULA, a genus of Fishes, of the order Subbrachial Malacop-
teryaii and family Oadidce, chiefly distinguished by the dorsal and
anal fins being united with the caudal and forming one fin, which
terminates in a point. The only species known (B. barbatvs of
Cuvier) is from the Antilles. The genus is closely allied to Brosmius.
BROUSSONETIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural
order Urticacece and sub-oxder Morea. There is but one species, B.
papyrifera. It is from the inner bark of this plant that the Japanese
and the Chinese manufacture a kind of paper, and the South Sea
Islanders the principal part of their clothmg. It forms a small tree
with soft brittle woolly branches, and 1^^ hairy rough leavoi^
either heart-shaped and undivided, or cut into deep irregular loboe.
Some of the individuals are sterile, others fridtfuL The flowers of
the sterile trees grow in catkins, which fsdl soon after their anthers
have all shed their pollen; these catkins are composed of little
greenish-purple membranous calyxes, each seated in the axil of a
hairy bract and containing four elastic stamens. The flowers of the
fruitful trees are collected into round green heads, and consist of a
calyx like that of the sterile tree, with a small simple pistil occupying
its centre, and having a long dovm^ stigma. The heads gradually
push forth little oblong greenish bodies ; tiiese are the ripening frnit^
which at maturity have a bright scarlet colour, and are of a pulpy
consistence, with a sweetish insipid taste.
B, papyrifertt, the Paper Mulberry, is not tmcommon in the
shrubberies of this country, where it proves perfectly hardy; but it
is liable to be broken bv winds, and soon becomes an unsi^tly object
Its wood, like that of many other arborescent Urtieacea, is soft,
spongy,- and of no value. In the tenacity of tiie woody tissue of itv
Digitized by
Google
m
BBUCEA.
BllUKONIACE^
cs
liber, or inner baric, it also ooxrespondB with the general character of
that order. It is fix)m th&t part that the preparations above alluded
to have been obtained. Sir Jamea Smith gives the following abridg-
ment of Kempfer'B account of the preparation of paper from its bark
by the Japanese : — " For this purpose the branches of the present
year, after the leaves are fallen, in December, are chosen, and being
out into pieces about a yard long are boiled till the bark shrinks and
is eauly separable from the w<xk1, which is then thrown away. The
bark being dried Ib preserved till it is wanted. In order to make
paper it is soaked for three or four hours in water, after which the
external skin and the green internal coat are scraped off; at the same
time the stronger and firmer pieces are selected, the produce of the
youngest shoots being of an ii^erior quality. If any very old portions
present themselves they are, on the other hand, rejected as too coarse^
All knotty parts and everything which might impair the beau^ of
the paper are also removed. The chosen berk is boiled in a lixivium
till its downy fibres can be separated by a touch of the finger. The
pulp so produced is then agitated in water till it resembles tufts of
tow. If not sufficiently boiled the paper will be coarse though strong ;
if too much, it will be white indeed, but deficient in strength and
solidity. Upon the various degrees and modes of washing the pulp
much also depends as to the quality and beauty of the paper.
Hudlage obtamed from boiling rice, or from a root called Ormi
(Ksampf., 474), one of the mallow tribe, is afterwards added to the
pulp. Tlie paper is finished much after the European mode, except
that stalks of rushes are used instead of brass wires."
BRU'CEA, a gentis of plants, named in honour of James Bruce the
celebrated traveller in Abyssinia, belonging to the natiual order
Rutacect. It has the following characters: — ^Flowers monoscioua;
calyx 4'parted ; petals 4, hardly equal the length of the calyx ; sta-
mens 4, mserted round about a 4-lobed gland-like central body ; the
pistiliferous flowers with four abortive stamens ; ovaries 4, seated on
a 4-lobed receptacle, each terminated by a single, acute, reflexed
stigma; fruit a drupe, 1-seeded. The species are shrubs, with im-
equally pinnated leaves, 6 pairs of opposite, entire, or serrated leaflets,
without dots.
B, crnHdytenterica (Brueea ferruginea of L'Heritier), Woodginoos,
has entire leaflets covered with rusty villi on the nerves beneath ;
racemes simple, spike-l&& This plant is a native of Abyssinia, and
is said to be a tome and astring^it, and to act favourably in dysentery.
By some mistake it was at one time supposed to be the plant whidi
yielded tiie false Angostura Bazk of the shops. By the substitution
of the False Angostura for the true Angostura Bark [Qalipaa.] ia,taX
effects have been known to follow. At the time that the false Angos-
tura Bark was supposed to be the produce of Brucia ferruffinea an
alkaloid was discovered in it which had been called on that account
Btntcia. It appears now however that there can be little doubt that
the fiidae Angostura Bark of the shops is a species of Strychnoa, On
this subject Dr. Christison, in the last edition of his ' Dispensatory,'
has the following remarks : — ** The Angostura Bark {CkUipaa OutpaHa)
of this country is seldom adulterated ; but on the continent a most
serious fraud has been often practised by the substitution of a highly
poisonous bark long erroneously conceived to be that of the Brueea
ferruginea or anHdyeenlerica. This bark, commonly called False
Angostura, presents externally a dirty grayish-yellow ground with
numerous irregular spots or tubercles of a lighter gray tint, which
appearances are in the larger pieces displaced in patdies, or entirely,
by a uniform, loose, bright* rusty-coloured efflorescence. The speckled
gray pieces alone heex some resemblance to the smaller pieces of true
Angostura, but are easily distinguished by^ their greater thickness,
their far more intense bittemeBl^ without either aroma or pungency,
and also, as the Edinlnirgh College has indicated, by the transverse
fracture becoming bright red when touched with nitric acid. Another
excellent character mentioned by the college, but applicable only
where rusty specks exist, is, that such spots become deep bluish-green
with the same acid ; which, on the other hand, scarcely affects the
true bark. Nitric cuad does not similarly alter the spurious bark
where it is quite free of rusty efflorescenca Fatal accidents from the
substitution of the spurious for the true bark were at one time not
uncommon on the Continent, and in Austria they were so frequent
that upon one occasion the government ordered the whole Angostura
Bark in the empire to be destroyed. This adulteration has never been
publicly noticed in Britain, and experienced wholesale and retail
dealers whom I have consulted both here and in London were unaware
of its existence. A few weeks ago however Dr. Moore NeUgan of
Dublin informed me, that on inquiring for Anffostura Bark at an
extensive and respectable drus warehouse in that city he got the
spurious bark, which proved to have been part of a considerable stock
kept in the establishment since at least the beginning of this century,
but never previously displaced. From specimens I owe to the kind-
ness of Dr. Keligan there can be no doubt of the accuracy of his
observation, so that druggists ought to be aware of the possible risk
even in this country of so serious an error."
B, SwauUrana has serrated leaflets villous beneath, the racemes
usually compound^ the petals longer than the calyx. This plant is a
native of Sumatra, the Moluccas, China, and Coohin-Chma. The
leaves are intensely bitter, and possess the same medicinal properties
as the former. (Christiaon, Diapeaeotory ; .Don, Qardenet'e Btctumarjf,)
BRU'CHUS, »genuB of Coleraterous Insects of the section TOnmen
and family Bkifnehophora. It has the following characters :— Heid
slightly produced, and forming a short and broad rostrum ; kbnim
distinot : antenntd 11-jointed, either filiform, serrated, or pectinated;
eyes emarginated; thorax narrower before than behind, anterioriy
rounded, posteriorly furnished with a lobe near the scateUum; elytn
somewhat oblong, not reaching to the apex of the abdomen ; knook of
the hinder legs thick and generally dentated.
The female Bruchi deposit their eggs in the yet tender germ of
variotis leguminous plants ; the seed becoming matured is devooied
by the lar^ which Uvea entirely within the seed, where it tmdeiipMi
its metamorphosia. The holes so often observed in peas and other
seeds of a similar nature are those formed by the perfect insect to
effect its escape ; after which it is generally found in fiowen.
fVom the habits of these insects as above related it may eaiDybe
conceived that when numerous they become exceedingly deBtruetiTc.
In Eirby and Spence's ' Introduction to British Entomology' ve an
told that in North America a species — Bruchvt Pwi— is most alarm-
ingly destructive to peas, " its ravages being at one time so tuuTersal
as to put an end in some places to the cultivation of that favoorite
pulse." This insect is Isaa than a quarter of an inch in lengtii, of a
blackish colour, and has a gray spot at the base of the thorax in tiu
middle, and several spots of the same colour on the elytra, which are
striated. The four basal joints of the antennae and the anterior tibia
and tarsi are red. The thorax has a little tooth on each side, and the
femora are also dentate.
B. Piri JB a native of our own country (having most probably bees
introduced in the seeds of the pea), but fortunately it is not suffidentlj
abundant to do much misChieL
Two other species of Bruchnt also infest the pea, B. granariut ud
B. pectinicomia : the latter is common in China and Barbaiy; the
former is a native of this country, and is found among beans, vetcha,
and other seeds, the lobes of which it devours. It very much reeemblet
B. Piei, but is rather less.
The true Bruchi are generally of small size.
BRUCITE. [Maovebia.]
BRUGMA0KT8IA. Two veiy different plants have been called by
this name, one a Rhizanth belonging to the order Baffietituair the
other a plant belonging to the natural order Solanaeea. The epecka
of the latter are now referred to Baiura, D. arhorea is the BoTOchero
of the Columbians, and is known in our gardens under the name of
Brugmamia, Like the rest of the natural order Solanacta ^ ii
jiarcotic in a high degree. "This remarkable plant is a natiyeof
elevated and cold situations in the provinces of Tarma, lama,
Huaro(^esi, Canta, and Humalies, where it grows among rubbish ; it
is also found near the village of La Cruz and on the banks of the river
Mayo, between Almaquer and Paste in New Qranada, where it vu
found by Humboldt and Bonpland at nearly 7000 feet above the sea
It begins to flower in June and ceases in November. By the Peru-
vians it JB called Floripondio Encamado and Campanillas Encamadaa;
by the Columbians Bovochevo. Its stature varies from 10 to 12 feet,
the stem being generally undivided and terminated by a roundish
leafy head. The flowers are either a bright yellowish-oraoge colour
or a deep orange-red : we believe they duinge from the former to the
latter. They are succeeded by an oblong, smooth, yellow, pendulous
capsule, which is as much as 8 inches long. The seeds, like those of
the common Stramonvumf are narcotic in a high degree. Jn the Temple
of the Sun in the city of Sogamoaa there is a famous oracle, the prie^
of which inspire themselves with the intoxicating seeds of thia plu^
just as the Pythoness at Delphi is said to have received the influeoce
of her god by chewing laurel leaves and inhaling a gaseous vapour.
From the fruit itself &e Columbians prepare a drink called 'Tonga.
which when weak is merely soporific, but drank in stronger doeea
produces frenzy, which can only be removed by administering i^uD^
diate draughts of cold water." (' Botanical Register.')
In cultivation it is hardy during the summer, but requires the
protection of a greenhouse in winter.
BRUNI'ACEiE, Bruniade, the Brunia Tribe, a small natural oider
of Exogens belonging to the albuminous group, and, notwithstandiog
the different habit, nearly allied to the currant tribe, GrwnlariacfO-
The species are small heath-like shrubs, with minute closely-imbn-
cated leaves, and small flowers collected in little compact heads. Thcj
have a superior 6-cleft calyx, 5 petals, 5 perigynous stamens, and a
diooocous or indehiscent 2- or 1-celled fhiit, crowned by the persistent
calyx. The seeds are solitaxy or in pairs, and have a short anL All
the species except one from Madagascar are natives of the Cape of
Qood Hope. They are of no known use.
BrwMoeeoB differ from Grouvlariauiea in their dry fhiit and <*^^
placenta ; from EtoaUoniacece in the very small number of their seeds;
XTomBhamiMcea in their minute embiyo ; and from both UmbtUifera
and AraliaeecB in their flowers not being in umbels. Their relstioM
are with Mamamelidacea, Myrtacea, SarUalaeeaf and Unbeilifffif'
The order contains 15 genera and 65 species.
BRUNONIA'CEiE, Brunoniads, the Brunonia Tribe, a natural
order of plants belonging to the Monopetalous Ezogena This order
was defined by Robert Brown, and has for its type a genus which was
named after him. He placed it as a section of the natural order
Ooodenovia, but it is raised to the rank of an independent order by
Digitized by
Google
673
BRYACEA
BUBO.
674
Professor Lindlej. It has an inferior calyx in 5 diviaionB, with four
bracia at the base ; a monopetaloua oorollay ahnost regular 5-parted
inferior withering ; definite hypogynouB stamens, alternate wi& the
BQgments of the corolla ; the anthers collateral, slightly cohering ; a
l*celled ovary, with a single erect OTule ; a single stigma indos^ in
a 2-yalyed cup ; a membranous fruit (a utricle) inclosed within the
indurated tube of the calyx ; a solitary erect seed without albumen ;
the embiyo with plano-convex fleshy cotyledonsy and a minute inferior
ndide.
Tlus order has but one genus, of which there are two species. They
are herbs, natives of Aus^alia, having flowers of an azure blue, which
are on scapes, collected in heads, and surrounded by enlarged bracts.
Although placed by Brown in Ooodenovi<B, Lindley thinks it differs
ctfentiidly from that order " in the superior 1-celled ovary and capitate
flowers, thus approaching some species of D^acece, but differing in
the want of an involucel, the erect ovule, superior ovary, and peculiar
stigma." It agrees with Composite in inflorescence, in the aestivation
of the corolla, in the remarkable joint or change of texture in the apex
of its filaments, and in the structure of the ovarium and seed. Brown
remarl^ that " in the opposite parietes of the ovarium of Brunonia
two nerves or vascular cox^ are observable, whicb are continued into
the style, where they become approximated and parallel This struc-
ture, so nearly resembling that of Compoaita, seems to strengthen the
analogical argument in favour of the hypothesis advanced in the pre-
sent paper of the compound nature of the pistiUum in that order, and
of its type in phicnog|amous plants generally ; Brunonia having an
obvious and near afi&nity to Chodenovta, in the greater part of whose
genera the ovarium has actually two cells, with one or an indefinite
number of ovula in each ; while in a few genera of the same order, as
Dampierttf JHatpatit, and certain species of Sccevola, it is equally
reduced to one cell and a single ovulum." There is but the genus,
Bnmonia, with two species, in this OI^(le^. (R Brown, Linn. Trans.,
xiL 132; Lindley, VeffetahU Kingdom, 266.)
BRYA'CEiE, a name given to a section of the natural order of
Mosses. [Musci.]
BRYA'XIS, a genus of Coleopterous Insects belonging to the family
Ptdaphida, which by some authors is arranged with the Brachdytra,
but according to Latreille forms the third family of the section Trimera.
Technical Characters : — Antennse long, f^m the third to the terminal
joint gradually increasing in size, the three terminal joints forming a
large knob ; the last joint much larger than the rest) and somewhat
conical in shape ; the two basal joints lai^e ; maxillary palpi distinct ;
the apical joints robust ; head rather large ; thorax rounded at the
sides ; elytra very broad, and covering only the basal half of the
abdomen.
The species of this and allied genera, though minute, are perhaps
among the most remarkable of the CtUoptera. In the short wing-cases
they appear to evince an afi&nity to the Braehdytra, but in the number
of joints in the tarsi, a character generally considered of importance,
they differ ; they likewise differ from that tribe in having the terminal
joints of the antemue immensely large, and in many other characters.
They are generally found during die winter and early part of the
spring in moss. Nine or ten species have been recorded as British.
BRYCNIA. The Wild Bryony or Red Bryony of our hedges,
Bryonia dioica, is a plant formerly much employed in rural pharmacy,
but now disused. It is a perennial with lai^e fusiform succulent
roots, which have a repulsive nauseous odour. From these there
annually springs a slender pale-green hairy branching stem, which
climbs among bushes by means of its tendrils, in t^e manner of a
cucumber, to which it is botanically allied, both belonging to the
natural order Cucurhitacea;. The leaves are palmate, and rough on
both sides, with callous points. The stamens and pistils are on dif-
ferent flowers on different plants. The flowers in which the stamens
are situated are larger than those which contain the pistils. They are
whitish with pale-green veins, and ike pistiliferous flowers are suc-
ceeded by little red berries containing a very few seeds. Its principal
use was on account of the powerful drastic properties of its root,
which the French call from that circumstance Navet du Diable, or
I>evil's Turnip. It is excessively bitter, and when dried pui^ges in
doses of 30 or 40 grains. Over-doses are extremely dangerous, and
even sometimes fataL Its properties are apparently owing to the
presence of a principle called bryonine, analogous to cathartine, which
exists in about the proportion of 2 per cent, of the root. It should
be gathered in the autumn, after the stem has turned yellow ; it is cut
into slices, which are strung upon a thread, and hung in the air to dry.
BRYONY, BLACK. [Tamus.]
BRYONY, RED. [Bryonia.]
BRYOPHY'LLUM, a genus of succulent plants belonging to the
natural order CraawulaceoSt and remarkable for the singular property
possessed by its leaves of budding from their max^n. These leaves
are of a succulent texture, and sometimes pinnated; thev or their
leaflets are of an oblong figure, with a deeply-crenelled border ; when
placed in a damp and shady warm place they sprout from the crenels
and form young plants — a property \mknown in the same degree in
any other vegetable production. Physiologists however consider iJiat
traces of a similar power, exerdsed in another way, exist in all plants
in their carpellary leaves, from whose edges, forming placentae, ovules,
which are theoretically young buds, are constantly produced.
»AT. HIST. DIV. VOL. L
The only species is Bryophyllvm calycinum, a shrub found in the
Moluccas, witn panicles of large pendulous greenish-yellow flowers.
In this ooimtry it is a green-house plant ; but is apt to be eaten
by mice.
BRYOZOA, a name proposed by Ehrenberg for those Zoophytes in
which a higher organisation is indicated by the presence of separate
oriflces for the mouth and anus. The same naturalist has applied the
term Anthoeoa to those Polypes in which the mouth and vent have but
one orifice. The distinction between these two great families seems to
have been observed by Mr. J. V. Thompson previously to the publica-
tion of Ehrenberg's name, hence his designation for this family,
Polyxoa, is mori» generally received. Other names have been given to
this interesting family of Zoophytes. Professor Owen calls them
Molluscan Zoophytes, on account of their structure being supposed to
ally them to the MoUusca. For the same reason they lutve also been
called Ascidioid Polypes (P. Ascidioida). Milne-Edwards has also called
them Tunicated Polypes (Polypes tuniciens). Dr. Farre in a paper in
the 'Philosophical Transactions,' 1837, proposes to call them
CUiobrachiata, in reference to the ciliated character of their tentacula.
Mr. Busk in his Catalogue of the Zoophytes in the collection of the
British Museum, adopts Mr. Thompson's designation of Polyzoa as
prior to that of any others. [Poltzoa.]
BR YUM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order of Mosses.
It has a terminal footstalk; double peristome, outer one of 16 teeth,
inner one of a membrane cut into 16 equal segments /with filiform
processes often placed between them ; the calyptra dmiidiate. The
species of this genus are exceedingly numerous. They are found in
great abundance in Great Britain. They are all very 'small, produce a
lai^e number of capsules, and are found growing in wet places. They
resemble forests of larger plants in miniature. In B. palustrt are
found terminal capitulu: bodies which resemble what are called the
anthers of B. Androgynum; but in B. palustre they are considered
gemmae, and arise not only from the main stems, but also from the
innovations. A large number of the species is British. [Muscl]
(Loudon, BncydopcBdia of Plants.)
BUBO, a genus of Birds belonging to the family Strigidce, separated
by Cuvier, and characterised by a small concha, or ear aperture, and a
fiaicial disk, less perfect than in the sub-genus Symium (Chats-Huans of
the French). Two tufts or feathered horns of considerable size adorn
the head, and the legs are feathered dewn to the toes.
B. maximus, the Great Owl or Eagle-Owl ; Strix Bubo of Linnaeus ;
Le Hibou Grand Due of the French ; Gufo, Gufo Grande, and Gufo
Reale of the Italians ; Uhu, Grosse Qhreule of the Germans ; Uff of
the 'Fauna Suecica; ' Buhu of tiie Lower Austrians.
Great Owl {Bubo maxinws).
This, the largest of the nocturnal birds, is, there can be little doubt,
the B€as of Aristotle {* Hist. Anim.' vilL c 3), and the Bubo funebris
mentioned by Pliny in his chapter ' De Inauspicatis Avibus ' (lib. x.
c. 12 and 13), on account of whoift advent Rome twice underwent
2 X
Digitized by
Google
C75 BUBO.
lustration. Upon one of these occaaionB the bird of ill omen penetrated
into the very cella of the Capitol.
Temminok says l^t it inhabits great forests, and that it is very
common in Hungary, Russia, Qermany, and Switzerland, lees common
in France and England, and never seen in Holland. He adds, that it
is found at the Cape of Good Hope. Willughby obserres that about
Bolo^a, and elsewhere in Italy, it is frequent. Bonaparte notes it as
rare m the neighbourhood of' Rome, and says that it is only seen in
mountainous situations. It is said to extend eastward as far as
Kamtchatka.
Pennant states that it has been shot in Scotland, and in Yorkshire,
from which county it was sent to Willughby. Latham adds Kent and
Sussex as localities where it has been found. It is said to have been
seen in the Orkneys ; and four are stated to have occurred on the
northern coast of Donegal in Ireland. The Eagle-Owl then can be
only considered as a rare visitant to our islands.
The following is Temminck's description : — Upper part of the body
variegated and undulated with black and ochreous; lower parts
ochreous, with longitudinal black dashes ; throat white ; feet covered
to the nails with plumes of a reddish-yellow ; iris bright orange.
Length two feet The female is larger than the male ; but the tints of
her plumage are less bright, and she is without the white on the
throat It sometimes varies in having the colours less lively and in
being of inferior dimensions.
Its food consists of young roes and fawns, hares, moles, rats, mice,
winged game, frogs, lizards, and beetles.
It builds its nest in the hollows of rocks, in old castles and other
ruins, where the female lays two or three, but rarely four, round
white eggs. Latham says two, '' the size of those of a hen."
M. Cronstedt> who resided on a farm in Sudermania, near a
moimtain, had an opportunity of witnessing the devotion of these
birds to their yoimg, and their care in supplying them with food, even
imder extraordinary circumstances. Two fiagle-Owls had built Uieir
nest on the mountain, and a young one which had wandered away
was taken by the servants and confined in a hen-coop. The next
morning there was a dead partridge lying dose to the door of the
coop. Food was brought to the same place for fourteen successive
nights ; this generally consisted of young partridges newly killed, but
sometimes a Uttle tainted. Once a moor-fowl was brought still worm
under the wings, and at another time a piece of lamb in a putrid
state. M. Cronstedt sat up with his servant many nights in oixler to
observe the deposit of the supply if possible, but in vain. It was
evident however to M. Cronstedt that the parents were the caterers,
and on the look-out, for on the very night when M. Cronstedt and his
servant ceased to watch, the usual food was left near the coop. The
supply continued frt>m the time when the voung owl was taken — in
July— to the usual time, in the month of August, when these birds
leave their yoimg to their own exertions.
Belon gives an accoimt of the use which falconers made of this
bird to entrap the kite. They tied the tail of a fox to the Eagle-Owl,
and let him fly. This spectacle soon excited the attention of the kite,
if he were near, and he continued to fly near the owl, not endeavour-
ing to hurt him, but apparently intent on observing his odd figure.
While so employed the falconer surprised and took the kite.
There are specimens in the Qardens of the Zoological Society in the
Regent's Park.
Bubo Virginianus, the Virginian Horned-Owl {Strtx Virginiana of
Vieillott; Due de Viiginie of Buffon; Netowky-Omeesew of the
Cree Indians, according to Mr. Hutchins; Otowack-Oho of the
Crees of the plains of the Saskatchewan, according to Sir John
Richardson).
Pennant, in his ' Arctic Zoology,' says that this seems to-be a variety
of the eagle-owl, although he notices the inferiority in size : but it is
a very distinct species.
It is not improbable, as Sir John Richardson observes, that this
night-bird, peculiar to America, inhabits that continent from end to
end. Cuvier gives his opinion that the Strix MagcUanica of the
'Planches Enlumin^es' aiffers merely in having browner tints of
colour ; and Sir John Richardson mentions the result of Mr. Swain-
son's comparison of the northern specimens with those of the table-
land of Mexico, as confirmatory of the identity^ of the species ; the
only difference being a more general rufous and vivid tint of plumage
in the Mexican spedmens. Almost every part of the United States
possesses this bii^, and it is found, according to Richardson, in all the
Fur Countries where the timber is of laige size.
We have seen how the civilised Romans regarded the European
bird; and it is curious to observe how, in a comparatively savage
state, the same superstitious feelings were connected with the Ameri-
can species. *' The savages," says Pennant, quoting Colden's ' Six
Indian Nations,' *' have their birds of iU-omen as well as the Romans.
They have a most superstitious terror of the owl, which they carry so
far as to be highly displeased at any one who mimics its hootings."
LawBon, evidently speaking of these birds, says — ** They make a fear-
ful hallooing in the ni^^t-time, like a man, whereby they often make
strangers lose their way in the woods." Wilson thus describes the
haunts and habits of the Virginian Horned-Owl : — '' His favourite
residence is in the daric solitudes of deep swamps, covered with a
growth of gigantic timber ; and here, as soon as the evening draws on,
BUBO.
676
and mankind retire to rest^ he sends forth such sounds as seem scarcely
to belong to this world. .... Along the mountain shores of the
Ohio, and amidst the deep forests of Indiana, alone, and reposing in
the woods, this ghostly watchman has frequently warned me of the
approach of morning, and amused me with lus mngiilAr exdamaticnis,
sometimes sweeping down and around my fire, uttering a loud and
sudden * Wauffh 0 1 Waugh O ! ' sufficient to have alarmed a whole
garrison. He has other nocturnal solos, one of which very strikingly
resembles the half-suppressed screams of a person suffocating or
throttled." Wilson treats this visitation like a philosopher, but, after
reading his description and that of Nuttall {* Ornithology of the United
States |), we shall cease to wonder at the well-told tale in the ' Fauna
Boreali- Americana,' of the winter night of agony endured by a party
of Scottish Highlanders, who, according to Sir John Richardson, had
made their bivouac in the recesses of a Nortii American forest, and
inadvertently fed their fire with a part of an Indian tomb which had
been placed in the seduded spot The startling notes of the Virginian
Horned-Owl broke upon their ear, and they at once concluded that so
unearthly a voice must be the moaning of the spirit of the departed,
whose repose they supposed they had disturbed.
Virginian llornccl-Owl {Bubo Virglniamu).
The following is Sir John Richaixison's description of the plumage
of a specimen, 26 inches in length from the tip of the bill to the end
of the tail, killed at Fort Chepewvan : —
''Bill and claws pale bluish-black. Irides bright ydlow. Facial
circle of a deep black immediately round the orbit, composed of white
mixed with black bristly feathers at the base of the bill, and poste-
riorly of yellowish brown wiry feathers, tipped with black, and having
black shfUTts. The black tips foim a conspicuous border to the facial
circle posteriorly ; but tho small feathers behind the auditory opening
differ Uttle in colour and appcHurance from the adjoining plumage of
the neck. Egrets composed of ten or twelve da^ brown feathers,
spotted at the base of their outer webs, and along their whole inner
ones, with yellowish brown. Forehead and crown dark blackish-
brown, finely mottled with grayish-white, and partially exhibiting the
yellowish-brown base of the plumage. The whole dorsal plumage is
yello wish-brown for more than half the length of each feather from its
base, and dark liver-brown upwards, finely barred and indented with
undulated white lines. More of the yellowish-brown is visible on the
neck and between the shoulders than elsewhere. The primaries pre-
sent six or seven bars of dark umber or liver-brown, alternating with
six bars, which on the outer webs are brownish-white, finely speckled
with dark-brown, and on the inner webs are of a bright buff-colour,
sparingly speckled with the dark-brown near the shafte. Tbe tips of
the feathers have the same mottled appearance with the paler bars of
the outer webs. The secondaries and tail-feathers are similariy
Digitized by
Google
tin
BUBON.
BUD.
878
marked to the primarieB, but show more white on their outer webs.
There are six liver-brown bars on the tail, the last of which is nearly
an inch from its end. Under-surface : — Chin white, succeeded by a
belt extending from ear to ear of liver-brown feathers, having pale
yellowish-brown margins. Behind the belt Uiere is a gorget-shaped
mark of pure white. The rest of the lower surface of the body is
crossed by very regular transverse bars of white, alternating with bars
of equal breadth (three lines) of liver-brown, shaded with chocolate-
brown. The yellowish-brown base of the plumage is likewise partially
visible : there is a white mesial line on the breast^ and when the long
feathers covering the abdomen are turned aside, a good deal of white
appears about Uie vent. The outside thigh-feathers are yellowish-
bx>wn, with distant cross bars of liver-brown ; and the legs and feet
are brownish-white with brown spots. The linings of the wings are
white, with bars of liver-brown, mai^ned by yellowish-brown. The
insides of the primaries'are bright buff, crossed by broad bars of clove-
brown. On the under surface- of the secondaries the clove-brown bars
are much narrower. The under tail-coverts are whitish, with distant
bars of liver-brown. The under siuf ace of the tail has a slight tinge
of bufT-colour, and is croased by mottled bars of clove-brown."
The bird preys, according to Richajxlson, on the American hare,
Hudson's Bay squirrel, mice, wood-grouse, &c., and builds its nest of
sticks on the top of a lofty tree, hatching in March. The young, two
or three in number, are generally fully fledged in June. The eggs are
white.
WUson observes that it has been known to prowl about the farm-
house and cany off chickens from roost. ** A very Luge one," says
that author, " wing-broken, while on a foraging excursion of this kind,
was kept about the house for several days, and at length disappeared,
no one knew how. Almost every day after this, hens and chickens
also disappeared, one by one, in an unaccountable manner, till in eight
or ten days veiy few were left remaining. The fox, the minx, and
weasel were alternately the reputed authors of this mischief, until one
morning the old lady herself riarog before day to bake, in passing
towards the oven surpiised her late prisoner regaling himself on the
body of a newly-killed hen ! The thief instantly made for his hole
under the house, from which the enraged matron soon dislodged him
with the brush-handlo, and without mercy dispatched him. In this
snug retreat were found the greater part of the feathers, and many
large fr-agments of her whole family of chickens."
There are specimens in the Gkurdens of the Zoological Society in the
Regent's Park.
BUBON. [Galbakum.]
BUCCINUm, the name of a genus of Molluscous animals, to which
the common Whelk belongs. Forbes and Hanley place it amongst
the Proaobranchiate Oasieropodaf and the tribe MwieidcB, The fol-
lowing are its characters : — Shell ovate, more or less ventrioose,
tuireted ; surface smooth or spirally striated, spirally grooved or lon-
gitudinally plicated, invested with an epidermis. Aperture ovate,
emaiginate, or vezy iJiortly canalicula,ted below ; canal wide, truncated
doraaSly, more or less tumid ; columella smooth, inner lip expanded,
outer lip usually thin and smooth within. Operculum corneous,
oblong, its nucleus lateral. Animal bulky ; head broad, depressed,
bearing two somewhat flattened tentaoula set well aparty their tips
subulate, their bases thickened for half their lengths oy the connate
sustentacula, which bear the rather small eyes; proboscis ample;
tongue armed with teeth, ranged three in a row, the axil one broad
and quadrate, with many orenaitions, th6 laterals scythe-shaped, with
denticulated bases. Male oigan very large, sickle-shaped.
Messrs. Forbes and Hanley say — " We retain the old name Bueciwwn
oxiginally applied to whelks in general, for that group of shells of'
which the common Bucdnum ufukUwm may be reguxlea as the type.
They constitute a very natural assemblage, though one of no great
extent^ and are mainly inhabitants of the boreal and arctic regions of
both northern and southern hemispheres. The relation of the distri-
bution of this form of mollusk to climate is strikingly shown when we
compare such a shell as the Bueeinwn cycmeum of Greenland with the
Buecinum antarcticum of the Falkland Islands, one of the most striking
instances that can be cited of the representation of species by similar
species in regions far apart, but subject to similar physical conditions.
"Several zoologists have of late united the Buecinum undcUum and
its allies with Ftaut antiqmu and similar shells, under the old generic
name of TrUoniwn, originally proposed bv Otho Frederic Miiller.
Independent of tho very serious objection wliich applied to this name
on aocoixt of its having become obsolete, whilst the too similar word
Triton and even Tritonium itself were used in the meantime for a very
different assemblage of Mwicidce, and one presenting good natural
marks of distinction, we are inclined still, provisionaJly at leasts to
keep up the distinction between the Ftui of the north and Buccinvm,
since shell, animal, and operculum present marks of distinction, which,
though in the end they may prove to be of no more than sectional
value, yet in the present state of our knowledge deserve to be con-
sidered of importanca Unfortunately, ihe name Bttceinvm has even
of very late years been applied to such a heterogeneous assemblage of
sheila, that it is difficult to disentangle* those to which we restrict the
names from a number of very different forms having no true generic
»ffiiMtv with them.
''These Mollusks appear to have commenced their existence during
the later Tertiary epoch. At present they have the power of enduring
very variable conditions of depth and locality, though the geographic
range of the group is limited, nowever widely may extend the areas of
some species.''
B. wndaiwnti (Linnsdus), the common Whelk. It has more or less
coarse spiral striae, and usually with broad longitudinal folds; the
beak short Forbes and Hanley, amongst other synonyms for this vexy
widely distributed species, give the following : — B. ttriatum. Pennant ;
B. canalicviUUum vulgare, IHt Costa; B. Borinanwm, Chemnitz ; B. cari-
naituii, Turton ; B. <iewminatwn, Broderip ; B. Anglicawum, Fleming ;
B. Ldbradarefue, Reeve ; B. imperiaU, Reeve ; B, pyramiddle, Reeve ;
B, tenerum (fossil), Sowerby ; Triionum wniUUum, Miiller ; T, Hum'
phreysiamim, Loven ; Mwrtx undaiuB, Clark. As would be supposed
frt>m these synonyms, the Whelk is one of the most variable of shells.
It is also one of the most widely distributed. It is found on almost
every British shore, varying greatly however in its characters according
to its locality. In most p^s of the coimtiy it is used as an artide of
diet. Qreat numbers are to be seen exposed for sale in London.
The process of cooking consists in simply boiling, and they are eaten
with vinegar and popper. They are not however very digestible.
Dr. Johnston mentions that at the enthronisation feast of William
Warham, archbishop of Canterbury, in 1504, no fewer than 8000
Whelks were supplied at five shillings for a thousand.
''This species," say the authors of the 'British Mollusca,' "first
appeared in the British seas during the age of the coralline crag, and
persisted through all succeeding epochs, becoming more and more
abundant. It is found from Tow-water mark to as deep as one
hundred fathoms. It has a wide latitudinal range, now extending
throughout the Celtic, Boreal, and Icy Seas, and along the coast of
Boreal America from Cape Cod to Greenland. According to Midden-
dorff it finds its way through the Siberian seas into the Sea of Ochotsk.
This great range in time and space accords with its capacity for
variation and adaptation to circumstances. During the Pleistocene
epoch it had found its way into the Mediterranean, and occurs fossil
in the Sicilian newer Pliocene beds, but is now extinct in that region."
B, Dalei (Sowerby) has a polished white shell without folds ; the
body half as long as the spine. It is the Halia Flemingiana of Mac-
gillivray, the Tritonium ovum of Middendorff The animal belonging
to this shell is unknown. Messrs. Forbes and Hanley regard this
shell as British, though exceedingly rare. It is an inhabitant of the
Icy Seas, and ranges from Greenland to Behring^s Strait.
B. Mumphreysianum (Bennett). This species is faintly variegated,
almost smooth, without folds, the body longer than the spine. The
animal is imknown, and the shell is rare. It has been found on the
British coasts, but like the last it appears to be an arctic species
lingering in our Fauna.
B. fueiforme (Broderip) has an oblon^^ subfusiform shape, is of a
pure white, decussated by narrow longitudinal ribs and spiral costellsd ;
the beak rather long, recurved. It has been found in Ireland in the
neighbourhood of Cork and off the coast of Wexford. It is a ver^
rare shelL
BUCCO. [Barbetb.]
BUCEROS. [HoBKBiLL.]
BUCHOLZITE, a mineral closely allied to SiUimanite. According
to Thomson it is composed of —
SiUca . 46'4
Alumina . 52'9
A specimen from Chester, Pennsylvania, gave Erdmann —
SiUca 401
Alumina 58*9
Protoxide of Manganese . . . . (a trace)
It is found at Fassa, in the Tyrol, and in several districts in the
United States.
BUCIDA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Comhre-
tcbcecs. One of the species, B. Bucerat, yields a bark which is used in
tanning.
BUCK. [Cervida]
BUCK-BEAN. [Mentanthes.]
BUCK'S-HORN. pHua.]
BUCK-THORN. [Rhamkus.]
BUCK-WHEAT. [Faoopyrum.]
BUCKLANDIA, a fossil plant fr^m the Stonesfield Oolite, sup-
posed to belong to the natural order LUiacecB.
BUCKLANDITE, a mineral containing silica, alumina, lime,
protoxide of iron, protoxide of manganese, and water. It is a variety
of Epidote, with iron. [Epidotb.]
BUCKU. [DiosMA.]
BUD, or LEAF-BUD, in Vegetable Physiology, is the oiganised
rudiment of a branch. Whatever becomes a branch is, when first
oiganised, a bud; but it does not therefore follow that all buds
become branches ; on the contrary, owing to many disturbing causes,
buds are subject to transformations and deformities which mask
their real nature.
A Leaf-Bud is constructed thus: — In its centre it consists of a
minute conical portion of delicate cellular tissue, and over the surface
of this are arranged rudimontaty leaves, in the form of scales. These
scales are closelv applied to each other ; those on the outside are the
largest and thickest, and the most interior are the smallest and most
Digitized by
Google
679
BUDDLEA.
BUFOKITES.
680
delicate. In oold countries the external scalefl are often covered with
hair, or a resinous yamish, or some other contrivance, which enaUes
them to prevent the access of frost to the young and tender centre
which they protect ; but in warm countries, where such a provision is
not required, they are green and smooth and much less numerous.
The cellular centre of a bud is the seat of its vital activity ; the scales
that cover it are the parts towards the development of which its
vital eneigies are first directed.
A Leaf-Bud usually originates in the axil of a leaf; indeed there
are no leaves in the axil of which one or more buds are not found
either in a rudimentary or a perfect state. Its cellular centre com-
municates witii that of the woody centre of the stem, and its scales
are in connection with the bark of the latter. When stems have the
structure of Exogens, the bud terminates one of the medullary
processes; in Endogens it is simply in communication with the
cellular matter that lies between the bimdles of woody tissue in such
stems. It is moreover important to observe that this is true not
onlj of what are called normal buds, that is to say, of buds which
originate in the axil of the leafy oigans, but also of adventitious buds,
or such AS are occasionally developed in unusual situations. It would
seem as if, under favourable circumstances, buds may be formed
wherever the cellular tissue is present ; for they occur not only at
the end of the medullary processes of the root and stem of Exogens»
but on the margins of leaves, as in Bryophyllum, Malaxii p€U'udo8a,
and many others ; and occasionally on the surfieM^e of leaves, as in the
case of an Omithogalvm published by Turpin, and not very uncom-
monly in ferns.
A Leaf -Bud has three special properties, those of growth, attraction,
and propagation. In warm damp weather, under the influence of
light, it has the power of increasing in size, of developing new parts,,
and so of growing into whatever body it may be eventucdly destined
for. In effecting this it lengthens by the addition of new matter to
its cellular extremity, and it increases in diameter partly by a lateral
addition to the same kind of tissue, and partly by the deposit of
woody matter emanating from the bases of the scales or leaves which
clothe it. As soon as growth commences the sap which a bud con-
tains is either expended in fonmng new tissue or lost by evaporation.
In order to provide for such loss the bud attracts the sap from that
part of the stem with which it is in communication ; that part so
acted upon attracts sap in its turn from the tissue next it, and so a
general movement towards the buds is established as far as the roots,
by which fresh sap is absorbed from the soiL Thus is caused the
phenomenon of the flow of the sap. Eveiy leaf-bud is in itself a
complete body, consisting of a vital centre covered by nutritive oigans
or hairs. Although it is \isually called into life while attached to its
parent plant, yet it is capable of growing as a separate portion, and of
producing a new individual in all respects the same as that from
which it was divided ; hence it is a propagating oigan as much as a
seed, although not of the same kind ; and advantage has been taken
of this for horticultural purposes. [Budding, in Arts awd So. Div.]
In general a bud is developed into a branch, but that power is inter-
fered with or destroyed by several causes. This must be evident from
the following consideration independently of all others. Every one
knows that leaves are arranged with great symmetry upon young
branches ; as buds are axillary to leaves, the branches they produce
ought therefore to be as synunetrically arranged as leaves ; and this
we see does not happen. We may accoimt for this in two or three
ways : accidental injuries will doubtless destroy some ; from want of
light others will never be called into action ; and of those which are
originally excited to growth a part is sJways destroyed by the superior
▼Igour (^neighbouring buds, which attract away their food and starve
them. There is moreover in many plants a special tendency to pro-
duce their leaf-buds in a stunted or altered state. In fir-trees the side-
buds push forth only two or a small number of leaves, and never
lengthen at all ; in the Cedar of Lebanon they lengthen a little, bear
a cluster of leaves at their points, and resemble short spurs ; in the
sloe, the whitethorn, and many other plants, they lengthen more,
produce no leaves except at their very base, and grow into hard
sharp-pointed epines. The knobs seen on beech and other trees, which
have been <»lled by Dutrochet embryo-buds and by Dr. Lankester
abortive branches, take their origin in buds which are not normally
developed. The bulbiUi which are found in the axils of many Lilia-
ceous plants originate in the bud. Bulbs ai'e nothing but leaf-buds
with unusually fleshy scales, and with the power of separating spon-
taneously from the mother-plant ; and flower-buds are theoretically
little more than leaf-buds wiUiout the power of lengthening, but with
the oigans that cover them in a special state. Hence flowers are
modified branches. [Flower.] Scbleiden regards the ovule as a
changed bud; hence m his 'Principles of Scientific Botany' he calls
this oigan the seed-bud. [Ovule.]
BUDDLEA, a genus of plants named after Adam Buddie, a botanist
of the time of Ray, who contributed to Ray's * Synopsis,' and whose
Herbarium is now in the British Museum. BuddUa belongs to the
natural order Scrophvlanactas, It has a campanulate 5-toothed calyx ;
tubular corolla with the limb 4-5-cleft, equal, spreading ; 4-5 stamens
nearly equal, indosed, the anthers composed of two parallel distinct
cells; the stigma clavate, 2-lobed; the capsule crustaceous with a
dissepiment fonned from the uiflexed edges of the valves, inserted in
the thick spongy placenta ; the seeds angular ; testa loose, membra-
nous ; albumen flc»hy. The species are shrubs, with mostly quad-
rangular branches^ opposite leaves; terminal, capitate, spicate or
panicled, usually orange-coloured flowers.
B. globoaa has branches clothed with hairy tomentum as well as the
under sides of the leaves ; the leaves lanceolate, acuminate, petiolate,
crenate ; the heads terminal, globose, pedunculate. This plant, now
so common in our gardens, is a native of ChilL
B. AmericoTM has brandilets clothed with haiiy tomentum ; leaven
ovate, acuminate, narrow at the base, crenate, rather pilose above, but
clothed with a yellowish tomentum beneath ; spike panicled; flowers
glomerate.. It is a native of the mountains of Peru and also of the
West Indies. Browne says that it is used in Jamaica as an emollient
Its properties however are not active.
There are about 60 species of BuddUn, all of which are worth cul-
tivating on account of their showy blossoms. B. Neemda, a native of
the peninsula of India, is said to be one of the most beautiful pknts
of that country. B. globota will bear, with a little care, our winters
as well as the B, tdltnfoUa. All the flowers are sweet-scented. They
grow best in a light rich soil Cuttings will strike readily in mould
imder a hand-glass. Those of the stove species require heat.
(Loudon, BncyUtpoidia o/HanU; Q. Don, Qard^^B Dictionary.)
BUFFALO. [BoviDAj
BUFFALO, AMERICAN. \Biaoy.]
BUFFO'NIA, a genus of plants named in honour of Buffon, the
celebrated French writer on natural history. This genus belongs to
the natural order CaryopkyUacece and the sub-order AlsinetB. The
calyx has i sepals; the petals are 4, entire; stamens 4; styles 2;
capsules compressed, 1 -celled, 2-yalved, 2-seeded. The species are
insignificant slender herbs, resembling the species of Armaria.
B. annua is a native of the south of France, and is said to have been
found in England on the searcoast of Lincolnshire.
BUFO, a genus of Reptiles belonging to the family Bufonida, and
to which the Common Toad belongs. The genus is thus character
used : — ^Body inflated ; skin warty ; parotids porous ; hind feet of
moderate length, toes not webbed ; jaws without teeth ; nose rounded
About 20 species of this genus have been enumerated by naturalists.
Two of them are found in the British Islands.
B. vidgariSf the Common Toad, is the Bona Bvfo of Linnsus, the
Crapaud Commun of the French. Its body is of a lurid brownish-
gray colour, spotted over with reddish-brown tubercles : the body ib
much inflated. The Toad is veiy generally distributed over the
British Islands, and from its dark colour, slow movements, and iinpre-
poeseasing form, has acquired very general dislike. It is however
perfectly harmless, and seems to possess an amount of intelligence
that renders it capable of recognising those who treat it kindly. Mr.
Bell in his ' British Reptiles ' says : — '' Th&t toads may be rendered
very tame, and be made to distinguish those who feed and are kind
to them, there are abundant facts to testify. I have possessed a very
large one which would sit on one of my hands and eat from the other ;
and the stoiy of Mr. Arscott's toad in Devonshire, related in Pen-
nant's ' BritiuL Zoology,' is too well known to need repetition." That
they may be handled with impunity, and are incapable of producing
any injurious influence, we know from having repeatedly seen them
made the domestic pets of the children of a naturalist
Bn ccUamitaf Natter-Jack, Walking Toad, Running Toad; Bufo
Rubtta of Fleming, Bufo mephiiica of Shaw, Bona Bt/^ta of Tiuton.
It is known by its light yellowish-brown colour clouded with dull
olive, but more especially by a bright yellow line along the middle of
the back. It has acquired its name of Walking Toad or Running
Toad in certain parts, from its never hopping, as is the case with
the common toad and frog. Its colour varies very much according
to circumstances, becoming lighter or darker in the course of a few
minutes.
Pennant was the first to record this animal as British, and although
very locally distributed it occiuv in great numbers in some parts of Great
Britain. Mr. Bell says it is common on Blackheath and at Deptford. It
has also been found on Putney Common, at GkunUnga^ in cSunbridge-
shire, at Selboume in Hampshire, and Bawdsey in Sufiblk. It has also
been found in Scotland. The form and appearance of this animal is
less repulsive than the Conmion Toad. It is more social, and is gene-
rally found in communities. At Bawdsey they are found on the Red
Crag clifBs oveilooking the sea, and when alarmed hide themselves in
holes in the sand which they make apparently for the purpose of con*
cealment. The Natter-Jack appears to be an inhabitant of Ireland.
Mr. Patterson in his 'Zoology for Schools' says: — "The Common
Toad is there unknown, its absence being accounted for, according to
popular tradition and song, by the malediction of St. PatricL The
smaller species, the Natter-Jack, does not appear however to have
been banished with the rest of ' the vanning' as it is found in three
or four localities in the County Kerry and at Ross Bay, Counlgr
Cork."
For an account of the general structure, habits, and classification
of the family of Toads, see Amphibia.
BUFONITES, the term commonly applied, previously to the
investigations of M. Agassiz, to the roundiidi teeth of fishes frequent
in the Oolitic Strata. They belong to the genera Sphc^rodutf GyroiiM,
Pycnodut, &c.
Digitized by
Google
ttl
Bua
BULlHUa
BUG, one of a ntunerous tribe of Insects which constitute the order
IlanipUrOf belonging to the family CimicidcB (Leaoh), and genus
CHmcx, The most common species is the 0. lectuarwUf the Bed-Bug.
It has been said that the Bed-Bug was not known in England
previous to the great fire of London in 1666, and that it was first
imported from America in the timber brought over to rebuild that
ci^. Of the accuracy of this statement however there is considerable
doubt It appears to have been well known in various parts of
Europe long before thai time. Its shape, colour, and the offensive
smell which it emits when touched, together with the circumstance
of its deriving its nutriment from blood sucked through a long pointed
proboscis, which when not in use lies panHel with the underside of the
body, are circumstances toa well known to need particular description.
The female Bug deposits her eggs in the beginning of summer ; they
are of a tolerable size compared with that of the insect, of a whitish
colour, and each fixed to a small hair-like stalk, which when the egg
is first deposited is apparently of a glutinous nature, and readily
adheres to anything which it touches. The places generally chosen
m which to deposit the eggs are the crevices of bedsteads and other
ftuniture, or the walls of a room. In about three weeks it is said
these eggs hatch, and the young bug comes forth— an active larva^ very
closely resembling the parent insect except in size. The larva then
undergoes the usual transformation^ and becomes a perfect insect in
about three months.
What was the natural habitat of this insect> which differs from
most of its tribe in having no wings, is difficult to sav. The species
of bugs which come nearest to it in affinity are generally found under
the Vark of trees, a habitat which the flat form of our insect is well
adapted for. Pigeons, swallows, &c, are attacked by bugs as well as
man. Various means have been proposed for destroying these insects,
but cleanlinesB is the best. [Cimioidjs.]
BUGLOSa [AncHUSA.]
BUGLOSS VIPERS. [EcHiuii.]
BUHRSTONE is a quartz rock containing cellulea It is as hard
and as finn as a quartz crystal, and owes its peculiar value to this
quality, and the cellules, which give it a very rough surface. Stones
for grinding wheat and other kinds of grain are formed of this rock,
and those which are most valued have the cavities about equal in
space to the solid parK The best stones for this purpose come
from France, and are obtained from the Paris basin and adjoining
districts. When used for grindhig, the stones are out into wedge-
shaped parallelopipeds, which are called panes. These are bound
together by iron-hoops into millstones. The Paris Buhrstone is a
Tertiary Formation. A Buhrstone is obtained in Ohio in America
which is in part a true sandstone, and contains fossils. It also con-
tains lime, and Mr. Dana suggests that the removal of tiie lime by
solution may have given it its cellular character. It oyerlies the Coal
Formation, and has an open cellular structure where quarried for
millstones. The quartz rock of Washington in the United States is
in some parts cellular, and miUces good mill8tone& Buhrstone also
occurs in Georgia near the Carolina line, and in Arkansas near the
Cove of Wichitta. (Dana, Manual of Minercdogy.)
BUKKUM-WOOD. [C^alpinia.]
BULB, a bud, usually formed under ground, having very fleshy
scales, and capable of separating from its pai-ent plant. Occasion-
allv it is produced upon the stem, as in some lilies, when it is called a
bolUIlus. [Bud.] Sometimes the scales are thick and narrow, and
arranged separately in rows ; the bulb is then called scaly, as in the lily.
In the onion and leek the scales are broad and membranous, and inclose
each other in a concentric manner ; the bulb is then said to be tunicated.
BULIliULUS, Leach's name for a genua of terrestrial MoUusca,
which he thus defines : — Shell univalve, free, conically acuminated ;
spire elevated, regular; the last whorl veiy large; mouth entire,
long; pillar smoo&, simple ; external lip thm ; internal lip inflected
towaitu the middle, wil^ a hollow beneath. To this generic character
the Rev. Lansdown Guilding observes that there should be the follow-
ing addition : " Tentacula 4, the two upper ones
long, with terminal eyes : no operculum." The
last-named author onserves that it differs from
BwUfMu in the delicacy of its outer lip. It is
indeed a Bvlimtu of Lamarok. The shell varies
much in colour. [Buumtjs.]
Leach observes that Bulimulut trifcuciatus
{BuUmut Chtadalivpeniii, Brug.), a very common
existing West Indian species, occurs imbedded Bulimuim trifateiatut,
in the same limestone which incloses the fossil
hiunan skeleton from the Grande Terre of Guadaloupe, now in the
British Museumu
BULI^MUS, the name of a very extensive genus of terrestrial Pul-
moniferoua MoUumco. Lamarck arranges it under his Colimao^, a
family of Phytophagous or Plant-Eating Trachelipods, respiring air by
means of lungs, and protected by a spiral shell which is more or less
elongated, oval, oblong, or turriculated, with an entire aperture longer
than it is wide, and with a very unequal border, which is reflected in
the adult. The columella is smooth, without any notch or truncation
ftt the base, but with an inflexion in the middle at its point of junction
with that part of the peristome which it contributes to fonn. De
BUinville places it undet the Limacinect, his third family of PiUmo'
hould be the follow-
hranehiataf whose organs of respiration are retiform, and line the cavity
situated obliquely from left to right upon the origin of the back of
the animal, conununioating with the ambient air by means of a small
rounded orifice in the right side of the border of the mantle. Some
of the species were placed by Linnssus xmder his genera Bulla and
Hdix. Soopoli and Brugui^res began the reform, and Lamarck car-
ried it still further. But before -We proceed, it mav be necessary to
saya word as to the origin of the term used to designate the genus.
" We constantly hear," says Broderip, in the 4th volume of the ' Zoo-
logical Journal,' "among concholog^sts the question, 'what is the
meaning of Bulimus f ' The author of the article entitled * Lamarck's
Genera of Shells,' in the 15th volume of the 'Journal of Science,' thus
derives the word ' fioh\i/AOf — ^insatiable hunger : what title this genus
has to so strange a name we know not.' It mav not then be unac-
ceptable to give a plain statement of the origin of the word. Swainaon
observes (* Zool. Illust,' voL L, ' BtUimtu MeUutofMU*) that " the genus
Bulimue was long ago formed by Scopoli, out of the heterogeneous
mixture of shells thrown together in the Linnsean genus Mdix." Let
us now turn to Scopoli's account of the source whence he derived the
nam& ''Proprium," says Scopoli, "itaque ex his constituo, et duce
celeberrimo Adansonio Bulimos vooo, ut eo facilius adgnoscantur.
Sohun testam nee animal inhabitans vidi, quod diversum esse It Limace
affirmat Adansonius." (' Delicite,' kc, p. 67.) Now Adanson has no
such genus as Bulimus, but he has such a genus as Bulinus. At
plate 1, fig. G 2, in his * Natural History of Senegal,' will be found
<Le Bulin, Bulinus,' but the letters 'n and 'u' are so confusedly
engraven, that at first sight the word looks like Bulimus. In the text
(p. 5), the word is printed Bulinus very plainly ; but neither Scopoli
nor any of his successors appear to have noticed it. Till the time of
Lamarck, who confined the genus (still calling it Bulimus, after Sco-
poli and Brugui^res) to the land-shells with a reflected lip, which now
range under it, many land and fresh-water shells which have not a
reflected lip, such as AchixtincB, Physae, JAmncscB, and SttecinecB, were
also congregated under the name of Bulimus. The Bulinus of Adan-
son was a fresh-water shell, apparently a Physa or Limntea,"
The shell is never orbicular, as in the Hdicea, but of the shape
noticed at the commencement of the article. The last whorl is always
larger than the penultimate, and indeed as a general rule may be stated
to be larger than all the others put together. The mouth or opening
is an oval oblong, and the border is disunited. The adult reflected
lip or border on tiie right side is generally very thick, but this reflec-
tion is sometimes absent The animal is v«ry like that of Mdix ; De
BlainviUe says entirely so — "toute-Wait semblable." The head is
furnished with four tentacula or horns, the two largest of which are
terminated by the so-called eyes. There is no true operculum. The
geographical distribution of the genus is very general, and there is
scarcely a part of the world where the form does not occur. The great
development of it takes place in the warmer climates, where some of
the species are very huge.
The species are multitudinous. Mr. Cuming has added largely to
our knowledge of those of South America, and we are indebted to that
gentleman for the following account of the habits of Bulimus rosaceus.
In the dry season he always found the animals adhering to the imder
side of stones, generally among bushes, and close at the edge of the
seawshore, within reach of the spray at times. On the hills, about 1000
feet above the sea^ they were observed adhering between the lower
leaves of an aloe-like plants on the honey of whose flowers the Giant
Humming-Bird {Trochilus gigas) feeds. The natives bum down clumps
of these plants for the sake of the rings at the bottom of the footstalks
of the leaves, which they use for buovs for their fishing-nets and for
baking the coarse earthenware which wey make on the hills, because
this part of the plant when ignited throws out a great heat. Between
these leaves the Bvlimi lie in the dry season in a torpid stat& In the
spring (the months of September and October) they burrow in the
shady places at the roots of this plant, and among the bushes on the
sea-shore. At this period (the spring) th^ lay their eggs in the earth,
about two inches below the surface. Mr. Cuming never saw them
crawlii^ about. In the dry season they were evidently hybemating,
for their parchment-like secretion, which operates in place of an oper-
culum to seal up the animal, was strongly formed, and they stuck to
the stones so tenaciously that Mr. Cummg broke many of them in
endeavouring to pull themwff. Chili and the neighbourmg coasts of
South America generally were the localitieB where the species was
taken. Captain Phillip Parker King, R.N., has the following notice of
the power of the anunal to exist in a dormant state : — ** Soon after
the return of the expedition (his MajestT's ships Adventure and
Beagle—' Survey,' 1826-80), my friend Mr. Broderip, to whose inspec-
tion Lieutenant Graves had submitted his collection, observing symp-
toms of life in some of the shells of this species, took means for reviving
the inhabitants from their dormant state, and succeeded. After they
had protruded their bodies, they were placed upon some green leaves
(cabbage), which they fastened upon and ate greedily. These animals
had been in this state for seventeen or eighteen months; and five
months subsequently another was found alive in my collection, so that
the last has been nearly two years dormant. These sheUs were sent
to Mr. Loddige's nursery, where they lived for eight months in the
palm-house, when they unfortunately died within a few days of each
other. Soon after the shells were first deposited at Mr. Loddige'sy on«
Digitized by
Google
ka
BULIMUS.
BULIMUS.
got away and escaped detection for several months, until it was at la.->t discovered in a atat^j of hyb-n*-
nation : it was removed to the place where the others. were kept, when it died also. The upper
surface of the animal, when in health, is variegated with ruddy spots and streaks on an aah-coloured
ground." The only process used for revivifying these animals was placing them on a plate near a
BuHmtu hccmaitoma^ natural size.
o, The egg ; &, the eggshell broken, sbowing the young animal with its shell in situ ; e, the shell of a young one
Just after exclusion fhmi the egg; d, the shell at a more adranoed age, but before the Up is reflected ; f, the adult
shells. The specimens figured were brought fh>m Trinidad. It is found in the brakes of St. Vincent's and of the
Antilles generallj. The young shell is semitransparent, but becomes opaque as it advances in age. The adult shell
is brown, strongly striated or wrinkled longitudinally, with a rose-coloured mouth. Epidermis "brown.
BuUmiu roMoceuSf natural size.
a, an adult, with the animal as it is seen when in motion ; 6, a young shell before the lip is reflected. The mouth is
represented as sealed with the parchment-like secretion, which serves as an operculum when the animal is hybernating ;
0, egg-shell broken, discovering the infant shell ; tf, egg, unbroken. Figure a was taken from one of the specimens
mentioned above when living in this country. Adult shell roughish ; apex and upper whorls of a rose colour in fine
specimens ; the other whorls brownish, mottled longitudinally in fine specimens with dirty white. Suture crenulated ;
hp white; throat brownish ; epidermis greenish.
moderate fire, and sprinkling them with tepid water. Upon their restoration they eat a considerable
part of the parchment-like seal or operculum. They lived some time with Mr. Broderip before they
were sent to Messrs. Loddiges. These animals had been packed up in a box and enveloped in cotton
from the time of their capture to the period mentioned, when they were unpacked by Mr. Broderip.
The Britdsh species of this genus are of small size and ordinary a^ect. The following are enumerated
by Forbes and Hanley in the ' British Mollusca.'
B. aaUut is a small species, turreted, conical, white or clear brown,often with dark markings ; body
whorl comparatively short It is most abundant near the sea, and is found in the Channel Islands,
PonMtshire, Devon, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, Scotland, and Ireland.
B. LackhamentU is a v\>xi AvA\ iu
Qreat Britain. It is abundant in
many districts of Qermany, France,
and Switzerland.
B. ohicurut is .of a yellowish-brown
colour, with a smooth surface and
mouth with white lips. The animal
u of a dark colour. It is found
under stones, on old walls and ruins,
and on trees in woods, and is very
widely distributed in the Britiaa
Islands. Forbes and Hanley regard
the following species as spurious in
the British Fauna: — B, Guada-
louperuii, B. Goodallij B. decoOaltu,
B. pupa, B. Ouildingii, B. ventrieoiHt.
The distribution of the Bfdimi has
been treated in detail by Mr. L
Reeve.
Fostil Bvlimi,
Deshayes, in his tables (LyelVs
* Principles of Geology,' 2nd edition)
enumerates three fossil species of
Bulimi in the Tertiaiy Formation,
one of which is known to him from
the sub-Apennine beds, and another
finom Paris; but he does not give
the locality of the third, nor does he
identify any of the foffiils with recent
species. De la Beche, in his 'Geo-
logical Manual,' under the bead of
* Fossil Shells,' contained in the
Supra-Cretaceous rocks of Bordeaui
and Dax, enumerated by M. de
Basterot, has the following; notice:
'' BtUimut ( r ) tereheUatus, Lam., ana-
logous to the existing species,
Qrignon, Placentine, Dax." Xamarck
('Animaux sans Vert^bres,* vol. vii.
p. 534) describes the shell of Bulimui
terfbdlatui, a Grignon fossil, as two
centimeters in length, and observes
on the singularity of its mouth or
opening, but he makes no allusion
to its resemblance to any existing
species. In the 'Annales du Mu-
seum,' he places it among the Btdimiy
with doubt, observing that it may
from its conformation be probably
marine, but keeping that generic
name for it, because it approaches
nearer to the Bulimi than to any other
known genus. In the seventh volume
of his 'Animaux sans Vert^bres,'
published eighteen years afterwards,
he still arranges it among the Bulimi,
and not under the head of 'doubtful
Spedea.* Thefifteen species described
by Lamarck in this volume are all
stated to befosadl, and only the last five
are separated as 'Esp^ces doutenses.'
Of the not-doubtful species, Bvlimui
sextonui, found fossil at Villiers and
Grignon, bears a great resemblance,
according to the author, to BulimHt
lubricuB; but he observes that the
4i
PuHmus luhrtcut,
o, natural size ; h, magnified. Inhabits
Northern Europe, and is common in the
neighbourhood of Paris. Shell smoctb,
shining, of a horn colour, Icclininy tJ
fulvous; transparent.
opening or mouth of the fossil shell
is much shorter than that of the
recent, and that the summit of its
spire is less obtuse. It may be
doubted whether even the first
ten fossil species enumerated by
Lamarck are all true BiUimi.
Digitized by
Google
BULI^
BULLFINCH.
680
De Blainville quotes Defranoe for tbirty-seyen fosail speoieB.
[Hbuoida]
BULL. [Bovida]
BULLA. [Bdllida]
BULLACE, the English name of a kmd of Plum, the Prunus insU
Htia of botaniats. It is probably a mere variety of the Sloe. [Prunub.]
BULLiEA. [Bullida]
BULLFINCHj or BULFINCH, Latin Pyrrhula, French Bouvreuil,
the name of a genus of Birds separated by Brisson from the Grosbeaks,
afterwards again incorporated with them, and since by Temminck and
others again arranged under Brisson's name Pyrrhula,
The following is Temminck's generic character : —
Beak short, hard, conico-oonvex, thick, swollen (bomb^) on the sides,
compressed at the point and towards the edge *(ar6te) which advances
upon the forehead ; upper mandible always curved ; lower mandible
more or less so. Nostrils basal, lateral, rounded, most frequently
hidden by the plumage of the forehead. Feet with the tarsus shorter
than the middle toe ; the front toes entirely divided. Wings short,
^e three first quills graduated (dtag^es), the fourth longest. Tail
ladier long, slightly rounded or squared.
The place generally assigned by ornithologists to the BtillfinoheB,
between the Grosbeaks and the Crossbills, appears to be their proper
position. Their food consists principally of seeds and kernels ; and
though the smaller species confine ^emselves for the most part to
grain or seeds, which they open, rejecting the husk, some of the foreign
gpecies, as Temminck observes, have tiie bill excessively large and
strong, and capable of fracturing the most ligneous seed-cases. Cold
and temperate climates, adds the author last quoted, appear to pro-
duce the greatest number of species. They are found in Europe and
America. The north of Asia appears to be equally their cradle, but
they have never yet been observed in Australia, and but few have
been noticed in Africa, while South America produces many. All the
known species afe subject to a double moult. The males and females
differ, and can be easily distinguished in all stages of life. The young
of the year diflfer but little from the old birds, and only till their
autumnal moult.
Of the European species the Common Bullfinch may be taken as an
example. It is Le Bouvreuil and Bouvreuil Commun of the French,
according to Belon; Fringuello Marino, Ciufolotto, Suffuleno, and
Monachino, of the Italians ; Dom-Pape of the Danes and Norwegians ;
Dom-Herre of the ' Fauna Suecica ; ' Blutfinck, Rothbrustiger, and Der
Gimpel of the Germans ; De Qoudvink of the Netherlanders ; Loxia
Pyrrhda of Linnsaus, and Pyrrhida vtUgaris of Brisson. The provin-
cial names are Norsk-Pipe, Coalhood, Hoop, Tony Hoop, Alp, and
Hope.
Male.— Length about 6} inches, two inches and three-quarters being
taken up by the tail, which is rather forked, and of a lustrous black,
shot as it were with iron blue. Bill six lines in length, short, thick,
and black. Shanks eight lines high, and black. Iridee of a chestnut
Bullfinch {Pi/rrJiula vulgarh)^ male.
colour. Crown of the head, circle round the bill, and upper part of
the throat, of the same hue with the taiL Nape, back, and shoulders
deep gray, or rather bluish-gray. Cheeks, neck, breast, belly (to the
centre of it), and flanks, red. Rump and vent white. Greater wing-
coverts tipped and margined with a French or pinkish white, forming
a transverse bar across the wing. . ' • -
Female. — Somewhat less than the male, and of a reddish-gray where
he is red; back brownish-gray; feet brownish-black. The colours
generally less bright than in the male.
The young of the year are at first ash-colour, with wings and tail of
blackish-brown ; afterwards more like the female till the autumnal
moult ; but the young males may always be known by the greater
tinge of red about the breast.
There are several varieties : —
1. Black. — This variety may be produced artificially b^ feeding the
bird entirely on hemp-seed, in which case a change of diet will often
produce the true colours. Beohstein says it will arise from being kept
when young in a totally dark place ; and that females, either from
age or from the diet above mentioned, are most subject to it
2. White. — This is merely an albino of an ashy or dusky white, or
cream-colour : the parts which are generally black are more shaded
than the rest. There is a specimen from Middlesex in the British
Musemu.
8. Speckled or Variegated. — Spotted with black and white, or white
and ash-colour, besides the natural hues. Selby says that Captain
Mitford killed one, of which both the wings were white.
4. Bechstein mentions varieties under l£e name of the Large Bull-
finch, about the size of a thrush, and the Middling or Conmion Bull-
finch. He treats the dwarf variety, which is said to be not so large as a
chafi&nch, as a bird-catcher's story ; for he observes that this difference
of size occurs in all kinds of birds, and says he has had opportunities
every year of seeing hundreds both wild and tame, and adds, that he
has even found in the same nest some as small as redbreasts, and
others as large as a crossbill.
The Bullfinch will produce hybrid young with the Canary.
The native song of this common but pretty bird is very soft and
simple, but so low that it is almost inaudible. Its call is a plaintive
whistle, and when feeding it utters a low short twitter. It has how-
ever acquired great celebrity from the facility with which it learns to
whistle musical airs, and from its retentive memory, when well
educated and carefully attended to. " Those which are to be taught^"
says Bechstein, " must be taken from the nest when the feathers of
the toil begin to grow, and must be fed only on rape-seed soaked in
water and mixed with white bread ; eggs would kill them or make
them blind. Their plumage is then of a dark ash-colour, with the
wings and tail blackish-brown. The males may be known at first by
their reddish breast ; so that when these only are wished to be reared
they may be chosen in the nest, for the females are not so beautiful,
nor so easily taught, though they answer the purpose of call-birds as
well as the male." Mrs. Charlotte Smith however says (' Nat. Hist, of
Birds ' ) that she had a nest of bullfinches given her, of which only one
was reared : it was a hen, which she kept only because she had reared
it, but the bii'd hung in the same room with a very fine Virginian
nightingale, whose song she soon acquired, and went through the
same notes in a lower and softer tone. '* Although the young," con-
tinues Bechstein, **• do not warble before they can feed themselves, one
need not wait for this to begin their instruction, for it will succeed
better, if one may say so, when infused' with their food ; since experi-
ence proves that they leam those airs more quickly and remember
them better which they have been taught just after eating. It has
been observed several times that these birds, like the parrots, are
never more attentive than during digestion. Nine months of regular
and continued instruction are necessary before the bird acquires what
amateurs call firmness ; for if one ceases before this time, they murder
the air by suppressing or displacing the different parts, and they often
forget it entirely at their first moulting. In general it is a good thing
to separate them from the other birds, even after they are perfect,
because, owing to their great quickness in learning, they would spoil
the air entirely by introducing wrong passages ; they must be helped
to continue the song when they stop, and the lesson must always be
repeated whilst they are moulting, otherwise they will become mere
dmtterers, which would be doubly vexatious after having had much
trouble in teaching them."
A single air with a short prelude is generally as much as the bird
can leam and remember ; but Bechstein, who asserts this, allows that
there are some of them which can whistle distinctly three different
airs, without spoiling or confusing them in the least. In truth, as the
same author observes, there are different degrees of capacity among
the bullfinches as well as in other animals, One young bullfinch,
learns with ease and quickness, another with difficulty and slowly ;
the former will repeat without hesitation several parts of i^ song ; the
latter will hardly be able to whistle one after nine months' uninter-
rupted teaching. Those birds which leam with most difficulty are
said to remember the songs, when once 'learnt, better and longer, and
rarely forget them even when moulting. To these attractive qualities
of the Bullfinch must be added its obedience and capability of strong
attachment, which it shows by a variety of little endearing actions ;
and it has been known even to repeat words with an accent and tone
indicative of sensibility, if, as Bechstein observes, one could believe that
it understood them. Of its attachment the following are instances: —
Buffon asserts that tame bullfinches have been known to escape from
the aviary, and live at liberty in the woods for a whole year, and then
to recollect the beloved voice of the i>erBon who had reared them,
returning never more to leave her. Others, when forced to leave
Digitized by
Google
1197
BULLFINCH.
BULLFINCH.
«)
their master, are said to have died of grief. Buffon's story of the
return of ihe escaped bullfinch is corroborated by the amiable qualities
ascribed to it by Bechstein, for he says that, among other feats, it may
be accustomed to go and returu, provided the house is not too near a
wood.
In a state of nature the BuMnch feeds on pine and fir seeds, com,
linseed, millet^ rape, and nettle seed, Ul sorts of berries, and the buds
of most trees, among which those of the oak, beech, pear, plum,
cherry, and gooseberry are favourites. Bewick says that in the spring
it frequents gardens, where it is usefully busy in destroying the worms
which are lodged in the buds. Busy it is ; but we are compelled to
add that its utility, to the horticulturist at least, is no longer ques-
tionable. In its devastation it may now and then, and no doubt does
find a worm in a bud ; but its object is tho bud, not the worm.
'* They feed most willingly upon those buds of trees which break forth
before, indeed are pregnant with, the leaves and flowers, especially
those of the apple-tree, pear-tree, peach-tree, and other gsrden trees ;
and by that means bring no small detriment to the gfuxleners, who
thererore hate and destroy them as a great pest of their gardens,
intercepting their hopes of fruit" Such is WiUughby's verdict. " I
have known," says Selby, " a pair of these birds to strip a considerable-
sized plum-tree of evenr bud in the space of two days. These buds
are not swallowed whole, but first minutely divided by the tomia of
the powerful bilL" " Its delight," observes Mr. Knapp in his inter-
esting and lively ' Journal of a Naturahst,' '' is in the embryo blossoms
wrapped up at this season (spring) in the bud of a tree ; and it is very
dainty and curious in its choice of this food, seldom feeding upon two
kinds at the same time. It generally commences with the germs of
our larger and most early gooseberry ; and the bright red breasts of
four or five cock birds, quieUy feeding on the leafless bush, are a very
pretty sight ; but the consequences are ruinous to the crop. When
the cherry buds begin to come forward, they quit the gooseberry, and
make tremendous havoc with these. I have an early wall cherry, a may-
duke by reputation, that has for years been a great favourite with the
bullfinch family, and its celebrity seems to be communicated to each
successive generation. It buds profusely, but is annually so stripped
of its promise by these feathered rogues, that its kind might almost
be doubted. The Orleans and green-gage plums next form a treat,
and draw their attention from what remains of the cherry. Having
banqueted here a while, they leave our gardens entirely, resorting to
the fields and hedges, where the sloe-bush in April furnishes them
with food."
Bewick says it builds its nest in bushes, and that it is composed
chiefly of moss, — ^Bechstein, in the most retired part of a wood, or in a
solitary quickset hedge, adding that it is constructed, with little skill,
of twigs, which are covered with moss. Graves says that it is mostly
found in the thickest part of a black- or white-thorn bush, and that it
is composed of small twigs and moss, and is lined with soft dry
fibres. Yarrell says the nest is formed of small twigs, and lined with
fibrous roots, the materials not very compactly entwined together,
and usually placed four or five feet above the ground on the branch of a
fir-tree, or in a thick bush. The eggs are generally four or five;
Temminck says from three to six, but in this country the number is
usually four, of a bluish white, speckled and streaked with purplish
or pale orange-brown at the large end, and rather obtuse. The young
are generally hatched in May or the beginning of June, and there are
frequently two broods in a year. The time of incubation is fifteen
days.
The species is widely spread. They are common in most parts of
Northern Europe, extending into Russia and Siberia : in the south of
Europe they occur only as birds of passage. They are said to winter
in Italy. Qesner says that about the Alps the bird is called Franguel
Invemengk — ^that is, 'Winter Finch.* Bonaparte notes it as "raro
d' invemo awentizio" near Rome. Thunberg long ago said that
the common Bullfinch was found in Japan, and this is corroborated
by Dr. de Siebold, for it was one of the European species which he
found in that country. The bird is particularly common in the
mountainous forests of Qermany : and it is from Cologne and other
spots,
" Where Bhenos strays his vines among,*'
that the market for Piping-Bullfinches is principally supplied. Bech-
stein mentions that there are schools for these little musicians in Hesse
and Fulda, and at Waltershausen near Qotha. With us the bullfinch
is a constant resident.
P. Sj/noicfl, the Asiatic Bullfinch. The adult male is ornamented
round the base of the bill with a circle of rich red, going off in spots
upon the cheeks. The front is covered with small lustrous white
feathers, of a silvery white, lightly shaded upon the borders with red ;
all the lower parts of the body, the inferior coverts of the taU, and
the rump, are of a brilliant rose-colour, or clear carmine ; the upper
parts are ash-coloured, lightly tinged with rose : wings and tail brown,
with ash-coloured borders.
The female is brown, of a light brown or earth-colour above, with
longitudinal lines of deeper brown upon each feather. The lower
parts are of a very clear brown or Isabella-colour, with longitudinal
striae of a somewhat deeper brown upon the middle of the feathers.
The tail is slightly notched at the end, and the bill and feet in both
■oxea are of a clear brown. Length about 5 inches and 6-8ths. M.
Hemprich found this species near Mount Sinai, in Arabia; and then
are specimens in the museums of the Netherlands and of Beriin. Tern*
minck, firom whose work the figures and description are taken, thinVi
Asiatic Bullfinch {ryrrhula Synoica), Upper figure, male; lower flgiiTc, fenuk.
Pyrrhula Gigathinea. Lower figure, male,
it possible that the ' social bullfinch ' may be found some day u| ^®
islands of the Grecian Archipelago, and that it may easily paai in »^
migrations the arm of the sea between Asia and those islesL
Digitized by
Google
BULLHEAD.
BULLIDiE.
69C
Temminck received his specimen from Professor Lichtensteiu ; and
it was one of the discoveries of the travellers sent some years ago by
the King of Prussia into Egypt with a view of obtaining objects of
natural history.
A species from the Himalaya Mountains, Pyrrkvla erythrocephctla,
figured in Mr. Gould's beautiful work, comes near to the common
Bullfinch of Europe except in the form of the tail, which is decidedly
forked, while in tiie European it. is nearly even. There is a specimen
of Pyrrhula erythrocephala in the British Museum, and another in
that of the Zoological Society.
P. Gigathinea. This species is characterised by a very tliick bill, and
a slighUy notched taiL The colours of the sexes do not vaiy greatly.
In the male a grayish colour tinted with bright-rose covers all the
lower parts of the body, the throat, and the circle round the bill ;
this tint is palest on the throat The crown of the head is pure ash-
colour, and an ashy brown is spread over the nape, the back, and
the wing-coverts. A faint rose-colour tinges the plumage of the rump
aadthe edges of the quills and tail-feathers, all of whid^ are bordered
towards the end with whitish upon a black ground. The two middle
quills are the shortest. The wings reach to the extremity of the
tail-feathers ; the bill is of a fine red. Length 4 inches 6 lines.
The female has no rosy tint except on the edges of the quills and
tail-feathers, and on the rump, where it is very faint. The upper
parts are of an Isabella-brown, and the wings edged with a brighter
tint of the same. The circle round the bill and the throat are ash-
coloured ; the lower parts of a pure Isabella-colour ; and the middle
of the belly white. Bill same aj9 in the male.
This bird is figured in the great French work on Egypt (plate 5,
fig. 8), and was sent home some years ago by the German travellers to
the north of Africa. It inhabits Egypt and Nubia. There are specimens
in the Berlin museum, and in those of the Netherlands and of Frankfort
P. cwureola. Head, cheeks, back, and scapulars, aahy-bluish ; wings
and tail darker, but all the feathers of those parts are bordered with
ash-colour. There is a small white spot on the wing, formed by the
white towards the base of the quills, beginning with the fourth ; the
first three have no white. AH the lower parts are white, with the
exception of the flanks, which are clouded with ash-colour. Bill
coral-red, very strong, large, and as it were swollen (bombd). Feet
RRh-coloured. Length 44 inches. Inhabits Brazil, where it is said to
be common.
Pyrrhula einereola,
BULLHEAD. [Cottus.]
BULLHEAD, ARMED. [Aspidophorus.]
BU'LLIDiE, a family of Marine MoUutca, which Lamarck arranges
ftznong his Gasteropods, between the Calyptracians on one side and
the Laplyaians on the other, making the family to consist of the
three following genera, Acera or Akera, BuUceaf and JBvUa. Cuvier
finds a situation for it in his fourth order of Gasteropods, the Tecti-
branchians (Monopleurobranchians of De Blainville), which includee
ITAT. HIST. DIV. YOL. 1.
both Aplysia and Umbrdla, De Blainville places it next but one to
his Aplysians (his family Patelloidea intervening) under the family
Akera, the fourth of hia third order Mon(ypleurohranckiata, of his
second sub-class Paracephalophora Monoica, of his second class Pa/ra-
cephalophorck,
Forbes and Hanley make it the first family of the Gasteropoda
opisthobranchiata. They observe that " this tribe may be considered
intermediate between the two great sections of Gasteropoda, The
shells of its mollusks are always convolute and more or less enveloped
by the animal; sometimes entirely invested, more rarely absent
Except in the case of TomcUella there is no operculum. The head of
the animal is in the form of a single or lobed disk, and its lateral
lobes are often greatly dev^oped, so as in many species to serve as
swimming organs. The foot is in some extremely small, in others a
crawling disk of considerable dimensions. There are more than 150
species of this family known. They inhabit all parts of the world,
and some of them are very widely diffused." The best account of
the family that has yet appeared is by Mr. Arthur Adams in the
' Thesaurus Condyliorum * of Mr. G. B. Sowerby, Jun.
The following are illustrations of some of the genera : —
Acera, Lamarck, LohariOy De Blainville, has its body ov«d-oblong,
sub-globular, appearing to be divided into four parts : one anterior
for the head and thorax,
one on each side for the
natatory appendages or
fins, and one posterior
for the viscera. The
anterior fleshy disk
terminates in an ap-
proach to a point near
the middle of the body :
the branchisB covered
by the mantle are so
posterior that they "^F
seem to be almost at Loharia eamota, Cuv.
the extremity of the
body, and below them would be the analogous situation for the shell,
of which there is not even a rudimentary trace.
BuUcBct, Lamarck assigned this name to those of the family which
have the shell entirely hidden in the substance of the mantle. This
shell is very open and delicate, and can hardly be said to have more
than the first rudiment of the rolled-up form which is in BvUa carried
to greater perfection. BuUaa aptrta^ Lam. (BvRaa Planciana, Lam.,
in the early edition of the ' Syst. des Anim. sans Vert.') ; Amygdala
marina (Amande de Mer), Plane ; Bulla aperta, Lin. ; BvHa aptrta and
BuHica {Bulla) aperta.
A, view of the back ; B, side view, the right ; C, the atune, bat the ren-
tral fleshy plate separated from the dorsal to show the parts between; D,
view of the under side ; a, the fleshy plate which covers the anterior part of
the body ; b, the fleshy plate that acts as a foot ; c, the part which contains the
shell ; df a part of the branchisB ; e, the vent ; /, the conunon orifice of the
testicle and ovidact ; £, shell in iu natural position ; F, view of the under or
coacaTC side.
Loharia quadriloha, Gmelin, which is found in almost all seas, and
is very common on the shores of Great Britain, will serve for an
example. The animal is whitish, more Uian an inch in length, and,
as Cuvier observes, the fleshy shield formed by the vestiges of the
tentacula, the lateral borders of the foot, and the mantle occupied by
the shell, seem to divide it into four portions, whence Gmelin's term
quadriloba. The shell is delicate, white, semitransparent, and consists
almost entirely of aperture. The stomach or gizzard is armed with
three very thick rhomboidal bones or rather shelly pieces.
2 Y
Digitized by
Google
G91
BULLIDJES.
BULLIDiE.
BiUkea has been found at a depth ranging from near the surface to
12 fathoms. M^. W. Clark found three English species, two of them
{BuUcea catena and B. punctata) at Exmouth and Torquay, in pools at
the time of the lowest spring-tides ; and a third (Bttllcea pruinosa) bj
dredging off Budleigh Salterton. The depth is not mentioned, but
it is probable that it was considerable, for the author sa^ that it is
rare, and only occasionally to be procured by deep dredgmg seven or
eight miles from the shore. The first of Mr. Clark's species, which
is Bulla catena of Montagu, had a testaceous gizzard, but the gizzards
of the other two were unfurnished with shelly appendages. (See
Mr. Clarke's description, ' ZooL Joum.* voL iiL p. 337). Q. Sowerby,
when speaking of the use of the shelly species and their powerful
adductor muscles, states that the animal of Bullaa aperta is sometimes
distorted by having swallowed entire a CorbtUa nucleus, which is a
veiy thick and strong shell, nearly equal in size to itself.
De Blainville says of this genus that he characterises it somewhat
differently from Lunarck, who establishes it, and who only places
under it the Aceraickt whose shell is internal; but as De Blainville
considers the animal to be of the first consequence, he distinguishes
under the name of Bulloea those species which, whether their shell
be external or internal, have the foot thickest and not dilated into
natatory appendages, having, in fact^ habits different from the BvUce,
according to hii*acceptation of the term, which swim
very well and creep very badly. He divides BuUcea
into —
1st. Those species which have an internal shell
very incompletely rolled up without spire or colu-
meUa, and selects as his eaxmple Bullosa aperta^ the
species figured in the preceding page.
2nd. Those species whose ahell is internal and
very incompletely rolled up, with a columella and
alveolar spire (spire rentr^e), and gives as an example
BuUa ampulla.
3rd. Species whose shell is internal, the lateral
lobes oirrhous and more developed, and gives as
Feruiisac's Bulhea, ^ example Ferussac's BuUaea (Quoy et Gaimard),
here figured from the 'Atlas Zoologique' of the voyage of the Uranie.
In the * Additions and Corrections ' to his * Malacologie,' De Blain-
ville says, that, in studying more attentively the species of these two
genera, it seems to him t^t the greater part would be better placed
under Bulla than under BuUcea, where he would leave only the
species which serves for the type, and another which was brought
from the seas of Australia by Quoy and Gaimard. He then proposes
mi entirely new arrangement into seven groups represented by the
following genera : — 1. BuUina (Bidline)
of Ferussac, with a projecting spire
(example Btdla LajoiUcairiana, Bast.)
2. Apluair€{^chxan.) S. Bulla. A. Atya
(Montf.) 5. The form represented by
BuUa fragUu, 6. Scaphander (Montf.),
which is BuUa lignaria. 7. BuUcea
(Lam.).
Sormetus. Cuvier observes that this
form approaches very closely to that of
his BuUcece, but he adds that he does
not find sufficient certainty in the
imperfect materials afforded by Adanson to enable him to foimd
either a genus or even a species on them. De Blainville places it as
a genus next to Lobai'ia ; but his description and figure are taken
from Adanson, and he is obliged to add that it is established upon an
animal ** assez incompl&tement connu."
Bulla. Besides the true Bullidce, the heterogeneous Bulla of Linnaeus
comprised some of the Physce and AchcUince, and of the Ovxda, TereheUa,
Pyrulce, &c. : in shorty ttie genus comprised animals of entirely
different organisation. Terrestrial and marine testacea — the former
breathing air and the latter respirmg water — ^were there placed side
by side. Lamarck retains the name (and Cuvier seems to adopt his
arrangement) for the species whose shell covered by a slight epidermis
is sufficiently large to afford a retreat to the animal, and is more
Sonnchis Adantonii.
Bulla fiagUts,
A, the shell showing the aperture ; C, a view of the spiral end, showing the
way in which the shell is rolled np ; B, the animal.
perfectly rolled up than the shell of BuUasa. Lamarck describes the
shell of his Bulla as completely rolled up (enroul^), showing itself
constantly uncovered. It is, generally spealung, only partially enveloped
by the animal, which can retreat into it almost entirely; has no distinct
columella nor any true spire, unless indeed that term be applicable
to the apex of BuUa fragilis, which we now proceed to describe. lu
shell is ovate-oblong, very thin and fragile, of a horn colour, vith
very small transverse stri», and the apex rises into the rudiment of
a proiecting spire.
It IS the Akera huUata of 0. F. Miiller, and is not imcommon on tbe
British coasts. We now proceed to give an example of thotc gpedeg
which, while they have a little more solidity than Bvlla fragilit, are
still very delicate and fragile in their texture.
B. Velum. The shell is veiy delicate, of a very light hom-colour
when in fine condition, with a snow-white band about the middle.
bordered on each side with a broad dark-brown one ; the apex a^I
base are white, both boixlered with dark brown bands.
Bulla Velum.
B. ampuUcL The shell is ovate and subglobose, beautifully mottle*'
with white, plum-colour, and reddish. Instead of a spire there is xi
umbilical alveolus. Lamarck gives as a locality both the Indian 52I
American oceans ; Deshayes, the European ocean and the Indian
Bulla ampulla.
B. lignaria (Scaphander Ugnariut) is a common species on ourcoasU
It has a testaceous stomach or gizzard, so well known as the vchick
of Gioeni's half error, half fraud. He found these testaceous giiard>
and elevated them immediately to the rank of shells * sui genens
literally, for he gave the genus his own name, and imposed upon
many : he went so far as to describe the habits of his pretended
testaceous animal. Drapamaud first exposed this piece of
charlatan erie.
B. Hydatcd, Linnccus, and B. Cranchii, Leach, are foimd in the
British seas. B. media, Philippi, B. columna, Chiajc, are reconiedM
British, but may be regarded as doubtful. ^ .
The following genera of BuUidce are found in Groat Britain :-
Cylichna, eight species [Cylichna] ; Ampkisphyra hyaltna ; TorAoidk
faacicUa; Akera bullata j Bulla, two species ; Scaphander HffMTVU;
PhUine, six species. *
PoasU BuUidce.
Lamarck enumerates four fossil species, all of them from Gngnon ;
Q. Sowerby says that such are only to be distinguished in the Teriiiiy
Beds and in the Greensand. Deshayes in his tables, speaking of
tertiary fossils only, gives two fossil species of Bulla'a^ one from tne
sub-Apennine Beds, and one from Paris. Of BuUa ho enumerate
twenty-three fossil in the Tertiary Beds ; and of these, two are botb
living and fossil, namely, B. lignaria and B. ampuUa. The ^yf^
places in Sicily, in the sub-Apennine Beds (Italy), and the EngUsn
Crag at Bordeaux and Dax, in Touraine, at Turin, Angers, Pans, ana
Valognes ; in short, in the beds of the Pliocene, Miocene, and Eocene
periods of Lyell. The second, Deshayes quotes as occurring m beds
of the Pliocene period only, namely, those of Sicily and ^J,^/"
Apennine Beds (Italy). In his edition of LamMXjk (voL ril, 1^^^'''. f
takes no notice of B. ampulla as a fossil, but notices B. striata (wbicn
he observes has been confoimded with B. ampuUa) as a fossil sp«^
He also remarks on the confusion between B. iolida and B. cyMrtc^
and proposes that B. solida should take the name of B. cj/tindncc,
that the B. cylindrica of Biiigui^res, living in the Mediterranean an
European seas, should be called B. cyUndracea (Pennant's name;; an
Digitized by
Google
BULLRUSH.
BUPHAOA,
Gasieroptera lieckeli.
that the fossil Bulla from the enyirons of Paris, confoiinded with the
latter, should be named B. BruguQrei.
De BlainviUe places under his family of Acerata^ the genus
Gasteropta'a, whose tody is divided into two parts, the posterior being
globular and joined by a peduncle to
the anterior portion, which is small,
but enlaiged on each side into a con-
siderable muscular expansion trans-
Tenely oval, and cut or hollowed out
in the middle, both above and below,
rendering the expansion bilobated, as
it were, and an organ for swimming,
in place of a foot for creeping. The lateral gill is uncovered ; there
is no shell. Example, 0. Meckdi, from the Sicilian seas.
BULLRUSH the English name of Ty:pha IcUifcliamA T. anffustifolia,
two wild marsh plants bearing long black cylindrical masses of flowers.
The name is also sometimes applied to Scirput lacmtris, a tall rushy-
looking plant from which the bottoms of chairs, mats, &c., are oft^
manufactured. [Ttpha; SciBPua]
BULLRUSHWORTS. [TYPHACEiE.]
BULL-TROUT. [Salmo.]
BULLY or BULLET-TREE. [Mimusops.]
BUMASTES, a genus of Trilohites thus named by Sir R. Murchison,
includes the B. Barrienm, or Barr Trilobite, which occurs in the Upper
Silurian Strata.
BUMELIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
SapotacM. Many of the species are used in medicine. B. nigi'a has
a bitter and astringent bark, which is used in fevers. The wood is
very hard. B. retuaa has a milky fruit. The fruit of B. lycioides is
austere, with some sweetness, and is said to be useful in diarrhoea. The
flowers of B. graveolens have a heavy unpleasant odour. (Lindley,
VtgttahU Kingdom.)
BU'NIUM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
UnAtUifenBj the sub-order Ortho9perm€<Bt and the tribe Amminece. It
has an obsolete calyx ; obcordate petals, with a broad obtiise inflexed
point; an oblong fruit, the carpels with 6 filiform equal ridges; the
interstices v^ith*! or 3 vittae ; the stylopodium conical The species
are perennial herbs with usually tuberose and globose roots, square
stems, compound leaves, and white flowers.
B. jl«xtM8um, the Pig-Nut, has a general involucre of 1-3 leaves, par-
tial more numerous ; fruit oval, narrowing upwards, crowned with the
elongated stylopodium and erect styles, interstices with 3 vittse. This
species is the B. denvdatum of De Candolle : it is a native of the
west and south of Europe, and plentiful in Great Britain. It has a
nearly globular root, of a black or chestnut colour on the outside and
white inside. It has an aromatic sweet taste, and is frequently dug
up and eaten by children. It is called in this country by many names,
as Earth-Nut, Ar-Nut, Kipper-Nut, Hawk-Nut, Jur-Nut, Earth Chest-
nut, and Ground-Nut. The synonyms are almost as numerous in the
French and German languages. Pigs are very fond of this nut, and
get fat when they are allowed to feed on them. When boiled they
are a pleasant and nutritious food. Roasted, tiiey are j)referred by
some people to chestnuts, and are often in this country and on the
Continent added to soup or broth.
B. Bulhoca^anum of Linnaeus is a different species from the latter,
though often confounded with it. Its general and partial involucres
are composed of numerous leaves, the fniit oblong, crowned with the
abort stylopodium and reflexed styles, the interstices vnth single vittB9.
This plant has been discovered m chalky fields in Cambridgeshire
and Herts, and is probably more generally diflPiised. George Don
enumerate in the * Gardener's Dictionary ' sixteen species of Bunium.
(Babington, Manual of Brit. Bot.)
BUNTER SANDSTEIN, the lowest arenaceous member of the
Triaaaic system of strata, aS understood in Germany (the lowest part of
our Hesozoic Series). The three parts are —
Keuper above, marly.
Muschelkalk in middle, calcareous.
Bunter Sandstein below, arenaceous.
This classification is applicable to England by retrenching the middle
term. Sir R. Murchison is of opinion that part of the Bunter
Sandstein (Gr^s Bigarr^ of France) belongs to the Palaeozoic Series,
but no proof of this is yet published.
BUNTING is the common name applied to a number of small
^irda belonging to the order Inseasores and the family Emherizidce.
The Common Bunting, the Yellow Bunting, the Cirl Bunting, and
the Ortolan Bunting, all British birds, are species of the genus
-Emheriza [Emberiza] ; whilst the Snow Bunting and the Lapland
Bunting, also British, are referred by Yarrell to the genus Plectro-
Vhanes. [Pleotbophanes.]
BUTALUS, a genus of Insects belonging to the order Lepidoptera
«nd the family Geometridce. It has the following characters : — Palpi
y&ry short; antenme in the males pectinated on each side to the apex,
yi the females simple ; wings erect during repose j the anterior wings
^ the males having a protuberance at the base; larva smooth, and
^fumiahed with ten legs.
B. piniarius, the Bordered White Moth, is a beautiful moth, which
^hen the wings are expanded measures rather more than an inch in
width. Its wings on the upper side are of a dusky brown colour, and
adorned with numerous pale yellow spots ; and beneath clouded with
the same dusky colour and having two brown stripes. The caterpillar
is green, with a white longitu£nal stripe down the middle of the
back, and four other stripes of a yellowish coloui* placed two on each
side of this. It feeds upon the Pinua gylvestris and P. ahies, in the
neighbourhood of which species of firs tiie moth is not imcommonly
seen flying during the day-time.
(Stephens, lUusirations of British Entomology.)
BU'PHAGA {Bvphagus, Brisson), a genus of Birds, whose form in
some points resembles that of the MerulidcB (Blackbirds), while its
habits approach those of the Stumidce (Starlings) ; but the form not-
withstanding presents such strong points of difference that most
ornithologists agree in viewing it as the type of a family, BupJiagidce,
of which at present it is the only genus. The following is Tenmiinck's
generic character: — Bill strong, lai^ge, obtuse, nearly quadrangular;
lower mandible stronger than the upper ; both swollen towards the
point. Nostrils bassd, oval, half closed by a vaulted membrane.
Feet moderate; shank (tarsus) longer than the middle toe; tlu-ee
toes before, one behind, the lateral toes equal, the external toe con-
joined at the base, the internal one divided; claws hooked, compressed*.
Wings moderate; the first quill very short, the second nearly the
lengUi of the third, which is the longest.
The species live principally upon those parasitic insects the larv»
(maggots) of which are hatdied imder the skin of some of the larger
ruminants and birds, a mode of life which is followed by some of the
Crows {Corvidce) and the Pastors. The quadrupeds on whom the
Bvphaga waits are principally those of the ox-family, the antelopes,
and the camels, and generally the other ruminants both wild and
tame. Fixed on the backs of these by his cramp-irons of claws the
Beef-Eater, as he has been called by the English, and Pique-Boeuf by
the French, digs and squeezes out with his foreoeps of a beak the
larva that lies festering under the tough hide of the quadruped.
Le Vaillant gives the following account of the habits of Buphaga
Africanaj which is distributed through Southern Africa, and found
also at Senegal : — The bill of the Pique-Boeuf is fashioned as a pair of
solid ]:^cers to facilitate the raising up out of the hides of quadrupeds
the larvsB of the gadflies, which are there deposited and nourished :
the species therefore anxiously seeks out the herds of oxen, of buffa-
loes, of antelopes — of all the quadrupeds, in short, upon which these
gadflies deposit their eggs. It is while steadied by a strong gripe of
the claws in the tough and hairy hide of these animals that with
strong blows of the bill and powerful squeezes of the skin at the place
where the bird perceives an elevation which indicates the presence of
a maggot, he extracts it with effort The animals accustomed to the
treatment bear with the birds complacently, and apparently perceive
the service which they render to them in freeing them from these
true parasites, which live at the expense of their proper substance.
The Pique-Boeufs however are not the only birds that perch upon the
backs of quadrupeds and lai^ge birds, for many other onmivorous
species have the same habit ; but these last content themselves with
'/>■
Beef-Eater {Buphaga erythrorhyncha), male.
only taking away the parasites which are attached to the skin of those
animals, not having in their bills the necessary strength for extirpating
the larvse which are lodged beneath it ; an offioe which the Corvut
alhicoUit (Le Corbivau) executes as well as the Pique-Bceufs.
Digitized by
Google
»9
BUPLEUR0M.
BURSATELLA.
The Pique-BoDufs are generally seen in company, but they never
fly in large flocks. Le Vaillant rarely saw more than six or eight in
the same herd of buffaloes or antelopes; and M. Riippell never
observed them ei^cept in bands consisting but of few individuals
about the camels of his caravan. They are vexy wild and di£Elcult of
approach, so that there is no chance of obtaining either the one or
the other species, except by hiding behind an ox or a camel and
driving it gently in the manner of a stalking horse towards those
beasts on whose backs the birds are perched. When sufficiently near
the fowler shows himself, and brings them down while on the wing.
Besides the larvae of the gadfly, these birds eat the ticks when they
are Aill of blood, and all sorts of insects generally.
B, trythrorhyncJia was received by Temminck some years since
from the Cape of Gk>od Hope, whither it had been brought with a
number of other birds from Madagascar. Temminck says it is dis-
tinguished from its congener by a smaller and less powerful bill, by
the red colour of that organ (whence it is called in French Pique-
BoDuf, Bec-Corail — Beef-Eater, Coral-Bill) — ^by the more sombre tints
of its upper plumage, and, finally, by its smaller proportions. The
upper parts, head, and throat in the adult are ash-brown, glazed as it
were with bluish ; the lower parts are yellowish-rust or dark Isabella-
colour. The total length is 7 inches, about one-third less than
B, Africanaf whose bill is yellow, and whose geographical distribu-
tion seems to lie in the southern districts and on the western coasts —
parts of the countiy to which Temminck expresses his belief that
B, eryihrorhyncha does not penetrate. Temminck, from whose work
our figure and description are taken, says that no particulars as to
the structure of the n^ its position, or the period of incubation, are
yet known.
BUPLEURUM (from fiovs, ox, and irXcOpov, side), a genus of plants
belonging to the natural order UmhellifercBy the sub-order Ortho8perme(e,
the tribe AmminecB. It has an obsolete calyx ; entire roundish petals,
with a closely involute broad retuse point ; the fruit subdidymous ;
carpels with equal winged or filiform and sharp or obsolete ridges ;
interstices with or without vittee; stylopodium depressed. The
species are quite smooth, herbs or shrubs. The leaves are rarely cut,
in most instances being quite entire. This arises from their possessing
no lamina ; they are composed entirely of the petioles, and are in fact
phyllodia. The flowers are yellow.
There are about fifty species of BupleurtMi, They are natives of
temperate climates in most parts of the world, and are known by
the common name of Hare's-Ear. When eaten by cattle they are
supposed to injure them and cause distension of the abdomen ; hence
the generic name. B, rotundifolivm is the Thorow-Wax of the herba-
lists. It has a branched stem, with oval perfoliate leaves, and the
fhiit with striate interstices. It was supposed to possess especial
virtues as a vulnerary, but there is no question now that wounds are
better without any such applications. There are three other British
species, B. tenuisHmvmf B. aristcUunif and B.falccUum. The species are
sometimes cultivated in gardens. The annual species only require to
be sown in the open ground early in the spring. The perennial may
be increased by dividing their roots ; the shrubby by cuttings.
(Don. Oard. Diet. ; Babington, Man. of Brit. Bot.)
BUPRE'STID^, a family of Coleopterous Insects of the section
PcrUamera and subjection Steimoxi (Latreille). The section Stemoxi
is composed of two great groups or families, Bupreatidce and ElateridcB :
the species of the former group are distinguished from the latter
principally in having the tarsi dilated (the penultimate joints of which
ai« bilobed) and furnished beneath with velvet-like pellets; the thorax
neai'ly straight behind, and the mandibles entire, that is, without any
notches internally near the apex ; and likewise in having the terminal
joints of the palpi cylindrical, or nearly so.
The form of the body in the Buprestidoi is somewhat ovate, the
apex of the elytra being more or less pointed, and the base of the
thorax of nearly equal width with that of the elytra ; the head is
placed almost vertically, and is deeply inserted into the thorax, so
that the eyes nearly come in contact with that part
In splendour of colouring this family of insects surpasses all others
among the Beetle Tribe, the Cetoniadce x>erhaps excepted. Green
appears to be the most frequent colour, but shades of blue, red,
golden or copper-like hue are not uncommon, and these colours are in
most cases brilliant, or as it were burnished.
The Buprestidce are found on the trunks and leaves of trees, and
likewise on flowers (on the latter more particularly the smaller
species), and when touched, or frequently even when approached,
they apply their legs and antennse close to the body, and allow them-
selves to fall to the ground, a means of escape frequently practised by
insects ; they crawl slowly> but in hot sunny weather are frequently
on the wing, and fl^ rapidly.
About 500 species have been discovered belonging to this tribe,
which are for the most part from the tropics. In this country about
20 species have been found at large, of these however several have
most probably been imported with timber in which their larva) feed.
The genus BuprfstiSf which is now only restricted to a few of the
species of this family, is distinguished principally by the following
cnaracters : — Antenntfi serrated from the third or fourth joint to the
apex; labnim attenuated and slightly emoigiuated anteriorly; scu-
tellum distinct ; body nearly ovate.
The elytra of this genus have been foimd fossil at Stonesfield.
BUPRESTIS. [BuPRESTiD^.]
BURATITE, a mineral consisting of a Carbonate of Copper, Zinc,
and Lime, with water. It occurs in bluish radiating needles. It
has a specific gravity of 3*2. It is found at Chessy in France, in the
Altai Mountains, and Tuscany.
BURDOCK, the common name for the species of Arctium^ a genus
of plants belonging to the natural order Compontcg. This genus
is distinguished by its globose involucre, the bracts termmating in
hooked points, and imbricated, the flat receptacle with rigid subulate
scales ; the fruit compressed, oblong ; the pappus short, pilose, and
distinct. Two species of this genus are common in Great Britain.
A. majuSf the Greater Burdock, is characterised by its laige subcorym-
bose heads and its cordate ovate leaves, the lowermost of which attain
a very large size. A. miniu, the Lesser Burdock, has small h&id-s
which are racemose. The leaves are smaller than in the last specit^
They were both described as Arctium Lappa by Sir J. E. Smith
BURGEON, or BOURGEON, an obsolete English and modem
French name of a Leaf-Bud. [Bud.]
BURMANNIA'CEiE, Burmanniads, the Burmannia Tribe, a
natural order of plants belonging to Lindley's group of Epigynoua
Endogens. It was first constituted by Sprengel as a separate order,
and is sometimes made a section of AmaryUidacecp. The species of
plants belonging to this order are herbaceous, with tufted radicle,
acute leaves, or none at all, with terminal flowers, which are sefsoJe
upon a 2- or 3-branched rachis, or solitary. The flowers are her-
maphrodite ; the perianth tubular, superior, coloured, membFuiotif,
with 6 teeth, the 3 inner ones minute, the outer laiger, with a wing or
keel at the back ; the stamens 8, inserted in the tube opposite the
petals, with sessile 2-celled anthers opening transversely with a
fleshy connective, and sometimes 3 sterile stamens alternate with
them ; the ovary inferior or 3-celled, mauy-seedod, with the diijeepi-
ments alternate with the wings of the perianth ; the style single ; the
stigma 3-lobed, petaloid ; the capsules covered by the withered
perianth, or 3-celled, bursting irregularly; the seeds being numerous,
minute, striated with an aril, fleshy albumen, and minute embryo.
The genus Burmannia, on which this order has been founded, i^
variously assigned by difierent botanists. Jussieu placed it in Bnme-
liactce, Brown in Juncacecs, Von Martins in Ilydrocharacta^ Blunie
places it between Juncacece and Iridaceo', Lindley between Apoat<uiaa:(r
and Orchidacecc, and there can be little doubt of the propriety of con-
stituting it a distinct order. The species are natives of Asia, Africa,
and America. The genera referred to this order are Burmannia,
Gonyanthes, Gymyiosipfion, Apteria, Dictyostega, CymbocarpOj and
Stenoptera. There are about 30 species. They have not very c"->nspi-
cuous properties ; the Apteria tetacea is said by Nuttall to pos^se^s
tonic and astringent properties. Burmannia ccerulca is also said to
have a flavour very similar to that of green tea.
{Lmdl&yy Natural System ; Burnett, Outlines of Botany.)
BURNET. [Sanguisorba ; Poterium.]
BUR-REED. [Sparganium.]
BURSA'RIA, the name of a genus of Polygastric animals, with a
membranous body, short, and a little bent upon itself, so as to be
concave below and convex above.
Lamarck places Bursar ia among his Infusona, observing tliat th^'ir
body is delicate and membranous, and remarkable by its concave funa
on one side, which sometimes puts on the appearance of a boat, S'^me-
times of a purse. Their movements are not lively, and it is said that
they are irregular, so that when they describe a spiral line fronj right
to left and raise themselves in the water they move with tolcniWe.
swiftness; but when they return or descend they only proc€e«i
slowly, a difference of velocity attributable to their form. They are
abundant in fresh and stagnant watera, and sea-water. There are
many species ; the most common is Bwrsaria truncatella. It is so
large as to be visible to the naked eye, and is found in ditch-water.
According to Ehrenberg, the Bursari<e, as well as the Loxoda, the
Tracfielkff &c., have an intestinal tube furnished with cseca.
appendages which open anteriorly at the inferior surface of the Wy,
and posteriorly at its extremity. The mouth is without cilia or
hook«i, and there is no. ciliary circle on the front. The BursarKe
differ besides from the other two genera by the form of the uppt^r
lip, which is compressed, subcariuated, or swollen, and not contracttii.
The body of the Bursaria is for the most part covered with cilia.
Some of the species are found parasiticfJ in other animals. B. cnto-
zoon and B. intestinalis, and others, are foimd in the rectiun of the
frog. .
BURSATELLA, a genus of Marine MoUuMca without any traces ot
a shell, placed by De Blainville imder his second family Aplytiaf:^ "i
his third order, MonopUurohranchiata, of his Paracephaloiihorn
monoica. The following is De Blainville's definition of the genus,
which, in his arrangement, comes between Bolabella and Notarchn.
Rang thinks it ought to belong to the genus Aplysia : —
Body subglobular ; below, an oval space circumscribed by uij^|
lips, indicating the foot; above, a symmetrical oval opening wit ii
thick lips, formed by the complete junction of the natatoi-y appen(U4fe.|
of the mantle, and communicating with a cavity in which ^'^r""'.
one very large free gill and the vent The tentacula arc four, dividea
and ramified, besides two buccal appendages.
Digitized by
Google
697
BURSERA.
BUSTARD.
696
Example, BurscUfUa Ije€tckii, which De Blainville says is tho only
gpeciea of the genus. It is large, and a native of the East Indian seas.
BursatcUa Lcachii,
BURSERA. [BcRSEKACEJt.] Bursera panicidata yields the Bois de
Colophane.
BURSERA'CE^, a natural order of Exogenous plants, consisting
of balsamic, resinous, or gummy plants with pinnated leaves and small
hermaphrodite or unisexual polypetalous flowers, with a superior
ovary seated in a lai^e circular disk. The fruit is a 2-5-celled drupe,
with its rind sometimes splitting into valves. It was formerly
included^ among other orders, in the Tcrd>intace(e of Jussieu, but it
differs from Amyridacece and Anacardiaceoe in its compound fruit.
Myrrh, frankincense, olibanum, balsam of Acouchi, gum elemi, balm
of Gilead, and opobalsamum, or balsam of Mecca, are all products of
different species of the order. In his ' Vegetable Kingdom,' Lindley
includes this order xm^ev Amyridace(^. [Amyridack^.] It forms a
section of that order called Buraeridce.
BUSH-BUCK. [ANTiLOPEiE.]
BUST AMITE, a Mexican Mineral consisting of Silica, Manganese,
and Lime. It occurs in spherical and reniform masses. It has a
hardness of 6 to 6*5, and a specific gravity of 3 '2.
BUSTARD, the English name of a Bird belonging to tho genus
Otxi. The species are land-birds whose proper position in the orni-
thological system has caused some embarrassment to zoologists.
Temminck places the genus Otis under his twelfth order, Curdorts
(Runners), observing that the genera StrutkiOf Rhea, and Casiuarius
ought to stand at the head of that order. Cuvier arranges the
Bustards under the PressirostreSj his second family of his fifth order
{^hassiera, — Grallce, Linn.) of birds, between the Cassowaries on one
side and (Edknemva (Thick-Kneed Bustard or Stone Curlew) on the
other. Temminck makes Cursorius immediately succeed it, and
observes that among the species of that genus the passage between
Otii and CuraoiHus may be possibly found. It appears that the
Bustards partake of the organisation of the Struthious, Gallinaceous,
and Wading Birds (ifichassiers, - GraUatores). Rhea, without alluding
to the Jhdo on the 3truthi^»Vi side. ttJdicnemus on that of the Plovers,
and the Turkey on the snie ot the Gallinaceous birds, makej^ear
approaches to the genus under consideration ; while the 9&iittma of
Briason {Microdactylus of Geoffrey, JHcholophiu of Illiger), a South
American form, seems te be one of its nearest representatives on the
new continent, [^'artama.] Vigors places the genus in his family
^rmhionidce (order Rcuorea), which occupies a position between tho
Cracidce and the Teiraonidae, while it approximates to the Oruidce and
Charadriadce in the order Grallatorca ; and, taking all the cii-cum-
frtances into consideration, this seems to be the best arrangement
hitherto proposed.
The Bustaurds live generally in open countries, preferring plains or
^de-spreading extensive downs dotted with low bushes and under-
wood— localities which give them an opportunity of descrying their
fnemy from afar. They are said to fly but rarely, running from
danger with exceeding swiftness, and using their wings like the
ortriches to accelerate their course. When they do take wing their
flight is low, and they skim along the ground with a sufficiently" rapid
aud sustained flight Their food consists of vegetables, insects,
worms, grain, and seeds. They are polygamous, one male living with
many females, which, after fecundation,'iive solitary. Temminck says
that it would seem that they moult twice a year, and that the males
in the greatest number of species differ from the females in having
extraordinary ornaments, and in possessing a more variegated
plumage. He further observes that the young males wear the garb
of the female during the first and second year, and adds his suspicion
that tho males in winter have the same plumage as the females.
Cuvier notices their massy port and the slightly arched and vaulted
upper mandible of their beak, which, with the little webs or palma-
tions between the baa9S of their toes, recal the form of the Gallinaceous
birds ; but he adds that the nudity of the lower part of their legs, all
their anatomy, and even the flavour of their flesh, place them among
the OraUatorea, and that, as they have no hind toe, their smallest
species approach nearly to the Plovers.
The following is the character of the genus : —
Bill of the length of the head or e^orter, straight, conical, com-
pressed, or lightly depressed at the base ; point of the upper mandible
a little arched (vout^e.)
Nostrils oval, open, approximated, distant from the base.
Feet long, naked above the knee ; three front toes short, united at
their base, bordered by membranes.
Wings moderate, the third quill longest in each wing.
They are found in Europe, Asia, and Africa ; but not in America.
0. tarda, the Great Bustard, is the Otia and Avia tarda of B<non
and others; Ostarde, Houtarde, Outarde, Bistarde of the French;
Starda and Starda Commune of tho Italians ; Der Grosse Trappe,
Trapp, Trappgans, and Ackentrapp of the Germans ; Abutarda (Avia
tarda) of the Spaniards ; and Gustard of the old Scotch.
From passages in the 'History of Animals' (ii. 17, vi. 6), there can
be scarcely a doubt that our Great Bustard is Aristotle's ^Cirls.
Indeed the doubts originated in a misunderstood passage in the
thirty-third chapter of his ninth book ; and it is clear from several
authorities that the bird and the quality of its flesh were well known
to the Greeks. Pliny evidently alludes to these birds as those "quas
Hispania aves tardas appellat, Grsecia otidas " (' Nat Hist.' x. 22) ;
though he blimders about the flesh, telling an absurd story of its
effects, which arises from his confounding the irris with Aristotle's
«T(Jy, an owl.
The following is the description of this bird given by Mr. Selby : — The
male has the bill strong, grayish-white ; the under mandible palest.
Head, nape of the neck, and ear-coverts, bluish-gray. A streak of
black passes along tho crown of the head, reaching to the occiput
Chin-feathers and moustaches composed of long wiry feathers, with
Great Eusturd {Ctit iard<^), u a'.c.
the barbe disunited and short Fore part of the neck clothed with a
naked bluish-black skin, extending upwards toward the ear-coverts,
and covering the gular pouch. Sides of the neck white, tinged with
gray ; lower part of the neck fine reddish-orange. At the sotting on
of the neck, or between the shoulders, is a space destittrte of feathers,
but covered with a soft gray down. Scapulars buff-orange, barred
and spotted with black. Back, rump, and tail-coverts, reddish-orange,
barred and variegated with black. Greater coverts and some of the
secondaries bluish-gmy, passing towards the tips into grayish- white.
Quills brownish-black, with their shafts white. Tail-feathers white
at their bases, passing towards the middle into brownish-orange, with
one or two black bars ; the tips often white, and, when the feathers
Digitized by
Google
BUSTARD.
BUSTARD.
;»
are spread laterally, forming a segment of a circle. Upper part of
the breast reddish-orange ; lower part, belly, and vent, white. Legs
black, covered with round scales. Iridee reddish-brown. The pos-
session of a gular pouch by these birds, which was first recorded by
Dr. Douglass, seems to be a mistake, as Mr. Tarrell in dissecting a
male bustard has failed to detect this oi^gan. The average length of
a male is 8 feet 8 inches.
The female has the head and forepart of the neck of a deeper gray,
and without the moustaches. Back of the lower part of the neck
reddish-orange. The other parts of the plumage similar to t^t of
the other sex. Size seldom more than one-third of that of the male.
Great Bubiard '^Otia tarda), female.
The young at a month old are covered with a buff-coloured down,
barred u]x>n the back, wings, and sides with black.
With regard to its distribution, Selby says, " It is foimd in some
provinces of France and in parts of Germany and Italy. It is com-
mon in Russia and on the extensive plains of Tartary. Temminck
states that it inhabits some departments of France, of Italy, and
Oermany : that it is less abundant towards the north than in the
south ; and that it is very rarely and accidentally found in Holland.
Graves relates that the species is dispersed over the southern parts
of Europe, and the more temperate parts of Africa, and is very
abimdant in some parts of Spain and Portugal In our own islands
the increase of population and civilisation, followed by greater
demands on the land, and consequently by an extension of cultivated
surface, have so reduced the Bustards, that xmless care be taken to
preserve the few which remain, they will soon be numbered among
the other extinct species of our Fauna. The following are notices
of the old British localities of these noble birds. " They are called,"
says Willughby, " by the Scots GuBtard<g, as Hector Boethius witnes-
seth in these words : — In March, a province of Scotland, are birds
bred, called in the vulgar dialect Outtardes, the colour of whose
feathers and their flesh is not unlike the partridges, but the bulk of
their body exceeds the swans." The editor of the last edition of
Pennant states that in Sir Robert Sibbald's time, they were found in
the Mers, but that he believes that they are now extinct in Scotland.
Willughby also says (1678), " On Newmarket and Royston Heaths,
in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, and elsewhere, in wastes and plains
they are found with us." Ray (1713) thus writes:— "In campis
spatiosis circa Novum Mercatum (Newmarket) et Royston, oppida in
agro Cantabrigiensi, inque planitie, ut audio, Salisburiensi, et alibi in
vastis et apertis locis, invenitur." In Brookes's 'Ornithology' (1761)
the following passage occurs : — " This bmi (the bustard) is bred in
several parts of Europe, and particularly in England, especially on
Salisbury Flam, Newmarket and Royston Heaths, in Cambridgeshire
and Suffolk ; for it delights in lai^e open places. The flesh is in high
esteem, and perhaps the more so because it is not very easy to come
at." Pennant says, " These birds inhabit most of the open countries
of the south and east parts of this island from Dorsetshire as far as
the Wolds m Yorkshire."
The editor of the last edition (1812) observes that "the breed is
now nearly extirpated, except on the Downs of Wiltshire, where it is
also very scarce." The figure of the male bird given by Grayes ia
said to have been drawn from one taken alive on Salisbury Pl&ia b
1797. Montagu in his * Dictionary ' (1802) says that m thw locality it
had become very rare from the great price given for the eggs and
young to hatch and rear in confinement. In his ' Supplement' (1813)
he states that not one had been seen there for two or three yean
previous. Graves says that, in the spring of 1814, he saw fivebirdi
on the extensive plains between Thetford and Brandon, in Norfolk.
from which neighbourhood in 1819 he received a single e^^, wbich
had been found in a large warren. In the autumn of 1819, he add:,
a large male bird which had been surprised by a dog on Nevmartet
Heath, was sold in Leadenhall Market for five gmneas ; and b ihi
same year, he continues, a female was captured under siniikr cin-uiH'
stances on one of the moors in Yorkshire. When the mania for i-cfi
British specimens of birds was prevalent, the bustards suffered c-n
a little. We know a collector who, about the year 1816, had niw
dead bustards before him together: they came finom Norfolk In
1830 a young male was shot on Shelf ord Common, in Cambridgeshire,
and in 1832 a specimen was killed at Caxton in the same county. In
1843 one was shot in Cornwall on an open plain between Helston and
the Lizard Point. It is very certain, fi*om these notices, that thid bird
is becoming every day more rare in England, and will probably g<xA
be whoUy absent from its Fauna.
With regard to its food Willughby says that the Bustard fecdi
upon com, seeds of herbs, colewort, dandelion leaves, &c. In the
stomach of one which he dissected he foimd a great quantity of
hemlock-seed, with three or four grains of barley, and that in harvest
time. Brookes states that they feed upon frogs, mice, small bbls.
and diflerent kinds of insects. Pennant makes their food to consst
of com and other vegetables, and those large earth-worms tb&t
appear on the Downs before sun-rising in the summer. Montarn
states it to be green com, the tops of turnips, and various oth-r
vegetables, as well as worms ; but adds, that they have been bow..
to eat frogB, mice, and young birds of the smaller kind, which tkv
can swallow whole. Turnip-tops are certainly a favourite article of
diet with these birds ; and we believe that the nine bustards ab-^ve
mentioned owed their fate to their fondness for this vegetable— beic?
laid in wait for at their feeding-time. Tnmminck says that tbt'r
nourishment consists very much of insects and worms, and also of
grain and seeds.
The eggs of the Bustard, two in number generally, sometiiiit-
three, arc laid upon the bare ground, which is often a little hollowed
out by the female (occasionally, says Selby, among clover, but mon'
frequently in corn-fields), early in the spring. They rather excwii
those of a turkey in size, and their colour is a yellowish-briwc.
inclining to oil-green, with slight darker variations. Time of incu
bation four weeks. The young as soon as hatched follow the parent,
but are incapable of flight for a long time.
The extreme rapidity of their running, and the unwillingness to
rise on the wing exhibited by these birds, have been the tiieme of
most ornithologists. We have also many accounts of their beinjj
coursed with dogs. The following is from Brookes :— " There are
also bustards in France which frequent large open plains, particulaxlv
near Chalons, where in the winter time there are great number? of
them seen together. There is always one placed as a sentinel, at some
distance from the flock, which gives notice to the rest of any danger.
They raise themselves from the ground with great diflBculty ; for they
run sometimes a good way, beating their wings before they fly.
They take them with a hook baited with an apple or flesh Som*^
times fowlers shoot them as they lie concealed behind some eminence.
or on a load of straw ; others take them with greyhounds, which
often catch them before they are able to rise." Selby, who has
evidently had good opportunities of observation, thus write* in hi«
* Illustrations :—" Although, in a state of confinement, the bustard
becomes tolerably tame to those who are in the habit of attending
it, yet it displays at all times considerable ferocity towards strangers;
and all attempts to continue the breed in that state have been without
success. With respect to its habits in the wild state, it is so shy «
seldom to be approached within gun-shot ; invariably selecting the
centre of the largest inclosure, where it walks slowly about, or stand*
with the head reposing backwards upon the bare part of its neck,
and frequently with one leg drawn up. Upon being disturbed.*)
far from nmning in preference to flight (as has been often descrilied|.
it rises upon the wing with great facility, and flies with much strength
and swiftness, usually to another haunt, which will sometimes be »t
the distance of six or seven miles. It has also been said that m
former days when the species was of common occurrence, it wa.^ »
practice to nm the young birds (before they were able to fly) with
greyhounds. So far from this possibility existing with the present
remnant of the breed, the young birds upon being alarmed constantly
squat close to the groimd, in the same manner as the young of the
lapwing, golden plover, &c., and in that position are frequently taken
by hand; indeed this is even the habit of the female during
incubation." Selby's remarks on its powers of flying are corroborated
by the 'Booke of Falconrie or Hawking' (1611), where, under the
head of ' Other flights to the fielde called great flights,' at p. 83, we
find it thus written : — " There is yet another kind of flight to the
Digitized by
Google
BUSTARD.
BUSTARD.
702
fielde, called the great flight, as to the cranes, wild geese, bustard,
bird of paradise, bittors, shovelars, hearons, and many other such
like, and these you may flee from the fist, which is properly tearmed
the source. Neverthelesse, in this kind of hawking, which is called
the Great Flight, the falcons or other hawkes cannot well accomplish
their flight at the cranes, bustard, or such like, unlesse they have the
heipe of some spaniell, or such dogge, wel inured and taiight for that
purpose with your hawke. Forasmuch as great flights require
pleasant ayde and assistance, yea and that with great diligence." As
an article of food the flesh of the bustard is held in great estimation.
It is dark in colour, short in fibre, but sweet and well-flavoured.
0. tetrcuc, the Little Bustard, is only an accidental winter visitor in
Great Britain. Specimens have been killed in various parts of our
coast. It is frequent in the southern and south-western parts of
Russia. It is common in France, and also' found in Spain, Provence,
Sardinia, Italy, and Sicily. It is also an inhabitant of North Africa,
Turkey, and Greece.
0. nigricepa is a native of Asia. The specimen from which the
figure in Mr. Gk)uld*B magnificent work (* Century of Birds from the
Himalaya Moimtains ') was taken was brought from the highlands of
the Himalaya, but it is by no means confined to that locality. Colonel
Sykes obeerved it in the wide and open country of the Mahrattas,
where it lives in large flocks, and where it is considered one of the
greatest delicacies as an article of food. It is indeed so abundant in
the Deccan, that Colonel Sykes records, in the * Proceedings of the
Zoological Society,' that one gentleman shot nearly a thousand.
The male has the body above pale bay, lightly undulated with
rufous-brown ; neck, a few spots on the wings, and belly, white ; the
head, which is crested, the outer wing-coverts, the quills, and tho
large mark on the breast, black; irides deep-brown; bill and feet
yellowish. Length, inclusive of tail, 564 inches ; tail, 134 inches.
brown. Quills black. Feet yellowish-green. Bill brown, yellow at
the base. Length 20 inches ; height, when erect, 17 inches 6 lines.
Le Vaillant discovered this species in the interior of South Africa,
inhabiting the Kaffir country and some parts of the colony ,of the
Cape of Gk>od Hope. Temminck, from whom the description and
figure are taken, says that he is ignorant whether the female difiers
in plumage from the male, of which latter sex were the two indi-
viduals he had seen. There are specimens in the museums of ParLs
and of the Netherlands.
Otis nlgriccpSf male.
The female resembles the male in plumage, but is only 414 inches
including the tail, which is 104 inches.
The eggs, of which Colonel Sykes found only one in a hole in the
earth on the open plain and that considerably advanced in the process
of incubation, were in shape a perfect oval, and in colour a brown-olive,
with obscure blotches of darker brown-olive. Length 3j^ inches,
diameter 2/^ inches.
0. cantUicma is an inhabitant of Africa. The summit of the head
is marked with black and reddish zig-zags, straight and nearly approxi-
mated. Above the eyes extends a large whitish baud, punctured as
it were with brown ; plumes near the ear-opening of a clear ruddy
colour. Under the neck a demi-circular band of pure white ; and
Ulow another twice as large, of deep black. Front of the neck,
breast, and all the other lower parts of a lead-colour. All the upper
parts of the body of a reddish or yellowish brown, marked with black
^^<?-Hig« and dots very nearly together. Lower coverts of the wings and
tail-feathers unspotted, ruddy. End of the tail black, tir.ged with
Otis cwiulcsccns, male.
0. Denkami, the African Bustard met with by Major Denham neai*
the larger towns, did not occur in any great abundance. It frequented
moist places where the herbage was pure and fresh, and where it was
taken in snares by the natives for food. It was almost invariably
seen singly, Major Denham never having observed a pair together
more than once. It was always found in company vrith gazelles :
whenever a bustard was observed it was certain that the gazelles were
not far distant. Major Denham praises its large and brilliant eye.
The Arabs are accustomed to compare the eyes of their most beautiful
women to those of the Oubara, which seems to be a general name for
the bustards in Africa. Gmelin has given the title as a specific dis-
tinction to an African bustard smaller than Major Denham' s, which
is 3 feet 9 inches in length. But this is smell in comparison with the
Kori Bustard (Otis Kori) discovered by Mr. Burchell in South Africa,
for that stood upwards of 5 feet high, and may be considered the
most gigantic development of the form hitherto observed*
Burchell, in his Travels in the interior of Southern Africa, gives the
following account of his becoming possessed of this noble Bustard on
the banks of the Orange River :— " We shot a large bird of the bustard
kind, which was called Wilde Paauw (Wild Peacock). This name is
here very wrongly applied, as the
bird, to which it properly belongs
differs from this in every respect.
There are indeed three, or perhaps
four, birds to which in difierent
districts this appellation is given.
The present species, which is called
Kori in .the Sichuana language,
measured in extent of wing not
less than 7 feet, and in bulk and
weight was almost greater than
some of the people could manage.
The imder part of the body was
white, but the upper part was
covered with fine lines of black on
a light chestnut-coloured ground.
The tail and quill-feathers pai-took
of the genei^ colouring of the
back ; the shoulders we¥c marked
with large blotches of bla^k and
white, and the top of tho h*id was black ; the feathers of the occiput
were elongated into a orc«t ; those of the neck were also elongated,
loose, narrow, and pointed, smd were of a whitish colour marked with
numerous transverse lines of black. The irides were of a beautiful.
Head of Kori Bustard {Otis Kori).
Digitized by
Google
BUTCHER-BIRD.
BUXUS.
701
pellucid, changeable, silvery, femigineous colour. A representation
of the head of the Kori Bustard is given at the end of the chapter.
Its body was so thickly protected by feathers that our largest sized
shot made no impression, and taught by experience the hunters never
fire at it but with a bullet It is reckoned the best of the winged
game in the country, not only on account of its size but because it is
always found to abound in fat. The meat of it is not unlike that of
a turkey, but is certainly superior as possessing the flavour of game."
BUTCHER-BIRD. [Laniada]
BUTCHER'S-BROOM. [Ruscus.]
BUTEA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Legumi-
noBce, named nfter John, Earl of Bute, a great patron of botanists.
It has a campanulate calyx, 5-toothed, the two superior teeth
approximate and almost connected ; the corolla with a lanceolate
spreading vexillum; keel incurved, equal in length to wings and
vexillum ; the stamens diadelphous; the legume stipitate, compressed,
flat, meuibranoiis, indehiscent, l-seeded at the apex ; the seed large,
compressed. The species are natives of the East Indies. They are
unarmed trees, with pinnately trifoliate leaves, with racemes of deep
scarlet flowers.
B. frondosa has pubescent branches ; roundish obtuse or emarginate
leaflets, velvety beneath; the corolla four times thp length <»f the
calyx ; the calycine teeth rather acute. It is a native of mountainous
districts in Hindustan. A red juice flowa from this tree, which when
evaporated is found to consist principally of tannin, and is brought
into the market under the name of East Indian Kino. The juice of
the common flowers, which in this species are two inches long, gives
to water a bright yellow colour similar to gamboge. This property is
al8(\^os8e88ed by the dried petals. " The lac insects are frequently
found upon the smaller branches of the tree, but whether the natural
i'uices of its bark contribute to improve their red colouring matter
las not been determined." (G. Don.)
B. tuperha hajs glabrous branches ; roundish ovate obtuse leaflets,
velvety beneath ; the corolla four times the length of the calyx ; calyx-
teeth acute. It grows on the mountains of Coromandel. It resembles
the last species, but is larger in all its parts. It yields the same kind
of juice. There are two other species described,
(G. Don, Gardener's Dictionary ; Lindley, VegdahU Kingdom.)
BUTEO, a genus of Birds belonging to the order Rapt ores
and the family Falconid^e. It includes, according to Yarrell, two
British species, B. vulgaris, the Common Buzzard, and B. lagopus, the
Rough-Legged Buzzard. [Falconidjs.] Various other species of the
Falconidce have been included under this generic name. (Yarrell,
British Bird^.)
BUTOMA'CE^, BiUomads, the Butomus Tribe, a natural orJer of
Endogens, the type of which is the BiUomus umbcUatus, a common
Flowering Rush {Butomus unibclfafus).
1 , A section of a portion of a leaf ; S, an entire flower ; 3, the carpels ;
4, tiic ripe fruit ; 5, a separate carpel ; 0, a transverse* section, showing how
the whole lining of the ripe carpels is covered with seeds; 7, a seed much
magnified ; 8, a longitudinal section of the same ; 9, a ^eed germinating ;
10, the same in a more advanced state; e, the cotyledon; &, the plumule
sprouting ; a, the radicle just bursting through its integuments. (N.B. This
offers an illustration of the endorhisal mode of germination,)
water-plant of this country. It is vulgarly called the Flowering Rush,
and is accounted the handsomest herbaceous plant of the British
Flora. Butomacea: are briefly characterised by being Tripetaloideous
Endogens (that is, with three sepals distinct in size and colour from
the three petals), with several carpels, the whole lining of which \r
covered with seeds. This simple circumstance cuts them off from
Alisviac€(B, with which they were once associated, and also di8tinguii»he.s
them from all other monocotyledonous orders. The order is a very
small one, not containing more than three known genera, and about
half a dozen species, natives of equinoctial America, exclusive of the
Buiomxu umbellatut of England, and another species of the same geniu
occurring iu Nepal.
Butomus umbellatus is a rush-like plant with three-cornered sword-
shaped leaves, and umbels of handsome rose-coloured flowers, con-
taining nine stamens, a peculiarity by which it is immediately
i-ecognised among other wild flowers. The roots of it are r^rded in
Russia as a specific iu hydrophobia ; but experiments made with them
in this country have not confirmed the accounts of their influence in
this utterly incurable disease recorded by the Russian phyaiciana.
BUTT, a name for the Flounder. [Platessa.]
BUTTER-BUR. [Petasites.]
BUTTER-FISH. [Mur^noides.]
BUTTERFLY. [Lepidoptera.]
BUTTERFLY-FISH. [Blennics.]
BUTTERFLY-ORCHIS. [Platanthera.]
BUTTERFLY-PLANT. [Oncidium.]
BUTTERFLY-WEED, a name given in the United States to the
Asclepxa* iuberosa. [Asclepias.]
BUTTERS, VEGETABLE, the name given to the concrete oil of
certain vegetables, from its resemblance to the butter obtained from
the milk of animals, and from being employed for similar purposesi.
The term is also occasionally, but improperly, applied to Bome
vegetable products which are entirely of a waxy nature, such as the
wax of the Myrica cenfcra. The name is likewise bestowed in Siberia
on certain alga3, species of the genus NostoCy such as N. prunifarmL
The most importnnt Vegetable Butters are produced by the Bastia
butyracca and other species of that genus {Bastia) and certain palms,
such as the Cocos biUyracea and the Elais Guineerms ; the former of
which is of great utility to the inhabitants of Brazil, where it growH
naturally, and to the negroes of St Domingo, where it is cultivated;
while the latter is very serviceable to the natives of Guinea.
{Library of Entertaining Knowledge — Vegetable Substances, MattriaU
of Manufacture J p. 221.)
BUTTER-TREE. [Bassia.]
BUTTERWORT. [Pinodicdla.]
BUXBAUMIA, a genus of plants belonging to the uatui-al order of
Mosses. It was named in honour of J. C. Buxbaum, a Gerraan
botanist, and author of a catalogue of plants of the environs of Halle,
and who first detected this moss in Russia. Buxbaumia has an oblique
gibbous capsule ; a double peristome, the outer consisting of numerous
filiform erect joiutless teeth, the inner a plaited membranous cone ;
a minute mitriform calyptra. There is but one species of this singular
genus, the B. apkylla. This plant is destitute of apparent leaves, and
looks more like a fungus than a moss. The ascending axis of the
plant is in fact reduced to a little conical bulb, which is clothe<l with
minute scales, and these Mr. Robert Brown pointed out as its leave:».
From the bulb arises a red tuberculated seta bearing the reproductive
organs, which is about an inch high. It is a very rnre ]>laut It was
first discovered in Great Britain at Sproughton near Norwich. It hft.<»
also been found in three or four localities in Scotland. (Smith's
English Flora^ vol. v.)
BUXUS, the genus of plants whose species afford the valuable Linl
wood called Box. It is remarkable botanically as being the most
northern arborescent plant of the natural order Euphorbiacece, all the
other trees of which are confined to mild or tropical climates. Its
essential character is to have both the male and female flowers upon
the same individual; a 3- or 4 -parted calyx ; in the males a 2-lobe*i
scale and 4 stamens placed round the rudiment of an ovary ; in the
females 8 small scales, 3 styles, 3 blunt stigmas, and a 3-honK^i
3-celled S-seeded capsular fruit
The only two certain species are B. sempei'virens and B. BaJearica.
The former, or common Box, foi-ms a large evergreen bush or small tree,
common all over the south of Europe, from Spain to Constantinople,
and reaching even so far as the north of Persia. In this country it is
only found on warm chalky hills. Many varieties are known in gardens,
the most remarkable of which is the Dwarf-Box, so much used for the
edgings of walks. Between this and the arborescent form the
difference is so great, that one wonders how they can be both the
same species, and Miller and others have even considered them difitinct.
But De Candolle states that the wild plant in France is very variable
in size, rising in some places to the height of 15 or 20 feet, and in
rocky localities not exceeding 3 feet. It is from the arborescent
Buxus sempervirens that box-wood is obtained. For the turner, for
mathematical instruments, and especially for the uses of the woo<l
engraver, it is invaluable. The Fi-ench employ it for coat-button?.
Ac. " The value of the box-wood sent from Spain to Pari^ i^
reported to amount to about 10,000 francs a year. In 1815, the
box-trees cut down on Box-Hill, near Dorking in Surrey, produced
upwards of 10,000^" (Macculloch, * Dictionary of Commerce.') Great
quantities are imported from Turkey, and of fine quality. The
Digitized by
Google
T06
BUZZARD.
BYSSOMA.
706
l-:ayefl have been employed, medicinally, as a tonic^ a substitute for
Peruvian bark.
Biumt BaUarica, the Majorca Box, is a handsomer plant than the
other, with broader leaves, and a more rapid gi'owth ; but it is much
more impatient of cold. Plants of it however live in the neighbour-
iiood of London without protection. It is found wild in the neigh-
iTourhood of Lluch in Majorca, on the hills, at the height of 1500
feet ; and it also occurs abundantly on Mount Galatzo, where it is
xningled with the palmetto, but not in great masses. We find nothing
2X1 books concerning the quality of its wood ; but there is reason to
suppose that a part at least of the Spanish and Turkey box-wood is
£urmshed by this species.
BUZZARD. [Falconid^]
BYRRHUS, a genus of Coleopterous Insects, instituted by Linnaeus,
l>clongmg to the family of ByrrhidcR as*^ defined by Leach. The
beetles composing it are more or less globose, very convex, and
sericeous ; the club of their antennae is 5-jointed, and is gradually
tliickened to the extremity. The elytra cover the body, and the
animal can so contract its legs as to pack them in cavities adapted for
their reception on the imder side of the body. This it does when
alarmed, simidating death. The larva of the common species, the
Syrrhua pUulaj popularly known as the Pill-Beetle, is of an elongate
form, narrow, with a large head, the dorsal plate of the first segment
large, and the two terminal segments lai^er than the others. Seven
British species of Byrrkua are eniunerated by Mr. Stephens in his
* SyHtematic Catalogue of British Insects.' (Westwood, Introduction
to Entomohffy.)
BYRSONIMA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Malpighiaeea. The bark of the species is astringent, and is used
extensively for tanning in the Brazils. The wood of some of the
species, especially B. verhascifoliOf is of a bright red. The bark of
A craaifolia is used in fevers. B. crasHfolia is one of the thousand
remedies for rattlesnake bites. It is called Chapera Manteca. The
Alcomoco Bark is the produce of B. laurifoUa, B. rhopaUsfoliOf and
B. coccolobafolia. The acid and astringent berries of B. spiccUa are
said to be good in dysentery. (Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom.)
BYSSA'CE^, a tribe of Cryptogamic Plants, raised by some
botaniats to the importance of a distinct order, whilst others refer it
either to the Lichens or the Fwngi, or distribute its genera amongst
the various orders of Cryptogamia. Fries places this group of plants
in the natural order of Lichens, with the following definition : —
'* Aerial, perennial, constantly growing, with a filamentous texture,
consisting of solid fibres (either few, or several glued together, with
a common bark), unchanged and permanent. Fructification homo-
geneous, growing externally and naked." Many of the species of
plants referred to this order are of a very doubtful nature, and
particular states of decaying vegetable and animal matter have
undoubtedly been described as plants, and placed amongst them.
These forms of matter, whatever they may be, are not less interesting
to the naturalist than if they came under his definition of a plant.
The genus BJuzomorpha [Rhizomobpha] is referred by most
botanists to Byssacea. Some authors have doubted their specific vege-
table character. The various forms are found on decaying wood, and
in mines, pits, and dark places. In the coal-mines of Dresden they
form objects of great interest on account of their phosphorescence.
JVIr. Erdmann, quoted by Burnett in his ' Outlines of Botany,' gives
the following account of this phenomenon in one of the Dresden
mines: — "I saw," he riiays, "the luminous plants here in wonderful
beauty ; the impression produced by the spectacle I shall never forget.
It appeared, on descending into the mine, as if we were entering an
enchanted castle. The abundance of these plants was so great that
the roof and walls and the pillars were entirely covered with them, and
tho beautiful light they cast around almost dazzled thb eye. The
light they give out is like faint moonshine, so that two persons near
each other could readily distinguish their bodies. The lights appeal*
to be most considerable when the temperature of the mines is com-
paratively high." One of the species, Rhizomwpha cinchonarum, Is
found on the cinchona barks of commerce, and is a sure indication of
their worthless state. Another species of Byssacea, HimaiUia cinchon-
arum of F^ is an evidence of the subputrescent state of the barks
on which it is found. Racodium is a genus referred by Fries to this
group of plants. The R ceUare is a common plant in wine-cellars,
where it forms a kind of tapestry on the walls and roofs, investing
the casks and bottles with a tunic resembling in colour and appear-
ance the akin of a mouse. Uypochnua is a genus found on the decaying
bark of trees. When found on barks used for medicinal purposes,
they should bo rejected as unfit for use, as this plant indicates
incipient decay.
The genera Monilia and A»pergUltt8 are sometimes referred to
ByncLcea. The species of these genera, with many others, form ^hat
is known by the name of Mould on various substances. [Mouldiness.]
Mcmilia peniciUctta is commonly found on plants in herbaria. The
various forms of Aspergillus are found on all kinds of decaying sub-
stances. A. glaiLcws is the blue-mould which forms on cheese, lard,
bread, &c. It gives a value to cheese, and its colour is often imitated
by fraudulent dealers by sticking brass pins into the cheese, the
verdigris formed from the pins giving it the colour of mould.
Most of the species of the old genus Byssua are distributed amongst
MAT. mST. DIV. VOL. L
other genera. B. lolithusy the Violet-Scented Byssus, is found of a
deep red colour on boarded buildings, old pales, and trunks of trees,
on rocks in mountainous countries, and on walls. It is now called
Lepraria lolithia. It is not less remarkable for its violet scent
than its red colour. [Snow, Red.] There is another plant, Chroo-
lepua lolUhuSt which was included under the Byssus lolitkvs of older
writers. Byssus Cryptarum forms the genus Tophora of recent writers.
Several species of Tophora have been named. They do not however
produce spores, and by some they are supposed to arise from the
germination of the spores of fei-ns and mosses arrested in the rudi-
mental state. The LeprarUe are sometimes referred to Byssacecs, but
they seem to be the commencing point of the organisation of true
Lidhens. They have a thallus resembling a scurf which is fomied of
sporules. They ai-e very common on decaying timber of all kinds.
The cells of the leaves of many plants during decay assume a
variety of forms which have been described as cryptogamic plants,
imder the genera Phyllerium, Erin^wn, Cfrumaria, Taphna^ &c.
[Fungi.] Many of these so-called plants are meteoric productions.
" On one occasion they are said to have suddenly overrun idl the leaves
of pines on the side next the wind in the neighbourhood of Dresden ;
on another, on the 29th of August, 1830, to have in an instant spread
over the sails and masts of a ship at Stockholm ; and Fries is disposed
to consider the cobweb-like matter that overruns the grass in the
mornings of spring and autumn of this nature, and not of animal
origin." (Lindley.)
(Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom; Burnett, Outline; Smith, English
Flora,)
BYSSOARCA, a sub-genus of Molluscay separated by Swainson
from the genus Area of Linnaeus, and considered by the -former as
the sedentary type of that genus. The following is the sub-generic
character given by Swainson in his second series of 'Zoological
Illustrations : ' — Animal fixed by byssiform filaments to other bodies ;
shell transverse; umbones remote; valves gaping in the middle of
the ventral margin.
" The animals of these shells," says the author last quoted, " affix
themselves to other bodies by a particular muscle, which is protruded
through the gaping part of the valves ; they also adhere when young
by the byssiform epidermis which covers the exterior." Mr. G. B.
Sowerby has described several new species collected by Mr. Cuming
on the western coast of South America and among the islands of the
South Pacific Ocean, in the * Proceedings of the Zoological Society
of London 'for 1858. Byssoarca hsa been found moored to stones
and shells at depths varying from the surface to 75 fathoms.
Ityssoarca Xoce.
1, Valves closed; 2, valves closed, view of the hinge area ; 3, a single valTC,
sliowing the hinge teeth and the interior of the valve ; o, umbones ; &, part of
the ventral margin where the valves gape, to give room for the extrusion of the
tendinous foot.
BYSSOMYA, a genus of Conchiferous Mollusks, separated by Cuvier
and placed by him under his Acephalous Testacea, between Pandora
sndffiatella, De Blainville, who approves of Cuvier's separation,
observing that, though the shell diflTers little from Saxicava, the animal
is very distinct, arranges it in his fiaunily of Pyloridea, between iaxi-
cava and Rhomhoides.
Generic Character. — Animal more or less elongated, subcylindrical,
elongated behind by a long tube, which is bifurcated at its extremity
only. A hole at the lower and anterior part of the mantle for the
passage of a small conical canaliculated foot, and of a byssus situated
at its posterior base. Two strong adductor muscles.
Shell often irregular, covered with a sti-ong epidermis, oblongi
2 z
Digitized by
Google
ro7
BYSSUa
CACTACEJ3L
70^
Byssomya pholadis.
Bbrougly striated longitudinally, equivalve, very inequilateral, obtune
and wider before, and attenuated or rostrated as it were behind.
Umbones but little developed, though distinct and a little curved
forward. Hinge toothleesy or only having a rudiment of teeth
under the corse-
let. External
ligament ra-
ther long. Two
strong, distant,
and rounded
muscular im-
pressions.
Example, Py«-
aomya pholadis,
Saxicava phola-
dis of Lamarck.
The species
inhabits the
northern seas,
living in the
fissiures of rocks
in company
with MytUi
(Mussels), and
attached by its
byssus ; but
sometimes it buries itself in the sand or lodges in small stones, the
roots of Fucif and even in the polymorphous MUlepora : in the latter
cases, according to 0. Fabricius, it is without byssus.
Forbes and Hanley, in the * History of British MoUusca,* refer
B. pholadii of Bowdich and the S. pholadia of Lamarck as synonymous
to Saxicava rttgota. [Saxicava.]
BYSSUS, the name of a long, delicate, lustrous, and silky fasciculus
of filaments, by w^hich some of the conchiferous moUusks (the Myti-
laceOf Mussels, and Malleacea^ Hammer Oysters, for example) are
mooi«d to submarine rocks, &c. This is not, us some authors have
stated, a secretion spim by the animal, but, according to De Blainville,
an assemblage of muscular fibres dried up in one ps^ of their extent,
still contractile and in a living state at their origin, a condition which
they enjoyed throughout their whole length at the period of their
attachment. The tendinous foot of Byssoarca and Tridacna seems
to be a step towards the organisation of a true byssus. In the great
Pinna of the Mediterranean this substance is well and lax*gely deve-
loped, and its situation is in a fleshy sac or sheath at the base of the
foot, which is .attached towards the middle of the abdominal mass of
the animal. In Italy the byssus is manufactured into various articles ;
and there are few museums without a glove or a stocking woven out
of this substance. In the Great Exhibition of 1851 a large number
of articles were exhibited manufactured from this substance, as well
as specimens of the silk for making up.
BYTTNERIA'CEuE, Byttneriads, the Byttneria Tribe, a group
of plants by some botanists considered a distinct natural order, by
others reduced to a section of Sterculiacece. They belong to Lindley's
Malval alliance of Exogens, and are readily known by their petals
being bagged at the base, their stamens partly sterile and petaloid,
and their finit covered with hooked spiny hairs. From Sterculiacece
proper they differ by the presence of petals, and their stamens not
being united into a column; from Malvacece by their 2-celled
anthers and bagged petals ; and' from Latiopetalea: by their calyx not
being coloured like a corolla, and their petals not rudimentary. The
species are chiefly inhabitants of tropical countries. They partake of
the mucilaginous inert properties of Malvacea:, Their bark often
yields a tough filjre fit for manufacture into cordage ; and one spede?,
Tkeobroma Cacao [Thkobroma], produces the seeds from which the
buttery and somewhat bitter substance called cocoa is obtained, a&d
which foims the basis of chooolate.
7 H
6 V
Byttneria inodom.
1, A complete flower Been from above ; the outer pentagon is the etlyi, '<^
auricled bodies are petals, and the five-rayed centre represents the fire "tfrik
stamens ; 2, the calyx cut open, with the stamens attached to it ; 3, »
longitudinal section of a flower, showing the origin of the petal* ; 4, t petal ;
5, a calyx seen from above, with the young fruit cut transversely, aad it*
hocked hairs with which it is covered projecting flrom iU sides ; 6, a etaafs;
7, the ovary.
The fruit of Guazuma vlmifolia is eaten by the Brazilians. Mmj
of the species yield fibres which might be manufactured into cortug •
as Micn)l<jena apectahilia and Abroma avgttstum. [Abbosll] 1^
Madagascar the bark of Ihmheya spectabUis is made into i^y^-
[Dombeya.]
BYTTNERIADS. [Btttnewacea]
CABBAGE. [Bbassica.]
CABBAGE, BRAZIL. [Caladitm.]
CABBAGE PALM. [Areca]
CABOTZ, a name for the Cusso or Kousso. [BraYIRA.]
CACHALOT. [Cetacea.]
CACHOLONG. [Opal.]
CACTACE^, or CACTEiE, Indian Figs, the Cactus Tribe, a
natural order of Exogeno\is plants.
The fructification of these plants consists of a calyx adhering to the
ovary, with a border divided into an wicertain number of segments,
which are arranged in several rows, the one overlapping the other,
and the innermost graduallv ceasing to be green and leafv, but
ncquiring the delicacy and colour of petals. The latter usually pass
into sepals by insensible gradations, are very numerous, and often
brilliantly coloured. The stamens originate in the orifice of the tube
formed by the combination of the petals and sepals, are very nume-
rous, and consist of delicate thread-shaped filaments terminated by
small roundish anthers. The ovary, which, in consequence of its
adhesion to the sepals, seems to occupy the place of the stalk of the
flower, consists of a single cell lined with parietal i)lacentse covered
over with minute ovules ; its style is slender ; the stigm* i-^ etar-
shaped and divided into as many narrow^ lobes as the ovary conu«£^
placent®. The fruit is a succulent berry, marked at the end py ^
broad scar formed by the separation of the limb of the <*Jp,^'
contains a great quantity of sec^s, which consist of nothing but &^^
containing a succulent embryo slightly two-lobed at the upper enu.
In natural affinity these plants have been considered allied to M"
Gooseberry Tribe (Grosmlacea:) on account of the great similant} jn
the structiu^ of their fruit, and in the general production ®^J^®*
upon their branches. Their relationship is probably far gr^^
with Afesembryacete and the other epigynous orders of polypetaiow
dicotyledons. , .
The habit of Cactaee(F is remarkable. They have a veiy ^^^^^^
stem in which the woody system is developed in but a small P^^^
tion compared to the whole mass. Usually the stem is angular ^
deeply channeled, occasionally it is destitute of both ^^^ ^.
channels, but in that case is mostly either much compressed as '
Opuntia, or leafy as in EpiphyUum. Sometimes it is continnouMi-oi^
the base to the apex, but in many instances it is divided '?^ ^
regular joints, each of which has a similar form varying y^vA
Digitized by
Google
CACTACEiE.
CACTUS.
710
species : in these instauces however it is worthy of remark that as
the steins advance in age the angles fill up, or the articulations 6ia-
appear in consequence of the slow growth of the woody axis and the
gradual development of the celluhiJ substance ; so that " at the end
of a number of years, which vary according to the species, all the
branches of Cactacece, however angular or compressed they originally
may have been, become trunks that are either perfectly cylindrical
or which have scarcely any visible angles. This metamorphosis is
one of the causes which render it so difficult to identify species that
have been described in their native localities from full-grown speci-
mens with such as are cultivated in the gardens of Europe." The
greater part of the species have stems which are more or less
elongated, but in some they are spherical, as in the whole genera
Mdocactut and Echinocactus. Whatever may be the form of the stem,
they usually bear upon -their surface little tubercles which at an eai'ly
age lose the leaves. Those organs however rapidly fall away, and are
iiucceeded by tufts of hairs or spines hooked backward at the ends,
and then the species have the appearance of being perfectly leafless.
Ifclocacttu communis.
AIHhe species are believed to be natives of America, whence how-
ever some of the Opuntias have been so long introduced to the Old
World that they have here and there taken possession of the soil, and
appear like aboriginal inhabitants. Such is the case on the volcanic
soQ of ^tna, and in variotis places on the shores of the Mediterranean ;
and this has led to the erroneous idea entertained by Sprengel and
others, that the Opuntia of Theophrastus was the Opuntia vulgaina of
modem botanists. The Cactacece are chiefly found in the tropical
parts of America, a few species only escaping from those countries ;
a*, for example, to the southern states of North America and to the
highlands of Chili and Mendoza. They principally occur on hot dry
rocka or plains where the commoner forms of vegetation could not
exist, and may be considered one of the means which nature has
pn)vided for the * support of man in regions where neither food nor
y^ater can be procured. Their sterna are filled with an abundant
inxipid wholesome fluid, and their fruit is succulent and in many cases
'•nixjrior to that of European gooseberries. In the fevers of their
native countries they are freely administered as a cooling drink, and
heing bruised they are esteemed a valuable means of curing ulcers.
y^r the sake of such their uses, because of their rapid growth, and
specially on account of the numerous spines with which they are
armed, the Opuntias or Tunas, as the Spanish Americans call them, are
much planted rovmd houses as fences, which neither man nor animals
oan easily break through. They are not imfrequent in the dry forest-
lands of Brazil, but are said never to occur in the damper parts of the
lountry. In stature they vary greatly, many of them having small
f rt'^'ping stem ji, which Beem to crawl upon the groimd among the dead
^Miicht^ of the surrounding trees, with whose gray colour their deep
green shoots form a singular contrast. Others rise like candelabra
with many angidar ascending arms, while a few elevate their tall and
deeply-channeled leafless trunks far above the stunted vegetation of
the sterile regions they inhabit, reaching sometimes the height of 30
or 40 feet.
To enable them to endiure the excessive drought to which they are
naturally exposed they are furnished with an imusually tough skin,
the evaporating pores or stomates of which are few in number and
very often to all appearance merely rudimentary. This cobtrivance
prevents their losing the scanty moisture which they collect from the
burning soil, and enables them to sustain the full ardour of the
brightest equinoctial sun without inconvenience; in this respect
resembling the succulent fniits of Europe, such as the plum, the
grape, the peach, &c, which by the absence of stomates from their
tough skin are equally enabled to bear the powerful action of the
bright Sim that is necessary for their maturation*
These facts teach us what the points are that it is moat necessary
to attend to in the cultivation of the numerous species which now
abound in our gardens. Their skin is so formed that perspiration
takes place veiy slowly through it, imless under the influence of
powerful stimulants and when in a yoimg state. It is therefore
obvious that they should be sparingly watered or not watered at all
during a considerable period of the year. Dry as the places usually
are in which Cacti naturally grow, they are periodically visited by
heavy rains, whicl^ combined with a bright light and a high tempera-
ture, force into activity even the sluggish vital powers of such plants
as those under consideration. At such a time the annual growth of
a Cactiu takes place, secretions which enable the species subsequently
to form its flowers are deposited, and a general impulse is given to
all the torpid energies of its constitution. But by degrees the rains
moderate and finally cease ; tlie young cuticle which at its first for-
mation perspired freely becomes thicker and tougher, and impermeable
to moisture ; what food has been obtained during the short period of
growth is securely inclosed within the recesses of the stem ; and when
the air and earth become dry the plant is provided with the means
of enduring another long period of fasting and inactivity. With the
fall of rain the heat moderates, but the light to which the Cacti are
exposed is but little if at all diminished; so that the assimilation
and alteration of the food contained within the stem keeps continually
going on, however slowly. It is by following this natural course of
events that gardeners have succeeded in bringing their Cacti to that
extraordinaiy state of beauty for ^which they are now conspicuous ; it
is by attending practically U> such points in the habits of the species
that we obtain the myriads of lai^ge, brilliant, red, or blush or snow-
white blossoms that form the glory of our green-houses in the spring.
A Cactut is placed in a damp stove, exposed to all the light that can
be collected without being concentrated, and it begins to grow : it is
then watered, at first gently, afterwards copiously with water holding
a quantity of organisable matter (manure) in solution ; this practice
is continued for three months, when the quantity of moisture is
diminished and the temperature is lowered, but exposure to light in
still attended to, till at last the plant sinks to rest. In this state it
is kept till the season for again forcing it into growth shall have
returned, when it is subjected to a repetition of the same treatment
as before.
If the Cactacem are to be propagated, their branches or joints, if
they have any, are cut off, a little dried, and then placed in a hot and
damp place, when they strike root immediately. Among the practi-
cal consequences, De CandoUe observes, that result from the facility
with which they are thus multiplied, is one which deserves to bo
noticed on account of its importance, namely, the manner in which
the Opuntia is employed to fertilise the old lavas at the foot of JEtna.
As soon as a fissure is perceived, a branch or joint of an Opwitia is
stuck in : the latter pushes out roots, which are nourished by the
rain that collects round them, or by whatever dust or remains of
organic matter may have collected into a little soil : these roots, once
developed, insinuate themselves into the most minute crevices, expand,
and fimdly break up the lava into mere fragments. Opuntias treated
in this manner produce a great deal of fruit, which is sold as a refresh-
ing food throughout all the towns of Sicily.
Where however the species have neither branches nor joints, as in
the case with some of the species of Melocactua and Echinocacttutf a
difierent mode of propagation is had recourse to : it is then necessary
to compel them to branch by artificial means. Each of the numerous
tufts of spines that occupy the ridges of their stems is a bud, and Ih
capable of being forced into a branch, if by any means the general
tendency to grow at the upper extremity only is checked. This is
efiected either by burning the apex of the plant with a broad flat iron,
or by cutting the plant across below the top, in either of which casen
several of the spiny buds will gradually swell and develop themHelve«
as little branches, which being broken off will strike root and become
new plants.
It is on species of the Cactacea; that the cochineal insect feeds. Of
these the most common are the three following : — Opuntia Tuna, which
seems the most employed in Peru ; 0. Uemandezii, which is the most
celebrated in Mexico ; and 0. cochenilUfera, the native province of
which is somewhat doubtful.
CACTUS, a genus of plants, the type of the natural order Cadacea,
Digitized by
Google
ni
CABDICE.
CALAMITES.
712
The apeciea are numerouB, and have the general characters of the
order. [Cactacea.]
CADDICE, CADDIS-WORM, or CAD-BAIT, the common name
for the larvae of the species of Pkryganea, which reside in the water,
in cases which they form of various substances, such as bits of stick,
grains of sand, small stones, shells, &c., which are held together by a
silken thread secreted in their bodies in the same manner as in the
silk-worm. The case acts as a protection to the larva, and it is capable
of draviring in its head or putting it out, aoooixling to circumstances.
CADMIUM. [QREBNOOKTrE.]
C^SALPINIA, a genus of plants belonging to the tribe Cassiecgj
of the natural order Leffumvnoias, and especially distinguished by the
lowermost of its sepals being arched, ike uppermost of its stalked
petals being the shortest^ its stamens all perfect with shaggy bases,
and the fruit a compressed bivalved pod. The species are trees or
shrubs, found in both the East and West Indies, with showy yellow
flowers, abruptly pinnated leaves, and stems which are iisuidly more
or less prickly. The Brazil-Wood of commerce is said to be famished
by two of its species.
One of these, C. Branlimsitf is a West Indian rather than a Bra-
zilian tree, without prickles, downy flower-stalks, panicled flowers,
smooth obtuse oblong leaflets. The other, C. echincUOf which is really
a Brazilian plant, is a prickly tree, with yellow and red blossoms,
smelling deliciously like lilies of the valley, prickly pods, and oval
blunt leaflets. Both these species undoubtedly yield a red wood, but
it is by no means clear that they exclusively furnish the Brazil- Wood
of commerce, as is commonly stated. According to Dr. Bancroft^
this article is obtained from a tree with a large crooked knotty stem,
the bark of which is so thick that a tree as large as a man's body with
the bark, will not be so thick as the ^g when peeled ; and he calls
this species C. Brasiletto, a name unknown to botanists : he however
states that it is called by the natives Ibiripitanga. Now, that is the
name given by Marcgraaf to the C. echincUa, but this author says
nothing about the peculiarity in the bark. One authority' however
ascribes a particularly thick alburnum to C. echincUa, but says nothing
of the banc. Malte-Brun says there are three kinds of Mirim, or
Brazil-Wood found in Brazil ; but he includes with them the C. Bror
iilientitf which there is no good authority for considering a native of
that country. F^e again refers the sappan wood of the East Indies
{CattUpinia Sappan) to one of the Brazil- Woods of the merchants.
Upon the whole it appears that we have no good testimony as to what
the tree is that yields it ; but it is probable that it is the produce of
many species, and posdiblv of more than one genus, for De CandoUe
and Sprengel doubt wheuier the Ocefalpinia echinata is not rather a
Guilandina. The best Brazil- Wood is said to come from Pemambuoo,
where it is called Pdo da Rainha, or Queen's Wood, on account of its
being a royal monopoly. The Bukkum or Sappan Wood of commerce
is yielded by 0. Sappan. A substance known in the markets under
the name of Dividivi or Libidibi has lately become important on
account of the tannin it contains. It is the fruit or pods of C. coriaria.
They are not used in medicine, but in dyeing and tanning.
CAFFER-BREAD. [Encephalartos.]
CAKILE, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Orucifercg,
to the suborder Lomentacea, and the tribe Oakilinea. In addition to
the accumbent cotyledons of the tribe, it has an angular pouch com-
posed of two 1 -seeded indehiscent joints, the upper joint deciduous,
with an erect seed, the lower one persistent, seedless, or with a pendent
seed. The species are annual branched herbs, smooth, fleshy, glaucous,
with pinnatifid or toothed leaves; racemes of flowers opposite the
leaves, and terminal with filiform bractless pedicles.
C, maritima, Purple Sea-Rocket, has the joints of the pouch 2-edged,
the upper one with two teeth at the base, the leaves flediy, pinnatifid,
somewhat toothed. The flowers are of a purplish colour. It is a
native of Europe, along the sea-coast from Swoden and Lapland to
Gibraltar ; it is also found on both sides of the Mediterranean. It is
a native of Great Britain, on the sea-coast This plant had at one
time a reputation as a cathartic, but it is not employed at the present
day. There are three other species of OakiUf named — C. JSgyptiaca^
C. Americana, O. eqwUit. They are all pretty annuals, and may be
easily cultivated. The seeds may be sown in spring or autumn, and
they should be treated as other hardy annuals.
(Babington, Manwd ; Don, Chwdmet't Dictionary.)
CALABASH, a name given in the West Indies to the fruit of the
tree called Crescentia Cujete by botanists. [Crescentia.]
CALA'DIUM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Ar<nde(e, and to the tribe Caladiece. The flowers are monoecious, and
the calyx and corolla are absent ; the male flowers have many-celled
peltate anthers, disposed in a spike at the end of the spadix ; the
female flowers have the ovaries inserted at the base of the spadix, no
style ,' the fruit is a 1-celled berry with many seeds. A great number
of species of this genus have been described. They are frequently
cultivated in this country for the sake of their spotted stems and neat
green leaves, which are rarely disfigured by any of the accidents which
afiect other stove-plants. They have the same general appearance as
the species of Arum, and also resemble them in physical and chemical
properties.
C.Seguinum, Dumb-Cane, is a caulescent suberect plant with oblong
cuspidate leaves, and the spadix shorter than the oblong spathe. This
plant is a native of South America and the West Indies. It grows to
a height of five or six feet. It secretes an acrid poison, so that when
any part of the plant is chewed the tongue swells and the power of
speech is lost It is on this accoimt called ' Dumb-Cane.* Sir William
Hooker, in his ' Exotic Flora,' relates the case of a gardener who
incautiously bit a piece of Dumb-Cane : " His tongue swelled to such
a degree that he could not move it ; he became utterly incapable of
speaking, and was confined to the house for some days in the most
excruciating tormenta" The juice is stated to impart an indelible
stain to linen. Notwithstanding its poisonous nature, P. Browne
says that, in common with the Arum ovatuntf its stalk is used to briog
sugar to a ^ood grain when it is too Tiscid, and cannot be made to
granulate with lime alone. In the districts where it grows the natives
use a decoction of the stem as a bath and fomentation in dropsy, and
the rootstock is used in obstinate constipation and in long-standing
gout The negroes use it as an anti-aphrodisiac.
O. tagittifclium, Brazil Cabbage, is stemless, with sagittate acumi-
nate leaves, the spadix shorter than the spathe, which is ovate-cucollate.
This plant is a native of the West Indies, and is called by the French
Chou-de-Bresil, and by the Germans Essbar Arum. In appearance
it resembles Arwn colocaria, and is used for .the same purposes. Both
the leaves and rootstock of this plant are eaten. The leaves are
boiled and eaten as coleworts; the rootstock is not considered so great
a delicacy as the leaves. Of all the eatable AroidMB, this appean to
be the most extensively cultivated. It is found in the East and West
Indies, in China, Japan, New Zealand, and the South Sea Islands.
When raw the rootstock contains a certain amount of the poisonous
secretion of the family, and like the potato has an acrid unpleasant
flavour, which entirely disappears in cooking. The leaves are rery
soft and glaucous, from being covered with a fine silky hair, and in
many places are used instead of plates and dishea
C. etculentum resembles the last : its leayes are peltate-cordate, and
its spathe ovate-lanceolate. It is also a native of South America, and
is cultivated on account of the starch contained in its rootstock It
possesses properties similar to the last.
C. arborescena is a poisonous species, though not so virulent as the
Dimib-Cane. Merat says that it was formerly used for wetting the
mouths of negroes as a punishment for slight m^isdemeanours.
(Loudon, Off clopcBdia of Plants ; Uiidlejf Naiural Syttem ; Burnett^
Outlines of Botany; Bischoff, Medicinitch-Pharmaceutischc Bolanik)
CALAMINE. [Zinc]
CALAMINT. [Calamintha.]
CALAMINTHA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Lamiacea, and the tribe Satureiinece. It has the apices of the stamens
connivent under the upper lip of the corolla; the anther-cells at
length divergent^ connective, subtriangular ; the upper lip of the
corolla straight^ nearly flat» the lower patent trifid ; the calyx 2-lipped
and 10-lS-nerved, throat hairy ; the flowers whorled, axillary or spiked.
This genus was constituted by Moench, and contains several species
which were placed under Thymus and Clinopodium by Smith, in
Melissa by Bentham, and one in Acinos by Hooker. Koch in his
' Flora Germanica' follows Moench, and also Babington in his ' Manual
of British Botany.' There are four species of this genus, common and
well-known plants in Great Britain.
0. Nepeta, Lesser Cajamint, Cat-Mmt, Balm or Field-Balm, has
leaves ovate, obtuse, serrated, pale beneath, shortly stalked ; calyx
subcampanulate, obscurely 2-lipped, teeth all nearly the same shape,
the upper ones slightly shoiier; nuts roimdish, almost smooth;
cymes dichotomons, many-flowereid. This is not a common plant,
and is found on dry banks. It has a strong aromatic smell not unlike
that of penny-royal, and a pungent taste. Cats are said to be ipnd of
the smell, and hence its name cat-mint An infusion of the leaves is
recommended as a tonic and stimulant in flatulence and colia This
and the other species possess the volatile oil which is foimd in the
whole order, and hence they all have a more or less powerful medicinal
action.
C. officinalis {Thymus Calaminiha, Smith; Melissa Calaminthaj
Benthiun), Mountain-Balm, Common Calamint» has broadly ovate,
rather acute, slightly serrated leaves, green on both sides, seated on
longish stalks; the calyx tubular, ventricose in front, distinctly
2-Upped, teeth of the upper lip triangular, of the lower twice as long,
and subulate; nuts roundish^ covered with impressed dots; cymes
scarcely dichotomous, few-flowered.
C. Acinos (Acinot vulgaris, Persoon ; Aeinos thymoides, Moench),
Basil-Balm, or BasU-Thyme, has ovate subserrate acute leaves with
revolute maigins ; tubular gibbous calyx distinctly 2-lipp6d, the
upper lip with short trian^ar teeth, the lower one with subulate
teeth, all convei^ging in fruit It is found in dry gravelly places, and
in corn-fields throughout Europe.
C. Clinopodium {Clinopodium wlgare. Smith), WQd Basil, Bed-Footy
has ovate obtuse leaves, rounded below, slightly crenate; whorls
equal, many-flowered; bracts setaceous, as long as the calyx. Common
in dry bushy places, in Europe ; it is also found in America, but has
probably been introduced there.
(Babington, Manual ; Bentham, Lahiatarum Genera et Speciet.)
CALAMITES, one of the most frequent and characteristic gpnera
of fossil plants. It is found abundantly, but not exclusively, in the
Carboniferous system of strata, and generally in the sandstones and
Digitized by
Google
713
CALAMOPHILUS.
CALAPPA.
714
shales which alternate with coaL Calamitet Suckovii occurs in most
European and American Coal-Fields. Calamites arenaceua occurs in
the Bunter Sandstein. We have found traces of a Calamites in the
Red Marl series of Worcestershire. [Coal Plants.]
CALAMOPHILUS, a genus of Birds belonging to the family
Paridce and the tribe Inseaaorea, sub-tribe Dentirostres. C. biarmicua
of Tarrell is the Parua biarmicua of Pennant and other writers. This
bird is conmion in Oreat Britain, and is known by the name of the
Bearded Tit. [Paridjjl] (Yarrell, British Birda.)
CALAMO'PORA, the generic title applied by Goldfuss to many
Palaeozoic Corals, for some of which Lamarck employed the name of
Favoait^a.
CAIjAMUS, a genus of Palms the different species of which yield
the Rattan Canes of commerce. Although a genuine palm, yet from
the slender stems and general habit, it has more the look of some tall
grass, and has been considered as one of the links in the chain of
organisation which connect the Grasses with the Palms. Blume ^ives
the following accoimt of the flowers and fruit : — Polygamous-dioecious,
or dioedous; spathes several, incomplete; flowers sessile, in spikes;
calyx 8-toothed or trifid ; petals 8, united at the base; stamens
6 ; filamentfi subulate, connected at the base into a cup ; anthers
arrow-shaped, fixed by the back. The rudiment of an ovary : —
female : ovary 3-celled, surrounded by a staminiferouB cup, which
is usually sterile ; style scarcely any ; stigmas 3, distinct or com-
bined ; berry protected by scales overlapping each other downwards,
1 -seeded ; seed surrounded by a succulent flesh ; albumen imeven
in the circumference, even in the inside, or near even in the circimi-
ferenceitnd ruminated internally ; embryo at the baae ; leaves pinnated.
The species are principally found in the hotter parts of the East
Indies, vrhere they grow in iJie forests, climbing over trees and bushes
to a greater extent than any other known plants. The stem of
Calamus vcrua is described as being 100 feet long, that of C. oblongua
300 to 400 feet, of C. rudentwn upwards of 500 feet, and of C. exten*ua
as mucli as 600 feet ; Rumphius even stat-es that one kind attains the
extraordinary length of 1200 feet (voL v. 100). It is closely covered
over by the tubular bases of the leaves, through which it is drawn by
the cane-gatherers when green ; afterwards it is dried in the sun, and
then is ready for market. These canes are extensively used for the
sake of the hard flinty coating of their stems, which are readily split
into strips, from wh;ch the bottoms of chairs and similar articles are
manufactured. It is not possible to say from what particular species
the canes of the shops are obtained, it being probable that many are
gathered indiscriminately ; C. Rotang has however been said to furnish
the stouter, and C. Scipionwn the slenderer sorts. The flesh that
sarrounds the seeds of this genus is a delicate article of food ; limpid
"Water flows from the stems when cut through ; and finally the young
shooUj of some of them, while still tender, are roasted or boiled,
chopped small, and being fried with pepper and gravy, are said to
furnish a very delicate dish.
It is not a little remarkable that notwithstanding the polished
Rurface of the stem, almost all the other parts except the fruit should
be furnished with stiff hairs and even prickles. The prickles are
usually hooked backwards to enable the plants to raise themselves
upon the trees among which they grow in their native forests ; and
to assist them in this operation the terminal pinnse of the pinnated
leaves are shortened, hardened, and also hooked backwards. Several
species are copiously described in liumphius's * Herbarium Amboi-
nense,' (vol. v.) under the name of Palmijuncus. Dragon's Blood or
Djumang, is the produce of a species of Calamus. Those which chiefly
yield it are the C. petrceua (Lour.), C. rudentum (Lour.), C. verus
(Lour.), and C. Draco (Willd), of which the last three were by
Linnaeus reckoned mere varieties of the C. Botang (Linn.). They are
natives only of Hindustan, Cochin China, and the Moluccas; The
ripe fruits are covered with a reddish-brown dry resinous substance,
which is the Dragon's Blood. In this state they are collected, and
allowed to remain in rice-miUs till the resin drops off*. The resin is
afterwards melted, either by the natural warmth of the air or by arti-
ficial heat, and then moulded into the different forms in wluch it
occurs in commerce. Another mode of obtaining it is as follows : —
The ripe fruits are shaken in bags, and the resin so obtained is formed
into pieces about the size of a bean, which are then wrapped up in
leaves ; this kind is much prised in the East Indies. A second sort is
procured by throwing together the fruits after they have been treated
in the foregoing manner, melting them in the sun or with a slow fire,
and coUeeting what exudes, which is then formed into small four-
cornered cakes. A third sort is obtained from what remains after the
two foregoing processes, being run out and formed into round cakes,
which contain hard portions of the fruit. According to other
accounts, the finest sort is procured by exposing the fruits to the
vapour of boiling water, and scraping ofif the soft resin as it exudes.
CALA'NDRA, a genus of Coleopterous Insects belonging to the
section /ZAyncAop/tora, and family CurciUionicUe. It has the following
characters : — Antenna9 eight-jointed, geniculated, and inserted behind
the middle of the rostrum (that is, towards the base) ; the six joints
following the basal one are cihort, the apical joint forms a lai^ge knob,
generally somewhat hatchet-shaped, having the apex soft and spongy ;
rotitnmi long, and slightly bent downwards ; thorax rather long and
depressed, narrower in front than behind ; body somewhat depressed
and pointed at the apex; elytra shorter than the abdomen; legs
short, tibiae armed with a spine ; tarsi four-jointed, the penultimate
joint bilobed.
The well-known Corn-Weevil (C. granaria), which commits so
much havock in our granaries, belongs to this genus : it is about
one-sixth of an inch long, or rather less ; of a pitchy-red colour ; the
thorax is coarsely pimctured, and the wing-cases are deeply striated ;
the strise are minutely punctured ; the legs and antennae are red.
This little insect bores a hole into the grain with its proboscis, in
which an egg is deposited ; the egg turns to a little grub or larva,
which devours the whole of the inside of the grain, leaving the husk
entire. This quantity of food is just sufficient to mature the grub : it
then turns to the pupa, and afterwards to the weevil, which easily
breaks through the hu£^ and is then at liberty to proceed as its parent
did. When wheat is suspected to contain these little weevils or their
grubs, that which is affected may be easily discovered by throwing
the whole into water ; that which is good will sink, while the rest
will float.
Another species of Calandra {C. OryzcB^ Linn.) closely resembling the
corn-weevil, from which however it may be distinguished by its having
four red spots on its elytra, attacks the rice grain in the same way as
the one above mentioned does that of the wheat.
C. Palmarumy a large species, being about an inch and a half
in length, lives during its larva state on the pith of the x>alms of South
America. It is of a dull, velvet-like black, and has the proboscis fur-
nished with a brush of black hairs on the upper part near the apex.
The larva of this species, which is called by the natives the Ver
Palmiste, is considered by them a great dainty.
CALAPPA, a genus of Brachyurous Decapod Crustacea^ separated
by Fabricius, and formerly embracing the genus Ilepatus of LatreUle,
though now restricted to the following form'.
Qeneric Character : — External and internal antennae similar to thofte
of the Crab (Cavncer) properly so called, third articulation of the pedi-
palpi (pieds-m&choires ext^rieurs) terminated somewhat like a pointed
hook ; chelae equal, very lai^ge, compressed, with their upper edge,
which is notched or crested, very much elevated, and fitting exactly
to the external border of the shell or carapace, so as to cover the
entire region of the mouth ; the rest of the feet short and simple ;
carapace short, convex, wider posteriorly than anteriorly, and forming
behmd a vaidted shield, imder which the posterior legs are hidden
when the animal is in a state of repose; eyes mounted on short
pedicles, and at a short distance fr^m each other.
The genus is well marked by the peculiarities of the shell and
chelso, with which last, as with a shield, the Calappce cover the
mouth and anterior parts, at the same time contracting up their feet
beneath the posterior vaults of the shell, under whose hard protection
their vulnerable parts are comparatively secured from the attacks of
their enemies. They are called by the French, Migranes, and also
Coqs de Mer, from their crested chelae, as well as Crabes Honteux,
from their appearing to hide their heads and smaller limbs behind
their large chelae. Their geographical distribution is wide. The
species are recorded as inhabiting the seas of the Indian Archipelago,
and of Australia, the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the seas of South
America, &c. The proximate form is found in the genus (Ethra
of Leach. [CEthra.]
We select as an example C. gi-anulataf an inhabitant of the Medi-
terranean Sea, and found, according to M. Risso, most frequently in the
fissures of rocks ^
near Nice, where
these crabs reach
to the depth
of 90 feet. The
same zoologist
b&jB, that the
females deposit
their eggs in
summer ; and
that there is a
variety whose
shell is six-
toothed poste-
riorly, and
whose general
colour is pale
rose, with whit-
ish feet and
brown nails.
The following
is Desmarest's
description of
C, granulata: —
Carapace verru- /
cose, marked Oulappa ffmnuMa.
t^toalTutoS,* ''' '^^ ^^"^ ^^'^ '^^ "™^' '•'"'''^ • '• '""^ "*^''' '"'''"•
and having on each side before it begins to dilate seven teeth, three
short and obtuse, and four more strong and pointed upon the borders
of the enlai^ed part, with two other smaller ones entirely behind ;
Digitized by
Google
715
CALATHIDIUM.
CALCAREOUS SPAR.
716
front bidentated ; colour, that of fleah sprinkled with spots of carmine
red; length 24 inches; breadth 3 inches, 6 lines, French.
CALATH 11)11131, a modem name for the flower-head of the plants
called Compositcg, the common Calyx of Limusus. It consists of a
flattish or conical cellular disk, called the Receptacle, upon which a
number of small flowers are very oompactly arranged ; and its surface
is either naked and even, except so far as the scars left by the attach-
ment of the flowers render it otherwise, or covered with hairs,
bristles, or scales, named Palese. Its mai^gin is uniformly furnished
with one or more rows of toiall leaves or scales which inclose the
flowers afl within a cup. The form, number, texture, and proportions
of these scales often afford good generic characters. In reality, a
Calathidium is a short spike of inflorescence, the receptacle being the
depressed axis, its pales bracts, and the external scales being other
bracts in a more perfect state. The Daisy, the Dandelion, and the
Sunflower, offer illustrations of this form of inflorescence.
CA'LATHUS, a genus of Coleopterous Insects belonging to the
section Geodephaga and family HarpdLidcs. It has the following
characters: — Body elongate, somewhat ovate, slightly pointed pos-
teriorly ; thorax wider behind than before ; anterior tarsi with the
three basal joints dilated in the males ; claws dentate beneath ; palpi
with the terminal joint almost cylindrical, and truncated; labrum
transverse, and slightly emarginated anteriorly.
Upwards of twenty species of this genus have been discovered,
almost all of which are European. Their general colouring is black
or brown; one or two metallic-
coloured species however are
known. In England eight species
have been enumerated, most of
which are common. Four species
may be foimd under stones and
rubbish in the neighbourhood of
London ; of these C. dsteloides is
exceedingly common, frequently
being met with in pathways, &c ;
it is about half an inch long, and
of a black colour; the antenna)
are pitchy black, with the basal
joint red ; the legs are black, and
in some specimens red. The
wood-cut here given of C. loUus
%vi]l enable the reader to form an
idea of their general appearance ;
Calathtn latus. it is a very rare species in this
country, and differs chiefly from the one above mentioned in its greater
width, and the thorax having the lateral mai^gins of a reddish hue.
CALCAIRE GROSSIER, the coarse calcareous building-stone of
Pans, which, geologically speaking, is coeval with the blue clay of the
basin of London, and contains many identical shells. These con-
stitute the types of the Eocene Tertiaiy series of Mr. Lyell.
CA'LCAR, a genus of Coleopterous Insects belonging to the section
ffeteromera and family TenebrionicUB. This genus is distinguished
from the allied genera {HypophlceuSj Apis, &c.) by having the body
linear, the head emaiginated anteriorly, and the three or four terminal
joints of the antemuB nearly globular; the thorax is longer than
broad, truncated anteriorly and posteriorly, and of nearly equal width
throughout.
CALCAR, or Spur, in flowers, is a hollow projection from the base
of a petal, and has usually a conical figure. It was called Nectary by
Linnaeus, but it rarely secretes honey. Its use is unknown. The
spurs of some of the Orckidacece are several inches long, and many
times longer than the flowers to which they belong, hanging down
like vegetable tails.
CALCAREOUS SPAR. Under this term it is usual to include
only those varieties of Carbonate of Lime which occur in distinct
individual crystals of the rhombohedral system, the name never being
used to denote Arragonite, or any crystals of carbonate of lime
belonging to the prismatic system ; nor is it usual to apply it to those
more or less crystalline limestones of which marble is the purest
variety, where each crystal is so embedded in the mass as to have
lost all individuality. In a word, these rocks are of such importance
and interest that they do not admit of our treating them as a minera-
logical variety, but as masses formed by the aggregation of numerous
crystals of it. These are noticed therefore under the heads Limbstone
and Marble, while we shall here confine oiu-selves to the individual
crystals of which the others are composed.
This substance presents us with one of the most interesting objects
which can engage the attention of the mineralogist, not only on
account of the important part it plays in the geological structure of
the earth, being frequently almost the sole ingredient of beds of rock
of great thickness and extent, produced at every geological epoch, but
ako from the beauty and diversity of its crystaUine forms, and from
the peculiarity of several of its physical properties. The study
and a correct knowledge of this mineral species have also become
of still greater importaiice since the discovery of the principles of
isomorphism, by which it is shown that it is the most perfectly
developed individual of a very lai^e clas* of the mineral salts of
carbonic acid, of which it may consequently be considered the type.
If any crystal of calcspar, whatever its form, be carefully examined,
an appearance indicating a tendency in its substance to break or split
in the direction of three planes svmmetrically related to the form
may be perceived, and by a gentle blow the whole is readily reduced
to fragments, each of which may with a little care be brought to the
form of the rhombohedron represented in Jiff. 2, the faces of which
are parallel to the three planes of cleavage above mentioned. This,
in the language of Haiiy, is the primitive form of calcspar, and
represents, according to his theory, the shape of the \iltimate mole-
cides or atoms of carbonate of lune, by the aggregation of which,
according to certain laws, its various crystals are produced. Although
this rhombohedron occurs rarely or never sjb an unbroken crystal of
pure carbonate of lime, it is nevertheless the most convenient groimd-
; form, to the axis of which the f&ces of all other crystals of this
I substance may be referred, and it is therefore selected for that
purpose. These forms, although far exceeding in nmnber tho^e
observed in any other mineral species, are however (omitting the
Figr. 1. Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
Fiff. :
Fig. 6.
Fig. 7.
Fig. 8.
....^--
regular hexagonal prism, c, and its terminal faces, o, fig. 6) but (k
two kinds, being either rhombohedrons, of which varieties are repre-
sented in Jigs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, or scalinohedrons, one of the most
common of which is seen in Jig 5. Their relations to each other and
their combinations have been developed principally by Hauy,
Boumou, and Monteiro, by whom no lena than 30 diffoient rJitui-
Digitized by
Google
yir
CAI.ClSDONlf.
CALiaus.
718
bohedrons and 50 scalinohedrons have been distingoished. As might
naturally be expected, the combinations resulting from so laige a
number of simple forms are exceedingly great, and Boumon, who has
written a treatise of three thick volumes on this mineral and Arra-
gonite, has distinguished no less than 700 varieties of foroo. Of these
154 are described in the large work by Haiiy, accompanied by very
accurate drawings of each.
A general knowledge of the crystalline form of this mineral may
however be easily obtained by acqmring a knowledge of the relation
of the faces of the five simple forms and the hexagonal prism referred
to above ; as in almost all the more ordinary combinations the general
feature of the crystal is produced by one of these. The fi^, 2, which,
as has been already stated, is considered as the ground-foim, is a
rhombohedron, the faces of which are inclined to each other in the
terminal edges at 105^ 5'. This form, though exceedingly rare in pure
calcspar, is however the prevailing aystal in the nearly allied species
produced by the combinations of the carbonates of lime and magnesia,
as will be seen by referring to the article Dolomite. In deter-
mining the relations of any form, the position of the planes of this
rhombohedron in reference to the other parts must first be fixed, and
this is readily accomplished in every case, owing to cleavage-planes
running parallel to its fiuses. This being determined, all other rhom-
bohedrons are at once divided into rhombohedrons of the first order,
such as fiff. 4, which have their faces situated as the faces of the
ground-form, or into rhombohedrons of the second order, the faces
of which are situated as the edges of the ground-form, as is the case
with/y«. 1 and 3.
The rhombohedron fig, 1, which may thus be seen to belong to the
second order, is readily recogmsed by having its faces g making the
same angle with the vertical axis A B {Jig. 2) as the terminal edges of
the ground-form, so that in a combination the terminal edge of the
ground-form is truncated by the plane g. This rhombohedron, which
is called the first obtuser, has the angles at the terminal edges
135^ 67', and has with the same breadth its vertical axis one-half
that of the ground-form. It is one of the most common of the
rhombohedrons, and is frequently found alone, but still more
frequently in combination wi^ the hexagonal prism, producing the
form seen in fig 7. It occurs frequently at Andreasberg, in the
Harz, and in the mines of Derbyshire.
The rhombohedron fig. 3 is also of the second order, and is called
the fint obtuser : its terminal edges correspond with the long diago-
nals of the faces of the ground-form, and therefore, with the same
breadth, its vertical axis is double that of the other : the inclination
of the faces at the terminal edges is 78'' 51'. In combination with the
ground-form, if the faces /predominate the form P appears as trun-
cations of the terminal edges; if P predominates, the fiaces of/
produce truncations of the si^L lateral angles, the edges of intersection
being parallel to the inclined diagonals of P for two faces, and with
the horizontal one for the third.
Tho rhombohedron fig. 4 bears to fig. Z the same relation as this
does to the ground-form, the terminal edges of the first corresponding
with the indined diagonal of the second : the inclination of the planes
to each otiier in the terminal edges is 65^ 50'.
Fig. 5 \b one of the most conuuon scalinohedrons, and is commonly
known as the Dog's-Tooth Calcspar, and is found frequently in Derby-
shire and other localities. It bears a close connection with the
rhombohedrons P and m, having the lateral edges of the first and
terminal edges of the latter, so that in combination with the first the
form fig. 8 is produced, and with the second it forms a bevelment
of the terminal edges : the inclinations of the faces in the terminal
edges are respectively lOi" 38' and 144° 24', This form frequently
occurs as twins, formed by two crystals growing on each other, their
principal or vertical axes being in the same right line, and the two
ciystaU so situated that the obtuser terminal edges of the one abut
on those of the other, and the acuter on the acuter.
This minend may be recognised by its perfect cleavage parallel to
the faces P : the specific gravity of the purest crystals is 2*721 ; and
the hardness is in the scale of Mohs 3, being situated between gyps
and fluor-spar. It is of itself colourless, but frequently occurs of
various tints of yellow, green, red, brown, and even bla&, from the
admixture of impurities. Its glance is vitreous, with the exception
of the terminal face o, which generally presents a mother-of-pearl
lustre. It is usually more or less translucent, and when transparent
produces in a remarkable degree the double refraction of light : this
property is best seen in the varieties obtained from Iceland, and
hence known as Iceland-Spar, and occurs as the groimd-form, being
in fact merely broken fragments of other larger ciystals.
The following are the names of the more common varieties of Cal-
careous Spar : — Iceland Spar, Satin Spar, Chalk, Rock Milk, Calcareous
Tufa, Stalactites, Stalagmite, Limestone, Oolite, Pisolite, Argentine,
Fontainbleau Limestone, White and Clouded Marbles, Statuary Marble,
Compact Limestone, Stinkstone, Anthraconite, Plumbo-Calcite, Mine-
ral Agaric, &o.
CALCEDONY. [Aqate.]
CA'LCEOLA, an extinct genus of Brachiopoda^ which occurs in
the Palaeozoic Strata, and especially in the middle g^^up. Calceola
iandalina occurs in this position in the Eifel, and in South Devon.
CALCEOLA'RIA, a genus of very ornamental herbaceous or
shrubby plants, belonging to the natural order ScrophularuiceeB. Its
distinctive characters are principally, the flowers being diandrous,
with a two-lipped corolla, the lower lip of which is much larger than
the upper, and inflated so as to resemble a bag. All the species are
South American, and are confined either to the western side of the
Cordilleras, or to the southern extremity of the continent and its
adjacent idands : in Chili and the mountainous parts of Peru they
are so common as to give a peculiar appearance to the vegetation.
Some of them are lowlanders; others Inhabit the highest parts of the
Andes in the districts just below the regions of lichens and mosses ;
and thus, if both their wide geographical distribution and the various
elevations at which they occur are taken into account, they are exposed
to every kind of climate between those of England and Barbaty.
The greater part of the genus has yellow flowers, a few have purple
ones, and here and there in nature species occur with the two colours
intermixed, by the addition of spots of purple to the yellow ground-
colour, the latter changing the former to a deep rich brown. By
intermixing artificially the two colours natural to the genus a pro-
duction of hybrid varieties has resulted, and some crosses of extra-
ordinary beauty have been obtained, especially from C. iniegrifolia,
corymbota, arachnoidea, ChUoentis, crenatifiora, vtscomftma, kc
CALCITE. [Calcarbous Spar.]
CALEDONITR [Lead.]
CALENDULA. [Alauda,]
CALE'NDULA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Oom/poaitcBy the sub-order Coryrfibiferaf the tribe Cynaveo;, the sub-
tribe Calendulacece, the division CalenduUa. It has an involucre of
two rows with equal scales ; the flowers of the ray ligulate, pistil-
liferous, fertile; the style divided at top into two siigmaU; the
flowers of the disk hermaphrodite, barren, the style imdivided ; the
achenia unequal, curved, toothed, or muricated.
C. arvensis, Field-Msirigold, has the achenia cymbiform, muricated,
incurved, the outer ones lanceolate, subulate, muricated on the back.
This plant is common on the continent of Europe, and is found in
immense numbers in some of the vineyards of the Rhine.
C. offi4Hnali8, Common Marigold, has cymbiform achenia, all of them
incurved, and muricated. TMb is the Souci du Jardin of the French,
Qold-Blume of the (Germans, and Furrancio of the Italians. Although
common enough now in the gardens of Great Britain, and frequently
found wild, it is not a native of these islands, and has been introduced
from the south of Europe. This plant is a great favourite in gardens,
and Ci)ntinues to blossom till the approach of winter. It is often
grown in churchyards in this country, and in cemeteries on the
Continent, but this practice does not appear to be connected with any
superstition. There are several varieties of this plant foimd in gardens,
as the orange-coloured, the lemon-coloured, and the double. It
had formerly numerous virtues attributed to it, but independent of
the bitterness of the tribe to which it belongs, and a rather more
powerful volatile oil than is found in other species of the order, it
possesses no active properties. The flowers are used in some parts of
the country to give a yellow colour to cheese. In the Clock of Flora
of Linnaeus, it is said to open its flowers at nine in the morning and
to close them at three in the afternoon. C. pluvialit has been named
from its flowers closing at the approach of rain. The petals of these
plants are sometimes employed to adulterate safiron.
(Loudon, Encyclopcedia of Planis ; Koch, Flora Germanica.)
CALIDRIS, a genus of Birds belonging to the order GraUatoret and
the family Charadriidai. It has the foUowing characters : — Beak as
long as the head, straight^ slender, flexible, compressed at the base,
with the point dilated and smooth ; nostrils basal, lateral, narrow,
longitudinally cleft in the basal furrow, which extends to the smooth
point of the beak ; wings of moderate length, pointed, the first quill-
feather the longest ; legs of mean length, naked above the tarsal
joint ; feet with three toes, all directed forwards, with a very small
connecting membrane at their base. Gould, in his * Birds of Europe,'
regards the Knot (Trmga caniUwt) as a species of Calidru. With this
exception the only British bird which is a species of this genus is
C. arenariaf the Sanderling. It is an inhabitant of most of the shores
of Great Britain and Ireland It obtains its food by probing the
moist sands of the sea-shores, from which it obtains minute MottuacOf
shrimps, annelides, &c It visits the shores of Sweden, a:nd is stated
to breed still farther north. Sir John Richardson says it breeds on
the coasts of Hudson's Bay. It does not appear to breed in the British
Islands. (Tarrell, BritUh Birds.)
CALI'GUS, a genus of Entomostraoous Cruttacea, separated by
Muller, in which Latreille and Lamarck include the genus Pandarut
of Leach, but which Desmarest places imder the fourth sub-division
or race of PoecUopoda : namely, those which have fourteen feet> of
which the six anterior are unguiculated, the fifth pair being bifid with
the last joints fkinged with fine hairs in the form of cilia.
It has the body depressed, having its anterior portion covered by a
membranous shell in the form of a shield, narrowed posteriorly.
Abdomen narrower, of an elongated oval or nearly square shape, and
terminated by two elongated antenn»-like processes, cylindrical and
simple. There are two small conical antennas situated on the anterior
border of the head, and directed laterally, and at the internal base of
these are placed the two distant eyes. Beneath the head there is an
obtuse beak.
Digitized by
Google
71tf
CALLA.
CALLICHTHYS.
Caligus, together with Argulus, and other of its oongenem of the
family Siphanostomata, are commonly known among the fishermen as
Fiph-Lioe. But CaUgua is without the cupping-glass-like suckers, by
which 2ir^2tw adheres to its slippery supporters; and the hooks of
the anterior pair of feet are the principal organs by which the former
holds on to the fish. [Arqulus.]
Argvlua and Caligu$ are now usually regarded as types of distinct
&milies Argulidce and Caligida. ArguLtit is the only genus in the
family ArgulidcB. With CcUigidce are included the following British
genera, Lqf>eopth%ruSj CfuUimiUf Trebiut.
Dr. Baird, in his ' History of the British Entomostracous Crustacea,'
describes four species of Caligus as natives of Qreat Britain.
O, MiUUri is found parasitic upon the Cod (Morrhua valgaris) the
Brill or Brett {Rhombtu vulgaris) and upon several
other fishes. The following description is from
Baird :—
Female. — Carapace oval, rather longer than broad,
narrower at upper extremity; frontal plates of
considerable size, notched in the centre ; lemules
well developed; antennsQ of considerable size;
basal joint large. Thorax shorter than the cara-
pace, about hsdf the size ; penultimate joint very
small, of an elongate diamond shape ; last joint
nearly quadrilateral, and lobed at the posterior ex-
tremity. On each lobe there are two very small
tubercles, each of which gives off two short setae.
Abdomen yery short and rounded, broader than
long ; caudal plates terminated by three tolerably-
long plumose setae ; internal fork with simple short
obtuse branches ; second pair of foot-jaws very
long, the last joint being narrow, long, and termi-
nated by two curvel claws, one longer than the
other; fourth pair of legs stout, the first joint
broad and thick, the last ending in one long
stout curved claw, which is serrated on its inner
edge, and two short ones ; oviferous tubes of considerable length.
Male. — In the male the last joint of thorax is considerably smaller
than in the female and more rounded ; the lobes much sharper, and
terminated by the same tubercles, but of a larger size. Abdomen
about two-thirds the size of the last joint of thorax ; second pair of
foot-jaws large.
C. diaphanus is foimd on the turbot, the gurnard, the mackerel, the
plaice, the holibut, and other fish.
C. rapax has been taken on the gurnard, Lough Neagh trout, brill,
whiting, dory, and common dab.
C. cerUrodonti, has been found on the fins and tail of the conunon
Sea-Bream {Pagellus centrodontiu) alone.
CALLA, a genus of plants belonging to the Arum Tribe, the most
remarkable species of which, 6'. jEthiopicaf is now referred to Richardia.
[RiCHARDIA.J
CALLEI'DA, a genus of Coleopterous Insects belonging . to the
section Truncatipennes and the family Brachinida?.
This group was separated from the genus Tarut of authors, by
Dejean, and is chiefly distinguished by the species having the penulti-
mate joint of the tarsi bilobed.
Upwards of twenty species of this genus are eniunerated in Dejean's
catalogue, most of which are of brilliant metallic colouring, and inhabit
the hottest climates, in loth of which respects they likewise differ
from the typical species of Tarns.
CALLIANASSA, a genus of Macrourous Decapbd Ci^stacea, the
chelae of which are very unequal both in form and in their proportions.
The carpus of the largest chela is transvei-sal, and forms a common
body with the claw ; the same joint of the other chela is elongated.
The two posterior feet are nearly didactylous. The external foliation
of the lateral fins of the end of the tail is larger than the internal.
The carapace is slightly elongated, smooth, and terminated suddenly
Califfus hUllcH.
View of back.
Calliunassa suhtenanea.
o, Intcrmcdiale antenna ; ft, external antenna ; e, right chela.
by a small beak. The abdomen is of considerable size, and nearly
membranous. The other general characters are those of I%ala8sina,
[Thalassina.] The only species known is Callianassa iitbterranea,
which is found on the sands of the sea-shore washed by the tides on
the French and English coasts.
CALLIANIRA, or CALLIANYRA, agenusof Ciliograde AcalaplT,
established on no very sure foundations by Pdron and Lesueur, in
their * Memoir on the Pttropoday and considered by them to belong
to the type of the Malacozoairia. It seems however from its structure
that in its general character it is not far removed from Beroe,
Lamarck, who perceived this relation, states that it was first estab-
lished by P^ron, in manuscript, under the name of Sophia ; and the
species described by him had, according to his account, a membranous
gelatinous wing, divided into two large folioles provided with cili&
on their margins.
De Blainville, who observes that Callianira is only known by
figures and descriptions not veiy complete in their details, states that
Slabber^s figure copied by Brugui^res was drawn after an animal from
the coasts of Holland, and that the description was taken from another
belonging to the waters of Madagascar ; infoimation which De
Blainville acknowledges that he owes to Professor Yanderhoeven. De
Blainville adds that M. Eschscholtz refers them to two different
species.
The following is the generic character given by De Blainville.—
Body regular, gelatinous, hyaline, cylindrical, elongated, tubular,
obtuse at the two extremities, and provided with two pair of wing-
shaped appendages, which develop themselves in large foliations, and
are fringed with a double row of vibratory cilia upon their edges. A
pair of tentaculiform appendages, branched, and not ciliferous. A
large .transverse opening at one of the extremities, and probably
another smaller one at the other.
Example, Callianira triploptera.
Callianira triploptera.
CALLrCERA, a genus of Insects of the order IHptera and family
SyrphidcBf section A thericera. This genus is allied to Ceria of Fabridus,
and differs principally in having the body shorter and wider in propor-
tion and silky. The second joint of the antennae is shorter than tha
last, and forms with it an elongated, compressed, slightly-curved club.
CALLICHRO'MA, a genus of Coleopterous Insects of the section
LoTigicornea and family Cerambyddoff distinguished from the allied
genera {OerambyXf PhcenicocertiSf &c.) by having the maxillary palpi
smaller than the labial, and shorter than the terminal lobe of the
maxillae. The posterior tibiae are generally much compressed.
As in the genus Cerambyx, the species of this genus emit a veiy
agreeable odour. ,
CALLI'CHTHYS (Linnaus), a genus of Fishes belonging to the
section Abdominal Malacopterygii and family SUuridtr. They "J
distinguished by the species having the body almost entirely protected
by four ranges of large hard scaly plates : the head is also protected «'»y^
plates of the same texture; the snout and under surface of the
body are the only naked parts. The mouth is not deeply cleft, and
is furnished with four long cirri, two from each comer ; the teeth
are very small ; eyes small, and situated on the side of the head.
The species of this genus generally frequent rivers and streams.
Like eels they can live for a considerable time out of water, and aa
they are natives of hot climates the streams which they inhabit not
unfrequently dry up : when such is the case they are said to perform
long journeys over land, directing their course to some olJier atromL
In some instances they bury themselves in the mud. Their structure
appears to fit them for these habits.
Digitized by
Google
CALLIDIUM.
CALLITRIS.
732
The genus CaUichthyi appears to be induded in the genus Oai<i-
phractus of Willughby and Ray and some others among the older
authors.
CALLIDIUM, a genus of Coleopterous Insects belonging to the
section LongicomeM and family Cerambycida:. It has the following
characters : — ^Body depressed, thorax wider than the head, rounded
at the sides ; antennso generally shorter than the body ; palpi rather
short, the terminal joint thicker than the rest, and truncated at the
apex. Legs short; femora suddenly thickened towards the apex,
especially in the males ; tibise simple.
CaUidiwm Bajviut is not an uncommon insect in this country. It
lives during the larva state in fir-timber, and when it occurs plenti-
fully is exceedingly destructive. The perfect insect is about three-
quarters of an inch long, of a flattened elongate form, and dull black
or pitch colour; the thorax is pubescent and has two smooth glossy
tubercles on the disc ; the elytra are furnished with a fascia (more or
less distinct) of silvery-white hairs.
Instances have been recorded of these insects attacking the fir-
' rafters of houses, to which they are of course exceedingly injurious,
and we have known instances when the perfect insects, in order to
effect their escape, have peiforated the lead with which the house-top
was covered.
In many of the deal palings in the neighbourhood of London, and
elsewhere, numerous oval-shaped holes (about a quarter of an inch
in diameter) may be observed; these are formed by the perfect
insect of this species of Callidium to effect their escape, having
passed through the larva and pupa states within the wood.
Mr. Stephens in his 'Catalogue of British Insects,' enumerates
thirteen species of this genus, but of these many have undoubtedly
been imported in foreign timber.
CALLI(K)NUM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Pdyganacect, of which one species, C. Pallana, yields in its roots an
amylaceous gummy matter, on which the Calmucks feed in times of
scarcity. The fruits and branches are acid, and are chewed by the
same people to allay their thirst. This plant is destitute of leaves, and
grows in gi*eat abundance on the sandy steppes of Siberia. (Lindley,
Vegetahle Kingdom).
CALLIMO'RPElA (Latreille), a genus of Insects belonging to the
order Lepidopterat section Nocturna, and family Liikottida (Stephens).
It has the following characters : — Antennse slightly ciliated in the
males; palpi small, three-jointed; legs moderate, the hinder tibiso
each with two pairs of spurs; bodv slender, especially in the
males; wings large, somewluit triangular, with the hinder nuugins
rounded.
CaUimorpha JcuHjhcecBf the Pink Underwing, is a very beautiful and
common moth. When the wings are expanded it measures about an
inch and a half in width. The upper wings are of a greenish-black
colour, with two round pink spots at the apex, and an oblong dash of
the same colour, extending nearly the whole length of and parallel to
the outer margin. The under wings are entirely pink, with the
exception of the maigins, which are of the same tint as the groimd-
colour of the upper wings. The head, thorax, abdomen, and legs
are entirely blacL
The caterpillar of this moth is not uncommon in the neighbour-
hood of London. In some situations it is found in the greatest
abundance in the month of June, feeding upon the flowers of the
Ragwort {Senecio Jacobaa) and often upon Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris).
It is of a bright yellow colour, with numerous slender black bands,
and is sparingly covered with hair. The moth appears in the month
of May.
CA'LLIODON, a genus of Fishes of the section AcarUhopterygii
and family Lahridai. This genus was separated from that of Searut
(Linn.) by Cuvier, and differs in the species having the lateral teeth
of the upper jaw divided and pointed ; the upper jaw is also furnished
with an inner range of small teeth. Scarus tpinident of Quoy and
Gaimard is given as an example of this genus. [Scarus.]
CALLIO'NYMUS, a genus of Fishes belonging to the Abdominal
AcarUhopterygii and family GohiadcB,
The species of this genus are known in England by the name of
Dragonets. Their branchiso have but a single small opening placed
near the nape of the neck ; their ventral fins are widely separated,
larger than the pectorals, and situated under the throat ; the head is
obloDg and depressed ; the eyes are placed on the top of the head
and rather close together ; body smooth and without scales ; inter-
maxillaries very protractile; teeth small, numerous, and placed on
the jaws only ; the anterior dorsal fin has the first ray elongated. _
Two species of this curious genus (remarkable for the peculiarities
ia the branchiss and ventral fins above noticed) are found on our
own coasts. C. Dracwncvlut, the Sordid Dragonet, the Fox of the
Kentish coest and the Skulpin of Cornwall, is the better known, being
frequently met with at the mouth of the Thames. It is about
10 inches long and of a reddish-brown colour above; the under
P^J^ the head, pectoral and ventral fins uniformly white ; the dorsal
£bh are of an immaculate pale-brown.
^' iyra, the Gemmeous Dragonet, Yellow Skulpin of Comwall and
Govfi^Q of Scotland, veiy closely resembles the one above described,
'^^ ^deed has by some been considered as the same species. TheS-e
^PP^^tn however to be very good grounds for separating them, inde-
'''-Vt. hist. div. vol. l
pendent of the difference of oolour. The prevailing hue of this
species is yellow of various shades, with sapphirine stripes and spots
on the head and sides of the body. The ventrals and caudal fins
are bluish-black.
In the Sordid Dragonet the head bears the proportion of one to
five of the whole length of the fish, and is of the form of an
equilateral triangle : the distance between the eyes and the nostrils
is only equal to one diameter of the former.
In the Qemmeous Dragonet the head is of an oblong-ovate form,
and its length compared with that of the fish is as one to four:
this species may also be distinguished from the former by its less
depressed form.
Gemmeous Dragonet {Oftllionymvt lyra).
The latter species has been found on various parts of our own coast
as well as that of Ireland. It also occurs in the Mediterranean and
on the coast of Norway.
The Dragonets live at the bottom of the water, as might be sup-
posed from the disposition of the eyes. Their food consists of sm:dl
shell-fish and worms. They are sometimes caught by the shrimpers
whilst fishing.
CALLI'STUS (Bonelli), a genus of Coleopterous Insects belonging
to the family Harpalidcs (IffLeay). The following are its cha-
racters : — Three basal joints of the anterior tarsi dilated in the males.
Palpi with the terminal joint elongated, rather ovate, and terminated
almost in a point. Aiitennse filiform and slightly compressed.
Labmm transverse, emarginated anteriorly. Head somewnat tri-
angular. Thorax nearly heart-shaped. Body rather short and
depressed.
Only one species of this genus has hitherto been discovered, but it
is found almost all over Europe : it is not uncommon in France, and
is foimd beneath stoDes. In England it is rather scarce.
This species, Callittus lunatus, is conspicuous in the cabinets of
British insects for its beauty. It is about a quarter of an inch
long ; the head and under parts of the abdomen are of a greenish-
black colour, the thorax is reddish-yellow, and the wing-cases are
yellow with six black spots, placed, two at the base, one on the disc
of each elytron which extends to the outer maigin, and two at the
apex ; these spots are large, and occupy about one-half of the whole
surface of the elytra. The antennsB are black, with the two basal
joints yellow. The legs are black, with the base of the femora and
tibiae yellow. The head and thorax are very thickly punctured ; the
elytra are punctate-striated. The upper parts, with the exception of
the head, are devoid of glossiness.
CALLITHAMNION. [Aloje.]
CALLITRICHA'CE-*:, Startoortt, the Callitriche Tribe, a small
natural order of Achlamydeous Dicotyledonous Plants, consisting of
a few obscure floating species, all of which belong to the genus Calli-
triche, The distinctive character resides in the presence of several
one-seeded carpels combined into a single pistil with two styles, and
altogether destitute of any floral covering. Brown and many others
consider the order related to Halorageas. Lindley, who formerly
placed it near Podoatemaceoe, now agrees with Endlicher that its
proper position is near Euphorhiaeece, of which it may be regarded as
an aquatic form. In the genus CcMUriche the flowers are without
calyx or corolla, with 2 bracts at their base ; 1 stamen ; 2 ovaries,
each 2-lobed and imperfectly 2-celled ; the styles 2, subulate;
the fruit dry, separating into 4 indehiscent carpels. Kiitzing
has figured a deciduous calyx belonging to this genus. Five
species have been described. Four of these are natives of Great
Britain. They are water-plants with smooth leaves, and are known
by the name of Water-Starworts. C. vema is conmion in stagnant
waters and slow streams. C. platycarpa is found on mud or in
shallow water; seldom, and then apparently by accident, in deep
water. C. peduncukUa is found in marshes; and Babington has
described a variety, C. p. tettilis, which is found in lakes. C. autum-
nalis is found in streams, but is rare. The surface of C. verna, and
probably of the other species, is covered with rosette-formed epidermal
appendages. The same bodies are found on ffippuris. (Lankester,
British Associatum Transaeti<ms ; Babinjrton, Manual of Botany.)
CALLI'TRICHE. [CallitbichackaJ
CALLITRIS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Coniferce. Dr. Lindley states, on the authority of Brongniart and
Schouflboe, that Sandarach ia yielded by a species of this genus, the
3 ▲
Digitized by
Google
723
CALLUNA.
CALYCANTHACE^.
m
C. quadrivalvU, and not from Jvnipenu comtMinis, aa ia frequently anp-
poeed. He alao adda that he haa seen ** a plank two feet wide of this
Sandarach-Tree, which is called the Arar-Tree in Barbaiy. The wood
is considered by the Turks indestructible, and they use it for the
ceilines and floors of their mosques." (lindley, Vegetable Kingdom.)
CALLU'NA (from jcaAA^fw, to make beaut&ul), a genus of plants
belonging to the natural order Ericaoece. It has a 4-parted mem-
branous coloured calyx, longer than the 4-clelt campanulate corolla,
surrounded by four green bracts ; 8 stamens, with dilated filaments ;
the capsule 4-oelled, the dissepiments adhering to the axis ; the valves
opening at the dissepiments, and separate from them. There is only
one species of this genus, the Common Heath {O. wigaria). It is a
low tufted shrub wii£ small sessile dosely-imbricated keeled leaves,
arranged in four rows, each leaf having two small spurs at the base,
and nearly or quite smooth. The colour of the flowers varies from a
deep red to a white, and nmnerous varieties have been named. This
plant is common on every heath in Great Britain. The varieties are
ornamental when planted in the garden. They should be grown in
a peat soil, and may be propagated by layers or cuttings under a bell-
glass. (Babington, Mamuu 0/ British Botany.)
CALOCHO'RTUS, a beautiful genus of Bulbous Plants belonging
to the natural order JAliacecBf and nearly allied botanically to the
f ritillary and tulip, from both of which it is immediately known by the
sepals being of a diflerent form, colour, and texture from the petals.
Several species have been introduced into England from California,
where or near which country they are exclusively found wild. Their
exact localities, and the precise conditions of climate imder which they
occur, are however nearly \mknown. It would appear that they
inhabit a mild climate, subject to rains, and a moderately high tem-
perature during their season of £prowth, but dry and cool subsequently.
Accordingly it is found that in this coimtry they do not succeed very
well imless they are cultivated in pits where they are protected from
frost and from water stagnating about their roots, and can be exposed
freely to light and air when growing. They are so exceedingly im-
patient of wet near their bulbs when not in a growing state, that
prudent gardeners take the precaution to dig them up and keep them
dry from the time when the leaves are withered to the recommence-
ment of their vegetation. When they are replanted they will scarcely
bear any water until the young leaves begin to appear above the
soil
CALOPHTLLUM (from Kak6s, beautiful, and^^AXov, leaf), a genus
of plants belonging to the natural order Guttiferce. It has a bractless
calyx, consisting of from 2-4 unequal coloured sepals; i petals (some-
times 2) opposite the sepals ; indefinite stamens, free or connected at
the base ; filaments short ; anthers inserted by their base, 2-celled,
bursting longitudinally ; the style twisted, crowned by a large capitate
stigma, which is usually lobed; fruit drupaceous, globose or egg-
shapecC 1 -celled, 1-eeeded ; the seeds laige. The species are trees, uie
leaves of which have numerous transverse parallel veins, which give
them a very beautiful appearance.
C. InophyUum has oblong or obovate obtuse leaves, usually emargi-
nate; round branches; loosely racemose flowers; racemes axillary,
1-flowered ; usually opposite peduncles. This tree is a native of the
East Indies, and often attains a height of 90 or 100 feet It has
large handsome leaves like those of a water-lily, snow-white fragrant
flowers, and a fruit about tiie size of a wsJnut. When the trunk is
wounded it exudes a yellow viscid juice, which frequently hardens to
the con&istence of a gum. It is a common plant in Malabar, where it
yields fruit twice a year — in March and September — and frequently
attains the age of 300 years. The nuts afford a fixed oil, which is
expressed, and used for burning in lamps, for making ointment, &c.
This tree is cultivated in Java for the sake of its shade and the
fragrance of its flowers. The bark and the exudation are used for
medicinal purposes.
C7. Calaba, Calaba-Tree, has obovate or oblong, obtuse or emaiginate
leaves ; hermaphrodite or male flowers ; lateral very short racemes.
This plant is a tree 60 feet in height, and is a native of the Caribbee
Islands. It has white sweet-scented flowers, and a green fruit some-
thing like the cornelian cherry, which contains a white solid kernel.
An oil is expressed from the seed for domestic uses and for burning
in lamps. The timber is used for various purposes, especially for
staves and cask-headings. Lindley says that " the true East Indian
Tacamahaca is produced by GalophyUtm. Calaba," There are how-
ever several gums brought mto the market imder the name of Taca-
mahaca, of which formerly more was used than at the present day.
The * Tacamahaca seu Resiaa Tacamahaca' of the old Pharmacopoeias
appears to have been the produce of the JSlaphrium UnneiUogum and
£. excelnm, plants belonging to the natural order Amyridea, It is
described as a resin of a brownish yellow colour, spotted with white,
easily broken into pieces, which have a alining fracture, easily
melting in the fire, and having a pleasant scent Cullen says that it
was not employed in his day ''as an internal medicine; and as an
external I cannot perceive its virtues." It was used for making
plasters as a counter-irritant, for which there are forms in the conti-
nental Pharmacopoeias at the present day. There is however another
form of Tacamahaca brought to Europe called ' Taoaroahaoarin-Shells.'
It has got this name from being collected in little gourd-ehellsL This
is the true East Indian Tacamahaca, which is collected from <7.
Inophyllttm in the East Indian Islands and from 0. Tacamakaca in
Madagascar and the Mauritius. C. Bratiliejue jields an acrid arcm&tic
lemon-scented resin. C. angttstifolium is the Piney-Tree of Penang,
and yields a hard timber.
(Bischoff', Medicimech'Pharmaceuiische Botamik; Loudon, £ncydo.
padia ; Don, Oard. Diet. ; Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom.)
CA'LOPUS, a genus of Coleopterous Insects belonging to the
section Sttndytra and family (Edemerida. The species are difitanguiih&d
by having the femora of the posterior legs of the same size in both
sexes, or nearly so ; the antezinse with the second jomt much shorter
than the third, more or less serrated, and inserted into an eaas\^.-
nation of the eyes. [CEdimeba.]
CALOSO'MA, a genus of Coleopterous Insects belonging to tha
section Gfeodepkaga (M'Leay), and familv Carabidcs. It is Imown by
the following chiuracters : — Three basal joints of the anterior tara,
in the males, much dilated, the fourth joint slightly ao ; anteimse vith
the third joint longer than the rest; labrum bilobed; mandihk
simple^ slightly bent, and transversely striated; thorax abort; djtn
generaJly rather broad and short
This genus is very closely allied to the true Carabi; indeed eo much
so, that it is difficult to point out any very tangible diatinguithii^
characters ; and yet the entomologist is seldom puzzled in eeparatisg
them, even without close examinatioiL
There is a considerable difierence in the general appearance of the
species of the two genera, and we think this in a great meunre
arises fr^m the comparative proportions of the head and thorax. In
CcUoeoma these parts are always smaller and considerably sborter ii
proportion to the body (which is generally broad) than in Cant/u
The eyes are generally more projecting ; and M. Dejean moitioM the
larger-sized jaws, and their being always transversely striated, ts a
good distinctioiL
To the genus Caloaoma belongs our largest and most beftotifd
British Carabideoua insect, the C. SycopharUa. It is about aa icch
long ; tiie head,
thorax, and wdx:
parts of the body
are of a beantiful
blue colour, and tk
elytra are green,
with red reflec^om
more or leea wn-
spicuoua in differesi
examples ; the le^
and antemise an
blade
Most of the best
British collection
contain this insect,
and some era
several Bpecimens:
itmuatneTerthelefi
be coDiddered a nn
insect in this island, hardly ever more than one specimen having been
foimd at one time. In France and Qermany it is not uncommon,
and is found in woody districts. Most of the British epecimens ban
been taken on the sea coast.
C. Inquifitor is the only other species of this genus found in tbia
country. It is about three-quarters of an inch in length, and of t
bronze or brassy-green above, and black beneath. Tbis spccK^
though by no means common, is far more abundant than the Ias^
It has been frequently met with crawling up the trunks of 08kb«e
in the spring of the year, about the time that that tree begins to pt*.
forth its leaves. Most probably it feeds upon the young caterpilbr=.
which are then abundant.
Unlike most genera of insects, this appears to be confined to no
particular quarter of the globe, species having been met witb in »lni'>"^
all countries. About thirty si>ecies are known ; their prevailing cobun
are various shades of green, generally of a brassy hue, and sometima
black.
CALOTHRIX. [ALOiE.]
CALOTRAQUS. [Antilopejk.]
CALOTROPIS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Aeclepiadaceoe. One species, C. gigantea (Aedt^^ gigantea^ Ujm^\
is the Mudar-Plant, Akund or Yercum of the Hindooa It yields a
milky juice, which is extensively used in India as a medicinal agent,
as are also the root and bark. [Mudak, in Abtb akd Sc Div.J
CALPE. [Aoalbpha]
CALTHA, a genua of plants belonging to the natural order m^iar
culacece. Two species are met with in this country ; one, C. j)««*fU
the Water-Caltrops or Marsh-Marigold, commonly in meadows ana
by the side of wet ditches. It is very much like a Ranmculviy trom
which genus OaUha chiefly differs in having a calyx and corolla mixM
together, no scale at the base of the petals, and many seeds m eac
C9rpe\. The other species is (7. rodwow, which is veiylocaL ab
species partake of the acridity of Jiamtnctdut itself. ...
CALUMBO-ROOT, the bitter tonic root of an African plant caUca
Cocculxis palmaiue. [Cocculus.] . „i
CALYCANTHA'CKiE, Calycanihe, the CalyoMithus Tribe, an«to»'
Cahtoma Sycophanta,
Digitized by
Google
725
CALYCAITTHUS.
CAJjYVTRMIDM.
7W
order of hardy Dicotyledonous Plants, well known in gardens for the
delicious fragrance of their blossoms. They are in some respects
Allied to the MagnoliOy or Star-Anise Plant {lUicvum), in consequence
of their chocolate-coloured flowers with the segments overlying each
other in several rows, and because also of their peculiar fragrance ;
their true affinity is however with RosacecB, as the mass of their
characters sufficiently proves ; especially the imusual circumstance of
the cotyledons of the embryo being rolled up both in this order
and in the genus Chamcemdes in iZofoceor.
Caiycanihacea consist of but two genera, CalycarUhua and OkiffiO'
nanthus, which agree in having — Ist^ an imbricated calyx and corolla
that pass insensibly into each other, and combine at their bases into
a thick fleshy tube ; 2nd, a small number of perigynous stamens,
whose anthers are adnate and are tipped by a projection of the
connective; 3rd, several one-seeded nuts inclosed in the tube of the
calyx; and 4th, a convolute embryo, destitute of albumen. Their
wood is remarkable for the glandular nature of the woody tubes;
and for having, in addition to the usual structure of exogens, four
imperfect axes with concentric circles, lying at equal distances in
the bark near the circumference, on which they produce externally
four elevated lines or wheals.
The two genera are thus distinguished: — CalycarUhuSf or the
Carolina Allspice, has 48 stamens arranged in four rows, the inner-
most being rudimentary ; and a great many nuts inclosed in a calyx,
which is naked at its apex. It consists of small shrubs, natives of
North America, with fragrant chocolate-coloured flowers, appearing
along with the leaves in May or June.
Chimonanthus, or the Japan Allspice, has 10 stamens, all perfect
and inserted in a double row ; only one or two nuts to each calyx-
tube, which is crowned and closed up by the permanent recurved
stamens. The only species is found wild in Japan, and has fragrant
lemon-coloured blossoms, appearing in the winter after the fall of
the leaves. Botanists call it Chimonanihua fragrans, and distinguish
three varieties : — let, the pale kind, which has long been in gardens.
Mid has flowers the colour of which is very slightly yellow ; 2nd,
the large-flowered, with bright yellow flowers twice as large as those
of the last ; and 8rd, the small-flowered, which is in all respects the
same as the first, except that its blossoms are less than half the
size. These plants are multiplied with some difficulty by layering.
(Lindley's Vegetable KingcUm.)
CA.LYCANTHUS. [Caltcanthacea]
CALYCERA'CE-^, CafycerSf a small natural order of Monopetalous
Dicotyledons, differing from Composita in nothing but their seeds
having albumen, and being pendulous, and in their anthers being
only half syngenesious. It has five genera and ten species. They
are natives of South America, but more especially of South Chile.
CALYCIFLO'RiE, an artificial division of Polypetalous Dicotyle-
rlonous Plants, proposed by Jussieu and adopted by De CandoUe. It
i:^ characterised by the stamens adhering more or less to the side of
the calyx ; or, in the language of the French school of botanists,
being perigynous.
CALYCOPHYLLUM (from «c(iAu^, calyx, and ^i/AAov, leaf), a genus
of plants belonging to the natural order Cinchonacece. It has the
limb of the calyx truncate or bluntly 5-toothed, one of the teeth
expanded into a petiolate coloured membranous leaf; the corolla
campanulate or funnel-shaped with a 6-plaited limb ; 5 stamens, the
filaments rising from the throat free, the length of the corolla ; the
anthers oval, exserted; the style ending in 2 reflexed stigmas;
the capsule dehiscing at the apex, oblong, 2-celled, many-seeded ; the
seeds fixed to the linear placenta, imbricate, oblong, ginied by a very
narrow membranous wing. The species are small smooth trees, with
opposite glabrous leaves, short stipules, and flowers disposed in
axillary and terminal dichotomous corymbs.
One of the most remarkable species of this genus has been de-
scribed by Sir Bobert Schombuigk as a native of British Guyana.
There are seyeral genera closely alUed to Calycophyllvm, as Muwoenda
Pinkneya, Ac, in which one of the teeth of the calyx expands into a
petioled and coloured leaf of a membranaceous texture. In the species
discovered in Quyana the bract-like expansion of the calyx has a rose
colour, and aa the flowers are very numerous the whole tree assumes
the colour of the rose. In describing the discovery of this plant, Sir
Robert says, " Let imagination convey you to the great garden of
nature in Ghiyana> clothed in tropical exuberance ; and, among those
productions of a congenial sun and fertile soil, figiure to yourself trees
from 40 to 60 feet high, presenting a mass of leaves the colour of
our favourite flower, from a deep pink to the lightest rose, and
perhaps your fancy will assist you to form some idea of the picture
I beheld at one of the valleys of the river Rapunnuni, where a high
mountain on the river^s left bank turns its bed boldly to the east.
The banks of the stream and the steep side of the hill were alike
covered with trees clothed with rose-coloured leaves ; and only on a
near approach could tho shining green leaves and the spikes of
flowers of a relvety blue be discovered."
This plant is called by its discoverer, in honour of the present Lord
Derby, Ccdycophyllum Stanleyanum. The wood of the tree is very
hard. It is very bitter to the taate, and like the rest of the order is
probably febrifugal.
(Hooker, London Jowmal of BoUmy, 1844.)
CALY'MENE, the generic title, in Brongniart's classification of
Trilobitet, for the species of Onutacea allied to the well-known Dudley
fossil, Calymene Blvmenbachii, [Tbilobites.]
CALYMMA, a genus of Ciliogiade Ac<Uqi>luB, thus characterised by
Eschscholtz: — Body but little elevated, compressed, widened, as it
were, and provided on each side with a considerable appendage,
taking its rise from four other smaller appendages, free at their
extremity, near the mouth, and furnished with the series of cilia.
The species on which this genus was established was taken in the
South Seas near the equator.
CALY'PTRA, in Botany, a name given to a hood-like body
connected in some plants with the organs of fructification. In the
genus PiUanthtu it covers over the flower, and is formed of imited
bracts ; in Eucalyptus and Eudesmia it is simply a lid or operculum
to the stamens, and is produced in the former by the consolidated
sepals, in the latter by the petals in the same state : in mosses it is
seated upon the end of the fruit-stalk, inclosing the spore-vessel, and
is a leaf rolled round the latter and torn away from its bese. In
Jungermannia it exists in the form of a cup or wrapper at the base of
the fruit-stalk, which, instead of carrying it up upon its point, pierces
through its apex and leaves it behind.
CALYPTILEIDiB, a family of Gasteropodous Molkuca, formerly
arranged under the genus Patella of Linnaeus, and known by
collectors as Chambered Limpets, comprising the genera CalyptroKt
and Crepidvia of Lamarck, vdth the sub-genera into which they have
been divided by Lesson.
" When," says M. Deshayes, in his edition of Lamarck, '* collections
contained but a small number of Calyptrceat and Orepiduke, and when
the animals of these two genera were unknown, it was natural and
proper to preserve them both; but now the resemblance of the
animaJs of these two genera is proved, not only by what M. Cuvier
formerly stated in the ' Annales du Museum,' but also by the more
reoent works of M. Lesson, of Messi's. Quoy and Ghiimard, and of Mr.
Owen. Already we had perceived, in publishing our work upon the
environs of Pans, as well as in our articles * Calyptreea* and *Orepidula*
in the ' Encyclopedic,' that there existed a great resemblance between
the shells of these two genera. One sees in effect, in certain Orepi-
duloBf the summit taking a spiral shape upon the side of the shell, and
raiping itself insensibly in a suocession of species so as to show an
incontestable passage between the Orqfddtdce and spiral Calyptrace,
which we would particularly designate by the name of Trochiform
Ccdyptrcea, As in the Calypircece, properly so called, there exist a
certain number of particular forms which may serve to group them
in sections, it waa necessary to see whether the species having in their
interior a lamina or plate of a funnel shape afforded proof of a
passage to the Orepidula, like those which are trochiform. This
passage does exist ; so that from the entire facts we may come to the
conclusion that the two genera, Calyptrcea and Orepidtda, ought to be
united for the future in the system. ' This conclusion, which we had
in some sort foreseen, has been rigorously drawn and proved by
incontestable evidence in the work lately published by Mr. Broderip,
in the first volume of the * Transactiona of the Zooloffioal Society of
London.' M. Lesson, in the conohological part of t^he great work
published on the return of the expedition in the corvette La Coquille,
had attempted to establish in the united genera Calyptrcea and
Orepidtda many sub-genera, of which some have been adopted by Mr.
Broderip as sections of the entire genus Calyptrasa. These sections,
of whicJi some persons think that they can make genera, are con-
nected one with another by the strongest affinities, and cannot be sepa-
rated into genera on account of the resemblance of the animals."
Deshayes then proposes the following sections of the great genus
Calyptrcea :
1. Those which have in their interior, and fixed to the summit, a
shelly plate, hollowed out into a sort of gutter, which may be com-
pared to a hollow cone of paper cut longitudinally in two, and of which
one portion has been removed. (Calyptrcea eqnettri».)
2. Those which have a delicate plate or lunella in the form of a
funnel, fixed either to the side or tne summit : a well-defined section,
representing nevertheless a passage towards some of the Orepidtdce,
8. Uniting all the species from those which begin to have a very
short lamella attached to the internal side (Calyptrtea extinctorivm)
to those whose lamella forms spiral turns (Calyptrcea trochtformis), the
gradations being very insensible. To this section M. Deshayes thinks
that many of Lamarck's Crepidulas should be referred.
4.' Crepidula, properly so called. This section he says might be sub-
divided, taking for a basis of the subdivision characters of less ytflue
than those relied on for forming the four principal sections.
Some idea of the variety of shape to which tiiese shells are subject
mav be obtained from the following passage in Mr. Broderip's paper i—^
" 1 nave before me specimens taken from under the same stone, evidentiy
of the same species, varying in shape from a regular high cone to an
almost flat surface, with nearly every intervening irregularity of dr-
cumferenoe that can be imagined."
The species of Calyptrceidce are numerous and widely diffused;
but the great development of the form is to be found m warm dimates,
where many of the species attain considerable size, and are remarkable
for their form and the richness of their colour. They are found stick-
ing on rocks^ on and under stones, on other living and dead shells and
Digitized by
Google
TXT
CALYSTEGIA.
CAMELUS.
723
submarine substances at depths rarying from the surface to 40 fathoms,
on sea-coastfl, in sestuariei^ and in tidal rivers.
Two genera of this family have representatives in the British seas —
Pileoptittknd Calyptrcea. Each genus has one species. PiUopsU Hun-
,garicus is a common Limpet on our shores, and is known by the
name of the Bonnet or Large Foolscap Limpet. Oalyptra Sineniia is
essentially a southern British shelL It does not range north of Britain,
but extends southward to the Meditemmean. Botii these species are
found fossil, and date back as far as the Coralline Crag.
CALYSTE'GLi (from jca\f>|, calyx, and ffr4yw, to cover), a
genus of plants composed of species formerly included under Convol-
vulus, and separated by Robert Brown. It is distinguished by two
laige bracts which indose the flower. It has a 5-parted calyx, a cam-
panulate 5-plicate corolla, one style, a 2-lobed stigma, globose or terete
lobes, a 2-celled ovarium with 2 ovules ; the capsule only 1-eelled from
the shortness of the dissepiment. The species are lactescent, glabrous,
twining or prostrate herbs, with solitary l-flowered peduncles.
C. Sepium, Great Bindweed, has sagittate or cordate very acute
leaves ; lobes truncate, entire, cordate, keeled ; acute bracts, longer
than the calyx, but one-half shorter than the coroUa ; the peduncles
square ; sepals acute. This is the Convolvulus Septum of older botanists.
The genus Calysteffia is not adopted by Koch, Babington, and other
botanists. It is a native of Europe, in hedges, and is found in Great
Britain very common. It possesses apparently the properties of the
genus Convolvulus, Haller and Withering state that the expressed
juice of the root may be used as a substitute for scammony. It is
sometimes called German Scammony. In doses of 20 or 30 grains it
has been recommended as a hydragogue cathartic in dropsies, by
Mason Good.
C. Soldanella, Sea Bindweed, has trailing glabrous rather fleshy
leaves, reniform, entire, or a littie angular ; peduncles angular, angles
winged ; bracts large, ovate, blunt, mucronate, generally shorter than
the calyx. It is a native of many parts of Europe on the sea-coast,
and also some parts of Asia. It is common on the coasts of Great
Britain. The young stalks are sometimes eaten pickled. The juice
of the mature plant is however a cathartic.
Several other species of this genus are described. Like the Convol-
vuli they are elegant plants in blossom, and are of the most easy
culture. They may be propagated by pieces of the root or by seeds.
The C. SoldaneUa should now and then be watered with salt-water.
(Don, Oardenei-'s Dictionary.)
CALYX, the external wrapper of a flower within the bracts.
Usually it is green and leaf-like, sometimes however it is coloured like
a corolla, from which it is only known by its being the outermost of
the rows of floral envelopes. It consists of leaves called sepals, which
are sometimes separate, when the calyx is polysepalous, and sometimes
united into a sort of cup by the edges, or monosepalous. Occasionally
it is converted into feathery or short divisions, when it is named pap-
pus ; or it is altogether reduced to a small rim, so as to be hardly
visible. In some plants it grows to the sides of the ovary, and is tech-
nically called superior, while it is named inferior if it is quite sepa-
rate from that part Its segments are usually of the same number os
those of the corolla, and alternate with them. The office of the calyx
appears to be, in its ordinary green state, merely that of protecting
the tender parts that are formed within it ; but when it is coloured
and similar to a corolla, we can scarcely doubt that in such cases it
also performs the part of a coroUa. [Corolla.] In some instances,
as in that of pappus, it seems merely intended as a means of trans-
porting seeds to a distance by enabling them to catch the wind by the
wings which it at that time resembles. This is especially seen In many
of the- frniits of ComposUog. The foliar nature of the sepals is well seen
in the cases of CalycophyUwm, Musacenda, &c., where the sepals natu-
i^y grow into leaves.
CAMASSIA, a genus of Bulbous Plants belonging to the natural
order LUiacece. The bulbs of one of the species {C. esctdenta) are eaten
by the North American Indians under the name of Quamasn.
CAMBING OUTAN. [Antilope^.]
CAMBIUM, a viscid substance that appears in the spring between
the wood and bark of exogenous trees. It is in this substance that
the yoimg cells are fozTned which became the wood of the following
year. This substance disappears -every spring after the complete
formation of the wood, which then adheres firmly to the bark ; but
it re-appears whenever the plant is again called into growth, as at
midsimimer in those species which dioot twice a year, like roses,
peaches, &c.
CAMBOGK The produce of several species of plants belonging to
the natural order QuUifercB is known by this name. It is a gum-resin,
and has purgative properties. On account of its bright yellow colour
it is also used as a pigment. [Stalaohiteb ; Gabcinia ; Guttiferjb.]
CAMBKIAN ROCKS. Science is indebted to Professor Sedgwick
for having established in North Wales, beyond a doubt, the important
fact) that beneath the slates and flags of Denbighshire, which belong
to the Upper Silurian Strata, occur in the Berwyn Mountains and in
the vicinity of Bala other strata containing Lower Silurian fossils, to
the extent of several thousand feet in thickness. In South Wales the
progress of the Geological Survey, imder Sir H. De la Beche, has esta-
blished the fact of very considerable thicknesses of partially fossiliferous
rocks beneath the Llandeilo (or Lowest Siluxian) Strata of Murchison.
By these labours we perceive that the PalsDozoic forms of oiganisatiou
descend, in Wales, many thousand feet below the lowest recogniaed
Silurian strata^ and the subjoined view of the nomenclatures, sepa-
rately proposed by Sedgwick and Murchison, will give an idea of the
relations of these rocks.
Upper Silurian, f Ludlow Rocks.
(Murch.) \ Wenlock Rocks.
Lovter
Palaozoic
Strata.
\ Cambrian
Strata.
(Sedgw.)
Lower Silurian. / Caradoc Rocks.
(Murch.) \ Llandeilo Rocks.
Groups yet
to be
named.
Hypozoic Strata of CumbcrUmd and Scotland.
Thus it appears that the Cambrian Strata are not exactly equiraleats
of the Lower Siliirians, but include a great range of other strata below
those originally defined by Sir Koderic Murchison. Viewed, how-
ever, without reference to nomenclature, the Cambrian and Lower
Silurian Rocks form one type, and may perhaps deserve to be ranked
as one great Protozoic System.
CAMEL. rCAMELUS.]
CAMELIInA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
CrucifercB, to the sub-order Laliseptos, and the tribe Camdinm. It
has a subovate pouch, the valves ventricose, with a linear prolonga-
tion at the end, which is confluent with the persistent style.
C scUiva, Gold of Pleasure, has pear-shaped pouches, intermediate
stem, leaves lanceolate, sagittate at the base, entire or denticulate. It
has small yellow flowers. Its name is a burlesque on the humble
appearance of the plant. Babington admits it into his British Flora,
but it is undoubtedly a foreign plant, which has been introduced with
the seed of flax. It is found' abundantly in the com and flax fields of
the Continent, from whence the seed is brought to this cotmtry.
C. dentata is another species frequently found in Great Britain, in
company with the last, and introduced in the same way.
CAME'LLIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Temstromiacece, and nearly related to the pltmts which yield the tea
of the shops. All the species are natives of China and Japan, or of
corresponding climates in the north of India, whence they have been
introduced to Europe. C. Japonica, a species with broad shining
leaves, and red flowers, is the origin of the numerous beautiful
varieties now so common in our gardens. The principal part of theae have
been raised by the skill of the Chinese or Japanese, and are remarkable
not only for their gay colours, but for the great symmetry with, which
their petals are arranged, the flowers when seen in perfection
resembling nothing so much as beautiful shell-work. The sorts that
have been raised in this country are in most instances inferior to the
Chinese in symmetry, but they occa^onally surpass them in richness
of colour. They are multiplied by cuttings, grafts, and buds, and
also by seeds, which the Waratah and some single sorts produce in
plenty.
The other species of Camellia in our gardens which deserve notice
are, the C. maliflora, the Apple-Blossomed Camellia, which is
probably a mere variety of the last ; C. oUifera, whose seeds yield &
valuable oil in China ; and C. reticulaiaf which is by far the hand-
somest of all. The leaves of this species are very remarkably netted,
and the semi-double flowers, which are sometimes as much as six
inches across, are of a deep rich rose-colour. For the culture of these
plants see Camkllta, in Arts and Sc. Div.
CAMELOPARD. [Giraffa.]
CAMEL'S-THORN a name given to a species of J2Aa^, thei.
Camelorvm. [Alhaql]
CAMELUS a genus of Ruminant Animals 'without horns ; Gamalof
the Hebrews, Djemal of the Arabs, KduriKos of the Greeks, Camelus of
the Romans, Cammello of the Italians, Camello of the Spaniards,
Eameel of the Germans, Chameau of the French, and Camel of the
English. It includes two species, 0. Bactrianus, the Camel, and
C Arabicus, the Dromedary.
The Camels have 34 teeth : 16 in the upper jaw ; namely, two
incisors — for the camels and the llamas have these, and form the
exceptions, the other ruminants being without any incisors in the
upper jaw — two canines, twelve molars: 18 in the lower jaw;
namely, six incisors, two canines, ten molars. The incisors of the
upper jaw bear a close resemblance to canine teeth, for they are
conical, compressed at the sides, pointed, and somewhat cun-ed or
hooked. There is another difference between the Camels and the
other Ruminants : the former have the scaphoid and cuboid bones of
the tarsus separated. Instead of the great homy case or shoe, which
envelopes all the lower part of each toe and determines the figure of
the ordinary cloven hoof, the camels have only a small one, or rather
the rudiment of one, adhering only to the last joint of the toe, and
symmetrical in form, like the hoofs of the Pachyaerma^a. These and
other peculiarities of form lead to the opinion that the Camels and the
Llamas form the link between the RuminarUia and Pachydermaia.
The characters of the genus may be thus summed up : — Lower
incisors in the form of cutting wedges; upper incLsors sub-lateral ;
canines conical, sub-erect^ strong ; false molars situated in the inter
Digitized by
Google
729
CAMELUS.
CAMELUS.
730
deutazy space on either side ; head long ; upper lip cleft ; nostrils slit
obliquely ; eyes prominent ; ears smalL Neck elongated. Back with
fleshy bosses or hunches ; tail moderate. Toes united below. Teats
veatral, four in number. Hair inclining to woolly. Callosities on the
breast, and flexible points of the extremities. The upper lip of the
Camel swollen and divided, the projecting orbits of its eyes, the
lengthened and certainly not graceful neck, the bcu^k bossed with a
hump or humps, and croup Gomparativel^ weak, supported upon the
long and awkward-looking legs terminatmg in apparently dispropor-
tioned feet» are not materials for producing elegance of form : and
indeed the air of the animal is altogether grotesque; but this
uncouth shape is, as we shall presently see, one of those admirable
examples of contrivance which must stnke the most casual observer.
The two species of Camel were well known to Aristotle, who, in his
* Natural Histoiy ' (ii 1), mentions both the Arabian and the Bactrian,
remarking that the latter has two humps, whereas the former has
but one.
The oi^ganisation of the Camels is wonderfully adapted to their
habits and uses to man. The pads or sole-cushions of the spreading
feet are divided into two toes without being externally separated,
which buoy up as it were the whole bulk with their expansive
elasticity from sinking in the sand, on which it advances with silent
step — the nostrils so formed that the animal can dose them at will
to exclude the drift sand of the parching simoom — ^the powerful upper
incisor teeth for assisting in the division of the tough prickly shrubs
and dry stunted herbage of the desert — and, above all, the cellular
■tructure of the stomach, which is capable of being converted into an
assemblage of water tanks, bear ample testimony to the care mani-
fested in the structure of this extraordinary quadruped.
The stomach of the Camel has been well described by Sir Everard
Home.
" The earners stomach," he says, " anteriorly fonns one laige bag,
but when laid open this is found to be divided into two compart-
ments, on its posterior part, by a strong ridge, which passes down
from the right side of the orifice of the oesophagus, in a longitudinal
direction. This ridge forms one side of a groove that leads to the
orifice of the second cavity, and is continued on beyond that part,
becoming one boundary to the cellular structure met with in that
situation. From this ridge eight strong muscular bands go off at
right angles, and afterwards form curved lines, till they are insensibly
lost in the coats of the stomach. These are at equal distances from
each other, and, being intersected in a regular way by transverse
muscular septa, form &e cells. Thb cellular structure is in the left
compartment of the first cavity, and there is another of a more super-
ficial kind on the right, placed in exactly the opposite direction, nuMle
up of twenty-one rows of smaller cells, but entirely unconnected with
the great rioge. On the left side of the termination of the cesophagus
a broad muscular band has its origin from the coats of the first cavity,
and passes down in the form of a fold parallel to the great ridge, till
it enters the orifice of the second, where it takes another diiection.
It is continued along the upper edge of that cavity, and terminates
within the orifice of a sm^l bag, which may be termed the third
cavity. This band on One side and the great ridge on the other form
a canal, which leads from the oesophagus down to the cellular struc-
ture in tlie lower part of the first cavity. The orifice of the second
cavity, when this muscle is not in action, is nearly shut ; it is at right
angles to the side of the first. The second cavi^ forms a pendulous
bag, in which there are twelve rows of cells, formed by as many
strong muscular bands, passiug in a transverse direction, and inter-
sected by weaker muscular bands, so as to form the orifices of the
cells. Above these cells, between them and the muscle which passes
along the upper part of this cavity, is a smooth surface, extending
from the orifice of this cavity to the termination in the third.
''From this account it is evident that the second cavity neither
receives the solid food in the first instance, as in the buUock, nor
does the food afterwards pass into the cavity or cellular structure.
The food first passes into the first compartment of the first cavity,
and that portion of it which lies in the recess, immediately below the
entrance of the oesophagus, under which the cells are situated, is kept
moist, and is readily returned into the mouth along the groove formed
for that pui^ose, by the action of the strong muscle which surrounds
this part of the stomach, so that the cellular portion of the first
cavity in the camel performs the same office as the second in the
niminants with horns. While the camel is drinking, the action of
the muscular band opens the orifice of the second cavity at the same
time that it directs the water into it ; and when the cells of that
cavity are fiiU, the rest runs off into the cellular structure of the first
cavi^ immediiately below, and afterwards into the general cavity.
It would appear that camels, when accustomed to go journeys, m
which they are kept for an imusual number of days without water,
acquire the power of dilating the cells so as to make them contain a
more than ordinary quantity as a supply for their journey ; at least,
■uch is the acoo\mt given by those who have been in Egypt. When
the Old has been chewed, it has to pass along the upper part of the
second cavity before it can reach the third. How this is effected
without its falling into the cellular portion, could not, from any
inspection of dried specimens, be ascertained ; but when the recent
Btomach is accurately examined the mode in which this is managed
becomes very obvious. At the time that the cud has to pass from
the mouth the muscular band contracts with so much force that it
not only opens the orifice of the second cavity, but acting on the
mouth of the third brings it forward into the second, by which means
the muscular ridges that separate the rows of cells are brought close
together, so as to exclude these cavities from the canal through which
the cud passes."
Sir Everaid Home having stated that John Hunter did not give
credit to the assertion that the Camel can retain a quantity of water
in its stomach unmixed with the food, and capable of being reoovered
after the animal has been killed, the following note by Dr. Patrick
Russell, in the Appendix to his brother's 'SUi^ry of Aleppo,' is of
some interest : — " That water, in cases of emergency, is taken from
the stomach of camels, is a fact neither doubted in Syria nor thought
strange. I never was myself in a caravan reduced to such an expe-
dient; but I had the lees reason to distrust the report of others,
particularly of the Arabs, seeing that even the love of the marvellous
could in such a case be no inducement to invention. It may perhaps
be superfluous to produce the authority of an Arab historian (Beidawi),
who, in his account of the Prophet's Expedition to Tabuc against the
Greeks, relates, among other distresses of the army, that uiey were
reduced to the necessity of killing their camels for the sake of the
water contained in their stomachs. (Sale, ' Koran,' p. 164 ; Gibbon,
' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,' v. p. 245.)
** On my retum from the East Indies, in 1789, hearing accidentally
that my friend Mr. John Hunter had dissected a camel, and was
supposed to have expressed an opinion that the animal's power of
preserving water in its stomach was rather improbable, I took an
opportuni^ of conversing with him on the subject, when (to the best
of my recollection) he told me that ' he by no means drew any such
absolute inference from his dissection; that he saw no reason for
assigning more than four stomachs to the camel, though he could
conceive that water might be found in the paunch little impregnated
by the dry provender of the desert, and readily separating or draining
from it'
" In hopes that other particulars might be found among the papers
of my lately-deoeased friend, I applied to his brother-in-law, Mr.
Home, who informed me that he had examined them, but without
discovering any observations on the subject." (VoL ii. p. 425.)
"From these remarks, then, it appears that the small cavity
rmrded by Daubenton as analogous to a reticulum, was not con-
sidered by Mr. Hunter as of sufficient importance to be ranked as a
distinct stomach ; and the water-bag must therefore, in his opinion,
have held the place of the honey-comb-bag in the homed rummants.
And when we compare the relation of the reticulum to the rumen in
that tribe, with the corresponding free communication which
subsists between the water-bag and rumen in the camel tribe;
and when also we observe in both the i^recise correspondence, in
the mode of communication of these two cavities witn ti^e oeso-
phagus and with the muscular apparatus destined to convey the
re-masticated food bevond their aperture.? into the third cavity,
and at the same time nnd an approach to the peculiar disposition of
the cells of the water-bag in the reticulum of some of tne homed
ruminants, it becomes evident that the two cavities are analogous,
the reticulum of the camels being modified for its destined functions
by the greater development of the secondary cells, by the absence of
a outicular lining, and by the production of the inner layer of the
muscular tunic, which forms the apparatus for dosing the orifice of
the primary cells. The third cavity, therefore, which could not have
been recognised as a distinct compartment in the llama, and which
imdoubtedly receives the re-masticated food in the camel, ought rather
to be regarded as a peculiar structure, to which nothing analogous is
to be found in the stomachs of the homed ruminants."
Cells of Camel's Stomach, oucniuth of natural si/.c.
Here is represented the muscular arrangement provided for closing
the orifices of the cells so as to prevent the food from falling into
them. The cells themselves are exposed, bringing into view their
bottoms, the muscular^ conformation of which enables the animal to
give out their contents.'
The seven callosities on the flexures of the limbs and chest, and the
hump on the back, seem perhaps to bear more relation to the neces-
sities of the animal, considered as the slave of man. These callosities
Digitized by
Google
7S1
GAMELUa
GAMELUa
732
are the poiuta whereon the animal resta when it kneels down to receive
its burden. The hump, which is a fatty secretion, is known to be
absorbed into the system when the animal is pinched for food, thus
forming a provision against the casualties of a life ordained to be
spent in the desert.
The Camel furnishes the Arab with flesh and milk ; of its hair he
weaves clothing and even tents ; his belt and his sandals are the
produce of its hide ; and the dung affords him fueL The soot of this
fuel, after having undergone the process of sublimation in closed
vessels, produced the sal-ammoniao^ or hydrochlorate of ammonia,
which was formerly imported from Egypt into this country, where
the alkali is now however manufactured in a variety of ways. In the
East the hair of the camel is made into cloth. The raiment of John
the Baptist was of camel's hair. (Matthew, iii 4 ; Mark, i. 6.) It is
principally imported into these islands for the manufacture of pencils
for the painter. The hair which is the product of Persia is held in
the greatest estimation. There are three qualities — bTack, red, and
gray ; the black brings the best price, the red comes next in value,
and the gray is only valued at ludf the price of the red. But these
uses are mere trifles when compared with the paramount importance
of these animals as commercial vehicles, 'ships of the desert,' as they
have been poetically termed; for they are the living machines by
means of which conmiunication is kept up across the most desolate
and frightful deserts, which without some such aid would be entirely
impassable by man. These toilsome joumies over the most dreary
and inhospitable regions, the organisation of the camel and its extreme
temperance enable it to perform with comparative ease.
The load of a heavy or slow-going camel in one of the caravans is,
according to Major Rennell, from 500 to 600 lbs. weight. The latter is
the amount given by Sandys as the ordinary load ; ** yet," he adds,
" will he carry a 1000 lbs. weight." At Pisa the burden of a full-grown
camel is stated to be sometimes 14 kilogrammes (above 800 lbs.). The
mode of training the beast to bear these loads seems to vary. Brue,
speaking of an African mode (Senegal) towards the end of the 17th
century, says : — " Soon after a camel is bom the Moors tie his feet
under his belly, and having thrown a large cloth over his back, put
heavy stones at each comer of the cloth, which rests on the ground.
They in this manner accustom him to receive the heaviest loads."
Santi describes the method adopted at Pisa. At the age of four years
a camel which is intended for labour is broken in. The trainers first
double up one of his four legs, which they tie fast with a cord ; they
then pull the cord, and thus usually compel the animal to fall upon
his bent knee. If this does not -succeed they tie up both legs, and he
falls upon both knees, and upon the callosity which is upon his breast.
They often accompany this operation with a particular cry and with
a slight blow of a whip. At this cry and blow, with the addition of
a sudden jerk downwards of his halter, the camel gradually learns to
lie down upon his belly, with his legs doubled under him, at the
conmiand of his driver. The trainers then accustom him to a pack-
saddle, and place on it a load at first light, but increased by degrees
as the animal advances in docility, till at last, when he readily lies
down at the voice of his driver and as i*eadily rises up with his load,
his education is so far complete. The camels at Pisa, it appears, do
not complain if too heavily laden ; but in Egypt, according to Denon,
they remonstrated loudly on such occasions, crying out when they
were laden too heavily or unequally.
In travelling with a caravan the acute sense of smelling possessed
by the Camel is strikingly displayed. When apparently completely
worn out, and when all have been on the point of perishing with thirst,
he has been known to break his halter and run with imerring cer-
tainty to a spring which had escaped the observation of .the other
quadrupeds of the caravan, and of man himself.
Arabia, Persia, the south of Tartary, some parts of India, and
Africa, from Egypt to Mauritania, and from the Mediterranean to the
river Senegal, appear to be the countries over which the Arabian
Camel is principidly distributed. It is also nimierous in the Canary
Islands. That it was a native of Asia from the earliest times, and the
great oriental conmiercial vehicle of ancient as it is of modem days,
cannot be doubted. We trace it repeatedly in the Scriptures. Thus
when Joseph's brethren had cast him into the pit, and after the com-
mission of their crime had sat down to eat bread, " they lifted up
their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmaelites came
from Gilead,' with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh,
:oing to carry it down to Egypt." (Genesis zxxviL 25.) Again, in
udges, viii 21, we read that " Gideon arose and slew Zebah and
Zalmunnah, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels'
necks." In Genesis xxxii. 7, we find that Jacob " divided the people
that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into
two bands ;" and the domestic state of the animal at this early period
is further proved by verse 15 of the same chapter, where we see, as
part of the present sent by Jacob to propitiate Esau, " thirty milch
camels with their colts." In Leviticus, xi. 4, the camel is enumerated
among the forbidden animals, "because he cheweth the cud, but
divideth not the hoof : he is unclean imto you." Part of Job's *' sub-
stance (Job i. 3.) consisted of three thousand camels ;" and the third
messenger of evil infonhs him (i. 17) that "the Chaldaoans made out
three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away."
When, after his afflictions, the Lord blessed the latter end of Job
5'
more than his beginning (xliL 12) "six thousand camels" fonn* .1 a
portion of the blessing. And here we may observe that though the
inquiry has been the subject of much research, there is no satisfactory
evidence of the existence of the Camel in an originally wild state at
any period whatever. Diodorous and Strabo indeed mention its
existence in such a state in Arabia; and Desmoulins, who has written
most valuably on the subject^ asserts that it so existed in the time of
Hadrian ; the natives too of Central Africa maintain, it is said, that
the animal is to be found wild in the mountains where Europeans
have never penetrated. But it is far from improbable that these wild
camels might, like the wild horses of the American prairies, h&ve
owed their parentage to camels which had escaped from the control
of man. Cuvier, in relating the report of Pallas upon the evidence of
the Bucharians and Tartars that there are wild camels in the deserts
of the middle of Asia, well remarks that it must not be forgotten that
the Calmucks give liberty to all sorts of animals from a religious
principle.
In Europe, Pisa seems to be the only locality where the Camel is
now bred. At San Rossora, the arid phuns and stimted bushes bear
some distant resemblance to the Asiatic and African desert ; but moat
authors who understand the subject agree in considering that the rac^
is fast degenerating. The time of their introduction into Tuscany ia
not accurately known.
The Arabian Camel was introduced into Spain by the Moors ; and
the southern districts possessed many of these animals for a consider-
able period after the conquest of Granada ; but they are now no longer
to be found as a species' in the Spanish territory. After the conquest
of Spanish America an attempt was made to introduce them into that
country by Juan de Reinega, a Biscayan ; and Acosta saw them towards
the end of the 16th century at the foot of the Andes. But the intro-
duction of these animals was looked upon with no favourable eye by
the ruling Spaniards, and they gradually dwindled away. They haTe
however been lately imported with greater success from the Canary
Islands. Humboldt mentions them, aud particularly some that he
saw feeding imder a palm-tree near New Valencia.
Cameltts BactHanut (Linn.), the Mecheri, or Camel. It is the C. Di-
tophus of Walther, C. Turcicua of Alpinus, the Bactrian Camel of Pen-
nant, Le Chameau of Buffon, the Trampelthier of Knorr. It has two
humps on the back. Length about 10 feet. Hair shaggy, particulorlj
under the throat. Colour generally dark-bi-own. Localities, Persia,
Turkey, &c.
Bactiian Caincl {^Camchis B.-iririnuus),
This species is comparatively i-are ; but in the middle zone of ArLi^
north of the Taurus and the Himalaya Mountains, it is found in com-
parative abundance. Not that it is not to be seen occasionally in other
countries — in Arabia, for instance ; but such instances are said to be
uncommon. The Bactrian C^mel is stouter and more muscular than
the Arabian species, and his strength is in proportion. " It varies
from brown to white, and also greatly in size, strength, and quicknca^,
according to the breed aud climate." (Gray.)
C. Ih'omedarius (Linn.), the Sghimel, or Dromedary. It is the
C. Luk of Eversmann, C. v^ulgaris of Forskal, C. monotopkut of Walther,
C. Ih'omcu of Gesner, C. minimus of Kl^in, C. reius of Frisch, the
Arabian Camel of Pennant, and Le Drometlaire of Buffon.
It has one hump, situated on the middle of the back. Length about
8 feet. Hair palo brown. Localities, Arabia, Africa, &c ^
Purchas (book vi., c 1, s. 9) says that of Camels there 'are three
kinds ; the first called Huguin, of tall stature and able to carry a
thousand poimds weight ; the second less, having a double bunch,
fit for carriage and to ride on, called Becheti, bred only in Asia ; the
third sort, called Raguahill, small, able to travel (for they are uuiit
for burdens) above an hundred miles in a day. The king of 1 im-
buctoo can send messengers on such camels to Segelmesse or Darha,
900 miles distant, in the space of eight days at the farthest He further
states that such enduring swiftness would be almost incredible, were
it not corroborated by the best authorities, who all agree in their
Digitized by
Google
7SS
CAMERARIA.
CAMPANULACE^
731
acooTints of the speed of the Heine, El Heine, or Maheny of the
desert— Purchas'a Raguahill. " When thou shalt meet a heirie," say
the Arabs in their poetical mode of expression, '' and say to the rider
' Salem Aleik,' ere he shall have answered thee ' Aleik Salem,' he will be
aforofi^ and nearly out of sight, for his swiftness is like the wind."
Dromedary {Camelus Dromedar'ui-s),
The ' Sabayee,* said to be the fastest breed of the swift Dromedary,
will, it is asserted, perform a journey of thirty-five days' caravan tra-
velling (about 18 miles a day) in five days, performing 630 miles in
that small period of time. Riley often travelled on a dromedary at
the rate of 7 or 8 miles an hour for nine and ten hours a day ; and
Lyon says that the Maherry of the Northern African Arabs will con-
tinue at a long trot of 9 miles an hour for many hours together.
Besides the swift variety above alluded to, the species varies in
colour, like the Bactrian, being sometimes cream-coloured or even
white. There are specimens in the Gardens of the Zoological Society
in the Regent's Park.
The natural family of the Camdidm comprises also the South
American form so well known by the name of ilaina. [Tj.ama.]
A fossil species, C. SivdlensiSf of this genus was discovered by
Dr. Falconer and Captain Cautley in the Tertiary deposits of the
Sewalik Hills of Hindustan. The crania, jaws, and teeth of this
species are to be seen in a fine state of preservation in the British
Museum. It was nearly related to the existing species, but exceeded
them by at least one-seventh in height
CAMERARIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Apocynace(e, C. latifolia is called the Bastaixl Manchineel-Tree in
the countries where it grows, on account of its possessing properties
similar to the Manchineel. The true Manchineel is the produce of
Hippwnane ManchineUOf one of the Spurgeworts. [Hipfomane.]
CAMOMILE, or CHAMOMILE. [Anthemis,]
CAMPA'NULA (diminutive of Campana, a boll, on account of the
form of its flowers), a genus of plants the type of the natural order
Campcnvulacece. It has a 6-cleft calyx, the corolla mostly bell-shaped,
with five broad and shallow segments, the anthers free, the filaments
dilated at the base, the stigma 3-5-fid, the capsule not elongated,
3-5-cellcd, and opening by lateral pores outside the segment of the
calyx. This genus is one of the largest in the vegetable kingdom,
although from time to time the niunber of its species has been
reduced by the formation of new generic types. Eight species are
described by Babington as British. The species of Smith were more
numerous, but Babington recognises Heister's genus SpectUaria for
the old C. kyhrida (JPrUmatocarpiis hyhridua of L'Heritier) and its
allies, and Schrader's genus Wahlenbergia for the C. hcderacecb. The
older names of the genus Campanvla are TracJidium and Ctrviccma,
names which were given to it on account of the supposed efficacy of
many of the species in the cure of disorders of the neck and trachea.
Hence also the common name Throatwort. All the species are
herbaceous, with mostly perennial roots, and the radical leaves
differing in . form from those of the stem. They are natives of the
northern hemisphere.
C. edtdiSf Chobs, Okab, is a hispid plant with a thick root, erect
1 -flowered stems, ovate-lanceolate crenate leaves ; lobes of the calyx
linear-lanceolate, equal in length to the corolla, which is hispid. It is
a native of Arabia Felix. Its root is thick and sapid, and contains a
couHiderable quantity of starch. It is on this account frequently
eaten by children, as are the roots of many other species.
C. glomerataf Clustered Bell-Flower, has the leaves minutely crenate-
serrate, the lowermost stalked, ovate-lanceolate, generally cordate
at the base, the upper leaves half-clasping, scssUe, ovate, acute;
the flowers sessile in terminal and axillary clusters. This is a native
of Europe, especially in mountainoius districts. In Great Britain it
IB found in dry pastures on limestone. It is the Trac?ielium miniu
and Oervicaria miJiar of Lobel and Dodonasus. It is often cultivated
in our gardens, and a great number of wild varieties have been
described by Alphonse De CandoUe.
C. Trachelium, Nettle-Leaved Bell-Flower, has the leaves coarsely
doubly serrate, hispid, the lower one cordate, with long stalks, upper
nearly sessile, ovate or lanceolate, acuminate; flowers racemose,
peduncles 2-3-flowered ; segments of the calyx triangular-lanceolate,
entire, erect ; tha stem erect, angular. This is a European species
It is found in the south of England, and has large blue bell-shaped
flowers. A decoction of this herb was formerly used in disordci'S
of the throat, but the properties of the genus are medicinally inert.
C. rotwndifolia, Hare-Boll, Blue-BeUs, Milkwort, has the radical
leaves cordate or reniform, shorter than their stalks; stem-leaves
linear, the lower ones lanceolate; flowers one or more racemose,
corolla turbinate, campanulate. It has pretty blue flowers, and is a
favourite throughout Europe. In France it is called Clochette; in
Germany Weisen-Busch, and Grassglas. The juice of the flowers
makes a very good blue ink, and when mixed with alum a green one.
The roots of this species also may be eaten.
O. pyramidaLU is a glabrous plant with leaves glandular, toothed,
the lower ones petiolate, ovate-oolong, somewhat cordate, the stem-
leaves sessile, ovate-lanceolate; the flowers n\miei*ous, pyramidally
racemose, the lobes of the calyx acuminate, spreading, the capsule
spherical, deeply furrowed. It is indigenous on rocks and walls in
Carinthia, Camiola, and Dalmatia. From its having been a great
favourite in the gardens of Europe, it has now become naturalised in
many places where it was not originally a native. It has not often
been found wild in Great Britain, though it is commonly cultivated
for the sake of its tall raceme of beautiful blue flowers. It is in
gr^t demand in Holland, where it is employed to ornament halls and
staircases, and to place before fire-places in summer, for which purpose
it is planted in l£^e pots and trained in a fan-manner so as to hide
a large surface. In the shade it remains in bloom two or three
months. " The art of producing a very large plant is to begin with
pots of a small size, and shift frequently dming two years, till at
l&st the plant occupies a pot of a foot or more in diameter. Rich
light soil should be used, but no animal manures or recent dung,
as these are very injurious. Cuttings of the roots flower the second
and seedlings the third year. C. carpatica and C. grandifiora may
be treated in the same manner." (Loudon.)
C. Eapuncvlw, Rampion, has leaves crenate, the radicle leaves
oblong-elliptical narrowed into a petiole, the stem-leaves linear-
lanceolate, sessile, the raceme few-flowered, the segments of the calyx
lanceolate. It is a native of Marocco and Barbaiy, also of the south
of Europe, and extends as iar north as Norfolk in England. It has
a fusiform thick white root, which looks like a little turnip ; hence
the specific name rapunctUua, being the diminutive of rapa, or radish.
In Gennany it is called Rapunzel, in France Raiponce, in Italy Raper-
onzola ; the English Rampion appears to be the same word. It is
much cultivated in France and Italy, and sometimes in Britain, for
the sake of the roots, which are " boiled tender and eaten hot with
sauce, or cold with vinegar and pepper." (Loudon.) In its cultivation
the seed should be sown in the spring on deep light soils, in drills ;
and in the autumn of the year the plants will be ready for use.
The C. persicifoliOf a doubtful native of Britain, and the C. HapuncU'
loideSf an indigenous plant, may be used for the same purposes as C.
Rapwnculua,
C. lilifolia {Adenophora lUifolia, Ledebore) has alternate leaves, the
radical ones petiolate, ovate-roundish, cordate, toothed ; the corolla
campanulate, the style exserted. It is a native of Siberia, and of the
east of Europe. Like many othera of the genus it has an edible root,
which is sometimes divided into several turnip-formed tubers. The
flowers are numerous and sweet-scented. It is interesting from the
fact that the leaves before blossoming are crowded toge&er on the
summit of the stem, so as to form a green rose-like body. But as
the axis elongates, the leaves become afterwards scattered on the
prolonged stem. The roots are eaten in China both raw and cooked.
The other British species of this genus not described are C. latifolia,
Great Bell-Flower, common in the North ; C. Rapunculoides, very rare ;
and C. pcUuUif frequent in hedges and thickets. [Specularia ;
Wahlenbbbgia.]
(Loudon, Encydopcedia of Plants; Koch, Flora Germanica ;
Babington, MantMl of British Botany; Burnett, Outlines; Don,
Cfardener's Dictionary.)
CAMPANULA'CEiE, Bdlworts, the Campanula Tribe, a natui-al
order of Monopetalous Dicotyledonous Plants, the character of which
is. to have an inferior three or more Qelled fruit containing many
minute seeds, combined with a regular corolla, distinct stamens equal
in number to the lobes of the corolla, dilated bases to the filaments, a
downy style, and a milky juice. It consists of plants usually herbace-
ous, sometimes shrubby, scattered over all parts of the globe, but most
abundant in the form of species related to the common Campanula, or
Bell-Flower, in the milder parts of Europe and Asia. Of 600 species
only 19 are found within the tropics. The flowers are commonly
blue, purple, or white, occasionally rose-coloured, very rarely yellow,
as in a Canary shrub called Mvsschia aurea. None of the species are
poisonous, notwithstanding that the order is very closely allied to the
dangerous Lobdiacea, which hardly difl'er except in having irregular
flowera and syngeuesluus stamens. The aflSnkies of this order are
Digitized by
Google
736
CAMPANULARIA.
CANARY-BIRD.
73a
with Oom/poiUa through LobeUaceoe, and also with Solanacece and
Vaceiniaeea. It embraces 28 genera and about 600 spedea.
»i
6 5 4 1 2 3
R&mpion {Campanula Bapwiouloide*),
1, The base of the corolla, -with the stamens; 2, a stamen separate; 3, a
ealTx with the style and stigma ; 4, a ripe seed-Tessel ; 5, a section of the
flame ; 6, seeds natural size ; 7, a seed magnified ; 8, a section of the same.
CAMPANULARIA. [Poltpiabia.]
CAMPHOR is a substance produced by several plants, and in its
chemical characters belongs to the class of Vegetable Oils. It is
yielded in greatest abundance by the natural order Zavracecc, from
several species of which Camphor might be produced. It is however
obtained for commercial and medicinal purposes from the Camphora
Qficinarum, Nees {LoMrm Camphora of Linnaeus). A substance called
Borneo Camphor, having similar properties to that from the natural
order LauracecB, is obtained from the Bryohalanopt Camphorct, This
Camphor does not come into Europe on account of the great demand
for it in the Chinese markets. [Camphor, Medical Ifsea of, in Arts
AND Sc. Drv.]
CAMPHOR-OIL, a substance obtained in Borneo and Sumatra
from the Drpobalaaiops Campliorck It is supposed to be Camphor in
an imperfect state of formation. [Drtobalanofs.]
CAMPHORA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Zauracea. This genus was constituted by Nees von Esenbeck for the
Zaunu Camp?iorifera of Kampfer, the plant which yields the Camphor
of commerce. It is known by its hermaphrodite panicled naked
flowers; 6-cleft papery calyx, with a deciduous lunb; 9 fertile
stamens, 3 in a row, Uie inner row with two stalked glands at their
base ; the anthers 4-celled, the outer turned inwards, the inn^ out-
wardis ; the fruit placed on the obconical base of the calyx ; the leaves
triply nerved, glandular in the axils of the principal veins ; the leaf-
buds scaly.
C, officinarum, the Camphor Laurel, is a tree with lax smooth
branches ; the leaves are bright-green and shiny above, paler beneath,
and somewhat coriaceous, with a sunken gland at the a:^ of the
principal veins, projecting at the upper side, opening by an oval pore
beneath. This plant is a native of Japan and China, and is cultivated
in most of the warmer parts of the world. The Camphor of commerce
is yielded by this tree, which is cultivated most extensively in the
island of Formosa, from whence it is taken to Canton, which is the
principal market for Camphor.
CAMPION. [Lychnis; Silbnb.]
CAMPONTIA, a genus of supposed Marine Annelides, first described
by Dr. Johnston. Of this genus Dr. Johnston says, ** When I first
described this animal its close resemblance to some caterpillars was
particularly mentioned, but the suspicion of its being actually a larva
did not occur to me ; for I believed it to be an established fact among
entomologists that no insect passed its preparatory stages in sea-water.
I have been informed however that Mr. Mljeay, and no higher
authority can bo given, has proved that the worm in question ia the
larva probably of some dipterous fly; and if this epinion be correct
(which its anatomy strongly confirms), then it will follow that at least
one larva naturally lives and undergoes its changes in the sea—a con-
clusion which I think is one of some importance, and at variance with
our present notions. Our Catnpontia cruciformis may be found at all
seasons at the roots of sea-weed and corallines in pools left by the
recess of the tide. The very specimens before me were procured by
myself a few days ago in parts to which no fr^sh-water could have
access, and which are covered to the depth of several feet every tide,
for they are near low-water mark." {Mag. Nat, ffut. voL viii.)
CA'MPSIA (Lepeletier and ServUle), a genus of Coleopterous Insects,
of the section ffeteromeroj sub-section Stenelytra (LatreUle), and family
ffdopida. [HxLOpfeA.]
CAMPTO'CERUS (Dejean), a genus of wood-feeding Coleopterous
Insects, belonging to the section Xylophagi of Latreille. . [Xtlophaol]
CAMPTODO'NTUS (Dejean), a genus of Coleopterous Insects, of
the family ScarUidcBf closely allied to Oxy$tomu» ; fr^m which genus
however tiie present is distinguished by the species having the labial
pdpi shorter than the external maxillary : antennsd with the basal
toint scarcely longer than the two following joints taken together.
SOARITIDiE.]
CAMPYLOMY'ZA (Wiedeman), a genus of Dipterous Insecia, of
the family Tipulidte. It has the Allowing characters : — Proboscis
curved; antennas filiform, 14-jointed, two basal joints tolerably
thick, the remaining short, cylindrical, and covered with fine hain ;
body short ; femora elongated ; wings hairy, with one maiginal cell,
and three posterior cells, the first and second divided by an indistinct
nervure.
The species of this genus are all extremely minute, and found on
the leaves of trees.
C bicolor is less than one-twelfth of an inch in length, of a blackish
colour, with the edges of the abdominal segments pale; legs pale-
yellow. This species and three or four others inhabit this country.
CA'MPYLUS (Rscher), a genus of Coleopterous Insects, belonging
to the family Elaterido!. The species of this genus are distingui^ed
by their having the hinder part of the head free, or not simk into the
thorax as far as the eyes, as is usually the case in this tribe. The
eyes are globular and projecting: the antennss are rather long,
obscurely pectinated, and inserted close to the eyes beneath a pro-
jecting frontal ridge ; thorax narrow ; elytra much elongated, and
somewhat linear.
C. dispar, a common insect in this country, is found on the leaves
of trees, and on nettles and other plants. It is nearly half an inch
long, and of an ochreous colour, with the under part of tke body more
or less black : sometimes the posterior part of the head, the disc of
the thorax and elytra, and the femora are black.
About six or seven species of this genus have been discovered, most
of which are European. The above-described species is the only one
known to inhabit England.
CAMWOOD (German, Kammholz; French, Bois de Cham ; Portu-
guese, Pao Ghibao), a red dye-wood, the colouring matter of which is
similar to that of Nicaragua or Peach-Wood. It is the produce of a
plant belonging to the natuzal order Leguminosce, called Bapkia nitida.
It is used with alum and tartar as a mordant. It does not afford more
than a third part of the colouring matter yielded by an equal quantity
of Brazil-Wood. It is used likewise by turners for making knife-
handles, and by cabinet-makers for ornamental knobs to fiuniture.
The greatest part of the Camwood imported into Europe is brou^t
from Sierra-Leone.
CANARIUM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Amyridacea. C. commvme yields a gum which is said to have the
same properties as the BaLsam of Copaiva. The fruit, which is a
three-cornered nut, is eaten in Java both raw and dressed ; and an oil
is expressed from them which when fresh is eaten at table, and when
stale is used for burning in lamps. The raw nuts are apt to bring on
diarrhoea.
CANARY-BIRD, or CANARY-FINCH, Le Serin de Canarie ol
the French, Der Canarienvogel of the Germans, Canario of the
Italians, the Canary of the English, FringiUa Canaria of Linnseus.
This bird is the well-known songster which is to be found caged in
every house where the inmates are fond of song-birds. The Canary
Islands are the most frequented haunts of the specieo. In the wild
state the prevailing hue, according to the observations of Adanson,
Labillardi^, and others, is gray or brown, mingled however with
other colours, but never reaching the brilliancy of plumage exhibited
by the bird in captivity — a brilliancy arising from long domestication
and repeated crosses with analagous species. Its introduction into
Europe is stated by some to have taken place in the 14th century ;
but Bechstein names the beginning of the 16th. " The arrival," says
the author last quoted, " of the canary in Europe, is thus described :—
A vessel which in addition to its other merchandise was bringing a
number of these birds to Leghorn, was wrecked on the coast of Italy,
opposite the island of EUba, where these little birds, having ^^^^^
at liberty, took refuge. The climate being favourable they increased,
and would certainly have become naturalised, had not the wish to pos-
sess them occasioned their being caught in such niunbers that at last
they were extirpated 6x)m tlieir new abode. From this cause Itwy
was the first European country where the canary was reared. At first
their education was difficulty as the proper manner of treating them
Digitized by
Google
w
CANART.BtRD.
CANARY-BIRD.
788
yna mikziowii ; and what tended to render them scarce wa^i that only
the male birds were brought over, — no females. The gray of its primi-
tive colour, darker on the back and greener on the belly, has under-
gone so many changes from its being domesticated, from the climate,
and from the union with birds analogous to it (in Italy with the citril-
finch, the serin; in our country — Germany — with the linnet, the green-
finch, the siskin, and the goldfinch), that wo now have canaries of fdl
colours. If we had not sufficient proof that canaries came originally
from the Fortunate Islands, we should think the citril-finch, tibe
serin, and the siakin were the wild stock of the domesticated race.
I have seen a bird whose parents were a siskin and serin, which per-
fectly resembled a variety of the canary which is called the green.
1 have also seen mules from a female gray canary, in which was no
trace of their true parentage. The gray, the yellow, the white, the
bladdsh, and the chestnut are the principal varieties, and it is from
their combination and from their tints that we derive the numerouu
varieties that we now possess. Those canaries thaj have the upper
part of the body of a dusky green or linnet-brown, and the imder part
the yellowish-green of the green-bird, with dark brown eyes, are the
strongest, and most nearly resemble the primitive race. The yellow
and white often have red eyes, and are the most tender. The chestnut
are the most uncommon, and hold a middle rank for strength and
length of life between the two extremes. But as the plumage of the
intermediate ones is a mixture of these principal colours, their value
depends on the pretty and r^lar manner in which they are marked
The canary that is most admired amongst us now is one with the body
white or yellow, the head, particularly if crested, wings, and tail, yel-
lowish-dun : the second in degree is of a golden yellow, with the head,
wings, and tail black, or at least dusky gray. Next follow the gray
or blackish, with a yellow head and collar ; and the yellow, with a
blackish or green tuft, which are very much valued. As for those that
are irregulto'ly spotted, speckled, or variegated, they are much less
sought ^ter, and are used to pair with those of one colo\ir, white,
yellow, gray, brown-gray, and the like."
The usual length of a Canary is about 5 inches, of which the toil
measures about two and a quarter. The bill is about 5 lines in length,
strong, sharply pointed, and inclining to white. The shanks, or feet
as they are technically called, are about 8 lines long, and of a flesh-
colour.
The female is very like the male, but is generally less bright in
colour, smaller about the head, shorter about the neck and body, not
so high on the shanks, and altogether of a form somewhat less elegant
than that of the male. There is a bean-shaped feather under the bill,
and the temples and cirdee round the eyes ai'e deeper in colour than
the other psjts of the body.
The Canary breeds freely with allied species of birds, and many
hybrids are recognised by breeders. Amongst the more common are
the following : —
1. Mules bred from a hen Canary and a Gk)ldfinch. — These partake
of the parental colours on both sides. The finest are pi'oduced from
yellow or white hen canaries.
2. Mules bred from a hen Canary and a male Siskin* — The young
always resemble the Siskin in shape. If the mother be green they
will be like a hen Siskin ; if she be white or yellow they will be lighter
in colour than a "Siskin, without however any great difference.
3. Mules bred between a hen Canary and a Green-Bird, or a Citril-
Finch. — When the mother is neither white nor yellow the young
do not differ much from the Gray or Green Canary ; but they are
generally rather more slender, and their bills are also shorter and
thicker.
4. Mules bred between a hen Canary and a Linnet. — These, if the
mother be white or yellow, will be speckled ; if she be gray they will
resemble her generally, but their tails will be longer.
Most of these mules are fruitful, and there is no great difficulty in
getting the parents to pair ; but when the union is with species more
remote, the difficulty increases in proportion.
5. Mules between a hen Canary and a Bullfinch. — ^Bechsteia says
that the eggs of this union seldom prove frmtful ; but Dr. Jajssy of
Fi-ankfort obtained mules of a bullfinch and a canary, by making other
canaries sit on the eggs and bring up the yoimg, a plan pursued in
Bohemia.
Besides the birds above enumerated, chaffinches, yellowhammers,
&c. have been tried, but with no good success. Bechstein says that
he never saw a male canary very fond of a female yellowhammer, nor
a male of the latter kind of a female canary, though the plumage may
be selected so as to offer a striking resemblance.
It will be observed that in all the five instances recorded the Canary
is always the mother. The reason why breeders select the male of
the other species when mules are desired is, because a female siskin,
goldfinch, &C. could not easily be induced, if at all, to lay her eggs in an
artificial nest like a canary. ^
The hybrids between these various species are stated to be fruitful,
and to have the power of continuing their mixed forms. The first
^/gs of these hybrids are said to be very small, and the young hatched
from them very weak. The eggs of the next year are said to be latter,
and the nestlings stronger and stouter.
In order to obtain bright and good plumage, those birds whose
colours are clear and whose spots are Acan and well defined should be
^▲T. mST. DIY. TOL. I.
placed together. A brownish-gray or greenish bird paired with one of
a lively yeUow often produces young of a dim white and of other
admired ooloura. Two crested birds should nevef be joined, for their
ofispring are frequently hatched with part of the head bald, or other-
wise defbrmed in plumage.
Bechstein gives the following directions for forwarding the breeding
of Canaries : — " The best time for pairing canaries is the middle of
ApriL Either one male and one or two females are placed in a laj^
cage, or many of both sexes are united in a room or aviary, having the
advantage of a south aspect. Nests made of tunied wood or osiers
are given them, as straw ones are too easily torn. It is a good plan to
place in the room or aviary slips of pine, which being cut in February
do not lose their leaves. If a little inclosure of wire-gauze can be fixed
over the window, where the birds can enjoy the fresh air, nothing will
more effectually contribute to render the yoimg healthy and robust
Birds which are to be paired for the first time should be previously
placed in the same cage for seven or eight days, in order to become
acquainted and accustomed to live together. If two females are to be
caged with one male, it is especially necessary that they should be
together long enough to leave off quarrelling, and the pairing-cage
should be divided into two equal parts, conmiunicating by a sliding-
door. This being done, a lively male and one of the females should
be placed in the first division ; as soon as she has laid the male should
be moved into the other division, the door of separation being shut ;
but afl soon as the other has also laid the door may be left open : the
male will then visit the females alternately, and they will not trouble
themselves about each other ; but without these precautions jealousy
would incline them to fight and destroy each other's eggs. When it
is intended to place a great many females, double or treble the number
of males, in a room or aviary, the latter should always be first paired
with a single female, which will ever after remain the favourite ; and
it will only be when she is about to sit that he will pair with the
others ; and this is all the notice he will take of them, for afterwards
he will only notice their young. It is from these mothers however
that the most and the best birds are generally procured. If the floor
of the room or aviary is well covered with moss, little else need bo
added for making the nests, otherwise they should be supplied with
the hair of cows and deer, hog's bristles, fine hay, lint, wool cut two
or three inches long, paper-shavings, and the like. That which is
coarsest serves for the outside, and the softest and finest for the inside.
If they have shrubs, traces of the natural instinct of the canary are
soon observed in the nests, which they construct without the help of
the turner or basket-weaver ; but they are of an inelegant form, and
the outside is not very carefully fini^ed. The females alone, as ia
usual among birds, are iLe builders, the males only choosing the situa-
tion and bringing the mateiials. It is in the nest, where the female
is in continual motion, that the pairing takes place ; she invites the
male by constant little chirpings, repeated more quickly the nearer she
IB to laying. Seven or eight days are generally reckoned from the first
pairing to the laying of the first egg ; the other eggs, whose number
varies, without exceeding six, are laid successively every following day,
and often at the same hour. The laying ended, pairing continues
during the first days of incubation. If the pairs agree they must be
left entirely to themselves, without endeavouring to use art to help
nature, as many do. It is usual to take away the first egg and substi-
tute an ivory one, which is repeated with the others to the last, pre-
serving them in the meantime in a box filled with fine dry sand : they
are afterwards restored all together to the nest to be hatched."
Upon this practice there is a difference of opinion, as the plan above
recommended causes the mother a greater loss of heat, and burdens her
at once with five or six little ones, which coming together disturb rather
than please her ; whereas in seeing them hatched successively one after
the other her pleasure is increased, and her strength and courage are
supported. " Very intelligent bird-fanciers," adds Buffon, " assure us
that by not removing the eggs from the female, and leaving them to
be hatched in succession, they have always succeeded better than when
they have substituted ivory eggs." The hen Canary will generally lay
three or four times in the year, from April to September, and some
will even continue to lay during their moult. The eggs are of a deli-
cate seargreen hue, spotted at one end more or less with violet or
maroon colour. About the eighth day after the hen has begun to sit,
the eggs may be examined by holding them between the flame of a
candle and the eye. Those which are good will by that time exhibit
well-developed blood-vessels, whereas the bad ones will continue clear
or be already addled — ^theee should be thrown away. It may be
doubted however whether the better course be not to leave the
hen quite undisturbed. The cock will sometimes take his turn foi
some hours in the day ; but the hen seldom approves of this : as soon
as she has taken her hasty meal she flies ba(& to the nest, and if the
male, whose capabilities as a hatcher she seems strongly to question,
do not retire, she pecks him till he does. On the thirteenth day the
young genexally make their appearance. While incubation is going
on the place where the birds are confined should be kept quiet ; foi
it is aaserted that sudden jarring noises, such as the violent slamming
of a door or the discharge of a gun will kill the yoimg in the shell. We
have above seen that it is uauid to give two females to one male ; and
it is alleged that if one of the former should die dm'ing incubation,
the survivor immediately takes charge of the eggs, to the care of which
8 B
Digitized by
Google
789
CANARY-BIRD.
CANCfiR.
?«
she 80 entirely devotes herself that she repels the caresses of her mate,
whose solace she was while the deceased was sitting.
As soon as the f oung break the shell, two jars should be placed
near the feeding-trough. In one of these there should be a quarter
of a hard egg, yolk and white together, chopped very fine, with a
bit of crumb of white bread or biscuit, which has been soaked in
water, and afterwards well pressed to get out the moistui-e. In the
other jar rape-seed, well boiled and then waahed in fresh water, should
be placed ; great care must be taken not to let this food become sour,
which would destroy the nestlings. The cock-bird is the principal
nurse after hatching.
It is sometimes neccssair to bring up the young by hand, and then
a paste should be made of white bread or biscuit pounded very fine,
rape-seed well bruised, a small quantity of the yolk of an eggy and
water. The nestlings must be fed with a quill cut into the shape of
a spoon, and should not have less than ten or twelve meals a day ;
four beaksful well piled up on the quill constitute a meal. On the
thirteenth day they will begin to feed themselves, and in four weeks
they may be removed to other cages. Care however must be taken
to supply them for some time with the paste above described, together
with the food of full-grown birds, as a sudden privation of the former
has been known frequently to occasion death; especially if the
nestlings are deprived of it when moulting.
Mr. Rennie says, " It sometimes happens in very dry seasons that
the feathers of the young birds cannot develop naturally ; a bath of
tepid water, employed on such an occasion by Madame , was so
successful, that I cannot do better than recommend it. The same
lady succeeded equally well in similar circrmistances in hatching late
eggs ; she plunged them for some minutes in water heated to the
degree of incubatiou, and immediately replaced them under the
mother ; in a short time she enjoyed the pleasure of seeing the little
ones make their appearance. This interesting experiment may be
applied to all sorts of birds, and may be particularly useful in regard
to those of the poultry-yard."
About the thirteentifi or fourteenth day, by which time the
nestlings can eat alone, the males begin to warble and so do some of
the feznales, but in a more disjointed style. The males, which may
then be easily disting^hed, should be forthwith separated, each bird
being placed in a cage by himself (which must be first covered with
a piece of linen and afterwards with a darker curtain) apart from
every other bird, in order that his education may begin, if it is
intended that his natural song should be superseded by an artificial
melody ; if he is left unseparated beyond the fourteenth day he will
retain a portion of his father's song, and murder his acquired melody
by interouDgling the paternal notes. His musical lesson must be
repeated five or six times in the day, especially in the morning and
evening, his master performing the desired air either on a flagomet or
a bird-organ ; but, as has been observed in the case of the bullfinch,
if the instrument be not in perfect tune the whistling of a man of
taste is infinitely preferable. From two to six months, according to
the memory and the abilities of the scholar, will be spent in this
musical education. Some canaries have been thus taught to repeat
correctly two or three airs, and others have learned to pronounce
distincly a few short words ; for they possess great quickness and
correctness of ear, and have excellent memories.
When the more natural song is preferred, those canaries are most
esteemed which introduce into their warblings the notes of the night-
ingale, wood-lark, or tit-lark, and this may be easily accomplished by
placing those birds near the young canaries. The canaries of the
Tyrol are more frequently taught to introduce the notes of the night-
ingale, while those of England more frequently interweave those of
the wood-lark. " In Thuringia," says Bechstem, "the praference is
generally given to those which, instead of a succession of noisy bursts,
know how, with a silvery sonorous voice, to descend reg^lariy through
all the tones of the octave, introducing from time to time the sound
of a trumpet. There are some males which, especially in the pairing
season, sing with so much strength and ardour, that they burst the
delicate vessels of the lungs and die suddenly."
Canaries may be made to sing in the night — some do this of their
own accord. The tuition must commence early in their youth by
covering the cage, and thus keeping them in the dark during the day
long enough for them to be hungry ; they are thus brought to feed by
candl&^ht^ and at last sing. The hen birds will also sing, particularly
in the spring, but in an unconnected style. Old hens past breeding
will often sing in this way the year round.
There are societies in London for promoting the breeding of Canaries,
and amateurs distinguish upwards of thirty varieties.
Mr. Rennie mentions two sorts of Canaries, ** the plain and variegated,
or as they are technically called, the gay spangles or mealy, and jonks
or jonqu&s. These two varieties are more esteemed than any of the
numerous varieties which have sprung from them; and although
birds of different feathers have their admirers, some preferring
beauty of plumage, others excellence of song, certainly that bird is
most desirable where both are combined. The first property of these
birds consists in the cap, which ought to be of fine orange-colour,
pervadmg every port of the body except the tail and 'wings, and
possessing the utmost regularity, without any black feathers, as by
the smallest speck it loses the property of a show bird, and is con-
sidered a broken-capped bird. The second property consists in the
feathers of the wing and taU being of a deep-black up to the quill, as
a single white feather in the wing or tail causes it to be termed a foul
bird ; the requisite number of these feathers in each wing is 18, and
in the tail 12. It is however frequently observed that the best-
coloured birds are foul in one or two feathers, which reduces thelr
value, although they may still be matched to breed with." These
form the leading features of excellence; but it is generally the custom
of the societies above mentioned to award the prize to the competitor
who produces a bird nearest to the model published by them the
season prior to that wherein the competitors are to show for the prize.
The fullest information on the subject of breeding and treating
the Canary will be found in Bechstein's Cage-Bird^.
CANARY-GRASS. [Phalarib.]
' CANCER, a genus of Short-Tailed Onutaeeaf the type of the family
Ccmcerida;. Dr. Leach restricted the genus Cancer to the form of
Cancer PagumSy Linn., the large eatable Crab of our coasts, wbic^
was, when he defined the genus, the only species known. It has the
following characters : —
External antennse with the basilar joint broad, very long and thick,
filling the hiatus between the inner canthus of the orbit and the front,
and terminating forwards in a strong, angular, tooth-like projection,
directed forwards and a little inwards, reaching beyond the frontal
line. The terminal br moveable portion is slender, very short, and
arises from the internal part of the basilar joint nearer to the cell of
the internal antenns thim to the orbit. The internal antennse, instead
of lying obliquely outwards or transversely, as in most other genera
of this section, are directed forwards — a character by which Cohcer
may at once be distinguished from Platypodia, Carpilius, XofnthOf &c
The second joint of l£e inner footstalk of the external pedipalps l«
excavated at the anterior part of the inner margin ; in some species
the notch is confined to the angle, in others it extends half way down
the side of the joint. The first pair of feet is nearly equal ; in some
specimens of eadh species the difference in size being scarcely app>re-
ciable. They are generally very robust. The remaining feet have so
spines, but are in most species more or less hairy. The abdomen of
the male has five, and that of the female seven joints.
With the exception of our indigenous species. Cancer Pagurvs, they
ore all, as far as their localities are known, exclusively natives of the
coasts of the hotter parts of America.
Mr. Bell, in a paper on the genus Cancer {* Zool TranB.M. 335), give^
three new species, namely, C. hngipes, C. Edtoardtii, and C. d^tatw,
brought home by Mr. Cmning and Mr. Miller, besides C. irroratua of
Say, and C. Pagurut, which last, bs it wan considered the type by Dr.
Leach, we select as an example.
C. Pagurus is the Great Crab of the English coasts. Mr. Bell
gives the following description of it : — ^Carapace transversely oblocr,
flattened, but little higher in the middle than at the sides, some-
what rounded before and behind; the surface minutely granulatotl
smooth, with the regions but slightly marked. Latero-anter;«^r
margin slightly recurved, divided into ten quadrate lobes, the sides
of which are contiguous and the margins entire; the last ]ol:>e
inconspicuous, and passing into the posterior marginal line, which
terminates immediately anterior to the posterior, transverse ndge.
Front trifid, the teeth of nearly equal length and size. Orbits
round, with a strong triangular tooth over the inner canthus, which
does not project so far as the front ; and a smaller one filling the
space between the two superior fissures. External antennsi? with
the basilar joint much elongated, and terminating forwards in an
obtuse tooth; the first joint of the moveable portion cluhshsped,
the second cylindrical, the remaining portion setaceous. Internal
antennas directed forwards, the anterior half doubled directly back-
wards in a state of rest The basilar joint broad, cup-shaped, its
outer edge projecting forwards ; the second joint (the first of the
moveable portion) cylindrical, the penultimate with a small, hooked,
and recurved process at the apex. Padipalps as in the rest of the
genus. Sternum minutely punctated, and furnished with ?mall
patches or lines of short scanty hair. Abdomen in the mole with the
maigin fringed with short hair ; the last joint forming an equilateral
triangle. Anterior feet large, robust, smooth, without spmes or
tubercles, minutely granulated ; the hand rounded, without crest, the
inner surface exhibiting only the rudiments of the five lines of puztcta>
so conspicuous in other spedes of the genus. The remaining feet
furnished with numerous fasciculi of stiff hairs, the last joiot in all
furrowed, and terminated by a short strong naiL Colour above
reddish-brown, the l^gs more red, the daws deep shining black;
beneath whitish. Locality, coasts of Great Britain, &a, and of western
Europe. Great nimibers are annually caught on the coasts of Great
Britain. They sometimes attain a large size, weighing ten or twelve
pounds.
Pennant states that this species inhabits rooky coasts, and is the
most delicious meat of any, and that it casts its shell between
Christmas and Easter. "There are some species," says Milne-
Edwards, in his article ' Crustacea,' in the ' Cyclopaedia of Anatomy
and Physiology,' " such as the crabs and the irachyura graendly, in
which the carapace presents a considerable expansion on either aide,
forming two laige compartments in which the greater mass of the
thoracic viscera is contained. Under these circmnstoncee it would be
Digitized by
Google
Til
CANCROMA.
CANIS.
741
impOBBible for the animal to escape from its dorsal coTering by the
relatively inconsiderable opening which this part presents on its
inferior aspect. This rendera it necessary, that the carapace, instead
of being cast ofif by simply rising in a single piece, should give way
and separate in some direqtion or another, and this it does by splitting
along the curved lines, extending on either side from the mouth to
the origin of the abdomen, in the course of which the epimeral pieces
cohere with the dorsal one." (Collinson, 'PhiL Trans.' 1746 and
1751 ; 'Hist Nat des Crustacds,' t. 1, p. 56.) Sir Charles Lyell says
(' Principles of Qeology ' ), "A laxge female crab (Cancer Jpagwnu)
covered with oysters, and bearing also Anomia Ephippium and
ActinicBf was taken in April, 1832, off the English coast. The oysters
include individuals of six years' growth, and the two laigest are four
inches long and three inches and a half broad. Both the crab and the
oysters were seen alive by Mr. Robert Brown. This specimen is in
the collection of my friend Mr. Broderip, who observes that this crab,
which was apparently in perfect health, could not have cast her shell
for as. years, whereas some naturalists have stated that the species
moitlts annually, without limiting the moulting period to the early
gtages of growth of the animal."
The genus Cancer of Linnaeus inclijded a large number of species,
and the term Crab, which is a translation of it, is in common parlance
applied to the great bulk of the Brachyurous Crustaceans.
For the Blood-Spotted Crab of the Asiatic seas (Cancer maculatuSf
Linn., &c.) and the Coralline Crab (Cancer coraUmue, Fabr.), Dr. Leach
mstituted the genus CarpiliuSy characterised by the existence of a
single tooth on the border of the carapace, and by the tridentated front;
and, for the Eleven-Toothed Crab (Cancer undecirndentatus, Fabr.),
the carapace of which is smooth, with 11 crenulated teeth on each
antero-lateral border, and black toothed fingers, spoon-shaped at the
end, he founded the genus ClorodiiLs or Cfdorodiua. Milne-Edwards
enumerates four species of Carpilius and seven of Chlorodiua. He
considers the fossil Crabe aux Grosses Pinces, Cancer macrochdus,
Desm. (' Hist Nat des Crustac^s Fossiles,* p. 91, pi. vii. fig. 1-2),
Cancer LapidescenSf Rumph. (* Amb. Rariteit Kamer,' pi. 60, f 3), as
referrible to the genus CarpUiita rather than to the division of Crabs
properly so called. It shoiild be remembered that Milne-Edwards's
genus Cancer (Crabe) differs from that of Leach. The former includes
under that name such forms as Cancer roeeus (Carpilitta roseus of
Riippell), C lobcUus, C. esculptiLSf C. Umbatut (Xcmtho granvloauBf
Riip.), C Savignii and C Acanthus, excluding Leach's Cancer , the
type of which is the eatable Crab of our coasts, to which form Milne-
Edwards gives the name Platycarcinus. It does not appear that
any species of Cancer, Leach, PkUycarcinus, M^e-Edwards, has been
found in a fossil state.
CANCROMA. [Boat-Bill.]
CANDY-TUFT. [Iberis.]
CANIS, a genus of Carnivorous Mammalia, of which the common
Dog may be regarded as the type.
Under the Linnsean genus Canis are to be found the Dogs (Cants
famUiaris) ; the Wolves (Canis Lupus) ; the Hyaenas (Canis Hycena) ;
the Foxes (Canis Vvipes), &c. ; the Jackals (Canis aureus) ; the
Mexican Wolf (Canis Mexicanus), Xoloitzcuintli of Hernandez ; and
Canis Thotts of Surinam.
Cuvier arranges under the genus Ca/nis Les Chiens, the Dogs
properly so called (Canis famUiaris and its varieties) ; the Wolves
{Canis Lupus, C. Mexicanus, Cjvhatus); and the Jackals, Chacal or
Loup Dor^ (Canis aureus) : and he observes, that the Foxes (which
Brieson and others have separated under the name of Vulpes) may
be distinguished from the Wolves and the Dogs by their longer and
more tufted tail ; by a more pointed muzzle ; by the pupils of their
eyes, which by day present a kind of longitudinal slit instead of the
round form; by the superior incisors being less lobated (echan-
crdes) ; and, he observes on their fetid odour, their disposition to dig
for themselves earths, and to prey upon the weaker animals. These
he places in a sub-genus, including the Zerda (Megalotis of Ilb'ger,
Canis Megalotis of Lalande, Canis Zerda of Gmelin) ; at least he terms
the Zerdas " esp^ces de renards," though he seems to consider them
as a section, and notices them as the Megalotis of Illiger. The Hycena
rtnatica of Burchell, Hyaena picta of Temminck (Wild Dog of the
Cape), terminates Cuvier's Canida, and he then passes on to the
Civets (Fiverro).
M. Lesson in his * Manuel ' begins the second section of the
Digitigrades with the genus Canis, and he adopts the following sub-
divisions : —
1. Those genera which have the pupil of the eye round, including
the Dogs properly so called, the Wolves, and the Jackals.
2. Those genera in which the pupil of the eye contracts vertically,
the Foxes and the Zerdas.
3. The Dogs with Hysena-like feet ; the Hysena-Dog, Canis pictus,
DesDL, Hycena picta, Temm., Lyceum, Brookes.
The genus Canis being mostly restricted at the present day to
the animals of Lesson's first section, this article will be confined to
the animals commonly called Dogs, Wolves, and Jackals.
Dogs.
C. famUiariSf the Dog. The specific description given by
finnatis is aiuiply "Canis caudd (siuistrosum) recurvatA" — "dog
with tail curled towards the left " — ^and his lengthened description,
after enumerating the varieties, of which he gives eleven, though it
may appear to some almost ridiculously minute and not very delicate,
is eminently characteristic. Cuvier observes^ that the Domestic Dog
(Canis famUiaris, Linn.), is distinguished by its recurved tail, and that
it varies infinitely besides in stature, form, colour, and the quality
of the hair. It exhibits, he adds, "the most singular, the mo^t
complete, and the most useful conquest that man has made. The
whole species is become our property ; each individual is entirely
devoted to his master, adopts his manners, distinguishes and defends
his property, and remains attached to him even unto death ; and all
this springs not from mere necessity, nor from constraint, but simply
from reconnaissance and a true friendship. The swiftness, the strength,
and the highly developed power of smelling of the dog, have made
him a powerful ally of man against the other animals, and were
perhaps necessary to the establishment of society. It is the only
animal that has followed man all over the earth."
It is a question of considerable interest as to what was the parent-
stock of die Dog. Some zoologists are of opinion that the breed is
derived from the Wolf; others that it is a familiarised Jackal ; all
agree that no trace of it is to be found in a primitive state of nature.
That there were dogs or rather animals of the canine form in Europe
long ago we have evidence from their remains, which we shall
presendy notice; and that there are wild dogs we know. India, for
example, affords many of them, livmg in a state of complete inde-
pendence, and without any indication of a wish to approach the
dwellings of man. These dogs, though they have been accurately
noticed by competent observers, do not throw much light on the
qifestion. They may have escaped from the dominion or hslt dominion
of man, and have betaken themselves to a vagabond life. It becomes
necessary however to examine into the state of these dogs, some of
which are entirely wild and keep to the moimtain and forest, whilst
others hang about the villages, and though without owners give
tokens of a more social disposition, and are tolerated as the scavengers
of the place, which they clear of disgusting incumbrances, somewhat
after the Portuguese fashion.
Colonel Sykes thus describes the Dukhun (Deccan) Dog, Canis
Duhfiunensis, Sykes, Eolsun of the Mahrattas, Cwm Dukhunensis : —
"Red, paler underneath; tail bushy, pendulous; pupil rounded.
This is the Wild Dog of Dukhun. Its head is compressed and
elongated ; its nose not very sharp, the eyes are oblique : the pupils
round, irides light brown. The expression of the coimtenance that
of a coarse ill-natured Persian Grayhound, without any resemblance
to the Jackal, the Fox, or the Wolf, and in consequence essentially
distinct from the Canis Quao or Sumalrensis of Qeneral Hardwicke.
Ears long, erect, somewhat rounded at the top, without any repli-
cation of the tragus. Limbs remarkably large and strong in relation
to the bulk of the animal, its size being intermediate between the
Wolf and the Jackal Neck long. Body elongated. Between the
eyes and nose red brown : end of the tul blackish. From the tip
of the nose to the insertion of the tail 38 inches in length : tail
84 inches. Height of the shoulders 16^ inches." Colonel Sykes adds
that none of the domesticated dogs of Dukhun are common to Europe.
The first in strength and size is the Brinjaree Dog, somewhat
resembling the Persian Grayhound but much more powerful The
Pariah Dog he states is referrible to M. Cuvier's second section.
This is veiy numerous, not individual property, but breeds in the
towns and villages unmolested. The Colonel remarks that the Turn-
sprit Dog, long backed, with short crooked legs, is frequently found
among the Pariahs. There is also a petted minute variety of the
Pariah Dog, usually of a white colour, and with long silky hair,
corresponding to a common Lapdog of Europe ; this is taught to
carry flambeaux and lanterns. The last variety noticed is the dog
with hair so short as to appear naked like the Canis JSgyptius, It
is known to Europeans by the name of the Polygar Dog. (' Zool.
Proc.,' part i.) In 1832 the skin of the Wild Dog of Nepaul was
compared by Colonel Sykes with a specimen of the Kolsun of the
Mahrattas above described, and he stated his impression to be that
the animals are identical, differing only by the denser coat and more
woolly feet of the Nepaul race, a difference readily accounted for
by the greater cold of the elevated regions inhabited by it Colonel
Sykes is also of opinion that the Eobun is identical with the
Buansuah, an Indian dog, described by Mr. B. H. Hodgson under the
name of Ouon primcevus. Specimens of these dogs are to be seen
in the British Museum, in the Catalogue of which institution they are
not only made specifically distinct, but are placed under the genus
Cuon as distinct from Canis.
Mr. Bell, in his ' History of British Quadrupeds,' also discusses this
difficult question. "In order," says Mr. Bell, "to come to any
rational conclusion on this head, it will be necessary to ascertain to
what type the animal approaches most nearly, after having for many
successive generations existed in a wild state, removed from the
influence of domestication and of association with mankind. Now
we find that there are several different instances of the existence of
dogs in such a state of wildness as to have lost even that common
character of domestication, variety of colour and marking. Of these
two very remarkable ones are the Dhole of India and the Dingo of
Australia: there is bcBides a half-i*eclaimed race amongst the Indians
Digitized by
Google
748
CANIS.
CANIS.
744
of North America; and another also partially tamed in South
America which deserve attention ; and it is found that these races
in different degrees, and in a greater degree as they are more wild,
exhibit the lank and gaunt form, the lengthened limbs, the long and
slender muzzle, and the great comparative strength which characterise
the wolf; and that the tail of the Australian dog, which may be
considei*ed as the most remote from a state of domestication, assumes
the slightly bushy form of that animal. We have here then a con-
siderable approximation to a well-known wild animal of the same
genus, in races which, though doubtless descended from domesticated
ancestors, have gradually assumed the wild condition; and it is
worthy of especial remark, that the anatomy of the wolf, and its
osteology in particular, does not differ from that of the dogs in
general, more than the different kinds of dogs do from each other.
The craniimi is absolutely similar, and so are all or nearly all the
other essential parts ; and to strengthen still further the probability
of their identity, the dog and wolf will readily breed together, and
their progeny is fertile. The obliquity of the position of 3ie eyes in
the wolf is one of the characters in which it differs from the dogs ;
and although it is very desirable not to rest too much upon the
effects of habit on structure, it is not perhaps straining the point to
attribute the forward direction of the eyes in the dogs to the constant
habit, for many successive generations, of looking forwards to their
master and obeying his voice."
Another criterion, and a soimd one, is the identity of gestation.
Sixty-three days form the period during which the bitch goes with
young. Precisely the same time elapses before the she-wolf gives
birth to her ofiBpring. Upon Buffon's instance of 73 days, or rather
the possibility of such a duration in the gestation of a paji^icular she-
wolf, we do not lay much stress when opposed by such strong
evidence of the usual period being 68 days. The young of both wolf
and dog are bom blind, and see at the same or about tiie same time,
namely, at the expiration of the 10th or 12th dav.
Hunter's important experiments proved witnout doubt that the
Wolf and the Jackal would breed with the Dog; but he had not
sufficient data for coming to the conclusion that all three were
identical as species. In the course of those experiments he ascer-
tained that the jackal went 59 days with young, whilst the wolf went
63 days ; nor does he record that the progeny of the dog and jackal
would breed together: and he knew too well the value of the
argument to be drawn from a fertile progeny not to have dwelt upon
the fact if he had proved it ; not to have mentioned it, at least, if he
had ever heard of it
Skull of Jackal {(hnis aureus). From F. Cavier.
Mr. Bell disposes of the objection arising from the alleged
untameably savage disposition of the wolf by relating two anecdotes,
one on his own authority and the other on that of Mons. F. Cuvier, in
proof of the susceptibility of attachment to man, and the appetite —
for it is an appetite— for his caresses on the part of the wolf. The
first occurred in the Gardens of the Zoological Society in the Regent's
Park, London, and was exhibited in the person of a she-wolf, who
came forward to be caressed, and even brought her pups to be
caressed also, whenever Mr. Bell or any one whom she knew
approached her den. Indeed she killed all her unfortunate young
ones in succession by rubbing them against the bars of her cage in
her zeal to have them fondled by her friends. The second happened
in- the Mdnagerie du Roi at Paris, and no faithful dog could ^ow
more affecting instances of attachment to his master, or distress on
account of his absence, than did the male wolf which is the subject of
Mons. F. Cuvier's touching accoimt. ^'With all these analogous
properties of form and structure" — we quote Mr. Bell — "as well aa of
disDosition, I cannot but incline at least to the opinion that the wolf
in the original source from which all our domestic dogs have sprung :
Qor do I see in the great variety which exists in the different races
sufficient ground for concluding that they may not, all of them, have
descended from one common stock. The turnspit and the mastiff
the pug and the grayhound, are perhaps more unlike each other than
any of the varieties of other domestic animals ; but if it be true that
variation depends upon habit and education, the very different
employments to whidh dogs have in all ages been trained, and the
various climates to which they have been naturalised, must not be
lost sight of as collateral agents in producing these different fonns.
The care too with which dogs of particular breeds are matched with
similar ones, for the purpose of keeping the progeny aa pure as
possible, has doubtless its effect in promoting such distinctions."
The same author thus sums up his opinion : — " Upon the whole, the
argument in favour of the view which I have taken, that the wolf is
probably the original of all the canine races, may be thus stated : the
structure of the animal is identical, or so nearly so as to afford the
strongest 2k priori evidence in its favour. The dog must have been
derived from an aninud susceptible of the highest degree of domesti-
cation, and capable of great affection for mankind ; which has been
abundantly proved of the wolf. Dogs having returned to a wild state,
and continued in that condition through many generations, exhibit
Skull of Wolf {Cants Lupus), From F. Curler.
Skull of Canada Wolf {Canis Lupus). From F. Cuvier.
characters which approximate more and more to those of the wolf, in
proportion as the influence of domestication ceases to act. The two
animals will breed together, and produce fertile young. The period
of gestation is the same."
We have given above the skull of a wolf, that it may be com-
pared with those of the different varieties of dogs.
Digitized by
Google
fU
CANia
CANia
74S
ft 1__
Dental fonnula : inciflon, -; canines, —
-^ ; molars, ^^--^ = 42.
Such ia M. Lesson's statement of the dentition of the great genus
Cbnit of Linnaeus. F. Cuvier says that Dogs in general have 40
teeth, namely, six Incisors, two canines, three false molars, one
camasaier, and two tubercular teeth in the upper jaw; and six
incisors, two canines, three false molars, one camassier, and two
tubercidar teeth in the lower jaw. Of all these teeth, he observes,
none change their shape in any appreciable degree in any race what-
ever. Only there is sometimes found an additional false molar or
tubercular tooth.
Teeth of Dog.
Fore feet with five toes; hind feet with four toes; claws not
retractile.
/
Feet of Dog. From F. Cavier.
Gfenerally speaking all dogs have five toes on the fore feet and four
on the hind feet, with the rudiment of a fifth metatarsal bone, which
^oes not show itself externally. Nevertheless some dogs have this
™ toe very long and well proportioned, and advancing as far as the
^fiSinof the first phalanx of the neighbouring toe; and in those
^ which have only a radimentary fifth bone of the tarsus, this
WDe articulate! itself to the lower facet of the great cuneiform bone,
which is itself placed in relation with the scaphoid bon6, the second
cuneiform bone, and the second bone of the metatarsus, counting as
one the rudiment in question. But in the dogs that have the fifth
toe complete, a fourth cuneiform bone is developed between the first
and the second toe, and in that case, in some varieties, the great
cuneiform bone elevates itself, and on its internal side offers a large
articulating facet to the astragalus.
The tail is very variable in the number of caudal vertebra, which
range from twenty-one down to three or even two.
Of dogs which have been regarded as varieties or species, one of
the most remarkable is the Australian Dog, or Dingo {Cania Dingo of
Blumenbach). It is so wolf-like in its appearance, that Bewick figures
it as the * New-South- Wales Wol£* Governor Philip describes the
height of this species, when standing erect, as rather less than 2 feet,
and the length 2^ feet. The head, he says, is formed much like that
of a fox, the ears short and erect, with whiskers from 1 to 2 inches
in length on the muzzle. The general colour of the upper parts is pale
brown, growing lighter towards the belly ; the hind part of the fore
legs and the fore part of the hinder ones white, as are the feet of
both ; the tail is of a moderate length, somewhat bushy, but in a lees
degree than that of a fox : the teeth, he adds, are much the same as
is usual in the genus.
Skull of Dingo [Cani$ Dingo), From F. Cuvier.
This description may be considered as accurate, with the exception
that the animal generally bears a greater affinity to the Wolf than the
Fox. '' It has," says the author last quoted, describing a female,
" much of the manners of the dog, but is of a very savage nature, and .
not likely to change in this particular. It laps like other dog^ but^
neither barks nor growls if vexed and teazed ; instead of which it
erects the hairs of the whole body like bristles, and seems furious :
it is very eager after its prey, and is fond of rabbits or chickens raw,
but will not touch dressed meat. From its fierceness and agility it
has greatly the advantage of other animals much superior in size ; for
a very fine French fox-dog being put to it, in a moment it seized him
Dingo {Canit familiarit AiutralatUe, or C. Dingo),
by the loins, and would have soon put an end to his existence had
not help been at hand. .With the utmost ease it is able to leap oyer
the back of an ass, and was very near worrying one to death, having
fastened on it so that the crcatiux) was not able to disru^age himself
Digitized by
Google
747
CANIS.
CANIS.
«7ithout aaaistanoe : it has also been known to run down both deer
and sheep. A second of these is in the possession of Sir. Lasoelles,
of which we have received much the same account in respect of its
ferocity ; whence it is scarcely to be expected that this elegant animal
will ever become familiar."
Mr. Bell, in his work above quoted, describes the first effect of the
dominion of man upon this wolf-like dog : — " The effect of domesti-
cation in producing variation in colour, to which allusion has already
been made, has lately been exhibited in a very striking and interesting
manner in the menagerie of the Zoological Society. An Australian
bitch, or Dingo, had a litter of puppies, the father of which was also
of that breed : both of them had been taken in the wild state, but
were of the imiform reddish brown colour which belongs to the race,
and the mother had never bred before ; but the young, bred in con-
finement and in a half-domesticated state, were all of i^em more or
less spotted."
If we turn to the dogs of other comparatively uncivilised nations,
we find the prick ears and other indications of the half-reclaimed animaL
The Esquimaux Dog {Cants familiaris BorecUis), and the Hare-Indian
or Mackenzie River Dog {CanU familiofii Lagopus), will occur as
instances to those who have been familiar — and who is not ? — with
the histories of our northern expeditions and the (harden of the Zoolo-
gical Society of London in the Regent's Park. In that menagerie the
three dogs last named might at one time be seen side by side, affording
the best opportunities for comparison. Peter, the Esquimaux Dog,
kept in the garden, was of a dingy-white with a tinge of yellow on
the upper parts, gradually fading away upon Hie sides ; in short, of
nearly a umform colour ; but in general this race exhibits a predo-
minance of black markings. Thus Akshelli, brought from the Polar
Sea by Mr. Richards in Captain Parry's first voyage, and described by
Mr. Children in the * Zoological Journal,' was almost entirely blackish,
or of a oolour nearly approaching to black on the upper parts, and
white underneath, tail included. Akshelli seldom barked, but if dis-
pleased uttered a low wolfish growl, and was a very powerful dog.
Peter was brought to this country by Lieutenant Henderson, one of
the companions of Captain Roes, in his first voyage, and lived long at
the Regent's Park. He was very good tempered and familiar. The
Hare-Indian Dogs, it is said, are never known to bark in their own
country; and it is worthy of note that those which were brought
from thence to the Regent's Park never barked at all, but the younger
one which was bom here barked like the other dogs. It is curious to
observe these steps.
"The period," says Mr. Bell, "at which the domestication
of the dog first took place is wholly lost in the mist of antiquity.
The earliest mention of it in the Sacred Scriptures occurs during
the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt — *But against Israel shall
Asiatic Strcct-Dogs.
not a dog move his tongue.' It is again mentioned in the Mosaic
law in a manner which would seem to show that they were the com-
mon scavengers of the Israelitish camp, as they are still in many of
the cities of the East : — ' Neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn
of beasts in the field : ye shall cast it to the dogs.' A similar office
seems to be repeatedly alluded to in the course of the Jewi^ his-
tory : — * Him that dieth in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that
dieth in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat ;' a common cone, &3
it would appear, as it occurs verbatim on no less than three eepar&te
occasions in the First Book of Kings ; and evidently intimates avioleu;
and disgraceful death, without the honour of sepulture. The dogwss
considered by the Jews as eminently an unclean animal, and wu the
figure selected for the most contemptuous insults. It is impossibW
not to be struck with the striking similarity which exists in the feel
ings of many oriental nations at the present day, among whom th»
very phnuBeology of the Scriptures is, with little modification, applied
to a similar purpose."
One circimistance should be borne in mind throughout an inquiiy
Into the origin of the Dog. None of the wild dogs, however appa-
rently living in a state of nature, have ever been found to return to
the true form of Wolf.
Skull of Shepherd's Dog (Chien de Berger). From F. Cotier.
Skull of Spaniel. From F. Cnvicr.
of the
The Shepherd's Dog, a variety which was most probably one of tw
first that civilised and settled man called in aid to preserve hi3 noco
from beasts and birds of prey and the depredations of roving hai^
tribes, is remarkable for the capacity of its cranium and its gw»
sagacity.
Digitized by
Google
^48
CAitlS.
CAins.
750
It is indeed diatanguished by this cranial development even above
the Spaniels and their varieties, and the Hounds, which comprise the
most useful and intelligent dogs» In the Bull-Dogs and Mastiffs,
Dogues de Forte Race of the French, though the head is one-third
laiTger than those of the Shepherd's Dog and of the Spaniels, ' Barbets/
the cranial capacity is not by any means so great.
SktiU of Dogueile Forte Tiacc. From F. Cuvicr.
Skull of Chien Matin.
Dr. Caius, the physician of queen Elizabeth's time, wrote several
papers on natural lustoi-y for the use of Gesner, his correspondent
and friend. In one of these treatises he divides the British dogs into
— Ist, The most generous kinds, which he subdivides into the Dogs
of Chace, including the Hoimds, namely, the Terrier, Harrier, and
Bloodhound ; and the Qazehound, Grayhound, Leviner or Lyemmer,
and Tumbler: the Fowlers, namely, the Spaniel, Setter, Water-
Spaniel, or Finder : and the Lap-Dogs, namely, the Spaniel-Gfentle, or
Ciomforter. 2nd, The Farm-Dogs, namely, the Shepherd's Dog and
the Mastiff*, or Ban-Dog. 8rd, Mongrels, namely, Wappe, Turnspit,
and Dancer.
Bewick enumerates the following : — The Shepherd's Dog, the Cur-
Dog, the Greenland-Dog, the Bull-Dog, the Mastiff", the Ban-Dog, the
Dahnatian or Coach-Dog, the Irish Grayhound, the Highland Gray-
hound, the Gazehound, the Grayhound, the Italian Grayhound, the
Lyemmer, the Lurcher, the Tumbler, the Terrier, the Beagle, the
^arrier^ the Fox-Hound, the Old English Hound, the Kibble Hound,
the Blood-Hound, the Spanish Pointer, the English Setter, the New-
foundland Dog, the Rough Water-Dog, the Large Water-Spaniel, the
Small Water-Spaniel, the Springer or Cocker, King Charles's Dog, the
Pyrame Dog, the Shock-Dog, the Lion-Dog (a small and rare varieiv),
the Comforter (a small Spaniel), the Turnspit, and the Pug. We
could add many more to this list, which is long enough. The French
divide the dogs into three groups, namely, the M&tins, the SpanieLi
(including the Hounds and Pointer), and the Dogues (the laat con-
taining the Mastiff*, Bull -Dog, &c).
We give the gigantic Tibet Dog as a fine example of the Mastiff's.
Dr. Wallich gave to Mr. Broderip the data which enabled the latter
The Tibet Dojj {Canii familiariSy var. Molouut Thibet amu).
to write the following account : — *' These noble animals are the watch-
dogs of the table-land of the Himalaya Mountain^ about Tibet.
Their masters, tiie Bhoteas, to whom they are most strongly attached,
are a singular race, of a ruddy copper-colour, indicating the bracing
air which they breathe, rather short, but of an excellent dispostion.
Their clothing is adapted to the cold climate they inhabit, and
consists of fur and woollen doth. The men till the ground and keep
sheep, and at certain seasons come down to trade, bringing borax,
tincal, and musk, for sale. They sometimes penetrate as far as
Calcutta. On these occasions the women remain at home with the
dogs, and the encampment is watched by the latter, which have an
almost irreconcileable aversion to Europeans, and in general fly fero-
ciouslv at a white face. A warmer climate relaxes all their enei^es,
and they dwindle even in the valley of NepauL" Some specimens
were brought to this country by Dr. Wallich ; they were placed in
the Zoological Society's Garden iu the Regent's Park, but died soon
after their arrival The Hon. Edward Gardner, British resident at
the court of the Raja of Nepaul, never heard of any other instance
of this variety being domesticated by Europeans.
In all the varieties the period of gestation is 63 days. The litter is
generally numerous, often as many as eight or nine. The whelps
are bom blind, and do not see till nine days are fully expired : they
sometimes see on the tenth, and sometimes not till the twelfth day.
At the fourth month the teeth begin to change, and at two years the
growth of the animal is considered complete. A dog is considered
old at the expiration of five years, and the limits of his existence
rarely exceed 20 years. It is confidently stated that in all the varie-
ties, if a Dog has any white on any part of his tail, that colour will
invariably be found at the tip.
For the special qualities of particular varieties of the Dog see the
articles Beagle, Blood-Hound, Grayhound, Harrier, Pointer,
Pug, Setter, Spaniel, Terrier, Wolf-Doo.
\ Wolves.
C, Lupus (Linnseus), the Wolf. Lieutenant-Colonel Hamlltoq
Smith makes Lupus the first section of his first sub-genus Chaon, of
the Diurnal CanidoBj or Canine group furnished with a round pupil of
the eye.
In this section he comprises the Common Wolf, Lupus vutgaiHs;
the Black Wolf, L. Lycaon ; the Dusky Wolf, L, nuhiluSt Wied. ; and
the Wolf of the Southern States of North America, L, Mexicanus,
Smith.
In the second section, Lyciscus, or as he terms the group the
Lyciscan Dogs, he places the North American Wolf, L. latrans; and
the Caygotte of Mexico, Z. CagottuSf Smith.
With regud to the American Wolves, Colonel Smith remarks that
whether they be distinct from those of the eastern hemim>here, or
primeval varieties, is not as yet satisfactorily established. The high
authority of Sir John Richardson he observes leans towards the
opinion that they are different species; while Prince Maximilian of
Wied, perhaps stUl more praoticaUy conversant with the races of both
Digitized by
Google
751
CANIS.
CANIS.
758
oontinents, thinks that they are not specifically distinct. To this last-
mentioned opinion Colonel Smith states that his own somewhat
extensive researches lead him to subscribe; but he qualifies this
statement by observing that while our ideas respecting the charactei>
istics of species remain unsettled the difference of conclusion is
perhaps only formular.
In M. Lesson's ' Manuel ' the following existing Wolves appear as
distinct species : — ^the Common Wolf, C. Lupua, Idnn. ; the Mexican
Wolf, C. Mexicanua, Desm. ; the lied Wolf, C. juJbcUtu, Deem. ; the
]hrairie Wolf, C. latrana, HarL ; and the Dusky Wolf, Loup Odorant,
C nubUtu, Say.
Colonel Smith observes that the typical Wolf of Europe and Asia,
and the varieties belonging to this tribe in America, may be described
as Animiila occupying the two continents from within the Arctic circle
on the north, to Spain, and perhaps to Marocco on the west side of
the Old Continent ; to Syria, and beyond the Crishna in India ; and
to near the Isthmus of Panama in the New World. Farther south, in
the last-mentioned part of the globe, they are, he remarks, replaced
by an aberrant canine, the Red Wolf of Cuvier ; and in the first by
Hyoinas, the Painted Lycaon (Cants pictu9\ and perhaps by other
species not as yet fully developed. " In China," says Colonel Smith,
'* wolves abound in the province of Xnntung [Changtung fj ; but how
far they are found to the south is not known. Buffon, from the
account of Adan9on (Adanson), asserts the existence of a powerful
race of wolves In the Senegal country, hunting in company with the
lion , but the name is most likely applied to a hysna, a lycaon, or
one Cif the red chrysean group." (* Naturalist's Library.')
The following must be the passage alluded to : — Adanson states
that one night a lion and a wolf (loup) entered together in the court
of the house where he slept; they raised themselves by turns by
placing their feet on the timber-work of the roof (comble), as he
could easily hear, and carried off their provision. In the morning the
occupiers of the dwelling were satisfied, from the well-marked
impressions of their feet in the sand, that the animals came together,
and perceived the place whence they had taken away two fish : doubt-
less, says Adanson, each took his own. This theft, he adds, was
moderate for two such carnivorous animals, but they did not choose
Uie smallest. ''I do not know," continues the French traveller,
"that it has been before observed that the wolf goes (fraye) with the
lion; nevertheless the fact is not extraordinary; there are daily proofs
of it in this country, and evesy evening the wolf may be heard
howling at th^ side of the lion. I have witnessed the same thing a
hundred times in all my voyages on the Niger (the Senegal), and I
know, without possibility of doubt, that the wolf is often found with
the Hon without having anything to fear. It is not that the
size of the African wolf, which is much superior to that of the wolf
of Europe, makes any impression on the lion ; it is only because the
flesh of the former is no temptation to the latter : and what confirms
me in this opinion is, that I never saw the two lions which were kept
in the middle of the village of Senegal attack the dogs which were
exposed to them, or which they met when they were unchained;
whereas they fell upon the first horse or child which came in their
_____ f » %
Le Vaillant and the French generally called the Spotted Hysena
Loup Tachet^ ; and the terms Tigre and Tigresse are used generally
for any large spotted cat. Thus we have an account of the 'Hardiesse
du Tigre ' in Adanson's very next sentence, where he says — " Some
days after this visit of the lion with the wolf we received one from
a tigress, which came to the same place with her young one and also
carried away two fish." In the ' New History of Ethiopia, being a
Full and Accurate Description of the Kingdom of Abesainia, vulgarly,
though erroneously, called the Empire of Prester John; in foiur
books : by the learned Job Ludolphus, Author of the Ethiopic
Lexicon; made English by J. P. Gent. Folio, London, 1682,' — ^is
the following passage : — " Tygers and panthers are much more cruel
and fierce than lyons, for they never spare mankind ; yet they covet
the Ethiopians before white men, as more accustomed to that sort of
dyet. These two beasts differ only in colour ; for the panthers are
brown, spotted with black ; the tigers gold-coloured, with fine black
spots like five-leaved grass : they are beasts of a dreadful celerity and
boldness ; by night they break into villages, and make doleful massa-
cres among the poor innocent cattle ; yet Alvarez affirms that these
butcheries never happen in Midra-BahriL" Jt is almost superfluous
to add, that the Tiger, properly so called, does not inhabit Africa.
C. LitpuB, the Common Wolf, is known by the following characters : —
It is yellowish or fulvous gray ; hair harsh and strong, longest below
the ears and on the neck (particularly the throat), shoiUders, and
haunches ; muzzle black ; cheeks and parts above the eyes ochreous,
gray in very old subjects ; upper lip and chin white ; eyes oblique ;
tail net curling ; a blackish streak or band on the fore legs about the
carpus ; height at the shoulder from 27 to 29 inches.
Variety white : cither as an albino, or according to the French
writers, from the effect of the northern climate in the winter.
Colonel Smith is of opinion that the white wolves occurring
sometimes among the races of middle Europe are mere cases of
albinism.
This is the wolf that more commonly infests the western countries
of Europe. Cuvier state that it is found from Egypt to Lapland,
and seems to have passed over into America. Colonel Smith remarlu
■that the Ffench wolves are generally browner and somewhat smaJler
than those of (Germany ; that the Russian race is longer, and appears
more bulky and formidable from the great quantity of long coarse
hair on the cheeks, gullet, and neck ; ti^eir e^es are very small, and
their whole aspect peculiarly savage and sinister ; that the Swedish
and Norwegian wolves are similar to the Russian in form, but appear
heavier and deeper in the shoulder, lighter in colour than the Russian
race, and in winter totally white ; that the Alpine wolves are broimish-
gray and smaller than the French ; those of Italy and to the eastward
towards Turkey fulvous.
This is the variety, most probably, which formerly lurked in the
uncleared woody districts of tiie British Islands ; for that Wolves were
once numerous here is as clear as that the Bear once prowled in Scot-
land and Wales. It would be a waste of paper and space to detail th<i
documentary evidence, and that to be derived from ancient ooins,
gems, and sculptures, which prove that the Lupus of the Roman his-
torians and poets, and the Ztfpa which was fabled to have suckled
Romulus and Remus was the same animal with the ancient Britiat
Wol£ Whatever the Romans might have done to put down these
ferocious but cowardly beasts of prey, they left enough for their Saxoc
and Norman successors to do. Edgar applied himself to their extir-
pation in earnest, enlisting English criminals in the service by com-
muting the punishment awarded for their crimes to a deliveiy of a
given number of wolves' tongues, and liberating the Welsh from the
payment of the tax of gold and silver on condition of an annual tribute
of 300 wolves. But tiie vast wild tracts and deep forests of ancient
Britain were holds too strong even for his vigorous measures. What
the numbers and consequent danger had been may be imagined from
the necessity that existed in the previous reign of Athelstane (a.]X 925)
for a refuge against their attacks. Accordingly a retreat was built at
Flixton in Yorkshire, to save travellers from being devoured by these
gaunt hunters. The Saxon name for the month of January, Wolf-
Moneth, in which dreary season hunger probably made the wohea
most desperate, and the term for an outlaw, * Wolfa-Hed,' implying
that he might be killed with as much impimity as a wolf, also indicate
the numbers of these destructive beast.s, and the hatred and terror
which they inspired.
That Edgar failed in his attempts at extirpation is manifest from a
mandamus of Edward I. to all bailiff's, &c. to give their assistance to
his faithful and beloved Peter Corbet, whom the king had enjoined to
take and destroy wolves (lupos>, " cum hominibus, canibus, et ingeniis
suis modis omnibus quibus viderit expedire," in all forests and parks
and other places in the counties of Gloucester, Worceeter, Hereford,
and Salop, where they could be found. King John, in his grant, quoted
by Pennant from Bii&op Lyttelton's collection, as beiug in the pos-
session of the dean and chapter of Exeter, mentions the wolf (lupnm)
among the beasts of chace which the Devonshire men are thereby
licensed to kill.
In Derbyshire certain tenants at Wormhill held their lands by the
duty of hunting and taking the wolves (* Wolve Hunt ') which har-
boured in the county. Even so late as 1577 the flocka of SeotUnd
appear to have suffered from the ravages of wolves, which do not seem
to have been rooted out of that portion of the kingdom till about the
year 1680, when Sir Ewen Cameron's hand laid the last wolf \ovf. In
Ireland wolves must have lingered as late as the year 1710, about
which time the last presentment for killing them in the county of
Cork was made.
The Black Wolf is a name given to a variety which is most frequent
in Southern Europe, and particularly in the Pyrenees and to the south
of those mountains, where they are more common than the ordinary
or last-mentioned wolf, which the Black Wolf equals in stature, and,
if anything, exceeds in strength. Cuvier says that it is found, but
very rarely, in France. Colonel Hamilton Smith relates an anecdote
illustrative of its great size and weight One of these wolves at a battue
in the mountains near Madrid came boimding towards an Englieh
gentleman who was present at the sport, through the high grass and
bushes, so large that the sportsman took it for a donkey. Seven were
slain ; and this gentleman, though active and in the flower of life,
could not lift one entirely from the ground. The specimen figured
by the Colonel came from the banks of the Tagus, and he describes it
as equal to the laigest mastiff, of a very dark brown coloiu", with ears
larger and the muzzle thicker than the Common Wolf, but withal
resembling a very lai^ and shaggy Wolf-Dog. ,
"The Spanish Wolves," says Colonel Smith, "congregated formerly
in the passes of the Pyrenees in large troops, and even now the Lobo
will accompany strings of mules as soon as it becomes dusky* They
are seen bounding from bush to bush by the side of travellers, uid
keeping parallel with them as they proceed, waiting an opportunity
to select a victim ; and often succeeding unless the muleteers can
reach some place of safety before dark, and have no dangerous pas9«
to traverse. Black wolves occur again in the mountains of Friuli and
about Cattaro."
The Vekvoturian Mountain-Wolf of Russia^ described by Pall*«.
belongs to the black variety. Colonel Smith thinks that the Romo-
mak of the Lenas in Siberia, with shining black valuable fur, is P^
bably the same.
The female of the Common Wolf produces four or five at • httor;
Digitized by
Google
m
CAKIS.
CANIS.
764
and although it is said that until the young can see, the female care-
fully hides them from the male, for fear he should devour them, it is
certain that he hunts for them and brings them food, consisting for
the most part of the smaller quadrupeds, partridges, moor-game, &c,
after they have the use of their eyes, and that both parents take their
offspring out to teach them to hunt as soon as they are strong
enough.
The Common Wolf (Cbntj Lupus).
Several varieties or species of Wolf are met with in Asia. The
Landgah, or Indian Wolf, is the Canis paUipes of Sykes, and the Sac-
caliut Indicua of Hodgson. It is an inhabitant of Nepaul.
The wolves of Asia Minor are fulvous, but the coloiu* is more pre-
dominant and has more red in it than that of the Italian wolves.
Of the Indiah wolves, one, the Beriah, is described as being of a
light fox-colour inclining to dun, not larger than a grayhound, slen-
derly made, but bony ; the head and ears long, like those of a Jackal,
and the tail long, but not very hairy; the other, which is smaller.
Colonel Smith refers to his Lvciscan group. The last-named zoologist
refers the black Derboun of the mountains of Arabia and the south of
Syria to the Wolf.
The wolf, or the lupine forms of the genus Canis, are found in
America. Sir John Richardson, in the 'Fauna Boreali- Americana,'
observes that the Common Wolves of the Old and New World have
been generally supposed to be the same species — ^the Cania Lupvs
of Linnaeus. The American naturalists have indeed, he remarks,
described some of the northern kinds of wolf as distinct ; but it
never seems to have been doubted that a wolf possessing all the
characters of the European Wolf exists within the limits of the
United States. He then goes on to point out that the wolf to which
these characters have been ascribed seems to be the Large Brown Wolf
of Lewis and Clark ; and, according to them, it inhabits not only the
Atlantic countries, but also the borders of the Pacific and the moun-
tains which approach the Columbia River, between the great falls and
mpida, but is not found on the Missouri to the westward of the Platte.
Richardson remarks that he had seen none of these Brown Wolves.
In the * New Description of Virginia' (1649) wolves are mentioned
among the beasts found there ; and Lawson notices the Wolf of Caro-
lina and thus describes him :— " The Wolf of Carolina is the dog of
the woods. The Indians had no other curs before the Christians
came amongst them. They are made domestic. When wild they
ore neither so large nor fierce .as the European Wolfl They are not
man-slayers, neither is any creature in Carolina unless wounded.
They go in great droves in the night to hunt deer, which they do as
well as the best pack of hounds : nay, one of these will hunt down
* deer. They are often so poor that they can hardly run. When
they catch no prey they go to a swamp, and fill their belly ftill of mud ;
if afterwards they chance to get anything of flesh, they will disgoi^e
the mud and eat the other. When tiiey hunt in the night, and there
is a great many together, they make the most hideous and frightful
noiae that ever was heard. The fur makes good mufis. The skin,
dressed to a parchment, makes the best dnmi-heads, and if taimed
makes the best sort of shoes for the summer-countries."
Catesby says : — " The wolves in America are like those of Europe
in shape and colour, but are somewhat smaller. They are more timor-
ous, and not so voracious as those of Europe. A drove of them will
fly from a single man, yet in very severe weather there have been some
instances to the contrary. Wolves were domestic with the Indians,
who had no other dogs b^ore those of Europe were introduced, since
which the breed of wolves and European dogs .are mixed and become
prolific. It is remarkable that the European dogs that have no mixture
NAT. HIRT. DIV. VOL. I.
of wolfish blood have an antipathy to those that have, and worry them
whenever they meet. The wolf-breed act only defensively, and, with
his tail between his legs, endeavours to evade the other's fuiy. The
wolves in Carolina are very numerous, and more destructive tnan any
other animaL They g;o in droves by night, and hunt deer like hounds,
with dismal yelling cries."
Sir John Richardson gives a minute description of the CanU Lupui
occiderUalU, American Wolf, the Missouri Wolf of Lewis and Clark,
and states that he does not mean to assert that the differences existing
between it and its European congener are sufficiently permanent to
constitute them, in the eye of the naturalist, distinct species. The
same kind of differences, he observes, may be traced between the
foxes and native races of the domestic dog of the New World and
those of the Old ; the former possessing finer, denser, and longer fur,
and broader feet, well calculated for running on the snow. These
remarks were elicited by a comparison of living specimens of American
and Pyrenean wolves ; but he had not an opportunity of ascertaining
whether the Lapland and Siberian wolves, inhabiting a similar climate
with those of America, had similar peculiarities of form, or whether
they differed in physiognomy from the wolf of the soutih of Europe.
He therefore considered it imadvisable to designate the northern wulf
of America by a distinct specific appellation, lest he should unneces-
sarily add to the list of synonyms. The word occidetUalUf which is
affixed to the Linnsean name of Canis LupuSt is, he tells us, to be
considered as merely marking the geographical position of that
peculiar race of Wolf.
This animal is very conmion throughout the northern regions of
America, but more or less abundant in different districts. " Their
foot-marks," says Richardson, " may be seen by the side of every
stream, and a traveller can rarely pass a night in these wilds without
hearing them howling around Imn. They are very numerous on the
sandy plains which, lying to the eastward of the Rocky Mountains,
extend from the sources of the Peace and Saskatchewan rivers
towards the Missouri. There bands of them hang on the skirts of
the buffalo (bison) herds, and prey upon the sick and straggling calves.
They do not, under ordinary circumstances, venture to attack the
full-grown animal ; for the hunters informed me that they often see
wolves walking through a herd of bulls without exciting the least
alarm ; and the markunen, when they crawl towards a buffalo for the
purpose of shooting it, occasionally wear a cap with two ears, in imi-
tation of the head of a wolf, knowing from experience that they will
be suffered to approach nearer in that guise. On the Barren-Grounds
through which the Coppermine River flows I had more than once an
opportunity of seeing a single wolf in close pursuit of a rein-deer ;
and I witnessed a chace on Point Lake when covered with ice, which
terminated in a fine buck rein-deer being overtaken by a large white
wolf, and disabled by a bite in the flank. An Indian, who was con-
cealed on the borders of the lake, ran in and cut the deer's throat with
his knife, the wolf at once relinquished Ms prey and sneaked off. In
the chase the poor deer urged its flight by great bounds, which for a
time exceieded the speed of the wolf; but it stopped so frequently to
gaze on its relentless enemy, that the latter, toiling on at a ' long
gallop' with its tongue lolling out of its mouth, gradually came up.
After each hasty look the poor deer redoubled its efforts to escape ;
but, either exhausted by fatigue or enervated by fear, it became, just
before it was overtaken, scarcely able to keep its feet"
The same author observes that the wolves destroy many foxes,
which they easily run down if they perceive them on a plain at any
distance from their hiding-places ; and he relates that in January 1827
a wolf was seen to catch an Arctic Fox within sight of Fort Franklin,
and although immediately pursued by hunters on snow-shoes, it bore
off its prey in its mouth without any apparent diminution of its speed.
The same wolf, he adds, continued for some days to prowl in the
vicinity of the fort, and even stole fish from a sledge wluch two dogs
were accustomed to draw home from the nets without a driver. As
this kind of depredation oould not be allowed to go on, the wolf was
waylaid and killed. It proved to be a female, which accounted for
the sledge-dogs not having been molested. He further states that the
buflEaJo-hunters would be unable to preserve the game they kill from
the wolves if the latter were not as fearful as they are rapacious. The
simple precaution of tying a handkerchief to a branch, or of blowing
up a bladder and hanging it so as to wave in the wind, is sufficient to
keep herds of wolves at a distance. At times, however, he says that
they are impelled by hunger to be more venturous, and that they have
been known to steal provisions from under a man's head in the night,
and to come into a traveller's bivouac and carry off some of his dogs.
" During our residence at Cumberland House in 1820," continues Sir
John, " a wolf, which had been prowling round the fort, and was
wounded by a musket-ball and driven off, returned after it became
dark, whilst the blood was still flowing from its wound, and carried
off a dog from amongst fifty others, that howled piteously, but had
not courage to unite in an attack on their enemy. I was told of a poor
Indian woman who was strangled by a wolf, while her husband, who
saw the attack, was hastening to her assistance ; but Uus was the only
instance of their attacking human life that came to my knowledge.
As the winter advances and the snow becomes deep, the wolves, being
no longer able to hunt with success, suffer from hunger, and in severe
seasons many die. In the spring of 1826 a lai^e gray wolf was driven
8 0
Digitized by
Google
756
CANIS.
C-W^IS.
738
by hunger to prowl amongst the Indian huts which were erected in
the immediate vicinity of Fort Franklin, but not being succesaful in
picking up aught to eat, it was found a few days afterwards lying
dead on the snow near the fort. Its extreme emaciation and the
emptiness of its intestines showed clearly that it died from inanition."
We learn from the same excellent authority that the American
Wolf burrows, and brings forth its young in earths with several
outlets, like those of a fox. Sir John Richardson saw some of their
burrows on the plains of the Saskatchewan, and also on the banks of
the Coppermine River. The number in a litter he states to vary from
four or five to eight or nine. After referring to the instances
recorded in the narratives of Captain Parry and Captain Franklin of
the association of the female wolves with the domestic dog, he relates
that he was informed that the Indians endeavour to improve their
■ledge-dogs by crossing the breed with wolves, and he adds, that the
resemblance between the northern wolves and the domestic dog of
the Indians is so great, that the size and strength of the wolf seem to
be the only difference. ** I havo more than once," says he, '* mistaken
a band of wolves for the dogs of a party of Indians ; and the howl
of the animals of both species is prolonged so exactly in the same
key, that even the practised ear of an Indian fails at times to discri-
minate them."
Captain Lyon gives the following account of the Esquimaux wolf-
trap. It is made of strong slabs of ice, long and narrow, so that a
fox can with difficulty ttun himself in it, but a wolf muat actually
remain in the position in which he is taken. The door is a heavy
portcullis of ice, sliding in two well-secured grooves of the same
substance, and is kept up by a line, which, passing over the top of the
trap, is carried through a bole at the furthest extremity ; to the end of
the line is fastened a small hoop of whalebone, and to this any kind
of iiesh-bait is attached. From the slab which terminates the trap, a
projection of ice, or a peg of wood or bone, points inwards near the
bottom, and under this the hoop is lightly hooked ; the slightest pull
at the bait liberates it, the door falls in an instant, and the wolf is
speared where he lies.
The following varieties of the North American Wolf are enumerated
by Sir John Richardson : —
Variety a. Common Gray Wolf, Lupus grisciu^ the Mahaygan of the
Cree Indians, and the Amarok of the Esquimaux.
Variety 6. The White Wolf, Lupus alius.
Variety c. Tho Pied Wolf, Lupus sticfe.
Variety d. The Dusky Wolf, Lupus Jiiibilus, Cants nuhUus oi^y.
The Dasky Wolf [Lupus mthilus).
Variety e. The Black American Wolf, Lupw aio'y Cams Lt/caon of
Harlan.
C. latrans (Say), the Prairie Wolf, Lyciscus lalrans of Smith.
The animals which are thus distinguished have been long known to
voyagers on the Missouri and Saskatchewan, as distinct from the
Common Wolf. They are the Small Wolves of Du Pratz ; the Prairie
Wolf of Qass ; the Prairie Wolf and Burrowing Dog of Lewis and
Clark, and of Schoolcraft ; the Cased Wolves of the Hudson's Bay
Company's lists ; and the Meesteh-chaggoneesh of the Cree Indians.
Sir John Richardson states that the northern range of the Prairie
Wolf is about the 55th degree of latitude, and that it probably
extends southward to Mexico. It associates, according to him, in
greater numbers than the Gray Wolf of the same districts ; it hunts
in packs, and brings forth its young in burrows on the open plain
remote from the woods. On the btmks of the Saskatehewan these
animals start from the earth in great numbers on hearing the report
of a gun, and gather roimd the hunter expectant of the offal of the
animal which he has slain. They are much more fleet than the
Common Wolves. Sir John Richardson was informed by an
experienced hunter who had resided for forty years on the Saskat-
chewan, that the only animal on the plains which he could not over-
take, when mounted on a good horse, was the Prong-Homed Antelope,
and that the Pi-airie Wolf was the next in spee<l.
C. ochropus, the Coyotl, Tuljtcs Indica of Hernandez (* Hist. Quadr.
Nov8B Hisp.,' c. xiii.), appears to be the Caygotte of the Mexican
Spaniards, and is " moat probably," the Ljfcitcut Cagottis of Smith.
This appears te bo the animal mentioned by Mr. Bullock, in his 'Six
Months in Mexico.' " Near Rio Frio," says that traveller and
assiduous collecter, ** we shot several handsome birds, and saw a
cayjot^e or wild dog, which in size nearly approached the wolf. He
stood looking at us at a short distance from the road, and it was not
till a gim was fired at him that he deliberately moved off."
Hernandez describes the Coyotl to be an animal unknown to the
Old World, with a wolfs head, vivid large and pallid eyes, small and
sharp ears, a long black and not thick muzzle, muscular legs, crooked
and thick claws, a very rough and thick tail, a noxious bite, approaching
in form to the Fox, to which genus it is perhaps to be referred, and
intermediate between it and the Wolf in size ; for it is twice the size
of the fox and less than the wolf, wherefore it is said to attack and
kill not only sheep and similar animals, but stags, and sometimes even
men. It is covered with brown and white long hair, is sagacious m
hunting and vulpine in its manners, and so pertinacious an avenger
of wrongs, and so mindful of the abstraction of ite prey, that it will
recognise the robber after many days, will follow him, and sometimes
set upon him with others of its own kind, &c. It is however grateful
to its benefactors. It lives in many places of New Spain, and
especially in those which are colder. It feeds upon the weaker
animals, maize and other fnunentaceous v^etables, and sugar-cane.
The AgUara Guazu of D' Azara is the Cants jubatus of Cuvier, the
Loup Rouge of the French, the Canis campestris of the Prince de
Wied, and the Maned Aguara, Chrysocyon jubaius^ of Smith.
D' Azara thus describes this Red Wolf, to which the Payagnas
Indians give the name of Paraepaga, and the Chilians that of Culpeu.
In Moxos, he says, the animal goes by the appellation of Ocorome.
Length of an adult male exactly 5 feet, that of the tail 19 inche?,
the hairs being 4 inches long. Height in front 2 feet lOj inches,
behind 2 feet 11 inches ; circumference close to the fore l^s wanting
half an inch of 2 feet, of the middle of the neck 1 foot ; and of the
head, before the ears, 1 foot 3 inches ; the ears 6 inches high, in their
broadest part 4 inches, erect^ but not exactly sharp, and very thick.
From the tip of the muzzle to the ears 0| inches, and to the inner
angle of the eye 5 inches ; the whiskers 24 inches long, and black.
The upper jaw projecting 1 inch ; the canine teeth 10 lines long,
although they were very much worn ; eye small and somewhat sunk;
from the eye forwards the muzzle of almost equal thickness to the
tip. Under the head a great white spot ; long hair within the ears,
and extreme half of tail white also. Fore and hind feet to the claws,
lower jaw^ from the comer of the mouth forwards, and extremity of
upper jaw, black ; rest of the coat clear yellowish-red. Mane com-
mencing at the occiput and continuing erect till beyond the shoulder,
5 1 inches long, red in the first half of each hair, and black Iq the
remainder towards the tip. Hair all over the body, including the
belly, except the lower part of the -fore legs, very long, and on tho
extremity of the spine 44 inches. D' Azara observes that it is neither
completely flattened nor very rough, and would make good carpeta.
Hair of the tail rather bushy and of the same length as on the Ixxly.
D' Azara caught four males at different times which were identical,
the smallest towards the end of September, which appeared to him
to have been whelped at the end of July or the beginning of August
D'Azara's friend Noseda caught another about two months old, and
in the hope of domesticating it, fed it on raw beef, which it was unable
to digest, and which caused its death. D' Azara and Noseda caught
another afterwards, about three months old, and gave it raw beef
but seldom ; when it was given however the animal threw it up, and
to prevent this ite meat was cooked, but still it was not digested.
This Aguara got loose from ite chain and escaped. During its short
captivity, if anybody approached, it grow^led and barked like a dog,
but more vehemently and confusedly. It drank by lapping, and when
feeding trod on the flesh, which it tore to pieces with its teeth. This
animal was fond of rate, sugar-cane, oranges, eggs, and small birds ;
but did not appear to be attracted by the poultry, which sometimes
passed within ite reach without ite attempting to pounce upon them.
D' Azara further stetes that in a wild stete they do not commit
havoc on the herds or smaller flocks ; and as they inhabit only the
extensive lowlands and marshes of Paraguay as far as the river Plata
and near ite mouth, he has no doubt that tiiey feed on rats, guinea-
pigs, small birds, and certain vegetebles, if these fall in their way; but
chiefly on snails, toads, frogs, and other reptiles, and on the land-
crabs, which are abundant in the plains and sand-banks. They walk
with very long paces, run much, and are, D' Azara adds, great plun-
derers, although they alwa3rB fly from man, and even from dogs. They
are solitary in their habits, and are said to swim well ; and in their
wild stete to utter no sound but * gouaa,' which they often and loudly
repeat so as to be heard at a great distance. The sexes have no very
marked difference.
The Aguara Dogs (Ihisi<:yon of Smith) ai-e a distinct race ; and so
are the Aguara Foxes (Cerdocyon of the same author).
JaclcaU,
C. aureus (Llnn»ufl), the Jackal, or Tschakkal, Chacal or Loup Dor^
of the French, Adive of Buffon.
Digitized by
Google
CANIS.
CANNABIS.
The dental fonnula of this species is that of the Dog. The pupil
of the eye is round like those of the dog and wolf. Yellowish-gray
above, whitish below ; thighs and legs yellow ; ears ruddy ; muzzle
very pointed ; tail reaching hardly to the heel (properly so called).
The colours sometimes vary, and the back and sides are described by
Mr. Bennett as of mixed gray and black, and as abruptly and strikingly
distinguished from the deep and uniform tawny of the shoulders,
haunches, and legs. The hc^ nearly of the same mixed shade with
the upper surface of the body.
It is an inhabitant of India, other parts of Asia, and Africa. Cuvier
sajB that Jackals are met with from India and the environs of the
Caspian Sea to Guinea^ but that it is not certain that they are all of
the same species.
The habits of the Jackal are gregarious, himting in packs, and the
pests of the countries where they are found, and where they burrow
in the earth. In their huntings the Jackals wiU frequently attack
the larger quadrupeds, but the smaller animals and the poultry are
their most fi^quent prey. Their cry is very peculiar and piercing.
Captain Beechey notices it as having something rather appalling when
heard for the first time at night ; and he remarks, that as they usually
come in packs, the first shriek which is uttered is always the signal
for a general chorus. " We hardly know," continues the Captain, ** a
sound which partakes less of harmony than that which is at present
in question; and indeed the sudden burst of the answering Igng-
protracted scream, succeeding immediately to the opening note, is
scarcely le^ impressive than the roll of the thunder-clap immediately
after a flash of lightning. The eficct of this music is very much
increased when the first note is heard in the distance (a circumstance
which often occurs), and the answering yell bursts out from several
points at once, within a few yards or feet of the place where the
auditors are sleeping." These animals are said to devour the dead on
the battle-field, and to scratch away the earth from the shallow graves
in order to feed on the corpses.
John Hunter (' PhiL Trans.') has recorded the case of a female
Jackal which whelped in this country. The period of gestation was
about the same as that of the dog, and the whelps were blind at
first.
The story of the Jackal being the lion's provider may have arisen
from the notion that the yell of the pack gives notice to the lion that
prey is on foot, or from the Jackal's being seen to feed on the rem-
nants of the lion's quarry.
Cuvier observes that it is not certain that all the Jackals are similar
('of the same species'); those of Senegal, for example the Dieb,
(Conw anthuSj F. Cuvier), he remarks, stand higher on the legs, and
appear to have the muzzle sharper and the tail rather longer.
The offensive odour of the Jackal has been given as one of the
reasons against reducing it to a state of domestication. We do not
see what advantage is to be derived from such a process, but if it
were desirable that objection it seems would not hold. Colonel Sykes,
who notices it as the Kholah of the Mahrattas and as being numerous
in Dukhun (Deccan), had in his possession at the same time a very
large wild male and a domesticated female. The odour of the wild
animal was almost unbearable ; that of the domesticated Jackal was
Bcarcely perceptible.
Jackal {Cams auretts).'
Some are of opinion that the 300 foxes between whose tails Samson
13 said to have put firebrands in order that they might set fire to the
<^ps of the Philistines (Judges, xv. 4, 6) were jackals. Many of the
modem oriental names for the last-mentioned animals — Chical of the
Turks, Sciagal, Sciugal, Sciachal, or Shacal of the Persians — come
]^«ry near to the Hebrew word *Shual.' Hasselquist, speaking of
" CanU auretUf the Jackcall, Chiccd of the Turks," says : — " There are
P^t^r numbers of this species of fox to be met with than the former
(Cant* Vulp€s)f particularly near Jaflb, about Gaza, and in Galilee.
1 leave others to determine which of these is the fox of Samson."
Fossil Canida,
The remains of the Dog and Wolf have been found in Great Britain.
If there were no historical records to prove that the wolf was once an
inhabitant of these islands, its abundant remains would testify to the
fact. They were not present in any considerable number in the Bone-
Caves of Kirkdale which were so diligently examined by Dr. Buck-
land, but they have been found at Paviland in Glamoiganshire and
at Overton near Plymouth. After alluding to the difficulty which
was more particularly expressed by Cuvier of distinguishing between
the Wolf and the Dog, Professor Owen referring to some specimens
from Kent's Hole says : — " The more important points of concord-
ance between the skull fix)m Kent's Hole and those of the existing
wolf leave no reasonable ground for doubting their specific identity ;
and the naturalist who does not admit that the dog and the wolf
are of the same species, and who might be disposed to question the
reference of the British Fossils described in the present section to the
wolf must in that case resort to the hypothesis that there formerly
existed in England a wild variety of dog having the low and con-
tracted forehead of the wolf, and which had become extinct before
the records of the human race. The conclusion however to which my
comparison of the fossil and recent bones of the large Canida have
led me is, that the wolves which our ancestors extirpated were of the
same species as those, which, at a much more remote period, left their
bones in the limestone caverns by the side of the extinct bears and
hycenas."
Recognisable remains of the Dog have however been obtained from
Bone-Cavea Dr. Schmerling has described and figured an almost
entii'e skull, two right rami of lower jaws, a humerus, ulna, radius, and
some smaller bones, indicating two varieties of the domestic dog, from
some Bone-Caves near Li5ge.
CANNA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Marau'
tacece. It has spathaceous flowers, simple anthers attached to the
edge of a petal-like filament, an inferior ovary, thick club-shaped erect
free style, a linear obtuse stigma. There are several species of this
genus, all of which are known by the name of Indian Shot. They are
inhabitants of South America and of the East Indies.
C. Indica has the inner limb of the corolla trifid, the segments
lanceolate, acuminate, straight. This species, with C. patens and
C. coccinettf are common plants within the tropics on all the conti-
nents. In America and Brazil they are known by the common name
of Wild Plantains. Their leaves are laige and tough, and are mostly
chosen for forming envelopes for articles of commerce. Hence the
fVench call these plants Balisiers. The seeds of most of the species
are round, black, shining, hard, heavy, and about the sixteenth of an
inch in diameter, resembling shot, for which they are sometimes used
as a substitute. They are roasted and employed in infusion in the
same manner as coffee. They yield also a purple dye.
C edulis has smooth leaves and stems colonized at the base, the
roots tuberous and large, the middle segment of the corolla very short.
This is one of the species of the order the rootstock of which is used
for making arrowroot. Nearly all the species contain starch in the
rootstock, which renders them fit to be used as food after being
cooked. The starch is separated by tearing the rootstock in pieces
and submitting it to the action of water. The water with the starch
suspended is poured off from the ligneous portion of the rootstock,
and the starch is afterwards allowed to subside. Clusius says that
the O. liUea grows in the open air in Spain and Portugal, and that the
inhabitants of those countries use the seeds for making rosaries.
Many of the species will bear the open air in the summer in this
country. They require a light rich soil, and may be increased by
dividing the roots or by sowing the seed. They should be planted
out in a warm border early in the summer.
(Loudon, Encychpccdia of Plants.)
CANNABINACEiE, Ilempwoi'ts, the Hemp Tribe, a natural order
of Exogenous Plants. This little order wluch has been separated
from Urticacece embraces two well-known plants, the Hop (HwrnvlvLS
Lupulvs) and the Hemp {Cannabis saliva). They are distinguished
from the Nettle Tribe by having a solitary suspended ovule, and a
hooked ex-albuminous embryo, with a superior radicle. [Humulub;
Cajjnabis.] ■
CA'NNABIS (in Greek K&vva^iSy and in Latin also Cannahis)^ a
genus of plants belonging to the natural order Cannabinacece.
Cannabis sativaf the Common Hemp, is a plant nearly allied
botanically to the nettle, with which it even agrees in its general
appearance. It is an annual dioecious plant, with erect nearly-simple
stems from 4 to 6 feet high, and covered -with rigid hairs. The
leaves are either alternate or opposite, digitate, and stalked ; the
leaflets are five in number, narrow, lanceolate, sharp-pointed, serrated,
rough, pale-green on the under side; the uppermost leaves have
only three leaflets. The male flowers grow in Uttle bunches at the
axils of the upper leaves ; they are pendulous from short stalks, and
have a calyx of five spreading narrow lanceolate sepals, containing
five stamens. The female flowers appear in close leafy clusters at the
axils of the upper leaves, and consist of a roundish calyx, split half-
way down into two parts, and containing a simple 1-celled ovary
terminated by a couple of awl-shaped stigmaa The fruit is a lenticular
body, looking like and commonly called a seed.
This is the only species known ; it is said to be a native of Persia,
Digitized by
Google
tS9
CANNON-BALI^TREE.
CAPERCALL
r»
aud is certamly wild, according to Roxburgh, " among the hillB and
mountains north of India, as well as common everywhere in the
gardens of the natives throughout Asia." It is now universally
distributed over the north of Europe. Herodotus, iv. 74, describes it
as growing in Scythia, north of the Danube, a country which he
had visited. We must from this conclude that the plant is really a
native of north and east Europe.
It is from its possessing a remarkably tough kind of woody tissue
capable of being manufactured into linen and cordage, that hemp is
best known ; and for its good qualities in this respect it is unrivalled
among the many species possessing similar properties. But it also
contains a deleterious narcotic secretion of great energy. If one
remains for any length of time amongst a plantation of young hemp,
head-ache and vertigo are often the result; in hotter countries
these effects are much more violent, a kind of intoxication being
speedily produced. Oriental nations have taken advantage of this
to add another to the list of intoxicating drugs, whidi they contrive
to substitute for the forbidden wine of western people. The
powdered leaves mixed with some kind of aromatic are infused in
water and drunk, when a drowsy ecstatic feeling comes on, which is
said to be much more agreeable than that produced by opium. The
leaves are also mixed with tobacco for smolung. The two chapters of
Herod., iv. 74, 75, arc curious as to its intoxicating effects, &c. The
drug obtained from hemp is called bang, or haschish, or cherris :
gangika or ganga, kinnab, subjah, majan, are other names for it.
The seeds of hemp abound in a thick mucilage, and are used medi-
cinally for the preparation of emulsions : a useful oil is obtained
from them by pressure. The hemp develops its active properties
more in warm climates, hence for medicinal purposes it is brought
into this country from India imder the name of Cannabis Indica,
CANNON-BALL-TREE. [Couroupita.]
CANTHAHID^, a family of Coleopterous Insects of the section
Trachdidet. It has the following characters : — Hooks of all the tarsi
cleft; antennse generally filiform; head usually broader than the
thorax, and divided posteriorly by an indentation ; thorax for the
most part narrower behind than before ; elytra soft and flexible, and
in most of the species inclosing the sides of the abdomen. The genus
CarUkaris may be distinguished from other genera of this family by
the following characters : — Antennae long and filiform, the second
joint very short ; maxiUary palpi short, the joints nearly equal, the
terminal joint slightly exceeding the others in bulk ; head a little
wider than the thorax, which is slightly elongated, and has the
anterior part suddenly narrowed, forming as it were a neck ; elytra
elongate, and somewhat linear.
CanUharis vesicatoria, the Spanish Fly, or Blister-Beetle, is well
known for its medical uses. [Cantharis vesicatoria, in Arts a^^d
Sc. DiY.] It is about three-quarters of an inch in length, and of a
bright-green colour ; the legs and antenns are bluish-black.
This insect is found but rarely in this country. It appears in the
month of June and frequents ash-trees, upon the leaves of which it
feeds. O. vesicatoria is also found in France, but in Italy and Spain
it appears to be most abundant.
When touched these insects feign death, and emit an odour of a
highly i)enetrating natiu«. Their larvse live in the ground, and feed
upon the roots of plants.
CANTHARIS. [Cantharidjb.]
CANTHARUS, a genus of Acanthopterygious Fishes belonging to
the family Sparidas. It has a deep compressed body ; a single elon-
gated dorsal fin ; teeth of rather small size, numerous, conical, placed
in several rows, those of the outer row rather larger and more curved
than those forming the inner rows; mouth rather small; branchi-
ostego\is rays, six. (Yarrell.) One species of this genus appears on
the coasts of Great Britain, the C. griseus of Cuvier and Valenciennes.
It is the Sparus lineatus of Montagu. It is conmaon on the coasts of
Kent> Sussex, and Devonshire, where it is called the Black Bream.
It is also called the Black Sea-Bream, but it is a different fish from
the Sea-Bream (PageUus centrodontus). Mr. Yarrell says, " It enters
harbours, and is frequently taken by anglers from rocks and pier-
heads." It takes common baits, but seems principally to feed on
marine vegetables.
CAOUTCHOUC. [Indian-Rubber.]
CAOUTCHOUC, FOSSIL. [Bittimen.]
CAPERCALI, CAPERKALLY, or CAPERCALZE, the Scotch
name for the Capercail, Wood-Grouse, or Cock of the Wood, the
Teirao Urogallus of Linnssus.
Pennant refers this bird to the Coc de Bois, or Faisan Bruyant, of
Belon, and the Gallo Cedrone of the Italians ; and it is very probable
that these and other names, namely, Gkdlo di Monte, Gallo Selvatico,
Gallo Alpestre, Fasan Negro, and Fasiano Alpestre, were applied both
to the Caperkally and the Black-Cock, according to the different
localities where the species occurred. [Black-Cock.] Part of Belon's
description of his Coc de Fois — such, for example, as the plume
'^si noire et reluisant au-dessous du col, et de Testomach, qu'elle
monstre en estre toute changeante," and the tail with the feathers
" voultdes, c'est h dire courb^es en arc, et larges par le bout, ayant
quelque petites madrures blanches," might apply to the Black-Cock,
while "the size approaching to that of the peacock" — "the head not
less than that of a bustard, with the great mtissive trenchant beak,"
_ . much more applicable to the Caperkally, which lb Le Grand
Coq de Bruy^s of Brisson, the Coq de Bruyfere ou Tetrao of Buffon,
Kjader of the ' Fauna Suedca,' Tjaderhona of Hasselquist, the Teku
Auerhan of Temminck, Auer Hahn of Frisch, Auerwaldhuhn of
Bechstein, the Peacock of the Wood {Pavo syivestris) of Giraldiu
Cambrensis, Capricalca of SibbaJd, the Cock of the Mountain or
Wood (called by the Venetians Gallo di Montagna) of Willughby,
the Cock of the Wood or Mountain of Ray, Wood or Great Orous of
Pennant, Ceiliog Coed of the ancient British, Urogallus seu Tttrao
major of Aldrovand, Tetrao UrogaUus of Linnaeus, and UrogaUlm
vtUgaris of Fleming.
Temminck says that this bird is numerous in the north of Aaa,
and in Russia towards Siberia : and that it is common in LiTonia,
sufficiently abundant in Germany, in Hungary, and in certain parts
of the Archipelago : he adds that it is more rare in France, and never
found in Holland. Pennant states that these birds are common in
Scandinavia^ Germany, France, Italy, and several parts of the Alp&
It is added in a note, on the authority of Hasselquist, that the bird
was shot in the Isle of Milo on a palm-tree, and on that of Belon that
it is found in Crete ; and it is observed that the English translator of
Hasselquist gives a false name to it, calling it Black Game. Mr.
Lloyd says that it is to be found in most parts of the ScandiBavian
peninsula; indeed as far to the north as the pine-tree flourishes,
which is veiy near to the North Cape itself. He adds that the bird
is very rare in the more southern of the Swedish provinces.
That it was once frequent in the British Islands there is no doubt,
though it is now utterly extinct as a wild British species. Ray aays :
''Anglia hunc non alit. In Hibemi& inveniri dicitur." Pennant
writes : " This species is found in no other part of Great Britain than
the Highlands of Scotland, north of Inverness, and is very rare even
in those parts. It ia there known by the name of Capercal^e, Auer-
calze, and in the old law-books Caperkally— the last signifying the
Horse of the Woods — ^this species being, in comparison of others of
the genus, pre-eminently large." He also says : " In our country I
have seen one specimen, a male, killed in the woods of Mr. Chisolme,
to the north of Inverness. About the year 1760 a few were to be
found about Thomas Town, in the county of Tipperaiy, but I suspect
that the breed is now extinct in every part of Ireland." Graves
(1818) says: "This species is nearly extinct in Great Britain; two
instances of its being killed in Scotland within these few years are
the only satisfactory accounts we have received of its being recently
found in these kingdoms. One was killed by a gentleman of the name
of Henderson near Fort William about six years ago, and sent to
Dundee ; but the vessel that conveyed it to London was detained so
long on the passage that the bird became so putrid that only the
head and legs oould be preserved. The other specimen was shot by
Captain Stanton near Burrowstoneness two winters ago ; they were
both males. Some few are said to be yet remaining in the pine
forests of Scotland, and also in the mountainous parts of Ireland."
Bewick speaks of it as very rare in Great Britain. In the last edition
of Montagu (1833) it is stated that the bird was last seen in 1760 in
the woods of Strathglass, that it continued in Strathspey till 1745,
and that recent attempts have been made to re-introduce it from
Norway without success. Selby (1825) alludes to its extirpation,
and omits the species. Jenyns (1835) observes that it waa formely
abundant in the mountaino\is forests of Scotland and Ireland, bat
that it is now extirpated. A living pair came into the possession of
the Zoological Society of London, but they did not long surviYe the
loss of liberty.
"A few years ago," writes Mr. Lloyd in his interesting 'Field
Sports,' " I procured a brace of those birds, consisting of cock and
hen, for a friend of mine, Mr. Thomas Fowell Buxton, the member
for Weymouth, then resident at Cromer HaU in Norfolk After a
lapse of a few months the hen laid six eggs, and from these, in process
of time, six capercali were produced. The chicks lived imtilthey
had attained to a very considerable size, when, owing to the effects,
as it was supposed, of a burning sun, to which they had been
incautiously exposed, the whole of them, together with the mother,
died. On this mishap the old cock, the only survivor, was turned
loose into the game preserves, where he remained in a thriving con-
dition for about a year and a half. At last however he also met his
doom, though this was supposed to be owing rather to accidental
than natural causes."
In further corroboration of the fact that the Capercali will breed
when in confinement, we make the following quotation from Mr.
Nilsson's work. That gentleman's authority was the ofwer director
of Uhr ; and the birds alluded to were at a foi^e in the province of
Dalecarlia : —
" They were kept together during the winter in a large loft over a
bar^, and were fed with com, and got occasionally a change of fresh
spruce-fir, pine, and juniper sprigs. Early in the spring they were
let out into an inclosure near the house, protected by a high aud
close fence, in which were several firs and pines, the common trees of
the place. In this inclosure they were never disturbed ; and during
the sitting season no one approached except the person who laid in
the meat, which at that time consisted of barley, besides fresh sprigs
of the kinds before mentioned. It is an indispensable rule that they
shall have full liberty, aud remain entirely undisturbed, if the bens
Digitized by
Google
m
CAPERCALL
CAPERCALI.
7es
are to sit and hatch their young. As soon as this had ooourred, and
the brood were out, they were removed to the yard, which waa alao
roomy, and so closely fenced that the young ones could not escape
through ; and within this fence were hedges and a number of bushes
planted. Of the old ones one of the wings was always clipped, to
prevent their flying. I have seen several times such broods, both of
black game and capercali, eight to twelve young ones belonging to
each hen. They were bo tame that, like our common hens, they
would run forward when com was thrown to them. They should
always have a good supply of sand and fresh water."
M. Qreiflf gives the fallowing directions for rearing the young : —
" The eggs, usually so called, to be found in ant-hills and stubble,
are to be gathered ; hard boiled eggs are to be chopped and mixed
amongst fine moistened barley-meal ; also pea-haulm and trefoil-grass
are to be given them for food, and water to drink, which must be
placed so tbAt they cannot overturn the pitcher, for they suffer very
much if they get wet when they are young. Dry sand and mould
they never should be without When they get larger, and cabbage-
leaves, strawberries, cranberries, and blueberries are to be had, they
are fond of such food ; and when thev are full grown they eat barley
and wheat ; and in winter they should get young shoots of pine and
birch-buds. I have seen many people who thought they treated
young birds well by giving them jimiper berries ; but they never
resort to this kind of food but in case of necessity."
The following observations of Professor Nilsson show how well
this bird is adapted for the game preserve : —
" When the capercaU is reared from the time of being a chicken,
he frequently becomes as tame as a domestic fowl, and may be safely
left by himself, He however seldom loses his natural boldness, and,
like the turkey-cock, will often fly at and peck people. He never
becomes so tame and fiEtmiliar as the black-cock. Even in his wild
state the capercali frequently forgets his liferent shyness, and wiU
attack people when approaching his place of resort Mr. Alderbei^g
mentions such an occurrence. During a number of years an old
capercali cock had been in the habit of frequenting the estate of
Villinge at Wermdo, who, as often as he heard the voice of people in
the adjoining wood, had the boldness to station himself on the ground,
and, during a continual flapping of his wings, pecked at the legs and
feet of those that disturbed his domain."
For the details of the experynent made by Lord Fife in the years
1828, 1829, 1830, and 1831, we must refer the reader to Mr. Wilson's
interesting paper in ' Jameson's Journal ' for July 1832. Sufllce it to
say that, after some failures, Mr. Wilson, in August, 1831, saw at
Braemar five young Capercali which had been hatched there, and
were, with their parents, in good health. The intention of the Thane
was, '' as soon as some healthy broods had been reared in confinement
to liberate a few in the old pine woods of Braemar, and thus eventually
to stock with the finest of feathered game the noblest of Scottish
forests." In 1844 five young birds were hatched in the aviary of the
late Lord Derby at Knowsley.
Temminck makes the food to consist of many sorts of berries, the
buds and yotmg shoots of the leaves of trees and of alpine shrubs ;
also of insects, but rarely of seeds. Mr. Lloyd says that it feeds
principally on the leaves of the Scotch fir (Tal), and very rarely on
those of the spruce (Qran) : also on juniper berries, cranberries,
blueberries, and others common to the northern forests, and occasi-
onally in the winter time on the buds of the birch, &a The young,
he says, are for the most part sustained at first on ants, worms,
inmcts, &C.
Temminck says that the nest is formed in high herbage and under
bufihefi, and that the hen lays from 6 to 16 obtuse eggs of a dirty
white colour, marked with yellowish spots. Latham states that he is
well informed that the nest of one found in Scotland was placed on a
Scotch pine : '* if so," savs Montagu, " it differs from all the genus,
who are known to lay their eggs on the bore ground." 3ir. Lloyd,
who bad the best opportunities for ascertaining &e fact, observes that
the hen makes her nest upon the ground, and lays from 6 to 12 eggs,
and that her young keep with her till towards the approach of winter ;
but that the cocks separate from the mother before the hens. The
same author describes, evidently from personal observation, the ' lek,'
or play, of the male in the breeding season, and as it is in itself most
interesting, and corrects some errors which have gone abroad on the
subject, we make no apology for inserting it :
"At this period, and often when the ground is still deeply covered
with snow, the cock stations himself on a pine and coumiences his
love-song, or play as it is termed in Sweden, to attract the hens about
him. This is usually from the first dawn of day to sunrise, or from a
little after sunset until it is quite dark. The time however more or
less depends upon the nuldness of the weather, and the advanced state
of the season.
" During his play the neck of the capercaU is stretched out, his tail
is raised and spread like a fan, his wings droop, hia feathers are ruffled
np, and, in shorty he much resembles in appearance an angry turkey-
cock. He begins his play with a call something resembling ' poller,
peller, poller; these soimds he repeats at first at some little intervals ;
but as he proceeds they increase in rapidity until at hst, and after
perhaps the lapse of a minute or so, he makes a sort of gulp in his
throat, and fimshes with sucking in as it were his breath.
" During the continuance of this latter process, which only lasts a
few seoonds, the head of the capercali is thrown up, his eyes are
partially dosed and his whole appearance would denote that he is
worked up into an agony of passion. At this time his faculties are
much absorbed, and it is not difficult to approach him : many indeed,
and among the rest Mr. Nilsson, assert that the capercali can then
neither see nor hear; and that he is not aware of the report or flash
of a gim, even if fired immediately near to him. To this assertion I
cannot agree, for though it is true that if the capercali has not been
much disturbed previously he is not easily frightened during the last
notes, if so it may be termed, of his play ; should the contrary be the
case, he is constantly on the watch, and I have reason to know that
even at that time, if noise be made, or that a person exposes himself
incautiously, he takes alarm and immediately flies.
" The play of the capercali is not loud, and should there be wind
stirring in the trees at the time, it cannot be heard at any considerable
distance. Indeed during the calmest and most favourable weather it
is not audible at more than two or three hundred paces.
"On hearing the call of the cock, the hens, whose cry in some
degree resembles the croak of the raven, or rather perhaps the sounds
'gock, gock, gock,' assemble from all parts of the surrounding, forest.
Hie male bird now descends from the eminence on which he was
perched to the ground, where he and his female friends join company.
The capercali does not play indiscriminately over the forest, but he
has his certain stations, ' Tjador-lek,' which may perhaps be rendered
his playing grounds. These however are often of some little extent.
Here, unless very much persecuted, the song of these birds may be
heard in the spring for years together. The capercali does not during
his play confine himself to any particular tree, as Mr. Nilsson asserts
to be the case, for on the contrary it is seldom he is to be met with
exactly on the same spot for two days in succession.
" On these lek several capercali may occasionally be heard playing
at the same time ; Mr. Qi'eiff, in his quaint way, observes * it then
goes gloriously.' But so long as the old male birds are alive they will
not, it is said, permit the young ones or those of the preceding season
to play. Should the old birds however be killed, the young ones in
the course of a day or two usually open their pipes. Combats, as it
may be supposed, not xmfrequently take place on these occasions,
though I do not recollect having heard of more than two of those
birds being engaged at the same time.
" Though altogether contrary to law, it is now that the greatest
slaughter is committed among the capercali ; for any lump of a fellow
who has strength to draw a ti'igger may, with a little instruction,
manage to knock them do¥m. But as the plan of shooting these
noble birds during their play is something curious I shall do my best
to describe it.
" It being first ascertained where the lek is situated, which is com-
monly known to the peasants and others in the vicinity, the sportsman
(if so he may be called) proceeds to the spot> and listens in profound
silence until he hears the call of the cooJc So long however as the
bird only repeats his conmiencing sound he must, if he be at all near
to him, remain stationary ; but the instant the capercali comes to the
wind-up, the gulp, &c., during which, as I have said, his faculties of
both seeing and hearing are in a degree absorbed, then he may
advance a Uttle. But this note lasts so short a time that the sportsman
is seldom able to take more than three or four steps before it ceases,
for the instant that is the case he must again halt, and if in an exposed
situation remain fixed like a statue. This is absolutely necessary,
for during his play, excepting when making the gulp, &c., the capercali
is exceedingly watchful, and easily takes the alarm. If all remain
quiet, the bird usually goes on again immediately with his first strain ;
and when he once more comes to the final note, the sportsman advances
as before, and so on, until he gets within range of shot.
** To become a proficient at this sport requires a good deal of prac-
tice. In the first place a person must know how to take advantage of
the ground when advancing upon the capercali, for, if full dayhght,
this is hardly practicable (whatever may be said to the contrary) in
exposed situations ; and in the next, that he may not move forward
excepting upon the note which is so fatal to that bird. This is likely
enough to happen if it be an old cock that has been previously
exposed to shots, for he often runs on, as I have repeatedly heard
him, with 'poller, peller, poller,' tmtil one supposes he is just coming
to the gulp, when he suddenly makes a full stop. If therefore a
person was then incautiously to advance he would in all probability
instantly take to flight
" At the lek the cocks most commonly fall the sacrifice ; for the
hens, as well from their colour more resembling the foliage of the
trees as from the sportsman having larger and better game in view,
usually escape. This is a fortunate circumstance ; as were a propor-
tionate slaughter to take place among the latter as the former, the
breed in many parts of the Scandinavian peninsula would soon be
exterminated.
" Though this plan of shooting the capercali during the spring is
common throughout most parts of Scandinavia, I am told that in
Nor/land and Wiisterbotten, from whence Stockholm is furnished
with its principal supplies of game, that destructive practice is not
generally adopted. This arises from the people in those districts
having sense enough to know that if they kill too many of the coclui
Digitized by
Google
763
CAPERCALI.
CAPILLARY VESSELS.
in the spring, there ia little probability of there being a good breed
duiing the suoceeding autumn."
Our limits will not permit us to enter into the details of the more
legitimate chace, which will be found in Mr. Lloyd's book : suffice it
to say that the rifle is the instrument used by the fair sportsman,
and that in the course of his sport Mr. Lloyd observed, that when
the weather is cold and the snow loose and soft, the capercali
not unfrequently buries himself beneath its surface during the
night season, and once in a while he found the bird in that
situation in the day-time; so that the old wood-cuts of grouse
nestling under the snow are not entirely without foundation. Mr.
Lloyd remarks -that the capercali often becomes the prey of the
great homed owl. [Bubo.]
As an article of food the capercali is justly admired ; and the rapidity
of communication consequent upon the increased and increasing
development of the powers of steam now furnishes annually the shops
of the London poulterers with a supply in the spring. Some assert that
at certain seasons the flavour of the bird is rendered extremely un-
pleasant by the fir-buds which then form its food ; but those which
we have tasted were excellent. The hen, though smaller, is in our
opiniott preferable to the cock. In preparing the bird for roasting,
the breast should be skinned aiid a veal-caul spread over it.
Male. — Elongated feathers of the throat black ; the rest of the head
and neck ashy black ; eyebrows red ; wings and scapulars brown,
sprinkled with small black dots ; breast changeable green ; belly and
abdomen black, with white spots ; rump and flanks sprinkled with
ashy zigzags on a black ground ; tail-feathers black, with some small
white spots disposed at about two inches fix)m their extremities ; bill
nearly 8 inches long, very strong, hooked, and of a whitish horn-
colour ; iris clear brown ; length about 2 feet 10 inches ; usual weight
from 9 to 12 lbs. Graves says that the fine specimen from which his
figure was taken measured 3 feet 1 J inch in length, 7 feet 5 inches in
breadth, and weighed 15 lbs. 2^ ounces.
Capercali {Tetrao UroffaUus), male.
Female. — Striped and spotted with red or bay, black and white ;
feathers of the head bright ruddy, and those of the breast deep red ;
tail ruddy, striped with black ; bill blackish-brown ; size about one-
third less than that of the male.
Young Males, after their first Moult. — Breast of a less lustrous green
than in the old birds, and the ash-colour predominating over the
black ; some red feathers spotted with black are scattered irregularly
over the plumage. Before the first moult the young males resemble
the females.
Mr. Lloyd says that the capercali occasionally breed with the black
game, the product of which are in Sweden called Racklehanen :
these partake of the leading characters of both species ; but their size
and colour greatly depend upon whether the connection was between
the capercali cock and the gray hen, or vice versd. " Out of twenty
racklehanar, which is the male, two, acoording to Mr. Falk, are not
alike ; and the difference of colour observable among the rackLehonan,
which is the female, but very rare, is still greater. Racklehanen
are very seldom to be met with. During my stay in Wermeland,
however, Mr. Falk had two of these birds in hia possession, and I
myself shot a third." The bird here alluded to was probably the
Rakelhan {Tetrtw mediua of Meyer), which Temminck observes, some
naturalists, and recently M. Nilsson, have erroneously considered a
hybrid between the Capercali and Black-Cock. But at Braemar, in
1828, in consequence of the death of the hen which had been
imported with a cock, a common barn-door hen was introduced to
the latter. The result, apcording to Mr. Wilson, was, that she laid
several eggs, which were placed under other hens ; but from tiiese
eggs only a single bird was hatched, and when it was first observed
it was found lying dead. It was, however, an evident mule or
hybrid, and showed such unequivocal marks of the capercali
character as could not be mistaken.
CAPERS, the young flower-buds of Capparis spinosa. [Cappari-
DACE£ 1
CAPILLAIRE. [Adiantum.]
CAPILLARY VESSELS, so called from their hair-like minute-
ness. The blood-vessels of the body consist of arteries and veins,
the arteries carrying the blood from the heart, and the veins returning
it to the heart. The blood-vessels that supply the body are
arborescent, that is, the branches which spring from the aorta
successively increase in number and diminish in size as they proceed
from the heart towards their ultimate terminations in the system.
In like manner the veins divide. These ultimate terminations of
the arteries, together with the first origins of the veins, constitute a
peculiar system of vessels termed the Capillary System. These
capillary vessels are too minute to be detected by the naked eye;
but in the transparent parts of the body of a living animal, when
brought under the field of the microscope, they become perfectly
visible, as in the web of the frog's foot, the mesentery of the
rabbit, the tail of the tadpole, &c. The greater number of the
arteries and veins are then seen to be directly continuous with each
other, no substance intervening between the two orders of veasek
No words can describe the beauty of the sight presented by the flow
of the vital fluid through these minute tubes. Myriads of veaaelB
not visible to the naked eye instantly come into view. In one case
the direction of a minute artery being suddenly altered it is reflected
on itself, and thus becomes an incipient vein ; in other cases minute
branches are sent off from an artery into a parallel vein ; and in a
third case several minute arterial ramifications are continuous with a
single vein. The venous capillaries are generally larger and more
numerous than the arterial, and they commimicate more freely with
each other.
The minute capillary vessels are totally distinct both in structure
and office from the large trunks from which they spring. All the
timics of the capillary arteries diminish in thickness and strength as
the tubes lessen in size, but more especially the middle or fibrous
coat [Artert]; "but this coat may still be distinguished by its
colour in the transverse section of any artery whose internal
diameter is not less than the tenth of a line, but it entirely disappears
in vessels too small and too remote to receive the wave of blood
in a manifest jet. But while the membranous tunics diminish, the
nervous filaments distributed to them increase. The smaller and
thinner the capillary the greater the proportionate quantity of it^
nervous matter ; and this is most manifest in oi^gans of the greatest
irritability. The coats of the capillaries successively becoming
thinner and thinner at length disappear altogether, and the vessels
ultimately terminate in membraneless canals formed in the substance
of the tissues."
Of the capillary arteries which it has been stated terminate by
direct communication with the capillai-y veins, some are large enough
to admit of three or four of the red particles of the blood [Blooit]
abreast ; the diameter of others is sufficient to admit only of one ;
whilst others are so small that they can transmit nothing but the
serum of the blood. Their prevalent size in the human body may be
stated at from g^ths to j^^ths of an inch when naturally filled
with blood. As long as the capillary is of sufficient magnitude to
receive three or four blood globules abreast, it is evident that it
possesses regular parietes ; but by far the greater number, before they
communicate with veins, lose altogether their membranous coats.
There are no visible openings or pores in the sides or ends of the
capillaries by means of which the blood can be extravasated
preparatory to its being imbibed by the veins. There is nowhere
apparent a sudden passage of the arterial into the venous stream, no
abrupt boundary between the division of the two systems. The
arterial streamlet winds through long routes, and describes nimierous
turns before it assumes the nature and takes the direction of a
venous streamlet. The ultimate capillary rarely passes from a lai^
arterial into a lar^e venous branch.
The capillary network differs in the size and width of the meshes
in different pcurts. It is very close in the lungs and in the choroid
coat of the eye ; close also in muscle, in the skin, and in most parts
of the mucous membrane, in glands and secreting structures, and in
the gray part of the brain and spinal coi'd. On the other hand, it
Digitized by
Google
f^
CAPITtJLtTM.
CAPRE^.
766
li^^s wide meBhes and comparatively few vessels iu the ligaments,
t^pudons, and other allied textures. (Sharpey.)
All the great organic functions of the living body are performed
jjp^ ainly by the capillary vessels. Their action is essential to secre-
^>^n, nutrition, calorification, and every other process which is
■^^dispensable to the support of life. From experiment, it has been
X^ferred that these vessels possess an active contractile power
^-^ogether independent of the impulse derived from the heart. Under
>^e ordinary condition of the circulation, the blood indeed flows
through these capillary vessels by the force commimicated to the
circulating fluid by the contraction of the heart; but the evidence
Drought forward seems to indicate that stimulants of various kinds
applied directly to the capillary arteries, without in the least affecting
the heart's action, are capable of modifying to a considerable extent
the action of the capillaries ; sometimes causing them to contract and
at other times to dilate ; sometimes quickening the flow of the blood
through them; at other times retarding it, and not unfrequently
altogether arresting its progress.
For an account of the development of the capillaries, see Blood-
Vessels.
CAPITULUM, a head of flowers, a particular form of inflores-
cence. ^ Theoretically botanists consider it an imdeveloped spike,
the axis of which becomes a receptacle, and the external empty
bracts an involucre. It really consists of a number of small flowers,
which in the majority of plants are arranged upon an elongated
stalk, or arranged upon a« flattened or horizontal stalk. The
Dandelion, the Daisy, the Groundsel, and all Compoiita, have
au inflorescence of this nature; it is vulgarly looked upon as a
flower,
CAPNEA. [ACTINIADJE.]
CAPPARIDA'CE^, Ca^parids, the Ca,per Tribe, a natural order of
Dicotyledonous Polypetalous Plants, having a superior fruit, parietal
placentae, an embryo curved upon itself, without dbumeu, four petals
and sepals, a great number of stamens, and an ovary elevated upon a
long stalk. They are known from Cruciferce by their indefinite sta-
mens and reniform seeds. All of them appear to be more or less
acrid. They are bushes or herbs found all over the tropics, and not
extending in many places beyond them. Egypt and the south of
Europe, which are inhabited by Cappoi'is spinosa and similar species,
offer the greatest exceptions to the rule.
Some of the American species of Cappandacete &re very poisonous ;
others act as vesicatories ; and a few are merely stimulant. To the
latterclass belongs the Capparis spinoaa of the south of Europe. This
Caper-Tree {CapparU spinoaa),
^t An expanded flower ; 2, a petal ; 3, a calyx with the stalked ovary ; 4, a
horizontal section of the fruit ; 6, a longitudinal section of the seed ; 6, an
embryo Extracted from the seed-coat.
plant g:rows naturally upon rocks and ruina all over the south of
France and Italy, rendering them inconceivably gay with its large
white blossoms, from the centre of each of which there springs a long
^*^^ o :f deep lilac stamens. The flower-buds constitute the Capers of
the «i\iO'^H^ the quality of which depends exclusively upon the ago at
which they are gathered, the smallest and yoimgest being the dearest
and most delicate, and the lai^gest and oldest the coarsest and cheapest.
On an average each plant of the caper-bush gives a pound of buds.
The consumption of capers in this country is inconsiderable, not
amounting to more than about 60,000 lbs. a year.
Several other species of Capparis possess stimulating properties.
There is a plant found in the neighbourhood of Carthagena called
Fruta de Buno, supposed to be a CappariSf the fruit of which is
extremely poisonous. The fruity of a species of Oratceva are eaten.
PolanUia icosandra acts as a vesicatory. The root of Cleome dodecan-
dra is used as a vermifuge in the United States. The order has 28
genera and about 840 species.
CAPREiE, a sub-tribe of the family Bovidce amongst the Ruminant
Mammalia f and equivalent to the sub-tribes Bovecs [BoviDiE], Anti-
lopeaSf Strepsicei'CB [ANXiLOPEif;], and Ovece [OvEiE], according to Dr.
Gray's wrrangement of the Mammalia in the British Museum. The
Caprece include what are commonly known by, the name of Goats.
The classification of these animals has been the cause of much differ*
ence of opinion.
Ray established three genera of Ruminants with bisulcated hoofs.
1. Bovinum gemu — the Oxen. 2. Ovinum genua — the Sheep. 8. Co-
prvrmm genus — the Goats ; comprising the Common Goat, the Ibex,
the Chamois, the Gazelles, &c.
Klein's second family of quadrupeds consisted of those which have
a divided homy hoof. The type of the first genus was the Ox ; of the
second, the Sheep ; of the third, the Goat ; of the fourth, the Stag ;
and of the fifth, the Hog.
Brisson's fifth order consisted of those quadrupeds which have no
incisor teeth in the iipper jaw, but have eight in the lower jaw,
and the hoof clov^i. The first section consists of those which have
simple horns; and comprises, as genera, the Giraffe, the Goat,
the Sheep, and the Ox. The quadrupeds with branched horns, the
Stags, follow.
X^innscus in his last edition (the 12th) makes Capra the fourth
genus of his fifth order {Pecora), placing it between Gervus and Ovis :
the genus contained the species Ifircus, Ibex, Mamhrica (Syrian Goat),
Rupicapra (Chamois), &c., including some of the Antelopes and Capra
Amman {Tragelaphus and Musimon of Gesner).
Gmelin, in the 13th edition of the * Systema Naturce,' arranges the
genus Capra tmder the same order, between Antilope and OviSj to
which latter genus he transfers the Musmon, Capra Ammon (GmeL) of
Linnaeus, Ovis Ammon of Gmelin.
Pennant, in the first and third edition of his ' Synopsis,' placed the
Goats between the Sheep and the Giraffe, the latter being followed by
the Antelopes : in his * British Zoology ' the Goats are arranged between
the Sheep and the Deer.
M. Lesson, in his * Manuel* (1827), arranges the Caprid(B (Les
Caprdes) between the Bovidce (Les BovincSes) and the Ovidce (Les
Ovindes).
In both his editions of the * R^gne Animal,' Cuvier gives the Goats
{Capra) the same position under his Ruminants h. Comes Creuses
{Cavicomia — Hollow-Horned Ruminants, or those whose horns have a
bony core), namely, between Antilojte and Ovis.
Fischer (1829) arranges the genus Capi'a (which he divides into two
sections — 1, Barhatce, Caprce of authora ; 2, Imherbes, Ores of authors)
between Antilope and Bos.
Dr. J. E. Gray, as we have seen, places Capra among the Bovidce.
In his interesting ' Spicilegia Zoologica' (1830), where he figures the
female of the Nubian Goat, the genus appeal's under that family. He
had previously so arranged it in the 'Annals of Philosophy' (1826) ;
and Mr. W. S. M*Leay, in his paper * On the Comparative Anatomy of
cei'tain Birds of Cuba' ('Linnsean Transaotions'), speaking of the
Mammalia^ observes that the normal and aberrant groups were dis-
tinguished and named by Aristotle in his ' Historia Animalium,' but
had not, to his knowledge, appeared again in any work until Dr. Gray
had the- honour of reviving them in the * Annals of Philosophy.'
Referring our readers to the works of Messrs. F. Cuvier, De Blainville,
Desmarest, Desmoulins, Erxleben, Geofii'oy, Hasselquist, Illiger, Lich-
tenstein, Meyer, Schreber, Shaw, Zimmermann, and others, for their
views on tlus subject, which, however interesting and desirable for
the student, our limits will not permit us to dwell on here, we proceed
to notice the observations of Mr. Hodgson iu the * Zoological Proceed-
ings' for 1834.
Mr. Hodgson, after remarking on the difficulty experienced by
zoologists in the determination of distinctive marks adequate for the
sepai'ation of the genera Antilope^ Capra, and Ovis, insists that, as ho
has shown, the character founded on the presumed absence of cavities
in the cores of the horns connected with the frontal sinus is incorrect,
and he conceives that the v^ue of the characters which are generally
admitted by authors as distinguishing between the genera Capra and
Ovis may be tested by a comparison of the wild race of either genua
which belongs to the Himalaya. He then describes Capra Jhdral,
which is " clad in close short hair, and without the least vestige of a
beard," as related to the Alpine ^gagri and to Capra Jemlaica and
Ovis NaJioor (Hodgson), placing them both under the tribe Capi'idoi
(H. Smith) ; and having completed the description of this wild goat and
wild sheep, he proceeds to exhibit the points of difference and of
resemblance between the two in the following table : —
Digitized by
Google
767
CAPREiE.
CAPREA
7ft
N Goat,
%Vhole stracture ftronger and more
compact. •
Limbs thicker and more rigid.
Hoofs higher and more compact.
False hoofs well developed. .
Head smaller and finer.
Facial line straight.
Ears shorter and rounded. .
Tall short, flat, nade below. .
"Withers higher than croup.
Fore legs stronger than hind.
Croup sloped off.
Odorous
Nose moister, with nares short
wide
Horns of medial sixe, keeled,
turned upwards.
Kye darker and keener.
Hair long and unequal. .
Back arched.
Bears change of climate well.
Is eminently curious, capricious, and
confident.
Barks trees with its horns, feeding on
the peel and on aromatic herbs.
In fighting, rears itself on its hind legs,
and lets the weight of its body fall
on the adversary. .
and
She«p.
I Less so.
Feebler and more dender.
Lower and leas so.
Evanescent.
Longer and heavier.
Cbaflfiron arched.
Longer and pointed.
' Longer, leas depressed, and half nude
only.
Croup higher.
Fore and hind equal.
Not so.
Not so.
^^ \ Less moist, longer, and narrower.
(Horns very large, not keeled, and
turned to the sides.
Paler and duller.
Short and equal.
Back straight.
Bears it iU.
[ Is incurious, staid, and timid.
[ Does not bark trees, and is less addicted
to aromatics.
I In fighting, runs a tilt, adding the
force of impulse to that of weight.
In describing the wild sheep, Mr. Hodgson observes that the horns
are inserted high above the orbits on the crown of the forehead, touch-
ing nearly at the base with their whole depth, and carrying the frontal
bones very high up between them, the parietals being depressed in an
equal degree. The goat's skull has, he states, the same form, but less
strikingly developed ; and he seems to think that this form of the
skull would afford a just and general mark to separate Ovia and Capra
from Cerviu and AntUope, remarking that there is a gradation of cha-
racters in this respect among the Antelopes tending to the Caprine
type in their general structure. Mr. Hodgson thus concludes : " The
goat and sheep have in common hair and wool ; no beard ; no subor-
bital sinuses; evanescent muzzle ; no inguinal pores ; horns in contact
at the top of the head; knees and sternum callous; angular and
transversely wrinkled horns; striated ears; two teats only in the
females ; horns in both sexes ; and, lastly, incisors of precisely the
same form. Of the various diagnostics then proposed by Colonel
Hamilton Smith, it would seem that the following only can be per-
fectly relied on to separate Ovis from Capra : — slender limbs ; longer
pointed ears ; chafifron arched ; nares long and oblique ; very volumi-
nous horns, turned laterally with double flexures. I should add
myself the strong and invariable distinction — males not odorous, as
opposed to the nudes odorous of the genus Capra. But after all there
are no physical distinctions at all equivalent to the moral ones so
finely and truly delineated by Buffon, and which, notwithstanding
what Colonel H. Smith uiges m favour of the courage and activity of
sheep, will for ever continue to be recognised as the only essential
diagnostics of the two genera."
Mr. Swainson ('Classification of Quadrupeds,' 1885) places the
Goats (Capra) between the BavicUe, or Bovine Family, and the Sheep
{Ovis).
In an interesting paper on the Ruminantia {* Zoological Pi'oceedlngs '),
Mr. Ogilby, after observing on the first introduction by Illiger of the
consideration of the muzzle and lachrymal sinus into the definitions
of the genera AntUope, Capra, and Boa, and the application of those
principles by Messrs. Lichtenstein, De Blainville, Desmarest, and
Hamilton Smith, in the subdivision of the artificial genus AntUopt
into something more nearly approaching to natural groups (a reform
but partial in its operation, and leaving the root of the evil untouched),
makes Capridce, which he places between Motchidce and Bovidce, the
fourth family of the order Ruminamiiau
The following is Dr. Gray's definition of the sub-tribe Capreas : —
Forehead convex, elevated behind ; chin of males bearded ; suborbital
sinus none. Horns erect, compressed, curved backwards and rather
outwards, and furnished with a longitudinal keel in fronts deeper
than wide at the base, and with transverse ridges in front. Hoofs four-
sided, scarcely higher before than behind. The skull has a small
suborbital fissure, no fossa ; the masseteric ridge ascending high before
the orbit ; the auditory bulla prominent and compressed ; the basi-
occipital flat, with its processes developed ; the middle incisors not
expanded; the molars without supplemental lobes. The occipital
plane of skull forms an acute angle with frontal plane. Cores of horns
thick, porous, cellular ; horns seated superiorly on the crest of the
forehead, and by their union covering the top Qf the head. Canine
teeth wanting. Teats two, rarely four. The males ha^e a strong
stench ; they butt, first raising themselves on their hind legs and then
coming down sideways against their enemies.
The following is a synopsis of the genera of Capreas : —
A. Muffle Naked.
1. HeniitraguB, Horns trigonal, compi-essed, and knotted in fi-ont
2. Kcmat. Horns square, flat, and cross-ridged in front
B. Muffle Haiiy.
3. jEgoceroa. Horns roundish, conicaL
4. Capra. Horns square, flat, and nodose In front.
5. Hircns. Horns trigonal, compressed, sharp-edged, and knotted
in front.
Dr. Gray refers the Common Gk>at, which must be taken aa the type
of the family, to the last genus, of which it is the only apecies.
Hiircua jBgaanu, the QoeX, is "Ai^ {6 ical ^, but generally used fur
the female), rpiyos, x^f"V<>s (^^ male), Ijpi^f (young male lud of three
or four months), x^h^^P^ (young female before its first winter), of
the Gbeeks ; Caper, and Ifircm (male), Capra (female), Hcedut or
ffcedw (a young male kid), ffcedtdiu or ffcedUltu (a very young male
kid, or kidling, fyu^s), Capella (female kid), of the Romans ; Becco
(male), Capra (female), Capretto and Caprettino (kid and kidling),
of the Italians ; Bouc (male), Chdvre (female), Chevreau (kid\, of
the French; Cabron (male), Cabra (female), Cabrito (kid), of
the Spanish ; Cabram (male), Cabra (female), Cabrito (kid), of ths
Portuguese ; Bock (male), Greisz (female), Bocklein (kid), of the Ger-
mans ; Bok (male), Giyt (female), of the Dutch ; Bock (male), Gat
(female), Kiidh (kid), of the Swedes ; Buk, Geedebuk (male), Geed
(female), Kid (Ud), of the Danes ; Bwch (male), Gafr (female), Mynn
(kid), of the ancient Britons. It is the Capra Hircus of Linmcus; the
Capra Caucatia, H. Smith ; JBgoceroa Capra, Pallas ; Capra jEgagnu,
Gmelin.
The varieties of this animal are very numerous ; and many of the^
are regarded by writers on natural history as species.
The Goat affords another example of the uncertainty which clouilij
the history of our domestic animals ; and to this day zoologists wt
not entirely agreed as to the species from which it is derived. Pn>-
fessor Bell, in his 'History of British Quadrupeds,' says,— "The
opinions of naturalists have been much divided respecting the original
stock of our domestic goat ; some referring it to the jEgagriu and
others to the Ibex. Buffon appears to have adopted the latter opinion;
but most modem zoologists who have paid much attention to the
question, and who have brought to the consideration of it all the helps
which recent discoveries in philosophical zoology have furnished, have
leaned to the belief that the Aigayme, or wild goat of the mountaiiw
of Caucasus and of Persia, is the true original stock. The zoological
characters of this animal certainly bear a closer resemblance to those
of the domestic breeds ; and it is worthy of remark that the horM of
the Persian domestic goat, though smaller, are similar in form to tho^e
of the Paaeng, or ^gagrus. The arguments which have been va^
from the intermixture of the Ibex with the common goat are at pre-
sent of little value, as the facts recorded are very deficient. The hirge
goats which are reported to have been brought from the Alpa and the
P3rrenee8 to the Garden of Plants in Paris, and which were stated to
have been wild, were probably the progeny of the Ibex with the com-
mon goat, as there is no proof of the existence of the true jEgagriu ic
Europe. These were found to be capable of producing offspring, and
the details are given by M. Fred. Cuvier with great clearness ; but the
old fault still remains — ^the question is not set at rest by these obae^
vations ; for we are only informed that they produce offspring, with-
out any statement whether they will breed inter se, or only with the
common goat. The progeny however were either prematurely brought
forth, or lived only a short time in a sick or languishing conditiou.
Surrounded by these doubts, and without the power of satisfactorilT
solving them, it is better perhaps to leave the question to be decided
by future experiments, should the opportunity ever occur of deter
mining the results of interbreeding between the Ibex, the ^g^igru*,
and the common goat, particularly with reference to the mutual fer-
tility of the offspring."
Buffon's opinion is not ve»y clearly stated, nor is it certain that he
had a very distinct idea on the subject. Sonini, in his ' Travels in
Greece and Turkey,' after speaking of the wild solitudes that surroand
the Convent of St John at Cape Malacca, in Candia, says : " Cones of
red partridges delight in these inaccessible mountains, and there they
live in safety. There also are to be seen wild goats, which leap fwDi
rock to rock with admirable address and agility. These wild goat«,
which are to be met with in the Isle of Candia, and several other
islands of the same sea, are of the Bouquetin (Capra Ibex, Linn.}, or
mountain-goat species. The modem Greeks, as has been done by their
ancestors, confound the Bouquetin and the Chamois under the same
denomination of Wild Goat. The French habituated to the Le>TUit
also knew them by no other denomination than that of Ch&vre Saunige.
It is to be presumed, in fact, that Buffon himself imagined that these
two animals are not of a species different from that of the domestjc
goat." ,
Linnaeus, in his *Systema Nature,' (12th edition) givM tlw
goat (Capra Jlircus) an oriental origin ; but seems to consider it
as a distinct species. He says of it: "Habitat in Onentc m
montosis Hircus et Capra cum Hoedo, victitans ramulia variw
frondibusque arborum, lichenibus ; hospitatur in Europfl. tie
does not mention the uEgaginu, but gives the Ibex (Capra Ibex) a."
a species. f
Gmelin ('Syst. Nat.,' ed. 13) gives uEgagruB as the first spf 'f^^J
the genus Capra, and it is followed by Bircui. Cuvier, m boto
editions, considers the Paseng (C. ^agrus) to be the parent^«^K
of all the varieties of the domestic goat. He adverts to the 1 «secg
Digitized by
Google
CAPREiE.
CAPREJS.
as inhabiting the mountains of Persia in troops, and to the Oriental
Bezoar as a concretion found in its intestines. Fischer speaks of the
.^ffogrui as being, without doubt, the parent of our Domestic Qoat
AVhilst upon this inquiry we must not omit the Jenilah Goat (Capra
J'emlaica, of Hamilton Smith), which is said to inhabit the district of
Jemlahy between the sources of the Sargew and the Sampoo that is,
•>.-^
rascng {IThcus .Hgngnia, Giav).
resembles the ordinary' types of the tame races than any wild species
yet discovered.
" No animal," says Pennant, "seems so subject to varieties (the dog
excepted) as the Goat ; " nor did its multitudinous transfigurations
escape Pliny (lib. viii., c. 58). Cuvier observes that the Domestic Groat,
Capra Hircvs, varies infinitely in stature, colour, length, and fineness
of the hair, and in size and even number of the horns. The goats of
Angora, in Cappadocia, with their soft and silky hair, and those of
Tibet, whose delicate wool is manufactured into the shawls (cache*
mires) so highly prized by the French beauties, are especially alluded
to by him. To enumerate all the varieties would be to exceed our
limits. The Angora Goat, which inhabits the tract that surrounds
Angora and Beibazar, in Asiatic Turkey, where the goatherds bestow
much care on their flocks, frequently combing and washing them,
loses, it appears, the delicacy of its hauy covering when exposed to a
change of climate and pasture ; and Pennant hints his suspicions that
the design of the Baron Alstroemer, a patriotic Swede, who imported
some iuto his own coimtry to propagate the breed for the sake of
their hair, turned out fruitless. A spirited attempt to acclimatise
the Cashmere Goat was made by an English gentleman, Mr. Towers,
some years ago. The Cashmere Goats, which lived some time in the
Gardens of i£e Zoological Society, and at the farm on Kingston-Hill,
certainly did not appear to have suffered in the fineness of their coats ;
but it is one thing to keep an imported individual by care and
attention in the same state, and another to carry on the breed from
generation to generation in its pristine beauty, tmder a different sky
and on a strange pasture. We have indeed been informed that the
flock of Mr. Towers amounted to about forty, and that the shawls
made from the produce of their hides were excellent. One of these
^awls was presented to Queen Adelaide. The importance of this
manufacture to the people of Cashmere may be estimated from the
alleged fact that 16,000 looms are there in constant work, each loom
giving employment to three men, the annual sale being calculated at
30,000 shaws. A preference ia given to the wool of Tibet, and 24
pounds weight of the best of it is said to sell at Cashmere for 20
rupees. The wool is spim by women, and coloured afterwaitls. It
appears also, from a book quoted in the * Naturalist's Library * {'Bvmi-
nantiii,* part 2, by Sir William Jardine), that a fine shawl, with a
pattern all over it, takes nearly a year in making. The persons
employed sit on a bench at the frame ; sometimes four people at each,
but if the diawl is a plain one, only two. The borders are marked
with wooden needles, there being a separate needle for each colour, and
the rough part of the shawl is uppermost while it is in progress of
manufacture. A Tartar half breed, having been found to thrive well
in a colder climate, has been introduced into France, not without
success. The Cashmeres however which are brought from the
kingdom of that name are the shawls in high request, and those who
are curious in such articles should remember that there are
in India several other goats besides the true Cashmere breed whose
wool is employed for the same purpose.
The Jaal Goat, Capra Jaela {Capra NubianOf Gray), is found in the
mountains of Abyssinia, Upper Egypt, and Mount Sinai.
Il)cx {Cktpra Ibex, Gray).
nays Colonel Smith, the most elevated range of Central Asia, forming
the nucleus between the western and south-eastern branches of the
Himalaya Moimtains. This animal appears to be the same as the
Jh&ral of the Nepaulese, Capra Jhdral {ffemitragus Jemlaictu, Gray,)
described by Mr. Hodgson (*Zool. Proc.,' 1834), from a fine male
specimen kept in his garden at Nepaul. He states that the Jh&ral is
found wild m the Kachftr region, in small flocks, or solitarily, and
gives its character as bold, capricious, wanton, eminently scansorial,
pugnacious, and easily tamed and acclimatised in foreign parts. He
remarks that the Jhdral has a close affinity, by the character of the
horns, to the Alpine jEgagri and still more nearly, in other respects,
to Capra Jmlaica. It differs, he observes, from the former by the
less volume of the horns, by their smooth anterior edge, and by the
absence of the beard ; from the latter, by the horns being much less
compressed, not turned inwards at the points, nor nodose. He adds,
that the JhAral breeds with the Domestic Goat, and more nearly
KAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. I.
Jaal Goat, or Abrgsinian Ibex {Capra JV'iiW/iwa, Gray).
The Syiian Goat, with its excessively long ears, which is plentiful
in the East, and, according to Pennant, supplies Aleppo with milk, is
worthy of especial notice, as well as the Dwarf Afiican, with its
3d
Digitized by
Google
CAPREiE.
CAPRIFOLIACEiB.
two haiiy wattlea under the chin, and the pretty little Whidaw Goat.
Lieutenant-Colonel Sykes, in his 'Catalogue of the Mammali%'
obtained by him in Dukhun (Deccan), notices Co/jgra Hvrcuif Linn. :
Bukee, of the Mahrattaa. The goats ia Dukhun are gaunt, stand
high on their legs, have the sides much compressed, and are covered
with long shaggy hair, which in most is blacL Earn nearly pendent.
Irides ochrey-yellow or reddish-yeUow. Tail always carried erect in
movement.
Pennant states that the Domestic Goat {Capra ffircus), inhabits
most parts of the world, either native or naturalised, and that it
bears sJl extremes of weather, being found in Europe as high as
Wardhuys in Norway, where they breed and run out the whole year ;
but in winter only have, during night, the shelter of hovels. Li that
season they feed on moss and Uie bark of fir-trees, and even on the
logs cut for fuel. Pennant quotes Dr. Solander as authority to show
that in Norway and West Bothnia their skins formed an article of
commerce, and says that these animals thrive equally well in the
hottest part of Africa and in India and its islands. It is not, he
adds, a native of tiie New World, having been introduced there first
by the discoverers of that continent. In Britain the Domestic Gbat
is become comparatively rare, and even in its strong hold, Wales, it is
no longer plentiful. In South Wales a goat is seldom seen, but
there are still some wild ones in Glamoiganshire. Their flourishing
condition in the Principality at one time may be imagined from
the size* of the horns of the Cambrian he-goat mentioned by
Pennant ; they were 3 feet 2 inches long, and measured 3 feet from
tip to tip.
Few animals, when properly treated, are more useful to man ; and
though it never can answer to breed the goat in districts which
will carry sheep, in rocky and woody countries it is invaluable.
The manufactures from the hair have been alluded to. The pillow of
goats' hair that supported the head of the image with whidi Michal
deceived the messengers of Saul when he sought David's life (1 Sam.
adx. 18-16) will occur to every one; and Pennant thinks that the
variety which furnished it was tiie goat of Angora* In the days of
wigs, the hair of the common Domestic Goats of this coimtry was in
high request, and the whitest were made of it. The best hair for
this purpose was selected from that which grew on the haunches,
where it is longest and thickest. In Pennant's time a good skin, well
haired, was sold for a guinea, though a skin of bad hue, and so yellow
as to baffle the barber's skill to bleach, did not fetch above eighteen
pence or two shillings. Goats' hair is at present used in the manu-
facture of wigs for the dignitaries of the church, and the members of
the bar and the bench. The skin, particularly that of the kid, is of
high importance to the glove maniifacturer; it is also said to take a
dye better than most others. The horns are useful for knife-handles ;
and the suet, it is alleged, makes candles far superior in whitenes and
goodness to those made fix)m that of the sheep or the ox, and, according
to Pennant, brings a much greater price in the market. The flesh of
the kid is good. " The haunches of the goat," writes the author last
quoted, " are frequently salted and dried, and supply all the uses of
bacon ; tMs by the natives is called Cdch yr wden, or hung venison.
The meat of a castrated goat of six or seven years old (which is called
Hyfr) is reckoned the best ; being generally very sweet and fat. This
makes an excellent pasty, goes imder the name of rock-venison, and is
little inferior to that of the deer." The medical properties of goats'
milk and whey have been highly extolled, and the cheese is much
valued in some mountainous countries.
The odour of the Goat, strong at all times, becomes insufierably
powerful in the rutting season (from the beginning of September to
November), but this pungent scent is not supposed to be imwhole-
some ; and horses are said to be re&eshed by it, whence the animal
is frequently to be seen about stables. The female brings forth from
the latter end of February to the latter end of April, after a gestation
of fotir months and a half, generally two but sometimes ^ree and
even four young. The activity with which these animals will securely
bound from rode to rock, and the unshaken firmness with which they
will fix themselves on the edge of the highest precipices, are wonder-
ful. Pennant says that when two are yoked together, as was frequently
practised, they will, as if by consent, take large and hazardous leaps,
and yet so time their mutual eflbrts as rarely to miscarry in the attempt.
Nicholas Hasselgren in his 'Swedish Pan' ('Amoen. Acad.') states that
goats eat 449 plants and refuse 126. The same author states that
though they will eat greedily and safely long-leaved water-hemlock,
monkshood kills them. Their favourite food consists of the tops,
tendrils, and flowers of moimtain shrubs and 6f aromatic herbs ; to
this delicate diet was supposed to be owing the salubrity of the milk.
The blood was supposed to have its healing properties also : that of
a he-goat dried is mentioned by Pennant as a great recipe in some
famiUes for the pleurisy and inflammatory disorders, and is noticed
in Dr. Mead's * Monita Medica.' As an enemy to the vine it was
sacrificed to Bacchus ; and the subject is prettily touched in many
epigrams and verses, both Greek and Latin. The elegant lines of
Ovid beginning "Rode caper vitem" are familiar to scholars. In
that dark and melancholy time when modem witchcraft was supposed
to be rife, and when the very absurdity of the alleged facts seems to
have sharpened the belief of tibie credulous, and increased their eager-
ness to shed innocent blood, the Goat figures not only as the conveyance
on which the witches flew through the air to their diabolical festival ,
j but as the shape in which Satan himself often exhibited his person to
his votaries.
There is no doubt that the Domestic Qoai will breed with the Sheep.
F. Cuvier states that the mule which is the result of the connectioD
participates in the nature of its parents, and is fruitful, but repro-
duces with difficulty. " I have had," says this zoologist, " a simikr
female mule, which in its form inclined to the sheep, while it leuit to
the she-goat in its gait and in its hair (par ses formes tenoit di
mouton, et de la ch^vre par ses allures et ses poils) ; it did not couple
till the third year with a goat, and was fruitfuL"
During a visit to Rhenish Germany in the autumn of 1837 Mr.
Ogilby learned from Professor Cretzschmar, the well-know editor of
the mammalogical part of Dr.Ruppell's first * Atlas,' the sacceiB of
I an experiment which the professor had been carrying on for «mi
I years in the neighbourhood of Frankfort-on-the-Main, to asoertun tiu>
possibility of procuring a cross between the Cashmere Goat and the
Saxon Merino Sheep. With this intention Professor Cretzsdunar bid
two or three years ago procured a large Cashmere buck, which irag
put into a stable with twelve Merino ewes. For two seasons hovers
his hopes were disappointed, and it was not till the season of 1536
that the desired union took place. During the spring of that year
the sheep very freely took the buck, and produced fine hedthylamh*,
which were, when Mr. Ogilby obtained his information, rather better
than a year old. They were kept in a large stable with a number of
pure Merinos, which is the usual mode of treating these yaliable
animals in that part of Germany, where the land is all under the
plough, and there are neither sheep nor grazing farms ; and so cloeely
did they resemble the pure Saxon breed, that it was impossible to
peroeive any difference in their external characters.
The species of the genera of Caprea in the British Museum Catalogue
are as follows : —
HemUragut JemlaiouB, the Jh&ral or Tehr. This animal inhabits
the loftiest mountains of India.
Kemas WatrycUo, the Warryato or Jungle Kema& It is a natiye of
India, and has been called the Wild Sheep of TennasserioL
jEgocero9 Pyrenaica, the Pyrenean Tur. It is a native of the Pyre-
nees, and is regarded by some as a variety of the Ibex.
jE, Caucasica, the Tur, or Zac It inhabits the Caucasus, and 'u
sometimes called the Caucasian Ibex.
Copra IheXf the Ibex, or Stein-Boc. This animal is a native of thd
European Alps.
C. Sibiricciy the Tek or Takija. It is a native of Siberia, and is fit-
quently referred to the Ibex.
C. Himalaycmay the Sakeen or Skyn. It is also called the Himakya
Ibex. Dr. Gray observes that this is not probably distinct finom litx
{Capra) Silnricct.
C, (?) ItEvicomis, the Smooth-Homed Ibex- It la probably a hybrid.
(7. Nubiana, the Beden, or Jaela. It is an inhabitant of E^grpt,
Arabia, and Crete.
C. Valie, the Walie. A specimen is in the Frankfort Museum.
Hircw ^ffogrus, the Goat.
Fossil remains of the Goat have been found at Walton in Esex.
Professor Owen says, on this discovery : — " Whether the Cnpra
jiEgagrus {ffircui ^gagrua) or the Capra Ibex shoidd be regarded m
the stock of the domesticated goat of Europe has long been a queetion
amongst naturalists ; the weighty aigumenti which may be dravn
from the character of the wild species which was contemporaxy with
the Bot primigemut and Bo8 longifrona in England is shown by the
presenj; fossil to be in favour of Capra jEgagrus** (Owen, Bii^
Fossil MammaU.)
CAPRE'OLUS. [CERViDiE.]
CAPRE'OLUS, an old name for the tendril of a vine.
CAPRICORNI. [Ammonites.]
CAPRICORNIS. [Aktilopea]
CAPRIFOLIA'CE^, CapHfoils, the Honeysuckle Tribe, a natural
order of Monopetalous Dicotyledons, having an inferior ovary, oppo-
site leaves without stipules, and a small embryo lying in aconsidenble
mass of homy albumen. The type of the order is the genus Caprir
folium, or Honeysuckle ; the genera that are associated with it in part
consist of dismemberments of Lonicera, and in part of plants having
a resemblance to them in habit The genera most dissimilar to
Caprifolium are Samhucua and Vihumum ; but their characters are
more dependent for their dissimilitude upon the shortness of the
tube of their corolla, and the manner in which the flowers are
arranged, than upon any actual differences of organisatioD. Capri-
foliacecB differ from Cinchonaceas in little except the want of stipuleii
between the leaves, and consequently there is great resemblance in
their sensible properties; their bark being often astringent, their
leaves sometimes emetic, and the seeds of TrioHtvM peffoliat»»
similar to coffee.
The fragrance of the Honeysuckle is well known. The flowere of the
Elder {Sambucw nigra) have a reputation as a medicinal agent The
plant dedicated to Linnaeus, the Linnwa horealia, belongs to this order,
and is said to possess diaphoretic and diuretic properties. The
berries of LoniceracarvUa are a favourite food of the Kamtchatkadales.
Elderberry wine is a favourite beverage in some parts of £nglan(l<
The order has 14 genera and about 220 spedea «
Digitized by
Google
7»
CAPRIMULQUS.
CARABUa
774
$
'■i>
.0
Honeysuckle [(hpr{foHum perfoliatum).
a. Flower opened to show the insertion of the fire stamens ; ft, front and
back Tiew of anthers ; e, horizontal section of ovary ; d, fruit ; ^, the same in
section ; /, seed ; g, the same in section, showing the embryo ; A, embryo.
CAPRIMULGUS, a genus of Birds belonging to the tribe fjueaaoret
and the family Caprimulffidcg. One of the speciea, C. Europcnu, the
Night-Jar, Night-Churn, or Fem-Owl, is a native of Great Britain. It
is a nocturnal bird, hence its names. The species of Caprimulffus are
also called Goat-Suckers. [GoAT-SuciLEBajl
CAFRISCUS, a genus of Fishes, to which some authors refer the
European File-Fish. [Baustes.]
CATROS, a genus of Acanthopteiygious Fishes, belonging to the
family Scomberido!.
Only one species of this genus has yet been discovered ; the Capros
jiper of Lacep^de, and Zeua aper of Linnseus.
The characters of the genus are : — Body short, somewhat ovate,
much compressed, and covered with small serrated scales; mouth
capable of considerable protrusion. Dorsal fin emarginated (as in the
dories), but no spines at the base, nor at the base of the anal fin.
Caproi (xpeVf the Boar-Fish, in general appearance is not unlike the
dory (to which it ia in fact closely allied), but, independent of other
characters, may be distinguished by its mouth being more attenuated
and protractile, the body being covered with scales, and the want of
long filaments to the dorsal spines. This fish appears to be most
generally about 6 inches in length, of a pale carmine colour above and
ailvery-white beneath. The colour of the upper part extends more
or less down the sides of the body, and sometimes several orange-
coloured bands are observable extending from the back downwards.
The lateral line is not readily seen, excepting in recent specimens,
when it is said to have a crystalline appearance. This fish is a native
of the Mediterranean, and has been found on our own coast, but very
rarely ; a third specimen has recently been recorded as British. An
interesting i&oount of this fish will be found in Yarrell's ' History of
British Fishes.'
CAPROVIS. [Ovea]
CAPSELLA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Crvkciferce, the sub-order Af\gufi\6tpt(Xy the tribe Lepidinta, It has
a triangular-oboordate pouch; compressed valves, keeled but not
winged ; numerous seeds ; simple filaments. The species of the
Linnsan genus Thla9pi, without wings to their valves, form this genus.
The best known is the common Shepherd's Purse (C7. Bw%a Pcutoria).
It is an annual herb, veij variable in habit, a follower of man, and
springs up wherever he fixes his abode. As a weed it is frequently
very troublesome in gardens. It may be got rid of by hoeing in hot
and dry weather whilst it is in flower, but if it be allowed to ripen
ita seed it is with difficulty eradicated. Koch describes several
varieties of this plant. He also describes two other species as inha-
bitants of Germany. C. proctmbens {Lepidium procumbent of Lin-
nnus), and C. paucijloraf apparently a variety of the lastw (Koch,
Flora Germanica; Babington, Manual of Brit. Bot)
CATSICUM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
JSoIanacecc, The species aie called Bird-Peppers. The shell of the
fruit is fleshy and coloured, and contains a pungent principle, which
also exists in its seed in great activity. On this account both the
fruit and seeds of different species of Capsicum are in request as a
condiment, and either in the unprepared state or ground, when they
are called Cayenne Pepper, form a conspicuous feature amongst the
plants affording stimidatiug oils used by man. In Europe the Cap-
sicum enters largely into the seasoning of food and the preparation of
pickles, and in warmer countries it constitutes one of the first neces-
saries of life either green or ripe. The species from which the fresh
Capsicums used in Europe are principally obtained is the Capsicum
annuum, a weedy plant found wild in South America and the West
Indies. This species grows from one to two feet high, forming a dark
green bush, with ovate or ovate-lanceolate leaves ; its flowers are small
and white ; its fruit is extremely variable in size, colour, position,
and even in quality. Red and yellow are the prevailing colours;
the oblong-conical is the ordinary figure; and to' hang in a drooping
position is the most usual direction of the fruit. But round, ovate,
and even depressed fruit is known, and many varieties constantly
bear their fruit in an erect position. Most of them are too pimgent
for European palates ; but tne laige Red Bullock's Heart and Yellow
Tomato Capsicums are mild enough to be sliced with salad.
A much hotter species is the C.frv>ticosvm, or Goat-Pepper, a native
of the East Indies, which differs from the C. annuum in oeing a shrub
and in its fruit being very smalL There is aUo a kind cultivated by
the Chinese, with black fruit ; and botanists recognise many others,
but they appear to be in many cases mere varieties of C, annuum or
C. fruticosum.
The acrid principle of Capsicum has been analysed by Braconnot
(* Annales de Chimie,' voL vi, p. 122), who foimd it not to be volatile,
to diBBolve readily in water, more freely in alcohol and ether, and
that it is mixed with mucilage, wax, ana resin.
The species of Capsicum are easily brought to perfection in this
country. Their seeds are sown in a hot-bed in the beginning of
April ; the young plants are managed like other tender annuals; and
abDut the end of May they are planted in the open air under a south
wall. They will readily ripen their fruit in such a situation.
CAPSULE, a vague name given by botanists to any kind of dry
seed-vessel containing many cells and seeds. It usually opens by
valves.
CARA'BIDiE, a family of Coleopterous Insects of the section
Pentam^a of Latreille. This family, named as a]>ove by M'Leay,
is nearly identical with Latreille's section Vrandipalpi as given in
Cuviei's * Rfegne Animal' The distinguishing characters are : — Ante- #
rior tibiss without emaigination on the inner side ; head narrower
than the thorax ; eyes rather prominent ; palpi with the terminal
joints often compressed, latge, and somewhat triangular in shape;
mandibles simple, moderately long, and rather thick.
The species of the Carahvdce are usually laiige, and adorned with
brilliant metallic colours.
CA'RABUS, a genus of Coleopterous Insects, of the family '
Carahidxs, This must not be confounded with the genus Carahus of
Linnseus, which according to many of the modem authors is divided
into several families, and each of those families contains numerous
genera. The necessity for sub-dividing the group c:illed Carahus by
Linnseus will be seen when it is taken into consideration that there are
probably now about 800 species discovered.
The genera Carabiu, Tefflvx, Procerus, Procrustes, and Cdlosoma,
contain the largest species of the Carnivorous Beetles, and together
appear to form a natural group : we will therefore here notice the
distinguishing characteristics of each, omitting those of Cidosoma,
which will be foimd imder that head. These genera are usually
aiTanged in succession as follows : — Teffius, Procerus, Procrustes,
Carahus, and Calosoma ; and their chief technical characters may be
readily seen by the following ti\ble : —
1. Anterior tarsi the same (or nearly so) in both sexes.
a. Labrum entire .... T^us.
b, Labrum bilobate . . . Procerus,
2. Anterior tarsi with the three or four basal joints dilated in the
males.
a. Ijabrum trilobate .... Procrustes.
b, Labrum bil."^bed . . . Carabus.
In Tefflus, Procerus, and Carabus, there is a simple tooth-like pro-
cess in the emai::gination of the mentum ; whilst in Procrustes this
process is broad and slightly notched at the apex. The terminal joint
of the palpi in these genera is nearly triangular, and larger in the
males than in the females. In Procerus this joint is much laiger in pro-
portion than in either Carabus or Procrustes ; and in Tefflus it is most
developed, and is of an elongate form, slightly convex anteriorly.
T^us Megei'lei. The only species known of this genus is nearly
two inches long, and is black ; the thorax is almost double the width
of the head, sUghtly convex and rugose, and has the lateral and pos-
terior maigins reflected; it is truncated anteriorly and posteriorly,
and the lateral margins and posterior angles are rounded ; the elytra
are elongate-ovate, very convex, and furnished with seven smooth
elevated longitudinal ridffes, and in the space between these ridges
there is a chain of small elevated tubercles the legs and antennie aiv
Digitized by
Google
776
CARACHICHU.
CARDAMINE.
778
Carabu$ violaceua.
moderately long. This rare and conspicuous insect is found in Senegal
and on the coast of Guinea.
Procerm icabrosua is about two inches in length, and in the broadest
part of the elytra about three-quarters of an inch in width, and of a
bluish-black colour; the thorax is "broad, truncated anteriorly and
posteriorly, very slightly
convex, and rugose ; the
elytra are oval, convex, and
covered throughout with
small tubercles. This is
the largest of the carnivo-
rous beetles known.
M. le Comte Dejean de-
scribes three other species be-
longing to this genus, which
are all of a beautiful blue
or violet colour above, and
black beneath. The Proceri
are often found under dried
leaves in the forests and on
the moimtains of Russia,
Hungary, and Asia Minor:
they are the giants of Euro-
pean Carabidce.
Four species of the genus
Pt'OcriLites have been de-
scribed, the laigest of which,
P. coi'icLceuif is recorded as
British; it is however so
rare in this country as to
have given rise to doubts as
to its being strictly an in-
habitant. In France and
Germany it is tolerably com-
mon, and is foimd in woods.
P. coriaceus is rather more
than an inch and a half in
Tig. 2, Head of Tefflut Megerlei, magnified, length, and of a dull black
a, maxillary palpua ; 6, labial palpus. colour ; the thorax is nearly
Fig. 3, maxillary palpus of Carabu* tiolacmt, smooth ; the elytra are ru-
• gose, and of an ovate form.
Of the genus Carahua upwards of 120 species have been described,
the greater portion of which inhabits Europe, Siberia, Asia Minor,
and the northern parts of Africa.
From the immense number of species Count Dejean has found it
necessary in his descriptions to arrange them under 16 divisions,
founded principally on the sculpture of the elytra. Mr. Stephens,
in his 'Illustrations of British Entomology,' describes 17 species:
the most common are — C, violaceuSj C. monilUf C. catenulatiu, C.
hortcMitj C. cancdlatus, and C. arvensis, all of which are tolerably
abundant in the neighbourhood of London.
C. hortemU is very frequently met with on pathways (especially
early in the morning), and not uncommonly with a worm in its jaws.
It is about an inch long ; the head and thorax are of a copper-like
hue, and the elytra are brassy-green ; the under parts of the body are
black ; the elytra are faintly sculptured, and exhibit three longitudinal
TOWS of impressions, and numerous rows of very delicate confluent
punctures.
0. violaceu8 is equally common with the last ; it is dull black, and
has the margin of the elytra of a copper-like hue ; this tint is also
more or less observable on the thorax ; the elytra are very delicately
punctured, and appear smooth to the naked eye, in which respect this
species may be easily distinguished from C. ccUenulcUuSj which has
the elytra distinctly sculptured. C. catenulatut also differs in form
considerably from C, violacev3 ; it is dull black, and has the thorax
and margins of the elytra of a purple or blue colour. Its locality is
heaths and commons, where it is found under clods of turf, &c.
O. canceUatua appears to confine itself to old pollard-willows, at the
roots and under the loose bark of which it is foimd in abundance.
This species is about three-quarters of an inch long, and of a brassy
hue above. The elytra are adorhod with three distinct longitudinal
rows of oblong elevated tubercles, and between these there is a smooth
elevated stria.
(Dejean, Species GinSrale dea CoUoptirea.)
CARACHICHU, a name given in Brazil to the Solanum nigrum.
It is also called Erva Moria. [Solanum.]
CARADOC FORMATION, the uppermost of the two great divi-
sions of the Lower Silurian Strata of Murchison. It is not well and
clearly seen except in Salop, the Abberley and Malvern Hills, Woolhope,
May Hill, and other points on the eastern borders of Wales.
CARAGA'NA, a genus of Papilionaceous Yellow-Flowered Shrubs,
formerly comprehended in Rohinia. Several species are cultivated in
gardens, but they are not much valued. They are exclusively found
in Asiatic Russia, Tartary, and the north of India ; one of them, the
Caragana Gerardiana, is one of the plants called Tartarian Furze by
travellers.
CARAMBOLA. [Averrhoa.]
CA'RANX, a genus of Acanthopterygious Fishes, and belonging to
the family Scomhertda. This genus is distinguished chiefly by the
lateral line of the body being furnished with a series of scaly plates.
These plates are horizontally keeled (especially on the posterior half
of the body), and frequently terminate in a spine or an angular pro-
jection, the point of which is directed backwards. The remainder of
the body is covered with small scales. There are two distinct dorsal
fins ; the last rays of the posterior one are sometimes but slightly con-
nected by membrane, or separated into spurious fins. Some free
spines are placed before the anal fin. The teeth are very minute.
Several species of this genus inhabit the seas of Europe, but we are
aware of only one which has occurred off the British coast, the
Caranx tracturua. This fish, well known by the name of the Scad or
Horse-Mackerel, is frequently met with on various parts of the coasts
both of England and Ireland, and at times occurs in such immense
shoals that the whole sea as far as the eye can reach appears alive
with them. The Scad is about the size of the mackerel, to which it
comes near in afiOnity. The body is more even in width (that is, less
tapering towards the head and tail), and is of a dusky olive-colour
above, exhibiting in certain lights splendid hues of blue and green ;
the lower part of the body is silvery-white, with the exception of the
throat, which is black ; there is also a black spot just above the
pectoral fin. This species, like many others found on our own coasts,
occurs also on those of the Mediterranean. In some of the species of the
genus Caranx the scaly plates are observable only on the posterior half
of the lateral line, and the anterior part is furnished with small scales.
C. punctattia of Cuvier has but a single spurious dorsal and anal fin,
whilst the C. Rotleri (Scomber Rotleri of Bloch) has several Scomber
dentua (Bloch), and one or two other species now included in this
genus, are remarkable for having a single range of teeth and the body
of a more elevated form.
C. Carangua (Scomher Carangua of Bloch), a laige species of this
genus from the Antilles, weighing from 20 lbs. to 25 lbs., is of a
silvery hue, and has a black spot on the operculum ; the body is com-
pressed, and of a somewhat ovate form ; the head is obtusely termi-
nated. This fish is good eating, whilst the Bastard Carangue
(C. Ouaraterebt^a), another which closely resembles it, but wants \h&
black spot, is apt to prove poisonous.
CARANXCMORUS, a genus of Acanthopterygious Fishes belong-
ing to the family Scomberidas,
C ARAPA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Mdiaeed,
0. Touloucowna yields the Tallicoonah or Kundar Oil, which has a
reputation as an anthelmintic. It is said to be well suited for burning
in lamps. The bark of the root of C. obovaia is bitter and astringent
The bflurk of C. Guianenaia is used as an anthelmintic and febrifuge.
(Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom.)
CA'R APUS, a genus of Fishes belonging to the Apodal Malacoptery-
gians.
CARAWAY. [Carum.]
CARBO, a genus of Birds, of the order Naiaiorea and the tribe
PelecanidcBf to which Temminck referred the Common Cormorant
It is now usually placed in the genus Phalocrocorax, [Phalogbocorax.]
CARBON is one of the elements which occurs pure in nature. In
this state it is called Diamond^ and forms one of the most precious
gems. [Diamond.] It is also found in a tolerably pure condition in
Graphite {Plwmbago or Black-Lead). This substance contains from
90 to 96 per cent of Carbon, with the rest iron. rORAffliTE.] Carbon
enters largely into the composition of Amber [Amber], and also of
mineral Caoutchouc and the various forms of Bitumen. [Bitumen.]
It forms the distinguishing element of Coal. [Coal.]
CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM, the great group of strata which
includes nearly all the valuable coal yet discovei'ed. It consists of—
D. The Coal Formation.
c. The Millstone-Grit Group.
B. The Moimtain Limestone Formation.
a. The Limestone-Shale Group.
The portions marked a, c, are the least constant in range and
character; the Limestone-Shale graduates in South Wales to Devonian
Strata, and in Ireland constitutes the Yellow Sandstone Series of the
northern counties. (QriflSth.) Most of the coal of Ireland belongs to
the Millstone-Grit group. [Coal Formation ; Mountain Limestone.]
CARBUNCLE. [Garnet.]
CARCHA'RIAS, a genus of Fishes of the Shark Tribe. [Squalid^]
CARDAMINE, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Orucifero!, the sub-order SUiqttoacgf and the tribe Arabidece. It has a
compressed pod, flat nerveless valves, a capitate stigma, the seeds in
a single row, with the funiculus simple and filiform. The species,
which are numerous, are usually smooth herbs, with stalked, entire,
lobed, or pinnately cut leaves, and racemes of white or red flowera
C. pratenaiaf Cuckoo-Fower, Bitter-Cress, Common Ladies' Smock,
has pinnate leaves, the leaflets of the lower leaves roundish, slightly
angled, those of the upper leaf linear^lanoeolate, entire; the petak
three times longer than the calyx, spreading; the stamens half the
length of the petals ; stem terete. This plant has lai^ lilac-coloured
flowers, and is exceedingly abundant in some parts of the countiy.
It has a bitter taste, hence its name Bitter-Cress. It is generally in
blossom when the cuckoo returns to this coimtiy, and at that period
covers the fields as though linen was bleaching : these circnmBtancea
Digitized by
Google
m
CARDIOSPERMUM.
CAIIEX.
778
explain its other oommon English names. Till recently it retained a
place in the London and Dublm Pharmacopoeias. At one time it had
the reputation of being a diuretiq and antispasmodici and a drachm of
the flowers was administered as a dose in hysteria, chorea^ epilepsy,
and other nervous affection& It is a native of Europe, Asia, and
America, and is abundant throughout Qreat Britain.
Babington describes four other species of Cardamine as natives of
Great Britain, C. impcUiena, C. sj/lvcUica, C. hinutaf C. amara : with th«
exception of the last they are common plants. C, beUidifolia has been
figured in the ' English Botany' as a British plant, but no station for
it is known. The leaves of 0. hirsuUi, when ripe and laid upon the
ground, put forth buds which produce a new plant. It is extensively
propagated in this way in moist soila It is said that other species
nave the same property. C. impatiens is so named from its pods
when fully ripened expanding suddenly with force when touched, and
throwing the seeds to a distance.
(Don, Gard, Diet,; Loudon, Enci/e. of Plants; Babington, Manual
of Britith Botany.)
Ci\JlDIOSPERMUM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural
order Sapindacea. The root of one of the species, C. Ifalicacabumf is
is\id to be diuretic, diaphoretic, and aperient. In the Moluccas the
leaves are cooked and eaten.
CARDIUM, a genus of Bivalve McUusca belonging to the Ace-
phalous JLamdlibranchiata, It is the type of the family Cardiadcg,
aud the species are known by the common name of Cockle. The
shell is equivalve, more or less cordiform, oblong or transversely
ovate, usually inflated, closed or gaping posteriorly, longitudinally
ribbed or furrowed in radiating fashion from the prominent beaks,
rarely smooth; ribs often scaly or spiny; margin almost always
crcDulated. Hinge composed of two oblique primary teeth in each
valve and two remote lateral ones (in certain exotic forms, the teeth
become partially or wholly obsolete). The ligament short, external,
conspicuous ; pallial impression simple. The animal is suborbicular,
tumid, its mantle freely opening in front with plain or less frequently
fringed edges, conspicuously fimbriated in the neighbourhood of the
two very short slightly-sepai'ated siphons, the branchial one of which is
always fringed at the orifice. Foot very large, cylindrical, geniculated.
Branchial leaflets unequal, labial palps rather long and triangular.
(Forbes and Han ley.)
The shells belonging to this genus are very widely distributed, and
many of them are remarkable for the elegance of their form and
colouring. The species are about 200 in number. " We find," say
the aulhors of the 'History of British Mollusca,' ''the great
assemblage of Cockles in the Indian Ocean, a region where about a
third of the species are congregated. Around this centre the numbei*
of specific forms diminishes, though found in every sea. They are
most plentiful everywhere within the tropics, and diminish as we
proceed noHhward and southward; but some of the forms most
prolific in individuals and most gregarious in habit are present in
cold climates, and make up by abundemco for the absence of variety.
Of these several are valuable articles of food ; and it may be said of
all the Carduz that they hold a high rank among Mollusca, both
for nutritive qualities and excellence of flavour. The genus contains
several remarkable abnoimal forms ; some of the most singular are
to be found in the Caspian and other relics of the great Aralo-Caspian
Sea — the demonstration of which mighty inland ocean is among the
finest discoveries of Sir Roderick Murchison.
*' The geological distribution of this interesting group corresponds
iu extent with the geographical Even in Paheozoic Strata we find
the fossilised remains of MoUusks closely allied if not belongmg to
Cardium. In the Secondary Rocks, even in their oldest members,
well-marked forms of Cardium are not unfrequeut, often singularly
similating those of existing times. During the later part of the
Secondary epoch and the beginning of the Tertiary a group of half-
ribbed cockles seemed to have beien developed at the expense of
ordinary forms, and to have dwindled away as they came near our
own epoch, when but two or three allies of them are found." (Vol.
il p. 3, 4.)
Cockles inhabit all parts of the ocean. Some species are constantly
met with between high and low water marks, and they have presented
thumselves from the deepest sea-beds. Each species has however a very
definite range. They lie buried in sand or sandy mud, often occurring
\n prodigious quantities. According to the researches of Dr. W. B.
Carpenter, the shell of the genus Cardium has a very definite
elementary structure. Exterzially it presents a tubular structure,
but internally there is little development of ofganic structure.
C. ediUe. (Linnaeus), the Common or Eatable Cockle, is known by the
following characters : — It is neither triangular nor porcelain-white.
It has radiating ribs, which are neither armed with spines nor
tubercles. This bivalve assumes a vaiiety of appearances, aud the
adult especially differs from the young. Forbes and Hanley include
under this the following species of other writers : — C. vuUfore, Da Costa;
C. crenulatumj Lamarck ; C. peclinatum, Lamarck ; C. arcuatum, Reeve ;
C. zonatum. Brown ; (7. obliquunif Woodward ; C. rusticum, Chenmitz ;
C. glaucum, Brugiere ; C. Lamarchii, Reeve ; C. Bellicum, Reeve.
This species is met with in most parts of the British Islands, and
is almost everywhere regarded as a pleasant article of diet. The
ordinary run of examples arc from four-fifths of an inch to one inch
in length, but on the coast of Devon, and especially at Limpstone
on the mouth of the Ex, where they are cultivated in beds, they
attain a much greater size. It is a gregarious animal, inhabiting the
sands at low water, especially where there are large tracts of sand in
the neighbourhood of sestuaries.
The Common Cockle has a wide geog^phical range, extending
southward to the Canary isles. It is ^o found in the Caspian Sea.
It occurs fossil in the Red Crag.
The other British species enumerated by Forbes and Hanley, are —
C. aculeatum, C. eehinatum, C ru^ticum, C. nodosfwrn, C, fasciatum, C,
pygmcsum, C Suecicum, and C Norwefficum. They regard C. OrmUan-
dicuMf C. serratum, C. medium, and C, mwiceUumy as spurious iu tiie
British Fauna.
CARDOON, a name applied to the blanched leaflets aud stems of
Cynara Cardunculus. [Ctnara.]
CARDUELIS, a genus of Binls belonging to the tribe Insessores,
division Conirostres, and the family FringUlidce. It has a lengthened
conical compressed beak ; the point attenuated and acute ; commissure
slightly cui-ved. The nostrils basal, lateral, covered by small incum*
bent plumes. Wings lengthened, pointed ; the first, second, and
third quills longest, and nearly equal The tail moderate, slightly
forked. Feet with the middle toe longer than the tarsus, which is
equal to the hind toe ; lateral toes &ort, of equal length ; claws
slender, curved, aud acute.
There are two species of tlus genus indigenous in Great Britain, the
Goldfinch and the Siskin.
C. degans {PringiUa Cardudis\ the Goldfinch, is a well-known bird.
It has a gay plumage, lively habits, an agreeable form and song, and
a disposition to become attached to those who feed it. In captivity
they can be taught a variety of tricks, such as drawing up water for
themselves to drink in a thimble bucket, or opening the lid of their
seed-box. They may be often seen performing with canaries in the
streets of London.
The Goldfinch builds a very neat nest, and lays four or five eggs of
a pale bluish-white colour, with a few spots and lines of pale purple
and brown. It is a very general inhabitant of the British Islands.
It is also found in Sweden, and is abundant in Germany, France,
Provence, Spain, and Italy. It is found also at Corfu, Sicily, Malta,
and Crete.
The whole length of this bird is 5 inches. It has a whitish horn-
colour beak, black at the tip ; the circumference at the base of the
beak crimson-red ; cheeks and ear coverts white ; top of the head
black ; nape of the neck white ; the back and rump a dusky wood-
brown ; the carpal portion of the wing and the smaller wing-coverts
black ; the greater wing-coverts and the outer edge of the basal half
of each primary brilliant gamboge-yellow ; the remaining portion
of the primaries black; under surface of the body dull white.
(YarreU.)
C, spinas (FrvngiUa spinus), the Siskin. [Aberdevine.]
CARDUTJS. [Thistle.]
CAREX^ a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Cyptr-
acecB, Wid the tribe CaricecB. The flowers are diclinous, arranged
in imbricated spikes, each covered by a glume ; the female flowers
have a single urceolate persistent perigone, in which the nut is
completely inclosed ; one style with two or tiiree stigmas ; the male
flowers have three stamens without a perianth. The species for the
most part are inconspicuous and unattractive plants. They are
however exceedingly numerous. Lindley, in Loudon's ' Encyclopaedia
of Plants,' describes 105 species, and this is probably not more than
half that are now known. Babington describes 66 species as natives
of Great Britain, being the lai^est number of species of any genus
of phsenogamous plants in this country. Koch, in the ' Flora Ger-
manica,' describes 103 species as natives of Germany and Switzerland
Although so numerous, they serve directiy few of the purposes of
man or the higher animals. Their leaves are tough and hard, so that
none of them are eaten by cattle except in cases of great necessity.
They are for the most part inhabitants of wet and swampy grounds,
in bogs, fens, and marshes, in the temperate and northern parts of
the world. In the hop-grounds of Great Britain the leaves of some
of the species are used for tying the bines of the hops to the poles.
In Italy they are used for placing between the staves of wine-casks,
are woven over Florence flasks, and occasionally employed for making
chair-bottoms. The leaves of the Carex sylvcUica, according to
Linnseus, arc combed and dressed, and used as a warm lining for
gloves and riioes ; and thus protected, the Laplanders seldom suffer
from being frost-bitten.
O. arenaria has a place in some of the continental Pharmacopoeias ;
its root-stock being a reputed diaphoretic and diuretic It is used
under the name of German Sarsaparilla, aud is employed in cases of
skin-disease, as well as in secondary syphilis.
The C. hirta and C. disticlM ai'e often substituted fraudulently or by
mistake for it, but do not, according to Bischoff, possess such active
properties. It is not known to the practitioners in medicine of this
country.
C. armaria grows on the sands of the sea-shore, and is one of the
plants which, in conjunction with the Elymus, Arundo, and Psamma,
binds the loose sands, and forms them into solid embankments.
Although most of the species are devoid of striking beauty, soine of
Digitized by
Google
779
CARIACUS.
CARICA.
IK
them when in flower are much admired on acoount of the elegant
drooping of their panicles of golden-coloured flowers. This is the
case with C. remota and C. Prateri, Unattractive as the mass of
these plants are to the general observer, they have been carefully
studied by botanists, and Willdenow, Ooodenough, Wahlenberg, Sckuhr,
Soopoli, Boott, Babington, and S. Qibson have done much to throw
light upon this obscure genus. Their importance in nature however
must not be estimated by their appearance or their utility to man.
They frequently form the only vegetation of the swamp, and by their
existence and decay they gradually form a soil, on which plants more
immediately useful to man may be grown.
CARIACUS. [CebvidaI
gARIAMA, or SARIAMA, the name by which the Palamedea
crittala of Qmelin, iHchohphtu crigtatut of Illiger, Mierodactylut of
GeofEh>y, the Saria of the Guaranis of Paraguay, and the Seriema or
Ceriema of the Brazilian natives, is known to the Portuguese colonists
of BraziL
Marcgrave, Piso, lyAzara, Qeoffiroy, and the Prince de Wied have
entered into a detailed history of this bird, which has always attracted
the notice of zoologists on acoount of the curious relations which
its structure indicates to the QraUatoret (Waders), the Gallinaceous
birds, and even the StrtUhionidof,
It is found in the great solitary moimtain-plains, surrounded by the
forests which extend over so large a proportion of Brazil, and where
its sonorous voice often breaks the silence of the desert. It is also
found in Paraguay, but is said to occur there more rarely. It feeds
in a state of nature on lizards, insects, and molluscous animals, and
not improbably small seeds occasionally.
The habits of the wild ^^nama are of the most retired description.
A tenant of the vast solitudes that form its wide spreading home, it
flies from the face of man ; and being almost always on the watch is
very difficult of approach. Stalking slowly on the plain its eye
instantly notes the distant intruder, and after a moment's hesitation
«t decides either to stay or fly, according to the circumstances. Those
who have had the best opportunities of observing them in their native
wilds state that the hunters, though surrounded by these birds, caimot
without considerable labour obtain them. As soon as the bird
perceives tiukt it is pursued, it sets ofif with great rapidity; the
pursuer follows on horseback, but it is not till after a sharp and
tedious course, with all its turns and windings, that the Qariama,
wearied out, either crouches on the ground, or alights on some bush
or tree. Till this happens the horseman in vain seeks for an oppor-
tunity to throw his lasso or pull his trigger.
But wild as the bird is in its natural state it ia easily domesticated,
and will live sociably with the other tenants of the poultry-yard. In
this state they will eat little pieces of meat, but are said to refuse
maize, though it is probable that other kinds of grain may not be
disagreeable to them. When thus tamed they will walk about the
hamlet or village where they have been brought up, and even return
after taking short trips in the fields like the poultry. The flesh is
described as very good food ; the Brazilians however do not hunt it
for the game-bag.
The nest is composed of dry sticks and branches, covered with cow-
dung, and placed upon a low or a moderately high tree. The eggs are
generally two in number and white.
It has the neck covered with long loose barbed feathers, floating
and silky upon the nape, somewhat like those of the bittern : when
the bird is excited or frightened it can raise them. A light crest
consisting of a few disunited feathers forms an ornamental ttSt on the
front, and advances upon the base of the bill, which it overshadows,
ifeminding the observer of the crests of the Rupicolcs (Cocks of the
Hock) in its disposition. Space round the eyes naked, the nakedness,
which is bluish, reaching to the bUl. The upper eye-lid fringed with
long dark eye-lashes. Feet long and slender, and the toes very short,
whence G^firoy's name. Tail rounded and of moderate length.
The general colour of the ^ftriama is an earthy-brown on the upper
parts, while the lower parts are whitish. All the neck-feathers are
finely rayed with zigzags of darker brown than that which forms the
general ground-colour of the plumage. The two middle feathers of
the tail are brown : the others for the most part black, with white
extremities, and marbled with black upon a white ground at their
insertion. The wing-feathers are blackish and traversed by white
bands dotted with blackish. There are delicate zigzags of a clear
brown on the feathers of the front of the neck, the ground colour of
these feathers being whitiah. The feathers of the breast and belly are
longitudinally rayed with white in the direction of the shafts. The
naked part of the leg, the feet, and the toes are of an orange-red.
The bill, which is of a bright coral red in the adult, is blackish or
marbled with black and reddish in the younger birds. The iris is
yellow.
D* Azara gives 80 inches as the length of the young bird described by
him ; that of the Prince de Wied was half an inch more, and the adult
male of the Museum of the Netherlands, from which Temminck's
figure was taken, measures, according to him, 82 inches. The nestlings
are covered with down) and with the iris of a very lively yellow. They
are very soon able to run.
Temminck, after observing that the ^'U'i&n^a at first view seems to
offer some resemblance to Uie^Secretary-Biixl of Africa (Gypogfranut
serperUariut), remarks that this resemblance vanishes upon a e\(aet
inspection, and that, if it be permitted to form any judgment from tbe
forms solely, it would seem probable that the skeleton of the ^ariamt,
which was not known when he wrote, ought to have some relatioiuhip
(^ariama {Palamedea crlitata),
with that of the Common Bittern {BotauniA, steUarit), of the Aguni
{Psophia crepUana), and the GraUatores generally. There is a akektoD
of a female in the museum of the Zoological Society of London pre-
sented by the Earl of Derby, in whose possession the bird died. An
account of the anatomy of this bird by Mr. Martin was published in
the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society.' In this paper Mr. Martia
observes that " in its general aspect the skeleton of the fariama u
very remarkable. The comparative shortness of the neck, the com-
pactness of the chest, and stoutness of the ribs, together with the
abbreviated condition of the wings, appear as if out of harmony with
the length of the limbs, especially of the tibia and tarsus, while the
toes concluding tins length of limb are short, the hinder one being
situated high and not touching the ground.
" Though the Cariama in its osseous structure exhibits but little
resemblance to the birds of the Raptorial order, it approaches tha
order very remarkably in the structure of the eye, which is surroonded
by a firm consolidated osseous ring. This ring departs materiaHy in
its formation from what obtains among the GraUatores generallj',
where it is imbricated and slight, and indeed scarcely merits the
name of osseous."
For the anatomy of the bird we refer the reader to Mr. Martm s
paper, but we may observe that, according to Mr. Martin, '* in the
whole of the visceral arrangement a close afi^ty may be obserred to
the Grue tribe." In the Stanley Crane (Anthropoida P<^^^
Bechst.) the intestines are similarly disposed in folds or loops, »nd^e
two C89ca, given off 6 inches from the anus, are 4 inches long. In ^*
Stanley Crane however the muscular coat of the gizzard is thicter
than in the ^^ri^ma, being in some parts an inch across, while m tfe
latter bird it is about one-fourth of an inch ; hence is there in tJuapowJ
an index of a less vegetable regimen. In the Stanley Crane ^^Jz
length of the intestines is 5 feet 3 inches. In the fariama it is 3 iae«
6i inches. ,
CA'RICA, a genus of plants belonging to the natonU order
Papayacea. One of the species, C. Papaya^ is a remarkable tr«e
found in various parts of South America, with a simple unbrancflea
erect trunk, from 12 to 20 feet high, abounding in a n^J"|lJ*'
having broad 7-lobed leaves a foot at least long, and unisexual flow^
the inales of which are monopetalous, with'ten short stamps i^^^^J^
in the i
in the mouth of the corolla ; the females polypetalous, with a W
ovary, having a starry sort of stigma. The fruit is thus descntefl
Hooker in the 'Botanical Magazme:* "The corolla fiiUs a^^J"' T\
the germen in coming to maturity becomes pendent ; the tree, .
advancing in height casts its lower leaves from below the "^^^JV^i^
the fruit constituting a large oblong kind of berry, or mon? convc .
Digitized by
Google
m
CARICA.
CARINARU.
782
speaking pepo, rests suspended upon the leafless part of the trunk,
much in the same way as that of the^ rtocarpuSf or Bread-Fruit. The
sorfaoe, when the fruit is ripe, is a pale and rather dingy orange-
yellow, ohflcurely furrowed, and often rough with little elevated
points. The fledi is very thick, coloured, but paler than the outside,
and there passes through it longitudinally five bundles of vessels. In
the centre is a considerable cavity, with five longitudinal ridges, and
these are thickly clothed with numerous seeds." This fruit is called
the Papaw, and is accounted of considerable interest in the tropical
part of the world. An excellent histoiy of its uses is compiled in the
work already quoted, from which we borrow the fbllowing : "The
papaw-tree is of rapid growth. St. Pierre probably spoke from his
owa knowledge when he described Viiginia as having planted a seed
which in three years' time produced a trunk 20 feet high, with its
upper part loaded with ripe fruit. It is for the sake of this fruit
mainly that the plant is cultivated ; but if the flavour were not better
than that yielded by what ripened in our stove, I cannot recommend
it as at gJI agreeable." Brown, in his * Natural History of Jamaica,'
tells us that " it has a pleasant sweetish taste, and is much liked by
many people ; that while young it is commonly used for sauce ; and
when boiled and mixed with lime-juice and sugar is not unlike or
much inferior to that made of real apples, for which it is commonly sub-
stituted." In the opinion of Sloane it is not a very pleasant fruit, even
when helped with pepper and sugar ; and the more ordinary use, he
adds, of this fruit is before it is ripe, when, as large as one's fist, it is
cut into slices, soaked in water till the milky juice is out, and then
boiled and eaten as turnips or baked as apples. The juice of the pulp,
according to Descourtilz, in the * Flore Midicale des Antilles,' is used
as a cosmetic to remove freckles on the skin caused by the sun ; and
the negroes in the French colonies employ the leaves to waa^ their
linra, instead of soap. As a medicinal plant the Papaw-Tree is parti-
cularly deserving of notice. Hernandez long ago spoke of the milky
juice of the unripe fruit as a powerful voi*mifuge, which has been con-
firmed by M. Charpentier Cossigni, as mentioned in the 'Asiatic
Researches ' by Dr. Fleming (vol. iL p. 162). A single dose, that gen-
tleman says, is sufficient to cure the disease however abimdant the
worms may be. Another French writer (Poupdo Desportes) recom-
mends the use of the seed instead of the juice. But the most extra-
ordinary property of the Papaw-Tree is that which is related, first I
believe by Brown, in his * Natural History of Jamaica,' namely, that
"water impregnated with the milky juice of this tree is thought to
make all sorts of meat washed in it very tender ; but eight or ten
ininates steeping, it is said, will make it so soft that it wUl drop in
pieces from the spit before it is well roasted or turn soon to rags in
the boiling." Mr. Neill mentioned this circumstance more fully in his
interesting 'Horticultural Tour through Holland and the Nether-
lands ; ' and it has repeatedly been confirmed to me by gentlemen of
this country who have been long resident in the West Indies, and who
speak of the employment of the juice for such a purpose as of quite a
general occurrence ; and more, that old hogs and old poultry which
are fed upon the leaves and fruit, however tough the meat they afibrd
might otherwise be, are thus rendered perfectly tender, and good too,
if eaten as soon as killed, but that the flesh very soon passes into a
state of putridity. The juice causes a separation of the muscular
fibres. Nay, the very vapour of the tree serves the purpose ; hence
many people suspend the joints of meat, fowls, &c. in the upper part
of the tree in order to prepare them for the table. Such is the effect
upon hogs that feed upon the fruit, that the good housewives reject the
fleah of such if it is destined for salting, well knowing that it is not
sufficiently firm for that purpose.
"Whether this power of hastening the decay of meat be attri-
butable to the animal matter or fibrine contained in the juice of the
Papaw or not> I will not pretend to say ; but the presence of such
is a fact scarcely less wonderful than the property just alluded to.
Two specimens of tho juice were brought fr^m the Isle of France ;
in the one it had been evaporated to dryness, and was in the state of
ui extract ; in the other the juice was preserved by being mixed with
an equal bulk of rum. Both were subjected to analysis by Yauquelin.
The first was of a yellowish-white colour and semi-transparentw Its
tsste was sweetish. It had no smell, and was pretty solid; but
attracted moisture when kept in a damp place. The second was
reddish-brown, and had the smell and taste of boiled beef. When
the first specimen was macerated in cold water the greatest part of it
diasolved ; the solution frothed with soap. The addition of nitric
»cid coagulated it> and rendered it white ; and when boiled it threw
down abundance of white flakes. When the juice of the Papaw is
treated with water the greatest part dissolves ; but there remains
a substance insoluble, which has a greasy appearance. It softens in
the air, and becomes viscid, brown, and semi-transparent. When
thrown on burning coals it melted, let drops of gi-ease exude, emitted
the noise of meat roasting, and produced a smoke which had the
odour of fat volatilised. It left behind it no residue. The substance
^a« fibrine. The resemblance between the juice of the Papaw and
^imal meat is so close that one would be tempted to suspect some
imposition, were not the evidence that it is really the juice of a tree
quite imquestionable. This fibiine had been supposed previously to
belong exclusively to the animal kingdom ; but it haa since beeu
foimd in other vegetables, especially in Fuvf/i.''
C. digUalcky the Chambum, is a Brazilian plant, and regarded with
little less honour than the Upas-Tree itself. Poppig says the juic«
which - spirted on his face when he cut into the tree only caused
itching in the face and a few blisters on the hands. The male flowers
have a very disgusting smell.
CARINA, in Botany, the two oblique front petals of a PapUiona-
oeous flower, united by their contiguous edges into an organ having a
figure somelMng like that of the keel of a boat.
CARINA'RIA, the name of a genus of MoUusca, arranged by
Cuvier under his fifth order of Qasteropods (Lamarck's Heteropoda)
as the type of that order, and by De Blainville under the first family
(Nectopoda) of his order NucUobranchiaia. The shells of this genus
were formerly known to collectors under the names of Venus's
Slipper and the Qlass Nautilus: indeed one of the species is the
ArgonatUa vUreus of Qmelin.
The body of the animal is BulMnrUndrical, elongated, transparent,
dotted with elevated points, prolonged posteriorly, and furnished
towards the upper part of its posterior extremity with a sort of fin,
which performs the part of a rudder. A reddish thin compressed
sub-circular fin, beautifully reticulated by decussating muscular
fibres, furnished with a sort of acetabulum or sucker, rises from the
belly nearly opposite to the point on the bade occupied by the shell.
With the aid of this fin it floats along. M. Verany says that,
notwithstanding the greatest possible attention, he has not been able
to discover the use of the sucker, or rather suctorial disc, in the
ventral fin ; but there can be little doubt that it is analogous to the
foot in Gasteropods, and that the animal avails itself of its powers of
adhesion by' sticking to rocks or other submarine bodies, and thus
lying at anchor, as it were, in repose, with the frail shell that protects
the droulatmg and respiratory oi*gans, together with the liver and
generative gland, lowermost — the same position occupied by it when
the animal is in motion.
The head is capable of contraction ^vithin the body, and is provided
with a sort of retractile proboscis. There are two tentacula of some
length and of a subconical shape, placed laterally at the insertion of
the head ; and there are two eyes situated at the base of the tentacula.
The mouth is furnished with a circular jaw, armed with four rows of
teeth, of which the two internal ones are fixed and smalL
The organs of respiration, together with the heart and vent, are
protected by a delicate transparent shell, somewhat compressed,
without a spire, but with a syimmit a little recurved backwards, and
the opening wide, entire, and oval. The vent is under the edge of
the mantle, which envelopes the oi'gana above mentioned and lines
the shelL
The sexes, according to M. Verany, are separated as in the FiroUe
(Ptd'otrachea) ; the sexual organ of the male being placed a little
anteriorly on the right side under the subdrcular belly-fin ; that of
the femsJe is near the vent.
The digestive organs consist of a retractile tube famished within
with a homy rasp, and a short oesophagus, opening into a slightly
dilated stomach, which is continued into an intestinal tube passing
straight towards the shell, into which it enters, and making a convolu-
tion terminates in the vent
^ There is between the eyes a ganglion from which many nerves are
given ofiT, and of these six are directed forwards and four backwards.
Of the six directed forwards two go towards the mouth, and appear
to provide for the action of the proboscis, two belong to the
tentacula, and two to the eyes. Of the four directed backwards, two
go directly to the nucleus in the sheU, and the o^er two unite under
the fin, whence they ramify into five branches, three of which are
appropriated to the belly-fin, and two go towards the tail
Carinaria Mediterranea may be taken as an example of the genus.
M. Verany states that it is to be found all the year on the coasts (in
Carinaria McdiUrranca^ male,
o, Situation of the ganglion or brain ; ft, eye ; c, head ; d, retractile tube ;
/, digestive tube ; g, »hell containing the organs of respiration, heart, &c. ;
A, the posterior or rudder-ftn ; *, ventral-fln; *, the sucker; /, /, nerves.
The figure, with slight modification, is taken fk-om Verany's.
the neighbourhood of Nice), but that it is sufficiently abundant in the
months of May, June, and July. He further observes , that it is rare
to find it with the shell entire, that it feeds on gelatinous bodies and
on very small fishes, such m Atfterina nana (the Dwarf Atherine), and
Digitized by
Google
yw
CARLINA.
CARNIVORA.
78*
that he has often found in the stomach the remains of other Carinarice,
which satisfies him that the species is mutually destructive.
Delle Chiajei who has placed the animal in its proper position with
relation to the brain, has given a careful and detailed account of its
organisation in his ' Memorie suUa Storia e Notomia degli Animali
senza Vertebre del Regno di Napoli/ vol. ii. p. 214, illustrated in his
plates 14 and 15. DeUe Chiaje makes the spermatic canals rise at the
posterior base or insertion of the ventral fin and proceed to the genital
oigan, near the origin of what we have termed the rudder-fin ; but he
gives no external view of the apparatus so conspicuous in M. yeran/s
figure. ^
Carinaria has never yet been taken in any other than warm lati-
tudes. Three species, C. vitreaf C. fragilis, and C. Mediteiranea, are
recorded without reckoning Lamai'ck's C. ct/inbium.
The above is copied from the Iconographie of Cuvier's 'Animal
KiDgdom,' and represents the Carinaria with its back uppermost. It
is denominated Carinaria cymbiwmf but there can be no doubt that it
is Carinaria Mediterranea.
CARLINA. [Thistle.]
CARNATION, a kind of Dianthus or Pink, a vaiiety of the
JHanthut CaryophyUtu of botanists, much esteemed by florists for the
beautiful colom's of its sweet-scented double flowers. It is usually
grown in rich light loamy soil, in which sand enough is mixed to
prevent water stagnating, and is propagated either by cuttings or
layering. A great many varieties are cultivated, the most esteemed
of which are those wiUi a strong tall stem about 8 feet high, and
reguleu*ly formed flowers, with the stripes or markings dear, well
defined, and broadest near the end of the petals. From their colours
they are technically distinguished into Flakes, which have but one
colour, disposed in stripes upon a white ground ; Bizards, which have
stripes of two colours ; and Picotees or Piquettees, which have petals
notched at the edges, and spotted instead of striped upon a ground
that is most commonly pale-yellow.
CARNELIAN. [Agate.]
CARNITORA, a term generally applicable to any creatures that
feed on flesh or animal substances, but definitely applied to that order
of the Mammalia which prey upon other animals.
The forms of this order are varied, and the number of species
consi4erable. Furnished like Man and the Q^adrumana with three
sorts of teeth, and nails or claws on the feet, they entirely difler &om
those two orders in never having the thumbs of the anterior extremity
capable of being opposed to the other fingers. The greater or less
development of their molai* teeth as cutting or lacerating instruments
seems to determine the kind of animal food fitted for their support.
Those Camivora which have their molars totally or partially tuber-
culated partake of a diet in which vegetables form a greater or less
Sroportion, and those which have them serrated as it were with points
ve principally on insects. There are other modifications of these
molars, fitting them for crushing bones or dividing animal muscle,
according to the exigency of the animal ; but in all, as a general rule,
the articulation of the jaw does not permit of horizontal movement,
the power being simply that of opening and shutting, upwards and
downwards, like a pair of shears.
In their general organisation the prevailing feature of the skull is
the great development of the zygomatic arch, afibrding room for the
action of the powerful muscles that work the trenchant jaw ; the
vrbit is not separated from the temporal fossa. The articulation of
Jie bones of the fore-arm in most of the Camivora is so constructed
as to allow of free motion, though in a degree inferior to that
bestowed on the Quadrtmiana, The brain (cerebrum) is considerable
in bulk, well marked, but without a third lobe, and does not cover
the cerebellum. Of all the senses that of smelling seems to be in the
highest perfection, the pituitary membrane being extended over a
manifold labyrinth of bony plates. The intestines are comparatively
short, the nature of their food requiring less elaboration than that
necessary for the extraction of nourishment from vegetables.
Cuvier gives the name of Camasaiers (Flesh-Eaters) to the order, and
divides it into the following families ; —
I. Cheiroptera,
These, as he observes, have still some affinities with the Qiuidru-
mana, as is manifested by the pendulous genital oi^an of the male,
and the position of the teats of the female on the breast. Their
distinguishing character consists of a fold of the skin, which lising at
the sido of the neck is extended between the fore feet and the fingers
Skull of Pteropus Keraudrenius,
or toes, so as to suspend the animal in the air, and in' those genera
which have the bones of the hand sufficiently developed to spread a
sufficient extent of this membranous skin, there is a power of executing
all the evolutions required for flight. Strong calvicles and laige
shoulder-blades were required for this feat, and we accordin^y find
great strength and solidity thrown into those parts ; but as the rotatory
motion of the fore-arm would have been
worse than useless, inasmuch as it would
have weakened the force of the impulse
of the membranous wing, and would
have consequently lessened the power of
flying, we find it almost entirely absent
Four great canine teeth are found in all
the genera of this large family ; but the
number of their incisors varies. Some
idea will be formed of the arrangement of the teeth in the Cheiroptera
from the annexed cut
In the Cheiroptei'a, as we have seen, the teats are pectoral, but in
all the rest of the families they are ventral.
The next family in Cuvier's arrangement is —
II. Inaectivoi'a.
The lateral membranes with which the Cheiroptera are fumighed
are no longer to be found in the In»eclivora, which still have clavicles;
and their molai-s like those of the first family are serrated with conical
points. In their dental system the position and relative proportiou
of their incisors and canine teeth vary. Some have long incisore in
front, followed by other incisoi-s and canines lower than the molars, a
scale of dentition to be found among some of the ^iodrumana
{Tartiu9)t and approaching in a degree the dental system of the
Jtodentta. Others have lai^e and widely-separated canines, between
which are small incisors, the most ordinary disposition of the teeth
in the Quadrumana and Camivora, The feet are shoit, and their
motions comparatively feeble; the male oi-gau is furnished with a
sheath, and the teats are ventral There is no caecal appendage, and
the entire sole of the foot is applied to the ground in walking. Their
habits, resembling in a degree those of the Clveiroptera^ are frequently
nocturnal and subterranean. Insects
form their principal nourishment, and
many of them, especially in cold coun-
tries, pass the winter in a dormant state.
Hitherto we have seen the carnivorous
oi-ganisation in a comparatively mitigated
state, but we now approach CuTiers
third family, the Camivora, properly so
called, which have every part of their
frame, in the cats especially, formed for the destruction of other
animals. In two of the tribes, but more particularly in one, namely,
the Plantigrades, the carnivorous form is indeed somewhat modified,
but among these three tribes we find the greatest harmony of parts,
fitted for keeping down the numbers of the granivorous and phyto-
phagous animals, to be anywhere observed among the Mammalia.
III. Camivora,
In this family we have the thirst for blood at its highest degree of
development, and with it the power and the instruments for gratifying
the appetite. Four large, long, and distant canines, separated by the
intervention of six incisors in each jaw (the root of the second of the
lower incisors being a little deeper planted than the others) — molarB,
either formed entirely with cutting edges, or constructed partly wiUi
blunt tubercles ; these, with the powerful mechanism of the jaw in
which they are set, present a most formidable apparatus for finishing
the bloody task which the rest of the frame of the C<tmivora is so
nicely adapted for commencing and continuing. The more completely
trenchant these molars are, the more completely carnivorous are the
habits of the animal, and the different gradations may be in general
safely traced by observing the proportional extent of surface, con-
sidered with reference to its tubercular or cutting shape. The Bear^
which, taken as a whole, may be said to be capable of supporting
themselves entirely on vegetables, have nearly all their molar teeth
tuberculated. [Bear,]
The anterior molars have the most cutting edges, and then comes
a molar larger than the rest, with a tuberculated heel or process more
or less developed, and behind it one or two small teeth almost entirely
flat. With these small teeth Uie dogs, as Baron Cuvier has observed,
masticate the grass which they occasionally swallow for medicinal
purposes : he also agrees with M. Frederic Cuvier in naming the
great molar above and its antagonist below ' camassi^res,' or flesh-
cutters ; the anterior pointed molars, false molars ; and the posterior
blunt molars, ' tuberculeuses,' or tuberculated molars.
By observing these dificrences of dental form, the genera of
Camivora are most surely established, and it may be laid down as a
general rule, that those carnivorous animals which have the shortest
jaw and the least development of the false molars are those in which
the sanguinary propensity and the destructive power coexist in the
highest degree.
Many of the genera apply the whole sole of the foot (particiil^ulv
of the hinder one) to the ground in walking, and this sole ie gem i ally
destitute of hair. These are called Plc.rlrnc.da.
^^^^ ^:^
Skull of common Hedgehog
{Ennaceus Europteua).
Digitized by
Google
CARNIVORA.
CARPINUS.
786
Others again walk on the tips of the toes, as it were, and these, the
DigUiffradti, are endowed with great swiftness of foot The clavicle
in both is merely a bony rudiment suspended in the flesh.
Cuvier divides his Oamivora into the four following tribes : —
1. Plantigrade9,
. These pooBess a great facility, from the structure of the sole, of
reuing themselyes up on the
hindfeetb Cuvier observes that
they participate in the compa-
rative slow motion and noc*
tumallife of the Intectivora, and
that they are like them deprived
of a csecum. The greater part
of tiiose whose geographical dis-
tribution is confined to cold
ooimtriM paas the winter in a gityu of Common Badger (Melet vulgarit.)
donnant state. They have all
five toes on each foot. [Beab ; Badger.] The annexed cut will
serre as an example of the dental form and arrangement.
2. Digitigradet.
This tribe is separated by Cuvier into two subdivisions : —
Subdivision a.
The animals composing this subdivision have been called Vermiform,
from the comparatively great length and flexibility of their bodies
and the shortness of their legs. Every one who has watched the
serpentine movements of a ferret
must have been struck with the
great facility of motion given by
ttda form, and its particular adapta-
tion for passing through small
openings and narrow burrows, and
turning therein. Like the former
families they have no cflBcum, but
unlike them they are not lethai^c
in winter. Though small they
are of indomitable courage and ferocity, and litera!lly most blood-
thirsty, for the greater part of them live principally upon that fluid.
The annexed cut will give an example of the general form of the
Bkull and teeth.
Subdivision 5.
T^ese have two flat tuberculated molars behind the upper great
flesh-cutter, which has itself a sufficiently laige heel or process. Many
of these live upon carrion, and all have a smedl csecum. [Canis.]
We refer to the next cut for a general idea of the dental systeuL
Sknll of Polecat {PutoHui Zorilla),
Skull of Common Fox {Vulpes vulgarU),
S. Cats {Felidce).
In this tribe we have the destructive power most highly developed.
The short round muzzle, the abbreviated and powerful jaw, and the
i^tractile claws sheathed by means of elastic ligaments when the
animal is in a state of repose, so that they are kept sharp and ready
for action, form with the rest of the oi^ganisation a destructive type of
the highest order. All the Cats have two false molars above and two
below ; their upper flesh-cutter has three lobes and a blunt heel or
process within; while the lower one has two pointed and cutting
lobes, but without any heel or process ; and they have but one small
tuberculated molar above without any corresponding tooth below.
The species are numerous, and vary greatly in size and colour. [Feus.]
Subjoined is a cut of the' skull and jaw of a Boyal Tiger
Skull of Royal Tiger {Felts Tigris), o, Teeth of upper Jaw.
4. Amphibia, or Amphibious Camivora,
Those who have seen a seal on the land will have noticed the com-
parative helplessness of the animal ; for the short limbs enveloped in
the skin only serve them by assisting their awkward shufflings when
in that situation. But as they never come on the land excepting for
the purposes of repose, basking in the son, or suckling their young,
their organisation is adapted to that element in which the great por-
. »AT. HBT. Djy. ypi^ L
tion of their life is spent. The moment the Seal enters the water he
is completely at Ms ease. Then the oar-like membranous hands and
feet» or flippers, as some of our northern navigators not unaptly term
them, the elongated body and moveable spine with its powerful mus-
cular machinexT, the narrow pelvis, and the dose waterproof fur,
afford, when taken together, a model for swinmiing. The annexed
cut of the skuU of a Common Seal will illustrate the general form and
arrangement of the teeth. [Seaia]
Skull of Common Seal {Calocephalus pitulinua).
Fornl Camivora.
Remains of the Mammiferous Camivora are found abundantly in
the Ossiferous caverns and Osseous Breccia. Those of a lion, a tiger
[Felib], bears, a glutton, a weasel, a wolf [Canis], a fox, a dog, and
hyaenas, have been satisfactorily identi&ed ; but the bears, e8i>eciaUy
the great Cavern BeeriUrsua SpeUsm) [Bear], and the hyaenas [HviENAj
seem to have been predominant in many of the localities.
CAROB-TREE. [Ceratonia.]
CAROLINA PINK. [Spigblia.]
CARP. [CTPRiNua.]
CARP-BREAM. [Bream.]
CARPEL, a term applied to the fruits of plants. If the finiit of a
pssony is examined it will be found to consist of two or more hollow
bodies terminated by a stigma, and containing vegetable eggs or
ovules ; taken collectively these are called a Pistil, but each separate
body is a Caipel. A carpel is a transformed leaf, with its edges
brought into contact^ united, and generating ovules at the inside of
the suture, while its midrib is lengthened and distended as a stigma.
If several carpels are arranged in the centre of a flower, they have
exactly the same respective position as the same number of leaves
would have; and their sutures and stigmas are placed in the same
position aa the united edges and distended points of so many leaves
would be placed. Supposing these carpels to grow together by their
sides, their sutures will then be, with the ovules that belong to them,
in the centre of the body formed by such a union. Wben fruits 6r
pistils are composed of several carpellary leaves, or carpels not united,
they are called Apocarpous. When the carpels grow together, the pis-
til or fruit is said to be Syncarpous. (Schleidon, Principles of Scientific
Botcmy.)
CARPHOLITE, a Mineral, a variety of PreJmitc [Prehnite], occur-
ring in minute radiated stellate tufts, of a straw-yellow colour and
silky lustre. It is brought from the tin-mines of Schlackenwald in
Austria, with fluor-spar.
CARPHOSIDERITE, a yellow Phosphate of Iron, brought from
Greenland. It occurs in remform masses. (Dana, Mineralogy.)
CARPI'NUS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Cv/pvliferoi, and distinguished obviously from the Beech {BettUa), the
Oak (Querctw), &c., by its cupule being prolonged on one side into
a leafy lobe, while its other^ lobes are shorter, and, as it were,
abortive. Ostrya, the Hop Hornbeam, differs in having an inflated
membranous cupule surrounding each nut. The following species are
known : —
C Betuku, Conunon Hornbeam. It is an indigenous British tree
very common in copses, and frequently pollarded by the farmer.
When allowed to acquire its natural appearance, it forms a graceful
ti-ee fix)m 60 to 60 feet high, very often branching to within a short
distance of the ground. In general appearance it resembles the Beech,
but it does not acquire the smooth plump bole of that tree, nor are
its leaves so shining. Its wood is coarse, and imfit for cabinet-makers'
work, on account of the large size of its medullary processes ; but it
is tough, and well suited fi>r cogs, handles of tools, and for other
purposes in which strength is required. It is much consumed on the
continent as fuel Like the Beech, the Hornbeam, if stimted, retains
its withered leaves all the winter ; and as it bears clipping and dose
pruning remarkably well, it is much employed for hedges where winter
shelter is required. The distinctive character of the Common Horn-
beam is — ^leaves oblong, cordate, oblique at the base, doubly serrated,
smooth, with the veins of the under side, which is very shining, downy
at the axils. Lobes of the cupules nearly entire A cut-leaved variety
is known in gardens.
C. Americana, American Hornbeam. It has ovate oblong leaves,
obliquely cordate at the base, doubly or almost simply serrated, smooth,
with the veins of the under side downy at the axils. Lobes of th?
cupules somewhat falcate and serrated. Common from Lower Canada
to the Carolinas, and extremely frequent in almost all soils except
pine-barrens and swamps. It is a smaller tree than the European
Homboam, not. usually acquiring a greater height than 15 to 20 feet,
3 E
Digitized by
Google
w
CARPOLOOY.
CABUM.
793
although specimens haye been found as much as 80 feet.higfa. From
the snudl size of this species it is little used by the Americans : its
wood appears however to have the same properties as that of C»
Betulut,
C. orientalit, Oriental Hornbeam. It has oblong doubly-serrated
cordate leaves, and very little oblique at the base; when young,
rather downy : lobes of the cupules coarsely and unequally serrated.
It is a bushy tree of small stature, found in the eastern parts of
Europe and on the mountains of Caucasus. It is of no known use,
and prindiMdly di£fienrs from the Common Hornbeam in its downy
leafstidks and green much-lacerated cupules. It is the C. dmnemit
of ScopolL
C. viminea is related to the last, but has taper-pointed leaves
with simple or nearly simple serratures, and less deeply serrated lobes
to the cupules. It is a large handsome tree with weeping branches,
found on the mountains of NepauL
C. foffinea, from the same country, is distinguished frY>m the last
by its woolly leafstalks and simply setaceo-sernted leaves, which are
but little acuminated.
CARPOLOGY is a division of Botany comprehending what relates
to the structure of seeds and their seed-vessels, or what is commonly
called fruit. The subject is usually treated of incidentally in all
elementary botanical works; and with much csre by Mirbel in his
' £l^mens de Botanique ; ' Lindley, in his ' Introduction to Botany ; '
and especially by Sdileiden in his ' Principles of Scientific Botany.*
[Fruit.]
CARRAGEEN MOSS. [Aloa]
CARRION-CROW. FCoBViDiB.]
CARROT. [Dauccs.]
CARR-SWALLOW, a name for the Black Tern {Sterna jUtipa),
[Sterna.]
CARTER, a Cornish name for the Whiff, a fish belonging to the
genus Bhomhut, [RHOifBU&]
CAHTHAMUS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
CompotUa. C. HneioriHs, the &ifflower, is a pretty annual plant, found
wild in Egypt and the Levant. It has an erect cylindrical stem,
branching near the summit, a foot or two high, and furnished with
sharp-pointed, oval, sessile, somewhat spiny leaves. The flowers grow
in heaos, inclosed in a roundish spiny involucre ; the florets are of an
orange-yellow, becoming red when dried. These latter contain a
colouring principle called Carthamite, which is employed by dyers as
the source of some of the more delicate rose-colours, and the rich
scarlet called Ponceau ; it also constitutes the basis of the cosmetic
known by the name of Rouge.
The dned flowers of Carthamia are exported in great quantities
f^om Egypt, and are very like saffiron to the eye, on which account
they have been employed to adulterate that drug, and the plant itself
has acquired the name of Bastard SafiVon, or Safflower.
CARTILAGE, commonly called Gristle, a substance intermediate
in density between the membranous and bony structures of tiie body.
It is distmguished frY>m every other texture by its pearly whiteness,
its smoothness, its firmness, and its great elasticity. When divided it
appears to be perfectly homogeneous, without fibres and without
laminse ; but when examined under the microscope it is seen to
consist of nucleated cells, disseminated in a solid mass or matrix.
Articular CartiJage has no blood-vessels, the nutrient fluid required
being supplied from vessels in adjoining textures. In other kinds of
cartilage canals are observed conducting blood, but not for the
immediate supply of the cartilaginous tissue. No nerves have been
found in any of the cartilages, and they are now known to be desti-
tute of senaibility.
The simplest form of Cartilage consists merely of nucleated oells,
and closely resembles the cellular tissue of plants. T^ kind is
found in the rudimentary spinal column of the early embiyo ; it also
exists in the chorda dorsf^ of the cartilaginous fishes. In other
kinds of cartilage the cells are embedded in an intercellular substance,
presenting certain varieties of appearance.
Articular Cartilage from the head of the hamenu. Vertical sections.
A, section close to the surface; B, section far in the interior.
In Articular Cartilage the ceUs are oval or roundish, dispersed in
gioups through a nearly homogeneous intercellular substance. The
cells measure from the 1800th to the 900th of an inch in diameter. In
the interior part of the incrusting cartilages the cells usually asBume
a more or less linear arrangement. In the different cartilages the
oells vary in size and form.
Ordinary permanent oartilsge contains about three-fifths of its
weight of water and becomes transparent when dried. It is resolved
into ohondrin by boiling. Cartilage contains a certain amount of
mineral matters. Frommherz and Gugert obtained 8*4 per cent of
ashes. When analysed these ashes were found to consist of—
Carbonate of Soda ... . 85*07
Sulphate of Soda 24*24
Chloride of Sodium 8*23
Phosphate of Soda 0*92
Sulphate of Potash 1*20
Carbonate of Lime 18*87
Phosphate of Lime 4*06
Phosphate of Magnesia 6*91
Oxide of Iron, and loss 1*00
The vital processes are carried on very slowly in cartilage. It '»
subject to absorption, and when thus removed by disease or when
taken away by operation it is not again renewed. When fractured or
broken the union is not effected by new cartilage, but by fibrous or
areolar tissue, or bone.
Cartilage is not only closely allied to bone in the mechanical
arrangement of its component fibres and in its chemical composition,
but it sometimes supplies the place of bone, as in the foetus and in
yoimg persons. CartUages of this class, which regularly disappear as
ossification advances, are called Temporary, in contradistinction to the
Permanent, which remain during all periods of life. Permanent
Cartilages either cover the extremities of the bones in the moveable
joints or articulations, and are thence called Articular ; or are attached
to the extremities of the ribs, and are thence termed CostaL The
Articular Cartilage consists of a layer of the same shape as the
extremity of the bone which it covers, vaiying in thickness from one
or two lines to the fraction of a line, and over its external or free
surface there is always reflected a fine and delicate membrane, termed
the synovial, which secretes the fluid by which the joint is lubricated
and its free and easy motion secured, denominated synovia, or joint oil
The Costal Cartilages, which are cartilaginous productions of the
osseous ribs, are much larger and thicker thau the Articular, assist in
the formation of the thoracic cavity, and perform a very important
part in the function of respiration.
The distinctive property of this peculiar form of organised matter,
to which the name of Cartilage has been given, is elasticity, on which
depends the specific use of this substance in the economy. It is
mainly an adjunct to bones, coimteracting certain evils which, but for
the intervention of some substance of this kind, must necessarily have
resulted from the hard unyielding nature of the osseous fibres.
Covering the extremities of bones, or interposed between layers of
bony fibres, without in the least diminishing the firmness and strength
of Uie osseous fibres, it enables the bones to yield in the shocks ta
which the body is exposed in the ever-varying movements of the
frame; defends them from fracture and displacement; and at the same
time protects the great centres of the nervous system, the spinal
cord and brain, from the concussions and jars to which these tender
and delicate orgSLna would, but for its interposition, have been
constantly exposed.
(Quain's Mement$ of Anatomy, by Sharpey ; Carpenter, Principle* of
Physiology; Simojiy AninuU Chemistry; Schwann, On t fie Accordance
in the StrucChire of Animals and Plants; Kolliker, Handbuch det
Qewtbelehre.)
CARUK (from Caria in Asia Minor, where the plant was originally
foimd), a genus of plants belonging to the natural order VmbeUifercey
to the sulHorder Orthospermeo!, and to the tribe Ammineas, It has an
obsolete calyx, obcordate petals, with a narrow acute inflexed point,
oblong fruit) carpels with five filiform ridges, interstices with single
vittee, a depressed stylopodium. The species are glabrous herbs,
with perennial tuberous edible roots, pinnate leaves, and white
flowers.
C. Carui, Common Caraway, has a fusiform root, bipinnate leaves,
leaflets cut into linear segments, no partial involucre, the general
involucre absent or of only one leaf. It is a native throughout the
whole of Europe in meadows and pastures. It is found in Great
Britain, but can only be i*egarded as a naturalised plant The fruit
of this plant is known in shops by the name of caraway seeds.
fCARUM Carui, in Arts and So. Div.] The leaves of this plant are
frequently used in spring to put in soups, and the roots are boiled and
eaten as parsnips, to which some persons prefer them.
Several varieties have been described by botanists. One of these
is the American species C. C. elongatum, which has the segments of
the leaves linear elongated.
C. verticillatum -haiei the general and partial involucres of many
leaves, the leaves pinnate, and the leaflets linear. The segments of
the leaflets spread in sudi a way as to appear whorled ; hence the
trivial name. It is a native of the western parts of Europe. In Great
Britain and Ireland it occurs as a rare plant in damp hilly pastures.
C. bidbociutanum of Koch, is the Bunium btUbocastanum of Linnaeus.
[BuviUM.] It is the Scandix and /Sitm btUbocastantm of Spivnj^
Digitized by
Google
789
. CARUNCULA.
CARYOCATACTES.
790
and Moenoh. Babington, in his * Manual/ has restored the Linnscan
species. (Babington, Manual of Britiah Botany.)
GARU'NCULA, a name applied by botanists to protuberances
fonnd oocaaionally surrounding the hilum of a seed. It is sometimes
also called a Strophiloa. Parts of this kind ocour on the seeds of
Euphorbia Lathyris.
CAHYA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Juf^ati-
dacea. The species are North American trees, comprehending the
Tarious kinds of Hickory. This genus was formerly combined with
JuglaiM, or the true Walnut ; but it is distinguished by the shell of its
nuts not being deeply furrowed, and by the catkins of the male flowers
growing in threes. This must not be confounded with Careya, a genus
of Indian ifyrfoceof.
Several species of Hickory are recognised by botanists ; but^ accord-
igg to Michaux, the timber pf all of tiiem is so similar in quality that
it is impossible to distinguish itu The bark of the Hickory is in all cases
remarkable for the lozenge-shaped arrangement of its woody tissue.
The wood is coarse-grained, very heavy, exceedingly tough and strong,
and red at the heart; but on the other hand it decays quickly when
exposed to the weather, and it is subject to be attacked by worms.
Itia on these accounts chiefly employed for the shafts and springs of
carriages, for large screws, such as those of bookbinders' presses, for
bows, chur-backs, whip-handles, wooden-cogged wheels, hoops for
casks, and a variety of similar purposes. When burnt, hickory-wood
consumes slowly, gives out a great heat, and forms a heavy coal, which
remains glowing for a long while. It is considered to be upon the
whole the best of all woods for fuel : it has however the fault of
crackling and scattering about its sparks.
(7. oliwgformis, the Pecan or Pecana Nut {Jtiglana anguttifolia,
'Hortus Kewensis'). This is a swamp species, witii a slender stem,
Bometimes as much as 70 feet high. Its leaves are a foot to 18 inches
long; their stalks are downy; the leaflets, which are 2 or 8 inches
long, or as much as 5 inches on very strong shoots, are taper-pointed
and firmly serrated. Their nuts are oblong, very smooth, angular in
only a slight degree, about l^ inch long, and thinner shelled than the
other sorts. The kernel is good to eat, and by far the best of the
hickories; on this accoimt the nuts are a small article of North
American trade. The Pecan Nut is found in Upper Louisiana and
Kew Orleans. It is common on the banks of rivers in Missouri,
DlinoiB, and Arkansas. It does not occur, except in straggling speci-
mens, more than 200 miles above the mouth of the Ohio.
C. ndcata {Juglan$ lacinioacty Michaux), Thick-Shell-Bark Hickory,
Springfield or Gloucester Nut, is very oonmion in all the low grounds,
adjoining the Ohio and its tributaries, where, along with three>thonied
gleditschias, black walnuts, Yiiginian bird-cherries, American elms,
planes, and different species of Acer, it forms dense forests ; it is
seldom found west of the Alleghanies. Its trunk is as much as 80
feet high, on which it has a noble spreading head. Its bark, like that
of some of ihe other hickories, strips off in ribands from 1 to 3 feet
long, which separate at their extremities and curl backwards, finally
adhering to the trunk only by their middle. The leaves vary in
length from 8 to 20 inches ; in form they are very like those of O. aUta,
but they usixally have six or eight leaflets instead of four, which is
the invariable nvtmber in that species. The nuts are oblong, sharp-
pointed at each end, with four elevated angles, and a thick shell of
a yellowish-brown colour, not white as in C7. alba. They are brought
to market in North America under some of the names mentioned
i^ve.
C. alha {Juglana squamom, Michaux), White-Shell-Bark, Shag-Bark,
Scaly-Bark Hickory. The shaggy appearance of the bark adverted
to in speaking of the last species has caused the above names to be
appUed to thu common species. It extends from South Carolina to
*the neighbourhood of Portland in the state of New Hampshire, where
it is said to disappear. It is the most slender-stemmed of all the
hickories, its trunk being sometimes 80 or 90 feet high and not more
than 2 feet in diameter, and is described as a magnificent tree in its
native forests. The yoimg buds are woody, and slightly orange-
ooloured. The leaves are often 20 inches long ; they have only four
leaflets and an odd one, which are smooth and bright green above,
finely downy on the under side, and serrated at the edge. The nuts
are whitish, nearly round, hardly pointed at each end, angular, com-
pressed, thick-shelled, remarkably small in proportion to the size of
the fruit with its fleshy rind upon it. The kernel is next in quality
to that of the Pecan Nut. They form a common article of market
commerce.
C.tomentoiti, Mocker-Nut Hickory, so called in consequence of the
amallness of the kernel comp&red with the size of the nut. Its leaflets
are from 7 te 9 in number, slightly round, very dowmr on the imder
aide ; they become bright-yellow in the autumn. The leaf-buds are
thick, short, whitish-gray, and very hard in the winter season. The
nuts are sessile, roundish, and inclosed in a rind which only opens
half-way to let them drop out ; they are light-brown, angular, and
▼ery little pointed. The bark of this species does not scale off, but
rends into deep fissures. It grows the slowest of all the hickories,
and is found duefly in forests from New England to Yirginia and in
the Alleghanies ; Fur^ says in fertile soils, but Miohaux adds that
it nevertheless is the only hickory which makes its appearance in
^^u»e sterile tracta called pine-barrens, where however it is only a
scrubby bush. In the most favourable situations it rarely grows
more than 60 feet high, and is usually a gnarled inelegant tree.
Nuttall mentions a variety of this species as occurring a few miles
from Philadelphia, with " £ruit nearly twice the ordinary size, as large
as an apple."
(7. microcarpct. Leaflets about five, oblong-lanceolate, sharply
serrate, and obviously tapered to the point; smooth on each side,
glandular beneath. Fruit roundish, with a small thin-shelled nut,
which is somewhat quadrangular and abruptly roimded at the end,
with a very small point. According to Nuttall this is found wild
on the banks of the Schuylkill, in the vidnity of Philadelphiis where
it forms a large tree with an even bark. The fruit is much lUce that
of C, tamentoio, and eatable, but very small, not exceeding the size of
a nutmeg.
C. omora, Bitter Nut, or Swamp Hickory ; found from the state of
Vermont in the north, as far as the most southern parts of the Ame*
ricab Union. In woods near New York, Michaux measured several
individuals which were 10 or 12 feet in drcumferenoe, and from 70
to 80 feet high ; but in general it is smaller. It is the latest in leafing
of all the hidcories. The leaflets are fr^m 7 to 9 in number, smooth,
coarsely and irregularly serrated, long, lanceolate, and more wrinkled
than in other species. The frxdt is sniall, roundish, with a thin rind ;
the nuts are obovate, depressed at the end, with a central projecting
point ; they have no angles, and are broader than they are long ; the
shell is thin and brittle, and the kernel so bitter and austere that even
squirrels refuse to eat it. This specres is easily known in winter by
its yellow buds.
(7. aquatica, foundronly in the lower parts of the southern states of
the American Unicm, in swamps, and by the side of ditches surround-
ing rice-fields, along wiUi red maples, deciduous cypresses, and Carolina
poplars. It is readily known by its very narrow taper-pointed leaflets,
which vary in number from 9 to 11. Its frnit is small, ovate, tuber-
culatedj angular, and placed upon stalks in little clusters. The nuts
are bright brown, ovate, angular, but little pointed at either end ;
they are very thin-shelled, and contain an extremely little kemeL
The tree grows from 40 to 50 feet high, and is of much less value
than the other species.
C. porcina, the Pig-Nut Hickory, or Hog-Nut. This is niost com-
mon in the middle states, beginning wiUi Lancaster County, Penn-
sylvania, in 'the north. It is one of the largest trees in the United
States, growing to the height of 70 or 80 feet, with a diameter of 8
or 4 feet. Its brown shoots and oval very small buds distinguish tt
in winter. The leaflets are lanceolate, very taper-pointed, regularlv
serrated, and from 3 to 7 in number ; they are quite smooth on each
side, and on vigorous dioots in shady places meir stalks are violet
The fruit is sessile, and varies in form from pyriform to spherical :
its little nuts correspond in this respect with their rind ; they are
scarcely at all angular, and always rounded at the apex, with a sharp
point ; the shell is very thick and hard ; the kernel sweet but small,
and difficult to extract
C. myrigticuBfonnis, Nutmeg Hickory. This is a little brown species,
of which Michaux obtained a single branch with 'about 80 nuts at
Charlestown from a negro gardener, who procured them in the neigh-
bourhood of that city. Its leaves are like those of C. aquatica, but
not quite so long and narrow. The fruit is sessile, oval, tuberculated,
and contains a small smooth brown striated nut, with an exceed-
ingly thick shell, and a very small kernel Elliott, who resided near
Charlestown, and wrote on the plants of Carolina, could never gain
any further inteUigence of this plant.
(Michaux, Arhres ForeHier$ de VAmSrique Septentrionate.)
CABTO'CAB, the only genus of the natural order Rhizohohtcece,
one of whose species yields the Butter-Nuts of the London fruiterers'
shops. One spedes is described by Aublet, tmder the name of Pehea
hutyroea, as a large tree with a trunk 80 feet high, and 3 feet in dia-
meter. The berries are covered by a rind two or three lines thick,
and consisting internally of a buttery yellowish substance, which
mdts between the fingersi, and which is sometimies used in cooking
instead of animal butter. Under the rind lies a stone covered all
over with slender stings, which easily separate, and become very trou-
blesome to those who open the stones ; within is a kidney-shaped
kemd covered with a brownish membrane, and very good to eat ; it
is commoidy served at table. It is called Pekea by the blacks in
the neighbourhood of Oyapoco in French Guyana, where it is mudi
cultivated. The spedes that furnishes the Butter^Nuts of the London
markets is much like this, but is called Tata-youba by the natives
of Quyana, and differs in having no stings upon the surface of the
stone of its fruit : this is the Pekea tubercvUtsa of Aublet ; the Caryo*
cuut tmMx^Uiw,m of modem botanists.
Another species, the Qc^ryocOfr nttct/entm, bears what are called the
Suwarrow, or more properly Saouari, Nuts of commerce. It has only
three leaflets to each leaf, each with a toothed margin and a taper-
pointed extremity ; the flowers are very large, deep brown externally
and rich crimson in the inside; the fruit is in form like an egg,
covered with a thick rough brown rind, beneath which is a soft
greenish buttery substance. The nut has a stinging surface, and
contains a very excellent kernel, from which may be extracted an oil
like that from sweet almonds.
CARYOCATACTES. [NucinuoA.]
Digitized by
Google
791
CARYOCRINITES.
CARYOTA.
;«i
CARYO'CRINITES, a genus of Crinoidea, from the Palaeozoic
Limestone of North America.
CARYOPHYLLA'CEiE, Cloveworis, the Pink Tribe, a natural
order of plants, the type of which may be considered the DiafUhui
caryophylltbS, or Common Garden Pink. It consists of plants having
narrow opposite undivided leaves, arising from tumours at the arti-
culations of the stem ; flowers with a definite number of hypogynoua
stamens ; a fruit with a central placenta, and seeds that usually have
the embryo rolled round mealy albumen. The species are in many
cases m^:« weeds. In no instances have they properties of any im-
portance, being mostly inert ; but are occasionally objects of cmtiva-
tion on account of their pretty flowers, as is the case in the whole
genus JHanihut, and in several species of SUenef Agroitemma, Lychnis,
and Sciponaria. The order has always been divided into two parts,
one of which has the sepals combined into a tube, and the other the
sepals wholly distinct : Dr. Lindley at one time regarded these as
distincb natural orders, the former constituting Silenacea, the latter
AltinacecB, Of these the last^mentioned is very near lUecthracea, and
formerly contained species that are now known to belong to that
order. The other members of this family have relations with Mai-
vacece and Gercmicicta!. The most important application of any of the
species is the use of SajHmaria, Soapwort^ for washing. The order
contains 43 genera and upwards of 1000 species. [Ltchitib ; Sapon-
Silbne; Stellaria; Spergula.]
Lyehuis grand^fiora,
1, Uncxpanded flower ; 3, xalyx ; 3, pistil and stamens ; 4, a petal, with
stamen attached ; 5, anther impree:nated ; 6, a back view of the same ; 7, fruit,
with calyx remaining after impregnation ; 6, the same without the calyx, and
as it opens when mature ; 9, the same cut horizontally.
CARYOTHYLLIA, a genus of Corals of the section MadrephyUvxa
of De Blainville. [Madrbfhtlllsa.]
CARYO'TA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order of
Palms. It has pinnated leaves and wedge-shaped leaflets, strongly
toothed at the extremity ; monoecious polyandrous flowers ; a some-
what peltate stigma; and a 1- or 2-seeded pulpy fruit, with the
embryo near the point of the albumen. The best known species,
Caryota urens, is a native of most of the tropical parts of Asia,
especially in mountainous situations, where, according to Roxburgh,
it grows to be one of the largest of the Palm Tribe. Its trunk is
described as being 60 feet high, thick in proportion, and slightly
marked with annular scars, produced by the fall of its leaves. Its
wood is 80 hard as to be cut with some difficulty, and is consequently
of considerable value, provided the soft sap-wood in the centre is
scraped away. Its leaves are pinnate, the leaflets obliquely triangular,
the apex of the triangle being the point where they are attached to
the stalk ; their end is irregularly toothed, as if bitten or gnawed by
an animal (technically prsemorse) ; and their general appearance is on
this account so remarkable that Rumf compares them not inaptly to
tlie fin of a finh. The mass of flowers (spadix) is said to be from 6 to
16 feet long, divided into many simple branches, which are pretty
thickly covered with innumerable sessile flowers. The fruit is called
a berry, 1 -celled, roundish, about the sIec of a plum, with a thin
yellow rind, so acrid that it produces a severe s^isation of burning
y applied to the skin ; and hence its name, urent. It is generally
stated, apparently upon the authority of Rumf, that this noble species
(hryota went.
Caryota urcra. A portion of the fpadix.
of palm yields no sap fit for manufacture into wine, and that the sa^
obtained from the soft central part of its stem is of such inferi«^r
quality as only to be employetl in tinles of famine. Roxburgh bow-
Digitized by
Google
793
CASCABILLA.
CASTANEA.
•m
ever gives a veiy different account of it. He says : — " This tree is
highly valuable to itto natives of the countries where it grows in
plen^ ; it yields them during the hot season an immense quantity
of toddy, or palm-wine. I have been informed that the best trees
will yield at the rate of 100 pints in the 24 hours. The pith, or fari-
naceous part^ of the trunk of old trees is said to be equal to the best
sago; the natives make it into bread, and boil it into thick gruel I
have reason to believe this substance to be highly nutritious. I have
eaten the gruel, and think it fully as palatable as that obtained from
the Malay countries." This remarkable tree is not uncommon in
ihis country in hoVhouses where palms are cultivated.
CASCARILLA, an aromatic bark yielded by more than one species
of Oroton^ a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Ewphor-
biacece. [Croton.]
CASEARIA, one of the five genera of plants constituting the
natural order SamydaceoB. Several of the species are used medici-
Daily. The leaves of C, utmifolia are astringent, and in the Brazils
are applied to recent wounds. A decoction of the leaves of (7. lingua,
called by the Brazilians Cha de Frade and Ldngua de Fin, is used in
fevers and inflammatory disorders. (7. astringms is used as an external
apphcation on account of its astringent properties. C. Anavinga, an
lodian species, is bitter. The leaves of C. etctdenta are eaten, but the
root is bitter and purgative. (Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom,)
CASHEW-NUT. [ANACARDiAoaB.]
CASS AT A, or Manioc, a nutritious fecula obtained from the roots
of Jairopha or Janipha Manihot, and some allied species. This plant
belongs to the natural order Fiiphorbiacece, and abounds in a highly
poisonous juice, which contains Hydrocyanic or Prussic Acid, so that
vezy small doses produce the most dangerous consequences. The
add however is easily driven off by heat, and consequently there is
no practical difficulty in procuring the nutritious substance in a pure
state. In order to effect this the roots are peeled, well wo^ed, and
then ground between millstones till they are reduced to the state of
paste. This is subjected to pressure for the purpose of depriving it
as far as possible of the juice ; the residue is placed in vessels over a
brisk and r^ular fire, and continually stirred until it becomes dry ;
it then acquires a granular appearance, is gradually cooled, and after-
wards packed in barrels, when it may be preserved for a great length
of time. Half a pound of this substance daily is said to be sufficient
to support a vigorous man. Tapioca is a preparation of Cassava, but
contains less nutritive matter. Tapioca consists almost entirely of
starch.
CA'SSIA (from the Qreek Koaota), a genus of plants belonging to
the natural order Legwninosa. It consists of a lai^ number of
species, chiefl^y inhabiting the tropical or temperate parts of the
world, and including among them the plants that produce the Senna
leaves so commonly employed as a purgitive. The genus Cassia
belongs to the sub-order CcualpiniecB of I^fuminosce, and is character-
ised by De CandoUe as foUows : — Calyx consisting of five sepals which
scarcely adhere at their base, but are more or less irregular. Petals
five, unequal in size; staniens ten, distinct from eadi other; the
three lowest being the longest, the four intermediate ones shorter and
straight, and the three upx)ennost deformed ; such of the anthers as
are perfect open at the point; ovary stalked, usually curved ; legume
variable in form ; the species consist of trees, shruos, or mere herbs ;
the leaves are simply and abruptly pinnated, and usually bear glands
on their stalks ; the leaflets are opposite each other. Between 200
and 300 species are described by botanists.
C. actUifoliaf a small under-shrub, with ovate lanceolate sharp-
pointed leaflets, yeUow flowers in terminal erect racemes, and
oonapressed velvety legumes an inch long and half an inch broad.
It is found wild in Egypt, Sennaar, and Abyssinia, and forms an
unportant article in the conmierce of those cotmtries. It is chiefly
sent to Alexandria for shipment,^ whence it has gained the name of
Alexandrian Senna among the drug-merchants. It is considered the
most valuable of all the sennas.
C. obovaia, Aleppo Senna, has obovate very-blunt leaflets, and
curved pods, with a very slight covering of down. The flowers are
pal^ellow. It is common in the same countries as the last, and
mix^ with it in commerce; it however chiefly constitutes the
Aleppo Senna.
C. lanceolaia. Leaflets veiy narrow and acute; pods piano-
compressed, straightish, a little tumid in the middle. Foimd wild
in Arabia, whence it is exported under the name of Senna of Mecca.
It is a good deal cultivated in India, on which account, and from its
being usually shipped for Europe from Indian ports, it has acquired
the name of East Indian Senna in the market. As a species it
appears to differ very little if at all from C. actUifolia.
Of the different species of Cassia mentioned above only the leaves
are used in medicine. C. FisttUa and other species are now referred
to Cathartocarpus, [Cathartocabpus.]
The le^ets of several different species of Cassia belonging to the
section Senna constitute the various kinds of Senna called Senna
Ieave& In addition to the leaflets, the leaf-stalks and pods are
frequently present, especially in the Alexandrian Senna, which contains
also the leaves and pods of TepJirosia ApoJUnea^ and the leaves, but
rarely the follicles, of Cynanchwm Arghel, Delile {C. oleafolium,
Nectoux), a plant belonging to the natural order Apoq/naccas,
; which possesses deleterious properties. The leaves of this last-named
\ plftat constitute two parts in ten of the Senna of Alexandria. The
Tripoli Senna is free from it, as is likewise the Trinivelly Senna,
which is now the best and cheapest in the markets of this country,
and should always be preferred, as much of the griping tendency ot
common Senna is due to the presence of the Argel leaves. The Senna
Leaves met with in the continental markets or shops are frequently
adulterated with the leaves and berries of the Ccridria myrttfolia, a
very poisonous plant.
When free from adulterations, Senna furnishes a most valuable
pui^gative medicine ; but when impure, its action is accompanied with
nausea, griping, and other unpleasant symptoms. It is desirable
therefore to free it from impurities before administering it or sub-
jecting it to the action of water to form an infusion. [Senna, in Arts
AND Sc. Drv.]
CASSIA BUDS. The unexpended flowers, when they have
attained about a fourth of their complete size, of a species of Cinna-
momwn, are collected and sold imder this name. Much diversity of
opinion exists respecting the particular species of plant which yields
this article. Professor C. G. Nees von Esenbeck (who is perhaps the
best authority^ says it is chiefly C. aromaticum (Nees), and partially
(7. dtdce (Nees), Lcmrus dtUcis (Roxb.), dnnamomum Chinense (Blum.);
while Dr. Th. Fr. Ludwig Nees von Esenbeck ascribes it to Lauras
TamcUa (Hamilton, 'Linn. Trans.* xiii. p. 556, the L. Cassia, 'Hort
Beng.'), and Dierbach to the Z. Cttbeba (Lour.), which last supposition
is at variance with the statement of Louriero (' Flora Cochmensis/
p. 310), respecting the action of the berries of that species.
Cassia Buds have the appearance of nails with heads of different
sizes and shapes, according to the period of growth when collected.
But an artificial process is employed by the Chinese collectors, of
pressing the top against a flat hard body, by which the ovary or fruit
is prevented falling out. Externally they are of a dark or grayish-
brown ; the fruit, which is within, is of a bright brown. The taste
and odour resemble cinnamon. By distillation they yield a heavy
yellowish-coloured oil. It was at one time supposed that an inferior
sort, neai'ly devoid of taste, which is met with in commerce, was the
genuine, which had been previously deprived of its oil ; but Martius
showed that this was a spurious kind, which is distinguished from
the true by having the upper part of the calyx marked by six slits or
incisions. It is moreover not so round as the true sort, and in
furnished with a longer foot-stalk. It should be remembered that
the term Cassia used here has no relation to the genus which yields
the Sennas of commerce. [Cassia.]
The uses of Cassia Buds are the same as those of cinnamon and
doves.
CA'SSICUS, a genus of Passerine Birds, of the family Conirostres,
allied to the Beef-Eaters and Starlings. They are distinguished,
among other characters, by their large, conical, and sharply pointed
beaks. The species of Cassicus are all inhabitants of America. They
are gregarious, and feed upon grain and insects.
CA'SSIDA, a genus of Coleopterous Insects of the family Cauidiadas,
It has the foUowing characters : — Body generally somewhat oval or
orbicular, and sometimes nearly square : thorax semicircular or
forming the segment of a circle, the mai^gins projecting considerably
beyond and covering the head ; the elytra also have the margins
projecting, and forming as it were a kind of shield to the b(3y;
mandibles with several small notches ; the anterior maxillary lobe as
long as the inner one.
CASSIDI'ADuE, Leach {CassidaruB, Latreille), a family of Coleop-
terous Insects of the section Cyclica of Latreille. [Ctcuca.]
The species of this family are distinguished by their having the
antennse rather short> filiform or slightly thickened towards the apex,
placed on the anterior part of the head, and almost close togeUier.
The legs are short and contractile ; the tarsi are flattened, soft, and
velvet-like beneath; the penultimate joint bilobed, the lobes completely
inclosing the terminal joint ; body generally very flat
CASSOWARY. [Struthionidjb.]
CASTA'NEA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Corylacea, one of the species is the Sweet Chestnut. From the
similarity in their name one would be disposed to believe that the
genus to which Horse-Chestnuts belong was nearly related to this ;
they are however extremely different in everything except the un-
important circumstances of the fruit of both being prickly ; and even
in regard to this, their resemblance is more apparent than real, for the
prickly part of the fruit of Castanea is an involucre, while that of
the Horse-Chestnut is a pericarp ; and the so-called seeds of Casia/nca
are seed-vessels, while the parts which in the Horse-Chestnut correspond
with these are really seedis. [iEscuLUS.]
C, vesca (C. v^aris, Ltun.), the Sweet Chestnut, or Spanish
Chestnut, is a deciduous tree of considerable size, with long snining
serrated sharp-pointed leaves, clusters of long spikes of pale greenish-
yellow unisexual minute flowers, having no corolla, and fruits con-
sisting of a roundish prickly hui^ or involucre, technically called a
cupula, and analogous to the cup of the acorn or the beard of the
filbert, in which are contained one or more dark-brown ovate sharp-
pointed nuts, each of which conceals a lai^e single seed, and is tipped
by the remains of several rigid styles. The seeds contain a lai^
quantity of nutritive starchy matter, of a sweet flavoiiTi on which
Digitized by
Google
795
CASTANOSPERMUM.
CATALPA.
79C
account Cheatnuts are extensively used as food in the couutiicd where
the tree abounds. In all Spain, the southern parts of France, Italy,
and the adjacent countries, Sweet Chestnuts, either raw, or roasted,
or ground into flour, or prepared in some other way, form a common
article of diet. It is however not the wild Cattanea which furnishes '
the nuts that are principally consumed in the south of Europe, and
exclusively exported to more northern countries, but a number of
cultivated varieties, the nuts of which are larger, and the seeds
sweeter; of these the most remarkable are the Corive, the Ganiaude,
the Egalade, and the Marron Comu of the south of France. The
Sweet Chestnut is a native of all the southern parts of Europe,
extending eastward to the Caucasus, beyond which it hardly passes
in Asia. In North America it occurs wild in great abundance in the
hilly and mountainous parts of Virginia, the two Carolinas, and
Georgia, as well as other districts, not however reaching beyond New
Hampshire to the north. Michaux distinguishes the American from
the European Chestnut as a peculiar species, but hardly upon sufficient
Cunds. It is always included as a wild plant in our English Floras,
; upon no sort of authority. It is said mdeed that its timber forms
a considerable part of our oldest building and that it has been
ascertained to be the material out of which were constructed the
ancient piles that have from time to time been taken from the Thames,
the roof of Westminster Abbey, the church of St. Nicholas at Great
Yarmouth, erected in the reign of William Ruf us, and the timbers of
other places; but these statements have arisen from the singular
mistake of confounding the timber of Quercus tetailijlora with that of
Coitan^a vesca ; it is to the former that are to be referred all the
supposed cases of ancient chestnut wood found in English buildings.
[Quercus.] The Sweet Chestnut in its wild state acquires an unusual
size. On ^tna, where it constitutes forests, there are trees of great
antiquity, one of which, called the Hundred-Horse Chestnut, from
its being able to contain a hundred mounted men in its hollow, has or
had a circumference of above 160 feet ; and in the department of the
Cher, near Sancerre, there is still standing a tree of this species, which
at 6 feet from the groimd measures more than 30 feet in circum-
ference, and is to eJl appearance still sound. It is stated that 600
rears ago this was called the Great Chestnut-Tree, and its actual age
18 computed at 1000 years. The wood of the chestnut is well suited
for paling or piles, as it resists well the influence of water ; it is also
used for mill-timber and for water'-works, but it is not in this country
of much importance.
Several varieties are cultivated in this country, among which are a
shimng-leaved, a variegated, and a cut-leaved sort; they are multiplied
by gracing on the common Sweet Chestnut.
C. pumilaf the Chinquapin-Nut, is a shrub rather than a tree,
with leaves hoary on the underside, and small sweet nuts. It is a
native of the United States of North America, especially in damp
mountainous situations on a gravelly soil.
There are other species in India and on the west coast of North
America.
CASTANOSPEIIMUM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural
order Leffuminoao!. The only known species of this genus is described
as forming a tree firom 80 to 40 feet high in the forests near Moreton
Bay in Australia. It has unequally-pinnated leaves, with elliptical
ovate acuminate entire smooth leaflets. The flowers are papiliona-
ceous, and bright saffix)n-yellow. The pods are large, solitary, and
pendulous, produced by the two-years'-old wood, obtuse, rather
mflated, and containing from S to 6 lai|^ chestnut-like seeds. The
shade i^orded by the foliage is said to excel that of most Australian
trees. By the natives the seeds are eaten on all occasions : they have
when roasted the flavour of a Spanish chestnut, and travellers assert
that Europeans who have subsisted upon them have experienced no
other unpleasant efiect than a slight pain in the bowels, and that
only when the seeds are eaten raw. They are however hard,
astringent, and not at~ all better than acoma (Hooker, Botanical
Miscellany.)
CA'STNIA, a genus of Lepidopterous Insects. [SPHiNOiD-fi.]
CASTOR. [Beaver.]
CASTOR, a colourless, transparent, feldspar-like mineral from EHba.
Its hardness is 6*5 and specific gravity 2'38 to 2*4. It has the follow-
ing composition : —
Snica 780
Alumina . 18*9
Oxides of Iron and Manganese . . . 1'6
Lithia, Potash, and Soda . . . 2*8
CASTOREUM. [Beaver.]
CASUARINA'CEiE, a natural order of Incomplete Exogens,
whose branches are in all cases long, drooping, green, and wiry, with
very small scale-like sheaths, in the room of leaves. The flowers are
unisexual, and disposed in verticillate spikes ; they have neither calyx
nor corolla, are monandrous, and their ovaries are lenticular, with a
solitary erect ovule. The fruit consists of hardened bracts, inclosing
the small fruits, which are winged. This very small family, which is
exclusively Asiatic, Australasian, and Polynesian, is allied to Myricacece
and Betulacea:. In habit and in their striated stems Casuarinacece are
■ike the arborescent species of EquiMttum. The timber of some species
forms the Beef-Wood of the New South Wales colonists, and is of
excellent quality. The young branches and cones of Catwirina
quadrivalviiy the She-Oak, when chewed yield a pleasant acid. Cattle
are said to be fond of them. The only genus is Catwirvna, of which
about 20 species have been described.
The She-Oak {^Cuiuarina quadncahi$).
1, Mole flowers; 2, one of the same; 3, bracts; 4, male flower, without iu
bracts ; 5, female flowers ; 6, section of the same ; 7, one of the same ; 8, »ce.
tion of the cone; 9, capsule; 10, the same opened; 11, section of the same;
1 2, a bractea ; 1 3, seed ; 1 4, section of the same ; 1 5, seed without an envelope ;
16, embryo.
CAT. [FeuDJS.]
CATABRO'SA, a genus of plants belongmg to the natural order of
Grasses, and to the tribe Festucinea of that order. It has unequal
very short glumes, rounded or truncate, without lateral ribs, much
shorter than the spikelet ; the flowers usually two, rounded on the
back, distant ; the outer palea membranous, with three ribs ending
in teeth, whidi do not quite extend to the summit, and are connected
by the scarious mai^gin ; the styles terminal ; the upper glume has
two very short faint lateral nerves, the awn absent. This is agenui
formed by Palisot de Beauvois, and adopted by Babington in hii
' Muiual of British Botany.' The only British spedes is the C. <iqwi,-
ilea ; it has an equal panicle, with half-whorls of patent branches,
and obtuse broadly linear leave& It is found in ponds and ditches
and wet sands. (Babington, Manual of Brit, BoL)
CATALPA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Biffnoniacece. It has a 2-parted calyx; campanulate ooroUa, with s
ventricose tube, and an unequal 4-lobed limb; 6 stamens, two of
which are fertile, the other three sterile; tiie atigma bilamellste;
Digitized by
Google
W!
CATAPHRACTUS.
CEATJ'OTHUS.
708
the capsule silique-formed, long, cylindrical, 2-valyed; the disaepi-
ment opposite the valves ; the seeds membranous at the margin, with
pappus at the base and apex. The species are trees with simple
leaves, opposite or disposed three in a whorl ; the flowers terminal,
panicled.
C. tyringctfcUa has flat cordate leaves, three in a whorl. This plant
is a native of North America, and is found on the banks of the Ohio,
Mississippi, and Delaware, also in the forests on the Wabash in
Illinois, where it occurs in so great abimdance that the wood is cut
up for palings. It is a low-spreading singular-looking tree, with suc-
culent shootai, easily injured by the frost. The leaves are large and
come out late ; the petals are white, spotted with purple and yellow.
It is a plant well adapted for laige shrubberies. There is one in the
gardens of Gray's Inn, which is said to have been planted by Lord
Bacon. The name of the genus appears to have been derived from
the plant growing on the banks of the Catawba River. It does not bear
fruit in this country.
(7. longuaima has oblong or ovate-lanceolate leaves, acuminated,
three in a whorl, undulated. It is a tree 80 or 40 feet in height It
contains much tannin in its bark. It is known in the West Indies,
by the name of French Oak, and the French call it Chdne Noir.
There are several other species of Catalpa, all elegant plants. The
C. tyrmgcefolia thrives well in common garden soil, and may be pro-
pagated by seeds or divisions of the root. The other species grow
well in a mixture of loam, peat, and sand, or any light rich soil.
Cuttings half-ripened root readily if planted in sand with a hand-glass
over them.
CATAPHRACTUS, a genus of Fishes to which some Icthyologista
refer the Armed Bull-Head. [Aspidophorus.]
CATA'STOMUS, a genus of Fishes belonging to the Abdominal
Malaeopterygii and family Oyprinidce. The fishes of this genus are
peculiar to the rivers of North America, and the species may be dis-
tinguished from others of the Carp section by their having the lips
thick and pendent, and crenated or fringed at the edges ; Qxe dorsal
fin shorty as in the genus Ltuciscua (which contains the Roach, Dace,
&c), and opposite to and above the ventral fins. M. Lesueur describes
17 species of this genus in the ' Journal of the Academy of Natural
Sciences of Philadelphia.'
CATCHFLT, a name applied to several plants which have the pro-
perty of retaining insects, either by their viscid surface or by some
other meana In Apocynum cmdroscemifoliumf and some others, they
are caught in the hairs that clothe the mouth of the corolla ; in SUene
by the glutinous substance that exudes from the calyx ; in Du)n€ea
by the collapsing of the two sides of the irritable-toothed leaves.
[Silene; Diok&a.; LTcmns.]
CATECHU, an extractive matter containing large quantities of
tannin, obtained from species of Acacia. [Acacia.]
CATENI'PORA, a genus of Corals found only in the PalcDOzoio
Strata, and in Britain only in Silurian Rocks. [Madrephtllkea.]
CATERPILLAR, a name given to the larva state of Butterflies and
Moths. [Larva.]
CAT-FISH. [ANARRraCAB.]
CATHA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order CeUutra-
cetK. C, ediUis is the Kat or Kh&t of the Arabs. '' It would appear,"
says Dr. Lindley, " to be of a stimulating character. According to
Forekiihl the Arabs eat the green leaves with greediness, believing
them to have the power of causing extreme watchfulness, so that a
man may stand sentry all night long without drowsiness. They also
regard it as an antidote to the plague, and assert that a person wearing
a twig of it in his bosom may go among the infected with impunity ;
they even believe that the plague cannot appear in places where the
tree is cultivated." ('Vegetable Kingdom,' p. 687.) At the same
time Forakahl adds, ''The taste of the leaves does not seem to indicate
such virtues."
CATHARTOCARPUS (from xaeaipa, to purge, and Kdfnros, fruit),
a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Leguminoace. It has
very blunt sepals, hardly joined at the base, more or less unequal ;
5 unequal petals; 10 unequal free stamens, the three lower one^
longest, the four middle ones short and straight, the three upper ones
bearing abortive difformed anthers ; the anthers ovate, opening by
two chinks at the apex ; the ovary stipitate ; the legumes terete or a
little compressed, indehiscent, woody with elevated sutures, trans-
versely many-celled inside, the cells 1-seeded and filled with pulp ;
the seeds elliptic, rather compressed, horizontal The species are trees
with abruptly-pinnate leaves and racemes of large yellow flowers. In
appearance they are not unlike the Common Laburnum when in
flower. This genus of plants was formerly comprehended under
Cattia [Cassia], but was separated by Peraoon, who has been followed
by Lindley, Ivees von Esenbeck, and others. The habit of these
trees and the character of their fruit differ from the species of Cassia.
It is also undoubtedly desirable that a genus like Cassia^ with nearly
200 species, should be subdivided.
p. Fistula, the Purging Cassia, or Pudding Pipe-Tree, has leaves
with 4-6 pairs of ovate rather acuminated glabrous leaflets; the
petioles glandless ; the racemes loose, bractless ; the legumes cylin-
drical, rather obtuse, smooth. It is supposed to have been originally
a native of tropical Africa, but is now extensively difiiised over the
globe, and is found abundsxntly in Hindustan, China, the East Indian
Islands, the West Indies, and South America. It is a tree from 30 to
40 feet high, with yellow flowers and long cylindrical black pods, from
9 inches to 2 feet in length. The valves of this pod are thin,
hard, and brittle ; and its cavity is divided by numerous thin brittle
transverse dissepiments ; the partitions thus formed have each a single
hard flattened ovate seed, surrounded by a soft pulp. The pulp has
a sweetish flat not unpleasant taste, and is separated by boiling the
pod in water, straining the fluid, and then evaporating it to the con-
sistence of a thick extract. This extract acts as a mild purgative on
the system, and was long in great repute in Europe on that account.
It is now however seldom used ; and although admitted into the lists
of Materia Medica of the British Pharmacopoeias, is only placed there
as entering into the composition of the Electuarium Cassiss and the
Confectio Semue. The pulp, according to Henry, consists of 61 per
cent, of sugar, 6*75 of gum, and 18'25 of tannin. It probably, idso
contains Cathartine or an analogous principle.
C. Javanicusj Horse-Cassia, has leaves with 12-15 pairs of ovate
obtuse glabrous leaflets ; glandless petioles ; axillary racemes ; nearly
cylindrical, very long, and transversely torose legumes. It is a native
of Java and the Moluccas. Its legumes are above two feet in length,
and contain a black cathartic pulp, which is used as a horse-medicine
in the East Indies. G. Don has described a species of Cathartocarpus
(C. conspicuus), which is a native of Sierra-Leone, where the pods
are called Monkey Drum-Sticks.
(Christison, XHspensatory ; Don, Gardai^s Dictionary.)
C ATILLUS, a fossil genus of Bivalve Shells, allied to OretuUida and
Pema, so named by Cuvier and Brongniart In the Chalk occur
species of large size, remarkable for their largely fibrous texture.
They have also been called from this circumstance JnoceraiMu by
Sowerby, who includes in the genus one si)ecies from the Lias and
others from the Gault.
CATKIN, in Botany, a kind of inflorescence which difiers from the
spike in nothing but its falling off the stem by an articulation, after
its temporary office as the support of the organs of reproduction is
accomplished. It occurs in the willow, the poplar, the birch, &c.,
which hence are sometimes called Ajnentaceous plants, amerUum
being the Latin name of the catkin.
CATLINITE, a form of argillaceous mineral called Pipestone by
the North American Indians. It comes from the Coteau des Prairies,
and is a red claystone or compacted clay. A similar material is now
accumulating on the north shore of Lake Superior, at Nepigon Bay.
Another variety is used by the Indians of uie north-west coast of
America. (Dana, Mineralogy.)
CAT-MINT. [Nepbta.]
CATOBLEPAS. [Antilopea]
CAT'S-ETE, a form of Chalcedony, of a greenish-gray colour,
having a peculiar opalescence, or glaring internal reflections, like the
eye of a cat : the effect is owing to filaments of asbestos. It comes
from Ceylon and Malabar, and possesses considerable value as a gem.
(Dana, Mineralogy.)
CAT'S-TAIL GRASS, the common name of PUewm pratense, an
agricultural plant, also called Timothy Grass. [Phleum.]
CAU'CALIS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Umbellifercg, the su&order Campylospermea:, and the tribe Oaucalinece.
It has a calyx of five teeth, the petals obcordate, with an inflexed
point, outer ones radiant and bifid, the point slightly lateraUy
compressed, the carpels with filiform bristly primaiy and more or
less prominent secondary ridges, all bearing 1-8 rows of prickles.
The species are herbs, with multiplied leaves and white flowers.
They are called by the common name of Bur-Parsley. Two of the
species are found in England, C. daucoides and O, UAifclia. They are
found in corn-fields on chalky soils ; the last is a rare plant, and has
been probably introduced. (Babington, Manual of British Botany.)
CAUDISONA. [Viperidje.]
CAULERPITES, a group of Fossil Fucoid Plants, of which niany
species occur scattered through nearly all the marine formations.
In the Oolites seven species have been found. The recent genus
Caukrpa is found in warm southern climates.
CAULIFLOWER. [Brassioa.]
CAULINIA, a genus of aquatic plants, belonging to the natural
order Naiadacem. One of the species, C. fragUiSj exhibits a circula-
tion in its transparent joints, and was one of the first plants in which
this phenomenon was noticed by Amici, and also probably by Costa.
CAVIA. [Cavy.]
CAYT is the vulgar name applied to various species of animals
belonging to the genus Coma. Of these the most common is C. Aperea^
the Restless Cavy, or Guinea Pig. An account of this animal, with
the species to which it is aUied, will be found under Htsteicida
CAWK. [Barttes.]
CAYENNE PEPPER. [Capsicum.]
CAYMAN. [ALLIOATOR.J
CEANOTHUS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
MamnaceoB, The calyx is 6-cleft, campanuLite, cut round after
flowering, with the base permanent and adhering to the fniit ; petals
hooded, with long spreading claws; fruit dry, 8-celled, loculicidal,
with papery valves : cells 1-seeded. The species are smooth or
{>ubescent shrubs, with erect branches ; alternate serrated 8-nerved
eaves ; and very slender white blue or yellow flowers, disposed in
Digitized by
Google
7M
CEBADILLA.
CECIDOMYIA.
800
terminal panicleBy or in axillary racemes. They are nativea of North
America.
C. Americanust Red Root, New Jersey Tea, has ovate acuminate
serrated leaves, pubescent beneath; flowers arranged in axillary
ebngated thyrses, with a pubescent rachis. An infusion of the twigs
of this plant is used in Canada for venereal diseases. During one of
the wars with America the leaves of this plant were used in New
Jersey as a substitute for tea. It dves wool of a fine strong nankin-
cinnamon colour, and is a beautiful shrub when in flower.
There are several other species of this genus, natives of North and
South America. They are small neat shrubs, with large red roots,
which give them the name of Red Root. They grow very well in this
coimtry, and may be planted in any common garden soil, and form
proper plants for the front of a shrubbery. They may be propagated
by hkyers or seeds. Those from Mexico and the greenhouse soecies
must be protected from frost during the winter. Cuttings will root
in sand under a hand-glass.
(Lindley, Flora Medica ; Don, Gardener^s Dictionary.)
. CEBADI'LLA, CEVADILLA, or SABADILLA, the Spanish-Mexi-
can name for a species of Veratrvm, the seeds of which are an article
of considerable importance in couBequence of their having been found
to contain a considerable quantity of V eratria. Much interest has been
excited about this drug, from the obscurity that is supposed to hang
about its origin. It has always been understood to come from Mexico.
Retzius, who fii*st referred the Cebadilla to Veratrum, had no better
materials to describe it from than a bit of the inflorescence which he
foimd among a sample of the seeds. Smith, imder Veratmm (in 1819),
traced out its synonyms in Rees's * Cyclopaedia,' but without throwing
much light upon its history. F^e, in 1828, knew no more about it
than what Retzius had stated, adding that the meamng of the word
waB Little Oat — ^^Cebadilla being a diminution of Cebada, the Spanish
for Oat. He considered it was fit for use as a horse-medicine, and to
destroy vermuL At a later period Descourtilz referred, in his ' Blore
des Antilles,' the Veratrum SdbadUla of Retzius to a West Indian
plant; and shortly after it was ascertained that there was also a
Mexican Cebadilla, which corresponded entirely with the seeds of the
shops. Thus again Mexico was fixed as the undoubted origin of that
valuable production in which the principle Veratria ia foimd more
concentrated than in any known plant. Dr. Schiede discovered it in
grassy places near the Hacienda de la Laguna in Barranca de Tioselo,
on the eastern declivity of the Mexican table-laud ; and it has been
since described by Schlechtendahl and Chamisso under the name of
Veratrum officinale, Lindley has constituted a new genus for this
plant, and calls it Asagrcea officinalit. It has the following charac-
ters : — Root bulbous ; plant usually growing in tufts ; leaves linear,
tapering to the point, even, quite smooth, entire, channeled on the
upper side, keeled at the beick, four feet long, rather weak ; scape
naked, as high as a man, quite simple, terminated by a raceme a foot
and a half long ; perianth deeply 6-parted, spreading, yellowish, small,
persistent, with thick blunt linear segments, of whidh three are rather
broader than the others ; filaments six, somewhat club-shaped, yel-
lowish, inserted into the base of the perianth, the three that are oppo-
site to the broader segments rather longer than the others, and all
longer than the perianth ; anthers rather large, yellow, cordate at the
base, obtuse ; pollen yellow ; ovary superior, consLsting of three car-
pels united by their sutures ; styles very short ; fruit tricapsular, the
capsules adhering by their suture, but readily separated ; lower flowers
hermaphrodite and fertile, upper male, and sterile on account of the
abortion of the ovary ; flowers have the smell of the Common Bar-
berry. This plant produces the true Mexican CebadiUa or Sabadilla,
which is now extensively employed in making the alkaloid Veratria.
But in the shops there appear to be seeds of two distinct species, one
of which is the V. Sabadilla, the other the plant now described, which
differs in having linear keeled channeled, and not ribgrass-like leaves,
yellow and not purple flowers, segments of the perianth linear and
shorter than the filaments, and not ovate or lanceolate, and longer
than the filaments. Nearly related to this is a F. frigidum, found in
the alpine regions of Orizaba, where it flowers in September : this
has blackish-brown flowers, and ia reckoned a poisonous plant by the
Mexicans, who call it Sevoeja. It is referred by Lindley to the genus
Ildoniat. [Verateum; Helonias.]
CEBRIONITES (Latreille), a family of Coleopterous Insects
belonging to the section Malacoderma. It has the following cha-
racters:— Body generally somewhat oval and convex; wing-cases
rather soft and flexible; thorax broader than long, widest at the
base, and with the hinder angles acute, or produced into a spine.
Antennae generally longer than the h^ and thorax; mandibles
terminating in a simple point; joints of the palpi of nearly equal
thickness ; legs moderate, not contractile.
The species of this family are frequently found upon plants in
marshy situations, but very little is known of their habits; their
larvae are supposed to live in the ground, and very probably subsist
on the roots of planta
The genus Cebrio is distinguished from other genera of this family
by having all the joints of the tarsi entire, and without any velvet-
like pjellets beneath, and the posterior thighs of the same size as the
anterior. About ten species of this genus have been discovered,
most of which are peculiar to Europe. Oehrio gigaa,^. species not
uncommon in France, is about three-quarters of an inch in length,
and of a pale brownish-yellow colour. In the male the head and
thorax and the logs (excepting the thighs) are black ; the head and
thorax are thickly punctured, and together with the elytra, which
are striated, are covered with small yellowiah hairs; the antenna
are long, and if extended backwards would reach about half way
down the elytra. In tiie female there is so striking a difierence in
this oigan, as to cause that sex to be mistaken for a distinct speciea :
here the antennae are very short, and if extended backwards would
not reach farther than the base of the thorax ; the basal joint is much
longer than the other ; the fourth and following joints are short,
thick, and joined closely together. The legs of Uie female are abo
shorter and thicker in proportion than in the other sex.
It is said that the European species of this genus appear iu great
numbers afber heavy rains.
During lir. Eirby's observations he discovered no leas than three
parasites, belonging to the Icknewntmidat on the larva of the iuaect
in question, wmoh accounts for the great diSerenoe between the
number of larvae and that of the pupae.
CECIDOMYIA, a genus of Two-Winged Flies, belonging to the
order Diptera and the family TiptdidoB. It ia known by the following
characters : — Wings resting horizontally, and having 3 longitudinal
nervurea ; head hemispherical : antennae as long as the body, and
generally 24-jointed, the joints hairy (in the females 14-jointed) ;
the 2 basal joints short; l^s long, basal joint of the tarsi very
short, second long.
lir. Stephens, in his ' Catalogue of British Insects,' enumerates 26
species of this genus. They are always of small size, and many of
them deposit their eggs on the yoim^ buds of various kinds of plants,
where the larva is hatched, and transforms them into galhs, in which
it subsists and iindeigoes its metamorphosis.
C. aalieina is conmion in France on willows in the month of May;
it is of a blackish colour, covered with fine velvet-like hairs ; Uie
antennae have 20 joints ; the wings are slightly obscure and downy ;
length one-sixth of an inch.
This little fly fixes each of its eggs on a bud of the willow in the
month of June. The bud at the time of its evolution, near the end
of the month, instead of putting forth its branch, becomes enlai^gwl
at the base, and ultimately forms a gall in which the lanra is
lodged, nourished, and undergoes its metamorphosis : the larra is of
a reddish-yellow colour, and assumes the pupa state in the winter,
when the gall is become of a large size.
Other species of Cecidomyia produce similar deformities upon
various parts of many species of plants, and resemble in this part of
their habits the CynipidcB among the Hymenoptera.
C. Tritici {Tipnla Tritici, Kirby), an insect commonly known hy
the name of the Wheat-Fly, has occupied much of the attention of
entomologists. Kirby published two accoimts of its habits in the
'Linnaean Transactiona' (vol. iv.).
This little fly is about one-twelfth of an inch in lengtJi, and of a
reddish-yellow colour; the wings are milk-white, and exhibit the
prismatic colours in certain lights : the eyes are black. The Wh«it-
Fly may be observed sometimes in the greatest abundance flying
about wheat-fields in the month of June. It generally makes itd
appearance about seven or eight o'clock in the evening. " Although,"
says Mr. Kirby, " these insects are so numerous in the evening, yet
in the morning not a single one is to be seen upon the wing ; they do
not hpwever then quit the field which is the scene of their employ-
ment, for upon shaking tiie stalks of the wheat or otherwise disturb-
ing them they will fly about near the ground in great numbers. I
found their station of repose to be upon the lower part of the cuhn
with their heads upwards." The fly totally disappears by the end of
June. According to Kirby, it is about eight o'clock in the evening
that they deposit their eggs. He has seen as many as twelve sped-
mens thus occupied at the same time on a single ear, and observes
that these flies are sometimes so numerous that, were all to lay their
eggs and these to hatch, one-half of the grain would be des^yed.
The eggs are deposited by means of a long pointed and contractile
tube, or ovipositor, generally upon the interior valvule of the corolla,
just above the stigmata ; and it occasionally happens that the fly is
unable to retract its ovipositor, and being thus held prisoner it dies.
About the middle of June tiie larvae are hatched, and may be seen
adhering to the lower end of one of the anthers, and sometimes
immersed in the woolly sunmiit of the germen, or in the interior of
the valvulae of the corolla. These larvae are simple minute grubs,
without legs or any visible head, and of a yellowish colour; and their
food consists of the pollen of the anthers, which it appears in the
plants thus attacked is unfit for impregnation.
The pupae are of a reddish colour, and in number bear no proportion
to that of the larvae. "I have seen," says Mr. Blirby, "more than
once, seven or eight florets in an ear inhabited by the latter, and
sometimes so many as thirty in a single floret, seldom less than eight
or nine, and yet I have scarcely ever found more than one pupa in an
ear, and had to examine several to meet with that. .... ^^
pupae that I have observed have generally been somewhat attached
to the grain, and, what is worthy of notice, I never observed them
within those florets where the larvae had taken up their residence ;
they seem invariably to choose for their habitation, in their immediate
Digitized by
Google
801
CfiCILIID^.
CfiDRELACEiS:.
Ml
state, one where the grain ia uninjured, to which they may attach
themBelves."
In a field of 15 acres (planted partly with white and partly with
red wheat), which Mr. Kirby carefully examined, and which was
much attacked by these insects, lie calculated that tiie havoc done by
them would amount to five combs ; he observed that the wl^te wheat
was most efiected.
CECILIID^ (properly C JBCILUD^E), a family of Reptiles, which
some naturalists have considered as belonging to the Batrachiuis, but
which Cuvier, following Linnaeus, places in his third and last family
(Les Serpents Nub) of the Ophidians, observing that those who placed
it among the Batrachians did so without knowing whether the form
underwent a metamorphosis or not. In the 'British Museum Catalogue'
of Amphibia it stands as a family of the third order of that class
{Pteudophidia), The following synopsis of the genera is given in the
same work : —
A, Muzzle pitted.
1. CkeeUia : the pit under each nostriL
2. Sipkonopi : the pit before each eye ; body with broad rings.
8. lehihyophis : the pit before each eye ; body with narrow rings.
JB, Muzzle not pitted.
4. Hhinatrema,
Ccgciiia was named by LimuBus from the supposed blindness of the
ipedea The eyes in fact are exceedingly small, and nearly hidden
under the skin. Cuvier observes that in some species these organs
are wanting altogether ; and the following is his description of the
rus : — The skin is smooth, viscous, and striated with annular folds,
would appear altogether naked, but on dissection scales well
formed are K>und in its thickness ; but these scales are delicate, and
disposed regularly in many transverse rows between the wrinkles of
the skin, as Cuvier himiBelf saw with certainty in O, glutinoia,
C. aUnvenirit, and other species. The head is depressed; the
vent is round, and very near the end of the body ; the ribs are toa
short to circiunvent the trunk, and the articulation of the bodies of
the vertebras is effected by facets with hollow cones, the depression
m which is filled with a gelatinous dutilage, as in the Fishes and in
some of the Batrachians. Their skull is united to the first vertebra
by two tubercles, as in the Batrachians, a mode of union approached
by the Amphisbcence onlv among Serpents. Their maxillary bones
coTer the orbit, which is only pierced in the form of a small hole,
and the temporal bones cover the temporal fossa, so that the head
when examined from above presents only a continuous bony shield.
Their os hyoides, composed of three pairs of arches, may have led to
the supposition that m early youth the bones supported gills. The
maxillary and palatal teeth are arranged on two concentric lines, as
in the Protei, but are often sharp and curved backwards, as in the
true serpents. The opening of the nostrils is at the back of the
paUte, and the lower jaw has no moveable pedicle, while the tym-
panic bone is dovetailed (enchass^) with the other bones into the
^hield of the skulL The only ossiculum auditus, or auditorjr bone,
u a small plate upon the fenestra ovalis, as is the case with the
Salamanders.
Bknll of a speeies of Geeilia,
The auricle of the heart in these animals is not divided sufficiently
deep to be regarded as double, but the second lung is as small as it
usually is in the other serpents. The liver is divided into a great
number of transverse leaves (feuillets). In their intestines Cuvier
Ktates that there is to be found a quantity of vegetable matters,
vegetable earth, and sand
The following species are given in the 'British Museum Catalogue :' —
C. gracilis, a native of South America. It is the C. vermiformis of
Shaw. ^
C. tentacukUa, It is the C. albiventris of Daudin.
C. compreMHcauda, a native of Guyana.
C. rostrata, a native of South America.
C. oxywcL, from Malabar.
C. tqualoioma, fix>m Africa.
There are two species of Siphonopi : —
S. inierrupta {C. ommuUUa, Mikan). It is a native of the Brazils.
S. Mexicana is a species found in Mexico.
The ^nus Ickihyophis has but one species, the /. glvtinotut
{C. gluttnoia of linncBus). It is a native of Ceylon.
MAX, BIBI. DIV. TOL. I.
The 0. bivUtata of Cuvier constitutes the genus Jihinatrenuk
The only species, R biviUatwn, is a native of Cayenne.
QBeilia MetMota, Cavier (Jlhinatrtma bUfitUdum, Domeril).
CECROPIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Afiocarpaee€B, C. pelttUa yields from its juice caoutdiouc. The bark is
astringent The stems are hollow; and its light porous wood is
used by the natives of the countries where it grows to give light by
friction. It is a native of South America.
CECROPS, a genus of Entomostracous Oruttacecif the type of the
CecropidcB, a family of the Poecilopoda, [Poboilopoda.]
CEDAR-BIRD. [Boicbtoilla.1
CEDAR-TREEa [Abies.]
CEDRELA, a genus of plants, the type of the natural order
Ced^rtlacea. It has the following characters: — Calyx 5-toothed;
petals adnate to the torus; stamens 5, distinct; capsule 5-celledy
^-valved ; seeds numerous, on each side of the dissepiment ending in
a wing.
C, Toona, Bastard Cedar, has lanceolate leaflets, acuminate, entire,
pale glaucous beneath. It is a native of the East Indies, where it is
called Toon. It has an erect trunk of great height and size, with
smooth grav bark. The flowers are very numerous, sinall, white,
fngnnt, like honey. The seeds are numerous, imbricated,
winged The bark is a powerful astringent, and is said to be a good
substitute for Peruvian Bark in the cure of periodic diBeasos. Dr.
Blume used it in Java with much success in the various forms of
fever, dysentery, diarrhoea, kc Horsfield also used it in dysentery.
C. odorata has leaflets ovate-lanceolate, entire, on short stalks. It is
a native of Barbadoes and the Caribbee Islands. It is a large tree with
a rough bark. Hie fruit is about the size of a partridge-egg. When
fresh liie bark and berries smell like assafcetida. The trunk ie
hollowed out into canoes. The wood is of a brown colour and has
a fragrant odour, from which circumstance it is called Cedar in the
British West India Islands. It is fr^uently out into shinies for
covering houses, but it is not adapted for ship-building on account of
its being subject to the attacks of worms. It is not adapted for oasks^
as it gives its odour to whatever is placed in contact with it.
O. febrifuga {Soyfuidia fd>rifuga) has leaflets ovate-oblong, aon-
minated, quite entire. It is a native of Java. Its bark is said to
have a l^Uer effect on some of the fevers of India than cinchona. It
is also a powerful astringent. The wood is good for many purposes.
CEDRELA'CEJS, a natural order of plants, belonging to the
Syncarpous group of Polypetalous Exogens. The species are timber-
trees: tiie timber is usually compact, scented, and beautifully
veined; the leaves are alternate, pinnated, without stipules; the
flowers are in terminal panides. The essential characters of the order
are : Calyx 4-5-cleft, petals 4-5, longer than the sepals ; stamens 8*10,
the filaments either curled into a tube or distinct, and inserted into
a hypogynous disc ; the style and stigmas simple ; the cells of the
ovary equal in number to the petals or flower, with the ovules 4 or
often more, imbricated in two rows ; the first capsular with the valves
separable from the dissepiments, with which they alternate; the
seeds flat, winged; albumen thin or none. This order is nearly related
to Mdiacta, from which it is chiefly distinguished by its winged and
indeflnite seeds.
The dotted leaves of some species connect this order with Awrmir
tiaoetE, It contains 9 ffenera and about 25 species.
An eesential oil called Wood-Oil is found in Chhrwcghn SmUiema
8r
Digitized by
Google
808
CELANDINB.
CELLARI.£A.
8M
which is ft nfttive of the East Indioa. The wood is of a deep yellow
colour, and called Satin-Wood, remarkably oloee-grained, heavy, and
durable, and comes nearer to box-wood than the produce of any
other tree. Flmdenia possesses a volatile oiL F, Auttralu is a
native of Australia, and its wood is said to be not inferior to
mahogany. P. Amboinentia is a native of the islands of Hitu and
Ceram. The spiny part of the fruit is fonned into rasps. It was on
this account called by Rumphius Arbor rachdifera, Oxleya xamiho-
xyla is a native of Australia. It attains a height of XOO feet. The
wood is yellow, and employed for building boats. It is called
Yellow- Wood. [Swixtenia; Ckdbela,!
(Lindley, Flora Medica; Don, Qardenei^i Dictionary; Lindley,
Natural Sj^em.)
CELANDINE, a name properly applied to the species of Chdido-
nium. [Chelidonium.] It has however been given by some of our
poets to the Ranvnculut Ficaria, Linnseus {Fiearia vema of others),
the vulgar name of which is Pilewort [Ranunculus.]
CELASTRA'CEJE:, Spvnd^Treea, the Spindle-Wood Tribe, a
natural order of Polypetalo^a Exogens, consisting of shrubs or trees
principally found in temper^ latitudes, and not abounding in either
the colder or the hotter tnurts of the world. They are found in
Europe, Asia, North Amer&a, and South Africa. They have simple
alternate or opposite leaves^ a small number of perigynous stamens
inserted into a fleshy disc agbd alternate with the petals ; a superior
syncarpous ovary immersed In the fleshy disc ; and a superior capsular
or succulent fruit, with A small number of as^ndiifg seeds. The
order is not of much economical importance. A slight degree of
acridity is said to have been detected in some of the species.
Euonymut Furopcnu, the SpinSle-Tree, the wood of which is used
for butchers' skewers, is the eomjnonest European form of this order.
JSuonymtu atropurpurtut, •
1, A front view of the flower ; 3, tke some from below, showing the csItx ;
S, a Tlew of the disc, with the stamens growing on it ; 4, a sUmcn ; 5, a ripe
fruit ; 6, a cross section of the same ; 7, a seed ; 8 and 9, seotions of the latter.
The barks of Celastnu tcanderu and C. Senegal^rmt are said to be
purgative and emetic, whilst the species of C. venenatus are reported
to inflict the most painful woimds. The fruits of JBlaodtndron mber
are eaten at the Cape of Good Hope. The relations of the order are
according to Lindley expressed thus : —
AqtUfoUaeeas.
Sapot€tcece, Celastbach^ BippocraUicea*
It has 2i gen^rft and 260 species.
CELERY. rAFiUM.!
CELESTINE, the Native Sulphate of Strontia. It has its name
from its pale bhie colour. [Stromtia.]
CELL, VEGETABLE. [Cbllb: HiBTOLOGti TfiMUBS) Y^BTablB.]
CELLARLAu [Cillabuli.]
CELLARIiEA, or CELLARIAD2S, the second £unily, according to
De Blainville's arrangement, of the sub-class Polypiaria Memhnmaeea.
Animals hydriform, provided with very delicate ciliated t^a^Ui^ilz,
separated, distinct, contained in oval flattened membranous cellules,
with a bilateral subterminal crescentio opening; usually provided
with a moveable cartihigiQous lip, forming by their lateral juncti(»,
in one or two tiers or stages, a cretaceous or membrano*i8, limited,
diversifoim, and fixed polyaoariunL Ovioells external, globose, above
the aperture of the ceU.
This group corresponds pretty nearly with the Stekarada,
Fiuitrada, and CdlaHadas of Fleming, and the Btckanma sod
OeUeporina of Ehrenberg ; it also includes part of the subK>rder (AeUo-
ttomaia, of the Polyfoa infwndiJtndata of Mr. Busk's ' Catalogue of Marine
PolysML* For further particulars respecting the structure of the
animals and their habitations, reference must be made to Poltzoa, a
few onlv of the principal forms being here noticed.
We shall notice here the principal generic forms of this group.
1. LwMiliUi, The number of species of this generic group, of
which imtil lately only a few fossil fonns were known, has been
much augmented oy the addition, not only of other fossil spedes, hut
also of several recent ones. The latter have also afforded a mndi
more precise insight into the structure of the peculiar polyio-
arium than it was possible to obtain from the inspection merely of
fossil specimens. The division of the genus suggested by Lamourrax
seems to be sufficiently founded in nature to justify its definitive
adoption so far as it goes ; and, in addition, a recent form described
and figured in the 'Voyage of H. 11 S. Rattlesnake' would seem
to indicate the propriety of instituting a third generic or sub-generic
type.
In all these forms the polyzoary, wnich is more or less regulariy
circular, convex above, and concave or flattened below, presents cells
of two kinds — one set of which may be termed secondary or
accessory ; and it \a according to the relative position of these cella
as regards the others that the division of the genus is founded.
In one case the secondary cell, which is then considerably smaller
than the other, is situated at the apex of the primary cell, immediately
above the aperture (Cwpvlxxrici). In a second form any distinction
of size between the two sorts of'^cells is less or not at all obvious. The
two sets of cells however are very differently arranged from those in
the former case ; the secondary being disposed more or less regulariy
in longer <v shorter rows, alternate with the others, and like them
radiating horn the centre {Lunulitet). Of the former of these forms
the Lunulite en Parasol of Defrance may be taken to afford a type, and
of the latter, L. radiata. In the third form the secondary ceUs are
scattered more irreguhu-ly over the surface of the polyzoary. In this
case the secondary cell is also superior to one of the other kind.
From the examination of recent forms it has been ascertained that
the secondary cell probably contains nothing more than a mass of
muscular substance for the movement of a vibratile spine or seta, of
various forms and structure, and which corresponds with the vibrs-
culum, or moveable setose oi^gan, which is foimd on several of the
Polyzoa, and particularly in the genus Scm^ceUaria,
The arrangement of the group therefore into three genen would
appear to be justifiable and convenient, namely, Lunulitet, OupulariOf
and Sdenaria ; which may be thus defined :—
Lunulites, Lamouroux. Polyzoarium circular oi^ irregular, con-
vex above, concave or flattened beneath; cells' arranged in series
LmuUiUi radimia.
a, Tlew of the Upper Bide, magnified ; h, natoral sise ; c, Tiew of Lover OAe,
magnifled*
i
Defirtnoe'i Lunulite en Parasol.
a> A Portion magnifled} I, natural size ; c, three oells highly magaiiM.
Digitized by
Google
605
CELLARI.£A.
CELLARIiEA.
806
radiating from the centre, and separated by alternate rows of cells
supporting yibracalar spines ; linder sarfiace usually with radiating
striss, and the surface with minute perforations.
Recent species : —
L, etijmlus, Busk; 'Voyage of Rattlesnake.'
L, gAbota, Busk ; 'Cat Brit. Mus.' pi 112.
L. cemedUaOf Budc ; „ ,, pL 113.
CupulariOf Lamourouz. Polyzoarium circular, regular, convex
on Uie upper side and concave below; oeUs disposed quincun-
cially, each with a smaller yibracular cell at its summit; under
surface with radiating lines, grooves, or ridges, or divided into
sub-hexagonal areas; sur&ce perforate or imperforate, smooth, or
granular.
Recent species : —
a Ouineeruis, Busk; 'Cat. Brit. Mus./ pL 114.
O. Owenii, Gray; „ „ pL 116.
O. LowH, Qnj ; „ „ pi. 116.
CttdkUa, Bu9k; „ „. pi. 118.
SeUnaria, Busk; 'Cat. Brit. Mus.' Polyzoariimi circular, r^g^ular,
convex above, concave below; cells disposed quincuncially, some
(doeed in front by a cribriform calcareous plate) furnished with a
superior vibraculum.
Recent species :—
& macukUoy Busk ; * Voy. of Rattles. ; ' 'Cat. Brit Mus.,* pi. 117.
Example, LuiMUite^ radicUa. Locality, Grignon, &S
2. EUcircL Animals unknown, contained in memlranous vertical
beU-ahaped cellules, ciliated on the edges, and shut by a diaphragmatic
membrane, with a very small and semiltmar opening, and disposed in
a verticillate form around an ideal axis.
Example, Eledra veriicUUUcL
EUetra wrtieilkUa, a, natural size ; 5, magnified.
This is the Fhutra vertieillata of Gmelin (Sertvlaria vertidUcUa of
Esper) ; and this genusf which was separated by Lamouroux,
scarcely deserves, as De Blahiville remarks, to be distinguished from
Fluttra pUoaa, whose cellules are occasionally somewhat vertidllated ;
bnt in this he confounds two things perfectly distinct^ though often
mifloonceived.
8. FluttnL Cells contiguous ; on both sides of the frond.
Fhaira foUaeea, a, natural sixe ; 5, some of the cells magnified.
4. Carboiem, Cells contiguous ; on one side only of the frond.
Example, FUutra carbaua. Locality, seas of Scotland, &c.
Sir Jcmn Dalyell, in his interesting paper entitled ' Further Ulus-
tratioDS of the Propagation of Scottish Zoophytes' ('Edinburgh New
> tlosophical Joumid,' April-July, 1886), nves the following account
of the propagation of the Pluttnx. Speaking of Atcyoniumt he says,
" We find it consists of a compact gelatmous or fleshy matter, studded
with innumerable cells sunk in its substance, which are inhabited br
vivacious hydras. Different species or varieties occur in the Scottiw
seas, especially the gdaiinotum, and a thin green flattened palmate
kind, which has perhaps escaped the notice of naturalists hitherta
A white, opaque, ovoidal or nearly circular flattened corpusculum,
previously invisible, issues from the fleshy part of these products
whence it seems to be elicited, particularly by the influence of light
On removal of a small specimen that had already afforded many from
a dark situation to a moderate degree of light, at least 150 quitted
their recesses within an hour. These beings are endowed with much
greater activity than the corpuscula of the Actinia; their courses are
alike diversified ; they iwiin through the water in all directions, regu-
larly and irregularly, ascending to the surface or descending to uie
bottom, pursuing a straight line, describing an orbit, or tumbling
about among the neighbouring substances. Meanwhile, as if of soft
consistence, their form alters, and the action of the cilia environing the
body is alternately depressed and relaxed. At Itogth, having become
stationary, a margin diffuses around the body, and supervening trans-
parence of the centre soon exposes an inanimate hydra within, which
in nine or eleven days is displayed perfect from its cell. The inner
surface of each tentaoulum is now clothed by a double row of stout
dark cilia in rapid motion, but in opposite directions ; for as those of
one side strike upwards those of the other strike downwards. Further
difi^ion of the basis adhering below forms additional compartments
for other hydrse. The propagation of the Fluttrce carhauei, foliacect,
and trtmeata ensues after a similar fashion. A ciliated obrpusculum,
spherical, ovoidal, or irregular, quits the leaf, pursues its course in the
water, becomes stationary, adheres, and a nascent Pkuttra arises from
the spot^ Above ten thousand such corpusoiUla have been produced
by a moderate-sized specimen of the FWstra foliaceOf tin^g the
bottom of a vessel yellow horn their multitude, and vitiating the
water by their decay."
The same author, in the 'Proceedings of the British Aasooiation'
(Edinbuigh, September, 1884), thus clearly and elaborately describes
the organisation of Fluttra carbatea: — "The Fhtttra carbatea re-
Flustra carbaua, a, A Portion, natural sise ; 5, a Poctioa magnified.
sembles a leaf divided into subordinate PArts^ one of the surfeoes
being studded with cells, and the other exhibiting elevations or con-
vexities corresponding to their bottom, and Ihe whole product is of a
yellowish colour. Each cell, of a shuttle or slipper shape, level with
the surface of the leaf, is inhabited by a vivacious polypus, exercising
a percussive faculty both of the tentacula individually and of the
whole head. Some of the cells are occupied occasioxiaUy by laige
blight yellow, irregularly globular, solid, ciliated animalcula, subse-
quently quitting them to swim heavily below. In several days they
become motionless like the former, and die also without immediate
decomposition. Next, there appears in just about the same spot
below, occupied by the motionless animalcidum, a yellow nucleus with
a lighter diffiising maxgin. This in its further diffusion assumes a
shuttle or slipper form ; it becomes a single cell, which afterwards
displays a polypus under the wonted figxire and action. The adult
Flnstra was vertical, for the leaf is always erect ; but here the new
cell is horizontal By a singular provision of nat\u«, as only one side
of the adult is cellular, the original cell is necessarily a root, sole, or
foundation to admit subsequent enlargement, which in such zoophytes
is always from a single cell One end of the cell next rises vertically,
wherein a second cell, with its polypus, is soon displayed overhanging
the first, and at right angles to the plane of its position." (See also
Professor Gnmfs ' Observations on the Polypes' of this species in the
' Edinbuigh New Philosophical Journal')
Example, Fluttra aviculariB, Locality, European was; Seaford
Bay, Sussex.
This species however should be removed from the genus Flmttra
altogether, as its affinities are clearly with that of Bugyda (Oken).
It is the B. (AvicuLaria) JlabdUUa, J. Y. Thompson, 'Manuscript,
Brit Mus.,' and its avictilaria, or 'bird's-head' processes, from their
size and transparency, are well adapted for the investigation of the
structure of those curious organs.
5. Slterina. Animals unknown, contained in sufficiently large oval
elongated subhexagonal bordered cellules, having a membranoui
tympanum or drum, in which is pierced the sigmoid openings forming
by tneir quinoundal and drciUar arrangement the branches of a
Digitized by
Google
£07
CELLARIJSA.
CELLABLfiA.
808
membranous, 'plani-like, non-articulated,
polyioarium.
diohotomoufly and fixed
Jfluttra mricnloHi. Showing a tpherical man of the natural size.
Example, CfeUaria SalieonUa {CfdUilaria SaUeorma of Pillai;
I^ibuhrta M^idoia oi huamtam). Locality, European wm.
Jautrina BlainvHUi,
a, natural aiae ; 6, a poition magnified.
Fluttra avicularis,
m, A Speeimen showing the root and branching form of the natural slse ;
h, e, portions magnified. From Sowerby's 'British Miscellany,* London, 1806.
Example, Elzerina BlainviUiu Locality, the seas of Australia.
Do Blainville observes that
^ ^ ^g^ this genus was established by
I ^ M ^^B Lamburoux for a polype
^A#^ J^^ ^HB brought fix>m the seas of
"^j ^^^^^ HHr Australia by P^ron and
M^r J^m Lesueur, whidi De Blainville
4Kl^^Jf Hf examined in Lamouroux's
M^ ^^ collection, and that he has
a M^ h been satisfied that it is a genus
which can hardly be distin-
guished firom the phytoid or
plant-like Flusirce, — that it
di£fere from them only in the
union of the cellules, which form a circular quincunx, as in Cdlaria
Salicomitiy and are still more soft and membruious.
Rispo records two species of Elzerina in the Mediterranean,
B. vm%LHa and E, mutabUis ; but De Blainville observes, that if it be
true that their cellules are scattered, it is probable that those species
do not belong to this genus, the characters of which it must be con-
fessed are by no means at present well defined.
6. Vincularia (recent and fossil). Animals unknown, contained in
oval subhexagonal regular cellules, having a subterminal semilunar
orifice, and applied and united longitudinally in many rows, so as to
form a cretaceous brittle polysoarium, in the fbrm of a little wand.
Example, Vincularia fragilis. Locality of the genus at present
known, the Oalcaire Tertiaire of WestphaliL A recent species occurs
in the Pacific or Australian seas, and is figured in * Cat Brit. Mus.*
pL 65, V. gigantea*
De Blainville observes that this genus was established by Defrance,
and that it has been adopted by Gold fuss under the denomination of
.Glauconoma, a denomination which De Blainville rejects, remarking
that Qoldfuss regards it as approaching nearly to Cdlaria Salicomia,
and stating that the Vincularia fragilit which he (De Blainville)
examined in Defrance's collection might well be nothing more ^h*-"^ a
true Fluttra, which is found in the same beds with V. fragilit, De
Blainyille adds in support of this opinion that Defrance showed him
a specimen which was compoeed of two rows or series, instead of a
single series only.
. 7. Salicomarxa, Cells disposed around an imaginary axis, forming
cylindrical branches of a dichotomously divided erect polyzoariiun.
a. Spades with Hexagonal Cellules, and with a transverse aperture.
(Genus« Salicomia of Cuvier.)
Cellarim Salicomia,
a, natural sise ; I, a portion magnified ; e, a smaller portion still more hifUy
magnified.
fi. Species with Oval Cellules, and the apertora rounded and
tubular.
Example, C, cer&ldet (Sertularia ceroldet of Qmelin). Localitj,
Mediterranean and the Indian seas.
De Blainville observes that this
genus, establiished by Pallas under
the name of Cellulariat has beeo
successfully simplified by Lamarck
and by Lamouroux, who has ests-
blished many genera at its expeoie.
De Blainville further sUtee thtt
before Delle Chiaje no author who
had described a spedes of a titie
Cdlaria was known ; but that the
Neapolitan observer had filled
this gap by informing us in hii
Memoirs that the polypes ^f C.
ceroldet bear a perfect resemblance
to those of MiUepora {Mifriapora)
trwncata, Pallas made a ouiioos
observation relative to the rapid
growth of C. Salicomia; for he
found individuals an inch and *
half long upon the eggs ofSquaii,
which were still far from the time when the young are excladei
The genus as here characterised should perhaps rather be regarded
as a family group, under which would be included two, if not three,
genera, should the spedes here noticed and figured as C eervida
prove to be a cheiloitomatous polyzoan. The genera ara SalieorMnt
(Cuvier), Ndlia (Busk, *Cat Brit. Mus.').
8. Intricaria (fossil). Animals unknown, contained in hezagonsl
elongated cellules with elevated borden, and covering the entire
surface of a calcareous polyparium suffidentiy solid, rush-like
(joncao^) internally, composed of a considerable number of cylindrical
branches ixregularly anastomosed.
Example, /. Bajocentit.
De Blainville observes that this genus was established by Denanoe
for a pretty fossil polypier found by M. de Gerville in the ^•P*'*'
ment of La Manche ; and he states that on examining it in tiie
collection of the first named of those naturahsta, he was satisfied that
it approaches very nearlv to the Cdlaria, and esp|ecially to C. Salieor-
nia in the form of its cellules, while however it difien from it because
it is not articulated, and because in all probability it did not adhere
by radical fibrila Lamouroux, he adds, thought it was a Millepore.
At all events its place here seems to be doubtfiiL
OeUaria cerdSdes.
natural size ; b, a portion of the
lower part magnified.
Digitized by
Google
CELLARIJSA.
CELLARLfiA.
810
9. Canda. AnimalB unknown. Cellfl riiomboidal, ritnsied on the
outer side for the lodgment of ft vibraouluxn ; no ftyiculArium on the
upper and outer angle.
Example, C arachnMea, Lamooronx {Cetlaria fiU/era, Lamarok>
Looality, seaaof AnetmlU
OuUUt arachncXdea, a, nataral liae ; b, «, poxtlons magnified.
De Blainville obeervea that thia genus was eetabliahed by Lamou-
roux for a species of (Mlaria brought by Pdron and Lesueur from
the Australian seas, and which he saw in Lamouroux's collection,
which now forms part of the Museum of Caen. The assemblage of
cells resembles the vertebral column of a fish. Upon one of the
surfaces are two rows of alternate cells, separated by an angular
crest Upon the other surface may be seen the back of the cells,
with tubidar filaments which reach transversely from one branch to
another, and are analogous to the radiciform, or root-like tubes. He
adds that it would appear that these transverse fibrils are sometimes
wanting, as in the variety noted by LamarcL
To this genus, as thus defined, also belongs Ccmda reptan$ {CeUth
laria reptant of our coasts).
10. CcAerea, Animalw unknown. Cells bi-multiserial, in the latter
case quincundal ; back of branches famished with lai^ge vibracula,
which are placed obliquely in two rows, diverging in an upward
direction from the middle line, where the vibracula decussate with
those of the other; avicularia, when present, sessile on the front of
the cell
Example, O. dichcioma.
Oaberea diekotoma, 0, natural sixe ; b, two eellnlcs magnified.
British speciee. C. Borffi {* Audouin,' Savigny, 'Egypt,' pi. 12, f. 4) ;
C.Eookeri (John's *Brit Zooph.' Ed. 2, pL 60); but these two
species have been confoimded.
11. Bwpda, Polyeoarium erect, phytoid, dichotomously divided
into narrow ligulate bi-multiserial branches; no vibracula; avicu-
laria when present pedunculate and articulated; cells elliptical
(viewed behmd), closely contiguous, aperture veiy large, maigin
simple, not thickened. (Colour not unfrequently red or blue.)
Example, B. Neritina. Locality, Mediterranean.
This genus was established by Oken, and was also constituted by
Lamourouz under the name of Acamarchii ; but was not adopted by
Lamarck, nor by Dr. Fleming, who, according to De Blainville, con-
founds it with BicellaricL
12. Bicellaria, Polysoarium erect^ phytoid, dichotomously divided
into narrow ligulate biserial or multisenal branches ; no vibracula ;
ayicularia when present pedunculate and articulated ; cells turbinate,
distant; aperture directed more or less upwards; several spines,
maiginal or dorsaL
To the same family belong ffahphUa (Qray) ; Bugnla (Oken).
Example, BiceUairia cUicUct, SerttUaria pilota, I^ocality, European
seas^
This division of Cdlartadcg, OriticB of Lamouroux, Odlaria of
Lamarck, was separated by Dr. Fleming, who gave it the denomi-
nation of CeUularta, a name preoccupied as we have seen by Ptdlas
for the whole family. Instead of this name De Blainville proposes
that here given, and observes that Savigny, in the plate which he has
devoted to CeUaricB in his great work on Egypt, has figured the solid
part of four spedes, which being composed of two noki of etUulaa
should belong to this aeotion.
Aetmarehis NeriH$uu «, natural aise ; h, lower portion magnified.
15. Notamia, Cells opposite, in pairs; a pair of tobaooo-pipe-
shaped avioularia above each pair of cells, each arising from
the inferior tubular prolongation of one of the cells in the pair next
above.
Example, N, Itwna/na, Locality, European seas, fta
This is the Sertulairia humairia of Linnaeus, CdMaria hwnaria of
Pallas, Bynamena burtaria of Lamouroux.
To the same family belong CfemeUaria (Savigny), Bidymia (Bosk),
Bimetopia (Busk).
14. Scmj^aria, Cells uniserial; junctions rigid, or of the samo
consistence as the cells ; polyzoaiy adnata or erect
Example, 8, chelaia, Ellis and Linn. ; OeUularia chdata, Pallas ;
Sucratea chdata, Lamomoux; £, lorieata, Fleming. Locality,
European seas.
In the same family are included ffippathoa (Lamouroux);
^tea (Lamouroux); Beania (Johnst).
Lamouroux broke up this generic division into the genera Eueraiea
and Lt^oea. De Blainville says that Unicellaria, under which he
includes SerupcuiOf is easily characterised by the solitary disposition
of its cellules, and that he had examined both Bucratea and Lafoea
in Lamouroux's collection at Caen, and found the differenoes of too
little value to warrant the separation.
16. OaXeMcdJUk, De Blainville; CbltfMorta, Saviffny. Animala
unknown ; contained in calcareous cells arising one from the upper
and back part of another by a short oomeous tube, all facing the
same way and forming dichotomously divided branches of an erect,
phytoid, polyzoaiy cell, at each bifurcation ffeminate.
16. Mtnypta, Cells oblong^ or attenuated downwards, imperforate
behind, with a sessile aviculariuxn, frequently absent on the upper and
outer angle, and one or two sessile aviculana on the front of the odl
below the aperture.
Synonyms. OeUaria (part), Linnsdus, Solander.
Crina (part), Lamouroux.
TriceUaria, Fleming, De Blainville, Grar.
The essential distinctive character of this genus, as here intended^
consists in the presence of one or more sessile avicularia on the front
of the cell below the aperture, and usually of a sessile avicularinm at
the upper and outer angle ; no vibraculunL With the exception of
one or periiaps two species the Mmipea have three or aix cells only
in each intemode ; the branches consequently are loose and stragglings
and usually inquxved at the extcemitieB| as is bwt M«a in M, cirrakL
Digitized by
Google
611
CELLABIJEA.
CELLa
812
Thn genuB appears to enjoy a wide geographical range, ooourring
from the Arctic Cirde to the southern points of America and Africa.
Seruparia chflaia. n, natural siee ; ^, a portion highly magnified.
This gentiB (of which Bcrentcen species are described and figured in
the ' Cat Brit. Mus.') admits of division into three subgeneric groups.
The species are for the most part Australian, and with the exception
of that described by Savigny, which might have been procured in
the Bed Sea, appear to be limited to the Southern Hemiq^iere.
The M, hyaketif of which a figure is here given from Lamouroux,
appears to be referrible to this genua
Ifenipea hyalaa. a, natural size ; h, e, cellulca magnified.
For the best account of the species of this and other familieB of
the Polyzoa the reader is referred to Mr. Busk's complete and beauti-
fully illustrated ' Catalogue of the Marine Polyzoa' in the collection
of the British Museum. [Poltzoa.]
CELLASTR-fiA. [Madrephtlluba.]
CELLIPORA rPoLTZOA.]
CELLS. The ultimate structure of animal and vegetable bodies
consists of minute vesicles which are called Cells. In both animal
and vegetable structures these organs are not generally visible to the
naked eye, as they vary from the l-500th to the 1-lOOOOth part of
an inch in diameter. In all cases they consist of an enveloping
membrane or cell-wall, which incloses in a space more or less enlarged
certain constituents, called cell-contents. The nature of the substances
which enter into the composition of the cell-walls and constitute the
cell-contents, differs in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, but there
ore certain properties which all ceUs possess in conomon. Sometimes
these prox)erties are called vital, to distingfuish them from the pro-
perties possessed by inorganic or mineral bodies, which are called
physical. It will however be seen that, independent of the fonnatire
power by which particles of gelatine, cellulose, &&, arrange them-
selves in the form of cells, and again these cells arrange themselvei
iuto the forms of organs and beings of a specific form, there are few
of the functions performed by cells that may not be referred to the
action of physiciJ forces. One of the first and most necessary con-
ditions of the cell is, that it shall allow of the passage, through the
membrane of which its walls are composed, of those substances bj
means of which it grows, and which it acts upon for the production
of the peculiar secretions which characterise either specific beings or
parts of their organisation. This function, which is called AbsorpUoo,
teems referrible to the physical relations which exist between liqxdda
and gases and the membrane of which the cell-wall is composed.
[Absorptioh.J
The liquid or gaseous contents which are thus introduced into the
interior of cells undergo a variety of changes, according to the position,
ige, or othercircumstancesof the celL Sometimes the fluid that is
absorbed appears to be transmitted in compound structures from cell to
cell without undergoingany great amount of change. In other cases the
most decided chemical chimges take place in the elements introduced.
The cells of some parts of vegetable structures are an instance of the
latter, in which carbonic acid and ammonia are absorbed with water,
and converted, either during their passage through the cell-wall, or
whilst in the interior of the cell, into cellulose, starch, sugar, protein,
and other constituents of the celL In other parts of plants the cells
convey solutions of sugar and other substances without producing on
them any change.
The constituents absorbed into the interior of the cell are the
materials from which the cell-wall and all its contents are derived
The process by which the cell appropriates to itself these matten is
called Assimilation. This function is supposed to be carried on hj
an independent force or power residing in the cell, or congeries of cells,
which form an organ or a body, and has been called the 'assimilative
force or property,' ' organising force,' ''plastic force.* It is neceesaiy
however in this process to separate between the changes by which
one substance is converted into another, and which is probably the
result of ordinary chemical force under other circumstances, and the
power or force by which these substances are made to assimie definite
forms in cells and organs. The latter is a special force in the case of
each cell, plant, or anhnal, and to which alone, of the changes involved
in the function of assimilation, the term vital can be properly
appUed.
The result of the appropriation of the new matter absorbed from
without in all cells is their enlargement or growth. This takes place
in two ways : either the new matter is taken up into the interior of
the substance of the cell-wall, which is always the case where the
cell becomes augmented in size, or it is deposited in the form of
layers in the interior of the cell. According aa the first mode of
growth is regular or irregular will be the form of the cell The vege-
table and animal kingdoms present almost all conceivable forms of
cells, from the spherical and hexagonal cells observed in the lower
Digitized by
Google
813
CELLS.
CELSL^
814
forms of pluita, and the leas oiganifled tissues of aniiDalfl, as oazi^ilage,
up to the eLmgated TesselB of the plant, and the irregular oells of
bone or areolar tissue in animals. The animal kingdom presents by-
far the greatest variety in this respect, and so great are the changes
that some of the animal cells undergo, that the terms Metamorphoses
or TraoBformations have been applied to these ohimges. As examples
of these oeUa we may quote — ^the homy scales of the epidermis^ of
the^ hair and the naUs, and the laminated pavement, epithelium — ^in
which the oelle are flattened, polygonal, or fusiform, and the oell-waU
is fused into one mass with the oell-contents ; the contractile flbre-
oells of the smooth muscles ; the tubules of the lens ; the prisms of the
enamel ; the various forms of bone-cells ; and the transversely striated
cells of muscular fibre.
All cells originate or are produced in the same way. Either they
are developed free in vegetable or animal fluids, or they are produced
in the interior of prececUng cells. In all cases they originate in con-
nection with a substance called protein, which exists in ceUs, either
in the form of a small dark spot called a nucleus, or cytoblast, in the
interior of which is a nucleolus, or of an expansion on the interior of
the cell, -when it is called the primoi*dial utricl& Free cell-development
has been observed to take place in plants, in saodiarine and other
liquids about to undergo the fermentation prooesei, and amongst
animals in the chyle, blood, and lymph. The exact mode of the
development of cells under these circumstances has not been
accurately observed, and the particles or granules of proteinaceous
matter from which they are supposed to originate have not yet been
proved to have had their origin independent of other cells. The most
common form of cell-development is that in which the cell grows
around or from the nucleus or primordial utiide. In the animal
kingdom the development of the cell more frequently takes place
around the nucleus, whilst in the vegetable kingdom its origin is
more £reqtient from the folding in or contraction of the primordial
utricle upon itself, by which means two cells originate in one.
Besides the development of cells around the nucleus and round the
investing membrane, or primordial utricle, within the walls of the
oelly a multiplication of cells frequently takes place by division of the
whole celL This takes place in many of the lower forms of ftnimaln
and plants [Protozoa], and also in the red blood-corpuscles of the
embryoes of birds and mammalia, and ia the colourless blood-corpuscles
of the tadpole. It is probable that further observation will extend
our knowledge of this mode of cell-multiplication.
One of the highest problems for the physiology of the present day
to solve is, the efficient causes of the phenomena of oell-developmentw
- The following propositions have been laid down by KoUiker as an
attempt to follow up Schwann's idea of the analogy between chemical
changes in inorganic bodies and those which occur in cells :—
1. The nucleus of the cell arises in the first place as a precipitate
in an oiganisaUle fluid, and afterwards becomes consolidated in such
a manner that a special investment and contents with a nucleolus
appear. Its development may in this case be compared to that of
inorganic precipitately yet the constantly globular figure and size of
the nuclei whicn are just formed, indicate some essential though not
yet recsognised condition peculiar to them.
2. In the development of cells by division the oell-nudeus plays
exactly the same part which was previously ascribed to the
nucleolus, and the occurrence of the formation of cells in this
manner demonstrates that chemical conditions are not necessarily
concerned therein.
3. In cell-development around portions of contents, and in the
cleavage process, the nuclei also operate as simple centres of attrac-
tion upon a certain mass of blastema, and then follows the formation
of a membrane upon the surface of this mass, which ia most simply
understood as a condensation of the blastema.
4. In the cell-development directly around the nucleus the invest-
ment with bUstema is wanting, and the nucleus develops the mem-
brane immediately around itself.
From what has been previously said, it will be seen that the cells
axe the active seat of the functions of both animals and plants, and
the most coni^icuous results of organisation takes place in conse-
quence of their agency. They not only constitute the mass of the
body, but by their agency alone all the special secretious and products
»f individual plants and animals are formed. The food is conveyed
into the body by cells, the blood of animals is charged with cells, and
tbe functions of locomotion and sensation are carried on by the agency
of cells. Nor are these last functions peculiar to the animal kingdom.
Contractility and sensibility seem to be the property of the substance
(protein) of which the nudeus and primordial utncle are composed.
To this substance Mr. Huxley proposes to give the name Endoplast,
and thus concludes a lecture on the identity of structure of plants
and A.niTnitl« : —
" In both plants and animals then there is one histological element,
the Endoplast, which does nothing but grow and vegetatively repeat
itself ; the other element, the periplastic substance (the cell membrane)
being the subject of all the chemical and morphological metamorphoses,
in consequence of which spedfio tissues arise. The differences between
the two xingdoms are, mainly, 1, that in the plant the Endoplast
grows, and, as the primordial utricle, attains a lai^e comparative size ;
-while in the animal the Endoplast remains small, the principal bulk
of its tissues being formed by the periplastic substance ; and, 2, in
the nature of the chemical changes which take place in the periplastic
substance in each oaae. This distinction however does not always
hold good, the Ascidians furnishing examples of ft^nimRla whose peri*
plastic substazuse contains cellulose.
''The plant then is an animal confined in a wooden case, and
nature, like Sycorax, holds thousands of ' delicate Ariels' imprisoned
within every oak. She is jealous of letting us know this ; and among
the higher and more conspicuous forms of plants reveals it onlv by
such obscure manifestations as the shrinking of the Sensitive Plan^
the sudden dasp of the DioncBO, or, still more slightly, by the pheno-
mena of the OyeloM. But among the immense variety of creatures
which belong to the invisible world she allows more liberty to her
Dryads ; and the Protoeocci, the Volvox, and indeed all the Alga, are
during one period of their existence as active as animal a of a like
grade ia the scale. True, they are doomed eventually to shut them-
selves up within their wooden cages and remain quiescent ; but in
this respect they are no worse off than the Polype, or the oyster
even."
For further information on the subject of Cells, see the articles
Animal Kingdom ; Blood ; Hibtoloot ; Botant ; Cilia ; Tissues,
Ybgetabls ; Tissues, Animal ; and also Cells [See Supplement].
(Sharpey, in Qqmu'b EUmentt of Anatomy ; Kolliker, Handbook of
Human Histoloffy, translated for the Sydenham Society by Huxley and
Busk ; Carpenter, Manual of Human PhytioUtgy ; Principles of Phy-
siology; Mohl, On the Vegeteile Cdl, translated by Henfrey ; Schleiden,
Principles of Scientific Botany, translated by Lankester ; Schleiden, On
Phytogenesis ; Schwann, On the Identity of Strv^fture in Plants and
Animals, translated by £L Smith for the Sydenham Society ; Quekett,
Lectures on Histology; Hassall, Microscopic Anatomy of the Human
Body ; Todd and Bowman The Physiological Anatomy and Physiology
of Man ; Quekett, Catalogue of the Histological Series in the Museum
of the BoycU CoUege of Surgeons, London ; Qitartcrly Journal of Micro-
scopical Science; and Transactions of Microscopical Society, vol. i)
CELLULAR TISSUE. This name has been given to certain forms
of both animal and vegetable structures. In the animal kingdom it
has been applied to that tissue which is found investing and forming
the basis of all others. As however this tissue is not more strictly
cellular than any of the other structures of the body, and is even less
cellular under tiie microscope than many others, this term has been
abandoned by recent anatomical writers, and ^e term Areolar Tissue
substituted. TAreolab Tissue.] The term Cellular Tissue is still
made use of by botanists to distinguish those parts of plants in
which the cells have not tmited together to form continuous tubes
or vessels. The whole of the tissues of plants like those of animals
originate in cells, and it is somewhat difficult to fix the limitations
of this term. [Cells; Tissues, Yeqstablb.]
CELLULARES, a term applied to the large class of plants, which
have also received the names Cryptogamia, Acotyledons, Agamcs,
Exemhryonata, and Aei*ogens» [Aoboqenb.] It was especially adopted
by De Candolle, the primary divisions of whose system consist^ of
VoMvlares, or plants with both cellular and vascular tissue, and
Cellulares, or plants furnished with cellular tissue only. These distinc:
tions do not hold good anatomically, and since the more prominent
recognition of the fsust that cellulEur and vascular tissue originate
alike in the cell, and are but forms of the same substance, these
distinctions have been less regarded.
CELLULAEIA. [Cbllabisa.]
CELO'SIA a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Amarantace(Z, comprehending the flowers which gardeners call Cocks-
combs, on account of the crested flattened appearance of their
inflorescence. The calyx consists of 5 narrow sharp-pointed sepals,
surrounded by some bracts of the same shape and colour as tnem-
selves. The stamens are 5, and united into a plaited cup. The
capsule is membranous, 1-cdled, opens by a transverse fissure, and
contains two or three seeds. The leaves are always alternate. Only
two species are cultivated, namely C* cristaia and 0. coccinea,
C, cristaia, the Common Cockscomb, is said to be a native of the
East Indies, but it is more probable that it came originally firom either
Japan or China, for it is only seen in gardens in the East Indies. It
varies in regard both to stature and colour, some of the sorts being as
much as two feet high, while others do not exceed six inches ; in
colour it is seen with deep blood-red, puiple, and yellowish-white
combs, the latter however is seldom cultivated now.
C. coccinea is by no means so striking a plant as the last in appear-
anse, for it forms little or no crest, but it bears its flowers in panided
spike& It also is said to be a native of the East Indies, and varies
with purple and silvei^r or yellow flowers.
Nothing can be more easy of cultivation than these flowers ; and
they are capable of being brought to an extraordinary size by good
management.
CELiSIA (named by Linnieus in honour of Olaf Celsius, p.D.,
professor of QrcMBk, and afterwards of Theology, in the University of
Upsal), a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Solanacea.
It has- a 5-parted calyx, a rotate 5-lobed corolla, 4 perfect stamens,
didynamous, bearded. All the species are herbs with simple or pinnate
leaves, the flowers disposed in loose termiiud racemes, eacA rising firom
the axil of a bract or small leaf.
Digitized by
Google
8U
CELYPHtJS.
CENfR01<rOTU8.
O, orienUdii htm the lower leaves jagged, those of the stem biplnnate.
It is a native of Ciqppadocia and Armenia.
O, nManata, shmbbj clothed with woolly tomentom, the leaves
oval-oblong, obtuse, crenated, wrinkled, soft It is now cultivated in
this countrv, but its native district is unknown. It has sweet-soented
flowers. There are several other species of Oeliia, all of them closely
resembling the species of Verbatoum, under wMch genus many of
them have been described.
In the cultivation of the species of OeUia, the seeds should be sown
on a gentle hot-bed, and when the plants are large enough they should
be set in separate pots, as they require the protection of a greenhouse
or frame the first winter. In the second year they may be planted
out about the month of May in any warm sheltered situation. They
will flower and ripen their seed in the open air. O. aManata and
Cparvi^iora being shrubby plants should be treated as Pelaigoniums
or other neenhouse shrubs.
n)on, Uardenei't Dictionary.)
CEXYPHUS, a genus of Dipterous Insects of the family La/uxanida
(Haoquart). It hM the following characters : — Antenna wide apart,
as long as the head, stylet rather thick and covered with fine hain ;
soutellum convex, and covering the abdomen.
This genus is one of the most extraordinary of the Diptera, the
species having more the appearance of little beetles than two-winged
flies; the peculiarity is caused by the immense size of the scutellum,
which covers the whole abdomen and incloses the wings when at
restb
C, €btedfu is about one-sixth of an inch in length ; the head is
yellow ; the last joint of the antennsB is black ; the thorax and
scutellum are of a bluish black colour with violet reflexions ; the
former is broader than long ; the abdomen is fawn-colour, the legs and
wings are yellowish, the latter with the base brown. It inhabits Java.
uiictUaJtui very much resembles the one just described, but is of a
greemsh coppeiHsolour above and beneath ; it is found in the East
Indies.
(7. AfrieoMU, is a small species inhabiting Sierra-Leone.
CENCHRIS, a genus of Snakes belonging to the feunily of Rattle-
snakes. rCBOTALIDJL]
CENTAU'REA, a ve^ extensive genus of plants belonging to the
Cynaraceous division of the natural order UompoHUe, but compre-
hending no species of any importance to man. It has the following
characters : — ^The pappus in many rows, imequal, the second row
lar^st ; the anthers with papillose filaments ; involucre imbricated ;
receptacle cbaffy; the fruit attached laterally above to the re-
ceptacle.
C. Oyanut, the Common Blue-Bottle of com fields, is sometimes
cultivated for the sake of its many-coloured flower-heads. Two
others, O, mo$ekata, the Purple or White Sultan of gardeners, and O.
iuavetientf Yellow Sultan, are occasionally seen among other annuals
innrdens.
C7. Cfyanm with the following are British species : — 01 Jaeea ; O.
nigra, the Black Knapweed; Cnigreteena; O. Scaibiata, QrttA Knap-
weed; a $olttitiali9, Yellow Star-Thistle; O, OaleUrapa, Conmion
Star-Thistle ; O, Jtnardi.
CENTAURY. fCBHTAUBKA.]
CENTIPEDE. IMtbiapoda.]
CENTRANTHUS (from icirrpor, a spur, and iifBos, a flower), a genus
of plants belonging to the natural order Valenafutcece. It has a
regular 5-lobed corolla with a spur, a single stamen, the fruit 1-celled,
indehiscent^ crowned with the limb of the calyx, expanded into a
feathery pappus. The species are smooth herbs with undivided or
pinnate leaves, and white or red flowers.
(7. ruber, Red-Flowered Spurred Valerian, Red Valerian, has ovate-
lanceolate leaves, spur much shorter than the tube of the corolla and
twice as long as the germen. It is a native of Great Britain, in chalk-
pits and on old walls. It has purple flowera, and attains a height of
one or two feet It has a sweet scent.
C. CftUeitrapa has radical leaves, ovate, entire, the stem-leaves
pinnatifid, the spur very short It is a native of the coasts of the
Mediterranean, and of the more temperate parte of France. It grows
wild at Elthun in Kent, but there is httle doubt of its being a
naturalised plant there. The first species may have also been
Introduced, but it grows wild in many parts of Qreat Britain. Several
other species are described and some are grown in gardens. They are
elegant border-flowere, and will grow in any common soil, on walls or
rock-work, and may be easily propagated by seed.
(Babington, MamuU of BritUh Botany.) *
CENTRA^CHUS, a genus of Fishes belonging to the section
Acanihopterygii and the funily Percida, and the subdivision 'with less
than seven branchial rays.' In this genus the species have numerous
spines in the anal fin ; the tongue is furnished with a group of fine
and very thickly-set teeth ; the pre-operoulum is entire ; the angle of
the operculum is divided into two flat points ; and the body is com-
pressedand somewhat oval ; they inhabit the riven of North America.
The genus Oyehla of some American ichthyologists is synonymous
with the above.
CENTRINA. [Squalida]
CBNTRI'SCUS (Linnsdus), a genus of Fishes belonging to the
Motion Acml^hiopttrygii and to the family FiMonridcs, The species
of thi9 genus are principally distinguished by their having a long
tubular snout^ from which character they have received the names
of SeapSnipes, Trumpet-Fish, fta The b<Mly is inclining to an oblong
oval form, compressed, carinated beneath, and covered with scalea
The mouth is small, obliquely cleft> and devoid of teetL Thero are
two dorsal fins ; Uie rays of the first (which is placed very &r
back) are spinous ; the veniml fins are small, and situated behind the
pectorals.
Centri$cu8 Seolopax (Linnous), the Trumpet-Fish or SesrSnipe
(known in Cornwall by the name of the Beflows-Fish), is the oidj
species yet discovered off ihe British coast, where it is rare ; the
Mediterranean appears to be its natural locality. Its length is about
five inches; the bodv is oval and compressed ; the snout is elongated,
and forms a tube which extends about an inch and a half before the
eyes, which are large ; the back is elevated, and the part for some
little distance anterior to the first dorsal fin is straight, whence
it tapen rather suddenly to the taiL The anterior spine of the first
dorsal (which has but three rays) is very large and denticulated
beneath; the rays of the second dorsal are soft; the anal fin is
elongated ; the ventrals are small, and have a depression behind them
in which they may be lodged. The body is covered with hard rough
scales, which are minutely ciliated on the external edge.
Young specimens of this fish are of a shining silver-like colour;
the adult specimens are reddish, with the sides of the head and
under parts silveiy or slightly tinted with a golden hue.
There is a figure of this curious fish given in YarreU's ' Bxitiih
Fishes,' and also in Donovan's ' British Fishea'
The genus AmphitiU of Klein is closely allied to, and was included
in the genus Geniitcua by Linnseus ; the species have the back mailed
with lurger scaly plates, of which the anterior spine of the fint
dorsal fin appears to be a continuation.
CENTRO'LOPHUS, a genus of Fishes belonging to the secUon
Aeanthopterygii and family Scomberida. The body is elongate, covered
with minute scales; teeih small and numerous; palatine without
teeth; one very long dorsal fin.
C. morio, the Black Fish, has been met with though very rarelj on
the British coast It is of a black colour, the fins intensely so ; the
under parts are of a slightly paler hue. The head is rather blunt
and rounded in front, and the mouth is small ; the eyes are prominent ;
the body is compressed, and in a specimen 15 indies long is abont
8 inches deep. There is a thin elevated ridge on the bacl^ to which
the dorsal fin is attached; this fin commences before the middle of
the back (viewing it from the side), and extends almost to the tail;
the pectoral fins are pointed ; the ventral fins are bound down hj a
membrane ; the tail is large and forked ; the body is covered with
very small scales.
In Mr. Yarreirs 'British Fishes,' one specimen is described as
being 15 inches long, and another "measured 2 feet 8 inches in
lengtii, and weighed 14 lbs. The skin was observed to be so tough
as to be AtrippMl from the fish like that of an eel; no air-bladder
was found. The taste was delicious." They were caught off the
coast of Cornwall, and the species is described as having grwt strength
and velocity.
CENTRONCTUS, a genus of Fishes belonging to the section
Aeanthopterygii and famUy Seomherida. In this genus the spines,
which in most of the Acanthopterygians form the anterior donsi
fin, are free or unconnected by membrane ; they have all ventral fins.
The above characten are common to a large number of species of
the ScomberidcB, and hence it has been thought convenient to seize
some minor distinctions for the purpose of dividing the geaua
Centronotua into several sub-genera. In Cuvier*s 'Rdgne Animal'
they are as follows : — Sub-genus Naucratea, or those in which the body
is elongate ; the tail carinated at the sides, and which have two
free spines before the anal fin. To this sub-genus belongs the Pilot
Fish (Naucratea ductor), which is well known for its habit of following
vessels to a considerable distance in order to feed upon what u
thrown overboard ; and it is under such circumstances tiiat this fi^
has been occasionaUv met with on the British coast It is about a
foot in length, and of a bluish-gray colour, with five broad bands of
deep violet. Its shape is something like that of the mackerel, bat
leas tapering towards the head and tail The pectoral and ventral
fins are of moderate size, the latter very dose together ; the dorsu
fin commences about midway between the head and the tail, and
continues almost to the latter part ; anterior to the dorsal fin there
are three free spines : the tail is forked.
Elacatea is another sub-genus. The spedee have nearly the form of
the one last mentioned, but differ in the head being depressed, tiie
tail not carinated, and there being no free spines before the anal fin.
The next subgenus, Lichia, has free spines before the dorsal and anal
fins, and the tail not carinated at the sides. In front of the dorsal
spines there is a single one laid flat and pointing forwards. The
Scomber amia of LinnsBus, a large fish upwards of 4 feet in lengtii,
which inhabits the Mediterranean, belongs to this section. There are
two other species known from the same locality; the one hen
mentioned is distinguished by the lateral line bang much citfred
and forming an S. The last suVgenus, Trachinolva, differs chiefly from
Lichia in having the profile of the body deeper, and the dorsal and
anal fins longer and more tapered.
Digitized by
Google
817
CBNTROPHORUa
CEPHALOPODA.
818
CENTROPHORUa [SQUAUDJi.]
CENTROPOliUS, a genus of FiBhea bdongixig to tho section
Accmthopterpgiif to the division Thoradc-Perches, and the family
Pereidce, In this genus the muzzle is oompressed, as in the pike,
and the head, when viewed from the side, is much pointed ; the lower
jaw projects beyond the upper ; the pre-operculum and operculum
are covered with scales; tiie former is dentated, and the latter
unarmed. There are two dorsal fins with a distinct intervening
space ; the anterior one has eight rays, and the posterior eleven ; the
teeth are very minute and crowded ; the ventral fins are under the
pectorals.
C. undeeimalitt so named from its having eleven rays to the
poBterior dorsal fin, is common throughout South America^ where it
forms a considerable article of consumption, and is known by the
name of the Sea-Pike; it firequents the mouths of great rivers, and
sometimes extends its course up as far as the fresh water.
The Sea-Pike grows to a considerable size, and weighs sometimes
as much as 26 lbs. The body is of rather a more elongieite form than
the common perch ; its colour is greenish-brown above and silveiy
beneath ; the anterior dorsal fin is gray ; the other fins are yellowish,
and finely dotted with black on the edges ; the lateral line is blacL
This species is tiie only one*of the genus known, and is the Sckena
undecimalis of Bloch.
CENTROPRI'STIS (Cuvier),. a genus of Fishes belongmg to the
section Aeanthopterygii, and to the family Percidai, and belonging to
the division with ' seven branchial ravs and a single dorsal fin.' This
genus is distinguished chiefly by the species having all the teeth
fine, rather strong and recurved, and closely set : the preK>perculum
is Berrated ; and the operculum is spined.
C. nigrieana, the Black Perch or Black Bass, is abundant in the
riTera of the United States, and is much esteemed for the table. It
is of a deep olive-green colour above, and pinkish on the under parts;
the dorsal fin is bluish, with pale transverse bands ; the other fins
are of a deeper hue ; the tail and anal fins are spotted.
Black Perch {OentropritHi nigrieant).
This species is remarkable for having the tail doubly notched, the
central and two outer parts projecting. This character however is
not so distinct in old individuals. The young are marked with
clouded transverse bands.
There are some few other species found on the American coast
The one above described is the Perca varia of Mitchell.
{TransadioTU of the Literary and PhUosopMcal Society of New Torh.)
CENTROPUS (Illiger), a genus of Birds belonging to the order
Scantoret. The species are natives of India and Africa. They have
a long pointed thimib-nail, the same as the larks. Their plumage is
rigid and spinoiis. They build their nests in the holes of trees, and
lay white eggs. They feed chiefly on grasshoppers, and dwell amongst
r&eda and other herbage, and do not often take to vring. Their flesh
is not pleasant eating.
CENTU'NCULUS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
PrxTMdaceiB. It has a 4-parted calyx, corolla with a subglobose inflated
tube and patent 4-parted limb, 4 stamens inserted in the throat of the
oorolb; the capsule many-seeded, opening all round transversely.
The only species of this genus, C, minimuSf is a native of Great
Britain. It is a very minute plimt with a prostrate stem, the leaves
alternate, ovate, acute; the flowers pale rose-colour, subsesrale^ without
glands at the base. It grows in damp, sand^, and gravellv places,
and is known by the common name of Bastard PmipemeL (Baoington,
Manual of Brii, Bot.)
CEPHAEXIS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Oin-
flKmaeece. The species are remarkable among other things for their
flowers growing in close heads, and being surrounded by involucrating
bracts, which are sometimes richly coloured. They are chiefly interest-
ing from comprehending the plant which yields the Ipecacuanha Root
of the druggists. This species is the Cephtulit Ipecacuanha, and is a
oativo of vSd forests of Brazil, growing in close damp shaded places,
sod flowering in the months of January and February. It was also
met with by Humboldt and Bonpland in the mountains of New
Oranada. It is a perennial plant, with a weak stem not above 2 or
3 feet long, and usually lying almost prostrate. Its roots are con-
torted, from 4 to 6 inches long, about as thick as a goose-quill, and
Mparating into rings which are about half as thick as the whole
diameter of the root. The leaves collect about the end of the stem
or its brandies, are of an oblong ovate figure, slightly hairy, from
3 to 4 inches long, and connected by deeply-Iobed finnge-like stipules.
»iT. mar. wv. vou l
The flower-heads are vexy small, surrounded by given bracts, and
placed upon the end of a long peduncle ; when in flower they are
said to be erect, but they are represented as being pendulous in that
state as well as when in fruit. The flowers are snuill and white, and
are succeeded by little purple berries. The Pun and Coroado Indians
chiefly collect this drug, which furnishes them with a valuable means
of barter with Europeans. They gather it at all seasons of the year,
principally however in Januair, February, and March ; and the only
care th^ take is to separate the roots from the stem, to lay them up
in bundles, and to dry them in the sun.
CEPHALANTHE'RA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural
order Orchidacea, and to the tribe Limodorta, It has a oonvei^ging
perianth, the lip interrupted, the basal division saccate, jointed to the
recurved terminal one, the stigma transverse without a rostellum, the
anthers terminal, erect, moveable, shortly and thickly stalked, 2-celled,
the cells with imperfect septa, the column elongated, the germen
sessile, twisted. Three species of this genus are natives of Gkeat
Britain.
C, grandifiora, with ovate-lanceolate or ovate-pointed leaves, bracts
longer than the glabrous germen, lips obtuse, izicluded. It has white
flowers, with the lips marked with several elevated longitudinal lines.
It is found in dense woods, usually on a calcareous soil.
C. eniifoliOf with lanceolate-pointed leaves, bracts much shorter
than the glabrous germen, lips obtuse, included. The flowers are
white, the lips marked with several elevated white lines and a yellow
spot in fkont. It is a rare plant, and found in mountainous woods.
C. rubra has lanceolate acute leaves, bracts longer than the downy
germen, the lip acute, as long as the petaL The flowers are purple^
the lip white with a purple margin, marked with numerous wavy
longitudinal lines. A very rare plant in mountainous woods.
(Babhigton, Manual of Brit. BoiS
CEPHALANTHUS, a genus of plants belongmg to the natural
order CHnch^macecB, of whidi it is one of the most northern represent
tatives. C, occidentalis, the Button-Wood, derives its English name
from the roimd balls of flowers with which it is covered in the
month of August. This plant is common in iiwamps, ponds, and
stagnant waters, from Carolina to Canada, forming a shrub from 6 to
15 feet in height, with a light spongy wood. The inner bark of its
root is an agreeable bitter, and is frequently used as a remedy in
obstinate coughs.
CEPHALA'SPIS, a singular genus of Fossil Placoid Fishes, esta-
blished bv Agassiz on specimens from the Old Red-Sandstone of
Herefordshire, Forfarshire, &a The head covering is like the anterior
part of a Trilobite. Cephalatpis Lyellii, and C. LLoydii are British
species.
CEPHALO'CULUS, Lamarck's name for a genus of Branchiopoda,
which he established for the Polyphemus Oeulut of MUUer, and which
he places next to Cyclops. [Branchiopoda.]
CEPHALOTODA, MoX^io of Aristotle, MoUia of Pliny, Cepha-
lophora of De Blainville, Antliobrachiophora of Gray, a class of
Molludcs whose mantle, according to Cuvier, unites beneath the body,
and thus forms a muscular sac which envelops all the viscera. Tlus
body or trunk is fleshy and soft, varying in form, being either sub-
spherical, sub-plano-elliptical, or elongato-cylindrical, and the sides of
the mantle are in manv of the species extended into fleshy fins. The
head protrudes from the muscular sac, and is distinct from the body ;
it is gifted with all the usual senses ; and the eves in particular, which
are either pedunculated or sessile, are large and well developed. The
mouth is anterior and terminal, armed with a pair of homy or calca-
reous mandibles, which bear a strong resemblance to the bill of a
panot, acting vertically one upon the oUier. , Its situation is the bottom
of a subconioal cavity formed by the base of the numerous fleshy
tentacular appendages which surround it, and which have been
termed arms by some naturalists and feet by others.
These appendages in the great majority of living species are provided
with aoetabula — suckers or cupping-glass-like instruments — ^by means
of which the animal moves at the bottom of the sea, head downwards,
or attaches itself to its prey or to foreign bodies. These suckers are
either unarmed or armed with a long sharp homy daw, as in
Onychoteuthit. In the unarmed acetabulum the mechanism for
adhesion is so perfect during life that, as Dr. Roget well observes in
his 'Bridgewater Treatise,' "while the muscular fibres continue
contracted it is easier to tear away the substance of the limb
than to release it from its attachment ; and even in the dead animal'
the suckers retain a considerable power of adhesion." The same
author dearly describes the apparatus by means of which the
acetabulum executes its functions : — ^*'The circumference of the disc is
raised by a soft and tumid max^ ; a series of long slender folds of
membrane, covering corresponding fasciculi of muscular fibres, con-
verge from the circumference towards the centre of the sucker, at a
short distance from which they leave a circular aperture ; this opens
into a cavity which widens as it descends, and contains a cone of soft
substance rising from the bottom of the cavi^, like the piston of a
syringe. When the sucker is applied to a surface for the purpose of
adhesion, the piston, having preriously been raised so as to fill the
cavity, is retracted, and a vacuum produced, which may be still further
increased by the retraction of the plicated central portion of the disa
Here we have an excellent description of the apparatus for 'holding
8 o
Digitized by
Google
819
CEPHALOPODA,
CEPHALOPODA.
8tt
on/ but the explanation stops short of showing how the operation of
letting go' is effectod. We well remember in onr youth going hr out
with an old fisherman of Dawlish to visit his floating nets whioh he had
laid for the pilchards. As we looked down into the dear blue water we
could see that the number of fish entangled was great ; but to the great
disoomfiture of the fisherman, who was eloquent on the occasion,
almost every other fish was locked in the embraces of a cuttle-fish
plying his parrot-like mandibles to some purpose. The fisherman
who seemed to regard these unbidden guests as an incarnation of all
evil, carried a capacious landing-net» but so quick was the sight of
these Cephalopods, so ready were they in letting go and i^e in
darting back or sideways clear of the net, that though t^ greedy
oreatures held on to the last moment, the fisherman did npt secure
above three out of the crowds that had spoiled his hauL Upon
mentioning this to Mr. Owen, he informed us that the muscular
arrangement enabled the animal, when it was disposed to let go its
hold, to push forward the piston, and thus in a moment destroy
the vacuum which its retraction had produced." The same author
(* Cydopsodia of Anatomy and Physiology,' article 'Cephalopoda') has
stated that in the Calamary the base of the piston is inclosed by a
homy hoop, the outer and anterior margin of which is developed into
a series of sharp-pointed curved teeth. These can be firmly pressed
into the flesh of a struggling- prey by the contraction of the siurounding
transverse fibres, and can be withdrawn by the action of the retractile
fibres of the piston. [Sbpi^djb.]
Digestive Organa — The tongue, which is beset with homy points,
lies between the mandibles, and the oBSophagus widens into a kind of
crop which leads to a gizzard nearly as flei£v as that of birds. To
the gizzard succeeds a third stomach, which is membranous and
somewhat spiral, wherein the liver, which is of considerable volume,
pours the bUe. The rectum opens into the infundibulum.
Respiratory Organs. — These are branchial, and the branchiss are
equal, symmetrical, and protected by the mantle under which they
are concealed. The infundibulum, or funnel (entonnoir of the French),
is a fleshy pipe or passage in fh)nt of the neck, through which the
respiratory currents pass and the excrements are discharged. The
young, as in other classes, respire more quickly than the adult. Dr.
Coldstream saw an Eledone, one inch and a half in length, breathe
eighteen times in a minute, while another of the same spedes, four
inc];|es in length, breathed only ten times in a minute.
Circulating Organs.— The higher oiganised Cephalopoda present
the remarkable circumstance of having three separais and well-
oiganised hearts : one for the circulation of the arterial blood through
the body, the other two for the propulsion of the venous blood
through each gill or respiratory oigan. Only the first of these
hearts, or the 'systemic,' is present in the Pearly Nautilus, which is,
according to Owen, the type of the lower order of the class. Li
both divisions the venous system is characterised by the glandular
bodies appended to the branchial divisions of the vena cava, or ina-in
venous trunk.
Sexual Organs. — Separate and developed in distinct individuals.
It is not determined whether impregnation is effected before the
ova are excluded, during their exclusion, or afterwards. Cuvier was
of opinion that fecundation is effected by arrosement, as in the
majority of fishes. The ovary of the female is situated in the bottom
of the sac. Two oviducts receive the eggs from the ovary, and carry
them out across two large glands, which envdop them with a viscous
substance, and unite them together into bunches like grapes.
Brain and Senses. — The brain is included in a cartilaginous cavity
in the head, and gives off on each side a nervous cord, which forms
in each orbit a large ganglion, whence proceed innumerable optic
nervous filaments. The 'eye is composed of numerous membranes,
and covered by the skin, which becomes transparent in front of the
oigaji, and sometimes forms folds which perfomi the office of
eyelids. Owen has observed that the cornea of Jioitia is defended
by a drcular fold of integument, which can be completely closed by
an orbicular sphincter in front of the eye — a stmoture which is
probably required in this species in order to protect the cornea
against the spicula of ice, with whioh its native seas abound,
especially in the summer or thawing season. In the Calamary (Loligo)
on the other hand, there is no tegumentary fold. The ear is nothUig
more than a small cavity hollowed out on each side near the brain,
without semicircular canals or an external tube, and in this cavity is
suspended a membranous sac containing a limpid fluid and a small
compact stony substance or otolithe, a sort of ossiculum audittis.
Ink-Bags.— -The excretion from these bags is of a deep black, and
in those species in which it occurs (for it is not common to the whole
family) it is produced by a gland appropriated to its secretion, and
reserved in a small bag till the exigendes of the animal caU for
its effusion to doud the surrounding water in order that it may
conceal itself. It has been long considered that the Indian Inx
imported from China is manufactured from this secretion, but Cuvier
observes that M. Rdmusat has foimd noUiing in Chinese authors
confirmcfctory of this opinion. That it makes an excellent pigment
even after having been buried for thousands of years in the earth is
proved by Dr. Buckland's fossil ink, which he submitted to a odebrated
painter, who immediatdy inquired from what colourman such good
sepia might be procured.
The skin of the naked spedes is chan^ble, showing spots i?liicli
brighten and fade with a rapidity supenor to the euticulsr changes
of the chamaleon.
Food. — Prmdpally fishes and crustaceans ; but there ii little doubt
that few animal matters come amiss to these mollusks, for they are
most voracious.
Qeographical Distribution. — ^Very wide. Hardly any sea is without
some spedes of the family. Captain Ross discovered a new genog
(i2oma, Owen), in the Arctic Ocean, which has smoe been found in
our own seas. Fabridus describee two spedes which firequeot the
coasts of Greenland. ('Fauna Grcenlandica,' p. SQL)
Utility. — ^The flesh, especially that of the arms, is eatable, and is
considered very nutritious. Though neglected in the British lalandi,
it is brought to table in other countries. The arms, out into portions
and prepared for cookery, are to be frequently seen in the Neapolitan
market.. The cuttle-bone is used for erasures, and manufactured into
' pounce ' of the shops. The prepared ink is capable of being made
into a pigment. That the Naked Cephalopoda formed a favourite
dish with the andents, and were considered not unworthy of the
most exquidte cookery, there is no doubt. (See for instance Athensua,
'Ddpnoeoph.' lib. i vL, vol. i, p. 14 : lib. viL IzxxviL et cxxx.,voliii^
pp. 140 et 199: lib. xiv. xvii, voL v., p. 255, SchweighiiuBer^B
edition.)
The natural division of the class is into those Cephalopoda which
are naked (CejJialopoda nuda), and those which are protected by an
external shdl {Cephalopoda iettaeea). Of the former, Sepia ofieimU*,
the Conmion Cuttle-FiBh, may be taken as an example ; and the
following cut will give a general idea of the form of a ni^ed Gephalo-
pod, but this varies in the different genera. In Sepia ojSleindUt the
soft parts are supported by a firm calcareous bone, the well-known
cuttle-bone of tne shops, and in all the naked Cephalopoda (not
induding Afyanauta) now existiug, it would appear that some rudi-
ment at least of a bony, homy, or cartilaginous support is to be
found. [SsriADJL]
The CutUo-Pish (SepiotnOhU iepUicta).
a, Bepioteiiikit upiaeea ; the dotted line shows tbe plaoe and abape of tbe donal
piece, or cuttle-bone ; b, the lower aide of an acetabulQin of OOapus vniferu;
e, of an aoetabulam of Eledone,
The iVaK^i^MS PompUiut ^ords an example of the testaoeooJ
Cephalopods, or those which are protected by a shelL rNAUTiLn)&]
Professor Owen has howe rer shewn tjhe neoesdty of dividing thu
order into two groups, whi< h he proposes to call DibrancMaia and
Tetrabranchiata.
The Dibranchiata are characterised by possessing two branchis;
and to this dividon all the Naked Cephalopoda bdong, such as the
species of the genera Sepvt, to whic^ the Common Cuttle-Fish
belongs, Loligo, Octopus, Eossia, and Ommastrephet,
The TetraSranchiata possens four branchiae ; and to this division the
Nautilus [NautiudaJ, and the bulk of the fossil spedes of Cephaio-
poda known under the names of Ammonites, Ooniatites, CeratUetj &c^
bdong. The extinct animals of this dividon are by far the most
numerous.
None of the Tetrabranchi>aa exist in the British seas ; there are
however several forms of Dilfranchiata, of which the following
Digitized by
Google
8»
CEPHALOPODA.
CEPHALOPODA.
82S
BynopsiB from Forbes and Hanley's 'Britifih Molluaoa,' will give
an idea : —
Family, OcnoFODm A
QeouB, Octopus, [Ootopoda.]
0. vulgaris.
Chwm, Flethne, [Ootofoda.]
£,ve)Urioo»a,
Family, Tiuthidjl
Genua, Septolos [Sefiadjl]
S. AilanUea,
S. Ronddetii,
Gemifl, JZoMto. [Boaau; Ssfiaoa]
Kmacro9oma,
R, Owenii,
Genufl^ Loligo, [Louoo.]
L. nuufnorti,
Qeniu, Ommattr^hes, [Omuastrefhes.]
0. sagittatfu,
0. todanu,
O.ENana,
FaBuly> Sefiada
Oenii% Septa. [Sipuda]
ikofflcmdUs.
S. biuerialis.
Gemu, SpiruUk [Sfibula.]
8,Per<miL
FottH Cephalopoda.
These are multitudinonfl, and in the bye-gone ogee of the world
appear to have been powerful inetrumentB for keeping down the
other tribes of ancient Testaceans, CruBtaceans, and even Fishes ; for
many of them — certain Orihocerata and AfMnonttes for example^
affoid eTidence of gigantic dimensions. In the periods prior to the
Chalk Formation, and at the time of its deposit, thev were the
agoits employed for this purpose, and were succeeded in the Tertiary
period by the Fossil Trachelipods, which are either entirely absent
or very scarce in the Secondary and Transition series, while the Fossil
Cephalopoda occur but rarely in the Tertiaiy beds. The extinct
Ammonite [Ammonites], Baculite, Belemnite, Hamite, Orthoceratite,
Turrilite, and Scaphite, will readily occur to the fossil zoologist as
some of the ancient class. The Foraminifera, formerly placed by
B'Orbigny in this class, are now no longer regarded even as MoUutca.
[FOBAMIKITZBA.]
The following is M. D'OrbignVs diyision and airangement of the
clasB (kphaiopodaf including l^th recent and fossil genera :*-
Order A. Aoxtabuufera, Fer. and D'Orb. ; Dibrahchiata, Owen.
OoroPODA. Geinuy Odopvt, Lam.; Ex., 0. vulgaris (fig.
8606, 2607) ; 0. vmirieoiUB (2609).
„ Bledone,
„ Phikmexitf D'Orb.
„ Argonaiutay Linn. ; Ex., A. Argo (2680,
2682).
Oranchia, Leach ; Ex., C. scabra (2616).
Sepidla, Lam.; Ex., S. vulgaris (fig.
2610) ; & stenodactyla (2611, 2612).
iZoinoyOwen; Ex.,i2.|)alpe&rofa(2618).
8e^ Linn.; Ex., S. oficinalis (2619,
> (2618).
DlOAPODA.
Fam. Sbfiadjb,
CntUe-Hahes.
[SlFZADJl]
Fam. LouQiDA <
Fam. Teuthid^
Calamaries.
[Tedthida]
Fam. BELEinnTiDA
[fiELEinriTE&]
Fam. Sfibulxda.
rSnuuLA.]
{
LoHgo, Lam. ; Ex., L. vulgar
SepifUuthiSf Blain., B. and F.
Teudopsis, Deslongchamps. Fobs.
JsUgopsis, Lam.
IfistioteuthiSy D'Orb.
LeptoteuthiSf Meyer.
Bdoteuthis, Miinster.
BeUnmosepia, Agfataz.
Onvdkoteuihis, Lichtenstein ; Ex., 0.
Banksii (2616).
SnoploieuiMs, jyfth.
Acanthoteuthis, Wagner.
KalcBna, Mtinster.
Ommastr^hes, D'Orb.
OenoUulhU, D'Orb.
BeUmnitdla, D'Orb.
BdemniUs, I Aeuari. Oolitic.
ii CanalieuUUi. Oolitic.
iiL JIastati. Oolitio and
Cretaceous,
ir. ClavatL Lias.
V. JHlaUUi. Neooomien.
Spinda, Imol
SpiruHrostrOy D'Orb.
Bdopiera, Disi ; Ex.,B. sepMea (2684) ;
£. beUmnoidoa (2686).
Order B. Txntaouufera, D*Orb. ; Tetrabbakchiata, Owen.
Ist Fam. ^AXJTiLXDM. [Nautilida]
Genus, Naulilus; Ex., N. Pompilius (2621);
N. Mcrobioulaius (2622).
Fossil spedes. a. StrioH.
h. JRadiali.
e, LoBoigatL
„ Liiuites, Breyn, F. ; Ex., L, articvlatus
(2681).
„ ffoHohUy Montfort^ F.
„ N<MUiloeeras, D'Orb., F.
„ Aplooeras, D'Orb., F.
„ Qomphocoras, Lew., F.
„ Ooniooeras, Hall, F.
„ OrthooeratiUs, Breyn, T.; Ex., 0.
laterale.
„ AeUnoesras, Bronn.
„ JSndocsras, HalL
2nd Fam. Cltmenida [Cltkebidje.]
* Partitions without lateral or dorsal lobes.
Genus, Melia, Fischer.
„ Cameroeeras, Conrad.
„ Campulites, Desh. ; Ex., C7. ventricosui
(2682, 2688); PhragiMoefas, Bow.
,, Troeholite$f Conrad.
** Partitions with one lateral lobe but no dorsal lobe.
Ctenus, Olymenia, Miinster.
„ Megasiphoma, D'Orb.
8rd Fam. AimoinnDJL [AMMOKnBB.]
* Without a dorsal lobe.
Genus, OncoceraSf HalL
„ Cfyrtoe^ras, Goldfuss; Ex., C, depres-
sum (2680).
„ QuroceraSf Mojer.
» Oiypioceras, D'Orb.
** One dorsal lobe.
Genus, JStenoeeras.
*** Partitions angular, not branched; lateral lobes,
and one-angular dorsal lobe.
Genus, ChniatiUs [Goniatubs] ; Ex., Q. trun-
catus, 0. Listeri, Q. spirorbis, Q.
Cfibsonl
I LiitguaU.
iL Zanceolaii; Ex., O. SensUwi
(2668).
ill Qmuifraciis Ex. Q. striatus
(2663).
iv. Serrati.
y. Cfrenati.
▼L Acutolateralu.
vii MagnosiUares; 'Ex.,0,sublams
(2667).
viii NauHUni; Ex., O. expansus
(2666).
„ OeraUteSt De Haan; Ex., C. nodosus
(2647).
♦••• Partitions branched, one dorsal lobe.
Genus, AmmoniUs, Brag. [Ammobites.]
L Oolitic Groups.
Arietes. Lower Lias; Ex., A,
obtusus (2688).
Poleiferi, Upper Lias.
Omati. Oxford Clay.
Capricomu
Oaronaii, In£-Oolite.
Armaii. Upper Oolite.
iL Oolitio and Cretaceous Groups.
Heteroph}fili. D'Orb.
MaeroeephM.
Fimbriati. D'Orb.
PlanuUui.
iiL Cretaceous Groups.
OristaU.
TubereuhUL
Clypeiformes,
PuleheUi.
Rothomagenses (2648).
Deniati.
FlexuosL
Covtprcss%»
Angulicostatu
Ligati,
Scapkites, Parkinson.
„ Orioeeras, L^veill^; Ex., C. JhwdUi
(2660).
Digitized by
Google
CEPHALOPl'EBA.
CERAltlAOE^
m
GeniiB, Toxoceras, D'Orb.
„ Baculites, Lam.; £z. B. vertthralii
(2676).
„ PtychoceraSf D'Orb.
,1 Hamitea, Parkinson.
„ TurrUitea, Lam- ; Ex., T, costatus
(2577).
„ ffeteroceras, D'Orb.
M ffelicocerat, D'Orb.
CEPHALOPTERA. [Squalidjs. See Sufflemxnt.]
CEPHALOPTERUa [Coraoika.]
CEPHALOPUS. [AiraiLOPRB.]
CEPHALOTA'CE^, a natural order of Exogenous Plants. It
consists of but one genus, and that of only one species, the CepJialotus
foUietUarUf Australum Pitcher-Plant. It has the following essential
characters : — Calyx coloured, 6-parted, with a valvate lestiYation ; no
corolla ; stamens 12 ; those opposite the sepal shortest, inserted into
the edge of a deep glandular perigynous disc ; anthers with a thick
granular connectiYe, carpels six, distinct, 1-seeded, ovate, erect;
achenia membranous, opening by the yentral suture, surrounded by
the persistent calyx and stamens; seed solitary (sometimes two),
erect; embiyo minute, in the base of the axis of a fleshy friable
somewhat oUy albumen. The Oephalotua foUicularU has small white
flowers, with a simple scape, bearing a compound terminal spike ; the
leaves are exstipulate, and have mingled amongst them operculate
pitchers. This plant, according to Labillardidre, is allied to Roaacea,
and, according to Jussieu, to ^asttUacecB. Brown places the order
between OrcimlacecB and Francoctcece. Lindley points out its relations
through the last order to PUtoaporacece and Sarrciceniacea!, where the
leaves of the plants are also converted into pitchers. He also formerly
placed Dionaa in this order, and observed that it differed little from
CqahcUottu except in the presence of petals, and in the syncarpous
fruit, with the seeds collected upon a flat central placenta. He
now places DUmma with Droteracea and Oephalotua in or near
Ranuneulacece, [Diona^]
In cultivating the Australian Pitcher J^lant it should be placed
in turfy peat soil either in a box or pot It should be kept rather
moist, and this may be effected by placing the pots in pans of water.
The plants are always the heidthier for allowing moss to grow over
the surflAoe of the soil in which they are planted. They can only be
increased by seed.
(UjiSlierr, Natural System,; Don, Gardener^ a Dictionary.)
CEPHALOTEa [Chbibottera.]
CEPHALOTUa [Cephalotaoka]
CEPHEA. [ACALBPHA]
CEPHUa [COLTMBIDAl
CEPHUS, a genus of Blymenopterous Insects belonging to the
liEtmily Xiphydriido! (Leach). It has the following characters : —
Antennas rather long, growing gradually thicker towards the apex ;
head transverse, joined to the thorax by a distinct and rather long
neck ; mandibles exserted ; maxillary palpi long and slender ; body
somewhat compressed, especially towards the apex ; ovipositor dis-
tinct^ exserted.
CL pygmceua is common in flowers, particularly buttercups. It is
about one-third of an inch in length ; black, witti two yellow fasciae
on the abdomen ; the palpi and tibise also more or less yellow. The
larva of this insect is said to live in the stems of wheat Mr. Stephens
enumerates ten British species of this genus, most of which are black,
with yellow fascia?.
CEFO'LA (Linnaeus), a genus of Fishes belonging to the section
A canthopteryffii and family Tcenioidei. The technical characters of this
genus are : — ^Body much elongated, compressed, and tapering gradually
towards the tail, which is pointed ; head (when viewed from the side)
about the same width as the body ; snout short and obtuse ; imder
jaw curved upwards; teeth curved and weU developed; dorsal fin
extending from the head to the tail (whidi is pointed) ; anal fin
extending thence nearly the whole length of the body; branchi-
ostegous membrane with six rays.
O. rubeacena, the Red Band-Fish and Red Snake-Fish, has been
found on the British coasts, but is not uncommon in the Mediterra-
nean. It is of a pale carmine colour, and varies from 10 to 15 inches
in length ; it is very smooth and almost destitute of scales ; the body
is slender, much compressed, and tapers very gradually from the
head to the tail The riband-like and compressed form of the body
increases with age ; the young are somewhat oval, or almost round.
The pectoral fins are small ; the ventrals ai*e situated rather anterior
to the line of the origin of the pectorals, and have the first ray spinous.
The dorsal and anal fins both extend to and join the tail, or caudal
fin (which terminates in a point), so that they form one continued
fin. (YarrelFs < British Fishes;' Jenyn's 'Manual of British Verte-
brate Animals ;' Linnsean ' Transactions,' vol. vii., &c., where this fish
was recorded as British for the first time by Colonel Montagu.)
O, tcenia (Limueus) is said to differ from the species just described
in having a row of hard points along the side of the body above the
lateral Ime, and in having an inner row of teeth in the lower jaw : it
is however very probably not a distinct species.
CERADIA, a genus of plants belonging to the Corymbiferous
division of the natural order Compoailce, C. furcata is a half-suoculent
plant inhabiting the most sterile regions of south-westeni Africa. It
yields in some abundance a brittle resin-like substance, which gives
out a fragrant odour when burnt, and has been odled Africaa
Bdellium; it is however a very different thing from the true
Bdellium. [BDELLniH.]
CERAMBY'OIDiE, a family of Coleopterous Insects of the secticm
Longicomia (Latreille). They are characterised by the body being
generally elongate ; antennse very long, as long or longer than the
body ; labrum very distinct and broader than long ; maxillae with the
terminal processes membranaceous and projecting ; mandibles mode-
rate ; eyes lunat€^ partly surrounding the basal joint of the antenps ;
thorax nearly cylindrical, or orbicular, truncated before and behind;
logs rather long, and generally compressed; tarsi spongy beneath,
penultimate joint bilobed.
The CerambyeidcB are found in all parts of the globe, but they
abound most in hot climates, and constitute a very extensive group
of coleopterous insects, the most striking feature of which is the
great lengtii of the antennae. One of their most important funddoiu
appears to be to assist with numerous other wood-feeding inseds in
the removal of old and decaying trees : it is in the larva state princi-
pally that this business is performed. The parent insect deposite her
eggs in a hole excavated for the purpose. When these are hatched
the larvae commence feeding upon the wood, and in so doing excavate
burrows in various directions, but mostly longitudinal ; in this state
they frequently live for two or three years, and the perforations which
they make are very extensive.
The larvae are elongate, broadest towards the head, and taper
slightly towards the tail, and are oomi>OBed of 18 segnckente. They
have 6 legs (situated one on each side, on the under part of the three
anterior segments of the abdomen) which are so minute as to be scarcely
apparent. They move chiefiy by means of the segments of the body,
which have the upper and under surfaces flat and covered with minute
tubercles. In making their way in the cylindrical or (what is almost
always the case) oval burrows, the animal protrudes the^e parts of
the segments above and beneath, and thus thrusts itself forward. The
head has the appearance of being coiflposed of two segments ; the
hinder part is very broad (almost equalling that of the segment in
which it is inserted), terminated on each side anteriorly by an angle,
and separated from the fore part, which is luirrow, by an elevated
ridge; the jaws (mandibles) are short and vexy stout and strong ; the
antennas cxe scarcely visible ; the palpi are small. The first segment
of the abdomen, or that next the head, is protected by a shield aboTe
of A horn-like substance.
The pupae are what is termed incomplete, that is, when the external
organs (such as the wing-cases, antennae, legs, &a) are each inclosed
in a separate and distinct sheath, and "consequently not closely
applied to the body, but have their form for the most part clearly
distinguishable." The antennae, which have been before described aa
being very long in the perfect insect, are bent backwards, and lie along
the back of the pupa until they reach the apex of the body ; they are
then recurved and extend along the under side, and if very long they
are again reoorved, so that they, as well as all the other parts, lie dose
to the body.
The Oerambycidce in the perfect state frequent flowers, especially
the UmbelltfercB; the lai^ge species are often found on the trunks of
trees. Different individuals of the same species vary extremely in
size, a circumstance frequently observed in those insects whose lanw
feed on wood, and arising most probably from the degree of moisture
or dryness of the food.
M. Latreille restricts the genus Ceramhyx to those spedes whidi
have an unequal or rough thorax, usually spinous or tuberoulated, and
dilated in the middle at the sides, with the third, fourth, and fifth
joints of the antennae evidently thicker than the following ones, and
the remaining joints abruptly longer and thinner.
C. heroa affords an example of t^his genua : it is about an inch and a
half in length ; of an elongate forx^ attenuated posteriorly ; black ;
elytra with the apex pitchy, or brown; the thorax is rough and
shining, and has a spine on each side. This species, together witii
another belong^g to the same genus (C7. cerdo), has been found in
England, but it is extremely rare ; in me warm and temperate parts
of Europe it is common. The larva perforates the oak, and according
to Latroille is perhaps the Cossus of the andents.
The genus CeraiMyx of Mr. Stephens and most of the British
entomologists is synonymous with that of CalUehchroma of Latreille,
whereas the characters given by him for Ceramhyx agree with those
of HamicUicherua oi English authors.
The Musk-Beetle, which is very common in the south of England
on old pollard willows, will serve to illustrate the genus CeramJbyx of
Stephens's 'Illustrations of British Entomology.' It is about an inch
and a half in length, of an elongate and somewhat linear form ; ita
colour is usually bright green, sometimes blue : the under part of the
body is bluish.
This insect emits a very strong and agreeable odour, which is not
unlike attar of rosea. It certainly bears no resemblance to musk,
though those who gave it the name of Musk-Beetle appear to have
thought that it did.
CERAMBTX. [CERAiCBTaiDJB.]
CERAMIACE^ [ALOiB.]
Digitized by
Google
ttS
CJ^RAHIUS.
GERAStTa
CERA'MIUS, a genus of Hymenopierous Inflecta belonging to the
section IHploptera (Latreille). This genns is arranged by Latreille next
to the True Wasps. It is readily distinguished by the superior wings
being flat (not folded as in the wasps) and having only two cubital
cells ; the labial palpi are longer than the maxillae. [yB8Fn>&]
CERAPTEBUS. [Paussida]
CE'RAPUS, a genus of Amphipodous Crustaceans forming the
sixth division of the third section of the order Amphipoda (Latreille),
according to Desmarest. The following are the characters of this
division : — All four antenuGD very great and strong, and nearly of the
same length ; the upper with four joints, the lower or lateral ones
with five.
Say first established this genus, which has the antennae hairy, and
performing in some sort the ofiSoe of limbs, herein corresponding in
a degree to the lower antennae of the Corophia of Latreille. Feet of
the first pair small, and terminated by a simple short nail ; those of
the second pair on the contrary very lai^e, having a laige, flat> trian-
gular manua provided with a biarticulated thtlmb, corresponding to a
well-developeid point which represents the immoveable finger in- the
ordinary crustaceans; those of the three succeeding pairs moderate
and monodactylous, and the four last longer, more slender, and
directed backwards and upwards. Body long, linear, demicylindrical,
composed of twelve segments, the last of which is flattened into the
form of an oval plate furnished on each side with a small bifurcated
appendage at the extremity. Head terminated by a very small
rofitrunL Eyes projecting.
Example, Cerapv* tt^bvlari^. Like the larva) of the PhryganecB this
extraordmaiy crustacean, which is about six ILaes in length, lives in a
r\.a
Cerapus tubularU,
small cylindrical tube, which is considered to be that of a Tutmlaria,
exposing only the head, the four lai^ge antennae, and the two first
pairs of feet The species occurs in abundance in the sea near Egg
Harbour in the United States, in the midst of SertuUtrioif which aro
supposed to form its principal food. (Journal of the Academy 0/ Nckt,
Scu of Philadelphia, vol i. p. 49, pi. 4.)
CERASITE, a native Chloride of Lead. It has a white, yellowish,
or reddish colour, is nearly opaque, and has a pearly lustre. Its spe-
cific gravity is 7 to 7*1. It consists of lead 88, and chlorine 14. It is
found in the BCendip HUls, Somersetshire.
CERASTES. [YiPERiOJi.]
CERA'STICTM (from Kcpar, a horn), a genus of phmts belonging to
the natural order Caryophyllacea!, It has a 5-parted calyx, 5 petals,
all bifid; stamens 10, 5, or 4 ; styles 5 or 4 ; the capsules tubular,
opening at the end, with 10 teeth. This is an extensive genus, con-
taining species wluch are common weeds in the temperate climates
of most parts of the world. Don enumerates 82 species ; of these 9
are British.
C, cUpinum, Alpine Mouse-Ear Chickweed, has a hairy ascending
stem, the leaves ovate, ovate-oblong, or lanceolate ; the flowers few ;
the sepals bluntish, with membranous margins ; bracts herbcu^eous,
their margins often narrowly membranous ; the capsules, at length,
twice as long as the calyx. This plant is a native of the Pyrenees,
the mountainous parts of Wales and Scotland, and of Melville Island.
It is subject to great variations, and a number of varieties have been
described by Brown, Bentham, and other botanists.
C. gUmeratum has ovate leaves, acute lanceolate sepals, with a
narrow membranous margin, and, as well as the herbaceous bracts,
hairy throughout ; the capsule cylindrical, ascending, twice as long as
the calyx ; fruitHstalks about as long as the calyx. This is a conomon
plant in fields and on banks, flowering from April to September.
The other British species are C, triviale, common in fields ; C. aemidee-
andrum, found in dry places : C. cUrovireM, inhabiting sandy places
and rocks near the sea; C. pumilunif found only near Croydon in
Surrey; C, tetnxnd/ntm, found at Tynemouth and Shetland; C. laii-
foftttm, a rare plant; and C, arvente, abundant in chalky and gravelly
places.
A few of the species, as C, tomeniostm, C, grandifiortm, and C,
2>ahfudcum are worth cultivating as border flowers. C, UUtfolium,
C. alpinum, and C, glaciaU are adapted for growing on rock-work, or
in small pots, when they should be placed in a mixture of loam,
■sod, and peat They require the same general treatment as most
Wdy plants. The annual species may be propagated by sowing seed
in an open border in the spring ; the perennial, by dividing the plants
at the root.
(Don, Oardenet'e Dictionary ; Babington, Mamual,)
CE'RASUS, a genus of plants belonging to the Amygdaloous divi-
sion of the natm-al order Rosacece, and including the Common Cheny
among its species. It is hardly dififerent from Prtmttt, there being
little or nothing to distinguish it beyond its leaves when young being
folded flat insteieul of being rolled up. Botanists seem however pretty
well agreed in looking upon the Cherries as a genus distinct from
Plums, and we follow their example. The species may be divided into
the True Cherries, the Bird-Cheiries, and the Cherry-Laurels.
Section I. True Cherries. Flowers growing in Umbels or singly,
or occasionally in short Corymbs ; usually appearing earlier than
the Leaves.
1. C. Aviim (PruiMi Avium, Linn.), the Wild Cherry. Flowers
appearing. with the leaves, which are pale and rather downy under-
neath. Branches when young weak and spreading. Fruit roundish,
with a soft flesh and an austere juice. A native of the woods of
Europe and the west of Asia } and in a cultivated form common in
gardens. In this country it occurs as far to the north as Ross-shire,
where it exists in the form of a dwarf bush propagating itself rapidly
by the roots. The wood is remarkable for the large size of its medul-
laxy processes, which give its longitudinal section a bright satiny
lustre, and render it well suited for ornamental cabinet work. In this
respect it is much superior to the C. vvlgarie. When growing in
gravelly or sharp sandy situations with a dry bottom, which are the
only localities ^ere it thrives, it acquires a very considerable size,
occasional specimens being spoken of as much as 80 feet and more in
height ; it is however more oonomonly seen in the state of coppice
wood. To this species we presume all 'the weeping or weak-bran<»ied
cultivated cherries wi^h an acid juice are to be referred either as
genuine varieties or hybrid forms ; such are the Merise or Merisier,
MoreUo, Kentish and All Saint, or Overflowering Cheny, which last is
often made into a species by systematic writers, and called C, eemper'
fioreni. Some of the varieties, especially the Double-Flowered French,
as it is commonly called, the Double Merisier of the French, are
remarkable for their elegance and beauty. C. Avium is the Ceratut
iylv€9tri$ of Ray; and the C. marcuca, or Maiasche Cherry, of
Dalmatia, from wbach maraschino is prepared, has no specific marks
to distinguish it.
2. 0.vulg<u^{Pi'tMU8 Oerasm,hixm.), ike Common Chdrrj, Flowers
appearing earlier than the leaves, which are light green and smooth
underneath. Branches when young stifif and erect Fruit roundish
or heartshaped, succulent, more or less firm, and sugary. Found wild
in the woods of Asia Minor, where it aoquires a very large size.
Walsh speaks of it as being still oommon along the northern coast of
Asia Mmor, whence the ' original cherry ' was brought to Europe.
One variety is- chiefly seen in g^irdens, the other grows in woods in the
interior, particularly on the banks of the Sakari, the ancient Sangarius.
The trees attain a gigantic size ; they are ascended by perpendicular
ladders suspended from the lowest branches. Walsh measured one
of them 5 feet in circumference (f), 40 feet to the origin of the lowest
branches, and from 90 to 100 feet in full height ; this large tree was
loaded with delicious, fine, transparent, amber-coloured fruit Dr.
Royle considers the cherry wild in Cashmera It was introduced into
Europe by the Romans under LucuUus, about half a century before
the birth of Christ, and has ever since fdimed one of the most
esteemed varietes of dessert fruit It differs from the genuine form
of (7. Avium in the characters above assigned to it, as also in its wood
having such small meduUary processes that nothing like a satiny
appearance in it is produced, whatever the direction be in which it is
cut; hence its grain is plain, and it is but ill suited for cabinet-
makers' work. It is to be presumed that this exotic species is the
origin of the sweet lai^ge cherries called Bigarreaus, Guignes, and the
like, to which must undoubtedly be added the Tartarian Cherries of
the English gardens. That the two species now enumerated were
really distinct in the beginning we have little doubt ; but long culti-
vation and their intermixture by hybridising, either intentional or
accidental, have |p confused them that the gardens are filled with
intermediate raceai, and their limits are lost sight of.
It is here that the C. jutiana and Dwacina of modem botanists
have to be referred; while their C. capronianct, or acid succulent
cherries, are probably hvbrids. [Chebbt.] For a full account of
these species see Loudon s 'Arboretum Britannicum.'
8. C. chamaweratuB, the Ground-Cherry. Flowers in umbels, either
with the leaves or earlier. Leaves obovate-lanceolate, shining, ere-
nated, quite smooth, with few or no glands. Fruit spherical^ acid,
with st^ks longer than the leaves. A dwarf species, never rising
above 3 or 4 feet high, and in the gardens usuaUv budded on the
common cherry at the height of 5 or 6 feet from the p;round. It is
not ornamental, and is seldom seen. Its native situations are stony,
ro6kj, mountainous places, about the skirts of woods and in hed^
in the eastern parts of Europe and west of Asia; it is common in
Lower Austria and Hungary. Gmelin met with it in Siberia, and
Ledebour in the Kirglus Desert, near Ejurkaraly, in the AltaL
4. C. nigra, the Black American Chwrv. Flowers in sessile umbels,
appearing before the leaves ; light pinL Leaves obovate-oblong or
Digitized by
Google
337
CERASUS.
CERATONIA.
obovate-lanoeolate, often cuspidate, somewhat doubly serrated, with
or without two glands at the base, slightly rugose. Segments of the
calyx toothed. Native of the northern states of the North American
Union, and extending into Canada and Newfoundland. It forms
rather a handsome tree, with its loose umbels of pinkish flowers.
The fruit is as huge as a moderately-sised cherry.
5. G, Penngyhanica, Pennsylvanian Cheny. Flowers in sessile
umbels, i^pearing iJong with the leaves. Leaves ovate or oval, sharp-
pointed, smooth, and rather shining, with minute unequal toothings.
Segments of the calyx toothless. A native of the more northern parts
of North America, especially in Canada, where it is common. It K)nns
a small tree, vexy like O. nigra in some respects, but differing from
that species in its much smaller colourless flower and smooth rather
shining leaves, which never acquire the obovate figure so common in
C. nigra. The fruit is that of a bird-cherry, and is said to be sweet
C, horecUii is considered by Sir William Hooker as being identical
with this. It is represented in the southern states of the American
Union by C. vmhellata, which appears to differ chiefly in having
spinous branches, more finely serrated leaves, and downy calyxes.
6. C, serruUUa, the Fine-Toothed Cherry. Leaves oblong-lanceolate,
obtuse at the base, tapering to the point, bordered with fine bristle-
pointed teeth, thin, and not shining. A native of China, and only
known in our gardens with double flowers. These are exceedingly
delicate and beautiful, but they appear at so early a season aa to be
liable to injury from the spring frosts.
7. O. ptettdocerasut, the Chinese Cheny. Flowers in hairy loose
corymbs, appearing before the leaves, with a long hairy tube to the
calyx. Leaves ovate or obovate, cuspidate, doubly serrated, slightly
downy on the veins. A Chinese species, probably from the northern
provinces of that great empire. It bears a small pale-red sweet fruit,
which is more readily forced than that of the Common Cherry.
8. O. depretaa, the Sand-Cherry. Flowers appearing a little earlier
than the leaves, or about the same time, in small compact umbels.
Leaves obovste-lanceolate, seirated, glaucous on the under side, bluish-
green and somewhat shining on the upper. Fruit mucronate. A
small bush resembling a dwarf almond, covered with profusion of
small white flowers in May, and afterwards with small, black, bitter,
shining, sharp-pointed fruit. It is found in Canada and the northern
part of the Umted States.
9. C, prostrcUa, the Spreading Cherry. Flowers solitary, or few in
a cluster, appearing along with the leaves, than which they are shorter.
Leaves roundish-ovate, loosely hairy beneath, deeply and simply ser-
rated. Calyx-tube oblong, segments downy inside. A small prostrate
bush, found on the sea-coast of Candia, and on the moimtains of Dal-
matia and Asia Minor.
10. O. JaponicOj the Dwarf- Almond. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, very
much tapering to the point, finely serrated, slightly downy beneath,
very rugose. Flowers appearing a little before the leaves in small
dense clusters. Calyx smooth, bell-shaped, with the segments as long
as the tube. A native of Japan, and long known in our gardens as
the Double Dwarf-Almond, one of the most beautiful objects that
appear in the month of March.
Section IL Bird-Cherries. Flowers growing in long Racemes,
appearing with or later than the Leaves. Leaves deciduous.
11. 0. Mahaleht the Perfumed Cherry. Leaves roundish ovate,
deciduous, glaucous on the underside, simply serrated. Flowers in
somewhat corymbose racemes not much longer than the leaves. A
shrub or small tree, remarkable for the powexful and agreeable odour
of its flowers. It is a native of rocks in the Tyrol, Dalmatia, Car-
niolia, and Hungary, spreading into Asia till it acquires its most
eastern limits in the woods and hedges of the southern parts of the
Crimea. It is not a particularly ornamental plant> and though per-
fectly hardy is seldom seen in our gardens. The fruit is ble^, and
nauseously bitter.
12. O. Padui {Prunut Padus, Linn.), the Common Bird-Cherry.
Leaves oblong, cuspidate, rugose, simply serrated, deciduous. Flowers
in racemes much longer than the leaves. A common species, wild in
the woods and hedges of the middle parts of Europe, less common in
the south, and occurring on the mountains of Caucams and the Altai.
It is readily known by its deciduous rugose leaves, long racemes of
white flowers, and round bitter fruit, which is however agreeable
enough to birds. It is a native of Ghreat Britain.
18. C. Virginiana^ the Choke-Cherry. Leaves ovate or oblong-
lanceolate, acuminate, serrated, flat, vexy smooth, shining, deciduous.
Racemes long, cylindrical, lateral. In all systematic books are named
two American Bird-Cherries, O. Virginiama and (7. serotina, to each
of which are assigned charaicters that comprehend so little of a dis-
criminative nature that we find it impracticable to ascertain whether
two species have really been before tiie writers on these subjects, or
whether they have not distinguished under different names specimens
of one and the same species. O, Virginiana with the above characters
forms a large tree, according to Michaux, in the southern states,
attaining from 80 to 100 feet in height. It is the Tawquoy-Meen-
ahtik of the Crees, according to Sir John Richardson, rising on the
sandy plains of the Saskatchewan to 20 feet, but extending as far
north as the Qreat Slave Lake (62' N. lat.), where it attains the height
of 5 feet only. Its fhxit is not very edible ip a recent stAte but when
dried and bruised it forms an esteemed addition to pemmicao. Elliott
adds that its timber is among the best in the United States for cabinet-
maker^ work. In this country it forms rather a graceful thougb
roimdish headed tree from 20 to 80 feet high, Imd its shining though
deciduous leaves give it almost the appearance of an evergreen.
14. C, aerotina, the Late Bird-Cherry. Leaves obovate-laaoeolate,
acute, serrated, channeled, very shining, deciduous. Racemes long,
cylindrical, latcoraL What is thus designated in this place is a plant
with something of the aspect of a Portugal Laurel, and as it flowers
later than the last its fruit is not usually ripened in tins climate. It is
principally distinguished by its leaves being more obovate, never M,
but always half-folded up, and with a more shinitig suifiaoa
15. C. CapoUvn, Mexican Bird-Cherry. Leaves ovate-Ianceokie,
acuminate, serrated, flat, shining, dedduoua Racemes terminal A
native of the mountains of Mexico.
Section III. Laurel-Cherries. Flowers growing in long Racemes,
appearing with the Leaves. Leaves eveigreea
16. C. CaroliniaiMk^ the Carolina Laurel-Cherry. Leaves oblong-
lanceolate, acute, serrated, and entire, evergreen. Racemes lateral,
much shorter than the leaves. It is a native of Carolina, and a very
uncommon species in the collections of this country. It is said to be
one of the most ornamental of the trees of Carolina^ Its leaves are
very poisonous.
17. O. lauro-eerasuSf the Common or Broad-Leaved Laurel (cherry).
Leaves oblong-lanceolate, remotely serrated, somewhat convex, pale
green, evergreen. Racemes shorter than the leaves. This valnable
and common evergreen, which now gives half their richneas to the
varied pleasure-grounds of Great Britain ; which is so hardy that do
frost seems to affect it ; which is equally capable of resisting the
greatest heat and drought of summer, and which will flouriah either
in the most exposed or the most shadeid situations ; is a iui;tive of the
coimtry near Trebizond in Asia Minor, and was sent £h>m Constanti-
nople to Ecluse in the year 1576 by the imperial ambassador Ungnad.
Eduse gives an interesting account of the difficulty he had in establish-
ing the first plant, which must have been tranismitted at no smaQ
charge ; for it is stated to have been six feet high, with a stem as thid[
as a man's arm. (Claiisii, ' Historia Plontorum,' p. 6.) A variegated
and a barren-leaved variety are known in gardens, but the originil
kind is the only one worth cultivating as an object of ornament It
is multiplied in the nurseries by layering, cuttings, and seeda This
species is remarkable for the abundance of hydrocyanic acid secreted
in its leaves.
18. O. lAuiicawsOy the Portugal Laurel (cheny). Leaves ovite-
lanceolate, acuminate, concave, dark g^een, glandleas, shining, ever
green. Racemes lateral, longer than the leaves. A native of Portugal,
and slso found in the Canaries, where it is called Hixa, acquiring a
height of 60 or 70 feet. According to some the Hixa is a distinct
species ; Mr. Barker Webb found that plant on the Serra de Oerez in
Fortugal of the height just stated, while the true C. LuBiiantea v»s
not above 18 or 20 feet high. This is less hardy than the preceding;
it is less easy to transplant, and will not grow so weU under other
trees; nevertheless it is one of the most useful of our natmalised
evergreens. It produces fruit in abundance in England, from which
it is readily propagated.
CERA'TINA, a genus of Hymenopterous Insects of the section
Mdlifera and family Apidcf. It has the following characters:—
Exterior palpi 6-jointed, interior 2-iointed ; antennsQ inserted in a little
fossula, and terminated almost m an elongated club; mandibles
sulcateid, and tridentate at the apex; abdomen somewhat ovate,
elongate, narrower towards the base, and destitute of a ventral seopa.
This genus is included in ^e section Apia (xx. d. 2 a.) of Kirbys
' Monographia Apum Anglise.'
O. cceruUBa{Api8 eyanea, Kir.), alittle bee, which is very uncommon
in this country, and found during the autumn in the flowera of the
Jacohosa, will serve as an illustration of this genua It is about a
quarter of an inch in length, of a bluish-green colour, and very
smooth and shining ; the fore part of the head in the naale is white.
Spinola states that the female Ceratina selects the dead branches
of the bramble and likewise those of the sweet briar, and witii
her mandibles excavates the pith, till a cylindrical burrow of
considerable length is formed ; this is then divided generally into
eight or nine cSls, by partitions formed of the pitti which wm
dislodged, mixed with a glutinous secretion. In eich cell, as it m
formed, an egg is deposited ; it is then furnished with a portion ot
honey, which serves for the food of the larva when discloMd.
The account is given under the name of Ceratina aUnlabrity which «
said to be synonymous with the one above mentioned. He also says
that the insect is common in the south of Europe.
(Annates du MwSum cPffistoire Naturdle, voL x.) ,
CERATI'TES, a subdivision of the Ammonitidce, as proposed by
Haan. It is peculiar to the Muschelkalk. [Goniatites.]
CERATO'NIA, agenus of Apetalous plants belonging to the natural
order Leguminosa:. 0. SUiqua^ St. John's Bread, or the Csrob.l're^
is a remarkable plant, found wild in all the countries skirtmg "e
Mediterranean, especially in the Levant At Malte it is »!?»«* ^^
only tree that grows, relieving the irksomeness of the white stone
incTosuree by its dark foliage. The pods contain a sweet nutnttoui
Digitized by
Google
830
CERATOPHRYS.
CERBERUa
e30
pulp, and are aometdmes seen in the fruiterers' shops in London ; they
are a common article of food in the ooontries where the tree grows
wild. Pliny calls it SUiqua prceduleit, " At the present day it is
wnt from Pftlestine to Alexandria in ship-loads and from thence
Carob-Tree {Ceratonia Sillqua).
acroAS the tf edlterranean, and as far as Constantinople, where it is
sold in aU the shops. The pulp resembles numna in taste and con-
sistence, and is sometimes used as sugar to preserve other substancea
But the circumstance that has rendered it famous is the controversy
whether it was not the real food of St John in the wilderness. Some
of the fiithers assert that the iuepl^ts, or locusts, of St John were
some Tegetable substance; and the fi^Ki Sypioiff wild honey, the
saccharine matter of this pod. It is certain that the plant grows in
great abundance in the wilderness of Palestine, where its produce is
at this day used for food. It is called by the Arabs kharoob."
(Walsh.) The Spaniards call it Algaroba, and give its pods to horses.
The seeds, which are nearly of the weight of a carat, have been thought
to have been the origin of that ancient money-weight
CERATOPHRYa [AMPmBiA.]
CERATOPHYLLA'CEiE, Ifonworts, the Ceratophyllum Tribe, a
small and obscure group of plants oomprohending the single genus
CeratophyUwUf probably a mere section of Urticaceoi, with the structuro
and habit of that natural order modified by the submersed situation
in which the species live. It has also been supposed to have rolations
with Coniferck, Halorngaeeoi, and NaiadactOL They are aquatic plants,
with cellular leaves split into capillary divisions, with monoecious
flowers, a many-parted inferior calyx, several stamens, a 1-celled
ovarv with a pendulous ovule, and a seed whose embryo has four
cotyledons surrounding a highly developed many-leaved plumula.
Ceratophyllum tubmersum and 0. demertum inhabit ditches in this
countiy. Four other species are described. Schleiden says thero
is but one species.
CERATOPHYTA. [Polyzoa.]
CE'ItBElRA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Apocynacem, contains among other poisonous species that from whidi
the Taoghin poison of Madagascar is procured. The genua Ceir(>era is
known by the calyx being leafy, the corolla funnel-shaped, with a
davate tube, and nve scales on its orifice, the stamens sessile just
below tiie orifice of the tube, and a 1- or 2-seeded drupe, with a
fibrous woody stone.
C. Tanqhin, the Tanghin, is described as a tree with lanceolate
alternate leaves, of a leathery texture, pale-pink flowers arranged in
corymbose panicles, with a crimson star-like blotch at the orifice of
the tube, and an oval drupe as lai^e as a peach, of a green colour
Btained with purple, and not unlike some sorts of mango. The
foUovring interesting account of the plant is given by Mr. Telfair : —
The kernel of the fruit must be a very powerful poison : it is not
much lai^er than an almond, and vet is sufficient to destroy above
twenty persons. Radama, the late king of Madagascar, abolished the
use of it as an ordeal Whether the custom has been rovived by the new
government I know not It was with great difficulty that the chief-
tains could be persuaded to admit of the abolition of an usage
which had existed from time immemorial, and whose unerring efficacy
in the detection and punishment of crime had never been questioned,
untU Mr. Hasty, our government agent, had acquired such an influence
with Radama and his court as to admit of the exposure of its fidlaoy.
But this was the work of years ; and although Radama was at length
himself convinced that nothing could be moro ui\just than the con-
tinuance of the practice, he dared not so fex shook the projudices of
his people as to order that it should cease. Even the chi^ performers
in the ceremony, the Skids, as they aro called at Tanararissoo, who
unite in their own persons the offices of priests and physicians, and
who administer the poisonous kernel to the victims, never doubt its
power of rovealing guilt or clearing innocence. The last occasion on
which it was practised in Radama*s roign, and ot which he availed
himself to efiect its disoontinuance, personially regl^'ded his court and
attendants. The king was affected with a complaint of the liver, for
which the skid prescribed some inefficacious remedies, and as the
disease became worse Mr. Hasty gave him some calomel in doses
which he had found by experience to rolieve himself utider similar
symptoms. The disease oisappearod, but ptyalism was produced,
and alarmed the king's family, who believed that he was poisoned, and
insisted that all lus immediate attendants should be put to the ordeal
of the tanghin ; and the royal skid was most earnest in pressing to
have it performed, although he himself from his rank and place was
among the first to whom it would be administered. In vain the king
protested that he felt himself cured, and that the indisposition and
soroness of the mouth was caused by the medicines that had rolieved
him, and which would pass off in a few days. The skid insisted, the
ministers and principal chieftains joined with the family in requiring
the ordeal, to which the king in spite of his convictions was compelled
to consent; but at ihe same' time he made it a condition that this
should be tJie last exhibition of the kind, and he bewailed the neces-
sity which deprived him of so many attached dependants whose
fate he had predicted, while he protested his conviction of their
innocence.
The king's servants, including the skid, wero moro than twenty in
number ; they wero shut up at night separately, and not allowed to
taste food ; the next mormng they wero brought out in procession
and paraded beforo the assembled people ; the presiding skid had the
tanghin fruit in readiness; after some prayers and superstitious
evolutions he took out the kernel, which he placed on a smooth
stone, and with another stone broke down part of it into a soft whito
mass like powdered almonds. The victims wero then brought sepa-
rately forward, each was questioned as to lus guilty and if he denied,
his arms wero tied behind, and he was placed on his knees beforo the
skid, who put a portion of the pounded kernel on his tongue and
compelled him to swallow it Thus the kernel was shared among aU
the king's personal servants. On some of the individuals the poison
began to operate in half an hour or less. The skid takes particidar
notice how they fall, whether on the fiuse, to the right or left hand, or
on the back, each position indicating a different shade of guilt Con-
vulsions generally come on accompanied with efforts to vomit Those
whose stomachs roject the dose at an early period usually recover. On
this occasion thero wero only two individuals with whom this was the
case. The others wero thrown in a state of insensibility into a hole, and
every person present at the ceremony was obliged to throw a stone
over them, so that their burial was quickly completed. The king's
skid was one of the first that felL Those that recover aro supposed
to bear a channed life ever after, and aro respected as the peculiar
favourites of the gods. (' Botanical Magazine,' foL 2968.)
The plant whidi yields the Tanghin has been called by Du Petit
Thomas Tanghinia vmtnifcra, C7. Manghas is a native of Singapore
and some of the adjacent islands. The seeds aro emetic and poisonous,
whilst the milky sap is purgative. The leaves and bark aro used as
a substitute for senna.
CE'RBERUS, a genus of Snakes, established by Cuvier in his
division of the great genus Coluber. In Dr. Gray's arrangement of
the Snakes of the British Museum, it is —
placed amongst the Hydridos, The
Cerberi like the Pythons, next to which
they aro placed in the ' R^e Animal,'
have nearly the whole of the head
covered witii small scales, and plates
only between and beforo the eyes ; but
they aro without the hooks or nails
near the vent Cuvier further says
that they have also sometimes simple
plates at the base of the tail, but ob- i
serves that whilst he has seen this I 1
arrangement in one individual, he has I |
remarked others of the same species \
which had them all double ; a proof in
his opinion of the small importance of
the character.
C. einereua (Coluber Cerberus, Daudin),
the Karoo Bokadam. Russell, who
gives the native name above stated,
tiius describes the species : —
" Abdominal Bcuta U4, subcaudal ^^^^ ^^ c-ei-jmi*.
squamsB 59. The head somewhat
broader than the neck, yet appears small in proportion to the trunk ;
a little convex above, compressed on the sides, and projecting into ar
shorty obtuse, or subtruncate snout, on whidi the eyes and nostrils
Digitized by
Google
831
CERCARIA.
CEREOPSia
are aituated. The inout is ooTered with amall laminn of Tarloua
formi ; the reat of the head with small suborbicular carinated soales.
The mouth not large, the jaws nearly of equal length. The teeth
dose set, regular, small, reflex ; a marginal and two palatal rows in
the upper jaw. The eyes vertical, small, orbicular, protuberant^ each
situated in the centre of a
remarkable oirde of small
triangular lamina. The noa-
trils very small, yertical, near
to each other, and close to the
apex of the rostrum.
"The trunk thick, round,
covered with large carinated,
broad-oval, imbricate scales.
The length 8 feet 4 4 inches;
thickness near the head about
8 inches ; the middle of the
trunk 44 inches. The tail
measures only 8 inches, is a
little compressed, tapers
moderately, and terminates in
an obtuse point.
" Part of the head is almost
black ; the colour of the trunk
and tail a veir dark gray;
the throat, belly, and imder
part of the tail are of a dusky
yellow ; but the colour of the
scuta seemed to have been
changed by the spirits."
Dr. Russell further observes
that his specimen from which
our figure is taken was sent
from Gkmjam in July, 1788,
and that he never saw one
alive. He adds that notwith-
standing its Buspicioua ap-
pearance, the want of poison
The Karoo Bokadam (Cferftma cinereu$y. orgKDB shows that the snake
is not formidable.
<7. cmutuiy the Bomean Bokadam, is a native of Borneo.
C. unicolor, the Philippine Bokadam, is a native of the Philippines.
C. AuttralUt the Australian Bokadam. is a native of Australia.
CERCARIA. [Entozoa. <Sto Supplbmemt.]
CERCERIS. [Hymbnoptxra.]
CERCIS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Legvmi-
noBCR, C. siliquaitrum, the Judas-Tree, so called from the tradition
that it was upon a plant of it, near Jerusalem, that the betrayer of
our Saviour hanged himself, is a leguminous tree common on the
shores of Asia Minor and in all the East. Dr. Walsh speaks of it as
abounding in the Levant at the present day, clothing the shores of
the Bosporus and the sides of Mount Libanus. It is very beautiful
in all its stages. Yeiy early in spring flowen of a bright pale red
burst out before anv leaf appears, not only from every part of the
branches but from the trunk, piercing the thick strong bark nearly
down to the root in a very remarkable manner, and it is for this
reason called Red Bud. These buds are gathered and used with other
raw vegetables by the Greeks and Turks in salads, to which they
give an agreeable colour and taste. It is very common in England,
where it proves quite hardy, but it does not flower well unless in a
very sheltered situation, or when trained to a wall. There is a pale
.almost white-flowered variety, and also an American species {C,
CanadensU)t but neither is worth cultivation.
CERCOCEBUS. [Simiadjb; Guewons.]
CERCOMTS. [Rodehtia; Htstbicida]
CERCOPITHECUS. [Simiada; Guemonb.]
CEREBELLUM. [BsAiir.]
CEREBRUM. [Bbaiit.]
CERE'OLITE, a native hydro-silicate of Magnesia and Alumina.
It occun in globules, in Wacke, or Toadstone, and appean to result
from its decomposition.
CEREOPSIS, a genus of Birds established by Latham, and placed
by him (1802) among the Waders {Grallatorei) ; and (in 1824) next
to the Swimmers — Palmipedes {An§eretf Linn.). The charaotera of
this bird, which Mr. Bennett says has been observed by nearly all the
navigators who had visited tne south coast of Australia and its
neighbouring islands from 1792 downwards, are as follows : —
Bill short, elevated, obtuse, covered by a broadly expanded cere,
except at the extremity, which is somewhat vaulted and truncated.
NoRtrils large, situated about the middle of the bill, and open. Feet
with tarsi (shanka) longer than the middle toe, and bare of feathere
a little way above the knees ; great toe articulated to the posterior
part of the tarsus ; anterior toes palmated, and furnished with
membranes deeply notched or cut out as it were so as to appear
scarcely to reach beyond the half of their length ; naila long and
strong; wings ample; wing-coverts nearly as long as the quills;
flrat quill a little shorter than the succeeding ones. Tail feathere
sixteen.
C. NcwB HoUomdia, the Cereopsii Qoose, is about the size of the
common goose and nearly of the same carriage, with the exception
of the lei^^ of the legs. Temminck gives the length at from 2 J feet
to 8 feet We select Mr. Bennett's description : — *' A broad patch on
the top of the head is of a dull white, and the rest of the plumage
of a dmgy sny, deeper on the upper than on the under parts, having
the extremity of each of the feathen of the back mai^^ined with a
lighter band, and most of the wing-ooverts and secondary qnill-
feathen marked with rounded duskv spots of from two to four lines
in diameter. On the feathen of the back and shoulden the spoti
are much lai^ger, assume an angular or semilunar form, and approach
more nearly the general colour of the plumage. The quill-feathen
boUi of the wings and tail are dusky black throughout the greater
part of theur extent. The naked extremity of the bill is black ; the
broadly expanded cere of a light straw or lemon colour ; the iridee
light-hazel ; the naked part of the legs reddish-orange ; and the toes,
together with their web and claws, andavtreak passing for some
little distance up the fore part of the leg, black."
Mr. Tarrell having examined one that died in the Tioological Gardena,
Regent's Ptok, states that its trunk was much shorter than that of
the true geese, and more triangular in its shape. The pectoral muscles
were laige and dai^-coloured. The trachea was of large but nearly
uniform odibre, without convolution, and attached in its descent to
the right side of the neck, as in the heron and bittern. In the form
of its bone of divarication and bronchise, it most resembled the
same part in ^e geese. The muscles of voice were two pairs; one
pair attached to the shafts of the os fiircatorium, the other to the
inner lateral surface of the sternum. The lobes of the liver were of
large size, morbidly dark in colour; their substance broke down
under the finger on the slightest pressure. The stomach, a true
gizzard, was of small size as compared with the bulk of the biri
The firat duplicature of intestine was 6 inches in length, at the
returning portion of which the biliary and pancreatic ducts entered ;
from thence to the origin of the cseca 4 feet 6 inches ; the csca
9 inches each ; the colon and rectum together 5 inches ; the whole
length of the intestines was 7 feet 5 inches. The stomach and
intestioal viscera were loaded with fat
With regard to its habits Mr. Bennett says — " It is true that the
limited opportimities that have occurred of observing it in a state of
natura have precluded the possibility of obtaining a complete history
of its habits and mode of life ; but the accounts furnished by various
writen lead directly to the inference that it resembles the wild geese
of the northern hemisphere as closely in these pariiculan as in
general conformation. We cannot state with certainty whether it is
equally migratory ; but Captain Flinders, who found it at one period
of the year so abundant on Goose Island as fully to justify the appel-
lation, adds that it was by no means so numerous at a different seawn,
and this fact necessarily implies at least a partial change of locality
In its mannera it appean that it is by no means so shy as our northern
geese, a circumstance which probably depends on the little disturbance
that it has hitherto met with in its native haunts. Labillardi^ tells
us that many of those first seen by him suffered themselves to be taken
with the hand ; but the rest becoming apprised of their danger speedily
took to flight. Considerable numbera were taken by the crew of
Captain Flindere's vessel, both at Lucky Bay and Goose Inland, by
CercopsU Goose {(^rcopiis Nova: Ilollandia:),
knocking them down with sticks, and some of them were secured
alive. According to- M. Bailly, those seen by him at Preservation
Island evinced so little shyness, and suffered themselves to be
approached so readily, that his boat's crew were enabled to procars
Digitized by
Google
833
CERET7S.
CEROCOMA.
bU
without any trouble a sufficient quantiW to yictual them durhig
their stay. The flesh of these geeee, as they are called, is described
by Bass as being excellent. D'Entrecasteaux considered it much
more delicate than that of the European goose ; and Flinders adds
that on Preservation Island it formed the best repasts of his men.
''It would seem that this bird does not often leave the coast to
visit the interior of the country, for M. Riche, who was lost by his
companions for more than two days at Espdrance Bay, never met
with it in the course of his wanderings in search of them. K. Bailly
states that on Preservation Island it takes up its abode on the grassy
declivities ; and Captain Flinders found it on Goose Island, amongst
the grass and on the shore : * It feeds,' he says, * upon grass, and rarely
takes to the water.' Its usual weight is from 7 to 10 lbs. According
to Mr. Bass it has a deep, hoarse, clanging, and though a short yet
an inflected voice ; and to the accuracy of this observation we can
ourselves bear testimony."
This bird has lived and bred in the Gardens of the 2^ological Society
in Regent's Park, where there are at present several liviog specimena
Our drawing is from a pair with a brood hatched in the Gardens. •
CE'REUS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Cactacea. It is characterised by its sepals being very numerous,
imbricate, adnate to the base of the ovarium, united into an elon-
gated tube, outer ones shorter and like a calyx, middle ones longer
and coloured, innermost ones petaloid ; the stvle multifid at the apex ;
the berry areolate, tubercular, or scaly from the remains of the sepals.
The species are fleshy grotesque shrubs, with a woody axis and soft
interior. They possess angles which are vertical and covered with
bundles of spines. The flowers are laige, arising from the angles of
the spines. They are called Torch-Thistles.
C, tenilit, the Old Man Torch-Thistle, is an erect plant, having a
stem with 20-25 vertical ribs, covered with fascicles of bristles, each
fasricle containing from 15-20 radiating hair-formed curled bristles.
Its long gray bristles give it the appearance of the head of an old
gray-haired man. It is a native of Mexico.
C. fiageUtfortnU, the Creeping Cereus,^ has prostrate stems with
about 10 angles. It is very common in our gardens, and its trailing
stems requii-e the support of trellis-work. It bears an abimdance of
beautiful red and pink flowers. It is a native of South America^
though now naturalised in Asia and Africa.
C, grandifiorvba, the Night-Flowering Cereus, has rootiDg stems,
with 5 or 6 angles and fascicles of bristles, with 5-8 in each fascicle.
It is a native of the West India Islands, and is found in many parts
of the mainland of South America. This plant when cultivated
produces very Uuige beautiful sweet-scented flowers. They are how-
ever of short duration, remaining open not more than six hours.
They generally begin to open between seven and eight o'clock in t^e
evening, and are fully expanded by eleven or twelve, and before the
next morning they are quite fetded.
C.apeciotistvatua is an erect plant, 8-4 angled, the angles toothed,
the prickles subulate, straight, rising from a white tomentum. It
is a native of Mexico, but is very commonly cultivated in our gardens,
on account of its laige flowers, which are of a beautiful scarlet, the
inner petals having a violaceous colour. Nearly 100 species of this
beautiful genus of plants have been described, and a fine collection
of them exists in the Royal Gardens at Eew. They are of easv
culture, and require the same general treatment as the order to which
they belong. [Cactacea]
CEHIA, a genus of Dipterous Insects belonging to the &mily
Syrpkida, It has the following characters : — Head longer than the
thorax; antennse longer than the head, inserted on a petiole, the
second and third joints forming an ovsd mass ; stylet terminal and
Bhort ; abdomen cylindrical ; submarginal nervure of the wings much
bent, and throwing out a rudiment of another nervure.
Five species of this genus are known ; the colouring is black and
yellow, which, together with an elongated and somewhat ovate form
of body, gives them a resemblance to wasps. Only one has been
discovered in England, and that is extremely rare — it is the Ceria
conoptoides, and is about half an inch long ; black, front of the head
yellow in the tnale, black and yellow in the female ; petiole of the
antennsB elongated and yellow beneath ; sides of the thorax with
yellow spots; scutellum yellow, with the apex black; the second,
third, and fourth segments of the abdomen, with their margin, of
the same calour; legs yellow; exterior margin of the wings brown.
It is also found in France. It appears not to have been found
abundant anywhere.
CERITHItJM. [Ehtomootomata.]
CERIUM, a metal not found pure in nature. It occurs in several
minerals, of which the following are the most remarkable —
1. Cerite, found near Riddarhittan, in Sweden. It occurs amor-
phous. Its colour is pale dull red, sometimes grayish, and its streak
is white ; its lustre is resinous, slightly translucent, and sufficiently
hard to give sparks with steel, or 6*5. Speoific gravity, 4*912.
Accoidii^ to Hisinger it consists of —
Silica 18
Peroxide of Cerium 68*59
Peroxide of Iron 2
Lime 1-25
Water and Garbonic Add .... 9*6— 99'44
KAT. BIBI. BIT. VOL. I.
In the opinion of Dr. Thomson it is a hydrous silicated peroxide
of Cerium.
2. Oerine, found as above, occurs massive and in imperfect crystals.
Colour brownish-black, streak brownish-gray, opaque, with an imper-
fect metallic lustre. Hardness 5*5 to 6*0. Specific gravity, 4'178
Composition according to Berzelius : —
Silica 80-07
Oxide of Cerium 28*19
Oxide of Iron 20*7
Oxide of Copper 0*87
Alumina 11*07
Lime 9*12
Volatile Matter 04
100-42
8. Allanite, found at Alluk, East Greenland. It occurs massive,
and crystallised in the form of a doubly oblique prism. Fracture
imperfect conchoidal. It is opaque, with an imperfect metallic lustre.
Colour brownish-black, streak greenish-gray. Hardness, 6*0. Specific
gravity, 4. It is composed, according to Stromeyer, of —
Silica 88*021
Protoxide of Cerium 21*6
Protoxide of Iron 15*101
Protoxide of Manganese . . . . 0*404
Alumina 15*226
Lime 11*08
Water 3.
99*482
4. Monaeite, found near Slatoust, Russia ; also in the United States,
where it occurs in small brown crystals, disseminated through mica-
slate ; at Norwich, Connecticut ; at Chester, Connecticut ; and York
Town, New York. It is brittle, has a hardness of 5, and specific
gravity of 4*8 to 5*1. It is composed of —
Oxide of Cerium 26*00
Oxide of Ttanthanum 23*04
Thorina . 17*95
Phosphoric Acid . . . . . . 28*05
Oxide of Tin 2*01
Protoxide of Manganese 1*09
Lime 1*07
99*21
5. CfryptoUte is a phosphate of the Oxide of Cerium in minute
prisms. It is found with the apatite of Arendal, Norway. It has a
pale wine-yellow colour. It has a spjecific gravity of 4*6.
Orthite is another mineral with Cerium [Orthue] ; so also are Tttro-
eerUe [Yttbium] and PyrocHtore [Ptroohlob*].
CERNUA, a genus of Fishes belonging to the section AcamJUKh
pUry^i and the family Percida. It includes the Bufie or Pope, a
British fish, which has also been named Acerina wlgaris and Perea
Cemua. llie generic character of Acerina^ as given by Yarrell in his
'British Fishes,' is as follows: — "Dorsal fin single, elongated, the
rays of the first portion spinous, the others flexible ; branchiostegous
rays seven; teeth very small, uniform, numerous; head wil£out
scales ; suborbital bone and pre-operculum indented ; operculum ending
in a single point.
In Acerina vulfforitf the Ruffe or Pope, the prevailing colour of the
upper part of the body and head is a light olive-brown, passing into a
yellowish-brown on the sides, and becoming almost silvery-white on
the belly. The lateral line prominent and strongly marked. Small
brown spots are disseminated over the back, dorsid fin, and tail,
assuming on the latter, from their arrangement, the appearance of bars ;
pectoral, ventral, and anal fins, pale-brown. This fish is an inhabitant
of fresh waters, and closely allied to the perch. It was first described
by Dr. Caius, who called it Atpredo, being a translation of our word
Ruffe (rough), which is applied to this fish on account of the harsh
feel of its denticulated scales. It is common in all the rivers of
England, especially the Thames, the Isis, and Cam, and is found in
the colder parts of the European continent. It is like the perch in
its habits. (Yarrell, Bntish Pishea.)
CERO'COMA, a genus of Coleopterous Insects, belonging to the
family OanUiouridas (Latreille). It has the following characters : —
Antennse short, 9-jointed, the basal joint as long as the two following;
the second and next joints in succession are short and gradually
increase in width to tiie apex of the antennse ; the terminal joint
forms a distinct ovate knob ; palpi moderate, all the joints of nearly
equal width — such are the characters of the females. The males have
the antennse short, thick, and the joints extremely irregular in shape
and size ; those towards the base are imcommonly large, the terminal
joint forms a laige flattened knob, the joints immediately adjoining
are the smallest ; the palpi are also very much developed, the basal
joints being very lar^ The head and thorax are rounded at the
sides, and of about equal width ; the elytra are narrow, somewhat
linear, elongate, and soft
The species of this genus are remarkable for the extraordinaiy
antennse of the males. They are European, and make their appear-
ance during the summer months, fluently in great numbers m the
8 B
Digitized by
Google
836
CEROPILES.
CERTHIAD-E.
886
same spot Thej are found on flowen, partioulArlj those of the wild
ohamomile, &c.
C, Sehafferi is about half an inch in length, and of a bright golden
green above, or bluish ; the legs and antennn are yellow. In the
female the base of the thighs and the tarsi are black. The colour of
this species and the texture of its wings closely resemble that of the
common Blister Beetle. The general form of the body is not very
dissimilar : it is of a smaller size. This spedes is common in France.
CEROPILES. [PoMPiLus.]
CERO'XYLON, a gen\is of plants belonging to the natural order of
Palma C. Andicolc^ the Wax-Palm of South America, is one of the
most remarkable plants in the large natural order to which it belongs.
It is a species with pinnated leaves and panided polygamous flowers.
Its calyx consists of three small scales ; the petals are also three, but
much larger and sharp-pointed. The stamens are numerous, with
very short filwnents. The fruit is a little round drupe, with a single
seed of the same figure.
Wax-Palm {Otrozyton Andieola),
This plant has received from the American Spaniards the name of
Palma de Cera, or Wax-Palm, on account of the abundance of that
■ubstance yielded by the stem. It grows, according to Bonpland, in
that part of the Andes which separates the valley of the Magdalena
from that of the river Cauca, in 4" 35' N. lat. Below the snow-
capped mountains called Tolima, San Juan, and Quindiu, especially
the last, the CeroxyUm grows in all its grandeur, devating its majestic
trunk, coated with a thick incrustation of wax, to the height of 180
feet among the most rugged predpices of the wild region which it
inhabits. Unlike the greater part of the palm-tribe, this species avoids
the heat of tropical plains, and seems incapable of existmg except in
regions where the temperature is lowered by elevation in the air and
the contiguity of perpetual snow. It is said to make its first appear-
ance on the sides of the Quindiu, at a height equal to that of the Puy
de Dome or the passage of Mont Cenis ; this is higher than the r^ion
of Cinchonas, and so cool that Humboldt does not estimate the mean
temperature of the year higher at the utmost than 65" or 68** Fahr.,
which is at least 17 degrees lower than the mean temperature of palm
countries. It does not extend over more than 15 or 20 leagues of
country altogether. Its roots are fibrous and very numerous, the
main root being thicker than the stem itself. The trunk is distinctly
marked by rings caused by the fall of the leaves, which are from 18 to
20 feet long. The spaces between the rings are pale yellow, and smooth
like the stems of a reed, and covered with a thick coating of wax and
resin. This substance, melted with a third of fat, makes excellent
candles. Vauquelin ascertained that this vegetable matter consists of
.two-thirds resin and one-third wax, which is only a little more brittle
than bees-wax. The only paralld among palms to this property of
exuding wax occurs in a Brazilian palm wita palmated leavei, called
Camauba.
CERTHIA. [Certhiada]
CERTHIADiE, the Creeper Family, a family of birds placed by
Mr. Vigors imder his order Scantorei, or Climbing Birds. " The genus
Cerihia," writes that author ('Ldnn. Trans.,' vol xiv. p. 461), "as
originally instituted by Linnteus, contained, besides the true Cerikia
and its congeners, which form the extreme family of the preceding
tribe (Picidce), all those birds whose slender and gradually cnrred
bills and delicate formation of body, added to their practice of
employing their tongues in taking their food, indicated a strong
affinity to each other, and which have since been particnlarised by
authors under the various names of NeetaHwia, OvUnyrity I>repanii,
&C. To the group thus known and described by the Swedish natu-
ralist, later ornithologists, who have strictiy followed his steps, have
added another, discovered since his tinle in Australasia, similar in
habits and manners, and now distinguished by the generic title oi
Mdiphaga, The whole of the birds, however, thus imited by close
affinities, and as such generally brought together by systematic
writers into one conterminous series, are deddedly divisible into two
distinct groups, naturally arranging themselves under different sub-
divisions of the order. The funily of CerthiadcB live upon animal
food ; while the remaining genera of the Linnsean Oertkia subusl
chiefly upon vegetable juices. The tongues of each, though simiUr
in being more or less extendble, and in being the medium through
which they are supplied with food, are equally distinct as the nature
of the food itself. Those of the former are sharp and of a spearlike
form, as if to transfix the insects which are their prey ; while those
of the latter are divided into tubular filaments, which appear exclu-
sively adapted to the purposes of suction. In other particulars Uiey
exhibit an equal difference. The Oerthiada climb, and their feet are
of a conformable structure ; but the feet of the suctorial birds are not
only in general unsuited to that purpose, but they become gradually
weaker, and of less use as they come nearer the type of the tribe,
where they are so short and slightly formed as to be serriceable only
in perching, when the bird is at rest. .... The two groups of
the Linnsean Certhia are disposed in the separate departments to
which the distinct nature of their food and habits more immediately
unites them ; while at the same time, by their forming the extremee
of their respective tribes, and touching each other at the correspondng
points of the circles in which they are arranged, their obvious affinities
are preserved inviolate.
''In addition," continues Mr. Vigors, "to Dendrocolaptetj and
the true Oerthia of the present day, the family before us consists
of a variety of genera which are strongly united by their corre-
sponding habits. Among these, CUmacteriSf Temm., and Orthmyx,
Temm., preserve the strong shafts of the tail-feathers, which are
carried on to them from the true Piei. This construction gradually
disappears in the remaining groups of the family ; but the strong
hind toe, and the tongue more or less extensile, and serving to spear
their prey, is still conspicuous. Among such groups we may particu-
larise the Tichodroma, IlL, and Upvpct, Limu, together with the
Idnnsean SUtaj and the conterminous form of Xenopt, HI Here also
may be associated the Opetiorkynckua and AnabcUet of M. Temminck,
as also the Oxyrhynchui of the same author. The genus may be
observed to be connected with those groups of the present family
which are united with the genus Tunx of the preceding ; it is a
perfect Wryneck, as justiy asserted by M. Temminck, with a Creeper's
foot."
Mr. Swainson (' Fauna Boreali-Americana,' voL u.) places the genus
Troglodytes {Wrena) among the Certhiadce, which fanaily he also places
under the Seansores,
Cuvier, the Prince of Canino, and Lesson, arrange the Oertkiada
under the Tenuirostres.
The character of the Family is as follows : — Bill sometimes very
much curved, sometimes but little, sometimes nearly straight,
rounded, slightly compressed, pointed; tongue dmple, curtilaginous
at the extremity; tail-feathers generally worn at the end. (Lesson.)
The following are the genera enumerated by Lesson : —
Certhia. Bill moderately long, more or less curved, triangular,
compressed, dender, pointed ; nostrils basal, partially dosed by »
membrane ; wings diort, fourth quill longest ; tail-feathers stiflF, a
little curved, pointed at the end.
C. familiaris (Linn.). The Creeper, Common Creeper, Tree-
Creeper and Tree-Climber, C. familioH* (Linn.), is, according to
Bdon and others, the K^pBios of Aristotle (book ix. 17). It is Le
Grimperoau of the French ; Picchio Piccolo, Picchietto, Bam-
pichino, and Piccio Rampichino, of the Italians; Baumlatffer,
Kleinere Qrau-Specht, or Kleinste Baum-Hacker of the Germans.
Krypare of the 'Fauna Suedca;* and the Grepianog of the andoit
British.
It has the bill about half an inch long, slender, and curved ; h«d
and neck above streaked with black and yellowish-brown ; a white
line above each eye; irides hazel; back, rump, and ,»<*P^^
approaching to tawny; quills dusky, tipped and edged with white
or light brown ; coverts dusky-brown and yellowish-white, nroduong
a variegated appearance; a ydlowish- white bar across the wing;
Digitized by
Google
837
CERTHIAD-E.
CERTHIAD^.
breast and belly silvery-white; tail-feathers twelve, tawny-brown;
length rather more than 5 inches ; weight about 2 drachms (Montagu),
Pennant says 5 drachms.
firmly (se oramponn^nt fortement), without however mounting and
descending by creeping. Clefts and crevices of rocks and the widls of
old edifices are its favourite haunts, and sometimes, but very rarely,
Creeper {OgrlAiafamiliari$).
The Crbeper is a most restless and active little bird, ever on the
alert, and climbing up and about the trunks and branches of trees
intent on picking up its insect food. Though comparatively common,
and a constant resident in Britain, it is not easily seen, for its activity
in shiftmg its position makes it very difficult to follow it with the
eye. At one instant it is before the spectator and the next ia hidden
from his view by the intervening trunk or branch, to the opposite
side of which it has passed in a moment. The form of the tail and
organisation of the feet are beautiful adaptations for this sort of rapid
locomotion. Its note is monotonous, and often repeated.
It builds its nest in the hole or behind the bark^f decayed trees,
formed of dry grass and the inner part of the bark, lined with small
fathers, in which six or eight eggs are deposited. While the female
sits on these she is regularly fed by the male bird.
It is found in Great Britain and the continent of Europe. Pennant
says that it migrates to Italy in September and October. Latham
states that it is found in various parts of Qermany and elsewhere on
the Continent, and is also said to inhabit North America. This is
confinped by the Prince of Canino, who, in his ' Specohio Compara-
tivo,' notes it as common and permanent near Rome, and rare near
PhiUdelph^
Temminck is of opinion that the O, hrachydactyla of Brehm is
identical with C, familiofru,
Tiehodroma {Petrodrotna, Yieill.). Bill longer than the head,
triangular at the base, slightly ben^ rounded, entire, and depressed
at the point; nostrUs horizontal; tail-feathers nearly equal, with
ordinary shafts ; wings long ; fourth, fifth, and sixth quiU the longest ;
T, mvraria, C. Bonap. ; T, phcmux^pUra, Temm. ; C. mwraria, Linn.
This bird is tlie Qrimpereau de Muraille, Pic de Muraille, Temier,
Eschelette, and Echelette, of tiie French ; Picchio Muraiolo and Picohio
di Muro of the Italians ; Mmier Baumlaufer of the Gtermans ; and
Wall-Creeper of Latham.
The summit of the head is of a deep ash-colour ; nape, back, and
scapulars bright ash ; throat and firont of the neck deep black ; lower
parts blackish-ash ; coverts of the wings and upper part of the exterior
barbs of the quills bright red; extremity of tne alar quills black-^
these quills have two lai^ge white spots disposed upon the interior
barbs; tail black, terminated with white and ash; bill, iris, and feet
black; length 6 inches 6 lines. Such is Temminok's description of
the male in its nuptial or spring dress.
The female, according to the same author, has the summit of the
head of the same bright adi as the back; the throat and front of the
neck white» slightly tinged with ash; and the rest of the plumage
like that of the male.
It is a natiTa of the south of Europe. Tolerably abundant in Spain
and Italy, always on the most elevated rocks, and very rare in the
mountahis of moderate height. Never found in the norUi, according
to Temminck. The bird is common in Provence ; and the Prince of
Canino notes it as permanent and rather rare near Rome, where it
may however be seen oreepiog on the outward walls of St. Peter's.
It is not a Brituh bird, at least it has never been recorded as such.
Temminck says that what the Creeper does upon trees the Wall-
Creeper does against the vertical how of rooks, on which it sticks
WaliwCreeper {IXehodroma muraria),
the trunks of trees. It feeds on insects, their larvse, and pupes, and is
particularly fond of spiders and their eggs. Belon has figured his
example dinging to a pillar with a spider in its bilL The nest irf
made in clefts of the most inaccessible rocks, and in the crevices of
ruins at a great height
The bird moults twice a year. It is in the spring only that the
male has the black on the throat, and this ornament disappears before
the other feathers fall. The females moult also twice, but without
changing colour, which makes it impossible to distinguish the sexes
after pairing and breeding time, llie voimg may be distinguished
firom their parents before their first moult, but in winter no difference
is observable. (Temminck.)
Dendrocolaptet (DendrocopvSf Vieill.) Bill long or moderate, com-
pressed laterally, rather strong, convex, straight or curved, or only
curved towards the extremity, pointed ; nostrils lateral, round, open ;
tongue short and cartilaginous ; third, fourth, and fifth quills the
longest; tail-feathers stifif, pointed; hind toe shortest; daws very
much curved, channeled.
D. procurmu (Temm.), 2>. trochUorostria (Wied), is the size of the
blackbird. Bill strongly curved, and nearly 20 lines long; tail
graduated, and each feather terminated by a stiff point; general
colour cinnamon, passing into dirty ruddy gray on the head and
belly ; there are numerous white spots on the head and neck. It is a
native of Brazil.
DendroeolapUi procwvus.
OUmacterit. Bill shorty weak, very much compressed throughout
its length, but little curved, oval shaped ; mandibles equal, pointed ;
nostrils basal, lateral, covered by a naked membrane; feet robust;
tarsi of the length of the middle toe, which as well as the hallux are
extraordinarily long ; daws lai^ and curved, channeled on the sides^
subulate, very mu^ hooked; external toe united up to the seooiid
Digitized by
Google
B39
CERTHIADiE.
CERVIDiE.
articulatioiiy the internal toe as fur as the first; lateral toes very
unequal ; wings moderate ; first quill shorty second shorter than the
third ; which last and the fourth are the longest (Temminck.)
0, Picwnnus, The summit of the head is deep gray; nape and
neck bright gray ; wings and two middle feathers of the tail brown ;
a large nankeen-coloured band passes nearly through the middle of
the quills ; tail-feathers black, except at their origin and extremity ;
throat and cheeks dirty white ; breast gray ; feathers of the lower
parts white in the middle, bordered with brown ; lower coverts of the
tail Isabella-colour, marked with transverse brown spots ; length 6
inches 6 lines. (Temm.) Locality, Timor, Celebes, and the north
coast of Australia.
This genus bears a strong relation to the Soui-mauga^.
nearly equal in length, and the external toe is united with the middle
toe at its base ; the claw of the posterior toe is doable the length
of the anterior toes, which are very much compressed at the sidei,
curved, and pointed. The entire plumage of the bird is & clear
fuliginous brown, spread equally over all the parts of the body, the
neck alone exhibiting yellow and brown ill-defined stria ; the under
side of the tail is of a bi ight gray-brown ; a yellow band of deeper
tint occupies the middle of the great quiUs, and forms a kind of
scarf when the bird is in flight ; the extremity of the quills is a little
deeper than the rest of the plumage, and their extenial border u a
shade brighter." (Lesson.)
The F. fvliffinotVK inhabits the Falkland Islands. It lives upon the
beach, where its familiarity and fearless disposit.on pennits approach
till it may be almost touched with the huid. Its sombre plumage
has caused it to be mentioned under the name of Merle in the narra-
tives of some voyages. Pemetty, who sojourned at the Falkhnds,
thus describes it : " This bird is so tame that it will almost fly upon
the finger ; in less than half an hour I killed ten with a small switch,
and almost without changing my position. It scratches in the
goemons (fucus) which the sea throws upon the beach, and there eata
worms and small shrimps, which they call sea-fleas (puces de mer)."
'' Its flight is short When disturbed it contents itself with flying
two or three paces farther ofL Its habits are solitaiy." (Lesson.)
Coereba, [Nbotarinida]
Diccewn. Bill pointed, bent, of the length of the head, depressed
and widened at the base.
The species forming this genu^ instituted by Cuvier, are small,
oriental, have more or less of scarlet in their plumage, and differ £rom
the true Oerthictt inasmuch as their tails are not worn, nor do they
creep. It is questionable whether they d6 not belong to the Neda-
rinida ; but their position will principally depend upon their habits
and the form of their tougue. Cuvier places the genus next to Le
Foumier {Meropa rufus) and under Nrrtanvirr.
Climacten* J'ieumnus,
Fwmarius (Opetiorhynchot), Temm.p FigtUut, Spix. Bill shortei:
than the head, as wide as it is high, compressed laterally, but little
curved, entire, pointed ; tongue moderate, straight, worn at the
point; wings feeble. (Vieillot) Type, Jf«r<)p# ru^ Gmel.
rvfiu,
F, fuUginotuSj Lesson {O, arUarcticct, Gamot).
''The genus FiAmarius" writes M. Lesson, ''was established by
M. Vieillot for the reception of some small birds of Parsguay, the
most celebrated among which have been placed among the Thrushes,
the Creepers, the Bee-Eaters, and the Promeropid<E, The most
anciently known, the Foumier of Buenos Ayres {Meropa rufus, GmeL ;
FigtduB albogulan'Sj Spix), is often noticed on account of the manner
in which it constructs its nest, namely, in the form of an oven ('four'),
whence comes its name, (hi this point we know nothing of the
habits of the Foumier Brun, which lives in South Amerioa, and
which approaches much in other respects to Meropa rufut, figured by
Commerson under the name of ffomero BonarienHum and of Turdus
f-wmifaher, and which is said to be an object of veneration at La
Plata. As it ought to be, the genus FumaHvs should only contain
the three species indicated by D'Azara, and that which we add imder
the name of F\urna/nvs fvligmotm,
" This bird is five inches and a half in length ; the bill is eight
lines long, the tarsi an inch, and the tail two inches eight lines. The
bill is slightly compressed, convex above, with the upper mandible
slightly curved, entire, and exceeding the lower one ; the tail is nearly
rectilinear, composed of twelve feathers ; the legs are feathered down
to the tarsi, which are slender, elongated, with large but little appa-
rent soutella; the middle toe is longest, the two outside ones
Dieaum erythronotta,
CERTHILAUDA. [Alaudiwa]
CERUSE, a name for White Lead. [Lead.]
CERYANTE'SI A, a name given by Ruiz and Pavon to a genus of
plants, in honour of their immortal countiym&n Cervantes. One of
the species, C. tometUoBOj is a native of Pern, and yields seeds which
are eaten in the same manner as almonds in Europe, or the Quandsos
Nut (/WcNMM <Kuminatu»)t another Santalaceous plant, in Australia.
CERVICOBRANCHIATA, an order ot Molltuca, in De Blaiorille'i
arrangement, including the genera Pa<e2^ .^isturei^ Ac. [Patellioj;
Fibsurbllielb.]
CERYIDiE, or CERYINA, a tribe or family of Ruminating
MammaUa, embracing the animals popularly known as Deer. They
belong to tiiat division of the Rwninanti(i, or UngulatOf whose honii
are deciduous, and covered when young with a deciduous hairy akin,
or entirely wanting. The CervinOf which include the genus Cenm of
Linnsdus, are characterised by the absence of cutting teeth in the
upper jaws; by the horns bong deciduous, and often wanting in
the females; the tarsus hairy on the hinder aide; the false hoofi
distinct
Yarious arrangements of this tribe have been approved. The
following remarks from the 'Catalogue of the Specimens of the Ifaffl*
malia in the British Museum * will be the best introduction to the
system followed in this article : —
"Dr. J. K Gray, in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society'
(1836, 67), proposed to arrange the species of Deer into three sections,
according to the positions of certain tufts of hair on the hind 1^
thus : — 1, a tuft of hair below the middle of the outside of the
metatarsus ; 2, a tuft of hair above the middle of the outside of the
metatarsus ; and 8, with a tuft of hair on the inside of the hocL
Dr. Sundevall, in his ' Pecora»' has adopted those divisions. These
tuftA have the advantage of being found in all ages and in both sexes*
so that they can be consulted when the horns are deficient
Digitized by
Google
Ml
CERVID^
CEBYID^
84t
"MLPuoheran ('Diet Univer. Hist. Nat' iii 814, 1848) divides
the Deer as follows : —
"A, With flathoma. 1. C, Dama (and var. mmnricwi), B, With
round horna a. With more than two andouilleres: — 1. C, VirgimMiMu,
2. C. DwMiucdlil 8. O. WaUichii. 4. C. Mapkiu, 5. C. Wapiti,
6. C. maerotit, 7. (7. macrunu. 8. C. occid&ntalis. 9. O, Blaphoides.
h. With only two andouilleres : — 10. O. ITippdaphui, 11. (7. Aritto-
telit, 12. C. equinus, IS. O. marianua, 14. C. Peronii. 15. C,
vmeohr. 16. & ila:«f. 17. 0. pordnut, 18. (7. n«M2tpa/p«6r(k 19.
C. LesehenauUii. 20. (7. OapreoluB. 21. (7. Mexieamu, 22. C poZtf-
cfentt. 28. (7. eamptitrii, c, Cerft Daguets : — 24. O. nemorvvaffut.
25. C. rufiu,
" This essay is a mere compilation without any examination.
''M. Pucheran, in his 'Monographie des Esp^ces du Qenre Cerf '
('Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci/ 1849, ii 775), divides the tribe Oervieru
into four genera: — 1. Alcea ; 2. Tarmdua; 8. Cerwlus; and
4. (krvut.
''Since the publication of Cuvier^s Essay on Deer ('Ossemens
FoBsiles,' iv.), where he exhibited the development of the horns of
Mveral species ; and in which he described several species from the
study of the horns alone, many zoologists have almost entirely
depended on the horns for the character of the species ; and Mr.
Hamilton Smith has been induced to separate some species on the
study of a single horn. But the facilities which menageries have
affoided of studying these animals, and watching the variations which
the horns of the species present, have shown that several most distinct
but allied species, as the Stag of Canada and India, have horns so
similar that it is impossible to distinguish them by t^eir horns. On
the other hand, the^ have shown that animals of the same herd, or even
family, and sometmies even the same specimen, under different cir-
cumstances, in succeeding years, have produced horns so unlike one
<mother in size and form w&t they might have been considered, if
their history was not known, as horns of very different species. These
observations, and the examination of the cUfferent cargoes of foreign
horn which are imported for the uses of the cutler-^each cargo of
which is generally collected in' a single locality, and therefore would
most probably belong to a single species peculiar to the district —
have proved to me that the horns afford a much better character to
separate the species into groups than to distinguish the allied species
from one another.
** Colonel Hamilton Smith, in his monograph of the genus^ separated
Uiem into genera according to the form of the horns.
''In the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1886 I drew
attention to the glands on the hind legs, as affording very good
characten to arrange the genera proposed by Colonel Smith into
Datund groups ; which in most particulars agreed with the geogra-
phical distribution of the species.
" Dr. Sundevall, in his ' Essay on Pecora,' has availed himself of the
characters suggested in my paper, and has also pointed out some other
external characters, such as the form and extent of the muffle, which
afford good characters, and which I firmly believe are much more im-
portant for the distinction of the genera and species than those
derived from the form of the skidl, or the modifications of the teeth,
or the form and size of the horns ; as they are not l^e those parts so
liable to alteration from age, local circumstances, and other changes
during the growth of the animal ; and the characters derived from
these parts can be seen in the feinales as well as males, which is not
the case with the horns, as they can only be observed in the male sex.
" These examinations have shown that the fortn and extent of ^e
muffle, the position and presence of glands on the hind legs, the
general form of the horns, and the kind of hinr which forms the fur,
takoi together, afford the best characters for the arrangement of the
Bpedes into natural genera, and these genera into groups. And I
betieve that the progress of zoology, and Uie natui^ arrangement and
affinities of animals, are best promoted by the general study of all the
parts of the animal taken together, rather than confining one's atten-
tion to any set of characters, and believing them as muoh more
important than the others."
At the same time that we agree with the general principles on
which Dr. Gray proposes his arrangement^ we would draw especial
attention to the very interesting nature and history of the develop-
ment of the horns of this family of ftnimala-
In the Museum of the Boysd College of Surgeons (' Physiological
Series,' No. 179) will be found a section of part of the os frontis and
of the base of a Fallow-Deer^s horn {(Mrvui Dama), the growth of
which is nearly completed. It shows the horn to be a continuation
of bone from iho outer table of the skull, and the vdivet-like covering
of the horn to be equally continuous with the integuments of the
bead. It shows also the burr or pearl which has been formed round
the base of the horn, and illustrates the effects of this port on the
growth of the horn.
In the formation of the burr, which is the last part of the process,
and takes place rapidly, the osseous tubercles of which it is composed
are projected outwards, and by their pressure induce absorption of
the vaacularextemal covering ; and increasing at the same time laterally,
they enclose and oompress the blood-vessels : thus in a short space of
time theoiroiUation is entirely obstmoted, and consequently the whole
>f that once very vascular and sensible tegument loses its vitality.
dries, shrinks, and peels oS, leaving the horn a naked insensible
weapon. In one of the branches (the brow antler) in this prepara-
tion, the whole of the vessels appear to have been thus obliterated ;
in the other a slight degree of vascularity remains, and one of the
large external arterial branches is still imcompressed ('Catalogue,
Physiol Series,' vol. L). The beautiful preparations illustrative of
theprocess are numbered 163 to 187, both inclusive.
Tne rapidity with whidi this firm mass of bone is secreted is worthy
of note. The budding horns of a male Wapiti were several inches
high in ten days from their first appearance ; a month afterwards there
was an interval of two feet between them, measuring frx>m branch to
branch
It is in the spring generally that the reproduction of the horn is
begun. From the place whence the old horn had been separated a«d
oast, and which at first is apt to bleed, but soon is skinned over with
a fine film, the new horn sprouts. At this time there is a strong
determination of blood to the head, great in proportion to the demand
for such an enormous and ultimately solid secretion. The vessels
from the roots swell, the vascular horn pushes up, protected by a
delicate and soft covering. In this its early stage it is nearly cylin-
drical, and the quantity of animal heat which it contains may be in
some degree imagined by gently grasping it with the hand. Gradually
the antlers appear ; the whole ' head,' to use the sporting term, is
developed, and becomes of the firmest solidity ; the animal feels its
powers, and proceeds to rub off the drying and decaying * velvet,'
which may be seen at this period hanging from the horn in ragged
strips, against trees and other resisting bodies, leaving at last the
magnificent ornament and weapon with only the ti*aces on its now
hard surface of the blood-vessels which had produced it. Then it is
that the deer, conscious of his strength, comes forth in all his gran-
deur, ready to do battle with any creature, even man himself, who
may dare to invade his haimts. Fierce fights ensue, and the strongest
male reigns paramount The rutting season dies away, spring returns,
the antlers are shed, again to be regenerated in time for the season
of love.
In the Common Stag or Red Deer {Cennu Elaphus\ the shedding
of the horns takes place about the end of Februaiy or during March
The Fallow-Deer sheds his horns from about the middle of April to
the first weeks of May.
For the production of these annually regenerated bony masses
nature has provided with her usual ctare. " We find it a common
principle in the animal machine," says John Hunter, " that every part
increases in some degree ^cording to the action required. Thus we
find muscles increase in size when much exercised ; vessels become
larger in proportion to the necessity of supply, aa for instance in the
gravid uterus. The external carotids in the stag also, when his horns
are growing, are much lai'ger than at any other time ; and I have
observed that in inflammation the vessels become lai^ger, more blood
passes, and there appears to be more actions taking place ; but the
nerves do not seem to undergo any change. The nerves of the gravid
uterus are the same as when it is in a natural state ; neither do the
branches of the fifth and seventh pair of nerves in the stag become
larger." (Hunter, ' On the Blood.')
But it must not be supposed that the antiers reach their fall ampli-
tude in the first years of the male deer^s life. In the Stag or Red Deer
the horns of the male do not appear till its second year, and the first
which is shed (Jig, 1, Series A) is straight and single, like a small thrust-
sword or dagger, whence the young male is termed Daguet by the
French The next hom has generally but one antier, as in>^. 2; but it has
sometimes two, and even three {fya, 8, 4, which are horns of stags in
their third year). The third hom has three or four antlers, and some-
times as many as five or six, which are also the numbers of the
fourtii (Jiffi. 5, 6). Up to this time the young male is called a Toung
Sta^ — Jeune Cerf. The fifth hom bears five or six antlers of Ihe
degree of development indicated in figa, 6, 7, or 8. In this stage the
anunal is called by the French Ceif de Dix Cors jeunement. The
sixth hom, which the stag sheds at about seven years of age, is that
which bestows upon the stag the appellation of Cerf de Dix Cors.
The proportional length, direction, and curvature of the antlers
vary ; and it often happens that there is one more or less on the one
side than on the other. Independently of the number of antlers, the
horns become laiger, the superficial furrows more marked, the burr is
more projecting, and the prominences of the frt>ntal sinus which
support the horns become shorter and wider every year. By such
signs is the age of old stags, or those of from eight years upwards,
determined ; for after the seventh year the number of the antlers is
regulated by no fixed rule. They are multiplied towards the summit
of the beam, where they are coi^oined into a kind of crown or palma-
tion (Jigs, 9, 10, 11, 12). The oldest heads do not in general present
more than 10 or 12 antlers (Tines, in Scotch) ; but some have been
seen that bore the enormous number of 88. Such was the noble
Cerf h 66 Cors, killed by the first king of Prussia, and presented by
that monarch to Augustus I., elector of Saxony and king of Poland.
This noble head is said to be still preserved at MoiitzbuiK.
In all gradations of age after the appearance of the antlers, the
second antler is more or less approximated to the first or brow antler
(Maltre Andouiller of the French, a name given to it because it is the
laigest).
Digitized by
Google
MS
CERYIDJB,
CERVIDiE.
841
BeriM jL
Horns of Stag {Oervut Slaphus), Left Horns.
The sympathy between that part of the system which regulates
the development of the horns in the Deer-Tribe and the organs of
generation is most remarkable. For instance, if a stag is castrated
when his horns are in a state of perfection they will, it is affirmed,
never be shed ; if the operation is performed when the head is bare,
the horns, it is said, will never be regenerated ; and if it is done when
secretion is actually going on, a stunted ill-formed permanent horn is
the result, more or less developed, according to the period at which
the animal Lb emasculated. Any disturbance of the system generally
produces a corresponding deterioration in the horn. In the subjoined
cut, fg. a represents the horn of a deer {Cervtu Canadermt) produced
a, Horn of Deer produced under unfaroorablo cireumstances ; (, horn of
fame Deer produoed under more favourable circumstances,
during a voyage from America ; and b a horn subsequently developed
in the French Menagerie by the same individual, which afterwards
produced a head of surprising dimensions.
The same system of development which wfr have obeerved in the
horn with branching antlers is in great measure to be traced in the
other leading form of horuy namely, the palmated horn. Taking the
horn of the Fallow-Deer {Oervua Jkma) as an example of the latter,
we find the horn first put forth by the buck at two years old (when he is
called a Pricket), a simple shaft, sUghtly curved, the concavity turned
forwards (Jig. 1, Series £) ; this curvature the horns retain throughout.
The second year there are two antlers directed forwards (fig* ^)t '^^
(figa, 6, 6, 7, 8). Sometimes one or two of these dentelations form
true recurrent antlers (jiga. 6, 8). Figs. 8 and 9 are horns of the
fourth growth, and it will be seen that they begin to be divided aboTe.
In the following years the palm is irregularly and variously divided
(^a. 10, 11, 12, IS), so that the horns of old bucks are very firequently
oddly shaped; and hardly to be recognised. With still more advanced
Horns of a Fallow-Deer {Cervut Dama) that were not shed at the usual tint
in consequence of the castration of the animal. From the Museum of the
College of Surgeons.
age they continue to dwindla Cuvier, from whom this account and
the figures of the growth of the deei^s horn are taken, says that it
I
Horns of Fallow-Deer {(knmt Lama). Left Horns.
the summit of the horn in soma oases begins to spread into a palm 1 is asserted that these palmated horns of the bu<^ finish by puiiiDg
(Jiga. 8, 4), whioh afterwards inoreases, Growing out a greater or on the simple appearance of the horn first developed (dagoft) ; and
leas number of dentelations on its posterior and superior border | states that he in fact possessed the head of a fallow-deer which had
Digitized by
Google
8tf
CEBVID^.
CSEBVID^
8M
only siinple horzifl, and whose teeth were ground down to the very
roots by long use.
The reproduction of the horns is annual in the Deer of temperate
sad oold climates ; but it has been supposed that some of the species
inhabiting hot climates do not oast them erery year. The palmated
hom seems to be more especially giTon to those deer which inhabit
the northern latitudes ; and Colonel Smith is of opinion that it is
aproTision to enable the animals to remove the snow from their food.
The dental fonnuJa of the deer is, generally speaking, the same as
in the giraffes^ goats, antelopes, sheep, oxen, &Q. ; namely,
Indsora, j; Canines, ^--^; Molars, ^--^=82.
Of the molars, both in the upper and lower jaws, six are true
and six false. In the upper jaw the three first molars are bordered
by a Uiick crest on their internal surface ; the three next have all
tne characters of the molars in the dromedaries. [Cahslub.] In the
lower jaw the first incisor is the longest, the second and the third
rather decrease, and the fourth is very small ; all have cutting edges.
The two first false molars are simple; the third has a process or
heel at its posterior part, and the three others do not differ from
those of the upper jiw. In the formula given above the canines are
noted as absent; but this general rule is not without exception,
some of the species presenting canines similar to those of the Musks
(Motekut) in the upper jaw. The Muntjak has these teeth laigely
developed.
The Deer-Tribe possess the Lachrymal Sinus, or, as it is often ,
termed, the Suborbital Sinus (Larmiers of the French, Tear-Pits of the '
English, Cnimen of others), even more universally than the Antelopes. '
[Antilopejs.1 !
The late Hu*. Bennett was of opinion that the use of the lachrymal
sinus, which has long remained a problem to eoologiste, must be
referred to sexual rations. In support of this opinion he has
referred to the condition of this organ in some old Indian Deer
formerly in the possession of the Zoological Society in the Gardens
in Regent's Park.
Professor Owen at one time conceived it possible that the secretion
of these glands, when rubbed upon projecting bodies, might serve to
direct individuals of the same species to each other. He endeavoured
to test the probability of this supposition by preparing a tabular view
of the relations between the habits and habitats of the several species
of Antelopes and their suborbital, maxillary, post-auditory, and
inguinal glands, in order to be able to compare the presence and
degrees of development of these glands with the gregarious and other
habits of the Antelope-Tribe. He has stated however that it was evi-
dent from this table that there is no relation between the gregarious
habits of the Antelopes which fi^quent the plains and the presence of
the suborbital and maxillary sinuses ; since these, besides being alto-
gether wanting in some of the gregarious species, are present in many
of the solitary frequenters of rocky mountainous districts. The sup-
position l^en^ore that the secretion might serve, when left on shrubs
or stones, to direct a straggler to the general heid, MLb to the ground.
('ZooLProc.,' 1886.)
The oeteological structure of the Deer-Tribe is such as would be
expected when it was necessary that the bony framework should
exhibit a union of Uffhtness and strength necessary for an animal
whose life is to depend on its agility and defensive powers.
The Cervida are widely spread, and seem capable of being so modi-
fied as to withstand the extremes of heat and cold.
The following arrangement of the Deer is proposed by Dr. J. E. Gray :
A. The Deer of tiie Snowy Regions have a very broad muzzle, entirely
covered with hair. The horns are expanded and pcdmate ; and the
fawns are not spotted.
0. The Alcine Deer have no basal anterior snag to the horns, and
a small bald muffle between the nostrils, as the genus ^2cet.
h. The Rangerine Deer have a large basal anterior snag to the horns
dose on the crown or burr, and no muffle, as Tarandtu.
B. The Deer of the Temperate or Warmer Regions have a tapering
muzzle ending in a bald muffle. The fawns, and sometimes the adult^
ire spotted.
c. The Elaphine Deer have a distinct anterior basal snag to the horns,
the muffle broad, and separated frx>m the lip by a hai^ band ; and
the tuft of hair on the outside of the hind leg, above tiie middle of
the metatarsus, as Oerom and DamcL
d. The Rusine Deer have a distinct anterior basal snag to the horns;
the muffle very high, and not separate from the edge of the lips ; and
the tuft of hair on the outside ot the hind l^, above the middle of the
metatarsus, as Rueervuif Panolia, Ituia, Axit, Hydaphm, and OervtiJhu,
e. The C^preoline Deer have no basal anterior snag to the horns,
the first branch being some distance above the burr ; the crumen (and
pit in the skull) generally small, as CbpreoZut, Cairickcui, BUutocenu,
Fwcifer, Coauus, and Pudu,
The Alcme and Rangerine Deer are confined to the northern part
of both continents ; the Elaphine and Rusine Deer to the Eastern
World (the latter almost exdusively to the warmer part of Asia) ; all
*he Capreoline Deer are peculiar to America. The only exception to
these roles are— the Wapiti Deer of the Elaphine group is found in
Northern America, and the Roe-Buck and Ahu of the Capreoline
group are found in Europe and Northern Asia.
The following is an arrangement of the genera and species of th«
tribe Oervina of Gray : —
Sub-Tribe 1. Alcba
Genus, Aleet,
1. A. Malekii, the EOL
Sub-Tribe 2. Rahobbinjs.
Genus, Tarandu*.
2. r. Rangifer, the Caribou or Rein-Deer.
Sub-Tribe 8. Elafhikjl
Genus, Cervua.
3. C. Ctmadauii, the Wapiti
4. a Blaphfu, the Stag.
5. 0. Barbarut, the Barbary Deer.
6. a WaUiehii, the Bara Singa.
7. C. affiniif the Saul-Forest Stag.
8. a Sika, the Sika.
Genus, Dama.
9. 2>. vtUfforii, the Fallow-Deer.
Sub-Tribe 4. Rubina.
Gtoius, Panolia.
10. P. BldU, the Sungnai
Gemu, Bttcervus.
11. R DuvaueeUii, the Bahrainga.
Genus, Bubo.
12. R AriHoUiii, the Samboo.
18. R Dimarphef the Spotted Rusa.
14. R Hippdaphm, th&Mijangan Banjoe.
15. R eqwiniUf the Samboe.
16. iZ. Perontif the Smaller Rusa.
17. R Philippinus, the Philippine Rusa.
18. R lepida, the Sundevall Rusa.
Genus, Axis.
19. A. macvkUa, the Axis.
20. A. ptendaxii, the Spotted Axis.
Genus^ Bydaphiui.
21. ff. poreiMU, the Lugna Para.
Genus, CermUui.
22. a vo^MoItf, the Kijaog.
28. C. moaehatus, the Kegan.
24. O. BeevetU, the Chinese Muntjak.
Sub-Tribe 5. Capbeoldta.
Genus, CapreoUu.
25. C. Oaprcsa, the Roe-Bu^k.
26. C. Pyg<i/rgyi», the Ahu.
Genus, Blattoeerut.
27. B. paludotu$, the Guasupuco.
28. B. camptitrii, the Manme.
Genus, Fwrdfer.
29. P. AnHiiensii, the Tarush.
80. P. JfftumO, the GuemuL
GenuSy Ckuriacui.
81. C. Virgmianui, the Amerioan Dear.
82. a ifftncrmtM, the Mexican Dear.
88. a leueuruB, the Whit»-Tailed Deer.
84. C. nesMro^is, the Cariaoou Deer.
85. a iMNie^otM, the Califomian Roe.
86. a Xfwifit, the Black-Tailed Deer.
87. C flUMTOtw, the Mule-Deer.
Genus, Coamu.
88. C nemortvasFitf, the Gauzu-viva.
89. a r«/itf , the Cugnaou-ete.
40. a «ip«rc««»rif, the Eye-Browed Brocket.
41. C. a/toriiui, the Large-Eared Brocket
Genus, i\Mlik
42. P. humUU, the Yenada.
In selecting afew of these animals for descriptian we shall follow
the above arrangement : —
1. Aloet MalchiSy the Elk or Moose. This animal is the Alea AfOi-
^uomm of RttppeU; Oenmt Aleet ot Uasamxu ; Moose Deer, Moose or
Elk, Amerioan Black Elk, Flat-Homed Elk, of English writers;
the Eland and Orignal of Bufibn and others ; Eloh of the Germans;
Loss of the Russians; AleetofCmur; Alee of l?]mj.
"This animal is the largest of the ^us, being higher at the
shoulders than the horse; its horns weigh sometimes near 501b&
Aooordingly, to bear this heavy weight its neck is short and strong,
taking away much of the elegance of proportion so generally predomi-
nant in the deer. But when it is asserted thai the dk wants beauty or
majesty, the opinion can be entertained by those who have seen the
female only, the young, or the mere stufiled n>ecimens; for us, who
have had the opportumty of viewing the animal in all the glory of its
ftdl-grown horM, amid the scenery of his own wademew, no aninul
oould appear more majestic or more imposing. It is however the
aggregate of his appearance whioh produces this efiect ; for when the
proportions of its structure are oonsidered in detail they certainly
^seem destitute of the harmony of parte whioh in the imagination
produces the feeling of beauty. The head measuring above two feet
m length is narrow and dumsUy shaped by the swelling upon the
upper part of the nose and nostrils; the eye is propottionaUj smali,
Digitized by
Google
M7
CERVIDJE.
CERVID^
and ftunk ; the ears long, hairy, and asinine ; the neck and withers are
surmounted bj a heavy mane ; and the throat furnished with long
coarse hair, and in younger specimens encumbered with a pendiilous
gland : these give altogether an uncouth character to this part of the
animal. Its body however is round, compact^ and short ; the tail not
more than four inches long; and the legs, though very long, are
remarkably clean and firm ; this length of limbs and the overhanging
lips have caused the ancients to fancy that it grazed walking back-
wards. The hair of the animal is coarse and angular, breaking if bent.
Its movements are rather heavy, and the shoulders being higher than
the croup, it does not gallop, but shuffles or ambles along, its joints
cracking at every step, with a sound heard to some distance. Increas-
ing its speed, the hind feet straddle to avoid treading on its fore heels,
tossing Uie head and shoulders like a horse about to break from a trot
to a gallop. It does not leap, but steps without effort over a fallen
tree, a gate, or a split fence. During its progress it holds the nose up,
so as to lay the horns horizontally back. This attitude prevents its
seeing the ground distinctly ; and as the weight is carried very high
upon the elevated legs it is said sometimes to trip by treading on its
fore heels, or otherwise, and occasionally to give itself a heavy fall.
It is probably owing to this occurrence that the elk was believed by
the ancients to have frequent attacks of epilepsy, and to be obliged to
smell its hoof before it could recover ; hence the Teutonic name of
Elend (miserable), and the reputation especially of the fore hoofs as
a specific against the disease." (Smith.) The Elk is an inhabitant of
woods in the northern parts of both continents.
In ' A perfect Description of Virginia' (small 4to. 1649), we find it
thus written : " The elkes are as great as oxen, their horns six foot
wide, and have two calves at a tima" Heame remarks that the horns
of the Moose occasionally exceed 60 lbs., and that their texture is harder
than that of any other deer-horns to be found in the Fur Countries.
Lawson {* Nat. Hist, of Carolina') says, " The elk is a monster of the
venison sort. His skin is used almost in the same nature as the
bufifelo's (bison's). Some take him for the red deer of America, but
he is not; for if brought and kept in company with one of that sort,
he vrill never couple. .... His horns exceed (in weight) all
creatures which the New World affords." Richardson states that he
has been informed that the males sometimes attain a weight of eleven
or twelve hundred pounds.
** The flesh of the moose is very good, though the grain is but coarse,
and it is much tougher than any other kind of venison. The nose is
most excellent, as ia also the tongue, though by no means so fat and
delicate as that of the common deer (rein-deer). The fat of the intes-
tines ia hard like suet ; but all the external fat is soft like that of a
breast of mutton, and when put into a bladder is as fine as marrow.
In this they differ from all the other species of deer, of which the
external fat is as hard as that of the kidnies." (Heame.) In the
' Perfect Description of Virginia,' above quoted, it it stated that the
** skins make good buffe, and the flesh as good as beefe." Lawson,
though he sp^iks of the good qualities of (£e skin, does not seem to
have so high an opinion of the flesh. "His flesh," says Lawson, ''is
not so sweet as the lesser deers." Richardson remarks that the flesh
of the moose is more relished by the Indians and residents in the Fur
Countries than that of any other animal, and principally, he believes,
on account of the soft fat. In his opinion, corroborating the old book
above quoted, the flesh bears a greater resemblance in its flavour to
beef than to venison.
The same author describes the dung of the animal as being in the
form of brown oval pellets, and such were the droppings from the
individuals kept at the (hardens of the Zoological Society in the Regent's
Park. " The skins," Sir John Richardson observes, ** when properly
dressed, make a soft, thick, pliable leather, excellently adapted for
mocasins, or other articles of winter clothing. The Dog-Ribs," he adds,
"excel in the art of dressing the skins, which is done in the following
manner : — They are first scraped to an equal thickness throughout,
and the hair taken off by a scraper, made of the shin-bone of a deer,
split longitudinally ; they are then repeatedly moistened and rubbed,
after being smeared With the brains of the animal, until they acquire
a soft spongy feel ; and lastly, they are suspended over a fire made of
rotten wood until they are well impregnated with the smoke. The
last-mentioned process imparts a peculiar odour to the leather, and has
the effect of preventing it from becoming so hard after being wet as it
•would otherwise do." (' Fauna Boreali-Americana.')
" Du Pratz," writes Sir John Richardson, " informs us that in his
time moose-deer were found as far south as the Ohio, and Denys says
that they were once plentiful on the island of Cape Breton, though
at the time he wrote they had been extirpated. At present, according
to I^. Godman, they are not known in the State of Maine, but they
exist in considerable numbers in the neighbourhood of the Bay of
Fimdy. They frequent the woody tracts in the Fur Countries to their
most northern limit. Several were seen on Captain Franklin's expe-
dition at the mouth of the Mackenzie River, feeding on the willows,
which owing to theridi edluvial deposits on that great river extend to
the shores of the Arctic Sea in lat. 69". Farther to the eastward,
towards the Coppermine River, they are not found in a higher lati-
tude than 65", on account of the scarcity on the Barren Grounds of
the aspen and willow, which constitute their food. I have not been
Able to ascertain whether they occupy the- whole width of the oon«
tment or not. Mackenzie saw them high up on the eastern declivity
of the Rocky Mountains near the sources of the Elk River, but I
suspect that they are rarely, if ever, found to the westward of the
Mountains. Authors mention that the moose generally form small
herds in Canada.
The Elk or Moose {Aleet Malchis).
" In the more northern parts the moose-deer is quite a solitaiy
animal, more than one being very seldom seen at a time, imless during
the rutting season, or when the female is accompanied by her fawna
It has the sense of hearing in very great perfection and is the most
shy and wary of all the deer-species, and on this account the art of
moose-hunting is looked upon as the greatest of an Indian's acquire-
ments, particularly by the Crees, who take to themselves the credit of
being able to instnict the hunters of every other tribe. The skill of
a moose-hunter is most tried in the early part of the winter; for
during the summer the moose, as well as other animals, are so much
tormented by musquitoes that they become regardless of the approach
of man. In the winter the hunter tracks the moose by its foot-
marks in the snow, and it is necessary that he should keep couBtantly
to leeward of the chase and make his advances with the utmost
caution, for the rustling of a withered leaf or the cracking of a rotten
twig is sufficient to alarm the watchful beast. The difficulty of
approach is increased by a habit which the moose-deer has of mi^g
daily a sharp turn in its route, and choosing a place of repose so
near some part of its path that it can hear the least noise made by
one that attempts to track it. To avoid this the judicious huoter,
instead of walking in the animal's footsteps, forms his judgment from
the appearance of the country of the diroction it is likely to ha^e
taken, and makes a circuit to leeward until he again finds the track.
This manoeuvre is repeated imtil he discovers, by the softness of the
snow in the foot-marks and other signs, that he is very near the
chase. He then disencumbers himself of everything that might
embarrass his motions, and makes his approach in the most cautious
manner. If he gets close to the animal s lair without being seen, it
is usual for him to break a small twig, which alarming the moose, it
instantly starts up, but not fully aware of the danger squats on its
hams and voids its urine preparatory to setting off In this posture
it presents the fairest mark, and the hunter's shot seldom fails to take
effect in a mortal part. In the rutting season the bucks lay aside
their timidity, and attack every animal that comes in. their way, and
even conquer their fear of man himself. The hunters then bring
them within gim-shot by scraping on the blade-bone of a deer and
by whistling, which, deceiving the male, he blindly hastens to the spot
to assail his supposed rivaL If the hunter fails in giving it a mortal
wound as it approaches, he shelters himself from its fury behind a
tree, and I have heard of several instances in which the enraged
animal has completely stripped the bark from the trunk of a large
tree by strikiug with its fore feet"
With respect to the food of the Moose the same traveller says,
" Their legs are so long, and their necks* so short, that they cannot
graze on the level ground like other animals, but are obliged to
browse on the tops of large plants and the leaves of trees in the
summer, and in winter they always feed on the tops of willows and
the small branches of the birch-tree, on which account they are never
found during that season but in such places as can afford them a
plentiful supply of their favourite food ; and although they have no
fore teeth in the upper jaw, yet I have often seen w&lo>%s and small
birch-trees cropped by them in the same manner as if they had been
cut by a gardener's shears, though some of them were not smaller
than a common pipe-stem. They seem particularly partial to red
willows" {Comu8 alba). To the eastward of the Rodry Mountains
Digitized by
Google
»4»
CEBYIDA
CERVID^
the eTogreen leavee of the WaUUria ShaUon fonn, aocording to
Lewia and Clark, a £BtToiirite part of tho food of the mooBendeer.
Mr. Lloyd (' Field Sporta of the North of Europe/ yoL il) observes
that the iUk was at one time numerous in most parts of Sweden
and Norway; but owing to the incjeased population and other
cauMB it is now only to be met with in particular distriots. In
Scania, he adds^ the most southern piovinoe of SwedeUi where elks
once abounded, none are now to be found.
H. Nilsson states that the Elk cannot endure so cold a climate as
the stag, 64" of latitude bein^ the extreme limit at which it is met
with in the Scandinavian penmsula.
Mr. Llovd states that the period of gestation is about nine months,
and that the female brings forth about the middle of May from one
to three youpg ones ; bat it Is seldom that she has more than two.
At this period the mother retires alone to the wildest recesses of
the forest After a lapse of two or tluree days, the fawns, which are
of a light brown colour, have sufficient strength to follow their dam
everywhere; they keep with her until they are in their third year,
when she leaves uiem to shift for themselves.
Mr. Lloyd thus describes tiie habits and uses of the European Elk :
—"The elk is a long-lived animal; he does not attain to his ^11
growth until after his fourteenth year. At leaat so it is to be
presumed, as up to that period his horns, which are of a fiat form,
are annually provided with an additional branch. He sheda Ids
honia about the month of February in each year. The female elk,
unlike the rein-deer of that sex, has no horns. The horns of the
young male elk are perceptible nine months after its birth : for the
first year they are cylindncal and short; the second year they are
about a foot in length, but not branched ; .the third year two points
are disoemible ; the fourth year three ; Uie fifth year they are full
grown in Ita^^ From that time forward thev yearly increase in
breadth and m the number of branches until there are as many as
fourteen on each hom.
"By nature the elk is timorouSi and he usually flies at the sight
of man. In the rutting season, however, like other animals of the
deer kind, he is at times rather dangerous. His weapons are his
horns and hoofs ; he strikes so foroiUy with the latter as to annihilate
a wolf or other laige animal at a single blow. It is said that when
the elk is incensed, the hair on his neck bristles up like the mane of
a lion, which gives him a wild and frightful appearance.
" llie usual pace of the elk is a high shambling trot, andlus strides
are immense, but I have known him when frightened to go at a
tremendous gallop. In passing through thick woods he carries his
horns hoiisontallv, to prevent them fh>m being entangled in the
branches. From the formation of his hoofs he mokes a great clattering,
like the rein-deer when in rapid motion. In the simimer season the
elk usually resorts to morasses and low situations; for, like other
animals of the deer kind, he frequently takes to the water in warm
weather ; he is an admirable swimmer. In the winter time he retires
to the more sheltered parts of the forest, where willow, ash, &a are
to bo found; as from the small boughs of these trees he obtains his
sustenance during that period of the year. In the summer and
autumn the elk is often to be met with in small herds, but in the
winter there are seldom more than two or three in company. At
the latter season indeed he is frequently alone.
"The flesh of the elk, whether fresh or smoked, is very excellent;
the young are particularly delicious. According to Mr. Nilsson, it
resembles in taste that of the stag. The tongue and the nose are
thought to be great delicacies in £andinavia as well as in America.
Great virtue was once placed in the hoof of that animal, as parings
of it were supposed to be a specific against the falling sickness and
other diKmlers; but this idle notion must by this time, I should
think, be nearly exploded. The skin is convertible to many purposes,
and is vezy valuable. Mr. Qreiff says : — ' It is not long since that a
regiment was clothed with waistcoats made from the hides of those
animals, which were so thick tiiat a ball oould scarcely penetrate
them.' He adds further, tixat * when made into breeches, a pair of
them among the peasantiy of former days went as a legacy for
several generations.
** The elk is easily domesticated : several instances have come to
my knowledge. I had a fawn in my own possession a year ago, but
from want ox proper nurture it died. Formerly these animals were
made use of in Sweden to draw sledges, but owing; as it was said, to
their speed frequently accelerating the escape of people who had been
guilty of murders, or other crimes, the use of uem was prohibited
under great penalties. Though I apprehend those ordinances if not
abrogated are obsolete, I am not aware that the elk is ever made use
of in that kingdom at the present day, either to draw a sledge or
for other domestio purposes.
"In Sweden, as I have observed, it is contrary to law at this
particular time to kill the elk at any season of the year : this is not
the case in Norwav ; for in that countrv as I have just shown, these
^mmals may be destroyed vrith certam limitations as to numbers,
from the Ist of July to the 1st of November inclusive. The penalty
however for killing an elk out of season In Norway is very much
heavier than in Sweden ; it amounts indeed, including legal expenses,
Ac., to about 20Z., which is no inconsiderable sum in that kingdouL"
(Uoyd, 'Northern Field Sports,' voL ii p. 829 et seq.)
*AT. mt, DIV. yOL. L
2. Tarandui Mangier (Bonaparte), the Rein-Deer. This animal has a
multitude of synonyms. It is the Cervua Tarandus, Linnaeus ; Oervui
Bangifer, Ray ; Cervm Grosnkmdieut, Brisson ; Cervui coronaiutf Geofi&oy;
Rangifer Taramdut, Gray ; Cenmapalmatutf Johnston ; Tarandus, PUny ;
Bangtfer, Gesner ; the Rein-Deer, Caribou, and Greenland Buck of
English writers ; Renthier, Renhirsch of the Germans ; Renne of
Buffon; Carreboeuf of the French Canadians; and Oleen of the
Russians. Several varieties have been recognised ; amongst others, a
small variety which goes by the following names : —
1. Woodland Caribou.
2. Great Caribou of the Rocky Mountains.
8. Labrador or Polar Caribou.
4. Siberian Rein-Deer.
5. Newfoundland Caribou.
On this animal Dr. J, R Gray observes that it "varies exceedingly
in size. In the British Museum there are spedmens varying from
41 to 50 inches high at the withers."
Richardson observes, '' There are two well-marked and permanent
varieties of Caribou that inhabit the Fur Countries : one of them
(Woodland Caribou) confined to the woody and more southern district ;
and the other (Barren-Ground Caribou) retiring to the woods only
in the winter, but passing the summer on the coast of the Arctic
Seas, or on the Barren Grounds so often mentioned in this work."
('Faun. Bor.-Amer.,* p. 299.)
The large Siberian variety is ridden on by the Timgusians. They
also use them for draughty as the Laplanders do the smaller
variety.
They have a laige variety in Newfoundland, i^early as large as a
heifer. They have very large and heavy horns. There are some
horns of this variety in the British MuseunL Dr. Middendorf
informed Dr. J. E. Gray that the horns of the large Siberian variety
were as laige as and greatiy resembled the horns from Newfoundland
in the Museum collection.
PaUas observes, "Americas forte oontinuo, gregatim vemo tempore
per glades admigrant, paido diverai k Siberia urguibinis et vero-
sindllime AmericanL" r ZooL Ross. AsiaV L 208.)
In winter the hair of the Rein-Deer is long, thick, gray-brown ;
neck, rump, belly, ring round the hoo^ and end of nose^ white. In
sunmier the same animal has short daric sooty-brown hair, with the
parts which are white in winter being rather paler gray-brown.
The tame Rhendeer, or Rein-Deer, of the Laplanders^ is, according
to Hoffberg (' Amen. Acad.,' voL iv.), at the end of his back an Sfi
and a half high, and his length, from horns to tail, is two ells, whilst
from the navel to the back-^ne he measures threeK^uarters of an elL
On casting his coat his hair is at first brownish-yellow, but as the
dog-days approach it becomes whiter, till it is at last almost entirely
wmte. Round the eye the colour is always black. The longest hair
is under the neck ; the mouth, tail, and paaianear the latter are white,
and the feet, at the insertion of the hoof, are surrounded with a white
ring. The hair of the body is so thick that the skin cannot be seen
when it is put aside, for it stands erect, as in other animals of the same
genus, but is much thicker. When the hair is oast it does not come
awav with the root, but breaks at the base.
The horns are cylindrical, with a short branch behind, compressed
at l^e top and palmated with many sogments, beginning to curve
back in the middle, and an ell and a quarter long. A single branch
sometimes, but seldom two, springs from each hom in front, very near
the base, frequently equaUing the length of the head, compressed
at the top and branched. The distance between the tips equals the
length.
The horns of the female are like those of the male, but less, more
slender, and not so much branched. She has four true paps and two
false ones.
The horns grow in the usual manner, and during the early part of
theur growth are extremely sensible, and suffer from the clouds of
gnats {pulex pifpiefM) that form one of the persecutions of both deer
and owner. About autumn, before rutting time, they have become
hard, and the velvet is rubbed off Tovrards the end of November
the male loses his horns, but the female retains hers till she brings
forth ; if barren, she drops them in the beginning of November.
The wild animal grows to a much larger size than those which are
tamed.
Geo^gnuphical Distribution. — ^Northern Europe, Asia, and America.
Captain James Clark Ross, in the Appendix to Sir John Ross's ' Last
Voyage,' says that although this animal was seen in great numbers on
the isthmus of Boothia, only one individual was killed in the course
of their late voyage. It was a fine buck, of larger sise than ordinary,
and weighed 250 lbs. ; the average of those killed at Spitsbergen and
Melville Island did not exceed half that weight The does arrive
about the middle of April, the bucks nearlv a month later ; and herds
of several hundreds were seen about the isthmus towards the end oi
May. Although they migrate towards the middle of September to
milder dimes, yet stragglers are occasionally seen in the winter.
They are indeed spread, as Mr. Bennett observes, " abundantiy
through all the habitable parts of the arctic ragions and the neigh-
bouring countries^ extending in the New Continent to a much lower
latitude than in the Old, and passing still farther south on all the
prindpal mountain chains. In America the aouthem limit of tfa*
8 1
Digitized by
Google
8S1
CERVIDJS,
CBRVIDJ3.
Ka
HMds of two old book Caribou of the Barren Groonda. From Sir John
llichardaon'a cnta taken from Captain Back'a drawinga.
Bein-Deer across nearly the whole continent appears to be about the
parallel of Quebec ; but the animal is most numerous between 68**
and 66** N. lat. Passing westward it is said to be unknown in the islands
interposed between America and Asia, but is again abimdant in
Kamtohatka, throughout nearly the whole of Siberia, in Northern
Russia, Sweden, and Norway, and more especially in Finmark and
Lapland. In these latter countries the numbers of the few wild herds
that still exist are suffering a constant diminution, every art being
put in practice by the hardy natives to reclaim and domesticate an
animal which constitutes their sole property, the source of all their
comforts, and the very means of their existence ; without which
their land would actually be, as at a first glance it seems, a bleak
and uninhabitable desert. According to M. Cuvier, the Baltic forms
iu Europe its southern limit; in Asia however it extends along the
Ural chain to the foot of the Caucasus ; and we have the authority
of a passage in C»sar^s ' Commentaries,' which can scarcely apply to
any other animal, for its having existed in his day in the Hercynian
Forest. The boundariee of thifi immense tract of woodland are
certainly not very well defined ; but this location would imply, at
all events, a more southern European habitat than any that is at
present known. Again, crossing the ocean, we find the Rein-Deer
at Spitsbergen, in Greenland, and in Newfoimdland ; but it has
been said by Pennant, and this haa been repeated by Sir John
Richardson, iu his valuable zoology of the Fur Countries of North
Ampric.1, Dot to be known in Iceland. This statement, which was
scarcely true at the time when Pennant wrote, is not by any means
correct as refers to the present day. About eighty years since, as
we learn from Van Troils 'Letters on Iceland,' thirteen of these
animals were imported from Norway, ten of which dying on the
passage, only three wero landed. These were turned out into the
mountains, and have since multiplied to such an extent in the interior
and imfrequented parts of the coxmtry that their progeny was esti-
mated by Coimt IVampe, the governor, in 1860, the period of Dr.
Hooker's visit, at no less than 5000 head. Herds of forty, sixty, or
even a hundred individuals, are said, both by Dr. Hooker and by Sir
George Mackenzie, who visited the island in the foUowbg Bommer,
to be not imoommon in the mountains. 'They are however of little
use to the inhabitants, who have made no attempts to domettictte
them, and are too poor to purchase powder and baU for their destriK-
tion. It does not appear indeed, that they are much sought after,
the cow and the sheep thriving extremely well upon the jshod, and
supplying the place of the deer in almost every respect We mar
add, that according to Mr. (Sir Arthur) Brooke, an importatioii
of six bucks and twenty-four does took place in 1777, about leres
years after the period of the first introduction of the animal into
IceLmd." ('(hardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Sodetr/
VOL i)
The size of the Rein-Deer, widely spread as it is, varies very muck
according to the accidents of climate ; and if authors are to be cre-
dited their weight ranges from 60 to 400 Ibe. The latter is probablj
an exaggeration, but it is evident that the weight increases in propo^
tion to the proximity of the animal to the Pole. According to Sir
John RichardUon, the bucks of the variety called the Barren-Gromd
Caribou weigh, exclusive of the ofGal, when in good condition, from
I 90 to 180 lbs., whilst he describes the Woodland Caribou as much
i hocger ; and Captain (Sir John) Franklin makes the wei^t of the
I latter from 200 to 240 lbs. The buck killed on the isthntu of
; Boothia was, as we have seen, 250 lbs. ; while the average of tbei
I killed at Spitzbeigen and on Melville Island did not exceed half tbt
I weight. The Rein-Deer of Norway and Sweden are diminutive when
compared with those of Finmark and Lapland, which in their torn
yield to tiiose of Spitsbeiigen ; and these again fall short of the mora
; FoIbt races. The sledge^eer of the Laplanders are small i^en com-
' pared with those reared by the Tungusians of the nori^ of Asia, wh
ride upon them.
The food of the Rein-Deer varies with the seasons and the dimata
Lapland, says Hoffberg, in the memoir above quoted, is divided into
two tracks, called the alpine and woodland country. Those inmieoae
moimtains called in Sweden Fjellen divide that country fiomKorvij,
extending towards the White Sea as fkr as Russia, and are frequently
more than twelve miles in breadth. The other, called the woodUDd
division, lies to the east of this, and differs from, the neighbouiis;
provinces of Norway by its soil, which is exceedingly stony and bams,
being covered with one continued tract of wood, of old pine-treo.
This tract has a very singular appearance. The trees above an?
covered over with great quantities of a black hanging lichen, gn-iwii.
in filaments i-esembling locks of hair, while we ground beccn'b
appears like snow, being totaUy covered with white lichena Betvreii
this wood and the Alps lies a region called the Woodland, or Desert
Lapmaro, of 80 or 40 miles in breadth, of the most savage and horrid
appearance, consisting of scattered uncultivated woods and contisned
plains of diy barren sand mixed with vast lakes and moiintana
When the mosses on part of this desert tract have been burnt, eitkr
by lightning or any accidental fire, the barren soil inmiediatelv pro-
duces the white lidien which covers the lower parts of the Alpa The
Rein-Deer in summer seek their highest parts, and there dwell amidst
their storms and snows, not to fly the heat of the lower regions, bnt
to avoid the gnat and gad-fly. In winter these intensely cold moos-
tains, whose tops reach high into the atmosphere, can no longer
support them, and they are obliged to return to the desert, and
subsist upon the lichens. Of these its principal food is the rein-deer
lichen. There are, says Hoffbeiig, two varieties of this ; the first is
called Lichen syVoeatriSy which is extremely common in the bamn
deserts of Lapland, and more partioulariy in its snndy and gnvcllj
fields, which it whitens over like snow ; its vast marshes, fall of
tussocks of turf, and its dry rocks are quite grov^n over by it Tie
second variety of this plant, which is less frequent than the former, is
named the Alpine ; this grows to a greater height^ with its branch :3
matted together : it has this name because when tliose mountains &re
cleared of their wood the whole surface of the earth is covered with
it ; yet it is seldom to be found on their tops. When the voo-i^
become too luxuriant the Laplander sets fire to them, as experience
has taught him that when the vegetables are thus destroyed, the
lichen takes root in the barren soil and multiplies with facilitv;
though it requires an interval of eight or ten years before it comes to
a proper height. The Laplander esteems himself opulent who ba
extensive deserts producing this plant exuberantly. When it whitens
over his fields he is under no necessity of gathering in a crop of hay
against the approach of winter, as the Rein-Deer eats no dried vegetAbK\
unless perhaps the River Horsetail (Equiaetum JluviatiU). Thev too"*
j for this lichen under the snow like swine in a pasture ; their foreheads,
nose, and feet are guarded with a hard skin closely attached to tho^e
parts that they may not be hurt by the icy crust which covers the
surface of the snow. The very strong shoes which the Lq)I&ndcr
esteems so much are made of those parts of the hide. It sometimes
happens (but very rarely) that the winter sets in with great raina,
which the frost immediately congeals ; the surface of the earth is
covered with a coat of ice before the snow falls, and the lichen is
entirely encrusted and buried in it : thus the Rein-Deer is sometimes
stMrved, and a famine attacks the Laplanders. In sudi an exigence
they have no other resource than that of felling old fip-treea grown
over with the hairy liverworla. These afford but a very inadeqaate
supply even for a small herd, but the greater part of a large one, ia
Digitized by
Google
853
CERVIDJS.
CERVIDiE.
854
such a case, is sure to perish with hunger. In the summer, when the
Bein-Deer ranges upon the Alps, a number of plants a£ford it food.
Hagstrom states that it refuses to eat 46 species, the names of which
he gives. Richardson states that the Barren-Ground Caribou, which
resort to the coasts of the Arctic Sea in summer, retire in winter
to the woods lying between 68° and 66° N. lat, where they feed on
the UmecR, Aleetoria, and other lichens which hang from the trees
and on the long grass of the swamps. About the end of April, when
the partial m^l^ of the snow has softened the CetraruXf Oomictt-
laricB, and Cenomyea, which clothe the Barren Grounds like a carpet,
they make short excursions from the woods, but return to them when
the weather is frosty. In May the females proceed towards the sea-
coast, and towards the end of June the males are in full march in
the same direction. At that period the s\m has dried up the lichens
on the Barren Grounds, and the Caribou frequent the moist pastures
which cover the bottoms of the narrow valleys on the coasts and
islands of the Arctic Sea, where they graze on the sprouting CariceSj
and on the withered grass or hay of the preceding year, which is at
that period still standing and retaining part of its sap. Their spring
journey is performed partly on the snow, and partly, after tiie snow
has disappeared, on the ice covering the rivers and lakes, which have
in general a northerly direction. Soon after their arrivid on the coast
the females drop their yoimg; they commence their return to the
south in September, and reach the vicinity of the woods towards the
end of October, where they are joined by the males. This journey
takes place after the snow has fallen, and they scrape it away with
their feet to procure the lichens, which are then tender and pulpy,
being preserved moist and unfrozen bv the heat still remaining in the
earth. Except in the rutting season, tne bulk of the males and females
live separately ; the former retire deeper into the woods in the winter,
whilst herds of the pregnant does stay on the iJdrts of the Barren
Grounds, and proceed to the coast very early in the sprine. Captain
(Sir William) Parry saw deer on Melville peninsula as Tate as the
23rd of September, and the females with their fawns made their &r8t
appearance on the 22nd of April. The males in general do not go so
far north as the females. On the coast of Hudson's Bay the Bmen-
Ground Caribou migrate farther south than those on the Coppermine
River or Mackenzie River, but none of them go to tht souUiward of
the ChurchilL The lichens on which the Caribou principally feed whilst
on the Barren Grounds are Cwnkukena trittiif O, divergens, and C.
ochriUucOf Cetraria nivcdit, 0. cucvUaJtctf and C, lalandica, and
Cenomyce rwngiferincu {' Faima Boreali-Americana.') In the isthmus
of Boothia the Rein-Deer does arrived about ihe middle of April, the
bucks nearly a month later ; and herds of several hundreds were seen
about the isthmus towards the end of May. Numbers of the fawns,
-which at that period are in a very woEik state, are killed by the
natives, who hunt them with their dogs ; and the does themselves
often ftU yiotims to their attachment to their ofbpring. Captain
James Ross states that the Rein-Deer feeds on the UinecB, Aledoria,
Cetraria, and other lichens in the early part of spring ; but as the
Bummer advances the young and tender grass fattens them so quickly
that in August they have been killed witih several inches thick of fiit
on their haimches. In this state the meat is equal to the finest Eng-
lish venison, but is most tasteless and insipid when in poor condition.
(Appendix to Sir John Ross's ' Last Voyage.')
The Caribou travel in herds varying in number ftam eight or ten to
two or three hundred ; their daily excursions being generally towards
the quarter from which the wind blows. The In£ans kill tiiem with
bows and arrows or guns, sometimes approaching by means of a dis-
gfuise, sometimes taking advantage of rocks or other shelter, and
always greatly assisted by the curiosity and imsuspecting nature of
the deer themselves. They also take the Rein-Deer m snares, or spear
them as they are crossing rivers or lakes. The Esquimaux take them
in traps ingeniously formed of ice and snow. A single fiunily of
Indians will sometimes destroy two or three hundred in a few weeks ;
and in many cases they are killed for the sake of their tongues alone.
The reader will find a graphic account of the Esquimaux method of
taking them in Captam Lyon's 'Private Journal,' p. 386; and a
description of the oeer found in use among the Chepewyans (Chip-
peways), in Heame. Sir John Franklin relates the ingenious methods
pursued by the Copper Indians and Dog-Ribs. Captain James Ross
remarks that the natives of Boothia seldom hunt the Rein-Deer in the
spring, and then the bow and arrow is the onlv mode of kiUing it ;
but in the autumn, as the animals return from the north in fine con-
dition, they are destroyed in great numbers by parties of the natives
driving them into the water, whilst others in canoes kill them with
spears at their leisure.
Utility to Man. — To the Laplander particularly the Rein-Deer is
all in alL According to Hoffbeig, the mountaineer very often pos-
sesses three or four himdred or even a thousand head ; the woodman
very rarely above one hundred. As a domestic aniznal, yielding a
quantity of the most delicious food, and occupying the place of the
cow and the ox, it is invaluable. As a beast of biirden its importance
is equally great, and its organisation is adapted to the icy wastes, over
which it rorms the Laplander's sole medium of communication, no
less than that of the camel is framed for those arid deserts which
without the latter animal would be impassable. The weight which it
can draw when harnessed to a sledge is said to be 800 lbs. ; but 240 lbs.
form the general limit of the burden. The tales told of its swiftness,
when thus employed, would appear almost incredible if not so well
attested as the^ are. In a race of three deer with light sledges started
by Pictet, who went to the north of Lapland in 1769 to observe the
transit of Venus, the first performed 3089ft. Sin. and j^ in two
minutes, molring a rate of nearly 19 English miles an nour; the
second went over the same ground in three minutes, and the last in
three minutes twenty-six seconds. One is recorded to have drawn an
officer with important dispatches, in 1699, 800 English miles in forty-
eight hours ; and the portrait of the poor deer, which fell dead at the
end of its wonderful journey, is still preserved in the palace of Drot-
ningholm in Sweden. Journeys of 150 miles in niueteen hours are
said not to be xmcommon.
To the natives of North America the Rein-Deer is onlv known as a
beast of chase, but it is a most important one : there ia hardly a part
of the animal which is not made available to some useful purpose^
Clothing made of the skin is, according to Richardson, so impervious
to the cold, that, with the addition of a blanket of the same material,
any one so clothed may bivouack on the snow with safety in the most
intense cold of an arctic winter's night. The venison, when in high
condition, has several inches of fat on the haunches, and is said to
equal that of the fiillow-deer in our best British parks ; the tongue
and some of the tripe are reckoned most delicious morsels. Pemmican
is formed by pouring one-third part of melted fat over the pounded
meat and mcorporating them well together. The Esquimaux and
Greenlanders consider the stomach or paunch, with its contents, a
great delicacy, and Captain James Ross says that those contents form
the only vegetable food which the natives of Boothia ever taste.
(Richardson's ' Fauna Boreali-Americaiia.')
Rein-Deer {Tarandm Sang\fer),
Highly excellent as an article of food, and useful domestically as
this animal is, we do not think that it can ever be introduced with
much success into the British Islands. Not that there would be much
difficulty about the food for the deer ; it is space that is wanting. A
long succession of generations would be required before the migratory
habits of the Rein-Deer could be got rid of, and possessing as we do
the best venison, and the finest breed of homed cattle and horses,
there seems no very good reason for repeating the experiments which
have already been tried and have failed.
8. CervuB Canadentis, the Wapiti. This animal is the Wapiti Stag of
Pennant, ' Arctic Zool.' ; Wewaskiss of Heame ; Waskeesews, or Red-
Deer, of Hutchins ; Red-Deer of Uinfreville ; the Elk of Lewis and
Clark ; the American Elk of Bewick ; Wapiti of Barton and Warden ;
Le Wapiti of F. Cuvier ; the Wapiti {C. Strongvlocerot) of Smith ;
Red Deer of the Hudson's Bay Traders ; La Biche of the Canadian
Voyageurs; Wawaskeedio, Awaskees, and Moostosh, of the Cree
Indians (Richardson). It is also Le Cerf du Canada of Cuvier, who
makes it the C. Canadenait of Gmelin (Bufibn), and C. Strcngyloceroa
of Schreber ; and Cerf Wapiti of Lesson, who states it to be (7. Wapiti
of Mitchdl and C. tnajor of Ord. It may be also the Stag of
Carolina of Lawson, but he describes it as " not so laige as in Europe,
but much laxger than any fidlow-deer ; " and he says they are always
fiit with some delicate herbage that grows on the hills, whereas the
modem travellera describe the Wapiti as frequenting the savannahs
or the clumps of wood that skirt the plains. There is hardly any
doubt that it is the Stag of America {C. major Americanut) of
Catesby. '<Tlus beast," says the author last named, "nearest
resembles the European red deer in colour, shape, and form of the
horns, though it is a much larger animal and of stronger make.
Their horns are not palmated but round, a pair of which weighs
upwards of thirty pounds. They usuall;^ accompany bufibloes
(Bisons^, with whom they range in droves m the upper and remote
parts ox Carolina, where, as w^ as in our other colonies, they are
improperly mlled Elks. The French in America call this beast Htui
Digitized by
Google
8B5
CERVID-ffi.
CERVID-fiL
8S6
Canada Stag. In new England it is known by the name of the Qrav
MooBei to diatingniRh it from the preceding beast (the True Elk) which
they call the Black Moose." Kichardson states that it is without
doubt the Canada Stag of yarious authors; but, as F. Cuvier has
observed, the want of a pale mark on the rump in Perrault's figure is
sufficient to exdte a doubt of its being the C, Canaderuis of that
author. Indeed he does not think it at all improbable that this
figure is that of the C. Mcicrotit, which may hereafter prove to be an
inhabitant of Upper Canada. Dr. J. E. Gray defines it as follows : —
Red-brown ; rump with a very large pale disc extending far above
the base of the tail, and with a black streak on each side of it ; male
with hair of throat elongated, black with reddish tips.
Qeographical Distribution. — Sir John Richardson says that tins
animal does not extend its range farther to the north than the 56th
or 57th parallel of latitude, nor is it found to the eastward of a line
drawn from the south end of Lake Winipeg to the Saskatchewan in
the lOdrd degree of longitude, and thence till it strikes the Elk
River in the 111th degree. To the south of Lake Winipeg he thinks
it may perhaps exist farther to the eastward. He adds that they are
pretty numerous amongst the clumps of wood that skirt the plains
of the Saskatchewan, where they live in small families of six or seven
Individuals, and that they feed on grass, on the young shoots of
willows and poplars, and are Tery fond of the hips of the Soaa hUmdc^
which fonns much of the imderwood in the districts which they
f^eqneni.
A small variety is described as a native of the plains of California
and the upper parts of the river Missouri. It is very abundant and
occurs in liEurge herds.
The height of this animal at the shoulders is 4 4 feet, more than
a foot exceeding that of the common stag. All the upper parts
and the lower jaw are of a somewhat lively veUowish-orown ; a
black mark from the angle of the mouth along the side of the lower
jaw; a brown circle round the eye. The first antlers depressed in
the direction of the facial line. Neck mixed red and black, with
coarse black hairs descending firom it like a dewlap, deeper in colour
than the side& From the uioulders to the hips fVench gray ; a pale
▼eUowish patch on the buttocks, bounded on the thighs by a black
une; tail yellowish, 24 inches long, whereas it is nearly 7 inches in the
European Stag. The hair of a mean length on the shoulders, the
back, the flanks, the thighs, and the imder part of the head ; that
on the sides and limbs shorter, but the hair is very long on the
sides of the head posteriorly and on the neck, particularly below,
where they form the kind of dewlap above alluded to. On the pos-
terior and outer aspect of the hind legs there is a brush of tawny
hair which surrounds a narrow long homy substance. Ears white
within and clothed with tufted hair, externally of the same colour
as the neighbouring parts; a naked triangular space round the
larger lachiymal sinus near the inner angle of the orbit Hoofb
snialL Like the common stag, the Wapiti has a muxsle, upper canine
teeth, and a soft tongue. The auality of the hair is brittle and
there is a short wool beneath it RichfuxUon thinks that the Crees
whistling and quivering noise, not very unlike the Draying of tn ua
Mr. Drummond, who saw many in his journeys through the pluoi
of the Saskatchewan, informed Sir John Riduodson that it does not
bell like the English deer. F. Cuvier describes the cry as prolonged
and acute, consisting of the successive sounds a» o, « (Frendi)^ uttered
with so much stre^th as to ofiend the ear.
The flesh of the Wapiti is cosrse, and little priied by the natiTei,
principally on account of the fat being hard like suet It vanti
the juiciness of venison, and resembles dry but small grained beet
Its hide, when made into leather after the Indian fiawion, ia aid
not to turn hard in drying after being wet, and in that reaped to
exoel moose or rein-deer leather.
The velvety covering of the horns shrivels and is rubbed off in the
month of October, at the commencement of the rutting season, bot
the horns themselves do not fall until the month of March or April
The pair shed by 'Monkey' (one of the Wapiti kept by the
Zoological Society of London in the Regent's Ftek), en the 4th
March, 1887, weighed 26} lbs.
Wapiti {Certui CaHodentU).
That the Wapiti will live and thrive well and propagate in Great
Britain tiiere is now no doubt ; but grand as the appearanoe of the
animal la, it is not probable that it will be bred here to any great
extent on account of ^e inferior quali^ of its venison.
4. C. Slaphut, the Stag. It is the Common Stag, or Bed Deer, of
y,B.
Cbminon Stag {(krvuM Slaphm),
Mr. Smith makes a enb-genns of the True Stags under the name of Sk^hvt.
give it the name of Stinking Head on acoount of the large suborbital
opening.
Heame gives the Wapiti a character for stupidity surpassing that
of all the deer kind. He says that they frequently make a shrill
the EngUsh ; Carw (Stag), Ewig (Hind), EUin (Young or Calf), of the
ancient British ; Le Cerf (Stag), La Biche (Hind), Fbon (Young «
Calf), of the French ; Cervio, Cervia, of the Italians ; Cierro, utf«»
of the Spanish; Cervo, Cerva» of the Portuguese ; Hirti,Hii«a(8W»i
Digitized by
Google
m
csrytdjl
Ci:rVidA
^!A
Hind (Hind), Hinde Ealb (Calf) of the QermauB ; Hart (Stag) and
Hinde of the Datoh ; Hjort, Kronlyort (Stag), and Hind, of the
Swedes; Eronhjort^ Hind, Kid, or Hind-Ealv, of the Danes; the
Cerrmt tmlgaria, Linnseiu; C, nobUit, Klein; Oarvus, Pliny; 'EAo^t,
Aristotle; Cervvt Oermanicut, Brisson; Troffdaphtu, Geoier; ffipp-
daphui, Johnston.
This noble Bpedea is a native of the forests of the whole of Europe
and Asia where the climate Is temperate. In England it is intimatdy
blended with the old oppressive forest laws, which valued the life of
a man at less than that of a stag, and with some of our legends of
deadly feud : ' Chevy Chaoe,' for instance. The stag-hounds that
formerly roused the deer on the moors of the west of England are at
E resent dispersed, and although in Scotland villages have been depopu-
kted to let it run wild, it is the rifle of the deer-stalker principally
that now brings the stag down.
The Bed Deer is distinguished by its brown colour. The rump has
a pale spot extending rather above the upper surface of the base of
the tail They sometmies attain a great size. Pennant speaks of one
that weighed 18 stones Scots, or 814 lbs., exclusive of the entrails,
head, and skin. The Prince of Canino has described a Corsican variety
as CerwM Cfanieui. Buffon remarks of this species that he believes its
small size depends on a deficiency of nourishment, for when removed
to better pastures it becomes even bigger than the Common Stag.
5. C. Barharu$, the Biurbary Deer, is chiefly distinguished from the
Common Stag and the Algerian variety of it by its smaller size, stouter
form, and more permanently-spotted' fur. It is the Bush-Qoat of the
Moors, and inhabits the coasts of Barbary.
6. C, Wallichii, the Bara Singa, or Mori, is an Indian species. It is
also found in Persia, where it is called Maral, G^evezu, or Gookoohee.
It is the Cervui Pyfformtt of Hardwicke ; also Jesrael, or Tailless Deer,
and Red Deer, of &dia.
7. C. affinU, the Saul-Forest Sta^, the Stroa or Tibetan Stag of
Hodgson, the Bara Sing^ of the Hmdoos. The bones are as heavy
and as laige as those of the Wapiti.
8. C SUm, the Sika, is of a daxk-brown colour, and has rather
slender horns. It ife a native of Japan.
9. Dama vulgarit, the Fallow-Deer. This well-known ornament of
our parks is the Hydd (Buck), Hyddes (Doe), Elain (Fawn), of the
ancient British ; Le Daim (Buck), La Daime ^oe), Ftuon (Fawn), of
the French ; Daino (Buck), Damma (Doe), Cerbietto, Cerbietta (Fawn),
of the Italians ; Qama, Corza (Buck), V enadito (Fawn), of the Spanish ;
Cona (Buck), Veado ^Fawn), of the Portuguese ; Damhirsch of the
Qermans ; Do^ Dof'fijort^ of the Swedes ; Daae, Dijr, of the Danes;
Dama vulgarit, Qesner ; Cervui paUnatut, Elein ; Oervut platyceroi,
Ray ; Oervui Dama, Linnseus.
It is not certain whether the common Fallow-Deer is the np6^ of
Aristotle. Buffon and others are of that opinion ; but M. Camus, who
seems veir well disposed to coincide with such opinion if he could,
gives good reasons for doubt. Pennant considers the PUUyeerata of
Pliny (book xL o. 87), and the Euryoerata of Oppian (' Cyneg.' lib. li,
lin. 298), to have been our Fallow-Deer.
Pennant, speaking of the two varieties, the spotted and the deep-
brown, says, on the authority of Collinson, that they were introduced
into this country by James L from Norway, where he passed some
time when he visited his intended bride, Anne of Denmark; and he
remarks (citing Uywd), that one of the Welsh names of the animal,
Fallow-Deer {Dama vulgaru),
Qeifr Danyi, or Danish Goat, implies that it was brought from some
of the Danish dominions. James, who observed their hardiness,
brought them first into Scotland and thence to Enfield Chaoe and
^PPinft to be near his favourite palace, Theobalds. When Pennant
^^te, they were, according to him, scarcely known in France, but
were sometimes foxmd in the north of Europe. In Spdn, he observes,
they are extremely large ; and that they are met with in Greece, the
Holy Land, and in China. For the two latter localities he quotes
Hasselquist^ who says he saw it in Mount Thabor, and Du Halde.
Pennant goes on to state that in every coimtry except our own these
deer are in a state of nature unconfined by man ; but they are, and
for some time have been, confined in parks on the Continent as they
are in England. In Moldavia and Lithuania they are said to be found
wild. Cuvier observes that they have become common in all the
countries of Europe, and that they appear to have come originally
from Barbary. In a note to his last edition of the ' R^e Animal '
he states, that since the publication of the second edition of his
'Ossemens Fossiles' he hsA received a wild Fallow-Deer (Daim)
which had been killed in the woods to the south of Tunis.
Besides the varieties above mentioned, there are many others, as is
generally the case with reclaomed or half-reclaimed animals. One
variety is milk-white. Pennant remarks that in the old Weldi laws
a Fallow-Deer was valued at the price of a cow, or, as some say, a he-
goat. This species is represented on the sculptures of Nineveh.
10. Panolia Etdii, the Sun^nai, is an Indian species.
11. Mttcervut Du/vauceUii, the Bahrainga, is another Indian species.
It is called the Spotted Deer of the Sunderbxmds, and Barara Singha
by Hardwicke. It is the Cennu ElapJunda of Hodgson. It inhabits
riedy marshes and the islands of great rivers, never entering the
mountains or forests. The tail is short, with no caudal disc and no
heavy mane.
12. Jtuia Ariitotelis, the Samboo. It is the Cervtu ffippelaphu» of
Ogilby, Cenmt unicolor of H. Smith, Cerf de Coromandel of Cuvier,
CoTUi JBengaUniit of Schirz, Daim Koir de Bengale of Duvaucell, the
Samboo-Deer of Bennett, Cennu heterocerut of Hodgson. The last
author describes four varieties of this animal They are natives of
various parts of India, and inhabit great forests and the moimtains
above them. They are not gr^arious, and rut and drop their horns
in spring.
18. jR. Dmorpket the Spotted Rusa, Qerver or Gower. Their colour
is red-brown. They are confined to the saul-forests in India.
14. R, ffippelaphua, the M^angan Banjoe. It is the Cenm$ Hipp-
elaphut of Cuvier; Cerf Noir du Bengale, ou Hippelaphe, of F.
Cuvier; Cerf d'Eau, ou Mejanganbai^joe, of the Malays of Java,
M^angan Baojoe {Oarvus {Eusa) Hippslaphut),
Skoll of (knu9 Sipp^phut,
according to DuvauceU; Rusa, or Roussaitan (Black Stag), of the
Javanese and Sumatrans; Mu$a Bippdaphui, the Great Rusa, of
Digitized by
Google
B59
CERVIDiE.
CEBYID^
Smith ; C, MoUueeeiuit of Quoy and Ofaimard ; 0. (Rubo) Tmorentii
ofMiiUer.
The aze and proportions of this animal are about those of the
Common Stag, but its hair is rougher and harder, and when
adult that of the upper part of the neck, of the cheeks, and of the
throat is long, and forms a sort x>f beard and mane. In winter its
colour is of a grayish-brown more or lees deep ; in summer it is of a
brighter and more golden brown. The croup is a pale yellow, and iJie
tail is brown terminated by rather long hair.
It is a native of Bengal, Sumatra, and the islands of the Indian
Archipelago.
This is supposed to be the fftppelaphut of Aristotle ; but Q. Cuvier,
who once was of that opinion, seems in the last edition of his ' R^gne
Animal ' to consider that another species, C. (Rusa) ArutoteliSt Cuvier,
living in the north of India, is the animal alluded to by the Qreek
soologisi
15. R equmua, the Samboe. It is the Rma of Raffles ; the Eland
or Elk of the Dutch sportsmen. It inhabits Sumatra and Borneo.
It is of a plain brown colour.
16. R. Peronii, the Smaller Rusa^ is a native of Timor and Lombok,
Batchian and Temate.
17. ^ PkilippinuSt the Philippine Rusa, is the C. Marianus of
Cuyier, the Cerf de Philippine of Desmarest. It is a native of the
Philippines.
18. A Upida, the Sundevall Rusa, is a native of Java. It is
scarcely as large as a roe-buck.
19. Axis mactUata, the Axis. It is the Axii of Pliny; C. Axis of
Erxleben ; A. major of Hodgson, also A. medius and A. minor of the
same author; Cerf Cochon of Buffon; Spotted Axis or Chittra,
Langna or Pada, or Spotted Porcine Deer, Thou or Spotted Porcine
Axis, A. medius, or Spotted Hog-Deer, or Thou Langna of the
Tarai, of Hodgson. In size and general form it nearly resembles
the common Fallow-Deer. The skm is at all times of a rich fawn-
colour spotted with white. Height at the shoulder 2 feet 6 or 7
inches. The distribution of the spots varies in different individuals.
The ground-colour changes to nearly black along the back ; the under
parts are snow-white. Flanks, sides, shoulders, hind quarters, and
part of the neck spotted as above mentioned. There is a broad
dusky spot on the forehead, and a line of the same colour extends
along the middle of the nose. The male has no canine teeth, nor has
the female any horns ; she is generally less in size than the male, and
resembles him much in colour, but mav be distinguished, it is said, by
a white longitudinal line on the flanka The yoxmg resemble tiie
parents.
It is a native of India and the laiger islands of the Indian Archi-
pelago ; veiy abundant in Bengal, and on the banks of the Qanges.
The Axis haunts the thick jungles in the vicinity of waW^ and the
British sportsmen hunt it under the name of the Spotted Hog-Deer.
It feeds in the night ; and is timid, indolenti and mild, excepting
when the females have youngs and then the male is bold and fierce.
daphus, var. 8, of Cuvier. This species is easily known from the Axis
by being lower on ito legs, and having no distinct black domal streak,
nor white streak on its haunohe& The horns are generally short,
with only short snags. They live in families, or ■mall herds, on
the plains of Hindustan. They are also found in Ceylon. Mr.
Ogilby says they do not ascend mountains. The C. Dodur of Royle
is probably a <Ustinct species. C, pumiUs of H. SmiUi is p^ups a
variety.
22. CervuUu vaginalis, the K^ang or Muntiak. It is the Orrsi
Muntjae of Zimmerman ; Prox Muntjac of Sxmdevall ; Cervus plieatut
of Forster ; the Ribbed-Faoed Deer of Pennant ; the Chevreoil dea
Indes of Allamand.
Skull of Muntjak {Oervulu* vaginalis).
The height of the Muntjak at the shoulders is about 2 feet 2 inches;
head pointed ; eyes large, with lachrymal sinuses ; can rather lu:ge ;
tail short and flattened.
In the living animal there are on the faoe two rough folds of the
skin, considerably distended and elevated, about an inch and a half
apart above ; and following the direction of the prominent part of
the forehead they unite below, so as to mark the face with the letter
v. In the dried subject the folds are contracted, and three distinct
ribs appear, which suggested to Pennant the name of Rib-Faced Deer.
Gen wal colour reddish-brown above ; belly and front of the thighi
pure white. The male has laige canines in the upper jaw ; the
female has none, nor has she horns.
Dr. Horsfield, who has given the best account of this animal, states
th«t ^ the Muntjak selects for its retreat certain districts, to which it
forms a peculiar attachment, and which it never voluntarily deserts.
Many of these are known as the favourite resort of our animal for
several generations. They consist of moderately-elevated gTOaiid&
diversified by ridges and valleys, tending towards the acclivities of
i^
AxM {Axis maculala).
The Axis is easily domesticated, and in England has propagated
freely in captivity. The species has been kept with success both in
menageries and open parks, to both of which its form and colour
make it an elesant omament.
20. A, pseudaxis^ the Spotted Axis. It is the C, pseudaxis of
Qervais. It differs from A. maculafa in having a series of spots in
place of an oblique streak on the haunches.
21. Hydaphus porcinus, the Lugna. Para, or Shgoriah. It is the
C porcinus of Simdevall ; the C. niger of H. Smith ; the Porcine
.Occr of Pennant j the Brown Porcine Axis of Hodgson ; C. Hipp-
Mantjak (C vagmatis).
the more considerable mountains, or approaching the confines of
extensive forests. Such districts are by no means uncommdn m
Java: they are oovered with long grass, and shrubs and trees of
moderate size, growing in groups or small thickets, and thefgenerallj'
intervene between cultivated tracts and the deep forests. Their nfge-
tation is peculiarly adapted to afford our animal * veiy abundant
Digitized by
Google
861
CERVIDiB.
CERVIDA
863
sopplj of nonriBhinent ; their sur&oe is oovered with long grasB
(Sac^arum ipicatwm), well known to persons who have visited the
interior of Java by the Aame of Allang-Allang, and the groves
and thickets abound with Phylkmthtu Emblica, Linn. : these two
plants oonstitate its principal food. They also produce many species
of BibiieuM, Orewiciy Uremt, and other nuJvaceous plants, all of which
are greedily eaten by the Eujang. . . . The Kijang is impatient
of confinement, and is not fitted for the same degree of domestication
as the stag. It is however occasionally found in the indosure of natives
and £uxx)peaii8, but requires a considerable range to live comfortably : it
is cleanly in its habits, and delicate in its choice of food. The flesh
affords an excellent venison, which is often found on the tables of
Europeans. The natives eat the males, and always present them
in a conspicuous place in their feasts*' but in consequence of some
peculiarities in the habits of the females, they have an aversion to
them as food."
28. C, motchaina, the Kegan or Kakr. It is the Cenmt Motckm of
Desmarest^ C. Eatwa and Styloeeroi Jtahoa of Hodgson, Prox ReUwa of
Sundevall, P. albipet of Wagner, P. ttyiooero9 of Wagner, the Musk-
Deer of Kepaol ; the Jungle Sheep.
It ia of a bright reddidn-ycJlow colour, with the chin and gullet
whitish. The hair is not ringed as in the following species.
The Ratwa are natives of India, where they live in forests, in the
mountains, or at their bases. They live six or eight together. The
horns fall in May. The females have bristly tufts en£ng in a knot
instead of a horn.
24. C Beeveiiif the Chinese Muntjak, is of a grayish-brown colour,
with short pale ringed hair. It is a native of China. Dr. J. £. €bay
says ('Brit Mu& Cat') :—*' The Earl of Derby has these three kinds
(the three last species) at Knowsley, but they breed together, and it
has henoe become impossible to discriminate the males £rom the
original species."
25. Capreolu» Cfaprcea, the Roe-Buck. This animal is probably the
AofuAs of Aristotle ; Jorcoi and Dorcat of Oppian ; Cbprea of Fliny
(xi 37); Caprea, OapreohUy Jhrcat, of Qeaner; Cai^reohu of Ray
and of Sibbald ; Cervut Caprecku of Linn»us ; 0. minimua of ELlein;
Iwrch (male), lyrchell (female), of the andent British; Le Chevreuil
of the Frendi; Capriolo of the Italians ; Zorlito, Cdbronzillo Montes,
of the Spanish ; Cabra Montes of the Portuguese ; Rehbobk (male),
Rehgees, of the Qermans ; Radiur, Rabock, of the Swedes ; Raaedijr,
Raaebok, of the Danes.
Its length is about 8 feet 9 inches ; height before about 2 feet
8 inches ; behind, 2 feet 7 inches. Weight from about 50 to 60 Iba
Length of horns from 8 to 9 inches ; they are erect, round, and
divided into three branches above; their lower part is deeply
furrowed longitudinally. Those of a yoimg buck in its second year
are simple ; in the third year a branch appears ; the head is complete
m the fourth year. In the winter the hair on the body is long, the
lower part of each hair is ash-coloured, there is a narrow bar of black
near the end, and the tip is yellow. On the face the hair is black
tipped with yellow. The ears are long, of a pale yellow on the
inside, and covered with long hair. In summer uie coat is short and
smooth, and of a bright reddish colour. The chest, belly, legs, and
inside of the thighs, are yellowish-white ; the rump is pure white,
and the tail very short On the outside of the hind legs, below the
joint, is a tuft of long hair.
"The Roe-Buck was formerly very common in Wales, in the north
of England, and in Scotland, but at present the species no longer
exists in any part of Great Britain, except in the Scottish HighlantU."
Such is the locality given by Pennant when he wrote ; and he adds
that, according to Dr. Mouffett, it was found in Wales as late as the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, and in great pleniy in the Cheviot BTil^
according to Leland, in tiiat of Henry the V III. That at one time
the Roe inhabited the southern parts of the kingdom is clear, if the
information given to the editor of the last edition of tiie ' British
Zoology ' is correct, for that states the discovery of seven or eight
horns of the Roe in the peat beds near Romsey, in Hampdure,
together with the complete head of a beaver, with' ihe teeth entire.
In Ireland the animal is not known. They are frequent in France,
and are foimd in Italy, Sweden, Norway, and Siberia. Pannaht,
who gives these localities, says that the first that are met with in
Great Britain are in the woods on the south side of Loch Rannoch,
in Perthshire ; the last in those of Langwal, in Caithness ; but that
they are most numerous in the beautiful forests of Invercauld, in the
midst of the Grampians. They are still comiMuratively plentiful in
Scotland. Sir James Carnegie had a battue, in which forty were
killed. Sir William Jardine states, that south of the ForUi they
are now very rare, one or two wilder parks only possessing a few ;
but frequent traces of their former abundance are found in the
border counties, remains and skeletons being almost yearly disinterred
from most of the larger peat mosses. The same author speaks of
its frequency in many European coimtries, Germany, Silesia, &c.
(' Naturalist's Library,' Mammalia, voL iii)
The Roe does not keep in herds, but only congregates in fiEtmilies in
the lower coverts and lees wild woods. The female goes with young
five months, and produces two fawns at a birth, and these she con-
ceala frova. the buck. They are said to live twelve or fifteen years,
and to be able to reproduce the species at the age of eighteen months.
Pennant observes that it is a tender animal, and quotes Buffon, who
saysthat in the hard winter of 1709 the breed was almost oxtingiished
in Burgimdy, and many years passed before it was restored agahi. It
is generally killed — either in the covert or by the sportsman, who
waits outside while the copse or wood is driven—with shot It falls
very readily, and often without being apparently severely struck ;
we have heard instances of their being knocked over with com-
paratively small shot. As soon as it is down the throat is cut, and
the animal is hung up by the hind legs on the fork of some tree
to bleed.
Boe-Buok {Cbpreolut Doreat),
Herbage and tender shoots of underwood are the food of the Roe
in the smnmer. They are said to be very fond of the Rubut seucaHUt,
called in the Highlands the Roe-Buck Berry. In winter, when the
ground is covered with snow, they browse on the tender branches of
tiie fir and the birch. (Pennant)
The flesh is delicate food when well killed, and the horns are used
for handles of carving-knives, &c.
Pennant states that in the old Welsh laws a roe-buck was valued at
the same price as a she-goat
26. a Pygargut, the Ahu. It is the Cferwa Ppgargua of Pallas,
Ca-vui Ahu of Griffith, the Siaga of the Tartars, Dikaja Kosa of the
Russians, Tailless Roe and TalUesB Deer of Pennant and Shaw. It
is a native of Central Asia.
27. Blattocenti paludonu, the Guazupuco. It is the Cervut Mexi-
canu» of Goldfuss, C. dichotomy of Hhger. It is a native of South
America.
28. JB. campettris, the Mazame or Guazuti. It is the Oervui haoftr-
Hcui of Linnnus, O, campettrU of F. Cuvier, C, leucogaster of Goldfuss,
the Biche de Pampas of Cuvier. It is a native of South America
in Northern Patagonia. It is exceedingly abundant, in small herds,
throughout the coimtries bordering the Plata. Mr. Darwin describes
the odour of the buck as quite overi)Owering, from its disagreeable
character.
29. Fuiyifer ArUisieruit, the Tarush or Taruga, is a native of South
America, in the Bolivian Alps.
80. F, Huamdy the GuemuL It is the Auchenia Hucmd of H.
Smith, the Caindv4 Equinua of Leuckart, Cerveeua Andictu of Lesson,
the Cloven-Footed Horse of Shaw. It is a native of the east coast
of South America.
81. Cariacu8 VirgimanuSf the American Deer. It is the Ddma
Virginiana of Ray, Oervttt Virginicmut of Gmelin, C. Strongyloeeroa
of Schreber, the Viiginian and Mexican Deer of Pennant, the Cerf
de la Louisiane of Cuvier, the Cariacou of Bufifon. The tail of this
animal, like the rest of its body, is fulvous, above the tip it is black,
but beneath white, and is carried erect when running. They inhabit
the Oregon, and are foimd to be most numerous near the coast of the
Pacific Ocean. Their range on that coast is up to 15** N. latitude.
At the Umqua, in latitude 48" they give place to the Black-Tailed
Deer. " We believe that the same species of deer inhabits all the
timbered or partially timbered country between the coast of the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans." (Gray.)
82. C, Mexicanua, the Mexican Deer. Tail fulvous gray. Not well
known. Inhabits Mexico.
83. C. leueuruif the White-Tailed Deer. It is the Cervui Uucui-ug
of Douglass, C. campettrit of F. Cuvier. Various writers on America
have called it by the following names : Roe-Buck (Dobbs), the Fallow
or Vinrinian Deer (Cook's Third Voyage) ; the Long-Tailed Jumping
Deer (Umfreville) ; Deer with small horns and long taQ (Gass.) ; Long-
Tailed Red Deer, Small Deer of P&dfic, Common Red Deer, and
Common Fallow-Deer with long tails (Lewis and Clark) ; Jumping
Deer (Hudson's Bay Traders); Chevreuil (Canadian Voyageurs);
Mowitch (Cree Indians).
Digitized by
Google
889
CERVIDJE.
CEBLYJDM,
B64
This species is not found on the east side of the Bocky Mountains
fiEurther north than latitude 54° N., nor is it found in tiiat parallel east
of 1 05° W; longitude. Mr. Douglass says, *' it is the most common deer
in the district adjoining the river Columbia, more especially on
the fertile prairies of the Cowalidoke and Multnomah rivers, vfrithin
100 miles of the Pacific Ocean."
84. C. nemoralit, the Cariacou Deer. It is the Cerf Blanc or Cerf
des Paletuviers of Cuyier, Chevreuil d' Am^rique of Daubenton, Biohe
des Savannes of Buffon. It is a native of the ^ores of the Mexican
Gulf and of Guyana. (Baillon.)
85. C. ptmcttUattu, the CaUfomian Roe. Dr. J. K Gray says,
" There is a female of this species in the Zoological Gardens ; it is
much smaller and darker than 0. Virginiamitj and it differs in the
hair being dark, with a distinct yellow subterminal band. It is a
native of Columbia, and at best a doubtful species."
86. C. Lewitii, the Black-Tailed Deer. It is the Certnu Lewitii of
Peale. A native of California between the Columbia River and the
Umqua. It is seldom seen east of the Cascade Moimtaina It never
elevates its tail in running, and viewed from behind shows two
narrow white lines of hair, instead of the large white and elevated
tail of the Vii^ginian Deer.
37. C jnacrotis, the Mule-Deer. It is rather larger than C. Virginui-
nu8, having more the general aspect of the WapitL It is destitute
of the black submaxillary marks of C. Lewisii and C. Virffin%€mu»,
It is most abxmdant on the eastern slope of the Rocky Moimtains,
and delights in rocky hiUs covered with cedars and flr-trees.
SB. Co(U9ut nemorivagwt ^^ Gauzu-viva. It is the Cervus Nemorwn
of Desmarest, C. simplicicomis of lUiger, C. movrgivorut of Schrank.
This delicate little deer is onlv 26 inches in length. Its aspect is
said to approach that of the sheep. The hichrymal sinus is said to
be nearly imperceptible.
Gaojia-Tiva {Ooauut nemorhagut).
The lower part of the head and lips whitish. Space round the
eyes, inside of fore legs, and from lower part of breast to buttocks
whitish-cinnamon. Neck and all the other parts brownish, approaching
to grayish, each hair being tipped with white. Horns short It is a
native of the Brazils.
Cagoacu-ete {Obauut rvfU»).
SO. C. rufiu, the Cuguaou-ete or Pita. It is the Cenm rtcftu of
F. Cuvier, C. dolichwut of Wagner, Sub%Uu$ Americanut of J. Brookes,
Svbulo rufiu of H. Smith.
Its height is about 29 inches ; general colour reddish-brown; inside
of ears Quurs short), space round the lips, lower part of head and
tail, hind part of bdly, buttocks, and inside of fore legs to kneei,
whitish. Females without horns. Nearlv of the same reddish tint^
with a white spot above the nose and on the upper lip.
It Uves in the low moist woods of South America, in large herda,
and as ten females are seen for one male, it is supposed that their
appearance gave currency to the report of a form of deer on the
New Continent without horns. They are very fleet only for the fint
burst, for they are soon run down by dogs, and are sometimes
captured by the lasso and balls.
40. C, iupercUiarit, the Eye-Browed Brocket^ differs chiefly firom the
two last in the form of the muffle, and in the presence of a white
streak over the eyes. It is a native of Uie Branls.
41. C. auritus, the Lai^ge-Eared Brocket. It is also anative of the Bnzila.
42. Pudt* Awnt^M, the Venada. It istheCerviwAiioiiZtf of Bennett;
Cawra Pudu, Molina ; ArUiloeapra Pudu, Lesson ; AntUope Dieranocem
TemamaMoma, H. Smith; Oervui MaccUlchicheltic, Seba; Mazame of
Hemandei. It is a native of Chill
Poisil Cet'vidos.
The remains of Deer are suffldently numerous in beds of the third
period of the Tertiary Series and in caverns. Thus, in the cave at
Kirkdale, Dr. Buckland foxmd evidences of at least three species, the
smallest being very nearly of the size and form of a fiftllow-deer, the
laigest agreeing in size with the elk, but differing in form; and
a third, of intermediate size, approaching that of a Isrge stag or red-
deer. The skeletons of animals found in the recent shdl-marla of
Scotland, according to Sir C. Lyell, all belong to species which now
inhabit or are known to have been indigenous in Scotland. Several
hundred, he observes, have been procured within the last oentoiy
firom five or six small lakes in Forfitrshire, where ^ell^nail has been
worked. Thoee of the Stag {Oarvtu Elaphui) are stated to be the most
numerous ; and if the others be arranged in the order of their reUtire
abundance they will follow, according to ^ C. Lvdl, neariy thua :—
Ox, boar, horse, do& hare, fox, wol^ and cat. The beaver, be adda,
seems very rare ; but it has been found in the shell-marl of Loch
Marlie in Perthshire, and in the parish of Edrom in Berwickahire.
The most remarkable of the Fossil Oervidce foimd in the British
Islands la the Megcteeros Hibtmic%ity the gigantic Irish Deer. This
animal has been called by various names, of which the following are
the most conmion : — Cenmt pUUycerot aliiuimttg. Large Inah Deer,
Molyneux ; OenmB fouilit, Goldfuss ; Cerf "k Bois €Hgantesque, Cnvier;
the Fossil Elk of Ireland, Parkinson; Cervut Biberwtu, Desmareat;
Cervut mtgaoeroif Hart ; Fossil Dama of Ireland, Hamilton Smith.
Dr. Molyneux, to whom we owe the first account of the remaina of
this animal, supposed it to be the American Moose. On this point
Professor Owen savs, " The great extinct Irish Deer surpassed the
largest Wapiti or Elk in size, and much exceeded them in the dimen-
sions of the antlers. The pair first described and figured in the
' Philosophical Transactions ' measured 10 feet 10 indies in a straight
line from the extreme tip of the right to that of the left antler ; the
length of each antler, from the buir to the extreme tip in a straight
line, was 5 feet 2 indies, and the breadth of the expanded pu% or
palm, was 1 foot 10^ inc^e& Dr. Molyneux, after giving the dimen-
sions of the fossil head and its noble attire, says — ' Doubtleas all the
rest of the parts of the body answered these in due proportion,' and
he infers the amount of the superiority of the great Iruh Deer over
the ' fairest buck' accordingly."
** Recent discoveries of the entire skeleton of the Megaceros however
have shown that the proportions of the trunk and limbs to the vast
antlers were not the same with which we are familiar in the existing
Deer beet provided vdth these weapons, but tiiat the antlers were
both absolutely and relatively larger in the great extinct spedes. Thia
in fact constitutes one of its best characteristics, and invdves other
differences in the form and proportions of its osseous firameworiL
One of the modifications in the skeleton of Megaceros, which relates
to the vast weight of the head and neck, is the stronger proportions
of its limbs ; and another and more striking character is the great
size of the vertebrse of the neck, which form the column immediately
supporting the head and its massive appendages. The extent of these
mooifications may be appreciated bv the following dimensions of the
skdeton of the Megaceros and of that of the Great American Mooee
(Alcei poimcUa and AfMriccma) : —
Megaoerof. Alcef.
Ft. In. Lin, Ft In. Lin.
Length of the trunk firom the lat rib to the end of
theiachiam 6S8 500
Height from the ground to the top of the longest
dorsal apine 600 560
Length of the fore- leg tmrn the top of the acapnia
in a straight line
Length of hind leg firom the head of the femur in a
straight line 4 9 S
Circumtoence of fourth cenrioal vertebra . . 1 10 0
9pan of antlers between the extreme tips . ..900
5 7 0 5 4 6
4 10
1 0
4 0
Digitized by
Google
w
CEKVIDM.
CERVID^.
806
Gigantic fossil Deer [ifegaceros Hibamieui),
Skull and horns of the same,
a. Fnni tIcw of the whole head ; b, the skull seen from below; t, profile of the same ; d, horn, on a leas soale, seen perpendioolarlj to its posterior sorface.
KAT. HXBT. DXV. YOL. L 3K ,^^^1^
■ • Digitized by V^UOylC
807
CERVIDJS.
OESTRUM.
The weight of ihe akull and antlonof the Megfocerot in the Museum
of the College of Surgeons in London is 76 lb&, whilst another exists
in Dublin which weighs 87 lbs. The avenge weight of the skull,
without the horns or lower jaw, is 5^ lbs. From this &ot we may
form some idea of the enormous sixe of the antlera, which seem to
have obeyed the same neriodical law as those of all existing deer. When
it is reooUected that idl the matter of these antlers must have been
drawn from the blood oaxried to the head by the carotid arteries in
the course of a few months, our wonder may well be excited at the
special activi^ of the capiliaiy circulation of these parts.
The question has been somewhat eagerly discussed, as to whether
the Megaeeroa existed within the historical period. On this point
Professor Owen has the following remarks : —
" Is there any evidence, it may be asked, that the Megaceroi co-
existed with thejiuman race, or that its extinction was the result of
roan*s hostility f Dr. Molvneux (' Phil. Trans.,' xix. p. 490) says that
its extinction in Ireland has occurred ' so many ages past> as there
remains among us not the least record in writing, or any manner ot
tradition, that makes so much as mention of its name ; as that most
laborious inquirer into the pretended ancient but certainlv fabulous
history of this coimtry, Mr. Boger O'FIaherty, the author of ' Ogygia,'
has.lately informed me.'
" The term Shelch, in the romance of the ' Kiebelungen,' written in
the ISth century, and there applied to one of the beasts shun in a
great hunt a few hundred years before that time in Germany, has
been cited by Qoldfuss, and subsequently by other naturalists, as
probablv sigxufying the Megcieeros, just as the Halb-Wolf of the same
' Lied ' has been conjectured to be the Hysan^
" The total silence of Cscsar and Tacitus respecting such remarkable
animals, renders their existence and subsequent extirpation by the
savage natives a matter of the hi^est improbability; and it has been
well observed by Dr. Buckland, that 'the authority of the same
romance would equally establish the actual existence of giants, dwarfs^
and pigmies, of magic tum-capa — ^the using of which would make the
wearer become invisible — and of fire-dragons, whose blood rendered
the skin of him who bathed in it of a homy consistence, which no
sword or other weapon could penetrate.'
" Some appearances in the bones themselves of the Megacerta, and
perhaps an undue confidence in the vague statements of their discovery
with remains of the existing deer, ho^ and sheep, in peat-bogB, have
led to the opinion that the Gigantic Deer existed within the time of
man. Dr. Hart cites the fact of the discovery of a human body in
gpravel, under eleven feet of peat, soaked in the bog<water, which was
in good preservation, and completely clothed in antique garments of
hair, which it had been conjectured might be that of our fossil animaL
But if any Megaeeroi had perished, and left its body under the like
circumstances, its hide and hair ought equally to have been preserved.
Except however the solitaiy instance of fat or adipodre in the shaft
of one of the bones discovert by Archdeacon Maunsell, not a particle
of the soft parts of the animal seems ever to have been found. Dr.
Hart conceives that ' more conclusive evidence on this question is
derived from the appearance exhibited by a rib, in which he discovered
an oval opening near its lower edge, with the maigin depressed on the
outer, and raised on the inner surfoce, round which there is an irre-
gular effusion of callus. This opening,* he says, ' appears evidently
to have been produced by a shai^pointed instrument which did not
penetrate so deep as to cause the animal's death, but which probably
remained fixed in the opening for some length of time afterwards; in
fiiot, such an effect as would be jproduced by the head of an arrow
remaining in a wound after the shaft was broken ofil' (Op. dt, p. 29.)
''But a conical arrow-head, with a base one indi in diameter,
sticking in a rib, with its point in the chest> must have pierced the
contiguous viscera, and nulling there have excited rapid and fatal
inflammation. The evidence of the healing process in the bone would
rather show that the instrument which pierced the rib had not been
left there to impede the operations of the ' vis medicatrix naturse.'
A formidable branch of the formidable antler is as well suited to
inflict such a wound as the hypothetical arrow; and if the combative
instincts of the rutting stag rightly indicate the circumstances nnder
which the wound of the Megaeeroa was inflicted, they would be those
which best accord with the actual evidence of recovery from itw"
Although the remains of this animal have been found principally
in Ireland, they have also been dug up in the Isle of Man, in Scotland,
and found in several of the ossiferous caverns of England. This
discovery is interesting, as from the position in which the remains of
the Megaeeroa have been found, it establishes the comtemporaneib^ of
ttus animal with the Mammoth, Rhinoceros, and other extinct Mam-
malia of the period of the formation of the newest tertiaiy fresh-water
fossiliferous strata.
In the cavern of Kent's Hole, near Torquay, the base of an antler,
forail, and partly gnawed, has been found. It does not bdong to
Megaeeroa ; and Professor Owen has refeired it to a genus and species
which he calls Strongyloceroa SpeUcBua, Gigantic Round-Antlered Deer.
" If the trunk and limbs bore the same proportions to the head and
antlers as in the Wapiti and Red Deer, as most probably they did,
the species indicated by this remarkable fragment of antler must have
been the most gigantic of our extinct English Cervine animals."
(Owen.)
Besides these, the remains of C, Elaphua, the Red Deer, C. Tarandna,
the Rein-Deer, J>ama wlgaria, the Fallow-Deer, Oapreohu Capm,
the Roe-Buck, have all been found in various parts of the BntLsh
Islands. Amongst the bones foimd in Kirkdale are those of a small
deer, which Professor Owen calls Cenma BuddandL
Remains of Deer occur in other ossiferous caverns beddes those of
Great Britain, as in the Muggendorf caverns, the Grotte d'Echenos,
and that on the banks of the Meuse, at Cheekier ; as well as in the
osseous breccias of Gibraltar, Cette, Nice, Corsica, and Antibei.
M Bertrand de Done found, among the bones entombed in and
beneath volcanic matter near St Privat d'Allier (Yelay), a laige
proportion of remains, refemble to at least four undetermined
species of Oervif in company with Xhinoceroa lepforJwMu and Hyma
apdcea ; and M. Robert extracted from the ferruginous beds at CoBBte
(Haute-Loire) the bones of seven spedes of deer (to two of which he
assigns the names of Cervua SolUhacuaf and C. dama PoliffMeu\
accompanied by the bones of the antelope, ^of Urua and B, Vdatum,
two spedes of horse, Elephaa primigemua, BMnoeeroa Uptorhumt and
Toptr Arvementia, Among the fossil spedes enumerated we find,
under section a, Cervua giganteua, C. eu/ryeeroif and C. Americamm;
under section fi*t O. CfueUardi; and under /§** 0. Sibenm and
C. Somonentia,
Captain P. Cautley, in his paper 'On the Remains of Mammalia
found in the Sewalik Mountains, at the southern foot of the Hima-
layas, between the Sutli:g and the Ghmges,' enumerates, among the
fine collection of bones found hv him, those of the elk and seyeial
varieties of deer. In the district between the Jumna and the Oanges
he obtained the remains of more species of deer than one in the marl
or day conglomerate, described as consisting of fragments of indurated
day, cemented by clay, sand, and carbonate of lime. ProfesBor Kaup
discovered the bones of the following deer : — Cenma anoeenttf C. triffo-
nocerua, C. dicranocerua, and C eurtoeertu — ^in the sand resting upon
the calcaire grosder in Rhenish Hease, in companv with Z)mo<Acri«A,
kc &a Deer therefore may be considered to nave existed in the
second and third tertiaiy periods, namdy, the Miocene and Pliocene
periods of LyeU. [Su 8uPi>LiiixnT.]
CERVUa [CEBViDit]
CESTRA'CE JB, or CESTRI'N^, a natural order of plants belonging
to the dass of Monopetalous Exogens. It is nearly related to
Solanaeeoif and is sometimes made to form a tribe of that order. It
has the following characters : — Limb of corolla plicate, yalvate or
induplicata in seativation; calyx 6-toothed; corolla ftumel-ahaped,
5-lobed, regular ; tube elongated, limb usually spreading ; stomena 5 ;
anthers dehisdng lengthwise; ovarium seated on a cupulate diac;
pericazp capsular or baccate; placentas adnate to the dissepiment;
embryo nearly, straight^ with a cylindrical radide, and rounduh leiiy
cotyledons. It embraces the genera Ceatrwoif Jhrnalia, Meyem,
Dartua, Vaalifi, Le$aea, Fabiana, LoMreria, Lcunarlna. In the aeeond
edition of the ' Natural System,' Dr. Lindley reoognisea the order
Ceatraeeoi, and adds, '' I do not attempt to charaoterise this assemblage
of plants, being uncertain what its real peculiarity is. According to
Schlechtendahl, it has all the characters of Sotanaceae, except that
the embi^o is nearly straight, and the cotyledons foliaoeoua To this
however it is posdble that the valvate {estivation of the corolla ought
to be added; but I am by no means sure that the species of
Periphragynoa of the 'Flora Peruviana,' with winged seeds, ought not
to be induded, although, as they have an imbricated ssstivation, and a
tricarpellaiy fruit, they are placed in PolemofUeieeas. These planta,
which are very di£forent from those of Jussieu's CantwUf espedallj
C qttercifolia, have much the habit of Lycium as well as Veatia. U
they really do belong to PoUmatUacece, they must be oooaidered i
connecting link between that order and Oeatraeeca,'* The xenen
then reoc^nised by Lindley were, Ceatrvm, VettiOy Leaaea, FwioM.
In the 'Vegetable Kingdom,' Dr. Lindley has dropped tiie oider
CestraceoB.
The genua Ceairum has a tubular calyx, terete;, very short, obsoletely
5-toothed ; corolla funnd-shaped, with a long dender cylindrical tube ;
a roundish throat and a flat limb, with ovate equal segments ; filamentB
the length of the tube; anthers indoeed, l^ing roundish, 2-oelled,
many seeded. C. ventnaium is a large woody bush which grova at
the Cape of Qood Hope, in Houtinqua Land, and elsewhere. Tb^
flowers are arranged in axillary dusters; the corolla has a reddish
tube and a white limb, and emits a perfume resembling Jasmine
flowers. A decoction of the bark reduced to an extract by evaporatioo
is employed by the Hottentots to poison tiieir arrows. It ia said to
be a speedy poison, and is also employed to destroy wild beasts by
mixing with their food. C macrophyUHm and C. noctmm have similar
properties. C JEfediunda and C. lamifblium are febrifuge, and are
applied extendvdy as astringents in Peru. About 50 species m
Gettrum have been described. They are all of them natives of
North and South America, and the West India Islands, and aie
known by the common name of Bastard Jasmines. They are easily
cultivated, and will grow in any rich light soil, and are easily^ prop**
gated by cuttings, which should be placed under a hand-glasa in heat
The spedes of the allied genera require the same treatment
(Don, Ga/rdena'a Dictionary; Lindley, Flora Mediea; Lindley,
Vegetable Kingdom)
CESTRACTON. [Squalid*.] CESTRUM. [Cestbaom]
Digitized by
Google
869
CESTTJM,
CETACEA,
870
CBSTUIL [AOALBPHAl
CETACEA, an order of Aquatic MammalB with fin-like anterior
extremities, the posterior extremities being absent^ or rather, haying
&eir place supplied by a large horizontal caudal fin or tail ; without
an external ear, without hair on their external integument, and the
cervical bones so compressed as to leave the animal without any
outward appearance of a neck. This order comprises the Whales,'
the largest animated forma in existence. Some of the genera com-
posing it are phytophagous, or plant-eaters; others are zoophagous,
or animal-eaters.
The Cetaceous Mammals, whose abode is either in the sea or the
great rivers, resemble Fishes so closely in external appearance, that
it is hardly to be wondered at that not only the vulgar, but even
some of the earlier zoologists, looked upon them as belonging to that
dass. This notion is kept alive to the present day in the announce-
ments of the comparative success of those ships which are employed
in the Whale Fisheiy ; for not only is it conveyed by that general
term for the capture of whales, but bv statements that one ship has
arrived with three fish, another with four fish, a third witih one
fish, &0L
If we turn to the Sacred Scriptures we find the Hebrew words Than
and Thannin, which have been translated by the words Kt/tos (the
word used by .^hieas QazuDUS to designate the fish out of whose beUy
Hercules is said to have escaped after having been swallowed) and
< whale.' Lycophron terms the marine animal that so disposed of
Hercules when he was shipwrecked, xdpxBipos xiw, a shark.
The Septuagint translates the Hebrew words above noticed, t& k^
ra /UyaXa, in the 21st verse of the first chapter of Genesis. The
same Greek word is used in the 17th verse of the first chapter of
Jonah. In the book of Job (vii 12), and in that of Ezekiel (xxxii. 2),
the translation uses the term ZoAkw. In Matthew (xii 40), where
the swallowing up of Jonah is alluded to, inrros is employed.
In Barker^s 'Bible' (1615) the passage in Genesis is translated,
" Then God created the great whales," much the same as it stands
in the version now read in our churches, "And God created great
whalea"
The other passages are translated in Barker's ' Bible ' as follows : —
Jonah (L 17), "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow
up Jonah : and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and
three nights : "—Job (vii 12), *' Am I a sea or a whale fish, that thou
keepest me in wardl" — Ezekiel (xxxii 2), " Thou art like a lyon of
the nations, and art as a dragon in the sea; " in a note ' or whale' is
added : — ICatthew (xii 40), " For as Jonas was three days and three
nights in the whale's belly," fta
In the version now used in our churches the passage in Jonah is
verbatim the same as in Barker ; that in Job is thus rendered, "Am
I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me ? " — that in
Ezekiel, " Thou art like a yoimg lion of the nations, and thou art as a
whale in the seas : " — ^that in Matthew is identical with the passage
in Barker.
These are merely cited as examples : there are other passages in
the Old Testament in which the wonts whale and inrros occur in the
English and Greek versions. It would be beside the present question
to enter into the discussion wl^ether the whale was meant, or a
crocodile, as some will have it, in the verses above quoted;. it is
sufi&dent for our purpose to show the commonly received opinion
tiiat a whale was a fish
In the Index to Pliny's 'Natural History' we find the Whales
treated as Fishes, "Balsenarum Piscium Consideratio," "Balsena
piacis," &C. ; but in the work itself the Balcena and Phyuter are noticed
as JBdwB, and a Mr account is given of their spouting and general
habits. The 7th chapter of his ninth book, indeed, is headed "An
Spirent pisces, an dormiant;" but in that chapter he expressly states
that neither whales nor dolphins (balsenis nee delphinis) have gills,
bat breathe by means of fistuleo, or blow-holes, wnich appertain to
the lungs.
Aristotle, whose great zoological work Pliny had closely studied,
was certainly aware of the broad distinction between the Whales and
Dolphins (the position of whose blow-holes he mentions), and Fishes.
Craener separated the Whales from the Fishes, includhig them in a
distinct order of marine animals. Aldrovandi separated them also,
though thev appear in the same volume, the title of which is ' De
Piscibus Libri V. : De Getis Liber Unus.' Johnston gives them a
separate chapter at the head of his book ' De Piscibus.'
Ray, in lus ' Synopsis Methodica Piscium ' (1713), observes that
the term 'fish' is extended, even by the learned of our country, to
the bloodless aquatics, as they were then termed, Exangvia ctqucUica,
such as Crustacea, Tettacea, and ^foUia, or Shellless Mollusks. On
the other hand, some, he remarks, not only exclude those Bxanguia
aquatica, but also the Oetaoea ("Cetaceum genus, seu Bdllu®
Marinss "), contending that no other animals can justly be termed
fishes except those which breathe by means of gills, and have but
one ventricle to the heart With these last Ray agrees, and expresses
his own opinion, that, if we speak properly and philosophically, the
name of Fish should be restricted to sudi last-mentioned animals only,
and points out the absence of any relationship of the " Pisces Cetacei
dicti " with the true fishes ; adding, that with the exception of the
place where they spend their lives^ the extenud figure of their body,
their hairless skin, and their natatory progression, the Cetaoea have
hardly anything in common with the true fishes, but in other respects
agree with the viviparous quadrupeds.
Nevertheless, that he may avoid dissent from received opinions
and the appearance of paradox, Ray declares that he will not inno-
vate, but consider the Cetaceous Animals as Fishes ; and he proceeds
to define what a fish is, thus : An aquatic animal having blood, wanting
feet, swimming with fins, covered either with scales or with a naked,
smooth, hairless . skin, passing its life in the waters, and never
voluntiuily leaving it for the d^ land.
The Cetaceous Fishes, or BeUucB MarincB, form his first section,
and are immediately followed by the Cartilaginous Fishes, called
29\dxn by Aristotle. Of the Cetaceans he says, that they breathe,
like quadrupeds, by means of lungs, copulate, bring forth their yoimg
alive, and nourish them with their milk, and in the structure and use
of all their internal parts agree with Uiose animals.
The following are the genera enumerated by Ray : —
Balcena (2 species) ; Gete (1) ; Orca (2, but one not clearly defined) ;
Albua; Monocercs; bdphinut; PkoccBna. And he divides the Cetacei
generis Pisces, seu Balcmo!, into two great groups — the Toothed and
Toothless ; the latter having homy lamins in the up^er jaw.
The Toothed Whales are subdivided into those which have teeth in
both jaws, and those which have teeth in the lower jaw ; and there
are further subdivisions depending on the absence or presence of the
back-fin and the shape of the teeth.
The Toothless or Whalebone Whales are subdivided also with
reference to the absence or presence of the back-fin, the presence of
a blow-hole, or the employment of nostrils in respiration, tne presence
of plaits on the belly, and the width of the lower jaw.
Linneus, in his last edition of the 'Systema Naturae' (1766), defines
the fulcra, or props, of his Mammalia to be 4 feet> with the exception
of those MA.mm«.1« which are merely aquatic, "in quibus pedes
posteriores in caud& pinnam compedes;" in other words, in which
the posterior limbs are manacled or conjoined, so as to form a
tail-fin.
The seven orders of MammaUa in this system are divided into
three sections: — ^1, Uhguiculata; 2, Ungviala; 8, Mutica, The
seventh and last oider, Ctie, is the only one belonging to the section
Mutica,
The following is the Linnsean definition of the last-named order :~ •
Pectoral fins in lieu of feet^ and feet conjoined into a horizontal
fiattened fin in lieu of a taiL No daws. Teeth cartilaginous. Nose
often a frontal pipe. Food, mollusks, fishes. Locality, the ocean.
LinnsBUS then declares that he has separated these Cetaceans from
the Fidies, and associated them with the Mammals, on account of
their warm bilocular hearty their lungs, their moveable eyelids, their
hollow ears, "penem intrantem feminam mammis lactantem," and
this, to use his own expressive words, "ex lege naturse jure meri>
toque."
Here then we find the decisive step taken, with the imfllnchlDg
fimmess of a master mind, relying upon the philosophical principles
that demanded the separation, and no longer yielding to popular
prejudice by caUing that a fish which he knew to be a mammiferous
animij]. Somc parts of his definition — ^not much of it — ^may be open
to criticism, as where he designates the teeth as cartilaginous, a term
probabhr used to comprehend both the homy lamina of the Whale-
bone Whales and the true teeth of the other Cetaceans ; but the broad
line of distinction is unassailable, and will ever remain so.
The order Ceie is thus summarily defined by its great founder : —
Spirades upon the head. Pectoral fins and horizontal caudal fin
without claws.
Genera : — Monodon, Balamet, Physeter, Dd^hinus.
This, the last order of the Linntean Mammalia, is immediately
preceded by the BeUuce,
For Lac^pMe's arrangement, see his 'Histoire Naturelle, &c.
Des C^tac^^ 4to., Paris, 1804.
The C4tao^ form Cuvier^s ninth and last order of Mammif^res,
the Ruminants (Pecora, Linn.) being the eighth.
Cuvler defines the Cetaceans to be manuniferous animals without
posterior feet. Their trunk, he states, continues itself with a thick
tail, which a cartilaginous horizontal fin terminates; and their head is
joined to the trunk by a neck so short and thick that no narrowing
or constriction of the part is perceptible, and composed of cervical
vertebrse, which are very delicate, and in part conjoined or soldered
together. Their anterior extremities have the first bones shortened,
and Ihe succeeding bones flattened and enveloped in a tendinous
membrane, which reduces them to true fins. This gives nearly
entirely the external form of the fishes, except that these last have
the tail-fin vertical The Cetaceans therefore remain constantly in
the water; but as they respire by means of lungs, they are obliged to
come frequently to the surfiskce for air. Their warm blood—their
ears open externally, although with very small apertures — ^their vivi-
parous generation, the teats by means of which they suckle their
young, and all the details of their anatomy, sufficiently distingnish
them, Cuvler observes, from the fishes.
The same great zoologist remarks that their brain is large, and its
hemispheres well developed ; the petrous bone, or that portion of the
cranium which contains the internal ear, is separated from the rest of
Digitized by
Google
m
CBTACEA.
CETAGEA.
171
tlie head, and only adhene thereto by ligunente. There Ib no external
ear, nor are there any haire upon their bodies. The form of their
tail obligee them to move it from above downwards for their pro-
greeaire motion, and aids them greatly in raialDg themselTes in the
water.
To the genera which up to Cuyier^s time naturalists had reckoned
among the Oetacea, he adds those which had formerly been oon-
.founded with the Wslruses, and which form his first fiunily, namely, —
The Herbirorous Cetaceans.
The teeth of these hare a flat crown, which, Cuvier remarks,
determines their mode of life, leading them often to leave the water
to creep and feed on the bank : these have two teats on the breast,
and hauy moustaches; two circumstances, he observes, which when
they have been seen from a distance, with tiieir heads ndsed vertically
out of the water, have given them some resemblance to women or
men, and have probably given origin to the stories of some travellers
who pretend that they have seen Tritons and Syrens. Although in
the cranium the bony nostrils open upwards, they are only pierced in
the skin at the end of the muzzle. Their stomach is divided into
four pouches, two of which are lateral ; and they have a great caecum.
Cuvier divides the Herbivorous Cetcicea into—
1st, The Lamantins, or rather Manatees {Manatui, Cuv.) ; 2nd, the
Dugongs, Lac^p. (Halicore, III); Srd, the Stell^rea, Cuv. (Rytiruij HI.).
Cuvier^s second family of this order consists of —
The Ordinary GetaceancL
These are distinguished from the preceding by the singular appa-
ratus which has procured for them the French name of Souffleurs, or
Blowers. As they take, together with their prey, says Cuvier, large
volumes of water into their very spacious mouth, there was a necessity
for some outlet to get rid of it ; it passes across the nostrils by means
of a particular disposition of the velum palati, and is collected in a
sac placed at the external orifice of the cavity of the nose, whence it
is driven out with violence by the compression of powerful muscles
by a narrow aperture pierced at the top of the head. Thus it is,
adds Cuvier, that they produce those jets d'eau which cause them to
be seen firom afeir by voyagers.
He further observes that their nostrils, incessantly traversed by
floods of salt water, could not be lined with a membrane sufficiently
delicate for the perception of odours. The whales therefore are
without those projecting lamine which are to be found in other
animals ; the olfactory nerve is wanting in many, and if any of them
enjoy the sense of smelling they must have it veiy much obliterated.
Their larynx, of pyramidal form, penetrates into the back nostrils for
the reception of the air, and for the purpose of conducting it to the
lungs, without any necessity on the part of the animal to lift its
head and mouth out of the water : there are no projecting lamin» in
their glottis, and their voice must be reduced to simple bellowings.
They have no vestige of hair, but their body is covered with a smooth
skin, imder which lies the thick blubber abounding in oil, and the
principal object for which they are sought Their teats are near the
anus, and they are unable to seize anything with their fins. Their
stomach has five, and sometimes as many as seven, distinct pouches.
In lieu of a*single spleen they have many small and globular ones ;
those which have teeth have them conical, and similar to each other.
They do not masticate theb food, but swallow it rapidly. Two small
bones, suspended in the flesh near the anus, are the only vestiges of
posterior extremities. Many have on the back a vertical fin of a
tendinous substance, but not sustained by bon& Their flattened eyes
have a thick and solid sderoUo ; their tongue has only smooth and
soft integuments.
Cuvier divides this group into two small tribes : 1, those whose
heat bears the ordinary proportion to the body ; and 2, those which
have the head disproportionately great.
let Tribe.
Genera: — 1. DdpMMUi, Linn., with the sub-genera Ddphinutf
Cuv.; Phoecena, Cuv.; Dd^naptenu, Lac^p. ; and Hypavodon,
Lacdp.
2. Monodon, Linn.
2nd Tribe.
These Cetaceans have the head- so Luge, that it is either a third or
one-half of the length of the body ; but neither the cranium nor the
brain participates in this disproportion, which is entirely due to an
enormous development of the bones of the face.
Qenera: — 1. PAysster, Linn, (the true Cachalots); with the sub-
genus Phyteter, Lac^p. (Cachalots with a dorsal fin).
2. Balina, Linn. (Whalebone Whales) ; with the sub-genera con-
taining the JBalamoptera of Lac^pMe : namely, the Balcenoptera with
a smooth belly ; and the BakenoptercB with a plaited belly, conmionly
termed Rorquals. ('R^e Animal.')
The following synopsis of the fanulies of Cetacea is taken fh)m the
' Catalogue of Uie British Museum,' by Dr. J. £. Cray.
Sub-Order CETE.
Skin smooth, bald. Teats 2, ingninal. Limbs dawless. Fore-
limbs fin-shaped; hinder united, forming a forked horizontal tail
Nostrils enla^s^ into blowers. Camivorouu.
Family 1st Balmstdm.
Nostrils 2, separate, longitadinaL Fislate with baleeo. Jaw tooth-
less. Head very large.
OenusL BakBtia.
Species 1. JB, myttieetutj Bight Whale.
2. B. marginata. Western AnstnJisnWblB.
8. B. auitralii. Cape Whale.
4. B. Japonica, Japan Whale.
5. B, antaretiea, New Zealand Whalfli
6. B, gihhota, Scmg-Whale.
Genus XL Meffapiera, Humpbacked Whales.
Spedes 7. M. Umffimana, Johnston's Hump-Bsckod
Whale.
8. M. Amerioana, Bermuda Hump-Back.
9. M. Poahop, Cape Hump-Back.
10. M, Kvzira, the Kuzira.
Qenus IIL Balanoptertt.
Species 11. B. roatraia, Pike-Whsle.
Genus lY. Phymlua.
Species 12. P. Antiquorum, Bazor-Back.
18. P. Boopg,
14. P. Sibbaldii,
15. P. fasciatut, Peruvian Finner.
16. P. IvHui, Japan Finner.
17. f. antarcticui.
18. P. Bt-asiliauit.
19. P, auttralis, Southern Finner.
Family 2nd. Catodontid Ji, or Phybstbbidjl
Nostrils 2, separate, longitudioaL Palate smooth. Lowerjaw
toothed. Head very large.
Genus I. CcUodon, Spermaceti Whales.
Species 20. C. mocroogaAoZitf, Northern Sperm-Whale.
21. 0. Colueti, Mexican Sperm-Whale.
22. C. polyeyphut. South Sea Sperm-Wbae.
Genus IL Kogia, Short-Headed Whales.
Species 28. K, brevieepM, Short-Headed Whale;
Genus IIL Phy$eler.
Species 24. P. Tursio, the Black Fish.
Family Srd. DsLPHiKiDiB (Dolfhihs).
Nostrils united, lunate, transverse. Palate smooth. Jaws toothad,
rarely deciduous. Head moderate.
Genus L JEfyperoodon.
Species 25. B. BtUtkosf, Bottle-Head.
26. jET. roitrcUumj Beaked Hyperoodon.
27. jET. DowneiU, Corsican Hyperoodon.
28. ff, Detmarutii, Desm&rest's Hyperoodon.
29. ff. latifrom.
Genus II. Zi h}U9.
S|">cl(]8 30. Z, Sowerlnentia.
81. Z. Sechdlentit, Seohelle Ziphius.
Genus IIL Ddphinorhynchua.
Species 82. J), microptenu, Blainville's Whsla
Genus IV. monodon.
Species 88. ^f. monoceroi, the NarwhaL
Genus y. Belugeu
Species 84. B. Catodon, Northern Beluga.
85. B. Kingiif Australian Beluga.
(}enus VI. Neomeris.
Spedes 36. N, Phoecmaides, Neomeris.
Genus VII. Phoccena.
Species 87. P. wmmwnii, Conmion Poipoise.
Genus VIIL Orcunput.
Species 88. 0. Ouvieri, Cuvier's Grampus.
89. O. RiMtoanu», Risso's Grampus.
40. O. Richardtonii.
41. a Sakamata.
Genus IX. Gkhiocephaliu.
Species 42. 0. Svineval, Pilot-Whale.
48. a tntermedtiu, the Black Fish.
44. O. affinis. Smaller Pilot-Whale.
45. O. Sieboldiif Naiso Gota.
46. (7. macrorhynchfti, South-Sea Black Fish.
Genus X. Oreo.
Species 47. 0. gladiaior. Killer.
48. 0. ertutidefu, Linoolnshire Killer.
49. 0. Cdpentis, Cape Killer.
50. a tn/€nMcita, Small Killer.
Genus XL Lagenorhynchua,
Species 51. L. Uueopleurui, White-Sided Bottleooso.
52. L. albirostrit, White-Beaked BottleooBa
58. L. Blectra, the Electra.
54. L. candeo oBmg,
55. L, Asia, the Ana.
56. L. aeutttt, Eachricht's Dolphin
57. L. danetdvi.
58. L, ThicokcL
Digitized by
Google
873
CETACEA.
CETACEA.
674
Oentu XIL Ikiphwapterus.
Species 59. D. Penmii, Peron's Dolphin.
60. 2>. borealii.
GenoBXIII. Ddphinut,
Speoies 61. />. JEfeavindii, Hasfcated Dolphin.
62. 2>. chtcwrut, Dusky Dolphin.
63. J). eompre$ticauda, Compressed - Tailed
Dolphin.
64. D. Tunio, Bottienose Dolphin.
65. D. Ahtualam, the Abusalam.
66. D. EtUropia, the Eutropia.
67. J>, Ewrynome, the Euiynome.
68. 2>. if«<ia, the Metis.
69. 2>. ^jpuxioce, the Cymodoce.
70. 2>. iA)m, the Doris.
71. D/frenatvt, Bridled Dolphin.
72. 2>. Clymene,
78. D. 5^yx, the Styx.
74^ D. Euphrotyne, the Euphrosyne.
75. i>. Alope, the Alope.
76. D. micr6br<ichw.m.
77. D. ^mWiw.
78. D. loriger.
79. Z). JDdphis, the Dolphin.
80. D. Janira, the Janira.
81. 2>. iVovee ZecHanduB, New SSealand Dolphin.
82. D. Porsterif Forster^s Dolphin.
83. 2>. Sao, the Sao.
84. D, longirostris. Cape Dolphin.
85. 2>. micropf, Small-Headed Dolphin.
GennsXIY. Steno.
Species 86. 8, MalayanuSt Malay Dolphin.
87. & fror^atut, Fronted Dolphin.
88. 8, compretaus, Narrow-Beaked Dolphin.
89. 8, aUenuatiu, Slender-Beaked Dolphin.
90. & fu8cu8, Cuban Steno.
91. & rostraUit, Beaked Dolphin.
Genua XY. Pontcparia,
Species 92. P, Blainvillii, the Pontoporia.
Genus XYL Into,
Spedes 98. /. Oeoffi-oyii, the Inia.
Genus XYII. PkUanuia,
Spedes 94. P. Ocmgetiectf the Sou Soil
Sub-Order SIRENIA.
Skm rather hairy. Whiskers rigid. Limbs clawed. Teats 2,
oeeioraL Nostrils % apical. Herbivorous.
Family MANATiDiB.
Gijnders n<m^or flat crowned. Front of jaws ooyered with horn.
Genus XYHC. Manatut,
Spedes 95. M, atutralia, the Manatee.
96. if. SenegcUenm, the Tiamantia
Gains XIX. JEfaXieore.
Spedes 97. IT. Dugong, Indian Dugong.
98. H, TdbemaeuHx
99. H. anutralu.
Genua XX. Bytintk
Spedes 100. JL gigat, Morskaia Korova.
The following is M. F. Cuvier^s arrangement of the Cdacea, to
which, and that of Baron Cuvier, we shall prindpally refer when
apmking of the anatomy of these creatures.
Tribe 1.
Fhttofhaga (Yegetable-feeding).
Teeth of different kinds; molars with flattened crowna, corre-
sponding to the yegetable nature of their food. Mamnus two,
pectoral lips provided with stiff bristles. External nostrils always
two, situated at ^e extremity or upper part of the rostrum, which is
obtnsQL
Genera : Manatus^ Cuv. ; ffalieore, Cuv. ; MytwOf III
Tribe 2.
ZooFHAGA (Animal-feeding).
Teeth of one kind or wanting^ not adapted for mastication.
UamnuB two, pudendal. External nostrils double or single, dtuated
on the top of the head.
i. With the head of moderate size.
Family Ddphinidcs.
Teetii in both jaws, all of simple structure, and, generally,
conical form. No caecum.
Genera : J>dphiiiorhynchut ; Ddphiniu ; Inia ; Phoecena,
M. F. Ouvier is of opinion that the following genera seem to form
the types of as many distinct fanulies of Zoophagous CetaceaosL
Genera: M<modon; ffyperoodan; PUUanitta.
B, With the head of immoderate size, equalling one-third the
length of the body.
Family 1. Catod<mtidcB,
Teeth numerous, conical, but developed only in the lower jaw.
External nostrils or blow-holes confluent. No caecum.
Genera: Catodon; Phyteter,
Family 2. BaJUxnidcB,
No teeth ; their place supplied by the plates of baleen, or whalebone,
attached to the upper jaw. Blow-holes distinct. A csecum.
(Genera : BoiUxnopiera; BaUxna* (' Histoire Naturelle dos C^tac^s,' &c.)
On the arrangement and remarks of the two Cuviers, Dr. J. K Gray
makes the following critidsm. After referring to Lao^pMe's classi-
fication, he says : —
" Cuvier, dissatisfied with this state of things, in his ' Ossemens
Fossiles' examined the various documents and consulted the
authorities which had been used by LacdpMe ; but he appears to have
imdertaken the work with a predisposition to reduce Ihe number of
species which his predecessor had described to the smallest number.
Thus, he concludes that there are only eleven species of Dolphins, one
Narwhal, one Hyneroodon, one Cachalot or Sperm-Whale; and he
appears to think there are only two Whalebone Whales-— the Right
Whale and the Finner. To nuJce this reduction : First, he believes
that the Hump-Backed Whale of Dudley is only a whale that has lost
its fin, not recognising that the Cape Rorqual, which he afterwards
described from the fine skeleton now shown in the inner court of the
Paris Museum is one of this kind. Secondly, that the Black Fish and
the Sperm- Whale are the same species, an error which must have
arisen from his not having observed that Sibbald had figured the
former, for he accuses Sibbald of twice describing the Sperm-Whalc;
and when he came to Schreiber's copy of Sibbald's figure, h^ thinks
the figure represents a dolphin which had lost its upper teeth, over-
looking the peculiar form and posterior position of the dorsal fin, and
the shape of the head, which is unlike that of any known dolphin.
This mistake is impoitant, as it vitiates the greater port of Cuvier's
criticism on the writings of Sibbald, Artedi, and others, on theee
animala Unfortimately these views have been very generally adopted
without reexamination. But in making these remarks, it is not with
the least desire to underrate the great obligation we owe to Cuvier
for the papers above referred to ; for it is to him that we are indebted
for having placed the examination of the whales on its right footing,
and for directing our inquiries into the only safe course on these animals
which only fall in our way at distant periods, and generally under very
disadvantageous droumstances for accurate exammation and study.
"M. F. Cuviei^s 'Cetacea' (Paris, 1836). is little more than an
expansion of his brother^s essays, with a compiled account of tbe
species ; but he has consulted with greater attention the works of
Sibbald and Dudley; has some doubts about the finned Cachalots
being the same as the Sperm-Whale (p. 475), but at length gives up
the subject He has found that the Hump-Backed Whale Ib evidently
a Rorqual (p. 805), but does not record it as a mpedee, nor recognise
it as the Cape Rorqual, nor as Dr. Johnston's Whale : the latter he
incorrectly considers the same as B, PhytaluB, He combines together
as one spedes Quoy's Short-Finned Rorqual of the Falkland Islands,
with Lalande's Long-Finned Whale of the Cape (p. 852). He is in
great doubt about the hump of the Cachalots (p. 279) : his remarks
on that subject^ and on the Cachalots of Sibbald, show how dangerous
it is for a naturalist to speculate beyond the facts before him."
Before giving any account of the natural history of the species of
Whales, we shall make some remarks on their general structure and or-
ganisation. First we shall speak of the structure of the skeleton in the
Phytophagous Cetaceans — of which the Lamantin, or Manatee, is
an example.. The nasal bones in the skull of the Manatee are very
small, almond-shaped, separated from each other, and let in on each
dde in a notch of the frontal bone. The result of tiiis conformation
is a very laige aperture of the bony nostrils. The rest of the bones
of the nose are nevertheleas replaced by cartilages, so that in the
living animal the opening of the nostrils is, as ordinarily, at the end
of the muzkle. The intermaxillary bones cany no teeth in the adult^
nor at any period of life, except during the first days of embiyonic
existence ; they are notwithstanding very much extended longitudi-
nally, and they re-ascend along the edge of the nostrils to above the
region of the eye. The orbits are very much advanced and very pro-
jecting. The suborbital hole is pierced in the re-entering angle formed
by the projecting frame of the orbit with the anterior part of the
maxillary bone^ so that it is not perceptible when the cranium is seen
in profile. This projection of the orbit causes the distance between
the lower external border of the zygomatic portion of the intermaxil-
lary bone and the teeth to be greater than the width of the palate.
The frontal bones, whose anterior branches are much separated, in
order that they may embrace tiie aperture of the nostrils and form
the walls of the orbits, give off each an obtuse postorbital apophysis.
The cheek-bone extends throughout the lower half of the orbit on
the orbital apophysis of iLe maxillary bone, and thus borders the
whole of the orbit anteriorly; it gives off a postorbital inferior apo-
phyna. A very small lachrymal bone la let in at the anterior angle
betw<*en the fh)ntal, the jugal, and the maziDary, which interrenea
Digitized by
Google
m
CETACEA.
CETACEA-
87<
I point between the laohiymal and the jngal bones. A little
down, in a depression, is pierced the laige suborbital hole, which
at this _
lower down, . , .
is thus carried fiurther backward than the edge of the orbit, and cannot
give place to any canaL The dental part of the maxillary is more
Inward than the orbit, so that the interior part of the wall of
this cavity is formed by a flat advancement of that bone. The zygo-
matic apophysis of the temporal bone is thicker than in any other
animal, but the rest of the bone is moderate ; it contributes to form
the sides of the occipital crest, and leaves above, between it and the
superior and lateral occipitals, a space which permita the petrous bone
to be seen. The two crests which limit the temporal fossa above run
in a nearly parallel direction, and do not unite in a single line, as in
the greater part of the Carnivores In the adult there is only a single
unequal parietal bone, which enters largely into the temple ; but in
the fostus there are two, completely separated by a double inter-
parietal ; these four bones however speedily unite, not only with each
other, but, what is singular, with the upper occipital, even before the
other parts of the occipital are united. The plane of the occipital is
inclined from before backwards, and from above downwards, and the
occipital crest makes an obtuse angle ; there is no vestige of a mastoid
apophysis. Below, the intermaxiUaries form the point of. the muzzle,
occupying nearly the fourth of the palate, and surrounding a large
incisive hole, which is single, because they have no internal apophysis.
Very young Manatees have a small tooth in each of their intermaxil-
laries, thus completing, Cuvier observes, their analogy with theDugongs.
He observed this in the fostus, but he remarks that the tooth disappears
at a very early period. The jaws commence a little behind the sub-
orbital hole, which, from the disposition of the orbits, is foxmd nearly
at Uieir level. The palatine bones advance in a narrow and obtuse
point, occupying nearly a fourth of the palate, and contribute to the
formation of two large pterygoid wings, whose body is in other
respects almost entirely sphenoidal, and does not separate itself from
the body of the posterior sphenoid even in the fodtus. The temporal
alae of the sphenoid remain distinct much longer. The palatine bone
shows itself in the temple by a narrow tongue^ahaped process, between
the maxillary on one side and the anterior sphenoid and the frontal
on the other ; but its continuity is partially hidden by the dental
portion of the maxillary bone, which is continued backwards to the
wing of the sphenoid, which it touches without articulation. The
anterior sphenoid also only shows itself in the temple by a narrow
tongue-shaped process, but much shorter than that of the palatine.
It does not reach the parietal bone, and the orbital wing of the sphenoid
Skull of Manatee {Manatui auttralit),
touches the frontal The body of the basilary bone and that of the two
sphenoids are conjoined with each other and with the cribriform plate
{A the ethmoidal bone, considerably before the basilary unites with
nearly flat sufaces, as in all the fferbwora. The ascending ramus is
very wide, and ita posterior angle roimded. The ooronoid i^physiB is
directed forwards, and truncated nearly into a hatchet^hape. The
region of the symphysis is thick and elongated anteriorly, llie whole
portion tiiat supports the gum is pwforat^ with small holes. The
holes for the exit of the lower maxillaiy are very large. The lateral
and dental portions of the lower jaw are very kige and rounded.
The shoulder-blade is nearly semi-elliptical ; ita lower line beinf;
almost straight, and answering to the great axis of the ellipse : the
spine occupies only the anterior half of the bone. Ita greatest pro-
jection is near ita root; it is prolonged forwards into a pointed acromion,
which ascends a little obliquely, and which has the air of terminating
by an articular facet. There are no clavicles. A strong blunt tuberde
occupies the place of the coraeoid process. The hun:^ral Bur€ue is a
little higher than it is wide, and very concave. The upper part of the
humerus is also very convex ; ita external tuberosity is very projecting.
The bicipital groove is not deep, but there remains a deep canal
between the internal tuberosity and the articular head ; the deltoidean
crest is but little marked. The lower head is a rather oblique simple
pulley, ascending at the internal edge. Ita width is not greater than
ita antaro-posterior diameter. The internal condyle prcjecta much
more than the other backwards. The ulna and radius, which are
rather short in proportion to their stoutnesB, and still more so with
reference to the size of the animal, are joined together by their two
extremities. Their upper articulation corresponds to the pulley of
the humerus ; the head of the radius is wider than it is high, and,
even when not conjoined, is incapable of executing rotation ; in
which circumstance the Manatee difiers still more widely from the
Seals, to approximate itself to the Herbivara. The radius has below,
at ita external surface, two pointed crests. There are only six carpal
bones ; the pisiform bone is wanting, and the trapezium and trapezoid
are united into a single bone, whidh is articulated at once with the
metacarpal bone of the thumb and of the fore finger. The analogue
of the OS magnum responds to those of the fore and middle fingezs.
The unciform bone responds to the middle, ring, and little finders,
which last articulates itself at the same time with the cimeiform bone
of the first row. Each of these bones has also in the Manatee its
particular character. The pisiform bone, Cuvier observes, is also
wanting in the Dolphins, and ia veiy small in the Seals and Sloths,
whilst it is very long in the animals which make much use of their
fore feet for seizing or progression. The metacarpal bones are flat
above and carinated below ; that of the thumb, which has no pha-
langes to support, terminates in a point ; the others are enlarged at
their lower extremity. That of the little finger is longer and the
most enlarged of alL The ring-finger, on the contraxy, is that 'vHudi
has the longest phalanges ; but those of the little finger are flatter and
wider. All the articular surfaces of the phalanges are rather full,
and must possess but little mobility.
There are only 6 cervical vertobrse, all very short The »^nTinT«F
portion of the third, the fourth, and the fifth is incomplete. The
transverse apophyses of the fourth, fifth, and sixth are pierced ^th a
hole ; they are all simple. There are 16 ribs and 16 dorsal vertebne ;
the spinous i^ophysee of which last are moderately elevated and
inclined backwarda Counting from the sixth dorsal, there is cm the
ventral surface of their body a small sharp crest The two suooeeding
vertebrro may be called lumbar, and then there would be 22 caoidaL
Thus there are in all 46 vertebrso. Under the joint of the first eleven
caudal vertebras are articulated small chevron bones, as in the grtsater
part of quadrupeds which have a powerful tail The transversa
apophyses of the vertebras of the tail are very laige, especially in the
first, but the spinous processes ore inconsiderable; which aooards^
Skeleton of Manatee {Manaiut Mittralit).
the lateral occipitals. The area of the section of the cranium Ib
nearly half of tbat of the face ; it is singularly high, especially before,
in proportion to ita length. The frontal bones are there nearly
vertical ; the cribriform plates are found below the anterior surface ;
they are small, not much pierced with holes, and scarcely sunk. The
crista galli is prolonged more backwards than tiiey are. There is no
sella ; the whole base is united ; the median fossas hardly depressed.
The analogous hole of the spheno-palatine is laige, and entirely in the
Valatine bone. The optical foramen is small and in the form of a
aanal; the spheno-orbital, which comprises also the rotundum, is
rather large and of an oybX form ; the foramen ovale is a noteh of the
border of the posterior sphenoid, completed by the tympanic bone;
the condyloidean foramen is very small, and forms a notch in the
lateral oocipitaL The articulation of the lower jaw is formed by
Cuvier remarks, with the depressed form of the tail<4n, to prove tiiat
the Manatee swims by a vertical movement of the tail The ribs are
singularly stent and thick ; their two edges are rounded, and they are
as convex internally as externally.
The connections of the bones of the skull of the Dugong^ fte. are,
Cuvier observes, nearly the same as in the Manatee. To dbange, he
adds, the head of the latter te that of the Dugong^ it would suffice to
render more convex and elongate the intermaxillary bones to make
room for the tusks, and to curve the symphysis of the lower jaw
downwards so as to make it conform to tiie inflection of the upper
jaw. The muzzle would then assume the form that it has in the
Dugong, and the nostrils would be raised as they are in that animaL
In a word, says Cuvier, one might say that a Manatee is muy a
Dugong whose tusks are not developed.
Digitized by
Google
m
CETACEA.
CETACEA.
m%
The eoormouB devolopinent of the iatermazillary bones of the
DtigoDff oarries up the aperture of the bony nostrils much higher than
in weManatee, uid it is situated at the superior part of the head in
the middle of its length and directed upwards, its form being a laise
oTol as in the Manatee of Senegal The whole skulli and pf^icularTy
Skull of Dugong {Hdlicore Dugong),
the frontal bones, are for the same reason much shorter in proportion
than in the Manatee. The branches of the frontal bone whicn form
the upper part of the orbit are more delicate and more rugose. The
maxillary portion which serves as a floor for the orbit is narrower ;
the jugal bone in turning to form the anterior and inferior edge of the
orbit is more compressed and directed more downwards. There is
also a lachrymal bone in the anterior angle more considerable than in
the Manatee, but equally without any hole. The zygomatic apophysis
of the temporal bone is more delicate and more compressed. The
connections of the bones of the cranium are the same, but at the
inferior sur&oe the basilary bone is united with the latend occipitals
rather than with the posterior sphenoid. A very great solution of
continuity is seen in the bottom of the orbit and of the temple, and
establishes in the skeleton an extensive commtmication between these
two foesso and that of the nostrils; it is intercepted between the
maxillary, the frontal, the anterior sphenoid, and the palatine bones,
llie continuity of the temporal portion of the palatine with the rest
of the bone is not here concealed, as in the Manatee, by a production
of the maxillary bone. The occiput is narrower and its crest less
marked than in the Manatee; the frame of the tympanum is also
narrower and more delicate, but the bone of the ear is disposed nearly
in the same way, and is let in between the same bones. There also
remains in the dEeleton a lai^ge empty space between that bone, the
boriUay, and the anterior sphenoid. Within the cranium there is no
bony tentorium; the cribriform fossa is reduced to two simple
depressions reiy much separated from each other, and which terminate
anteriorly by two or three smaU holes. There is no sella Turcica.
The optic aperture is a long narrow canaL The lower jaw is of a
two long slender bones, which have some resemblance in form to tha
clavicles of man. There are V-shaped bones articulated imder the
interval of the vertebrse after that which comes beyond the pelvia
They diminish by degrees, and seem to terminate altogether under
the last fourth of the tail
The shoulder-blade, as in the Manatee, has its anterior angle
rounded, the posterior angle sharp, and carried well backwards ; &e
posterior border very oblique and slightly concave. Its spine is pro-
jecting, its acromion pointed, but much less elongated than in the
Manatee. The coracoid process is much more pointed than \fx. that
animal, and directed forwards and a little inwai^ The humerus is
much stouter and shorter than in the Manatee ; its deltoid crest pro-
jects more, and it forms with the great tuberosity a rhomboidal pro-
tuberance. The bones of the fore-arm are rather longer in proportion
than those of the Manatee, but their form is the same, and they are
equally conjoined at their two extremities. There are only four caipal
bones ; two of which are in the first row, one for the^ radius, the other
for the ulna ; and two in the second, the first of which supports the
metacarpals of ticie thumb and fore finger, and the second those of the
middle and ring-finger. That of the little finger bears upon the
second bone of the second row, and upon that of the first. The
thumb, as in the Manatee, is reduced to a pointed metacarpal The
other fingers have the ordinary number of phalanges, the last of which
are compressed and obtuse. (' Ossemens Fossiles.')
Professor Owen, in his 'Anatomy of the Dugong' ('ZooL Proc./
1838), remarks that after the excellent and elaborate descriptions of
the osteology of that animal by Cuvier, Riippell, and others, but little
remains to be said on the subject. The bones. Professor Owen
observes, are chiefly remarkable, as in the Manatee, for l^eir dense
texture and the non-development of medullary cavities in them.
This reptile-like condition of the skeleton is, he adds, further exempli-
fied in the loose connection of the bones of the head. The bones are
not loaded with oil as in the true Cetiicea, All l^e specimens ex-
amined by the Professor presented 7 cervical and 19 costal vertebras,
corresponding to the 19 pairs of ribs ; but the numb^ of the remaining
vertebrsd exceeded that ascribed to Uie Dugong by Home and Cuvier,
there being at least 30, making in all 55. Riippell assigns to the
ffalicore iahemaculi 7 cervical, 19 dorsal, 8 lumbar, 8 pelvic, and 27
caudal vertebrsB ; in all 59. Professor Owen found, as Riippell also
describee, that the first four pairs of ribs reached the sternum through
the medium of cartilages ; all the others terminated freely in the mass
of abdominal muscles : the tenth to the fifteenth Professor Owen foxmd
the longest, and the last the shortest.
The Professor points out that the affinity of the Dugong to the
PachydkmuMta is here again illustrated by the great number of the
ribs. The lower jaw is, he observes, articulated to the cranium by a
true synovial capsule, reflected over cartilaginous surfaces, and not^
as in the Carnivorous CeUtceOf by a coarse and oily ligamentous sub-
stance. In treating of the rudimental pelvic bones of the Dugong,
he remarks that in the true Oetcuxa the parts analogous to the ischia
are alone present, and that those bones serve a similar purpose in
the Dugong.
Skeleton of Dugong {Salicm-e Dugong),
hei^t corresponding with the curvature and length of the intermaxil-
lary bones. This pfu-t shows in the adult the remains of three or four
alveoli on eadi side.
The atlas is very similar to that of the Manatee ; the axis the same.
The five other cervical vertebra are very 'delicate, but not conjoined.
There are 18 dorsal vertebrse, the spinous apophyses of which are
UTsnged nearly in a straight line. Counting firom the ninth, the ribs
do not attach their head between two vertebrae, but only to the same
▼ertebra, to the transverse apophysis of which they are articulated.
The ribs are not nearly so stout as in the Manatee, but, notwithstanding,
the first are still very thick and have their edges blunt. After the
18 dorsal yertebreo come 27, and perhaps more, whose spinous apo-
physes diminish progressively. In the lumbar vertebrse the transverse
apophyses are very long ; anerwards they diminish by degrees on the
sidea of the tail, and again become rather longer at its extremity,
apparently for the support of the tail-fin. It would seem that the
first three only belong to the loins. The fourth has towards its extre-
tnity a fitcet^ which is probably destined for the attachment of the
P«Ivlc bones, which last are well marked in the Dugong. They are
2iOophagous Cetaceans. — The skull in the Dolphins is veiy much
elevated, very short and very convex behind. The occipital crest sur-
rounds the top of the head, and descends on each side on the middle
of the temporal crests, which are directed much more backward than
it is. This laxge and occipital surface is formed by the occipital, the
interparietal, and parietal bones, which early umte into one piece.
The parietal bones descend on each side into the temple between the
temporal and the frontal bones, and they there reach the posterior
sphenoid bone. In front and above, the parietals terminate behind
the occipital crest^ and the maxilluies approaching on their side, what
appears of the occipital bone externally only represents a very narrow
band, which traverses the skidrfrt)m right to left^ and seems to dilate
at each extremity to form the wall of each orbit ; but on raising the
maxillary and nearly the whole of the anterior surface of the cranium,
the/rontal bone will show itself- much lazger than it appears to be
externally. The nasal bones are two rounded tubercles let into two
fossae of the middle of the frontal, and in front cf which the nostrils
are sunk vertically. The posterior and vertical i\ir&ce of these no«-
trils is formed by the cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone, bat it bai
Digitized by
Google
STD
CETACEA.
CETACEA.
very few holes— three or four, Bomotimes less. The rert of the inter-
nal oontour of the noetrils belongs to the maxillariee. Their septum
is the vomer, which is united to the ethmoid bone as ordinarily. The
maxillaries, after forming the long muzzle, and uriving in the neigh-
bourhood of the orbits, enlarge, and cover with a wide and dilated
band the ceiling which the frontal bone gives to those cavities, and
the whole anterior surface of the frontal bone, with the exception of
the small band, which they su£fer to appear along the occipital crest
They also touch the bones of the nose. The two intermaxillaries
form the external and anterior border of the nasal aperture, and
descend upon and between the two maxillaries up to the point of the
xnuzde, where they even show themselves below ; but the maxillaries
are seen a little between them, above, near the nostrils.
But the frontal bone does not entirely form the lower surface of the
ceiling of tiie orbit ; the anterior part is formed by a flat and irregu-
lar bone, covered above, like the frontal, by the maxillary ; this,
which is the jugal bone, gives off from its anterior angle a slender and
long apophysis, which is directed backwards, and proceeds to articu-
late itself to the zygomatic apophysis of the temporal bone : this deli-
cate filament is the sole bony limit of the orbit below. The zygomatic
apophysis of the temporal bone unites itself to the postorbital apo-
pnysis of the frontal, in order to limit the orbit backwards ; whence it
happens that the whole zygomatic ' arch properly so called appertains
to the temporal bone, which last extends but little into the t^ple,
and tonninates at the temporal crest, so that it does not appear in the
occiput. Below, the lateral occipital and the basilary bones produce
projecting plates, which, uniting to the continuation *of the ptery-
goidean ida and to a lamina of the temporal bone, compose a sort of
fault, under which are suspended by ligaments the petrous and tym-
panic bones, which are promptly conjoined into one piece. The
parietal bone, after having passed behind the temporal, fonns a part
of this vault The tempond bone itself therefore seems to be almost
foreign to the composition of the cranium, only serving to stop some
small holes remaining in the parietal This, Cuvier observes, is the
commencement of the separation which it undeigoes in the inferior
classes. The part of these crests which borders the basilaiy region
on each side makes this region resemble a wide canaL At the bottom
of the orbit are seen the two sphenoids placed as ordinarily — ^the
posterior touching the temporal, the parietal, and the frontal ; the
anterior touching the posterior, the frx)ntal, and the internal pterygoid
apophysis : but the great peculiarity is the form of the back nostrils.
The maxillaries being prolonged into a flattened muzzle, and the teeth
terminating in front of the orbit, the maxillary is not on the floor nor
on the anterior or lateral walls of that cavity, but at its ceiling, as is
also the jugal bone : it completes the internal border of this ceiling;
From the entire posterior contour of the lower surface or palatine of
these maxillary bones rises a sort of quadrangular pyramid, whose
base 18 traversed vertically by the nostrils, and in which the rest of
the space is hollow, or contained between two laminan open behind.
These form a sort of double walls, which surround the posterior aper-
ture of the nostrils. They are composed of the palatines and the
pterygoid internal apophyses. Each palatine is folded back on itself
in an irregular ring to form the base of this double wall, and the
ceiling is completed by the maxillaiy to which it is articulated The
interual pterygoid apophysis is only recurved in the form of S. One
of its curvatures articiUates itself externally to the palatine to prolong
the lower and external wall ; the other unites to the other arch of
the palatine, and afterwards continues on the anterior sphenoid to
articulate itself to the vomer, and thus complete the internal part of
this endoeure of the back nostril ; whence it results, that the entire
border of the back nostril, except the vomer, belongs, as in the Ant-
Eaters, to the internal pterygoid apophysis. The great sinus inter-
cepted between the two walls of this border is a peculiarity in the
Dolphin : this internal pterygoid always remains distinct The poste-
rior sphenoid is conjoined with the basilary much sooner than to the
anterior sphenoid : Cuvier even found it conjoined in some foetuses
before any of the other bones. This nearly absolute derangement of
the bones has, Cuvier observes, much changed the direction of the
holes. In place of the incisive hole there is a long canal, which pro-
ceeds between the two maxillaries and the two intermaxillaries^ from
the end of the muzzle to the nostrils, near which it bifurcates. The
suborbital hole is to be sought in the ceiling of the orbit, where it
represents a cavity open below, from which proceed in different direc-
tions canals which go to open on the superior surface of the maxillaries
and intermaxillaries, not below but above and opposite to the orbit
Cuvier could find neither lachrymal bone nor hole. In a hollow in
front of the orbit, between the maxillary, the vomer, and a point of
the palatine bone, is a small hole which ascends in the nostril and
represents the spheno-palatine. To respond to the pterygo-palatine,
Cuvier could omy perceive a small hole on the junction of the palatine
to the maxillary in the palate, which enters the sinus placed on each
side of the posterior nostrils. The optic hole is moderate and in the
anterior sphenoid as ordinarilv. The spheno-orbital hole between the
two sphenoids also performs the office of the round hole. There is an
oval hole in the posterior sphenoid, and more internally in the same
bone a hole for a vessel An aperture between the temporal, the
lateral occipital, the basilary, and the posterior sphenoid gives passage
to the nen*es of the ear to go to the petrous bone. In front of it, and
very near, is the oarotidean hole. In the basilary bone, and in a notch
of Uie borders of this vault of the ear, is the condyloidean hole, which
is very small. It is the posterior border of this vault which occupies
the place of the mastoid apophysis.
Internally the cerebral cavity is very remarkable, inasmuch as iti
height surpasses its length. The floor is very compact The eella ij
but slightly marked. The cerebellar fossn are the most hollowed ;
there is often a veiy projecting bony tentorium in its middle ; the
falx is always bony oackwards, but it has no crest, and some small
holes are scarcely perceptible in the cribriform plate. The pet2X)UB
and tympanic bones are not joined to the cranium by any sutore, and
are not even inclosed, but only suspended by ligaments under the sort
of vault above noticed. They umte at an early period into a single
bone of the ear. The occipital condyles are large, but project little
The hole, directed entirely m the line of the head, is nearly circular.
Cuvier remarks that complete symmetry is never found in the skulls
of Dolphins ,* the two nostrils, the two nasal bones, and the adjacent
parts, never appeared to him equal, as in other mammiferous animals ;
and this, he observes, conducts us to tiie extreme inequality of those
parts in the Cachalots.
The various species of Dolphins differ from each other in the relatiTe
length and widUi of the muzzle, the number of teeth, and the diTon
convexities or concavities of their parts, the palate, &c.^ Cuvier points
out these variations in the species, and particularly noidoes the Dolphin
of the Gkmges (Susuk) as the most extraordinary in the stractuie of
its cranium.
Skull of Porpesae.
In the common Dolphin the seven cervical vertebrsB are united in a
single body, and so they are in the.Porpesae ; but this is not xmnt-
sally the case, for in the Dolphin of the Ganges, for instance, the
cervical vertebrae are as distinct as in any quadruped. But where
they are anchylosed, as in the common Dolphin, the atlas is fullj
developed, and has sufficiently strong, transverse, conic apophysea
The body of the axis is veiy delicate; but its spinous apophysis,
anchylosed to the atlas, is also well marked. The four succeeding
vertebrsB are, to use Cuvier^s expression, as thin as paper, and their
ftnnyl*^'* part unites above to the lower surface of the spine of the axis.
The seventh cervical has some volume and rather strong distinct
apophyses. The dorsal vertebrae are 18 in number, and there are
13 ribs. The first three ribs only have a head and a tubercle, and
aro articulated on the body of two vertebrse and on the eztrenuty
of the transverse apophysis of one of them. The ten succeeding rilN
are only articulated to the extremity of the transverse apophysis.
The last cervical and the first six dorsal have their articular apophyses
united to each other by horizontal surfaces, the anterior of whidi is
above. At the sixth they begin to become oblique ; at the seven^
they are nearly vertical Commencing with the fourth, the trapsrene
apophysis gives off a small point from its anterior border. This point
approaches the anterior articular apophysis, and becomes blended with
it at the seventh ; afterwards these points form the only articular
apophysis ; those of one vertebra embracing the lower part of the
spinous apophysis of the preceding vertebra. Towards the twenty-
second vertebra or the second luinbar they no longer reach it ; but
they remain irregularly marked far upon the taiL The transverse
apophyses of the lumbar resion sire very lon^ and the spinous veiy
high. On the tail they are shortened ; the spmous are widened; and
the transverse are directed rather forwards. They disappear at the
forty-ninth vertelnra, and ike spinous at the fifty-first or fifW-second.
The V-shaped bones (hsemapophyses of Professor Owen) of the under
part of the tail commence under the thirty-eighth. The body of the
vertebras are round, rather angular below ; more compressed and
thicker in the region of the back ; shorter in the lumbar r^on and
in that of the taU, where they present a kind of carination below.
The anterior and posterior epiphyses remain a long time distinct
The sternum is composed of three bones ; the first, very wide, u
notched in front, and gives off on each side between the first and
second rib a sharp point directed backwards. There is a hole in the
middla The second is simply rectangular. Between the first and
it the second rib is articulated ; the third rib is attached between the
second and third bone, which receives on its sides the fourth, and
towards its point the fifth and sixth, which is the last true rib The
sternal parts of the ribs are all osHified.
The shoulder-blade is fan-shaped, with the external surface sli^^Uy
concave, and its spinal border forming ^o segment of a drde : tho
Digitized by
Google
£81
CETACEA*
CETACEA.
two other borden are slightly concave and nearly equal ; tbe anterior
ie bifurcated, and thuB presente two edges — one external, the other
nearer the ribs. The external givee off a flat apophysis direoted for-
wards, and enlaiged at its extremity, wbioh represents the acromion.
The other border, which is the true antsrior border, gives off also,
but dose to the artioular snr&oe, a flat apophysis, less than the
acromion, descending a little and equally enlarged at the end : this is
the ooraooid prooess. The humerus is very short and stout. On the
anterior part of its upper extremity or head is a tuberosity as large
afl itself: the lower head is enlarged and compressed from before
backwards, and does not terminate in a facet that may be termed
articular, but imites by synchondrosis with the radius and ulna : these
two bones are short and compressed. The radius is in front and the
lai^gesty and its form is nearly rectangular : the ulna is behind and
narrower. Its posterior border is concave, and it forms at its upper
extremity a projecting angle, which is the only vestige of the olecranon.
The carpal bones are flat, angular, and together form a sort of pave-
ment. There are three in the first row, the anterior of which responds
to the radius, the posterior to the ulna, and the intermediate one to
both radius and ulna. In the second row there are four, the anterior
of which is the smallest Under this anterior bone, which may be
also taken for a metacarpal, is a pointed bone which is the sole vestige
of a thumb. The next bone, which is the fore finger, is composed of
nine joints, which must represent its metacarpal, its phalange, and
their epiphyses : there are seven in the third finger and four in the
fourth ; the fifth is reduced to a single very smaU tuberde.
In the Narwhals the skull resembles that of the Dolphins, and
e:«pecially the head of the Bduga, in structure ; but instead of the
numerous teeth ranged along the maxillaries presented by the Dol-
phins generally, there is but one on each side, directed forwards and
implanted in an alveolus common to the diaxillary and intermaxillary
bones. Very rarely indeed are these teeth symmetrical ; and neariy
always one of the two remains iudosed in its alveolus, whilst the
other grows to a length of ten or twelve feet. The muzzle, and more
especially the intermaxillary bones, are more widened than in the
Dolphins. The intermaxillaries ascend near to the bones of the nose.
The holes with which the maxillaries are pierced in their wideaed
part^ and which occupy the place of the suborbital holes, are laigo
Bkull and Teeth of Narwhal {Mcnodon monoeirros), wen from below. Owen.
and numerous. The notch which separates this widened part from
the muzzle is small, and the upper part of the orbit projects but
little. The nasal are very small, and the left nostril is smaller than
the other. « , •- • i
The number of vertebra, according to Scorasby, are— 7 osrvical,
VAT. Hm. Diy. YOL. I.
12 dorsal, and 85 lumbar or caudal — 54 in alL The spinal canal
is said to cease at the forty-first The spinous apophvBes begin
to dimimsh at the thirty-fourth, and disappear at the thirty
eighth. The V-shaped bones commence between the thirtieth and
the thirty-first, and terminate between the forty-second and forty-
third. There are six pairs of true ribs and six false, all rather dender.
The bones of the anterior extremity appear to bear a dose resemblance
to those of the Porpesse, except that the bones are more equal, as
might be expected from the roundness of the Narwhal's flipper.
In the Hyperoodons the skull differs almost entirely in form from
those belonging to the Dolphins. From the maxillaries, which are
pointed in front and widened towards the base of the muzde, rises on
each of their lateral borders a Luge vertical crest, rounded above,
descending obliquely forwards and more rapidly backwards, where it
fkUs again nearly above the postorbital apophysis. Still more back-
wards, the maxillary bone, continuing to cover the frontal bone,
ascends verticdly witii it and with the occipital, to form on the back
part of the head a transverse ocdpitd crest, which is very elevated
and very thick, so that on the skull of the animal there are three of
these great crests : the occipital crest behind, and the two maxillary
cresto on the sides, which are separated from the first by a wide and
deep noteh. They do not approximate above, nor do they form a
vault, as in the Dolphin of the Ganges, but simply a sort of lateral
walls. The intermaxillaries, placed as ordinarily between the maxil-
laries, ascend with them to the nostrils, and passing by the side^ of
them, raise themselves above, so that they take part in the formation
of the posterior crest elevated upon the occiput The two nasal bones,
which, as well as the nostrils, are very imequal, are placed at the
anterior surface of this occipital crest, and are ndsed to its summit
In other respecte the connections of the bones are nearly the same as
in the Dolphins.
The zygomatic apophysis of the temporal bone is thick, without
being as long as in the Dolphin of the Ganges ; the orbit is as wide
as in the ordinary Dolphins, and bounded in like manner below by a
dender stem given off by the jugd bone. The parietal bones show
themselves but very little in the temporal fossa, which is iteelf not
much extended in height Below, the palate is slightly carinated,
indicating an approximation to the BalcmcB, The lateral furrows
observable in the common Dolphin are absent The pterygoideans
occupy a very great length in the back-nostrils, and much diminish
the portion which the palatine bones fill in front The vomer shows
itself at two pointe of the lower surface, between the pterygoideans
and the palatines, and between the maxillaries and intermaxillaries.
The ocdput is higher than it is wide. The lower jaw has not the
symphysis longer than in\he ordinarv species of the Dolphins.
The seven cervical vertebrte are all anohylosed together ; there are
thirty-eight other vertebne, nine of which carry the ribs. At the
twenty-second the Y-shaped bones which characterise the first caudal
commence, so that seventeen caudal vetebrse may be oounted. There
are six of these Y-shaped bones ; and the superior spinous apophyses
cease on the ninth caudd. The five first ribs only are articulated to
the sternum, and there are only four fdse ribs on each nde. The
sternum is composed of three bones, the first square, notched in front
and behind ; the second square also, and notehed in fh>nt ; the third
oblong and notehed behind.
The shoulder-blade has the spinal border more extended in pro-
portion and more rectilinear than in the Dolphins, the anterior angle
more pointed, the acromion directed rather downwards, and the oora-
coid process a little in the opposite direction. The bones of the arm
and fore-arm are a little less shortened than in the Dolphins. ('Ossemens
Fossiles,')
The skull of the Cachdote bears a nearer resemblance to that of
the Dolphins than to that of any other Cetacesns. The immense
muzde, notwithstanding ite prodigious extent, is, like that of the
Dolphin, formed by the maxillaries on the ddes, the intermaxillaries
towards the mesial line, and the vomer on that line. The inter-
maxillaries readi beyond the other bones to form the anterior point ;
they ascend on the two sides of the nostrils and the nasd bones^^ and
raise themselves to form that spedes of wall which devates itsdf
perpendicularly and drculM-ly on the back of the head, but that of
the right dde is carried higher than tliat of the left The vomer showp
itself between them in considerable width, espeddly at the upP«r
part ; it is hollowed into a semicand throughout ite length. The
nostrils are pierced at the foot of this sort of wdl at the root of the
vomer, and between the raised and ascending parte of the two inter-
maxillaries. Their direction is obUque from below upwards, and
from behind forwards. They are excessively unequd, and that on
the right dde is not a fourth of the size of that on the left The
ryiuuA bones are dso very unequal Both asoend between the intennaxil>
laries against the foot of the semicircular wdl which is raised upon
the cranium, but they only rise to the level of the left intormaxillaiy.
The right nasd bone is not only Iwrger than the other, but it also
descends lower between the two nostrils, articulating itself upon the
root of the vomer, and giving to that part an irregular crest which
reposes a little obliqudy on the left nostril, which, as before observed,
is the longest
The direction of the vomer and amplitude of the left nostril
indicate a direction of the membranous cand of the nostrils and tha
3 L
Digitized by
Google
CETACEA.
CETACEA.
whole gpouting apparatus towards the same side, and explain, Cuvier
observes, the fact obsenred by mariners, namely, that the Cachalots
throw their spoutings towards the left side.
The maxillaries do not join each other in front of the semicircular
wall ; and leave exposed between them an irregular and considerable
part of the frontal none, which goes behind them, and directing itself
laterally, proceeds to form, as in the Dolphins, the principal part of
the ceiling of the orbit The maxillarv makes its anterior angle, in
front of which the border of the maxillary has a deep notch, and at
its upper siurface, opposite to that notch, is the great hole which
occupies the place of the suborbital, but which, Cuvier remarks, should
here be called supra-orbitaL The posterior angle of the orbit is
occupied by the point of the zygomatic apophysis of the temporal bone ;
but it does not quite join the postorbital apophysis of the frontal
bone, so that the edge of the orbit is open at this point. The lower
part of the orbit is formed by a stout and cylindrical jugal bone,
whose anterior part dilates itself into an oblong lamina which
partially closes the orbit in front. The temporal fossa is very deep,
rounded, but not distinguLshed by a crest from the rest of the occiput :
a little of the parietal bone is perceptible between the temporal and
the frontal bones. The squamous portion of the temporal bone is
not extensive, its zygomatic portion is in the shape of a stout and
short cone ; proceeding to the orbit it alone forms the arch as in the
Dolphins. The occipital bone is vertical and forms the whole posterior
Skull of Cachalot, seen from below.
Skull of Cachalot, seen obliquely from above.
rroflle of Skull of Cachalot and under Jaw.
Skull of Cachalot, seen from behind.
surface of the semicircular wall which surrounds the skull behind.
The occipital hole is nearly at the lower third of its height The
lower border of the occipital bone is divided on each side by a
notch into two lobes, the external of which represents the mastoid
apophysis.
The lower part of the skull, allowing for the difference of proportion
of the parts, much resembles the lower portion of that of the Dolphina
The region behind the nostrils is very much shortened in comparisoii
of that which is anterior to them, and of which the enormous muzde
forms the greatest portion. The result of this oonfamiation ii that
the basilary and posterior q»henoid are very short ; that the anterior
sphenoid, as in the Laige-Muzzled Dolphins, only shows itself below in
a notch of the vomer, and appears very little towards the temple
between the palatine, the pterygoidean, and the temporal ala of the
posterior sphenoid; and that the pteiygoideans extend on their
lateral and posterior part» nearly to the posterior portion of the
basilary bone. The jugal bone on its anterior part lines below a
great portion of the vault of the orbit, and proceeds to touch behind
the points of the two sphenoids. Their anterior border is not double,
as in the Dolphins. Tne bone of the ear bears a great resemblance to
that of the Dolphins, but the tympanic bone is less elongated and less
lobated backwards.
Of the cervical vertebr» of the Cachalot the atUs alone is distinct ;
the six others are anchylosed into a single mass by the bodies and
spinous apophyses ; but the number may be made out by the aides
where very delicate laminae interpose between the holes where the
nerves pass out. There are 14 pairs of ribs and 14 dorsal vertebrae
(perhaps a fifteenth), and 85 others. The dorsal vertebre have
tneir transverse apophyses short; their anterior articolar apo-
physes are turned inwards, and embrace the posterior, which
look outwards. The spinous processes are less elevated and
wide from before baokwaida The two Isst carry the ribe only on
the extremity of their transverse apophyses, and not on a £aoet ol
their body. On the succeeding vertebrse the spinous apophyses rise,
become oblique, and wider at their summit than at their base. The
articulars ascend gradually to their anterior borders, as in the
Dolphins : the spinous apophyses shortening by degrees, the articnlar
apophyses arrive at their summit on the tail, and finally disappear.
The spinous apophyses disappear also on the last caudal vertebrse.
The transverse apophyses are at first simple tubercles of the artacokr
apophyses : they do not take the form of distinct apophyses tUl the
three last dorsal vertebrse, and afterwards continue on the Inmbar
and caudal, but always remaining of moderate length, and not dflatrng
at their extremity* The lower part of the body of the vertebrae,
counting from the fourth lumbar, is strongly carinated. The
V-shapMl bones do not commence before the twenty-first after the
dorsal vertebrse. They are at first rather long, and more so than the
spinous apophyses to which they correspond; but afterwards they
are a little shortened. The vertebne which cany them have their
lower carination divided into two truncated ridges, eadi at the tw
extremities, fto as to form facets for the V-shaped bones, which always
articulate between two vertebrae. The caudal vertebrse still remun
verv large up to the six or seven last, which diminish rapidly, losing
their different eminences : thus the greatest portion of the spine is
nearly much of a size.
The shoulder-blade is concave externally, convex on the aide of the
ribs, and narrower than in the other Cetaceans : its spinal border is
not two-thirds of its height Its anterior border becomes double
below the middle of its height, and gives off from its external ridge a
great acromion, more projecting antmoriy than the shoulder-blade is
at this point, and enlsi^ged at its extremity. The internal border
gives off near the articulur head a coracoid apophysis, which projects
less than the acromion, and terminates in a point. The humerus »
very short and stout, and has at its anterior border a oreety terminated
towards the lower part by a hook which represents the deltoidal
crest. The ulna is anchylosed early to the humerus, even before the
epiphysis of this last is united. The olecranian apophysis projects
very much, and curves towards the wrist (' Ossemens Fossxlea.')
Balcenido!, or Whalebone Whales.— The skull of the Roarqual
(Balamoptera) is more approximated to that of the Dolphins than
the skull of the ^atoius, -properly so called. The immense maxillary
bones are disposed below, in form of a reversed roof or a keel, to the
two sides of which the baleen, or whalebone, is attached. The vomer
is shown between them in nearly the mesial line of the keel Above^
the two intermaxillaries, placed parallel between the two maTJllarie^
leave between them a vacant space, which is continued above, or
rather backwards, with the very lai^ aperture of the nostrils, 'sH^idi
is in the form of an elongated oval; and, contrary to the other
Cetaceans, preserves, as in tiie whole of the BakentB, a symmetzical
form. The nasal bones, which are shorty but notched or fieetooned
anteriorly, and not in form of tubercles, form the upper border of this
aperture. The maxillaiy does not cover the frontal bone, except by
a narrow apophysis on the two sides of the nasal bones. The whole
portion of the frontal bone which goes on each side to form the orbit
is exposed, but tiie parietal bones cover the upper part of the tern
poraf fossa to the sides of the apophysis of the maxillary bone, vdiich
shows itself between the frt>ntal and the bones of the noseu Tlie
occipitiJ bone advances between them, and covers the middle of the
frontal to near the bones of the nose; so that at the base of the noee
the frontal does not show itself externally. There are two temporal
crests projecting greatly outwards, commencing at the aides of the
nose, and between which Uie skull is flat^ or even slightly concave,
and iesoenda slowly towards the oooipital hols^ which is at the
Digitized by
Google
CETACEA.
CETACEA.
extremity of this plane. The oodpital orest oomes near the base of
the nasal banee, trayendjg from one temporal erest to the other. On
the middle of this oooipital ^ surface is a slightly projecting longitu-
dinal ridge.
The jugal bone is curved into a portion of a circle, and forms the
lower border of the orbit, coming firom the zjrgomatio apophysis of
the maxillary bone, which abuts at the anterior angle on the temporal
apophysis, which abuts on the posterior angle. The jugal bone is not
dilated at its extremity as in Uie Dolphin. The frontal on one side
touches the maxillary, and on the other the temporal bones, by its
ante- and post-orbital apophyses, and forms by itself the whole ceiling
of the orbit, without being doubled aboTC by the maxillary ; but on
the contrary it is below, on its anterior portion, that in front of the
orbit, and moreover is bordered there anteriorly by the lateral lamina
of the maxillary bone, which is, with reference to the frontal, in an
inverse position from that which it holds in the Dolphins. It is by
this lanuna that the maxillary bone abuts on the anterior angle of the
orbit, and articulates itself with the anterior and enlarged extremity
of the jugal bone ; but what is very remarkable is, that at this poin^
between the frontal and the maxillary, and, so to speak, at their very
articulation, a peculiar bone, in form of a lamina, occupies nearly half
the length of that suture, and which perhaps is the analogue of the
Ischrjrmal bone. The whole of the zygomatic arch, properly so
called, which is very huge, belongs to the temporal bone. The frame
of the orbit is closed on all sides ; its ceiling is very large and concave
above. The palatine bones are prolonged below the keel of the
maxiUaries. The posterior nostrils are very near the occipital hole.
They have at each angle a tuberosity formed by the pterygoidean
bone, which has little longitudinal extent, and only surrounds the
nostrils on th^ external side and a little above and below, but without
forming a sinus or double border there, as in the Dolphins. The
baailary region, which is very short, is also hollowed into a canal, as in
them, and has on each side the bones of the ear, which are very small
in proportion, and of oval form, and equallv convex in their inferior
surface. In front of the basilary bone, and between the pterygoidean
bones, may be seen the body of the posterior sphenoid. The glenoid
&ce of the temporal bone is nearly vertical, and looks forwards ; that
which makes the articular surface of the lower jaw is in some sort
the truncature of the extremity of the bone. This jaw is an arch
externally convex, compressed, slightly trenchant above and below.
It has a coronoid apophysis in form of an obtuse angle, and a tuber-
osity a little more backwards.
Cuvier points out certain differences between the skulls of the
Rorquals of the Cape, the Mediterranean, and the North Sea, for
which we most refer the reader to his ' Ossemens Fossiles.'
Balcmtu — To form the idea of a Balcena, properly so called, Cuvier
states that we must figure to ourselves the muzzle of the Rorqual
narrowed, elongated, compressed laterally, and arched from before
backwards, nearly in a quarter of a circle. It is, he observes, in the
space whidi this curvature leaves, that the plates of baleen, or whale-
bone, which adhere by their upper and wide extremity to the sides
of the keel which the muzzle forms below, and descend obliquely
outwards by their lower and pointed extremity towards the lower
jaw, are lodged. It is predseiy because this curvature gives them
more space in the BalcgncBf properly so called, that they are longer in
those whales than in the Rorquals, in which last the nearly straight
muzzle leaves them little room.
It results from this lateral compression of the muzzle that the
intermaxillary bones are not horizontally between but vertically upon
the maxillaries : the upper plane of these last is itself nearly vertical,
except in the lateral branch, which borders the frontal before, to
proceed with it upon the orbit. This transverse portion of the
frontal bone is narrower from before backwards than m the RorquaL
The occipital bone is convex throughout its ]|]ipper portion, less
oblique than in the Rorqual, and semi-oval. The temporal bone
remains transverse, and its zygomatic portion hardly curves forwards
at alL The nasal bones are rhomboidal, and not triangular as in the
KorquaL Below, the palatine and pterygoidean bones are thrown
still more back, and are shorter, and the sphenoid bone is more
concealed than in the RorquaL The maxillary bone has a deep
notch at its lower and posterior border. The glenoid surface of the
temporal bone is much less vertical than in the Rorqual, so that the
lower jawbone rises a little to offer its articular convex surface. This
disposition, joined to the absence of a coronoid apophysis, may serve
to distinguidi it from the lower jaw of the Rorqual.
In the Rorqual of the Cape, Cuvier found the atlas distinct from
the axis ; this last is anchylosed by the upper part of its ring, which
has no spinous apophysis, with the corresponding part of the third
cervical This last and the four others do not imite : they are of
some thickness. The transverse apophyses are double in the first
three, as in the axis ; one superior is given off from the annular
portion below the articular apophysis, the other from the lower part
of the body ; none of these apophyses are directed forwards. The
lower are shortened from the ajds to the fourth vertical and are
tnmting in the succeeding ones. The upper apophyses are longest on
the axis and on the third ; afterwards they are equal, and form a
scries with the transverse apophyses which carry the ribs. There are 7
cervical vertebra), 14 dorsal Tertebr» and as many pairs of ribs, and
81 other vertebrae to the end of the tail — 52 in all The second,
third, and fourth ribs only have heads, and seem hardly able to reach
the body of the vertebrae. The others only reach the extremities of
the transverse apophyses, which go on lengthening to the lumbar
region. They are longer than they are wide, and dilate at the end,
as in ihe Greenland Whale. They thus continue to the thirteenth
lumbar, where they begin to shorten, but still widen to the fifteenth
or sixteenth, where they disappear. The spinous apophyses begin to
show themselves on the third cervical They remain small on
the neck, and begin'to be elongated and compressed on the first
dorsals. They form a nearly equal series ; wider on the middle of the
back, narrower, but always moderately elevated, on the lumbar region,
and shortening by degrees on the tail They vanish on the last
twelve, and the annular portion disappears two vertebrae after the
spinous apophyses. The facets of the articular apophyses look
inwards as far as the eleventh, where they begin to open outwards.
They do not rise, and finally form, towards the fourteenth or fifteenth,
with the spinous (which is always shortened), a trilobated prominence.
The pelvis in the French skeleton is attached imder the ninth lumbar
vertebra. At the eleventh the V-shaped bones commence. The first
is still formed of two separate bones. They re-divide anew behind.
The lower part of the lumbar and caudal vertebrae is hardly marked
by a slight carination. Commencing from the fifteenth vertebra
after the dorsal, the body of* each is pierced on both sides, above and
below, with a laige hole for the vessels. These holes do not diminsh
on the last caudal, though they are much smaller, so that they each
represent two cylinders set back to back, pierced in their axis.
The single bone of the sternum was square, deeply forked
posteriorly, and with a point at its external boiler.
The shoulder-blade of the Cape Rorqual is, Cuvier remarks,
entirely different from that of the Balcma ; it is wider than it is long,
semicircular on the spinal side, with a single anterior border, a single
prominence (the acromion) towards the lower third, and a tubercle
near the articulation, which is the coracoid apophysis. The humerus
is still stouter in proportion than that of the Balcena, but the bones
of the fore-arm are much more elongated. The fin is also much more
pointed. There are onlv four well-marked fingers, which, not
counting the metatarsals, have the following joints : — the index two,
the middle and ring-finger seven each, and the little finger three : all
the fingers are terminated by a cartilaginous dilattition.
The bone of the ear in the Balance differs from that of the
Dolphins in the enormous thickness of the tympanic bone, especially
on the internal side. The tympanic bono is a little more closed in
front, but leaves between it and the petrous bone on the internal side
a solution of continuity wider and longer in proportion. It is not
bilobated backwards. The petrous bone is of very irregular form,
and very rugged ; it gives off two great and stout apophyses, also
veiy rugged, one of which, posterior and a little superior, articiilated
to a corresponding apophysis of the tympanic bone, is inserted
between the temporal and lateral occipital ; and the other, anterior
and inferior is articulated by squamous suture with the temporal
Skull of Greenland Whale, with lower jaw, seen ftrom above.
Skull of Greenland Whale, seen from below.
portion, which descends to furnish articulation with the lower jaw.
The ear-bones in all the Cetaceans are four in number, as in the
MammalMf and the malleus is anchylosed to the frame of the tym-
panum, which, Cuvier observes, is the more singular, inaamuch as it
]• not deprived of its muscles.
Digitized by
Google
CETACEA,
CETACEA.
Cuvier remarka, that tho skull of the Greenland Whale differs more
ih)m the Balama of the Cape than the skulls of the Rorquals dififer
from each other. He points ont these dififerences, which extend,
although slightly, to the Dones of the ear ; and expresses his opinion
that they are different speciea
SkoU of Greenland Whale, with lover Jaw, profile.
In the great Cape Bdlcma, according to Cuvier, the atlas, the axis,
and the Sve other cervical vertebrsd are united together by their
jection externally : there are only three in the second. The metatw-
sals are in length only double their width. The thumb has two
phalanges, the ring-fii4;er four, the little finger three ; and all an
terminated by a oartilBginous dilatation. A wide and short fis
obliquely rounded is the result. (' Ossemens Fossiles.')
The pelvis in the Cetaceans is, as we have seen, only mdimentaiy;
but it may be necessary here to give a summary of the modification
of the bones and their connection with the skeleton in the different
groups.
In the Dugong it consists of two pairs of bones joined two and two,
and end to end, by a cartilage : to the vertebns this apparattu is
attached by a cartilage also.
The construction of this part varies in the tnie Zoophagous
Cetaceans. Two small long bones lodged in the flesh, one on each
side of the anus, form the pelvic rudiments in the Dolphins. In the
great whales, the Mysticete, or Whalebone Whale, for example, at the
extremity of each of the bones, regarded by comparative ana^mistau
ilia, a second, which is smaller and curved, is articulated. The con-
vexity of this last bone is external, and may be considered as a pnbis
or ischium.
Skeleton of HTStieete, or Whalebone Whale.
bodies. All their spinous apophyses are anchylosed into a single
crest The atlas and axis imite besides by their upper transverse
apophyses, which are wide and strong : their lower transverse
apophyses, which are equally long and strong, are anchylosed to each
other and to that of the Uiird, which is more slender. The next
four cervioals have only delicate transverse apophyses, of which the
third, fourth, and fifth are anchylosed together. The last also has
only one upper transverse apophysis, but longer, stronger, free, and
directed forwards. Cuvier remarks that this division of the
apophyses into upper and lower responds to the two branches
separated by a canal, which are seen in those of ordinary mammals.
The transverse apophyses of the first dorsal are directed also forwards,
and are long and a little stronger than at the last cervical; they
conmience increasing in bulk, and shortening at the fourth dorsal.
The succeeding take a more transverse direction, and kre enlarged at
the end, to the tenth inclusive. Counting from the eleventh, they
again begin to elongate to the seventeenth; they then diminish
insensibly to the thirty-fourth, where they disappear. They are
throughout longer than in the Cachalot, and enlarged towards the
end, the contrary of which is manifested in that genus. There are
fifteen pairs of ribs ; the last four pairs and the first two do not reach
the body of the vertebra, and are only attached to its transverse
apophysis. The first pair is flattened and extremely wide, especially
at the sternal extremity. The last three are slender and short.
After the fifteen dorsal vertebrae come twenty-seven others. The
V-shaped bones commence between the eleventh and twelfth ; they
are small compared with those of the Cachalot, and disappear after
the twenty-sixth. The eleven br twelve last vertebrsD have no longer
any eminences. The last of all are nearly quadrangular, and are
each pierced with two vertical holes. The spinous apophyses form a
tolerably uniform series of moderate height, all inclined forwards;
they begin to diminish on the tail. The anterior articular apophyses
are not ele'vated, remain at the same height, and preserve the same
dimensions. They widen on the tail where they have no articulation
to furnish, and the last five or six, nearly equal to the corresponding
spinous apophyses, form with them on their vertebrsB a trilobated
prominence.
The single bone of the sternum was oblong, widest in front, and
carried on each side an articular facet for a rib.
The shoulder-blade ia nearly flat ; one can scarcely perceive a slight
concave curvature : it is nearly fan-shaped, and less wide than high.
Its anterior border is simple, and has only a single projecting apo-
physis, which from its position is probably the acromion. Its articular
head is much wider in proportion than in the Cachalot. The humerus
is stout and short, scarcely twice as long as it is thick. Its tuberositv
does not reach beyond the head in front ; this last is hemispherical,
and nearly parallel to the axis. The lower head is divided into two
slightly inclined planes for the ulna and radius, which two bones are
compressed ; the ulna is the narrowest, especially in its middle. Its
upper head is slightly oblique at its axis, and the olecranon ascends a
little instead of recurving into a hook, as in the Cachalot. The radius
enlarges below, so as to be there two-thirds of its length ; above it is
not more than a third. There are four carpal bones in the first row,
of which the ulnar bone, which responds to the pinform, forms a pro-
Digestive Organs. — Phytophagous Cataceans. — The teeth (molars) of
the Manatees are ridged doubly or trebly, the root distinct from the
crown : here the resemblance to the pachyderms. Tapir and Hippopo-
tamus for instance, is very strong. The molars of the Dugongs are
elliptical, without true fangs, and with two slight furrows on tiie
unworn crown, which disappear with age. In the upper jaw are two
tusks. In the Ryiince there are no molars ; but there is in lien of them
a homy plate in the middle of each jaw. The tongue is short, and can
hardly b^ endowed with much motion. The form of the os hyoidea is
simple: anchylosis between the body and posterior comua soon
supervenes ; but the latter send no ligament to the thyroid cartilage.
The anterior comua remain generally cartilaginous, and are tbe medium
of union between the body, or basi-hyal, and the large and long styloid
processes.
Professor Owen states that the opening of the larynx is chiefly
defended, during the submarine mastication of the vegetable food of
the Dugong, by the extreme contraction of the faucial aperture, which
resembles that of the Ca/pyhara. No pyramidal larynx traverses it,
as in the true Celacea. Two lai^ge parotid glands are situated imme-
diately behind the large ascending ramus of the lower jaw. A thick
layer of simple follicular glands is developed above the membrane of
the palate, and a glandular stratum is situated between the mucous
and muscular coats of the lower part of the oesophagus. Professor
Owen states that a similar but more developed glandular structure is
present in the OBSophagus of the Ray. He then observes that the
stomach of the Dugong presents, as Sir Everard Home had justly
observed, some of the peculiarities met with in the Whale Tribe, the
Peccari and Hippopotamus, and the Beaver : like that of the first it
is divided into distinct compartments ; like the second and third it
has pouches superadded to and communicating with it ; and like the
last it is provided with a remarkable glandudar apparatus near the
cardia. These modifications, the Professor remarks, obviously har-
monise with the diflScult digestibility and low-organised matter of the
food of the Dugong. "Yet," says he, "it is a fact that would not
have been h priori expected, that in the Carnivorous Cetacea the
stomach ia even more complicated than in the Herbivorous species,
and presents a closer resemblance to the ruminant stomach ; it is
divided, for example, into a greater number of receptacles, and has
tbe first cavity like the rumen lined with cuticle ; while in the
Dugong, on the contrary, the stomach is properly divided into tvo
parts only (of which the second much more resembles intestine), and
both are lined with a mucous membrane." After a luminoufl detailed
account of the stomach, Professor Owen observes that it would seem
that a csBcum — and he minutely describee that of the Dugong— «
E resent in all the Herbivorous Cetacea : for Steller notices it as of
irge size and sacculated in the Northern Manatee (St^lenu) ; and
Daubenton has given a figure of the bifid c»oum in the Southern
Manatee {Manatm Americanut). It is interesting, he adds, to find
that a caput coli (the situation and structure of which in the I'^W?
he describes) is present in the true CetaceOf as the ^otenute, which
subsist on animal food of the lowest organised kind. The ™'® °
the alimentary canal and the individual differences presented by^
three specimens having been elaborately detailed. Professor Owen
proceeds to point out that the Dugong with respect to the m»zj
Digitized by
Google
CETACBA.
CETACEA.
fiM
organs deriatea in a marked degree from the ordinary Oettmeot in the
praence of a well-developed gall-bladder, an organ which Daubenton
also found in the Manatee. But the presence of the gall-bladder is noty
the Professor obaeryes, constant in the Herbivorous Oet<icea ; for in the
Northern Manatee^ according to Steller, it is wanting, and its absence
aeema to be compensated by the enormous width of the ductus com-
munis oholedoohus, which would admit the five fingers united. The
secretion of the pancreas ¥raa carried by from twenty to thirty ducts, each
about two lines in diameter, to a veiy wide common excretory canal,
which terminates below, but on the same prominence with the cystic
duct, at a much greater relative distance from the pylorus than in
the true CeUicea. In one of the Dugongs dissected by Professor Owen
were two small accessory spleens in addition to the laiger rounded
^ne, but in the other specimens the last alone was present. (' ZooL
Proa/ 1888.)
Zbophagous Cetaceans. — ^The teeth of the Dolphins are generally
simple and conical or compressed. They are present in both jaws ;
their number varies, and they not unfrequently lie hid in the gums in
a rudimentary state. Those of the Cachalots are simple, of a long
ovoid recurved shape, and placed in the lower jaw only. The Mysti-
cetesi, or Whalebone Whales, are without true teeth ; in lieu of which,
transverse homy plates of baleen, or whalebone, as it is commonly
termed, grow from the palate. These plates on their internal edges
are fringed with loose beards, and among these the small marine
animals which form their fbod are entangled as in the meshes of
a net^
The stomachs of the Zoophagous Cetaceans are very complicated' :
the number of these in various species, and ia different individuals of
the same species, has been variously given by different authors.
Some have stated the number in the common Dolphin and Porpesse
at three, others at four, others at five, others at six. F. Cuvier con-
siders it as certain that these numerical differences proceed simply from
the manner in which the organ is viewed. Professor Owen was unable
to distinguish more than four compartments in the stomach of tiie
Porpesse. In general the spouting whales have no ■ csBOum ; but a
trace of it has been found in the Platanist, and it actually exists in
the Piked and Whalebone Whales.
John Hunter pointed out the considerable degree of uniformity
present in the liver of this tribe, observing that in shape it resembles
that of man, but that it is not so thick at the base nor so sharp at
the lower edge, and probably not so firm in the texture. The right
lobe is the largest and thickest. There is no gall-bladder. The same
di.qtinguished comparative anatomist describes the pancreas as a very
long &tbody, having its left end attached to the right side of the
first cavity of the stomach : it passes, he adds, across the spine at the
foot of the mesentery, and near to the pylorus joins the hollow curve
of the duodenum, along which it is continued and adheres to the
intestine, its duct entering that of the liver near the termination of
the gutk In the Piked Whale the spleen is single and small ; in the
Porpesse it is subdivided into several distinct portions.
There is an interesting series of preparations illustrative of the
anatomy of the Cetcicea in the museiun of the College of Suigeons,
and weU desernng the attention of the student of comparative ana-
tomy. One of these preparations. No. 823, is a perpendicular section
of several plates of whidebone, with the intermediate substance and
vascular nidus, from the upper jaw of a young specimen of the Great
Whale {Bakena myttieettu, Linn.). The disposition and relative pro-
portions of the plates of whalebone are here shown; from which dispo-
sition it results, that only the fringed extremity of the whalebone
plates are visible from the inside of the mouth of the whale ; the
whole concavity of the palate appearing to be beset with coarse rigid
hairs or bristles, which explains the passage in Aristotle (' Hist Anim.'
ilL 12), who, speaking of the (h-eat Whale {* t^^ffriicrrros, or, as Bekker
reads it, 6 iivs rh inrros), says, " The Mystioete has no teetii in its mouth,
but hairs like hog^s bristles."
Circulating System. — Phytophagous Cetaceana — The three Dugongs
dissected by Professor Owen presented the same remarkable extent
of separation of the two ventricles of the heart described by Sir
Everard Home and Sir Stamford Raffles in the individuals examined
by them, and observed by Biippell in the Dugong of the Red Sea
{Halicore Tobenuusvlii. Daubenton appears to be the first who noticed
this condition of the heart, in his dissection of the foetus of the Mana-
tee. Stellei^ also described it in the genus which bears his name; but
in that animal the apical deft of the heart extended upwards only
9ne-third of the way towards the base, whereas in the Dugong it
reaches half-way towards the base.
Professor Owen found the foramen ovale completely dosed, and the
ductus arteriosus reduced to a thick ligamentous cord, permeable
for a diort distance bv an eye-probe from the aorta, where a crescentic
slit still represented the original commimication. He states that in
the smoothness and evenness of their exterior and their general form
the auricles of the Dugong resemble those of the Turtle (CMUmt),
and that the appendix can hardly be said to exist in either. The
right auride is uxger than the left. The primary branches from the
arches of the aorta correspond in each specimen with Sir Everard
Home's figure and description. There was only one superior cava,
not two, as in the Elephant; and the pulmonary veins terminated in
tiie left auride by a common trunk an inch in length.
As no mention had been made in the anatomical descriptions of thi
Herbivorous Cetaceans by Daubenton, SteUer, Cuvier, Raffles, and
Home, respecting the existence or otherwise of the extraordinary
intercostal and intervertebral arterial plexuses present in the true
Cetaeea, Professor Owen carefully followed out this part of the dis-
section, but could detect no trace of this very striking modification.
Here again, he observes, in enimciating a general anatomical propo-
sition regarding Cuvier^s Cetaceci, the Herbivorous species must be
exceptionally dted apart
Zoophagous Cetaceans. — Professor Owen remarks that the Carni-
vorous Cetaceans do not partidpate in the structure of the heart above
described with the Herbivorous section.
The following is John Hunter^s description of the heart of the
Whale:—
'' The heart is inclosed in its pericardium, which is attached by a
broad surface to the diaphragm, as in the human body. It is com-
posed of four cavities — ^two aurides and two ventricles : it is more
flat than in the quadruped, and adapted to the shape of the chest
The auricles have more fasciculi, and then pass more across the cavity
from side to side, than in many other animals ; besides being veiy
muscular they are very elastic, for being stretched they contract again
very considerably. There is nothing uncommon or particular in the
structure of the ventricles, in the valves of the ventricles, or in that
of the arteries. The genei-al structure of the arteries resembles that
of other animals ; and where parts are nearly similar, the distribution
is likewise similar. The aorta forms its usual curve, and sends off
the carotid and subclavian arteries. The veins, I believe, have nothing
particular in their structure, excepting in parts requiring a peculiarity,
as in the folds of the skin on the breast in the Piked Whale, where
their elastidty was to be increased."
This assertion respecting the veins is not stated verv podtively,
and we shall presentiy see that there is a peculianty in their
structure.
The same great physiologist well observes, that in our examination
of particular parts, the size of which is generally regulated by that
of the whole animal, if we have only been accustomed to see them in
those which are small or middle sized, we behold them with astonish-
ment in animals so far exceeding the common bulk as the Whale.
" Thus," says Hunter, " the heart and aorta of the Spermaceti Whale
appeared prodigious, being too large to be contained in a wide tub,
the aorta measuring a foot in diameter. When we consider these as
applied to the circulation, and figure to ourselves that probably 10 or
15 gallons of blood are thrown out at one stroke, rnd moved with an
immense velodty through a tube of a foot diameter, the whole idea
fills the mind with wonder."
But the most remarkable modification of the arterial system ia the
Whales remains to be noticed. This consists in an almost infinite
circumvolution of arteries, forming a plexus of vessels filled with
oxygenated blood, situated under the pleura and between the ribs, on
each side of the spine. This intercostal plexus, or rete mirabile, is
the apparatus which enables the whale to remain under water for
more than an hour.
M. Breschet read a paper to the French Academy of Sciences ip
1834, which bears the following titie: * Histoire Anatomique et Phy-
siologique d'lm Oigane de Nature vasculaire diwvLvert dans les C^tac^s,
etc.' H. Breschet has however no claims to the discovery of this
oigan. It was indicated and described long ago by Tyson in his
' Anatomy of a Porpesse,' but he was not aware of the use of it, and
considered it as a glandulous body. Himter was the first who deter-
mined its exact nature, and showed that it was a reservoir of arterial
or aerated blood.
After noticing the general qjbructure of the arteries as above men-
tioned, and stating that the aorta forms its usual curve, sending off the
carotid and subclavian arteries, Hunter proceeds as follows : —
"Animals of this tribe, as has been observed, have a greater pro-
portion of blood than any other known, and there are many arteries
apparentiy intended as reservoirs, where a laige qua-jtity of arterial
blood seemed to be required in a part, and vascularity could not be
the only object Tlius we find that the intercostal arteries divide into
a vast number of branches, which run in a serpentine course between
the pleura, ribs, and their muscles, making a thick substance, some-
what similar to the spermatic artery in the BulL These vessels,
everywhere lining the sides of the thorax, pass in between the ribs
near their articulation, and also behind the ligamentous attachment
of the ribs, and anastomose with each other. The meduUa spinalis
is surrounded with a net-work of arteries in the same manner, more
especially where it comes out from the brain, where a thick substance
is formed by their ramifications and convolutions ; and these vessels
most probably anastomose with those of the thorax. The subclavian
artery in the Piked Whale, before it passes over the first rib, sends
down into the diest arteries which assist in forming the plexus on the
inside of the ribs. I am not certain but the internal mammary arteries
contribute to form the anterior part of this plexus. The motion of
the blood in such cases must be very dow ; the use of which we do
not readily see. The descending aorta sends off the intercostals
which are very large, and gives branches to this plexus ; and when
it has reached the abdomen it sends ofi; as in the quadruped, the
different branches to the viscera and the lumbar artenes, which are
Digitized by
Google
801
CETACEA«
CETACEA.
Ukowise very lai^, for the lupply of that vast man of miuoles which
movM the tail"
Arterial Plexus in the Dolphins. Breschet.
With regard to the yeins, Professor Owen points out that they are
remarkable not only for their great capacity, which Hunter noticed,
but also for their number and the immense plexuses which they form
in different parts of the body, and above all for the almost total
absence of valyea. Tyson, he observes, has given a fig^ure of the
extensive venous plexus situated on the membrane investing the
psoas muscles, and these have recently occupied the attention of
breschet and Yon Baer. The inferior and superior vens cavse are
not brought into communication by the vena azygos, as in other
Mammalia ; such veins in the usual situation in the chest would have
been subject to oompression between the arterial plexuses and the
lungs. The venie azygos are therefore represented by two venous
trunks situated in the interior of the vertebral canu, where they
receive the intercostal and lumbar veins, and finally communicate
with the superior cava by means of a short single large trunk, which
penetrates the parietes of the posterior and right side of the chest.
Professor Owen concludes this interesting note to Hunter's ' Animal
Economy' by clearing up the difficulty, which must have occurred
to most, of accounting for the fact of so enormous an aninud as the
great whale being killed by such puny instruments as the harpoon
and lance. ** The non-valvular structure of the veins in the Cetacea"
says the Professor, " and the pressure of the sea-water at the depths
to which they retreat when harpooned, explain the profuse and
deadlv haemorrhage which follows a woimd that in other Mammalia
would be by no means fatal.''
Respiratory System. — Phytophagous Cetaceans. — Professor Owen
states that the peculiar form, structure, and position of the lungs
have been so accurately described and figured by Raffles, Home, and
Riippell, that he has only to observe the close agreement with these
accounts which the structure of the parts presented in the three
Dugongs dissected by him. Daubenton and Humboldt^ he remarks,
describe and figure a precisely similar condition of the respiratory
apparatus in the Manatee. Steller, he adds, describes the same
extension cf the lungs in the Rytinaj and compares it with the lungs
in the Bird, but without their fixation in the parietes of the chest, so
characteristic of that class. Professor Owen is of opinion that the
Chelonian reptiles perhaps offer a closer resemblance to the Herbivo-
rous Cftaeea in this respect ; and he notices it as worthy of remark,
that the air-cells of the lungs are larger in the Dugong than in any
other mammals. In the Carnivorous (7etacea, the air-cells, he observes,
are remarkably minute, and the lungs more compactly shaped and
lodged in a shorter thorax.
** Existing," continues Professor Owen, " as both the Herbivorous
and Carnivorous Ctiacea do, under such peculiar circumstances — as
air-breathing animals constantly dweUing in an element the access of
which to the lungs would be inmiediately fatal — ^it niight be supposed
that the mechanism of the larynx, or entry to the air-passage, would
be similarly modified in all the species, in order to meet the contin-
gencies of their aquatic existence. But we can as little predicate a
community of organisation in the structure of this part, as of the
circulating or digestive system in the CHacea of Cuvier. The Dugong
and the Dolphin present^ in fietct^ the two extremes in the Mammi-
ferous dass, in the development of the epiglottis, which is one of the
chief internal characteristics of that class. In the true Gdaeea and the
Ddphiiwida in particular, it is remaricable for its great length, and in
the Dugong it can hardly be said to exist at alL"
Professor Owen, after giving a minute and aoeorate account of the
larynx, thus proceeds : —
"Amongst the true (Macea^ we have obsared thai it is those
which subsist on the lowest oi'ganiaed animal substance^ as the
BalcenidcB, which approach the nearest to the herbivorous speciea, in
having the additionid complexity of the csscum ; and it is interestii^
to find that the same affinity is manifnted in the structure of the
larynx. The epiglottis and arytenoid cartilages, for example, are
relatively shorter in the JBakgnoptera than in Ddphktmi; and as Mr.
Hunter has observed, they are connected together by the membranes
of the larynx only at their base ; and not wrapped together or
surrounded by that membrane as far as the apices, as in the DolphizKL
In the Balcenoptera also, the apices of these cartilages are not expanded,
as in the Dolphins, but diminished to an obtuse exfanemity. These
points of resemblance to the condition of the larynx in the Dugong
and Bianatee are carried still further in the Mystioete Whale, at
least in the foetus dissected by me, and in which both the epiglottis
and arytenoid cartilages were relatively much shorter, and the thyroid
cartilage larger and more convex than in the Piked Whale {BaUBmoplera).
The thyroid cartilage is however a single piece in both genera <^
Balcenidatf though deeply notched above and below; and ih» larynx
presents several interesting individual peculiarities, which however
the minute and accurate descriptions and illustrations of this origan,
in both the Bakenoptera and BakauB, published by Profeaaor Q.
Sandifort, preclude the necessi^ of further dwelling upon."
The diaphragm, lungs, bronchi, and trachea present in the Zoopha-
gous Cetaceans secondary modifications only, but important difSsreoces
are exhibited in the nostrils, which serve to conduct the air from the
atmosphere to the lungs. The necessity for the act of spouting seems
to have led to the obuteration of the oi^gan of smelling, and to the
formation of a new organ especially destined to fulfil that ad
Although this oi^gan has only been studied thoroughly in the
DolphiniB, the probability is, that the apparatus in all the Zoophag^ous
Cetaceans is the same.
If, says Baron Cuvier, we trace the oesophagus upwards, we find
that when it arrives opposite the pharynx it appears to divide into
two passages, one of which is continued onwards to the month, while
the other ascends to the nose. Mucous glands and fleshy fibres, whidi
constitute several muscles, surround the last-mentioned passage.
Some of these are longitudinal, and arise fix>m the circumference of
the posterior orifice of the bony nostrils, and descend along that
canal to the pharynx and its sides ; the others, whidi are annular,
appear to be a continuation of the proper muscles of the phjuynx.
The larynx rises into this passage in a pyramidal form, and' the
annular fibres have the power of constricting it. Mucous follicles,
which pour out their secretion by conspicuous excretory orifices,
prevail in this part When the lining of the nasal passage has x^oached
the vomer, it Inscomes of a peculiar texture, thin, smooUi, and hlatk,
is apparently destitute of vessels and nerves, and very dry. A fleshy
valve closes the two bony nasal canals at the upper or external
orifice. It is formed of two semicircles attached to the anterior edge
of that orifice, which it shuts by the agency of a very strong moade
lodged above the intermaxillary bones. To open it, there is a neoeaaty
for some foreign body to press against it from below ; and v^en it
is dosed, it debars aU communication between the nasal passsgee and
the cavities above them, which cavities are two large membranous
pouches formed by dark mucous skin, and very much wrinkled when
empty ; but when distended, they become of an oval shape, which in
the Porpeese is about as large as a common wine-glass. These two
pouches lie beneath the integument in front of the nostrils, and
communicate with an intermmliate space immediately above those
nasal organs, whose external orifice is a transverse ■AmilniMM' alit
Strong fleshy fibres expand and cover the whole upper suifkce of this
apparatus, radiating from the entire circumference of the cranium,
umting above the two pouches, and adapted for compressing them
forcibly. Now we wifl suppose that the Cetacean has taken into its
mouth water which it wishes to eject : it first sets the tongue and
jaws in motion as if it were about to swallow tiie water ; bat,^utting
its pharynx, it forces the water to ascend into the nasal passages,
where the annular fibres above mentioned accelerate its progress tSi
it raises the valves and distends the membranous poudies abova
The water, when once in the pouches, can be there retained till the
animal wishes to spout When that wish is present, the Cetacean
closes the valve, and so prevents the descent of the water into the
nasal passages, and forcibly compresses the pouches by means of the
muscular expansion which overspreads them. The water, compiled
then to escape by the narrow semilunar aperture, is projected to a
height which corresponds to the amoimt of the pressure arolied.
In the case of the Spermaceti Whale, it appears that the animal
occupies about a seventh of its time in breathing ; and when it rises
after long intervals, an enormous column of air must rush into the
lungs and aerate a vast quantity of blood for the reservoir described
by Hunter. In ordinary mammals, man and the quadrupeds for
instance, respiration is momentarily going on, and enou^ air only
18 inhaled to oxygenate the blood requisite for a few pulsations
The spout-hole is simple in the Dolphins^ and situated, as seen in
Digitized by
Google
CKTACEA.
CETACEA.
the cai> towards the top of the head : the same shnplioity ezistB in
that of the Cachalots, but it is situated at the upper extremity of
the snout In the Whalebone Whales it is double, opening towards
the summit of the head, as in the Dolphins, in a crescentic form
whose convexity is sometimes anterior and sometimes posterior.
Yertieal sectioii, exhibiting the tongae, larynx, and noetrils of the Porpesse.
(* Cataloffoe of the PhyBiologieal Series ' (Mas. Coll. Chir.), toL U. pL 29, p. 163.)
Uropoietic System. — Professor Owen observes, that if we were
acquainted with the structure of the urinary organs of the Herbivorous
Ottacea, as it is exemplified in the Dugoug alond, we should have to
establi^ as marked a distinction in this respect between tiiem and the
true Oetacea as in the preceding organic systems. Instead of the
numerous and minute lobuli or renules into which the kidney is sub-
divided in the Dolphins and Whales, it presents in the Dugong a
simple compact form with an unbroken external surface ; the tubuli
uriniferi terminate upon two lateral series of eleven mammillae, which
project into a single elongated cavity or pelvis, from which the ureter
IS continued. ia. the Northern Manatee however, Steller, whose
accuracy Professor Owen justly notices, describes the kidney as being
subdivided like that of the Seal and Sea-Otter. A similar lobulated
structure is also ascribed by John Hunter, in his paper on Whales, in
* PhiL Trans.' (1787), to the Manatee, including it, with the Seal and
White Bear, among the animals occasionally inhabiting the water.
Daubenton, in his anatomical description of the Manatut Americamu,
merely notioes the kidneys as oblong, and placed opposite to each
other ; nor does his figure give any indication of lobulated structure ;
neither does Sir Evenurd Home mention such structure in his Anatomy
of the Manatee in ' PhiL Trans.' (1821). This want of uniformity
in the structure of the kidney in the Herbivorous Cekuxa is however.
Professor Owen adds, of less moment with reference to their natural
affinities ; since in the Pachyderms we find some species, as the
Bhinoceros, and though in a less degree, the Elephant, presenting a
subdivided kidnev ; while others, as the Tapir and Hog, have it entire.
In the foetus of the Dolphin, according to Miiller, the lobules of
the kidney oonsiBt prinoii>ally of convoluted urmiferous ducts,
extending from the apex to the circumference of the lobule; the
intertwinings of the tubuli are greatest in the interoortical portion.
It is a curious fact. Professor Owen remarks, that the supra-renal
gland in the Porpesse presents a certain resemblance to the kidnev in
its lobulated exterior ; but, he adds, the analogy extends no fiuther,
for on making a section of this part it was found to consist of the
usual continuous compact substance.
Qenerative System. — John Hunter remarks that the organs of genera-
tion of this order of animals come in both sexes nearer in form to those
of tbe Ruminants than of any others ; and this similarity is particu-
larly remarkable in the female ; in the male their situation varies on
aooonnt of the modification of the external form of the body.
Tbe female organs in the Rytina have been described by Steller ;
and Sir Everard Home has given an account of those of the Dugong.
('Phil. Trans.,' 1820.)
Hunter, in his paper on Whales has entered particularly iuto the
structure of those of the Zoophagous Cetaceans. The period of
utexdne gestation does not appear to be certainly known ; the number
of young IB generally considered not to exceed one, there being but
two nipples; the gli^ds for the secretion of milk are two, one on each
aide of the mesial line of the belly at its lower part. The milk is very
rich, like that of a cow to which cream has been added.
Professor Owen remarks, that much stress has been recently laid
on the supposed existence which the muscles siurounding the mam-
mary g^and aflbrd in the act of suckling, by compressing the gland and
ejaculating the nulk accumulated in the dilated receptacle or reservoir ;
hut he observes that, considering how great the pressure of the
surrounding water must be upon the extended surfietoe of the mam-
mary gland, it may readilv be conceived, that when the nipple is
grasped by the mouth of the young, and the pressure removed from
it by the retraction of the tongue, the milk will be expelled in a
copious stream by means of the surrounding pressure alone^ indepen-
dently of muscular aid. The Professor adds, that the intimate stmo-
ture of the mammary gland in the Zoophagous Uetcusea Is essentially
the same as in the OrnUhorhynchuSf being composed of an innumerable
quantity of csocal tubes ; tiiese are however shorter than in the
Omithorhynchiu, and their glandular parietes are firmer; they are
well shown in the figure of the mammary gland in a young Piked
Whale {Balamoptera rottrata) given by Miiller in his seventeenth plate,
fig. 2., and according to that author present, after the Omithorhynchus,
the simplest structure of the mammary gland in the entire mammi-
ferous series of animals.
Brain, Nervous System, and Senses. — The brain is well formed. In
the Porpesse and the common Dolphin it has been stated to be as
highly developed as in any mammiferous quadruped. In the greater
whales there is reason for supposing that the ratio of the weight of
the brain to that of the body is ^^ In the smaller Cetaceans it is not
diminished to a proportionate size, as its extraordinary development
ia the Dolphin testifies.
SmelL — Hunter observes that in many of the Whale Tribe there ia
no organ of smell at all, and ia those which have such an organ, it is
not that of a fish, therefore probably not calculated to smell water.
It becomes difficult therefore, he remarks, to accoimt for the manner
in which such AnimAlH smell the water ; and why the others should
not have had such an oi-gan, which seems to be peculiar to the large
and small Whalebone Whales (Balcena mysticetua and Balcenoptera
roatrata) ; the organ, in those which have it» he adds, is extremely
small, when compared with that of other animals, as well as the nerve
which is to receive the impression.
Taste. — The complicated and indeed delicate structure of the tongue
in the Phytophagous Cetaceans indicates that they must enjoy the
sense of taste, alUiough the tongue is capable of but slight motion.
But it has been doubted whether the Zoophagous Cetaceans are
endowed with a special oxgan for the enjoyment of this sense. No
foasulate nor conical papilke are present ia the tongue of the Dolphin
or of the Porpesse ; slight elevations, the middle of which appears to
be perforated, are only perceptible, and the fringed edges would seem
to lead to the notion that their object is more intended for
furthering the sensations of touch.
John Hunter states that the tongue, which is the organ of taste, is
also endowed with the sense of touch. He found the tongue in the
Porpesse and Grampus firm in texture, composed of muscle and fat»
poiuted and serrated on its edges like that of a hog. In the Spermaceti
Whale, he says, it was almost like a feather-bed. In the Piked
Whale it was but gently raised, hardly having any lateral edges, and
its tip projecting but little, yet like every other tongue, composed ox
muscle and fat. He supposes thai^ the tongue of the large Whale-
bone Whale rises in the mouth considerably ; the two jaws in the
middle being kept at such a distance on account of the whalebone, so
that the space between, when the mouth is shut, must be filled with
the tongue.
Sight. — The eye in the Herbivorous Cetaceans only is provided
with anictitatiDg membrane, or lateral lid ; that of the Zoophagous or
Spouting Cetaceans has no lachrymal glands, but the lids are furnished
with glands for a mucous secretion adapted for lubricating the
sclerotic coat
John Hunter states that the eye in this tribe is constructed upon
nearlv the same principle as that of the quadrupeds, difiering how-
ever m some circumstances, by which it is probably better adapted to
see in the medium through which the light is to pass. It is upon
the whole small for the size of the animal The lids have but little
motion, and consist not of loose cellular membrane, as in common
auadrupeds, but rather of the common adipose membrane of the body ;
le connection however of their circumference with the common
iuteguments is loose, the cellular membrane being less loaded with
oil, which allows of a slight fold being made upon the surrounding
parts in opening the eyelids. This is not to an equal d^^^^ee, he adds,
in them all, being less so in the Porpesse than ia the Fiked Whale.
A detailed account of the anatomy of the eye in whales will be found
in Hunter's paper.
Hearing. — There is no external concha, but the ear is constructed
much upon the same principle as in the quadruped ; there are how-
ever certain differences which the reader will find set forth in Hunter^s
paper. The sense seems to be fairly developed, and whale-fishera
experience no small difficulty from the warning given by both eve
and ear. It has however been stated that the Greenland Whale,
though not without a nice sense of hearing, remains insensible to the
report of a cannon.
Touch. — The sensation of touch must be lively, though it is a
commonly received opinion that the common Dolphin, notwithstanding
its delicate epidermis, is not very sensible to tactile impressions.
Messrs. Breschet and Roussel de Vauz&me distinguish the following
constituents in the skin of the Cetaceans : — 1. Derm, or corium, a
dense fibrous cellular texture, which contains and protects all the
other parts of the skin. 2. The papillary bodies, consisting of
papillfid covered by the denn. 8. The sudorific apparatus, consisting
of soft, elastic, spiral canals, which extend through the entire thick-
ness of the denA, and open in the intervals of the papUls by an
orifice, closed generally by a small epidermic valve. 4. The inhalent
apparatus, . 5. The mucous apparatus. 6. The colorific apparatus.
Digitized by
Google
^
CETACEA.
According to Hunter, the reticular network containing the blubber,
which is described by him as fine in the Porpesse, Spermaceti, and
laige Whalebone Wlude (BalcBna), and coarse in the Grampus and
■mall Whalebone Whale {Bakgnaptera), forms part of the skin.'
In gi^g some illustrationB of this large family we shall follow the
arrangement of Dr. J. K Gray as indicated above.
The following is a synopsis of the chanoter of the genera of the
first family BalanidoB : —
a. Dorsal fin none. Belly smooth. Baleen elongate, slender.
1. BalcencL
h. Dorsal fin distinct. Belly plaited. Baleen broad, short.
2. Megaptera. Pectoral fins elongate. Dorsal fin low.
8. Bakenoptera, Pectoral fins moderate. Dorsal fin falcate,
I length from nose. Yertebno 5i or 64.
It is in the genus BaUena that the baleen, or whalebone, is most
highly developed. John Hunter describes this extremely elastic
animal substance as being of the same nature as horn, a term which
he uses to express what constitutes hair, nails, daws, feathers, &c.
It consists, he remarks, of thin plates of some breadth and in some of
very considerable length, their breadth and length in some degree
corresponding to one another ; when longest they are commonly the
broadest, but not always so. The plates differ in size in different
ports of the same mouth, more especially in the lai^ Whalebone
Whale. "They are placed," continues Hunter, **in several rows,
encompassing the outer skirts of the upper jaw, similar to teeth in
other Miimftla, They stand parallel to each other, having one edge
towiu*ds the circumference of the mouth, the other towards the centre
or cavity. They are placed near together in the Piked Whale, not
being a quarter of an inch asunder, where at the greatest distance, yet
differing in this respect in different parts of the same mouth ; but in
the Great Whale the distances are more considerabla The outer row
is composed of the longest plates ; and these are in proportion to the
different distances between the two jaws, some being 14 or 15 feet
long and 12 or 16 inches broad ; but towaitls the anterior and posterior
parts of the mouth they are very short, they rise for half a foot or
more, nearly of equal breadths, and afterwards shelve off from their
inner side until they come near to a point at the outer : the exterior
of the inner rows are the longest, corresponding to the termination of
the declivity of the outer, and become shorter and shorter till they
hardly rise above the g^m. The inner rows are closer than the outer,
and rise almost perpendicularly from the gum, being longitudinally
straight, and have lees of the declivity than the outer. The plates
of the outer row laterally are not quite flat, but make a serpentine
line ; more especially in the Piked Whale the outer edge is thicker
than the inner. All round the line made by their outer edges runs a
small white bead, which is formed along with the whalebone, and
wears down with it The smaller plates are nearly of an equal thick-
ness upon both edges. In all of them the termination is in a kind of
hair, as if the plate was split into innumerable small parts, the exterior
being the longest and strongest The two sides of the mouth com-
posed of these rows meet nearly in a point at the tip of the jaw, and
n>read or recede laterally from each other as th^ pass back ; and at
their posterior ends in the Piked Whale they make a sweep inwards,
and come veiy near each other, just before the opening of the odso-
phaguR. In the Piked Whale there were above 800 in the outer rows
on each side of the mouth. Each layer terminates in an oblique
surface, which obliquity inclines to the roof of the mouth, answering
to the gradual diminution of their length ; so that the whole surfiioe,
composed of these terminations, forms one plane, rising gradually
from the roof of the mouth : from this obliquity of the edge of the
outer row we may in some measure judge of the extent of the whole
base, but not exactly, as it makes a hollow curve, which increases the
base. The whole surface resembles the skin of an animal covered
with strong hair, under which surface the tongue must inmiediately
lie when the mouth is shut ; it is of a light-brown coloiu* in the Piked
Whale, and is darker in the Large Whale. In the Piked Whale, when
the mouth is shut, the projecting whalebone remains entirely on the
inside of the lower jaw, the two jaws meetingeverywhere along their
surface ; but how tlus is effected in the Laige Whale I do not certainly
know, the horizontal plane made by the lower jaw being straight, as
in the Piked Whale ; but the upper law being an arch cannot be hid
by the lower. I suppose therefore that a broad upper lip, meeting as
low as the lower jaw, covers the whole of the outer edges of the
exterior rows. The whalebone is continually wearing down, and renew-
ing in the same proportion, except that when the animal is growing
it is renewed faster and in proportion to the growth. The formation
of the whalebone is extremely curious, being in one respect similar to
that of hair, horns, spurs, &a ; but it has besides another mode of
growtii and decay equally singular. These plates form upon a vascular
substance, not immediately adhering to the lower jaw-bone, but
having a more dense substance between, which is also vascular.
This substance, which may be called the nidus of the whalebone,
sends out (the above) thin broad processes, answering to each plate,
on wMch the plate is formed, as the cock's spur or the bull's
horn, on the bony core, or a tooth on its pulp; so that each
plate is necessarily hollow at its growing end, the first part of the
growth taking place on the inside of this hollow. Besides this
CETACEA. 6S6
mode of growth, which is oommon to all such sobstancea, it
receives additional layers on the outside, whidi are fonned from
the above-mentioned vascular substance extended along the suriaoe
of the jaw. This part also forms upon it a semi-hocny sabetuoe
between each plate, which is very white, rises with the whaleboiw,
and becomes even with the outer edge of the jaw, and the tenni*
nation of its outer part forms the Iwad above mentioned. Thii
intermediate substance fills up the spaces between the pistes u
high as the jaws, acts as abutments to the whalebone, or is similar to
the alveolar processes of the teeth, keeping them firm in their places.
As both the whalebone and the intermediate substance are constantly
growing, and as we must suppose a determined length neceasuy, a
regular mode of decay must be established, not depending entirely on
chance, or the use it is put to. In its growth three parte appear to
be formed : one from the rising core, which is the centre ; a second
on the outside ; and a third being the intermediate substance. Theae
appear to have three stages of duration ; for that which forms on the
core, I believe, makes the hair, and that on the outside makes princi-
pally the plate of whalebona This, when got a certain length, breab
off, leaving the hair projecting, becoming at the termination Tery
brittle ; and the third or intermediate substance, by the time it rises
as high as the edge of the skin of the jaw, decays and softens away
like the old cuticle of the sole of the foot when steeped in wate.
The use of whalebone, I should believe, is principally for the retention
of the food till swallowed ; and I suppose the fish they catch are
small when compared with the size of the mouth." (Hunter 'On
Whales.')
View of the Inside of the Jaws of a fostal Baianoptera, showing the i
of the Whalebone. (Owen, ' Odontography.')
The following notes bv Dr. J. E. Gray contain the result of the most
recent observations on this curious production in the Oetaeea.-—
" The baleen, or whalebone, has generally been considered as the
teeth of the whale ; but this must be a mistake, for Mr. Knox
observes : 'In the foetal B. myttieetut 60 to 70 dental palps wen
found on each side of each jaw, making the whole number amount to
from 260 to 800. The preparation (No. 56) exhibits a portion of this
gum with 12 pulps. Had these pulps been confined to the upper jaw,
and corresponded to the nimiber of baleen plates, it would have fonned
a strong analog between the baleen and teeth ; but the number of
baleen plates m the whale greatiy exceeds the number of dental
pulps ; and the lower jaw, which contained an equal number of pulpa
with the upper, has neither teeth nor baleen in the adult whak
Their presence therefore in the foetal Mytticetut forms one of the
most beautiful illustrations of the unity of organisation in the animal
economy. The teeth in the Bidcena never cut the gfum, but become
gradually re-absorbed into the ^stem ; the very cavity in which the
gums were lodged disappears ; whilst, to suit the purposes of natore,
the integumentary mtem fiimishee the baleen, whidi is eridently a
modified form of hair and cuticle.' (Knox, ' Cat. Whales,' 22.) Pro-
fessor Eschricht has shown also that ^e foetus of Megaptera Bo9fi
(' Danish Trans.,' xL t. 4, 1845) has numerous teeth on the edge of the
jaw, though they are never developed. I am inclined to reg«r«ithe
baleen as a peculiar development of hair in the palates of these
animals, and somewhat analogous to the hair foimd in the palates of
the genus Leput, .
" From the examination I have been able to make of the baleen or
Balcenoptera roatrata^ and of different masses of small blades of BaiaM
aiutraliSf it would appear as if there was, at least in these two species,
two series of baleen on each side of the palate ; the external senes
being fonned of large triangular blades placed at a certain distanot
Digitized by
Google
W7
CETACBA.
CETACEA.
Apart ; and the iutemal, in B<zlanoptera rottraia, formed of Bmaller,
much thinner, triangular pieces, placed much closer together, and
forming a yery dense screening apparatus ; and in Bctkma atutralia the
inner aeries is formed of numerous separate narrow strips of whale-
bone, each ending in a pencil of hairs, which vary in sixe from that of
small twine to that of tape, half an inch wide : these are placed behind
the others, and gradually increase in size from the umermost to the
broad external series.
"The baleen, or whalebone, affords good characters for the separation
of this family into sections. Mr. Knox (* Cat Prep. Whale,') gives
the best account of the development, position, and distinction between
the baleen of the whales of the North Sea which has come under my
observation ; and it agrees with the observations I had made on the
subject before I could procure his pamphlet.
"Jn BfxleBnamaxitMU, Knox {Phytalue Antiqwntm), 814 external
or labial plates (baleen) were counted on each side. Towards each
extremity these plates degenerate into bristles, and admit of being
counted with difficulty. Towards the mesial line the baleen as a
masB diminishes gradually in depth, giving the whole palatine surface
an elegant arched form. The 814 external or labial plates do not
extend to the whole extent in a transverse direction, but a system of
numeroiu small and narrow plates succeeds the external ones. For
each external plate twelve (internal) smaller ones could be easily
counted ; so that the number of plates which could be counted, and
not including the bristly terminations towards the snout^ pharynx,
and mesial line, stands thus : external or labial plates 814 ; internal
small plates^ corresponding to each external one, 12 ; total number of
baleen plates 8768. The longest plate of baleen is placed about the
centre of each of the sides, and measured 26 inches in length, and 15
indies in breadt]^ The substance when recent is highly elastic and
veiy heavy : the whole weighed nearly two tons.
*'It is short or long according to the species of whale, being
modified entirely by the more or less arched form of the upper jaw.
ICr. F. Knox first pointed out this curious and important fact. The
usual ocmdusion come to by all persons was, that the siee of the whale
corresponded to the length of the bone or baleen. Now, this is only
good with regard to one species of whale, and not at all to the whole
group of Whalebone Whales. (Knox, * Cat. Prep. Whale,' 8.)
*'m Bakena mminuu, Knox (Balcmoptera rostrata), 807 external
or labial (baleen) plates can be counted on each side. Towards each
extremity these plates degenerate into fine bristles, which were not
counted. The plates hang perfectly parallel with each other, and
from their closeness and fringed lingual aspect must act as a very
perfect filter in collecting the minute molluscous animals, and at the
same time enable the whale to eject the water. The food of the
whale is still a much disputed point. It is now generally admitted
that the MytHeetut lives only on small MeduMB, shrimps, &c., but
that the other species of Wlialebone Whale devour inconceivable
quantities of fish ; for instance, M. Deemoulins states that ' 600 great
cod and an immensity (probably as many thousands) of pilchards
have been found in the stomach of a single Rorqual'
"Mr. F. Knox, in dissecting the BtUcpnamaximitay saw no cavity in
the course of the viscera which could have contained six cod of
ordinary size; that of B. minimut was empty, although the Frith of
Forth, particularly at and above Queensferry, abounds at all seasons
vrith herrings and other fishes and their fry. The want of teeth by
no means renders it impossible that the Balcena with baleen can live
on large fishes ; but the extreme narrowness of the gullet (that of B.
mojeiMUi barely allowed the passage of the closed human hand, and
that of B. minimut was certainly nairower than that of an ordinary
sized cow), added to the want of teeth and the want of proper
authenticated information on the subject, are strong arguments in
favour of the hypothesis that they do not. (Knox, * Cat. Prep.
Whale,' 16.)
" The thickness of the plate of baleen depends on the number of
briatlea In the baleen of B, mcucimug there are 506 bristles in the
thickness of the plate, and by a rude enumeration thc^ appeared to
be at least 130 bristles in each inch. The whole breadth of the plate
being 5^ inches gives us 747 bristles entering into its composition.
These bristles are matted together to the extent of 11 inches on the
external and 5 inches on the internal maigins by a substance like
minute lamina or scales, and which may be seen by the aid of a
microscope to invest the free bristles at the fringed extremity of the
plate. We have often observed the facility with which some baleen
can be split up, and were struck with the fact that the baleen of
JB. maximua would not split. The removal of the external lamina in
the plate under description shows the cause of this : about 6^ inches
from tiie root of ^e plate, many of the bristles have deviateid from
their direct parallel inclination, and become intimately twisted and
interwoven with each otiier. It has been attempted to prove the age
of the whale from an examination of the baleen, in the same manner
as we judge of the age of cattle by certain annulated markings on
the horns. On tiie plate before us we can distinctly perceive numerous
tnnsverse lines crossing the course of the bristles at right angles. If
these transverse lines indicate a periodical check to the growth of the
baleen, then the age of the B. maanmtts would be 800 to 900 years
old, that being the number of transverse lines on the longest plate of
baleen. (Knox, * Cat. Prep. Whale/ 9.)
HAT. wan, DIV. VOL. L
"The whalebone of the smooth-bodied whales without any back fins
(Balcma) is elongate, much longer than broad at the base, and
gradually attenuated, and edged with a fringe of equal lengthened
fine sofb bristles. The baleen is internally formed of a thin layer of
fibres, covered on each side with a thick coat of ' eziamel ; ' when dry
and out of the mouth the blades are flat
''The whalebone of the plaited-bellied whale with a bunch (Ifs^a-
ptera) or a dorsal fin {Btdcmoplera) is short, broad, triangular, not
much longer than broad at the base, and rapidly attenuate ; and ia
edged with a series (sometimes rather crowded) of elongate rigid
unequal bristle-like fibres, which become much thicker and more rigid
near and at the tip. The baleen is internally formed of a more or
lees thick layer of thick fibres, covered on each side with a thin layer
of enamel, and when dry and out of the palate ihey are curled up
and somewhat spirally twisted.
" The bfdeen of the Balcena ia alone designated Whalebone (or rather
Whale-Fin, as it is usually called) in commerce. The baleen of the
other genera of this family is called Finner-Fin or Humpback-Fin.
The wholesale dealers in baleen, in the ' London Directory,' are called
Whale-Fin Merchants, and whalebone occurs tmder the name of
Whale-Fin in the 'Price-Current.* In the 'London New Price-
Current,' for 1843, the South Sea Whale-Fin varied during that year
from 200^ to 8052. per ton, and there is no price named for Qreenland
Whale-Fin. (H«Culloch, ' Com. Diet.' L 1344.)
" The baleen was formerly thought to be the tail of the animal.
(Blackstone, 'Conmien.' i 238, quoted by M<'Culloch, ' Com. Diet' 1844."
BctUena myatieetui (the Right Whale). It is the B. Orcenlandica of
Linnnus; B. vulgturis of Brisson; B. RonddetU of Willughby; the
Right, Whalebone, Common, or Greenland Whale of English writers.
One variety is called the Nord Kapper or Nord Caper, another the
Rock-Nosed Whala
Description. — Colour velvet-black, gray, and white, with a yellow
tinga Back, greater portion of the upper jaw, part of the lower, fins,
and tail, black ; lips, lore part of lower jaw, sometimes a little of the
upper, and a portion of the abdomen, white ; eyelids, junction of the
tail with the body, part of the axilla of the flippers, &c., gray. The
older the whale, the more white and gpnay is there upon it; some are
piebald all over. The surface of the body is rather furrowed. The
head is yery large, forming nearly a third of the whole bulk, the
under part, tiie outline of which is given by the jaw-bone, flat.
The lips inclose the cavity of the mouth; the upper jaw is bent
down at its edges like a boat upside down, so as to shut in the front
and upper paits of the cavity. On the most elevated part of the
head are situated the blow-holes, two longitudinal apertures like the
holes in the belly of a violin, and from 8 to 12 inches long. The
baleen is very long, ranging from 9 to 12 feet There are upwards of
three hundred of these plates of whalebone on each side of the jaw,
enclosing the tongue between their lower extremities, and themselves
covered by the lower lip. The body is thickest a little behind the
flippers, near the middle of its whole length, whence it gradually
tapers conically towards the tail, and slightiy towards the head.
There is no dorsal fin. The fiippers, about 9 feet long and 5 feet
broad, are placed about two feet behind the angle of the mouth, and
cannot be raised above a horizontal position. The horizontal tail is
flat and semilunar, indented in the middle ; the two lobes somewhat
pointed and turned a little backwards. The eyes, not much larger
than those of an ox, have a white iris, and are situated on the sides
of the head about a foot obliquely above and behind the angle of the
mouth. The sense of sight appears to be acute in the water, but not
above it The size of this whale has been supposed to have been
greatly exaggerated by old statements. Eighty and 100 feet were
mentioned as a frequent length, and many accounts more than doubled
that measurement At present 65 or 70 feet appear to be the extreme
length of a full grown Mysticete. The Rev. Dr. Scoresby, who has
elucidated the hirtory of uiis whale as satisfactorily as Mr. Beale has
that of the Sperm-Whale, and who was personally concerned in the
capture of 322, found not one that exceeded 60 feet It should be
remembered however, in criticising old accounts, that the great
persecution which tiiese animals have long undexgone and still
undergo, while it reduces their numbers, is very unfavourable to
longevity.
The habitat usually assigned to this whale is most extensive : thus,
M. Lesson states that it Inhabits all the seas of the globe, especially
the two poles; but it is not improbable that the Whalebone Whale
or Black Whale of the South Seas {Balcena amtralia, Desmoulins,
B. antardica, Less.), which has every appearance of being disUnct,
and moreover of being infested with parasitioal cirrhipedes {TuMcindUi,
Chrawula, &c.) of different species from those which infest the Green-
land Whale, has been mistaken for the last named cetacean. Multi-
tudes of the Southern Bakena were seen by Captain James Boss, R.N.,
in very high southern latitudes during his laat expedition.
This spedee seems to hear acutely any noise made in the water,
such as splashing, &c. in calm weather ; but a sound produced in thei
air, a loud shout for instance, when the whale is only at the distance
of a ship's length, is disregarded. The usual rate of swimming seldom
exceeds four miles an hour, but they will descend when harpooned at a
velocity of seven or eight nuleB an hour, and one of these whales when
8 K
Digitized by
Google
889
CETACEA.
CBTACEA.
MO
alarmed can aink in five or six seconds far beyond the reach of a hnman
enemy. The Mysticete seldom remains at the surface to breathe longer
than two minutes, during which period it blows eight or nine times.
It then descends for five or ten minutes ; sometimes, when on its feed,
for fifteen or twenty minutes. Though Dr. Scoresby states that it
has no voice, it makes, he observes, a loud noise in blowing. The
spout is ejected some yards high, and has the appearance of a pu£f of
smoke at a distance. They blow strongest, densest^ and loudest when
alarmed, or after a long stay imder water.
A veiy considerable portion of the feeding-grounds is occupied by
what is termed ' green water,' which swarms with minute life, and
has been carefully examined ajid described by Dr. Scoresby. The
smallness of the gullet is only fitted for swaUowing small animals,
such as the Clio borealis, numerous specimens of which (the * Whale's
Food' of the Greenland Whalers) will be found in the preparation
Ko. 323 A of the Physiological Series of the Museum of the Boyal
College of Surgeons in Ltondon. This small moUusk is said to consti-
tute the chief support of the Mysticete, and the structure and dispo-
sition of the whalebone-plates explain how these or any other small
species of animal are retained in the capacious mouth of their devourar,
while the water taken in along with them drains thiough the inter-
stices of the plates. When the Mysticete feeds, it swims rapidly below
the surface with open jaws ; a stream of water enters them, and with
it myriads of small marine animals ; the water finds an outlet at the
sides, but the thick internal hairy apparatus of the whalebone does
not permit one of these animals to escape.
Nine or ten months is supposed to be the period of utero-gestation,
and the •mother is so attached to her young one, or ' sucker,' as it is
termed, that it is often struck as a snare to the affectionate parent^
for she will not leave it, and falls a viotim to her maternal love. Dr.
Scoresby relates instances of this kind which cannot be perused, much
less witnessed, without great pain by any person of ordinary humanity.
Such a mode of capture seems hai^y justifiable, whilst it must be
ruinous to future prospects.
This species is generally found alone or in pairs, excepting when
many individuals are attracted to some abundant feeding-ground or
to a desired locality, such as the vicinity of icebergs.
To the Esquimaux and the Greenlander this species is all in alL
They eat the flesh and fat with indescribable relish. The membranes
of the abdomen serve them for clothing, and the thin transparent
peritoneum .admits light through the windows of their huts whilst it
keeps out the weather. The bones are made into props for their
tents, or aid in the formation of their boats, and supply them with
harpoons and spears for the capture of the seal and greater sea-birds.
The sinews, divided into filaments, are used as thread for sewing their
dress, &c. Some have stated that pickled and boiled blubber is
palatable, and that the tail, first parboiled and then fried, is sgreeable
eating. The fiesh of the young whale is said to be by no means
indifferent food. To civilised nations, the oil made from its fat or
blubber, and the whalebone, have long made it a great oommercial
object. [FisHS&isa, in Abis and Sa Drv.]
Greenland Whale {Baiana myHicetus).
B. margvnata, the Western-Australian Whale, has very long and
slender baleen, with a rather broad black edge on the outer or straight
side. From the character of the baleen Dr. Gray considers this a
distinct species.
B. outtrcdiBy the Cape Whale. It is the Right Whale of South Sea
Whalers, the Southern Whalebone Whale of Nunn, the Common
Black Whale of Su* James Ross. It inhabits the South Seas, and is
of a uniform black colour.
B. JaponicOf the Japan Whale. It is an inhabitant of the coasts of
Japan, which it visits periodically. Its head is covered with barnacles.
•Only the baleen has been seen in England. The species has been
desoribed from Chinese drawings.
B, mUarctica, the New Zealand Whale. A species described by
Dr. J, E. Gray as B, Antipodarum, from a very accurate drawing of a
•pedmen taken in Jackson's Bay, New Zealand. It is the Tuku Peru
of the natives. The specimen was 60 fset in length. The following
cut is reduced from Dr. Gray's {date.
New Zealand Whale {BdUtna AnHpodarum). Gray.
B. gUiboMCkf the Scrag-Whale, is regarded as a species by Dr. J. R
Gray. It is an inhabitant of the Atlantic Ocean. "It is near akin to the
Finback, but instead of a fin upon its back, the ridge of the after part
of its back is scragged with half-a-doaen knobs or knuekle&" (Dudky.)
The remaining genera of the Baltgwida have either fins or humps
on their backs, and are called Finners and Hump-Backs.
The genus MegapUra includes the Hump-Backed Whaks. Thejare
easily known from the Finners in being shorter and more robust^ the
skull nearly one-fourth the entire lengw, the head wider between the
eyes, the mouth laiger, the lip warty, and the nose laige and rounded ;
the plaits of the belly and throat are broad. The skuU is intermediate
between that of BaUxna and Baktnoptera,
M. longimana, Johnston's Hump-Backed Whale. It was described
by Dr. Johnston from a specimen cast ashore at Newcastle. It is an
inhabitant of the North Sea, and has been takon at the mouth of the
Maas. It is the BcUama lonffimana of Rudolphi, and the Baiana
BoopSf or Keporkak, of Esohricht^ who says it is the most common
whale in the Greenland seas.
M. Americana, the Bermuda Hump-Back, is of a black colour, with
a white belly, and has its head covered with tubercles. It is the
Balcma nodota of Bonnaterre. It is foimd at Bermuda from March
to the end of May, when it departs. The baleen of this whale is
extensively imported from Bermuda.
M, Poaicopy the Poeskop, or Cape Hump-Back. It is the Rorqual
du Gap of Cuvier, the B. Lalandii of Fischer, and B. Capattit of
Androw Smith ; the Hump-Backed Whale of Boss's ' Antarctic Voyage.'
It is an inhabitant of the seas of the Cape of Good Hope.
M. Kugira, the Kuzira. It inhabits tjie Japanese seas.
Balamoptera rottratay the Pike-Whale. It is the BaicBna rottraia,
MiQler; Borqnalus rottraUu^ Dekay; Balcenoptera mierocepkak,
Brandt ; RorqtuUtu Boopt, F. Cuvier. It is of a black colour, under
neath of a reddish white. It inhabits the North Sea, and has been
found in New York Bay, at Valognes in France, and a specimen was
taken in the Thames at Deptford.
Phyaalut AfUiquorvm, the Razor-Back. It is iheBalamaAniiquoriM
of Fischer, and probably the Great Northern Rorqual of Enox and
Jardine ; the Rorqual de la Meditarrante of Cuvier. It is of a slate-
gray colour, whitii^ beneath. The baleen is slate-colDured, the under
edge blackish, the inner edge pale-streaked. It is an inhabitant of
the North Sea, and is sometimes found on the coasts of Great Britain.
Thero is a skeleton at Black Qtaxg Chine in the Isle of Wight 75 fi'et
long. It was taken in 1842. A specimen was taken at Berwick in
1881. Thero is a skeleton of one also at Plymouth 7i^ feet long. This
animal was found floating in Plymouth Soimd on the 2nd of October
1831. It is stated to have been 102 feet long and 75 feet in circam
ference. This specimen was taken round the country in three cara-
vans. Dr. J. E. Gray rofers the skeleton of the whale now in the
Edinburgh Botanic Gardens to this species. It was 80 feet long, and
was taken off North Berwick in 1833.
P. (Rorqualut) Boopa of Gray has been taken off the coast of Wales.
The length of the specimen in the British Museum is 38 feet ; the
head is 9 feet long, the vertebrsB aro 60 in number, and there are
15 pairs of single ribs. It was tedcen in 1846, and was mentioned
in the papers of the day as a Spermaceti Whale.
P. {Rorqualus) Sihbaidii. A specimen of this species exists in the
museum at HulL It is 50 feet long.
P. ftucicUut, the Peruvian Finner, desoribed by Tschudi, has beeo
found on the coasts of Peru.
P. Iwasiy the Japan Finner. It is very raro ; one was cast ashore
at Eii in 1760. It was 25 feet long.
P. cmtarciicuty named from the iMileen of a Now Zealand qiedea by
Dr. J. E. Gray.
P. Bratiliengis, the Bahia Finner. Named from baleen; brought
from Bahia.
P. auatralit, Southern Finner, inhabits the seas of the Filkland
Islands.
The family of CatodoKtIDJB inoludes the Toothed Whales. The
genera aro as follows : —
Catodon. Dorsal hump rounded. Blowen on ttoai of tnmcated
head. Skull elongate.
Koffia, Dorsal hump. Blowers (?). Skull short, broad.
Phyaeter. Dorsal fin falcate. Blower on back of fordiead. SkuU
elongate.
Digitized by
Google
901
OETACEA.
CETACEA.
flOl
There lifts been much discuBaioii about the genera and speoies of
this family. We shall however follow the ' Britidi Museum Catalog;ue,'
adding the more common synonyms of the spedea
Catodon maerocephalus, Northern Sperm-Whale. This is the Phytekr
macrocephaliu of Linnaeus ; the Sperm- Whale, the Spermaoeti Whale,
the Blunt-Headed Caohalot of English wiiters. It is the Physeter
Tnmpo of Bonnaterre; the OoUodon Trwnpo of Gkrard ; the Phfseter
g3}btu of Schreber; Cetut mctcrocephcUtu of Oken.
The colour of this animal is blaok, becoming whitish below.
The subjoined out of the jaw is from F. Cuvier, who givea it from
the skeleton in the Paris Museum, and ia confined to the lower
jaw only; from which it may be inferred, that in the French specimen
there is no appearance of teeth in the upper jaw : in the lower there
are 27 on each Bide=:54.
Teeth of Gachalot.
To render the following description more intelligible we prefix a
cot from Mr. Beale's won on the Sperm-Whale, which is by far the
most accarate pabliahed figure extant of the Spermaceti Whale.
=> >
Spermaceti Whale [Ck$Mkm maeroeepholm).
I, Outline of the entire form ; 2, anterior aspect of the head ; a, nostril, or
RpottUhole ; fr, situation of the ease ; e, the Junk ; d, beach of the neck ; «, eye ;
/, fin ; gj spiral strips or blanket pieces ; A, the hump ; i, the ridge ; k, the
small; I, the tail or flukes.
B, a harpoon. C, a lanoe.
a, in fig. 2 : the lines fornolng the square are intended to represent the flat
anterior part of the head.
The head presents a very thick blunt extremity, constituting about
a third of the whole length of the animal ; at its jimctlon with the
body is a large protuberance on the back called * the bunch of the
neck.' Immediately behind this is the thickest pert of the body,
which from thence gradually tapers ofif to the tail, but it does not
become much smaller for about another third of the whole length,
when ' the small ' or tail conunences ; and at this point also, on the
back, is a large pyramidal prominence called 'the hump,' from which
a series of smaller processes run half way down the ' small' or tail,
constitatiug what the whalers term the * ridge.' The body then con-
tracts BO much as to become finally not thicker than that of a man,
and terminates by expanding on the sides into the 'flukes' or tail,
forming a large triangular horizontal fin with a slight notch or
depression posteriorly between the flukes, which are about 6 or 8
foet in length, and from 12 to 14 feet in breadth in the largest males
or ' bulls.' The chest and belly are narrower than the broadest part
of the back, and taper off evenly towards the tail ; the depth of the
bead and body is, in all parts except the tail, greater than the width.
The head, viewed in front, presents a broad somewhat flattened
surface, rounded and oontracteid above, considerably expanded on the
sides, and gradtially contracted below, resembling in some degree the
cutwater of a ship. The slit of the single blowing-hole or nostril ia
about 12 inches in length. In the right side of the nose is the ' case,'
a cavity for the purpose of secreting and containing an oily fluid,
which after death concretes into a granulated yellowish substanoe :
this is the Spermaceti. In the case of a large whale there is not un-
frequently a ton, or more than ten barrels of spermaceti Beneath
the case and nostril is tiie elaatio 'junk,' formed of dense cellular
tissue, strengthened by strong tendinous fibres, and infiltrated with
veiy fine sperm-oil and spermaceti The mouth extends nearly .the
whole length of the head. Both the jaws, especially the lower, are
contracted in front to a very narrow point; and when the mouth
is closed the lower jaw is received within a sort of cartilaginous Up, or
projection of the upper one : but principally in front ; for, farther back
at the sides, and towards the angle of the moutii, both jaws are
Axmiahed with tolerably well-developed lips. The tongue is small
and white. The throat is capacious enough to give passage to the
body of a man, presenting a strong contrast to the contracted gtdlet
of tiie Qreenland Whale. Throughout^ the mouth is lined with a
pearly white membrane. The eyes are small in proportion to the
sise of the animal, and are fumi^ed with eyeUds, the lower of which
is most moveable. At a short distance behind the eyes are the
external openings of the ears, sufficiently lai^ to admit a small quilL
Not far from the posterior angle of the mouth are the swimming-
paws or fins, which are not much used in progression, but probably
more as balances, and occasionally in supporting the young.
Mr. Beale gives the following as the dknensions of a Sperm-Whale
of the largest siae^ or about 84 feet in length : — Depth of head from
8 to 9 feet ; breadth from 6 to 6 feet ; depth of body seldom exceed-
ing 12 or 14 feet ; circumference seldom exceeding 86 feet ; swimming*
paws about 6 feet long and 3 feet broad.
The skin is smooth, bui occasionally in old whales wrinkled^ The
general colour is very dark, deepest on the upper part of the head,
back, and flukes, in which situationr it is sometimes black ; on the
sides it gradually assumes a lighter tint, and on the breast becomes
silvery-gray. In different individuals there is however every variety'
of shade, and some are piebald. Old ' bulls ' hsve generally a portion
of gray on the nose, immediately above the fore'part of the upper jaw,
when they are said to be 'gray-headed.' The ' black skin' in young
whales is about three-eighths c^ an inch thick ; in old ones it is
not more than one-eighth. Immediately beneath the black skin is
the blubber or fat» termed the ' blanket' of a light yellowish colour,
producing when melted the sperm-oiL
The bulk of the head is, as we have seen, made up of a membranous
' case,' containing a thin oil of much less specific gravity than water ;
below which again is the 'junk,' which, although heavier than the
spermaceti, is still lighter than the element in which the whale
moves ; consequently, observes Mr. Beale, the head taken as a whole
is lighter specifically than any other part of the body, and will always
have a tendency to rise at least so far above the surface as to elevate
the nostril or blow-hole sufficiently for all purposes of respiration ;
and more than this, a very slight effort on the part of the whale
would only be necessary to raise the whole of the anterior fiat surface
of the nose out of the water. At very regular intervals of time the
snout emerges, and from, the extremity of the nose the spout is thrown
up, and at a distance appears thick, low, bushy, and white. It is
formed of the expired air forcibly ejected through the blow-hole, and
acquires its white colour from minute partidee of water previously
lodged in the chink or fissure of the nostril, and also from the con-
densation of the aqueous vapour thrown off by the lungs. The
spout, says Mr. Beale in continuation, is projected at an angle of
186 degrees, in a slow and continuous manner for about three minutes,
and may be seen from the majit-head in favourable weather at the
distance of four or five miles. When the whale is alarmed, or ' gallied,'
the spout is thrown much higher with great rapidity, and differs much
from its usual appearance. Immediately after each spout the nose
sinks beneath the water, scarcely a second intervening for the act of
inspiration, which must consequently be performed very.quiddy, the
air rushing into the chest with astonishing velocity ; there is however
no sound caused by inspiration, and very little by expiration in this
species : in short, nothing of that loud noise called the 'drawback'
in the Finback and other whales. Ten seconds is oocupied by a large
bull sperm whale in making one inapiration and one expiration :
during six of these the nostril is beneath tiie water. At each breathing-
time the whale makes from 60 to 70 expirations, and remains there-
fore at the surfiaco 10 or 11 minutes. When the breathing-time ia
over, or, as the whalers term it, he has had his ' spoutings out^' the
head sinks slowly, the ' snudl,' or the part between the ' hump ' and
' flukes,' appears above the water, curved, with the convexity upwards ;
the flukes are then lifted high into the air, and the animal having
assumed a straight position, descends perpendicularly to an unknown
depth. This last act is called ' peaking the flukes,' and those who are
on the look-out call loudly when they see it—' there goes flukes.' The
whale continues thus hidden beneath the surface for one hour and ten
minutes ; some will remain one hour and twenty minutes, and othem
only for one hour ; but these, Mr. Beale says, are rare exceptions. A
seventh of the time of this whale is, Mr. Beale makes out, consumed
in respiration.
Small fishes are occasionally swallowed in quantities by this whale,
and one has been known to eject from its stomach a fish as large as
a moderate-sized salmon ; but the principal food of the Sperm-Whale
appears to consist of squids or cuttle-fishes. [SsFlABiB.]
This species is gregarious ; and the herds called 'schools' are of
two kinds, one consisting of females, the other of young males not
fully grown. Mr. Beale has seen as many as 500 or 600 in one
'school' With each female 'school' are from one to three large
' bulls ' or ' school-masters,' as they are termed by the whalers. The
full-grown males almost always go alone in search of food : they are
when alone very incautious and easily kill^ It is the smaller, or
' forty-barrel bull,' as he is called, that makes the most desperate resist-
ance. A large whale will yield 80 barrels of oil, and sometimes 100.
Mr. Beale states that the female is smaller than the male, and that
she breeds at all seasons, producing generally only one at a time, but
sometimes two. Nothing certain appears to be known as to the
Digitized by
Google
908
CETACEA.
CETACEA,
904
period of gestation, but F. Cuyier suppoaea it to be ten months.
A foetal Cachalot, diaaected by Mr. Bennett, waa 14 feet long and
6 feet in circumferenoe, deep black, mottled with white spots. Its
position in the womb waa that of a bent bow. According to F. Cuvier,
the two brought forth by the Stranded Whale near D'Audieme,
were 10 or 11 feet long ; and Captain Colnett states that the young
Sperm-Whales which he saw in great numbers off the Ghdapagos
Idands were not larger than a small Porpesse. Mr. Beale's own
observations coincided with those of Mr. Bennett
For many other habits of this whale, such as * breaching,' or leaping
clear out of the water and falling back again on its side, so that the
breach may be seen in a dear day from the mast-head at a distance
of six miles ; * going head out,' a mode of progression which enables
it to attain 10 or 12 miles an hour, which Mr. Beale believes to be its
greatest velooi^; 'lob-tailing,' or lashing the water with its tail;
and the vivid aesoriptions of the dangers and haii^breadth escapes
attending its capture, we must refer to Mr. Beale's book, which every
one who is anxious for information on this subject should read.
This animal is an inhabitant of the north ; it has however been
found on the coasts of America, Japan, New Guinea, and Timor. It
has been frequently stranded on the British Islanda. Twelve males
were caught at Walderwich on the Suffolk coast in 1788. There is a
skeleton of an adult at Burton-Constable Castle, near Hull, in York-
shire. It has been taken also near Teignmouth, in Whitstable Bay, and
in the Frith of Forth.
The Spermaoetl "Wbalo {Oatodon fnaeroeephaiut), Beale.
C. (klnetiy the Mexican Sperm-Whale, is an inhabitant of the North
Pacific, the South Seas, and equatorial oceans, and often referred to
the last species.
C. polycyphut, the South Sea Sperm-Whale, is found in the Southern
Ocean, and is also spoken of as the Cachalot, or Sperm-Wliale.
Koffia is the generic name given by Dr. J. E. Gray to a form of
whale with a shorter head, whic^ has been taken at the Cape of Good
Hope. It has been sometimes regarded as the young of the Sperm-
Whale.
K. brevicepBy the Short-Headed Whale of Gray, is the only species,
and has been described from a single skull in the Paris Museum.
PhyHier is the generic term applied by LinnsBUB and many subse-
quent writers to the Sperm-Whale, but it was originally applied by
Artedi to the Black Fish, to which Dr. J. K Gray has restored it in
the ' British Museum Catalogue.'
P. Turiio, the Black Fish of Gray, is the PhpaeUr mteroja and
P. Twrtio of Artedi, and probably the Ddphinus glAicept or i>. Qram^
put of Cuvier. It is of a black colour. "The teeth are from 11 to 22
on each side. It is an inhabitant of the North Sea. Two specimens,
52 feet in length, have been taken off the coasts of Scotland, and
were described by Sibbald. Of one of the specimens Sibbald observes,
<< The size of the cranium may be estimated by the fact that four
men were seen inside it at one time extracting the brain, which con-
tained several cells or alveoli, like those which bees keep their honey
in, and in these were rounded masses of a white substance, which
upon examination were proved to be sperm. Some of this substance
was also found externally on the head, in some parts to the thickness
of two feet."
The family of Dblfhinii>J3, or Dolphins, are more numerous than
those of the other Odetcea. They are distinguished from the last
family by the smaller and more proportionate head ; and in those
species which have lost their upper teeth at an early age, by there
being no regular pits in the gums of the upper jaw for the reception
of the teeth of the lower one ; and also by the hinder part of the
skull not being deeply concave, and surrounded on the sides and
behind bv a high ridge.
The following is a synopsiB of the genera and sub-families of this
extensive family: —
A, Jaws tapering ; the symphysiB of the lower jaw short, not half
the length of the jaw. Dorsal fin generally distinct ; pectoral fin
ovate, acute. Marine.
a. Upper jaw toothless ; lower jaw with only one or two teeth
(which are often hidden in the gums) on each side. Beak of the
skull keeled on each side, the keel being sometimes large, and forming
a kind of reflexed wing on Mch side ; head with a short beak.
ffyperoodotUina.
1. Byperoadon. Th^Jbeak of the upper jaw with a lai^ erect
wing-like expansion in front of the blowers ; lower jaw with two
rudimentaiy teeth in. front.
2. Ziphiut, Beak of upper jaw keeled on each side ; lower jaw
broad, bent down in front with large compressed teeth in the middle
of each side.
8. Ddpkiwirhynchm, Beak of upper jaw keeled on each aide;
lower jaw nearly straight, with two or three small rudimentaiy
conical teeth in the middle of each side.
6. Upper and lower jaw vrith few or deciduous teeth. Wings of the
maxillary bones expanded and shelving downwards. The beak shorty
deflexed. Forehead convex. Head rounded, without any beaL .
Monoceratina.
* Lower jaw toothless.
4. Monodon. Upper jaw of males with one or two very long
projecting spirally-twisted tusks. Dorsal fin nona
** Upper and lower jaw with conical, eariy deciduous teeth.
5. Beluga. Dorsal fin none.
*«* Upper and lower jaw with compressed permanent teeth.
6. NeomerU, Dorsal nona
7. Pkoaena. Dorsal triangular, in the middle of the back.
c. Uppor and lower jaw with many teeth, rarely dedduous with
age. Wings of the jaw-bone horizontally produced over the orbita.
Sdphinina.
* Head rounded in front, not beaked. Nose of skull scaroelj bo
long as the brain-cavity. Dorsal distinct
8. Grampus. Teeth conical, truncated, early deciduous. Inte^
maxillaries broad. Pectoral ovate.
9. GlobiocephaUu. Teeth conical, deciduous when old. Inter-
maxillaries very broad. Pectorals narrow, linear.
10. Oreo. Teeth conical, acute, permanent Intermaxillaries
moderate. Pectorals ovate.
** Head beaked. Nose of skull as long as or longer than brain-cavity.
11. Lctgenarhynchui. Head shelving in front Dorsal nther
posterior. Nose of skull depressed, expanded.
12. Ddphinapterus. Head rather convex in front Dorsal none.
Nose of skull rather depressed, convex above.
13. Bdphinus. Head rather convex in front Dorsal medial
Nose of skull rather depressed, convex above.
14. Steno. Head rather convex in front Dorsal medial Noee of
skull compressed, higher than broad ; symphysis of lower jaw rather
elongate.
15. Ponioporia, Head rather convex in front Dorsal medial Nose
of skull rather compressed ; high symphysis of lower jaw very long.
B, Jaws much compressed ; symphysis of the lower jaw veiy long.
Dorsal none. Teeth in both jaws. Fluviatile.
d. Skull with the maxillary bones simple, expanded over the orbit
Teeth conical Paddles ovate or oblong. Iniana.
16. Inia. Teeth rugose; the hinder ones with a rounded tubercle
on the inner side.
e. Skull with the maxilliaiy bones bent up in front of the blowen,
and forming a vault The teeth compressed. The paddles fan-
shaped, truncated at the end. PUUamttina,
17. PlatanitCa.
Hyperoodtm Butzkopf, the Bottle-Head. It is the Flounder's Head of
Dale, in his ' History of Harwich,' where it has been taken. Pennant
calls it the Beaked Whale. It inhabits the North Sea.
M. rotiratum, the Beaked Hyperoodon, is an inhabitant of the Korth
Sea. It differs from the last species in having the dorsal fin behind
the middle of the back. It has been taken in the Thames and the
Humber, and skeletons exist in the museums of Edinbuigh, Bristol,
and Liverpool
Two other species of Hyperoodon are described by Dr. J. £. Gray,
Bf. Jksmareaiii and B. latifront. The latter is a native of the North
Sea, and has been taken on the coast of Lancashire.
Ziphiut Sowerbiensit is the Phyteter bident of Sowerby, the Diodw
bidens of BeU. The head of a specimen caught in Scotland is now in
the museum at Oxford. Dr. Qray observes that " it belongs to the
genus Ziphiut of Cuvier, before only known in the fossil state; and
the examination of the skull has proved the accuracy of theae
determinations. ' '
Z. SechdUntit, named from a skull in the museum at Paris brought
from the Sechelles.
Bdphinorhynchut micropterut was first described by De Blainville.
It inhabits the seas of the coasts of Europe.
Monodon monoeerotf the Narwhal, Unicom, or Unicorn-Whale. It
is the Monodon tnicrocephalut and Nanohaiut AndertoMom ot
Desmarest When young it is black, but when old it is whitiih
marbled. Although it has sometimes two tusks, it has more frequently
one, from which it derives its name of UnioomL It inhabits the
Northern Ooean, and is not unfrequent on tiio coast of Scotland
The use of the tusk has been a matter for discussion. Dr. Scoresby
has expressed an opinion that as the end of the tusk is smooth and
clean, while the rest of it is rough and dirty, and as a broken task
was found rubbed and rounded, it may be used to pierce thin ice for
the purpose of enabling the animal to respire without the necessity
of retreating into open water. Again, he states that his father sent
him the contents of a Narwhal's stomach, conmsting of several half-
digested fishes, with others of which the bones only remained. There
were the remains of a cuttle-fish, part of the spine of a flat-fish, pro-
bably a small turbot, and a skate almost entire. The last was two feet
three inches in length, and one foot eight inches in breadth, comprising
the bones of the head, back, and tail, the side-fins, and considerable
Digitized by
Google
906
CETACEA.
CETACEA.
0C6
portions of the muscular subtstanoe. It appears, he obeerres,
renuLrkable that the Narwhal, an animal without teeth, with a small
mouth and stiff lips, should be able to catch and swallow so lai^ a
fiiih as a skate, the breadth of which is nearly three times as great as
the width of its own mouth. As the animal in which these remains
were found had a tusk of seven feet» Dr. Sooresby apprehended that
this instrument had been employed in the capture of the fishes on
which it had recently fed. It seemed probable to him that the skates
had been pierced with the horn and kiUed before they were devoured ;
otherwise, he observes, it is difficult to imagine how the Narwhal
could have swallowed them, or how a fish of any activity would have
permitted itself to be taken, and sucked down the throat of a smooth-
mouthed animal without teeth to detain and compress it.
The Narwhal {Monodan monocerot).
Narwhals swim with great swiftness. When at the surface for
respiration they blow repeatedly with considerable force, and then
frequently lie motionless for several minutes with their back and head
just above water. Dr. Scoresby describes them as often sporting about
his ship, sometimes in bands of about twenty together, often elevating
their long tusks and crossing them with each other as if they were
fencing. They often uttered a very unusual sound resembling the
gurgling of water in the throat, which Dr. Scoresby thinks produced
it, as it only occurred when they reared their tusks, with the front of
the head and mouth out of the water. Several of them followed the
ship, seeming to be attracted by curiosity. As the water was perfectly
transparent, they could be seen descending to the keel and playuig
about the rudder for a considerable time. Sir Joseph Banks stated
to Dr. Fleming, who has published a very interesting account of one
in the ' Wemerian Transactions,* that a Narwhal stranded on the
Liacolnahire coast was found with the whole of its body buried in the
mud of the beach, and seemed safely and securely waiting the return
of the tide.
The blubber of the Narwhal yields a very superior oil, which, as
well as the fleeh, is considered a dainty by the Qreenlauder. It is
regarded as the herald of the Mysticete, in whose neighbourhood the
former is said generally to be found — perhaps from partaking of
the same food. When harpooned it swiftly dives to about 200
fathoms, and on its return to the surface is killed by lances. The
Greenlander drives them to fissures in the ice, where they come up
to respire, and kills them with harpoons, &c The ivory of the tusk
is considered superior to that of the elephant ; it is very dense and
hard, very white, is not subject to become yellow, and is susceptible
of a high polish. They formerly brought a high price, and many
virtues were attributed to them : they s^l form a valuable article in
commerce. The celebrated throne of the Danish kings is stated to be
made of the tusks of this animaL
Bdu{fa Cdtodonf the Northern Beluga. It is the Cetut hipinnis of
Brisson ; Phyaeter Catodon of Linneeus ; Delpliinut leucaa of Pallas ;
Catodon Sibbaldii of Fleming ; the Beluga, Round-Headed Cachalot,
Small Catodon, of English writers; the White Whale, and White
Fish, of whalers ; and the Albtu Piscia Cetaceut of Ray. It is known
by its white coloiur. When young however it is black. It is an inha-
bitant of the North Sea^ and has been taken in Scotland. We are
informed by Mr. Whittle of the dockyard, Chatham, that one made
its appearance in the waters of the Med way in the spring of 1846,
ad?ancing daily with the flow of the tide for a month as high as
Kochester bridge. It was at last shot near Upnor Castle. It measured
13 feet 1 indi, and was all over of a most delicate primrose yellow
colour. The dental formula was — H--.
8— 8
One of these dolphins baimted the Frith of Forth in the summer of
1815 for nearly three months, passing almost daily upwards, and again
retiring with the flood and ebb. It was supposed to be in pursuit of
salmon, and after many unsuccessful attempts the salmon-fishers
killed it with fire-arms and spears. Mr. Bald of Alloa bought it, and
Bent it to Professor Jameson : it is now in the Edinburgh Museum,
and formed the subject of the interesting observations of Dr. Barclay
and Mr. Neil in the ' Transactions of the Wemerian Society.*
Mr. Neil remarks that the shape of this animal is very symmetrical,
Buggesting the idea of perfect adaptation to rapid progression in the
water. « Its head," he observes, "is small and lengthened, and over
the forehead there is a thick round cushion of flesh and fiat : the body
continues to swell as far as the huge thick oval flippers, and from
that point gradually diminishes to the setting on of the tail, which ia
powerful, and described as bent imder the body in swimming, and
propelling the animal with the velocity of an arrow."
g g
In the specimen examined by Mr. Neil the teeth were — — -
6 — 6»
The higher and arctic latitudes appear to be the chosen haunts of
the Bduga, They abound in Hudson's Bay, Davis's Straits, and on
parts of the southern coasts of Asia and America, where they ascend
the large rivers. Steller noticed them at Kamtchatka ; and in Charle-
voix's time they were numerous in the Oulf of St. Lawrence, going
with the tide as high as Quebec. Disco Island in Greenland is said
to abound with them, nor are they scarce at Spitzbeigen. Scoresby
did not see them lower than Jan Mayen's Land ; he seldom observed
them among the ice, but where the water was clearest and smoothest
They are described as not at all shy, but often following the ships,
tumbling about the boats in herds of forty or fifty, bespmgling the
surface with their brilliant whiteness. The whale-fisher seldom dis-
turbs these beautiful creatures, for they are not only difficult to strike
on account of their activity, but when stricken the harpoon frequently
draws, and if it holds the capture is but of little value. Sir Charles
Giesecke speaks of their regular azmual visits about November to t^e
west coast of Greenland, where they become a seasonable supply to
the natives when other provisions fall short They arrive in herds
with stormy weather and south-west winds, and are taken with har-
poons and strong nets. Cod, haddock, flounders, &c., are said to be
the usual food of the Beluga,
The \VhiU5 Whale [Beluga Catodon),
The oil is repoi-ted to be of the best, whitest, and finest qualitv,
and of their skins a sort of morocco leather is said to be made, which,
though thin, will resist a musket-ball. The internal membranes are
used for windows and bed-curtains, and the sinews for thread. The
fleeh, it is asserted, resembles beef, though somewhat oily. Hans
Egede describes both it and the fat as having no bad taste ** when it
is marinated with vinegar and salt ; " and says that it is then as well-
flavouied as any pork whatever. He declares the fins also and the
tail " pickled or sauced " to be very good eating ; so that, according
to Hans, " he is very good cheer."
B. Kingii is the representative of the last species in the Southern
Hemisphere. It has been taken ofi" the coasts of Australia.
Neomeris Phocanoides is the name given by Dr. J. E. Gray to a
species of Dolphin found in the Indian Ocean, the Ddphinut meUu of
Temminck.
Phoccena communiSf the Common Porpoise, or Porpesse. It is the
Pkocasna BondeleUi of Willughby, Ddphinut Phoccena of Linnaeus. It
appears to be the ^Kcuva of Aristotle (' Hist Anim.' vi 12). Pennant
supposes it to be the Turaio of Plipy (* Nat Hist' ix. 9), which,
according to the Roman uaturalist, bears some likeness to the Dol-
phins, of which he relates so many anecdotes illustrative of their
affection for man in the preceding chapter. It is the Porco Pesce of
the Italians (whence probably the English name Porpesse) ; Marsouin
of the French ; Marsuin and Tumblare of the Swedes ; Meerschwein of
the Germans ; and Llamhidydd of the ancient British. It is the most
common of all the Cetotcea on the British coastf*. It is black all over.
The following is its dental formula :—Moh«, ^^^ = 80 to 92.
40 to 46
Porpesses swim in shoals, and drive the mackerel, herrings, and
salmon before them, pursuing them up the bays "with the same
eagerness," says Pennant, " as a pack of dogs does a hare. In some
pUces they ahnost darken the sea as they rise above water to take
breath : they not only seek for prey near the surface, but often descend
to the bottom in search of sand-eels and sea-worms, which they root
out of the sand with their noses, in the same manner as the hogs do
in the field for their food." In fine weather they leap, roll, and
tumble in the manner so well known, principally in the spring and
summer, which is supposed to be their rutting season. They go up
the rivers in pursuit of the salmon, to which they are a deadly enemy.
Digitized by
Google
907
CETACEA.
CETACEA.
and other flah ; and have been seen high in the Loire, Charenie^ and
Seine in France. It has been remarked that when the Porpenes are
gambolling in the spring and summer, they appear heedless and blind
to all danger and risk, which, as their brain is highly developed,
Teeth of Porpeue {Phocana eommunu). F. Cuvier.
strengthens the supposition that they are at such times actuated by
the sexual impulse to an extent that lessens their usual wariness.
On the 23rd May, 1842, we saw about 10 a.m. two rolling and sporting
a little above London Bridge, towards the Surrey shore. They seemed
to disregard the numerous steam-vessels which were constantly passing,
and to pay no attention to the wherries, some of which went close to
them. The man on the look-out in the steamer from whose deck we
watched them said that they had been seen between five and six that
morning near Southwark Bridge, and that one of them had been
hooked with a boat-hook, but had got away. It was blowing fresh
from the south-west, and the tide was running up : the time for high
water at London Bridge that day being 45 minutes after 12.
The Porpoise, or Forpesse {Pkocana communiB),
The oil procured from the fat surrounding the body of the Porpoise
is of the purest kind, and the skin when carefully tanned and dressed
is used for wearing apparel, and for coverings for carriages. The
shoals of these creatures on the west coast of Ireland are immense,
and might be well worth the attention of the neighbouring popula-
tion if furnished with boats and proper implements for their capture,
and conversion to economic purposes. As an article of food the flesh
was anciently esteemed, and considered worthy of the tables of the
great. Receipts for dressing it appear in the ' Forme of Cury,* com-
piled (circ. 1390) by the master cooks of King Richard II. It appears
to have been served in ' furmente,' in broth, and roasted, and was
evidently used both fresh and salted. Several of them were on the
board at the great feast holden at the 'intronazation* of George
Neville, archbishop of York, in the reign of Edward IV. In Henry
VIII.'s time it continued to be a royal dish, and was in fashion in the
reign of Elizabeth. It appears to have been in those days generally
presented as a roast with a sauce made of fine white bread-crumbs,
mixed with vinegar and sugar. The Common Dolphin (Ddphinus
delphis) was then considered so great a delicacy that, according to
Dr. Cains, one which was taken in his day was thought a present
worthy of the duke of Norfolk, who distributed it amongst his
friends : it was roasted and dressed with the porpesse-sauoe last above
mentioned. At a later period the Porpesse kept its ground on the
table of Roman Catholics on fish-days and during Lent. Nor have
modem navigators found it undesirable food. Captain Colnett's
people, who fell in with numbers of them off the Mexican coast, mixed
their flesh with their salt-pork — making excellent sauaages, which
formed their ordinary food. Captain Basil Hall speaks with some
unction of a dish of porpesse-cutlets, well separated from the invest-
ing lard and blubber, which was served at his table with such happy
effectthat the dish left his cabin empty.
The flesh of the porpesse is the Greenlander^s great dainty, and he
quafis its oil as the most delicious of draughts.
0rampu8 Ouvieri is the Ddphiniu griseui of Cuvier ; Phoettna gritea
of Lesson. It is an inhabitant of the North Sea, and has been taken
off the coast of France, and also off the Isle of Wig^t
0, Riuoanua, A i^>ecimen was taken at Nice, and described by
RisBo.
O. Richardionii, Described by Dr. Gray in the Zoology of the
Erebus and Terror.
Q. SakanuUa. Described by Schlegel in ' Fauna Ji^nica' u
Sakamata KMora. It has been found off the coasts of Japan.
Globiocephalnt Svinevalj the Pilot-Whale, also known to saOors as
the Black Whale, Howling Whale, Social Whale, and Bottle-Head.
It is the Ddphimu globicept of Cuvier, the Narwal Edente and Petit
Cachalot of the French. It is of a black colour, with a white
streak from throat to vent. It is a native of the North Sea, and has
been taken off the coast of Scotland. A skull in the British Museum
measures 28 inches in length.
O. wtermediut is the BladL Fish of American sailors. It inhabits
the coasts of North America.
O. affinUf the Smaller Pilot-Whale. Its locality is unknown. A
specimen exists in the museum of the College of Sui*geona. It is the
Dclphinus mdaa of Owen.
O. Sieboldii is a native of the coasts of Japan, where it is called
Naiso-Gota.
O. nMcrorhynckvu ia the Black Fish of the South Sea whalers. It
inhabits the South Seas.
Orca Gladiator, the Killer. It is the Ddphinus Orca of Linnxiu,
Grampus of Hunter, Ddphinus Grampus, and Large Grampus, of Oweo.
It inhabits the North Sea, and has been taken on various parts of the
British coasts. There is the skuU of one in the Hunterian Collection
at the Royal College of Suigeons which was killed at Greenwich in
1793.
0. crassidens is a fossil species. It is described by Professor Owen
in the ' British Mammals and Birds ' under the name of Phoccma cras-
sidens. A skull was found in the fens of Lincolnshire in 1848.
0. Capensis, the Cape Killer, is the Ddphinus globieeps of Owen.
It inhabits the Southern Pacific Ocean.
0. intermedia is a smaller species, described by Dr. Gray in the
Zoology of the Erebus and Terror.
Lagenorhynchus leucopteurus, the White-Sided Bottlenose. It is the
Ddphinus Tursio of Knox. It is a native of the North Sea. The
skeleton of a specimen taken in the Orkneys is in the museum of the
University of Edinburgh.
L. albirostris, White-Beaked Bottlenose. A specimen was taken off
the coast of Norfolk in 1846.
X. Electra, the Electra. Described by Dr. Gray in the Zoology of
the Erebus and Terror.
L. c(erulco cUhus. It is an inhabitant of the east coast of Sooth
America — Rio de la Plata.
L. Asia. Described by Dr. Gray in the Zoology of the Erebus and
Terror. Locality unknown.
L. acutus. It inhabits the North Seas — Faroe Islands.
L. clanculus. Described by Dr. Gray from a skull brought from the
Pacific Ocean.
L. Thicd^a. Described by Dr. Gray from a skull brought from the
west coast of North America.
Ddphinapterus Penmii. It is the Right Whale-Porpoise of the
whalers. It is black, with the exception of the beak, pectoral fins,
and under part of the body, which are white. It is found on the
Brazil Bank, off New Guinea, and in the higher southern latitudes.
There are two skulls in the museum at Paris. They live in lai^
shoals, and the flesh is esteemed a delicacy.
D. borealis. It inhabits the North Pacific Ocean. It has been
described by Peale in the United States Exploring Expedition.
Delpfiinus. The Euglish name for this genus is Dolphin, but as Dr.
J. E. Gray observes : — " Most maritime persons call these animals
Bottlenoses, Bottleheads, Flounderheads, Grampuses, Porpoises, Por
pesses or Porpusses, sometimes adding Whale to the name. They
generally confine the name of Dolphin (most used by landsmen) to
the Scomberoid Fish {Coryphama), which changes colour in dying."
[CoRTPH^yA.] We subjoin a synopsis of the characters with the
localities of the species of this large genus : —
A. Head shortly beaked ; nose of skull moderate ; triangle or hinder
part of beak elongate, produced before the teeth-line ; pahite flat
Teeth ^tll^
24—40.
+ Beak scarcely produced ; nose of skull rather depressed, scarcely
91 3Q
longer than the brain cavity. Teeth
1. Ddphinus ffeavisidii, the Hastated Dolphin, inhabits the South
Sea — Cape of Gk>od Hope.
2. D. obscvrus, Dusky Dolphin, inhabits the Southern Ocean-
Cape. .
8. D. compressicauda, the Compressed-Tailed Dolphin, inhabits 4
S. lat, 24- W. long.
+t Beak short ; nose of skull rather thick, conical, convex abor^
half as long as the head.
* Beak of skull rather thick and rather swollen on the aides.
4. D. Tursio, Bottlenose Dolphin, inhabits the North Sea
Digitized by
Google
009
CETACEA.
CETACEA.
910
5. i>. iL&uMZoM inhabits the Red Sea.
6. i>. EtUropia inhabits the Paoifio Ocean— ChilL
7. D. Burjfnome inhabits the North Sea.
** Beak of skull rather thick, conical, eyenlj tapering.
8. J>. MetiB, the Metis. Locality unknown.
9. D. Oymodocey the Cjmodooe. Locality not known.
*** BeidL of skull slender, cylindrical
10. i>. Dwrit, The Doris. Inhabits ?
11. D. frenatui^ the Bridled Dolphin, inhabits Cape de Yerds.
B. Head longly beaked. Nose of cJcull slender, light, rather de-
pi-essed, especially in front, much longer than the head. Teeth -r^r—rz'
* Skull flattened behind ; triangle to the teeth line. Palate flat^
not grooved on the side.
12. i>. Clymene. Locality unknown.
13. D, Styx, the Styx, inhabits West Africa.
14. J>. Euphroayne, the Euphroeyne, inhabits the North Sea.
15. D, A lope, the Alope. Locality unknown.
** Skull roundish ; triangle just to the teeth line. Palate with a
deep groove on each side, and a high central ridge behind,
t Beak moderate, 1^ the length of the brain cavity. Teeth
^lor^.
45 50
16. D. Ddphu, the Dolphin, inhabits the North Sea, Atlantic
Ocean. Has been taken on the English ooost.
17. 2). /antra, the Janira, inhabits Newfoundland.
18. D. Nova Zealandia, the New Zealand Dolphin, inhabits New
Zealand and Cape Qable.
19. 2>. Fonteri, Forster's Dolphin, inhabits the Pacific Ocean
between New Caledonia and Norfolk Island.
20. J). Sao inhabits Madagascar.
-H* Beak of skull twice as long u the brain cavity. Teeth ^-.
55 — 60
21. D. longirottris, the Cape Dolphin, inhabits the Southern Ocean.
— Cape of Good Hope.
*♦♦ Skull round ; triangle not reaching to the teeth line. Palate
convex, with a very concave line on the hinder part of each side.
50
50*
Beak twice as long as the head. Teeth
22. J). nUcropi, the Small-Headed Dolphin, inhabits the coasts of
BnudL
Steno Mala^yanui, It is the Delphin h Ventre Roux of the Paris
Museum, Delphwut phmbew of Cuvier. It is a native of the Indian
Ocean.
<SL frontcUus. It inhabits the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.
JS. comprettut. Described by Gray in the Zoology of the Erebus
and Terror.
JS. aUenualUB, Foimd at Cape Horn.
& futcus. Described by Gray in the Zoology of the Erebus and
Terror. A foetus was brought m>m Cuba by Mr. M'Leay.
JS, rottratut. It inhabits the North Sea, and has been taken at
Holland and at Brest.
PofUoporia BlamvUlii, It has been found ofif Monte Video. A
skull is in the museum at Paris. It is described by Freminville as
J>clphinus BlainviUii.
Jnia Geoffrojfii. A native of Upper Peru or Bolivia— River Moxos.
*'Tbe specimen,'* says Gray, "in Uie Paris Museum, which Desmarest
described as J)elphinu$ Oeqffroyii, is evidently this species."
PUUanitta dangetica. It is the Sou Sou of India, the Susu of
BufioD, the PUUanista of Pliny, Dauphine du Gauge of Cuvier,
JJdphinus Shawenait of Blainville.
The family MANATiOiE includes a nimiber of animals, which,
although usually referred to Cetacea, have relations which have
induct some soologists to propose that they should be placed
amongst other orders of Mammalia, They differ from the animals
we have already considered in being entirely vegetable feeders, and
are comprised in the division of Phytophagous Cetaceans of the two
Cuviers.
It is not indeed surprising that they should so long have been con-
founded with the Cetaceans ; for their general appearance and hori-
zontal tail, joined to the difficulty of associating them either with the
Seals or the Walruse8,notwithstanding their aquatic habits, led naturally
to their being placed in the same order with the true Zoophagous
Whale& But with external form almost all resemblance ceases ; and
when these Phytophagous Mammals are, as they ought to be, referred
to a separate group, there will not be, so far as discovery has hitherto
gone, any such animal as a Phytophagous Whale.
'' The short and thick neck, fin-like fore legs, want of liind legs,
caudal tegomentary fin, smooth, naked, and almost hairless inter-
ment, are all modifications of external form by which the Dxigongs
and Manat.eft8 are adapted to play their part in the water : but the kind
of part," says Professor Owen, *' which they are to play in that ele-
ment depends on oiiganie oharacters which mainly, if not exclusively,
reveal their true afllnities. Now we have seen that iiie whole of the
internal structim in the Herbivorons Cetacea differs as widely from
that of the Carnivorous Cetacea as do their habits : that the amoimt
of variation is as great as well could be in animals of the same class
existing in the same great deep. The junction of the Dugongs and
Manatees with the true Whales cannot therefore be admitted in a
distribution of animals according to their oiganisation. With much
superficial resemblance they have little real or organic resemblance
to the Walrus, which exhibits an extreme modification of the amphi-
bious carnivorous type. I conclude therefore that the Dugong and
its congeners must either form a group apart, or be joined, as in the
classification of M. de Blainville, with the Pachyderms, with which
the Herbivorons CetacM have the nearest affinities, and to which they
seem to have been more immediately linked by the now lost genus
IHnotherivm."
The following is a synopsis of the genera : —
9 6
1. Manaius. Tail rounded. Grinders, - or ., tubercular.
^9 6'
8
2. HaUcore, Tail forked. Grinders^ - ; flat-tipped ; upper outting-
8
teeth produced, tusk-like.
Bytina, Tail forked. Grinders none.
Manatiu atuiraliSf the Manatee. This is the Lamantin of Buffon ;
Trichechut Manatus of Linnaius ; Manattu Amet-icanus of Desmarest ;
Manate del'Orenoque of Humboldt ; Lamantin d'Amdrique of Cuvier.
The terms Manatee and Lamantin are indifferently applied to this and
the following species. The present species is of a gray-black colour,
and is an inhabitant of the warmer parts of America and its islands.
Cuvier describes the Manatees as having an oblong body terminated
by an elongated oval fin ; eight molar teeth in each jaw, with a square
crown maii:ed by two transverse ridges ; ^ . .^
neither indsors nor canines in the adult ;
but in the very yoimg ones two small
pointed teeth are found in the intermaxil-
lary bones, which disappear early. The
vestiges of nails are observable on the
edges of their flippers, which they use
dexterously enough in creeping and carry-
ing their young. This has caused these
organs to be compared to hands ; whence
their name Manati, or Manatee.
The mammse of the Manatees and
Dugongs are pectoral, and this conforma-
tion, joined to the adroit use of their
flippers (whose five fingers can be easily
distinguished through the investing mem-
branes, four of them being terminated by
nails) in progression, nursing their young,
&c., have caused them, when seen at a y
distance with the anterior part of their
body out of the water, to be taken for
some creature approaching to human
shape so nearly (especially as their muzzle
is thick set witii hairs, giving somewhat of
the effect of human htur or a beard), that
there can be little doubt that not a few
of the tales of Mermen and Mermaids
have had their origin with these animals, v.
as weU as with Seals and Wahruses. Thus Teeth of Manatee (ITaiiafrw
the Portuguese and Spaniards give the auMtralU),
Manatee a denomination which signifies
Woman-Fish; and the Dutch call the Dugong Baardmannetje, or
Little Bearded Man. A very little imagination and a memory for
only the marvellous portion of the appearance sufficed doubtless to
complete the metamorphosis of this half woman or man, half-fish, into
a Siren, a Mermaid, or a Merman; and the wild recital of the voyager
was treasured up by such writers as Maillet^ Lachesnaye-des-Bois,
Sachs, Valentyn, and others, who, as Cuvier well obsefres, have
displayed more learning than judgment.
This and the other species of Manatees are called by English
sailors the SearCow and the Woman-Fish, and by the French Bceof
Marin and Vache Marine.
The Manatees are gregarious, and generally go in troops. The young
are usually placed in the centre of the herd for protection, and on the
approach oi danger all unite for the common safety. It is alleged
that, when one has been struck by a harpoon, its companions will tear
out the weapon ; and they are so attached to their young that if the
calf be taken^ the captors are sure of the mother, from Uie reckless-
ness with which her maternal afiection leads her to the place of capture.
If the mother be captured, the yoimg follow her to the shore, and fidl
an easy prey.
The shallow bays of the Antilles and the quiet creeks of the South
American rivers, particulariy in Guyana and ^e Brazils, are the
favourite haunts or the Manatee. They were formerly abundant at
the mouths of the Orinoco and Amazon, ascending many miles, even
into their tributaries and the fresh-water lakes. There, their actions
are recorded as being similar in some respects to the whales^
such as ' breaching,' or leaping to a considerable height out of the
water. The food is entirely v^etable^ oonsisting of sabaqueoui
plants and littoral herbs principally.
Digitized by
Google
911
CETACEA.
CETACEA.
91t
The mild innoffenBive manners of the Manatee, and the unaiupect-
ing nature of the animal, make it an easy prey to the hunter, who
pursues it for the sake of the flesh, which all pronounce to be excel-
lent, both firesh and salted. Hemandes compares it to well fatted
pork of pleasant flavour. Others compare it, when roasted, to beef
or Teal in flavour, and state that when salted it makes excellent sea
provision.
It is alleged that formerly they were so plentiful within ten or twelve
leagues of Cayenne, that a large boat might be filled with them in a
single day, when their flesh was sold in the market at about Sd. per lb.
But the eagerness with which it was purchased soon reduced the
numbers, and made them comparatively scarce.
The capture is generally effected by means of the harpoon. At
St. Donmigo the hunters approached them in a small boat, and
struck them with a large harpoon to which a long stout cord was
made fast The stricken animal made violent efforts to escape,
carrying with it the harpoon and cord, to the end of which a cork or
piece of light wood to serve as a buoy was attached, and indicated
the whereabouts of the Manatee. After a while the hunters took hold
of the rope and at last drew the exhausted animal on shore, where
it was killed. The sport of Manatee-catching, thus conducted, is
described as highly exciting, but the boat is sometimes upset by the
struggles of the animal in the shoals.
Manatees have reached Europe. The carcass of one which had
been long dead, is recorded to have come on shore at Newhaven in
the Frith of Forth, in the autumn of 1785 ; and Duhamel states that
one with its cub was thrown on shore near Dieppe.
The Manatee {ilanaliu au»tralU),
M. Senegalensigf the Lamantin. This species is a native of the
west coast of Africa. It is the Manattu Senegalenns of Desmarest ;
Lamantin of Adanson; Lamantin du Senegal of Daubenton; the
Woman-Fish of Purchas ; the Round-Tailed Manati of Pennant.
Halicore Dugong^ Indian Dugong. It is the Trichechut Dugong of
Gmelin ; Dugungut Indicut of Hamilton ; Le Dugong des Indes of
French writers.
The head of this Dugong is small in proportion to the body, which
in general form much resembles that of the Manatee. The large
upper lip is thick and obliquely truncated, and the truncated surface,
which forms the short and nearly vertical snout, is furnished with
soft papillae and a few bristles. A homy substance covers the lips,
the upper of which is very moveable and tumid on the edge ; the
lower is much smaller, resembling a round or oblong chin. The
inside of the cheeks is furnished with strong projecting bristle The
nostrils are situated on the summit of the upper jaw, where it curves
downwards, and penetrate obliquely, so that the upper semilunar
edge presses upon the lower sur&ce to form a valve capable of being
shut at the will of the animal The eyes are small. The little
aperture of the ear is hardly perceptible. The mamms are placed on
the chest, beneath the thick and fleshy flippers or paws, which are
rather warty on their anterior edge ; but there is no appearance of
nails. The tail is broad, and lobated or crescent-shaped. The skin is
three-quarters of an inch thick, of a uniform bluish colour, sometimes
blotched with white below. Length from 7 to 8 feet.
The attention of Professor Owen was particularly directed to the
state of the dentition of the Dugongs of different sexes which he
examined, from which it appeared that, as in the Narwhal, the perma-
nent tusks of the female are arrested in their growth, and remain
throughout life concealed within the substance of the intermaxillary
bones and the alveolar int^ument. The cavity of the tusks, he
states, is in like manner filled up by the secretion of the pulp which
retrogrades in the course of its absorption, and hence the tusks are
solid, like the corresponding tusks in the female Narwhal, or at least
present only a shallow cavity at their expanded and distorted base.
He found in one cranium of a male Dugong, in the upper jaw, the
deciduous incisors or tusks co-existing with the permanent ones. Ini
3—8
the skull of a male which had r — ^ molars, the sockets of the deci-
daoQa indsors were obliterated, and the points of the permanent ones
projected from their sockets. Kot more than 20 grindtn^ 6 on each
side of the jaw, appear to be developed in this animaL
Teeth of Dugong {StMcore ZhifOHg). F. Cavier.
" It is obvious," says Professor Owen, " that the different form and
condition of the tusks thus observed in the heads of Dugongs of the
same size and age, might be regarded as indicating a specific instead
of a sexual difference. Dr. Knox inclines to the former opinion ; I
have however adopted the latter view, not hastily or hypotiieticallj,
but as a result of the minute comparison of the forms and proportions
of all the crania which have come under my observation."
JT*. Dugong is an inhabitant of the Indian Ocean.
" The external form of the Dugong," says Professor Owen, " is not
so well calculated for moving rapidly through the water as that of the
Dolphin and other Carnivorous Cetacea, which subsist by a perpetoal
pursuit of liviug animals. In these the snout is conical and peculiarly
elongated, and in some, as the Iklphintu Oangeticnt, the jaws are pro-
duced to an extreme length, so as to give them every advantage in
seizing their swift and slippery prey; whilst in the herbiferooi
Dugong the snout is as remarkable for its obtuse truncate character—
a form however which is equaUy advantageous to it, and well adapted
to its habits of browsing upon the Algce and I^uci which grow upoa
the submarine rocks of the Indian seas. As, from the fixed nature of
the Dugong^s food, the motions of the animal during the time of feed-
ing must relate more immediately to the necessity of coming to the
surface to respire, its tail, the principal locomotive organ of ascent
and descent, is proportionally greater than in the true Cetacea, its
breadth being rather more than one-third the length of the whole
body. But the most important external differences are seen in the
presence of the membrana nictitans, in the anterior position of the
nostrils, and in the situation of the mammae, which are pectoral, or
rather axillary, being situated just behind the roots of the flippers :
in the female specimen examined, their base was aboyt the siie of a
shilling, and they projected about half an inch from the surface. A
considerable ridge extends along the middle of the upper surface of
the posterior part of the back, which is continued upon and terminates
in the tail"
. The haunts of the Dugong, which does not appear ever to frequent
the land or fresh-water, are generally in the sea-shallows, where the
water is not more than two or three fathoms.
Sir Stamford Raffles states that during six months four of th«w
animals were secured at Singapore, but that the greatest number is aaid
to be taken during the northern monsoon, when the sea is most calm,
near the mouth of the Johore River. They are usually caught by
spearing, in which feat the natives are very expert^ during the night,
when the animals indicate their approach by a snuffing noise which
they make at the surface of the water. The first object of the captor
is to secure and elevate the tail, when the animal becomes perfectlj
powerless. Sir Stamford adds, that the Dugongs are seldom caught
at Singapore above 8 or 9 feet in length ; but how much larger they
grow is not ascertained, as when they exceed that size, their sapenor
rtrength enables them to make their escape.
Leguat, who speaks of them as occurring at the Isle of France m
great numbers about 120 years ago, says that they were 20 feet long,
but were vexy easily taken. They fed in flocks like sheep in three ^
four fathoms* water, and made no attempt at escape when approached.
Sometimes they were shot at the end of the mosket, sometimes laid
hold of and forced on shore. Three or four hundred were met with
together, and they were so far from shy tihat Ihey suffered themael^^*
to be handled, and the fattest were thus selected. The laiger ontf
were avoided, not only on account of the trouble they gave in the
Digitized by
Google
911
CETACBA.
CETACEA.
914
capture, but becaiue their fleah was not so good as that of the amaller
and younger ones.
The female Dugong produces generally only one young at a birth,
and to this the mother bears such strong affection that, if the young
is speared, the mother will not depart, but is sure to be taken also.
The Malays consider this animal as almost typical of maternal affection.
The young utter a short and sharp cry, and are said to shed tears,
whidi are carefully preserved by the common people as a charm,
under the notion that they will secure the affections of those whom
they love, as they attract the mother to the young Dugong.
The flesh of the Dugong is delicate, and is said to be superior to
that of the Buffalo or common Ox. It is considered by the Malays
as a royal fish, and the king has a right to all that are taken. Sir
Stamford RafiBes states that this species afforded much satisfaction on
the table, as the flesh proved to be most excellent beef.
H. Tabemaculi, the Dugong of the Red Sea, is considered by
Kuppell a distinct species. He gave it its specific name under the
impression that it was with the skin of this species that the Jews
vrere directed to veil the Tabernacle. He saw it swimming among
the coral banks on the Abyssinian coast near the Dalac Islands. The
fiahermen harpooned a female, which he dissected, 10 feet long. The
Arabs stated that they Uve in pairs or small families, that they have
feeble voices, feed on Algce, and that in February and March bloody
battles occur between the males, which attain the length of 18 feet.
The female brings forth in November and December. The flesh,
teeth, and skin are esteemed by the Arabs.
J^-^.
>^^f^^1^
Dugong {Ilalicore DHgong).
H. auttraiis. It is a native of the north-west coast of Australia.
It is the Manate of Dampier and the Whale-Tailed Manate of Pennant.
Two upper jaws and three skulls of this species are in the British
Museum.
Rytina gigat, the Morskaia Korova. It is the Manate, or Vacca
marina, Tridiechut Mcmatus of Miiller; Rytina SteUeri of Illiger;
Stdlenu horealis of Desmarest ; the Whale-Tailed Manate of Pennant.
It is a native of the Arctic Ocean — Bohring's Straits. The Sea- Ape of
Pennant, Triehechiu HydropUkecus of Shaw, Manatm Simla of Illiger,
Dr. Qray suggests may belong to this family, if it is not a Seal
Foita Cetacea,
The fossil remains of Cetocea have hitherto been found in the
Tertiary Formations only. Bones from the Portland Stone which
vere at first thought to belong to whales proved to belong to
the gentis CetioM.ur%» (Owen), the most gigantic of all the fossil rep-
tiles. (Owen, * Report on British Fossil Reptiles * in ' Trans. Brit
Ass.' 1841.) Dr. Buckland, in his ' Bridgewater Treatise,' remarks
that the seas of the Miocene and Pliocene periods were inhabited by
marine Mammalia^ consisting of Whales, Dolphins, Seals, Walrus, and
the Lamantin or Manatee, whose existing species are chiefly found
near the coasts and mouths of rivers in the torrid zone.
Manatidci. Cuvier figures and describes the remains of a Manatee
diflering from the existing species. Specimens were collected from
various parts of Frrnce, and he states it to be very certain that an
animal of the genus ManatvSj a genus now peculiar to the torrid-zone,
inhabited the ancient sea which has covered Europe with its shells, at
an epoch posterior to the formation of the chalk, but anterior to that
when the gypsum was deposited and the Paltgotherium with its con-
temporary genera lived on the soil of France. (* Oss. Fobs.')
Iklphinida. Cuvier notices and figures, with an accurate descrip-
tion, the remains of a fossil Dolphin, approaching the Grampus and
Iklphinut globicepSf from Lombardy, the skeleton of which vtss found
nearly entire by M. Cortesi ; and another with a very long symphysis
of the lower jaw from the department of Landes. Also a fossil
Dolphin closely approximating the common Dolphin frvm the same
locality, and another frt>m the Calcaire Qrossier of the department of
Ome. ('O8S.F08S.*)
H. von Meyer refers to these and another (Grateloup, * Ann. Q^ner.
d. Sa Phys.' iil, s. 68, t. 86 ; Taylor, * Magazine of Nat Hist' March,
1830, 8. 262), giving the following names: — Ddphintu CorUsii,
J>' nacrogeniut, J), Iwigiroatria. (' P^seologica.')
Monodon. Cuvier collects notices of fossil fragments of the Narwhal
from Parkinson and Georgl He adds that he himself saw a broken
NAT. HI8T. DIV. VOL. I.
piece of a tusk in the Cabinet of Natural History of Lyons which had
formerly been in that of Pestalozzi (' Oss. Foss.') Remains of the
M, monoeeroa have been found in the neighbourhood of London and
in other parts of England. (Owen, ' Brit Foss. Mam.')
Ziphius, Cuvier founded this genus, which approximates the
Cachalots and Hyperoodons, on crania discovered on the coast of
Provence, and diunterred in excavating the docks at Antwerp, and
on a fragment in the Paris Museum. On these materials he rests
three species, namely — Ziphius cavirottrig, Z, planiroatriSf and
Z. longiro»tr%8, the remains of which he figures and describes.
('Oss. Foss.')
Zeuglodon. This name was given by Profiessor Owen to the BasUo-
8aAirtu of Dr. Harlan. It was at first regarded as a reptile by its
discoverer, but Professor Owen found that the microscopic characters
of the textm-e of the teeth were strictly of a mammiferous character,
and the nature of their investing substance limited the comparison of
them with those of the few mammals in which the teeth are devoid
of enamel. Among these are the EdentaJtaf including the Megatherium
and its congeners, the Morse, the Dugong, and the Cachalot It is to
the teeth of the Cachalot and Dugong that those of the so-called
Basilosaur ofier the nearest resemblance ; and Professor Owen conceives
that its position in the natural system was in the cetaceous order,
intermediate between the Cachalot and the herbivorous species.
In a paper read before the Geological Society of London, Professor
Owen says, " The teeth, in their combination of an exaggerated con-
dition of the conjugate form — which is but indicated in certain teeth
of the Dugong, with two distinct fangs, in their oblique position in
the jaw, and the irregular interspaces of their alveoli, — present veiy
striking peculiarities ; and when to these dental characters we add
the remarkable and abrupt contraction of the distal end of the
humerus, which is nevertheless provided with an articulating surface
for aginglymoid joint, and its remarkably diminutive size— a cetaceous
character, which likewise is here carried to an extreme, — and when
we also consider the dense laminated structure of the ribs, and the
third exaggeration of a cetaceous structure in the extreme elongation
of the body of the caudal vertebrae, — we cannot hesitate in pronouncing
the colossal Zeuglodon to have been one of the most extraordinary of
the Afammalia which the revolutions of the globe have blotted out of
the number of existing beings."
Teeth of Zeuglodon,
o. Portion of upper jaw, containing three teeth, very much reduced ;
6, section of tooth.
In the ' American Journal of Science' for April, 1848, is a ' Notice
of the Discovery of a nearly complete Skeleton of the Zygodon
(Zeuglodon) of Owen {Boiihaaunu of Harlan) in Alabama,' by S. B.
Buckley, A.M.
The entire length of the skdeton, including the head, is deiMsribed
as nearly 70 feet, and was imbedded " in a marly limestone soil" on
the plantation of Judge Creagh, the same gentleman who had
forwarded the bones to Dr. Harlan. This discovery entirely oorrobo-
rates the conclusions to which Professor Owen came in the memoir
above quoted. Bones of this gigantic fossil Cetacean have been also
found near the Washita River in Louisiana, and have been seen in
Washington County, Mississippi : frvm thence, Mr. Buckley adds, they
have been found in several places as far east as Claiborne, on the
Alabiuna River. The skeleton is now at New York.
BaUmidcg, — Bakenopterci, Cuvier figures and describes the skeleton
of a fossil whale, which he considers to have been a sab-genus of
8 N
Digitized by
Google
fl0
CETE.
CHiEROPHYLLUM.
m
Baloenoptera, or Rorqual, found in Lombard/ by M. Corteei, on the
east flank of Monte Pulgnasco (Apennines) in 1806. Cuyier calculates
the entire length at 21 feet, French ; observing, that if the animal was
adult it was a very small Rorqual Another skeleton of the same
species, not more than 12 feet 6 inches long, was also discovered by
H. Cortesi in similar beds, and a neighbouring valley near a small
stream which falls into the Chiavenna^ one of the tributaries of the
Po. ('Oss-Foss.')
Bakena, Numerous remains of Balcena have been found in the
Tertiary Formations. Cuvier mentions a considerable fragment of the
skull of a Balcena disinterred in the Rue Dauphine at Paris in 1779.
Daubenton came to the conclusion that the whale to Which it belonged
must have been 100 feet long ; but Cuvier, on satisfkctoxy calculations,
reduces the length to 60 feet, and states his opinion that it is an
imknown species. (' Oss. Foas.') Dr. Mantell detected the remains
of BaUena in Sussex (Brighton Cliffs). In the Red Crag of Felixstow
the tympanic bones of whales are frequent, whilst their bones are so
numerous as to constitute a considerable portion of the phoephatic
substances which are now dug from this formation under the name of
Coprolite. From the form of the tympanic bones, which hb calls
Cetotolites, Professor Owen has named four species of Balcena'.
B. affiniSf B. d^nitay B. gibhosa, and B. emcurgmaJta, (Owen, ' Brit.
Foss. Mam.')
Phoccena. Professor Owen refers the fossil found in the Lincoln-
shire fens to this genus, which Dr. Qray places imder the genus Oreo.
Physeteridce, Teeth of the Phystter tnacrocephahu have been found
in the Tertiary Beds of Essex and in other parts of Great Britain.
From the section of a tooth found in the Red Crag at Felixstow,
Suffolk, Professor Owen proposes to call the animal to which it
belonged Balcenodon physaloides.
(Cuvier, Ossemeru FoanUs; F. Cuvier, HUtoire NaiureUedeM CetaeSs;
Owen, Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue of the Physiological Series
in the Museum of the College of Surgeons ; Scoresby, An Account of the
Arctic Regions ; Beale, Natural History of the Sperm Whale ; Owen,
British Fossil Mammals and Birds; Dr. J. E. Gray, Catalogue of the
Specimens of Mammalia in the British M^ueumf Part L, *Cetacea;*
Cyclopedia of Anatomy and Physiology , article ' Cetacea.*) [See SoPF.]
CETE. [Cbtaoea.]
CETIOSAIJRUS, a genus of large Fossil Saurians adopted by
Professor Owen. It occurs in the Oolitic Formations.
CE'TOCIS, De Montfort's generic name for those Belemnites which
are plicated at the summits.
CETONI'ADiE (M'Leay), a family of Coleopterous Insects of
the section Mditophili (Latreille). The species belonging to this
family have the sternum more or less prol^ged into an obtuse point,
between the second pair of 1^ ; the mcStum is emarginated, and
never transverse ; the terminal lobe of the maxillaa is furnished with
a tuft of fine hairs ; the labrum is concealed ; the antennae are small
and ten-jointed ; the basal joints are short ; the three terminal joints
are comparatively lai*ge, placed close together, and form a triphyllous
knob. The thorax is generally somewhat triangular, with the anterior
part (which would form the apex of the triangle) truncated. The
elytra are usually rather straight at the sides, and obtusely roxmded
at the apex, thus presenting a somewhat square form ; their disc is
rather flat. A triangular scale is interposed between the base of the
thorax and that of the elytra at their outer angles.
The CetoniadoB form one of the most extensive groups of the Beetle
Tribe, and nothing can exceed the brilliant colours with which many
of them are adorned — ^in this respect vyeing with, if not surpassing,
the Bvprestidce.
In the larva and imago states these insects feed upon vegetable
substances : the grub or larva of the common Rose-Beetle very much
resembles that of the cockchafer; and when about to assome the pupa
state incloses itself in a cocoon formed of particles of earUi and rotten
wood, or any surrounding substances, fastened together by means of
a glutinous secretion.
In viewing a large collection of insects of this family it is difficult
to say what colours prevail most. In Cetoma, the typical genus of ^
the group (in which the scutellum is of moderate size) tiie colours are
generally burnished, and consist for the most part of various shades
of green. Cetonia auraia, the common Rose-Beetle, affords a good
example of this genus. It is about three-quarters of an inch in length,
and of a bright green and sometimes oopper-like coloiur, with two
white irregular fascise towards the latter part of the elytra, and
extending from the side inwards: these fascia (and several little
spots of the same colour which are observable on the elytra) are com-
posed of a number of small scales, which in old specimens are often
nearly all rubbed off This species is too well known to require
further description. It is seen very commonly in the south of Eng-
land, flying about in the sunshine during the months of May and
June, frequently settling on roses, the leaves of which it greedily
devours ; it is also very fond of elder and Ulac flowers. If perchance
the bark of a tree be wounded so that the sap oozes out, this insect
will frequently be observed licking it up, and collecting it by means
of the tufts of hair with which the maxillse are terminated.
Rosel informs us, that he kept one of these insects alive for upwards
of three years, during which time he fed it upon fruit and moist
white bread.
Cetonia stictiea, a small species, about half an inch in length, and
of a black colour, with numeroxis white spots on thet&orax and dytn,
ii said to have been taken in this country. Its occurrence is how-
ever BO rare, that it is doubted by some if it be truly indigenous.
It is common in France and Germany, and is found on tmistles.
C, fastuosa, a species which somewhat resembles CSOonia awrata,
but is of a larger idze and without any spots, oocmrs in the south
of France.
CETRARIA, a genus of plants belonging to the family of Licheni.
The species have the following chancters : — Thallus foliaoeous,
lobed, and laciniated ; on each side smooth and naked ; the shieldi
are orbicular, obliquely adnate with the margin of the thaUus, the
lower portion being free ; the disc coloured, plano-concare, with a
border formed of the thallus, and inflexed.
C. Jslandica, Iceland Moss. It is the Lichen Islandieus of older
botanists. It has an erect, tufted, olive-brown thallus, paler on one
side, laciniated, channeled, and dentato-ciliated ; the fertile lacinia
very broad. Shields brown, flat, with an elevated border. It growi
on the ground in exposed sittmtions in northern oounMes. The
aqueous decoction when cold forms a thick Jelly. It has a bitter
flavour. It has been employed medicinally. [Igelaitd Mo6b, in Abb
AiTD Sa Dry.]
C. nivalis is an allied species growing on mountains in northern
countries. It has similar properties to the last.
CEUTORHT'NCHUS, a genus of Coleopterous Insects, of the
£unily Curculionida (Leach). The species have the antenns elcTen-
i'ointed, seven of which compose the funiculus ; the basal joint is as
ong as the remainder taken together ; the club is ovate. Bostnim
sometimes long, bent, and filiform, and at others short and straisht.
Thorax with the fore part much attenuated, with a channel beneath,
in which the snout may be deposited. Scutellum minute and hardly
apparent ; the elytra are rounded at the extremity, and do not entirelj
cover the abdomen ; the extremxiy of the tibise is without spina
The little insects of wbich tBs genus is composed are very nnme-
rous, and Xrequent plants of various sorts ; some scarcely exceed a
mustard-seed m size. C. didymus is abundant on the common
stinging nettle, and is about the size of a hemp-seed. It is white
beneath, and of a duU brownish black above ; the sides of the thorax
ardrhite, and the elytra are fumisli'Sd^^ilii^ivo spots of the same
colour ; tiie apex of the elytra is also more or lees whitei When
touched, or often when even approached, these little beeties doee
their snout in a groove on the imder part of the body, contract the
legs, and allow themselves to roll off the leaves to the ground, where
they are with difficulty distinguished from the mould.
CEVADILiiA. [Cebadilla.]
CEYX. [Halotootdju]
CHABAZITE, a mineral belonging to the large dass of Ahminates.
It always occurs in the form of atte^ed crystals ; never massive or
fibrous. The primary form of the crystal is a rhomboid. The colonr
is white, also yellowish and red. The lustre is vitreous, and it ia
transparent to translucent. The hardness is 4 to 4*5. The specific
gravity is 2-06 to 2'17. It has the following composition :—
SiUca 48*4
Alumina • ' 19-8
Lime 8*7
Potash 2-5
Water 211
10(H)
This speciee includes Cfmelinite, which ocenm in small gUasy
crystals; also Zevyne, which is found in oompound cfystals; and
ZedererUe, which has the form of Gmelinite, but differs in containing
just one-third the quantity of water. Phaeolite is another varietj.
It occurs in the form of small glassy crystals, which are double six-
sided pyramids. AcadioUte appears to be another variety. It has a
red colour, and oomee from Nova Scotia. JBereehdite is another
variety. It occurs in small hexagonal tables.
Chdbante is mostiy easily distinguished by the nearly cubical fonn
presented by its crystals. From Analcime it is distinguished by
the intumescence produced by it under the blow-pipe. It is distin-
guished from CalC'Spar by its hardness and its action with adds ;
from Pluor-Spar by its form and cleavage, and by the abeenee of
phosphorescence.
It is found in Trap, Gneiss, and Syenite. In the New World it is
found in the Trap of Connecticut, in New Jersey, and New York.
Ledererite is found in Nova Scotia. Chabagite is found in the Faroe
Islands, at the Giant's Causeway, Ireland, also in Iceland. GntdmiU
is found in Antrim, Ireland. Levyne, at Glenarm in Irelaod; also in
Scotland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands.
CHACMA. [Baboon.]
CHi£RADODIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Anutryllidaceee. One species of tMs genus, C. ChilensiSf is called Thekel
in ChilL A cold infusion of the leaves is used as a puigatire and
diuretic medicme-by the natives.
CHiEROPHYLLUM, a genus of plants belonging to the naturtJ
order UmbelltfercB, to the sub-order Camp^/lospenMe, and the tribe
Scandieinea. It has an obsolete calyx; obcordate petals with an .
inflexed point ; a fruit not beaked ; carpels with five equal obtuse
Digitized by
Google
917
CH-ffiTODON.
CHAFFINCH.
918
ridges ; intcrsticeB with Bingle vittse. The species are annual, bieania),
or perennial plants with decompound leaves. Many plants formerly
placed in this genus are now referred to ArUhriscus, [Anth&ibcus!j
The CJuerophyU'Um »ylve$tre of Linnaeus is now Anthriscua tyhcttrU,
It has been used in medicine as a substitute for hemlock. The
ChtjsraphyUwn tcUiwtni of Lamarck is the ArUhrucut cerrfolium of
Hoffiocum. It is the garden Chervil of Great Britain, and is used in
lome placet as a pot-herb. Three species of Chuerophyllum are
described by Babington in his ' Manual of British Botany : ' C. temu-
{ttm has a rough stem swelling beneath the joints; the leaves
bipinnate ; the leaflets ovate, oblong, pinnatifid, with obtuse mucro-
Mt6 8^;ment8; glabrous petals; styles equalling the stylopode. It
ii a common plant on hedge-banks in Great Britain, attaining a
height of three or four feet. C, aureum and C. aromcUicwn have been
described as natives of Scotland, but it is very doubtful as to whe-
ther they have not both been introduced. (Babington, McumucU of
Britith Botany ; Lindley, Flora Medico.)
CHi£T0DON (x^^rri, hair, and 69ohs, a tooth), it genus of Fishes
of the section Acanthopterygii and family Sqttammipemna, It has
the following characters: — Body compressed; mouth small, fur-
nished with several closely-set rows of long slender bristle-like teeth.
The scales (which are usually confined to the body) in this genus
extend on to the dorsal and anal fins, so that it is difficult to see
where the latter commence.
These fishes aboimd in the seas of hot climates, frequent rocky
shores, and are adorned with beitutiful colours. Their most common
tints appear to be black and yellow, but brilliant metaUic blues and
greens of various hues are not unfrequent. Many of the species have
a vertical black band in which the eye is placed. In some there are
several similar vertical bands on the body; in others the body is
spotted or adorned with oblique or longitudinal bands. They have a
large air-bladder ; their intestines are long and ample ; and theii* ceeca
are numerous, long, and slender. Their flesh is good eating.
The species are numerous, and have been divided into several sub-
genera; those to which the name CAcBtodon is now restricted have
the body more or less elliptical, the rays of the dorsal fin forming a
tolerably uniform curve, the snout more or less produced, and the
pre-operculum sometimes furnished with a small tooth.
In some of this section one or more of the soft rays of the dorsal
fin are much produced, and form a long filament; and others are
distinguished by their having very few spines to the same fin.
Chatodon vagabwndus, a species which inhabits the coasts of Ceylon,
has the body of a pale yellow colour, with numerous oblique brownish-
purple lines; the dornJ fin is blackish, and has 13 spinous rays ; the
caudal fin, or tail, is yellow, with two black bands ; the anal fin is
blackish with a yellow curved longitudinal band ; its mai^gin is also
yellow ; a broad black vertical band extends through the eye ; and
the part anterior to this band, as low down as the eye, is of a pinkish
hue with yellow streaks. Its length is from 6 to 12 inches ; the scales
on the body are lai^e ; those on the head are rather small.
tubular snout with such precision as frequently to disable the little
animal, so that it falls into the water and is devoured.
In those parts where C. rostratvs aboimds it is frequently kept in
vessels of water, and aflbrds much entertainment by the dexterity
displayed in shooting at flies which are placed on the vessel for thf
purpose : it generally approaches to withm five or six inches before
the drop of water is ejected.
The sub-genus Heniochus differs from the true Chsetodons in having
the anterior spines of the back produced into a long filament, which is
sometimes double the length of the body.
Ephippua may ba distinguished by the species having the dorsal fin
deeply cleft between the spinous and soft portions. The spiny portion,
which is scaleless when not erected, is received into a groove formed
by the scales of the back.
ffolocanthua. The species of this sub-genus have a large spine on the
angle of the pre-operculum, and most of them have the edge of the
same bone serrated : they are foimd both in the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans.
The next subdivision, Pomacanthutf has the body of a more ele-
vated form, owing to the sudden rising of the anterior margin of
the dorsal fin. The only species known are ftrom the American
coasts.
In the last subdivision, PlalaXf the species may be known by the
extremely compressed form of the body, the large vertical dorsal fin
(which has the anterior spines almost concealed in the membrane),
the long ventral fins, and the teeth. Here, in addition to the fine
thickly-set teeth, there are some in front which are trenchant, and
each of them is divided into three points.
All the species of this section are found in the Indian Oceatu One
has been found in a fossil state at Mount Bolca.
Platax vetperiUio will afibrd an example of this section. It is found
off the coast of Ceylon, and is of a yellowish colour ; the dorsal, anal,
and ventral fins are brownish, the back is also mottled with the same
colour, and a dark band extends downwards through the eye ; the
base of the caudal fin is dark brown. This species grows to a lai^e
size, and is found in rocky situations, but more commonly in deep
water.
Ohatodon vagabundm.
The next sub-genus, Chdmon (Les Chelmons, Cuy.), is distinguished
by the form of tihe snout, which is much elongated, open at &e end
only, and formed by a great elongation of tiie intermaxillary and
under-jaw bones.
C. rottratu$, a species which inhabits the fresh waters of India, is
of a silvery hue and has five brownish bands ; the posterior part of
tbe dorsal fin is furnished with a black spot encircled with white.
This fish feeds upon insects, and is remarkable for its mode of
procuring thentL mien it observes a fly or any other insect on a
weed or hoyeriDg over the water, it ejects a little drop through its
• Platax vespertilio.
The two species of Chsetodons, of which figures are here given,
have been selected from Mr. J. W. Bennett's * Fiahea of Ceylon,' a
work illustrated by beautiful coloured plates.
(Cuvier, lUgne Animal; Lac^pMe, Hiitoirt Natwdle, <ke., dea
Poiisona; Bloch, Histoire NatwrdU, gSnSrale et partidUi^e, dea
Poiaaona.)
CHAFFINCfl, the English name for a well-known species of
Fringilla : Jxffo of Aristotle and the Greeks ; FringUla and Frigilla
of ^ Gkener and others ; Franguello, Frangueglio, Fringuello, and
Spincione, of the Italians ; Pinson, Pin9on, Grinson, and Quinson, of
the French; Fink, or Buch-Fink (Beech-Finch), Edel-Fink, Gemeine-
Fink, Schild-Vink, of the Germans, &o. ; Fincke and Bofincke of the
' Fauna Suedca ;' Asgell-Arian, Wine, of the ancient British ; FringiUa
ccaUbs of Linnaeus. It has also the following local names in English :—
Digitized by
Google
619
CHAFFINCH.
CHAILLETIACE^.
Spink, Beech-Fmch, Pink, Twink, Skelly, Shell-Apple, Hone-Finoh,
Soobby, Shil&s Chaffy, Boldie.
Ab far back as the time of Belon the powerful Toioe of this bird
was remarked : — " On les garde en cage pour les faire chanter, dont
le chant est si puissant qu'il en est fiiisoheuz " (folio, 1555) ; and in
the small quarto (1557) the following quatrain is printed under the
figure of the bird : —
Fonr bien plnter l<m me Dom PiMon,
Qui ay la toIz fort hanltaine et pniaiajite ;
Je hay le ohaald, ftroidura m'eat plaiaaate;
En ce contraire cat k tooa ma £if on.
"The passion for this bird," says Bechstein, in his 'Cage Birds,' "is
oanried to such an extent in Thuiingia, and those which sing well are
sought for with so much activity, that scarcely a sixigle chaffinch that
warbles tolerably can be found throughout the province. As soon as
one arrives from a neighbouring country whose notes appear good,
all the bird'Catohers are after it^ and do not give up the pursuit
till they have taken it This is the reason why tiie chaffinches in
this province are so indifferent songsters ; the young ones have only
bad masters in the old ones, and they in their turn cannot prove
better."
In England however it appears to have been appreciated. The
Hon. Daines Barzington, in his paper ' On the Small Birds of Flight'
(the bird-catcher^s expression), observes that the greatest sum he ever
heard given for a song-bird which had not learned to whistle tunes,
was five guineas for a Chaffinch that bad a particular and imcommon
note, under which it was intended to train others. Bechstein says
the Thuringians have been known to give a cow for a Chaffinch with
a fine voice.
Bechstein, after describing the different notes that express its
passions and wants, among which the often-repeated cry, 'fink, fink'
(our ' twink'), from which its Qerman name is derived, he oonsidera to
be mechani(»l and involuntary, thus speaks of its powers : — " But
what makes it appear to still more advantage among other birds are
its clear and trillmg tones that seem almost to approach to words ;
in fact, its warbling is lees a song than a kind of battement^ to make
use of a French word, and is expressed in Qerman by the word schlag
(trill), which is used to designate its song as well as the nightingale's.
Some chaffinches have two, three, four, even five different battemens,
each consisting of several strains, and lasting several minutes. This
bird is so great a favourite in Qermany that not a single tone of its
voice has escaped the experienced ears of our bird-fanders. They
have observed its nicest shades, and are continually endeavouring to
improve and perfect it I confess I am myself one of its warmest
admirers; I have constantly around me the best songsters of its
species, and if I liked could write a good SLsed volume on all the
details of its music."
The following chaffinch songs, or melodies, are most esteemed in
Saxony and Hesse. ^Some are heard in the woods, but they are rarely
sung with a clear and strong voice. If the bird executes well, and
adds to the last strain the sound 'fink,' which the Qerman bird-
catchers translate by ' amen,' it is of the highest value. " No price,"
says Bechstein, " will be taken for it :" —
1. The 'Double Trill of the Harz,' in Lower Saxony. 2. The
' Reiter Zong,' or ' Rider's Pull,' first heard among the mineral moun-
tains of Saxony and Voigtland. 8. The 'Wine Song,' with the fol-
lowing subdivisions, namely : — The ' Fine,' or ' Langsrald Wine Son^ ;'
the ' Bad Wine Song' and the ' Sharp Wine Song,' which is subdivided
into the 'Common Sharp' and the ' Ruhl Sharp.' 4. The 'Brauti-
gam,' or 'Bridegroom Song,' also divided into good and bad. 5. The
' Double Tria' One of these, the ' Double Trill of lamblach,' is
only to be acquired in the house, and is so deep and powerful that it
can scarcely be conceived how the larynx of so small a bird can pro-
duce such sounds. Bechstein, who makes this observation, adds that
*a Chaffinch which sings this either alone or with the ' Gk>od Bride-
groom's Song' (such as are educated at lamblach), sells at Walters-
hausen for eighteen French francs. 6. The 'Qutjar,' or 'Qood Tear
Song^' with two subdivisions. Chaffinches gfTiging this, united to the
'Wine Song' of Ruhl, or the 'Sharp Song,' had become verv rare
when Bechstein wrote, and fetched high prices. 7. The 'Quakia
Song,' formerly much admired Bechstein says, " I believe I possess
the onlv bird that is now to be found .which sings this. To be
admired the ' Quakla ' must be united with the ' Double TrilL' This
my chaffinch sings also." 8. The 'Pithia,' or 'Trewethia,' a very
uncommon and agreeable song, never heard but in the depliis of the
Thuringian mountains.
For we different modes of capturing this pretty bird, so precious
when in pefect song to the bird-fancier, its treatment in confinement^
the diseases to which it is subject^ and their remedies, we must refer
the reader to Bechstein's 'Cage and Chamber Birds/ of which tiiere
is an English edition published by Bohn (1853).
The following description — ^ana the bird is so common that a more
particular one is unnecessary — ^is from the interesting ' Journal of a
JNaturalist ' : — " The male bird is remarkable for the cleanliness and
trimnees of his pluxnage, which, without having any great variety or
splendour of colouring, is so composed and arranged, and the white
on his wiogs so brilliant, as to render him a very beautiful little
creature. The female is as remaxkable for the quiet unobtnuive
tintings of her drees; and when she lies crouching on her nest^
elegantly formed of lidiens from the bark of the apple-tree, and fSuled
mosses, she would hardly be perceptible but for her little bright eyes
that peep with suspicious vigilance from her covert" TemminGk
saysy that in autumn after the moult^ the colours of tiie plumage of
the male are more bright than they are in the spring, because all the
feathers of the upper and lower parts are terminated by a clear aih-
colour ; and, at the season of love, the male bird's dreu beoomee
decked with pure and brilliant colour, without the aid of a aecoud
moul^ the edges of the barbs being worn away with use, and thni
suffering those colours which had been hidden to appear in all their
beauty.
Many varieties occur, as pure white, yellowish white, some parte of
the body white. The usual colours with a white collar ; wiogs and
tail white. Aldrovandus mentions one partly yellowish and partly
blackish.
This bird inhabits almost all the countries of Europe; itiBpe^
manent in the southern parts, and a regular bird of paaeage in the
greatest number of localities. The Prince of Canino says that it is
very common near Rome, and makes its passage in October, when
numbers of them are taken for the table among other small birds at
Paretajo and Roooolo, but in much the lai^ger proportion, 500 chaf-
finches being, according to the Prince, captured to every 80 linneta,
65 goldfinches, 80 green grosbeaks or greenfinches, &c., &c. It has
been stated and denied, that only the females of this bird are
migratory in Europe. On this point Selby observes, " In Northum-
berland and Scotland this separation takes place about the month of
Kovember, and from that period till the return of spring, few females
are to be seen, and those f6w always in distinct societies. The males
remain, and are met with, during the winter, in immense flock%
feeding with other granivorous birds in the stubble lands aa long as
the weather continues mild and the ground finee from enow ; and
resorting, upon the approach of storm, to fiBurm-yanls and other
places of refuge and supply. This separation of Uie sexes I am
induced to believe takes place in many other species, with respect to
their migratory movements, as I have before remarked in the acooant
of the snow-bunting. This appears also to be the case with the wood-
cock, having observed that the first flight of these birds (which seldom
remain looger than a few days to recruit^ and then pass southward)
consists chieflv of females ; whilst) on the contrary, the subsequent aiid
latest flight (which continue with us) are principally composed of
males. It has been noticed by several authors that the arrival of the
males, in a number of our summer visitants, precedes that of the
females by many days ; a fact fr^m which we might infer that in sach
species a similar separation exists between the sexes during their
equatorial migration." Knapp (' Journal of a Naturalist') says, ''Wi^
us (Qloucestershire) the sexes do not separate at any period of the
year, the flocks frequenting our barn-doors and homesteads in winter
being composed of both. In the nortiiem parts of Europe however
the females are said to migrate to milder regions, which induced
Linnseus to bestow the name of C<M>b upon this speciea." White
observes upon the vast flocks which he saw near Selbome towards
Christmas, all of which were hens. Jenyns says that it collects in
flocks at the approach of winter, but makes no meoition of the sepait-
tion of the sexes. In Middlesex we have seen in winter flocks com-
posed mostly of females, but we have also seen both sexes, aboot
Christmas, partaking with other little winged pensioners of the cramba
daily thrown out for their support
The Chaffinch feeds principally on seeds. We are however com-
pelled to add that they are very injurious to the florist and gardener.
" These birds," says Knapp, ** make sad havoc with some of oar
spring flowers; and the polyanthus, in March, in our sheltered
borders, is very commonly stripped of all its blossoms by these little
plunderers, I suppose to obtain the immature seeds at the base of
their tubea .... At this period too they are sad plunderenin
our kitchen gardens, and most dexterously draw up our young tonipe
and radishes as soon as they appear upon the surface of the soil; but
after this all depredation ceases, the rest of their days being spent in
sportive innooenoe." Selby savs that in summer it feeds much upon
insects and larvae, and that he has witnessed its assiduity, during the
autumn, in devouring the females of a large species of aphis, that
infests the trunks and stronger branches of the larch and some other
kinds of fir. In winter, he adds, grain and other seeds constitute
its food.
Like the other finches it builds one of the most beautiful nests, and^
as Selby observes, always accordant with the particular colour of iti
situation. It is variously placed in trees and bu^ea In orchaHs
an old apple-tree is a favourite situation. Eggs, four or five, bluuh-
white^ tinged with pink and marked with Streaks and spots of
pur^ish-red.
CHAILLETIA'CEiE, ChaiUeiiads, an obscure natural order of
Polypetalous Exogens, some of whose species are said to be poisonous.
They are very near JtkamnacecB, from which they diflbr in having the
stamens alternate with the petals, and five hjrpogynoos glands. The
petals are small scale-like bodies stationed at Uie orifice of a tubuUr
calyx ; the ovaiy is superior, and two or three celled, the ovules penda-
louS| tiie frxut somewhat drupaceous^ and the seeds without albumen.
Digitized by
Google
931
dflALAZA.
CtiALClDlD^
02:1
Ckaiilftia ioxiearia in called lUtsbane in Sierra Leone,
embraces four genera and ten species.
The order
Chailletia prduneulata.
1, an expanded flower ; 2, the back of ditto; 3, a petal ; 4, stameni* ; 5, dif.
fcrent views of the ovary ; 6, different vicwi of the firuit ; 7, an embryo.
CHALA'ZA, that part in a seed where the vessels of the raphe pass
from the exterior integument or primine, and expand into the secun-
dine. In the common almond it is readily seen by turning the testa
inside out and observing that part which corresponds to the apex of
the cotyledons. When the foramen of a seed is next the hilum, the
chalaza is most conspicuous ; but when the foramen is at the apex of
a seed, the chalaza will then be in contact with thehilum, with which
it must necessarily be then confused.
CHALCEDONY. [Agate.]
CHA'LCIDES, Daudin's name for a family of Lizards, which, like
the Seps-Lizards, are very long and serpent-like ; but whose scales,
instead of being imbricated or disposed like tiles, are rectangular, and
form, like those of the tail in the ordinaxy lizards, transverse bands
which do not intrench upon each other. Some, says Cuvier, have a
ridge on each side of the trunk, and the tympanum still very apparent,
^ey approach the Cordylij as the Seps-Lizards approach the Scinkt,
and lead by several relations to the Sheltopusicks and Ophisauri. The
Ohalcides have four legs, but they are little developed, and the
extremities may be considered as in a degree rudimentary; for some
of them cannot be said to be furnished with more than one well-
formed toe on each foot, though there are traces or rudiments of
more. Cuvier thus arranges the family : —
A species with five toes from the East Indies, Lacerta Sep$ of
Linnaeus.
A species with four toes, Lacerta tdradactyla of Lac^p^de ;
Chaleii tetradactyla. The genus Tetradactylus of Merrem ; SauropMs
of Fitzinger.
A section which have the tvmpanum concealed, and leading
oirectly to the Bimana {Chirote^t and thence to the AmphUbcena.
Of these, there is a species with five toes, forming the genus Chalcidea
of Fitzinger.
A species from Brazil, with four toes before, and five behind,
Baerodactylut imbricatus of Spix.
A species with four toes on each foot^ forming the genus Brachypus
of Fitzinger.
A species from Guyana, with five toes before, and three behind, but
i^uced to small tubercles so little visible that the species has been
I^^S^ed at one time as having three toes, and at another as having
but one. Cuvier adds, that on the first supposition, it is the ChcUcide
of lAodpMe, pi. xxxii. ; the Chamaaavra Cophiaa of Schneider ; the
Jjjnus Okaleis of Merrem; and the genus Cophiat of Fitzinger; and
^t upon the second hypothesis, it is the Chaleide monodactyle of
l^^idin ; the genus OoMm» of Merrem ; but, adds Cuvier, all these
8«n«ra resolve themselves into a single species.
Ckalcii tetradactyla has been given as an example of the family.
It is the Saiwrophis Sept of Fitzinger, and under the name of S. tetrth
dactylu is referred by Qray to his fajnily OordyUs. [Saubia.]
ChalcU tetradactyla,
CHALCI^ID Jjl, a family of Hymenopterous Insects, of the section
Pvpivora (Latreille). Nearly all the species are exceedingly minute.
Many are very brilliant, their colours consisting of various shades
of green, blue, or copperlike hues ; in some of the sections however
black is the prevailing colour. The thorax is usually large in pro-
portion to the body, and the latter is often of a compressed form,
and joined to the thorax
by a distinct long petiole
or stalk, as in ChalcU
clavipeSf which is one of
the largest of the British
species, measuring from
tip to tip of the wings
when expanded upwards
of half an inch ; it is of
4 dull black colour, and
remarkable for the exces-
sive development of the
coxise and femora of the
hinder legs ; the latter OhaMs elavipes,
are of a reddish hue, «» The wings; 6, the hind-leg; e, antenna,
and armed with eight magnified; d, hind femur and tibia of a spedes of
little teeth beneath; ■^<»*»«««-
the hinder tibise are curved. It is found on the leaves of shrubs in
marshy situations.
In the species just described the oviduct is short, and hidden
beneath the abdomen, a circumstance very common in this tribe ;
in some however the oviduct is very long, equalling or exceeding the
body in length. This is the case m the genus CcUlimome, a group
the species of which have very brilliant colours, principally green, and
deposit their eggs in the larvse of the Qall Insects {Oynipidce), an
operation which their long bristle-like ovipositors enable them readily
to perform. Here, as in the genus Chaicia, the body is compressed.
Many of the species however have that part depressed. One of the
most striking characters in the Chalcidg<las is in the wings, which
are almost destitute of nervures. Most commonly there is in the
superior wing a single nervure springing from the base and running
parallel with the exterior margin for about one-third of the whole
length of the wing. It then cdopes upwards and joins the margin
itself; and a little beyond the part where the slope takes place there
is a small short ramification thrown out obliquely, which is generally
thickened towards the extremity, and forms a little dark spot. The
antennss are always elbowed, that is, the terminal joints are bent
forward at an angle with the basal joint. We have observed that
when these little insects are about to leap, which a great portion
of them have the power of doing, th^ invariably bend their
Digitized by
Google
CHALCOLITR
CHALK FORMATION.
antennsD under tho bodj, and it appeared that tbia organ was used
in making the spring. If this should be the case, it would be a
most extraordinary use to make of those parts, which are usually oon-
sidered either as oigans of hearing or touch. We may observe that
the species which we found to possess this power in a high degree
had immensely thick antennas, and the hind legs, the usual leaping
oigans, do not appear at all adapted for that purpose, nor can we
discover any other part that is. Although in G, davipet (the species
figured) the hinder femora are thick, yet it does not possess the power
of leaping; and when we examine the structure of this part, we find
that it dilfers much from the thickened thigh of leaping insects. It
is formed upon the same type as the same part in some of the Ihnaeia
tribe (among beetles), whidi appears to be used for clinging ; and this
species, inhabiting marshy situations, would probably require such a
dinging apparatus for the same reason as the JDtOfMcioi do, namely, to
keep them from falling into the water. A figure of the leg of a
species of Donaeias is given, to show the resemblance both in the
femur and curved tibia.
The ChaleididcB are aU parasitical in their larva state. Some
are so minute as to -undeigo their metamorphosis in the eg^ of other
insects. The chrysalides of some of the lepidopterous msects not
imfrequently form the nidus of an immense number of these little
insects. One species of Ckaleit generally confines its attacks to the
chrysalis of one species of lepidopterous insects ; but occasionally we
have reared more than one species of the ChalMida from the same
chrysalis.
Mr. Walker, a gentleman who has written much on this group of
insects, looks upon it as a great section of ffymenoptera rather than
a family, and his views appear to us correct. The OMcidida are
divided by him into two sections, which he calls Chalcidet Pentameri
and Chalcidet Tetrameri, names applied from their having five or four-
jointed tarsi ; each of these sections is again subdivided into several
fiunilies, the species of which are exceedingly numerous. Mr. West-
wood, who, as well as Mr. Walker, has paid great attention to this inter-
esting group,' states that there are probably 1500 species in England.
CHALCOLITE, a mineral of a green colour containing Uranium.
[Uranium.]
CHALI'COMTS, a genus of Rodent if ammaZui^ allied to the beaver.
From Eppelsheim ; in Tertiary beds.
CHALICOTHE'RIUM, a genus of Fossil Pachydermatous Animals
allied to the Tapirs, comprising two species found at Epplesheim,
about 12 leagues south of Mayence, in sand, supposed to be of the
Second Tertiary or Miocene period of LyelL (Kaup, DetcripHon
d^OstemeTU FouUet, Darmst, 1832.)
CHALILITE, a mineral belonging to the group of Zeolites. It
occurs massive. Its fracture is splintery and flat conchoidal. Hard-
ness 4*5. Colour deep reddish-brown. Lustre between vitreous and
resinous. Translucent on the edges. Specific gravity 2*252.
By the blowpipe it becomes white, and spreads out ; with carbonate
of soda it effervesces, and fuses with some difficulty into a white bead
with a pearly lustre ; with borax it fuses into a colourless glass.
It is found in the county of Antrim, Ireland.
Analysis by Dr. Thompson : —
Silica 36*56
Alumina 26*20
Lime 10*28
Peroxide of Iron 9*28
Soda 2*72
Water 16*66
101*70
CHALIMUS, a genus of Entomostracous Cruttaeea allied to Ccdigus.
[Calioub.]
CHALK FORMATION and CRETACEOUS GROUP, in Oeology,
consist of the upper strata of the Secondary series immediately
below the Tertiary series and superincumbent on the Wealden, or
whore that is wanting, on the Oolitic system. This group is common
to Europe, and also to at least a part of Aaia. It consists of chalk
resting upon either an arenaceous or argillaceous deposit. The Chalk
bears a remarkably uniform mineralogical character over a surface
extending from the British Islands through Northern France, Northern
Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, into both European and Asiatic
Russia. (De La Beche, ' Res. in Theor. GeoL') The Cretaceous system
is subdivided into the following strata : —
Chalk
/Upper. 1. Msstrichtbedi .
) Lower. 2. Chalk with flints .
• ) Marly. 8. Chalk without flints, - . , , „„„^^„. .,^.^. «•
^ and Chalk with marl > ^ ^^l'^ nnmerons species of
( Upper Greenland . . . . ' manne fossils are found.
Greensand . < Gault
( Lower Greensand {yeocomicn)
The area over which this system prevails in England, and the various
strata which it contains, have been well defined by geologists.
The Cretaceous Group occupies nearly the whole of the south-
eastern part of England. A line drawn from Crewkeme on the south-
west to Hunstanton on the north-east forms its western boundary ;
and it extends from this line to the east coast, with the exception of
• small part on the south-east. It is also found on the north of the
Wash forming the Wolds of Lincolnshire. It is intersected by the
Humber and constitutes also the Wolds of Yorkshire. It termizuitee
near Flamborough Head at Speeton, about six miles north of that
promontory. The same formation appears to prevail in the north of
France, extending to the Cretaceous district of Aix-la*Chape]le. The
Chalk, or upper portion of the system, is in some parts covered with
the strata of the Tertiary series ; in other parts it is denuded. The
Greensand crops out round its edge, which is broken and inteirapted
in manv places where the lower strata appear.
On the north-east the Chalk appears in a narrower belt along the diff
from near Cromer to Hunstanton. From Cromer along the coast to the
mouth of the Thames, and along the north bank of that river, it is con-
cealed l^ the upper strata, which extend a considerable distance inland.
Beginning with Norfolk and proceeding southwards, the boundaiy
line between the Chalk and the superior strata is about i nulea east
of Snettisham, 2 miles west of Diss^ 8 miles east of Mildenhall,
between i and 5 miles west of Bury St. Edmunds, continuing to the
north-east of Hertfordshire by Hertford and near St. Alban's, to 3 miles
south-east of Wendover.
In the northern part of this district the Chalk has in a few places
been partially denuded. On the north-east there is a small piece of
Chalk along the banks of the Bure. The town of Norwich also stands
upon Chalk, which, in its vicinity, extends along the banks of tht
Yare and Wensum. There is a piece of Chalk likewise at each side
of small parts of the Stour and of the OrwelL The strata super
incumbent on the Chalk series extend a little beyond TTxbridgeon the
west, and then run in a narrow tongue to the north-west, 8 miles
south of Wendover, which intervening space at that point is the
whole width of the denuded Chalk, Wendover being there its western
limit. The Chalk becomes wider towards the south-east, taking in
Maidenhead ; it is again partially covered a little to the west of that
place, and continues in a very uneven line to Reading, Newbury, and
a little to the east of Marlborou^ The Tertiary strata then run
from west to east by Kingaclere, Sasingstoke, Guildford, to 3 miles
north of Dorking, round by the Darent, and appear near Woolwich
and Greenwich. Another detached portion appears in the north-west
of Kent, taking in the Isle of Sheppey, and continues from the sBstuaiy
of the Medway along the coast to the Isle of Thanetw The Chalk is
covered on the west and north of Canterbury and at Sandwich ; ths
beds which cover it terminate on the coast at DeaL On the south
coast, from Worthing westward, the Chalk is again concealed by the
superincumbent series, extending nearly in a straight line through
Cluchester as far as a little to the east of Salisbury ; it then continues
in a south-west direction nearly as far as Dorchester. The Chalk
passes entirely across the Isle of Wight nearly from east to west, in
a narrow ridge consisting of vertical strata, from Culver Cliff to
Compton Bay ; there is also a smaU piece on the south of the island.
The limits of the Chalk on the other side, where it is bounded by the
outcropping of the lower strata of the system, remain to be noticed.
The clif& of the whole of the Isle of Thanet are composed of Chalk.
The chalk-diffs again commence near Deal, and are continued past
Dover to East Weare Bay, a distance of about 13 miles. As the
Chalk rises from Dover towards Folkstone the upper beds diBapi)ear,
and the cliffs consist entirely of the lower members of that stzatiun.
The rise of the Marly Chalk occurs about 14 mile to the east of the
escarpment of Folkstone Hill, which is 56^ feet high. Just at the
rise of this bed there is a very copious and perennial spring culled
Lydden Spout About 2000 paces west of this spring the cliff recede^
fix)m the sea, and the intermediate shore thence to Copt Point it
occupied by a mass of ruins which has fallen from above. The sadden
transition from the chalk-clifis is very remarkable; Turning inland
the chalk-rauge is bounded on the south by the outcrop of the Green-
sand strata, which extend 4 miles north of Ashford, 3 miles north of
Maidstone, and is cut by the Medway, whence it forms a line curving
outward to the south as far as the Darent, where it is 5 miles north
of Sevenoaks. Merstham is on the boundary, which then continuea
in nearly a west direction, immediately north of Reigate to Box Hill.
near Dorking, and thence to Guildford, leaving a veiy narrow ridge of
Chalk. From Guildford to a point about 2 miles from Famham thers
is a remarkable ridge, called the Hog's Back, produced by an upthrow
of the Chalk and the breaking off of the southern portion of the carrs.
The coast between Copt Point and Beachy Head, near these respectire
points, is occupied on each side by the Greensand, and the inter
mediate space by the Wealden Clay and Hastings Sand: the two
latter do not belong to this series, being lower denuded strata. The
Sussex chalk-range, or South Downs, commences at Eastbourne, near
Beachy Head, and continues thence along the coast beyond Shoreham
and onwards in a west-by-north direction. The Greensand bonnda it
on the north, and leaves a range of Chalk varying from 8 to 3 nilea
in breadth. About 3 miles south-west of PetersSeld the Greensand
again sinks below the Chalk, which is connected with the north range
by the Alton chalk-hills, ruiming from near Famham to near Butaer
HiU (917 feet).
It now remains to define the boundary of the Chalk from Doraetahire
on the south-west to Norfolk on the north-east. It has been thus
described by Dr. Fitton :— " The great range of the chalk-escarpment
in the interior of England, which stretches like the diore of a sea or
lake from Crewkeme in Dorsetshire to the north-east of Danstablem
Digitized by
Google
925
CHALK FORMATION.
CHALK FORMATION.
OM
Btsdfordshire, Ib perfectly analogous in structure and appeanmce to
the Downs of Surrey and Sussex. It is interrupted by three or four
indentations or gulfs ; one of great width, opening towards the west
between Crewkeme and the heights about Stourh^, in South Wilt-
ahire ; another expanding to the north-west^ and terminating in the
defile where the Thames cuts through the chalk in its way to the
south-east from Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. The vales of
Pewsey and of Warminster are intermediate bays of the same general
structure, but of smaller dimensions ; and all these valleys are appa-
rently the result of denudation, aided by previous disturbance of the
strata, which has carried away the chalk, and laid bare to various
depths the strata beneath it." (' Qeol. Tram,' 2nd series, vol. iv. part
2nd.y p. 243.) From the heights near Dunstable ike Upper Chalk
range passes through the north-west of Hertfordshire, by Hitchin
and Baldock, to Barkway and Royston Downs, and thence by Balsham
and Newmarket into Suffolk by Mildenhall, 2 miles west of Brandon,
4 miles west of Downham, by Narborough, and on to Snettisham.
The chalk-hills decline rapidly in height in the north-east of Bedford-
shire. Kensworth Hill is 904 feet above the level of the sea ; the
hills east of that town are 850 feet high. Lilleyhoe is 664 feet ;
Barkway Windmill, 513 feet; the station near Royston, 484 feet;
Balsham, on the east of Cambridge, 380 feet ; Newmarket station,
267 feet; Brandon, in Suffolk, 190 feet. The chalk-hills stretching
from Cambridgeshire to the north-west coast of Norfolk rise nowhere
probably above 600 feet in height, bounding "the fen country like
the low shore of a sea."
The Chalk Inland Range is highest towards the central part between
WUtshire and Hertfordshire. In departing from that central Vact
the rise is comparatively small both towards Devonshire on the south,
as well as in the counties northwards. The Chalk nearly disappears
in Devonshire, a few insulated portions only appearing there, prin-
cipaUy upon the coast between Sidmouth and Lyme, and along a line
from Befuninster through Chard and White Stanton. The transition
from the Chalk to the Greensand is here distinctly seen, especially on
the south-west of Axmouth, where sections of the subjacent beds are
exposed in the oli£&. In many parts of the chalk-range the upper
and lower strata are well defined even by the outward features ; a
marked difference appearing in the vegetation and general aspect
The Upper Chalk has usuedly layers of flint nodufes occurring at
regrular intervals, and is softer than the Lower Chalk. At Sandown
Bay, in the Isle of Wight^the latter stratum is defined W a layer of
distant and insulated flints which separates it from the Flinty Chalk
above ; it is sometimes of a grayish colour, as is also the bed of Marly
Chalk immediately beneath it. This Marly Chalk is of a temicious
nature, and sustains the water which descends through the Chalk;
in consequence, a line of ponds has been produced along the bottom
of the escarpment of the South Downs. The Malm-Land, remarkable
for its fertility, is the soil over the lowest beds of Marly Chalk. The
Malm-Rock, immediately below the Marly Chalk, consists of stony beds
belonging to Uie Upper Qreensand formation. Salisbury Plain, which
is more Uian 25 miles in extent from west to east, and 12 miles from
north to south, is occupied by the Upper Chalk. Though it has many
inequaliUes of surface, it would be almost destitute of water but for
the Avon and its branches, which traverse itw But in the tracts
occupied bv the Lower Chalk, and still more in the Chalk Marl, there
are few valleys without streams ; hence, as well as owing to the dif-
ferenoe of soil, the vegetation differs also, and the luxuriance of the
lower regions affords a strong contrast to the barrenness of the higher
downs. The village of Dunstable stands on the Lower Chalk, which
may be distinctly traced from Tottemhoe through Houghton Regis,
Upper Sundon, and Streatley.
Accurate measures of the entire thickness of the Chalk have rarely
been made in England. The following are however approximate
numbers taken from the best authorities. Sir Henry De La Beohe's
estimate of the average thickness of this stratum is 700 feet. Dr.
Conybeare considers it to range from 600 to 1000 feet. The height
of the cliff at Beachy Head, which at the summit includes part of the
Flinty Chalk, and goes down very nearly to the Upper Greensand, is
only 535 feet; 350 feet is the thickness of the Flinty Chalk at Dover.
If then 250 feet are added for the remainder of that division at
Beachy Head the aggregate thickness of the chalk on the Susr^x
coast may be estimated at about QOO feet. At Wendover Hill the
total thickness of chalk is considered something more than 500 feet.
At Diss, in Norfolk, it was found by boring to be 510 feet The
great -variation in thickness is ascribed in part to the unequal removal
and abrasion of the upper strata, and in part to the original inequality
in the thickness of the Chalk itself.
Qreensand. — The general position of this stratum has been suffi-
ciently indicated in describing the boundary of the Chalk, the former
oatcropping round the latter in an uneven line, in some places much
wider than in others.
The Upper Qreensand commences immediately on the north of
Copt Point; beyond Folkstone, where the succession of the various
beds of the system is best seen. Here the Upper Qreensand is of
comparatively small thickness, and occupies a very narrow belt round
the Chalk, running in a west^north-west and then in a westerly
direction, as already defined in describing the chalk boundary. It
asiamea a new character near Qodstone, and is there more distinctly
marked. The firestone obtuned in that part of the country is in the
Upper Qreensand, occupying four beds separated by seams of stratifi-
cation; the thickness of the first two beds is respectivelv 1 foot
9 inches and 1 foot i inches ; the two others are only 10 inches each.
This stone is extensively quarried between Qodstone and Reigate.
Continuing still in a narrow belt to Quildford, the Upper Qreensand
forms a slight projection along the foot of the Hog's Back ; from
Famham by Selbome and Petersfield to the south of Petworth, this
stratum runs out beyond the foot of the chalk-escarpment like a step
or terrace. Near Petersfield it is remarkable for its width, which is
there 2 miles, a much greater extent than at any other part A little
east of Petersfield, for a short space, this stratum entirely disappears;
it then continues in a narrow belt along the north escarpment of the
South Downs. This formation la but partially disclosed along the
base of the central ridge of Chalk in the Isle of Wight, but it is
distmctly seen along the escarpments of the Under-Cliff ; its step-like
projection beyond the Chalk, as seen in Western Sussex, is likewise
observable here in several places.
In the Isle of Purbeck the Qreensand runs in a narrow band on the
south escarpment of the Chalk, but there the separation of the Upper
and Lower Qreensands has in a great measure disappeared, and the
latter is greatly reduced in thickness or wholly united with the Upper
Qreensand. The Black Down HiUs, in Devonshire, are composed of
Qreensand; the two beds thus united wanting the intermediate
Qault. These hills are distinguished by the uniform level of their
summits ; and, when cursorily viewed, appear to be composed of hori-
zontal or nearly horizontal beds of Qreensand, with here and there
an occasional patch of Chalk. It is found however that the rocks
composing these hills have been fractured subsequently to their
deposition, and that the valleys mostly are lines of faults having a
general northerly direction. At some parts there are faults which
do not form valleys. In a section across a southern part of the
hills the Chalk and Qreensand seem to form a continuance ; Qreensand
being on one side of a vertical section, and Chalk on the other. In
the yellowish sand, near ike smface, at the Bamscombe side of the
Beacon Hill, brown iron ore is found in polished fragments of very
high lustre. Whetstones are obtuned from the Black-Down Hills,
the manufacture of which occupies a great number of the neighbouring
inhabitants. The quarries are driven in direct lines into the hill,
almost horizontally, about 80 feet below the top of the hill The
stones from which the whetstones are cut are irregular concrete
masses, imbedded in a looser sand, and more properly belong to the
Lower Qreensand stratum; but the different strata of the Qreensand
of these hills are not distinguished by Dr. Fitton, as the Qault
between the Upper and Lower Qreensand is entirely wanting. The
Upper Qreensand is not distinctly marked in the great south-western
escarpment of the Chalk till beyond the Stour, from the north bank
of which it extends northward for about 10 miles to Shaftesbury,
and continues thence round the Yale of Wardour. On the south side
of the Vale of Wardour the upper beds of this stratum are concealed
at the foot of the chalk-hills, but the lower beds shoot out into
plateaus, whidi form the tops of the hills all the way from Shaftes-
bury along the south side of the Vale of Wardour. On the north
side of the vale, the whole series of the Upper Qreensand rises
abruptly and forms a narrow ridge of unequal height. At the north
of the valley this stratum appears to consist of two portions : that
which immediately succeeds the Chalk is the same as tibie firestone of
Surrey ; the other is equivalent to the Malm-Rock of Sussex, and
abounds in chert In a well sunk at Bidgo the Upper Qreensand is
distinguished into four different strata, their aggregate thickness
being 100 feet. The Upper Qreensand is not nearly so conspicuous
inland as near the coast; from the Vale of Wardour it does not occur
again till the Vale of Pewsey. The town of Devizes stands upon a
platform of the Upper Qreensand, which is there about 430 feet above
the sea. It occurs a^ain at Swindon, and then at Tetsworth, whence
it continues in a narrow belt and in a north-east direction beyond
Cambridge.
The Upper Qreensand consists in some places of a soft marly
sand, traversed in every direction by stem-like cylinders, having
within them cores of darker green matter; it also contains some
irregular masses of a bright brown or orange hue, but the greater
part is composed of gray calcareous marl, resembling the lowest
chalk, but so thickly interspersed with green particles as to entirely
assimie their colour. The green particles, according to analysis, are
found to consist of —
SiUca 48'6
Black Oxide of lion 22
Alumina 17
Magnesia .... . . 8'8
Water . . 7
Potnsh . . ■ . ti-accd
98-8
Digitized by
Google
927
CHALK FORMATION.
CHALK FORMATION.
The thickDoas of this series near Folkstone is from 25 to 80 feet :
at Qodstone it increases considerably, and the depth of the wells
sank through it in the Malm-Rock strata of Hampshire varies from
60 to 100 feet In Western Sussex the thickness is between 70 and
80 feet. It is about 70 feet in the Isle of Wight. The thickness of
the Qreensand at Black Down is about 100 feet» probably from 60 to
80 feet in the Yale of Wardour, and from 80 to 50 feet near Swindon.
At Cambridge it is not more than 18 inches; thence through West
Norfolk the stratum is nowhere distinctly seen. At Hunstanton
the beds which are supposed to represent it are not more than 2 feet
thick.
Qault — The stratum which is usually found between the Upper
and Lower Qreensand is obscured at East Weare Bay by the ruins
of the superior beds, but is visible in detached points. Farther on,
towards Folkstone, it becomes- more marked, and forms the greater
part of the cliff at Copt Pointy as well as the gvMsy cliff between
the base of the Martello tower, situated in the vicinity, and the sea.
Thence it forms a narrow band between the Upper and Lower Qreen-
sand. Near Qodstone it occupies a tract distinguished as ' the Black
Land,' and forms a slight depression below the stratum which affords
the firestone. Between Farnham and Alton this narrow belt of
Qault swells out to three or four times its former width, and then
again narrowing, continues to form a narrow band between the two
strata of Qreensand as far as Beachy Head. In the Isle of Wight
this stratum likewise forms a narrow band between the Upper and
Lower Qreensand. The Qault again appears in the Yale of Wardour :
on the south it forms a rapid slope ; on the north a depression imme-
diately below the sand. It is here identified with that in the eastern
counties by the characteristic fossils. At Ridge, near Fonthill Park,
the clay of this stratum has been long used for tile-making, and it is
there 75 feet in thickness. From the Yale of Wardour, and thence
north-eastward to the sea at Hunstanton, the Qault everywhere
appears, though it is much reduced in quantity in Norfolk. This
stratum occupies a large part even of the higher grounds between
Whitchurch and Wing. Immediately to the west of Hitchin and
Baldock it is still wider; the towns of Shefford and Biggleswade
stand on it. From Cambridge, for a few miles towards the north, it
likewise occupies as great a width. In consequence of the numerous
borings for water made in Cambridgeshire about this part> its relations
and thickness have been well tuBCertained, especially from Basingboume
through Meldrith, and thence towards Cambridge. This stratum is
very distinct at Mildenhall : the Blue Qault has been traced as far
as West Newton, about three miles south of Ingoldsthorpe. The
valley between the Chalk and Lower Qreensand is there interrupted
by an advance of the Chalk ; and beyond that point the Blue Qault
is no longer observable: its place is thence occupied by the red
marly stratum of Hunstanton Cliff, which is a calcareous argillaceous
matter, 4 feet thick, and it is questioned by geologists whether the
term Qault should be applied to it. The Qault, as far as regards its
composition, may be divided into two portions : the upper party
immediately succeeding the Upper Qreensand, contains green particles,
and thence for some feet downwards it is harsh and sandy. The
lower portion consists of a smooth imiform very plastic clay, of a
light-blueish colour, which is used for tiles ana common pottery.
Throughout the Qault, but chiefly in the lower part, concretions of
iron pyrites are found, and other nodules and irregular masses. The
thickness of this stratum at Copt Point is about 180 feet At
Merstham it is 150 feet thick, which is likewise the average thickness
in Cambridgeshire. In the Isle of Wight it is about 70 feet; at
Ridge about 75 feet ; near Thame 90 feet ; at Mildenhall the blue
clay is only 9 feet Mr. Rose considers it not more than 15 feet in
West Norfolk.
The Lower Qreensand. — This stratum appears of a uniform
surface, shooting out beyond the Chalk in the south-east counties,
and occupies a much larger area than either of the upper strata of
the Qreensand series. The resemblance in the aspect of the surface
of the coimtry, here occupied by the Lower Qreensand, to that of
the Black-Down Hills, in Devonshire, is extremely striking; and
I>erhaps indicates that the description of the latter more properly
belongs to this section than to that which treats of the Upper Qreen-
sand stratum. The Lower Qreensand has three distinct subdivisions,
clearly defined in most parts where it occurs. This series of strata
rises gradually from Copt Point, and occupies the whole cliff west of
the village; thence it is continued without interruption through
Sandgate, and in the heights above Hythe. Its outcrop turns from
the coast to the interior at Adlington Comer ; here the subdivisions
are all distinctly marked, and their respective limits defined. The
lower beds, which contain much calcareous matter, are extensively
worked in quarries, both fbr building and lime-burning, at Pluckley,
on the north-west, and at Ghreat Chart, on the south-west of Ashford ;
and generally along the outcrop west of Adlington Comer, where it
forms a prominent ridge adjoining the valley of the Weald : here
are the principal beds of stone known under the name of ' Kentish
xtensive quarries are worked at Boughton, to the south of Maid-
stone. The stone for the construction of Westminster Abbey is said
to have been procured here. The stone is a variety of the Kentish
rag. Fro|n ^dlington Comer tiie Lower Qreensand continues towards
the west in a broad band varying in width ; on the coast the distance
from the Chalk at Folkstone Hill to the outcrop of this series is about
10 miles, but from Lenham to the outcrop it is not more than 2
mileSk Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Qodstone, Reigate, Dorking, and Qodal-
ming stand on the Lower Qreensand series. Near Qodstone the
surface is comparatively lower, and ponds are friequent where the
middle stratum occurs ; the stony beds of the lowest group then rise
to form the escarpment of Tilburstow Hill, which is nearly on a
level with the Chalk Downs. At the top of the hill, the beds, which
to the north of Tilburstow HUl rise uniformly at an angle of not
more than 10 degrees, are suddenly thrown up to about 45 degrees,
giving decisive evidence of an elevation from the Chalk, or of a
sinking towards it. Fullers* Earth has been dug in this part of Surrey
for a very long period; at present the neighbourhood of Nutfidd is
the only place in which it is got The beds occur near the top of
the lowest stratum of Qreensand ; in one pit near Nutfield the prin-
cipal bed of Fullers' Earth is 16 feet thick. On the south of th«
Hog's Back the Lower Qreensand rises, like the Chalk, at a veiy high
angle, and then, being bent suddenly in an opposite direction, ia
continued several miles to the south. Hindhead is the most prominent
point in this part of the country, where the whole of the tiact
occupied by the Lower Qreensand is wild and barren, producing only
fern, heath, and furze.
Ajb this formation turns towards the east and continues along
Sussex to the coast, it is not nearly so wide as on the north of the
Weald. At Beachy Head it is three miles wide, but it is only one mile
wide a little to the west of the spot where the Adur runs through it
The Lower Qreensand occupies a great part of the surface on the
south of the Isle of Wight) and is everywhere conformable to the
Chalk, a ridge of highly-inclined strata of Qreensand creasing the
island from the shore on the south of Bembridge-Down to the foot
of Afton Down. The sands likewise form the lower ground of
the interior from Mottestone through Newchurch to the coast
A narrow belt of Qreensand runs along the west and north-west
of Dorsetshire. In the Yale of Wardour the Lower Qreensand is
nowhere prominent ; but it occupies the whole of the entrance of the
Yale of Pewsey, and continues with its subdivisions well defined
through the northern coimties in a north-east direction as far as the
coast of Noi-fol^ The greatest width of the formation in this part
occurs between Leighton and Amptbill in Bedfordshire, where it
rises in Bow-Brickhill to the height of 688 feet above the sea. Near
Wobum there is a fullers* earth pit, the beds of which occur, like
those in Surrey, near the top of the lowest division ; that of the best
quality is in a bed from seven to nine feet thick. The pits in this part
of the country have continued to supply fullers' earth for more than a
hundred years.
The three groups into which this stratum is divided are^ in most
places in the south-east counties where sections have been made, well
defined; and in general, in different situations where this fonnfttion
occurs, the respective characteristics are found to be alike. The
Cretaoean System is not confined to England, but is found extending
over very laige portions of the continent of Europe. It is seen is
France on the coasts opposite to England, and it is foimd on the
north as far as Denmark. It may in fact be traced from the north-
east of Ireland to the borders of Asia Minor, and from Denmsrk to
the south of France. It also has its representative in some perts of
North America. In South America deposits of this period have also
been developed along the whole country fr^m Columbia to Tlcna
del Fuego. The south-east of India has also yielded foasfls^ whidi
apparently belong to this period.
The oipiuic remains in the Chalk and Qreensands are nsnaDy
abundant, and ara mostly marine. They consist of marine plants :
/n/tMorta, Sponges, Zoophytes, Echinodermata, MoUuica, CrtuUteea^
Fishes, and Reptiles. Sir Henry De La Beche obeervea^ tiiat
" Organic remains are in general beautifully preserved in the chalk ;
substances of no greater solidity than common sponges retain their
forms, delicate shells remain unbroken, fish even are frequently not
flattened, and altogether we have api)earances which justify us in
concluding that since these organic exuvisD were entombed they have
been protected from the effects of pressure by the consolidation of
the rock around them, and that they have been very tranqiuDy
enveloped in exceedingly fine matter, such as we should oonaider
would result from a chemical precipitate."
The most remarkable form in which the fossils of this fcmnatioa
appear is that of flint The production of this substance has by some
been referred to organic agencies. [Flimt.]
Although the remains of plants are rare in tiiis formation ia
England, they have been found in abundance in the oontemporaaeoua
sandstones of the continent of Europe. Amongst them have been
found the remains of dicotyledonous plants.
An examination of the flints by the mierosoope reveals the
existence of many forms of JHatwMUiea in the Chiyk. From^ the
siliceous structure of their frustules these organisms are entirely
preserved wherever they occur. A large number of spedes hsT«
been discovered in the Chalk. [Diatoicacxjl]
Amongst the lowest animals we must now reckon the P^rmmw^feraf
which were formerly regarded as minute CXepKalopoda by IXOibflgny.
Many forms of these creatures, which seem to hold a place between
Digitized by
Google
029
CHALTBJSUa
CHAMACEA.
no
the Sponges and aome of the Iirfvmria are found in the Chalk.
[FORAMIHirB&A.]
Of the Zooph^teSy the Poljftoa have been found in the greatest
abundance in the Cretaoeooa beds (N'eoe<mien) of the continent of
Europe. They have been most elaborately described by D'Orbigny.
[POLTZOA.]
The Sehinodermata abounded during the period of the deposit of
the GhaU:, and afford a larger number of interesting forms than occur
in any other formation. The genus MarmpUet affi)rds an instance of
the passage amongst these creatures from Encrinitea to the Spatangi,
Numerous spedes of Spatcmgut, Oidarit, QoniatUr, and other genera
of this fiiuxuly are found. The spines of the Schmida are often found
separated from the shelL [Eohinodxbicata.]
SeYeral forms of Onutaeea belonging to the more highly-developed
sections of the fiimily are found.
The MoUutca are abundant Of these the forms of Brachiopoda,
especially TertbrtUnla, are numerous. The genus Budittes, which
D'Orbigny refers to the Brachiopoda, is in some respects the most
interesting of the MoUutca of the Cretaoeous Fonnations. The
species are most abundant in the Cretaceous series of the South of
Europe. The Cephalopodous Molhuca were very numerous and
varied in their forms during the Cretaoeous period. The following
genera are found : — Nauiiiut, Ammonitei, Orioceratitet, TurrUUea,
Scaphite$, BaeuUUt, Hamita, and others.
The fishes of the Cretaoeous system are numerous, and belong to
the Plaooid, Oanoid, Ctenoid, and Cycloid types. Of the last two the
genera are fewer in nimiber than of the first two. The Ctenoids and
Cycloida however i4>pear in the Cretaceous system for the first time,
and are interesting on this account.
The Reptiles, though not so numerous in the Cretaceous period
ss in that which immediately preceded it, are nevertheless numerous.
It is here that the Mo§aiawrua has been found, also several spedes of
Pterodaetyli, and the remains of the Igttanodon and Ichthiyotaitimi,
with species of Chdonia,
CHALYBiBUS, a genus of Birds, separated bv Cuvier from the
Cassieana of Buffon ; Barita of Cuvier. The bill has the same form
as that of the Cassicans, but it is a httle laiger at the base than that
organ is in the last-named genus, and the nosbrils are. pierced in a laige,
membranous space.
The species come from New Quinea, and are remarkable for the
metallic tints of their plumage.
Example, CkalyhoBut paraditaui. This richly-plumed bird is the
ParadUea viridis of Qmelin ; Le Calyb^ de la Nouvelle Guin^ of
Buffon ; Le Qrand Chalyb^ of Le YaiUant ; Oiseau de Paradis Vert of
Sonnerat; Paradiieaehalyhea, Blue-Qreen Paradise Bird, of Lathun;
Cractiew chalybetu of Yieillot ; Barita viridis of the first edition of
Blue-Green Bird of Paradise {Chalybtnts paradisaus).
the ' B^e Animal ' (where it was placed under the Cassicans, Bdrita),
and Chalyhamt paraditcBua of the last edition. It is the Mansin^e
of the Papuan tongue, according to Lesson, who thus writes on the
subject from personal observation : — ^'^ Among the numerous skins of
birds of paradise which the inhabitants of New Guinea brought daily
vjo, mss, DXV. TOL. z
on board, I found some Ohalphad deprived of their feet, and run
through with a stick like the skins of the true birds of paradise.
Afterwards we often procured in our shooting parties a bird which
does not vary from that of which we speak, except in having a more
sombre and tarnished plumage, there being no difference in the pro-
portions of the body, bill, wings, or taiL We regard it as a slight
variety of the Calybd of authors ; for those that we saw which were
adult and in complete plumage, did not peimit us to thhik that they
could be ChalybcBi before or after their moult. The total length of
our Chalyb(gu$ was 14 inches 6 lines (Frendi). The bill differed not
at all from the ordinary Chalybceut, The head is large, and the tail,
6 inches in length, is rounded by the disposition of the feathere^ as in
the preceding. The plumage is entirely bluish metallic green,
having none of the iridescent, varying, and violet tints. The feathers
of the neck and abdomen are not figured (gaufr^es), nor powdered
(sablte) with gold and silver on a green and blue ground of
burnished steel, as it were (d'acier brun^, like the CfhalyhcBtu; but
the plumage that oovers these parts has a uniform tint, having the
brilhani^ of specular iron (fer sp^culaire) following the refiections
of the light. The fSeathers which cover the head and neck are short,
dose set, and vdvety. The nostrils are partially dosed by a mem-
brane covered by the frontal feathers, which advance on each side
of the edge (ardte) of the bill, which is black. The iris is coral-red,
and the legs are of the same colour as the bilL Their shanks (tarses)
are covered with large scales (^ussons), and their toes are strong,
furnished with compressed daws, flattened above, and crooked.
" The Chalyb€But lives solitary in the forests of New Quinea. We
often saw it perched in the great trees, where it seeks for firuits.
Its manners appeared to have great analogy to those of the crows."
CHALYBEATE WATERa The water of springs charged with
any of the salts of iron are called Chalybeate. [Sfbinqb, Minbbal.]
CHAMA. [Chamaoea.]
CHAMA'CEA, or CHA'MID.S, a famihr of Conchiferous MoUusea,
the third of the Acephalous or Headless Tataoeti, according to Cuvier,
who places them between his MytHacea (Hussel-like Testaceans), and
his Cardiacta (Cockle-like Testaceans).
Under the Linnsean genus Ohama many heterog^eous forms were
assembled ; and as G. Sowerby observes, " in his arrangement regcdar
and equivalve shells are placed with sudi as are irregular and equi-
valve ; f^e shells with others that are attadied to marine bodies ;
and shells which have two distinct muscular impresdons with others
which have only one."
Brugnike first divided this genus, and Lamarck carried out the
reformation. The latter makes the Ohan^idtB to consist of the genera
DieeroM, Cfkama, and Btheria, placing Tridaona and Hippoput under
his Tridacn^ the first section of his second order ConohifSres Mono-
myaires.
Cuvier made the Camao^ consist of the genera ChamOy Tridacna,
Hippopui, Ckama (Brug.), Dicerat, and Isocardia,
The genus Cfhama has the following characters : — ^The valves are
irregular, indining for the most part to the orbicular diape, unequal,
generally foliated or spined externally, and adherent. The umbones
are distant, unequal, and curled or mvoluto. The hinge consists of
one thick oblique somewhat notched tooth, inserted into the groove
of the oppodte valve. There are two muscular impressions, and they
are distant and lateral The ligament is external, and divided into
two portions at its posterior extremity. The animal {Ptilopui of
Poll) is less irregular than the shell, and cordiform, or heart-shaped ;
the two lobes of the mantle unite posteriorly, and in the commissure
are two very short dilated dphons, like those of Jtocordia. Upon the
abdominal mass a small cylindrical truncated bent foot rises. The mouth
is small, and is furnished on eadi side with a pair of somewhat square
and obliqudy-truncated palpi Deshayes states that all the indivi-
duals of the same species adhere by the valve of the same nde, and
that the umbones curve in the same direction*
Broderip, in the first volume of the ' Transactions of the Zoological
Sodetyof London' (1834), where he describes several new spedes
brought home by Mr. Cimiing, says, ''The shells are attached by their
external surface to submarine bodies, such as corals, rocks, and shells,
and have been observed at depths ranging from points near the sur-
face to 17 fikthoms. These shells appear to be subject to every change
of diape, and often of colour, that the accidents of thdr podtion may
bring upon them. Their shape is usually determined by the body to
which Ihey are fixed ; the devdopment of the foliated laminn whidi
form thdr general characteristic is affected by their dtuation ; and
their colour most probably by thdr food and by their greater or lees
exposure to light The Chtma that has lived in deep and pladd
water wHl generally be found with its foliations in the nighest state
of luxuriancy; while those of the individual that has borne the
buffeting of a comparatively shallow and turbulent sea will be poor
and stunted. Lamarck hais divided the species into two sections,
namely, firsts those the umbones of whose sheUs turn from left to
right ; and, secondly, those whose umbones turn fr^m right to left
M. Sander Bang, in his ' Manual,' has adopted this dividon, to whidi
I cannot subsoibe, because it ynil npt bear the test of examination.
Two remarkable instances are now well known of regular bivalves of
the same spedes, in which one specimen may bereguded asbeingthe
reverse of the other, namdy, Xnctno ChiMitnif imd an inequiSidve
8 o
Digitized by
Google
9S1
GHAMACEA.
CHAMJELAUCIACEJt
9a
Htftihu in the Britiah MoBeum : and to oome at onoe to the oaae
befora JUf the nme spedes of Okama if ■ometimet attaoliMl hj the
ri£^t» Bometiinee by tlie left ralve ; or, In other wordi, in one indi-
vidual of the apedee the nmbonea will torn from left to ri^t» whUe
io another indi^oal they will torn from right to left." The aame
author obaerYOs, that the diatinotion of the apeoieB appeara to him to
be difficulty the variety being infinite. The number of recent apeciea
given in Deehayea'a edition of Lamarck (1885) ia aeventeen, including
Okama albida (C^moBtit^e of DeliowBji CZeidotA^vnif of Stutohbuzy).
Broderip, in the paper above alluded to, deacribea eleven additional
apeciea vHth variefciea not noticed by Deahayea, who haa however aome
obaeryationa on the following apedea, O, LoMttrut, a gryphMa, C,
unieomii, O, atpereUa (the living analogue
of (7. tehinulata in Lamarck'a foaail liat),
and C, albida, well worthy the attention
of the atudent We elect aa an example
0, grypholdei {O, gigat, Linn.), which ia
famoua for ita enormoua aiae. Individuala
have been known to weigh above three
hundred pounda. The byasus by whidi
it adherea to rocka ia so tough that in
I order to procure the ahell it muatbecut
I with an axe. The animal may be eaten,
' but ita fleah ia very tough. Some very
large apedmena are to be aeen in the
Gardena of the Zoological Sodety, Begent^a
Park. One of the valvea ia aometimea
uaed aa a font for baptiam in country
ohurohea.
The apedaa are apparently confined to
the warmer aeaa, the Mediterranean being
the lo<Mdity of the lowest temperature where
<»ama grypkoidtt, any of them have been hitherto found.
FoM Chamidte.
The foaail spedea of Chama are numerona, and occur in the snpra-
cretaceoua groupa, particularly in the auba{)penine beda, and thoae of
Bordeaux and Dax ; in the Cretaceoua group ; and alao in that of the
Oolite. According to G. B. Sowerby, tiiey are found in the London
Clay, and Calcaire Groaner, alao in the Chalk and Greenaand. Deahayea,
in hia tablea, givea fifteen living apedea, and twenty foaail (tertiary),
occurring in the Pliocene, Miocene, and Eocene perioda. Of these he
makes four, namdy, (7. gryphoUki, O, crefMiIato, (7. tmigtrGna^ and a
new apedea, both living and foaail ; the localitiea for the living (with
the exception of cmmUxta^ from Senegal) being the Mediterranean
SeiL The apedea found in more than one Tertiazy formation he
makea C, echinyiaUck, 0. ruttica, and C. lamdlota ; and givea the follow-
ing number of apedea in the loccditiea here mentioned : — ^Four in
dicily, four in Italy (aubappenine beda), one at Bordeaux, three at
Dax, three in Touraine, two at Vienna^ two at Angers, nine at Paris,
one at London, and two at Yalognee. In the foaau liat of hia edition
of Lamarck (1835), Deahayea enumeratea only thirteen foaail apedea,
and of theae he makea C, gryphina indude (7. tmi&tirona aa a aynonym,
obeerving in a note that he knows the living analogue as exiating in
the Sicilian seaa, and that the apedea No. 8 (C7. locernoto) ia a variety
of this, while the valvea dted as bdonging to the environa of Angera
bdong to another apedea. O. tckmwieAa he identifiea with O. atp^eUa
now living in the Mediterranean, d ymeomaria, he obaervea, waa
formed for a variety of (7. gryj^ma, with very huge nmbonea ; and he
auggeets the neceaaity of uniting (7. gryphma^ O* UteemaiOf and (7.
unicomaria in one apeciea. Nilaaon names (7. eormk ArieUt {Diaeraa
arietinat), Kjuge; Morby, Sweden; and (7. laeimaia, Kjuge; Bala-
beig ; Morby, Sweden ; and Mantell, an undetermined apedea from
the Chalk, Suasex. Phillips namea Chama mima, or Orypkaa mima
O^e genera are auffidently different^ by the wav), from the Coral
Oolite and Caloareoua Ghnts of Torkahire. Smith, Ohama {t) erat$a
from the Bradford Clay. Thurman, O, Bemqjmrenni, from the Calca-
reous Grit, Bemeee Jura; and Lonsdale, an undetermined spedea
from the Combraah Forest Marble, and Bradford Clay, Wilts.
Cuvier aays that the JHceraia do not appear to differ from the
Chama in anything essential ; only their oardmal tooth ia very thick,
and the spirals (umbones) of their valvea are auffidently projecting to
remind the obeorver of two homa. G. B. Sowerby thus writes : " On
account of the aimilarity between thia genua (Chwna) and Dieeroi we
ahall be expected to explain the characters by which thia latter ia
diBtinguiahed from Chama, with which indeed it ia arranged by Bru-
gui^; theae, according to Lamarck, are the large, conicio, diverging,
spiral .umbones, and tiie large, concave, aubauriculate, promhient
tooth in the large valve of JHceroi* Not having ouiadvea aeen the
hinge of Dieerat, we will not venture to offer an opinion ; but, judg-
ing from the specimens we possess, we see in J>%oenu a sort of con-
necting link between I§ocariUa and Chama, having both the umbones
free and involute, .and being moreover a neariy equivalve shell, like
Isocardia ; but being attached by one valve, and not quite oqui-
valve, in theae respects resembling Chama,*' Rang observes : " lliis
genua ia very imperfectly known, without doubt, but neverthdeaa one
may well believe that it ia very near to Chamtk" Defranoe enumeimtea
five apedea. Deahayea does not give it as a genus in hi* tablet and
in his last edition of Lamardc only two speoles-sre recorded, Dieem
airidina (Lam.), the type from Ifont Sal^ve uid the neighbouxhood of
St. Mihiely and Dieerat tmktn
(Desh.), ftom the superior Oolite
I in the vicinity of the last^iamed
J k place.
I Bang would place next to Dicerai
' the genus Oaprina of lyOtbignT
aenior ; and he ia of opinion tluit if
thai coologist would paUisk hia
diacoveriee on theae intereetiog
I sheila, the genus would be gene-
rally adopted. The genus Ichtkyo-
iarcolite, which haa been alwayi
daaaed with the Ceplialq>odi,
Dicera* arictina. migH He thinks, bekmg to i
bivalve approximating to Oaprina
Deahayea, he aays, communicated to him the same idea. But tiie list-
named author doea not notice the genus when treating of i^iMrai in
the last edition of Lamarck.
CHAMJSDOHEA, a genus of Palms, alao called JVimiiaAarta and
NMnmegia. They are small reed-like plants, with ringed shoots. Their
leaves are dther deft or pinnated. The inflorescence is sessile within
the sheatiiB of the leaves, and branched in an irregular manner ; the
spathea are membranous. The flowers are yellow and dioedoua, with-
out bracta, which ia a remarkable circumstance. In the males the
calyx ia cup-shaped and 8-parted, the petals S, and the stamens 6.
In the femides the calyx and petala are tne same ; the ovary S-eelled;
the berry 1-aeeded ; the albumen even ; and the embryo lateral
These are palma of humble growth, receding in that reapect from the
general character of ^e order, and approximating to Herbaoeoni
Endogena, or to Bamboos. C. fragram, the Chutasslium of the
Peruviana, ia a plant with a stem about a man's hdgfat, and so fra-
grant aa to fill the grovea with its perfume in the months of Aognil^
September, and October.
1, Ohamwimrm paue^lora s S, OLJIragrana,
CHAMJELAITCIACE^ Fringe Myrtles, a amall natural order of
PolypetalouB Exogenoua Hants. Thev are chanoterised by havingii
1-cdled ovaiy, aacending ovulea, dotted leave^ and the embiyo fused
into a aolid mass. They are anoall bushes with evergreen leaves, and
in external appearance have a doae resemblance to heaths. All their
parte abound in glandular oily cavities. They are mostly regarded tf
tMBlonging to Myrtaoecg, and there is no doubt of their affinity to th^
order. Their peculiar aspect, abortive stamens, simple ovaiy, and
pam>ose calyx suffidently diatinguiah them. They have the frsgianM
of Myriacett, Fifteen genera and fifty n>edes are induded in this
Older, all natives of Australia. Their posxtion, according to lisdley,
Digitized by
Google
CHAMJELEDON.
CHAMELEONS.
is between Atteroeea and Oombretaceoit near to Myriacea, (Lindley,
Vegeiablt Kingdom,)
CH A M iELElX)N, a genus of plants belonging to the natural
order Ericacete. C. ftrocumbent is a beautifiJ little alpine bush,
fonnerly referred to AsdUa, from which it differs essentially both in
habit and botanical characters. It is a small evergreen creepmg
shmb, found on the mountains of Europe and North America. The
leaves are leatheiy, shining, turned back at their edge, and about half
an inch long. The flowers are minute, and grow in terminal umbels
of a light flesh-colour. The calyx is 5-parted ; the corolla campanu-
late and regularly 5-cleffc» the anthers rounded and openmg longi-
tudinally. It is occasionally seen in gardens, but it is ratner impatient
of cultivation.
CHAlLfiLEONID^. [Chjlmelbok&]
CHAlLfiPELLL [CoLUMBiOA.]
CHAMJBltOPS, a genus of Pahn-Trees, in which is comprehended
the most northern species of those remarkable vegetable prod.uctions
whoee home is so frequently in Hie tropics. It is characterised by
its flabelliform leaves, polygamous flowers, which are sometimes even
dioBcsioua^ and triple monospermous drupes, with ruminated albumen.
Chamaropi hiunUia, the European species, grows in hot-houses to the
height of 15 feet ; but in Spain and Barbc^ it is not more than 4 or
5 feet high, and in Italy it is much dwarfer. It is common upon the
hills near Algiers. It occurs in many places in the southern parts of
Italy, and reaches its northern limits in the vicinity of Nice. The
trunk of this plant is 6 or 6 inches in diameter, and closely covered
with triangular hard scales, which are the bases of the old leaves.
The new leaves grow in a tuft at the top of the stem, and have smooth
flat stalks, with ri|[id spines proceeding from the ed^ ; the blade is
deeply palmate, with from 12 to 15 narrow sword-shaped divimoxis,
which are slightly glaucous and downy. The flowers grow within
compresMd spathes, whidi are downy at the edge, and from 6 to 8
inches long, and upon a short oompressed spaddz, which is closely
ooTered over. The drupes are blackish-brown, and round, with a
fibrous dry spongy flesh. The young underground parts of the stem
and the young roots are said by Desfontaines to be eatable.
Organisation. — Skeleton. — The more striking peculiarities consbt
in the elevated and pyramidal form of the occiput ; the absence of a
true sternum ; and in certain apophyses of the vertebral oolomn, espe-
cially about the tail, where they are placed en chevron, so as to leave
at their base a space where the caudal artery, a prolongation of the
pelvic, is protected somewhat in the same wa^ as the spinal Cord is
oy the bony case above it^ when the prehensde tail would otherwise
subject it to pressure in grasping bougns of trees or other solid bodies
with its lower surface. The transverse apophyses of the tail are but
little developed. The glenoid cavity is supported upon a short
pedicle. The majority of Saurians have eight cervical vertebrae, but the
Chameleons have only flve. The first ribs are joined to the mesial
line, which performs the office of a sternum, and the following ribs
are united to each other by their cartilaginous prolongations towards
the mesial line of the belly, so as to protect the abdomen by an entire
bony circle. There are, as Schneider has observed, but two shoulder-
bones, of which the coracoid is very small, the clavicle being entirely
absent. Cuvier remarked the singular disposition of the wrist The
two carpal bones which come next to those of the fore-arm are articu-
lated upon one large central piece, which receives the five bones which
correspond to the metacarpal, three of these being for the external
toes and two for the internal, thus forming two opposeable prehensile
instruments, the two bundles being bound up in the integuments and
skin to the very claws. In the pelvis, the ilia are long and slender
and directed towards the sacrum, with which they partially unite,
but are prolonged by a cartilage. The hind as well as the fore toes
are five, and disposed in the same manner as those of the anterior
extremities. The trunk, which has a oompressed appearance, is
mounted high on the Im, forming an exception to the minority of
reptiles, whose belly tou<mes the ground.
Kui-oi)oan Pulm {C\ttu.ierop» hiimilit),
CHA]L£ZA, a genus of Birds belonging to the family MenUida of
Vigors. [MxBUUDJL]
CHAHEGK. [Atbus.]
CHAKELEONS, CHAHELEON-TRIBB» CHAMiELEONIDiE,
the name for a well-defined family of Saurians (Lisard-like Reptiles),
whose differential and essential characters may be summed up as
existing in tiie form of their feet, the toes of which are joined or bound
op together in two packets or bundles opposed to each other — ^in their
ahagreen-Uke skin— in their prehensile tail— and in their extensile and
retraotfle Tcrmiform tongoe.
Skull of ChamaUc Ififldui.
Organs of Bespuation.— Cuvier observes that their lung is so large
that when it is filled with air it imparts a transparency to the body,
which made the ancients say that it lived upon air ; and he inclined
to think that to its sise the Chameleon owed the property of changing
its colour. But with regard to this last speculation he was in error,
as we shall presently see.
Organs of Nutrition and Digestion. — ^The teeth, as in the great
majority of Saurians, have no true roots : their crowns, which are
trilobated, seem to be soldered as it were upon the edge of the upper
horder of a groove hollowed in the maxillaiy bone ; they are con-
nected to the osseous portion and also to each other, so as to present
the appearance of an enamelled and denticulated portion of the edge
of the bone. But it is the veimiform extensile and retractile tongue
which is the chief organ for taking the insects on which the chame
icon lives. By a curious mechanism, of which the os hyoides (tongue-
bone) is a principal agent^ the Chameleon can nrotrude this cylindri<»l
tongue, which is terminated by a dilated and somewhat tubular tip
covered with a glutinous secretion, from the sheath at the lower part
of the mouth (where the whole of the tongue, with the exception of
the dilated tip, remains when at rest) to the length of six inches. When
the Chameleon is about to seise an insect it rolls round its extraor-
dinary eyeballs so as to bring them to bear on the devoted object : as
8oon as it arrives within range of the tongue^ that organ is projected
with unerring precirion, and returns into the mouth with the prey
adhering to tiie viscous tip.
Chameleon taking Ui prey.
There is not much difference between the c9sophagus and stomach,
which latter is small and bent back upon itsel£ There is no true
pylorus, although there exists, at the point where it should be, a sort
of contraction in the membranee, which are there thickened.
Organs of Sense. — ^Touch.— On the under sur&ce of the tail and
toes are granulated papillw, probably for the purpose of conveying
to the sensorium the nature of the body grasped. The tongue must
have a considerable share of the sense of tonoh; whether it has any
Digitized by
Google
886
CHAMELEONS.
CHAMELEONS
high perception of that of taste may be doubted. SmelL — ^Moet pro-
bably not acute ; the exteraal orifices of the nostrils are more lateral,
and consequently^ wider apart than in most of the other Saurians.
Hearing. — ^There is no visible external ear, but an internal oairity not
much developed in the bones of the sides of the skuU, communicating
^th the throaty and oovered externally by the common integuments.
brownish-gray, inclining to minime. The rest of the skin which wu
not illuminated by the sun changed its gray into several brisk and
shining colours, forming spots about half a nnger^s breadth, reaching
fromwe crest of the spine to the middle of the back ; others appeared
on the ribs, fore legs, and tail All these spots were of an Isabella
colour, through the mixture of a pale yellow with which the grannla
Skeleton of Chameleon {ChamaUo vtdfarit.)
Sight. — The eyes of the Chameleon are remarkable olrjects ; Uo^
projecting; and almost entirely covered with the shagreen-like Bk^
with the exception of a small aperture opposite to the pupil : their
motions are completely independent of each other. It adds to the
strange and grotesque appearance of this creature, to see it roll one
of its eye-globes backwards, while the other is directed forwards, as
if making two distinct surveys at one time. Its sight must be acute,
from the unerring certainty with which it marks and strikes its prey.
Reproduction. — By means of eggs, which are numerous at each
depoaity oval, and enveloped in a white, tough, parchment-like skin.
Habits, &C. — The Chameleons spend their lives in trees, clinging
to the branches by means of their feet and taiL There they lie in
wait for the insects which may come within their reach ; and it is
highly probable that^ in such situations, their fiEiculty of changing
their colour becomes highly important in aiding them to conceal
themselves. They move about with great regularity and a kind of
afieoted gravity. The powers of abstinence possessed by this singular
race are very great^ and hence most probably arose the old fable of
their living on air, which was for a long time considered to be " the
chameleon s dish." We kept one for upwards of six weeks, and during
all that time it never, as fEtr as we could observe, took any sustenance,
though meal-worms and other insects were procured for it. Kotwith-
standing this fast> it did not appear to &11 away much. It would fix
itself by the feet and tail to the bars of the fender, and there remain
motionless, apparently enjoying tiie warmth of the fire for hours
together. Its motions were excessively slow. It was a female, and
died after laying a great number of eggs^ Hasselquist describes one
that he kept for near a month, as climbing up and down the bars of
its cage in a very lively manner. Ktunbers have been exhibited from
time to time in the Zoological Qardens, Rogent's Park, but they do
not live Icmg. The males are distinguished by the thickness of
their tails.
That the Chameleon was known to the ancients there is no doubt.
It was the Xafuu\4^if of the Greeks and the Chamceleo of the Latins.
Aristotle's history of the animal proves the acute observation of that
great zoologist^ for he notices the peculiarities of the animal, the
absence of a sternum, the disposition of the ribs, the mechanism of
the tail, the motion of the eyes, the toes bound up in opposeable
bundles, &c, though he is not entirely correct in some points.
('Hist Anim.,' book 2, ch. xL) Pliny ('Hist Nat,* lib. viiL, c. 88)
mentions it, but his aocotmt is for the most part a compilation from
Aristotle.
The power possessed by these creatures of changing colour has
been a subiect of wonder and exaggeration from an early period.
Wood, in his 'Zoography/ gives the following translation of the
account given by the Fixnich academicians of this phenomenon : " The
colour of all the eminences of our chameleon, when it was at rest^ in
the shade, and had continued a long time undisturbed, was a bluish-
gray, except under the feet^ where it was white inclining to yellow ;
and the intervals of the granules of the skin were of a pale and
yellowish-red. This gray, which coloured all the parts exposed to
the lights changed when in the ran ; and all the plaoes of its body
which were iUuminated, instead of their bluish colour, became of a
were tinged, and of a bri^t red, which is the colour of the bottom of
the skin which is visible between the granules ; the rest of the akin
not enlightened by the sun, and which was of a paler gray than ordi-
nary, resembled a cloth made of mixed wool ; some of the granules being
greenish, others of a minime gray, and others of the usual bluiah-gisy,
the ground remaining as before. Whien the sun did not shine, the
first gray appeared again by little and little, and spread itself all oyer
the body, except imder the feet^ which continued of the same ooloar,
but a little browner ; and when, being in this state, sotoe of the com-
Cy handled it, there immediately appeared on its shoulders and fore
several very blackish spots, about the size of a finger nail, and
which did not take place when it was handled by those who usu^y
took care of it Sometimes it was marked with brown spots, which
inclined towards green. We afterwards wrapped it up in a linen
doth, where having been two or three minutes we took it out whitish;
but not so white as that of which Aldrovandus speaks, which was not
to be distinguished from the linen on which it was laid. Oun, which
had only changed its ordinary gray into a pale one, after baring kept
this colour some time, lost it insensibly. This experiment made na
question the truth of the chameleon's taking all colours but white, as
Theophrastus and Plutarch report, for ours seemed to have such a
disposition to retain this colour, that it grew i>ale eveiy night, and
when dead it had more white than any other colour ; nor did we find
that it changed colour all over the body, as Aristotle reports; for
when it takes other colours than gray, and disguises itself to appear
in masquerade, as iElian pleasantly says, it covers only certain parts
of the body with them. Lastly, to conclude the expOTimento relatiye
to the colours which the chameleon can take, it was laid on substances
of various colours, and wrapped up therein ; but it took not them u
it had done the white, and it took that only tlie first time the experi-
ment was made, tiiough it was repeated several times on different
days. In makiog these experiments we observed that there were a
great many plaoes of its skm which grew brown, but very little at a
time : to be certain of which we marked with small spiecks of ink
those granules which to us appeared whitest in its pale state, and we
always found that when it grew brownest and its skin spotted, those
grains which we had marked were always less brown than the rest
Numerous theories, some of them sufficiently absurd, have bmn
proposed to accoimt for this phenomenoiL It was reserved for
Milne-Edwards to give a complete and satis&ciory explanaiion.
In a paper published in the ' Annales des Soienoes Naturellee' for
January, 1884, and translated in the 17th voL of the 'Edinburgh
New Aiilosophical Journal,' he has given the result of his investi-
gations. The following are his conclusions : — ^^
1. That the change in the colour of Chameleons does not depeivl
essentially either on the more or less considerable sweUing of their
bodies, or the (dianges which might hence result to the condition (£
their blood or circulation; nor does it depend on the greater orj*^
distance which may exist between the several cutaneous ^"^'^Jf '
although it is not to be denied that these drcumstanoes probably
exercise some iofluenoe upon the phenomenon. .
2. That there exists in the skin of these animals two Isyen ot
m mbranous pigment placed tlie one above the other, but diapoied in
Digitized by
Google
037
CHAMfiLEOKa
CnXELJLC&M.
vuch a waj as to appear siinultaneously under the outide, and aome-
timea in auch a manner that the one may hide the other.
8. That eyerything remarkable in the ohangea of colour that
manifest themselTes in the Chameleon may be explained by the
appearance of the pigment of the deeper layer, to an extent more or
less considerable^ m the midst of the pigment of the auperfidal layer;
or from ita disappearance beneath this layer.
4. That these displacements of the deeper pigment do in reality
occur ; and it is a probable consequence that the chameleon'a colour
changes during life, and may oontmue to change eren aiter death.
5. That thm exita a doae analogy between the mechanism by
the help of which the changes of colour appear to take place in
these reptiles, and that which determines the suceessiye appearance
and disappearance of coloured spots in the mantles of seyenl of the
fitmilT embrace but the one genus, Ckamaleo, Dr. J. K
Gray places the ChamaUonida in the tribe Dendrotaura, of the sub-
order Pachygloiicgf of the order Saurci, or Lizards. The tribe Dendro-
iaura embrace onl v this £Gimily, and have the following characters : —
Scales of the belly, sides, and back, granular. Tongue elongate,
lab-cylindiical, worm-like, yery extensile. Eyes globular, yeir mobile,
with a small central round opening. Toes equal, united in two
opposing groups.
The spedeB are inhabitants of the Old World, in A&ioa and Asia,
and are naturalised in Southern Europe.
The following spedes are described in the ' Catalogue of the
Spedmens of Lizards in the British Museum : ' —
* Back with an erect fin. Belly crested.
C. crittatui, the Fringed Chameleon. A native of Feniando Pa
** Back high, compressed. Belly and ddes with a toothed crest
C, kUeralii, the Side-Crested Chamdeon. It is a natiye of
Hadagascar.
*** Back and belly with a toothed creat. Sides simple.
t Scales equal, aznalL Muzzle simple.
C vulgarii, the Chamdeon. It is the O, mutdbilU, Meyer; (7.
einemUf Aldrovandus ; O, Paristentis, C. Zeylandicus, and 6. Mexi-
emutf Laurent ; C, carinatua, C. nibcrocetu, C, ealcaratut, Merrem ;
C, Ze6ra, Boiy ; Lacerta Chamdto% Linnnus. It ii a natiye of the
Bast Indies, and the spedes which is most frequently brought to
ChaiiMleo& {CkameclM vulgaria),
C. SeneffdUntii, the Sene^ Chameleon. It is the Lacerta Chameleon
of LimuBus; C, Bonea Spa of Laurent ; L. pwmUa of Gmelin. It is
a natiye of the West of AfHca.
C. dUepis, the Flap-Necked Chamdeon. Found in Africa. Sped-
mens in the British Museum haye come from Fantee, Ashantee^
Gambroon, and SenegaL
tt Scales unequal, laiger tubercles. Muzzle simple.
C. Pardalia, the Bourbon Chameleon. A natiye of Bourbon.
C. verrMcotus, the Warty Chamdeon. It inhabits Madagascar.
t+t Scalea unequal* Muzde (of male^ with a central prominence.
C. i2;ktiiooeni<t(#, the Rhinoceros-Chameleon. Anatiyeof Madagaacar.
Specimena of this and the last spedes were presented to the British
Museum by Sir Edward Bdcher.
**** Back with a toothed crest Bdly and aides simple.
t Chin and muzzle simple.
C. tvbereul^erui, the Tuberoulated Chamdeon. A natiye of South
Africa.
C. cucfittahu, the Hooded Chamdeon. An inhabitant of Mada-
gaaoar.
tt Chin Bunple ; muzzle oomtreesed, produced.
C. namUvi, the Sharp-Nosed Chamdeon. A natiye of Madagascar.
ttt Chin simple ; muzzle of male forked.
fiftywrcM^ the Laige-Naped Chamdeon. A natiye of Madagascar.
tttt Chin bearded ; muzde simple.
C. Tigrii, the Fringed Chameleon. Found in the Seydielle lalands.
C' vetUroHi, the Belly-Shaped Chamdeon. Found in South Africa.
^^•fumOM^ the Pearled Chamdeon. A nathreof the Capeof Good
Hopst
«■«•• Bn^ mj^ Yy^ij ^^ crested.
C, Parionii, Person's Chameleon. A natiye of Madagascar.
C. Owenii, the Three-Homed Chamdeon. It ia a natiye of Fer-
nando Po.
C, Proohetianut, Brookes's Chameleon. Locality unknown. Named
from a specimen in the Museum of Joshua Brookes.
CHAMOia [Amtzlopejl]
CHAMOISITE, a mmeral, composed of Silicate of Iron.
CHAMOMILK [ANTHuaa.]
CHAMP, a yaluable kind of timber, produced in the East Indies
hj Magnolia excelta,
CHANDELIER-TREE, a spedes of Pandanu§ which grows in
Guinea and St Thomas's, and which, on account of the arrangement
of ita dichotomous brandies, has obtained this name. [Pahdamus.]
CHAODINEiE, Chaotic Planta, a family inyented by Bory, for
the puipoae of pladng a number of the lower forms of plants or
oiganio beings of uncertain character, which could not be plaoed
amongst other well-defined groups of Cfryptogamia. To this family
were at one time assigned fonns of DicUomacetB, Jkmideo!, Noitoe,
and others.
CHARA'CE^ Charai, the Chara Tribe, a curious group of plants
inhabiting pools and dow streams, to which they communicate a
nauseous ofTendye odour, which is said to become a peatilential miasma,
when, as in the Campagna of Rome, the pUnta are in great numbers.
They are jointed leaflees plants, with yerticillate branches, composed
either of one or of seyeral tubea adhering in bundles, and dther
encrusted with calcareous matter (Chora), or transparent {NiieUay
The reproductiye organs are of two kinds. One named a nucule, is
an oyal sessile spirally striated body, with a flye-deft apex, and a
number of graina in ita interior; this has been looked upon as the
pistil, and has been seen to grow into a voung plant The other,
called the globule, is a reddish body consisting of triangular scales,
indosing a mass of elastic wayy threads, and has been named an
anther.
C%arm,
a, A portion of tabdar stem, showing the bases of a whorl of lesTes ; b, last
bearing the orgmnt of ftnetifleation ; «, a single organ of ftmctiflcation, greatly
enlarged; d, upright seetion of tke fruit ; e, plant germinating.
The following ia Sohldden'a description of these organs : — "On the
lateral brandies, generally in the axis of the aboye-mentioned pair of
cdls, fiye cdls may be seen spirally wound round a thick mass, and
haying their parallel extremities surrounded by a kind of pentagonal
crown. From this thick granular maas a laige cell (spore) is formed,
filled with large granules of starch, mucus, and oil-globules, and with
a substance l£at dosdy inyests the sporeK)dls ; and from bdng at
first transparent subsequently becomes green or red, and finally black.
The fiye inyesting cdls then dther become cartilaginous, and remain
until the wholedecays after germination, or they are conyerted into
a gelatinous state, and then speedily diasolyed after the sporocaip has
Digitized by
Google
CHARADRIABA
CHARADBIAJD^
010
fallen. Close below this sporooarp there may generally be seen, at
the same time, seated upon a short (^lindrioal oeU, another cell, which
is at first simple and spherical, but from which eight [query always
eight ?] cells are gradually developed, which become flattened, and
inclose a cavity tluit appears from its origin to be filled with a dense
grumous mass. The eight cells expand into closely compressed radii,
arranged side by side, increasing the circumference and depth of the
whole body, whilst red granules are gradually deposited upon their
inner walL The dark contents are meanwhile developed into other
cells, so that in the perfect oigan a conical cell pnyects from the
cell fonning the pedicle into the cavity, and a cylmdrical cell is
formed from the middle of each of the eight cells of the walL
These new cells, which likewise contain pale-red granules, bear on their
free extremity several spherical or truncated cylindrioal cells, from
which project many long filaments composed of minute cells. The
spheri<Md cells and the filaments form a dense coil in the centre of
the cavity. In each separate cell of the filament we at first see a
grumous mass, which however subsequently disappears, giving place
to a spiral fibre coiled up in two or three turns, and which manifests
a peculiar motion on escaping from its celL These mysterious organs
have, as yet^ without any reason, been termed anthers."
There is however an analogy between these oigans and the so^aalled
spermatozoids of other OryptogcmUa, that would lead to the infmnenoe
that they perform the same functions. [RiPBODUonoir, Ybobtablk.]
In addition to these organs, Montague has recently described bulbilli
as present in the Ohar<ice<Bf by which, he says, the species are
frequently propagated.
The Characea are also highly interesting on account of the fkeility
with which thev exhibit the circulation of their fiuids, and because of
the light they thus i^pear to throw upon some of the more obscure
of the phenomena of vegetable life. If one of the tubes of a Chora
be observed under a pretty good microscope^ by the aid of tnnsmitted
lights the fiuid it contains mH be distinct^ seen to have a motion up
one side of each tube, down the other, and then up again, affcer the
manner of a jack-chain ; and this goes on continually as long as the
plant remains alive. No spectacle that we are acquainted with is
more beautiful than this, if it is well seen with the aid of a good
microscope. This movement was first described by Amid. It has led
to the examination of other water plants ; in most of which the same
kind of circulation can be detected. The best account of these move-
ments, with drawings, is that published by Yarley in the ' Transactions
of the Microscopicfd Society,' voL iL [CroLoam.]
Remains of CharacecB are frequently foimd in the fresh-water
Tertiary deposits, but not lower down. The species are met with
almost everywhere in stagnant water in Europe, Asia, Africa, North
and South America, and Australia. They are most prevalent in
temperate dimes. The spedes of Ohara are of no known use. The
stems of the spedes which are calcareous often present beautiful
examples of crystals of carbonate of lime. They are easily cultivated
in glass vessels, which is often done for the sake of examining their
circulation under the microscope. In the Chora this can <mlybe
done after removing the calcareous incrustation, but in NiteUa it is
seen without any preparation. The family has three genera and
thirty-five spedes. Their relations are evidently with the Algas on
the one hand, and the EqiUsetaoece on the other.
CHARAa)BIAD^, a family of Birds, placed bv Mr. Vigors in the
order QralUUora, or Waders. The genus Charodri%»^ induding the
True Plovers, the Dottrell, the Sea^Lark, the Sandeiiing, the Stone
Curlew (OSdicnemiuM), the IiOng;-Legged Plover (Himamtowu), and the
Spur-Winged Plover {Charadrim tpinotut), was placed by Linnous,
in his 'Systema NatursB,' between the genera Trmga and Rtewrvi-
rottra [Atobbt], in his order QtoIUb,
Cuvier makes the fiunily of Plovers (Lea Pluviers, Charadrius,.
Linn.), comprising those genera which want the hind toe, and have a
moderate bill compressed and convex at the end, consist of two
genera, CSdicnemu$, and the Plovers so called {C%aradriu9, Liim.),
embracing the Qolden Plover, Charadrius Morinelltu, C, Hiatieula, kc
The Plovers are succeeded by the Yanneaux {VaneUut, Bedist,
Tringa, Linn.), consisting of SqwUanla, Cuv., and VondUu, Cuv. ;
which are followed by ff(cnuUopu8 and Cwioriut ; after which last,
judging from external form, he places the 9uiama (Microdactylu$,
Geo£, J>icholoput, 111.), [^ariama.]
The following is Mr. 0. B. (Cray's arrangement He mokes the
Charadriada the first family of the QraUaUtrei.
Sub-Family 1. GldicntmincB,
Qenera. CSdicnemut, Temm. {Charadriui, Linn.; Otis, Lath.;
Pluvialis, Briss.}.
Burhinut, JJL ((Edicnemutf Shaw; Charadrius, Lath.).
Sub-Family 2. Oursorinat,
Qenera. Cwsorvus, Lath. {Charadrivs, GnL; Tachydr<mus, BL;
Oreophilus, Qould).
Ortygodes, Yidll {Eemipodius, Sw. ; Ortygis, Steph.).
Pluvianus, Yieill. (Charadrim, Qm. ; Cursor, WagL ; ffyaSf Gloger ;
Ammopiila, Sw. ; CheOodromm, Biipp.).
Sub-FamUv 8. CharadHance.
Qfioara. CHarsUa, Briss. (Sinmdo, Lnm. ; Traehdia, Soop.
Squatarola, Cuv. {Trimffa, Qm. ; Plwrialis, Brissi ; FomUm, Bechsi.;
Charadrius, PalL).
Vandlus, Briss. (TWfipa, Linnaeus; Charadrius, Wagler; (TuvtO) Klein).
Srythrogonys, Qould.
Philomachus, Moehr. (Parra, Gmelin; VatuBus, Gmelin; Eoph'
pterus, Bonap.).
Charadrius, Linn. {Plvnialis, Bay).
Budromias, Boie {Charadrius, Linn. ; PUmalis, Brisik ; MorituUiu,
GenL).
EiaticuUt, Moehr. {Charadrius, Linn. ; PUsviaUs, Brisik ; .^giaiita,
Boie).
Pipis, Licht. {Charadrius, Lioht).
Anarhfuehus, Quoy and Gaim. {Seohpax t Baffles).
Sub-Familv 4. HcemaUfpimm,
Qenus. Hctmalopus, Linn. {Ostndtga, Briss. ; Scolopox, Scop.).
Sub-Family 5. DmmadiMS.
Genera. Dromas, Payk. {Erodia, Stanley ; Corrira, Briss. ?)
Esacus, Less. {Carvanaca, Hodgs.).
We now proceed to the consideration of some 'of the fonni
induded in tfds family.
The first family of the order OraUatores, according to Mr. G. R.
Gray's arrangement, is the Charadriadce, which are divided by him
into the following sub-families and genera : —
In illustration of this family we sdect prindpally the spedes
inhabiting the British Islands.
CEdienemus crepitans, the Great Plover. It is the Otis GdtenmHt^
Pennant; Charadrius (Edicnemus, Montagu; Oidicnemus BeUmU,
Fleming. It is also known by the common name of the Norfolk
Plover. It is the Ostardeau of Bdon ; Le Grand Pluvier, on Courlis
de Terre, of the French ; Gran Pivieri, Curlotte, Ciuriul, and Ciurlovi
of the Italians ; Lerchengraue BM^enpfeifer, Grosser Brachvogel, and
Grosse Bragvogd oder Gluth, of the Gennans, among whom it Ib also
called Triei, or Grid, accordhig to Gesner, who thinks that it is the
Charadrius of Aristotle ; the Glin-braff of the ancient British. This
genus connects the Bustards and Plovers.
ncad and foot of (Edienemttt,
Mr. Gould, who concurs in this view, observes that he has often
had occasion to remark, that while the normal or typical gronpe an
abundant in spedes, the aberrant forms, whidi appear to be created
for the purpose of filling up the intervening chawns, are restrietod
for the most part to a limited number of spedes : thus while the
Bustards and Plovers comprise a vast multitude of q)ede8, the genus
(Edienemus contains at most but five or six spedes, and these con-
fined entirely to the regions of the Old World. (' Birds of Europe. J
The following is the character of the genus :— Bill strong; nesriy
straight, rather depressed towards the tip ; colmen devated, lowtf
mandible angulated; nostrils lon^tudinal, pierced through and
through the homy part of the middle of the bill, and most opei
anteriorly. Tarsi long; three toes, all before, united as far m the
second joint by a membrane whidi skirts their edgea Wmgs
moderate ; first quill shorter than the second, whidi is longest
The only British example of the genus is the Great Plover. It has
all the upper parU of a reddish ashy-brown, with a loogitudinai
dash on the odddle of each feather ; space between the eye and the
bill, throaty bdly, and thi^ pura white; neck and breast sb^tlj
Digitized by
Google
•a
OHABADRIADiB.
CIHARADRIAD^
odoared with reddish and speckled with longiiadiiial brown streaks ;
a loDgitadinal white band on the wing ; towards the middle of the
fint quill a great white dash, and a Teiy small one on the interior
barb of the aeoond; lower tail-ooverts mddy; qaill-feathers, except
thoae of the middle, terminated with black ; base of the bill briffht-
yeUowiah, the rest black ; naked skin round the eyes, iris, and feet^
pure yellow. Length from the bill to the feet 16 inches 2 lines.
Hale and Female.
Great Plover {(EdtenAntu erepUanM),
Such is Temminck's description of the adult bird ; but the plmnage
Taries in some individuals. For instance, in the specimen figured
and described by Qould, in his 'Birds of Europe,' there is an obscure
bar of white above and below the eye, and the ground-colour of the
flanks and under surface is stated to be yellowiidi- white ; whilst the
yellow toes and feet are noticed as having a tinge of green.
The young birds have the colours less distinct, and are detected
at the first glance by the highly dilated form of the upper part of
the tarsus and by the size of the knee-joint. Temminck, who g^ves
this description, adds that this form of the tarsus exists in the young
of the year of all species of birds with long slender legs^ but is
particularly remarkable in the ]^oung (Edicnemi.
Rapid on fbot^ powerful in mght, which it executes in wide circles,
and haunting downs and open places, this species is in general
approached with difficulty by the sportsman, wough it will often
squat in places favourable to its colour, till it is almost trod on.
Their shnll evening cry pierces the ear, and may be heard nearly a
mile in a still night. Slugs, worms, reptiles, and, some say, mice are
eaten by them ; but the two former seem to be their favourite food.
White, in a letter to Pennant^ dated 80th March, 1768, says, " I
wonder that the Stone Curlew {Charcuhiui (Editiiemua) should be
mentioned by writers as a rare kind : it abounds in all the campaign
parts of Hunpehire and Sussex, and breeds, I think, all the summer,
having young ones, I know, very late in the autumn. Already they
begin clamouring in the evening. They canno^ I think, wim any
propriety be called, as they are by Mr. Ray, 'circa aquas versantes;'
for with us, by day at least, they haunt only the most dry, open,
upland fields, and sheep-^alks, far removed m>m water : what they
niay do in the night I cannot say. Worms are their usual food, but
they also eat toads and firogs." Ko nest receives the eggs, which are
two or three in number, of a light brown or dirty white, with dusky
blood-coloured blotches and streaks. ** It lays,' says the author of
the ' Histoiy of Selbome,' ** its eggi^ usually two, never more than
three, on the bare ground, without any nest^ in the field ; so that the
countryman, in stimng his fallows, often destroys them. The young
run immediately firom the egg> like partridges, &&, and are with-
drawn to some flinty field by the dam, where they sculk among the
stones, which are their best security; for their feathers are so exactly
of the colour of our gray-spotted flints, that the most exact observer,
unless he catches the eye of the young bird, may be eluded. .*. .
(Edicnemtu is a most apt and expressive name for them, since their
legs seem swollen like those of a gouty man. After harvest I have
shot them before the pointers in turnip-fields." In his Manuscript the
same author remaiiLB that they seem to descend in the niAt to
streams and meadows, perhaps for water, which their upland haunts
do not afibrd them.
Geographical Distribution. — Europe generally, where it seems to
be migratory in many parts, in Britain and Qermany for instance.
Temminck notes it as abundant in the south of France (in which
coimtry Belon found young ones that could not fly at the end of
October), Italy, Sardinia, the Greek Archipelago, and Turkey. It is
also found in Asia and Africa. It occurred among the Trebisond
eoUeotion of birds presented to the Zoological Society of London by
Mr. Keith Abbott ; and the locaUties attributed to it by Mr. Gould
are Europe and Africa, but not India. (<ZooL Proa,' 1834.) CoL
Sykes however had previously recorded it among the bbrds of the
Deooan : at least he says ''there is no visible difference between the
Dukhun and British species." (< ZooL Proa,' 1882.) If it be the
Okaradriua Kervari of Hasselquist, which Linnseus and most authors
suppose it to be, that traveller describes it as inhabiting Lower Egypt^
near the sepulchres, and in the deserts. In Britain it arrives early in
the spring. The following is the earliest period recorded by White : —
" On the 27th of Februaiy, 1788, Stone Curlews were heard to pipe ;
and on March 1st, after it was dark, some were passing over the
village, as might be perceived by their quick short note, which they
use in their nocturnal excursions by way of watch-word, that they
may not stray and lose their companions. Thus we see that retire
whithersoever they may in the winter, they return again early in the
springs and are, as it now appears, the first summer birds that come
back. Perhaps the mildness of the season may have quickened the
emig^tion of the curlews this year." They are seldom seen after the
beginning of October; but Markwick states that he received on the
81st Januaxy, 1792, a bird of this species which had been recently
killed by a neighbouring farmer, who said that he had frequently
seen it m his fields (Sussex) during the former part of the winter.
This, perhaps, adds Miurkwick, was an occasional straggler, which, by
some accident, was prevented from accompanying its companions in
their migration. As the autumn advances, Uiese birds collect into
flocks, soon after which they leave this country. Norfolk, Suffolk,
Kent, and Hampshire seem to be the fiEivourite counties of the Stone
Curlew ; but it occurs, though rarely, in the Yorkshire Wolds, higher
than which it does not seem to go m these islands. Mr. Selby says
that he never met with-it or heard of it in the more northern English
counties, nor in SooUand. It does not occur in Mr. Thompson's Irish
list in the ' Zoological Proceedings.'
The Great Plover is a delicate bird for the tabla
In the * Portraits d'Oyseaux,' the following quatrain well describes
the bird and the reason for the name given to it by Belon : —
" L*on peat notnmer cestay-oy Ontardeau,
Paroeqa'il est approohant de TOstarde.
Qui touB le ply des genoux I'os regarde,
Le trouTo gros plus qn' k nol autre oyseao."
Cunoriut, Bill as long as head ; mandibles arched, and compressed
towai*ds their extremities; base depressed; tip sharp and entire;
nostrils basal, oval, with an oblong lateral opening. First quill
longest L^ long; three front toes separated throughout; middle
toe much ^e longest^ with a serrated claw.
O, Temmindni, Black-Bellied Courier, Swainson. The following is
Mr. Swainson's specific character and description : — ''Cream-coloured
brown ; top of the head and breast ferruginous, nuchal collar double;
the lower, with the quills and middle of the body, black ; the upper
and the sides of the body white. Total length from the bill to the
tail eight inches; bill one inch from the gape, and half from the end
BUek^BeUied Courier {Ourtoriut Temminckii),
of the nostrils. Legs three inches from the naked thigh to the tip of
the middle toe, the daw of which is serrated internally. Tul round ;
the middle feathers not spotted ; the two next with a black dot near
the- tip, which, in the next pair, is further broken into two white dots ;
the outer pair white." («ZooL Illust./ pL 106, first aeries). It
inhabits Africa (Abyssiuia.)
Digitized by
Google
CHARADRIAD^
CHARADBIADA
M4
(7. l9ci>MMUf Meyer, Temmindk; (7. Ewn^pce^B^ 'Ind. Om;' O.
ChUicua, Gmelixi; Le Couirita, Buff,; Cream-Coloured Ployer,
Latham ; Cream-Coloured Couner, Pennant; Cream-Colouied Swift-
Foot^ Selby. It haa been seen in France and En^dand, but only aa an
oocanonal Tiaitor. Thua we find (Mont 'Orn. Diet') tliat onewaa
killed in France^ where it waa seen to run with great swiftneM; ano-
ther was shot near St. Alban's in East Kent the seat of William
Hammond, Esq., on the 10th of November, 1785, and he presented
the prise to Dr. Latham. Mr. Hammond first met with it on some
light land ; and so little fearfbl waa it that having no gmi with him
at that time he sent for one, which did not readily go o^ having been
charged for some time, and, in consequence, he missed his aim ; the
report fin^htened the bird away, but after making a turn or two, it again
settled within a hundred yards of him, when he waa prep>ared with a
second shot which killed it He observed it to run with incredible
swiftness, considering its sise, and at intervals to pick something from
the ground : it was so bold as to render it difficult to make it rise in
order to take a more secure aim on the wing. The note was unlike
that of any known bird. Colonel Montagu says that one waa shot in
North WiJes in the year 1793, and preserved in the collection of the
late Professor Sibthorp at Oxford. Mr. Atkinson, author of * The
Compendium of Ornithology,' was also in possession of a specimen
shot at Netherby, in April, 1816.
Another of these birds was taken in Austria ; and the young bird
in the Darmstadt Museum, alluded io by Temminck, was probably
killed in Europe. Mr. Fox (' ZooL Journal,' voL iiL, p. 492) records
the death of one shot on the 15th October, 1S27, under Timberwood
Hill, in Chamwood Forest Leicestershire, by a tenant of Mr. T. Qis-
borne. He described it as coming fiying over his head, uttering a
ay with which he waa unacquainted, and it settled near him. Some
idea of the enormous prices which were at one time given by collectors
for rare birds killed in Britain may be foimed from the sum which
Dr. Latham's specimen produced : Mr. Fox says it was purchased for
88 guineas.
OlareolcL, Brisson* Bill shorty hard, convex, curved for upwards
of half its length, and compressed towards the point Nosteils
at the sides of the base, oblong^ and obliquely deft L^g;8
feathered nearly to the knee ; toes, three before and one behind, the
outer united to the middle one by a short membrane ; daws long,
and drawn to a fine point Wings very large, the first quill-feather
the longest Tail more ar less forked. (€k>uld.)
Example, O. Pratmcola (Hirwndo Praimccla, Linmeus), the Collared
Pranticole. Both male and femalC' when old have the summit of
the head, nape, back, scapulars, and coverts of the wings gray-brown ;
throat and front of the neck white slightly tinged with red, whidi
colour is endrded or framed, as it were, by a very narrow black
band, which ascends towards the comers of the bill; space between
the eye and the bill black ; breast whitish-brown ; under coverts of
the VTings chestnut-red; lower P^rts white, douded with reddish;
coverts of the tail and origin of the caudal feathers pure white, the
rest blackish towards their end; bill black, red at its base, iris
reddish-brown ; naked cirde round the eyes bright-red ; feet reddish-
ash. Tail veiy much forked. Length rather more than 9 inches.
(Temm.)
In this state it is the Perdrix de Mer of Brisaon, &c. ; the Perdrix
de Mer Ordinaire et k Collier of Qerard ; Austrian Pratincole of
Latham ; Das Rothfussige Sandhuhn of Bechstein; Das Oestrichisohe
Hdaband, and SUdliche Sandhuhn, of Brehm ; and Pemice di Mare
of Savi
Varieties. — The gray-brown brighter or deeper: the white of the
throat more or less clouded with reddish or bright russet ; the gular
black band more or less intense in colour, and often accompani^ by
a very small white line. The band too is often only indicated by
small black spots. (Temm.)
When young the upper parts are brown-ash, clouded with deeper
undulations and whitish borders ; throat tarnished white, surrounded
with brown spots disposed so as to replace the band which surrounds
this part in tne old birds ; breast and belly deep gray with brown
spots, but sometimes without spots; the tail less forked, and the
lateral fei^er much shorter than in the old.
In this state it appears to be La Perdrix de Mer k Collier, la grise,
labrune, etlaQiarole of Sonnini, of Buffon; La Perdrix de Merdes
Maldives, de Coromandd, et de Madras, of Sonnerat; Das Braun-
ringige Sandhuhn, and Qefleckte Sandhuhn, of Bechstein; and Collared
and nirther varieties of Pratincole of Latham.
" The genus Qlamola^" says Mr. Qould in his great work on the
'Birds of Europe,' ''appears to be strictly confined to the Old World,
no transatlantic example having ever been discovered, nor indeed are
we aware of any form in the ornithology of America which at all
approaches the present Three spedes are all that are as yet disco-
vered. Of these, two (the 0, graUaria and the O. lactta) are peculiar
to tiie eastern provinces of Ada and Africa ; the oth^, the bird now
before us (O, torqtuUa), is spread throughout the warm and tempentte
regions not only of these continents, but Europe also : hence it would
seem as if nature endeavoured to make up by extent of habitat for the
limitation of spedes. Still however, although thus difiused, the
Prantincole may be said to be truly a native of the eastern provincea
of Europe on the Asiatic borders, and especially Hungary, where
wide tnoti of moraii and flat lands, abounding in hkm both fttsh
hundreds of these birds;' and we might add that it is no lea
abundant in Western Tartary. In TCngUiwi it is only an oocasionil
visitor ; but in Qermany, France^ and Italy, it is a bird of periodical
occurrence."
M. Temminck, in the last part of his ' Manuel,' states that it breedi
in Sardinia, and that it is very abundant in Dalxnatia, on the boiden
of the lake Boocagnaro, on itsspring passi^pa. The eggs he deacribet
as being ydlowish-white. ** With the long wings and forked tail of
the swallow" — ^we again quote Mr. Qould— "the Pnnticde posBesMi
that rapidity and power of flight for which the bird is so remaikable.
It takes its food, which consists of insects, and espedally audi u
frequent marshes and the borders of rivers, while on the wing,
darting along in the chase with the rapidity of an arrow ; nor is it
less distinguishable for celerity on the ground, and often catchei ita
prey as it nimbly runs idong. This elegant and graoefal biid
mcubates in the concealment affbrded by reeds, osiers, and tall
herbage, laying three or four white eggs." A pair of Pratinoolea
were shot at Yarmouth in 1827 ; another in Wilbraham Fen in
Cambridgeshire in 1885 ; and a specimen at Blakeney in Norfolk, in
May, 1845.
Collared Fratinoole {QlareoUt Pratimcola).
Squatarola, Cuvier. Bill rather strong, cylindrical, straight, nearly
as long as the head ; the tip or homy part about half the length of
the whole Inll, tumid and arched, with the tomia bending inwardi ;
nasal grooves wide^ half the length of the bill; mesorhinom
depressed bdow the level of the tip ; nostrils longitudinally pierced
in the membrane of the groove, linear, oblong. Wings rather long;
acuminate, wilJi the first quill-feather the longest Legs alender, of
mean length, naked above the tarsal joint ; feet four-toed, three before
and one behind ; front toes joined at their base by a membrane, that
portion of it between the outer and middle toe being the longest;
hind toe veiy small or rudimental ; tarsi reticulated. Plumage thick,
close, and adpressed. (Gould.)
Head and Foot of Squataroh,
S. cinerea {Ti-inffa SquataroUi, Linn.), the Bastard or Gray Plover.
Adult Male and Female, Winter Plumage.— Fronts throaty middle
of the belly, thigh, abdomen, and upper coverts of the Uil, pore
white ; space above the eye^ front of the neck, sides of the breast and
sides, white, varied with brown and ashy spots ; upper parts blackish-
brown, variegated with greenish-ydlow spots, but the whole of the
feathers terminated with ash-oolour and whitish; long ^^^^
feathers of the wings deep black ; lower coverts of the tul mariced
on ^eir external barbs with small diagonal brown bands; tail white,
but reddish towards the end, striped with brown bands, which are
Digitized by
Google
M5
CHARADBIADiB.
CHABADBIABiB.
MB
pale and Usw, and placed on the lateral feathen; bill Uadk; iris
Kiai>irf«>i ; feet ashy-blaok. Length rather more than 10 inohet.
Adult Male and Female, in their Spring or Nuptial Plmnage.—
Space between the eye and the bill, throat/ sides and front of the
neck, middle of the breast, belly, and sides, deep black ; fronts a large
band above ^e eyes, lateral parts of the neck, side ot the breast^
thi|^ and abdomen, pure white ; nape variegated with brown, black,
an^ white ; occiput, back, scapulars, and coverts of the wings, deep
black ; all the feathers of these parts terminated by a laige space of
pare white ; large white spots on the greatest of the wing-coverts and
on the scapulars ;'Obliaue black bands on the lower tail-coverts;
feathen of the middle of the tail striped with white and black.
The yoiong before the moult resemble more or less the adult bizdi
and the young in winter; the front, space above the eye, sides of the
neck, and sides are variegated with laiger but paler spots ; upper
parts of a Inight-gnr^ tint varied with whitish, also, a httle whitish
at the extremity of the quiUs ; transverse bands of the tail gray.
(Temm.)
In the first of these states of plumage the bwpd is the Tringa
SqucOarola, QmeL ; Le Yanneau Yari^, Bu£ ; and Gray Sandpiper,
Lath. ('Syn.')
In the second it is the VaneUut mdanoffotter, Bech.; Tnnga
ffdvetieet, OmeL : Oharadriut apnomiiu, Wils. ; Le Yanneau Suisse,
Bu£t ; Swiss Sandpiper, Lath. ; and So^warsbauchiger Kiebia, Meyer.
The young before the moult are Tringa Squalarolog var., QmeL ;
Le Yanneau Pluvier, and Yanneau Ghris, Buff ; Qray Sandpiper,
Lath^ ; and Schwarzbauohiger Kiebiz im Herbetkleide^ Meyer.
M. Tenuninck, who gives these synonyms, remarks m his ' Manuel,'
that at the two epoc^ of the moult> individuals are found which
have the deep black of the lower parts sprinkled with some white
feathers, or vraien the white predommates it is variegated with some
black feathers. The birds in winter plumage and the young may, he
observes, be easily disting^uished from those of the Qolden Plover,
first by the presence of the posterior toe, and secondly by the long
black feathen which an found inside of the wings, near the body ;
the rest of the plumage diffen so little at these epochs, that one
might be easily mistaken.
This species is the Chartidrim hypomdat of Wagler, and the Qray
Squatarole of Shaw. It appean to be the Pluvier Qris of Belon, and
in the < Portraits d'Oyseoux/ &a, is the following loyal quatrain under
the figun of the bird : —
" De noiet lenlet, de Jour en oompagnle,
Ta le FluTier Bayvant ion appelleur.
Far la voiUon, que e'est blen le meilleor,
QdHine gent soU parnn roy gonTemde.*'
BC Temminck, who, in the fourth part of his < Manuel' (1840),
protests against the generic separation of this form, hot withCut
a paasingbut sweeping censun on ''toutes les autres coupes nou-
vellee," adds to the synonyms SqwUarola varia et Bdvdica, Brehm. ;
Kiebiz Begenpfeifer, Naum; Pivieressa, Savi; and Spraokling Yipa,
Nils.
In Britam, when this bird is not numerous, and principally known
as a migratory species, it is found on the coast " in oozy bays, or at
the mouths of riven," when it feeds upon worms, marine crustaceans,
&C. The bird runs well, and its whistle is like that of the Qolden
Plover, but not so shrilL If killed in good season it is delicious for
the table. The nest is of the most rude construction. A shallow
depression in the earth is lined with a few pieces of dried bents or
straw, and then four eggs generally, which an oil-green blotched
with black, an depositedT According to Wilson and Nuttall, this
Plover has often in the temperate parts of the United States two
broods in a season, tiiiough it has only one in Massachusetts, when
their nests an of ran occurrence. During the summer both young
and old feed much upon various kinds of berries, particularly those
of the early bramble, called dew-berries, and their flesh is then highly
esteemed. About the last week in August they npair with their
young to the borden of the seaK>oast, when they assemble hi great
numbers, feeding on small shell-fish, shrimps, and other small marine
iLTiima.lii- Qrasshoppera and other insects that abound in the fields
are also eaten by tiiem. " They an," says Nuttall, " extnmely shy
and watchful, uttering a loud rather plaintive whisUing note as they
fly high and cinling in the air, and an so often noisy, particularly in
the breeding season, as to have acquired among many of the gunnera
along the coast the name of the Black-Bellied Killdeer. They usually
linger round the sea-coast m the Middle States till the commencement
of November, when the frosts beginning sensibly to diminish their
prospect of subsistence, they instinctively move off towards the south,
proceeding probably at this time under the shade of twilight, as moving
flocks an nowhen, a3 far as I can learn, seen by day. About the
middle of September, in the marshes of Chelsea (Mass.) contiguous
to the beach, they sometimes assemble at daybreak in flocks of mon
than a thouMmd individuals together, and soon after dispene them-
selves in companies on the Acres, to feed upon the small shell-flsh
and marine msects (Oruttacea). This crowding histinct takes place
a short time previoustotheirgeneralmigration southward." ('Manual
of the Ornithology of the United States and Canada.*)
The Qray Plover is found in all the temperate countries of Burope.
VAI. XDSZ. 9I¥. TOL. L
Mon abundant in France than in Qermany ; ran in Switzerland ;
common enough in the islanda and on the coasts of Holland. Abun-
dant in summer in the regions of the Arctic Circle and of Oriental
dimates, when it breeds. M. Cantraine killed a young one in the
Strait of Boniface. (TemnL) Dr. Yon Siebold and M Biirger saw it
in Japan, and M Temminck states that he has seen individuals from
that locality in both summer and winter plumage. Sir John Bichard-
son, who notices it as the Toolee-areeoo, or Tooglee-aiah, of the
Esquimaux, says that it is observed in the Fur Countries in similar
places to tiiose frequented by the Qolden Plover, though it is not
equally oomx^on, and that it breeds in open grounds from Penn-
sylvania to the northern extnmity of the continent. He describee a
Mofanen killed at Hudson's Bay (lat. 57*) in August 1822. Captahi
James Boss, in the Appendix to Sir John Ross's ' Last Yovage,'
observes that it was mon ranly met with than the Qolden Plover,
but was found breeding near the maigins of the marshes immediately
to the south-west of Fury Point in considerable numbers. Some
specimens wen also obtained near Felix Harbour. It is met with in
^gypt^ and upon the confines of Asia, in Siberia, ftc. (Selby.) The
last-quoted author states that in Britain then an a few stations
on the coast of Northumberland when it is found during the whole
winter, but only in families or small fiocks. It generally arrives about
the middle of September, sometimee even earner, he adds, at which
time several of the old birds still ntain a part of their summer
plumage. In the month of May they go northward. Mr. Qould says
that they appear in the greatest abundance in this country whue
performing their periodical migrations in the months of April and
May along the coasts of Lincolnsbin, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and
Kent {' Birds of Europe.')
Gray Plover or Gray Lapwing {Squatarola einerea).
a. Spring plvmage ; b. Winter plumage.
Vandlui (Briss.). Bill shorter than the head, straight slightly
compnssed, the points of both mandibles horny and hard. Nasal
groove wide, and reaching as far as the horny tip. Nostrils haaal,
linear, piened in the membrane of the nasal groove. Legs slender,
with the lower part of the tibiao naked. Feet 4-toed, three befon
and one behind, united at the base by a membrane ; hind toe very
short, articulated upon the tanus. Tani reticulated. Wings ample,
tuberoulated, or spurred. The first three quill-feathera notched or
Digitized by
Google
M7
CHABADfilADJS.
CHARADRUDJE.
suddenly narrowed towards their tips, and shorter than the fourth
and fifth, which are the longest. (Gould.)
F. erittat%$ (Tringa VanMm, Linn.), the Peewit, or Lapwinff. The
nude in winterplumage has the oodpital feathers yerjlongtlooseMrbed,
and curved upwards. Top oftthe head, orest^front of the neck and breast,
glossy black ; upper parts deep green with brilliant reflections ; sides of
the neck, belly, abdomen, and base of the tail, pure white ; tail-feathera
tenninated by a large block space, with the exception of the external
feather ; lower ooverts ruddy, bill blackish ; feet red-brown. Length
rather more than 12 inches. The female has the black of the throat
and breast less deep. The young before the moult have the occipital
crest shorter; some blackish colour below the eyes ; the throat varied
with black and ash^ brown ; all the feathers of the upper and lower
parts terminated with ochreous yellow ; feet ashy-olive. The spring
or nuptial plumage is scarcely distingiushable by the greater bril-
liancy of the reflections on the back and wings, and by the deeper
intensity of the black of the throat and breast The crest however
is longer, and the colour of the feet bright reddiBh.
Head and foot of Peewit, or Lapwing ( VantUut erigtaim).
Accidental Yarieties.^Pure white. Yellowish white with faint
indications of the deeper colours. One or other part of the body
speckled with white feathers. (Temm.)
This species is Le Vanneau of the French; Paonoella Commune of
the Italians ; Qehatibte Eiebiz of the Qermans ; De Eievit of the
Netherlanders; Peaseweep, Peewit, Bastard Plover, Lapwing, and
Wype, of the British ; Comchwigel of the Welsh. It is also the Wipe,
Eowipa, and Blsocka, of the Swedes ; Yibe and Eivit of the Danes ;
and, according to Belon, At| of the Greeks (Aristot, 'Hist Anim.,'
viii 8) ; Pavonzino and Pamichello of the Italians ; and in some
provinces Dixhuit and Papechieu of the French.
The habits of this species verv much resemble those of the other
Plovers, and the arts by which the parents try to lead either dog or
man from their eggs or young by counterfeiting tiie gait of a wounded
bird, &c, are as well if not better known as the stratagems of its
■ congeners on the like occaaionB. This is the bird which furnishes the
plover's eggs of the London market ; and tJioee who rob the nest are,
it is said, careful not to take all, but they leave one or two, so as to
induce the bird to go on laying, which she generally does to make up
her number. The full complement, when Uie bird is not robbed, is
generally four, and they are olive-coloured, spotted and blotched with
black. That part of the egg which is usually called the white (the
albumen) is transparent whan boiled, and has somewhat of a bluish
tinge. The nest, if nest it may be called, is the bare earth. It haunts
the borders of rivers, lakes, plains, and marshy places, and is generally
to be found near the sea-shore in the vnnter. This part of its habits
well agrees with those described as ^per to Aristotle's Aix, accord-
ing to the reading given by Belon. This elegant bird seems to have
been as much esteemed by the French for the table as by our own
countrymen. In the ' Portraits des Oyseauz ' the following quatrain
appears under the figure of the bird : —
" Y07 ej deans le portraiet da Yaneaii,
£t le Toyant, poorras ta vene poiatre ;
Maia ai ta vealx d'un bon morceaa repaiatre
II 7 a pea de mcilleara oyseanx d*eaa."
In the 'Northumberland Household-Book,' 'Wypes' are ohaiged
at one penny each, and they are among the birds admitted to his
lordship's own * mees.'
The Peewit ii spread over the whole of Europe, and is partioolsriy
plentiful in Holland. Mr. Qould states that he has seen spedmeiiB in
collections from India and Africa. It is noted by Messrs Dixon and
Boss as occurring in great numbers near Eraeroom, arriving at the
end of March, and departing at the end of November. Daring the
summer it frequents the river (Eara-Su, or northern branch of the
Euphrates), but on its arrival, and previous to its dspartare, it is
found in moist fields. The native name is Eis-Cooah^ (Midden's
Bird), or Eahmaum Cooehdo (Bath-Bird). VcmeUui KeptmachiOf and
Cfharadriut MorineiUu and C. minor were found by those gentlemen at
the same locality. (' ZooL Proa,' 1889.) It appears in the 'List of
Birds' seen in Japan, by Dr. Yon Siebold imd M. Biirger; and
Temminck states that individuals from that locality differ in nothing
from those of Europe.
Peewit, or Lapwing ( VansUuM erUtatu$).
This species is confined to the Old World ; but Captain P. P. King,
R.N., has described a second spedes from the Straits of Magalhaww.
It is figured in the 'Illustrations of Ornithology,' under the name of
Squatarola eimeia,
Phihmaehnu, the Spur-Winged Plover. It is the PkHmw^
tpijumii (Charadriiu tpmotut, Linn. ; PluviaH^ Senegalmtit amatOj
Briss. ; Plunama tpinotut, Gould.)
/■ A: ./^<
Spnr-Wlnged Plover {VhXUmanikm qpfaoww).
When the male and female are in perfect plumage aU the gosunit
of the head and occiput^ throat, front of the neck, breast, sides, quill^
and three-fourths of the tail are black ; region below the eyes, lateral
base of the bill, sides of the necl^ nape, long feathers on the sides,
inside of the wings, the whole border of the wing, thighs, abdomen,
rump, and first fourth of the origin of the tail, pure white ; the whole
of the mantle, quills nearest the body, as well as all the coverts, gray-
Digitized by
Google
CHARADRIAD^
CHARADRIAD^.
0§0
'brown, more or leas deep or umber-colour ; two lateral feathen of the '
tail terminated with white. Length 10 to 11 inches.
This is Le Pluvier k Aigrette, Le Pluvier Huppd de Perse, and the
PluTier Axm4 du Senegal, of Buffon ,* Spur-Winged and Black-Breasted
Indian Plover of Latham.
Little or notling is known of the habits of this species, with the
excej^on of what we learn from Dr. Latham, who says that it inhabits
KuflBia, and is frequent near Aleppo, about the river Cole. ** The Spur-
Winged Plovers," says he, ''are very numerous and exceedingly noisy,
have a hastv and continual movement of the head and neck, drawing
them up bnskly, and then stretching them quickly forward, almost as
if they were making hasty and eager bows.'*
H. Temminck gives Egypt and Senegal as the habitat of this bird,
and says that it shows itself accidentally in Italy, but is said to be
more common in the islands of the Grecian Archipelago. In Ghreece,
he adds, great numbers are found ; and Professor Nordmann killed
one in Russia.
Charadriui (Linn.). Bill slender, strught, compressed, shorter
than the head ; nasal furrow prolonged more than two-thirds ; man-
dibles enlaiged towards the tip. Nostrils basal, jagged, cleft longi-
tudinally in the middle of a large membrane which covers the nasal
foflsa. Toes three, directed forwards, the external imited to the
middle one by a diort membrane ; the inner toe free. Tail square
or slightly rounded. Wings moderate, first quill-feather longest
(Gould.)
Head and foot of Golden Plover {(^aradriut pluvialis),
C, phmaiig (Linn.), the Golden Plover. The old male in winter
plumage has the top of the head, as well as all the upper parts of
the body, wings, and tail, sooty black, marked with large spots of
golden yellow, din>osed on the borders of the barbs of the feathers ;
■idea of the head, neck, and breast varied with aahy brown and
yellowiah spots ; throat and lower parts white ; quUls black, shafts
white towards the end; bill blackish; feet deep ash-colour; iris
brown. Length rather more than 10 indies.
The young of the year have the upper parts ashy black with spots
of yellowish ash. (TenmL)
In tiiis garb the birds are, according to Temminck, C, phmaUt,
GmeL ; O. aurahu, Suckow ; Le PluvierDor^ Buff. ; Golden or Green
Plover, Lath ; Goldregenpfeifer, Bechst ; Piviere Dorato, of the ' Stor.
degl. Uoc' ; Goud Plevier, Sepp.
The old male and female in summer or nuptial plumage have the
upper parts deep black ; over all the borders of the feathers are dis-
posed small spots of a vexy bright golden yellow ; front and space
above ibe eyes pure white ; lateral piffts of the neck white also, but
varied with greiat black and yellow spots ; throat, front of the neck,
and all the <^er lower parts, deep black.
White and black mingled are often seen on the lower parts of the
feathers during the moiUt. This livery is always to be seen on the
young birds, even after their first spring moult (Temm.)
In this state the bird is, according to M. Temminck, C. apriearivSt
GmeL ; Le P^uvier Dor^ k Gorge Noire, Buff ; Alwaigiim Plover,
Lath.
In the fourth part of his ' Manuel,' M. Temminck adds the following
synonyms: — C. awraiui, Naum.; Der Platkopfiffe, Hochstemige,
Mittlere, und Hochkopfige Goldregenpfeifer, Br^UL; Brockfogel,
Nils. ; and Ploiere, Savi.
This species is also Le Pluvier GuiUemot of Belon (Who savs that
it is named Pluvier, " pour ce qu'on le prend mieux en temps pluvieux
qu*en nulle autre saison," and he gives an amusing account of the
mode of taking these birds by the peasants) ; Der Rechte Brachvogel
of the Germans; Hawk's Eyes of the Hudson's Bay residents (?) ;
Cwttyn yr aur of the ancient British.
Mr. Selby g^ves a most correct and interesting account of the habits
of the Urd in this country \—** About the end of Mav or beginning of
June the females begin to lay, miJdng but a little artificial n^ a small
depression in the ground amidst the heath being generally taken
advantage of, and Imed with a few dry fibres and stems of grass.
The eggs ava four in number, rather larger than those of the lapwing,
of a cream-yellow inclining to oil-green, with large irregular confluent
blotches or spots of deep umber-l»own. The young, when excluded,
are covered with a beautiful partioolonred down of bright king's
yellow and brown. They quit the nest as soon as hatched, and follow
their pacvnta till able to fly and support themselves, which is in the
course of a month or five weeks. The old birds display great anxiety
in protecting their yoimg brood, using various stratagems to divert
the attention of an enemy ; among others, that of tumbling over, as
if unable to fly, or feigning lameness, is most frequent, and appears
indeed to be tiie instinctive resort of those birds that construct the
nest and rear their young on the ground. When aware of an intruder
near, the female invariably runs to some distance from her nest before
she takes wing, a manoeuvre tending to conceal its true situation ; and
the discovery of it is rendered still more difficult by the colour and
markings of the eggs assimilating so closely to that of the ground and
surrounding herbage. The usual call-note of the Plover is a plaintive
monotonous whistle, by imitating which it may frequently be enticed
within a very short distance. In the breeding season a more varied
call is used, during which it flies at a great elevation, and continues
soaring round for a considerable time. Towards the end of August
these birds begin to leave the moors (having there congregated in
laige flocks), and descend to the fallows and the newly-sown wheat-
fields, where an abundance of their favourite food can be readily
obtained. At this season they soon become very fat, and are excellent
at the table, their flesh not being inferior in flavour to that of the
Woodcock or any of our most esteemed sorts of game. In these
haunts they continue till severe weather approaches, when they either
move nearer to the coast or migrate to the southern parts of the
kingdom. They flv with strongUi and swiftness, and if disturbed,
when in large flocks, generally perform many aerial evolutions and
rapid wheelings before they again settle on the ground. The (Golden
Plover is a nocturnal feeder, and during the day is commonly seen
squatted upon the ground or standing asleep, with the head drawn
down between the shoulders. Its food consists of earth-worms, slugs,
insects, and their larvse, particularly those of the Lepidopterous tribe,
many rare species of which I have, upon dissection, foimd in their
stomachs and g^et during the summer season. It runs veiy fast,
and, when wounded, is difficult to be caught without the aid of
a dog."
\*VVVl
V/rir/ ^
Golden V\oxzt {CJunradriw plwfialU,)
Of Summer dress ; (, Winter dress.
This species has been always considered, and most Justly, a delicious
dish. It figures in the old bills of fare accordingly. Thus in the
account ofSir John Nevile, of Chete Knight, of the viands, &a,used
at the marriage of his son-in-law Roger Rockley and his dau^^iter
Elisabeth Nevile, the 14th of Januaiy, in the seventeenth year "of
Digitized by
Google
Ml
CHARABRIADJE.
CJHARADRIAD-ffl.
961
the reigne of our Boreraigne lord king Heniy YIIL," we find in the
Beoond oourBe, " Item, plover, 8 of a dish," and among the charges,
" Item, in plover, 3 doz., 5«." In the chaige of the said Sir John
Nevile, at Lammas Assises, twentieth of Heniy YIIL, we also find
" Item, 6 dos. plovers, 12»." Four hundred plovers appear among
'* the goodlj provision " at the intronisation of Geoige Novell, arch-
bishop of York, in the reign of Edward lY. Drayton, in his ' Poly-
albion,' makes Lyndsey boast that her " fowle more ayrie are" ih«Q
those of Holland (Lincolnshire) ;
« And make fine spirits and blood ;
For neere this batning i^e, in me is to be seene,
More than on any earth, the plover grey and greene.*'
There is evidence of the presence of the Qolden Plover in each of
the four quarters of the globe. Mr. Qovld indeed, in his observations
on the geographical distribution of the species collected by Mr. Keith
Abbot in the neighbourhood of Trebizond, notices the bird as inhabit-
ing Europe, and the adjoining portions of Africa and Asia, but not
America. ('ZooL Proc.,' 1834.) Now Temminck expressly says that
the species is Uie same in America and Asia. Sabine also (Parry's
* First Voyage') makes Wilson's C. apricaritu and the Qolden Pbver
identical, and states tiiat it breeds in the swamo^ parts of the North
(Georgian Islands in considerable abundance, ftichardson statee that
the breeding-quarters of this well-known bird are the Barren Grounds
and the coasts and islands of the Arctic Sea. " It hatches," he says,
" early in June, and retires southward in August. Numbers linger on
the muddy shores of Hudson's Bay and on the sandy beaches of rivers
and lakes in the interior untU the hard frosts of September and
October drive them away. At this period they are very fat, and are
highly prized by the epicures of the Fur Countries. They make but a
short stay in Pennsylvania, and are said to winter beyona the United
States" (' Faima Boreali- Americana.')
Cktptain Sir James Ross, R.N., notices it as abundant during the
breeding season in most parts of the arctic regions, and he found them
plentifully in the neighbourhood of Felix Harbour, feeding in the
marshes m pompany with 0. temipalmaitu$ (American Ring-Plover).
(Sir John Ross's ' Second Voyage.') Nuttall remarks that the bird is,
accordina; to the season of the jrear, met with in almost every part of
the world, particularly in Asia and Europe, firom Eamtchatka to
China, as well as in the South Sea Islands, and from Arctic America,
where it breeds, to the Falkland Islands. The Prince of Canino
('Birds of Europe and North America') appears, on the other hand,
to agree with Mr. (}ould, for the Prince makes the American analogue
of U, pluvialit, Linn., O. Virginiacus, Borkh. (O. plwnaliif Wils.) ; and
Colonel Sykes notes it among the birds of the Deocan, and as identical
with Javanese specimens, smaller indeed than one North American
specimen and two English specimens in the British Museum, but
absolutely identical wIul other British specimens. He says that it is
rare in the Deocan, and appears only in the cold weather. In the
stomach he found beetles, land-insects, and coarse sand. ('Zool.
Proc.,' 1882.) It appears among the list of birds seen in Japan by
Dr. Von Siebold and M Burger ; and Temminck states that those
killed there did not differ essentially from those of Europe. Mr.
Selby allows a wide geographical range to ii^ though not to the extent
supposed by many naturalists, ^e birids which have been considered
hy them as belongmg to this species being of a different one, namely,
C. marmorcUui of Wagler. Instead therefore of extending iihe range
of the Qolden Plover to America, Australia, and otiier parts of
the southern hemisphere, he feels inclined to limit it to Europe,
Northern Asia, and some few districts in the north of Africa. (' British
Ornithology.')
(7. Monnellut, Linn., the Dotterel It is Eudr<m%cu MorindUi, Boie ;
E. MorineUa morUana d stolida, Brehm, according to Temminck.
This bird in its winter plumage has the top of the head and occiput
blackish-ash ; laige eyebrows of reddish-white uniting on tiie occiput ;
fjEU)e white, dotted with black ; upper parts blackish-ash tinged with
greenish, all the feathers of those parts framed as it were with ruddy
colour ; breast and sides reddish-ash ; the large patch on the breast
and the middle of the belly pure white ; shaft of the first quill white,
except towards the end, tail terminated with white ; bill black ; iris
brown ; feet greenish-ash. Length more than 8 inches.
The young have the tints more ashy ; top of the head reddish or
rusty, varied with longitudinal spots ; the ruddy colour which firames
as it were the feathers of the upper parts less vivid ; tail tenninated
with bright ruddy.
In their summer or nuptial plumage the very old male has the face
and eyebrows very pure white; summit of the head and oodput
blackish ; nape and sides of the neck ashy ; feathers of the mantle and
wings bordend with very deep ruddy ; on the breast a nairow brown
band, succeeded by a large white cincture ; part below the breast and
sides very bright ruddy ; middle of the belly deq> black; abdpmen
reddish-white. The femsle is of a ruddv colour on the sides often
clouded with ash-colour ; black spot of tLe middle of the belly less
apparent than in the male, or vaned with white feathers.
Thia is the Pluvier Quignard and Pluvier Solitaire of the French ;
Piviere de Corrione and Piviere Tortolino of the Italians ; Der Dumme
Begenpfeifer of the Qermans ; Dotterel, Dotterell, and Dottrell of the
Britidi, and Hullan of the Welsh.
Drayton sings, of this bird —
'* The Dotterell, which we think a very dainty dish,
Whose taking makes snoh sport as man no more esn wish;
For as yon oreepe, or cowre, or lye, or sUmpe, or goe,
So marking you (with care) the apish bird doth doe,
And acting everything, doth never mark the net.
Till he be in the snare which men for him have set."
Poets have a right to a little licence^ and in many of the olderproie
writers a similar acoount of ihe silly mimicry of the Inrd is giveo.
<* The Dotterel," says Mr. Belby, " has always been considered a stapid
bird, but for what reason I cannot conceive. I allow that^ on its met
arrival, it shows but little fear of man, but this, I apprehend, siises
more firom inexperienoe of persecution in its native wilds than from
any other cause, and which appears evident from the birds, wheo
haraased and repeatedly fired at^ soon becoming too cautious to sdmit
of near approach any longer. Their faabitB also oontribirte to render
them imwaiy, for being nocturnal feeders (like many others d the
Oharadriada), they are at rest and aaieep during the greater part of
the day, m which state also the Qolden Plover (a waiy Inrd when
roused) will finequently admit of a close approach. As to the sUny of
the Dotterel mimicking the actions of the fowler, by stretdung ontiti
legi wing, or head, when he sets the example, it, whhont doubt^ aroee
ftSm the motions that they as well as other birds usoaUy and most
naturally make when roused firom a state of repose; and which eTaiy
one who attends to the habits of the feathered race must (in flodcs of
gulls, plovers, tringas, &c.) have frequently observed." The food con-
sists principally of insects, slugs, and worms. For a long time it wu
doubted whether the Dotterel bred in this country, but these doubts
are now removed, as the reader will find in the next pazagraph. The
rude nest is foimed of lichens or moss, and the three or four lustreleH
oliveHX>loured eggs are sprinkled with large dots and numerous spots
of deep brown-oHve.
Mr. Selby notices the Dotterel as particulariy abundant in Nortiieni
Asia and the eastern P&rts of Europe, and as inhabiting Siberia and
the vast steppes of Tartary, frequently living in the 'ncinity of the
salt lakes and marshes of that open region. He adds, that it is also
found, during its winter migration, in Italy aad Spain, and that the
great body of these birds retires to the high latitudes of Northern
Asia, Russia, and Lapland Alps to breed ; but the flocks which
pass along the eastern coast of our island are supposed to limit
their flight to the upland districts and mountains of Sweden and
Norway. Temminck states that it breeds in tiie north of Bussia;
also in Norway on the great bare plateaux of the mountains, and in
no great number on the high mountains of Bohemia and Sileeia at an
elevation of from 4600 to 4800 feet In this country, Sussex, Hamp-
shire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Dei^ahire,
Torkshire, and Northumberland possess it Dr. Latham states Uut
in the elevated district of Braemar, Aberdeenshire, these birds hatch
their young on dry mossy ground near to and on the very summits of
the highest parts, somethnes in the tufts of little .short heather or
moss. The female sits three weeks, and the young appear about the
middle of July. Mr. Tarrell exhibited eggs of this bird, belonging to
Mr. Heysham, of Carlisle, obtained on Skiddaw in the summer of 1835.
Several pairs were breeding in the same locality. (< ZooL Proc,' 1886.)
Mr. Oomd {* Birds of Europe ') says, ** The eggs of these birds are so
difficult to obtain, that we only know one collector who posseaaea
them. They are one inch eight lines long, by one inch two liiies and
a half in br^th, light olive-brown blotted and spotted with black :
these specimens were procured fh>m the Qnmpiaa HiUs."
.-^'^
Dotterel {Oharadriw Morinelhu), in nuptial plamage.
They are excellent for the table when in season. Numben are
shot near Cambridge and Boyston during their spring migratioQ.
We find ' Dotrels ' charged at one penny each, a consideFable som in
those days, in the 'Northumberland Household-Book,' and enume-
rated among the birds admitted to the high (his lordship's) taUe.
They now find a ready sale in the London market at about sixshilliogi
a couple.
Digitized by
Google
OHABADRIADA
GHABADSIADJa!.
O, hiaiicula, the Ringed Plover, Bing-Doiierel, Qrand Pluvier k
Collier of Temminck. It is found thron^out the year on most of the
shores of the British Islands, and is eyen more nmneroos on our own
shores in winter than it is in summer.
O. Cantianm, the Kentish Ployer, PluTier k Collier Interrompu,
Temminck. This bird was first obtained at Sandwich in Kent, and
named by Dr. Latham in his ' General Synopsis of Birds.' Dr. Plom-
ley of Maidstone states that it is very numerous in Romney Marsh at
the present time. It arrives in April, breeds on the shingle, and
depute in August nfarrell, ' British Birds,' voL ii)
O. minor, the Little Ringed Plover, or the Little Ring-Dotterel,
Petit Pluvier k Collier, Temminck. Although on the continent of
Europe by no means a rare bird, it has been obtained very rarely in
Kngland.
Jacgmatoput, BUI long, strongs compressed ; point very much com-
pressed, chisel-like. Nostrils lateral, longitudinally slit in the groove
of the bilL Feet strong, muscular; three toes directed forwards,
middle toe united to the external one, up to the first joint, by a
membrane, and to the intemal toe by a small rudiment; toes bor-
dered with the rudiment of a membrane. Wings moderate, the first
quill longest
Habits of the Qenus. — ^The species live along the sea^ore, on the
beach or sands ; following the retreat of the waves, to gather such
crustaoeous or marine ftnimala as they wash up. They assemble in
great flocks for their migrations, but live solitunly during the time of
pairing and incubation. Their nests are made in the herbage and in
the marshy meadows near the sea, and i^ey both run and fly with
rapidity. Their crj is shrill and resounding. They moult twice, in
autumn and spring, but the colours of the plumage scarcely change at
all at those periods; the only marked difibrence observed at this
change of plumage exists in the absence or presence of the white
gorget There is no difierence in the sexes. (Temm.)
S, odraUgui (Linn.), the Oy8ter<]latoher. The male and female in
winter plumage have the head, nape, upper part of the breast, back,
wings, and extremity of the tail, deep black ; a very marked goi^t
under the throat; rump, origin of caudal feathers and quills,
transverse band on the wings, as weU as all the lower i>arts, pure
white ; bill and naked drde round the eyes veiy bright orange ; iris
crimson ; feet obscure red.
The young of the year have the black of the plumage douded and
bordered wi& brown ; the white dirty ; bill and naked circle of the
eyes blackish-brown ; iris brown ; feet livid gray.
The summer or nuptial plumage has all the upper parts of the front
of the neck of the same black as the wings, which black is more lus-
trous and with reflections. (Tenmi.)
This is L'Hultrier, Pie de Mer, and Becasse de Mer, of the French ;
Boccaoda dl Mare of the Italians ; Marspitt and Strandslgusft of the
Swedes ; Tialldur (fem. Tilldra) of the Icelanders ; Kielder of the
Feroe Islanders ; Tield^ Kield, Glib, and Strand-Skiure, of the Norwe-
gians ; Strand-Skade of the Danes ; Geschackte Austemfischer of the
Germans; Scholackster of the Netherlanders ; Oyster-Catcher and
Sea-Pie of the British ; and Piogen y Mdr of the Welsh.
It is common in Denmarl^ Sweden, and Norway, Russia, Siberia,
and extending to Kamtchatka ; the British IsUnds (where it is indi-
genous, and breeds), from the Scilly Isles to Shetland; common
and resident in Ireland. Tenuninck states that this species also lives
in North America, but that the Oyster-Catcher of Brazil and the
whole of South America forms a distinct race. He adds that it also
inhabits JapuL The IVince of Canine, in his ' Birds of Europe and
North America,' however does not indude it among the North
American birds, but places opposite to it (in the American column)
Hcematopus palliatui, Temm. (ff. oitralegui, Wils.; if. BrasUiermt,
Ucht).
or ydlowiBh stoneHX>lour, spotted with ash-gray or dark brown, or
blackish, are depodted in a shallow hole, scratdied in the gravd or
sand, and sometimes among the shingles of the beadi, but most fre-
quently among the herbage of marshy places near the sea. It can
hardly be said to make a nest Time of incubation three weeks.
Young when first hatched covered with down of a brownish-gray
colour. It is sometimes seen fu up rivers and inland, where it feedii
on earth-worms, &c., and fr^sh-water insects and moUusks. Easily
domesticated in poidtry-yards. Several used to be kept upon the
grass* in frt>nt of the Pa^on at Brighton, and there are some in the
(hardens of the Zoological Society in the Regent's Park.
StreptUat (IlL). Bill moderate, hard at the pointy strong, strai^t,
of an elongated conical shape, slightly curved upwards ; ardte flat-
tened ; point straight, truncated. Nostnls basal, lateral, long, half-
closed by a membrane, pierced through and through. Feet moderate ;
not much nakedness above the knee; three toes before and one
behind ; the three anterior toes united at the base by a very short
membrane; the posterior toe articulated upon the tarsus. Wings
acuminate ; the first quill the longest (Tenmi.)
S, interpret {Ondtte interpres, G. R. Ghmy), the Turnstone. The very
old male has the front space between the bill and the eye, a large
collar on the nape, a part of the back, a longitudinal band and another
transversal one upon the wing, upper coverts of the tail, middle of
the breast, as well as the other lower parts, all of pure white ; deep-
black takes the shi^ of a narrow frontal band, which, passing before
the eyes, is dilated bdow, where on one dde it is directed on the
lower jaw, and on the other dilating itself anew on the ddes of the
neck, it surroimds the throat, and forms a wide plastron in tnmt of
the neck and on the ddes of the breast ; top of the head reddish-
white, striped longitudinallv with black; upper part of the back,
scapulars, and coverts of the wing bright onestnut red, sprinkled
irreigularly with large black spots ; a laige brown band on the rump ;
li^ml qmll of the tail pure white ; bill and iris black ; feet orange-
vdlow. Length 8 inches and 2 or 8 lines. The female differs only
m having the shades less pure and the black less deep.
In this state of plumage the bird is Tringa imierpret of Gmdia ;
MorineUa coUarie, Meyer ; Turnstone or Sea-Dotterd of Edwards.
The young of the vear have no trace of black nor of red chestnut
Head and ni^ of awy-brown striped with deep-brown ; white spots
on the ddes of the head and neck ; throat and front of the neck
whitish ; feathers of the ddes of the breast deep brown, terminated
with whitish ; the other lower parts and the ba<x pure white ; upper
part of the back, scapulars, and coverts of the wmgs deep brown ;
all the feathers surrounded by a wide yellowish boirder; tnmsreiBe
band of the rump deep brown bordered with ruddy ; feet yellowish-
red. The black and wnite more regularly defined, in proportion as
the bird advances in age.
In this plumage the bird is iZWf^^ifimfieZ^ Linn.; TrimgatHterprtt
MormeUa, Gmd. ; Arenaria einerea, Briss. ; the Turnstone, Pennant
The young at tiie age of a year have the large plastron, or collar
on the frxmt of the neck and on the ddes of the breast^ marked out
with bladL feathers, terminated by a narrow whitish border ; summit
of the head and nape brown, spotted with blackish-brown ; back,
scapulars, and coverts of the wings black, all the feathers sortounded
OTiter-Cateher, or 8ea-Pie {Samatopua aulrdlagw).
It feeds upon small crustaceans, &c. and bivalve mollusks, whidi
last its powenul bill and frame well enable it to open, so as to get at
the contents. It will fr^uently wade far out> and trust to swiimning
back for zfc« return. Their four ^ggs, of a bright hue, inclining to oliye
Tumstone [StreptiUu inUrprm).
by a ruddy border; a great black spot on the lateral tail-fstther; thtt
rest as in the adults. (Temm.)
This ii the V oHapietre of Savi ; Steinwalier of Brehm ; and Huttan
y Mdr of the Welsh.
Geographical Distribution.— Very wide. Nova Zembla. Green-
land» Winter Island. Felix Harbour, the coast between Tiolork
Digitized by
Google
055
CHAILSAS.
CHEILODIPTERU&
dS8
Harbour and Fury Point — ^about the middle and end of June.
Shores of Hudson s Bay and of the Arctio Sea up to the 75th
parallel, Tvhere it breeds in June, quitting in September, halting in
October on the shores of the Delaware, and proceeding farther south
on the setting in of cold weather. The United States. The straits
of Magellan. Cape of Qood Hope. Japan, Sunda, the Molucca
Islands, and New Guinea. Australia. In Europe, 6^m Russia south-
ward to Italy. Norway. Madeira. In this country it is foimd on
the coasts from August to May, when it returns northward to breed.
Stationary in Zet^d, according to Dr. Fleming, who condudee that
it breeds there.
The Tumstope, as its name implies, procures its food — small
crustaceans, molluscous animals, 8cc — by turning oyer with its strong
bill the stones on the shore which shelter its prey. Mr. Hewitson
found its nest on the coast of Norway placed against a ledge of rock,
and consisting of nothing more than the dropping leaves of the
juniper bush. Under a creeping branch of this dumb the eggs, four
in number, of an olive-green colour, spotted, and streaked with
ash-blue and two shades of reddish-brown, were concealed amd
sheltered.
CHARJS'AS (Stephens), a genus of Moths of the family Noctuidce.
It has the following characters : Wings more or less denticulated ; the
posterior wings usually whitish in the males and brown in the females ;
palpi short, 2-jointed ; maxillae long ; antennss rather long, simple in
the females, and more or less pectinated in the males ; head small ;
thorax large, not crested ; apex of the body furnished with a tuft of
hairs in the males.
Several species of this genus have been found in England ; their
larvae tve naked, feed upon roots, and assume the pupa state under-
ground.
C. OramintB (Ceraipteryx Graminit, * Cat. Brit Lep. in Brit Mu&'),
the Antler Moth. It varies from an inch to an inch and a half in width,
measured from tip to tip of the wings when expanded ; it is of a brownish
colour; the upper vnngB have a longitudinal white streak, which
extendi! beyond the middle, and gives out three branches at the apex :
touching this white line above there are two pale brown spots, and
another of the same colour beneath, near the base of the wing ; the
apex of the wing has a row of pointed black spots, more or less
distinct
The caterpillar is of a brownish colour, with yellow streaks on the
sides and back : it feeds upon grasses, and is exceedingly destructive
to the pastures in Sweden. In England the insect is not so abundant ;
there is however an instance on record of its having committed con-
siderable devastation in the north of England during the larva state.
We allude to an account given by Mr. Wailes, in the second volume
of the 'Entomological Magazine,' who observed a portion of the
moimtain of Skiddaw thus affected— their devastation causing the
herbage to have a dry and parched appearance : the part affected
comprised at least fifty acres, and extended some distance down the
western side of the mountain ; and so marked was the line that the
progress made by the larvae could be distinctly seen from the town of
fceswiok. Large floc^ of rooks were observed to frequent the spot,
and no doubt devoured immense numbers; the moths however
appeared in great abundance in the month of August From this
same gentleman's observations we find that the history of the moth
is also interesting. It appears to be their habit to fly from about
half-past seven to half-past eight in the morning, during which time
ih.ej are seen in some parts of the country in the utmost profusion ;
their appearance and disappearance are extremely sudden. The field
in which Mr. Wailes observed them became in one moment a moving
mass, and idler about an hour not a single moth was to be seen, all
having disappeared in a manner equally sudden : they fly about three
or four inches from the ground, and thread their way with considerable
rapidity through the stalks of grass. This moth is by no means
abundant in the south of England : it departs a little from the dia-
racters of the genus in not having the wings notched.
The other species of this genus are C, cespttis, the Hedge-Rustic, C.
ItUulerUa, the Barred-Feathered Rustic, (7. JSlkiopt, the Black Rustic
CHARD-BEET. [Bkta.]
CHARLOCK. [SiNAPis, See Supplement; Raphanus.]
CHARR, or CHAR. [Salmonid^]
CHASMCDIA, a genus of Coleopterous Insects of the section
LanuUicomes {ScarabceuSf Linn.), and sub-section XylophUi (Latreille).
The species have the following characters : — Body rather convex and
broad ; scutellum large, somewhat triangular, equalling in length at
least one-third of that of the elytra ; the mesostemum is prolonged
into a blunt point, and extends as far as the base of the femora of the
anterior pair of legs ; the mandibles are entire, and obtuse at the
apex ; maxiUae with only two teeth, and furnished with a tufb of fine
hairs at the extremity ; mentum elongated ; elytra shorter than the
abdomen, broad behind, and obtusely rounded. The mide Ckasmodia
has the upper claw of the fore torsi very broad and bifid, or divided
at the apex ; the inner claw is small and entire ; the claws of the four
posterior legs are entire, and of large size. The female has all the claws
of small size ; those of the anterior pair of legs simple ; the four posterior
legs have the outer claw bifid. The tarsi of the maJe are thicker than
In the female, particularly those of the anterior pair of legs.
All the spedeB of this genus are of lai^e size, and may be readily
distinguished from the Cetanias by their laige acuteUum and convex
form, combined with their smooth and glossy appearance. The thorax
is convex, and has the posterior margin considerably waved ; the part
joining the scutellum has a segment of a circle as it were cut oirt to
admit the fore part of the latter, which is rounded ; Uiis diaracteris
also observed in the genus (JeUmia and Macrcupii, and affords a good
point of distinction between these and the groups nearest allied. The
genus M<icraipu has also a very large scutellum, but diffisrs in th«
tand and other parts. [Macraspis.]
Ckasmodia viridU is about an inch in length and of a deep blae-
green colour throughout, with the exception of the antennae, the basal
joints of which are pitchy-red, and the dub is black.
There are four other species known, some of which are of a gloasj
brown or chestnut colour. They all inhabit South America. The
species above named is common in collections from the Brasils.
CHATOESSUS, a genus of Fishes belon^ng to the family Clupadce.
It resembles the common herring, but the first dorsal ray is prolonged
in the filament The spedes are inhabitants of the warmer seas.
CHATTERER. [Bombyoilla.]
CHAULIODUS, a genus of Natatorial Birds bdonging to the familj
AnatidcBf instituted by Swainson. [Ducks.]
CHAULIODUS, a genus of Fidies bdonging to the Pike FamOj
(Biocidce), There is but one spedes, 0, Sloani. It has two teeth in
each jaw, across the other jaw when the mouth is shut The doraal
fins are between the pectorals and ventrals. The first dorsal nj
terminates in a filament It has been taken at Gibraltar, is about IS
inches long, and of a deep green colour.
CHAULMOOGRA, a native Indian name for the bruiaed seeds of
Oynoeardia odorcUa. [PAiroiACBiB.]
CHAUNA. [Palamzdsa.]
CHAYICA, a genus of plants bdonging to the natoral order
PipercKea. It includes many of the spedes which are ordinarily
referred to the genus Piper. [Pipbr.]
CHEESE-RENNET, the OaUum venm of botanists, which derives
its popular name from having been formerly employed to curdle milk
CHEILINUS. [Labbidj!.]
CHEILODA'CTTLUS, a genus of Fishes belonging to the section
Acanthopterygii and fonuly Scicniidcs, The mouth is small ; dorsal
fin with numerous spiny rays ; lower rays of the pectoral fins rnrn^i
and continued beyond &e membrane.
CheHodactylui monodactylua {Ckcetodon numodaetylue, CaimichaeL
' Linnaean Transactions,' voL xii) will serve to illustrate "Uiis genns.
This fish is about 18 inches in length ; the body is somewhat oval and
compressed ; the teeth are small and crowded ; the pectoral fin is
large, and has 15 rays, the six lower of which are dmple and proteude
beyond the membrane ; the sixth ray frx>m the bottom is very much
elongated. The colour is oUve, or bronze, with six dai^ stripes on
the back ; the fins are blackish, with the exception of the pectorals,
which are amber-coloured.
ChHlodactylut fHonodaety!u$,
This spedes is very common on the coast of the small island of
Tristan dia Cunha, and feeds upon the Fucus pyriferus,
CHEILODI'PTERUS (Lac^pMe), a genus of Fishes bdonging to
the section Aeantfiopterygii and fanuly Percidos. The body is rather
short ; pre-operculum double-edged, the edges findy serrated ; soaks
lai^, easily dislodged, continued on to the preK)peroulam; the two
dorsal fins widdy separated.
The characters here detailed are those of the fgaxoA Apogon, from
which the present genus differs chiefly in having the jaws furnished
with long and pointed teeth. Three spedes ot Ch^lodiptenu are
known ; tiiey are all of small size, and furnished with dender longi-
tudinal stripes. C octo-vUtatus, as its name implies, has eig^t stripes.
C7. quinquelineatua has five longitudinal black stripes, the fpround colour
of the body being silvery white ; it is about four inches m length, and
comes from the Society Idands. The third spedes, C. Arabiau,a of
an olive-green colour above, and has the under parts dlvexy with a
pinkish hue ; this spedes has from 14 to 17 lon^tudinal stripes.
As an example of the genus Apogon, of which there are aereral
spedes, we may notice the Apogon Rex MtUhrumj or Rd des Roogete
(Cuvier) : this spedes rarely exceeds six inches in length, and is of a
beautiful red colour with three large bladi spots on the back ; one
under each of the dorsal fins^ and one towards the tail ; the whole
Digitized by
Google
9G7
CHEIRACANTHUa
CHSntOHYS.
8ur&oe ia also Bprmkled with small black dota. The remaining apedee
ure also amall, and must of them are of a red colour ; a few have been
found off the coast of Australia, but most of them frequent the
Indian seas.
CHEIRACA'KTHUS, a genus of Fossil Fishes from the Old Red-
Sandstone of Qamrie in Forfarshire and the Orkneys. (Agassis.)
CHEIRANTETCrS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Crucifera, This genus is known by possessing square or compressed
Biliques ; a 2-lobed or capitate stigma ; a calyx bi-saocate at the base ;
oTate compressed seeds in one series. The species are biennial or
perennial herbs, or under-shrube. The leaves are oblong, lanceolate,
entire, or toothed. The flowers are arranged in racemes, and are of
various colours — ^yellow, white, purple, or parti-coloured. Many of
the species exhale a delicious odour, and are great favourites in
gardens.
C. Cheiri, the common Wall-Flower, has lanceolate entire leaves,
which are either smooth or covered with 2-parted appressed hairs ;
linear pods, and recurved lobes of the stigmft. It is found wUd
throughout Europe, on old walls and in stony places, and almost
constantly amongst the ruins of old castles. Oa this account it is a
great favourite with poets, and is popularly regarded as an emblem
of faithfulness in adversitv. The general colour is a brown vellow,
or, as a poet has called it, the " yellow wall-flower stained with iron-
brown." It is however subject to considerable varieties of colour even
in its wild state, and these are much increased by cultivation. On
account of its scent it has been transferred from ruined walls to the
flower-borders of gardens, and there, by the doubling of its flowers
and the variations of its colours, a number of distinct varieties have
been recorded. The following is a list of the most remarkable
varieties foimd in gardens : —
0. Jlore rimpliei. Single Yellow.
$, fiore plmo. Double Yellow.
Largo-Flowered Yellow.
Large Yellow, saw-leaved.
Double Yellow, spreading.
Double Bos^.
Double, variegated with purple and yellow.
Laige Double, pale yellow.
Bunch-Flowered, yellow.
Flowers with anthers changed into oarpelsL
Single and Double^ bloody-flowered.
The Wall-Flower is a common wild plant in Great Britain. It
possesses the alight acridity of the order to which it belongs, and it
has been recommended to sow it in pastures for the purpose of pre-
venting rot in sheep. The wild flower has by some botanists been
distinguished from the cultivated plant by the name of O. frutiadonu,
but they are both the same.
Sevend other species of this genus have been described, and are
occasionally foimd in collections in gardens in this country. In their
cultivation the hardy shrubby species, such as the common Wall-
Flower, may be propagated by cuttings, which soon strike root when
planted under a himd-glass. Other perennial species will permit of
growtii by dividing tiie roots. The annual species ma^ be sown in
the open border or on rock-work, where they will flourish, and most
of them will survive the winter in such a situation.
CHEIROQALEUa [Lemubida]
CHEIRO'LEPIS, a genus of Fossil Fishes from the Old Bed-Sand-
etone of the Orkney Islands and Morayshira The scales are very
minute. (Agassiz.)
CHEIBOMELEa [Chukoptbba.]
CHEIHOMYS, one of the generic names given the Aye-Aye (which
must not be confounded wi{h the Ai, or Sloth [Bradtfus], from which
it very strongly differs in oiganisation), an animal discovered by
Sonnorat at Madag^tscor, and described by him in the second volume
of his * Voyage aux Indes.' The name Aye-Aye it appears is an
exclamation of the natives ; and it is conjectured that it was g^ven to
this animal in consequence of a supposed resemblance to its cry.
Sonnini, who formed the genus, censures Qmelin for denominating it
Sdurut Madagcucarientis (Madagascar Squirrel), because a quadruped
of the latter genus really exists in Madagascar. Cuvier places the
form next to the Flying Squirrels, Polatouches (Pteromya), and
immediately before the Bats (Mu8, Linn.), remarking that the lower
incisors are much more compressed, and especially more extended
from before backwards, than those of the squirrds, and resemble
ploughshares (socs de charrue). The feet, he adds, have all five toes,
of which four of those on each anterior extremity are elongated, the
middle toe being much more slender than the others ; in the hind
feet, the great toe is opposeable to the others, so that in this respect
the animal is among the Bodents what the Opossums (Sarigues) are
amonff the Camassiers. The etructure of the head, he continues, is
very different from that of the other Bodents, and has more relation
to the Qiuadrwfuma,
7. nuunmm,
8. temUnt,
(. jntvlani.
C fermffineuM,
B. variiu,
K. tkynoideus,
X. gynanihenu,
II, hamanthuM,
Dental formula: incisors, -• ; molars,—-. =:i8.
Sonnerat says that the Aye-Aye, which is found chiefly if not
exclusively on the western part of the island, does not approach any
genus, but that it leans towards the Maki, the Squirrel, and the Ape.
Its large and flat ears, he observes, resemble much those of a bat ;
and states that its principal character, and a very singular one it is,
is the middle toe or finger of the fore foot, the two last joints of which
are very long, slender, and denuded of hair. This member, he adds,
Skull of Aje^^ye {Chekromyt MadagatearieHtU),
is useful to it in drawing worms out of holes in the trees, and that it
seems also to be of service in holding on to the branches of trees. He
says that it appears to be a subterranean animal, and does not see
during the day, and that its eve resembles in colour that of the owL
He describes it as being very slothful, but good tempered, remaining
always at rest, and requiring a good deal of shaking to make it move.
The subject of his observations lived two months upon no other
nourishment than cooked rice, and it fed itself with its two fingers like
the Chinese with their chopsticks. All the time M. Sonnerat had this
animal alive, he never saw it carry its tail elevated like the squirrel.
It alvrays dragged.
Buffon describes the colour as a musk-brown mixed with black and
gray-ash. On the head, round the eyes, on the body, thighs and legs,
the colour was deep musk, in which nevertheless bfick predominated
upon the back and many parts of the body and le^ The tail was
entirely black : the sides of the head, the neck, the jaw, and the belly
were grayish. There were woolly hidn of this gray oolour below the
great black or white hairs, of two or three indies long, which were
on the body and legs ; but the legs and thighs were of a raddidi-browiv
Black prodominated at the approach of the feet, which were covered
with small hun of that colour. The head was like that of a squirrel,
and the ean laige, naked, erect, and round at their extremitieB, with
a wide opening. It is about the size of a common hare.
Aye-Aye {Cheiromyt Madapatearientit),
This animal is the Aye- Aye Squirrel of Pennant, Shaw considered
it to be a species of Lemwr, and Schreber named it Lcmwr filo*
dactylut, a name adopted by Shaw.
Digitized by
Google
CHEIBOKSCTEa
CHEIBOPODA.
860
OHEIBONECTES, or CHIRONECTES (Illjger), a geiiiu of ICu^
■anal a^nim^iM [Mabsxtpiata.]
CHBIROTODA, Chdropedi, a name propoMd by Kr. Ogilby for
all the mammiferous animala that are poMeased of haadii. The
fbUowing is Mr. O^b/s ammgement of his Cheiropedfl : —
^L BniAXA
(on the fore handB only)
JZOfM.
r
Satynu.
81X1J1
SpMHUei.
CbMuf.
teeth)
CkrcorUkseut.
ILOVADaVXAMA..
(on both fore and ^
hindhandB)
PropUksetu.
Lnmr.
(and abnormal^
teeth)
Stmept,
CH7IB0PED8 ..
7br««u«.
t^OAut.
AMe$.
(and anthropoid (
teeth)
Mye$U».
Aatui.
m. TXDJMAMA ..
(on the hind(
PUhseia.
^Kapale.
bende only)
DnwLmiBJB .... Ftitmrm,
(and abnormal/ JHdelphii.
teeth) 1 CheironectM,
Daaywnu,
1^
V.
Kr Ogilby states that obsemtions, oommenoed in 1829 and
oontinoed for more than six years, haye assured him that the non-
oppooeable oharaetor of the izmar finger of ih» anterior extremitieSy
whioli he first renutfked in Myctta Senieulua, is not confined to that
genus, but extends throughout the whole of the genera of the South
Amerioan monkeys, individualB of all of whioh £ive, he states, been
seen by him in a llTing state. In none of them consequently, he
observes, does a true "Uiumb exist on the anterior limbs; and he
considers that it follows as a further oonsequonoe that the whole of
them have been hithorto incorrectly referred to the Quadnimana by
zoologists generally. The fbllowing extract from the ' Proceedings of
the Zoological Society,' for 1886, will explain the views of this
naturalist: —
"Of the eight natural genera which include all the known
monkeys of the western hemisphere, one, AUUt, is entirely destitute
of a thumb, or has that member existing only in a rudimentary form
beneath the skin. In five others, Myeetet, Loffothrix, Aotut, PUheeia,
and HapaiU, the anterior thumbs (using the ordinary expression for
them) are placed absolutely on the same line with the other fingers,
are of the same form with them, act invariably in the same direction,
and are totally incapable of being opposed to them. . In the two
remaining genera, Ctbui and CailiUvriXf the extremities of the
anterior limbs have a greater external resemblance to the hands of
man and of the monkeys of the Old World : the internal finger is
placed farther back tlum the general line of the other fingers, and
has on that account, when superficially noticed, the semblance of
being opposed to them; but, as has been correctly observed by
lyAzara with reference to O, cofmcMHii, it is less separated than in
man : it is besides of precisely the same dender form with the rest, is
weaker than them, absolutely without power of opposition to them,
and habitually acts in the same direction with them. The impression
derived from contemplating the hands of the Old World monkeys
might induce the belief that the extremities of the Cdii are aimilarly
constituted; but if the knowledge that in Myceta, Piihecia, Ac.,
there are no opposeable thumbs leads to a dose observation of the
anterior extremities of the Odn, it will be found that they do not
act as hands and cannot be oonsidered as possessing the powers of
those oxgans. From innumerable observations of many species of
that genus, Mr. Ogilby states that it was veiy evident, notwithstanding
the fallacious appearance occasioned by the backward position of the
organ, that they had not the power of opposiDg the thim&bs to the
other fingers in the act of prehension ; and in fact their principal
power of prehension seems to be altogether independent of the
thumb, for generally speaking that member was not brought into
action at all, at least not simvdtaneously with the other fingers, but
hung loosely on one side, as Mr. Ogilby has seen it do in like circum-
stances in the Opossums, Fhalangers, and other arboreal mammaln :
when actually brought into play however the thumb of the Cchi
invariably acted in tlie same direction m the other fingers. Cb6iii
ooosequently agrees in the ohancter of non-oppoeeaUeness of thiimb
with the near^ allied genera. And in this hitherto uDsnspeoted
peculiarity soologists obtain a far more important oharacter by wMeh
to distinisuish the monkeys of the Old and New Worid than that
hitherto relied on, the comparative thickness of the septum narimn,
or than the accessory aids afforded by the absence of cheek-pouchea
and callosities. Henoe, according to Mr. Ogilby, as the moi^eys of
America have now been ascertained to be destitute of anterior hands,
they oaa no longer be included among the Q^adnm^ma, and he
proposes in oonsequenoe to naud them as Pedmana, He ooDsiden
that the latter senes, the monkeys of America, form a group parallsl
to that of the monkeys of the Old World among the QiMdrumtma:
and viewing the Qauidnimema as consisting of two primary gnmpi,
that of which Simia forms the ^^pe^ and thiB Lemmnda, he prooe«]i
to analyse the PecUmanOf in order to determine whether any group
analogous to the Lemurs exists in iK He finds such a group in
the association of the genera JHddpkit, Cheironeolet, PhdUatffitlaf
Pettmrui, and Phateolaretoa (together with a new genua, Pteudockina,
which he has found it necessary to separate firom Phtdmff*'^ ^ &t
present constituted); and for this assooiation he uses the name of
IHddpMdas, Aware that the modifications observable in the dentazy
^tems of these several genera have been regarded by many
soologists as betokening a dtfferenoe of regimen, which has led to
their being viewed as oonstituting distinct famHies, he in the fint
place states, as the result of his observation of the habitii of the
numerous species of all these genera which have been firom time to
time exhibited in the Sodety^ (hardens, that there is little or no
difference in this respect between the Onossums and Fhalapgen, bot
that all are equally omnivorous ; and tnen proceeds to diseon the
modifications that exist among them in the number and fonnB of the
several kinds of teethe which are not in bis estimation so very
diflbrent in reali^ between the Opossums and Fhalangers u they
appear to be at first sight. In further support of his ojMon that
this association of genera forms a natural family, Mr Ogilby refera to
the gradual and uninterrupted transition firom the naked-preheanle'
tailed Opossums of Soutii America, through the equally naked-tailed
Ck>uscou8, BaiUmtia, of the Indian Isles, to the true Fhahmgen ; and
from these to the Petaurists diraotiy on the one hand, and by meaoB
of the FWndooheirs to the Koalas on the other.
'<0n the prehensile power of the tail Mr. Ogilby parideularly
insists as on a faculty possessed by the greater number of the
Pedinuma, and as one which is in truth almost confined to them;
only three known genera belonging to other groups, Syndhena,
Myrmecophaga, and OereoiUptti, bemg endowed with it. He remarks
on this ^ulty as on one c^ oonsideiable importance, affording as it
does in some degree a compensation for the absence of oppoeeable
thumbs on the anterior limbs. Combined with the prehensile tai^
in every known instance^ whether among the PecKsMina or in otha
groups, is a slowness and apparent cautiousness of motion, not
observable in any of the Quadrunutna, except in the Nydtkdi In
none of the true QKodnimana is the tail prenenaile.
"Another evidence of the distinctness, as two groups^ of the
QliMdrwMma and tiie Pedmona is furnished by their geographiesl
distribution. The QuadnMnafMi are strictiy confined to the limits of
the Old World; the Peiimana almost as exdusiyely to the Kew
World, for Mr. Ogilby considers the continent of Australia to belong
more properly to America than to Asia. The very few i4)parent
exceptions that occur to this latter position are in the presence of
some species of Fhalangers in the long chain of islands that connect
the south-eastern shores of Asia with the north-eastern coast of
Australia; islands which may in truth be fairly regarded as
belonging piotly to the one and partly to the other, and the
productions of which might consequentiy be expected to partake ol
the character of both.
"Mr. Ogilby Bubsequentiy adverts to another Pedimanous animal,
the Aye-Aye of Madagascar, oonstituting the genus Chanmyii
respecting the afi^tiee of which he speaks with hesitation, because
having never had an opportunity of examining the animal itself, he
is acquainted with its cnaracters only at second hand. He is howem
disposed to reigard it as representing a third group among the
PeoMnono, to be placed in a station intermediate between the Monkeys
of the Kew Worid and the Diddphidof. With the latter he would,
in fact, be disposed to associate it, were it not destitute of the
marsuinal character which belongs to all the other animals comprised
in that group. In some of the Diddphidce, the Phahngers and
Petaurists especially, there is a marked approximation to that rodent
form of incisor teeth which obtains in Chetromyt, and which has
hitherto been regarded as especially attaching to it an ahnonnal
character.
''Man is the only other animal furnished with hands^ and howeTer
distinct he may be as regards his moral and intellectual powei^ he
must, zoologically, be oonsidered on physical grounda ^7.r?
structural characters he becomes associated with all those of which
mention has previously been made in Mr. Ogilby's oonmiunioafawi;
although he unquestionably constitutes among them a P^^^l"
group, sensibly exalted above the rest^ as weU as above all other
Mammals."
Digitized by
Google
Ml
CHEIROPTERA.
CHEIROPTERA.
96S
CHEIROPTERA {x*ip, a hand, wr€p6v, a wing), the name of a
natural family or division of Mammiferous Animals ; the Bats or
Flitter-Mioe of the English ; Fledermauser of the Qermans ; Vesper-
tUioneg of the Latins; Pipisfcrelli and Nottoli of the Italians ; Chauve-
Boiuis of the French.
The animals belonging to this wing-handed family embrace those
which come nnder the genus VeapertiUo of Linnseus. They all have
the faculty of sustained flight, and their oi^ganisation and habits
point them out as a separate and well-defined group, distinguished by
a folding extension of the membranous skm, which, risine from
the sides of the neck, is spread between their fore feet and their
fingers.
Oiganisation. — Skeleton. — The skull is thin, and there is a marked
difTerence between that of the so-called Frugivorous group {Pteropua
and Cq>haiote») and the true or Insectiyorous Bats, the former being
much more elongated than the latter. The bony tentorium, so
strongly developed in the majority of the Camivora, is entirely absent ;
but tiiere is a considerable development of the auditory portion of
the temporal bone. The occipital bone is remarkably narrow. The
superior maxillary is veiy much elongated, particularly in the so-
called Frugivorous order, a term which we would change for Omnivorous,
for their well-developed sharp canines, and the structure of some of
their other teeth, would seem to be more trenchant than fruit-eating
habits alone would require ; and indeed Cuvier, in the last edition
of the ' Rdgne Animal,' says of the genus Pteroput, " they live prin-
cipally on miit, of which they destroy a great deal ; but they know,
nevertheless, how to pursue birds and small quadrupeds ;" and we
think it highly probable that they occasionally prey on the large
insects which are foimd in the climates they inhabit. All the family
have four great canine teeth, but there is considerable difference
between-the molars of the fruit-eating section and of that whose diet
is confined entirely to insects, the crowns of the former being com-
paratively blunt, and hollowed out or grooved lengthwise, while those
of the latter are shorter and sharper, and beset with points. The
molars vary in number in the different genera, the smallest develop-
ment being three in each jaw, and the largest five above and six
below, or vice versA. The incisors set in the small and short inter-
maxillary bones vary also in the different genera. The smallest
number in the upper jaw is two, and the largest four ; the snuJlest
number is also two
in the lower jaw,
and the largest six.
The atlas is of
considerable size,
but the dentata is
not laige. The
greatest number of
the donml verte-
brae is twelve, the
smallest eleven.
The canal for the
spinal cord is
large in these verte-
brsB. The lumbar
▼ertebre vary in
number; the small-
est number is four,
the largest seven.
The ossa ooccygis
are slender and
elongated : their
HBO seems only to
be to assist (some-
what like a spreat)
in spreading the
interfemoral por-
tion of the mem-
branes, by the aid
of which the ani-
mal sails in the
air ; their smallest
number is six,
and their lai^st
twelve ; for in the
majority the tail
extends to the margin or the membrane, while in some it protrudes
beyond it, and in others it does not reach more than half way. In
Pteroput there is no trace of these bones.
The ribs are remarkably long, except the first pair, which is vety
short, and remarkably broad, especially in the cartilage, which is
ossified ; and the sternum is highly developed, as might be expected
from the exigencies of the animaL The anterior portion is expanded
laterally into what is termed the manubrium, which seems to be
largest in the Horse-Shoe Bat (HMnolophm), forming a suitable point
of attAohment for l^e strong long arched clavicles, which are articu-
lated both to the sternum and scapula ; the latter is very large and
elongated, and the lower surface is very concave. The fosses for the
ftrong musdes, both above and below the spine of this bone, are
VAT. HIST. DIY. TOL. I.
Skeleton of Bat {Vnp^rHlio murUtui),
a, mftnabrial bone; (, xiphoid cartiUige; e, coracold bone; d, claviflle; e, iboalder.blade ; /, huinenu ;
fft radius ; A, rudiment of ulna ; i, carpus (wrist) ; k, metacarpus of thumb, terminated by a hook-shaped
phalanx ; I, metacarpal bones of the flngrers ; m, digital phalanges ; n, pelvis ; o, femur ; p, tibia ; 9, fibula ;
r, tarsal bones of foot ; t, styllform appendage to os caleis ; t, metatarsus and toes ; u, tall.
deeply marked. The habits of the animal required an ample
development of these parts to give the shoulder the required solidity
for working the mechanism of the wing, and we accordingly find the
strength thrown into the sternum, clavicles, and scapula. But Uiese
same habita would have rendered the rotatory motion of the fore-arm
worse thjKD. useless, for such a disposition wotdd have weakened the
power of the limb in beating the air with the extended membrane.
We accordingly find that this power is absent : the ulna, indeed, is
remarkably small, and in some the bone is merely rudimentaiy,
forming a mere fiat process, only partially separated from the radius ;
there is no olecranon (elbow). The humerus is long, slender, and
cylindrical, and the head of the bone large and round. The structure
of the wrist is peculiar : first come two bones next to the radius, and
on these that bone rests ; one of these is very large, and the other
very small — ^the second series consists of the usual four bones ; but
it is in the bones of the metacarpus and of the fingers that the
adaptation of the osseous parts of the animal to its necessities is,
perhaps, most strongly shown. These, with the exception of the
phalanges of the thumb, are greatly elongated, and run outwards and
downwards to the edge of the wing-membrane, something after the
fashion of the whalebones that sasist in spreading an umln«lla. The
first finger is the shortest, and extends to the upper angle of the
outer e^^ of the membrane ; the second is generally the longest, and
the third and fourth nearly of a length ; the last three descend to
the lower edge of the membrane. The pelvis is straight and
lengthened, and rather wider below than it is above, the ilia being
very narrow and elongated. The ossa ischii approach even to the
contact of their tuberosities, and in some examples touch the ossa
ooccygis. The ossa pubis, in some species, recede from each other,
the intermediate space being filled by a ligament; and in others
these bones touch each other in the male, and are separated in the
female. The sacrum and ilia are anchylosed early in life. The lower
extrendties do not offer any very striking differences from those >f
other mammifers, excepting that the thighs being directed outwards,
the bones of the leg are partially turned round as it were (the fibula
appesring at the inner side of the tibia, and a little posterior to that
bone), and that there is a singularity about the heel. An elongated
delicate bony process is given off from the back part of the foot, is
indosed in the margin of the inteifemoral 'membrane, and proceeds
about halfway to
the taiL Cuvier
thotrght this a por-
tion of the OS
oalds; Daubenton,
that it was a dis-
tinct bone ; and
Meckel, that it is
only a develop-
ment of the tubero-
sity of the bone,
disunited from its
body.
Biesides the dif-
ference of the molar
teeth in the Fruit-
Eating (or Omni-
vorous) and the
Insectivorous Bats,
the stomach and
intestines present'a
remarkable corre-
sponding variance.
The stomach of the
former is very com*
plicated, and the
intestines very
long: in Pteroput,
for example, Uiey
are seven times as
long as the body.
■In the latter the
stomach is veiy
simple, and merely
divided into the
cardiac and pyloric
portions, and the intestines are not more than twice the length of
the body. These differences, together with that of the greater or
leas development of the tail, which is powerful, generally speaking, in
the true Insectivorous Bats, and either absent, rudimentary, or com-
paratively inefficient in the Fruit-Eaters, which last do not require to
turn BO rapidly as the desultory fiight of the prey of the former
makes it necessary for them to do, form, it is true, a marked distinction
between the two groups; but we are, notwithstanding, of opinicm
that very few bats confine themselves entirely to a vegetable diet.
The nervons system of Cheiroptera is folly developed. The senses
of taste, smeli sight, and hearing are acute. The external earis very
large in many of the species. The sense of touch, or a sense
analogous to it^ must be highly developed. BpeUanzani— we cannot
8 a
Digitized by
Google
0C3
CHEIROPTERA.
CHEIROPTERA-
oei
compliment him on his humanity — extracted the eyes of bats and
covered the empty eockets with leather ; yet» in this condition, they
flew round his room, avoiding the sides, never striking against any-
thing, and flying out of tiie door without touching the door-case. In
flying through a sewer which made a right angle, they turned at the
proper pointy though at a distance of two feet nt>m the walla. They
round tneir resting-place on a cornice, and flew through threads, sus-
pended perpendicularly from the ceiling, without touching them,
though scarcely farther apart than would admit their extended wings ;
and they avoided all obstacles with equal facility when the whole
head was covered with varnish. But, according to the experiments
of Carlisle, the British Long-Eared Bat was entirely at a loss, if, when
blinded, its ears i^re stopped, for in that condition the blinded bats
struck against the sides of the room, and seemed to be quite unaware
of their aituation. The following additional note to the £n^h
translation of Blumenbach however corroborates Spallanzani : — "Bats
have been supposed to poasefls a peculiar power of perceiving external
objects, without coming actually into contact with them. In their
rapid and irregular fli^t» amidst Tarious surrounding bodies, Ihey
never fly against them; yet it does not seem that the senses of
hearing, seeing, or smelling, serre them on these occasions, for
Uiey avoid any obstacles with equal certainty when the ear, eye,
and nose, are doaed. Hence naturalists have ascribed a sixth sense
to these animals ; it is probably analogous to that of touch. The
nerves of the wing ace laige and numerous, and distributed in a
minute plexus between the integuments. The impulse o£ the air
against this part may probably be so modified by the objects near
.whi^ the amnuJ' passes, as to indicate their situation and nature."
Cuvier, in his ' Lemons d' Anatomic Compar^e,' had, in a great measure,
solved the rnvstoy by observing, as is remariLod in the note just
quoted, that the whole surface of the flying membrane, on both sides,
is endowed with extraordinary sensibility, and may be considered as
one -continuously expanded organ of touch. Nor is this the only
peculiarity connected with the integument of the bats,. for in the
genus NycteriB -tiiere exists a power of inflation to. such a degree, that
when the fSaculty ii exerted the animal looks, according to Qeoffroy,
like a little balloon fitted with wings, a head, and feet The sub-
cutaneous tissue is the part inflated, and as the skin adheres to the
body at particular points only, tiie connection being by means of
loose cellular membrane, spaces are left which can be filled with air
at the win of the Nycterit, through the cheek pouches, which are
TOHBrforated air the bottom so as to communicate with those spaces.
When the NycterU wishes to inflate its skin, it draws in its breath,
closes its'nostrils, and transmits the air through the perforations of
the cheek pouches to the subcutaneous spaces, and the air is prevented
from SBtiiming by the action of a sphincter, which closes those
openings, and by valves of considerable sixe on tiie neck and back.
The organs of reproduction nearly approach those of the Q^ad•
rumana and man in many respects. In the female two teats are
placed on the breast as in man and in the Qaadrvmana,
The Cheiroptera are widely spread over the globe. They are to be
found in the Old and New World and in Australia^ A. tolerably
temperate climate seems necessary for them, and the greatest develop-
ment of the form takes place in warm coimtries. Sir John Richardson
1' Fauna Boreaili-Americana') notices two species, Vetpertilio pruinotua
Say) caught at Cumberlard House, on the Saskatchewan in 54" N. lat,
and VaptH^Uoaiubidatui (Say), which he observes is the most common
species near the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains on the upper
branches of the Saskatchewan and Peace River.
Habits. — GkneraUy speaking they remain in concealment during
the day in caverns, ruinous buildings, hollow trees, and such hiding
places, and flit forUi at twilight or sunset to take their prey. White,
m his ' Selbome,' thus describes the mode of feeding a tame bat :
** It would take flies out of a person's hand ; if you gave it anything
to eat it brought its wings round before the mouth, hovering and
hiding its head, in the manner of birds of prey when they feed. The
adroitness it showed in shearing off the wings of flies, which were
always rejected, was worthy of observation, and pleased me much.
Insects seemed to be most acceptable, though it did not refuse raw
flesh when offered; so that the notion that bats go down chimneys
snd gnaw men's bacon, seems no improbable story. While I amused
mysdf with this wonderful quadruped I saw it sereral times confute
the vulgar opinion, that bats, when down on a flat surface, cannot' get
on the wing again, by rising with great ease from the floor. It ran, I
observed, with more dispatch than I was aware of, but in a most
ridiculous and grotesque manner." The Large-Eared Bats, ooUected
by Carlisle, refused, according to Shaw, every species of food for four
days, as did a lam number which were afterwards caught and
preserved in a dark bos, for above a week. During the day-time, they
were extremely desirous of retirement and darkness ; and, i^iile con-
.fined to the.'boKy' sever moved or endeavoured to get put the whole
-day ; and when spread on the carpet they commonly rested some
minutes, and then, beginning to look about, crawled slowly to a dark
comer or crevic& At sunset the scene was quit^ changed : everyone
-then endeavoured to scratch its way out s^ the box ; a continual
<6hirpiDgwaa kept up, and no sooner was ^e lid of their prison opened
than each was active to escape; either flying awa^ immediately, or
running nimUy to a convenient place for taking wmg. When these
bats were first collected, several of the females had young ones
clinging to their breasts in the act of sucking. One of them flew
with pierfect ease, though two litUe-ones were thus attached to her,
which weighed nearly as much as the parent All the young were
devoid of down, and of a black colour. One of the most interesting
and detailed accounts of the habits of these animals is that made by
Mr. Daniell to the Zoological Society of London. The bats consisted
of two species, the PipistreUe ( VttpeHiUo PipittnUui of Qeoffroy)
and the Noctule ( VetpertUio nochda of Schreber). Mr. Daniel! stated
that in July, 1888, he receiyed five specimens, all pregnant females,
from Elvetham in Hampshire. Many more were congregated together
with them in the ruins of the bam in which they were taken, bnt all
the rest escaped. They had been kept in a tin powder canister for
several days, and on being turned loose into a common packing-case,
with a few strips of deal nailed over it to form a cage they exhibited
much activity, progressing rapidly along the bottom of the box,
ascending by the bars to tiie top, and then throwing themaelyes off
as if endeavouring to fly. They ate flies when offered to them,
seizing them with the greatest esgemees, and devouring them greedOy,
all of them congrcgatinig together at the end of the box at wluch ^
were fed, and crawling over, snapping at, and biting each other, at the
same time uttering a grating kind of squeak. Cooked meat was next
presented to them, snd rejected ; but raw beef was eaten by them
with avidity, and with an evident preference for such pieces as had
been moistened -with water. This answered a double puzpoee; the
weather being warm numbers of the Blue-Bottle Flies (M%»ca vomitma
of Linnaeus) were attracted to the meat ; and on approaching within
range of the bats' wings were struck down by their action, the animal
its& falling at the same moment with all its membranes expanded,
and coweriug over the prostrate fly, with its head thrust under in
order .to secure its prey. When the head was again drawn forth the
membranes were immediately closed, and the fly -was observed to be
almost invariably taken by the head. Mastication appeared to be a
laboured operation, consisting of a suocession of esger bites and snaps,
and the sucking process (if it may be so termed), by which the insect
was drawn into nie mouth, being much assisted by the looseness of
the lipa Several minutes were employed in devouring a Isige flj.
In the first instance tiie flies were eaten entire, but Mr. Daniell after-
wards observed detached wings in the bottom of the box. Theie
however he never saw rejected, and he is inclined to think that they
are £^erally swallowed. A slice of beef attadied to the side of the
box was found not only to save trouble in feeding, bnt alaol^
attracting the flies to afford good sport ia observing the animals
obtain their food. Their olfactory nerves appear to be vdty acutely
sensible. When hanging by their posterior extremities, and attached
to one of the bars in &ont of the cage, a small piece of beef placed
at a little distance from their noses would remain unnoticed ; bat
when a fly was placed in the same situation they would instantly begin
snapping after it The beef they would eat when hungry, but they
never refused a fly. In the day-time they sometimes cliutered
together in a comer ; but towiuds evening they became very lively,
and gave rapid utterance to their harsh grating notes. One of them
died on the fifth day after they came into Mr. Darnell's possession;
two on the fourteenth ; the fourth survived until the eighteenth; and
the fifth imtil the nineteenth day. Each was foimd to contsin a single
fostus.
On the 16th of May, 1884, Mr. Daniell procured from Hertfordahiie
five specimens of VetpertUio nociula — four females and one mal& The
latter was exceedingly restless and savage, biting the females, and
breaking his teeth against the wires of the cage, in his attempts to
escape from his place of confinement. He reje^ed food, and died on
the 18th. Up to this time the remaining four continued sulkv; but
towards evening they ate a few small pieces of raw beef in preference
to flies, beetles, or gentles, all of which wore offered to them ; only
one of them, however, fed kindly. On the 20th one died, snd on the
22nd two others. The survivor was tried with a variety of food, and,
evincing a decided preference for the hearts, livers, ko. of fowls, was
fed constantly upon them for a month. In the course of this time
large flies were frequently offered to her, but they were always
rejected, although one or two May Chafers {MdoUnUMa vtUgarit) were
partially eaten. In taking the food the wings were not thrown fo^
ward as in the Hpistrelle, and the food was seized withansoUon
similar to that of a dog. The water that drained from the iood was
lapped, but the head was not raised in drinking, as Mr. Daniel! 1^
observed it to be in the Pipistrolle. The animal took considerable
pains in cleaning herself; using the posterior extremities as a comb,
parting the hair on either side from head to tail, and forming »
straight line along the middle of the back. The membrane ofue
wings was cleaned by forcing the nose thix>ugh the folds and thoeby
expanding them. On the 20th of June this spedmen produced a
young one. At the time of its birth the young was larger than a
new-bom mouse, and its hind l^gs and daws were remaikshlTitro^
and serviceable, enabling it not only to ding to its dam, but also to
the deal sides of the cage. On the 24th the animal took her food m
the morning, and appeared veiy careful of her young» shifting »
occasionally from ride to side to suckle it» and foldiiv H in the mem-
branas of the tail and wings. On these occasions her usoiJ poeitiM
was rsYersed. In the eyening she was found dead, but the ycoi^
Digitized by
Google
r65
CHEIROPTERA.
CHEIROPTERA,
was still alive, and attached to the nipple, from which it was with
come difficulty removed. It took milk from a sponge, was kept care-
fully wrapped up in flannel^ and survived eight days, at the end of
which period its eyes were not opened, and it had acquired very little
h&ir. All the species of Cheiroptera hybemate.
Systematic Arrangement — Among the ancients Aristotle says but
little about the Bat, and Pliny is considered to have placed it among
the Birds, none of which, he observes, with the exception of the Bat,
have teeth. (* Hist. Nat.* lib. xi c 87.) Again (lib. x. c. 61), he notices
it as the only winged animal that suckles its young, and observes on
its embracing its two little ones and flying about with them. In this
arrangement he was followed by the older of the more modem natu-
ralists ; Belon, Geaner, and Aldiovandus, for instance. The formeV,
after expressing some doubt^ places it at the end of the Night-Birds, in
his 'Histoire de la Nature des Oyaeaux' (folio, 1555), and it occu-
pies the same position in the small iio (1557), with the following
quatrain: —
'* La Sonria Chaure est un oisesu da nuict.
Qui point nc pond, sinB ses petits enfante,
Lesquels de lalct de see tetins austante,
£n petit oorpa grande Terta reluit."
The Bat {AttdUphy ' bird of darkness ') was one of the unclean ani-
mals of the Hebrews (Deut. xiv. 18), wnere it is placed among the
forbidden birds.
Under the tiUe ' Yespertilio,' the fourth and last genus of his first
order, PrinuUes, Ldnnaeus arranged all the Cheiroptera known to him,
and the number of species recorded in the twelfth edition of the
' Systema Naturae ' amounts only to six. In the thirteenth edition
(Gmelin's) the number of species given amounts to twenty-three. This
edition was printed in 1789, and ^w families afford stronger evidence
of the c^reat influx of the new species within the last five-and-forty
years than is to be found in the numbers of Cheiroptera which have
been described within that period. Of English bats alone Jenyns
enumerates sixteen species, and the general numbers have been
increased more than six-fold. Cuvier made the Cheiroptera the first
family of his third order of Mammifers, placing them next to the
Lemurida, which close his second order, Quadrvmana, JeayuBf in
his ' Manual of British Vertebrate Animals,' places them \maer the
order PrinuUet, which he makes the second in his arrangement of
British Mammalia, the Ferce being the first ; and they come inmiediately
after the shrews and the hedge-hog.
The classification of the family we propose to follow, is taken in
great measure from the French authors, and adopted by Desmarest
and Lesson. OaUopithecuUf whkh is the type of the first tribe of
Cheiroptera, according to Lesson, we have rem^ed, in accordance
with the opinions of other zoologists, from thitf -family ; and though
the VaperttlionicUB may be divided into two natural sections, the
Insectivorous Bats and the Fruit-Eaters, we have^ in consideration of
the gradual shades of form when the numerous species are brought
under observation, followed Mc Linson's arrangement^ with the excep-
tion above alluded to.
VBSPSRtlLI05n>&
§ 1. Ittiophori, Spix.
Bats having a membrane in form of a leaf upon the nose. Molar
teeth with sharp tubercles.
1. Sub-Family, Phylloetomatina.
Nose-leaf simple, solitary, or unequal, the forefinger composed of
two joints.
Phyllottoma, Geoff. Four incisors above and the same number
below. Canine teeth very strong. Nose supporting two nasal crests,
one l«if-like, the other like a horseshoe. Ears large. Internal oreillon
dentelated. Tongue bristled with pa^illsB. TaU variable in length,
sometimes none. The dental formula is —
, 5—5
"lolars, -— . = 82.
0 — 0
Indsors, — ; canines, - — - ;
a. Tail shorter than the interfemoral membrane.
P. erenulattm. The borders of the nasal leaf are dentelated, the
end of the tail free. Locality unknown.
h. No TsSL
P. perepiciUatum, Qeoff. VcapertUio perepidilatue, Linn.
Vampirut, Geoff and F. Cuvier. The same character as in the
Phylloitomala, with the exception of the dental formula, which is as
follows : —
Incisors, ..{
1—1 ' ^ 6—6
84.
V. Spectrum. This is the celebrated Vampire Bat of which so many
bloodthirsty stories have been told; the Phylloetoma Spectrum of
some authors, ^Vam^nrut tanguituga of others, the Andira-guaca of
Piso, and the* VetperlUio Speetrmn of Linnsus. The nose-leiif ia entire,
higher than it is wide, although it becomes widened at the base. The
following is Piso's aocotmt of its habits : — " They seek out every kind
of animid^ and suck their blood. But in Maranhan (Maranham) there
is a oertdm kmd of bats which approach by night the naked feet of
men, and wound them with their rostrum, for the sake of sucking
human blood. The bite is so slight and' subtle that the wotmded db
not feel it before the bed covered with blood ^ivds tpkjSh of ttre woimd.
So great a quantity of blood flows from the envedbmecf bite that it can
Phyllottoma crenulaium.
Teeth of Vampire Bat {Vampinu Spectrum).
Vampire BaX{VatnpiruM ^ectrum),
only be stopped with difficulty, and the peril is imminent unless a
cure by the prescribed remedies be effected. The inhabitants first
wash these wounds with hot sea-water, and afterwards apply hot
ashes, or even cautery, if the blood be not stopped.** Captain
Stedman, who states that he was bitten, thus describes the opera-
tion : — " Knowing by instinct that the person they intend to attack
is in a sound slumber, they generally alight near the feet, where, while
the creature continues fanning with its enormous wings, which keeps
one cool, he bites a piece out of the tip of the great toe, so very small
indeed that the head of a pin could be scarcely received into the
wound, which is consequently not painful ; yet through this orifice
he continues to suck the blood until he is obliged to disy>rge.^ He
then begins again, and thus continues sucking and disgorging till he
is scarcely able to fiy ; and the sufferer has often been known to sleep
from time into eternity. Cattle they generally bite in the ear, but
always in places where the blood flows spontaneously. Having applied
tobacco-ashes as the brat remedy, and washed the gore from mvself
and my hammock, I observed several small heaps of congealed blood
Digitized by
Google
987
CHEIROPTERA.
CHEIROPTERA.
all round the place where I had lain, upon the ground, on examining
which the surgeon judged that I had lost at least twelve or fourteen
oun'bes during the night." This is sufficiently circumstantial, and the
narrative is assisted hy Mr. Wood, who quotes the passage in his
' Zoography,' and who informs us that *' it is said to perform the ope-
ration by mserting its aculeated tongue into the vein of a sleepmg
person with so much dexterity as not to be felt ; at the same time
fanning the air with its laige wings, and thus producing a sensation
00 delightfully cool that the sleep is rendered still more profound, and
the ui^ortunate person reduced almost to death before he awakes."
And the same author further informs ub that " there is reason to
belieye that this thirst after blood is not confined to the hats of one
continent, nor to one species, since at Java they seldom fail to attack
those persons who lie with their feet uncovered." The same sort of
stories are to be found in most books of Natural History up to a late
period. Wood's work was published in 1807, and the tales are con-
tinued in Bewick in the edition of 1820. Cuvier, in the last edition of
the 'R^ne Animal' (1829), says, ''They have accused this species of
having caused men and beasts to perish by sucking them, but it con-
tents itself with making very small woimds, which may sometimes
become envenomed by the climate." Lesson (1827), in his notice of
the genus, says, " The single American species is celebrated by the
fitbles with which they have accompanied its history." Dr. Horsfield,
who paid particular attention to the Javanese Bats, does not say a
word of their blood-thirsty propensities. That some of the Phyllot-
tomtUa suck the blood of animals as well as the juices of succulent
fruits, zoologists are agreed; and we have above endeavoured to
describe the peculiar apparatus with which they are furnished.
Where the "aculeated tongue" fitted for insertion "into the vein of
a Bleeping person" is to be found among the known bats, we are igno-
rant. The rough tongue of the genus Pteroput has been supposed to
have been employed for abrading the skin, to enable the animal to
suck the part abraded, but soologists are now agreed that the suppo-
sition is groundless. It is more than probable that the celebrated
Vampire superstition and the blood-sucking qualities attributed to
the Bat have some connection with each other.
Piso describes the bodies of his Bats (Andira-guaca) as being as
laige as European pigeons.
MadcUeut, Leach. Characterised by four incisors in each jaw ; the
two intermediate upper ones are longer than the lateral ; they are
bifid ; the lower incisors are equal, simple, and pointed. Four molar
teeth in the upper and five in die lower jaw on each side. Two nasal
leaves. No taU. Lips furnished with soft fringed and compressed
papills. Tongue bifid at the point
M, Levntii. Nasal leaf suddenly pointed; ears moderate and
rounded. Fur blackish. Interfemoral membrane notched. Expan-
sion 16 inches. Locality, Jamaica.
GCosiophaga, Four incisors in each paw ; canines moderately strong.
Tongue very long, extensile, and terminated by a sort of sucker. Nose
surmounted by a crest in form of a pike-head. Tail none, or variable
in length. Interfemoral membrane very small, hardly any.
A T 1 O Q
Incisors -.; canines, ; molars, =24.
A 1 — 1 3^8
Locality, entirely American. The extensile tongue, says Lesson,
enables the species to suck the blood of animals.
O. aoricina of Qeofiroy, VeapertUio soricinui of Pallas and Gmelin.
Interfemoral membrane comparatively laige. No tiul. Locality,
Surinam and Cayenne.
Bhinopoma, Qeoff. Two incisors in the upper jaw, four in the
lower. Nose long, conical, cut square as it were at the end, and sur-
mounted with A small lea£ Nostrils straight, transversal, and oper-
dilated. Ears large, earlet (o^illon) extemaL Tail long, enveloped
at its base in the interfemoral membrane, which is cut as it were
square, and free at the extremity.
Incisors, — ; oanineei, -ZL ; molars, -IZ.=s28.
There are two species only; one African, the other American.
R mierophylla. This is Belon's Chauve-Souris d'Egypte. The fur
is ash-coloux^ed, and the tail very long and slender. It is the
species that aboimds in the long and dreary galleries of the Egyptian
Pyramids.
Artibeut, Leach. Four incisors in each jaw, of which the upper
ones are bifid and the lower ones truncated. Two canines above and
the same number below ; the upper ones have an internal border at
their base. Four molara above and five below on each side. Two
nosal leaflets ; one horizontal, the other vertical No tail
A. Jamaicenns, the only species known. Brown above, grayish
below. Flying membranes, and ears brownish. The lips are sur-
rounded with a regular series of warts, and the mouth is provided
internally with a narrow, fimbriated, cribriform membrane. Expan-
sion about 1 foot, 8 inches. Length from the muzzle to the
extremiiy of the interfemoral membrane, 4 inches, 10 lines. Dr.
Horsfield calls it PhyUottoma Jamaiceme, and says that in many par-
ticulars it agrees with PhyUottoma planirottrwn of Spix, though it is
clearly distinguishable from it.
MonophyUut, Leach. Four unequal incisors in the upper jaw, of
which the two middle ones are longer than the lateral, and bifid ;
none in the lower jaw ; two canines in each jaw. Five molars above
and six below on eadi side. A sin^e straight leaf upon the nose.
Tail short
M, Bedmami. Brown above, grayish below. Eanroundei Ko«-
leaf, which is sharp, covered with small white haiia. MembruM
brown. Locality, Jamaica.
2. Sub-Family, Bhinolophina.
Nasal leaf complicated, membranous. Index with a sing^ pbaUnx.
Wings largely developed. Females with pectoral teats often aoeom-
panied by pubic warts simulating mamill«>.
Bhinclophut, Qeofil Nose at the bottom of a cavity bordered by
a wide crest of a horseshoe shape, and surmounted by a leaf Ean
moderate, lateral, without an earlet (oreillon). Tail long, entirely
enveloped by the interfemoral membrane, which is very rniefa
developed.
T . 2 . 1—1 , 5—6
Incisors, -; canmes, — -; molars, ^—5=82.
There are several species.
R iridetu {Aaellia tridentf Gray) is a native of ESgypt
Head and skull of Sinolophua trtdent,
R fUihilts is a rare and fine Javanese species : it is the K6bbl& of
the natives. It was described by Dr. Horsfield, who obserres that it
belongs to the second section of the genus. The nasal apparatus con-
sists of a broad membrane stretching transversely across the noee in
form of a shelf; the sides are bounded by several parallel folds, and
inferiorly it constitutes a semicircular envelope, which his a short
obtusely-rounded point in the middle. Colour above, pure brown;
beneath, brown variegated with gray. Fur remarkably long and
silky, and supplied with a most delicate down at the base, so is to
be throughout very soft to the touch. Body 4 inches in lengtL
Expansion 19 i inches.
Shinolophut nobilU,
Megaderma, Geoff. Ears very much developed, and brought fo^
ward on the head. Earlet internal, wide. Three nasal crests, one
vertictd, one horizontal, and one inferior of a horseshoe shape. Ko
taiL Interfemoral membrane cut square.
Incisors, — ; canines, ; molars, - — -=2fi.
4 1 — 1 6 — 0
Jf. trifoliam. Locality, Java, where it is the Lovo of the natiTea.
Head of Megaderma trifolium ; b, Sknll of JT^yMlflnM liroiu,
Nycterii, Geoff. A very deep longitudinal sillcm upon the diai^rem.
Nostrils covered by a cartilagmous moveable operculum. Ears laig«»
united at their base. Earlet external. Intemmoral membrane voy
large, comprehending the tail, the last vertebra of which isteiminsted
by a bifurcated cartilage.
1 1 T ____
Incisors, -.; canines, . ; molars, - — -^%%.
6 1 — 1 0 — 0 __
N, Oeoffroyi. Fur, gray-brown above ; brighter below. Ears raj
large. A well-develop^ wart placed upon the lower lip, between two
Digitized by
Google
CHEIROPTERA.
CHEIROPTERA.
•70
bourrelets, haying the form of a Y.
Senegal
liooalitj, the Thebald and
Jfyeteru Geoffiroyif and skulL
TaphoBOfUM, Geoff. Chanfrein with a aillon. Upper lip thick. Ears
moderate and wide apart Tail fine towards its point, beyond the
inierfemoral membrane, which is large, prolonged, and angular at its
external border.
Incisors, —; canines, ^H-; molars, -II-=28.
4 1 — 1 5 — 5
There are seyeral species.
T. MaurUianus. Fur, chestnut above, ruddy below. Earlet termi-
nated by a siuuoua border. Locality, Mauritius.
^.-..^
Taj>hoz(ms Mauritiantu, and profile of the same.
Mormopif Leach. Four upper unequal incisors, of which the inter-
mediate ones are widely notched, and four below which are equal and
trifid ; two canines in each jaw, the upper ones twice the length of
those below, almost compressed and canaliculated before ; five molars
above and six below on each side. A single nasal leaf united to the
ears, which are very complicated.
M. Blaiwvilliiy uie only species; and it is remarkable for the
extreme elevation of its front ; the excavation of its chanfrein ; the
lobated crenellated form of its upper lip, and the division of the
lower one into three membranous lobes ; the existence on the tongue
of papillae, of which the anterior are bifid and the posterior multifid ;
the folding of the nasal leaf, and the division of the upper border of
its ears into two lobes. Locality, Jamaica.
Nyctophiltu, Leach. Two upper, elongated, oonical, pointed
incisors ; six lower ones, equal and trifid, with rounded lobes ; two
canines above and two below, the lower ones having a small point at
the back part of their base. Four molars on each side of the jaws,
with crownB furnished with pointed tubercles. Two nasal leaves, of
which the posterior is the laigest. Tail projecting a little beyond the
interfemoral membrane.
iV; Geoffroyij the only species known. Fur, yellowish above. Belly,
breast, and throat dirty white. Ears large. Membranes brownish-
black.
§ 2. Anistiophorif Spix.
Bats without any nasal appendage.
8. Sub-Family, Vetptrtilionina.
Molar teeth with pointed tubercles. Wings wide and extended.
A single phalanx to the forefinger (index). Head elongated. The
h'pe simple. Tongue short Tail long.
VespertUio, Linn., Geoff Upper incisors four, sometimes two.
Lower incisors six. Muzzle very simple. Ears separated, but some-
times united at their base. Earlet internal. Tail long, entirely
enveloped in the interfemoral membrane. Cheek pouches.
Incisors, — ; canines, -^; molars, -II_=82.
6 1 — 1 o— -0
Lesson observes, that many VetpertUiones have but two incisors.
Tbe species of the genus are many in number, and their geographical
distribution is very wide.
a. European Species.
V. mtcrmitf, Linmeus. This is the Flitter-Mouse, Flutter-Mouse,
and Rear-Mouse, of the English; La Chauve-Souris of Buffon,
and, according to Pennant, ^e TsUnm of the Welsh ; the Nattola,
Notula, Sporteglioue, Yispistrello, and Vilpistrello, of the Italians ;
Murciegalo and Mordegalo of the Spaniards; Morc^go of* the Portu-
guese ; Speckmaus and Fledermaus of the Germans; Vledermuys of
the Dutch ; Laderlap and Fladermus of the Swedes ; and Flagermaus
and Aflcnbakke of the Daues.
The ears are oval, of the length of the head ; the earlets fi&loiform.
The fur of the adults is ruddy-brown above, whitish-gray below;
that of young individuals is gray-ash.
This species is common in Europe. It has been supposed to exist
in Asia, and even in Australia. Its haunts are caves, ruined build-
ings, church-towers, the roofs of houses or churches, and hollow trees,
where it hybemates during the whole winter, snugly wrapped up in
the wing membranes, and suspended by the hind feet We have
g^ven the skeleton of this species, and below will be found a head aad
skull of F. PipUtrdliUf another European species.
Head and skull of VeMpertUio JHjnttreUus.
/3. African Species.
F. nigrita. Adanson discovered this species at Senegal. The ears
are oval, triangular, very short, one-third of the length of the head.
Earlet long, and terminating in a point Fur yellomsh-brown above,
and yellowLsh-ash below.
y. Asiatic Species.
F. pictvs. The ears are shorter than the head, oval, wider than
they are high. Earlet oval-shaped. The fur is reddish, passing into
bright yellow upon the back, and of a tarnished yellow on the belly.
Citron-coloured rays mark the course of the fingers in the wings,
which are chestnut-brown. Locality, Ceylon.
9. American Species.
F. Naao. This speoies, remarkable for the length of its nose, was
first described bv the Prince de Neuwied. The nasal organ is elon-
gated in a straight line above the upper jaw, almost like a proboscis.
The ears are szuall, and very much pointed. The fur is grayish-brown
above and yellowish-gray below. Locality, Brazil, in trees.
PUeotut, Geoff. This genus in many of its characters agrees with
VetperiiliOf but the ears are very much developed, being Luger than
the head.
Incisors, — ; canmes, ; molars, = 86.
6 1 — 1 6 — 6
There are several species, and the form occurs in all the four quarters
of tbe globe.
P. JHmorieruu. This species was discovered by P^ron and Lesneur
in the island of Timor, one of the Moluccas. The ears are ample,
united at their base by a small membrane. The fur is blackish-brown
above, and ash-brown below.
Plreotus Timoriensu.
b, front view of tbe teeth, Ac. ; r, profile of the skull ; d, profile of the head.
The genera Atalaphck, Hypexodon, and Nyctiocut of Rafinesque^ are
oonsiderod doubtful by Lesson and others.
Mfopteris, Geoff The chanfrein lb united and simple. The ears
are laige, insulated, and lateral, with an internal earlet Tail long,
half enveloped in the interfemoral membrane. Muzzle short and large.
Incisors, — ; canines, -H- ; molars, -HI- = 26.
2 1 — 1 0 — 0
M. DaubeiUonii, Geoff. ; Le Rat Volant (Flying Rat) of Daubenton.
The locality of this speoies is unknown. The upper part of the head
and body ia brown ; beneath, the colour is dirty white, with a slight
tinge of yellow.
4, Sub-Family, NactUumina.
Molars tubercular. Wings long and straight Two phalanges to
the forefinger (index). Bead short and obtuse. Lips very laige.
Digitized by
Google
m
CHEIROPTERA.
CHEIROPTERA.
tn
Tail recurved. The fexnales often fumiabed with lateral pouches for
the receptioit of the young in nundng.
NoctUiOfOeofL Canines very strong. Muzzle short and: swollen,
and divided and studded with fleshy tubercles or warts. Nose simple,
and losing itself in the lips. Ears small and lateral. Interfemoral
membrane veiy much developed. Tail enveloped at its base.
Incisors, — ; canines, -HI- ; molars, = 28.
2 1 — 1 5 — 5
N. Leporinut. Size of a rat. Fur of a uniform reddish-yellow.
This is the VespertUio Leporinits of Gmelin ; Noctilio unicolor of Oeo£f-
roy. Localiticii, Brazil, Peru, and Paraguay.
-jiL^
N. ^ffypUacui, QeoflEl ; Dytopes Cfeqfiroyi, Temminck. Reddiili
above and brown below. Tail slender. Interfemoral membrBiie
enveloping only half of the tail. Locality, ruina and subterraoeoiu
places in Egypt
IHnops, SavL Ears united and extended on the front. Lips pendent
and plaited. Tail enveloped for half its length in the interfemoral
membrane.
Incisorsy — ; canines, ;
6 1 — 1
molars, rllr = 8i
5 — 5
Noctilio Leporinus,
a. Profile of head ; h, profile of skull ; e, front view of mozsle ; d, trom
view of teeth, See,
Dytopes, Illiger. M. Temminck is of opinion that Molount, Nycti-
nomus, and Che%romeU$ are identical with Dytopet. The following is
the character of the teeth, according to F. Cuvier : two incisors above
and four below ; two canines in each jaw ; four molars on each side
of the upper jaw ; that is to say, two false and two normal ; ten
molars in the lower jaw, namely, four false .and six true. Type,
J). Moop8. We proceed to give the definition of Molotnu, Cimro-
meUt, and Nyctinomua, for the assistance of the student.
Molotiui. Head short ; muzzle swollen. Ears laige ; earlet extemaL
Interfemoral membrane straight^ with a square termination. Tail
long, enveloped at its base, and most fi^uently free at its extremity.
■r . 2 . 1 1 1 5 — 5 ««
Incisors, --. ; camnes, ; molars, = 28.
2 1 — 1 5 — 5
The geographical distribution of this form is wide : Africa, Asia,
and South America possess it : but the species, which are numerous^
occur principally in ^e two last-mentioneid localities.
M, obteuntt, M. fwnariui of Spix, Dytopes obteunu of Temminck.
Size of the Barbastelle of Europe. Fur composed of hair of two
colours, blackish-brown above, and ash-brown below. Whiskers at
the bolder of the lips. LengUi about 8 inches, 8 lines. Expansion
9 inches. Localities, Brazil and Guyana.
w
Head of lioloinu oUamtt,
Skull and front teeth.
Cheiromdetf Horsfield. Two incisors above and two below; the
upper ones large, approximate, semiconical, and acute, the lower very
small and simple. Muzzle conical, sulcated, and with setiferous
glandules. Ears distant^ patent, with a short, semicordate, obtuse
operculun*. Axillary poudi ample ; but the hind foot^ according to
Dr. Hors&eld, constitutes the chief distinguishing character. The
hind foot^ or rather hand, " consists of four fingers, which have the
same disposition and structure as in other animius of this family, and
of a distinct thumb, essentially agreeing with this member in many
Quadmmanaf and in several animals of the Rodentia and Marsvpialia.
It is a complete antagonist to the fingers, enables the animal to take
hold of objects, and thus constitutes a perfect hand."
(7. torqucUxtt, Horsfield, ' Researches in Java ;' Molossvu CkeiropiUf
Auct.; Dysopea Cheiroput, Temminck. Length, 54 inches. Expan-
sion nearly 2 feet. Localities, Siam and Western Asia.
Nyctinomus, Geoff. Nose flat, losing itself in the lips, which are
deeply slit and wrinkled. Ears laige, and hanging with an external
earlet. Interfemoral membrane moderate and angular. Tail long,
ind nearly half of it enveloped.
Incisors,—; canines, t — i; molars, - — -=80.
i 1 — ^1 6 — 5
Localities. This form occurs in Africa, Asia, and South America.
D. Cestoniif SavL Fur thick and soft, gray-brown, tending slightly
I to yellowish, but a little browner on the back. Wings black-browii.
Muzzle, lips, and ears black, the latter large, roimded, and a liUle
notched on their external border. Tail long, of a brown-bkcL
Locality, the environs of Pisa, where Savi discovered iL
Stenaderma, Geoff. Nose simple. Ears small, lateral, and isolated;
earlet intemaJ. Interfemoral membrane rudimentary, and bordering
the logs. Ko tail
4 1 1 1 4
Incisors, — ; canines, ; molars, = 28.
^ 4 ' 'l— 1' ' 4—4
But it should be remembered that Cuvier only allows of two incison
in the upper jaw, instead of four, the number given by Geofi&oy.
8. ruftL Fur uniform, chestnut-red. Ears moderate, oval, and a
little notched on their external border.
CdcenOf Leach. Two upper indsors pointed and simple ; four lower
ones contiguous and cylindrical Two canines above and below, tbe
upper ones laigest. Four molars on each side of the jaws, the first
pointed and simple, and the last three with their crowns beset with
points. Third and fourth finger with three phalanges, the fifth or
external with two only. Int^emoral membrane prolonged a little
below the toes of the hind feet Ears separated; earleta simple.
NotaiL
(7. BrooJcsiaiM, Back ferruginous ; belly and shoulders yellowish-
ferruginous. Ears pointed, with the anterior bonier round^ and the
posterior one straight. Membranes blacL
uEUOf Leach. Two upper incisors laige, compressed, bifid, and with
rounded lobes. Two lower equal, trifid, with rounded lobes. Two
upper canines, long, very sharp, with a small projecting point before
and behind their hise ; the two lower smaller and less pointed. Four
upper molars on each, the two first pointed and triangular, the sectmd
Iftigest, the third bifid, and the fourth trifid externally. Third finger
of the wings with four phalanges, fourth and fifth witii three. I^te^
femoral membrane straight. Ears contiguous, short, very large ; no
earlet. Tail not exceeding the membrane.
A. Ouvieri. Colour ferruginous-Isabella. Wings obscure brown.
Ears truncated, as it were, at the end.
Seotophilus, Leach. Four upper incisors unequal, pointed, tbe
intermediate ones being largest and simple, and the lat^al ones bifid
with equal lobes : six lower incisors indistinctly trifid. Two canines
above and below, the upper ones with a small point behind their bue,
and the comer ones with a similar one in front Four molars with
crowns armed with points. Fourth and fifth fingers of the wingi
with three phalanges.
S, Kuhlii, Fur ferruginous. Ears, nose, and wings brown.
5. Sub-Family, Pteropina.
We now come to a numerous and widely distributed fionily ooo-
taining some of the largest forms of the VaperHlionidaiy and subsiit-
ing principally on vegetables and fruits. It is not improbable that the
fabulous Harpy may have had its origin in some of these enormom
bats with their well-developed pectoral mamma?.
Pteropui Duitttmieri.
Molar teeth tuberculated and grooved longitudinally. "^^^^
rounded. Interfemoral membrane and tail often wnting: Index
Digitized by
Google
973
CHEIROPTEBA.
CHEIROPTERA.
074
ivith three phalanges, head long and hairy. Females for the most
part with nursing pouches.
Pterojmtt Bnsscm (Roussettes of the French). A small nail on the
index wing-finger. Head conical. Ears ^ort Tail absent^ or nidi-
mentaiy. Interfemoral membrane yery little derdoped.
a. Tailless.
P. Javanicut. Upper part of the neck smoky red, rest of the fur
blackiah, some white hairs mingled with the black ones of the back.
Expansion 5 feet. This is tbe Kalong of the Javanese, which,
according to Dr. Horsfield, is extremely abundant in the lower parts
of Java, and uniformly lives in society. The more elevated districts
are not visited by it. ** Numerous individuals," continues the Doctor,
" select a laige tree for their resort, and suspending themselves with
the claws of ^eir posterior extremities to the naked branches, often
in companies of several hundreds, afford to a stranger a very singular
•pectacle. A species of Ficus, in habit resembling the F, rdigiota of
India, which is often found near the villages of the natives, affords
them a very ftivourite retreat, and the extended branches of one of
these are sometimes covered by them. They pass the greater portion
of the day in sleep, hanging motionless : ranged in succession, with
the head downwards, the membrane contracted about the body, and
often in close contact, they have little resemblance to living beings,
and by a person not accustomed to their economy are readily mistaken
for a part of the tree, or for a fruit of imconmion size suspended from
its branches. In general these societies preserve a perfect silence
daring the day : but if they are disturbed, or if a contention arises
among them, they emit sharp piercing shrieks, and their awkward
attempts to extricate themselves when oppressed by the light of the
Ban, exhibit a ludicrous spectacle. In consequence of the diarpness
of their claws, their attachment is so strong, that they cannot r^ily
leave their hold without the assistance of the expanded membrane :
and if suddenly killed in the natural attitude during the day, they
continue suspended after death. It is necessary "Uierefore to oblige
them to take wing by alarming them, if it be desired to obtain them
daring the day. Soon after sxmset they gradually quit their hold, and
parsue their nocturnal flight in quest of food. They direct their
coarse by an unerring instinct to the forests, villages, and plantations,
occasioning incalculable mischief, attacking and devouring indiscrimi-
nately every kind of fruit, from the abundant and useful cocoa-nut
which surrounds the dwelUng of the meanest peasantry, to the rare
and most delicate productions which are cultivated with care by
princes and chiefs of distinction. By the latter, as well as by the
European colonists, various methods are employed to protect the
oroharda and ^^ardens. Delicate fruits, such as mangoes, jambus,
lanaas, Ac., as they approach to maturity, are ingeniously secured by
means of a loosa net or basket, skilfully constructed of split bamboo.
Without this precaution, little valuable fruit would escape the ravages
of the Kalong. There are few situations in the lower pcurts of Java in
which this nigkt wanderer is not constantly observed : as soon as the
light of the sun has retired one animal is seen to follow the other at a
small but irregular distance, and this succession continues uninter-
rupted till darkness obstructs the view. The flight of tiie Kalong is
slow and steady, pursued in a straight line, and capable of long con-
tinuance. The chase of the Kalong forms occasionally an amusement
of the colonists and inhabitants during the moonlight nights, which
in the latitude of Java are uncommonly serene. He is watched in his
descent to the fruit-trees, and a disoluurge of small shot readily brings
him to the ground. By this means I fr^uently obtained four or five
indiriduals in the course of an hour."
Pteroptu Javtmieut.
fi. With Tails.
P- ttromineus. Fur reddish-yellow; tail very short Expansion
*^o feet Brought from Timor by P^ron and Lesueur. ^
y. With Wings on the Back.
Cephaloteif Qeofil A small nail on the index in one species. Head
conical; ears short; tall but little apparent. Interfemoral membrane
notched. Flank-membrane springing from the mesial line of the back.
T • 4 . 1—1 , 5—6
Incisors, -; canmes, ; molars, !LZrs-82.
6 1 — 1 4 — 4
C. Peronii, Fur brown or red, and Tery short Ko nail on the
index. Wings springing from the middle of the back. Expansion
two feet Locality, Timor. N.B. Temminck thinks that the P, pal-
liatut of Geofiroy is the young of this species.
Harpya, lUiffer. Differing from Ce^^ialoia in the want of lower
incisors and of the last sm^ molars in both jaws. OeoflVoy thinks
that the difference between the system of dentition in Harpya and
Ceph<Uote$ Penmii is attributable to age only.
Incisors, - ; canines, ; molars, =24.
0 1 — 1 5 — 5
JST. Pallcaii (Cephalotea Pallasii, Geoff.). Fur consisting of scanty
and soft hairs, grayish-ash above, pale white below. A nail on the
index. Expansion 1 foot 11 inches. Locality, the Moluccas.
w
Ilcad of Harpya ralluiU.
Oynoptems, F. Cuvier. Four incisors and two rudimentary false
molars in each jaw, like the Pttropi, but they entirely want the last
molars. The jaws are abbreviated, and the heads much resemble
those of Cephalotes,
Macrogloua, F. Cuvier. A genus approaching very closely to
Pteropns and formed by F. Cuvier for the Lowo-assu of the
Javanese, P, minimui of Geoffix>y, P. rottratus of Horsfield. Its
character depends upon the extreme length of the head, the absence
of false molars, the great development of the posterior molar and the
extensile tongue.
Incisors,-; canines, ; molars, =84.
4 1 — 1 6 — 6
M. Hor^fiddii {Pteroputroiiraiut, Horsfield). Temminck is of opinion
that M, Kiodotet, P, fnwitmiM, Geo£, and M. Hortfiddii are identicaL
5. Wings placed extremely backwards.
Epomophorut (Gray). £, WhUii {Pleropus JBpomophonUt Bennett).
Pale brown, the colour being paler posteriorly ; belly white ; humeral
brush (or epaulette) white and large. Total length, six inches three
quarters ; length of the head, two inches and a quarter. Expansion
12 inches.
The following is the arrangement of the species of this order of
which thero are specimens in the British Museum, as given in the
list of the Mammalia by Dr. J. E. G^y .• —
Yespebtilionidje.
A, JiHophorL
a, PhyUotiomina,
1. Phinopcma Hardwickiiy the Indian Rhinopome.
2. JR. microphyllaf the Egyptian Rhinopome. Egypt
8. Stumira Spectrum, the Stumira. Brazils.
4. Arctibeui Jamaictmii, the Jamaica Arctibeus. Jamaica and
Brazils.
6. A. fimhriaiutf the Fringe-Lipped Arctibeus. Brazils.
6. A. verrucatut, the Warty-Chinned Arctibeus. South America.
7. A. falcaltu, Sickle- Arctibeus. Cuba.
8. Vampynu Spectrum, the Pale Vampire. Jamaica.
9. PhyUottoma hoMtaium, the Javeline Phyllostome. Brazils.
10. P.fuliginoeum, the Sooty Phyllostome. South America.
11. P. Childreni, Children's Phyllostome. South America.
12. P. $oricinum, the Soricine Phyllostome. Jamaica, West Indieai
18. P. Bennettii, Bennett's Phyllostome. South America.
14. P. laneeoUUum, Long-Leaved Phyllostome. South America.
16. P. ehngatum. Elongated Phyllostome. Brazils.
16. BrachyphyUa Cavemarum, the Cavern-Bat St Vincent's,
West Indies ; Cuba.
17. PhyUophora megalotii, Large-Eared Phyllophore. Brazils.
18. P. niffra. Black Phyllophore. Brazils.
19. P. amplexicaudata, West-Indian Phyllophore. West Indies^
Jamaica.
20. €flo9jN)pkaga Soricina, the Soricine Bloodsucker. Jamaica,
West Indies.
21. MonopkyUut Redmani, Redman's Leaf-Nosed Bat Jamaica.
22. Anowa Geojfroyi, Geoffh>y's Tailless Bat BrazUs.
28. if csrckiermai^yra^Lyi^-Nosed Broad-Winged Bat Java; Indi^
Madras and Bengal.
24. M, Spatma, the Cordate Bat Java and Singapore.
25. Lavia fiwu, the African Leaf-Bat West Africa, Gambia.
h, Phinolopkina,
26. ArUeuiJlaveiceni, th» YeUvwish AriisiLk
Digitized by
Google
0^8
CHEIROPTERA.
CHEIROSTEMON.
176
SouUi Africa, Daman
27. Jtkinolophui Hippotiderat, the Smaller Horseshoe-Bat. Devon-
shire.
28. jRL fefTum-e^inum, the Lai^ger Horseshoe-Bat. England and
Turin.
29. jRL megaphyllui, the Laiige-Leayed Horseshoe-Bat AiutnUiik
80. R mario, the Black Horseshoe-Bat. Singapore.
81. JL traffoiui, Nepaul Horseshoe-Bat. NepauL
82. jRL Capeniii, Cape Horseshoe-Bat. Cape of Good Hope.
83. IL elivosui, Short-Faced Horaeehoe-Bat I^orth Africa.
84. Bippatideroi fulvut, Foxy Horseshoe-Bat. India, Madras.
85. J7. murinuB, Mouse-Coloured Horseshoe-Bat. India, Madras.
86. If. bieolor, Bhinolophut bicohr, Two-Coloured Horseshoe-Bat.
Jaya.
87. ff. apiculatua, Apidllated Horseshoe-Bat. India, Madras.
88. ir. larvatuiy Masked Horseshoe-Bat. Java.
89. J7. penicUlatua, Pencilled Horseshoe-Bat. Madras.
40. ir. vulffari$, Javanese Horseshoe-Bat Java.
41. M, nobilis, l^oble Horseshoe-Bat Java.
42. ir. armiger, Hodgson's Horseshoe-Bat Nepaul.
48. A$eUia trident, the Three-Toothed Asellia. Egypt
JB, AnisHophoru
e. VeapertilUmidcB,
44. iVyc<«ri« Sf%«&atca, Egyptian Nycteris.
45. N, Bamarentis, Damara Nycteria.
country.
46. N. PoenaUy Fernando Po Nycteria. Africa^ Fernando Po.
47. Pttalia Javanica, Kuhl's Petalia. Java.
48. NydophUiit Oeojfroyi, the Australian Kyotophila Australia.
49. Barbtutellua commwnitf the Barbastelle. England.
50. PUcottu eommwHU, Common Long-Eared Bat England, London.
51. P. Christii, Egyptian Long-Eared Bat North Africa, Egypt.
52. Romicia ealcareUa, the Long-Burred Romicia.
58. VupertUio mysladnutf the muakered Bat Devonshire and
Cambridgeshire.
54. F. DavbenUmii, Daubenton's Bat Scotland, Aberdeen.
55. F. Caroli, Prince Charles's Bat North America.
56. F. mwrfWo, the WaU-Bat Nepaul.
57. Trilotitv* BUpotis, the Blepote. Timor.
58. T. Sonfiddii, the Lowo-Manir. Java; India.
59. MyUU mtcrifitit, the Laige-Eared Bat Hamburg and England.
60. M. Bechstanii, Bechstein's Bat New Forest^ Hampshire.
61. if. Nattereri, Natterer's Bat England.
62. Kerivoiyla picta, the Eerivoula. Jav^
68. ir./or»io»a, the Nepaul Kerivoul^ NepauL
64. JT. SyjIseHi, Sykes's Kerivoula. India, Calcutta.
65. K, trUatitcidea, the Javanese Kerivoula. Jav^
66. K. BainhtHekii, Hardwicke's Kerivoula. Java.
67. X, PoenaU, the Fernando Po Kerivoula. Fernando Po.
68. K. ffriaect, the Gray Kerivoula.
69. K. Bratilentit, the Brazilian Kerivoula. Brazils.
70. Natcdut ttramineut, the Natale. America.
71. ScotophUm Serotinut, the Serotine. England.
72. S, discolor, Parti-Coloured Bat England.
73. & Leideri, the Hairy-Armed Bat England.
74. & muWnitf, the Bat England; North of Scotland; Hambuig;
and Madeira.
75. & fuliffinoiutf the Sooty Sootophil& Nepaul.
76. S, ffodgtonii, the Indiim Bat India, Calcutta.
77. S. lobcUut, the Lobed Scotophile. India.
78. S, Maderatpatanua, the Madras Bat Madras.
79. S. morio, the AustnUian Bat Van Diemen's Land, AustraliiL
80. & OofUdii, Gould's Scotophile. Van Diemen's Land.
81. S, pumilua, the Dwiurf Bat Australia.
82. 8, Oreifii, Captain Grey's Bat Australia.
88. 8, OubcMit, the Cuba Bat Cuba.
84. & MacLetvyii, MacLeay's Bat. Cuba.
85. 8, BeUii, Bell's Bat West Indies.
86. 8, GrtewU, Green's Bat North America.
87. 8 Temmindeii, Temminck's Noctule. Calcutta and Java.
88. &falcaiua, the Falcated Noctule. India.
89. 8. Leciehii, Leach's Noctule. India.
90. & fulvua, the Foxy Noctule. Java and Madras.
91. NoduUnia altivolant, the Noctule. England.
92. N. Malaeoamt, the Singapore Noctule. Singapore.
98. N. labiata, Large-Lipped Noctule. NepauL
94. Zatiuru$ n/itf, the Red Hairy-Tailed Bat America.
95. X. pmtnotia, the Powdered Hairy-Tailed Bat North America.
96. SeotapkUut Capeniii, the Cape Bat Cape of Good Hope.
97. Murina wOlut, the Pig-Nosed Bat India.
d NoctiUonina.
98. Tapkaaoui perf»raiut, the African Taphozous. Africa and
Mauritiua.
99. T, hngimanut, the Long-Armed Taphozous. India, Calcutta.
100. T. pudiverUer, the Naked-Bellied Taphozou& Africa, Nubia.
101. r.me;ano|MSPon,theBlaok-BeardedTaphozous. Caves of Kenneri,
Hindustan.
102. T, Moeeolaimua, the Javauese Taphozou& Java.
108. NoctUio AmerieanuB, the BuU-Dog Bat Para.
104. N. nuutvvui, the Striped Bull-Dog Bat Brazils and CoitnJ
America.
105. Moiia nigrttemi, the Moeia. South America.
106. ifyitacma ^u^M^oto, the Mystaoine. NewZeahmd.
107. (7tfn/«rio aener, the Wrinkled-Faced Epaulet-Bat Amboyiuu
108. Chenolycterii MaeLeayii, MacLeay's Fringe-Nosed Bat
Cuba.
109. Mormops BlainvtUii, the Mormops. Cuba and South
America.
110. Nyctinomua plicotus, the Groove-Cheeked Bat JsTa and
BengaL
111. N, JtUppdlxif Ruppell's Groove-Cheeked Bat Fernando Po
and Singapore.
112. N, pumilut, the Smaller Groove-Cheeked Bat Egypt
118. N. murintu, the Murine Groove-Cheeked Bat Jamaica.
114. N. macrotit, the Lam-Eared Groove-Cheeked Bat Cubs.
115. Molouus velox, the Swift-Flying Thick-Lipped Bat Bnzib,
and St Lucia, West Indies.
116. M, fiUiginoMs, the Sooty Thick-Lipped Bat Bennuda,
Jamaica, and Portobella
117. M, rufiu, the Reddish Thick-Lipped Bat Brazils.
118. M, iropidorkynchut, the Ridge-Nosed Thick-Lipped Bat Cuba
119. M. BrazUientit, the Brazilian Thick-Lipped Bat Br&zila.
120. M, Norfolc€Mis,ihe Norfolk Island Thick-Lipped Bat Norfolk
Island.
121. Dididurui Freyreitii, the Diclidure. Pueblo Nuevo, Tropical
America.
e. Pteropina.
122. Pteroput poUocephalut, Gray-Headed Kalong. Australia.
123. P. Edwardni, the Wurba-GooL India, Nepaul, and Molucca.
124. P. edulit, the Kalong. Sumatra.
125. P.funeretu, Red-Naped Kalong. Australia, Port Essingtoo.
126. P, ptelapkon, Hairy-Footed Kalong. Island of Benin (Loo-
Chooe).
127. P. rubrieoUitf the Roussette. Cape of Good Hope.
128. XmUharpiyia ampUxicaudata, the Xantharpye. Amboyna.
129. X JBgyptiaea, Egyptian Xantharpye. North Africa, fgypi
180. X utraminea, the Pale Xantharpyei Africa.
131. EpomophwruM WhitU, the Shoulder-Soiot Bat West Afiica,
Gambia.
182. CysMpferiM margynaJtvM, the Margin-Elared Cynoptere. Indif
Java, and NepauL
138. C iToTf^ldUit, Horsfield's Cynoptere. Java and India.
184. 0. brmcamdalut, the Short-TaUed Cynoptere.
185. C affinis, the Indian Cynoptere. Himalaya
188. Macro^o$tut minimtu, the Kiodote. Java.
Fo98il Cheiroptera.
Cuvier described the skeleton of a species of bat allied to tlM
Serotine, which waa petrified and imbedded in a block of th«
Eocene Gypsum at Montmartre, Paris. Some fossil teeth reaembling
those of a Cheiropterous animal have been found in the Eooeoe
Sand at Kyson near Woodbridge in Suffolk. More numerona remaics
of this family have been met with in England in the limestone carerai
containing the fossil bones of extinct bean, hy senaa, and other animals.
Professor Owen says of these remains that he has " failed to detect
in the more complete skulls and skeletons from cave-localitiea any
character by which they could be distinctly referred to unknown
species of bats, or to such as do not now exist in England; and after
much pains bestowed on the less complete and more abundant fng"
mentary and detached parts of the enduring framework of the
Cheiroptera I have been seldom able^partly indeed from the still
imperfect state of the osteology of this order — to arrive at any Boond
specific determinations." One of the most complete examples of the
skeleton of a bat from a crevice of a bone-cave in the Mendip Hills
Professor Owen refers to Veepertilio noctula. Remains of a bat from
the bone-cave called Kent's Hole, near Torquay, Devon, are F®"**^"*^
in the British Museum; and from an examination of these Profeaaor
Owen concludes that they belong to the Bhinolophfu femtM-tquiMf
the Great Horseshoe-Bat, which is not now a native of these ialanda.
Other Cheiropterous remains have been foimd in the bone-cavea of the
contment of Europe. [Su Supflsmsnt.]
CHEIROSTE'MON, a genus of plants belonging to the natural
order 8terculiaeetB. C. platanoidee, a most singular plant, is com-
monly called the Hand-'Tree, in consequence of its stamens being w
arranged as to present an appearance somewhat similar to that of a
human hand. It is a lofty tree, with the habit of a plane, and a
trunk about as thick as a man's body. Its head divides into a number
of close horizontal branches, which are of a brownish colour *<j^^'j2
their extremities in consequence of the number of short fiiwn-oolcurw
hairs that beset them. The leaves are heart-shaped, slightly r-lobed,
six or eight inches long, and a little toothed ; they are of a nch deep
green on the upper side, and are covered with fawn-coloured »*^ ?J[
the under side. The flowers are of a bright red, and »PP^** t!
end of the branches ; they consist of three external lanceolate wownwo
bracts, and a beU-shaped fleshy angular calyx, about an inch ana a
Digitized by
Google
.vn
CHEIROSTEMON.
CHELONIA.
978
half deejs bright red inside, corered externally with a nuset down ;
it is deeply divided into fiye lobes, and is marked on Uie outside at
the base with five prominences, whidi correspond with an equal
number of little pits filled with a slightly viscid whitish fluid. There
is no corolla. There are five stamens combined into a central column-
like tnbe, from the apex of which proceed five long slender sharp-
pointed processes, which are all curved one way, coloured red, and
look very much like what one might imagine to be the claws of a
d«>mon's hand ; on the convex side these processes bear the anthers.
The fruit is a laijge woody 6-celled 5-valved capsule, with from fifteen
to twen^ seeds in each celL
^ir* V
Hand-Tree {Cheiro*Umon platanoidet.)
a, fruit opened ; h, section of yoang Aruit, showing the disposition of the
seeds ; e, pistil and bracts ; d, flower opened to show the tnbe of the stamens
and the Ave anthers (all these figures are about one>aixth less than the natural
aize ; .those which follow are, some of the natural sise, and others slightly
magnified) ; e, /, g, seeds ; ^ ft, sections showing the situation of the embryo ;
jk, the embiyO) placed to show Uie cotyledons.
The singular form of the stamens and their large size have rendered
this tree an object of curiosity and veneration in Mexico from time
immemorial. The native Mexicans call it by the unpronounceable
name of Macpal Cochiquauhitl, which the Spaniards translate Arbol
de Maoitas, and the English Hand-Tree. What made it a greater
object of admiration was, that in all Mexico only one tree was known,
which was near the town of Toluca, about sixteen leagues west of
the city of Mexico. The flowers of this plant were so constantly
gathered by the Indians as objects of veneration that the fruit never
ripened, and it was not till the year 1801 that cuttings transferred to
the Botanic Gkirden at Mexico struck root, and began to multiply
this vegetable wonder. The original tree must be much more ancient
than the conquest of Mexico, for it has been distinctly described by
the Spanish luatorians. The people of Toluca imagine that the tree
is one and indivisible, that no other was ever created, nor any other
ever propagated. Seeds however have been produced from the young
plants in the Botanic Garden, Mexico, whence they ma^ now Im
procured without difficulty. Plants of it were thus obtamed some
years since by Mr. Lambert, of Boyton House, in Wiltshire, and they
are not uncommon in large collections. Notwithstanding the belief
of the Mexicans to the contrary, it is really foimd wild in Guatemala,
where whole forests of it were observed near the city of that name
by one of the pupsls of Professor Cervantes. The Hand-Tree is said
SAT. HOT. DIT. VOL. L
to form a very large tree, which preserves its leaves all the year
round, and forms a fine shady canopy, flowering in November,
December, and January.
(Hernandez, Hiit. Plant. Nov. Hisp.t voL ii., ed. 2, p. 631 ; Yetan-
court, Theatr. Mexic. ; Larreategui, Dinert., June, 1795 ; TUesius in
Act. Petrop., 6, 321, t. ix. ; Humb. and Bohpl., PI. uEquinoct., i. 85.)
CHEIROTHE'RIUM. The footprints on the Red-Sandstone of
Hildburghausen were referred by Kaup to a mammiferous animal
\mder the above title. To the same origin many similar remains in
England have been referred. Professor Owen is of opinion that the
animal was reptilian, and that it may be regarded as identical with
the Ldbyrinthodon of the same formations, of which the teeth are
very characteristic. The animal was probably a Batrachian Reptile.
The footprints occur with ripple marks, and what are called rain
marks, on the flaggy red-sandstones of the Mersey and also in
Dumfriesshire.
CHELIDO'NIUM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural
order Pq/pavercLcea. 0. majut is uie only species. It is a glaucous
rather hairy annual, with small yellow flowers, a siliquose capsule,
and orange-coloured juice. It is not at all uncommon in waste places in
this country; it is commonly called Celandine, and possesses no
useful properties worth naming.
CHE'LIFER, a genus of ArcLchnida remarkable for the resemblance
which the species composing it bear to scorpions. Hence Lamarck
styled the order in which he placed them 'les Faux Scorpions,'
associating them with Galeodes. They belong however to the
Trachearian division of the class ArachnidcL The mandibles of
Chdifer are short, with didactylous extremities. The palpi are two,
ver^ long, and fine pointed, resembling arms, and having claws at
their extremities. The maxillse are connivent and two in number.
The eyes are two in the Chdifert proper, as distinguished by Hermann
from the species of the genus C>6inw» of Leach, which have four ;
they are placed at the sides of the thorax. The body is ovate,
anteriorly acute, and depressed. The feet are eight.
These curious animals are very small, and resemble miniature
scorpions deprived of their tails. They run fast, moving backwards,
forwards, and often sideways like crabs. They live \mder stones, in
crevices of rocks by the sea-side, under bark of trees, and in houses
among old papers and old furniture. They feed upon insects. They
are found in all parts of Europe.
CHE'LMON. [CHJffroDON.]
CHEXODUS, a genus of Fossil Mammalia proposed by Eaup. It
is of the rodent type, allied to the beaver and porcupine, and occurs
in Tertiaiy Beds at Eppelsheim, near Mainz.
CHE'LONARIUM. [Elaterida]
CHELONE. [Chklonia.]
CHELONIA (XeXwi^p, a Tortoise), Tortoises and Turtles, a
numerous and highly interesting order of Reptiles, generally con-
sidered the first by herpetologists. They are also termed TatwivMUa
(from TestttdOf the Latin name for a Tortoise), and are distinguished at
the first glance by the double shield in which their body is normally
inclosed, whether they are terrestrial, fresh-water, or marine. They
were all comprised by Linnaius under his genus Tettudo.
The following account of the organisation of these animals is
principally derived from Cuvier.
Skeleton. — The surface of the skull in these reptiles is continuous,
being without any moveable articulations, as is the case with the
Serpents and the Tailed Batrachians. But whilst this character
prevails in all the genera of which the order is composed, many of
those genera difier much in their cranial structure, and it becomes
necessary to point out these differences, which are much greater than
those which exist in the crania of the Crocodiles.
In the Land-Tortoises the head is oval and obtuse anteriorly ; the
interval between the eyes is lai^e and convex ; the aperture of the
nostrils is lai^e, higher than it is wide, and a little depressed back-
wards. The orbits, which are large, are nearly round, complete
throughout^ directed sideways and a little forwards. ^ The parietal
region terminates backwards in a large projecting occipital spine, and
has on each side two laige temporal fossae, \mder which are enormous
tympanic cavities ; behind these cavities, and a little above, project
two large mastoidean protuberances, and beneath them are the
apophyses, which serve for the articulation of the under jaw. These
apophyses descend vertically, and are not directed backwards as in
the Crocodiles. Underneath, the basilary region is flat^ the palatine
ooncave ; and upon the anterior part of this last the osseous posterior
nostrils open, there being no palatine roof, and the palatine part of
the maxillaries being open up to the anterior fourth of the muzzle;
a disposition rendered necessary by the mode of respiration in these
animals, and which as much resembles that of the fVogs as it differs
from that of the Crocodiles. The occipital region is in its totality
vertical, although the occipital spine, the mastoidean protuberances,
and the articular condyle of the skull, which is a very projecting
tubercle, render it very imequaL
The first remarkable feature in the composition of the head of the
Tortoises^ is the absence of nasal bones. In the recent animal the
external bony nostrils are narrowed by cartilaginous laminae, which
represent these bones ; but in the skeleton is found immediately at
their upper border the anterior frontal bone, which takes itR ordinary
3 K
Digitized by
Google
079
CHELONIiu
CHELONIA.
on
place in the frame of the orbit, is articulated also, as ordinarily, to
the ante-orbital apophysis of the mazillaxy bone, descends within the
orbit, forms the anterior septum, which separates the orbit from the
nose, and is articulated below with the palatine and the Yomer,
leaving between it, the maxillaiy, and the palatine, an oblong hole,
which leads into the posterior nostrils. The osseous cavity^ of the
nose is oblong, and formed by the maxillarie9, the intermaxillaries,
the Tomer, the two anterior and the two principal frontals. The
extent of the anterior frontals and the absence of the nasal bones are
the causes that the first articulate with each other, and that they
extend above the orbit and outside the principal frontals up to the
posterior frontals in Teitudo Ijulica, or very near it in some other
species. The intermaxillaries have no ascending apophysis. They
form, as ordinarily, the termination of the muzzle, and are directed
backwards in the palate between the maxillaries, and even between
the posterior nostrils, to the vomer. The posterior nostrils are two
large apertures pierced on each side in the middle of the nasal cavity
between the maxillaries, the intermaxillaiies, the vomer, and the
anterior frontal bones. The bottom of the cavity of the nose is
covered above and closed behind by the principal frontals, which
leave a large aperture between them, closed by a cartilage which
permits the passage of the filaments of the olfactory nerve. Lower
and laterally there is, between the frontal, the anterior frontal, and
the vomer, a rather lai^ space closed by a continuation of the same
cartilage, which represents the os planum. In the Terrestrial
Tortoise there is no inter-orbital simple cartilaginous septum, or
nearly none; but this is not so in other sub-genera. The frontals
cover but very little of the cerebral chamber, because they are short,
and together form a lozenge wider than it is long. The parietals
form together a pentagon, the most acute angle of which proceeds to
unite itself with the occipital spine. They cover more than half of
the oerebnd chamber, and are directed backwards by means of a
scaly suture on the occipital bone and on the petrous bone. On each
side the parietal bone descends very low into the temporal fossa;
there it occupies nearly all the space which the temporal wing of the
sphenoid bone occupies in the crocodile, and in the tortoise there
only remains a very small portion of this bone, which unites on one
side to the descending portion of the parietal; on the other to the
palatine, the internal pterygoid, the body of the sphenoid, the
tympanic cavity, and the os petrosum. The jugal bone is artictilated,
as ordinarily, with the external and posterior angle of the maxillary
bone. It is narrow and continued under the orbit, behind which it
encounteiB the posterior frontal bone, which completes the frame in
this part, and the squamous portion of the temporal bone^ which
fonns by itself the whole zygomatic arch, as may be seen in many of
the Cdcicea. The temporal bone widens to unite itself to the
tympanic cavity, which is extremely large. It forms a fram^ which
is nearly completely bony for a lazge tympanum ; and below this
frame it descends in form of an apophysis for the artictilation of the
lower jaw. This frame leads into a vast cavity, completed only at
its upper posterior angle by the mastoidean. At the bottom of this
cavity is a hole through which pa^es the ossiculum audittls to arrive
at a second cavity, formed externally by the bone of the tympanic
cavity, on the internal side by the petrous bone and the occipital
bones, below a little by the sphenoid bone, and closed backwards by
cartilage. It is a second part of the tympanic cavity which is thus
divided by a constriction, of which we have examples among the
mammals, especially in the genus FelU, but the communication
between the two parts is less narrowed than in the Tortoise. The
tympanic bone forms besides a considerable part of the posterior
walls of the temporal fossa. Between it and the parietal the petrous
bone shows itself in this same temporal fossa, and the cranium is
closed behind by the occipital bone, which is here divided into six
bones, not into four ; for the latend occipitals are each divided into
two parts, the most external of which Cuvier terms the exterior
occipital The fenestra ovalis is, he observes, common to the petrous
bone and this exterior occipital ; as, in the crocodile, it is common to
the petrous bone and the ordinaiy lateral occipital: the fenestra
rotunda, on the contrary, is pierced in the exterior occipital, as it is
pierced in the lateral occipital of the crocodile. The two bones
contribute to the formation of the cell of the labyrinth with the
upper occipital, as the petrous bone and the lateral occipital contri-
bute to it in the crocodile. In both genera the great aperture for
the exit of the fifth pair of nerves is in front of the petrous bone,
between it and the temporal ala. In the Turtle this hole is between
the petrous bone and the descending part of the parietal bone^ The
ossicidum auditds is simple, as in the crocodile, and formed of a
slender stem, which widens at the point of its approximation to the
fenestra ovalis, and which is there applied by a round and concave
surface, so that it has nearly the figure of a trumpet. The
Eustachian tiibe is entirely cartilaginous or membranous. It
commences in the external chamber of the cavity, above, by a large
notch of the posterior border of the tympanic bone, near the edge of
the tympanum itself, and is directed obliquely within, p.*)ssing
between the bone of the cavity and the depressor muscle of the
lower jaw, to a notch of the lateral and posterior border of the
pterygoid bone, whereby it penetrates into the back of the fauces, on
the side, close to the sirticulation of the lower jaw, but far enough
fW>m its ooDgener, and especially yery far behind the internal nostrih.
On the palate, or rather, behind the roof of the back of the moath,
may be seen tiie orifices of two tubes, under the form of two small
holes separated from each other.
Bknll of Testvdo Indica,
1, Profile ; 2, seen tram above ; 3, seen from below ; 4, seen from behind.
Beverting to the lower bui&oo of the craniuiiii behind ^
maxillaries and the frontals, posterior to the two rides of the TomoTi
Digitized by
Google
P81
CHELONIA.
CHELONIA.
961
are the palatines, surroiinded behind and externally by the pterygoid
bones, which last extend along the external border of the palatine to
the maxillary bones. The rest of the pterygoids covers the lower
surface of the cranium between the two tympanic cavities and the
two temporal alse, leaving exposed to view behind only a triangular
part of ^e body of the sphenoid. The olfactory and optic nerves
have their exit by the cartilaginous septa of the cranium, and not by
any particular opening in the skull. Cuvier thinks that it is the
same with the third and fourth pairs: the sixth goes forth by a
small canal of the body of the sphenoid bone. The fifl^ pair nas
a great hole between the petrous bone and the temporal ala divided
into two externally. There is at the external border of the palatine
bone a hole analogous to the pteiygo-palatine.
Internally, the cerebral cavity is higher than it is wide; the bottom
of it is very entire : but^ in front, in the sphenoid, there is a deep
fosset for tne pituitary gland, a kind of saddle. From the sides of
this part spnng the cartilaginous septa, which in going to form a.
junction with the ante-cerebral partition of the frontal bone, close the
cavity of the cranium, support the whole anterior part of the
encephalon, and occupy the place of the cribriform plate, of the orbital
ahe ; or otherwise, the anterior sphenoid, and the greater part of the
temporal alse, of which another considerable part is replaced by the
descending portions of the parietal, so that what remains does not
participate m the formation of the chamber of the cranium except a
little in front of th6 hole for the fifth pair of nerves. There is no
more bony trace of the anterior sphenoid than in the crocodile.
In the £mydet, or ordinary Freah-Water Tortoises, the head is more
flattened. The principal frontals, although they are wider than they
are long, do not always reach to the border of the orbit, as is, for
example, the case in the Testudo (Cistudo) Europcea; the posterior
frontal is wider. The frame of the tympanum is not complete, and
in lieu of a hole there is a fissure for toe passage of the ossiculum
auditiis from one hollow of the cavity to the other. The basilary and
palatine regions form but one plaue ; the palatines not being even
concave. Cuvier observes that Teitudines saipta, picta, tcabra,
dortata, centraiOy clauia^ and virgvlatOy belong to this category.
Certain Fmydet, he remarks, Emyt expama for instance, tend to the Sea-
Tortoiies, or Turtles, and the Fresh- Water Tortoises, and yet exhibit
characters peculiar to themselves.
In the SVionyoet, or Soft Tortoises, the skull is depressed, and
elongated backwards ; the muzzle, pointed in certain species (that of
the Nile for instance), is short and rounded in some others. The
intermaxillary bones are very smaU, and have neither nasal nor
palatine apophysis ; there is behind them a large incisive hole. The
maxillaries unite upon the palate for a rather long space, so that the
posterior nostrils are more backwards than in the Land-Tortoises.
The palatines do not unite below to prolong the palate ; they are
hollowed into a demi-canal anteriorly, and less extended than in the
Land-Tortoises.
The principal character of the Marine Tortoises, or Turtles, is that
a lamina of weir parietal, their posterior frontal, their mastoidean,
their temporal, and their jugal, unite together, and with the tympanic
cavity, by sutures, to cover the whole region of the temple with a
bony roof, which has no solution of continuity. Their muzzle being
shorter than in other tortoises, and their orbits much longer, their
nasal cavity is smaller, and as wide as it is high and long. ^ Its
posterior wall belongs entirely to the anterior frontals, and it is
between them that the olfactory nerves are introduced. The bony
tubes pf the back nostrils commence in the lower part of this
posterior partition, and, like the palatines, have a palatine part or
lower lamina; these tubes are rather longer, more directed backwards,
and bear less resemblance to simple holes. It results also from the
size of the orbit that the inter-orbital membranous or cartilaginous
space is more extended.
The most heteroclite skull among the tortoises is that of the Mata-
mata (Te$tudo fianhritUa, Chdy$ fimbriata). Extraordinarily large and
flat^ it seems to have been crushed. The very small orbits are close
to the end of the muzzle. The posterior region of the craniiun is
elevated ; and the two tympanic bones, in form of trumpets, widen
out on each side of the oraniimi. The temple is a wide horizontal
fossa, not deep, and not at all covered, except behind by the imion of
the posterior angle of the parietal with the mastoidean bone ; and,
what is peculiar, Cuvier observes, to this sub-genus, this fossa is not
framed in externiJly, because there is no temporal bone, or at least
it is reduced to a simple vestige. The two maxillaries form together
a transversal arch, in the middle of which, below, is a single inter-
maxillary, and, above, the external aperture of the nostrils, which is
continued into a small fleshy proboscis. The two palatine bones, and,
between Uiem, the vomer, fill below the concavity of this arch, and
have in front the two back nostrils well separated, but which the
palatines do not encircle below. At the posterior border of the
palatine is a rather large pterygo-palatine hole. The anterior and
posterior frontals form the upper pisurt of the orbits. The principal
frontals advance between the anterior frontals to the edge of the
external nostrils. There is no more nasal bone than in the other
tortoise& The jugal proceeds from the posterior angle of the orbit
between the maxillary and posterior frontal, beyond which it does not
go, touching a little behind and b^ow the pteiygoidean ; but not
forming any projection behind to border the temple. This last is in
this manner separated from the orbit by a postorbital branch of
excessive width, and which takes in the totality of the posterior
frontal and the jugal bones. The posterior frontal articulates itself
to the pterygoidean by its external posterior angle. The rest of its
posterior border is free, and is continued with that of the parietal
1,1
Skall of Matamata {Chelytjimhriata).
I from above ; 3, seen from below ; 3, profile ; 4, leen fh>m behind.
to cover a wide and flat canal of communication, proceeding from the
temple to the orbit, and formed below by the pterygoidean and
palatine bones. The two pterygoideans are enormous. They form
the greatest part of the base of the cranium and of the bottom of
the temple. Their external border is curved in its anterior part for
its continuation with the free border of the posterior frontal ; there
Digitized by
Google
»93
CHELONIA.
CftELONtA.
Ml
are neither orbital nor temporal alse. The parietal bones, which
form above a great rectangle, unite by their descending portions to
the palatines, the pterygoideans, the petrous, and the upper occipital
bones. They form by themselves nearly the whole roof of the
cranium. Following the pterygoidean, the temple is bounded behind
by the tympanic bone or the tympanic cavity, which reeembles in
part a trumpet. The firame of the tympanum is complete. A hole
in the posterior wall suJSers the ossiculum to pass into the second
chamber, which, in the skull, is only a long groove of the posterior
BurfSsioe of the cavity, which terminates in a hollow, in the formation
of which the petrous bone, the external occipital, and the lateral
occipital concur. It is not closed behind, except by cartilage and
membranes ; and in the wall of the side of the cranium are pierced
the two fenestras, Ik ordinarily. Above this hole of the first chamber,
by which the ossiculum passes, Ib another which conducts into the
mastoidean cellule, which, on accoimt of the outward projection of
the tympanum, is found within and not behind. The occipital spine
is a short vertebral crest, and the mastoidean tubercles are transversal
crests, which belong entirely to the mastoidean. Even in large
individuals the six occipitals ordinary to the tortoiBes may bo distin-
guished. Below, the smooth and nearly plane cranium presents a
sort of regular compartment, formed of the intermaxillaries, the
maxillaries, the vomer, the palatines, the pterygoideans, the sphenoid,
the petrous bones, the tympanic cavities, the basilary, and the lateral
and external occipitals. Behind the ceiling of the temple the petrous
bone forms a square compartment between the pt^goidean, the
tympanic cavity, the external occipital, the superior occipital, and
the parietal bones.
' The lower jaw of the tortoises is divided in a manner which it is
not very easy to refer to that manifested in the crocodile, to which,
Cuvier obsOTves, that of the biHs has a much more striking relation ;
but the bird's jaw, he adds, also approaching to that of the tortoises,
aids us in referring it to a common type. The space occupied in the
crocodile by the two dental and the two opercular bones is filled in
the Marine Tortoises, the Fresh-Water, and Land-Tortoises, as well as
in the Trianycet, with a single bone only, the analogue of the two
dental bones. Cuvier never saw in all these sub-genera, even in their
youth, any trace of symphysis: the bone is continuous in the tortoises,
1^ in birds. The Matamata, or ChdyB, on the contrary, preserves in
every age a division at the anterior part. The opercular bone always
exists, as in the crocodile, at the internal surface ; but it is carried
fkrther backwards, and attains to the posterior extremity. Beneath it
is the angular bone forming the lower edge of the jaw. That which
Cuvier names the surangular bone occupies the external surface of
this part of the jaw, and proceeds also to its posterior extremity,
but only touches the angukr bone quite behind, and in becoming
separated on the two anterior thirds by a long point of the dental
bone. Above, and towards the back part, between the opercular and
surangular bones, the articular bone is situated, as in the birds ; but
in the tortoises it is reduced to smaller dimensions, only serving for
the articulation and for the iosertion of the depressor muscle, or the
analogue of the digastric muscle. The coronoid apophysis does not
belong at all to the surangular bone in this order, but to a bone placed
between the dental, the opercular, and the surangular bones ; and in
front of the aperture by which the nerves enter the jaw, an opening,
which is here found at the upper border, instead of being, as in the
crocodile and the birds, at the mtemal surface. This bone, which is
not found in the birds, can only respond to the complementary bone
in the crocodile. Cuvier saw in the Emyt expanta the surangular, the
opercular, and the articular bones anchylosed, and their sutures
efbced, at a period when all the others were stiU visible. The
general form of the bony jaw corresponds nearly to what is seen
externally. More pointed in the Trionycea and Chdone CareUa ; more
obtuse, more parabolic, in C. Myda» and the Land-Tortoises ; semi-
circular in front of the coronoid apophyses in the Matamata; it differs
also in the furrow with which it is hollowed. This furrow is narrow,
deep, and equally wide in the Land-Tortoises ; widens and deepens
towards the symphysis in (7. Mydcu; and is entirely wanting in
TrUmyXf C. Ckwetta, &c.
The OS hyoides of the tortoises is more complicated than that of the
erooodiles, and varies singularly in form from one g^nus and even one
species to another. It is in general composed of a body itself, some-
times subdivided into many pieces, and of two, sometimes three pairs
of horns : and tmder the anterior part of its body is, besides, suspended
a bone or a cartilage, sometimes double, which is the true bone of the
tongue analogous to that seen in the birds, but articulated in them in
front of the body of the os hyoides, whilst in the tortoises it is sus-
pended below it. The greatest horns (the anterior pair when there
are only two, the middle when there are three, representing the
styloidean bones) embrace the oesophagus, and mount behind the
muscles which are the analogues of the digastrics, or depressors of
the lower jaw, but without being fixed otherwiae than by their proper
muscles. The Land-Tortoises have the body of the os hyoides wider,
its anterior portion longer, and want the small anterior horns, whilst
the anterior angle is very much developed. In the middle of the disc
are two round spaces, which in certain tortoises, the I^vdo Indica for
example, are only more delicate ; but which in the others, Tutvdo
radiata for instanco, are absolutely membranous.
In some Fresh-Water Tortoises, Tettudo Ewropcea and T. dauaa for
example, the body of the bone ia longer tiian it is wide; and has
in the front a small membranous space, and at its anterior angles
the small lateral horns. Sometimes two or even four ooseous nuclei
are there formed.
The OB hvoides of Trionyx differs still more. Its body is composed
in front of a cartilaginous point, imder which is suspended a great
lingual oval cartOage. At the base of this a rhomboidal osseous {neoe
adheres on each side, which piece represents the anterior horns, and
afterwards four others forming a tidck diK, concave above, wider
in front, and notched on the sides and behind. At the anterior
angles of this disc adhere the middle horns, and to the posterior
azijgles are attached the posterior horns : all four are very bony. The
middle are formed by a long piece, which is compressed, arched, and
terminated by a smtdl cartilage. The others are wider, flatter, and
prolonged by a cartilage, in the substance of which are encrusted in a
row from five to six bony nuclei, which are round or oval, very hard
and very distinct; so that the entire bone comprehends twenty
different osseous pieces, which appear to remain dutinct to old age.
The most sing^ular of all these is that of the Chdys, and is very
early entirely ossified. Its body is composed of a long narrow pris-
matic piece, hollowed above by a canal where the trachea nma. In
front this piece is dilated, and carries on each side two an^lar por-
tions, four in all, without counting the piece itself. The two interme-
diate ones unite in front, leaving between them and the principal body
a membranous space on which the larynx reposes. The lateral por-
tions, Cuvier observes, represent perhaps the small anterior horaa. It
is on the angle which they form with the dilatation of the prin<^al
body that the middle horns are articulated; these last are veiy
strong, prismatic on their internal moiety, and then slender, and ter-
minated by a bony and pointed piece, distinct from the rest of the
horn. The posterior horns are articulated at the posterior extremity
of the prism formed by the principal body. They are long, stroqg,
slightly compressed, and curved into an arch.
Under the anterior and dilated part is suspended the true bone of
the tongue, formed in front of a semicircular cartilage, and behind of
two bony pieces in form of a crescent, the intemal angle of which is
prolonged into a sort of tail or pedicle, which lies under the prismatic
body of the os hyoides.
In the Turtles, CheUme CareUa for instance, the body of the bone
is in the form of an oblong buckler, concave above for the support of
the larynx and the commencement of the trachea, and drawn out ia
front into a point which penetrates into the flesh of the tongue in
passing upon the lingual bone. It presents on each side an angle for
carrying the anterior horn, which is very small ; the great horn curved
into an obtuse angle for going round the oesophagus and jaw, mors
bony than all the rest of the apparatus, is articulated to the middle of
the lateral border of the body of the bone, and its free or upper extre-
mity is terminated by a small cartilaginous articulation. The posterior
horns are articulated to the posterior angles. They are cartilaginovis,
flat, rather wide, and scarcely arched.
Bones of the Trunk : Dorsal Buckler, or Carapace. — The wide dif-
ferenoes prevalent in the modification and arrangement in the bones
of the head in this order lead one to expect, as the great French sookh
gist observes, proportional differences in the rest of the skeleton. The
cranial differences are, as he remarks, greater peiiiaps than obtain
among the whole of the mammals, and most certainly are more
extensive than can be found in the whole class of birds.
The general distinguishing character of the TortoiseSjlhat which
separates them from all the VerUbrata, is the external position of the
bones of the thorax, enveloping with a cuirass or double budcler the
muscular portion of the frame, and serving also as a protectioii for
the shoulder-bones and the pelvis.
The dorsal buckler is principally formed of eight jpairs of ribs,
united towards the middle by a longitudinal succession of angular
plates, which adhere to the annular parts of so many vertebne, or
even form a part of them ; but it is remarkable that these annular
portions alternate with the body of the vertebrse, and do not cozresp<Hid
directly with them.
The ribs are inlaid by means of sutures into these plates ; they are
also united with each other, on the whole or a ]part of their length,
according to the species, and even in each species aecording to the
ages of the individuals. There are eight anterior vertebrae which do
not enter into this conjunction. The first seven (the ordlnaiy cei^
vical) are free in their movements. The eighth, whidi may be
regarded as the first dorsal, is placed obliquely between the last
cervical and the first of the fixed vertebns of the dorsal buckler,
which shortens it anteriorly ; behind, its spinous apophysis is elon-
gated, and enlarges a little to attadi itself by synchondrosis to a
tubercle of the first of the plates of the intermediate series of the
plastron.
The first of these fixed vertebrae, which is the second dorsal, is stiU
rather short, and carries also its proper annular part^ the spinous
apophysis of which, shorter than the preceding, attaches itself to the
second phite by a cartilage. This second plate, narrower than the
first, forms but one bone with an annular part which is below, and of
which the anterior portion is articulated by two small ap<^y»e«wxth
the articular apophyses of the second dorssL This, properiy speakiq^
Digitized by
Google
Odft
C&^LONIA.
CftELONIA,
9S6
is the anntilar portion of the third dorsal vertebra ; but the body of
this third vertebra is onlv articulated by its anterior moiety with the
posterior moiety of this third annular part, and by itfl posterior moiety
it is articulated to the anterior moiety of the fourth annular portion ;
and this alternation continues, so that the body of the fourth vertebra
responds to the annular portions of the third and the fourth, the body
of the fifth to the annular portions of the fourth and fifth, and so on
to the tenth.
But it is necessary to distmguish in the ribs the plate included in
the buckler, and a small branch which proceeds from its lower sur-
fiice, and which represents what is termed the head of the bone in the
ordinary ribs. This head is always articulated between two bodies of
vertebrse. The first of all these ribs has only this small branch, with-
out having any plate belonging to it in the buckler, excepting only in
some of tiie Emydei, where may be seen, between the first and second
longitudinal plate, and the first or second widened rib, a small piece
which can oiidy represent the enlaiged portion of this first rib, but
which does not belong to its head. It is articulated between the
eighth vertebra or first dorsal, and the first fixed vertebra, and by its
ouier extremity applies itself to the internal surface of the second rib.
This last has a plate which incorporates itself by its anterior border
with the first of the longitudinal series, by its spinal border with the
second piece of that series or the annular portion of the third vertebra,
and by its head between the body of the second vertebra and that of
the third. The succeeding ribs observe the same law, are articulated
by means of their head between the body of one vertebra and that of
the succeeding vertebra, and incorporate themselves by means of their
dilated part with the plate which represents the annular portion of the
second of these two vertebrsa : and this, Cuvier observes, is a return
to the general law ; for in man and in the quadrupeds the ribs are
articulated by their head between two vertebrse, and by means of
their tuberosity, with the transverse apophysis of the second of the
two. The dilated portions of the ribs of the tortoise, in the part
where they are incorporated with the plates of the longitudinal series,
represent, then, the tuberosities of the ribs of mammals. The ninth
plate of the longitudinal series, which belongs to the tenth dorsal, is
the last with which a pair of the dilated ribs is incorporated ; and this
last is the ninth in all, or the eighth of those which enter into the
composition of the dorsal buckler. It is directed from its posterior
border backwards, and nnbraces again the succeeding plates, with
tile external edges of which it becomes incorporated : but these three
plates do not^ any more than the first, serve to complete the vertebral
caDaL
The tenth rib, attaoh(Hi between tne bodies of the tenth and
eleventh vertebrse, produces no plate and enters not into the com-
position of the dorsal buckler. Like the first, it has only a portion
of the head, and is joined by its other extremity to the internal
surface of the ninth.
The eleventh vertebra after the cervical is the only one that can
be termed lumbar; it carries no rib. In the Turtles, its annular
portion again gives a plate to the longitudinal series of the dorsal
buckler, and is the tenUi and the smallest of the pieces of this series.
The twelfth and thirteenth vertebrse are the sacral At their sides
are attached two lateral pieces sufficiently similar to the heads of the
ribs, but stronger, especially the first, and convex at the end, in order
to their union with the posterior and upper angle of the ossa ilii.
Their annular portion is close and complete, and is not incorporated
with the plates of the buckler which follow that of the eleventh
vertebra. The vertebrse of the tail are free, like those of the neck :
hence the plates of the longitudinal series, which follow the tenth,
do not adhere to the vertebrse, and, if they belong thereto, only so
belong by a metaphysical relation, and accordingly they may be
considered as having been dismembered. So of the first of all the
plates of the series. It only furnishes an attachment to the annular
portion by synchondrosis, otherwise dose and complete, of the first
dorsal vertebra ; and if one would regard it as belonging thereto, it
would be necessary to consider it as dismembered.
The Turtles have three longitudinal plates after the tenth, making
thirteen in all ; but the second is sometimes divided into two, and
the ninth also, which increases their number to fifteen.
Cuvier found fourteen in some of the JBmydet, the Bmyt terrata for
instance ; but the eleventh and twelfth, he adds, are very small in
them. There is but a single one after the tenth in the Land-Tortoises
and the Ckdydea, so that th^ have only eleven in all. It sometimes
happens that one or two of these plates are not seen externally.
Thus in the Box-Tortoises, the two ribs of the last pair are joined to
each other, and thus cover the ninth plate ; and in this respect many
modifications occur in the same species ; of which Bojanus has, in
his third plate, given many examples taken from the European
Tortoise.
In Ohdyt the last and penultimate rib are attached to the eighth
plate, and the ninth remains hidden. In both cases the tenth and
the eleventh subsist as ordinarilv.
In the Turtles, the eight pairs of ribs and the thirteen plates of
the longitudinal series form a slightly convex oval buckler, a little
narrowed backwards. The ribs are not incorporated throughout
their length, a narrow fraction remains towards their exterior, and
the intervals between this portion and that of the anterior and
posterior ribs are filled up by a cartilaginous membrane only. It is
only in extreme old age that some are widened to the end. Cuvier
had sometimes seen tbe first three and a part of the fourth in this
state.
In the Fresh-Water Tortoises and in Chdya the buckler is entirely
filled up in time, and the ribs incorporate themselves throughout
their length, between each
other and with the mai^ginal
pieces. The ossification pro-
ceeds still faster in the Land-
Tortoises, and it is only in
their youth that vacant spaces
are observed between the ex-
ternal parts of their ribs. , i
The Sternum Plastron, or
Breast-Plate is always com-
posed of nine pieces, of which
eight are pairs, and the ninth
is odd and always placed be-
tween the four anterior ones,
with the first two of which
it generally coheres, when
it is not articulated with the carapace of Trionyx, seen from below,
four.
These nine pieces vary much in figure according to the genera and
species.
In the Land and Fresh-Water Tortoises and in Chdy9 they only
leave vacancies between each other in early youth, when they are
formed by bony rays shooting in various directions in the still
cartilaginous disc of the plastron, like the bones of the cranium in
the foetus of mammals ; but^ wiUi age, these rays join each other
from every side, and form a disc compact in ail its parts, which
unites itself by a more or less considerable extent on each side to the
dorsal buckler.
In the Turtles, and in the Trionyce»y or Soft Tortoises, these
radiating expansions do not unite throughout; and even when
the four pieces on each side unite together and the odd piece is joined
to those of the first pair, there remains in the middle, between them
all and on each side between them and the dorsal buckler, great
spaces which are filled up by cartilage only.
Vertebrse. — The atlas is composed of four pieces. The first two,
united above in a slight spinous prominence, after having surrounded
the vertebral canal, and each having given backwards its articular
apophysis, concur with a third very small one in the formation of a
ring for the reception of the condyle of the head : Cuvier calls it a
ring, because in the skeleton this foaset is open, and its bottom filled
by a fourth piece, which is a true body of a vertebra without the
annular portion, and which, presenting an anterior convex surface in
the space here noticed, is articulated behind by a concave surface on
the body of the axis. This piece, analogous to what we have already
seen in the crocodile, represents, he observes, the odontoid apophvsis
of the axis of mammals. At their junction, there is besides, attacmed
below, a small bone formed nearly like a patella (rotule).
The axis and the succeeding vertebrse are .composed of a nearly
rectangular body, carinated below, concave in front, convex behind,
and of an annular portion, which remains distinct from the body
throughout life, by means of two sutures, is elevated above by a
crest in lieu of a spinous apophysis, and whose anterior articular
apophyses, placed at first under the posterior portions of the preceding
vertebra, raise themselves obliquely to embrace them slightly up to
the sixth, and nearly resume their horizontal position in the two
succeeding ones. At the anterior angle of each side of the body is a
iSmall facet, common to the body and the annular portion.
The vertebrse adhering to the dorsal buckler have their body wide
and feebly carinated in the Marine and Fresh- Water Tortoises: in
these last it is even flattened in the anterior ones. It is also wide
and with but little convexity in Trionyx, and Chdys has it wide and
elevated longitudinally into a small crest But there are Land;
Tortoises (Tettudo getmetrica and T. raduUa) in which it is exces-
sively compressed, and does not even join itself throughout, except
by a membranous partition, to the pieces of the middle row of the
buckler, these pieces only afibrding each two narrow laminse, and
descending on each articulation of we two bodies. It is in a fold of
the lower portion of this membrane, between these vertical laminse,
and in a semicuial hollowed at the upper part of the bodies, that the
spinal marrow goes.
In the other sub-genera the pieces of the longitudinal series of the
dorsal buckler afibrd more complete vertical partitions, which form
with the bodies a continuous bony canal, the nerves of which go out
through holes which remain between the laminse.
The sacral and caudal vertebrse are each composed of a bodv,
concave bcKfore and convex behind, of an annular portion, squarely
flattened, and without a spine above, the anterior articular apophyses
of which obliquely embrace below the posterior apophyses of the
preceding vertebra, and of two transverse short apophyses, articulated
on each side on the suture, which joins the body to the annular ring-
Cuvier counted 28 caudal vertebrse in Tetivdo Cfrceca, T. Indiea, and
other Land-Tortoisesy and as many as 27 in TVttudo rad4akL Ha
Digitized by
Google
967
CHELONIA.
CHELONIL
states that there were only 18 in the Fresh-Water and Karine
Tortoises which he examined.
Stcrnuin of Trionifx,
Stemam of Cfheione,
Sternuin of CUtudo.
Bones of the Extremities. — The bone which goes from the dorsal
buckler to the sternum is suspended by a ligament under the dilata-
tion of the second rib, but in front of Uie first, which, as we have seen,
consists only of a head articulated under the second ; so that in some
respects this bone is outside the thorax. There is sometimes in the
ligament by which it is attached one, and even two, peculiar bones.
This bone is at first nearly cylindrical : it proceeds forwards, and
after having afforded on its external surface a portion of the articular
facet which receires the head of the humerus, it goes with a more
or less strong inward bend to attach its other extremity to the internal
surface of the sternum, towards the lateral angle of the odd piece.
The rest of the facet for the articulation of the humerus is furnished
by another bone, -which is directed more or less obliquely backwards
and towards the mesial line, widening into a fan-shape, and which
thus lies nearly parallel to the sternum. The osseous branch which
comes from the bony buckler, is, according to Cuvier's self-corrected
opinion, the shoulder-blade, and the part which it offers beyond the
articular fosset is its acromion. The flattened bone which is directed
backwards is, he adds, incontestably the coracoid bone: and he
farther remarks that all the muscles which proceed from these bones
to go to the arm are respectively the same as in birds, whatever
changes they have undergone in their position relatively to the
horizon in tiieir size and in their figure. Cuvier considers that it
vemains to be known whether there is a clavicle or not.
The three-brandbied dbonlder, the nearly cylindrical shoulder-blade,
the acromial portion nearly equal in volume to the rest of the
shonlderblade, are characteristic of the Tortoises. There is nothing
pwallel to this conformation in the other animals, because there is
no other shoulder situated within the thorax. The varied forms of
these parts afford, Cuvier observes, very good characten for the sob-
genera ; and he details the modifications characteristic of the Marine
Tortoises, the Land-Tortoises, the Fresh- Water Tortoises, CKdyi^ uid
TMonyx.
The humerus of the Tortoises is required to turn siogQlarij upon
its axis, in order to place the fore foot in the pontion required by the
bony cuirass, which only leaves a narrow passage for it The result
is that its internal tuberosity is become posterior and superior, and
that the external tuberosity is become internal and also posterior.
The head of the bone goes out of the axis more than in. any other
animal, and that towards the posterior face which ia the ordinary
position is the superior one. It presents the segment of a ephete,
and is very convex. The two tuberosities are very large, Tery pro-
jecting, and leave between a concavity, as there is one backwards,
between the condyles of the humerus in the greater part of the
mammals. The internal tuberosity — ^become, as has been pointed
out, posterior — is the largest. It has the form of a long obtuae creat,
analogous to the deltoidean, and which receives the same moiclee.
The other tuberosity forms a crest also, but much shorter. Both
are near the head. The body of the bone is bent ; and its ooncaTity,
which in man would be anterior, is ordinarily found inferior. The
opposed surface is convex. Above it is a small hollow oppoaiie the
end of the fossa, which is between the two tuberosities. The lover
part of the bone is widened and a little flattened from before back-
wards. On the external border is a furrow, not much developed in
the Land-Tortoises ; deeper in the JSmydes, the Chdydeij and the
Trionyces; and which in the Karine Tortoises nearly separates the
lower head of the bond into two unequal parts. This furrow, Cum
observes, is perhaps the best character for ^^ifffingnUliing the lover
part of the humerus from that of the femur, which is without it, but
which in every other point offers only very slight differences. Ita
lower head, transversely oblong and of uniform convexity, reoeirei
the bones of the fore-arm, but without offering two distinct fitceta
The Trionycei do not differ from the Land-Tortoises, excepting in
having the tuberosities more aparL Other differences are manife^
in Emyt and Chdyt, for which we refer to Cuvier's work, but the
humerus of the Manne Tortoises cannot be passed by wiUiout p&^
ticular notice, for it differs from that of all the other Testwdinata in
being not bent longitudinally, but nearly toaight; in hamg its
great tuberosity (the analogue of the small or internal tuberosity in
man) longer, overreaching the head, and resembling an olecranon;
and, lastly, in having the other tuberosity shorter, and representing a
chevron-shaped crest.
There are always two bones in the fore-arm, but they hsTe little
motion one on the other. They are placed, when the animal pro-
gresses, so that the ulna forms the external and the radius the
internal border of the arm.
The radius has a semicircular, slightly concave, upper head, a
somewhat slender body, and the lower head compressed and cut, ai
it were, obliquely, so that it is shorter on the ulnar side.
The ulna is compressed Its upper head is triangular and cat
obliquely, so that, its external border is longer upvrards than the
radial border without having a true olecranon. This border ia tren-
chant. The lower one is cut jquare. Differences occur, as in Tnonfx
and the Ohelona, or Marine Tortoises.
The pelvis is always composed of three distinct bones, contribniisgi
as in the Mammalia,io the composition of the cotyloid fossa, namely,
an elongated os ilium, which attaches itself by ligaments to the
transversal processes of the sacral vertebrae and the neigbboming
part of the eighth pair of the dilated ribs ; a pubis and an ischimn,
which are diiwted, widening as they proceed tovrards the plastron,
and are each united to its similar piece. At the point of union for
the formation of the cotyloid cavity, each bone has three faces ; one
for each of the two others and one for tha cavity. On the rest of the
length the os ilii is oblong, the ischium proceeds, widening as it go^
directly towards the symphysis, and the pubis, after firet directing
itself forward, makes a curve towards the symphysis, and widoa
also to reach itw Various differences occur in this part of the skeletal
in the Land and Marine Tortoises, in Chdy^ and in Trionyx.
The femur might be easily mistaken for the humerus of a mamnu-
ferous quadruped. Its oval head leaves the body of the bone, without
being precisely separated from it, by a narrow necL In lieu of the
trochanter there is a transverse crest> but little elevated, separated
from the head by a semicircular depresmon. The middle of the bone
is delicate and round, and the lower part compressed from before
backwards, widening by degrees to form the lower head, which u a
transverse portion of the cylinder a little inflected backwaitM.
Differences of modification occur in the Fresh-Water and Marine
Tortoises.
The two bones of the leg are nearly straight. The tibia is Ui?*
and nearly semicircular alx>ve, becoming again sli^^tly larger beiov;
the fibula is more compressed and wider below. The ^^ P'^'^^i^
slightly concave imiform surface, the other one which is *^tJ
convex and rhomboidal at the astragalus. Modifications occur in the
Land-Tortoises, in Chelyt, in Trionyxy and in tiie CheUmet.
Bones of the Fore Foot. — The differences in the mode of progi*®J°J
required corresponding variations in the bones of the fore *nd n^
feet especially. Accordingly we find that in the CkehM sU »•
Digitized by
Google
969
CHELONIA.
CHELONIA.
900
bones of the wrist are flat and out nearly square. In the first row
are two bones adhering to the ulna, and in the last row five smaller
on€B, supporting the five bones of the metacarpus. There is besides
an intermediate bone under the first ulnar bone, and upon the second
and third of the last row. Cuvier observes that this woidd seem
to correspond with that dismembered trapezoidal bone which is
found in the monkeys. Lastly, there is a great semilunar bone out
of the rank, adhering to the external border of that which is above
Skeleton and Carapace of Cisiudo vuhjarisy scon from below.
Skeleton and Carapace of Chelone Caouana^ seen from below.
the metacarpal of the little finger. It is a true pisiform bone,
although a little descended. Between that which is on the metacarpal
of the thumb and the radius there is for a long time nothing but liga-
ments, and one does not see the great semUunal scaphoidal which
may be observed in the other sub-genera : but with age a small radial
bone shows itself in this place. Very lai^ge individuals have also the
two penultimate bones of tha second row anchyloeed together. The
metacarpal of the thimib is short and large : the others are long and
slender. The little finger has two phalanges, and is not larger than
the thumb ; the three others are elongated, especially the middle
finger ; and the whole result is a pointed hand^ which has the unguial
phalanx of the thumb and forefinger only armed with a claw.
In the Land-Tortoises there are but two phalanges on each finger.
There are foimd in the carpus a great radial or semilunar scaphoidal,
two ulnar bones nearly square, five bones of the second row sup-
porting the five metacarpals, and an intermediate bone placed between
the great radial, the first cubital or ulnar, and those which carry the
third and fourth metacarpal. This intermediate bone, according to
Cuvier, is often anchylosed with the semilunar scaphoidal bone.
The bones of the metacarpus are even shorter than the phalanges.
In the Fresh-Water Tortoises the three mesial fingers have their
three phalanges well developed ; but there are only two belonging to
the thumb and the little finger. The metacaq^ala are rather long,
and the two external ones are carried on a single bone of the carpus :
nevertheless the last row consists also of five bones, because there is
one, very small, externally on the side of the thumb. In the first
row the ulna, in the European Tortoise at least, carries four bones —
two laige ones, a small intermediate one, and another small one out
of the rank ; but there are other species, Testudo clama for instance,
where the two small ones do not appear. The great radial or send-
lunar scaphoidal passes partially under the two uluar bones.
The Chdydet have the hand formed nearly like the Fresh-Water
Tortoises, except that their radial bone is small, and re-enters towards
the inside of the carpus at the side of the bone named by Cuvier
intermediate; and that the little finger has, like the three inter-
mediate ones, three phalanges.
The Trionycet have also the radial bone re-entering at the side of
the intermediate bone. Their first three fingers have their threo
phalanges large, wide, and pointed to carry the claws ; the fourth has
four phalanges, all rather slender; and the last three.
Hind Feet. — Cuvier remarks that in the Chelonia, generally, the
calcaneum is without any backward prominence, so that their tarsus
is flat like a carpus.
In the CVidonea it is composed of six or seven bones, if the first of
the little toe be counted : two in the first row, of which the lai^gest,
nearly rhomboidal and answering equally to the tibia and fibula, is
the astragalus ; the smaller, which is square and articulated only to
the fibula, is the sole vestige of a calcaneum. In the second row there
are four : three wedge-^aped for the metacarpals of the great toe .
and the two next toes, and one larger for the two last metatarsals.
The bones of the metatarsus of the great and little toes are shorter
than the others, and singularly wide and flatw That of the little toe
however may be taken for one out of the rank of the tarsus. In this
last case the little toe would have but two phalanges, otherwise three
like the others. The great toe has but two. It carries a claw, and
so does the next toe. The two succeeding toes have still their last
phalanges rather large, although without claws, but the last has that
phalanx very small.
In the Land-Tortoises the bone analogous to the astragalus is laiger
and thicker ; and the fibular bone on the analogue of the heel is
smaller. The four other bones exist, and that here called the meta-
tarsal of the little toe seems to make up the suite by its position and
figure. ' It sometimes carries a vestige of a toe formed of one piece,
which seemed to Cuvier to be wantmg in many species. The meta-
tarsal of the great toe is very short and not flattened ; the others are
rather longer. Kone of the four existing toes has more than two
phalanges.
The tarsus of the Fresh-Water Tortoises is nearly the same, except
that the fibular ossicle, or calcaneum, when it is not united to the
astragalus, is larger ; that the ossicle which serves as a vestige of the
little toe is longer ; and that the three toes which succeed the great
toe have their phalanges very distinct.
In the tarsus of the THonyces the fibular bone descends outside the
three cuneiform or wedge-shaped bones, and carries half the head
of the third metatarsal and the whole of that of the fourth. At its
external border a large square bone adheres, that about which Cuvier
expressed a doubt whether it was a metatarsal bone or one out of
the rank. It carries the fifth metatarsal on the first phalanx of the
little toe ; but in this case the little toe would have three. It is true,
Cuvier adds, that the fourth toe has four, without counting its meta-
tarsal The great toe has two, and the two succeeding toes three
each. In all three the last is large, wide, and pointed to carry a claw.
In the fourth and fifth toe this last phalanx is very small and without
a claw.
In the Matamata (Chelyt) the fourth toe is, like the two preceding,
composed of three phalanges, and armed with a claw ; the fifth also
has three phalanges, and it would even have four if one regarded the
bone as to which Cuvier has expressed his doubts as a tarsal bone ; but
the last is very small, cartilaginous, and without a nail The tarsus
is the same as in Trionyx^ with this difference that the analogues of
the astragalus and the calcaneum are divided transvei'sely each into
two bones ; so that what is detached from the calcaneum forms a
fourth cimeiform bone for the fourth metatarsal, and that which is
detached from the astragalus is a true scaphoid, which carries the
first three cuneiform bones.
Digitized by
Google
901
CHELONIA.
CHELONIA.
C92
Hijflcniir System. — ^We have seen that the Bhoulder-blade is inter-
ns! in the tortoises, that is, it is placed on the inside of the ribs ; the
mnsdes, consequently, of the head and neck, instead of being attached
upon the ribs and spine, as in the other Vert^atcty are attached
beneath them ; the same obsenration holds as to the bones of the
pelvis and the muscles of the thigh ; so that^ to use CuYier^s expression,
a tortoise mav be termed, in thu respect, '' un animal retoum^ "—an
animal turned inside out, or rather, so to speak, outside in.
The progressive motions to be aocomplisned by the bony and mus-
cular apparatus of the tortoises are those of walking and swimming
or paddling.
The walk of a tortoise is proyerbially slow, such as might be
expected from a reptile whose limbs are so imperfectly developed.
Short, and placed at a great distance from the centre, they foAn a
sort of short crutches, calculated to drag the unwieldy body g^radually
along, and if the animal be turned on its back it becomes almost
helpless. The feet are little better than stumps, the toes being only
indicated externally by what may be termed a collection of hoofs,
placed, as in the elephimts, on the circumference of the apology for a
foot, and which serve, so to speak, as a sort of grapplings to hold on
the surface of the ground and drag the armed trunk onwards. We
hardly need add that progression in a vertical direction is impossible ;
but many tortoises can burrow with some difficulty.
Nor is this slowness out of place : the preservation of the animal
is provided for by the very strong bony carapace and plastron pro-
tecting the whole body, and only suffering the head, tail, and four
feet to be protruded from its anterior and posterior part and its four
angles ; these protruded parts can be withdrawn into the shell upon
the approach of danger, and the animal then rests secure in its portable
arched oastie, leaving the enemy to the hopeless task of besieging a
garrison that can remain for months without food. A laige Land-
Tortoise can defy the whole animal world except man, from whom
nothing is safe.
The most complete defence is made by the Box-Tortoises ; for in
them the pieces which form the sternum are moveable, and may be
compared to doors or niuged lids, which diut upon the carapace and
thus form a sort of closed co£fer in which the head, neck, tail, and
feet, in short, the only exposed partsi, can at will be inclosed &r more
securely than a snail in its shelL
But this slowness is confined to the Terrestrial Tortoises ; for the
aquatic species swim with great facility on or below the surface ; and
some, CheUme and Sphargit for instance, with rapidity. But the well-
developed flipper that enables the Marine Tortoise to oar its way with
swiftness, is even a worse organ for land progression than the clumsy
foot of a Land-Tortoise. Kot but that they will shuffle back to the
sea, which they have only occasion to leave in order to deposit their
eggs, at a good pace, and they will deal heavy blows with their flippers
to those who attempt to stop them (for they, as well as the Land-
Tortoises, are very strong), as those who have been foiled in turning
turtles, have known to their cost.
But however powerfidly the muscles which act upon the head, tail,
and extremities are developed in this order of reptiles, those of the
abdomen, as might indeed be expected, have little extent, and those
of the ribs, as might also be divined, are non-existent ; for nature does
nothing in vain : but the square muscle of the loins, whose principal
office in mammals is to move the lumbar vertebrae, acts in the tor-
toises, which have those vertebro fixed, in another direction, and is
employed In drawing up the moveable os ilii ; and the straight muscle
(rectus abdominis) wmch extends from the pubis to the sternum,
moves the whole haunch in the greater part of the TettudintUd.
Digestive System. — The Ckdonia have no teeth, although there are
often a median groove and denticulated projections and hollows ; bat
the mandibles are covered with a homy case, as in the birds. The
Chdydea and the Trionycet, though they have the homy covering,
have the mouth furnished with soft skin so as to form a kind of lips.
The muscles that work the lower jaw, which is the only moveable
one, are veiy powerful in many of the species ; and tiie force with
which the great Turtles and many other Chelonians grasp a solid
body in their vice of a mouth is prodigious. The Chelydet are the
only TestudifuUa which have the jaws fiat and the gape of Uie mouth
very wide.
The food with which the Chdonia have to deal is various, and
there are modifications in the digestive oigans accordingly. The
ChdofMt and Teatudinet generally prefer a vegetable diet. The Tri-
onycei and Ohdydea prey upon fishes and small aquatic birds ; and the
Emydet attack the weaker animals, such as Crustaceans, Insects,
Worms, and Mollusks.
These aliments are' submitted in the Terrestrial Tortoises and in
the Chelonians to the trendiant homy bill, well fitted to mince up
vegetable fibre, assisted by the tongue, which draws the food into the
mouth and the homy grooves and hollows of the jaws ; the Tnonycet
and Emyde* seize their living prey in their sharp-edged beaks and tear
it to pieces with the cutting and pointed claws of their fore feet :
some of these dart out their head and long neck upon their prey from
an ambush ; or, stealing along like the cats till they come within
reach, suddenly extend their destructive apparatus witi^ unerring aim.
The ChdydeSf whose fleshy jaws are flat, swallow their prey whole,
and in this respect, t^ we]l as in the genera} conformation of the head
and the os hyoides, they resemble the Toads, and especially the Pipai,
like which they are obliged to be content with a victim of small
dimensions suited to the calibre of their mouth, whidi is, in troth,
sufficiently large. They are said never to seize their prey till they
are satisfied by its motions that it is alive, for they never feed on
The tongue of the tortoises is fieshy, like that of the parrota, and
its nervous papillsB are very distinct The oesophagus is uort^ and in
the Chelonians is furnished internally with a number of cloae^et ca^
tilaginouB points, directed so as to prevent the reguigitation of the
food towards the stomach, which has a transverse position. The
intestines are long; the cloaca is situated beneath the tail, and
rounded, and internally is found the orifice of canals which terminate
in the cavity of the peritoneum. The liver is voluminous, fotmii^
two masses or lobes placed transversely bdow the heart and in front
of the junction of the oesophagus with the stomach. The pancreaa is
a very large gland, and the spleen is rounded, median, and situated
at a considerable distance from the liver. The chyle is tranaladd
and aqueous in the vegetable feeders, but of a white snd milky tint in
those species which feed on animals.
The power of abstinence in this order of Reptiles is very great
Messrs. Dum^ril and Bibron state that they have seen a Long-Necked
Emys remain more than a year without food ; and Redi kept Land*
Tortoises fasting for eighteen months.
Circulating System. — The heart in the Chdonia is composed of
two auricles, and one ventricle with two unequal chamben which
oommunicate together. The blood of the body enters into the ri^t
auricle and that of the lung into the left ; but both these modifica'
tions of blood mingle more or less in passing by the ventride.
Respiratory System. — Cuvier remarks that the quantity of respira*
tion in Reptiles is not fixed, like that of Mammals and Birds, bat
varies with the proportion of the diameter of the pulmonaiy artery
compared with that of the aorta. Thus, he observes, the TortoiM
and the Lizards respire much more than the Frogs.
The lungs are of great extent, and placed in the same cavity with
the abdominal viscera. We have seen that the thorax is immoveable^
in the greater number at least, and the inlaid fixed ribs can give no
assistance in respiration in the full-grown normal forma It it there-
fore by the play of the parts about the mouth that the Ckdoni*
respire, and here the complicated os hyoides is called into prominent
action. The jaws are closed, and the animal alternately elevates and
depresses the os hyoides ; the first movement lets the air enter by
the nostrils, and the tongue then closing their interior aperture, the
second movement compels the air to penetrate into the lungs. Id
short, the Tortoises swallow or gulp down the air necesBary for their
reroiration Uke Frogs.
John Hunter, in his ' MS. Catalogue,' obaerves that the vesselB of
the lungs of those animals whose whole blood passes through them
are confined to the lungs, and lungs only, as distinctiy as if the Inngs
were a separate animal ; but this, he aidds, is not the case with the
Amphibia, " for," says he, " we find the vessels of the lungs of the
Turtle communicate with those of other parts, such as the yeaseis of
the oesophagus, which shows that the blood of that part is not so
perfect in them as in others. From this it must appear that the longa
are not of that consequence in this class of ftnim^U that they are in
the more perfect, for we lungs themselves appear to share in common
with the other parts. Some of the blood whidi just came from the
lungs returns back again to them, which woiUd appear to answer no
purpose ; and on the other hand a considerable quantity of the blood
which had undergone the general circulation (and therefore would appear
to require refinement) pust retums through the same course. It would
appear from this admixture that it was not necessary that the whole
of the blood should have imdergone a thorough change for its greatest
motion; yet we do not see why the luni^ should have a part of their
blood of the perfect kind. The cells of the lungs of the ifl»pA»to
seem to increase in size, the farther from the trunk or trachea, so that
the trachea and its ramifications bear no proportion between them and
the cells." .
Brain, Nervous Svstem, and Senses.— In the ChdoiUa generally, m
vertical height of the capacity of the cranium is greater than in m
other Reptiles; but in the Sea-Tortoises, or Turtle^ the mass of the
encephalon does not entirely fill it, and the highly vaulted bones aie
rather destined to serve as solid points of resistance to the upper
beak, and to the powerful action of the muscles which act upon the
lower jaw. The mass of the enoephalon is less elongated and more
compact than in the serpents. Bojanus, in his work on the * Anatomy
of the European Emys,* has shown that the great ^ympatheUc or
ganglionic series of nerves exists in that reptile nearly as it does m
the other Veriebrata; that on the one hand it has sympathetic reU-
tions with the encephalic and vertebral nerves, and that on the oWier
it makes a oommunioation between the two lateral and B7°^fj"^
parts of the body, at the same time that its filaments are d^*"?"^
and intermingle in numerous plexuses round the principal .^f*^
destined to the nutrition of the intemal viscera. Elaborate illuswr
tions of the Nervous System, and especiaUy of the great Sympstntfao
of the Hawk's-Bill Turtle, have been published by Mr. Swan, in ta»
' Comparative Anatomy of the Nerves,' 4to., 1886. ,
Here we must notice the experiments of Redi, which were p^nap*
Digitized by
Google
CHELONU.
CHELONIA.
more cruel in appearance than in reality. Host are familiar with the
length of time that a turtle will move after its head is off, and the
enap of the jaws which the severed head will give ; but there is
reason for believing that there is more of irritab&tj than sensation
in such motions; and the state of Redi's tortoises must have been
analogous.
Redi, in the beginning of November, made a large opening in the
skull of a Land-Tortoise, extracted the brain, and cleaned out the
cavity. He then set the animal at liberty, and it groped its way
freely about wherever it pleased, as if it had not been injured. RecU
makes use of the term 'groping' (brancolando), because he says that
when the tortoiM was deprived of its brain it closed its ^es, which
it never again opened. The wound which was left open skinned over
in three days, and the tortoise, continuing to go about and execute
other movements, lived to the middle of May. On a post-mortem
examination the cavity which the brain had occupied was found empty
and dean, with the exception of a small dry and black dot of blood.
He repeated this experiment upon many other Land-Tortoises in the
months of November, January, February, and March, with this differ-
ence, that some were locomotive at their pleasure, whilst others,
though they made other motions, did not move about : he found the
same results when he treated Fresh-Water Tortoises in the same
manner, but thev did not live so long as the terrestrial spedes. He
states his belief that the Marine Tortoises would live a long time
without their brain, for he recdved a turtle which he treated in the
same way, and though it was much spent and faint from having been
long out of the sea, it lived six daya In November he deprived a
ItLTge tortoise of its head, without which it continued to live twenty-
three days : it did not move about as tiioee did whose brain had been
taken out, but when its fore or hind legs were pricked or poked, it
drew them up with great strength, and executMl many other move-
ments. To assure himself beyond aU doubt that life, such as it was,
continued in such cases, he cut off the heads of four other tortoises,
and on opening two, twelve days afterwards, he saw the heart beat
and the blood enter and leave it.
We have already had occadon to call attention to the great length
of time during which these reptiles will live without food, and the
facts above recorded afford additional proof of their extreme tenadly
of life.
Touch. — In the greater part of this order, skin, properly so called,
does not exist at all on certain parts of the body, or is reduced to a
delicate fibrous plate applied like a simple periosteum on the bones
of the head and on the external parts of the vertebreo of the back,
the ribs, and sternum. The Soft Tortoises {Tricnyx and SpKargit, for
instance) are the only ones that differ in this respect Nevertheless
the neck, the feet, and most frequently a condderable part of the taU,
are covered with a true flexible skin. This skin in the Matamata is
fringed, or ftimished with moveable appendages on the lateral parts of
thenead and neck. There can be no doubt that the sort of touch or
sensation which will indicate to a TrionjfXf or even to a Marine or
Land-Tortoise, the differences of temperature that affect the medium
wherein it moves^ i» present in those animals, but the sendbility of a
true toudi must be very much blunted in them. Some have their toes
united down to the nails, or rather hoofs, and absolutely immoveable ;
others have them flattened, and forming a sort of paddle, as in Chehne
and Sphargit ; or the whole foot terminates by a sort of shapdess
stump, rounded like that of Uie dephant, the presence of the toes
being only indicated by those nails or hoofs, as in the Land-Tortoises.
Othm, it is true, Emyt, TrUmffx, and €^y», for example, have their
toes very distinct, but they are neverthdess united by membranes,
and in general their feet seem more adapted for the diffsrent modes
of transport than for touch. The Matamata indeed has its nose
prolonged into a sort of moveable proboscis ; but this organisation
seems to be directed more to favour th6 required mode of respiration,
than to give the animal that sort of perception exercised by the
snout of swine and the muzdes of moles and some shrews. (Dum^ril
and Bibron.)
Taste. — The wide fleshy tongue, with its distinct papillsB, like those
of Mammals, seems wdl cdctdated for tasting vegetable and animd
juices after the food is minced up by the homy mandibles ; the fleshy
lips on the outside of these mandibleB in the ITWoiiyoet probably assist
in retaining these juices.
SmelL — Though there is probably suffident of this sense to assist
the ^»»im«^1 in its discrimination of food, and aid the functions of the
tongue in giving the animal a perception of flavour, it may be con-
duded from the very simple state of the oisans, so different from the
complication of those in «^T*imAU where the sense is known to be
hi^y developed, that it is not very acute in the tortoises.
Hearing. — ^From the structure of the internal ear, to which we
have before alluded, it might be inferred that this function is tolerably
acute, but many of the spedes appear very insendble to sound.
Sight. — The eye is well devdoped and is large. It is modified so
%s to be adapted to the medium, whether air or water, through which
the light is to be transmitted. In the substance of the cornea scdes
or osseous plates are found andogous to those in birds, and there are
three eyelids and two lachrymd glands.
Reproduction. — ^According to the accounts of voyagers the Coriaceous
Tortoises (Sphargit) and the Trionycet seem to pair, and two indivi*
MAT. HBT. DIY. VOL. T.
duals of different sexes remain constantly together in the same placea
The great Marine Tortoises, as is well known, come every year at their
appointed times to depodt their oggs in the sand on the shores of the
sea and banks of rivers near strands of gentle declivity. There the
femdes hollow out a sort of rude but strong vaulted nest or oven, as
it may be termed, wherein the eggs may have ^e benefit of the con-
centrated rays of the sun, so as to enjoy an equable heat, as in the
case of eggs under a mtting hen, but under circumstances which do
not permit the body of the mother to impart the necessary warmth.
The shell of these eggs is generally solid, and their form globular, or
of a short cylindrical shape equally rounded at the extremitiea A
femde Turtle will lay as many as a hundred at one time. The plastron
of the mdes of many species of CheUmia is concave, that of the females
being convex. Messrs. Dum^ril and Bibron say tiiat in the Chdonians
and Anourous Batrachians from eighteen to tibirty-one days and more
have elapsed before the mde has quitted the female.
With regard to the integument of tiie carapace and plastron, the
number, colour, and shape of the investing plates of horn or didl,
as it is termed, vary condderably. The subjoined cuts will convey a
better notion than words of their arrangement in a land and marine
ries ; but it must be conddered that these are mere examples, and
the variety is very great.
Carapace of Tutudo marfinata,
covered with shell.
Carapace of OheUme Oaotuma,
ooTered with ihell.
Syttefnaiic Arrangement and Natural Hittory,
Aristotle has mentioned three principal groups of Tortoises, or at
any rate genera, under the names of XcAi^ x<P^^a ^^t^ ^® Land-
Tortoise ; XcAiini QaKarrla or QaKofftrUi for the S<^Tortoise or Turtle
(' Hist. Anim., ii 17) ; and 'EfuJt for the Fresh-Water Tortoise (Ibid.,
V. 88). Qesner remarks that there are three "summa genera" of
Tortoises : the 1st, terrestrid ; the 2nd, living in fresh-waters ; and
the 8rd, in the waters of the sea. Messrs. Dum^ril and Bibron copy
his 'Cordlarium de Testudinibus in (Jenere,* to ^ow how fSar it
accords with their own arrangement, as follows : —
terreMtru
Tatudo
aut est'
Imari
aquftduld
Tettudo marina, XtXAni
OaXarrlcu
Mui mM-inua, MiSs BaXdr'
TtOS.
puriore, ut lacubus,
amnibus.
csenosA, ut pdudibus.
Linnseus placed the form at the head of his Amphibia RtptUiOp
under the generic name Testudo.
Cuvier Svides them into five sub-genera : — 1, the Land-Tortoises
(Tettudo, Brongn.); 2, the Fresh-Water Tortoises (Emyty Brongp.),
indudingthe Box-Tortoises (Terrapenej Merrem ; Kvnottemtmf Spix ;
Oii^fuio, Fleming) ; 8, the Marine Tortoises ; 4, the Chdydes (Tetiudo
fimhriaia) ; 5, the Soft Tortoises (Trumyx, Qeoff ).
Dr. J. E. Gray, in his ' Catdogue of the TortoiBcs, Crocodilea^ and
Amphisbeenians, in the Collection of the British Museum,' I8i4, znakes
the Chehnia, the third order of Reptiles in his arran^ment, come
under his second section, Cataphractay the Squamata bemg the first.
Family 1. Tettudinidce*
Genera: — Tetiudo, ChenincL Kinixyt. Pyxit,
Family 2. Emydidce,
Genera: — Qeoemyda* Emyt, OycUmyt, Malaelemyt, Oistudo,
Kinoitenum, Chdydra, Platyttemum.
Family 8. Chdydida.
Oesier%:—Slemothiru». PeUmedma, ffydraapit, Ohdymyt. Phryi^
opt. Chehdinfk Hydromeduta. Chelyt. PeUocephalut. Podocmmit,
Family 4. Trionyddte,
Geneva : — Trumyx, Emyda,
Family 5. CheUmiada.
QeawA:— Sphargit. Chdonia. CareUa. Oaouana,
Messrs. Dum^ril and Bibron, in their elaborate and highly vduable
' Erp^tologie/ divide the Tortoises, or Chdonians, into the following
S 8
Digitized by
Google
905
CHELONIA.
CHELONIA.
families : — Ist, the Ghenitee (Cheraians, or Land-Tortoiaes) ; 2iid, the
Elodltes (Elodians, or Marah-TortoiBas) ; 3rd, the Poiamites (Potamians,
or River-Tortoifles) ; 4th, the Thalaautes (ThalaaaianB, Sea-Tortoises, or
Turtles).
Of these groups the authors observe that Chersites is Dot perfectly
limited, for some of the species arranged by them imder the succeed-
ing family (Elodltes) seem to form a natural passage between the
Land- and Marsh - Tortoises. Such are Oittudo Carolina and Bmys
MufUenbwgU, which are in reality Paludines, or Marsh-Tortoises, with
distinct toes, though they possess only very short membranes and but
slightly palznated feet
The principal characters which distinguish the Chersites, or Cher-
nans, from the three other divisions of tiie order Che^ia are thus
defined : — Body shorty oval, convex, covered with a carapace and a
plastron ; four feet ; no teeth. But Messrs. Dum^ril and Bibron remark
that the principal distinction may be enunciated by this simple term
drawn from the conformation of the limbs, and which indicates per-
fectly the manner of life of the group— stumpy feet (des pattes en
moignon) : — ^this would recall the condition of those feet, namely,
that they are short, unshapely, though nearly of equal length, wiw
toes but little distinct, nearly equal, immoveable, united by a thick
skin, and conglomerated into a sort of truncated mass, callous in its
periphery, on the outside of which one only distinguishes homy cases,
a sort of hoofs which for the moat part correspond with tiie last
phalanges they incase, and would consequently show that these
animals live only on the land, never in the water. The other three
groups differ from the last and from each other in the form of
the feet
The ThalaMites, or Thalassians, have the carapace very much
depressed, and their two pairs of feet, unequal in length, are flattened
into the form of oars or solid fins, because their toes are always con-
joined and hardly distinct from each ot]^r, incased as they are in
these paddles.
The Elodltes, or Elodiaos, have the toes separate, or rather sepa-
rately moveable, furnished with crook^ claws, most frequently
palmated or united at their base by membranes, as in the Duck Tribe
among birds ; but the transition of these last three fEunilies is, so to
speak, insensible on the one side between the spedes of the genus
UisCtido, and on the other between Chelys euid all the species generally
known as Soft Tortoise&
These last, the Potamites, or Potamians, have also the toes palmated
or connected by membranes ; they have pointed daws, three in number
only, on each foot ; their pointed and trenchant beak is constantiy
ftimished externally with folds of the skin, like lips, appendages
which have hitherto been only observed in tlus family. In addition
their bony carapace is covered with a coriaceous skin, the edges of
which in the greater number remain flexible and floating on the sides
of the body.
Family 1. Chersiaiifl — Land-Tortoises.
Geneni.
J[ TMoveable behind, where it is, as it were, articulated 4, Kinixyt.
J^ J Immoveable; T four only 2, Homoput.
I nails on the < flve, front of (" moyeable . . 8, PyxU.
I. anterior feet [ the plastron \ immoveable . 1, Tettudo.
Tettudo. — Feet with five toes, hind-feet with four nails only ; cara-
pace of a single piece; sternum not moveable anteriorly.
This genus is divided by MessrHiDtim^ril and Bibron into three sec-
tions or sub-genera : —
1. Those species which have the posterior portion of their plastron
moveable. These correspond with the genera Chernu of Wagler;
Tetiudo of authors ; Ckereina of Gray.
2. Those spedes whose plastron is solid in all its parts, or of a single
piece covered with twelve plates.
8. Those spedes which have the sternum equally immoveable, but
covered with eleven homy plates.
These sections embrace twenty-two spedes.
In tiie first section Tattido margincUa, Schoepfl, and T. Mauritianica,
Dum. and Bibr., are placed.
In the second are Testudo Cfrcfca, Linn. ; T. geometrical Linn. ; T.
aetinode$, Bell ; T. pardalis, Bell ; T. ndcata, Miller; T. nigrita, Dum.
and Bibr. ; T. radiata, Shaw ; T. tabttlata, Walbaum ; T. carbonaria,
Spix; T. pdyphemua, Daud.; T, Sckweiggeri, Gray; T. dephanUna,
Dum- and Bibr. ; T. nigra, Quoy and Gaim. ; T. gigantea, Schweigg. ;
T. DawUnii, Dum. and Bibr. ; T, PerrauUii, Dum. and Bibr.
In the third are T, angvlata, Dum. and Bibr. ; T. Cfrcdi, Dum. and
Bibr. ; T, peUattet, Dum. and Bibr. ; and T. Voitnaeriy Fitadng.
For an account of the habits of Land-Tortoises we turn to the
records of two acute and eloquent observers, whose narratives it would
be unjust to give in other words than their own.
White of Selbome thus writes to the Honourable Daines Barring-
ton, in April, 1772 : — " While I was in Sussex last autuom, my resi-
dence was at the village near Lewes^ whence I had formerly the
pleasure of writing to you. On the 1st of November I remarked that
the old tortoise formerly mentioned began first to dig the ground in
order to the forming its hybemaoulum, which it had tined on just
beside a great tuft of hepaticas. It scrapes out the ground with its
fore fec«i, and ihiows it up over its back with its hind feet; but the
motion of its legs is ridiculously slow, littie exceeding the hoxiivbaad
of a clock. . . . Nothing can be more assiduous than this creature
night and day in scooping the earth and forcing its great body into
the cavity ; but as the noons of that season proved unusually ^rann
and sunnv, it was continually interrupted, and called forth by the
heat in we middle of the day ; and though I continued there tiU
the 18th of November, yet the work remained unfinished. Htraher
weather and frosty mornings would have quickened its operationi.
No part of its behaviour ever struck me more than the extreme
timidity it always expresses with regard to rain ; and though it has
a shell that would secure it against a loaded cart, yet does it diaooyer
as much solicitude about rain as a lady dressed in all her best attiie,
shufiOing away on the first sprinklings, and running its head up in a
comer. If attended to, it becomes an excellent weatherglaaa ; for aa
sure as it walks elate, and as it were on tiptoe, feeding with great
earnestness in the morning, so sure will it ndn before nig^t It is
totally a diurnal animal, and never pretends to stir after it beoomee
dark. The tortoise, like other reptiles, has an arbitrary stomach as
well as lungs, and can refrain from eating as well as breathing for a
great part of the year. When first awakened it eats nothing ; nor
again in the autumn before it retires : through the height of the
summer it feeds voradously, devouring all the food that cornea in its
way. I was much taken with its sagadty in discerning those that do
it kind offices ; for as soon as the good old Istdy comes in sight who
has waited on it for more than thirty yean, it hobbles towards its
benefactress with awkward alacrity, but remains inattentive to
strangers. Thus, not only ' the ox knoweth his owner, and the asi
his master's crib,' but the most abject reptile and .torpid of beings
distinguishes the hand that feeds it^ and is touched with the feelings
of gratitude." In a postscript he adds, that in about three days
after he left Sussex the tortoise retired into the ground under the
hepaticas.
In April, 1780, White again writes to Mr. Barrington :— " The old
tortoise that I have so often mentioned to you is become my property.
I dug it out of its winter dormitory in Mai^ch last^ when it waa enough
awakened to express its resentment by hi«wiTig ; and, packing it in a
box with earth, carried it eighty miles in post^shaises. The rattle
and hurry of the journey so perfectly roused it, that when I turned it
out on a border, it walked twice down to the bottom of my garden;
however, in the evening, the weather being cold, it buried itself in
the loose mould, and continues still concealed. As it will be under
my eye, I shall now have an opportunity of enlarging my obaerrations
on its mode of life and propensities, and perceive already that, towards
the time of coming forth, it opens a breathing-plaoe in the groond
near its head, requiring, I oondude, a freer respiration aa it beoomes
more alive. This creature not only goes under the earth from the
middle of November to the middle of April, but sleeps great part of
the sunamer ; for it goes to bed in the longest days at four in the
afternoon, and often does not stir in the morning till lata Besides,
it retires to rest for every shower, and does not move at all in wet
days. When one refieets on the state of this strange being, it is a
matter of wonder to find that Providence should bestow sudi a pro-
fusion of days, such a seeming waste of longevity, on a reptile that
appears to relish it so little as to squander more than two-thirds of its
existence in a joyless stupor, and be lost to all sensation for months
together in the profbundest of slumbers.
" While I was writing this letter a moist tjxd warm afternoon, with
the thermometer at 50**, brought fortii troops of shdlnmailB; and, at
the same juncture, the tortoise heaved up the mould and put out its
head ; and the next morning came forth, as it were raised tram tlM
dead, and walked about till four in the afternoon. This was a curious
coincidence — a very amusing occurrence — ^to see such a similarity of
feeling between the two i^tp^ouan — for so the Qieeks oJl the sheS-
snail and the tortoise."
Again White reverts to the "old family torto^" in the same
letter : — *' Because we call this creature an abject reptile, we are too
apt to undervalue his abilities and depreciate his powers of instiniA
Yet he is, as Mr. Pope says of hia lord,
* mach too wise to walk into a well ;'
and has so much discernment sts not to fiill down an haha, but to ston
and withdraw from the brink with the readiest precaution. Thoiuh
he loves warm weather, he avoids the hot sun, because his thick ahol,
when once heated, would, as the poet says of solid annour, 'scald
with safety.' He therefore spends the more sultry hours under the
umbrella of a large cabbage-leaf, or amidst the waving forests of an
asparagus-bed. But as he avoids heat in the summer, so, in the decline
of the year, he improves the faint autunmal beams by getting within
the reflection of a friiit-wiJl ; and Uiough he never has read that
planes inclining to the horiaon receive a greater share of warmth, he
inclines his shell by tilting it against the wall, to collect and admit
every feeble ray. Pitiable seems the condition of this poor embtf-
rassed reptile : to be cased in a suit of ponderous annour which he
cannot lay aside ; to be imprisoned, as it were, within his own sheU,
must preclude, we should suppose, all activity and disposition for
enterprise. Yet there is a season of the year (usually the b^gifUUBg
of June) when his exertions are remarkable. He then walks on tiptop
and is stirring by five in the morning; and, trayeniQg tiie gardeoy
Digitized by
Google
CHBLONIA.
CHBLONIA.
explores every wicket and intentico in the fences, through which he
wdl escape, if possible ; and often has eluded the care of the gardener,
and wandered to some distant field. The motives that impel him to
ondertake these rambles seem to be of the amorous kind ; his t«ncj
then becomes intent on sexual attachments, which transport him
beyond his usual gravity, and induce him to forget for a time his
ordinary solemn deportment"
Mr. Darwin in his ' Journal ' describes the habits of Testudo Indiecif
or rather one of the species that have been confounded under that
name, and, not improbably, the Testudo nigra of Quoy and Qaimard.
He speaks of their numbers as being very great, as indeed they always
seem to have been, for he quotes Dampier, who states that they are
so numerous that five or six hundred men might subsist on them for
several months without any other sort of provisions, and describes
them as being so extraordinarily large and £at that no pullet eats
more pleasanUy. The day on which Mr. Darwin visited the little
craters in the Gk^pagos Archipelago was glowing hot» and the scram-
bling over the rough surface and through the intricate thickets was
very fatiguing. " But^" says Mr. Darwin, ** I was well repaid by the
Cyclopian scene. In my walk I met two large tortoises, each of
which must have weighed at least two hundred pounds. One was
eating a piece of cactus, and when I approached it looked at me, and
then quietly 'vi^lked away ; the other gave a deep hiss and drew in his
head. These huge reptiles, surrounded by the black lava, the leafless
shrubs, and large cacti, appeared to my fancy like some antediluvian
animals."
Mr. Darwin states his belief that these tortoises are found in all
the islands of the Archipelago ; certainly in the g^reater number, and
thus continues his description: — "They frequent, in preference, the
high damp parts, but likewise inhabit the lower and arid districts.
Some individuals grow to an immense size. Mr. Lawson, an English-
man, who had, at the time of our visit, charge of the colony, told us
that he had seen several so large that it required six or eight men to
lift them from the ground, and that some had afforded as much as
two hundred pounds of meat. The old males are the laigest, the
females rarely growing to so great a size. The male can readily be
disUziguished from the female by the greater length of its taiL The
tortoises which live on those islands where there is no water, or in
the lower and arid parts of the oUiers; chiefly feed on the succulent
cactus. Those which frequent the higher and damp regions eat the
leaves of various trees, a kind of berry (called guayavita) which is
acid and austere, and likewise a pale green filamentous lichen, that
hangs in treeses from the boughs of the trees.
** The tortoise is very fond of water, drinking large quantities, and
wallowing in the mud. The liuger islands alone possess springs, and
these are always situated towards the central parts, and at a consi-
derable elevation. The tortoises, therefore, which frequent the lower
districts, when thirsty are obliged to travel from a long distance.
Henoe^ broad and wdl-beaten paths radiate off in every direction from
the wells even down to the sea-coast ; and the Spaniards, by following
them up, first discovered the watering-places. When I landed at
Chatham Island, I could not imagine what animal travelled so
methodicaUy along the well-chosen tracks. Near the springs it was a
curious spectacle to behold many of these great monsters ; one set
eegerly travelling onwards with outstretched necks, and another set
returning, after having dnmk their filL When the tortoise arrives at
the spring, quite regardless of any spectator, it buries its head in the
water above its eyes, and greedily swallows great mouthfuls, at the
rate of about ten in a minute. The inhabitants say that each animal
stays three or four da3rs in the neighbourhood of the water, and then
returns to the lower country ; but they differed in their accounts
respecting the feequency of these visits. The animal probably regu-
lates them according to the nature of the food which it has consumed.
It is however certain that tortoises can subsist even on those islands
where there is no other water than what falls during a few rainy days
in the year.
" I believe it is well ascertamed that the bladder of the frog acts
as a reservoir for the moisture necessary to its existence : such seems
to be the case with the tortoise. For some time after a visit to the
springs, the urinary bladder of these animals is distended with fluid,
which is said gradually to decrease in volume and to become less pure.
The inhabitants, when walking in the lower district, and overcome
with thirsty often take advantage of this cu-cumstance, by killing a
tortoise^ a^ if the bladder is full, drinking its contents. In one I
saw killed, the fluid was quite limpid, and had only a very slightly
bitter taste. The inhabitants however always drink flrst the water in
the pericardium, which is described as being best. The tortoises,
when moving towards any deflnite point, travel by night and by
day, and arrive at their journey's end much sooner than would be
expected. The inhabitants, from observations on marked individuals,
consider that they can move a distance of about eight miles in two
or three days. One laige tortoise which I watched, I found walked
at the rate of 60 yards m 10 minutes, that is, 860 yards in the hour, or
four miles a day— allowing also a little time for it to eat on the road.
During the breeding season, when the male and female are together,
the male utters a hoarse roar or bellowing, which, it is said, can be
heard at the distance of more than 100 yards. The female never
uses her voice, and the male only at such times ; so that when the
people hear this noise, they know the two are together. They were
at this time (October) laying their eggs. The female, where the soil
is sandy, deposits them together, and covers them up with sand ; but
where the ground is rocky, she drops them indiscriminately in any
hoUow. Mr. Bynoe found seven placed in a line in a fissure. The
egg is white and spherical ; one whidi I measured was 7i inches in
circumference. The young animals, as soon as they are hatched, fall
a prey in great numbers to the buzzard with the habits of the cara-
cara. The old ones seem generally to die from accidents, as from
falling down precipices. At least several of the inhabitants told me
they had never found one dead without some such apparent cause.
The inhabitants believe that these animals aro absolutely deaf;
certainly they do not overhear a person walking dose behind them.
I was always amused, when overtaking one of these great monsters as
it was quietly pacing along, to see how suddenly, the instant I passed,
it would draw in its head and legs, and uttering a deep hiss fall to
the ground with a heavy sound, as if struck dead. I frequently got
on their backs, and then, upon giving a few raps on the hinder part
of the shell, they would rise up and walk away ; but I found it very
difficult to keep my balance. The flesh of this animal is largely
employed, both fresh and salted; and a beautifully clear oil is
prepared from the fat. When a tortoise is caught, the man makes a
slit in the skin near its tail, so as to see inside its body, whether the
fat under the dorsal plate is thick. If it is not, the animal is liberated ;
and it is said to recover soon from this strange operation. In order
to secure the tortoises, it is not sufficient to turn them like turtle,
for they are often able to regain their upright position.
"It was confidently asserted that the tortoises coming from
different islands in the Archipelago were slightly diffei-ent in form ;
and that in certain islands they attained a larger average sise than in
others. Mr. Lawson maintained that he could at once tell from
whi<di island any one was brought. Unfortunately, the specimens
which came home in the ' Beagle ' were too small to institute any
certain comparison. This tortoise, which goes by the name of Testudo
JndicOy is at present found in many parts of the world. It is the
opinion of Mr. Bell, and some others who have studied reptHes, that
it is not improbable that they all originally came from this Archi-
pelago. When it is known how long these islands have been frequented
by the buccaniers, and that they constantly took away numbers of
these animals iJive, it seems very probable that they should have
distributed them in different parts of the world. If this tortoise does
not originally come from these islands, it is a remarkable anomaly ;
inasmuch as nearly all the other land inhabitants seem to have their
birthplace here."
In his travels in Lycia, Professor E. Forbes gives the following
account of the Tortoise : — " Among Lycian reptiles," he says, " the
Tortoise (Tettudo Orceca and marginata) is the most conspicuous (uid
abundant. The number of these animals straying about the plains
and browsing on the fresh herbage in spring, astonishes the traveller.
In April they commence love-m wng. Before we were aware of the
cause, we were often surprised, when wandering among ruins and
waste places, at hearing a noise as if some invisible geologist was
busily occupied close by trimming his specimens. A search in the
direction of the noise discovered the hammer in the shape of a
gentleman tortoise, who, not being gifted with vocal powers, endeavoured
to express the warmth of his affection to his lady-love by rattling his
shell against her side. The ardour of the tortoise is celebrated by
Milan. In ditches and stagnant waters the Fresh-Water Tortoise {Emyt
Caapica) is equally plentiful In fine weather long rows of them may
be seen sunning themselves on the banks ; whence, on being alarmed,
they would waddle and plunge with great rapidity into the water,
apparently always following a leader, who made the first plunge from
one end of the row."
The Tortoise lives to a great age. White relates that one was kept
in a village till it was supposed to be 1 00 years old, and it is conjectured
that the patriarohs of the Galapagos Islands exceed that age.
T. sulcata will serve for an illustration of this genus : it is the
species assigned to Africa and America with a ?. M. de Orbigny is
Teitttdo sulcata.
stated to have himself collected the young of Teatvdo sulcata in
Patagonia, where, according to him, the species is very common,
Messrs. Dum^ril and Bibron declare that other spechnens come without
doubt ft^m Africa.
Digitized by
Google
CHELOKU.
CHELONIA.
1000
Homoput, Dum. and Bibr. — Four toes only on each foot, and all
migiiioulate ; carapace and sternum of a single pieoeu There are two
species: —
JET. areolatut ; H. tignaiut.
Pyxii, BelL — ^Feet each with five toes, toe posterior ones with
four nidls only; carapace of a single piece; sternum moyeable
anteriorly.
This genus is the only Land Box-Tortoise; but an analogue
{Stemoihenu) occurs among the 'Marsh-Tortoises, in the division of
Pleurodere Elodians.
The anterior portion of the plastron of Pffxit, which is susceptible
of motion, is of very small extent, for it oz^y reaches, backwards, to
the space of the first
two pairs of sternal
plates, and oonse-
quently it is under
the strongly indi-
cated sutiue of the
second with the third
^ pair that the elastic
^ ligament which per-
forms the office of a
hinge is seen. By
means of this sort of
moveable door or lid,
the Pyxit can, by
lowering it at will,
protrude its head
and its fore feet,
and by raising it,
shut itself up in a
sort of box, for the
edges of this hinged
operculum closely
fit those of the cara-
pace, which serve it
as a door-case. The
animal then has
nothing to fear, be-
cau«e its sternum
protects behind, by
its enlaigement, the
I'yxi* arachuvidcs, seen from above. ^P^ ^^^^^^^m *^®
feet and the tail can
be put forth and
deeply drawn up.
P. arachnaidei is
the only species
known.
Kinixyi, BelL —
Feet with five toes,
the posterior ones
with four nails only ;
carapace moveable
behind; sternum of
a single piece.
Messrs. Dumdril
and Bibron observe
that this is the most
curious of the family
Chersites. TheChe-
lonians that compose
it alone enjoy the
faculty of moving
the posterior part of
their carapace in
order to lower it and
apply it against the
plastron, so as com-
pletely to close the
osseous box behind,
as the Pyxida dose
„ . ^ .^ , ^ , theirs before when
PyxwflracAikmfe*, wen from below. ^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^
moveable anterior portion of their plastron. But, as we have seen,
the mobility of the anterior part of the sternum is in Pyxit due
to the presence of an elastic ligament which performs the office of
a hinge, whilst in Kinixys the carapace offers no really moveable
articulation ; the bones, the vertebra), and ribs are the parts which
bend. In consequence of this elasticity of the bones and their
thinness, the carapace can be moved down to approximate the
sternum. The sinuous line on which this flexion operates is indi-
cated externally by a riight space, which is filled by a sort of fibro-
cartilaginous tissue. TMb undulated line exists between the ante-
penultmiate and the penultimate margino-lateral plate.
The three known species have not, like all the other Chersians,
the abdominal plates much more extensive than the other homy
plAtes of the stemap^i which, joined to tl^e ^uJargement and the
rounded contour of the plastron behind, approximatss them in i
certain d^^^ree to Oi$huU>, the first genus d the Elodians. There are
three species : —
K, ffomeana ; K. eroia ; K. BMicma.
Pausanias notices a Land-Tortoise in the woods of Arcadia, whose
shell was used to make lyres.
Family IL Elodians — ^Marsh-Tortoises.
The habits of the Elodians differ very much from those of the other
three great groups of Chelonians. The Marsh-Tortoises have not the
slowness of Uie Land-Tortoises. They swim with fiMsility, and on land
make much quicker progress than the Chersians. They frequent
small streams whose oourse is not too rapid, lakes, ponds, and marshea :
they are not almost entirely vegetable-feeders, like the Chersiuu and
Thalassians, but, like the Potamians, prey on living animals ; rirer
mollusks, Anourous and Urodele Batraehians, and Annelides are their
food.
The eggs are generally spherical, with a calcareous shell, and white,
like those of the other Chelonians. The females deposit them in
shallow cavities, which they hollow out in the earth, nearly in tiie
same manner as the Land-Tortoisee ; but the Elodians prefer ^
banks of the waters where they dwell, in order that their young ones
may the more easily there find refuge from their numerous enemies.
The number of eggs varies according to the species, and prohablj
according to the age of the individuals, for the females are capable of
producing fertile eggs for some years before they have attained their
full growth.
Sub-Family 1. — Cryptodere Elodians.
Cryptoderes are not only distinguished from the Pleuroderes hy the
power of completely concealing their cylindrical neck with its sheath
of loose skin under the middle of the carapace ; but also by their
head, which is nearly equal in width to its height at the oocipat The
eyes are always lateral, and their orbits so large that the diameter of
the cavity nearly equals a fourth of the total extent of the craniam
considered with regard to its length. The jaws of the Cryptoderes
are stronger than those of the Pleuroderes ; sometimes they are simplj
trenchant sometimes more or less dentilated on their edges, which
are straight, or sometimes sinuous. In the greater number of spedea
the anterior extremity of th6 upper beak offers a large notch, on each
side of which may be seen pretty constantly a rather strong tooth;
in which case it is rare for the corresponding extremity of the
mandible not to curve upwards towards the mumle in a sharp point
In short, in such cases the upper beak closely resembles that of birds
of prey.
Sub-Genus 1. — The Clausiles.
CistvdOf Fleming, reformed by Qray. — Feet with five toes, the pos-
terior with four claws only; plastron wide, oval, attadied to the
buckler bv a cartilage, moveable before and behind on the same
transversal mesial hmge, furnished with twelve plates; twenty-fire
marginal homy plates or scales.
C. Carolina ; C. Amboinensit ; C. triffuciaUL
Sub-Genus 2.— The Gapers.
C. Buropcea and C. DiardiL
Bmyt, Dum. and Bibr. — ^Feet with five toes, the posterior with four
nails only ; plastron wide, inmioveable, solidly articulated upon the
cai apace, fumiahed with twelve plates ; two axillaiyand two inguinal
shells ; head of ordinary size ; tail long.
1st Group.-
E, CoBpica ; E, SigriU,
-European Emydet.
2nd Group. — ^American Emyda.
E. pwnctiUaria, E. marmarea, E. pulchella, E, geograpkiea, R C(me9-
ttica, E. terrata, E. Dorhianii, E. irrigata^ E. decuuatOy E rubnwntrit,
E, rugotOf E, Floridanti, E omata, E. eoncinna, E reticiUata, EgvUaia,
£. picta, E. BeUU, and E MuhUnbergiu
8rd Group. — African Emyt.
ESpengleri,
4th (Jroup. — Oriental Emydet.
E Tri^a, E. Eeevuii, E HemiUonii, E Thwryii, E Ueta, R BeaUi,
E, cnuncoUit, E. tpinota, E aceUata, E. triviUala, E. JDwHWcdlH, and
£. lineata,
Tetraonyx, Lesson.— Five toes, one of them without a nail on all the
feet ; sternum solid, wide, furnished with six pairs of pktes; twenty-
five marginal scales.
T.Ltuonii; T. BaAa,
PUUystemcn, Gray. — Head armed or shielded, and too Isige to enter
under the carapace ; upper jaw hooked ; sternum wide, immoveable,
fixed solidly to the carapace, with short alse; three sternocostal
scales ; five nails on the anterior feet ; four only on the posterior feet ;
tail very long, scaly, without a crest
P. megcLcejpkal'wn^
Emytauroj Dum. and Bibr.— Head laige, covered with small plates ;
muzzle short; two barbies under the chin; plastron immoveable,
cruciform, covered with twelve plates; three stemo-costal scales ;fiw
nails on the fore feet> four on the hind feet ; tail long, surmounted by
a scaly crest.
Digitized by
Google
1001
CHBLONIA.
CHELONIA.
loos
B, terpentina. It liyes in lakes and riven, feeding on fish, and, as it
would seem, on youne birds. This ia Testudo serpentina, Linn.;
Chdydra «erpeiUina» Schweigg.,. and CheUmura terperUina, Say, &c.
I
Siaurotffput, Wilier. — Head sub-quadrangalar, pyramidal, ooTered
in front with a single very delicate scale only ; jaws more or less
hooked ; barbies under the chin'; twenty-three liznbar scales ; sternum
thick, cruciform, moveable in front> furnished with eight or eleven
scales ; axillary and inguinal scales contiguous, placed on the sterno-
costal sutures ; anterior feet with five nails ; posterior feet with four
only.
8. triporeatut ; S, odoraivt, so called from the musky odour which
it is said to exhale.
Kinatiemcn, Wagler. — Head sub^uadrangular, pyramidal ; a single
rhomboidal plate upon the cranium ; jaws dightly hooked ; barbies
under the chm ; scales of the shell slightly imbricated ; limbar plates
to the number of twenty-three ; sternum oval, moveable before and
behind on a fixed piece, furnished with eleven scales; aln short,
narrow, sub-horizontal ; a very large axillary plate and an inguinal
still laiger ; tail long (in the males), imguiculate.
K. tcorpioidft. It lives in marshes and on river-banks. K.Pewnaylvar
ateam lives in muddy waters, feeding on small aquatic animals, and
exhaling a strong musky odour. K, hirtipft,
Sub-Family 2. — Pleurodere Elodians.
The Pleuroderes, as their name indicates, have all of them the neck
retractile upon one of the sides of the anterior aperture of the cara-
pace; but tiiey are never able completely to draw it in betweeh their
fore feet and under the middle of the buckler and plastron, like the
Ciyptoderes.
PeltocephahUf Dum. and Bibr. — Head large, subhquadrangular,
pyramidiJ, covered with large, thick, slightly imbricated plates ;
jaws extremely strong, hook^, without dentilations ; eyes lateral;
plates of the carapace slightly imbricated; no nuchal plate; feet
slightly palmated: two large rounded scales at the heels; nails
straight, robust ; tail unguiculate.
P.Traeaxa.
Podoenemia, Wagler. — Head slightly depressed, covered with plates ;
front hollowed wnb. a large longitudmal furrow ; jaws slightly arohed,
without dentilations ; two barbies under the chin ; no nuclial plate ;
sternum wide, immoveable ; feet largely palmated, the posterior ones
carrying at the heels two Urge but ddicate rounded scales ; tail shorty
not unguiculate.
P. txpanta. It lives in streams and rivers. P. DumeriliaiML
PaUonjfx, Dum. and Bib. — Head large, depressed, covered with
plates; muBzle roonded ; jaws slightly ardied, trenchant; two
barbies under the chin ; no nuchal plate; sternum inmioveable ; five
claws on all the fset; tail moderate, not unguiculate.
P* Capentit ; P. Adamonii.
BUmkhenu, BelL — Head depressed, furnished with great plates;
jaws without dentilations ; no nuchal plate ; sternum wide, with very
iHUToii^ lateral prolongations; frw anterior portion of the plastron
rounded, moveaole : five daws on each foot.
S. niger; 8, nigricani ; S. cait€meu$. •
PkUemyt, Wa^er, as reformed by Messrs. Dumdril and Bibron, com-
prising part of Bydraapii of Qray, PUUcmya, Bhinemyt, and Phrynopt
of Wagler. — Head flattened, covered with a single delicate scale or
^^ith a great number of small irreg^ar plates ; jaws simple ; two
barbies under the chin; carapace very much depressed; sternum
immoveable ; five claws on the fore feet, four on the hind.
It embraces the following species : — P, Martinella (Brazil and
Cayenne) ; P, SpixU (Brazil) ; P, radiolaia (Brazil, where it lives in
the marshes); P. gibha; P. Gtofrtmaa (young sent from Buenos
Ayres by M. d'Orbigny) ; P. WagUrii (Brazil) ; P, JVteiwwdu (Brazil) ;
P' Oaiidichaudii (Brazil) ; P. HUarii (Brazil) ; P. MUwtii (Cayenne) ;
P' rtijfipet (Brazil, banks of the River Solimoens); P. Schweiggerii
(South America) ; P. M<tcqtuiria (Macquarie River, Australia).
Chelodina, Fitzinger. — Head very long and very flaty covered with
ddicate skin ; muzzle short, gape wide, jaws feeble, without dentila-
tions ; no barbies to the cfain ; neck very much elongated ; a nuchal
plate, plastron immoveable, very wide, rounded in front and solidly
fixed on the carapace ; stexml alsa very short ; intergular scale larger
^^•n each of the gulars ; four daws on each foot ; tail excessively
ahorl
a Navof ffolkmdia ; C. JlavilabHi ; O. MaxmUianL
Chelodina Jfova HollandUe,
C%e/y<,Dum.and Bibr. — Head much depressed, wide, and triangular;
nostrils prolonged into a proboscis ; gape wide, jaws rounded, of but
little thickness; neck furnished with long cutaneous appendages,
two barbies to the chin ; a nuchal plate ; five daws on the fore feet,
four on the hind feet
The gape extends beyond the ears. Messrs. Dumdril and Bibron
remark that the jaws are rounded, narrow, and not simply covered
with soft skin, as Cuvier, Wagler, and Gray believed, but protected
by homy cases, like those of all the other Chelonians ; only in Chidy$
they are extremely delicate.
C. MatamcUa. It lives in stagnant waters. A female lived some
montlis at Paris and laid three eggs, one of which was hatched and
the young animal preserved in the Paris Museum.
(Hteljfi Matamata.
Family III. Potamians, or River-Tortoises.
The spedes belonging to this family live constantly in the water,
only ooming out occasionally.
It would seem that individuals of this fiunily attain a large size.
Messrs. Dumdril and Bibron quote Pennant as mentioning some
which wdghed 70 lbs. ; one which he kept three months weighed
20 lbs., and its buckler was 20 inches in length, not reckoning the
neck, which measured 184 inches. Their mode of life and habits
seem to have great similarity. They swim with much ease both on
the surface and at mid-water. The lower part of their body is
generally pale white, rosy, or bluish ; but their upper parts vary in
their tints, which are most frequently brown or gray, with irregularly
marbled, dotted, or ocellated spots. Straight or sinuous brown,
black, or yellow lines are disposed symmetricallv on the right and
left, prindpally on the lateral parts of the neck and on the limbs.
During the xughts, and when they bdieve themselves to be secure
from danger, the Potamians oome to repose on the islets, the rooks,
the fallen trunks of trees upon the banks, or fioating timber, whence
they predpitate themselves in the water at the sight of man or at
the least alarming noise. They are very voradous and agile, and
pursue, as they swim, reptiles, especially young crocodiles and fishes.
Their flesh being esteemed they are angled for with a hook and line
baited with small fish or living animals, or with a dead bait, to which
the angler gives motion and apparent life ; for they are said never to
approach a dead or immoveable prey. When they would seize their
food or defend themselves they dart out their head and long neck
Digitized by
Google
140B CHELONIA.
with the rapidity uf an arrow. They bite sharp with their trenchant
beak, and do not let go till they have taken the piece seized ont ; so
that their bite is mnch dreaded, and the fishermen generally cut off
their head* m soon as they have caugbi them.
The males appear to be fewer in mim1>er than the females, or at
least they come less frequently to th« hanks of rivers, where the
females resort to deposit their eggs in hollows, which contain from
fifty to sixty. The number varies according to the age of the females,
which are less fruitful in proportion to their youth. The eggs are
spherical, their shell is solid, but membranous or slightly calcareous.
Qymnopuif Dum. and Bibr. {Trionyx, Geoff ; AtpidonecUa, Wagler).
Carapace with a cartilaginous circumference, very large, floating
behind, and deprived of bone externally ; sternum too narrow behind
to hide the limbs completely when the animal draws them up under
the carapace. Trumyx and Tttiudoferox of authors.
O. tpmiferut. M. Lesueur states that towards the end of April,
or most frequently in May, iJie females of this species seek out on the
river banks sandy spots for the deposit of their eg^ ; steeps of ten or
fifteen feet elevation deter them not when they are choosing places
exposed to the sun. Their eggs are spherical, and their shell is more
fragile than that of the eggs of the species of Elodians living in the same
waters ; their eggs amount to from fifty to sixty. M. Lesueur counted
in the ovary twenty ready for laying, and a great quantity of others
of variable dimensions, from that of a pin's head to the much greater
volume which they attain when they are covered with their calcareous
coat. The retreats of these tortoiHCS are on rocks and on the trunks
of trees overthrown in the river, lliey may be taken with hook and
line baited with a little fish ; they are very voracious, and bite their
captors, so that the prudent cut off their heads. M. Lesueur was
often bitten by those he had: thoy dart out their heads like lightning.
The young begin to show themselves in July. The flesh of this
spedes is very delicate.
Oymnopus ipUiiferua.
0, fMUicui (Trumyx muticut, Lesueur, Leconte, and Gray).
0. JSgyptiacus {Trionyx jEgyptiacu$, Geoff. ; T, Niloticut, Gray).
This is supposed to be tl\e 'Efi6s of Aristotle ('De Part Anim.,'
v. 9).
O. Duvomeelii {Trionyx Gangetietu, Cuv. ; T, Hwvm, Gray) ; O.
oeeUatut {Trionyx ocdUUua, Hardwick ; T. Ifurum, the young. Gray) ;
0, lineatui (Trion/yx JBgypliacuiy var., Hardw. ; T. Indicus, Gray) ;
O. JatHxmcut {Trionyx Jawmicug, Schweigg.) ; O. tf^lantu {Trionyx
mbbplanus, Geoff.) ; O. BuphraiicuB {Trionyx Euphraticut, Geoff.).
Cryptopui, Dum. and Bibr. (Trionyx, WagL ; Emyda, Gray). —
Carapace with narrow cartilaginous borders supporting above the
neck and behind the thighs 'small bonv pieces; sternum large,
forming in front a moveable door or lid whidb can hermetically close
the apertture of the osseous box. The posterior part of the sternum
furnished right and left witli a cartilaginous operculum, shutting Uie
apertures which give passage to the hind feet; tiiere is a third
operculum besides to stop the opening whence the tail issues.
CHSLONIA.
C. ffnmonu {Trionyx grtaumu, Schweigg.). It
The flesh is eaten. C, Senegalamt,
lirea in fresh-water
Family IV. Thalassians, Sea-Tortoises, or Turtles {ChdomadeB,
Gi»y ; Carettoids, Fltsing. ; Mafychdona, Bitgen;
Oiacopod Tortoisa, WagL).
This family is at once distingubhed from all tta othen by the
comparatively depressed carapace and the long and broad paddles,
the anterior of which are very much prolonged when oompared with
the posterior ones. Indeed their limbs are entirely 00 modified as to
become swimming organs.
The Turtles hardly ever leave the sea excepting for the purpose of
laying their eggs ; but some accounts state that they will crawl up
the shores of desert islands in the night, and clamber up the edges <^
isolated rocks far at sea, for the purpoee of browsing on certain
favourite marine plants. They have been seen in smooth water as
fiir as 700 or 800 leagues from the land, floating motionless on the
surfisM^ of the sea as if they were dead, and it has been supposed that
they are then asleep. They dive well, and can remain beneath the
surface a long time, as might be expected from the extent and
volume of their arbitrary lungs, capable of retaining and fomiahiDg a
sufficient quantity of air while they are submerged.
Messrs. Dum^ and Bibron speak of the Potamians and Turtles as
exceptions to the rest of the Ckelonia, which, generally speaking, can
produce no other sounds than hif^es: we fibod however frt>m Mr.
Darwin's account above given, that the Great Land-Tortoises, the
males at least, bellow loudly at the pairing season. The cries of the
Potamians and of some Thalassians have been noticed by observers,
and especially those of the Coriaceous Turtle, or Sphatyis. Individuals
of this last genus, when hampered in nets or grievously wounded,
have been heard to utter loud roars, from which they derive their
name {atf>ap<xyiC», to roar, or cry loudly).
The food of the Thalassians consists principally of marine plants ;
but it appears that some of them, especially those which exhale a
musky odour, Chelonia Caouana (C^oouano, Gray), for instance^ feed
also on crustaceans and many species of mollusks, the cutties especi-
ally. Their jaws are robust, like the beaks of birds of prey ; solidly
articulated and worked with highly developed muscles; and thdr
homy beak, hooked above and below, is tremmant on the edges, and
most frequently serrated, so as to assist in securing a slippery prey.
Whilst little is known with regard to the conduct of the two sexes
during the breeding season, those attendmg the deposit of the egga are
better known. To reach the destined spot, the females have often to
traverse the sea for more than fifty leagues, and the males acoompaay
them to the sandy beaches of those desert islands selected for the
places of nidificatlon. Arrived at the end of their voyage, they
timidly oome forth frt>m the sea after sunset ; and as it is nnrrnnirj
to leave the eggs above high-water mark, they have often to dng
themselves to a considerable distance before they can hollow out their
nests (about two feet in diameter) during the nighty and there lay at
one sitting to the number of a hundred eggs, lliis laying is repeated
thrice, at intervals of two or three weeks. The eggs vary in suee, but
are spherical, like tennis-balls ; and when they arelaid, their investiDg
membrane is slightly flexible, although covered with a d^cate cal-
careous layer. After slightly covering the nest with light sand, the
parent returns to the sea, leaving the eggs to the fbst^ng inflnenee
of a tropical sun. The eggs are said to be hatched from uie 15th to
the 29th day ; and when the young turtles come cut» their dxells are
not yet formdid, and they are white as if blanched. They instineiivelj
make for the sea ; but on their road, and as they pause before entering
the water, the birds of prey that have been watching for the nK»ncnt
of their appearance hasten to devour them ; whilst those that have
escaped their terrestrial persecutors by getting into the sea, have
to encounter a host of voracious fishes and l^ons of ambushed
crocodiles.
Those that escape attain, under favoiu^ble circumstances, enonnoos
dimensions. Individuals of the genus Sphargia have been known to
weigh from 1500 lbs. to 1600 lbs.; and some whose carapace haa
measured in its circumference more than 15 feet, and near 7 feet ia
length, have weighed down more than from 1800 lbs. to 1900 lbs.
Aged turtles often carry about with them on their carapace a little
world of parasites, such as Flvstrct, SerpuUe, Balani, and Ooromtla;
whilst certain Anndidet securely fix themselves at the origin or base
of the limbs, where the motion of the turtle cannot displace them.
Though many of the other Chelonia are highly usefru to man, egpe-
cially as articles of food, none are of such great utility as the Ilialae-
sians. The advantages to be derived from them were not lost upon
the ancients ; and though Mercury is said to have taken tiie first hint
for the structure of a lyre from the dried carapace and tendons of a
tortoise (a Oymnopua, probably), found by the god after an inundation
of the Nile, and which sounded when he struck ' the chorded shell,'
the benefits arising from the Thalassians are, if not so refined, of a
much more substantial and varied nature. The inhabitants of those
countries where the turtles grow to a lai^ size do not merdly derive
from them a supply of food, but they convert their carapaces into
boate^ into huts, into drinking-troughs for their domeetio animals, and
baths for their children. The Chdonophagi of old, who inhabited
the shores of India and the Red Sea, converted the enonnous dkeOs
Digitized by
Google
1006
CHELONIA.
CHELONIA.
1006
of the turtles which they caught into roofs for their houses and boats
for their little Toyages, as Strabo and Pliny testify. The latter, in
the tentJi chapter of his ninth book, enters at laige upon the subject.
As an article of food the Qreen Turtles (Tortues Franches of the
French), are so highly prized, that they have become a considerable
article of commerce. The fat of many species, when fresh, is used
with success in lieu of butter and oil in cookery ; and in those species
which have a musky odour (CheUmia Caauana and C. Caretta for
instance), is used for embrocations, leather-dressing, and as lamp-oiL
The Imbricated Turtles furbish that valuable article tortoise-shell,
or rather the best sorts of it, so highly prized in ancient and modem
times, and so ornamental and useful in the arts. The eggs of all the
species, particularly those of the Green Turtles, are excdlent.
In proportion to the benefits derived from the spoils of the turtles,
the ingenuity of maa has baen sharpened by his eagerness to acquire
them. One of the most obvious methods of capttire was, and is, to
watch the females as they emeige from the sea to deposit their oggs,
and then turn them upon their backs on the high and dry sand,
where tiiey helplessly remain till the captors come to fetch them on
the morrow. When the turtles lie floating on the sea, either for the
purposes of sleep or respiration, the turtle-fishers approach them
quietly with a sharp harpoon, carrying a ring at the butt-end, to
which a oord is attached. The haqwoner strikes, and the wounded
animal dives, but is at last secured by the cord. In the South Seas
skilful divers watch them when so floating, and, getting under the
animals, suddenly rise, and so seize them. Mr. Darwin, with his
usual felicity, describes another method of capture. In his account
of Keeling Island, he says : — " I accompanied (April 6, 1836) Captain
Fitzroy to an island at the head of the lagoon: the chaimel was
exceedingly intricate, winding through fields of delicately branched
corals. We saw several turtles, and two boats were then employed
in catching them. The method Ib rather curious : the water is so
clear and shallow, that although at first a turtle quickly dives out of
sight, yet in a canoe or boat under sail, the pursuers, after no very
long chase, come up to it. A man stancUng ready in the bows at this
moment dashes through the water upon the turtle's back; then
clinging with both hands by the shell of the neck he is carried away
till the animal becomes exhausted, and is secured. It was quite an
interesting chase to see the two boats thus doubling about, and the
men dasMng into the water, trying to seize their prey." (' Journal')
But the most extraordinanr mode of fishing is uiat said to be prac-
tised towards the coasts of Qiina and the Mozambique, where tiurtles
are taken by the aid of living fishes trained for the purpose, and
thence named Fisher-Fishes. The fact appears to have been known to
Columbus, and has been verified by Commerson and cited by Middleton
and Saltb The fish is a species of Echtneia or Remora, and the islanders
who use it are said to proceed in tiie following manner: — They have
in their little boat tubs containing many of these fishes. The upper
part of the head of the fish is covered with an oval plate, soft and
fleshy at its circumference. In the middle of this plate is a very com-
plicated apparatus of bony pieces, disposed across in two regular rows,
like the laths of Persian blinds. The number of these plates varies
from 15 to 36, according to the species ; they can be moved on their
axis by msans of particular muscles ; and their free edges are furnished
with small hooks, which are all raised at once like the points of a
wool-card. The tail of each of the trained fishes in the tubs is
furnished with a ring for the attachment of a fine but long and
strong oord. When the fishermen perceive the basking turUes on
the surface of the sea, knowing that the slightest noise would disturb
the intended victim, they slip overboard one of their Remoras tied to
the long cord, and pay out line according to their distance from the
turtles.. As soon as the fish perceives the floating rentile he makes
towards it, and fixes himself to it so firmly that the fisnermen pull in
both fish and turtle to their boat, where the fish is very easily
detached by pushing its head in a direction from behind forwards,
and the turtle is secured.
Chdoni€t, Brongn. (Cwretta, Merrem). — Body covered with homy
scales or shells. One or two nails on each foot.
Sttb-Qenus 1. — Chelon^es Franches. Qreen Turtles.
Disooidal plates to the number of thirteen, not imbricated. Muzzle
shorty rounded. Upper jaw with a slight notch in front and small
dentilations on the sides ; homy case of &e lower jaw formed of three
pieces and having its sides deeply dentilated. A nail on the first toe
of each foot.
C, Mydas. Messrs. Dumdril and Bibron observe that this and the
three following species are so similar, that it is possible for them to
form one species only : but they add that this question can only be
satisfiM^xJly solved by those who have opportunities of comparing
the living animals.
O.irtrgcUa; C. maculosa; C.marmorata.
Sub-Qenus 2.-- Imbricated Chelones.
Plates of the disc imbricated and thirteen in number. Muzzle long
and compessed. Jaws with straight edges without dentilations,
curved slightly towards each other at their extremities. Two nails
on each fin.
C. imbricata, the Hawk's-Bill Turtle of Catesby and Brown {Caretta
imbricata, Qtaj ; Tettudo imbricata Limueus). Flesh bad. Eggs very
good.
Hawk's-Bill Turtle {Chelone imbrieata).
Sub-Genus 3. — Chelon^es Caouanes. Logger-Head Turtles.
Plates of the carapace not imbricated. Fifteen plates on the disc.
Jaws slightly curved towards each other at their extremity.
(7. Caoiuma, the Logger-Head Turtle of Catesby {Ca<mana Caretta,
Qray); (7. IhMSumierii {Chdonia olwacea of Eschscholtz; CoAmana
oHvacea, Gray).
SphargU, Merrem (Coriudo^ Flem. ; DermatocMys, Blainv.). — Body
enveloped in a coriaceous hide, tuberculous in young subjects, com-
pletely smooth in adults. Feet without nails.
S, eoriacea {Tettudo Lyra, Donnd. and bechst. ; Tortue Luth of the
French ; Coriaceous Toi-toise of Pennant).
Sphargit eoHaeea.
Plastron of Spharpii coriacea.
This turtle has been taken on many of the European coasts ;
several of large, size (700 lbs. and 800 lbs. in weight) have been captured
on those of Britain. One case, where the capture was efiected off
the coast of Scarborough, should be a warning not to use it rashly as
food. Pennant relates that one of the three taken in 1748 or 1749
was purchased by a family, who invited several persons to partake of
it. A gentleman present told the guests that the flesh was imwhole-
some, but one of the company persisted in eating of it, and suffered
most severely, being seized with dreadful vomiting and purging ; and
yet the Carthusians, Pennant tells us, are said to eat no other species.
It would seem, then, that the severe effect above noticed must have
been accidental, and the animid may have been in an unhealthy con-
dition. It is said to grow very sat; but the flesh is reported to
be coarse and bad. The French name is given probably upon the
Digitized by
Google
1007
CHELONIA.
CHBLONIA.
Buppoflition that it was the species used bj the aadents in the early
ooDBtniGtion of the lyre.
This and the last-named turtle are the only species of the CUdonia
that have been taken alive on the British coasts. Professor Bell in
his 'British Reptiles' expresses his conviction that aeyeral of the
"fresh-water species, both of Europe and North America^ might be
naturalised in the southern parts of lihigland. The Terrapent Europaa;*
he says, " the common Lacustrine Tortoise of the oontinent, is found
in Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece, in France, and even in Prussia.
These tortoises are eaten by the inhabitants of all ^e countries in
which tiiey are found ; and as they live principally upon small fish,
the air-bags of which they reject, it is said that the people are wont
to judge of the quality of tiie tortoises to be found in a lake or pond
by the number of ai]>bagB which are seen swimming on the surface of
the water. I once placed in a small pond, in which were some of
these Fresh-Water Tortoises, six small living fish, and on the following
morning I found the air-bags of five of them fioating on the surface
of the water and the sixth fish still alive. In some parte they are fed
upon grains and other nourishing food, and fattened for the table.
There are also several American species of Emyt, or Freeh-Water
Tortoise, which will bear a greater degree of cold than that of most
of our winters without perishing ; and it is certainly deniable that a
wholesome and agreeable food, l^e that afforded by some of these,
should not be lost to us, if the species can be easily perpetuated and
multiplied in our dimate."
Several species of Freeh-Water Tortoises are now in the collection
of the Zoological Society, in the Aquavivarium of the Regent's Park
Gardens.
The following list of Chdonia, arranged according to their geogra-
phical distribution, is from Dr. J. E. Grav's, * Catalogue of the Tortoises
and Crocodiles, &c., in the Collection of the British Museum.' Allien
a species is found in two of the larger divisions of the list on account
of its extensive range, it is preceded by an asterisk.
EUROPK
Teitwdo marffinata,
*T. Cfraca.
Emyi CaipuM.
Culudo BuropacL
*Sphargit coHoceo.
Asia.
River Tigria
jyrse Rafeht.
Cabul.
Tettudo Honfieldil
India.
TeMtvdo Indiea.
Bmffi tectum.
E. teiUoria.
E, iHivaueelliu
E. trijufftk
ElineatcL
EMongoka.
E. I%wrjiu
E trivittata.
EoceUata.
E. Hamiltanii.
Tetraonyx Batagur,
Emyda pwnclcUa.
Tyrte Oangetica,
J)organia mbplancL
Chiira Indiea,
Ceylon.
Tettudo iteUaia.
EmyeSAa,
China
*Gtoemyda Spengleri.
Q,BealiL
0. Beeveaii,
O, muticti,
O. nigricane.
Cittudo trifatciaJta,
Platyetenum megacephalum,
Tyrae peroceUata.
Japan.
Emy Jcvpcmea,
Sumatra.
Qeoemyda tpmoaa.
Emye eraetieoUie.
E.platynota.
Amboyna
Oiitudo AnUfoinemis.
Java.
Cfiitudo dentaia.
Tyrte Javaniea.
Africa.
North.
•Tettudo Grceea.
Tyrte Nilotica.
Eastern.
Pdomeduta OehaJUe,
Western.
Tettudo tulcata.
*KvMxyt ffomeana,
K. erota.
K. Belliana.
Stemotherut Derlianut,
Emyda Senegalentit.
Tyrte Argut,
SouthenL
Tettudo pardalit.
T. temiterrata.
T. geometrica.
T. VerroTti,
Homoput artolalut,
H. tignatut,
Ckertina angvlaia,
•Qeoemyda Spengleri,
Emyt ocuLifera,
Stemotherut cattaneut.
Pelomedtua tubrufd.
Madagascar.
Tettudo radiata.
Pyxit arachnoidet.
SUmotherut niger.
S. tubniger.
•Hydratpit gibha.
Australia.
Chelymyt Macquaria.
CkelodifM dbiUmga.
Chelodina longicoUit,
Oceanic.
Mediterranean and Atlantic.
Sphargit coriacea,
Atlantic and Indian Ocean.
Caouana Caretta,
Atlantic Ocean.
Caouana dingcUa.
CheUmia virgata.
C. viridit.
Indian Pcean.
Caouana oUvacea,
Red Sea.
Caretta imhricata.
Emyt teahra.
E rugota, W. Indies.
E deeuttata. W. Indies.
E vermicuUUa,
Kinottenum teorpioidtL
K, triporeaiwm.
ffydratpit plameept.
H. radiclala.
ff.SpixiL
H, deprttta.
*B.gibba,
H. natua.
H, WagleriL
H. Qaudiehaudn.
H,HUtnriL
ff.UUa,
ff.afintt.
Phrynopt Oeqfiroyma.
P. rujtpet.
P. Bella,
P. MUiuni,
ffydrom^ima MaxmHima.
H. JlavUabrit.
Ckdyt Maiamaia,
Pdtoeepkaiut Traeaxa,
Podoenemit expanta,
PDumeriiiana,
South Amrriga.
East coast
Emyt DorbignU,
Phrynopt Geofnuyana,
Galapagos IslsndL
Tettudo Indiea, KataraliMd.
Locality unknown.
Emyt hinottemoidet,
E. annuiifer.
E Kuhlii.
North Amxrica.
East coast
Tettudo Oopher.
Emyt Mulhenbergii.
Epulchaia,
E. geographiea.
E. megaeephaia.
EBennetHL
E, terrata.
E. rimdata,
Eteripta.
E ffdbrookii.
E TrootUi,
E. mohilentit.
E» concintta.
E reticulata.
E. macrocephala.
EPloridana.
E. hieroglyphietk
E. guttata.
Epieta.
E BOlii.
Malademft coneenirietL
Cittudo Chrolina.
Einottemon oblongum.
K. DoubledayO.
K. Pentylvanicum.
K. odoraium.
Chdydra terpentina.
Trionyx ferox.
T.ffiutieut.
West coast
Emyt omcUa.
E. Oregonentit.
Tropical Amxrica.
Tutudo tubiUanta. W. Indies.
•Kiniryt J^omeana.
FotaU Chdonia.
Cuvier, in his treatise upon Fossil Tortoises, observes that tlie
number of living species is so consUierable that it is very diificnlt to
decide whether a fossil tortoise is or is not of an unknown species;
inasmuch as it is not only necessary, before arriving at this conduaiflo,
to compare the carapaces and plastrons covered with their hony
plates or scales, as they are ordinarily seen in cabinets and repre-
sented in books, but also the skeletons, so that the observer may
accurately study the joining of the ribs and other bones which ooncar
to compose their cuirasses. He names twenty-nine species that lie
himself had stripped of their covering, and says that he ha^ peifomied
that operation on others beside.
Cuvier commences his description with the fossil ^Wonyoo^ and
distinguishes — 1, those from the gypsum-beds of the environs of
Paris ; 2, those frx>m the gypsum-beds of Aix ; 8, those from the
'molasse* of the department of the Gironde ; 4, those from the gravel
and olay-beds of Hautevigne in the department of the Lot and
Garonne; 6, those from the gravel-beds in the neighbourhood of
Castelnaudiy ; and 6, those from the sandy beds in the environs of
Avaray.
He next considers the Emydetf or Fresh-Water Tortoises^ notidsc^-
1, those from the Paris gypsum-beds ; 2, those discovered together
with crocodiles in the Jurassic limestone of the neighbourhood of
Soleure ; 8, those of the ferruginous sand of Sussex ; 4, those of the
'molasse' of La Grave and those of the 'molaases* of Switaeriand; ^
those from our Isle of Sheppey ; 6, those from the environs of
Brussels ; and 7, those fit>m the marly sand (sable maraeuz) of the
province of Asti
The Marine Tortoises, or true Chelonians, he divides into — 1, those of
the environs of Maestricht; and 2, those of the slate of Glaria
The Land-Tortoises noticed are— 1, those of the environs of Aix;
and 2, those found in the Isle of France under the volcanic beds.
The conclusions drawn by Cuvier are, that the Tortoises are as
ancient inhabitants of the world as the Crocodiles; that they accom*
pany the remains of the latter generally ; and that as the greater
number of their remains belong to fresh-water or terrestrial roedes
they confirm the conjectures drawn from the bones of crocodilee as
to the existence of isles or continents which were frequented bf
reptiles before the existence of viviparous quadrupeds^ or at leest
before there was a sufficient nmnber of these last to afford a quantity
of remains at all comparable to thoee of reptiles.
Professor Owen, in his elaborate 'Report on British Foou
Reptiles,'-- drawn up at the request of the British Aseociation for
the Advancement of Science, and published in their Transaetioni'
gives the following account of the order CheUmia : —
I. Family TtttudiinidcBt Tortoises, or Land-Tortoisea
1. New Red-Sandstone Tortoises. The most ancient of the
eridenoea of Chelonians in British fonnations appear to Professor
Digitized by
Google
1000
CHELONIA.
CHELONIA.
1010
Owen to be refenible to the Land-Tortoises ; and he quotes the foot-
prints from the quarries at Corncockle Muir, and those subsequently
disoovered at the quarries of Craigs, two miles east of Dmnfries^ as
examples. [Amphibia.]
2. Oolite Tortoises. Examples. Impressions of homy scutes about
the sia» of thoao covering the carapace of a tortoise, ten inches in
length, in the Oolite Slate of Stonesneld.
IL Family EmydidcB, Fresh-Water Tortoises.
1. An undetermined species in the museum of Professor Bell, from
the Eocene Clay near Harwich.
2. Emys tatttdiniformis, Owen (Emys de Sheppey, Cut.?). Sheppey.
8. Platemyt BcwerhankU, Owen. Sheppey.
4. PUUemyt JBuUockii, Owen. Sheppey.
6. TetrottemonpwnetcUum, Owen. Purbeck Limestone. N.B. Closely
allied to Trionyx,
6. With regard to Platemyt ManUeUi (Emys de Sussex, Cuv., Emy9
MouUeUi, Gray), Professor Owen remarks that the fossils discovered
by Dr. Mantell in the Wealden strata of Tilgate Forest, and the
resemblance of which to the flat species of Emydian discovered by
M. Hugi in the Jura Limestone at Soleure has been pointed out by
Cuvier, are refenible to the pleurodend section of the Emydian family
as arrauged by Messrs. Bumdril and Bibron, and in that section to
the genus Ptatemya {Ifydrtupit, Bell) ; but that not enough of the
skeleton of any individual has yet been obtained to afford a foundation
for specific character.
7. Laige Emydian from the Kimmeridge Clay. A bone in the
museum of Sir P. Grey Egerton, Bart, from Heddington Pits,
probably belonging to a species of Platemys.
8. Footsteps of Emydians in New^ Red-Sandstone. Stourton
Quarries, Cheshire.
With regard to the genus TrionyXf Professor Owrn remarks that
certain British fossils from the Secondary Formation referred to
Trionyx have been proved to belong to another family of Chelonians :
the supposed Trionyx frt>m the New Red-Sandstones (Caithness) has
been pronounced to be a ganoid fish (genus Coccostetu) by Agassiz.
Nor had Professor Owen when he wrote (1841) seen any Chelonite
fh>m the Wealden Formation that could be confidently affirmed to
belong to Trionyx,
A femur from the Lias at Linksfield in the possession of Mr. Robertson
of Elgin, 44 inches in length, and found with remains of Pleaiotaurua
and HyhoduMf though not identical in form with any Trionyx with
which Professor Owen could compare it, he found to resemble the
modifications of the bone in that genus more closely than in Tortoises,
Emydians, or Turtles. He remarks that although some of the Turtles
of the Eocene period, as the Chelone longicepa, present such modifica-
tions of the jaws as seem to have adapted them to habits and food
analogous to those of the Trionyx, yet evidences of this genus, to
which the destruction of the eggs and young of crocodiles is more
particularly assigned in the Nile and Ganges, are not wanting in
certain localities where the London Clay appears to have been depo-
sited under circumstanoes analogous to those at the termination of
equally gigantic rivers; and he adds that unequivocal portions of a
tzTie Trionyx have been obtained from, the Eocene Clay at Sheppey
and at Bracklesham, and that they are also associated, as in the Paris
basin, with remains of Anoplotherium and PaUeotherivm in the Eocene
Limestone deposits in the Isle of Wight
IIL Family CheUmidce, Thalassian Family, or Turtles.
1. CheUme planiceps, OwwL Portland Sandstone.
2. C. obowUa, Owen. Purbeck Limestone.
8. An undetermined species of CktUmetrom the Wealden. Portions
of the carapace, plastron, and bones of the extremities of a large
species of Marine Turtle, some of them indicating individuals nearly
three feet in length, discovered by Dr. Mantell in the Wealden strata
of TUgate Forest, are figured in the Doctor's ' Illustrations of the
Geology of Sussex.' This species, in Professor Owen's opinion, comes
nearest to (7. planimentvm of the Harwich Eocene Clay.
4. (7. pvlchricep9, Owen. Superincumbent beds of the Lower
Greensand; Greensand near Barnwell, Cambridge.
5. C. JBemtedi, Owen (Emyt Bmttedi, Mantell). Chalk ; Burham,
Kent.
In a monograph on the ' Fossil Reptilia of the London Clay,' by
Professors Owen and Bell, published by the PalsBontographioJ
Society, the following species are described, and figures of the remains
found, given.
Order— Ohdonice*
Family — Marina,
Qenua — CheUme,
1. C, hrevicepi {Emys Parhinttmii, J. E. Gray ; Emys de Sheppey,
H. v. Meyer; Chelone antiqwi, K5nig). Eocene Clay of Sheppey.
2. O. kngicept. Eocene Clav of Sheppey.
8. 0. ercusicottata, Harwich Clay.
4. C. decUvis. Eocene Deposits of Bognor, Sussex.
5. C. trigonicept. Eocene Clay at Brackle^am.
6. C, cvneieepi. London Clay of Sheppey.
7. C. tyboar%nata, Sheppey.
HAT. HIST. DIT. TOL. L
Remarking on the descriptions of these species. Professor Owen
says, ''A retrospect of the facts above detailed relative to the Fossil
Chelonians of the genus Chelone, or marine family of the order, leads
to conclusions of much greater interest than the previous opinions
respecting the Chelonites of the London Clay could have suggested.
Whilst these fossils were supposed to have belonged to a fresh-
water genus, the difference between the present fauna and that of
the Eocene period, in reference to the Chelonian order, was not veiy
great; since the Emys, or Cittudo Europcea, still abounds on the
Continent, after which it was named, and lives long in our own
island in suitable localities.
"But the case assumes a very different aspect when we come to
the conviction that the minority of the Eocene Chelonites belong to
the true marine genus Chdone ; and that the number of species of
these extinct Turtles already obtained from so limited a space as the
Isle of Sheppey, exceeds that of the species of Chelone now known
to exist throughout the globe. Notwithstandiog the assiduous
search of naturalists, and the attraction to Uie commercial voyager
which the shell and the fiesh of the Turtles offer, all the tropics! seas
of the world have hitherto yielded no more than five well-defined
raecies of Chelone; and of these only two, as the C. Mydat and
C Caotumaf are known to frequent the same locality. It is
obvious, therefore, that the ancient ocean of the Eocene epoch was
much less sparipgly inhabited by Turtles ; and that these presented
a greater variety of specific modifications than are known in the
seas of the warmer latitudes of the present day.
** The indications which the English Eocene Turtles, in conjunction
with other oz^ganic remains from the same formation, afford of the
warmer climate of the latitude in which they lived, as compared
with that which prevails there in the present day, accord with those
which all the oi^ganic remains of the oldest Tertiaiy deposits have
hitherto yielded in reference to this interesting point
" That abundance of food must have been produced under such
influences cannot of course be doubted ; and we may infer that to
some of the extinct species, which like the Chdone longieeps and C.
planimentum exhibit either a form of head well adapted for pene-
trating the soil, or with modifications that indicate an affinity to the
Trionycet, was assigned the task of checking the undue increase of
the now extinct crocodiles and gavials of the same epoch and locality,
by devouring their eggs, or their yoimg becoming probably in return
themselves an occasional prey to the older individuals of the same
carnivorous Saurians."
Family — Plvmalia,
Genus — Trionyx.
1. T. ffenricL Eocene at Hordwell.
2. T. Barharm. Eocene at Hordwell.
S. T. incrtuactttu. Eocene Formations of the Isle of Wight.
4. T. tnarginaius. Eocene Deposit at Hordwell Cliff.
5. T. rivotus. Eocene Beds at Hordwell Cliff.
6. T. planu*. Eocene at Hordwell and Bracklesham.
7. T. circutMtdcatus, Eocene at HordweU.
8. T. pustulatus. Clay at Sheppey.
¥aixxuiy—%Paludino9a,
Genus — Platemys,
1. P, BuUockii, London Clay.
2. P. Eowerbankii, Clay at Sheppey.
Genus — Emys,
1. E, iestudiniformis (Emys de Sheppey, Cuvier?). Eocene Clay
of Sheppey.
2. E, lofvis. Clay of Sheppey.
3. E, Comptoni,
4. E. hicarinata,
5. E. Belahediii, London Clay, Isle of Sheppey.
Amongst the Fossil remains brought from the Tertiary Formations
of India by Dr. Falconer and M^jor Cautley, are those of a gigantic
species of Land-Tortoise. The species referred to has been named
Colossochelys Atlas. Portions of its skeleton and a model of the
entire animal are now in the collection of the British Museum. The
carapace of this gigantic animal measures in some specimens above
12 feet in length. These remains were found associated vrith the
bones of gigantic extinct Mammalia allied to Palceotherium, and the
other PachydermMta of the Paris basin. In the same deposits were
also found the remains of several smaller species of Chdonia, and of
the one which now inhabits India. There nave been also found in
the same locality the remains of gigantic crooodiles, differing from
those now inhabiting India, and several species of elephant
In the 'Reports' of the United States Surveying Exj^edition in
Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minesota, in 1850, an account is given of the
discovery of the remains of a large nimiber of species of Chdoma,
both Tortoises and Turtles, with the remains of extinct forms of
Mammalia in the district of the Mauvaises Torres on the Missouri.
CHELO'NIA (Godart), a genus of Lepidopterous Insects, of the
section Noetwrna (Latreille), and family Arcmda (Leach). Before we
proceed with an account of this genus, which contains two of the
8 T
Digitized by
Google
1011
CHELONIANS.
CHEBDfOTER.
1012
moBt conspicuous and beautiful of the British moths, it may be well
briefly to state the characters of the family ArctiidcPf as far as the
diversified habit of the species will admit. The palpi are two in
number, mostly S-jointed and hairy. The antenme have a double
series of pectinations ; thorax laige ; the apex of the body generally
furnished with a tuft ; wings closing so as to form an angle by their
junction, or folding horizontally. The males are usually larger than
the females ; iorvse generally very hairy, frequently furnished with
numerous tufts, those on the tail and towards the head the longer.
The genus Ckelonia is synonymous with Arctia of Schrank. The
latter name is generally aidopted by British entomologists from its
priority. The term Chelonia is open to another objection, being
commonly used to designate a section of Tortoises.
Arctia C<nfa, the Large Tiger-Moth, or the (Garden-Tiger, is very
common in the south of England, but apparently less so in the north.
The expanded wings measure from 24 to 8 inches in width; the
upper wings are of a chocolate-brown colour, with numerous irregular
cream-coloured markings ; the under wings are scarlet, with five or
six large blue-black spots ; the body is also scarlet, or pinkish above,
with several transverse black bands ; on the under side the ground-
colour is black, with pink bands ; the head and thorax are brown,
separated with a red ring; the legs are red at the base, and the
antennsB are white.
The caterpillar of this moth is found in great abundance near
London, and is frequently seen crawling on pathways : it is covered
with long black hairs, and when touched will roll itself up in a ring :
it feeds upon a great variety of plants, but seems most fond of
lettuce, groundsel, and chickweed. The larva is foimd in the spring
months, and turns into a pupa about June. The pupa is inclosed in
a loose web of a white colour; the moth appears in the autumn.
This species is extremely variable in its imago state; we have
seen specimens in which the upper wing is nearly all white, and
others in which the white is almost obliterated : the spots on the
under wing vary also considerably ; they sometimes run one into the
other so as to form a band.
Arctia Villica, the Cream-Spot Tiger-Moth, is the only other well
authenticated British species ; it is far less abundant than the other.
The upper wings are black, with about eight large cream-coloured
spots; the under wings are yellowish, spotted more or less with
black, and has an irregular black fascia near the margin; the
abdomen is reddish, spotted with black ; the head and thorax are
black ; the latter has two cream-coloured spots.
The caterpillar very much resembles the one last described, but
has a red head, and legs of the same colour; like the last it feeds
upon various plants, particularly the chickweed. The moth appears
about the end of June, and is rather less than the Large Tiger.
CHELONLA.NS. [Chelonia.]
CHELYS. [Chelonia.]
CHEMNITZIA, a genus of Mollusca belonging to the Prosobran-
chiate section of the Gatteropoda, and referred to the family Pyrami-
ddlidcB. [PTRAMIDELLlDJi.]
OHENALOPEX, a genus of Birds belonging to the family Anatida,
to which the Ejnrptian Qoose (C, ^gyptiacw) is referred. [Ducks.]
CHE'NNIUM, a genus of Coleopterous Insects. [Pbelaphus.]
CHENOCOPROLITE, a Mmeral of a yellow or pale-green colour,
belonging to the silver series, /md supposed to be an arsenate of silver
and iron.
CHENOPODIA'CE^, CA<fm)pocZ», the Chenopodium Tribe, a natural
order of Exogens, consisting of numerous species, used either for
culinary purposes or for the manufacture of soda. They are apetalous
plants, with minute green herbaceous flowers, a small number of
stamens, which are opposite the segments of the calyx, and a one-
celled membranous fruit, containing one single erect seed, or a very
small number. The leaves are soft and rather succulent, without any
trace of stiptdes. Most of them are found in the cold and temperate
parts of the world. They differ from Polygonacta; and Urticacece in
the want of stipules, and from Amarantacece in their flowers not being
coloured and enveloped in membranous bracts. This order embraces
plants of opposite characters, and when better investigated will
probably be split up. Schleiden has observed that certain species
have the wood very compact, and pierced with vertical cords of
cellular tissue. The order contains 63 genera and 360 species. They
are natives of all parts of the world, in waste and uncultivated places.
Spinach [Spihacia], Fat Hen, Good King Henrv [Chenopodium],
Garden Orach [Atriplex], Chard-Beet, Beet, Mdngold Wurzel [Beta],
belong to this order. Soda is obtained from species of Salsola and
Salicomia. [Salbola; Saucornia.]
CHENOPO'DIUM, a genus of plants the type of the natural order
CheiwpodiacecB. It consists of weedy plants, common on dunghills and in
waste places, and known by the strange names of Fat Hen {C. alhum),
Good King Henry {C. Bonua-ffmrtcus), &c. They are generally
insipid plants, whose leaves and young shoots maybe eaten as spinach,
but which have no particular merit. In this genus is however found
the celebrated Quinoa of Peru (C, Quinoa). This plant, whose seeds
are said to be of as muoh importance to the Peruvians m the maize,
potato, and wheat, is an annual weedy species, with an appearance
similar to that of Garden Orach, to the size of which it grows. Its
flowers appear in close clusters about the ends of the brancheii and
ffli
I
^$> ^
Ohenopodiaeea. Blihtm virgatnm,
«, angle of the petiole, ebowing the peduncle ; ft, flower ; e, flower deprlred
of it« calyx, showing the ovary, surmounted by three pistils ; <f, calyx ; e, fruit
imbedded in the succulent calyx ; /, g, fruit separated from the calyx ; A, hori-
xontal section of fruit ; t, rcrtical do. ; *, embryo. All these figur», excepting
o, magnified hi various degrees.
are succeeded by a profusion of little black or white seeds (according
to the variety) about the size of grains of millet. Its leaves are
employed as spinach, and the seeds in soup or broth as rice, and in
some parts of South America they are in as much use as rice in India.
They are said to yield a pleasant beer when fermented. It is chiefly
upon the highest land of Southern Peru, where neither barley nor rye
will ripen, as, for instance, at the height of nearly 13,000 feet on tie
table-land of Chiquit6s, that Quinoa forms the great article of agri-
culture ; it there forms fields, the limits of which the eye can hardly
reach, of a monotonous and unpleasant aspect, scarcely mixed with a
single other species, and very unlike the rich and waving greenness of
our standing com. It is also extremely common about the great lake
of Titicaca. The seeds are ripened in England, and may now be
purchased at any of the seed-shops ; but the plant can hardly be con-
sidered worth the attempt at cultivating it where anything else will
grow. X!. olidum, has an atrocious odour, and has a reputation as an
antispasmodic and emmenagogue.
The following is an analysis of the British species of Chawpodiun^.
♦ Perianth enveloping the fruit.
+ Leaves undivided.
Leaves ovate rhomboidaL C. olidum.
Leaves ovate-ellipticaL C. polyspermum.
tt Leaves toothed, angled, or lobed.
Leaves triangular. C. wrbicum.
Leaves sinuate-dentate. C. aJhum,
Leaves unequally 8-lobed. C. fidfoUtm,
Leaves rhomboid-ovate. 0. muraU.
Leaves subcordate. C. hybridum,
** Perianth not covering the fruit,
t Stigmas short
Leaves rhomboid. C, rubrwn.
Leaves triangular. C. botryoidet.
Leaves oblong. C, glauevm.
ft Stigmas elongated.
Leaves trisjogular. C. Bonua-ffenriau,
CHERIMOYER, the fruit of a Peruvian downy-leaved species of
Anona, the A, Cherimclia, It is described as the fruit most esteemed
Digitized by
Google
1013
CHERLERIA.
CHIMONANTHUS.
1014
by the people of the western parts of South America, and is very like
the Cuatard Apple of the West Indies. [Anoi^a.] It is a tree about
12 feet high ; the leaves are oval, pointed at both ends ; the flowers
solitary, very fragrant, of a greenish-white colour, and the fruit some-
what heart-shaped, with a scaly appearance on the outside : when
ripe it is grayish-brown, or black. The flesh is white and sweet,
mixed with several seeds of the colour of cofiee. The Creoles think
this fruit the best of the country. Baron Humboldt speaks of it in
terms of high praise, and his account is completely confirmed by the
testimony of manv officers who have been in the South American
service ; but Feuillde says, one European pear or plum is worth all the
Cherimoyers of Peru.
CHERLE'RIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
OaryophyUacece. It has 5 sepals, 5 petals (sometimes absent), 10 stamens,
the outer ones opposite to the sepals, springing from an oblong emaigi-
nate glandular base, 3 styles, a 3-valved capsule. There is only one
species which is a native of Great Britain. It was called by Linnaeus
U. tedoides. The petals are very generally wanting, the flowers are
solitary on short stalks. The stems are numerous, forming a dense
mass close to the ground. The leaves are very numerous, linear-
subulate, and finely ciliated. It is found on the summits of tibe
mountains of Scotland.
CHERRY, the fruit of the various species of Cenum, [Cerasus.]
Like most of the fruits yielded by the natural order Amygdcdacea, it
is characterised by the hardness of its endocarp, hence this part is
often called the stone. This hard part is often used for ornamental
carving, specimens of which may be seen in the museum of the
Royal Gardens at Kew. For the varieties of Cherry, and the culture
of the tree, see Cherrt, in Arts and So. Dit.
CHERRY-LAURELS. [Cerasus.]
CHERRY-TREES. [Cerasus.]
CHERSIANS. [Chelonia.]
CHERT, a variety of quartz being a kind of granular Chalcedony.
It is a transition from the smoother forms of Quartz to Homstone.
[Aqate.]
CHERVIL, a culinary vegetable, the Antkriseiu Cerefolium FAn-
thribcus] of botanists. It is an annual, and a native of the south of
Europe. Its leaves have a slight aromatic taste, and are used in soups
and salads. It is little cultivated.
CHESTNUT, BUCK'S-EYE. [Pavia.]
CHESTNUT, HORSR [^Esculus.]
CHESTNUT, SWEET. [Castanea.]
CHIASTOLITE is a name given to a variety of AnddlutUe, [Anda-
LUsiTE.] It is also called ifocic. [Macle.]
CHICA. [Biononia.]
CHICHA. [Sterculia.]
CHICK-PEA. [Cicer.]
CHICKRASSIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Cedrelacea. C. taJMarU is said to be a powerful astringent.
CHICK WEED, a common annual, with soft light-green opposite
ovate leaves, a brittle stem, and minute white petals, almost split into
two parts. It and groundsel are two plants which are to be found in
flower on any day in the year. Botanists name it Stellaria medict.
[Stellaria.]
CHICORY. [CiCHORiuM.]
CHIFF-CHAFF. [Sylvia.]
CHIGOE. [Pulex.]
CHILDRENITE, a Mineral found in Derbyshire. It occurs in
minute yellowish-brown crystals, coating spathic iron. It is supposed
to consist of phosphoric acid, alumina, and iron.
CHILINA, a genus of Testaceous Mollusks, separated by Dr. J. E.
Gray from Auricula, and including Auricula Dombeiana of Iiamarck,
and Auricula fiuviatilia of Lesson. Locality, South America, in
fresh-water streams, with most of the habits of the XuimeoL
CHILLIES. [Capsicum.]
CHILLINGHAM CATTLE. [Bovidjb.]
CHILO'GNATHA (Latreille), an order of Insects belonging to the
clast) Myriapoda. It has the following characters : — Body generally
cylindrical, and consisting of numerous crustaceous rings or segments ;
the head is furnished with two short 7-jointed antennae, and two
mandibles ; the horny substance of the mandibles does not continue
uninterruptedly from the base to the apex, but is divided in the middle
so that the upper part is, as it were, hinged to the lower by a tough
membrane; they are covered above by the fore port of the head,
which forms a kind of upper lip, and beneath by an imder lip ; this
last part is divided externally into four portions by three sutures ;
the two central portions are narrower than the outer ones, and spring
from a plate of a semicircular shape ; the apex of the under lip is fur-
nished with several large tubercles. The first segment of the body,
or that next the head, is considerably larger than the following seg-
ments. The legs are short, very numerous, and terminated by a
simple hook ; the anterior segments of the body are some of them
unprovided with legs, and others have a single pair each ; the remain-
ing segments (with the exception of the last two or three) commencing
from the fourth, fifth, or sixth from the head, are each furnished with
two pairs of legs. The sexual organs of the male are situated behind
the seventh pair of legs, and those of the female behind the second
pair. The respiratory Iriflces ore situated on the sternal part of each
segment of the body; they communicate internally with a double
series of pneumatic sacs which extend the whole length of the body,
and from which the tracheal branches spring and spread over the
other organs; these sacs are not connected with each other, as is
usually the case, by a principal trachea, A series of pores on each
side of the body have been mistaken for the stigmata, but their
orifices give vent to an acid liquid secretion which has a very disa-
greeable odour, and probably serves as a means of defence.
The ChUognathcB crawl slowly, and appear to glide over the ground,
and when touched they wUl roll themselves up spirally. They feed
upon decaying animal and vegetable substances. The genus luhti of
Linnaeus [Iulub] included all the species of this order known in his
time. It now embraces several genera and upwards of seventy species.
[Myriapoda.]
CHILOTODA (Latreille), an order of Insects belonging to the
class Myriapoda, This famUy is synonymous with the order Syi^
gnatha (Leach), and the genus Scolopendra of Liniueus. The characters
are : — Antennae thick at the base, and gradually growing slender towards
the apex, composed of fourteen or more joints ; the mouth consists of
two mandibles, which are furnished with a palpiform process, and
provided at the apex with numerous little denticulations ; covering
these is an upper lip and an under lip ; the latter is composed of four
distinct portions, of which the two outer parts are the largest, and
transversely jointed ; above this part (viewing the head from beneath)
are two palpi, which resemble legs in being terminated by a pointed
claw : covering this under lip, there is a second lip, an organ furnished
with two lateral processes, each of which is terminated by a large bent
claw, which is said to be perforated beneath by a hole through which
a poisonous liquid is ejected.
The body is depressed, composed of numerous segments, which are
covered above and beneath with plates of a homy substance, and each
segment is generally furnished with a pair of legs ; the last pair are
thrown back. The sexual organs are placed at the posterior extre-
mity of the body. The organs of respiration consist wholly or partly
of tubular tracheoe. The stigmata are placed on the sides of the
body.
These insects are carnivorous, and crawl about by night Most of
them are very active in their movements, and some emit a phosphoric
light They conceal themselves under stones and fallen trees, and are
all found in rotten wood. In hot climates some of the species grow
to an immense size (especially those of the genus Scolopendra, as it is
now restricted), and, owing to their venomotis bite, are much dreaded
by the inhabitants of those parts.
The animals conmionly known by the name of Centipedes belong
to this family. [Scolopendra.]
The species of this oi-der have been recently greatly increased. It
now embraces nearly a hundred species. rMTRiAPODA.]
CHIMiB'RA, a genus of Cartilaginous Fishes allied to the Sturgeon
and Shark sections [Sturionid^] One spedes, (7. monetrota, inha-
bits the British seas, and is known by the names of the King of the
Herrings, the Rabbit-Fish, and Sea-Monster.
CRIMMRIDM, a family of Fishes between the Sharks and the
Sturgeons, to which is referred the anomalous genua Ckinuerci,
[Sturionidjl]
CHIMA'PHILA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Pyrqlactw, C* corymbota (Pursh), the Pyrola vmhellata of Linnaeus,
the Corymbose Winteigreen, is a small evergreen woodv plant, com-
mon in the pine-forests of the north of Europe, also found in Asia
and in North America, to the Indian inhabitants of which its virtues
have been long known. The leaves possess diuretic properties joined
to a tonic power, and they impart strength and comfort to the stomach
while they increase the action of the kidneys. Applied externally,
they cause redness and vesication of the skin. Chemical analysis
shows them to consist of tannin, resin, and an acrid extractive. The
taste is at first sweet, afterwanls bitter. Their tonic and diuretic
properties render them valuable remedial agents in dropsies, espe-
cially such as follow acute diseases. They have also been given
advantageously in intermittent and even typhus fever. Dr. Chapman
ascribes a diaphoretic power to them. Infusion, decoction, and
extract are the forms in which they have been given : decoction is
preferable, of which some ounces may be given repeatedly during
the day.
CHIMONA'NTHUS, a genus of plants belongiilj; to the natural
order Calycanthacece. The species or rather varieties of this genus
are called in the gardens Japan AUspice. They are deciduous planti^
with opposite pide-green sharp-pointed rather rough leaves, of an
ovate-hmceolate figure. About the end of November these fiJl from
the bushes, and are succeeded by the flowers, whi^ appear at Christ-
mas-time upon the naked branches. They consist of an inferior calyx,
formed of a considerable number of roundish scale-like sepals, the
outermost of which are pale brown, the innermost semi-transparent^
with some tinge of yellow. The petals are yellowish ovate leaves,
stained with chocolate-red veins, and surroundmg a small number of
stamens. The fruit is a bright-brown leathery calyx-tube, inclosing
three or four oblong bright-brown polished nuts. There is probably
no plant more deliciously fragrant than this, orange flowers and violel^
not excepted. The plant is quite hardy if protected a little by a wall
or by palings. The only species is C. fragrant. Of this three yarietMS
Digitized by
Google
1015
CHIMPANZEE.
CHIMPANZEE.
lOK
are known in the gardens; the common kind, C. fntgrara, with
•mall pale-yellow flowers ; the C. f. grandifioruM, with large bright-
yellow flowers ; and another, C.f. parvijloriu, with flowers resembling
those of the first, except in being much smaller. The last is not worth
cultivating ; both the former should be found in every garden, how-
ever smalL Nothing can be more elegant as room-ornaments than
handfuls of their round flowers placed on little porcelain traya
CHIMPANZEE, the name by which one of those forms which
approach nearest to man is most generally knoi^oi. The term has
been applied to the Simla Satyrut of Linnaeus, the Oriental Orang ;
but zoologists are now agreed in its proper application to the Black
or African Orang or Pygmy {Troglodytet niger of GJeoffroy, Simia
Troglodytes of Blumenbach). Linnaeus placed the form under the
genus Homo, with the specific name Troglodyte$, next to Homo tajnent,
arranging, as we have seen above, the Asiatic Orang under the Simia.
But he seems to have confounded the two species of Orangs, which
differ veiy considerably ; for he refers to the ngure given by Bontius,
which was intended for the Asiatic, and yet he gives, quoting Pliny,
the borders of Ethiopia as its habitat, as well as Java, Amboyna,
Temate, and Moimt Ophir in Malacca. That the Chimpanzee, though
much of its organisation bears a striking resemblance to that of Man,
is separated from him by a wide interval, the accurate investigations
of modem anatomists sufficiently prove. Tyson, Camper, Blumen-
bach, Cuvier, Lawrence, and especially Owen, have set that question
at reety though Bory de St: Vincent struggled hard to retain Man and
the Orangs as members of the same zoological family. Before we refer
to the alignments of the last-named zoologist and his followers, it will
be necessary to apprize the reader that, to say nothing of the difference
of oivanisation in other parts of the body and foot, the heel-bone (os
oalcis) of man does not project backwards so far in proportion as that
of the Chimpanzee, and Lawrence notes this as an infallible human
characteristio ; ' ex calce hominem.' Bory de St. Vincent, and those
who support the theory of gradual development of animal form,
endeavour to show that the position of the great toe, upon which its
conversion into an opposeable organ, or thumb, and the consequent
transmutation of the foot into a hand, principally depends, is a cha-
racter subject to modification ; and, after a somewhat sweeping
assumption that it is the onlv difference of oi^ganisation between the
Orangs and Man, points the whole strength of bin ailment against its
value as a zoological character ; and, by a rather retrograde process
of reasoning, endeavours to support his views by giving an instance
where man, under certain circimistances, obtains a prehensile power
of foot. Calling in aid the Resiniers of the Landes of Aquitaine, he
exhibits them as having acquired a power of opposing the great toe to
the others, a faculty supposed to have been arrived at by their scan-
Borial habits in obtaining their living by gathering the resin of Pinus
maritima. " But," as PJx>fessor Owen well observes, " supposing the
extent of motion of the great toe to be sufficiently increased by con-
stant habits of climbing, or in connection with a congenital defect of
the upper extremities, yet it does not appear that the os calcis, or the
other bones of the foot, have lost any of those proportions which so
imerringly distinguish man from the ape." M. Bory, however, in his
zealous endeavours to lower the arrogance which makes man unwilling
to fraternise with apes and monkeys, is carried so far as to give vent
to this naive question : — " En effet, quatre mains ne vaudraient elles
pas mieux que deux comme 6\6meua de perfectibility ? " — " In fact,
are not four hands of more value than two as elements of perfecti-
bility ?" Now, let us look at this fallacy, for a fallacy it is. There
might be a little, and a very little after a\1, in the query, if any one
of the four hands of the Quadrwnana, or all of them put together,
approached the hand of man as an instrument of action, — an instru-
ment whereby, though bom the most helpless of animals and without
clothing or any natural protection, he has made himself master of
all, and compelled the apparently most impracticable natural produc-
tions to minister not only to his wants but to his most luxurious
imaffinatious. Let any one who is at all conversant with animal
mechanics look at the hand of a Chimpanzee, and compare it with his
own ; or let any one observe the Chimpanzee using his apology for a
thumb, and then cast his eyes on the merest hodman at his work, and
he will soon see where the advantage liea And this is not all " To
give due force to this proposition," says Professor Owen in his paper
' On the Osteology of the Chimpanzee and Orang-Utan,' " the four
hands of the ape ought to be independent of any snare in stationary
support or progression. Now, it is scarcely necessary to observe that
the perfection of the hands of man results, in a great measure, from
the free use he is enabled to make of them in consequence of the
oi^p^anisation of the lower members as exclusive instruments for sus-
taining and moving the body. It has, however, been suggested that
the hidlux (thumb) of the orang might acquire increased length and
strength during the efforts of successive generations to maintain the
erect position ; but if we look a little further into the anatomy of the
orangs, a difficulty presents itself unforeseen b^ Lamarck and Bory.
The muscle called 'flexor longus pollicis pedis' terminates, in Uie
human subject, in a single tendon, and its force is concentrated on
the great toe, the principal point of resistance in raising the body
upon the heeL In the orang, however, the analogous muscle termi-
nates in three tendons, which are inserted separately and exclusively
in the three middle toes, obviously to enable these to grasp with greater
force the boughs of trees, &c. It is surely asking too much to reqtiire
us to believe that in the course of time, under any circumstances,
these three tendons should become consolidated into one, and thst
one become implanted into a toe, to which none of the three separate
tendons were before attached. The myology of the orangs, to which
I may hereafter endeavour to direct more attention than it hag yet
received, affords many arguments equally unanswerable against the
possibility of their transmutation into a higher race of bongs."
From the same author we take the following summary comparison of
the Chimpanzee and Orang-Outan with each other, and with man :—
Skeleton of Man.
Skeleton of Chimpansee. From Own.
The Chimpanzee differs osteologically from the Orang :— 1. In
having the cranium flatter and broader in proportion to the face.
2. In having the supraciliary ridges more developed, and in the
absence of the interparietal and sagittal crests. 8. In the junction of
the temporal with the frontal bones. 4. In the greater proportional
breadth of the interorbital space. 5. In the more central position
and less oblique plane of the occipital foramen. 6. In having bat
one anterior condyloid foramen on each side, while the orang has two.
7. In having generally but one suborbital foramen on each side, while
the orang has three or more. 8. In the persistence of the cranial
sutures. 9. In the earlier obliteration of the maxillo-intermaxillaiy
sutures. 10. In the smaller proportional size of the incisive and canine
teeth, and consequent smaller development of the jaws, especially
of the intermaxillary bones. 11. In the smaller proportional siie of
the cervical vertebrae, and larger proportional size of the lumbar ver
tebrsB. 12. In the additional dorsal vertebra corresponding to the
additional pair of riba 13. In the more complete composition of the
sternum, wkich consists of a single and not double series of bones,
as in the orang. 14. In the greater sigmoid curve of the dayicl^
which in the orang is nearly straight. 16. In the less proportionw
breadth of the scapula, and the more lateral aspect of the glenoid
cavity. 16. In the less proportional breadth and greater length of the
sacrum. 17. In the less proportional breadth ^ the ilium, and greater
Digitized by
Google
1017
CHtMPAKZEE.
CHIMPAKZEK
1018
expaiudon of the ischium. 18. In the comparative shortneas of the
upper extremities, more especially of the fore-arm and hand. 19. In
the non-diyision of the pisiform bone of the wrist 20. In the greater
proportional length of the femur and tibia, and the less proportional
lengtii of the foot. 21. In the presence of a ligamentum teres, and
consequent depression in the head of the femur. 22. In the greater
proportional size of the tarsus as compared with the phalanges of the
toes. 23. In having constantly two phalanges in the hallux or great
toe with a nail, while the ungueal phalanx and nail are often wanting
in the hallux of the orang, especially in that of the female.
The chimpanzee approximates more nearly to the human structure
in those deviations which are numbered i, 5, 6, 7, S, 9, 10, 12, 13, 17,
18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23.
The orang has a nearer resemblance to man : — 1. In the junction
of the sphenoid with the parietal bones. 2. In having twelve pairs
of ribs. 3. In the form of the scapula, especially in its greater
breadth.
Owen well observes that it is a result of the preceding comparison
that the chimpanzee ought to rank above the orang in a descending
series, and not below it as in the 'R^gne Animal' of Cuvier.
Linnscus, as we have seen, gave the chimpanzee that superiority of
rank, but erred as much on the other side by placing it under the
genus Homo, for both the chimpanzee and orang, according to Owen,
differ in structure from the human subject : — 1. In the diastema, or
interval between the cuspidati and incisors in the upper jaw, and
between the cuspidati and biouspides of the lower jaw. 2. In the
greater magnitude of tiie intermaxillary bones, indicated in the adult
by the distance of the foramina incisiva from the incisive teeth ; both
of which differences result from the greater proportional develop-
ment and dififerent forms of the cuspidati and incisors. These, as
the author observes, are differences of generic value. 3. In the more
backward position and oblique plane of the occipital foramen. 4. In
the smaller proportional size of ihe occipital condyles. 5. In the
larger proportional size of
the petrous bones. 6. In
the greater proportional de*
velopment of tne jaws. 7.
In the flatness of the nasal
bone, which is rarely divided
in the mesial line, while in
man the nasal bones are as
rarely consolidated into one.
8. In the presence of the
ant -auditory process of
the temporal bone, and the
absence of the mastoid and
styloid processes. 9. In the
absence of the process of
the ethmoid, called crista
gain 10. In the shortness
and comparative weakness
of the lumbar region of the
Stinal column; which is
80 composed of four in-
stead of five vertebrae. 11.
In the narrowness and pro-
portional length of the
sacrum. 12. In the flatness
of the ilia, and the larger
development and outward
curvature of the ischia. 13.
In the position of the pelvis
in relation to the spine. 14. '
In the lai^r proportional
development of the chest, i
15. In the greater length of |
the upper extremities. 16.
In the wider interval be-
tween the ulna and radius.
17. In the shortness and
weakness of the thumb, and
narrowness of the hand in
relation to its length. 18.
In the shortness of the
lower extremities. 19. In
the greater proportional
length and narrowness of
the foot. 20. In the small
sizeof theoscalds. 21. In
the shortness and oppose-
able condition of the hallux.
Skeleton of Orang-Outan. From Owen.
" These differences," adds Professor Owen, "result from original
formation, and are not liable to be weakened in any material degree,
either on the one hand, by a degradation of the human species, or, on
the other hand, by the highest cultivation of which the anthropoid
apes are susceptible."
In following out this osteological comparison it becomes necessary,
for the assistance of the student, to give a sketch of the cranial
WcU-developcd Human SkulU
Skull of Haman Idiot. From Owen.
Skull of Chimpanxee. From Owen.
Skull of Orang-Outan. From Owen.
Digitized by
Google
1019
CHIlttPANZEK
CHIMPANZEK
deyelopment in man and in the anthropoid apes, so that he may have
under his eye the comparative form of each.
We cannot do better than give the folio w^ing conclusive statements
of Professor Owen.
" Certain modifications in the form of the human pelvis have been
observed to accompany the different forms of the cranium which
characterise the different races of mankind ; but there is nothing in
the form of the pelvis of the Australian or Negro which tends to
diminish the wide hiatus that separates the bimanous from the
quadrumanous type of structure in regard to this part of the
skeleton. Observation has not yet shown that the pelvis of the orang,
in a state of captivity, undeigoes any change approximating it
towards the peculiar form which the same part presents in the human
subject. The idea that the iliac bones would become expanded and
curved forwards, from the pressure of the superincumbent viscera,
consequent on habitual attempts at progression on the lower
extremities, is merely speculative. Those features of the cranium of
the orangs which stamp the character of the irrational brute most
strongly upon their frame, are however of a kind, and the result of a
law, originally impressed upon the species, which cannot be supposed
to be modified under any circumstances, or during any lapse of time;
for what external influence operating upon and around the animal can
possibly modify in its offspring the forms, or alter the size, of the
deeply-seated germs of the permanent teeth ? They exist before the
animal is bom ; and let him improve his thinking faculties as he may,
they must, in obedience to an irresistible law, pass through the phases
of their development, and induce those remarkable changes in the
maxillary portion of the skull which give to the adult orangs a more
bestial form and expression of head than many of the inferior Simia:
present. It is true that in the human subject the cranium varies in
its relative proportions to the face in different tribes, according to
the degree of civilisation and cerebral development which they
attain ; and that in the more debased Ethiopian varieties, and
Papuans, the skull makes some approximation to the quadrumanous
proportions : but in these cases, as well as when the cranium is
distorted by artificial means or by congenital malformation, it is
always accompanied by a form of the jaws, and by a disposition and
proportions of the teeth, which afford unfailing and impassable
generic distinctions between man and the ape. To place this propo-
sition in the most unexceptionable light, I lutve selected the cranium
of a human idiot, in whom nature may be said to have performed for
us the experiment of arresting the development of the brain almost
exactly at the size which it attains in the chimpanzee, and where the
intellectual faculties were scarcely more developed ; yet no anatomist
would hesitate in at once referring this cranium to the human species.
A detailed comparison with the (»-anium of the chimpanzee or orang
shows that all those characters are retained in the idiot's skull which
constitute the differential features of the human structure. The
cranial cavity extends downwards below the level of the glenoid
articulatory surfaces. The nasal bones are two in number, and
prominent. The jaws and teeth exhibit the bimanous characters as
strongly as in the most elevated of the human race. The cuspidati
do not project beyond the contiguous teeth, and consequently there
are no interruptions in the dental series, as in the orangs, where they
are required to lodge the disproportionate crowns of the canine
teeth."
M. Geoffroy St Hilaire characterised the sub-genus Troglodytes
from immature Chimpanzees ; and as Professor Owen's observations
were made upon the skeleton of an adult individual, and he has
consequently altered the zoological characters given by Geofl&xjyj we
follow Professor Owen's definition.
Sub-Qenus Troglodytes.
Dental formula the same aa in the human subject; namely,
incisors, _ ; canines, _ ; bicuspids, _ ; molars, _ <= 82.
The teeth approximate in their proportionate size much more
nearly thfm those of the orang to the human teeth ; but they manifest
in their relative position the absence of the character which, with one
anomalous exception — ^that of the fossil genus Anoplotherium — is
peculiar, among mammifers, to man ; namely, unbroken proximity.
Muzzle long, truncated anteriorly; strong supraoiliary ridges,
behind which the forehead recedes directly backwards; no cranial
ridges. Facial angle 35**, excluding the supraciliary ridges. Auricles
large. Thirteen pairs of ribs ; bones of the sternum in a single row.
Arms reaching below the knee-joint. Feet wide ; hallux extending
to the second joint of the adjoining toe. Canines large, overpassing
each other ; the apices lodged in intervals of the opposite teeth.
Intermaxillary bones anchylosed to the maxillaries during the first or
deciduous dentition.
Troglodytes nigcr (GeoflBroy), Simla Troglodytes (Blumenbach), the
Chimpanzee, Black Orang, or Pigmy. In the young state the animal
has been named Jocko.
The following is the description by Dr. Traill of a young female,
about 80 inches high, which was brought to Liverpool by Captain
Payne : — " The skin appeai*s of a yellowish-white colour, and is thinly
covered with long black hair on the front ; but it is considerably
more hairy behind. The hair on the head is rather thin, and is
thickest on the forehead, where it divides about an inch above the
orbital process of the frontal bone, and running a little backwards
falls down before the ears, forming whiskers on the cheeks. Here the
hair measures nearly two inches long ; but that on the occiput is not
above an inch in length. There are a few stiff black hairs on the
eyebrows, and a scanty eyelash. A few whitish hairs are scattered on
the lips, especially on the under one. The rest of the face is naked,
and has whitish and wrinkled skin. There is scarcely any liair on the
neck ; but, commencing at the nape, it becomes somewhat bushy on
the back. The abdomen is nearly naked. The hair on the back of
the head, and the whole trimk, front of the lower extremities, back
of the legs, and upper part of the superior extremities is directed
downwai^s, while that on the back df the thigh and fore-arms is
pointed upwards — appearances well represented in Tyson's figure.
The longest hair is just at the elbows. Tliere is none on the fingers
or palms of either extremity. The ears are remarkably prominent,
thin, and naked, bearing a considerable resemblance in shape to the
human, though broader at the top. The projection of the process
above the eyes is very conspicuous, but has not been sufficiently
marked in any engraving or drawing which has fallen imder my
observation. The nose is quite flat, or rather appears only as a
wrinkle of the skin with a ^ight depression along its centre. The
nostrils ai*o patulous and open upwards, which would be inconvenient
did the animal usually assume the erect posture. The projection of
the jaws is excessive, and though much less so than in the baboon,
yet the profile of the face is concave. It may be remarked however
that the projection of the lower jaw is caricatured in the first and
second figures of Camper's second plata The mouth is wide, the
lips rather thin, and destitute of that recurvation of the edges which
adds so much to the expression of the human countenance. The
spread of the shoulders is distinctly marked, but the width of the
lower part of the chest is proportionally greater when compared to
the upper than in man. From the lower ribs the .diameter of the
abdomen decreases rapidly to the loins, where the animal is pecu-
liarly slender — a circumsttuice in which it approaches the other Simice,
The pelvis appears long and narrow, another approximation to the
rest of the genua. With regard to the limbs, the chief difference
between our specimen and Dr. Tyson's figure consists in the excessive
length of the arms, which in this animal descend below the knees, by
the whole len^h of the phalanges of the fingers, which are above
three inches m length. The same observation applies to almost
every figure of this animal which I have seen. The proportions in
the work of Camper approach nearest, in the present instance, in this
particular. The hand differs from the human in having the thumb
by far the smallest of the fingers. The foot is more properly a hand
appended to a tarsus. The thumb of this extremity is very long,
powerful, and capable of great extension. The legs are certainly
furnished with calves; but they scoreely resemble the human in
form, because they are continued of equal thickness nearly to the
heeL Wlien this animal is erect the knees appear considerably bent,
as is the case with the other SimicBf and it" stands with the limbs
more apart than man." This description applies to the various
specimens of this creature which have been exhibited in the Gardens
of the Zoological Society in Regent's Park, London. At the present
time (November 1853) a young male is in the collection. The last
specimens were a male and female ; the latter died of consumption^
and her disconsolate companion soon followed.
Africa is the only part of the world known to be the residence of
the Chimpanzee, which it should be remembered has been confirmed,
as Cuvier observes, by almost all zoologists. The specimen described
by Dr. Traill was procured in the Isle of Princes, in the Gulf of
Guinea, from a native trader, who had carried it thither from the
banks of the Gkiboon. The individual exhibited in the E^gyptiaa
Hall, Piccadilly, in 1831, had been obtained by a trading vessel on the
river Gambia ; and those exhibited at the CJardens of the Zoological
Society have all been brought from the coast of Africa. Cuvier gives
Guinea and Congo as its localities. The subject of Professor Owen's
paper was shot by a European at Sierra Leone.
Habits. — The habits of the Chim|>auzee in a state of nature are but
imperfectly known. Cuvier states that the Chimpanzees live in troops,
construct themselves huts of leaves, arm themselves with sticks and
stones, and employ these weapons to drive man and the elephant
from their dwellings. He also repeats the story of their pursuit of
the negresses and carrying them off into the woods. This report is
still credited in the country where they are found. Speaking of
Captain Payne, Dr. Traill, in his interesting paper in the * Wemerian
Transactions,' says, " The natives of Gaboon informed him that this
species attains the height of five or six feet ; that it is a formidable
antagonist to the elephant ; and that several of them will not scruple
to attack the lion and other beasts of prey with clubs and stones. It
is dangerous for solitary individuals to travel through the woods
haimted by the orang, and instances were related to Captain Payne of
negro girls being carried off by this animal, who have sometimes
escaped to human society after having been for years detained by
their ravishers in a frightful captivity. These reports confirm the
narratives of the early voyagers, who have often been suspected of
exaggemtion ; and similar facts have been recently stated, very circum-
stantially, by gentlemen who have lived in Western Africa." As it is
Digitized by
Google
1021
CHIMPANZEE.
CHIMPANZEE.
102S
now however well made out that there are two species of Chimpanzee
inhabiting the Ghiboon, and the larger of the two has not been seen
alive in Europe, it is probable the habits of the two aniTn^la have
been confounded.
In a state of captivity its manners have been the theme of many a
tale and much adiniration ; and as most of the individuals described
have died veiy young, conjecture has been busy as to the progress the
animal might taake if its education were continued to the adult state.
** Deductions,*' says Professor Owen in his paper above referred to,
"in favour of the anthropomorphous character of the orangs have
been derived from observation of the living habits of young orangs ;
but these cannot be regarded as affording a type of the nature of the
adults, since it is well known that the docility and gentle manners of
the youne ape rapidly give way to an unteachable obstinacy and
untameable ferocity in the adult ; at least of those species to which,
as I shall afterwards show, the fuU-sfrown orangs have the nearest
resemblance in the form of the head.
Chimpansee [TYoglodytet niffer).
Captain Payne thus describes the manners of the linimal which
formed the subject of Dr. Traill's paper. " When our animal came
on board," says Captain Payne, *' it shook hands with some of the
sailors, but refused its hand with marks of anger to others without
any apparent cause. It speedily however became familiar with the
crew, except ono boy, to whom it never was reconciled. When the
seamen's mess was brought on deck it was a constant attendant ;
would go round and embrace each person while it uttered loud yells,
and then seat itself among them to share the repast." It sometimes
expressed its anger by a dirking noise like a dog; at others it would
cry like a froward child, and scratch itself most vehemently. When
any favourite morsel was given to it, sweetmeats more especially, it
expressed its satisfaction by a sound like 'hem,' in a grave tone.
The variety of its tones seems to have been small. It was active and
cheerful in wann latitudes, but languor came on as it left the torrid
zone ; and on approaching our shores it manifested a desire for warm
covering, and would roll itself carefully up in a blanket when it went
to rest. It generally progressed on all fours, and Captain Payne
particularly observed that it never placed the palms of the hands of
its anterior extremities on the ground, but closing its fists rested on
the knuckles. This mode of progression noticed by Tyson was con-
firmed to Dr. Traill by a young naval officer who had been for a
considerable time employed in the rivers of Western Africa, and had
opportunities of observing the habits of this species. Captain Payne's
animal did not seem fond of the erect posture, which it rarely affected,
though it could run nimbly on two feet for a short distance. In this
case it appeared to aid the motion of its legs by grasping the thighs
with its bands. It had great strength in the four fingers of its
superior extremity; for it would often swing by them on a rope
upwards of an hour without intermission. When first procured it
was so thickly covered with hair that the skin of the trunk and limbi
was scarcely visible until the long black hair was blown aside. It ate
readily every sort of vegetable food ; but at first did not appear to
relish flesh, though it seemed to have pleasure in sucking the leg-bone
of a fowl. At that time it did not relish wine, but afterwards seemed
to like it, though it never could endure ardent spirits. It once stole
a bottle of wine, which it uncorked with its teeth and began to drink.
It showed a predilection for coffee, and was immoderately fond of
sweet articles of food. It learned to feed itself with a spoon, to drink
out of a glass, and showed a genei-al disposition to imitate the actions
of men. It was attracted by bright metals, seemed to take a pride in
clothing, and often put a cocked hat on its head. It was dirty in
its habits, and never was known to wash itself It was afraid of fire-
arms; and on the whole appeared a timid animal. It lived with
Captain Payne seventeen weeks, two of which were spent in Cork and
Liverpool At the former place it was exhibited for the benefit of
the soup-kitchen for a few days, but seems to have been there
neglected. On coming to Liverpool it languished for a few days,
moaned heavily, was oppressed in its breathing, and died with oon-
vidsive motions of the limbs.
T. Chrilla, Savage {T. Savagei, Owen), the Gorilla, or Great
Chimpanzee. In the * Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1848
a description is given by Professor Owen of the skulls of adult and
aged mole and female Chimpanzees fix>m the Gaboon Hivcr, much
exceeding in size, and specifically distinct from the previously known
T. niger. At that time Professor Owen proposed to call the species
T. Savageif in honour of Dr. Savage, an American missionary, who
had first obtained specimens of this Chimpanzee, and described its
character and habits. In a letter to Professor Owen, dated " Protestant
Mission House, Gaboon River, West Africa, April, 1847," Dr. Savage,
after describing the existence of this Chimpanzee, says, " As yet I
have been unable to obtain more than a part of a skeleton. It belongs
to the Simiada, and is closely allied to the orangs proper. It reaches
nearly, if not quite, the height of five feet in the adult state, and is
of a large size. I am considerably in doubt in regard to its identity
with an animal said to have been known to Buffon as a large species
of orang-outan imder the name of Pongo." After the receipt of Dr.
Savage's letter and specimens, Professor Owen received skulls from
Mr. Stutchbtuy, of Bristol, which had been collected by Captain
Wagstaff, who shortly after died. " The only information which Mr.
Stutchbury was able to obtain from him was, that the natives, when
they succeed in killing one of these chimpanzees make a ' fetish ' of
the cranium. The specimens bore indications of the sacred marks in
broad red stripes, crossed by a white stripe, of some pigment which
could be washed off. Their superstitious reverence of these hideous
remains of their formidable and dreaded enemy adds to the difficulty
of obtaining specimens."
The following are the points by which the T. Gorilla is distinguished
from T. niger : —
"1. By its greater size. 2. By the size and form of the super-
ciliary ridges. 3. By the existence of the large occipital and inter-
parietal crests in the males, and by rudiments of the same in
females. 4. By the great strength and arched form of the zygomatic
arches. 5. By the form of the anterior and posterior nasal orifices.
6. By the structure of the infra-orbital cansd. 7. By the existence
of an emargination on the posterior part of the hard palate. 8. The
incisive alveoli do not project beyond the line of the rest of the face,
as in the chimpanzee and orang. 9. The distance between the nasal
orifice and the edge of the incisive alveoli is less than in the
chimpanzee. 10. The ossa nasi are* more narrow and compressed
superiorly."
Professor Owen concludes his paper on the anatomy of this creature
by the following remarks : — " The analogy which the establishment
of the second and more formidable species of chimpanzee in Africa
has brought to light between the representation of the genus
Troglodytes in that continent and that of the genus Pithecut in the
great islands of the Indian Archipelago, is very close and interesting.
As the T. Oorilla parallels the Pithecus Wurmhii [Pithbcus], so the
T, niger parallels the P. moi'io ; and an unexpected illustration has
thus been gained of the soundness of the interpretation of the
specific distinction of that smaller and more anthropoid orang. It
is not without interest to observe that as the generic forms of the
Q^oAid/rvmcma approach the Bimanous order, they are represented by
fewer species. The Gibbons (Jlylobates) scarcely number more than
half a dozen species ; Pithecus has but two species, or at most three;
Troglodytes is represented by two species.
" The imity of the human species I regard as demonstrated by the
constancy of those osteological and dental characters, to which my
attention has been more particularly directs in the investigation of
the corresponding characters in the higher Quddrumanaf and the
importance of the comparison will justify the minuteness with which
they have been detailed.
" Man is the sole species of his genus, the sole representative of
his order ; he lias no nearer physical relations with the brute kind
than those which mark the primary (unguiculate) division of the
placental sub-class of Mammalia.** (* Tran. ZooL Soc.' voL iii)
Digitized by
Google
1083
CHINABARK.
CHINCHILLIDJS.
1Q24
CHINA-BAKK, a name given to the bark of £uaM hexandrOf a
plant belonging to the natural order Cinchonacece. It is uaed as
a febrifuge, but is less powerful than the barks obtained from the
species of OmchoMi. [Cinchoitacbje.]
CHINCHI'LLIDiB, a family of animals belonging to the order
JRodewtict,
This family is defined by Mr. Bennett, to whom we are principally
indebted for our knowledge of the species, as follows : —
Upper incisors simple ; molars, 7 — 7, consisting of two or three
t»nial or riband-like bony lamells or plates, parallel with each other,
entirely surrounded with a vitreous substance ; the crowns exactly
opposite to each other and flattened by attrition. The posterior
limbs nearly twice as long as the anterior. The tail produced, with
long and somewhat bristly hairs above and at the tip. The ChinckUr
Ud<B are gregarious and subterranean in their habits, and mild in
disposition. Mr. Waterhouse, in his ' Natural History of Mammalia,'
makes the CMnchUlma a sub-family of the family Hyttricidcs of the
Rodentifi, It embraces the following genera, — Lagidium, Lagottomut,
and ChtnckUUi,
Lagidtwn (Lagotit, Bennett).
Incisors, — ; molars, ^ — ^ =
2 4—4
20.
The incisors are sharpened, and each molar consists of three complete
oblique plates. Skidl arched posteriorly and above; the superior
cdlides of the tympanum inconspicuous. All the feet 4 -toed, the
great toe being entirely absent ; nails long and subfalcular. Ears very
long. Tail long. Fur soft, but caducous. r
L. Onvieri, Wagner (Lagotit Otivieri, Bennett). Sizo and much of
the general form of the rabbit. Posterior limbs twice the length of
the anterior : tail about equal in length to the body, excluding the
head. Whiskers very numerous, closely set, jet black, ten or twelve
of the longest on each side being exceedingly thick and rigid, and
seven inches long. Ears nearly like a long parallelogram, rounded at
the tip, three inches long and one inch broad, with the mai^gins
rolled in below, so sparingly furnished with short scattered hairs as to
appear almost naked. Fore feet like the hinder, with four toes only,
there being no vestige of a thumb ; claws small, slightly sharpened,
and entirely concealed by long and somewhat bristly hairs ; those of
the hinder feet similar in shape and rather larger, but that of the
inner toe flattened, curved inwards, and exposed, the immediately
adjoining hairs giving place to a tuft of about eight rows of short
stiff homy curved bristles, approaching nearly in rigidity to the
comb-like appendage found in almost the same situation in the
Ctenomya Masaonii of Gray. A similar structure occurs in the CMi^
cHUUl The fur is beautifully sofk, downy, and of considerable
length, but so loosely
attached to the skin
Uiat it readily falls
off, unless handled
with care. It is
dusky at the base
and to within a short
distance of the tip,
where, for an extent
of from one to three
lines, it Ib dirty-
white, more or less
tinged with yel-
lowish-brown. A
few long black hairs,
most numerous pos
teriorly, protrude
through itb The
genend tone of
colour is a mottled
grayish-ash. On the
sides of the neck and
body, where the tips
of the fur merge
more into yellowi^-
brown than on the
back, and where they
are also of greater
length, as weU as on
the haunches and
beneath, the latter
tinge appears rather
more predominant.
There is little of the
duskv colour visible
on the under surface. The hairs of the tail below are extremely
short, doeely depressed, and of a brownish-black; on its sides
they are of two kinds, black and white ; and this is also the
case with the very long rigid and erectile hairs which form a crest
along its upper surface. The very long bristly hairs which project
in a tuft at the tip are wholly block.
Mr. Bennett believes this species to be the Viscacha of all the
I
k&i
writers from Pedro de Cieca downwards, including Acosta, Garcilasso,
Peter de Laet, Nierembei^, Feuill^e, Ulloa, Yidaur^ Molina,
Schmidtmeyer, and Stevenson, who have stated that animal to be an
inhabitant of the western or Peruvian declivities of the Andes.
Messrs. BlainvUle, Desmarest, and Lesson are among the modern
zoologists who have noticed the Viscacha; Lesson, in his 'Manuel,'
apparently confounding the eastern and western species, gives it as
the LepuM Vitcaccia of Gmelin, places it among the hares, and
quotes Desmarest, as expressing his opinion in his ' Mammalogie,'
that it ought to be the type of a new genus under which the
Chinchilla might bo perhaps arranged.
L, pcUlipei {Lagotit palltpet, Bennett). The fur of this species, he
observes, is perhaps even softer to the touch than that of L. Cwcieri ;
a feel which is probably owing to its being less dense, on account of
the comparative shortness of the hairs composing it; the fur of
L, Cuvieri imparting to the hand the sensation of fulness and conse-
quent finnness, while that of L. pallipei is yielding with its softness.
The hairs in both species, especially those which form the mass of
the fur, are wavy for the grcit part of their length, their tips only
being straight ; those of the middle of the sides measure, when their
natwral waves are not interfered with, three-quarters of an inch in
L. pallipety and an inch and a quarter in L. Cuvieru In neither of
these species however is the quality of the fur at all comparable to
that of Chinchilla lanigera.
The following is the English version (1709) of the passage in Pedro
de Cie9a'B 'Chronica del Peru ' (1554), descriptive of the habits of
these animsls : — " There is another sort of creature they call viscacha,
about the bigness of and resembling a hare, but that it has a long tail
like a fox. These breed in stony places and among rocks, and m«ny
of them are shot with guns and crossbows, and taken by tho Indians
in gins (with the lasso), they being good to eat after hanging to
tender ; and of their hair or wool the Indians make large mantlea,
cloaks, or bhmkets, as soft as silk, and very valuable." Ulloa's
accoimt (*Noticias Americanas,' 1772) is, in the opinion of Mr.
Bennett (whose translation we adopt), the best history that has been
given of its habits and manners. " Taking the place of the rabbit,
which is wanting in Peru, there is another kind of animal called
viscacha, which is not found in Quito. In form, and in the colour of
its fur, it is similar to the rabbit, but differs from it in having a long
tail furnished with tufted hair (like that of the squirrel), which is
very thin towards the root, but thick and long as it approaches the
tip. It does not carry its toil turned over the head like the squirrel,
but stretched out, as it were, in a horizontal direction ; its joints are
slender and scaly. These animals conceal themselves in holes of the
rocks, in which they make their retreats, not forming burrows in
the earth like rabbits. There they congregate in considerable
numbers, and aro
mostly seen in a
sitting pojfture, but
not eating ; they feed
on the herbs and
shrubs that grow
among the rocks,
and are very active.
Their means of
escape do not con-
sist in thevelodtjof
their flight, but in
the promptitude
with which they run
to the shelter of their
holes. This they
commonly do when
wounded ; for which
reason the mode of
killing them is hy
shooting them in the
head ; as, if they re-
ceive the chaige in
any other part, al-
though much in-
jured, they do not
fail to go and die in
the interior of their
burrows. They hare
this peculiarity, that
as soon as they die
their hair falls off;
and on this account,
although it la softer
and somewhatlonger
, cannot be made use
of for common purposes. The flesh is white but not well flavoured,
being especially distasteful at certain seasons, when it is altogether
repugnant to the palate." Molina speaks of the employment of its
wool among the ancient Peruvians, adding that the ChilisnB of the
present day (his work was originally published in 1782, and
reprinted with additions in 1810) use it in the manufacture of hata.
Sts^^^^
I
Skeleton of Lagotii (Smtri.
Skull seen from above ; 5, the same seen from below ; e, lower Jaw seen from above ; i, crowns of the two
anterior molar teeth of the lower jaw enlarged ; «, crowns of tho two posterior molar teeth of the
upper Jaw enlarged.
and finer than that of the rabbit> the skin
Digitized by
Google
1026
CHINCHILLID^.
CHINCHILLIDiE.
1024
Its burrows, acoording to the report of eTe-witQeeaeB, have two flats,
commanicatixig hy a spiral staircase ; in we lower it deposits its food,
while it lives in the upper, which it seldom quits except at night.
It collects round the mouth of its burrow whatever has been left
behind or lost by travel-
lers : and its flesh, which
is white and tender, is
prefeired to that of the
rabbit or hare. But this
account is liable to the
same objections as that
in the 'Journal de Phy-
sique.' Dr. Tschudi, in
his 'Fauna Peruana*' has
oomfinned most of these
particulars, with regard to
the habits of the Viscachas,
and also the distinction
between the two species
above named. IhPenumwn
of Meyer, and Callomyt
aurcM of Oeoffroy and
D'Orbigny, are probably
varieties of X. Cuvieri,
ChinchiUa. Xncisom,^:
2*
molars,
LagotU
The molars generally
consist of three complete
oblique plates, except
the anterior lower moliur,
which has but two lameUsB, the anterior lamella being deeply bilobated.
Skull posteriorly retuso-trunoated, above depressedly flattened; cellules
of the tympanum oonspicuoualy inflated. Anterior feet 5-toed, pos-
terior feet 4-toed, the nails small and subfalcular. The ears ample.
The tail rather long.
C. Umigerci, The length of the body is about nine inches, and that
of the tail nearly five. Its proportions are close-set, and its limbs
comparatively short, the posterior being considerably longer than the
anterior. The fur is long, thick, close, woolly, somewhat crisped, and
entangled together, grayish or ash-coloured abovo, and i>aler beneath.
The form of the head resembles that of the rabbit ; the*eyes are full,
large, and black ; and the ears broad, naked, rounded at tne tips, and
nearly as long as the head. The moustaches are plentiful and very
long, the Ictogest being twice the length of the head, some of them
black and others white. Four short toes, with a distinct rudiment of
a thumb, terminate the anterior feet ; and the posterior are furnished
with the same number, three of them long, the middle more produced
with long bushy hairs ; it is usually kept turned tlpwards towards the
back, but not reverted as in the squirrels.
The best account of the anatomy of this animal, from the dissection of
one which diedin the menagerie of the Society, was given by Mr. TarreU,
in the ' Proceedings of the
Zoological Society,' in
1881. In this paper
Mr. Tairell remarks thaC
in some previously pub-
lished observations, ha
had stated that the
Chinchilla appeared to
be closely allied to Mr.
Brooke's Lagariomui, but
that the more compli-
cated structure of the
teeth, and the existence
of an additional toe on
each of the feet, require
for the Chinchilla the ge-
neric distinction daimed
for it by Mr. Bennett and
Dr. J. £. Gray. He adds
that the resemblance of
the skeleton to that of
the Jerboa is also remark-
able, particularly in the
form of the head, in the
excessive development of
the auditorjr cavities, and
the small size of the an-
Cttueri, terior extremities com-
pared with the hind logs.
Although an extensive trade has been carried on in the skins of
this interestmg little animal, it is only within the last few years
that it has been seen alive in this countiy.
The earliest aocoimt of this animal, as cited by Mr. Bennett, is an
English translation (London, 1604) of Father Joseph Acosta's ' Natural
and Moral History of the East and West Indies,' published at Baioe-
lona» in Spanish, in 1591. " The Chinchilles is another kind of small
beasts, like squirrels ; they have a woonderfull smoothe and soft skinne,
which they (the natives) weare as a healthfull thing to comfort the
stomacke and those parts that have neede of a moderate heate." Sir
John Hawkins, in his ' Voyage into the South Sea, A.D. 1593 ' (London,
small folio, 1622, reprinted in ' Purohas his Pilgrims '), says, " Amongst
others they have little beastes, like unto a squirrell, but that he is
grey ; his skinne is the most delicate, sofl^ and curious furre that I
have scene, and of much estimation (as is reason) in Peru ; few of
them come into Spaine, because difficult to be come by, for tiiat the
princes and nobles laie wait for them ; they call tlus beast Chin-
Skeleton of ChinehiUa lantgtra.
a, Sknll seen from a1)ove ; 6, the same seen from below ; «, lower Jaw seen from above.
than the two lateral ones, and the fourth, external to the others, very
short and placed fax behind. On all these toes the daws are chort^
and nearly hidden bv tufts of bristly hairs. The tail is about half
the length of the body, of equal thickness throughout^ and covered
VAT. HIST. DIT. TOL. 1.
chilla, and of them they have great abmidanoe." Alonso de OvaUe^
in his < Historical Belation of the Kingdom of Chili' (Rome, 1646),
calls them squirrels. " The squirrels (Ardas) which are found only
in the valley of Qunsco, ore ash-colourcHl, and their skins are in great
9 u
Digitized by
Google
1027
CHINCHILLIDJS.
CHINCHILLID^
esteem for the fineness and softness of the for." An anonymous
Italian author, supposed by some bibliographers— erroneously; as Hr.
Bennett thinks— to be the Abb^ Vidaur^, who publishad at Hologntk,
in 1776, a 'Compendium of the Qeographicu, Natural, and Cmi
History of the Kingdom of Chili,' speaks of the Arda (Spanish for a
squirrel) as a species of rat> or campagnol, of the size of a cat, found
only in the province of Copaipo, moderatdy docile, and covered with
ash-coloured wool, as close and delicate as the finest cotton. Buffon,
and that too after quoting Feuill^e's excellent description, confounded
it with the Chinche, the most stinking of beasts. D'Azora corrected
this error, but falls into another himself, in regarding the Chinche of
Feuill^ and Buffon as his Yagouar^. Molina (' Natural History of
Chili ' — Italian, Bologna, 1782) describes the Chinchilla as a species of
Linnsean Mus, \mder the name of Mu$ laniger. Qmelin adopted the
appellation, but M. G^offroy St. Hilaire considered that it ou|;ht to
be regarded as one of his Hamsten. Zoologists generally took up this
opinion, and Molina, in a second edition of his Essay (1810) seems to
have entertained it. " The Chinchilla," says Molina, " is another spe-
cies of field-rat, in great estimation for the extreme 'fineness of its
wool, if a rich fur as delicate as the silken webs of the garden-spiders
may be so termed. It is of an ash-gray, and sufficiently long for
spinning. The little animal which produces it is six inches long from
the nose to the root of the tail, with small pointed ears, a short muzzle,
teeth like the house-rat, and a tail of moderate leiigth, clothed with a
delicate fur. It lives in burrows undeiground, in the open country
of the northern provinces of Chili, and is very fond of being in com-
pany with others of its spedes. It feeds upon the roots of various
bulbous plants which grow abundantly in those parts ; and produces
twioe a year five or six young ones. It is so dodle and mild in tem-
per that if taken into the hands it neither bites nor tries to escape, but
seems to take a pleasure in being caressed. If placed in the bosom it
remains there as still and quiet as if it were in its own nest This
extraordinary placidity may possibly be rather due to its pusillani-
mity, which renders it extramely timid. As it is in itself peculiarly
cleanly, there can be no fear of it soiling the clothes of those who
handle it, or of its communicating any bad smell to them, for it is
entirely free from that ill odour which characterises the other species
of rats. For this reason it might well be kept in the houses with no
annoyance, and at a trifling expense, which would be abundantly
repaid by the profits on its wool. ' The ancient Peruvians, who were
£Eir more industrious than the modem, made of this wool coverlets
for beds and valuable stuffs. There is found in the same northern
provinces another little animal with fine wool, called tiie Hardilla,
which is variously described by those who have seen it ; but as I have
never observed it myself, I cannot determine to what genus it belongs."
Upon this, Mr. Bennett, whose translation we have given, remarks that
there can be little doubt that this animal is identical with the Chin-
chilla, the latter being frequently spoken of by the name of Arda, the
same with Harda, the diminutive of which is Hardilla. Schxnidt-
meyer ('Travels into Chile over the Andes,' London, 4to, 1824), thus
describes the animal : — " The Chinchilla is a woolly field-mouse, whidi
lives underground, and chiefly feeds on wild onions. Its fine fur is
well known in Europe ; that which comes from Upper Peru is rougher
and larger than the Chinchilla of Chile, but not always so beautiful in
its colour. Qreat numbers of these animals are caught in the neigh-
bourhood of Coquimbo and Copiapo, generally by boys with dogs,
and sold to traders who bring them to Santiago and Valparaiso, from
whence they are exported. The Peruvian skins are either brought to
Buenos Ayres from the eastern parts of the Andes, or sent to Lima.
The extensive use of this fur has lately occasioned a very considerable
destruction of the animals."
Captain Beechey, RN., on his return from his expedition to the
north-west coast of America, presented a living specimen to the Zoolo-
gical Society; and an entire skin, rendered particularly valuable in
consequence of its having the skuU preserved in it. was at the same
time brought home by Mr. Collie^ tne suigeon of Captain Beechey's
ship, and deposited in the British Museum.
** To the acooimt of its habits given by Molina," says Mr. Bennett, ** we
can only add, that it usually sits upon its haunches, and is even able to
raise itself up and stand upon its ninder feet. It feeds in a sitt&g pos-
ture, grasping its food and conveying it to its mouth by means of its
fore paws. In its temper it is generally mild and tractable, but it
will not always suffer itself to be handled without resistance, and
sometimes bites the hand which attempts to fondle it when not in a
humour to be played with. Although a native of the alpine valleys
of Chili, and consequently subjected in its own country to the ejects
of a low temperature of the atmosphere, against which its thick coat
affords an admirable protection, it was thought necessary to keep it
during the winter in a moderately warm room, and a piece of fiannel
was even introduced into its sleeping-apartment for its greater com-
fort. But this indulgence was most pertinaciously rejected, and as
often as the flannel was replaced, so often was it dragged by the little
animal into the outer compartment of its cage, where it amused itself
with pulling it about, rolling it up, and shaking it with its feet and
teeth. In other respects it exhibits but little playfulness, and gives
few signs of activity ; seldom disturbing its usual quietude by any
sudden or extraordinary gambols, but occasionally displaying strong
symptoms of alarm when startled by any unusual occurrence. A
second individual of this interesting spedes has lately been added to
the collection by the kindness of Lady Knighton, in whose poaBeaion
it had remained twelve months previously to her presenting it to the
Sodety. This specimen ia larger in size and rougher in its fiir thin
the one above described ; its colour is also less uniformly gray, deriTing
a somewhat mottled appearance from the numerous small blacklBh
spots which are scattered over the back and sides. It is possiUe that
this may bo thd Pe^hivian variety, mentioned in the extract from
Schmidtmeyer's ' Travels,' as furnishing a less delicate and valuable
fur than the Chilian animal. It is equally good-tempered and mild in
its dispodtion, and, probably in consequence of having been exhibited
in a public ooUection, is im^ch. niore tame and pla]^. In its late
abode it wits frequently suffeind to run about the room, when it would
show off its a^pUty by leering to the height of the table. Its food
oonsisted principally of dry herbage, such as hay and dover, on which
it appears to have thriven greatly : that of the Sodety's original
spedjpen has hitherto been chiefly grain of various kinds and succu-
lent roots. When the new-comer was first introduced into Bruton
Street, it was placed in the same cage with the other specimen ; but
the latter appeared by no m^ans disposed to submit to ike presence of
the intruder ; a ferodous kind of scuffling fight immediately ensued
between them, and the latter. would unquestionably have fallen a
viotiA bad ii jiot bpen rescued from its impending fate : since that
time they have inhabited separate cages, placed ride by side; and
although the open wires would admit of some little familiarity taking
place between them, no advances have as yet been made on either
dde. Such an isolated fact can, of course, have little weight in oppo-
dtion to the testimony of Molina, that the Chinchilla is fond of
company. It is nevertheless a remarkable circumstance, and deeerres
to be mentioned in illustration of the habits of these animals." It
breeds fireely in confinement, the oldest pair at present in the Zoolo-
gical Gardens, Regent's Park, having produced seven young ones.
Chmchillo lanigera.
The fur of this species is a oondderable article of commerce. Id
mufB^ tippets, linings to cloaks and pelisses, and trimmings for the
same, it is sold extendvely, and at a comparatively high price. The
annual import of the skins of ChinOhiUas into England in 1851 was
85,000 : about 18,000 of these were re-exported.
C, brevioaudattt, Waterhouse (ErUmyt Ckfm^iUa, Liditenstain and
Wagner). Mr. Waterhouse, in his ' Natural History of the Mammalia,'
says, *' I fed little doubt that further investigation will prove this to
be a distinct spedes from the C, lamgerar This spedes inhabits
Peru, and is larger than the last
Lago9Umu»,
Indsors, . ;
molars,
= 20.
The incisors are sharpened ; the molars eadi consists of two com-
plete oblique lamellss, the upper posterior one being triUmellir.
Anterior feet 4-toed, the thumb being altogether defident, the nails
small and fidcular. Posterior feet 3-toed, tiie ndls produced, straight
and robust Ears moderate. Tail moderate.
L, triehodaetjfim, Brookes {OaUomys VUeacia, Is. Geoffiray and
D'Orbigny; Dipua maxitnua, De Blainvjlle). It is La Yiscache of
D' Apura, and the Marmot Diana of Griffiths, translator of Cuviei^B
'Animal Kingdom.' The following are the characters as giv^ io
Mr. Waterhouse's work : — Body «tout ; limbs powerful ; tarsi long;
ear nearly half as long as the head^ broad at the base, narrow at the
oppodte extremity, being distinctly emaxginated behind; fiir soft and
moderately long. Qeneial line of the upper parts of the animal gray,
somewhat mottled with dusky, and distincUy pencilled with black;
the whole of the under parts white or yellow-white ; a broad dusky or
black band extends on either side, from Uie munle to the back part
of the cheek ; an equally broad white band mosses the muzzle and
terminates on each dde beneath the eye, and a third narrow band
passes across the forehead which is of a dinky hue ; tail about half
Digitized by
Google
1029
CHINCHILLID.E.
CHINCHILLIDiE.
1080
the lengih of the bod;^, for the most part of a diuky brown-blaokiah
colour, and clothed with long hairs on the upper surface.
Skeleton of Marmot Diana {Lago$tomu» triehodaetylus),
a. Upper jaw ; b, lower jaw ; c, crown of the second molar tooth flf the left
side of the lower Jaw ; d, crown of the laet molar tooth of the right side of the
vpper Jaw.
This animal appears to be the Yiscacha described by so many
travellers as colonising the vast plains eastward of the great chain of
the Andes. Dobrizhofifer, Jolis, D' Azara, Proctor, Head, Miers, and
Haigh, all mention it. Captain (now Sir Francis) Head gives a picture
of these animals, sitting solemnly ^ the entrance of their burrows,
quite in his peculiar style. Bisoacbo is the name he assigns to them,
and according to his account, the Biscachueras, or Biscacho burrows,
which perforate the plains, are terrible traps for the xmwary
horsemen.
The following extracts are from the accoxmts of two foreign travel-
lers (whose works are not in the hands of every one) of the habits of
this species : — '' The Biscacha, called by the Abipones Neheldterek,"
says Dobrizhoffer in his curious ' Hlstoria de Abiponibus ' (Yiennse,
1784), " digs its burrows in the more elevated parts of the plains with
so much art, that no aperture is left by which the rain ce^ penetrate;
and these burrows are divided into distinct settlements, numerous
families inhabiting the same locality. On the surface of the ground
are several entrances to the burrows, at which, towards sunset^ they
are seen seated in crowds, diligently listening for the sound of any
person approaching. If everything remains quiet, they seek their
food in the obscurity of the night, and commit grievous devastation
on the neighbouring fields, devouring both wheat and Indian com
with extreme avidity, and when either is to be had despising grass.
For this reason the stations of the Biscachas are rarely to be seen in
the desert plains, but indicate with certainty the near neighbourhood
of the Spanish settlements. I have often wondered never to have
seen the Biscacha in the territories either of the Abipones or the
Guaranis, although well supplied with all kinds of crops. They daily
heap up, at the entrances of their burrow, dry bones, chips of wood,
or whatever other refuse they may meet with, but for what purpose
they collect such things it is impossible even to coigecture. The
Spanish colonists amuse themselves with hunting them; pouring
many buckets of water into their subterraneous retreats, until, to
avoid drowning, the animals come forth into the plain, where, no
means of escape being afforded them, they are killed with sticks.
Their flesh, unless when very old, is not considered despicable even
by the Spaniards."
The Abbd JoUs dwelt for twelve years in South America, and made
three journeys into the remote districts of the interior. His work,
' Saggio sulla Storia Naturale della Provincia del Qranchaoo' (Foenea,
1789), is BO little known, and his description in some particulars differs
so much from that of Dobrizhoffer, that we give Mr. Bennett's trans-
lation of it : — ** The Biscachas live in society in burrows imder-
groundi which they form for themselves, excavating in all directions
to the extent of a mile in circumference, with various exits and
separate retreats, in which the old live distinct from the younger.
The soil in which these are usually made is that which is harcl and
barren, and destitute of everything, but with bushes (boscaglie) at no
great distance, and pasture of tender grass, roots, and the bark of
trees. They collect around their retreats bones, dried leaves, and
whatever they find in the neighbourhood : if anything is missing in
their districts, it is to be found with certainty piled up in these
situations the following day. As they are animals that avoid the
light, having little power of vision, they are not to be seen in the
day-time, unless at dawn, or towards evening after sunset. The night,
and especially when the moon shines, is the proper time for seeUng
their food. Those among the Biscachas which ai*o called Chinchillas,
and which may be said to belone to the first species, inhabit only the
mountains and cold situations ; m size they are like a rabbit, and are
clothed with a fine long fur. Their agility is surprising ; they are
seen leaping from rock to rock as if they had the faculty of flight.
The others, indicated above, inhabit the level country in warm situa-
tions. . . . Fierce and courageous, they defend themselves with
all their might against the dogs, and sometimes even attack the legs
of the hunters. I shall speak in my travels, as a fitter place, of the
three curious modes in which they are driven out of tiieir retreats ;
that is to say, with water, with fire, and by rubbing sticks together."
But neither of those authors mentions the somewhat anoma-
lous companions with which the Biscachoes are associated, and we
select from the travels of Proctor, Head, Miers, and Haigh, the
account of the first-named traveller, which, as Mr. Bennett observes,
gives nearlv all the particulars which are to be foimd in the rest.
" The whole country, from Buenos Ayres to San Luis de la Punta, is
more or less burrowed by an animal between a rabbit and a badger,
called the Biscacho, which renders travelling dangerous, particularly
by night, their holes being so laige and deep that a horse is almost
sure to fill if he steps into ono of them. The Biscacho never ventures
'far from its retreat, and is seldom seen till the evening, when it comes
out to feed, and hundreds may be observed sporting round their holes
and making a noise very similar to the grunting of pigs. Their flesh
is much liked by the people, and they are remarkably fat, and on that
account, when caught at any distance from their holes, are easily run
down ; they will however defend themselves from a dog a considerable
time. The holes of these animals are also inhabited by vast numbers
of small owls, which sit during the day gazing at the passing travel-
lers, and making a very ludicrous appearance. The parts of Uie road
most frequented bv the Biscacho are generally overrun by a species of
small wild melon, bitter to the taste ; whether it thrives particularly
on the manure of the animal, or whether the Biscacho chooses his
hole nearer this itmning phmt, does not seem to have been ascer-
tained."
The following account of the habits of this a'eature, from Mr.
Darwin's interesting journal, is one of the most recent contributions
published on this subject : — " The Yiscacha is well known to form a
prominent feature in the zoology of the Pampas. It is found as far
south as the Rio N^gro, in lat 41**, but not beyond. It cannot, like
the Agouti {Ihlachotia Palachonica), subsist on the gravelly and desert
plains of Patagonia, but prefers a clayey or sandy soil, Yrldch. pro-
duces a different and more abundant vegetation. Near Mendoza, at
the foot of the Cordillera, it occurs in close neighbourhood with the
allied alpine species. It is a very curious circumstance in its geo-
graphioal distribution that it has never been seen, fortunately for tiie
inhabitants, in Banda Oriental, to the eastward of the river Uruguay ;
yet in that province there are plains which appear admirably adapted
to its habits. That river has formed an insuperable obstacle to its
migration, although the broader barrier of the Parana has been
passed ; and the Yiscacha is common in Entre Rios (the province
between the two rivers), dii'eotly on the opposite shore of the Uruguay.
Near Buenos Ayres these animals are exceedingly common. Their
most favourite resort appears to be those parts of the plain which,
during one-half of the year, are covered with great thistles to the
exclusion of other plants. The Quachos affirm that it lives on roots,
which, from the great strength of its gnawing teeth and the kind of
localities frequented by it, seems probable. As in the case of the
rabbit, a few holes are commonly placed together. In the evening
the Yiscachas come out in numbers, and there quietly sit on their
haunches. They are at such times very tame, and a man on horse-
badE passing by seems only to present an object for their gntve
contemplation. They do not wander far from their burrows. They
run very awkwardlv, and when hunying out of dxmger, from their
elevated tails and short front legs, much resemble great rats. Their
flesh when cooked is very white and good, but it is seldom used.
The Yiscacha has one veiy singular habit, namely, dragging eveiy
hard object to the mouth of its burrow. Around each group of
holes many bones of cattle, stones, thistle-stalks, hard clumps of
earth, dry dung, &c., are collected into a heap, which frequently
amounts to as much as a wheelbarrow would contain. I was credibly
informed that a gentleman, when riding in a dark night, dropped his
watch; he returned in the morning, and by searching in the neigh-
bourhood of every Yiscacha hole on the line of road, as he expected,
soon found it. . This habit of picking up whatever may be lying on
the ground anywhere near its liabitation must cost much trouble.
Digitized by
Google
1081
CHIOCOCCA.
CHIR0CEPHALU8.
ia»
For what purpoee it ib done I am quite unable to form even the most
remote conjecture ; it cannot be for defence, because the rubbish is
chiefly placed above the mouth of the burrow, which enters the
ground at a very small inclination."
CHIOCOCCA (from x^ uid kSkkos), a ^nus of plants belonging
to the natural order Cfmchonaeeee, Calyx with an oval tube and an
acutely 5-toothed permanent limb. Corolla funnel-shaped, with an
obcomcal tube or throat, and five acute lobes. Stamens with the
filaments hardly adnate to the bottom of the corolla, downy, and
shorter than the anthers, which are inclosed and linear. Style rather
davate at the apex, entire or slightly 2-lobed. Berry somewhat
didymous, compressed, crowned by the teeth of the calyx, containing
two chartaceous 1-seeded pyrens. Seeds pendulous. Embrvo with
a long superior radicle. Albumen cartilaginous. Shrubs generally with
a somewhat climbing habit Leaves opposite, ovate or oblong acute,
glabrous. Stipules broad at the base, permanent, more or less api-
eulated. Racemes axillary, opposite, simple or panided. Flowers
pedicellate, of a yellowish-white colour. Roots emetic and alexiteric.
C. rocemofo, Racemose Snow-Berry, has oval leaves acuminated at
both ends, smooth ; stipules broad at the base, and apiculated by a
long point at tiie apex ; filaments of stamens down^. It is a native
of the West Indian Islands and Carthagena, on hills. It is a very
variable dirub. 'fhe corollas at first are white and scentless, but at
length become yellowish and sweet-scented. The berries are snow-
white, hence the English name. The root has an acid bitter taste,
and has long been used as a strong resolutive or attenuant ; it is
administered in obstinate rheumatisms, and is also an excellent emetic
This is a plant conunonly cultivated in gardens, and there are several
varieties of it.
O, deniifior<it Dense-Flowered Snow-Berry, has ovate rather coria-
ceous leaves, many-flowered racemes, the corolla much longer than
the calyx, the filaments densely-bearded. It is a native of Brazil, in
woods at Almeida and Seiradas, on the mountains of Bahia, and* at
the port of St. Catherine.
(7. (mguifugoy Anguifuge Snow-Berry, has ovate acuminated leaves ;
stipules very broad, short, each ending in a short point; racemes
panided ; corolla not quite three times longer than the calydne teeth,
it is a native of Brazil in woods, French Guyana, Trinidad, Peru, Cuba,
and on the Spanish Main. Both this and the former species are used
in Brazil as a certain remedy for serpent bites. An infusion of the
bark produces the most violent purgaUve and emetic effects.
C. odorcUa, Sweet-Scented Snow-Berry, has broad oval leaves, rather
coriaceous, very blimt, acute at the base, and running down the short
petioles; pedundes axillary, solitary; 84-flowered corolla, with a
bearded tluoat. It is a native of Elizabeth Island, one of the Society
Islands. The flowers are described as smelling like cowslips.
(7. hofhatcL, Bearded Flowered Snow-Berry, has oval leaves, acute
at the base, and tapering into short petioles, acuminated and obtuse
at the apex ; peduncles axillary, solitaiy ; 1-3-flowered ; corolla with
a bearded throat ; 5-cleft. It is a native of the Society and Friendly
Islan^lff.
C. Ja9€tna, Java Snow-Berry, is a parasitical shrub, with oblong
lanceolate leaves, acuminated at both ends, glabrous, velvety, and
shining above ; corymbs terminal, tridiotomous. This is a native of
Java, on the mountains, upon trees.
All the spedes of Chiococca grow beet in a mixture of loam, peat,
and sand, and strike freely in sand under a hand-ff lass.
CHIOLITE, a Mineral found in Siberia. It has a hardnees=8'5,
and a specific gravity =2*6 to 2*77. It is near CryoUtt in composition
and characters, and appears to be a fluoride of aluminum and sodium.
CHIO'KEA (Dalman), a genus of Dipterous Insects bdonging to
the section T^ntZorics terrieolcB,
One spedes of this genus is remarkable both in its structure and
habits. It is less than half an inch in length ; the head is of a
brownish-yellow colour ; the thorax and abdomen are ashy-brown ;
the latter is of an oval form and rather hairy ; the legs are very long,
rather thick and covered with hairs, not unlike the legs of a spider,
and of a yellowish colour. It is perfectly destitute of wings, and is
found upon the snow in the woods of Sweden throughout the winter.
The generic characters are : — Body apterous ; joints of the palpi
nearly equal ; antennsd setaceous, 10-jointed, and covered with fine
hairs at the extremity ; the abdomen of the male terminated by a
forceps-like appendage composed of two horizontal jointed processes,
and that of the female ia terminated by a boring instrument, or ovi-
positor, consisting of two valvules, placed one upon the other, of
which the upper one is the longer, and composed of two plates.
There is another insect which, though it belongs to a different order
(Neuroplera), resembles this spedes in its habits of appearing during
the winter, and crawling upon the snow, as weU as in bdng apterous,
a diaracter which is of rare occurrence in either tribe. [Bobbus.]
Two other spedes of Ckionea are given in the ' British Museum
Catalogue,' boUi of them inhabitants of North America.
CHIROCEPHALUS, a ^us of Entomostracous Ch-vMtaeea bdong-
ing to the division Sranchtopoda, the order PhyUopoda, and the family
Branchipodidai, In this family two British genera are included —
Artemia [Branctriopoda] and CMrocephalus. Artemia is distinguished
troTn the latter by havmg the caudal segment of the body simply
bilobed, and not divided into plates, and has no appendages at the
base of the cephalic horns, whidi are characteristic of CkiroeephaUL
The following are the characters of Ohirocq»halH9 : — ^Abdomen litge,
consisting of nine divisions, and terminated by two wsU-dereloped
caudal plates or lamellar appendages ; cephalic horns of a eylindrical
shape, and furnished with fan-shaped and digitiform appendagei
intiiemale.
C, diaphanut is the only spedes. It was apparently first noticed by
Limueus, and called by him Cancer itagnaUi.
The following synonyms from Dr. Baird's ' History of the Britiah
Entomostraoous Crustaoea,' will give some idea of the history of this
curious animal, as of the interest it has created : —
ChiriHsephahu diapjtontu, Prevost> ' Joum. de Phys.* 1803 ; Jurine,
' Hist Monoc.'
Br<xnehipu» PrevoaUi, Fischer, ' BulL Soc. Imp. Nat.' Moscow, 188i
Chirocephahu Prevottii, Thompson, ' ZooL Researches,' 1834
JBranckipui Chirocei^alut, Querin, ' Icoil Reg. An. Crost'
BranchipuB diaphawuSf Milne-Edwards, ' Hist. Cmstaeese.'
Bran^put palud<mt»t Desmarest, ' Consid. gen. Crust' ; Lamarck,
' Hist An. s. Vert,' 2nd ed.
Cancer itagnalit (Linn, f), ' Linn. Trans.,' voL L
Cancer paludomu (f), MUller, 'ZooL Dan. Herbst Krabben.'
Branckipne ttagnalu^ Milne-Edwards, Cuv. 'R^ne Animal,' edii
Crochart
Ino pitcina, Sdirank, ' Faun. Boia,' 1803.
Marteau d'Eau douoe, Dudiesne, ' MaiL du Natnraliste.'
Remarkable Aquatic Insect, King, 'PhiL Trans.,' 1762.
SquUla lacuBtrie minima, Petiver, 'Qaioph. Nat,' 1709.
The following is Dr. Baird's description of the spedes :—
" When fuU grown it is upwards of an inch in length, slender, of i
cylindrical form, and neariy perfectiy faransparsnt The male is more
so than the female, but witii a slight reddidL tinge throughout The
tail is of a bright*r^ ; the large basal joint of the prdiennle sntanns
of a beautifal transparent bluish-green colour, tipped at the ertremiiy,
where the second joint arises, with a fine red hueu The back of the
female is of a blue colour; and the ovary, when full of ots, of a
reddish-brown."
Chirocephalus dUiphawt,
1 , Male, magnified ; a a, oompoaite or network eyes ; h h, anteuis ; «e, nuadi.
buliform horns ; tf, probotddlform moresble tentaenla, rdledspiiaUy ; *, ii^
mdimentery eye ; //, leaf-like natatory fbet or oars ; §, asale organs ; A A, tail ;
i, terminating filaments; S, front view of the head; S, tall of the feosk;
i, egg-pooch ; /, female organ ; 4, a young OMroetpkahu after the first noolt
This beautiful litUe creature is not often met with, and iHien foipd
is always an inhabitant of dirty, stsgnant water. The plaon in which
it is fotmd have also another peculiarity — that of being dried ap f<^
the greater part of the year. Thus, the most common I^mm for it
are ditches by road-sides, and cart-whed ruts. Several localities hsTS
been given for it in England ; the most oonomon is that of Blaekhett^
where in a few of the pools by the roaddde, which are mostly diim
up during the greater part of tiie year, it is very abundant after run.
It has also been found near Epping, near Brighton, near Bristd, utt
Hammersmith, and in Devorumire. In the description given of them
by King in the < Philosophical Transactions' for 1767, they w«»
found in a ditch of standing water near Norwich. ** Thej wers <!*'
covered," says Mr. King, " by a poor mui, now dead, whose geuoi
was very extraordinary, and much superior to what is usually found
in his rank. He was indefatigable in his searches after STerythiog
curious, and, without ever having had any advantages of educinon,
had acquireii a degree of knowledge by no means oontemptibla
Digitized by
Google
1088
GHIROGEPHALUS.
CHIRONOMXJS.
1084
Schcefibr discovered them in a pool of water near Ratisbon. Prevost
found his apecimeos at Montaat>on, and at Jurine's reqaeet sent some
ova in moist paper to Qeneva, where Jorine suooeeded in hatching
them and making those observations which are published in his
'M onodes ^ui se trouvent k Qeneve.' Dr. Baird says, " It is rarely to be
met with m this country, compared with the Daphmai and many
Qither Biiiomo§lraca ; the only place near London where I haTe met
with it being on BlaokheatL They swim upon their backs, and in
fine warm weather, when the sun is not too strong, they may be seen
balancing themselves, as it were, near the surfiuse by means of thdr
branohiu feet, which are in constant motion. On the least disturb-
ance, however, they strike the water rapidly with their tail from right
to lelt^ and dart away like a fish, and hasten to conceal themselves by
diving into the soft mud or amongst the weeds at the bottom of the
pooL They are nearly tranroarent, and are of a very light reddish
colour, with a slight tinge of blue on some parts. ' When placed in
a glass of dear water,' says Prevost, ' the elegance of its form, the
ease and softness of its movements!, ifcs silvery transparency, or its
brilliant ooloura, its large black eyes, the small spot which it carries
on its head, the crown of the male — are a beautiful sight which the
most indifferent observer cannot see without pleasure.'
" It is certainly the most beautiful and elegant of all the EfUomoi-
iraea, The male is especially beautiful The uninterrupted undu-
latory wavy motion of its graceful branchial feet^ slightly tinged as
they are with a light reddioa hue, the brilliant mixture of transparent
bluish-green and bright-red of its prehensile antenns, and its bright-
red tail, with the beautifully plumose setsa springing from it, render
it really exceedingly attractive to the view.
" The undulatory motion of its branchial feet serves another purpose
in addition to that of keeping the animal suspended in the water.
The thorax or body of the ammal has been described, when floating
on its back, as like the cavity of a little boat, the feet representing
When these are in motion, they cause the water contained in
this boat-like cavity to be compressed, and to mount up as along a
canal, canying in the current the particles destined ror its food
towards the mouth. It seems to be constantly, when in this position,
employed in swallowing and digesting its food, its masticatory organs
being in perpetual motion. Shaw imagined this little creature to be
a fierce and yoraoious beast of prey, but it is not so ; he was misled
in so thinking by not understanding the true nature of its prehensile
anteniuB. These ho imagined were oigans for seizing its victims
and crushing them to death, though he candidly admits that he never
saw them attack other animals, and even says that he has seen them
saocumb to the assaults of the Cypri$. According to Prevost, they
live upon dead animal or vegetable matter, but they have apparency
litUe taste, for they swallow every jort of thing that comes m their
way, however hurtful it may be. Schcoffer says that he found great
difficulty in keeping the Bn!nehiput alive after having been taken out
of the water in which they were found, and also says that they are
iseapable of bearing any degree of cold. Jurine, however, found no
difficulty in hatching the ova of the CkiroeepkalHs sent to him by
Preyosty and keeping the animals so hatched till they reached matu-
rity; and Shaw distinctly asserts that he has found them in this
country, in shallow pools, m the months of December and January,
eyen after pretty sharp frosts, as lively almost as in spring or summer.
I haye always found them in the months of October, November, and
December, and even after frosts of short continuance thou^ of con-
siderable severity. In general they haye been yery short-hyed after
being remoyed from their native habitat^ but I haye been able to
hatob the young and watch their progress to maturity. Though
they do not appew destructive to other animals, they fall an easy prey
themselyes to various enemies. Froga, salamanders, the larve of the
DytiMcif the OffprideM^ and other such inhabitants of the water, kill them
in yast numbers; and they seem besides, according to Prevost^ to be
spedally infested by a spedes of Vorticdla, or whed-aninudcule,
which attadies itself to the body of the animal in great numbem, and
would yery soon, were it not for their moulting frequently, completely
destroy it I have found them yeiy liable to a peculiar disease which
seems yery firequently to terminate fatally. It attacks their body
near the external ovary, the lower part of the abdomen, fta, and the
branchial feet are not exempt from it It consists of a white growth,
composed of a fktty sort of substance, and when once this appean,
the poor animal almost always soon after dies."
After impregnation "the ova appears at first as small white
spherical bodies lying in the internal ovarjr, which stretches along
the abdomen, and then passing from it mto the external ovajT^
alnady described. When the proper time arrives the mother deposits
these ova loose in the water, the ovary opening at the poin^ and
the eggs being thrown out by a sudden jerk to the number of 10 or
12 yery n^iidly. The whole process of laying lasts several hours,
sometimes, according to Prevost for a whole day, and the number of
ova excluded yair from 1 to 400. At first the egg ia yellowish
sphericid, beset all round with short setflB, but when it has been for
a short time exposed to the action of the air and the water, it
asBumes an irregular hexagonal figure and a greenish hue. In about a
fortnight or so the egg is hatched and the young one issues forth, but
yeiy unlike its parent It consists of two nearly equal oval portions,
head and body.^'
According to the recent observations of Dr. Zenker (' Phydologioal
Remarks on the Daphnids,' translated in yol i of 'Microscopical
Journal') and others, it appears that the female DaphrudcB have the
power of producing eggs which are fertile without access to the
male. This is what occurs in some of the Aphide$ for a given
number of generations. In the DapknicUB it appears to be without
limit This reproduction from unimpregnated oya is quite analogous
to the process of gemination amongst the lower animals. The
great difference is that it takes place from the ovary and not from
some more general tissue of the body. In the Dapknida^ however,
ova are produced after impregnation, which differ from the other in
being enveloped in a fine corneous saddle-shaped shell which is called
an ' ephippium,' and such ova, as they are now known to occur in other
animals, are called ' ephippian ova.' Mr. Huxley however, who has
described them in LoicifwlaHa tocialU, a spedes of Bottfera, says they
"probably do not require fecundation, and are thence to be con-
ddered as a mode of asexual reproduction."
In reference to this curious subject, Mr. Busk has added the
following note to Zenker's remarks on DaphmcUe, in the first volume
of the 'Microscopical Journal': —
** The number of males is very considerable, and pretty nearly
equal to that of the females at all times of the year. This fact seems
to afford a curious confirmation to Dr. Z«iker^s opinion, that the
chief object of male impregnation is the production of ephippian, or
winter ova. In the case of Chiroeephcuui this provision becomes
repeatedly necessary during the year, and not towards winter only ;
for it is a remarkable fact, on Blackheath at all events, that the
Chirocephalut is never found in any of the several ponds on the
heath, except in those which dry up completely, at least once, but
in some years several times, or for the whole summer continuously.
The ponds inhabited by the Ckirooephaliu, in fact, are merely pools
formed by the drainage from the roiads. Now, it is manifest under
these circumstances that were not provision made by the formation
of winter ova, or ova having a thick double coat, for the revival of
the race after the drying up of their habitation, it would become
extinct We accordingly find that sach provision is made in the
numerous males at all times present
"The extraordinary power possessed by the ova of the Chvro-
eepJuUut of resistance to the effects of desiccation is very remarkable,
as is also the readiness and rapidity with which they are developed
when again subjected to the infiuence of water. If the basin of a
small pool which has been dir and even dusty for months becomes
filled after a few days' rain, the water will be found swarming with
myriads of Chirocephali in about ten days or a fortnight; or if a
piece of the dried bottom of such a pool be- placed in a pailful of
water, numerous Chirocephali will be hatched from it in the same
time. The reason for this curious arrangement with respect to the
Chirocepkali is obvious enough. These delicate creatures, themselves
ye^table feeders, are the prey of innumerable enemies ; among the
chief of which are the larvse of DjfHicm, and of Dragon-Flies, &c. In
ponds which never dry up, these voradous enemies have time and
opportunity to destroy the whole race of Chirocephali ; but in the
favourite haunts of the latter, their enemies not being able to survive
the drying up of the water, are deared off on each such occasion, and
the Ckirocephali being rabidly hatched, have, as a race, time to
propagate and depodt their posterity in safety for another resur-
rection."
Another point of interest with regard to Chiroeephalut is, that it
affords an instance of the nearest living type, to the extinct family
of TrUcbUei, [Tbilgbites.] Professor Burmeister, at the condusion
of hia laborious investigation into the structure and afBnities of this
fiunUy, in his work on the * Organisation of Trilobites' (translated
into English and published by the Ray Society), says, "The
TrUobitei were a peculiar family of OnutaceOf nearly allied to the
existing PhyUopoda, approaching this latter family most nearly in
its genus JBranchipue {(^rocephalut), and forming a link connecting
the PhyUopoda with the PcecUopoda:'
CHIRO'NOMUS, a genus of Dipterous Insecto of the family
TipulidcB. This genus was established by Meigen, and is principally
distinguished by the following characters: — Fourth joint of the
palpus longer than the rest ; antenn» 13-jointed, in the male, and
furnished with long hairs ; the anteniue of the female are 6-jointed,
and the hairs are short ; the anterior legs are inserted at some distance
from the others, and the anterior tarsi are generally very long ; the
wings when closed lie parallel, and they have three posterior cells;
the body Ib long, slender, and hairy.
Mr. Stephens, in his ' Catalogue of British Insects,' enumerates
upwards of eighty spedes of this genus : they are all of small sise,
frequent marshy situations, and veiy much resemble gnats. The worm
known to anglers by the name of Blood- Worm is the larva of one of
the spedes of this genus— the Cfhironamut plumotus. This worm is
about half an inch in length ; the body consists of numerous segments,
and is furnished at the tail with several appendages which constitute
the breathing apparatus. It is seen during the summer months on
the mud near the edges of ponds and dit<£e6 ; when thus seen how-
ever it is only shifting from one place to another, its natural locality
being in the mud, where it may generally be found in great numbers,
living for the most part under water. This larva is much sought after
Digitized by
Google
loss
CHIBOTES.
CHISHOBRANCHUTA.
and deroured by birds and fiBhes; but daring the tummer of 1886
we dlBoovered that it had a yeiy fonnidable enemy in an insect of its
own order. A fly, which closely resembled the house-fly, was
observed in great abmidanoe on the mud which had just been left by
the retiring water, and we found them assembled in little groups of
fire or six, in the act of extracting the blood-worms from their holes,
using the proboscis for this purpose : but no sooner was the worm
fairly dislodged than a battle ensued, for each f4>parentlv wished to
have the wonn to itself; those that kept possession sucked out the
fluids firom the worm.
The pupa is of a brownish colour; the body is cylindrical, the
head, thorax, wings, and legs are inclosed in separate sheaths, and,
with the exception of the two fore l^gs, lie in a close and compact
mass ; the fore legs, covered by their riieaths, project from each side
of the thorax. In this as well as in the larva state, the animal lives
in the water. The breathing apparatus consists of two appendages,
one on each side of the thorax, and each is composed of five branches
which spring fh>m a common centre.
When the insect is ready to quit its pupa case, it gains t]^e surface
of the water, and there remains suspended for some little time with
the disc of the thorax slightly protruded ; this part bursts down the
middle, and the insect, which is hairy, and hence does not easily wet,
places its feet upon the sur&ce of the water, where it floats (if the
weather be calm) with the greatest safety. We observed, upon taking
one upon our flnger, that the wings are at first opaque and white,
and filled with a fluid ; but in a minut? this fluid was expelled, and
the sides of the wings collapsed and became transparent. The fluid
thus ejected we perceived on our finger beneath the insect, but
could not ascertain from what part of the wing or body it made its
escape.
Discussions have wisen on the means which this animal possesses
of suspending itself at the surface of the water without motion, its
specifio gravity being supposed to be greater than water.
Messrs. Kirby and Spence account for it by a kind of propelling
power which the centre of the thorax possesses, and state that this
part being thus protruded and drying, the attraction of the air to the
dry portion of the thorax is sufficient to overcome the slight difference
in the specific gravity between the animal and the element ; but it is
further stated that if a drop of water fall upon the insect at this
time it will immediately sink.
We have kept these insects in a glass jar for the purpose of
observing their habits, and are very much inclined to doubt that the
specific gravity of the pupa is greater than that of the water, at the
time just previous to the transformation from pupa to the imago
state. Indeed at this time it appeared that they could not keep
from the surface, unless they were in motion. Whenever we
approached the jar, being at the top, they inunediately descended
by a quick zigzag movement of the body ; but upon our remaining
quiet for a moment they ceased all motion and rose to the surface
again. We imagine that at this time the animal within having
become partially disengaged from the pupa case, the space between
the two is filled with air, that this would be sufficient to overcome
the difference of specific gravity between the animal and the water,
and that there would most probably be more air in the region of the
thorax than elsewhere ; and hence this part is protruded from the
water.
The perfect insect is of a pale-ash colour, and is a little larger than
the common gnat, which it resembles. This, as well as others of the
g^nus, is remarkable for its habit of carrying the two fore legs in a
horizontal position ; they project in front, and might be mistaken for
antennae ; these latter organs however are veiy beautiful, and in the
males resemble little plumes.
CHI'ROTES, a genus of Sauriana separated by Cuvier, and, accord-
ing to him, resembling the Chalcidet in their verticillated scales, and
the Amphithctna still more in the obtuse form of their head ; but
distinguished from the first by their want of posterior feet, and from
the last by their possession of anterior limbs. The same author adds,
in a note to the last edition of the ' lUgne Animal,' that the genera
which terminate this order of Saurians are interposed in various
manners between the ordinary Saurians and the genera which are
placed at the nead of the ordor Ophidians to such a point, that many
naturalists are now of opinion that the two orders ought no longer to
be separated, or rather that one order should be established, com-
prising on the one part the Saurians, with the exception of the
Oroeodilid4B, and on the other the Ophidians of the family Angwda,
But he observes that there exist, among the fossil forms of the ancient
calcareous bods, two very extraordinary genera (Ichthyotawui and
Plmo$auru8)f which, with the head and trunk of a Saurian, have feet
attached to short limbs, and formed of a multitude of smsll articula-
tions conjoined so as to form a kind of paddle or fin, like the anterior
paddles or fin-feet of whales. These ought, he adds, to form a very
distinct family. In their osteology they approach the Saurians,
properly so called, much nearer than the Crocodiles, with which
Fitzinger associates them in his family Loricata ; though in the fossils
there is no trace either of scales or of the tongue, the two parts on
which the characters of the Loricata rest
These Bimanous Reptiles, as Cuvier terms them, include, according
to him, but one species, which is a native of Mexico. This is the
Bimane Gaanel^ (Okirotti eanalieulatm) of Cuvier, BipMe QtmA6 of
Lac^pMe^ Chamtuaura propm of Schneider, and LekBoialmmhrieoida
of Bhaw. The animal has two short feet with four toes on each (and
the vestige of a fifth) sufficiently organised intemslly, and attadidd
by means of scapulas, clavicles, and a small sternum ; but the luad,
the vertebne, and, in short, all the rest of the skeleton resemble that
of the AmpkitbeauB. Dr. J. B. Gray refers Ohinim to a third frmily
of the Amphisbenians which be calls Chirotida.
Okirotei canaUcukUnt {O, kmbriooidet, Fleming; C. Mexiwm,
Bory ; Bipa cofioitciiZa^iM, Bonnaterre ; OkamawMtrmpn^p^ Sdiiilti ;
OhtUcidtt propui, Daudin), is about the size of a human 1^ finger,
and is ftom eight to ten indies long. It is of a fleih-ooloiir,
and oovfved with about 220 demi-rings on the back, and as muj
under the belly, which meet, in alternating, on the side. The toogac is
but little extensile, and is terminated by two small homy pointa The
eye is very minute. The tympanum is covered with akin and
invisible externally. Above the vent are two lines of pores. It is a
native of South America.
Cliirotes canaliculatuM,
CHIHUS, a genus of Fishes belonging to the section AeanthopUaw^
and the family Gobioida. The species of this genus have the body con
siderably elonsated, furnished with ciliated scales, and the mouth not
deeply deft ; Uie teeth are small and conical ; but the most remaiiable
character consists in the body being furnished with several l<mgita-
dinal lines of pores, similar to the ordinaiy lateral line. Someof ta«
species have appendages over the eyes, as observed in the Blenmn;
their ventral fins have each five soft rays ; the spines of the <io"J^°
are slender, and this fin extends nearly the whole length of the back.
Cuvier says that it is with hesitation that he places this genua witn
the family above mentioned, and that it will probably one d»y f*™
the type of a separate family. All the species as yet diaoomea
inhabit the seas of Eamtchatka— they are induded in the gesos
Labrax by PaUas, who describes seyeral of the spedes in the *Mcmoiff
of the A(»demy of St. Petersbuigh,' vol. il
CHISMOBRANCHIA'TA, an order of MoUutea, formijfc ui
De Blainville's system, the second order of his second wb<WH
Paracephalophora Monoica. The following is his <5«fi^**^° r^
order : — Oigans of respiration aquatic, braiiehial or pectmawo*
situated at the anterior part of the back, in a laige cavity »^^^
eating with the ambient fluid by a vride oblique anterior slrt *ou^
toothless, but provided with a long lingual riband-like o^JJ- t**JJ
either none, or internal, or external, very much depressed, wi
very large entire aperture, and without any pillar (columeUa).
This definition is incorrect, in so far as it states that m w^
instances there is no shell; for CoHoceOa, the only genna descnoeu
by De Blainville as being without any shell, has a ^<>^7 ^^ZZ
Cuvier observes, though it is very delicate and flexible »? "*:^
membranous. Cuvier, who places three of the genwa, -"^"vvj-
CorioeeUa, and Otyptottoma, under his Capuloida, a Jff^g P^^^
order Oatteropoda peetinibranchiata, observes that De *»" .
places the greater part of the Oapuloidei under his non-flyonw*"'
Digitized by
Google
10J7
CHISMOBRANCHIATA.
CHITONID-fi.
lom
ffermaphrodUe pafwephahphora, or Calyptracians ; bnt that they
appear to him (Cuvier) to be all dioecioiis.
The geographical distiibution of this order, which, according to
De Blainville, is marine and probably herbivorouB, is wide.
Corioeella, — ^Body elliptical, very much depressed, having the
borders of the mantle very delicate, notched in front, and spreading
out very largely on all
sides. Foot oval, very
smalL Head scarcely
distinct; two tentacula
hidden under the shield
of some size, but short
and contractile. Eyes at
the external base of tho
tentacula. Back some- i
what rounded, and, ac- I
cording to De BlainvUle —
but this as we have already
seen ia an error — with-
out any shell, external or
internal
• C. nimL Blainville. The i^ . » .
only .^68 of the genua, a.,-u,c,>la ,.,gra.
and described by Be Blainville from a specimen in his collection.
Locality, seas of MauritiuB. Cnvier places this and the two
following genera under his Oasteropoda pectinibtxtnchicUa.
Sigaretug. — SheU more or less thick, flattened, with an ample and
round aperture and but little spire, the whorls of which increase very
suddenly; and enveloped during life in a spongy shield, which con-
siderably encompasses its borders as well as the foot, and which is l^e
true mantle. In front of this mantle there is a notch and a demi-
canal, which serve to conduct the water into the branchial cavity.
The tentacula are conical, and the eyes are placed at their external
base. The male organ, according to Cuvier, is very large.
De Blainville thus subdivides the genus : —
a. Species with a very delicate and smooth shell
Example, S. ctmvexuB,
Sigartttu eoitvtxut, seen from below.
Stforettu ntwixutf side view.
b. Speclee with a thick and solid sheU.
Example, 8, haliotoideus.
Cryptostoma LeaehH,
OxynSe. — Body gasteropod, with a laige dorsal shell, anterior, bulli-
form, and with a simple spire. Foot narrow. Branchiss maiginal,
striated transversely. Mantle widened into two lateral wings. Ten-
tacula two, not retractile.
Example, 0. olivacea.
VeltUina. — Animal oval, suflSciently protuberant (bombd), hardily
spiral ; border of the mantle simple anteriorly, and double for the
whole of its circumference ; the internal lip tiuckest and tentacular.
Foot thick. Tentacula large, obconical, distant, with a small frontal
veil between them. Eyes black, sessile at the external side of tiie
base of the tentacula. Moutli hu^e, at the extremity of a sort of
muzzle.^ Respiratory cavity large, without any trace of a tube, and
containing two \mequal pectinated branchi® ; orifice of the ovaiy at
the base of the male organ, situated at the root of the right tenta-
culum. Muscular attachment of a horse-shoe shape, very sUght
behind and open before. Shell external with an epidermis, pateUi-
form, with a small lateral spire, and without a columella. Aperture
large, the edges almost continuous, and sharp: the right border
united to the left by a lamellar calcareous deposit.
Example, F. capuloidea (Helix Iccvifjafa. Linn.). [VELUmaDJE.]
^
Slgttr9tu9 haliotoitUui.
The species of Sigaretui have been found at depths varying from
5 to 15 raUioms on sandy bottoms.
Fonil Sigareti,
Defiranoe enumerates three fossil spedea, one from the Plaisantin,
one from Qrignon, and another frx)m the environs of Bordeaux.
G. B. Sowerby says that the fossil species are few and rare, and that
they occur in the London Clay at Barton, find in the contemporaneous
formationa in France and Italy. The species in the Caloaire Qrossier
at Grignon, he adds, has a small umbilicus. Deshayes in his 'Tables '
gives eleven living species and four fossil (tertiary) ; one, S, depreuuSf
living in the seas of the Molucca Islands. The fossils occur in the
Pliocene, Miocene, and Eocene periods of Lyell. S, excavcUw is found
in the Crag.
CrypUaUmuk. — Shell very like that of Sigaretvt, carried with the
head and abdomen, which it covers, upon a foot four times its size,
cut almost squarely behind, and which produces anteriorly a fleshy
and oblong part, which makes nearly one-half of the mass. The
animal itself haa a flat head, two tentacula, and a large pectinated
branchia on the plafond of its dorsal cavity. The male oigan is placed
under the right tentaculum.
Example, C7. Loachii,
VdutUia capuloidea,
CHITON. [CHiTOinDJE.]
CHITONELLUS. [ChitonidaI
CHITONID^, a natural fanuly of Qasteropodous Mollutca,
affording the only known instance of a protecting shell formed of
many portions, or, as they have been somewhat incorrectly termed,
valves, often in contact and overlapping each other, but never truly
articulated. The following cut will give some idea of the structure
of this shelly covering.
These plates are bound together by a coriaceous border, which,
as we shall presently see, is either plain or beset with bristles,
spines, &c.
The early naturalists took these shells for the peculiar armoiu: of
certain serpents, a conclusion to which thev were doubtless helped
by the love of the marvellous, so strongly shown in the acoounts of
the older travellers. By deg^es the true condition of these moUusks
became better known ; and the opposite opinions of Linnseus and
Adanson divided the naturalists of their age. The former arranged
these shells among his Multivalves, a class entirely artificial, and Uke
all artificial classifications comprising the most heterogeneous forms.
Adanson, on the contrarv, took nature for his guide, and carefully
observing the animal itself, while he regarded the shell as of compara-
tively small importance, placed Patella and Chiton side by side in his
method. But the Linnican school long reigned paramount; and
Adanson's labours were comparatively forgotten, when Cuvier began
to reform the crude state in which he found the MolluscOf and
Lamarck and others aided in the work. Cuvier, who made anato-
mical investigation the basis of his opinions, at once pronoxmced in
favour of Adanson. Lamarck afterwai-us adopted the same conclusion,
but not till ho had previously placed the Chitons at the end of the
Digitized by
Google
1039
CHITONIDJE.
CHITONIDiE.
lOiO
SheUy plates or TaWn of OhU^.
AcephalouB Molluaks, between FUtulana and Halanut, Poll, in his
magnificent work on Ihe 'Testaoea utriusque Sicilis/ in giving the
anatomy of a Mediterranean Bpeciea, became a yaluable ally; for
although he still retained Linne's class of Multiyalves, and although
in his anatomical details he
said nothing of the nerrous
system, a branch of animal
organisation essentially ne-
cessary to be known for
assigmng an animal its true
place, he demonstrated
enough clearly to show that
the ^Uon bore no relation
to the other Multivalyes of
Linnseus. M. De Blainville
howeyer, resting upon the
generatiye faculty of the
Chitons, proposed, in oppo-
sition to tnese views of
Cuvier and Lamarck, which
had been adopted by almost
all zoologists, to form a
sub-type of MoUusks under
the name of MaUntozoaria,
in which each of the Lin-
n»an genera Lepat and
CkiUm constitutes a class ;
the first the Lepadians, or
Lepadicea, the second the
Polyplaziphores, or Poly-
plaxiphor€k These almost
singular views of De
Blainville have not pre-
vailed among zoologists;
and Cuvier, in the last
edition of the ' lUgne Ani-
mal,' arranges the Chitons
at the side of the Patella, forming firom these two genera his small
fetmily of Cyclobranchians.
Deshayes, in the article ' Oscabrion,' in the ' Encyclop^e H^tho-
dique,' enters at laige into the organisation of tiie Chitons, and
discusses with much Teaming and acuteness the conflicting opinions
of Cuvier and De Blainville.
The following is a summary of the structure of this family : —
Digestive Organs. — No projecting head, in which the Chitons
resemble the Phyllidians. No tentacula, which are replaced by a
kind of veil which surrounds the mouth. Eyes, as in many other
Hollusks, the Pteropoda for example, wanting. Mouth and oasopha-
gus furnished with a very long tongue rolled spirally and armed with
homy teeth, a good figure of which is given by Poll Loven has
pointed out t.hat the teeth, especially the central one on the lingual
riband, are of great impoi*tance in determining the species. Stoii^u^
intestine, and Uver like those of the other Qasteropods. Vent at the
posterior extremity of the body, as in the Phyllidians, Dorii, kc
Respiratory and Circulating Organs. — The branchin of the Chitons
consist of a range of small triangular leaflets placed, as in the Patella
and Phyllidia, in the furrow which separates the foot from the
mantle. The number and extent of tne branchial lamin» are of
importance in determining the species. The heart is situated poste-
riorly in the mesial and dorsal Ime ; it is symmetrical^ and composed
of a single ventricle and two auricles.
^ Their oigans of generation are symmetrical, and repeated on each
side of the mesial line, and there are a pair of sexual orifloes.
Shelly plates or valves of Chitonelliu,
Animal of Chiton iquamo*u$.
a, the animal and shell seen ftrom above ; i, the animal seen f^om below ;
c, side view of fhe shell and animal in a creeping or adhering state ; d, portion
of branchice magnified.
The nervous system consists of what may be termed a complete
oe^ophagean ring, and of various branches, which are given off
divergingly towards the several oigans.
The locomotive organs consist of an oval foot^ more or less wide.
according to the species, and extends the whole length of the
animal
The shell is composed of eight narrow, transverse, calcareoui
pieces, overiapping each other, and strongly implanted on each side
in a thick and fibrous border of the mantle, which somnrnds the
whole body, and is sometimes, as we have observed, naked« bat mora
generally covered with small scales, spines, or haira. These pieov an
not immoveable, as the animal can roll itself up or stretch itself out
again for the purpose of progression or adhesion. To work this
machinery, there are three muscles given off from the first piece to
the second, three others given off from the second to the third, and
so on throughout, so as to make the mechanism of this seale^nnoor
complete. One of these muscles occupies the mesial and dorsal
line, the other two are lateral and obliaue. Dr. J. E. Gray regards
theposterior plate as the homologue of the limpet shelL
The Chitons then resemble the other Molluus : 1, in the gcDeral
fonn of the body ; 2, in the organ of locomotion ; 8, in the nature,
form, and position of the branchin; 4, in the heart, and in the
distribution of the circulating vessels ; 5, in the month sod its
veil; 6, in the tongue and the rest of the digestive organs; 7, in
the position of the vent; and 8, last^ but not leasts in tiie nervous
system.
What, then, are the differences ? 1, the form of the shell composed
of eight pieces instead of one ; 2, the mantle, which is more fleihy
and fibrous than in the other moUusks; 8, the myology; 4, the
double issue of the organs of generation, allowing this diff^ence to
be established, whereas it is doubted. With regard to the absence of
eyes, that defect exists in a considerable number of mollnsks.
Professor K Forbes and Mr. Hanley place the family CkUomda
next befbre the PaUUida. They say : "As our knowledge stands at
present, we prefer to rmrd them as an abnormal fitmily of PnM-
oranekiaiaf and trust before long that some active observer resident
by the coast will occupy himseUf with studying the development of
the Chitons, and endeavour to ascertain the form they assume in
their larval condition. Whoever does so will make an important
discovery, and do more towards fixing the true position of these
anomalous creatures than all cabinet examinations of them have yet
enabled us to effect"
Qeographical Distribution. — The species are numerous, and there
are few roc^y shores without some of them. As a genenl rule, the
largest are found in warm climates, but there are exceptions; for
instance, ChiUm ietiger and Chiton Bowenii (King), are found on the
shores of Tierra del Fuego, and in the Straits of Magalhaens; the
foimer of these species grows to the length of 2} inches, and the
breadth of If inches, and the latter to the length of 8^ inches, and
the breadth of 14 indies.
The species are found on rocky ahores, where they adhere, and also
on stones and other submarine bodies. They are found at depths
varying from the surface to 25 fathoms. A few are found creeping on
the sand.
Most xooloffists are amed that there are no differences sufficiently
strongly marked to miu^e a generic distinction between Ckito* and
Chiionellui ; and, indeed, the gradations from tlie one to the other
are so imperceptible, that there is no point where the line can be
satisfactorily drawn. In the most completely-developed form of
Chiton the shelly secretion greatly preponderates ; in ChiUmdlni that
secretion is comparatively small, and the great development is in the
border of the mantle, which, in some instances, almost hides the
comparatively-minute shelly pieces.
a. Species with the Mantle-Border, or mai^ginal ligament, oori-
aoeous and naked. Examples, C, ChiUtma, FremUey, and
C. Blainmllii, Broderip.
C. Chilemii, Shell oblong-ovate, opaque, thick, dark brown, smooth,
dull ; inside white, with piu markmgfi on the first, second, and last
valves. Valves with longiiiudinal strise, crossed by irregular con-
centric ridges. Anterior and posterior valves senulunate, slightly
punctated; second valve subcarinated, the front maigin obtosely
angled, lateral margins arcuate, and the posterior with a promin^
beak, on each side of which diverges a rather elevated grsnulated
ridge ; the next five valves alike, bow-shaped, with a granulate ridge
on each side. Border smooth, coriaceous, tough, thick, darker
coloured than the shell, semipelludd, broad at the sides and i^*"^
at the extremities. Locality, Valparaiso, in crevices of roob and
under stones. (Frembley.)
a BlaimmUii, In this species the shape of the coriaceous bordtf
itself is not only very remarkable;, but it is here and there fiingjed,
though not with hair. M. Deshayes has placed this under his section
of those species which have the border of the mantle fringed with
hair or spines, probably from not having seen a good specunen.
Shell roundish, anterior valve obscurely rayed, the posterior one very
small and abrupt.; the others concentrically lineated, the whole
bemg rosy, variegated with white brown, and greenish, and internaUy
white. The mantle-border orange-red, very narrow posteriorly, and
enormously produced anteriorly, rounded and fringed, here and
there, especially on its anterior max|^, with some short oonaoeous
processes. Locality, Inner Lobos Island, coast of Peru.
Digitized by
Google
1041
CttltomDiE.
CHITONID-fi.
104i
Chiton Chilensu.
ChUon BlainvUlii,
B. Mantle-Border smooth, with tufts of hair at the lateral eztremitiefl
of each plate.
C. fcucietUoria, Linnieus. Shell, apparently smooth, but when
examined with a glass, proving to be rough like shagreen, except
on the elevated dorsal ridge; margin surrounded with tufts of
whitish hair, one at the junction of each valve, and two in the front,
making 1 8 in number. Colour brown or dark
cinereous ; length |tbs of an inch ; breadth
rather more than ^th. Montagu, who gives
this deacription, says, that on the coast of
Barbary it is not unfrequently an inch long.
It is found under stones at low water, and on
stones and shells to a depth of 26 fathoms, ^Aiton fascieuiaru,
all round the British shores. It ranges
northward to the shores of Norway, and southward to the Mediter-
ranean. Some remains of Chit<m in the Crag have been referred by
Mr. Searles Wood to C. faacicviarit.
y. Mantle-Border hairy.
C. Peruvianut, Lamarck. Shell oblong-ovate, opaque, dirty-
yellowish, green, or yellowish-brown, inside white. Valves thin,
slightly elevated; posterior compartments of the dokwd valves a
little raised and striated, with minute granulated stri®, and in
like manner the other parts of the shell; under each valve is
inserted a series of short black hairs, which lie on the back of
the shell Border narrow, coriaceous, thickly set with coarse black
hairs. Length 2 inches, breadth 14 inch. Found under stoiiM at
a* Hon Peruvianus,
ChUouMpinotus.
JIaT. nUT. DIY. VOL. I.
low water on the shores of Valparaiso Bay. There is a variety with
the anterior valves much narrower than the posterior. (Frambley.)
9. Mantle-Border beset with spines.
(?. jptnoMM. Shell brownish-blaok, valves opaque, moderate, with
the sides granulated, the anterior valves entirely graniilated. Mantle-
border wide, and beset with long aculeated blackish spines, very
much resembling those of certain Echini. Locality, South Seas,
according to P^ron. Length 8 inches.
C. «ptm/enM (C, oeultatHt, Bunes ; C. tvberculiferut, Sowerby, in
' TankerviUe Catalogue'). Shell opaque, oblong ovate, reddish-brown,
glossy ; inside reddish-white. The posterior angles of the valves do
not cover the anterior ones. Anterior valve with generally nine
rows of raised dots divex^ging from
the apex, but the nimiber perhaps
varies with the age of the shell.
Second valve rather acutely beaked
and carinated, longer than the five
following, which are striated and
shaped alike ; these all rise into a
rather acute beak, are carinated,
each side of the carina being
divided into two distinct portions,
the anterior one the laxgest, and
bearing broad irregular longitudi-
nal striso; a prominent row of
raised dote, extending from the
apex to the anterior angles of the I
valves, separates the Compart-
ments; the posterior portion
glossy, with fine concentric striae ;
the posterior nuugins with tooth-
like granulations. Last valve
striated, like the anterior oom-
pirtmente of the others, and rising
into a rather prominent beak, lean-
ing towards the posterior mai^ ;
from under the beak are raised
dots, disposed in a similar manner
to tiiose on the anterior valve.
Border coriaceous, thick, broad,
rough, greenish or orange-
Okiion spiniferits.
coloured, and in the younger specimens thickly studded with blunt
spines ; but in the old shells the spines are short and scanty, smd
generally covered with corallines; the inner edge of the border,
inserting itself under the posterior angles of the valves, has the
appearance of being deeply separated. (Frembley.) This species
grows to the length of 6 or 6 incnes, but has then generally lost all
ite external beauty. We have seen many individuals in all the stages
of growth, and have invariably found the spines of the aged ones
covered with that calcareous matter which is so frequently found
adhering to shells and submarine bodies, but we have never detected
anything oi^ganic about that which was attached to the spines of this
^>ecies. Locality, Chili and Valparaiso, where Mr. Frembley found
several specimens in veiy exposed situations; so much so, that
collecting them was attended with much difficulty, and not unfre-
quently with danger, from the violence of the sea breaking on the
rocks to which tiiey attach themselves very strongly. They are
generally covered with sea-weed.
c. Mantle-Border scaly.
C. Ooquimbfnsis, Frembley. Shell ovate, narrow, opaque, green-
ish-brown, shining ; inside blackish : the
anterior valves with numerous undulated, con-
centric ridges ; the next rather acutely
keeled ; the five following alike : carina
broad and smooth, on each side of which is a
similar ridge divei^ng from the beaks, and
forming with the carina a sagittate figure,
and connected with it by several strongly
marked ridges: from under the beaks
to the anterior angles of the valves extend
sharp moniliform ridges, each side of which
is coarsely striated longitudinally. Border
thick, moderately broad, and covered with
coarse seed-like scales, which are attached
laterally. Length 8 inches, breadth H inch.
Mr. Frembley says, that ihe only part of the
coast where he found this species was the .
south side of Coquimbo Bay : their habits,
he adds, are very similar to Uiose of C. jptn«-
fenu, with the exception that they seem more ^;^,.,^ Ooouimhetms.
gregarious.
C Mantle-Border grauulous.
C. magniflcui, Deshayes {C. olivacetu, Frembley ; O. latw, Sowerby).
Shell opaque, ovate, olivaceous, dull, dotted with lighter coloured
spoto : inside glaucous. Anterior valve with regular radiating striae,
crossed by concentric ridges ; posterior margin nearly straight. Dorsal
valves obtusely beaked, divided laterally into two compartmente, the
8 z
Digitized by
Google
1049
CHIVEa
CHL^NIUS.
lOM
•Dterior haviDg regular longitudinal airife, croaaed with othera Tory
minute and oonoentric; from under the beaka diverge to the lateral
margina of the yalvea coarae and more irregular atri», which raiae the
posterior compartment above the other. The poaterior valve haa a
well-defined apex, leaning towarda the posterior maigin. Border thin,
moderately broad, and covered with fine shining bead-like granu-
lationa, of the same colour as the shells, divided into two distinct
portions, the np^er of which is composed of finer beads than the
lower, and which are placed transversely. (Frembley.) The spedee
grows to the length of 4 or 5 inches : we have* seen one that reached
i\ inches when dead. There is another variety narrower than the
ordinary individuals, and Mr. Frembley observes that, among the
very young ahells, some of them have their borders of a lighter
colour than their shells, and spotted with black. Locality, Chili
Chiton magnificua.
Species with the Mantle-Border highly developed, and the valves
very smalL {ChiioneUwt).
These are more or less cylindrical, and vermiform, the valves being
very email, and in some species almost entirely hidden under the
akin of the border, giving the animal an almost naked appearance.
Examples, ChUondlus Icsvis, and O. larvaformis.
a, Chitonellus Unis ; (, Chitonellu* larvt^formii.
The following species are noted as British in Messrs. Forbes and
Hanley'a 'History of Mollusca' : — 6'. feucicularii, C. discrepana, C.
ffanUyif C, ruber, C. cinereiu, 0. aUnu, C. asellui, O, caneeUatua, C.
kevii, O. marmoreua, and O, pwnetatut.
Above 200 species of this family have been described. The genus
Chitim is divided by Dr. J. E. Qray and others into numerous sub-genera.
Fossil Chitonidce.
Although &t>m their fragility it might be supposed that few
remains of these animals would be found, indications of their existence
have been discovered as far back as the Paleozoic period. About
24 fossil species have been discovered. Three of these are given
In Mr. Searlee Wood's account of the Crag Mollusca, published by the
Palseontographical Society.
CHIYES, the common name of Allium schcmoprasum. Its bulbs
have the usual garlic odour of the genus, and are used in soups and
•tews : thej are but little cultivated. [Alliuic]
CHL^NA'CEiB, Chknads, a natural oi^er pf Polypetalous
Exogenous Plants, by some accounted 'allies of Maioacta^ but mon
correctly refanred to the vicinity of OiAaeea, from which, and all
those aasooiated with them in the Gynobaoic Group, they differ in
having an involucrum to each calyx, or to each pair of calices. Tkey
are handsome trees or shrubs, but of no known use. Their lesTei an
alternate and undivided, their stipules deciduous, and their flowen
in panicles or racemes, always showy, and often red. There are four
genera, Sa/rcoUena, LeptoUenci, SchiaoUeiM, Ithodol€mA. The whole of
the species, about eight in number, are wild in Madagascar.
Sareolana muUifior*.
a, flower-bad ; h, flower ; e, vertical section of flower ; d, the calyx ; c, th«
involncnun ; /, base of the flower, showing the spiral tabe formed by the imioa
of the fllaments ; g. A, back and front views of anthers ; i, pistil ; A, traoflrerse
section of ovary ; I, flrnit ; m, transverse section of fmit ; n, rertical section ol
fmit ; 0, pericarp, splitting and discharging its seed ; p, seed ; q, rertial
section of seed ; r, transverse section of seed ; «, embryo.
CHLiE'NIUS, a genus of Coleopterous Insects, of the family
ffarpalidcBf and section PcaeUimants (Dejean).
The species of this genus are all of tolerably laige sise, veiy elegut
in form, and generally adorned with various hues of green, the colours
being rich, but not glossy^ owing to the upper parts being more or
less covered with a very delicate pubescence, wluoh produces a lilk-
like appearance. Very many of the species have the legs and anteiuis
of a pale yellow colour, and the outer maigin of the wing-eaees of
the same tint^ and some have the elytra adorned with laige yellow spcta
The genus Chloenius constitutes a veiy large group of the EarpalidiBt
which, according to our views, embraces the genera ^p(mii tad
Dinodes. We will therefore briefly notice the distinguishing cha-
racters of these three groups.
All three of the genera agree in having the tarsi of the anterior
pair of legs dilated in the males, and a bifid tooth in the middle of
the emaxgination of the mentum ; but they difi^ chiefly in the form
of the terminal joint of the palpi, and the diflferenoe may he thui
expressed: —
Terminal joint of the palpL
Elongated and truncated at the apex, CMcmiut.
Elongated and distinctly securiform, Bpomis,
Short and slightly secuiiform, ^ Dinodes.
Digitized by
Google
VMS
GHLAMYDOSAnRTia
CHLAMYPHORUS.
iai6
As regards the form of these insects, the body is generally more or
less oval, and veiy slightly convex : the thorax is almost always con-
siderably narrower than tiie elytra, broad towards the anterior part;
and diminishing in width towards the posterior. The head is rather
long, the eyes project considerably, and are rather remote from the
base of the head ; the portion of the head before the eyes is rather
pointed.
The species are fomid under stones, weeds, and almost any rubbish
which will a£ford them shelter; sometimes under the loose bark of
old trees near the root^ but they must be sought after in the vicinity
ot water.
Of the genus CManitis M. Le Comte Dejean enumerates 115 species,
a great portion of which are European ; many are from Africa, the
East Indies, and North America, but South America and Australia
appear to be almost destitute of these insects.
Several species have been discovered in England. Of these however
two only have been found in any abundance. Chlcenius vestittu
{CarcUnu marginatu$f Linn.) is very common in the south of England,
and is found under stones by the edges of ponds where g^vel aboimds.
It is neariy half an inch in length, black beneath, and of a rich green
colour above : the elytra are distinctly striated, very finely punctured,
and covered with a delicate pubescence of a golden hue : their outer
mai^n is of a pale yellow colour : this tint is confined to a narrow
line towards the base of the elytra, but forms a broad patch at the
apex; the head and thorax are rather glossy; the latter is finely
punctured throughout, and has the tnargin slightly tinted with
yellow : the legs, antennro, and palpi are yeUovnsh-white when the
insect is alive.
Of the genus Epomia M. Dejean enumerates six species, one of whidi
has been found in England. It is about three-quarters of an inch in
length ; the head and thorax are of an obscure brasay-green colour
and slightly punctured ; the elytra are black, with the outer margin
pale yellow ; the 1^ and antenneo are also yellow. This species is
not uncommon in ^unce and Italy.
The genus Dinodei only embraces four species. 2). rufipes is about
half an inch in length, of a rich blue colour above, and finely punc-
tured throughout : the legs and base of the antennse are of a reddish-
yellow colour.
The thorax in this genus (taking D. rufipes as the type) is broader
and more rounded than in the genera Chlcmius and £pomU. The
species described is found in France and Italy.
CHLAMTDOSAURUS, a genus of Saurian Reptiles, founded by
Dr. J. E. Gray upon a specimen brought home by Qaptain Phillip
Parker King, R.N., F.R.S., &o., on his return from his survey of the
intertropical and western coasts of Australia, performed between the
years 1818 and 1822. The following is Dr. Gray's description : —
Animal scaly ; the head depressed ; the nostitls placed on the side,
midway between the eyha and the end of the head ; the drum of the
ear naked; the front teeth conical, awl-shaped (eight in the upper and
four in the lower jaw), the hinder ones longest ; the side or cheek
teetli compressed, short, forming a single ridge, gradually longer
behind; tongue short, fleshy, with an •oval smooth diso at each side
of the lower part of its front part; neck rather long, furnished on
each side with a lainge plaited frill, supported above by a crescent-
shaped cartilage, arising m>m the upper hinder part of the ear, and
in the middle by an elongation of Uie side fork of the bone of the
tongue ; body compressed ; legs rather long, especially the hinder
ones ; destitute of femoral pores ; feet four, with five toes, the first
ha^dng two, the second three, the third four, the fourth £ve, and the
little finger and toe three joints; claws compressed, hooked; tail
long, nearly round, scaly.
ChUmydotawnu Kingii. Colour yellowish-brown, variegated with
black. Head depressed, with the sides erect, leavmg a blunt ridge on
the upper part wherein the eyes are placed. The ridge over the eyes
is covered with laiger scales than those over the head. The eyes are
rather small, with a fleshy ridge above them, and the eyelids are covered
with minute scales, and surrounded by a delicate serrated ridge of
small upright ones. The Ups are surrounded by a row of oblong
4-sided sctdes, arranged lengthways, the front scale of the upper
lip being the largest. The chin is covered with narrow mid-ribbed
scales, with a Saided one in the centre, and several of larger size just
over the front of the fork of the lower jaw. The nostrils are sur-
rounded by a rather large orbicular scale, situated nearly midway be-
tween the eye and the end of the upper-jaw, the tubes pointing forwards.
The side of the face has a very obscure ridge extending from the
angle of the mouth to the under part of the ear. The neck is covered
with small scales. The frill arises from the hinder part of the head,
just over the front of the ears, is attached to the sides of the neck,
and extends down to the front part of the chesty supported above by
a lunate cartilage arising from the hinder dorsal part of the ear, and
in the centre by a bone which extends about half its length. ^ Each
frill has four plaits which converge on the under part of the chin, and
fold it up on the ride, and a Mm where the two are united in the
centre of the lower part of the neck. The front part of its upper
edge is elegantly serrated, but the hinder or lower part is quite entire :
the outer surface is covei^ with carinated scales, those in the centre
being the largest The inner surface is quite smooth. The scales of
the back are oval, and nearly smooth; those of the lower part of the
body and upper part of the legs have a short mid-rib, and those of
the sides and joints of the limbs are minute. The tail ib twice as
long as the body, roundish, covered with scales which have each a
sha^ mid-rib, and towards the termination, which is blunt, form six
rows, BO as to render that oi^n obscurely hexagonal. The toes are
long, very imequal, compressed, and scaly. The claws are hooked,
and horn-coloured.
Dimensions. — Length of the tail 12 inches; of the body 5 inches ; of
the head 5^ inches. Breadth of the head over the eyes one inch.
Lttigth of the thigh 1^ inch; of the foot and sole 2| inches; of tiie
outer edge of the frill 10 inches.
Jx>cality and Habits. — We owe the discovery of this extraordinary
Saurian to Mr. Allan Cunningham, who accompanied Captain King's
expedition as his Majesty's botanical collector for Kew Gardens, and
to whom naturalists in general are so mudi indebted for the zeal dis-
played by him in the pursuit of natural history, and for the Uberalitj
with which he has communicated the results of his labours. He
found the specimen from whi<^ the description was taken on the
branch of a tree in Careening Bay, at the bottom of Port Nelson, and
sent it to Sir Everard Home, by whom it was deposited in the
Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. The following is the
account of the capture in Mr. Cunningham's Journal : — ^* I secured a
lizard c^ extraordinary appearance, which had perched itself npon the
stem of a small decayed tree ; it had a curious crenated membraae,
like a ruff or tippet round its neck, covering its shouldersy and when
expanded, whidi it was enabled to do by means of transverse slender
cartilages, it spreads 5 inches in the form of an open umbrella. I
regret that my eagerness to secure so interesting an animal did not
achnit of sufficient time to allow the lizard by its alarm or irritability
to show how for it depended upon, or what use it made of, this extra-
ordinary membrane when its life was threatened. Its head was rather
laige, and eyes, whilst living, rather prominent ; its tongue, although
bifid, was short and thick, and appeared to be tubular." According
to Captain -King, the colour of the tongue and inside of the mouth was
yeUow. Dr. J. K Gray arranges this genus under the family
Affomidat. [Aqama.]
ChlatnydoiQUi'M Kingii.
a, the animal In the Museum of the College of Surgeons ; h, representation
of the living head, from the ' Appendix ' to Captain King's * Voyage.'
CHLAMT'PHORUS (Harlan), a genus of Mammalia belonging to
the order Edentata. It was first described by Dr. ELarlan in the
'Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History,' voL i, firom a
specimen presented to the Philadelphia Museum. It is the Piohifda^
0^ the Indians in Mendosa (its native place), on the east of the Cordil-
leras, in lat. 88* 25', and long. «9" iV. It had been obtained on the
spot in a living state, but lived in confinement onlv a few days. The
viscera and £e greater portion ot the skeleton had been removed
before the animal came into Dr. Harlan's possession. In March 1828
the conncil of the Zoological Society of London placed in the hands of
Mr. Yarrell a specimen of this rare and new animal, and to his dineo-
tion we are chiefiy indebted for our knowledge of its stmoture. The
following account is an abstract of Mr. Yarrell's paper in the
' ZoologicalJoumaL'
Digitized by
Google
1047
CHLAMYPHORUS.
CHLAMYPHORUa
loia
The form of the head praents the figure of an irregular cone, the
base of which is turned towards the spine ; the cranium does not
exhibit any sutures ; the cavity capacious ; the frontal bone supporting
two rounded processes projecting upwards and somewhat outwards ;
the space between them occupied by a substance resembling in appear-
ance adipose matter, from which issued a fluid like oiU From the
anterior part of the base of these two rounded processes, a narrow
ridge of bone extends forwards on each side converging towards the
nose. The nasal bones elongated, the orifice opening downwards.
No incisor nor canine teeth in either jaw; molars ., cylindrical,
8
separate, encircled with enamel, but none on the crowns : the first
tooth on each side in the lower jaw, having no opponent, is the longest^
the remaining seven opposed to the first seven oi the upper jaw, and
taking angular impressions on their surfiioes by contact ; the direction
and depth of the alveolar cavities of the upper jaw distinctly marked
on the outside by parallel ridges ; in the lower jaw the alveolar cavi-
ties are pierced the whole depth. The anterior portion of the lower
jaw is elongated ; the inferior edge concave the first half of its length,
thMi convex ; the plate broad, rising at right angles with the line of
the teeth ; the condyloid process longer than the ooronoid, the condyle
itself elongated tnmsversely. The external meatus auditorius is
extended in the form of a semicircular cylindrical tube of bone,
curving round the base of the zygoma, and passing forwards termi-
nates in an aperture immediately behind the eye. The orbits and
temporal fosses united ; the zygomatic arch is slender posteriorly, but
becomes much stronger towards the firont, expanding downwards, and
famished with an acute descending process. The occipital foramen is
of great size.
Skull of CfMoptyphonu truneattu,
a. Skull leen from abore; », the same seen horn belov ; 0, lower Jaw.
The cervical vertebrae 7, the first large, the articulating surface
broad ; the 2nd, Srd, and 4th very firmly ossified together, pierced
with foramina for the passage ot the cervical vessels ; the 5th united
to the 4th on the under surface only ; the 6th and 7th slender and
separate, allowing the head great fireedom of motion upwards ; the
whole of the last six grooved on the under surface, in the line of the
passage of the cesophagus. Dorsal vertebrsB 11, the spinous process
of the first slender, throe-eighths of an inch long, the others duninish
gradually in length, but increase in size ; all directed backwards. The
fint rib is very broad, and from the 2nd to the 8th the ribs of the
CMamyphoruSf like those of birds, are firmly united to the sternum
without the intervention of an dongated cartilage; and, again like
those of birds, are also supplied witii a false joint, at the distance of
about two-thirds of their length from the spine to the sternum. The
9th, 10th, and 11th being fedse ribs are united in Uie usual wa^ to
each other, and to the 8th by elongations
of cartilage from their extremities. The
portions of ribs intervening between the
liaise joints and the sternum are in' the
6th, 7th, and 8th ribs, consolidated, broad,
flattened portions of bone, which form
the boundary of the anterior and lateral
parietes of Uie thorax. The first bone
of the sternum is broad and flai;^ the
superior surface regularly concave, the
inferior irregularly convex. Upon the
anterior edge of the sternum are two
prominences to which are attached ^e
extremities of each davide. From each
of these articulations a slightly elevated
ridge proceeds backwards tlong the
inferior surface of the sternum, oonvei^giog towards the centre, where
they become united, and form a prominent crest The lateral edges
of this first bone of the sternum are articulated at its anterior extre-
mity to the first and broadest rib; from this part th9 bone suddenly
Cervical YertebrflD, first bone
of the Btemnm, with parts of
the first and second ribs, seen
from below.
becomes narrowed posteriorly, and terminates in a concave articular
surface to which the second bone of the sternum is attached. Judging
from the imperfect remains of the second bone, of which the upper
part only was distinguishable, it would appear that its form was
oblong, Uie superior surface concave. The remaining portion of the
sternum was too much mutilated to admit further description.
Lumbar vertebras 8, the spinous processes short and flattened ;
the last two dorsal vertebras, as well as the lumbar, furnished with
long oblique processes directed forwards, upwards, and outwards ; the
transverse processes of the first two lumbar vertebras considerably
elongated, tne last possessing a rudiment only.
The whole of the sacrum and innominata is so peculiar and unique
in character, that it is scarcely possible to give any correct idea of
this part without the assistance of accurate representations. The
superior part of the ilium is flattened, the upper part bent to form an
arched plane of bone, the concavity of whidi fiices downwards and
outwards; the aista of great lengtii from before backwarda. The
inferior portion 'of the ilium is much stronger, inclining outwards^
from its junction with the sacrum to the acetabulum.
The transverse and spinous processes of the sacrum are represented
by three slender plates of bone, which, approximating as they pass
backwards, are umted to form a septum, extending down the median
line of the sacrum to the tail A channel is formed on each side of
this septum by a thin flat plate of bone, which, arising from the
posterior and superior part of the ischium on each side, is bent over
the back part of the sacrum and fixed to an arched and prominent
plate of bonc^ which is extended from this septum outwards to form
a junction with it The channels thus produced are bounded below
by the sacrum, on the inner sides by the septum, on the outer sides
by the ascending phttes of bone just described, and above by the
junction of both. From this union a short osseous stem issues hori-
zontally on each side, and expands into a flattened circular plate of
bone, to the rough surfiice of which, as well as to the tuberosity of
the ischium below, portions of the truncated exterior of the animal
are firmly attached.
The under surface of the sacrum is broad and flattened, and marked
by an indistinct central ridge. The pelvis is open in front, the osaa
pubis on each side do not incline inwards, but descend at right angles
from the horizontal surface of the sacrum. In the circumstance of
the pelvis being open there is a second resemblance to the bony
structure in birds.
a, the Pelvis seen from behind ; b, the same seen from below.
The caudal vertebras are 14 in number; the transverse pro-
sses of the last four are elongated, to support the thin dilated
lateral edges of the paddle or spatular extremity of the taiL Lai;ge
muscles are imbedded in the two cavities formed on the upper
surface of the sacrum by its septum and the two lateral elevated
portions of the ischium before described ; and thercf are antagonist
muscles of equal size on the under surface. The tendons of these
muscles were inserted on the
upper and under parts of the
caudal vertebrae, giving i^reat
power to the tail, whidi is
probably exercised in remov-
VertebrsB of the tail. ing backwards the loose earth
accumulated imder Uie bellj
of this burrowing animal by the action of the fore legs, and for
which purpose the expanded and flattened extremity seems weU
calculated.
The scapula has its superior margin straight, ending in a notdi of
great size ; the base rounded ; the inferior margin concave, and tha
posterior inferior angle considerably elongated ; the coracoid process
but little produced, the spine elevated, the acromion very long,
passing forwards, downwanls, and inwards, over the head of the
humerus, to be articulated to a long and slender but perfect davide.
There is a second spine of smaller size, paralld to but beneath the
true spine. The humerus is three-fourths of an inch in length, Ur^e,
and broad; the deltoid crest prominent; between which and Uie
external condyle a deep groove is formed for the lodgment of muscles^
&c ; both condyles very much elongated transversdy ; the inner con-
dyle perforated above; the edge rising from the external condyle
acute. The radius small, and seven-sixteenths of an inch in length;
the ulna flattened, concave upwards, the olecranon nearly as long as
the ulna, horizontally flattened also, and presenting a superior con-
Digitized by
Google
CHLAMYPHORUa
CHLAMYPHORUa
106O
Skeleton of Chlamyphonu truneatus, with the exception of the feet, which are eorered
with the integuments.
cave BorfiBuse, ending in a onire pointmg downwards. The feet
fiimiBhed with seaamoid bones for the insertion of the tendons of
the flexor muscles.
The femur, thirteen-sizteenths of an inch long, large and strong ;
the length of the neck considerable ; the great trochanter elongated
backwards beyond the line of the articulation of the head of the
femur wiA tiie acetabulum, and ending in a tub-.i-osity ; the lesser
trodlanter directed *
downwards; a trochan-
ter projecting from the
outer side of the shaft
of the femur somewhat
above the middle ; the
condyles moderately
elongated transversely,
the outer having a crest
directed backwards.
The tibia and fibula
fifteen-sixteenths of an
inch, flattened, concave
inwards, firmly anchy-
losed at each extremity,
and arched in opposite
directions, giving an
appearance of great size and strength to the leg. The os calois
elongated backwards, flat, and ending in a curve slightly inclined
upwarda Hind feet plantigrade.
Mr. Yarrell observed the following points of resemblance between
the skeleton of Chlamyphorua and that of other Mammalia: — 1.
Beaver {Castor Fiber), in the form and substance of some of the bones
of the limbs, in the flattened and dilated extremity of the tail, and
the elongation of the transverse processes of the lower caudal vertebrae,
but no further. 2. Mole {T<Upa Buropcea), in the shortness and great
strength of the legs, and in the articulation of the daws to the first
phalanges of the toes ; but in the form of the bones of the anterior
extremity, as well as in the compressed claws, it is perfectly different,
nor do ike articulations of the bones, nor the arrangement of the
muscles, allow any of the lateral motion so conspicuous in the mole.
The hinder extremities of CMamyphorus are also much more power-
ful. 3. Sloth (Bradypu$ tridactylut), in the form of tiie teeth, and in
the acute descending process of the zygoma, but not otherwise. 4.
Armadilloes {Daeyp^, in the ooat of mail, in the peculiar ossification
of the cervical vertebrae, in possessing the sesamoid bones of the feet,
and in the general form of the bones, except those of the pelvis ; they
differ however in the form and appendages of the head and in the
tail. 5. Orycieroptu Capentit and Myrmecophaga jubiUa, in some of
the bones. 6. Echidna and Omithorhynchus, in the form of the first
bone of the sternum, and in the bony articulations as well as the
dilated connecting plates of the true and false ribs. 7 and 8. Rwni-
narUia and Pachydermata, in the form of the lower jaw, and in other
points equally obvious. The unique points in its structure appear to
be the fonn of the head and the open pelvis.
According to Dr. Harlan, the total length of the entire animal is
51 inches. The shell which covers the body is of a consistence some-
what more dense and inflexible than sole-leather of equal thickness,
and is composed of a series of plates of a square, rhomboidal, or
cubical form, each row separated by an epidermal or membranous
production, which is reflected above and beneath, over the plates :
the rows include from 15 to 22 plates, the shell being broadest at its
posterior half, extending about one-half round the body. This
covering is loose throughout, excepting along the spine of the back
and top of the head, being attached to the ba^k immediately above
the spme by a loose cuticular production, and by the two remarkable
bony processes on the top of the Os frontis, by means of two lai*ge
plates, which are nearly incorporated with the bone beneath ; but
for this attachment the covering would be very easily detached. The
number of rows of plates on the back, counting from the vertex,
where they commence, is 24 ; at the twenty-fourth the shell curves
suddenly downwards, so as to form a right angle with the body;
this truncated surface is composed of plates, nearly similar to those
of the back ; they are^ disposed in semicircular rows, five in number ;
the lower margin, somewhat elliptical, presents a notch in its centre,
in which is attached the free portion of tail, which makes an abrupt
curvature, and runs beneath the belly parallel to the axis of the body,
the extremity of the tail being depressed, so as to form a paddle ; the
rest of the tail compressed. The superior semicircuUr margin of the
truncated surface, together with the lateral margins of the shell, are
beautifully fringed with talkj hair.
The posterior half of the head broad, anterior half, before the eyes,
tapering ; the oociput is covered by the first five rows of the back
plates with which they are continuous ; the occiput not distinguish-
able externally. The anterior half of the top of the head is oovered,
first, by a row of large plates, five in number, which are firmly
attached to the bone beneath, particularly the two outer ; secondly,
by a smaller row, six in number, anterior to which, that is to say, the
top of the snout, is oovered with smaller plates irregularly disposed.
Mr. Yarrell observes that when separating the skin from the
muscled of the back the fibres (described by Dr. Harlan) by which
the outer ooat was attached in the line of the vertebrae were found to
be adherent to the muscles immediately iuTesting the spinous pro-
cesses, and each of them, Mr. YarreU supposes, probably affords a
nidus for vessels nourishing the external covering ; bat these attach-
ments did not extend b^w the dorsal vertebrae. Proceeding from
thence forwards the great size of the muscles of the scapulae and neck
was apparent, filling up the whole space, the back and upper portion
of the head forming
one continued line.
The thick plate of scales
covering the frxmta\
portion of the head was
without difficulty sepa-
rated from the surfaces
of the singular bony
processes of the os
frontis; the projecting
cartilaginous portion of
the nose was removed
with the skin, and
the tendons of several
musdee giving motion
to the snout were cut
through.
The hinder portion of the body still remained to be s^arated from
the skin, and this was found to be a matter of some difficulty. The
posterior and inferior portions of the sacrum on each side were firmly
united by distinct attiuihments, differing in form, to certain scales of
the truncated extremity of the outer covering.
The necessity of preserving this outer covering entire rendered a
division of these portions of bone necessary, and frx)m the particular
form of the part this was attended with some hazard, but was ulti-
mately accomplished without injury, the bones being out through as
Chlamyphorua truneatut.
Tnmcated extremity and tall.
near to and as parallel with the inner surface of the plates as their
confined situati^ would admit. The covering of the tail was sepsr
rated from the vertebrae as far as the flattened extremity, where the
greater elongation of the transverse processes of the last four vertebras
and the tenuity of this flattened portion made further separation
Digitized by
Google
GHLAMTS.
CHLOROMT&
loss
difloult The tail waa then divided between the tenth and eldv«nth
Tertebne, and both parte of the animal entirely separated.
On the inner surface of the remoTod skin were two long broad and
ihin moaclea extending the whole length of the back ; each muscle
was divided as it approached the shoulder into two portions ; the
outer one was attached to the superior and greater spine of the
scapular bone ; the inner and longer slip proceeded forwards, and was
inserted into the transverse occipital ridge. The posterior extremity of
each muscle was attached to the superior edge of the spine of the ilium.
The external ear, according to Dr. Harlsm, consists of a circular
somewhat patulous opening, directly posterior to the eye, surrounded
with an elevated margin, and oommimica&ig with a bony canisJ.
The eye is minute, totally black, and, like the ear,'nearlv hidden by
long silky hair. The mouth is small. The nose is furnished with an
enlarged cartilage, as in the hog, the anterior nares opening down-
wards at the inferior border.
The whole surface of the body is, it appears from the same author,
— and the correctness of his description is proved by an inspection of
the stuffed specimen — covered with fine silk-like hair, longer and finer
than that of the mole, but not so thick set. The anterior of the chest
is large, full, and strong ; the anterior extremities short, clumsy, and
powcnrful; the hair is continued for some distance on the palm — the
phalanges of the hand united ; five powerful nails rising gradually
one above the other, the external shortest and broadest ; the whole
so arranged as to form a sharp cutting instrument^ rather scooped,
very convenient for progression under ground, and such as must very
much impede motion on the surfiice. Hind legs weak and short;
feet long and narrow ; the sole resembles considerably the human
foot) having a well-defined heel, which rests flat upon the groimd, and
being arched in the middle ; toes separate, nails strong.
In the specimen dissected by Mr. Yarrell the abdomen and thorax
had been opened throughout tiieir whole length, and the viscera from
both cavities had been entirely removed. Adhering to the skin lining
the truncated portion of the animal were two sacs, which had been
lodged in cavities on each outer side of the sacrum, immediately
under the superior projection, made evident by the corresponding
depression in the investing muscle of that part. These globular bags
were lined with a secreting surface, but naving suffered some muti-
lation in removal, the mode by which the secretion passed, or its
particular use, could not be asceortained. Mr. Tarrell thinks that they
are probably analogous to the well-known anal glands of various other
quadrupeds.
According to Mr. Closeberry, who first discovered this animal, the
habits of Chlamyphorus resemble those of the mole, as it lives for the
most part under ground. He adds that the animal is reputed to carry
its young beneath- the scaly cloak with which it is covered, and that
the tail possesses little or no motion.
CHLAMYS. [Chrtsomelidje.]
CHLENACEA [Chljenaobjb.]
CHLORA, a genus of plants belonging to the natdral order
OferUianaeece. It has 8 sepals, a rotate corolla with 6-8 segments
withering round the capsule, the stigma bi-lamellate, the anthers not
altering, the capsule 1-celled with spongy placentae, the seeds angular.
C. p&rfoliatOf Yellow-Wort, has the lowermost leaves elliptico-oblong,
narrowed below; the leaves of the stem broadly perfoliate. The
corollas are of a bright-yellow colour, and the stigmas are scarlet. The
whole plant is glaucous, and is very subject to attacks of mildew. It
is a native of chalky hiUs and banks in most countries of Europe. It
is found in England and Ireland, but not in Scotland. Like the
whole order to which it belongs it possesses a bitter principle, which
renders its action on the system tonic. It may be used in all those
cases of debility and in diseases where the roots of the OerUiana and
J^rytAnva are recommended. Its tonic properties are not however so
powerful as in many other species of the onler.
(Lindley, Flora Afedica; fiabington, Manual of Britith Botany.)
CHLORANTHA'CE^, Chlorantht, a natural order of Achlamy-
deous Exogenous Plants allied to the Peppers, and like them
having an aromatic fragrant odour. They are known from the orders
associated with them by their jointed stems and opposite leaves,
with intermediate stipules. Their flowers grow in naked spikes, and
consist of an ovary next the axis of inflorescence, and a fleshy anther
on the outside. Besides (Moranthm [Chlobanthus] two other genera,
ffedyo8mum and Ascarinaf constitute this order. In structure they
are allied to Piperacece, Urticacece, and Saururaceas, The order
contains about 15 species.
CHLORANTHUS, a genus of pbolts belonging to the natural order
(MorarUhaeea. It has spiked flowers, each with a bract. Calyx
absent. Anther solitary and 2-oelled, or triple and 4-celled, with a
thick fleshy connective; seated on the exterior side of the ovary.
The stigma sessile. Drupe baccate/ 1-seeded.
C. officinalU is a smooth shrub 8-4 feet high, with opposite
straggling branches, tumid at the articulations, fistular when young.
Leaves spreading, opposite, stalked^ oblong, acuminated at each end,
with glandular serratures, thin, shining, and somewhat blistered;
petioles short and taper. Spikes terminal, branched. Bracts dotted
with glands. Anther white, changing to vellow. Drupe straw-
ooloured. All the parts are powerfully aromatic ; the roots, if quickly
dned» retain their properties for a long time. The plant is a native
of Java, In the moist woods, at an elevation of 1500 feet shove the
level of Ihe sea.
The mountaineers of Java employ the roots in infusion as 'a remedy
for spasms ; also when united *^th Ahise or' Ocym'um it is given in
small-pox. In fevers and a suppression of the functions of the skin it
is said to be of the greatest service. It is no doubt a powerful and
active stimulant.
» 0 0
CVthranthus offieinalit.
1, Spike, the tipper and lower flowers without stameuB ; 2, flower withoatUa
bract ; 8, an interior view of the anther ; 4, a magnified fruit ; 5, the kernel of
the fruit ; 6, a Motion of the fruit, ahowing the embryo ; 7, the stone of the
fruit, with a portion of the shell removed ; 8, a perpendicular section of the
orary, showing the position of the ovule.
C. hrachyttachys is also a native of the coast of Java. It ia tn
upright bush about 3 feet high, quite smooth in all its parts. ' Leaves
obovate, lanceolate, tapering very much into the petiole, aharply
serrate. Spikes short, terminal, bcanohed. Bracts glandukr. Anther
simple, 2-celled, growing from the side of the ovary. Its properUee
are like those of the last species.
CHLO'RION, a genus of Hymehopterous Insects of the section
Fosaores. [Spheoiojs.]
CHLORITE, a Mineral of a dark olive-green colour belonging to
the talc, or hydrous silicate of magnesia series. It occurs in maesei
of a granular texture, rarely in hexagonal crystals, foliated like talc.
It has a slight pearly lustre, and is sub-translucent or opaque, rarely
sub-transparent. Its hardness is 1-5; specific gravity, 2'65to2'85.
It has the following composition : —
Silica .80*4
Alumina . 17
Magnesia . . . . . .34
Protoxide of Iron .4'4
Water * . . . 126
It fuses with difficulty on the thinnest edges. Its oliv^green colour
and granular structure distinguish it fix)m Serpentine. It may ^
known fh)m Talc hj its yielding water on fusiorL
OMorite Slate is an impure variety which occun abundanUyi
sometimes in slaty rocks.
CHLORITOID, a Mineral of a greenish-black colour, and coarsely
foliated. It is one of the hydrous silicates of alumina. Ko analysii
of it appears to exist It comes from tiie Ural Mountains, and hsi
a hardness = 5*5, and a specific gravity =: 3*55. (Dana, Mwa-Qlfifpf)
CHLOROMYS. [Aaorn.]
Digitized by
Google
CHLOROPAL.
CHLOROPHTLE.
KU
CHLOROPAL is a Kmeral of a greezuBh-yellow or pistachio-green
colour. It is a Silicate of Iron.
CHLOROPHJSITE, a Mineral fonnd by Dr. Maccullocli in the
Isle of Rnm. It oocus in small masses imbedded in basalt or a black
indurated ironstone. Its colour when firesh broken is green, which
becomes black by exposure to the air. It is brittle and soft enough
to be Bcratdied with a quill. Its specific gravity is 2*02. Some
specimei& are transparent, others are opaque. The lustre is vitreous;
the fracture of the transparent sort is conohoidal, of the opaque inter-
mediate between conchoidal and granular. (Phillips's Mineralogy.)
CHLOROPHANE. rFLUOR-BFAB.1
CHLOROPHYLK {Bndix^rome, PhytoehUtre, ChnmyU.) The
green colouring-miatter of plants. It is obtained by bruising, press-
tog, and then washing leaves with water, and afterwards treating them
with alcohol, which cDssolves the green colour and wax ; when water
is added to this solution, and the alcohol distilled, the green substance,
which contains wax, floats on the surface of the water; when this is
heated with ether, the wax is dissolved, and Chlorophyle remains
nearly pure. When exposed to light, or tjie action of chlorine, it is
blea^M. Adds produce a similar effect^ and by the alkalis it is con-
verted into soap. The red tint which leaves assume in autumn appears
to be owing to the formation and action of an acid ; the gpreen colour
is restored by an alkali.
This substance has been recently investigated with great care by
Mulder, and the following account of it is chiefly derived from his
researches as given in his 'Chemistry of AnioiiBl and Vegetable
Physiology.' : —
It is a striking fxyc^ that young leaves have a much lighter f[K«a
colour than those which are older, showing that the quantity of
Chlorophyle increases with the age of the leaves. If Chlorophyle were
a substance -poor in oxygen, and were derived from substances rich in
oxygen, this fact alone would be sufficient to explain the power which
the g^reen parts possess of separating oxygen. This however is not
the case : Chlorophyle is rich in oxygen. Nevertheless the leaves give
off oxygen not because they are green, but whilst they are becoming
green.
When green leaves are digested with ether the liquid becomes
green. 0^ evaporating the etherial solution, and treating the residue
with hot alcohol, a considerable amount of white fatty matte^ (wax)
separates on cooling, while the green colouring-matter remains in
solution. Before proceeding to the consideration of the green
colouring-matter, it, will be expedient to say a few words respecting
the mixture it forms with the wax.
In a physiological or botanical sense this mixture has the name of
Chlorophyle ; in a chemical sense the term is restricted to the actual
green pigment. To prevent confusion, the former is designated as
B. Chlorophyle, and the latter as C. Chlorophyle ; B. indicating the
botanical, and C. the chemical signification of the word.
We find similar mixtures of a waxy fat and colouring-matter in
other external parts besides the leaves, namely, in the skins of fruits,
especially of such as are coloured ; and on digesting them in ether
we obtain a large quantity of waxy matter in solution, varying in tint
according to the colour of the skin ; being gray when obtained fr^m
apples, and of a beautiful ofange-oolour when obtained from the berries
of the Mountain-Adi.
The degree in which the action of light contributes to the change
of colour in the C. Chlorophvle which exists in the perisperms, and
to the production from it of the colouring^matter of the skin of ripe
fruits, may be obviously inferred from the green colour which such
fruits retain if they do not receive a sufficient supply of solar light,
.or from the difference of colour exhibited by tiie opposite side of the
same fruit, as well as from the fact that leaves when deprived of the
action of light become colourless, while if completely exposed to its
action they secrete a considerable amount of R Chlorophyle.
This apparently anomalous difference in the action of light on the
skins of fruits and on leaves is dependent on the same cause as the
change of colour in the leaves during autumn ; namely, that light can
only produce B. Chlorophyle when there is a sufficient supply of
materials for its renewed formation as often as the existing quantity
is decomposed by the influence of the light ; and that as soon as this
supply is exhausted the green colouring-matter is itself decomposed,
and other compounds are formed from it. *
Light acts powerfully in keeping plants green, and likewise exerts
a powerful decomposing action upon all colouring-matters, the C.
Chlorophyle not excepted ; thus asparagus, potatoes, young leaves,
ftc., become green whenever they are exposed to light, and hence
there must h^ a substance widely diffiised through plants, which
causes the production of Chlorophyle. The change takes place not
merely on the suir&co, but beneath it as far as light can penetrate
through the semi-transparent parts. All plants however are not
coloured green ; some have no colour at all, while others are speckled
or spotted, or of a colour entirely different from green. Hence we
conclude that in these plants or parts of plants, the materials yielding
Chlorophyle are absent. We may sometimes observe in summer one
■ingle spot of a green leaf coloured red by the action of insects or by
being injured bjr hail ; the green colouring-matter is at the spot decom-
posed by the ng^t ; no new portion is formed, and the spot acquires
the same colour which the whole leaf would have assumea in autumn.
From this we infer that the diange of colour in the leaves during
autumn is simply dependent on a ehemical alteration of the green -
oolouring^matter by light.
Mulder, after showing from a laige number of fiusts that wax along
with a green colouring-matter exists in leaves and unripe fruits, —
wax, with a red colouring-matter^ in the red leaves which appear in
autumn, and in the red fmiti, — and wax with a yellow colourings
matter, in the yellow leaves of autumn, and in the yellow fruits — gives
a Isng^ened chemical description of Chlorophyle, for an account of
which we must refer to the original work.
Fkom Muldei^s experiment^ and those previously instituted by
Benelius, it appears that the green colouring-matter of the leaves is
readily decomposed into three different substances, one yellow, another
blue, and a third black ; and that according to the proportion of these
three mixed with the green, a different kind of green must be produced.
Hence the difference in the green colour of different leaves depends
not only on the presence of more or less Chlorophyle, but also on the
different mutual proportions of these three colouring-matters.
The quantity of pure C. Chlorophyle contained in the leaves is
exceedingly small; according to Berselius it is not more than the
amount of pigment in dyed cotton.
If a tincture of pure Chlorophyle be exposed to the action of the
sun the green colour becomes in a few hours converted into a yellow.
When a solution of pure Chlorophyle in ether and hydrochloric acid
was kept for five months in a boUle half full, the green was entirely
changed into a. yellow. From these experiments we learn, first, that
the green xiolouring-matter is decomposed and a yellow one left, both
with and independently of the influence of light ; and secondly, that
in aU probability a similar decomposition (accompanied by a repro-
duction) of green colouring-matter and green leaves is constantly
going on undier the influence of light. Mulder conceives that the
continual decomposition oi the green colouring-matter may be in part
the origin of the wax, since the quantity of the latter is found to have
increased when the same leaves are analysed later in summsr. In
consequence of the continuance of this reproduction, the leaves remain
green ; when it stops, the leaves become yellow as in autumn.
It is worthy of notice that decomposed Chlorophyle yields a blue
colouring^matter ; it is this which is no doubt preflMit in the skins of
many fruits, as for instance those of the grape; the exact nature of
the chemical change is not clearly understood.
It is very obvious that the influence of light will- oonvert starch
into Chlorophyle. Ev^^ part of an amylaceous root becomes green
on exposure to light. The parts of plants which become green (all
without exception) contain starch; and in autumn as this groen
colour decreases the starch also decreases, and finally cannot be
detected by the iodine-test Hence staroh ceases to form R Chloro-
phyle under the influence of lights the B. Chlorophyle being a complex
substance consisting chiefly of wax. The change of staroh into
B. Chlorophyle may be explained in much the same manner as its
conversion into fat
The wax contained in the leaves and other parts of plants n^ay be
chemically ropresented by the formula C^g H^^ O. Now if no other
products be simultaneously produced we may suppose the wax
obtained from the starch in the following i
6 equiv. of staroh .
With 10 of water
.^00 5«> 9«>
Make C„H«,0«,
And 4 of wax Cm, Haq 0.
Leaving to be given off . . . 0^^
That is to say, 5 equivalents of stardi yield 4 equivalents of wax, and
give off 56 equivalents of oxygen. This fully explains the phenomenon
why plants, while becoming green, evolve oxygen, and further indicates
the use of starch in the leaves.
Mulder has, as far as we aro aware, made only one ultimate analysis
of pure C. Chlorophyle— that from poplar leaves; from this analysis
he calculated the formula C,. H, N 0^.
"Properly speakinff," Mulder observes, ''the green colouring-matter
in the leaves has nothing to do with the evolution of oxygen ; on the
contrary, the colourless C. Chlorophyle, which seems to be every
where present, becomes green by the absorption of oxygen. Hence a
small portion of the oxygen produced, from the conversion of staroh
into wax is employed for this purpose, and is not mixed with the
atmosphero. But this is just the reason why C. Chlorophyle is not
formed by the exhalation of oxygen ;,it oAly becomes green instead
of white, as it previously was. This eui only happen when thero is
an abundance of oxygen, and this we have seen to be the case when
staroh is converted into wax. We may therefore assume as proved
that white Chlorophyle diffiised throughout the whole plant, will
become green in proportion as staroh is converted into wax ; because
it is enabled, in such proportion, to take up oxygen— to become
oxidised, just like white indigo.
''Now, the probable composition of green Chlorophyle, — C„ H^
N Og shows that pure white Chlorophyle is not produced from staroh.
It is necessary that an asotised body in a liquid state shoiild penetrate
into the globule of stareh, which during this transformation into wax
IB converted into Q^ H, N O.. We do not know yet what that
Digitized by
Google
1065
CHLOROPHTLLItB.
CHONDROMKBTGII
1066
■ulwtance Im, but it is oertain that it must be ono which is diffused
throughout the plant like starch ; henoe it is probably protein, which
is changed into a moat beautiful Tioletcolonred aubatance by the
influence of hydrochloric add and oxygen."
At one time it was supposed that the posaeosion of Ghlorophyle was
ehaneteristio of the T^getable kingdom. The following rama^
however of Schnltc^ in the ' Comptea Rendus ' for Kay 1852, would
seem to indicate that the green colouring-matter of some animals
elosely approaches that of juants. He enumerates seyend animals of
a green colour which are conmion in ditches and marshes, such as
Mydra viridu, several green TwrbtUarieis, Vortex vwidis, Metotommm
viridaium, and Ziero$tomum eaeum, and also several green Ii^fuwria,
Buoh as SteiUorpolymcrphtu, Ophr^ivm venaHle, and Buir$ariavemaiis,
The colour in tiieee animals is afforded by minute green globules, about
0*016 inch in diameter, which are situated under the integument in
the parenchyma of the animala. They are perfectly spherical, and
exhibit wiUun the green substance an extremely minute colourless
and homogeneous nucleus; or they may consist of several minute
green globules, grouped t<^ether in a mulberry form. In this latter
case they arise from the di virion of a homogeneous vesicle. This green
odonring substance is not altered by dilute adds or alkaline solutions,
by whi^ it is distinguished from the green colouring-matter of
Mveral Algce, which according to Nageli is changed into yellow,
orsnge, or red by the same reagents. Concentrated sulphuric and
muriatic adds dissolve the colouring-matter : the solution is of a
beautiful green or bliush-green colour, unchanged by the action of
beat ; it ia also dissolved by a concentrated solution of jMtass, by
ammoma, alcohol, and ether, the colour predaely resembling that of
a solution of Chlorophyle. Its development also is influenced in the
same way as that of vegetable Chlorophyle by light; but animals con-
taining it do not evolve oxygen, and the author thence condudes that
the evolution of that gas is not soldy dependent upon the Chlorophyle
in plants. In Vortex viridis the minute green globules, owing to
their mutual compreaaion. assume a hexagonal fonn ; the green com-
partments thus formed are separated by an interstitial colourless sub-
stance. The exirtence of a colourleas membrane around each veaide
may thence be deduced. This UnA is further demonstrated in vedcles
the green matter of which only partially fills the globular cavity.
With reapect to the chemical compodtion of the membrane and of
the nucleus of the vesicles in Vortex viridit, the results of the authoi's
researches are limited to the following facts : — ^the solution of potass,
and of ammonia and sulphuric acid, after the extraction of the
oolouring^matter, causes the membrane to swell out, ia which the
nucleus can no longer be recognised. The membrane becomes pale,
and finallv disappears entirely, but especially so after long boiling.
Acetic and chromic adds and dcohol do not affect the membrane and
the nudens. By solution of iodine the yetiole is coloured brown, the
nudeus becomes more distinct, but its colour is unaltered. It cannot
consequently be assimilated to the nucleus of the vegetable chloro-
phyle vedde, which most frequently consists of amylum.
CHLOBOPHTLLITE, a Mineral occuning in 6- and 12-uded prisms,
highly foliated, paralld to the base. The folia are soft and brittle,
the lustre pearly, the colour grayiah-green to dark-olive green. It
has the following compodtion : —
SiUca 45*2
Alumina 27*6
Magnesia 9*6
Protoxide of Iron 8*2
Protoxide of Mangaues9 4*1
Water 36
It fuses only at the edges, and yields water before the blow-pipe.
It occurs with lolUe in granite in the United States. A variety
under the name of Etmarkite is brought from Brevig in Norway.
FaMwnUe, Cfigantolite, and AtpaaiolUe are allied to this mineral, and
like it probably proceJMi from the alteration of lolUe,
CHLOBOSPERMEJS. [Alqjb.]
CHLOROSPINEL. [Spinel.]
CHOANI'TES, a group of Spongoid Fossils from the Chalk of
England and France, thus named by MantdL Analogous living forms
occur on the cosst of Australia.
CHOCOLATE-TREE. [Thbobboma.]
CHCEROPOTAMUS, a genus of extinct MomtM^fia bdonging to
the order PadiydermiiUa,
C. Omvieri (Owen). This animal, the remains of which have been
found in the gypsum beds of Montmartre, Paris, and the Eocene
Formations of the Ide of Wight, seems to have resembled the Peccari,
but must have been about one-thixd Uffger, and was the earliest form
of the Hog-Tribe introduced upon our planets Cuvier was the first to
recognise the distinct diaraoters of tlus animal from the remains
found at Psris. They were subsequently much mono clearly defined
by Professor Owen from the portions of the animal discovered in the
Ide of Wight. The Choeropotamut is one of the links between the
existing ffippopotamut and Hog-Tribe. Professor Owen in his * British
MMrwwft.1a and Birds,' remarlu, "Nothing as yet is known of the
incisors of the Clueropotamui, the rest of the dentition doeely resembles
that of the Peccari; but tiie premolars are more simply and the
canines by thdr sine, shape^ and directioni and the lower jaw by the
backward prolongation of its angle, alike manifest a maiked approxi-
mation to the Ferine type. The occasional carnivorous properties of
the common Hog are wdl known, and they correspond with the
minor degree of resemblance which this existing pachydenn pieaeaU
to the same tvpe. The extinct Okoeropoiaimm$j stdl better adapted by
its dentition for predaceous habits, presents an iuterestijig example
of one of those links, oompletinc the chain of affinities which the
revolutions of the earth's surfkce have interrupted as it were, and for
a time concealed from our view." Other links in this chain of
affinity are the genera Antkraeotkeruim (Cuvier), MayeopotamMt, and
Hippophyva (Cautley and Falconer).
CHOIROPOTAMUS, a genus of Hogs found in Africa. [Sun>A.]
CHOLiEPUS, Illiger^s generic name for the Two-Toed Sloths.
[Braotpus; Edbvtata.]
CHOLESTERIN, a crystalline matter formeriy known as a Inliary
fat, and supposed on account of its occurrence in biliaiy ooncretioni
to be espedally connected with the secretion of the liver. It sepantei
frt>m its solutions in nacreous scales, which tmder the microeoope
appear in very thin rhombic tablets. It fuses at 145**, becoming
soHd and crystalline at 186*. It is found to consist of Carbon,
Hydrogen, and Oxvgen (C,. H,, 0). In order to prepare it arti-
ficially gall-stones should be boiled in alcohol, when the Cholesterin
is deposited bv evaporation and cooling. Although when dinoWed
it is not easily detected in the fluids of the body, its presence ii
easily detected by the form of its crystals.
Small quantities of Cholesterin occur in most of the snimal flaida.
It is constantly present as a noimd constituent of the bile, and also
of the blood. The quantity in blood averages 0*088 in 1*000 parts.
It is often found as a morbid product in the body. Its mode of
formation is unknown.
CHOMA'TODUS, a genus of Fossil Fishes bom the Honntain
Limestone of Bristol and Armagh. (Agassix.)
CHOMORO, a name for PodoearpuB cttpresnnaa
CHONDRILLA, a genus of plants bdonging to the natural order
CompotUoi and the sub-order Attenteeai, one spedes of which, C
Juneea, yields a gum.
CHONDRITES. A Fessil Fuooid from the Oreensand, named
Fw!oide$ Targiom by Mantell, is thus entitled by Sternberg. ('Flon
der Yorwelt') It is very widdy disseminated in the Greenaand
deposits of Europe. Fueoidet intricaius of Brongniart bdonga sLm
to the Lower Cretaceous system in the Alps and Carpathians.
CHONDRODENDRON, a genus of plants bdonging to the natural
order Mtnitjpermaeea, One spedes, C. eonvolvulaeeum, ia employed as
a febrifuge in Peru. Endlicher states that the bark of some of the
species is used for dyeing yellow.
CHONDRODITE, a Mineral, containing—
SiUca S31
Magnesia 56*5
Protoxide of Iron 3*6
Fluorine 7*6
It occurs usually in. imbedded grains or small rounded or flattend
kernels or nodules in limestone, and appearing brittle. The colour
is browniah-vdlow or brown. The lustre vitreous. It is translucent
or subtranducent, with an uneven fracture. Hardness, 6 to 6*5;
specific gravity, 81 to 8*2. It has also been called BrucUe. Found in
granular limestone in the United States.
CHONDROPTERY'GII, or CARTILAGINEI, one of two great
sections into which the class of f^dies is divided.
In this section we find spedes which possess, in most respects, the
highest degree of organisation, while others possess the lowest
observed in the dass.
The principal character which distinguishes this section from the
fishes with true bone (which usually come first in arrangement) is
the cartilaginous substance of which the bones are composed, a circnm-
stance arising from the very small quantity of earthy matter which
enters into their compodtion. This earthy matter, when observed, is
found to be disposed in small granules and not in distinct fibres, as in
the first section.
The cranium of these fishes is not divided by true sutures, but is
formed of a single piece : the maxillary and intermaxillary bones are
either wanting or rudimentary, and thdr functions are performed by
bones analogous to the palstines, and sometimes the vomer. Many of
the vertebrsB are often consolidated. The gelatinous substance,
which in most fishes fills the intervals between the vertebre (these
intervertebrd masses being connected only by a small cord), in this
section frequently forms a thick cord, wmch varies but slightly in
diameter.
In the Myxine {Ocutrobranchm eaxui) no distinct veriebre are
perodvable, &eir place being occupied by a soft gelatinous tube. In
the extraordinary little fish described by Mr. Tarrdl in his 'Histoiy
of British Fishes,' the Lanodet {Amphioxut ImeeoUUut), this part is
BtiU more rudimentary, consisting only of a dender transparent
column. [Bbanchiobtoma.]
The Chondropterygii are divided by Cuvier into two orders—tnoae
which have their pUs free, as in the generality of fishes; and those
in which they are fixed— that ia, the extemd edge attached totne
skin. In the former of these oixlers the spedes have but one external
Digitized by
Google
1057
CHONDROSEPIA,
CHRYSI'DIDA
lOM
and in the latter they bave seyeral— generally five.
These orders are diTided into f^unilies and genera, aa follows : —
Order 1. Chondrcpterygii, With free Gills.
FamOy 1. Sturianida (Sturgeons).
Cfenus 1. Aecipenser,
„ 2. Spatulmia,
Family 2. CMmeerida.
Oenns 1. Chimara,
Orders. Chondropteryaii, With fixed Gills.
Family 1. SgyuMda (Sharks, &c.).
The prinoiiMd genera are : —
Zygcma (Hammer-Headed Sharks).
Sqitatina (Angel-Fish).
Pritta (Saw- Jlsh).
Family 2. Raiida.
Principal genera : —
Tcyrpedo (Meotric Rays).
Maia (Skaie-Fish).
Triffon (Sting-Rays).
MylcbaUi (l^le-Ray).
Oephaloptera.
Family 8. Pteromynda (Lampreys, &a).
Xienns 1. Ptavmyam,
„ 2. AmmoeaUM,
,f 8. Ocutrobranehut.
„ 4. Am/phioxut {Branchiotlama).
CHONDROSFPIA, Leackart's name for a genus of Oqpkalapoda,
the Sepioteuthis of Blainville. [Sbpiadje.]
CHONDRUS. [Alga]
CHONDRUS, a Pulmoniferous Mollusk. [Helioida]
CHORDARIACE^ [Alqa]
CHOUGH. [Cobvida]
CHRISTIANITE, another name for Anwihite, [Anobtritb.] It has
also been applied to a mineral allied to PhiUippnte, [PHiLLiFPaiTB.]
CHRISTMAS-ROSE. [Hkllbbobus.]
CHRISTOPHER, HERlB. [Aota^]
CHROMIRON. [Chbomium.]
CHRO'MIS, a genus of Fishes. [Labbida.]
CHROMIUM, a Metal It does not occur pure in nature. The
fbllowing are the most important ores containing Chromium : —
Chromate of Lead. Red Lead, Occurs massive and crystallised.
Primary form of the crystal an oblique rhombic prism. Colour deep
omnge-red. Lustre adamantine, sometimes translucent, rarely trans-
parent. Specific gravity, 6. Hardness, 2*5 to 8. Brittle; streak
orange-yellow. Cross-fracture uneven, passing into conchoidal, with
a splendent lustre. With the blowpipe it crackles and melts into a
grayish slag. Soluble in nitric acid ; solution yellow. Occurs in the
gold mine of Berezof in Siberia, in the Ural, and Brazil.
When pure it is composed of —
Chromic Add 81*71
Oxide of Lead 68*29
100
Massive varieties amorphous ; structure columnar, granular.
Subsesquichromate of Lead. MonoehroUe. Occurs massive and
crystallised. Form of the crystal imperfectly dxcribed. Colour red.
Lustre resinous ; translucent on the edges. Specific gravity, 5*75 ;
very soft Powder tile-red.
Fuses by the blowpipe into a dark mass. Occurs with Chromate of
Lead in the Ural. It is composed of —
Chromic Acid 23*81
Oxide of Lead 76*69
100
Chromate of Lead and Copper. Vauqudinite, Occurs massive
and in minute crystals. Primary form an oblique rhombic prism.
Colour black or greenish-black. Lustre adamantine, nearly opac^ue.
Specific gravity, 5*5 to 5*78. Hardness, 2*5 to 8. Streak greenish.
Fracture uneven.
Before the blowpipe it fuses into a dark gray globule of metallic
lustre, surrounded with beads of metallic lead.
The massive varieties are amorphous, botryoidal, reniform.
Structure compact, fine granular.
Found with Chromate of Lead in Siberia.
Composed of, according to Berzelius, —
Chromic Add 28*33
Oxide of Lead 60*87
Oxide of Copper 10*8
100
Chromate of Iron. Chnmiron, Occurs massive and crystallised.
Crystal the regular octahedron. Colour blackish; lustre imperfect
metallic ; opaque. Hardness, 5'5 ; brittle. Spedfic gravity, 4*321.
Streak brown. Fractuze uneven, imperfect conchoidal. Not attracted
by the magnet Cleaves parallel to all its planes.
HAT. HIST. Diy. VOL. I.
Analysis of the crystals from Baltimore, by Dr. Thomson : —
Green Oxide of Chromium . . 52*95
Peroxide qf Iron 29*24
Alumina 12*22
White matter 809
Water 0*70
A trace of Silica
98*20
The massive is amorphous, with a granular or compact structureu
It is found in the island of Unst, in Scotland, and sometimes inter-
spersc»d with green oxide: it occurs also in France and in North
Ameiica, especially near Baltimore. Oxide of Chromium has been
observed in some aerolites.
CHRYSALIS. P>upa; Insect.]
CHRYSANTHEMUM, a genus of plsnts belonging to the natural
order CompoiUm and the sub-order ChrymhiferoB or AaUraoetB. This
genus is known by the receptade being without scales, the heads of
flowers heterogamous, the flowers of the rav containing pistils and
those of the disc both stamens and pistils; the involucre hemi-
spherical ; the fruit terete, without wings, no pappus ; the flowers of
the ray li^^te, those of the disc tubular. The species ai« very
numerous m the temperate parts of the earth.
C. Sinerue is most extensively cultivated in our gardens. [Chbtb-
ahthbmum, in Abtb and Sa Diy.]
There are two British species : —
C. leticafUhemum, Ox-Eye or Ox-Eye DaiiEnr. It is very common in
our fidds, and is known by the laige white ugulate flowers of the ray,
and the yellow tubular ones of the disc.
C, Segeivm, the Corn-Marigold. It is common in com-flelds, and is
easily distinguished firom the last species by the flowers of the ray
being yellow instead of white.
CHRY'SAOR, one of the nimierous genera into which De Montfort
<fivided the Bdenmites.
CHRYSA'ORA. [Acalephjb.1
CHRYSIDID^, a family of Hymenopterous Insects of the section
PupivcrcL Distinguishing characters : — No nervures to the under
wings ; terminal segments of the abdomen forming a jointed retractile
ovipodtor ; abdomen of the females with only three or four distinct
segmente, concave or flat beneath ; antennae 13-jointed in both sexes^
and ^niculated ; mandibles dender, curved, and pointed ; maxillary
palpi filiform, generally longer than the labid palpi, and 5-jointed ;
the labial palpi are generally 8-jointed.
The Chryaidida are most of them, if not all, of paradtic habits,
that is to say, they seek the nests of other insects where they depodt
their eggs to the destruction of the rightful owners ; each spedes of
this family apparently confining its attacks to the nest of some other
hymenopterous insect, and generally sdecting those of the same
species. They are all of brilliant colouring, very active, and fiy about
in the sunshine ; some are seen upon fiowers, and most of them upon
old walls, palings, and sand-banks. Some of these spedes are called
Ruby-Tail Flies.
dryaii ignita will afford a good illustration of this family. This
insect is rather less than half an inch in length, has the head, thorax,
and legs of a rich blue or green colour, and the abdomen of a burnished
golden-copper hue; this part is truncated at the apex, and furnished
with four utUe spines.
It will be perodved that the above is a description of a little four-
winged fly, which so often attracts our notice from its brilliant
colouring, and is so common on our garden walls when the sun is on
them. This little insect is in constant motion, for if it ceases
running or flying for a moment its little horns still keep up thdr
vibratoiy motion. If we watch one of these insects for a short time,
we perceive that it thrusts its head into eveiy little hole in the brick-
work ; it is then searching after the nest of a wasp-like insect whidi
builds in these situations.
The prindpal genera comprised in the family CkryaididcB are
Panorpes, ChryaU, StUbvm, Ifedicnm, JBlampvi, and Cleptea, An
account of the habits of one of the spedes of Panorpa is given
under the head Bbmbbx, where the habits of B, rottrata are given,
that being the spedes whose nests are subject to the attacks of the
Panorpea which we are about to describe.
The genus Panorpea is distinguished from the other genera above
mentioned prindpally by the elongated maxilla and labium, which
appear like a proboeciB, and the palpi being very small and two-
jointed. P. camea is about half an inch in length, and condderably
broader than the Chryaia ignUa (above described) ; the head, thorax,
and base of the abdomen are of a blue-green colour ; the remainder
of the abdomen and the legs (with the exception of the thighs, which
are blue) are of a reddish-yellow colour. It is fbund in variouB parts
of Europe.
The characters of the genus Ckryaia are i-^MaxiBaiy palpi
5-jointed, and longer than the labial; labial palpi 8-jointed; thorax
not narrowed in front ; labium rounded. About six or seven species
of this genus are natives of England. O, bidentata is rather less than
O. tgnitOf and differs from that spedes in having the thorax as weU
as uie abdomen of a rich copper-like hu^ : the latter however has the
apex blue. C cyanea is entirely of a blue colour.
Digitized by
Google
1069
CHRYSOBALANACEiE.
CHRYSOCHLORia
lOGO
CHRYSOBALANA'CE^, Cfirysohalans, a natural order of Poly-
petalous Exogenous Plants, allied to Fotaeea and Fabaeea {Legumi-
noKK), from which it differq in the style proceeding from the base of
the ovary, and in its stamens being very irregular, often placed only
on one side of the ovary. Thw are trees or shrubs, with alternate
stipulate simple leaves, and flowers in loose racemes, corymbs, or
panicles. Many species have no petals. They are exclusively natives
of the tropics, where they often bear 'the name of plums. The gray
or rough-skinned plums of Sierra-Leone are produced by species of
Parinariumf and the Callimato, or Cocoa-Plum of the West Indies
belongs to Chrysobalanut Icaco. [Chrtsobalawxjs.] The drapes of
Moquilla grcmdifiora are edible. The order contains 11 genera
and 50 species.
CHRYS06ALANUS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural
order Chrysobalanacea. It has a campanulate 5-cleft calyx. Petals 5,
unguiculate. Stamens about 20, nearly equal in length, disposed
in one series. Drupe fleshy, plum-formed, containing an ovate
5-funx)wed l-seeded nut. Trees with simple leaves, and racemes or
panicles of insignificant flowers. The fruit of all the species is edible.
C. Icaco, Cocoa-Plum, has nearly orbicular or obovate leaves, emar-
ginate ; racemes axillary, dichotomous ; stamens hair^. It is a native
of South America and the We^t Indies, by the sea-side, as well as of
the southern parts of North America. The flowers are whits. The
fruit is about the size of a plum, ovate, roundish, varying much in
colour, white, yellow, red, but most commonly purple, and usually
covered with a sort of bloom. The skin is thin and the pulp white ; the
taste sweet) with some sharpness, but not unpleasant. It is eaten both
raw and preserved. The root, bark, and leaves are used in medicine.
p
Cocoa.Plum {(^rysobalanus leaco).
a, Flowers in difTerent stages of development ; 5, vertical section of the
flower ; c, stamen ; d, vertical section of the pistil, showing the ovules in the
base of the ovary ; «, horizontal section of fruit, showing the inclosed nut ;
/, transverse section of nut ; g, a cotyledon, with the plumule at its base.
C. dlipticut, Elliptic-Leaved Cooon-Plum, has elliptic leaves, obtuse
or acute, never emai^ginate ; racemes axillaiy, dichotomous ; stamens
hairy. It is a native of Sierra-Leone on the sea-side. The fruit is
about the size of a damson, and like the other epecies is eatable.
The other species are — C. oblongifoliiu, Oblong-Leaved Cocoa-
Plum, native of Brazil ; (7. ovalifoliiu, Oval-Leaved Cocoa-Plum, a
shrub, native of Brazil ; and C. macrophyllut, Lai^&-Leaved Cocoa-
Plum, also a native of BraziL
The species thrive best in sandy loam. The best mode of increasing
the plants is by seeds, when they can be procured.
CHRYS06EBYL, a Mineral called Oymophane by Haiiy. It occurs
massive and crystallised. Primary form, a right rhombic prism. Its
oolonr is green, aometimsa with a yellow or brown tinge, with occa-
sionally a blue opalescence. Streak white. Lustre vitreous. It is
translucent or transparent. Specific gravity about 8*8. Hardness, 8*5.
Fracture conchoidaL Before the blowpipe it suffers no change alone;
with borax it fuses into a transparent glass.
The massive variety occurs in rounded pieces.
It'is found in BrazU, and in Connecticut, North America.
Seybert first found that it contained glucina. The following are
his and Dr. Thomson's analyses : —
Seybert.
Alumina .
. 73*60
Glucina .
15*80
Silica
4
Protoxide of Iron .
8*38
Oxide of Titanium
1
Moisture
0'40
Thomson.
76752
Gluoina . .
17*791
Protoxide of Iron
4i9i
VoUitile matter . .
0*480
99*517
9818
CHRYSOCHLO'RA, a genus of Dipterous InsecU belonging to the
family Straliomydet, Characters : — Body elongated ; antennae with
the basal joint short, the third long, conical, and compressed ; stylet
terminal, elongated; third posterior nervure of the wings not
reaching the hinder margin.
C. amethyttina is about three-quarters of an inch in length ; the
head and antennas are black ; there is a white spot at the base of each
antenna; the thorax and abdomen are of a violet-blue colour, the
latter has a vellow spot on each side of the second, third, and fourth
segments ; the legs are black.
It inhabits the island of Mauritius and the East Indies.
CHRYSOCHLOHIS (Lac^pMe), a genus of animals belongiiig to
the class Mammalia, and allied to the Moles {Talpa), but differing from
them in their dentition and in other particulars. Dental formula : —
2 O A
Incisors, - ; canines, 0 ; molars,
A 8 — 8
40. The true molars are
long, distinct^ and nearly all in the shape of triangular prisms.
The muzzle is short, wide, and reflected. There is no external ear,
nor any appearance of the eye externally. The fore feet have three
claws only; the exterior claw is very large, arched, and pointed,
forming a powerful instrument for penetrating and digging the earth ;
the other two diminish gradually. The hind feet are fiinxidied with
five claws of ordinary size. The fore-arm is supported by a third
bone placed imder the ulna to strengthen it when the animal is
employed in excavation. The body is thick and short The hair, or
rather fur, which is thick set, has a metallic lustre.
C. Capensit, Desmarest ; Taupe Dor^e of the French ; Talpa Anatica
of Linnaeus ; C. viUota of A. Smith. Hair brown, presenting in certain
ChrfioeJilaru Oaperuu,
a, the animal on its feet ; b, the same tamed np to show the claws, kt.
lights very brilliant changeable (preen, bronse, and coroery tints.
Cuvier says that it is the only quadruped whose covenng refleda
those metallic tints which render so many birds, fishes, and insects
brilliant. There is no apparent taiL
Digitized by
Google
1061
CHRYSOCOLLA.
CHRYSOPHYLLUM.
loa
This oreature inhabits the Cape of Qood Hope, where it is said to
live much in the same way aa the mole, and to prey like it upon
worms, &c.
O. holotericUi, the Changeable Mole,* is a species also found at the
Cape.
CHBYSOCCyLLA (from xp^vhs, gold, and K({AXa, glue), is a name
which the Qreeks appear to have applied to Borax, perhaps from its
useaa a flux in melting gold.
CHBYSOCODCA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural orJer
Compontce, C. Liaiioiyrii, a British plant^ is now referred to LinoByris.
[LiNOBTRIB.]
CHRY'SODON (Oken), a name given to the Fectinaire$ of
Lamarck, the Amphictdnes of Satigny, and the Oiittnei of Dr. Leach,
forming a part of the genus AmphUrite of Cuvier. [AmiXLiDA.]
CHRYSOGA'STER, a genus of Dipterous Insects of the family
Syrphidce. Characters : — ^Body much depressed ; no false nervures to
the wings ; third joint of the antennso oval or orbicular.
About fourteen species of this genus haye been discovered in Eng-
land ; they are all of moderate size, and their colouring is metallic.
C. tplendens is about one-third of an inch in length; the head is
green ; autennss yellow ; thorax golden-green ; abdomen purple-
black, greenish towards the sides ; the legs are black ; wings brownish.
This and all the other species recorded aa British have b^ found in
the neighbourhood of London.
CHRYSOLITE, a Mineral called Peridot by Hauy. aivine is a
variety of this mineral, and Ohurite also, according to Dr. Thomson.
It occurs massive and crystallised. Primary form a right rhombic
prism. Colour green, sometimes brownish or yellowish ; streak white.
Lustre vitreous, translucent^ transparent, double refracting. Specific
gravity, 3*33 to 3'41. Hardness, 6*5 to 7. Fracture oonohoidaL
The massive varieties are amorphous, granular.
The Chrysolite used in jewellery is brought from the Levant^ and
is supposed to be found in Upper Egypt. The variety on account of
its colour called Olivine, occurs in basalt in Bohemia, Hungary, and
on the banks of the Rhine. The following are analyses : —
Klaproth. Yanquelin.
Silica 89 88
Magnesia 43*5 50'5
Protoxide of Iron ... 19 9'5
101-5 980
Some varieties contain small portions of alumina and of the oxides
of nickel and manganese. It does not fuse or lose its transparency
before the blow-pipe. With borax it fuses into a coloured glass, and
with soda into a brown scoria.
CHRYSOMEXIDuS:, a family of Coleopterous Insects of the
section OyclicA Charaicters : — ^Aiitennse wide apart at the base, and
inserted before the eyes; body generally short and convex; tarsi
short and rather broad, 4-jointed, the penultimate joint bilobed ; all
the joints, excepting the terminal joint, covered beneath with a velvet-
like substance.
The Chrytomdida constitujte a very numerous and beautiful family
of the Beetle Tribe : they are general^ of moderate size^ and fre-
quently veiy brilliant in colouring.
Between seventy and eighty species have been discovered in England,
and the number of species contained in collections from various parts
of the world may probablv amount to four or five hundred.
This group may be divided into two sections : those in which the
head is hidden beneath the thorax, and the body is frequently some-
what cyliikdrical; and those, in which the head projects from the
thorax so as to be distinctly seen when the insect is viewed from
above, and where the bddy is generally roimded, or oval, and convex.
The first of these sections may agyun be readily subdivided accord-
ing to the proportions of the antenns. In some the <tniAnnm are
short, and more or less serrated; here belong the genera Clythra,
Lamprotoma, and Chlamyt, The spedea of this last genus are among
the most remarkable of Coleopterous Insects. They are of smaU siae,
the largest being about half an inch in length, and the thorax and
elytra are genendly veiy uneven, and studded with numerous angular
projections. This circumstance, together with the extremely brilliant
colouring with which they are adorned, has caused them to. be com-
pared to pieces of minerals; indeed, one which Is now before us, and
which is of a beautiful red hue, we have known to be mistaken at
first sight for a piece of copper-ore. Most of the speciesof ChlamyB
inhabit Brazil, and none are found out of the western, hemisphere.
The generic oharaoten are: — Head vertical; thorax humped; the
posterior maigin produced in the region of the seutellum ; body some-
what oube-fonned ; antennas with the basal joint rather long, the
second very small ; the remaining joints dilated, and more or less
■eixated; Ubial palpi sometimes foiked.
The remainder of the Ohrysomdidof of the first section have the
antenncD long and slender. The genera are OryptoetphaUu, Choragus,
Euryope,9ad Sumolpm,
The second section, or those in which the head b apparent when
the insect is viewed fi:t)m above, comprisea the genera OoUupit, Podon'
Ha, PhyUo€harii, Ihryphora, OyrtowuB, Paroptiit Apaauea, TioMrcka,
C^rytomela, Phadon, and Prtuocwrii,
The genus to which the name Chrysomtla is now restrictedi is
principally distinguished by the following characters: — Maxillary
palpi with the terminal joint as large or larger than the preceding
one, and of the form of a truncated cone, or nearly oval ; the elytra
are separate, that is, not joined at the suture ; no sternal projection.
Upwards of forty species of this genus have been discovared in
England.
C Bankni is one of the laigest species of the genus : it is rather
less than half an indi in length, and of a brown colour with a metallic
luatro ; the thorax has an indentation running parallel with and dose
to the lateral margins ; the elytra are coarsely punctured ; the legp
and antennse are odire-colourod. It is found on nettles in the neigh-
bourhood of London and elsewhero, but is rather local C MCMguMUh
lenta is about three-eighths of an inch in length, and of a dull blue-
black colour ; the elytra are rather rough. C. Cframinis is about the
same size as the last, and of a bright-green colour; this spedes is
abundant in various parts of Cambridgeshire. C. poUta is about a
quarter of an inch in length, and very glossy ; the head, thorax, and
legs are green, and the elytra are of a reddish-ochre colour. This
spedes is very common in marshv situations. C. eereaHs is about the
same size as u saoiguinoUntct, This is one of the most beautiful spe>
des of the genus. It is tolerably common in France and Qermany^
but till, found on the simimit of Snowdon (about twenty years ago),
was scarcely known as a British insect It is veny glossy ; the 1^,
antennse, and under parts aro blue; the elytra are adorned with
longitudinal stripes of blue, green, and red ; and the same colours
are observed on tne head and thorax. C. QoeitingentU is of a purple
colour, and the elytra aro very finely punctured. This spedes is very
common in chalk districts. [Cycliga.]
CHRYSOTHILA, a genus of Dipterous Insects. [LsFrmm.]
CHRYSOTHORA, a genus of Coleopterous Insects of the section
LomtUioomia and £uqiu1^ XytopkUi, The principal generic characters
consist in the immense siee of the hind logs of the males. The sternum
is produced into A somewhat pointed process between the second pair
of legs ; the posterior thixh of the male is very thick ; the tibisd are
curved, and produced at the i4)ex internally into a long bent process;
the hind legs of the female aro thick, but comparativdy short, and
the hinder tibi» aro abruptly terminated ; the outer daws of all the
tard aro larger (in both sexes) than the inner ; they differ in the male,
however, in being broader than in the female, and those of the ante-
rior pair of legs are bifid ; their outer daws are very long, and the
insect has the power of bending them under so as to fix their points
beneath a projection of the fourth joint of the tarsus : they aro pro-
bably used for clinging to the slender branches or leaves of trees.
But one species of "Uiis genus is known — C, chryaocklora. It is of a
rich metidlic green colour ; ^e head, thorax, and scutdlum aro sha-
greened ; the elytra aro rugose throughout ; the tibia of the hind leg
is of a brassy or copper-like colour ; all the term aro blue-black. The
length of the hind leg of the male exceeds that of the body, which is
about one inch and a half; the female is rather less. Thia beautiful
insect inhabits V enesuela.
CHRYSOPHRYS, a genua of Acanthopteiygioua Fishes bdonging
to the family Sparideg. The body is deep, compressed ; dorsal fin
single, the rays partly spinous, the posterior rays flexihle ; teeth of two
YindB, six incisors in each jaw, conical, with rounded and oval molar
teeth in four rows above and three rows bdow ; cheeks and operculum
with scales; branohioBt^ous rays six.
C. aurata, Qilt-Head, is one of the fishes most abundant in the
Mediterranean. From Gibraltar it is found as far south as the Cape
of Gk>od Hope^ and northward along the coast of Franoe and Spaui.
It has been recently taken on the British ooasta. These fishes wero
so called by the Greeks on account of their golden-coloured eye-
brows. They are said to spawn in the summer : their food consirts
of molluscous and testaceous animals. The Gilt-Head has peculiar*
rounded teeth. The body is deepest at the commencement of the
dorsal fin. The head short and elevated; the back silvery gray,
shaded with blue ; the belly like polished sted, with longitudinal
gold-coloured bands on the ddes ; the fins aro a grayish-blue ; the tail
darker; the dorsal and anal fins appear as if placed in grooves from
the rising edges of the scales on each ddc Tins •fish seldom exceeds
12 indies in length.
CHRYSOPHYL'LUM, a genus of Plants bdongmg to the natural
order Sapotacece. C, Cainito vields a West Indian fruit commonly
called the Star-Apple. Like the rest of ita kindred it abounds in a
sweet harmleaa nu&y juice, that flows most oopioudy when the tree
is beginning to maturo its fruit, which grows on a moderatdy-aiced
spreading tree with very dender flexible branohea. The leaves aro
dark-green on their upper surface, and aro covered beneath with a
remarkably satiny ferruginous pubescence. The flowers grow in
small purplidi bunches, and aro succeeded, by a round fleshy smooth
fruit, resembling a large apple. In the indde it is divided into ten
oella, eadi oontaming a black ahining rhomboidal seed, and surrounded
by a white^ or aometimea purplish, gdatinous pulp, traversed with
milky veins, and of a very sweet agreeable flavour. In an unripe
state the taate is add to be astringent and unpleasant When cut
across, the seeds, which are regularly disposed round the axis of the
fruit, preaent a stellate figure, from whence the name of Star-Apple ia
derived. Thero la a smaller spedes^ which producea the firuit called
the Damson-Plum. The tree is common in the hot-houses about
Digitized by
Google
1063
CHRYSOPLENIUM.
ClCADfiLUL
1064
London, and is well represented in a froii-bearing gtate in Sloaae's
'Jamaica,' plate 229.
CHRTSOPLE'NIUM, a genua of plants belonging to the natural
order Saanfrogacta, It has a 4-fid half-superior calyz, no corolla, 8
stamens (rarely 10), 2 b^I^i a 1-celled capsule with two beaks opening
in the form of a cup. There are two species oi this genus found in
Great Britain, and known under the name of Golden Saxifrage. One
is O, altemifdiwn, and is characterised by alternate leayes. It has an
erect stem 4 or 5 inches high, with umbellate, nearly sessile, deep
yellow flowers. It is a native of boggy places. C. oppositifoliwn has
opposite leaves. The stem is decumbent and straggling, about 6
inoiies long. The flowers are paler and more scattered ^an in the
last species. The leaves are usually glabrous, but sometin^ they are
slightly hairy. It is a native of diuup shady places. (Babington,
Man^ual ofBritith Botany.)
CHRTSOPRASE. [Aoatb.]
CHRY^OPS, a genus of Dipterous Insects of the family Tabanidcg,
Characters : — Head hemispherical ; antennsB elongated, second joint
nearly as long as the first, both covered with fine hairs ; third joint
aual in length to the first and second taken together, and having five
ise joints or divisions; eyes of a golden green colour, with purple
lines or spots.
Upwards of thirty species of this genus have been discovered.
C, eacutient is a British form. It is rather larger than the common
house-fly, the expanded wings measuring about two-thirds of an inch.
It is bla(^ ; the male has a yellow spot on each side of the first seg-
ment of the abdomen ; the female, in addition to these spots, has the
second segment ydlow, with two diverging black lines in the middle;
the wings are whitish ; the anterior bonier is broadly margined with
black, and Uiere is a broad black band near the middle : the wings of
the male are nearly all black.
Most persons undoubtedly have been troubled more or less with
the insect above described when walking in the oountiy, especially in
the neighbourhood of water. Three or four will sometimes setUe on
Ufl at the same time, and if on the arm their presence is soon discovered
by a sharp prick, caused by their thrusting the proboscis through the
sleeve ; the bite however is not venomous, and for the slight pain
caused by it we are repaid by a sight of the little insect. Nothing can
be more beautiful thim its large eyes, which seem to reflect all the
colours of the rainbow : they may be described as green with purple
spots, but the green varies to golden and red hues in certain lights.
When it first settles, ^is fly is not easily caught, but it soon becomes
so engaged in its occupation that it may almost be touched before it
will move.
CHUB. [Lbuoiscus.]
CHUSITE, a liineral found by Saussure in the porphyritic rooks
near Limbourg. It occurs massive, granular, translucent^ and of a
greasy lustre. Dr. Thomson refers it to ChrviolUe.
CHU8SAL0NGA. [Muiania.]
CHYDORUS, a genus of Entomoetracous Omttacea belonging to
the section Brcmchiopoda, the order Cladocerctf and the family
Lyneeida, The species are nearly spherical in diape ; the beak is
very long and sharp, curved downwards almost into the shape of a
crescent ; the inferior antennsd are very short There are two Britiah
species —
C, tpharicWt Baird {Lynceut tph€Bricu9, Miiller ; MonociUut gphcericutf
Gmelm ; Chydonu MnUeri, Leach). It is very common in ponds and
ditches all the year round. It has a round smooth shell, of an olive-
green colour, sUghtly ciliated on the anterior maigin. Through this
shell can be seen its convoluted intestine. The eye is areolar, and the
black spot accompanying it large. It rather rolls than swims through
the water.
C. gldbomu, Baird, has a more globular shell, and is six times larger
than the last. The shell is of a reddish hue, and has a large irrc^gmar
dark band running across the centre of ihe shelL It is not so common
as the last species.
CHYLE (xvA^f), the product of digestion formed by the action of
the pancreatic juice and the bile on the chyme in the duodenum.
[DiGSsnov.]
CHYME (xvA^f )f the product of digestion formed by the action of
the stomach on the food. [Digestion.]
CICADARL^. [HOMOFTEBA.]
CICADEIjLA, Latreille (Cercopidat Leach), a fiunily of Insects of
the order Symenoptera and section OicadaricB. Thia family is syn-
onymous ¥rith the Cficada Banatra of Tiinnawis. The species may be
diatingniished from those of allied groups by their having the antennsB
situated between the eyes. These insects are generally small, and leap
by means of their hind legs. The genera may be arranged under two
heads or sections.
1. In the first section the head is hidden by the pro-thorax, which
is always veiy laige, generally much humped, and has the posterior
portion produced over the abdomen, sometimes so as to completely
cover that part, or even extend beyond its apex ; the antenn» are
very small, and inserted in a cavity on the head. To this section
belong the genera Membraci*, Tragopiif Damis, Bocydnm, and
Centroiut.
There are perhaps no insects more remarkable in structure, and
whose appearance is more grotesque, than most of the spedes of this
group. Their peculiarity arises from the great development of the
pro-tnorax : this part is sometimes so large as greatly to exceed in
sise all the other parts taken together. We have selected for illus-
tration two species of the genus B<tqfdiwn, as being the moet
remarkable ; one of these is the Bocydwm tUuUmaJbvHfervm, In this
species the thorax is black and glossy ; the posterior part is elongated
and pointed, and
&om the disc
there arises a ver-
tical appendage,
the summit of
which bears four
slender horizontal
stalks, each of
which is furnished
with a little round
black spherical
body: these little
globes are covered
with fine hairs ;
the abdomen is
reddish, and the
wings are varie-
gat^ with the
same colour.
The other spe-
cies is the Bocydi-
umgcUerUum. This
species, as well as
the one just de-
scribed, inhabits
Brazil ; the pro-
ik» -i thorax is of a dark
reddish-brown co-
Kig. 1. Boepdium galerUum, a, Natural length. ^^^i the posterior
Fig. 2. Soeyditm tinUtmabuliftrtm, b, Natural length, pu^ is elongated;
the disc is elevated
into a process which is at first compressed, but at the summit becomes
dilated into a broad angular mass, and throws out a flattened portion,
which suddenly bends downwards towards the body, and then runs
parallel with it The wings are transparent^ with the exception of
the basal and apical portion of the upper ones. The principal dis-
tinguishing characten of the genus Bocydium consist m the elytra
being wholly or partially exposed, that is, not covered by the pro-
thorax ; and the posterior prolongation of the pro-thorax narrowed
and pointed.
Of the genus Centrohu two species are found in England; the
more common species is OentrotUB corwiU^u, This little insect is
found on the leaves of the hazel and other shrubs, in the early
summer months. It is about one-third of an inch in length, and of a
brown colour ; the pro-thorax is prolonged posteriorly (this part is
compressed and pomted, and extends nearly to the apex of the
abdomen), and the sides are dilated, and form two horn-like pro-
jections : a character from which the insect has received in France
the name of ' le petit Diable.' The wings are brownish . and semi-
transparent. In this genus the wings are exposed, as in the last,
but the species differ in having a visible scutellum.
2 . In die second section of the OicadeUcBf the head is on a line with
the upper surfinoe of the pro-thorax, or nearly so; the latter part is
of moderate size, and without the extraordinary processes which
characterise the former division — the wings are consequently always
entirely exposed ; the scutellum is distinct and of a triangular form.
To this division belong the genera jEetalion, Ledra, Ciccfu, Cercopis,
Eulopct, EupUx, Penthimia, Jatsui, Tettigonia, and some others.
Of the g^iu Oercopis (Latreille) we have many species in this
country. They are all smalL The laigeet and most beautiful of the
British spedes is the Oercopis vulnerata. This insect is about one-
third of an inch in length ; black ; the upper wings are obscure, and
have each two laxge red spots (one at the base and another in the
middle), and a fasda of the same colour near the apex, the black
and the red being about equally divided ; the under wmgs are trans-
parent This species is not uncommon in various parts of the oountiy,
and is found on the herbage in woods. Cercopii apumaria is one of
the most common insects we have, being found in abundance on the
various plants in our gardens. It is sometimes called the Frog-
Hopper, from its habit of leaping when approached. Its colour is
brown, the under wings are transparent, the upper wings have two
white spots, one in the middle and another towards the apex. The
larva in form resembles the perfect insect, except that it is destitute
of wings; it is soft and of a greenish colour, and is always found on
the leaves of plants, inclosed in a frothy liquid, with which it surrounds
itself, probably as a protection against the sun's rays. This frothy
liquid IS commonly known in England by the name of Cuckoo-Spi^
and in France it is called Crachat de GrenouiUe. The pupa diffsra
only from the larvsd in having rudimentary wings; the pecfect insect
is aoout three-sixteenths of an inch in length.
The characters of the genus Oercopis are: — AntennsB with the
third joint conical, and terminated by an inarticulate seta; head
Digitized by
Google
085
CICELY.
CICINDELIDA
lode
ionuBlied with ocelli This genus was establlBhed by Fabricius, and
has lately been Bubdivided. The insect last described belongs to
sne of these sub-genera (Aphrophora of (3ermar), in which the
head has the posterior mai^ conoave, and the ocelli are more
widely separated than in the genus Oercopis as now restricted. The
characters of some other sub-genera will be found in a paper by Mr.
Lewis, in the first part of the * Transactions of the Entomological
Society.'
The genus 0iccM8 differs from OercopU principally in the species
having the seta of the antennsB articulated, and composed of five
joints ; the anterior part of the head usually projects.
CICELY. [Mtbrhib.]
CICE'NDIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order
Oentianacece. It has a ^'-parted funnel-shaped corolla, without glands
•r any corona, eventually twisted over the capsule ; the calvx 4-lobed,
tubular ; the stamens 4 ; the anthers erect^ not twisted ; the
stigma capitate, undivided ; the capsule single, or imperfectly 2-celled.
The species of this genus were' formerly referred to OaUiana and
Sxaewn.
C. hyttopifolium has an herbaceous stem 4-sided, with the angles
lightly winged ; the flowers 6 or 8 together in axillary whorls, each
lumished with a linear spathulate bract ; the calyx S-deft^ permanent,
and closely embracing the base of the mature capsule. This is a
common plant in many parts of the East Indies, and, like the whole
of the order to Avluch it belongs, the plant possesses a bitter principle,
though not so intense as some of its allies. It is employed by the
natives of India as a stomachic, and is administered in the form of
decoction or powder. In addition to the tonic action, it is said to act
as a laxative.
C. fUformU (Exacum fUifcrvM of Smith and others) has the calyx
4-lobed, half-tubulsr, adpreesed to the subglobose tube of the corolla ;
lobes ovate, acute; stem thread-shaped, forked; flowers solitary, on
long stalks. It has yellow flowers, and is a native of Europe. It
is found in damp sandy places in England and Ireland.
In their cultivation the species of Cieendia require the same
treatment as Gentians.
(Babington, Manual; Lindley, Flora Medico.)
CICE'R, a genus of Leguminous or Fabaceous Plants allied to
the Vetch. A 5-lobed calyx which project on the upper side, and
an inflated 2-seeded pod with tuberculated seeds, give its character.
One species, Oicer arieHnwn, the Chick-Pea, a native of Egypt and
the Levant, is cultivated in the south of France for its seeds, which
bear a striking resemblance to a ram's head. They have for ages
been a common food in the eastern parts of the world, but their
taste is unpleasant to Europeans. It is an annual, and bears pale
violet solitary flowers. Two or three other species are known to
botanists.
The most remarkable circumstance about (7. arietinwn is, that
during the heats of summer its leaves and stem exude little viscid
drops, which, on evaporation, leave behind ciystals, nearly pure, of
oxalic acid. Its grateful refrigerating qualities are owing to this
add. Persons who walk through the fields where it grows, with
common leather shoes, find them destroyed by the acid.
CICHORA'CE JS, one of the primary subdivisions in the system of
Juasieu of the natxiral order Compoiitcg. It is characterised by the
absence of albumen in the seed ; the seeds are erect, the corollas
ligulate, the juice milky. The plants included imder this division by
Juasieu belong to De CandoUe's LigtUifiora, The OiehoracecB in their
anatomical structure closely resemble the CampamulacecB ; they also
resemble that order in their ph^cal proi>erties. Both orders pro-
duce a xnilky juice, possessing m some species powerful medical
properties. This juice in the Ciehoracea has a bitter and astringent
taste, and possesses narcotic properties. It is found in the Ciehoriwn
IrUyiuM, the common Succory [Cichorium], and in the cultivated and
wild Lettuce. [Lagtuoa.] From the latter plants the juice has been
obtained under the name of Lactucaricum, and used as a narcotic,
instead of opium. Many of the spedes of Cichoracea secrete starch
in huge quantities, and are used as articles of diet, as the Endive,
Sconcnera, Tragopogont or Salsafy, &a The root of the Dandelion
{Taraxacum Dent Leonis) is used as a tonic and purgatiye, and has
been recommended in disorders of the stomach. [Leontodon.]
The British genera of Compontce belonging to this division are as
follows : —
Section L LapsanecB,
Laptana.
Section IL HyonridetB,
Amoteris,
Cickoriwn,
Section IIL Eypocharidea.
Hypochceria.
AchyrophoruB,
Section IV. Scorzonerecg.
Thrincia.
LeotUodoTK
OporvnicL
Tragopogon,
Picris,
Helminihia,
Section V. Lactucea,
Zactuca.
Leontodon.
Barlchautia,
OrepU,
Sanchtu.
Mfdgedium.
Section YI. ffieracece.
Hieracium,
The geographical distribution of Oichoracecp is generally similar to
that of CompoittaSy but they are found in greatest numbers in cold
climates, and in this respect are the representatives of the (7oryn»-
hifercBf which are most abundant in hot climates. [Cobtmbiferjb.]
^indley; Natural Sytttm ; Babington, Manual of British Botany.)
CICHOkIUM, a genus of plants belonging to the tribe Oichoraeeat
and the natural family * OomposUa, The species are known by the
common names Chicory, Succory, and Wild Endive. De Theis
derives the name from Chikouiyeh, stated by ForskUl to be the
Arabic name. The name Endivia seems to be derived fh)m another
Arabic name, Hindibeh. The genus (Xchoriwn consists of only a few
spedes found in the temperate parts of Asia, the Mediterranean
i-egion, and in Europe. It has a double involucre, of which the
exterior is 5- and the interior 8-leaved, with the leaflets united at the
base; pappus crown-like, formed of many palen, shorter than the
achenium. Receptade naked or pitted. Flowers blue.
C. Intybut, found in uncultivated places, dry pastures, and roadsides
in Europe, has two or more heads of flowers, crowded, sessile or
stalked, floral leaves lanceolate, subamplexicaul, broader at the base,
pappus much shorter than the achenium.
C. Bndivia, the Common Endive, cultivated throughout Europe, is
supposed to have been introduced from India, where it is well known
by its name of Easnee. This spedes, like the former, has two or
more heads, sessile or stalked, but witii the floral leaves broad-ovate,
cordate at the base and amplexicaul, pappus four times shorter than
the achenium. [Chioort ; Endiye, in Arts and So. Diy.]
CICINDE'LID JS, a family of Coleopterous Insects of the section
Adephaga 9Si6. sub-section Oeodephaga. The true Carnivorous Beetles
are included in a lai^ge section called Adephaga, all the spedes of
which group may be distinguished by their having six palpi The
section Ad^haga is divided into two sub-sections, the Oeodephaga
and the Hydradephaq<L The former obtain their subsistence on the
land and the latter m the water. The structure of the insects 'Ji
these two groups, in order to suit them to their habits, is therefore
of necessity essentially diflisrent (aa far as secondary characters of
form, &c., are concerned), the former being formed for running* and
the latter for swimming. In the number of joints to the tarsi
(which is always five), and the antennse (which is eleven), and the
parts of the mouth, they are however alike; these latter are
generally considered printary characters. To make ourselves more
dearly understood, we may compare the section Adephaga among
Beetles to the Camivora among the Mammalia ; the Oeodephaga to
the bears, weasels, dogs, and cats; and the Bydradephaga to the
s«Us and otters. We may again carry our simile further by com-
paring the OicinddidcB to the cats or tigers, the beetles bdonging to
this &mily bdng pre-eminently voradoua.
The CieindelidiB are divided into two groups — ^those spedes in
which the emai^ation of the mentum is furmshed with a tooth or
pointed process in the middle, and those in which this process is
wanting. To the first group or section bdong the genera Manticora,
PlatycheHCf Megaeephala^ Oxycheikt, Iretia, Oicindela, Dromica,
Buproiopuif and Ctmottoma; and to the second section bdong the
genera Therate$, TrieondylOf and CoUiunu.
The typical genus of the family we are treating of is Oicindda,
and in this genus, as is generally (if not idways) the case in typical
genera, the roedes have a wide geographical range, and are very
numerous. Taking Dejean's ' Catalogue aa our guide, we find the
genus Cicindela containing upwards of 200 species, and the number
of spedes contained in all the other genera taken together is about
forty. The spedes of Oicindela are found in every quarter of the
globe, whereas the other genera mentioned are very local ; they are
all extra-European, some being entirely confined to Africa, several to
South America, and others to India.
The technical generic nharocters of Oicindela are: — Labial palpi
moderately long, in this respect not exceeding the maxillary palpi ;
last joint of all the palpi truncated at the apex, anch about the same
width as the preceding joints ; three basal joints of the anterior
tarsi dilated in the males^ and covered beneath vrith a ydvet-like
substance.
As regards the form, the most striking diaracter of the Oicindela
is the great projection of the. eyes; the jaws are very long and
sharply pointed, and furnished on the inner side with three tooth-
like processes; the head is generally equal in width to the thorax,
or sometimes exceeding it ; the thorax is dther somewhat cylindrical
or rather depressed and nearly square, and is transversdy indented
before and behind. The elvtra are generally rather depressed, and
almost double the width of the thorax ; the legs and antenna are
long and slender.
The colouring of the OidndeUs is generally ridi and metallio ; the
Digitized by
Google
1087
CICINDELID^
CICONIA.
ir«8
upper surface is usually more or less shagreened, and hence is not
glossy ; the under surface is glossy, and generally sparingly covered
with hairs of a pale colour.
With respect to their habits, it has been before remarked that the
CicindelcB are extremely voracious; we may add, they are very
active, and almost always take to the wing when approached, and
hence are caught with difficulty ; their flight is however short The
situations which they inhabit are generally sandy plains or heaths,
and sometimes the sea-shore or the shores of rivers, kc. ; but some of
the other genera of thd Cicinddida, from their form and colouring,
appear to be more particularly adapted to these last-mentioned
situations.
Six species of the genus Cicindela have been found in England, of
which the most common is Oicindela campettru. This insect is
found more or less abundantly throughout the country, and is veiy
common in the neighbourhood of London; it is rather more than
half an inch in length, and of a bright green colour ; the anterior and
posterior margins of the thorax, the less, and the basal joints of the
antenne are of a rich copper-colour ; the under side ot the body is
glossy and of a blue-green colour ; the wing-cases are each adorned
with six cream-coloured spots, one on the shoulder or outer angle,
another at the apex, three on the outer maigin at nearlv equal
distances apart, and one on the disc, a little lower down than the
third marginal spot from the shoulder.
The larva of this insect is very well known, and may be found
almost at any time during the summer in sandy situations. It lives
in cylindrical burrows, varying from six inches to a foot in depth,
these burrows being excavated by itself. Like the perfect insect, it is
very voracious, and in fine weather may be seen with its head on a
level with the surface of the soil, lying in wait for any insect which
may happen to crawl over its celL Its form is remarkable : the head
is very Luge and slightlv concave ; the jaws are also large and curved
upwards ; the body is furnished with six logs, attached to the first
three segments, and is himiped near the middle of the back, at which
part there are two tubercles, each of which is furnished with a homy
hook; these hooks and the body being naturally of a bent shape,
enable the animal to sustain its position at the top of the cell, or to
ascend and descend very quickly : the concave head and the recurved
mandibles form a
kind of natural
basket, in which
the soU is brought
to the mouth of
the cell during the
progress of its ex-
cavation.
Four other Bri-
tish species of the
genus Cicindela
— 0, 9ylv(Uica,
0. tnaritima, O.
apricOf and C.
t^vicolii, have
white or cream-
coloured spots in
the same situa-
tions as in (7.
camputrit, but
they are joined
together in pairs ;
the two towards
the base of the
wing-case form a
curved dash which
surrounds the
shoulder; the one
on the disc of the
elytron and that
at the margin
nearest it are idso
joined, and form
a bent fSascia, and
the two at the
apex form a bent
dash, which fol-
lows the outline of
that part of the
wing-case. This
disposition of the
markings, namely,
a lunukr spot at
the shoulder, a
bent fascia in
the middle, and
anoifaar limular spot at the i4>ez of. the etljiton, is that which is
most commonly found in the species, and the most common colour
is brownish-bronie ; such is the colour of O. 9Utritima, 0. riparia,
and 0. tylvicola ; the latter sometimei yariea to ft green hue.
In some exotic species of Cicindela the elytra are adorned with
numerous spots ; eleven is the greatest number we have found ; of
these, however, three or four are often obliterated, and the others are
joined (two or three together) so as often to form three irregular-
shaped oblong dashes or fascism.
In some instances the markings. run one into the other, so that
there is more white than ground-colour; and in one specdea, no«
before us, the wing-cases are entirely white. These markings vary bui
slightly in individuals of the same species.
The Cicinddida, in most arrangements of insects, form the first
family of the CoUoptcra.
CICONIA (Brisson), a genus of Birds belonging to the family
Ardeidai, and indudiiig the species popularly <»]led Storks. The
genus has the following characters : — Bill long, straight, subcylindri-
cal, in form of an elongated cone, pointed, trenchant, butt (arSte)
rotmded, of equal height with the head ; lower mandible a little curved
upwards. Nostrils uit longitudinally in the homy substance of the
bill, placed near the base. Eyes surrounded with a naked space,
which does not communicate with the bill ; the face, the space round
the eyes, or a part of the neck, often naked. Feet long ; three toes
forward, united by a membrane up to the first joint, the posterior toe
articulated on the same level with the others ; nails short, depressed,
without dentilations. Wings moderate ; the first quill shorter than
the second, which is rather shorter than the third, fourth, and fifth,
which are the longest (TemmincL)
Fiff. 1, CtdtuUla oamptstris. Fig. 2, anterior tarsus
of the male. Fig. 3, anterior tarsus of the female.
Fig. 4, labrum of another speciM of Oicindela, Fig. 5,
mentom of the same ; a a, labial palpi. Fig. 6, man.
ble. Fig. 7, maxilla; m, external maxillarj palpi;
h, internal maxillary palpf. Figs. 8, 9, 10, II, and 13,
wing.49ases of Bve different species of deiniela, to show
the variation*, n the markings.
BiU of Stork.
M. Temminck observes that the Storks live in marshes, and feed
principally on reptiles, frogs and their spawn, as well as fishes, small
mammiferous animals, and young birds. They are, in all the coun-
triee of tho world where they occur, a privil^ed race on account of
their utility and of the havoc they make among noxious ^nimola
Their migration takes place in great flocks : they are easily tamed.
The moult' is autumnal The sexes do not differ. All the species
make a clattering noise with their biUs.
The species best known are the White Stork (Cicania alba), and
the Black Stork (CI nigra), both of which are British birds. We
select the former as an example of that part of the genus which con-
sists of the Storks properly so called.
The White or Common Stork is the IlcXapy^r of Aristotle
and the Greeks; Ciconia of the Romans; Cicogna, Cicogna Bi-
anca, and Zigognia
of the Italians ;
Cicogne and Ci-
gogne Blanche of
the French ; and
Weisser Storch of
the (Germans.
a alba {Ardca
Ciconia, Montague),
the White Stork,
or Common Stork.
It has the bill
straight, smooth ;
naked skin of the
cheeks very small,
and not commimi-
eating with the biU.
Plumage white.
Head, neck, and
all the parts of the
body, pure white;
scapulars and the
wings black ; bill
and feet red; naked
skin around the
eyes black ; iris
Iffown. Length 3
feet 5 or 6 inches.
Young.— The tar-
? — ' nished black of the
wings is tinged with
brown in the young
^mmon Stork {Ciconia alba), birds, and the bill
of a reddish-black.
Habits, Food, Reproduction, &a— Assured by the kindness with
which His treated, in requital for its services in dearing the land of
dead as weU as living nuisances, the White Stork approaches the
Digitized by
Google
1069
CICONIA.
CICONIA.
1070
dwellings of man wiihout fear. In Holland and (Germany especially,
the bird is treated as a welcome guest, and there, as indeed elsewhere,
it annually returns to the nest which has cradled many generations,
on the steeple, on the turret, on the false chimney that the Hollander
has erected for its site, in the box, or on the platform which the
German has placed for its use. The stump of a decayed tree is some-
times chosen by the bird, and the nest is made of sticks and twigs, on
which are laid from three to five cream-coloured or yellowish-white
eggs, about the size of those of a goose. The incubation continues
for a month, at the expiration of which period the young are hatched,
and carefully attended to by the parents until they are fully feathered
and able to procure food for themselves. Frogs, lizards, snakes, and
other reptiles, mice, moles, worms, insects, eels, the young of ducks
and other waterfowl occasionally, and even partridges, according to
M. Temminck, are devoured by these birds. In the continental towns
domesticated Storks, which have been taken from the nest when young,
may be often seen parading about the markets, where they are kept
as scavengers to clear the place of the entrails of fish and other ofilil,
which they do to the satisfaction of their employers.
Geographical Distribution. — The arrival of the Stork in Europe
takes place in the spring. In Seville it is very common ; but, accord-
ing to the Prince of Canino, it is very rare and only an accidental
visitor near Rome. Though so common in Holland, it very rarely
arrives in Britain. The general drainage of our marshes may have
something to do with this, but is hardly sufficient to account for so
striking a difference in the migratoiy distribution of the bird, more
especially as it proceeds to higher latitudes; for it regularly visits
Sweden and the north of Russia^ and breeds there. The winter is
passed by the bird in the more genial climates of Asia, and in the
northern part of Africa, Egypt especially. Those who have seen
these birds in the act of migration, speak of their numbers as very
large : thus Belon remarks, that the Storks are never seen in flocks
except when they are in the air ; and he relates how, being at Abydos
in the month of Auffust, a great flight of Storks came from the north,
and when they reached the commencement of the Mediterranean Sea
they there made many circuitous turns, and then dispersed into
smaller companies. When Dr. Shaw was journeying over Mount
Carmel he saw the annual migration of those which had quitted
Egypt; and he states that each of the flocks was half a mile in
breadth, and occupied three hours in passing over. They have been
occasionally seen m considerable numbers in Great Britain, but tlie
instances in which they have been killed are few.
Utility to man. — The utility of this bird to man in clearing away
noxious ftTiiTnala and filih has given it a claim to protection, that has
rendered it quite at its ease in his presence wherever that protection
has been afforded.
C. nigra (Ardea nigra), the Black Stork, Cigogne Noir of the French.
Like the last this species is a migratory bird. It passes the winter in
the southern parts of Europe, and in spring advances to high northern
latitudes to spend the summer. Mr. Tarrell says that he can make
out only four authentic instances in which this bird has been shot in
England.
M. Temminck remarks that all those gigantic species of foreign
Storks arranged by systematists under the name of Mycteria, have the
same external characters with the European Storks, the same manners
and the same habits, and he further refers to the fact that Illiger in
his * Prodromus * has given his opinion that the genera Mycteria and
Ciconia ought to be united.
Mr. Selby, after giving the characters of the genus Ciconia, says,
"My readers will observe that these generic characters are not
applicable to all the species of the genus Ciconia, of Bechstein, Cuvier,
Temminck, and Wagler, but only to that group of which C alba may
be considered the type. The laiger species, namely, C Marabou,
Argala, Mycteria, &c., seem to me possessed of characters sufficiently
distinct to warrant such a separation, a fact indeed admitted by the
necessity imder which these authors have found themselves of sub-
dividing their genus into sections."
Of these, the three gigantic species of Stork remarkable for the
comparative nakedness of the head and neck, a kind of pquch which
hangs externally in front of the neck, and a sort of vesicular apparatus
or portion of skin at the back of the neck which can be inflated by
the bird, and the greater enlargement of the bill, deserve especial
notice. These extraordinary and uncouth-looking birds are natives
of Africa and the eastern parts of Asia, and have only been known to
modem naturalists within the last fifty or sixty years.
Ives in his voyage to India (1773) made known a gigantic grallatorial
bird, from which Dr. Latham described the Adjutant of the British
residents at Calcutta (the Argala of the natives), with the name of the
Gigantic Crane. At the same time he noticed the observations made
by Smeatlunan, the AMcan traveller, on the habits of a bird seen by
the latter on the western coast of that quarter of the globe. Gmelin
upon this information founded a species, Ardea dubia, and Latham,
who had fiigured the bird, and related some additional particulars of
its habits in the first supplement to his 'Synopsis' (1787), changed
the name inhis 'Index Omithologicus' to Ardea Argala. Mr. Bennett,
who adverts to these points, proceeds thus: "mr. Marsden, in his
* History of Sumatra,' makes mention of a bird, called by the natives
of that island Boorong-Cambing, or Boorar.g-Oolar, which was
generally believed to be of tlie same species with the Adjutant of
BengaL Dr. Horsfield however, in a paper published in the 18th
volume of the ' Linnaoan Transactions,^ separates a Javanese bird,
which is probably the same with the Snmatran, as a distinct species.
Subsequently M. Temminck, in his ' Planches Colorizes,' has shown
that tlie African species differs in several essential particulars from
that of the continent of India, and still more remarkably from that
of Java and the neighbouring islands. By his figures of the three
species, all taken from living specimens, he has so clearly determined
their characters that it is scarcely possible they should ever again be
confounded. In one point however he has himself given rise to a
different kind of connision, that of their nomenclature. They all
furnish, in more or less perfection, the beautiful plumes, superior in
estimation even to those of the ostrich, known by the name* of Mara^
bous, from their appellation in Senegal But those of the Indian
species being far superior to the others, M. Temminck has thought fit
to transfer to that bird the name of C, Marabou, and to rob it of its
native appellation, Argala, which he has bestowed upon the African.
The consequence of this perversion of their native names has been
such as might have been expected. In the late edition of his ' R^gne
Animal,' M. Cuvier quotes the C. Marabou of Temminck, with the
characters of the Indian bird, as a native of Senegal ; while he states
the C Argala of the same author, to which he attributes the characters
of the African species, to be brought from India. Nothing could
more strongly evince the necessity of restoring, as Mr. Vigors had
previouslv done, in the Appendix to Major Denham's ' Travels in
Africa,' the name of Argala to the Indian, and that of Marabou to
the African species."
C. Marahou, Vigors. M. Temminck has clearly pointed out the
differences between this species and the Indian Argala. The African
Bill of African Gigantic Stork {Ciamia Marabou).
Marabou is less in size than the Indian Argala, the latter sometimes
reaching six or even seven feet in height, while the former seldom
exceeds five feet, even when the neck is elongated. The bill of the
Argala is enlarged in the middle, the culmen of the upper mandible
and the edges of the lower form a curved line from the base to the
apex ; in we iforo-
bou the lines are
straight and the bill
is regularly conical;
the nostrujB of the
Indian bird are ovate,
those of the African
species are oblong.
The iris of the for-
mer approaches to
pure white; that of
the latter is dull-
brown. The cervical
or sternal pouch
often hangs down
more than a foot in
the Argala; in the
Marabou it is much
shorter. The back
and wings of the
Argala are dull-
black ; in the Mara-
&01* there is agreenish
tinge on the black of
the back, with the
exception of the
larger wing-coverts
and the secondaries,
which are of a more
decided black, edged
more or less broadly
and distinctly, ac-
cording to the age of
the individual, with African Oigantk Stork, or Crane {Ciconia Marabou).
pure white bands.
in the young birds these last distinctions are imperceptible. In both
species the bill is inclined to livid yellow in colour, and is more or less
spotted with black towards the base, as is the head, which is duskv.
When the bird is at rest the pouch as well as the neck are of M>a!e
flesh-oolonr, but when it is excited they acquire a redder tinge. These
parts are sparingly covered with a few scattered brownish hairs, most
Digifrzed by
Google
1071
CICUTA.
CILU.
tors
numerous in the young birds, and resembling down in the early
stages of its growth. The tail is black ; the under parts pure white,
more especially the under tail coverts, which afford the beautiful
plumes. These are sometimes of a grayish slate-colour in the Indian
species ; but the white of the African feathers is not so dear and
brilliant as that of the Indian plumes, to which a decided and just
preference is given. The natural colour of the legs is duskv black,
but in living birds these limbs are generally whitened by the dust
shaken out of the plumage and other excrement.
Geographical DiKtribution of the Marabou. — Nearly the whole of
Tropical Africa to the Cape of Good Hope, where it is not common.
(Temminck.) Banks of the Nile. (RiippelL) Neighbourhood of the
laive towns of the interior. (Denham.) Western coast. (Smeathman.)
Habits, Food, &c. — Nearly resembling those of the White Stork,
like which it is privileged, on account of its utility as a scavenger in
freeing the villages and towns of offensive substances, like its Indian
congener. Its omnivorous voracity is well described by Denham.
Where carrion and filth are scarce, reptiles, small birds, and small
quadrupeds taXL victims to its appetite. These are usually swallowed
entire. Smeathman gave to Dr. Latham an anecdote of a domesticated
individual which roosted very high among the silk-cotton trees, and
would descry the servants bringing the dishes to the dinner-table, from
a distance of two or three miles fiom its perch. It stood behind its
master^s chair waiting to be fed, and occasionally helped itself, not-
withstanding the guardianship of the servants who carried switches
to prevent its snatciiing the meat, which it nevertheless sometimes
contrived to do : in this way it had been known to swallow a boiled
fowl at a single mouthful Besides the pouch, the skin at the back of
the neck can be inflated so as to have somewhat the appearance of a
counterpoise to the former. When the sun is shining upon the bird
we have observed this latter pouch, if pouch it may be called, very
Erominent, apparently from the rarefaction of the air. The bird flies
igh and roosts high, probably for the purpose of taking in a lax^e
area of observation, to enable it to perceive those objects on which it
feeds. May not these pouches assist, balloon like, in supporting or
balancing the great head and bill ? Living specimens of the White
and Bladk Stork, the Marabou, Jabiru, and American Maguari are
now in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, Regent's Park.
CICUTA, a genus of plants belonging to tiie natural order UmhdU-
fercBf the sub-order Orthospermece, and Uie tribe Amminecs, It has a
calyx of 5 leaf-like teeth; the petals obcordate, with an inflexed
point; the fruit subdidymous; the carpels with 5 equal broad
flattened ridges, the lateral marginal ; the vittae solitary.
O. virota, the Water-Hemlock, is a wild poisonous plant found
-Water-Hemlock {Cficuta virosa).
1, a flower j 2, a joung flrait.
occasionally by the sides of ditches and ponds. It is a perennial plants
with a large fleshy white root covered externally with fibres, and
divided internally into several low chambers filled with a mUky or
yellowish juice. The stem is erect, hollow, cylindrical, striated, and
2 or 8 feet high. The leaves, especially the lower ones, are decom-
posed or thrice-pinnated ; the leafiets are narrow, lanoeolate, deeply
and irregularly toothed. The umbels are usually destitute of invo-
lucre, or if they have one it is nothing but a single linear bract ; the
partial umbels have several such bracts. The flowers, whidi are
white, have the ordinary umbelliferous structure. They are succeeded
by globular double fruit, crowned by the style and five teeth of the
calyx, and showing on each of their convex faces five salient simple
angles. Its medicinal properties are similar to those of common
Hemlock [Conium], but more energetic Its roots have been mistaken
by children and country folks for parsnips, and have been eaten with
fatal consequences.
CIDARIS, a genus of Star-Fishes belonging to the family Eckinidct,
It has a globose body; mouth and anus nearly equal; ambulacra
continuous from mouth to anus, whi<^ are both central, the former
below, the latter above; the spiniferous tubercles perforate, the spines
of several forms.
C, papilUUctj the Piper, is a British species, and is the most elegant
of our native sea-urchins, but at the same time the rarest It is found
off the island of Zetland. It is always found in company with the
Tusk ((jhdiu brosmus), a fish that is never found but on rocky ground.
It is covered with two sorts of spines ; one set long, the other short
The longer ones are ordinarily an inch or an inch and a half in length.
In Zetland it is said they have been caught with the spines a foot long.
(Forbes, Britith Star-Fuhet.)
CI'LI A, in Anatomy, small moving oi^g^ins found on the surface of
the tissues of most animals, resembling hurs, and requiring the use of
the microscope to be distinctly observed. They are mostly found on
tissues which are in contact with water, or which produce fluid
secretions. They are constantly in a state of active movement, and
impart to the fluid with which they are in contact the same motion.
This is called vibratory or ciliary motion. The best time for
observing Cilia with the microscope is when their movement begins
to slacken. Their figure is generally that of slender conical or some-
times flattened filaments, which are broad at the base or root and
gradually taper to the point Their size differs greatly on different
parts of the same animtd. '' The lai^gest I have measured," says
Dr. Sharpey, " are those on the point 9r angle of the branchial laminss
in the Buccinum undatvm ; they are at least g^ of an inch long. I
have not attempted to determine the exact size of the smallest, but
Purkinje and Valentin state it at 0.000075 of an inch, while they make
the lai^est they have met with only 0*000908 of an inch, which is
considerably less than I have foimd them ; but they had no oppor-
tunity of ftTumming marine animals, in which generally speaking the
largest cilia are met with. In the sea-mussel the darker coloured
cilia are about ^ of an inch long, the others considerably leas."
The substance of the Cilia is for the most part transparent and colour-
less, in some however a slight colouring may be observed. They
assume also various forms, and Ehrenberg has described compound
Cilia in the Infuaoria. In the Ciliograde Medusce the Cilia oonaiBt ot
rows of broad flattened organs, each of which is made up of several
simple filaments joined together by a connecting membrane through-
out their whole length. In most cases the Cilia are arranged in
regular order. On the gUls of the mussel they are placed in straight
rows ; in many of the Infusoria they are arranged in circles or spiral
lines. In some instances they are oblique, but in others they are placed
at right angles to the surface on which they are seated.
The movement of the Cilia is not very rapid, and may be easily
observed with a lens of I inch focus. Their most obvious movement
is of a fanning lashing kind, the Cilium being bent in one direction
and returning to it again. In addition to this movement Professor
Quekett detected another in the Cilia of the gill-rays of the common
mussel This consists of a slight movement of the CUia on themselves,
each Cilium turning on its own axis through the space of a quarter of
a circle, with a movement like that of the feathering of an oar in
rowing. This observation of Mr. Quekett's is of importance, as it
explains how it is that the Cilia are capable of propelling bodies over
their points which could not be effected by the firstK>bserved up and
down movement When the surface of an oigan is examined on
which are seated a laxge number of Cilia, a wave-like motion in the
whole is observed, which arises from the regularity with which each
Cilium is affected with the movement
The Cilia were first observed as present on the external sur&ce of
the bodies of infusory animalcules. Leeuwenhoek seems to be one of
the earliest observers who described the presence of the Cilia in
animalcules. In his ' Continuatio Arcanorum NstursD ' he deaeiibes
in many places the nature of the Cilia in the common polygastric
animalcules as weU as in the wheel-animalcules. He also pointed
out the probable use of these organs, for he says, "Moreover His
necessary that these animals, and in general all such as are fixed and
cannot ahfmge their place, should be provided with an apparatus for
stirring up motion in the water, by which motion they obtain any
matters that float in the water for their nourishment and growth, and
for covering their bodies." Since the period that Leeuwenhoek
wrote they have been observed in almost evezy species of If^fiuoria,
and seem to be the active oi^gans by means of which these animals
Digitized by
Google
1073
CILIA.
craiciD^.
1074
moYe firom place to place and carry {heir food into their stomachs.
In the Polypes they are found in great numbers coTering the surface
of the tentaicula by which these animals obtain their food. Although
they have not been observed on the full-grown Sponges they have been
described by Dr. Qrant as existing upon the ova of these animals
before they become fixed. Though not abundant in the Acalephce,
they have been seen by Dr. Grant and others in the BerUe pileus and
other Jfedtuce. Dr. Sharpey has observed them in the various forms
of the £chinodermata, and also in the Aniftelida. In the Mollwca
they are very abundant, and one of the best means of examining these
oiigans is afforded by the common mussel. Till within a recent
period it was supposed that Cilia were confined to the Invertebrate
classes of animals, or at least the observation of their existence to any
extent in the VertehrcUa was very limited. One of the earliest obser-
vations of their presence in Vertebrate animals was by Steinbuck, a
Oerman anatomist^ who found them upon the gills of the Salamander.
Within the lasb few years Purkii^'e and Valentin have devoted much
attention to the subject, and have found that Cilia exist very
generally on the moist surfaces of the membranes of all the higher
animals. The systems of organs on the surface of which Cilia have
been detected are as follows : —
1. The Surface of the Body. — In this situation Cilia have been
detected in the If\fiUoria, Polypi, Medusa, Actinia, Echinodermata,
and in the larvaB of the Batrachian Reptiles.
2. The Respiratory System. — Cilia have been detected in the lining
membi*ane of the air-passages of reptiles, birds, and Mammalia, in the
gills of the larvae of uie Ba^achia, and on those of the MoUusca and
A. nnelida. Those on the external surface of the Infusoria, Polypes, and
Medutce must also be regarded as belonging to the respiratory system.
8. Alimentary Svstem. — They are foimd in the mouth, throat, and
gullet of Reptiles, m the entire alimentary canal of MoUiuea, in the
stomach of the Atteriat, &a
i. Reproductive System. — Ciliaiy movementa have been observed
in the mucous membrane of the Fallopian tubes, in the uterus and
vagina of Mammalia, and in the oviduct of Birds and Reptiles. A
peculiar ciliary movement has been observed in the embryo of many
animals. This movement occurs while the embiyo is in the ovum,
the Cilia producing a current in a certain direction along its surface,
or causing the whole embiyo to move in an opposite direction. In
many instances when the embryo has escaped the egg it moves about
by means of Cilia in the same way as occurs in the naked gemmules
of the Sponge.
There can be litUe doubt that the functions performed by the Cilia
in these various parts of the body of animals are important ; at the
same time their absence in a great number of cases, m oigans which
perform the same functions as those which possess them, must lead
to some hesitation before pronouncing a decided opinion with r^ard
to their use. Where they are situated on the external surface of the
bodies of animals they seem to be the active organs of movement.
Where respiration is carried on by means of the external surface, as
in the Ittfutoria and Polypifera, the Cilia assist this process by
removing the used water and bringing fresh currents to the surface
containing the matter to be oxygenated. They may undoubtedly
perform the same office when seated on internal respiratory mem-
branes. On the surface of the reproductive oxgans of the higher
animals th^ may also assist in bringing the unimpr^gnated ovum in
contact with the fertilising cells of the male fluid. The movement
in the embryo has probablv the same object in view as that on the
respiratory membranes, the bringing the surface in contact with
currents of oxygenated water.
In coming to the conclusion that the motions of fluids on the
surfaces of membranes are produced by Cilia where these organs exist.
Dr. Sharpey observes, " The currents cease wnen the motion of the
dlia stops, they are strong and rapid when it is bri^ and feeble
whenit knguishes; and though there are modifying circumstances
or perhaps exceptions, yet in general the magnitude and velocity of
the current seem to be proportioned to the size and activity of the
cilia. It is true that while doubts remained as to the existence of
cilia in several well-marked instances where the water unequivocally
received its motion from the surface over which it flowed, and inde-
pendently of anv visible contractions of the animal tissue, there was
always oonsiderable room to doubt, whether, even in the cases where
cilia were manifest, the effect of these organs was wholly mechanical,
and whether the motion of the Water was not rather due to some
peculiar impulsive power in the tissue differing fit)m mechanical
action. But more extended observation has almost wholly removed
these exceptions, while it has considerably increased the number of
conforming instances, insomuch that there seems at present no
necessity for having recourse to any other explanation of the motion
of the fluids than^at it is produced by the action of the cilia, and
that their action is the result of muscular contractility, a known
property of animal tissues."
There are however some remarkable exceptional cases. Currents
are observed in the Sponge, in the stem and branches of the
Sertularia, but no Cilia. There are also a number of remarkable
cases of the movements of fluids in cells in the vegetable kingdom,
which cannot be ascribed to the existence of CiHa, as those seen in
the cells of Chora, VaUisneria, the hairs of Tradeicantit^ &o,
VAT.BSn. DIV. VOL. !•
When first discovered the Cilia were supposed to be confined to the
organs of animal bodies. In 1848 Meyer and Thuret announced that
they had discovered Cilia on the spores of several species of Confervas.
They were subsequently discovered on the surface of several species
of unicellular plants, as also on the spermatozoida, which occur in
the Ferns and many of the lower forms of Cryptogamia.
For further information consult the article * CiUa,' by Dr. Sharpey,
in the * Cyclop»dia of Anatomy and Physiology,' to which we are
much indebted in drawing up this article ; also the paper of Purkinje
and Valentin, entitled 'Commentatio Physiologica de Phsenomeno
Motus Vibratorii continui,' &c, translated in the 'Dublin Journal of
Medical and Chemical Science' for May, 1885, and in 'Edinburgh
New Philosophical Journal,' voL xix. ; also ' On Unicellular Plants
and Animals,' 'Microscopical Journal,' vol. i.
CILIATA. rMOTBLLA.]
CILICiEA. TI80P0DA.J
CILIOGRADA. [Acalephjb.]
CIMBEX, a genus of H^enopterous Insects of the section
Terd)raniia, sub-section Secunfera, and family Tenthredinidte.
The genus Oimhex, as it formerly stood, has been subdivided
(principally by Dr. Leach) into the following sub-genera : Cimhex,
Perga, Sytygonia, Trichiosoma, ClaveUaria, Zarea, Ahia, and Amasia,
All these sub-genera have the antennsQ short, and terminated by
thickened joints, which are nearly of an oval form ; the third joint
of the antennse is long, forming a knob : the superior wings have
two marginal and three sub-marginal cells.
The antenns9 of these insects generally present six distinct joints,
of which the two basal joints are very short, and almost concealed
by the hair on the head ; the third is long, tiie fourth and fifth are
of moderate length, and the sixth is elongate (or moderate), rounded
at the apex, and tapers more or less towards the base ; this last joint
is, however, evidently composed of two or three joints consolidated.
All the joints of the tarsi have a membranous pad attached to their
under side, and protruding from their apex.
The genus Vimbex, as now restricted, may be known by the
following characters : — ^Body slightly hairy ; abdomen with the basal
segment emai^ate above (that is, .it appears as if a semicircular piece
had been removed); the space thus left unprotected by the homy
covering filled up with a membrane. Thighs of the four posterior legs
of the males very thick, those of the females moderate. Tarsi
of the males with a tooth-like projection on the under side of tho
basal segment
This ^n\is includes the largest species of the fiunily TenihredinidcB.
C €fnffinii is about an inch in length, and when the wings are
expuided its width is about one inch and three quarters. It is ^. a
reddish-brown colour; the abdomen is yellow, and more or less
clouded with brown towards the base; Uie antennsQ and tarsi are
yellow, the former is brighter towards the apex.
The larva, we have been informed, feeds upon the sallow, and is
not uncommon in the neighbourhood of Cambridge. Mr. Stephens
enumerates eight British species of this genus, some of which how-
ever, it is thought, will eventually prove to be mere varieties.
CIMEX. [Bug; Cnacro^.}
CIMI'CIDiB, a faioily of Hemipterous Insects, the species of
which may be distinguished by their having the rostrum snort^ and
consisting of two or
three joints only; the
labrum also shorty and
without stri89 ; the eyes
are moderate; the bodv
is generally very much
depressed. The prin-
cipal genera are Cvmex,
Aneurui, Aradua, Agram-
ma, Tingit, and Dictyo-
nota, all of which are
found in England. The
genus Cimex is distin-
guished principally by
the extreone slendemess
of the two terminal
joints of the antennsa,
which are not thicker
than a hair. The body
is very much depressed :
the thorax is transverse ;
antenme 4-jointed ; basal
joint very shorty second
long, the third of about
equal length, the fourth
rather shorter. Labrum
rather long, somewhat j^ Bed^ag (CImm UcMarku) magnified
pointed, and, when the j^ natural length of the same; 8, head of the
probosds IS not m use, gune, highly magnified; a, tho lahmm; b, the
recurved under the head ; proboeds ; c, base of tho satennaB.
proboscis 8-jointed, and,
when at res^ lies along the under side of the thoraZf its apex being
between the two fore 1^ at their base.
Digitized by
Google
1075
CIMICirUQA.
aNCHONA.
im
X, a bug, and fuao, to driye awayV a genua of
) natunJ order JkanunctdaeecB. The calyx ia
The moat common species is the OifMX Ucttdariui, the Bed-Bug.
[Buo]
CIMICI'FUQA (cMiKar,
Fluits belonging to the
composed of four deciduous sepals; corolla of four petals; styles
one to fifteen ; the carpels dry, dehiscent, many-seeded. The speoies
are petennlal herbs, with divided leaves, and racemes of whitish
flowers; the roots act as drastic puigatives and are poisonous.
C. fcBtida, Stinking Bug- Wort, has four almost sessile and very
villous ovaries; the racemes panided; the leaves tenninate or
bitemate ; the leaflets ovate-oblong, deeply-toothed. It is a native
of the Carpathian Mountains, Dauria, Eastern Siberia^ and the north-
west coast of America. It is a very fetid plant, and is used in
Siberia for driving away bugs and fleas, just as tansy and wormwood
are used in this country.
C. terpentaria, Black Snake-Root or Bug-Wort, has compound very
long racemes ; the leaves tritemate, with serrated or rather out
leaflets. It is a native of North America, fh>m Canada to Florida.
It has white flowers, and resembles the species of Aetcsa, to which
finus it was formerly referred under the name of Actcea raoemoio.
ike many other plants possessing active properties, it has a repu-
tation in America for healing the bites of snakes and preventing their
poisonous efiects on the system. There is one species, C, Japome<i,
a native of Japan; the rest are American plants. They are easily
cultivated, preferring a moist shady situation, and may be propagated
by dividing the roots, or by seeds.
(Don, Oardener't IHctionary.)
CIMOLITE, a hydrous silicate of alumina found in the Island of
Cimola. It occurs in amorphous earthy masses, the structure of
which is rather slaty. Colour grayish-white. Fracture earthy,
uneven. It is soft and opaque, and its specific gravity is 2'0. It is
used for the same purposes as Fuller's Earth. It is allied to Halloysite.
[Hallotliti.]
CI'NCHONA, a genus of Monopetalous Exogenous Plants, the dif-
ferent species of which have a great reputation in medicine. It consti-
tutes the type of the natural order (Jinehonaeitz, It is known by the
followiog characters : — Tube of the calyx top-shaped, with a per-
manent 5-clefb limb. Corolla with a taper tube, and a 6-parted
limb, which is vidvate in aestivation. Filaments short, inserted into
the middle of the tube, within which the linear anthers are altogether
inclosed. Stigma 2-cleft, a little davate. Capsule ovate or oblong,
slightly marked on each side by a furrow, 2-oelled, crowned by the
calyx, dividing through its disseniments into two halves. Placenta
long. Seeds numerous, erect, imbricated upwards, compressed, with
a broad membranous winged border; albumen fleshy. Trees or
shrubs, with a bitter aromatic astringent bark. Leaves on short
stalks, with flat edges. Stipules ovate or oblong, leafy, separate,
deciduous. Flowers in tenmnal panicled corvmbs, white, or of a
rosy-purple colour.
By whom the important properties of the various species of this
genus were flrst made known to Europeans is unrecorded ; for it is
not worth repeating the fables that have been invented upon the
subject. The native Peruvians, who caU the trees Kina, or J^nken,
attach no febrifii^ importance to the bark, but are said even to have
a prejudice agamst its employment. Its introduction to Europe
took place through the Spaniards in the year 1640, and it is j>re-
tended that a certain countess Chinchon, vice-queen of Peru, having
experienced the good effects of the bark as a febrifuge, it
gamed the name of Pulvia Comitissn, and under that name,
or as Pulvis Jesuiticus, was vended by the Jesuits, who derived
a considerable part of their wealth from its trade. Humboldt regards
a tradition still current in Loxa as a more probable explanation of
the discovery of the properties of Oinchowi, It is said that the
Jesuit missionaries there had endeavoured, according to the custom
of the country, to distinguish the different lands of trees by chewing
their bark, and that this had led them to observe the remarkable
bitterness of Oinehonck, Those who were medical among them were
thus led to try an infusion of the bark in terUan agues, which are
veiy common at Loxa, and thus the discovery uf its power was made.
Little was known of the tree producing this substance till the
voyage of La Condamine, who, in 1788, flrst printed a detailed
account of Quinquina, as it was then called. Since that time the
attention of botanists has been constantly directed to the subject,
and a good deal of information has upon the whole been collected ;
the general facts connected with the nabitation, geographical range,
modes of preparation, and botanical distinctions of the species have
been ably itated by Humboldt, Ruiz and Pavon, F^e, De Candolle,
Lambert, Pdppig, and Lindley, and will form tho basis of the suc-
ceeding short account; but in all the minor details regarding the
barks themselves, and the species that furnish them, Europeans are
still much in the dark.
To this genus botanists have from time to time referred plants
which, upon a more careful examination, have been ascertained not to
belong to it ; West Indian, Brazilian, and even East Indian Cinchonas,
thus have found a place in books, but the^ are really referrible to
other genera. Circumscribed witliin the limits of tiie preceding
character, Cinehofia will be found a mountainous genus conflned to
the Cordilleras, between La Paz, in about 22"* S. lat, and Santa
Martha, near 10* N. lat. ; a line having these northern and aouthem
limits, and bounded by tiie most eastern part of the Cordilleras on the
one hand and the Pacific on the other, will venr neariy define the
comer of the globe inhabited by true Cinchonas. Within these limits
they occur, on the plains, but chiefly on mountain sides as far as 10,000
feet of elevation above the sea, the principal zone being at from 1800
to 6600 feet of elevation. In theso places the mean temperature is
estimated by Humboldt at frt)m W centigrade, or 62*6* Fahrenheit,
to 12* centigrade, or 58*6* Fahrenheit
The manner of collecting the Huanuoo Bark of commerce is thus
described by Poppig (' Companion to the Botanical Magazine,' voL L
p. 249). ** In the month of April the preparations for an expedition
commence ; and in May the people start for the forest, whence the
last green bales are transmiUed home in November. They fell the
trees dose to the root, sparing those trunks which appear too young
(palos verdes), as, till they have attained maturity, the bark is of no
value. The next process is to divide (trozar) the stems into pieces of
uniform length, rejecting only the very smallest branches^ With a
peculiar kind of knife, xnade for the purpose, the bark is cut length-
wise, and a certain degree of practice is necessary to perform this
operation properlvso as to remove the rind without injunng the wood
or severing any oif the fibres. With the same instrument they take off
the stripes (longos) of the bark as broad as possible ; but this however
is not done for three or four days after the tree is felled, as before that
time the moisture that exists between the cuticle and the wood would
prevent the bark from severing into such large pieces as fetch the
highest price. A worse consequence ensues from stripping the stems
too quickly, as then tiie thin grey or blackish epidermis shivers off;
and from the presence of this outward rind, covered with many
oiyptogamis, the value of the bark in the European market is mainly
estimated. The Fngliffh purchasers in particular hold the notion
that the bark is most powerful according as its epidermis is covered
with spots.
** On the celerity with which the artide is dried depends the price
which it commands; but there are few instances where prNudme is
BO powerfrd as in the trade of the Cinchonas. In the dense forests it
is impossible to perform this operation properly, and therefore the
bundles of green bark are dispatched with sill speed to the nearest
inhabited place, where Uie person appointed to take the charge of
them is stationed. Without any prepsration they are laid in a spot
exposed to the full action of the sun, the greatest care being requisite
to protect them from wet, as even a few hours' dew feJling on the
half-dried bark will give to the dnnamon-brown interior of Uie finest
sort a blackish appearanoe, and lessen its value about one-half. The
quickness of the drying and the general excellence of the article are
indicated by the pieces oeing rolled up into several spiral windings,
which form so solid a cylinder as to exhibit no cavi^(canuto) within ;
but sudi portions are rarely seen unfractured in Europe. The Cin-
chona barxs are no less sensible of atmospheric moisture than the
Coca, which I formerly described, so that the collectors always hastea
to send them to the dry dimate of the Andes, or the principal towns.
An unavoidable loss however hence accrues: however perfectly the
bark may have been dried in the woody region, it still loses, in three
or four dm after its arrival in Huanuoo, 12 to 15 per cent on its
weight. The padcages are made up into bales of four or five arrobaa
each, and with the greatest possible care, in order that the beautiful
canes of two feet long, into whidi the beirk was coiled on the Montafia,
may not be broken in the carriage. Trailing plants (bejuooe) are used
to tie up the bundles, and when they arrive in Lima they are undone^
and sorted into lengths of difierent pieces previously to dispatching
them in cheats to Europe. The trade in Huanuco Baxk was very
brisk twenty years sgo at lima, and the artide went to the Spanish
market under the naiae of (^ucariUa rosea, without being confounded
with the Ooriez China rvher, as it is called by us. The barks from
the districts of the Lower HuaUaga, of Huambo and Chachapovas,
&c, are, on the other hand, very Uttie prized in Cadii^ and culed
OaseariUa aroUada."
Books and memoirs without end have been written to detennine
the different spedes of OinchiOna that yidd the baiks of oonuneroe,
but with very little result There are difficulties tn the way of this
which persons unaoquainted with the bark trade can hardly estimateL
For example, the bark of the same spedes may be weak and valueleaa
in warm lowland districts, and of the greatest price in alpine or
mountainous regions. The bark of the low oountnr about S. J aen de
Bracamorros has uniformly proved worthless, althou^ the same
spedes which grow there afford a fair bark atMayobamba, Chachapoyas,
and Lamas in the mountains ; and others whi^ at Maynas are per-
fectly inert, are energetic enough upon the sides of the mountains. It
is related by Pdppig that^ in ignorance of this, many speculatmg mer-
chants have been ruined by the purchase of Uie bad lowland bark of
Peru. The rule is, that the best bark always comes tram mountain
tops, from single trees growing in the coldest and most devated spots.
Some of the £est kinds are procured near the mountain villages of
Cayambe and PiUao, and firom the mountains of Psnataguas and
Pampayaoo.
To pretend to reduce to their botanical spedes, in the existing state
of knowledge of Cinchona barks, all the varieties that are known in
shops or in oommerce, would be a vain and hopeless task. Nothing
Digitized by
Google
1077
CINCHONA.
CINCHONA.
1078
can well be more Btartiing than the discrepancies that exist upon the
subject in books and collections ; every collector, eveiy writer, has his
own set of specimens and opinions, and there is no possibility of
reconciling them. There is not a chest of bark which, although cabled
of one Boi^ has not probably been fiirmshed by many different species ;
and there is much reason to b^eve that many of the best known sorts
of barks of the shops are in reality furnished by the same species
tmder different oiroumstanceei Fee asserts that gray Quinquina
passes into yellow by shades that cannot be distinguished; that
yellow approaches the rod both in colour and flavour; and that
nobody Imows to this day with any certainty the origin of even the
barks of Loxa, Lima, Huanuoo, or Carthagena. Poppig, who has so
long lived in tiie Cinchona countries, seems to be of the same opinion,
notwithstanding the details he has given respecting certain species —
details of whidi we have availed ourselves in the following observa-
tions. In particular, with reference to this subject, to which a vast
deal more importance is attached than it deserves, when speaking of
the Huanuoo Bark of commerce, Poppig's remarks are highly deserv-
ing of attention. He observes that as to the various species of trees
that produce bark, and the different quality of the article itself, much
prejudice exists. Without cause one species is rejected, and another
prised for its imaginary qualities ; and the same species is unmean-
ingly divided bv the bark-collectors into several, upon no known or
intelligible pnnciple. Cinchona glandvUfera iias three names,
although scarcely tne least trace even of varieties can be detected
upon the closest botanical examination.
It is doubtful whether the species of any ^enus of plants are more
variable in their appearance than those of Cinchona^ and hence those
who have been acquainted with them from dried specimens pnly, or
who have not been ai^are of their tendency to vary, have multiplied
the species far beyond their true number, and an inextricable confu-
sion would have been the result in any genus less constantly before
the eyes of tiie botanist Thus the authors of the 'Flora Peruviana'
in that work added thirteen supposed new species, and introduced many
more into their Herbarium ; Mutis, on the other hand, who had ample
means of studying Cinchonas in New Granada, declares that he was
acquainted with seven only. Zea asserts that all the efScacious species
of the ' Flora Peruviana' are reducible to four. F^e admits eighteen
certain species; and De Candolle reduces the number to fifteen,
although he introduces two species imknown to F^e. Humboldt
states that he has himself seen C. puheaeenif the yellow bark, with
ovate-oblong, ovate-lanceolate, and ovate-cordate leaves on the same
{)lant; he adds, that some species, such as 0. macrocarpOf have either
eaves entirely smooth or downy on each side, and that even C, Oonda-
minea has extremely different leaves, aoconling to the elevation at
which it grows. These statements alone are sufficient to show how
much caution is required in diHtingnishing species in this genus ; but
to this it is necessary to add, that there is too much reason to suspect
that the authors of &e ' Flora Peruviana^' in creating spurious species,
were influenced by a wish to please the Spanish courts by appearing
to prove that the barks of Peru, from which the Spmiards exclusively
derived so laige a revenue, were altogether different firom those of
New Granada, which other nations could easily procure direct from
Carthagena. Humboldt adds, that mercantile cunning with reference
to this subject was carried so far, that at the royal command a quan-
tity of the best orange-coloured Cinchona bark from New Granada,
which Mutis had caused to be picked at the expense of the king, was
burned, as a decidedly inefficacious remedy, at a time when all the
Spanish field-hospitals were in the greatest want of this indispensable
product of South America. It would however be observed that
some of Ruiz and Pavon's species have been restored by a recent
writer upon the authority of dried specimens ; but it appears to us
safer in such a case as this to take the opinion of a man like Humboldt,
who studied Cinchonas in their native forests, than that of a botanist
who can be acquainted with them only from Herbaria.
In the following enumeration of the species we take De Candolle as
our guide in the systematic distinctions of the species, and Humboldt
and Poppig principally for the practical observations upon them.
After every specific name we have added the synonymous names that
occur in books, for the information of those of our readers who may
possess Materia Medica works whose nomenclatxire is different from
that of De Candolle.
* Corollas downy on the outside or silky.
1. O, Otmdaminea, Leaves oblong, tapering to each end, smooth
and shining^ pitted on the under surfEice at the axils of the veins.
Limb of the corolla woolly. Capsules ovate, twice as lon«; as broad.
This is the C. officinalis, Linn. Humboldt states this to be the fine
Uritucinga Bark originally seen by La Condamine. It is one of the
sorts imported in quantity to Europe, and is said to furmsh the pale
bark of the English apothecariea it is readily known, notwithstand-
ing the variable figure of its leaves, by their having at the axils of
their veins on the under side little pits not bordered with hairs, and
secreting a transparent bitter fluid matter. Grows wild near Loxa,
in the mountains of Ciganuma, Uritucinga, Boqueron, Villonaco, and
Monie. It also occurs near Guancabcm^ and Ayavaca in Peru. ^*
It
climate than the O. lancifolia of Santa F^. The temperature of the
regions which it inhabits is about that of the Canary Idands. This is
the C. lancifolia of the ' London Phamacopoeia ' of 1836, and is now
recognised as yielding the pale bark {Cinchona pallida) of the London
College of Physicians.
Cinchona Cbndaminea,
2. (7. scrohiculata (C. micraniha, * Fl Peruv.,' Ruiz and Pavon).
Leaves oval, acute at each end. smooth, shining on the upper side^
Oinekona 9crchicuiaia,
pitted underneath at the axils of the veins. The tube of the corolla
is uways found among micaceous sohisty at elevations of from downy on the outside ; its limb woolly. Capsule ovateK>blong, three
5400 to 7200 feet; and, according to Humboldt, requires a milder | times as long as broad. This is distinguished from the last not only
Digitized by
Google
1079
CINCHONA.
CINCHONA.
1080
by tlie form" of its leaves, which never taper to the point, but also by
the pits at the under eide of the leaves being bordered with inflected
hairs ; in (7. Condaminea they are quite hairless. It is also allied to
C, roaea, but that species has a smooth corolla and glandless leaves.
In tile quality of its bark it is not distinguishable from C. Condaminea,
Immense forests of this species exist m the province of S. Jaen de
BracamorroB. It is tiie oommoneet of all the Quinas in that part of
Peru, and the most esteemed ; in commerce it has the name of Quina
Fina. Dr. Lindle^ says this species is the origin of the Seloa, or Qray
Cinchona of English oonmierce.
8. a lancifoUa ((7. amffuttifolia, Pavon; C. Ttmita, Lopez). Leaves
obovate-IanceolatCL very smooth on each side, without glands;
panide laige, braohiate ; oorolla silky on the outside ; capsules oblong,
smooUush, five times as long as broad. Next to C. Condaminta this
is accounted the most efficacious of. all the species. It furnishes the
orangeKSolouied bark, or the Quina Naranjanda of Santa F6 de
Bogota, and is obviously different from the two former species in its
leaves being destitute of glands. Humboldt states that it prefers an
inclement climate, on mountainous declivities fi*om 4000 to 9000 feet
high, where the mean temperature is about that of Rome. In the
alpine forests of the upper limits of the -zone inhabited by this
species the thermometer falls for hours as low as the freezing point.
The plants are more rare than those of 0, piib€$cen$ and C. magnifoltay
always growing singly, and not increasing readily by the root. A
kind of bark, bearing a high reputation at Cadiz, and called Calisaya,
is referred to this species. It derives its name from the province
where it grows, whicn is situated in the most southern part of Peru,
in La Paz.
Another variety of this, according to Humboldt, a distinct species
according to others, the Cinchona nitida of the ' Flora Peruviana,' is
found only upon the coldest parts of the mountains of Peru, where
, it becomes a tree with a stem scarcely eight feet high. Its flowers
are bright red, covered inside with a white down, and do not appear
till May. Its bark, the Cascarilla Hoja de Oliva^ although of the
finest quality, is never seen in commerce.
4. CCpubaeent (C, cordifolia ; 0, ov<Ua, Ruiz and Pavon ; C, pdUet-
eens, Ruiz ; O. hinuta, Ruiz and Pavon). Leaves ovate, very seldom
sub-cordate^ leathery, down^ or nearly smooth on the upper side,
tomentose on the under side; panicle brachiate; corolhi downy
outside, the limb haiiy inside; capsules ovate, oblong, ribbed
externally, three times as long as broad. A most variable plant,
yielding what is oedled Yellow Bark. It is found in the republic of
New Granada, in 4" N. lat, at heights between 5400 and 8650 feet ;
it has tJie name of Quina Amarilla.
5. O, purpureet. Leaves broadly oval, somewhat wedge-shaped at
the base, shortly cuspidate at the point, on the upper side smooth, on
the under rather downy upon the principal veins; panicle lai^,
brachiate; flowers somewhat corymbose; oorolla slightly downy
externally, its limb hairy inside; capsules cylindrical, becoming
ovate-oblong, with longitudinal ribs, four times as long as broad. A
native of the Peruvian Andes, in the coldest and deepest parts of
the forests, about Chinchao, Pati, and elsewhere. It is also apparently
one of Uie wild roots of Swta F6 de Bogota.
The very considerable size of the trees of this species, and its large
membranous leaves, covered on the under side with prominent violet-
coloured veins, are said by Poppig to mark it readily. The bark,
called Cascarilla Boba Colorada, is not in much esteem ; but as it is
readily collected it can be sold at a low price, and is used for
adulterating other sorts. According to Reichel it is undoubtedly the
Huamala Bark of trade. Dr. Lindley regards this and the foregoing
species as identical.
6. O, VMcrocalyx. Leaves ovate, roundish, hardly acute, quite
smooUi on both sides ; their principal veins dose together ; panicles
corymbose ; corolla slightly downy externally, with the lobes hairy on
the upper side; limb of the calvx smooth, bell-shaped, acutely
5-toothed. A species distinguished by De Candolle by the above
characters, but onlv known to him from specimens. It is found on
the mountains of Peru. Nothing is known of its sensible properties.
7. C, Evmboldtiana (C, ovalifolia, Bonpland). Leaves oval, rather
obtuse, on the upper side shining, on the under between silky and
downy ; panicle brachiate, 4-flowered ; corolla silky on the outside,
smooth in the throaty with its lobes shaggy inside at the point;
capsules ovate, longitudinally ribbed, about twice as long as broad.
First described by Bonpland as identical with C. ovalifolia of the
' Flora Peruviana,' but idPterwards recognised by him as distinct. It
forms forests in the province of Cuenca in Peru. In commerce it is
called Cascarilla Peluda, which signifies Velvet-Leaved Quina. Its
bark is not in much estimation ; it is however a good deal collected
for mixing with other sorts, and Bonpland suspects it to be of good
quality.
8. O, magnifolia(C, UUeacem; O. grandtfoUa; O. oblongifoUa).
Leaves broadly oval, somewhat acuminate, smooth ; prindpal vdns of
the under side shaggy at the edges ; panide braohiate ; corollas silky
externally; capsules oblong, tapering, seven times as long as broad.
According to Ruiz, Humboldt^ and De Candolle, the C.wlongjfolia
of Mutis, which produces the Red Bark of Santa F^ is identical with
the O. magnifolia, or Flor de Azahar, of the ' Flora Peruviana.' The
former grows in 6" N. lat, at the height of from 3600 to 7800 feet
Cinekona Sumholdtiana,
above the sea, and \b particularly common about Mariquita; the latter
occurs in the hottest parts of the Andes of Peru, about 10 degrees
south of the line. C. oUongifolia of Santa F^ produces a bark which,
although less efficacious than that of C, Condaminea and C. lanetfolia,
is nevertheless better than that of C. pvibucent; but this is hardly
reconcilable with Poppig's statement that the C. fnagnifolia has a
woody 'bark, not very astringent, and ia chiefly used for purposes of
adulteration : he adds, that the bark-peelers do not even reckon it a
fever bark, or Cascarilla, but name it simply Corteza del Azahar.
This last-mentioned author describes the tree as very stately, with
uniisually large white flowers, diffusing a delidous odour like tiiat of
orange-blossoms ; possibly the differences adverted to are the result
of climate.
9. C. macrocarpa {C. ovalifolia, MuUs). Leaves elliptical, leathery,
on the upper side perfectly smooth, on the under between hirsute
and pubescent ; panicle trichotomous ; corollas with closdy pressed
down on the outside ; the lobes hairv inside ; capsules cylindrical,
twice as long as broad. The White Bark of Santa F^. The tree grows
between S"* and 6" N. lat, at heights between 4200 and 8400 feet. A
variety of it, with leaves quite smooth on both sides, is common near
Santa Martha.
10. 0. crastifolia. Leaves oblong, rather blunt, tapered to the base,
leathery, smooth on each side ; whou young shaggy in the axils of the
veins ; stipules membranous, grown together ; corymbs terminal,
trichotomous; branches 2-edged, few-flowered; fruit oval-oblong,
three times as long as broad, crowned by the calyx. Found about
Quito and Loxa ; distinguished from C. macrocarpa by its peculiar
membranous stipules. Nothing is known of its bark.
11. C. didtotoma. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, smooth, when first
unfolding rather silky; peduncles terminal, dichotomous, in loose
few-flowered corymbs; capsules linear, cylindrical, slender, fourteen
times longer than broad. Found on the J^des of Peru, in groves near
Pueblo-Nuevo, in the district of Chicoplaya. Its bark is described as
brown, intensely bitter, with a little addity. This and the forgoing
species Dr. Lindley places with those impmectly known.
12. C. actUi folia. Leaves ovate, acute, smooth, the veins of their
under side somewhat shaggy ; panicle brachiate^ stalked ; oorolla silky
outside, woolly inside ; capsules oblong, tapering to the base, four
times as long as broad. A lUitive of the lower woods of the Andes of
Peru, in Chicoplaya. The bark is stated to be called Cascarilla de
Hoja Aguda : it is moderately bitter. Ruiz says it does not deserve
any attention for medical purposes.
18. C, micrantha (C parv\/[ora). Leaves broadly o\'al, blunt,
smooth, rather downy underneath at the base of the vdns ; panide
very large, brachiate, many-flowered ; corollas densdy silky ; capsules
oblong, three times as long as broad. A spedes inhabiting the cold
devatod parts of the Andes of Peru, espedally about the village of
San Antonio de Playa Grande ; the inhabitants call its bark Cascarilla
Fina. The tree is of considerable circumference, flowers in February,
and frequently yields eight to ten arrobas of dry bark, sometimes
Digitized by
Google
1081
CINCHONA-
CINCHONA.
called Caacarilla ProTinciana, whioh difFem firom that of Huanuco hy
its decided whitish colour and greater roughness of tiie surface. It is
thicker and more woody, the fracture is more fibrous, and the colour
is of a bright cinnamon-brown. A bark, called Pata de Qallinazo, from
the numerous specimens of Graphis, a forked sort of lichen, found
on its Burfiftoe, is yielded by this sort, as well as three others. Beichel
considem the samples wmch Poppig brought home as undoubtedly
belonging to the Huanuco Bark of conunerce. Its taste, which is at
first acid, becomes afterwards a powerful and permanent bitter.
Lindley regards this species as identical with C, acrolnculcUct,
14. 0, ^ndulifera (C. glandulota). Leaves ovate-lanceolate ; on
the upper side smooth and shining, with glands at the axils of the
veins ; on the under side shaggy, especially upon the principal veins ;
panicles somewhat corymbose ; corolla velvety on the tube, woolly in
the inside of the limb ; capsules oblong, three times as long as broad.
The flowers are three lines long, and of a pale rose-colour. This tree
only inhabits the higher mountains of Peru, and is more scarce than
many of the other kinds ; its trunk is frx)m 12 to 15 feet high, and its
flowers, in the month of February, fill the forests ¥rith their perfume.
On the colder parts of the mountains it becomes a bush, the greatest
produce from which ib five or six pounds of bark. It is considered,
according to Poppig, one of the finest sorts of Cinchona j he says that
the Peruvians (UBtinguish it by its blackish rind, which is only here
and there interrupted by small shagreen 'spots when in a fr^h state.
The common people consider iJiese blotches an integral part of the
bark, and look upon it as the more valuable if beneath the larger spots
there appears a black shiniug velvety substance dispersed in ovals of
some lines broad ; this is probably caused hjBomQ Byssus. The bark-
gatherers hence ogJI it CaBicariUa Negrilla. When broken, it exhibits a
glossy, shining, almost resiny fracture of a ripe orange-colour passing
into a fieiT-brown. A variety of it, called Case. Provmciana Negrilla,
is obtainea frt)m the trees growing in warm valleys. According to Mr.
Beichel, this bark is equal to the finest sort from Loxa, but it is not
known in Europe^ except in mixtiire with other kinds.
** Corollas smooth externally.
15. C. eaduc^flora {O. magnifolia, Humb.). Leaves oval, smooth, erect^
haiiy in the anls of the leaves ; panicle braohiate, with corymbose
branches ; corolla smooth, fiedling off very quickly ; capsules oblong,
four times as long as broad. Found near Jaen de Bracamorros, a hot
damp country, where it is called G. hora. The tree is described by
Bonpland as being above 100 feet high ; its bark is not employed.
id. (7. naea (C.fiuca). Leaves oval, tapering to the base, bluntly
acuminate at the point, smooth on each side; panides clustered,
branches corymbose ; corolla smooth on the outside, its limb downy
above ; capsmes oblong, three times as long as broad. This occurs
not unfr^quently about Cuchero, where it forms a highly beautiful
tree, which in its size and ramification may be justly compared with
the White Beech of Europe. In July it is covered with innumerable
Sale violet flowers, whence it has obtained the name of Palo de San
uan. Its bark is not collected, but Poppig thinks it would be found
to possess good qualities.
In addition to these spedea^ Dr. Lindley recognises in his ' Flora
Hedica ' the following : —
C. lucumcrfoHa, Pavon {G, 8t%ipea)» A species said to furnish a part
of the Loxa Bark.
G, lanceolata * Fl. Per.' Buiz suspects this spedes to be the true
source of the Calisaya Bark. It is found in the districts of MuHa,
Panas, PUlao, and Cuchero.
G, roiundifolia, Euiz and Pavon, MSS. From a spedme^ in Mr.
Lambert's Museum. Found at Xioxa in Quito.
G, ewdi/olict^ Mutis, MSS. Found in the mountains of New Gra-
nada, at an elevation of from 5000 to 8000 feet above the eea.
G, hirstUaf * FL Per.' It is probable this spedes yields some of the
fine Yellow Bark of the shops. It is found in high and cold places
near Pillao and Acomayo.
G. viUota, Pavon {G, ffumholdiiana, Lambert). Found at S. Jaen
de Loxa.
G. obUmgifolia, Lambert. Although nothing is known of this plant
beyond the specimens in the Lambertian Museum, the London College
of Physicians, in their * Pharmacopoeia' of 1886 recognised it as yidd-
ing one of .the barks of commerce.
C7. licvAifoluk^ * FL Per.' It is found in the lower groves of the
Peruvian Andes, in Chicoplaya, by the river Tasa It yields very
poor bark.
G. ttenocarpci, Lambert From Jaen, in the mountuns of Loxa.
G. cava, Ptevon. From Quito.
Whatever may be the botanical history of the different kinds of
bark, on their arrival in Europe they are known by names which have
reference rather to their physical appearance or the place whence
obtained, than to the botanic^ characters of the trees which f urmsh
them. In England they are classed under three heads — pale, yellow,
and red barks. Of each there are several varieties, which comprehend
however, various barks, not the produce of any of the genuine spedes
of Ginchana above ' enumerated, but obtained from species of Exo-
tUmma, Buena, and Strycknot (according to Mr. Buxxshell). These
last, called fiUseor spurious Cinchona barks, are all distinguished from
the true Cinchona oarks by the absence of Cinchonia, Quinia, and
A^icina (or Cusco-Cinchoni% a prindple found in the Cusco or Arioa
Barli^ referred to the Cinchona rubiginoaa, Bergen). Several of these
spurious barks are employed in fever and other diseases, but they are
chiefly used to adulterate the more valuable kinds of Cinchonas.
Even when there is no intermixture of these inferior sorts, a variable-
ness in quality occurs in the bark of the same species, according to
its place of gp:x>wth. The finer kinds are known by experienced persons
by a glance of the eye ; but it is extremely difficult to indicate, by any
description, the marks by which they are guided. All kinds arrive in
Europe in the same package, either a.diest or serone, which is formed
of pieces of wood rudely fastened together, and covered with the hides
of animals. They are afterwards sorted, and bring very different
prices in the markets, according to the degree of estimation in which
each kind is held. We shall describe the best kind only of eadi ; but
we must remark, that much prejudice exists on this point, and some-
times excellent kinds are rejected, while inferior sorts are prized. To
meet these prejudices, the barkers employ various artifices, more or
less injurious. The most useful clasdfication of barks is that proposed
by Qeiger, which has reference to the relative proportions of their
aUcaloidB : — 1. Those in which Cinchonia predominates : chiefly pale
or brown barks. — 2. Those in which Quinia predominates, of which
there is only one — the yellow bark of English commerce, called China
regia vera, China Caliaaya. — 3. Those in which Cinchonia and Quinia
exist in nearly equal proportions, red barks, and the yellow bark of
continental writers ; the China of Carthagena of the French, China
fiava durOf Qmna amariUa, This last is also called orange bark
{Quina wwrantiaca of Mutis), which is not the yellow bark of English
commerce, though by some it is erroneously so considered ; and henco
the frequent error in the British PharmacopcDias of referring yellow
bark to the (7. cordifolta (Mutis).
Of the Pale Barks three varieties are known in English commerce : —
1. Crown or Loxa Bark. — 2. Qray, Silver, or Huanuco Bark. — 8. Ash
Bark. These are always quilled, and never in flat pieces. The
powder, which gives the name, varies from gray to fawn-colour.
1. The first variety. Crown or Loxa Bark, called also True Loxa
Bark, is obtained either exclusively from tiie G, Condaminea, or
from it and G, scrobictdata* It occurs in pieces from six to
fourteen inches long, the quills varving in diameter from the
fourth or even smaller part of an inch to nearly half an inch ; the
rolls are sometimes double, meeting at the centre : the dixuneter of
the bark is from a quarter of a line to a line and a half. The colour
of the exterior is marked dark gray, in some specimens verging to
brown. A shining but peculiar appearance is observable upon it>
owing to the thallus of the lichens spreading over it. This commonly
alternates with the colours of other lichens, grayish-white, yellowish-
white, bluish-white, so that the bark acquires an appearance as if it
were painted. Numerous transverse cracks, often extending frvm one
side of the bark to the other, with the edges a little raised, are seen,
sometimes dose to each other, sometimes more remote, especially in
the larger pieces, in which also they rarely extend to the whole cir-
cumference of the piece. In the lai^er pieces longitudinal cracks ai'o
observed, and between these warts or knots frequently arise, which
give a very rough feel to such spedmens. The Utnea Jlorida, and
some foliaceous lichens, such as ParmeUa perforata (Ach.), often
remain attached to it. The inner surface is smooth, except some deli-
cate, irregularly-longitudinal fibres : the colour is a dnnamon or
darker brown. The fracture of the smaller quills is even, or slightly
fibrous ; that of the larger pieces more so, the fibres firm, but neither
oblique nor vitreous, as in the yellow bark (China reffia); but the
outer drcle presents a resinous aspect. The odour resembles that of
tan. The taste at first is slightly astringent, and faintly acid ; after-
wards very astringent, somewhat bitter, but not acrid.
In respect to its chemical composition, this variety is commonly
supposed to contain Cinchonia (discovered in pale bark by Dr.
Duncan, jun.) only ; but this is a mistake, and it is most probable
that the specimens which, when analysed, yielded no Quinia, were
dther very thin quills obtained from yoimg branches or trees, or were
specimens of Huauuco Bark. Bucholz anidysed sixteen ounces of the
Loxa Bark of commerce, yet found no Quinia, but some error is
reasonably suspected ; the other constituents were found to bo-
Drachms. Grains.
Fatty matter, with Chlorophylle ... 1 0
Bitter soft Besin (Geiger thinks this con-
tained Quinia) 2 0
Hard Besin (red insoluble colouring-matter) .12 0
Tannin (with trace of Acetic Acid) . • . 3 0
Cinchonia 0 28
Kinic Acid 1 80
Hard Resin, with Phyteuiiiucv.Iui . . . 1 49
Tannin, with Chloride of Lime . . . . 4 25
Gum 6 40
Kinate of Lime 1 40
Starch, a trace •
Woody Fibre _
The Cinchonia exists in combination with the kinio add, in the
form of kinate of cinchonia. A prejudice exists in favour of the thin
quilled pieces, but they are not so well adapted to form extracts^ &a,
nor to be employed as medidne. Mutis many years ago stated that
Digitized by
Google
CINCHONA.
CINCHONA.
lOM
the thick piaoes obtitined from bnoches of middlo-c^ trees were the
inosteffioacioiiB; and the analyns of Yon Santen (hi Yon Beigezi*B
' Yermich einer Monographie der China ') oonfiimB the oorreot&en of
this Btatementy aa far aa the relative amount of Quinia yielded by
bariu of different ages is concerned. From 100 lbs. of Loza Bark, he
obtained of Quinia —
Oances.
Thin selected quills 1042
Moderately thick pieces 4444
Seleeted thick pieces^ with rough cracked bark 11 '104
2. The second kind, Huanuco Bark, termed also Silver or Qray
Cinchona, has been known in European oonmierce only since 1799.
The minority of writers on the origm of the barks refer it to the C,
gUmdiUifera. (Ruiz and PftTon, 'FL Peruy/) As it is sent from
Huanuco to Lixna for shipment, it is also called Lima bark, though
some apply the term Lima to a bark supposed to come from the (7.
laneifoka (Mutis). It is likewise called Hayanna bark. We have
the authority of Foppig, as stated above, for considering it one of the
finest sorts of Cinchona. The variety of it termed Casa Provindana
NegriUa (the Quinquina Huanuco Noirfttre of the Frendi) is likewise
stated by Reichel to be equal to the finest from Loxa, yet it is not
known in Europe except in mixtive with other kinds. The explana-
tion of which is two-fold : first, that though the trade in this bark
was at first veiy brisk, owing to its excellent quality, the subsequent
shipments of it being very inferior, it fell into disrepute ; and though
it is now again pure and good, still it is necessary to introduce it as
Crown Bark. Farther, as the French give the name Lima bark to
another kind as above mentioned, probably the dark-aidi bark, the
dark Ten (China Pteudo-Loxa), tiie false Loxa bark, confessedly a
very bad bark, it has caused the genuine Lima baik to be litUe
esteemed. Farther, as the Huanuco Bark is in quills which are
lai^ger and coarser than those of the Crown Bark, the prejudice in
favour of thin quills operates to the disadvantage of this vecy excel-
lent sort
The quills are from throe to fifteen inches, generally from four to
ten inches long, with a diameter from a few lines to one or even two
inches. They are in single rolls, or double and indoeed rolls ; the
inclosed rolls exhibit spiral windinf^ and frequently traces of a sharp
oblique incision of the knife. This incision is not observed in the
case of any other kind, and it is probably made by the CascariUeroe
to facilitate the separation of the bark from the trunk of the ti«e.
The diameter of the bark varies from one-fourth of a line to five Ihies.
The epidermis is seldom absent, but now and then portions of it have
been rubbed off, and then the rusty surface of the fiber is seen. The
epidermis is a whitish-gray, but ofben covered with numerous lichens,
chiefly Qlpphu eietUricoia, OrapkU dvplicaia, Porina ffranuUUa,
Pyrmvla ducolor, MoMtoidea, Pupuh, Leeanora pwiicea, Parmdia
perforcUaf Stieta tmraia, and Utneajlorida,
The character of the cracks is more variable than in Loxa Bark,
few extending to the whole circumference of the bark ; in the young
pieces the cracks are not so deep as in the older, in which also the
edges are raised, giving a rough appearance to it. Some specimens
also between the large and extensive cracks present spaces very
slightly cracked, of a golden-straw or leaden-gray colour. Huanuco
Bark is distinguished by the brighter colour of its surface, the multi-
tude of its small cracks, and the sharp oblique incisions i^ve
mentioned, from the yellow or Calisaya bark (Qmna raffia), and the
Loxa bark, to both of which it bean considerable resemblance. The
inner surfiice is of a bright-dnnamon, passing into an ochre-ydlow or
rusty hue, and is generally rough, and, especially in the thicker quills,
fibrous, frequently with portions of the wood of the stem adhering
to it Though no satisfifstoiy chemical analysis has berai made of it,
exhibiting its entire composition, yet the relative proportions of its
alkaloids have been statea. It is the richest in Cinchonia of all the
barks hitherto examined. Qoebel, Kirst, and Yon Santen say that it
yields this alkaloid onlv. Michadis maintains that two spedmenn
analysed hj him yielded, in addition, a little Quinia. The quantity of
Cindionia is very variable. Kirst and Goebel obtained from one pound
168 grains ; Yon Santen from nine different specimens examined by
him, from one pound a quantity varying from 106| grains to 210 grains.
The fracture of the bark is either fibrous or splmterv ; that of the
outer portion resinous. The odour resembles that of clay. The taste
add, astringent, somewhat aromatic; then bitter, acrid, and enduring.
The powder is a deep dnnamon-brown.
8. The third kind of pale bark, c»dled Ash, Jaen, or hy corruption
Ten-Bark, is by Yon Bergen referred to C. avata (R. and f.), which he
oonsiden synonymous with the C. pubetcem of YahL It is likewise
called Pale Ten-Bark to distinguish it from the Dark Ten-Bark, or
False Loxa Bark. The quills of this kind are always crooked,
frequently also twisted. The epidermis is frequently absent ; when
present, it presents fiunt transverse cracks, the edges of which are
somewhat raised, and a few longitudinal cracks or warts. The bark
itself is of an ash-gray, whitish-gray, or light-yellow colour, with
brown or blackish spots. It has often a slightly shining aspect The
inner surfsce varies very much, sometimes smooth, sometimes with
long fibres attached to it, sometimes splintery, of a cinnamon or dark-
brown colour. The fracture is sometimes even, sometimes slightly
fibrous, with a &int external rednous drde. The odour is a mtle
like tao, and pleasant The taste sli^tly add and moderately
astringent, a pure but not disagreeable bitter. The aooounts of its
chemical composition difibr much. Yon Santen says it contains
neither Cinchonia nor Quinia. Qoebel and Kirst from one pound
obtained no Cinchonia, but 12 grains of Quinia ; while Michaalis says
in two specimens examined by him, he found Ixith Quinia and Clmi-
chonia ; of the former, even 80 grains ; of the latter, 12 grains. Notwith-
standing this last statement, this is generally and lustly regarded as a
very bad sort of pale bark, and was chiefly used to admtente the
true Loxa Bark.
The Dark Ten-Bark, or China PSeudo*Loxa, occurs gecmlljr i& thin
or middle-dzed, but seldom thick, quills. The surfeoe exhibits trans-
verse cracks and longitudinal wrinkles, which often form rings a line
or more broad. The colour is milk-white, but covered with so many
lichens as to have a dark appearance. The under surface is uneven,
fibrous or splintery, the fibres often very long : the colour a rusty
brown. The fracture is fibrous or splinteiy : it exhibits a resinous
appearance only when cut Smdls strongly like tan. The taste at
first enduringly add, afterwards astringent This bark is frequently
purchased instead of the true Loxa Bark, and is at present of fre-
quent occurrence in the maricet Bei^gen condden it to be produced
by the C. nUida <R. and P.) and the C. laneifolia : these are perhaps
only varieties the one of the other ; but whenceever obtained it is
very poor in slkaloids, one pound yielding only 9 grains of Kinia and
12 of Cinchonia. It is hdd to be one of tiie worst kinds of pale baric.
The lichens and epidermis should be scraped off all pale barks
before they are reduced to powder : though they increase the bulk,
th^ diminish the effidency of the powder.
The Yellow Barks.— There are only three kinds ; the Ydlow Bark of
English commerce, which by continental writen is called merely China
rtgiOf Q^ma Caliioya (the Quinquina Royal, Gdbe Konigschina), and
the Yellow or Carunagena Baric of the Continent oomprehendii^ two
sorts : — ^1. China flava fibrosa, China de Carthagena fibrosa, the Quina
Naranjada (of the natives) ; the Quina de Santa F^ fibrosa, or Quina
de Carthagena lenoaa (fibrosa), of the Spanish; Quina de Carthagena
amarella lenhosa (fibrosa) of the Portuguese ; Qtdnquina de Cartha-
gene fibreux, ligneux. Quinquina Orange (of tiie F^rench); Holdgo
Qdbe China, Holdge Carthsgenarinde (of the Germans). 2. China
flava dura, China lutea, China de Carthagena dura, Quina Naranjada
de Santa F^, Quina aurantiaca, Quina de Santa F^, or Quina de Ou>
thagena dun (Spanish) ; Quinade Cartagena amarilla dura (Portuguese);
Quinquina de Carthagene, or Quinquina flava dura (French) ; Harte
Gelbe China, Harte Carthagenarinde. This is the Orange Bark of
Mutis, which he says is obtained from C, UmeifoUa. Bei^gen and
Gk>ebel ascribe it to C eordifdia (Mutis), which some deem syncmy-
mous witii C, pubescent (YahL), which spedes is therefore stated alone
to yield the ydlow bark ; but this only applies to the yellow baric
of the Continent, for the source of the Yellow Bark of English com-
merce must be considered as yet undetermined. We shall limit our
description to this last kind, as the best known in this country, and at
the same time the most valuable. Thisoccun in two forma—quills and
flat-pieces ; the quills were formerly most prized, but all well-informed
persons now prefer the flat pieces as much ridier in Quinia. The
quills are in general in single, sddom in double rolls, the diameter of
which is mostly greater than even the laigest quills of pale Loxa Bark,
being from a quarter of an inch to an inch, the length from 4 to 24
inches, oocadonally containing smaller quills innde the lai^ger. The
thidcness of the bark varies from one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch.
The external surface is generally gravish-brown, inclining to hlackiwh,
vellowish, or whitish, according to the kind of lichen by which it is
beset Few pieces are quite free from lidiens ; manv spedmens exhi-
bit the wax-yellow thallus of Lepra Jlava (Aduu), which appears as if
fused upon it : this is a very characteristic mark, when present, of
Calisaya bark. The quills sddom have the epidermis removed, which
has both transverse and longitudinal cracks, which penetrate down to
the bark itself, as their traces can be perodved upon it even when the
epidermis has been removed. The transverse cncks frequently extend
over the whole circumference of the piece, yet they are mudi inter-
rupted by longitudinal cracks and furrows (this is more espedally the
case with the thinnest quills) ; but all of them have nused edges,
resembling those of Loxa Buk. Where the epidermis is wanting,
the colour of the exposed part is of a dnnamon or rusty-brown hue.
The colour of the inner suifEUie varies according to the age of the bark.
Generally it is a deep cinnamon, in recent barks verging to reddish ;
in older spedmens it is paler, or a rusty-yellow. The transverse frac-
ture is in the thinner quills smooth, in the larger fibrous, splintery, or
vitreous ; a rednous circle is under the epidermis. The longitudhial
fracture is generally uneven, and delicately fibrous : this kind of bark
is easily broken.
The flat Yellow Bark, or that in splints, occurs dthffr with the epi-
dermis, or divested of it {C^ina riffia nuda). Pieces retaining tne
epidermis ara generally from one to five indies broad, genersUy quite
flat, but sometimes slightly curved, from three to fifbeen inches long,
and from one quarter to three-quarten of an inch thick. The eharac-
ten of the epidermis correspond with that above described : the
uncoated kind is most frequent, and occun in splints from one to
eight lines thick. The colour varies, but is generally a reddish or
rusty-brown, and is nearly the same on both surfiMcs, so that in pieces
Digitized by
Google
1085
CINCHONA.
CINERABIA.
1096
which have become convex on the inner side, and concave on the outer,
08 often happens, it is difficult to determine which was the exterior ;
this is by far the best kind of yellow bark.
Adulteration of Yellow Bark is not very easy, but a kind of humalia-
like bark used I'O be substituted for it
The odour of genuine Yellow Bark is slightly that of tan. The taste
IS faintly acid, strongly but not unpleasantly bitter, sxomatio, stimu-
lating, and slightly astringent
The analyses of uncoated Yellow Bark (Calisaya) by Pelletier and
Caventou riiow its composition to be super-kinate of quinia, fatty
matter, slightly soluble red colouring-matter (red cinchonic acid),
soluble red colouring-matter (more than in gray bark), tannin, Idnate
of lime, lignin, amylum. When the uncoatod kind ia analysed, some
Cinchonia is obtained. By a comparative analysis it is found that a
pound of flat uncoated yellow bark yields nearly twice as much
Quinia as the quilled sort, a point of much importance to the pre-
parers of that alkaloid. The Carthagena yellow barks both contain
Quinia, but in less quantity than the Calisaya burk; the hard
Carthagena bark, in addition, yields Cinchonia, but not the fibrous
kind.
The Red Bark, of which one kind only is known in English trade,
is generally referred to O. oblongifolia ; though many doubts may be
held on this head. Bergen is much more disposed to consider the
C. oblongi/olia as the source of the China Nova, or Surinam bark,
which is not officinal in Britain ; this also is doubtfuL Red bark
has been known for 180 years, but was not much used in Europe till
1779. It occurs in quills and flat pieces, most frequently in the
latter form. The quills are rolled singly, or doubly, from 4 to 15,
but generally from 4 to 6 inches long, and from a few lines to 1 indi
in diameter, the bark being from 1 to 4 lines thick. The figure of
the flat pieces is variable, being generally very much broken, fre-
quently with the epidermis entire ; but this is often partially, seldom
or never completely, absent The length is generally from 4 to 24
inches, the thickness from J to 1 inch, and the breadth 1 to 8 indies.
The quiUs most frequently have the epidermis entire ; some of thrai
have a whitish-yellow, or grayish-white epidermis (interrupted by
longitudinal and irregularly transverse cracks), a red hue shining
through it In fact, even in pieces with the epidermis entire, and
covered with many lichens, the red hue is seen ever shining through
— a characteristic mark of this kind of bark. The flat pieces have
generally an amaring number of lichens upon them. In tiiesejraeces
also what is called the rete mucosum is often very spongy, warty
bodies are found on some varieties. The inner sunace is a reddish-
brown, varying in intensity. The fracture in thin quills is smooth,
in those of a moderate thickness fibrous, and in thick quills and flat
pieces fibrous and splintery : the epidermis, when penetrated by Uie
resinous principle, exhibits a vitreous shining ring.
Pelletier and Caventou analysed a specimen of the variety free from
warts, and found it to contain —
Sli^tlv soluble red colouring-matter, or red
CinGhonic Add.
Soluble red oolouzing-matter (tamiin).
Yellow colouring-matter ; fatty matter.
Kinate of Lime. Woody Fibre. Starch.
The relative proportions of Quinia and Cinchonia differ in different
specimens ; a pound of bark yielding in some instances 70 grains of
Cinchonia and 77 grains of sulphate of quinia, in others 184 grains
of Cinchonia and only 9 grains dt sulphate of quinia.
The Humalies, or Brown Bark, is not known m English commerce ;
its source is not accurately determined.
Several inferior kinds, and others erroneously reputed to be
Cinchona barks, are met with, either accidentally or fraudulently
mixed Avith or passed for the genuine ; but they may be known l^
not possessing tne characters of the best kinds as given above.
Dr. Lindle^, in his 'Flora Medica,' gives the following as the
result of his inquiries with regard to the barks used in medidne : —
(a). PaleBarht,—
Crown, or Loxa Bark C, Oondaminea.
Silver, Gray, or Huanuco Bark . , , 0. micrcmtha,
Ash-Bark (?)
White Loxa Bark (?)
(b). TOlowBarhi:-'
{O, laneeolata,
a hiriuta.
Cnitida.
Calisaya C. lanceoUUa,
Carthagena Bark C eordifoliak,
CusooBark (?)
(c). lUdBarkM:—
Red Cinchona^ or Bark of Lima ... (?)
Cinchona Novex C, magnifolia.
(d). Brown JBarki: —
Humalies Bark • 4 • • ' Cpurpurec^
In the 'London Pharmacoposia,' published by the College of
Physicians for 1851, the following Barks are recognised : —
a ^tow (re^), ((7. coi^oKa,' Ph.' 1886) . j^'^^^X
a pallida (de Loxa), (O. lane^olta, ' Ph.' 1886) j ^'^y^^^
CrvbraiCMmffifolia'K'UZe) . . I C.tpecUt
[_ tnctfia,
CINCHOKA'CEJE, Oindumadt, the Cinchona-Tribe, a natural
order of Monopetalous Exogenous Plants, with an inferior fruit, a
regular corolla, seeds containing a small embryo in the midst of
homy albumen, and opposite undivided leaves with stipules placed
between their petiole& This brief character distinguishes a most
extensive and important assemblage of plants, comprehending many
of the most useful spedes we are acquainted with. Tlie bark of the
order is very generailly tonic^ aromatic, and febrifugal, and its energy
is attested by the well-known use of that of (Hw^ona itself, to say
nothing of the numerous other genera fit to be employed as sub-
stitutes for Jesuit's Bark. [CiNOHOirA.] The albumen of the seeds
when roasted affords, in the case of coffee, a fragrant, stimulating;
and agreeable pzindple [Covfba] ; and the roots of many herbaceous
kinds possess active emetic properties. True Ipecacuanha is the
produce of dphcelU Jpeeaeuanha [Cbphaub], but many other
Cinchonaceous plants resemble it in their medicinal qualities, and
are perhaps mixed with it in commerce. Oinehonaceat are the
Eubuiceaf of many botanists ; but as it appears advisable to separate
Bulna and its allies into a distinct order, on account of the absence
of stipules, and for other reasons [Stsllata], it is necessary to alter
the name of the remainder of the group ; and as a type of the order,
when circumscribed, Cin^ona is unexceptionable.
The Honeysuckles were also referred to Jtubiaeea, but are now
separated bnder the name of Caprtfoliaeea. With these two orders
CfinehonacecB has undoubtedly the greatest affinity. It is also related
to the Ckmposita, and throng the genus LygodjfKidea to the Umbd-
ItfertB, Some of the genera of this order exhibit a tendency in their
sepals to revert to the foliar condition after the petals have fallen.
This is the case with Muuanda and OalyeophyUum. [Calt-
COPHTLLUK.]
Cindionads are found exdudvdy in the hotter parts of the world,
where they are so common as to constitute not less than one-twenty-
ninth part of the whde of the vegetation. The order comprises
269 genera and 2500 spedes. The most valuable of these are
undoubtedly the spedes of Oinchonei, but many important plants
beddes these are yielded by this order. The genera Pindtnepa,
QmdammM, Oueuirda, AnHrrhea, Morinda, MJmeitodictfon, and
Ophiorhiza, all afford spedes whidi yield barks regarded as febrifuge
and astringent in the treatment of disease. Some of the spedes
yield tannin, as the Unearia Oambier, from which a kind of Catechu
or Kino is prepared. The spedes of Cfhioeoeca [Chiooocca] have
active properties. Only a few spedes yield food. "The Qempap, a
South American fruity as laige as an orange, of a whitish-green
colour, but containin£[ a dark purple juice, with an agreeable vinous
taste, is borne bv Cfenipa Amerieana, Saircoeephalv» etetUentut is the
edible peach of Sierra-Leone. Vangwna edtUu, or Yoa-vanga is
said to be a good dessert fruit in Madagascar. Oenipa BratUUnaii is
also eaten in Bradl, but Martius says that it is only fit for table after
becoming blotted, and that it is better when preserved with sugar
than when fresh. Some of the bushes called in Tasmania naave
currants are Coprosmas, but they are not of good quality."
(Lindley).
Sevenil genera, as Ofdmkmdia^ Ptydiotria, Oenipa, Condaminea^
and Hydrcphylax, yidd colouring-matters used in dyeing. Some
spedes are remarkable for their fragrance and beauty, especially
amongst the genera Qardema, Bindna, Potequerict, Ixora, Bowvardia,
Catetbtea.
(Lindley, Vegetable Kingd(nn.)
CINCINNURUa [BiBDS of Paradibb.]
CINCLOSOliA, a group of Thrushes, characterised by Dr. Horaftdd
and Mr. Vigors. [Msbulidjs.]
CINCLUS, a genus of Insessorial Dentirostral Birds, belonging' to
the family MenUidce, O, aquatieut is the Common Dipper of British
ornithologists. [Mibulida]
CINERAHIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order
CompoiUa, the sub-order Corymbi/era, the tribe Bypaioriaeeat the
sub-tribe SeneeionecB, and the mvidon Buienecionem. It dosdy
resembles Seneeio [Sbkscio], and differs from that genus in its
involucre being ooxnposed of one row of equal scales only. Two
spedes are found in Great Britain.
0. paku^rii, a shaggy plant with a mudi branched stem whidi
is corymbose above ; leaves broadly lanceolate, half-dasping, the lower
leaves sinuate-dentate. It has a stem 8 feet high, thick, hollow, and
leafy. The florets are of a bright-yellow colour. It inluibits ditches
in fenny districts, and was at one time a more abundant plant in
England than it is at present.
6. eampairU, a shi^gy plant, with a simple stem; the root-leaves
oblongs neariy entire, narrowed below; the stem-leaves lanceolate^
heads ooiymbose, involucre woolly below nearly glabrous in the
upper half; the fhiit hispid. It has a stem 6 or 8 inches high with
Digitized by
Google
1067
CINERAS.
CINNAMOMUM.
1038
yellow florets. It U found moetly on ohalk downs. A variety, C,
c. monttmoy oocors near the sea in very wet seasons ; it is then twice
or three times as large as usual, and the lower leaves are dentate.
(Babington, Maivwd of British Botany ; Lindley, Natural System.)
CINERAS, a genus of Bamadee. [Cibrifedia.]
CINNABAR. FlfBBOTJBT.]
CINNAMODENDRON, a genus of Plants referred to Yon Martius's
doubtful order CaneUaeece. This genus has been separated from CantUa
which is well represented by C, alba, a common West Indian
aromatic shrub with eveigreen coriaceous obovate alternate stalkeid
leaves, no stipules, and corymbs ofpurple flowers. C, alba is often
called Wild Cinnamon in the West Indies, on account of its
warm aromatic fragrant properties. [Cavella, in Arts and
Sc. Drv.) There is but one other species of CaneUa. Cinnamo-
dendron has but one species, (7. axillare. It is a Brazilian tree with
aromatic properties. Its bark is used as a tonic and stimulant. It
is administered in low fevers and relaxed sore throat
CINNAMO'MUM, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural
order Lauracece, It is confined to the East Indies, and distinguished
from the rest of its natural order by the following technical cha-
racter : — Flowers hermaphrodite ; abortive stamens perfect ; anthers
with four cells ; limb of the perianth articulated, deciduous ; buds
of the leaves incomplete ; leaves evergreen, often approximated in
pairs, 8-ribbed or triple-ribbed. It contains several species, some of
which yield Cinnamon, and others Cassia, two aromatic barks which
appear to differ from each other in little, except in the degree in
which the aromatic principle exists in them. Till lately it was
understood that a Ceylon plant called Laurtu Oirmamomwn yielded
true Cinnam6n, and another, called Laurtu Cauia, produced the
inferior Cassia bark on the coast of Malabar ; but, according to Nees
von Esenbeck, at least two distinct species yield the Cinnamon of
the shops, and it is altogether uncertain which out of several yields
Cassia.
Cinnamon has been known to European nations from very high
antiquity. The Qreeks procured it, together with the name, as
Herodotus (iil 111) remarks, from the Phoenicians, who are by some
supposed to have formed the name Kinnamomon from Kagu-manis,
or Kaschu-manis, two Malayan words signifying sweet wood (* Annala
of Philosophy,' 1817); and Cassia itself may have originated in the
same word Kaschu, ' wood.' ' That which is now chiefly consiuned in
England is the aromatic bark of a small tree found in the Island of
Ceylon.
O, Zeylanicumf the Ceylon Cinnamon-Tree. Its leaves are of an
oblong figure, generally more or less heart-shaped at the base ; of a
thick leathery texture, veiy smooth and shining on the upper side,
Ceylon Clnnamon-Trcc {Cinnamomum Zcylanicum).
1, a perrect stamen, with one of the abortive stamens at its base ; 2, a pistil;
3, ripe fruit.
glaucous and beaatifully marked with prominent netted veins on the
under side ; they are always blunt, and seldom oven tapered to the
point ; they are nearly opposite on the branches, and are traversed
D^ from three to five ribs, of which the lateral ones nm in a onrved
direction from the base to the point. The flowers axe greenish-
white, and appear in threes, collected in dusters, in small termioal
panicles ; they are composed of a downy calyx dirided into six parts,
and containing nine perfect stamens and nine others which are
imperfect and resemble yellow triangular-stalked glands. Their
pistil is a roundish 1-celled body terminating gradiuJly in a style
with a white downy capitate triangular stigma. The fnut is an otsI
berry, not unlike an acorn, seated in the calyx, which is enlarged
and converted into an angular 6-toothed cup. The tree is supposed
to produce a considerable number of varieties to which native names
are given, but it is uncertain whether these are not, in part at
least, distinct species. In addition to the aromatic oil contained in
its bark, the root of the Cinnamon-Tree yields camphor ; the liber, oil
of cinnamon ; the leaves, oil of cloves ; and the fruit a peculiar terelan-
taceous ethereal oil. When the branches are peeled the finest sticks of
Cinnamon are said to be obtained from the liber of the middle-
size branches, an inferior sort from the youngest shoots, and that
which is produced by the thickest branches is considered of vezy
little value.
It is said to require a rich sandy soil mixed with vegetable earth.
Some degree of shade is necessary to the young plants, which there-
fore are not cultivated in open plains, but in spaces in the woods
where a few large forest-trees are left scattered about to shade them.
In about six or seven years from the time they are sown, yomig
cinnamon bushes are from four to six feet high ; they are not how-
ever generally barked before the ninth year. The cinnamon peeling
begins in May, at the end of the rains, and lasts till November ; the
operation of peeling consists in nothing more than slitting the bark
longitudinally and then cutting it across, so that it can be readily
turned back from the wood, and it is the more easy in consequence
of the shoots which are cut for peeling not being more than three
years old.
C. aromaticum (Esenbeck), is the species which is believed to be
the Cinnamon of China and Cochin China. This plant, which is not
uncommon in the hot-houses of Europe, has long been reputed the
kind that yields cassia, but that opinion appears to be altogether
unfounded. It is said to grow in the div sandy districts, lying north-
west of the town of Faifoe, between ly and 16** N. hi. The leaves
are very much larger than in the true Cinnamon, they usually hang
down from the stdQu, have never more than three ribs, and never are
in any degree cordate at the base ; sometimes they are taper-pointed,
sometimes blunt. A, in the following figure, is a leaf of this species ;
B and C are different forms of the leaf of the Oirmamomttm Zeylankumj
The aromatic fruits called Cassia-Buds are also yielded by this species.
[Cassia-Buds.]
With regard to Cassia lignea, or Cassia-Bark, it seems altogether
uncertain what it is that yields it ; whether it is some peculiar ipecies,
as it has long been supposed to be, or inferior samples of Cinnainon
gathered in unfavourable seasons, or from trees growing in bad sitoa-
Digitized by
Google
1089
CINNAMOMUM.
CINNYRIDuffl.
1000
tions. The differences in Cassia-Bark are of snoh a natare as to render
the last the most probable conjecture ; it possesses Idss aromatic oU,
a circumstance likely to occur to trees in unfavourable situations;
and in proportion as the oil disappears there is an increase in mucila-
ginous and resinous matter. But on the otiier band there are so many
inert or oomparatiTely inert species of Onmamomum, that Cassia mav
yeiy well belong to one of them. There is 0. dtUce in China, obttui-
folium, xnerg, Bazania, and others, any of which may possibly yield
such a bark. The question is howeyer one more of curiosity tlian real
consequence. The only important thing about Cassia was the suppos-
ing it to be funuahed by what is really a most valuable species, and
that error is now removed.
Cinnamon of the genuine Ceylon kind is cultivated in Guyana, the
island of St. Vincent, the Cape de Yerd, Brazil, the Isle of France,
Pondicherry, GKiadaloupe, and elsewhere, and it is said that plants
obtained from Paris by the Pasha of Egypt have tiiriven when trans-
ported to Cairo. There is however no probability that the tree will
succeed as an article of commerce in any coimtry that has not the hot
damp insular climate and bright light of Ceylon.
C. Tamala is a native of the continent of India, wild in ]>erwanee
and Gongachora, cultivated in the gardens of Rungpoor. The taste
of the leaves when dried is aromatic; they are sold in the shops
under the name of Folia Malabathri Tamalapathri or Indi
C. Loureirii grows on the lofty mountains of Cochin China, to the
west towai^ Laos, Japan. The flowers of Cassia are produced by
this species. The old and young branches are worthless, but the
middle-sized shoots are superior to that of Ceylon, and are sold at a
much higher price.
C. Culilawan is a native of Amboyna, especially in Leitimoo near
the villages of Saya, Button, and Ema. The bark when dry is aro-
matic like cloves, but less pungent and sweeter. It has some
astringency, and owes its medicinal activity to a combination of volatile
oil, resin, and bitter extractive. It is useful in dyspeptic complaints,
diarrhoeas, &c The natives of Amboyna use it both as an internal
medicine and as a BtlmulatiDg linament.
(7. tn«6nMi» grows in Cochin China, and contains an essential oil, like
the last species, smelling of doves, but not so agreeable.
C. Sintoe grows on the Nilgherry Mountains in B[industan, and the
higher mountains of Java. It is a tree 80 feet high. The bark is in
quality very like the true Culilawan, but not so^agreeable ; it is more
bitter and drier, and more powdery when chewed.
C. xanthonevron is a tree growing on th^ Papuan Islands and the
Moluccas. The bark has great fragrance when fresh, but loses this
qtiality in time. It is so extremely like Mapoy Bark as to be con-
founded with it.
C. nitidum is a shrub or small tree growing on the continent of
India. It is the plant which furnished the principal part of the ' Folia
Malabathri' of the old pharmacologists.
C. Javanieum is a tree with a trunk 20 feet to 80 feet high, growing
in Java and Borneo. The bark is of a deep cinnamon-brown colour,
more bitter than Culilawan Bark, and the leaves when rubbed have a
very sharp aromatic odour. Blume says the bark deserves the attention
of medical men on account of its powerful anti-spasmodic properties.
With regard to Cinnamon and Cassia Barks as they occur in com-
merce, we are most indebted to Nees von Esenbeck, who has paid
great attention to the subject According to him, the finest or Ceylon
Cinnamon is procured from the three-year-old branches of the
Cinnamomum Zeylaniewn (Blume), which is found native in the
island of Ceylon only ; the cultivation however has been extended to
Java and to South America. Though found in various parts of the
island, it is most abundant in the south-west part, near Colombo, and
yields the best Cinnamon when growing in a sandy quartz soiL The
time for stripping off the bark is from May to October. The bark,
after being removed from the branches, is tied up in bundles for
twenty-four hours, during which time a sort of fermentation takes
place, which greatly facilitates the separation of the outer part of the
bark from the cuticle and epidermis, which is very carefully scraped
off the Ceylon Cinnamon. It is then rolled up into quills, or pipes,
about three feet in length ; the thinner or smaller quills being sux^
rounded by larger ones — a mark which always distinguidies Cinnamon
from Casna. It is then conveyed to Colombo, where it is sorted by
government inspectors into three kinds, of which the two finest alone
were allowed to be exported to Europe, while the third, or inferior
kind, was reserved to be distilled along with the broken pieces of the
other two for the purpose of obtaining the oil of cinnamon. The
select Cinnamon is formed into bales of about 924 ^^ weight, con-
taining some pepper or coffee, and wrapped in double cloths made of
hemp, and not, as stated by some writers, of the cocoa-tree.
Tnis fine Cinnamon occurs in pieces about forty inches in length,
generally containing from six to eight rolls or quills in each, one
within the other, of the thickness of vellum paper, of a dull golden-
yellow colour, smooth on both outer and inner surfiuse. Itls very
fragrant, agreeably aromatio, taste pleasant, warm, aroma^c, slightly
astringent. Analysed by Yauquelin, it yielded volatile oil, tannin in
large quantity, an aaotised colouring-matter, a peculiar add, mucilage,
and fi&Bulmn.
The root of the Cinnamon tree yields a kind of camphor, and the
leaves yield an oil which rtsembles oil of doves, which it is often used
NAT. HI8T. SrV. VOL. L
to adulterate. This is quite distinct from the oil of cinnamon obtained
from the bark. The ripe berries yidd by decoction a solid volatile
oil, similar to the oil of juniper. Cassia, according to M^rA^n and
others, is the bark of the old branches and trunk of the CHnnamomum
Zeylamctun already mentioned, while others assert that it is the bark
of an entirdy different species, namely, of the Cmnamotnum Oama
(Nees Fratres, et Blume), a native of China, but cultivated in Java.
This last view is much the more probable ; for not only is no Cassia
exjK>rted from Ceylon (except the rejected or third sort of Cinnamon,
which is introduced into England incorrectly under Ihat name), but
almost all the Cassia whidi reaches Europe comes from Canton. Re-
agents produce very different efiects both on the infusion and oil of
these two barks, which is a rational ground for believing them to be
obtained from different species.
Cassia is easily distinguished from Cinnamon. The bales in which
it arrives are much smaller, containing only from two to foiur pounds,
bound together by portions of the bark of a tree. The quills are
thicker, rolled once or twice only, and never contain thinner pieces
within ; the diameter of the bark is much thicker than that of Cinna-
mon, and harder, the outer rind less carefully removed (large patches
of the cuticle and epidermis often remaining upon it), the colour
deeper, of a brownish fawn-colour (that raised in Guyana is yellowish),
with the odour of Cinnamon, but fainter and less grateful ; the taste
more acridly aromatic, pungent, less sweet, at the same time more
powerfully astringent, yet mucilaginous.
Cassia is often substituted for Cinnamon, and it is also frequently
adulterated with Cassia Lignea (which is the bark of a degenerate
variety of the Oiitnamomnm Zeylanicum (Blume) growing in Malabar,
Penang, and Silhet), with the bark of Cinnamomwn OSUilawan, and
with portions which by distUlation have been deprived of their
volatile oft
Oil of Cinnamon is obtained chiefly from the fragments which fall
from the quUls during the inspection and sorting at Colombo. These
fragments are coarsdy powdered, and after being immersed for forty-
eight hours in searwater, are distiUed, when a milky fluid comes over,
which separates into two parts, a light oil which floats, and a heavy
one which sinks in the water. Eighty pounds wdght of Cinnamon
vidd about two ounces and a half of light oil, and five ounces and a
half of heavy oiL About 100 gallons of oil of cinnamon are annually
obtained at Colombo. As the oil which is met with in commerce is a
mixture^ diese two, the spedfio gravity is variable, 1*085 to 1*090l
In time a spontaneous separation takes place, and there are formed
beautiful transparent crysfcals of a stearopteo, or Cinnamon-Camphor.
Sometimes benzoic add is formed. Oil of Casda is also obtained by
distillation ; at first it is whiter than oil of cinnamon, afterwards it
becomes yellow, but never of such a fiery yellow as dnnamon-oiL
The odour is agreeable, but not so delicate ana cinnamon-like : taste^
acrid, burning, but different fiK>m dnnamon. Specific gravity 1*0608 ;
it reddens litmus paper. At a low temperature crystals show them-
sdves, which disappear with an increase of heat Some connder these
a camphor, others benzoic add. Benzoic add unquestionably exists
in this oiL Oil of cinnamon is adulterated with oil of cassia, with
the oil of cassia-buds, with the oil of the Ceranu lawo-ceroiut, or
Cherry-Laurd, and it is also said with oil of bitter-almonds, an exceed-
ingly dangerous intermixture.
CINNAMON-STONE. [Gabitkt.]
CINNAMON, WILD. [Cinkamodsitdron.]
CINNYRIDiE, a feonily of Passerine Birds of brilliant plumage,
living upon thejuices of flowers, and representing in the Old World the
TrochUuJUe, or Humming-Birds of the New Continent and its islands
They are known bv the common names of Sun-Birds and Soui-Mangas.
Cuvier, in defining his genus CiwnyrU^ states that the spedes com-
posing it have the tail no longer worn ; the bill long and very slender,
with the edge of the two mandibles findy serrated ; and the tongue,
which can be protruded from the bill, terminating in a fork. They
are, he observes, small birds, the plumage of whose males glitters in
the season of love with metallic colours, approaching in splendour
that of the Humming-Birds, which they represent in this respect in
the Old Continent, where they are found prindpally in Africa and
the Indian Archipelago. They live, he adds, on flowers, from which
they pump the juices : thdr nature is gay, and their song agreeable.
Their beauty makes them much sought after in our cabinets ; but as
the plumage of the females and that of the males during the interval
between we seasons of love is entirdy different from its nuptial
brillisncy, it is difficult to characterise the spede& (' B^;ne Animal.')
Cvninyriif in Ouvier^s arrangement, stands between MdUkr^^i and
AraehnothircL,
Mr. Vigors condders the Ten/nirottru, or Suctorial Birds,^ the most
interesting group perhaps of the animal world. " Deriving," says
that author, "thdr subsistence for the most part from the nectar of
flowers, we never fail to associate them in idea with that more beauti-
ful and perfect part of the vegetable creation, with which, in thdr
delicacy and fragility of form, thdr variety and brilliancy of hues, not
less than by their extraotiiig their nourishment from vegetable juices,
they ikppear to have so many pd»ti<ma. As the tribe is confined ex-
cludvely to the torrid xone aad the southern hemisphere, the natu-
ralists of our northern latitudM hft^e little opportunity of observing
their manners or of inspecting their internal construction. Much
Digitized by
Google
1091
CINNTRIDiES.
CINNYRID-fi.
1093
confusion has consequently arisen in assigning them their respective
stations, more particularly among the Honey-Suckers of Australia,
which have been indiscriminately scattered among every group of the
order. In the absence of that certain and perfect information which
alone can authorise us to decide upon the station of any bird in
nature, I cannot, at present, undertake to fill up the details of this
tribe with much pretension to accuracy. The following sketch how-
Qver of the Suctorial Families will, I imagine, be found to afford some
approach, in its general outline, to the natural divisions into which
the tribe branches out, and to the order in which they succeed each
other i—Nectariniadce (/), Ornnytida, TroehilidcB, PromeropidcBf MeU-
phagidcB, Arranged according to their typical characters, they thuff
succeed each other : —
Normal Group.
Bills and feet comparatively slender f (Hnnyridce.
(gracilioribus) .... \Trochilid<8,
Aberrant Group.
Bills and feet comparatively »tn>ng JS2^J^({j:
(fortionbus) .... \ ^eZri^iad<E(t)."
Mr. Vigors then proceeds to state that Illiger was the first who
separated the true Certhia of the present day from the groups of the
Linnaean Certkia, which feed upon vegetable juices, and which he
therefore distinguished by the generic name of Nectarinia. This
latter genus, observes Mr. Vigors, comprising two distinct and
strongly marked groups, has again been separated by Cuvier into two
divisions : for the first of which, consisting of birds whose bills are
shorter and stronger than those of the second, and whose feet are also
in general more robust, he has retained the name of N^arinia ;
while he has distinguished the latter division, where th^ bills are
longer and more attenuated, and the l^gs and feet are proportionally
more delicate, by the appellation of OinnyrU. The first two families
in the arrangement of Mr. Vigors accord with these views ; and he
remarks that, besides the difference in their structure, the two groups
may be separated by their geographical limits. The NectariniadcB^ as
far as Mr. Vigors can trace out their extent, are confined to the Kew
World ; while the Oinnyridce are circumscribed within the bounds of
the ancient continent and its adjoining islands. In looking to the
succession of affinities in the tribe, 1^. Vigors remarks that the
Nectariniadce appear to hold, by the comparative strength of their
feet and bill, an intermediate rank between the Creepers and the
typical groups of the present tribe. The OertkitidiB, as we have seen
[Certhiada], employ, he observes, the feet in climbing; the Nectarir
nictdcB hop from fiower to fiower, seeking the nectar of each ; while
the Oinnyridce and TrochUida make no use whatever of the foot as
they extract their food, but during the process of feeding are poised
entirely on the wing. The two last-mentioned families, he adds,
again approach each other in the slendemess of their bill, the vivid-
ness and changeable lustre of their pltmiage, and the habit of hover-
ing on the wing when they feed. They are chiefly separated by the
comparatively stronger foot and bill of the CHnnyridce ; but the
geographical distribution of the two families points out a line of
demarcation. Mr. Vigors concludes this part of his observations by
acknowledging that these two typical families are the only groups in
the tribe of whose situation he can speak with any confidence ; and these
two families form the subject of tkis article. (' Katural Afi&nities that
connect the Orders and Families of Birds,' in ' Linn. Trans.,' voL xiv.)
Mr. Swainson considers the CiimyridcBy or Sun-Birds — so called by
the natives of Asia in allusion to their splendid and shining plumage —
the subtypical family of the Tenvirottres, He observes that the
affinity is obvious between this family and the Meliphagidce ; but
whether the direct passage is made by the short-billed Honey-Suckers
{DiecBwn, Cuv.) or by the Spider-Suckers {ArcKhnotfteraf Temm.) is
uncertain. " The plumage of the meliphagous birds of Australia,"
says Jfr. Swainson, "is almost universally dull, or at least destitute
of those gay and beautiful tints which are so strikingly developed in
the sun-birds : a rich golden-green, varied on the under parts with
steel-blue, purple, bright-orange, or vivid-crimson, decorates nearly all
the species, and produces a bnllancy of colours only rivalled by those
of the humming-birds. The bill is very long, slender, and acutely
pointed, the maigins being dentated in ike most regular and delicate
manner : yet these teelh are so small as scarcely to be seen by the
naked eye ; the tongue is formed into a bifid tube, or rather, as wc
suspect, into two flattened filaments; thus differingmaterially from that
of the honey-suckers, which always ends in abrush : the bill aJso is never
notched. The difference between the two structiures is softened down
by the intervention of the nectar-birds (Nectarinia, HI.), whose bill
shows a union of both characters, the margins being finely dentated,
and the tip distinctly notched. The species of the latter are few ;
and while Cinnyris is restricted to the tropics of the Old World,
Nectarinia represents them in the New. Some few other forms,
found in Australia and in the Oceanic Islands, belong to this group,
and they are arranged in the genera Melitkreptet and Dicceum, but
their habits are imperfectly understood."
The genelu arranged l»y Mr. Swainson under the family Oinnyridce
im Mdithreptes, Cinnyris, Antkreptes, Nectarinia, and IHcoeum. The
family staiids between the Mdip?iaffid<B and the Trochilida:.
Mr. G. R. Gray makes the Nectarinidee, aa he writes the word, the
second family of the tribe Tenmroitret, placing it between the Upvpida
and the TrocktUdo!.
The NeetarinidcBy in his arrangement^ comprise the following sub-
funilies and genera : —
Sub-Family 1. NeetarinintR.
Genera: — Bfoho, Less, (Meropt, Certhia, Gm. ; Oraevla, Merr. ;
Mdiphaga, Temm.). Drepanis, Temm. (Certhia, Gm. ; MeHtkreptw,
Vieill. ; Vetiiaria, Flem.). Arachnothera, Temm. (Cinmyrit, Horaf ;
Certhia, Lath.). NectaHnia, III (Certhia, Linn. ; MelUwga, Vieill. ;
Cinnyris, Cuv. ; JRhundace, Moehr.). Ptilotwm, Sw. (Promerops, Leas. ;
Upupa, Qul). Anthrepiea, Sw. (Mellisuffa, Vieill.; Cinnyris, Sw.).
Certhionyx, Less. (Certhia, Cuv.). Diccswm, Cuv. (Certhitk, Gm.).
Sub-Family 2. CcerAince.
Certhiola, Sundev. (Fwnarius, Steph.; NeeUuriiUa (111.), Less.;
Certkia, Linn.). DactUs, Cuv. (Certhia, Linn.). Undroslrum, Lafr.
and D'Orb.
Upon the whole we take the anangement of Mr. Swainson.
The following cut is after his figures in the ' Classification of Birds.'
Billa of dnnyridte,
a, MtlUhrepies; h, Cinnyris; e, Anthreptes ; d, Kectarinia; e, Dieteum,
The CinnyridcB have the following characters : — ^Wings with the
outermost quills more or lees shortened or graduated. &11 more or
less curved, generally entire. Nostrils shorty oval, membranaceous,
opening by a lateral slit Feet moderate Bill entire. (Sw.)
Mdithreptes, Vieill — Bill long, sickle-shaped ; the aides considerably
compressed ; the culmen elevated, and the tips entire. NostriU very
shorty opening by a semicircular slit Tongue long; the tip only
terminated by a bunch of short filaments. Wings moderate ; the
first three quills nearly equal. Feet robust^ long ; lateral toes equal ;
tarsus almost twice as long as the hind toe. Pacific Islands. (Sw.)
Example, Mdithreptes Pacifica.
Cinnyris, Cuv. — Bill long, slender ; the tips very acute and entire ;
the margins minutely denticulated; base of the upper madible
folding over, and partiy concealing that of the lower. Nostrils short,
ovaL Tongue retractile, simply forked; First quill spurious,
second shorter than the third. Tail even or rounded. India and
Africa. (Sw.)
C, chalybeia. It is golden-green, with brown wings and tail, and
narrow pectoral red band bordered above by another of steel-blue;
Lesser OoUared Creeper {(Xnnyrit ehalybeia), (Sw., * ZooL ID.*)
upper tail-covers blue. This, according to Mr. Swainson, » Certkia
chalybeia, Linn., GmeL; Le Soui-manga Ji Collier, Vieill.; and Collared
Creeper, Lath.
Mr. Swainson remarks that another bird veiy nearly resembling
this has been figured by Le Vaillant under the name of Le Sucrier ^
Plastron Rouge (' Ois d'Afr.,' pi. 800), but that Le VaillanVs i
Digitized by
Google
ion
CINNYRID^.
CIONUS.
1094
for separating them are, he thinks, sufficient, at least until more
forcible ones are adduced than mere conjecture.
AfUhrtptet, Sw. — ^Bill moderate, rather strong, slightly curved;
widening towards the base, which is much broader than it is high.
Base of the under mandible thickened, and not partially covered by
the upper. Wings, feet, and tail as in Cinnyrii. (Sw.)
A. Ja/panica {Nectarinia Javanicct, Horsf.). It is glossy metallio-
>urple above, olive-yellow beneath; scapulars, rumn, and rather
iroad lateral stripe extending from the comer of tne bill to the
breast with a slight curvature, glossy violet; the throat chestnut;
tail black.
t
Antkreptet Javanica. (Sw., * Zool. HI.')
Mr. Swainson describes this bird as a Oinnyrtt in the 'Zoological
Illustrations,' and by the name here adopted in his ' Classification of
Birds.' These changes however leave his declaration that it is not a
Nectarinia (a genus confined to the New World) untouched.
Neciarinia, IlL — Bill in general shorter than the head, wide at the
base, compressed from the nostrils. Tip of the upper mandible with
a distinct notch ; the margins entire. Wings, long; the first three
quills nearly equal. Lateral toes unequal. South America only.
(Swainson.)
yrttVim {NHftariitia e^anoesphaia). (Sw., * ZooU IlL*)
Upper flgore^ femalei kowsr fifue, male.
N, cyanocephala. Male : Changeable blue ; throat, back, tail, and
wings black; the quills edged with blue. Female: green; head,
chedcs, and scapulars bluish ; throat gray. (Sw.)
This, according to Mr. Swainson, is (Male) MotaciUa Capana, Linn.,
QmeL; Sylvia Cayana, Lath.; Pepit Bleu de Cayenne (?), Briss.;
Cayenne Warbler, Lath.; and ^Ivia CayenentU ccsrtclea, Briss.
female) MotaciUa cyanocephala, Omel. ; Sylvia cyanocephala, QmeL;
Sylvia viridU, and Le Pepit Y erd, Briss. ; Blue-Headed Warbler, and
Blue-Headed Creeper (?), Lath.
Mr. Swainson states that the habits of this bird are perfectly the
same as those of the rest of the Neetarinice, " It is," he ears, *' one
of the commonest birds of Brazil, and appears spread over the whole
extent of that country. It frequents the same trees as the humming-
birds, hopping frvm flower to flower and extracting the nectar from
each; but this is not done on the wing, because its formation is
obviously difibrent from the humming-birds, which, on the contrary,
poise themselves in the air during feeding."
Mr. Swainson remarks that the young males, as usual before
moulting, have the colours of the female, and that the rich sky-blue
of the male in some lights becomes greenish, and in others dark blue.
Diccewn, Cuv. — Bill short, remarkably broad at the base, and
suddenly compressed beyond ; the tips entire ; the margins minutely
denticulated ; nostrils triangular. Wings, feet^ and tail as in Necta-
rinia, Indian and Australian islands. (Sw.)
The figure referred to by Cuvier, and copied into the article
Cbbthiaoji, is evidently a Humming-Bird, and must have been given
by mistake. The reader will find a most elegant and characteristic
drawing of D. hirvMdvnaceum in Mr. Qould's grand work on the ' Birds
of Australia.'
Mr. Gould states that the Swallow Diccewn has neither the
habits of the Pardalotes nor of the Honey-Eaters : it diffiBrs, he says,
from the former in its quick darting flight, and from the latter in its
less prying, clinging, and creeping actions among the leaves, &c.
''When perched on a branch," continues Mr. Gould, "it sits more
upright, and is more swallow-like in its contour than either of the
forms alluded to. The structure of its nest and the mode of its nidi-
fication are also very dissimilar. Its song is a very animated and
long-continued strain, but is uttqred so inwardly that it is almost
necessary to stand beneath the tree upon which the bird is perched
before its notes can be heard. Its beautiful purse-like nest is com-
posed of the white cotton-like substance found in the seed-vessels of
many plants; and among other trees is sometimes appended on a
small branch of a Catwjurina or an Acacia pendida. It was on the
latter tree that I found a nest oontaining three or four young : a
second nest with the eggs was given to me in Sydney. The ground-
colour of the eggs is dull white, with very minute spots of brown
scattered over the surfaoe; they are 9 lines long by b\ lines broad.
The male has the head, all the upper surfEuse, wings, and tail bkck ;
throat, breast, and under tail-coverts scarlet ; flanks dusky ; abdomen
white, with a broad patch of black down the centre ; irides dark
brown ; bill blackish-brown ; feet dark-brown. The female is dull-
black above, glossed with steel-blue on the wings and tail ; throat and
centre of the abdomen buff; flanks light-brown ; imder tail-coverts a
pale scarlet." Locality, the Australian continent generally.
CINNYRIS. [Cikntrida]
CINQUEFOIL. [POTKKTILLA.]
CI'ONUS, a genus of Coleopterous Insects of the section Rkymcih
phora and family Curoulioniikg.
Schonherr (in his 'Synonynua Insectorum') links the present
genus with t^e genera 6y»uuBtron, Mecinut, and Nanodea, under the
head OUmidea, which may be considered as a sub-family. We shall
^erefore briefly state the characters of these genera imder this head,
first observing that the Cionides may be distingmahed from allied
groups by their having the antenna 9- or 10-jointed, 6 of which
always compose the funiculus, or that portion between the basal
joint and the club which terminates the antenna. .
The characters of the genus Oionus are as follows: — ^Antennas
short, the two basal joints of the funiculus obconical, the remainder
short and truncated at the apex : the club long and indistinctly
jointed. Rostrum elongate, curved, inserted in a groove beneath the
thorax. Thorax small ; elytra neariy spherical, furnished with tufts
of a velvet-like nature ; femora very thid^ in the middle ; tibin simple^
truncated at the apex. ^
Four species of this genus are found in England ; they live both
in their larva and ima^ states upon plants, more especisily those of
the genera Scrophul<»na and Verhoicum,
ihonmt Verbdici is about one-sixth of an inch in length and of a
deep ash-colour approaching to black. The thorax is furnished^ on
each side with a buff-coloured patch ; the elytra have four longitu-
dinal velvet-like bands, which are black, and interrupted with gray
spots ; there are two velvet-black spots on the suture, one near the
base of the elytra and another near the apex ; the former has a yellow
spot joining it posteriorly, and the latter has a spot of the same
colour before and behind.
These little insects are almost spherioaL When touched or
approached they apply their long proboscis dose to the under side of
the body (where there is a groove for its reception) and also the legs,
and allow themselYes to roll to the ground. Their larvss, which aM
Digitized by
Google
CIPOLIN.
ClRRtPEDlA.
1096
of ft yeUowieh colour, and resemble nnall oblong masMS otjellj, may
be teen in tlie month of August on the leares of the Verbfueum
T%ap9ut and some few other plants which they feed upon. When
about to assume the pupa state tkey inclose themselves in a little brown
spherical ooooon (less than an ordinarily sised pea) formed of a glutin-
ous substanoe, whidi is attached to the leayes of a plant ; in about a
week or ten days after this the perfect insect makes its appearance.
The genus Gymmxtrqfn differs chiefly from Oionui in having the
elytra somewhat ovate, sometimes depressed, and not covering the
apex of the abdomen ; and the anterior tibiss furnished with a minute
hook at the apex. Cfymnatnm Beeeabunga is the only species found
in this oountoy.
Meeimu may be distinguished from either of the two last-mentioned
Sf the rostrum being short and thick ; the thorax sub-cylindrical, the
ytra elongate, nearly cylindrical, and covering the bodjr ; the tibis
are aimed with a hook at the apex. Three species of this genus are
found in England. M. ioniei^indricui is about one-eighth of an inch
in length, and of a blackish colour with ash^joloured pubescence. '
The genus Nanodet hsa the antennas rather long, the club large ;
rostrum elongate, slightly bent ; thorax conical ; elytra sub-ovate and
humped ; the anterior tibi» unarmed. No species of this genus have
yet been found in tlus oountir.
(Schonherr, Synonjfmia Imeetamm, — Oenera et Speeia Churevir
litmidym.)
CIPOLIN. [Mabbli.]
CIRCJEA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order
OnagraeecB. The species are found in woods and shady places. Th^
have little whitish pink flowers, having a tubular superior calyx wiw
a 2-parted limb, 2 petals, 2 stamens, and an ovazy with 2 cells, each
of which contains 1 erect ovule. The genus constitutes the type of
a section of Onagrcuea in a reduced state. The species are commonly
called Enchantei's Ki^tshade; but whatever supposed properties
may have given rise to this name aretpurely imaginary.
C. LuiUUaana has ovate leaves, subterete petioles, no bracteoles,
petals deeply emaiginate, calyx hairy, ovary 2-celled, fruit broadly
obovate. It is found in woods and hedge-banks throughout Gk'eat
Britain, though not an abundant plant.
(7. ci/pina has ovate leaves, ilat petioles and setaoeous bracteoles,
a glabrous calyx, and 1-celled ovary. It inhabits woods and thickets
in mountainous districts, and is a rarer plant than the last.
CIRCJE£TUS. [ Paloonidji.]
CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD. As the blood is necessary
for the nutrition of all the tissues of the body and for the develop-
ment of the actions of its organs [Blood], it must be put in motion m
order to be borne to them. " In man and in all the higher animals
an apparatus is provided, partijf for the purpose of originating an
impelling force to put the blood m motion, and parUy for tiie purpose
of conveying the blood when put in motion to the different parts of
the body."
The organ that puts the blood in motion is the heart ; the pipes or
conduits which dirtribute the blood to the different parts of the body
are the great vessels in connection with tiie heart The course of the
circulation, which in all the higher animals is doublo*-namely, one
through the lungs, called therefore the Pulmonic, or the Lesser
Circulation; the other through the system, called therefore the
Systemic, or the Greater Circi^tion — ^will be best understood by an
examination of the heart and vascular apparatus by which the
circulation is carried on. [Hbuit.] In this place therefore it will be
suiBcient to r«fer to the evidence by which it is proved that the
blood is really in motion. Dr. Southwood Smith, in his popular
work on the * Philosophy of Health,' thus sums up the proofii that
the blood is a flowing stream, and that it constantiy pursues a
regular and determinate course.
" 1. With the microscope, in the transparent parts of animals, the
blood can be seen in motion; and if its course be attentively observed,
its route may be clearly traced.
**% The membranes termed valves are so plaoed as to allow of
the freest passage to the blood in the drde desoribed ; while they
eitiier altogether prevent^ or exceedingly impede its movements in
any other direction.
*' 8. The effect of a ligature plaoed around a vein and an artery,
and of a puncture made above the ligature in the one vessel and
below it in the^her, demonstrates both the motion of the blood and
Uie course of it When a ligature is placed round a vein, that part
of the vessel which is most distant from the heart becomes full and
tuigid, on account of the accumulation of blood in it ; while the part
of the vessel which is between the ligature and the heart becomes
empty and flaodd, because it has carried on its oontents to the heart
and it can receive no fresh supply from the body. When, on the
contrary, a ligature is placed round an arterv, that portion of the
vessel which lies between the ligature and the heart becomes fuU and
tuigid, and the other portion empty and flaccid. This can only be
because the contents of the two vessels move in opposite directions
— ^from the heart to the artery, iiom the artery to the vein, and from
the vein to the heart At tiie same time, if the vein be punctured
above the ligature, there will be litUe or no loss of blood ; while if it
' be punctured below the ligature, the blood will continue to flow until
the loss of it occasions death ; which could not be unless the blood
were in motion, nor unless the direction of its course woe from the
artery to the vein, and frx>m the vein to the heart
"4. If fluids be injected into the veins or arteries, whether of the
dead or the living body, they readily make thcdr way and fill the
vessels, if thrown in the direction stated to be the natural coune of
the circulation; bat they are strongly resisted if forced in the
opposite direction."
The author oondudes his account of the structure of the heart and
blood-vessels, and of the course which the stream of blood is ascer-
tained constantly to pursue^ with the following reflections : —
"Such is the description, and, witii the exception of tiie fiivt proo^
such the evidence of the droulation of the blood in the human body,
pretty much as it was given by the discoverer of it^ the illustrious
Harvey. Before the time of Harvey, a vague and indistinct concep-
tion that the blood was not without motion in the body had been
formed by several anatomists. It is analogous to the ordinary mode
by which the human mind arrives at discovery (chap, iii, p. 103),
that many minds should have an imperfect perception of an unknown
truth before some one mind sees it in its completeness, and fully
discloses it Having about the year 1620 succeeded in completely
tracing the circle in which the blood moves, and having at that time
collected all the evidence of the fact, with a rare degree of philoso-
phical forbearance^ Harvey still spent no leas than eight years in
re-examining the subject and in maturing the proof of every point,
before he ventured to speak of it in publia The brief tract which at
length he published was written with extreme simplicity, deamees,
and perspicuity, and has been justiy characterised as one of tiie most
admirable examples of a series of arguments deduced from observa-
tion and experiment that ever appeared on any subject
"Contemporaries are seldom grateful to discoverers. More than
one instance is on record, in whidi a man hsa injured his fortune and
lost his happiness through the elucidation and establishment of a
truth which has given him immortality. It may be that there are
physical truths yet to be brought to lights to say nothing of new
applications of old truths, which, if they could be announced and
diononstrated to day, would be the ruin of the discoverer. It is
certain that there are moral truths to be discovered, expounded, and
enforced, which, if any man had now penetration enough to see them,
and courage enough to express them, would cause him to be regarded
by the present generation with horror and detestation. Perhaps
during those eight years of re-examination the discoverer of the
circulation sometimes endeavoured in imagination to trace the effect
which the stupendous fact at the knowledge of which he had arrived
would have on the progress of his favourite science ; and, it may be,
the hope and the expectation occasionally aroae, that the inestimable
benefit he was about to oonfer upon his fellow men would secure to
him some portion of their esteem and confidence. What must have
been lus disappointment when he found, after the publication of his
tracts that the little practice he had had as a physician by degrees fell
off? He was too speculative, too theoretical, not practiod. Such
was the view taken even by lus friends.* His enemies saw in lus tract
nothing but indications of a presumptuous mind, that dared to call
in question the revered authority of the ancients ; and some of them
saw, moreover, indications of a malignant mind, that conceived and
defended doctrines which, if not checked, would undermine the very
foundations of morality and religion. When the evidence of the
truth became irresLBtible, then these persons suddenly turned roimd
and said that it was all laiown before, and that the sole merit of this
vaunted discoverer consisted in having circulated the circulation.
The pun was not fatal to the future fame of this truly great man,
nor even to the gradual though slow return of the public confidence
even during lus own time, for he lived to attain the summit of
reputation."
For an aocoimt of the circulating apparatus, see the artidee
Abtbbt, Cafilla^bt Yksskls, Blood YBsaiLB, Hbabt, Vbih. The
nature of the circulating fluid is given imder Blood. For the histoiy
of the discovery of the circulation by Harvey, see the article Harvxt,
William, in the Hist, akd Bioo. Diy.
CIRCUS. [FALcx>inDJ&]
CIRL BUNTlKa. [EmbbrizaJ
CIRRHIBA'RBA, a genus of fishes of the fiunily Mrioidts and
section Aeantkopterygii. Only one spedes of this genus is yet
discovered, and this is from India. It has a tentaculum over each
e^e and nostril, three large tentaonla at the end of the muxde, and
eight under the point of the lower jaw. These tentacula constitute
the chief distinction between this genus and tiiat of CUnut, to which
it is closely allied.
CIRRHIQRADA. [Aoalsfbub.]
CIRRHINUS. [GoBio.]
CIBRHOBRAKCHIATA. [Diivtaliuil]
CIRRHUS. [Tendbil.1
CIRRITEDIA, or CIRRHIPEDA {Lepat of Linnfleus, drrhopodet
of Cuvier and F^russac, CirrhipMee of Lamarck, Nemalopodn of De
Blaiaville, CirripMes of Latreille), a well-defined natunl group of
Marine Invertebrate Amina.la, whose place in the system has occa-
sioned much doubt and difference of opinion among soologists. In
the earliec times the most absurd stories were propagated and believed
in relation to one of the most common species^ PftUoXatmU aiwtf^cra
Digitized by
Google
1091
OIBRIPEDIA.
CiRRlPEDiA.
lOM
{Lepaa anatiferm of LiimsBus), the Common or Duok BftmAole. To the
references on this head in ike article BBBNiOLS-Gk>08S, we may add
the testimony of Sir Robert Moray to show how long the delusion
laifted, and in what positive terms a witness can state the thing that
is not. " In every sholl that I opened I found a perfect sea-fowl ; the
little bill like that of a goose, the eyes marked, the head, neck, breast,
wings, tail, and feet formed, the feathers everywhere perfectly shaped,
and blackish-coloured, and the feet like those of other water-fowl, to
my beet remembranoe." So widely spread has been ttiis delusion, that
it is stated that the Roman Catholics are permitted, in France at least,
to eat the Bemicle-Qooee upon fastdays and during the whole of Lent^
in consequence of its supposed marine origin.
Organiaation, and place in the Natural System. — ^LinnsBus placed
the CtrHpttfto, with the generic name of Lepeu, among the Multivalves
of his Verme9 {Testaeea), between Chiton and PhoUu; and, supposing
that the form existed without a shell, found a situation for it under
the name of Triton, between TerAella and Lemaa, Cuvier, in the
first and also in the last edition of the * RIgne Animal,' says that the
existence of these Tritons is not confirmed, and that we must suppose
that Linmeus had only seen the anunal of an Ana/t^a (PentaUumtM),
which had been taken out of its shelL Rang, however, thinks that he
has found the TntinflBim genus Triion in certain specimens brought
home by Messrs. Lesson and Gamot, Quoy and Gaimard, and has
published it under the name of AUptu. Bruguidres divided the genus
Lepat into two ; the first, AwOijfa, a barbarous word for AnaUfera (the
Anatifes of the French), oomprising the Pedunculated Cimpedes ; and
the second, Balanua, the Sessile species. Cuvier, under the name of
Cirrhopoda, made these animals the sixth class of his MoUuskl^ which
he places between the BraeMopoda and the first dass (Annelidas) of
lus third great division of the animal kingdom, namely, the Articu-
lated Animals, and in the 'R^e Animal' they ap|>ear between
Orbicula and Serpukt, Lamarck, under the name of CHrrkipeda, his
tenth dass of Invertebrate Animds, arranges them between the seden-
taiy AfUMlidei and his Conckifera, dividing them into two orders :
' Ist^ the Sessile Cirripedee ; 2nd, the Pedunculated Cirripedes. In lus
mtem they stand between Magilu» and AapergiUum, Latreille,
though he does not disturb this arrangement, evidently considers
them as related to the Ottntcoda, among the Branchiopodous Crusta-
ceans. He says Ihat the Sessile Cirripedes seem to represent the ani-
mals which terminate the Ao^phales Enfermte of Cuvier. He observes
that the two tubular prooesses of (Hion represent the two tubes of
some of the AcephtUa, though with different uses, the tentacula being
converted into jaws. The cirri he considers as a kind of feet anala-
gous to the sub-abdominal appendages of many Crustaceans, esne-
cially those of the Amphipoda, and is of opinion that we may also
compare them to those of many Annelides. The oviduct^ he remarks,
has some resemblance to that of Phalangiwn. Finally, he expresses
a conjecture, that nature, to form the Cirripedes, has borrowed different
organs from animals of several classes. Mr. William Sharp M'Leay,
in his profound and philosophical work, ' Horsa EntomologicsB,' con-
aiders that Pentcdaamia exhibits the greatest affinity with the Oaira-
coda; but he seems to be of opinion that there exists an affinity
between the shell of Bakmui and that of Echinma, and sanctions
Latreille's opinion that ike articulated cirri have their analogues in
the arms of the Radiata, particularly of Comatnla. Dr. Leach, who
has described several genera unnoticed till his time, divided the dass
into two oi^rs : Ist, Campyhaomata, comprising the Pedunculated
section; and 2nd, AcamptoaomatOf inclu<Ung the Sessile spedes.
M. de Blainville makes the Cirripedes the first class (NemcUopoda) of
his sub-^pe Malentozoaria, a group which corresponds to the Multi-
valves ox Linnseus, after separating from them the genus Pholaa, so
that De Blainville's Moier^tozoaria consist of the Cirripedes and
Chitons. The Cirripedes, he thinks, have an evident relation to the
Bivalve Mollusks, by means of their calcareous envelope, in which he
recognises the pieces of the shell of the Phokidea, and even the ana-
logue of the tube of the neighbouring genera. He also considers the
reuitionehip further indicate by the recurved position of the animal
fixed head downwards (la tdte en has) ; but he also considers that
their idations to certain •^nimftU of the type Eniomoaoaria are nume-
rous, by means of the homy, locomotive, articulated appendages
whidi are branchial, at least at the root, becoming, towards the mouth,
true homy denticulated jaws. Mr. Thompson, in his 'Zoological
Researches,' considers the Cirripedes to be trae Oruatacea, and that in
the first state of these animals they not only possess perfect freedom
and power of motion, but organs of sight. On the 28th April 1823,
Mr. Thompson states that he took in a small muslin towing-net while
crossing the ferry at Passage, among other minute creatures, a small
translucent animal, one-tenUi of an inch long, of a somewhat elliptical
form, but very slightly compressed laterally, and of a brownish tint.
When in a state of perfect repose it resembled a very minute mussel,
and lay upon one of its sides at the bottom of the vessel of sea-water
in which it was placed ; at this time all the members of the animal
were withdrawn within ^e shell, which appeared to be composed of
two valves, united by a hinge along the upper part of the back, and
capable of opening fh>m one end to the other along the front, to give
occasional exit to the limbs. These were of two descriptions, namely,
anteriorly a laige and very strong pair, provided with a cup-like
sucker and hooks^ serving solely to attoch the animal to rocks, stones,
&a ; and) posteriorly, six pairs of natatory members, so articulated as
to act in concert, and to give a very forcible stroke to the water, caus-
ing the animal, when swimming, to advance by a succession of bounds
after the same manner as the Water-Flea {Dapknia) and other JfoM-
ocfUi, but particularly Oydopa, whose swimming-feet are extremely
analogous. [Branchiopoda.] The tail, usually bent up under the
bdly, is extremely short, composed of two join^, and terminating in
four set89, and is employed to araist in progression and in changing
the podtion from a state of repose. The greatest peculiarity however
in the straoture is in the eyes, which, although constantly shielded by
the valves of the shdl, are peidunoulated as in the Crab and Lobster,
and placed entirdy at the ddes of the body. Mr. Thompson observes
that tlus anunal, but for its pair of pedunculated eyes, would find a
place as a new genus of Oatracoda; that its memben approximate it
to ArgtUua on the one hand and to Oydopa on the other— genera
which are widely separated; while the eyes show its relationship
to the Decapoda (crabs, lobsters, &&) The individuals presented no
varifttion indicative of a difference of sex ; and this, with their anoma-
lous oiganisation, induced a belief that they were the larv» or dis-
guised states of some crustaoeous animal, or (as it had been previoudy
ascertained that the Cirripedes were OruHcusea) that they were the
males of these, Mr. Thompson not being disposed to believe that the
two sexes were united in the same individual What follows being of
the last importance, we give in the author^s own words : — " Under
the foregoing impressions, some of them were collected in the spring
of 1826,. and, in order to see what changes they might undergo, were
kept in a glass vessel, covered by such a depth of sea-water that they
could be examined at ai^ time by means of a common magnifying-
glass; they were taken May 1st, and on the night of the 8th the
author had the satisfaction to find that two of them had thrown off
their exuvia (exuviss), and, wonderful to say, were firmly adhering to
the bottom of the vessel, and changed to young bamades, sudi as are
usually seen intermixed with grewn specimens on rocks and stones at
this season of the year. (BaloMia pmiUua, Penn.) In this stage the
suturesbetweenthe valves of thedieil and of the operculum were visible,
and the movements of the arms of the animal within, although these
last were not yet completely devdoped ; the eyes also were still per-
ceptible, although the prindpal part of the colouring-matter appeared
to have been ^rown off with the exuvium (exuvie). On the 10th
another individual was seen in the act of throwing off its shdl, and
attaching itself as the others to the bottom of the glass. It only
remains to add, that as the secretion of the cdcareous matter goes on
in the compartments destined for the valves of the dielly covering,
the eyes greduall^ disappear, from the increadnff opadty thence pro-
duced, and the visual ray la extinguished for we remainder of the
animal's life ; the arms at the same time acquire their usud ciliated
appearance. Thus, then, an animd origuudlv natatory and locomo-
tive, and provided with a distinct organ of dght, becomes permanently
and immoveably fixed, and its opticd apparatus obliterated, and fur-
nishes not only a new and important physiological fact, but is the only
instance in nature of so extraordinary a metamorphods."
« During the whole of the spring and summer months," says Mr.
Thompson, '' the water teems with these exuvia (exuvise) of Tritonea
(the animd inhabitant, according to Linnaeus, of the bamades) : it is
imposdble to avoid drawing up numbers every time a towing-net is
thrown out, nay the tide is at times discoloured from their abundance ;
but to be certain that these are really such, let a stone with sevinrd
bamades upon it be kept in sea-water, regularly renewed, towards the
latter end of April or the beginning of May, and with due attention
many of them may be observed in the act of throwing off exuvia
(exuvis) in every respect identical; let it be recollect^, however,
that these are the casts of the animal done, and not of the valves of
the shdl or of the operoulum." Mr. G. B. Sowerby (' Genera of Shells,*
'Sealpelhm*) thus writes on the subject of Mr. Thompson's disco-
verv : — " Without describing the fects, or entering upon the aiguments
with which he supports this opinion" (that is, that the Oirripedia are
Cruatacea), " we must be permitted to say that we do not think that
he has fully demonstrated it ; at the same time, conddering that, as
far as we hitherto knew, the Cirripedee were all attached, the circum-
stance of thdr being free when very young accotmts well to our mind
for the fact of each spedes bcdng found attached to peculiar situations,
which would only be compatible with the notion or their being at one
time free agents, and possessed of an instinctive volition determining
their choice of dtuation." Professor Owen, in the * Catdogue of the
Museum of the College of Surgeons' (' CuTipeda'), speaks of the dis-
covery without expressing any doubt.
But Mr. Thompson has since, in a paper read .before the Royd
Sodety on the 6th of Maroh 1885, declared his " discovery of the
metamorphosis in the second type of the Cirripedes, namely, the
LqfKidea, completing the natural histoiy of these singular animals,
and confirming their affinity with the Oruataeea;" and the Memoir,
with a plate, is published in the second part of the ' Philosophicd
Transactions ' for 1885. The following is the abstract of the paper : —
" The discoveries made by the author of the remarkable metamor-
phoses which the animals oompoeinff the first family of the Cirripedes,
or Balanif undergo in the progress of their development, and which he
has published in the third number of his 'ZoK>logical Researohea,*
(p. 76), are in the present palter, which is intended as a prize essay for
Digitized by
Google
CIRRIPBDIl*
CIRRIPEDIA.
IIM
oue of the royal medala, followed up by the report of his disooyery of
Bmikr ohanges exhibited by three speoiee of two other genera of the
aeoond tribe of this fiunily, namely, the Zepadu. The larv» of this
tribe, like those of the Btianif have the external appearanoe of BivalTe
Monocnli, fimuahed with looomotiye oigana, in the form of three
pairi of members, the most anterior of which are simple, and the
other bifid. The back of the animal is covered hv sn ample ahield,
terminating anterioriy in two extended hocus, and posteriorly in a
single elongated spinons procefls. Thus they poisess considerable
powan of locomotion, iriucii, with the asastanoe of an oigan of Tision,
enable them to seek Uieir future psrmaDsmt place of residence. The
author ii led from his researches to the oondusioQ that the Cirripedes
do not constitute, as modem naturalists have considered them, a dis-
tinct daas of animals, but that they occupy a place intennediate
between the Onutacea dteapoda (with which the B<dani have a marked
affinity) and the Onutacea entomotiraea, to which the Lepades are
allied ; and that they have no natural affinitr with the Testaceous
Molhuea, as was supposed by Ldnnt»ns, and au the older systematic
' writers on aoology."
Mr. Thompson does not seem to haye been aware of a paper by
Br. J. Martin-Saint- Ange, read at the Academy of Sdenoes on the
14th July 1884, and publiBhed in the 'Sayans Etrangers' (tome yi),
and separately by Bailliftre (1885). The following is the summary of
the principal facts stated by him in the course of a yety laborious
and acute investigation : — The-mouth of the Pedunculated Cirripedes
IS composed of pieces entirely comparable to those of the moutos of
many Ormtaeeot and espedally of the Phylioiomes; the upper lip,
the palpi, and the mandibles are so snalogoua that the resemblance
extends even to the fonn. The three jaw-feet (pieds-mAohoires),
which are met with most commonly in the Oruttaeea, are conjoined
in a single jaw-foot which xeoeivea the nervous trunks ; at its base are
always found from two to four branchia. The ten ordinary feet of
the Cfnutaeea are faithfully represented in the AnatiliDS (Oampjflaith
nuUa) ; at the base of many among them are found branchuB disposed
like those of certain Onuiaeea, and the number even in sometimes
repeated. There exists in each foot a double canal, fit for establish-
ing a circulating cuirent, and traversing all the articulations of the
cirri. The body is composed of a certain number of rings, or of
articulations, very distinct, each of which supports a pair of feet In
the interior of the body there are a dorsal vessel (like that in a great
number of the Articulated Animals), and a double series of gsnglionB ;
of which the number, acoordiogto Dr. Mar^-Saint-Ange's researohes^
is equal to that of the feet; there is besides another pair on the
lateral parts of the stomaeh. The pedicle may be rogarded as
analogous to the tail of many Oruttaeea ; it is in this cavity, and not»
as has been said, on the back, that the eggs are found; these pass
afterwaids by a conduit, not yet indicated, in the envelope, which, by
its resemblance to the mantle of the MoUutca, establishes the oi^y
possible analogy between the Cirripedes and the last-named animala.
The organs plaoed upon the book, which Cuvier described as eggs, are
the generative apparatus of the male, of which the disposition is very
remarkable^ Finally, the stomach and intestinal canal inclose in the
interior a membranous ne of a ret<»rt-shape; the disposition and use
of which establish, according to the researches of M. Serres, an
additional approximation between the Cirripedes and the Annelides.
Dr. Martin-Sunt- Ange then proposes, as the last result of his labours, to
place the class Oirnpedia at the en^ of the Ortutacea, so as to estab-
lish a natural link or passage between the superior Articulated AnimaXs
and the AnneliikL, Such are the conclusions drawn in the Memoir
of Dr. Martin-Saint-Ange, who refers with approbation to the dis-
coveries of Mr. Thompson, published in 1830; and before we proceed
to give a further account of the structure of the Oirripedia we will
state Mr. Thompson's view of the ovarial system. "In the whole of
the tribe of the Cirripedes," observes Mr. Thompson, in his paper
in the 'Philosophical Transactions' above quoted, "the ova, after
expulsion from tne ovariiuu, appear to be conveyed by the ovipositor
into the cellular texture of the pedicle, just beneath the bodv of the
animal, which they fill to the distance of about an inch. When first
placed in this situation, they seem to be amorphous and inseparable
from the pulpy substance in which they are imbedded ; but as they
approach to maturity they become of an oval shape, pointed at bow
ends, and are essily detached. Sir Everard Home has given a very
good representation of them, at this stage of their progress, in his
' X/ectures on Comparative Anatomy,' from the elegant pencil of Mr.
Bauer. During the stay of the ova in the pedicle, they render this
part more opaque and of a bluish tint; the ova themselves, and the
cellular texture with which they are siurrounded, being of a pale or
azure-blue colour. It is difficult to conceive in what manner the
ova are extricated from the situation above indicated; but it is
certainly not by the means suggested by Sir Everard Home in the
above-mentioned lecture, namely, by piercing outwards through the
membranes of the pedicle^ for the ova are subsequently found forming
a pair of leaf-like expansions, placed between either aide of the body
of the animal and the lining membrane of the shells in Lepas {Pen-
taUumis), or of the leathery internal tunic in Oinerat. These leaves
have each a separate attachment at the sides of the animal to the
septum, which divides the cavity occupied by the animal from that
of the pedicle ; they are at first comparatively small, have a rounded
outline, and possess the same bluish colour which the ova had in the
pedicle ; but as the ova advance in progress these leaves extend in
every dimension, and lap over each oUieronthe back, passing through
various lighter shades of colour into pale-pink, and finally, when
ready to hatch, become nearly white. These leaves appear to be com-
posed of a layer of ova irregularly placed, and imbedded in a kind of
parenchymatous texture, out of which they readily fall when about
to hatch, on its substance being torn asunder; indeed, it i4>pears at
length to become so tender as to foil entirely away, so that after the
period of gestation is psst no vestige of these leafy conceptades is to
be found. When the larvse, barely visible to the naked eye, burst
forth from the ova, their development goes on with such rapidity that
they seem to grow sensibly whUe under observation. The larva of
the Lepadet then is a tailed Monoeuhu, with three pairs of members,
the most anterior of which are simple, the othws bifid, having its
back covered with an ample shield, terminating anteriorly in two
extended horns, and posteriorly in a single elongated spinous process."
The following observations on the development of the larrae of these
animals, by Mr. Darwin, are amongst the latest contributions to this
interesting inquiiy : — " The ova, and consequently the larve of the
Lepadidoff in the first stage, whilst within the sac of the parent, vary
in length from -007 to *009 in Zepot, to *028 of an inch in SealpeUum.
My chief examination of these larv» has been confined to those of
SealpeUum vulgate ; but I saw them in all the other genera. The
Isrva is somewhat depressed, but nearly globular; the carapace
anteriorly is truncated with lateral horns ; the sternal surface is flat
and broad, and formed of thinner membranes than the dorssl. The
horns just alluded to are long in Lepat and short in Sealpellm»/ their
ends are either rounded and excessively transparent, or, as in Ihla,
furnished with an abrupt minute sharp point Within these horns I
distinctly saw a long fiJiformed organ, bearizijg excessively fine hairs
in lines, so exactly like the long plumoee spines on the prehensile
antennss of the larvae in the last stage, that I have not the least doubt
that these horns are the cases in which antennse are in process of
formation. Posteriorly to them on the sternal surface, near each
other, there are two other minute doubly-curved pointed horns, about
*004 in length, directed posteriorly ; and within these I again saw a
most delicate articulated filiformed organ and a thicker pediclew In
an excellent drawing by Mr. C. S. Bate, of the larv» of a Ohthamalut
(BalamiM punctaitu of British author8)i after having been kept alive
and moulted once, these organs are distinctly shown as articulated
antennae (without a case), directed forwards : hence, before the first
moult in ScalpeUvm we have two pairs of antennae in process of
formation. Anteriorly to the bases of these smaller antennsB is seated
the heart-shaped eye (as I believe it to be), '001 of an inch in diameter,
with apparently a single lens, surrounded, except at the apex, by daik-
reddish pigment-oells. In some cases, as in some species of X^km,
the larvae, when first excluded from the egg, have not an eye, or a very
imperfect one. There are three pairs of limbs, seated close togeth^
in a longitudinal line, but some way apart in a transverse direction.
The first pair always consists of a single spinose ramus ; it is not
articulated in Scdlpdlwn, but is multi-articulate in some genera ; it is
directod forwards. The other two pairs have each two rami,
supported on a common haunch or pedicle ; in both pairs the longer
ramus is multi-articulate^ and the shorter ramus is without articula-
tions, or with only traces of them ; the longer spines borne on these
limbs (at least in Scalpellum and CfUhamalua) are finely plumose.
The abdomen terminates a little beyond the posterior end of the
carapace in a slightly upturned homy i>ointl A short distance
anteriorly to this point, a strong spinose forked projection depends
from the abdominal siirface. Messrs. V. Thompson, (^oodsir, and
Bate have kept alive for several days the larvae of Lepat, Oenchodermay
Balamu, Verruca, and OhthamaluB, and have described the changes
which supervene between the first and third exuviations. The most
conspicuous new character is the great elongation of the posterior
point of the carapace into an almost filiform spinose point in Lepas,
OonchoderTnaf Chthamalut, and BalanuSf but not, according to
Qoodsir, in one of the species of the latter genus. The posterior
point also of the abdomen becomes developed in BdUtnuB (Goodsir)
into two very long spear-like processes, serrated on their outer sides ;
in Lepat and Oonchoderma, according to Thompson, into a single
tapering spinose projection ; and in CfUhamalutt as figured by Mr. Bate^,
the posterior bind point, as well as the depending ventral fork,
increases much in size. Another important change, which has been
particularly attended to by Mr. Bate, is the appearance of spinose
projections and spines (some of which are thick, curved, and strongly
plumose or almost pectinated along their inner sides) on the pedides
and lower segments of the shorter rami of the two posterior pairs
of limbs." In this stage of the growth of the larva, Mr. Darwin
found the mouth in Scalpellum vrdgare seated on a very slight
prominence in a most remarkable situation, namely, in a central
point between the bases of the three pairs of legs. Mr. Darwin
continues : — " I traced by dissection the oesophagus for some little
way, until lost in the cellular and oily matter filling the whole
anixnal, and it was directed anteriorly, which is the direction that
might have been expected from the course followed by the ceeophagus
in the larva in the last stage, and in the mature Cirripede."
The larva, in its second stage of development^ is known only
Digitized by
Google
1101
CnUEtlPBDliu
CIRRIPEDIA.
1101
from a single fipecimeii described and figured by Burmeister ('Bei-
ii^ge zur Natui^geschichte der RankenfUsser/ s. 16). In its general
shape and compressed form it seems to come nearer the last than
the first stage. It has only three pairs of legs, situated much more
posteriorly on the body than in the first stage, and all directed
posteriorly. They are much shorter than in their earlier stages.
They are undoubtedly the three pairs of limbs of the first stage
metamorphosed. The chief development of the larva since its first
stage is towards its anterior end.
In the last stage the larvee have increased many times in size since
their exclusion from the egg. They are now much compressed, nearly
of the shape of a OyprU, or mussel-shell, with the anterior end the
thickest, the sternal surface nearly or quite straight, and the dorsal
arched. Almost the whole of what is externally visible consists of the
carapace, the thorax and limbs being hidden and inclosed by its
backward prolongation, and even at the anterior end of the animal
the narrow sternal surface can be drawn up, so as to be likewise
inclosed. The antennas are lax^ and conspicuous. They are at first
well-furnished with muscles, and serve as oi^gans of locomotion, and
apparently as feelers ; but their main function is to attach the larva,
preparatory to its final metamorphosis into a Cirripede. The disc can
adhere even to so smooth a surface as a glass tumbler. The attach-
ment is at first manifestly voluntaxy, but soon becomes involuntary
and permanent. Mr. Darwin makes the following remarks upon the
eyes and mouth in their last stage : —
" Eyes. — ^The posterior and rounded maigins of the basal articu-
lation of the above-described prehensile antennsB are reflected inwards,
in the fonn of two forked homy apodemes, together resembling two
letters (J U close together. These project up inside the animal for at
least one-third of its thickness, from the sternal to the dorsal surface.
The two greatalmost spherical eyes in Lepas atutralu,eBLch j^th of an inch
in diameter, are attached to the outer arms, thus, * U U *> in the posi-
tion of the two full stops. Hence the eyes are included within the cara-
pace. Each eye consists of eight or ten lenses, varying in diameter in
the same individual from sj^jcth to sj^jn^^ ^^ >^ inch, inclosed in a common
membranous bag or cornea, and thus attached to the outer apodemes.
The lenses are surrounded half-way up by a layer of dark pigment
cells. The nerve does not enter the bluntly-pointed basal end of the
common eye, but on one side of the apodeme. The structure here
described is exactly that found, accorcUng to Milne-Edwards, in cer-
tain Onistacect, In specimens just attached, in which no absorption
has taken place, two long muscles with tmnsverse stria may be found
attached to the knobbed tips of the two middle arms of the two * (J U *
and running up to the antero-dorsal surface of the carapace, where
they are attached. Other muscles (without transverse strise) are
attached round the bases on both sides of both forks. The action of
these muscles would inevitably move the eyes, but I suspect that their
function may be tojdraw up the narrow deeply-folded sternal surface,
and thus cause the retraction of the great prehensile antennas within
the carapace.
" Mouth. — This is seated in exactly the same position as in the
mature Cirripede, on a prominence fronting the thoracic limbs, and
so far within the carapace that it was obviously quite unfitted for
the seizure of prey ; and it was equally obvious that the limbs were
natatory, and incapable of carrying food to the mouth. This enigma
WAS at once explained by an examination of the mouth, which was
found to be in a rudimentary condition, and absolutely dosed, so that
there would be no use in prey being seized. Underneath this slightiy-
prominent and closed mouth I found all the masticatory organs of a
Cirripede in an immature condition. The state of the mouth will be
at once understood if we suppose very fluid matter to be poured over
t^e protuberant mouth of a Cirripede, so as to run a little way down
in the shape of internal crests, between the different parts, and in the
shape of a shorty shrivelled, certainly closed tube^ a little way (*008 of
an inch in L. atutrcUia) down the oesophagus. Hence the larva, in this,
its last stage, cannot eat. It may be called a locomotive pupa ; its
whole oxganisation is apparently adapted for the one great end of
finding a proper site for its attachment and final metamoxphosis." In
this stage the thorax is much compressed, the six pairs of legs are all
close one behind the other. In all the limbs the obliquely-truncated
summit of the termioal segment of the inner ramus bears three very
long beautifully plumose spines ; in the first pair the summit of the
outer ramus bears four, and in the five succeeding pairs six similar
spines. The abdomen is small, and consists of only three segments :
it contains only the rectimi, and two delicate muscles running into
two appendages, between the bases of which the anus is situated.
Whilst the young Zepas is closely packed within the larva, the
capitulum, or shell, about equals the length of the peduncle. Even at
this early period the muscles of the peduncle are distinct. The com-
pound eyes, which we have seen are attached to apodemes springing
from the sternal surface of the larval carapace, are consequenUy cast
off with it Whilst the young Cirripede is packed within the larva,
the outer integument of its peduncle necessarily forms a deep trans-
verse fold passing over the eyes and apodemes. This determmes the
position and origin of the sac in the young Cirripede.
" The larva," says Mr. Darwin, " fcies itself with its sternal surface
parallel and close to the surface of attachment, and the antennte
become cemented to it : if the Cirripede after its metamorphosis had
remained in this position, the cirri could not have been exserted, or
only against, the surface of attachment ; but there is a special pro-
vision that ike young Cirripede shall assume its proper position at
right angles to the position which it held whilst within' the larva,
namely, with its posterior end upwards. This is effected in a singular
manner by the exuviation of the great compound eyes, which wehave
seen are feustened to the outer arms of the double •UU* ^^^
sternal apodemes. These, together with the eyes, stretch transversely
across and internally far up into the body of the larva ; and as the
whole has to be rejected or moulted, the membrane of the peduncle
of the young Cirripede has necessarily to be formed with a wide
and deep inward fold extending transversely across it; this, when
stretched open after the exuviation of the larval carapace and
apodemes, necessarily causes the sternal side of the peduncle to be
longer than the dorsal, and as a consequence gives to the young
Cirripede its normal position, at right angles to that of the larva when
first attached."
That the homologies of the larva of the Cirripedes are with
the Oruit<icea has before been pointed out. Mr. Darwin says : — " In
Crustacea, according to the ordinary view, there are twen<y-one seg-
ments ; of these I can recognise in tne Cirripede, on evidence as good
as can generally be obtained, all with the exception of the four
terminal abdominal segments; these do not occur in any species
known to me in any stu^e of its development. If tiiat part of the larva,
in front of the mouth, bearing the eyes, the prehensile antennae, and
in an earlier stage another pair of antennae, be formed, as is admitted
in all other Orttstacea, of three segments, then beyona a doubt^ f^rom
the absolute correspondence of every part, and even every coloured
mark, the peduncle of the Lepadida is likewise thus formed. The
peduncle being filled by the branching ovarian tubes is no objection
to this view, for I am informed, on the high authority of Mr. J. D.
Dana, that this is the case with the cephalo-thorax in some true
Crustaceans ; for instance, in Sapphirina. To i^roceed :-^the mouth,
formed of mandibles, maxillae, and outer maxillae, corresponds with
the fourth, fifth, and sixth segments of the archetype Crustacean.
Posteriorly to the mouth we come, in the larva, to a rather wide
interspace, without any apparent articulation or oi^gan ; and then to
the thorax, formed of six segments, bearing the six pairs of limbs, of
which the first pair differs slightly from the others. The thorax is
succeeded by three small segments differently shaped, with the
posterior one alone bearing appendages. These segments I cannot
doubt, from their appearance alone, and from their apparent fmictlon
of steering the body, are abdominal segments. If this latter view be
correct, the thoracic sogments are the six posterior ones of the normal
seven segments; and there must be two s^^ents missing between the
outer maxillae and the first thoracic pair of legs, which latter, on this
view, springs from the ninth segment Now, in a very singular
Cirripede named ProteoUpatf the two missing segments are present^
the mouth being actually succeeded by eight segments, and these
by the three usual abdominal segments, every segment in the body
being as distinct as in an Annelide ; hence in ProteoLepas, adding the
three segments for the mouth and three for the carapace, we have
altogether seventeen segments, which, as I have stated, is the full
Fig. 1. A Stomapod Cmstaeean {Zeucifer, Y. Thompson.
Pig. S. A ipedes of Lepas.
number ever observed in any Cirripede ; the four missing ones being
abdominal, and I presume the four terminal segments. That the
cavity in which the thorax is lodged in the larva, and therefore in
the mature Cirripede, is simply formed by the backward production
of the carapace, does not require any discussion. The valves have
no homolog^oal signification."
The precedii^g wood-cut^ copied from Darwin's work, will make
these homoloflries dear. The upper figure is a Stomapod Crus-
tacean (Leuci/ei*, V. Thompson), and the abdomen, which becomes
rudimentary in Cirripedes, is given in faint lines. The lower figiii«
is a mature Zepas with the antennae and eyes which are actually
present in the larva, retained and supposed to have gone on growing.
All that is seen of a Cirripede, whetner pedunculated or sessile, is
the three anterior segments of the head of a Crustacean, with its
anterior end permanently cemented to a surface of attachment^ and
with its posterior end projecting vertically from it.
Digitized by
Google
1108
CIRRIP£DIA«
CIREIPEDIA.
IIM
For the obserralion of the means by which these aniipftls attach
themselves after leading a free life we are also indebted to Mr. Dar-
win. In the larra, two ducts, called cement-ducts, can be traced from
within the discs of the antennee to the anterior or lower ends of the
two gut-formed bodies, which are the incipient ovaries. These ducts
are filled with an opaque cellular matter m the larva. In the mature
Curipedes, they can be followed in a slightly sinuous coune along the
muscles on each side within the pedunde, till they expand into two
small organs, which Mr. Darwin calls cement-glands. These glands
contain a strongly coherent pulpy opaque cellular mass, like that in
the cement^lucts ; but in some instances this cellular mass becomes
converted, within either the ducts or gland, or within both, into a
transparent tough yellow cement. Tubes are seen running into these
glandjB, containing ova in every stage of development. ^t>m obser-
vations made on many species of Cirripedes, Mr. Darwin concludes
that the gland itself is part of an ovarian tube specially modified ; and
further that the cellular matter, which in the ovarian tubes serves for
the development of the ova, is, by the special action of the walls of
the gland, changed into the opaque cellular matter in the ducts, and
this again subsequently into that tissue or substance which cements
the Cirripede to its surface of attachment. As the individuals grow
and increase in size, so do the glands and cement-ducts ; but it often
happens that when a specimen is immoveably attached, the cement-
apparatus ceases to act^ and the cellular contents of the duct become
converted into a thread of transparent cement. The cement removed
from the outside of a Cirripede consists of a thin layer of very tough
bright-brown transparent huninated substance, exhibiting no structure
under the microscope. Its chemical reactions are those of Chitine. In
the larva, the cement always es«4>es through the prehensile antennas,
and in most inst^tnces it continues to do this throughout the life of
ibe animaL There are however exceptions, and in Seaipellwm viUgart,
and probably others which live attached to coral, the cement soon
oeases to debouch from the antennas, but instead bursts through a
row of orifices on the rostral margin of the peduncle, by which means
this margin is symmetrically fastened down to the delicate homy
branches of the zoophyte.
The external shell, which misled early observers, and induced them
to place the Cirripedes among the Molhuca, is called, in the Ifepadidm,
the Capitulum. It is usually much flattened, but sometimes broadly
oval in section. It is generally formed of five or more valves, connected
together by very narrow or broad strips of membrane. When the valves
are numerous, and they sometimes exceed a hundred in number, they
are arranged in whorls, with each valve generally so placed aa to oover
the interval between the two valves above. The upper pair of valves, the
peduncle being beneath, are called by Mr. Darwin the terga ; the pair
below it, on the same side, the acuto. The upper mesial valve opposed
to the two teiga is the eariwi, and below this the au&carifui; and on the
opposite side sf^ the rotirym. Below this is sometimes a att^roatnim.
Of all the valves the scuta are the most permanent ; then come the teiga,
and then the carina. The others occur only occasionally. The shell is
generally white, occasionally reddish or purple ; exteriorly the valves
are covered by more or less persistent, generally yellow, strong mem-
brane. The scuta and teiga are always considerably larger than the
other valves. The adductor muscle is always attached to a point not
&r from the middle of each scutum, which generally has a pit for its
attachment. The valves are either placed dose together or at some dis-
tance. The membrane connecting the valves, where they do not touch,
is like that forming the peduncle, and is sometimes coloured brilliantly
ciimson-red; generally it is bluish-g^y. Within the capitulum is
the sac, which, together with the upper internal part of the peduncle,
incloses the animal's body.
The Peduncle varies in length in difierent species, and even in the
same species, according t<» the situation occupied by the individuaL
It is usually flattened, but sometimes quite cylindrioaL It is com-
posed of very strong generally thick transparent membrane, rarely
coloured reddish, and often penetrated by numerous tubuli The
peduude is lined within by thin layers of musdes, longitudinal,
transverse, and oblique, all destitute of the transverse striae charac-
teristic of voluntary musdes. They run from the bottom of the
peduncle to the base of the capitulum, as in Lfta^tu^ or half way up it, aa
in ConcKodermii, The gentle swaying to and fro movements and the
power of longitudinal contraction are produced by these muscles.
The interior of the peduncle is filled up with a great mass of branching
ovarian tubes.
There are six pairs of cirri The five posterior pairs are seated close
to each other and equidistant ; the first pair is generally seated at a
little distance and sometimes at a considerable distance from the
second pair. The first pair is shortest ; the others, proceeding back-
wards,, increase gradually in length. The number of segments in the
posterior diri is very great. The drri are covered with spines. Most
of the genera have caudal appendages.
The alimentary canal consists of an oesophagus, a stomach, and
rectum. The cosophagus is of considerable length ; it is formed of
strong transparent much-folded membrane, continuous with the outer
integuments, and moulted with them. At its lower end it expands
into a bell with the edges reflexed. This bdl lies within the stomach,
and keeps the upper oroad end expanded. The stomach lies in a
much-curved almost doubled course, and is often a little constricted
where most bent. It is broadest at the upper end. The stomach
is coated by small opaque pulpy slightly arboresoeot glanda^
believed to be hepatia The rectum varies in length, extending
inwards from the anus to between the bases of the second and fifth
pair of cirri. It is narrow, and formed of much-folded transparent
membrane. Within the stomach there can generally be seen, accord*
ing to the period of digestion, a thin yet strong perfectly transparent
epithelial membrane, not exhibiting under the microscope any struc-
ture. It enters the branching caeca, and extends from the edge ot the
bell of the oesophagus to the commencement of the dosed rectum. It
was this membrane which was supposed by M. Martin-Saint-Ange to
be a distinct organ, like the dosed tube of oertain Atmdidcc
The circulatory system is not highly developed. No heart has been
discovered. The whole body is permeated by chaxmek which have no
proper coat.
In most genera of the Lepadida the nervous system consists of six
main ganglJA» namely, the supra-ossophageal and five thoracic ganglia
Of these the first thoracic or infra-oesophageal ganglion is considerably
the largest and most massive. It is sijuarish, or oval, or heart-shaped ; it
presents no trace of being formed of two lateral ganglia. Two great
nerves spring from its under side, and run straight down amongst the
viscera. These nerves are about as large as those forming the collar
and those running to the second ganglion; hence six great nerree
meet here, two in fronts two behind, and two on the under aide.
Nerves are given off from the remaining ganglia to the drri and other
organs. The musdes of the capitulum are supplied from the supra-
oesophageal gangliorL
/ /
Diagram of the anterior portion of the nenroiu sjatem In Lepca fudeularii*
A, first thoraoio or Infta-oeeophageal ganglion; B, second thorade gaBflkm;
C, third thoracic gangUon ; D, supnMBSopliageal ganglion; S, the two
ophthalmic ganglia ; F, doable eye ; «, nerre going to flrat eirrhns ; », to the
mnsoles below the first cirrhns ; e, to the second drrhns ; ^ to the third ;
*, nerves running to the ovarU; /, doable nerves snpplying the no and
p«dancle.
Nerves proceed firom the supnHnsophageal to the double eye of
Lepas fascicularit. The idea that the whole peduncle and capitulnm
consists of the first three segments of the head is beautifully sup-
ported by the structure of the nervous system, in which thcae parts
are seen to be supplied with nerves exdusively from the supraj
oasophageal ganglion. In ordinary Cfnutacece the supm-OBSophageal
ganglion sends nerves to the eyes and the two pairs of antennas
corresponding to the first three segments of the bod^. ^ __^
The reproductive system of the Cirripedes has exerted much intweet
from the results of the researches of Mr. Darwin. All the Cirnpedja,
with few exceptions, are bi-sexual, but Mr. Darwin has found ™**^«
masculine power of certain hermaphrodite spedee of lUa and SeM-
pellvm is rendered more efladent by oertain paradtic males, which,
from their not pairing, aa in all hitherto known cases, with female^
but with hermaphrodites, Mr. Darwin designates Compleincn*d
Males. The ordinary male organs consist of pear- or finger^ped
bodies of a leaden colour, which coat the stomach, enter the pediclea,
and even the basal segments of the rami of the drri, and in some
genera occupy certain swdlings on the thorax and prosoma-
With r^ard to the ovaria, M. Martin-Saint-Ange has described how
the peduncle is gorged with an inextricable mass of branching oTsnan
tubes filled with granular matter and immature ova. The ova. whffl
exduded remain m the sac of the animal untU the larvae are hatchwL
They are very numerotis, and generally form two ooncave n«^y
circular leaves, caUed by Darwin Ovigerous Lamellae. The ova he ma
Uyer, from two to four deep, and all are held together by a moat
delicate transparent membrane, which separatdy enfolds each ovum.
This membrane is often thicker and strxmser round *^« "^^f?"^
the lamellae, where they are united in a pecuUar manner, presently to
Digitized by
Google
1105
CIRiaPEDlA.
CIRRIPEDIA.
1100
be deacribedy to a fold of skin on each side of the sac ; these two
folds Darwin calls the Ovigeroua Frsena. As the lamells are formed
without organic union with the parent they would be liable to be
washed out of the widely-opened sac of the Zepadidce if they had
not been specially attached to the frsona.
The complemental males, to which we have before alluded, occur
in the genera Iblct, SccUpeUum, Alcippe, and Oryptophiahu ; and these
males are permanently attached to the females. In Ibla the male is
attached within the sac of the female ; it has a well-organised mouth
supported on a pedimcle, but with only a rudiment of the thorax, and
with only two pairs of aborted cirri In ScalpeUum the males differ
in the different species remarkably in structure: in some of the
species they are not very unlike ordinary Pedunculated Cirripedes,
and are attached between the scuta of the females ; in other species
the males are veiy rudimental, extremely minute, and would never
without close examination have been thought to have even belonged
to the class Oirripedia. These males consist of a sac, with rudiments of
four valves, inclosing a singularly modified thorax, with only four pairs
of appendages (whi(£ cannot be called cirri) ; they are entirely destitute
of a mouth or stomach. The males of Oryptophialtu and Alcippe are
even more rudimentary than those of the above species of ScalpeUum :
they are reduced to an outer envelope (homologous with the carapace
of ordinary Cnutacea), to a single eye, the testis, vesicula seminalis,
and a wonderfully elongated probosciformed male organ. Hence
there is no mouth, no stomach, no thorax, no abdomen, and no
appendages or cirri. It may be doubted whether in the whole animal
kingdom there exists a creature in a more rudimentary condition
than these males. As they do not possess a mouth or stomach they
are necessarily short-lived. The pupa fixes itself on the female,
becomes cemented to her, undergoes its metamorphosis, and becomes
a male Cirripede ; the spermatozoa become developed and are
dischai^ged ; the me^e dies, decays, and generally drops off, and is
succeeded, when the ova in the female are next ready to be
impregnated, by one or more fresh males. Owing apparently to the
small size of the males, there is generally more than one attached to
the female at the same time ; and in the case of Alcippe lampcu
Mr. Darwin found no less than thirteen of these singular parasitic
and rudimentary males attached to a single female !
Remarkable as is the occurrence of the above male parasites on the
females, it is a far more singular fact, that in some of the species of
Ihla and ScalpeUvmt the males are attached, not on females, but on
hermaphrodites; and hence they have been called by Mr. Darwin
Complemental Msles, inasmuch as they are complcmentaiy to the
male organs of the hermaphrodite. Mr. Darwin, in his work on
the drriptdid (p. 281), published by the Ray Society, enters at
length on the evidence in support of this view, and he believes the
iltcts cannot be controverted, (p. 214.) ** Although the existence of
hermaphrodites and males within the limits of the same species is a
new fact amongst animals, it is far from rare in the vegetable king-
dom : in such cases the male flowers are sometimes in a rudimentary
condition compared to the hermaphrodite flowers, exactly in the same
manner as are the males of Ihla and ScalptUum. If the final cause of
the existence of these Complemental Males be asked, no certain answer
can be given ; the vesicula} seminalea in the hermaphrodite of Ibla
quadrivalviSf and in some species of ScatpeUwn, appeared to be of
small diameter ; but on the other hand the ova to be impregnated
are fewer than in most Cirripedes. No explanation can be given of
the much simpler case of the mere separation of the sexes in the
four genera before enumerated ; nor can any explanation be given of
the much more varied arrangement of the parts of fructification in
plants of the Linnean class Polygamia"
The following woodcuts will give an idea of the structures above
described, more especially in accordance with the views of Martin-
Saint- Ange : —
Fig. 1. Anaiife jaune sans coquille (Cuvier, Alepa* f ) : A, a gelatinous
production, the cement, which serves to fix the peduncle; B, the
first membrane of the peduncle ; B' a small Cirripede, of the natural
size developed upon the peduncle of the parent ; C, the capitulum,
which contains the body of the animal ; D, the fissure of the capitu-
lum from which issue the feet or cirri F. The point £ indicates the
termination of the peduncle, and the place where the eggs stop ; G,
the eggs arrived within the sac. Fig. 2. The same letters refer to
the same parts as in ^. 1 ; H, the pedicles of the cirri, which sustain
Uie rami, F. At the base of the feet (H) are four branchise; and
between these feet and those placed on the other side is seen the
recurved tube which serves to convey the seminal liquor to the
ova within th^ sac. Fig. 8. The same Cirripede, from which the
half of the first envelope has been taken so as to expose the interior.
The peduncle contains a second cylinder terminated in a cul-de-sac
by its inferior extremity, and covered at the other by a very deli-
cate membrane ; the longitudinal and transverse muscular fibres may
be observed ; t, e, indicate t^e canal which, according to Saint- Ange,
carries the eggs of the peduncle within the sac ; 6, Uiat which serves
as a nourishing vessel to the peduncle and the eggs ; g, g^ the mem-
brane of the sac which iiltercepts all direct communication between
the peduncle and the cavity of the sac. J represents the body of
th« Cirripede inclosed in its proper envelope. Fig. 4. The same situa-
tion as the liu>t, representing idl the membranes which envelop the
KAI. H18T. DIV. VOL. I.
Digitized by
Google
nor
CIRRIPEDIA.
CIRRIPEDIA.
lies
body of the Cirripede ; B, B, the miucular (nrlindrical pipe open, in
-which the eggB aro seen ; e, ^ the ooune of the oyaiian tubes in the
thickness of the second envelope ; ff,g,ff, the enrelope opened and tamed
back ; J, J, J, the pr9per membrane of the bodj of the animal ; it is
with this cavity that the canal 6 communicates, and it is between this
proper membrane and that of the second envelope g, g, g, that the eggs
are found : whence it results that the cavity of tne mantle has no com-
munication with the peduncle, except by means of the oviduct e.
Fig. 5. Side view of the common Duck Barnacle {Lepat anatifera)
taken out of the shell, enveloped in its proper membrane, under
which is found the salivary (?) vesicle; V, the cervical ganglion;
V, the nerve which is given off from the brain to go to the muscles of
the skin ; J, the two levator muRcles of the upper Up ; K K, branchiss ;
A, a homy tubercle which is formed on each side of the orifice of
the vent ; U', the extremity of the tube, bearded with fine hairs.
Fig. 6. Anterior view of the same, showing the truly articulated
disposition of the body, each ring of which corresponds to a pair of
feet ; S, the adductor muscle of the valves ; U', the articulated tube
which contains the spermatic canaL Fig. 7. The intestinal canal of
the same species ; D, the mouth seen from the side ; d, the CBsophagus ;
d', the stomach ; d", Uie peduncle which makes this ox^gan communicate
with a species of csscum, d**', of the same structure and form as the
stomach ; T, the intestinal canal, offering two natural curvatures ; h,
orifice of the rectum ; U U, vesicul» seminales, uniting in a single
canal very delicate, and terminated at U' by a small onfice. Fig. 8.
Disposition of the nervous system : 1. The first cosophageal ganglion,
called the brain : from these united ganglions spring the branches v,
v', v", destined for all the muscles of the dorsal part, and two
extremely delicate threads which go on each side, the first to the
salivaiy veside V, the second to a new ganglion Z ; 2. The second
ganglion, sending two nervous branches to each jaw-foot F, and small
branches to the cesophagus; 8, i, 5, 6 correspond to the other
ganglions; 6 furnishes the two last pairs of feet. It is from the
branches which go to the last feety and not from the ganglions them-
selves, that the two threads y and ^, which go to the extremity, U',
of the tube are detached. The point x corresponds to the centre of
the oesophagus which has been removed.
The process of exuviation takes place in the Oirripedia. Mr. Darwin
says, " In the LepadidcBy with the exception of the genus JAthotryOf
in which the calcareous scales on the pedimcle together with the
membrane connecting them is cast off, neither the valves nor the
membrane uniting them, nor that forming the peduncle with its scales,
are moulted ; but the surface gradually disintegrates, and is removed,
perhaps sometimes in flakes; whilst new, and larger layers are formed
beneath. In most Sessile Cirripedes the outside membraneconnectingthe
operculum and shell is regularly moulted. The delicate tunic lining
the sac and the integuments of the whole body are periodically shed.
With these integuments, the membrane lining the oesophagus, the
rectum, the deep olfactory pouches, and the homy apodemes of the
maxillm are all moulted together. The new spines on the cirri are
formed within the old ones.
'*A11 Oirripedia grow rapidly; the yawl of H.M.S. Beagle was
lowered into the water at the Qalapagos Archipelago on the 15th of
September, and after an interval of exactly Uiirty-three days was
hauled in a^ain. I found on her bottom a specimen of Conekoderma
virgata with the capitulum and peduncle, each half an inch in length
and the former ^ uis in width ; this is half the size of the largest
specimen I have seen of this species. Several other individuals, not
half the size of the above, contained numerous ova in their lamelln,
ready to burst forth. Supposing that the larvae of the largest specimen
became attached the first day the boat was put into the water, we have
the metamorphosis, an increase of length from about '05 of a inch, the
size of the Uurvaj to a whole inch, and the laying of probably several
sets of egg.9, all effected in thirty-three days. From this rapid growtii
repeated exuviations must be requisite. Mr. W. Thompson, of Belfast,
kept twenty specimens of BcdaoMu balanoideSf a form of much slower
growth, alive, and on the twelfth day he found the twenty-first integu-
ment, showing that all had moulted once, and one individual twice
within this period. I may here add that the Pedunculated Cirripedes
never attain so large a bulk as the Sessile. Lq>€U anatifera is some-
times 16 inches in length, but of this the far greater portion consists
of the peduncle. PoUieipet mitella is the most massive kind ; I have
seen a specimen with a oa{>itulum two-thirds of an inch in width."
The Pedunculated Cirripedes extend over the whole world; and
most of the individual spedes hafb laive ranges, more especially, as
might have been expected, those attached to fioating objects. Excepting
these latter, the greater number inhabit the warmer, temperate, and
tropical seas. Of those attached to fixed objects, or to littoral ^nimRla^
it is rare to find more than three or four species in the same locality.
On the shores of Europe Mr. Darwin says he knows of only three,
namely, Scalpellwn, PoUicipea, and Alepoi. At Madeira (owing to the
admirable researches of the Rev. R. T. Lowe) two PaciUunuu, a
Dichelatpit, and an Oxyruupit are known. In Kew S^ealand there are
two PoUieipet and an Alepaa, and perhaps a fourth form. From the
Philippine Archipelago, in the great collection made by Mr. Cuming,
there are a Poecilattna, an Ibla, dkScalpeUum^ PoUicipea, and Litkotrya.
Of all the Lqi>adidce nearly half are attached to floatizig objects or to
animals which are able to chaogetheir position ; the other half are
generally attached to fixed oi^ganio or inoi^panio bodies, and more
frequently to the former than to the latter. Most of the species of
SealpeUum are inhabitants of deep water; on the other hand most of
PoUicipei, of Ibla, and of Liikotrya are littoral forms. The species of
LUkoirya have the power of excavating burrows in caloareons rocks,
shells, and corals ; and the singular manner in which this is effscted
is described in Mr. Darwin's work. AneUuma has its 8ab«lobuIar
peduncle deeply imbedded in the flesh of northern shanks, and
instances have occurred of the basal end of the peduncle of Concho-
derma awrita being sunk into the skin of Oeiaoea ; in the same way the
point of the peduncle in the male of Ibla is generally deeply embedded
in the sac of the femalei In all these cases the cementing sub-
stance affects and injures the oorium or true skin of the animal on
whicQi the creature is parasitic, while the surrounding parts being
not injured continue to grow upwards, thus causing the partial
embedment of the Cirripede. In the ease of Aneiaiina, we have
growth at the end of -the pedimcle, and consequently downward
pressure, and this may possibly cause absorption to take place in the
skin of the shark at the spot pressed on.
AirangemeDt of the Family. *
Class, Orudacea; Sub-Class, Oirripedia,
Oruataeea attached by the anterior end of the head by cement,
proceeding from a modified portion of the ovaria : archetype composed
of 17 segments, wiUi the first three of Urge size, and almost always
developed into a carapace not wholly exuviated, and capable of
various movements ; antennae none ; eyes rudimentary ; mouth
prominent, formed by the partial confluence of the labrum, pelpi,
mandibles, and two pairs of maxillae. Thorax attached to the intei^
nal sternal surface of the carapace, generally bearing six pairs of
captorial, biramous, multi-articulated limbs. Abdomen generally
rudimentary. Branchiae, when present, attached to the under sides
of the carapace. Bisexual ; when umsexual, males parasitic on the
female; male onan single, generally probosciformed, seated at the
posterior end of me abdomen. Oviducts none. Metamoiphosis complex.
Order L Thoraeica.f
Oirripedia having a carapace consisting either of a capitulum on a
peduncle, or of an operculated shell with a baai& Body formed of six
thoracic segments, generally furnished with six pairs of cirri Abdo-
men rudimentary, but often bearing caudal appendages. Mouth with
the labrum not capable of independent movements. Larva firstly
uniocular, with three pairs of legs ; lastly, binocular, with six pairs of
thoracic legs.
Family 1. — Balanidce,
Oirripedia without a peduncle; acuta and terga furnished with
depressor muscles ; other valves united immovably together.
This family was well known to the ancients. The genera seem to
have been aJl confounded under the name of B^ai^oi (Balanus) by the
Greeks. (Aristotle, ' Hist. Anim.,' book iv. ch. 8, and book v. ch. 15.)
Athenaeus mentions them more than once ; and (' Deipnos/ book iiL
ch. 11, p. 88) speaks of the large ones with approbation as an article
of food. They are the Balani of the Latins ; nor did Lucullua dis-
dain them. The Chinese eat the soft parts of one of the species
{Balanua Hntinnabulvm), which has the reputation of being like the
flesh of the lobster when cooked ; and the delicious qualities of another
species, and its high estimation for the table, are referred to in another
place. [Balakus.]
Sub-Fsmily.— AitoninA
Shell with the rostram without alae, but having radii ; the lateral
compartments all with alae on one side and nidii on the other;
parietes generally either porose or longitudinally ribbed on their inner
surfaces.
Section +. *
Scutum and teigum articulated together or overlapping each
other : each brancbla composed of a single plicated fold.
Qenus, Balanua Auctonmi. — Compartments six ; basis calcareous
or membranous ; opercular valves sub-triangular. [BALAirua]
• We are indebted to Mr. Darwin for fhs followiiig arrangement, the flnt
Tolume of whose great work on the dnripedia^ Inoladiiig the LipmiUttf pub-
lished by the Bay Boeiety has alone at present been published.
t The external parts of Cirripedes oonaUt either of a 8hM with an OpmretiXmm
and the Baaia, or of a CupittUwm (as called by Mr. Darwin), which is homologoiis
with the shell and operculum, mounted on a Pedtrnda, which again is homolo-
gous with the basis. The two valvea, to which the animal's body is attached,
and which have the power of opening and shutting, are called by Mr. Darwin
the Scuta ; a second pair of Talves, bounding the oriilce, at that end at which
the cirri are ezserted, are called the Terga. At this same end of the shell, or
capitnlnm, the medial valve or compartment is called the Oariaa ; the medial
valve or compartment at the opposite end Is called the JEeosfmm .* the prindpal
valves or compartments on each side are called the roatroUaterait UUarai, and
earino4aUralt or simply the lateral compartments or Laiarm. In the Baiamdai
each separate compartment may be said to consist of the aoaU or paritial portion
(generally wedge^ormed, with the apex upwards), and with a Badima (either
on one or both sides), or with an Ala (either on one or both sides) : the AU is a
quadrangular projection, always overlapped by the adjoining compartment ; the
Baiiua'ham usually the shape of a wedge, with the apex downwards ; It is exte-
rior, and overlaps the adjoining compartment.
Digitized by
Google
1100
OIRRIPEDIA.
CIRRIPEDIA.
1110
Tliis, the typical geniu of the family, includes 89 recent spedes,
which range u-om 77° in the northern hemisphere to Cape Horn
in the bouuu
Sub-genoa, Acattctf Leach, 1817. — Compartments six; parietes
and basis non-porose ; basis calcareous, cup-formed, not elongated :
attached to sponges or rarely to the bark of Isis.
This sub-genus, which is a very natural one in habits and appear-
ance, nevertheless can hardly bo distinguished from those species of
Balamu which live attached to Gforffoniat. Aecuta is found in almost
all parts of the world.
Tetr<KlUa, Schumacher, 1817 {Conia of Leach, AiemuM of Ranzani).
— Compartments four, sometimes with their outer laminfB calcified
together; parietes permeated by pores, generally forming seyeral
rows ; basis flat, irregular, calcareous or membranous.
a
K
■\
\
Tetraelita porota,
EhiinnUf Leach, 1825. — Compartments four ; parietes not porose ;
basis membranous.
This genus is confined to the southern hemisphere.
PyrgSna, Leach, 1817 {Megatrema of Leach; Adna of Leach;
Daracia of J. E. Gray ; Crewia of De Blainville; Nobia of Sowerby).
— Shell formed of a single piece ; basis cup-formed or sub-cylindrical :
attached to, or imbedded m condt.
^ftgoma crenalum,
0, tpeelmeDB of the natural sise in Attraa fawa ; 5, «, <f, diifterent riewa
and section of the cone ; «, the opercular ralTea. 6, c, d, and #, are ma^ifted.
Subgenus Oeima, Leach, 1817.— Compartments four; furnished
with radii ; basis cup-formed, imbedded in corals.
This sub-genus is most closely allied to Pyrgoma, and its separation
is of doubtful propriety.
CheUmobia, Leach, 1817 (Ovronula of Lamarck ; Asirolepat of Gray).
Compartments extremely thick, six in number, but the rostrum
is internally composed of three compartments united together ; basis
membranous ; scuta narrow, imited to the terga by a homy articular
ridge.
Two of the three species included in this genus are always attached
to turtles ; the third adheres to crabs and smooth shells.
Section t+.
Scutum and tergum (when both are present) not overlapphig each
other; basis membranous; parietes often deeply folded, with the
outer lamina towards the baisb generally imperfect ; each branchia
composed of two plicated folds : shell attached to living Veriebrata.
Coronvlaj Lamarck, 1802 (Diadema of Schumacher; Cetopirtu of
Ranzani). — Compartments six, of equal breadth, deeply folded, with
the folds outwardly pressed together, but inwardly expanded, so as
to form cavities open only on the under side ; operoulflur valves much
smaller than the orifice of the shell : attached to C7etoc«a.
Curcuula balctnaris,
PkUylepoi, J. E. Gray, 1825 {CorontUa of De Blainville). — Compart-
ments six, each bilobed and inwardly produced, so as to form six
mid-ribs, which support the outwardly convex membranous basis.
The species of this genus are attached to turtles, manatees, and
sea-snakes.
Tubicinella, Lamarck, 1802 {CorontUa of De Blainville).— Compart-
ments six, of equal breadth ; shell sub-cylindrical, wider at the top
than at the baieds ; belted by several transverse ridges : attached to
Cetaeea.
(^^^
Tubicinella traeheali*.
Xenobalanus, Steenstrup, 1852. — Shell almost rudimentary, star-
formed, composed of six compartments, with a long peduncle-formed
body rising from tiie middle of them ; opercular valves none :
attached to Cetaeea.
Sub-Family. — Chthamalince,
Shell with the rostrum having alae, but without radii ; rostro-lateral
compartments without alas on either side ; parietes not porose
Chtkamalus, Ranzani, 1820 {Ewaphia, Conrad).— Compartments
six ; basis membranous, but sometimes in appearance calcareous from
the inflected parietes.
Chthamalut tUllatm,
Digitized by
Google
1111
CIRRIPEDTA.
CIRRIPEDIA.
lilt
ChanKetipho, Darwin, 1854. — Compartments four, with the satarei
often much obliterated ; basis membranous.
Pachylatma, Darwin, 1854. — Compartments, when the shell is Tery
young, eight ; when maturer, either six, or in appearance only four,
froih tiie close union of the lateral compartments ; basis calcareous.
Octtmerit, G. B. Sowerby, 1825.— Compartments eight ; radii with
their edges crenated ; basis membranous.
•^%^
Octotnerit tm^uioio.
a, the outside ; below, an internal Tiew of the eight diriiions ; «, the anterior
pieee; d, the poeterior piece; • to ifc, the lateral pieees ; /, the operonlnm,
eonaisting of four pieoea, of which the two anterior are the larger.
Catopkroffmuif G. B. Sowerby. — Compartments eighty with seToral
exterior whorls of small supplemental compartments ; basis either
membranous or calcareous.
" The shell," says Mr. G. B. Sowerby, " consists in a number of
narrow perpendicular valves arranged around the shelly cone, and in
rows, like pales, the first row of which consists of eight pieces, placed
so as exactly to cover the sutures of the shelly cone immediately
surrounding the animal ; around this are then placed several sets of
more and more numerous pieces gradually decreasing in siise, so that
the outer row, which is the most numerous, consists also of the
smallest pieces. Additional rows seem to be produced as the animal
increases in age ; for a young specimen in our possession has only
one row of eight pieces covering the sutures of the first cone, while a
much larger and older specimen stiU retains part of three rows, and
has evidentlv lost some of the external rows. The young individual
also shows that the whole of the pieces are pointed at their superior
extremities, wheroas in the old shell these extremities are so worn or
eroded as to become very irregular and obtuse."
CatopKragmus imbrieatus,
«, the old shell, natural sixe ; h, the same magnified ; e, the yonng shell,
natural aiae ; d^ the same magnified.
Family IL—Verrucidag,
Ctrripedia without a peduncle ; scuta and terga not furnished with
depressor muscles, moveable only on one side, on the other aide united
immoveably with the rostrum and carina into an asymmetrical sheU.
Verruca, Schumacher, 1817 {Clma and Clitia of Leach, Oreutia of
Lamarck, Ochthona of Ranzani). — This genus is very remarkable in
many respects, especially in its asymmetrical shell ; sometimes the
right side and sometimes the left side being specially modified. It
includes four recent species.
Verruea Strimia,
Family IIL — Lepadidce.
Oirripedia having a flexible peduncle, provided with muscles ; scuta
and terga (when present) not furnished with depressor muscles;
other vdfvee (when present) not united into an immoveable ring.
The genera of this family affix themselves by means of their peduncle
to submarine bodies, forming numerous groups. They are often
found on floating substances &r at sea : on ships, on logs of timber,
on bottles, on net-corks, on fuci, on floating testaceous moUusks,
laaUhina for instance, and even on some of the vertebrated
animals, on whales, turtles, and even serpents — ffydrophis,
for example. Other testaceous moUusks might be mentioned, and
one species has been found parafdtical witlun the umbrella of a
Medma, A large log of timber covered with these animals, twisting
and diverging in all directions, and so thick as entirely to hide the
surface of the log, is a strange sight They look like an enormous
collection of serpents to the ignorant; and we have heard a living
nuun of this description casually thrown into shallow water and left
by the tide so termed. Their growth must be extremely rapid. A
ship going out with a perfectly clean bottom vill often return from a
short voyage covered with them below the water-line. The Blacks of
Goree are said to eat a large species of PerUalamit, which is stated to
be delicate.
Lep€U, — Valves 5, approximate ; carina extending up between the
teiga, terminating downwards in an imbedded fork or in an external
disc; scuta subtriangular with their umbones at the rostral an^a
The species are found aU over the world attached to floating objects.
L, anatifera, the Common Barnacle. It is the AtuUifa, AiuUifera,
and PentalatmU of many authors. AntUifa engonata of Conrad;
A . dentata (var.) of Brugui^res ; PentdUumis dentatut of Brown ; Anatifa
of Martin-Saint- Ange. The valves are smooth or delicately striated.
Right hand scutum alone furnished with an internal umbonal tooth ;
uppermost part of pedunde dark-coloured. It is extremely comfaion,
attached to floating timber, vessels, sea-weed, bottles, &a, and to
each other.
L13MU amUif0ra,
Digitized by
Google
UlS
CIRRIPEDIA.
CIRRIPEDIA.
1114
Mr. Darwin describes also the following species : — L, ffUlii, L, anseri-
fera, L. pectinata, L. auttralts, L. fcucicularis.
PaeciUuma, Darwin. — Valves S, 5, or 7, approximate ; carina extend-
ing only to the basal points of the terga, with its lower end either
truncated or produced into a deeply imbedded disc. Scuta nearly
oval, with their umbones at the rostral angle. This genus embraces
the following species : — P, Kaanpferi, P. auran/to, P. crcuact, P,fl8tci,
P, thtumea. Four out of the five species live attached to OrustcKea
in the European and Eastern warmer, temperate, and tropical oceans.
The fifth species was found attached to the dead species of an Echinus
off New Guinea. It is probable that several more species may be
discovered.
JDicheUupis, Darwin (OctolcumU, J. £. Gray ; ffeptdUumit, Agassiz).
— Valves 5, generally appearing like 7, from each scutum being
divided into two distinct segments, united at the rostral angle;
carina generally extending up between the terga, terminating down-
wards in an imbedded £sc or fork, or cup. The following are the
species j—D. Warwickii, D. QrayH, D. pellucidct, D. Lcwei, J), ortho-
gonia. The species are very rare. They have been found attached to
crabs at Madeira and off Borneo, and attached to sea-snakes in the
Indian Ocean.
Oxyruupis, Darwin, — Valves 6, approximate ; scuta with their umbones
in the middle of the oooludent margin ; carina rectangularly bent,
extending up between the terga, with the basal end simply concave.
The only species is 0. celata, which was found attached in numbers
to an ArUipathea in Madeira, by the Rev. R. T. Lowe.
Conchodermaf Olfers {Lepas, Linnaus; BrarUa, Oken; Malacotta
and Saioclita, Schumacher ; Oticn and CXnerat, Leach ; 6ymnolep<u,
De Blainville ; Pamina, J. E. Gray). — Valves 2 to 5, minute, remote
from each other; scuta with two or three lobes, with their umbones
in the jniddle of the oocludent margin ; carina arched, upper and
lower ends nearly alike.
C. awrita, Darwin. It is the Lepat awnta, Linneens ; Otion OuvieranuB,
0, Blainvillianu8y 0. Belli-
anu8, 0. DumerUliamUy 0.
Riatoanui, Leach ; 0. depreasck,
0. taccwtiferdy Coates; 0.
aurituif Macgillivray ; Lepa*
SeporinOf Poli; Lepaa coiittUa,
Montagu ; Conchoderma au-
ritum, C. leporinvm, Olfers;
Branta aurita, Oken ; Mala-
cotta bivalvis, Schumacher;
Oymnolep<u Ouvieri, De Blain-
ville.
The capitulum has two
ear-like appendages seated
behind the rudimentary and
often absent teiga; scuta bi-
lobed ; carina absent or quite
rudimentary ; peduncle long,
distinctly separated from the
capitulum. This species is
extremely common in every
ocean. It is found on ships'
bottoms from all parts of the
world. It is found in the
Arctic and Antarctic Oceans,
not unfrequently on the
coronulse on whales, and on
slow-moving fish. It is often
associated with other species.
Conchoderma aurita,
a, entire animal; 6, the lateral valve «;
1 he earlike appendages are „, the single valve ; d, the terminal valves,
the most extraordinary part
of this animaL Mr. Darwin thinks that their function is respiratory.
C. virgaia, Darwin. It is the O, virgatum, Olfers ; Lepat virgata,
Spengler; Z, coriacea, Poli; L. mm^ronacea, 'Montagu; Branta
virgata, Oken ; Senoclita fateiata, Schumacher ; CineraaviiteUaf Leach ;
O. metnbranacea, MapgilUvray ; C. bicolor, C. vittattu, Brown ; Oymno-
lepaa Oranchii, De Blainville ; Pamina trilineata, J. K Gray. The
scuta 8-lobed; terga concave internally, with their apices slightly
curved inwaids; carina moderately developed, slightly curved;
peduncle blending into the capitulum.
Oonehoderma virgata,
a, Animal, ft, the scuta ; e, the carina ; i, the terga.
Like the last^ this species is extremely common on ships' bottoms
from all parts of the world. It also attaches itself to sea-weed,
turtles, and other objects.
The small valves in C. awrita were overlooked bv Lamarck, but
detected by Leach. In the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons,
' Nat Hist,' No. 265, there is a species named CineroM Hvmteri, of
which two small groups are attached to the tail of Eydrophia bicolor,
which is figured in Russell's ' Indian Serpents,' 1, tab. xli, and is
called by the natives * Nalla Wahlagillee Pam.' Russell says, " This
sea-snake, according to the Vizagapatam fishermen, seldom approaches
the shore ; several of them had neVor seen one before. They pre-
tended it was of a very dangerous kind, which is contradicted by the
want of poisonous organs."
C. Hunteri is admitted as a species by Mr. Darwin. It has however
scarcely more claim to be reg^arded as a species than some of the
varieties of the first two species.
Alepaa, Sander Rang (Anatifa, Quoy and Gaimard ; Triton, Lesson ;
Oineraa, Lesson). — Capitulum without valves, or with homy almost
hidden scuta.
M. Rang has given the generic appellation above stated to the
Cineraa paraaita of Lesson, and the Awitifa wnivalvia of Quoy and
Gaimard. The species on which the genus was founded was detected
attached to the umbrella of a Meduaa, Rang considers this to be the
Triton of Linnaeus. Cuvier, in the last edition of the * R^gne Animal,'
observes that he has not seen the species, but still adheres to his old
opinion ; for he says that it ought not in any case to be confounded
with the Triton of Linnaeus, which was the animal of an Anaiifa torn
from its mantle and shelL
A, paraaita, Sander Rang. It is the Anaiifa wiivalvia and A. para-
aita, Quoy and Gaimard; Triton (AUpaa) faaeicw-
IcUua, Lesson. Orifice not protuberant^ equalling
two-thirds of the length of the capitulum ; scuta
homy. Total length two inches.
It has been found parasitic on Meduaa in the
Mediterranean and Atlantic oceans and on the
south shore of England.
Three other species— J. minttto. A, comuta,
and A. tubuloaa — are described by Darwin.
Anelaama, Darwin; Alepaa, Loven.— Capitulum
without valves, aperture large, peduncle fimbri-
ated, sub-globular, imbedded. Alepaa paraaita,
A. aqualicola, Darwin, is the only species of this
genus. It was referred by Loven to Alepaa, but has been separated
by Darwin. It lives parasitic, with its peduncle imbedded in the skin
of sharks in the North Sea.
Alcippe, A. Hancock, 1849.— Capitidum without valves, with the
aperture spinose; peduncle grows at its lower end, rostral surface
depressed and covered by a homy disc; capitulum and peduncle
imbedded in a self-formed cavity.
This most remarkable genus bores cavities for itself in shells. It
inhabits the shores of Ei^land. It has but one species, A. lampaa,
Hancock.
Ibla, Leach (AnaHfa, Cuvier; Tetralaamia, Cuvier).--Female and
hermaphrodite with 4 homy valves ; peduncle clothed with persistent
homy spines. .
There are two species of this, /. Cumin^rii and /. quadnvalvia.
This is one of the genera in which complemental males occur, tiie
stmcture of which Mr. Darwin has described at great length.
/. Cumingii inhabite the seas of the Phaippine Archipelago, and they
are mvariably atteched to the peduncle of PoUicipea mitdla in groups of
tw'o or three together. /. qwuirivalvia is found in the Australian seas.
ScalpeUum, Leach {Lepaa, Linn. ; PoUicipea, Lamarck ; Polylepaa,
De Blainville; SmUium, Leach; Calantica, J. E. Gray; ThalieUa,
J. E. Gray; Anatifa, Quoy and Gaimard; Xiphidium, Dixon).—
Hermaphrodite and female with valves 12 to 16 in number ; latent of
the lower whori 4 or 6, with their lines of growth generally directed
towards each other; sub-rostrum very rarely present; peduncle
squamiferous, most rarely naked. «...
S, vulgare, Leach. It is the Lepaa Scalpdltm, Lmnseus; PoUte^pea
Sealpellum tmtgare,
ScalpelUm, Lamarck; Polylepaa vu%ronf, De Blainville; SealpdJMm
lave, Leach. Hermaphrodite with capitulum of 14 valves, includmg
Digitized by
Google
1115
CIRRIPEDIA.
CntRIPEDIA.
1116
the rudimentaiy rostrum ; upper latera irregularly ovaL The com-
plemental male flask-formed, with four rudimenta^ valves.
It is a native of the seas of Great Britain, Ireland, France, Norway,
and Naples. Found attached to homy corallines, according to Forbes
and MacAndrew, at from twenty to thirty, sometimes even to fifty
fathoms in depth. There are five other species of this genus. They
are all characterised by the presence of the complemental male.
PoUicipetf Leach {Lepoi, Linnseus; Anatifay Brugui^res; MiUUa,
Oken; Rampkidionia, Schumadier; PolylspoBy De Blainville;
CapitulwMf J. K Gray). — Valves from 18 to above 100 in number;
latera of the lower whorl numerous, with Uieir lines of growth
directed downwards; subrostrum always present; peduncle squami-
ferous.
P. miteUa, Sowerby. It is Lepat miieOa, Luinaus; Polylepas
miteUOf De Blain. ; Capilulum miuUa,
Gray. Capitulum with only one whorl
of valves under the rostrum; the
upper pair of latera viewed internally
are three or four times as large as
the lower latera, which overlap each
other laterally ; scales of the peduncle
oymmetrically arranged in dose
whorls.
This species is foimd in the seas of
the PhiHppine Archipelago and the
Chinese Bea. There are five other
species. They are found attached to
PulUHp.. mUdla. ^^ ^^^ ""^ ^°'^ objects in the
warmer, temperate, and tropical seas.
LUhofryck, G. B. Sowerby {LUholqxu, De Blainville ; Ahtta, Leach ;
Brimmu and ConehotryOy J. E. Gray ; Lepatf Gmelin ; AnatifOf Quoy
and Gaimard). — Valves 8, including a small often rudimentary ros-
trum and a pair of smidl latera ; lines of growth finelv crenated ;
peduncle covered with small calcareous scales; those oi the upper
whorls crenated ; attached either to a basal calcareous cup or to a
row of discs.
Mr. G. B. Sowerby, who instituted the genus, considers it as inter-
mediate between the Sessile and Pedunculated Cirripedes ; and states
that it possesses a peculiarity not to be found in any hitherto
described genus of this class, namely, that of penetrating stones for
its habitation. Hang says that De Blainville is of opinion that the
genus is only a true Anatifay which had affixed itself upon the valve
of a VentrupU at the bottom of one of the cavities which that bivalve
hollows out for itsel£ De Blainville, in his ' Malacologie,' describes
it imder the name of LUholepatt sinking Sowerb/s name altogether,
though he says the genus was newly estabUshed by him, quotes his
description, and merely states that he has never seen the Cirripede.
As the means by which many of the Mollu$ca bore into the rocks
in which they reside are at present imknown and are matters of much
discussion, the conclusions at which Mr. Darwin has arrived with
regard to the species of LUhotrya are of high interest. After
describing accurately the structure of the valves, the peduncle, the
muscles of the peduncle, the basal calcareous cups or discs, and the
internal structure of the cup, he concludes : — " The sevenJ species
occur imbedded in soft calcareous rocks, in massive corals, and in
the shells of MoUmca and of Cirripedes. It has been doubted by
several naturalists whether the basal calcareous cup at all belongs to
the LUhotrya ; but after the foregoing microscopical observations on
its structure it is useless to discuss this point. So again it has been
doubted whether the cavity Is formed by the cirripede itself; but
there is so obvious a relation between the diameters of specimens of
various sizes and the holes occupied by them that I can entertain no
doubt on this head. The holes moreover are not quite cylindrical,
but broadlj oval, like the section of the animal. The simple fact
that in this genus alone each fresh shel^ layer round the bases of
the valves, and therefore at the widest part of the capitulum, is
shaiply toothed ; and secondly, that in this genus alone a succession
of snarply-serrated scaales, on the upper and widest part of the
peduncle, is periodically formed at eadi exuviation, * and that con-
sequently the teeth on the valves and scales are sharp and fit for
wearing soft stone at that very period when the animal has to increase
in size, would alone render tiie view probable that the LUhotrya makes
or at least enlarges the cavities in which it is imbedded. Althoii|;h
it may be admitted that LUhotrya has the power of enlarging its
cavity, how does it first bore down into the rook T It is quite certain
that tiie basal cup is absolutely fixed, and that neither in form nor
state of surface it is at all fit for boring. I was quite unable to
answer the forsffoing question until seeing the admirable figures by
Reinhardt of L. Nieobarica still attached in its cavity. Subsequently
I obtained from Mr. Stutchbury several pieces of rock completely
drilled with holes, many of small diameter, by L. dortalii ; and in
these I foimd numerous instances of the linear rows of little discs
like those of L. Nieobarica^ showing in the plainest manner that each
time a new disc is formed, that is, at each exuviation, the animal
moves a short step downwards ; and as the lowest of these little discs
in none of the burrows was placed at the very bottom, we see that
the lowest point of the peduncle must be the wearing agent. In the
peduncle of an individual of L. dorsalit, nearly ready to moult, I
found, it may be remembered, beneath and round the basal disc,
under the old membrane of the peduncle, a new membrane studded
with calcified beads, but with the homy star-headed spines not yet
developed ; whilst on the old outer coat these latter had been worn
down quite smooth, and the calcified beads worn entirely away. Here
then we have an excellent rasping surface. With respect to the power
of movement necessary for the boring action, tiie peduncle is amply
furnished with transverse, oblique, and longitudinal striseless muscles,
the latter attadied to the basal disa In all the Peduneulata I have
reason to believe that these muscles are in constant slight involuntary
action. This being the case, I conceive that the small blunt spur-
like portion of the peduncle descending beneath the basal rim of the
lowest disc would inevitably partake slightly of the movements of
the whole distended animal As soon as tlra LUhotrya has reached
that depth which its instincts point out as most suitable to its habits,
the discs are converted into an irregularly growing cap, and the
animal then only increases in diameter, enlarging its cavity by the
action of the serrated scales on the peduncle, and of the serrated
lower edges of the valves of the capitulum. With respect to those
reversed individuals attached with their capitulums downwards, I
suppose that the larvae had crept into some deep cavity perhaps made
orij^nally by a LitholryOf of which the rock in the specimen in question
was quite full, and had there attached themselves. Finally, it appears
that \^ Lithotrya the burrowing is simply a mechanical action : it is
efiecteid b^ each layer of shell in the baisal attached discs overiapping
in a straight line the last-formed layer ; by the membrane of the
peduncle and the valves of the capitulum having excellent and often
renewed rasping surfaces ; and lastly, by the end of the pedunde (that
is, homologically the front of the head) thus roughened, extended
beyond the surface of attachment, and possessing the powsr of slight
movement"
L, dortaliSf G. B. Sowerby. It is the Lepas dorwdUt, EHlis ; *LUho-
Upat de Mont Serrat, De Blainville. Scuta narrowly overlapping the
terga ; carina internally concave ; rostnxm
as wide as two or three of ihe sul^aoent
scales; latera with their internal sur-
faces narrowly elliptical, as long as fire
\ of the subjacent scales ; upper scales of
the peduncle less than twice as laxge as
those in the second whorl.
This species is foimd imbedded in lime-
stone at Barbadoes, Venezuela, and the
Honduras.
L. catUa, Darwin, named from a unique
specimen, was found imbedded in a Cmtia
or TetraclUa from New South Wales.
L. Nicobariea, Reinhardt, is a rare spe-
cies occurring in the Nioobar Islands.
L. Bhodioput, Darwin, is named from a
LUhoti-ya dorMlii. specimen imbedded in a nuuBsive coral in
the British Museum.
L truncata, Darwin, found imbedded in coral rock in the Friendly
Islands and Philippine Archipelago.
L. yaUntinOf Darwin, from two specimens imbedded in an oyster-
shell, in the British Museum, from the Red Sea.
Order IL Abdominalta.
Cirripedia having a fiask-shaped carapace. Body consisting of 1
cephalic, 7 thoracic, and 8 abdominal segments, the latter bearing 8
pairs of cirri ; the thoracic segments without members ; mouth with
the labrum greatly produced, and capable of independent movements ;
cesophagus armed with teeth at its lower end ; larva firstly egg-like,
without external limbs or an eye ; lastly, binocidar, without thoracic
legs. •
This order contains only one genus and one species, CfrypdopkUUfii
minuttti, Darwin, 1854. It w very distinct from all other Cirripedes,
but more nearly allied to Alcippe amongst the Lepadidtz than to any
other form. It bores cavities in the ConehoUptu PerwvitmOf and is
of very minute size.
Order III. Apoda.
Cirripedia with the carapace reduced to 2 threads, serving for
attachment. Body consisting of 1 cephalic, 7 thoracic, and 3
abdominal segments, all destitute of cirri ; mouth suctorial, with the
mandibles and maxillae, placed back to back, inclosed in a hood,
formed by the union of the labmm and palpi; metamorphoses
unknown.
This order, like the last, contains only one genus and species, Proteo'
lepas hivinela^ Darwin, 1854. It was found parasitic within the sac
of another Cirripede in the West Indies. Until most closely examined
.the ProteolepoM would never have been imagined to have belonged to
the class of Oirripedia. In external appearance it resembles the larra
or maggot of a fly ; its mouth is unlike that of any known type in the
articulate kingdom.
FowU Cirripedia.
As with the recent so with the fossil species of this funily, we are
most indebted for our knowledge of them to the exhaustive labours
of Mr. Darwin, whose recent investigations on this subject hare
Digitized by
Google
1117
CIKRIPEDU.
CISTELIDES.
Ill)
thrown all others into the shade. The result of his inquiries into the
extinct history of the Cirripedia has been given in a work published
by the Palseontographioal Society, Which, although more immediately
intended to illustrate the fossil Pedunctdated Cirripedes of Great
Britain, embraces an outline of the whole subject as feur as it is known.
In our remarks we shall follow Mr. Darwin. " No true Sessile Cirri-
pede/' he says, ''has hitherto been found in any Secondary formation.
Considering that at the present time mauY species are attached to
oceanic floating objects, that many others bve in deep water in con-
gregated masses, that their shells are not subject to decay, and that
they are not likely to be overlooked when fossilised, this seems to be
one of the cases in which negative evidence is of considerable value."
Often observers have searched with great care amongst the Secondary
rocks and have met with nothing that bear the characters of the
jBalanidce of the present day. The Sessile Cirripedes are first met
with in the Eocene deposits of the Tertiary formations, and subse-
quently often in abimdance in the same formation. They appear how-
ever never to have abounded so greatly as at the present time, so that
Mr. Darwin says, *' The present period will hereafter apparently have
ajs good a claim to be called the age of Cirripedes as the Pal»ozotc
period has to be called the age of Trilobitee." He adds, "There is
one apparent exception to the rule that Sessile Cirripedes are not
found in Secondary formations, for I am enabled to announce that
Mr. J. de C. Sowerby has in his collection a Verruca from our English
Chalk ; but this genus, though hitherto included amongst the Sessile
Cirripedes, must, when its whole oiganisation is taken into considera-
tion be ranked in a distinct family of equal value with the BcUanida
and Lepadida, but perhaps more neariy related to the latter than to
the Sessile Cirripedes."
The oldest known Pedunculated Cirripede is a species of Pollicipes
discovered by Professor Buckman in the Stonesfield Slate in Uie
Lower Oolite, and two species of the same genus have been
described by Mr. Morris from the Oxford Clay in the Middle Oolite.
No Cirripede has yet been found in the Upper Oolite, or in the
Wealden Beds. During the development of the great Cretaceous
system, the Lepadidce arrived at their culminating point. At this
time there exiited 8 genera and at least 82 species, some occurring
at every stage of the system. In addition to the species described
there are several doub^l, and by future research many more will
undoubtedly be added to the present list.
Although rich in species, the individuals in the Chalk oceans
seemed to have been rare, if we may judge from the few remains of
particular species that exist in any one collection. It is not always
the case that a great variety of species is attended with a multiplicity
of individuals, although that is frequently observed.
In the Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene Tertiary deposits, Mr. Darwin
has met with but two species of ScaZpellum and two of PoUicipes,
distinct from recent forms. Two or three species are doubtful. It
is a singular fact that, widely distributed as are the species of Zepcu
at the present day, and the frequency of the individuals, not a
single viJve known cei*tainly to belong to this genus or to any of
the closely allied genera, has hitherto been foimd fossil.
The following is a table of the species described in Mr. Darwin's
monograph : —
Table ofDiHribution
Scalpdlum magnum
8, quadratum
S,fo9tula
S. maximum .
S. lineatum
S, hattatum
S, aiiguttum
S. quadricarinatum
S. triliTiecUum
& simplex
S. arcualum
8, tuberculatum
S. eolidulum
S, semiporeatum
S.Creta{t).
PoUifffpet concinnu9
P. Ooliticut
P. NUetcnii .
P. Ifauamanni .
P. polUus
P. elongatua
P. acuminatut
P. Angdini
P. r^/Uxui
P. carinatu9
P.glaber
P. unguis •
P. validui . •
P. gracilis . •
P,d9natui .
of Species and the Formations where they a/re found.
Tertiary.
, Tertiary.
Upper Chalk.
{Faxoe. Scania. Maestricht. Upper
Chalk.
. Lower Chalk.
Chalk Marl,
r Upper Chalk (?), Lower Chalk (?), Chalk
\ Mari(f).
Chalk Marl.
, Chalk MarL
Lower Greensand.
Gault.
Upper Chalk, Lower Chalk, Chalk Marl.
Scania. Upper Chalk.
Scahia. Upper Chalk.
Upper Chalk.
Lower Greensand.
. Lower Oolite.
. Scania. Upper Chalk.
Gault.
. Upper Greensand (?).
Upper Chalk.
. Lower Chalk.
. Scania. England. Upper Chalk.
Tertiary.
, Tertiary.
Upper Chalk, Lower Chalk, Chal^L Marl.
, Gault, Lower Greensand.
Scania. Maestricht Upper Chalk.
> Upper Chalk, Lower ChiOL
nxoe. Upper Chalk.
P.striatus .... Upper Chalk.
P, semikUus .... Upper Chalk, Lower Chalk, Chalk MarL
P. rigidut .... Gault.
P failasr fScania. England. Hanover. Upper
P. elegans .... Faxoe. Scania. Upper Chalk.
P. JBronnii . . Upper Greensand.
P. plawuUUus . * . . Lower Greensand.
Zoricula puichella . . . Lower Chalk. [5ee Supflkhekt.]
CIS, a genus of Coleopterous Insects of the family Ptinidce (Leach).
They are minute Beetles which infest the various n>ecie8 of Boleti.
They are of an oblong neariy cylindrical form, and generally of a
brown colour : their tarsi are 4-jointed, and the antennsB have Uie
basal joint large, and the three apical joints forming a dub. Four-
teen species have been discovered in this country, the lugest of
which IS scarcely one-eighth of an inch in length.
CISSA'MPELOS, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order
Menispermacea. It is dioecious; the sepals 8, in a triple series; the
stamens united into a slender column dilated at the apex, bearing
two 2-celled anthers opening horizontally. The species are twining
shrubs with triangular leaves, shining on the upper and pubescent on
the under surfiice.
C, Pareira, the Pareira-Brava, is a native of several of the West
India Islands, of Mexico, and of Brazil. The root of this plant
arrives in Europe in pieces from two to three feet long, varying
in thickness from that of a finger to an arm, curved, furrowed,
and warty, with a thin closely-adhering bark of a grayishobrown
colour. The woody part is tough, but so porous that air can be
blown from one end to the other of a long piece; the concentric
circles are veij conspicuous; the axis is not in the centre. The
odour is very ttant, but the taste is at first sweetish or liquorice-like,
afterwards nauseous and bitter. Analysed by FeneuiUe it was found
to consist of — soft resin ; a yellow bitter principle (tonic) ; a brown
principle ; animalised matter, starch, malate of lime, nitrate of pot-
ash, and other salts. The juice of the firesh plant in its native country
is said to be a very efficacious application to the bites of oerj^eaitM ;
but in Europe the root is employed only as a tonic diuretic.
There is great reason to believe that the roots of several different
species of this or closely-allied genera are confounded under the
name of Pareira-Brava, especially the root of C. Caapeba, also of C
Mawritanica (Aubl.), which is much esteemed in the East Indies
given along with aromatics in diseases of the intestines. Several
other species of Cissampelos, on account of their prominent bitter
properties, have been used in medicine. Two species of Abtita, an
allied genus, A. rufescens (AubL), and A. candicans (Decand.), are
used in Guyana imder the name of White and Red Pareira-Brava.
CISSUa [Vitackjl]
CISTA'CE^, a natural order of Polypetalous Exogenous Plants, be-
longing to Lindley's Cslyoose Group ; among which they are known by
their opposite or alternate undivided leaves, generally strongly impr^-
nated with a fragrant resinous secretion, regi:diGur flowers wil£crumpM
petals and indefinite stamens, and friiit with parietal placenta ; a
simple style, and a large number of seeds containing in the midst of
albumen an embryo with the radicle remote from the hiluuL They
are remarkable for the beauty of their fugitive flowers in the genera
CiitusandJffeUanthemum,- [Cistus; Heluhthexox; Cochlobferiium.]
The relations of Oistfuece are with Oruc\fera!, Capparidaeece, Ster-
culiacea^f and ffyperieacece. It contains 7 genera and about 190 speciea
They are chiefly found in the south of Europe and the north of
Africa. They are rare in North America, extremelv uncommon in
South America, and scarcely known in Asia. (Lindlay, ' Y ^stable
Kingdom.')
CISTELA. rCi8TELn)E8.]-
CISTElilDES, a family of Coleopterous Insects of the section
ffeteromera and sub-section Stenelytra. The species have the fol-
lowing characters : — Claws of the tand pectinated beneath ; antennn
with tiie basal joint free, that is, not covered by a projecting portion
of the head ; mandibles with the apex entire.
This &mily inoLudea the genera Lgstronickiu, CistdOf Myeetocharus,
AUecula, and some others.
Li^onichu9,—Ot this genus there are upwards of thirty species
known ; their colouring is for the most part brilliant and metallic ;
by far the greater portion of them are found in South America* They
have the l£orax depressed, and with the posterior part as wide as the
elytra, or nearly so; the antennsB are filiform, sometimes growing
slightly thicker towutis the apex.
dstela, — The characters of this genus are : — Head long and some-
what pointed in front ; labrum in width and length nearly equal ;
antennsB rather long, sometimes serrated, or with most of the joints
triangular; body elongate-ovate ; thbrax broader behind than before.
Nearly fortv species of this genus are known, most of which inhabit
Europe, and n>ur or five are found in this country.
0, Ceramboidet is neariy half an inch in length ; black with oofare-
coloured elytra, and, like ;nost of the insects of this section, is found
In flowers.
O, nUphurea {AUeeula ttiZpAnrea of some authors) is about one-third
of an inch in length, and its oolour is pale-yellow throughout This
Digitized by
Google
iUi»
OlSTUBO.
CITRUS.
species 18 more common in this country than the last, and appears to
be confined chiefly to the sea-coast, where, like the one abore men-
tioned, it is found in flowers.
Mycetocharut. — In this genus the head is short and rounded, and
the labrum is transverse ; the antennsB are shorter and the body is
more elongate than in Oittda. About ten species are known, most of
which inhabit Europe and North America; but one is found in
England {Myeetoeharut tcapitUtrit); this is about three -sixteenths
of an inch in length; black; the elytra with two orange-coloured
spots at the base; the base of the antennsB and the tibi» and tarsi
are yellow.
The larvse of this insect, together with those of one or two other
species of the Oistdidet, are figured in the first volume of the
< Entomological Society's Transactions,' where an account of their
habits will also be found.
Hie genus AlUeula (Latreille) may be distinguished from either of
the foregoing genera by the spedes having the penultimate joint of
the tarsi bilobed, and the terminal joint of the palpi securiform.
Upwards of thirty spedee of AlUoula have been discovered, most of
which inhabit South America.
CISTUDO. [Chilohia.]
CISTUS, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Oittaeeag.
The calyx is composed of 5 nearly equal sepals in a double row ;
corolla of 5 equal petals, somewhat cuneated, caducous ; the stamens
numerous; style filiform; stigma capitate; the capsule superior,
6- or 10-celled, locuUddal; the seed ovate, singular; the embryo
filiform, spiraL The species are shrubs or undershrubs with opposite
leaves and one- or many-fiowered peduncles. The flowers are either
red or white, lai^e, resembling a rose.
O. Oreiictu, Cretan Rock-Rose, has spathulate ovate and oblong
leaves, somewhat hairy, downy, dull green, somewhat wavy at the
edge, and stalked ; the petioles furrowed, nearly distinct, the pedun-
cles 1-flowered; sepals with a long taper point and villous; white
flowers. It is a native of dry hills in the most southern parts of
Europe. It has eveigreen leaves which emit a balsamic odour when
rubbed, or after damp warm weather in the summer. It yields, with
many other species of Oittut, a gum-resin called Ladanum [Ladanum,
in Abtb Am) So. Dir.], formerly in great repute as a stimulant in
medicine, and still used by the Turks as a perfume.
Cretan Book.Roae {Cittut Oretietu).
C, 2aiM-{/oUiif, the Laurel-Leaved Gum-Cistus or Rock-Rose has
stalked ovate-lanceolate S-nerved leaves, with the upper surface
^brous and the under surface tomentose ; the footstalks dilated and
oonnate at the base ; the capsule 6-celled. It is a native of the south
of France and Spain. It hu white flowers with a yellow mark at the
base of each petal
0* XodoniftrvM^ Qum-Cistus^ has almott sessile leaves, connate at
the base, linear lanceolate, 8-nerved, the upper surfiuse glabrous, the
imder surface tomentose ; the capsule 10-ceIled. It is a native of the
hills of Spain and Portugal Two varieties are described, one with
white petals having a yellow spot at the base, the other with white
petals and a blood-coloured spot at the base.
0, Ledon has connate leaves, oblong lanceolate, nerved ; upper surface
smooth, shining, under surface silky villous ; the flowers in corymbose
cymes ; the peduncles and calvx clothed with silky villi It is a native
of the south of France. All the species of Cittut here enumerated are
said to yield the Oum Ladanum. Many species which were formerly
described under Cittut are now referred to ffeliatUfiemum,, [Helian-
THSMUM.] This is the case with the whole of the old British species
of Cittut, The flowers of both these genera are very beautiful, and
are remarkable for lasting only one day, opening with the rising of
the sun in the morning and perishing with the setting sim of the
evening. All the species of Cittut are worthy of cultivation in gar-
dens. They should oe kept in the greenhouse in the winter, although
during mild seasons and against a south wall they will survive in the
open air. They may be propagated by seeds as layers, or by ripened
cuttings procured in July or August^ which, if planted under a hand-
glass, will root readily.
(Don, IHchlamydeout Plantt ; Lindley, Flora Medico,)
CITHARI'NUS, a genus of Fishes belonging to the family
SaXmonidct, The species inhabit the Kile. These fishes are chiefly
diBtinguished from their allies by the depressed muzzle, the upper
mai^gin of the mouth being formed of the intermaxillary bones, the
maxillaries being vezy smalL The tongue and palate are smooth ; the
adipose fin is covered with small scales as well as the greater portion
of Uie caudal fin.
CITRON. [Citrus.]
CITRUS, a genus of Aurantiaceous Plants, one of whose spedes
yields the Orange, another the Lemon, and others the Citron, Shad-
dock, Lime, and similar fruits. Among the other genera of the
natural order to which it belongs, it is -known by its stamens being
numerous and irregularly combined into several parcels, and by its
fruit having a leathery rind which can be easily separated firom the
pulpy part that lie3 beneath.
It is a common opinion that the golden apples of the Hesjfhides
were the fruit of some species of this genus ; but as the gardens of
these fabulous personages were stationed, according to the most
approved opinions, either among the mountains of Atlas or to the
west of them, there is no probability that the opinion alluded to L}
correct ; for, independently of the historical facts that dtrons and
lemons at least were obtained from the Persians, it is certain from
the researches of Wallich and other Indian botanists that it is among
the lower ranges of hiUs in Nepaul, and most probably in China aUo,
that the wild states of the genus Citrut find a home. It is added that
the Sweet Orange itself comes from the southern provinces of China
and the Malayan Archipelago, but it is by no means dear that the
plant in those countries is really wild. It is however beyond all ques-
tion also of eastern origin.
Eight spedes are enumerated by Riaso, whom we follow in the
E resent article : we regard it, however, as a matter of great doubt
ow far they are really distinct. The Orange, the Lemon, the Lime,
and the Citron were all that could be distinguished amongst the masit
of spedmens collected for the East India Company in Nepaul ; and
there is no great difficulty in believing that all the numerous varieties
now cultivate! in every part of the temperate and tropical zones, both
of the Old and New World, have in reality sprung from these four
original sources ; part of them being natural varieties obtained by
long cultivation, and part being hybrids created by aoddental drcuni-
stanoes or artificial means.
1. Citrut Aurantiunif the Sweet Orange (Oranger of the FrencL,
Arando of the Italians). Stem arborescent. Leaves ovate-oblon^',
acute, a little serrulated, with the stalk more or less winged. Flower:^
white. Fruit many-ceUed, roundish, very seldom pointed, golden-
yellow or tawny. Cysts in the rind convex. Pulp very sweet Tie
principal varieties of this species are : —
a. The China Orange, with ovate-oblong leaves; round smooUi
rather fiattened fruit ; and a thin golden-yellow rind. This is the
Common Orange. of the markets, and of the Portuguese.
b. The Pear-Shaped Orange, with elliptical acute leaves, aul
great top-shaped fiiiit, with a deep yellow smooth rind ; a rare and
curious sort not known in the market ; it is one of the most «4>able
of resisting cold.
c The Orange of Nice, with ovate-acute leaves, and large, thick-
skinned, rough, dark-yellow, round fruit This is considered one
of the finest of the whole genus, both in regard to beauty, size, pi\>-
ductiveness, and quality. It is a good d^ cultivated about the
town whose name it bears.
d. The Tiny- Fruited Orange, with ovate-oblong acute leaves, tiny
globose fruit, and a thin smooth golden-yellow rind. Supposed to
have been brought from the Philippines. The fruit is more curious
than beautiful or good.
e. The Fingered Orange, with little stiff leaves, and ovate fruit,
some one at least of whose lobes is separate from the remainder,
and homed ; rind pretty thick. This must not be confounded with
the Fingered Citron hereafter to be mentioned.
Digitized by
Google
1121
CITRUS.
ClTRtfS.
Utt
f. The Blood-Red Orange, with oyate-oblong pellucid leaves, and
nuddle-sized roxmd rough reddish-yellow finii^ with a pulp irre-
gularly mottled with crimson. This, which is said to have come
from tiie Philippines, was once looked upon as a great curiosity, and
living plants were purchased at a considerable price ; it was thought
to be produced by grafting an orange upon a pomegranate. Now
that it is known to be a variety of indifferent quality, and that its
fabulous history is forgotten, it has ceased to attract much notice.
A trifling varie^ of it is the Arancio di Sugo Rosso of the Italians^
who call the real blood-red variety Arancio di Haiti ^ Sanguigno.
Another variety, with small fruity is the Arancio a Foglia Stretta of
Nice.
# g. The Ribbed Orange, with oblong-acute leaves, and a flattened
ribbed deep^range fruit. This is one of the most tender of the
varieties ; its fruit is spongy, and of no value.
h. The Sweet-Skinned Orange, with broad taper pointed leaves,
. roundish rather ovate heavy fruit, and a deep yellow smooth thick
Bweet soft rind. This is the Pomme d* Adam, or Forbidden Fruity of
the shops of Paris. Its pulp is subacid and pleasant, and as deep a
yellow as the rind, which is soft and melting like the flesh of a
cling-stone peach ; the acidity of the pulp is agreeably mixed with
sweetness, and renders tiie fruit extremely pleasant. This is very
different from the Forbidden Fruit of the London shops; see
C dtcwoiaiia further on.
i. The Mandarin Orange, with flattened rough deep-orange fruity
and a thin rind, which separates spontaneously from the pulp. This
sort has been raised in China, where its fruit is chiefly consumed in
presents to the great officers of state, whence its name. It is now
csultivated in Malta, where it arrives at perfection. Its singularity
consists in the rind so completely separating from the pulp when
quite ripe that the latter may be shaken about in the inside.
In quality this yields to no known kind. There are two sub-
varieties.
2;. The Saint MichAel's Orange, with small round pale-yellow
seedless fruit, having a thin rind and an extremely sweet pulp.
This, when in a state of perfection, is perhaps the most delicious of
all the oranges, and it is by far the most productive. Great quan-
tities are imported from the Azores, where it appears to be
exdusivdy cultivated as an object of trade. It is said that 20,000
of these oranges have beoi packed from a single tree, exclusively
of the laige quantity which were blown down or rejected as unfit
for sale.
Besides these there are numerous other sorts to \a found in the
gardens of the curious, and in commerce are many kinos about which
little is known. Among these may be mentioned the Egg-Oranges of
Malta, which are sometimes sent to England as presents ; they are
not however equal in quality to the China or the Saint Michael's
varieties.
2. C, Bigaradia, the Bigarade, or Bitter Orange (Bigaradier of
the French, Melanffolo of the Italians). Branches i^iny. Leaves
elliptical, acute, wiw a winged stalk. Flowers very white. Fruit
middle-sized, uneven, more or less globose, deep yellow, with an acid
and bitter pulp. It differs moreover from the sweet orange in forming
a smaller tree, having broader leaves, and larger and sweeter flowers,
on which account it is always selected in preference for the purposes
of the perfumer. Its fruit is much more uneven. Numerous varieties
of it are known, among which are all those cultivated for the sake of
their flowers ; especially the Homed Bigarade, a variegated variety of
it, and the Curled-Leaved Bigarade. The following are a few of the
most striking forms of this species : —
a. The Homed Bigarade, with a laxge pale-yellow ribbed fruit,
whose sides project into horns. This variety, which is of the same
nature as the Fingered Sweet Orange (var. e.), its homed appear-
ance being caused by the separation of the carpels or fruit-lobes, is
in great estimation on account of the powerful and delicious per-
fume of its flowers. It is the Melangolo a Frutto Comuto of the
Italians.
h. The Female Bigarade, with a deep yellow laxge coarse fruit,
containing orange within orange. The circumstance from which
this variety derives its name is not at all uncommon in the genus
CHtnUf but it exists here in perhaps the most strongly-marked
manner. An orange in its natural state consists of one whorl of
carpels, which are consolidated into a round fruity each of whose
lobes is one carpeL But it sometimes happens that two whorls of
carpels combine to fomi the same frrdt ; in that case the inner
whorl is consolidated into a central orange, and the outer whorl
grows over it. Or it may happen that three whorU of carpels con-
stitute the fruit ; in that case the innermost whorl will combine
into an orange in the centre ; the second whorl will form a coating
over it; and the most exterior whorl will indose the whole.
Finally the carpels may separate wholly, as in the Fingered Citron,
or in part) as in the fingered Orange and Bigarade, and then the
fruit consists of a number of lobes more or less distinct. Until
the discoveiy made by Qothe of the real nature of compound fruity
oranges of this kind were looked upon as something wondrous, and
many idle speculations existed as to their cause. A flgure of this
may be found in Risso's * Histoire Naturelle des Orangars,' t. 83,
without however any explanation of the cause of the moofltrosity.
VAT. HIBT. Diy. VOL. L
c. The Curled-Leaved Bigarade, with very compact blunt
small curled leaves, and flowers growing in thick dusters at the
ends of the branches. No variety is more generally cultivated
than this for the sake of its flowers, which are large, sweety and
produced in extraordinary profusion. The French gardeners
call it Le Bouquetier, or Nosegay Plant, and Bigaradier Riche
D^pouill^ ; the Italians Melangolo Bicco. The fruit is coarse, very
light, imeven, and with a large conspicuous scar at tiie point The
plant itself is fax more dwarf than the other varieties, and is one
of the most robust of its race. It is a common object of culti-
vation all over the South of Europe.
d. The Purple Bigurade, with leaves, flowers, and fruit stained
more or less with a dull purple, especially the young leaves.
Hermaphrodite and Bigarade Yiolette of the French, Melangolo
Pavonezzo of the Italians.
e. The Double-Flowered Bigarade, with rather thick leaves,
double flowers, round granulated fruit, and a thick rind; the
common double orange of the nurseries. It is a great favourite
in gardens, because of its multitudes of fragrant double flowers,
which do not fall in pieces so quickly as those which are single ;
it loses its 'quality of producing double flowers if the soil in
which it grows is not kept in a very ridi state.
/. The Seville Bigarade or Orange, with round dark fruit, having
an uneven rugged extremely bitter rind ; commonly brought to
the English market, where it is consumed in the manufacture of
bitter tinctures, and in the preparation of candied orange-peel. The
bittter aromatic principle is a powerful tonic ; it gives its flavour
to the liqueur called Cura9oa.
ff. The Myrtle-Leaved Bigarade, with small very compact ovate
sharp-pointed leaves, and small round fruit ; generally both in
flower and fruit at the same time, if well cultivated. On this
account and because of its dwarf habit, it is a very common object
in gardena It is said to be a Chinese production, and that it is
employed by the Chinese gardeners as an edging of flower-beds, in
the same way as the dwarf box in this coun^.
A.* The Bizanre Bigarade, wil^ curled rather deformed leaves,
purplish or white flowen, and fruit of different sorts, some being
round and of the common appearance, others half bigarades and
half lemons or citrons, the pulp of some being sweet, that of othera
acid and bitter. A curious lusus naturoe, which was once thought
to be the greatest prodigy in all the vegetable kingdom. It is
however merely one of those sports, as they are technically called
by gardenera, in which, owing to some unknown cause, some one
individual assumes the appearance of two or more others in
particular parts. Analogous instances are — the grape called the
y ariegated Chasselas, some of whose fruit is blade, some white, and
some striped with both colours; the Camellia, which bears red,
white, and party-coloured flowers on the same stem; and the
Chrysanthemum, some of whose flowera are purple and othera
yellow. This Bigarade was raised from seed by a gardener at
Florence in 1644, and has since been multiplied by grafting, and
so has been preserved to the present day. It may be procured
from the nurseiymen of France and Italy, and it fruits annually
in the orangei^ at Versailles.
3. C £ergam%a, the Beigamot Orange. Leaves oblong, flowen
small, very sweet. Fruit pear-shaped or flattened, rugged, with a
greenish-yellow smooth rind filled with concave receptacles of oiL
Pulp subadd, very fragrant. The trees of this spedes are rather
variable in appearance. The fragrance of both flowera and frnit is
peculiar. From each of them the perfrimer procures an essence of a
delidous quality. The rind, deprived of the pulp, first dried, and
then moistened with water, is pressed in moulds into fancy boxes for
holdinjg lozenges and other sweetmeats, and these boxes retain much
of thaur recent odour. The Mellarosa of the Italians is a variety, with
ribbed fruit, haying a broad scar at the summit ; it is much esteemed
on account of the abundance of its flowers.
4. O, Lmetta, the Lime. Leaves ovate, obovate, and oblong,
placed upon a wingless stalk. Flowen small and white. fVuit ovate
or roundish, pale-yellow, with a boss at the point'; the cysts in the
rind concave ; pulp subacid. In foliage this resembles the lemon, but
its fruit differa in the pulp never having the sharp and powerful add
of the lemon ; it is on the contrary flat and slighUy bitter : it is prin-
dpally employed for flavouring punch, sherbet, and similar dnnks.
The varieties are of no importance ; they prindpaUy differ in the
thickness of their rind and in form. Here is to be arranged the round
very uneven fruit called Pomo d' Adamo by the Italians, because they
fancy that the depressions upon its surface look as if they still bore
the marks of our universal fiither^s teeth.
5. O. decumana, the [Shaddock. Leaves laxge, with a winged
stalk. Flowen very large and white. Fruit usually verv laige,
roundish, pale yellow, smooth, with flat or convex cvsts in me rind.
Rind white, spongy, very thick ; pulp juicy, sweetish, rather insipid.
Shaddocks are among the laxgest nnits which are known, and aro
commonly cultivated in both the East and West Indies for the sake
of the deUcate subadd juicy pulp in which they abound. When
they arrive at their greatest size they are called ^ompoleons or
Pompelmousses; when at the smallest they form the Forbidden Fruit
of the English markets. Another small variety, with the shaddocks
4 0
Digitized by
Google
11S3
CIVET.
CLADONIA.
1121
growing in dusterg, foimo a larger tree than «^ other CfUrut; the
fruit ia about as large aa the fist; it is what the West Indians oall the
Grape-Fruit
6. C. LuaUa, the Sweet Lemon. Leaves like those of the lemon.
Flowers red externally. Fruit with the flesh and rind of a lemon,
bat with the pulp sweet, and the oysts in the rind both oonToz and
oonoaye. There oan be no doubt that this is a mere variety of
the next speoies, from which it only differs in the want of acidity in
the pulp. Many sorts are known in orange oountriei^ of which one,
the Commander^s Pear, resembles very much a laige Beurr^ Fear ;
their fruit is seldom seen in England.
7. O. LimoMMn, the True Ijemon (Citronnier of the French).
Leaves ovate-oblong, usually serrulated, pale green, with a winged
stalk. Flowers middle-sised, red externally. Fruit oblong, v^
uneven, now and then almost round, with a pale-yellow fragrant
rind, dotted with concave cysts. Pulp juicy, and veiy acid. Of this
species the cultivators take little pams to distinguish the varieties.
When young plants are wanted they are generally raised from seeds
in the orange countries, and hence the samples of fruit sent to market
consist at tSl times of numerous sorts, differing very much in quality.
Some of them have their rind so thick and insipid that they approadi
the Citron in quality ; one, with roundish rugged ribbed fruit, is
called Vignette upon the Continent, where it is common ; another,
with oblong extremely rugged fruit, is one of the Pondres of the
French. The most distinct race is that which comprehends the
Perettes, or Little Pears ; they are very small in the fruity which is a
pale greenish-yellow, and has almost the shape of an egg : their rind
is more delicately perfumed than that of common lemons.
8. O, mediea, the Citron (Cedratier of the French, Cedro,
Cedrato, of the Italians). Branches short and stiff. Leaves oblong,
toothed. Flowera purple externally. Fruit usually large^ warted,
and furrowed, with an extremely thick spongy rind, and a subacid
pulp. This is an exceedingly variable species, chiefly valued for the
fragrance of the rind of the fruit, from which a delicate sweatmeat is
prepared. The Citron, supposed to be the Median, Aasyri^p, or
Persian apple of the €hreeki^ ia probably the moat beautiful species of
the genus. It is described by Risso as having a majestic aspect, shining
leavei^ and rosy flowers, which are succeeded by fruit whose beau^
and size astonish the observer at the same time that their sweet
odour gratifies his senses. The trees are constantly in vegetation, the
flowers appear even in midwinter, and there is so continual a succes-
sion of them, that flowers, yoimg fruit, and ripe fruit, may always be
seen together at the same moment The Poncire Citrons are eight or
nine inches long, and are the largest of the race known in Europe.
In China there is an enormous variety, with its lobes all sepurating
into fingers of different shapes and sises» whence its name of Fingered
Citron. The Chinese esteem it very much, both for its rarity and for
the grateful odour of its rind. They place the monstrous fruits upon
porcelain dishes, and have them in their apartments to fill the air
with fragrance. Those who would study this genus in detail will
find excellent figpues of above 100 varieties in Risso's 'Histoire
Naturelle dss Orangers.' For the culture, medicinal uses, and com-
merce of the genua CUruB, see Obanox, in Abtb ard So. Diy.
CrVET. fVrvERRiDA]
CLADIUM (jrA<(8ov, a branch or twig), a genus of Plants belonging
to the natural order ChfperacecB, It has 1-2-flowered spikelets, 5 or 6
glumes, the lower ones empty and smaller, bristles absent, the nut
with a thick fleshy coat, tipped with the slender base of the style.
There is but one European species of this genus, the O. Mari$cu»,
Common Sedge. It has latenu and terminal repeatedly compound
panicles, the spikelets capitate, the stem roundish, leafy, smooth ; the
leaves rough on the margins and keel. It is not a common plant in
Great Britain, except in Cambridgeshire, where in the bogs and fens
of that county it is exceedingly common, hundreds of acres being
covered entirely with it. It is used in many districts of Cambridge-
shire for the purpose of lighting firea This plant is the SehcBrnu
Mmriicui and Cladiwn Oemamcum of many botanista Several
species of Cladiwn are natives of Australia. (Babington, BriHth Bot, ;
Burnett, Ouilineq,)
CUL'DIUS, a genus of Hymenopterous Insects of the family
^mthrtdinida. It has the following characters : — ^Antennae about
the same length as the body, ciliated beneath, and nine-jointed ; the
two basal joints short, the third joint with a protuberance beneath at
the base, and a branch thrown out from the upper side at the apex ;
the fourth and fifth have likewise the last-mentioned process ; and in
the sixth and seventh it is rudimentary. In the female all these
processes are wanting, excepting the one on the underside of the
third ioint Wings with one marginal and three sub-marginal cells ;
tarsi smiple.
O, dijformiif when the wings are expanded, measures in width
abont one-third of an indb : it is black, with the tibi» and tarsi pale
^eUow. This species may be considered the type of the genua. It
mhabits this country, but is not conmioiL
CLABOCOOIA, a Fossil genus of Corals allied to LUhodendnm,
and occurring in the Palnozoic strata.
CLA'DODUS, a genus of Fossil Plaooid Fishes, from the Mountain
Limestone of Armagh, Bristol, &c. (Agassiz.)
GLABCKIAy a genus of Plants b^onging to the natoial order
Lichejiu, It has a thallus somewhat shrubby, brsnched, rarely simple,
leafy, with scales, which are often evanescent ; branches oartilaginoas,
rigid, fistulose, aU attenuated and subulate, divided, fertile, gmerally
perforated in the axils. Shields sessile, orbicular, convex, capituU-
form, not bordered, fixed by the droumferenoe, free beneath in the
centre, the sides reflexed, uniform within. The genus Cladonia thtu
defined, with Scyphophonu and PycnotMia, are included by Achariaa
and Delisle in tiie genus Oenomyce. Sir W. Hooker observes of Uub
gsnus, that " the determination of the species is attended with the
greatest difficulty, on account of their variable character; and m*the
present state of my knowledge I dare not venture upon introdadng
others than those published in English Botany. Much attention haa
been given to this genus by DeUsle in the ' Botanicum QaUicum,'
who, with Acharius, unites this and the two following genera into one,
Cenomyce, and enumeratea fifty-three species, besides many marked
varieties, as natives of France ; all of which are most probaUy natiyei
also of Britain. He would render an acceptable service to BritiBh
Botany who should undertake a monograph of the British Cladcniea."
Hooker enumeratea only five Britiah species.
O. rangiferina^ Rein-Deer Moss, has erect, elongated, ronghiah,
qylindrictd, greeziish-white, very much branched podetia, the axik
perforated, the branches scattered, often intricate divaricated, the
alternate ones drooping, apotheda suVglobose, brown, on snuill erect
branchlets. This is a frequent plant in Great Britain, on moors, heaths,
and mountains. Its botanical characters are very variable, mora
especially the colour and the length of the ramifications. This may
be accounted for by the wide range of latitude in which it is tound,
extending from the arctic regions, where it is most abundant^ to the
tropics. This plant is the principal support of the rem-deer in its
native countries, and hence its common nama In Li4)land Ihere ia
no plant so abundant aa this, especially in the pine forests, where it
covers the surface of the soil for manv miles together like snow. On
the destruction of the forests by fire this plant continues to grow, and
then reaches its greatest luxuriance. In such districts the rein-deer
are principally pastured in the winter ; and whatever mav be tiie depth
of snow, these animals are enabled to obtain their food by grubbing
with their noses through the snow. It woidd be quite impossible that
the rein-deer should exist in these climates during the winter were it
not for this apparentiy insignificant plant The Laplanders are a]ao
in the habit of collecting thia lichen with rakes in the rainy aeaaon,
when it is flexible, and readily separatee frwrn the ground where it
has grown ; they then lay it up in heaps to serve as fodder for their
oows. Dr. Cla^e and lus companions, during his travels in Lapland,
were tempted to eat some of this lichen. *' To our surprise," he aajB,
" we found that we might eat of it with as much ease as of the heart
of a fine lettuce. It tasted like wheat bran. But after swallowing it
there remained in the throat and upon the palate a gentle heat or
sense of burning, as if a small quantity of pepper had been mixed
with the lichen. We had no doubt that if we could have procured
oil and vinegar it would have made a grateful salad. Cooling and
juicv as it was to the palate, it nevertheless wanned the stomach whan
swallowed, and cannot fail of proving a gratifying article of food to
man or beast during the dry winter of the frigid cona Tet neither
Laplanders nor Swedes eat of this lichen." This might srise from
the fact which Dr. Clarke relates shortiy after, namely, "that when
Oustavus III. succeeded to the throne an edict was published and sent
all over Sweden, recommending the use of this lichen to the peasants
in time of deartii, and they were advised to boil it in milL ' Snch
an edict would be likely to have the effect of preventing people from
eating it» as it would from that time forth be only looked upon as a
last resouroe. DiUenius however states that when boiled in water it
yields no jelly, its substance is very little diminished, and beoomea
drier than before ; and the decoction evaporated yields only a amall
quantity ef an acerb and austere extract The alimentary secretion
of this plant appears to be similar to that of other Udiens. It ii
called lichenin, or Lichen Starch, and contains the same elements as
starch. No nitrogen has been detected. It is however probable that
nitrogen will be found to exist in this lichen, as during the winter it sup-
plies the rein-deer with food which must require a nitrogenona com-
pound in order to maintain its muscular power, unices we have recooFse
to the aupposition that starch or lichenin, by union with free nitrogen
in the system, can be converted into fibrins or other proteinaoeoos
compoimds.
O. vermtcwZorw, Vermicelli Lichen, has its podetia spreading horifon-
tally, pure white^ subulate, simple or sU^tiy branched, bnuiehes
tapering at each end. It has oeen found not unfrequent on the
loftiest motmtains of the north of England and Scotland. The ahape
of its branches give it the appearance of a bundle of small worms or
of vermicelli It is a native of South America^ where it is used as a
stomachic under the name of Oonirayerha blanea.
(?. MN^iMMa has a leafy very thick imbricated thallusi, scsrlet, and
frosted with white beneath ; above, green and somewhat gelatinous ;
the lobes crenulated, ascending ; podetia nearly solid, cavernous, split
into fingered lobes, either wholly or at their apex only; the shields
marginal, confluent^ scarlet This pretty form is a native of the
Brarik, where it is rubbed down with sugar and water, and is found
to be an excellent remedy lor aphthss in children. The ramainmg
described British species are C. imcia/is, 0. pun^jfent, O. fitreaOk
Digitized by
Google
1125
CLADTODOK.
CLAVAGELLA.
1126
(Lindley, Flora Mediea; Burnett, OtUlinei of Botany; Hooker,
SritUh Floray voL iL)
CLADTODON, a generic title for some FoBBilKeptiles found in the
New Red-Sandvtone Syntem. [Theoodonts.]
CLAKIS. [Bebnicle Goose.]
CLANGULA, a genus of Birds belonging to the family AnaHda,
CLART. [Salvia.]
CLATHRAHIA, a genus of Fossil Plants found in the Wealden
strata of Sussex by Dr. MantelL The stem is reticulated on the
surface, and has analogies to Xanthorrhoea and the Cycadece. CUUh-
raria LvelUi and 01. MarUeUi (this latter the fruit) are described by
Brongmart (' Hist, des Y^t. Foss.').
CLATHROTTERIS, a remarkable genus of Fossil Ferns, the
foliation of which is marked with quadrangular network of vessels —
a rare drcumstanoe in living ferns — such as Meniscivm, OkUhropterU
menitewidei occurs in the Mesozoic Sandstone of Hor in Scania.
CLAUSILIA, a genus of Palmonifer«us MoUtuca, [Helicida]
CliAVAGELLA, a genus of Testaceous Acephalous Animalsi,
established by Lamarck in the fifth volume of the ' Histoire
Naturelle des Animauz sans Vert^bres,' published in 1818, and
arranged by him under his Tubicol^es, between AaperyiUvm and
FUttUana. He described four species, all fossil, referring at the same
time to the ' Annales du Museum/ where he had figured the first of
them under the zuune of Fistulana eehinaia* Lamarck thus defines
the genus: — "A tubular shelly sheath, attenuated and open ante*
riorly, terminated posteriorly in an ovate subcompressed club beset
with tubular spines ; the dub presenting on one side the one valve
fixed in its wiJl or substancei, while the other valve remains free in
the tube."
The genus was only known in a fossil state to conchologists, when
Mr. George Sowerby observed in the British Museum a recent sped-
-men, which he at first thought might be an AapergiUum, indosed in a
mass of stone. On application to Mr. Children, that gentleman
allowed Mr. Sowerby to examine it more closely, and on ■orapllig
away some of the investing stone the latter foimd Clamaffdla Ofperia,
the first recorded recent species, and figured and describsd it in his
' Genera of Recent and Fossil Shells.' The same naturalist, on the
return of Mr. Samuel Stutchbuxy from his vojrage to some of the
Australian and Polynesian Islands, described and figured (1827) a
second species, ClowageUa amstraUs, three specimens of which were
with difficulty obtained by Mr. Stutchbury at North Harbour, Port
Jackson, in a siliceous grit like that of the coal-measures, where their
presence was betrayed just beneath low-water mark, by their forcible
ejection of the water from the aperture of their tubes : the specimen
of Clavagella ctAutraUa fig^ured by Mr. Sowerby is also in the British
Museum. In 1829 Mr. Henry Stutchbury, in arranging the collection
of Mr. Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, suspected the presence of a ClavagtUa
in a mass of AttraoporOf and, on fracturing the specimen, laid open
two individuals of another species, Clavoffella dongata, Broderip.
According to Cuvler, and a notice in the 'Annales des Sciences
Naturelles' (tome zvii, p. 78), M. Audouin (1829) described a recent
spedes, and M. Rang, in his ' Manuel des MoUusques' (1829), mentians
another, apparently ClavageUa ropo.
Still the animal remained unknown ; when, on the return of Mr.
Cuming from his first voyage, that zealous collector produced another
specimen which fortunately included the soft parts. A fragment of
calcareous grit was dredged up by Mr. Cuming from a depth of deven
fathoms, at the island of Muerte, in the Bay of Guayaquil, andin this was
thegreater portion of the chamber and tube, both valves, and the animal
of Cla/vageUa lata of Broderip. Mr. Broderip, who has described this
and two other recent spedes in the first volume of the ' Transactions
of the Zoological Sodety ' (p. 261), says, that a close examination of
the recent species has convinced Mm that though one "reive is alwavs
fixed or imbedded in the chamber, and soldered, as it were, to the
tube, so as to make one surface with it, the tube is not necessarily
continued into a complete testaceous davate shape. In Mr. Goldsmid's
best and laigest speoimen, the fixed valve was imbedded in the coral,
and though continued on to the tube or dphonic sheath, was sur-
rounded by the wall of the coral chamber at its anterior extremity.
In the other spedmen the fixed valve was also continued on to the
tube. In the first-mentioned specimen of ClavageUa dongaita, at the
anterior or greater end of the ovate chamber, an insulated or shelly
plate had been secreted with tubular perforations ; that part of the
chamber having afforded (apparently at a former period) the best
communication with the ambient fluid : but a calcareous depodt
haying almost entirdy cut off that communication, the animal seemed
to have been compelled to secrete a second shelly plate towards the
anterior ventral edge of the fixed valve, where the perforation of some
other shell (a LUhodomm probably) secured the necessary influx of
water. Nor is this the only instanoe of the secretion of a second
tubular plate which has fallen under Mr. Broderip's notice. In the
last-mentioned or smaller spedmen, the perforated shelly plate joins
the anterior ventral edge of the fixed valve laterally, that point of the
chamber being evidently the most practicable for communicating with
the water by means of tiie tubules : the rest of the anterior edge of
the fixed valve is surrounded by the coral walL In Mr. Cuming^s
speoimen the fixed valve is continued on to the tabeu Tha anterior
edge of this valve is suirounded by the naked wall of the diamber,
and the greater end of the chamber, or that part of it which is oppo-
site to tms anterior edge, being impracticable, horn, its thickness, as a
water commumcation (with a small exception, which, not improbably,
had ceased to be available), the animal lutd been driven to secrete the
perforated shelly plates not far from the throat of the tube on dther
side, where the chambers of PetricokB or LUhodomi opened a passage
to the surrounding water.
Professor Owen, from an examination of Mr. Cuming's specimeD*
has given an account of the anatomy of this moUusk. (* ZooL Trans.,*
vd. l) He found the following to be the relative podtion of the
animal : — The mouth turned towards the dosed end of the chamber,
which is consequently the anterior part. The heart and rectum near
the side where the vdves are connected by the ligament, or the dorsal
pari The visceral mass projecting towards the oppodte or neutral
side. The siphon exten^ng into the conmiencement of the calcare-
ous tube, which leads out of the anal or posterior part of the chamber.
The fixed valve, which covers the rough surface of the porous rock or
ooral, like the tiling of a chamber-floor, and afibrds a smooth polished
surface for the support and attachment of the animal, is the left
valve : the right valve remains fr^ or is connected only to the soft
parts and caidinal ligament, in order to assist in the excavating and
respiratory actions.
The shelly substance of the fixed valve passes without interruption
into that of the tube ; a slight ridge circumscribing the entry of the
tube into the chamber indicating the line of separation, unless the
extent of the valve be limited to that of the inteziial nacreous depod-
tion. The tube of an oval form, 7 lines by 5 in diameter. The cal-
careous walls ^th of an inch in thickness at the outiet^ and about ^th
at the opposite extremity. The free valve imequally triangular, with
the angles roimded off, about the thickness of a sixpence, moderately
concave towards the soft parte, and striated only in the direction of
the layers of increment on the outer surface, as in most of the Pylori-
dean Bivalves of M. de Blainville. QThe layers gradually increase
towards the dorsal edge for a littie more than one half of the valve,
beyond which the layers continue of almost equal breadth. " This
flrowth of the valve,'' adds Mr. Owen, " corresponds to the direction
m which the chamber is enlarged, which is prindpally on the dorsal,
dextral, and anterior sides : now this is the mode of enlargement best
adapted for the full development of the ovary ; so tiiat it would seem
that the OUnageUa continues for a time to work its way into the rock
without maleml increase of dze, leaving behind it a calcareous tube,
which marks its track ; after which it becomes stationary, and limits
its operations to enlarging its chamber to the extent necessary for the
accomplishment of the great object of its existence."
The manUe enveloping the body is like a shut sac, but perforated
for the siphon and foot, the opening for the latter being reduced to
a small sut. M. Riippdl observed an analogous orifice in the corre-
sponding part in AtpergUhimf namely, that which is next the sunken
sieve-like extremity of the tube, and by which he supposes the water
necessary for respiration to be received when the retreating tide
leaves exposed the expanded siphonic extremity. Professor Owen ia
of opinion thai this cannot be its use in those spedes of Ola/vageUa
whion exist at depths too great to allow of their being ever left
with the dphonin aperture out of water; but that it must serve to
keep up a communication with the neighbouring cavities of the rock,
by means of the calcareous tubules, the formation of which is deter-
mined bv ^ proximily of these cavities. When therefore the
Olamuima, by a sudden ocmtraction of the adductor musdes, has
forcibly etpelled the branchial currents from the dphon, as was
observed by Kr. Stutdibury, the space between the free valve and
the walls of the ohamber would be simultaneoudy filled, dther by
water rushing ia through the tubules, or forced out from the branchial
cavity through the small anterior orifice of the mantle. To assist
this operation there is a proportional development of the muscular
system, which is remarkably powerfoL The impresdon of the great
or posterior adductor is carried two lines beneaw the sur&oe of the
duunber posteriorly, but gradually rises to the level of the valve.
The impresdon of the smtdler anterior adductor is more fidnt, and is
continued into the sinuous pallial impresdon, which follows the
contour of ^e anterior margin of the valve at about two Unes' distance
from it. In the free valve the last two muscular impresdons are
separate. The outer dermoid layer of the mantie is extremely thin,
and, where it does not line the vdves, is bottled with minute dark
spots, less numerous than those on the skin of Cephalopods, and
presenting, under the microscope, a glandular appearanoe. The
muscular layer, after forming the dphon and its retractors, is confined
to the anterior part of the mantie, where it swdls into a thick convex
mass of iAterlaced and chiefly transverse fibres, and fonning,
Professor Owen supposes, one of the prindpal instruments in the
work of excavation. No fibres could be detected in other parts of
the mantie ; nor could any be expected in a mantle which had no
lobes to be retracted. The dphon, in the contracted state, formed a
slightiy-compressed cylindrical tube, half an inch in length, and tiie
same in the long diameter, traversed longitudinally by the branchial
and anal canals, separated from each other by a muscular septum,
extending to the end of the siphon, beyond which the two tubes do
not separatdy extend outwards, agreeing in this respect with
Oattrochcma and AtpergUkun, Muscular walls of the dphon two
Digitized by
Google
1127
CLAVAGELLA.
CLAVAQELLA.
M28
lines in thickness; the septum separating the branchial and anal
canals one line; diameter of each canal about one line; inner
extremity both of the anal and respiratory tube provided with a
valvular fold : terminations beset with short papillse. The retractor
muscles attach the siphon to the posterior adductor on one side, and
to the anterior extremity of the oval mass of muscular fibres above
mentioned on the other, leaving an intermediate space on both sides
the body, which exposes part of the gills and labial tentacles. The
muscular mass which bounds the anterior part of the animal's body
is ova], one inch three lines long, eight lines broad, and varying in
thickness from two to three lines : it is smooth and convex externally,
and hollowed out within to lodge the viscera at the base of the foot>
for the passage of which it leaves the small orifice above mentioned.
The mai-gins attached to the valves are more or less irregular : that
affixed to the loose valve is the broadest, being at tiie ventral
extremity three lines in length.
The jplls have the same laminated structure as that observed in
other bivalves, they are broad and short, corresponding to the form
of the animal ; and the laminsB, not thin compressed layers, but broad
and projecting but little from the sides of the visceral mass, are
arranged in three layers instead of two, on either side of the foot.
The digestive system is accordant with the structure of the same
part in the other acephalous moUusks. The mouth, a transverse
Blit> without masticatory or salivary organs, is bounded by the upper
and lower labial processes which are continued in the form of two
transversely striated pointed tentacles on either side : these prehensile,
sensitive, and probably respiratory oi^gans measure each six lines in
length, and about one and a half lines in breadth. The oesophagus,
after a course of two lines, dilates into a stomach, the sides of wMch
are perforated by the large hepatic ducts. The intestine, after a
course of eight fines, forms a small caecum about one line in length..
The intestine, after making three close turns upon itself in the mass'
of ova and hepatic follicles at the base of the foot, passes in imme-
diate contact witii but not through the heart, and then below the
posterior adductor, to opposite the posterior orifice of the anal tube.
The exterior of the intestine has an irregular honey-combed appear-
ance, jfrom the close adhesion to it of the capsules of the ova. The
liver has the same divided follicular structure and green colour as
in the other Bivalves.
The nervous system consists of a large and conspicuous ganglion
situated at the posterior part of the baise of the foot, just al^ve the
orifice of the anal tube. Two nervous cords extend from this
ganglion, on either side the foot, to the mouth; other branches radiate
in l£e opposite direction to the siphonic and adductor muscles.
The ovaiT, of a gray colour, forms a mass at the dorsal aspect of
the body above the great adductor muscle, and extending ventral
on either side the oesophagus and stomach to the opposite end of the
base of the foot. All this mass of intestinal folds, hepatic follicles,
and ova was covered by a thin membrana The little muscular
process or foot which passes through the anterior slit of the mantle
is but four lines long, and half a line in breadth : its possible use
may be to apply a solvent to the rock in which the chamber is
excavated.
Mr. Broderip observes that we are left to conjecture the causes
which operate to deteimine the animal in the choice of its abode, if
indeed it can be called choice, for most probably Clavagdla is the
creature of circumstances, and if, soon after its exclusion from the
parent (when Kr. Broderip supposes it to be furnished with its two
Fig 1, part of ealcareoos grit rock containing the fixed valve and part of the tube
of Clavagella lata ; fig. 3, external view of the right or free valve ; fig. 4, internal
view of the same, showing the mnscnlar impreasiona oorreaiKmding with those
of the left or fixed valve ; fig. 2, soft parts of (7. lata seen from the right aide,
the dermal layer of the mantle, e, being removed ; fig. 5, the same seen f^om
the left side, or that which is in contact with the fixed Talve. The extremities
of the left labial appendages only are exposed, no part of the gill being pro.
truded. A bristle is placed in the opening of the mantle, a, anterior wall of
the chamber ; h, dorsal wall, the letter placed on the hinge of the fixed valve ;
c, ventral wall ; <l, posterior or siphonic outlet ; e, tabular communications
with a neighbouring cavity, here sent off from the posterior part of the mantle ;
^ «*, calcareous tubes secreted by the above processes and extending into the
cavities contiguous to the throat of the tube ;, if\ a cavity communicating with
the anterior part of the chamber; /, impression of the posterior adductor
muscle ; /, impression of the anterior adductor muscle ; K, impression of the
pallial muscft, or third adductor ; /, posterior or large adductor (the single
adductor of the OttraeeOf S^e., corresponds to this, the following are super-
added in other families of Bivalves) ; p, the anterior, anterOi^dorBal, or smaller
adductor ; A, the pallial or antero-ventral adductor ; <, the convex muscular
mass continued over the anterior part of the body, and reducing th» opening of
the mantle to the small slit *, through which a bristle is placed in fig. 5 (this
mass is an inordinate develoinnent of what forms the muscular margins of the
mantle lobes in other Bivalves) ; k, muscular fibres- of the siphon ; I (fig. 6),
the respiratory, or ingestive siphonic canal; m, the anal or egestive dphonic
canal; n, the labial or buccal appendage ; t, the gills : in fig. 2 the rig^t gill
is seen partially protruded between the muscular parts of the mantle ; jt, part
of the ovary (figures and description firom Owen, to whose lucid memoir and
Ulustrations the reader is referred for the anatomy of tlie internal parts) ;
fig. 7, anterior termination of the shelly tube of C, gperta, Sow., firom Mr.
Sowerby's * Genera of Recent and Fossil Shells.'
Digitized by
Google
1120
CLAVELINA.
CLAVICORNES.
1190
yalTes only, and to float free, with, perhaps, some voluntaiy impulse),
it arriyes at the vacant hole of some small Petricola, IdthodomuSf or
other perforatmg Testacean which suits it, one valve soon becomes
attached to the wall of the hole, and then the animal proceeds to
secrete the aiphonio sheath or tube, to enlarge the chamber according
to its neoesaities, and to form the shelly perforated tubular plate
which is to give admission to the water at the practicable part of
the chamber. How the excavation is carried on is also doubtful
The chambers of the individuals of ClavageUa aiatralis, described
by Mr. Broderip, were formed in a siliceous grit, those of O, dongata
in an Astrceopora, that of 0, lata in a calcareous grit, and those of
C. Mditenna in an argillo-calcareous tufa. "If," says the author
last mentioned, " the excavation be the work of a solvent secretion,
it must be a solvent of extensive power. The situation of the
glands, detected by my Mend Mr. Owen, leads me to think that they
minister in some way to this operation ; and I do not see how the
anterior or greater end of the chamber can be operated on by mere
mechanical attrition with such parts as must have been contiguous
to it. It has been objected that any solvent which would act on a
calcareous rock would equally act on the calcareous shell of the
animal ; but there is perhaps more of point than of strength in this
objection. Without laying too much stress on that law of nature
by which chemical and vital forces are placed in a state of hostility,
and which may or may not be applicable to such a substance as
shell, the gland for the secretion of the supposed solvent, as well as
the organ for applying it, may be so placed as that the solvent shall
only come in contact with the inorganic or dead substance to be
acted on without touching the shell. Again, it has been asked, what
solvent would act equally on a calcareous and on a siliceous sub-
stance ? To this it may be answered, first, that it is not pretended
that the nature of the supposed solvent is known ; secondly, that in
sUiceous grits, there is more or less calcareous matter by which the
mass is held together, and that tiie solution of the calcareous particles
would be followed by the disintegration of the stone One
observation, arising from the various depths at which the recent
species have been found, will not, perhaps, be deemed irrelevant. C.
auBtralis was so near the surface at low water, that it was detected
by its ejection of the fluid ; C. elongatOf from the nature of the coral
in which it was chambered, could not have been living far beneath
the Bur&ce ; whereas 0. lata was dredged up from a depth of 66 feet.
Any inferences, therefore, as to the state of submersion of a rock
during the life of the fossil species of ClavageUa which there occur,
should be made with caution by the geologist."
The geographical distribution of tiie genus, {hough now compara-
tively rare in cabinets, is probably wide. A sharp investigation of
masses of coral and of submerged perforated rocks or stones, particu-
larly in warm climates, is very likely to be rewarded by the discovery
With regard to its place amongst the other Molhuca, 'Profeeaor
Owen is of opinion that the oigonisation of ClavageUa, like that of
AspergiUvm described in the 'Reise von Afrik' of Dr. Eiippell, is
modeUed on the type of the Acephalous Bivalves ; and that it foUows
most closely, in the variations from that type^ the modifications which
have been observed in Ckutrochama, The lengthened worm-like figure
of AspergiUvm is exchanged in Clawagella, observes Professor Owen,
for a shorter form with greater lateral development; and instead of
the small rudimentary valves, which are enchased, as it were, in the
calcareous sheath oi Aspergillum, we find them here largely developed,
and one of them always remaining at liberty, to be applied by a
powerful muscTilar apparatus to those offices which are essential to
the forcible expulsion of the fluid in the branchial cavity, and pro-
bably to assist in the excavation of its secure abode.
FoisU ClavageUoB.
Mr. Broderip says that no fossil species appear to have been
detected below the Supracretaoeous group. M. Deshayes, in his tables,
gives two living and seven fbasU (tertiaiy) species, and one (C7. aperta,
Sowerby) as found both Uving and fossil (tertiary). He gives the
Mediterranean and Indian Ocean as the habitation of the living
animal, and Sicily (Pliocene Period of Lyell) as the locality of the
foBsfl. In his edttion of Lamarck he makes the whole number (living
and fossil) seven, the seventii and last species being C. aperta ; but
he refers to Bang^s ' Manuel' for a second living spedes. C, coronaia
is found in the London Clay. In Deshayes's e£tion of Lamarck, the
speoies C. eehinaia is followed by C, eruiata ; and the ^editor, in a
note referred to from the latter, says that these two species should
be united, as they only difier in size and ago. He also observes that
the free valve of C. crittata, or of C. tibialiSf has been placed by
Lamarck among the species of GlycimerU under the name of Q, mar-
garitacea. And here we may mention the difficulty of laying down
specific characters from the valves, which being, as Mr. Broderip
remarks, nearly, perhaps altogether, excluded from the light, colour,
at best but a treacherous guide, is absent entirely ; whUe the shape
of the chamber and of the valves, together with the comparative
roughness or smoothness of their outer surfaces, may depend upon
the greater or less degree of hardness of the material in which the
chamber is formed.
CLAVELINA. [Claysunidjs.]
CLAYELINIDiE, a family of Tunicated MoUuaca, including the
British genera (Evelina and Perophora. This family may be regarded
as uniting together the Compoimd and Simple Asoidians. TiU very
recently it was supposed that the animals forming this family belonged
to the latter. Milne-Edwards first pointed out that the animals wMch
had been described by Savigny under the genus Clavelina were not
always, nor even usually, separated from each other ; but that they
spring, as it were, from a common creeping stem, and multiply by
gemmation in the same manner as the Compound Ascidians. Id^e-
Edwards also poiQted out that an animal, described by Mr. Joseph
Jackson Lister in the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1884, waa
truly an Ascidian. This animal occurs in groups consisting of several
individuals, each having its own heart, nespiration, and system of
nutrition, but fixed on a peduncle that branches from a common
creeping stem. The individual animals were connected together by a
circulation extendiog throughout the stem. They are transparent, so
that their structure can easily be seen through their membranous
covering. Milne-Edwards proposed for these animals the name of
Social Ascidians.
Clavelina, Savigny. — The individuals and groups are connected by
creeping radiciform prolongations, the animals having elongated erect
more or less pedunculated bodies. The branchial and anal ori^ces
without rays ; outer tunic smooth and transparent ; thorax usually
marked with coloured lines.
C. lepadiformis {Aacidia Upadiformitf 0. F. Miiller). Thorax
forming a third part of the length of the adult individual, and marked
with yellow lines ; stomach of a bright orange, placed near the middle
of the abdominal portion of the anunal ; part of the intestines of the
same colour. Mr. Alder says this animal is very generally difiused
throughout the coasts of Great Britain. He has met with it on the
Devonshire, Cornish, and Northumberland coasts, and in Lamlash,
Rothsay, and Oban bays in Scotland. Mr. W. Thompson has found
it in Irdand.
MDne-Edwards gives the following account of the development oi
this species : — " If we examine with care the foot of a (7. lepadiformit,
we see that the animal adheres to the soil by more or less numerous
radiciform prolongations of the tegumentary tunic ; and usually we
find also cylindrical filaments, which mingled with these roots and
formed externally by the same tissue, creep also on the surface of
the soil ; but are hollow, and internally furnished with a membranous
tube. This tube is continuous with the internal tunic of the Ascidian,
and the circtdation which is seen in the interior of the abdomen of
the latter is equaJIy continued into the appendicular canaL This
stalk-like body, which is closed at the extremity, is at first simple,
but ramifies as it elongates. When its growth is more advanced,
we see developing at the extremities of its branches, or even at
different points of its length, tubercles containing in their interior a
little organised mass in connection with the internal tube. These
tubercles elongate, elevate themselves vertically, and become olavi-
fonn ; the blood which circulates in the stem penetrates the soft and
pyriform central mass; but this mass, at first pedunculated and
adhering to the inner tunic of the principal canal, soon separates
itself, and no longer participates in the circulation of the individual
to which it owed its origin. Nevertheless its development continues,
and we soon distinguish in it all the priacipal characteristic traits of
the ascidian structure ; the branchial sac becomes perfectly outlined
without being as yet in communication with the interior ; a curved
digestive tube is seen beneath the thorax. At length a buccal opening
is formed, and the general shape of the young animal approaches
more and more nearly that of the adult. Thus there is produced by
process of budding a new individual, linked with its parent by a radi-
ciform prolongation of the tegumentary tunic, and which during the
first years of its life has a circulation in common with the mother
ascidian, but in the end enjoys an independent existence. Still how-
ever it may remain in connection with the individual which produced
it through the medium of its roots, or it may become completely
free by their rupture without any change of consequence in its mode
of Ufe." (* Mtooires de I'lnstitut^' vol. xviii.)
There are several other species of Clavelina, and probably many
more exist on our own coasts.
Perophora. — The animal discovered by Lister has been thus named
by Wi^^mann. It is characterised by the individual animals being
pedunculated, suborbicular, compressed, attached bv their pedicles to
creeping tubular processes of the common tunic, through which the
blood circulates. Thorax not lineated by granular bands.
P, JAsteri is the only species at present known. It is a minute
creature, and occurs not unft^uently on the south coasts of England
and in the Irish Sea. It lives attached to sea-weeds, and is beautifully
transparent. It looks to tiie naked eye like little specks of jelly dotted
with orange and brown, and linked by a silvery winding thread. Mr.
Lister's paper describing this animal is entitled, ' On the Structure
and Functions of Tubular and Cellular Polypi, and of Ascidise.' It
is an admirable paper, and was one of the fint-fruits of those labours
on the improvement of the microscope for which the world is indebted
to Mr. Lister.
CLAVICOHNES, a name given by Latreille to a sub-section of
Coleopterous Insects of the section Peniamera,
The insects of this sub-section almost alwaya have the antenna
Digitized by
Google
im
CLAVIOER.
CLEOME.
li»
thickened at the apex, and frequently the terminal joints forming a
dub : the joints of the tand aie usually entire.
Such aie the principal charaoters of the sub-seetion CUmcwmu, a
group in which Latreille includes the families 8(^dm€enid<Bt BiiHridcB,
SilpkidtB, ScaphididcB, NiHdvlida, DermuHdm, ByrrhidcB. It appesrs
to indude many genera of insects which, in a natural arrangement,
ought not to be associated under one heed.
CLAVIGER. [PSBLAPHTTB.]
CLAyiPA'LPI (Latreille), a family of Inseots belonging to the
Tetramerous Coleoptera,
The inseots of this fiuaaily are prindpally disionguished by the
antennsB being terminated by a perfoliate dub. The tarsi are generallr
furnished with a veWet-like substance beneath, and have the penul-
timate joint bilobed ; some few however hare the tarsi simple. The
mandibles are emarginated or dentated at the apex ; the maxUln are
armed on the inner side by a tooth-like process ; the palpi have the
terminal joint large. Many of the species of this group feed upon
fungi and boleti, and their form is often rounded and convex. The
genera included in the family Clavipalpi are Erotylru, Tripleue, Zan-
ffuria, PhalacruB, Agaihidium, and some others.
CLAVULI'NA. [FORAMIWIFBBA.]
CLAT, any natural mixture of earths which breaks down or disin-
tegrates in water, and affords a plastic ductile mixture. It depends
upon this prop^ty, rather than colour or composition, whether an
earthy body belongs to the class of clays. There are many varieties
of clay used for dSlerent purposes.
Pipe-day is of a grayish-white colour, has an earthy fracture, and
a smooth greasy feel ; it adheres to the tongue, and is very plastic,
tenacious, and infusible. Its name shows the purpose to which it is
applied. It is found near Poole in Dorsetshire.
Potter't-Clay is of various colours, and disintegrates bv exposure
to the air ; when mixed with sand it is made into bricks and tiles.
It is found in Hampshire, Berkshire, Devonshire, and is largely used
in the Staffordshire Potteries. The Hampshire clay yielded by
analysis —
Silica .... • . 51
Alumina 26
Lime ••••••• — *
with some Oxide of Manganese and water.
Stourbridge Gap has the general properties above described, but is
of a dark colour, owing apparently to an admixture of carbonaceous
matter. It is most extensively employed in the manufiuiture of
crucibles, and especially for those used in glass-making. It is ex-
tremely refractory in the Are. It yielded by analysis —
Silica 57 '
Alumina 80
Moisture 12*0
A trace of Iron and Carbonaceous Matter.
It appears to have originated fit)m the disintegration of shale.
Brick-Olag, or Loam, varies much in appearance, texture, and
composition ; its colour is dependent upon tne proportion of oxide
of iron which it contains. It lies in abundance upon the London
Clay, and frequently rests upon an interposed bed of sand. The
oiganic remains found in it are few, but it sometimes contains the
teeth of elephants.
London Clay is a very extensive deposit of a bluish day, except
near the surface, where it has often the usual clay colour. It forms
the greater part of Middlesex, the whole of Essex and Suffolk, and
part of KoiriTolk, and frequently rises almost to the surface. Some
of the lower beds are yellowish-white or variegated. This clay occa-
sionally includes beds of sandstone, and of a coarse argillaoeous
limestone, of which Parker's Roman Cement is made. It contains
also frequently the bones of the crocodile, turtle, &c.
Plattic Cflayakirta the London Cli^witliin the London Chalk basin,
and it appears also at the Isle of mght. This formation consists of
a variable number of sand, day, and pebble-beds irregularly alter-
nating, lying immediately upon the chalk ; it contains some appearance
of coal, decidedly of vegetable origin, pyrites, oysteiHshells, and the
branches of trees. The sand-beds of the Plastic-Clay formation are
the grand reservoir of soft-water from which the deep wells in and
around London are suppUed.
Kaolin, or Porcdain-Clay, ia of various shades of white ; it is dull
and opaque; occurs friable or compact; feels soft to the fingers and
adheres to the tongue. It is infusible, and its specific gravity is
2*216. A large tract of this day, which indudes crystals of felspar,
quartz, and mica, occurs near St. Austell in Cornwall. The porcelain
manufactures of Worcester are supplied from it. According to
Wedgwood it consists of 60 parts alumina and 40 silica. It probably
arises from the decomposition of felspar. This clay occurs in France,
Saxony, and Austria. Various other kinds of day are met with in
different situations ; their nature and composition depend upon those
of the rocks from the disintegration of which they have been formed;
thus slate, steatite, and trap, each yields a different kind of day.
CLAY-SLATE. [Slate.]
CLEAT AQE, a term employed in Qe^logy to indicate a peculiar
fofsility in certain (especially argillaoeous) rocks, which is independent <
ot, and generally meets at a considerable angle, the surfaces of lami-
nation or depositioa Clay-Slate famishes the best examples of thin
phenomenon. [Slatb.]
CLEAVERS. rGAUniLl
CLEAVLANDITE, a Mmeral occurring in wedge^haped masses in
the Chesterfield Albite vein, Massachusetts, United States. It is a
lamellar variety of A Ibiie. [Albite.]
CLEIDOTH^RUS, a genus of Acephalous MoUvsca (Condufers
of Lamarck), established by Mr. Samuel Stutdibury for a tmtaoeous
animal, the mechanism of whose hinge connecting the two valves
differs most materially from that exhiMted by other Bivalves.
Shell bivalve, somewhat pearly, inequivalve, involute, attached by
the outside of the larger valve. Hinge with a small conical pointed
tooth in the ttee valve, fitting into a corresponding pit in the attached
valve. A testaceous rather elongated curved appendage, connected
by cartilage, is inserted into a deep dcatrix within each umbo ; mus-
cular impressions, two in each valve, lateral : the anterior ligulate ;
the posterior suborbicular. Muscular impression of the mantle entire.
Lif ament extemaL (Stutchbury, modified by O. B. Sowerby.)
M. De Roissy had separated the genus from Chama, with which it
might be easily confounded by a superficial observer under the name
of Chamottrea ; but he does not seem to have been aware of the
appendage, and, as Mr. Stutchbury observes, his name is entirely inap-
plicable, there being nothing in the diell to connect it with Ottrea.
Oleidoihtena OhamSidea (Stutchbury). Shell involute, brownish-
red, internally of a greenish pearly lustre, attached by the anterior
side of the right valve, which is of great depth ; left valve but slightly
convex ; the clavicular appendage with a groove on the convex side.
Mr. Stutdibury states that C ChamSidea was found attached to
sandstone rocks by T. Toung, Esq., B.N., together with an Atper-
gUlum (perhaps Aggltttinans of Lamarck), some Chamee, &c., whHe
seardiing near the entrance of Port Jackson, pointed out to him as
the spot where Mr. Stutchbury discovered in 1826 the first living
dofoagdUB. In general contour this shell has so great a similitude to
Ckama, that, without opening it, there would be no hesitation in
pronouncing it to belong to that genus. [Chamacsa.]
Mr. G. B. Sowerby is of opinion that^ as £&r as the character of the
internal hinge cartilage having an elongated testaceous appendsge goes,
CleidothcBrus connects the Ckamce of Lamarck with his Myaires.
CLE'MATIS, a genus of Climbing Plants belonging to the natural
order Jtanvneulacecgf and characterised by having a valvate coloured
calyx, carpels in a ripe state terminated by long feathery styles, and
opposite leaves. The most common spedes ib C, vikUba^ the Tra-
veller's Joy, which runs over the hedges in many parts of England,
loading them first with its copious clusters of wmte blossoms, and
aftenxnitrds with heaps of its feather-tailed silkv tufta It is however
better known f^m some of the exotic species being favourite objects
of cultivation. C. JUimmvla, a spedes with panides of small white
flowers, is among the most fragrant of plants. C. cirrhosa, C. critpa,
and O, fiorida, are remaricable for the large size of their greexush-
white flowers ; while the purple or pink bdls of C, vittceUa, hanging
gracefully from its festooning branches, render that spedes, when
well managed, one of the most elegant and ornamental of dimbers.
The spedes of Atragene, Siberian and Alpine plants, with findy-out
leaves and delicate purple flowers, considered a peculiar genus hy
Linnseus, are other species of CUmaHt, They have a climbing habi^
and are occasionally seen in gardens ; their stems however are apt to
become naked, and they are not so generally cultivated as the spedes
of genuine ClemcUi*, The leaves of C. ereda and C. fiamavula are used
by beggars for the purpose of forming artificial ulcers. There are
about 100 spedes of the genus Olematis,
All these plants are hardy, but they are impatient of damp in
winter. The latter circumstance is therefore to be attended to by
those who wish to ornament their gardens with them.
CLEODORA. [Ptbropoda.]
CLEO'ME, a genus of Plants^ bdonging to the natural order
Capparidacece. It has a calyx of^4 almost equal spreading sepals ;
4 petals ; a torus somewhat hemispherical ; 6, rardy i, stamens ; a
silique dehiscent^ stipitate, or sessile within the calyx.
U gigaaUea is a uirubby plant, velvety-pubescent and somewhat
clammy ; the leaves 7-foliate, with SO or 40 veins on each side of eadi
leaflet. It has whitish-green flowers, with pinkish filaments and
yellow anthers. It is a native of South America. It is a beautiful
plant, but has a disagreeable odour and an acrid taste.
C. rosea is an herbaceous unarmed smooth plant, with quinate
leaflets, the lower and floral ones temate, the uppermost ones ovate
sessile ; the silique smooth, the length of the stipes. This plant has
beautifrilly rose-coloured flowers. It is a native of Rio Janeiro.
There are about fifty spedes of the genus Cleome described ; many
of them are now referred to the genus Polanina. [PoLAiriSL^] Most
of them are worth cultivating on account of their beauty. The
shrubby spedes do best in a rich light soil. They may be prop
by ripened cuttings in a moderate heat under a hand-^assi, or b^
The seeds of the annual spedes should be sown on a hot-b
spring, and when the young plants are of sufficient eiae they may be
planted out in the open border, but not before the middle of May.
The biennial spedes must be kept in the stove ; they may be propa-
gated by cuttings, as the dirubby spedes.
Digitized by
Google
IISS
CLEONUS.
ClilONID^.
1134
CLEO'KUS, a genus of Coleopteroua InBects of the Motion
Jikjfncophoru and &inily CfwretUionida, It has the following oha-
raoten :—Antenn8e rather shorty the soape not touching the eyea;
baaal joint of the funiculus nearly obconio, and rather longer than
the remaining joints ; the joints from the second to the sixth short
and ooarotate^ the seventh stouter, and closely applied to itto dub,
which is oblong-ovate or nearly so ; rostrum short and thick, having
generally a chiumel above ; eyes oblong and depressed ; thorax su^
conic, slightly constricted anteriorly; elytra elongate^ generally
furnished witii a protuberance near the apex, which is rounded ; legs
nearW equal; femora imarmed; tibi» with the apex slightly thickenedi
and furnished with a short spine. ,
Of the genus Cleonua about 100 species are known ; they inhabit
Europe, Asia, and Africa. The ground-colour of their body is almost
always black, but this is for the most part hidden by the denseness
of the little scales with which they are covered. These scales are
generally of an ash-like colour, gray, white, or pole-brown, and small
patches of two or more of these tints form clouded markings. Dark
markings are often produced by the want of these scales on certain
parts, the ground-colour of the body then showing itself.
C mUdrottrit may be taken as the type of this genus. It is about
two-thirds of an inch in length, of an elongate o^ form, and of an
ashy or white colour ; the rostrum is thick, nearly as long as the
thorax, and furnished with three deep longitudinal furrows; the
thorax is almost as wide as the elytra at the base, and tapers towards
the head ; there is a longitudinal pale line in the centre, which ii
bordered by two broad dark-brown patches ; the rest of the thorax
is pale, with the exception of a small brown patch on^each side;
the elytra are of an ashy colour, and have two obUque Y-shaped
fasdsB near the middle.
This insect is common in various parts of England, and seems
more particularly to frequent chalky and sandy situations; it is
sometimes found on nettles and thistles, and often crawling on barren
Band-hills near the sea-side. Three or four other species are also
found in this country. C. ndfulotfiu is very common in some parts
of Hampshire, and nearly resembles the one above described,
but may be at once distixiguished by the absence of the sulci on
the snout or rostrum: the scales in this species are not unfire-
quently red.
GLE'PTICtJS, a genus of Fishes, belonging to the section Aecm-
thofierygii and family Ldbrida, C, genuara ia the only spedes, and
is from the Antilles. It has the following generic characters : —
Head obtuse; mouth protractile ; teeth minute, barely perceptible to
the touch; body elongate, lateral line uninterrupted; dorsal and
anal fins covered with scales nearly to their outer maigins.
CLE'RIBiSI {TUlidce, Leach), a fiimily of Coleopterous Insects of
the section Malaeadermi, It has the following characters : — ^Palpi
generally davate ; mandibles dentated internally ; penultimate joint
of the tarsi bilobate ; antenna) more or less serrated or terminated
by a club ; body genonlly cylindrical and pubescent ; head and thorax
narrower than the abdomen ; eyes emaiginated. Most of these insects
are found on flowers and some on old trees. The larvae of those whidi
are known are carnivorous.
The principal genera induded in this family are— C^Ktufoiw, TSSm,
Priocera, Axina, JBurjfput, Thanaiimus, OpUtu, Clertu, Necrobia, and
JBnoplium,
CUruB is thus characterised :— Maxillarr palpi with the terminal
joint thicker than the rest, compressed, broadest at the apex, and
truncated ; labial palpi with the terminal joint securiform ; antemm
with the b&Bal joint rather long, the seven following short, the three
terminal joints forming a compressed knob of the form of a reversed
triangle ; tarsi exhibiting only four distinct jointa
Two species of this beautiftil genus (C. (vpiarim and C aJ/veofrim)
are natives of this country, but they are here of rare occurrence,
though in Germany, France, and Italy they are common, and are
found on the flowers of umbelliferous plants.
C. apiariua varies from one-half to two-thirds of an inch in length,
and is very thickly covered with hairs ; it ia blue ; the elytra are red,
and have three blue fascism, one of which is at the apex.
The larva of this spedes feeds upon those of the common hive-bee,
and is sometimes very destructive to hives.
C. alyeariut very much resembles the spedes just described, differ-
ing chiefly in having a blue spot in the region of the scutellum in
addition to the three blue fiiscisd on the ely&a ; its larv» feed upon
those of the mason-bees.
GLERUS. [Clerida.]
CLIMACTERIS. [Certhiada]
CLINKSTONE, a grayish blue Rock, consistiiig prindpally of
Felspar. It passes gradually into gray Basalt^ but is distinguished
f^m that rock by its lower spedfic gravity. When struck with a
hammer it rings like iron. It is fr^uent in volcanic districts. It is
also called PhonolUe,
CLINTONITE {SeyhertiU, XanlhophyUite (1), ffolmente), a Mineral
which occurs ciystallised and in imperfectly crystallised masses. Its
•primary form is an oblique rhombic prism. Cleavage imperfect
Colour copper^red, reddish brown, yellowish brown, and reddish
white; streak yellowish gray. Haniness 4*5. Lustre metijilioand
metallic pearly. Translucent to opaque. In thin lamin» sometimes
transparent Spedfic gravity 8*098. p'ound at Amity, Orange
County, New York. Analysis by Clemson :—
Silica 17.0
Alumina •...«, . 87*6
Magnesia 24'3
Lime 10*7
Protoxide of Iron •....• 5*0
Water . ' 8*6
CLI'NUS, a genus of Fishes bdonging to the section AeanUhop'
terygii and fiEumly CfobioidcR, It forms one of the sub-divisions of the
BlenniiSy the spedes of which may be distinguished by their having
several ranges of short pointed teeth, the teeiui of the external range
being tha laigest The dorsal fin is dther continuous and even, or,
in some, with the anterior rsys separated fr*om the posterior by an
emargination. Like the true Blennici^ these flahii hitive small fim-
briated appandsges over the tjes.
CLIO. rOuomDA]
CLIO'NIDiE, the CUo Xyibe, a fkmily of Naked Marine MaUutca,
placed by Ouvier as the first of his class PteropotUk Lamarck also
arranges them under the Pteropods^ which he makes an order, but
gives them a situation immediately afler the HyaUeidm, Be BlainviUe
unites the Pteropoda and Oatdrofoda of Cuvier in one dass Para-
ceplMdaphora, under which the PUropoda form an order with the
name of Aporobranehiataf which Is £vided into two families ; the
first, Thecoiomata, being provided with a shell, and the second,
Oynmotomatct^ comprising those Ptaropods which have nona Rang
follows this last arrangement, still retaining Guvier's term Pteropoda,
but not rejecting De Blainville's, and malong the spedes of Clio of
F^russac synonymous with the ChfmnotomcUa of DeBIainville, and the
second fanuly of the class Pttropodti,
OjfmoMBomaita, — Body of an dongated form, sub-conical, completdv
naked : two bundles of tentacular suckers at the mouth ; no tooth
in the upper lip ; a small lingual plate bristled with spines.
Rang thus defines the fiiunily : — ^Animal with the head distinct; no
intermediate lobe, but one or more fleshy appendages in place of it ;
a muscular envelope or mantie.
Clio {Clione, Pallas). — Body fr«e, naked, more or less dongated, a
little depressed, attenuated abaft (amind en arri^re), without any
other fins than tiie lateral appendages. Head very distinct, provided
with six long retractile tentaciila, divided into two groups of three
each, and capable of being entirely concealed in a spedes of prepuce
bearing a small tentaoulum on its external ude. Mouth enturdy
terminal and vertical Eyes sessile, nearly supernal A sort of
sucker or rudiment of a foot under the neck, between the roots of the
fins. Vent and termination of the generative apparatus in a single
tuberde, dtuated at tiie right side of the neck, at the junction of uie
fin with trunk. Oigans of respiration (1).
0, Spedes whose tentactda are well known.
Of these, C. horealia and C. awtralis will serve as examples. The
former, which appears to be the same with C. limaeina of Phipps,
C. rehua of Fabricius, and Clione papilionacea of Pallas, is well-known
to the whale-fishers and others under the name of ' whale's food.'
The spedes swarms in the northern seas, and indeed so plentiful are
they mat they form a principal part of the food of the whale-bone
whales. Captain (now Sir W. E.) Parry found it in great abundance
in all parts of Baffin's Bay and Davis's Strait^ in the nei^bourhood
of 'ica (' Supplement to Captain Parry's first Voyage.^ Captain
James Ross observes that it is very numerous in mo^ parts of the
Arctic Ocean, but less abundant in Regent's Inlet /end the Qulf of
Boothia. When the weather is calm, they come in myriads to the sur-
face for the purpose of respiration ; but scarcely have they reached it
when they again predpitate themselves towards the bottom. Cuvier,
who gives this account of their habits, adds, that the sea is so glutted
with them in certain seasons, that the whales, so to speak, cannot open
their mouths without ingulphing thousands of these small mollusks.
Integument^ a delicate demi-transparent soft skin, which covers a
second tunic This last is thicker, and presents longitudinal and very
sensible muscular fibres, which come from two prindpal bundles
attached to the udes of the neck. The effect of these fibres must be
to shorten the general envelope of the bod^, and to approximate its
form to a spherical shape. Cuvier, who gives the above description,
adds, that he knows not with what the interval between this fleshy
tunic and the mass of* the viscera is filled in the living state; but
observes that it is certain that these do not occupy the half of the
area which the tunic incloses ; and conjectures that there may be a
liquor diflused there, or perhaps only a quantity of air which the
ammal can compress at pleasure when it would sink in the water, and
dilate when it would rise.
The mouth is between the bases of the two tuberdes of the head.
Below it are two triangular tentacula, which form, as it were, two
small wings between the two large ones. The opening of the mouth
is triangular ; and within are seen some longitudinal wrinkles, which
Pallas and Fabridus appear to have taken for teeth, but which have
no hardness, and are entirely fieshy. The viscera are connected by
vessds and cdUulodties which unite them in a small padcet dtuated
near the neck. The liver covers the greatest part of them, with the
exception of an angle which is occupied by the testide and ovary.
Digitized by
Google
1136
CLIONIDJSL
CLlONIt)J3.
1136
The oeBophagus, of a fair length, descends from the mouth through
the neck, and is dilated into a stomach towards the bottom of the
mass. Thence the intestinal canal, after having made one fold, pro-
ceeds directly to the vent, situated under the gill of the left side. The
liver is composed of many lobes and lobules, and envelops the
stomach and a great part of the intestinal canaL Two long and
straight salivary glands float at the sides of the oesophagus ; their
excretory ducts are inserted in the mouth. (Cuvier.)
Olio bortalit.
Fig. 1, view of the back; a, the body; ft, the viaeera, seen through the
common integtiments ; <;, r, the tubercles of the head, and the holes wherein the
three tentacula on each »ide are withdrawn ; d, d, gills and fins. Fig. 2,
the same, view of the belly ; a, c, d, indicate the same parts as in fig. 1 ;
e\ the two tentacula placed before the mouth. Fig. 8, c, d, indicate the same
parts as in the two former figures ; /, /, the external tunic or skin ; p, g, the
internal tunic or fieshy pannicle ; A, h, the principle bundles of its fibres ;
t, the mass of viscera ; m, the principal vein of the gills.
The brain consists of two lobes placed at the origin of the oeso-
phagus. From each of these springs a small filament, which swells
into a lai^ge ganglion that unites itself to its correspondent under the
oesophagus. These two ganglions give out each their filaments to the
neighbouring parts. Two of these filaments, one on each side, swell
again into ganglions, which, uniting together by a new filament that
traverses upon the oesophagus, form there a second collar joined to
the first beneath ; they give out a filament, which is twice swollen or
knotted, and it is from Uiese small knots of medullary matter that
the difierent nerves arise. Ko eye could be perceived, nor any par-
ticular organ of the external senses, except the common and general
organ of touch. (Cuvier.)
Each gill gives off a vein, which, luuting to its OQRespondent iu the
shape of a Y, forms the trunk which reaches the heart. This last,
situated in its pericardium on the left side of the mass of viscera,
gives out, doubtless, arteries for the whole body, but they could not
be followed out. (Cuvier.)
In the reproductive oi^gans they very much resemble the Qastro-
pods, and unite, like them, the two sexes. The ovary gives off a
delicate and short oviduct, which reaches the testicle. This last,
which at its origin resembles a csecum, lessens by degrees into a de-
ferent canal, and terminates at a small round purse, which fills the
left tubercle of the head, and has its exit near the neck. It is unde-
termined whether the straight and firm part which terminates the
deferent canal is the male organ, or whether that organ is hidden in
the small purse above noticed. At the side of this purse is another
oblong one, analogous to "that which is termed the bladder (la vessie)
in the ordinary Gastropods. (Cuvier.)
Dr. Leach says, " In 1811, during a tour made by me to the Orkneys
with some friends, I observed on the rocks on that side of the Isle of
Stafia, several mutilated specimens of this animal. The three previous
days had been extremely stormy so as to confine us to the Isle of
Colunsa. Some days afterwards I borrowed from a fisherman a large
shrimp-net, and on rowing along the coast of Mull when the sea was
calm, after many vain efforts, I was at last enabled to catch one of
them aliva" This specimen is now in the British Museum ; others
are in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.
The figures and description above given (Cuvier's) are taken from an
individual which had its tentacula, &c., withdrawn.
0, Species without tentacula (?), and whose cephalic enlargement (renfle-
ment) is separated from the trunk by a sort of narrow and very
distinct thorax. (Oenus, Cliodites of Quoy and Gaimard.)
Example, Clio {Cliodites) caduceus. De Blainville observes that this
species is too incompletely known to allow of a satisfactory conclu-
sion as to what it is ; and he even thinks that it may be identical with
the C. australis of Brugui^res.
Pneumodamon. — Animal oblong, sub-cylindrical, divided into two
very distinct parts, the anterior conical, the posterior ovaL The fins
placed near the separation of these two parts, and presenting between
them, and on the ventral side, a small membranous appendage. Mouth
at the extremity of a sort of retractile proboscis, having, at its base,
two bundles of tentacula, each terminated by a small disc or sucker.
Oills situated at the posterior paH of the body, and disposed some-
what in the form of two C's placed back to back, DC, and separated
by two small bars. Vent on the right, and a little anterior to the
giUs. Orifice of the organs of generation in a common tubercle,
situated at the root of the fin of the right side.
P. Peronii. This is about an inch in length, and was discovered in
the Atlantic Ocean by P^ron. The genus was established by Cuvier.
De Blainville founded his character upon many well-preserved indi- ;
viduals brought home by Messrs. Quoy and Gkdmard from the expedi-
tion under Captain Freycinet, and gives Australasia as the locality of
the speciee.
END OF VOLUME I.
•c
BaiSBVaV AMI> BVAKI, rBIIfTZBS, WHimiABfl.
Digitized by
Google
n%
Id cot
oil
ad*
:3 tli:
r.c»3
mi
e d
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google
Digitized by
Google .
Digitized by
Google
s
%->
1^
^./ Digitized by V:iOOQIC
Digitized by
Google