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CUVIER’S
"'.''•:v-%'-.*.4>jT,
ANIMAL KINGDOM,
^vvaiigetJ according to it5 Organisation;
FORMING THE BASIS FOR
A NATURAL HISTORY OF ANIMALS,
AN INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE ANATOMY.
MAMMALIA, BIRDS, AND REPTILES,
BY EDWARD BLYTH,
THE FISHES AND RADIATA,
BY ROBERT MUDIE.
THE MOLLUSCOUS ANIMALS,
BY GEORGE JOHNSTON, M.D.
THE ARTICULATED ANIMALS,
BY J. O. WESTWOOD, F.L.S.
ILLUSTRATED BY THREE HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD.
LONDON:
WM. S. ORR AND CO., AMEN CORNER, PATERNOSTER ROW.
London :
Printed by Baker & Darby,
Holborn Hill.
J
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PREFACE.
Perhaps no book was ever so soon, so generally, and with so little envy,
admitted to take its place at the head of that department of knowledge to
which it belongs, as the Regne Animal of the illustrious Baron Cuvier.
This is a high, but a just tribute, both to the work and the author ; for it at
once showed that the former is what had long been required, and that the
latter was as much beloved for the kindness and urbanity of his manners, as
he was admired for the comprehensive range and unprecedented aecuracy of
his views.
It must, indeed, be admitted, that, until Cuvier’s great work made its ap-
pearance, we had no modern systematic arrangement of animals which applied
equally to all the Classes, Orders, and Families ; — which brought the extinct
species into their proper situations in the living catalogue, and enabled every
discoverer of a new animal, or part of an animal, instantly to connect it with
its proper tribe or family. Important, however, as are the labours of this
great naturalist, they could not possibly extend beyond the limits of what was
known ; and as Cuvier was no speculative theorist, but a rigid adherent to
nature and fact, he kept his system considerably within the limits of those
who were more speculative, and consequently less accurate.
For students, no work is equal to that of Cuvier, for it is at once compre-
hensive and concise 5 and though the student may choose a particular de-
partment, and require books more in detail with reference to that department,
he must still have the Regne Animal to point out to him the general analogies
of the living creation. The present work is a complete Cuvier, as regards the
essential part of the arrangement ; and it is not a mere translation, but in some
respects a new book, embodying the original one. Throughout the whole of
it, there will be found original remarks ; but these are always distinguished
from that which belongs to Cuvier, by being inclosed within brackets.
This mode of arrangement was thought to be much better than the appending
IV
PREFACE.
of notes, Avhich always divide the attention of the reader, and weaken the
interest of the subject. Many of the classes and orders have been reinves-
tigated, and new species added. This is most extensively done in the
departments which were intrusted to Mr. Blyth and Mr. Westwood ; hut
it runs more or less throughout the whole ; and the publishers flatter them-
selves that this will he of great service to all students of this highly in-
teresting branch of knowledge. The style in which the book is brought
out will speak for itself. The different sizes of type, which bear some pro-
portion to the comparative importance of the subject, will enable the reader to
glean an outline of the system; — to obtain something more than a bare
outline, he must read the entire work, which in the present edition embodies
all the discoveries of more recent naturalists,
London, June, 1840,
I
)■
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
Page
1
RUMINANTIA
Page
134
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND
Without horns
135
EDITION ....
10
With horns
136
INTRODUCTION ....
13
Cetacea
144
Of Natural History, and of Systems gene-
i
Herbivora
145
rally .....
13
Ordinaria
145
Of living Beings, and of Organization in
general .....
16
Analogies of the Teeth of
MALIA
Mam-
150
Division of Organized Beings into Animal
and Vegetable ....
19
OVIPAROUS VERTEBRATES IN
RAL
GENE-
153
Of the Forms peculiar to the Organic Ele-
AVES
154
ments of the Animal Body, and of the
Division into Orders
162
principal Combinations of its. Chemical
Accipitres
163
Elements . . . •
21
Diurnal Birds of Prey
163
Of the Forces which act in the Animal Body
22
Nocturnal Birds of Prey
172
Summary idea of the Functions and Organs
Passerine
177
of the Bodies of Animals, and of their
Dentirostres
178
various degrees of complication
25
Fissirostres
194
Of the Intellectual Functions of Animals .
28
Conirostres
196
Of Method, as applied to the Animal King-
Tenuirostres
206
dom . .
31
Syndactyli
209
General Distribution of the Animal King-
SCANSORES
211
dom into four great Divisions — Vertebrate
Affinities of the three preceding
Animals, Molluscous Animals, Articulate
Orders
220
Animals, Radiate Animals
32
Gallinas
223
VERTEBRATE ANIMALS
35
Grall^
231
Subdivision into four Classes
37
Brevipennes
232
MAMMALIA ....
38
Pressirostres
234
Division into Orders
41
Cultrirostres
237
Bimana, or Man
44
Longirostres
242
Peculiar Conformation of Man
45
Macrodactyli
247
Physical and Moral Developement of
Palmipedes
251
Man ....
47
Brachypteres
251
Varieties of the Human Species
49
Longipennes
255
Quadrumana ....
54
Totipalmati
259
Monkey-like Animals
54
Lamellirostres
261
Monkeys of America
60
REPTILIA
267
Carnaria ....
68
Chelonia
269
Cheiroptera ....
67
Sauria
272
Insectivora ....
77
The Crocodiles
272
Carnivora ....
82
The Lizards
274
Marsupiata ....
100
The Iguanas
275
Rodentia ....
107
The Geckotians
277
Edentata ....
122
The Chameleons
278
Ordinary Edentata
124
The Scindoidiens
278
Monotremata ....
126
Ophidia
280
Pachydermata
128
The Orvets
280
Proboscidea ....
128
The True Serpents
280
Ordinary Pachydermata
130
The Naked Serpents
285
Solidungula ....
133
Batr.vchia
285
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Page
Page
PISCES
289
Dorsibranchiata
393
Acanthopterygii
292
Abranchia
397
Percidae
293
Setigera
397
Fishes with hard cheeks
294
Asetigera
398
Scienidae
295
ARTICULATED ANIMALS WITH
ARTICU-
Sparidae
296
LATED FEET
401
Menidae
296
Introduction, by Latreille
401
Squamipenues
296
Divided into Classes .
405
Scomberidae
298
CRUSTACEA MALACOSTRACA
410
Taenidae
302
A. Eyes placed on a footstalk
410
Tlieutyes
303
Decapoda
410
Labyrinthiform Pharyngeals
303
Brachyura
412
Mug'ilidae
304
Macrura
416
Gobiodae
305
Stomapoda
423
Pectorales pedunculati
308
Unipeltata
424
Labridae
.
309
Bipeltata
425
Fistularidae
311
B. Eyes sessile and immoveable
425
Malacopterygii Abdominales
312
Amphipoda
426
Cyprinidas
.
313
L^modipoda
429
Esocidae
314
ISOPODA .
430
Siluridae
.
316
CRUSTACEA ENTOMOSTRACA
434
Salmonidae
.
318
Branchiopoda
436
Clupeidae
.
320
Lophyropa
436
Malacopterygii Subbrachiati
321
Phyllopa .
441
Gadidae
.
322
Pfficilopoda
444
Pleuronectidae
323
Xyphosura
444
Discoboli .
324
Siphonostoma
445
Malacopterygii Apoda
325
TRILOBITES
449
Lophobranchii .
326
ARACHNIDA
450
Plectognathi
327
PULMONARIA
453
Gymnodootes
327
The Spiders
454
Sclerodermi
328
The Pedipalpi
465
Chondropterygii Branchiis Liberis
330
Tracheari^
466
Chondropterygii Branchiis Fixis
331
The Pseudo-Scorpiones
467
Selachii
331
The Pycnogonides
467
Cyclostomata
333
The Holetra
468
MOLLUSCA
335
INSECTA
471
Division into Classes .
337
Myriapoda ,
482
CEPHALOPODES .
337
Chilognatha
483
PTEROPODES
343
Chilopoda
485
GASTEROPODES .
344
Thysanoura
486
PULMONEA
347
Lepismenae
487
Nudibranchiata
351
Podurellae
487
Inferobranchiata
353
Parasita
488
Tectibranchiata
353
SUCTORIA
489
Heteropoda
356
Coleoptera
491
Pectinibranchiata
357
Pentamera
492
Trochoides
358
Carnivora
492
Capuloides
361
Brachelytra
506
Buccinoides
362 ;
Serricornes
508
Tubulibranchiata
367
Ciavicornes
515
Scutibranchiata
368
Palpicornes
520
Cyclobranch lATA
369
Lamellicornes
521
ACEPHALES
369
Heteromera
530
Acephala Testacea
370
Melasoma
530
The Oysters
371
Taxicornes
533
Mytilaceae
375
Sten elytra
533
Camacea .
376
Trachelides
536
Cardiacea
377
Tetramera
538
Inclusa
379
The Weevils
539
Acephala Nuda
382
Xylophagi
542
Segreg^ata
382
Platysoma
544
Aggregata
383
Longicornes
544
BRACHIOPODES .
384
Eupoda
549
CIRRHOPODES
385
Cyclica
550
ARTICULATED ANIMALS
387
Clavipalpi
554
Division into Classes
388
Trimera
554
ANNELIDES
389
Fungicolse
554
Division into Orders
389
Aphidiphagi
555
Tubicolaj
391
Pselaphi
555
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
vii
Page
Orthopteua .... 556
Cursoria .... 557
Saltatoria .... 560
He.wiptera . . . . , 562
Heteroptera . . . 563
Geocorisae .... 563
Hydrocorisae . . . 566
Homoptera .... 567
Cicadariae .... 567
Aphidii .... 570
Gallinsecta .... 572
Neuroptera .... 573
Subulicornes .... 574
Planipennes .... 577
Plicipennes .... 580
Hymenoptera .... 581
Terebrantia . . . 582
Securifera .... 582
Pupivora .... 585
Aculeata .... 591
Heterogyna .... 591
Fossores .... 593
Diploptera .... 596
Mellifera .... 598
Lepidopthra .... 603
Diurna ..... 605
Crepuscularia .... 608
Nocturna .... 609
Rhipiptera .... 614
Diptera .... 615
Nemocera .... 617
Tanystoraa .... 621
Page
Tabanides .... 625
Notacantha .... 626
Athericera .... 628
Pupipara .... 636
RADIATA ..... 638
ECHINODERMATA ... 639
Pedicellata .... 639
Asterias .... 639
Echinus .... 640
Holothuria .... 641
Apoda ..... 642
ENTOZOA .... 643
Nematoidea .... 644
Parenchymata . . . 646
Acanthocephala . . . 646
Tremadotea .... 647
Taenioidea .... 648
Cestoidea . . . 649
ACALEPHA .... 650
Simplicia .... 650
Hydrostatica .... 652
POLYPI . ... 653
Carnosi .... 653
Gelatinosi .... 654
CORALLIFERI .... 655
Tubularia ... .655
Cellularia .... 656
Corticati .... 657
INFUSORIA .... 659
Rotifera .... 660
Homogenea .... 660
THE
ANIMAL KINGDOM.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
Having been devoted, from my earliest youth, to the study of comparative anatomy,
that is to say of the laws of the organization of animals, and of the modifications
which this organization undergoes in the various species, and having, for nearly thirty
years past, consecrated to that science every moment of which my duties allowed me
to dispose, the constant aim of my labours has been to reduce it to general rules, and
to propositions that should contain their most simple expression. My first essays soon led
me to perceive that I could only attain this object in proportion as the animals, whose
structure I should have to elucidate, were arranged in conformity with that structure,
so that under one single name, of class, order, genus, &c., might be embraced all those
species which, in their internal as well as exterior conformation, present accordancies
either more general or more particular. Now this is what the greater number of
naturalists of that epoch had never sought to effect, and what but few of them could
have achieved, even had they been willing to try ; since a parallel arrangement presup-
poses a very extensive knowledge of the structures, of which it ought, in some measure,
to be the representation.
It is true that Daubenton and Camper had supplied facts, — that Pallas had indicated
views ; but the ideas of these well-informed men had not yet exercised upon their
contemporaries the influence which they merited. The only general catalogue of
animals then in existence, and the only one we possess even now, — the system of
Linnaeus, — had just been disfigured by an unfortunate editor, who did not so much as
! take the trouble to comprehend the principles of that ingenious classifier, and who,
wherever he found any disorder, seems to have tried to render it more inextricable.
It is also true that there were very extensive works upon particular classes, which
had made known a vast number of new species ; but their authors barely con-
sidered the external relations of those species, and no one had employed himself
in co-arranging the classes and orders according to their entire structure : the cha-
racters of several classes remained false or incomplete, even in justly celebrated
anatomical works ; some of the orders were arbitrary ; and in scarcely any of these
divisions were the genera approximated conformably to nature.
B
J__ ^ ^ _ — —
2 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
I was necessitated then, — and the task occupied considerable time, — I was com-
pelled to make anatomy and zoology, dissection and classification, proceed beforehand ; '*j
to seek, in my first remarks on organization, for better principles of distribution ; ' ;
to employ these, in order to arrive at new remarks ; and in their turn the latter, to i
carry the principles of distribution to perfection : in fine, to elicit from the mutual
reaction of the two sciences upon each other, a system of zoology adapted to serve as
an introduction and a guide in anatomical researches, and a body of anatomical doctrine
fitted to develope and explain the zoological system.
The first results of this double labour appeared in 1795, in a special memoir upon a '
new division of the white-blooded animals. A sketch of their application to genera,
and to the division of these into sub-genera, formed the object of my Tableau
Elementaire des Animaux, printed in 1798, and I improved this work, with the assistance
of M. Dumeril, in the tables annexed to the first volume of my Lecons d’ Anatomie
Comparee, in 1800.
I should, perhaps, have contented myself with perfecting these tables, and proceeded
immediately to the publication of my great work on anatomy, if, in the course of my ^
researches, I had not been frequently struck with another defect of the greater number
of the general or partial systems of zoology ; I mean, the confusion in which the want
of critical precision had left a vast number of species, and even many genera.
Not only were the classes and orders not sufficiently conformed to the intrinsical
nature of animals, to serve conveniently as the basis to a treatise on comparative
anatomy, but the genera themselves, though ordinarily better constituted, offered but
inadequate resources in their nomenclature, on account of the species not having
been arranged under each of them, conformably to their characters. Thus, in placing
the Manati in the genus Morse, the Siren in that of the Eels, Gmelin had rendered any
general proposition relative to the organization of these genera impossible ; just as by
approximating in the same class and in the same order, and placing side by side, the
Cuttle and the fresh-water Polypus, he had made it impossible to predicate anything
generally of the class and order which comprised such incongruous beings.
I select the above examples from among the most prominent ; but there existed
an infinitude of such mistakes, less obvious at the first glance, which occasioned incon-
veniences not less real.
It was not sufficient, then, to have imagined a new distribution of the classes and
orders, and to have properly placed the genera ; it was also necessary to examine all
the species, in order to be assured that they really belonged to the genera in which ;
they had been placed. i
Having come to this, I found not only species grouped or dispersed contrary to all rea- |
son, but I remarked that many had not been established in a positive manner, either |
by the characters which had been assigned to them, or by their figures and descriptions.
Here one of them, by means of synonymes, represents several under a single name,
and often so different that they should not rank in the same genus : there a single
one is doubled, tripled, and successively reappears in several sub-genera, genera, and
sometimes different orders.
What can be said, for example, of the TrichecJius manatus of Gmelin, which, under
a single specific name, comprehends three species and two genera, — two genera differing
in almost everything ? By what name shall we speak of the Velella, which figures
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 3
twice among the Medusa and once among the Holothuria ? How are we to reassemble
the Bijjhora, of which some are there called Dagysa, the greater number Salpa, while
several are ranged among the Holothurice ?
It did not therefore suffice, in order completely to attain the object aimed at, to
review the species : it was necessary to examine their synonymes ; or, in other words,
to re- model the system of animals.
Such an enterprize, from the prodigious developement of the science of late years,
could not have been executed completely by any one individual, even granting him
the longest life, and no other occupation. Had I been constrained to depend upon
myself alone, I should not have been able to prepare even the simple sketch which
I now give ; but the resources of my position seemed to me to supply what I
wanted both of time and talent. Living in the midst of so many able naturalists,
drawing from their works as fast as they appeared, freely enjoying the use of the
collections they had made, and having myself formed a very considerable one, ex-
pressly appropriated to my object, a great part of my labour consisted merely in the
employment of so many rich materials. It was not possible, for instance, that much
remained for me to do on shells, studied by M. de Lamarck, nor on quadrupeds, described
by M. GeofFroy. The numerous and new affinities described by M. de Lacepede, were
so many data for my system of fishes. M. Levaillant, among so many beautiful birds
collected from all parts, perceived details of organization which I immediately adapted
to my plan. My own researches, employed and fructified by other naturalists, yielded
results to me which, in my hands alone, they would not all have produced. So, also,
M. de Blainville and M. Oppel, in examining the cabinet which I had formed of
anatomical preparations on which I designed to found my divisions of reptiles, anti-
cipated— and perhaps better than I should have done — results of which as yet I had
but a glimpse, &c., &c.
Encouraged by these reflections, I determined to precede my Treatise on Com-
parative Anatomy by a kind of abridged system of animals, in which I should present
their divisions and subdivisions of all degrees, established in a parallel manner upon
their structure, both internal and external ; where I would give the indication of well-
authenticated species that belonged, with certainty, to each of the subdivisions ; and
where, to create more interest, I would enter into some details upon such of the
species as, from their abundance in our country, the services which they render
us, the damage which they occasion to us, the singularity of their manners and economy,
their extraordinary forms, their beauty, or their magnitude, are the most remarkable.
I hoped by so doing to prove useful to young naturalists, who, for the most part,
have but little idea of the confusion and errors of criticism in which the most accredited
works abound, and who, particularly in foreign countries, do not sufficiently attend to
the study of the true relations of the conformation of beings : I considered myself as
rendering a more direct service to those anatomists, who require to know beforehand
to which orders they should direct their researches, when they wish to solve by com-
parative anatomy some problem of human anatomy or physiology, but whose ordinary
occupations do not sufficiently prepare them for fulfilling this condition, which is essen-
tial to their success.
Nevertheless, I have not professed to extend this twofold view equally to all classes
of the animal kingdom ; and the vertebrated animals, as in every sense the most in-
B 2
4 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
teresting, claimed to have the preference. Among the Invertehrata, I have had more
particularly to study the naked mollusks and the great zoophytes ; but the innumerable
variations of the external forms of shells and corals, the microscopic animals, and the
other families which perform a less obvious office in the economy of nature, or whose
organization affords but little room for the exercise of the scalpel, did not require to
be treated with the same detail. Independently of which, so far as the shells and
corals are concerned, I could depend on a work just published by M. de Lamarck, in
which will be found all that the most ardent desire for information can require.
With respect to insects, so interesting by their external forms, their organization,
habits, and by their influence on all living nature, I have had the good fortune to find as-
sistance which, in rendering my work infinitely more perfect than it could have been had
it emanated solely from my pen, has, at the same time, greatly accelerated its publica-
tion. My colleague and friend, M. Latreille, who has studied these animals more
profoundly than any other man in Europe, has kindly consented to give, in a single
volume, and nearly in the order adopted for the other parts, a summary of his immense
researches, and an abridged description of those innumerable genera which entomolo-
gists are continually establishing.
As for the rest, if in some instances I have given less extent to the exposition of
sub-genera and species, this inequality has not occurred in aught that concerns the
superior divisions and the indications of affinities, which I have every where founded on
equally solid bases, established by equally assiduous researches.
I have examined, one by one, all the species of which I could procure specimens ; I
have approximated those which merely differed from each other in size, colour, or in
the number of some less important parts, and have formed them into what I designate
a sub-genus.
Whenever it was possible, I have dissected at least one species of each sub-genus ;
and if those be excepted to which the scalpel cannot be applied, there exists in my
work but very few groups of this degree, of which I cannot produce some considerable
portion of the organs.
After having determined the names of the species which I had examined, and which
had previously been either well figured or well described, I placed in the same sub-
genera those which I had not seen, but whose exact figures, or descriptions, sufficiently
precise to leave no doubt of their natural relations, I found in authors ; but I have
passed over in silence that great number of vague indications, on which, in my opinion,
naturalists have been too eager to establish species, the adoption of which has mainly
contributed to introduce into the catalogue of beings, that confusion which deprives it
of so much of its utility.
I could have added, almost every where, a vast number of new species ; but as I
could not refer to figures, it would have been incumbent on me to extend their descrip-
tions beyond what space permitted : I have, therefore, preferred depriving my work of
this ornament, and have only indicated those, the peculiar conformation of which gives
rise to new sub-genera.
My sub -genera once established on positive relations, and composed of well-authen-
ticated species, it remained only to construct this great scaffolding of genera, tribes,
families, orders, classes, and primary divisions, which constitute the entire animal
kingdom.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 5
111 this I have proceeded, partly by ascending from the inferior to the superior divi-
sions, by means of approximation and comparison ; and partly also by descending from
the superior to the inferior groups, on the principle of the subordination of characters ;
comparing carefully the results of the two methods, verifying one by the other, and
always sedulously establishing the correspondence of external and internal structure,
which, the one as well as the other, are integral parts of the essence of each animal.
Such has been my procedure whenever it was necessary and possible to introduce
new arrangements ; but I need not observe that, in very many places, the results to
which it would have conducted me had already been so satisfactorily obtained, that I
had only to follow the track of my predecessors. Notwithstanding which, even in
those cases where no alteration was required, I have verified and confirmed, by new
observations, what was previously acknowledged, and what I did not adopt until it had
been subjected to a rigorous scrutiny.
The public may form some idea of this mode of examination, from the memoirs on the
anatomy of mollusks, which have appeared in the Annales du Museum, and of which I
am now preparing a separate and augmented collection. I venture to assure the reader
that I have bestowed quite as extensive labour upon the vertebrated animals, the anne-
lides, the zoophytes, and on many of the insects and crustaceans. I have not deemed it
necessary to publish it with the same detail ; but all my preparations are exposed in
the Cabinet of Comparative Anatomy in the Jardin du Roi, and will serve hereafter
for my treatise on anatomy.
Another very considerable labour, but the details of which cannot be so readily
authenticated, is the critical examination of species. I have verified all the figures
alleged by different authors, and as often as possible referred each to its true species,
previously to selecting those which I have indicated : it is entirely from this verifica-
tion, and never from the classification of preceding systematists, that I have referred to
my sub-genera the species that belong to them. Such is the reason why no astonish-
ment should be experienced on finding that such and such a genus of Gmelin is now
divided, and distributed even in different classes and still higher divisions ; that nume-
rous nominal species are reduced to a single one, and that popular names are very
differently applied. There is not one of these changes which I am not prepared to
justify, and of which the reader himself may not obtain the proof, by recurring to the
sources which I have indicated.
In order to lessen his trouble, I have been careful to select for each class a principal
author, generally the richest in good original figures ; and I quoted secondary works
only where the former are deficient, or where it was useful to establish some com-
parison, for the sake of confirming synonymes.
My subject could have been made to fill many volumes ; but I considered it my
duty to condense it, by imagining abridged means of expression. These I have
obtained by graduated generalities. By never repeating for a species that which might
be said of an entire sub-genus, nor for a genus what might be applied to a whole
order, and so on, we arrive at the greatest economy of words. To this my endeavours
have been, above all, particularly directed, inasmuch as it was the principal end of
my w^ork. It may be remarked, however, that I have not employed many technical
terms, and that I have endeavoured to communicate my ideas without that barbarous
array of fictitious words, which, in the w'orks of so many modern naturalists, prove
6 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
so very repulsive. I cannot perceive, however, that I have thereby lost any thing in
precision or clearness.
I have been compelled, unfortunately, to introduce many new names, although I
have endeavoured, as far as possible, to preserve those of my predecessors ; but the
numerous sub-genera I have established required these denominations ; for in things
so various, the memory is not satisfied with numerical indications. I have selected
them, so as either to convey some character, or among the common names which I
have latinized, or lastly, after the example of Linnaeus, from among those of mytho-
logy, which are generally agreeable to the ear, and which we are far from having
exhausted.
In naming species, however, I would nevertheless recommend employing the sub-
stantive of the genus, and the trivial name only. The names of the sub-genera are
designed merely as a relief to the memory, when we would indicate these sub-
divisions in particular. Otherwise, as the sub-genera, already very numerous, will in
the end become greatly multiplied, in consequence of having substantives continually
to retain, we shall be in danger of losing the advantages of that binary nomenclature
so happily imagined by Linnaeus.
It is the better to preserve it that I have dismembered as little as possible the great
genera of that illustrious reformer of science. Whenever the sub-genera into which
I divide them were not to be translated into different families, I have left them together
under their former generic appellation. This was not only due to the memory of
Linnaeus, but was necessary in order to preserve the mutual intelligence of the
naturalists of different countries.
To facilitate still more the study of this work, — for it is to be studied more than to be
glanced over, — I have employed different- sized types in the printing of it, to correspond
to the different grades of generalization of the statements contained in it. * * *
Thus the eye will distinguish beforehand the relative importance of each group, and the
order of each successive idea ; and the printer will second the author with every con-
trivance which his art supplies, that may conduce to assist the memory.
The habit, necessarily acquired in the study of natural history, of mentally classify-
ing a great number of ideas, is one of the advantages of this science, which is seldom
spoken of, and which, when it shall have been generally introduced into the system of
common education, will perhaps become the principal one : it exercises, the student in
that part of logic which is termed method, as the study of geometry does in that
which is called syllogism^ because natural history is the science which requires the
most precise methods, as geometry is that which demands the most rigorous reason-
ing. Now this art of method, when once well acquired, may be applied with infinite
advantage to studies the most foreign to natural history. Every discussion which sup-
poses a classification of facts, every research which requires a distribution of matters, i
is performed after the same manner ; and he who had cultivated this science merely
for amusement, is surprised at the facilities it affords for disentanghng all kinds of i
affairs. i
It is not less useful in solitude. Sufficiently extensive to satisfy the most powerful |
mind, sufficiently various and interesting to calm the most agitated soul, it consoles |
the unhappy, and tends to allay enmity and hatred. Once elevated to the contem-
plation of that harmony of Nature irresistibly regulated by Providence, how weak and
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 7
trivial appear those causes which it has been pleased to leave dependent on the will of
man ! How astonishing to behold so many line minds, consuming themselves, so
uselessly for their own happiness and that of others, in the pursuit of vain combina-
tions, the very traces of which a few years suffice to obliterate !
I avow it proudly, these ideas have been always present to my mind, — the companions
of my labours ; and if I have endeavoured by every means in my power to advance
this peaceful study, it is because, in my opinion, it is more capable than any other of
supplying that want of occupation, which has so largely contributed to the troubles of
our age ; — but I must return to my subject.
There yet remains the task of accounting for the principal changes I have effected
in the latest received methods, and to acknowledge the amiount of obligation to those
naturalists, whose works have furnished or suggested a part of them.
To anticipate a remark which will naturally occur to many, I must observe that I
have neither pretended nor desired to class animals so as to form a single line, or
as to mark their relative superiority. I even consider every attempt of this kind im-
practicable. Thus, I do not mean that the mammalia or birds which come last, are
the most imperfect of their class ; still less do I intend that the last of mammalia
are more perfect than the first of birds, or the last of mollusks more perfect than the
first of the annelides, or zoophytes ; even restricting the meaning of this vague word
perfect to that of “ most completely organized.” I regard my divisions and subdivisions
as the merely graduated expression of the resemblance of the beings which enter into
each of them ; and although in some we observe a sort of passage or gradation from
one species into another, which cannot be denied, this disposition is far from being
general. The pretended chain of beings, as applied to the whole creation, is but an
erroneous application of those partial observations, which are only true when confined
to the limits within which they were made; and, in my opinion, it has proved more
detrimental to the progress of natural history in modern times, than is easy to
imagine.
It is in conformity with these views, that I have established my four principal
divisions, which have already been made known in a separate memoir. I still think
that it expresses the real relations of animals more exactly than the old arrangement of I
Vertehrata and Invertehrata, for the simple reason, that the former animals have a much
greater mutual resemblance than the latter, and that it was necessary to mark this
difference in the extent of their relations.
M. Virey, in an article of the Nouveau Dictionnaire d’Histoire Naturelle, had
already discerned in part the basis of the division, and principally that which reposes
on the nervous system.
The particular approximation of oviparous Vertebrata, inter se, originated from the
curious observations of M. Geoffroy on the composition of bony heads, and from those
which I have added to them relative to the rest of the skeleton, and to the muscles.
In the class of Mammalia, I have brought back the Solipedes to the Pachjdermata,
and have divided the latter into families on a new plan ; the Ruminantia I have placed
at the end of the quadrupeds ; and the Manati near the Cetacea. The distribution of
the Carnaria I have somewhat altered ; the Oustitis have been wholly separated from
the Monkeys, and a sort of parallelism indicated between the Marsupiata and other
digitated quadrupeds, the whole from my own anatomical researches. All that I have
8
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION,
given on the Quadrumana and the Bats is based on the recent and profound labours of
my friend and colleague M. GeolFroy de St. Hilaire. The researches of my brother,
M. Frederic Cuvier, on the teeth of the Carnaria and Rodentia, have proved highly
useful to me in forming the sub-genera of these two orders. Notwithstanding the
genera of the late M. Illiger are but the results of these same studies, and of those of
some foreign naturalists, I have adopted his names whenever his genera corresponded
with my sub-genera. M. de Lacepede has also discerned and indicated many excellent
divisions of this degree, which I have been equally compelled to adopt ; but the cha-
racters of all the degrees and all the indications of species have been taken from nature,
either in the Cabinet of Anatomy or in the galleries of the Museum.
The same plan was pursued with respect to the Birds. I have examined with the
closest attention more than four thousand individuals in the Museum ; I arranged them
according to my views in the public gallery more than five years ago, and all that is
said of this class has been drawn from that source. Thus, any resemblance which my
sub-divisions may bear to some recent descriptions, is on my part purely accidental.*
Naturalists, I hope, will approve of the numerous sub-genera which I have deemed
it necessary to make among the birds of prey, the PasserincB, and the Shore-birds ;
they appear to me to have completely elucidated genera hitherto involved in much
confusion. I have marked, as exactly as I could, the accordance of these subdivisions
with the genera of MM. de Lacepede, Meyer, Wolf, Temminck, and Savigny, and
have referred to each of them all the species of which I could obtain a very positive
knowledge. This laborious work will prove of value to those who may hereafter
attempt a true history of birds. The splendid works on Ornithology published within
a few years, and those chiefly of M. le Vaillant, which are filled with so many
interesting observations, together with M. Vieillot’s, have been of much assistance to
me in designating the species which they represent.
The general division of this class remains as 1 published it in 1798, in my Tableau
EUmentaire
I have thought proper to preserve for the Reptiles, the general division of my friend
M. Brongniart ; but I have prosecuted very extensive anatomical investigations to arrive
at the ulterior subdivisions. M. Oppel, as I have already stated, has partly taken
advantage of these preparatory labours ; and whenever my genera finally agreed with
his, I have noticed the fact. The work of Daudin, indifferent as it is, has been useful
to me for indications of details ; but the particular divisions which I have given in the
genera of Monitors and Geckos, are the product of my own observations on a great
number of Reptiles recently brought to the Museum by MM. Peron and Geoffroy.
My labours on the Fishes will probably be found to exceed those which I have
bestowed on the other vertebrated animals. Our Museum having received a vast
number of Fishes since the celebrated work of M. de Lacepede was published, I have been
enabled to add many subdivisions to those of that learned naturalist, also to combine
several species differently, and to multiply anatomical observations. I have also had
* This observation not having been sufficiently understood abroad,
I am obliged to repeat it here, and openly to declare a fact witnessed
by thousands in Paris ; it is this, that all the birds in the gallery of
the Museum were named and arranged according to my system, in
1811. Those even of my subdivisions to which I had not yet given
names, were marked by particular signs. This is my date. Inde-
pendently of this, my first volume was printed in the beginning of
1816. Four volumes are not printed so quickly as a pamphlet of a few
pages. I say no more. (Note to Edit. 1829).
t I only mention this because an estimable naturalist, M. Vieillot,
has, in a recent work, attributed to himself the union of the Pica and
Passeres. I had printed it in 1798, together with my other arrange-
ments, so as to render them public in the Museum since 1811 and 1813.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 9
better means of verifying the species of Commerson, and of some of other travellers ;
and, upon this point, I am much indebted to a review of the drawings of Commerson, and
of the dried fishes which he brought with him, by M. Dumeril, but which have only
been very lately recovered ; — resources to which I have added those presented to
me in the fishes brought by Peron from the Indian Ocean and Archipelago, those
which I obtained in the Mediterranean, and the collections made on the coast of
Coromandel by the late M. Sonnerat, at the Mauritius by M. Matthieu, in the Nile
and Red Sea, by M. Geoffroy, &c. I was thus enabled to verify most of the species
of Bloch, Russell, and others, and to prepare the skeletons and viscera of nearly all
the sub-genera ; so that this part of the work will, I presume, offer much that is new
to Icthyologists.
As to my division of this class, I confess its inconvenience, but I believe it, never-
theless, to be more natural than any preceding one. In publishing it some time ago,
I only offered it for what it is worth ; and if any one should discover a better principle
of division, and as conformable to the organization, I shall hasten to adopt it.
It is admitted that all the works on the general division of the invertebrated
animals, are mere modifications of what I proposed in 1795, in the first of my memoirs ;
and the time and care which I have devoted to the anatomy of mollusks in general, and
principally to the naked mollusks, are well known. The determining of this class, as
well as of its divisions and subdivisions, rests upon my own observations ; the magni-
ficent work of M. Poli had alone anticipated me by descriptions and anatomical
researches useful for my design, but confined to bivalves and multivalves only. I have
verified all the facts furnished by that able anatomist, and I believe that I have more
justly marked the functions of some organs. I have also endeavoured to determine the
animals to which belong the principal forms of shells, and to arrange the latter from
that consideration ; but with regard to the ulterior divisions of those shells of which the
animals resemble each other, I have examined them only so far as to enable me to describe
briefly those admitted by MM. de Lamarck and de Montfort ; even the small number
of genera and sub-genera which are properly mine, are principally derived from observa-
tions on the animals. In citing examples, I have confined myself to a certain number of
the species of Martini, Chemnitz, Lister, and Soldani ; and that only because, the volume
in which M. Lamarck treats of this portion not having yet appeared, I was compelled
to fix the attention of my readers on specific objects. But in the choice and determin-
ing of these species, I lay no claim to the same critical accuracy which I have employed
for the vertebrated animals and naked mollusks.
The excellent observations of MM. Savigny, Lesueur, and Desmarest, on the com-
pound Ascidians, approximate this latter family of mollusks to certain orders of
zoophytes : this is a curious relation, and a further proof of the impracticability of
arranging animals in a single line.
I believe that I have extricated the Annelides, — the establishing of which, although
not their name, belongs virtually to me, — from the confusion in which they had hitherto
been involved, among the Mollusks, the Testacea, and the Zoophytes, and have placed
them in their natural order ; even their genera have received some elucidation only
by my observations, published in the Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles, and else-
where.
Of the three classes contained in the third volume, I have nothing to remark.
10
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION.
■|
M. Latreille, who, with the exception of some anatomical details, founded on my own
observations and those of M. Ramdohr, which I have inserted in his text, is its sole ;
author, will take upon himself to explain all that is necessary.
As to the Zoophytes, which terminate the Animal Kingdom, I have availed myself,
for the Echinoderms, of the recent work of M. de Lamarck ; and for the Intestinal
Worms, of that of M. Rudolphi, inti tied Entozoa ; but I have anatomized all the
genera, some of which have been determined by me only. There is an excellent
work by M. Tiedemann, on the anatomy of the Echinoderms, which received the
prize of the Institute some years ago, and will shortly appear ; it will leave nothing to i
be desired respecting these curious animals. The Corals and the Infusoria, offering i
no field for anatomical investigations*, will be briefly disposed of. The new work of
M. de Lamarck will supply my deficiencies.t *
With respect to authors, I can only here mention those who have furnished me .
with general viewsy or who were the origin of such in my own mind.f There are :
many otherfe to whom I am indebted for particular facts, and whose names I have ii|
carefully quoted wherever I have made use of them. They will be found on every ;■
page of my book. Should I have omitted to do justice to any, it must be attributed y
to involuntary foi*getfulness, and I ask pardon beforehand : there is no property, in
my opinion, more sacred than the conceptions of the mind ; and the custom, too pre- j
valent among naturalists, of masking plagiarisms by a change of names,, has always
appeared to me a crime.
The publication of my Comparative Anatomy will now occupy me every moment : j
the materials are ready ; a vast quantity of preparations and drawings are arranged ;
and I shall be careful in dividing the work into parts, each of which will form a
whole, so that, should my physical powers prove insufficient for the completion of my '
design, what I have produced will still form entire suites, and the materials I have
collected be in immediate readiness for those who may undertake the continuation
of my labours.
Jardin du Roi, October, 1816.
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION.
The preceding preface explains faithfully the condition in which I found the
history of animals when the first edition of this work was published. During the
twelve years that have since elapsed, this science has made immense progress,
not only from the acquisitions of numerous travellers, as well-instructed as courageous,
who have explored every region of the globe, but by the rich collections which
various governments have formed and rendered public, and by the learned and
* The surprising researches of M. Ehrenberg, now publishing from
time to time, triumphantly refute this allegation. — Ed.
1 1 have just received L’Histoire des Polypiers correlligenes flexibles
of M. Lamouroux, which furnishes an excellent supplement to
M. de Lamarck.
t M. de Blainville has recently published general zoological tables,
which I regret came too late for me to profit by, having appeared
when my book was nearly printed.
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. 11
splendid works, wherein new species are described and figured, and of which the
authors have striven to detect their mutual relations, and to consider them in every
point of view.*
I have endeavoured to avail myself of these discoveries, as far as my plan permitted,
by first studying the innumerable specimens received at the Cabinet du Roi, and com-
paring them with those which served as the basis of my first edition, in order
thence to deduce new approximations or subdivisions ; and then, by searching in all
I the books I could procure for the genera or sub -genera established by naturalists,
and the descriptions of species by which they have supported these numerous com-
binations.
The determination of synonymes has become much easier now than at the period
of my first edition. Both French and foreign naturalists appear to have recognized
the necessity of establishing divisions in the vast genera in which such incongruous
species were formerly heaped together ; their groups are now precise and well-defined ;
their descriptions sufficiently detailed ; their figures scrupulously exact to the most
minute characters, and often of the greatest beauty as works of art. Scarcely any
difficulty remains, therefore, in identifying their species, and nothing hinders
' them from coming to an understanding with respect to the nomenclature. This,
ji unfortunately, has been the most neglected ; the names of the same genera, and the
' same species, are multiplied as often as they are mentioned ; and should this discord
: continue, the same chaos will be produced that previously existed, though arising
from another cause.
I I have used every effort to compare and approximate these redundancies, and, forget-
, ting even my own trifling interest as an author, have often indicated names which
I seemed to have been imagined only to escape the avowal of having borrowed my divisions,
j But thoroughly to execute this undertaking, — this pinax or rectified epitome of the
■ animal kingdom, which becomes every day more necessary, — to discuss the proofs and fix
the definitive nomenclature which should be adopted, by basing it on sufficient figures
and descriptions, requires more space than I could dispose of, and a time imperatively
j claimed by other works. In the History of Fishes, which I have commenced pub-
lishing, with the assistance of M. Valenciennes, I purpose to give an idea of what
' appears to me might be effected in all parts of the science. Here, I only profess to
offer an abridged summary — a simple sketch ; — well satisfied if I succeed in rendering
this accurate in all its details.
Various essays of a similar kind have been published on some of the classes,
and I have carefully studied them with a view to perfect my own. The Mammalogie
of M. Desmarest, that of M. Lesson, the Treatise on the Teeth of Quadrupeds, by
j M. Frederic Cuvier, the English translation of my first edition, by Mr. Griffith,
enriched by numerous additions, particularly by Hamilton Smith ; the new edition
I of the Manuel d' OrnitJiologie of M. Temminck, the Ornithological Fragments of
I M. Wagler, the History of Reptiles of the late Merrem, and the Dissertation on the
same subject by M. Fitsinger, have principally been useful to me for the vertebrated
animals. The Histone des Animaux sans Vertebres of M. de Lamarck, the Malacologie
of M. de Blainville, have also been of great service to me for the moUusks. To
* See my discourse before the Institute on the Progres de Vhistoire naturelle depuis la paix maritime, published at the dose of the first
volume of my Eloges.
12
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION.
these I have added the new views and facts contained in the numerous and learned
writings of MM. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, father and son, Savigny, Temminck,
Lichtenstein, Kuhl, Wilson, Horsfield, Vigors, Swainson, Gray, Ord, Say, Harlan,
Charles Bonaparte, Lamouroux, Mitchell, Lesueur, and many other able and studious
men, whose names will be carefully mentioned when I speak of the subjects on which
they have treated.
The fine collections of engravings which have appeared within the last twelve
years, have enabled me to indicate a greater number of species ; and I have amply
profited by this facility. I must particularly acknowledge what I owe on this
score to the Histoire des Mammiferes of MM. Geoffroy St. Hilaire and Frederic
Cuvier, the Planches coloriees of MM. Temminck and Laugier, the Galerie des Oiseaux
of M. Vieillot, the new edition of the Birds of Germany, by MM. Nauman, the Birds of
the United States of Messrs. Wilson, Ord, and Charles Bonaparte*, the great works
of M. Spix, and of his Highness the Prince Maximilian de Wied, on the Animals of
Brazil, and to those of M. de Ferussac on the Mollusks. The plates and zoological
descriptions of the travels of MM. Freycinet and Duperrey, supplied in the first by
MM. Quoy and Gaymard, in the second by MM. Lesson and Garnot, also present
many new objects. The same must be said of the Animals of Java, by Dr. Hors-
field. Though on a smaller scale, new figures of rare species are to be found in the
Memoires du Museum, the Annates des Sciences Naturelles, and other French peri-
odicals, in the Zoological Illustrations of Mr. Swainson, and in the Zoological Journal,
published by able naturalists in London. The Journal of the Lyceum of New York,
and of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, are not less valuable ; but in
proportion as the taste for natural history becomes extended, and the more numerous
the countries in which it is cultivated, the number of its acquisitions increases in
geometrical progression, and it becomes more and more difficult to collect all the
writings of naturalists, and to complete the table of their results. I rely, therefore, on
the indulgence of those whose observations may have escaped me, or whose works I
have not sufficiently consulted.
My celebrated friend and colleague M. Latreille, having consented, as in the first
edition, to take upon himself the important and difficult part of the Crustaceans,
Arachnides, and Insects, will himself explain in an advertisement the plan he has
followed, so that I need say nothing more on this subject.
i
il
n
Hi * * He *
Jardin du Roi, October, 1828.
* The work of M. Audubon upon the Birds of North America, I me till after the whole of that part which treats of Birds was
which surpasses all others in magnificence, was unknown to | printed.
13
INTRODUCTION.
1
OF NATURAL HISTORY, AND OF SYSTEMS GENERALLY.
As few persons have a just idea of Natural History, it appears necessary to com-
mence our work by carefully defining the proposed object of this science, and establish-
ing rigorous limits between it and the contiguous sciences.
The word Nature, in our language, and in most others, signifies sometimes, the
qualities which a being derives from birth, in opposition to those which it may
owe to art ; at other times, the aggregate of beings which compose the^ universe ;
and sometimes, again, the laws which govern these beings. It is particularly in
this latter sense that it has become customary to personify Nature, and to employ
the name, respectfully, for that of its Author.
Physics, or Natural Philosophy, treats of the nature of these three relations, and is
either ereneral or particular. General Physics examines, abstractedly, each of the
properties of those moveable and extended beings which we call bodies. That depart-
ment of them styled Dynamics, considers bodies in mass ; and, proceeding from a very
small number of experiments, determines mathematically the laws of equilibrium, and
those of motion and of its communication. It comprehends in its different divisions
the names of Statics, Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Hydrodynamics, Pneumatics, &c., ac-
cording to the nature of the bodies of which it examines the motions. Optics considers
the particular motions of light ; the phenomena of which, requiring experiments for
their determination, are becoming more numerous.
Chemistry, another branch of General Physics, expounds the laws by which the
elementary molecules of bodies act on each other when in close proximity, the com-
binations or separations which result from the general tendency of these molecules to
unite, and the modifications which different circumstances, capable of separating or
approximating them, produce on that tendency. It is a science almost wholly ex-
perimental, and which cannot be reduced to calculation.
The theory of Heat, and that of Electricity, belong almost equally to Dynamics or
Chemistry, according to the point of view in which they are considered.
The method which prevails in all the branches of General Physics consists in
isolating bodies, reducing them to their utmost simplicity, in bringing each of their
properties separately into action, either mentally or by experiment, in observing or
calculating the results, in short, in generalizing and correcting the laws of these pro-
14
INTRODUCTION.
!i
parties for the purpose of establishing a body of doctrine, and, if possible, of referring the |
whole to one single law, under the universal expression of which all might be resolved. ^
Particular Physics, or Natural History, — for these terms are synonymous — has for '
its object to apply specially the laws recognized by the various branches of General j
Physics, to the numerous and varied beings which exist in nature, in order to explain
the phenomena which they severally present.
In this extended sense, it would also include Astronomy ; but that science, suffi- :
ciently elucidated by Mechanics, and completely subjected to its laws, employs methods
too different from those required by ordinary Natural History, to permit of its cultiva-
tion by the students of the latter.
Natural History, then, is confined to objects which do not allow of rigorous
calculation, or of precise measurement in all their parts. Meteorology, also, is
subtracted from it, to be ranged under General Physics ; so that, properly speaking,
it considers only inanimate bodies, called minerals, and the various kinds of living
beings, in ail which we may observe the effects, more or less various, of the laws of
motion and chemical attraction, and of all the other causes analyzed by General Physics.
Natural History should, in strictness, employ the same modes of procedure as the
general sciences ; and it does so, in fact, whenever the objects of its study are so
little complex as to permit of it. But this is very seldom the case.
An essential difference, in effect, between the general sciences and Natural History
is, that, in the former, phenomena are examined, the conditions of which are all
regulated by the examiner, in order, by their analysis, to arrive at general laws ; while
in the latter, they occur under circumstances beyond the control of him v^ho studies
them for the purpose of discovering, amid the complication, the effects of general
laws already known. It is not permitted for him, as in the case of the experimenter,
to subtract successively from each condition, and so reduce the problem to its
elements ; but he must take it entire, with all its conditions at once, and can analyze
only in thought. Suppose, for example, we attempt to isolate the numerous pheno-
mena which compose the life of an animal a little elevated in the scale ; a single one
being suppressed, the life is wholly annihilated.
Dynamics have thus become a science almost purely of calculation ; Chemistry is
still a science wholly [chiefly*] of experiment ; and Natural History will long remain,
in a great number of its branches, one of pure observation.
These three terms sufficiently designate the modes of procedure employed in the
three branches of the Natural Sciences ; but in establishing between them very different
degrees of certitude, they at the same time indicate the point to which the two latter
should tend, in order to approach perfection.
Calculation, so to speak, commands Nature ; it determines phenomena more exactly !
than observation can make them known : experiment forces her to unveil ; while obser-
vation watches her when deviating from her normal course, and seeks to surprise her.
Natural History has, moreover, a principle on which to reason, which is peculiar to
it, and which it employs advantageously on many occasions ; it is that of the conditions
of existence, commonly termed final causes. As nothing can exist without the concur-
rence of those conditions which render its existence possible, the component parts of each
* The discovery of the atomic theory has reduced many of its phenomena to calculation. — Ed.
INTRODUCTION,
15
must be so arranged as to render possible the whole living being, not only with regard
to itself, but to its surrounding relations ; and the analysis of these conditions fre-
quently conducts to general laws, as demonstrable as those which are derived from
calculation or experiment.
It is only w'hen all the laws of general physics, and those which result from the condi-
tions of existence, are exhausted, that we ^re reduced to the simple laws of observation.
The most effectual mode of observing is by comparison. This consists in suc-
cessively studying the same bodies in the different positions in which Nature
places them, or in a comparison of different bodies together, until constant relations
are recognized between their structures and the phenomena which they manifest.
These various bodies are kinds of experiments ready prepared by Nature, who adds
to or subtracts from each of them different parts, just as we might wish to do in our
laboratories, and shows us herself the results of such additions or retrenchments.
It is thus that we succeed in establishing certain laws, which govern these relations,
and which are employed like those that have been determined by the general sciences.
The incorporation of these laws of observation with the general laws, either directly
or by the principle of the conditions of existence, would complete the system of the
natural sciences, in rendering sensible in all its parts the mutual influence of every
being. This it is to which the efforts of those who cultivate these sciences should tend.
All researches of this kind, however, presuppose means of distinguishing with certainty,
and causing others to distinguish, the objects investigated ; otherwise we should be
incessantly liable to confound the innumerable beings which Nature presents. Natural
History, then, should be based on what is called a System of Nature, or a great catalogue,
in which aU beings bear acknowledged names, may be recognized by distinctive cha-
racters, and distributed in divisions and subdivisions themselves named and characterized,
in which they may be found.
In order that each being may always be recognized in this catalogue, it should carry
its character along with it: for which reason the characters should not be taken
from properties, or from habits the exercise of which is transient, but should he
drawn from the conformation.
There is scarcely any being which has a simple character, or can be recognized by
an isolated feature of its conformation : the combination of many such traits is almost
always necessary to distinguish a being from the neighbouring ones, which have
some but not all of them, or have them combined with others of which the first is
destitute ; and the more numerous the beings to be discriminated, the more must
these traits accumulate : insomuch that, to distinguish from all others an individual
being, a complete description of it must enter into its character.
It is to avoid this inconvenience that divisions and subdivisions have been invented.
A certain number of neighbouring beings only are compared together, and their par-
ticular characters need only to express their differences, which, by the supposition itself,
are the less important parts of their conformation. Such a reunion is termed a genus.
The same inconvenience would recur in distinguishing genera from each other, were
it not that the operation is repeated in collecting the neighbouring genera, so as to form
an order ; the neighbouring orders to form a class, &c. Intermediate subdivisions may
also be established.
This scaffolding of divisions, the superior of which contain the inferior, is what is
INTRODUCTION.
16
called a method. It is, in some respects, a sort of dictionary, in which we proceed ^
from the properties of things to discover their names ; being the reverse of ordinary die- |
tionaries, in which we proceed from the names to obtain a knowledge of the properties.
When the method, however, is good, it does more than teach us names. If the sub-
divisions have not been established arbitrarily, but are based on the true fundamental ^
relations, — on the essential resemblances of beings, the method is the surest means of 1 1
reducing the properties of these beings to general rules, of expressing them in the | j
fewest words, and of stamping them on the memory. 1m
To render it such, an assiduous comparison of beings is employed, directed by the IJ
principle of the subordination of characters, which is itself derived from that of the Ijl
conditions of existence. All the parts of a being having a mutual correlativeness, some Ijj
traits of conformation exclude others ; while some, on the contrary, necessitate others : j -
when, therefore, we perceive such or such traits in a being, we can calculate before- ;!
hand those which co-exist in it, or those that are incompatible with them. The parts, i
properties, or the traits of conformation, which have the greatest number of these | |
relations of incompatibility or of co-existence with others, or, in other words, that ' |
exercise the most marked influence upon the whole of the being, are what are called s j
important characters, dominant characters ; the others are the subordinate characters, '
all varying, however, in degree.
This influence of characters is sometimes determined rationally, by considering
the nature of the organ : when this is impracticable, recourse must be had to simple
observation ; and a sure means of recognizing the important characters, which is
derived from their own nature, is, that they are more constant ; and that in a long
series of dilFerent beings, approximated according to their degrees of similitude, these
characters are the last to vary.
From their influence and from their constancy result equally the rule, which should
be preferred for distinguishing grand divisions, and in proportion as we descend to the
inferior subdivisions, we can also descend to subordinate and variable characters.
There can only be one perfect method, which is the natural method. An arrangement
is thus named in which beings of the same genus are placed nearer to each other than
to those of all other genera ; the genera of the same order nearer than to those of
other orders, and so in succession. This method is the ideal to which Natural History
should tend ; for it is evident that, if we can attain it, we shall have the exact and
complete expression of all nature. In fact, each being is determined by its resem-
blance to others, and its differences from them ; and all these relations would be fuUy
given by the arrangement which we have indicated. In a word, the natural method would
be the whole science, and each step towards it tends to advance the science to perfection.
Life being the most important of all the properties of beings, and the highest of all
characters, it is not surprising that it has been made in all ages the most general prin-
ciple of distinction ; and that natural beings have always been separated into two
immense divisions, the living and the inanimate.
OF LIVING BEINGS, AND OF ORGANIZATION IN GENERAL.
If, in order to obtain a just idea of the essence of life, we consider it in those beings
in which its effects are the most simple, we readily perceive that it consists in the
— i
INTRODUCTION.
17
faculty which certain corporeal combinations have, of enduring for a time, and under
a determinate form, by incessantly attracting into their composition a part of sur-
rounding substances, and rendering to the elements portions of their own proper
substance.
Life, then, is a vortex {tourhillon) , more or less rapid, more or less complicated,
the direction of which is constant, and which always carries along molecules of
the same kind, but into which individual molecules are continually entering, and
from which they are constantly departing ; so that the form of a living body is more
essential to it than its matter.
As long as this movement subsists, the body in which it takes place is living —
it lives. When it is permanently arrested, the body dies. After death, the elements
which compose it, abandoned to the ordinary chemical affinities, are not slow to
separate, from which, more or less quickly, results the dissolution of the body that
had been living. It was then by the vital motion that its dissolution was arrested, and
that the elements of the body were temporarily combined.
All living bodies die after a time, the extreme limit of which is determined for each
species ; and death appears to be a necessary consequence of life, which, by its own
action, insensibly alters the structure of the body wherein its functions are exercised,
so as to render its continuance impossible.
In fact, the living body undergoes gradual but constant changes during the whole
term of its existence. It increases first in dimensions, according to the proportions
and within the limits fixed for each species, and for each of its several parts ; then
it augments in density, in most of its parts : — it is this second kind of change that
appears to be the cause of natural death.
On examining the various living bodies more closely, a common structure is
discerned, which a little reflection soon causes us to adjudge as essential to a vortex,
such as the vital motion.
Solids, it is evident, are necessary to these bodies for the maintenance of their
forms, and fluids for the conservation of motion in them. Their tissue, then, is com-
posed of interlacement and network, or of fibres and solid laminae, which inclose the
liquids in their interstices : it is in these liquids that the motion is most continual and
most extended ; the extraneous substances penetrate the intimate tissue of bodies in
incorporating with them ; they nourish the solids by interposing their molecules, and
also detach from them their superfluous molecules : it is in a liquid or gaseous form
that the matters to be exhaled traverse the pores of the living body ; but, in return, it
is the solids which contain these fluids, and by their contraction communicate to them
a part of their motion.
I’his mutual action of the solids and fluids, this passage of molecules from one to
the other, necessitated considerable affinity in their chemical composition ; and, accord-
ingly, the solids of organized bodies are in great part composed of elements easily
convertible into liquids or gases.
The motion of the fluids, requiring also a continually repeated action on the
part of the solids, and communicating one to them, demanded of the latter both
flexibility and dilatability ; and hence we find this character nearly general in all
organized solids.
This fundamental structure, common to all living bodies — this areolar tissue, the more
c
INTRODUCTION
18
or less flexible fibres or laminae of which intercept fluids more or less abundant —
constitutes what is termed the organization ; and, as a consequence of what we have
said, it follows that only organized bodies can enjoy life.
Organization, then, results from a great number of dispositions or arrangements,
which are all conditions of life ; and it is easy to conceive that the general move-
ment of the life would be arrested, if its effect be to alter either of these conditions,
so as to arrest even one of the partial motions of which it is composed.
Every organized body, besides the qualities common to its tissue, has one proper
form, not only in general and externally, but also in the detail of the structure
of each of its parts ; and it is upon this form, which determines the particular direction
of each of the partial movements that take place in it, that depends the complication of
the general movement of its life, which constitutes its species, and renders it what it
is. Each part concurs in this general movement by a peculiar action, and experiences
from it particular effects ; so that, in every being, the life is a whole, resulting from
the mutual action and reaction of all its parts.
Life, then, in general, presupposes organization in general, and the life proper
to each being presupposes the organization peculiar to that being, just as the ^
movement of a clock presupposes the clock ; and, accordingly, we behold life only
in beings that are organized and formed to enjoy it ; and all the efforts of philo-
sophers have not yet been able to discover matter in the act of organization,
either of itself or by any extrinsic cause. In fact, life exercising upon the elements
which at every instant form part of the living body, and upon those which it attracts
to it, an action contrary to that which would be produced without it by the usual i
chemical affinities, it is inconsistent to suppose that it can itself be produced by these ^
affinities, and yet we know of no other power in nature capable of reuniting previously ,i!
separated molecules.
The birth of . organized beings is, therefore, the greatest mystery of the organic
economy and of all nature : we see them developed, but never being formed ; nay,
more, all those of which we can trace the origin, have at first been attached to a
body of the same form as their own, but which was developed before them ; — in
one word, to di, parent. So long as the offspring has no independent life, but par-
ticipates in that of its parent, it is called a germ.
The place to which the germ is attached, and the occasional cause which detaches
it, and gives it an independent life, vary ; but the primitive adherence to a similar
being is a rule without exception. The separation of the germ is what is designated
generation.
All organized beings produce similar ones ; otherwise, death being a necessary con-
sequence of life, their species would not endure.
Organized beings have even the faculty of reproducing, in degrees varying with the
species, certain of their parts of which they may have been deprived. This has been
named the power of reproduction.
The developement of organized beings is more or less rapid, and more or less ex-
tended, according as circumstances are differently favourable. Heat, the supply and
quality of nourishment, with other causes, exert great influence ; and this influence
may extend to the whole body in general, or to certain organs in particular : — hence
the similitude of offspring to their parents can never be complete.
INTRODUCTION.
19
Differences of this kind, between organized beings, are w^hat are termed varieties.
There is no proof that all the differences which now distinguish organized beings are
such as may have been produced by circumstances. All that has been advanced uj3on
this subject is hypothetical : experience seems to show, on the contrary, that, in
the actual state of things, varieties are confined within rather narrow limits ; and,
so far as we can retrace antiquity, we perceive that these limits were the same as at
present.
We are then obliged to admit of certain forms, which, since the origin of things,
have been perpetuated without exceeding these limits ; and all the beings appertaining
to one of these forms constitute what is termed a species. Varieties are accidental
subdivisions of species.
Generation being the only means of ascertaining the limits to which varieties may
extend, species should be defined the reunion of individuals descended one from the
other, or from common parents, or from such as resemble them as closely as they
resemble each other ; but, although this definition is rigorous, it will be seen that its
application to particular individuals may be very difficult when the necessary experi-
ments have not been made.*
To recapitulate, — absorption, assimilation, exhalation, developement, and generation,
are the functions common to all living beings ; birth and death, the universal limits of
their existence ; a porous, contractile tissue, containing within its laminae liquids or
gases in motion, the general essence of their structure ; substances almost all
susceptible of being converted into liquids or gases, and combinations capable of easy
transformation into one another, the basis of their chemical composition. Fixed
forms, and which are perpetuated by generation, distinguish their species, determine
the complication of the secondary functions proper to each of them, and assign to them
the office they have to fulfil in the grand scheme of the universe. These forms
neither produce nor change themselves ; the life supposes their existence ; it can exist
only in organizations already prepared ; and the most profound meditations, assisted
by the most delicate observations, can penetrate no further than the mystery of the
pre-existence of germs.
DIVISION OF ORGANIZED BEINGS INTO ANIMALS AND VEGETABLES.
Living or organized beings have been subdivided, from the earliest times, into ani-
mate beings, or those possessing sense and motion, and inanimate beings, which enjoy
* That insurmountable difficulties oppose the rigid determination of
species, and, consequently, render even the definition of the term
impossible, except in a very vague and loose manner, will readily
appear on consideration of some of the phenomena presented.
The prevalent idea is, that a species consists of the aggregate of
individuals descended from one original parentage, which alone are
supposed to be capable of producing offspring that are prolific inter
se ; and that when individuals, not of the same pristine derivation,
interbreed, the hybrids are necessarily mules, which are either quite
sterile, or at most can only propagate with individuals of unmixed
descent. But it so happens, that every possible grade of approxi-
mation is manifested, from the most diverse races, to those which are
utterly undistinguishable ; while, even in the latter case, urgent ana-
logies, notwithstanding, sometimes forcibly indicate a separateness of
origin ; as when a series of analogous races inhabiting distant regions
are compared together, some of which are obviously different, others
doubtfully so, and some apparently identical. And it remains to be
shown whether such intimately allied races as some of these, even if
not descended from a common stock, (which of course cannot be
ascertained), would not produce hybrids capable of transmitting and
perpetuating the mingled breed. It is true that Cuvier guards
against this contingency, in the wording of his definition ; and that
most naturalists would concur in regarding such miscible races, how-
ever dissimilar, as varieties merely of the same ; but a question
arises, whether there be not different degrees of fertility in hybrids,
corresponding to the amount of affinity, or physiological accordancy^
subsisting betwixt the parent races ; it being only within a certain
sphere of that affinity that they can be produced at all : besides which,
as hybrids are seldom exactly intermediate, and in some instances
(particularly among multiparous races) have been known to resemble
entirely one or the other parent, it may be presumed that this circum.
stance would also materially affect their capability of propagation*
Experiments are needed to solve tliis important problem, though tliere
is every reason to suspect that the following proposition will eventu-
ally gain the general assent of naturalists, viz., that while considerable
dissimilarity does not of necessity unply specrftcal diversity, the con-
verse equally holds, that absolute resemblance fails of itself to con-
stitute specijical identity. — Ed.
c 2
20
INTRODUCTION.
neither the one nor the other of these faculties, but are reduced to the simple function
of vegetating. Although many plants retract their leaves when touched, and the roots
direct themselves constantly towards moisture, the leaves towards air and light,
and though some parts of vegetables appear even to exhibit oscillations without
any perceptible external cause, still these various movements bear too little resem-
blance to those of animals to enable us to recognize in them any proofs of perception
or of will.
The spontaneity of the movements of animals required essential modifications, even
in their simply vegetative organs. Their roots not penetrating the ground, it was
necessary that they should be able to place within themselves provisions of food, and
to carry its reservoir along with them. Hence is derived the first character of animals,
or their alimentary cavity, from which their nutritive fluid penetrates all other parts
through pores or vessels, which are a sort of internal roots.
The organization of this cavity and of its appurtenances required varying, according
to the nature of the aliment, and the operations which it had to undergo before it
could furnish juices proper for absorption : whilst the atmosphere and the earth supply
to vegetables only juices ready prepared, and which can be absorbed immediately.
The animal body, which abounds with functions more numerous and more varied
than in the plant, required in consequence to have an organization much more com-
plicated ; besides which, its parts not being capable of preserving a fixed relative posi-
tion, there were no means by which the motion of their fluids could be produced by
external causes, as it required to be independent: of heat and of the atmosphere : from
this originates the second character of animals, or their circulatory system, which is
less essential than the digestive, since it was unnecessary in the more simple animals.
The animal functions required organic systems, not needed by vegetables, as that
of the muscles for voluntary motion, and that of the nerves for sensibility ; and these
two systems, like the rest, acting only through the motions and transformations of the
fluids, it was necessary that these should be more numerous in animals, and that
the chemical composition of the animal body should be more complicated than that of
the plant : and so it is, for an additional substance (azote) enters into it as an essential
element, while in plants it is a mere accidental junction with the three other general
elements of organization, — oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. This then is the third
character of animals.
The soil and the atmosphere supply to vegetables water for their nutrition, which is
composed of oxygen and hydrogen, air, which contains oxygen and azote, and car-
bonic acid, which is a combination of oxygen and carbon. To extract from these
aliments their proper composition, it was necesary that they should retain the hydrogen
and carbon, exhale the superfluous oxygen, and absorb little or no azote. Such, then,
is the process of vegetable life, of which the essential function is the exhalation of
oxygen, which is effected through the agency of light.
Animals in addition derive nourishment, more or less immediately, from the vegetable
itself, of which hydrogen and carbon form the principal constituents. To assimilate
them to their own composition, they must get rid of the superfluous hydrogen, and
especially of the superabundant carbon, and accumulate more azote ; this it is which
is performed in respiration, by means of the oxygen of the atmosphere combining with
the hydrogen and carbon of the blood, and being exhaled with them under the form of
INTRODUCTION.
21
water and carbonic acid. The azote, whatever part of their body it may penetrate,
appears to remain there.
The relations of vegetables and animals with the atmosphere are then inverse ; the
former retain {ddfont) water and [decompose] carbonic acid, while the latter reproduce
them. Respiration is the function essential to the constitution of an animal body ; it
is that which in a manner animalizes it ; and we shall see that animals exercise their
peculiar functions more completely, according as they enjoy greater powers of respira-
tion. It is in this difference of relations that the fourth character of animals consists.
OF THE FORMS PECULIAR TO THE ORGANIC ELEMENTS OF THE ANIMAL BODY, AND OF
THE PRINCIPAL COMBINATIONS OF ITS CHEMICAL ELEMENTS.
An areolar tissue and three chemical elements are essential to every living body, a
fourth element being peculiar to that of animals ; but this tissue is composed of vari-
ously formed meshes, and these elements are united in different combinations.
There are three kinds of organic materials, or forms of tissue, — the cellular membrane y
the muscular fibre, and the medullary matter; and to each form belongs a peculiar
combination of chemical elements, together with a particular function.
The cellular membrane is composed of an infinity of small laminae, fortuitously dis-
posed, so as to form little cells that communicate with each other. It is a sort of
sponge, which has the same form as the entire body, all other parts of -which fill or
traverse it. Its property is to contract indefinitely when the causes which sustain
its extension cease to operate. It is this force that retains the body in a given form,
and within determined limits.
When condensed, this substance forms those more or less extended laminae which
are called membranes ; the membranes, rolled into cylinders, compose those tubes, more
or less ramified, which are termed vessels ; the filaments, named fibres, resolve them-
selves into it ; and the bones are nothing but the same, indurated by the accumulation
of earthy particles.
The cellular substance consists of that combination [isinglass] which bears the
name of gelatine, and the character of which is to dissolve in boiling water, and to
assume the form, when cold, of a trembling jelly.
The medullary matter has not yet been reduced to its organic molecules : it ap-
I pears to the naked eye as a sort of soft bouillie [pultaceous mass] , consisting of exces-
I sively small globules ; it is not susceptible of any apparent motion, but in it resides
j the admirable power of transmitting to the me the impressions of the external senses,
I and of conveying to the muscles the mandates of the will. The brain and the spinal
I chord are chiefly composed of it; and the nerves, which are distributed to aU the
i sentient organs, are, essentially, but ramifications of the same.
The fiesliy or muscular fibre is a peculiar sort of filament, the distinctive property
of which, during life, is that of contracting when touched or struck, or when it experi-
ences, through the medium of the nerves, the action of the will.
The muscles, immediate organs of voluntary motion, are merely bundles of fleshy
fibres. All the membranes, all the vessels which need to exercise any compression, are
furnished with these fibres. They are always intimately connected with nervous
threads ; but those which subserve the purely vegetative functions contract without
22
INTRODUCTION.
the knowledge of the me, so that the will is indeed one means of causing the fibres
to act, but which is neither general nor exclusive.
The fleshy fibre has for its base a particular substance termed fibrine, which is
insoluble in boiling water, and of which the nature appears to be to take of itself this
filamentous form.
The nutritive fluid, or the blood, such as we find in the vessels of the circulation, not
only resolves itself principally into the general elements of the animal body, — carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen, and azote, but it also contains fibrine and gelatine, all but disposed
to contract, and to assume the forms of membranes or of filaments peculiar to them ;
nought being ever acquired for their manifestation but a little repose. The blood pre-
sents also another combination, which occurs in many animal solids and fluids, namely,
albumen [or white of egg], the characteristic property of which is to coagulate in
boiling water. Besides these, the blood contains almost all the elements which may
enter into the composition of the body of each animal, such as the lime and phosphorus,
which hardens the bones of vertebrated animals, the iron, which colours the blood itself
as well as various other parts, the fat or animal oil, which is deposited in the cellular
substance to maintain it, &c. All the fluids and solids of the animal body are composed
of chemical elements contained in the blood ; and it is only by possessing some ele-
ments more or less, or in different proportions, that each is severally distinguished ;
whence it becomes apparent that their formation entirely depends on the subtraction
of the whole or part of one or more elements of the blood, and, in some few cases, on
the addition of some element from elsewhere.
The various operations, by which the blood supplies nourishment to the solid or liquid
matter of all parts of the body, may take the general name of secretion. This term,
however, is often exclusively appropriated to the production of liquids, while that of
nutrition is applied more especially to the production and deposition of the matter
necessary to the growth and conservation of the solids.
Every solid organ, as well as fluid, has the composition most appropriate for the office
which it has to perform, and it preserves it so long as health continues, because the
blood renews it as fast as it becomes changed. The blood itself, by this continual
contribution, is altered every moment ; but is restored by digestion, which renews its
matter ; by respiration, which sets free the superfluous carbon and hydrogen ; and by
perspiration and various other excretions, that relieve it from other superabundant
principles.
These perpetual changes of chemical composition constitute part of the vital vortex,
not less essential than the visible movements and those of translation : the object, in- ,i
deed, of these latter is simply to produce the former. |
OF THE FORCES WHICH ACT IN THE ANIMAL BODY.
The muscular flbre is not only the organ of voluntary motion ; we have seen that it
is also the most powerful of the means employed by nature to effect the move-
ments of translation necessary to vegetative life. Thus the fibres of the intestines pro-
duce the peristaltic motion, which causes the aliment to pass onward along this canal;
the fibres of the heart and arteries are the agents of the circulation, and, through it, of ;
all the secretions, &c.
INTRODUCTION.
23
The will causes the fibre to contract through the medium of the nerve ; and the
involuntary fibres, such as those we have mentioned, are equally animated by the
nerves which pervade them ; it is, therefore, probable, that these nerves are the cause
of their contraction.
All contraction, and, generally speaking, all change of dimension in nature, is produced
by a change of chemical composition, though it consists merely in the flowing or ebbing
of an imponderable *, such as caloric ; it is thus also that the most violent of known
movements are occasioned, as combustions, detonations, &c.
There is, then, great reason for supposing that it is by an imponderable fluid that
the nerve acts upon the fibre ; and the more especially, as it is demonstrated that this
action is not mechanical.
The medullary matter of the whole nervous system is homogeneous, and m.ust
exercise, wherever it is found, the functions appertaining to its nature ; all its ramifi-
cations receive a great abundance of blood-vessels.
All the animal fluids being derived from the blood by secretion, it cannot be doubted
that the same holds with the nervous fluid, nor that the medullary matter secretes
[or evolves] it.
On the other hand, it is certain that the medullary matter is the sole conductor
of the nervous fluid ; and that all the other organic elements serve as non-conductors,
and arrest it, as glass arrests electricity.
The external causes which are capable of producing sensations, or of occasioning
contractions in the fibre, are all chemical agents, capable of effecting decompositions,
such as light, caloric, the salts, odorous vapours, percussion, compression, &c.
It would seem, then, that these causes act upon the nervous fluid chemically, and
by changing its composition : which appears the more likely, as their action becomes
weakened by continuance, as if the nervous fluid needed to resume its primitive com-
position in order to be altered anew.
The external organs of sense may be compared to sieves, which allow nothing to
pass through to the nerve except the species of agent which should affect it in that
particular place, but which often accumulates so as to increase the effect. The
tongue has its spongy papillae, which imbibe saline solutions : the ear a gelatinous
pulp, which is intensely agitated by sonorous vibrations ; the eye transparent lenses,
which concentrate the rays of light, &c.
It is probable that what are styled irritants, or the agents which occasion the con-
tractions of the fibre, exert this action by producing on the fibre, by the nerve, the
same effect which is produced by the will ; that is to say, by altering the nervous fluid
in the manner necessary to change the dimensions of the fibre on which it has influence ;
but the will has nothing to do in this action ; the me is often even without any
knowledge of it. The muscles separated from the body are still susceptible of irrita-
tion, so long as the portion of the nerve distributed within them preserves its power of
acting on them ; the will being evidently unconnected with this phenomenon.
The nervous fluid is altered by muscular irritation, as well as by sensation and
voluntary motion ; and the same necessity occurs for the re-establishment of its primi-
tive composition.
The movements of translation necessary to vegetative life are determined by irritants :
* “ Imponderable fluid’' is the expression in the original. — Ed.
INTRODUCTION.
24
the aliment irritates [or excites] the intestine, the blood irritates the heart, &c. These
movements are all independent of the will, and in general (while health endures) take
place without the cognizance of the me ; the nerves which produce them have even,
in several parts, a different distribution from that of the nerves affected by sensations
or subject to the will, and the object of the difference appears to be the securing of
this independence.*
The nervous functions, that is to say, sensitiveness and muscular irritability, are so
much the stronger at every point, in proportion as the exciting cause is more abundant ;
and as this agent, or the nervous fluid, is produced by secretion [or evolution], its
abundance must be in proportion to the quantity of medullary or secretory matter,
and the amount of blood received by the latter.
In animals that have a circulation, the blood is propelled through the arteries which
convey it to its destined parts, by means of their irritability and that of the heart. If
these arteries be irritated, they act more vigorously, and propel a greater quantity of
blood ; the nervous fluid becomes more abundant, and augments the local sensibility ;
this, in its turn, increases the irritability of the arteries, so that this mutual action may
be carried to a great extent. It is termed orgasm, and when it becomes painful and
permanent, inflammation. The irritation may also originate in the nerve, when it
experiences acute sensations.
This mutual influence of the nerves and fibres, either in the intestinal system, or in
the arterial system, is the real spring of vegetative life in animals.
As each external sense is permeable only by particular kinds of sensation, so
each internal organ may be accessible only to such or such agent of irritation. Thus,
mercury irritates the salivary glands, cantharides excite the bladder, &c. These
agents are what are termed speciflcs.
The nervous system being homogeneous and continuous, local sensations and'irrita-
tion debilitate the whole ; and each function, carried too far, may enfeeble the others.
Excess of aliment thus weakens the faculty of thought ; while prolonged meditation
impairs the energy of digestion, &c.
Excessive local irritation will enfeeble the whole body, as if all the powers of life
were concentrated on a single point.
A second irritation produced at another point may diminish, or divert as it is termed,
the first; such is the effect of purgatives, blisters, &c. [denominated counter-irritation].
All rapid as the foregoing enunciation is, it is sufficient to establish the possibility of
accounting for all the phenomena of physical life, by the simple admission of a fluid
such as we have defined, from the properties which it manifests. f
* In the above sentence, there are ®stinctly mentioned the three
sorts of nerves, the separate functions of which have been con-
clusively demonstrated by Sir Charles Bell : viz., nerves of volition,
which transmit the mandates of the will ; of sensation, which convey
to the sensorium the impressions of the senses ; and of sympathy,
or involuntary movement, the reunion of the ramifications of which
in a plexus of knots, or ganglions, is intimated in the text, those of
the second class being distinguished by a swelling or ganglion near
their base. — Ed.
t The unceasing chemical changes consequent upon vitality must
necessarily develope electricity ; and that the nervous fluid is no other
than the electric, may be considered as proved by the identity of their
phenomena. Indeed, it has long been known that the transmission
of voltaic electricity along the nerves of a recently dead animal,
suffices to produce the most violent muscular action ; but the regula-
tion of that action, its exclusive direction to particular suites of
muscles, requires the vital impulse. “If the brain,” remarks Sir
John Herschel, “ (for which wonderfully constituted organ no other
mode of action possessing the least probability has ever been devised) ,
be an electric pile, constantly in action, it may be conceived to dis-
charge itself at regular intervals, when the tension of the electricity
developed reaches a certain point, along the nerves which communi-
cate w'ith the heart, and thus to excite the pulsations of that organ.
This idea is forcibly suggested by a view of that elegant apparatus,
the dry pile of Deluc, in which the successive accumulations of
electricity are carried off by a suspended ball, which is kept, by the
discharges, in a state of regular pulsation for any length of time. AVe
have witnessed the action of such a pile, maintained in this way for
whole years, in the study of the above-named eminent philosopher.
The same idea of the cause of the pulsation of the heart appears to
have occurred to Dr. Arnott, and is mentioned in his useful and ex-
cellent work on Physics, to which, however, we are not indebted for
the suggestion, it having occurred to us independently many years
ago.” — Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy, p. 343. — Ed.
INTRODUCTION.
25
SUMMARY IDEA OF THE FUNCTIONS AND ORGANS OF THE BODIES OF ANIMALS, AND OF
THEIR VARIOUS DEGREES OF COMPLICATION.
After what we have stated respecting the organic elements of the body, its
chemical principles, and the forces which act within it, it remains only to give a sum-
mary idea in detail of the functions of which life is composed, and of their respective
organs.
The functions of the animal body are divided into two classes : —
The animal functions, or those proper to animals, — that is to say, sensibility and
voluntary motion.
The vital, vegetative functions, or those common to animals and vegetables ; that is
to say, nutrition and generation.
Sensibility resides in the nervous system.
The most general external sense is that of touch ; its seat is in the skin, a mem-
brane enveloping the whole body, and traversed all over by nerves, of which the
extreme filaments expand on the surface into papillae, and are protected by the epider-
mis, and by other insensible teguments, such as hairs, scales, &c. Taste and smell
are merely delicate states of the sense of touch, for which the skin of the tongue and
nostrils is particularly organized ; the former by means of papillae more convex and
spongy ; the latter, by its extreme delicacy and the multiplication of its ever humid
surface. We have already spoken of the eye and ear in general. The organ of gene-
ration is endowed with a sixth sense, which is seated in its internal skin ; that of the
stomach and intestines declares the state of those viscera by peculiar sensations. In
fine, sensations more or less painful may originate in all parts of the body through
accidents or diseases.
Many animals have neither ears nor nostrils ; several are without eyes, and some are
reduced to the single sense of touch, which is never absent.
The action received by the external organs is continued through the nerves to the
central masses of the nervous system, which, in the higher animals, consists of the
brain and spinal chord. The more elevated the nature of the animal, the more volumi-
nous is the brain, and the more the sensitive power is concentrated there ; in propor-
tion as the animal is placed lower in the scale, the medullary masses are dispersed, and
in the lowest genera of all, the nervous substance appears to merge altogether, and
blend in the general matter of the body.
That part of the body which contains the brain and the principal organs of sense, is
called the head.
When the animal has received a sensation, and which has induced in it an act of
volition, it is by [particular] nerves also that this volition is transmitted to the muscles.
The muscles are bundles of fleshy fibres, the contractions of which produce all the
movements of the animal body. The extensions of the limbs, and all the lengthenings
of parts, are the effect of muscular contractions, equally with flexions and abbreviations.
The muscles of each animal are disposed in number and direction according to the
movements which it has to execute ; and when these movements require to be effected
with some vigour, the muscles are inserted into hard parts, articulated one over
another, and may be considered as so many levers. These parts are called bones in
INTRODUCTION.
26
the vertebrated animals, where they are internal, and formed of a gelatinous mass, '
penetrated with molecules of phosphate of lime. In mollusks, crustaceans, and insects,
where they are external, and composed of a calcareous or corneous substance that
exudes between the skin and epidermis, they are termed shells, crusts, and scales.
The fleshy fibres are attached to the hard parts by means of other fibres of a gela- '
tinous nature, which seem to be a continuation of the former, constituting what are
called tendons.
The configuration of the articulating surfaces of the hard parts limits their move-
ments, which are further restrained by cords or envelopes attached to the sides of the
articulations, and which are termed ligaments.
It is from the various dispositions of this bony and muscular apparatus, and from ||j
the form and proportions of the members which result therefrom, that animals are |lj
capable of executing those innumerable movements which enter into walking, leaping, p
flight, and swimming. ||5
The muscular fibres appropriated to digestion and circulation are independent of the K
will ; they receive nerves, however, but, as we have said, the chief of them exhibit Ij*^
subdivisions and enlargements which appear to have for their object the estrangement j
of the empire of the me. It is only in paroxysms of the passions and other powerful
mental emotions, which break down these barriers, that the empire of the me becomes
perceptible; and even then its effect is almost always to disorder these vegetative ]
functions. It is also in a state of sickness only that these functions are accompanied
by sensations. Digestion is ordinarily performed unconsciously.
The aliment, divided by the jaws and teeth, or sucked up when liquids con-
j stitute the food, is swallowed by the muscular movements of the back part of the
mouth and throat, and deposited in the first portion of the alimentary canal, usually
expanded into one or more stomachs ; it there is penetrated with juices proper to dis-
solve it. Conducted thence along the rest of the canal, it receives other juices destined I
to complete its preparation. The parietes of the canal have pores which extract from
this alimentary mass its nutritious portion, and the useless residue is rejected as ^
excrement. !!:
The canal in which this first act of nutrition is performed, is a continuation of the :
skin, and is composed of similar layers ; even the fibres which encircle it are analogous
to those which adhere to the internal surface of the skin, called the fleshy pannicle.
Throughout the w^hole interior of this canal there is a transudation, which has some i !
connexion with the cutaneous perspiration, and which becomes more abundant when
the latter is suppressed ; the skin even exercises an absorption very analogous to that U
of the intestines. i''
It is only in the lowest animals that the excrements are rejected by the mouth, and m
in which the intestine has the form of a sac without issue. |i
Among those even in which the intestinal canal has two orifices, there are many in |
which the nutritive juices, absorbed by the coats of the intestine, are immediately il
diffused over the whole spongy substance of the body: this appears to be the case I
with the whole class of insects.
But, ascending from the arachnides and worms, the nutritive fluids circulate in a
system of confined vessels, the ultimate ramifications of which alone dispense its molecules
to the parts that are nourished by it ; those particular vessels which convey it are named
INTRODUCTION.
27
arteries, and those which bring it back to the centre of the circulation are termed veins.
The circulating vortex is sometimes simple, sometimes double, and even triple (includ-
ing that of the vena porta) ; the rapidity of its movements is often aided by the contrac-
tions of a certain fleshy apparatus denominated hearts, and which are placed at one or
the other centres of circulation, and sometimes at both of them.
In the red-blooded vertebrated animals, the nutritive fluid exudes white or transpa-
rent from the intestines, and is then termed chyle ; it is poured by particular vessels,
named lacteals, into the venous system, where it mingles with the blood. Vessels
resembling these lacteals, and forming with them what is known as the lymphatic
system, also convey to the venous blood the residue of the nutrition of the parts and
the products of cutaneous absorption.
Before the blood is proper to nourish the several parts, it must experience from the
ambient element, by respiration, the modification of which we have already spoken. In
animals which have a circulation, a portion of the vessels is destined to carry the blood
into organs, where they spread over an extensive surface, that the action of the ambient
element might be increased. When this element [or medium] is the air, the surface is
hollow, and is called lungs ; when water, it is salient, and termed gillsJ^ There are
always motive organs disposed for propelling the ambient element into, or upon, the
respiratory organ.
In animals which have no circulation, the air is diffused through every part of the
body by elastic vessels, named trachea ; or water acts upon them, either by pene-
trating through vessels, or by simply bathing the surface of the skin.
The blood which is respired is qualified for restoring the composition of all the parts,
and to effect what is properly called nutrition. It is a great marvel that, with this
facility which it has of becoming decomposed at each point, it should leave precisely
the species of molecule which is there necessary ; but it is this wonder which consti-
tutes the whole vegetative life. For the nourishment of the solids, we see no other
arrangement than a great subdivision of the extreme arterial ramifications ; but for
the production of liquids, the apparatus is more complex and various. Sometimes
the extremities of the vessels simply spread over large surfaces, whence the produced
fluid exudes ; sometimes it oozes from the bottom of little cavities. Very often, before
these arterial extremities change into veins, they give rise to particular vessels that
convey this fluid, which appears to proceed from the exact point of union between the
two kinds of vessels ; in this case, the blood-vessels and these latter termed especial,
form, by their interlacement, the bodies called conglomerate or secretory glands.
In animals that have no circulation, and particularly insects, the nutritive fluid
bathes all the parts ; each of them draws from it the molecules necessary for its suste-
nance : if it be necessary that some liquid be produced, the appropriate vessels float in
the nutritive fluid, and imbibe from it, by means of their pores, the constituent elements
of that liquid.
It is thus that the blood incessantly supports all the parts, and repairs the altera-
tions which are the continual and necessary consequence of their functions. The
* It may be remarked here, that, in strictness of language, no
animals respire water, but the air which is suspended in water, and
which has been ascertained to contain more oxygen than that of the
free atmosphere. The elements of water, it should he remembered, are
chemically combined, while those of air are only mechanically mixed.
To obtain oxygen from the one, therefore, decomposition is required ;
from the other, no disunion. Tlie only distinction, then, in the
respiration of animals is, that some breathe the free air, and are sup-
plied w’ith lungs, and others that diffused in water, and have there-
fore gills : but even this difference, however, is more apparent than
real, as in all cases the respiratory surface requires to be moist or wet,
in order to perform its function. Deprive water of its air by boiling it,
and it cannot support life. — Ed.
28
INTRODUCTION.
general ideas which we form respecting this process are tolerably clear, although we
have no distinct or detailed notion of what passes at each point ; and for want of
knowing the chemical composition of each part with sufficient precision, we cannot
render an exact account of the transformations necessary to produce it.
Besides the glands w'hich separate from the blood those fluids which perform some
office in the internal economy, there are some which detach others from it that are to
be totally rejected, either simply as superfluities, such as the urine, which is produced
by the kidneys, or for some use to the animal, as the ink of the cuttle, and the purple
matter of various other mollusks, &c.
With respect to generation, there is one process or phenomenon infinitely more
difficult to conceive than that of the secretions ; it is the production of the germ. We
have seen even that it may be regarded as little less than incomprehensible ; but, the
existence of the germ once admitted, generation presents no particular difficulty : so
long as it adheres to the parent, it is nourished as if it were one of its organs* ; and
when it detaches itself, it has its own proper life, which is essentially similar to that
of the adult.
The germ, the embryo, the foetus, and the new-born animal, have in no instance,
however, precisely the same form as the adult, and the difference is sometimes so great,
that their assimilation merits the name of metamorphosis. Thus, no one not previously
aware of the fact, would suppose that the caterpillar is to become a butterfly.
All living beings are more or less metamorphosed in the course of their growth,
that is to say, they lose certain parts, and develope others. The antennae, wings, and
all the parts of the butterfly were inclosed within the skin of the caterpillar ; this
skin disappears along with the jaws, feet, and other organs that do not remain in the
butterfly. The feet of the frog are inclosed by the skin of the tadpole : and the tad-
pole, to become a frog, loses its tail, mouth, and gills. The infant likewise, at birth,
loses its placenta and envelope ; at a certain age its thymous gland almost disappears ;
and it acquires by degrees its hair, teeth, and beard. The relative size of its organs
alters, and its body increases proportionally more than its head, its head more than its
internal ear, &c.
The place where these germs are found, the assemblage of them, is named the ovary ;
the canal through which, when detached, they are carried forward, the oviduct ; the
cavity in which, in many species, they are obliged to remain for a longer or shorter
period before birth, the matrix or uterus ; the exterior orifice through which they pass
into the world, the vulva. When there are sexes, the male sex fecundates ; the germs
appearing in the female. The fecundating liquor is named semen ; the glands which
separate it from the blood, testicles ; and, when it is necessary that it should be intro-
duced into the body of the female, the intromittent organ is called penis.
li
•V ^
;ii
till
RAPID EXPOSITION OF THE INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONS OF ANIMALS.
The impression of external objects on the me, the production of a sensation, of an
image, is a mystery impenetrable to our intellect ; and materialism an hypothesis, so
much the more conjectural, as philosophy can furnish no direct proof of the actual
Germs have been detected in the ovaria of a human foetus. — Ed.
INTRODUCTION.
29
existence of matter. But the naturalist should examine what appear to be the mate-
rial conditions of sensation ; he should trace the ulterior operations of the mind, ascer-
tain to what point they reach in each being, and assure himself whether they are not
subject to conditions of perfection, dependent on the organization of each species, or
on the momentary state of each individual body.
For the me to perceive, there must be an uninterrupted nervous communication
between the external sense and the central masses of the medullary system. Hence it
is only when a modification is experienced by these masses that the me perceives : there
may also be real sensations, without the external organ being affected, and which
originate either in the nervous passage, or in the central mass itself ; such are dreams
and visions, or certain accidental sensations.
By central masses, we mean a part of the nervous system, which is more circum-
scribed as the animal is more perfect. In man, it consists exclusively of a limited
portion of the brain ; but in reptiles, it includes the brain and the whole of the medulla,
and each of their parts taken separately ; so that the absence of the entire brain does
not prevent sensation. In the inferior classes this extension is still greater.
The perception acquired by the me, produces the image of the sensation ex-
perienced, We trace to without the cause of that sensation, and thus acquire the idea
of the object which produces it. By a necessary law of our intelligence, all the ideas
of material objects are in time and space.
The modifications experienced by the medullary masses leave impressions there,
which are reproduced, and recall to mind images and ideas ; this is memory, a cor-
poreal faculty that varies considerably, according to age and health.
Ideas that are similar, or which have been acquired at the same time, recall each
other ; this is the association of ideas. The order, extent, and promptitude of this asso-
ciation constitute the perfection of memory.
Each object presents itself to the memory with all its qualities, or wdth all its
accessory ideas.
Intellect has the power of separating these accessory ideas of objects, and of com-
bining those that are alike in several different objects under one general idea, the
prototype of which nowhere really exists, nor presents itself in an isolated form ; this
is abstraction.
Every sensation being more or less agreeable or disagreeable, experience and re-
peated essays show promptly what movements are required to procure the one and
avoid the other ; and with respect to this, the intellect abstracts itself from general
rules to direct the will.
An agreeable sensation being liable to consequences that are not so, and vice versd,
the subsequent sensations become associated with the idea of the primitive one, and
modify the general rules abstracted by the intellect ; this is prudence.
From the application of rules to general ideas, result certain formulae, which are
afterwards adapted easily to particular cases ; this is called reasoning — ratiocination.
A lively remembrance of primitive and associated sensations, and of the impressions
of pleasure and pain that attach to them, constitutes imagination.
One privileged being, Man, has the faculty of associating his general ideas with
particular images more or less arbitrary, easily impressed upon the memory, and which
serve to recall the general ideas which they represent. These associated images are
30
INTRODUCTION.
what are called signs ; their assemblage is a language. When the language is com-
posed of images that relate to the sense of hearing or sound, it is termed speech. \
When its images relate to that of sight, they are called hieroglyphics. Writing |;
is a suite of images that relate to the sense of sight, by which we represent |
elementary sounds ; and, in combining them, all the images relative to the sense of
hearing of which speech is composed : it is, therefore, only a mediate representation
of ideas.
This faculty of representing general ideas by particular signs or images associated
with them, enables us to retain distinctly in the memory, and to recall without con-
fusion, an immense number, and furnishes to the reasoning faculty and the imagina-
tion innumerable materials, and to individuals the means of communication, which
cause the whole species to participate in the experience of each individual ; so that no
bounds seem to be placed to the acquisition of knowledge : this is the distinctive
character of human intelligence.*
The most perfect animals are infinitely below man in their intellectual faculties ; but j.
it is, nevertheless, certain that their intelligence performs operations of the same kind.llj
nnViiriTr in r\^ c?£i-n c?o C! cn cr*/av^4-iT\lo r\f /I ni-oT-vl *lP
theyl!
They move in consequence of sensations received, are susceptible of durable affections,
and acquire by experience a certain knowledge of things, by which they are governed in-
dependently of actual pain and pleasure, and by the simple foresight of consequences. f
When domesticated, they feel their subordination, know that the being who punishes
them may refrain from doing so if he will, and when sensible of having done wrong, or
behold him angry, they assume a suppliant air. In the society of man they become
either corrupted or improved, and are susceptible of emulation and jealousy
have among themselves a natural language, which, it is true, expresses onlyj
their momentary sensations ; but man teaches them to understand another, muchf
more complicated, by which he makes known to them his will, and causes them to||!'
execute it.
In short, we perceive in the higher animals a certain degree of reason, with all its : ’
consequences, good and bad, and which appears to be about the same as that of chil-
dren before they have learned to speak. In proportion as we descend to the animalsj
more removed from man, these faculties become enfeebled ; and, in the lowest classes
we find them reduced to signs, at times equivocal only, of sensibility, that is to say,
to a few slight movements to escape from pain. Between these two extremes, the
degrees are endless.
In a great number of animals, however, there exists a different faculty of intelli
gence, which is named instinct. This prompts them to certain actions necessary to theTjjj
preservation of the species, but often altogether foreign to the apparent wants of|
individuals ; frequently, also, very complicated, and which, to be ascribed to intelligence, '
would suppose a foresight and knowledge in the species that execute them infinitely
superior to what can be admitted. These actions, the result of instinct, are not the
effect of imitation, for the individuals that perform them have often never seen them
performed by others : they are not proportioned to the ordinary intelligence, but
become more singular, more wise, more disinterested, in proportion as the animals
belong to less elevated classes, and are, in all the rest of their actions, more dull and
* Linnaeus defined the human being to he a “ self-knowing animal
which is a bold assumption, taken either way. — Ed.
i- That is to say, they obviously remark coincidences and sequences ;
but it is doubtful whether any of them can mentally trace remote
causes, amid the complication of phenomena. It is with man in his
least civilized state that they should be compared. — Ed.
INTRODUCTION.
31
stupid. They are so truly the property of the species, that all its individuals perform
them in the same way, without any improvement.
Thus the working bees have always constructed very ingenious edifices, agreeably to
the rules of the highest geometry, and destined to lodge and nourish a posterity not
even their own. The wasps and the solitary bees also form very complicated nests, in
which to deposit their eggs. From this egg issues a grub, which has never seen its
parent, which is ignorant of the structure of the prison in which it is confined, but
which, once metamorphosed, constructs another precisely similar.
In order to have a clear idea of instinct, it is necessary to admit that these animals
have innate and perpetual images or sensations in the sensorium, which induce them to
act as ordinary and accidental sensations commonly do. It is a sort of dream or vision
that ever haunts them, and may be considered, in all that relates to instinct, as a
kind of somnambulism.
Instinct has been granted to animals as a supplement for intelligence, to concur with
it, and with force and fecundity, to the preservation, in a proper degree, of each species.
There is no visible mark of instinct in the conformation of the animal ; but intelli-
gence, so far as has been observed, is in constant proportion to the relative size of the
brain, and particularly of its hemispheres.*
OF METHOD, AS APPLIED TO THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
After what we have said respecting methods in general, there remains to ascertain
which are the most influential characters of animals, that should serve as the basis of
their primary divisions. It is evident they should be those which are drawn from the
animal functions ; that is to say, from tl^e sensations and movements ; for not only do
both these make the being an animal, but they establish, in a manner, its degree of
animality.
Observation confirms this position, by showing that their degrees of developement
and complication accord with those of the organs of the vegetative functions.
The heart and the organs of the circulation form a kind of centre for the vege-
tative functions, as the brain and trunli of the nervous system do for the animal
* One of the most curious phenomena of instinct is the transmission
of instilled habits by generation, as in the instance of high-bred
pointer and setter dogs, often requiring no training to fit them for
their particular modes of indicating game. Propensities are similarly
hereditary in the human species ; but innate knowledge, as a substi-
tute for individually acquired experience, is peculiar to brutes, which,
for the most part, are thrown upon their own resources, before they
have had time or opportunities to gain the necessary information to
serve as a guide for the regulation of their conduct. Alt the higher ani-
mals, except the human species, appear to recognize their natural foes
intuitively, to know even where tlieir hidden weapons lie, also where
they (and likewise themselves) are most vulnerable, and they endea-
vour to use their own peculiar weapons before these are developed. If
incapable of resistance, they commonly have recourse to stratagem ;
thus a brood of newly-hatched partridges will instantly cower motion-
less at sight of an object of distrust, the intent of which must be, that
the close similarity of their colour to that of the surface should cause
them to be overlooked. Predatory animals, again, which immolate
victims capable of dangerous resistance, instinctively endeavour always
to attack a vital part, so as to effect their purpose speedily, and with
least hazard to themselves ; but those which prey on feeble and de-
fenceless animals attack indiscriminately. Many astonishing mani-
festations of the instinctive faculty occur respecting the manner in
which the food is obtained ; and in the ant and some rodent quadrupeds,
which store up grain, the embryo of every seed is destroyed, to pre-
vent germination.
The seasonal migrative impulse which recurs in some animals is
among the most incomprehensible of instinctive phenomena, as it is
shown to be, in various cases, independent of food or temperature ;
though the latter, in particular, exercises some influence on its de-
velopement, as does also the state of the sexual organs in spring. The
guiding principle of migration is equally mysterious, — that which
enables a bird of passage to return periodically to its former haunts,
to the sarae locality (both in winter and summer), which it had pre-
viously occupied ; and the young also to the place of their nativity.
This principle is farther evinced in the return of pigeons, &c. to their
accustomed place of abode from indefinite distances, and by a straightcr
and more direct route than that by which they had been removed. It
appears, likewise, to be manifested in somnambulism, and, perhaps, in
some other affections of the human body; but the sexual and parental
instincts are those which are chiefly cognizable in civilized man-
kind.
One curious fact connected with the migrative propensity is, that
the same species is sometimes permanently resident in one locality,
and migratory in another. Thus the robin, which is stationary in
Britain, leaves Germany in the autumn ; which would seem to indi-
cate that the erratic habit may have originated (in this instance) from
necessity, and in course of time have become regular and transmis-
sible, independently of external causes. Migratory animals, how-
ever, may commonly be distinguished from others of the same genus,
by their superior structural powers of locomotion. — Ed.
INTRODUCTION.
, 32
functions. Now, we see these two systems degrade and disappear together. In®
the lowest of animals, where the nerves cease to be visible, there are no longer®!
distinct fibres, and the organs of digestion are simply excavated in the homogeneous 1 1
mass of the body. In insects, the vascular system disappears even before the nervous! 1
one ; but, in general, the dispersion of the medullary masses accompanies that of the .
muscular agents: a spinal chord, on which the knots or ganglions represent so;
many brains, corresponds to a body divided into numerous rings, and supported byj
pairs of members distributed along its length, &c. ■ p
This correspondence of general forms, which results from the arrangement of the? i
organs of motion, the distribution of the nervous masses, and the energy of the circu- ■ i
lating system, should serve then for the basis of the primary sections to be made in^
the animal kingdom. We will afterwards ascertain, in each of these sections, what
characters should succeed immediately to these, and form the basis of the primary ;
subdivisions.
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM INTO FOUR GREAT DIVISIONS.
If the animal kingdom be considered with reference to the principles which we have
laid down, and, divesting ourselves of the prejudices founded on the divisions
formerly admitted, we regard only the organization and nature of animals, and not ;
their size, utility, the more or less knowledge which we have of them, nor any ’ ’
other accessory circumstances, it will be found that there exist four principal forms, I
four general plans, if it may be thus expressed, on which all animals appear to have |
been modelled, and the ulterior divisions of which, under whatever title naturalists |
may have designated them, are merely slight modifications, founded on the develope- I
ment or addition of certain parts, which produce no essential change in the plan itself. I
In the first of these forms, which is that of man, and of the animals which most
resemble him, the brain and the principal trunk of the nervous system are inclosed in : ;
a bony envelope, which is formed by the cranium and the vertebrse : to the sides of this •,
medial column are attached the ribs, and the bones of the limbs, which compose the
framework of the body : the muscles generally cover the bones, the motions of which M
they produce, and the viscera are contained within the head and trunk. Animals ofM
this form we shall denominate .
VERTEBRATE ANIMALS (Animalia vertehrata).
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 principal branches of the nervous system.
On examining each of the parts of this great series of animals more closely, there 1
may always be detected some analogy, even in those species which are most remote i
from one another ; and the gradations of one single plan may be traced from man to
the last of fishes. !i
In the second form there is no skeleton ; the muscles are attached only to the skin, i
INTRODUCTION. 33
which constitutes a soft, contractile envelope, in which, in many species, are formed
stony plates, called shells, the production 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 principal, 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 frequently wanting. A single family
alone presents organs of hearing. There is always, however, a complete system of
circulation, and particular organs for respiration. Those of digestion and of the secre-
tions are little less complicated than in the vertebrated animals. We will distinguish
the animals of this second form by the appellation of
Molluscous Animals {Animalia mollusca).
Although the general plan of their organization is not so uniform, 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 functions.
The third form is that observed in insects, worms, &c. Their nervous system con-
sists of two long chords running longitudinally through the abdomen, dilated at inter-
vals into knots or ganglions. The first of these knots, placed over the oesophagus,
and called brain, is scarcely any larger than those which are along the abdomen, with
which it communicates by filaments that encircle the msophagus 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 bears on its sides articulated
limbs, but is frequently unfurnished with them. We will bestow on these animals
the term
Articulate Animals {Animalia articulata).
It is among these that the passage is observed from the circulation in closed vessels,
to nutrition by imbibition, and the corresponding transition from respiration in cir-
cumscribed organs, to that effected by tracheae or air-vessels distributed 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, when they have any, are always lateral.
Lastly, the fourth form, which embraces all those animals known under the name of
Zoophytes, may be designated
Radiate Animals {Animalia radiata).
In 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
* M. Agassiz has expressed a different opinion. See Radiata. — Ex>.
34
INTRODUCTION.
circulation ; their respiratory organs are almost always on the surface of the body ;
the greater number have only a sac without issue, for the whole intestine ; and
the lowest families present only a sort of homogeneous pulp, endowed with motion and ‘
sensibility.* ,
1“ The necessity,” writes Mr. Owen, for a dismemberment of the Radiata of Cuvier, which
Rudolphi justly calls a chaotic groupfj has been felt, and directly or indirectly expressed, by
most naturalists and comparative anatomists. J It is impossible, indeed, to predicate a com-
munity of structure in either the locomotive, excretive, digestive, sensitive, or generative
systems, with respect to this division, as it now stands in the Regne Animal. * * * ;
“ Taking the nervous system as a guide, the Radiata of Cuvier will be found to resolve them-
selves into two natural groups, of which the second differs in the absence or obscure traces of
nervous filaments from the higher division, in whieh these are always distinctly traceable,
either radiating from an oral ring, or distributed in a parallel longitudinal direction, according
to the form of the body.
‘‘These different conditions of the nervous system are accompanied by corresponding
modifications of the muscular, digestive, and vascular systems ; and a negative character, appli-||
cable to the higher division of Cuvier’s Radiata, may be derived from the generative!^
system.Ӥ '
It is only in the lower- organized of these divisions, to which the term
Acrite Animals {Animalia acrita)
has been applied by Macleay, also that of Protozoa and Oozoa by Cams (from the
circumstance of its members being analogous to the ova or germs of the higher classes),
that the alimentary cavity and sanguiferous canals are destitute of proper parietes,
being simple excavations or passages in the granular pulp of the body : for in the
Nematoneura (a name applied to the higher division of Cuvier’s Radiata by Owen), the 1
digestive organ is provided with a proper muscular tunic, and floats in an abdominal i
cavity : and those classes which manifest a circulating system distinct from the diges-
tive tube possess vessels with proper parietes, distinguishable into arteries and veins. ;
No nematoneurous class presents an example of generation by spontaneous fision or 1
gemmation, but these modes of reproduction are common in the acrite division. Some
of the latter, however, are oviparous ; and in a few the sexes are separate.] i
* Before my time, modern naturalists divided all invertebrated ani-
mals into two classes, the Insects and Worms. I was the first to attack
this method, and presented another division,in a Memoir read before the
Natural History Society of Paris, on the 10th of May, 1795, and printed
in the Decade Philosophique, in which I marked the characters and
limits of the Mollusks, Crustaceans, Insects, Worms, Echinoderms,
and Zoophytes. I distinguished the red-blooded worms, or Annelides,
in a memoir read before the Institute on the 3Ist of December, 1801.
And finally, in a Memoir read before the Institute in July, 1812, and
printed in the Annales du Mus, d’Hist. Nat., tom. xix., 1 distributed
these various classes under three grand divisions, each of which is
comparable to that of the vertebrate animals.
t Synopsis Entozoorum, p. 572.
t Lamarck observes : — “ The Apathetic Animals,” (as he terms the
Acrita,) “ have been very improperly called Zoophytes ; as their nature
is completely animal, and in no respect vegetable. The denomina-
tion of Rayed Animals is also objectionable, as it applies only to a
portion of them. — Anim. sans Fertibres, i. p. 890.
§ Cycloptedia of Anatomy and Physiology, Art. Acrita ; from which
the succeeding passages are also abridged.— Ed.
li
FIRST GREAT DIVISION OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
THE VERTEBRATE ANIMALS.
The bodies and limbs of these being supported by a
frame-work composed of connected pieces moveable
upon each other, they have the more precision and
vigour in their movements : the solidity of this support
permits of their attaining considerable size, and it is
among them that the largest animals are found.
Their more concentrated nervous system, and the
greater volume of its central portions, impart more
energy and more stability to their sentiments, whence
result superior intelhgence and perfectibility.
Their body always consists of a head, trunk, and
members.
The head is formed by the cranium, which incloses
the brain, and by the face, which is composed of the
two jaws and the receptacles of the organs of sense.
Their trunk is supported by the spine of the back
and the ribs.
The spine is composed of vertebrae moveable upon
each other, of which the first supports the head, and
which have an annular perforation, forming together a
canal, wherein is lodged that medullary production
from which the nerves arise, and which is called the
spinal marrow.
The spine, most commonly, is continued into a tail,
extending beyond the hinder limbs.
The ribs are semicircles, which protect the sides of the cavity of the trunk : they
are articulated at one extremity to the vertebrae, and are ordinarily attached in front to
the breast-bone ; but sometimes they only partly encircle the trunk, and there are
genera in which they are hardly visible.
There are never more than two pairs of limbs ; but sometimes one or the other is
wanting, or even both : their forms vary according to the movements which they have to
execute. The anterior limbs may be organized as hands, feet, wings, or fins ; the
posterior as feet, or instruments for swimming.
D 2
36
VERTEBRATE ANIMALS.
I
The blood is always red, and appears to have a composition proper for sustaining that
energy of sentiment and vigour of muscles, but in different degrees, which correspond
to the amount of respiration, from which originates the subdivision of the vertebrate
animals into four classes.
The external senses are always five in number, and reside in two eyes, two ears, two
nostrils, the teguments of the tongue, and those of the body generally. Certain species,
however, have the eyes obliterated.
The nerves reach the medulla through perforations of the vertebree, or of the cra-
nium : they all seem to unite with this medulla, which, after crossing its filaments,
expands to form the various lobes of which the brain is composed, and terminates in
the two medullary arches {voutes) termed hemispheres, the volume of which corre-
sponds to the amount of intelligence.
There are always two jaws, the principal motion of which is in the lower one,
which rises and falls ; the upper is oftentimes entirely fixed : both of them are almost
always armed with teeth, excrescences of a peculiar nature, the chemical composition of
which is very similar to that of bone, but which grows by layers and transudations ;
one entire class, however, (that of birds,) has the jaws invested with horn*, and the
group of tortoises, in the class of reptiles, is in the same predicament.
The intestinal canal is continued from the mouth to the anus, undergoing various
inflexions, and several enlargements and contractions ; having also appendages, and
receiving solvent fluids, one of which, the saliva, is discharged into the mouth ; the
others, which flow into the intestine only, have various names ; the two principal are
the juices of the gland called the pancreas [or sweet -hr ead~\, and the bile [or galf],
which is the product of another very large gland, named the liver.
While the digested aliment is traversing its canal, that portion of it which is proper
for nutrition, and is termed the chyle, is absorbed by particular vessels, named lacteals,
and carried into the veins ; the residue of the nutriment of the parts is also carried into
the veins by vessels analogous to the lacteals, and forming with them one same system,
designated the lymphatic system.\
The veins return to the heart the blood which has served to nourish the parts, to-^
gether with the chyle and lymph with which it has been renewed ; but this blood is
obliged to pass, either wholly or in part, into the organ of respiration, to regain its
arterial nature, previous to being again dispersed over the system by the arteries. In
the three first classes, this organ of respiration consists of lungs, that is, an assemblage ,
of ceils into which air penetrates. In fishes only, and in some reptiles while young, it
consists of gills, or a series of laminae between which water passes.
In all the vertebrate animals, the blood which furnishes the liver with the materials
of the bile is venous blood, which has circulated partly in the parietes of the intestines,
and partly in a peculiar body named the spleen, and which, after being united in a
trunk called the vena porta, is again subdivided at the liver.
* M. Geoffrey St. Hilaire has described a structure in the bill of
birds which presents some approach to a dentary system. In a foetus of
a Parroquet nearly ready for hatching, he found that the margins of the
bill were beset with tubercles arranged in a regular order, and having
all the exterior appearance of teeth ; these tubercles u^ere not, indeed,
implanted in the jaw-bones, but formed part of the exterior sheath of
the bill. Under each tubercle, however, there was a gelatinous pulp,
analogous to the pulps which secrete teeth, but resting on the edge of
the maxillary bones, and every pulp was supplied by vessels and nerves
traversing a eanal in the substance of the bone. These tubercles form
the first margins of the mandibles, and their remains are indicated by
canals in the horny sheath, subsequently formed, which contain a
softer material, and which commence from small foramina in the mar-
gin of the bone. In certain other birds (as the Mergansers) also, the
lateral edges of the bill are provided with horny processes or lamina;
secreted by distinct pulps, and analogous in this respect to the whale-
bone lamina; of the Whales, which are toothless Mammalia, as are also
the ant eaters a.\\A Monotremata : it is further remarkable that the
rudiments of dentition occur in the feetus of the toothless Whales.
— Ki).
t The lymphatic vessels are also the media of cutaneous transuda-
tion.— Ed.
VERTEBRATE ANIMALS.
cj h;
3/
All these animals have a particular secretion, which is that of urine, and which is
elaborated in two large glands attached to the sides of the spine of the back, and called
kidneys : the liquid which these glands secrete, accumulates most commonly in a
reservoir named the bladder.
The sexes are separate, and the female has always one or two ovaries, from which
the eggs are detached at the instant of conception. The male fecundates them with
the seminal fluid ; but the mode varies greatly. In most of the genera of the three
first classes, it requires an intromission of the fluid ; in some reptiles, and in most of
the fishes, it takes place after the exit of the eggs.
SUBDIVISION OF THE VERTEBRATE ANIMALS INTO FOUR CLASSES.
We have seen to what extent vertebrate animals resemble each other : they present,
however, four great subdivisions or classes, characterized by the kind or power of their
movements, which depend themselves on the quantity of respiration, inasmuch as it is
from this respiration that the muscular fibres derive the energy of their irritability.
The quantity of respiration depends upon two agents : the first is the relative
quantity of blood which presents itself in the respiratory organ in a given instant of
time ; the second, the relative amount of [free] oxygen which enters into the com-
position of [or is dispersed through] the ambient fluid. The quantity of the former
depends upon the disposition of the organs of respiration and of circulation.
The organs of the circulation may be double, so that all the blood wdiich is brought
back from the various parts of the body by the veins, is forced to circulate through
the respiratory organ before returning by the arteries ; or they may be simple, so that
a portion only of the blood is obliged to pass through the respiratory organ, the re -
mainder returning to the body without having been subjected to respiration.
The latter is the case with reptiles. The amount of their respiration, and all the
qualities which depend on it, vary according to the quantity of blood which is thrown
into the lungs at each pulsation.
Fishes have a double circulation, but their organ of respiration is formed to execute
its function through the medium of water ; and their blood is only acted upon by that
small portion of oxygen which is dissolved or mingled in water ; so that the quantity of
their respiration is, perhaps, less than that of reptiles.
In mammalians, the circulation is double, and the aerial respiration simple, that is,
it is performed in the lungs only : their quantity of respiration is, therefore, superior
to that of reptiles, on account of the form of their respiratory organ, and to that of
fishes, from the nature of their surrounding medium.
But the quantity of respiration in birds is even superior to that of quadrupeds,
since they have not only a double circulation and an aerial respiration, but also
respire by many other cavities besides the lungs, the air penetrating throughout
their bodies, and bathing the branches of the aorta, or main artery of the body, as
well as those of the pulmonary artery.*
Hence result the four kinds of progression to which the four classes of the vertebrate
animals are more particularly destined. The quadrupeds, in which the quantity of
* In Batrachian reptiles (frogs, newts, &c.), respiration is to a
certain extent performed over the whole outer skin ; which, on this
account, requires to be always moist. Hence, as there can be no
muscular action without previous respiration, the chemical change
effected by which is needed to develope the requisite nervous or vital
energy, those animals of this group which in the adult state have
lungs and not gills, but which pass the winter in a torpid state under
water, are enabled to resuscitate in spring. — Ed.
VERTEBRATE ANIMALS.
38
respiration is moderate, are generally formed to walk and run with precision and ^ j
vigour ; the birds, in which it is greater, have the muscular energy and lightness ■ %
necessary for flight ; the reptiles, where it is diminished, are condemned to creep, and , |
many of them pass a portion of their life in a state of torpor ; the fishes, in fine, i
to execute their movements, require to be supported in a fluid specifically almost as |
heavy as themselves.* |
All the circumstances of organization proper to each of these four classes, and
especially those which refer to motion and the external senses, have a necessary
relation with these essential characters.
The class of mammahans, however, has peculiar characters in its viviparous mode of , j
generation, in the manner in which the foetus is nourished in the womb by means of . ]
the placenta, and in the mammse by which they suckle their young. ^ :
The other classes are, on the contrary, oviparous ; and if we place them together, in t
opposition to the first, there will be perceived numerous resemblances which announce, ,
on their part, a special plan of organization, subordinate to the great general plan of
all the vertebrates. i!
THE FIRST CLASS OF VERTEBRATE ANIMALS.
MAMMALIA.
Mammalians require to be placed at the head of the animal kingdom, not only
because this is the class to which we ourselves belong, but also because it is that which
enjoys the most numerous faculties, the most delicate sensations, the most varied
powers of motion, and in which all the different qualities seem together combined to
produce a more perfect degree of intelligence, — the one most fertile in resources, most
susceptible of perfection, and least the slave of instinct.
As their quantity of respiration is moderate, they are in general designed for walking
on the ground, but with vigorous and continued steps. Consequently, all the articula-
tions of their skeleton have very precise forms, which rigorously determine their motions.
Some of them, however, by means of lengthened limbs and extended membranes,
raise themselves in the air ; others have the limbs so shortened, that they can employ
them with effect only in water ; but they do not the more on this account lose the
general characters of the class.
* To descend to particular cases, however, it would appear that
species may be framed on almost every type, even very subordinate
types, for any particular mode of life. Thus, to illustrate briefly, the
bats, whicli are true mammalians, are modified for aerial progression
like birds ; and the whales, other mammalians, have a fish-like exterior,
being designed to live exclusively in water : so there are birds which
are utterly incapable of flight ; some, as the ostrich, adapted to scour
the plains, like a quadruped ; others, as the penguins, whose only
sphere of activity is in the water : the pterodactyle affords an ex-
ample of a genus of flying reptiles, the fossil remains of which only
have been discovered. Descending to lower groups, we find among
birds, a genus of thrushes (Ciwclus), which seeks its subsistence under
water; and another of totipalmate w'ater-fowl {Tachypetes), which ]
neither swims nor dives. Such deviations, however, from the general j
character of their allied genera, have no intrinsical relation to the |
groups which they approximate in habit, — nought that can be regarded
as an intentional or designed representation of them, as has some-
times been imagined : for it is evident, that if species based on two
different plans of organization are respectively modified to perform
the same office in the economy of nature, they must necessarily re-
semble, to a certain extent, superficially, as a consequence of that
adaptation ; while there are many cases also in each class which can-
not well be represented in some others, as that of the mole among
quadrupeds, which has no counterpart or correspondent group in the
class of birds. Habit, or mode of life, has indeed nothing whatever
to do with the physiological relations of organisms, which afford the
only legitimate basis of classification ; and those special modifications
to particular habits, which, occurring alike in any class, superinduce
a resemblance in superficial characters only, constitute what has been
well distinguished by the terra analogy, as opposed to affinity
i
I
5
MAMMALIANS. 39
They have all the upper jaw fixed to the skull, and the lower composed of two
pieces only, articulated by a projecting condyle to a fixed temporal bone ; the neck
consists of seven vertebrae, one single species excepted,
which has nine*; the anterior ribs are attached in
front, by cartilage, to a sternum formed of a certain
number of pieces placed in a row ; their fore-limb
commences in a blade-bone, which is not articulated,
but merely suspended in the flesh, often resting on
the sternum by means of an intermediate bone, called
a clavicle. Tkis extremity is continued by an arm, a
fore-arm, and a hand, the last composed of two ranges
of small bones, called a wrist or carpus, of another
range of bones termed metacarpus, and of digits or
fingers, each of which consists of two or three bones,
named phalanges.
Excepting the Cetacea, they have all the first part of
the hinder extremity fixed to the spine, and forming a
girdle or pelvis, which, in youth, consists of three pairs
of bones, — the ilium, which is attached to the spine,
the pubis, which forms the fore part of the girdle, and the ischium, which constitutes
the hind part. At the point of union of these three bones is situate the cavity with which
the thigh is articulated, to which, in its turn, is attached the leg, formed of two bones,
the tibia and fibula : this extremity is terminated by the foot, which is composed of
parts analogous to those of the hand, namely, a tarsus, metatarsus, and digits or toes.
The head of mammalians is always articulated by two condyles upon the atlas, or
first vertebra.
Their brain is composed of two hemispheres, united by a medullary layer termed
the corpus callosum, containing two ventricles, and enveloping the four pairs of tuber-
cles named the corpora striata, the thalami nervorum opticorum, or beds of the optic
I nerves, and the nates and testes. Between the optic beds is a third ventricle, which
I communicates with a fourth situated under the cerebellum, the crura of which always
I form a transverse prominence under the medulla oblongata, called pons Varolii.
I Their eye, invariably lodged in its orbit, is protected by two lids and a vestige of a
j third, and has its crystalline fixed by the ciliary process and its simply cellular sclero-
tica [or white] .
In their ear, there is always found a cavity named the drum, or tympanum, which
communicates with the back part of the mouth, by a canal termed the trumpet, or
Eustachian tube : the cavity itself is closed externally by a membrane called the
membrana tympani, and contains a chain of four little bones, named the hammer, anvil,
orbicular, and stirrup bones ; a vestibule, on the entrance of which rests the stirrup-
bone, and which communicates with three semicircular canals ; and, finally, a cochlea,
which terminates by one passage in the drum, and by another in the vestibule.
Their cranium subdivides into three portions : the anterior is formed by the two
frontal and the ethmoidal bones ; the middle, by the parietal bones and the sphenoidal ;
* The sloth is alluded to, in which, however, distinct rudiments of ribs are attached to the eighth and ninth, as shown in the above figure
(«, V) ; so that, in reality, this constitutes no exception to the universal rule. — Kd.
Fiff. 2.
40
VERTEBRATE ANIMALS.
and the posterior, by the occipital. Between the occipital, the parietal, and the sphe-
noidal, are interposed the temporal bones, part of which belong properly to the face.
In the foetus, the occipital bone divides into four parts ; the sphenoidal into halves,
which subdivide into three pairs of lateral wings ; the temporal into three, of which
one serves to complete the cranium, another to close the labyrinth of the ear, and the
third to form the parietes of its drum, &c. These bony portions [centres of ossifica-
tion], which are still more numerous in the earliest period of fcetal existence, are
united more or less promptly, according to the species, and the bones themselves be- ’
come finally consolidated in the adult.*
Their face is essentially formed by the two maxillary bones, between which pass the
nostrils, and which have the two intermaxillaries in front, and the two palate bones
behind ; between them descends a single lamina of the ethmoidal bone, named the
vomer-, at the entrance of the nasal canal are the bones proper to the nose ; to its external
parietes adhere the inferior turbinated bones, which occupy its upper and posterior
portion, belonging to the ethmoidal. The jugal or cheek bone unites on each side the
maxillary to the temporal bone, and often to the frontal ; lastly, the lachrymal bone
occupies the inner angle of the orbit, and sometimes a part of the cheek. These bones
also present more numerous subdivisions in the embryo.
Their tongue is always fleshy, and attached to a bone termed the hyoidal, which is
composed of several pieces, and suspended from the cranium by ligaments.
Their lungs, two in number, divided into lobes, and composed of an infinitude of
cells, are always inclosed without adhesion in a cavity formed by the ribs and
diaphragm, and lined by the pleura ; their organ of voice is always at the upper end
of the windpipe ; a fleshy elongation, called the velum palati, establishes a direct com-
munication between their larynx and nostrils.
Their residence on the surface of the earth exposing them less to the alternations of
heat and cold, their body has only a moderate kind of tegument, the hair or fur, and
even this is commonly scanty in those of hot climates. f
The cetaceans, which live entirely in water, are the only ones that are altogether
deprived of it.
The abdominal cavity is lined with a membrane called the peritoneum ; and their
intestinal canal is suspended to a fold of it, termed the mesentery, which contains
numerous conglomate glands, in which the lacteal vessels ramify ; another production
of the peritoneum, named the epiploon, hangs in front of and under the intestines.
The urine, retained for some time in the bladder, is discharged, in the two sexes,
with very few exceptions, by orifices in the organs of generation.
In all mammalians, generation is essentially viviparous ; that is to say, the fetus,
immediately after conception, descends [gradually] into the matrix, inclosed in its
envelopes, the exterior of which is named chorion, and the interior amnios ; it fixes
itself to the parietes of this cavity by one or more plexus of vessels, termed the
placenta, which establishes a communication between it and the mother, by which it
receives its nourishment, and probably also its oxygenation ; notwithstanding which,
* Here it may be remarked that, descending in the series of verte-
brates, the same is observable as in ascending to foetal life in the
higher groups ; the progress of developement, in this and other re-
spects, being arrested at different stages of advaneement, according
to the class, order, and species : the brain for instance, in man, suc-
cessively assuming the conditions of this organ in fishes, reptiles,
birds, the lower and then higher groups of mammalians. — Ed.
t In some monkeys from Sierra Leone, the most torrid region in the
world, the hair is much elongated, but thin and coarse, as if designed
to protect them from the solar rays. — Ed.
MAMMALIA.
41
the foetus of mammalians, at an early period, has a vessel analogous to that which
contains the yolk in the oviparous classes, receiving, in like manner, vessels from the
mesentery. It has also another external bladder named the allantoid, which communi-
cates with the urinary one by a canal termed the urachus.
Conception always requires an effectual coitus, in which the fecundating fluid of the
male is thrown into the uterus of the female.
The young are nourished for some time after birth by a fluid peculiar to this class
(the milk), which is produced by the mammae, at the time of parturition, and for as
long a period as the young require it. It is from the mammae that this class derives
its name, and, being a character peculiar to it, they distinguish it better than any
other that is external.*
DIVISION OF THE CLASS OF MAMMALIA INTO OEDERS.
The variable characters which establish essential differences among the mammalia
are taken from the organs of touch, on which depends their degree of ability or
address, and from the organs of manducation, which determine the nature of their
food, and are connected together, not only with all that relates to the digestive func-
tion, but also with a multitude of other differences extending even to their intelligence.
The degree of perfection of the organs of touch is estimated by the number and the
mobility of the fingers, and from the greater or less extent to which their extremities
are enveloped by the nail or the hoof.
A hoof which envelopes all that portion of the toe which touches the ground, blunts
its sensibility, and renders the foot incapable of seizing.
The opposite extreme is where a nail, formed of a single lamina, covers only one
of the faces of the extremity of the finger, and leaves the other possessed of all its
delicacy.
j The nature of the food is known by the grinders, to the form of which the articula-
I tion of the jaws universally corresponds.
I For cutting flesh, grinders are required as trenchant as a saw, and jaws fitted like
[ scissors, which have no other motion than a vertical one.
For bruising grain or roots, flat-crowned grinders are necessary, and jaws that
have a lateral motion : in order that the crowns of these teeth should always be
irregular, as in a mill, it is further requisite that their substance should be formed of
parts of unequal hardness, so that some may wear away faster than others.
Hoofed animals are all necessarily herbivorous, and have flat- crowned grinders, in-
asmuch as their feet preclude the possibility of their seizing a living prey.
Animals with unguiculated fingers are susceptible of more variety ; their food is of
all kinds : and, independently of the form of their grinders, they differ greatly from
each other in the mobility and delicacy of their fingers. There is one character with
respect to this, which has immense influence on their dexterity, and greatly multiplies
its powers ; it is the faculty of opposing the thumb to the other fingers for the purpose
of seizing small objects, constituting what is properly termed a hand; a faculty which
* We shall find, however, in the sequel some doubts on this sub- i to be no nipples, simple pressure alone causing the fluid to exude,
ject, as regards the family of Monotremata. [These doubts have In the class of birds, a lacteal fluid is secreted by the crops of the
since been removed, inasmuch as the lacteal glands have been de parrots and pigeons, which is disgorged into the throats of the young
tected, with their secretion ; though, as in the cetaceans, there appear I w'heu newly hatched. — En.]
VERTEBRATE ANIMALS.
42
is carried to its highest perfection in Man, in whom the whole anterior extremity is
free, and capable of prehension.
These various combinations, which rigidly determine the nature of the dilferent
mammalians, have given rise to the following orders : — :
Among the unguiculates the first is Man, who, besides being privileged in all other
respects, has hands to the anterior extremities only ; his hinder limbs support him in
an erect position.
In the order next to Man, — that of the Quadrumana, there are hands to the four
extremities.
Another order, that of the Carnaria, has not the thumb free and opposable to the
other fingers.
These three orders have each the three sorts of teeth, namely, grinders, canines, and
incisors.
A fourth, that of the Rodentia, in which the toes differ little from those of the
Carnaria, is without the canines, and the incisors are placed in front of the mouth, and “
adapted to a very peculiar sort of manducation. H
Then come those animals whose toes are much cramped, and deeply sunk in large
nails, which are generally curved ; and which have further the imperfection of want- "
ing the incisors. Some of them are also without canines, and there are others which II
have no teeth at all. We comprehend them all under the name Edentata.
This distribution of the unguiculated animals would be perfect, and form a very
regular series, were it not that New Holland has lately furnished us with a small ||
collateral series, composed of pouclied animals [Marsupiata], the different genera
of which are connected together by the aggregate of their organization, although in
their teeth, and in the nature of their regimen, some correspond to the Carnaria, others
to the Rodentia, and others, again, to the Edentata.
The hoofed animals are less numerous, and have likewise fewer irregularities.
The Ruminantia compose an order very distinct, which is characterized by its cloven
feet, by the absence of the incisors to the upper jaw, and by having four stomachs.
All the other hoofed animals may be left together in a single order, which I shall
call Pachydermata or Jumenta, the Elephant excepted, which might constitute a
separate one, having some distant relation to that of Rodentia.
Lastly, those mammalians remain which have no posterior extremities, and whose
fish-like form and aquatic mode of life would induce us to form them into a particular
class, if it were not that all the rest of their economy is precisely the same as in that i
wherein we leave them. These are the warm-blooded fishes of the ancients, or the
Cetacea, which, uniting to the vigour of the other mammalians the advantage of being
sustained in the watery element, include among them the most gigantic of all animals. -
[Linnjeus reduced all mammalians to three great groups, Unguiculata, Ungulata,
and Mutica ; terms which are at least convenient for their expressiveness, although
the groups they represent intergrade, and in some instances invade each other, if too
rigorously accepted.
His order Primates, as extended to the Bimana, Quadrumana, and Cheiroptera of
Cuvier, receives the approbation of most naturalists ; few regard the last as subordinate
to the Carnaria, which is equivalent to Primates.
Viewing Man zoologically, opinion is divided respecting the propriety of assigning
MAMMALIA.
43
j him a separate ordinal station ; his rudimental structure according so nearly with that
I of the Quadrumana, of which type he presents the modification for ground habits and
an upright attitude ; his more highly developed brain is merely a dilference in degree.
Conceding this much, he would require to be admitted into the same particular
I group as all other mammalians based on the same next general plan of structure
j to that of the entire class ; which special type is externally distinguished by pecu-
j liarities in the sexual organs, a system of organs of all others the least subject to be
Ij influenced by the general modification in reference to habit.
It is thus that, after being necessarily included among the Mammalia, Man must
next range with the other handed animals and the Bats, in a particular subdivision,
i which Linnaeus has named Primates.
ji, There would appear to be four distinct major groups of Primates : — the Catarrhini,
I composed of the Apes, Monkej^^s, and Baboons of the eastern hemisphere ; the
Platyrrhini, consisting of the anthropoid animals of America ; the StrepsirrJiini, or
i Lemurs (including GaleBopithecus, and, perhaps, Cheiromys) ; and the Cheiroptera, or
i Bats, which last, varying most essentially in their dentition, according as they are
frugivorous, sanguivorous, or insectivorous, afford a decisive proof that the dentary
I system alone, like any other single character considered apart from the rest, fails to
I supply an invariable indication of the affinities of an animal (as has sometimes been
stated). We perceive no sufficient reason why the genus Homo should not range at
the head of the Catarrhini, though as a distinct family — Homlnidce, as opposed to
Simiadce ; in accordance wherewith, the Primates present a tolerable series, from the
summit of the animal kingdom to forms that are rather low in the class of mammalians.
An analogous gradation is exhibited by the second grand division, which De Blain-
ville has designated Secundates ; it is the Carnaria of Cuvier divested of the Bats. We
prefer the latter appellation, as more in unison with the names of the succeeding
orders ; and for the same reason would substitute Primaria for Primates.
Our illustrious author, with a view to present some approximation to a linear suc-
cession, has arranged the present series inversely, commencing with those least elevated
in the scale, or the Insectivora. To this we cannot accede, as virtually implying an
exploded principle. Considered as a carnivorous group, the Feline animals must be
selected as the standard — most characteristic example* — of the order ; but in its
totality, without reference to especial modifications, the Dog has better claim to be
placed at the head. Some curious analogies accordingly present themselves between
the respectively highest animals of the two first orders.
As a general, perhaps universal rule obtaining in consecutive groups when sufficiently
extensive, the summit of the inferior displays a higher organization than the terminal
members of the superior f ; and this sometimes in a very remarkable degree, as shown
in the present instance. A sort of parallelism may also frequently be observed between
such members of two different ordinal types as are of a corresponding degree of eleva-
tion in the scale of being : thus, the Shrews present certain characters of the Rodentia,
without linking with them. It is on this principle, we suspect, that transitions appear
to occur in some instances, from one great type of structure to another ; and a key is
hereby supplied to the proper understanding of much that seems otherwise inexplicable.
* The word type is often employed in this sense : we use it in a I t A proposition which is sanctioned by the acquiescence of Cuvier,
somewhat different one. 1 as shown by his remarks on linear arrangement. Vide preface, p. 7.
44
MAMMALIA.
We have seen, in the Primaria, that particular plan of conformation so modified as
to enable certain species to fly : in the Carnaria, the Seals afford an example of exclusive
adaptation to aquatic habits.
It could only have been the desire to maintain a sort of continuous succession, as in the
former instance, which induced our author to range the Marsupiata next to the Carnaria ;
for they are unquestionably the lowest-organized of mammalians, whence their intrusion
so high in the system of the class furnishes another proof of the impropriety of allowing
undue importance to particular characters. An order which has a better claim to
succeed the Carnaria, is that of the fish-like mammalians, or Cetacea ; but, divested of
the herbivorous genera ranged in it by Cuvier, which are strict Pachydermata. (It is
scarcely necessary to repeat, that modifications which have reference to habit do not
necessarily affect the essential relations of organisms).
The Pachydermata follow, which, in their turn, must not be regarded as more nearly
related to the last, because certain genera of them are analogously adapted for aquatic
habits only. We feel compelled to reiterate this general principle, in order to preclude
misconception ; the sound inference seems to be, that a tendency to general modification
for aquatic habits prevails in this part of the system ; which certainly helps to indicate
what orders should be placed in contiguity, though still not of necessity, even admitting
that many analogous cases may be cited in corroboration of a vague index being thus
afforded.*
We prefer to arrange the Ruminantia next to the Pachydermata ; then the Edentata,
and the Rodentia ; and last of all the Marsupiata, including the Monotremata of Cuvier,
the formerly doubtful points concerning which are now, with slight reservation, finally
set at rest.
It will be perceived that this arrangement is tolerably in accordance with the ordinary
cerebral developement, and consequent amount of intelligence, of the eight successive
orders. Passing on to the Birds, we commence with a higher intellect (in the Parrots)
than is manifested in either of the last three, or, perhaps, four orders ; which agrees
with the general proposition stated at p. 43.]
THE FIRST ORDER OF MAMMALIANS.
BIMANA, OR MAN.
Man forms but one genus, and that genus the only one of its order. As his history
is more directly interesting to ourselves, and forms the standard of comparison to
which we refer that of other animals, we will treat of it more in detail.
We will rapidly sketch whatever Man offers, that is peculiar in each of his organic
systems, amidst all that he has in common with other mammalians ; we will describe
his principal races and their distinctive characters ; and finally point out the natural
order of the developement of his faculties, both individual and social.
* For an instance in point, see our remarks on certain conformities of structure observable in the two ^oups of Parrots and Hawks.
BIMANA, OR MAN. 45
PECULIAR CONFORMATION OF MAN.
The foot of Man is very different from that of Apes : it is large ; the leg bears vertically upon
it ; the heel is expanded beneath ; his toes are short, and but slightly flexible ; the great toe,
longer and larger than the rest, is placed on the same line with and cannot bef opposed to
them. This foot, then, is proper for supporting the body, but cannot be used for seizing or
climbing*, and as the hands are unfitted for walking, Man is the only animal truly himanous
and hiped.
The whole body of Man is modified for the vertical position. His feet, as we have already
seen, furnish him with a larger base than those of other mammalians ; the muscles which re-
tain the foot and thigh in the state of extension are more vigorous, whence results the swelling
of the calf and buttock ; the flexors of the leg are attached higher up, which permits of com-
plete extension of the knee, and renders the calf more apparent. The pelvis is larger, which
separates the thighs and feet, and gives to the trunk that pyramidal form favourable to equi-
librium : the necks of the thigh-bones form an angle with the body of the bone, which increases
still more the separation of the feet, and augments the basis of the body. Finally, the head,
in this vertical position, is in eauilibrium with the trunk, because its ai’ticulation is exactly
under the middle of its mass.
Were he to desire it, Man could not, with convenience, walk on all fours : his short and
nearly inflexible foot, and his long thigh, would bring the knee to the ground ; his widely sepa-
rated shoulders and his arms, too far extended from the median line, would ill support the
fore-part of his body ; the great indented muscle which, in quadrupeds, suspends the trunk
between the blade-bones as a girth, is smaller in Man than in any one among them ; the head
is heavier, on account of the magnitude of the brain, and the smallness of the sinuses or cavi-
ties of the bones ; and yet the means of supporting it are weaker, for he has neither cervical
ligament, nor are the vertebrae so modified as to prevent their flexure forward j he could
therefore only maintain his head in the same line with the spine, and then, his eyes and mouth
being directed towards the ground, he could not see before him ; the position of these organs
is, on the contrary, quite perfect, supposing that he walks erectly.
Tlie arteries which supply his brain, not being subdivided as in many quadrupeds, and the
blood requisite for so voluminous an organ being carried to it with too much violence, fre-
quent apoplexies would be the consequence of a horizontal position. i
Man, then, is designed to be supported by the feet only. Fie thus preserves the entire use [
of his hands for the arts, while his organs of sense are most favorably situated for observa-
tion.
I These hands, which derive such advantages from their liberty, receive as many more from
' their structure. Their thumb, longer in proportion than in the apes, increases the facility of
seizing small objects ; all the fingers, except the annularis [and this to a certain extent], have
separate movements, which is not the case in any other animal, not even in the apes. The
nails, covering only one side of the extremities of the fingers, form a support to the touch,
I without in the least depriving it of its delicacy. The arms which support these hands have a
solid attachment by their large blade-bone, their strong collar bone, &c.
Man, so highly favoured as to dexterity, is not so with regard to strength. His swiftness
in running is much inferior to that of other animals of his size ; having neither projecting
jaws, nor salient canine teeth, nor crooked nails, he is destitute of offensive armature ; and
the sides and upper part of his body being naked, unprovided even with hair, he is absolutely
* It is certain, however, that by much practice from early youth, | with the anterior extremities imperfect, have illustrated this practi-
the foot has been known to acquire an amount of dexterity in manual I cability the most remarkably. The influence of habit in training- even
operations, which it would not have been supposed capable of by those the hand to perform its functions, will be appreciated by those who
whose feet have been enveloped from the time they first walked in cannot use their left hand with the same freedom as the right. — Ed.
close investments. Individuals, in particular, who have been born I
MAMMALIA.
46
without defensive weapons : lastly, he is of all animals that which is latest to acquire the power
necessary to provide for himself.
But this weakness even has been for him another advantage, in obliging him to have re- |
course to those internal means — to that intelligence which has been awarded to him in so '
high a degree.
No quadruped approaches him in the magnitude and convolutions of the hemispheres of the
brain, that is to say, of that part of this organ which is the principal instrument of the intel-
lectual operations ; the posterior portion of the same organ extends backwards, so as to form
a second covering to the cerebellum ; even the form of the cranium announces this great
size of the brain, as the smallness of the face shows how slightly that portion of the nervous
system which influences the external senses predominates in him. ^
These external senses, however, moderate as they all are in Man, are yet extremely delicate
and well balanced.
His two eyes are directed forwards ; he does not see on two sides at once, like many quadru-
peds, which produces more unity in the result of his vision, and concentrates his attention
more closely on objects of this kind. The ball and iris of his eye vary but little, which re- j|
strains the activity of his sight to limited distances, and to a determined degree of light. The |
conch of his ear, possessing but little mobility or extent, does not increase the intensity of "
sounds, notwithstanding which, of all animals, he best distinguishes their intonation. His ™
nostrils, more complicated than those of apes, are less so than those of all other genera ; and i
yet he appears to be the only animal whose sense of smell is sufficiently delicate to be affected
by unpleasant odours. Delicacy of smell must influence that of taste ; and Man must have a
further advantage, in this respect, at least over those animals whose tongues are covered with
scales. Lastly, the nicety of his touch results, both from the delicacy of his teguments and ^ |
the absence of all insensible parts, as well as from the the form of his hand, which is j I
better adapted than that of any other animal for suiting itself to all the small inequalities of ■ 1
surfaces. |
Man has a particular pre-eminence in his organ of voice : of all mammalians, he can alone * ]
articulate sounds; the form of his mouth and the great mobility of his lips being probably jj|
the cause of this. Hence results his most invaluable mode of communication ; for of all the tw
signs which can be conveniently employed for the transmission of ideas, variations of sound ^
are those which can be perceived at the greatest distance, and in the most various directions < ;
simultaneously. '
It seems that even the position of the heart and of the great vessels bears reference to the
vertical carriage. The heart is placed obliquely on the diaphragm, and its point inclines to ■; j
the left, thereby occasioning a distribution of the aorta differing from that of most quadrupeds.
The natural food of Man, judging from his structure, appears to consist principally of *!
the fruits, roots, and other succulent parts of vegetables. His hands afford every facility for
gathering them ; his short and but moderately strong jaws on the one hand, and his canines 9
being equal only in length to the other teeth, together with his tuberculated molars on the 9
other, would scarcely permit him either to masticate herbage, or to devom^ flesh, were these '
condiments not previously prepared by cooking. Once, however, possessed of fire, and those ^
arts by which he is aided in seizing animals or killing them at a distance, every living being
was rendered subservient to his nourishment, thereby giving him the means of an indefinite I
multiplication of his species. j
His organs of digestion are in conformity with those of manducation ; his stomach is simple,
his intestinal canal of mean length, his great intestines well marked, his coecum short and thick,
and augmented by a small appendage, and his liver divided only into two lobes and one small
one ; his epiploon hangs in front of the intestines, and extends into the pelvis.
To complete this abridged statement of the anatomical structure of Man, necessary for this
BIMANA, OR MAN.
47
Introduction, we will add, that he has thirty-two vertebrae, of which seven belong to the neck,
twelve to the back, five to the loins, five to the sacrum, and three to the coccyx. Of his ribs,
seven pairs are united to the sternum by elongated cartilages, and are called true ribs ; the
five following pairs are denominated false ones. His adult cranium consists of eight bones ;
an occipital {occipito-hasilaire) ; two temporal ; two parietal ; a frontal ; an ethmoidal, and a
sphenoidal. The hones of his face are fourteen in number namely, two maxillaries ; two
jugals, each of which joins the temporal to the maxillary bone of its own side by a sort of
handle named the zygomatic arch ; two nasal bones ; two palatines, behind the palate ; a vomer,
between the nostrils ; two turbinated bones of the nose in the nostrils ; two lachrymals in the
inner angles of the orbits, and the single bone of the lower jaw. Each jaw has sixteen teeth :
four cutting incisors in the middle, two pointed canines at the corners, and ten molars with
tuberculated crowns, five on each side, in all thirty-two teeth. His blade-bone has at the
extremity of its spine or projecting ridge a tuberosity, named the acromion, to which the
clavicle or collar-bone is connected, and over its articulation is a point termed the coracoid
process, to which certain muscles are attached. The radius turns completely on the cubitus
or ulna, owing to the mode of its articulation with the humerus. The wrist has eight bones,
four in each range j the tarsus has seven ; those of the remaining parts of the hand and foot
may be easily counted by the number of digits.
Enjoying, by means of his industry, uniform supplies of nourishment, Man is at all times
inclined to sexual intercourse, without being ever furiously incited. His generative organ is
not supported by a bony axis ; the prepuce does not retain it attached to the abdomen ; but
it hangs in front of the pubis : numerous and large veins, which effect a rapid transfer of
the blood of his testes to the general circulation^ appear to contribute to the moderation of his
desires.
The uterus of woman is a simple oval cavity ; her mammae, only two in number, are situated
on the breast, and correspond with the facility she possesses of supporting her child upon her
arm.
PHYSICAL AND MORAL DEVELOPEMENT OF MAN.
The ordinary produce of the human species is but one child at a birth j for in five hundred
cases of parturition, there is only one of twins, and more than that number is extremely rare.
! The period of gestation is nine months. A foetus of one month is ordinarily an inch in
I height; at two months, it is two inches and a quarter; at three months, five inches ; at five
months, six or seven inches ; at seven months, eleven inches ; and at nine months, eighteen
inches. Those which are born prior to the seventh month usually die. The first or milk
I teeth begin to appear a few months after birth, commencing with the incisors. The number
increases in two years to twenty, which are shed successively from about the seventh year,
! to be replaced by others. Of the twelve posterior molars, which are permanent, there are
I four which make their appearance at four years and a half, four at nine years ; the last four
being frequently not cut until the twentieth year.
The foetus grows more rapidly in proportion as it approaches the time of birth. The infant,
on the contrary, increases always more and more slowly. It has upwards of a fourth of its
height when born, attains the half of it at two years and a half, and the three fourths at nine or
ten years. By the eighteenth year the growth almost entirely ceases. Man rarely exceeds
six feet, and seldom remains under five. Woman is ordinarily some inches shorter.
Puberty manifests itself by external signs, from the tenth to the twelfth year in girls, and
from the twelfth to the sixteenth in boys. It arrives sooner in warm climates. Either sex
very rarely produces before the epoch of this manifestation.
Scarcely has the body attained its full growth in height, before it commences to
increase in bulk ; fat accumulates in the cellular tissue. The different vessels become
MAMMALIA.
48
gradually obstructed ; the solids become rigid ; and after a life more or less prolonged, more or
less agitated, more or less painful, old age arrives, with decrepitude, decay, and death. Man
rarely lives beyond a hundred years ; and most of the species, either from disease, accidents,
or merely old age, perish long before that term.
The child needs the assistance of its mother much longer than her milk, whence results an
education intellectual as well as physical, and a durable mutual attachment. The nearly equal
number of individuals of the two sexes, the difficulty of supporting more than one wife, when
wealth does not supply the want of power, intimate that monogamy is the natural condition
of our species ; and as, wherever this kind of union exists, the sire participates in the education
of his offspring, the length of time required for that education allows the birth of others,
whence the natural perpetuity of the conjugal state. From the long period of infantile weak-
ness results domestic subordination, and, consequently, the order of society at large, as the
young persons which compose the new families continue to preserve with their parents those
tender relations to which they have so long been accustomed. This disposition to mutual
assistance multiplies to an almost unlimited extent those advantages previously derived by
isolated Man from his intelligence ; it has assisted him to tame or repulse other animals, to
defend himself from the effects of climate, and thus enabled him to cover the earth with his
species.
In other respects, Man appears to possess nothing resembling instinct, no regular habit of
industry produced by innate ideas ; all his knowledge is the result of his sensations, his
observations, or of those of his predecessors. Transmitted by speech, increased by meditation,
applied to his necessities and his enjoyments, they have given rise to all the arts. Language
and letters, by preserving acquired kuowledge, are a source of indefinite perfection to his
species. It is thus that he has acquired ideas, and made all nature contribute to his wants.*
There are very different degrees of developement, however, in Man.
The first hordes, compelled to live by hunting and fishing, or on wild fruits, and being
obliged to devote all their time to search for the means of subsistence, and not being able to
multiply greatly, because that would have destroyed the game, advanced but slowly; their
arts were limited to the construction of huts and canoes, to covering themselves with skins,
and fabricating arrows and nets ; they observed such stars only as served to direct them in
their journeys, and some natm’al objects whose properties were of use to them ; they gained the
dog for a companion, because he had a natural inclination for the same kind of life. When
they had succeeded in taming the herbivorous animals, they found in the possession of
numerous flocks a never-failing source of subsistence, and some leisure, which they employed
in extending the sphere of their acquirements. Some industry was then employed in the
construction of dwellings and the making of clothes ; the idea of property was admitted, and,
consequently, that of barter, together with wealth and difference of conditions, those fruitful
sources of the noblest emulation and the vilest passions ; but the necessity of searching for
fresh pastures, and of obeying the changes of the seasons, still doomed them to a wandering
life, and limited their improvement to a very narrow sphere.
The multiplication of the human species, and its improvement in the arts and sciences, has
* The numerous structural concurrences, all of which are required |
to promote the intellectual developement of mankind, are worthy of ;
serious consideration with reference to the unaided faculties of other
animals.
For example, if the superior intelligence of Man were not seconded
by his admirable hands ( so vastly excelling those of the monkey
tribe), by his efficient vocal organ, &c., which are obvious to all as
mere physical conformations, indeed, but slight modifications of what
occur in other animals, — if, in short, he were reduced in these re-
spects to the condition of the Dog, how effectually would the privation
operate to prevent that progressive advancement which, under exist-
ing circumstances, is achieved by the human race only.
But, even grant to Man the use of all his organs, yet deprive him of
the accumulated experience of his predecessors, and all mental culture
beyond the result of his incidental experience (which in brutes is a i
I necessary consequence of their imperfect means of communication),
I and we perceive how immensely he is indebted also to these ac-
cessories.
On the other hand, however, a duly developed brain and commensu-
rate intelligence are required to enable Man to avail himself of the
advantages of his structure, for otherwise he appears doomed to re-
main stationary like a brute (as in the instance of the New Hol-
landers), even in the midst of civilization. There are also casualties,
as the general insecurity of life or property arising from situation or
misgovernment, which ordinarily suffice to repel the efforts of ad-
vancement, even of the most intelligent races.
It would accordingly, then, appear, that the characteristic traits
of human intellect are mainly due to the co-operation of extrinsic
causes, and to the accessory aids afforded by physical conformation.
-En.
li
;j!!
j -i!!
BIMANA, OR MAN.
49
only been carried to a high degree since the invention of agriculture and the division of the
soil into hereditary possessions. By means of agriculture, the manual labour of a portion
of society is adequate to the maintenance of the whole, and allows the remainder time
for less necessary occupations, at the same time that the hope of acquiring, by industry, a
comfortable subsistence for self and posterity, has given a new spring to emulation. The
discovery of a representative of property, or a circulating medium, has carried this emulation
to the highest degree, by facilitating exchanges, and rendering fortunes more independent and
susceptible of being increased ; but by a necessary consequence, it has also equally increased
the vices of effeminacy and the furies of ambition.
In every stage of the developement of society, the natural propensity to reduce all knowledge
i to general principles, and to search for the causes of each phenomenon, has produced reflecting
men, who have added new ideas to those already accumulated ; nearly all of whom, while know-
1 ledge was confined to the few, endeavom-ed to convert their intellectual superiority into the
j means of domination, exaggerating their merit in the eyes of others, and disguising the j
' poverty of their knowledge by the propagation of superstitious ideas.
An evil more irremediable, is the abuse of physical power ; now that Man only can injure
Man, he affords the only instance of a species continually at war with itself. Savages dispute
their forests, and herdsmen their pastures ; and make irruptions, as often as they can, upon
the cultivators of the soil, to deprive them of the fruits of their long and painful labours.
Even civilized nations, far from being satisfied with their enjoyments, carry on war for the
[ prerogative of pride, or the monopoly of commerce. Hence the necessity of governments
! to direct the national wars, and to repress or reduce to regular forms the quarrels of
I individuals.
i| Circumstances, more or less favourable, have restrained the social condition within limited
Ij degrees, or have promoted its developement.
I The glacial climates of the north of both continents, and the impenetrable forests of
I America, are still inhabited by the savage hunter or fisherman. The immense sandy or salt
plains of Central Asia and Africa are covered with a pastoral people, and innumerable herds :
ii these half-civilized hordes assemble at the call of every enthusiastic chief, and overrun the
ij cultivated countries that surround them, in which they estabhsh themselves but to become
I enervated, and to be subjected in their turn to the next invaders. This is the true cause of
|| that despotism, which, in every age, has crushed the industry called forth under the fine
ij climates of Persia, India, and China.
Mild climates, soils naturally irrigated and rich in vegetables, are the natmal cradle of
i agriculture and civilization ; and when their position is such as to afford shelter from the
Ij incursions of barbarians, talents of every kind are mutually excited ; such were formerly (the
! first in Europe,) Italy and Greece ; and such is, at present, nearly all that happy portion of
j the earth’s surface.
1 There are, however, certain intrinsic causes which appear to arrest the progress of particular
I races, even though situated amidst the most favourable circumstances.
i
I VAUIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPECIES.
I Although the human species would appear to be single, since the union of any of its members pro-
li duces individuals capable of propagation*, there are, nevertheless, certain hereditary peculiarities of
ii conformation observable, which constitute what are termed races.
j Three of these in particular appear eminently distinct : the Caucasian, or white, the Mongolian, or
I yellow, and the Ethiopian, or negro.
I The Caucasian, to which we belong, is distinguished by the beauty of the oval which forms the
* It is now certain that this circumstance afifords no proof of spe- i which I have just witnessed, in the class of birds, of a brood of ducks,
cifical identity, inasmuch as many nearly allied but obviously dis- both parents of which were half mallard and half pintail {Anas boschas
tinct species produce hybrids that are prolific inter se ; an instance of | and A. acuta). See note to p. 19. — Ed.
50
MAMMALIA.
head ; and it is this one which has given rise to the most civilized nations, to those which have gene-
rally held the rest in subjection : it varies in complexion and in the colour of the hair.
The Mongolian is known by his projecting cheek-bones, flat visage, narrow and oblique eyebrows,
scanty beard, and olive complexion. Great empires have been established by this race in China and
Japan, and its conquests have sometimes extended to this side of the Great Desert ; but its civilization
has always remained stationary.
The Negro race is confined to the southward of the Atlas chain of mountains : its colour is black,
its hair crisped, the cranium compressed, and nose flattened. The projecting muzzle and thick bps
evidently approximate it to the Apes : the hordes of which it is composed have always continued
barbarous.
The name Caucasian has been affixed to the race from which we descend, because tradition and the
filiation of nations seem to refer its origin to that group of mountains situate between the Caspian and
Black Seas, whence it has apparently extended by radiating all around. The nations of the Caueasus,
or the Circassians and Georgians, are even now considered as the handsomest on earth. The principal
ramifications of this race may be distinguished by the analogies of language. The Armenian or
Syrian branch, spreading southward, produced the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the hitherto untameable
Arabs, who, after Mahomet, expected to become masters of the world; the Phoenicians, the Jews, the
Abyssinians, which were Arabian colonies, and most probably the Egyptians. It is from this branch,
always inclined to mysticism, that have sprung the most widely extended forms of religion. Science
and Hterature have sometimes flourished among its nations, but always in a strange disguise and
figurative style. j- -j j
The Indian, German, and Pelasgic branch is much more extended, and was much earher divided :
notwithstanding which, the most numerous affinities have been recognized between its four principal
languages— the Sanscrit, the present sacred language of the Hindoos, and the parent of the greater
number of the dialects of Hindostan ; the ancient language of the Pelasgi, common parent of the
Greek, Latin, many tongues that are extinct, and of all those of the south of Europe ; the Gothic or
Teutonic, from which are derived the languages of the north and north-west of Europe, such as the
German, Dutch, English, Danish, Swedish, and their dialects ; and finally, the Sclavonian, from which
are descended those of the north-east, the Russian, Polish, Bohemian, and that of the Vandals.
It is by this great and venerable branch of the Caucasian stock, that philosophy, the arts and
sciences, have been carried to their present state of advancement; and it has continued to be the
depository of them for thirty centuries.
It was preceded in Europe by the Celts, whose tribes, once very numerous, came by the north, and
are now confined to its most western extremities ; and by the Cantabrians, who passed from Africa
into Spain, and have become confounded with the many nations whose posterity have intermingled in
that peninsula. . j * x-n
The ancient Persians originate from the same source as the Indians, and their descendants still
present a very close resemblance to the nations of Europe.
The Scythian and Tartar branch, extending first towards the north and north-east, and always
wandering over the immense plains of those countries, returned but to devastate the happier abodes of
their more civiUzed brethren. The Scythians, who, at so remote a period, made irruptions into Upper
Asia- the Parthians, who there destroyed the Greek and Roman domination ; the Turks, who there
subverted that of the Arabs, and subjugated in Europe the unfortunate remnant of the Grecian people,
were all offsets from this branch. The Finlanders and Hungarians are tribes of the same division,
which have strayed among the Sclavonic and Teutonic nations. Their original country, to the north
and eastward of the Caspian Sea, still contains inhabitants who have the same ongin, and speak j
similar languages ; but these are mingled with many other petty nations, variously descended, and of |
different languages. The Tartars remained unmixed longer than the others throughout that extent of t;
country included between the mouth of the Danube to beyond the Irtisch, from which they so long f
menaced Russia, and where they have finally been subjugated by her. The Mongoles, however, have
mingled their blood with that of the nations they conquered, many traces of which may still be
among the inhabitants of Lesser Tartary. ^ »
It is to the east of this Tartar branch of the Caucasian race that the Mongolian race begins, whence |
it extends to the eastern ocean. Its branches, the Calmucks and Kalkas, still wandering shepherds.
_J:
BIMANA, OR MAN.
51
traverse the great desert. Thrice did their ancestors, under Attila, Genghis, and Tamerlane, spread
far the terror of their name. The Chinese are the most anciently civilized branch, not only of this
race, but of all known nations. A third branch, the Mantchures, have recently conquered and still
govern China. The Japanese, Coreans, and nearly all the hordes which extend to the north-east of
Siberia, subject to Russia, are also to he considered, in a great measure, as originating from this race ;
and such also is deemed to be the fact with regard to the original inhabitants of various islands bordering
on that archipelago. With the exception of some Chinese literati, the nations of the Mongolian race
pertain generally to different sects of Buddism, or the religion of Fo.
The origin of this great race appears to have been in the Altai mountains, as that of ours in the
Caucasus ; but it is impossible to trace with the same certainty the filiation of its different branches.
The history of these wandering nations is as fugitive as their establishments ; and that of the Chinese,
confined exclusively to their own empire, furnishes little that is satisfactory with respect to their
neighbours. The affinities of their languages are also too little known to direct us in this labyrinth.
The languages of the north of the peninsula beyond the Ganges, as well as that of Thibet, bear some
relation to the Chinese, at least in their monosyllabic structure ; and the people who speak them are
not without resemblance to the other Mongoles : but the south of this peninsula is inhabited by
Malays, whose forms approach them much nearer to the Indians, and whose race and language are
distributed over the coasts of all the islands of the Indian archipelago. The innumerable small islands
of the southern ocean are also peopled by a handsome race, who appear to hold a near relation to the
Indians, and whose language has much affinity with the Malay : but in the interior of the larger islands,
particularly in the milder portions of them, there exists another race of men with black complexions,
and negro faces, all extremely barbarous, which are named Alfourous ; and on the coasts of New
Guinea and the neighbouring islands, are other Negroes nearly similar to those of the eastern coast of
Africa, which are termed Papous ; to the latter are generally referred the natives of Van Diemen’s
Land [now rapidly approaching to extermination], and those of New Holland to the Alfourous.*
Neither the Malays nor the Papous are easily referable to either of the three great races ; but
can the former he clearly distinguished from their neighbours on both sides, the Caucasian Indians and
the Mongolian Chinese ? We avow that we cannot discern in them sufficient traits for that purpose.
Are the Papous Negroes, which may formerly have strayed into the Indian Ocean ? We possess neither
figures nor descriptions precise enough to enable us to reply to this question.
The inhabitants of the north of both continents, the Samoyedes, the Laplanders, and the Esquimaux,
are derived, according to some, from the Mongolian race : but others regard them as mere degenerate
offsets from the Scythian and Tartar branches of the Caucasian race.
The Americans have not yet been referred clearly to either of the races of the eastern continent ;
nevertheless, they have no precise or constant character, which can entitle them to be considered as
a particular one. Their copper-colomred complexion is not sufficient : their general black hair and
scanty beard would induce us to approximate them to the Mongoles, if their defined features, their nose
as projecting as ours, their large and open eyes, did not oppose such a theory, and correspond with
the features of the European. Their languages are as numberless as their tribes, and no demonstrative
analogies have as yet been obtained, either with each other, or with those of the ancient world.f
[With all deference, I would suggest that naturalists are much too prone to confound resemblance
with identity; as if any reason existed of necessity, for analogous races to differ in the least
degree. How many geographical mutual representatives are there, which the analogy of allied
races forcibly indicates to be distinct, though undistinguishable on minute comparison ! How nearly
also do many acknowledged species resemble ! Bearing these facts in mind, does it not appear tliat
the Americans have as good a claim to be regarded as a primary race, as the Mongolians have to be
separated as such from the Caucasians ? The arrangement of Blumenbach, who adds the Malayan
and American races to the three admitted by Cuvier, has been more generally adopted : but there
would seem to be quite as good reason for admitting others. Fischer, in his Synopsis Mammalium,
indicates what he conceives to be seven species of Homo (reducing the number that had previously
* Refer, for the different races which people the islands of the Indian t See, on the subject of the Americans, the travels of M. de Hum-
and Pacific Oceans, to the dissertation of MM. Lesson and Garnot, in | boldt, so rich in important information, and the dissertations of Vater
the Zoologie du Voyage de la Coquille, p. 1 — 113. For the Ianj);uay;es of 1 and of Mitchell,
the Asiatic nations, and their affinities, consult the Asia Polyglotta of '
M. Klaproth.
E 2
52
MAMMALIA.
been assigned by Bory St. Vineent) : and the numerous divisions and subdivisions of that naturalist
being tolerably in accordanee Avith the apparent value of the characters presented, whether or not they
truly represent the real distinctions, or, in some instances, similarity be confounded with identity (a
problem to which philology seems to offer the only key), the outline of his arrangement may be
transferred to the present work, where it may chance to prove useful to some observers. His supposed
species are as follow : —
1. H. Japeticus,V>oxY \ corresponding to the Caueasian race of Cuvier. — This is distributed under
three principal varieties, termed Caucasicus, Arabicus, and Indians : of these the first is arranged into
five subvarieties, named Caucasicus (^Orientalis), Pelagius {Meridionalis'), Celticus (^Occident alis), Ger-
manicus {Borealis'), and Sclavonicus {Intermedms), which severally eomprehend the Caucasic, Pelasgic,
Celtic, Teutonic, and Sclavonic (including the Sarmatic) nations ; the second into two subvarieties,
Atlanticus {Occidentalis), and Adamicus {Orientalis), respectively containing the Phoenicians, ancient
Numidians, and Guanches, or the Punic nations, and the Abyssinians, primitive Egyptians (modern
Copts), Jews, Armenians, Arabians, &c., or the Coptic and Semitic nations.
2. H. Neptumanus, Bory.— Ranged under three subdivisions : the first unnamed (Qu. Malayanus?)
allied to — probably much mingled with — the Indian variety of H. Japeticus, consisting of the
well-known Malays, which people the coasts only of the peninsula of Malacca, the islands of the
Indian ocean, Madagascar, &c., never penetrating inland; the second, Oce^^?e»^^aZ^s, comprising the
New Zealanders, and natives of the Society, Friendly, Sandwich, and other islands scattered over the
Pacific ocean, — it is suggested, also, (but with due and much required hesitation,) the ancient Mexi-
cans and Peruvians : the third, Papuensis, composed of certain inhabitants of part of the north coast
of New Guinea, the shores of the islands Waigou, Salwaty, Gammeu, and a few others, is obviously a
hybrid race, derived from the intermixture of the Malay and true Papou. Cuvier has remarked the
affinity of language subsisting between the Malays and South Sea Islanders.
3. H. Scythicus, Bory.— The first division of this, unnamed (Qu. Mongolensis ?) consists of the
Calmucks "and other Tartars; the second, Sinicus (Homo sinicus of Bory), of the Chinese, Japanese,
&c. ; and the third and last, Hyperboreus {Homo hyperboreus, Bory), of the Esquimaux. It corre-
sponds to the Mongolian race of Cuvier.
4. H. Americanus,'Qoxy.—^^Sp)ecies,''t\\Q author writes, “ c(Z/mc male cognita, forsan tola vel ex
parte ad Scythicam reducenda,” of which the latter only is in the least probable. “ Autochthones Ame-
ricce meridionalis, in stirpes innumeras distributi ; e. g. Omagucs, Guarani, Coroadi, Atures, Otomaqui,
Botucudi, Guiacce, Cherrucce, &c.” * A second division is designated Patagonus, (being the Homo
Patagonus of Bory,) composed of the large-statured Patagonians.
5. H. Columbicus, Bory. — The ordinary red Indian of America.
6. H. Mthiopicus, Bory.— Divided into the true Negro, not otherwise named; Gaffer, {Homo Caffer,
Bory,) inhabiting Catfraria, and part of the coast of Madagascar ; Melanoides, {Homo melaninus, Bory),
the Papous or indigenous inhabitants of Madagascar, the shores of New Guinea, the islands of
Britain, New Ireland, and many others, also of Van Diemen's Land ; and Hottentotus {Homo Hotten^
totus, Bory), the Bush and other Hottentots, which, it may be remarked, have not a few analogies witW
the nomadic Mongoles. The last appear to have been much reduced and encroached on, till a remnanH
only is left near the south coast of Africa, just as the Celts are now confined to the exteme west of Europe^
7. Lastly, H. Polynesius, Fischer {H. australaricus, Bory). — The Alfourous, the lowest in the scal0
of human beings : comprising the inland inhabitants of the Malay peninsula, the islands of the India^
Ocean, Madagascar, New Guinea, New Holland, &c.
Such is the ai-rangement of an able and accomplished naturalist, published in 1829, or the sam^
year in which our author gave to the world his second and last edition of the present work. Th^
most recent authority, which is the third edition of Dr. Prichard's elaborate “ Researches into th^
Physical History of Mankind," contends strenuously for unity of species in the genus Homo : but iti
may be remarked that much stress is laid on the productiveness of mingled races of mankind, without]
any new or satisfactory evidence being adduced in proof of the comparative sterility of the hybri^
offspring of the more intimately approximate races which have claim to be ranked as species ; such a^
» “ A species imperfectly known, probably or in part referable to I species, want of space compels me to refer the reader to the original
the preceding one. It comprehends numerous tribes of South Arne | work. A cranium of the savage tribe of Botucudi is figured by Spix j
rica,” some of which are above named. For the characters of these I in his work on American Quadrumann,
BIMANA, OR MAN.
53
the wild bovine and striped equine animals, &c. &c. The following are the leading varieties of Man,
according to the opinion and arguments of Dr. Prichard.
“ On comparing the principal varieties of form and structure which distinguish the inhabitants of
different countries, we find that there are seven classes of nations which may be separated from each
other by strongly marked lines. Among their principal characteristics are peculiar forms of the
skuU, but these are by no means the only difference which require notice and particular description.
These seven principal classes are, first, those nations which in the form of their skulls and other physi-
cal characters resemble Europeans, including many nations in Asia and some in Africa; secondly, races
nearly similar in figm-e, and in the shape of the head, to the Kalmucks, Mongoles, and Chinese. These
two first classes of nations will be designated, for reasons to be explained, Iranian and Turanian
nations, in preference to Caucasian and Mongolian. * * * The third class are the native Arne-
rican nations, excluding the Esquimaux and some tribes which resemble them more than the majority
of inhabitants of the New World. The fourth class comprises only the Hottentot and Bushman race.
A fifth class are the Negroes ; the sixth, the Papuas, or woolly-haired nations of Polynesia ; the
seventh, the Alfourou and Australian races. The nations comprised under these departments of man-
kind differ so strikingly from each other, that it would be improper to include any two of them in one
section, and there is no other division of the human family that is by physical traits so strongly cha-
racterized. There are, indeed, some nations that cannot be considered as falling entirely within either
of these divisions, but they may be looked upon as approximating to one or another of them.” *
The same writer affirms, of the Caucasian race of Cuvier, that ‘‘ there is no truth in the assertion
that the traditions of all these nations deduce their origin from Caucasus f," and states, of his Indo-
Atlantic, or Iranian nations, that “ complexion does not enter among the characters of this type, since
it is of aU shades, from the white and florid colour of the northern Europeans, to the jet-black of
many tribes in Lybia, and southward of Mount Atlas. In many races, as we shall hereafter prove,
the type has degenerated. The ancient Celts appear, for example, to have had by no means the same
developement of the head as the Greeks, and the Indians display some differences in the configuration
of the skull,” -
[It is much more a ground animal than the Ourangs, and runs on its lower extremities without difficulty, holding _ '
up the arms. Is of a lively and active disposition. The facial angle of the adult about thirty-five degrees. ^ '
By the general consent of living naturalists, the Chimpanzee is placed next to Man in the system, preceding -
the Ourangs, which it exceeds in general approximation to the human form.] J
From the foregoing groups are now separated i...
The Gibbons {Hylolates, Illiger), — ir
Which, together with the long arms of the Ourangs, and the receding forehead of the Chimpanzee, |
possess [all of them] callosities on the buttocks like the true Monkeys ; differing, however, from the |
latter in having no tail or cheek -pouches. All of them inhabit the most eastern part of India, and |
its archipelago.
The Onko Gibbon {Sim. lar, Lin.)— [This name is now by general consent applied to the next species, the
present one being distinguished as/f. Rafflesii, Geof.] Black, with white hairs round the face.
[The Lar Gibbon of Linnaeus {H. lar, Geof.)— Black, with white hands and feet, and a white circle round the
face. Is identical with H. albimaniis, Vig. and Horsf., and probably with H. variegatus, Kuhl, which seems to
differ only in colour, being brown where the other is black.
The Hoolock Gibbon {H. hoolocU, Harlan).— Black, marked with white across the forehead.
The Coromandel Gibbon {H. choromandus, Ogilby).— Of a dingy pale brown, with black hair and whiskers.]
The Wou-wou Gibbon {S. agilis, Lin.)— Brown, the circle round the face and lower part of the back, pale
fulvous [with also some white around the visage]. The young are of a uniform yellowish white. Its agility is
extreme ; it lives in pairs, and its name Wou-wou is derived from its cry.
The Gray Gibbon {S. leucisca, Schreb.)— Gray, with dark crown, and white beard and whiskers ; the visage
black. It lives among the reeds, and climbs up the highest stems of the bamboos, where it balances itself by its
long arms.
We might separate from the other Gibbons
The Siamang {S. syndactyla. Raffles), which has the second and third toes of the hind foot united by a naiTOW
membrane, the whole length of the first phalanx [a character which now and then occurs in some of the others,
but in the present species is constant]. It is wholly black, with the chin and eyebrows rufous [and the throat
bare] ; lives in numerous troops, which are conducted by vigilant and courageous chiefs, which, at sunrise and
sunset, make the forest resound with frightful cries. Its larynx has a membranous sac connected with it.
[All the above are mild and gentle animals in domestication, of extremely delicate constitutions when brought
to our climate].
The remaining Monkey-like animals of the ancient continent have the liver divided into several
the growth of the other parts— that is, the developement of the other
* It may be remarked generally, that, with the possession of for-
midable canines, Quadrumana acqviire a consciousness of their efficacy
as weapons, which renders them impatient of that controul, more par-
ticularly if based on fear, to which they had previously been sub-
missive. Chastisement then excites their ire rather than affrights
them ; and if they cannot gratify their rage, they will pine and die.
They require, in short, different treatment. An adult male Mandrill,
which was long exhibited in London, would perform various feats
indicative of intelligence, if bribed to do so by the offer of its favourite
beverage. The notion that the species with prominent muzzles are
therefore loss intelligent, requires modification. The developement
of brain, in all the Simia, as compared with that of Man, is arrested
at a particular stage of advancement ; but it does not follow that
ystems— should cease simultaneously : on the contrary, this proceeds
to a variable extent in different species, and the projection of the
muzzle, with its accompaniments, appears to increase in proportion
to the stature ultimately attained ; so that the adults of the smaller
species are, in this respect, analogous to partially developed speci-
mens of the larger, -which correspond in disposition until they acquire
the strength and armature of which an instinctive knowledge prompts .
them to resent affronts, and renders them so highly dangerous to j
tamper with. The Baboons are even remarkable for penetration and ,
quickness of apprehension, however short their temper.— Ed.
f Very highly improbable. — Ed.
QUADRUMANA.
57
lobes ; the coecum thick, short, [except in Semnopithecus, and perhaps Colobus], and without any
appendage : the hyoid bone has the form of a shield.
The Monkeys* {Cercopithecus, Erxl. in part), \Guenons of the French], —
Have a moderately prominent muzzle (of sixty degrees) ; cheek pouches ; tail ; callosities on the but-
tocks ; the last of the inferior molars with four tubercles like the rest. Very numerous species of them,
of various size and colouring, abound in Africa, living in troops, which do much damage to the gardens
and cultivated fields. They are easily tamed, [and are lively and active animals. Their hair, unlike
that of the preceding groups, is of two kinds, the outer commonly annulated above with two colours,
producing a grizzled appearance, which in several imparts a tinge of green.
More than twenty species have been ascertained, and doubtless many others remain to be discovered. They
vary in the proportional length of the fingers. The larger of them acquire, with their growth, a more projecting
muzzle, and are the Cercocebi of some naturalists (a term now falling into disuse) : these, in a few instances,
manifest an additional relationship to the Baboons, in exhibiting bright colours on the genitals ; as exemplified
by the Malbrouck Monkey (C'. cynosurus), in which the scrotum is vivid ultramarine, and the Vervet (C. pygery-
thriis), which has the same part green. Many are prettily variegated, as the Diana Monkey {C. Diana), which
has a crescent-shaped white mark on the forehead, and a slender, pointed, white beard ; the Mona Monkey
(C. rnona), &c. One only is of a red colour, the Patas (C. rubra). A few of the more recently discovered of them
may be briefly indicated.
Campbell’s Monkey (C. Campbellii, Waterhouse.)— Hair long, and parted on the back, of a grizzled black and
yellow colour, nearly uniform blackish grey on the hind parts ; beneath, dingy white ; a black line encircling the
fore part and sides of the crown of the head. From Sierra Leone.
The Bearded Monkey {C. pogonias, Ben.) — Hair very long ; greyish, i.e., grizzled black and yellowish white ; a j
spot on each side of the head, another on the crown, and tip of the tail, black ; cheeks furnished with an
immense tuft of pale hair.
Red-eared Monkey (C. erytlirotis, Waterh.)— Grey ; the tail red, with a dark line along its upper surface ;
ears with very long red hairs internally ; throat white ; under parts of the body greyish. From Fernando Po.
Next follows a group of smaller species, of mild and confiding disposition ; consisting of the Talapoin M.
(C. talapoin, Geof., Sim. melarrhina, F. Cuv.), the Moustache M. {S. cephus, Lin.), the Vaulting M. {S. petaurista,
Gm.), the Hocheur (S. nictitans, Gm.), &c. A new Monkey appertaining to it is the
C. Martini, Waterh.— Of a dark grey, the hairs annulated with yellowish white ; lower portions of limbs, crown
of the head, and tail, blackish ; hairs near the root of the tail beneath, brown. Inhabits Fernando Po. Several
of these smaller kinds are very common in Guinea. Allied to them are the larger green IMonkeys ; and the series
terminates with the Mangabeys, or dusky-coloured white-eyelid Monkeys (C. cethiops, and C. fuliginosus), which
display some peculiarities of gait and gesture, and have the most prominent muzzles of any.
The following occurs as a note in the original work. “ Pennant has described certain Guenons^’ —
Doucs rather — “ without thumbst, Sim. polycomos and S. ferruginea, of which Illiger has formed his
genus Colobus, but I have not been able to see them, and for this reason have not introduced them.
M. Temminck assures us that the head and teeth resemble those of a Semnopithecus^ This group is
now well established, and several species have been added to it ; all of them, however, peculiar to
Africa, as the members of the last-named genus are to Asia : they differ chiefly from the Doucs
in possessing cheek-pouches, having the limbs similarly elongated, and only one sort of hair, as in the !
Apes. A small rudiment of a thumb exists in some of them.
Nine clearly distinct species have been ascertained; and there are probably many others. They resolve
into two minor groups ; the species composing the first are rather large animals, of a black ground-colour, with
very long hair ; those of the second division are smaller, with shorter hair, and rufous ground-colour. Their
markings readily distinguish them.
The Black Colobin (C. satanas, Waterh.)— Quite black, with very long shaggy hair, obviously designed to pro-
tect it from the scorching rays of a vertical sun. This animal is common in Fernando Po, and when captured
refuses to take sustenance, pining and moaning constantly and very piteously.
Ursine Colobin (C. ursinus, Ogilby.)— Black, with grey head and white tail. From Sierra Leone.
White-thighed Colobin? {C.? leucomeros, Ogilby.)— Established on some imperfect skins. The thighs white ;
head, legs, and tail undetermined. From the Gambia.
Sim. polycomos. Pennant ; termed by him the “ Full-bottomed Monkey.”— Has a long yellowish-w'hite sort of
mane, compared to a full-bottomed wig, and a white tail. Brought from Sierra Leone.
C. guereza, Ruppel.— The throat and around the face white ; and long flowing white hair on the shoulders
and along each side of the body, as if a garment were thrown over it ; end of the tail also white, and largely tufted.
From Abyssinia.
C. rufoniger, Ogilby. — Black above, deep red beneath ; locality unknown.
* The word Monkey is a diminutive of Man. — Ed. t Tlie thumb is very small in the Doucs. — Ed.
58
MAMMALIA.
Sim. ferruginea, Pennant ; called by him the “ Bay Monkey.”— Of a deep bay colour above ; cheeks and under-
parts very bright bay. From Sierra Leone.
C. Pennantii, Waterh.— Above blackish ; beneath dingy yellow ; the sides yellowish red, and cheeks white.
From Fernando Po.
C. TemmincMi, Kuhl. — Blackish above ; I'usty-red beneath and on the cheeks ; the sides yellow. From the
Gambia. Is identical with C. obscurus, Ogilby.
The skins of these animals are an article of traffic in Western Africa, but are commonly deprived of the head,
limbs, and tail. Many Cercopitheci are prepared in the same manner.*]
The Doucs {Semnopithecus, F. Cuv.) —
Differ from the true Monkeys by having an additional small tubercle on the last of the inferior molars.
They are the ordinary Monkeys of the East ; and their lengthened limbs and extremely elongated tail
[as in Colohus'] give them a peculiar air. Their muzzle projects very little more than that of the
Gibbons, and, like them, they have callosities on the buttocks ; they appear, likewise, to have no
cheek-pouches : them larynx is furnished with
a sac. [The stomach (fig. 3) is singularly
complicated, consisting of three divisions;
first, a cardiac pouch, with smooth and simple
parietes, slightly bifid at the extremity;
secondly, a middle, very wide and sacculated
portion; thirdly, a narrow, elongated canal,
sacculated at its commencement, and of simple
structure towards its termination : their food,
accordingly, is supposed to be more herba-
ceous than that of other Catarrhini, which
is further intimated by the blunter tubercles
of their molars, and the elongation of then-
intestines and ccECum. Their hair is of one
kind only, approaching in character to that of
Fig. 3. the Gibbons. Their movements are staid and
deliberate, though capable of much agility ; and the gravity of their deportment is expressed by
their systematic name.
Fourteen or fifteen species have been determined, of which the most extraordinary is]
The Long-nosed or Proboscis Douc {Sim. nasica, Schr. ; Nasalis larvatus, Geof.t) [The S. recurvus, Vig. and
Horsf., is apparently the young.]— It is of large size, and yellowish colour tinted with red ; the nose extremely
long and projecting, in form of a sloping spatula. This species inhabits Borneo, and lives in great troops, which
assemble morning and evening on the branches of the great trees on the banks of the rivers ; its cry is Kahau.
Is stated also to occur in Cochin China.
The Variegated Douc {S. nemceus, Geof.)— Remarkable for its lively and varied colouring ; the body and arms
are grey ; the hands, thighs, and feet black ; legs of a lively red ; the tail, [fore-arm,] and a large triangular spot
upon the loins, white ; face orange ; and there is also a black and red collar, and tufts of yellow hairs on the sides
of the head. It inhabits Cochin China. (The genus Lasiopyga of Illiger was founded on a mutilated skin of this
animal.)
S. entellns, Dufres. [The species most frequently brought alive to Europe.]— Of a light yellowish grey colour,
with black hair on the eyebrows and sides of the head, directed forwards. From Upper Bengal, where it is held
in superstitious reverence. [Some frequent the Pagodas.
Several are black, dusky, or ash-coloured. S. auratus, Geof., is uniform bright golden yellow, with a black
patch on each knee. The Simpai {S. melalopJms, Cuv.) is of a very lively red ; beneath white : its face is blue ;
and a crest of black hairs reaches from one ear to the other. Some have the hair of the head turned up, forming
a sort of crest. All are from the islands of the Indian Ocean, and neighbouring regions of Asia.]
The Macaciues (Macacus, Desm.) —
Possess, like the Doucs, a fifth tubercle on their last molars, and callosities and cheek-pouches like
the true Monkeys. Their limbs are shorter and stouter than in the former ; their muzzle is more
elongated, and the superciliary ridge more prominent than in either the one or the other. Though docile
when young, they become unmanageable with age. They have all a sac which communicates with
I,
}
I
i
* I have availed myself of this opportunity to give a more complete I t The anatomy of this animal is now known to accord with that of
list of the Colobi than has hitherto been published. — Ed. I the other Doucs. En.
QUADRUMANA.
59 i
the larynx under the thyroid cartilage, and which fills with air when they cry out. Their tail is
pendent, and takes no part in their movements ; [it varies in length from a tubercle to longer than the
body.] They produce early, but are not completely adult for four or five years. The period of gesta-
tion is seven months ; during the rutting season the external generative organs of the female become
excessively distended [as in the Baboons]. Most of them [all] inhabit India [and its Archipelago.
At least seven species have been ascertained, the most remarkable of which is]
The Maned Macaque or Wanderoo {Sim. Silenus and leonina, Lin.)— Black, with an ash-coloured mane and
whitish beard surrounding the head. [Tail moderately long, and slightly tufted.] Inhabits Ceylon.
[The Bonneted Macaque {M. sbiicus), and the Toque {M. radiatus), have the hairs on the top of the head dis-
posed as radii ; these, with the Hare-lipped M. {M. cynomolgus), have long tails. In the Pig-tailed Macaque
{M. rhesus), this appendage reaches little below the hamsti’ings : it is shorter, thin, and wrinkled in the Brown
Macaque {M. nemestrinus) •, and in the Black M. {M. niger, Ben. ; Cynocephalus niger, Desm., and of Cuvier’s
last edition), it is reduced to a mere tubercle. The Black Macaque is wholly of that colour, with an erect tuft of
hair on the top of its head j its native country Celebes.]
The Magots {Inuus, Cuv.)
Mere Macaques, which have a small tubercle in place of a tail. [According to this definition, the
last-named species should be introduced here : the only known Magot, however, does not well range
with the others ; its cranium is intermediate to those of the Macaci and Cynocephali].
The Barbary Magot {Sim. sylvanus, pithecus, and inuus, Lin.)— Completely covered with greenish-brown hair.
Of all the tribe, this suffers least in our climates. Originally from Barbary, it is said to have become naturalized
on the Rock of Gibraltar.* [This well-known species, in its wild state, is both lively and remarkably intelligent
at all ages ; but, subjected to the restraint of captivity, becomes sullen and unmanageable as it grows up ; forcibly
illustrating what has been stated in a note to the Ourangs.]
The Baboons {Cynocephalus, Cuv.), —
Together with the teeth, cheek-pouehes, and callosities of the preceding, have an elongated muzzle
abruptly truneate at the end, where the nostrils are pierced, which gives it a greater resemblance to that
of a Dog than of other Monkeys ; their tail varies in length. They are generally large, ferocious, and
dangerous animals, of which the majority [all of them] inhabit Africa.
[Some have the tail long and tufted, as the Gelada Baboon {Macacus gelada of Ruppell). — ^This has the upper
parts covered with very long hair, of a pale brown on the head, shoulders, and rump, blackish on the back ; a
dark medial line extends backwards from the forehead ; the extremities are black. A native of Abyssinia.
The others have the hair grizzled or annulated. Such are the Tartarin Baboon {Sim. hamadryas, Lin.), of a
slightly bluish ash-colour (grizzled black and white) ; face flesh-coloured : inhabits Arabia and Ethiopia. The
Chacma B. {Sim. porcaria, Bodd. ; S. ursina, Penn ; ^S. sphyngiola, Herm.), which is black, with a yellowish or
greenish glaze, particularly on the forehead; the face and hands black, and the adult has a large mane. From the
Cape of Good Hope. The Anubis B. {C. anubis, F. Cuv.), is another huge Cape species, uniformly grizzled black
and yellow ; the face black, and snout much elongated. The Sphynx B. {Sim. sphynx, Lin., and it would appear
from descriptions, also, C. papio, Desm.), is likewise yellowish, more or less tinged with brown ; face black ; the
cheek-tufts fulvous : inhabits Guinea. Lastly, the Babouin {Sim. cynocephalus, F. Cuv.), has a shorter tail,
and coat more inclining to greenish ; also whitish cheek-tufts, and flesh-coloured visage.]
The Mandrills —
Are, of all the Monkey tribe, those which have the longest muzzle (thirty degrees t) > their tail is very short ; they
are also extremely brutal and ferocious ; nose as in the others.
The Mandrill Baboon {Sim. maimon and mormon, Lin.) — Greyish brown, inclining to olive above ; a small
citron-yellow beard on the chin ; cheeks blue and furrowed. The adult males have the nose red, particularly at
the end, where it is scarlet ; the genital parts and those about the anus, are of the same colour ; the buttocks are
of a fine violet. It is difficult to imagine a more hideous and extraordinary animal. It nearly attains the size of
a Man, and is a terror to the negroes of Guinea. Many details of its history have been mixed up with that of the
Chimpanzee, and consequently with that of the Ourang-outang.
The Drill {Sim. leucophoea, F. Cuv.)— Yellowish grey, the visage black ; in old ones the coat becomes darker ;
[the white hairs on the belly are much elongated], and the chin is bright red.
[Hideous as the animals of this genus appear, and disgustingly deformed to those who have only seen them in
captivity, their adaptation to a peculiar mode of life is of course as exquisite as that of any other animal, and
requires only to be understood to command an amount of admiration, which must lessen to a considerable
* Pithecus is the Greek name for Monkeys in general ; and the one . species, all that Galen has stated respecting the anatomy of his
of which the anatomy is given by Galen was a Magot, although I Pithecus.
Camper thought it was an Ourang-outang. M. de Blaiiiville perceived j f The Ourangs will bear comparison. — Ed.
this mistake, and I have proved it by comparing with these two [
MAMMALIA.
60
extent the abhorrence with which we are apt to regard them. It has lately been discovered that they chiefly
inhabit barren stony places, where they subsist, for the most part, upon scorpions ; to procure which they employ
their hands to lift up the numerous loose stones, under most of which one or more of these creatures commonly
lie concealed ; their stings they extract with dexterity. Accordingly, we find that the Baboons are expressly
modified for traversing the ground on all-fours, and are furnished with efficient hands ; their eyes are peculiarly
placed, directed downwards along the visage. Want of space necessarily prevents us, generally, from noticing
these highly interesting relations, afforded by the special modifications of structure in reference to habit : but
we avail ourselves of the present instance (which is little known*) to call attention to them.
With the Baboons, the series of Catarrhini (Geof.) terminates ; and we may observe that the
Simiadce fall under three principal divisions. First, that of the Apes, (comprising the Chimpanzee,
Ourangs, and Gibbons), tail -less genera, which have the liver divided as in Man, an appendage
to the coecum, &c. Second, the slender-limbed Monkeys, with sacculated stomachs and longer
intestines (or the Doucs, and most probably the Colobins), all of which have exceedingly long tails.
Third, those with shorter and stouter limbs, a simple stomach, and tail varying in length from a
tubercle to longer than the body. These last (or the true Monkeys, Macaques, Magots, and
Baboons), are all partly insectivorous ; and the habit mentioned of the Baboons, of turning over stones
in quest of prey, applies perhaps more or less to all of them, but particularly to the Magot and some
Monkeys. In the two first divisions, the coat consists of only one sort of hair ; in the last of two
sorts, the longer and coarser of which is mostly annulated with two colours. It is remarkable that
none of the genera are common to Asia and Africa (one Baboon only extending to Ai-abia), and, until
very recently, no remains of any had occurred in a fossil state ; but the jaw of one said to be
allied to the Gibbons has lately been detected in a tertiary deposit, at Sanson, France ; and some bones,
adjudged to be those of Macaques, in the tertiary ranges of northern India.]
The Monkey-like Animals of the New World,
[Platyrrhini, Geof.\ —
Have four grinders more than the others, thirty-six in all ; the tail [with very few excep-
tions] long ; no cheek -pouches ; the buttocks hairy and without callosities ; nostrils opening
on the sides of the nose, and not underneath ; [the thumbs of the anterior hands no longer
opposablef.] All the great Quadrumana of America pertain to this division. J Their large in-
testines are less inflated, and their coecum longer and more slender than in the preceding
divisions.
The tails of some of them are prehensile, that is to say, their extremity can twist round a
body with sufficient force to seize it as with a hand.§ Such have been designated Sapajous
{Cebus, Erxl.)
At their head may be placed the
Stentors {Mycetes, Illiger), —
Or Howling Monkeys [^Ahuattes of the French], which are distinguished by a pyramidal head, the
upper jaw of which descends much below the cranium, while the branches of the lower one ascend
very high, for the purpose of lodging a bony drum, formed by a vesicular inflation of the hyoid bone,
which communicates with their larynx, and imparts to their voice prodigious volume and a most
frightful sound. Hence the appellations which have been bestowed on them. The prehensile portion
of their tail is naked beneath.
[The Rufous Stentor {Sim. seniculus, Buff., Supp. vii. 25), the Ursine Stentor {Stentor ursinus, Geoff".), and
at least five other species, are now tolerably established. They are shaggy animals, averaging the size of a Fox,
of different shades of brown or blackish, the females of some being differently coloured from the males ; such is
M. barbatus, Spix, pi. 32, of which the male is black and bearded, the female and young pale yellowish-gi’ey.H
They are of an indolent and social disposition, and grave deportment ; utter their hideous yells and howling by
night ; subsist on fruits and foliage, and are deemed good eating.]
* For the information communicated, we are indebted to Dr. A.
Smith, the conductor of the South African expedition from the Cape
colony. — Ed.
t They are but slig-htly so in many of the Simiadie.—Kr).
t By this is meant, that the Marmosets and Tamarins (fiuUtUis of
our author) are excluded from the generalization. — Ed.
§ This organ possessing in an eminent degree the sense of touch,
where the character is most developed. — Ed.
11 Cuvier accordingly suggests, inadvertently, that the M. stramineus
Spix, pi. 31, which is entirely of a straw-yellow colour, may be the
female of some other ; Spix, however, figures a male. — Ed.
QUADRUMANA.
61
The Ordinary Sapajous have the head flat, the muzzle but sliglitly prominent (sixty degrees).
In some the anterior thumbs are nearly or quite hidden in the skin, and the prehensile portion of
the tail naked beneath. They constitute the genus
CoAiTA {Ateles, Geof.), —
[Or the Spider Morikeys, as they are commonly termed, in allusion to their long slender limbs, and sprawling
movements.]
The first species, the Chamek (A. subpentadactylus, Geof.), has a slight projection of the thumb, though only
for one phalanx, which has no nail. Another, the Mikiri {At. hypoxanthus, Pr. Max. ; Brachyteles macrotarsus,
Spix), has also a very small thumb, and sometimes even a nail. These two species are separated by Spix under
the name Brachyteles. They connect Ateles with Lagothrix.*
The others, to which alone Spix applies the name Ateles, have no apparent thumb whatever. [Six have been
ascertained ; one of them the Sim. paniscus, Lin.]
All the above are natives of Guiana and Brazil. Their limbs are very long and slender, and their gait slow
and deliberate. They exhibit some remarkable resemblances to Man in their muscles, and, of all animals, alone
have the biceps of the thigh made like his. [Accordingly, they make little use of their fore-hands in progression.
Their colours are chiefly or wholly black, or fulvous-grey ; face black, or flesh-coloured. They are gentle and
confiding, and capable of much attachment. Some attain to as large a stature as the preceding.]
The Gastromargues {LagotJirix, Geof. ; Gastromargas, Spix).
Head round, as in the Coaitas ; the thumb developed, as in the Stentors ; and tail partly naked, hke
the one and the other. Such are —
The Caparo, Humb. {L. Humboldtii, Geof. ; G. olivaceus, Spix), and the Grison {L. canus, Geof. ; G. infumatus,
Spix.)— Inhabitants of the interior of South America, said to be remarkable gluttons. Their limbs are shorter
and stouter than in the Coaitas, and they often raise themselves on their hinder extremities : occur in numerous
bands.
The other Sapajous, or
The Capuchins {Cebus, Geof.) —
Have a round head, the thumbs distinct, and the tail entirely hairy, though prehensile. The species
are still more numerous than those of the Stentors, and almost as difficult to characterize.
Some have the hair upon the forehead of a uniform length ; as the Sajou {Sim. apella, Lin.), and the Capuchin,
[Auct.1 {S. capucina, Lin.) : others have the hair of the forehead so disposed as to form aigrettes ; as the Horned
Capuchin {Sim. faluellus, Gm., which has a tuft of black hairs on each side of the forehead), the C. cirrhifer,
Geof., and the Cebus of the same name of Pr. Max., but which is different — C. cristatus, F. Cuv. There are nu-
merous others ; but we require many observations, made in the places where these animals inhabit, before we can
hope to establish their species otherwise than in an arbitrary manner. [About sixteen ai’e commonly admitted,
most of which are of different shades of brown, some very variable. They are of smaller size than the preceding,
and of mild and gentle disposition ; their motions are quick and light, and they are easily tamed. Several exhale
a strong odour of musk.]
In the SAiMiRif, the tail is depressed, and almost ceases to be prehensile ; the head is very much
flattened ; in the interorbital pai tition of the cranium there is a membranous space. Only one species
is known, —
The Saimiri {Sim. sciurea. Buff. xv. 10.)— Size of a Squirrel ; of a yellowish grey ; the fore-arms, legs, and the
four extremities, of a fulvous-yellow; end of the nose black. [A pretty, vivacious little animal, which subsists
much on insects, and is also carnivorous. Its tail is sub-prehensile, or capable of coiling slightly throughout its
length, and so holding in a moderate degree ; but its extremity cannot seize a small object : it is often wound
round the body.]
The remaining Monkey-like animals of America have the tail not at all prehensile.J; Several have
that appendage very long and tufted, whence they have been termed Fox-tailed Monkeys : their teeth
project forwards more than in the others. They are
The {Pithecia, Desm. and Iliig.), —
[Wliich are again divisible into three minor groups. Of these, the first is represented by the Yarke Saki {Sim.
Pithecia, Lin., P. leucocephala), and three or four others : singular-looking animals, with extremely long hair, except
on the head, where, in most of the genus, it is parted. In the Yai’ke, the head is whitish, and all the other parts
brown-black, which adds to the strangeness of its appearance. The Jacket Saki {Sim. sagulata, Traill), illustrates
* The latter may do so, but certainly not the former, which is in
all other respects a characteristic Ateles. — Ed.
+ Sagoinus (or, what would be preferable, Sagunus,) of some.
This name, however, originally proposed by Lacepedkfor the Sagouins,
(Callithria ), among which the Saimiri was included, can only lead to
confusion if applied to the latter exclusively. We would suggest,
therefore, the appellation Samiris, formed out of the vernacular. — Ed.
t It has a propensity to curTin the Marmosets, if not in the Sa
gouins. — Ed.
MAMMALIA.
62
the next group, which chiefly differs from the third {Brachyurus, Spix), in possessing a long tail : the hair is
comparatively short, and in the Jacket Saki of a rich dark brown, except on the head, where it is longer, crisped,
and deep black, as is also its fine bushy beard. Others would appear intermediate, as the P. satanas, Humb. :
seemingly allied to which is the Brachyurus israelitus of Spix, and the diminutive P. melanoeephala of Humboldt.*
These last are represented as mainly frugivorous, and the first to be great destroyers both of wild bees and their
honey. They are said to inhabit the very depth of the forest, and to repose during mid-day ; are moderately
social, and crepuscular if not nocturnal in their time of action.]
There are also some,
The Sagouins {Callithrix, Geof.), —
The tail of which is slender, and the teeth do not project. They were a long time associated with the
Saimiri, hut the head of the Sagouins is much higher, and their canines considerably shorter. Such
are
The Masked ^2igomn(C. personata, Geof.), the Widow Sagouin (C. lugens, Humb.), [and several others ; some of
which have been ascertained to live in pairs, while others, (as the C. melanochir, Pr. Max.), assemble in numerous
bands, and make a loud and unpleasant yelping about sunrise. They are very carnivorous, though small, and
spring to a considerable distance on birds and other prey, for which they lie in wait ; are also dexterous in seizing
flying insects with the hand. They have none of the sprightliness of the Saimiri.]
The Douroucouli {Nocthorus, F. Cuv. ; Nyct^ithecus, Spix : improperly named Aotus by Illiger), —
Only differ from the Sagouins by their great nocturnal eyes, and in their ears being partly hidden
under the hair.
[Three species are now known, of somewhat Lemur-like appearance, but still having no particular relation-
ship with the Lemurs. They are almost lethargic by day, which they pass in the darkest recesses of the hollows
of trees ; but at night are all energy and activity, and subsist on small birds and insects, as well as fruit : they
drink little, and appear to live in pairs.]
All the foregoing animals are from Guiana or Brazil.
The Ouistitis {Hapale, Illiger), —
Constitute a small genus, similar to the Sakis, and which was long confounded in the great
genus Simla. They have, in fact, like the American Monkey-like animals in general, the
head round, visage flat, nostrils lateral, the buttocks hairy, no cheek-pouches j and, like the
latter divisions of them in particular, the tail not prehensile : but they have only twenty
grinders, like those of the old continent. All their nails are compressed and pointed, except
those of the hinder thumbs [a character to which the immediately preceding divisions approx-
imate], and their anterior thumbs are so httle separated from the other digits, that we hesi-
tate to apply the name Quadrumana to them. All are diminutive animals of pleasing forms,
and are easily tamed. [Their brain is surprisingly low, almost without convolutions.]
M. Geoffrey distinguishes the Ouistitis, properly so called, by the name Jacchus. They are the
Marmosets {Hapale, as restricted), —
Which, for characters, have the inferior incisors pointed, and placed in a curved Mne, equalling the
canines. Their tail is annulated, and well covered with hair ; and their ears are generally tufted.
[Seven or eight species are tolerably established, some of which are subject to vary. These pretty little creatures
are gregarious, and very indiscriminate feeders ; are indeed rapacious, and in confinement will eagerly seize and
prey on gold fishes, &c. They produce two or three young at a birth.]
M. Geoffroy designates as
Tamarins {Midas), —
Those species which have inferior trenchant incisors placed in an almost straight line, and shorter
than the canines. Their tail is also more slender, and not annulated.
[These differ more than the others, and are also somewhat variable in colour. At least seven or eight have been
ascertained, of which the Pinche {Sim. cedipus, Lin.), is the longest known. Those curious little beings, the
Silky Tamarin(M. rosalia), and the Leoncito, or Lion Monkey of Humboldt {M. leoninus), fall under this division.
* It is probable that all but the members of the first should range in the division Brachyurus, Spix, (provided this be separable,) which
name is consequently ill-chosen.— Ed.
QUADRUMANA.
63
All are restlessly active, and extremely rapid in their movements ; also remarkably short-tempered, bristling
with fury when enraged, and putting on a most formidable appearance, considering their size. They are so
cleanly, that any appearance of dirt about their habitations causes them to fret ; and are exceedingly sensitive of
damp : but, if duly attended to, are easily kept in captivity.
The Platyrrhini were very properly ranged by Buffon in two great natural divisions, named by
him Sapajous and Sagouins ; to the, latter of which the Ouistitis are strictly referable, to judge from
the aggregate of their conformation. We cannot but think that Cuvier has, in this rare instance,
attached undue importance to the number of molar teeth, in so decidedly separating the Ouistitis from
the other small American Quadrumana.'\
The Lemurs, {Lemur, Linn.),
[Strepsirrhini, Geof.'], —
Comprehend, aceording to Linnaeus, all the Quadrumana which have [supposed] incisors in either
jaw differing in number from four, or at least otherwise directed than in the Monkeys. This
negative character could not fail to em-
brace very different beings, while it did
not unite those w^hich should range to-
gether. M. Geoffroy has established
several better characterized divisions in
this genus. The four thumbs of these
animals are well developed and oppos-
able, and the first hind finger is armed
with a raised and pointed claw (fig. 4),
all the other nails being flat. Their cover-
ing is woolly; and their teeth begin to
exhibit sharp tubercles, catching in each
other, as in the Insectivora. [These
animals have been described to differ
from all other Mammalia in the circum-
stance of their upper canines locking
outside or before the lower : but we have
just discovered that their true inferior canines have always hitherto been mistaken for ad-
ditional incisors, w^hich they resemble in general aspect and direction ; while the succeeding
tooth, which from its size and appearance has been supposed to be the lower canine, is in
reality the first false molar ; (as will readily appear on opposing the successive teeth of both
jaws). In the genus Tarsius, however, the true canine assumes more of its ordinary form;
and the same is observable of the first false molar in Microcehus."^ The grinding motion of
the lower jaw is exceedingly reduced.]
The Lemurs, properly so called {Lemur, as restricted [Prosimia, Briss.]), —
Have six [four] lower incisors, compressed, and slanting forwards [as are also the canines] ; four in
the upper jaw, which are straight, those intermediate being separated from each other ; trenchant
[upper] canines ; six molars on each side above, and six belowf; the ears small. They are very
nimble animals, and have been designated Fox-nosed Monkeys, from their pointed heads. They
subsist on fruits. Their species are very numerous, and inhabit only the island of Madagascar, where
they appear to replace the Monkey-tribe, which, it is said, do not exist there. They differ but slightly
among themselves, except in colour.
[Thirteen, at least, have been ascertained definitively ; one of the longest known of which is the Macaco of
Butfon, or the Ring-tailed Lemur (L. eatta, Lin.), which is ash-grey, the tail annulated black and white. Others
are black, or rufous, with sometimes white ; and one beautiful species, the Ruffed Lemur (L. macaco, Lin.), is
* An approach to this deviation on the part of the inferior canine is I t The latter statement chances to be correct, but, as intended
Fig. 4. — Hand and Foot of Lemur
noticeable in the adult Mandrill. — Ed.
would have been erroneous, — Ed.
MAMMALIA.
64
varied with larg’e patches of black on a pure white ground. They average the size of a large Cat, but have longer
limbs ; and have all long tails, which are elevated in a sigmoid form, when in motion, and not trailed after them.
They are nocturnal or twilight animals, which sleep by day in a ball-like figure, perched on a bough ; are gentle
in disposition, and easily tamed ; but have much less intelligence than the Monkeys, and are without the prying,
mischievous propensities of those animals : their ordinary voice is a low grunt, but they often break forth into a [
hoarse abrupt roar, producing a startling efffect ; in their native forests they frequently thus roar in concert.]
The Indris {Lichanotus, Illiger) —
Have teeth as in the preceding, except that there are only four [two] lower incisors [the central pro-
bably soon falling. Their hinder limbs are extremely long ; the head broad, muzzle short, and hands |i|
long.] 'll
But one species is known, without tail [this appendage being reduced to a tubercle], three feet in height, black , ■:!:
with the face grey, and white behind {Lemur indri, Lin., Indris brevicaudatus, Geof.), which the inhabitants I
of Madagascar tame, and train to the chace like a Dog. The Long-tailed Indri {Lemur laniger, Gm.) needs
further examination.
[The latter appears to be very intimately allied to a species, with a naked face, named Propithecus diadema
by Bennett, {Macromerus typicus, Smith,) the systematic characters of which seem hardly to warrant its separa-
tion from the Indris. Both are natives of Madagascar, and it is doubtful whether the present genus should not
precede the last. The Short-tailed Indri is the most human -like of its tribe.
The Macaucos {Microcebus, Gepf., Galagoides, Smith) —
Have the head round ; muzzle short and pointed ; ears moderate and erect ; the fore-hmbs small : four
incisors above, the central larger ; also four below^, with similar projecting canines, as in Lemur ; the
upper canines are small and pointed ; and the first inferior false molar is scarcely larger than the
next ; the cheek-teeth indicate a partly insectivorous regimen. Their scrotum is disproportionately
large.
Two small species are known : the Murine Macauco {Lemur murinus, Pen .), which is Buffon’s Rat of Madagascar ;
and the Brown Macauco {M. pusillus, Geof. ; also Galago madagascariensiSf Geof., G. demidaffii^ Fischer, and
Otolienus madagascariensis, Schinz). The Lemur cinereus, Geof. and Desm. {Petit Maki, Buff.), may perhaps con-
stitute a third. These little animals have much the aspect, and also the manners, of a large Dormouse, which they
further resemble in nestling in the holes of trees, which serve them for a dormitory : during day they sleep rolled
up in a ball, and only rouse from their torpor on the approach of twilight, but are then extremely agile and lively.
Of their habits in a state of nature we know little, except that they are arboreal.]
The Loris {Stenops, Illiger) —
Have the teeth of the Lemurs, except that the points of their grinders are more acute ; the short muzzle
of a mastiff; body slender ; no tail ; large approximating eyes; the tongue rough. They subsist on
insects, occasionally on small birds or quadrupeds, and have an excessively slow gait : their mode of
life is nocturnal. Sir A. Carlisle has found that the base of the arteries of the limbs is divided into
small branches, [anastomosing freely with each other,] as in the true Sloths, [the object of which
appears to be to enable them to sustain a long continuance of muscular contraction. The same cha- [
racter occurs, however, in the Cetacea].
Only two species are known, both from the East Indies ; the Short-limbed Loris {Lemur tardigradus, Lin.),
and the Slender Loris {L. gracilis) : the former has been made a separate genus of by Geoffrey, who styles it
Nycticebus; but he is wrong in asserting that it has only two incisors in the upper jaw : the latter is remarkable
for the disproportionate elongation of its limbs, and especially of its fore-arms. [These most singular animals
are eminently nocturnal and arboreal, being incommoded by dayUght ; they are also very susceptible of cold, i
which makes them dull and inanimate. During the day, they sleep clinging to a branch, with the body drawn
together, and head sunk upon the chest ; at night they prowl among the forest boughs in quest of food.
Nothing can escape the scrutiny of their large glaring orbs : they mark their victim, insect or bird, and cautiously
and noiselessly make their advances towards it, until it is within the reach of their grasp ; they then devour it on ^
the spot, previously divesting it, if a bird, of its feathers. When rousing from their diurnal slumbers, they ''
delight to clean and lick their full soft fur ; and in captivity will then allow themselves to be caressed by those
accustomed to feed them : they are remarkable for extreme tenacity of grasp.
The Pottos {Perodicticus, Bennett) —
Have comparatively small eyes ; the ears moderate and open : dentition approaching that of the Lemurs ; j
tail moderate ; limbs equal ; the index finger of the anterior hands (fig. 5) little more than rudimentary.
QUADRUMANA.
65
Geoffrey’s Potto ( Lemur potto, Lin. ; Galago Gruniensis, Desm. ;
P. Geoff royi, Ben.) — From Sierra Leone; a slow-moving and retiring
animal, which seldom makes its appearance but in the night-time,
and feeds on vegetables, chiefly the Cassada.]
The Galagos {Otolicnus, Illig.) —
Have the teeth and insectivorous regimen of tlie Loris ; the
tarsi elongated, which gives to their hinder limbs a dispro-
portionate extent ; tail long and tufted ; large membranous ears
[which double down when at rest, as in some Bats] ; and
great eyes, which indicate a nocturnal life. [The index, as well
as the thumb of the anterior hand, inclines in some to be op-
posable to the other fingers.]
Several species are known, all from Africa ; as the Great Galago {Galago
crassieaudatus, Geof.), as large as a Rabbit ; and the Senegal Galago (G.
Senegalensis, Geof.), the size of a Rat. The latter is known as the Gum
animal of Senegal, from its feeding much on that production. [These pretty animals have at night all the activity of
birds, hopping from bough to bough, on their hind limbs only. They watch the insects flitting among the leaves,
listen to the fluttering of the moth as it darts through the air, lie in wait for it, and spring with the rapidity of an
arrow, seldom missing their prize, which is caught by the hands. They make nests in the branches of trees, and
cover a bed with grass and leaves for their little ones : are a favourite article of food in Senegal. A species larger
than the others has lately been received alive, 0. Garnottii of Ogilby.]
The Malmags {Tarsius) —
Have the tarsi elongated (fig. 6), and all the other details of form as in the preceding ; hut the interval
between their molars and incisors is occupied by several shorter teeth [that is, their upper canines are
very small ; and] the middle upper incisors are elongated, and re-
semble canines. [There are but two permanent lower incisors, and the
inferior canines present more of the ordinary form and direction.] Their
muzzle is very short, and their eyes still larger than in any of the fore-
going. [Tail very long, and almost naked.] Are also nocturnal ani-
mals, and insectivorous ; inhabiting the Molluccas.
[Two species are known, T. speetrum, Geof., {Lemur tarsius, Shaw ; T. fusco-
manus, Fischer,) and the T. baneanus of Horsfleld. It is observed by Geoffroy
that although the Malmags have the external ears much less developed than in
the Galagos, this inferiority is counterbalanced by the far greater volume of the
auditory bullae of the temporal bones, which are so developed as to touch
each other; and thus the sense of hearing is, by another mode, rendered
as acute in the former as in the latter. The Malmag has an aversion to light,
and retires by day under the roots of trees ; feeds chiefly on lizards, and leaps
about two feet at a spring ; is easily tamed, and capable of some attachment ;
holds its prey in its fore-hands, while it rests on its haunches ; produces one
young at a birth, and lives in pairs.]
Travellers should search for certain animals figured by Commerson,
Fi^. 6.-Foot of the Malmag. and which Geoffroy has engraved {Ann. Mm. xix. 10), under the name of
Cheirogales {Cheirogaleus).
These figures seem to announce a new genus or subgenus of Quadrumana. [Three species are re-
presented in Commerson’s drawing, all of whieh appear to be now authenticated by specimens. Their
proportions are those of the Galagos ; dentition as in the Malmags, except that they retain all their
inferior incisors ; the head is round, the nose and muzzle short, lips furnished with whiskers, the eyes
large and approximate, and the ears short and oval ; the nails of the four extremities are compressed
and somewhat claw-like, and the tail is long, bushy, and regularly cylindrical.
Three or more species are known, all from the great island of Madagascar. They constitute the division
Lichanos of Gray.
The singular genus Cheiromgs, also, from the same peculiar locality, which is arranged by the
author among the Rodentia, would appear to have much better claim to he introduced here, and near
F
66
MAMMALIA.
to the Galagos. Likewise, Galceopithecus, whieh Cuvier has placed after the Bats, hut which is
Lemurine in all the essential details of its conformation.*]
THE THIRD ORDER OF MAMMALIANS,—
CARNARIAf,—
Consists of an immense and varied assemblage of unguiculated quadrupeds, which pos-
sess, in common with Man and the Quadrumana, the three sorts of teeth, but have no
opposable thumb to the fore -feet. f They all subsist on animal food, [some Bats ex-
cepted,] and the more exclusively so, as their grinders are more cutting. Such as
have them wholly or in part tuberculous, take more or less vegetable nourishment, and
those in which they are studded with conical points live principally upon insects. The »
articulation of their lower jaw, directed crosswise, and clasping like a hinge, allows of ! ■
no lateral motion, but can only open and shut : [the latter, however, had already been |
nearly lost in the Lemurs.] jj
Their brain, though still tolerably convoluted, has no third lobe, and does not cover ,
the cerebellum, any more than in the following families ; the orbit is not separated !
from the temporal fossa in the skeleton § ; the skull is narrowed, and the zygomatic i
arches widened and raised, in order to give more strength and volume to the muscles
of the jaws. Their predominant sense is that of smell, and the pituitary membrane
is generally spread over numerous bony laminae. The fore- arm is still capable of re-
volving in nearly all of them, though with less facility than in the Quadrumana. The
intestines [save in the frugivorous Bats] are less voluminous, on account of the sub-
stantial nature of the aliment, and to avoid the putrefaction which flesh would undergo
in a more extended canal : [besides which, the requisite nutriment is more readily ex-
tracted from it.]
As regards the rest, their forms and the details of their organization vary consider-
ably, and occasion analogous differences in their habits I|, insomuch that it is impossible
to arrange their genera in a single line ; and we are obliged to form them into several
families, which are variously connected by multiplied relations.
* Here, at the end of the Quadrumana, may be appended some in- j
formation, which unfortunately arrived too late for insertion under
the generic heads Cercopithecus and Colobus.
It has just been ascertained, by Mr. Martin, that the Mangabevs
(^Cercopithecus athiops and fuliginosus, Auct.) possess the additional
tubercle on the last molar, found in the Macaques, Doucs, &c. ;
whence the name Cercocebus may now be continued to them ex-
clusively, as a definite subordinate group, more nearly related to the
true Monkeys than to the Macaques, notwithstanding the structural
character adverted to. Their hair, it may be remarked, is not grizzled
or annulated, as in both the Macaques and Monkeys.
Of the genus Colobus, a perfect skin of C. leucomeros, Ogilby, has
been received in Paris, which securely establishes that species. The
face is encircled with white hair, very long on the sides ; and the tail
also is white, as in C. ursinus.
Finally, a notice and figure have been just published of a species
designated Colobus verus, but which appears to me, both from its con-
tour and the description (whieh states its hair to be annulated), to be
a thumbless Cercopithecus, allied to C. Campbellii. The negative
character of wanting a thumb, only, will not constitute a CofoJius. !
-E--
t Written Carnassiers by Cuvier. — Ed.
t In one genus of Cheiroptera {Dysopes), the hinder thumbs of some ;
of the species incline to be opposable ; while the last trace of this ;
character in the anterior limbs, would seem to be the freedom of th^
thumb in the Bats generally, their fingers being all connected byj
membrane. — Ed.
§ At least not generally : but it is commonly so in the Mangoustes|l
(Herpestes), smA allied genus Cynictis ; also in Hic Felis planiceps ;
it is nearly so in the frugivorous Cheiroptera, and, it would seem, inj
Taphozous among the insectivorous Bats. — Ed.
11 This is a favourite mode of expression of our author; but wel
have reason rather to transpose the sequency, or, in other words, to S
regard the habit as neeessitating the particular modifications of struc-
ture. Thus, on consideration, it will appear, that the productive!
powers of nature ever exceeding the actual demand for such!
multiplication, species upon species have been endowed with"
the necessary organization to aid as successive checks upon
CARNARIA.
67
THE FIRST FAMILY OF CARNARIA,—
CHEIROPTERA,—
Preserves some affinities with the Quadrumana by the pendulous penis*, and mammae which
are placed on the breast. Their distinctive character consists in a fold of the skin, which,
commencing at the sides of the neck, extends between their four feet and their fingers, sustains
them in the air, and even enables such of them to fly as have the hands sufficiently developed
for that purpose.t This disposition required strong clavicles, and large scapulars, to impart
the requisite solidity to the shoulder ; but it was incompatible with the rotation of the fore-
arm, which would have diminished the force of the stroke necessary for flight. These animals
have all four large canines, but the number of their incisors varies. They have long been
distributed into two genera, according to the extent of their organs of flight X [sustaining
membrane] ; but the first requires numerous subdivisions.
The Bats {Vespertilio, Lin.) —
Have the arms, fore-arms, and fingers excessively elongated, so as to form, with the
membrane that occupies their intervals, real wings, the surface of which is equally or
more extended than in those of Birds. Hence they fly very high, and with great rapidity.
Fig. 7.— Skeleton of Bat.
our climates, pass the winter in a torpid
Their pectoral muscles have a thickness pro-
portioned to the movements which they have
to execute, and the sternum possesses a
medial ridge to afford attachment to them,
as in Birds. The thumb is short, and fur-
nished with a crooked nail, by which these
animals creep and suspend themselves. Their
hinder parts are [generally] weak, and divided
into five toes, nearly always of equal length,
and armed with trenchant and sharp nails.
They have no coecum to the intestine. Their
eyes [except in the frugivorous species] are
extremely small, but their ears are often very
large, arH constitute with the wings an enor-
mous extent of membrane, almost naked, and
so sensible that the Bats guide themselves
through all the intricacies of their labyrinths,
even after their eyes have been removed, pro-
bably by the sole diversity of aerial impres-
sions. § They are nocturnal animals, which, in
Dm'ing the day they suspend themselves in
superfluity, it being clear, speaking generally, that the consumed
must have pre-existed to the consumer ; or, to embody the proposi-
tion in still more general terms, the conditions must have been first
i present, in especial reference to which any species has been or-
ganized : in conformity with which theorem, it may be remarked, that,
, however reciprocal, on a superficial view, may appear the relations of
the preyer and the prey, a little reflection on the observed facts
I suffices to intimate that the relative adaptations of the former only
are special, those of the latter being comparatively vague and general ;
I indicating that there having been a superabundance which might
serve as nutriment, in the first instance, and which, in many cases,
J was unattainable by ordinary means, particular species have therefore j
j been so organized (that is to say, modified upon some more or less
i|j general type or plan of structure,) to avail themselves of the supply ;
i; which special adaptation, however, does not necessarily prevent them
j (in a vast proportion of cases) from also deriving nourishment from
other sources. Hence, therefore, the organization should be con-
sidered as having reference to, rather than as occasioning the par-
ticular habit. — Ed.
* This organ, however, as in the Carnivora, contains a bone (though
only within the glans,) with its accompanying pair of muscles. — Ed.
_■)• This character applies to all, with the exception of the Colugo
{Galdsopithecus), a genus which has little claim to range in this divi-
sion.— P)d.
t This term is inapplicable to the parachute membrane of the
Colugo.— Ed.
§ I have reason to suspect that the delicate tact alluded to resides
\ principally in the facial membrane, present in only some genera. A
specimen of Vesp. Nattereri, which I have just been observing, (in
which restricted genus there is no developement of membrane on the
face,) has several times, in flying about the room, flapped against a
glass case. — Ed.
F 2
I
I
1
68
MAMMALIA.
obscure places. Their ordinary produce is two young at a birth, [one only in the frugivorous
species, and many others,] whieh cling to the mammae of their parent, [have their eyes closed
for a while,*] and are of large proportional size. They form a very numerous genus, present-
ing many subdivisions. First there require to be separated —
The Roussettes {Pteropus, Briss.), —
Which have cutting incisors to each jaw, and grinders with flat crowns, or rather the latter have
originally two longitudinal and parallel projections, separated by a groove, and which wear away by
attrition : aecordingly they subsist in great part upon fruits, of which they consume a vast quantity ;
they also ably pursue small birds and quadrupeds : [a statement which much requires confirmation.]
They are the largest of the tribe, and tbeir flesh is eaten. The membrane is deeply emarginated between
their legs, and they have httle or no tail ; their index finger, shorter by half than the middle one, pos-
sesses a third phalanx, bearing a short nail (see fig. 9), which are wanting in other Bats ; but the following
fingers have each only two phalanges ; [their thumb is proportionally very large] ; they have the muzzle
simple, the nostrils widely separated, the ears middle-sized and without a tragus, and their tongue studded
with points that curve backwards ; their stomach is a very elongated sac, unequally dilated, [and their
intestines are much longer than in other Bats.] They have only been discovered in the south of Asia and
the Indian Archipelago ; [now, however, also in Japan, Australia, Madagascar, and the south and west
of Africa.
The species are very numerous, and have been greatly elucidated by the investigations of Temminck and
others, who have established most of them on a considerable number of specimens of all ages, and many
anatomically. They produce early, and the sexes are separately gregarious, the young also associating apart
from their parents as soon as they can provide for themselves.f] They divide into
1. Tailless Roussettes, with four incisors to each jaw; all of which were comprehended by Linnaeus under
his Vespertilio vampyrus. [More than twenty species are known, some of which exceed five feet across.^
One of the commonest in collections is]
The Black-bellied Roussette ( Pt. edulis, Geof.)— Of a blackish brown, deeper beneath [the fur crisp and?
coarse] ; nearly four feet in extent [sometimes, according to Temminck, upwards of five feet French, corre-*^
spending to five feet and a half English]. It inhabits^
the Moluccas and Isles of Sunda, where they ai’e found
during the day suspended in great numbers to the trees.
To preserve fruit from their attacks, it is necessary to ^
cover it with nets. Their cry is loud, and resembles that
of a Goose. They are taken by means of a bag held to ||
them at the end of a pole; and the natives esteem their :j|
fiesh a delicacy ; but Europeans dislike it on account of ill
its musky odour. The flesh of the Common Roussette / ^
(Pt. vulgaris, Geof.), an inhabitant of the Mauritius,^[Jf
has been compared to that of the Hare and Partridge. I i
2. Roussettes with a short tail, and four incisors to each
jaw ; [also generally less than the smaller species of n
the preceding. At least six are known, one of which ''
only (Pt. amplexicaudatus), has the tail moderately con?^!|
spicuous : the muzzle is comparatively somewhat shorter?!^
These two divisions comprehend all that are now^i
ranged in Pteropus ; and one species only (Pt. macro-
cephalus, Ogilby), from the Gambia, presents any marked
departure from the general character, in the great size of
its head, the superior magnitude and solidity of its
canines, and separation of the molars : allied to it is Pt. gamUanus, Ogilby, from the same locality, and Pt.
Whitei, Ben., which has a singular tuft on each side of the neck. The name Epomophorus, Ben., is applied to
these three species by Gray.]
Fig. 8.— Head of Pteropus edulis.
3. According to the indicia of M. Geoffroy, we now separate from the Roussettes
The Cephalots {Cephalotes, Geof.),
Which have [nearly] similar grinders, but in which the index finger, short, and consisting of three ' f
» Perhaps the frugivorous species form an exception to this. The I t The same appears to be the case with some of the insectivorous
others are nahed at birth, but have tlie limbs strong, and adapted for Bats of Europe. — Ed. |]
clinging to tlieir parent. I
I
CARNARIA.
69
phalanges, like that of the preceding, has no nail. The membranes of their wings, instead of meeting
at the flank, are joined to each other at the middle of the back, to which they adhere by a vertical and
longitudinal partition [a character which occurs, however, more or less completely, that is, the volar
membrane is attached more or less near to the middle of the hack, in some of the Roussettes].
They have often only two incisors [when adult, which are inserted in small curved interma^yllaries,
that are moveable backwards and forwards].
M. Isidore Geoflroy, in a monograph of this genus \_Pteropus], ioxms the Pt. personatuSy'Yem..,
and some allied species, into the subgenus Pachysoma,' has four molars less than the others, and
the zygomatic arches more projecting : the Pt. minimus or rostratus composes his subgenus Macro-
glossus, the muzzle of which is longer and more slender, and there are spaces between the grinders ;
it is believed that the tongue is extensile [now known to be slightly so, and of a rather longer and
more acuminate form than in the others]. Lastly, he separates the Cephalot of Peron from that of Pallas, 1
and applies to the former the name Hypodermis, on account of the complete dorsal insertion of the
membranes of its wings.”* ^
[M. Temminck, in his excellent monograph of the Pteropidce, or frugivorous Bats (published in 1835), adopts, as
generic, the divisions Pteropus, Pachysoma {Cynopterus, F. Cuv.), Cephalotes, Geof. {Hypodermis, Is. Geof.),
Harpyia, Illiger {Cephalotes, Is. Geof.), and Macroglossus.-\ Six species are known of Pachysoma, which present
some other peculiar characters,
and vary in size from ten to twenty
inches across : the remaining three
respectively consist of one known
species only, viz., C. Peronii,
sometimes two and a half feet
in extent,—!?. Pallasii (fig. 9), a
singular looking animal, from Ti-
mour, fourteen inches across, with
a claw on its fore-finger (like the
Cephalot), and projecting tubular
nostrils, — and M. rostratus, the
Kiodote, the smallest of the tribe,
rarely measuring a foot in spread
of wing, and which is known to
subsist chiefly on the fruit of the
Clove {Eugenia) ; its grinders are
remarkably diminutive. Between
these frugivorous Cheiroptera and
the following genera, the lapse is
very considerable.]
The Roussettes having been detached, the genuine Bats remain, all of which [excepting Desmodusl are
insectivorous, and possess three grinders on each side of both jaws, beset with conical points, and
preceded by a variable number of false molars. Their index never has a nail, and, a single sub-
genus excepted, the membrane always extends between their hind-legs. [The greater number have
cheek-pouches, and most, if not all, emit a peculiar low clicking note.]
They should be divided into two principal tribes : the first having three bony phalanges to the
middle finger of the wing, while the other finger and the index even have only two. To this tribe,
which is almost exclusively foreign, belong the following subgenera : —
The Molossines {Molossus, Geof. Dysopus%, Illig.)
These have the muzzle simple ; the ears broad and short, arising near the angle of the lips, and
uniting with each other upon the muzzle ; the tragus short, and not enveloped by the conch. Their
tail occupies the whole length of the interfemoral membrane, and very often extends beyond it.
[Their wings are narrow, and body large and heavy.] It is seldom that they have more than two in-
cisors to each jaw : but, according to M. Temminck, several of them have at first six below, four of
which they successively lose.
* This, passage occurs in the Appendix to the original work. — Ed. I is likewise used in Ornithology, where another appellation must be
+ The term Macroglossus, however, has unfortunately been pre- | substituted. — Ed.
occupied in Entomology: for which reason Kiodotus (the common 1 J This term is more generally accepted.— Ed.
name of the species, latinized) may be proposed in Its stead. Harpyia |
Fig. 9.— Harpyia Pallasii.
70
MAMMALIA.
The Dinops of M. Savi refers to
these Molossines with six inferior
incisors. There is one of them in
Italy (Dinops cestonii, Savi).
M. Geoffroyhas applied the name
NyctonowMS to those which have
four inferior incisors.
The Molossines were at first dis-
covered only in America ; but we
now know several from both con-
tinents. Some of them have the
hinder thumb placed farther from
the other digits than these are
from each other, and capable of
Fig. 10. — Head of Dysopus tenuis.
separate motion ; a character on which, in one species where it is very strongly marked. Dr. Horsfield has
established his genus Cheiromeles [the ears of which, also, ditfer in being widely separated].
It is probable that we should also place here the Thyroptera of Spix, which appears to have several cha-
racters of the Molossines, and the thumb of which has a little concave palette peculiar to them (fig. 10, a), by
which they are enabled to cling more closely. [Several species of this genus agree in possessing this appendage,
which is proportionally larger in the;
young.
As a whole, the group of Molossines is ;i
extremely distinct and insulated, thoughj
consisting of a vast number of species,'|
of which about twenty may be considered t
established; six or seven of these ap-|
pertain to the eastern hemisphere. The|
largest and most curious of them isj
D. cheiropiis, Tern. {Cheiromeles, Horsf.';|
fig. 11), from Siam, which measuresl
nearly two feet across : it is quite naked,
with the exception of an abrupt collar
of hairs round the neck.
Several have the upper lip laterally
pendent (fig. 10), whence the name
Molossus or Mastiff; and the term
Dysopus refers to the toes being more
or less tufted with hair. The greater
number of species are from Brazil and,
Paraguay.] < m
Fig. 11.— Dysopus cheiropus.
The Noctules (Noctilio*, Lin. Ed. xii.)
Muzzle short, inflated, and split into a double hare-lip, marked with odd-looking warts and grooves ;
ears separate ; four incisors above and two below ; tail short, and [possibly in some] free above the inter-
femoral membrane ; [limbs much elongated, the hinder very large and stout, and furnished with strong
claws ; the volar membranes are attached high upon the back, in some almost meeting dorsally, as in the
Cephalot and some Roussettes.]
The most generally known species is from America. {Vesp. leporinus, Gm.), of a uniform fulvous. [Others
have been found on the same continent : and Celceno, Leach, was founded on an imperfect specimen, which is
still extant. The Noctules are allied to the true Bats {Vespertilio) ; and a group which appears to be somewhat
intermediate, but with a more elongated muzzle, is the Emballonura, Kuhl (Proboscidea, Spix), of which four
species have been described from South America, and a fifth from Java. Pteronotus, Gray, is probably a Noctule,
with a longer tail than usual ; and Myopteris, Geoff., and also Aello, Leach, do not seem to differ essentially.]
The Phyllostomes {Phyllostoma, Cuv. and Geoff.)
The regular number of incisors is four to each jaw, but some of the lower ones frequently fall,
being forced out by the growth of the canines ; [the second false molar is generally elongated] . They are,
moreover, distinguished by the membrane, in the form of an upturned leaf, which is placed across the
end of the nose. The tragus of their ear (fig. 12) resembles a leaflet, more or less indented. Their
tongue, which is very extensile, is terminated by papillae, which appear to be arranged so as to form
The division Noctilio was unaccountably ranged by Linnaeus among his Glires, or the Rodentia of our author.— Ed.
CARNARIA.
71
an organ of suction ; and their lips also have tuhereles symmetrically arranged. They are American
animals, which run along the ground with more facility than the other Bats, and have a habit of
sucking the blood of animals.
1. Tailless Phyllostomes {Vampyrus, Spix).
The Vampyre [of authors] {Vesp. spectrum, Lin.)— (fig.
12.) This animal is reddish-brown, and as large as a
Magpie. It has been accused of causing the death of
men and animals by sucking their blood ; but the truth
appears to be, that it inflicts only very small wounds,
which may sometimes prove dangerous from the effects of
the climate. [There are several others, certain of which
compose the divisions Madatceus and Arctibeus, Leach,
Lophostoma, Orb., (which is very like a Desmodus ex-
ternally,) Diphylla, Spix, and Carollia, Gray, — founded on
trivial modifications of the form of the nose-leaf, tragus,
and interfemoral membrane.]
2. Phyllostomes with the tail enveloped in the interfe
moral membrane.
The Javelin Ph. {Vesp. hastatus, Lin.)— The leaf shaped
like the head of a javelin, with its edges entire. [Also
various others, some of which constitute Macrophyllum and
Brachyphylla, Gray.]
3. Phyllostomes with the tail free above the membrane.
Ph. crenulatum, Geof. — The leaf indented on the side.
M. Geotfroy distinguishes from the Phyllostomes
those species which have a narrow extensile tongue,
furnished with papillae resembling hairs. He de-
signates them Glossophagues (Glossophaga). All
the species are likewise from America. [These also
have been subdivided, according to the presence or
absence of a short tail, and other frivolous characters
into Phj/llophora and Anoura, Gray, Monophyllus,
Leach, and Glossophaga, as restricted. Spix applies to
one of them {Gl. amplexicaudata, Phyllophora of
Gray) the term Sanguisuga crudelissima, — “ a very
cruel blood-sucker." According to Mr. Bell, the tongue of Phyllostoma, has “ a number of wart-like
elevations, so arranged as to form a complete circular suctorial disc, when they are brought into con-
tact at their sides, which is done by means of a set of muscular fibres, having a tendon attached to
each of the warts." The teeth of these animals, however, are decidedly ill-adapted for blood-letting.
Fig. 12. — Vacipyrus spectrum.
The True Vampyres {Desmodus, Pr. Max., Edostoma, Orb., Stenoderma ?, Geof.)
This extraordinary genus has two immense, projecting, approximate upper incisors, and similar
lancet-shaped superior canines, all of which are excessively sharp-pointed, and arranged to inflict a
triple puncture, like that of a Leech ; four bilobate inferior
incisors, the innermost separated by a wide interval ; the
lower canines small and not compressed : there are no true
molars, but two false ones on the upper jaw, and three on
the lower, of a peculiar form, apparently unfitted for mas-
tication (fig. 13). The intestine is shorter than in any
other known animal ; as blood, which probably constitutes
their sole food, is so readily assimilated.* They have the
general characters of the Phyllostomes externally, a small
bifid membrane on the nose, no tail or calcaneum, and the
interfemoral membrane but little developed. Are also in-
habitants of South America.
Fig. 13. — Teeth of Desmodus.
♦ In Vespertilo noctula, the intestine is only twice the length of I proceeds almost straight to the anus. It would be interesting to know
the body, while in P^erupus it is full seven times. In Desmodus, it ' the first or milk teeth of
72
MAMMALIA.
Two or three species are known, of moderate but not large size.* One was taken in the act of sucking blood
from the neck of a Horse, by Mr. Darwin. It is probable that their external similitude to the Phyllostomes has
occasioned the latter to be accused of a sanguivorous propensity, for which their structure seems to be at
most but partially adapted, while that of the present genus is obviously expressly designed for this mode of life.
Compare the figm-es given of the dentition of the two genera.]
In the second grand tribe of Bats, the index has only one bony phalanx, while all the other fingers
have two. This tribe also requires to be divided into several subgenera.
The Megaderms {Megaderma, Geof.) —
Have the nasal membrane more complicated than in the Phyllostomes ; the tragus large and most
commonly bifurcated ; the conch of the ears very ample, and joined together on the top of the head ;
the tongue and the lips smooth ; interfemoral membrane
entire, and there is no tail. They have four incisors below,
but none above, and their intermaxillaries remain carti-
laginous. [Their wings are remarkably ample, the whole
cutaneous system of these animals being excessively de-
veloped.
Four species are known ; two from Africa, the others from
the Indian archipelago. One of the former (M. frons, fig. 14)
has the body covered with long hair, of most delicately fine
texture ; it constitutes the division Lavia of Gray.] They are
distinguished by the figure of the leaf, like the Phyllostomes.
Fig. 14. — Megaderma Irons.
The Khinolphines {RMnolophus, Geof. and Cuv. \_Noctilio
Bechst.]), vulgarly termed Horse-shoe Bats.
These have the nose furnished with very complicated
membranes and crests resting on the forehead, and al-
together presenting [more or less] the figure of a horse-
shoe ; their tail is long, and placed in the interfemoral
membrane. They have four incisors below, and two small
ones above, fixed in a cartilaginous intermaxillary.
Two species are very common in France [and found sparingly
and locally in England!],— ferrum-equinum, Lin., or Rh.
bifer, Geof., and Vesp. Mpposideros, Bechstein. They both
inhabit quarries [cathedrals, &c.], where they hang solitarily [?] suspended by the feet, and enveloping them-
selves with their wings, so that no part of their body is visible. [They differ chiefly in size, but in this con-
siderably ; the larger measuring 13 inches across, the other 8^ inches.
More than twenty species are known, all from
the eastern hemisphere. They fall under two
divisions, of which the extremes are shown in
the accompanying representation (fig. 15) ; but
the majority are of intermediate character, like
the two which inhabit Europe. Those with
membranous crests have the ti’agus distinct,
and sometimes considerably developed ; the
others have no separated tragus, and compose
the divisions Hipposidoros, Gray, (identical with
Phillorhina, Bonap.) and Asellia, Gray : Ariteus
of the same systematist referring to a member of
the former sub-group, which is destitute of tail,
and almost of interfemoral membrane ; charac-
ters, however, to which other species approxi-
mate. They inhabit the darkest caverns, in vast multitudes, the sexes and young in separate assemblages.
Penetrating to more deeply obscure recesses than any of the others, it is probable that their facial appendages are
endowed with exquisite sensibility, for the still further extension of that delicacy of the sense of touch, by which
others of this family are enabled to guide themselves when deprived of vision : the dryness of those membranes
intimates that they are not olfactory. Certain inguinal glands, more or less distinctly developed in these
animals, have been erroneously described as mammaiy teats.
* There is reason to suspect that tlic genus jDes?no(/«s is mucli more | t A British locality, where both occur rather numerously, is the
I W(
Fig. 15. — Khinolophus nobilis.
R. insignis
extensively representetl. — En.
vcll-known cave near Torquay, in Devonshire, called Kent's Hole,
CARNARIA.
73
The Nyctophilets {Nyctophilus, Leach) —
Are, according to Temminck, somewhat intermediate to the Rhinolphines and the next genus of
Nycterins ; approaching the former in the character of their incisors and canines, and the latter in
that of their molars : the ears are large and pointed ; the tragus lanceolate ; nasal follicles distinct ;
the tail moderately long, and enveloped in the membrane.
Nyct. Geoffroyi, Leach, is the only known species, from some part of Oceanica. It appears to be allied to the
true Bats {Vespertilio), and was included in Barbastellus, Gray, as originally constituted.]
The Nycterins (Nycferis, Cuv. and Geof.) —
Have the forehead furrowed by a longitudinal groove, w^hicli is even marked upon the cranium,
bordered by a fold of the skin, which partially covers it ; nostrils simple ; four incisors without inter-
vals above, and six below ; ears large and
Fig. 16. — Head of Nycteris javanicus.
separated ; the tail involved in the inter-
femoral membrane [and terminated by a
bifid cartilage (fig. 16, 2).] They are
African species [for the most part, but one
inhabits Java.
These animals are remarkable for a power of
inflating the skin, which is only attached to
the body in some few places, by an open cel-
lular connexion. There is a small aperture at
the bottom of each cheek-pouch, by which this
is eflected ; and the nostrils are so formed as
to close when at rest, and to open only at will.
By respiring with the mouth closed, the air
passes through these apertures along the
frontal groove to the upper part of the neck, and thence under the skin of the back, chest, and abdomen,
which, by a repetition of the process, can be puiFed out like a balloon : the intent remains to be explained.]
The Rhinopomes {Rhinopoma, Geof.) —
Have the frontal depression less marked ; the nostrils at the end of the muzzle, with a little lamina
above, forming a kind of snout ; the ears are joined ; and the tail [which is very slender] extends
far beyond the interfemoral membrane.
[A few species occur on both continents, one of which is figured in the great French work on Egypt, under the
name Taphien filets
The Taphiens {Taphozous, Geof.) —
Have also a small rounded indenture on the forehead ; but their nostrils have no raised lamina : the
head is pyramidal, and there are only two incisors above, very often none, and four trilobate incisors
below ; their ears are
widely separated, and [the
tip of] their tail free above
the membrane. The males
have a transverse cavity
under the throat. A little
prolongation of the mem-
brane of their wings forms
a sort of pouch near the
carpus.*
One species was discover-
ed in the catacombs of
Egypt by M. GeolFroy [and
it is probable that the others
are peculiar to the old con-
tinent, though one {Vesp. Fig. 17.— Mormoops Blainviim.
marsupialU, Muller) is said to be American. T. rufus, Harlan (Wils. Am. Orn., vol. vi. pi. 50) is most likely a
* Hence the name Saccopteryx, applied to this genus by Illigcr.
74
MAMMALIA.
Vespertilio. The Egyptian species is represented to have small eyes ; but that figured by Gen. Hardwicke (Lin.
Trans., vol. xiv. p. 525) possesses eyes proportionally as large as in a Squirrel, and we have examined skins of
another species (chinchilla-grey above, pure white beneath), in which the same character must have been con-
spicuous.]
The Mormopes {Mormoops, Leach) —
Have four incisors to each jaw, the superior rather large ; the inferior trilobate ; their skull (fig. 17) is
singularly raised like a pyramid above the muzzle ; and on each side of the nose is a triangular
membrane, which extends to the ear.
The species M. Blainvillii^ Leach, is from Java. [It has since been received, together with two others of the
same form (but considered by Gray as separable), from Jamaica; so that the former locality may be presumed to
be wrongly assigned.]
The ordinary Bats [to which this term may be restricted] {Vespertilio, Cuv. and Geof.) —
Have no leaf or other distinctive mark on the muzzle, and the ears separated ; four incisors above, of
which the two middle ones are apart, and six below, sharp-edged, and somewhat notched * : their tail
is comprehended in the membrane.
This subgenus is the most numerous of all, and universally distributed. There are six or seven species
m France [more than double that number. Thirteen have now been met with in England, including the Barbastelle
and Oreillard. The sexes and young of several congregate separately .f]
• M. Rousseau, in a memoir on the anatomy of Fesp. murinus,
states, of the two dentitions of this animal, that the first is developed
before birth, the second not till some time afterwards. The foetal teeth,
he remarks, are twenty-two in number ; namely, four incisors, two
canines, and four molars to the upper jaw, and six incisors, two
canines, and four molars to the lower one. The permanent teeth, in
the adult, are thirty-eight in number ; of which twenty-two should
replace the foetal or temporary teeth ; the sixteen others successively
show themselves, later as their position is further backward. The
permanent teeth do not wait to appear until their predecessors
are shed, whence at a certain epoch forty or fifty teeth, or even more,
may be counted in the same individual : this last fact we have ob-
served in the instance of the common Fitchet Weasel. — En.
t To facilitate the researches of the British naturalist, our known
indigenous species may be briefly indicated : it is not unlikely that
more remain to be discovered, as but few persons have hitherto be-
stowed much attention on these lucifugal animals.
The British species fall under two natural divisions.
In the first, the tragus is more or less rounded at the tip, short, and
a little thickened in its substance ; there are four pairs of false molars
to each jaw. Such are
The Noctule Bat (F. noctula) .—Oi a bright reddish-brown; the
membrane dusky. Length of the head and body nearly 3 inches : ex-
tent 13 or 14 inches. Ears oval-triangular, shorter than the head ;
the tragus not one-third the length of the ear, arcuated, and termi-
nated in a broad rounded head ; muzzle short, broad, and blunt.
This species is not uncommon, and is even numerous in some
districts : its flight is lofty, whence designated ultivolans by White.
Hairy-armed Bat {F.Leisleri), — ^The furlong, bright chestnut above,
brownish grey beneath ; under surface of the flying membrane with a
broad band of hair along the fore-arm. Length of the head and body
2Y2 inches ; extent inches. Tlie ears oval-triangular, shorter than
the head ; tragus barely one-third the length of the ear, terminating
in a rounded head. But one specimen is known to have been killed in
England.
Particoloured Bat {F. discolor) .—Fnr reddish-brown above, with
the tips of the hairs white ; beneath, sullied white. Length of the
head and body 2^4 inches ; extent 10V§ inches. Ears about two-
thirds the length of the head, oval, with a projecting lobe on the
inner margin ; the tragus of nearly equal breadth throughout, rather
more than one-third the length of the ear. It inhabits towns, and
comes abroad early in the evening. The only native specimen was
taken-at Plymouth.
Pipistrelle Bat [F. pipistrellus, erroneously termed F. murinus by
British writers till very lately) .—This small species is the commonest
of any ; it is dark reddish brown, paler beneath. Length to the tail
lyo inch ; extent 81^ inches. Ears two-thirds the length of the head,
oval-triangular, notched on the outer margin ; tragus nearly half as
long as the ear, almost straight, thickened, obtuse, and rounded at
the apex. It runs with celerity, carrying its head near the ground,
from which it rises with ease ; and is active during the greater part
of the year. The Pygmy Bat {F. pygmtBus, Leach,) is evidently a
young animal, and probably of this species.
The next has only two pairs of superior false molars.
The Serotine Bat (F. sero which have but little depth : the eyes are ;
directed sideways : the zygomatic arches, thin and curved below, announce the feebleness of ■
the jaws ; and the fore-arms have almost lost the power of rotation, their two bones being •
often united : in a word, the inferiority of these animals is perceptible in most of the details
of their organization. Those genera, however, which have stronger clavicles, display a certain
degree of address, and employ their fore-feet together to hold up food to the mouth : some of
them even climb trees with facility. ;
[We have seen that in the true Lemurs the middle superior incisors are separated by a wide i
interval, which in the Colugos {Galeopithecus) is still more extended: in Propithecus of !
Mr. Bennett, on the contrary, the front pair are brought nearly contiguous, having more of |
the Monkey character than in other Strepsirrhini. The lower canines also, which are directed ;
horizontally forward throughout that group, and approximated so as to leave little room for
the intervening incisors, which are accordingly extremely narrow or compressed, are even ;
more approximated in the Propithecus, so that one pair of the incisors is necessarily sacri- i
ficed; and hence the diminution of the interspace between the upper incisors. Now in !
this we may discern a slight approach to the rodent character of Cheiromys, in the loss of one ‘
pair of incisors. In the latter genus, the whole of the incisors disappear, the canines of both ||
[ jaws occupying their site : precisely as in the true Rodentia, wherein also the incisors and not j||
the canines or tusks are almost without exception obliterated, as is beautifully shown in the ||
instance of the Hare, where true incisors exist posterior to the upper gnawing teeth : it will m
be observed that in all Rodentia the currently reputed incisors pass through the inter- ^
maxiliaries ; while the constant limitation of their number to two in each jaw, and the inva-
riable absence of any trace of other teeth in the ordinary position of canines, assist in con- '
firming the opinion here decidedly entertained respecting the nature of what have been desig-
nated incisive teeth in these animals. It may be added that the Marsupiata do not, therefore, as
« We have seen one of these upper teeth thus prolonged, and I t They are so in Cheiromys, ranged by the author in this order. —
gradually curling round, so as to destroy the eye of a Rat, — Ed. | Ed.
RODENTIA.
109
arranged by Cuvier, effect a transition in the rudimental character of their dentition from the
Carnivora to the Rodentia; inasmuch as the canines, and not the incisors, ^disappear in them
(as observable in Hypsiprymnus) : the Wombat {Phascalomys) might indeed be thought to
present a solitary exception to this remark ; but there is reason to believe that the gnawing
teeth of this animal are modified incisors. Perhaps the nearest affinity of the Rodentia is
with the Elephant, among the Pachydermata.']
Some of the Rodentia even ascend trees with facility. Such are
The Squirrels {Sciurus, Lin.), —
Which may be recognized by their very compressed lower incisors, and by their long bushy tail. Their
fore-feet have only four toes, the hinder five : the site of the anterior thumb is however marked by a
tubercle [and it is between these tubercles of the two fore-paws that the Squirrels and allied genera
hold up their food to the mouth]. They have in all four grinders to each jaw, variously tuhercu-
lated, and a very small additional one above in front, which soon falls. Their head is large, the eyes
prominent and hvely. They are light and agile animals, which nestle on trees, and subsist upon their
produce.
The Squirrels, properly so called {Sciurus, Cuv ), —
Have the hairs on the tail directed laterally, so as to resemble a feather. There are numerous species
on both continents.
The Common Squirrel {Sc. vulgaris, L.)— [Bright red in summer, with a dash of grey on the upper parts in
winter, at which latter season the fur is much finer, and the ears are terminated with long hairs ; the belly white.]
One of the most beautiful is the
Sc. maocimus and macrourus, a native of India.— Nearly the size of a Cat ; above, black, the flanks and top of the
head a beautiful bright maroon, the head, and all the under parts of the body, with the inside of the limbs, pale
yellow ; a maroon-coloured band behind the cheek. It inhabits the palms, and is extremely fond of the milk of
the cocoa-nut.
There are several species in warm climates, remarkable for the longitudinal bands which adorn their fur. Such
are the Palmist [which has been known to vary entirely black, or white, &c. Certain African species, inhabiting
rocky situations, the tail of which is not bushy, but thinly covered with stiff appressed hairs, and somewhat tufted at
the extremity, constitute the Petromys of Smith ; and others, also from Africa, which are entirely covered with
coarse rigid fur, the claws of which also are long and straight, adapted for burrowing only, compose the Xerus,
Emp., and Ehr. ; Geosciurus, Smith : many of the latter animals live together, in holes of the ground; subsisting
mainly on roots, for which they scratch up the soil. Sc. capensis, Thunberg, is an example of this form.]
It is probable that we shall have to separate from the Squirrels certain species that have cheek-
pouches, like the Hamsters, and which retreat into subterraneous holes. They are
Such are
The Ground-squirrels
{Tamia, Ilfig.).
The Sc. striatus, Lin., which is found throughout northern Asia and America, particularly in the pine forests.
The tail is less bushy than in the Common Squirrel of Europe, the ears smooth, and fur brown, with five black
stripes and two white ones. [Those from America are specifically different, and indeed constitute two or three
separate species.]
We ought also, most probably, to distinguish
The Guerlinguets \_{Macroxus, Bodd.)],—
Wherein the tail is long, and almost round, and the scrotum pendent and enormous. In both the
Ground-squirrels and Guerlinguets, the teeth are similar to those of the true Squirrels.
Species of them occur on both continents.
The Taguans, Assapans, or Flying Squirrels, {Pteromys, Cuv.) —
Have already been separated. In these the skin of the flank, extending between the fore and hind
legs, imparts the faculty of sustaining themselves for some instants in the air, and of making immense
leaps. Their feet have long osseous appendages, which support a portion of this lateral membrane.
There is a species in Poland, Russia, and Siberia {Sciurus volans, Lin.)— Greyish ash-colour above, white below ;
the tail only half the length of the body : size of a Rat ; and which lives solitarily in the forests. Another in
North America, smaller, with the tail only a fourth shorter than the body {Sc. volucella, Lin.) : it lives in troops in
the prairies of the more temperate districts.
110
MAMMALIA.
In the Indian Archipelago there is one nearly the size of a Cat {Sc. petaurista, Lin.) : but the same Archipelago
produces smaller ones, as the Sc. sagitta, distinguished from the rest, the small ones especially, by its membrane,
which, as in Ft. petaurista, forms an acute projecting angle behind the tarsus.
[M. F. Cuvier has subdivided this group into the Taguans {Pteromys), and Assapans {Sciuropterus), which
latter term he applies to the smaller species, the hairs on the tail of which are arranged distachously : there are
several eastern species, however, which appear to connect the two together.]
The Aye-Aye {CJieiromys, Cuv.), —
The inferior incisors of which are still more compressed, and above all, more extended from front to
back, resembling plough-shares. Their feet have each five toes, of which four of the anterior are
excessively elongated ; the medius being much more slender than the others ; in the hind-feet, the
thumb is opposable to the other digits ; so that in this respect these animals are to the other rodents,
what the Opossums are among the Carnaria.^ The structure of their head is otherwise very different
from that of the other Rodentia, presenting a closer relationship with the Quadrumana [among which
this remarkable genus is now ranged by almost general consent. It is, in fact, in the aggregate of its
conformation, a Lemurine animal : in which group we have already seen that the lower canines are
singularly modified, projecting forwards, and being approximated to each other ; insomuch that the
intervening incisors (except in Galceopithecus) are consequently extremely compressed and narrow,
one pair of them being even sacrificed in the Indris. In the present genus, the wdiole of the incisors
disappear, as in the ordinary Rodentia ; the canines of both jaws occupying their site : but it is very
doubtful whether, as in the true Rodents, these teeth have persistent formative pulps, as there does
not exist another known instance of continuously growing teeth in any animal pertaining to the great!
divisions of Primaria and Carnaria.-^ What little is known of the osteology of CJieiromys is strictly!
Lemurine ; and no rodent possesses the rotation of the bones of the i
fore-arm, and free separate movement of the limbs as prehensile in- ;
struments, which are observed in this genus. Its habitat even is |
Madagascar, the metropolis of the Lemurine group of animals.]
One species only is known, discovered by Sonnerat {Sciurus madagascar-
iensis, Gm.) ; as large as a Hare, of a brown colour, tinged with yellow ; tail
long and thick, with some black bristles ; and large naked ears. It is a
nocturnal animal, the movements of which seem painful to it; lives in
burrows, and employs its long slender digit to convey food to its mouth.
Linnaeus and Pallas have brought together in one single group, m
under the general name of
Rats (Mm, Lin.), —
All the rodents possessed of clavicles which they could not distin-
guish by some obvious external character, such as the tail of the
Squirrels or that of the Beaver ; from which resulted the utter impos-
sibility of assigning to them any common character : the greater \
number had merely pointed lower incisors, but even this character
was subject to exceptions.
Fig 45.-The Aye aye. Gmelin has already separated the Marmots, Dormice, and Jerboas;
but we carry their subdivision much further, from considerations founded on the form of their
grinders.
The Marmots (Aretomys, Gm.) —
Have, it is true, the inferior incisors pointed, as in the greater number of animals comprised in the
great genus of Rats ; but, as in the Squirrels [to which superior group they indubitably appertain],
they have five molars on each side above, and four below, all of them sharply tuberculated ; accord- ]
ingly, some of the species are inclined to eat flesh, and feed upon insects as well as vegetables. They
have four toes, and a tubercle in place of a thumb, to their fore-feet ; and flve toes to their hind feet.
In other respects, these animals are nearly the direct reverse of the Squirrels ; being heavy, with short
limbs, a hairy tail of middle length or short, a large flat head, and they pass the winter in a state of
• The Opossiams were arranged among the Carnaria in the author’3 | f The Wombat presents the only instance amongst the Mar-
first edition.— Ed. I supiata.
RODENTIA.
Ill
lethargy in deep holes, the entrance of which they close with a quantity of grass.* They live in society,
and are easily rendered tame.
Two species are known in the Eastern continent. The Alpine Marmot {Mus. alpinus, Lin.), as large as a Rabbit,
with a short tail, and yellowish-grey fur, more ash-coloured towards the head, which inhabits lofty mountains
immediately below the perpetual snow line : and the Polish Marmot, or Bobac {M. bobac, Lin.), the same size as
the other, and yellowish-grey, with a russet tint about the head ; it inhabits the lesser mountains and hills from
Poland to Kamtschatka, and often burrows in the hardest ground. Russian travellers in Bucharia mention some
others, as Arct. fulvus, leptodactylus, and musogaricus, which are perhaps not sufficiently determined. America
likewise produces several Marmots.
Under the name of
SousLiKS {Spermophihis, F. Cuv.), —
May be distinguished several Marmots which have cheek-pouches. Their superior lightness has
caused them to be designated Ground-squirrels, [and they connect the true Squirrels with the
foregoing]. Eastern Europe produces one, —
M. citillus, Lin. — A pretty little animal, of a greyish-brown, waved or mottled with white, the spots small, which
is found from Bohemia to Siberia. It has a particular fondness for flesh, and does not spare even its own species.
[There is another in Russia, Sp. guttatus. Tern., and more, further eastward, as Sp. xanthoprymnus, a native of
Trebizond ; but North America produces by far the greater number, some of which are beautifully marked with
white lines along the back, between each of which is a series of white spots in the elegant Sp. Hoodii.']
It appears that we should approximate to the Marmots, a rodent remarkable for the habit of living
in great troops, in immense burrows, which have even been styled villages. It is called the Prairie
Dog or Barking Squirrel, on account of its voice, which resembles the bark of a small Dog : the
Arctomys ludovicianus of Say. M. Rafinesque, who [erroneously] ascribes to it five toes to each foot,
has formed of it his genus Cynomys. [It is in every respect a true Marmot.
All the foregoing genera, with the prominent exception of Cheiromys, are simply modifications of a
single peculiar type, and together compose the first principal section of the Sciuridoe or Squirrel family.]
The Dormice {Myoxus, Gm.) — ■
Have the lower incisors pointed, and four grinders, the crown of each of which is divided by closely-
folded lines of enamel.
They are pretty little animals, with soft fur, a hairy and even tufted tail, and lively expression : they
inhabit trees like the Squirrels, and subsist on their produce. In the very numerous order of rodents,
this is the only subgenus which is destitute of a coecum. They become torpid in winter, like the
Marmots, passing that season in a very profound lethargy : and so natural is it for them to fall into
this state, that a species from Senegal {M. Coupeii), which had probably never experienced it in its
native country, became torpid in Europe as soon as it was exposed to cold.
The Fat Dormouse {M. glis, Lin.) — Size of a Rat ; greyish ash-browm above, whitish underneath ; of a deeper
brown around the eyes ; tail very hairy throughout its length, and disposed somewhat like that of a Squirrel, fre-
quently also a little forked at its extremity. It inhabits the south of Europe, and nestles in the holes of trees and
fissures of rocks. It sometimes attacks small birds. This is probably the Rat fattened by the ancients, among
whom it was considered a great delicacy. [It is still eaten by the modern Italians.]
The Garden Dormouse {M. mYe^a).— Somewhat less than the preceding ; greyish-brown above, white beneath ;
black round the eye, which extends spreading to the shoulder ; the tail tufted only at the end, and black, with its
extremity white. This species is common in gardens, where it shelters itself in holes about the walls, and does
much injury to the fruit-trees nailed to them. [It does not occur in Britain.]
The Red Dormouse {M. avellanarius, Lin.)— Size of a Mouse; cinnamon-red above, white beneath; the
hairs of the tail disposed somewhat like a feather. From the forests of all Europe. It constructs its nest of grass
on low branches, in which it rears its young : the rest of its time, and particularly during winter, it remains in
the hollows of trees.
[It has been said that this species cannot pierce a ripe nut-shell, and that its specific name does not correctly
apply ; but in confinement we have frequently seen it penetrate to the kernel of the hardest hazel-nuts.
The Graphyures {Graphyurus, F. Cuv.) —
Scarcely differ from the Dormice externally, but have weaker jaws, and a longer and more slender
intestinal canal : their molars are of small size, and simple structure ; and they have also no coecum to
the intestine.
♦ The Ground-Squirrels {Tamias), and even the member* of the restricted group Schirus, are more or less subject to become torpid in
winter. — Ed.
MAMMALIA.
112
Two species have been ascertained, both from South Africa. '
The Dormice and Graphyures compose the second and last division of the Sciurida or Squirrel family].
We approximate to the Dormice, [but with questionable propriety],— !
The Echymyds {Echymys, Geof. ; Loncheres, Illig.), — '
Which also have four grinders, but differently formed ; the superior consisting of two laminae bent like i
a V, the inferior of one bent and one simple lamina. The fur of several species is rough, with inter-
mixed flattened spines or prickles. They inhabit America. One of them.
The Golden-tailed Echyinyd {Hystrix chrysuros, Schreb.), is more than double the size of the Brown Rat ; it is
a handsome animal, of a brown maroon-colour, the belly white, with a crest of elongated hairs and a longitudinal
white band on the head ; the tail long, and black, with its posterior half yellow. From Guiana. Another,
The Red Echymyd {Ech. rufus ; the Spinous Rat of Azzara), of the size of a Rat, reddish-grey, with tail shorter
than the body, is found in Guiana, Brazil, and Paraguay. It excavates long subterraneous burrows. [These
species with hairy tails pertain to the Nelomys of M. Jourdan, who restricts the term Echymys to the following.]
Others have merely the ordinary kind of hair, more or less rough.
The most remarkable is Ech. dactyliacus, Geoff., the Long-toed Echymyd, which is still larger than the Golden-
tailed species, and has the two middle toes of the fore-feet double the length of the lateral ones : its scaly tail is
longer than the body ; fur yellowish grey ; the hairs on the nose forming a crest directed in front.
The Mus paradoxus, Thomas {Lin. Trans, xi., Heteromys, Lesson), apparently differs only from the Echymyds
in possessing cheek-pouches. However, not having seen its teeth, I cannot arrange it.
[The Cercomyds {Cercomys, F. Cuv.) — ®
Are closely related to the preceding, and have also four molars surrounded with enamel, which are
deeply indented internally, and inclose three insulated circlets of enamel near their external border:
their form is still more Rat-hke, but with the profile of the visage arched ; there are no spines in the
fur, and the tail is long and scaly.
One species (C. hraziliensis) is figured by M. F. Cuvier in his great work on Mammalia].
The Hydromyds {Hydromys, Geof.) — I
Are in many respects related to the Echymyds externally ; but they are distinguished from all other
Rats by their hind-feet, two-thirds of which are palmated : their molars, also, two in number above
and below, have a peculiar character in the crown, which is divided into obliquely quadrangular lobes, |
the summits of which are hollowed out like the bowl of a spoon. They are aquatic.
Several have been sent to Europe from Van Diemen’s Land, some with the belly white, others with a fulvous
belly, but all deep brown above, with a long tail which is black at the base, the distal half white. They are some-
times double the size of the Brown Rat. H. hydrogaster and H. leucogaster, Geof. [The former is variable, but
the latter notwithstanding appears to be another species.] I
The Houtias {Capromys, Desm.) —
Have four molars above and below, with flat crowns, the enamel of which is folded inward, so as to |
form three re-entering angles on the external border, and only one on the internal side of those above, “
and the inverse in the lower ones. Their tail is round, and slightly hairy. Like the Rats, they have
five toes to their hind feet, and four with the rudiment of a thumb to the anterior ; their form is that
of Rats as large as a Rabbit or Hare. |
Two [three] species are known [all from the West Indies], which, together with the Agoutis, formerly consti- |
tuted the chief game of the indigenous inhabitants. Isodon pilorides, Say, refers to one of them. [They are
net distantly allied to the Porcupines. It is remarkable that these animals hold up their food (a fusiform root for
instance) with one foot only to the mouth, resting on the other three. They ascend bushes with facility.]
The Rats, properly so called, {Mus, Cuv.), —
Have three molars to each jaw, the anterior of which is the largest [and the posterior smallest], and the
crowns of which are divided into blunt tubercles, which, by attrition, acquire the form of a disc vari-
ously indented ; their tail is long and scaly. These animals are very annoying from their fecundity, i
and the voracity with which they gnaw and devour substances of every kind. There are three species
very common in houses, namely.
The Common Mouse {M. musculus, Lin). — Known in all times and all places.
RODENTIA.
113
Tlie Black Rat (M. rattus, Lin.), which the ancients have not alluded to, and which appears to have entered
Europe during the middle ages. It is more than double the size of the Mouse in all its dimensions. The fur is
blackish [with the ears much larger, and the tail longer, than in the following. There is a brown variety of this
species, which is common in Paris, and appears to have been figured by M. F. Cuvier as the Surmulot.]
The Brown Rat, or Surmulot {M. decumanus, Lin.), which did not pass into Europe till the eighteenth century,
and is now more common in large cities [and elsewhere, except in remote isolated localities,] than the Black Rat
itself ; it is a fourth larger than that species, and is also distinguished by its brown colour. This animal appears to
belong to Persia, where it lives in burrows : it was not till 1727, that, after an earthquake, it arrived at Astracan,
by swimming across the Volga.
I It would seem that the Black Rat, also, originated in the East ; and these two large species, together with the
1 Mouse, have been transported in ships to all parts of the globe.
j [Of the very numerous others, it must suffice to name the huge Bandicoot Rat of India {M. giganteus,
! Hardw.), which is much larger than the Surmulot. Those indigenous to South America have more complicated
folds of enamel to their molars.*] Some have spines mingled with their fur, as
The Cairo Mouse (M. cahirinus, Geoflf.), which has spines on the back in place of hairs, and was noticed by
! Aristotle.
I [Only two strictly indigenous British Mice have hitherto been described : the first, extremely diminutive, is the
Harvest Mouse {M. messorius, Shaw), with short ears, and red fur similar to that of the Common Dormouse : it
j constructs a beautiful round or pear-shaped nest, attached to corn-stems, or placed in low bushes ; and is remark-
. able for its tail being slightly prehensile at the extremity. The second is commonly termed the Long-tailed Field
i Mouse {M. sylvaticus), and might almost form a separate subgeniis ; it rather exceeds the common Mouse
! in size, with proportionately larger ears, and much larger and very brilliant eyes ; a brown mark in the centre
! of the chest : it is a pretty and very active species, more generally diffused than the Harvest Mouse, and never
enters buildings, where the other is often carried with the sheaves.]
Waxm climates produce Rats, similar in every detail to those of which we have just spoken, except
I that their tails are more hairy. Such are
Hypudceus variegatus, Licht., var. flava; Meriones syenensis, Id. To which must be added the Arvicola
messor, Le Conte ; Arv. hortensis. Hark, or Sygmodon, Say, distinguished however by its hairy ears, like
I the Otomys. ^
I Another group, also with a hairy tail, biit the teeth of which wear away faster, comprises the Hypudceus ohesiis,
! Licht., the Mm ruficaudiis, Id., and also the Meriones sericeus of the same naturalist, characterized by the
! projecting ridges of the molars, which alternately catch in each other.
We have then to group the Neotoma floridanum of Say, or the Arvicola floridana of Harlan, and the Arvicola
\ gossypina, Le Conte, two species which, size excepted, are very similar even in their colours, and the molars of
which, provided with roots [after a while], when worn a little, have crowns similar to those of the Arvicolce. [The
: tail in one of them is covered with hair of tolerable length. Both inhabit North America.
Reithrodon, Waterh., requires also to be introduced here, distinguished by its grooved upper incisors, its arched
and Rabbit-like head, great eyes, and large and round ears. Three or four species are known, from South
I America, where they were discovered by Mr. Darwin.
j The Pseudomys of Gray is another Rat-like animal, remarkable for inhabiting New Holland : the anterior molar
of its lower jaw is however more compressed and elongated, and there is a claw on its rudimentary thumb. The
l| species, Ps. australis, inhabits holes in swampy places, at Liverpool plains.
It is necessary also to introduce here the Hapalotis albipes, Licht.; Conilurus constrictus, Ogilby; another
ij rodent from New Holland, the size of a Rat, with delicate ample ears, and a long, hairy, and somewhat tufted tail,
l! It is remarkable for constructing an above-ground habitation, so firmly interlaced with thorny twigs externally,
!' as to repel the Dingo or semi-wild Dog of that country.]
■j
j The Gerbils {Gerbillus, Desm. ; Meriones, Illig.)—
I Have molars scarcely differing from those of the Rats, merely becoming sooner worn, so as to form
I transverse ridges. Their upper incisors are furrowed with a groove ; their hind feet are somewhat
II longer in proportion than those of Rats in general, with the thumb and little toe but slightly sepa-
I rated: their tail is [very] long and hairy, [and generally tufted].
ij The sandy and warm parts of the eastern continent produce several species, [mostly of a light buff colour, white
I underneath].
j; The Merions {Meriones, F. Cuv.), — ■
i Which we separate from the Gerbils, have the hind feet still longer, the tail nearly naked, and a very
small tooth before the superior molars; characters wdiich approximate them to the Jerboas: their
superior incisors are grooved, as in the Gerbils, and their toes also are similar,
j There is a small species in North America, 3Ius canadensis. Pen. ; Dipus canadensis, Shaw ; D. americanus,
* Certain of these, the upper lip of which is scarcely fissured, com- | South Africa, which constitute the Herarfromys of Smith ; tliey scarcely
' pose the HofocAt'/us, Brandt. There are also some arboreal Mice in I differ in structure from the British Harvest Mouse. — Ed.
MAMMALIA.
114
Barton. Its agility is extreme, and it closes itself up within its burrow, and passes the winter in a state of lethargy.
The Gerbillus labradorius, Harl., or Mus labrad,, Sabine, constitutes another.
The Hamsters {Cricetus, Cuv.) —
Have teeth nearly similar to those of the Rats, but their tail is short and hairy, and the two sides
of their mouth are hollowed (as in certain Monkeys) into sacs or cheek-pouches, in which they trans-
port the grain they collect to their subterraneous abodes.
The Common Hamster ( Mus cricetus, Lin.). — Larger than the Rat, of a reddish-gray above, black on the flanks
and underneath, with three white spots on each side ; its four feet are white, and there is also a white spot under
the throat, and another under the breast ; some individuals are all black. This animal, so agreeably variegated in
colour, is one of the most hurtful in existence, on account of the quantity of grain which it hoards up, filling its
hole, which is sometimes seven feet in depth. It is common in all the sandy districts, that extend from the north
of Germany to Siberia. The latter country produces several smaller species.
The Voles {Arvicola, Lacep.) —
Have three grinders above and below, like the Rats, but without roots, and which are each formed of
triangular prisms, placed alternately in two lines. [Their incisors (or tusks), unlike those of the pre-
ceding genera, are rounded, having an oval section.] They require to be subdivided into several
groups, viz. : —
The Muskhuash {Fiber, Cuv.; \Ondatra, Laceped.]), —
Which is a Vole with semi-palmated hind-feet, a long, scaly, and compressed tail, of which one species
only is well known, — i I
The Ondatra, or Mtish Rat of CdinSidia. {Castor zibeticus, Lin.; Mus Gm.)— As large as a
Rabbit, and reddish grey [the fur resembling that of the Beaver]. In winter they construct, on the ice, a hut of earth, ,
in which several reside together, passing through a hole in the bottom, for the roots of the Acorns on which they ;|, l|
feed. When the ice closes their holes, they are necessitated to devour one another. This habit of building has
induced some authors to refer the Muskquash to the genus Castor. " "
The second subdivision is that of
The Ordinary Voles {Arvicola, Cuv. ; Hypudmis, Illig.), —
The tail of which is hairy, and about the length of the body [or shorter], without webs to the toes.
Tlie Water Vole {Mus amphibius, Lin.)— A little larger than the Black Rat, and deep greyish-brown ; the tail as n
long as the body. Inhabits the banks of ditches, and burrows in marshy plains in search of roots ; but it swims |
and dives badly. [This species has been known to occasion much damage, by burrowing into the raised banks of
canals : in other respects it is quite harmless, except that it lays up a store of potatoes, &c., in its winter retreat,^|||
which is placed far from the water. Its ordinary food is green aquatic herbage. A black variety is not of||jj
uncommon occurrence, in many parts of Britain.]
The Alsacian Vole {Mus terrestris, Lin.)— Rather smaller than the last, with a shorter tail. It lives under ,
ground like the Mole, preferring elevated fields, where it excavates galleries, and removes the earth to some dis- " S
tance from the opening. Its magazines, which are principally filled with the roots of the wild carrot cut into two- . j||
inch pieces, are frequently two feet in diameter. [It is not found in Britain.]
Meadow Vole {Mus arvalis, Lin.).— Size of a Mouse, reddish ash-colour, the tail a little shorter than the body. It
inhabits buiTows in the fields, in which it hoards up grain for the winter. By multiplying excessively, it sometimes^f
occasions great damage. [There are several nearly allied small European species, two of which inhabit Britain
that known as A. arvalis in this country has the tail vei'y short, and the ears inconspicuous ; A. pratensis
ripicola is redder, with a longer tail, and more apparent ears ; it is less common than the other. Many more exist |
in Asia and North America, of which it will be sufficient to notice] 4*5
The Economic Vole {Miis ccconomicus, Pallas.) — A little darker coloured than the foregoing, with the tail stili«^^|
shorter. It inhabits a sort of oven-shaped chamber, placed under the turf, from which issue several narrow and sj^
ramifying canals running in various directions; other canals communicate with a second cavity, wherein it
amasses its provisions. From all Siberia. It is thought to have been also found in Switzerland and the south of
France, particularly in the potato fields.
The Lemmings {Georychus, 111.; \Lemmus, Link] ), —
Have exceedingly short ears and tail, and fore-feet better adapted for digging. [In other respects, i
they only differ from the Voles in being rather more heavily formed.]
The two first species have five very distinct nails to their fore-feet, as in the Mole-rats and Helamyds. ,|
The Scandinavian Lemming {3Ius lemmus, Lin.) — A northern species, the size of a Rat, with fur variegated black
and yellow : it is very celebrated for its occasional migrations in immense bodies. At these periods they are said
to march in a straight line, regardless of rivers or mountains ; and while no insurmountable obstacle impedes their '
RODENTIA.
115
progress, they devastate the country through which they pass. Their ordinary residence appears to be the shores
of the Arctic Ocean.
The Siberian Lemming, or Zocor {Mus aspalax, Gm.)— Reddish-grey ; the three middle nails of the fore-feet
long, arcuated, compressed and trenchant, for cutting earth and roots. The limbs are short ; there is scarcely
any tail ; and the eyes are exceedingly small. From Siberia, where it lives under-ground, like the Moles and
Mole-rats, and subsists chiefly on the bulbs of different LiUacece.
The third species, like the other animals comprehended under the great genus of Rats, has only the rudiment
of a thumb to its fore-feet. It is the Hudson’s Bay Lemming (Mus Hudsonicus, Gm.) ; of a pearl-grey colour,
without any tail or external ears: the two middle toes of the fore-feet of the male seem to have double
claws, the skin at the end of the toe being callous, and projecting from under the nail ; a variety of con-
formation unknown except in this animal.* It is as large as a Rat, and lives under ground in North
America.
The Otomyds {Otomys, F. Cuv. ; [_Euryotis, Brandt] ) —
Are nearly allied to the Voles, and have also three grinders, but composed of slightly arcuated laminae,
which are arranged successively in file, so as to present an exact miniature resemblance to the grinders
of the Elephant. Their incisors are grooved longitudinally, and the tail and ears are hairy, the latter
being also large.
Tlie only known species, the Cape Otomyd (0. capensis, F. Cuv.), inhabits Africa, and is of the size of a Rat,
with fur annulated black and fulvous. Tail a third shorter than the body.
The Jerboas {Bipus, Gm.) —
Have nearly the same teeth as the Eats properly so called, differing only in the occasional presence of
a very small tooth, placed before the superior molars. Their tail is long and tufted at the end, the
head large, and eyes large and prominent ; but their principal character consists in the immoderate
length of the hinder limbs, as compared with the anterior, and above all, in the metatarsus of the three
middle toes, which is formed of a single hone, as in what is termed the tarsus of birds. This dispro-
portion of the limbs caused them to be designated two-footed Rats by the ancients : and in fact their
ordinary gait is by great leaps on the hind-feet. Their fore-feet have each five toes ; and in certain
species, besides the three great ones to the hind-feet, there are [one or two] small lateral toes. These
rodents hve in burrows, and become profoundly torpid in winter.
[There are numerous species, inhabiting Asia and Africa. Those with five toes have been brought together by
some under the name Alectaga.']
The Helamyds {Helamys, F. Cuv. ; Pedetes, 111.), —
Which are commonly termed Jumping Hares, have, like the Jerboas, the head large, as are also the eyes, a
long tail, and very short fore-legs in comparison with the hinder ; the disproportion, however, being much
less than in the true Jerboas. Their peculiar characters consist in having four grinders, each com-
posed of two laminae ; five toes to the fore-feet, armed with long and pointed nails, and four only to
the hind-feet, all separate, even to the bones of the metatarsus, and terminated by large claws almost
resembling hoofs. The number of theii’ toes is accordingly inverse to that of the ordinary Rats. Their
inferior incisors are truncated, and not pointed as in the Jerboas, and as in the majority of other
animals which have been comprised in the great genus of Rats.
One species only is known, as large as a Rabbit,
and pale fulvous, with a long tufted tail black at the
tip {Mus caffer, Pallas ; Bipus coffer, Gm.) — It inha-
bits deep burrows near the Cape of Good Hope.
[The affinities of this curious animal are by no
means obvious.]
The Mole-rats {Spdlax, Guldenstedt) —
Have also been very properly separated from
the genus of Rats, although their grinders are
three in number, and tuberculated as in the
Rats properly so called, and also the Hamsters,
and are merely a little less unequal ; their in-
cisors being too large to be covered by the
* The Plovers, and several other birds belonging to the same group, present a somewhat analogous conformation. — Ed.
I 2
Fig. 46.— Mole-rat.
lips, and the extremities of those of the low^er jaw
MAMMALIA.
116
trenchant, rectilinear, and not pointed : their limbs are very short ; all their feet have five short toes,
with flat and slender nails ; their tail is short or wanting, and there is no external ear. They live
under ground like the Moles, throw up the earth in the same manner, although provided with very
inferior instruments for the purpose, and subsist entirely on roots.
The Blind Mole-rat, Zemny, or Stepitz {Mus typhlus, Pallas.) — A singular animal, which, from its large head,
angular at the sides, its short legs, the total absence of a tail or of any apparent eye, has a most shapeless appear-
ance. The eye is not visible externally, and we merely find beneath the skin a small black globule, which appears
to be organized like an eye, but which cannot serve for the purpose of vision, since the skin passes over it without
opening, or even becoming thinner, and being as much covered with hair as on any other part. It exceeds our Rat i
in size, and has smooth ash-coloured fur, verging on red. Olivier supposed that this animal was alluded to by the j
ancients, when they spoke of the Mole as being totally blind. |
The islands in the Straits of Sunda produce a Mole-rat as large as a Rabbit, of a deep grey colour, with a white |
longitudinal stripe upon the head {Spalax javanicus, Auct.) |
[The Canets (^/^^2romys, Gray ; Nyctocleptes,Tem.) —
Have been approximated to the Mole -rats ; but have small open eyes, and conspicuous naked ears :
their head is large, the body round and massive ; limbs short, with five toes to each foot, and thick
and naked tail of mean length. There are three rooted molars on each side of both jaws, more com- {>
plicated than in Spalax.
Two species are described, Mus sumatrensis, Raffles, which feeds chiefly on the roots of the bamboo, and |
i?. sinicus, Gray.] . :
From the Mole-rats themselves should have been separated — : j
/ fl
The Bathyergues {Bathyergus'^ , 111. ; Orycteropus, F. Cuv.), — .
Which, vrith the general form, the feet, and truncated incisors of the preceding, combine four molars iC';
to each jaw : their eyes, though small, are distinctly perceptible ; and they have a short tail.
The Shoi’e Bathyergue {Mus maritimus, Gm.). — Nearly the size of a Rabbit, with grooved upper incisors, and* A
whitish-grey fur. Also the Cape Bathyergue {M. capensis, Gm.), scarcely as large as a Guinea-pig, brown, with Ij
a spot around the eye, another round the ear, and a third on the vertex, together with the end of the muzzle,
white. The incisors of this species are smooth. There is a third, also, with smooth incisors like the last, grey, *
and hardly equal in size to a Rat {B. hottentotus).
We should place near the Mole-rat and Bathyergues
The Pseudostomes {Geomys, Bafinesque ; Pseudostoma, Say; Ascomys, Licht.; \SaccopTiorus, Kuhl]),
Which have likewise four molars above and below, prismatically compressed : the first double, the]
three others simple ; and the upper incisors of which are furrowed with a double groove in front.
Their three anterior middle nails, the medial more especially, are very long, crooked, and trenchant.
They are low on the legs, and have very deep cheek-pouches, which open externally, enlarging the
sides of the head and neck in a singular manner. ^
1
Only one species is known {Mus hursarius, Shaw), of the size of a Rat, with reddish-grey fur ; the tail naked,''
and shorter by half than the body. It inhabits deep burrows, in the interior of North America. The figure of •
this animal in the Linncsan Transactions resembles nothing in nature, having the cheek-pouches turned f
inside out.
The Gauffres {Biplostoma, Rafin.) —
Scarcely differ from the preceding, except in the total absence of a tail.
They are from North America. The species before us is reddish, and ten inches in length. [Eight or ten]
species pertaining to this and the preceding subdivision are now known, one or more inhabiting Europe.
The Saccomyds {Saccomys, F. Cuv.) —
Have similar cheek-pouches, and four rooted molars on each side of both jaw*s, successively lessening.!;
They have five toes on each foot, the anterior thumbs very small ; tail long and naked.
The only species described {S. xanthopMlus) inhabits North America, and is of the size and has much the aspect! jj
of a Mouse. Its cheek-pouches were distended with the flowers of Securidaca voluMlis, with some entire seeds;
apparently of Convolvulace.
Orycteropus, however, is also applied to a genus of EdentataA
RODENTIA.
117
We now pass to larger rodents than those of which we have hitherto spoken, but of which
several have still well-developed clavicles.
Of this number are
The Beavers {Castor, Lin.), — ■
Wliieh are distinguished from all other rodents by their horizontally-flattened tail, of a nearly oval
form, and covered with scales. They have five toes on each foot, the hinder being webbed, and a
double and oblique nail on the digit next the thumb. Their grinders, four in number above and
below, with flat crowns, appear as if formed of a doubled bony fillet, exhibiting one deep indentation
on their internal border, and three on the outer edge above, and the reverse below.
They are rather large animals, and are aquatic in their mode of life ; their feet and tail assisting
them in swimming. As they subsist chiefly on bark and other hard substances, their incisive teeth
are very robust, and grow as rapidly from the root as they wear at the tip. By means of them they
are enabled to cut down trees of various kinds.
Large glandular pouches, which terminate on the prepuce, secrete a pommade of very pungent
odour, which is employed in medicine under the name of Castoreum. In both sexes, the organs of
generation terminate within the extremity of the rectum, so that they have only one external orifice.
The Beaver of Canada {C. fiber, Auct.). — Surpasses the Badger in size, and is, of all quadrupeds, the most indus-
trious in fabricating its dwelling ; to erect which many work in concert, in the most retired districts of North
America.
Beavers choose water of such a depth as is not likely to be frozen to the bottom, and, whenever possible, run-
ning streams, that the wood which they cut above, may be carried downwards by the current to where they
require it. They maintain the water at an equal height, by dams constructed of branches of trees, mixed with
clay and stones, and repair them year after year, till a hedge is at length formed by the germination of part of the
materials. Each hut serves for two or three families, and is divided into two apartments ; the upper dry, for the
habitation of the animals ; the low'er under water, for the provision of bark. The latter only is open, having its
entrance under water, without any communication with the land. The huts are formed of interlaced twigs and
branches,.having their interstices closed up with mud. There are always several burrows along the bank, in which
these animals seek for refuge when their huts are attacked. They only inhabit them during the winter ; dis-
persing in summer, at which season they live solitarily.
The Beaver is easily tamed, and accustomed to feed on animal substances. Those of Canada are of a uniform
reddish brown ; and their fur, as every one knows, is in much request for hatting. It is sometimes flaxen-
coloured; at others black, or white. We have been unable to ascertain, on the most scrupulous comparison,
whether the Beavers which inhabit burrows along the Rhone, the Danube, the Weser, and other rivers of Europe,
are specifically different from those of America ; and whether the vicinity of man prevents those of the eastern
continent from building.
The Coypu {Myopotamus, Commerson) —
Resembles the Beaver in size, in having four molars almost similarly compressed, in the robustness of
its yellow-eoloured incisors, and in having five toes to each foot, those of the hinder palmated ; but its
tail is long and rounded, [and its skull dissimilar].
We only know one (Mus coypus, Molina), which lives in burrows beside the rivers of South America. Its
yellowish-grey fur, mixed with down at the root, is employed by hatters like that of the Beaver, and is conse-
quently an important article of commerce. Thousands of their skins are sent to Europe. [This species, like the
Beaver, is easily tamed, and appears to withstand the climate of this country.]
The Porcupines {Hystrix, Lin.) —
Are recognized at the first glance by the stiff and pointed quills with which they are armed, somewhat
as in the Urchins or Hedgehogs, among the Carnaria. Their grinders are four in number above and
below, with flat crowns differently modified by lines of enamel, between which are depressed intervals.
Their tongue is roughened by spiny scales. The clavicles are too small to rest on the sternum and
scapular, being merely suspended by the ligaments. They live in burrows, and have very much the
habits of Rabbits. From their grunting voice, and thick truncated muzzle, they have been compared
to Pigs, whence them French name of Porc-epm or Porcupine.
The Porcupines, properly so called {Hystrix, Cuv.), —
Have the head more or less convex, on account of the developement of the nasal bones. They have
four toes before and five behind, furnished with stout claws.
That of Europe (//. cristata, Lin.) inhabits the South of Italy, Sicily, and Spain. Its quills are very long, and
118
MAMMALIA.
annulated black and white ; there is a crest of long bristles on its head and neck. Its tail is short, and furnished
with hollow truncated tubes suspended by slender pedicles, which make a rattling sound when the animal shakes
them. Its cranium and muzzle are singularly convex. There are other species not very different, but with the
head less convex, inhabiting India and Africa. [These constitute the Acanthion of M. F. Cuvier : the H. hirsuti-
rostris, Brandt, is however intermediate.]
We separate from the true Porcupines
The Atherures {Atherura, Cuv.), —
The head and muzzle of which are not inflated, and the tail long, but not prehensile ; their feet are
similar to those of the preceding.
The Pencil-tailed Atherure {Hyst. fasciculata, Lin.)— The quills on the body furrowed with a groove in front,
and the tail terminated by a bundle of flattened horny slips, constricted at intervals. [Inhabits India and Malacca.]
The Ursons {EretMzon, F. Cuv.), —
Have a flat cranium, and short muzzle which is not convex : their tail is of middle length, and the
spines short and half-hidden in the hair.
One species only is known, from [the Atlantic side of] North America {Hyst. dorsata, Lin.). [The E. epixan- ,
Brandt, from the western side of the same continent, appears to be another. These animals produce but » 's
one young at a birth.]
The Coendous {Synetheres, F. Cuv. \_CercolabeSj Brandt] ). |
Muzzle short and thick ; the head convex above ; quills short ; and the tail, in particular, long, i;
naked at the tip, and prehensile, as in a Sapajou or Opossum. They chmb trees, and have only four |
toes on each foot.
In the warm parts of North America, there is a species with black and white spines, and brown-black fur j
{Hyst. prehensilis, Lin.) ; and a smaller kind in South America {H. insidiosa, Licht.), the prickles of which are]
partly red or yellow, and hidden during part of the year by its long greyish-brown fur. [M. d’Orbigny is of]
opinion that these constitute but one species. In Brandt’s memoir on the Porcupines, however, they are referred!
to different subgenera, after M. F. Cuvier ; the first, with the addition of another {S. platycentrotus), to SynetJieres\
as restricted, the other, with two more species {S. nigricans and S. affinis), to a subdivision Sphiggurus. |
The Aulacodon {Aulacodus, Tern.)
Incisors very broad, the upper furrowed with two grooves, and a third at their inner margin : fourlfll
molars as in the preceding, those of the upper jaw with a single deep fold of enamel within, and two\|;;
without, excepting the anterior, which has three ; in the lower jaw, the outer margin has only one!]'
fold, and the inner two. There are five toes before and four behind, and some flattened spines®*^
mingled with the fur. The form is that of a Rat, with the molars of a Porcupine.
A. swinderianus, Tern., is the only known species, from the Eastern Archipelago].
The Hares {Lepus, Lin.) —
Have a very distinctive character, in their superior incisors being double ; that is to say, there is|' ^
another of small size behind each of them* [or, in other words, two genuine incisive teeth are present
in these animals, posterior to the ordinary representatives of the tusks or canines]. Their molars, five
in number above and below, are each of them formed of two vertical laminae soldered together, and in
the upper jaw there is a sixth, simple and very small. They have five toes before, and four behind
an enormous ccecum, five or six times the size of the stomach, and lined internally with a spiral layer
throughout its whole length. The interior of their mouth and the under part of their feet are covered
with hair like the rest of the body.
The Hares, properly so called {Lepus, Cuv.),
Are distinguished by their long ears, short tail, hind-feet much longer than the fore, imperfect clavi-*
cles, and antorbital space in the cranium widely pierced and reticulated. There are numerous species
in both hemispheres, which from their resemblance are difficult to characterize.
[Four occur in the British islands. The Common Hare {L. timidus, Lin.), with yellowish-brown fur, which has
a tendency to curl ; the Irish Hare {L. hibernicus), with shorter limbs and ears, and smooth reddish fur, of very
* There is even a period when they are shedding their teeth, during which they appear to have three pair of upper incisors, one behind
the other.
"'iTTiMTTiil't'if
RODENTIA.
119
inferior value to that of the preceding', and which occasionally turns white in winter * ; the Variable Hare {L. varia-
bilis), a mountain species, larger than either of the foregoing, with still shorter ears and limbs than the Irish Hare,
and brown fur in summer, which always changes to white at the approach of winter ; and the Rabbit (L. cuniculus),
remarkable for its burrowing habits, and for bringing forth its young blind and naked, while the Leverets of the
three others see and run from birth. Not less than sixteen species of Lepus are already known in North
America ; and many others exist in Asia and Africa.]
The Pikas {Lagomys, Cuv.) —
Have ears of moderate length, the limbs nearly equal, the antorbital foramen simple, almost perfect
clavicles, and no tail whatever. They often utter a very sharp cry. They have hitherto been found
only in Siberia [since, however, at a considerable altitude on the Himmalayas, and in North America],
and Pallas was the first to make them known.
[The largest of them] Lepus alpinus, Pallas, is the size of a Guinea-pig, and yellowish-red. It inhabits the most
elevated mountain summits, where it passes the summer in selecting and drying the herbage for its winter pro-
vision. Its hay-stacks, which are sometimes six or seven feet high, are a valuable resource for the Horses of the
Sable-hunters.
Some fossil remains have been discovered of an unknown species of Pika, in the accumulations of osseous
breccia in the island of Corsica.
After the two genera of Porcupines and Hares, come the rodents which Linnaeus and Pallas
brought together under the name of CaviUy but for which it is impossible to assign any other
constant and positive character than the imperfection of their clavicles, though the various
species are not without analogy in the aspect of their body and manners. They are all from
the New Continent.
The Capybara {Hydrochcerus, Erxleben) —
Has four toes before, and only three behind, all of them armed with stout claws, and connected
together by membranes ; four grinding teeth above and below, the last of which [especially in the
lower jaw] are the longest, all composed of numerous simple and parallel laminse ; the anterior of
these laminae forked towards the outer edge in the upper, and towards the inner one in the lower
teeth. Only one species is known.
The Capybara {Cavia capybara, Lin.), as large
as a Siamese Pig, with very thick muzzle, short
legs, coarse yellowish-brown hair, and no tail.
Inhabits the rivers of Guiana and the Amazons,
where it lives in troops : is a good swimmer, and
the largest [existing] species of the Rodentia.
The Beaver alone approaches it in size.
The Cavies, popularly termed Guinea-pigs,
{Anoema, F. Cuv. ; Cavia, Illig.), —
Are miniatures of the Capybara, except that
their toes are separated, and their molars
have each only a simple lamina, together
with a forked one externally in those above.
Fig. 4/.— The Capybara. ^nd on the inside in the lower.
The species best known is the common domestic Cavy, or Guinea-pig {Cavia cobaia, Pallas ; Mus porcellus,
Lin.), extremely common now in Europe, where it is bred in houses, under the [mistaken] supposition that its
odour drives away Rats. It varies in colour like other domestic animals. [Six or seven species are now known,
one of which, the Patagonian Cavy (C. patachonica, Pen.), is much larger than the rest, with remarkably long
limbs : the author suspected it to be an Agouti. Some separate it by the appellation Dolichotis.']
The Mocos {Kerodon, F. Cuv.) —
Have grinders rather more simple than those of the Cavies, each being formed of two triangular
prisms.
The only known species is also from Brazil, somewhat surpassing the Guinea-pig in size, and of an olive-grey
colour.
* The Irish Hare has only recently been distinguished, and has j Common Hare was unknown. Great numbers of the latter, however,
hitherto been met with only in that island, where, until lately, the | have been turned loose there during the last twelvemonth.
120
MAMMALIA.
The Agoutis {Chloromys, F. Cuv. ; Dasyprocta, 111.) —
Have four toes before and three behind, and four grinders above and below, of nearly equal size, with
flat crowns irregularly furrowed, and a rounded contour, notched on the inner edge of those above,
and the outer of those below. In disposition and the nature of their flesh, they resemble Hares and
Rabbits, which they in some degree represent in the Antilles and hot parts of America.
[Several species have been ascertained, one with only two toes to the hind-feet. They employ their fore-feet
to hold up food to the mouth.]
The Pacas {CcBlogenys, F. Cuv. ; Osteopera^ Harl.) —
With teeth pretty much resembling those of the Agoutis [and Porcupines] , combine a very small
additional toe on the inner side of the fore-foot, and two, equally small, on the sides of the hind-foot,
which have consequently five in all. Besides this [and in addition to ordinary cheek-pouches], there
is a cavity hollowed in each cheek, which dips under the projection of a very large and salient zygo-
matic arch, which imparts an extraordinary aspect to the skull. Their flesh is understood to be
fine eating.
There is one species or variety of a fulvous coloui*, and another brown, both of which are spotted with white
{Cavia paca, Lin.).
Finally, there remains an animal perhaps allied to Cavia, perhaps more approximating to Lagomys,
or to the Rats, which we are unable to arrange for want of knowing its dentition, — the Chinchilla of
the furriers, the skins of which are imported in immense numbers, but the body we have
never been able to obtain. * * *
The Viscacha, described by Azzara, and such as we have seen it figured, can hardly be other than
a large species of Chinchilla, with shorter and coarser fur.
[The progress of discovery has realized this expectation of the author, and we are now acquainted
with three subdivisions of these animals, aU of which have four rootless molars above and below, com-
posed of alternating transverse layers of enamel and ivory : the form of the cranium and lower jaw
indicates considerable affinity with the Cavies ; but the clavicles are developed, and the aspect altogether
more Rabbit-like, or rather approximating that of the Pikas ; the eyes are placed far backward, the
whiskers remarkably long and conspicuous, and the tail is always held recurved. These animals live
socially in extensive burrows. The first subdivision is that of
The Viscacha {Lagostomus, Brookes), —
In which the fore-feet are furnished with four toes, the hinder with three only, as in the Cavies, all of
them armed with stout claws adapted for digging. The ears are of moderate size, and the tail com-
paratively short. Their three anterior molars of the upper jaw consist each of two double layers, and
the last of three ; the lower of two each throughout.
The only known species (L. trichodactylus, Brookes,) is about the size of a Hare, and inhabits Chili and Brazil :
, its general colour is greyish, the fur of two sorts, one entirely white, and the other, which is coarser, black,
except at the base ; the under parts white. Its motions are quick, and resemble those of a Rabbit ; and it seeks
its food by night, subsisting wholly on vegetables : inhabits the level country, and is not esteemed as food. This '|
animal is figured in Griffith’s edition of the present work under the name of Diana Marmot.
The others are mountain animals, which frequent rocky places near the snow-line.
The Chinchas {Lagotis, Ben. ; Legidium, Meyer) —
Scarcely differ from the Viscacha except in having four toes to each foot, and a long bristly tail, as in
the Chinchilla.
Two species are known; the first with long Rabbit-like ears, and greyish fur, from the Peruvian Andes
(L. Cuvieri, Ben. ; Legid. peruvianum, Mey.) ; the other from the Chilian Andes, with shorter ears, and fur inclining
to reddish-brown {L. pallipes, Ben.).
Lastly,
The Chinchilla {Chinchilla, Ben.; Eriomys, Vander Hoeven; Callomys, Gray), —
Has a fourth very small internal toe on the hind-foot: ears ample; the internal auditory bullae |
remarkably capacious, appearing on the upper part of the skull. Each of the upper molars has
three alternate layers of enamel and ivory, the inferior only two.
RODENTIA.
121
One species only is well detei'mined, the Chin-
chilla of the furriers {Ch. lanigcra, Ben.)? cele-
brated for the delicate fineness of its fur. It
inhabits the Chilian and Peruvian Andes.
Somewhat allied to the foregoing, is an-
other small group of South American rodents,
with also four rootless molars of equal size
above and below, except in one instance
{Abrocoma), where the inferior resemble those
of an Arvicola; they are surrounded with
enamel, and doubled, or indented deeply, on
both sides. The antorbital foramen is very
large. There are five toes to each foot, ex-
cept in Abrocoma, which has only four anteriorly; and the general aspect is intermediate to that of the
Chinchillas and Rats or Voles : the head, however, is arched. Four subdivisions have been distin-
I guished. In
The Abrocomes {Abrocoma, Waterh.), — ■
!' The ears are large, the claws very small, and the tail rather long and not tufted. The excessive
j fineness of their fur probably exceeds that of any other animal.
Two species were taken near Valparaiso by Mr. Darwin, A. Cuvieri and A. Bennettii, Waterh.
I The Octodons {Octodon, Bennett; Dendrobius, Meyer), —
li Have also large ears, and a long and tufted tail : their inferior molars resemble those of the following.
The only known species (O. Cummingii, Ben.), is the Sciurus degus of Molina, D. degus, Meyer. It inhabits
Chili, and is often seen traversing the branches of low underwood.
I The Pcephagomes {PoepTiagomys, F. Cuv.), —
;! Have narrow incisors, the auditory conch small, but distinct : claws adapted for burrowing.
The only ascertained species (P. ater) inhabits Chili.
Finally,
The Ctenomyds {Ctenomys, Ben.)—
Are distinguished by the great breadth of their incisors, by the smallness of their ears, their rather
short tail, and stout claws, well qualified for burrowing.
There is a species in Brazil {Ct. braziliensis, Blainv.), and another near the Straits of Magellan (Ct. Magellani-
cus, Ben.)
A remarkable African rodent, which is in several respects allied to the last, is known as
The Ctenodactyle {Ctenodactylus, Gray), —
I The incisors of which are rounded ; there are but three molars, however, on each side of both jaws,
suiTounded with enamel, the upper with one deep indentation externally, the lower indented on both
sides. The feet have each four toes, with the rudiment of a thumb on the anterior ; and the hinder
' especially are furnished with stiff brush-like bristles, which curve over the toes (a structure which is
I also seen in the last preceding subdivisions). The general aspect resembles that of the Chinchilla
group, to which the structure of the lower jaw bears also some resemblance ; and there are similar
ij great whiskers on the upper lip.
|i But one species is known (C. Massonii, Gray), from North Africa; size of a Rat, with a short tail, and pale
;i yellowish-brown fur, of very fine texture.
I The foregoing arrangement of the extensive series of Rodentia is by no means reduced to
j that simplicity which we conceive will ultimately be attained. Mr. Waterhouse, who has
[ recently studied these animals very attentively, has succeeded in detecting several unexpected
I affinities which tend to this result : and he finds that the most useful or least variable charac-
ters, indicative of the mutual relations of the several genera, are derivable from the configura-
' tion of the cranium, and especially that of the lower jaw. The space allotted in this work
forbids our entering into details ; so that it must suffice to state that, in general, the members
i-
MAMMALIA.
122
of the first grand division are distinguished by having the inferior projecting angle of the
longer jaw suhquadrate, and not tapering to an acute point. In this group, or series, range
first the Sciuridce, or Squirrels and Marmots, followed by the Dormice, and next by the
Jerboas, which latter require to be interpolated between the Sciuridce, and the Muridce or '
Rats ; the Jerboas evincing several peculiar points of relationship with the Dormice ; the
Arvicolid(B, or Muskquash, Voles, and Lemmings, together with the GuafFres (Geomys),
follow the MuridcB, and then succeed two isolated genera, — Castor and Helamys, which seem
to constitute particular families : all these successive groups being readily distinguishable by
the structure of the cranium and inferior jaw, combined with other characters. The members
of the next great group have the inferior angle of the lower jaw acute, and usually four equal
molars on each side above and below, having their folds of enamel gradually more complex.
Abrocoma, Octodon, Poephagomys, Ctenomys, Capromys, Echymys, Myopotamus, Aulacodon,
then Hystrix and its allies, and near to the last Ccelogenys and Dasyprocta, form a very intel-
ligible series, after which the bony palate contracts anteriorly, and we arrive at the Cavidce,
or Capybara, Moco, and Cavies, succeeded by the ChinchiUidcB, and lastly by the Hares and |M
Pikas, near which it may be that the Ctenodactyle holds its station. In the terminal genera, ^ -■
or the Leporidas, the angle of the jaw suddenly ascends. It is probable that multitudes of |
existing rodents still remain to be discovered, a knowledge of some of which may assist in |r|
improving the general arrangement. But few have hitherto been met with in the ancient » ?
tertiary deposits, and those of genera still extant, as that of the Dormice in particular.] | ■■
THE SIXTH ORDER OF MAMMALIANS,— |
i
EDENTATA,— |
Or quadrupeds without teeth in the fore-part of their jaws, constitute our last principal divi- |
sion of unguiculated animals. Although brought together by a purely negative character,
they have, nevertheless, some positive mutual relations, particularly in the great claws which ;
encompass the ends of their toes, and which more or less approximate to the nature of hoofs ;
also by a certain slowness, or want of agility, obviously arising from the peculiar organization
of their limbs. There are certain tolerably well-marked intervals, however, in these relations,
which subdivide the order into three tribes.
The Tardigrada
Compose the first of these divisions. They have a short face. The name refers to their
excessive slowness, consequent upon a construction truly heteroclite, in which nature seems
to have amused herself by producing something imperfect and grotesque. [A most strange
assertion on the part of Cuvier, originating from a want of knowledge of the peculiar habits
of these singular animals.] The only existing genus is that of
The Sloths [as they are badly named] {Bradypus, Lin.), —
Which have cylindrical molars, and sharp canines longer than these molars ; two pectoral mammae ;
and the toes completely joined by the skin, and only marked externally by enormous compressed and
crooked claws, which, when at rest, are always bent towards the palms, or soles, of the fore and hind
feet. The latter are obliquely articulated on the leg, and apply only their outer edge ; the phalanges
of the toes are articulated by serrated ginglymi, and the first, at a certain age, becomes soldered to
the metacarpal or metatarsal bones, which also, for want of use, become similarly anchylosed. To this
inconvenience [ ? ] in the organization of the extremities is added another, not less great, in their
proportions. Their arms and fore-arms are very much longer than their thighs and legs, insomuch
EDENTATA.
123
that, when these animals advance [on the ground], they are obliged to drag themselves forward on their
elbows. The pelvis is so large, and the thighs so much directed outwards, that they cannot approxi-
mate their knees. Their gait is the necessary consequence of so disproportioned [unusual] a struc-
ture.* These animals inhabit trees, and never remove from that on which they are located until they have
stripped it of every leaf, so painful to them is the requisite exertion to reach another ; it is even
asserted that they let themselves fall from a branch to avoid the labour of descending. [The truth is,
that these animals are modified for hanging by their limbs to the branches of trees, instead of sup-
porting themselves upon the limbs like others : in this, their only natural posture, they are by no
means slow in their movements ; and they inhabit the densely intertangled forests of South America,
where hundreds of miles may be traversed by passing from one tree to another : clinging by the hinder
claws, the posterior limbs securely embracing the bough, and generally by one of their fore-limbs also,
they employ the other to hook towards them the foliage on which they browze, whence the great
length of their arms : and it is observed that in more open places, where the trees are less contiguous,
the Sloths take advantage of windy weather to effect their transits, when the boughs are blown
together and commingled. Their long and coarse shaggy hair protects them from insects : and in
short, as is well remarked by Professor Buckland, the peculiar conformation of these animals ought no
more to excite our pity and compassion, than the circumstance of fishes being deprived of legs. They
are just as admirably adapted and fitly organized for their appointed singular mode of life as any other
animal whatever.] The female produces but one young one at a birth, which she carries on her back.
The viscera of these animals are not less singular than the rest of their conformation. Their stomach
[of enormous size] is divided into four compartments, somewhat analogous to the four stomachs of
the ruminants, but without leaflets or other internal projecting parts ; while the intestinal canal is
short, and without a coecum.
M. F. Cuvier applies the name Acheus to such of them as have three claws on their fore-feet ; they
have a very short tail.
The Ai {Br. tridacfylus, Lin.) is the species in which all the
peculiarities of its genus are developed to the greatest extent.
Its thumb and little toe, reduced to small rudiments, arc
concealed by the skin, and soldered to the metatarsus and
metacarpus ; the clavicle, also, reduced to a rudiment, is sol-
dered to the acromion. Its arms are twice as long as its legs ;
the hair of its head, back, and limbs is long, coarse and un-
elastic, bearing some resemblance to dried grass, which gives
it a forbidding aspect. The colour is greyish, often spotted
with brown and white, [particularly when young]. Size that
of a Cat. It is the only known mammalian which has nine
cervical vertebrae [the fact being, that the eighth and ninth
support rudimental ribs (as shown at Fig. 2, p, 39), and are
therefore dorsal vertebrae, as in all the rest of the class : the
more complete rotation of the neck, however, thus acquired
Fig-. 49.— The Ai, or Common Sloth
by this extraordinary animal, having an obvious reference to its peculiar habits]. Some varieties of the Ai have
been described as separate species, ditfering however in colour only : but the Bradypus torquatus, Geof., is very
distinct, even in the bony structure of its head.
M. F. Cuvier reserves the name Bradypm for those species which have two claws only on their
fore-feet (the Cholapus, Ilhg.). Their canines are longer and more pointed, and they are quite desti-
tute of tail. We know hut of one.
The Unau {Br. didactylus, L.), which is rather less unfortunately {malheureusemenf) organized than the Ai. Its
arms are shorter, its clavicles complete ; there are fewer bones of its fore and hind feet which become soldered
together. Its muzzle is more elongated, &c. It is larger by one half than the Ai, and of an uniform greyish-
brown, which inclines sometimes to reddish.
These two animals are indigenous to the hot parts of America. Were it not for their stout claws, they would
probably have been long since exterminated by the Carnivora of that country. [The lofty canopy from which
they hang is beyond the reach of such enemies. In their affinities, the Sloths are closely related to the
Myrmecophagce.']
* Sir A. Carlisle has observed that the arteries of the limbs com-
mence by subdividing into numerous ramifications, which afterwards
re-unite into a single trunk, from which the usual branches proceed.
This structure being also met with in the Loris, the gait of which is
almost equally sluggish, it is possible that it may exert some influence
on this slowness of motion, [It occurs also in the Whale, and the
generality of birds, being connected rather with the power of pro-
tracting muscular exertion.] Independently of this, the Loris, the
Ourang-outang, and the Coiata, all very slow animals, are remarkable
for the length of their arms. [Still more so are the Gibbons, which
are distinguished for the agility of their movements.]
124
MAMMALIA.
There have been discovered in America the fossil skeletons of two animals belonging to the order
Edentata [and lately another not yet named] , of enormous dimensions : the first of them, the Mega-
therium^ has a head very similar to that of a Sloth, hut without canines, and approximating in the rest
of its skeleton partly to the Sloths, and partly to the Ant-eaters, [most of all, however, to the minute
Chlamyphorus, having even been covered by a similar massive buckler]. It is twelve feet long, and
six or seven high. The other, the Megalonyx, is rather less : its toes are the only parts that are well
known, and they strongly resemble those of the other.
Tlie second tribe, comprehending
The Ordinary Edentata, —
Have the muzzle pointed. They have still molar teeth, and are divisible into two genera.
The Armadillos {Dasypus, Lin.) —
Are very remarkable among the Mammalia, for the scaly and hard [bony] shell, composed of pave-
ment-like compartments, which covers their head and body, and often the tail. This substance forms
a shield upon their forehead, another larger and more convex on the shoulders, a third on the crupper
similar to the preceding, and between the two
latter several parallel and moveable bands,
which allow the body to bend. The tail is
sometimes furnished with successive rings ; and
at others, with varied tubercles, like the legs.
These animals have [generally] large ears, and
also great claws, either five or four anteriorly,
and always five to their hind-feet ; a some-
what pointed muzzle ; cylindrical grinding
teeth separated from each other, to the num-
ber of seven or eight on each side of both
jaws, and without enamel on the inside ; a
soft tongue, but little extensible; and there
are a few scattered hairs between their scales,
or on those parts of the body not covered by the shell. They excavate burrows, and subsist partly on
vegetables, and partly on insects and carcases : their stomach is simple, and there is no coecum. All
of them are indigenous to the warm or at least temperate regions of South America.
They may be arranged into subgenera, according to the structure of their fore-feet and the number
of their teeth. The majority have only four toes anteriorly, of which the medial are the longest. Of
this number are
The Cachicames, F. Cuv., —
Which have only seven teeth on each side of both jaws ; a pointed muzzle ; and long tail encircled
with bony rings. Such are
The Black Armadillo of Azzara (D. novemcinctus, Lin.), with nine intermediate bands, and sometimes but
eight ; also the Mule Armadillo of the same naturalist {D. septemcinctus), with a shorter tail than the preceding.
The Aparas, F. Cuv.,~
Have toes the same as in the Cachicames, but nine or ten teeth above and below.
The Apara Armadillo of Azzara {B. tricinctus, Lin.), with three intermediate bands, and a very short tail plated
with regular tuberculated compartments. By enclosing its head and feet within its armour, this species is enabled
to roll itself completely into a ball, like certain Onisci. It inhabits Brazil and Paraguay, and is one of those found
farthest to the south.
Other Armadillos,
The Encouberts, F. Cuv., —
Have five toes to their fore-feet, of which the three medial are the longest : their tail is in great part
covered with quincunx scales, and their teeth are nine or ten in number, above and below. In this
subdivision ranges
f
I
!
1
i
I
1
1
EDENTATA.
1
125
The Encoiibert Armadillo, Payoti of Azzara, (D. sexcinctus and ociodecemcinctus, Lin.), which is distinguished
from the rest of the genus by having a tooth on each side fixed in the intermaxillary bone : its coat of mail has six
or seven bands, with smooth, large, and angular compartments ; tail middle-sized, and annulated only at its base.
The richly of Azzara, and an allied species, the Hairy ArmadiUo {Tatou vein, Az.), resemble the Encoubert
except in wanting the intermaxillary teeth, in having the posterior shell denticulated, and the parts that are not
plated clad with longer and more close-set hairs.
A third principal division of these animals exhibits five toes to the fore-feet, but disposed obliquely,
so that the thumb and index are slender, the latter being longest, the middle one bearing an enormous
trenchant claw, the next having a shorter claw, and the fifth being shortest of any. This structure
enables them to cut up the ground, and burrow very rapidly, or at any rate to hold on so firmly to the
sides of their excavation as to be very difficult to detach. In this subdivision, or
The Cabassous, —
There are eight or nine teeth on eaeh side of both jaws.
Tlie Cabassou propre, Buff. ; Tatouay, d’Azz. ; (Z>. unicinctus, Lin.) — Twelve intermediate bands ; the tail long
and tuberculated ; the compartments of the bands and skin are square, and broader than long; five toes before,
of which four are furnished with enormous claws, trenchant on their outer border. It attains a great size.
The Priodontes, P. Cuv., —
With five anterior toes still more unequal, and claws even exceeding those of the Cabassous, possess
twenty-two or twenty-four small teeth on each side above and below, making eighty-eight or ninety-six
in all. Such is
The Giant Armadillo {D. gigas, Cuv.) — With twelve or thirteen intermediate bands, a long tail covered with
imbricated scales, the compartments of which are square, and broader than long. It is the largest species of
Armadillo, being sometimes three feet in length without the tail.
At the termination of the Armadillos, as a very distinct subgenus, [genus, or even family, to which
the colossal Megatherium also appertains], may be placed
The Chlamyphores {Chlamyphorus, Har.), —
Wliich have ten teeth on each side of both jaws, five toes on each foot, the anterior claws very large,
crooked, compressed, and furnishing (as in the Cabassous) a very powerful cutting instrument [adapted
for digging]. The back is covered with a series of scaly pieces, arranged transversely, without any
solid buckler either before or behind, but forming a sort of cuirass, which is only connected with the
body along the spine. The hind part of the body is abruptly truncated, and the tail incurved and
partially attached to the under part of the body : [it is covered with small scales, and expanded at the
tip. The osteology of this animal, as given by Mr. Yarrell {Zool. Journ., No. xii.), is considerably allied
to that of the Cabassous. There is a singular tuberosity on the skull over each eyebrow.
We know but of one {Chlamyphorus truncatus, Harlan), only five or six inches in length ; it is a native of the
interior of Chili, where it passes most of its time under ground, [and is either very rare (perhaps verging towards
extinction), or difficult to obtain on account of its subterraneous habits].
N.B. There have been found, in America, some fossil bones of a gigantic Armadillo, which appears to have been
about ten feet long exclusive of the tail. (See my Ossemens Fossiles, vol. v. part 1, p. 191, note.)
The Orycteropes {Orycteropus, Geof.) —
Have been long confounded with the Ant-eaters, inasmuch as they subsist on the same food, have a
similar-formed head, and a tongue which is somewhat extensible ; but they are distinguished by having
grinding teeth, and flat claws, adapted for burrowing rather than for cutting open ant-hills. The
structure of their teeth is different from that of all other quadrupeds ; they are solid cylinders, traversed,
like reeds, in a longitudinal direction, by an infinitude of little canals. The stomach is simple, and
muscular towards its outlet, and the coecum small and obtuse.
Only one species is known of this genus, the Cape Orycterope {Myrmecophaga capensis, Pallas), which the
Dutch colonists style the Ground Hog. It is an animal about the size of a Badger or larger, low upon the legs,
with scanty greyish-brown hair, and tail shorter than the body and as little clad. It inhabits burrows, which it
forms with extreme rapidity ; and its flesh is eaten.
The remaining Edentata possess no grinders whatever, and consequently have no teeth
at all. There are two genera.
MAMMALIA.
126
The Ant-eaters {Myrmecophaga, Lin.) —
Are well covered with hair, have a long muzzle which terminates by a small toothless mouth, from
which is protruded a filiform tongue, susceptible of considerable elongation, and which they insinuate I
into ant-hills and the nests of the Termites, whence these insects are withdrawn hy being entangled in i
the viscid saliva that covers it. Their fore-nails, strong and trenchant, which vary in number according
to the species, enable them to tear open the nests of the Termites, and also furnish them with effective
means of defence. When at rest, these nails are always half-bent inwards, resembling a callosity of the
tarsus ; hence these animals can only bring the side of the foot to the ground. Their stomach is
simple, and muscular towards its outlet, their intestinal canal moderate, and without a ccecum.*
The members of this genus are peculiar to the warm and temperate regions of South America, and
produce but one young at a birth, which is carried on the back.
The Maned or Great Ant-eater {M. jubata,
Auct.), upwards of four feet in length, with
four anterior claws and five hind ones, and a
tail furnished with long hairs vertically directed,
both above and beneath. Its colour is greyish-
brown, with an oblique black band bordered with
white on each shoulder. It is the largest species
of Ant-eater ; and stated [but erroneously] to de-
fend itself from the Jaguar. It inhabits low places,
never ascends trees, and moves slowly.
The Tamandua {M. tamandua, Cuv. ; Myrm.
tetradactyla and M. tridactyla, Lin.).— Figure
and feet of the preceding, but not half the -
size ; the tail scantily furnished with hair, and
naked and prehensile at the tip, enabling the animal to suspend itself to the branches of trees. Some of them are
of a yellowish-grey, with an oblique band on the shoulder, that is only visible at a certain light ; others are fulvous
with a black band ; some fulvous, with the band, crupper, and belly black ; and others again black altogether. It
is not yet known whether these differences indicate species. i
The Two-toed Ant-eater {Myrm. didactyla, Lin.).— Size of a Rat, with fulvous woolly hair, and a russet line along
the back, the tail prehensile and naked at the tip, and only two claws anteriorly, one of them very large, and four
to the hind-foot. [Were it not for the interposition of the preceding species, it is doubtful whether the author
would have arranged this curious little animal in the same minimum group as M. jubata : it has been sepa-
rated by some naturalists ; and its close affinity with the Sloths is very obvious.]
The Pangolins {Manis, Lin.), —
Are also without teeth, have an extensile tongue, and subsist on Ants and Termites in the manner of I
the Taman duas ; but their body, limbs, and tail, are covered with large trenchant imbricated scales, ;]j
which they elevate in rolling themselves into a ball, when they wish to defend themselves against an
enemy. All their feet have five toes. Their stomach is slightly divided in the middle part of it, and
they have no coecum. They occur only in the ancient Continent.
[Four or five species are now ascertained, inhabiting Asia and Africa, and varying from three to five feet in |
length]. The Short-tailed Pangolin {M. pentadactyla, Lin.), is the Phattagen of ^lian. An unguinal phalanx has
been found, in the Palatinate, of a Pangolin that must have been twenty feet long, or more. (See Cuv., Oss. foss.
vol. V. part 1, p. 193.) jli
The third tribe of Edentata comprehends animals which M. GeofFroy designates |j
Monotremata, il
On account of their having but one external opening for all their excretions. Their genera-
tive organs present extraordinary anomalies : though without a ventral pouch, they have
nevertheless the same supernumerary bones to the pubis as the Marsupiata j the vasa defe- d
rentia terminate in the urethra, which opens into the cloaca ; the penis, when retracted, is
drawn into a sheath, which opens by an orifice near the termination of the cloaca. The only
matrix consists of two canals or trunks, each of which opens separately and by a double m
orifice into the urethra, which is very large, and terminates in the cloaca. As yet naturalists »
are not agreed as to the existence of their mammsefi noi* whether these animals are viviparous
* Daubenton has described two small appendages in the M. di- j t M. Meckel considers as such two glandular masses which he^^’
ductyla, which, in strictness, may be considered as cceca. I have | found greatly developed in a female Ornithorynchus. These M. Geof-^g^i
satisfied myself, however, that they do not exist in M. tamandua. 1 froy deems to be rather glands, analogous to those on the flanks of the’-^^
EDENTATA.
127
or oviparous.* The singularities of their skeleton are not less remarkable ; there being a sort
of clavicle common to both shoulders, placed before the ordinary clavicle, and analogous to
thefurcula of birds. Lastly, in addition to five claws on each foot, the males have a peculiar
spur on the hind ones, perforated by a canal which transmits a liquid secreted by a gland
situated on the inner surface of the thigh : it is asserted that the wounds it inflicts are
venomous.f These animals have no external conch to the ear, and their eyes are very small.
The Monotremes are found only in New Holland, where they have been discovered since
the settlement of the English. There are two genera known.
The Echidnas {Echidna, Cuv. ; Tachyglossus, Ilhg. : sometimes called Spiny Ant-eaters).
The elongated slender muzzle of these animals, terminated by a small mouth, and containing an exten-
sile tongue, resembles that of the Ant-eaters and Pangolins, and like them, they feed on Ants. They
have no teeth, hut their palate is provided with several ranges of small spines, directed backwards.
Their short feet have each five long and very stout claws, fitted for burrowing ; and all the upper part
of their body is covered with spines, as in a Hedgehog, [but much larger and more powerful] . It
appears that in the moment of danger, they have also the faculty of rolling themselves into a hall.
The tail is verv short ; stomach ample and nearlv globular, and the ccecum of middle size.
Two species have been discovered, — the Spiny Echidna
(E. hystrix), completely covered with large spines, — and
the Bristly Echidna {E. setosa), covered with hair,
among which the spines are half-hidden. Some con-
sider the difference as only arising from age.
The Duckbills {Ornithorynchus, Blumenbgch ;
Platypus, Shaw).
Muzzle elongated, and at the same time singularly
enlarged and flattened, presenting the greatest ex-
ternal resemblance to the bill of a Duck, and the
more so as its edges are similarly furnished with
small transverse laminae. They have no teeth ex-
cept at the bottom of the mouth, where there are two on each side of both jaws, without roots, with
flat crowns, and composed, as in the Orycterope, of small vertical tubes. Their fore-feet have a
membrane which not only connects the toes, but extends beyond the claws : in the hinder, the mem-
brane reaches only to the base of the claws ; two characters which, in addition to their flattened tail,
indicate aquatic habits. Their tongue is to
a certain extent double ; one in the bill beset
with villosities ; and another at the base of
the first, thicker, and furnished anteriorly
with two little fleshy points. The stomach
is small, oblong, and has its outlet near
the entrance ; coecum small ; and there are
numerous salient and parallel laminae in the
course of the intestines. The penis has only
two tubercles. These animals inhabit the
rivers and marshes of New Holland, and
particularly the neighbourhood of Port
Jackson.
Two species only are known, one with smooth
blackish-brown fur, flat, and somewhat frizzled. T
Fig. 53.— The Ornitliorynchus.
and thin reddish fur {0. paradoxus, Blum.); the other with
liese are perhaps only varieties of age.
rig:. 52 —Echidna
Shrews. [Prof. Owen has since demonstrated them to be mammary,
although these animals (like the true Cetacea) have no teats or nip-
ples, the lacteal secretion transuding by a number of minute pores.]
• Travellers have lately asserted, that they have been ascertained
to produce eggs. Should this prove to be the case, the Monotremes
must, in some sort, be considered as a particular class of animals ; but
it is much to be wished, that some competent anatomist would minutely
describe these eggs, their internal origin, and their developement
after .exclusion. [Prof. Owen has since conclusively shown that the
Monotremata are not ovipaous, but must resemble in their repro-
duction the Marsiipiata. The young have never yet been met with
attached to the mammm of their dam, but from the structure of the
beak in very young Ornithorhynci, which have been found in the
burrows, there can be little doubt that the mouth forms, at first, a
suctorial disk, adapted to hold on an even flat surface.]
t There is reason to suspect that this statement is without founda-
tion, as the animals never attempt to employ the spur as a weapon of
defence. — Ed.
MAMMALIA.
128
THE SEVENTH ORDER OF MAMMALIANS.
PACHYDERM AT A.
The Edentata terminate the series of unguiculated Mammalia, and we have just seen that
there are some of them with claws so large, and so enveloping the ends of the toes, as to
approximate to the nature of hoofs. Nevertheless, they have still the faculty of bending|5
these toes round various objects, and of seizing with more or less force. The entire absence**
of this faculty characterizes the hoofed animals. Using their feet only as supports, they in no
instance possess clavicles. Their fore-arms remain constantly in the state of pronation, /
whence they are reduced to feed on vegetables. Their forms and mode of life present there- .
fore much less variety than in the unguiculated animals, and they can hardly be divided into,,
more than two orders, — those which ruminate, and those Mdiich do not ; but the latter, which;
we bring together under the general term Pachydermata, admits of some subdivision into|
families.
The first is that of the Pachyderms, which have a proboscis and tusks, or the
Proboscidea,* —
Which are distinguished by having five toes to each foot, very complete in the skeleton, but
so enveloped by the callous skin which surrounds the foot, that their only external appearance
consists in the nails attached to the extremity of this species of hoof. They have no canines,
nor incisors properly speaking; but in the incisive [or intermaxillary] bones are implanted! ;
two defensive tusks, which project from the mouth, and frequently attain enormous dimen- f (
sions. The magnitude of the sockets necessary to hold these tusks renders the upper jaw so
high, and so shortens the bones of the nose, that the nostrils in the skeleton are placed near^
the top of the face : but in the living animal they are prolonged into a cylindrical trunk
composed of several thousands of small muscles variously interlaced, flexible in all directions, |
endowed with exquisite sensibility, and terminated by an appendage like a finger. This trunk^
imparts to the Elephant as much address as the perfection of the hand does to the Monkey.®
It enables him to seize whatever he wishes to convey to his mouth, and sucks up the water 1
he is to drink, which, by the flexure of this admirable organ, is then poured into the throat, *
thus supplying the want of a long neck, which could not have supported so large a head with
its heavy tusks. Within the parietes of the cranium, however, are several great cavities
which render the head lighter : the lower jaw [except in a fossil genus when immature,] has
no incisors whatever ; the intestines are very voluminous ; the stomach simple ; coecum
enormous ; the mammse, two in number, placed under the chest. The young suek with the
mouth and not with the trunk. Only one living genus exists, that of
The Elephants {Elephas, Lin.), — ^
Which comprehends the largest of terrestrial Mammalia. The astonishing services performed by their''
trunk, an instrument at once supple and vigorous, an organ both of touch and smell, contrast forcibly ?
with the clumsy aspect and massive proportions of these animals ; and being conjoined to a very '
imposing physiognomy, have contributed to exaggerate their intellect. After studying them for a long
time, we have not found it to surpass that of the Dog, or of several other Carnaria. Naturally of a
mild disposition. Elephants live in troops conducted by the old males. They subsist wholly on
vegetables.
Their distinctive character consists in the grinders, the bodies of which are composed of a certain!
number of vertical laminte, each formed of a bony substance, enveloped with enamel, and cemented 3
* The Proboscideans have various affinities with certain Rodents ;
Istly, in the magnitude of their incisors [tusks] ; 2ndly, in tlieir
grinders being often formed of parallel laminae ; 3rdly, in the form of j
several of their bones, &c.
If"^
PACHYDERMATA. 129
together by a third substance, termed the cortical; in a word, similar to those we have already seen
in the Cavies, and some other Rodents. These grinders succeed each other not vertically, as our
permanent teeth replace the milk teeth, but from behind forwards, so that as fast as one tooth becomes
worn, it is pushed forward by that which comes after it ; hence it happens that the Elephant has
sometimes one, sometimes two grinders on each side, or four or eight in all, according to its age. The
first of these teeth is always composed of fewer laminae than those which succeed them. It is stated that
certain Elephants thus change their molars eight times : their tusks, however, are changed but once.
The Elephants of the present day, covered with a rough skin nearly destitute of hair, inhabit only
the torrid zone of the ancient Continent, where hitherto but two species have been discovered.
The Asiatic Elephant {E. indiciis, Cuv.).— Head oblong, with a concave forehead ; crown of the grinders
presenting transverse undulating ridges (rubans), which are sections of the laminae which compose them, worn
down by trituration. This species has smaller ears than the next one, and has four nails to the hind foot. It is
found from the Indus to the Eastern Ocean, and in the large islands to the south of India. From time immemo-
rial this species has been employed as a beast of draught and burden ; but has never yet propagated in captivity,
though the assertion respecting its modesty and repugnance to copulate before witnesses is utterly devoid of
foundation. The females have very short tusks, and in this respect many of the males resemble them.
The African Elephant (E. africanus, Cuv.).— Head round, with a convex forehead; very large ears; and grinders
presenting lozenge-shaped eminences on their crowns. It appears to have often only three toes on the hind-foot.
This species inhabits from Senegal to the Cape of Good Hope. Whether they ascend the eastern coast of Africa,
or are replaced there by the Asiatic species, is not yet
ascertained. The tusks of the female are as large as
those of the male, and the weapon itself is generally
larger than in the preceding. This animal is not
now tamed in Africa, though it appears that the Car-
thaginians employed it in the same way that the
inhabitants of India do theirs.
In nearly every part of the two Continents, are
found, under ground, the bones of a species of Ele-
phant allied to that of India, but the grinders of
which bear straighter and narrower eminences, the
sockets for the reception of the tusks are much longer,
and the lower jaw is more obtuse. A specimen re-
cently taken from the ice on the coast of Siberia, by
Mr. Adams, appears to have been densely covered
with hair of two kinds, so that it is possible that this j
species may have lived in cold climates. It [is termed
the Mammoth Elephant (E. primogenius, Cuv.), and]
has long been quite extinct.
! The second genus of Proboscideans, or that of I
I The Mastodons {Mastodon, Cuv.), —
j Has been quite destroyed, no species of it being now alive. They had the feet, tusks, trunk, and many
other details of conformation the same as the Elephants ; but their grinding teeth differed in having
large conical tubercles above the gum, which, by detrition, were reduced to disks of various size, that
II represent sections of the tubercles, (a conformation common to the Mastodon, Hippopotamus, Pig,
&c., which has induced the erroneous idea that the first were carnivorous). These grinders, which
j succeeded each other from behind as in the Elephants, present also so many pairs of points, as the
animal was advanced in age. [There are small tusks in the lower jaw of the immature Mastodon, in
which state it is the Tetracaulodon of Godman.]
The Great Mastodon (M. giganteum, Cuv.), in which the tubercles were lozenge-shaped, is the species most cele-
brated. It equalled the Elephant in size, but with still heavier proportions. Its remains are found in a wonderful
state of preservation, and in great abundance through all parts of North America * : in the Eastern Continent
they are of much rarer occurrence.
Narrow-toothed Mastodon (M. angustidens). — Mxich narrower grinders than the preceding, the tubercles of
which, when worn down, present trefoil-shaped discs, whence they have been mistaken by some authors for the
grinders of the Hippopotamus. This species was one-third less than the Great Mastodon, and much lower on the
legs. [Two or three have been confounded under its name.] Its teeth, in certain places, tinged with iron, become
of a fine blue when heated, forming what is called the “ oriental turquoise.”
• An almost perfect skeleton, made up however of the bones of different individuals, found in the celebrated deposit of “ Big-boiie lick,” is
mounted in the Museum of Philadelphia.— Ed.
K
130
MAMMALIA.
Our second family is that of the
Pachydermata Ordinaria, —
Which have four, three, or two toes to their feet. Those in which the toes make even num-
bers have feet somewhat cleft, and approximate the Ruminants in various parts of the
skeleton, and even in the comphcation of the stomach. They are usually divided into two
genera.
The Hippopotami {Hippopotamus, Lin.) —
Have four nearly equal toes to each foot, terminated by little hoofs ; six grinders on each side of both
jaws, the three anterior of which are conical, the posterior presenting two pairs of points, which, by
detrition, assume a trefoil shape ; four incisors above and below, those of the upper jaw short, conical,
and recurved, the inferior prolonged, cylindrical, pointed, and horizontally projecting ; a canine tooth
on each side above and below, the upper straight, the lower very large and recurved, those of the two
jaws rubbing against each other.
These animals have a very massive body, naked of hair ; very short legs, their belly almost
touching the ground ; an enormous head, terminated by a swoln muzzle, which encloses the apparatus
of their large front teeth ; a short tail, and small eyes and ears. Their stomaeh is divided into several
sacs. They live in rivers, upon roots and other vegetable substances, and display much ferocity and
stupidity.
One living species only is known, the H. ampMbius, Lin., now confined to the rivers of medial and south
Africa. It formerly found its way to Egypt by the Nile, but has long disappeared from that country.
The European freshwater deposits contain the bones of a species of Hippopotamus very similar to that of
Africa, and also of two or three others successively smaller. (See my Researches on Fossil Bones, vol. i.)
The Pigs {Sus, Lin.) —
Have two large middle toes to each foot, armed with strong hoofs, and two much shorter lateral ones
that hardly touch the ground. Their incisors vary in number, but the inferior always slant forward ;
the canines project from the mouth and curve upward: muzzle terminated by a truncated snout
adapted to turn up the soil, and stomach but slightly divided.
The Pigs, properly so called, —
Have from twenty-four to twenty-eight grinders, the posterior of which are oblong, with tuberculated
crowns, the anterior more or less compressed, and six incisors to each jaw.
The Wild Boar {Sus scropha, Lin.), which is the parent stock of our Domestic Hog and its varieties, has pris-
matic tusks that curve outward and slightly upward ; the body stout and thick ; straight ears; the hair bristly
and black : the young ones are variegated black and white. It does great injury to fields in the neighbourhood
of forests, by teai'ing up the ground in search of roots.
The Domestic Pig varies in size and length of limbs, in the direction of its ears, and also in colour ; being white
or black, sometimes red, and often varied. Every one is acquainted with the usefulness of this animal, on account
of the flavour of its flesh, and the length of time it can be preserved by means of salt ; the facility with which it is ''
fed ; and its great fecundity, which surpasses that of all other animals of its size, the female often producing
fourteen young at a litter. The period of gestation is four months, and they produce twice a year. The Hog
continues to increase in size for five or six years, is prolific at one, and sometimes lives to twenty. Although
naturally savage, they are social, both wild and tame, and know how to defend themselves against Wolves, by
forming a circle, and presenting a front in every direciion. Voracious and savage, they do not even spare their
own young, [at least, if the parent be disturbed soon after their birth]. This species is spread throughout the j
globe, and none but Jews and Mahometans refuse to eat its flesh. [It appears to be indigenous only, however, to |
Europe and Asia, extending to the Peninsula of Hindostan : the Chinese breed is probably a distinct species,
though it commingles freely with the other.]
The Masked Boar {S. larvatus, F. Cuv. ; S. africanus, Schreber ; Sanglier de Madagascar, Daub.)— Tusks like
the Common Hog ; but on each side of the muzzle, near the tusks, is a large tubercle, somewhat like the nipple of
a woman, supported by a bony prominence, which imparts a singular physiognomy to the animal. It inhabits
Madagascar and the south of Africa.
The Babyroussa {Sus babyrussa, Butf. Supp.) — Longer and more slender legs than the others, with slender tusks i
turned vertically upwards, those of the upper jaw inclining spirally backward. It inhabits several islands of the
Indian Archipelago. [The Papuan Hog {S. papuensis) is another distinct species from New Guinea.]
From the Pigs require to be separated
PACHYDERMATA.
131
The Wart-hogs (Phascochoeres, F. Cuv.), —
The grinders of which are composed of cylinders, cemented together by a cortical substance, almost
like the transverse laminae of the Elephant, and like them succeeding each other from behind. Their
skull is singularly large, the tusks rounded, directed laterally upward, and of a frightful magnitude ;
and on each of their cheeks hangs a thick fleshy lobe, which completes the hideousness of their
aspect. They have but two incisors above and six below.
Tlie individuals received from Cape Verd (S. africanns, Gm.) have generally the incisive teeth complete ; those
which arrive from the Cape of Good Hope {S. ^:
former being concealed by the lateral feathers of the fore and hind neck meeting ;
latter by a similar junction of two distinct lateral ranges. As it is necessary that the
warm body of a bird should be in actual contact with the eggs during incubation
whatever down may cover the medial inferior region disappears in the females towards
the season of propagation, even in those confined in cages, so that this bareness is not
produced mechanically. Finally, besides various accessory tufts in different genera,l|
some long slender feathers are situate at the base of the wing internally, which are®
named axillaries].
The legs have a femur, a tibia, and a peronseum attached to the femur with a spring,'
thlf^
which maintains their extension without effort on the part of the muscles. The tarsus j
and metatarsus are represented by a single bone, terminating below in three pullies.
Most commonly there are three toes before, and a thumb behind* ; the latter being
sometimes deficient. In the Swifts it is directed forwards, [though half-reversible ; in
the Moth-hunters and some others, inward, at a right angle with the axis of the body].% i
In the yoke-footed Birds, on the contrary, the external toe and the thumb are dis-l|
posed backwards [most usually, but sometimes (as in the Touracos and Puff-birds)U|f
laterally : in the Trogons, the first and second toes are opposed to the third and|
fourth ; and accordingly the longest toe, or that which corresponds to the middle one|
in the generality of the class, is inward, instead of being outward, as in all the other
yoke-footed groups] . The number of articulations increases in each toe, commencing
with the thumb, which has two, and ending with the external toe, which has five.
[The Swifts present a remarkable exception ; and it may be remarked that, in the
Ostrich alone, only two toes are present.]
In general, [invariably]. Birds are covered with feathers.
sort of tegument best
* The word iAumJ is here and subsequently used merely in a popular | thumbs of the Quadrnmana arc represented, in the class of Birds,
sense, to signify its antagonism to the other digits : as the hinder 1 only by the tarsal spurs of many Gallinacea.—^’a.
AVES.
157
adapted to protect them from the rapid variations of temperature to which their move-
ments expose them. The air- cavities w^hich occupy the interior of their body, and
[usually] even supersede the marrow in their bones, increase their specific lightness.
The sternal portion of the ribs is ossified, as well as the vertebral, to impart more force
to the dilatation of the chest. To each rib is attached a small bone, which soon becomes
soldered to it, and is directed obliquely backward towards the next rib, all concurring
to give additional solidity to the thorax.
The eye of Birds is so conformed as to enable them to distinguish objects both far
and near with equal clearness ; a vascular and plaited membrane, which extends from
i the profundity of the globe to the edge of the crystalline, probably assists in displacing
I that lens. The anterior surface of the globe is also strengthened by a circle of bony
pieces ; and, besides the two ordinary eyelids, there is always a third, situate at the
I inner angle, and which, by means of a remarkable muscular apparatus, can be drawn
j| over the front of the eye like a curtain. The cornea is very convex, but the crystalline
I is flat, and the vitreous humour small.
j| The ear of Birds has but a single small bone, formed of a branch adherent to the
I tympanum, and of another terminating in a plate that rests upon the fenestra ovalis :
li their cochlea is a cone slightly curved ; but their semicircular canals are large, and
ij lodged in a portion of the skull, where they are surrounded on all sides by air-cavities
i that communicate with the area. [Some] nocturnal Birds alone have a large
external conch, which however does not project like that of quadrupeds, [though in the
restricted genus Strix an overlapping cartilaginous flap is developed anteriorly, by
which the auditory aperture is closed at will] . The orifice of the ear is generally
I' covered with feathers [the ear- covert s'], the barbs of which are more fringed than those
j of other feathers.
i| The organ of smell, concealed within the base of the beak, has ordinarily three car-
i tilaginous ossa turhinata, which vary in complication ; it is very sensible, although it
! has no cavity excavated within the parietes of the cranium. The size of the bony
I openings of the nostrils determines the strength of the beak; and the cartilages,
j membranes, feathers, and other teguments which contract these apertures, exert an
I influence on the perceptibility of odours, and on the sort of nourishment.
' The tongue has little muscular substance, and is supported by a bone articulated on
I I the hyoid ; in most Birds this organ is not very delicate. [The Parrots probably enjoy
!! most perfectly the sense of taste.]
j! The feathers, as well as the quills, which difleronly in size, are composed of a stem,
I hollow at its base, and of barbs, which are themselves furnished with smaller ones ;
I their tissue, lustre, strength, and general form, vary infinitely. [They may be con-
veniently divided into clothing feathers, and those which are subservient to locomo-
tion ; the vibrissae even, which are disposed in some instances as eyelashes, and more
I frequently impend the nostrils or arm the rictus of Birds, are merely barbless feathers,
' which are developed and periodically renewed like other feathers. In many groups,
j the clothing feathers are furnished with a supplementary shaft, or accessory plume,
which, in the quills or sustaining feathers, is at most represented by only a few downy
filaments. This supplementary plume, in the Emeus, is developed equally with the
primary shaft, so that two similar feathers grow from the same quiU : and in the
Cassowary, there is even a third shaft in addition. In the Poultry and some others.
158
AVES.
the accessory plume is large, but of soft and downy texture ; others have it reduced to ;
a small tuft of down ; while in many it is absent altogether. In some Birds, the^
vanes of the feathers are to a variable extent united, or soldered into an uniform mass ,
and there are various additional modifications, too numerous to admit of detail]. The A
touch must be feeble in all parts that are covered with them ; and, as the beak is
almost always corneous and but little sensitive, and the toes are invested with scales -
above and a callous skin underneath, this sense can be of little efficacy in the class of I
Birds. [In the Snipes and Lamellirostres , however, the sense of touch in the bill must |
be delicate, as testified by their manner of feeding, as weU as by the many nervous
papillae distributed over its surface. The enarmous bill of the Toucans, also, is r.
very sensitive ; and even the hardest biUs are traversed by ramifications of the fifth
pair of nerves, which terminate in scattered papillae.] %
The feathers are cast twice in the year [in some instances, but by far the greater '
number of Birds renew their plumage in autumn only ; and in no instance are the '
wing-primaries shed excepting in autumn, or at that moult which corresponds to the ;
autumnal moult. Many, as the Hawks, larger Gulls, &c., retain their entire nestling!
garb till the second autumn; while others, as the Crows, Starlings, &c., renew every !
feather previous to the first winter; and there are some groups, as that of the |
Thrushes, together with various double-moulting Birds, as the Pipits and Wagtails, |
which change their first clothing plumage soon after quitting the nest, but retain their '
nestling primaries until the second autumn — (that is, until the third renovation of the
body feathers). In the Cormorants, Grebes, &c., some additional ornamental plumes are ^
developed towards the commencement of the breeding season ; at which time various i
other Birds undergo a change of colour, unaccompanied by any moult * ; while others, f
again, cast the terminal portion (commonly of a dingy hue) of the greater number of |
their feathers, which during winter had concealed the brighter tints of summer ; two |
or more of these various modes, by which a seasonal alteration of appearance is effected, |
being frequently simultaneously observable in the same individual.] In certain species, |
the winter plumage differs in its colours from that of summer ; and in the greater |
number, the female differs from the male by colours less vivid, and the young of both ?
sexes then resemble the female. When the adult male and female are of the same
colour, the young have a peculiar livery. [As thus expressed, however, these rules f
require to be qualified by numerous exceptions : the true enunciation of them being,
that, when the plumage of the young differs from that of the adult male, or of the |
female in those few cases where (as in the common Gallinule) this sex is the brighter, f
that of the other sex may be similar to either of those extremes, or is in various
decrees intermediate : the male and female of the common British Redstart, for
O /
instance, are dissimilar, and the young do not resemble the adult female ; but the'1
garb of the latter is intermediate to those of the adult male and young.f]
* When this takes place, as in certain Gambets {Totanus), the
colouring matter is often entirely absorbed previously to the autumnal
change of feather ; and in some double-moulting species, as the Golden
Plover, it commonly happens in spring that the colouring secretion
tinges the old feathers that are loose, and ready to drop off thus
proving that a circulation obtains in the pores of feathers, even up to
the period of their being naturally cast.— Ed.
t There is a typical state of plumage in most groups of Birds,which,
in certain species, as the Tree Sparrow, is common to old and young
of both sexes ; but which is very usually obtained only by the adult
male, as is observable in the common House Sparrow : in the Robin,
Goldfinch, &c., to select other familiar examples, it is acquired by the
adults of both sexes; and, in the Common Gallinule, only by the
mature female. There are also many Birds in which neither sex
assumes this comparatively advanced livery; the larger Bitterns, for
example, both sexes of which permanently retain the markings and
style of colouring characteristic of only the first or immature dress of
the Dwarf-bitterns (subgenus Ardeola); the adult male common
Bunting {Emberiza miliaria), also, thus exhibits correspond-
ing livery to that proper to the females and young of the rest of its*
group, never advancing, like the males of the other species of Bunting,
beyond its primitive nestling colours and markings. We are led to
recognize, therefore, two extreme conditions of plumage as regards
the colouring, — one generally, but not always, characteristic of matu-
AVES.
159
The brain, in Birds, offers the same general characters as in the rest of the Ovipara ;
but is distinguished by its very considerable proportionate size, which often even sur-
passes that of this organ in the Mammalia. It is principally on the tubercles analo-
gous to the corpora striata that this volume is dependent, and not upon the
hemispheres, which are very small and without convolutions. The cerehellum is
tolerably large, and almost without lateral lobes, being principally formed by the
vermiform process. |
The trachea of Birds has its rings entire ; at its bifurcation is a glottis, most usually
furnished with peculiar muscles, and named the lower larynx ; it is there that the voice
rity, — the other of immaturity ; the first having usually more decided
and contrasted colours ; the second being comparatively sombre, with
fainter or more blended colours, which however are commonly broken
into various streaks or spots, and other different mottlings : where the
latter condition, however, becomes permanent, the variegations of the
adult bird are in general more distinctly defined ; thus a beautiful
Himmalayan Thrush {Turdus fVhitei) , occasionally strays into
Europe, retains the mottling of the dorsal plumage peculiar to the
unmoulted young of other Thrushes, but the colours of those mottled
feathers are much more finely brought out ; in like manner the distinct
transverse bars on the adult plumage of the Bush-shrikes {Thamno-
philus) and those on certain Woodpeckers {Colaptes), respectively
represent the more indistinct markings of the nestling dress of the
ordinary Shrikes (Lanius) and certain other Woodpeckers {Chryso-
pfi/as), which barred plumage is succeeded in the latter by an adult
garb devoid of those markings : this increased distinctness is however
less apparent in some cases, as in that of the Bittern of North Ame-
rica, the adult markings of which correspond, feather by feather, (their
intensity being but inconsiderably enhanced,) with those of the im-
mature Dwarf-bitterns already referred to.
Accordingly, then, it is in the first plumage of Birds that the affinity
of allied groups is ordinarily most apparent, as is analogously the case
with the young of animals in general (the distinctions of all essen-
tially allied groups of which continue to decrease till they disappear
successively, as we ascend to the embryo) ; and the same remark
applies, as might be anticipated, to the shape and structure of the
feathers, equally with their colouring. Thus, the nestling garb is
always much less firm than that subsequently attained ; and those
feathers which are acuminate in the adult are rounded, or but slightly
narrowed, in the young, and in general become gradually more
elongated and pointed at each successive moult, till they have ac-
quired their final shape and developement : the dorsal feathers of the
common Heron, and clothing plumage of the Starling, may be cited
in exemplification. In this respect, also, as with their colouring, the
feathers of some species, compared with those of others proximately
allied, are specifically arrested at various stages of developement : the
adult plumage of the Bitterns represents in this particular the imma-
ture garb of the Herons generally ; and in the weakness of texture of
the dorsal feathers, equally with their mottled markings, the mature
livery of the lantKocinclm corresponds with the nestling dress of the
majority of other Birds of the Thrush tribe.
It should be remarked that in some cases where the typical plumage
is finally attained, this is only after a series of moultings more or less
numerous, each successive stage of which may or may not present a
nearer approximation to it in different species ; it being thus assumed
gradually, or abruptly ; and, in such cases, it is generally acquired by
the male sex sooner than by the female, where both ultimately arrive
at it. In the European Oriole, the male alone attains the typical garb,
but not before its third or fourth change of plumage, when it is
assumed abruptly, or nearly so; in the Dwarf-bitterns, the male
acquires its final livery at the first moult, the female not before the
third or fourth moult, presenting an intermediate garb in the mean
while, which is ultimately exchanged for the same livery as that of its
mate. The amount of constitutional vigour tends to determine the
period at which the more advanced condition of plumage is obtained,
in the ratio of the average period required for its assumption : thus,
we perceive little or no irregularity in those instances where the
typical dress is gained at the first renewal, but considerable irregu-
larity where the period of its assumption is ordinarily protracted ; and
it would seem that in the latter case the females are more apt to
acquire ultimately the most advanced livery, than in those instances
where the male alone regularly obtains it at the first moult ; though,
as there is always a tendency on the part of vigorous females to throw
out the masculine attire, it may be that this apparent difference arises
simply from the fact of such females being liable to escape notice,
from their consequent similarity to the other sex inducing a belief
that they belong to it, and so precluding further examination. Of
species thus usually presenting a marked sexual diversity of plu-
mage, we have seen females of the common Redstart, Linnet, Redpole,
Red-backed Shrike, and Scaup Pochard, w'hich could not be distin- |
guished externally from males ; and all of them contained eggs in the
ovarium.
As the assumption of the typical plumage, then, in species wherein
it is tardily acquired, is especially dependent on the amount of con-
stitutional vigour, it follows that captive Birds should generally arrive
more slowly at their final livery, than those individuals which are
unconfined ; and it might be predicated, also, that instances of captive
females assuming the male plumage, in those species wherein the
females ordinarily differ from the males, would be of comparatively
uufrequent occurrence. Such are accordingly the facts : but itre()uires
to be noticed, that any effectual injury to the ovarium, or other cause
of sterility, also occasions female Birds to throw out the masculine
livery (just as the Doe, mentioned at p. 137, with one schirrous ovary,
developed an antler on the same side), this fact being very commonly
noticed in Pheasants and domestic Poultry. On the other hand, how-
ever, it is still more remarkable that a male bird, analogously injured,
will sometimes even moult back from the typical plumage to that pro-
per to the female and young ; though caponized fowls retain their
male costume.
We have thus far treated on the subject only under its most simple
phase, as observed in those species which renew their plumage in
autumn only ; and have entered somewhat into detail, from experience
of the great assistance rendered by a knowledge of the characters thus
afforded in tracing the affinities of groups, by simple inspection of the
plumage: being enabled thus to perceive the systematic relationship
of various genera at a glance, which is not obvious in the rest of their
external characters, nor even in this one to persons unacquainted
with the normal progressive changes characteristic of the particular
group. In illustration, let it be supposed that a species of Sparrow
existed (which is quite probable), the males of which, like the
females of the House Sparrow, retained permanently the colouring of
the nestling garb of the latter, (or, in other words, that its plumage
presented the same analogy avith that of the House Sparrow which
the common Bunting’s plumage does to that of its congeners): the
affinity of such a species to the Tree Sparrow, both sexes of which
exhibit at all ages a style of colouring corresponding to that peculiar
to the adult male of the House Sparrow, would be rendered intelli-
gible by the mutation incidental to the latter, even though no actual
similitude were traceable between the plumage of the Tree Sparrow
and that of the imagined species. There are numerous groups, then,
the relationship of which may be at once recognized on the principle
here indicated.
Among those species which retain their first plumage till the second
autumn, its aspect undergoes considerable variation in some, from
different causes. Thus, in the Osprey, Gannet, and some others, the
upper parts are fora while conspicuously speckled with terminal white
spots, on a dark ground-colour ; which spots gradually disappearing,
as the terminal edges of the feathers are naturally shed, leave the
back uniformly dark-coloured and plain. In certain other groups, as
in some Harriers (Circt/s), an actual change of colour takes place in
the feathers, to a variable extent.
In those species of Birds which undergo a double moult, the sexes
are generally similar, or nearly so, in both states of plumage, and
always in the winter dress ; and even the summer and winter liveries
do not in all cases differ, as may be observed in the Tree Pipit
{Anthus arboreus) . Where the contrary prevails in both sexes, the
young, in their first down, are subject to possess the colouring of the
adult summer garb, as noticeable in the common Guillemot and
Razorbill ; and, in the plumage which succeeds the down, to resemble
the mature winter dress, or to present a combination of the two,
which is not uncommon — particularly among the small waders, which
subsequently attain their proper winter clothing plumage by a moult
towards the close of autumn. When the breeding livery of the male
and female differs, the same law prevails as in single-moulting Birds.
We have not space to enter more minutely into detail.— Ed.
AVES.
160
of Birds is formed ; the enormous volume of air contained in the air-cavities contri-
butes to the strength of this voice, and the trachea, by its various forms and move-
ments, to its intonations. The upper larynx, which is extremely simple, has little to
do with it.
The face, or upper mandible of Birds, formed principally by the intermaxillaries, is
prolonged backwards into two arcades, the internal of which is composed by the pala-
tine and pterygoid bones, the external by the maxillaries and jugals, and which are
both supported on a moveable tympanic bone, commonly termed the square bone i
{os carrd), that represents the drum of the ear : above, this same face is articulated or
united to the skull by elastic laminse ; a mode of union which always leaves some i
mobility.
The horny substance which invests the two mandibles supplies the place of teeth, ^
and is occasionally serrated, so as to represent them.* Its form, as also that of the
mandibles which support it, varies excessively, according to the sort of food i
resorted to. :
The digestion of Birds is in proportion to the energy of their vitality, and the :
amount of respiration. The stomach is composed of three parts : the craw, which is ;
an expansion of the gullet ; the proventriculus, a membranous stomach, furnished in i
the thickness of its coats with a multitude of glands [variously disposed and shaped in i
different groups] , the secretion of which humects the aliment ; and lastly, the ' i
gizzard, armed with two powerful muscles united by two radiating tendons, and inter- ^
nally lined by a coating of cartilage. The food is more readily ground there, as Birds |
are in the habit of swallowing small stones to augment its triturating power. ' ^
In the greater number of species which subsist only on flesh or fish, the muscles
and the internal lining of the gizzard are reduced to extreme tenuity, so that it appears,]* ;
to make but one sac with the proventriculus. [The same is noticeable in the Bustards, '
which subsist mainly upon herbage : a series of inter-
mediate gradations, however, occurring from these to | ,
the most powerfully muscular gizzards.] | i
The dilatation of the craw is also sometimes [even | ^
generally] wanting. [This is is commonly situate i i i
above the furcula, but in the genus Palamedea ^
beyond it: in the Grebes, there is a contraction and| i
intervening space between the proventriculus and j)'
gizzardf, which in the very peculiar genus Opistho- | i
comus is developed into a considerable cavity (this bird j
subsisting mainly on green foliage) : the Totipalmati “i
have generally an accessory pouch to the stomach, f
analogous to that of the Loricated Reptiles. It may
also be mentioned here, that in the Parrots and |
Pigeons, both exclusively vegetable feeders, the craw ;
is furnished with numerous glands, which become
developed in both sexes during the period that they alternately perform the daty(S
• See note to p. 36. — Ed. I rented from entering the gizzard till they have been sufficiently *:||
t The same contraction is noticeable, to a less extent, in the Mer- reduced, by the action of the gastric juice elaborated in the proven- S
gansers, and other piscivorous Birds with strong and muscular triculus, to pass its aperture. Q
gizzards : hence the fishes that they swallow are mechanically pre- ' J
AVES.
161
of incubation, and the function of which is to secrete a lacteal substance, with
which the young are at first nourished. The craw of Birds generally is situate on
the right side only; but in the Pigeons it is double, and fig. 70 represents the ordi-
nary aspect of that on one side when inflated (a), and the thickened glandular appear-
ance of that on the other (b), as noticeable in Pigeons that have newly-hatched young.
In other Birds, the craw merely serves as a reservoir for such food as cannot be imme-
diately taken into the stomach; though grain is generally moistened there and
softened, by macerating in fluid sipped for the purpose] .
The liver voids its bile into the intestine by two ducts, which alternate with the two
or three by which the pancreatic fluid passes. The pancreas of Birds is large, but their
spleen is small ; they have no epiploon, the functions of which are in part fulfilled by
the partitions of the air-cavities. The coecal appendages [when present] are placed near
the origin of the rectum, and at a short distance from its outlet ; these are more or less
long, according to the regimen of the bird. * The Herons [as also the Smew Mer-
ganser] have only one, which is minute ; in other genera, as that of the Woodpeckers,
|i they are wanting altogether.
The cloaca is a pouch in which the rectum, the ureters, and the spermatic ducts —
or, in the female, the oviduct — terminate ; it opens externally by the anus. As a
general rule, Birds do not urinate ; the secretion of the kidneys being mingled with
their solid excrement. The Ostriches alone have the cloaca sufficiently dilated to
allow of an accumulation of the urine. [In the majority of Water-fowl, there is a
small accessory pouch to the cloaca, termed the bursa Fabricii: its use has not been
clearly ascertained.]
In most of the genera, coition is effected by the simple juxta-position of the anus ;
the Ostriches and many aquatic Birds [those which copulate in water] , however, have
a penis furrowed with a groove, along which the seminal fluid is conducted. The
testicles are situate internally above the kidneys, and near the lungs ; [they attain an
enormous developement towards the season of propagation;] only one oviduct is
developed, the other [with its ovary] being reduced to minute size.
The egg, detached from the ovary, where only the yolk is perceptible, imbibes in the
upper part of the oviduct that exterior fluid termed the white, and becomes invested
with its shell in the lower part of the same canal. The chick is developed by incuba-
tion, unless where the heat of the climate suffices, as in the case of the Ostrich [in
some localities] . The young bird has on the tip of its beak a horny point, which
serves to rupture the shell, and falls off a few days after exclusion.
Every one knows the varied industry which Birds exhibit in the construction of their
nests, and the tender care which they take of their eggs and young ; it is the
principal part of their instinct. With regard to the rest, their rapid passage through
different regions of the air, and the intense and continued action of that element upon
them, renders them presensible of the variations of the atmosphere, to an extent of
* Some difficulties occur in the way of this explanation, unless
duly qualified in reference to the normal characters of particular
g:roups, or subtypes of form. Thus, the Hawks and the Owls subsist
pretty nearly on the same regimen ; the coeea being in the former in-
stance constantly minute, and in the latter as invariably of consider-
able size, but with the same proportional dimensions in every species :
nor can this diversity be explained on another principle that has been
advanced, equally correct in its application to groups ; viz., that the
somnolent inactive Owls require to have more complex digestive
organs (which should retain the chyme longer in its passage), than
the more energetic tribe of Falcons ; inasmuch as the rapidly-flying,
active Harfang, or Snowy Owl, which on the wing can scarcely be
distinguished from the Jer Falcon, possesses ceeca — as before gene-
rally intimated — proportionally quite as large as those of the light-
flapping Barn Owl ; while the lazy, smooth-sailing Buzzard, the
floating Kite, and the buoyantly-skimming Harrier, present no further
developement of these appendages than the darting Hawks, or the
impetuous, far-rushing Falcons. A variety of analogous instances
might be enumerated.-— Ed.
M
AVES.
162
which we can have no idea, and from the most ancient times has caused to he attri-
buted to them, by superstitious persons, a power of announcing future events. It is ,
doubtless upon this faculty that the instinct depends which [periodically] agitates
migratory Birds, and impels them to direct their course towards the equator when
winter approaches, and pole-ward at the return of spring.* They are not devoid of
memory, and even imagination — for they dream ; and every body knows with what f
facility they may be tamed, taught [in numerous instances] to perform various services,
and to retain airs and words.
DIVISION OF THE CLASS OF BIRDS INTO ORDERS.
Of all classes of animals, that of Birds is the most strongly characterized, that in
which the species bear the greatest mutual resemblance, and which is separated from g
ail others by the widest interval.
Their systematic arrangement is based, as in the Mammalia, on the organs of man-
ducation or the beak, and on those of prehension, which are again the beak, and more
particularly the feet. [The configuration of the sternal apparatus, also, (which we
have illustrated by numerous figures,) and the modifications of the digestive and some-
times vocal organs, supply highly important characters on which to ground the
subdivisions.]
One is first struck by the character of wehhed feet, or those wherein the toes are |
connected by membranes, that distinguish all swimming Birds. f The backward position'
of their feet, the elongation of the sternum, the neck, often longer than the legs, tojJ
enable them to reach below them, the close, shining plumage, impervious to water,-S^
altogether concur with the feet to make good navigators of the Palmipedes. S'
In other Birds, which have also most frequently some small web to their feet, a^i
least between the two external toes, we observe elevated tarsi ; legs denuded of featherS!
above the heel-joint; a slender shape; in fine, all the requisites for fording alongj
shallow water, in search of nourishment. Such, in fact, is the regimen of the greate^
number ; and, although some of them resort exclusively to dry places, they are never'^|
theless termed Shore-birds or Waders. !
Amongst the true land-birds, the Gallinacew have — like our domestic Cock — a heavy!-
carriage, a short flight, the beak moderate, its upper mandible vaulted, the nostrils
partly covered by a soft and tumid scale, and almost always the edges of the toes v
indented, with short membranes between the bases of those in front. They subsist „
chiefly on grain.
Birds of prey have a crooked beak, with its point sharp and curving downward ; |
and the nostrils pierced in a membrane that invests its base : their feet [save in the-;
Vulture group] are armed with stout talons. They live on flesh, and [the Vultures ;
more the extraordinary fact (familiar to all practical observers) of
Birds of passage, unless when driven by stress of weather, returning, :',
both in summer and winter, to their former place of abode, and this u
even when reared in confinement, and released immediately previous :
to their first journey. — Ed. (See note to p. 31.) Vf
t It is most difficult thus to generalize in the class of Birds. Eord ^
instance, the Gallinules, or Moorhens^ — habitual swimmers, — have no ; '
connecting membrane to the toes ; while the Terns, which are never 'j j;
seen to swim, have their toes completely webbed, &c. Even the Herons; 'I |i (
„ . , „ . . . „ . , llie Curlews, and numerous other waders, will sometimes take the ' ' |
animals to travel in the right direction; and the marvel increases water of their own accord, and swim across pools, though their struc- ij
wlien we consider the length of route ordinarily traversed, and still ! ture does not indicate such a habit. — Ed. !
♦ It IS certain, however, that the rapid enlargement of the sexual
organs is the immediate stimulant to migration in the spring ; while
decline of temperature, most generally, is the directly predisposing
agent in the autumn : this is manifest in the case of migratory Birds
kept in confinement. The instances of the Swift, and adult Cuckoo,
retiring southward at the hottest season of the year, are more difficult
of explanation, and indicate some ulterior agency not hitherto divined ;
though they do not affect the multitudinous observations, which con-
clusively prove the influence of decline of temperature. It is less easy
to imaeine nhvsical acenev that should constantlv imnel miirratorv
ACCIPITRES. 163
again excepted] pursue other Birds ; their flight accordingly is mostly powerful. The
greater number still retain a slight web betwixt their external toes.
The Passerine Birds comprise many more species than all the other families ; but
their organization presents so many analogies that they cannot be separated, although
they vary very much in size and strength. Their two external toes are joined at the
base, and sometimes higher.
Finally, the name of Climbers is applied to those Birds in which the external toe is
directed backwards like the thumb, because the greater number of them [some of them]
avail themselves of a conformation so favourable for a vertical position, to climb along
the trunks of trees.* [As constituted upon this single character, the present group is
a most unnatural one, excluding genera that in every other respect belong to it, and
including the Parrots, which differ widely from the rest in every other detail of their
conformation. Besides the Parrots, also, which are the only true climbers among
Birds, (if we except perhaps the Colies,) the Woodpecker and Barbet groups comprise
all the yoke-footed species which ascend the trunks of trees, the latter only being
enabled to descend them ; and corresponding genera to these occur among the Passerine
Birds, as the Creepers and their allies — to the Woodpeckers, and the Nuthatches — to
the Barbets. The Trogons moreover, as stated at p. 156, are yoke-footed on a different
principle from the rest. We have no hesitation in placing the Parrots at the head of
the whole series of the class of Birds.]
Each of these orders subdivides into families and genera, principally after the con-
formation of the beak. But these different groups pass into each other by almost
imperceptible gradations, insomuch that there is no other class in which the genera
and subgenera are so difficult of limitation.
THE FIRST ORDER OF BIRDS,—
THE BIRDS OF PREY {ACCIPITRES, Lin.)—
Are recognized by their hooked beak and talons, — powerful weapons, with which they immo-
late other Birds, and even the weaker Quadrupeds and Reptiles. They are among Birds what
the Carnivora are among Quadrupeds.f The muscles of their thighs and legs indicate the
force of their claws ; their tarsi are rarely elongated : they having all four toes ; and the claw
of the thumb and that of the innermost toe are the strongest.
They constitute two families, the Diurnal and the Nocturnal.
The Diurnal Birds of Prey have the eyes directed sideways; a membrane, termed the
cere [as in the Parrots], covering the base of the beak, in which the nostrils are pierced ; three
toes before [the outer in the Osprey genus reversible], and one behind, unfeathered, the two
exterior almost always connected at base by a short membrane ; the plumage close, the quills
strong, and flight powerful. [They have constantly a large craw (fig. 71) or dilatation of the
gullet] ; their stomach is almost wholly membranous ; their intestines [save in the Osprey
genus] but little extended, and furnished with minute coeca. The sternum (fig. 72) is large
and completely ossified, [or with only a posterior foramen left, in most of the genera], in
order to give more extended attachment to the muscles of the wing ; and their fourchette
* In my first Elementary Sketch, in 1798, I was oblig-ed to suppress I of recent Ornithologists, have assented to this suppression,
the order Piets of Linnseus, which has no one determinate character, f As the frugivorous Parrots may be compared to the Quadrutnana.
[at least as constituted by that naturalist]. M. Illiger, and the majority I — Ed.
M 2
164
AVES.
(fig. 72, a) is semicircular and very wide, the better to resist the violent pressure of the humerus
incidental to a rapid flight. [The young undergo no change of feather until their second
autumn ; and they renew their plumage slowly, and in no
instance more than once in the year ; its seasonal change
being confined to a slight wearing otF, rather than a natural
shedding, of the margins of the feathers : in several species,
however, the colour indicative of maturity is partially ac-
quired, previously to moulting, by a change of hue in the first
or nestling plumage. The eggs of Accipitrine Birds are
nearly spherical ; and those of the present division are gene-
rally more or less spotted or blotched with rusty-brown.
The young are at first densely clad in short soft down.]
Linnaeus made only two genera, which are two natural
divisions, — the Vultures and the Falcons.
The Vultures (Vuliur, Lin.) —
Have the eyes even with the head ; the tarsi reticulated, or, in
other words, covered with small scales ; the beak lengthened,
curved only at the end ; and a greater or less portion of the head,
and generally of the neck, [in the adult,] devoid of feathers. The
force of their talons does not correspond with their stature, and
they make more use of their beak than of their claws. Their
wings are so long, that in walking they hold them half-extended.
They are of a cowardly disposition, and feed on carrion oftener
than on living prey : when they have gorged themselves, their
craw forms a large protuberance above the fourchette, a fetid
humour issues from their nostrils, and they are almost reduced
Fig./l.^AlimentaryCanal of the Common Buzzard :
exhibiting the first expansion, or craw ; and (be- to a statc of apatliv. [They difier, moreover, from all the suc-
low the divarication of the trachea) the proven- jt u
tricuius, stomach, and intestines. The second ceedinff groups, till wc arrivc at the Poultry, — with the sole ex-
figure represents the termination of the small £3 o r ' ’
ioJm .^e cio'lSa'i!^" tw^ndn^irilL"^ L°t ^eption of the Secretary genus {Gypogeranm), which indeed might
the junction of the great and small intestines.* ranged with them,— in posscssing more than twelve cervical ver-
tebrae f; their fourchette, though extremely stout and wide,
is flattened as in the Owls ; the sternal crest low, and reduced
anteriorly ; and the posterior edge of the sternum (fig. 73), in
some of those of America, is doubly emarginated for some
time : they even further accord with the Owls in having a rib
less than the Falconine genera.
The Vultures, properly so called, {Vultur, Cuv.) —
Have a large and strong beak, the nostrils opening cross-wise
its base, the head and neck without feathers or caruncles, and
collar of long feathers, or of down, at the base of the neck.
They have hitherto been found only on the old continent [but
none of the tribe are met with in Australia, where the absence
of larger indigenous quadrupeds than the Kangaroos, and of
predatory animals that should leave the surplus of their
meals to putrefy, indicate that they could not be sup-
ported.] t
of the Common Harrier.
ig. 7^.— Sternal apparatus
N.B. The keel (h) i.s rather more developed in the ■
Falcons ; less so in the Eagles.
* Copied from M'GillivTay’s Rapacio7ts Birds oj Britain.— 'R-a.
t In the long series of groups adverted to, the thirteenth vertebra
generally, but not always, bears a pair of minute ribs, which diminish
till they disappear in some species j if, therefore, the thirteenth
vertebra is to be considered as cervical in such cases, as not bearing
a rib, the difference is essentially trifling, and does not intrinsically
affect the above generalization — Ed.
t The Alectura, Gray, which has been ignorantly classified with the i)
Vultures, is in every respect a true Poultry bird.
ACCIPITRES.
165
The Fulvous Vulture (F. fulvus,
Gm.) is the most widely-diffused spe-
cies, inhabiting the mountainous parts
of the whole ancient continent. Its
body surpasses in size that of a Swan
[possibly in the instance of some fe-
males. This bird has been errone-
ously stated to have fourteen tail-
feathers.* The greater number of the
genus possess similar characters.]
The Dusky Vulture (F. cinereus,
Gm.)— As widely distributed as the
preceding [but less numerously], and
still larger ; it frequently attacks liv-
ing animals. [This species exemplifies
the subgenus Gyps of Savigny : hav-
ing the beak more sharply pointed,
the nostrils almost round, and the
head partially clothed with feathers.
The Vultures generally, indeed, have
the head and neck feathered when
young, like the Turkey and other
birds which have bald heads in a state
of maturity ; the immature F. Ango-
lensis, Gm., is doubtfully figured by
Bennett as a species of Caracara (Po-
lyborus? hypoleucos) •, but the adults
Fi>r. 73.— 1, hind margin of the sternum of a true Vulture— 2, ditto, of Neophron— 3, ditto, of of that SpecieS Continue tO haVe thOSe
Cathartet aura— A, ditto, of C. Californianus, the foramina of which have become obliterated . ^ j n
—5, ditto, of another presumed Cathartes — 6, ditto, of Secretary. parts invested.]
The Oricou Vulture (F. auricularis. Baud.), an African species, [probably the largest of the true Vultures,] has
a longitudinal fleshy crest on each side of the neck, above the ear, [a character which likewise occurs, less promi-
nently, in one or two others].
America produces Vultures remarkable for the caruncles which surmount the membrane at the base
of the beak ; the latter is as large as in the preceding, but the nostrils are oval and longitudinal.
They are
The Condors (Sarcoramphus, Dumeril), —
[A very distinct genus, remarkable for having no muscles attached to the trachea, in consequence of
which they are necessarily deprived of voice, emitting no sound beyond a weak snorting. Their hind
toe is shorter than in other Accipitres.'}
The King Condor (F. papa, Lin).— Size of a Goose. The naked parts of the head and neck vividly coloured, and
the caruncle denticulated like the comb of a cock. It inhabits the Pampas and other hot parts of South America.
This species is termed the King of the Vultures, from the Gallinazos giving place to it, through fear, whenever it
settles upon a carcase which they had begun to devour.
The Great Condor (F. Lin.); the male of which, in addition to his superior caruncle t, has another
under the beak, like the cock. The female differs in colour, and is without the caruncles. This bird has been
rendered famous by exaggerated reports of its size : it is little larger than the Bearded Griffin, which its manners
resemble. It inhabits the most elevated regions of the Andes, and flies higher than any other bird.
The Gallinazos {Cathartes, Cuv.) —
Have the beak of the Condors, that is to say, large, with longitudinal oval nostrils, but no fleshy crest :
their head and neck are without feathers ; [plumage nearly or wholly black : the sternum emarginated
inward of the ordinary foramen. All the species are from America.]
The Great Gallinazo (F, californianus, Shaw), — approaches the large Condor in size, with proportionally longer
wings. [From the western coast of North America.]
The Turkey Buzzard of Anglo-Americans (F. Lin.)— Little larger than a fowl. [There appear to be
others, hitherto imperfectly determined.]
The Neophrons {Neophron, Cuv.) —
Have a long and slender beak, rather tumid above its curvature ; the nostrils oval and longitudinal.
• No species of bird has more than twelve tail-feathers (Including
the uropygiah) till we arrive at the Poultry. Hence, the Alectura,
mentioned in the preceding note, — which possesses eighteen, might
in this character alone have been referred to its proper station.
t It is proper to remark that the rigid cartilaginous crest of the
male of this Condor offers no analogy, anatomically, with the flaccid
caruncle of the other. — Ed.
166
AVES.
j and the head, but not the neck, devoid of feathers. They are birds of moderate size, and in strength
do not approach the Vultures properly so called ; hence they are even more addicted to carrion and
aU sorts of filth, which attract them from afar. They do not even disdain to feed on excrement.
The Wliite Neophron Lin.)— Little larger than a Raven; the adult male [and probably also
the old female] white, with black quill-feathers ; the female and young brown. [It is common in Africa, and the
countries bordering the Mediterranean ; rare in the north of Europe : has been once killed in England.] It fol-
lows the caravans in the desert, to devour all that dies. !
The Urubu (F. jota, Ch. Bonap.), or Carrion Crow of the Anglo-Americans.— The same size and form as the
preceding, but with a stouter bill, and the head entirely naked ; plumage wholly deep black. It abounds in the
temperate and hot parts of America, [and is generally ranged in Cathartes. One or more additional true Neo-
phrons, however, exist in Africa.]
The Griffins {Gypdetos, Storr),—
Placed by Gmelin in his genus Falco^ approximate the Vultures rather in their habits and conformation :
they have the eyes even with the head ; the claws proportionally feeble ; wings half-extended when at
rest ; the craw, when full, projecting at the bottom of the neck : hut their head is completely covered
with feathers ; [and they have only thirteen cervical vertebrae, which is one more than in any of the
Falcons ; the Neophrons and Gallinazos possessing fourteen, and the Condors and true Vultures fifteen.
The sternum is proportionally short, and very broad.] Their distinctive characters consist in a very
strong, straight beak, hooked at the point, and inflated on the curve ; nostrils covered [owl-hke] with
stiflf hairs directed forward ; and a pencil of similar hairs under the beak ; their tarsi are short, and
feathered to the toes ; and their wings long, having the third quill longest.
The Bearded Gritfin, or Lammer-geyer, (F barbatus, and Falco barbatus, Gm.).— This is the largest bird of prey
belonging to the Eastern Continent : it inhabits the high chains of mountains, but is not very common. It
nestles in inaccessible acclivities ; attacks Lambs, Goats, the Chamois, and even, it is said, sleeping Man [or
persons standing on the edge of a precipice] ; it is pretended that children have been sometimes carried away by
it, [a statement recently confirmed by facts, in more than one instance]. Its method is to force animals over steep
precipices, and to devour them when disabled by the fall. It does not, however, refuse dead bodies. Its length
is nearly five feet (French), and extent of wing from nine to ten feet. This bird is the Phene of the Greeks, and
the Ossifraga of the Latins. [The species of the Himmalayas is considered to be different.]
The Falcons {Falco, Lin.) — *
Constitute the second, and by much the most numerous division of the diurnal birds of prey. They
have the head and neck covered with feathers ; their eye-brows [except in the Ospreys] form a pro-
jection which occasions the eye to appear sunk, and imparts a very different character to their phyi*
siognomy from that of the Vultures : the majority of them subsist on living prey ; but they differ much ^ 1 1
in the amount of courage displayed in the pursuit of it. Their first plumage is often differently Mi
coloured from the adult, and they do not [in most instances] assume the latter for three or four!.^,il(
years, — a circumstance which has occasioned the species to have been greatly multiplied by nomencla-*' j
tors. The female is generally one-third larger than the male, which, on this account, has been namedj| u|
a tercel. j '
^ i
It is necessary to subdivide this genus first into two sections. ||j i
The Falcons, properly so called, {Falco, Bechstein), commonly termed the Noble Birds of Prey, — ®{] \
Compose the first. They are the most courageous i^Pi
proportion to their size, a quality which is derived from^’?
the power of their armature and wings. Their heakpii
(fig. 74), curved from its base, has a sharp tooth on each^ ;*'
side near the point ; and the second quill of their wings | :
is the longest, the first nearly equalling it, which renders^
the entire wing longer and more pointed. From this, 5^
also, result particular habits : the length of the quills of^ •
their wings weakens their efforts to ascend vertically, and j
renders their forward flight, in a calm state of the at- ig
mosphere, very oblique, necessitating them, when they ;
Fig. 74.-Beak of Jer Falcon. j.jgg (jjjectly, to fly against the wind. They are |
ACCIPITRES.
167
i exceedingly docile Birds, and are those which are most generally employed in falconry, being taught
I to pursue game, and to return when called.
I The Peregrine Falcon (F. communis, Gm. ; {F. peregrinus, Lin.).— Apparently a cluster of indefinitely distin-
guishable species, generally diffused in temperate climates, both northward and southward of the equator]. The
species mostly trained for purposes of falconry.
I [There are numerous others, of which the Jer Falcon, the Lanner,— which is intermediate to the Jer and
I Peregrine Falcons,— the Hobby, the Red-legged, and the Merlin Falcons, inhabit northern Europe. The Red-
legged Falcon is remarkable for sometimes breeding in society. F. concolor and some others have the
j tarsi elongated: and in F. cesalon (the Merlin), and some allied species, the third quill-feather equals and
! sometimes exceeds the second ; these last are also somewhat Hawk-like in the structure of their feet, and in
I their manners. The division of Kestrel-falcons (termed Cerchneis by Boie) comprehends Birds of weaker
^ structure, which have the sternum proportionally smaller ; in some the front of the tarsi is scutellated, as in
the short-winged Hawks : the Kestrel-Falcons prey chiefly on field-mice, wliich they discern as they hover
I stationary at a moderate altitude, with the head invariably turned towards the wind ; it is thus that they have
obtained the names of Wind-hover and of Stand-gall or “stand-gale:” there are several species, two only of
; which inhabit Europe — the common Kestrel {F. tinnunculus, Lin.), and the White-clawed Kestrel {F. cenchris,
Frisch, and Naum ; F. tinnunculoides, Tern.).
1 The division Hierofalco, Cuv., was instituted by mistake, for the reception of the Jer Falcon, under the suppo-
jj sition that its beak had only a festoon, as in the short-winged Hawks ; the tooth of these Birds being sometimes
j| cut away by the falconers. Gampsonyx, Vigors, however, fulfils nearly the conditions which were assigned to
I Hierofalco ; the upper mandible being devoid even of emargination, and considerably resembling that of the
ij Buzzards : the head is small, feet and tarsi robust, the latter feathered half-way from the joint ; wings the same
I as in Falco : one species only is known, a bird of small size from Brazil (G. Swainsonii, Vig.).
Other species (the lerax. Vigors), of very small size, have the second and third quill-feathers nearly equal ; the
I upper mandible strongly and sharply bidentated, by the further developement of a sinuation visible in the rest.
Two species are known, from Java and Manilla respectively, {F. ccerulescens, Edwards, and J. erythrogenys,
,| Vig.) — They are scarcely larger than a Swallow, but yield to none in energy and spirit : their wings, however, are
ij less firm than in other Falcons.
I There are some bideutate species, which in other respects accord more nearly with the Goshawks ;
I they are
' The Harpagons {Harpagus, Vig. ; Bidens, Spix), — •
Which present an acute bidentation of both mandibles, and have hitherto been found only in South
j America.
The best known species (F. bidentatus, Latham) is figured in the adult state by Spix as Bidens ritfiventer, and
j in immature plumage as B. albiventer.
j Others more nearly approximate the Perns, as
The Falcoperns {Lepidogenys, Gould), —
I The wings of which are remarkably long, having the third quill longest ; feet very short, and the talons
j small and but slightly curved : the bidentation is less strongly marked than in the preceding.
I F. lophotes, Tern., an elegantly-crested bird from India, and another from Australia — L. subcristatus, Gould,
I pertain to this division. Nearly allied would seem to be the Aviceda, Swains., from Western Africa ; except that
its armature is considerably more powerful.] The Baza of Hodgson is probably identical with Lepidogenys.
\ The second section of the great genus Falco is that of the Birds of prey termed Ignoble, because they
i cannot be so well employed in falconry ; a tribe much more numerous than that of the Nobles, and
il which it is necessary to subdivide considerably. Their longest quill-feather is almost always the fourth,
I the first being very short, which has the same effect as if the tip of the wing had been obliquely cut
I off ; hence, cceteris paribus, result diminished powers of flight. Their beak, also, is not so well armed,
I as there is no lateral tooth near its point, but only a slight festoon about the middle of its length.
The Eagles {Aquila, Brisson),— -
I Which form the first tribe, have a very strong beak, straight at its base, and curved only towards the
' point. Among them we find the largest species of the genus, and the most powerful of all the
I Birds of prey.
The Eagles, properly so called {Aquila, Cuv.) —
Have the tarsi feathered down to the base of the toes : they inhabit mountains, and pursue Birds and
Quadrupeds ; their wings are as long as the tail, their flight both elevated and rapid, and their courage
superior to that of most other Birds.
AVES.
168
[The Golden Eagle {F. chrysdetos, Lin.), the Grecian Eagle {A. Heliaca, Savigny ; F. imperialis, Tern.), the
Spotted Eagle {F. ncevius and maculatus, Gm.), the Social Eagle (A. Bonelli, Bonap.), and the Little Eagle
Fig-. 75. — White-headed Erne.
{F. pennatus, Gm.), are the European species, which sue- ,
cessively decrease in size in the order announced ; the
last-named being smaller than a Common Buzzard.]
New Holland produces Eagles of similar form to those
of Europe, the tail excepted, which is cuneiform. Such i
is the Wedge-tailed Eagle (A.fucosa, Cuv.). ,
[There are many others.] We should remark that the
transition from the Eagles to the Buzzards is effected by
insensible gradations, [the typical Buzzards being merely
small-sized Eagles, with weaker armature] .
The Ernes {Halmetus, Cuv.)
Have wings resembling those of the preceding,
hut the tarsi clothed only on its upper half with
feathers, the remainder being semi-scutellated.
[Their beak also is longer and larger.] They
frequent the shores of rivers and of the sea, and
subsist in great part upon fish [without disdaining
carrion, like the true Eagles.
The Cinereous Erne (F. albicilla, Lin.) of Europe, and
the American White-headed Erne (F. leucocephalus, Lin.
fig. 75) are characteristic examples. There are also some
of small size, as the bird commonly termed the Pondi-
cherry Kite (F. ponticerianus, Gm.), which the Hindoos I
consider sacred to Vishnu. The Cunduma of Hodgson
is merely a large Haliaeetus].
The Ospreys (Pandion, Savigny) —
Have [somewhat] the beak and feet of the Ernes ; but their talons are round underneath,
other Birds of prey [save in the true Elant] they are grooved
or channelled ; their tarsi are reticulated, and the second
[third] quill of their wings is longest. Their sternum (fig. 76)
differs from that of other Falcons (see fig. 72) in becoming
narrower towards its posterior margin, where a notch exists
analogous to the inner emargination of the Gallinazos, but not
to the foramen observable in the Falcons generally : the intes-
tine is very slender and of great length (whereas in the Ernes
it does not differ from that of other Falcons) : the super-
orbital bone does not project : the feathers even are com-
pletely destitute of the supplementary plume, (which in the
Ernes and most other Falcons is considerably developed), and
are not lengthened over the tibia : the outer toe is reversible,
and the foot astonishingly rough underneath, to enable them
to hold their slippery fishy prey, on which they subsist ex-
clusively. This is by far the most strongly characterized division
of the Linnsean genus Falco.*}
The Common Osprey (F. haliceetus, Lin.)— [Evidently a cluster of a
allied species, very generally distributed. That of New Holland (F. lev^
cocephalus, Gould) has the crown white. In some places this bird
nidificates in large societies.
As a group, externally intermediate to the Ernes and Ospreys,
might be separated the F. ichthyaetus, Horsf., and several allied
species from Australasia. They are essentially Osprey-like Ernes,
which most probably retain the anatomy of the latter, and ex-
hibit greater developement of the mandibular tooth than either.]
• The genus Herpethotheres alone is nearly allied.
while in
ACCIPITRES.
169
The Marsh-eagles {Circdetus, Vieillot) —
Hold a sort of mediate station between the Ernes, the Ospreys, and the Buzzards. They have the
wings of the Eagles and Buzzards, and the reticulated tarsi of the Ospreys. Such are
The European Marsh-eagle, or Jean-le-blanc, (F, gallicus, Gm.),— the beak of which curves more rapidly than
in other Eagles, and the toes are proportionally shorter. It exceeds the Osprey in size, and inhabits Europe,
preying chiefly on reptiles.
Le Bateleur of Le Vaillant, {F. ecaudatus, Shaw).— An African species, remarkable for the extreme shortness
of its tail, and its beautifully variegated plumage. [It constitutes the division Helotarsus of Smith, synonymous
with Terathopias of Lesson, differing in several particulars from the others, and particularly in the baldness of
its cheeks. The Bateleur preys on young Gazelles, young Ostriches, &c., and also on putrid carrion, disgorging
the latter into the throats of its young, as observed of the Vultures.]
America produces Eagles with long wings like the foregoing, and naked scutellated tarsi, in which
a more or less considerable proportion of the sides of the head, and sometimes of the throat, is
denuded of feathers. The general name of
Caracaras —
Has been applied to them. From this group M. Vieillot has made his genera Daptrius^ Ihycter,
and Polyborus, [partly] according to the greater or less extent of the bare part of the head.
[Phalcobanus, d'Orbigny, Gymnops and Milvago, Spix, have also been applied to divisions of the
Caracaras. These Birds are carrion-feeders, and pass their time chiefly on the ground, amongst the
herbage, where their gait is ambulatory. All are from the warm regions of America.]
The Coronards, or short-winged Fisher-eagles, {Harpyia^, Cuv, ; \Thrasdetos, G, Gray] ) —
Are also American Eagles, which have the tarsi very thick and strong, reticulated, and half-covered
with feathers, as in the Ernes, from which they differ chiefly in the shortness of their wings ; their
beak and talons are stronger than in any other tribe.
The Harpy Coronard or Eagle {F. harpyia, and F. cristatus, Lin.). — Of all Birds, this possesses the most terrific
beak and talons ; it is superior in size to the common Eagle. On the back of its head are elongated, feathers,
forming a sort of fan-like crest upon the nape, which, when erected, impart to its physiognomy a resemblance to
the tufted Owls : like them, also, its external toe is frequently directed backward. It is said to be so strong, as to
have sometimes cleft a Man’s skull with a blow of its beak. The Sloths are its ordinary food, and it not unfre-
quently carries off Fawns.
The Eagle-hawks {Morphnus, Cuv.) —
Have, like the preceding, wings shorter than the tail ; but their elevated and slender tarsi, and their
feeble toes, oblige us to distinguish them. Some have the tarsi naked and scutellated.
The Crested Eagle-hawk of Guiana {F. guianensis, Baud.), resembles singularly, in its colours and markings,
the Harpy Coronard of the same country ; but is not so large, and its naked and scutellated tarsi sufficiently
distinguish it.
F. urubitinga, Lin., is crestless. Tins handsome species hunts in inundated grounds. [Certain other uncrested
species, with very long tarsi, constitute the Limndetos, Vigors.
Others have elevated tarsi, feathered throughout their length [the Spizdetus of Vieillot],
The Tufted Black Eagle-hawk of Africa (F. occipitalis, Baud.),— inhabits the whole of that continent.
The Variegated Eagle-hawk {F. ornatus, Baud.; F. superbus and coronatus, Shaw: Harpyia braccata,
refers to the young).— A handsome species from South America, which varies from black and white to deep brown.
[Certain Indian species compose the Nisaetos of Hodgson.]
Finally, there are in Ameriea some Birds with beaks as in all the preceding ; very short, reticulated
tarsi, half-feathered in front ; wings shorter than the tail ; but the most distinctive character
of which consists in their nostrils, which are almost closed, and resemble a fissure. A small tribe may
be made of them, designated
The Cymindues {Cymindis, Cuv.).
Such is
The small Cayenne Hawk of Buffon (F. cayennensis, Gm.) ; which has another peculiar character, by possessing
a small tooth at the bend of its beak.
[F. hamatus, Illiger, ranged by the author in Cymindis, composes the Rostrhamus of Lesson ; its beak is very
narrow, the upper mandible resembling a long and slender claw : tail slightly furcate.
• This term was previously applied to a subgenus of Cheiroptera. — Ed.
170
AVES.
The Asturines {Asturina, Vieillot) —
Have been generally placed next. They have the nostrils lunulated ; the bill straight at its base ;
wings short, and the tarsi also short and somewhat slender.
A. cinerea, Vieillot, a species from Guiana, may be cited in exemplification.]
The Hawks {Astur, Bechstein ; Doedalion, Savigny), —
Which form the second division of the IgnoUes, have wings shorter than the tail, as in the last three
tribes of Eagles ; but their beak curves from its base, as in all that follow.
The Goshawks {Astur, as restricted)—
Have the tarsi [more distinctly] scutellated, and comparatively short.
The European Goshawk {F, palumbarius, Lin.), equals the Jer Falcon in size, but always stoops obliquely on its
quarry. Falconers, however, sometimes use it for the weaker kinds of game. It is common in the hilly andf
secondary mountain ranges of Europe. *
Among foreign Goshawks, we may notice that of New Holland (F. Novee Hollandice, White), which is ofteiif |
entirely snow-white ; but it appears that these white individuals constitute a variety only of a bird of the samel : t
country, pale ash-coloured above, white below, with vestiges of pale undulations. . If i
We may approximate to the Goshawk certain American Birds, with short wings and tarsi, the latter! 1
reticulated. [These are | '
The Nicaguas {Herpethotheres, Vieillot; Dcsdalion, Vigors), — ’
A strongly characterized division, interesting, as presenting evidently a modification of the peculiar ^
Osprey type, to which genus they alone appear to be allied. It is particularly desirable, therefore, that ^ j|
their anatomy should be ascertained.] |
The Nicagua of Azara, or Laughing Falcon, (F. cachinnans, Lin.) ; so named from its cry. From the marshes of
South America, where it preys on reptiles and fish. [Its colouring, and the texture of its plumage, are the same ^
as in the Osprey ; and it has similar short feathers on the tibia. F. ntelanops, Lath, and F. sufflator, Lin., apper-
tain to this division ; the latter, however, constituting the restricted Physeta of Vieillot.] |
The Sparrow-hawks {Nims, Cuv. ; \Accipiter, Ray] ) —
Have longer and more slender tarsi than the Goshawks, [still shorter wings, and the middle toe muchj|;
lengthened] ; but the passage from one to the other of these divisions is almost insensible.
Our common Sparrow-hawk {F. nisus, Lin.) has the same colouring as the Goshawk, but is much less in size ; !"
notwithstanding which it is employed in falconry. There are foreign species still smaller ; but also some that are jj
much larger, as j
The Chaunting Hawk {F-. musicus, Daud.), — a native of Africa, where it pursues Partridges and Hares, and L
builds in trees. It is the only bird of prey known that sings agreeably, [by which, however, cannot be meant that I
it infiects the voice, as in those Passerine Birds which have additional laryngeal muscles. This bird,— and there is
more than one species here confounded,— has a much weaker bill, and longer wings, than the true Sparrow-hawks ;
it has probably been made the type of a separate division.
The Gymnogenys of Vieillot may also be introduced here. It is a Hawk with very long wings, lengthened and
distinctly scutellated tarsi, and short toes, but the most distinctive character of which consists in its being naked
above the bill and on the cheeks. The only species, G. madagascariensis, is grey, with round black spots on the
wings, and the lower parts below the breast transversely rayed : it bears some resemblance to the Secretary.
The species of Hawks displays the maximum sexual disparity of size, in favour of the female.]
The Kites {Milvus, Bechst.) —
Have short tarsi, and feeble toes and claws, which, added to a beak equally disproportioned to their
size, render them the most cowardly of the whole group : they are further distinguished by their
excessively long wings, and by their forked tail, in consequence of which their flight is very swift
and easy.
Some have th-e tarsi very short, reticulated, and half-feathered above, like the last small tribe of j
Eagles : [their claws, save that on the middle toe, are rounded underneath]. Such are
The Elanets {Elanus, Savigny).
The Black-winged Elanet {F. melanopterus, Daud.) ; a common species from Egypt to the Cape, and which | !}
appears to be found in India, and even in America. [The American and New Holland species are distinct.] jj|
Insects are almost its sole prey. v i|
The Swallow-tailed Glede {F.furcatus, Lin.).— Larger than the preceding, [with wings excessively long, and tail 4, if '
ACCIPITRES.
171
deeply furcate]. It attacks reptiles [and the larger insects, and has been known to scrape out Wasps’-nests like
the Pern. Its talons are not rounded underneath, on account of which, together with other distinctive characters,
it is now generally recognized as constituting the Nauclerus, Vigors. This bird is indigenous to America, but
has been known to stray into Britain. It is social in its habits, and almost gregarious. A nearly allied African
species constitutes the Elanoides of Vieillot.]
The Kites, properly so called {Milvus, Cuv.)—
Have the tarsi scutellated and stronger, [and are very nearly related to the Ernes].
The Common or Red Kite {F. milvus, Lin.).— Of all European Birds, this remains longest and most tranquilly
on the wing. It scarcely attacks any thing but reptiles. [Another European species, not hitherto found in Britain,
where the first is fast disappearing, is
The Black Kite {M. ater, Gm.). — The author has likewise ranged here
The American Puttock (E. plumbeus, Lath.), or the Mississipi Kite of Wilson, which is referrible to Vieillot’s
genus Ictinia, now generally accepted. This forms an obviously distinct group, the members of which are much
more powerfully armed than the Kites, having a short and stout beak, the upper mandible of which is somewhat
angularly festooned, and talons comparatively developed. They prey, however, principally on the larger insects,
and occasionally on Snakes and Lizards : are most nearly related to the Elanets.]
The Perns {Pernis, Cuv.), —
Or Honey Buzzards, combine, with the weak bill of the Kites, a very peculiar character, in having the
space between the eye and beak, which in the rest of the genus Falco is naked, and only furnished
with some [radiating] bristly feathers, covered with close feathers disposed like scales ; their tarsi are
half-feathered above, and reticulated ; their tail even ; wings long, [the third quill being longest] ; and
their beak curved from its base, as in all that follow.
The Common Pern {F. apivorus, Lin.) pursues insects, and principally Bees and Wasps, [the combs of which it
scratches out of banks to feed on the maggots : in default of these, however, it will attack small warm-blooded
animals and reptiles. It runs with celerity on the ground ; is migratory ; and generally builds on the tops of
lofty beeches. Two or three additional species have been ascertained, all from the Eastern Continent].
The Buzzards {Buteo, Bechstein) —
Have long vangs, the tail even, the beak curved from its base, the interval between it and the eyes
without feathers, [at least such as the Perns exhibit], and the feet strong.
Some of them have the tarsi feathered to the toes [the Butdetes, Lesson]. They are distinguished
from the Eagles by having the heak curved from its base, and from the Hawks and Eagle-hawks by
their feathered tarsi and long wings. Europe possesses one.
The Rough-legged Buzzard {F. lagopus, Lin.), [of which F. Sancti JoJiannis, Auct., appears to be merely the
old individuals.*]— One of the most widely diffused of Birds, being found almost everywhere. [It frequents !
marshy tracts, and particularly rabbit-warrens, which it beats till very late in the evening.]
But the greater number of Buzzards have the tarsi naked [except on the upper half in front] and
scutellated. In Europe there is but one.
The Common Buzzard {F. buteo, Lin.).— The commonest and most noxious bird of prey throughout Europe. It
remains all the year in the forests, descends upon its prey from the top of a tree, and destroys much game.
Some species are crested, [have also naked cheeks, and reticulated tarsi. They are barely separable
from the CircdetL
The H^matokns {Hamatornis, Gould)].
F. bacha, Auct.— A very savage bird of Africa, which preys chiefly on the Uyraces. [Other naked-cheeked
Buzzards compose the Buteogallus, Lesson.]
The Harriers {Circus, Bechst.) —
Differ from the Buzzards in their more elevated [and very slender] tarsi, and by a sort of collar, which
the tips of the feathers which cover the ear form on each side of the neck. [These Birds frequent
open moorlands, over which they skim in search of prey very close to the ground, and nestle and
always roost on its surface.f]
* We have seen a British-killed specimen as dark as any from
America. — Ed.
+ Some systematists consider the Harriers to form a link from the
Falcons generally to the Owls ; but neither in the skeleton, as shown
by the sternal apparatus (fig. 72), nor in their digestive organs, do
they approximate the latter in the least degree. The structure of the
ear, resembling that of other Falcons, is shown at fig. 77. They are
most nearly related to the Hawks.
AVES.
i 172
There are only three species in France, which have been multiplied by the nomenclators on account of the varia-
tions of their plumage. [The Common, Montagu, and Marsh
Harriers are alluded to j besides which the C.pallidus, an abun-
dant Asiatic species, has recently been met with in the east of
Europe. There are numerous others.]
Finally,
The Sbceetary {Gypogeranus, Illig.), — »
Is an African bird of prey, the tarsi of -which are at least
double the length of those of the preceding, which has
induced some naturahsts to range it among the Waders;
but its thighs, entirely covered with feathers, its hooked
beak, projecting eyehds, and all the details of its ana-
Fig:. 77 —Ear of Harrier. tomy, concuT to placc it in the present order. Its tarsi
are scutellated, the toes proportionally short, and the circumference of the eyes naked; it has
a long rigid crest on the occiput, and the two middle feathers
of its tail extend far beyond the others. An inhabitant of the
arid and covertless plains in the neighhourhood of the Cape, it
pursues reptiles on foot, whence its claws become much worn.
Its principal strength is in the foot. It is the
Falco serpentqrius, Gm. — An attempt has been made to multiply the
breed in Martinique, where it might render the most important service
by destroying the lance-headed Vipers which infest that island. [This
bird, two if not three species of which are recognized, resembles the
Vultures in having fifteen cervical vertebrae. It offers no molestation to
poultry or other warm-blooded animals.]
Although a vast number of generic and subgeneric names have
been applied, the Diurnal Birds of Prey may be reduced to
comparatively few natural divisions. After detaching the Vul-
tures and the Secretary, the genera Pandion and Herpethotheres
may be signalized as forming a particular subdivision apart from
all the rest. The whole of the remainder then form an equiva-
lent natural group, the members of which scarcely differ anato-
mically. The most distinct subdivision is that of the Coronards,
whieh alone differ in the number of pelvic vertebrte, and in
having the outer toe reversible, as in the Ospreys and Owls. The
rest are little else than adaptive modifications of one another,
aceording in all their rudimental eharacters. We may commence
with the Falcon group, followed by that of the Hawks (or the
subdmsions Dcedalion, Asturina, Astur, Accipitevy and Gymnogenys) ; the Harriers naturally succeed,^ ^,
which lead by C. (Bruginosus to the Ernes, and then to the Kites {Milvus, as restricted); probably the* ' I
Buzzards and Eagles, which are hut arbitrarily separable, should next range, merging into the Eagle- ^
hawks ; or perhaps the Perns, followed by the Elanet group (including Ictinia). We are less satisfied of 1
the affinities of the Caracaras, of the Cymindues, and of the Marsh-eagles and Hsematoms, which last
group seems to approximate that of the Hawks.]
The Nocturnal Birds OF Prey Iff
Have the head large j very great eyes, directed forwards, and surrounded by a circle of 3li
fringed feathers, the anterior of which cover the cere of the beak, and the posterior the orifice of 1
the ear. Their enormous pupils permit so much light to enter, that they are dazzled in full day. jj '
Their skull, inflated, but of a slight substance, contains large cavities that communicate with the fl ;
ears, and probably assist the sense of hearing ; but their apparatus for flight is feeble, the furcula flii
offering but slight resistance : their feathers, with soft barbs, and delicately downy, make no (
noise in flying. The external toe can be voluntarily directed forward or behind. These Birds fly ( !
1
ACCIPITRES.
173
chiefly during twilight, or by the light of the moon. When attacked by day, or struck by the
appearance of some new object, they [the majority of them] do not fly off", but stand more
erect, assume grotesque attitudes, and make the most ludicrous gestures.
Their stomach is tolerably muscular, [as compared with the Falcons,] although their prey
is wholly animal, consisting of Mice, small birds, [even fish in some instances,] and insects ;
but IS preceded by a large craw, [an inadvertent statement
of the author, as the absence of any expansion of the
gullet, which is wide, but always of uniform diameter (see
fig. 79 o), invariably distinguishes the nocturnal from all the
diurnal birds of prey] ; the coeca {h) are long, and enlarged
towards the extremity, &c. Small Birds have a natural
antipathy to them, and assemble from all parts to assail
them; hence they are employed to attract Birds to the
snare. [It may be added, that their tarsi are in no in-
stance scaled, even when denuded of feathers, as in the
subdivision Ketupaj all of them lay round white eggs.]
They form one genus, that of
The Owls {Strix, Linn,), —
Which may be divided according to their head-tufts, the size of
their ears, the extent of the circle of feathers which surrounds
their eyes, and some other characters.
Those species which around the eyes have a large complete
disk of fringed feathers, itself surrounded by a circle or collar of
scaly feathers, and between the two a large opening for the ear
(see fig. 80), are more removed in their form and manners from
the diurnal Birds of Prey, than those in which the ear is small,
oval, and covered by fringed feathers which come from below
the eye. Traces of these differences are perceptible even in the
skeleton, [though only as regards the degree of stoutness of the
Fig.7fl.-AiimentarycanaiofanOwi:a,therinet>ones (sce figs. 81 and 84), there being no gradation ortransi-
devoid of any craw; b, the caeca.* Falcons, either in the skclcton or digestive organs.
The following arrangement of the Owls, based on the comparative size of the aperture of the ear, is
liable to the objection of dispersing some nearly allied groups, and approximating others that are less
so, which is almost necessarily the result of too exclusive attachment to any single character.]
Among the first species, we will distinguish
The Hiboux (Otus, Cuv.), —
Which have two tufts of feathers (vulg. horns) which they
can erect at will, and the ear-conch of which (fig. 80),
extends in a semicircle from the beak almost to the top of
the head, and is furnished anteriorly with a membranous
operculum. Their feet are feathered to the toes. Such, in
Europe, are
The Long-tufted Hibou {Str. otus, Lin.).— Very widely distri-
buted ; it inhabits woods, especially those of fir and other ever-
greens, and breeds generally in deserted Crows’ nests : and
The Short-tufted Hibou {Str. brachyotus, Lin.). — Found almost
every where, [if indeed the same species, which there is reason to
doubt : it inhabits open moors, breeds on the ground, and exhibits
trifling sexual disparity of size. This bird is scarcely, if at all,
dazzled by sun-light : it is the Brachyotus palustris of Gould].
We apply the designation of
Fig-. SO.— Ear of Hibou, as ol)served by raising its ante
riui- Hap.
Copied from M. M'Gillivray’s Rapacious Birds of Britain.
AVES.
174
Howlets {Ulula, Cuv.) —
To the species which have the beak and ear of the Hiboux, [the latter, however, less developed 1
(see fig. 83)] , but not the tufts. They are to be found in the north of both continents : for example.
The Cinereous Howlet {Str. lapponica,Gim.). — ^Almost as large as our Bubow. It inhabits the mountains of the ■
north of Sweden, [and Arctic America],
The Barred Howlet {Str. nebulosa, Gm.). — [A common bird of North America, very rare in Europe.]
The Restricted Owls {Striae^ Savigny) —
Have ears as large as in the Hiboux [but of a very different form], and furnished with a still larger
operculum ; but their elongated beak is only bent towards the end, while in all the other subgenera it
curves from the point. They have no head-tufts ; their tarsi are
feathered [and rather long] , but they have hairs only upon the toes :
[their middle claw is obtusely serrated : their sternum (fig. 81),
shorter than in the others, has its inner notch very slight, and often
obliterated.] The mask, formed by the fringed feathers that surround
the eyes, is greatly extended, which renders their physiognomy more
extraordinary than that of any other night-bird. The species common
in France,
The Barn Owl {Strix flammea, Lin., fig. 82), appears to be diffused over the
whole globe, [or rather, there are numerous species more or less distinguish-
able]. It builds in steeples, towers, &c. [and in places distant from the abode
of Man, where no hollow trees occur, in the burrows of quadrupeds. When
nestling in pigeon-houses, it offers no molestation to the other inhabitants,
Its manner of propagation is remarkable ; as it produces three or four sue- ;
cessive broods, two or more of which, of diiferent ages, commonly occur in ^
the same nest ; the young remaining much longer in the nest than those be-
longing to the other divisions, from which they differ in developing a firmer j
nestling plumage, similar to the adult garb, and which (as in the Hawks) is
not shed before the second autumn. This curious and
handsome bird is naturally familiar, and eminently worthy
of protection ; as it preys solely on small quadrupeds and
insects.]
Syrnium, Savigny.
The disk and collar of the preceding ; but the conch
(fig. 83) reduced to an oval cavity, that does not ex-
tend to half the height of the skull ; they have no
head-tufts, but their feet are feathered to the talons.
[Notwithstanding the authority of Cuvier, it is proper
to remark, that there is no appreciable difference be-
tween this and Ulula, — certainly none of generical
importance. The Bulaca of Hodgson appears also
to be synonymous.]
The Tawny Howlet (Strix aluco and stridula, Lin.). — A
common European bird, which nestles in the woods, or
frequently lays its eggs in the [deserted] nests of other
Birds, [though more commonly (if not always) in the hol-
lows of trees, where it abides by day. It is the species so
wtII known for its sonorous hootings. The young are clad
at an early age with downy feathers, which are succeeded
by the adult plumage previous to their first winter. Their
parents often feed them with fish.]
The Bubows (Bubo, Cuv.)—
Are species whieh, with as small a conch, and the
disk of feathers less marked than in the preceding, possess head-tufts. The known species have great ;
feet, feathered to the talons. [They differ from the Hiboux only in their superior size, and the smaU^I;;
ness of the auditory aperture.] Such is |
The European Bubow (Str. bubo, Lin.), or the Great-horned or Eagle-owl. — The largest of nocturnal Birds [01* t
Fig-. 81. — Sternum of Barn Owl.
ACCIPITRES.
175
which is exceeded in size only by others of this genus. It is little less than the Golden Eagle, and very destruc-
tive to Grouse, Hares, and even Fawns : inhabits the mountainous parts of Europe, and is seldom seen in
Britain.] Add
The American Bubow (Str. virginiana, Baud,)— [Smaller than the preceding, with the grey colour predominating
over the fulvous : the Arctic Eagle-owl of the Fauna Americana-borealis appears to be only a semi-albino variety.
Another species is
The Small-tufted Bubow {Str. ascalaphus, Savigny), inadvertently placed by the author in his division Otus, It
is proper to Asia and Africa, and is occasionally met with in the south-east of Europe. There are several more,
certain of which appear to compose the Huhua and TJrrhua of Hodgson.]
Other species occur, in which the aigrettes, wider apart and placed further backward, are elevated
with less facility above the horizontal line. Species occur in both continents ; as
Str. griseata, Shaw, from Guiana ; and Str. strepitanSf
Tern., from Batavia.
Noctua*, Savigny.
Neither tufts, nor an open and deeply set conch to
the ear ; the aperture of which is oval, and scarcely
longer than in other Birds : the disk of fringed fea-
thers is smaller and even less complete than in the
Bubows. Their relations to the diurnal Birds of
prey are evident, even in their habits, [but not in
their internal conformation].
Some are remarkable for a long cuneiform tail,
and have their toes densely feathered. They are
The Surns (Surnia, Dumeril) —
The Rayed Sum {Str.nisoria, Wolf; Str. funerea, Lin.).
— This, the best-known species, from the north of the
whole globe, is about the size of the Sparrow-hawk. It
Fig^. 83.— Howiet’s Ear. huuts more during the day than the night.
The species of the Uralian mountains {Str. uralensis,
j Pallas), is nearly as large as the Harfang. It also hunts during the day, and is sometimes seen in Germany. It
is probably the Hybris or Ptynx of Aristotle.f
j There is a species termed Arcadian {Str. acadica, Naum), but which belongs to the whole north of the Globe [? ]
I It is the smallest of its tribe, being hardly larger than a Sparrow. It does not avoid the light of day; but Le Vail-
lant has made known another, from Africa {le Choucou, No. xxxviii.), which, according to his account, is very
' nocturnal. [The former is the Str. passerina of Linnaeus, but not 0;
II Temminck, but not of Gmelin ; it is referrible to the Glaucidium of Boi^,
j and is not found in America: the Str. acadica, Gm., is peculiar to
j[ America, and pertains to a very dilferent subdivision, Nyctale of Brehm,
I the members of which are considerably more nocturnal in their habits
and adaptments. To the latter group the Choucou of Le Vaillant
i' should also probably be referred. Ninox of Hodgson seems to be iden-
■1 tical with Glaucidium.]
|i Others have the tail short, and the toes densely feathered :
i the largest of which, and also the largest night-bird without
head-tufts, is
|i The Harfang {Str. nyctea, Lin.), or Great Snowy Owl, which almost
:| equals the European Bubow in its dimensions. It inhabits the north
I of both continents, nestles on elevated rocks, and preys on Hares, Ca-
j! percalzies, and Ptarmigan. [This bird forms another very distinct
j! division, and is most nearly allied to the Bubows : like them, it does
possess head-tufts, which however are small and inconspicuous, though
1! we have seen the bird erect them ; its plumage is remarkably firm.
I The term Nyctea, Swainson, has been generically applied to it, with the
I specific appellation Candida.]
* This term is falling into disuse, from its having been previously
bestorved on a group of insects: it is moreover far from being feli-
citous, as applied to the most diurnal of the Owls. — Ed.
+ The Prince of Musignano places this remarkable bird in Syrnium.
I have never seen a speciTiien, but— to judge from Mr. Gould’s figure
of it, in the Birds of Europe, — should be disposed to elevate it to the
rank of a separate division (Ptyna); its large and complete ruff distin-
guishes it from Surnia, as its accipitrine form and lengthened tail do
from Syrnium or Ulula. — Ed.
176
AVES.
There are others very much smaller, — such as
Str. Tengtnalmi, Gm.— [These have an extended auditory conch, as in the Howlets, like which they are very ;
nocturnal, and unable to endure the light of day. The Nyctale of Brehm. The species indicated is peculiar to j
the Eastern Continent, that confounded with it in the fur-countries of North America, Str. Tengmalmi,
Richardson, being now dedicated to its enterprising discoverer.]
But the greater number of these small species have only
a few scattered hairs on the toes, [and are nearly allied to the
true Sums. They are the Athene, Boie]. Such is
Str. passerina, Gm. [and of British authors; Str. noctua, Lin.;
Athene noctua, Bonap.] — It nestles in old walls, [and frequently in
chimneys, and has been seen to pursue Swallows on the wing. A
remarkable exotic species, with very long tarsi, is the
Str. cunicularia, Molina, or the Burrowing Owl, as it has been
called ; but which, it is most probable, only appropriates the dwell-
ings of burrowing quadrupeds, as the Barn Owl is known to do
under similar circumstances ; the present species inhabiting the open
prairies of America, where there are no trees, and abounding in the
villages of the Prairie Marmots, as also in the burrows of the Vis-
cachas].
There are yet other Noetuce with unfeathered toes, which
approximate the Howlets in size. Cayenne supplies several fine
species, and particularly the three following : —
Str. cayennensis, Gm. ; Str. lineata, Shaw, or Str. albomarginata,
Spix; and Str. torquata, Baud.— The two first of these equal in size the Tawny Howlet, and the last is
still larger.
Finally, there are some in America, which have the tarsi, in addition to their toes, denuded of
feathers ; of which the
Str. nudipes. Baud., may be cited in illustration.
The Scops {Scops, Savigny), —
With ears proportioned to the size of the head, the incomplete disk and naked toes of the preceding,
combine aigrettes analogous to those of the Bubows and Hiboux.
One inhabits Europe {Str. scops, Lin.)— Scarcely larger than a Blackbird, [and there are many others].
Some foreign species occur of rather large size, with the legs, as well as the toes, naked. [They
constitute the subdivision Ketupa.~\ Such are
Str. Ketupa, Tern., and Str. Leschenaulti, Id., which may possibly prove to be identical. [These Birds are
essentially Bubows, with long and naked tarsi, the skin of which corrugates in dry specimens, so as to present
somewhat the appearance of being covered with reticulated scales, which is not the case. Their toes are very
rough underneath, as in the Ospreys ; and like them they prey chiefly on fish, and sometimes crustaceans. The
Cultrunguis of Hodgson appears to be a synonyme of this subdivision.
The great group of Owls falls naturally into three distinct sections, distinguishable at the
first glance ; and two of these sections comprehend species which differ exceedingly in the
magnitude of the external ear.
The first comprises all that are decorated with aigrettes, or what are popularly termed
Horned Owls j as the divisions Nyctea, Bubo, Ketupa, Scops, and Otus.
In the second section, the whole of the tuftless species should be brought together,
excepting those constituting the subdivision Strix of Savigny. They mainly differ in their
degrees of adaptation for nocturnal or semi-diurnal habits.
The third is composed of the restricted genus Strix, or the Barn Owls, and is much more
distinct from both the others, than the latter are inter se. The aspect of the living bird is
! very different in these ihree primary sections.]
PASSERINE.
177
THE SECOND ORDER OF BIRDS.
THE PASSERINE.
This is the most numerous order of the whole class. Its character seems, at first sight,
purely negative, for it embraces all those Birds which are neither swimmers, waders, climbers,
rapacious, nor gallinaceous. Nevertheless, by comparing them, a very great mutual resem-
blance of structure becomes perceptible, and particularly such insensible gradations from one
genus to another, that it is extremely difficult to establish the subdivisions.
They have neither the violence of the Birds of Prey, nor the fixed regimen of the Poultry
and Water-fowl ; insects, fruit, and grain, constitute their food, which consists more exclu-
sively of grain as the beak is stouter and stronger, and of insects as it is more slender. Those
in which it is strong even pursue other Birds.
Their stomach is a muscular gizzard. They have, generally, two small coeca : and it is
among them thstt we find the singing Birds, and the most complicated inferior larynx.
The proportional length of their wings and the power of their flight are as various as their
habits.
The adult sternum has ordinarily but one emargination on each side of its posterior border.
There are, however, two in the Rollers, Kingfishers, and Bee-eaters, [also in the Colies,
Motmots, and Todies, which the author includes in this group,] and none whatever in the
Swifts and Humming-birds.
We institute our first partition according to the feet, and have then recourse to the beak.
The first and most numerous division comprehends those genera in which the external toe
is connected to the middle one as far as the first or second joint only.
[This ordinal subdivision, properly restricted, is one of the most rigorously defined through-
out nature, quite as much so as that of the Parrots.
The entire skeleton, digestive and vocal organs, are peculiar ; and those genera included
by the author which differ in one particular differ also in the rest, and accord in all their
essential characters with another great group that follows.
The lower larynx is always complicated, and operated upon by four distinct pairs of
muscles ; besides which, the long sterno-tracheal pair — found in most other Birds — is gene-
rally present, but reduced to extreme tenuity. This character excludes the Cuvieran genera
Cypselus, Caprimulgus, Podargus, Colius, Coracias, Colaris, Upupa, Merops, Prionites, Alcedo,
Ceyx, Todus, and Buceros, — ten of which have also no intestinal coeca, and the three others
very large coeca, exactly resembling those of the Owls (fig. 79)* All the remaining genera,
except the Humming-birds, w'hich also require to be excluded, have two minute coeca.
With the sole exception again of the Humming-birds, which have the lower larynx diffe-
rently complicated, all singing Birds belong to this great order : the conformation alluded to
enables them to inflect and modulate the voice ; though there are many species, possessing
the same structure, which nevertheless utter only monotonous cries, and others of which the
notes are harsh and little varied ; even these, however, are very generally capable of being
taught to speak, to whistle airs, and to imitate almost any sound ; and in such individuals as
cannot be brought to do so, it by no means follows that there is any physical deficiency, as
indicated by the diversity noticeable in this respect in individuals of the same species : there
are indeed very few of them, if any, that do not sing, or utter some peculiar note or chatter
analogous to song, during the season of courtship.
The sternal apparatus, whether of a Swallow or Tree-creeper, a Promerops, Finch, Crow,
Thrush, or Manakin, presents invariably the same peculiar characters, with scarcely any modi-
fication. The long manubrial process in front between the coracoids, with slantingly truncate
bifurcate tip ; the costal process, expanding anteriorly much beyond the articulations of the
N
178
AVES.
Fig. 86. — Sternum of Haw Grosbealc.
ribs ; the single deep and angular posterior emargination, reduced to a foramen in some ; the"
long, slender, and curving furcula, with invariably a compressed vertical appendage; — all are
characters that at once indicate the '
present order, and exclude every,,
one of the genera that have been
enumerated.
They have constantly a large brain
and characteristic form of skull, ex-j.;,
cepting in one genus*; twelve tail-|^
feathers, another character which ,
excludes the genera Cypselus, Capri- -
mulgus, Podargus, Colins, Upupa,A
Trochilus, and Buceros j and their,,,
clothing feathers have rarely any';
trace of the supplementary plume, |
which is never developed beyond a |
few downy filaments. All of them |
hatched naked, and in nearly every instance from coloured or speckled eggs, larger at one end, .|
and in a nest constructed and generally interwoven by the parents, — extremely few other |
Birds doing more than heaping together a quantity of materials. ,
The toes are formed for perching ; and are always three before and one hindward, the |
outward and middle toes being in every instance connected to the first joint, and sometimes |
further.] (
The first family of this division is that of ' ■
'I,
The Dentirostres, — f'
Wherein the upper mandible is notched on each side toward the point.f It is in this family-;
that the greatest number of insectivorous Birds occur ; though many of them feed likewise
on berries and other soft fruits.
The genera are determined by the general form of the beak, which is stout and compressed
in the Shrikes and Thrushes, flattened in the Flycatchers, round and thick in the Tanagers, |
and slender and pointed in the Pettychaps group ; but the transitions from one to another of,
these forms are so gradual that it is very difficult to limit the genera.
[The study of the changes of plumage, and even colours and markings, affords considerable
assistance in determining the afiinities of the various genera, — more so, perhaps, than any,
other character.]
The Shrikes {Lanius, Lin.) —
Have a conical or compressed beak, more or less hooked at the point.
The Shrikes, properly so called, {Lanius, Vieillot) —
Have it triangular at the base, with compressed sides. They live in families [for a few weeks after the'
breeding season], fly irregularly and precipitately, uttering shrill cries ; nestle on trees [or in bushes] ;
lay five or six eggs, and take great care of their young. They have the habit of imitating, in the wild'
state, part of the songs of such Birds as live in their vicinity. The females [.’] and young are gene-
rally marked with fine transverse lines on the upper parts. :
Some have the upper mandible arched ; those in which its point is strong and much hooked, and in j
which the notch forms a small tooth on each side, manifest a degi'ee of courage and cruelty which has
led to their association with the Birds of Prey by many naturalists. In fact, they pursue other Birds,
and successfully defend themselves against the larger ones, even attacking the latter whenever they
intrude in the vicinity of their nest.
* Malurus; the different species of which are singularly variable I t No trace of this notch is ever visible in the bone, from which the
in this respect. I “ tooth” of certain Accipitres is a true process — Ed.
PASSERINiE. 179
There are four or five species of this subdivision in Europe, as
The Sentinel Shrike {L. excubitor, Lin.) — As larg-e as a Thrush, and ash-coloured above, white underneath : the
wings, tail, and a band crossing the eyes, black ; some white on the scapulars and tail. It resides ail the year in
France, [and is chiefly known as an uncommon winter visitant in Britain].
The Red-backed Shrike (L. collurio, Gm.) — Smaller, with the head and rump ash-coloured, the back and wings
reddish-brown, a black streak through the eyes, lower parts whitish, tinged with pinkish lilach, wings and tail dull
black, the side feathers of the latter white at the base externally. [Female, brown above, without transverse stria;, and
sometimes attaining the masculine livery with age.] It destroys other Birds, young Frogs, and a vast number of
insects, which it impales on the thorns of bushes, to devour at leisure, [a habit common to the whole genus, whence
they have derived the name of Butcher-birds. We may here remark that the Shrikes have great power of clutching
with their toes, and always hold their prey in one foot, resting on the tarsal joint of that foot, unless when they
have fastened it upon a thorn, when they pull it to pieces in a contrary direction. The present species feeds much
on small mammalia, as Shrews and the smaller Voles, captures insects on the wing in the manner of a Flycatcher,
and is a common summer visitant in the southern counties of England].
The Wood Shrike {L. rufus, Gm.)— Wings and tail nearly as in the preceding, the band across the eyes meeting
over the forehead, the head and neck bright rufous, back black, the scapulars, rump, and lower parts, white.
[Sexes almost similar. A summer visitant, of very rare occurrence in Britain. There are two others in Europe,
allied to the first, L. minor, Gm., and L. meridionalis, Tern. ; and many more in Asia, Africa, and America, some
of the former having shorter wings, and a longer and more cuneated tail.]
There are numerous exotic species with arcuated beaks, the points of which diminish by degrees, till it becomes
impossible to define the limits between them and the Thrushes.
The genus La7iio of Vieillot is founded on one of them, the edges of the upper mandible of which are slightly
angular. It is the Tan gar a mordore of Buffbn, {Tan. atricapilla, Gm.)
Various species with feeble bills constitute the Laniarius of Vieillot. (Gal. Ois. 143.)
The Vireoles (Vh'eo) of the same naturalist chiefly differ in the shortness and slenderness of the bill. [They con-
stitute a very distinct genus, consisting of the warblmg Flycatchers of North America, as Muscicapa olivacea,
Wils., and many proximate species, which are allied to the Pettychaps group (the restricted Sylvia, or Phillo-
pneuste) of Europe : they are to a considerable extent baccivorous.]
Other Shrikes have the superior mandible straight, and abruptly hooked at the tip. They are all
foreign, and grade towards the Fauvettes and other slender-billed Dentirostres.
[They constitute the Thamnophilus of Vieillot, as now generally accepted, wherein the plumage is soft and puffy,
and conspicuously barred across at all ages, these markings being in some instances broken into spots, as in the
nestling dress of the Thrushes, to which and the true Shrikes they are intermediate, passing to the Thrushes
through lanthocmcla. They are also related to the Antcatchers, and are indigenous to South America],
Some of them have a straight and very strong beak, the lower mandible of which is much inflated ;
As L. lineatus, Leach, {Zool. Misc. pi. vi.), Thamnophilus guttatus, Spix.
Others, again, with a straight and slender hill, are remarkable for their crests of vertical feathers ;
As L. plumatus, Shaw ; of which Vieillot makes his genus Prionops, and le Manicup of Buffon {Pipra albifrons,
Gm.), which has nothing in common with the ti’ue Piprce, beyond a more than usually prolonged junction of the
two outer toes. M. Vieillot makes of it his genus Pithy s. {Gal. 129.)
Among these Shrikes, more particularly so called, some other exotic subgenera, that differ more or
less, require to be specified. Such are
The Vangas {Vangd), Buffon, —
Distinguished by a large beak, very much compressed throughout, its tip strongly hooked, and that of
the lower mandible bent downward.
The Vanga {L. curvirostris, Gm.), and also some newly-discovered species, as V. destructor, Cuv., &c.
The Langareys {Ocypterus, Cuv. ; Artamus, Vieillot) —
Have the beak conical and rounded, without any ridge, somewhat arched towards the tip, with a very
fine point, slightly emarginated on each side. Their feet are very short, and the wings in particular
reach beyond the tail, which renders their flight similar to that of a Swallow ; hut they have the
courage of the Shrikes, and do not fear to attack even the Crow%
Numerous species inhabit the coasts and islands of the Indian Ocean, where they are continually seen on the
wing, flying swiftly in pmsuit of insects,* [They are unquestionably allied to the following.]
The Baritahs {Barita, Cuv. ; Cracticus, Vieillot) —
tiave a large and straight conical beak, round at its base, — where it extends circularly backward upon
* Consult a monograph of this genus, by M. Valenciennes, published in Mem. du Mus., tom. vi. p. 20.
N 2
180
AVES.
the forehead, occupying the site of the frontal feathers, — laterally compressed, and emarginated. The
nostrils, small and linear, are not surrounded by a membranous space. i
They are large birds of Australia and the neighbouring islands, which naturalists have arbitrarily dispersed in i
several genera. They are said to be very noisy and ciamorous, and pursue small Birds : [are also docile, and i
readily learn to whistle airs with remarkable power and execution]. ,
The Chalybeans {Chalyhcsus, Cuv.) — I
Have the beak similar to that of the Baritahs, except that it is rather less thick at the base, and the
nostrils are pierced in a large membranous space. The known species are indigenous to New Guinea, i
and are remarkable for their fine tints, resembling burnished steel. '
The Paradisian Chalybean (C. paradisteus, Cuv. ; Paradiscea viridis, Gm.). — The feathers on the head and neck
like curled velvet, which, together with the lustre of its hues, has caused it to be ranked among the Birds of
Paradise.
The Tufted Chalybean (C. cornutus, 111. ; Barita Keraudrenii, Lesson). — Two pointed tufts of feathers on the i
occiput ; and the trachea forms three circles before it reaches the lungs.*
The Psaras (Psaris, Cuv. ; Tetyra, Vieillot,) —
Have a conical beak, very thick, and round at its base, but not extending backward upon the forehead; j
the point is slightly compressed and hooked. i
The species inhabit South America, and that best known is j
The Cayenne Vsara (Lanius cayanus, Gm.), which is ash-coloured, with the head, wings, and tail, black. Its ]
manners resemble those of the Shrikes. There are many others. !
The Choucaris {Graucalus, Cuv.) — \
Have the bill less compressed than in the Shrikes, the ridges of its upper mandible sharp, and regu- i
larly arcuated throughout its length ; the commissure of the beak is slightly arched. The feathers
which sometimes cover the nostrils have occasioned them to have been approximated to the Crows,
but the emargination of the beak removes them from that genus [ ? ]
They inhabit, like the Baritahs, the remotest parts of the Indian Ocean. Some have very brilliant plumage, and
compose the Pirola of Temminck, or Ptilonorhynchus, Kuhl, founded on the head-feathers being more like velvet.
Sphecotheres, Vieillot, only diifers from the others in being rather more naked round the eyes.
To the Choucaris may be approximated one of the most beautiful of the birds lately discovered in those regions,
the Coracias puella, Lath. ; Irena puella, Horsf. ; Drongo azure, Tern. ; a Javanese species, of a velvet black, the
back of which is of the most splendid ultramarine blue that can possibly be imagined.
The Bethules {Bethylus, Cuv. ; Cissopus, Vieillot).
The beak thick, short, uniformly bulging, and slightly compressed towards its tip.
We know but of one, which has the form and colours of our common Magpie— leverianus, Shaw ;
L. picatus, Latham).
The Falconets (Falcunculus, Vieillot) —
Have a compressed beak, almost as high as long, with the ridge of the upper mandible arcuated. [They
are merely Tits, with a somewhat shrike-like hill, and resemble our common Pari in their manners,
notes, nidification, eggs, and plumage].
The Crested Falconet {Lanius frontatus, Latham).— Size of a Sparrow, and nearly the same colours as our com-
mon Great Tit : the coronal feathers of the male form a crest. It inhabits New Holland. [Some of the Malaconoti
are nearly allied.]
The Pardalotes {Pardalotus, Vieillot) —
Have a short beak, slightly compressed, the upper mandible with a sharp arcuated ridge, and its tip
emarginated. They are very small birds, with a short tail.
The best-known species {Pipra punctata, Shaw), is partly sprinkled with white, like an Amaduvat. From
New Holland, [where there are many others].
The Flycatchers {Muscicapa, Lin.) — -
Have the beak horizontally depressed, and armed with bristles at its base, with the point more or less
decurved and emarginated. Their general habits are those of the Shrikes ; and, according to their size,
they prey on small Birds or Insects. The most feeble of them pass by insensible gradations into the
slender-billed warblers. We divide them as follow.
* This is tlie only modification of the trachea we have heard of among the Passerince. — Ed. |
PASSERINiE.
181
The Tyrants {Tyrannus, Cuv.) —
Have a long, straight, and very stout bill ; the ridge of the upper mandible straight and blunt ; its
point abruptly hooked. They are American birds, of the size of our Shrikes and equally spirited,
which defend their young even against Eagles, and drive all Birds of prey from the vicinity of their
nest. The largest species prey on smaller birds, and do not always disdain those they find dead.
[They have even been observed to plunge after fish in the manner of a Kingfisher; and have been
sometimes noticed to throw up their food and catch it in the throat, as in the Toucans, Hornhills, &c.
The species are extremely numerous, and have been further subdivided by different systematists. Thus, several
with extremely furcate tails compose the Milvulus, Swains,, and the smaller and weaker species the Tyrannula of
the same nomenclator : the latter grade into the Kinglets. Others constitute the Platyrynchus, Vieillot, &c. The
majority have yellow or red coronal feathers, somewhat as in the Kinglets.]
The Moucherolles {Muscipeta, Cuv.) —
Have a long beak, very much depressed, and twice as broad as high, even at the base ; the ridge of the
upper mandible very obtuse, but sometimes however the reverse ; the edges slightly curved, the points
and emargination feeble, and long vibrissse at the gape.
Their weakness disables them from preying on aught but insects. All of them are foreign ; and
many are ornamented with long tail-feathers or with fine crests, or at least have vivid colours on the
plumage.
[Se\'eral different natural groups are here brought together: the term is now generally restricted to some beau-
tiful birds of the eastern hemisphere, the males of which have crimson and black plumage, and long even tails, the
females being yellow where the male is red ; their colours are distributed as in the Redstarts, and there are other
birds of similar form and colouring, but stouter and larger, which compose the PJuenicornis, Gould.]
Some species approximating the Moucherolles [or rather the Tyrants], —
The Flatbills {Platyrynchus, Vieillot), —
Are remarkable for having the bill still broader and more depressed.
[They have been confused by many writers with the Todies, a wddely separated genus, that does not even possess
the distinctive characters of the Passerince. They have also been ranged under many named minor subdivisions.]
Others, which have also the beak broad and depressed, are distinguished by their longer legs and
short tail. They compose the genus
Conopophaga, Vieillot, —
Of which but two or three species are known, all from America, that subsist on Ants, which has cfmsed
them to be ranged with the small tribe of Thrushes termed Antcatchers.
The Restricted Flycatchers {Muscicapa, Cuv.) —
Have shorter bristles at the gape, and the bill more slender than in the Moucherolles. It is still,
however, depressed, with an acute ridge above, a straight edge, and the point a little curved downward.
[They are closely related by affinity to the Chats and Redstarts, as are also the Moucherolles, and have
similar mottled nestling plumage, a character that does not occur in the great Tyrant group.
Four species inhabit Europe, migrating southward in winter.]
The Grey Flycatcher (if/, grisola, Gm.)— Grey above, whitish underneath, with some greyish streaks on the
breast. [It is very common throughout Britain, seldom arriving before May : one of the least musical of our
native Birds. Its legs are shorter than in the following, and general character different : hence, with some others
from Africa, it composes the But alls of Boie.]
The Collared Flycatcher {M. albicolUs, Tern.), is very remarkable for the changes of plumage [or rather of
colouring only] which the male undergoes seasonally. Resembling the other sex in winter, that is to say, grey [on
the upper parts] with a white patch on the wing, it attains towards the nuptial season an agreeable distribution of
pure black and white, the head, back, wings and tail, being of the former colour, and the forehead, a collar round
the neck, a great patch on each wing, a smaller one in front of it, and the outer edge of the tail, white. It nestles
in the trunks of trees.
Another species subject to the same changes has more recently been discovered, in which the neck of the male
is black like the back in the nuptial season, and which wants the small white spot on the edge of the wing. It is
the Pied Flycatcher (M. luctuosa, Tern.), which is found further northward than the other. [This species is
remarkable for its local distribution in the British islands, being very common near the lakes of the north of
England, and of rare occurrence elsewhere. It is doubtful whether the other ever occurs here. They are said to
differ in their notes, and both lay blue eggs, whereas the Grey Flycatcher lays whitish eggs spotted with brown.
The two pied species are also comparatively musical.]
AVES.
182
The fourth was discovered in Germany, [in some parts of which it is common It is smaller than the others, with
plumage resembling that of a Robin ; constitutes the division Erythrosterna of Bonaparte],
The beak of the Flycatchers becomes more and more slender, till it finally approaches that of some
Kinglets.
Some species, wherein the ridge of the upper mandible is more raised, and arched towards the tip,
lead to the Chats and Wheatears. Certain of these appear to compose the Drimophilus of Temminck. ^
There are also several genera or subgenera closely allied to different links of the great series of
Flycatchers, although they much surpass them in size. Such are
The Bald Tyrants {Gymnocephalus, Geof.), —
Which have nearly the same beak as the Tyrants, only that its ridge is rather more arcuated,
and a great part of the face is destitute of feathers.
We know but of one species, from Cayenne, as large as a Crow, and the colour of Spanish snuff.
The Dragoon-birds {Cephalopterus, Geof.) —
Have, on the contrary, the base of the bill adorned with feathers, which, radiating at top, form a large
crest resembling a parasol.
Only one species is known, from the banks of the Amazon ; of the size of a Jay, and black: the feathers on the
lower part of its breast form a sort of pendent dewlap— (C. ornata, Geoff. ; Coracina cephaloptera, Vieillot ;
Cor. ornata, Spix.)
The Cotingas {Ampelis, Lin.) —
Have the beak compressed, as in the generality of Flycatchers, but proportionally rather shorter, tole-
rably wide at base, and slightly arcuated.
Those in which it is strongest and most pointed, retain a very insectivorous regimen. They are
named
PiAUHAUS {Querula, Vieillot) —
From their cry, and inhabit America, where they live in flocks in the woods, and pursue insects. j
I
Such are the Common Piauhau {Muscic. rubricollis, Gm.), black with a purple throat ; and the Great Piauhau, ,
entirely purple, {Cotinga rouge, Vaillant ; Coracias militaris, Shaw). The Grey Cotinga (Amp cinerea) resembles =
the Piauhaus rather than the genuine Cotingas. The Golden-throated Piauhau (Coracias scutata, Lath., or Co-
racina scutata, Tern.), has a smaller beak, and approximates the Bald Tyrant.
The Restricted Cotingas {Ampelis, Vieillot), — ;;
In which the beak is rather weaker, feed on berries and soft fruits, in addition to insects. They inhabit !
humid places in South America ; and the greater number are remarkable, at the breeding season, for .i
the splendour of the azure and purple which adorn the males. During the rest of the year both sexes 1
are grey or brown.
The Scarlet Cotinga (A. carnifex, Lin.)— Crown, rump, and belly scarlet ; the rest brownish-red : fourth quill of ’
the wing narrowed, shortened, and tough or horn-like. The Pompadour Cotinga (A. pompadora, Lin.).— Of a j
lovely reddish purple, with white quill-feathers. The Blue Cotinga (A. cotinga, Lin.). — Splendid ultramarine, with I
a violet breast, frequently traversed by a large blue band, and spotted with dark yellow. There are others equally \
handsome. |
The Tersines ( Tersim, Vieillot) —
Are Cotingas with the beak wider at its base. As !
The Tersine of Buffon (Amp. tersa, Gm. ; Procnias tersina. Tern., or Pr. hirundinacea, Swainson). |
The Caterpillar-hunters {Ceblepyris, Cuv. ; Campephaga, Vieillot), — i
With the beak of the Cotingas, have a singular character, whieh consists in the somewhat prolonged, ^
stiff, and spiny shafts of their rump-feathers. They inhabit Africa and India, and feed upon Caterpil- ]
lars, which they find on the highest trees ; but they have none of the brilliancy of the Cotingas. Their '
tail, somewhat forked in the middle, is rounded at the sides. ^
Such are the Grey and Black Caterpillar-hunters of Vaillant (the former of which is the Muscic. cana, Gm.). The ,
Yellow C. of the same naturalist is the young of Turdus phenicopterus,Tem. Add C. fimbriatus. Tern. Col. 249, 250.
r
We may also distinguish j;
The Waxwings {Bombycilla, Brisson), — '
The head of which is adorned with [ereetible] feathers, longer than the rest, and they have besides )
PASSERlNiE.
183
a singular character in the secondary quills of the wing, the ends of which [at least in two of the three
species, are converted into] smooth, oval, red disks, [much resembling red sealing-wax].
There is one in Europe, the Common Waxwing {Amp. garrulus, Lin.), [and which also occurs in Ameidca west-
ward of the Rocky Mountains, and in Asia to China and Japan.] It is less than a Thrush, with soft vinous-grey
plumage, the throat black ; tail black, tipped with yellow, [with minute scarlet lobes resembling those on the wing-
secondaries in old specimens*, wherein the primary quills also are each terminated with white, forming a series of
transverse markings] ; wings black, variegated with white [and yellow]. This bird appears in flocks, at long inter-
vals, and without regularity, from which circumstance its presence was long considered an evil omen. It is not
timorous, is easily captured and kept in captivity, eats of every thing, and a great quantity, [but in the wild state
is principally baccivorous, and in times of necessity has been seen to eat the buds and sprouts of various trees :
it flies rapidly, and has a low warbling song]. This bird is supposed to breed very far to the north. Its flesh is
esteemed good eating.
There is a very similar but smaller species in America {Amp. garrulus, B., Lin. ; A. americana, Wils. ; B. caro-
Brisson ; B. cedrorum,Niei\\oi), [the Cedar-bird of the Anglo-Americans: it inhabits eastward only of
the Rocky Mountains.]
A third, in Japan {B. phoenicoptera, Tern.), has no wax-like appendages to the wings, and the tail and lesser
wing-coverts are tipped with red. [Its size equals that of the first.]
M. M. Hofmansegg and lUiger have separated, with equal propriety, —
The Campanero and some others {Procnias, Hof.), —
Wherein the beak, weaker and more depressed, opens nearly as far as the eye. They are indigenous
to South America, and subsist on insects.
They require to be subdivided into
The Campaneros {Procnias, as restricted), —
Which have feathered throats.
One species {Amp. carunculata, Gm.), distinguished by a long soft caruncle at the base of its beak, is white when
adult, greenish when young. [This is the celebrated Campanero or Bell-bird of Guiana, the loud sonorous voice
of which, heard from time in the depths of the forest, during the stillness of mid-day, exactly resembles the tolling
of a bell.]
Others,
The Averanos {Casmarhynchus, Tem.), —
Have naked throats.
There is one in which the naked part of the throat of the male is covered with fleshy caruncles : the Averano of
Buffon {Amp. variegata, Lin.). Another {Procn. araponga, Pr. Max ; Casm. ecarunculatus, Spix) has some small
thinly-scattered feathers on the same place. These birds also are white in the adult state, and have the females
and young greenish.
Finally, we place at the end of the Cotinga group,
The Gymnodes {Gymnoderes, GeolF.), —
The beak of which is only a little stouter, but the neck is partly naked, and the head covered with
velvety feathers.
The species known is from South America, and in great part frugivorous. It is the size of a Pigeon, and black,
with bluish wings. (The Gracula nudicollis, Sh. ; Corvus nudus and Gracula fetida, Gm.). — N.B. M. Vieillot
brings the Choucaris, Gymnode, and Dragoon-bird together, to form his genus Coracina.
The Drongos {Edolius, Guv. ; Dicrurus, Vieillot) —
Also pertain to the great series of Flycatchers. Their beak is equally emarginated and depressed, its
upper ridge acute ; but they are distinguished by having both mandibles slightly arcuated throughout
their length : the nostrils are covered with feathers, besides which there are long hairs forming mous-
taches. [These interesting birds exhibit a flycatching modification of the great corvine type].
The species are numerous in the countries bordering the Indian Ocean, and are generally glossy black, with a
forked tail, [the outermost feathers of which are often extremely long, with a naked shaft except at the base and
tip : they are gregarious, assembling towards the evening, and subsist on insects, particularly Bees and Wasps, for
which they hawk in the vicinity of the hive ; are popularly termed Devil-birds']. It is said that some of them sing
as finely as a Nightingale.
The genus Sparactes of Illiger was founded on a disguised specimen of one of these birds, decorated with feathers
not its own by a dealer, and the legs of a Hoopoe.
* This tends to corroborate a remark in p. 156, wherein the tail-feathers are stated to correspond to the wing-secondaries, excepting the
middle pair, or uropygials, which represent the wiug-tertiaries.— Ed.
184
AVES.
The Phibalures {Phibalura, Vieillot)—
Have an arcuated ridge to the bill, as in the Drongos, but the beak is shorter than the head. | \
The only known species {Ph. flavirostris, Vieillot) inhabits Brazil, and has a deeply-forked tail ; its plumage is |
spotted with black and yellow, and there are some red feathers on the head, which recal to mind the j
Tyrant Flycatchers. [This is a very curious species, which is closely related to the Swallows, as well as the Cotinga ■>
group, and to the Tyrants.] I !
The Tanagers (Tanagra, Lin.) — ji
Have a conical beak, triangular at its base ; the upper mandible emarginated towards the tip, with its
ridge arcuated ; wings and flight short. They resemble the Sparrow tribe in their habits, and feed on i
grain as well as on insects and berries. The greater number are conspicuous in our collections for i
their brilliant colours. [All are peculiar to America.] We subdivide them as follow : —
The Lindos {Euphonia, Vieillot 1) —
Or Bullfinch Tanagers, which have a short beak when viewed vertically, bulging on each side of its
base : their tail is proportionally shorter than in the others.
Such are the Tanagra violacea, cayennensis, diademata, viridis, chrysogaster [and several others. The Spanish
name Lindo, applied by Azara, intimates their brilliancy].
The Finch-tanagers {Habia, Vieillot) —
Have a thick, bulging, conical bill, as broad as high, the upper mandible of which is rounded above. j
Such are Tan. flammiceps, Pr. Max., T. superciliosa, psittacina, and atricollis, Spix, &c.
II
The Tanagers, properly so called, —
Have a conical beak, shorter than the head, as broad as high, the upper mandible arcuated and slightly !l
pointed.
T. episcopus, multicolor, and numerous others [many of them remarkable for the variety of contrasting, brilliant
hues, which variegate and adorn their plumage].
T. talas and some others have been separated by Mr. Swainson under the name Aglaia. i
The Ortole-tanagers {Tachyphonus, Vieillot), —
Have the beak conical, arcuated, pointed, and notched towards the tip.
T. cristata, Tern., of which T. brunnea, Spix, is the young, and various others.
The T. gularis andpileata, Tern., and T. speculifera, Spix, approximate the Bec-fms in the slenderness of their
bills. “ Mr. Swainson makes of them his genus Spermagra.’^
The Pyranga of Vieillot is founded on an individual deformity. We will designate his species T. cyanictera.
In the Palmiste, Buff., the emargination of the upper mandible is very slight, and it almost entirely disappears ^
in a proximate species, of which M. Vieillot has formed his genus Icteria. This bird is the Pipra polyglotta,
Wilson, [a very curious species, the affinities of which are by no means obvious]. It conducts to the Weavers.
The Cardinal-tanagers \_ {Pyranga, as now generally accepted)], —
Have a conical and slightly bulging beak, with an obtuse salient dentation on each side.
T. mississipiensis, Tern., or T. testiva, Wils. Also T. rubra and T. ludoviciana, Wils., &c.
Lastly,
The Rhamphocele-tanagers {Jacapa, Vieillot), —
Have a conical beak, the rami of the lower mandible of which are enlarged behind.
Such are T. jacapa and brazilia, Tern., and T. nigrogularis, Spix.
[We may remark that the great group of Tanagers is simply a ramification of the Cotinga family,
peculiar to the same restricted locality.]
The Thrushes {Tkirdus, Lin.) —
Have the beak arcuated and compressed ; but its point is not hooked, and the lateral emargination
does not produce so marked a dentation as in the Shrikes. Nevertheless, as already stated, there are
gradual transitions from one to the other of these genera.
The regimen of the Thrushes is more frugivorous : they feed much on berries, and their habits are
solitary. [The majority are however gregarious during the winter ; and some (as our common Field-
fare) even throughout the year.]
Tlie name of Merle is applied to those species, the colours of which are uniform or distributed in large masses.
[They are generally also more bulky ; but pass, by insensible gradations, into the spotted-breasted Tlirushes.]
PASSERINiE.
185
\|
The Black Merle, or Blaclibird (T. merula, Lin.)— Male entirely black, with the bill and eyelids yellow; female
blackish brown, reddish and more or less spotted on the breast, [beak seldom wholly yellow. The plumage is soft,
and wings short and rounded]. A mistrustful species, which however is easily tamed, and sings finely, having
even been taught to speak. [It is generally seen in pairs, and is at no season gregarious : appears to be peculiar
to Europe, being replaced by an allied species ( T. p
are long and robust) black. The female has no black on the moustaches and under tail-coverts, and is every where
less bright ; and the young have a broad black stria along the back. Stripped of the feathers, this species appears
singularly small, with disproportionally large legs : its apparent size is that of a Whitethroat.
The Bearded Reedling subsists on reed seeds during the season, and feeds very much on small shelled mollusks,
which it finds among the aquatic herbage ; its nest and eggs, placed in a tussock of grass, or among the sedges, a
good deal resemble those of a Bunting, and the brood appears to follow the parents till the return of spring.]
The Pendulines [ {Mgithalus, Vigors) ] —
Have the beak more slender and pointed than in the Tits, and are celebrated for their artificially-
constructed nests.
There is one in Europe {Par. pendulinus, Lin.). — Ash-coloured, with brown wings and tail ; a black band across i
the forehead, which, in the male, is continued to behind the eyes. This small species, an inhabitant of the east
and south of Europe, is noted for its admirable purse-like nest, composed of willow or poplar down, and lined with I
feathers, which it suspends to the flexile branches of aquatic trees. i
The Buntings {Emberiza, Lin.) —
Possess an exceedingly distinct character in their short, straight, and conical beak, the upper man-
dible of w’hich, narrower and more retracted at its edges than the inferior, has a hard projecting^ |
palatal tubercle. They are granivorous birds, easily ensnared.
[Of fourteen European species, three are common in Britain, a fourth along the southern coast, not far from the^ |
sea, and a fifth sometimes occurs as a very rare straggler. The form is peculiar to the eastern hemisphere,*'!
though there are some nearly allied species in North America. All are unmusical birds, that feed their young on
insects, and consume much unripe corn. |
Of the British species, the Corn Bunting {E. miliaria, Lin.) is the largest, and coloured like a Lark ; beakE||
stouter than in the others, and yellow in summer, horn-colour in winter ; plumage of both sexes alike : frequents Mii
inclosures. The male Yellow Bunting (E. is distinguished by its clear yellow crown and breast, and*
abounds everywhere upon hedges and furze-brakes. The Cirl Bunting {E. cirlus) is allied to the yellow species, W
but smaller and shorter, with a black throat; particularly frequents the summits of elms, but breeds in theiSi
hedges, and is rarely seen far inland. The Reed Bunting {E. sch if
sort of relationship with the Honeyguides (near which some systematists place them), being true Passerin<^J] |
The Cassicans {Cassicus, Cuv.) — ' f
Have a large beak, exactly conical, thick at the base, and singularly sharp at the point ; small round^.^
nostrils pierced at its sides ; the commissure of the mandibles forming a broken line, or an angle as intii
the Starlings. They are American birds, with manners approaching those of our Starlings, [at least “l!
some instances,] frequently construct their nests close together, and sometimes with much art. Theyi p
subsist on insects and grain, and the numerous flocks of them commit great ravages in the cultivated!
districts. I
We subdivide them into S
The Cassicans, properly so called, (Cassicus, as restricted), 4 '
Wherein the beak mounts upon the forehead, encroaching circularly on the plumage. The largestl'l
species are included in this group.
[Some are very superior songsters, and rival the Mocking-bird m mimicry.] ^ ,
The Baltimores {Icterus, Cuv.) — ■ «
Have the beak arcuated throughout its length, and forming only a pointed notch on the forehead. ;[
[This name is now generally applied to the Baltimore-birds of North America, with some proximate species from j ii
the southern continent. They do not congregate, and build an elegant pensile nest, as do also the preceding.^
The males are several years attaining their mature colouring.] w|
The Troopials {Xanthornus, Cuv.) «||
Only differ from the last in having the beak straight. ,1 '
"I- |l
[Certain of these, the true Troopials (Aglaius, Swainson), have a comparatively short beak, thick at the base.j|r
Their habits are those of the Starlings, and they are exceedingly destructive in the maize plantations : they breed^ ||
in small societies, sometimes on or near the ground, and where opportunities occur, in the interstices of the^ fl
massive nests of the Osprey ; it is said that the proportions of the sexes in these little communities are very irre- :^ I
gular, which would intimate that they do not pair*; a circumstance the less unlikely, from their close affinity to^^ ^
the next, or ^ :
The Molothrahs {MolotJirus, Swainson) ; of which two species are now known, both parasitic in their mode of 1 1
propagation, depositing their eggs in the nests of other birds, like the Cuckoo of Europe : these certainly do not I
mate. They are distinguished by a still shorter bill, and differ little in their habits from the Troopials. )
Several other natural subdivisions have been instituted, of which the Bobalinks, or Rice-birds, have been already |
noticed (p. 199). The Chewinks (P«joz7o, Vieillot,) with a bulging sparrow-like bill, pertain to the same group ;
and there are others which approximate the Crows, as the divisions Quiscalus, Scolephagus, &lc., and even the ^ ii
Larks, as Sturnella, Swainson, the members of which have the beak obtusely pointed, like the true Starlings, andw|
are nearly related to the Bobalinks]. | ^
PASSERINiE.
203
The Oxyrynchus, Tern.,
Has a conical and very sharp bill, [not thick, and] shorter than the head.
The only known species (Ox. Tern.), has a partly red crest, like many Tyrants. [The affinities of
this bii’d are most puzzling. It obviously belongs to the distinct division Passerinecies.
Those especially which have a crest, are extremely variable. [The size is in general much less than in the others,
and form more slender : the naked parts are often beautifully coloured]. The trachea, at least in the crested
species, descends under the skin far behind the posterior edge of the sternum, ascends, is again flexed, and then
continues its course towards the fourchette, through which, as usual, it gains access to the lungs. In one crestlcss
species (Pen. marail, Tern.), greenish-black, with a fulvous belly, (which appears very distinct,) the trachea forms
in both sexes a curve at the upper part of the sternum, before it enters the lungs.
The Parra q,uas {Ortalida, Merrem) —
Merely differ from the Guans in having no naked skin about the head.
One species only is known, of a bronzed brown above, whitish gray beneath, and rufous on the head, (the Ca-
Fig. 108. — ^The Yellow-billed Curassow.
GALLIN.dE.
225
traca, Buifon ; Phasianus motmot, Gmelin ; Pli. poA'raqua, Lath).
The cry of this bird is very loud, and articu-
lates its name. The trachea of the male descends beneath the skin as low as the abdomen, and then ascends to
enter the thorax.
With these different Curassows has been generally associated
The Ho AZIN {Opisthocomus, Hofmansegg,) —
I An American bird, which has the same port, and a short and thick bill, with nostrils pierced in its
corneous substance, without any membrane. The head is adorned with an occipital crest of long fea-
thers, very narrow and thinly barbed ; and what distinguishes it from all the true Poultry, is the total
absence of membrane between the toes. ’
This bird is the Phasianus aistatus, Lin. ; of a greenish-brown, variegated with white above, the front of the
neck and tip of the tail fulvous, and the belly chestnut. It is found in Guiana, perching along the margin of
inundated places, where it subsists on leaves and the seeds of a species of Arum. Its flesh smells strongly of
castor, and is only employed as a bait for particular fishes. It forms a genus very distinct from any other among
the Poultry, and when its anatomy is known, may become the type of a particular family.
[This very curious bird is perhaps the most insulated species of the whole class : its eyelashes, and reticulated
tarsi, help to separate it externally from the Poultry ; and its anatomy is altogether unique, exhibiting a peculiar
adaptation for deriving nutriment exclusively from foliage. The crop, of enormous dimensions, hollows out, as
it were, the pectoral muscles and anterior portion of the sternal keel, occupying a great heart-shaped cavity, and
extending backward half-way along the trunk and at least four-fifths the length of the sternal apparatus ; it
receives the superior portion of the oesophagus on the left side, and on the right is succeeded by an inflated canal,
five inches and a half long, constricted like the human colon, and terminated by the proventricuius, to which
follows the gizzard, which latter is no bigger than an olive, with its muscular coat scarcely thickened ; the intes-
tines are moderately long, and coeca an inch. The sternal crest, so deeply cut away in front, forms a slight ridge
anteriorly, which is continued forward into a very long bony apophysis, tliat is soldered with the furoula ; the
hindward emai’ginations are inconsiderable, the exterior pair being commonly reduced to a foramen, or even quite
ossified. This bird is not naturally wild, and is observed in small flocks, which commonly perch side by side on
some branch, always in marshy situations.* It appears to have only ten tail-feathers.
We now arrive at the normal series of Poultry-birds, which have the hind- toe small and
elevated.]
The Peafowl {Pavo, Lin.), —
ij So named (Paon) from their cry, and which are characterized by a crest of peculiar form, and by the
I tail-coverts of the male extending far beyond the quills, and being capable of erection into a broad and
I gorgeous disk. The shining, lax, and silky barbs of these feathers, and the eye-hke spots which
j decorate their extremities, are well known to every one, as exemplified in
!j The Indian Peafowl (P. indicus, Lin.), the head of which is adorned with an aigrette of narrow vertical feathers,
[ widened at the tips. This superb bird, originally from the north of India, [where it still exists abundantly in a
I state of nature], was introduced into Europe by Alexander. The wild specimens even surpass the domestic ones
|! in brilliancy. The blue extends over the back and wings, instead of the common barred markings ; and then-
jl train is still longer. [We have seen domestic Peacocks with these characters, which however are not attained by
jl the greater number; and have also observed wild-shot birds like the ordinary breed, which it may be suspected
' had not acquired their final colouring ; the developement of which would seem to be generally arrested in the
i former, so much so that we have seen an individual more than eighteen years of age, that did not difl’er from the
I common farm-yard specimens].
The Japanese Peafowl (badly named by Linnaeus P. as it possesses spurs), is a distinct species, the
! aigrette of which is composed of long and narrow feathers ; its neck is green instead of blue, and undated or
gilded : train scarcely dilfering from that of the other.
[The additional species ranged by the. author among the Peafowl are distinct enough, and now
jj generally known as
I The Pea-pheasants (Polyplectron, Tem.).
I They are much smaller, and particularly remarkable for the tarsi of the male bearing two or more
'j spurs.] The tail-coverts, which do not extend beyond the tail, and are w^ebbed in the ordinary manner,
i have two brilliant metallic spots, and the wing-tertials have sometimes single ones,
j [Three or four species are known, from the mountains of eastern Asia ]
The Impeyan {Lophophorus, Tem.).
The head surmounted by an aigrette like that of a Peafowl, and a similar flat tail, the coverts of which,
* L’Herminier, in Annales des Sciences Naturelles for 1837. | which was afterwards continued, this bird having no harsh cry like
! t We suspect that this name originated in a misprint for mutiis, I the other. — Ed.
Q
226
AVES.
however, are not prolonged. It also resembles the Peafowl in the brilliancy of the colours of the
with stout spurs. [The upper mandible very much overhangs the under one, as observable in a less
degree in the Pheasants generally, enabling this bird to root up bulbs with facility.]
We know but one species, from the mountains of the north of India, the Resplendent Impeyan (L. refulgens,
Tern. ; Phasianus Impeyanus, Lath.). Size of a [small] Turkey, and black ; the crest and dorsal plumage of
changeable colours, reflecting tints of gold, copper, sapphire and emerald : tail-feathers chestnut-rufous, [and the
rump white]. The female and young are brown, dashed with grey and fulvous.
The Turkeys {MeleagriSy Lin.) —
Have the head and upper part of the neck invested with a naked, mammellated skin ; an appendage
under the throat, and another conical one on the forehead, which becomes inflated and prolonged when
the bird is excited by passion, when it hangs over the beak. On the lower part of the neck in front,
the adult male has a tuft of very long pendent bristles ; the coverts of the tail, shorter and more stiff
than in the Peafowl, can be expanded in like manner into a fan. The males have weak spurs, [and are
the only American Poultry -birds wherein a trace exists of those appendages] .
But one species was known for a long time, the Common Turkey {M. gallipavo, Lin.). It was brought from
North America during the 16th century, and was soon diffused throughout Europe, where it continues to be
reared for the excellency of its flesh, its great size, and the facility with which it is bred. The Wild Turkeys vastly
exceed the domestic breed in brilliancy, and are of a greenish-brown, glossed with copper reflections.
A second, however, has been recently described, the Ocellated Turkey (M. ocellata, Cuv.), which approximates
the Peafowl in the splendour of its colours, and by the disks of sapphirine-blue, inclosed by circles of gold and
ruby-red, which adorn the tail-coverts. It was captured in the Bay of Honduras.
[We may here introduce a large Poultry-bird of New Holland,
II
The Vultern {Alecturn, Gray), —
Which has been strangely arranged by some authors among the Vultures, on account of its bald neck.
From the Poultry generally, it is distinguished by the shortness of the downy plumage of the rump,
as in the Touracos ; its hind-toe is large, and on the .lame plane with those in front, the same as in
the Curassows, like which it is also destitute of spurs ; but its tail-feathers are eighteen in number.
One species only is known {A. LatJiami, Gray), entirely of a dusky colour, the feathers of the under-parts tipped j
with whitish.]
generally surmounted by a callous crest. Their feet are without spurs ; the tail short and pendent, so
that the long feathers of the croup impart a rounded figure.
The common domestic species {N. meleagris, Lin.), originally from Africa [the indigenous habitat of all], has a
slate-coloured plumage, everywhere speckled with round white spots [of different sizes]. Its noisy and querulous
disposition render it an incommodious species in poultry-yards, although its flesh is excellent. In the wild state,
they live in large flocks, and prefer the neighbourhood of marshes.
[Three or four others are known, of which N. vulturina, Gould, is the most beautiful, having pointed purple
feathers on the lower part of the neck; the body -plumage of all being nearly similar. The Crested Pintado ]
(N. eristata, Pallas), is very remarkable for the appendage to the furcula forming a sort of cup, in which the
trachea undergoes a convolution. No trace of this structure exists in the common species.]
The great genus of
each side with fleshy wattles. Their tail-feathers, fourteen in number, are elevated on two vertical v
planes, placed back to back; the coverts of that of the male are prolonged to form the arch over the
tail proper.
The species so common in our poultry-yards, [absolutely without a special English name] {Ph. gallus, Lin.),
varies endlessly in colour, and very much in size : there are races wherein the fleshy comb is replaced by a crest ijli
of reverted feathers ; some in which the tarsi and even the toes are feathered ; another in which the crest, wattles, .®
and periosteum of the whole skeleton are black ; and some monstrous kinds which have hereditarily five and evenjffl
six toes to each foot. -^1
male : circumference of the eye, and even the cheeks, naked, as in the Pheasants, and the tarsi armed
The Pintados (Numida, Lin.),
Or Guinea-fowl, have a naked head, and fleshy wattles below the cheeks, a short tail, and the skull|
of which are variously disposed. We first distinguish among them
The Fowls {Gallus, Cuv.), —
The head of whieh is surmounted by a vertical fleshy comb, and the inferior mandible furnished on
Pheasants {Phasianus, Lin.) —
Is characterized by partly naked cheeks, covered with a red skin, and by the tectiform tail, the feathers
GALLINyE.
227
Several wild species are also known, as that of Sonnerat {Gal. Sonneratii, Tern.)? which is very remarkable for
the neck feathers of the male, the stems of which widen into three successive disks of a horny nature. The comb
of the same sex is dentelated. This species inhabits the Ghauts of Hindostan.
M. Leschenhault has procured two others from Java : one (G. Bankiva, Tern.), with a dentelated crest like the
preceding; all the feathers of the neck long, pendent, and of the most beautiful golden red: it appears to
me to bear the greatest resemblance to our domestic races : the other {Ph. varius, Shaw ; G. furcatus, Tern.), is
black, with a copper-green neck, speckled with black, its crest plain, and a kind of small dewlap instead of
wattles.
The Pheasants, properly so called {Phasianus, Cuv.) —
Have a long graduated tail, each of its quills being inclined on two planes, and covering each other.
The most common of them {Pk. colchicus, Lin.), was brought from the banks of the Phasis by the Argonauts,
and is now diffused over all temperate Europe, where it requires, however, considerable care. [Another, from
China, with a white ring round the neck, and a greener general cast of colour, but otherwise closely allied, has
also been turned wild, and produced a prolific race of hybrids with the Common Pheasant, intermediate specimens
in every degree being not uncommon. The pure breed of Ph. colchicus is distinguished by the total absence of
the white ring, and reddish-copper tint of the croup, instead of greenish.
China produces several other species, with most superb plumage, as
The Golden Pheasant (Ph. picfus), and Amherst Pheasant (Ph. Amherstii), which have both a gorgeous ruff
round the neck, and the latter in particular an exceedingly long tail, the feathers widening in the middle.
The Reeves’s Pheasant (Ph. Reevesii), from the same country, is one' of the most magnificent of bii'ds. It is
half as large again as the common species, with a tail exceeding six feet in length. Ph. versicolor, and Ph.
Soemeringii, from Japan, are also truly splendid, and nearly allied to the common one.
Others approximate the Common Fowl in their carriage, as the Silver Pheasant (Ph. nycthemerus), from China,
and the Lineated (Ph. lineatus), from the mountains of Thibet : both these have purple-black under-parts,
with the feathers above white and lineated ; a pendent crest on the head. Ph. alhocristatus comes still nearer to
the Fowls, retaining the head only of the Pheasant group ; and Ph. pucrasia, is perhaps the dullest of the whole
genus, with a pointed short tail, but is otherwise allied to the ordinary species : the two last are from the Himma-
layas]. The females of all are sombre [that of-P/^. Reevesii the least so, which is beautifully variegated with white
upon the neck,] and have shorter tails.
We conceive that the description of the Phoenix, by Pliny, (lib. x. cap. 2), was drawn up from a specimen of the
Golden Pheasant.
One of the most singular of all Birds is
The Argus (Ph. argus, Lin).— A large Pheasant from the south of Asia, the head and neck of which are almost
naked. The tarsi are without spurs ; a very long tail in the male ; the secondary quills of the wing exces-
sively elongated, widened, and covered throughout their length with ocellated spots, which, when spread out,
impart an extraordinary aspect to the bird. It inhabits the mountains of Sumatra and some other countries of
the south-east of Asia, and constitutes the genus Argus of Temminck.
The Macartneys {Euplocomus, Tern.), —
j With the naked cheeks common to this genus, have the vertical tail and arched coverts of the Cocks,
! together with erectible feathers on the head, which form a crest similar to that of the Peafowl. The
I projecting lower edge of the naked skin of their cheeks supplies the place of w^attles. The tarsi are
j armed with strong spurs.
I We are acquainted with one only, from the Isles of Sunda (Phasianus ignitus, Shaw) ; size of a Cock, and bril-
; liant black, with a golden-red rump, the upper tail-coverts yellowish or whitish, and the flanks spotted with white
or fulvous. Female brown, finely streaked with blackish above, and dashed with white beneath ; crested like
the male. [The Ph. alhocristatus might be placed with it.]
The Tragopans {Tragopan, Cuv.) —
Are [with the exception of one species] remarkable for the singular adornment of the head, which is
almost naked, with a small slender horn [or erectible excrescence] behind each eye, and a wattle sus-
I ceptible of inflation under the throat. There are short tarsal spurs in both sexes.
I [Four species are now known, all beautifully spotted with white, somewhat as in a Pintado, and in three of them
upon a gorgeous red ground-colour ; the naked parts are also vividly tinted with rich blue and yellow. Females
and young dull brown. They inhabit the Himmalaya range of mountains, and perch like Pheasants].
Ij We should separate from the Pheasant group
: 1 The Cryptonyx, Tern., —
I Wherein the immediate circumference of the eye alone is naked, the tail is moderate and plain, and
j| the tarsi are without spurs. Their most remarkable character, however, consists in the absence of the
;1 hind-claw.
, Q 2
228
AVES.
In the only well-known species {Cr. coronatus, Tern.), the male has a long crest of thinly-barbed rufous feathers,
and some long barbless stems over each eyebrow. Plumage bright green and blue. [Another (Cr. niger), is wholly
black, with the female brown. There are two or three more, all from India and its islands].
The Grouse {Tetrao, Lin.) —
Form another great genus, characterized by a naked space, generally of a bright red colour, in place of
an eye-brow. It is subdivided in the following manner.
The Restricted Grouse (Tetrao, Latham) —
Have feathered tarsi without spurs. Those to which we more particularly confine the name have '
a rounded or forked tail, and naked toes. [They are polygamous, and spread the tail and strut in the
manner of Turkeys].
The Bearded or Wood Grouse, Capercailzie, or Cock of the Wood (T. urogallus, Lin.), is the largest of the true
Poultry, surpassing the Turkey in size. Its plumage is slate-coloured, finely rayed with blackish, [the breast
shining bottle-green] ; female fulvous, barred with brown or blackish. It inhabits the extensive mountain forests
of the north of Europe, nestles in the heather or newly-cleared grounds, and subsists on buds and berries, [and
particularly pine-shoots]. Its flesh is excellent, and the trachea makes two curves befoi’e entering the lungs.
The Black Grouse (T. tetrix, Lin).— Black, with some white on the wing-coverts and beneath the tail, the two
outermost feathers of which are forked and curled outward. Female fulvous, barbed with whitish and dusky
black. Their size that of the Domestic Cock and Hen. Found also in the European mountain forests. [There is
a nearly allied species in Siberia].
An intermediate species appears to exist in the north of Europe (T. intermedins, Langsdorf). [It is still very
doubtful whether this be not a hybrid between the Bearded and Black Grouse.
Several more exist in North America ; one (T. cupido) is remarkable for a double nuchal crest, and an expan-
sile globular pouch on the sides of the neck, of the colour and size of an orange, which is inflated when the bird
is strutting. Others, the Centrocercus, Swainson, have sharp-pointed tail-feathers, and shorter wings : they inhabit
the open country, and do not perch. Such is T, urophasianus, Bonap., the great Cock of the Plains, which is one i
third smaller than the European Wood Grouse, with some inflatable skin on the sides of the neck.
Others again, 5
The Bonasia, Bonap. — L j
Have a naked strip along the front of the tarsi, and the coronal feathers lengthened ; as] |
The Hazel Grouse (T. bonasia, Lin.). — Scarcely larger than a Partridge, and prettily mottled, grey and rufous. |
Inhabits temperate Europe. [We have found its crop and stomach filled with birch catkins.] Another (T. umbellus,
Gmelin), in North America, is about a third larger. ; j
The Ptarmigan (Lagopus, Cuv.) — 1
Are species with a round or square tail, the toes of which are feathered like the tarsi. [They are i
monogamous, and do not strut with expanded tail-feathers]. The more generally diffused species J
become white in winter. ]
The Common Ptarmigan (T. lagopus, Lin.). — Inhabits our highest mountains, and shelters itself, in winter, in ij
holes which it burrows in the snow [a habit which is 1
also practised by the common Partridge.] The Willow fl
Ptarmigan (T. saliceti, Tern.), from the whole north, is |
larger, with a stouter bill. [Though not found in ,
Britain, like the last, it is the common species of the | i
London markets. Another, still more densely clad H
(L. bradydactyla, Gould), occurs in Russia, and there ii
are additional species in Iceland and in North America]. 1 1
There is a Ptarmigan in Scotland, however, which
does not change colour in winter.
The Heath Ptarmigan (T. scoticus, Latham). — [Com- j’
mon Moor-fowl, or Red Grouse of sportsmen, remark- |i
able for being quite restricted in its distribution to the ji
British islands: it renews its feathers twice a year, \
however, like the others].
We may here separate by the name of !
The Gangas {Pterocles, Tern.) — '
The species with a pointed tail and naked toes.
Fig. 109.— Sternum of Ganga. ^^0 circumference of the eyes alone is naked, and
not of a red colour : their thumb is very small. [The wings are remarkably long and pointed, with the
GALLINiE.
229
j first quill longest, and flight extraordinarily swift ; sternal crest more developed than in any other bird
j whatever, the inner einargination of the sternum almost obliterated : furcula singularly short and wide,
^ without any appenddage ; the alimentary passage resembles that of other Poultry, having coeca as
much developed as in a Partridge. The feathers are moulted twice a year, and resemble those of the
Bustards, both sexes being alike in winter, and the male acquiring a peculiar garb in summer. They
lay few eggs, and the young do not follow their parents for some time, but are fed by them in the
nest. They inhabit the arid deserts of Africa and Arabia, and are peculiar to the eastern hemisphere.]
One (T. alchata. Lin,), inhabits the south of B'rance and borders of the Mediterranean. [Another (T. arenarius,
Pallas) occurs in Spain, and a third {Pt. caspicus, Menetr.) is found in south-eastern Europe. There are
many more.
Closely allied to the Gangas, we deem
The Tetraogallus, Hardwicke, —
j A, large species from the mountains of the north of India, with shorter wings and comparatively
' stout bill. The tarsi are armed with spurs, and the first five quills are nearly equal. \
It IS the T. nigelli, Gray],
I The Partridges {Perdix, Brisson), —
1 Have the tarsi naked as well as the toes. Among them
' The Francolins {Francolinm, Tern.) —
Are distinguished by their longer and stouter beak, more developed tail, and generally by their stout spurs.
There is one in southern Europe (T. francolinm, Lin.), with red feet ; the neck and belly of the male black, with
round white spots, and a vivid rufous collar.
Some of the foreign species are remarkable either for possessing double spurs, or a naked skin on the throat, or
they combine these two characters : others, again, have a particularly large beak, and are without spurs.
The Restricted Partridges —
Have the beak not quite so stout : the males have short spurs, or simple tubercles, which are wanting
in the females.
Every one is acquainted with
The Grey Partridge (T. cinereus, Lin.), that prolific species of game, which lives and propagates in our fields,
and is so highly esteemed for the table.
The Red Partridge (T, rufus, Lin.) [and five or six others with the same general character of plumage, form a
natural group, the first dress of which is analogous to that of the preceding. All are peculiar to the eastern
hemisphere.]
The Quails {Coturnix, Tern.) —
Are smaller than the Partridges; with a more slender beak and shorter tail: they have neither spurs,
nor red eyebrow, [and have longer wings. All are peculiar to the eastern hemisphere, where they are
! generally diffused].
j The Common Quail (T. coturnix, Lin.), a small European bird, celebrated for its migrations across the Medi-
|| terranean. [There are many others.]
|1 The Colins {Ortyx, Stephens), —
I Or Partridges and Quails of America, have a shorter and stouter beak, more convex above : their tail
1 is somewhat larger. They perch on branches, and, when disturbed, even on trees.* Several species
I migrate like our Quails.
[Some have remarkable recurved topknots, in one of extraordinary length].
We are obliged to separate from the whole genus of Grouse
The Ortygans {Hemipodius, Tern.), —
Which have no thumb, and the compressed beak of which forms a slight projection under the lower
mandible. They cannot, however, be properly classed until their anatomy is known. The species are
polygamous, and inhabit sandy regions.
Some of them.
The Ortygans {Ortygis^ Illiger), —
Have the general aspect of Quails, with toes separated to their very base, having no small membrane.
[The chief peculiarity of their anatomy consists in the absence of a craw.]
The natives of Java train one species for fighting (the H. pugnax), as Game-Cocks are trained in England.
* The Red Partridj^es will sometimes do this. — Ed.
230
AVES.
Others,
The Attagens {Syrrhaptes, Illiger), —
Are so far removed from the general type of the Poultry, that it is even doubtful whether they should
range in the present order. [They appear to he nearly related to the Gangas.] Their short tarsi are
feathered, as are also the toes, which are short, and joined together for a part of their length ; the
wings being extremely long and pointed.
But one species is known, from the deserts of central Asia [and very rarely eastern Europe,] (T. paradoxus,
Pallas), the Heteroclyte of Temminck.
We are equally necessitated to separate from the Grouse
The Tinamous {Tinamus, Latham ; Crypturus, Illiger), —
x\n American genus, remarkable for a long and slender neck, (although the tarsi are short,) covered with
feathers, the tips of the barbs of which are slender and slightly curled, which imparts a peculiar air to
that part of their plumage. The beak is long, slender, and blunt at the end ; somewhat vaulted, with
a small groove at each side : the nostrils are pierced in the middle of each side, and penetrate obliquely
backwards. Their wings are short, and they have scarcely any tail. The membrane between the base
of their toes is very short. Their thumb, reduced to a spur, cannot touch the ground. They have a
small naked space round the eye. These birds either perch
on low branches, or conceal themselves in tall grass ; they
live on fruits and insects, and their flesh is very good. Their
size varies from that of a Pheasant down to that of a Quail,
or even still smaller. [Eggs of a deep purple colour.]
Some of them (the Pezus of Spix), have a small tail concealed
under the feathers of the rump. Others (the Tinamus of Spix) have
no tail at all, and the nostrils are placed a little further backward.
We should distinguish the Rhynchotis of Spix, wherein the beak,
which is stronger, has no groove, and is a little arcuated and de-
pressed, with the nostrils pierced towards the base.
The Pigeons {Columba, Lin.) —
May be considered as forming some passage from the
GallincB to the Passerines. As in the former, their
beak is vaulted, the nostrils are pierced in a large mem-
branous space, and covered with a cartilaginous scale,
which even forms a bulge at the base of the beak : the
bony sternum (fig. Ill) is deeply and doubly emarginated, although somewhat differently [the
inner notch being mostly reduced to a foramen ; the ridge of the
sternum deep, and rounded off anteriorly (much as in the Par-
rots) ; and the furcula flat and destitute of any appendage]. The
crop (fig. 70, p. 160) is extremely large [and double, or expanding
on each side of the cesophagus, in which it diflfers from that of
any other bird; it also secretes a lacteal substance, as in the
Parrots, during the period of incubation. The gizzard is power-
fully muscular ; the intestines very long and slender, with minute
coeca; and there is no gall bladder]. The inferior larynx is fur-
nished with but one muscle proper — [we have invariably found
two pairs] ; but there is no other membrane between the base of
the toes than that which results from the continuity of the edges.
The tail consists of twelve feathers, and they fly tolerably well.
These birds are invariably monogamous, nestle in trees or the
holes of rocks, and lay but very few eggs, ordinarily two, though
they breed often. Both sexes incubate, and they feed their young
by disgorging grain macerated in the crop. They form but one
great genus, which naturalists have attempted to divide into three
Figf. 110.— Sternum of Tinamou.
Fig. 111. — Sternum of Pigeon.
subgenera, from the greater or less strength of the bill, and the proportions of the feet.
i
GRALLiE.
231
i!
;j
The Gouras {Lophyrus, Vieillot) —
Approximate the ordinary Gallinacea more than the other subgenera, hy their more elevated tarsi and
gregarious habits, finding their food more on the ground, and never [not so habitually] perching. Their
beak is slender and flexible, [and their anatomy precisely that of the others].
One species is even allied to the Gallinaeece by the caruncles and other naked parts about the head (the C. carun-
culata, Tern.)
Another, at least, approaches them in size, which almost equals that of a Turkey, — the Crowned Pigeon of the
Indian Archipelago (C. coronata, Gm.).— Entirely of a slaty-blue, with some chestnut and white on the wings ; the
head adorned with a vertical longitudinal crest of thinly-barbed feathers. It is bred in the poultry-yards of Java,
&c., but refuses to propagate in Europe. It is to this species that the names Goura and Lophyrus espe-
cially apply.
A third approximates the Poultry by the long pendent feathers of its neck, somewhat as in the Cock,— the Nicobar
Pigeon {Col. nincobarica, Lin.), of a brilliant golden-green colour, the tail white. It is found in many parts of
the Indian Isles, [and propagates in the same manner as the others, contrary to what has been asserted.
Other small species compose the Cluemepelia, Swainson,as the Ground Dove of Wilson’s American Ornithology,
C. passerina, Lin.]
The Restricted Pigeons {Columba, as limited) —
Have shorter legs than the preceding, but the same flexible and slender bill.
There are four wild species in Europe.
The Cushat, or Ring Dove (Co/. Lin.), is the largest of them. It inhabits forests, and more parti-
cularly those of evergreens, and is of a bluish ash-colour, rufous beneath, and distinguished by a spot of white on
each side of the neck. [It nestles on the branches of trees.]
The Stock Pigeon (C. osnas, Lin.). — Of a slaty-grey colour, vinous beneath, with some changeable green upon
the neck. Rather smaller than the last, and similar in its general habits. [It breeds, however, either in conve-
nient holes of trees, or in leafy pollards termed stocks, and not unfrequently in rabbit-burrows ; makes no flap-
ping sound with the wings in flying, like the next species].
The Rock Pigeon (C. Uvia, Brisson). — Slaty-grey, some iridescent green on the neck, two black bars on each
wing, and a white rump. The Dovecot Pigeon is derived from this species, and, it would appear, the greater
number of the innumerable domestic breeds, in the production of which, however, the admixture of some proxi-
mate species may likewise have an influence. [The wild Rock Pigeon breeds principally in sea-cliifs, and but
sparingly inland. There is a race, which we suspect to be a distinct species, closely allied, the wings of which are
spotted, somewhat as in the Stock Pigeon, but more extensively, in place of the black bars. Numbers of them,
all shot, are sold in the London markets. We will term it C. macularia\.
The Turtle Dove {Col. turtur, Lin.). — A fulvous-brown mantle, sjmtted with brown, the neck bluish, with a spot
on each side, variegated black and white. It is the smallest of the European wild Pigeons, and resembles the
Cushat in its habits, [excepting in being migratory].
The Collared Dove {Col. risoria, Lin.), appears to have been originally from Africa. It is of a reddish-white
colour, pale below, with a black collar on the neck.
The species of this division are extremely numerous, and might be further subdivided according as the tarsi are
naked or feathered, and upon the naked space surrounding the eyes of some of them. Those with feathered tarsi
constitute the Ptilinopus, Swainson.
Some have even caruncles and other naked parts on the head : and there are others [the Ectopistes, Swainson],
which might be separated on account of their pointed tail.
But the best of all the divisions that have been instituted among the Pigeons is that of
The Vinagos {Vinago, Cuv.), —
i Which are recognized by having a stouter bill, of solid substance, and compressed laterally : their tarsi
' are short, and their feet large and well bordered. They inhabit extensive woods, and subsist on fruit.
I But few species are known, all from the torrid zone of the eastern continent.
1 [They have generally vivid-green plumage, variegated with bright yellow]. One has a pointed tail.
THE FIFTH ORDER OF BIRDS,—
THE STILT-BIRDS (Grall^, liii.),—
Also termed Shore-birds and Waders, names which are derived from their habits and con-
formation. The members of this division are recognized by the nudity of part of the tibia,
and most commonly by the elongation of the tarsi ; conditions which permit them to enter
AVES.
t'
232
the water to a certain depth without immersing the feathers, and to wade therein and seize 1
fish by means of the neck and beak, the length of which is generally proportioned to that of I
the legs. The stronger among them feed on fish and reptiles, and the weaker on worms and 1
insects. A very few content themselves in part with grain or herbage, and these alone inhabit *
at a distance from any water. Their external toe is most commonly united at base to the ‘
middle one, by means of a short membrane; in some there are two membranes, while others
want them entirely, having the toes quite separated; it also sometimes happens, though
rarely, that they are palmated to the end : the thumb is altogether wanting in several genera;
and all these circumstances exert an influence on their mode of life, which is more or less
aquatic. Nearly the whole of these birds, if we except the Ostriches and Cassowaries, have long
wings and fly well. They stretch out their legs backward during flight, contrary to what is ob-
served of others [or at least those of the foregoing orders], which double them under the belJy.
In this order we establish five principal families, together with some isolated genera.
The first family of Stilt Birds, that of
1 The Brevipennes, j
Although generally similar, in other respects, to the rest, differs widely from them in the
shortness of the wings, which are inadequate to perform the function of flight. The beak and
regimen give them numerous affinities with the Gallinacece. |
It appears as if all the muscular power which is at the disposal of nature, would be insuffi-
cient to move such immense wings as would be required to support their massive bodies in |
the air: their sternum (fig. 112) is a |
simple buckler, and without the ridge |
which exists in all other Birds. The '
pectoral muscles are reduced to ex- I
treme tenuity ; but the posterior ex- J
tremities regain what the wings have !
lost. The muscles of their thighs/^
and of the legs especially, are of ani
enormous thickness. i
[Most, if not all, of these birds, are|
remarkable for their singular mode of
incubation. In the Ostrich, Emeu,^
and Nandou, it appears that several !
females lay in the same nest, the eggs j
being chiefly sat upon by the male, I
who feigns lameness when disturbed :
Fig. 112-steriium of Ostrich. artifice practised by the generality
of ground-birds. It may therefore be presumed that they are polygamous, the attendant j
females of each male depositing their eggs together, commonly to the number of thirty, or !
even more.] ]
They all want the back-toe. In the Ostrich, the number of phalanges to the two front-toes ;
are four and five ; in the Cassowary, [Emeu,] and Nandou, the phalanges of the three front- j
toes number three, four, and five, respectively. We recognize two genera.
The Ostriches (Sfruthio, Lin.), — j
Have lax and flexible feathers on the wings, which latter are sufficiently long to accelerate their speed. ^
Every one is acquainted with the elegance of these slender-stemmed feathers, the barbs of which, *
though furnished with secondary barhules, do not hitch in each other, as is the case with feathers ?
generally. The beak is horizontally depressed, of mean length, and blunt at the tip; the tongue short,!
and rounded like a crescent ; and the eye large, with its lids garnished with lashes. Their legs and j
tarsi are very long. They have an enormous crop, and considerable proventriculus betw^een the crop;
II
II
J'
GRALLiE. 233
and gizzard, voluminous intestines, and long ccEca, also a vast receptacle in which the urine accumu-
lates, as in a bladder ; they are accordingly the only birds that urinate. The penis is very long, and
often protruded.
But two species are known, each of which might form a separate genus, [and they are now generally recognized
as such, an additional species having been discovered of one of them.]
The Ostrich of the Eastern Continent {Str. camelus, Lin.). — Only
two toes to each foot, the outer of which, shorter by one-half than the
other, is destitute of a nail. This bird, celebrated from the most
remote antiquity, and very numerous in the sandy deserts of Arabia
and the whole of Africa, attains the height of six feet and a half. It
lives in large flocks, lays eggs which weigh nearly three pounds each,
and which, in very hot climates, it leaves to be hatched by the solar
heat, but, in extra-tropical regions, carefully incubates and de-
fends them with courage. It subsists on grain and herbage, and its
taste is so obtuse, that it swallows indifferently pebbles, pieces of
iron, copper, &c. [its gizzard always containing a surprising quantity
of small stones, which are doubtless taken for the purpose of assist-
ing in the trituration of the food.] When pursued, it dashes stones
behind it with great force. No animal can overtake it in the chace.
The Nandou {Str. rhea, Lin. [Rhea americana, Auctorum]), or
Ostrich of America, is about half the size of the African Ostrich, and
j| Fitf. 113.— Foot of Ostrich. more thinly covered with feathers : it is also distinguished by pos-
j! sessing three toes to each foot, all of which are furnished with claws. Its plumage is greyish, inclining to brown
j above, with a black line descending along the neck of the male. Is not less abundant in South America than the
I other is in Africa. It is easily tamed when taken young, and its flesh during youth is eaten. [The tarsi of this
I bird are scutellated.
I A second South American species (Rh. Darwinii, Gould ; Rh. pennata, D’Orbigny), is one fifth less in size, with
jj reticulated tarsi : it has also a more densely plumed wing, the feathers of which are broader, and are all terminated
!j by a band of white. The bill is shorter than the head, and the tarsi are plumed for several inches below the joint.
Inhabits Patagonia, where it is rare. Mr. Darwin observed that the Nandous swim with facility].
The Cassowaries {Casuarius, Brisson)—
i Have wings still shorter than those of the Ostriches, and quite useless in aiding progression.
il Their feet have three toes, all furnished with nails ; and the barbs of their feathers are so little fringed
with barhules, that at a distance they resemble pendent hair. [The accessory plume of the feathers
! (which in the Ostrich and Nandou does not exist at all) attains its maximum of developement, so that
j two equal stems appear to grow from the same quill, while in the restricted Cassowary there is even a
! third in addition.]
Two species likewise occur of this genus, each of which might also be elevated to the rank of a genus, [now
generally accepted].
The Galeated Cassowary {Str. casuarius, Lin. ; [Casuarius Erueu, Auctorum] ).— The beak laterally compress d,
and head surmounted with a bony prominence, invested with a horny substance ; the skin of the head and neck
of an azure blue and flame-colour, with pendent caruncles, analogous to those of the Turkey : wings furnished
with some rigid barbless stalks, which are employed as weapons in combat : the nail of the inner toe much
the strongest. It is the largest species of bird, next to the Ostrich, from which it differs considerably in its
anatomy; for it has short intestines and
small cceca, wants the intermediate stomach
between the crop and gizzard, and its cloaca
does not proportionally exceed that of other
birds. It lives on fruit and eggs, but not
on grain ; and lays dark-green eggs, few in
number, which, like the Ostrich, it aban-
dons to the heat of the sun. It is found in
different islands of the Indian Archipelago.
The Emeu of New Holland {Casuarius
Novce Hollandice, Latham, [Dromaius Nov the prolongation of the ear-coverts. [
Finally,
The True Cranes (Grus, Vigors) — |
Have the beak as long as the head, or longer ; the head and part of the neck generally naked ; and the f '
tertials commonly recurved. The species are comparatively numerous, and much more widely
distributed. Habits migratory.
One is common in Europe, and sometimes occurs, but as an exceedingly rare straggler, in the British Isles, the
European Crane {Ardea grus, Lin. ; Grus cinerea, Bechst.) ] — Four feet and upwards in height, of an ash-colour, 1
with a black throat ; the summit of the head red and naked. This bird has been celebrated from the earliest | '
ages, on account of its regular migrations, from north to south in the autumn, and back in the spring, which it <
efibcts in numerous and well-ordered flocks. It feeds on grain, but prefers the worms and insects of marshy | ?
1.
GRALLJ^.
239
grounds. The ancients frequently speak of it, because the principal course of its migrations appears to be
through Greece and Asia Minor.
Between the Cranes and Herons may be placed
The Courlan [ {Aramus, Vieillot),]
The beak of which, more slender and rather more deeply cleft than that of the Cranes, is swoln near
the terminal third of its length ; and the toes are comparatively long, without any basal membrane.
[Its anatomy approaches that of the Rails].
The species {Ard. scolopacea, Gm.), resembles the Herons in size as well as manners, and has brown plumage,
with some white pencils on the neck.
Also
The Carle {Europyga, Illig.), —
With a beak more slender than that of the Cranes, but marked with a similar nasal groove, and split
nearly to the eyes, as in the Herons, but having no naked skin at its base.
It is a bird the size of a Partridge, with a long and slender neck, broad open tail, and rather short legs, which
altogether impart a very dilferent aspect from that of the wading birds in general. Its plumage, shaded with
bands and lines of brown, fulvous, russet, grey and black, recalls to mind the colouring of some of the most beau-
tiful Moths. It is found along the rivers of Guiana, [and we suspect is closely allied to the African genus
Rhynchced\.
The second tribe is more carnivorous, and is characterized by its stronger beak, and longer
toes : [they mostly nestle upon trees in large societies, and the young are at first helpless and
naked]. At its head may be placed
The Boatbills {Cancroma, Lin), —
Which would completely resemble the Herons in the strength of their bill, and the kind of nourish-
ment resulting therefrom, were it not for the extraordinary form of that organ ; as, upon close exami-
nation, we find that it is merely the beak of a Heron or Bittern, very much inflated ; in point of fact, the
mandibles are singularly wide from right to left, and formed like the bowls of two spoons, the concave sides
of which are placed in contact. These mandibles are very stout and sharp-edged, and the upper one has
a pointed tooth on each side of its tip ; the nostrils, pierced towards the base, are prolonged into two
parallel grooves to near the end. The feet have four toes, all of them long, and nearly without con-
necting membrane ; for which reason these birds perch on the branches of trees by the sides of rivers,
from which they precipitate themselves on the fish, whieh constitute their ordinary food. Their gait is
slow, and their attitudes constrained like those of the Herons. [The Boatbills are, in brief, simply
modified Herons, from which they differ only in their inflated beak, conforming in their whole
anatomy.]
The known species (C. cochlearea, Lin.), is the size of a common Fowl, and
whitish, with a grey or brown back, the belly rufous, and forehead white ;
head adorned with a black calotte, which, in the adult male, becomes a
lengthened crest : it inhabits the hot and humid regions of South America.
The Herons {Ardea, Lin.),—
Have the beak cleft as far as the eyes, with a small nasal fossa pro-
longed into a groove nearly to the point : they are also distinguished
by the pectinated inner edge of the claw of their middle toe. Their
legs are scutellated, with the toes (including the hind one) rather
long [and articulated on the same plane] : the palmature of the outer
ones is considerable, and their eyes are placed in a naked skin, which
extends to the beak. Their stomach is a very large sac, but slightly
muscular, [the intestines extremely long and slender,] and they have
only one minute coecum. They are unlively birds, which nestle and
perch by the sides of rivers, and consume a vast quantity of fish. The
species are very numerous in both continents, and can scarcely be dis-
tinguished except by differences of plumage.
Fig.iis.-sternum of Purple Heron. The True Herons have a very slender neck, with long and pendent feathers
towards its base. As
The Common Heron (A. major & A. cinerea, Lin.). — Bluish ash-coloured, with a black occipital crest ; the neck
AYES.
240
white, marked on each side with a row of black tears 5 [dorsal plumage rounded in the young, pointed after the
first moult, and much elongated and narrowed in the adult, all the feathers having a crape-like appearance, devoid
of gloss, but rich in colouring. Both sexes alike.] A large bird, very noxious on account of the quantity of fish
it destroys, and formerly celebrated for the sport which it afibrded to falconers. [It breeds, like most of the
genus, on the branches of high trees, many nests together, which are termed Heronries ; seizes its prey by an
instantaneous stroke of the bill, transfixing it if large ; watches for it motionless ; emits a loud cry or honk, and
flies buoyantly : characters which mostly apply to the genus generally.] !
We have also another species, the Purple Heron (A. pnrpurea) [smaller and more slender, with longer toes, like
those of a Bittern. It breeds on the ground, and is rare in the British islands. Colour altogether more reddish.]
Certain small species with shorter legs are termed Dwarf-bitterns [the Ardeola, Bonap. They are in every
respect true Bitterns, and resemble that of North America in immature plumage, acquiring a garb analogous to
that of the Night-herons when adult.] There is one common in the mountainous districts of France {Ard. minuta
and danubialis, Gm.), which is scarcely larger than a Rail, and fulvous, with the calotte, back, and quills, black.
It frequents the vicinity of ponds.
The Tiger-bitterns conjoin to the contour of the Dwarf-bitterns the stature of a Heron and the plumage of the
ordinary Bitterns.
Egrets are Herons, the feathers of which, on the lower part of the back, at a certain epoch are lengthened and
thinly bai’bed. [They are mostly pure white.] One of the handsomest of them, the Heron-crested Egret (A. gar-
zetta, Lin.), is entirely white, with the dorsal plumage not extending beyond the tail, [and a long occipital crest of
narrow feathers, resembling in shape those of the Common Heron. It is peculiar to the eastern continent]. Also
the European Great Egret {A. alba and egretta), likewise wholly white, and the thinly-barbed dorsal plumage
prolonged beyond the tail. [There are numerous others, in every part of the world. A third in Europe is the
Bulf backed Heron or Egret (A. russata), with a shorter and smooth yellow bill, longer toes, and coloured dorsal
plumage in the adult, like the next species.]
We approximate to the Egrets the Squacco Heron {A. comata and ralloides), a bird of the south of Europe, with
a russet-brown back, the belly, wings, and tail, white. The adult has a yellowish neck, [densely clad like that of a ^
Bittern], and a long [striped] occipital crest : [the toes are also long, and the lengthened dorsal plumage of this
and the last species are of a hair-like texture, besides resembling in colour. The present species occurs less
unfrequently in the British Isles than either of the three last.]
Bitterns have the feathers of the neck lax and separated, which increases their apparent size, [at least when they
erect them, which they have the power of doing to their whole clothing plumage]. They are commonly rayed or
speckled, [and not so high on the legs].
The European Bittern (A. stellaris) is bright fulvous or clay-colour, mottled and speckled with blackish, and
has green bill and feet. It is found among the reeds, whence it emits its terrific voice, which has caused it to be
designated Bos-taurus. [This bird is not rare in Britain, runs wfith great celerity like a Rail, flies also with
unwillingness, and with its legs hanging, during the day, and when surprized puffs out its plumage in an extra-
ordinary manner, and strikes with its spear-like bill. In the evening it rises to a vast height in the air, in spiral jj
ch'cles, occasionally in its flight : it breeds among aquatic herbage in the marshes, and lays eggs of a
dark brown colour.]
The Night-herons, with the same port as the Bitterns, have the beak proportionally much thicker, and some f
slender feathers [three in number] growing from the occiput of the adult. One only inhabits Europe {A. nycti- ^
corax, Lin.), the male of which is whitish, with the calotte and back black ; the young brown above spotted with
whitish, and the calotte dusky. [It is rare in Britain.]
In fine, we should remark that these different subdivisions of the genus of Herons are of trivial import, and by
no means well defined. [Together with the Boatbills, they constitute a perfectly distinct group, strongly charac-
terized by their anatomy, and particularly by the single minute coecum, and the number of cervical vertebra^;
— seventeen.] ■'B'
The third tribe, besides having a stouter and smoother beak, has tolerably strong and nearly ; i
equal membranes between the bases of the toes.
The Storks {Ciconia, Cuv.) —
Possess a thick bill, moderately cleft, without any fossa or groove, and the nostrils pierced towards 1
the back and base ; also an extremely short tongue. Their legs are reticulated, and the front toes 1
strongly palmated at base, more particularly the outer. Their large and thin mahdibles, by striking > i
against each other, produce a clattering noise, which is almost the only sound these birds ever make, f
Their gizzard is slightly muscular, and their two coeca so small as to be barely perceptible. Their inferior
larynx has no muscle proper ; and the bronchi are longer and composed of more entire rings than usual.
We have two species in France.
The White Stork (A. ciconia, Lin.).— Wliite, with black quill- feathers, and red bill and feet ; a large bird, which
the people hold in particular respect, doubtless originating from its utility in destroying Snakes and other noxious
animals. It nestles by preference on towers and chimney-stacks, returning to the same every spring, after having
passed the winter in Africa. [The reason that this species is not common in Britain, is that every pair are shot 1
soon after making their appearance, which prevents the founding of a colony.] ;
GRALL.E. 241
[The Black Stork (A. nigra, Lin.).— Blackish, with rich purple reflections, and the belly white. It frequents
retired marshes, and builds in the forests.
Among foreign species, w e may distinguish
The Adjutants [^Argala, Berm.], —
Or bare-necked Storks, the beak of which is still larger and slighter ; and among them
The Pouched Adjutants {Ard. duhia, Gmelin ; A. argala, Lin.) ; which have an appendage under the middle of
the throat resembling a great sausage, and from beneath the wings of which are procured those light downy fea-
thers, that are made into tufts called Maribous. Two species of them are known ; one from Senegal, with a
uniform mantle, {Cic. marihou, Tern.), the other from India, of which the wdng-coverts are bordered with white,
(C. argala. Tern.).— Their large beak enables them to capture birds on the wing. Add C. capillata. Tern.
The Jabirus {Mycteria, Lin.), —
j Which were separated by Linnaeus from Ardea, are very closely allied to the Storks, and much more
! so than the latter are to the Herons ; the moderate opening of their beak, their nostrils, the reticu-
j lated envelope of their legs, together with the considerable palmature of the toes, are absolutely the
jj same as in the Storks, which they further resemble in their mode of life. Their peculiarity consists in
Ij having the beak slightly curved upwards towards its extremity.
i| The best-known species (M. americana, Lin.), is very large, and white, with a bare head and neck, invested with
|| a black skin, the lower part of which is red ; the occiput alone has some white feathers, and the beak and feet are
I black. It is found along the borders of pools and marshes in South Amei’ica, where it preys on reptiles and fish.
I The Ciconia ephippiryncha, Ruppell, only differs from M. senegalensis, Latham, in being drawn from the recent
I specimen.
j The Umbres {Scopus, Brisson) —
: Are only distinguished from the Storks by their compressed beak, the trenchant ridge of which is
I inflated towards the base, and the nostrils are prolonged by a groove which runs parallel with the
j ridge to its tip, which is slightly hooked.
! One species only is known, the Crested Umbre {Sc. umbrettd), as large as a Crow, and of an umber colour, the
male crested. It is diffused over all Africa.
The Anastomes {Hians, Lacep. ; Anastomus, IHig.) —
I Are separated from the Storks by about as trivial a character as that which distinguishes the Jabirus.
I* The mandibles of their beak come in contact only at the base and tips, leaving a wide interval
I between their edges, at the medial portion. Even this seems to be the result of detrition, for the
' fibres of the horny substance appear as though it had been worn away.
j They are East Indian birds, one of which is whitish {Ardea ponticeriana, Gm.), the other greyish-brown
{A. eoromandeliana, Sonnerat). Perhaps the latter is merely the young of the former. Both have black quill and
il tail-feathers. A third, of an iridescent black {An. lamelliger, Tern.), is remarkable for the stem of each of its fea-
ji thers terminating in a narrow horny disk, which passes beyond the vane.
ji The Dromes {Dromas, Paykull) —
I Bear a close resemblance to the preceding, having nearly the same feet and contour ; but their com-
II pressed beak, the base of which is a little inflated beneath, is pierced with oval nostrils, and the
; mandibles close completely.
■jj We know only one species, from the shores of the Red Sea and banks of the Senegal {Dramas ardeola, Payk.)
i| with white plumage, and part of the mantle and wings black.
-!j The Tantals {Tantalus, Lin.) —
I Have the feet, nostrils, and beak of the Storks, except that the ridge of the latter is rounded, and its
Ij tip gradually curved downwards, and slightly emarginated on each side : a portion of the head, and
Ij sometimes of the neck, is bare of feathers.
! The Wood Ibis of North America {T. loculator, Lin.).— As large as a Stork, but more slender ; white, with the
quill and tail-feathers black, as is also the naked skin of the head and neck. It is found in both Americas,
appearing in each during the rainy season, and frequents muddy waters, where it seeks principally for Eels. Its
gait is slow, and general aspect unlively.
The African species {T. ibis, Lin.), which is white, slightly shaded with purple on the wings, and has a yellow
beak, and the naked skin of the visage red, was long regarded by naturalists as the bird so revered by the ancient
Egyptians under the name of Ibis ; but recent researches have proved that the real Ibis is a much smaller species,
which we will notice presently. The bird now under consideration is not even commonly found in Egypt, but is
brought chiefly from Senegal.
R
242
AVES.
That of Ceylon (T. leucocephalus) is the largest of all, and has also the thickest bill. Its beak, and the naked
skin of the face, are yellow, the plumage white, with black quills and cincture round the breast, and long roseate |
plumes on the croup, which are shed during the rainy season. A fourth may be added, the T. lacteus of
Temminck.
The Spoonbills {Platalea, Lin.) —
Approximate the Storks in their whole structure, but their beak, from which their name is derived, is long, j
flat, and broad throughout its length, widening and flattening more particularly at the end, so as to form l
a round spatula-like disk ; with two shallow grooves extending its entire length, without being exactly
parallel to its edges. The nostrils are oval, and pierced at a small distance from the origin of each
groove. Their minute tongue, reticulated tarsi, the somewhat considerable palmature of their toes, ]
their two very small coeca, but slightly muscular gizzard, and inferior larynx without any peculiar
muscles, are the same as in the Storks ; but the expansion of their bill deprives it of all its strength,
and unfits it for any thing but turning up sand, or picking up small fish and aquatic insects.
The White Spoonbill {PI. leucorodla, Gm.). — Entirely white, with an occipital crest. It is common throughout
the ancient continent, and nestles in high trees. [The trachea normally undergoes in both sexes a small convolu- i
tion resembling the figure 8, but we have dissected one female wherein it proceeded straight to the divarication
of the bronchi, and was furnished with a small pair of muscles].
The Roseate Spoonbill {PI. ajaja). — A naked visage, and vivid roseate tints of different shades upon the plumage,
which deepen with age. It is properly an inhabitant of South America.
The family of
Longirostres
Consists of a multitude of Shore-birds, the greater number of which were comprehended by
Linmeus in his genus Scolopax, and the rest confounded by him in that of Tringa, though
partly in opposition to the character assigned to the latter, of having the back-toe too short
to reach the ground. Lastly, it contains a few that have been placed with the Plovers, on
account of the total absence of the hind toe. The whole of these birds have nearly the same;l|i
conformation, the same habits, and most frequently the same distribution of colours, which
I render it difficult to distinguish between them. They are generally characterized by a long, i
slender, and feeble bill, which only permits them to bore in the mud in search of worms and'|,i
small insects ; and the various slight modifications in the form of this beak enable us to |
arrange them into genera and subgenera. m
[We should observe that the distinction between this group and the Pressirostres is extremely 1
vague, or rather, with certain reservations, that they compose but one series, plainly charac-
terized by their anatomy. The sternal apparatus of the Knot Sandpiper (fig. 119.) may serve |'
as a specimen of this portion of the skeleton throughout ;! ‘
the whole, the few modifications which occur of it being ||
inconsiderable. The stomach (save in the Bustards and i|, :
Coursers, which in other respects are the least conform- 1 1
able among them), is always a muscular gizzard, and the li :
intestines long, with small or moderate coeca, and invaria- If
bly a distinct ccecal remnant of the umbilical vessel. The* '
females (except in the very few species of polygamous || t
habit), are larger than the males, and they almost invariably 1 (i
lay four eggs on the ground, upon little or no nest, andfi!j
dispose them with the small ends inwards; the young l|!i
following their parents as soon as they burst the shell]. ||| j
According to his own principles, Linnaeus should have In
classed most of these birds in his great genus of
The Snipes {Scolopax), — %
Fig. iig -sternum of the Knot Sandpiper. Which W6 divide as follows, from trivial variations of the form||(
of the bill.
The Ibises {Ibis, Cuv.). i«l
We separate these from the Tantali of Gmelin, on account of their beak, which, though arcuated as inf .
GRALLiE.
243
the latter, is much more feeble, and devoid of emargination at the tip ; besides which the nostrils,
pierced towards the back and base, are prolonged in a groove which reaches to the end. This beak is
also tolerably thick, and nearly square at the base, and some parts of the head or even of the neck are
always bare of feathers. The external toes are considerably palmated at base, and the thumb suffi-
ciently long to bear upon the ground. [The gradation is, in fact, quite imperceptible from these to the
Tantals, and the anatomy and character of
the plumage concur to show that both natu-
rally pertain to the preceding division of Cul-
trirostres : we believe the Ibises also build in
society upon trees ; and there is certainly no
trace of a passage from them into the Scolo-
paceous birds.] Some of them have short
and reticulated legs ; and these are also more
robust, and have a thicker bill.
The Sacred Ibis (7. religiosa, Nobis; Abou
Hannes, Bruce ; Tantalm AEthiopicus, Latham), is
the most celebrated species. It was reared in the
temples of ancient Egypt, with a degree of respect
bordering on adoration ; and was embalmed after
its death. This arose, according to some, from its
devouring serpents, which would otherwise have
multiplied to a noxious extent in the country ; while others are of opinion that it took its origin from some rela-
tion between its plumage and one of the phases of the moon ; a third class ascribing it to the fact that its appear-
ance announced the overflow of the Nile. For a long while, the African Tantal was believed to be the Ibis of the
Egyptians, which is now ascertained to be a species of the division we are now treating of, the size of a Fowl,
with white plumage, excepting the tips of the quill-feathers, which are black ; the greater coverts [tertiaries]
having elongated, slender, and loose barbs, of a black colour with violet reflections, and covering the extremities
of the wing and tail. The beak and feet, together with the naked part of the head and neck, are black ; and the
latter clothed, in the young, at least the upper surface, with short black feathers.* It is found throughout
Africa.
Fig-. 120.— Sternum of Glossy Ibis.
Other Ibises have scutellated tarsi, and generally a more slender bill.
The Scarlet Ibis {Scol. rubra, Lin. ; Tantalus ruber, Gm.). — Remarkable for its bright-red colour all over,
except the black tips of its wings. The young are at first covered with blackish down, becoming then ash-
coloured, and whitish when they begin to fly : in two years the red makes its appearance, the brilliancy of which
I increases with age. It is found in the hot parts of America, and lives in marshy districts in the vicinity of
estuaries ; does not migrate, and is easily rendered domestic.
The Glossy Ibis {Sc. falcinellus, Lin.). — Body empurpled rufous-brown, with a deep green mantle ; the young
I with the head and neck speckled with whitish. A resplendent species of the south of Europe and north of Africa,
■| and probably that designated Black Ibis by the ancients. [It occurs rarely in the British Isles.]
|| The Curlews {Numenius, Cuv.) —
Have an arcuated bill like that of an Ibis, but more slender, and round throughout ; the tip of the
|j upper mandible passing beyond that of the lower, and bulging a little downwards in front of it.
: The toes are palmated at base.
!; The Whaup Curlew {Sc. arcuata, Lin.).— Size of a Capon, and brown, with the margins of all the feathers
I whitish ; the croup white, and tail barred white and brown. It is tolerably good eating, and common along our
ij coasts, and as a bird of passage in the interior, [breeding in the upland moors of Britain : its plaintive whistle is
I well known along the sea-side, and has given rise to its name.]
jj The Wliimbrel Curlew {Sc. pliceopus, Lin.). — One half smaller, with nearly similar plumage. [Is not quite so
ij common in Britain as the last, and breeds sparingly on our most northern hills. There are several others].
!| The Snipes, properly so called, {Scolopax, Cuv.), —
,i Have a straight hill, with the nasal grooves extending nearly to the tip, which expands a little exter-
I nally to reach beyond the lower mandible, on the middle of which there is a simple furrow. The tip of
J the bill is soft and very sensitive, and drying after death presents a punctured surface. The feet are
I devoid of any palmature. A peculiar character of these birds consists in the compressed form of the
] head, and the backward site [at least in the larger species, with shorter tarsi], of their large eyes,
I which imparts a singularly stupid air, in conformity with their habits.
•We believe that all birds which have any naked parts in the adult state, have invariably the same feathered when youngs.— Ed.
R 2
AVES.
244
[They fall into two natural subdivisions : the first that of the Woodcocks, with less slender form, shorter leg's,
and the tibia feathered to the joint ; colour I'esembling that of decayed leaves.]
The European Woodcock (Sc, rusticola, Lin,). — Universally known, with handsomely mottled plumage. In the
summer it inhabits high mountains, and descends into the woods in the month of October, where it is generally
met with singly or in pairs, particularly in dull weather, and feeds on worms and insects. A few remain in the
level country throughout the year.
[The Snipes, commonly so called, are lighter-made, with longer legs, and tibia bare above the joint. They fre- |
quent marshy districts, and are coloured in adaptation to their abode.
In Britain, we have three species, very similar in their colouring, — the Great or Double Snipe (Sc. major), which
approaches in form to a Woodcock, and is only met with in the seasons of passage ; the Common or Whole Snipe
(Sc. gallinago), 'which breeds in considerable numbers on the northern hills, and is everywhere common in marshy
districts during the winter; and the Half or Jack Snipe (Sc. a minute species, more richly coloured
than the preceding, with much less tail : a fourth, the Sabine’s Snipe (Sc. Sabini), is extremely rare, and exceeds
the Common Snipe in size, having dingy plumage, with no white upon it. All are highly esteemed for the table.]
We should distinguish from the other Snipes
The Grey species (-S. and Novoboracensis : [Macroramphm Leach), which is in truth a Tringa
with a longer bill than usual, similar to that of the Snipes, and retains the gregarious habits and seasonal changes
of colouring of the true Sandpipers and Godwits.] Its front toes are semipalmated. Tliis bird is common in North
America and occurs as a rare straggler on this side of the Atlantic.
The Rhyncheans {Rhynchcea, Cuv.) —
Are African and Indian birds, the mandibles of which are nearly equal, a little arched at the end, with
the nasal grooves extending to the tip of the upper one, which has no third furrow. Their toes are
not palmated. To the port of the Snipes, they conjoin more vivid colours, and are particularly
remarkable for the ocellated spots which adorn the quill-feathers of their wings and tail.
They are found of dilFerent medleys of colour, which Gmelin brought together as so many varieties of one
species (Sc. capensis), and which Temminck also believes to be the same at difterent ages. One perfectly distinct
has, however, been received from Brazil (Rh. hilarea, Val.)
The Godwits {Limosa, Bechst.) — S ;
Have a straight bill, sometimes a little arcuated upwards, and still longer than in the Snipes, the||!
nasal groove extending almost to the tip, which is rather soft and depressed, but without additionalij
furrow, or punctation. The external toes are palmated at base. Their form is much more attenuated;! ^
and legs considerably more elevated, than in the Snipes, and they frequent salt marshes and the shores| |
of the ocean [changing to rufous on the under-parls and partially above in the breeding season, as in||
many Sandpipers, to which their gregarious habits are more nearly related than to those of the Snipes.lis
Two species are not uncommon on the British shores, viz., the Bar-tailed Godwit (L. rufd), which breeds moref ,
to the north, and abounds during the seasons of passage, and throughout the winter ; and the Black-tailed Godwit^
(L. j;ieZa«Mr«), which is much taller, with a longer bill, and (in old specimens) a pectinated middle claw; the
distal half of its tail is black, and it does not acquire so bright a rufous in the spring. This bird breeds in the, .
British marshes, and can pick up and subsist on barley, upon which numbers are fed that are brought from Hol-^ !
land to the London markets. There are several others.]
The Sandpipers (Ch/Mm, Cuv. ; Tern.) — i;
Have the tip of the beak depressed, and the nasal furrow very long, as in the Godwuts, but the mandi-|;^
hies in general are not longer than the head ; their toes, slightly bordered, have no palmation at the ;
base, and the back-toe hardly reaches to the ground; their legs but moderately elevated, and abbre-v ’
viated form, impart a heavier carriage than that of the Godwits. Their size also is much smaller. *
[The author separates his group Pdidna, merely on the charaeter of having the beak a trifle longer j
than the head, a difference which in several species depends merely on age or sex ; the females of all i'
the present family having a proportionally longer beak than the males, besides exceeding them a little^ -
in stature.
Numerous species are found, more or less regularly, on the British shores: the principal of which are — th^f
Knot Sandpiper (Tr. canutus), the size of a Snipe, and ashy-grey above, white below, with some dusky spots oi^i
the breast in winter, suffused with bright ferruginous in the spring ; bill short and straight ; it is a common species]^ :
and occurs in large flocks during the seasons of passage and through the winter, retiring further north to breed. !
The Purple Sandpiper (Tr. maritima), is smaller and less gregarious, and prefers rocky shores; back empurpled,^,, I'
the feathers margined with greyish during the winter. The rest are placed by the author in his Pelidna. Thef *
Purre Sandpiper (Tr. variabilis), still smaller, with a I’ather longer and more arcuated bill, coloured in winter likej I
* The latter imme is generally adopted. — Ed. •
GRxVLL^.
245
the first, and mottled with rufous above, and a black patch across the breast, in the breeding- season : it is the
I commonest of all, and some breed on the upland moors. The Curlew Sandpiper (Sc. subarquata, Gm. ; Numenms
africanus, Lath.), resembles the Knot in colouring and seasonal changes, and the Purre in size, with a still longer
and more-arcuated bill ; it is not common, nor very rare, on the British shores. The Little Sandpiper (Tr. minuta)
I is considerably less than the last, with a short bill ; it acquires some rufous tints in the spring, on the upper parts
and across the breast, and is certainly rare, though very much overlooked. Three or four others occur as strag-
ij glei's. These active-little birds take their food along the margin of the sea, following each retreating wave ; when
, gregarious in considerable flocks, and in their winter plumage, the whole show alternately their grey upper
j parts and white lower parts as they whirl in the air, producing a remarkable appearance, well known to those
i accustomed to wander by the sea side.]
' The Sanderlings {Arenaria, Bechst. ; CalidriSf Vigors) —
Ij Merely differ in the absence of hind-toe, like the Plovers.
jl One only is known (Charadrius calidris, Gmelin), the size of a Purre, with analogous seasonal changes to those
of the Knot Sandpiper. [It appears to be almost generally diffused, and is common on the British shores.]
i[
I The Falcinelles {EroUa, Vieillot) —
jj Have the beak rather more arcuated than in the Curlew Sandpiper, but do not, as has been asserted,
ji want the thumb.
:| We are acquainted with one only, {Sc. pygmcea, Lin.), a bird proper to Africa, but which is occasionally found
, in Europe.
i; The Ruffs {Machetes, Cuv.) —
[ Are true Sandpipers by the bill and feet, except that the palmature of their outer toes is nearly as
j' considerable as in the Garabets, Godwits, &c.
I One species only is known {Tr. pugnax,!^^..). Larger than a Snipe, and very celebrated for the furious combats
ij which the males wage in spring for the possession of the females. At this epoch, the head becomes partly covered
j' with red [or yellow] papillae, and the neck is furnished with a very considerable collar or rulf of lengthened feathers,
i so variously marked and coloured in different individuals, that two can hardly ever be found alike, and rarely much
i resembling each other. They have always yellow legs*, which, together w'ith the semi-palmation of the toes, assists
: us to recognize them at all seasons. The species is common in the north of Europe, [and is remarkable for the
i male exceeding the female in size, at variance with the other members of this group, but in accordance with
' its polygamous habits. Vast numbers are brought from Holland to the London markets.]
j America produces some species nearly allied, as the Hemipalamus, Bonap. ; or Tringa semipalmata, Wilson ;
I [the habits of which are more allied to those of the Gambets, to which in fact they essentially belong].
i Near the Sandpipers should apparently be placed
; The Spathe-bill {Eurinorhynchus, Wilson), —
I Wliich is distinguished by a depressed bill, widened at the tip somewhat as in the Spoonbills, and the
: only species of which is
j The Platalea pygmcea, Lin. ; Eurinorynchus griseus, Wilson {Thun. Acad. Suec., 1816, pi. vi), which is one of
j the rarest birds in existence, as it is only known by a single individual, grey above and white beneath, and about
the size of a Purre Sandpiper. [It has since been met w'ith in northern Asia.]
The Phalaropes {Phalarqpus, Brisson), —
Are small birds, the bill of which, more flattened than in the Sandpipers, is otherwise similar as regards
its proportions and lateral grooves, and the toes of which are bordered with very broad membranes,
as in the Coots. [Their lower plumage resembles in texture that of the Gulls,]
The known species {Tr. lohata and Tr. fuUcaria, Lin.), has a wide bill for a member of this family, and is in
winter ash-coloured above, whitish below and on the head, with a black band upon the neck : it is then the Grey
Phalarope {Tr. lohata, Edw.). In summer it becomes black, mottled with fulvous above, and of a deep reddish
below [like the Knot Sandpiper, Godwits, &c.] : but at all seasons it retains a white spot on the wing, the rest of
which is blackish. It is then the Red Phalarope {Ph. rufus, Bechstein and Meyer ; Tr. fulicaria, Lin.). This bird
is rare in Europe [not very so in the British Isles, during the season of passage, when individuals are occasionally
met with swimming upon inland ponds, like a very diminutive Duck, and evincing little fear or shyness : they
also occur in small flocks, and breed chiefly within the Arctic circle].
The Turnstones {Strepsilas, Illiger), —
Are rather lower on the legs, and have a short bill, and toes devoid of any palmature, like the true
Sandpipers ; but their beak is conical, pointed, and without depression, compression, or inflation, and
the nasal groove reaches only half-way. The thumb barely touches the ground. Their beak, rather
246
AVES.
stouter and proportionally less flexible than in the preceding, is used by them to turn over stones to
search for the worms that lie beneath them. [Its form is not unlike that of a Nuthatch’s hill.]
The two species doubtfully indicated by the author are merely the same in different states of plumage : it
is a bird of remarkably wide geographic range, and tolerably plentiful on the British coasts : its affinitv is rather
with the Oyster-catchers and Plovers].
The Gambets {Totanus, Cuv.) —
Have a slender, round, pointed, and solid beak, the nasal groove of which only extends half its length,
and the upper mandible is slightly arcuated towards the tip. Their form is slight, and legs elevated :
the thumb hardly touches the ground, and the palmation of their outer toe is well-marked. The
species are each found nearly all over the world, [or rather, there are many difficult of determination
apart, which has induced the latter opinion.]
The Greenshank Gambet {Scol. glottis, Lin.).— As large as a [rather small] Godwit, wdththe beak comparatively
stout, [and a little recurved] ; ashy-brown above and on the sides, with the margins of the feathers punctated with
brown, the croup and belly white, and tail rayed with narrow irregular bars grey and white ; the feet green : in
summer the throat and breast are spotted with dusky tears, which disappear after the breeding season. This is
the largest species of Gambet in Europe. [It breeds on the margins of lakes, including those of Britain, and
during the season of propagation is very clamorous, rising on the wing and spreading an alarm at the approach of
danger to all other birds within hearing : in winter it resorts to the sea-shore in small flocks, apparently the
amount of broods. The Greenshank is a characteristic example of a particular group, the members of w'hich are
comparatively large, acquire more or less of a dusky colour on the under-parts towards the breeding season, and
agree in their general habits, mostly frequenting fresh-water lakes. An allied species of North America {Tot. semi-
palmatus) has the toes half-webbed, and has been known to occur in Europe as a straggler. The Dusky Gambet
(T./^^^cMs) is another European species, more delicately formed, with particularly slender beak and feet, and
beautifully barred tail and coverts, which becomes entirely suflfused on the under-parts with fuliginous-black in
the spring, and is rare in Britain. A fourth {T. calidris), the Redshank Gambet, is very abundant in Britain, -
breeding also not uncommonly in marshes near the sea-shore, and especially about the estuaries of rivers.
Others acquire no colour on the under-parts in spring, and mostly breed in the marshes, where they trip across
the broad floating leaves of aquatic plants with grace and agility : such are, particularly, those with longer legs,
as the delicate Wood Gambet {T. glareola), which is sometimes found in Britain, the T. stagnatalis, Bechst., of
eastern Europe, and T. chloropygius of North America : one more common in this country, with shorter legs, and
a conspicuous white rump as it flies, is the Green Gambet {T. ochropus), which conducts into the next minor group.
The others, at least those of Europe, are still smaller, and familiarly known as Summer Snipes in England. One 1 1'
very common may be termed the Common Gambet (T. hypoleucos), which in America is represented by a species ■
with a breast spotted like that of a Thrush (T. macularia). Another in Europe, still more diminutive (T. Tem-'k [
minckii or pusilla), has been generally classed with the Sandpipers, but strictly appertains to the present group i
both in structure and habits, being never found on the sea-shore, but frequenting inland waters like its true | ^
congeners, all of which jerk the tail and nod the head frequently as they run about, and emit a clear whistling ^
note. There are many others in foreign parts.]
The Lobefoot {Lohipes, Cuv.), —
Which we consider ought to be separated from the Phalaropes, which
it resembles in the lobation of its toes, is distinguished from them by
its hill, which is that of a Gambet. Sucii is
The Red-necked Lobefoot {Tringa hyperborea, Lin.). — K little bird, grey
above, white below, tinted with rufous on the scapularies, and having a broad
red gorget round its white throat. Add the Phalaropus frenatus, Vieillot ;
or Holopodius \Wilsonii] of M. C. Bonaparte, [which is found in America
generally. Tlie first-named species breeds in the northern isles of Scotland,
inhabiting marshy grounds, where it cannot be obtained without much diffi-
culty, though far from being timid in its disposition].
The Stilts {Himantopus, Brisson) —
Have a round beak, slender and pointed, even more so than in the
Gambets ; the grooves of the nostrils extending only half-way. But
what particularly distinguishes them, and has given origin to their
name, is the inordinate length and slenderness of their legs, which
are reticulated and destitute of hind-toe, and the hones of which are
so feeble as to render walking painful to them.
%':■
I
I
But one species is known in Europe {Charadrius himantopus, Lin. ; [LT. Plinii, Auct.] ; which is white, with a
black calotte and mantle, and long red legs. It is rather rare, and little is known of its manners. [The latter
ORALLY. 247
I bear a near resemblance to those of the Avocets, with which this g-enus is even linked by an intermediate species,
' which conjoins the webbed toes of the latter with the beak of the Stilts (the H. jJalmatus, Gould, a native of
Australia). There are three or four normal species, and both this and the next genus are almost generally dif-
fused, frequenting muddy estuaries in winter, and salt-marshes during the season of propagation].
We can scarcely place otherwise than here
I The Avocets {Recurvirostra, Lin.), —
! Although their feet, which are w'ebbed nearly to the ends of their toes, almost entitle them to rank
I among the Swimming-birds ; but their lengthened tarsi and half-naked tibiae, their long, slender,
I pointed, smooth, and elastic bill, and the mode of life which results from their conformation, concur
I to approximate them to the Snipes. What particularly characterizes them, and distinguishes them
ij even from all other birds [if two remarkable species of Humming-bird be excepted, the TrocMlus
I recurvirostra and Tr, avocetta'], is the strong upward curvature of their beak, [the mandibles of which
! have often been compared to two thin slips of whalebone]. Their legs are reticulated, and thumb too
I short to reach the ground.
That of Europe (jR. avocetta, Lin.) is white, with a black calotte and three bands of the same upon the wings, 1
j and leaden-coloured legs. It is a handsome bird, of attenuated form, which frequents the sea-shore in winter,
[where it feeds by scooping (as it is termed), with its singular bill, drawing this through the mud or sand from
right to left as it advances its left leg foremost, and vice versa, seizing whatever living prey is thus met with. Its
j manners in the breeding season resemble those of the Gambets, rising on wing and emitting its cry at the approach
of any intruder ; it collects, however, a greater quantity of nest than is usual among the wading-birds, the majo-
:| rity of which pertaining to the present group merely lay in some slight hollow. There are three or four other
species].
ij The family of
' Macrodactyli
I Are furnished with very long toes, adapted for traversing aquatic herbage, or even for swdm-
j ming, in those numerous species which have them bordered, [and not these only]. There are
j| no membranes, however, connecting the bases of their toes, not even the tw^o outer ones.
I The beak, more or less laterally compressed, is lengthened or shortened according to the
1 genus, without ever attaining the degree of feebleness and attenuation which is characteristic
‘ of the preceding family. The body of these birds is also singularly compressed, a conforma-
tion resulting from the narrowness of the ster-
num (fig. 122) ; their wings are short or mode-
rate, and their flight feeble. [The females are
mostly larger, and in some instances excel the
males in brightness of colouring ; and they ])ro-
duce numerous speckled eggs, having a reddisli
clay ground-colour, the young running soon
after they are hatched, being then covered with
a rigid, black, hair dike down : their cry is gene-
rally abrupt and croaking] .
They have been divided into two tribes, ac-
cording to the presence or absence of any arma-
ture on the wings ; but this character is subject
to exception.
The Jacanas {Parra, Lin.) —
Are conspicuously distinguished from all other Stilt- I
birds by the extraordinary length of their four toes, j
which are separated to the base, and the claws of which, more particularly that of the back-toe, are |
extremely long and sharp-pointed. The bill resembles that of the Lapwings by its medium lengtli and j
slight bulge towards the tip, and the wing is armed with a spur. They are noisy and quarrelsome
birds, which reside in the marshes of hot climates, where they walk with facility on the floating leaves
of aquatic plants, by means of their long toes. [They are essentially modified, however, upon the type
248
AVES.
of the preceding group, which is traceable in their whole anatomy ; and are nearly allied to certain
Lapwings, which we believe they also resemble in the number and character of their eggs.] i
America produces some species which have a flat naked membrane at the base of the bill, which is reflected over
part of the forehead. As
The Common Jacana (P. jacana, Lin.).— Black, with a rufous mantle ; the primary wing-coverts green ; and I
fleshy wattles under the beak. It is the commonest of those inhabiting the hot climates of America, and has very i
sharp spurs. !
Some of the same kind are found in Asia, as
The Bronzed Jacana (P. cened). The body black, changing to blue and violet, a bronzed-green mantle, blood- ^
red croup and tail, the anterior wing-feathers green, and a white streak behind the eye. Its spurs are small and
blunt.
Others have been discovered in the east in which this membrane does not exist, and which are otherwise
remarkable for some singular differences in the propoi'tions of their quill-feathers. As
The Long-tailed Jacana (P. siwcwsis).— Brown, with the head, throat, fore-neck, and wing-coverts, white, the
hind-neck adorned with silky feathers of a golden- yellow colour, and a small pedicillated appendage to the tips of
some of the quill feathers.
There is one also in the east which is crested, and has no spurs to the wings, (the P. gallinacea, Tern.).
The Screamer {Palamedea, Lin.) —
Resembles the Jacanas, but on a very large scale, by the two stout spurs which it bears on each wing,
and by its long toes and strong claws, more particularly that on the hind-toe, which is long and! j|
straight as in the Larks ; but its beak, which is slightly cleft, is neither much compressed nor bulging, 1 1
and its upper mandible is a little arcuated. The legs are reticulated. ;: ||
Tlie species known, the Horned Screamer (P. cornuta), termed in Brazil Anhima, and Camouchem Cayenne, is ^ !'
larger than a Goose, and blackish, with a rufous spot on the shoulder, the top of its head bearing a singular orna-
ment, consisting of a long and slender, moveable, horny stem. Its toes have no palmation. This bird inhabits
the inundated grounds of South America, and its very loud voice is heard afar off. It is strictly monogamous : is
said to pursue reptiles ; but although its stomach is only slightly muscular, it scarcely feeds on anything but 1
aquatic herbage. [The trachea of this bird has an abrupt bony box or enlargement about the middle, somewhat ^
analogous to that of the male Velvet Pochard {Oidemia fused)'].
A distinct genus has been made of
The Chauna {Opistolophus, Vieillot), — |
Which has no horn on the vertex, but the occiput is adorned with a circle of erectible feathers. Thei i
head and upper part of the neck are only covered with down, and it has a black collar. A singular * |
phenomenon is exhibited by the circumstance of its skin, even that covering its legs, being inflated by
the interposition of air between it and the muscles, so that it crackles under the finger.
It is the Parra cJiavaria, Lin. The rest of its plumage is lead-coloured and blackish, with a white spot at the
bend of the wing, and another at the base of some of the large primaries. There is a tolerably well-marked palma-
ture between its external toes. It feeds principally on aquatic herbage ; and the Indians of Carthagena rear some
among their flocks of Geese and Poultry, as they deem it very courageous, and capable of repulsing even a
Vulture.
Near to the Screamers we think should be placed, although they have scarcely any naked space j
above the tarsal joint, 1
The Megapodes {Megapodius, Lesson), — | |
A genus recently discovered in New Guinea, with a vaulted beak, a little compressed, the membranous | |
nostrils occupying about half its length, and very stout and elevated tarsi, which are scutellated, the|ll
toes (including the hind one) being long, and terminated by claws which are rather flat. They havef
a short tail, a naked space round the eye, and there is a small tubercle on the carpus, the first and l "
slight vestige of the spur of the Screamer. The membrane between their external toes is very slight, I :
while that of the inner is rather larger. They lay disproportionately large eggs for their size. 4
One species is crested nearly as in the Chauna (Jf. Duperreyi, Lesson) : two others have no crest ; and a fourth^
has scarcely any tail.
In the tribe wherein the wings are unarmed, Linnseus comprises, under the genus Fulica,
all such as have the bill continued baekward into a sort of shield, that covers the forehead ; and
those which do not possess this character he arranges in the genus Rallus.
GRALLiE.
249
^ The Kails (RaUus, Lin.), —
i Which bear, in otlier respects, a very strong mutual resemblance, liave bills of very different pro-
’ portions.
; Among the species in wliich it is longest,
! The Kails {Rallus, Bechstein), —
;| May be first mentioned.
ij The European Rail {R. aquaticus, Lin.).— Olive-brown, marked with black above, bluish-ash-colour beneath,
ijj with some narrow black and white rays crossing the flanks. This bird is common in our ponds and ditches, where
it swims well, and runs lightly upon the leaves of aquatic herbage, feeding on small Crustaceans. [Its frontal
i| feathers are rigid, in place of the shield of the Coots and Gallinules. There are various others, all extra-European.]
i' Other species,
!j The Crakes {Crew, Bechstein), —
Have a shorter bill, as observed in
'i « The Corn-Crake {R. crex, Lin.).— Of a reddish-brown colour, marked with blackish above, and greyish below,
with dull black rays crossing the flanks ; the wings rufous. It lives and nestles in our fields and meadows, and runs
with great swiftness among the long grass. The Latin name, Crex, is expressive of its cry. It feeds on corn, in
addition to worms and insects.
[The following species, or
The Soras {Zapornia, Stephens), —
Have an intermediate beak, and resemble the Kails in their aquatic habits.]
The Speckled Sora {R. porzana, Lin.).— A deep brown, speckled with white, and whitish rays on the flanks. It
is a good swimmer and diver, and does not leave France till the middle of winter. [There are two smaller kinds
; in western Europe, including the British Isles ; the Bail Ion’s Sora (Z. Baillonii), with somewhat speckled
plumage ; and the Little Sora, as it is termed, though surpassing the last in size, {Z. pusilla), the plumage of
I which approximates that of the Common Rail. Of various exotic species, some are considerably larger than the
i Crake and Rail of Europe].
The Coots (Fulica, Lin.) —
! May be subdivided in the following manner, according to the form of the beak, and the membranes
! margining the toes.
The Gallinules {Gallinula, Briss. & Lath.) —
Have the beak nearly as in the Crakes, but distinguished by the frontal shield, and by longer toes,
I bordered with a narrow membrane.
The Common Gallinule (G. cMoropus, Lin.).— Deep olive-brown above, slaty-grey below, with some white on
, the sides, [the feet green, with a red and yellow cincture above the tarsal joint, and the frontal shield bright red :
these lively colours being much more conspicuous in the female, which is larger also than her mate. A very
, common species throughout Europe, and considered to be of universal diffusion, as specimens from the most
distant regions are undistinguishable] .
The Sultanas {Porphyrio, Brisson) —
Have the beak higher in proportion to its length ; and very long toes, with scarcely any perceptible
border ; the frontal shield considerable, and rounded in some, square above in others. These birds
t stand on one foot, while they employ the other to convey food to the beak. Their colours are gene-
rally fine shades of violet, blue, and azure. Such is
! The Common Sultana {Fulica porphyrio, Lin.), a beautiful African species, now naturalized in several islands
and countries bordering the Mediterranean. Its beauty would render it an ornament in our parks.
,1
Lastly,
The Kestricted Coots {Fulica, Brisson) —
Conjoin to a short beak and large frontal shield, toes that are much widened by a festooned border,
which renders them excellent swimmers ; hence their lives are passed in pools and marshes. Their
smooth plumage is not less adapted than the rest of their conformation to this mode of life, and they
consequently exhibit a marked transition from the Wading to the True Swimming Birds, [though only
in superficial or adaptive characters, which are principally external].
There is one in Europe {F. atra, aterrima, and izthiops, Gm.)— [Slaty-black, darker on the neck, with a flesh-
coloured shield, which becomes white in the season of propagation. It is very easily tamed, and subsists on grain,
pond-weed, and even small fish, diving with facility.]
AVES.
250
We terminate this series of Stilt-birds by three genera, which it is difficult to associate with ill
any others, and which may be considered as each forming a separate family. '
y
The Sheathbills {Chionis, Forster) —
Have short toes, nearly as in the Poultry, the tarsi scutellated, the beak thick and conical, and i
enveloped at base by a hard substance, which, it appears, the bird has the power of raising and ;
depressing. |]
We are acquainted with only one species, from New Holland {Ch. necropTiaga, Vieillot), the size of a [large] j
Partridge, and entirely white. It frequents the sea shore, and feeds on dead animal matter thrown up by the ,
tide. [Prof. Blainville has lately shown that this remarkable bird approaches very near to the Oyster-catchers in
its whole anatomy, and the affinity is discernible on comparison of their external characters. fj
Apparently allied are | |
The Attagens {Attagis, d’Orb.), — I ji
The uncompressed bill of which nearly resembles that of a Poultry-bird, and the plumage is not unlikef
the immature dress of a Lark : wings and feet as in Chionis. p
Several species inhabit the Cordilleras of the Andes, varying in size from that of a Partridge to less than* T
a Lark. The smaller constitute the of Vieillot.] 4 ?
The Pratincoles {Glareola, Gmelin) — 1 !
Have a short, conical beak, arcuated throughout, and resembling that of a Poultry-bird. The wings
excessively long and pointed, and tail often forked, producing the flight of a Swallow or Petrel. The j|
legs are of mean length, the tarsi scutellated, the external toes a little palmated, and thumb reaching
to the ground ; [middle claw furnished with an obtusely serrated inner edge]. They fly in troops, and H
cry about the borders of water, subsisting on aquatic insects and worms. [Their sternal apparatus and |
anatomy intimate their position to be among the Snipes and Plovers.] ;
The European species {Gl. torquata) is brown above, white below and on the croup ; the gorget encircled with a
black marking ; and base of the bill and feet reddish. It appears to inhabit the north of the whole ancient world.
Our last genus consists of
The Flamingoes (Phcenicopterus, Lin.), —
Which are among the most extraordinary and isolated of birds, [being, in fact, an extreme modification
of the Lamellirostral type, that is, of the Duck tribe, with inordinately elongated neck and legs]. Their
legs, of excessive length, have their front toes palmated to the ends, and an extremely short hind-
toe ; the neck is equally long and slender with the legs, and their small head is furnished with a bill
the inferior mandible of which is of an oval form, longitudinally bent into a semicylindrical canal,
while the upper one, oblong and flat, is bent crosswise in the middle, so as to join the other exactly.
The membranous groove of the nostrils occupies nearly the whole side of that part which is behind
the sudden bend of the mandibles, and the nostrils themselves form a longitudinal slit at the base of
the groove. The edges of the two mandibles are furnished with small and very fine transverse
laminae, which, together with the fleshy thickness of the tongue, imports some relationship with the
Ducks. We might even place the Flamingoes among the Palmipedes, were it not for the length of
their tarsi, and the nudity of part of the tibia, [an objection which would equally apply to the Gulls !
and Petrels]. They feed on Testaceans, Insects, and the spawn of Fishes, which they seize by means
of their long neck, reverting the head to employ with advantage the crook of the upper mandible.
They construct their nest of earth in marshy situations, placing themselves astride of it [ .^ ] during thel
act of incubation, in consequence of the extreme length of their legs incapacitating them from sitting‘1
in the usual manner. [The digestive organs resemble those of the Ducks with unlobated hind-toe ;
having even the crop, or distension of the oesophagus, which occurs in no species strictly belonging to
the division of Stilt-birds.]
The common species {Ph. ruber) stands from three to four feet in height, and is ash-coloured, with brown
streaks, during the first year ; in the second there is a roseate hue on the wings, and in the third it assumes a
purple red on the back, and rose-coloured wings. This species is found in all parts of the eastern continent below
40 degrees. Numerous flocks are seen every year on the southern coasts of Europe, and they sometimes ascend
as far as the Rhine.
M. Temminck thinks [and has since definitively ascertained] that the American Flamingo is distinct ; besides
which, there is a small species on that continent {Ph. minor, Vieillot) of which the Pigmy Flamingo of Temminck
is the young.
PALMIPEDES. 251
I [Here, at the close of the great series of Ground-Birds, as of the Perchers, may be intro-
I duced a few brief remarks on the classification of these animals, as warranted by the present
state of information. The divisions are not all so strongly characterized apart as the four
I principal groups or orders already speeified ; but chiefly beeause certain genera stand forth
' fi’om the rest, and will not (so far as we can perceive at present) satisfaetorily range with any
of the others. Preserving the same form of nomenclature as before adopted, as less objection-
able than any other that we can devise, the various groups of Ground-birds (as the vast
: majority of the foregoing extensive series may be appropriately denominated,) fall into six
principal divisions, which may be designated as follow : —
!j V. Gemitores {Cooers) — the Pigeons; an order strongly characterized by the whole
! internal anatomy, and not less so by the outward conformation. It is perfectly distinct from
ij the contiguous orders, to whieh it is linked by no intrinsically connecting species.
VI. Rasores (Ground-scratchers) — the Poultry : a group sufficiently cognizable in its
I totality, but not easy to subdivide in such a manner as to exemplify the relative value of its
various genera.
' VII. CuRSORES {Runners) ; or the Brevipennes of Cuvier.
VIII. Calcatores {Stampers) ; or the Pressirostres and Longirostres of our author,
comprising the numerous genera with soft and flexile bills, more or less prolonged, the greater
i number of which lay four eggs, which they dispose crosswise, &c. &c. The name alludes to
the habit which many of them display, of stamping with the foot, to cause the worms on
^ whieh they feed to rise.
II IX. Gradatores {Stalkers) ; or the Cultrirostres of Cuvier.
Ij X. Latitores {Skulkers) ; or the Macrodactyli.
I Each of these appears to us to constitute a distinct and natural order, possessing various
distinguishing characters ; and we suspeet that every genus of Ground- birds will ultimately
! prove, when its characters have been sufficiently studied, to rank in one or another of them.
;| As a whole, they form a series, analogous to those of the Perchers and Swimmersi]
i THE SIXTH ORDER OF BIRDS,—
THE PALMIPEDES,—
Have the feet organized for swimming ; that is to say, placed far backwards on the body, with
' short and compressed tarsi, and webbed toes. They are further characterized by a elose and
, polished plumage, impregnated with oil, and by a quantity of down next to the skin, which pro-
i tect them from the water in whieh they pass most of their lives. They are the only birds in
whieh the neck is longer than the legs, whieh is sometimes the case to a considerable extent,
for the purpose of enabling them to search for food in the depths below, while they swim on
i the surface. Their sternum is very long, affording a complete guard to the greater portion of
their viscera, and having on each side [generally] but one emargination, or oval foramen,
I filled up with membrane. They have most frequently a muscular gizzard, long cceca, and a
! simple inferior larynx ; which last is in one family, however, inflated into a cartilaginous cap-
j sule. [So many exceptions oceur to the foregoing generalization respecting the stomach and
coeca, that it might advantageously have been omitted.]
This order subdivides tolerably w^ell into four families, of which that of
The Divers {Brachypteres) —
Presents, in certain of its species, some [very superficial] tokens of relationship with the Galli-
I nules. The position of their legs, whieh is farther backward than in any other birds, renders
* walking difficult, and obliges them to maintain, when upon land, an upright attitude. As the
AVES.
252
greater number of them are also feeble flyers, and several are quite deprived of that faculty, in
consequence of the shortness of their wings, they may be regarded as exclusively attached to the ’
surface of the water : their plumage is particularly dense, and its surface frequently polished,
presenting a silvery lustre. They swim under water by the aid of their wings, which are
employed as fins. Their gizzard is tolerably muscular ; the coeca of moderate length. They i
have only one special muscle on each side of their lower larynx. Such are
The Loons {Colymbus, Lin.), —
Which are characterized by a smooth, straight, compressed, and pointed bill, with linear nostrils ; but
require to be subdivided from characters derived from the feet [the entire skeleton, character of
plumage, propagation, &c. &c.]
The Grebes {Podieeps, Latham ; Colymbus, Brisson and Illiger), —
Instead of ordinary webs between the toes, have the latter widened as in the Coots, and the anterior
connected only at base by membranes, [which border the remainder] . The claw of the middle toe is
flattened ; the tarsi exceedingly compressed. The semi-metallic [or satiny]
lustre of their lower plumage has led to the occasional employment of it as
fur. Their tibia, as also that of the Loons [in which it is much more pro-
duced,] is prolonged forwards beyond the joint, to give a more efficient
insertion to the extensors of the leg. [Sternum (fig. 123)* very short,
and of peculiar conformation, approaching in some respects to that of
the Cormorants ; which these very singular birds also resemble in the
character of their eggs, the hard shell of which is invested with an ab-
sorbent chalky substance. They have no vestige of a tail. The young are
clad in exquisitely soft down, which is striped black and white, as in the
Emeu. The constant number of cervical vertebrae is nineteen instead of
thirteen, as in the restricted Loons ; and theh skeleton is altogether
extremely different.]
These birds reside in lakes and ponds, and nestle among the rushes,
[producing numerous eggs, whereas the Loons lay very rarely more than
two]. It appears that under certain circumstances they carry their young
under their wings. Their size and plumage change so much with age [the
latter rather according to season], that naturalists have very much multiplied the species. M. Meyer
reduces those of Europe to four, [instead of five, which is the right number, as follow] : —
The Crested Grebe (P. cristattis).— As large as a Duck, and satiny-white, with dusky upper-parts, acquiring with
age a double black crest, and rufous collar edged with black, [which exist only during the breeding season].
The Red-necked Grebe (P. Smaller, with the neck bright rufous, and greyish collar less developed.
The Horned Grebe (P. cornutus) [and Eared Grebe (P. awn^Ms).— Still less, and precisely of the same size with
each other, so that they can only be distinguished, when the seasonal collar falls, by the beak of the second being
distinctly a little recurved, and by a difference in the colour of the iris of the recent specimen ; their collars, how-
ever, during the breeding season, are very different, and that of the Eared Grebe is less developed than in the |
other].
The Little Grebe (P. wmor).— Size of a Quail, with never any crest or collar. [These various species, notwith-
standing the shortness of their wings, can fly with considerable speed, when they once fairly rise, which they do ||
with unwillingness, and seldom except when compelled to migrate. They can walk with their feet, and do not .,|
trail upon the belly, like the Loons ; and when under water, they make more use of their wings than the latter do
habitually].
The Finfeet {Heliornis, Bonaterre; Podoa, Illiger) —
Have feet lobed as in the Coots and Grebes, but their tail is more developed than in either, and
claws sharper. '
Such is Plotus surinamensis, Gmelin ; and Heliornis senegalensis, Vieillot, which Gmelin approximated to the |i
Anhingas. ^
The Loons {Colymbus, Latham; Mergus, Brisson; Eudytes, Illiger), —
With all the [external] form of the Grebes, have the feet webbed in the ordinary manner ; that ill?
to say, their three front toes are connected by membrane to the tips, and are all terminated by |
* The representation (fig. 123), in other respects accurate, is somewhat too long. — Ed.
PALMIPEDES.
253
pointed nails. They are northern birds, whieh rarely nestle with us, and visit these latitudes in
winter, when they are not uneoinmori upon our coasts. [They have large wings, and fly strongly,
but in consequence of the position of the feet, the tibia being quite buried within the integuments,
are unable to walk, though they push themselves forward with facility and tolerable speed, trailing
upon the belly. They have a short tail, on the tripod of which and the feet they are enabled to
stand upright, and take a wide view around them by means of their long neck : they utter dismal
bowlings ; and produce large spotted eggs, two or three in number, which are extremely unlike those
of the Grebes.
Three species are well known, the whole of which are not rare in Britain. One, as large as a Goose (Col. gla-
cialis), the Collared Loon, black above, beautifully spotted with white, with a nearly perfect collar of the same
round the neck, and a black head. The second, (C. glacialis), the Black-throated
Loon, extremely variable in size, but always smaller than the preceding, with a fuli-
ginous grey head, and larger white spots on the upper parts : both of which species
have the immature plumage dusky above, with greyish edgings to the feathers : and
the Red-throated Loon (C. septentriunalis), still smaller and much commoner, the
winter dress of which (and not the immature plumage, which resembles that of the
others, is speckled above with numerous small whitish spots bordering the feathers,
which wear off in spring, leaving the back spotless blackish ; coincident with which
change of appearance, a rufous patch appears in front of the neck. All three are
great destroyers of fish, and proceed with extreme swiftness under water, in general
making little use of their wings to assist their progress. They are common to the
northern regions of both continents, as are also the four first-mentioned Grebes.}
The Guillemots {Uria, Brisson & Illiger), —
With the general form of the beak of the preceding, have it covered with
feathers as far as the nostril, and emarginated at the tip, which is a little
arcuated. Their principal distinction, however, consists in wanting the
back-toe. Their wings, much shorter than those of the Loons, barely sufiice
for the function of flying. They feed on fish and crustaceans, and are found
about the precipitous rocks on which they breed.
[These birds, the first of which is merely an Auk with a more slender bill, fly with considerable swiftness in a
straight line, their wings being reduced to the minimum extent adequate for aerial support, in order that they
might be more efficient under water, where no use whatever is made of the feet,
which are held out like those of a w^ading bird when cleaving the air. Ac-
cordingly they literally fly under water, whereas the subaquatic progression of a
Grebe more resembles that of a Frog, and the Loons do not generally use the
wings at all : hence the prolongation forward of the fixed patella, so considerable
in the Loons, which is reduced in the Grebes, and entirely wanting in the Auks,
Puffins, and Guillemots, which form a particular group, found only in the ocean.
The latter have also smaller coeca, a particularly tough cuticular lining to the
stomach, of a bright yellow^ colour, a different sternal apparatus, which most
nearly approximates that of the Loons, diverse plumage and seasonal changes,
&c. They are pre-eminently remarkable for the manner in which the skeleton
incloses the viscera as in a box, in order to resist the pressure of deep water ;
while their air-cavities are unusually large, whieh causes them to float very high
when on the surface, and are obviously designed to increase the standard of
respiration so as to permit of their sustaining themselves in the air with their
short and narrow wings, these, however, not being violently beaten in the act of
flying. Their movements under water precisely resemble those of the
or common Water Beetles ; the principal motion being more or less vertical, in-
stead of horizontal as in the Grebes and Loons : they are, therefore, together with
the distinct group of Penguins, the most characteristic divers of the class.
One common on the precipitous coasts of all Britain, is the Common Guillemot
(U. troile), of a dusky slate-colour above, white beneath, and a bar of the same on
the wing, formed by the tips of the secondaries ; the throat black in summer,
white in winter. It lays only one egg, of enormous proportional magnitude, and remarkably variable in colour.
The young at first resemble the adults in summer dress ; but their first plumage, which succeeds the down, and
the texture of which is singularly delicate, presents the colouring of the adult winter-garb, and is exchanged for
the latter in the course of a few weeks. They breed in vast numbers on the narrow ledges of rocks, where in
many places they are seen sitting in successive rows, one over another. In autumn they migrate southward,
those which breed on the British shores being replaced by others from more northern latitudes.
Another and smaller species, is the Black Guillemot (U. grglle), entirely black, with a great white wing-spot, in
Fig:. 124. — Sternum of Loon.
Fig. 125. — Sternum of Guillemot.
254
AVES.
summer, and everywhere mottled with white in winter : the bill and feet red. Its range is more northerly, rarely
if ever breeding to the southward of the Scottish Isles, and producing two and often three eggs, proportionally *
smaller, and singularly different from those of the other, both in shape and colour. It is less allied to the Common
Guillemot than the latter is to the Auks, with which an intermediate species, rarely found on the British coasts,
tends even to connect it, — the U. Bi-unnicJm, which scarcely differs except in the more robust form of the bill, i
There is also a breed of the Common Guillemot found on the Welsh coast, and some other places, which has a
narrow white line from the bill to the eye, as in the Razor-billed Auk.] I
The Rotche {Cephm, Cuv. \Mergulm, Ray and Vieillot]), —
Has a shorter bill, more arcuated above, and unemarginated ; the symphysis of the lower mandible
extremely short. Its wings are stronger, and the membranes of the feet somewhat notched.
The known species, termed Little Auh and Greenland Dove, (C. alle ; Colymbus minor, Gmelin), is not larger
than a Pigeon, and black above, white below, with the same mark on the wing as the Common Guillemot. It
inhabits the arctic shores, where it breeds on the ground, and is occasionally met with in our latitudes during the
winter.
The genus of
The Auks {Alca, Lin.) —
Is known by its extremely compressed beak, raised vertically, sharp along the ridge, and ordinarily |
grooved on the sides, together with its feet entirely palmated and without back toe, the same as in the
Guillemots. The species are all from the northern seas.
They requii-e to he divided into three subgenera.
The Puffins {Fratercula, Brisson ; Mormon, Illiger), —
Of which the beak, shorter than the head, is as high or higher than it is long, gmng it a very
extraordinary form, while its base is generally furnished with a folded skin, The nostrils, placed
near its edge, are mere slits. Their short wings can just sustain them for a brief period, and they
reside in the ocean like the Guillemots, and nestle in the rocks, [or rather they burrow holes in loose
soil, and lay their single egg at the depth of several feet. They run or creep swiftly on the ground,
and the Auks and Guillemots can also waddle with more speed than might be anticipated from the
shortness of their legs].
The common species (^Alca arctica, Lin. ; Mormon fratercula. Tern.), is a little larger than a Pigeon, with black
mantle, calotte, and collar, and the rest white. [Legs orange ; bill brightly coloured; and a slip of loose skin at
each eye. It is common in suitable localities on the British shores, flies rapidly, and may often be seen to return
to its mate or young, with a number of small fishes curiously ranged on each side of its bill, each held by the head.
The young are at first covered with long and flocculent black down, which is replaced by delicately soft plumage |
analogous to that of the young Guillemot, succeeded by the adult garb in the course of a few weeks, which last |
undergoes no seasonal changes]. |
M. Temminck distinguishes as |
The Phalerins {Phaleris, Tem.), |
Those species which have the beak less elevated ; as,
jf
The Alca cristatella, Vieillot, and A. psittacula, Pallas. [Six species are known on the arctic shores of America,
one forming the Ceratorynchus, Bonap. ; some of these extend to the north of Siberia.]
The Restricted Auks {Alca, Cuv.) — f ®
Have a more lengthened beak, resembling the blade of a knife ; feathers at its base as far as the nos- f
trils, [the same as in the Guillemots, to which they are most nearly allied,] and wings decidedly too ^
small to support them, inasmuch as they cannot fly at all ; [an erroneous statement respecting one of \
the two species].
The Razor-bill Auk (Alca torda and 2nca, Gmelin). [Plumage and seasonal changes of the Common Guillemot, | ,
only that the black is more deep, and some white transverse lines on the bill. It is rather smaller than that spe- § f
cies, which it exactly resembles in habit and extent of wing, flying equally well : inhabits the same clifis, but less * t
numerously ; and commonly lays two eggs, sometimes three, of similar character to those of the Black Guillemot : ,
has a croaking voice.] |
The Great Auk (A. impennis, Lin.).— Colours of the preceding, but the beak marked with eight or ten cross ‘
grooves, and an oval white spot between the eye and bill. It lays but one great egg, spotted with purplish. [This
species, which is larger than a Goose, is the only northern sea-fowl utterly deprived of the function of flight, and ,
has accordingly its wings reduced to exactly that size which is most efficient of all for subaquatic progression : ■ ,
they are not larger than very moderate-sized fins, and the limb-bones are considerably weightier and less solid
than those of its congener ; but we are not aware that the skeleton makes any approach in form to that of the
I
PALMIPEDES.
255
Penguins of the southern hemisphere, which are very distinct from the Auks. As a particularly rare visitant, this
species is allowed a place in the British Fauna.]
The genus of
The Penguins {Aptenodytes, Forster) —
Is even less capable of flying than that of the Auks. Their little wings, covered with mere vestiges of
feathers, which at the first glance resemble scales ; their feet, placed farther hack than in any other
bird [the Grebes and Loons alone excepted,]
only support them by bearing on the tarsus,
which is widened like the sole of the foot of a
quadruped, and in which are found three bones
soldered together at their extremities. They
have a small hind toe, directed inwards, and
their three anterior toes are joined by an entire
membrane. These birds are found only in the
antarctic seas, never going on shore except to
breed. They can only reach their nests by
trailing on their bellies. The ditference in the
bill authorizes their division into three sub-
genera.
The Penguins, properly so called {Apteno-
dytes, Cuv.), —
Have a long, slender, and pointed beak, the
upper mandible a little arcuated towards the tip,
Fig. 126.— Sternum of Penguin. feathered for about a third of its length ;
in this the nostril is placed, from which a groove extends to the tip.
The Patagonian Penguin {Apt. pataclionica, Gm.).— Size of a Goose, and slate-coloured above, white underneath,
with a black mark, encircled by a citron-yellow cravat. It inhabits the vicinity of the Straits of Magellan in large
flocks, ranging as far as New Guinea. Its flesh, although black, is eaten.
The Gorfews {Catarrhactes, Brisson) —
I Have a stout and pointed beak, somewhat compressed, with a rounded ridge, and tip a little arcuated ;
the groove which extends forward from the nostril terminates obliquely on the inferior third of its edge.
I The Crested Gorfew {Apt. chrysocoma, Gm.). — Size of a large Duck, black above, white below, and adorned with
j a white or yellow crest on each side of the occiput. It is found in the vicinity of the Falkland Isles and of New
' Holland, and sometimes leaps out of the water while swimming. Deposits its eggs in a bole of the ground,
j There are several others.
I The Spheniscans {Spheniscus, Brisson) —
j Have a straight and compressed beak, irregularly furrowed at the base ; the tip of the upper mandible
! hooked, and of the other truncate ; nostrils situate in the middle, and uncovered.
j The Cape Spheniscan {Apt. demersa, Gmelin). — Black above, white below, the beak brown, with a white band in
I the middle, throat black, and a line of the same upon the breast, which is continued along each flank. It chiefly
j inhabits the neighbourhood of the Cape, where it nestles among the rocks. [Fig. 126 represents the sternal appa-
ratus of this species, showing the peculiar configuration common to the group, and particularly the broad
scapula. The bones of the Penguins are permanently filled with marrow.]
The family of
Longipennes
Comprehends those Birds of the high seas, which, in consequence of their capability of pro-
tracted flight, are met with everywhere, [though it does not appear that the particular species
are more widely diffused than others]. They are known by the freedom or total absence of
the thumb, their very long wings, and smooth-edged beak, which in the greater number of
genera is hooked at the tip, and in the others simply pointed. Their inferior larynx has
only one muscle proper on each side, and the gizzard is muscular [or lax and very capacious],
the coeca short [or moderate].
The Petrels {Procellaria, Lin.) —
Have the beak hooked at the tip, with its extremity appearing as though a piece had been articulated to
256
AVES.
the rest ; their nostrils are united to form a tube, which lies along the hack of the upper raandihle ;
and their feet, instead of a l)ack toe, have merely a claw implanted in the heel. They are, of all the Pal-
mipedes, those which remain most constantly at a great distance from land ; and when a tempest comes
on, they are often compelled to seek refuge on reefs and ships, from which circumstance they derive their
name of Storm-hirds: that of Petrel (a diminutive of Peter,) has been applied to them from their habit
of walking on the waves, which they do with the assistance of their wings. They nestle in the holes |
of rocks, [producing but a single egg,] and spurt upon those who disturb them an oily fluid, with
which their stomachs appear to be always filled. The greater number of species inhabit the Antarctic
seas. [Their stomach is extremely capacious, and but slightly muscular, and they feed principally on
oily substances.]
Those are more particularly called Petrels (Procellaria), the lower mandible of which is truncated.
The largest species, or Giant Petrel (Proc. gigantea), inhabits the Austral Seas, and exceeds a Goose in size. Its
plumage is blackish, but with varieties more or less white. In the same seas is found
The Spotted Petrel (Pr. capensis).—'S,ize: of a small Duck, and white, spotted with black above. It is often
mentioned by navigators [as the Cape Pigeon]. “
The Fulmar Petrel (Pr. glacialis). — White, with ash-coloured mantle, the bill and feet yellow, and size that of ^ \
a large Duck. It nestles in the precipitous coasts of the [northern] British isles, and is found throughout the |
whole north. [It has been computed that this species is the most numerous in individuals of the whole class.
Though I'are in our latitudes, its numbers in the Arctic seas are inconceivable.]
Fiyp 127. — Sternum of Storm Petrel.
The Storm-Petrels (Thalassidroma, Vig.) —
Are certain small species, with a somewhat shorter bill, rather longer legs, and black plumage, which
are more particularly designated Storm-birds [and
Mother Carey' s Chickens'] by mariners. [Their habits
are crepuscular and nocturnal, as are also those of
most of the tribe : and their flight considerably
resembles that of a Swallow.]
The most common {Proe. pelagica, Brisson) is scarcely ^
larger than a Lark, but stands higher on the legs. It is J;
entirely brown-black, except the croup, which is white, ”
and there is a trace of white on the greater wing coverts. I '
When this bird seeks a shelter upon vessels, it is a sign of |
an approaching storm. [That of America (Ph. Wilsonii) is ’
distinct, and is sometimes met with on our shores ; as is ^ ’
also a third species with a forked tail, Th. BullocMi. After tempestuous weather, these birds are not unfrequently f ‘
found far inland, generally upon the high road, unable to rise].
We separate, with Brisson, by the name of - [
The Shearwaters (Puffinus), — * •
Those species in whieh the tip of the lower mandible is curved downwards, like that of the upper, and **
the nostrils of which, although tubular, do not open by a common orifice, but by two distinct holes.|f'
Their beak also is proportionally longer. S
The Cinereous Shearwater (P. cinereus ; Proc. puffinus, Gm.) — Ash-coloured above, whitish beneath, with the®
wings and tail blackish ; the young rather more deeply coloured. Its size is nearly that of a Crow, and it is
found almost everywhere, [but rarely so far north as on the British shores].
A smaller species was long confounded with it, black above and white below, the Manks Shearwater (P. anglo-
rwm), which inhabits the northern shores of Scotland and its isles in immense numbers, and which the inhabitants j
salt for winter provision. [A third (P. obscurus, Vieillot) has occurred in Britain, and there ai*e two or three j
more, further south.]
Navigators sometimes mention, under tbe name of Petrels, certain birds of the Antarctic seas, which f
should make two particular genera. One is
The Haladrome {Halgdroma, Illiger), —
Which, with the beak and form of the Petrels and Shearwaters, has a dilatable throat like the Cormo-"^
rants, and entirely wants the thumb, as in the Albatrosses.
Such is Pr. urinatrix, Gmelin.
The other is
PALMIPEDES.
257
The Prions {Pachyptila, Illiger), —
111 other respects similar to the Petrels, have separate nostrils like the Shearwaters, and the beak
widened at its base, its edges being interiorly furnished with fine, pointed, vertical laminae, analogous
to those of the Ducks.
These are the Blue Petrels (Proc. vittata and ccerulea, Forster).
The Albatrosses {Diomedea, Lin.) —
Are the most massive of all aquatic birds. Their large, stout, and trenchant beak, with strongly
marked sutures, is terminated by a hook, which looks as if articulated. The nostrils resemble short
rolls, laid on each side of the beak ; and the feet have no hind toe, not even the little nail which is
found in the Petrels. They inhabit the Austral seas, and feed on the spawn of Fishes, Mollusks, &c. ;
[indeed, upon whatever falls in their way. They pertain to the same particular group as the Petrels,
which they resemble in their whole anatomy. Their webbed feet are equally large, and they have the
same habit of trampling on the waves].
The species best known to navigators, or the Giant Albatross (D. exulans, Lin.), has been termed the Cape Sheep
from its size, having white plumage, and black wings. The English also style it the Man-of -War Bird, [a mistake,
! as this term applies to the Tachypete]. It is particularly common beyond the tropic of Capricorn, and is the great
enemy of the Flying Fish. This bird constructs a high nest of earth, and lays numerous eggs [each individual,
! however, one only, and generally in company with Penguins], which are esteemed good eating : its cry is very loud.
There are three or four others, about two-thirds the size.
The Gulls {Larus, Lin.) —
Have the bill moderately long, compressed, and pointed, the upper mandible arcuated towards the tip,
and the lower forming a projecting angle beneath. Their nostrils, placed near its middle, are long,
narrow, and pierced quite through, [the beak having little bony substance in comparison with those of
the Petrels and Albatrosses]. Their tail is full, the legs tolerably elevated, and the thumb short.
They are cowardly and voracious birds, which abound along the sea-shore, and feed on all sorts of fish,
carrion, &c. They nestle in the sand or in clefts of rocks, and lay few eggs, [generally three in
number]. When they come inland, bad weather may be expected. Several species of them are found
on our coasts ; and as their plumage varies exceedingly with age, they have been further multiplied by
systematists. In general, during youth, they are mottled with greyish. [These birds have a capacious
gullet, and small gizzard, which becomes more muscular with age. Their general anatomy is consider-
ably allied to that of the Calcatores, or Snipes and Plovers. Their toes
: are shorter than in the preceding genera, and the feet better fitted for
walking on land.
Those of Britain are— the Great Black-backed Gull (L. marinus), white, with a
black saddle; bill four inches long, and with the orbits yellow; of common
: occurrence : the Glaucous Gull {L. glaums), with a very pale silvery saddle, and
entirely white quills, from which we do not regard the Iceland Gull {L. islandi-
cus, Auct.), of Europe, as distinct, having obtained intermediate specimens of
every grade of size ; it is rare on the coasts of South Britain : the Herring
Gull (L. argentatus), the commonest of all, differing from the first chiefly in its
inferior size and ash-coloured mantle : the Lesser Blackbacked Gull {L. fuscus),
somewhat less than the Herring Gull, and similar to the first, but not so deeply
I coloured, and having yellow legs instead of flesh-coloured, and red orbits ; which
; is rather common : the Mew Gull (L. canus), a diminutive of the Herring Gull,
with white legs : the Kittiwake Gull {L. rissa), rather smaller still, and at once
j distinguished by the total absence of hind-toe ; both of these being common in
particular localities : and the Ivory Gull (L. eburneus),i'he adult plumage of which
is wholly pure white, contrasting with black feet, and which is only an occasional
! straggler in the British seas. All these are, for the most part, rock-builders. Fiff- 128.— Sternum of Gull.
' Others, the Xema of Leach, have a black hood in summer, like the Terns, and are generally slighter-made,
breeding chiefly in marshes. The commonest in Britain is known as the Hooded Gull (L. ridibundus), with the
I head and upper neck brownish-black during the breeding season, and bill and legs bright vermilion : the Masked
I Gull (L. capistratus) is rather smaller, with the hood considerably reduced, and is not common : L. atricilla is
larger than either, with a stouter bill, and black legs ; also very rare : L. Sabini, smaller than the Masked Gull,
is at once distinguished by its forked tail, and is met with occasionally m Ireland and the west of Britain : and
L. minutus, the smallest of all, not exceeding ten inches in length, and equally uncommon upon the British shores,
is known by its size. There are many more, of both divisions.]
S
AVES.
258
From the Gulls have been very properly separated
The Skuas (Lestris, Illiger), —
The membranous nostrils of v^^hich, larger than in the preceding, open nearer to the point and edge of
the beak ; the tail also is pointed, [and they have great coeca]. They eagerly pursue the smaller
Gulls to rob them of their food, and, as has been said, to devour their excrement ; [the truth being,
that they cause them to disgorge, whereupon they seize the food before it reaches the water, being
endowed with uncommon power of flight] : hence their name, [Lestris, or robber.
Four species occur on the British shores, successively smaller, with the middle tail-feathers prolonged in the
same ratio. Tlie largest {L. cataractes), nearly the size of the Great Black-backed Gull, has deep brown plumage,
with the middle tail-feathers but slightly elongated. It breeds on certain of the northern Scottish isles, high
upon the mountains, defending its nest with extraordinary spirit and intrepidity, and furiously driving off Eagles
from the vicinity, for which reason it is protected by the inhabitants, as a guard to their flocks. The Pomarine
Skua (L. pomarinus) is smaller, and though generally exceedingly rare, makes its apearance in certain seasons in
considerable numbers, as in the instance of November, 1837. L. Richardsonii is the next in size, which is common
about the northern Scottish isles ; and L. parasiticus, the smallest, which belongs more properly to America, has
exceedingly long middle tail-feathers. The females of these birds are larger than the males, which is the reverse
of what is observable in the Gulls ; and they lay but two eggs, of a dark colour].
The Terns {Sterna, Linn.) —
Are termed Sea-swallows, from their extremely long and pointed wings, their forked tail, and short legs,
w^hich induce a port and flight analogous to those of the Swallow's, [the true Terns, however, winnowing
more in the manner of the Gulls]. Their beak is straight, pointed, and compressed, without |
curvature or projection ; having the nostrils near its base, oblong, and pierced quite through. The I
membranes which connect their toes are deeply emarginated, and they swim little, [if at all]. They
fly in every direction and with great rapidity, uttering loud cries, and skilfully raising from the surface
of the w'ater mollusks and small fishes, upon which they feed, [and to obtain which they often plunge], i
They also penetrate to the lakes and rivers of the interior. [Their anatomy precisely accords with that
of the Gulls, as do also the character of their plumage, their seasonal and progressive changes, mode of
propagation, eggs, &c. |
The British species fall into two principal groups ; the majority having the same black calotte in spring as the
Xema Gulls. The commonest {St, hirundo) has an ashy mantle, red feet, and the bill red with a black tip. The |
Arctic Tern {St. arctica), common along our northern coasts, is rather smaller, with shorter legs, and under- |
parts tinged with ash-colour. The Little Tern {St. minuta) is distinguished by its very inferior size, and white
forehead. The Sandwich T. {St. cantiaca and Boysii) is larger than any of the foregoing, with black feet, and
often a tint of roseate on the breast. In the Roseate T. {St. Dougalli), the same tinge is brighter, and the feet
are orange. The Gull-billed T. {St. anglica) has the bill prominent at the symphisis, as in the Gulls; but not-
withstanding its received systematic name, is extremely rare in Britain. The Caspian T. {St. caspia), occasionally
met with in the Cliannel, is very considerably larger than any of the others. The two last are principally marsh
Terns ; and the most characteristic of these is the Black Tern {St. nigra), with tail less deeply forked than in
the others, membranes of the feet more reduced, and smaller bill, which subsists chiefly on insects taken on the
wing, and flies more like a Swallow. There are numerous others.]
We might distinguish from the other Terns, |
The Noddies {Megalopterus, Boie), —
The tail of which is not forked, [but the reverse,] and even wdth the wings ; and the hill has a slight
salient angle, the first indication of that in the Gulls ; [whilst the character of the plumage resem- .•
hies that of a Petrel, and the feathers are not continued forward to the nostrils]. We only know .
of one, — f I
The Black Noddy {Sterna stolida, Lin.).— Brown black, the front of the head whitish. It is well known to ’ ]
seamen for the stupidity with which it throws itself on vessels [and allows itself to be taken. Is one of the most
widely distributed of birds ; and has occurred on the Irish coast. M. Audubon found its nests in vast numbers,
placed upon bushes, in an island uninhabited by Man].
The Skimmers {RJiyncops, Linn.) —
Resemble the Terns by their short feet, long wings, and forked tail ; but are distinguished from all
other birds by their extraordinary bill, the upper mandible of which is shorter than the other, both 1 1
being flattened into simple [vertical] laminae, which meet without clasping. Their only mode of
feeding is by skimming their aliment from the surface of the water with the lower mandible as f
they fly.
PALMIPEDES.
259
The first known species {Rh. nigra, Lin.), is white, with a black calotte and mantle, a white streak over the eye,
and the external tail-feathers white outside, bill and feet red. From the vicinity of the Antilles. There are four
or five others.
The third family, or that of the
Totipalmati,
Is characterized by the thumb being united with the other toes by one single membrane ;
though, notwithstanding this conformation, which renders their feet perfect oars, they are
almost the only Palmipedes which perch on trees. All of them hy well, and have
short legs. Linnaeus arranged them in three genera, the first of which requires to be
subdivided.
The Pelicans {Pelicanm, Lin.) —
Comprehend all those wherein some naked space is found at the base of the bill. Their nostrils are
mere fissures, the aperture of which is scarcely [or not at all] perceptible. The skin of the throat is
more or less extensible, and the tongue extremely small. Their attenuated gizzard forms, with then-
other stomachs, a great sac, [which in several is furnished with an accessory pouch, analogous to that
of the Crocodiles], and they have only middling or small cceca. [Their nostrils, which are always per-
vious in the nestling, soon become entirely closed in
the greater number of genera. The furcula is alw^ays
anchylosed to the anterior portion of the sternal ridge.
Their eggs are encased with a soft, absorbent, chalky
substance, over the hard shell ; and the young are at
first covered with long and flocculent blackish down,
remaining very long in the nest, and generally much
exceeding the parents in weight when they leave it.
None of them appear to moult before the second
autumn. The greater number have bright green
irides.]
The Pelicans, properly so called {Pelicanus, Illiger;
Onocrotalus, Brisson), —
Have the beak very remarkable for its inordinate
length, its straight, very broad, and horizontally-flat-
tened form, for the hook which terminates it, and finally for the lower mandible, the flexile rim of
which supports a naked membrane, which is dilatable into a voluminous pouch. Two grooves extend
throughout its length, in which the nostrils are concealed. The circumference of the eyes is naked,
like the throat. The tail round.
The common European Pelican (Pel. onocrotalus, Lin.).— As large as a Swan, and wholly white, slightly tinged
with carneous, [and having the breast deep buff-colour in old specimens]. The hook of the bill cherry-red. It is
more or less plentifully diffused over the eastern world, nidificates in the marshes, and subsists entirely on live
fish. Is reported to convey provisions and water in its pouch. Two or three others have been distinguished.
The Cormorants {Phalacrocorax, Briss. ; Carlo, Mey. ; Halieus, 111.) —
Have the beak elongated, with the tip of the upper mandible hooked, and that of the other truncate.
The tongue very small ; and the skin of the throat less dilatable. The nostrils are like a little
line, which does not seem to be pervious. The middle claw has a serrated inner edge. [Tail stiff and
cuneated. It may be added, that the feet are placed backwards, in adaptation to diving habits, but are
still tolerably free, these birds employing both the wings and feet in subaquatic progression. Their
voracity is proverbial : and their intelligence surpasses that of most other birds, as does likewise their
docility : hence they were formerly trained in Europe for fishing, as Hawks are for fowling, and they
are still so employed in the East. The species are exceedingly numerous, and some are found almost
everywhere.
Two are very common on the British coasts.
The Bronzed Cormorant (Pel. carlo, Lin.).— Size of a Gooze, and bronzed black, with fourteen tail-feathers.
Both sexes develope, towards the breeding season, various accessory ornamental feathers about the head and
neck, at which time the naked skin becomes brightly coloured, and a tuft of white feathers grows upon each
s 2
Fig-. 129. — Sternum of Cormorant.
260
aves.
flank. These ornaments fall in a few weeks, and are but imperfectly developed in younger individuals, and
seldom except in a state of perfect liberty. In some parts of Europe, this species builds upon house-tops, and not
unfrequently on trees : but on the British coast, they mostly resort to precipitous rocks or islets, generally in
society. From their croaking voice, dark colour, and appearance on the wing, they are often termed Sea Crows.
They can climb with considerable facility, aided by the beak and rigid tail-feathers. Occasionally they fly to inland
waters and fish-preserves, where they are notoriously destructive, and are observed to evince a marked preference
for Eels.
The other species, or Crested Cormorant, (PkaL cristatus, Glass), is smaller, and less robust, with only twelve tail-
feathers ; its glosses incline more to green, and the adults Eave an elegant recurved crest during the breeding
season. This bird is commoner towards the north, while the preceding is more numerous southward : neverthe-
less, the Bronzed Cormorant appears to occur in both continents, whereas the Crested is represented in North
America by a different one {Pk. dilophus), both of these extending to high latitudes, though respectively peculiar
to the Old and New World, so far as has yet been observed.
A third European species is the Black Cormorant (Pel. graculus, Gm.); a diminutive of the first, but possessing
only twelve tail-feathers, like the preceding, with which it has been confounded until very recently, by British
naturalists. It inhabits to the southward of the British Isles, in which it has not hitherto been met with.)
The Tachypetes {Tachypetes, Vieillot) —
Differ from the Cormorants by a forked tail, short feet, the membranes of which are very deeply notched,
an excessive spread of wing, and a beak both mandibles of which are curved at the tip. Their wings
are so powerful that they fly at an immense distance from ail land, and principally between the tropics,
darting upon the Flying-fish, and striking the Gannets to make them disgorge their prey.
One only is known (Pel. aquilus, Lin.), the plumage of which is [richly empurpled] black, the under-part of the
throat more or less varied with white, and the beak red. Its extent of wing is reported to be sometimes ten or
even twelve feet. [This is the noted Frigate-bird, or Man-of-War-hird, of the English sailors, which is surpassed
in command of wing by none of the class, if equalled by any. It breeds on trees on uninhabited islands, and
lays a single spherical white egg.]
The Ga.nnets {Sula, Brisson; Dysporus, Illiger) —
Have a straight beak, slightly compressed and pointed, with the tip a little arcuated, and its edges serrated,
the denticulations [which are more developed in the Cormorants] directed backwards : the [im-
pervious] nostrils are prolonged in a line nearly to the tip : the throat is naked, as is also the skin of
the eyes ; the former but slightly extensible : inner edge of the middle claw serrated. The wings are
less extended than in the Tachypetes, and the tail is a little cuneated. These birds are called Boobies, on
account of the stupidity with wEich they [certain species of them] allow themselves to be attacked by
men and birds, more particularly the Tachypetes, w'hich, as already stated, force them to yield up the
prey they have captured.
The most common is the European Gannet (Pel. hassanus, Lin.).— White, with black feet and wing primaries,
the bill greenish, and nearly equal in size to a Goose. [A common species in the British seas, which breeds in
vast numbers upon the Bass rock in the Frith of Forth, and one or two other similar localities : the young are at
first covered with the blackish down common to the group, in which they contrast remarkably with their white
parents ; their first plumage is dark above, beautifully speckled with white, these terminal specks gradually
wearing off. The Gannets take their prey by plunging upon it from on high, and sail with an easy flight, with
little motion of the wings. Their air cavities are extraordinarily developed ; the ambient medium permeating all
their bones with the exception of the phalanges of the toes, and passing imder the skin of the breast, which is
only attached to the muscles by a number of scattered connecting pillars ; a structure which is also met with in
the Phaetons.]
The Anhingas {Plotus, Lin.) —
With the body and feet nearly like those of a Cormorant, have a very long neck, and a slender, straight,
and pointed bill, with denticulated edges ; the eyes and nudity of the face as in the Pelicans, of which
they have likewise the habits, nestling, like those birds, upon trees. [They may be described as Cor-
morants, with the bill and neck of a Heron.
Two or three species are found, in both continents ; the body inferior in size to that of a common Duck.]
The Phaetons {Phaeton, Lin.) —
Are known by their two very long and slender tail-feathers, which, at a distance, resemble a straw.
Their head has no naked part. The beak is straight, pointed, denticulated, and moderately stout,
[with pervious nostrils at all ages] : their feet are short, and their wings long. Accordingly, they fly
very far from land, on the high seas ; and as they rarely quit the boundaries of the torrid zone, their
appearance serves to indicate to mariners the vicinity of the tropic, [whence their common name of
PALMIPEDES. 261
Tropic-birds]. On land, where they seldom resort except to breed, they perch upon trees. [They are
closely related by affinity to the Gannets.]
Several species are known, with white plumage, more or less varied with black, [and tinged in some with roseate,]
which do not exceed the size of a Pigeon.
The family of
Lamellirostres
Is distinguished by a thick bill, invested with a soft skin rather than with true horn, [the
fact being, that the corneous portion is restricted to the nail-like extremity, the rest corre-
sponding to what is known as the cere] : its edges supplied either with laminae, or small
teeth, [which are modifications of each other] : the tongue large and fleshy, with a dentelated
border. Their wings are of moderate length. They live more in fresh winters than in the
sea : and, in the greater number, the trachea of the male is dilated near its bifurcation into
capsules of various form. Their gizzard is large, very muscular, and the coeca [generally]
long. [These birds lay numerous spotless eggs, and the young follow tlieir parent as soon
as hatched.]
The great genus of
The Ducks {Anas, Lin.) —
Comprehends those Palmipedes which have a large and broad bill, the edges of which are beset with
salient laminae jjlaced transversely, and the purport of which appears to be for straining off the water
when the bird has seized its prey. They divide into three subgenera, the limits of which, however,
I are not very precise.
; The Swans {Cygnus, Meyer) — ■
Have the bill of equal breadth throughout, and higher than wide at the base ; the nostrils placed about
midway: and the neck exceedingly elongated, [possessing twenty-three vertebrae*]. They are the
largest birds of this genus, and feed chiefly on the seeds and roots of aquatic plants, [togetlier with the
grass which grows near the brink of water]. Their intestines, and coeca more especially, are accord-
ingly very long. Their trachea has no inflation or labyrinth.
[Swans are essentially modified Geese, and like the latter are exclusively vegetable feeders, with
similar plumage in both sexes, which is moulted once only in the year, and undergoes no seasonal va-
riation of colour. They attack with the same hissing note, strike similarly with their wings, and the
male guards the female during incubation, and accompanies her while followed by her brood. They
fall into two subdivisions.
In the first, the trachea, after describing a slight curve towards the sternal ridge, proceeds to the
lungs without entering any cavity in the bone. When swimming, they often erect the tertial plumes
! of the wing, in an elegant manner. Three of the four species have a fleshy caruncle over the base of j
} the upper mandible, beneath which the bone is protuberant. j
The Mute Swan {Anas olor, Gmelin), or common domesticated species, the adults of which are wholly pure I
white, with a reddish bill, surmounted by a black protuberance, and leaden-black feet : young, grey, with the bill
lead-coloured. The wild breed {C. immutabilis, Yarrell) is rather smaller, with the rostral protuberance less
developed in the few specimens examined : there is also a semi-albino domestic race, with feet whitish, or par-
tially so, and reported to have white cygnets, which is termed the Polish Swan by the dealers ; it varies in size,
some attaining the largest dimensions of the ordinary tame breed. We are satisfied, from anatomical examina-
i tion, that these are all specifically the same. The wild race is rarely met with in Britain. These birds do not
I appear to breed before the third year.
I The Black Swan {A. atrata, Latham ; A. plutonia, Shaw). — Less than the preceding, and not so elegant in its
conformation, with its tertials curled upwards : colour black, with the exception of its white primaries, and the
bill and naked skin at its base, which are red. It is common in New Holland, and propagates readily twice a
year, or oftener, when brought to Europe.
The Black-necked Swan (C. nigricolUs). — White, with black neck and tips of the primaries ; the sides of the
head white, and bill and feet orange, the former having a black protuberance. Common in South America.
i|j Tlie smallest of all, or Duck-billed Swan (C. anatoides, King.), is also from South America, inhabiting towards the
I Straits of Magellan. Colour pure white, with black tips to the primaries, and bill and feet orange : the former
1 having no basal protuberance. With the exception, therefore, of the common mute species, this division pertains
to the southern hemisphere.
The rest have the trachea elongated as in the Cranes, and similarly entering a cavity in the sternal
* We have found this number in four species, viz., C. olor, atratus, musicus, and Bewickii. — Ed.
262
AVES.
ridge. They carry the neck more upright, and never elevate the tertial plumes. None of them has
any protuberance on the base of the bill ; and they have all white
plumage with black feet, or, in the young, grey plumage with white
wings, and the feet white when newly hatched. They yield the swan’s
down of commerce, which is much inferior both in quality and quan-
tity in the others ; and are restricted in their distribution to the
northern hemisphere.
Of four species, two are respectively peculiar to each continent.
The Trumpeter Swan (C. buccinator) of America is the largest, and yields
most of the down of commerce, together with the next species. Its bill is
wholly black, and the trachea forms a double vertical convolution within the
sternal ridge, and is bifurcated into short inflated bronchi.
Audubon’s Swan (C. Audubonii and americana) is smaller, but fully equals
the European Hooper Swan in size, although it has been confounded with
C. Bewickii. Its bill has an orange-yellow spot on each side towards the base,
and the trachea forms a horizontal flexure within the inflated hind-margin of
the sternum, having similar bronchi to those of the last.
Bewick’s Swan (C. Beivicldi) is considerably smaller, with exactly similar
tracheal apparatus, and a larger orange-yellow space at the base of the
bill, extending to the nostrils. Of seventeen specimens dissected by us,
one only presented the horizontal flexure of the trachea (represented
from the identical specimen in fig. 130), though several were evidently older
birds : but the inflated form of the bronchi constitutes an invariable distinc-
tion from the next species. Tail-feathers generally twenty, sometimes eighteen, and we have more than once met
with nineteen, where none had been lost. It is much less common in Britain, as a winter visitant, than the next.
The Hooper Swan (C. musicus, Anas cygnus, Lin.), or common Wild Swan of Europe, which visits Britain in
abundance in severe winters. The largest specimens are scarcely inferior in size to the Mute species, and have
the most extended brilliant-yellow space at the base of the bill of any, extending beyond the nostrils. The
trachea forms but a single vertical flexure, and the bronchi are much longer than in the others, and not inflated.
On dissecting a cygnet in its down, we found the cavity of the sternal ridge completely formed, but the trachea
did not enter. The tail-feathers are generally twenty, and sometimes twenty-one or twenty-two. All these birds |
utter loud trumpeting cries, and the present species has also a low musical note, which is often repeated.] I
We can scarcely distinguish from the Swans certain species, which undoubtedly are less elegant, but
have the same beak. As
The Knobbed Goose {Anas cygnoides, Lin.), which we rear in our poultry-yards, and which interbreeds readily
with the common domestic species. The base of its upper mandible is protuberant, as in the Mute Swan, and its
neck is whitish, with a dark streak passing down the back of it. [In every essential particular, this is a true
Goose, and has sixteen cervical vertebrae, like the rest of that genus. Its flesh is less highly esteemed than that
of the common bird ; than which, however, it is considerably more prolific, propagating at all seasons. As in the
other Geese, it seeks its food principally, or it may be said wholly, on land, and utters loud noisy cries.]
The Spur-winged Goose {Anas Gambensis, Lin.). — Remarkable for its size, its elevated legs, the tubercle upon
its forehead, and the two stout spurs with which the bend of its wing is armed. Its plumage is empurpled black,
[very like that of a Musk Duck, to which this species is considerably allied, notwithstanding its long legs. It
forms the genus Plectropterus of Swainson.
The author also includes among the Swans the Canada Goose {A. canadensis), which also possesses every
intrinsic character of the true Geese. It is a very large species, with a long black neck, and white mark across
the throat, as in the Black-necked Swan ; which is likewise readily domesticated, and breeds plentifully in Europe.
Another nearly allied {A. Hutckinsonii) has more recently been discovered in the same country — North America,
from which neither has been known to stray across the Atlantic in the wild state, though found very far to the
north. The first down of all the Geese is mottled, of the Swans plain.]
The Geese {Anser, Brisson) —
Have the bill moderate or short, narrower in front than behind, and higher than broad at the base ;
the legs longer than in the Ducks, and placed nearer the middle of the body, to facilitate their gait
on land. They have no labyrinth at the bottom of the trachea, nor does the latter form any curve in
the known species. Several [all] feed on grass and grain.
The Geese, properly so called, —
Have the bill as long as the head, with the ends of the lamellae extending to its edges, and appearing
like pointed teeth.
[The last-mentioned character is most strongly developed in the Snow Goose {A. hyperboreus) of North America,
the adult male of which is white, with black primaries. This species rarely straggles into northern Europe. Four
Fig. 130.— Sternum of Bewick's Swan.
PALMIPEDES.
263
are more or less common in Britain during the winter, the three first of which have been much confused. The
colour of all is nearly that of a coloured domestic Goose. The Grey-lag Goose (A. cinereus), at once distinguished
by the pale grey colour of its rump, which in all the others is dark blackish-brown. The bill also is larger and
broader, with more strongly marked lamellae : the hue of it reddish flesh-colour, tinged with yellowish in summer,
with always a white terminal nail to the upper mandible, except when very young ; and the legs flesh-coloured.
This, which is obviously the origin of the common tame Goose, is at present much the rarest in the British Isles,
though it formerly bred abundantly in the fenny counties. The common statement that the male of the tame
Goose invariably becomes white in the course of a few years, is untrue. The most nearly allied to it is the
White-fronted Goose (A. albifrons), considerably smaller, with always a white forehead in the adult, and ordinarily
more or less black on the under-parts, appearing in irregular patches ; traces of which may likewise be sometimes
found in the preceding species : its legs are orange-yellow, and bill flesh-coloured, with a white nail except when
very young. This species is very common in winter, but has not hitherto been known to breed here. A still
more abundant species is the Bean Goose {A. segetum), nearly as large as the first, with orange legs, and narrower
bill, generally blackish, with an orange band across it, and a black nail : the latter is very rarely white in aged
ijj specimens, which often have the bill nearly wholly yellow, but never quite. The Bean Goose breeds sparingly in
Sutherland, and some parts of Ireland. Lastly, the Pink-footed Goose {A. hrachgi-ynchns, Baillon ; A. phoeni-
copus, Bartl.) is distinguished from the last by its inferior size, and pinkish-red legs, together with its shorter
bill, the similar cross-band of which is permanently of a reddish-colour. It is not very common, though
I more so than the first, and combines the general form of the Bean Goose with the legs of the Grey-lag.]
j The Barnacles —
li Are distinguished from ordinary Geese by a shorter and more slender hill, the edges of which conceal
■ the extremities of the laminae, [though there is no drawing the line of separation, and the present
; I division is generally rejected as superfluous.
Two are common in Britain, and found on both sides of the Atlantic, each retiring very far north to breed, more
I particularly the second species. The Barnacle Goose (A. leucopsis) ; much smaller than any of the preceding,
; with a grey mantle, the feathers broadly edged with black, a black neck, and white visage : and the Brent Goose
ji {A. bernicla), still less, and nearly all black above, with a white spot on each side of the middle of its neck. This
j| bird is one of the finest for the table of the whole tribe. A third (A. ruficollis), common on the shores of the
ji Caspian, and as far eastward as Lake Baikal, occurs as a rare occasional straggler, and has the smallest bill
ij of any].
i The Egyptian Goose, or Bargander, (An. i
are spinous rays in the first dorsal, if there are more than one, and spinous rays in the first 4'
part if there is one only ; but sometimes, instead of a first dorsal, they have free spines ’ i
without any connecting membranes. The anal fin has also its first rays spinous ; and 4
there is generally one such ray in each ventral. [¥/hen we speak of the first ray of a fin, |
we mean the one nearest the head of the fish, which is easily understood in the other fins, and 4
is the extreme one either above or below in the caudal.] 1
The spinous fishes are arranged into fifteen families, and some of these families contain a |
vast number of genera. The families are named, as already noticed, from some well-known |;
species, or some strikingly peculiar character. [When a species is the type, the technical .Ji:
name of the famil)" ends in id(B or oidcB, the Greek word for resemblance ; and when it is %
founded on a peculiar character, the name is descriptive of that]. |
■' ^
ACANTHOPTERYGII.
293
THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII.
Percid^ (the Perch Family).
These fishes have the body oblong, covered with hard or rough scales, with the gill-lid or gill-flap, or
often both, toothed or spinous in the margins. The species are very numerous in the waters of all
warm countries ; their flesh is in general agreeable and wholesome ; they are mostly thoracic, or have
the ventral fins under the pectoral, and they are subdivided according to the number of gill rays.
The first division have seven rays in the gills, two dorsal fins, and all their teeth are velvety.
[Cuvier makes use of this expression as descriptive of very minute teeth, set closely together
in numerous rows, and thus resembling the pile of velvet in arrangement though not in texture.]
This division comprises various species, of which the following are the principal genera : —
Perea, including the Common Perch of Europe, and various other species of North America and other places ;
Labrax, the Basse, a marine genus, of which species are found both in Europe and in America ; Bates, the Perch
I of the Nile, of which there are also species in the Indian rivers ; Centropomus, the Sea Pike, which has the oper-
culum obtuse and without spines ; Grammistis, an Indian genus, with white longitudinal stripes, and a black
ground ; Arpro, the River Perch, found chiefly in the Rhine ; Zingel, a peculiar Perch of the Danube, with thirteen
spines in the first dorsal.
This subdivision also comprehends some fishes of foreign countries, whose peculiarities cause several subgenera.
These are, Huro, like a true Perch, only the pre-operculum is not toothed ; Etelis, with hooked teeth in the jaws,
but not in the palate ; NipJion, with strong spines on the pre-operculum and operculum ; Enoplosus, like a Perch,
but with body much compressed, two high dorsals, and the pre-operculum deeply toothed ; Biplorion, compressed,
double-toothed border to the pre -operculum, and two spines on the gill-lid. Other species of this subdivision are,
Apogon, small fishes, of a red colour, with two dorsals far apart, and large scales, easily separated. One of them,
the King of the Mullets, or Beardless Mullet, is found in the Mediterranean ; Clieilodipterus, resembling the former,
but with long teeth in the jaws; and Poviatomus, a very rare genus, of small size, with immense eyes, and
exceedingly small teeth, velvety in their arrangement.
A second subdivision have two dorsal fins, hut long and pointed teeth, mingled with a velvety
arrangement.
Of these the principal genera are Ambassis, with the dorsals near each other, and a spine in front of the former ;
they are small fishes of the warm regions of the East, abundant in pools and rivulets, and sometimes prepared as
Anchovies ; and Lticio-perca, the Perch-Pike, with long teeth on the maxillaries, and and also in the palate, found
in Eastern Europe.
The second division of the Perches have seven rays in the gills, but only one dorsal fin ; the genera
are arranged by the characters of their teeth, and the leading ones are these
Serranus, the Sea Perch ; Antliias, the Barber, a beautiful red fish of the Mediterranean, with metallic reflec-
tions ; Merous, the Great Perch, and some varieties.
Distinct from these are several genera, Plectrepoma, Diacopus, Mesoprion, Acerina, Rypticiis, Polyprion,
Centropristis, and Gristes. These inhabit ditferent parts of the world, and some of them are beautiful fishes.
The Percidse with less than seven gill-rays, are arranged according to the number of their dorsal
fins and the characters of their teeth.
With a single dorsal, some have hooked teeth among the other ones, as Cirrhites, which inhabit the Indian
Ocean, and have six gill-rays. Others have only small teeth, among which there are the following genera, CMro^
nemus, Pomotis, Centrackus, Priarcanthus, Dales, Therapon, Palates, and Elotes. These are chiefly fishes of the
warm countries, some of the fresh water and others of the sea ; their colour is in general silvery, marked with
blackish longitudinal lines.
There are two genera of Percidse which have less than six gill-rays and two dorsals.
These genera are Trichodon, a native of the North Pacific ; and Sillago, found in the Indian Ocean. One of
the latter is supposed to be the finest fish in India.
We now' pass on to other Percidse, which have more than seven gill-rays, and seven soft rays besides
a spine in their ventrals, the other Jeanthopterygii having never more than five soft rays.
The genera, Holocentrum, Myripristis, Beryx, and Traehichthys, all of which are brilliant fishes of the warm
seas, and some have the air-vessel divided into two parts.
All the Percidse hitherto mentioned have the ventrals immediately under the pectorals ; but there
are others which have them differently placed.
The Jugular Percidse have the ventrals upon the throat farther forward than the pectorals. They
comprehend the following genera : —
Trachinus, the Weavers, with the head compressed, the eyes near each other, the mouth obliquely up-
294
PISCES.
wards, tlie first dorsal very short, but with a formidable spine on the first ray, the second dorsal long, the
pectorals large, and a strong spine on the operculum. These fishes lie in the mud, and inflict severe wounds
with their dorsal spine, which the fishermen believe has a poisonous quality, but it is merely rugged, and lacerates
an ill-conditioned wound, similar to what is inflicted by the antler of a Stag. Percis, which resemble the Weevers,
and inhabit the warm seas, have crooked teeth on the maxillaries and the vomer, but none on the palatal bones.
Pinguipes, also of the warm seas, more sluggish than the preceding genus, with the teeth strong and conical,
fleshy lips, and teeth on the palate. Percophis, with the body very long, some of their teeth long and pointed, and
the lower jaw much advanced.
One very remarkable genus of Percidae is Uranoscopus, the Star-gazer, so called because the eyes are placed
on the upper surface of the nearly cubical head, and directed toward the heavens. Their-pre-operculum is toothed
on the lower part ; their mouth is cleft vertically ; they have a strong spine on each shoulder, and only six rays
on each gill. Within their mouth, behind the tongue, is a narrow slip which they can protrude, and with which
they attract small fishes, while themselves are concealed in the mud. Their gall bladder is of immense size.
One species, U. sealer, inhabits the Mediterranean, but none of the others are European. This is a very ugly fish,
but still it is eaten.
The third division comprises the Abdominal Percidae, or those which have the ventral fins behind
the pectorals.
One genus has them still partially attached to the bones of the shoulder. This is Polynemus (many fillets), so
called because the inferior rays of their pectorals are filled and extended into long threads. Their teeth are in part
velvety, like those of the true Perches, and partly also like those of a Carp, and they have them on the maxillaries,
the vomer, and the palate. Their snout, however, is rounded, and the vertical fins are scaly. They are found in
the waters of warm countries, and one, P. paradiseus, of a beautiful yellow colour, with seven filaments from the
fin on each side, at least twice as long as the body, is the celebrated “ mango fish” of the Ganges, reckoned
the most delicious in India. Most of the other species have the filaments shorter, but the flesh of all of them is
excellent.
The following genera have the ventrals still farther behind, and the bones of the pelvis quite detached
from the bones of the shoulder. Of these there are several ; — ■
Sphyreena, the Sea Pike, which has been confounded with the Esox or True Pike. They are large
fishes, with an oblong head and projecting under jaw. Thwe are several species inhabiting the warmer
seas, and one, S. barracuda, is as much dreaded as the White Shark. Paralepis, small fishes, resembling
the last genus in general characters, but with the second dorsal fin small and fleshy. Mullus, the Sur-
mullet, a very celebrated genus, and held in much estimation by epicures. These fishes must not be
confounded with tbe Mullets properly so called, which give name to another family, and are typical of
it, being very different in form and appearance from the Surmullets. The latter have the body thick and
oblong, with the profile of the head nearly vertical, the eyes far up, teeth in the lower jaw and palate only, two
cirri inwards at the lower jaw, and but four rays in the gills. There are two species, both of which are European,
the Striped Red Mullet, M. surmulatus, which is not very uncommon on the southern coast of England ; and the
Plain Red Mullet, M. barbatus, which, though named as a British fish, is chiefly found in the Mediterranean.
Both species are delicious eating ; and the luxurious Romans used to feast their eyes with the changes of colour
in the Red Mullet when dying, before they devoured its flesh. Upeneus is a genus of the tropical seas, with teeth
in both jaws, but none in the palate. They have only four gill-rays, like the Surmullets, but have also an air-
bladder, which the latter are without. These complete the family of the Percidee, as now known.
THE SECOND FAMILY OF ACANTHOPTERYGII.
Fishes with Hard Cheeks.
This family comprehends a number of fishes of which the appearance of the Tiead is singular, being
variously mailed, or defended by spines and scaly plates of hard matter ; but they have many characters
in common with the Percidee. Their principal distinction consists in the suborbital bone being
more or less extended over the cheek, and articulated with the operculum. The Star-gazer is the only
genus of the Perch family w^hich resembles them in this respect ; but in it, though the suborbital bone
is very broad, it is connected posteriorly with the temporal bones, and not with the operculum.
The following are the principal genera : —
Trigla, the Gurnards, so called from the sounds which they utter with their gill-lids when taken out of the water.
They have an immense suborbital plate, to which the operculum or gill-lid is articulated by an immoveable suture,
so as to be incapable of separate motion. They have the head vertical in the sides, hard and rough bones, two
distinct dorsals, three free rays under the pectorals, twelve coeca, and an air-bladder of two lobes. The Gurnards
properly so called, have small teeth in both jaws, and in front of the vomer, together with large pectorals,
but not sufficiently so for raising them out of the water, like those of the Flying Fishes. There are many species
found in the temperate seas, which, though in estimation for the table, are inferior in this respect to the Sur-
mullets. The English species are T. cuculus, the Red Gurnard, with strong plates in the cheeks, the body
ACANTHOPTERYGII.
295
len^hened, and nearly round, one spinous and one soft-ray dorsal fin ; seven rays in tlie gills, gill-opening large,
and with three free rays at the base of each pectoral. T. Hirundo, the Sapphirine Gurnard, with the pectorals of
immense size, but in most of its other characters analogous to the Red Gurnard. It is more abundant than that
species, and grows to a larger size. Is rather a dry fish, but the flavour is tolerably good, and it answers very
well for salting. There are various other species, chiefly found in the Mediterranean.
The following genera, which are closely allied to the Gurnards, deserve some notice: — Prionotus, an
American fish, resembling the Sapphirine Gurnard, but with the pectorals so large, that they can support tlie
body during a considerable leap through the air. They have a characteristic band of small teeth, closely
crowded together, upon each parietal bone. Peristidion, a genus having the whole body mailed with large hex-
agonal scales, ranged in longitudinal rows. Their muzzle is divided in two, and there are cirri to the mouth, but
no teeth. Dactylopterus, celebrated as Flying Fishes. They have the subpectoral rays numerous, longer than the
body, and united by a membrane, so as to furnish large supplemental fins, by means of which the fishes can
protract their fall for a few minutes, when they spring from the water to escape the Coryphenes, and other ene-
mies ; but as the fishes cannot fly, or take a new impulse from the air, they speedily fall down and become the
victims of the pursuers. They are found in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean ; and are small fishes, seldom
more than a foot in length. Cephalacanthus, resembles the former, with the exception of the supplementary fins,
or wings, as they are sometimes improperly called. Coitus, the Bull-head, of which there are several species.
They have the head depressed, with teeth in both jaws and in the front of the vomer, the gill-lids furnished with
spines ; gills with six rays, and large openings, bodies slender, and without scales ; two dorsals, near to each other,
and the ventral fins small. Of these, C. gobio, the Miller’s Thumb, is found in rivers ; C. bubalis, which has the
gill-lids very spiny, C. quadricornis, with four short spinous processes on the top of the head, are found in the
sea : besides these there are some foreign species.
Apidophorus, the Pogge, sometimes termed the Armed Bull-head, has the body octangular, and covered with
scaly plates, with recurved spines on the snout, and teeth in the jaws only; it is a genus found in the Northern
Atlantic and Pacific, but the species are small and unimportant.
Some groups, recently knovm, have the characters of Coitus, and of Scorpeena. Of these we may notice
Hemitripterus, with two dorsals, a bristly head, and no scales on the body ; it varies in length from one to two feet,
and is found on the American shores. Hemilepidotus, has only one dorsal ; teeth in the palate, and longitudinal
bands of scales, w^hich are not visible till the body is dried ; it occurs in the Pacific. Platycephalus, is found in
the Indian Ocean. It has large ventrals, with six rays placed behind the pectorals ; the head depressed, and sharp
and spinous at the sides, but not operculated. There are seven rays in the gills, a row of sharp teeth in the
palate, and the body covered with scales.
Scorpcena, of which there are two subgenera, which have the head rough, and hardened with plates, and are com-
pressed laterally ; the body is scaly ; and there is one dorsal fin. Except in the singular appearance of then-
armed and tuberculated heads, they very much resemble the Perches. The subgenera are Scorpana, without
scales, but armed with spines, which are accounted dangerous. They are a gregarious fish, and have
their haunts among the rocks. Some allied species have the body much compressed, and a very high
dorsal fin, united to the caudal. Sebastes, the Norway Haddock, rather a large species, with many spines on the
head, a long dorsal, of which the posterior portion has soft rays ; the eyes very large, and teeth in all the jaws. It
inhabits the northern seas, and the Greenlanders use its spines as needles. Pterois, Indian fishes, resembling
the last genus, but with no lateral and pectoral rays ; remarkably long ; their colour very beautiful ; and no
teeth in the palate. Blepsias, inhabits the North Pacific; has hard cheeks, cirri on the lower jaw, five gill-rays,
small ventrals, and one dorsal, consisting of three lobes. Apistes, Treacherous, are small fishes, having a formid-
able spine on the suborbital plate, and branched rays in the pectorals. Some have scales, and some not. Agriopus,
want the spine of the former, have the dorsal very high, and reaching to between the eyes, a narrow muzzle, and
the body without scales. Pelor, like Scorpsena in their teeth ; two free rays in the pectorals, head flat, eyes close
together, dorsal spines very high, and whole appearance singular. Synanceia, as ugly as the former ; the head
shapeless, tuberculated, and the skin loose. No teeth on the vomer or palate. Like most of the analogous genera,
they inhabit the warm seas, and this genus is considered poisonous. Monocentris, — body short, thick, com-
pletely covered with rough, angular plates, four or five stout spines in place of the first dorsal ; each ventral a
single large spine ; head and mouth large ; teeth on the jaAvs and palate, short and crowded ; found near Japan.
Gasterosteus, Stickleback, a numerous and very common genus, found both in fresh waters and the sea.
Named from the free spines on the back, and a bony covering on the belly. Their ventrals, placed behind the
pectorals, consist only of a single spine, and they have but three rays and gills. There are several European
species, distinguished chiefly by the number and character of their spines. Though of small size, they are
exceedingly voracious. Oreosoma, a small oval fish, with its body all covered over with scaly cones ; only one
species is known.
THE THIRD FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII.
Sci^NiDiE (the Maigre Family).
These still resemble the Perches in the notches of the pre-operculum and operculum ; but they have
no teeth on the vomer or palate. The muzzle is thickened, and there are a few scales on the dorsal
fins, of which fins some genera have one and others two.
The following are the principal genera : —
PISCES.
2^0
Scicena, of which there are seven subg-enera. The general characters are,— the head inflated, and supported by
cavernous bones ; two dorsals, or one deeply notched, the soft part much longer than the spinous ; the anal short,
the pre-operculum toothed, and the operculum divided into points at its extremity ; seven arches in the gills.
They resemble the Perches, only they have no teeth in the palate ; their whole head is scaly, their air-bladder
often curiously fringed, and the stony appendages in the ear larger than in most fishes. The following are the
subgenera : —
Scicejia, or Maigres, properly so called, which have the spines of the anal weak, and neither elongated canine
teeth nor cirri at the mouth. One species, S. umbra, inhabits the Mediterranean, and used to be highly esteemed,
but has latterly become rare. It grows to the length of six feet or more. Some other species of this subgenus
are found in the Southern and Indian Seas.
Otolithus, has the anal spines weak, and no cirri, some elongated or canine teeth, and two horns attached to the
air-bladder, and erected forwards. They are Indian and American fishes ; one is known as the Stone Perch of
Pondicherry. Ancylodon, resembles the former, but has a short muzzle, long canine teeth, and a pointed tail.
Corvina, small and crowded teeth, with neither canines nor cirri ; the second anal spine rather strong. One,
species, C. nigra, is abundant in the Mediterranean, and there are others in the Indian and American seas.
Jolmius, resembles the last, but has the second anal spine weaker, and shorter than the soft rays. They are found
in the seas of India, Tropical Africa, and America, and are esteemed as food, their flesh being white and easy of
digestion. Umfinwa, distinguished by a cirrus on the lower jaw. A remarkably beautiful fish, found plentifully
in the Mediterranean, and occasionally on the southern coasts of Bi'itain. Its ground colour is golden, with bright
bands of steel blue ; and its flesh is excellent. It is not a very long fish, but is sometimes forty pounds in weight.
Pogonias, somewhat like the former, but with several cirri below the jaw. Some of them are silvery, and attain
the size of an Umbrina. This fish produces much more sound than any of the other Sciaenidae, on which account
it is sometimes called the Drum-fish.
Eques, has a long and compressed body, elevated at the shoulders, and tapering to the tail ; the teeth are small
and closely set ; the first dorsal is high, the second long and scaly ; and they all belong to the American seas.
The Scisenidae with a single dorsal fin, are subdivided according to the number of the gill-rays.
Those which have seven, correspond to some genera of the Sparidae, and have the pre-operculum always
notched. The following genera have seven gill-rays ; —
Hoemidon, has the muzzle lengthened, resembling that of a Hog ; the lower jaw compressed, opening very wide
and of a bright red. Hence they are called “ Red-throats ” in the West Indian Islands. Their teeth are small, and
closely set ; and their dorsal fin is slightly notched, having the soft part scaly. They inhabit the American seas.
Pristipoma, have pores in the jaw, like the last species, but the muzzle thicker, the mouth not so deeply cleft,
and their dorsal and anal fins without scales. The obtuse angle of the operculum is concealed by a membrane.
They are numerous, and inhabit the warm latitudes of both oceans.
Digramma, resemble the last-named, except that the cavity of the symphysis is wanting, and there are two large
pores beneath each side. Tliey are found in both oceans. Those of the Atlantic have large scales, and those of
the Indian Ocean smaller, and a shorter and thicker muzzle.
The Scisenidae with a single dorsal, and less than seven gill-rays, admit of more subdivision. Some
have the lateral line extending to the caudal fin, others have it interrupted. The following genera
possess the former character : —
Lobotes, have the muzzle short, the lower jaw prominent, the body high, and the posterior angle of the dorsal
and anal fins so elongated, as, with the rounded caudal fin, to appear in three lobes. There are four groups of very
small points near the end of the jaw. Tliey inhabit both oceans.
Cheilodactylis, have the body long, the mouth small, many spinous rays in the dorsal, and the lower rays of the
pectorals simple, and produced beyond the membrane.
Scolopsides, have the second suborbital plate toothed, and terminated by a point directed backwards, crossing
another point of the third suborbital, directed the contrary way. The body is oblong, mouth little cleft, teeth
velvety, scales large, and no pores in the jaws. They inhabit the Indian seas.
Micropteres, have the body oblong, three spines on each side of the jaw, and the last rays of the soft part of the
dorsal separated from the others, and forming a small peculiar fin. They have the operculum without notches.
The Scisenidae with less than seven gill-rays, and the lateral line interrupted, form several genera of
small oval fishes, generally finely coloured, and distinguished by the armature of their heads. They
have a nearer relation to the genus Chsetodon, and resemble some of the fishes with labyrinthic
branchise. The following are the genera : —
Amphitrion, with the pre-operculum and three operculum pieces dentelated, the latter produced on a single row
of blunt teeth. Pomacentres, have the pre-operculum dentelated, the operculum without armature, and a single
row of trenchant teeth. Premnas, have one or two stout spines on the suborbital, and the pi’e-operculum toothed.
Dascyllus, resemble Pomacentres, except in having the teeth very small, and thickly crowded. All the genera in-
habit the Indian seas.
Glyphisodon, with the gill-lids entire, and a single row of trenchant and generally notched teeth. They are
found in the Atlantic, but more abundantly in the Indian seas.
Hdianus, resemble the preceding genus’ in their operculum, but have the teeth small and velvety.
ACANTPIOPTERYGII.
297
THE FOURTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII.
Sparid^ (the Sea-bream Family).
i These have no teeth in the palate ; their general figure resembles that of the preceding family ; their
P bodies have scales larger or smaller, but they have none on the fins ; their muzzle is not thickened, nor
I the bones of the head cavernous ; they have no notches in their preoperculum, nor spines on the oper-
[1 culum; their pyitolus has coecal appendages; they have six gill-rays, which are arranged according to
1 the form of the teeth. The first tribe, of which there are five genera, have the sides of the jaws set
I with round, flat teeth, resembling a pavement. The genera are as follow : —
' Sargus, with cutting teeth in the front, like those of Man ; but in some species the teeth vary.
' Chrysophris, Gilt-heads, with round grinders in the sides of the jaw, and a few blunt conical teeth in front.
There are two European species : C. miratus, a large and beautiful fish, with a' golden eyebrow; and C. microdon,
I with the teeth smaller, and the profile fuller. The first species is occasionally found on the south coast of England.
I ' They have very strong teeth, and are able to break the hardest shells of the Mollusca.
* Pagrus, has only two rows of grinders.
P. vulgaris, silvery, glossed with red, inhabits the Mediterranean, and is occasionally met with on the English
shores. There are others in the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean, and one of Southern Africa, which has the jaws
I as hard as stone,
' Pagelus, has the teeth smaller, and the muzzle more elongated. P. erythrinus, the Spanish Bream, is silvery,
' glossed with rose-colour : it is a very beautiful fish. There are numerous others found in the Mediterranean
I and other seas ; but the species named is the only one that occurs on the English coast, excepting the Sea Bream,
i P. centrodentus, which is of the same colour as the former, but has a large dark patch on the shoulder,
j Dentex, has all the teeth conical, and the front ones hooked. One species, D. vulgaris, occasionally occurs in
I the south of England, and there are various others.
Some have the mouth less cleft, the body lower, and the caudal scaly to the end ; and others have
no scales on the cheek, but a pointed scale between the ventrals, and one above each of them. These
form a second tribe of the family ; and a third tribe also consists of a single genus, —
Cantharus, which has crowded teeth, hooked, and placed cardwise round the jaws. One species, C. griseus, of
a silvery grey colour, with brown longitudinal stripes, is found on the English shores, and known as the Black
Bream.
The fourth and last tribe consists of two genera : —
Boops, with the mouth small, and the external teeth trenchant. There are several species in the Mediterranean,
silvery or steel-coloured, with longitudinal golden stripes. Oblada, with small crowded teeth behind the trenchant
ones ; silvery, with blackish stripes, and a broad black spot on each side of the tail.
I THE FIFTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII.
) Menidas.
I These differ from the last in the great extensibility of the upper jaw, which is advanced or withdrawn
I by means of long intermaxillary pedicles. It contains only the following four genera : —
\ Mcena, with fine narrow teeth in the jaws, and a band of the same on the vomer ; body shaped like that of a
! Herring, lead-coloured on the back, silvery on the belly. Smaris, want the teeth on the vomer, and the body is
i less elevated. Casio, has the dorsal somewhat higher. Geres, mouth protractile, jaw descends in advancing,
' and teeth in the jaws only : much esteemed for food. The first two genera inhabit the Mediterranean, the third
I the Indian Ocean, and the fourth the Atlantic, whence a stray individual sometimes reaches the coast of England.
I THE SIXTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII.
i SauAMiPENNEs (Scaly-finucd).
I These fishes are so designated because the soft, and often the spinous parts, of their dorsal fins are
so covered with scales as not to be easily distinguished from the rest of their bodies. This is the most
distinguishing character ; but they also have, in general, the body much compressed, and the intestines
long, and with numerous coeca. Linnaeus included all those known in his time in the genus Chcetodon,
or bristle-teeth, from the thinness and close array of these parts ; but this genus admits of subdivision,
and there are some others.
The Chcefodons have their teeth like a brush, their mouth small, their dorsal and anal fins scaly like
the body, so that it is difficult to say where the fin commences. They abound in the seas of warm
PISCES.
298
climates, and are remarkable for the beauty of their colours. Their intestines are long, with numerous
coeca, and their air-bladders are large and strong. They frequent rocky shores, and are eaten. The
following are the genera : —
Cheetodon, properly so called, with the body more or less elliptical,
the spinous and soft rays continued in a uniform curve, the snout pro-
jecting more or less, and sometimes a small dentation on the operculum.
They all resemble each other, even in their colours, being marked with
a black band which passes over the eye. In some, there are several
vertical bands ; others have them longitudinal, or oblique ; some have
brown spots on the flanks ; some have glossed bands on the vertical
fins, and one or two ocellated spots. Some of them are also distin-
guished by filaments produced from the soft rays of the dorsal, and |
others have very few spines in that fin. !
Chelmon, remarkable for the length of its snout, with the mouth small,
and at the extremity, and the teeth fine like hairs. One species, C.
rostratus, has the faculty of shooting insects with drops of water pro-
jected from the mouth, and it seizes them as they fall. It is found near
the shores of South-eastern Asia.
Heniochus, Coachman, have the first spines of the dorsal, and particu-
larly the third and fourth, extended into filaments like a whip, and
often twice the length of the body.
EpMppus, Horseman, with a deep notch between the spinous and
soft portions of the dorsal, the first of which has no scales, and can be
folded into a groove on the back. There are various species, some of
the American and some of the Indian seas ; and one species is said to
be a very foul feeder. Many of this genus are found fossil in Mount Bolca in Italy, which is a vast magazine of
petrified fishes.
Holocanthus, have a strong spine on the operculum, with the edge of that toothed. They are found in the warm
latitudes of both oceans. Their flesh is excellent, and the colours beautiful, and regularly marked.
Pomacanthus, have the body more elevated from a sudden rise of the edge of the dorsal. They are only known
as American.
Platacc, has trenchant teeth, with three points in front of their brush-like ones, and their body strongly com-
pressed, and continued into thick, elevated, and scaly fins, with a few concealed spines in the anterior edge, so
that the height is much greater than the length. They inhabit the Indian Ocean, but a fossil species has been
found at Bulca.
Psettus, resembles Platax, but has all the teeth small and crowded ; and the ventrals, which are very long in i|
that, reduced to a small spine, without soft rays. They are of various forms, and known only as inhabitants of j
the Indian Ocean. |
Pimelepterus, with a single row of teeth placed on a horizontal base or heel, and trenchant in the anterior part. |
The body is oblong, the head blunt, and the fins thickened with scales, whence the name. They inhabit both oceans, j
Diptcerodon, cLXi analogous genus, with trenchant teeth, chisel-shaped, and the spinous and soft parts of the I
dorsal separated by a deep notch. Found in the Southern Ocean. ij
The following genera, which are ranged with Chsetodon, on account of their scaly fins, yet differ
from them in having teeth on the vomer and palate : —
Brama, Ray’s Bream, has the body deep and compressed, the profile almost vertical, one elongated dorsal fin, |
scales on the dorsal and anal, and slender curved teeth on the jaws and bones of the palate. It is found in the j
warmer seas, but is occasionally met with on the shores of England. j
Pempheris, has a long and scaly anal, the dorsal short and elevated, and an obtuse profile and large eye; a small |
spine on the gill-lid, and small crowded teeth on the jaws, vomer, and palate. Inhabits the Indian seas. |
Toxotes, the Archer, has the body short and compressed, the dorsal far backwards, the snout short and de-
pressed, and the lower jaw projecting beyond the upper one. It has small teeth crowded in all parts of the mouth,
and the gill-lids finely toothed. It hits insects with drops of water at the height of three or four feet above the
surface, and is remarkably sure of its aim.
THE SEVENTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTEKYGII.
ScoMBERiD^ (the Mackerel Family)
This family comprises a vast number of genera, many species, and countless individuals. They are
eminently useful to Man, and are the object of some of the most extensive fisheries. Many of them
were included by Linnaeus in one genus. Scomber, but they are subdivided as follows : —
Scomber, the Mackerel, with the body spindle-shaped, beautifully coloured, smooth, and with small
scales. The common Mackerel is well known as one of the most valuable of the fast-swimming surface
ACANTHOPTERYGII 299
fishes, for the rapidity with which it dies when out of the water, and also becomes putrid, or tainted.
I There are several species in the European and American seas.
i Thynnus, the Tunny, has a soft corselet of large scales on the thorax, a cartilaginous keel between the crests
and the sides of the tail, and the first dorsal approaching the second. It is very abundant in the Mediterranean,
I where it sometimes attains the length of fifteen or eighteen feet. It is captured in vast numbers, and forms an
; essential article of the food of the people. It has been known in the Mediterranean from the remotest antiquity,
I and occasionally appears on the Bx'itish coast. There are several species, of which the Bonito, or Striped Tunny,
is one of the most striking.
; Orcynus, has the pectoral fins much longer than the Tunny, the back blackish, the belly silvery, and the flesh
^ much whiter than that of the Tunny. In summer, it visits the Mediterranean and Bay of Biscay, in shoals. [Most
j of the Scomberidse frequent the shores in summer, for the purpose of depositing their spawn ; and they subsist, in
' great part, upon the fry of the later spawners, as these again live upon theirs, which is a beautiful adaptation,
whereby the immense surplus of one family of fish adequately supplies the wants of another.]
' Auxis, have the corslet and short pectorals of the Tunny, and the separate dorsals of the Mackerel. Found in
the Mediterranean. Of a fine blue on the back, with oblique blackish lines, and the flesh deep red. A West Indian
I; species equals the Tunny in size.
Sarda, differ from the Tunnies in having the teeth separate, strong, and pointed. The only known species in-
habits both oceans, and is common in the Black Sea and Mediterranean,
j Cybium, have the body long, no corselet, jaw-teeth large and lancet-shaped, parietal teeth small, short, and
’ crowded. Found in the warm parts of both oceans ; and some of the species grow very large. Thyrsites, has the
jl front teeth longer than the others, pointed teeth on the palate, and no lateral keels to the tail.
Gempylus, have jaw-teeth similar to the last, but no parietal teeth, and the ventral fins scarcely perceptible.
I [These are the subgenera of Scomber, and the remaining Scomberidae have characters somewhat different.]
I Xiphias, the Sword-fishes, resemble the Tunnies in their very minute scales, the keels in their tails,
i! the power of their caudal fin, and their whole internal organization. Their distinguishing characteristic
is a long pointed beak, formed like a sword or
spit, which terminates their upper jaw, and is
a most powerful offensive weapon, with which
they attack the largest animals in the ocean,
[and sometimes drive it into the timbers of
ships, where it breaks, and a portion is left].
This beak is principally composed of the vomer
and the intermaxillaries, and supported at its
base by the ethmoid and the frontal maxil-
laries. Their gills are not divided like the teeth of a comb, but each consists of two large and parallel
laminae, with reticulated surfaces. They swim with extreme rapidity, [and it is probable that the
I peculiar gills enable them to do this with safety, not being liable to get entangled like those in threads].
J Their flesh is excellent. The subgenera are, —
j Xiphias, the Sword-fish, properly so called ; has the beak long, flattened horizontally, and trenchant, like the
I blade of a large sword ; sides of the tail with strong keels ; only one dorsal, which wears in the middle in old speci-
j mens, and then seems two. This is one of the largest and best fishes in the European seas, and is frequently fifteen
' feet long. It is very abundant in the Mediterranean, but less so in the Atlantic. Notwithstanding its formidable
weapon, its great strength, and its almost incredible celerity, a small crustaceous animal penetrates the flesh of
the Sword-fish, and sometimes so torments it that it dashes itself on the shore with mortal violence.
Tetrapturus. Beak shaped like a stiletto; each ventral consists of one jointless blade; two small crests on
I each side of the base of the caudal, as in the Mackerel. [These lateral crests on the tail appear to steady that
i powerful organ, and thus render it more efficient and unerring in its intense labour.] One species inhabits the
I Mediterranean.
j Makaira, like the former, but wants the ventral plates ; rather a doubtful species.
! Istiophorus, has the beak and caudal crests like Tetrapturus, but the dorsal high, and serving as a sail in
I swimming ; and the long and slender ventrals are composed of two rays each. Several species have been named,
I but they are imperfectly known. All the Sword-
; fishes attain a large size, [and the dorsal fin is subject
i to variations].
Centronotus, a genus having free spines in-
; stead of the first part of the dorsal, and ventrals
I in all the species. The subgenera are, —
I Naucrates, the Pilot-fish, has spindle-shaped body,
[ free dorsal spines, keel on the tail as in the Herring,
and two free spines before the anal. The Common
Fig- 135.— The Pilot-fish
300
PISCES.
Pilot-fisli of the Mediterranean is not above a foot long ; but it is swift and voracious, and follows in the wake of
ships along with the Shark, which it has been erroneously supposed to lead, and hence its name of Ductor. A
black species of the South American coasts has been found eight or nine feet long.
Eclacates, form and dorsal spines like the last, but the head flattened, and the keel and anal spines wanting.
Lichia, has dorsal and anal spines on the back, one of the former lying flat and directed forwards, but the body
is compressed, and no keels on the tail. There are several species in the Mediterranean, all eatable, and some of
large size. Trachinotus merely has the body a little more elevated, and the dorsal and anal longer and more
pointed.
Rhynchobdella. Spines as in the former genus, long body, and no ventrals. The subgenera are, —
Macrognathus : has a pointed, cartilaginous muzzle, projecting beyond the lower jaw, and the dorsal and anal
separate from the caudal. Mestacemhelus ; jaws equal, and dorsal and anal joined to the caudal. Both inhabit
the fresh waters of Asia, and feed on worms, in search of which they plough up the sand with their cartilaginous
noses : their flesh is much esteemed.
This is the place for the imperfectly known genus Notacanthus^ which has the muzzle of the last,
free spines for a dorsal, ventrals abdominal, a long anal reaching to the top of the tail, and joining a
very small caudal. The known species inhabit the Arctic Ocean, and have been found two feet and a
half long.
Seriola. This genus resembles Lichia, has a horizontal spine before the dorsal, but the dorsal spines united by
a fin, a small fin with two spines before the anal, and no keel on the lateral line. One species is the Milk-fish of
Pondicherry, so much esteemed for the delicacy of its flesh. There are several other species in both oceans.
N omens, resemble the last, but have large ventrals attached to the abdomen by their inner edge ; colour, i
silvery, with transverse black bands on the upper part. Has been confounded with the Gobies.
Temnodon : tail unarmed, spines or small fins before the anal, first dorsal small, second and anal small,
scales, one row of trenchant teeth in each jaw, with small crowded ones behind, and on the vomer, the parietals,
and tongue ; seven rays on the gills, and the gill-lid forked. There are species common to both oceans, and about
the size of the common Mackerel. il
Caranx, have the lateral line with scaly plates, keeled, and often spinous, horizontal spine before the first of the
two dorsals, last rays of the second dorsal often detached, some spines or a small fin before the anal. Several
species in the European seas, and generally over the globe. Resemble Mackerel, and are called Bastard
Mackerel. [On the British shores they are designated Scad or Horse Mackerel, and they sometimes make their
appearance in immense shoals, literally “ banking the sea,” especially along the Cornish coasts, and shores of the i
Bristol Channel. They feed on the fry of Herrings, and are not in much estimation as food.]
Vomer. This genus have the body more and more compressed and elevated in the different sub-
genera, while the armature on the lateral line diminishes, and the skin becomes smooth like satin,
without any apparent scales. They have no teeth, except short and fine ones crowded together ; and
the subgenera are chiefly distinguished from each other by various filamentary prolongations of some i
of the fins. Linnaeus and Bloch included them, but improperly, in the genus Zeus (Dory). The fol-
lowing are the subgenera ; —
Olistus. These resemble Situlce, a subgenus of Caranx, but the middle rays of the second dorsal are not
branched, but merely articulated, and extend in long filaments.
Scyris. Nearly the same in form and filaments,
but the spines of the fir 't dorsal hidden in the edge
of the second, and the ventrals short.
Blepharis, has long filaments to the second dorsal
and anal, the ventrals very long, and the spine
scarcely above the skin ; their body is very elevated,
but their profile not so vertical as that of some of '
the other subgenera found in the warm seas ; and in
the West Indies one species is called the “Cobbler.”
Gallus, similar to the last in all respects except i
having the profile more vertical. Argyreiosus, has
the profile still more vertical, the first dorsal defi-
nitely formed, and some of its rays extended in
filaments, as well as those of the second dorsal; the
ventrals are also very long.
Vomer, properly so called, has the body com-
pressed, and the profile vertical, as in the two sub-
genera immediately preceding it, but none of the
fins are extended into filaments.
Zeus. After removing the analogous sub-
genera of Vomer, this genus comprehends
ACANTHOPTERYGIL
301
and weak teeth. They differ much, and require
Zeus, the Dory, has the first dorsal deeply notched
between the spines, and the intermediate membranes
extend into long- filaments, together with the forked
spines along the bases of the dorsals and the anal.
One species, the Common Dory (John Dory) is yel-
lowish brown, with golden or silvery reflections,
according to the position of the light, with a round
black spot margined with white on the shoulder.
[The Dory has been a renowned fish since the days of
the ancients, who styled it not the fish of Jove, but
Zeus, that is, Jove himself. The religious also claimed
it as the “Tribute-money-fish,” from the black marks
of the thumb and fingers of St. Peter on the shoulders,
in which it is the rival of the Haddock — neither of
which fishes Peter had any chance of seeing. It is
still held in great estimation by epicures ; and being a
ground fish, it keeps two or three days, and is all the
better for it.]
Capras, the Boar-fish, has the notched dorsal of the Dory, but no spines along the dorsal or anal ; it has the
mouth still more projectile than the Dory, the body
covered with rough scales, and the fins entirely with-
out filaments. [Its flesh in little esteem.]
Lampris,\i&^ a single dorsal very high anteriorly,
as also is the anal, which has one small spine before
its base ; sides of the tail with keels ; ventrals and
caudal lobes very long, but subject to be worn away ;
colour, violet, spotted with white, and the fins red.
Inhabits the Arctic seas, and grows to a large size.
[In Britain it is known as the Opah, or King-fish.]
Equula. One dorsal with several spines, the fore-
most occasionally long, snout much protracted,
body compressed, and edges of the back and belly
toothed with fins. They are small fishes, several
of which inhabit the Indian Ocean, and some of
them have the power of contracting the snout
when at rest, and projecting it suddenly for the
capture of those small fishes on which they feed.
Menas, has the snout as in the last, but the body
more compressed, the abdomen trenchant and very
convex, but the back nearly straight ; the ventrals
are behind the pectorals, but still attached to the shoulder. One only is known, of the Indian Ocean, silvery,
with a black spot near the back.
Stromateus. This genus has the same compressed form as Zeus, and the same smooth epidermis ; but the
muzzle is blunt, and not protractile. It has a single dorsal, with a few concealed spines anteriorly, but no
ventrals. The vertical fins are thickened as in the scaly-finned fishes ; the gullet has a number of spines attached
to the membrane. They are found in the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, and Pacific. Some of the species
differ a good deal in form.
Peprilus, has the pelvis trenchant and pointed before the vent, resembling rudimental ventrals, and some
species have this part toothed.
Luvarus, resembles the former, but has no trenchant blade on the pelvis, only a small scale, which covers the
vent, and a prominent keel on each side of the tall. A large species, silvery, with a reddish back, is found in the
European seas.
Seserinus. All the characters of the last genus, save that there are little rudiments of ventrals. One small
species is knowm in the Mediterranean.
Kurtus, resemble Peprilus, but differ in having the dorsal shorter, and the ventrals larger; the anal is long, and
the scales so minute as to be invisible till the skin is dried. They have seven gill-rays, a spine between the
ventrals, and some small trenchant plates before the dorsal, which has a spine directed forward at its base. The
ribs are dilated, convex, and form a continuous annular tube, which extends so far under the tail, and contains
the air-bladder. Some have a little cartilaginous horn in advance of the plates before the dorsal. They are found
in the Indian seas.
Coryphcena, Dorades, or Gold-fishes, the Dolphins of the ancients, and of the modern Hollanders.
They have the body long, compressed, and covered with small scales ; the head trenchant in the upper
fishes with the mouth greatly projectile, and few
division into various subgenera.
Fig-. 137. — The Uory.
302
PISCES.
I
part; a single dorsal, which extends the whole length of the back, with flexible rays the whole length, !
but the anterior ones not jointed ; and they have seven rays in the gills. The following are the sub- |
genera : — j
Coryphaina, the Coryphene, properly so called, have the head much elevated ; the profile curved, and descending '
rapidly; they have teeth in the palate, as well as the jaws. They are large and splendidly-coloured fishes, cele- <
brated for the velocity of their motions, and the havoc which they commit among the Flying Fishes. [C. hipparis, '
the Common Coryphene, is found in the Mediterranean and Atlantic. It is a brilliant fish, and drives through the
water like a radiant meteor. Its long dorsal is sky-blue, with the rays gold-coloured ; its tail-fin green ; its back
green, mottled with orange ; and its belly silvery, divided from the former by a yellow lateral line. As it passes i
along, however, there is an extraordinary play of colours upon it ; and it is one of the fishes with the changes of j
whose colours, when dying, the luxurious Romans used to gloat their depraved fancy. Some of the Indian species
are brighter coloured than this one ; and, indeed, all the Scomberidae have a tendency to get blackish in the cold |
seas, and brilliant in the warm ones, owing to the greater effect of the solar light in the latter ; for the sunbeam
is Nature’s pencil, down even to the deepest fish or pearl shell].
Curanxamores, differ from Coryphene in having the head oblong, and less elevated, and the eye in a medium j
position. Centrolophes, has no teeth in the palate, and a plain space between the occiput and the dorsal. [One j
species, the Black Fish, C. pompiUus, occasionally wanders from the Mediterranean to the southern shores of |
Britain. It is a powerful fish, and not easily caught, but its flesh is much esteemed. It feeds partially on some i
sea-weeds, but chiefly on other fishes.]
Astrodermus, has the head and dorsal like the Coryphene, but the mouth small, four rays in the gills, and the
ventrals very small in the throat. The scales are thinly scattered over the body, arranged into stars, hence the
name. Only one species is known, which inhabits the Mediterranean ; is silvery, spotted with black, and has a
very long dorsal. The fins are red. !
Pteraclis, teeth and head like the Coryphene, but the scales larger ; ventrals on the throat small ; dorsal and
anals as high as the fish. i
[Such are the leading genera and suhgenera of the Mackerel family, one of the most numerous and |
splendid in the class.] i
THE EIGHTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII. ,
T^nid^ (Ribbon-shaped). 1
This family is closely allied to the Mackerels, its first genus agreeing intimately with the last sub-
genera of Scomber. The fishes composing it are long, flattened on the sides, and have very small
scales. One tribe has the muzzle elongated, the mouth deeply cleft, with strong trenchant teeth, and [
the lower jaw projecting beyond the upper. This tribe contains only two genera. i
Lepidopus, the Scabbard-fish, or Scale- foot— from the form of the ventrals, which are merely two scaly plates. ^
The body is thin and elongated, with a dorsal above, and a low anal beneath, terminating in a well-formed caudal,
j The gills have eight rays ; the stomach is long, with more than twenty coeca near the pyrolus ; and the air-bladder '
} is long and slender, with a glandular body attached. One species, L, argyreus, occurs from England to Southern ?
Africa, but is not plentiful. It is sometimes five feet long, but it is rare. [It swims with extreme rapidity, and
often with the head above water. It has no scales on the body, except the two which occupy the place of the
ventral fins.]
Trichiurus, Hair-tail . The body, muzzled jaws, and teeth like the last, and a dorsal extending along the back ; but
no ventral, anal, or caudal fins, excepting a few obscure little spines on the under side of the tail, which terminates
in a hair-like point ; there are seven rays in the gills ; the stomach is long and thick ; the intestines striped with
numerous coeca ; and their aii’-bladder long and simple. Viewed laterally, they resemble beautiful silver ribbons.
There are several species of the Indian Ocean, and one at least of the Atlantic. [One, T. Lepturus, called by
some the Blade-fish— in contrast, we suppose, to the Scabbard-fish— occurs occasionally in various parts of the
British seas. It is shining silvery, with greyish-yellow fins ; the dorsal mottled with black on the edge ; the
irides are golden]. Some of the Indian Trichiuri have been described as having electric or galvanic properties,
but such is not the fact.
A second tribe comprehends genera whieh have the mouth small, and little cleft.
Gymnetrus, has the body elongated, and flat, without an anal fin, but with a long dorsal, a caudal composed of j
few rays, and ventrals under the pectorals, which are fibrous, with small expansions at their extremities, but both I
they and the anterior of the dorsal are liable to be broken. The fishes themselves are very tender, their bones j
soft, their fins easily rent, and their flesh soon decomposed. They occur in the Mediterranean, the Indian, the
Atlantic, and the Arctic Seas. Some of them are ten feet in length. [Two species have occurred in the British [
seas; — G.Hawhensii, on the coast of Cornwall, and G. arcticus, on some of the northern coasts; but the last |
species is not very satisfactorily made out, as the tenderness of the fish causes it to be mutilated almost the in- j
stant it is stranded.] !
Stylephorus, has a caudal fin, as in the last, but shorter ; and instead of the tail ending in a hook in the middle
of the fin, as it does there, it is produced in a filament longer than the body. |
ACANTHOPTERYGII.
303
A third tribe has the muzzle short, and the mouth cleft obliquely. It contains three genera.
Sepola, have a long dorsal and anal, the top of the cranium flattened, the gape inclining upwards, all the spines
of the dorsal flexible, but those of the ventrals stiflT, cavity and stomach very short, and the air-bladder extending
as far as the tail. One species, of a reddish colour, inhabits the Mediterranean ; [and is occasionally found on the
south coast of England, where it is known as the Red-band Fish, or Red Snake-fish. They appear to have little
command of themselves in a stormy sea]. Lophotes, head short, with an osseous crest surmounted by a spine,
bordered behind this with a low fin, extending from this spine to the tail, which has a very small caudal ; the anal
very short, pectorals moderate, and scarcely any ventrals ; teeth pointed, eyes very large, and abdominal cavity
occupying nearly the whole length of the body. One species is known in the Mediterranean, where it attains a
large size.
THE NINTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII.
Theutyes (the Lancet-fish Family).
These agree with the Mackerel family in some respects, but differ in others, such as trenchant spines
on the sides of the tail, and an horizontal spine before the dorsal. The family contains few genera, all
foreigners, with compressed oblong body, small mouth, slightly or not at all protractile, and only a
single row of trenchant teeth in the jaws. They feed chiefly on fuci and other marine plants, and have
large intestines. [Their powerful spines, which they use very dexterously, are weapons of defence
supplied to them for nearly the same purposes as the horns of the ruminant Mammalia.]
Siganus, have a unique character in their ventrals, which have two spinous rays, one external and the other
internal, and three branch rays between them. They have five gill-rays, a horizontal spine before the dorsal, and
the styloid bones of the shoulder so curved as to unite at their extremities with the first interspiral bone of the
anal. There are numerous species in the Indian Ocean.
Acanthurus, Lancet-fishes, have the teeth ti'enchant and notched, and a strong spine at each side of the tail, as
sharp as a lancet, with which they inflict severe wounds on such as attempt to handle them unwarily ; hence their
common name. They are found in the warm parts of both oceans : some with the dorsal very elevated, others
with a tuft of bristles before the lateral spine, and others again with the teeth divided like a comb.
Prionurus, differ from the last only in having a number of horizontal cutting-blades on the side of the tail, in
place of the strong spine. [These might be termed Scarifiers.]
Naseus, have trenchant blades in the tail like the last, but with conical teeth, and a prominent horn projecting
over the muzzle ; only four rays in the gills, and three in the ventrals. Their skin is leathery.
Axbmrus, more elongated than the last, and without the prominence in front, but with the same number of rays
in the gills and ventrals ; on each side of the tail, they have a single square cutting-blade, without a basal shield ;
their mouths are small, and their teeth slender.
Priodon, have the notched teeth of Acanthurus, the three soft ventral rays of Naseus, and the sides of the tail
armed like Syganus.
THE TENTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII.
Fishes with Labyrinths in the Pharynx.
By the terra PJiarynginm labyrinthiformce, is meant that the upper membranes of the pharjmx
are divided into small irregular leaves, more or less numerous in the different genera, containing cells
between them, M'hich the fish can at pleasure fill with water ; and by ejecting a portion of this water,
moisten its gills, and thus continue its circulation while out of its proper element. [From this con-
trivance of Nature herself, we are to understand that, if the gills of a fish can be kept properly j
moistened, by salt water or by fresh, according as the fish is naturally an inhabitant of one or the
other, it may be carried alive over land to an indefinite distance]. By means of this apparatus,
these fishes are enabled to quit the pool or rivulet which constitutes their usual element, and move to
a considerable distance over land. This singular faculty was unknown to the ancients ; and the people
in India still believe that these fishes fall from heaven.
[In cold and temperate climates, this apparatus is not necessary, because all the ponds and streams
there, which are capable of supporting fish, are perennial, and never dried up, except in seasons of
extreme drought, when, of course, all the fishes perish ; but in tropical countries, and in India perhaps
above all other tropical countries, where the seasons are alternate drought and rain, there is neither
food nor water for a fish during the one season, and plenty of both during the other. Hence, these
fishes are furnished with this peculiar apparatus in the pharynx, by means of which they are enabled
to follow the water over dry obstacles, and, in some of the species, to climb steep banks, or even trees,
in the course of their instinctive journeys]. The following are the genera: —
304
PISCES.
Anahas, the Chinbing' Perch of India. This genus has the labyrinths highly complicated; the third pharyngi
have pavement teeth, and tliere are others behind the cranium; the body is round in the section, and covered with
strong scales ; the head is large, the muzzle short
and blunt, and the mouth small ; their lateral line
is interrupted for the posterior third ; the margins
of the operculum, super -operculum, and inter-
operculum, are strongly toothed, but there are
no teeth in the pre-operculum ; their gills have
five rays ; they have many spinous rays in the
dorsal and anal ; and their stomach is of middle
size, rounded, and with three coecular appendages
to the pyrolus. Only one species is known, which
not only quits the water, and moves over banks,
but is said by Daldorf to climb bushes and trees, by means of its dorsals and the spines on the gill-lids ; but
others dispute the latter power. This species is very common in India.
Poly acanthus, has the spinous rays as numerous as the last genus, or even more so ; and the same mouth, scales,
and interrupted lateral line, but the gill-lid is not toothed ; the body is compressed ; there are four rays in the
gills, a narrow band of small crowded teeth in the jaws, but no palatal teeth; the labyrinths are less complicated,
and the pyrolus has only two ccecular appendages.
Macropodus, differs from the last in having the dorsal less extended, and that in the caudal and ventral ending
in slender points ; the anal is also larger than the dorsal.
Hesostoma, have a small compressed mouth, so protractile as to advance from and retreat to the suborbitals ;
they have small teeth on the lips, and some on the jaws of the palate ; five gill-rays, on the arches of which, to-
wards the mouth, there are lamellae resembling the external ones ; the stomach is small, and has only two pyrolic
coeca, but their intestine is long ; the air-bladder is very stout.
Osphromanus [so called from a conjecture, apparently erroneous, that the labyrinths of the pharynx are organs
of smell], resembles Polyacanthus, but has the forehead concave ; the anal longer than the dorsal; the suborbitals,
and inferior edge of the pre-operculum, finely toothed ; the first soft ray of the ventrals very long ; six gill-rays ;
the body much compressed. One species, O. alfax, grows as large as a turbot, and is considered more delicious.
It has been introduced into ponds in the Isle of France and Cayenne, where it thrives well. The female, as in
many other species of fish, digs a cavity in the sand for the reception of her eggs.
Trichopodus, has the forehead more convex than the last, a shorter dorsal, and only four gill-rays. The only
known species is a small fish from the Oriental Isles, of a brownish colour, with a dark spot on the side.
SpirohrancMis, resembles Anabas, but has no teeth on the gill-lids, but teeth in the palate. The only known
species is a minute fish of Southern Africa.
Ophicephalus, like the rest of the family in most of its characters, especially in the pharyngeal labyrinth, and
can creep for some distance over land ; but it differs from all other Acanthopterygii in having no spines in the
fins, except a short one on the first of the ventrals. The body is long, and nearly cylindrical; the head flat, and
covered with polygonal plates ; the dorsal extends nearly the whole length ; the anal is also long, and the caudal
round it ; they have five gill-rays ; the stomach is obtuse, with moderately long coeca ; and the abdominal cavity
extends nearly to the base of the caudal. They are found in India and China, of various species, and different
sizes. In the former country, the jugglers, and even the children, amuse themselves by making it crawl along
upon dry gi’ound ; and in China, the larger ones are cut up alive for sale in the markets.
[All the genera and species of this family are fresh-water fishes ; and they have not hitherto been
found except in the south-east of Asia and the adjacent islands, and in Southern Africa.]
THE ELEVENTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII.
Mugilid^ (the Mullet Family).
This family consists of the following three genera : —
Mugil, the Mullet, properly so called, [which must not, however, be confounded with the Red
Mullets, either plain or striped, which are included in the Perch family]. Their organization has so
many peculiarities that they might be formed into a separate family. Their body is nearly cylindrical,
covered with large scales, two separate dorsals with only four spinous rays in the first, and the ventrals
are a little in rear of the pectorals. Their head is a little depressed, covered with large angular scaly
plates ; their muzzle is short ; their form is an angle, in consequence of a prominence at the middle of
the lower jaw ; and their teeth are very small, and in some almost imperceptible. They have six
gill-rays ; the bones of the pharynx give an angular form to the gullet ; their stomach terminates in a
fleshy gizzard, resemhling that of a bird ; they have few coecal appendages, but the intestinal canal is
long and doubled. They are gregarious, resorting to the mouths of rivers in large troops, and con-
stantly leaping up out of the water. [They feed in part upon small Crabs and other Crustacea, which
Fig. 139 _ — Aiiiibas.
' !!
i
:ii
^■ii
ACANTHOPTERYGII.
305
I they swallow entire]. There are several species found in the European seas, of which the flesh is
much esteemed.
M. cephalus, the Grey Mullet, has the eyes half covered by two adipose membranes, adhering' to the anterior
and posterior margins of the orbit; when the mouth is closed the maxillary is completely hidden under the
suborbital ; the base of the pectoral has a long crest with a keel ; the nostrils are separated by a considerable
space, and the teeth are a little prominent. It is the largest and best of the Mediterranean species. [It occurs
also on the British shore, though, perhaps, not so frequently as another species, the Thick-lipped Grey Mullet,
M. chelo. The two are, however, sometimes confounded with each other. In addition to these, there is another
Grey Mullet, first described by Mr. Yarrell, and which, from its shortness in proportion to the length, he has
called M. curtus. With the exception of its form, its small size, and some difference in the rays of the pectoral,
anal, and caudal fins, it bears considerable resemblance to M. cephalus^
M. capita, the Ramando of Nice, has the maxillary visible behind the commissure of the jaws, even when the
month is shut ; its teeth are much weaker r its nasal openings nearer to each other ; and the membrane of the eye
does not cover any part of the ball. The scale before the pectoral is short and blunt, and there is a black spot at
I the base of that fin.
Two much smaller species {M. aureus and M. saltator of Risso) resemble M. capita. The first has the maxillaries
under the suborbitals, like Cephalus, but the nostrils are near each other, as in Capito. The second, with the cha-
racters of Capito, have the suborbital notched, showing the maxillary.
M. chelo, is common in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. It is easily distinguished by its thick fleshy lips,
by their ciliated edges, and by the teeth which penetrate their substance like hairs. The maxillary is curved, and
appears behind the commissure. M. labia, a small American species, has proportionally larger lips, with their
margins curved. There are also some thick-lipped species in the Indian seas. [There seems little doubt that
Chelo is the Grey Mullet, which is so frequently taken in the bays and estuaries on the Channel coast, although
! not the one generally described as such], j
j Tetragonurus, is so named from the projecting keels or ridges on each side, near the base of the caudal. It is j
also one of those insulated genera which indicate particular families, [rather than belong to any of those esta- j
blished ones]. They in part resemble the Mullets, and in part the Mackerels. Their body is elongated ; their
spine is dorsal, long, but very low ; their soft dorsal, which approaches the other, higher and shorter ; their anal
is opposite the soft dorsal, and their ventrals a little behind the pectorals; the sides of the lower jaw are raised
vertically, and furnished with a single row of trenchant teeth like a saw, and inclosed, when the mouth is shut, by
the upper teeth ; there is also a small range of teeth upon each parietal bone, and two on the vomer ; the gullet is
furnished internally with hard and pointed papillae ; their stomach is fleshy, and doubled ; their coeca numerous,
and their intestinal canal long. Only one species is known, an inhabitant of the Mediterranean, about a foot long,
and black : its flesh is believed to be poisonous.
Atherina, is a genus which does not completely harmonize with any other, and therefore it is arranged between
the Mullets and the Gobies. It has a lengthened body, two dorsals far apart, ventrals behind the pectorals, the
mouth protractile, and furnished with very small teeth. All the known species have a broad silvery band along
each flank. They have six gill-rays ; their stomach is a cul-de-sac, and no ccecular appendages. The last trans-
verse process of the dorsal vertebrae are bent, forming a sort of conical receptacle for the end of the air-bladder.
They are small Ashes, much esteemed for the delicacy of their flesh ; and the fry remain a long time in shoals
along the shores, and are consumed in great numbers. Four species are found in the Mediterranean, and there
are a good many foreign ones. [A, presbyter, is found on the south coast of England, and also on the east coast
as far as Lincolnshire, and in the Firth of Forth, but not abundantly. On the coasts of Hampshire and Sussex it
is plentiful ; and on the Cornish coast it is taken at all seasons. It is a handsome little fish, about six inches long,
known as the Sand Smelt, but inferior in flavour to the true Smelt.]
THE TWELFTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII,
Gobiod^ (the Goby Family).
The fishes of this family are known by the thinness and flexibility of their dorsal spines. They all
have the same kind of viscera, — namely, a long, j
uniform, intestinal canal, without coeca, and :
no air-bladder. [The family contains several
genera, some of which admit of subdivision],
Blennius. The Blennies have one well-marked
character in their ventral fins, inserted before
the pectorals, and having only two rays each.
The stomach is slender, with no cul-de-sac ; the
intestine large, without coeca, and there is no
air-bladder. The form is elongated and com-
pressed, and there is but one dorsal, composed
almost entirely of jointless but flexible ravs.
X
306
PISCES-
They live in small troops, among rocks near the coast, swimming and leaping, and can exist for some
time without water. Their skin is covered with a mucous secretion, whence they have their common
name Blennies. Many of them are viviparous, or bring forth their young alive, fully formed, and
capable of subsisting by themselves. They are divided as follows : —
Blennies, properly so called, have the teeth equal and closely set, forming only a single and regular row in each
jaw, but terminating behind, in some of the species, by a longer and crooked tooth ; their head is blunt, their
profile vertical, and their muzzle short. Most of them have a fringed appendage over each eye, and some have
another on each temple. Their intestines are wide and short. The following are some of the more remarkable
species :—B. ocellaris, Ocellated Blenny, or Butterfly-fish. This has two lobes in the dorsal, the first marked with
around black spot surrounded by a white ring, and then a black one. It is a native of the Mediterranean, [but is
occasionally found in the South of England by dredging. It lives among the rocks and sea-weed, and is under-
stood to feed on minute Crustacea and Mollusca. It spawns in spring. It is a very small fish.] B. tentacularis
has four filaments on the head, the dorsal fin even, and a black spot on the fourth and fifth rays. [It is not
named among the English Blennies.] B. gattorugine, has the dorsal nearly even, and only two fillets on the head.
[It is found on the Cornish shores, varying in length from one inch to five. The general colour is reddish-brown,
paler on the belly.] B. palmicornis, has the appendage over the eye fringed, and the dorsal almost quite even,
the anal long, and the caudal rounded: [it is found on various parts of the British shores, and even as far north as
Norway. It is usually of small size, and pale brown, mottled with dark dull brown]. In some the appendages
over the eyes are hardly visible, but they carry a prominent membrane on the top of the head, which becomes red
and inflated in the pairing season. Of these there are several in the European seas. B. galerita. [Head blunt and
rounded, body smooth, compressed, and clammy, one long dorsal fin, ventrals before the pectorals, with only two
rays each, and both joined at the base. This is an insignificant species, found occasionally on the British shores, but,
like most of the genus, quite valueless.] B. ruhiceps, has the first three rays of the dorsal elevated, with red
points, and the top of the head of the same colour. B. pholis, has the head without any appendages, the dorsal
notched, and the pectorals rather large. [It is found on the British shores, and is remarkably tenacious of life,
being capable of living a good many days if kept in moist grass or moss : like the rest, it is of trifling value.]
The following subgenera are separated from the Blennies, properly so called : —
Myxodes, with the head lengthened, the muzzle pointed, and projected in advance of the mouth ; a single row of
teeth, but no large or canine ones.
Salarias, have the teeth in a single row, placed close, hooked, but very slender and numerous. In a recent
specimen they yield to the touch like the keys of a musical instrument. The head is much compressed above, and i
enlarged transversely below ; their lips are fleshy and thick ; their profile is quite vertical. Their intestines have |
spiral convolutions, and are longer and more slender than in the Common Blenny. They are found in the Indian t
Ocean only.
Clinus, have short pointed teeth, dispersed in several rows ; their muzzle is less obtuse than in the former ; the |
stomach is more ample, and the intestines shorter. There are some variations of character.
Cirrhibarba, resembles Clinus in shape, has small curved teeth, a little filament over the eye, one in the nostril, i
three larger ones at the end of the muzzle, and eight under the point of the lower jaw. Found in India.
Murcenbides, the Spotted Gunnel, or Butter-fish, has the ventral smaller than in any of the rest, often only a i
single ray ; head small ; body lengthened like a sword-blade ; a low dorsal, extending the whole length of the
back ; teeth like Clinus ; and the stomach and intestine have a uniform appearance, [Found generally in the
European seas, even as far north as Greenland, where it is eaten. There it is said to grow to the length of ten '
inches, but on the British shores it is seldom more than six. The mucous secretion of the skin is very copious.]
OpistognatJms, resembles the true Blennies in form, especially its short snout ; has large maxillaries prolonged I
backwards to a sort of moustache ; teeth rasp-like, the external row strongest ; three rays in the ventrals, which
are directly under the pectorals. From the Indian Ocean.
Zoarcus. These cannot be separated from the Blennies, though they have no spinal ray, for they have all the
more essential characters ; [one species, Z, viviparens, is very common on the British shores, especially the north ,
and east ; it is easily taken about'the season when charlock is in flower in the corn-fields ; but it is of little value, i
and generally disliked, because when boiled its bones turn green. It attains the length of seven or eight inches, ' ]
and the female brings forth her young alive. The body is heavy and lumbering, for so small a fish. Z. labrosus
is an American species, of an olive colour, with brown spots, and it sometimes attains the length of three feet.]
AnarricJias. [So very similar did Cuvier consider these fish to the Blennies, that he was disposed to consider
them as Blennies without ventral fins.] Their dor-
sal fin is composed entirely of simple but not stilf
rays, and extends, as does also the anal, very close
to the base of the caudal, which last, as well as the ■
pectorals, is rounded The whole body is soft and f
slimy. Their parietal bones, vomer, and man-
dibles, are hard, with stout bony tubercles, sur- i
mounted by small enamel teeth ; but their front ;
teeth are much larger and conical. This structure of the teeth gives them an armature, which, added to their large i!
size, makes them both fierce and dangerous fishes. They have six rays in the gills; stomach short and fleshy, '
with the pyrolus near its base ; the intestines short, wide, and without coeca ; and they have no air bladder. i
Fig. 141.— Anarrichas lupus.
ACANTHOPTERYGII.
307
A. lupus, the Sea Wolf, or Sea Cat, is the most common species : it inhabits the north seas, and is very often
met with ; attaining- the length of six or seven feet. Its colour is brown, clouded with darker. Its flesh
resembles that of an Eel. It is very valuable to the Icelanders, who salt its flesh for food, employ its skin as
shagreen, and make use of its gall as soap. [This large and formidable species is almost exclusively confined to
the northern seas, and in appearance it is a very repulsive fish. Its body is thick and lumbering, while the form
of the pectorals, the colours of the front, the proximate position of the eyes, and the great teeth, give it much the
appearance of a Cat, or even of one of the more formidable animals of that family. Its manners accord with its
aspect, for it is remarkably strong, very active, and equally ready to defend itself or attack an enemy. It often
enters the fishermen’s nets for the purpose of plundering them of the entangled fish ; and when the fishermen
attack it, and it cannot dart through the net, it fights like a Lion. They maul it with handspikes, spars, and such
heavy timber as they may have in the boats ; but even when it is landed, and apparently dead, they are not quite
safe from its bite. On the east coast of Scotland, it is a frequent though by no means a welcome visitor ; and
though those who can overcome their aversion to its appearance find it wholesome and light food, yet it is a fish
which the majority would not receive gratis. It deposits its spawn in early summer, among the sea-weed, and is
understood to prey indiscriminately upon Fishes, Crustacea, and shelled Mollusca, its jaws and teeth being capable
of breaking the hardest shell. In the Arctic seas, which are its appropriate localities, it grows to a greater size
than on the British shores.]
Gobim, the Gobies, or Sea Gudgeons, are easily recognized by the union of their ventrals, which are
thoracic, and united either for their whole length, or at their bases, into a single hollow disc, more or
less funnel-shaped. The rays of the dorsal are flexible, their gills have flve rays only ; and, like the
Blennies, they have but little gill-opening : they can live for some time out of the water. Like the
Blennies, also, their stomach has no cul-de-sac, and their intestines no cceca. In their reproduction
they further resemble the Blennies ; and some species, as in these, are known to be viviparous. They
are small or middle-sized fishes, which live among rocks near the shore, and most of them have a
simple air-bladder.
They admit of division into the following subgenera
Gobius, comprehending the Gobies, properly so called. They have the ventrals united for the whole of their length,
and also a transverse membrane joining their bases in front, so as to form the whole apparatus into a concave disc.
The body is lengthened, the head moderate and rounded, the cheeks turgid, and the eyes near each other, and
they have two dorsal fins, the last of which is very long. Several species inhabit the European seas, the characters
of which are not sufficiently ascertained. They prefer a clayey bottom, in which they excavate canals, and pass
the winter in them. In spring they prepare a nest in some spot abounding with sea-weed, which they afterwards
cover with the roots of Zostera (grass-wrack). Here the male remains shut up, and awaits the females, which
successively arrive to deposit their eggs ; and these he fecundates, and exhibits much solicitude and courage in
defending them from enemies. The Goby is the Phycis of the ancients ; according to Aristotle, “ the only fish
that constructs a nest.”
G. niger, the Black Goby, or Common Goby, is the one most frequent on European shores. [It is only about
I five or six inches long, and of scarcely any value, except as food for other fish. The margins of the united ventrals !
form almost a perfect oval, and there is a tubercle behind the vent, the use of which is conjectured, but not known.
} In the Mediterranean the species are much more numerous, have considerable variety of colour, and one, the Great
j Goby (G. capita) grows to the length of a foot or more. Other British ones are, the Two-spotted Goby, a small
i species with one dark spot under the base of the first dorsal, and another on the base of the caudal,— this is not above
I two or three inches long; the Spotted Goby, about three inches long, yellowish, with pale rust-coloured spots,
' very abundant in estuaries, or on shallow shores, and used by fishermen as bait ; and the Slender Goby, similar
; to the preceding in colours and in length, but much more slender in the body. The habits of all are nearly
I the same.]
* Other subgenera are,— Gobiodes, which differ from the Gobies in nothing but having one dorsal fin. Tenioides,
more lengthened in the body ; the lower jaw elongated, and rising over the upper one ; tongue very fleshy ; some
i cirri on the lower jaw ; eyes extremely minute, and almost hidden. .- the entire head scaly ; eyes
with a moveable underlid ; the pectorals scaly for more than half their length, which gives them the appearance
I of having wrists. [Indeed, this species leads naturally to the structure and habits of the family next to be noticed].
’ Their gill-openings are still smaller in proportion than those of the Gobies ; and they can live for a longer time
1 out of the water. In the Molucca Islands, which they inhabit, they may be seen creeping and leaping over the
i mud, either to escape from enemies, or to seize upon the minute Crustacea which constitute their food. Eleotris,
\ have, like the Gobies, flexible spines in the first dorsal, and an appendage behind the vent ; but they have the
I ventral fins separate, and six gill-rays. They inhabit chiefly the fresh waters of warm countries, and lui'k in the ^
mud. One, E. dormatrix, the Sleeper, from the West Indian marshes, is tolerably large ; and others have been
found in Africa, in India, and in the Mediterranean.
I Callionyntus, have two very striking characters : their gill-openings are only a hole on each side of the nape,
I and their ventrals are placed under the throat, separate, and larger than the pectorals. The head is oblong, de-
I pressed, and wuth the eyes directed upwards ; their intermaxillaries are very protractile, and their pre-operculi are
i lengthened backwards, and terminate in some spines ; their teeth are small, and thickly set, and they have none
in the palate. They are finely-coloured fishes, with the skin smooth ; the first dorsal supported by setaceous rays,
I X 2
308
PISCES.
the first of which reaches backwards nearly to the tail ; and the second dorsal and the anal have also the rays con-
siderably elongated. They have neither cul-de-sac to the stomach, coeca, nor air-bladder.
One species, C. lyra, the Dragonet, is common in the British Channel, [and not rare on many parts of the
British coast, even as far north as the Orkneys. The prevailing colour is yellow, with spots of brownish yellow,
whence some of the common names of the fish. It frequents the shallow waters, feeding on Crustacea, Mollusca,
and Worms ; and answering little purpose, save as food for more valuable fish. Its flesh is said, however, to be
firm and good. C. dracunmlus, the Sordid Dragonet, is more dingy in colour, and has the rays of the first dorsal
much less produced. It was once supposed to be the female of the other species, but the mistake has been found
out and rectified. There are some subgenera nearly allied to Callionymus.]
Trichonotes, differs not much from the last, except in having the body very long, a single dorsal, and the anal
proportionally longer. The first two rays of the dorsal are extended in long threads, representing the first dorsal
of the former. It is said that the gill-openings of this subgenus are tolerably wide.
Comephoriis, have the first dorsal very low ; the muzzle oblong, depressed, and broad ; the gills with seven rays,
and large openings ; the pectorals very long; and (which distinguishes them from the rest of the family) they have
no ventrals whatever. The known species is found in the fresh-water lake of Baikal. It is a foot in length, very
soft and greasy in its substance, and pressed for obtaining an oil. It is not fished for in the lake, but found dead
on the shores after storms, which are there severe and frequent.
Chirus, are fishes with the body rather long, small ciliated scales, a small unarmed head, a shallow mouth, wdth
small and irregular conical teeth. The spines of the dorsal are always slender, and that fin extends along the
whole back. Their distinguishing character is several series of pores, extending along the side, and having some
resemblance to additional lateral lines. All the known species inhabit the Sea of Kamtschatka.
THE THIRTEENTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGIL
Pectorales Pedunculati (Fishes with Wrists to the Peetoral Fins).
There are some spinous fishes in which the carpal bones are so elongated as to form a sort of arm or
wrist, to the extremity of which the pectoral fin is articulated. The family consists of two genera,
closely allied to each other, though authors have sometimes placed them far apart in their arrangements;
and they are also related to the Gobies, [particularly to Periopthalmus, already noticed. This is a very
peculiar structure of the fins ; gives these fishes a strange appearance, and enables them, in some in-
stances, to leap suddenly up in the water, and seize prey which they observe above them; and in others
to leap over the mud, somewhat after the manner of Frogs.]
LopMus, Anglers. — The distinguishing character of these, besides their demi-cartilaginous skeleton,
and their skin without scales, consists in the pectoral being supported as by two arms, each consisting
of two bones, which may be compared to the radius and ulna of an arm, but which in reality belong to
the carpus, or wrist ; and in this genus they are larger than in any other. They are also characterized
by having the ventrals placed much in advance of the pectorals ; and by having the operculum and the
gill-rays enveloped in the skin, so that the gill-opening is merely a hole situated behind the pectoral.
They are voracious fishes, with a large stomach and a short intestine ; and they can live a long time
out of the water, in consequence of the small size of their gill-openings. They admit of division into
three subgenera.
LopMus, head excessively large compared to the body ; very broad, depressed, and spinous in 'many parts ; the
mouth deeply cleft, and armed with pointed teeth; and the lower jaw fringed round with many fleshy barbules.
They have two dorsal fins, and some rays of the first are free, and move on the bones of the head, where they rest
on a horizontal interspinal process. [In the Angler, or Fishing Frog of the British seas, the motions of these de-
tached rays are very peculiar. Two are considerably in advance of the eyes, almost close to the upper lip ; the
posterior of these is articulated by a stirrup upon a ridge of the base, but the anterior one is articulated by a ring
at its base, into a solid staple of the bone, thus admitting of free motion in every direction, without the possibility
of displacement, except in ease of absolute fracture. The third one, which is on the top of the cranium behind
the eyes, is articulated much in the same manner as the posterior one of the other two ; and of course, though
these two have considerable motion in the mesial plane of the fish, they have very little in the cross direction.
The one near the lip, however, can be moved with nearly the same ease and rapidity in every direction ; and while
the others terminate in points, it carries a little membrane, or flag, of brilliant metallic lustre, which the fish is
understood to use as a means of alluring its prey ; and the position of the flag, the eyes, and the mouth, certainly
would answer well for such a purpose]. The gill-membrane forms a large sac, opening in the axilla of the
pectorals, supported by six very long rays, and with a small operculum. They have only three gills on each side.
It is said that these fishes lurk in the mud, where, by agitating the rays on their heads, they attract smaller
fishes, which mistake the appendages upon the rays for worms, and which are instantly seized, and transferred
to the gill-sac. Their intestines have two or three short coeca near the commencement, but the fishes have no
air-bladders.
L. piscatorius,i\\& Fishing Frog, SeaDevil, and many other local names, attains sometimes the length of four or
ACANTHOPTERYGII.
309
five feet ; and the extreme hideousness of its appearance has procured it some celebrity. [There are few parts of
the muddy shores of the British islands where these u^Iy and voracious fish are not to be met with ; and such is its
propensity to keep its great mouth in exercise, that when captured in a net a>ong with other fishes, it speedily
begins to swallow its companions, especially if Flounders, which appear to be its favourite food. On some coasts,
it is sought for on account of the live fish in its stomach, its own flesh being but small in quantity, and held in i
little estimation. Another European species, L. palviparus, has its second dorsal lower, and five vertebrae fewer
in the spine.
Chironectes. These have, like the last genera, free rays on the head, of which the first is small, and often
terminating by a tuft ; and those behind it are enlarged by a membrane, which is sometimes very broad, and at
other times they are united into a fin. Their body and head are compressed, and their mouth opens vertically.
Their gill membranes have four rays, and have no opening but a small hole behind the pectorals. Their dorsal
extends along the whole back, and they often have cutaneous appendages all over their bodies. They have four
gills, a large air-bladder, and a moderate intestine without coeca. They can inflate their great stomach with air,
in the same manner as the Tetrodons blow up their bellies like balloons. On the ground, their two pairs of fins
enable them to crawl along like little quadrupeds ; and the pectorals, in consequence of their position, perform
the functions of hind legs. They can live out of the water for two or three days. They are found only in the seas
of warm countries, and JEneas confounded many of them under the name L. histrio. [In some of the muddy
estuaries on the north coast of Australia, from which the tide ebbs far back in the dry season, these Frog-fishes
are so abundant, and capable of taking such vigorous leaps, that those who have visited the places have, at first
sight, taken them for birds.] One might separate the species in which the second and third rays are united into
a fin, and sometimes also joined to the other dorsals.
Malthus. These have the head greatly extended and flattened, principally by the projection' of the sub-opercu-
lum ; the eyes are forwards ; the snout projecting, with a little horn ; the mouth under the muzzle, of mean size,
I and protractile ; the gills sustained by six or seven rays, and opening by a hole above each pectoral. They have a
simple dorsal, which is soft and small ; and there are no free rays in the head. The body is studded with osseous
tubercles, and bordered round with cirri. They have neither coeca nor air-bladder.
The remaining genus of this family is Batrachtis,tlie Frog-flshes, properly so called. They have the head flattened
horizontally, and much larger than the body ; the gape deeply cleft ; the operculum and sub-operculum spinous ;
six gill-rays ; the rentrals straight, attached under the throat, with only three rays, of which the first is broad and
lengthened : the pectorals are carried by a short arm, resulting from an elongation of the carpal bones : their first
dorsal is short, supported by three spinous rays; the second is soft and long, and has the anal corresponding to it;
their lips are often garnished with filaments ; their stomach is an oblong sac ; their intestines are short, and with-
out coeca ; and their air-vessel is anteriorly deeply forked. They lurk in the sand, in order to swallow small
fishes, in the same manner as the members of the last genus ; and it is thought that wounds inflicted by their I
spines are dangerous. They inhabit both oceans. In some, the scales are smooth, and they have a membrane |
over the eye ; others are scaly, and want that membrane. [None of them appear in the authenticated lists of i
British fishes.]
THE FOURTEENTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII.
Labrid^ (the Wrasse, or Rock-fish Family).
This family are easily known by their appearance. They have an oblong body, covered with scales ;
and a single dorsal, supported anteriorly by spinous rays, often furnished with membranous laminae.
The jaws are covered by fleshy lips. There are three hones in the pharynx, — two upper ones attached
to the cranium, and a large under one. All the three are furnished with teeth, arranged like a pave-
ment in some, and pointed, or in laminae, in others ; but generally stronger than is usual in the class
of Fishes. Their intestinal canal is either without coeca, or with two small ones ; and they have a large
and strong air-bladder. They admit of division into various genera and subgenera,
i Lahrus, or Lipped — that is. Thick-lipped — Fishes. A very numerous genus, the species of which
! much resemble each other in their oblong form, and in their double fleshy lips, from which they receive
I their name. One of these lips adheres immediately to the jaw-bones, and the other to the suborbitals.
: They have thickly-set gills, with five rays. Their conical maxillary teeth (of which the middle and front
ones are the largest), and their cylindrical teeth in the pharynx, are arranged like a pavement, — the
! upper ones with two large plates, and the under with one only, which fits to the others. Their stomach
' has no cul-de-sac, but is continued in an intestine without coeca, which, after two reduplications, ter-
minates in a wide rectum. The air-bladder is single, and strong. There are several subgenera.
Lahrus, properly so called, vulgai’ly termed “Old Wives of the Sea.” They have no spines or notches in the j
operculum or pre-operculum, and the operculum and cheek are covered with scales. The lateral line is nearly j
straight. The European seas furnish several species, which, from variations of colour in the same species, are not
easily distinguished from each other. L. maculatus, the Balloon Wrasse, is a foot or eighteen inches long, with
twenty or twenty-one spines in the dorsal; blue or greenish above ; white below; marked all over with yellow, and
310
PISCES.
sometimes the yellow colour predominates. [This species is numerous upon the British shores, though they are
not very often caught ; and from the variations of their colours they are not easily identified. They frequent deep
pools among the rocks, hide themselves in fuci, and are understood to feed chiefly on Crustacea. If the fishermen
know their haunts, they take a bait freely ; and, according to the report of Mr. Couch, the first taken are always
the largest. They frequent the rocky shores only. They spawn in April; and the fry, which are then of small
size, remain among the rocks during the summer. It is understood that the blue colour, which appears to be
characteristic of the high condition of the fish, is very evanescent. L. lineatus, the Lineal- streaked, is more
clouded ; has irregular bands along the flank, the ground of which is reddish ; and the dorsal spines are less nume-
rous, and the soft part of the fin lower, than in the former species. This species is named as a British fish, but it
appears to be exceedingly rare. L. variegatus, the Blue-streaked, is one of the most beautiful of the family, of an
orange red, paler on the belly, having the sides and irides striped with fine blue. The lips are capable of great
extension, and there is a single row of pointed teeth in each jaw. It is found in the British seas, but only on the
south and south-west coasts. L. vetula, is also named as a British fish. It is dark purple, black on the upper
part, paler on the belly, and has the fore part of the head flesh-coloured, tinged with purple, and the eyelid blue.
Few specimens have been met with on the British shores, and those of comparatively small size. Perhaps it is the
Merida of Gmelin. L. carneus, the Three-spotted Wrasse, reddish in the colour, with four light spots, and three
black ones intermediate, extending from the middle of the dorsal to the root of the caudal. It belongs to the
Mediterranean, but has been found on the Channel-coast of England, in the Firth of Forth, and even on the coast
of Norway, and in the Baltic. There are various other species ; but, as we have said, they are not easily distin-
guished from each other, in consequence of the change of colour to which they are subject.]
Cheilinus, difters from Labrus, properly so called, in having the lateral line interrupted at the end of the dorsals,
where it recommences a little lower down. They are beautiful fishes, inhabiting the Indian seas.
Lachnolaimus, (Captains), have the general character of Labrus ; but their pharynx has no pavement-like teeth,
except in the posterior part,— the remainder of them, as well as a part of the palate, being covered with a villous
membrane. They are easily known by the first spines of the dorsal, which extend in long flexible threads. They
are American fishes.
Julis, have the head entirely without scales, and the lateral line forming a curve near the end of the dorsal.
There are some in the Mediterranean, but they are more numerous in the tropical seas. [They are generally
small but beautiful fishes : some are violet, some bright scarlet, some rich green, and some marked with golden
colour ; and those which have the caudal fin rounded, or truncated, have the first dorsal rays extended in long
filaments.]
Anampses, have the character of the last, with the exception of two flat teeth, which project from the mouth,
and curve upwards. The two known species are from the Indian seas.
Crenilabrus. These fishes are separated from the Lutjanus of Bloch, to arrange them in their proper place.
They have the true characters of Labrus, both external and internal ; and differ only in having the border of the
pre-operculum toothed. Some species are found in the North Sea, such as Lutjanus ruprestis of Bloch, yellow,
with clouded bands ranged vertically, and blackish ; L. norvegicus, brownish, irregularly marked with deep brown;
L. melops, orange, spotted with blue, and a black spot behind the eye ; L. exoletus, remarkable for five spines in
the anal fin. The Mediterranean furnishes a number, most beautifully coloured, the most splendid of which is
L. lapina, silvery', with three broad longitudinal bands, composed of vermillion dots, with the pectorals yellow and
the ventrals blue. They are also abundant in the tropical seas ; and many species, hitherto included in the genus
Labrus, ought to be placed here. [Several species of this subgenus occur in the British seas, the chief of which
axe—Cranilabrus tinea, the Gilt- head ; C. corneticus, the Gold-sinny ; C. gibbus, the Gibbous Wrasse ; and C. leusias,
the Scale-rayed Wrasse ; but they are all small fishes, in little or no estimation.]
Corieus. This subgenus has all the characters of the last, in addition to which the mouth is little less protractile |
than in the next. Only one small species is known, which inhabits the Mediterranean. This genus is removed
from Spams, in order to be placed near the preceding ones.
Epibulus. These fishes are remarkable for the extreme extension which they can give to their mouth by means i
of a see-saw motion of their maxillaries, and the sliding forward of the intermaxillaries, which instantly forms a
kind of tube. They make use of this artifice for seizing small fishes which pass near this curious instrument ; and
the same artifice is resorted to by the Coryci, the Zei, and the Smares, according to the degree of protractility of
the mouth. The entire body and head of this subgenus are covered with large scales, the last track of which ad-
vances upon the anal and caudal fins, as in Cheilinus. The lateral line is similarly interrupted as in the latter ;
and, as in Labrus, there are two long conical teeth in the front of each jaw, followed by smaller blunt ones. The
known species is from the Indian seas, and is of a reddish colour.
Clepticus. This subgenus has a small cylindrical snout, which is suddenly advanced forward, but which is not
so long as the head. The teeth are small, and barely perceptible to the touch ; the body is oblong ; the lateral
line continuous ; and the dorsal and anal are enveloped in scales nearly to the top of the spines. One species, of a
red colour, and from the West Indies, is the only one known.
Gomphosus. These Labridse, with the head entirely smooth, as in Julis, have the muzzle in the form of a
tube, composed of the prolonged maxillaries and intermaxillaries, as far as the small opening of the mouth. Several
species are taken in the Indian Ocean, and the flesh of some is considered delicious.
Xirichthgs, resemble Labrus in their general form, but are much compressed. The forehead descends towards
the mouth with a sharp and almost vertical line, formed by the ethmoid and the ascending branches of the inter-
maxillaries. Their bodies have large scales ; their lateral line is interrupted; their jaws are furnished with conical
ACANTHOPTERYGII.
311
teeth, lai-gest in the centre ; the pharynx is paved with hemispherical teeth ; the intestinal canal has two flexures,
but no coeca ; the stomach has no cul-de-sac, and they have a tolerably long’ air-bladder. [Until Cuvier arranged them
difierently, they were always classed with the Coryphenes, from which they differ much, both externally and in-
ternally.] They most nearly resemble Labrus, and are not easily distinguished from it, except by the profile of
the head. Are found in the Mediterranean, and also in the southern seas ; and the flesh of some is much
esteemed.
Chromis. These have the lips, protractile maxillaries, pharyngeals, and general aspect of Labrus ; but their
teeth resemble those of a card, except a range of conical ones in front. Their dorsal fins have long filaments ; their
ventrals are produced into long threads ; their lateral line is interrupted ; and their stomach forms a cul-de-sac,
but has no cceca. A small one, of a chestnut -brown colour, is taken in vast numbers in the Mediterranean ; and
there is one in the Nile, C. niloticus, tbe Egyptian Corycina of the ancients, which attains the length of two feet,
and is reckoned the best fish in Egypt.
Cychla, have the teeth small and crowded, formed into a large band, and the body elongated, which are their
chief dififerences from the preceding subgenus.
Plesiops, have the head compressed, the eyes near each other, and extremely long ventrals ; but in other respects
they resemble Chromis.
Malacanthus. These have the general character of Labrus, and the same teeth in the maxillaries, but their teeth
in the pharynx are arranged like those of a card. Their bodies are elongated, their lateral line continuous, their
operculum terminated by a small spine, and their long dorsal has only a few flexible spinous rays in the fleshy part,
j A species is found in the West Indies, of a yellowish colour, irregularly streaked across with violet, which, like many
' others belonging to this family, has been improperly ranged with the Coryphenes.
Scarus. — The fishes of this genus are remarkable for their jaws — that is to say, for their inter-
maxillaries and premandibles, — which are convex, rounded, and furnished with scale-like teeth on their
margin and anterior surface. These teeth succeed each other from the rear to the front in such a
manner that the bases of the newest form a trenchant range. It has been erroneously supposed
by naturalists that the bone in this state is naked. In the living state, the jaws are covered with fleshy
lips, but there is no double lip adhering to the suborbital bones. These fishes have the oblong form
of Labrus, with large scales, and an interrupted lateral line. They have two plates in the upper part
of their pharynx, and one in the under, furnished with teeth as in Labrus ; but their teeth are in trans-
verse laminae, and not rounded and arranged like the stones of a pavement.
The Archipelago contains one species, of a blue or red colour, according to the season, which is the S. creticiis
of Aldrovandus ; and which, after new investigations, I believe is the true Scarus so celebrated among the
ancients, which, during the reign of Claudius, Elipertius Optatus the Roman admiral sailed to Greece in order
to obtain and distribute through the Italian seas. It is still eaten in Greece, and its intestines are used for sea-
soning. There are numerous species in the tropical seas, which, on account of the form of their jaws and the
brilliancy of their colours, are called Parrot-fishes. Some have the caudal fin in the shape of a crescent; and of
these a few have the front singularly enlarged and rounded, while in others it is truncated to a square. These
constitute the genus Scarus, properly so called, from which two subgenera may be separated ‘.—Calliodon, which
have the lateral teeth of the upper jaw separate and pointed, and on the same jaw an anterior range, much smaller
in size ; and Odax, which resemble the true Labrus in their thickened lips and uninterrupted lateral line, but their
jaws are constructed as in Scarus, except that the bones are flat, not rounded, and are covered by the lips. Their
teeth, however, resemble pavement, like those of Labrus.
THE FIFTEENTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII.
Fistularida; (Pipe-mouthed Fishes).
The fishes of this family are characterized by a long tube projected forwards from the cranium, and
composed of elongations of the ethmoid, vomer, pre-operculum, inter-operculum, pterygoids, and tym-
panals, at the extremity of which they have the mouth, composed, as usual, of intermaxillaries, maxil-
laries, palatals, and mandibles. Their intestine has no great inequalities, nor many flexures ; and their
ribs are short, or wanting. The family consists of two genera : — Fistularia, with the bodies cylindrical;
and Centriscus, in which it is oval and compressed.
Fisiularia, Fishes of this genus receive their particular name from the long tube common to all
the family. Their jaws are at its extremity, but little cleft, and opening nearly in a horizontal direc-
tion. Their head, thus elongated, is equal to a third or a fourth of the length of the body, which is
itself long and slender. There are six or seven rays in their gills ; and some osseous appendages
extending behind the head, by means of which the anterior part of the body is more or less
strengthened. The dorsal is directly above the anal ; and the stomach is a fleshy tube extending in a
straight canal, but with two cceca at the commencement. There are two subgenera.
] ^
312
PISCES.
Fistularia, Pipe-mouths, properly so called. These have only one dorsal, consisting, in great part, as well as the
anal, of simple rays. Their intermaxillaries and the lower jaw are furnished with small teeth. From between the
lobes of the raudal fin there arises a sort of filament, which is sometimes as long as the body. The tube of the
muzzle is depressed; the air-bladder is exceedingly small; and the scales on the skin are invisible. They are
found in the warm seas of both hemispheres. [Sailors term them Tobacco-pipe Fishes, and they are of no value,
except as curiosities.]
Aulostomus. These have numerous free spines before the dorsal ; and their jaws are toothless : their body is
very scaly ; not so slender as in the former subgenus, but enlarged and compressed between the dorsal and the
anal, which enlargement is followed by a short and slender tail, ending in a common fin. The tube of the muzzle
is shorter, wider, and much more compressed than that of the true Pipe Fishes ; and the air-bladder is larger.
There is but a single known species, which is a native of the Indian Ocean.
Centriscus, or Snipe-fish. — These have the tubular muzzle characteristic of the family ; hut the body
is oval or oblong, not lengthened, compressed laterally, and sharp on the upper part. They have only
two or three slender gill-rays ; a spinous first dorsal ; and small ventrals behind the pectorals. Their
mouth is very small, and opens obliquely : their intestine has two or three folds, but no coeca ; and
their air-bladder is of considerable size. As in Fistularia, they admit of division into two subgenera.
Centriscus, properly so called. These have the first dorsal fin backwards ; and the first dorsal spine, which is
long and strong, connected, by intermediate pieces, with the bones of the shoulder and the head. They have the
body covered with small scales, and some larger denticulated ones over the apparatus connected with the spinous
ray of the first dorsal. [This ray is strong in itself, firmly supported, and with rugged teeth on its posterior edge,
capable of being moved, and thus forms a very powerful weapon. One species, C. scolopax, the Sea Snipe,
Sea Trumpet, or Bellows Fish of the Cornish coast, is common in the Mediterranean, and is occasionally found
on the south coast as a straggler. The specimens met with are not large, not exceeding five or six inches in length.
The young are of a brilliant silvery lustre ; but when mature, the back is red, paler on the sides, and passing into
silvery, glossed with gold, on the belly. All the fins are greyish white. The scales are hard and rough, granu-
lated on the surface, and beautifully ciliated on the posterior edge. Its flesh is considered good. Its haunts are
understood to be muddy bottoms, in moderately deep water ; and its food the minute Crustacea with which such
places usually abound.]
Amphisile, has the back mailed with large scaly pieces, of which the anterior spine of the first dorsal appears to
be a continuation. Some have other scaly pieces on the flanks, and the spine in question placed so far behind
that it is against the base of the tail ; against which it, as it were, thrusts the second dorsal and the anal ; this
is C. scutatus. Others are intermediate between this form and that of the ordinary Centriscus, or have the mail
plates covering only a part of the back ; such is C. velitaris. All the known species are inhabitants of the
Indian seas.
THE SECOND ORDER OF BONY FISHES.
MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES.
The second division of the Ordinary Fishes, [or fishes with bones in the skeleton,] the
Malacopterygii, or Jointed-fin Fishes, consists of three orders, the distinguishing character
of each of which is the position or absence of the ventral fins.
The present order comprises fishes which have the ventral fins suspended to the abdomen,
behind the pectorals, without being attached to the bones of the shoulder ; they are the most
numerous order of the division, and include the greater part of fresh-water fishes. They are
divided into five families.
THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES.
Cyprinid.® (the Carp Family).
These have the mouth shallow, the jaws feeble, very often without teeth, and the margin formed
by the outer maxillaries ; but they have the pharynx strongly toothed, which compensates for the feeble
I armature of the jaws. They have few gill-rays ; their body is scaly ; and they have no adipose
dorsal, as we shall find in the Silures and Salmon. The stomach has no cul-de-sac or coecal appen-
dages ; and they are the least carnivorous of all fishes. [The genera and subgenera are arranged as
follows :] —
MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES.
313
Cyprinus. — These form a genus, at once very natural and very numerous ; easily distinguished by
the small mouth, the jaws without a single tooth, and three flat gill-rays. Their tongue is smooth ;
their palate furnished with a thick, soft, and remarkably sentient substance, vulgarly called carp’s
tongue. Their pharynx is a powerful instrument of mastication, having strong teeth on the inferior
pharyngeal bones, and they bruise their aliments between these and a stony disc, which is set in a large
cavity under a process of the sphenoid. They have but one dorsal ; their body is covered with
scales, usually large : they inhabit the fresh waters ; and are the least carnivorous of fishes, — feeding
chiefly on seeds, the roots of plants, and [as is said] on mud and sludge. The stomach is continuous,
with a short intestine without coeca ; and the air-bladder is divided in two by a close contraction.
The genus is divided into the following subgenera : —
Cyprmus, the true Carps, have a long dorsal, of which, as well as the anal, the second ray has a spine more or
less stout. Some of them have fleshy tubercles at the angles of the upper jaw, such as C. carpio, the Common
Carp, a well-known fish : olive green above, and yellowish below ; with strong toothed spines in the dorsal and
anal, and short tubercles. The teeth of the pharynx are flat and striated in their crowns, [something like those of
the Ruminant Mammalia]. Originally [as is understood] from the middle latitudes of Europe, it is now generally
distributed, and thrives well in fish-ponds and other still waters, where it sometimes grows to the length of four
feet: its flesh is esteemed as food. [Though an iiuported fish, Carp thrives well in England, though better in
ponds than even in the most slow running parts of rivers ; but in Scotland the waters are less adapted for them,
and they breed and grow slowly, even in ponds. Austria and Prussia are the great Carp countries. To their
vegetable food they add insects and worms, if such can be obtained : and when out of the water, they are very
tenacious of life, in consequence of which they are easily extended from pond to pond.]
Of the true Carps there is one race, C. rex carporum, the King of the Carps, which have the scales large, but
often wanting in patches, and sometimes entirely. They are artificially varied, — that is, they occur only in ponds.
Some foreign species are reddish brown, and others golden green, but these are imperfectly known.
Some species want the barbules. Among these are,— C. carassius, having the body high, the lateral line straight,
and the caudal fin squared oflf. This is a northern species. C. gibelio, the Crucian or Prussian Carp, has the body
less elevated, the lateral line curved downwards, and tail fin forked. [It occurs as a British fish, but, perhaps,
not so plentifully as the former]. C, auratus, the Golden Carp, [called Gold Fishes or Silver Fishes, according to
their colour]. These are black when young, but by degrees acquire the golden red for which they are esteemed ;
though some of them are silvery, with various clouds of all the three colours. Some have no dorsal ; others a very
small one ; others, again, a large caudal of three or four lobes ; and others, still, very large eyes ; all of which
varieties are merely accidental, and the results of that artificial treatment which they receive when kept in glass
vessels for ornamental purposes.
Allied to these is the smallest of the European Carps, C. amarus, only about an inch in length ; greenish above,
pale yellow beneath, with a steel-blue line on each side of the tail, in April, which is the spawning season.
Barbus, the Barbel, or Bearded Fish— from the cirri at its mouth— has the dorsal and anal short ; a strong spine
for the second or third dorsal ray ; two cirri at
the point of the muzzle, and two at the angles of
the upper jaw. [B. communis^ the Common
Barbel, known by its long head, is very com-
mon in streams and fish-ponds, and sometimes
grows to the length of ten feet. [In the sluggish
parts of the Thames, and some of its affluents.
Barbel are very plentiful. They are said to
plough up the mud with their noses, which,
setting very small animals adrift in the water,
attracts those small fishes on which the Barbel
feeds.]
Gobio, the Gudgeons, have the dorsal and anal
short, and are without spines or beards. In slow-running rivers, where there is a gravelly interruption, they are
found in vast shoals, readily caught, and, though small in size, esteemed for their flavour.
Tinea, the Tenches, resembling the Gudgeons, but have the scales and cirri very small. The Common Tench
is short and thick, of a yellowish brown, and sometimes beautifully golden. It prefers stagnant waters, and is not
in much estimation as food.
Cirrhinus, have the dorsal larger than the Gudgeons, and the cirri in the central part of the upper lip.
Abramis, Bream, have neither spines nor cirri ; a short dorsal behind the ventrals, or long anal ; and the tail
forked. There are two species, the Carp Bream, and the White Bream ; the first is the largest and most highly
esteemed ; and the other is of little value, except to feed other fishes in ponds.
Labeo. All foreigners ; have neither spines nor cirri along the dorsal, and remarkably thick lips, often furred.
Catostomus, have the lips of the former, but a short dorsal above the ventrals. They are from North America.
Leuciscus : dorsal and anal short ; no spines, cirri, or peculiarities of the lips : species numerous, but little
esteemed. [One species, the Ide, L. idus, has been seen as a British fish ; and besides this there are several
others, as L. dobulus, the Double Roach ; L. utilis, the Roach ; L. vulgaris ; L. Lancasteriensis, the Graining ;
Fig. 142.— Tile barbel.
PISCES.
314
L. cephalus ; L. erythropthalmus, the Red Eye; L, cceruleus, the Azurine; L. alburnus, the Bleak; and L.
phoximis, the Minnow ; but none of them are fishes of any great importance, except as bait for more valuable
ones.]
GonorJiynlms, have the head and body elongated, the operculum covered with small scales, the muzzle angular,
the small mouth without teeth or cirri, three gill-rays, and a small dorsal over the ventrals. Known only in
Southern Africa,
Co6/if?>,Loche, or Loach, have the head small; the body long, covered with small scales, and slimy; the ventral fins
are far backwards, and above them there is a single dorsal ; the mouth is at the end of the muzzle, little cleft, and
without teeth, but having lips forming a sucker, a?id numerous barbules ; the gills have small openings, and only three
rays ; the lower bones of the pharynx are strongly toothed ; no coeca to their intestines, and these are very small ;
their two-lobed air-bladder is inclosed in a case of bone, adhering to the third and fourth vertebrae. There are
three species in the fresh waters of Europe. C. harhatula, the Common Loach, or Beard ie, is a little fish of four or
five inches long, clouded, dotted with brown on a yellow ground, and having six barbules at the mouth. It is not
uncommon in the shallow and clear-running streams ; but on account of its lurking habits, the rapidity of its
swimming when disturbed, and its small size, it is not often seen. Small as it is, its flesh is very good. C.fossilis,
the Pond Loach, is sometimes a foot long, with longitudinal stripes of brown and yellow, and ten barbules to the
mouth. They inhabit the mud of stagnant waters ; and can subsist for a long time after the water has been dried
up, or covered with ice. When the weather is stormy, they rise to the surface of the water, and keep it in a state
of agitation by their motion; and when cold, they bury themselves in the mud. Ehrman states that they
habitually swallow atmospheric air, which is discharged by the vent, after being changed into carbonic acid, —
[a fact which is contrary to the usual physiology of the class]. Their flesh is soft, and has a muddy flavour.
C. tcenia, the Groundling, has six barbules, and the body compressed, of an orange colour, marked with a row of
black spots. It has a large spine behind each nostril. It is the smallest of the species inhabiting the smaller
running waters, and lurking under stones. [It is found in the British rivers, and is probably much more nume-
rous than is generally represented ; but as it is of.no value, it is regarded only by naturalists.]
Anableps. This genus, long, but very improperly, united with Cobitis, has strong peculiar characters. The
eyes are prominent, placed under a sort of roof formed by the side of the frontal ; and the cornea and iris are di-
vided by transverse bands, which gives the fish the appearance of having four eyes, whereas in reality it has only
two. There are certainly two openings to each eye, but still, in its essential parts, the organ is single ; and
whether vision is performed by the anterior or posterior opening, the same sentient organ is acted upon. They
have also the generative and urinal aperture, in the male, placed before the vent ; and the female brings forth her
young alive, and in a state of considerable advancement. The body is cylindrical, with strong scales; there are
five gill -rays; the head is flat; the snout blunt, and the mouth across its extremity, with small crowded teeth in
both jaws ; the intermaxillaries have no peduncle, but are suspended to the nasal bones ; the pectorals are in
part scaly ; the dorsal is small, and nearer the tail than the anal ; the pharyngals are large, and covered with
small globular teeth ; the air-bladder is large ; and their intestine is wide, but without any coeca. Only one spe-
cies, A. tetropthalmusy the Four-eyed, is known. It inhabits the rivers of Guiana.
PoRcilia. These have the jaws horizontally flattened, with a small opening, and furnished with a single row of
small and very fine teeth ; the upper part of the head flat ; the gill-openings large, with five gill-rays ; the body
rather short ; the ventrals rather forward ; and the dorsal and anal against each other. They are small fishes of
the fresh waters of America, and bring forth their young alive.
Labias, resemble the preceding, only the teeth have several points. One species, a very small fish, with little
black streaks on the flanks, is found in Sardinia.
Fungulus, still resemble Poecilia, but their teeth are set like velvet : those in the anterior range are crooked, and
they have strong conical ones in the pharynx. They have only four gill-rays.
Molenesia, have the anal between the ventrals, and immediately under the anterior part of the large dorsal ;
teeth like Fungulus, and four or five gill-rays. [These genera are chiefly found in America.]
Cyprinodon, have fine velvety teeth, and six gill-rays, but in other respects are like the preceding genera.
C. umbra inhabits the lakes, and especially the subterranean waters which are so common in Southern Austria.
They are small fishes, of a russet colour, with brown spots.
THE SECOND FAMILY OF THE MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES.
Esocid^ (the Pike Family).
These have no adipose dorsal fin. The margin of the upper jaw is formed by the intermaxillary; or
when not so formed, the maxillary is toothless, and concealed by the lips. These fishes are extremely
voracious ; their intestine is short, and has no cmca ; all of them have an air-bladder. Many species
inhabit the fresh waters, or ascend rivers. With the exception of Microstoma, all the known ones
have the dorsal opposite the anal. Linnaeus included them all in the genus Esooe, but we divide that
genus into the following subgenera : —
Esox, Pikes properly so called, have small intermaxillaries, furnished with small pointed teeth in the middle of
the upper jaw, where they form two rows, but the lateral parts of the maxillaries are without teeth. The vomer,
the palatals, the tongue, the pharynx, and the gill-arches, are roughened with teeth like a card ; and they have, in
MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES.
315
the sides of the under-jaw, a row of long- and pointed teeth. The muzzle is oblong-, obtuse, broad, and depressed.
They have but one dorsal placed over the anal ; a large forward stomach, continued in a slender intestine with
two flexures, but without coeca ; and their air-bladder is very large.
E. lucius, the Common Pike, Jack, Pickarel, Gedd, and many other names, is well known to every one as the
most voracious and destructive of fishes, but its flesh is good, and easy of digestion. [Besides its fame, as an eater
and as being eaten, Shakspeare has thrown a ray of glory around the Pike by representing it as the “ White Lucie”
in the armorial bearings of the immortal Justice Shallow. In some of the still waters of Britain, Pike of thirty-
four pounds’ weight have been killed. It is generally said that, notwithstanding the havoc which the Pike com-
mits among smaller fishes, it will not stand the attack of a Trout of equal weight, the immense velocity of the
latter fish in swimming giving it a decided advantage]. Besides this, two species have been noticed in the fresh
waters of North America,— £. reticularis, with a net-work of brownish lines ; and E. estor, sprinkled with round
blackish spots.
Galajcius, have no visible scales on the body. The opening of the mouth is small, with middle-sized pointed
teeth in both jaws, the margin of the upper being formed by the intermaxillary, and a few strong crooked teeth on
the tongue. There are pores in the sides of the head ; and the position of the dorsal and anal fins, and also the
digestive organs, are like those of the Pikes.
Alepocephalus. Head naked, body with broad scales, mouth small, teeth minute and crowded, eyes very large,
and eight gill-rays. A. rostratus, the only known species, is found in the depths of the Mediterranean.
Microstoma. Snout very short, lower jaw beyond the upper, jaws and intermaxillaries with very small teeth,
three broad and flat gill-rays, eyes large, body long, lateral line with firm scales, a single dorsal a little in rear of
the ventrals, and digestive organs as in the Pike. The only known species {S. microstoma of Risso) inhabits the
Mediterranean.
Stomias. Snout extremely short, mouth cleft almost to the gills, gill-ray reduced to a little membranous
lamina, and maxillaries fixed in the cheek ; intermaxillaries, palatals, mandibles, and tongue, armed with long and
crooked teeth, widely set; body elongated; ventrals far back; dorsal over the anal, and both near the caudal. Two
species were discovered in the Mediterranean by Risso. Both are black, with rows of silvery spots on the belly.
E. boa, Risso, has no cirri ; S. barbatus, has a long and stout one, attached to the symphisis of the lower jaw.
Chauliodus, resemble the former, but have two teeth in each jaw, across the other jaw when the mouth is shut ;
the dorsal between the pectorals and ventrals, which last are not so far back as in Stomias ; the first dorsal ray
terminates in a filament. C. Sloani, the only known species, has been found only at Gibraltar. It is about a foot
and a half long, and of a deep green colour.
Salanx, have the head depressed, gill-lids folded downwards, and four flat gill-rays ; the jaws short and pointed,
each furnished with a row of crooked teeth ; the upper jaw formed entirely by intermaxillaries without peduncles;
the lower jaw is a little lengthened at the symphisis by a small appendage carrying the teeth; the palate and the
inner part of the mouth are entirely smooth, and there is not even a lingual projection.
Belone. This genus have the upper jaw— which, as well as the under one, is extended into a long beak— com-
posed of the intermaxillaries, and both jaws furnished with small teeth, without any others in the mouth, except
in the pharynx, where they are arranged like a pavement. The body is very long, and covered with scales which
are scarcely visible, except one keeled row on each side, near the under edge of the fish. They are remarkable for
the bright green colour of their bones. One species— the Common Gar-fish, Sea Pike, Mackerel Guide, Green-
bone, and a number of other names— is not uncommon on some parts of the British shores, and as far north as
the Arctic regions. It is of a greenish blue on the upper part, fading gradually into silvery white on the belly.
There are several other species, some of which are said to attain the length of eight feet, and bite very severely.
Notwithstanding the colour of the bones, which renders them repulsive to many persons, the flesh of these fishes
is not unwholesome.
Scomberesox, the Mackerel Pike, or Saury Pike, resembles the former in the length of its snout, its general
shape, and its scales ; but the last rays of the dorsal and anal are detached, and form spurious fins on the upper
and under sides, like those of the Mackerel. They are found in the Mediterranean ; [and the Common Saury is
generally distributed along the British coasts, as far to the northward as the Orkneys]. They are gregarious
fishes ; and are followed and preyed upon by Porpoises, and also by the Tunny, and other large members of the
Mackerel family.
Hemiramphus, resembles the Gar-fish in its general characters, but has the upper jaw short, and the lower one
drawn out into a long beak, without teeth. They are found chiefly in the seas of warm countries, though a stray
one is occasionally met with in the south of England.
Exocetus, [literally, “ Fishes out of the water”]. These are at once distinguished from all the rest of the Abdo-
minal Malacopterygii by the immense size of their pectoral fins, which are sufiiciently large for supporting them
for a few moments in the air. Their head and body are scaly, with a line of keeled scales along each flank ; their
head is flat above, and laterally; the dorsal over the anal ; the eye is large ; the intermaxillaries without peduncles,
and found in the margin of the upper jaw ; both jaws have small pointed teeth, and the pharynx pavement teeth ;
they have ten gill-rays ; their air-bladder is very large ; their intestine straight, and without coeca ; and the lower
lobe of the caudal fin much larger than the upper. They do not fly, in the strict sense of the term, but merely rise
from the water to escape voracious fishes, and soon fall again,— their fins merely serving as parachutes, and being
incapable of taking a new stroke in the air, as is done by a wing. They are found in all the seas of the warm
climates ; and it would seem that they have more enemies than most other fishes, for while the voracious fishes
pursue and capture them in the water, the long-winged sea-birds seize them in the air ; and between themselves
316
PISCES^
and their swimming and flying enemies, they furnish one of the most singular sights in the warm seas. E. exilens,
common in the Mediterranean, has the ventral fins long, and in rear of the middle of the body. E. volitans, com-
mon in the Atlantic, has the ventral fins small, and placed further forwards. The latter species sometimes visits
the British shores, in single individuals, and even in shoals. They can leap more than two hundred yards in
distance, and upwards of twenty feet in height. Their food is understood to be the small floating Mollusca ; and
themselves are good eating.
Next to the Pike family, there is placed a genus of fishes which, though differing hut little from
that family in other respects, has longer intestines, and two coeca. It will probably give rise to a new
family. This is Mormyrus, having the body compressed, oblong, and scaly ; tail thin at the base, but
swelling near the fin ; skin of the head naked, covering the operculum and gill-rays, and leaving no
opening for the latter but a vertical fissure, which has led some naturalists to assert that these fishes have
no gill-lids, and only one gill-ray, whereas their gill-lids are perfect, and their rays five or six. Their
gape is small, and resembles that of the Ant-eater, the angles being formed by the maxillaries. The
teeth are small, notched at the extremities, and occupy the intermaxillaries and lower jaw ; and there
are bands of small crowded ones on the vomer and tongue. The stomach is a roundish sac, followed
by a slender intestine with two coeca, almost always covered with fat ; and the air-bladder is long, large,
and simple. They are accounted among the best fishes of the Nile. Two species have a cylindrical
muzzle, — the one having a long dorsal, and the other a short one ; a third has both the snout and dorsal
short ; and in a fourth, the forehead forms a protuberance advancing in front of the mouth. There are
various other species in the Nile [and probably also in the other African rivers], but they have not
been described.
THE THIRD FAMILY OF THE MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES.
SiLURiD^ (the Sheat-fish Family.)
These fishes are distinguished from all the rest of the order hy the want of true scales, having only a
naked skin, or large bony plates. The intermaxillaries, suspended under the ethmoid, form the margin
of the upper jaw ; and the maxillary bones are either simple vestiges, or extended into cirri. The in-
testinal canal is large, folded, and without coeca. The air-bladder is large, and adheres to a peculiar
apparatus of bones. A strong articulated spine generally forms the first ray of the dorsal and the pec-
torals ; and there is sometimes an adipose dorsal behind the other, as in the Salmon family. The fol-
lowing are the genera and subgenera : —
Silurus. — These form a numerous genus, known by the naked skin, from the mouth being cleft in the
end of the muzzle, and from a strong spine in the first ray of the dorsal. This spine is articulated only to
the bones of the shoulder ; and the fish can at pleasure lay it flat on the body, or keep it fixed in a per-
pendicular direction, in which case it is a formidable weapon, and wounds inflicted by it are understood
to be poisoned, which opinion has arisen from tetanus sometimes following the wound, not from poison
certainly, but from the ragged nature of the wound itself.
These fishes have the head depressed ; the intermaxillaries suspended under the ethmoid, and not
protractile ; the maxillaries very small, but almost always continued in barbules attached to the lower
lip, and also to the nostrils ; the covering of their gills is without sub-operculum or gill-flap ; their air-
bladder, strong and heart-shaped, is attached, by its two upper lobes, to a peculiar bony structure, which
again is attached to the first vertebra ; the stomach is a fleshy cul-de-sac, having the intestinal canal
long and wide, but without coeca. They abound in the rivers of warm countries ; and seeds of plants
are found in the stomach of many of their species. The following are the suhgenera : —
Silurus, properly so called, with only a small fln of four rays on the fore part of the back, but with the anal very
long, and approaching very close to the base of the caudal. There is no obvious spine in the dorsal; and the teeth
in both jaws, and in the vomer, are like those of a card. S. glanis, the Sly Silurus, is the largest fresh-water fish
of Europe, and the only member of the genus in this quarter of the world. It is smooth, of a greenish black
spotted with black above, and yellowish white below ; head large, with six cirri,— two large ones near the nostrils,
and four shorter on the lower jaw. It sometimes grows to six feet in length, and weighs three hundred pounds.
It is found in the slow-running rivers of Central Europe, and lurks in the mud to watch for its prey. Its flesh is
greasy, and is sometimes employed as hog’s-lard. [It is named as a British fish, but its visits to these shores are
very rare.] Is found in the rivers of Asia and Africa.
Schilbus, have the body vertically compressed, a strong toothed spine in the dorsal, the head small and depressed,
the nape suddenly raised, and the eyes low down. They have eight cirri, are found in the Nile, and their flesh is
MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES,
317
less disagreeable than that of the other Siluri. Some American species, with the head small, rounded, and blunt,
having tln-ee cirri, and the eyes scarcely perceptible, may form a new subgenus.
Mystus, are Siluri with a second or adipose dorsal fin. They are found in the waters of Guiana.
body naked, and no lateral armature; but the subgenus requires division and subdivision. First,
Bagrus has small crowded teeth in both jaws and the vomer, and may be subdivided by the number of cirri, and
the shape of the head. With eight cirri, some have the head long and depressed, and others short and broad.
With six cirri, some have the snout as depressed, and broader than that of the Pike ; others have the head oval,
and a kind of helmet of shagreen-like bones ; in others, the head is round and naked ; while others, again, have
the head greatly depressed, the eyes low down, and the adipose fin very small ; and there are yet others which
have only four cirri. [Some of these, as Pimelodes cyclopum, are ejected in hot water from volcanoes.]
Pimelodes, properly so called, want the teeth in the vomer, but often have them in the palate ; the cirri and
form of the head differ more than in the preceding subgenus; some have but a single row of teeth ; some have the
head helmeted, and a distinct bony plate between the helmet and the dorsal spine ; others have a single plate from
the snout to the dorsal ; others, again, have the head oval and naked ; some with six cirri, and others eight ; some
with a large naked head are called Cats, which have six or eight cirri ; then there are others which have the head
small and flat, the dorsal minute, and the teeth scarcely perceptible ; there are others still which have teeth on the
palatals, sometimes like velvet, or like a card, with a buckler on the nape, distinct or united to the helmet, and
tha'palatal teeth sometimes like a helmet ; some singular ones have teeth like a card, under the skin of the cheek,
and moveable ; others yet have a lengthened snout, or a pointed one, nearly toothless. These last lead to,—
Synodoniis, with the snout narrow, and the lower jaw supporting an assemblage of teeth laterally flattened,
ending in hooks, and individually attached to flexible peduncles. The helmet extends in one plate to the first
spine of the dorsal, which is very strong, as are also those of the pectorals ; the cirri, afld sometimes the maxil-
laries, are barbed. They are found in the Nile and other African rivers, but are not eaten.
Ageniosus. Some of these have the maxillary turned up in a kind of toothed horn, instead of a fleshy cirrus ;
and others have it concealed under the skin, with the dorsal and pectoral spines scarcely visible.
Doras, have an adipose dorsal, with plates in the lateral line, armed with keels or spines ; the dorsal and pectoral
spines strongly toothed, the helmet rough, and the shoulder-bone pointed backwards. Some have teeth only in
the upper jaw; others have the snout pointed, and the teeth absent, or hardly visible, with occasional lateral
bristles to the cirri.
Heterobranchus, head broad, from the helmet having two lateral pieces of the frontal and parietal bones ; oper-
culum smaller, but with a tree-like ramification on the third and fourth gill-arch, as a sort of supplemental gills.;
viscera like the rest of the.family, but they have from eight to fourteen gill-rays, strong pectoral spines, no dorsal
one, and the body long and naked. They inhabit the rivers of Africa, and some of those of Asia. Their flesh is
indifferent, or bad.
One of them, however, Macropteronotes, with a single indented dorsal, constitutes a considerable article of food
in Egypt and Syria, where it is called the Sharmuth, or Black Fish. Others have a dorsal with rays, and also an
adipose one. Protosus, have a second dorsal, with rays ; and this and the anal long, and uniting to form a tail
like an Eel ; lips fleshy ; conical teeth in front of the mouth, globular ones behind, and those above placed on the
vomer; skin naked; nine or ten gill-rays ; eight cirri; and a singular branched appendage behind the vent, be-
sides the tubercle common to the family. Some have large and toothed dorsal and ventral spines ; others have
them almost concealed under the skin. They are found in the East Indies.
Callichthys, have the sides armed with four rows of scaly plates ; head the same, but the snout and under-part
of the body naked ; one ray in the second dorsal ; pectoral spines strong, and dorsal one feeble ; mouth small ;
teeth barely visible ; four cirri ; eyes small, and lateral. They can crawl out of the water like an Eel. [These are
the subgenera of Silurus] .
Malaptherurus, has no dorsals with rays, but only a small adipose one in the tail, and no spines in the pectorals.
The skin is smooth ; the teeth small and crowded, and are ranged into a broad crescent in each jaw ; there are
seven gill-rays ; and the jaws and viscera are like those of Silurus. M. electricus,X\ie Raasch, or Thunder-fish of
the Arabs, is the only known species. It has six cirri, and the head more slender than the body, but enlarged in
front. Like the Torpedo and Gymnotus, it can communicate an electric shock, the organ of which is situated
between the skin and muscles, and consists of a cellular tissue, inclosing a fluid, and abundantly furnished with
nerves. It is found in the Nile, and the rivers of Central Africa.
Aspredo, have the head flattened, and the anterior part of the body much widened ; the tail long; the eyes small,
and placed upwards ; the intermaxillaries under the ethmoid directed backwards, and with teeth on the posterior
edge only ; and they have the whole gill apparatus immoveable, being soldered to the temporal bone and the pre-
operculum ; gill-opening a mere slit behind the head, the membrane of five rays adhering everywhere else ; the
lower jaw is transverse, and shorter than the snout ; the first ray of the pectorals is more toothed than in any
other of the family ; there is but one dorsal, with a weak first ray ; but the anal is long, extending under the long
and slender tail. Some have six cirri, some eight ; and, in the latter case, one pair are attached to the maxillaries,
the others to the lower jaw in pairs.
Loricaria, have hard angular plates on the head and body ; small intermaxillaries suspended under
the muzzle ; transverse disunited mandibles, supporting hooked teeth, which are long, slender, and
flexible. A large membranous veil encircles the opening ; the pharynx is furnished wdth numerous
pavement teeth ; the gill-lids are immoveable, but two small plates supply their places ; they have four
PISCES<
318
gill-rays; strong spines in the first dorsal, pectorals, and even ventrals ; but neither coeca nor air-bladder.
They form two subgenera : —
Hypostomufy have a small dorsal with one ray ; the labial veiled with papillae, with a small cirrus on each side ;
no plates on the belly ; and the intestines spirally convoluted, and as slender as a thread. They inhabit the
rivers of South America.
Loricaria, have one dorsal forwards, the labial veiled with cirri, plates on the under parts of the body, and the
intestines moderately large.
THE FOURTH FAMILY OF THE MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES.
Salmonid^ (the Salmon, or Trout, Family).
According to Linnseus, these formed but one great genus, characterized by a scaly body, all the rays
of the first dorsal soft, and the second dorsal adipose, or formed of skin inclosing fat, and without rays.
They have numerous coeca, and an air-bladder. Most of them ascend rivers ; and their fiesh is highly
esteemed. They are naturally voracious ; and as the form and armature of their jaws vary greatly,
they may be arranged into the following subgenera : —
Salmo, Salmon and Trout, properly so called. — These have great part of the margin of the upper
jaw formed of the maxillaries ; a row of pointed teeth in the maxillaries, the intermaxillaries„ the
palatals, and mandibularies, and two rows on the vomer, the tongue, and the pharynx, — being, in fact,
the most completely toothed of all fishes. In old males, the extremity of the lower jaw is bent up
towards the palate, where a groove receives it when the mouth is shut. The ventrals are under the
first dorsal, and the anals under the adipose one. They have six gill-rays, or thereabouts ; the stomaeh
is long and narrow, with numerous coeca ; their air-bladder extends the whole length of the abdomen,
and communicates anteriorly with the gullet. Many species are spotted, and their fiesh is in general
very good. They ascend rivers to spawn, often leaping over cascades of considerable elevation, and
finding their way to the brooks and small lakes of the most lofty mountains. [They are understood to
return almost invariably to the rivers in which they are produced ; and therefore the fixing, at the
mouth of a river, of any sort of bar to their progress upwards, is sure to drive them from the estuary.
According to Mr. Yarrell, one of the very best authorities, all the family are clouded with transverse
dusky patches when very young, — analogous to what occur on all the species of Cats.]
S. salar, the Salmon properly so called, is the largest of the genus, with red flesh, and irregular brown spots,
which disappear in fresh water ; the cartilaginous beak of the male is not much hooked. They inhabit the seas
of comparatively cold regions, whence they ascend the rivers for the purpose of spawning, at different times of
the year according to the climate,— some in autumn, some in winter, and some in early spring. [The efforts
which they make to overcome difficulties in the ascent are very great ; and when they have made some progress
up the fresh water, it is equally cruel and impolitic to capture them. It should seem that, in most of the British
rivers, Salmon are diminishing in numbers, and becoming inferior in quality, the cause of which has not been
explained in a satisfactory manner. In Ireland, where they have more recently become an article of commerce,
they are found in considerable abundance. Salmon Fry have the tail forked, and the fork disappears as the fish
advances in age ; but the margin does not become convex, as in the Bull-trout.] S. humatus, is whitish, spotted
with red and black ; and the snout of the male is narrow, and much crooked in the lower jaw. Its teeth are more
robust than those of the true Salmon, and its flesh as red ; but it is inferior in quality. It is found in the mouths
of rivers. S. Sckiefermulleri, the Sea-trout, is smaller than the former, with the teeth more slender and longer.
Tlie flanks are sprinkled with small crescent-shaped spots, and the flesh is paler than that of the Salmon. S.
hucho [perhaps the Bull-trout, or Gray Trout], grows to almost the size of the Salmon, and has strong teeth, and
a pointed lower jaw in the male.
The remaining Trouts are found in all the clear streams of Europe, especially among mountains ; and they are
subject to great variations from age, food, and the nature of the waters ; but these do not appear to account for all
the differences. [In the same river, Trout are yellowish brown, with bright crimson spots, where the water is fine
and pure ; and lurid and dark, and greatly inferior in flavour, where it is tinged with peat.] S. lemanus^ Geneva
Trout, found in that lake, and some neighbouring ones ; ground colour whitish, with pmall blackish spots on the
head and back ; sometimes forty or fifty pounds in weight : the flesh is white. S. trutta, Salmon Trout, bluish
black above, pale on the sides, silvery on the belly, with cross-shaped spots towards the upper part, migratory in
clear streams, and esteemed next in value to the Salmon. [It varies a good deal in colour ; and, from its silvery
lustre, it is called White Trout in some parts of Britain.] S. fario, the Common, or River Trout, is generally
smaller than the last, spotted with brown on the back, and crimson on the flanks,— the crimson spots usually sur-
rounded by a pale-coloured circle ; common in all the clear streams of temperate countries, and sometimes found
two feet and a half long, and fifteen pounds in weight. [The Gillaroo Trout of the Irish lakes appears to be a
variety, in which the internal coating of the stomach is modified a little to suit the nature of the food. S. ferox,
the Great Grey Trout, inhabits the deeper lakes, and grows to a large size, but its flesh is inferior.] S. savelinus,
MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES.
319
the Welsh Char, or Torgoch, has red spots in the flanks, an orange belly, and red pectorals, with the first ray very
thick and white. S. alpinus, nearly the same colour, but the first rays of the lower fins not so much distinguished.
It abounds in Lapland, where it is very valuable. S. umbla, Northern Char, found in various British lakes, and
also in the Lake of Geneva. [There are various other members of the genus Salmo, but the line of distinction be- i
tween species and variety is sometimes not easily drawn.]
Osmerus, the Smelt, has two rows of teeth on each palatal, but only a few in front of the vomer. Form like a
Trout, but only eight gill-rays, and the body brilliant silvery, with some greenish reflections, but with no spots.
[Found abundantly in some estuaries of British rivers at particular seasons, but very local. It seldom exceeds,
and rarely equals, a foot in length. Its flesh is delicious.]
Mallotus, mouth like the preceding, but teeth very small and crowded, and only in the jaws, palate, and tongue;
eight gill-rays, body lengthened, and small scales ; first dorsal and ventrals behind the middle, pectorals large,
round, and nearly meeting beneath. The only known species, S. groenlandicus, the Capelin, classed by Gmelin
among the Herrings, is remarkably abundant on the shores of Newfoundland, and used as bait in the Cod fisheries,
[and sometimes as manure for the land].
Thymallus, the Grayling, has the jaws like a Trout, but the mouth small, and the teeth remarkably fine ; first
dorsal long and high, scales much larger than on a Trout, stomach thick, and seven or eight gill-rays ; first dorsal
long, as high as the body, spotted with black, and occasionally with red, with dusky bars on the large dorsal.
Recent it smells like wild thyme, and when cooked in its perfume it is a dainty dish.
Coregonus, the Gurniad, has the mouth as in the last, but with few teeth, and sometimes none, the scales
larger, and the dorsal shorter. There are many species or varieties of this genus ; some in the sea, others in the
fresh waters only, and one occurs in several British lakes. [C. Willughbii, the Vendace, is found in some lakes of
the south of Scotland. It feeds on insects, and very minute fresh-water Crustacea.]
Argentina, has the mouth small and toothless, but strong hooked teeth on the tongue, and small ones before
the vomer, six gill-rays, and the digestive organs like those of a Trout. A. sphynena, the only known species,
has the air-bladder thick, and very much loaded with nacre— the silvery substance used in counterfeiting pearls ;
it is found in the Mediterranean. The following subgenera, which have the numerous cceca of the Salmon, and
the double air-bladder of the Carps, have not more than four or five gill-rays.
Crimata, externally like Thymallus, and some of them have the same teeth, differing only in the gill-rays.
Others have teeth in both jaws, sharp and directed forwards. They inhabit the American rivers.
Anastomus, like Thymallus, and with small teeth in both jaws, but the lower jaw is so turned up and enlarged
at the point, that the mouth appears a vertical slit.
Gastropelecus, mouth as in the last, but abdomen compressed, projecting, and sharp ; ventrals small and far
back, first dorsal over the anal ; upper teeth conical, lower ones notched and trenchant.
Plabucus, have the head small, the mouth shallow, a compressed body, the ventral keel entire and sharp, a long
anal, and the first dorsal opposite its commencement.
Serrasalmus, has the body compressed, the belly toothed and sharp, and frequently a spine in front of the
dorsal. The known species inhabit the South American rivers ; and, it is said, pursue ducks, and even bathers ;
wounding them severely with their teeth, which are triangular, notched, and very sharp.
Tetragonopterus, has teeth as in the former, but the mouth smaller, and no keel or tooth on the belly.
Chalceus, with the same mouth and teeth, has the body oblong, and the teeth on the maxillaries small and
rounded.
Myteles, with triangular teeth hollowed in the crowns, and three points at the corners, mouth shallow, with two
rows on the intermaxillaries, but none on the palate, the maxillaries, or the tongue. Some have the elevated
form, falchion-shaped fins, spine directed forwards, and even the sharp and toothed belly, of Serrasalmus, but
not the teeth. One American species grows large, and is good eating. Others have simply an elongated body,
and the first dorsal between the ventrals and the anal. These are Egyptian.
Hydrocyon, have the point of the muzzle formed by the intermaxillaries, the maxillaries nearer before the eyes,
and completing the aperture; the tongue and vomer are always smooth, but the jaws have conical teeth, and the
large suborbital covers the cheek like an operculum. Some have a close range of small teeth on the maxillaries
and the palatals, and the dorsal fin between the ventrals and anals. They inhabit the tropical rivers, and
taste like Carp. Others have a double row of teeth in the intermaxillaries and lower jaw, a single row in the
maxillaries, and none in the palate ; the first is over the ventrals. They inhabit Brazil. Others, again, have a
single row in the maxillaries and lower jaw, with the teeth alternately very long and very sharp, and lodging in
holes of the upper jaw when the mouth is shut ; there are large scales upon the lateral line, and the first dorsal
is between the ventral and the anal. They are also from Brazil. A fourth type have the muzzle prominent and
pointed, the maxillaries very short, and with the lower jaw and intermaxillaries with a single row of closely-set
teeth; the first is between the ventral and anal, and they have large scales. They too are from Brazil. Others,
yet, have no teeth in the maxillaries or lower jaw, and what they have are few, but strong and pointed ; their first
dorsal is directly over the ventrals. They inhabit the Nile.
Cetharinus, have the mouth depressed, cleft at the end of the muzzle, and the upper margin entirely formed by
the intermaxillaries ; the maxillaries are small and toothless, occupying only the commissure ; the tongue and
palate both smooth, the adipose, dorsal, and great part of the caudal, covered with scales. Found in the Nile.
Some have three small teeth in the upper jaw, and the body elevated, but the belly not sharp or toothed. Others
have many ranks of close teeth on the jaws, which teeth are slender and forked, and the fishes themselves are
elongated.
ftaurus, muzzle short, gape cleft far behind the eyes, margin of the upper jaw composed wholly of intermaxil-
320
PISCES.
laries, long’ pointed teeth on the jaws, the palatals, and on the tongue and pharynx, but none on the vomer; eight
or nine, often twelve or fifteen, gill-rays : the first dorsal a little behind the large ventrals ; the body, cheeks, and
gill lid are scaly, the intestines like those of Trouts. They are marine fishes, and exceedingly voracious. One is
found in the Mediterranean, a transparent one in the lake of Mexico, and several in India, where they are dried
and salted as a relish.
Scopelus, have the gape and the gill openings very deep. Both jaws with very small teeth, the margin of the
upper formed entirely by the intermaxillai'ies, the tongue and palate smooth, muzzle very short and blunt, nine
or ten gill-rays, a first dorsal between the ventrals and anal, and a second, in which there are slight vestiges of
rays. One small species in the Mediterranean has brilliant silver spots on the belly and tail.
Aulopus, combines the characters of Salmon and Cod. Their gape is wide, their intermaxillaries forming the
whole margin of the upper jaw ; their palatals, the front part of the vomer, and the lower jaw with a band of card-
shaped teeth, but the tongue and flat part of the palate are only rough. The maxillaries are large and toothless,
as in many fishes, their ventrals are under the pectorals, with the external rays thick and unforked. The first
dorsal answers to the first half of the space between the ventrals and anal. They have twelve gill-rays, and large
scales upon the cheeks, gill-lids, and body. One species inhabits the Mediterranean.
Sternoptyx, are little fishes with high compressed body, the mouth directed upwards, their humeral bones
forming a trenchant crest forwards, and terminating below in a little spine. The pelvis formed by a small spine
before the ventrals. There are small grooves on each side of the pelvic crest, which has been considered as a ster-
num, and hence their name. They have an osseous crest before the first dorsal, and a little membrane answering to
the second. The borders of the mouth are formed by the maxillaries. Two species are found in the Atlantic, which
may become types of two distinct genera. One of these has five gill-rays, the other nine.
THB FIFTH FAMILY OF THE MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES.
Clupeid^ (the Herring Family).
These have no adipose dorsal, and, as the Trout, they have their upper jaw formed in the middle by
intermaxillaries 'without peduncles, and the sides by maxillaries. Their bodies are always scaly, and
most of them have an air bladder and many coeca. Few of them ascend rivers, though they appear
periodically upon the shores.
Clupea, the Herrings, have the intermaxillaries narrow and short, forming but a small portion of the
jaw, which is completed on the* sides by protractile maxillaries. The lower edge of the compressed
body is notched by scales, resembling the teeth of a saw. The gill openings are so wide that the fishes
die almost the instant they are out of the water. The gill arches towards the mouth pectinated, the
stomach is an elongated sac, the air bladder long and pointed, and their bones are very slender and
numerous. They consist of several suhgenera.
Clupea, Herrings properly so called, with the mouth mean-sized, and the upper lip entire. C. harengus needs
no description ; it appears periodically in numerous shoals, [but does not breed in the Polar seas, as was once
stated, as it gets southward into warm latitudes. Its flesh is dry and inferior]. C7. sprattus resembles the Herring,
but is much smaller. C. alba, White Bait, a small and delicate species, resorts to the top of the brackish water
to mature its spawn. It is found in various estuaries, and is highly esteemed. C. pilchardus is about the size of
the Herring, but has the dorsal more forward. It inhabits more southernly than the Herring, and is caught in
vast numbers on the coast of Cornwall. C. sardina, the Sardine, is like the Pilchard, only smaller. It is taken
in the Mediterranean, where the Herring is unknown, and also on the west coast of France. Its flavour is highly
esteemed.
Alosa, has a notch in the middle of the upper jaw, but is in other respects like the Pilchard and Sardine. A. vul-
garis, the Shad, is much larger and thicker than the Herring, growing to three feet in length, and it has no teeth,
and a black spot behind the gills. In spring it ascends rivers, when it is much esteemed ; but when taken in the
sea is dry and disagreeable. A.finta, the Twaite Shad, has teeth in the jaws, and five or six dark spots along the
side. It is the Common Shad of the British rivers ; but is considered inferior to the Common Shad, or Alice Shad,
as it is called, which, as a British fish, is by no means so common.
Chatoessus, resembles a Herring, only the first dorsal ray is prolonged in the filament. Some have the jaws
equal, the muzzle not prominent, and the mouth small and without teeth. Others have the muzzle prominent, but
the mouth small. The fibres of the first gills unite with those on the opposite side, and form under the palate
curious pinnated points. These are from the warm seas, and they complete the subgenera of Clupea as at present
arranged, though the following come appropriately after the Herrings, inasmuch as they have the belly sharp and
notched.
Odontognathus, have the body very compressed, with three sharp teeth near the vent, a long but narrow anal,
a small and feeble dorsal, which is always broken, six gill-rays, the maxillaries prolonged and a little pointed, and
furnished with small teeth directed forwards, and no apparent ventrals. One species from Cayenne is known,
resembling a small Sardine, but having the body more compressed.
Pristigaster, head and teeth as in the Herrings, four gill-rays, ventrals generally wanting, belly compressed,
arched, and toothed. They are found in both oceans.
MALACOPTERYGII SUB-BRACHIATI.
321
Notopterus. Gill-lids and cheeks scaly; the suborbitals, pre-operculum, and operculum have two crests ; the lower
jaw is keeled, the belly toothed, and the palatals and jaws have fine teeth ; the upper jaw formed in great part of
the maxillaries. Tlieir tongue is set with strong crooked teeth ; they have one strong and bony gill-ray ; ventrals
hardly visible, followed by a long anal, which occupies three-fourths of the length, and is united, as in Gpmnotus,
with the fins of the tail and back ; opposite the middle of the anal there is a small dorsal with soft rays. They
are found in the stagnant fresh waters of India, being the Gymnotus notopterus of Pallas.
the Anchovies, distinguished from the
Herrings by the mouth being more deeply cleft, the
gill-openings wider, and ten or twelve gill-rays.
The small intermaxillaries are fixed under a little
pointed snout, in advance of the mouth, and the
maxillaries are long and straight. E. enchrasicho-
Fig. 143 —The Anchovy. lus, the Common Anchovy, so well known for its
rich and peculiar flavour, is about a span long,
bluish above, silveiy below, the abdomen not trenchant, the anal short, and the dorsal over the ventrals. Taken
in vast numbers in the Mediterranean, and less abundantly in the ocean. E. mdetta is a Mediterranean species.
E. edentulus, an American species, without teeth.
Thryssa, differs from the Anchovies in having the belly toothed, and the maxillaries very long. It is an East
Indian subgenus.
Megalops. Fins and jaws generally formed like those of the Herring, but the belly not trenchant, nor the body
compressed ; teeth in the jaws and palate very small and numerous ; from twenty-one to twenty-four gill-rays ;
and the last ray of the dorsal, and often of the anal, extended in a filament. One American species, the Apalite, is
found twelve feet long, has fifteen rays in the dorsal, and a filament to that in the anal. An Indian species has
seventeen dorsal rays.
Elops, resembles the former, but is rather longer, wants the dorsal filament, has more than twenty gill-rays,
and the caudal with a flat spine above and below.
Buterinus, has jaws like those of a Herring, a round and lengthened body, and prominent snout ; the mouth
shallow ; the jaws with small, crowded teeth ; and the tongue, vomer, and palate, have rounded ones, also closely
set. There are twelve or thirteen gill-rays. This and the former genus are beautiful fishes, of a silvery colour,
with many bones and coeca, and they grow to a large size.
Chirocentrus, has the upper jaw as in the Herring, with a row of stout conical teeth in both jaws, the two middle
ones in front very long ; the tongue and gill-arches toothed like a card, but not the palatal or vomer ; seven or
eight gill- rays, the latter ones very broad; a pointed scale above and beneath each pectoral ; body long, com-
pressed, and sharp, but not toothed on the belly ; ventrals very small, and shorter than the anal, which is opposite;
stomach and air-bladder long and slender. Only one known species, of the Indian Ocean, and silvery.
Hyodon, has the form of a Herring, but the belly not toothed, eight or nine gill-rays, and the teeth and the
mouth like those of a Trout. Found in the fresh waters of North America.
Erythrmus. Upper jaw almost entirely formed of the maxillaries ; conical teeth in the edges of each jaw ; crowded
teeth in the palatals ; five broad gill-rays ; head round, blunt, with hard bones, but no scales ; body oblong, com-
pressed, with scales like Carp ; dorsal opposite the ventrals ; stomach and air-bladder large ; coeca small. Found
in the tropical rivers, and esteemed as food.
Atnia, have the head like the last, but twelve gill-rays, and a hard buckler on the under-jaw; pavement-teeth
behind the conical ones ; nostrils tubular; stomach large ; intestine wide, and with no coeca ; air-bladder cellular,
like the lung of a Reptile. Found in the rivers of the southern states of America, feeds on Crustacea, and is
rarely eaten.
fresh-water fishes resembling Erythrinus, but having the dorsal and anal placed opposite each other, and
occupying the last third of the body. They inhabit the rivers of tropical countries.
Osterglossum, differs from the last by having two cind suspended from the lower jaw, and the tongue closely
toothed like a rasp. A large species inhabits Brazil.
Lepisosteus, have long teeth in the edges of the jaws, and their anterior surfaces rasp-like ; the scales as hard
.as stone ; the dorsal and anal opposite, and far back ; the intestine with two folds, and numerous coeca ; air-bladder
cellular. Of tropical America, grow large, and are good eating.
Porypterus. Sides of the upper jaw immoveable ; head covered with sharpened bony plates; body with strong
scales ; one gill-ray ; a number of separate fins on the back ; the teeth like a rasp, with long ones in front ; the
stomach large ; double air-bladder, with large lobes, the left one opening freely into the gullet. They are found
in the African rivers, and are eatable.
THE THIRD ORDER OF BONY FISHES,—
MALACOPTERYGII SUB-BRACHIATI,—
Have the ventrals under the pectorals, and the pelvis suspended to the shoulder-bones.
[They are thus better adapted for ascending and descending than the abdominal fishes.]
322
PISCES.
THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE MALACOPTERYGII SUB-BRACHIATI.
Gadid^ (the Cod Family).
This family are almost wholly included in the great genus Gadus, easily known by having the
ventrals inserted under the throat, and pointed. The body is moderately long, a little compressed,
and covered with small soft scales ; the head is well-proportioned, hut naked; all their fins are soft;
the jaws and front of the vomer have unequal-pointed teeth, of medium or small size, disposed m
several rows, like a card or rasp ; the gill-openings are large, and there are seven rays. Most of them
have two or three fins on the back, some behind the vent, and a distinct caudal fin. The stomach is a
large and strong sac; and the intestine long, with numerous cmca. The air-bladder is large and strong,
and often notched in the margins. The greater number live in the cold or temperate seas, and furnish
a most important branch of the fisheries. Their flesh is white, easily separable into flakes, and, gene-
rally speaking, wholesome, easy of digestion, and agreeable to the palate. [Taken altogether, they are
probably more really serviceable to Man than any other family of fishes. Their reproductive powers
are great, and their numbers countless ; and they have the advantage of being generally found in vast
shoals, at particular places.] They can be subdivided as follows
Morrhua, Cod, properly so called, with three dorsals, two anals, and a cirrus at the point of the lower jaw. They
are the most numerous and valuable of the family, consisting ofthree sections, or species G. morrhua, the Cod,
two or three feet long, with the back spotted brown and yellow ; inhabits all the north seas, and multiplies exceed-
ingly in the colder latitudes. They are taken in vast numbers for salting, and also for immediate use. [Their
appearance and quality vary a good deal with the nature of the ground.] G. enmg before the pectorals ; body compressed and ribbon-like ; head very small ; snout
short, and a little pointed ; pectorals nearly or totally wanting ; dorsal and anal obscure, but extending to the
point of the tail ; the viscera occupying a small cavity along the under-part of the body. One species is found in
the British seas. L. morrissii, the Anglesey Morris, is a very little fish, silvery, and semi-transparent, but with
bright and prominent rays, and is very lively in its motions. It lurks in sea-weed ; and is one of those animals,
exceedingly rare among Vertebrata, of which the internal structure can be seen without dissection, and its action
understood accordingly. Other species have been found in the warm seas.
Ophidmm, reseinbles the Eels in having the vent far backwai'ds, and the dorsal and anal meeting at the point of
the tail ; and the body is so long and compressed, that the fish has been compared to a sword-blade. The skin
has minute and buried scales, as in the Eels, but the gill-openings are large, and the gill-lids have free motion ;
the dorsal rays are joined, not branched; some have small barbules, others none, and some short cirri ; some are
flesh-coloured, with black fins ; some brown, and some large ones are rose-colour, with brown spots.
[The species without cirri, the O. imberbis of Linnaeus, has been made a subgenus by Cuvier, under the name of
Fierasfer, in which the dorsal seems a mere fold of the skin. A specimen, about three inches long, has been met
with on the south coast of England].
Ammodytes, have the body like the former, a fin with simple-jointed rays along the back, an anal fin, and a forked
caudal, and the fins are not united ; snout sharp ; upper jaw extensile, and shorter than the longer in the closed
mouth ; stomach fleshy and pointed ; no coeca, or air-bladder. They burrow in the sand, and are captured by
digging it at low water ; and are understood to contribute materially to the support of Salmon in the estuaries.
There are two species : — A. tobianus, the Sand-eel ; and A. lancea, the Sand-lance. The latter is thicker in the
body than the former, with the intermaxillaries larger, and the dorsal commencing farther forward. They are j
both found on the sandy shores of Britain. li
THE FIFTH ORDER OF BONY FISHES. |
LOPHOBRANCHII (Fishes w^ith their Gills in Tufts). ; |
All the fishes of the preceding four orders not only have a skeleton of fibrous bones, and i ^
the jaws complete and free, but their gills are always in fibres or fringes, like the teeth of a .
comb ; but those of the present order, while they have the jaws complete and free, have the ■ .
gills not in equal laminae along the arches, but in small round tufts, disposed along the arches j
in pairs, — a structure of which there is no instance in other fishes. These are defended by a '
large operculum, attached by membranes on all sides, except one small hole for allowing the
water to escape ; and mere vestiges of rays are shown in the substance of the operculum. \ \
These fishes are also distinguished by shields or small plates, which cover the body, and often; '
give it an angular form. In general, they are of small size, and almost without flesh. Their. |
LOPHOBRANCHII.
327
intestine is of uniform width, and without coeca; and their air-bladder, though slender, is
large in proportion to their size. They form two genera ; and the first admits of subdivision.
SyngnaiJms. — These are characterized by a tubular snout, composed, as in the Fistularidae, of pro-
longations of the ethmoid, vomer, temporals, pre-operculum, and other bones ; and this snout ends in a
mouth as in other fishes, only its opening is nearly vertical. The gill-opening is near the nape ; and
there are no ventral fins. In their reproduction there is this peculiarity, that the eggs slide into a
pouch formed by an inflation of the skin, and remain there till they are hatched. This pouch is under
the belly in some, and at the base of the tail in others. It bursts spontaneously, and allows the fry to
escape. [Thus these fishes have some analogy to the marsupial Mammalia.]
I Syngnathus, the Pipe-fishes, properly so called, have a very long and slender body, differing little in diameter
] throughout its entire length. Some have a dorsal, caudal, and anal ; others want the anal only, and in these the
i hatching-pouch is situated under the tail. S. acus, the Great Pipe-fish, and S. tylphe, the Peak-nosed Pipe-fish,
both found in the British Seas, belong to these sections. Others, again, have neither anal nor pectorals ; and
^ others no fin but the dorsal. S. ophidion, the Snake Pipe-fish, and S. lumbriciformis, the Worm Pipe-fish, are
] British fishes belonging to these sections. [They have the pouch under the belly ; and it is to be observed that in
all the species it is the male, and not the female, which has the pouch, and hatches the eggs.]
Hippocampus y has the body compressed laterally, and much more elevated than the tail ; and in dead speci-
! mens the neck bends, and the upper part has a faint resemblance to the head and neck of a Horse in miniature,
from which they have been called Sea-horses. The margins of their scales are formed into ridges, and the angles
I into spines. They have no fin in the tail, but that organ is prehensile, and enables them to climb or hold on by
the stalks of marine plants. The common species is found in the British seas, and is sometimes about five inches
long ; and, on the coast of Australia, there is a longer one, with the angles of the scales extended into leafy
i appendages.
i Solenostomus, differ from the former chiefly in having, behind the pectorals, large ventrals united with each
' other and with the body, and forming an apron which serves to retain the eggs while hatching, in the same
manner as the pouch of the Pipe-fishes. There is one dorsal of few rays near the nape, a very small one near the
ii tail, and a large pointed caudal, but otherwise they resemble Hippocampus. The only known species is from the
ji Indian Ocean.
;j Pegasus, have a snout as in the former, but the mouth under it, and moveable, like that of a Sturgeon, only
i composed of the same bones as in other osseous fishes. The body is armed as in Hippocampus, but their thorax
i is broad, depressed, and with the gill-openings in the sides. They have two distinct ventrals in rear of the pecto-
ij rals, which are often large, and have procured these fishes the name of Pegasus, or Flying Horses, The dorsal
[j and anal fins are opposite each other, the abdominal cavity is wider and shorter than in Syngnathus, and the in-
! testine has two or three flexures. Some species are found in the Indian seas.
I THE SIXTH ORDER OF BONY FISHES.
! PLECTOGNATHI (Fishes with Soldered Jaws).
ij Though retaining many of the characters of the Bony Fishes, the members of this order re-
I semble the Cartilaginous ones, in the imperfect structure of the jaws, and the slow ossification
, of the skeleton ; but still this skeleton is fibrous, and resembles that of the Bony Fishes. The
I chief characters are — the maxillary soldered to the side of the intermaxillary, which consti-
i tutes the jaw, and the connexion of the palatal arch with the cranium by an immoveable
suture. Besides, the gill-lid and rays are concealed under the thick skin, with only a small
! opening, the ribs are mere rivets, and there are no true ventrals. The intestine is large, and
I without coeca ; and the air-bladder is always ample. They admit of division, by the character
i| of their teeth, into two very natural families,
Jl THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE PLECTOGNATHI.
i;
i! Gymnodontes (Fishes with naked Teeth).
I Instead of teeth, these have the jaws covered with a substance hke ivory, laminated internally, and
1 resembling the beak of a Parrot, though these are true teeth united, and are reproduced as soon as they
I are destroyed by using. Their gill-lids are small, with five obscure rays. They live on Crustacea and
sea-weed, and their flesh is mucous, and not hked, — that of some species being reckoned poisonous, at
I xcast at certain seasons of the year.
328
PISCES.
The genera Tetraodon and Diodon have the faculty of blovring themselves up like balloons, by filling
with air a thin and extensile membranous sac, which adheres to the peritoneum the whole length of
the abdomen. When thus inflated, they roll over and float with the belly uppermost, without any
power of directing their course ; but they are remarkably well defended by spines all over the surface,
which are erected as they are inflated. Their air-bladder has two lobes. They have but three gill-
arches in a side ; and when taken, the escape of the air from the pouch makes a sound. Each nostril
is furnished with a double fleshy tentaculum.
Diodon, Spinous Globe-fishes, get the generic name from the jaws consisting of only two pieces, one above and
the other below. Behind the trenchant edge of each piece, there is a rounded portion furrowed across, and
forming a powerful grinding apparatus. The spines upon the inflated skin, which vary a good deal in the dif-
ferent species, present a formidable appearance. They inhabit the warm seas; but sometimes, though rarely, a
specimen, brought no doubt by the Atlantic current, is found on the coast of Cornwall.
Tetraodon, have each jaw marked with a suture, so as to give the appearance of four teeth. The spines are
small and low, and some species are reckoned poisonous. None of them is recorded as visiting Britain. One is
electrical, T. lineatus, straight, brown and whitish ; it is found in the Nile, cast on shore by the inundations, and
collected by the children as a plaything.
Orthagoriscus, the Sun-fish, has the body compressed, spineless, and incapable of inflation, with the tail so short
that it appears only the anterior half of a fish which had been cut in two in the middle. Their dorsal and anal,
both high and pointed, are united to the caudal ; no air-bladder, and the stomach is small ; their surface is covered
with mucus. They are found in many seas ; and two species at least — 0. mola, the Short Sun-fish, and 0. oblongus,
the Oblong Sun-fish— are found in the British seas.
Triodon.—T\\QS,e species have the mark of a suture on the upper jaw, but none on the under, which gives them
the appearance of having three teeth. A vast membrane, as long as the body, and twice as high, is supported
before by a large bone answering to the pelvis, and makes these fishes resemble Balistes, in the following family.
Fins as in Diodon, body rough like Tetraodon, and the surface of the membrane roughened by a number of little
oblique crests. The only known species is from the Indian Ocean.
THE SECOND FAMILY OF THE PLECTOGNATHI.
SciiERODERMi (Fishcs With Hard or Granulated Skins).
These are readily distinguished by a conical or pyramidical muzzle, which is prolonged forwards from
the eyes, and terminates in the mouth, with distinct teeth in both jaws. The skin is either rough or
covered with very hard scales; and the air-bladder is large, strong, and of an oval shape. There are
two genera. Balistes, File-fishes, admit of subdivision, and have the body compressed ; eight teeth,
generally trenchant, in a single row in each jaw ; the skins scaly or granulated, but not osseous ; the
first dorsal composed of one or more spines, articulated with a particular bone, which is attached to
the cranium, where is a groove for its reception ; the second dorsal and anal long, and placed opposite
each other. Though without ventral fins, they have pelvic bones attached to the shoulders. They
abound in the warm seas near rocks, or on the surface of the water ; and their brilliant colours sparkle
in the water like those of Chetodons. Their flesh is disliked at all times ; and they are supposed to
feed on Coralline Polypi at some seasons, and become poisonous, but Cuvier found only sea-weed in
such as he opened.
Balistes proper, have the whole body covered with long and hard rhomboidal scales, which do not overlap each
other, but have the appearance of the teeth of a file ; three
spines on the dorsal, the first long, the third small and far
back; extremity of the chest salient and prickly, with
some spines in the skin behind, which have been con-
sidered as rays of ventral fins. Some have no particular
armature of the tail ; and of these, again, some have large
scales behind the gill-openings. Such is the European
File-fish — B. capriscus, which has been occasionally, but
very rarely, found on the British shores, and which is com-
mon in the Mediterranean.
Mo7iacanthus.— This subgenus has very small scales, set
rough like the pile of velvet ; a large cirrated spine on the
first dorsal, and the extremity of the pelvis salient and
spinous. Some have the pelvic bone moveable, and con-
nected with the abdomen by an extensile membrane, and
frequently strong spines on the sides of the tail. Some have
stout bristles on the tail, some have the body with tuber-
cles, and others with branched hairs.
PLECTOGNATHI.
329
Aluteres, have the body long, the granulations
scarcely visible, and a single spine in the first
dorsal, but the pelvis is completely hidden in the
skin.
TriacantMis, has a kind of ventrals, each sup-
ported by one large spinous ray, adhering to a non-
projecting pelvis ; the first dorsal has one largish
spine, and three smaller ones behind it ; the body
is crowded with small scales ; and the tail is longer
than in any of the other subgenera. The single
known species inhabits the Indian Ocean.
Ostracion, the Trunk-fish, has the head and body
covered in such a manner with plates of bones,
soldered together, as to form an inflexible cuirass,
leaving only the tail, the fins, the mouth, and a
small margin of the gill-opening, capable of mo-
tion,—all of which moveable parts pass through
openings of the cuirass. The greater part of the
vertebrae are also soldered together. The jaws are furnished with a row of ten or twelve conical teeth ; and they
have no apparent gill-opening, except a mere slit with a cutaneous lobe ; but inside the skin they have a gill-lid and
six rays. They have neither pelvic bone nor ventrals, and the single dorsal and anal are both small ; they have
little flesh, but the liver is large, and abounds in oil ; the stomach is also very large and membranous. Some of
them are thought to be poisonous. They might be subdivided according to the form of the body and the spines,
but it is not yet ascertained whether there may not be sexual dilferences in these respects. [The body is triangular
in some, quadrangular in others, and in some it is compressed ; and the appearance of the cuirass, or covering,
varies still more. None has been met with on the British shores.]
CHONDROPTERYGII.
The second series of Fishes, the Chondropterygii, or Cartilaginous Fishes, cannot
I be considered either superior or inferior to the Ordinary Fishes ; for, while some of the
I genera resemble Reptiles in the structure of their ear and reproductive organs, other
genera have the skeleton so very rudimental that one almost hesitates to regard them
as vertebrated animals. They form a series, ranging parallel to the Bony Fishes, just
j as the Marsupial Mammalia range parallel with the other ordinary Mammalia.
Essentially, the skeleton is cartilaginous, — that is to say, it has no bony fibres, but
! the calcareous matter is disposed in grains. The cranium is always formed of a single
I piece without sutures ; but there are ridges, furrows, and holes, whereby the por-
tions of it aiialogous to the cranial bones of other fishes may be distinguished. Even the
j moveable articulations of other orders are not distinguishable in the whole of this : as,
i for instance, part of the vertebr8e of some of the rays make a single piece, and some
j articulations of the bones of the face also disappear. Among the latter, the most
prominent character is the reduction of the maxillaries and intermaxillaries to mere
rudiments concealed under the skin, while their functions are performed by the palatals,
and sometimes by the vomer. The gelatinous substance which fills the intervals of the
vertebrae in other fishes, and communicates from one to another by only a small hole,
is, in several of this order, a long cord, which traverses all the vertebrae, with little
variation of diameter. .
The series divides itself into two orders : — Those with free gills, like all other
Fishes ; and those with fixed gills, which are so attached to the skin by the internal
edges that the water cannot escape from their intervals, except by holes in the surface.
PISCES.
330
THE FIRST ORDER OF CHONDROPTERYGII,—
CHONDROPTERYGII BRANCHIIS LIBERIS,—
(Or, with free gills), have in their gills a single wide opening, and a gill-lid, like the Bony
Fishes, but they have no gill-rays. There are two genera.
Accipenser, the Sturgeon.— General form like that of the Shark, but the body more or less covered
with bony plates in longitudinal rows, and the head externally armed with the same. Their mouth,
placed under the muzzle, is small and toothless ; and the palatal bones, soldered to the maxillaries,
form the upper jaw, while
there are vestiges of the in-
termaxillaries in the thick
lips. Placed upon a pedicle
of three articulations, this
mouth is more protractile
than that of the Shark ;
the eyes and nostrils are on the sides of the head, and harbules are suspended from the muzzle ; the
labyrinth within the cranial bones is perfect, but there is no external ear — the hole behind the temple
leading merely to the gills. The dorsal is behind the ventrals, and has the anal directly opposite to it ; the
caudal surrounds the extremity of the spine, and terminates in the upper lobe of the tail, but an under
lobe gives the tail the appearance of being forked. Internally, we find the spiral intestinal valve, and
the single pancreas of the Shark family ; and there is a very large air-bladder, which communicates
with the gullet by a large opening. Sturgeons ascend some rivers in vast numbers, and are the object
of valuable fisheries. The flesh of most is agreeable, their eggs or roes are made into caviar, and their
air-bladders furnish the finest isinglass.
Fig. 146. — The Sturgeon.
A. sturio, the Common Sturgeon, occasionally found in the west of Europe and on the British shores, is about
six feet long, has a pointed muzzle, five rows of plates with strong spines, and its flesh is much esteemed, being
somewhat like veal. The rivers falling into the Black and Caspian Seas produce this and three other species, if not j;
more. A. ruthenus, the Sterlet, is seldom more than two feet long, with the plates on the lateral line numerous and i
keeled, and those in the belly flat. It is considered delicious, and caviar made from it is reserved for the li
Russian court. There is reason to believe that this is the Slops and Accipenser so much celebrated by the ancients. ■
A. stelatus, the seroregia of the Russians, and the scherg of the Germans, grows to the length of four feet, has the |
plaits rougher and the snout more slender than the others. It is very numerous, but less esteemed than the
Common Sturgeon. A. huso, the Great Sturgeon, has blunter plates, a smoother skin, and shoi’ter snout and cirri, ;
than the Common Sturgeon. It is frequently found more than twelve, or even fifteen, feet in length, and weighing i
more than twelve hundred pounds. One specimen is mentioned which weighed near 3,000 pounds. Its flesh is not
much esteemed, and it is sometimes unwholesome ; but its air-bladder yields the very finest isinglass. It is found j
in the Po as well as in the northern rivers. |1
Several Sturgeons are found in North America, which are peculiar to that quarter of the world. i
Voliodon, may be considered as a subgenus of Accipenser. These fishes are distinguished by the great prolong- i
ation of their snout, the broad margins of which give it the figure of a leaf. In the general form and fins they re- |i
semble the Sturgeons ; but their gill-openings are wider, and the gill-lid is prolonged in a membranous flap, which n
extends to half the length of the body ; their gape is much cleft, and furnished with a number of small teeth. j
Their upper jaw is formed by the union of the palatals and maxillaries with a pedicle of two articulations. There is j
a spinal cord like that in the Lamprey, and the same spiral valve which is common to most of the order ; but the j ■
pancreas is partially divided into coeca. They are furnished with an air-bladder. Only a single species is known, j !
P. folium, which is found in the Mississippi. j
CMmcera. — This second genus of cartilaginous fishes with free gills, closely resembles the Sharks in \|
form, and in the disposition of the fins; but the gills open externally by one apparent hole in
each side, though, if we examine more closely, we find great part of their edges attached, and that there
are five separate holes terminating in the common aperture : still they have a vestige of an operculum
concealed in the skin. Their jaws are more reduced than in the Sharks, for the palatals and tempo-
rals are mere simple vestiges suspended to the sides of the muzzle, and the upper jaw is represented by
the vomer only : hard and undivided plates supply the place of teeth, four of them above, and two below.
The muzzle, supported as in the Sharks, projects forwards, and has pores arranged in rows nearly
CHONDROPTERYGII BRANCHIIS LIBERIS.
331
■ — — — — —
I regular. The first dorsal, containing a strong spine, is placed over the pectorals ; and the males, as in
the Sharks, have a bony appendage to the ventrals ; but these are divided into three branches, and they
have spinous appendages before the base of the ventrals, and small spines on the point of a fleshy
appendage between the eyes. Their eggs are large and flattened, with a leathery covering, and
having margins. [In faet, with some singular peculiarities, they approach pretty closely to the fishes
with fixed gills.]
C. monstrosa, the King of the Herrings, and Cat of the Mediterranean, is three feet long, and of a silvery
colour spotted with brown. It inhabits the European seas, the northerly ones most abundantly. Another, forming,
perhaps, a second subgenus, Callirliynchus, has the snout ending in a fleshy appendage like a toe. The
second dorsal begins over the ventrals, and terminates at the commencement of the fin under the tail. Only
one species, from the South Seas, is known.
j THE SECOND ORDER OF CHONDROPTERYGII.
!
I CHONDROPTERYGII BRANCHIIS FIXIS.
I These have their gills attached at the outer edge, with a separate opening, through which
! the water from each gill escapes. They have also small arches of cartilage suspended in their
{ muscles, opposite the gills, which may be called gill-ribs. They form two families.
I'
I THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE CHONDROPTERYGII BRANCHIIS FIXIS,—
I Selachii (the Sharks and Ravs), —
j Which has been comprised in two genera, has many common characters. The palatals and postmandi-
bularies are alone armed with teeth, supplying the place of jaws, the usual bones of which are mere
rudiments, a single bone representing the tympanal, jugal, and temporal bones, and the preoperculum.
The os hyoides is attached to this pedicle, and supports gill-rays as in ordinary fishes, although not
distinctly visible externally. It is followed by branchial arches, but has none of the three pieces which
I compose the gill-lid. They have pectorals and ventrals, the latter behind the abdomen on each side of
j the vent. Their membranous labyrinth is inclosed in the cartilage of the cranium, and their cavities
;[ contain starchy masses and not stony ones. The pancreas is a conglomerate gland, and not divided
I into coeca ; the intestinal canal is short, but with a spiral valve. The sexes pair regularly, the females
I having oviducts highly organized, which supply the place of a matrix in those that bring both their
I young alive ; such as produce eggs have them with a horny covering, the substance of which is supplied
j by a larger gland surrounding the oviduct. The males are easily known by large appendages on the
ij inner edge of the ventrals, the use of which is not well known, [though believed to serve as claspers~\.
ij Squalus, the Sharks properly so called, have a long body ; a thick, fleshy tail ; moderate pectorals ;
! and resemble ordinary fishes in their form, having the gill-openings on the sides of the neck, not
below, as in the Rays, and the eyes in the sides of the head. The snout is supported by three carti-
laginous branches arising from the fore part of the cranium, and the rudiments of maxillaries, inter-
maxillaries, and premandibulars, may be traced in the skeleton. The bone of the shoulder is sus-
pended in the muscles behind the gills, without connexion with the cranium or the spinal column.
I Some are viviparous ; others produce eggs covered with yellow and transparent horn, of an oblong
|j shape, and with cords of horn at the angles. Their small gill-ribs are apparent, and small ones are
i traceable along the spine ; their flesh is dry and leatheiy, and eaten only by the poor. They are
I numerous, and form many subgenera.
Scyllium (called Dog-fishes on the British coast). — Snout blunt and short ; nostrils near the mouth, continued in
a groove to the edge of the lip, and more or less closed by membranes ; teeth with a long point in the middle, and
I a shorter one at each side. They all have spiracles, and one anal fin ; the dorsals are far backward, the first being
I even before the ventrals ; their caudal is long and truncated, and their gill-openings under the pectorals in the
British ones ; the anal is against the interval between the two dorsals. The species are :
S. canicula, the Small-spotted Dog-fish, with numerous spots and the ventrals truncated. — S. cutilis, the Large-
spotted Dog-fish, with the spots larger, sometimes ocellated, and the ventrals square.— /S. melastomum, Black-
332
PISCES.
mouthed Dog-fish. Light-brown, with ocellated spots. All the three are peculiarly destructive to the more
valuable fishes. Some foreign ones have a slight difference of character.
The Sharks properly so called include all species with a produced snout, no nast^l grooves, and with
a caudal lobe more or less forked. They form the genus
Carcharias,—2L numerous and notorious tribe,
with trenchant-pointed teeth, usually serrated in
the margins ; the first dorsal before the ventrals ;
the second nearly opposite the anals. They have no
spiracles ; the nostrils are in the middle of the
snout, and the last gill-opening extends over the
pectorals. C. vulgaris, the White Shark, is some-
times twenty feet long, with isosceles-triangular
teeth, ragged at the sides, and the lower ones
narrow points placed on wider bases ; these teeth in
the mouth of such a fish forming weapons dreaded
by all mariners. Found in most seas. [Its appear-
ance on the British shores has been mentioned,
but it wants authentication.] C. vulpes, the Fox-
shark, or Thresher.— Triangular teeth in both
jaws ; upper lobe of the tail as long as the whole
body ; second dorsal and anal very small. C. glau~
cus, the Blue Shark, with curved-sided teeth
above, inclining outwards, and straighter ones be-
low ; all ragged on the edges.
Lamna, the Porbeagle, differs from a true Shark in the pyramidal snout, and the gill openings before the pec-
torals. L. cornubica occasionally appears on the
British coast, and its size has caused it to be mis-
taken for the White Shark. L. monensis resembles
the last, but has the snout shorter.
Galeus. — Shaped like the Sharks, but with spira-
cles and an anal. G. vulgaris, the Tope, is found
on the British shores.
Mustelus, resembles the former in shape, but
has the teeth like a close pavement.
Milavis, the Smooth Hound, is a British species.
Notidanus, wants the first dorsal ; has six gill-
openings, triangular teeth above, and like a
saw below. Two species inhabit the Mediterranean. Has the form of the Sharks, and spiracles, with the gill-
openings nearly surrounding the neck ; its teeth are small and not notched. It is the largest of the True Fishes,
being sometimes thirty.six feet long ; but it is a harmless fish. S. maximus, the Basking Shark, is found in the
British seas.
Centracion, has spiral teeth like pavement, and a spine before each dorsal.
apinax, resembles Carcharias, but has spiracles ; no anal fin ; several rows of small trenchant teeth ; and a strong
spine before each dorsal. S. acantheus, the Piked Dog-fish, is a British species.
Centrina, resembles the last ; but the second
dorsal over the ventrals, and the short tail, give
it a clumsy appearance ; its skin is very rough.
Scymnus, the Greenland Shark, is more abun-
dant in the Arctic seas, and is large and vora-
cious ; but is understood not to attack Man.
Zygmna, forms a second genus. Like the
Sharks in the body, but with the snout singu-
larly produced, forming two pieces like a double-
headed hammer, with an eye in the middle of
each extremity. The species of the European
seas grow to the length of twelve feet, [and we
believe larger ones are met with in southern
latitudes].
Squatina, the Angel Fish, has spiracles and
wants the anal ; but it has the mouth at the end
of the muzzle; the eyes in the upper part of
the head ; the head round ; the body broad and
flattened horizontally; the pectorals large and
far forward, but separated from the back by a
Fig. 149.-The Hammer.lie idcd Shark. gill-openings ; their two dorsals are
behind the ventrals, and the caudal is attached both to the upper and under sides of the termination of the body.
Fig. 147.— The White Shark.
CHONDROPTERYGII BRANCHIIS FIXIS.
333
il,
i
S. angdus, the Common Angel-fish, grows seven or eight feet long ; is very voracious, and one of the ugliest
! of fishes.
i Pristis, the Saw-fish, form a fourth genus. They
i have a long body, like the Sharks, with the gill-
■; openings below ; the snout extended like the
: blade of a sword, and with strong and trenchant
ij teeth like spines on both edges. This formidable
:jl weapon gives name to the fishes, and with it they
|j will attack the largest Whales, and inflict dreadful
wounds. They sometimes attain twelve or fifteen
;! feet in length.
I Raia, the Skate, [or rather, perhaps, Raiaidce, the Skate family,] are less numerous than the Sharks.
1:1 They have the body flattened till, from its union with the large and fleshy pectorals, it forms a disc.
|| These pectorals are joined to each other before the snout ; extend behind as far as the base of the
II ventrals, and have their humeral bones articulated with the spine behind the gills. Eyes and spiracles
|| above ; mouth, nostrils, and gill-openings below ; and dorsal fins almost always on the tail. Eggs
I brovrn, leathery, and square, with points at the angles. They consist of the following subgenera :
Fig. 150. — The Saw-fish.
;|!
i|
Rhbiobatis, connect the Sharks and Rays by their thick fleshy tail, and two distinct dorsals and a caudal.
The rhomboids formed by the snout and pectorals is sharper in front and narrower than in the ordinary Rays ;
but excepting this they have all the characters of these, and their crowded teeth are placed in fives, like little
paving-stones. Some inhabit the Mediterranean ; some the Atlantic ; and one species from Brazil is said, but
not proved, to be electric. Rhina differs from Rhinobatis in having a stout, broad, and rounded snout.
Torpedo.— TSiil short, but tolerably fleshy ; disc of the body nearly circular, the anterior edge being formed by
two productions of the muzzle, which extend outwards and join the pectorals. The space between the pectorals
and the head and gills is filled by an electric apparatus, consisting of numerous cells formed like honeycombs,
and subdivided by lateral diaphragms, in the intervals of which a mucous fluid is contained. This electric or
galvanic apparatus is, like that in Gymnotus, amply supplied with nerves. The shocks given by the Torpedo,
though smart, are not so benumbing as those of Gymnotus. They probably enable it to stun its prey. The body
is smooth, and the teeth small and pointed. Two species, one with ocellated spots, and another with seven fleshy
protuberances round the spiracles, with the back marbled, sprinkled, or spotted with brown, were long confounded
with this one. There are also several species in the foreign seas. The Common Torpedo is occasionally found on
the Channel coast of England.
Raia, the Rays properly so called, or Skate, have the disc rhomboidal ; the tail slender ; with two small dor-
sals on the upper part, near the point, and sometimes the vestige of a caudal ; and their teeth are small, and
ranged in quincunx on the jaws. The European seas furnish many species, some of which are not yet well deter-
mined. Their flesh is rather hard when recent, but wholesome. [The species found in the British seas are as
follows : R. diagrinea, the Shagreen Ray ; R. batis, the Blue or common Skate ; R. oxyrhynchus, the Sharp-
nosed Ray; R.marginata, the Margined Ray; R. maculata,\\\s. Homelin or Spotted Ray; R, microcellata, t\\Q
Small-eyed Ray ; R. davata, the Thornback ; and R. radiata, the Starry-ray.— British Fishes.']
Trygon, the Sting Ray, has on the tail a strong spine notched on both sides ; teeth similar to the other Rays ;
the disc obtuse forwards, and the tail often without any fin save a rudimental membrane. R. acanthus resembles
Trygon, but has the tail long and slender, without fin or spine.
Miliobatis, the Eagle Ray, has the snout projecting beyond the long pectorals, which extend outw'ards like
wings; the jaw's have broad flat teeth like a pavement ; the tail is long and slender, having a spine on the upper
part near the base, and not far behind the small dorsal. In some there are tw o or more spines.
Cephaloptera, has the small tail, the spine, and the small dorsal of the last subgenus : but the pectorals are
more extended in proportion to the length of the body ; the head is truncated in front, and a lobe of each pectoral
advances on each side of it, making the fish seem as if it had horns.
THE SECOND FAMILY OF THE CHONDROPTERYGII BRANCHIIS FIXIS.
Cyclostomata (vfith the Mouth formed into a Sucker).
j With respect to their skeleton these are the least perfect of fishes, and, indeed, of all vertehrated
i animals. They have no pectorals or ventrals ; their body ends in a circular fleshy lip, with a cartilaginous
ring supporting it, and formed of the soldered palatals and mandibularies. The substance of all the
vertebrae is traversed by a single tendinous cord, filled internally with a mucilaginous fluid, without
contractions and enlargements, which reduces the vertebrae to cartilaginous rays not easily distinguish-
j able from each other. The annular portion is rather more solid than the rest, but not cartilaginous
I through its whole circle. They have no ordinary ribs, but the gill-ribs, noticed as rudimental in the
|i Sharks and Rays, are more developed and united with each other in this family into a kind of cage, but
334
PISCES.
appearance of sacs produced by the union of the faces of the proximate ones. The labyrinth of the ear
is embedded in the cranium, and the nostrils opened by a single orifice, in front of which is a blind ,
cavity, improperly thought a spiracle. The intestine is straight and slender, with a spiral valve.
Petromyzon, the Lampreys, have seven gill-openings on each side, and the skin on the upper and under parts of
the tail is formed into fin-like crests, which, however, have no rays. The Lampreys properly so called, have strong i
teeth in the maxillary ring, and the inner disc of the lip, which is very circular, is covered with tubercles, hard and !|
crusted like teeth : this ring is suspended by a transverse plate answering to the intermaxillaries, and there are f
vestiges of maxillaries on the sides. The tongue, which moves backwards and forwards like a piston, and performs
the suction, has two longitudinal rows of small teeth. Water reaches the gills; from the mouth by a particular •;
membranous canal, a sort of trachea, placed under the gullet and perforated with holes ; there is a dorsal before i
the vent, and another behind it which unites with the caudal. They habitually fix themselves to stones and other
hard substances by means of the sucker ; and they attach themselves to the largest fishes in the same manner, and
in the end pierce their integuments and prey upon their substance.
The species are— P. marinus, the Sea Lamprey, two or three feet long, marbled with brown and a yellow ground;
the first dorsal separate from the second ; two large teeth on the upper part of the maxillary range. In spring they ;
approach the mouth of rivers, and their flesh is highly esteemed. P. fluviabilis, the River Lamprey, from a foot to 1
eighteen inches long ; silvery, with blackish or olive spots on the back ; two large teeth in the maxillary ring; found j
in the fresh waters. P. planerii, the Small River Lamprey, is eight or ten inches long, and has the colours and j
teeth of the preceding : it also inhabits the fresh waters. [The last two are often styled Lamperns.] I
Myxine. — The members of this genus have but one tooth in the maxillary ring, which is entirely membranous ; ,i
two rows of strong teeth on each side of the tongue ; but in other respects like the Lampreys. The mouth is i
circular, with eight cirri, and has a spiracle on the upper margin which reaches the interior. The body is cylin- j
drical, and furnished with one fin round the extremity of the tail. The intestine is straight, but simple, and plaited
internally, and the liver has two lobes : no eyes are perceptible. Their eggs grow to a large size ; they discharge ij,
so much mucus from the pores in their lateral line that if kept in a vessel of water they turn it into a jelly ; they j:
attack fishes in the same manner as the Lampreys, and they are divided into subgenera according to the number |
of their gill-openings. i
Heptratremus, has seven on each side, like the Lampreys, and the only known species is from the South Sea.
Gastrobanclius, has a common canal to the gills on each side, each of which opens by a hole near the heart, and i!
at one third of the length from the head. G. glutinosa, the Hag, is the only known species, and it enters the mouths j<
of fishes when on the fishermen’s line, and plunders their substance. j I
Ammocetes, has the entire skeleton so soft and membranous that there is not a bone in the whole, not even a |
tooth ; they have the external form and gill-openings of the Lampreys, but their fleshy lip forms only a semicircle l|
on the upper part of the mouth, which is furnished with numerous cirri. The known species, A. brancMalis, is |!
from six to eight inches long, about the thickness of a goose-quill, and of no use but as bait for other fish. [It has fij
been accused of sucking the gills of other fishes, but perhaps falsely. It is found in the sand and mud of small j j
streams ; preys on worms, insects, and dead matter, and is, in return, preyed on by the Eel.] |
[^Amphioxus, has the body compressed, the surface without scales, and both ends pointed. It has a dorsal along : i
the whole line of the back, but no other fins. The mouth is on the under side of the body, opens longitudi- i il
nally, and has a row of filaments on each side. A. lanceolatus, the Lancelot, is the only known species. It is a 1 1
British fish, and an inhabitant of the sea, in which it is found, although very rarely, lurking under stones in !;
pools left by the ebbing tide. Pallas considered it as a molluscous animal, and not a fish ; but Mr. Yarrell, in his '
British Fishes, argues that it is a fish, and that in organization it is the lowest of the class. “ The form of the (
fish,” says Mr. Yarrell, “ is compressed ; the head pointed, without any trace of eyes ; the nose rather produced ;
the mouth on the under edge, in the shape of an elongated fissure, the sides of which are flexible ; from the inner i
margin extend various slender filaments, which cross and intermingle with those on the opposite side. Along lj
the sides of the body the muscles are arranged in regular order, diverging from a central line ; one series passing
obliquely upward and backward, and the other series as obliquely downward and backward ; the anal aperture is !
situated one-fourth of the length of the fish in advance of the end of the tail ; the tail itself pointed; from the nose b
to the end of the tail, a delicate membranous dorsal fin extends the whole length of the back, supported by very j
numerous and minute soft rays; the surface of the body smooth.” These characters leave no doubt that the |
animal is a fish ; but that it ought to be classed with the Lamprey family is another matter. The specimen from !:
which the description was made was not above an inch in length, very slender, and almost transparent.] [
335
SECOND GREAT DIVISION OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
THE MOLLUSCA.*
The Mollusca have no articulated skeleton nor vertebral canal. Their nervous
system does not unite in a spinal cordf, but merely in a certain number of medullary
masses dispersed in different points of the body, the principal one of which, called the
brain, is placed crosswise upon the gullet, encircling it with a nervous collar. Their
organs of motion and of the senses have not the same uniformity in number and
position as in the Vertebrated Animals ; and the variety is still more striking with the
viscera, particularly in relation to the position of the heart and respiratory organs, and
even in the structure and nature of the latter ; for some Mollusca breathe the free air,
and others the fresh or salt water. In general, however, their external organs, and
those of locomotion, are symmetrical on the opposite sides of a middle axis.
The circulation of the Mollusca is always double, — that is to say, their pulmonary
circulation always makes a separate and complete circuit ; and this function is always
aided by one fleshy ventricle at least, placed, not as in the Fishes, between the veins
of the body and the arteries of the lung, but, on the contrary, between the veins of the
lung and the arteries of the body. It is, consequently, an aortic ventricle. The
family of Cephalopods alone is provided, besides, with a pulmonary ventricle, which is
even divided into two. The aortic ventricle is also divided in some genera, of which the
Area and Lingula are examples : at other times, as in the remaining bivalves, its auricle
only is divided.
When there is more than one ventricle, they are not united together to form a single
organ, as in animals with warm blood, but they are often placed considerably apart, so
that we may say that then there are several hearts.
The blood of the Mollusca is white, or bluish ; and the flbrine appears to be pro-
portionally less abundant than in the blood of Vertebrated Animals. There is reason to
believe that their veins perform the functions of absorbent vessels.
Their muscles are attached to different points of their skin, and form there tissues
more or less complicated and close in texture. The motions of these tissues are limited
to contractions in different directions, which produce inflexions and prolongations, or
relaxations, of their different parts; by means of which the creatures creep, swim, and
seize upon various objects, according as the forms of the parts are adapted to these
movements ; but as their members are not sustained by jointed and solid levers, the
Mollusca cannot make rapid springs.
The irritability of the greater number of the Mollusca is very great, and is retained
* In the original, there is here a long note, containing an expo- I f From this mode of expression, we infer that Cuvier had adopted
sition of the Linnsean classification of avertebrated animals, and I the theory, that the brain and spinal cord are the result of a union of
also the modification of it proposed by Bruguiferes. Cuvier’s first I the nerves, trending from the circumference to certain centres. The
sketch of the arrangement now to be explained was made in May opposite opinion was that maintained by Haller, and all the earlier
1795. — Ed. 1 physiologists. — Ed.
MOLLUSCA.
336
a long time in parts after they have been amputated. Their skin is naked, very sensi-
tive, and, in general, bedewed with a humour, which oozes from its pores. No peculiar
organ of smell has yet been discovered, although they enjoy that sense ; and it may be
that the entire skin is its seat, for this has much resemblance to a pituitary membrane.
All the Acephales, the Braehiopods, the Cirrhopods, and some of the Gasteropods and
Pteropods, are destitute of eyes ; but the Cephalopods possess these organs, with a
structure equal, at least, in complexity, to those of animals with warm blood. They also
are the only Mollusca in which organs of hearing have been detected, and in which
the brain is inclosed in a particular cartilaginous skull.
Nearly all the Mollusca have a developement of the skin which covers the body, and
resembles more or less a cloak, but which is often reduced into a simple disk, or is folded
into a tube, or hollowed into a sac, or, lastly, extended and divided in the form of fins
or swimmers.
We call those Mollusca naked in which the cloak is simply membranous or fleshy ;
but there is commonly formed within it one or several laminae of a more or less solid
substance, which is deposited in layers, and increases at the same time in extent, as
well as in thickness, because the recent layers always extend beyond the older ones.
When this substance lies concealed in the cloak, common usage allows us to extend
to the species so circumstanced, the title of naked Mollusca. But oftener that substance
assumes such a size and developement that the animal can contract or withdraw under
its shelter ; we then give it the name of shell, and the animal is said to be testaceous.
The skin which covers the shell is thin, and sometimes dried, or wanting: it is commonly
called [by French naturalists], the drap-marin, [and by the English, and those who
write in the Latin tongue, the epidermis'].'^
The variety in the forms and colour, in the exterior sculpture, composition, and lustre
of shells, is infinite. The greater number by far are calcareous ; there are some simply
corneous ; but all are formed of material deposited in layers, or exuded by the skin
under the epidermis, as are the rete mucosum, the nails, the hair, the horns, the scales,
and even the teeth. The texture of shells differs according as that exudation is made
in parallel layers, or in vertical filaments arranged closely against each other, f
The Mollusca present every kind of mastication and deglutition : their stomachs are
sometimes simple, sometimes multiplicate, often furnished with peculiar armatures, and
their intestines are variously elongated. They have, in general, salivary glands, and
always a liver of considerable size, but no pancreas f nor mesentery. Several have
secretions, w'hich are peculiar to them.
They exhibit, also, every variety of generation. Several fecundate themselves,
while in others, although hermaphrodite, the union of two individuals is necessary to fe-
cundation : in many the sexes are distinct and separate. Some are viviparous ; others
are oviparous, and the eggs of these are sometimes enveloped in a more or less con-
sistent shell, or sometimes only in a simple viscosity.
These variations in digestion and generation are found in Mollusca of the same order,
sometimes of the same family.
llie Mollusca, in general, seem to be animals of inferior developement : hebetous
* Previous to my system, the Testacea were considered a peculiar I t The student will find the formatiou of shells, and their structure,
order ; but the transitions from the naked to the shelled Mollusca are admirably explained by Mr. Gray, in a paper, on the economy of Mol-
so insensible, and their natriral divisions are so interlaced, that this I luscous animals, inserted in the PhU. Trans., 1833. — Ed.
distinction can be no longer retained. Moreover, there are several t Professor Grant maintains that there is a pancreas, or its repre-
Testacea which are not Mollusca. | sentative, in all classes of Mollusca. — Ed.
CEPHALOPODES.
337
and incapable of active exertion, they maintain themselves amid living beings princi-
pally by their fecundity, and the tenacity with which they retain life.
DIVISION OF THE MOLLUSCA INTO SIX CLASSES.*
The general form of the body of the Mollusca being, in a sufficient degree, propor-
tional to the complication of their internal organization, indicates their natural divisions.
In some, the body has the form of a sac, inclosing the branchiae, and open above,
whence there protrudes a head well developed, and crowned with certain strong fleshy
elongated productions, by means of which the animals progress, and seize upon objects.
We call these the Cephalopodes.
In others, the body is not open ; the head has no appendages, or only very minute
ones ; the principal organs of locomotion are two wings, or membranous fins, placed
on the sides of the neck, and in which the branchial tissue is often spread. These are
the Pteropodes.
Others, again, crawl on the belly on a fleshy disk, sometimes, though rarely, com-
pressed into a fin. They have almost all a distinct head. We call these the
Gasteropodes.
A fourth class is composed of those Mollusca in which the mouth lies concealed in
the base of the cloak, which also incloses tl^.e branchiae and the viscera, and opens
either throughout its whole length, or at both its extremities, or at one only. These
are our Acephales.
A fifth comprehends the species which, inclosed also in a cloak, and without an
apparent head, have fleshy or membranous arms, garnished with cilise of the same
nature. We have called these the Brachiopodes.
Lastly, there are some which, alike the other Mollusca in the cloak, the branchiae,
&c., differ from them in having numerous horny articulated members, and in a nervous
system more allied to that of the Annulose Animals. Of these we constitute our last
class, the Cirrhopodes.
THE FIRST CLASS OF MOLLUSCA.
THE CEPHALOPODES.*
The cloak unites under the body, and forms a muscular sac, that incloses ail the
viscera. In several species, its sides are extended into fleshy fins. The head issues
from the opening of the sac : it is roundish, furnished with two large eyes, and crowned
with fleshy conical arms or feet, varying in their length, and capable of being bent
very vigorously in every direction ; and, as their surface is armed with suckers, the
animals fix themselves, by their means, with great force to whatever objects they em-
brace. With their feet they seize their prey, walk, and swim. They swim with the
head backwards, and crawl in all directions, with the head beneath and the body above.
* For the name Mollusca, M. de Blainville proposes to substitute I classes is entirely my own, as well as the greater number of the sub-
Mnlacozoa ; and he separates from them the Chitons and the Cirrho- I divisions to the second degree,
pods, with which he makes a subtypical section nnder the name I t The Cephalophora of De Blainville.
Malentozoaria. The following distribution of the Mollusca into |
Z
MOLLUSCA.
338
A fleshy funnel placed at the aperture of the sac, before the neck, affords an outlet
to the excretions.
The Cephalopodes have two branchiae, one on each side of the sac, in the shape of a
compound fern-leaf. The great vena cava, when between them, divides into two
branches, which terminate each in a fleshy ventricle, placed at the base of its respective
branchia, and propelling the blood into it.
The two branchial veins tend to and terminate in a third ventricle, situated near the
bottom of the sac, whence the blood is carried to every part of the body by different
arteries.
Respiration is effected by the water which enters into the sac, and is driven out
again through the funnel. It appears that the water even penetrates into two cavities
of the peritoneum, which the venm cavae cross in their course to the branchiae ; and
that it has some influence on the venous blood, through the medium of a glandular
apparatus attached to these veins.
The mouth opens amidst the bases of the feet. It has two powerful corneous jaws,
similar to the beak of a Parrot, and between the jaws is a tongue roughened with
horny prickles. The gullet swells out into a crop, and then passes into a gizzard as
fleshy as that of a bird, to which succeeds a third membranous and spiral stomach,
into which the liver, which is very large, pours its bile through two conduits. The
intestine is simple and short. The rectum opens into the funnel.
These animals have a peculiar excretion of a deep black colour, which they use to
taint the water when concealment is necessary. It is secreted by a gland, and reserved
in a sac, differently situated in different species.
Their brain, inclosed in a cartilaginous cavity of the head, sends off from each side
a cord which swells, within each orbit, into a large ganglion, whence are derived innu-
merable optic filaments. The eye is formed of numerous membranes, and is covered
by the skin, which becomes transparent in passing over it, and sometimes forms folds
that supply the want of eyelids. The ear is merely a little cavity excavated on each
side near the brain, without semicircular canals or external passages, and in which
there is suspended a membranous sac, containing a little stone.
The skin of these animals, particularly of the Octopus, changes colour, in patches
and in spots, with a rapidity greatly superior to that of the Chameleon.*
The sexes are separate. The ovary of the female is at the bottom of the sac. Two
oviducts carry the eggs from it, passing them through two large glands which envelope
them, during their passage, with a viscous fluid, and gather them together into a sort
of cluster. The testicle of the male, similar in position to the ovary, gives off a vas
deferens that terminates in a fleshy penis situated to the left of the anus. A vesicula
seminalis, and a prostate, also open there. There is reason to believe that impreg-
nation is effected by a sprinkling of the seminal fluid over the eggs, as illustrated
in the majority of Fishes. In the season of spawning, the vesicula contains a vast
number of little filiform bodies, which, through a peculiar mechanism, writhe and
move about rapidly as soon as they fall into the water, and shed the fluid with which
they are filled.
These animals are voracious and savage ; and as they are agile, and are furnished
* See Carus, Nov Act. Nat. Cur. xii. part i. p. 320 ; and Sargiovanni, Ann. dcs Sci. Nat. vol. xvi. p. 3CS. [Also Coldstream, in Edinburgh
Journ. of Nat. and Geogruph. Science, vol. ii. p. 296.] '1
CEPHALOPODES.
339
with numerous organs for seizing their prey, they destroy many Fishes and Crusta-
ceous animals.
Their flesh is eatable. Their inky secretion is employed in painting, and from it
some have asserted that the China ink of commerce is manufactured.* * * §
The Cephalopods comprise only one order f, which we divide into genera from the nature of
the shell. Those which have no external shell formed, according to Linnseus, the single genus
Sepia, or Cuttle-fish, J
which we now subdivide as follows : —
The Poulpes {Octopus, Lam.) ; the Pohjpus of the ancients.
These have only two small conical grains of a horny substance imbedded in their back, one on each
side ; and their sac, having no fins, represents an oval purse. Their feet are eight in number, all nearly
of equal size, very large in proportion to the body, and united together at their insertions by a mem-
brane. The Octopus uses them equally in swimming, in creeping, and in seizing its prey. From their
length and strength they are formidable weapons, by means of which the prey is entangled and
caught ; and they have often been the destruction of swimmers. § The eyes are proportionally small,
and the skin can be made at will to contract over them so as to cover them completely. The ink bag
is embedded in the liver. The glands of the oviducts are small.
Some (the Polypes of Aristotle) have their suckers in two alternating rows along [the oral margin] of each foot.
The common species {Sepia octopodia, Linn.), with a minutely granulous skin, arms six times as long as the
body, and garnished with 120 pairs of suckers, infests our coasts in summer, where it destroys an immense
quantity of Crustacea. The seas of the tropics produce the Octopus granulatus, Lam. {Sepia rugosa, Bose.)
Seb. iii. ii. 2, 3, known by its more decidedly granulated body, its arms only a little longer than itself, garnished
with fifty pairs of suckers. Some believe this to be the species which furnishes the China ink of commerce.
Other Poulpes (the Eledons of Aristotle) have only a single row of suckers down each foot. In the Mediteri'anean
there is a species remarkable for its musky smell : it is the Octopus moschatus, Lam. — Mem. de la Soc. d'Hist.
Nat. in 4to, pi. 11 ; Rondelet, 516.
The Argonauts {Argonauia, Linn.)—
Are Poulpes with two rows of suckers : the pair of feet nearest the back expand, at their extremities,
into a broad membrane. They have not the dorsal cartilaginous spicula of the common Octopus ; but
we always find these Cuttles in a very thin,
regularly-grooved spiral shell, which, from the
disproportionate size of the last whorl, has
some resemblance to a canoe, the spire repre-
senting the poop. The animal uses it too as a
boat, for when the sea is calm, groups of them
have been seen navigating the surface in it,
employing six of their tentacula for oars, and
raising, it is said, the two with expanded ex-
tremities to serve the purposes of sails. If the
waves rise, or any danger threatens, the Argo-
naut withdraws all its arms into the shell, con-
tracts itself there, and descends to the bottom.
Its body does not penetrate within the spire of
the shell, and it appears does not adhere to it,
at least there is no muscular attachment, and this fact has led some authors to think that the Cuttle is
a parasite of the same nature as the Hermit-crab H ; but as it is always found in the same shell, as we
never find any other animal there, although it is very common, and naturally adapted for rising to the
* However, M. Al. Remusat has found nothin? in Chinese authors
to confirm this opinion, [which, the translator may add, is now known
to be erroneousl.
t The discoveries of Mr. Owen have proved the necessity of dividing-
the class into two orders: — 1. Dibrancbiata, with two branchiae, of
which all the naked Cuttle-fish are examples ; and, 2. Tetrabranchi-
ATA, with four branchiae, as in Nautilus, and as supposed to have been
in the multilocular-shelled fossil Cephalopodes.. — Ed.
t In Blainville’s system they form the order CryptodibrancMata.
§ This fact needs confirmation ; and we need scarcely add, that the
stories of their sinking boats and ships are entirely fabulous. — Ed.
II Hence M. Rafinesque, and others following him, have made the
animal a genus under the name Ocijthoe. [Certainly the opinion of its
being a parasite was, until recently, entertained by most naturalists ;
but that advocated by Cuvier has been greatly strengthened, or rather
proved, by the experiments of Mrs. Power. See the Mag. of Natural
History, conducted by Mr. Charlesworth ; and the dissections and
arguments of Mr. Owen, in the Proceedhtgs and Transactions of the
Zoological Society of London. The animal does not sail as here de-
scribed : the use of the expanded arms is to retain the animal within
its shell.]
z 2
MOLLUSCA.
340
surface, and as it has been even asserted that the germ of this shell has been seen in the egg of the
Argonaut *, we must say that this opinion is, to say the most of it, still very problematical. — Poll,
Testae. Neap. hi. p. 10. See also Ferussac, Mem. de la Soc. d'Hist. Nat. de Paris, ii. p. 160 ; and
Ranzani, Mem. di Star. Nat. Lee. i. p. 85. It is the Nautilus and Pompilus of the ancients. — Plin. ix. c. 29.
We know some species, very like each other both in the animal and shell, which Linnaeus confounded together
under the name of Argonauta argo, vulgarly called the Paper -nautilus.
It is supposed that we must ascribe to an animal analogous to the Argonaut, the Bellerophon, shells
rolled up spirally and symmetrically, and without septa ; but thick, not grooved, and whose last whorl is propor-
tionably shorter. [Sowerby says that Bellerophon is the only fossil that bears any real resemblance to Argonauta,
but neither shell, in his opinion, has been formed by a Cephalopodous animal, but probably by one nearly like
that of Carinaria. The fossils are characteristic of the carboniferous limestone, and the oldest secondary strata :
in these the shell is frequently found changed to silex.]
The Sleeve-fish {Loligo, Lam.) —
Have in the back, instead of a shell, a horny lamina in the shape of a sword or lancet. Their sac has
two fins ; and besides the eight feet, furnished with small pedicled suckers inordinately arranged, their
head supports two arras much longer than the feet, and only acetibuleferous near the ends, which are
enlarged. These the animal employs as anchors to fix itself. Their ink-bag is buried in the liver ;
and the glands of their oviducts are very large. They lay their eggs attached together in straight
garlands, and in two series ; [and the entire mass somewhat resembles a mop, being composed of
numerous intestine-like filaments tied together in the centre].
The family is now subdivided from the number and armature of the feet, and the form of the fins. The LoU-
gopsis, like the Octopus, has only eight feet, but our knowledge of the genus rests upon figures that are scarcely
trustworthy.t In Loligo properly so called, the arms have suckers as well as the feet, and the fins are situated
towards the end of the sac. We have three species in our seas,— the L. vulgaris {Sepia loligo, Linn.) ; L. sagittata,
and L. subulata, or Sepia media, Linn. The Onychotheuthis, Lichenst. {Onykia, Lesueur,) have the form of the
Loligo, but the suckers of their arms end in hooked spines. The Sepiola have rounded fins, attached, not to the
end, but to the sides of the sac. The common Sepiola (Sepia sepiola, Linn.) occurs in our seas. The body is short
and obtuse, with small circular fins. It never exceeds three inches in length ; and its horny lamina is slender and
pointed like a needle. :j: The Sepiotheutes, Blainv. (Chondrosepia, Leukard,) have the sac margined throughout
with the fins, as in the Sepia ; but their shell is horny, as in the Loligo.
The Cuttle-fish, strictly so called {Sepia, Lam.), —
Possess the two long arms of Loligo, and a fleshy fin stretched along each side of their sac. Their
shell is oval, thick, tumid, and composed of an infinity of very thin parallel calcareous laminae, joined
together by thousands of little hollow columns, which are placed upright in the spaces between every
two laminae. This structure renders it friable, whence it is employed by artists in polishing various
works ; and it is given to cage birds to sharpen their beaks upon. The Sepia have the ink-bag separate
from the liver, and situated deeper in the abdomen. The glands of the oviducts are enormously large.
They deposit their eggs attached to one another in branehed clusters, not
unlike a cluster of grapes, whence the vulgar have called them Sea-grapes.
The species distributed in all our seas (Sepia officinalis, Linn.) reaches a foot or
more in length. Its skin is smooth, whitish, and dotted with red. In the Indian
Ocean there is one with a skin roughened with tubercles (S. tubercidata, Lam.).
(Among fossils we find some little bodies armed with a spine, which are the
ends of a bone of Sepiae. They constitute the genus Beloptera of Deshayes. See
Ann. des. Sc. Nat. ii. xx. 1, 2. Some other fossils, but petrified, appear to have great
relation to the beaks of the Sepiae. These are the Ry7icholithes of M. Faure Biguet.
—See Gaillardot, Ann. Sc. Nat. ii. 485, and pi. xxii. ; and D’Orbigny, ib. pi. vi.)
Linnasus united in one genus— his m.-E^gs of the Argonaut.
Nautilus —
All spirally twisted, symmetrical, and chambered shells, — that is to say, divided by partitions into
several cavities ; and he supposed them to he inhabited by Cephalopods. One of them is, in fact, the
shell of a Cephalopod, very similar to a Sepia, but with shorter arms : it is the genus
Spirula, Lam. —
In the hinder part of the body of the Cuttle is an interior shell, which, however dissimilar to the
bone of the Sepia in figure, does not differ much from it in the manner of its formation. If we imagine
i
f
II
!l
a
ii
II
a
u
I
* This appears now to have been disproved. — Kd.
t Loligopsis is now ascertained to iiave two arms, remarkable for
their great length and gracility. — See Ferussac, in /Inn. des Sciences
Nat. Part. Zool. n. s. iii. p. 339, &c. — Ed.
t On tiic anatomy of Sepiola and Loligopsis, consult Ur. Grant’s
paper in the 1st vol. of the Zoul. Trans. — Ed.
I
j
CEPHALOPODES.
341
that the successive layers, instead of remaining parallel and in nigh approximation, were to become
concave towards the body, more distant, each growing a little in breadth, and making an angle
between them, we should then have a very elongated cone, rolled up spirally on one plane, and divided
transversely into chambers. Such is the shell of Spirula ; which has these additional characters, that
the turns of the spire do not touch, and that a single hollow column, occupying the interior side of
each chamber, continues its tube with those of the other columns even to the extremity of the shell.
This is what is named the Syphon.
Only one species {Nautilus spirula, Linn.) is known.
The shell of the Nautilus, properly so called, differs from that of the Spirula in this,— that the septa increase
very rapidly, and that the last turns of the spire not only touch, but envelope the preceding. The syphon is in the
centre of each partition. The common species {Nautilus pompilius, Lin.) is very large, silvered within, and
covered externally with a whitish crust, varied with reddish somewhat undulated bands. According to Rumphius,
its animal should be in part lodged in the last cell, and should have the sac, the eyes, the parrot-like beak and the
funnel of other Cephalopods ; but its mouth, instead of their great feet and arms, should be surrounded with
several circles of numerous little tentacula, destitute of suckers. A ligament springing from the beak should run
through the syphon, and fix the animal to it. It is probable also that the epidermis is prolonged over the exte-
rior of the shell ; but we may conjecture that it is thin upon such parts as are vividly coloured.*
We meet with specimens of Nautilus {N. pompilius, B. Gm. List. 552 ; Ammonia, Montf. 74), in which the last
whorl does not envelope nor conceal the others, but in which all the whorls, although they touch, are visible,— a
character which approximates them to the Ammonites ; yet in every other respect they so closely resemble the
common species that it is difficult to believe they are not a variety of it.
Among fossils there are Nautili of large and moderate sizes, and of figures more varied than now exist in the ocean.
We also find among fossils certain chambered shells, with simple septa and a syphon, in which the body is at
first arched, or even spiral, but the last-formed parts of it are straight : these are the Lituus of Breyn, in which
the whorls are either contiguous or separate, (the Hortoles, Montf.)— Others remaining straight throughout their
growth are the Orthoceratites. It is not improbable that their animals had some resemblance to that of the
Nautilus, or to that of the Spirula.
The Belemnites
Belong, probably, to the same family, but it is impossible to be sure of this, since they are only found
in a fossil condition. Their whole structure, however, shows that they were internal shells.f They
have a thin and double shell, that is to say, composed of two cones, united
at their base, and the interior of which, much shorter than the other, is itself
divided internally into chambers by parallel septa, concave on the side that
looks to the base. A syphon extends from the summit of the exterior cone
to that of the internal cone, and is continued hence, sometimes along the margin
of the septa, and sometimes through their centre. The space between the
two testaceous cones is filled with a solid substance, composed either of ra-
diating fibres or of conical layers, which envelope each other, and each of
which rests on the margin of one of the septa of the inner cone. Sometimes
we find only this solid part ; at other times we find also the nuclei of the cham-
bers of the inner cone, or what has been called the alyeolae. Oftener these nuclei,
and even the chambers, have left no other traces behind than some projecting
circles within the inner cone ; and in other instances, the alveolae are found
in greater or less numbers, and still piled or strung together, but detached
from the double conical case which had inclosed them.
The Belemnites are amongst the most abundant of fossils, particularly in
beds of chalk and compact limestone. The most complete works upon them
are the Memoire sur les Belemnites considerees zoologiquement et geologique-
ment, hy Blainville, Paris, 1827 ; and that of M. I. S. Miller on the same
subject, in vol. ii. part 1, of the Geological Trans., Lond., 1826. [The
English student will find the fullest details in Buckland’s Bridgewater
Treatise.] M. de Blainville distributes them from characters derived from
the greater or less depth to which the inner cone, or chambered part, pene-
trates ; from the margins of the external cone, which has, or has not, a small tit:- los.— Ueienmites.
♦ The structure of this singular Cephalopod has been fully described
and illustrated in a very admirable manner, by Mr. Owen, in his
“ Memoir on the Pearly Nautilus,” Lund., 1832. — En.
t It may give the student an idea of the nature of the evidence on
which fossils are occasionally referred to living types, to mention that
Raspail believes the Belemnites to be the cutaneous appendages of
some sea animal, perhaps allied to the Sea-urchins, (^Echinus). — Eu.
MOLLUSCA.
342
fissure ; from the exterior surface being marked with a longitudinal gutter on one side, or with two or
several gutters towards the summit ; or as that surface is smooth and without gutters.
Some fossils, very much like the Belemnites, hut without a cavity, and even with a protruding basis,
form the genus Actinocamax of Miller.
It is upon similar conjectures that the classification of the
Ammonites, Drug., or Snake-stones,—
Is founded, for they, also, are only found in a fossil state. They are distinguished, in general, from
Nautilus, by their septa, which, instead of being plain or simply concave, are angulated, sometimes
undulated, but oftener gashed on the margins,
like the leaves of the Acanthus. The smallness
of their last cell leads to the belief that, like the
Spirula, they were internal shells. The beds of
the secondary mountains swarm with them, and
we find them there from the size of a bean
to that of a chariot wheel. The variations
of their whorls and of their syphon enable
them to be subdivided. Thus the name
Ammonites, Lam., is restricted to the species in which all the whorls are visible. Their syphon
is near the margin. They have been still further distinguished into those which have the margins
of the septa foiiaceous, (the Ammonites, the Planites of Haan,) and into those in which they
are simply angular and undulatory (the Ceratites of Haan). Those in which the last whorl envelopes
all the others, are the Orhulites, Lam., or the Glohites and Goniatites of Haan, or Peloguses, Montf.
The syphon is the same as in Ammonites.* The name Scaphites, Sowerby, [or rather of Parkinson,]
has been appropriated to those species whose whorls are contiguous and on the same plane, excepting
the last, which is detached and bent upon itself. Those which are perfectly straight are the Baculites,
Lam. Some are round, others are compressed ; and in the latter we some-
times observe the syphon to he lateral. The Hamites of Sowerby, [Par-
kinson,] are known by having their first formed cells arcuated. But the
Turrilites, Montf., differ more than any from the usual habit of the family,
for the whorls, in place of remaining on the same level, descend rapidly,
and give to the shell that obelisk form which is denominated turriculated. iss.— Portion of a Bacuiite
From analogy, it is supposed that we ought to refer to the Cephalopods, and to consider as being in-
ternal shells
Fig. 154. — Ammonites
The Camerines, Brug. {Nummulites, Lam.), —
For all of them are equally fossil. They have a lenticular shape, without any apparent aperture, but
within there is a spiral cavity, divided by septa into a multitude of little chambers without a syphon.
They are amongst the most generally diffused fossils, and almost of themselves form some entire chains
of calcareous hills, and immense banks of building stone. (It is upon such rocks that the pyramids of
Egypt are founded, and with stones of the same description that they are built.)
The commonest, and which attains the largest size, are altogether discoid, and have only a single
row of chambers in the whorl of the spire. Some minute sorts of this description have been also found
recent in some seas. Other minute species, both living and fossil, have their margin bristled with points,
which give to them the figure of stars {Siderolithes, Lam.).
The works and the patient researches undertaken successively hy Bimchi {or Janus Plancus), Soldani,
Fichtel and Moll, and Alex. d’Orbigny, have made known an astonishing number of these chambered
and esyphonal shells {Nummularia), of extreme littleness, so as often to be altogether microscopical,
either in the sea, among sand, sea-weed, &c. ; or, in a fossil state, in the sand-beds of various countries ;
and these shells vary to a remarkable extent in their contour, the number and the relative position of
their chambers, &c. One or two species, the only ones in which the animals have been noticed, have,
apparently, a small oblong body surmounted by numerous red tentacula, a structure which, taken in
* According to Sowerby, Orbulites and Ammonoceras, of Lamarck, are not distinct from Ammonites. The Ammonocetas is only an acci-
dentally worn portion of an Ammonite. — Ed.
PTEROPODES.
343
connection with the septa of their shells, has occasioned them, like the genera which we have just
treated of, to be arranged in the series of Cephalopods ; but this classification requires to be confirmed
by more numerous observations before it can be considered as settled.* Linnaeus and Gmelin placed
the species known in their time in the genus Nautilus. M. d’Orbigny, who has studied them more
carefully than any one else, makes an order of them, which he calls Forarniniferes, because the cells
communicate only by holes ; and he divides them into families from the manner in which the cells are
arranged. When the cells are simple, and disposed spirally, the shells constitute his Helicostegues,
which are subdivided ; for, if the whorls of the spire envelope each other, as is particularly the case with
the Cameriues, he names them Helicostegues nautiloides ; if the whorls do not cover themselves, they
are H. ammonoides ; and if the whorls rise up, as in the greater number of univalves, they are his H.
turbinoides. The family Stycostegues is known by the simple cells being, as it were, threaded on a
single straight, or slightly curved axis. When the cells are disposed in two alternate rows, they are
then the Enallostegues. If the cells are gathered together in small numbers, and heaped up in a globular
shape, the family is the Agathistegues. Lastly, in the Entomostegues, the cells are not simple, as in the
preceding families, but are subdivided by transverse partitions, so that a section of the shell discovers
a sort of trellis-work.
THE SECOND CLASS OF MOLLUSCA.f
THE PTEROPODES.
They swim, like the Cephalopods, in the sea, but cannot fix themselves there, nor creep,
from want of feet. Their organs of locomotion consist of fins only, placed at each side of
the mouth. The species known are of small size, and few in number. They are all herma-
phrodites.
The Clio {Clio, Linn.; Clione, Pall.) —
Have an oblong membranous body, without a cloak; the head is formed of two rounded lobes, whence
the little tentacula project; two small fleshy
lips, and a tongue, upon the front of the
mouth ; and the fins contain the vascular net-
work which supplies the place of branchiae ;
the anus, and the orifice of generation, are
under the right branchiae. Some have as-
serted the existence of eyes. The viscera do
not nearly fill the exterior envelope. The
stomach is large, the intestine short, and the
Fig. 156.— Clio borealis. 2iy0j- voluminOUS.
The most celebrated species {Clio borealis, Linn.) swarms in the northern seas ; and, from its abundance, be-
comes a food for the Whales, although no individual exceeds an inch in length. Brugui^re has observed a larger
species, in equal abundance, in the Indian Ocean. It is distinguished by its rose-colour, its emarginate tail, and
its body separated into six lobes by as many grooves.
It seems that we must also place here the
Cymbulia of Peron, —
Which has a cartilaginous or gelatinous envelope in the shape of a boat, or rather of a shoe, roughened
with little points arranged in longitudinal rows. The animal has two large vascular wings, which are
its branchiae and its fins ; and between them, on the open side, there is a third lesser lobe with three
points. The mouth, with two smaU tentacula, is between the wings, towards the closed side of the
shell ; and above are two minute eyes, and the orifice of generation, whence issues a penis in the form
* Some of these multilocular shells belong apparently to the testa-
ceous Annelides ; while the curious observations of Dujardin seem to
have proved that the great bulk of the Forarniniferes are not Mol-
lusca, but animals related to the Infusoria. — Ann. des Sci. Nat, n. s.
vol. V. et seq. — Ed.
t M. de Blaiiiville unites my Pteropodes and Gasteropodes into
one class, which he calls Paracephalophora, of which my Pteropods
constitute his order Apurobranchiata. This order he divides into
two families : — The Thecosomata, which have a shell ; and the Gymno-
somata, which are shell-less.
344
MOLLUSCA.
of a little beak. The transparency of the body allows us to distinguish the heart, the brain, and the
viscera, through the envelopes.
The Pneumodermes {Pneumodermon, Cuv.) —
Carry their dissimilarity to the Clios a little further. The body is oval, without cloak or shell ; the
branchiae attached to the skin, and formed of little leaflets set in two or three lines, disposed in the
figure of the letter H opposite to the head ; the fins small ; the mouth (garnished with two small lips,
and two bundles of numerous tentacula, terminated each by a sucker) has underneath a small lobe, or
fleshy tentaculum.
The only species (P. Peronii, Cuv.) was taken in the ocean by Peron. It is not less than an inch in length.
The Limacin^, Cuv., —
Ought, from the description of Fabricius, to have a nigh relationship to Pneumodermon ; but their body
is terminated with a spiral tail, and is lodged in a very thin shell, of one whorl and a half, umbilicated
on one side,* and flat on the other. The shell serves the purpose of a boat ; and when the creature
wishes to swim on the surface, it uses its fins as oars.
The species known {Clio helicina of Phipps and of Gmel. ; Argonauta arctica, Fabr., Faun. Greenl. 387) is not
less abundant than the Clio boi'ealis, in the Arctic seas ; and is likewise a principal aliment of the Whale.
The Hyales {Hyalea, Lam. ; Cavolina, Abildg.) —
Have two very large wings ; no tentacula ; a cloak slit on the sides, containing the branchiae at the
bottom of the fissures, and clothed with a shell slit in a corresponding manner, the ventral aspect of
which is very tumid ; the dorsal aspect is flat, longer than the other, and the transverse line which unites
them behind is furnished with three acute denticulations. When alive, the animal protrudes, through
the chinks of the shell, certain narrow filaments, or productions of the cloak, of variable lengths.
The best known species {Anomia tridentata, Forskahl ; Carolina natansy Abildgaard ; Hyalea cornea, Lam.) has
a small yellowish semi-transparent shell, and is found in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean.
The Cleodores {Cleodora, Peron).
For these. Brown first instituted the genus Clio. They appear to be analogous to the Hyales in the
simplicity of their wings, and the absence of tentacula between them. It is also probable that their
gills are concealed in the cloak ; but their conical or pyramidal shell is not slit along the margins.
M. Rang distributes the genus into subgenera thus Cleodora, with the shell pyramidal ; Creseis, with the
shell conical, elongated ; Cuvieria, with the shell cylindrical ; Psyche, the shell globular; Euribia, the shell hemi-
spherical. (And it is probable that we should arrange near the Creseis, and even perhaps in the same subgenus,
the Tripter of Quoy and Gaimard, which Blainville has referred to the family Acerse.)
It has been believed that we may place near to the Hyales, —
The Pyrgo, —
A very small fossil shell discovered by M. Defrance. It is globular, very thin, and divided by a very
narrow transverse fissure, excepting in front, where it becomes also a little enlarged.
(Several Pteropodes have been discovered in the fossil state. M. Rang has found, in the terrains
of Bordeaux, Hyales, Cleodorse, and Cuvieriae. — ^&QAnn. des Sci. Nat. for August 1826. The Vaginula
of Daudin is a Creseis, according to Rang ; and it has, in fact, all the characters of the same.)
THE THIRD CLASS OF MOLLUSCA.
THE GASTEROPODES.
The Gasteropods constitute a very numerous class, of which the Slug and the Snail give
a good general idea. They creep generally upon a fleshy disk, situated under the belly,
but which sometimes assumes the form of a furrow, or of a vertical lamina. The back
is covered with a cloak of greater or less extent, and of various figure, which secretes
a shell in the greater number of the genera. Their head, placed in front, is more or
Sowerby says, “ Umbilicated on both sides.” — Ed.
GASTEROPODES.
345
less distinct, according as it is more or less drawn in under the cloak. It is furnished
with tentacula of [comparatively] small size, and which do not encircle the mouth ;
their number varies from two to six, but they are sometimes wanting ; they are organs
of touch, and, at most, of smell also. The eyes are very small, sometimes placed upon
the head, sometimes at its base, either to a side or at the tips of the tentacula ; they
are sometimes also wanting. The position, the nature, and the structure of their
breathing organs vary, and afford characters whereby to divide them into several
families ; but they have never more than one aortic heart, — that is to say, one placed
between the pulmonary vein and the aorta.
The position of the orifices of the organs of generation, and that of the anus, varies;
but they are almost always on the right side of the body.
Several are entirely naked, others have only an interior shell, but the majority are
covered with one which contains the soft body, and shelters it.
ITiese shells are secreted in [or on] the cloak. Some of them consist of several
symmetrical pieces [or valves] ; some of a single symmetrical piece ; and others of a
non- symmetrical piece, and when this is very concave, or continues to grow for a long
time, an obliquely spiral shell is necessarily produced. In fact, that the shell may
represent an oblique cone, on which are placed successively other cones always wider
in one direction than in the others, it is necessary that the whole should turn to the
side which enlarges the least.
That part upon which the cone is turned is named the columella [or pillar] , and it is
sometimes full, and sometimes hollow. In the latter case, its opening is called the
umbilicus.
The whorls of the shell may remain nearly on the same plane, or they may tend
always towards the base of the columella. In this case, the preceding whorls rise above
the others as they are formed, and constitute what is called the spire, which is acute
in proportion to the rapidity with which the whorls descend, and to the measure of their
increase. The shells with an elongated spire are said to be turbinate. When, on the
contrary, the whorls remain depressed on the same level, and do not envelope each
other, the spire is flat, or even concave. These shells are called discoid. When the
upper part of each whorl envelopes or covers the preceding, the spire is concealed.
The place in the shell whence the animal protrudes itself, is named the mouth, or
aperture.
When the whorls remain nearly on the same plane, the animal, in creeping, has its
shell placed vertically, the columella transversely upon the hinder part of the back ;
and its head passes out under the margin of the mouth opposite to the columella.
When the spire is turbinate, the whorls turn obliquely to the right side in nearly all the
species, but in a small number to the left ; and the latter are named reversed, [or
sinistrorsaT] .
It is to be observed that the heart is always on the side opposite to that to which the
spire is directed. It is, consequently, in general on the left, and only on the right in
the reversed kinds. The contrary is the rule with the organs of generation.
The organs of respiration, which are always within the last whorl of the shell, receive
the circumfluent element under its margin, sometimes because the cloak is detached
from the body along the whole of this margin, and sometimes because it is perforated
there with a hole. The margin of the cloak, in many Gasteropods, is prolonged into
MOLLUSCA.
346
a canal, through which they can reach and receive the circumfluent medium without
extruding their head or foot from the shell. The shell has then, also, in its margin,
near the end of the columella, opposed to that towards which the spire tends, an emar-
gination, or furrow, wherein to lodge the canal of the cloak. Consequently, the canal
is to the left in common, but to the right in the reversed species.
Further, the animal being very flexile, can vary the direction of the shell, and oftenest
when there is an emargination or furrow, it directs the canal forwards, whence it
happens that the spire points to behind, the columella to the left, and the opposite
margin to the right. The contrary of this occurs in the reversed sorts : and this is the
reason that we say that their shell turns to the left, [or is sinistraT] .
The mouth of the shell, and consequently also the last whorl, is greater or less, in
relation to the other whorls, according as the head or the foot of the animal is more
or less voluminous in relation to the mass of viscera which remains fixed within the
shell ; and the mouth is wider or narrower just as the same parts are more or less
broad. There are shells whose mouth is narrow and long ; and there it is that the foot
is thin, and doubles on itself before it can be retracted.
The greater number of the aquatic Gasteropods with a spiral shell, have an operculum,
or a corneous or calcareous plate, affixed upon the posterior part of the foot, to close
the aperture when the snail has withdrawn within the shell.
There are Gasteropods with separate sexes, and others which are hermaphrodites ;
and of these some are capable of self-impregnation, while, in others, the copulation of
two individuals is required.
Their organs of digestion do not vary less than those of respiration.
The class is so numerous that we have deemed it expedient to divide it into a certain
number of orders, the characters of which we have drawn from the position and the
form of the branchiae.
The Pulmonea
Breathe the atmosphere, receiving the air within a cavity whose narrow orifice they can open
and close at wall : they are hermaphroditical, with reciprocal copulation : some have no shell,
others carry one, which is often truly turbinate, but never furnished with an operculum.
The Nudibranchiata
Have no shell, and carry their variously-figured branchiae naked upon some part of the back.
The Inferobranchiata ;
Are similar, in some respects, to the preceding, but their branchiae are situated under the
margins of the cloak.
The Tectibranchiata
Have their branchiae upon the back, or upon the side, covered by a lamina, or fold of the cloak, v
which almost always contains a shell more or less developed ; or sometimes the branchiae are ■
enveloped in a narrow fold of the foot. ,, |j
These four orders are hermaphroditical, with reciprocal copulation. '■
The Heteropodes II
Carry their branchiae upon the back, where they form a transverse row of little tufts, and are,
in some instances, protected, as well as a portion of the viscera, by a symmetrical shell. What
best distinguishes them is the foot compressed into a thin vertical fin, on the margin of which a
little sucker often appears, — the only trace left of the horizontal foot of the other orders of
the class.
GASTEROPODA PULMONEA.
347
The Pectinibranchiata
Have the sexes separated : their respiratory organs consist almost always ot oranchise composed
of lamellae united in a pectinated form, and which are concealed in a dorsal cavity opening with
a wide gape above the head. Nearly all of them have turbinated shells, with the mouth
sometimes entire, sometimes emarginate, sometimes produced into a syphonal canal, and gene-
rally capable of being more or less exactly closed by an operculum attached to the foot of the
animal behind.
The Scutibranchiata
Have branchiae similar to those of the Pectinibranchiata, but they are complete hermaphrodites,
and require no union with a second to effect impregnation : their shells axe very open, and in
several like a shield ; they never have any operculum.
The Cyclobranchiata
Are hermaphrodites of the same kind as the Scutibranchiata, and have a shell consisting of
one or several pieces, but in no case turbinate nor operculate : their branchiae lie under the
margin of their cloak, as in the Inferobranchiata.
THE FIRST ORDER OF GASTEROPODES.
THE PULMONEA.*
From other Mollusca, those of this order are distinguished in this, — that they breathe the
atmosphere through a hole which opens under the margin of their cloak, and which they can
dilate or contract at pleasure. They have, also, no branchiae, but only a network of pulmonary
vessels, which creep upon the walls, and more particularly upon the ceiling of their respiratory
cavity. Some of them are terrestrious, and others live in the water, but these are necessitated
to come, from time to time, to the surface, to receive within their pulmonary cavity the air fit
for respiration. All of them are hermaphrodites.
The Terrestrial Pulmonea have almost all four tentacula, for, in a few only, of small
size, we cannot see the inferior pair, probably because of their littleness.
Those of them which have no apparent shell, form the genus
Limax —
Of Linnseus, which is divided as follows : — The Limaces, properly so called {Limax, Lam.), have an
j elongated body, and a closely-fitted fleshy disk, or shield, for a cloak, which occupies merely the anterior
I part of the back, and covers only the pulmonary sac. It contains, in several species, a small, oblong,
flat shell, or at least, in lieu of it, a calcareous [molecular] deposition. The respiratory orifice is at the
right side of the shield, and the anus opens near it. The four tentacula are protruded and withdrawn
by a process of evolution and involution ; and the head itself can be contracted partially under the disk
of the cloak. The orifice of the generative organs is under the right superior tentaculum. In the mouth
is an upper jaw only, of a crescent form, and toothed, which enables them to devour with voracity herbs
and fruits, to wEich they are very destructive. Their stomach is elongated, simple, and membranous.
Fig. 157 . — Limax rufus.
M. de Ferussac distinguishes the Arions by the
respiratory orifice being towards the anterior part of
the shield, in which there are only calcareous granules.
Limax rufus, Linn., is an example which we meet
with every step in moist seasons, and which is some-
times almost wholly black. It is the species of which
a broth is used in diseases of the chest. The Limax
proper, has the orifice near the hinder part of the
shield, and it contains a more distinctly formed shell
Such are the Limax maximus and L. agrestris of Linn.
* Pulmobranehiata of Blainville. [In consequence of some ob- I animals, urged by Lamarck, English authors often call thi.s order the
jections to the term pulmonated being applied to any invertebrated * Pneumonnbranchous. — Ed.]
348
MOLLUSCA.
The Vaginulus, Feruss.* —
Has a close-fitted cloak without a shell, extended over the whole length of the body ; four tentacula,
of which the inferior are somewhat forked ; the anus quite at the posterior extremity, between the end
of the cloak and that of the foot ; and the same orifice leads to the pulmonary cavity situated along
the right flank. The orifice of the male organ of generation is under the right inferior tentaculum, and
that of the female organ under the middle of the right side. These organs, as well as those of digestion,
are very similar to those of the Snail. The genus belongs to both Indies, and is much like our Slugs.
The Testacell^, Lam. —
Have the respiratory aperture, and the anus, near the posterior extremity ; their cloak is very small,
and also placed there, and contains a small ear-shaped shell, which does not equal one-tenth of the
length of the body. In other respects, these animals resemble our Slugs.
One species is found abundantly in our southern
Fig-. 158.— The Testacella.
departments {Testacella haliotoidea, Diaparn.),
living under ground, and feeding principally
on earth-worms. M. de Ferussac has observed
that its cloak assumes an extraordinary develope-
ment when the animal finds itself in too dry a
situation, and thus produces for itself a sort of
shade and shelter.
[There are some interesting illustrations of the
habits of the Testacellae in Loudon’s Magazine
of Natural History, vol. vii.]
Cuv. —
The Parmacella
Has a membranous cloak, wdth loose margins, situated [upon a gibbosity] in the middle of the back,
and containing, in its posterior part, an oblong flat shell, which exhibits the mere vestige of a spine.
The respiratory aperture, and the anus, are under the right side of the middle of the cloak.
The first known species was from Mesopotamia {Par. Olivieri, Cuv.) ; but we have now one from Brazil, and
some others from India.
In the terrestrial Pulmonea with a perfect and exterior shell, the margin of its aperture is in general
thickened and reverted in the adult.
Linnaeus referred to his genus
Helix, —
Every species in which the aperture of the shell (somewhat encroached upon by the projection of the
penultimate whorl) assumes a crescent-like figure.
When this lunated aperture is wider than it is deep, the shells belong to Helix, Brug. & Lam. In some, the
shell is globular. Everybody knows the edible Snail {Hel. pomatia, Linn.), common in gardens and vineyards,
and esteemed as a delicacy in some departments ; and the common Snail {Hel. nemoralis, Linn.), remarkable for
the vividness and variety of its colours, and very
hurtful to garden stuffs in wet seasons. There is
no one who has not heard of the curious experi-
ments, showing to what extent they can reproduce
amputated parts.
Other species have a depressed shell, or one with
a flattened spire ; and we ought not to pass over
without notice such as have interiorly projecting
ribs, nor those in which the last whorl is abruptly
turned up in the adult [so that the aperture appears 159. — Anastoraa globosa
in the same plane as the spire], and then assumes
an irregular plicated form,— hence denominated Anastoma\ by Lamarck.
The Vitrina, Drap. {Helico-Limax, Feruss.), are Helices with an extremely thin subspiral shell, without an um-
bilicus, and with an ample aperture, whose margin is sharp and even. The body of the Snail is too large to be
drawn within the shell. The cloak has a double edge ; and the superior fold, which is divided into several lobes,
may be made to overlap the shell so as to clean and polish it. The European species live in moist situations, and I
n 1 __x ai'Ta 111 wiirm
are very small ; but there are some of large size in warm climates.
* Synonymous -with the Onchidium of Buchanan ; and the F eroni-
cella of Blainville is not different. — Ed.
t “The peculiarity -which distinguishes this genus from all the other
Heliciform Univalves is so extraordinary, that it appears to us to be
deserving of particular notice, inasmuch as it evidences a consider-
able alteration in the habit and economy of the animal which produces
it, at the time of its arrival at its last period of growth, when it forms
the reflected outer lip, and the teeth in the aperture. Until then, the
animal must crawl about like other Snails, with the spire of its shell &
uppermost ; but as soon as it arrives at maturity, and is about to form
its complete aperture, it takes a reverse position, and afterwards
constantly carries its spire downwards.”— Sowekbt. Two species
are known.— Ed.
GASTEROPODA PULMONEA.
349
j
j
I
I
t
(
We ougfht to arrange near them some Helices which, without having a double-edged cloak, are equally incapable
of retreating within their shell. Helix rufa and brevipes, Ferus., are examples.
When the depth of the aperture is greater than its width, as is always the case in shells with an oblong or elon-
gated spire, they are the terrestrial Bulimi of Brug., which it appears necessary to subdivide as follows : — The
Bulimus, Lam., have an oval rim, thickened in the adult, but without denticulations. In tropical countries, there
are some large and beautiful species ; some remarkable for the size of their eggs [equal to that of a Pigeon], and
with an equally solid shell ; and others for their reversed shells. In our own country there are several of small or
moderate size, and one of them {Helix decollata, Gm.) has the singular habit of breaking off in succession the
whorls from its spire. This example has been quoted as a proof that the muscles of the animal can be voluntarily
detached from the shell ; for a time does come when this Bulimus preserves no more than a single whorl of all
those it possessed at the beginning of the decollation.
The Pupa, Lam., have an obtusely-pointed shell, whose last w^horl is narrower than the penultimate, whence
it has an elliptical, or sometimes a cylindrical form. The mouth is surrounded by a thickened rim, and en-
croached upon, on the side of the spire, by the penultimate whorl. The species are very small, living in moist
stations, amongst mosses, &c. There is sometimes no toothlet in the aperture, but oftener there is one or more
either on the projecting part of the penultimate whorl, or within the outer margin. [The genera Vertigo, Miill.,
and Alcea, Jeffreys, appear to have been separated from Pupa on too slight grounds ; for the inferior tentacula are
not absent, as is alleged, but only reduced to a minimum. The Partula, Fer., deserves probably to be kept dis-
tinct ; for the species are ovo-viviparous, while all the others are oviparous.]
The Chondrus, Cuv., has, as in these latter Pupae, the mouth of the shell encroached upon by the penultimate
whorl, and guarded with plates or toothlets ; but the figure of the shell is more ovate, and more like that of the
common Bulimi. Some have the teeth on the rim of the aperture, and others have plaits situated deeper within
it. [This genus appears to be synonymous with the Azeca of Leach.]
Here terminates the section of terrestrial Helices whose shell has a thickened oral rim \ox peritreme'\ in the adult.
The Succinea, Drap., has an ovate shell, with an aperture longer than its width, as in Bulimus, but larger in
proportion ; the outer lip sharp, and the side of the columella almost concave. The Snail is too large to be con-
tained in it, and we may almost regard it as a Testacella with a big shell. The inferior tentacula are very small.
It lives upon the herbs and the shrubs of the brinks of rivulets, whence it has been considered as an amphibious
genus.
We ought to separate from the genus Turbo of Linnaeus, and approximate near the terrestrial
Helices, the
Clausilia, Drap., —
Known by the slender, long, and pointed shell, with the last whorl narrower than the penultimate in
the adult, compressed, and a little detached. Its mouth is entire and margined, and often toothed or
Fig’. 160. — A. zebra Fig. 161. — A. virginea.
furnished Avith plates. There is mostly found,
within the last whorl, a little lamina [commonly
termed the clamium\, slightly curved, a little
like the letter S, the use of which to the animal
is unknown to us.* The species are small, and
live in moss, at the foot of trees, &c. A great
number of them are reversed.
The Achatina, Lam. —
Ought likewise to be separated from the BuU(r of
Linnaeus, and brought hither. The oval or ob-
long shell has the aperture of Bulimus, but is not
margined ; and has the extremity of the colu-
mella truncated, which is the first index of the
emarginations we find in so many of the shells
of the marine Gasteropodes. These Achatinae
are large Snails which feed on trees and shrubs
in hot climates.f Of such as have, within the
last whorl, a callus or particular thickening,
Montfort makes his genus Liguus. The body-
whorl is proportionahly narrow ; and when the
end of the columella is curved towards the in-
side of the aperture, and the body-whorl is broader, the species constitute Montfort’s Polyphemes.
* The use is to dose the aperture of the shell when the Snail has
retired. See a good description of its mechanism by Mr. J. E. Gray,
in Zool. Journ. vol. i. p. 212. — Ed
+ “ The greater number of Achatince,” says Sowerby, “are African
shells : some are West Indian, and a very few European. Among the
latter, -we can only lay claim to one as decidedly a native of this
country, the A. acicula of Lamarck.”— Ei>.
350
MOLLUSCA.
The Aquatic Pulmonea have only two tentacula. They come ever and anon to the
surface to breathe, so that they can only inhabit waters of inconsiderable depth : thus they i
live in fresh waters or in brackish pools, or at least near the sides and mouths of rivers.
There are some amongst them without a shell : such is the
Onchidium, Cuv.*
A large fleshy cloak, of the shape of a buckler, overlaps the foot on every side, and even covers the
head when this is contracted. It has two long retractile tentacula, and over the mouth a veil, sinu-
ated, or formed of two triangular compressed lobes. The anus and air-passage are under the hinder
margin of the cloak, where, a little deeper, we find also the pulmonary sac. Near them, to the right,
is the opening of the female organs, while, on the contrary, that of the male organ is under the right
tentaculum ; and these two orifices are united by a groove which runs under and along the right edge
of the cloak. Destitute of jaws, they have a muscular gizzard, succeeded by two membranous stomachs. i
Several species inhabit the coasts of the sea, but always in such a situation that they are uncovered at
ebb tide, when they obtain the air necessary to respiration.
The Aquatic Pulmonea, with perfect shells, have been placed by Linnaeus in his genera Helix, Bulla, \
and Valuta, whence they ought to be withdrawn. In Helix were the two following genera, whose aper-
ture, as in Helix, had its inner [or pillar] margin protuberant and arcuate : —
The Planorbis, Brug., —
Had already been distinguished from Helix by Bruguieres, and even previously by Guettard, because '
the whorls of their shell, rolled up nearly on a level, enlarge insensibly, and the mouth is wider than
deep.f It contains a Snail with long, slender, filiform tentacula, at the inner base of which the eyes
are situated. It can exude, from the margin of its cloak, a copious red liquor, which is not to be mis-
taken for its blood. The stomach is muscular, and the food vegetable, as in the Limnseae, which are
the faithful companions of the Planorbes in all our stagnant waters.
The Limn^us, Lam.,
Were separated from the Bulimus of Bruguieres, because, notwithstanding the similarity of the shells,
the margin of the Limnees is sharp-edged and not reflected, and their columella has an oblique fold.
The shell is thin : the animal has two compressed,
broad, triangular tentacula, with the eyes sessile at
their inner base. They feed upon plants and seeds ;
and their stomach is a very muscular gizzard, fur-
nished with a crop. Hermaphrodites, after the fa-
shion of their order, they have the female organ rather
widely apart from the other, — a structure which
compels them to copulate in such a manner that the
individual acting as a male to his mate is the fe-
male to a third, and from this peculiarity we occa-
sionally find them joined together in long strings. „
They abound in stagnant w'aters ; and they are found plentifully, as well as the Planorbes, in marly
or calcareous beds, which we thus discover to have been deposited from fresh water.
The Phys^, —
Which were arranged arbitrarily among the Bullae, have the shell of Limnaeus, but still thinner, and i
there is no fold on the columella. The animal, when it swims or creeps, covers its shell with the two
pectinated lobes of the cloak : it has two long setaceous tentacula, which are bulged at the base where \
the eyes are placed.
The species are small, and live in clear ponds. One of them {Bulla fontinalis, Lam.), has its whorls sinistral, (
[and this, indeed, is the only certain character which distinguishes the genus from Limnaeus.]^
Fig. 1C2 — Limiiaea stagnalis.
* M. de Blainville has changed the name Onchidium into Peronia,
and transfers the first to the Vaginulus. He places Peronia
amongst his Cyclobranchia ; but I cannot perceive any real difference
between their respiratory organ and that of the other Pulmonea. [As
this genus is not the Onchidium of Buchanan, as Cuvier supposed,
M. de Ferussac proposes to name it Onchis.l
t Sowerby maintains that the shell in Planorbis is always reversed, j
or sinistral. — Ed.
t When the shell is oval-globose, and the cloak sufficiently ample
to cover it, in an expanded state, the genus is the Ainphipeplea of
Nilson ; [and when the shell is turreted, and the cloak entire, the
genus is named Aple.va by Fleming. — Ed.]
GASTEROPODA NUDIBRANCHIATA.
351
I From the observations of Van Hasselt it seems that we must here arrange
I The Scarabes, Montf.
i The shell is oval, and the aperture contracted by large teeth projecting from both the columellar side
I as well as the outer lip : this lip is swollen, and as the
animal re-makes it after every half-whorl, the shell is most
protuberant on two opposite lines, and has a flattened
aspect. The animals live on aquatic plants in the Indian
Archipelago.
The two genera which follow were misarranged among
j the Volutes.
I Auricula, Lam., —
Differing from all preceding aquatic Pulmonea by having
I their columella striated with large oblique channels. Their
' shell is oval or oblong; the aperture of the shape of the Bulimus or Limnaeus ; the lip furnished with
j a varix. Several species are of considerable bulk ; but it is not ascertained if they live in marshes,
I like the Limnaeus, or merely upon their margins, after the manner of the Succinea.
j [One species, according to Lesson, lives in fresh water ; the others appear to be terrestrial, living on rocks by
j the sea-side.] We find only one in France, from the coast of the Mediterranean {Auricula myosotis, Drap.) The
mate has two tentacula, and the eyes are at their bases. \CarycMum, Muller, answers so nearly to the description
of Auricula, that the genera ought probably to be conjoined. The typical species (C. minimum) lives under leaves
in shaded woods.]
The Melampes, Montf. {Conovulm, Lam.),
Like the Auricula, have prominent plaits on the columella, but their aperture has no varix, and its
inner lip is finely striated : the shell has somewhat the shape of a cone, of which the spire makes the
base. They inhabit the rivers of the Antilles.
THE SECOND ORDER OF THE GASTEROPODES.
THE NUDIBRANCHIATA.*
They have neither a shell nor pulmonary cavity, but their branchiae are exposed naked
upon some part of the back : they are all hermaphroditical and miarine : they often swim in a
reversed position, the foot applied against the surface, and made concave like a boat ; and
they assist their progress by using the edges of the cloak and the tentacula as oars.
The Doris, Cuv., —
Have the anus in the posterior part of the back, and the branchise are arranged in a circle round the
anus ; and as each resembles a little arbuscule, they constitute alto-
gether a sort of flower. The mouth is a small proboscis, situated
under the anterior edge of the cloak, and is furnished with two small
conical tentacula. There are other two tentacula, of a conoid figure,
[and lamellated structure,] which issue from the superior and ante-
rior part of the cloak. The organs of generation have their orifices
near to each other, under its right margin. The stomach is membranous. A gland, intimately inter-
laced with the liver, sheds a peculiar secretion, that escapes outwards by a hole near the anus. The
species are numerous, and some of them of considerable size. We find them on the shores of every
sea.f Their spawn is shed in the form of a gelatinous ribbon, on rocks and sea-weeds, &c.
The Onchidores, Blainv., only differ from the Doris in the wider separation of their sexual organs, whose orifices
communicate by a furrow drawn along the right side, as in the Onchidia. The Plocamoceres, Leuckard, have all
the characters of Onchidores, and moreover the anterior edge of their cloak is adorned with numerous branched
tentacula. The branchiae of Polycera, Cuv., are like those of Doris, but simpler, and furnished with two mem-
Fiu. Ifi4 — Doris coriiuta.
Fig. 163. — Auricula scarabseus.
* My first four orders are joined together by M. de Blainville into
what he calls a sub-class, and names Paracephalophora monoica. Of
my Nudibranchiata he makes two orders : in the first (^Cpclobranchi-
ata) he places the Dorides ; in the second {Polpbranchiata) the
Tritoniae and its allies, which he divides into two families, according
as they have two or four tentacula.
t The Scottish species are described by Dr. Johnston in the 1st
vol. of the Annals of Natural History ; and Montagu has described
many British species in the Linnaan Transactions. — Ed.
MOLLUSCA.
352
branous laminae to cover them in time of danger : and besides the two conoid tentacula in front, similar to those
of Doris, they have four, or sometimes six others, which are simply pointed.
The Tritonies {Tritonia, Cuv.), —
Have a body, superior tentacula, and generative organs, as in the Doris ; but the anus and the vent of
the peculiar secretion are on the right side, behind the vulva :
the arbuscular branchiae are arranged along each “side of the
back, and the mouth, guarded by broad membranous lips, is
armed within with two lateral horny and cutting jaws, in shape
somewhat like to the scissors for shearing sheep.
We have a large species (Tritonia Hombergii, Cuv.) on our coasts ; and
there are many others, some of them very small, which exhibit great variety in the size and figure of their branchiae.
[Melibea, Rang, differs in having filiform simple tentacula issuing from a wide sheath, and two series of ovate
muricated or tuberculated branchiae on the back, which readily fall off when the animal is handled. M. rosea,
which lives on floating sea- weeds near the Cape of Good Hope, is the type ; but there are some European Mollusca,
of small size, which are also referable to it.]
The Thethys, Linn., — •
Have along the back two row^s of tufted
branchiae ; and upon the head a very large
membranous fringed veil, which curves, in its
contraction, under the mouth. The mouth is
a membranous proboscis without jaws ; there
is at the base of the veil two compressed
tentacula, from the margin of which issues a
small conical point. The orifices of generation,
of the intestine, and of the peculiar secretion,
are as in Tritonia. The stomach is mem-
branous, and the intestine very short.
There is, in the Mediterranean, a beautiful spe-
cies of a greyish colour, spotted with white (Thetis
fimbria, Linn.).
The SCYLL.3EA, Linn.
In this genus the body is compressed ; the
foot narrow and furrowed, to enable it to embrace the stems of sea-
weed ; no veil ; the mouth forming a small proboscis ; the exterior
orifices as in Thethys ; the tentacula compressed, terminating in a
cavity from which a little point, with an uneqnal surface, can be
protruded ; and upon the back are two pairs of membranous crests,
carrying, on their inner aspect, some pencils of branched filaments.
The middle of the stomach is covered with a fleshy ring, armed
wfith horny laminae as sharp as a knife. The common species is found on Fucus natans, or gulf-weed,
wherever this appears.
The Glaucus, Forster,
Have the elongate body and the vents as in the preceding ; four minute conical tentacula ; and on each
side [two or] three branchiae, each formed of long fringes ar- 1|
ranged like a fan, and by whose means they swim. They are M
little charming Molluscs of the Mediterranean and Indian a
Ocean, agreeably painted with azure-blue and silver, and swim ®
with great quickness on their backs. Their anatomy closely f
resembles that of Tritonia. The species have not, as yet, been |
satisfactorily distinguished. ^
The Laniogerus, Blainv., has, on each side, two series of little
plates, finely divided in a pectinate manner, which are the branchiae.
The body is shorter and thicker than in Glaucus, but they have its
four little tentacula.
The Eolidia, Cuv.,
Resemble little slugs, with four tentacula above, and tw^o on
Fi(f. 167-— Scyllaea pelagica.
Fig:. 1C6.— Thethys leporina, upper and under sides.
Fig-. 165. — Tritonia.
GASTEROPODA TECTIBRANCHIATA.
353
the sides of the mouth. Their branchicC are tentaculiform processes or papillse disposed along the sides,
overlying like scales, [or held erect] . They inhabit all seas.
The CavoUna, Brug'uifere, have the habit of Eolidia, but their branchige are disposed in rows across the back.
The Flabellines, Cuv., still exhibit the tentacula of the preceding genera, with branchiae composed of radiating
filaments supported on five or six pedicles on each side. They approximate the Glancus; and in general it is to be
remarked, that all the Nudibranchiata with branchiae placed upon the sides of the back are nearly affined.
The Tergipes, Cuv.,
Are in shape like the Eolidia, but have only two tentacula, and along each side of the back there is a row
of cylindrical branchiae, each terminated by a little sucker, which enables them to be used as feet : hence
the creature can walk in a reversed posture. [This singular structure of the branchiae, and their pedes-
trious use, requires to be confirmed.] The known species are very small.
The Busiris, Risso, is knowm by its oblong body, convex back, two filiform tentacula, and behind
them, upon the neck, two plumose branchiae.
The Plocobranchus, Van Hasselt, has tw-o tentacula, and tw^o labial lobes, and the whole back,
widened at the sides, covered with numerous radiating striae, which are the branchiae. In their natural
conditions, the widened margins of the cloak are raised, and overlap each other so as to form a covering
to the branchiae, which are thus placed in a sort of cylindrical sheath. The only species yet known is
from the shores of Java.
THE THIRD ORDER OF THE GASTEROPODES.
THE INFEROBRANCHIATA.
These have nearly the habit and organization of Doris and Tritonia, but their branchiae,
instead of being situated upon the back, are on the sides of the body, under the projecting
margin of the cloak, where they form tw^o long series of leaflets. [The species are strictly
littoral, being gasteropodous and incapable of swimming.]
The Phyllidia, Cuv.
Their naked, and generally coriaceous cloak, is not protected by any shell. Their mouth is a small
proboseis, and has a tentaculum at each side ; two other tentacula protrude above from two little
cavities of the cloak. The anus is in the hinder part of the cloak, and the orifices of generation under
I the right side in front. The heart is about the centre of the back ; the stomach is simple, membranous ;
j and the intestine short. There are several species in the Indian ocean.
i The Diphyllides, Cuv. —
t Have branchiae nearly similar to those of Phyllidia, but the cloak is more pointed behind ; the head, of
i a semicircular figure, has a pointed tentaculum on each side, and a slight tubercle : the anus is on the
: right side.
[The Ancylus, Geoffroy,— a fresh-water Gasteropode, with a shell similar to that of a Patella, is placed by Rang
I in this order. He asserts that the animal is branchiferous, while the Rev. Mr. Berkeley has asserted that it is pul-
j monated. They live in stagnant waters and in rivulets, adhering to stones and aquatic plants.]
I
j THE FOURTH ORDER OF THE GASTEROPODES.
! THE TECTIBRANCHIATA.-*'
They have their branchiae attached along the right side, or upon the back, in the form of
more or less divided, but not symmetrical, leaflets ; these are more or less covered by the
j mantle, in which a small shell is generally contained. They approximate the Pectinibranchiata
* The Monoplcurohranchiata oi DUinvUla.
' A A
i|
'i
MOLLUSCA.
354
in the form of the respiratory organs, and, like them, live in the sea ; hut they are hermaphro-
dites, like the Nudibranchiata and Pulmonea.
The Pleurobranchus, Cut.*
The cloak and the foot both jut beyond the body, which thus appears as if it were between two
bucklers. The former contains, in some species, a little oval calcareous plate ; in others, a horny one,
and in either case it is situated above the head. The branchiae are placed along the right side, in a
groove between the cloak and foot, and represent a series of pyramids divided into triangular leaflets.
The mouth, in the form of a small proboscis, is overhung with an emarginate lip, and with two tubular
cleft tentacula ; the orifices of generation are before, and the anus behind the branchiae. There are four
stomachs, of which the second is fleshy, sometimes armed with osseous pieces, and the third is garnished
with prominent longitudinal laminae. The intestine is short.
There are different species in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, some of which are large and beautiful. [We
have two British species.]
The Pleurobranch^a, Meckel {Pleurobranchidium, Blainv.), — i
Has the branchiae and the orifices of generation situated as in Pleurobranchus ; but the anus is above
the branchiae ; the margins of the cloak and of the foot project but a little, and upon the front of the '
cloak are four short distant tentacula, forming a square which forces a comparison with the anterior
disk of the Aceres. I find but one stomach, with thin parietes, which is a mere dilatation of the
intestine. A greatly divided glandular organ opens outwardly behind the genital orifices. There is no
trace of a shell.
The only known species is from the Mediterranean.
The Aplvsia, Lin. ’
The margins of the foot are turned up into flexile crests, and, surrounding the back on every side, |i
they can be reflected over it. The head, supported on a neck of greater or less length, has the two II
superior tentacula hollowed like the ears of a quadruped, and two others of a flattened shape at the end ^
of the inferior lip ; the eyes at the base of the former. Upon the back we find the branchiae in the '!
form of complicated leaflets, attached to a broad membranous pedicle, and concealed by a little cloak, |j
equally membranous, which contains a horny flat shell. The anus is behind the branchiae, and is often li
concealed under the lateral crests : the vulva is to the right in front, and the penis issues from under ,jl
the right tentaculum. A groove, whieh extends from the vulva to the very extremity of the penis,
conducts the semen thither in copulation. A membranous crop, of enormous size, leads into a muscular
gizzard, armed inside with many cartilaginous and pyramidal bodies ; and this is followed by a third
stomach beset with sharp hooks, and a fourth in the form of a coecum. The intestine is voluminous. '
These animals feed on sea-weed. A peculiar gland pours out, through an orifice near the vulva, a
limpid humour, which is said to be very acrid in some species ; and from the edges of the cloak there
oozes in abundance a deep purple liquid, with which the animal discolours the water of the sea when it j|
perceives danger to be at hand. Their ova are laid in long glairy entangled filaments, as slender as j
threads. I)
There are found in our seas Apl. fasciata, Poiret, punctata, Cuv., and depilans, Linn. ; and the shores of foreign |
countries possess several others. || j
The Dolabella, Lam. —
Differs only from Aplysia in the position of the branchite at the posterior extremity of the body, which ,|l
resembles a truncated cone. The lateral crest fits close to the branchial apparatus, leaving merely a ‘j
narrow groove. The shell is calcareous. !'
The species are found in the Mediterranean and in the Indian Ocean. |
The Notarchus, Cuv. —
Has the lateral crests united and covering the back, leaving merely a longitudinal fissure to conduct n
water to the branchiae. These have no cloak to cover them, but in other respects they resemble the |
branchiae of the Aplysia ; and the organization of the two genera is otherwise similar. In -||
* The same as the Liwiellaria of Montagu, [a name which the Botanists have usurped,] and the Berthella of Blainville. [This genus, Pleu-
robranchaia. Umbrella, Spiricella,and Siphonia, are placed in the preceding order by Rang.]
GASTEROPODA TECTIBRANCIIIATA.
355
Thk Bursatelles, Blainv., —
The lateral crests are united in front, so as only to leave
an oval opening for the water to pass to the branchiae
which are also destitute of a covering cloak. It is, how-
ever, probable that this genus should be allowed to lapse
into the Notarchus.*
The Aceres, {Akera, Muller)—
Have the branchiae covered like the preceding genera, but
their tentacula are so much shortened, widened, and sepa-
rated, that there seems to be none at all, or rather they
form together a large, fleshy, and nearly square buckler^
under which the eyes are placed. Moreover, their her-
maphroditism, the position of their sexual organs, the
complexity and structureof the stomach, the purple liquid
which several of them shed, all approximate them to the
Aplysiae. The shell, in such as have one, is more or less
convolute, with a slight obliquity, without a visible spire,
and the mouth has neither sinus nor canal ; but as the
columella is convex and protuberant, the mouth has a
crescent-like shape, and the part opposite to the spire is always widest and rounded. When the shell
is buried in the cloak, M. de Lamarck names the genus Bullaea. The shell has few whorls, and is too
small to contain the animal.
The Bull
fragilis, B. St. Vincent). The Argonauta vitrea of|i«i
authors may be a Carinaria, but its animal is un-Mi j
known. 1,'
The Atlanta, Lesueur, —
From the observations of M. Rang, should bej|[
small shells of the Indian Sea ; and in one of them.
t. tour is raised into a thin crest. They are !
of them, Lamanon believed that he had found the originai||'
I
of the Ammonites.
► M. de lilainville makes a family of this order, whkli he names
Nectopoda, and unites them in his Nucleobranclnata with another
family named the Pteropoda, comprisinir, however, only Limacina o
my Pteropodes. He adds to it, upon I know not what conjecture, the
nr. 1... 1 fni- Arconaiita beinir ar- f
he names
cture, the vol. v- p. 325. — Ed.
GASTEROPODA PECTiNIBRANCHIATA. 357
The Firola, Peron, —
Has the body, the tail, the foot, the branchiae, and the nucleus of the viscera, nearly the same as the
Carinaria, but no shell has been observed. Their snout is prolonged into a recurved proboscis, and
their eyes are not fronted with tentacula. There is often seen hanging at the end of their tail, a long
j jointed thread, which Forskal considered to be a Tape-worm, and the nature of which is not yet cer-
tainly determined.
One species {Pterotrachea coronata, Forsk.) is very common in the Mediterranean; and M. Lesueur has de-
scribed several others from the same sea as different, but they require new and comparative examinations. Such
as have the body abruptly truncate behind the visceral nucleus, instead of being terminated with a tail, M. Lesueur
distinguishes as Fh'oloides.
I To these genera, now well known, I suppose we shall, on a better acquaintance with them, have
' to add the Timoriennes, Quoy & Gaym., which appear to be Firolae deprived of their foot and nucleus of
I viscera ; and the Monophores of the same naturalists, which have nearly the form of Carinaria, but are
I also footless and shelless, nor have any visceral nucleus.
It is not so certain that we should place here the Phylliroes of Peron. The body, transparent and
I much compressed, has in front a snout surmounted with two long tentacula without eyes ; behind, a
j truncate tail ; and we can see through the integuments its heart, its nervous system, its stomach, and
! the genital organs of both sexes. The anus, and the orifices of the genital organs, are also on the right
side, and a penis of considerable length is sometimes even protruded ; but I cannot perceive any other
respiratory organ than its thin and vascular skin.
THE SIXTH ORDER OF THE GASTEROPODES.
THE PECTINIBRANCHIATA.*
This order is, beyond comparison, the most numerous of the class, since it comjirehends
almost all the univalve spiral shells, and several which are simply conical. The branchias,
j composed of numerous leaflets or fringes, ranged parallelly like the teeth of a comb, are affixed
j in one, two, or three lines (according to the genera) to the floor of the pulmonary cavity, wdiich
j occupies the last whorl of the shell, and which communicates outw^ards by a wide gape betw^een
I the margin of the cloak and the body. Two genera only — Cyclostoma and Helicina — have,
, instead of branchise, a vascular network clothing the ceiling of a cavity in all respects the same
I as that of the order ; and they are the only ones which respire the atmosphere, water being
I the medium of respiration to all the rest.
All the Pectinibranchiata have tw^o tentacula and two eyes, raised sometimes on pedicles ; a
I mouth in the form of a proboscis, more or less lengthened ; and separate sexes. The penis of
the male, attached to the right side of the neck, cannot, in general, be drawn within the body,
, but is reflected into the branchial cavity ; it is sometimes very large. The Paludina alone has
' the organ concealed, and it comes out through a hole pierced in the right tentaculum. The
I rectum and the oviduct of the female also creep along the riglit side of the branchial cavity ;
; and there is between them and the branchiae a peculiar organ, composed of cells filled with a
j very viscous fluid, the use of wdiich is to form a common envelope for the inclosure of the eggs,
and which the animal deposits with them. The form of that envelope is often very complicated
and very remarkable.
The tongue is armed wdth little hooks [or curved spinules], and w^ears down the hardest
j bodies by slow and oft-repeated frictions.
I The grand difference betw'een these animals lies in the presence or absence of the canal
formed by the prolongation of the margin of the branchial cavity on the left side, and wdiich
I * In M. tie Bla'mville's system, it f ornis the subclass Paraeephalophota dioica.
358
MOLLUSCA.
passes along a similar canal or sinus in the shell, to enable the animal to breathe without leaving j
its shelter. There is also this distinction between the genera — that some want the operculum; 1 1
and the species vary in the filaments, fringes, and other ornaments that deck the head, the foot,
or cloak.
We arrange these Mollusca under several families from the form of their shells, which | ;
appears to be in sufficiently constant harmony with that of their respective animals. p
THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE PECTINIBRANCHIATA,— |
The Trochoides, —
Is recognized by their shell having an entire aperture, without sinus or canal for a siphon, which the •
animals have not*; and in being furnished with an operculum, or some organ as its substitute.
The Trochusid.e (Trochus, Linn.).f
The mouth of the shell, angular at its exterior margin, approaches more or less to a quadrangular (
figure, and is in an oblique plane in relation to the axis of the shell, because that part of the margin i
next the spire advances more than the rest. The greater number of the animals have three filaments i
on each side of the cloak, or at least some appendages to the sides of the foot.
Among those which have no umbilicus, there are some in which the columella, in form of a concave arch, is
continuous, without any projections, with the exterior margin. It is the angle and advance of this margin that i
distinguishes them from Turbo. These are the Tectai'ia, Month Several are flattened, with a sharp [spiny] margin, j i
whence they have been compared to the rowel of a spur ; these are the Calcar, Montf. Some again are a little h
depressed, orbicular, glossy, with a semicircular aperture and aconvex callous columella; Lamarck calls such Rotella. pi
Others have the columella marked near the base with a little prominence or vestige of a tooth, similar to that of
Monodonta, from which these Trochoides differ only in the general shape of the aperture, which is, in the present
instances, a little deeper than wide:— they are the Cantharides, Montf. The aperture in others is, on the contrary,
much wider than deep, and their concave base gives them a resemblance to the Calyptreae; these Montfort names
Entonnoirs. Others, in which the aperture has the same great proportional width, have the columella in the form
of a spiral canal. And those which have the shell turreted {Telescopmm, Montf.) resemble the Cerithia.
Among the umbilicated Trochusidae, some have no longer any projection on the columella ; the greater number
are flattened, and have the exterior angle sharp. Of this kind is Trochus agglutinans, Linn., remarkable for its habit
of gluing and incorporating with its shell, in proportion as it grows, different foreign bodies, such as gravel, frag-
ments of other shells, &c. It often covers its umbilicus with a testaceous plate. There are some also with rounded
margins, of which we have a common example on our coasts, {Tr. cinerarius, Linn.). Other umbilicated Trochi
have a prominence near the base of the columella : and lastly, in others it is crenulated throughout its length.
The Solarium, Lam., is distinguished from the other Trochi by its obtusely conical spire, whose broad base is
perforated with a wide and deep umbilicus, in which the eye can trace the margins of all the whorls winding up
[like an elegant miniature staircase], and prettily crenulated. The Euomphalus, Sowerby, are fossil shells similar
to Solarium, but without crenulations on the inner whorls of the umbilicus.
The Periwinkles {Turbo, Linn.) —
Comprise all the species with the shell perfectly and regularly turbinate, and of which the aperture is
quite round. From a detailed examination of them, they have been greatly subdivided into genera.
The Turbo, Lam., properly so called, have a round or oval thick shell, with an aperture completed on
the side of the spire by the penultimate whorl. The animal has two long tentacula ; the eyes raised
on [short] pedicles at the exterior base ; and, upon the sides of the foot, membranous expansions,
either simple or fringed, or furnished with one or two filaments. To some of them those stony thick
opercula belong which may be frequently observed in collections, and which were formerly used in
medicine under the name of Unguis odoratus. Some are umbilicated {Meleagris, Montf.), and some
are not so {Turbo, Montf.).
Tbe Delphinula is a shell as thick [and solid] as the Turbo, but subdiscoid, and its aperture is entirely formed
bv the last whorl, and without a varix. The animal resembles the Turbo. The common species {Turbo delphinus,
Linn.) takes its name from the branched curved spines that arm the whorls, and which have given rise to a com-
parison of it to a dried fish.
The Pleurotoma, Defrance, are fossil shells with a round mouth, and a narrow deep incision on the outer margin.
It is probable that this incision corresponds, as in Siliquaria, with some fissure of the cloak. M. Deshayes reckons
already more than twenty- five fossil species. The Scissurellce of M. d’Oi-bigny are recent species.
The Tarritella, Lam., have the aperture of Turbo, but the shell is thin and elevated into an obelisk, or turreted.
* Hence Blainville denominates the order Asiphonobranchiata. t Family Goniostomuta of Dc Blaiiiville.
GASTEROPODA PECTINIBRANCHIATA.
359
The eyes of the snail are on the exterior base of the tentacula ; the foot is small. There is a great number of
fossil species ; and we ought to unite with it the Proto, Defr.
The Scalaria has the turreted spire of Turritella, with the aperture of Delphinula, but the spire is covered with
longitudinal, elevated, rather acute ribs, and the mouth is encircled with a varix. The tentacula and penis of
the animal are long and slender. The principal species, the Turbo scalaris, Linn., or the Wentletrap, has long
been famous for the high prices given for a specimen. It is distinguished by its whorls being separate from each
other. A small species without this peculiarity {Turbo clathrus, Linn.), is common in the Mediterranean.
We may arrange here some terrestrial or lacustrine subgenera, whose shells have an entire roundish operculated
aperture. Of this number are the Cyclostoma, Lam., distinguished from all others by being terrestrious ; and in
place of branchiae, there is a vascular network on the parietes of the pulmonic sac.* In all other respects, Cyclo-
stoma resembles the animals of this family. The spiral shell is finely striated in the direction of its rounded
whorls, and, in the adult, the aperture is encircled with a small raised rim, and closed with a round thin opercu-
lum. The Turbo elegans, Linn., found in woods, under stones and moss, is the type of the genus.
The Valvata, Mull., live in fresh water. Their shell is obtusely conical, with a round operculated mouth ; and
the snail, which has two slender tentacula, and eyes at their inner base, breathes by means of branchiae. In our
native V. cristata. Mull., the branchia, in the shape of a miniature feather, protrudes from under the cloak, and
floats in the water with a vibratory motion, when the animal wishes to breathe.t On the right side there is a fila-
ment that resembles a third tentaculum. The foot is two-lobed in front. The penis of the male is slender, and
lies in the respiratory cavity. The shell, scarcely three lines in height, is corneous, obtuse, and umbilicated.
It is necessary to classify here some purely aquatic snails, which formerly made a part of the genus
Helix, since the shell had the crescent-like aperture that constituted the character of that genus.J The
three first genera are nearly allied to Turbo. Thus
The Paludina, Lam. —
Have been separated from Cyclostoma because they have no rim or varix round the aperture ; because
this, as well as the operculum, has a little angle above ; and because the animal, having branchiae, must
live in water. It has a very short proboscis, two setaceous tentacula, eyes seated on the external bases,
ij a small membranous fin on each side of the body in front, the anterior margin of the foot lobed, the
fin of the right side folded into a small canal to introduce the water into the respiratory cavity, an
approach to the siphon of the following family. In the common species {Helix vivipara, Linn.), the
i female is viviparous, and we find the young, in spring, in the oviduct, in all stages of developement.
j Spallanzani assures us that the young, kept separate from the moment of their birth, can give birth to
I others without having copulated, as happens with the Aphides. The males are, notwithstanding, as
common as the females, their organ issuing from a hole in the right tentaculum, which is thus made
larger than the other, and. affords a character to know the sexes by.
j In the sea there are some shells that differ from Paludina only in their superior thickness. These are
j The Littokina, Feruss.
The common species, or Periwinkle, swarms on our coasts, and is eaten. [The Lacuna of Turton is
I a Littorina with a perforation in the pillar.] The Monodon, Lam., differs from Littorina§ in having a
il blunt tooth at the base of the columella, which has in some also a fine incisure. Several are cre-
ij nulated on the outer lip. The animal is more ornamented, carrying in general on each side three or
'! four filaments as long as the tentacula. The eyes are elevated on pedicles on the outer side of the root
I of the tentacula. The operculum is round and horny.
Trochus tesselatus, Linn., is an abundant example on the French coast.
The Phasianella, Lam. —
Have a shell similar in shape to that of Limneus and Bulimus, but the aperture is closed with a calca-
' reous operculum, and the base of the columella is sensibly flattened and without an umbilicus. The
j shells are much sought after by amateurs, from the beautiful speckled manner in which their various
colours are disposed. Their snail has two long tentacula, with the eyes on tubercles at their exterior
bases, double lips emarginated and fringed, as well as the lateral fins carrying each three filaments.
\Planaxis, Lam., is nearly allied to Phasianella, from which, however, it maybe distinguished by the truncation
of the anterior part of the pillar. There are six species known, one of which is so common on the shores of the
Isle of France that the rocks, in some places, are covered with it.]
* For this reason M. de Ferussac, with Cyclostoma and Helicina,
makes a distinct order — his Puhnonea operculata, [which has been
adopted by Rang and many other systematists ; and seems warranted
by the anatomy of the former genus given by the Rev. Mr. Berkeley
in the Zool. Journ. iv. p. 282.]
t Hence Dr. Fleming was induced to institute the order Cerrict-
branchia for the genus, which he afterwards arranged with the Nudi-
branchia. — En.
J They constitute the family Ellipsustoma of De Blainville.
i Sowerby more properly unites Monodon with Turbo. — En.
MOLLUSCA.
360
■(
The Ampullarta, Lam. —
Has a roundisli ventricose shell with a short spire, like most of the Helices ; its aperture is higher than
wide, furnished with a [calcareous] operculum, and the columella umbili-
cated. They live in the fresh and brackish water of hot climates. The
animal has long tentacula, and pedunculated eyes. At the bottom of the
respiratory sac, by the side of the long branchial comb, there is, according
to the observations of MM. Quoy and Gaymard, a large pouch filled with
air, and which may possibly be a swimming bladder.
Tlie Lanistes, Month, are Ampullarias with a wide spiral umbilicus,— The Heli-
cina, Lam., from the shell, would seem to be Ampullariae with the rirn of the aper-
ture reflected. When this rim is sharp, the shells are Ampullines, Blainv., and
when it is blunt, the Olygirce of Say. There is one species {Helicina neritella,
Lam.) remarkable for a white shelly edge on the inner side of the operculum. It
appears that the organs of respiration are similar to Cyclostoma, and that the
animals can live in the open air. [ The Helicinae are land shells. Mr. Gray has
given a monograph of the genus in the 1st vol. of the Zoological Journal; but since its publication, the number of
species has been doubled.]
The Melanin —
Have a thicker shell, with the aperture deeper than wide, which expands at the part opposite the spire.
The columella has neither fold nor umbilicus. The spire varies greatly in its length. They live in
rivers, but there is no species in France. The animal has long tentacula, and the eyes are placed about
a third way up on their outer side.
The Rissoa, Freminv. {Acmea, Hartm.) dilfers from Melania in having the rim of the aperture united all round.
[“ All we have met with are littoral shells, and several species abound on our s\iOve&:'>—Sowerby.—Melanopsis,
Ferussac, with nearly the same form as Melania, has a callosity at the columella, and a vestige of an emargination
near the base of the aperture, indicating a relationship with Terebra. The Pirena, Lam., have not merely this
sinus, but another on the opposite side. Like the Melania, the two last subgenera live in the rivers of the south
of Europe, and of warm countries, [“ and yet most of the fossil species are found in beds that are considered by
geologists, in this country, to be of marine formation.”—
We incline to refer to this place in the system two genera separated from the Volutes, and which
have a considerable similarity to Auricula, but are operculated, and have only two tentacula. First,
Acteon, Month, {Tornatella, Lam.), with a convolute shell ; and, secondly, Pyramidella, Lam., with a
turreted shell, whose columella is obliquely twisted and plaited.
FitJ. 174. — AmpullariJi rugosu.
The Janthina*, Lam. —
Is widely separated from all that precede by the form of the animal. The shell has some resemblance
to our land snails, but the aperture is angular at its lower part and at its outer side, where, however,
the angle formed by the union of the upper and lower halves of the outer lip, is much rounded in most
of the species, and somewhat so in the common one : the columella straight and elongated, the inner
lip turned back over it. The animal has no operculum, but carries under its foot a vesicular organ,
like a congeries of foam-bubbles, of solid consistency, that prevents creeping, but serves as a buoy to
support it at the surface of the water. The head is a cylindrical proboscis ; and is terminated with a
mouth cleft vertically, and armed with little curved spines : on each side of it is a forked tentaculum.
The shells are of a violet colour ; and when the animal is irritated it pours forth an excretion of deeper
blue to tinge the sea around it.
The Litiopa, Rang, is a small conoid shell without an operculum, the body-whorl larger than the spire, and the
aperture entire. The animal lives on the gulf-weed, whence it can suspend itself by a thread like a spider from
a ceiling ; and by the same thread it can remount at pleasure to the surface of the weed.]
The Nerita, Linn. —
re shells with the columella in a straight line, which renders their aperture semicircular or semielliptical,
t is generally large in proportion to the shell, but always closed perfectly with an operculum. The
pire is almost obsolete, and the shell semi-globular .f
Naticce Lam., are Nerits with an umbilicus. The animal of such as are known has a large foot, simple tentacula,
ve eyes sessile at their bases, and a horny [or shelly] operculum. [In Neritopsis, Sowerby, there is a broad no ch
r sinus in the columella, which distinguishes it from Natica and Nerita, whose forms it seems to combine in itself.]
" M. de Blainville makes this genus his family Oxystoma.
t The genus Nerita, Linn., constitute the family Hemkyclostoma of Blainville.
I
I
GASTEROPODA PECTINIBRANCHIATA.
361
Nerita, Lam. {Peloronta, Oken), has no umbilicus. Their shell is thick, the columella toothed, the operculum
calcareous. The eyes of the animal are supported on pedicles at the sides of the tentacula; and the foot is mode-
rate in size. There is but slight reason to distinguish among them the Velates, Montf., where the side of the
columella is covered with a thick, swollen, calcareous layer ; and the Neritina, Lam., in which the columella is
toothless, and the animals are inhabitants of fresh waters. Some have, however, a delicately toothed columella,
and among these is one whose spire is armed with long spines, (Clitho, Montf.). [The species of Neritae are very
numerous. M. Lesson has brought one from Australia, where it lives abundantly upon trees ! This fact ought
to make us more than ever wary of separating the marine from the fluviatile species. Indeed, some real Neritinae
can live both in fresh and salt water, and others are altogether marine.]
Recent observations induce us to arrange near to the Trochoides
THE SECOND FAMILY OF THE PECTINIBRANCHIATA,—
The Capuloides,* —
Which comprises five genera, four of which are dismembered from Patella. All of them have a wddely
open shell, scarcely turbinate, without an operculum, or emargination or canal. The animal is male and
female, and resembles the other Pectinibranchiata. Their branchial comb is single, laid across the vault
of the cavity, and its filaments are often very long.
Capulus, Mont. {Pileopsis, Lam.) —
Have a conical shell, with the summit recurved a little in spiral, whence they were for long placed with
the Patellae. The branchiae are in a series under the anterior margin of their cavity ; the proboscis is of
considerable length ; under the neck is a much plaited membranous veil ; there are two conical tentacula
with the eyes at their base on the outside.
Hipponyx, Defr., appear from their shell to be fossil Capuli, but are very remarkable for the base of calcareous
layers on which they rest, and which has probably been excreted by the foot of the animal. [Hipponyx is a truly
bivalve shell.]
Crepidula, Lam.
Shell oval [variable], with an obtuse point obliquely inclined backwards towards the margin : the
under-side is generally concave, and the inner lip forms a broad, flattish, sharp-edged, toothless, hori-
zontal plate, which about half covers the aperture. The abdominal sac containing the viscera is upon
this plate, the foot under it, the head and the branchiae in front. The branchiae consist of a series of
long filaments attached under the anterior margin of the branchial cavity. Two conical tentacula bear
the eyes at their exterior bases.
Pileolus, Sowerby, seem to be Crepidulae, of which the transverse plate occupies half of the aperture, but their
shell has a greater resemblance to Patella. The few species known are fossil.
Septaria, Ferus. {Navicella, Lam.), resemble the Crepidula, excepting that their summit is symmetrical, and
turned down on the posterior margin, and their horizontal plate projects less. The animal has, moreover, a tes-
taceous plate of an irregular shape, attached horizontally upon the superior surface of the muscular disk of the
foot, and covered by the abdominal sac, which rests in part above. It is, probably, the analogue of an operculum*
but does not fulfil its office, being in some degree internal. The animal has long tentacula, and at their outside
are peduncles to support the eyes. They live in the rivers of warm countries.
Calyptr^a, Lam.
Shell conoid, the cavity furnished with a lateral internal appendage, very variable in form, which is
as it were the beginning of a columella, and is interposed in a fold of the abdominal sac. The branchiae
are composed of a range of numerous hair-like filaments. Some have the appendage adhering to the
bottom of the cone, folded itself into a cone, or tube, and descending vertically. Others have it placed
almost horizontally, adhering to the sides of the cone, which is marked above with a spiral line, that
gives to their shell some relation to that of the Trochus.f
SiphonariaJ, Sowerby.
Dismembered from Patella, to which in general form and appearance it very nearly approaches, but
its margin is a little more prominent on the right side, and it is hollowed underneath with a shallow
groove which opens at this prominence, and with which a lateral hole in the cloak corresponds, to intro-
* M. de B .ainville inserts the most of them among \\\& Paracephala-
phora hermaphrodita, Fam. Calyptracea, but they seem to me to be all
dioicous. [It is necessary to arrange with them the Lnttia of Gray,
which has a shell almost identical with that of Patella, but the animal
is pectinibranchous. We have at least one native species, (Puf. Cle-
landi) .]
+ [Mr. Broderip has described many species in the 1st vol. of the
Trans, of the Zoo! . Society, accompanied with beautiful figures ; and
Mr. Owen has given an excellent anatomy of the genus in the same
work.]
t Apparently the same as the Gadinia of Gray.— Phil. Mag. April,
1824.
362
MOLLUSCA.
duce the water to the branchial cavity placed upon the back, and closed in every other place. The
respiratory organ consists in a few small leaflets, attached in a transverse line to the bottom of that
cavity. The animal appears to have no tentacula, but only a narrow veil upon the head. There are
species in which the shell shows no appearance of the groove, and would perfectly resemble a Patella
were it not that its vertex is turned backwards. [We must observe, says Rang, that we have seen
young Patellae to have the character of Siphonaria, and to preserve traces of it at a more advanced age:
it is only then provisionally that we adopt this genus, and assign it a place among the InferobrancMata.']
SiGARETus, Adans.
The shell is flattened, with an ample round aperture, and an inconsiderable spire, whose whorls enlarge
very rapidly, and are visible on the inside. It is hidden during life in the fungous shield of the animal,
which projects considerably beyond it, as well as the foot, and is the true mantle. We observe in front
of this mantle an emargination and a semi-canal, the use of which is to conduct water into the branchial
cavity, but which leave no impressions on the shell. The structure indicates a transition to the following
family. The tentacula are conical, with the eyes at their exterior base : the penis of the male is very
large.
There are species on our own coasts. [This remark is erroneous, unless we consider Cuvier’s Sigaretus the
same as Pleurobranchus. See some remarks on the confusion in the nomenclature of this genus by Mr. Gray, in
the Zool. Journ. i. p. 428.]
Coriocella, Blainv., is a Sigaretus with a horny and almost membranous shell, like that of Aplysia.
The Cryptostoma, Blainv. —
Has a shell very similar to Sigaretus, supported, with the head and abdomen (which it covers), on a foot
four times its size, cut square behind, and which produces in front a fleshy oblong part that constitutes
nearly one half of its mass. The animal has a flat head, two tentacula, a broad branchial comb on the
roof of its dorsal cavity, and the penis under the right tentaculum, but I have not seen any emargination
in the cloak.
THE THIRD FAMILY OF THE PECTINIBRANCHIATA,—
The Buccinoides,* —
Have a spiral shell, the mouth of which has, near the end of the columella, a sinus or canal, for the
passage of the siphon or tube formed by an elongated fold of the cloak. The greater or less length of
this canal when it exists, the greater or less width of the aperture, and the various forms of the
columella, afford characters for a division of the family into genera, which can be grouped in various
ways.
The Cones (Conus, Linn.) —
Are so named from the conical figure of their shells. The spire,
either flat or slightly raised, forms the base of the cone, whose
apex is at the opposite extremity : the aperture is narrow,
rectilinear, or nearly so, extended from one end to the other,
without protuberance or fold, either on the columella or the
margin. The animal is of a thinness proportioned to the aper-
ture through which it issues : its tentacula and proboscis are ,
much elongated, and we find the eyes near the apex of the
former, on the outside : the operculum, seated obliquely on the
hinder part of the foot, is narrow, and too short to close the
mouth of the shell.
The shells of this genus are in general beautifully coloured, whence
Fij/. 175.— Conus j-eiieraiis. it happens that they crowd our cabinets. Our seas produce only a
very few species, [of which there is a full enumeration in Lamarck’s Histoire naturelle des Animaux sans vertebres.']
The Cowries (Cijprcea, Linn.) —
Have also a [concealed or] very short spire, and a narrow aperture extending from one end to the
other ; but the shell, which is ventricose in the middle, and almost equally narrowed at both ends, forms
* Coequal with the Paracrphaluphora dioica siphunohranchiata of
Blainville.
+ M. de Blainville unites in one familj’’, najiied Angyostoma, the
Conus, Cyprsoa, Ovula, Tcrebellum, and Voluta. In placing here the
genera with a narrow aperture, we do not intend to say that they are
nearest in affinity to the preceding family ; but we place them first
because they exhibit the characters of the siphoniferous tribes in the
most distinct manner.
'(H"
GASTEROPODA PECTINIBRANCHIATA.
363
an oval ; and its aperture in the adult animal is transversely toothed on each side. The cloak is suffi-
ciently ample to fold over and envelope the
shell, which, at a certain age, it covers with a
layer of shell of another colour ; and from this
circumstance, joined to the change which the
aperture undergoes, the full-grown shell may be
'mistaken for another species. The animal has
moderate tentacula, with the eyes at their ex-
ternal bases, and a thin foot without an oper-
culum.
The colours of the shells are very beautiful, and
many species are found in our cabinets, though, with
very few exceptions, they all inhabit the seas of tro-
pical countries. [Bruguiferes was of opinion that the
animal of the Cypraea, before it arrived at its complete
growth, abandons its shell several times, to form
another more fitted to its dimensions. This opinion
is now relinquished.]
The Ovul^, Brug. —
Have an oval shell, with a narrow, lengthened
aperture, as in Cyprsea, but without teeth on the columellar side ; the spire is concealed, and the two
ends of the aperture are nearly equally emarginated, or equally prolonged into a canal. Linnaeus con-
founded them with Bulla, from which they were properly separated by Bruguieres. Their snail has a
broad foot, an expanded cloak, which partly folds over the shell, a moderate and obtuse snout, and two
long tentacula, on which we find the eyes at about the third of their length on the outside. Montfort
restricts the name Ovula to such shells as are transversely denticulated on the outer lip ; and he names
those in which the two ends of the aperture are prolonged into a canal, and the outer lip is plain, the
Volva. When this lip is also plain, without a prolongation on each side, he calls the genus Calpurna.
Fi?. 176- — Cyprsea exanthema.
Terebellum, Lam. —
Has an oblong [or subcylindrical] shell, with a narrow aperture, without plaits or grooves, and
increasing regularly in width to the end opposite the spire, which is more or less salient, according to
the species. The animal is not known. [On account of its hidden spire, Montfort separates the
species named Convolutum, by Lamarck, to form his genus Seraphs, which seems to be unnecessary.]
The Volutes {Voluta, Linn.) —
Vary in the figure of the shell and of the aperture, but are recognized by the emargination without a
canal which terminates it, and by the oblique plaits of the columella.
Bruguieres first separated from them the Oliva, so named from the oblong or elliptical form of the shell, whose
mouth is straight, long, and sinuated opposite tothe short spine, and the plaits of the columella are numerous and
similar to striae. The whorls are separated from each other by a narrow groove. These shells do not yield in beauty
to the Cowries. Their animal has a large foot, the anterior part of which (in advance of the head) is separated by
an indentation on each side : the tentacula are slender, and the eyes are on their side near the middle of their
length. The pi*oboscis, the siphon, and penis are tolerably long: they have no operculum. MM. Quoy and
Gaymard have observed at the posterior part of the foot an appendage, which is laid in the furrow of the whorls.
The remaining species of the Volutes have been subdivided into five genera by M. de Lamai'ck. The Volvaria
nearly resemble Oliva in their oblong or cylindrical form ; but their aperture is narrow, and its anterior margin
rises even above the spire, which is extremely short. There are one or several plaits on the columella. Their
polish and whiteness has induced the natives of some countries to string them into necklaces. There is a small
fossil species in the environs of Paris. [According to Sowerby, Volvaria is entirely a fossil genus, of which two
species are found in the environs of Paris, and one in the London clay at Hordwell.] Voluta, Lam., has an ample
aperture, and a columella marked with some large plaits, of which the inferior is the strongest. Their spire varies
much in its prominence. Some {Cymbium, Montf. ; Cymba, Sowerb.) have the last whorl ventricose : their animal
has a large, thick, fleshy foot, without an operculum ; and over the head a veil, at the sides of which the tentacula
issue. The eyes are seated on this veil, exterior to the tentacula. The proboscis is of considerable length, and the
syphon has an appendage on each side of its base. The shells attain a great size, and several are very beautiful.
[“ The shells are ventricose, light, and buoyant, floating when placed iipon their backs on water, and having when
so placed a boat-like appearance. Their apex is rude, and without regularity of shape. They are sombre, and,
for the most part, uniform in colour. They are covered with a smooth brown epidermis, which is, again, more or
364
MOLLUSCA.
less coated with a vitreous covering or enamel-like glaze, probably secreted by the mantle. The columella is
uniformly curved, and it is believed that none of the species have hitherto been found in the New World.” —
BroderipJ] [The Melo, Broderip, resembles Cymba ; but its apex, instead of being shapeless and rude, takes a
well-fashioned and spirally-marked form. The colouring of the shell is also more elegant and vivid.] Others
(Voluta, Montf.) have the last whorl conoid, narrowing at the end opposed to the spire. The foot is less than in
the preceding genus. Their shells ai'e often very remarkable for the beauty of the colours and patterns which are
painted on their surface. [There is reason to believe that the genera Cymba, Melo, and Voluta, are viviparous.]
Marginella, Lam., with the form of the Voluta, has the outer lip thickened and revolute. The sinus is slightly
marked. According to Adanson, the foot is also less, and has no operculum. The animal can partially cover its
shell by raising the lobes of its cloak. The tentacula have the eyes upon the outer side at their base. M. de La-
marck distinguishes among them the Colombella, by the more numerous plaits
on the shell, and by a swelling of the middle of the outer lip. It appears
that there is no operculum. Mitra, Lam., has an oblong aperture with some
large folds on its columella, of which those next the spire are the largest.
Their spire is generally long and pointed. Several species are brilliantly
spotted with red upon a white ground. Their animal has a small foot, tenta-
cula of moderate length, with the eyes on the side one-third above the roots,
and a moderate siphon ; but it will often protrude a proboscis longer than the
shell. [The genus Conohelix, of Swainson, has a form more conical than the
typical Mitrse ; but its claim to be a good genus is denied by Sowerby.] Can-
cellaria, Lam. — The last whorl ventricose, and the aperture ample and round,
with a plate upon the columella : the spire is prominent, pointed, and the surface marked in general with cancel-
lated striae. [According to Sowerby, this genus is nearly allied to Purpura.]
Fig. 177- — Colombella.
The Whelks {Buccinum, Linu.)* —
Comprise all the shells furnished with an emargination, or short canal, bent to the left, and whose
columella is not plaited. Bruguieres made four genera of them ; viz., Buccinum, Purpura, Cassis, and
Terehra ; which MM. de Lamarck and Montfort have still further subdivided.
Buccinum, Drug., comprises the emarginated shells without any canal, the general form being oval, as well as
the aperture. The animals where known have no veil on the head,— a proboscis, two widely separate tentacula
with the eyes on their outer bases, and a horny operculum. The siphon is prolonged beyond the shell. M. de
Lamarck specially reserves the name Buccinum to such as have
the columella convex and naked, and the outer lip without
ribs or varix. Their foot is moderate in size ; their proboscis
long and thick, and their penis often excessively large. [The
shell of the remarkable genus named Trichotropis by Broderip
and Sowerby, is turbinated and keeled ; its aperture is wider
and rather longer than the spire ; the base entire : but imme-
diately below the obliquely truncated columella there is an in-
distinct canal. The shell is thin and delicate, covered with an
epidermis forming numerous sharp-pointed bristle-like pro"
cesses on the edges of the carinae outside the shell. The horny
operculum is much smaller than the aperture. The animal
resembles a Buccinum, differing from it principally in having
only a very small fold of the mantle to line the nearly obsolete
canal of the shell. There is a British species {T. borealis).']
Nassa has the columella covered by a plate more or less thick
and broad, and the emargination deep, but without a canal.
The animal resembles that of Buccinum, and there are shells intermediate between the two genera. Lamarck
names Eburna those which join to a smooth shell, without plaits on the lip, a pillar that is deeply and widely
umbilicated. In general form their shell has a strong resemblance to the Olives. [There is no operculum.] The
animal is unknown. The Ancillaria, Lam., has also a smooth shell, and at the base of
the columella a striated appendage or varix, without an umbilicu-s, and without a
groove round the spire. The animal, in such species as it has been observed in, is
similar to that of Oliva, and has the foot even more developed. The same naturalist
unites those which are ribbed in the direction of the whorls, under the generic name
of Dolium : the lower whorl is very large and ventricose. Montfort again subdivides
Dolium into the Dolium proper, where the base of the columella is as it were twisted ;
and into Perdix, where it is sharp. Their animal has a very large foot, dilated in
front ; a proboscis longer than its shell ; slender tentacula ; eyes at their exterior
side near the base ; the head without a veil, and the foot without an operculum.
Harpa is easily recognized by the prominent ribs which cross the whorls, and of
which the last forms a rim to the margin of the aperture. The shells are beautiful. The animal has a very large
Forms tlie family Entoinosto7nu of Blaiiiville.
GASTEROPODA PECTINIBRANCHIATA.
365
Fig. 180. — Coiiciiolepas peruvianu.'.
foot, pointed behind, widened in front, where it is marked with two deep emarginations. The eyes are on the sides
of the tentacula, near the base. There is no veil nor operculum. (MM. Reynaud, and Quoy and Gaymard have
observed that, under certain circumstances, the hinder part of the foot is spontaneously amputated.) We recognize
the Purpura, Brug., by its flattened columella, pointed at the base, and forming there, with the outer lip, a canal
excavated in the shell, but not projecting. The species were scattered among the Buccina and Murices by Lin-
naeus. Their snail is like that of Buccinum as now restricted. Some shells similar to Purpura but in which we
notice a spine on the outer margin of the canal, form the genus Licorna, Montf. {Monoceros, Lam.) Others in
which the columella, or at least the lip, is garnished, in the full-grown shell, with teeth that narrow the mouth
constitute the Sistra of the former, and the Ricimila of Lamarck. The Concholepas, Lam., has also the general
characters of the Purpura, but the aperture is so
enormously large and the spire so inconsiderable,
that the shell has the aspect of a Capulus, or of one
of the valves of an Area. The emargination of the
mouth has a small tooth on each side of it. The ani-
mal resembles that of Buccinum, excepting in the
foot, which is enormous in width and in thickness,
and which is attached to the shell by a muscle in
form of a horse-shoe, as in Capulus. There is a thin,
narrow, horny operculum. A species from Peru
{Buccinum concholepas, Brug.) is the only one known.
Cassis, Brug. — Shell oblong ; the aperture oblong or
narrow; the columella covered with a plate as in
Nassa, and that plate grooved transversely as well as
the outer lip : the emargination ends in a short canal,
which is folded and turned up backwards, and to the
left. There are often varices. [The shells are called
Helmets by English collectors, and are in general
remarkable on account of their great size.] The
animal resembles that of Buccinum, but its horny
operculum is toothed, that it may pass between the
grooves of the outer lip. Some have the varix of this
lip toothed externally near the emargination; and
others have it plain. The Morio, Montf. {Cassidaria,
Lam.) are separated from the Cassis because their
canal is less abruptly curved back; and they lead
us to certain of the Murices. The animal resembles
a Buccinum also, but its foot is more developed.
[Oniscia, Sowerby, is sufficiently distinguished
from Cassidaria by its granulated inner lip, its very
short, scarcely reflected canal, and its very singular
general form, which is oblong or subcylindrical, with an obtuse
apex. Strombus oniscus, Linn., is the type of the genus.] Terebra,
Brug., have the mouth, the emargination, and the columella of
Buccinum, but their spire is drawn out so as to be turriculated or
subulate. [The species are numerous and beautiful.] The Subula,
Blainv., is distinguished by some dilference in the animal, and by
the existence of an operculum.
The Cerithium, Brug., —
Dismembered with good i-eason from the Murex of Linnaeus,
Fig. 182.— Cassidaria cchinophora. hav6 a slicll with a turriculatcd Spire, an oval aperture, and
a short but distinct canal
curved to the left and back-
wards. There is a veil on
the head of the animal, two
distant tentacula, having
the eyes at the side, and
a round, horny operculum.
Many of them are found in a fossil state.
IM. Brongniart has separated from Cerithium the Potamides, which, with the same form of shell, have a very
short, scarcely emarginate canal, no sinus or gutter near the top of the right lip, and the exterior lip dilated. They
-Cassis tuberosa.
Fig. 183. — Ceritheum.
live in rivers, or at least at their mouths ;
than land or freshwater species.
and some of them are fossil in formations where there are no other
366
MOLLUSCA.
The Murex, Linn.* —
Embraces all shells whose canal is elongate and straight. I have found in the animals of all the sub-
genera a proboscis ; approximated long tentacula, with the eyes external at their base ; a horny oper-
culum, and no veil over the head : they otherwise resemble the Buccina, except in the length of the
siphon. Bruguieres divided them into two genera, subsequently subdivided into others by Lamarck
and Montfort.
Murex, Brug., are all shells with a salient straight canal, and with varices across the whorls. M. Lamarck
reserves this name specially to those in which the varices are not contiguous, so as to make two opposite rows. If
their canal is long and slender, and the varices are armed with spines, they belong to the Murex of Montfort.
If the varices are merely nodulous,
they constitute his Brontes. Some,
with a canal of moderate length,
have projecting tubes between the
spinous varices which penetrate
the shell ; and these are the Ty-
pMs, Montf. The CMcoracea of
the same have, instead of spines,
the varices garnished with plait-
ed leaves, torn or divided into
branches : their canal is long or
moderate, and their foliaceous
productions vary infinitely in
shape and complexity. When, with
Fijf. 184. — Murex tenuispina. j i i
a moderate or short canal, the
varices are only nodulous, and when the base has an umbilicus, the shell becomes an Aquilla, Montf. We have
several species on our coasts. If there is no umbilicus, that marks the genus Lotorium. Lastly, when the canal
is short, the spire raised, and the varices simple, the shell is a Tritonium. The mouth is generally grooved trans-
versely on both sides. We have son»e large species in our seas. [The T. variegatum is much valued by the inha-
bitants of some of the South Sea islands.] There are of them some with numerous, compressed, almost mem-
branous varices, — the Trophones, Montf. ; and in others they are much compressed and very prominent, but few
in number.f
M. de Lamarck separates from all the Murices of Bruguieres the Ranella. Its character is to have the varices
opposite, so that the shell is as it were girded with a border on two sides. Their canal is short, and the surface is
roughened only with tubercles. The margins of their aperture are furrowed. The Apolles, Montf., are merely
umbilicated Ranellse.
Fusus, Brug., includes all the shells of this family which have no varices. When the spire is prominent, the
pillar without plaits, and the margin entire, this is the Fusus of Lamarck, which Montfort has still further
restricted, for he reserves this name to such as have no umbilicus. The less elongated and move ventricose
species gradually approximate to the Buccina in their shape, and where they have an umbilicus, Montfort calls
them Lathires. The Struthiolaria is another subgenus, distinguished by the inner lip being thickened and
spreading over the lower part of the last volution and the columella, and in the adult the outer lip is thickened
and turned outward, — a character that connects them with the Murex. When the spire is raised, the columella
without plaits, and when there is near the top of the aperture, on its outside, a well-marked sinus or fissure, we
have the characters of Pleurotoma, Lam. When this sinus is wide and touches the spire, some have seized the
too slight distinction to make the genus Clavatula. When the spire is depressed, and the pillar without plaits,
these are the Pyrula, Lam., which are either umbilicated or not. Montfort separates from Pyrula the species
with a flattened spire, and which are striated within the mouth, to call them the Fulgur. They are in some degree
Pyrulae with a plaited columella, and the plaits are sometimes even scarcely perceptible. Amid these dismember-
ments of the Fusus, Brug., we distinguish the Fasciolaria, Lam., by some oblique and distinct folds on the
columella, near the origin of the siphon.
Turhinella, Lam., are likewise shells with a straight canal, without varices, distinguishable by having [from
three to five] prominent, compressed, transverse folds, all nearly equal in size, near the centre of the columella,
and which approximates them to the conical Volutae : in fact, they only differ by the superior elongation of the
syphonal canal, [and in having an operculum, as well as a thickish epidermis].
I
1
I
%
\
I
I
I'
f
t
The Strombusid^ (Strombus, Linn.) —
Comprise the shells with a canal either straight or bent to the right, the external lip of the aperture
becoming, in its maturity, more or less dilated, and always marked with a sinus near the siphonal
canal, whence the head issues when the animal comes out. In the greater number this sinus is at some
distance from the canal.
* Coequal with the family SipJwnostoma of M. de Blairiville.
t It is to be regretted that Cuvier should have given even the appearance of a sanction to these new genera of Montfort. — Ed.
GASTEROPODA TUBULIBRANCHIATA. 367
M. de Lamarck subdivides these species into two subgenera. His Strombus have the outer lip dilated into a wing
of more or less expanse, but not divided
into digitations. The foot is proportion-
ably small, and the tentacula support the
eyes upon a lateral peduncle larger even
than the tentaculum itself. The operculum
is horny, long, and narrow, resting upon a
thin tail. Pteroceras, Lam., have the mar-
gin of the full-grown shell divided into long,
slender digitations, varying in number ac-
cording to the species. The animal is the
same as in Strombus.
Other Strombusidae have the sinus con-
tiguous to the siphon. These are the Ros-
tellaria, Lam. They have generally a second
canal mounting up the spire, and formed
by the external lip, and by a continuation
of the columella. In some of them the lip
is digitated. Their animal resembles that
of the Muricidae ; but the operculum is very
small. Others have merely denticulations
on the lip : their canal is long and straight.
Fig. 185-Pteroceras Scorpio. ^^^e the margin entire and plane ;
and these are the Hippocrenes, Montf.
THE SEVENTH ORDER OF THE GASTEROPODES.
THE TUBULIBRANCHIATA.*
They ought to be detached from the Pectinibranchiata, with which they have nevertheless
many affinities, because their shell, in the shape of a more or less irregular tube, and only
spiral at its apex, is permanently fixed to other bodies. Thus they have not organs of
copulation, and must fecundate themselves.
Vermetus, Adanson, —
Has a tubular shell, vffiose whorls, at an early age, still form a kind of spire ; but they are continued on
in a more or less irregularly twisted or bent tube, like the tubes of a Serpula. The shell usually attaches
itself by interlacing with others of the same species, or by becoming partially enveloped by lithophytes.
The animal, having no power of locomotion, is deprived of a foot, properly so called ; but the part
which in ordinary Gasteropodes forms the tail, is here turned under, and extends forwards, even beyond
the head, where its extremity becomes inflated, and furnished with a thin, [horny, multispiral] oper-
culum. When the animal withdraws into its shell, it is this inflated mass which closes the entrance.
It has sometimes different appendages ; and the operculum is spiny in certain species.f The head is
obtuse, furnished with two tentacula of moderate size, having the eyes on the outside at their base.
The mouth is a vertical orifice : under it we see, on each side, a filament which has all the appearance
of a tentaculum, but which really belongs to the foot. The branchiae form a single [pectinated] line
along the left side of the branchial ceiling. Its right side is occupied by the rectum, and by the
spermatic canal, which is also the oviduct. There is no male organ.
The species are pretty numerous, but ill defined. Linnaeus left them among the Serpulae ; and the Vermilia,
which Lamarck still allows to stand near Serpulae, do not differ from the Vermetus. [This remark is erroneous ;
Vermilia is a true Annelide, and should be left where Lamarck has placed it.]
Magilus, Montf. —
Has its tube keeled its whole length. At first it is pretty regularly spiral, and then is extended in a
more or less straight line. Although w^e do not know the animal, it is probable that its place will be
found to be near Vermetus. [The shell is found inclosed in madrepores, bnt not attached to them in
any degree. It would appear that when quite young the animal takes up its station in a hollow part of
* [The genera of this order are arranged amongst the Pectinibran- 1 t [This oh^ervation is erroneous, and has probably arisen from mis-
chiata by Rang 1 taking some operciila of Serpula: for those of a Vermetus.]
368
MOLLUSCA.
the madrepore ; and, increasing itself in size and length as the madrepore increases around it, it keeps
the aperture even with the outer surface of the coral, and thus grows, in some instances, to a consi-
derable length. This singular testaceous parasite is common in the coral rocks of the Isle of France,
and its tube sometimes reaches the length of three feet.]
SiLiauARiA, Brug. —
Resembles Vermetus in the head, the position of the operculum, and in the tubular and irregular shell;
but there is a fissure on the whole length of the shell which follows its contour, and which corres-
ponds with a similar cleft in that part of the cloak which covers the branchial cavity. Along the
whole side of this cleft is a branchial comb, composed of numerous delicate and tubular-like leaflets.
Linnaeus left these shells also in Serpula ; and until a very recent date they were believed to be mem-
bers of the class Annelides. [The remarkable operculum is similar to the pod of a Medicago, consisting
of a spiral lamella rolled five times round an axis like a pulley. This horny lamella is very lustrous
underneath, farinaceous or subpubescent above, and subcrenate on the under side of the rim,
with short striolae. It is convex in the centre, and the projection is multilocular, very exactly resem-
bling a Cristellaria or Robulina.']
THE EIGHTH ORDER OF THE GASTEROPODES.
THE SCUTIBRANCHIATA.*
The order comprises a certain number of Gasteropods having a considerable resemblance to
the Pectinibranchiata in the form and position of the branchiae, as well as in the general form
of the body, but they are complete hermaphrodites. Their shells are very open, without an
operculum, and the greater number are not in any degree spiral, so that they cover their
animals, and particularly the branchiae, in the manner of a shield. The heart is traversed by
the rectum, and receives the blood by the two auricles, as in the majority of the Bivalves.
The Haliotides {Haliotis, Linn.) —
Are the only family of this order in which the shell is turbinated ; and from those shells it is distin-
guished by the excessive amplitude of the aperture, and the flatness and smallness of the spire, which
is seen from within. This form has caused it to be compared to the ear of a quadruped.
In the Haliotis, Lam., the shell is perforated along the side of the columella with a series of holes ; and when
the last hole remains incomplete, the shell has the appearance of being emarginate. The snail is one of the most
richly adorned of Gasteropods. A double membi'ane, wdth a furbelowed margin, and furnished with a double row
of filaments, extends, at least in the commonest species, round the foot, and on to the month : outside its long
tentacula are two cylindrical pedicles, which support the eyes. The cloak is deeply cleft on the right side, and the
water, which passes through the holes of the shell, gains access, by the medium of the cleft, to the branchial cavity.
Along the margins of the cleft there are also three or four filaments, which the animal can also protrude through,
the holes of the shell. The mouth is a short proboscis.
Padolla, Montf. \Stomatella, Lam.] has an almost circular shell ; almost all the holes obliterated ; and a deep
groove that follows the middle of the whorls, and shows itself exteriorly by a corresponding ridge.
Stomatia, Lam., have a more concave shell, with a more prominent spire, and without holes : they otherwise
resemble the Haliotis, and connect that genus with certain kinds of Turbo. The animal is less adorned than Haliotis.f
The following genera, dismembered from Patella, have the shell quite symmetrical, as well as the posi-
tion of the heart and branchiae.
Fissurella, Lam. —
Have a broad, fleshy disk under the belly, as the Patella ; a conical shell placed over the middle of the
l)ack, but not covering it completely, and perforated in the summit with a small aperture, which serves
both for the passage of the excrements, and of the water necessary to respiration : that aperture pene-
trates into the cavity of the branchiae situate over the front of the back, at the bottom of which the anus
opens ; and this cavity is moreover widely patulous over the head. There is a branchial comb on each
* M. de Blainville unites this and the following’ order in his sub-
class Paracephalophora hermaphrudita.
t \_Padula and Stomatia (that constitute but one genus, according
to Sowerby,) are placed in the order Pectinibranchiata by Rang, u here
we fiini also next tliein the Velutina of Flemming, distinguLslied by its
neritoid thin shell with a wide entire aperture, without an operculum.
His Stylina {Stylifer, Broderip) has also no operculum, but the spire
is pointed and acute. One species lives on the Echinus ; another im-
beds itself in Starfish.]
ACEPHALES.
369
side of it, and the combs are alike : the conical tentacula have their eyes at their external base : the
sides of the foot are garnished with a row of filaments.
Emarginula, Lam., has exactly the same structure as Fissurella ; but instead of a hole in the apex, its cloak and
shell have a little cleft or emargination on their anterior side, which also penetrates into the branchial cavity. The
margins of the cloak envelope and in a great measure cover those of the shell : the eyes are on a tubercle at the
outer bases of the conical tentacula ; and the sides of the foot are as usual ornamented with filaments.
Parrnophorus, Lam. (5^CM#?. entalis, Martini.
Fig. 202. — Dentalium entalis, in its
tube.
THE SECOND ORDER OF ANNELIDES,—
I THE DORSIBRANCHIATA,-
Have their organs, and particularly their gills, distributed about equally throughout the
length of the body, or at least its middle portion.
We place at the head of them certain genera, in which the gills are more developed.
Arenicola, Lam.
Gills of an arhuscular form, upon the rings of the middle part of the body only. The mouth a fleshy
trunk, more or less dilatable, but no discernible teeth, tentacles, or eyes. The posterior extremity of
the body devoid not only of gills, but also of bundles of silky bristles, which occur on the other part ;
no cirrhus on any ring of the body. M. Savigny forms of them his family TJielethuces.
I The common species {Lumhricus marinus, Linn.), is very abundant in the sand of the sea shore, where the
fishermen dig for it to serve as bait. It is nearly a foot long, of a reddish colour, and diffuses, on being touched,
a quantity of yellow fluid. It has three pairs of gills.
j Amphinome, Brug.
j A pair of branchise in form of a crest, or a tuft more or less complicated, on each ring of the body,
|j and two bundles of separate bristles, together with two cirrhi, upon each foot. The trunk or proboscis
without jaws. These form the family of Amphinomes of M. Savigny, who divides them into
Chloeia, wherein are five tentacles to the head and gills in form of a tripinnate leaf. There is one in the East
I Indies {Terebella flava,Gm.), extremely remarkable for its long citron-coloured bundle of bristles, and for its
I' splendid purple tufts of branchiae. Its form is broad and depressed, and it has a vertical crest on the muzzle.
394
ANNELIDES.
Pleione, Sav. {Amphinome, Blainv.), which, with the same tentacles, have crest-like gills. These also are from
the East Indies, and attain a great size.
To these may be added Euphrosine, Sav., which has but one
tentacle to the head, together with arbuscular gills, very
much developed and complicated ; and to which the genus
Anisteria, Sav., established on a mutilated individual, should
probably be approximated ; and, lastly,
Hipponoe, Audouin & Edwards, which, devoid of caruncle,
has only one cirrhus and packet of bristles to each foot. There
is one at Port Jackson, H. Gaudichaudii, Aud. & Ed.
Eunice, Cuv. —
Fisr. 203.-Euphrosine laxxreata. Hkcwise fuTllislied with tuft-likC gills, but the trunk
is formidably armed with three pairs of dilFerently-forraed horny jaws ; each of their feet has two
cirrhi and a bundle of bristles ; and there are five tentacles upon the head above the mouth and two
on the neck. Some species only exhibit two small eyes. M. Savigny’s family of Eunices is constituted
by this division, and the particular genus is termed by him Leodice.
A species, from one to four feet in length, inhabits the sea around the Antilles (E. gigantea, Cuv.), which is the
largest Annelide known. Some upon our coasts are much smaller.
M. Savigny distinguishes by the name of MarpMsia certain species, otherwise very similar, which have no
nuchal tentacles, and the upper cirrhus of which is very short, as Nereis sanguinea, Montagu. An allied species
{N. tubicola, Muller), inhabits a horny tube.
After these genera with complex branchiae, are placed those in which the organs adverted to are
reduced to simple laminae, or even to slight tubercles, or which, lastly, are represented only by the
cirrhi. Some of them resemble Eunice by the powerful armature of the trunk, and by their antennae
of unequal number. Such are
Lycidice, Sav., —
Which, together with the jaws of Eunice, or even a greater number than in that genus, and often un-
equal on the two sides, have but three tentacles, and cirrhi to perform the office of branchiae.
Agla-Ura, Sav. —
Hav6 likewise numerous jaws, of an unequal number, seven, nine, &c. ; but no tentacles, or which are
entirely hidden ; and the gills are similarly reduced to cirrhi.
Under this name I unite the Aglaura and CEnone of Savigny, and even certain species without tentacles, which
MM. Audouin and Edwards leave in Lycidice, as Ag.fulgida and (E. lucida.
The Nereids, properly so called (Nereis, Cuv. ; Lycoris, Sav.).
Tentacles of an even number, attached to the sides of the base of the head, two other biarticulated
ones a little more forward, and between these two simple ones ; only one pair of jaws within the
trunk ; the gills formed of little laminas, traversed by a network of vessels ; and at each of their feet
two tubercles, two bundles of bristles, and a cirrhus above and below.
A great number of species inhabit our coasts.
[The species here figured, N. prolifera (Mul-
ler, Zool. Dan.), exhibits a singular peculiarity
in its mode of propagation, merely by sponta-
neous division, the hind part of the body being
gradually transformed into an additional animal,
the head and tentacular cirrhi being already de-
veloped. Muller describes one mother, to which
three foetuses, of different ages, appeared in one
length. The mother had thirty segments, the
young one nearest to it had eleven, and the two
hinder, or older ones, seventeen segments each.]
Fig, 204.— Nereis prolifera.
After these should rank various genera, equally distinguished by a slender body, and gills reduced to
simple laminae, or even to simple filaments or tubercles. Several, however, have no jaws nor tentacles.
Phyllodoce, Sav. (Nereiphylla, Blainv.), — >
In common with the Nereids proper, have tentacles of even number at the sides of the head, and four
or five small ones anteriorly. They have distinct eyes ; their large trunk is furnished with a circlet
of very short fleshy tubercles, does not contain jaws, and, what particularly distinguishes them, their
DORSIBRANCHIATA.
395
gills are in the form of very broad leaves, forming a range on each side of the body, upon which minute
vessels ramify extensively.
The N. viridis, Muller, of which M. Savigny, without having seen it, proposes to make a genus Eutaliay and the
two species of Eunomia, Risso, appear to me to belong to Phyllodoce, to which also, perhaps, should be referred the
Nereis pinnig era, Montagu, and the N.stillifera, Muller, which M. Savigny, without seen them, proposes to make
into a genus Lepidia, and N. longa, Otto, which M. Savigny places with N.Jlava in his genus Etiona. All these
require to be examined anew after the method detailed by M. Savigny. The genus Phyllodoce, Sav., however, must
not be confounded with that of M. Ranzani, which latter is allied to Aphrodita, and especially to Polynoe.
Alciope, Aud. & M. Edwards, —
Have nearly the mouth and tentacles of Phyllodoce, but the feet present, besides the tubercle which
bears the bristles and the two foliated cirrhi, or gills, a couple of branchial tubercles, which occupy its
upper and lower borders.
Spio, Fabricius & Gmelin.
A slender body ; two very long tentacles that have the appearance of antennae ; eyes upon the head,
and on either side of each segment of the body a gill in form of a simple filament. They are small
northern Sea-worms, which inhabit membranous tubes.
Poly dor e, Bose., appears to me to be referrible to this genus.
Syllis, Sav. — ■
Have tentacles of uneven numbers, articulated in chaplets, together with upper cirrhi to the feet,
which are very simple, and bear no bundles of silky bristles. It appears that they vary with respect
to the existence of jaws.
S. monilaris, Sav. [figured in p. 391 ante], the Nereis armillaris, Muller, of which M. Savigny, without having
seen it, proposes to make a genus, which he terms Lycastis, having tentacles and cirrhi in chaplets, like a Syllis j
but the former, represented to be of even number, requires farther examination.
Glyceris, Cuv.— ■
Are recognized by the form of the head, which terminates in a conical fleshy point, having the aspect
of a small horn, and the summit of which divides into four very small tentacles, that are scarcely visi-
ble. The trunk of some of the species contains jaws, which cannot be perceived in others.
Such are Nereis alba, Muller, and Glyc. Meckelii, Aud. & Edw.
Nephthys, Cuv.
The trunk of Phyllodoce, but no tentacles ; and on each foot two bundles of bristles widely sepa-
rated, and a cirrhus between them.
Lombrinereis, Blainv. —
Have no tentacles ; the body, considerably elongated, has merely a small forked tubercle at each arti-
culation, which bears a little packet of silky bristles. If there be any external respiratory organ, it
can only be the upper lobe of this tubercle.
Nereis abranchiata. Poll., Lumbricus fragilis, Muller, of which latter M. Blainville makes, but doubtfully, his
genus Scoletome.
The Scolelepe, Blainv., which are only known by the figure of Abildgaart {Lumbricus squamatus), have a very
slender body, with numerous rings, each of which has a cirrhus that serves for a gill, and two bundles of silky
bristles, the lower of which seems to consist of a fold of skin compressed like a scale, and the head has neither
jaws nor tentacles.
Aricia., Sav., —
Have neither teeth nor tentacles. The body, which is lengthened, bears two ranges of lamelliform
cirrhi along the back ; and the anterior feet are furnished with dentelated crests, that do not occur on
the other feet.
Ar. Cuvieri, Aud. and Edw. The Lumbricus armiger, Muller, which M. Blainville, without having seen it, pro-
poses to make a genus of, by the name of Scolople, appears to have neither teeth nor tentacles, and bears two
small simple bundles of short bristles on its first segments, and on the rest a bifid tubercle, a little bristle, and a
long and pointed branchial lamina.
Hesione, —
Have a short and rather thick body, composed of few ill-defined rings : a very long cirrhus, which pro-
bably fulfils the office of branchiae, occupying the upper part of each foot, which has also another
lower one, and a packet of silky bristles, and the trunk large, having neither jaws nor tentacles.
Such are H. splendida, Savigny, H. festina, Id., and H. pantherima, Risso.
ANNELIDES.
396
Ophelina, Sav.
Body rather thick and short, the rings ill-defined, bristles scarcely visible, and long cirrhi serving
for gills upon two thirds of its length ; the mouth containing a dentelated crest at the palate, lips sur-
rounded with tentacles, of which the two uppermost are larger than the rest.
Hereabouts should probably be placed the Nereis prismatica and bifrons of Fabricius.
CiRRHATULA, Lam.
A very long filament serving for gills, and two little bundles of bristles at each articulation of the
body, which are very numerous and much serrated, together with a collar of long filaments around the
neck. Head ill-defined, with neither tentacles nor jaws.
Lumbricus cirrhatus, Otto, from which the Terebella tenticulata, Montagu, and the Cirrhinereisfiliger, Blainville,
do not appear to me to differ generically.
Palmyre, Sav.
Distinguished by their upper bundle composed of large flattened bristles disposed like a fan, and
brilliant as the most polished gold ; the inferior bundles small ; their cirrhi and gills not very distinct.
They have a lengthened body, and two long and three very small tentacles.
One only is known, from the Isle of France, two inches in length, the P, aurifera, Savigny.
Aphrodita, Linn.
Easily known from the rest of this order by two longitudinal ranges of broad membranous scales, |
covering the back, to which the name elytra has been given without much reason, and under which |
the gills lie concealed in form of little fleshy crests. The body is generally flattened, and shorter and i
broader than in other Annelides. A very thick and muscular oesophagus is observable on dissection,
which is capable of being reversed into a trunk externally ; the intestine is unequal, and furnished on
each side with a great number of branched coeca, the extremities of which are fixed between the bases :
of the packets of silky bristles which serve for feet.
M. Savigny distinguishes among them the i
Halithea, — I
Wherein are three leaflets, between two of which is a very small crest, and which also has no jaws. |
There is one upon our coasts, which is among the most beautifully coloured of animals {Aphrodita aciileata, | j
Linn.) Its form is oval, six or eight inches long, and two or three broad. The scales of its back are covered
and concealed by a substance resembling tow, which originates at its sides : the latter have also groups of stout
spines, which partly pierce the tongue, together with bundles of flexible bristles, as brilliant as gold, and change-
able to every hue of the rainbow. The colours they present are surpassed in beauty neither by the scale-like
feathers of the Humming-bird, nor by the most brilliant gems. Below them is a tubercle bearing three groups
of spines, of three different thicknesses ; and finally, a fleshy cover. There are forty of these tubercles on each i
side, and between the two first are two little fleshy tentacles ; besides which there are fifteen pairs of broad scales,
which are sometimes bulged upon the back ; and fifteen small branchial crests on each side.
[The animals of this group, which greatly resemble, in form, the Euphrosine laureata, figured in a preceding i
page, are well known under the name of Sea Mice, and are often thrown upon the beach after a gale of wind. In
some species the lateral setae exhibit a beautiful structure, admirably fitting them for weapons of defence, being I
barbed on each side at the tip ; but, in order to prevent the injury which might occur to the animals, in consequence -
of the power it possesses of retracting these setae, each is inclosed in a smooth, horny sheath, composed of two
blades.]
Some species have no tow-like substance on the back, which are the Halithus hermiones of M. Savigny, and form
the genus Hermione of M. de Blainville. There is one in our seas, the Aphr. hystrix, Savigny.
Another division of Aphrodita is the
PoLYNOE, Sav. {Eumolpe, Oken), —
Having no scales on the hack, and five tentacles, together with strong corneous jaws, within the pro-
boscis.
Several small species inhabit our coasts.
SiGALioN, And. and Edw., —
Presents a more elongated form than other Aphrodites, with cirrhi upon all the feet.
Acoetes, Id., —
Have cirrhi which alternate with the elytra for a considerable space, and stronger and better dentelated
jaws. I
r
ABRANCHIA.
397
The Antilles possess a large one, which inhabits a tube of the consistence of leather. The Phyllodoce maxillosa,
Ranzani, named Polyodante by Reinieri, and Eumolpe maxima, Oken, appear to be nearly allied, having the
same trunk and jaws, and neither genus having perhaps been described from perfect specimens. Many species
of Annelides remain, which have been too imperfectly described to admit of their being characterized ; and the
Myriane, and two or three other genera of M. Savigny, must remain to be examined anew.
Finally, we place here a new and very singular genus, which I name
Ch^topterus.
Mouth with neither jaws nor trunk, hut furnished above with a lip, to which three small tentacles
are attached. A disk then follows with nine pairs of feet, after which is a pair of long silky bundles
like two wings. The lamina-formed gills are attached more towards the upper surface than the lower,
[Here also ought probably to be placed the genus
Peripatus of Guilding, founded upon a West Indian
species, which burrows in the sand, and which has
much perplexed naturalists as to its relations. By
Guilding it was considered as molluscous; by Mac
Leay as forming the passage between the lulidce and
the annulose annelidous worms; whilst Gray {Zool.
Misc. p. 6) asserts that it is annelidous, and connects
Nereis with Lumbricus^
THE THIRD ORDER OF THE ANNELIDES,—
ABRANCHIA,—
Have no respiratory organ appearing externally, and seem to respire either, as in the
Earthworms, over the whole surface of the skin, or, as in the Leeches, by internal cavities.
Some of them have yet bristles to serve for locomotion, of which others are deprived, and they
accordingly fall into two families.
THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE ABRANCHIA,—
The Abranchia Setigera,—
Which are provided with silky bristles, comprise the Earthworms and Naides of Lkanaeus.
The Earthworms {Lumbricus, Linn.) —
Are characterized by a long, cylindrical body, divided by transverse furrows into a great number of
rings, and by a mouth without teeth : they require to be thus subdivided:
The True Earthworms {Lumbricus, Cuv.) —
Have neither eyes, tentacles, gills, nor cirrhi : a distinct enlargement, particularly during the breeding
season, indicates where they attach themselves to one another in the act of copulating. Internally
they have a straight, wrinkled intestine, and some whitish glands towards the fore part of the body,
which appear to serve for generation. It is certain that they are hermaphrodite, and it seems that
their contact only serves to excite each other to self-fecundation. According to M. Montegne, the
eggs descend between the intestine and external envelope, as far as around the rectum, where they
hatch, the young crawling out alive by the anus. M. Dufour states, on the contrary, that they deposit
eggs analogous to those of the Leeches. Their nervous chord consists of a series of an infinitude of little
ganglia, serrated one against another.*
M. Savigny subdivides them fm’ther into Enterion, having on each ring four pairs of little bristles, eight
throughout, to which belongs
The Common Earthworm (L. terrestris, Linn.).— This well-known species attains to nearly a foot in length, with
• This is common to very many species, as M. Savigny first observed. As many as twenty have been been characterised. M. Dnges only
distinguishes six.
and range along the middle of the body.
Fig. 205.— Peripatus luliformis.
398
ANNELIDES.
120 or more rings ; the bulge is towards its anterior third. Under the sixteenth ring are two pores, of which the
use is unknown. It pierces the groiind in all directions, perforating it remarkably well, and subsists on roots,
woody fibres, animal matter, &c. In the month of June it searches at night above ground for a mate.
[It is especially in rich and well-manured soils that the Earthworm delights, particularly in gardens
and meadows ; they are extremely sensitive to movements of the earth ; and anglers, knowing well their temerity
in this respect, take advantage of it, in order to obtain a supply of these animals for baits, by introducing a spade
or fork into the ground, and stirring the soil, when they soon appear on the surface. We are indebted to Charles
Darwin, Esq., for a remarkable and interesting memoir on the utility of this animal, read before the Geological
Society. 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 powerful agent in adding to the
depth of the soil, and in covering comparatively barren tracts with a superficial layer of wholesome mould. The
author’s attention was directed by Mr. Wedgwood, of Maer Hall, Staffordshire, to several fields, some of which
had a few years before been covered with lime, and others with burnt marl and cinders, which substances in every
case are now buried to the depth of some inches below the turf, just as if, as the farmers believe, the particles had
worked themselves down. After shewing the impossibility of this supposed operation, the author affirms that
the whole is due to the digestive process by which the common Earthworm is supported, since, on carefully
examining between the blades of grass in the fields above-mentioned, he found that there was scarcely a space of
two inches square without a little heap of the cylindrical castings of worms ; it being 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. Still more recently Mr. Darwin has noticed a more remarkable
instance of this kind, in which, in the course of eighty years, the Earthworms had covered a field then manured
with marl, with a bed of earth, averaging thirteen inches in thickness.]
[Fig. 206, b, represents the anterior extremity of the Earthworm, to show the mouth, as well as the setae directed
backwards upon the segments of the body, by means of which it is admirably enabled
to work its way through the earth, their backward direction enabling it to retain its
station as it protrudes its head further into the earth. Fig. e, represents one of its
eggs, inclosing, as is sometimes the case, two young ; and fig. d represents the escape
of the young worm from the egg, the anterior extremity of which is furnished with
a peculiar valve-like structure ; these two figures are highly magnified,]
Hypogada. I
work, the second of the Isopodous order, that of Phytibranehes. But Nevertheless, these animals, of which the number is but very small,
not only have we perceived mandibular palpi in some of these Crus* I have been very imperfectly studied,
tacea, but also the form of the subabdominal appendages has appeared I
La:MODIPODA. 429
the order Isopoda), namely, the Crevettines and the Hyperines, the former divided into the saltatorial 1
and ambulatory species. Some new genera were added, especially in the singular family of the Hyperines.
Pterygocera, Latr., and some other genera, he considers not sufficiently studied, and consequently of
doubtful character and situation. Apseudes, lone, Anceus, and Praniza, he also regards as isojiodous.
Various additional genera have also been established by M. Guerin de Meneville, in the Magasiu de
Zoologie, especially amongst the Hyperines, and which are accompanied by figures and generic details.
Dr. Templeton has described some curious minute species from Mauritius, in the Transactions of the
Entomological Society. Still more recently I have received from M. Kroyer, the Danish naturalist, a
memoir upon the Amphipoda of Greenland, published in the last part of the Copenhagen Transactions.
Rathke has described many new species, and some new genera from the Caspian Sea, in the last volume
of the Petersburg Memoirs, and Professor Owen has described some interesting species brought home in
one of the late Polar expeditions. One of the most remarkable of the subgenera established, is that of
Orio of A. Cocco, described in the Giornali di Scienze, ^c., per la Sicilia, for November 1 833, which has
been overlooked by Crustaceologists, and in which the maxillary palpi are exceedingly slender, as long
as the body, and 4-jointed.]
THE FOURTH ORDER OF CRUSTACEA,
LCEMODIPODA,—
Comprises the only Malacostraca with sessile eyes which have not distinct branchim attached
at the extremity of the body, which are nearly destitute of a tail, the hind pair of legs being
attached either at the extremity of the body or to a segment, follow^ed by one or two very
small joints. They are also the only species in which the two fore-legs, which correspond
with the second foot-jaws, form part of the head.
All the species have four setaceous antennae, implanted on a peduncle of three joints ;
mandibles destitute of palpi ; a vesicular body at the base of at least four of the pairs of legs,
commencing with the second or third pair, including those of the head. The body, generally
[ filiform or linear, is composed (including the head) of eight or nine segments, with several
i small appendages in the form of tubercles at its posterior and inferior extremity. The legs
1 are terminated by a strong hook ; the four anterior, of which the second pair is the largest, are
always terminated by a monodactyle claw\ In some, the four following are more slender,
with fewer articulations, without a terminal hook, or are rudimental ami in no manner fitted
for the ordinary uses.
The females carry their eggs beneath the second and third segments of the body, in a pouch
1 formed of scales closely applied against each other.
All these Crustacea are marine. M. Savigny considers them as approaching the Pycno-
j gonides, and as forming, together with them, the passage betw^een the Crustacea and
I Arachmda. In the first edition of this work, they formed part of the Isopodous order, namely,
1 the section Cystibranchiae.
I They may be considered as forming a single genus, for which, on account of its priority, the name of
! Cyamus (Latr.) —
should be retained.
Some of these (forming a first section named Filiformia, Latr.) have the body long and very slender
or linear, with the segments longitudinal ; the legs also long and very slender, and the terminal fila-
ment of the antennse composed of minute joints.
They are found amongst marine plants, creeping along in the same way as the Geometer or Looper-
caterpillars, bending themselves often back with great rapidity, and applying their antennae to various
parts of the body. In swimming they bend the two ends of the body dowiiw^ards.
430
CRUSTACEA.
Fi§;. 13. — Caprella phasma.
Leptomera, Latr, {Proto, Leach), has fourteen complete legs (including the pair attached to the head), forming
a regular series. In some of them (as in Gammarus pedatus, Muller, forming the type of the restricted genus
Leptomera) all the legs (except the two anterior) are furnished with a basal vesicle, whilst in the others {Cancer
pedatus, Montague, being the type of Leach’s Proto) these appendages exist only at the base of the second and
four following legs.
Naupredia, Latr., has ten legs in a continuous series, the second and two following pairs having a vesicular
body at the base. The typical species found on the French coast appears to me to be undescribed.
Caprella, Lamarck, have also only ten legs, but the series is interrupted; the second and following
segments being destitute of legs, but each is
furnished with two vesicular bodies. Type, Squilla
lobata, Muller.
[Dr. Johnston has published a monograph of
the British species of this section in the eighth
volume of the Magazine of Natural History, and
Dr. Templeton and M. Guerin have respectively
described various additional species of this curi-
ous group.]
The other Loemodipoda, forming a second section (Ovalia, Latr.), have the body oval, with the seg-
ments transverse ; the terminal filament of the antenn® appears to be inarticulated. The legs are short,
or of only moderate length ; those of the second and third segments are imperfect, and terminated by a
long cylindrical joint without terminal hooks ; they have at the base an elongated vesicular body.
These Loemodipoda form the subgenus —
Cyamus, Latr. {Larunda, Leach), of which 1 have seen three species, all of which live
upon Cetacea, and of which the commonest {Oniscus Ceti, Linn.) is also found upon the
Mackerel. The fishermen call it the whale-louse. Another species, closely allied, was
brought home by Delalande, in his voyage to the Cape of Good Hope. The third, which is
much smaller, is found upon the Cetacea of the Indian seas.
[M. Roussel de Vauz^me has published a very complete and interesting memoir upon
this singular genus in the Annates des Sciences Naturelles for May, 1834, describing three
species living upon Whales of the Southern Ocean, and also observed their respective
habits. Sometimes these creatures are so abundant on the Whales that the individuals
they infest may be easily recognized at a considerable distance by the white colour these
parasites impart to them. When removed, the surface of the body of the Whale is found
to be deprived of its epidermis. C. ovalis and gracilis are stationary, being found in great
numbers agglomerated upon the corneous prominences of Balresence of myriads of D.pidex ; but Strauss has never proved this fact, the species being generally but slightly
coloured. In the morning and evening, and even in cloudy days, the Daphnise generally station themselves on
the surface, but in the heat of the day they seek the depths of the water. They swim by taking short springs.
* Strauss indeed considered Cypris and Cythere not to be real Bran-
cliiopods, because their feet are not branchial ; but we do not see
why the hairs of the two anterior and of the antenna; may not, as well
as those of the palpi and anterior maxillae, perform the office of
branchiae.
BRANCHIOPODA. 44 1
' varying; according to the length of their oars and the breadth of their shells. According to Strauss, their food con-
sists exclusively of minute particles of vegetable substances, which they meet with in the water, and often of
confervas. They constantly refused the animal matter he gave them. It is by the action of their legs that they pro-
duce a current on the water, which brings their food towards the mouth. The hooks at the tip of the tail are
used in cleaning the branchiae. [Mr. Baird has published a detailed account of the anatomy and habits of this
genus in the second volume of the Magazine of Zoology and Botany.']
The most common species is D. pulex, {Monoculus pulex, Linn. ; Pulex aqiiaticus arbor escens, Swammerdam),
or the arborescent water-flea. It has the setae of its oars plumose ; its valves are notched on the lower edge, and
terminated by a short tail, which is obtuse in the females.
The last subgenus is Lynceus,MvL\\&c (Chilodorus, Leach), distinguished by the oars being shorter than the shell,
and of which the lower part does not form a produced point. All the species have in front of the eye a small
black spot, having the appearance of a second [frontal] eye.
The second section of the BrancMopoda — that of the Phyllopa— is distinguished from
the former by the number of feet, which is at least twenty,* and in some much more con-
siderable ; their joints, or at least the terminal ones, are flattened, lamellar, or foliaceous, and
ciliated. The mandibles are destitute of palpi. They have two eyes, (situated in some at
the extremity of two moveable peduncles,) and some have also an ocellus ; the antennae, of which
there are generally only two, are small, and not fitted for swimming. These Crustacea compose
' two principal groups.
' 1. The Ceratopfhalma, Latr., have at least ten pair of legs, and at the most twenty-two pairs,
jl .
:i without any vesicular appendages at their base, and of which the anterior are never much longer than
‘ the others, nor ramified. The body is inclosed in a shield, formed like a bivalve shell, or naked, with
|| each of the thoracic divisions bearing a pair of exposed feet. The eyes are sometimes sessile, small,
Ij and close together, but more commonly they are situated at the extremity of two moveable peduncles.
i| The eggs are internal or external, and inclosed in a capsule at the base of the tail.
! In some species the eyes are sessile, immoveable, and the body inclosed in a bivalve shell ; the
I ovaries are always internal. They form the genus
I Limnadia of Ad. Brongniart, which so nearly approach the preceding that Hermann placed the only species
j known [to him and Latreille] amongst the Daphnise. The shell is oval, bivalve, and incloses the body, which is
long, linear, and inflected in front. Upon the head are placed, 1, two eyes in a transverse direction, and close to-
ll gether ; 2, four antennae, two much longer than the others, each composed of an 8-jointed peduncle, and two
ij 8-jointed setaceous branches, rather silky, and two others intermediate in situation, small, simple, and dilated at
j the tips; 3, the mouth, situated beneath, consisting of two mandibles, swollen, curved, and truncate at the
Ij inferior extremity, and two foliaceous maxillae. These parts form together a kind of beak, placed beneath. The
body, properly so called, is divided into twenty-three segments, each of which (except the last) bears a pair of
I branchial feet. All these feet are alike, very compressed, bifid, with the outer division simple, ciliated at the
jl outer edge, and the other 4-jointed, and strongly ciliated on the inner edge. The twelve fore pairs of legs are of
:j the same length, and longer than the others, which diminish gradually in length. The eleventh, twelfth, and
f thirteenth pairs have at the base a slender filament, bent upwards into the cavity between the back and the shell,
1 serving as the support for the eggs. The ovaries are internal, and situated at the sides of the intestinal canal.
|j Tine eggs, after being laid, occupy the dorsal cavity above noticed, and are there attached by means of small fila-
I ments adhering to those of the supports. They are at first round and transparent, but afterwards become
i darker, and irregular in shape. All the individuals observed by Brongniart were provided with them, so that the
il males remain unknown (if there are individuals of that sex), and are supposed to appear at a different season from
|i the females. The type, Limnadia Hermanni (A. Brongniart, Daphina gigas, Hermann), has been found in small
i| pools of water in the forest of Fontainebleau.
jj [M. Guerin has published a monograph upon this genus in his Magasin du Zoologie for 1837, describing three
I species.]
\Estheria, Strauss, {Cyzycus, Audouin,) is a genus closely allied to Limnadia, found in the Red Sea. Type, B.
[I Dahalaeensis, Ruppell, in Trans. Mus. SecJtenberg, 1837.]
In the other species of Ceratopthalma, the eyes are placed at the extremities of two long peduncles,
formed by the lateral prolongation, like a nose on each side of the head. The body is naked, not in-
closed in a shield, and annulated throughout its entire length. The females carry their eggs in an
elongated capsule, placed at the base of the tail when present, or at the posterior extremity of the body
and thorax in those which have no tail.
Artemia, Leach, has the body terminated by a tail, the eyes borne at the extremity of very short peduncles ;
the head confluent, with an oval thorax, supporting ten pairs of legs, and terminated by a long and pointed tail.
* These animals represent in this class of Crustacea the M}'riapo(la in that of the Insecta.
442
CRUSTACEA.
ArtemWj salina, {Cancer salinus, Linn., Montague, in Trans. Linn. Soc., 9. pi. 14,) [the Brine Slirimp] is a very
small Crustaceous animal, commonly found in the salt pans at Lymington, in England, when the evaporation
of the water is considerably advanced. [Latreille observed that we were in possession of very imperfect
characters of this little species. More recently, however. Dr. J. V. Thompson has minutely examined its struc-
ture, and has traced the gradual developement of this singular animal, which, when full grown, is about half
an inch in length, with a highly polished surface. “ Nature having con-
structed them with members solely adapted for swimming, they seem
to be in perpetual quest of prey, gliding with an almost even motion
through the water, and moving with equal indilference and facility
on the back, belly, and sides ; the shape of the animal, the undu- S
lating movements of its tins, and the glossy appearance of its coat, 1
renders it an object of a very interesting description.” — Thompson. M. U
V. Audouin has published some additional and equally interesting r
details of it in the Annales des Sciences Naturelles for 1837.] |
Branchipus, Latr. {Chirocephalus, B. Prevost), have the eyes placed L
at the end of elongated peduncles ; the body long, narrow, and com- I
pressed, the head distinct fi’om the thorax, with its organs varying in '■>
Fig. 20.— Artcmiit salina, in different stages. sexes, with two hom-like projections between the eyes ; eleven pairs of
legs, and the tail terminated by two ciliated, elongated plates. In both sexes the body is nearly filiform, composed
of a head separated from the thorax by a kind of neck, of a thorax channelled beneath, and divided, at least on the
upper side, into eleven segments, not including the neck, each of which supports a pair of very compressed bran- '
chial legs, generally composed of three lamellar joints, with the edges fringed with hairs, and of a long tail,
gradually narrowed to the end, composed of nine segments, terminated by two or more less elongated filaments with |
ciliated edges. The under side of the second segment of the tail exhibits the male sexual organs, and in the female
is furnished with an elongated sac, containing the eggs ready to be laid. The head, (of which the organization of '
the different parts, especially those of the mouth, requires a more minute investigation than has been given to it
by Prevost and Schaffer), presents, 1, two facetted eyes, wide apart, at the end of two flexible peduncles, formed by
the lateral prolongation of the head ; 2, two frontal antenna; scarcely shorter than the head, slender, filiform, and
composed of minute articulations ; 3, two produced organs beneath them, either in the form of horns, and
composed of a single joint, or finger-shaped and two-jointed ; 4, a mouth on the under side of the head, composed
of two kinds of toothed mandibles, destitute of palpi, and of some other pieces. We believe that these produced
horns are only appendages (but differently constructed in the males) of the frontal antennse ; the two other
antennae may either be obliterated in the females, and may constitute in the males of C. diaphanus, Prev., the singular
tentacles with teeth, and capable of being rolled up in a coil, which B. Prevost calls the fingers of the hands.
The observations of Schaffer upon the hairs of the feet, prove that they are so many aerial canals, and that the sur-
face of the feet to which they are attached is able to absorb a portion of the air which is in contact with them, in
the form of bubbles.
Chirocephalus diaphanus, B. Prevost, nearly allied to our Branchipus paludosus, if indeed it be distinct, has, on
bursting from the egg, the body divided into two nearly equal and nearly globular masses. The anterior exhibits
a single simple eye, two short antennae, two very large oars, ciliated at the end, two short, slender, 5-jointed legs. At
the end of the first moulting the two composite eyes appear, the body is gradually elongated, and terminates in a
conical, articulated tail, with two filaments at the tip. The subsequent moultings gradually develope the legs,
and the oar-like appendages disappear. The Branchipi are found, often in great numbers, in small puddles of soft,
disturbed water, and often in those formed after heavy rains, especially in autumn and spring. The first frosts
destroy them. Tliey generally swim on the back, and their short, lamellar feet, unable to assist in walking, are
then kept in an undulatory motion, very agreeable to the sight, and by which a current is produced, which, follow-
ing the canal of the breast, bears to the mouth the minute particles of the insect’s food. When it swims it violently
beats the water from right to left with its tail, which gives it sudden jerks. Wlien deprived of a sufficient degree
of moisture, it soon ceases to move. The shell of the eggs is thick and strong, which favours their preservation,
since it appears that desiccation, unless it be too strong, does not alter the germ, and that the young are subse-
quently hatched when a sufficient quantity of rain falls. M. Desmarest has often observed the Branchipus in pud-
dles of fresh rain-water on the summit of the free-stone {gres) of Fontainebleau. The female Chirocephali have
several distinct layings of eggs, after a single impregnation ; each operation lasting several hours, or even an ' I
entire day : each brood consists of from one hundred to four hundred eggs, ten or twelve being discharged at once,
with sufficient force to embed them in the sand. The two horns, situated beneath the superior antenna; in Branchi- '
pus paludosus, are composed, in both sexes, of two joints, the last of which is large and curved in the male, and
very short and conical in the female. In Branchipus stagnalis, the
horns are composed of but one joint, those of the male resembling, in
their form, direction, and teeth, the jaws of the Lucanus Cervus, or Stag
Beetle. [There is an interesting memoir on this animal and its trans-
formation, by Dr. Shaw, in the Linyicean Transactions, vol. i.]
Eulimenc, Latr., is destitute of a tail, the body, which is nearly linear, Fig.2i. — Branchipu.s stagnalis.
terminating immediately behind the thorax and posterior legs : the four
antennae are short, nearly filiform, two being smaller than the others, and nearly resembling palpi, placed at
the anterior extremity of the head. The head is transverse, with two eyes placed upon large cylindrical pedun-
cles, eleven pairs of branchial feet, of which the three anterior joints and the terminal one are smaller, and
i
BRANCIIIOPODA.
443
gradually pointed, and immediately behind them is a terminal, nearly semiglobular joint, replacing a tail, and
I which IS furnished with an elongated tilament, probably an oviduct. I have obsei*ved near the middle of the
fifth and four following pairs of feet a g^lobose body, probably analogous to the vesicles which these organs present
in Apus. The only species, albida, Latr., is very small, and of a whitish colour. It is found in the River of Nice.
2. The Aspidiphora, Latr., [or second principal group of the Phyllopodous BrancMopoda] have sixty
pairs of legs, all of which are furnished on the outside, near the base, with a large oval vesicle, and of
which the two anterior, much larger than the rest, and ramose, resemble antennae. A large shell covers
the major part of the upper side of the body, almost entirely disengaged, (shield-like,) posteriorly emar-
ginate, and liearing anteriorly, in a confined space, three simple sessile eyes, of which the two anterior
are larger and lunular ; and two bivalve capsules containing the eggs, annexed to the eleventh pair of
feet. Such are the characters of the genus
Apus, Scop., (forming part of the genus Binociilus, Geoffrey, and Limulus, Mull.).— The body, including the
shell, is oval, broader, and rounded in front, and narrowed behind, forming a tail ; but if we remove the shell, it is
nearly cylindrical, convex above, concave and divided by a longitudinal canal beneath, terninating in an elongated
cone. It is composed of thirty joints, equally diminishing in size towards the posterior extremity, and which,
with the exception of the seven or eight terminal ones, bear the feet. The ten anterior segments are membranous,
soft, and without spines, presenting on each side a small eminence, or knob, with only a single pair of legs to
each. The others are more solid and horny, with a row of small spines on the outer edge : the last is longer than
the preceding, nearly square, depressed, angular, and terminated by two filaments, or articulated setae. In some
species, composing the genus Lepiclurus, Leach, there is a corneous elliptic plate. If the number of legs be one
hundred and twenty, the terminal segments after the eleventh and tw^elfth must severally bear more than a pair of
legs, (in which respect these animals approach the Myriapoda). The shell, perfectly disengaged beyond its an-
terior attachment, covers the greater part of the body, and thus defends the anterior segments, which are of a
j softer consistence than the others ; it consists of a large, corneous scale, very slender, nearly diaphanous, exhibit-
I ing the superior teguments of the head and thorax united, and forming a large, oval shield, deeply incised at its
posterior extremity. Its upper surface is divided by a transverse line, forming two united arcs, into two areas,
the anterior of a semilunar form, corresponding with the head, and the other with the thorax. Tluj anterior is fur-
nished with the three eyes, and the posterior is carinated dovm the middle. The shell is only fixed to the body at its
anterior extremity, so that the back of the animal may be distinctly seen throughout its whole length. Immedi-
^ ately beneath the frontal disc are placed the antennae and mouth. The antennae are two in number, inserted on
I each side of the mandibles, very short, filiform, and composed of two equal joints. The mouth consists of a square
' labrum ; two strong, corneous mandibles, destitute of palpi, and toothed at the tip ; a tongue, deeply notched ; two
pairs of foliaceous maxillae, the superior spined, and ciliated on the inner edge, and the inferior resembling small
false legs. They are terminated by a slender, elongated joint, prolonged externally at their base into an ear-
shaped appendage, and bearing a kind of palpus. The legs, about one hundred and twenty in number, gradually
diminish in size after the second pair ; they are all compressed, foliaceous, and composed of three joints, not
including the two long filaments at the tip of the two anterior, and tlie two leafiets terminating the following,
which may be regarded as the analogues of a claw, having the two fingers elongated, and converted into antenna3-
like filaments ; upon the posterior edge of this joint is inserted a large branchial membrane, and the following, or
the second, also bears on the same side an oval, vesicular, red sac. The opposite edge of these legs also exhibits
four triangular, ciliated leaflets. The eleventh pair of legs is very remarkable ; the first joint exhibits, behind
the vesicle, two circular valves, applied upon each other, formed of two plates, and inclosing the eggs, which re-
semble small, red grains. All the individuals hitherto examined have exhibited this structure, and it has, there-
fore, been supposed that each has the power of fecundating its own eggs, and that there are no males.
These Crustacea inhabit ditches, lakes, and standing waters, generally in innumerable quantities. Raised thence
by violent hurricanes into the air, they have been observed to fall like rain. They are generally found in spring
and the beginning of summer. Their food principally consists of young Tadpoles. They swim well on the back,
and when they burrow into the sand, they elevate their tails in the water. When first hatched they have only one
eye, four legs, like oars or arms, with whorls of hairs ; the second pair being the largest. The body has no tail,
and the shell only covers the front half of the body. The other organs are gradually developed during the succeeding
moultings.
The species being few in number, it is not necessary to form (as Leach has done) with those
which have a plate between the tails, a distinct genus {Lepidurus, Leach), type, Monoculusapus,
Linn. The ridge of the shield terminates in a small spine posteriorly, which is not the case in
Apus cancriformis {Limulus palustris. Mull.), which latter is also destitute of a plate between the
tail. This forms the type of the restricted genus Apus of Leach, who has also figured another
species, A. Montagui.
[Prosopistoma, Latreille, in Nouv. Mem. du Museum, is composed of a minute species from Mada-
I gascar, exactly resembling a species of Gyrinus in its external appearance. It is figured in Gudrin,
Iconographie Crust., pi. 34, 14. Eurypterus, Dekay, is composed of a very remarkable fossil animal,
allied to Apus and other analogous genera, the head not being distinct from the body, which is
oval, but attenuated behind, with two large dorsal eyes, and four pairs of legs, the fourth being-
very large, and like broad oars. Annals Nat. Hist., New York, 1825, p. 375, t. 29.]
444 CRUSTACEA.
THE SECOND ORDER OF ENTOMOSTRACA,—
{The Seventh and last of the Class Crustacea), —
PCECILOPODA,-
Is distinguished from the preceding by the diversity in the form of the feet, of
which the anterior, of an indeterminate number, are ambulatory, or fitted for pre-
hension, and the others, lamelliform or pinnated, are branchial, and fitted for swim-
ming. But it is especially in the absence of mandibles and maxillae, of the ordinary
form that they are separated from all the other Crustacea ; sometimes these organs
are replaced by the basal joint of the six anterior legs being armed with numerous
minute spines ; sometimes the organs of manducation consist either in an external
siphon in the form of an inarticulated beak, or in some other instrument fit for
suction, but hidden, or very indistinct.
The body is nearly always covered, either entirely or for the most part, by a
shell in the shape of a shield, composed of a single piece in the majority, but of
two parts in some, and always exhibiting two eyes at least when these organs are
distinct. Two of the antennae {Chelicera, Latr.) are in many in form of hooks,
and perform the functions as such. The number of their legs is twelve in the
greater number*, and of ten or twenty- two in nearly all the others. They reside
for the most part upon aquatic animals, and most commonly on fishes.
We divide this Order into two families, [Xyphosura and Siphonostoma,] which, in
my Families Naturelles, composed two separate orders.
THE FIRST FAMILY OF PCECILOPODA,—
Xyphosura, —
Is distinguished from the following by many characters : they have no siphon ; the coxae of the six pairs
of fore-legs are beset with minute teeth, and perform the office of jaws ; the number of legs is twenty-
two ; the ten anterior, with the exception of the two anterior in the males, are terminated by a two-
fingered claw, and inserted, as well as the two following, beneath a large semilunar shield ; the latter
bear the organs of generation, and are in the form of large leaves, as well as the ten following, which
are branchial, and annexed to the under side of a second shield, which is terminated by a very powerful,
horny, moveable style, like a sword. These animals are w^anderers. They compose the genus
Limulus, Fab., of which the species have received the name of [King Crabs], or crabs of the Moluccas. The
nearly rounded body, somewhat elongated and narrowed behind, is divided into two parts, and covered by a solid
shell of two pieces, one for each division of the body ; it is very concave beneath, and exhibits
on its upper side two longitudinal impressions, one on each side, and a central dorsal ridge.
The fore part of the shell, or that which covers the front of the body, is much larger than the
other, and forms a large semilunar shield, having on its upper side two oval eyes, with very
numerous facets, in the form of minute grains, and situated one on each side on the outside of
the longitudinal ridge ; and at the anterior extremity of that of the centre, which extends to the
pieces of the shell, are two small, simple eyes, close together. Within the cavity of the anterior
shell is a small swollen labrum, ridged in the centre, terminated in a point, and above which
are inserted two small antennae, in the form of small didactyle claws, and elbowed in the middle
of their length, at the union of the first and following joint. Immediately beneath are inserted,
close together in pairs, in two lines, twelve legs, of which the ten anterior (the two or four anterior
in the males only excepted) are terminated by a didactyle claw, and of which the basal joint is
Fig. 23.— Limulus advanced interiorly into a lobe armed with numerous minute spine.s, and performs the functions
poiyphemus. maxillae. These legs progressively increase in size, and, with the exception of the fifth
pair, are composed of six joints, including the moveable finger of the claw ; the fifth pair have an additional
joint, and also a curved appendage at the base, directed backwards, and composed of two joints ; their fifth
* Fourteen in some species, according to Leach ; but the pair which ( ferior antennae. The Arguli, which, in respect to their locomotive
he considers to be the anterior pair, appears to me to be the two in- 1 organs, are the most perfect, have only twelve legs.
PCECILOPODA.
445
joint of the leg- being terminated on the inner edge by five small, corneous, narrow, elongated, pointed, and move-
able plates, and the two fingers are moveable, or articulated at the base. The two pieces situated between these
feet, considered by Savigny as a tongue, appear to me to be the two maxillary lobes of these organs, detached and
free. The males are distinguished by the form of the claws of the two or four fore-legs, which are swollen, and
destitute of a moveable finger. The two terminal legs of the anterior shield are united into a large, membranons
leaflet, nearly semicircular, bearing the sexual organs on its posterior face ; the joints are indicated by sutures.
The second piece of the shell is nearly triangular, and notched at its posterior extremity. Its sides are alternately
notched and toothed, and with six spines on each side. In its concave under-side are situated, arranged in pairs,
and in two longitudinal series, ten fin feet-^, nearly resembling the posterior pair of legs, but united merely at the
base, applied upon each other, and bearing on their posterior face the branchiae, which appear to consist of very
numerous fibres.
These Crustacea sometimes attain the length of two feet. They chiefly inhabit tropical seas, and are found near
the shore. They appear to be pecidiar to the East Indies and coast of America. In the latter part of the world
they are called Casserole Fish,— their shells serving, when the legs are removed, to lade water with.
According to M. Leconte, a learned naturalist, they are used for feeding pigs. The natives use the horny style
at the extremity of the body in making their arrows, the point being dangerous. Their eggs are eaten in China.
In walking, their legs are not seen. Fossii species have been found in strata of moderate age.— Knorr, Mon. De-
luge, i. pi. 14 ; Desmarest, Crust. Fossiles, xi. 6, 7.
One species, forming Leach’s genus Trachyplceus, has the four fore-legs, at least in one sex, terminated by a
single finger, — L. heterodactylus, which I have observed figured in Chinese drawings, and which is probably the
Kabutogani or Unkia of the Japanese, by whom it is figured in their primitive Zodiac as the representative of the
constellation Cancer. In the others, the two fore-claws, at most, are only monodactyle. All the ambulatory legs
are didactyle, at least in the females. This division is composed of numerous species ; but which, in consequence
of the slight attention which has been bestowed upon the details of them, from the differences of sex and of age,
together with their peculiar localities, have not been yet characterized with sufficient nicety. Thus, for example,
the young of the c.ommon American Limidus is whitish, with six strong teeth on the central ridge of the base, and
two on each of the lateral ridges ; but in others of greater age, and which are a foot and a half long, the colour is
much darker, and the teeth have nearly disappeared. We may refer the Limulus Cyclops, Fabr., L. Sowerbii,
Leach, L. tridentatus, Leach, and L. albus, Bose, to the former ; and to the latter the Monoculus polyphemus,
Linn., which I had named L. moluccanus, considering it peculiar to the Moluccas. In all its states its tail is
shorter than the body, and denticulated above, which distinguishes it from other species described by myself and
Dr. Leach. — See Nouv. Diet. d’Hisf. Nat., second edition, and Desmarest.
[Van der Hoeven has recently published two memoirs on this genus, in his Magazine of Natural Histoj-y, pub-
lished at Amsterdam.]
THE SECOND FAMILY OF PCECILOPODA,—
SiPHONOSTOMA,
Does not exhibit any kind of jaws. A sucker, or siphon — sometimes external, and in the form
of an acute inarticulated beakf, — sometimes concealed, or nearly indistinct — occupies the place
of the mouth. The number of feet never exceeds fourteen. The shell is very slender, and of
a single piece. All these Entomostraca are parasites.
We divide this family into two tribes, [Caligides and LEUNiEiFORMEs].
The first of these tribes — that of the Caligides, Latr. — is characterized by the presence of a shell,
in the form of an oval or semi-lunar shield ; by the number of visible legs, which is always twelve (or
fourteen, if, with Dr. Leach, we regard the limbs, which I consider as inferior antenme, as legs) ; by the
form and size of those of the ten posteriori, which are either slit into many parts, pinnated, or termi-
nated in a swimmeret, and well fitted, in all their stages of existence, for swimming : sometimes they
are leaf-like, broad, and membranous. The sides of the thorax never exhibit any wing-like expansions
directed backwards, and posteriorly inclosing the body. [The tribe is divisible into two subtribes.]
In the first subtribe, the body — exhibiting, on the upper side, several segments — is elongated, and
narrowed posteriorly, terminating in a tail with two filaments, or two other exserted appendages, at the
tip. This extremity of the body is not covered by a division of the superior integuments, in the shape
of a large rounded scale, deeply notched at its posterior extremity. The shell occupies at least the
moiety of the length of the body. This subtribe comprises two genera of Miiller {^Argulus and Caligus'] .
* The two fore-legs may represent the mandibles of the Decapods ;
the four following feet, their maxillae, and the six hind-legs, their
foot-jaws : so that the fin-feet of the second part of the shell would
thence be the representatives of the thoracic legs of the higher
Crustacea.
t The composition of this beak is not well understood. It is evi-
dent, from Jurine’s figure of Argulus foliaceus, that it incloses a
sucker; but is it the same with the others? and what is the nu.mber
of the pieces of which it is composed ? This we are ignorant of,
although I presume that it consists of a labrum, mandibles, and a
tongue, which forms the sheath of the sucker.
t [Latreille says, “ dio’ dernibres paires but he evidently in; ended
only the five posterior pairs, or ten posterior legs.]
446
CRUSTACEA.
Fiff. 24. — Argulus foliaceus. 1,
the animal mag-nified ; 2, one
Argulus, Mull., at first named by me Ozoliis, but not sufficiently described. The younger Jurine subsequently
examined the species which is the type of the genus, with the most scrupulous attention, observing it in all its
stages. The shield is oval, notched posteriorly, covering the body, with the exception
of the posterior extremity of the abdomen, and supporting, on a triangular frontal
space termed the clypeus, two eyes, four very minute antennae, nearly cylindrical,
placed in front — of which the superior, very short and 3-jointed, have, at the base, a
strong, toothless, recurved hook, and of which the inferior are 4-jointed, with a small
tooth ui)on the basal joint. The siphon is directed forwards. The legs are twelve in
number. The two anterior are terminated by a large limb, circularly dilated at the tip,
and striated and toothed at the edge; exhibiting, on the inside, a kind of rosette,
formed by the muscles, and seeming to act as a sucking-cup. Those of the second pair
are fitted for prehension, with the thighs thick and spinose, and the tarsi composed of
oTthe iarge ‘an teHoV' sucking" three joiiits, the last of which is terminated by two hooks. Tlie other feet are termi-
lengtiu natural j^ated by a swimmeret formed of two fingers, or elongated pinnulae, fringed with bearded
threads. The third pair of legs has an extra finger, but which is recurved. The last
pair of legs is attached to that part of the body which is disengaged behind the shield, or the tail. The abdomen —
regarding it as the part of the body extending backwards between the ambulatory feet, the beak, and a tubercle
inclosing the heart— is entirely free from the place of its insertion, without distinct articulations, and terminates
immediately behind the tw o last feet in a kind of tail, in the shape of a rounded, deeply-notched plate, without
hairs at the tip. It is a kind of swimmeret. The transparency of the integuments permits the heart to be per-
ceived. It is situated behind the base of the siphon, lodged in a solid tubercle, semitransparent, and in the fonn
of a single ventricle.
The eggs are oval, and of a milky white colour : they are attached by gluten to stones or other hard substances,
either in one or two rows, to the number of from one to four hundred. The eggs hatch about thirty -five days after
they are deposited ; and the young ones, on bursting forth, are only three-eighths of a line long. Their general
form is similar to that of the adult state, but the locomotive organs exhibit essential differences. Muller described
the animal in this state as a distinct species, named Argulus Charon. Four long oar-like arms, two placed before
and tw o behind the eye, each terminated by a brush of flexible hairs, w hich the animal moves simultaneously, and
by the help of which it swims easily, v/ith a jerking motion, arise from the anterior extremity of the body. The
rudiments of the antennae are also visible. Tlie tw'O large sucker-like feet are replaced by two strong legs elbowed
near the extremity, and terminated by a strong claw, with which the animal affixes itself to fishes. Of the other
legs which appear in the adult state, those only of the second and third pairs, or the two ambulatory feet, and the
two anterior natatory legs, are the only ones which are developed and free : the following are, as it were, lapped up,
and applied against the abdomen. The first moulting, wffiich is effected by means of a rupture of the skin on the
under-side of the body, having taken place, the oar-like limbs disappear, and all the natatory legs become disen-
gaged. Three days afterwards, the second moult takes place, which does not produce any important change ; but
at the third moult, which takes place two days aftei-wards, we begin to perceive the formation of the suckers of the
fore-legs. At the fourth moult, wdiich also takes place at the end of two days, these legs have assumed the sucker
shape, preserving, however, the terminal hook. At the end of six days, there is another change of the skin, w'heu
the organs of generation become apparent ; but there still remains another moult, retarded for six days, before
these animals are fitted for reproduction. Thus the period of their metamorphoses extends to twenty-five days.
They have then, however, attained only half their size. Other moultings, which take place evei*y six or seven days,
are necessary for their aiTiving at their full growth. Jurine asserts that the females do not become parents with-
out the presence of the males. Those which he kept isolated died of a disease which manifested itself in numerous
brown globules, arranged in a semicircle towards the posterior part of the clypeus.
The only species of this genus known [to Latreille] {Argulus foliaceus, Jurine ; Monoculus foliaceus, Linn. ;
Argulus delpliinus, and A. Charon, Muller ; Monoculus Gyrini, Cuvier ; Ozolus Gasterostei, Latr.) attaches itself
to the under-side of the body of the young of Frogs, Sticklebacks, &c., and sucks their blood. Its body is flattened,
of a greenish-yellow colour, and about two lines and a half long. The younger Herman, who has well described
this crustaceous insect in its perfect state, and who cites a manuscript of L. Baldaner, a fisherman of Strasbiirg,
of the date of 1666, where the same animal is figured, says that, in the neighbourhood of that city, it is only found
upon the trout, which it destroys, especially in fish-ponds. It is also found upon the perch, pike, and carp. He
says it has never been found upon the gills of the fish. This animal turns itself about
in the water in a similar manner to the Gyrini. He says its body is divided into five
somewhat indistinct segments along the back.
[A most elaborate memoir, containing the description of Argulus Catostomi, an
American species of this genus, has recently been published by Messrs. Dana and
Herrick, in Silliman’s Journal.']
Caligus, Miill., are destitute of the sucker-like feet. The anterior legs are furnished
with hooks : the others are divided into a greater or less number of pinnulae, or are in
the form of membranous leaflets. The shell leaves a considerable part of the body ex-
posed, which is terminated posteriorly, in the majority, by tw o long filaments, and in
others by appendages in the form of fins or styles. The space between these appendages Yig. 2i.—Caiigus pischius, I.inn.
also often exhibits various other minute appendages. ""g °f ie|l’
The name of fish-lice, under which these animals are collectively known, indicates
that their habits are the same as those of the other Siphonostoma. Many naturalists have considered the tubular
PCECILOPODA.
447
filaments at the extremity of the body as ovaries. I have sometimes found the eggs beneath the posterior branchial
legs, but never in these tubes. In other cases, the external ovaries, thus elongated, are only found in those females
which lay their eggs in holes or deep burrows ; whereas this is not the case with the Caligi. Muller and other
zoologists have observed that these Crustacea trim and agitate these appendages. We believe, together with both
the Jurines, that they sei*ve for respiration, in the same manner as the anal filaments of Apus.*
The species of the restricted subgenus Caligus (including Risculus, Leach) have all the legs free, and attached,
with the exception of the two last, to the anterior part of the body {ceplialothorax, Latr.), covered by the shield;
and some, at least, of the feet are furnished with numerous filaments. The siphon is not distinct. The abdomen
is naked above, and terminated by two long filaments or two styles. Caligus piscinus, Latr. ; C. curtus, Mull. ;
Monoculus piscinus, Linn. The Oniscus lutosus. Slabber, ought perhaps to form a distinct subgenus, on account
of the fin-like appendages. The Binocle a queue en plumet of Geolfroy may be introduced into this subgenus.
[Messrs. Pickering and Dana have published an extremely elaborate description of a species of Caligus (C. ameri-
canus) found upon the Cod, as many as forty or more individuals occasionally occurring on a single fish; but they
are never found within the gill covers. The figures illustrating this memoir have never been surpassed.]
[M. M. Edwards has published a memoir upon this genus in the Annales des Sciences Naturelles, especially with
reference to the structure of the mouth].
In all the other subgenera of Caligus, the upper side of the abdomen is imbricated, or this part of the body is as
though it were inclosed in a kind of case, formed by the terminal feet, which resemble membranes, and are turned
upwards.
Pterygopoda, Latr. {Nogatts ? Leach), has the posterior extremity of the body terminated by two fin-like ap-
pendages. It has digitated feet on the under-side of the post-abdomen, or second division of the body, not covered
by the shield, and a distinct beak. Founded upon a single species, found on the shark.
Pandarus, Leach, has two filaments at the posterior extremity of the body. The legs, of the first and fifth pairs,
are unguiculated, and the others digitated. The siphon is not distinct. Pandams bicolor, Leach ; P. Boscii,
Leach, &c. [Two other species of this genus have been described and figured by Dr. Johnston, in the Magazine
of Natural History, vol. viii.]
Dinemoura, Latr., has two long filaments at the anus, but in which the siphon is distinct. Tlie two fore-legs
are unguiculated ; the two following are terminated by two long fingers ; the others are in the form of membranous
leaflets. C. productus, Muller ; M. salmoneus, Fabr.
Anthosoma, Leach, approaches the preceding, as regards the existence of the siphon and the two anal filaments ;
but it recedes from it, as well as the two preceding, in its antennae, of which two are directed forwards, in the
shape of small monodactyle claws, and in the six hind-legs, which are membranous, folded upwards, at the sides,
upon the post-abdomen, which they envelope. The first and third pairs of legs are unguiculated ; and the second
terminated by two short, obtuse fingers. Anthosoma Smithii, Leach.
[Nemesis, Risso, is a curious genus, of a narrow form, with the anal filaments many times longer than the entire
body. — See Pol. Roux, Crust. Mediter., pi. 20.]
In the second subtribe of the Caligides, the body is oval, without exserted anal appendages, in the
form of filaments or fin-like scales. A portion of the superior integuments composes in front of the
body a shield, which does not cover the anterior half, narrower than it, rounded, and notched anteriorly,
dilated and bilobed at the other end, succeeded by three other pieces, or rounded scales, posteriorly
notched, the second of which is the smallest, being in the shape of a reversed heart; the last is the largest.
The four posterior legs are in the form of plates, united in pairs ; those of the first and third pairs are
unguiculated ; the second are bifid at the tip. The siphon is apparent. The eggs are covered by two
large, oval, contiguous, coriaceous pieces, placed beneath the abdomen, and sui-passing it in length.
Such are the characters of the genus
Cecrops, Leach, of which a single species is only known, which has been found fixed to the branchiae of the
tunny and turbot. C. Latreillei, Leach.
The second of the tribes of the Siphonostoma — that of the Lern.
scarcely exceed the length of the body, which is proportionately shorter and thicker
than in the following genera. They live upon Whales. I
PhoxicMlus, Latr., has no palpi, but the legs are very long, and they have two chelicerae. Pycnogonum !■
spinipes, O. Fabr.,— P*. aculeatum and spinosum of Montague, Transactions of the Linnaan Society,— Nymphon ji
femoratum of the Acta of the Society of Natural History of Copen-
hagen, 1797, &c.
Nymphon, Fabr., resembles the last in the very narrow and ob-
long form of the body, the length of the legs, and presence of cheli-
cerae ; but they have moreover two palpi, composed of five joints.
N. grossipes, O. Fabr., Muller, Zool. Dan. Compare, also, Leach,
Zool. Miscell. vol. iii. 19, f. 1, 2.
Ammothea, Leach {A. carolinensis, Leach), differs from Nymphon
in the chelicerae being much shorter than the mouth, the basal piece
being very small. The palpi are 9-jointed.
[From the apparent absence of breathing pores, Latreille, in his
Cours d^Entomologie, forms these animals into a distinct order, —
Aporobranchia ; but Leach had previously given to them the ex-
pressive name of Podosomata. There are several British species
described by Dr. Johnston in the Magazine of Zoology and Botany,
No. iv., wherein several new genera are proposed. It will, however,
be necessary to change the names of some of them, as they are
already employed for genera of Crustacea. A still more extra-
ordinary genus, with ten legs, is described by Eights in the
Boston Journal of Natural History, under the name of Decalo- Fig. 36.— Nymphon grossipes, and under side of its beak. I
poda australis. 1 j ^
THE THIRD FAMILY OF THE TRACHEAN ARACHNIDA,— > j
The Holetra (Hermann), —
Has the thorax and abdomen united into a mass, beneath a common epidermis. The thorax is at most \
divided into two by a strangulation ; and the abdomen merely presents, in some species, the traces of >
articulations, formed by foldings of the epidermis. The anterior extremity of the body is often ad- =
* The siphon of a large Phoxichilus, brought from the Cape by I The palpi are thence those of the maxillm.
Delalande, exhibits longitudinal sutures, so that it appears to me to t According to Savigny, they form the passage between the Arach- .
consist of a labrum, tongue, and two maxilla, all soldered together. I nida and Crustacea. I place them in this situation with doubt. ’
TRACHEARIiE. 469
vanced, in the form of a muzzle or beak. The majority have eight legs, the others six.* This family
is composed of two tribes.
The first tribe is that of the harvest-men, Phalangita, Latr., having the chelicerse very apparent,
either projecting in front of the trunk or being inferior, but always terminating in a didactyle forceps,
preceded by one or two joints. They have two filiform palpi of five joints, the last terminated by a
small hook; two distinct eyes; two maxillae, formed by the prolongation of the basal joint of the palpi,
and often four others, composed merely of the dilated coxae of the two anterior pairs of feet. The body
is oval or rounded, covered, at least upon the thorax, by a more solid skin. The abdomen exhibits the
appearance of foldings. The legs are long, always eight in number, and divided distinctly, in the
manner of those of insects. Many {Phalangium) have, at the base of the two posterior feet, two spira-
cles, one on each side, but hidden by the coxae. The majority
live on the ground, upon plants, or at the roots of trees, and
they are very active ; others hide themselves beneath stones, or
in moss.
Phalangium, Linn., has the chelicerae projecting, much shorter than
the body, and the eyes placed upon a common tubercle. The legs are
very long and slender, and, when detached from the body, they exhibit
signs of irritability for a few moments. Ph. cornutum, Linn., male ;
Ph. opilio, Linn., female ; and other native species. Consult, also, the
monographs of this genus published by Latreille at the end of his Hist.
Fig. 37.— Phalangium cornutum. Nat. des Fourmis ; Herbst. and Hermann, Mem. Apterolog.
Gonyleptes, Kirby, has the palpi spined, with the two terminal joints nearly equal-sized ;
and the coxae of the hind pair of legs are very large, and soldered together, forming a plate
beneath the body. The hind legs are wide apart from the others. G. horridus, Kirby.
Brazil.
Siro, Latr., has the chelicerae projecting nearly as long as the body ; the eyes wide apart,
and each placed upon an isolated tubercle, or without support. S. rubens, Latr.
Macrocheles, Latr., has exposed and very long chelicerae, but the eyes are either sessile or
wanting. The two fore-legs are very long, and resemble antennae. The upper side of the
body is like a scale, without distinct articulations. Acarus marginatus, and A. testudi-
narius, Hermann.
S Trogulus, Latr., has the anterior extremity of the body projecting like a clypeus, receiving,
! in a cavity on its under-side, the chelicerae and other parts of the mouth. The body is very
; flat, and covered by a very firm skin. It is found beneath stones. T. nepceformis, Latr.
j Phal. tricarinatum, Linn. South of France. 38.— Gonyleptes acan-
thurus.
! fM. Dufour has described a genus allied to the last under the name of Cceculus, in the
Annates des Sci. Nat. for 1832. Many other very curious Brazilian species are described and figured by Perty, in
I the Delectus Animalium Brasili
others, in their maxillae, ungues, tarsi, and parasitic habits, are allied to Nemognathas
and Sitaris, subgenera of the last tribe of this family, birt they are removed from both by their extreme
agility, and the firm texture of their integuments. They form the genus—
Mordella, Linn.
Some have the palpi of unequal thickness throughout, the antennae of the males strongly pectinated or fan-
shaped, the extremity of the mandibles not notched, and the tarsal ungues denticulated.
Ripiphorus, Bose., has the wings extended beyond the elytra, which are as long as the abdomen ; the tarsal un-
gues bifid; the antennae strongly ft^pectinated in the males, «igf has the head immersed to the eyes in the thorax.
Rhynchites, has the proboscis dilated at the tip, and the abdomen nearly square.
R. Bacchus [a splendid but very rare British species], lives on the vine, the larvae
inhabiting^ the rolled-up leaves, which it devours, and thus sometimes commits
great damage.
Apion, Herbst., has the body pear-shaped. See the monographs of Germar and
Kirby, in Trans, Linn. Soc., vol. xii. [Some of the species do much damage,
devouring the seeds of clover.]
Rhinotia, Kirby \Belus, Sch.], has the body almost linear, and the antennae
thickened, but not clubbed.
Eurhinus, Kirby, has the antennae terminated by a long mass, the last joint
being greatly elongated in the males.
Tubicenus, Dej. {Auletes, Sch.), has the antennae terminated by a perfoliated
mass, and the abdomen is oblong.
Those which have the antennse filiform, with the last joint alone forming the mass, the proboscis
often longer in the males than in the females, and often differently terminated, and always stretched
out in front, the body elongated, and the penultimate tarsal joint bilohed, compose the genus — ^
Brentus, Fab. {Curculio, Linn.)
These insects are peculiar to warm climates. Some of them, which have the body linear, and the antennae filiform,
and 11-jointed, form the subgenus
Brentus proper, Linn., whichhas been greatly cut up by Schonherr. From the statements of Savi and Lacordaire,
it appears that these species are always found beneath the bark of trees ; the only European species is the Brentus
italieus.
Ulocerus, Schon., has the body linear, and the antennae 11-jointed.
Cylas, Latr., has only 10-jointed, and the thorax nodose.
Sometimes the antennae are distinctly elbowed, the basal joint being much longer than the following.
These form the genus Curculio, Linn.
We divide them into Brevirostres and LongirostreSy according as the antennae are inserted — near the
tip of the rostum, close to the mandibles, — or further back, either near the middle or at the base.
The Brevirostres form, according to Fabricius, two genera, {BracJiycerus and Curculio'].
Brachycerus, Fabr.— =
Has all the joints of the tarsi entire, without cushions beneath ; the antennae are short, scarcely elbowed, and only
9-jointed, the last forming the mass ; they want wings ; the body is very rugose, or unequal. They are peculiar to
the south of Europe and Africa, living on the ground in sandy places, and appearing early in the spring. According
to M. Cailliaud, the Ethiopian women suspend one of the species round their necks as an amulet.
Curculio, —
Has nearly all the under-side of the tarsi cushioned, and the penultimate joint bilobed. The antennae are 11
or 12-jointed, comprising the false joint by which they are sometimes terminated. Although here much more re-
stricted than in the Linnaean system, this genus comprises an immense number of species, particularly described
by Schonherr and Germar, who have greatly divided it. They may be divided, according to our own observations,
into two principal divisions.
1. Those in which the mentum, more or less orbicular, occupies all the oral cavity, and hides the maxillae and
mandibles, which are not distinctly toothed.
Cyclomus, (including Schbnherr’s Cryptops, Deracanthiis, and Amycterus), has the tarsi not pulvillose, and the ;
penultimate joint scarcely bilobed. In all the rest the tarsi are pulvillose, and the penultimate joint bilobed.
Curculio proper (including a very great number of genera of Schonherr), is winged, and has the lateral impres-
sions of the rostrum oblique, and directed downwards ; the fore legs scarcely differ from the rest. The South j
American species, forming the genera Entimus, Chlorima, &c., are remarkable for their splendour, and often for a
their size. The Diamond Beetle, {Curculio imperialist is one of them. Other small species peculiar to our climate, a.
of a much smaller size, but scarcely less splendid, [especially under a lens,] and of a silvery or green colour, form the r
genus Polydrusus, Schonherr, Cure, sericeus, micans, Betulce,&c.
Leptosomus, Sch., has the head very long behind, the rostrum very short, the thorax subcylindic, and the elytra
produced into two divergent spines. A single species, C. acuminatus, Fabr. New Holland.
Leptocerusy (including many of Schonherr’s genera), differs in having the fore-legs elongated, the tibiae curved,
the thighs thick and spined, and the tarsi often dilated and ciliated ; the antennae are long and slender. (Chiefly
I Brazilian species.)
Phyllobius (including also many other genera of Schonherr), is winged, but the rostral fossula is straight and n
short.
The Brevirostres with the penultimate joint of the tarsi bilobed, the wings wanting, as well as the scutellum i
form various other genera, such as Otiorhychus, Omias, Pachyrhynclms, Psalidium, Thylacites, Syzygops,
Hypliantus, &c. |
Fig-. 78. — 1, AttelabuB curculionoides ;
2 Apoderus avellanae ; 3, Rhynchites
cavifrons.
COLEOPTERA.
145
Our second general division of the genus Curculio of Fabriciiis differs in the narrowness of the mentum, which,
from not occupying the whole breadth of the oral cavity, leaves the sides of the maxillae and mandibles (which
are toothed) exposed ; the club of the antennae is formed of five or six joints.
Those with only two teeth in the mandibles, and the labial palpi distinct, and which are destitute of wings, com-
pose the sub-genera Myniops, RhylirrMnus (which have simple tarsi), and Liparus (which has pulvillose tarsi).
Those which have wings form the sub-genera Hypera and Hylobius. Those with three or four teeth in the mandi-
bles, and the labial palpi nearly obsolete, form the subgenus Cleonus, including various other genera of Schonherr.
The Longirostres, or those with the antennae inserted at a distance from the insertion of the man-
dibles, often near the middle of the rostrum, which is generally long, nearly correspond to the genera
Liocus, RhyncJicenus, Calandra, Fabr. In the first two the antennae are at least 10-jointed, but oftener
11-or 12-jointed ; the club being at least composed of the last three joints.
Li XUS, Fabr. —
Nearly resembles Cleonus in the trophi, the long fusiform club of the antennae, the narrow elongated form of the
body, and the armature of the feet. It is nearly linear in L. paraplecticus [a common British species], the larvae of
which live in the stems of Rliellandrium, and produce in horses which may happen to eat them [with the plant],
the disease called “ parapffgie.”
Rhinocyllus, is composed of a species with the antennae scarcely elbowed, and which, from its supposed efficacy
in the toothache, [has been specifically named R. anti-odontalgicus].
Rhynchtenus, Fabr. —
Has not such general characters. In some the sternum has not a cavity for the reception of the rostrum ; and of
these some have the antennae 11- or 12-jointed, and the legs not fitted for leaping.
ThamnopMlm, is winged, the antenna short and scarcely elbowed, and the tibiae armed with a strong hook at the
tip.
Bagous, has the tibiae curved, with a strong hook at the tip ; the tarsi long and filiform. These are small insects,
found in marshy places.
Brachypus, differs from the last in having the penulti-
mate joint of the tarsi very much dilated ; the last joint
sometimes without claws.
Balaninus, has the rostrum very long, sometimes longer
than the whole body, B. nucum [the common Nut Weevil],
the larva of which feeds on the kernel of the nut.
Rhpnchmms, differs from the preceding by negative cha-
racters ; and from the following by having 12-jointed an-
tennae.
Sibynia, having only 11-jointed antennae ; the club com-
posed of seven.
Myorldmis, differs in having no wings. Many of Schon-
herr’s genera are here united together.
We now pass to those which have only nine or ten joints
in the antennae, and are able to leap.
Clonus, Clairv., has the body nearly globular, but they do
not leap. The following are able to leap, having thick hind
thighs.
[Many minute British species.]
Ramphus, has the antennae fixed between the eyes.
In the remaining Rhynchaeni the legs are apart at the base, and the sternum has a cavity for the reception of the
rostrum.
In AmerJiinus and Baridius, the latter is however wanting.
Those which possess this cavity have been distributed into a very great number of genera by Schonherr.
CamptorJiynchus (Eurkinus, Sch.), differs in having the terminal part of the antennae forming a thick perfoliated
mass.
Cenfrinus, has the scutellum distinct, the club of the antennae elongated, and the prosternum with two spines.
Zygops, has the eyes united above, and the legs very long.
Ceutorliynchus, has the scutellum scarcely visible, the antennae 12-jointed.
Hydaticus, has 11-jointed antennae.
Orobites, has the body very short and sub-globose, the antennae 12-jointed.
Crypt or hynchus, has the body oblong-convex ; the fore-legs longest, especially in the males ; antennae 12-jointed.
Tylodes, is apterous or sub-apterous, with the scutellum wanting.
Calandra, Fab,—
Comprises the terminal Longirostres which have only nine joints to the antennae, the last, or the two last, forming
the club, with the tip spongy. They feed in the larva state on seeds or woody substances.
Anchonus, Sch. (with 10-jointed antennae), and
Orthochates, Germ, (with 9-jointed antennae), are both apterous.
542
INSECTA.
Rhina, Latr., is winged, and the antennae are inserted near the middle of the rostrum ; the fore-feet in the males i;
are very long.
Calandra proper, has the antennae much elbowed, but inserted at the base of the rostrum.
Calandra granaria, the Corn Weevil, commits great havoc in granaries, its larva feeding on the grain ; that of ii
C.palmarum feeds on the palm. Its larva is esteemed a delicacy by the natives of South America. I
Cossonus, has short antennae, inserted near the middle of the rostrum. !
Drgoptho7’us, Sch., has only 6-jointed antennae, and 5- jointed tarsi ; none of the joints being bilobed.
THE SECOND FAMILY OF THE COLEOPTERA TETRAMERA,—
The Xylophagi, —
Have not the head produced into a muzzle ; the antennae are thickened towards the tips, or perfoliated
from the base ; always short, with fewer than eleven^ joints in the majority ; the tarsi (which
appear to be 5-jointed* in some), generally entire, or having the penultimate joint dilated and heart-
shaped ; in the latter case the antennae are always terminated by a club, either solid and ovoid, or
divided into three plates, and the palpi are short and conical. These insects generally live in wood,
which their larvae pierce, forming burrows in every direction ; and when abundant in forests, especially
those of firs and pines, they destroy the trees in a few years, rendering them unfit to be used in
the arts. Some are also very destructive to the olive ; others feed on fungi.
We divide this family into three sections.
1. Those which have the antennae composed of ten joints at least, either terminated in a thick mass,
generally solid, or having three elongated plates ; or forming a cylindric and perfoliated mass from the
base, and the palpi are conical ; the anterior tibiae in the majority are toothed, and armed with a strong
hook ; and the tarsi have the penultimate joint generally bilobed. Some have the palpi very short, and
the antennae terminated in a solid or trilamellar mass, preceded by five joints at the least. These
Xylophagi compose the genus —
ScoLYTUs, Geoffr.
In some the penultimate joint of the tarsi is bilobed, and the
antennse have seven or eight joints preceding thejclub.
Hylurgus, Latr., has the club of the antennse solid, globular,
and annulated. [iL. piniperda, and numerous other species
of minute size, some of which are very destructive to pine
forests.]
Hylesinus, Fabr., has the club of the antennae solid and
annulated ; but pointed at the tip.
Scolytus proper (Eccoptogaster, Herbst.) has’ the antennae
Fig. 80-1, 2.Tomicas .ypog.aphus-3, 4, 5. 6, Hyhugus piniperpa Straight, naked ; the club solid. Very compressed, its annuli
(natural size and magnified) . forming concenti’ic constrictions. [(S. destructor, and several
other species, the former of which is exceedingly injurious, destroying the elms in great quantity round London.]
Camptocerus, Dej., has the male antennae furnished below the club with long filaments.
Phloiotribus, Latr., dilfers from all the rest in the club of the antennae being formed of three long filaments.
In the others the tarsal joints (apparently five in number) are entire, and the club of the antennae commences at
the sixth or seventh joint.
Tomicus, Latr., has no notches at the sides of the thorax, and the tibiae are not striated. [Numerous minute>
cylindric species.]
Platypus, Herbst., has the sides of the thorax notched to receive the femora, and the tibiae are transversely
striated.
[The insects of this genus, or rather family, have been recently described by Dr. Erichson in Weigmanns Archiv.,
and figured in Dr. Ratzeburg’s Forst Insecten. Several new genera ai'e established in these works.]
The others have the palpi large, very visible, and of unequal length. The body is depressed and
narrowed in front ; the antennae either 2-jointed, the second joint being very large and irregular-shaped,
or 10-jointed, and entirely perfoliated ; the tarsi are entire. These are exotic insects [of the most
singular appearance and greatest rarity], wdiich compose the genus
Paussus, Linn., —
[Of winch’ll have published a monograph in the Trans. Linn., and Entomol. Society, proposing several
new genera].
• Latreill' observes, that these appear to be allied to Cryptophagus,
and other analogous Pentamerous Coleoptera. [The fact is, that
whilst some of the species here placed at the head of the Xylophagi,
are extremely close in their relations to the Curculionidae, others
possess no other relation than that of being minute in size, and
xylophagous in habits.]
COLEOPTERA.
543
Paussus proper, has only two joints to the antennse, the second very large and compressed.
Hylotorus, Dalm., composed of a single species apparently with ocelli, and with the antennse scarcely longer than
the head, and 2-jointed.
Cerapterus, Swed., has the antennse 10-jointed and perfoliated.
2. Those which have only 10-jointed antennse, and the maxillary palpi are not narrowed to the tips,
but are of equal thickness throughout, or thicker at the tips ; the joints of the tarsi are always entire
They are divisible into two principal genera ; those with the three terminal joints forming a perfoliated
mass compose that of —
, Bostrichus, Geoffr.
Bostrichus proper, has the body cylindrical, the thorax forming a kind of hood over the head. The species are
found in old wood and timber. \B. capucinus, a rare British species.]
Psoa, Fabr., has the body narrower, and thorax flat.
Cis, Latr., has the body oval, depressed, or but little elevated ; the last joint of the tarsi much longer than the
others ; the head of the males often horned. [Many minute species, found in fungi.]
SpMnduSf scarcely appears to me to dilfer from the last.
Nemosoma, Desmar., has the body long, linear, and the mandibles robust and exserted. [iV. elongata, a singular
small and very>are British species, found under the bark of old palings.] 3
The second principal genus, —
Monotoma,—
Has the club (or tenth joint) of the antennae solid, and button-shaped ; the body is elongated, with the front of the
head narrowed into an obtuse muzzle ; the palpi are very small, and, as well as the mandibles, not prominent.
Sy nchita, Helw., has not the front of the head prolonged, and the two basal joints of the antennae are alike.
Cerylon, Latr., has the front of the head produced into an obtuse triangle ; the first joint of the antennae much
longer than the second ; the body nearly oval or parallellipiped, and the elytra not truncate behind. [C. Msteroides,
a small species found under the damp bark of trees.]
Rhyzophagus, Herbst., differs from Cerylon in its narrow elongated form and elytra truncate at the tip ; the
tarsi appear to me pentamerous.
Monotoma, Herbst., differs from all the preceding in having the head as large as, and separated from, the thorax,
by a narrowed part. Cerylon picipes [and other small species, of which Aub^ has given a monograph in the
Annates de Soc. Entomol. de France}.
3. Those which have eleven distinct joints to the antennse ; the palpi filiform, or thickened at the
tips in some, or slender at the tips in others, the tarsal joints are entire.
In some of these the club of the antennse consists only of two joints. These form the genus
Lyctus.
Lyctus proper. Fab., has the mandibles and basal joints of the antennse exposed.
Diodema, Megerle, has the basal joint of the antennae hidden by the side of the head : the body oval, oblong,
convex. D. subterranea.
I Bitoma, Herbst., differs in having the body long, narrow, depressed. {B. crenata, a small British species, found
I under the bark of trees.]
j In the others the three or four terminal joints of the antennse form the club, the last being larger than the]pre-
,! ceding joints.
i In some the mandibles are concealed or scarcely visible ; these are the genus
Mycetophagus, —
i Colydium, Fabr., has the antennse scarcely longer than the head, and inserted beneath the advanced sides of the
li head, and terminated by a perfoliated mass.
j| Mycetophagus proper, has the antennse at least as long as the thorax, the body oval, thorax transverse, and the
I club of the antennse commencing at the sixth or seventh joint, [ilf. quadripustulatus, and several other species of
j small size, found under old stumps of trees, bark, &c.]
I Triphyllus, Meg., has the club of the antennse shorter, and formed suddenly by the last three joints, the last being
! globular.
1 Meryx, Latr., has the maxillary palpi exserted, and terminated by an enlarged joint, of a reversed triangular
' form. [M. rugosus, Latr., New Holland.]
Dasycerus, Brongn., has 3-jointed tarsi ; the antennse have all the intermediate joints capillary, and very setose ;
1 the abdomen is nearly globular.
j Latridius, Herbst. has the palpi very short, pointed at tip ; the head and thorax narrower than the abdomen
i which is subquadrate, or subovate ; the basal joint of the antennse is very thick. [L. porcatus, and other species
of minute insects, having domestic habits.]
Silvanus, has the body nearly linear, the thorax longer than broad, and as broad as the base of the elytra ; the
palpi nearly filiform. [T. dentatus, a small flat insect, often found floating in tea and coffee, introduced with the
sugar.]
] In others the mandibles are entirely exposed, and large ; the body often narrowed and depressed. These insects
[ compose the genus —
544
INSECTA.
Trogosita, Olivier.
Trogosita proper, has the antennae shorter than the thorax, the mandibles shorter than the head, and the max-
illae with a single lobe.
Trogosita mauritanica, Linn,, a flat beetle, four lines long, of a pitchy black colour, found in nuts, bread, and in
the bark of trees ; its larva, known in Provence under the name of the Cadelle, attacks grain.
Prostomis, Latr. {Megagnatkus, Meg.), has the mandibles very long, and two lobes to the maxillae ; the body is
long and narrow. Trogos mandibularis, [a continental species].
Passandra, Dalm., has the antennae nearly as long as the body, with the eleventh joint alone of the antennae en-
larged, in form of a reversed triangle. [Exotic species, lately monographed by Mr. Newman.]
THE THIRD FAMILY OF THE COLEOPTERA TETRAMERA,—
The Platysoma, —
Approaches the last in respect to its internal anatomy, entire tarsi, and habits ; but the antennfe are of
equal thickness, or slendered at the tips ; the mandibles are always exposed ; the palpi short, body
depressed, and thorax nearly square. These insects are found under the bark of trees, and may be
united into the single genus
Cucujus, Fabricius, —
proper, has the antennae shorter than the body in many species, with the basal joint shorter than the
head. [C. clavipes, depressus, &c. See my memior on these insects in Zoolog. Journal.^
Dendrophagus, Gyll., has the antennae longer, and cylindrical, with the basal joint longer than the head,
Uleoiota, Latr. {Brontes, Fabr.), has similar antennae, but the third joint is as long as the following ; the mandi-
bles, in the typical species, are furnished with a long horn-like appendage.
THE FOURTH FAMILY OF THE COLEOPTERA TETRAMERA,—
The Longicornes, —
Has the three basal joints of the tarsi furnished beneath with short brushes ; the first and second [not
the second and third, as described by Latreille], being heart-shaped, and the third [not the fourth]
deeply bilobed, with a small nodule, representing a joint, at the base of the terminal joint ; the labium^
placed upon a short transverse mentum, is generally membranous, heart-shaped, or bifid ; or horny, and
in shape of a very short transverse segment of a circle, in others {Parandra). The antennae are fili-
form or setaceous, generally at least as long as the body, either simple in both sexes, or serrated,
pectinated or fan-shaped in the males ; the eyes of the greater number are kidney-shaped, surrounding
the base of the antenna ; the thorax is trapeziform or narrowed in front ; in those which have the eyes
rounded entire, or scarcely emarginate ; in which case the legs are long and slender, with the tars
elongated.
The larvae, nearly all of which reside in the interior of trees, or under the hark, are destitute of feet,
or have them only very small ; the body is soft, whitish, thickest in front, with the head scaly, and
furnished with robust mandibles, the other parts not being prominent. They do much injury to trees,
especially those of large size, piercing them very deeply, or forming burrows in them. (See the memoir
of Lansdown Guilding, in the 13th vol. of the Limujean Transactions). Others devour the roots of
plants ; the females have the abdomen terminated by a tubular and horny oviduct. These insects
produce a slight sharp sound, by the friction of the peduncle of the base of the abdomen against the
inner recess of the thorax, when they alternately cause it to enter and withdraw it.
In the system of Linnaeus, these insects form the genera Cerambyx, Leptura, Necydales, which
GeofFroy, Fabricius, and other naturalists have endeavoured to arrange and simplify by the transposition
of species, or by establishing other generic groups. From the immense quantity of species discovered
since the days of Linnaeus, and the insufficiency of the characters assigned to these genera, a complete
revision of the family had become necessary, [which, since the publication of the last edition of
this work, has been effected by Serville, in the Annates de la Socie'te Entomologique de France, in ■
which a series of long memoirs has been published by this author, containing numerous new genera,
the number of which has been greatly augmented by Messrs. Hope and Newman, in recent memoirs
published in this country].
We divide the Longicornes into two primary sections.
The first section has the eyes either deeply notched or crescent-shaped, or long and narrow ; the ,
COLEOPTERA.
545
head is immersed as deep as these organs in the thorax, not being separated by a sudden neck ; in many
it is vertical.
Some of these have the terminal joint of the palpi either conical or triangular, or cylindric and
truncated at the tip ; the terminal lobe of the maxillae is straight, (not inwardly curved at the tip) ; the
head is generally porrected, or but slightly inclined ; and in those few which have it vertical {Dorcacerus),
it is nearly as broad as the body, and the antennae are very wide apart at the base, and spinose ; the
thorax often very rough, and rarely cylindrical. These Longicornes compose two prineipal groups or
tribes, \Prionii and Cerambycini].
1. The Prionii have, for their characters, labrura wanting or very small, and scarcely distinct ; man-
dibles very strong and large, especially in the males ; inner lobe of the maxillae wanting, or very small ;
antennae inserted near the base of the mandibles, or the notch of the eyes, but not encircled by them at
the base ; thorax often trapezoid or square, crenulated, or toothed at the sides.
Parandra, Latr., has the antennas simple, nearly moniliforni, compressed, not longer than the thorax, and the
terminal lobe of the maxillae small, scarcely reaching beyond the basal joint of the palpi ; it is more especially
distinguished by the horny tonguelet in the form of a very short transverse segment of a circle, neither notched nor
lobed in front, and by the tarsi having the penultimate joint scarcely bilobed, and the last joint longer than all the
rest, with two setae at the tip of a small appendage between the claws. Thebodyisparallellipiped, [and very shining].
The species are peculiar to America. Type, P. Icevis, Latr.
Spondylis, Fabr., approaches Parandra in the form of its antennae and maxillary lobes, but it has the tonguelet
as in all the rest of the Longicornes, membranous, heart-shaped ; the penultimate joint of the tarsi is deeply bilobed,
and it is destitute of the setigerous appendage between the claws. buprestoides, Linn., 6 or 7 lines long. [In-
habits the North of Europe.]
Prionus. — The third and last genus of this tribe has the antennas longer than the head and thorax, serrated or
pectinated in some, simple and slender at the tips, and with elongated joints in others ; the terminal lobe of the
maxillae is at least as long as the two basal joints of the palpi ; the body is generally depressed, with the thorax square
or trapezoid, and either toothed, spined, or angular at the sides.
These insects only fly in the evening or during the night, and always settle upon trees. Some exotic species are
remarkable for their size, and the enormous developement of their mandibles. The larvae of Prionus cervi-
cornis, which lives in the wood of the Gossampinus tree, is eaten [by the natives of South America].
This genus comprises a very great number of species, which, from the variety in the form and size of their
mandibles, antennae, thorax, and abdomen, are divisible into many smaller subgenera, described by M. Serville, [in
the memoir above alluded to]. Some of the species have the body elongated, straight, with the thorax much shorter
than the abdomen, and greatly curved at the sides, and the mandibles of large size in the males. Amongst these
are the continental species, P. scabricornis, and many large exotic species.
Others have the body not so oblong, somewhat depressed in front, and with moderate-sized mandibles in both
sexes, and the antennae strongly serrated in the males. Amongst these is
Prionus coriarius [the only British species], an inch and a half long, and of a brown black colour. It lives in the
larva state in the rotten trunks of oaks, &c. : when ready to undergo its transformation, it forms a hole in the
I earth.
Anacolus, Lep. and Serv., has the elytra small and triangular. [Brazilian insects.]
Other species, of varied and often metallic colours, have the body shorter and broader, nearly oval, the antennae
■ simple, the head prolonged behind the eyes, &c.
I The Cerambycini have the labrum very distinct, and extending across the entire front of the head ;
I the two maxillary lobes are very distinct and exserted ; the mandibles of the ordinary size, and alike
I or scarcely differing in the two sexes ; the eyes always notched ; the antennse ordinarily as long as,
‘ or longer than the body ; the thighs, or at least the four anterior, are generally clavate, being slen-
j der at the base.
ij We arrange in the first place those which have the last joint of the palpi evidently thicker than the
I preceding, of a triangular or conical form ; the head not being materially narrowed, and prolonged in
j front like a muzzle, the thorax not dilated from the front to the hind part, and the elytra not in the
shape of small scales, nor suddenly narrowed from the base and terminated like an awl. These con-
stitute the normal group of the Cerambycini, the others being in several respects anomalous, the last
of which appear to connect this tribe with the following. They compose the genera Cerambyoc, Clytus,
Callidium, and part of Stenocorus, Fabr. They are the Cerambyoc of Linnseus, to which some of his
Lepturae are to be united. Modern Entomologists [especially Serville,] have greatly augmented the
number of their generic groups, but their characters are so slight that they may be reduced to one, —
Cekambyx.
A great number of species, all from South America, proportionably shorter and broader than the following, with
I I the antennae often pectinated, serrated, or spined, are remarkable for the extent of the thorax, of which the length
546
INSECTA.
nearly equals half of that of the elytra, sometimes smooth, semiorbicular, with a single tooth at the posterior
angles, sometimes very unequal and tubercular ; the prosternum is either carinated or terminated in a point,
either flat, truncated, entire, or notched at its posterior extremity, which is applied to a produced lobe of the meso-
sternum ; the fore-legs at least are wide apart at the base. The scutellum is large in some, the tarsi short and
dilated.
Lissonotus, Dalra. (with the antennae greatly compressed and serrated, or semi-pectinated and long), and
Megaderus, Dej. (with simple antennae, shorter than the body), form a first division, having the thorax nearly
semi-orbicular and very large, with a single tooth on each side at the hind angles, and the scutellum very
large.
Those with the thorax very rough and multidentate, the antennae long, simple, or slightly spined, and the thorax
very large, form four subgenera.
Dorcace?m, Dej., having the head vertical, large, and nearly as broad as the thorax, and the scutellum small.
Type, Cerambyx barbatus, Oliv.
Trachyderes, Dalm., with the thorax large and much broader than the head ; the posterior extremity of the
prosternum, and also the opposite part of the mesosternum, elevated and keeled.
Lophonocerus, Latr., has the head much narrower than the thorax, and with the third and three following joints
of the antenn® furnished with hairs. Cerambyx barbicornis, Oliv., &c.
Ctenodes, Klug, differs from the preceding in having the antennee much shorter than the body, and pectinated or
serrated ; the thorax toothed at the sides. {Ctenodes zonata, &c.)
In the following the thorax, either square or cylindrical, orbicular, or nearly globular, is much shorter than the
elytra; the prosternum is neither carinated nor pointed at its posterior extremity, and the scutellum is always
small.
Phtenicocerus, Latr., differs from all the rest in having the third and following joints of the male antennae pro-
longed into flattened plates, forming a large fan. P. Dejeanii; Brazil. In the rest the antennae are only simple
or serrated.
Callichroma, Latr., comprises many species, remarkable for their colours, and the agreeable odour they emit,
and these exhibit a curious anomaly in the maxillary palpi being very much smaller than the labial, and even than
the maxillary lobe, which is advanced; the posterior
tibise are often compressed. [The only British species,]
Cerambyx moschatus, Linn, [or the Musk Beetle as it has
been erroneously named, the scent it emits being more
like otto of roses than musk], is about an inch long, en-
tirely green, or shaded with blue, some specimens being
of a more golden colour. [This handsome species is very
common upon willows, and may be easily detected by its
scent.] There are numerous other species found on the
Continent and in America.
Other Longicornes of the same division, but with
ordinary-shaped maxillary palpi, are distinguished from
the following by possessing twelve distinct joints in the
antennae, at least in the males ; we unite them into the
single subgenus—
Acanthopteriis, Latr.— Some American species, with
the thorax nearly square or subcylindrical, and the elytra
ordinarily terminated by one or two spines, are called
Stenocorus, by Dalman ; others, peculiar to the western parts of the Old World, with the thorax nearly globular,
and the antennae simple and not fasciculated, form the subgenus Purpuricenus. Types, Cerambyx Koehleri, Des-
fontainii, &c. Another species,
Cerambyx alpinus, Linn., has the body depressed, and the third and three following joints of the antennae ter-
minated by a little bundle of hairs.
The following Cerambycini have only eleven joints to the antennae ; some, or at least the males, have the antennae
long and setaceous ; the last joint of the palpi in the form of a reversed cone ; the thorax is either nearly square
and"a little dilated in the middle, or oblong and nearly cylindrical ; it is often rugose, and tubercled at the sides.
Tliese compose the subgenus
Cerambyx proper, some of which have been further separated under the name of HamaticJierus, having the
thorax very rough, and spined or tubercled at the sides in the middle, with the third, fourth, and fifth joints of the
antennae evidently thicker than the following, thickened, and rounded at the tip. C. heros, Fab., is an abundant
continental species, the laiwa of which forms deep burrows in oak wood, and which is probably the Cossus of the
ancients.
We unite in the same subgenus different species of Callichroma of Dejean, having the thorax entire or scarcely
unequal, and either oval or subcylindrical. These are exotic, and nearly all from America, being of small size.
We further unite in the same genus the Gnom
Petauristes, Latr., has the hind thighs large, but the eyes are notched ; the antennae composed of shorter joints, I
and the lobes of the third tarsal joint only receiving the base of the last joint. {Lema varia, Fabr.] [1
Crioceris proper {Lema, Fabr.), differs from the preceding in having the hind thighs scarcely different from the I
others. The antennae are slightly thickened at the tips, and are nearly moniliform, the joints being scarcely
longer than thick ; the eyes are prominent and notched ; the hind part of the head forms a kind of neck. ii
These insects live upon Liliaceae, Asparagus, &c., and, like those of the preceding family, make a slight noise
when seized. Their larvae feed upon the same plants, on which they take firm hold by means of their six scaly
feet. They have the body soft, short, and swollen ; their excrements are occasionally used by them to form a
covering over the back, defending them from the action of the sun ; the anus is for this purpose placed upon the
back. They descend into the earth to become pupae. il
Crioceris merdigera, the Lily Beetle, is three lines long, with the thorax and elytra red. It is found throughout
Europe upon the White Lily. M. Boudier has published some observations upon the French species, L. brunnea,
in the Memoirs of the Linncean Society of Paris.
Crioceris Asparagi, [the Asparagus Beetle, is of a smaller size], being blue, with the thorax red with a spot in the ||
middle, and the elytra are yellowish white with blue markings. [Its larva feeds upon the young sprigs of
^ asparagus, and sometimes does damage to the plants. See my memoir on this insect in the
GardenePs Magazine.~\ Cr. \2-pu7iciata, Linn., also feeds on this plant.
Auchenia, Thunb. [Crevia, Kirby], differs in having the eyes entire ; the palpi pointed at the tip ;
seven terminal joints of the antennae thickened, and the thorax with the sides dilated in the
middle — (Crioceris subspbiosa, Fab.)
p \ Megascelis, Dej., differs from the preceding in having the mandibles truncate ; the palpi termi-
nated by a swollen truncate joint, with a small joint-like prolongation. The species are of small
Fi^. 83.-Criocei-is . \ ^ ^
Asparagi. Size, and peculiar to South America.
THE SIXTH FAMILY OF THE COLEOPTERA TETRAMERA,—
The Cyclica, —
Has also the under-side of the three basal joints of the tarsi spongy or pulvillose, the third being
bilobed, and the antennae filiform, or slightly thickened at the tips ; the body is also generally rounded,
with the base of the thorax as broad as the elytra in the species, few in number, in which the body
is oblong ; the maxillae have the outer lobe of a narrow form, nearly cylindrical and palpiform, and
the inner lobe is broader, and without a scaly hook. The tonguelet is nearly square, or oval ; entire,
or slightly emarginate. All the larvae with which w^e are acquainted are furnished with six feet ; the
I body is soft, coloured ; they feed like the perfect insect upon the leaves of different vegetables, where
they ordinarily affix themselves by a glutinous secretion ; it is there also where many of them become
pupae, the exuviae of the larvae being crumpled up at the extremity of the body of the pupae, which are
often varied in their colours. Other larvae enter the earth.
These insects are generally of small size, often ornamented with metallic and brilliant colours, with
the body naked and without hairs. They are generaUy slow in their motions, timid, and faU to the r
COLEOPTERA.
551
earth when attempted to be seized, folding the antennse and legs beneath the body. Many species
leap well. The females are very prolific.
In respect to the different habits of the larvae, the Cyclica are divided into four principal groups : —
1. Larvae which cover themselves with their own excrement ; 2. Larvae living in tubes, which they
bear about with them ; 3. Naked larvae; and, 4. Larvae which live in the interior of leaves, feeding on
their parenchyme — {Cyclica saltatoria.)
Such are the principles which have influenced us in our arrangement of this family. We divide
them into three tribes, from the mode of insertion of the antennae, \_Cassidari(B, Chrysomelinoi^ and
GalerucitcB].
The Cassidaricc, [or Tortoise Beetles,] which form the first tribe, have the antennae inserted at the
upper part of the head, close together, straight, short, filiform, and nearly cylindrical, or gradually
thickened tow'ards the tip ; the mouth, entirely placed beneath, with short, nearly filiform palpi, is
sometimes arched round and sometimes partially received in a cavity of the prosternum ; the eyes are
ovoid and round ; the feet contractile, short, with the tarsi flattened, the lobes of the third joint
entirely receiving the terminal joint. The body being flat beneath, these insects, by means of the
arrangement of the tarsi, lie close upon the leaves, where they generally remain immoveable. In other
respects the body is generally orbicular or oval, and margined all round by the dilated thorax and elytra.
The head is hidden beneath the thorax, or received in an anterior notch. Their colours are very varied,
and prettily arranged in spots, points, rays, &c. Such of their larvae as we are acquainted with cover
themselves with their own excrements. The Cassidariae form two genera. The first, or that of
Hispa, Linn., —
Has the body oblong, with the head entire, exposed, and free, and the thorax trapeziform. The mandibles have
only two or three teeth ; the outer lobe of the maxillae is shorter than the inner ; the antennae are filiform.
Alurnus, Fabr,, has the extremity of the mandibles prolonged into a strong tooth, with a shorter tooth on the
inside ; the tonguelet is horny. These are South American insects of large size.
Hispa, Linn., has the mandibles terminated by two or three small teeth of nearly equal size. There are a great
number of American species. Many have the upper surface of the body, as well as a portion of the antennae,
armed with many spines. Such is Hispa atra, Linn., a small black species [of very rare occurrence in England],
which is found upon grass.
Chalepus, Thunb., has the tibiae longer, slender, and curved, and the two anterior armed with a long spine in
the male (H. spinipes, Fabr.). Some species of Hispa have a frontal horn. H. rostratus, Kirby, forming another
subgenus.
Cassida, Linn.—
Is distinguished from Hispa by having the body orbicular, or subovoid, or nearly square in a few species. The
thorax, more or less semicircular, entirely hides or covers the head, or receives it in a deep frontal notch ; the
elytra, often elevated in the scutellar region, form a broad margin to the body ; the mandibles offer at least four
teeth, and the outer maxillary lobe is at least as long as the internal lobe.
Imatidium, Fabr., differs only in having the head exposed, and received in a notch of the thorax. The body in
all the Cassidae is depressed, nearly round, shield or tortoise-shaped, often elevated pyramidically in the middle
of the back, and margined all round by the sides of the thorax and elytra. The under-side of the body is flat,
so that these insects fix themselves quite close to the plants on which they are stationed.
Cassida viridis, is about l-6th of an inch long ; is of a green colour, with black thighs. Its larva lives on thistles
and artichokes. Its body is very flat, and furnished with
spines all round the edges, and entirely covered by its own
excrement, which it attaches in a mass together, and carries
on a kind of fork fixed near the anus. The pupa is also very
flat, with thin toothed appendages at the sides of the body ;
the thorax is broad, rounded in front, and covers the head.
In the larva of a species from St. Domingo the excrements
form small numerous articulated filaments like a wig.
[The genus is very numerous, and comprises many sin-
gular forms, some of which have been recently separated as
Fig. 84. — Cassida viridis, in its different states.
subgenera by the Rev. F. W. Hope, in the Annals of Natural History. 1
The second tribe {Chrysomdinai) has the antennae inserted in front of the eyes, or near their inner
extremity, and wide apart. These insects do not leap ; they form, with the following tribe and some
of the preceding family, the genus Chrysomela of Linnaeus ; but which, from its actual extent, we
have restricted by the adoption of some other. The species which possess the above characters form,
as in the early works of Fabricius, two genera.
INSECTA.
552
The first of these genera, —
CnYPTOCEPHALUS, —
Is composed of Chrysomelinae in which the head is inserted vertically into a swollen thorax like a hood, so that
the body, generally in the form of a short cylinder, or nearly ovoid, and narrowed in front, appears from above to
be truncated and deprived of a head. The antennae in some are more or less serrated or pectinated ; in others
they are long and filiform. The last joint of the palpi is always ovoid.
In some the antennae are short, pectinated, or serrated after the fourth or fifth joint.
Clythra, Fabr., has the outer margin of the elytra straight, or with but a slight notch ; the posterior angles of the
thorax are rounded and not arched, and the anterior are not indexed beneath. The body is always in form of a
short cylinder ; the antennae are always free ; the eyes entire, or scarcely emarginate. The males have the head
generally large, with the mandibles large and porrected, and the fore-legs long. C. quadripunctata, Linn., [a
common British species]. Its larva lives in a coriaceous kind of tube, which it bears about with it.
The following differ in having the elytra much dilated externally at the base, with a deep notch. The posterior
angles of the thorax are acute and arched, and the anterior are greatly inflexed. The eyes are often notched.
These are peculiar to the New World.
Chlamys, Knoch., has the body short, cylindric, or cubic, and the surface of the body is very unequal. [See the
monographs of Klug and Kollar.]
Lamprosoma, Kirby, has the body globular [and very smooth].
In others the antennse are evidently longer than the head and thorax, simple, filiform, or thickened to the tips.
Cryptocephalus, Geoffr., has the body cylindric ; the thorax as broad as the abdomen, and the antenna and palpi
of equal thickness throughout. C. sericea, Linn, [a common British species. The genus is extremely numerousj.
Choragus, Kirby, has the antennse terminated by three large joints. C, Sheppardi, [a small British species.
This genus is more allied to Anthribus and Bruchus.]
Euryope, Balm, (having the mandibles very strong, and the second joint of the antennae longer than the
Eumolpus, Klug (with the mandibles of ordinary size, and the second joint of the antennae shorter than the third),
differ in having the body narrowed in front and nearly ovoid.
Eumolpus Vitis, a small continental species, does much injury to the vine. This genus passes, by means of
Colaspis, in a very gradual manner, to the genus
Chrysomela,—
In which the body is generally ovoid or oval; the head exposed, advanced, or slightly inclining forwards; the
antennae simple, about half the length of the body, and often moniliform and slightly thickened to the tips.
Some, having the body ovoid, or oval, and winged, and the palpi pointed at the tips, approach Eumolpus, and
are distinguished from all the following by the filiform antennae, longer than half the body.
Colaspis, Fabr., has not the mesosternum pointed. [A very numerous exotic genus.]
Podontia, Dalm., has the mesosternum produced into a short conical point. [Exotic insects.]
In the following Chrysomelinae of the same tribe the antennae are shorter, and composed of reversed-conical
joints, or more or less moniliform, and thickened to the tips ; the false joint, or appendage, at the end of the last,
is very short, and scarcely distinct.
Some have the maxillary palpi thick, and truncated at the tip.
Amongst these some have the two terminal joints of the palpi united into a truncated mass, the last shorter
than the preceding, and either transverse or in the form of a short truncated cone.
Phyllocharis, Dalm., has the mesosternum not pointed. [Exotic species], peculiar to New Holland and Java.
Doryphora, Illig., has the mesosternum pointed like a horn. Composed of South American species.
Cyrtonus, Dalm., composed of two Spanish species, has no mesosternal point, but the joints of the antennae are
longer, the body more globose, and the thorax more elevated transversely.
Apamcea, Leach, is allied to Doryphora, but has the antennae of the male 8-jointed, the last two forming a club.
ITrochalonota, Westw., is also globose. Type, Chrysomela hadia, Germ. South America.]
Paropsis, Oliv. {Notoclea, Marsh.), is peculiar to New Holland, and is distinct by having the last joint of the
maxillary palpi hatchet-shaped. [See the monograph on this genus, published by Marsham in the Transactions of
the Linn
Libellula, Linnaeus, [Dragon-flies or Adder-bolts]. ^
The slender form of the body, their varied colours, their large gauze-like wings, the rapidity of flight V
with which they pursue other insects upon which they feed, easily distinguish these Neuropterous ‘
insects. They have a large and rounded head, or in the form of a broad triangle, two very large lateral >■
eyes — (see M. Cuvier’s memoir on their composition in the Mem. de la Soc. d’Hist. Nat. de Paris) — m
three ocelli, situated upon the vertex ; two antennae, inserted upon the forehead behind a vesicular ' i
elevation, and composed, in the greater number, of five or six joints, or three at least, of which the d
last is compound, and becomes gradually slender like a style ; the upper lip is semicircular ; the two f
mandibles scaly, very strong, and toothed ; the maxillae are terminated by a piece of the same consist- j
ence, toothed, spined, and ciliated on the inside with a palpus composed of a single joint applied upon 1
it dorsally, resembling the galea of the Orthoptera ; the under lip is large, and composed of three leaves ; 5
the lateral pair, being the labial palpi, greatly dilated ; a kind of epiglottis, or elongated vesicular ■ [
tongue, in the interior of the mouth; the thorax thick and rounded; the abdomen very long, and ]■
flattened or cylindric, terminated in the males by two lamellar appendages, of which the figure varies
NEUROPTERA.
575
according to the species, and which have been carefully studied by Messrs. Van der Linden and
Charpentier ; the legs short, and directed forwards.
The female, in order to deposit her eggs, places herself upon plants close to the edge of the water,
into which she repeatedly thrusts the extremity of her body. The larvae and pupae reside in the water
until the period of their final transformation, and are somewhat like the perfect insect, except in
wanting wings. But the head, upon which we perceive no ocelli, is remarkable for the singular form
of the piece which occupies the place of the lower lip. This is a kind of mask, covering the mandi-
bles, maxillae, and nearly all the under side of the head. It is composed, 1st, of a principal triangular
piece, which Reaumur calls the mentonniere, and which articulates by a hinge with a pedunele
attached to the head ; 2nd, of two other pieces inserted at the lateral and anterior angles of the pre-
ceding piece, moveable at the base, transverse, and entire, in the form of broad and denticulated
plates, similar, in their mode oi closing the mouth, to a pair of shutters, or in the form of small
hooks. The insect is able to close or extend this very quickly, seizing its prey by means of the claws
at its upper part. The posterior part of the abdomen is sometimes furnished with five unequal-sized
conical plates, capable of opening or closing, and forming a kind of pyramidal tail, and sometimes
with three elongated villose plates like oars. These insects may he seen every instant opening the
rectum in order to take in a supply of air, when they close it again, and shortly afterwards eject the
water with force and mingled with hubbies of air, this action appearing to assist them in their motions.
[Its more immediate object is, however, in order to obtain a supply of fresh oxygen from the water
thus introduced into the rectum.] When arrived at the period for their final change the pupae quit
the water, crawl up some adjacent stem, where they fix themselves by their claws, and scale off their
pupa-skin.
M. Poey, who has particularly studied the insects of Cuba, has informed me, that at a certain season
of the year the northerly winds bring to the city of Havannah and its neighbourhood an innumerable
quantity of specimens of one of the spe-
cies of Libellulse. [Other instances of
their periodical flight or migrations in Eu-
rope have been observed. See Dr. Weis-
senborn’s memoir on this subject in the
new series of the Mag. of Nat. Hist.l
Fabricius, preceded in this respect by Reau-
mur, divided the Dragon-flies into three genera.
Lihellula proper, has the wings extended
horizontally in repose ; the head nearly globu-
lar, with the eyes very large ; a vesicular eleva-
tion, having on each side an ocellus, upon the
vertex ; the other ocellus, or the anterior one,
is much larger, and the middle division of the
lower lip much smaller, than the lateral ones,
which, closing by a straight suture, exactly
shut the mouth. The abdomen is generally
broad and flat. The larvae and pupae have five
appendages at the extremity of the body, which
is short. Type, L. depressa, Linn., [a very
common British species, as well as L. cancel-
lata, here figured, the males in both of which
are remarkable for the fine leaden-blue colour Fig. io5.~Libeliuia canceilata.
of their abdomen]. The memoir of Van der Linden on the Libellulae of Bologna, and subsequently upon those
of Europe, as well as the Hor‘8 jaws. exposed; the maxillary palpi long and 6-jointedi
the mandibles triangular. F. rubra [misprinted rufa by Latreille], Linn., a very common British species.
Eciton, Latr., differs from Myrmica only in having linear mandibles.
Atta, Fabr., differs from Myrmica only in having very short palpi ; the head
of the workers is generally very thick. A. cephalofes. Fab., the Visiting Ant
of the West Indies, above mentioned.
Cryptocerus, Latr., furnished with a sting, with the peduncle of the abdomen
formed of two knots ; the head very large and flat, with a groove on each side
to receive the antennae. South American insects, [monographed by King].
[The excellent monograph of the ants by Latreille, and, as relates to their
habits, the memoirs of Huber, ought to be consulted in this family.]
The other Heterogyna are solitary in their habits, each species being
only composed of winged males and apterous females, the latter always 120.— nua cephaiotea.
armed with a powerful sting ; the antennae are filiform or setaceous, vihratile, with the first and third
joints elongated ; the length of the first never equalling one third of these organs. They form the genus
Mutillx, Linn.
Some, of which males have only been observed, have the antennae inserted near the mouth ; the head small, and
the abdomen long and nearly cylindric. Genera, Borylus, from Africa and India, and Labidus, from South
America, [to which must be added two others, described by Mr. Shuckard in his monograph on these genera pub-
lished in the Annals of Natural History, May and June, 1840], ’
Tlie others have the antennae inserted near the middle of the face ; the head is more robust than in the preceding,
and the abdomen either conic or ovoid. These form the genus Mutilla proper, the species of which are found in
hot sandy districts. The females run quickly, and always on the ground. The males often alight upon flowers,
but we are ignorant of their precise economy. ’
Some have the thorax nearly cubical, and not nodose in the females.
Apterogyna, Latr., has the two basal segments of the abdomen in the form of knots ; the male antennse are very-
long ; the fore-wings have only basal cells, and a single cubital small and rhomboidal cell. [Exotic insects.]
Psammotha'ma, Latr., has three cubital cells, with two recurrent nervures ; and the males have the antennfe
pectinated. [Mutilla flabellata, Fabr., Cape of Good Hope.]
Mutilla proper, has also three cubital cells, with two recurrent nerves, but the antennae are simple in both sexes,
and the second segment of the abdomen does not form a knot. Type, Mutilla europcea, [a rather common British
species].
Myrmosa, Latr., differs from the preceding in having the thorax in both sexes equal, but divided into two distinct
segments, with the abdomen conic in the females.
Myrmecoda, Latr., has the thorax of the females also equal above, but divided into three segments by sutures,
and the maxillary palpi very short. [These insects are now proved to be the females of the genus Thynnus, placed
by Latreille in the family Scolietes.]
Scleroderma, King, differs only in the maxillary palpi being elongated, and the antennae has the second join
not inclosed in the tip of the preceding. [Small continental species. See my monograph on this genus, published
in the Transactions of the Entomol. Soc. of London, vol. ii.]
Methoca, Latr., has the thorax nodose. [M. ichneumonides, a very interesting insect, found but rarely in this
country, resembling an Ant, and now proved to be the female of the genus Tengyra, placed by Latreille in the
next family.]
THE SECOND FAMILY OF THE ACULEATED HYMENOPTERA,—
The Fossores, —
Comprises those aculeate Hymenoptera which have all the individuals winged, and of two kinds only
[males and females], and which live solitarily, their legs being fitted only for walking, and in many for
Q a
594
INSECTA.
digging ; the labium is always more or less notched at the tip, and never filiform or setaceous ; the
wings are always extended. They compose the genus
Sphex, Linn., —
The majority of the females of which deposit with their eggs, in nests formed for their reception, in
earth or wood, various insects or their larvae, and sometimes Spiders, which they have previously pierced
with their stings, and which serve for the food of their young, when hatched ; the latter resemble worms,
having no feet, and are transformed in a cocoon which they have spun previous to becoming pupae ;
the perfect insect is generally very active, and lives upon flowers ; the maxillae and labium are elongated
i and proboscis-like in many species.
We distribute the numerous subgenera separated from the primitive genus Sphex, into seven principal
groups IScolietes, Sapygites, Sgjhegites, Bembecidcs, Larrates, Nyssoniens, Crabronites']. In the two first
of these, the eyes are often notched ; the body of the males narrow, long, and terminated by three anal
points, or teeth.
1. The Scolietes, comprising those which have the first segment of the thorax sometimes arched, and
extended at the sides as far as the wings, sometimes transverse-quadrate, or like a knot ; the legs short,
thick, very spinose, with the tibiae curved near the base, and the antennae of the females shorter than
the head and thorax. They are named after the genus
ScoLiA, Fab.
Some have the maxillary palpi long, with unequal-sized joints, and the basal joint of the antennae sub-conical.
Such are
Tiphia, Fab., with which we may associate Tengyra, Latr.
The others have the maxillary palpi short, and the basal joint of the antennae long.
Myzine, Latr. (with the mandibles dentate), and
Meria, Latr. (with the mandibles simple), have the basal joint receiving and hiding the second.
8colia, proper, has the second joint of the antennae exposed. [This is a numerous genus, composed for the most
part of large exotic species.]
2. The Sapygites, Latr., have the first segment of the thorax formed as in the preceding, with the
legs short but slender, neither spined nor strongly ciliated, and the antennae in both sexes as long as
the head and thorax ; the body is generally naked. This subdivision is named after the principal
Sapyga, Latr. '
Some have filiform or setaceous antennas. ' |
Thynnus, Fab., has the eyes entire, [New Holland insects] ; and Scot0 ^ the pieces of the sucker act as lancets, piercing
I envelope, and forming a passage for the
\ liquid, which ascends by the pressure of these
lancets together, to the pharynx, situated at the
base of the sucker, the sheath of which serves
Fiyr- 131— A, iioadofTabaiius; B, hcadofMusea. ouly US a dcfencc to tliese laucets, aud is gene-
rally folded upon itself in their action. This sheath appears to represent the lower lip of mas-
ticatory insects, and the setae, at least in those with the most complicated mouth, represent
the other parts, such as the labrum, mandibles, and maxillae. The clypeus, or epistome as I call
it, is represented by the basal part of the proboscis preceding the sucker and palpi ; the base
of the proboscis mostly bears two filiform or clavate palpi, composed in some of five joints,
but in most of only two. The wings are simply veined, and generally horizontal. As in the
Hymenoptera, their veins furnish good secondary characters of groups.
The use of the balancers is not known ; the insect moves them with great rapidity. Many
species, especially those of the terminal families, have above the balancers two membranous
pieces, like the two valves of a shell, attached together at one side, and which are termed
alulets. One of these pieces is united to the wing, and partakes of its movements, at which
time the two valves are upon the same plane. The size of these winglets is in inverse, propor-
tion to that of the halteres ; the prothorax is always very short, and often its lateral portions
prominent, like tubercles. The mesothorax alone occupies the greatest part of the thorax;
in front of which, on each side, and behind the prothorax, are tw^o spiracles, and two others
are observed near the base of the balancers. As in the Hymenoptera, those of the meso-
thorax are hidden or obliterated.
The abdomen is attached to the thorax only by a portion of its transverse diameter ; it con-
sists of from five to nine segments, and is generally terminated by a point in the females : in
those whieh have it composed of the smallest number of joints the terminal ones often form
a kind of ovipositor, composed of tubular pieces, entering into each other like those of a
telescope. The male sexual organs are external in many species, and curved beneath the
abdomen. The legs, which are long and narrow in the majority, are terminated by a 5-jointed
tarsus with two ungues, and often with two or three vesicular pulvilli. Many of these insects
do us much damage, either in sucking our owm blood or that of our domestic animals, by
depositing their eggs upon their bodies, so that their larvae may there obtain nourishment ;
or by infecting our viands and cereal plants with the same intention. Others, in return, are
useful, by devouring obnoxious insects, consuming dead carcases, or other decaying animal
matter, which w'ould otherwise render the air w^e breathe impure, as well as by hastening the
decomposition of putrid w^ater.
The duration of the life of dipterous insects arrived at the final state is very short. They
all undergo a complete metamorphosis, but modified in two material ways. The larvae of
many change their skin in order to undergo their transformation to pupae, and some spin a
cocoon ; but the others do not moult ; their skin hardens, contracts, and generally shortens,
becoming a strong cocoon, of an egg-like form, for the inclosed pupa. The body of the larva
is detached, leaving its own proper organs attached to the skin within, such as the parts of the
mouth, &c. : shortly afterwards the inclosed insect assumes the form of a soft and gelatinous
mass, without any of the parts of the future insect being visible ; some days afterw'ards, how^-
DIPTERA.
617
ever, these organs beeome distinet, and the inseet has then assumed the real state of pupa
[inelosed within its old skin]. It seales olF the anterior extremity of its cocoon, like a cap,
when it makes its escape.
The larvae of dipterous insects are destitute of feet, but some possess appendages which
resemble them. This is the only order in which the head is soft and variable ; but this cha-
racter is confined to such as are transformed beneath their own skin. The mouth is generally j
furnished with two hooks, which serve them to gnaw their food. The principal organs of I
respiration in the majority of the larvae of this order are placed at the posterior extremity of
the body ; many have also a pair on the segment immediately behind the head.
Messrs. Fallen, Meigen, Wiedemann, and Macquart, have lately rendered signal service by
the establishment of numerous generic groups, by the description of many new species, or by
correcting the synonomy of those previously described. They have also employed the cha-
racters founded upon the arrangement of the nerves of the wings which I first used in my
“ Genera.” [Latreille here overlooks the previous claims of Harris.]
The work of Macquart upon the Diptera of the north of France appears to me to be the {
best treatise yet published on these insects. [M. Macquart has lately published a general I
I classification of the order, in two volumes, in the Suites de Buffon, as well as a distinct work |
on Exotic Diptera. Messrs. Plaliday and Walker have added much to our knowledge of
British Diptera.]
We divide this order into two principal sections, which form distinct orders in the works of
[several] English authors.
The Diptera of the first section have the head always distinct from the thorax, the sucker
inclosed in a sheath, and the tarsal claws simple, or unidentate. The transformation of these
insects from the larva to the pupa state never takes place within the abdomen of the
parent fly.
A first subdivision is composed of Diptera having the antennae divided into a great number
of joints ; they form
THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE DIPTERA,—
The Nemocera, —
The antennae of which are mostly composed of from fourteen to sixteen joints, or from six or nine to
twelve in others. They are filiform or setaceous, often villose, especially in the males, and much
longer than the head. The body is elongated, with the head small and rounded ; the eyes large ; the
proboscis exserted, short, and terminated by two large lips, or prolonged into a beak ; tw'o external
palpi inserted at its base, generally filiform or setaceous, and composed of four or five joints ; the
thorax thick, elevated, and gibbose ; the wings oblong ; the balancers entirely exposed, and not
accompanied by large alulets ; the abdomen elongated, mostly formed of nine segments terminated in
a point in the females, thicker at the tip, and armed with hooks in the males ; the legs very long and
slender, and often enabling these insects to balance themselves.
Many of the smaller species assemble in great troops in the air, where they form a sort of dance.
They are found at almost all seasons of the year. Many deposit their eggs in the w^ater ; others in the
earth, or upon plants.
The larvae, always elongated and worm-like, have a scaly head, of a constant form, and the mouth
is furnished with parts analogous to maxillae, and lips. They always shed their skins on assuming the
pupa state. These pupae, which are sometimes naked and sometimes inclosed in cocoons spun
by the larva, approach the perfect insects in their figure, being furnished with external organs, and
undergoing their transformations in the ordinary manner. They have often near the head and thorax
two respiratory organs, in the form of tubes, or ears.
This family is composed of the genera Culex and Tipula of Linnaeus.
Some have the antennae always filiform, as long as the thorax, thickly clothed with hairs, and
618
INSECTA.
composed of fourteen joints; and the proboseis is long, porrected, filiform, inclosing a punctorial
sucker, composed of five setae, [according to LatreiUe, but in reality of six, exclusive of the palpi].
They constitute the genus
CuLEX, Linn. {Culicides, Latr.), —
And have the body and legs very long, the antennae very hairy, forming a thick pencil, in the males ;
the eyes large, convergent above ; the palpi porrected, filiform, villose, as long as the proboscis, and
5-jointed in the males, shorter and fewer-jointed in the females ; the proboscis is composed of a
membranous cylindrical tube, terminated by two lips, forming a kind of knob, and of a sucker consisting
of five [six] scaly filaments, producing the effect of a sting, the wings resting horizontally upon
the back, with small scales.
These insects are very annoying, especially in damp situations, where they most abound. Thirsting
for our blood, they pursue us every where, entering our habitations, especially in the evening,
making a loud buzzing, and piercing our skins, which our clothes cannot even always protect, with
the delicate setae of their proboscis, which are denticulated at the tips. In proportion as they thrust
it into our flesh the sheath of the proboscis becomes elbowed towards the breast. They discharge a
venomous fluid into the wound, which is the cause of the pain felt. It is observed that we are only
attacked by the female gnats ; [the males indeed have the mouth organs, fewer in number and
weaker]. The gnats are known in America under the names of Maringouins or Musquitoes. They
are only to be guarded against by enveloping the bed with a Musquito curtain. The Laplanders drive
them away by fire, and by coating the naked parts of the body with grease. The females deposit their
eggs on the surface of the water, crossing their hind legs near the anus, and by degrees extending
them as the eggs are discharged from the body, and which they place side by side, the entire mass
resembling a small boat : each female deposits about 300 eggs in the course of the year. These
insects are able to withstand the strongest frosts. The larvae live in stagnant water, and are es-
pecially to be found in the spring. They suspend themselves at the surface of water, head downwards
for respiration ; they have a distinct rounded head, furnished with a pair of antennae, and of ciliated
organs, which serve by their continual motion to form a kind of current, which brings their food to the
mouth ; a thorax with bundles of hairs ; an elongated, nearly cylindric abdomen, much narrower than
the anterior part of the body, 10-jointed, the antepenultimate joint being furnished with a respiratory
organ on its back ; the terminal joint is also terminated by setae and by radiating pieces. These larvae
are very active, swimming with great agility, often descending, but quickly coming again to the
surface of the water. After having undergone several moultings, they are transformed into pupae,
which continue moveable with the assistance of their tails and two oar-like pieces at its extremity.
They also suspend themselves at the surface of the water, but in a contrary direction to that of the
larva ; the organs of respiration being now placed at the thorax, and consisting in a pair of tubular
horns. It is then also that the imago is developed, the exuviae of the pupa becoming a kind of raft
for it, which preserves it from submersion. All these changes are effected [in the summer], in three
or four weeks, so that there are several generations in the course of the year.
Culex proper, comprises those species which have
the male palpi longer than the proboscis, and very
short in the females. C. pipiens, Linn., the Common
Gnat.
Anopheles, Meg., has the male palpi as long as
the proboscis.
^des, Hoffm., has the palpi in both sexes very
short. Robineau Desvoidy, in his essay on this
family, has added three other genera.
Sabethes, with the palpi shorter than the pi'obos-
cis, and the middle tibiae and tarsi dilated.
Megarhina, with the proboscis long and recurved
Fig. 132.— Culex pipiens, female, natural size and magnified, with the head palpi short, with the basal joint
of the male. .
thick.
Psorophora, with the ocelli distinct ; the legs of the female ciliated, and two small appendages at the sides of
the prothorax. C. ciliatus, Fabr.
The other Nemocera have the proboscis either very short, and terminated by two large lips, or like
DIPTERA.
619
a perpendicular or incurved beak ; the palpi are curved under, or recurved, but in the latter case they
have not more than two joints. Linnaeus united them in his genus
1 Tipula {Tipularice, Latr.),
Which we divide in the following manner : —
A first section is composed of species with antennae longer than the head, at least in the males,
slender, filiform, or setaceous, more than 12-jointed in the majority, and with long and slender feet.
Some, having always wings, are destitute of ocelli, the palpi always short, the head scarcely
prolonged in front, the wings horizontal or roof-like, with but few nerves ; the eyes crescent-like, and
the tibiae not spined. These are small species which reside, in the early states, either in w^ater or in
the galls of vegetables.
The Tipulides Culiciformes resemble Gnats, having the antennae entirely pilose, but with the hairs
much longer in the males than in the females. Their larvae live in the water, and resemble those of
Gnats. Some of them have false feet ; others have arm-like appendages at the posterior extremity of
the body ; they are generally of a red coloiur. The pupae are also aquatic, and respire by two outer
appendages placed at the anterior extremity of the body. Some have the power of swimming,
I Corethra, Meg., has the antennae composed of fourteen oval joints, the terminal ones scarcely differing from the
preceding, and the wings horizontal. T. culiciformis, De Geer [the Straw-coloured Midge].
Chironomus, Meig., has the wings inclined, the antennae
13-jointed in the males, and 6-jointed in the females, with short
hairs, the last joint, as in the males, being very long. T. annulata,
De Geer, [a very numerous genus of Midges].
Tanypus, Meig., has the wings also deflexed, but the antennae
are 14-jointed in both sexes ; the penultimate joint very long in
the males ; the rest, as also all the joints of the female antennae,
nearly globular ; the larvae have four false feet, — two near the
head, and two at the extremity of the body.
The Tipules Gallicoles have the antennag composed in
both sexes of at least thirteen joints, furnished in the
majority with short hairs ; at the most with a pencil of
hairs at the base in some males.
Ceratopogon, Meig. {Culicoides, Latr.), has a bundle of hairs at the base in the males ; the proboscis, as in
the two following subgenera, has the form of a pointed beak ; the wings are incumbent on the body, and their
larvae live in vegetable galls.
Latr, has no brush or hairs to the antennae; the wings are roofed, and have a great number of
nerves ; one species has two appendages at the side of the thorax, which appear to be formed by the lateral extre-
mities of its front segment.
Cecidomyia, Meig., has the antennae, as in Psychoda, moniliform, and furnished with verticillated hairs ; the
Lestremia, Macquart, has the antennae formed of
five globular, pedunculated joints in the males, the
legs long and slender, and the basal joint of the
tarsi long. C. destructor, Say, appears to belong
to this subgenus.
Macropeza, Meg., is also closely allied to these
insects.
The Tipules Terricoles comprise the largest
species in the family, with the antennae longer
Fi)r. 134.— Cecidomyia destructor, and C. Tritici, with the larvaa of the latter i^^nthe head, and slender ; destitute of OCelU;
feeding in wheat flowers, magnified.
the eyes round and entire ; the wings, extended in many, have always membranous nerves, united
together transversely, and closed discoidal cells. The front of the head is narrowed, and prolonged
I into a muzzle, with a basal prominence ; the palpi generally long, and the extremity of the tibiae
i spinose.
The larvae of many species live in the earth, the rotten parts of trees, &c. The thorax is not distinct,
and they have no false feet. They exhibit at the superior extremity of the body two more evident
apertures for respiration. The pupae are naked, with two respiratory tubes near the head ; and the
edges of the abdominal segments spinose. These insects are well known under the name of Daddy
Long-legs, Tailors, &c.
wings horizontal on the body, with only three nerves.
Fig. 133.— Chironomus, with its Pupa and Larva, magnified.
620
INSECTA.
In many, the win^s are always extended, and the palpi long-; with the last joint very lonff and annular.
Ctenophora, Meig., has filiform antennae, pectinated in the males, and serrated in the females. Tipula pectini-
cornis, Fabr.
Pedicia, has them nearly setaceous, simple, with the two basal joints thicker, and the seven terminal ones
slender and subcylindric.
Tipula, Latr., has also the antennae nearly setaceous and simple; but all the joints, except the second, are nearly
cylindric ; the first is largest, the third elongate. T. oleracea, the Common Crane Fly, or Daddy Long Legs, very
common in pastures; the larva feeds on the roots of dying plants, [and many other species]. |
Nephrotoma, Meig., has 19-jointed antennae in the males, and fifteen joints in the females, the third and following |
being arched. 1
Ptychoptera, Meig., has simple sub-setaceous antennae, 16-jointed; the third much longer than the others, and
the following oblong.
In the following, the terminal joint of the palpi is scarcely longer than the others, and presents no appeai’-
ance of annuli ; and the wings are often incumbent on each other. Some of these have more than 10-jointed
antennae.
RMpidia, Meig., has the male antennae pectinated.
Erioptera, Meig., has, like the preceding, many nerves, but they are pilose.
Lasioptera, Meig., has the wings villose, but only with two nervures.
Limnobia, Meig., has the wings glabrous, and the antennae simple in both sexes.
Polymera, Weid., has 28-jointed antennae.
Trichocera, Meig., has the basal joints of the antennae oval, and the terminal ones very slender, long, and pu-
bescent. T. hiemalis, the Winter Midge.
Macropeza, Meig., has the hind feet exceedingly long ; the basal parts of the antennae are hairy.
Dixa, Meig., appears allied to Trichocera, but the basal joint of the antennae is very short, second nearly globular,
and the following more slender.
Megistocera, V/eid., has only 10-jointed antennae.
Hexatoma, Latr., has 6-jointed antennae, and consists of the Anisomer has the first or second pair of thighs thickened.
Drapetis, Meig., has the last joint of the antennae subglobose, and the proboscis scarcely exserted.
M. Macquart [as well as Mr. Haliday and Professor Zetterstedt] have established several additional genera,
which it would occupy too much space to notice in detail.
The other Tanystoma of our first division have the body generally short, broad, with the head
exactly applied to the thorax ; the wings extended, and the abdomen triangular. They have, in a
word, the appearance of Domestic Flies. The proboscis is often very long.
Cyrtus, Latr. [yesiculosa, Latr.], —
Intermediate between Empis and Bombylius, with the wings deflexed at each side of the body ; the
alulets very large, and covering the balancers ; the head small and globular ; the thorax very gibbose ;
the abdomen vesiculose, and the proboscis directed backwards, or wanting.
Some have a proboscis directed backwards.
Panops, Lam., with antennee longer than the head, cylindric, and 3-jointed, without a terminal seta.
Cyrtus proper, with antennae very small, 2-jointed, with a seta at the tip.
The others have not an extraordinary proboscis.
Astomella, Duf,, has the antennae 3-jointed, with the last joint forming a compressed, elongated knob, without
a seta.
Henops, Illig. {Ogcodes, Latr.), has antennae inserted before the eyes, small, and 2-jointed, with a terminal seta.
Acrocera, Meig., differs in having the antennae inserted behind the eyes.
Bombylius, Linn. (Bombyliers, Latr.),—
Has the wings extended horizontally on each side of the body, with the balancers naked ; the thorax
higher than the head, or gibbose, as in Cyrtus ; the antennae close together, and the abdomen trian-
gular, or conical. The proboscis is porrected in front, and very long in many species. The antennae
are always 3-jointed, the last being elongated, compressed, fusiform, generally terminated by a very
short style, and never by an elongated seta. The palpi are slender, filiform ; the legs are long and
slender. These insects fly wfith wonderful rapidity, hovering over flowers without settling, and intro-
ducing their long proboscis in order to suck up the honey, and making a sharp buzzing noise. I suppose
that their larvae, like those of Anthrax, are parasites.
Some have the proboscis evidently longer than the head, very slender, and pointed at the tip.
ToxopTiora, Meig., has the antennae as long as the head and thorax, filiform, pointed at the tip, and the body
elongated.
Xestomyza, Wied., has shorter antennae, but the first joint is elongated, and longer than the other joints, and
fusiform, as is also the third.
Apatomyza, Wied., has the first joint also very long, but cylindrical. In the subsequent subgenera the last
joint [of the antennae] is the longest, and sometimes the two basal joints of the antennae are short, and of nearly
equal length.
Lasius, Wied., has the head nearly occupied in one sex by the eyes, and the last joint of the antennae very long,
nearly linear, compressed, and without a terminal style ; the abdomen is voluminous ; the proboscis occa-
sionally extends beneath and beyond the extremity of the body, which seems to connect this genus with [Cyrtus
or] the tribe of Vesiculoscs.
Usia, Latr., has the last joint of the antennae ovoid, conic, obtuse, or truncated at the tip, and terminated by a
style ; the palpi not apparent. [South of Europe, or Africa.]
Phthiria, Meig., resembles Usia in the antennae, but with distinct palpi ; sometimes the second joint is evidently
shorter than the first ; the last is long, generally almost cylindric, and pointed at the tip.
Bombylius proper, has very distinct palpi, and the body is clothed with a thick woolly coating of hairs. B. major,
Linn., a very abundant species [in this country].
Geron, Meig., has the last joint of the antennae longer, terminating like an awl, and the wings wanting one of
the transverse nerves near the hind margin.
Thlipsomyza, Wied., is allied to the preceding, and Phthiria ; and I presume that
Amictus, Wied., also approaches them. Both have the basal joint of the antennae longer than the second, and
cylindrical ; the wings of Amictus, however, differ from the preceding subgenera.
The other species have the proboscis not longer than the head, and thickened at the tip, and the basal joint of
the antennae is the largest.
Ploas, Latr. (ConopJiorus, Meig.), has this joint much thicker than the rest.
Cyllenia, has this joint merely longer, but not thicker, and the abdomen is more elongated, and nearly conical.
Anthrax, Scop. {Anthracii, Latr.), —
Similar to the Bombylii, with the body depressed, or but slightly elevated above ; not gibbose, with
the head as high and broad as the thor.ax. The antennae are always very short, and, except in
INSECTA.
. 624
Shjgides, wide apart, terminated by an awl-shaped joint ; the proboscis is ordinarily very short, scarcely
advanced in front of the head, often received into the oral cavity, and terminated by a small thickened
part formed of the lips. The palpi are generally hidden, filiform, and each is attached to one of the
setae of the rostrum. The abdomen is squarer than in Bomhylius. These insects are generally very
hairy. Their habits are very similar to those Diptera. They often alight on the ground, upon walls
exposed to the sun, along which they are often observed flying, as well as upon leaves.
Stygides, Latr. {Lomatia, Enc. M^th., Stygia, Meig.), has the antennae wide apart at the base.
In all the others they are wide apart at the base.
Some of these have the head subglobose, with the proboscis short, and the extremity of the wings not
reticulated.
Anthrax proper, wdth the ocelli contiguous ; [a very numerous genus, having the wings generally spotted].
Hirmoneura, Wied., with the anterior ocellus at a distance from the other two, and the proboscis retracted.
The others have the head shorter, subhemispherical, the proboscis longer than the head, and the extremity of
the wings often strongly reticulated.
MuliOy Latr., has the wings reticulated in the usual manner, and the proboscis but little longer than the head.
Nemestrina, Latr. (Cytherea, Fabr.), has the extremity of the wings reticulated, as in the Neuroptera, and the
proboscis much longer than the head ; the two basal joints of the antennae very nearly equal, and the last very short
and conical ; the tarsi have three pulvilli.
Fallenia, Meig., is formed of two species of Nemestrina, w^hich scarcely differ from Anthrax in the reticulation
of the wings.
Colax, Wied., also appears to us to approach the terminal Anthracii in the antennae and wings, but the oral
cavity is closed, as in Qistrus, and the ocelli are wanting.
Our second general division of the Tanystoma has the proboscis membranous, with the basal part
generally very short, terminated by two lips, very distinet, and ascending. The larvae of the terminal
Diptera of this division have the head of a variable form.
Some of these {Leptides) have the wings extending, and exhibiting many complete cells ; the
antennae do not terminate in a plate, and the palpi are filiform or conical.
Thereva,luSXY. {Bibio, Fab.), has the palpi withdrawn into the oral cavity; the antennae are fusiform or elongate-
conic at the tips, with a small articulated terminal style. Type, Bihio plebeia, Fab., which is found on plants.
The larva of T. hirta, De Geer, lives in the earth, and resembles a small Serpent; its body is white, and pointed
at each end. It entirely strips off its skin on assuming the pupa state.
In the others the palpi are exterior, and the last joint of the antennae is either globose or kidney-shaped, ovoid
or conic, and terminated in all by a long seta. The tarsi have three pulvilli. Such is
Leptis,—
Which is divided into numerous subgenera.
Atherix, Meig., has the basal joint of the antennae larger than the second ; thick, at least in one sex, and with
the third joint lenticular and transverse ; the palpi are porrected.
Leptis, Fab., formerly Rhagio, Fab., has the terminal joint of the antennae subglobose, or ovoid, always termi-
nated in a point, and never transverse. In Leptis, Macquart, the antennae are shorter than the head, with the
three joints nearly equal in size, and the palpi porrected. Type, Musca scolopacea, Linn., a veiy common species.
Chrysopilus, Macq., differs from the last in having the palpi perpendicularly elevated.
[VerTitileo, Macq.], has the antennae as long as the head, with the first joint cylindric, the second short, the third
conical, and the palpi recurved. Type, Musca Vermileo, Linn. [Vermileo De Geeri, Macq., a species common in
France, but not discovered in England]. The larva is cylindrical, with the front of the head attenuated, and four
fleshy lobes at the other end of the body. It gives to its body all kinds of curvatures, crawling on the sand, in
which it forms a conical burrow, at the bottom of which it conceals itself, either entirely or only in part, suddenly
starting when an insect falls into the hole, and twisting itself round it, thrusting the hooks of its head into its
body and sucking its juices. It then throws the carcase away, as well as the sand, by curving its body into an
arch, and then suddenly letting it go. The pupa is concealed beneath a layer of sand. I have kept some of these
larvae, sent me by M. de Romaud, for nearly three years unchanged.
Clinocera, Meig., from its wings, appears to belong to the next division.
The other Tanystoma of our second division have the wings incumbent on the body, and only exhibit
two complete or closed cells. The antennae terminate in a palette, nearly always furnished with a seta.
The palpi, in the majority, are flattened, and rest on the proboscis.
These characters, a compressed body, triangular head, slightly advanced like a muzzle ; the abdomen
curved beneath, and long slender legs armed with spines, particularly distinguish the genus
Dolichopus, Fab., Latr., —
Which now forms a small tribe, distributed by Macquart in a very natural manner, which we have
adopted, except in reversing it, whereby Orthochile is brought to the head.
DIPTERA. 625
The male organs in some are accompanied by plate-like appendages.
Orthochile, Latr., has the proboscis forming a small beak.
In the rest the proboscis is short, or scarcely prominent.
Dolichopus proper, has the third joint of the antennae nearly triangular, but little elongated, with a seta of
moderate length, without a thickened knot between the middle and extremity.
These insects are often of green or copper colours; the legs are long, and very delicate. They station them-
selves on walls, the trunks of trees, leaves, &c. Some run with celerity on the surface of water. The male organs
of generation are always external, large, complicated, and folded beneath the abdomen. D. ungulatus, Fab., the
larva of which lives in the earth : it is long, cylindric, with two points in form of two recurved hooks. The pupa
has two curved horns in front of the thorax.
Sybistroma, Meig., has the last joint of the antennae nearly in the form of the blade of a knife, with a very long
seta, knotted beyond the middle.
The male organs in the others are furnished with filiform appendages. In some the hind part of the antennae is
either oval, triangular, or very long.
Rhaphium, Meig., has it very long, and nearly lanceolate.
Porphyrops, Meig., has it hatchet-shaped or triangular, with a villose seta, the first joint of which is indistinct.
Medeterus, Fisch., has the seta simple and dorsal, with the basal joint distinct and elongated, and the last joint
of the antennae oval.
Hydrophorus, Macq., differs from Medeterus in having the seta entirely terminal.
In the others, the third joint of the antennae is nearly globose, and the seta always villose.
Chrysotus, has it terminal.
Psiloptis, has it inserted rather above.
Diaphorus, has it inserted lower, and the head nearly spherical, and entirely occupied by the eyes, in the males,
thus appearing to conduct us to the next family, Platypezinte, The wings, ocelli, and other characters derived
from the parts of the head, corroborate those which we have mentioned, but it is impossible for us to enter into
such details.
The Platypezinae of Meigen, from which Macqiiart has judiciously removed the genus Cyrtoma, and
to which we have added that of Scenopinus, and his family Megacephali, is composed of Diptera very
similar in the proboscis, antennae, and wings to Dolichopus, but the body is depressed, with the head
hemispherical, and almost entirely occupied by the eyes, at least in the males. The legs are short,
without spines, and with the posterior tarsi often flat and broad.
These Diptera are very small. Some of them have a seta in the last joint of the antennae. Those
in which it is terminal, and the eyes contiguous above in the males, form two subgenera.
Callomyia, Meig., has the basal joint alone of the posterior tarsi dilated, but as long as all the rest united.
Platypeza, Meig., has the four basal joints of the posterior tarsi flattened.
Pipunculus, Latr., {Cephalops, Fall.), has the seta inserted on the back of the third joint, near its base ; the
tarsi are not dilated, the eyes not united above in either sex, and the head nearly globose.
Scenopinus, Latr., has no seta to the terminal joint of the antennae, which is narrower and longer than in the
preceding.
THE THIRD FAMILY OF THE DIPTERA,—
The Tabanides, —
Has, for its characters, a proboscis exserted, and generally terminated by two lips ; with the palpi
porrected, the last joint of the antennae annulated, and a sucker of three pieces. It comprises the
genus
Tabanus, Linn., —
And is composed of large flies, well known for the tox'ments they inflict upon horses and cows, of
which they pierce the skin, in order to suck their blood. The body is generally but slightly hairy;
the head is as wide as the thorax, nearly hemispherical, and covered, except in a narrow space, particu-
larly in the males, by the eyes, which are generally golden-green, with purple stripes. The antennae
are nearly as long as the head, 3-jointed ; the last joint being terminated in a point without seta or
style at the tip, often notched at the base above, wdth transverse divisions, in number from three to
seven. The proboscis in the greater number is nearly membranous, perpendicular, of the length of
the head or rather shorter, nearly cylindrical, and terminated by two elongated lips ; the two palpi
mostly rest upon it, and are thick, villose, conical, compressed, and 2-jointed ; the sucker, inclosed in
the proboscis, is composed of six pieces like lancets, and which from their number and respective situ-
ation represent the parts of the mouth of the Coleoptera. [It is only the females which possess this
number of lancets ; the mouth of the males is much weaker, and has only four. This sex is harmless,
s s
626
INSECTA.
it being only the females which bite.] The ahilets generally cover the halteres ; the abdomen is de-
pressed and triangular ; the tarsi have three pulvilli.
These insects appear towards the end of spring, and are very common in woods and pastures, flying
with a buzzing noise. They even attack man, to suck his blood ; and cattle in some parts are some-
times nearly covered with blood from the continued attacks of these insects. That of which Bruce
has spoken in his Travels, under the name of Tsaltsalyia, and of which even the lion is afraid, is prob-
ably a species of this genus.
Pangonia, Latr. {Tanyglossa, Meig.), has the proboscis much longer than the head, slender, scaly, generally
pointed at tip, and with very short palpi : the last joint of the antennae is divided into eight rings. The species
are only found in hot climates, and subsist on the honey of flowers.
The rest have the proboscis shorter, or scarcely longer than the head ; membranous ; terminated by two large
lips, and with the palpi at least equal to half the length of the proboscis ; the last joint of the antennae is divided
into five or four rings.
Tabanus proper, has the antennae scarcely longer than the head ; the last joint is rather crescent-shaped, and
divided into five rings, the first largest, with a tooth above. T. bovinus, De Geer, the Large Gad-fly, the larva of
which lives in the ground : it is long and cylindric, narrow'ed towards the head, which is armed with two hooks ;
the pupa is naked, nearly cylindric, with two tubercles in front ; the segments of the abdomen ciliated ; and six
points at its posterior extremity.
Tabanus maroccanus, Fabr., according to Desfontaines, attacks camels, which are sometimes covered with them.
The others have the antennae evidently longer than the head, and terminated by a joint of an elongate-conic form,
or nearly cylindric ; and generally only with four annuli. The ocelli are wanting in many.
Silvias, Meig., has three ocelli, and the first joint of the antennae is longer than the following, and cylindric.
Chrysops, possesses three ocelli, but the two basal joints of the antennae are nearly of equal length. C. ccecutiens,
Fabr., a common species, which greatly torments horses.
Hvematopota, Meig., wants ocelli, and the basal joint of the antennae is thick, and nearly oval in the males.
Hexatoma, Meig. {Heptatoma, previously), has the antennae larger than the preceding, and cylindric, with the last
joint very long ; ocelli wanting.
THE FOURTH FAMILY OF THE DIPTERA,—
The Notacantha, —
Has, like the last, the third and last joint of the antennae transversely annulated, or composed of five
distinct joints {Chiromyza) ; the sucker is formed of only four pieces ; the proboscis, of which the stem
is very short, is nearly withdrawn into the oral cavity : the membranous consistence of this organ, and
its reflexed lips ; its clubbed palpi, also reflexed ; the arrangement of the wings, which are mostly crossed
over each other ; the oval or orbicular form of the abdomen ; and the scutellum often armed with
points, distinguish the Notacantha from the Tabanides. But few of their larvae have been observed :
those hitherto observed, and which have been described by Swammerdam, Reaumur, and Rosel, are
aquatic (see below), and approach those of the Athericera by their soft head of a variable form, [?] and
by their habit of changing to pupae beneath their own skins ; but they preserve their former size and
form, which is not the case with the Athericera. The larvae of other Notacantha {Xylophagus), live in
the rotten and moist parts of trees.
We divide the Notacantha into three principal sections, \Mydasii, Decatoma, and Stratiomydesl.
The first, Mydasii, have no teeth or spines on the scutellum ; the body is oblong, with the abdomen
long, triangular, and conical; the wings are extended; the antennae, which constitute the chief
character, are composed either of five distinct joints, two of which form in some a club, and in others
the extremity of a cylindrical stem ; or of three joints, the last of which is largest, nearly cylindrical,
gradually pointed, and divided into three annuli ; so that these organs are always divided into five.
If we except Mydas, in which we have the rudiments of a style, neither the latter nor the seta exists
in any of these Notacanthae ; probably the two terminal joints represent them.
Some have the antennae much longer than the head, 5-jointed, terminated in an elongate mass formed of the
last two joints, with a very short terminal seta; the hind thighs are strong, and toothed or spiny beneath. The
tarsi have only two pulvilli. The posterior cells are closed before reaching the apex of the wing. These Diptera
compose the genus
Mydas,—
Which is divisible into two subgenera.
Cephalocera, Latr., has the proboscis long, and advanced.
Mydas proper, has it short, and terminated by two large lips.
Others have the antennae scarcely longer than the head, and cylindric ; the tarsi have three pulvilli, and the
posterior cells extend to the hind margins of the wings.
DIPTERA.
627
Chiromyza, Wied., has the antennae with five distinct joints.
Pachystomus, Latr., has the antennae 3-jointed, the third joint divided into three annuli. The larva of P. syr-
phoides, Pz., lives beneath the bark of the pine ; its pupa resembles that of the Tabani.
The second section, Decatoma, Latr., has the antennae always composed of three joints, the last
being longer, without a style or seta, and divided into eight annuli, clavate in some, and nearly
cylindric, or elongate-conic in others. The wings are generally incumbent on the body, and the tarsi
have three pulvilli. They may be united into a single genus —
Xylophagus,
Hermetia, Latr., has the antennae much longer than the head, with the two first joints very short, and the third
very long and compressed ; the scutellum is narrowed.
The antennae in the others are never much longer than the head, and terminated by a nearly cylindric, or
elongate-conic joint. Some have the scutellum not spined.
Xylophagus proper, has the body long and narrow, with the antennae rather longer than the head, terminated
by a subcylindric joint. X. ater, Latr.
Acanthomera, Wied., has the antennae at least as long as the head, and terminated by a joint in the form of an
elongate cone ; the first joint larger than the others ; the abdomen broad and flattened ; the face with a pointed
beak ; the two joints of the palpi of equal size.
RapMorhynchus, Wied., has the basal joint of the palpi very short, and the second much longer, and terminated
in a point. The species of this and the preceding are of large siz^j and inhabit South America.
The others have the scutellum armed with spines.
Ccenomyia, Latr. {Sicus, Fabr.), are closely allied to the two preceding subgenera ; the antenna; scarcely longer
than the head ; the palpi very visible, cylindric, pointed at the tip, with two equal-sized joints. The scutellum
has two spines. S. ferrugineus, Fab.
Bens, Latr., has the antennae rather longer than the head, with the two basal joints of equal size, and the third
elongate-conic. The scutellum has four or six spines.
Cyphomyia, Wied., has the antennae still more elongate, and the basal joint longer than the second ; the third
linear and compressed. The scutellum has two spines.
\Ptilocera, Wied.J, (not Ptilodactylus, as written by Latreille), has the antennae emitting three or four linear,
villose filaments, the tips being nearly setaceous. The scutellum has four teeth.
Platyna, Wied., has the antennae filiform ; the two basal joints elongate-cylindric ; the scutellum with one spine,
[and the abdomen very greatly dilated].
The third section, Stratiomydes, Latr., has also the antennte 3-jointed, the last joint offering not
more than five or six annuli, the style, or seta, not included. The latter exists in nearly all ; and in
I those which do not possess it the third joint is long, elongate-fusiform, and always divided into five
or six joints ; the wings are always incumbent upon each other. In some of the species, which have
the antennae terminated by an oval or globular mass, and always aristate, the scutellum is not spined.
This section corresponds with the genus
! Strati OMYS, Geoff.
I Some have the third joint of the antennae elongate, fusiform, or conical, without a terminal seta, and mostly
! terminated by a 2-jointed style. The scutellum armed with two teeth, or spines, in the majority.
! In the four following subgenera the proboscis is short, and the front of the head does not form a beak,
j proper, has the antennae much longer than the head, the first and last joint greatly elongated ; the
J last with at least five distinct joints, without a sudden style at the tip. The larvae have the body long, flat, cori-
aceous, and annulose ; the three terminal joints, long and slender, form a tail, terminated by a coronet of hairs ;
the head is scaly, small, oblong, and furnished with a number of small hooks, serving to disturb the water, in
which these larvae reside. They respire by extending their
tails to the surface, a spiracle being situated between the
scales, at the extremity of the body. The skin, unchanged in
form, serves as a cocoon to the inclosed pupa, which, however,
only occupies one extremity of the larva skin. The perfect
insect escapes by a slit made through the second segment.
S. chamaeleon, Fab., a very common species.
Odontomyia, Meig., have the antennae scarcely longer than
the head, with the first two joints short, nearly equal, the third
forming an elongate cone, slender, with at least five distinct
joints ; the last conic, suddenly compressed, and recurved.
Ephippium, Latr. (Clitellaria, Meig.), has the antennae
scarcely longer than the head, with the two basal joints short,
the third forming a shorter cone, thicker, the fourth joint
truncate-conic, suddenly narrowed at tip, and terminated by a
2-jointed style. S. ephippium, Fab. (E. thoracicum, Latr.).
Oxycero, Meig., simitar to Ephippium in the shortness of the antennae, which are also styliferous, but with
S S 2
INSECTA.
628
the third joint shorter, nearly ovoid, and the fourth joint shorter, the style not terminal, but dorsal. O. Hy- 1
poleon, Fab.
Nemotelus, Geoff., differs from the preceding in having the proboscis long, siphon-shaped, elbowed at the
base, and lodged in a frontal protuberance of the head, like a beak.
In the other’s the third joint of the antennse forms, with the preceding, an ovoid or globular mass, terminated
by a long seta. The scutellum is rarely spined.
Chrysochlora-, Latr. {Sargus, Fab.), has the third joint of the antennae conic, and terminated by a seta.
Sargus, Fab., has the same joint subovoid, or nearly globose, rounded, or obtuse at the tip, with the seta dorsal.
The first joint is nearly cylindrical ; the scutellum rarely spined ; the body often elongate, green, or coppery, and
brilliant. Musca cupraria, Linn., a very common species, the larva of which resides in cow dung, and is of an
oval, oblong form, narrowed and pointed in front, with a scaly head furnished with two hooks. It becomes a pupa
beneath its own skin, and without materially altering its form.
Vappo, Latr. {Pachygaster, Meig.), differs chiefly from Sargus in the antennae being shorter, with the basal joints
transverse.
Our second general division of those Diptera which have a sucker received in the proboscis, y
or sheath, and the antennte only 2- or 3-jointed, comprises those which have the proboscis ^
generally membranous, bilabiate, long, elbowed, and bearing two palpi implanted a little ^
above the elbow, and most commonly received into the oral cavity, and has only two pieces I
in the sucker, when it is always protruded. The last joint of the antennae, always furnished ^
with a style or seta, has no annular division. The palpi are hidden in repose. This division
forms
THE FIFTH FAMILY OF THE DIPTERA,—
The Athericera, —
The proboscis of which is generally terminated by two large lips ; the sucker has never more than
four, and often only two pieces. The larvae have the body very soft, contractile, annulated, narrower
in front, with the head of a variable figure, and its external organs consisting of one or twm hooks, \
accompanied in some genera with fleshy lobes, and probably in all with a sort of tongue destined to ‘
receive the nutritive fluids. The spiracles are four in number ; two placed in the prothorax, and two
at the extremity of the body, on scaly plates ; each of the latter is formed, in many, of three small
spiracles close together. These larvae do not change their skins ; that which they first possess hardens,
and becomes a kind of cocoon for the pupa. It also shortens, and assumes an oval form ; the anterior
part, which was slenderest in the larva, thickens. We also discover in it traces of articulation, and
often vestiges of spiracles, although they no longer serve for respiration. [The manner in which the
transformation to the pupa state is effected, is described in the general observations on the order, and I
need not be repeated.]
Few of the Athericera are carnivorous in the perfect state. They are found, for the most part, on
flowers, leaves, and sometimes on human excrement. I
This family comprises the genera Comps, CEstrus, and the major part of that of Musca, of i
Linnaeus. j
We naturally commence with those species of the latter genus, which have the sucker formed of
four pieces and not of two, as in all the other Athericera. They form a first tribe, Svrphid^.
The proboscis is always long, membranous, elbowed near the base, terminated by two large lips, and ;
the sucker inclosed in an upper canal ; the upper piece of the sucker is thick, and notched at the tip,
the others are slender ; to each of the two labial ones, representing maxillae, is attached a small,
slender palpus ; the head is hemispherical, and occupied for the most part by the eyes, especially in
the males. Its anterior extremity is mostly produced like a muzzle, or beak, receiving the proboscis :
when it is folded in inaction. Many species resemble Humble-bees, and others Wasps. This tribe
comprises but a single genus,
Syrphus, —
A first general division of which is composed of those with the proboscis shorter than the head and thorax.
Some of these have the front of the head produced into an eminence above the oral cavity ; at the head of
these are placed such as have the seta of the antennae plumose ; the body short and hairy, resembling Humble-bees.
Volucella, Geoffr., has the third joint of the antennae oblong, its outline forming a curvilinear and elongate |
triangle.
Musca mystacea, Linn., a very common species, the larva of which lives in the nests of Bombi, its body being
DIPTERA.
629
gradually widened behind, with small points on the sides, and terminated by six filaments. It is furnished beneath
with two spiracles and six fleshy lobes, each armed with three long hooks.
Sericomyia, Meig., has the third joint of the antennae semiorbicular.
Eristalis, Meig., restricted to the species which have the seta villose, and which differ from Volucella in the
wings, which have the outer cell closed by the posterior edge of the wing.
Others differ from the preceding by having the seta of the antennae simple, or without distinct hairs ; the body
short, and the abdomen triangular.
The two following subgenera have the last outer cell of the wings strongly sinuated on the outer edge, and the
body is generally hairy.
Mallota, Meig., has the last joint of the antennae transversely trapeziform.
Helophilus, Meig., has the same joint of a semi-oval form ; the body less hairy than in the preceding. The
larvae of many have the body terminated by a long tail, which they can elongate and elevate perpendicularly until
it reaches the surface of the water or cloaca in which they reside, in order to respire by means of the aperture at
its extremity. Their interior presents two large and very brilliant tracheae, which, near the tail, are much folded,
and kept in constant agitation ; vessels filled with rain-water often contain many of these larvae. Type, Musca tenax,
Linn., a very common species, resembling in size and colour the male of the Hive Bee. Its larva is rat-tailed ; and
it is said to be so tough, that the strongest pressure will not destroy it.
Others differ in having the outer cell of the wings closed by the posterior margin of the wing, its outer edge being
straight, or but feebly sinuated ; the frontal prominence is very short, and the abdomen narrower than in the pre-
ceding.
proper, {Scceva, Fabr.), has the abdomen narrowed from the base to the apex. Their larvae feed only
upon all kinds of Aphides, which they often hold up in the air, and suck them very quickly ; the body of these
larvae is of an elongate-conic form, uneven, and even sometimes spinose. When ready to metamorphose, they fix
themselves to leaves or other substances by a glutinous secretion ; the body shortens, and its anterior end, which
was the slenderest, becomes the thickest. Scceva Ribesii, Fabr., [a very common species].
Chrysogastei', Meig., has the forehead of the females channelled on each side ; and the nasal eminence is thicker.
Baccha, Meig., differs from the last in having the abdomen narrow at the base, and swollen at the tip. I think
the Syrphus conopseus [genus Doros], ought to be added to this, although the palette of its antennae is less
orbicular.
We now pass to other subgenera, agreeing with the preceding in the form of the muzzle, but the antennae are at
least as long as the face.
Paragus, Linn., has the antennae not fixed on a common footstalk, and their length does not exceed that of
the head.
In the five following, they arise from a common elevated footstalk, and are larger than the head.
Sphecomyia, Latr., has the seta lateral, and inserted on the second joint ; the third joint being very short. A
species from Carolina.
Psarus, has the seta inserted on the back of the third joint, near the top ; this joint is nearly oval, of the same
length as the second joint ; the peduncle of the antennae is more elevated than in the analogous genera.
Chrysotoxum, Meig., has the seta inserted on the third joint, near the base ; this joint is the longest, forming a
narrow and elongate triangle ; the twm others are nearly equally long. |
Ceria, Fabr., has the seta terminal ; the body narrow and elongate, like that of a Wasp ; the second and third j
joints of the antennse fox-m a fusiform mass ; the abdomen is long and cylindric. i
Callicera, Meig., has the seta terminal, and the body short, broad, and silky. The nasal prominence does not
exist in the following subgenera ; the antennal seta is nearly always simple, and the wings incumbent on each
other.
Ceratophya, Wied. (with an unarmed scutellum), and
Aphrites, Latr. {Microdon, Meig., with the scutellum armed with two teeth), agree with the last subgenera in the
length of the antennae, close together at the base. In the following, they are shorter than the head ; and the hind
legs are often large, especially in one sex.
Merodon, Meig. (having the abdomen triangular and conical), and
Ascittf Meig. (with the abdomen narrowed at the base, and clavate), have the palette of the antennae oblong-tri-
angular. In the following it is short, or but slightly elongated, sub-orbicular, or sub-ovoid.
Sphegina, has the abdomen clavate, as in Ascia. In the others, it is triangular, conic, or subcylindrical.
Some of these have the wings not extending beyond the extremity of the abdomen ; and some have the hind
thighs thickened, and armed with numerous small spines.
Ewnerus, Meig., to which we add his Xylota, which dififers only in having the abdomen narrower, and almost
linear. M. pipiens, Linn.
Milesia, Latr. {Tropidia, Meig.), has the two hind legs much longer than the others, with thethighs much thicker,
and armed with a single tooth ; in many, the abdomen is conical.
Pipiza, Meig. (and Psilota, Meig.), have the hind legs little longer than the others ; the abdomen depressed and
semi-elliptic. These Diptera have much affinity with the JSyrphi and Chrysogasteri.
Brachyopa, Hoffm., differs from all the preceding in the wings extending far beyond the abdomen, [in consequence
of the shortness of that part of the body]. They otherwise resemble Milesia, and appear to lead to Rhingia.
Rhingia, Scop., forms the second general division of the Syrphies, having the proboscis longer than the head and
thorax, and nearly linear.
INSECTA.
630
Peleeocera, Hoflf., is unknown to me, but is at once distinguished from all with the antennae shorter than the
head, by the short, thick seta of the antennae.
The sucker of all the other Athericirae is only composed of two setae, of which the upper represents
the lahrum, and the lower the tongue.
These Athericerae form three small tribes, which correspond with the genera (Estrus and Comps
of Linnaeus, and with that of Musca of Fabricius, as at first proposed by him.
As Stomoocys and Bucentes are connected with the last of these genera, we shall commence with the
tribe (Estrides, Latreille, which is composed of the genus
(Estrus, Linn., —
Well characterised by possessing, in the place of a mouth, only three tubercles, or but slight rudiments
of a proboscis and palpi.
These insects have the appearance of large meat-flies, very hairy, their hairs being generally coloured
in rings, like Humble-bees. Their antennae are very short, each inserted in an excavation below the
forehead, and terminated by a rounded palette, bearing on its back, near the base, a simple seta ; the
wings are generally apart ; the alulets large, and hiding the balancers ; the tarsi are terminated by two
ungues, and two pulvilli.
These insects are found but rarely in the perfect state, the time of their appearance being very
limited. As they deposit their eggs on the bodies of various herbivorous quadrupeds, it is in woods
and pastures frequented by these animals that they are to be sought after. Each species of (Estrus is
ordinarily parasitic upon a single mammiferous animal, selecting, as the situation for its eggs, that part
of the body which is best fitted for the larvae, which either remain in that particular situation, or are
passed from thence to a more favourable place of developement. The Ox, Horse, Ass, Eein-deer, Stag,
Antelope, Camel, Sheep, and Hare, are the only quadrupeds hitherto known to be subject to the
presence of the larvae of (Estri. These animals appear to have a strange dread of the insect, when it
seeks to lay its eggs upon them.
The nature of the abode of these larvae is of three kinds, which may be distinguished as cutaneous,
cervical, or gastric, according as they reside either in tumours formed in the skin, or in some parts of
the head or stomach of the animal destined to support them. The eggs, whence the larvae of the first
kind are hatched, are placed by the parent fly beneath the skin [of oxen, &c.], which it [is stated by
some authors, including Latreille, but evidently erroneously,] to pierce with its ovipositor, composed of
four tubes, entering into one another, and armed at the tip with two hooks, and two other pieces ; this
instrument is formed of the terminal segments of the abdomen. These larvae, called taons by the
French peasantry [and or worm/s by the English], have no need to change their situation,
finding themselves, as soon as born [or rather as soon as they have buried beneath the skin], in the
midst of a purulent humour, which serves them for nourishment. The eggs of the other species are
merely stuck upon various parts of the body, either close to natural and internal cavities, into which
the larvae easily penetrate, and there fix themselves, or where the animal is in the habit of licking itself,
whereby the larvae are carried by the tongue into the mouth, and so pass to the place [in the stomach]
destined to receive them. It is thus that the Sheep Bot-fly places its eggs at the inner edge of the
nostrils of that quadruped, which becomes agitated, stamps the ground with its fore feet, and hurries
away with its head to the ground ; the larva insinuates itself into the maxillary and frontal sinuses,
and fixes itself to the internal membrane with which they are lined, by means of two strong hooks
with which its mouth is armed. It is thus, also, that the Horse Bot-fly deposits its eggs, without
settling, by hovering in the air at intervals over the inner part of the legs, at the sides of the shoulders,
and sometimes on the withers. (Estrus h(Bmorrhoidalis, the larva of which also lives in the stomaeh of
the Horse, places its eggs upon the lips ; the larvse, attaching themselves to the tongue, pass by the
oesophagus into the stomach, where they subsist on the humour secreted by its inner membrane. They
are generally found round the pylorus, and rarely in the intestines. They often exist in great numbers,
hanging like a bunch of grapes : Mr. Clark, nevertheless, considers that they are rather serviceable than
otherwise to the Horse.
These larvse have, in general, a conical form, and are destitute of legs. Their body is composed of
eleven segments, exclusive of the head, furnished with small tubercles and spines, often arranged in
bands, and which facilitate their progression. The principal organs of respiration are situated in a
DIPTERA. 631
scaly plate at the posterior extremity of the body, which is thickest. It appears that their number
and arrangement are different in the gastric larvae : it also appears that the mouth of the cutaneous
larvae is only composed of fleshy lobes, whilst that of the internal larvae is armed with two strong,
bent hooks.
When the larvae have obtained their full size, they quit their former abode, fall to the earth, and
there hide themselves, in order to undergo those transformations to pupae beneath their own skin, like
the other Diptera of this division. The gastric larvae pass through the intestines and escape by the
anus, probably with the excrement. It is generally in June and July that these changes take place.
M. Humboldt has observed, in South America, Indians with the abdomen covered with small
tumours, produced, as he believed, by the larvae of (Estri ; and later observations appear to confirm
this opinion. These larvae probably belonged to the genus Cuterebra of Clark, the larvae of which
reside beneath the skin of several mammiferous animals. It also appears, from various testimony,
that larvae analogous to those Qilstri have been extracted from the maxillary or frontal sinuses of
Man ; but these observations have not been pursued.
Some have a small and retractile proboscis.
Cuterebra, Clark, has the seta of the antennae plumose, and the palpi not visible. (Estrus buccatus, Fab. ;
Cuniculi, Clark ; and Ephippium, Latr. ; all from America.
Cephenemyia, Latr., has the seta simple, and the palpi evident. (Estrus Trompe, Fab., the larva of which infests
the frontal sinus of the Rein-deer.
The others have no proboscis, and the seta of the antennae is always simple.
(Edemagena, Latr., has two palpi. (Estrus Tarandi, the Bot of the Rein-deer.
The following have no palpi.
Hypoderma, Latr., with a small oral aperture like a Y. (Estrus Boris, the larva of which resides in tumours on
the back of Oxen.
Cephalemyia, Latr., has two small tubercles like points, which are the vestiges of palpi ; the alulets cover the
balancers. (Estrus Ovis, the Sheep Bot-fly, the larva of which lives in the frontal sinuses of the Sheep.
(Estrus proper (Gastrus, Meig., G aster op Jiitus, Leach), has two simitar tubercles,
but the wings cross each other, and the alulets only partially cover the halteres.
(Estrus Equi, the Great Horse Bot, hcemorrhoidalis, vederinus, &c. This difiers
in the cells, extending to the hind edge of the wings, whereas in all the rest (which
Leach and Meigen retain under the name of (Estrus) the cells are closed before reach-
ing the hind margin.
The third tribe of the Athericera, that of the CoNOPSAuiiE, is the only
one in which the proboscis is always exserted and siphon-shaped, either cylin-
dric, conical, or setaceous. The reticulation of the wings is the same as in
our first division of Muscides. The majority of these insects are found on
plants. They compose the genus
Fig. 136.— Gasterophilus equi. CONOPS, LinuagUS.
Some have the body long and narrow ; the abdomen long, clavate, and bent under at the tip, with
the male organs exposed.
One portion of these has the proboscis only elbowed at the base.
Systropus, Wied. {Cephenes, Latr.), has the antennae much longer than the head, the last joint alone forming
the club, without a style, and the abdomen long and slender. South American insects, like small species
of Sphex.
Conops proper, has the antennae much longer than the head, and the last two joints form together a mass, with
a terminal style.
Conops rufipes, Fab., which undergoes its transformations in the interior of the body of living Bombi, escaping
between the segments. An apod larva, found in Bombus lapidarius, being probably that of this species, has fur-
nished Messrs. Audouin and Lachat materials for some fine anatomical observations.
Zodion, Latr., has the antennae shorter than the head, terminating in an ovoid mass.
Myopa, Fab., has the proboscis elbowed at the base, and a^ain near the middle, the apex being bent under, and
the antennae shorter than the head. [Several British species.]
The others {Stornoxydos, Meig.), resemble domestic Flies in their general form, the arrangement of
their wings, the antennae terminated by a palette shorter than the head, and furnished with a seta,
and the abdomen short and conical, without external appendages.
Stomoxys proper, has the proboscis only elbowed at the base. Type, Conops calcitrans, Linn, [a vei*y common
insect, often observed on windows, and which is the species] which pricks our legs so sharply, especially
before rain.
632
INSECTA.
Bucentes, Latr. {Stomoxys, Fab., Siphona, Meig.), has the proboscis elbowed twice, as in Myopa.
Carmis, which Nitzsch refers to this family, is distinguished by having only the rudiments of wings ; the direc-
tion of the proboscis, and the form of its antennas and body, seem to indicate that it comes near Stomoxys.
The fourth and last tribe, Muscides, is distinguished from the preceding by having a proboscis
always very apparent, membranous, and bilabiate, generally bearing tfwo palpi (except in Phora), and
capable of being entirely withdrawn into the oral cavity, and a sucker of two pieces. The antennae
always terminated by a palette with a lateral seta.
These Athericera embrace the ancient genus Musca of Fabricius, which the works of Fallen and
Meigen (without speaking of our own) have singularly modified. The difficulties, however, which
oppose its investigation, are nevertheless far from removed ; for although these authors have estab-
lished a great number of genera, there are, nevertheless, some, such as Tachina and Anthomyia, which
can only be regarded as magazines. In the work of Meigen, which is confined to the European
Diptera, the first of these genera comprises 315 species, and the second 213. Dr. Robineau Desvoidy,
anxious to complete these researches and serve science, has undertaken with much zeal the special
study of the Muscides, which he terms Myodaires, and has presented a memoir upon the subject to the
Royal Academy of Sciences, [since published]. As Latreille, however, was only acquainted with the
general distribution of this tribe through the report of M. de Blainville, presented to the Academy, he
was not able to make use of it : indeed, it would too far exceed the limits of this work to do so, and
probably alarm young naturalists by the multitude of genera which he has established, and which
appeared to the reporter to be too slightly characterized. We think that the work of Meigen, except
in respect to the revision of the two genera above mentioned, is quite sufficient, in the actual state of
the science. [The vast extent of this tribe, which probably equals that of all the other Diptera united
together, has, notwithstanding the remarks of Latreille, rendered the establishment of many additional
genera requisite. M. Macquart, in his Histoire Naturelle des Dipteres, and Messrs. Haliday and
Walker, in various detached memoirs, have added to the number of those proposed by Meigen, although
they have materially reduced the number proposed by Robineau Desvoidy, which amounted to 354,
divided into ten primary groups, two of which still remain unpublished, and which will of course
increase the number of his genera.]
This tribe comprises the genus
Musca.
The first section comprises those species which have the antennae inserted near the forehead ; the
palpi placed upon the proboscis, and retractile with it into the oral cavity, and transverse nerves to the
wings. This section comprises eight principal groups, or subtribes.
The first division (Creophil^) has very large alulets, nearly covering the balancers. The wings are
generally apart, with the two terminal and external cells of the posterior limb closed by a transverse
nervure.
Some of these have the epistome not beak-like, and the sides of the head not advanced into horns.
A portion of these have the seta of the antennae naked.
Echinomyia, Dumeril, has the second joint of the antennae long'est ; the last is nearly trapezoidal, with the seta
biarticulate at its base. Musca grossa, Linn., the largest known species, nearly as large as a Humble-bee. It is
black, very bristly, with the head buff, eyes brown, and base of the wings reddish. It makes a loud buzzing,
settles upon flowers in woods, and oftejn upon cow-dung, on which its larva resides ; the body of which is yellowish,
shining, conical, with a single hook, and two fleshy horns at its anterior extremity ; the other being terminated
by a circular plate, upon which are two spiracles, each placed upon a lenticular lobe, elevated in the middle.
The segment after the head is also furnished on each side with a spiracle. In the cocoon of the pupa, which is
also conical, the posterior extremity also presents two more distinct spiracles ; its contour formed by a plate with
nine flaps. [It appears to me that Latreille has erred in referring Reaumur’s figures to Echinomyia grossa. They
seem to me to be those of the transformations of Mesembrina meridiana. I presume that the larva of Echinomyia
grossa is a parasite,]
In the other Creophilse the third Joint of the antennae is never shorter than the second. Sometimes the face is
nearly naked, and never clothed with long bristles.
Gonia, Meig., has the seta of the antennae elbowed, and the abdomen with distinct segments, and convex.
Miltogramma, Meig., has the abdomen also convex, with distinct joints, and the seta of the antennae straight.
Trixa, Meig., differs from Miltogramma in having the third joint of the antennae scarcely longer than the
second.
In the four following subgenera the abdomen is swollen, with the articulations indistinct, or flattened.
DIPTERA.
633
Gtpnnosoma, Meig'., has the abdomen vesicular, with indistinct articulations, and the antennae as long as
the head.
Cistogaste?’, Latr., has the abdomen similar, but the antennae much shorter.
Pkasia, Meig., has the abdomen very flat and semicircular, and the tibiae but slightly bristly.
Trichiopoda, Latr., has the abdomen flat but oblong, and the hind tibiae with a row of lamelliform bristles.
Sometimes the face has two rows of long bristles, like moustaches, two being larger than the rest.
The three following have the wings vibratile, and the abdomen narrow and elongate ; the antennae are not
shorter than the face.
Lophosia, Meig., has the last joint of the antennae forming a large triangular palette.
Ocyptera, Meig., has the third joint of the antennae seldom much larger than the preceding, and forming a linear
or oblong square. M. Dufour has observed the transformations of two species ; the larva of O. cassidos, residing
in the visceral cavity of Cassida bicolor, and that of O. bicolor, in the same cavity of Pentatoma grisea : both these
larvae feed on the fatty matter of the insects they infest ; their bodies are oblong, soft, whitish, perfectly glabrous
and contractile, and terminated by a sort of siphon one third of the length of the body, of a more solid consistence,
and unchangeable in its form, with two hooks at the tip : the posterior extremity of this siphon, occupying one
of the metathoracic spiracles [of the insect infested], and in contact with the air, enables the parasite to respire.
Neither antennae nor eyes have been observed. It is in the same situation that the larva changes to the pupa state.
This [or rather the old larva skin] is ovoid, without any trace of segments, with several tubercles at one end. It
quits its abode before assuming the perfect state, either without destroying the insect, or the larva infested, or
after it has killed it.
Melanophora, Meig., has the antennae much shorter ; the anteunae not extending lower than the middle of the
face ; the outer terminal cell is more advanced posteriorly than the inner one.
The abdomen of the other Creophilae is but little elongated, triangular ; and the wings are not vibratile.
Phania, Meig., has the abdomen 4-jointed ; the tip being elongated, narrowed, and folded beneath ; the third
joint of the antennae is long and linear.
Xysta, Meig., has the abdomen 5- or 6-jointed, and the antennae short, with the last two joints nearly equal ; the
hind tibiae are rather curved, compressed, and ciliated.
Tachina, Fabr., has the abdomen 4-jointed, but not recurved at the tip ; the antennae as long, or nearly as long,
as the head ; the last joint longer than the preceding. Some of the species, forming a peculiar group, live whilst
larvae in the bodies of different caterpillars, which they destroy.
We now pass to Creophilae which have the seta of the antennae evidently villose or plumose ; the third joint
always forms an elongated palette, and is longer than the preceding joint.
Dexia, Meig., has the habit of Ocyptera, with the abdomen narrow and elongated, especially in the males.
Miisca proper {Mesembrina, Meig.), has the abdomen triangular, the eyes contiguous, or very close together in
the males. Here are to be arranged the majority of the flies of which the larvae feed upon meat, carcases, &c., and
others in manure. They have all the form of soft worms ; whitish in colour ; destitute of feet ; thickened and truncate
at the posterior extremity, and pointed at the other end, where are one or two hooks, with which these larvae gnaw
their food, and of which they hasten the corruption. They undergo their changes in a very few days [in the
summer] ; the females have the extremity of the body narrowed, and elongated into a tube, to enable them to bury
their eggs. Musca vomitoria, Linn., the Common Meat Fly, with the forehead fulvous ; the thorax black, and ab-
domen blue, with black marks. It possesses a remarkably fine sense of smelling, and makes a loud buzzing noise,
when it enters our houses in order to deposit its eggs on meat. Deceived by the odour of Arum dracunculus
when in flower, it sometimes deposits its eggs in that flower ; when ready to assume the pupa state, it quits its food
and descends into the earth, or else undergoes its change in some dry and retired situation. M, domestica, Linn.,
the small Common Domestic Fly, the larva of which lives in moist manure.
Siarcophaga, Meig., differs from Musca, by the eyes being wide apart in both sexes ; the eggs in some species
are hatched within the abdomen of the parent, as is the case with ilf, carnaria, Linn, [a very abundant species],
which is larger and longer than the Meat Fly : the female deposits her young larvae upon flesh, carcases, and
sometimes in the wounds of persons.
We terminate the Creophilae by some subgenera contrasting with the preceding in the form of the head, situation
of the wings, or of their external cells.
Achias, Fabr., remarkable for the horn-like elongations of the sides of the head ; with the antennae inserted high
in the forehead.
Idia, Meig., has the front of the head produced into a beak.
The two following have the terminal cells of the wings extending to the posterior edge ; the abdomen is
flattened.
Lispe, Latr., has the body oblong ; the antennae nearly as long as the face ; and the style plumose.
Argyriiis, Latr., has the body short ; the abdomen very flat, nearly semicircular ; the head short and broad ; the
antennae very short ; with the seta elbowed.
In all the remaining Muscides, the alulets are small, or nearly obsolete ; the balancers exposed ; and
the principal nerves of the wings extending to the outer edge of the wings, which closes the posterior
cells.
A second general division of the Muscides, that of the Anthomyzides, is composed of species having
INSECTA.
634
the appearance of Common Flies ; the wings not vibratile ; the antennae inserted near the forehead,
always shorter than the head, terminated by a long or linear joint, with the seta mostly plumose ; the
legs are of moderate size, and the abdomen composed of four joints.
Anthomyia, Meig., has the seta of the antennae plumose ; the abdomen in both sexes pointed at the tip, and the '
proboscis not terminated like a hook. Musca pluvialis, Linn.
Drymeia, Meig., has the proboscis exhibiting this character, and the eyes united behind, in the males.
Ccenosia, Meig., has the abdomen of the males swollen at the tip. Tlie larvae of C.fungorum live in boleti, and
often in the edible mushroom. De Geer observed, also, that these larvae will destroy each other.
Eriphia, Meig., has the antennae shorter, with a simple style, and the eyes of the males united behind.
Our third division, Hydromyzides, has the head almost triangular, with the eyes very prominent ; a
swollen and vaulted muzzle ; a very thick proboscis ; and the sides of the face not bristly ; the antennae
are very short, with the style plumose : the legs are strong. All the indigenous species are found in
aquatic situations.
Ropalomera, Wied., has all the thighs swollen, and the face has a frontal tubercle.
Ochthera, Latr., has the thighs of the fore-legs very robust, denticulated beneath ; the tibiae curved, and applied
against the thighs, and terminated by a strong spine. In the following Hydromyzides, the thighs are not
swollen.
Ephydra, Fall., has the eyes very prominent ; the muzzle thick ; and the seta of the antennae thick at the base,
and simple.
NotipMla, Fall., has the head rounder, without a frontal muzzle.
The Muscides of the three following divisions have the body oblong ; the wings incumbent, not vi-
bratile ; the head nearly spherical, and the face covered by a white membrane, with an impressed line
on each side. The antennae are sometimes inserted in fossulae, but oftener porrected, and in many
as long or longer than the head.
The fourth division, Scatomyzides, are distinguished by the head being never longer than broad,
nearly spherical ; the hind legs not greatly elongate ; the antennae, with the third joint longer than the
preceding, and, except in Loxocera, always shorter than the head.
Some have the hind legs large, with thick compressed thighs ; and the antennae very short ; with a simple seta.
Thyreophora, Latr., has the antennae lodged beneath a frontal prominence ; and the second and followingjoints
of the tarsi nearly alike. T. eynophila, Panz., has the scutellum bispinose ; it is almost always found on the dead
carcases of dogs, and M. Percheron has assured me it is sometimes phosphorescent.
Sphcerocera, Latr. {Borborus, Meig.), has the antennae exposed, with the palette hemispherical ; the hind thighs
are compressed, with the two basal joints of the tarsi evidently larger than the following. It is almost always
about manure that these Diptera are found, and it is probably there that their larvae reside.
Sometimes the hind legs do not materially differ from the others ; the antennae are nearly as long as the face,
deflexed, and terminated by an elongated, narrow palette.
Dialyta, Meig., has the face bristly ; the abdomen 4-jointed, and the seta of the antennae simple.
Cordylura, Fall., has the face bristly ; the abdomen 5-jointed, and the wings scarcely extending beyond the
abdomen.
Scatophaga, Latr., differs from the last in having the wings longer than the abdomen, which is never clavate.
Musca stercoraria, Linn., a very common buff-coloured species, found in great numbers upon excrement, in which
the females deposit their eggs.
Loxocera, Latr., has the face not bristly ; the body long, narrow, and the antennae much longer than the head.
Chyliza, Fall., has the antennae shorter than the head, with the seta thick, like a style.
The others have the antennae always much shorter than the face, with the palette either oblong, ovoid, or
nearly globose.
Some of these have the body narrow and elongate, and the abdomen pointed or stylate ; sometimes the face
is naked.
Lissa, Meig., has the upper side of the head with an elevation, and the abdomen is almost linear.
Psilomyia, Latr. (to which Geomyza, Fall., may be added), has the body less elongate, and the abdomen ter-
minated by an articulated style.
Tetanura and Tanypeza, Meig., are allied to the preceding ; the legs in both seem longer, and the abdomen of
Tetanura is obtuse at the tip, and that of Tanypeza pointed or stylate in the females.
Lonchoptera, Meig., has the face bristly at the sides, and the basal joint of the antennae is verv slender ; the
wings have no transverse nerve, except close to the base.
The body in the other Scatomyzides is thicker and more oblong, and its fonn is more like that of the common
House-fly.
Heleomyza, Fall., has the head bristly.
Dryomyza, Fall, (with the face concave beneath the antennae), and
Sapromyza, Fall, (with it straight), differ from the following in having the antennal seta plumose.
DIPTERA. 635
The terminal Scatomyzides have the seta simple ; the antennae always short and straight ; they are small and
glabrous Flies, black, and more or less varied with bulf ; the legs strong, and the eyes large. The upper side of
the head is flat, with a brown, triangular mask, in which the ocelli are placed. They are found in flowers. Many
of their larvae mine the interior of vegetables, and some are very injurious to agriculturists, destroying various
cereal plants previous to their fructification. The larvae of Musca Frit sometimes destroy the barley crops in
Sweden, to the amount of 100,000 golden ducats in a year, being one-tenth of the produce. The larvae of Oscinis
puniilionis and lineata. Fab., are equally obnoxious. They constitute our genus
Oscinis, Latr., to which we add the genus Chlorops,
Meig., and Piophila, Fallen.
The fifth division (Dolichocera), which em-
braces the genus Teianocera, Dum., is closely allied
to the preceding, but the length of the second
joint of the antennae, which equals or surpasses
that of the third, at once distinguishes it. These
organs are porrected, as long as, or longer than,
the head, and pointed at the tip. The upper
surface of the head forms a triangle, obtuse at the tip.
Some have the antennae shorter than the head.
Otites, has the seta simple, and the lower part of the face is not produced.
Euthycera, Latr., has the seta plumose, and the lower part of the face produced into a truncated muzzle.
The others have the antennae as long as, or longer than, the head.
Fepedon, Latr., has the antennae evidently longer than the head, and the seta simple.
Tetanocera, Dum., has the antennae as long as the head, and the seta sometimes plumose.
The sixth division, Leptopodites, is remarkable for the length and slenderness of the feet, the
hind ones being at least as long again as the body, which is also slender and filiform ; all the tarsi are
short. The head is spherical or ellipsoid, and terminated in a point. The antennae are very small.
They are found on plants, and many frequent aquatic places,
Micropeza, Meig., has the head ellipsoid, terminated in a point, and the seta of the antennae simple. Calobata
filiformis, Fabr.
Calobata, Fabr., has the head spheroidal, and the seta often plumose.
Nerius, Fabr., has the habit of Micropeza, but diflers in the antennae being as long as the head.
The seventh division, Carpomyz^, has the wings vibratile, spotted with black or yellow, an appear-
ance very like that of the Domestic Flies, but with the eyes apart, and the abdomen with four or five
external segments, mostly terminated in the females by a cylindric or conie ovipositor ; the antennae
always short, with the seta rarely villose. The larvae of many species live in fruits or seeds, in the
germ of which the parent fly had deposited its eggs.
Many species approach the preceding subgenera in the narrow and elongated form of the body, and long legs,
as well as in the globular or more elongated form of the head.
Diopsis, Linn., distinct from the very elongated horns into which the sides of the head are produced, and the
scutellum with two spines. These singular exotic insects have been monographed by Dalman, [and subsequently
by me, in the Transactions of the Linncean Society}.
Cephalia, Meig., has the palette of the antennae narrow and long, and the palpi spatulate.
Sepsis, Fall., has the palette much shorter, with a naked seta, and the palpi nearly filiform. [Small, active Flies,
with wings spotted with black.]
The other Carpomyzae have the appearance of Common Flies, with the head short and hemispherical, and the
legs of moderate length.
The three following subgenera have the upper surface of the head almost horizontal, so that the antennae appear
inserted on a level with the top.
Ortalis, Fall., has the abdomen not terminated by an external ovipositor in the females. M. Fallen refers the
Musca cerasi, Linn., to this subgenus, the larva of which generally feeds inside the fruit of the cherry, quitting
the fruit and entering the earth when ready to undergo its transformations.
Tetanops, Meig., has an exserted ovipositor in the females, like a tail ; the head, seen from above, appears nearly
triangular.
Tephrites, Latr. {Trypeta, Meig.), has the abdomen similarly terminated, but the head is rather transverse than
longitudinal, and rounded. Musca Cardui, Linn., the larva of which lives in galls, on the common thistle, on
the substance of which it feeds.
Dacus, Fab., comprises those Tephrites which have the palette more elongate, including the species which
attacks the olive. The inhabitants of the Isle of France are scarcely able to obtain any sound lemons, in conse-
quence of the attacks of a species of this genus.
I'
636 INSECTA.
Platystoma, Meig., differs in having the head more compressed transversely, so that the upper surface is more •
slanting, and the antenn* appear inserted in the middle of the face. *
This naturally conducts us to Timia, Wied., and Mosillus, belonging to the next division.
The eighth division, Gymnomyzides, is composed of small Muscides, with a short body, curved,
nearly glabrous, of a shining black colour, the head much compressed transversely, as in Platystoma,
without any inferior prominence ; the scutellum advanced ; the abdomen short, depressed, and some-
times terminated by a small point, and the legs nearly glabrous.
Celyphus, Dalm. (having the scutellum extended over the body), and
Lauxania, Latr. (with the scutellum of ordinary size and the seta plumose), have the antennae longer than the
head. The others have them shorter. 1
In some of these they are very short and wide apart, and lodged in impressed fossulae, the space between them :
being elevated. \
Mosilhis, Latr., has the first cell of the posterior edge of the wings almost closed ; Meigen divides them into two |
subgenera, — Timia, with the abdomen 6-jointed, and Ulidia, with it 5-jointed. "
Homalura, Meig., with the abdomen 5-jointed, and ;
Act(M'a, Meig., with it 6-jointed, have the first cells of the posterior limb of the wings entirely open and ;
longitudinal.
In others the antennae are nearly contiguous, and the cells of the posterior edge of the wing are always open. j
Gymnomyza, Fall., has the antennae inserted beneath a sort of arch, and near the middle of the face.
Lonchcea, Meig., has them inserted higher, without any appearance of an arch. j
The second section of the Muscides, and which forms our ninth and last sub-tribe, the Hypocera, !
consists of a single subgenus, distinct from all the preceding in many respects. The palpi are always <
external ; the antennae inserted near the oral cavity, very short, terminated by a large globular joint,
with a very long seta ; the wings have only three oblique discoidal nerves, whence the name Trinmra
given to them by Meigen ; the legs are very short and spiny, with the thighs large and compressed,
especially in the hind legs. They are extremely active, and form the genus Phora, Latr. ; Tri-
neura, Meig.
Our second general section of the Dipterous insects differs from the preceding in the
mouth, antennae, and transformations, and other less important characters ; whence Dr. Leach
was induced to form them into a distinct order, Omaloptera. Those which terminate this
section have a certain relation with the hexapod wingless insects, composing our order of
Parasites, or the genus Pediculus of Linnaeus. I
This section forms |
THE SIXTH FAMILY OF THE DIPTERA,— j
The Pupipara (or the Nymphipara of Reaumur). J
The head of these insects, seen from above, is divided into tw o principal portions, the posterior
being the principal, supporting the eyes and receiving the anterior part in an emargination in front.
This is also divided into two parts, the posterior being the largest, and supporting the antennae at its
sides ; and the other constitutes the mouth organs. The inferior and oral cavity of the head is occu- Ij
pied merely by membrane, out of the extremity of which the sucker protrudes, arising from a small ■
bulb, or advanced peduncle, composed of two setae close together, and covered by two coriaceous, !
narrow, elongate and villose plates, which act as sheaths. Whether these valves represent, as I pre- j
sume, the palpi of other Diptera, or whether they are pieces of a sheath properly so called, as regarded
by M. Dufour, who has discovered two small bodies, which he takes for palpi ; it is not less certain ^
that the proboscis of these insects differs materially from that of the preceding Diptera, and that the j
proboscis has in this case more resemblance to that of the Fleas, from which it is, however, removed !
by the absence of articulations. In Melophagus the base of the plates of the sucker is covered by two ■
small, coriaceous, triangular pieces, united, and forming a kind of labrum ; they seem to represent, in a
small degree, the two pieces which cover the base of the rostrum of the Flea.
The body is short, broad, flat, and defended by a solid or leathery-like skin. The head is more i
intimately united to the thorax than in the preceding families. The antennae, always situated at the ^
lateral and anterior extremity of the head, appear either under the form of a tubercle bearing three
setae, or that of small hairy plates. The size of the eyes varies, being very small in some species. In
DIPTERA.
637
general the piipiparae are destitute of ocelli ; the thorax is furnished with four spiracles, two anterior
and two posterior ; the latter pair, overlooked by Dufour, are situated, as in other Diptera, near the
base of the balancers. The abdomen of H. ovina is furnished with ten spiracles, in the shape of
small, round, corneous tubercles, the four posterior being close to the anus. The wings are always
apart, and accompanied by balancers ; their [fore-edge] is more or less margined with setae ; the supe-
rior nerves, which are nearest it, are strong and well defined ; but those which extend to the hinder
edge are weak, and not transversely united. In the terminal Diptera of this family these organs
are wanting, or simply rudimental ; the balancers are also obsolete. The legs are terminated by two
robust claws, which have one or two teeth on the under side, which makes their appearance double
or triple. The covering of the abdomen is continuous, so that this part of the body can be distended,
and acquire a considerable volume, as becomes necessary in the body of the female Hippobosca, for
their larvae are hatched and are nourished therein until the period of their transformation into pupae.
They are then discharged under the form of a soft, white egg, nearly as large as the abdomen of the
female ; the skin hardens, and becomes a solid cocoon, brown at first, but subsequently black ; round,
and often notched at one end, exhibiting a shiny plate or operculum, which becomes detached like a
cap at the period of the final transformation. This cocoon has neither rings nor transverse incisions
by which it is distinguished from those of other Diptera, especially the Athericera, which it most
resembles. It is in the fine works of Reaumur, De Geer, Leon Dufour [and Lyonnet], illustrated as
i: they are by figures in detail, that we must look for a complete account of these transformations, and
I of the changes which take place in the female at the period of her delivery. According to L. Dufour,
i the ovaries in their configuration and position singularly resemble those of the human female. The
[: matrix, at first small, becomes enormously dilated, until it occupies the w'hole of the abdominal cavity.
These Diptera are known under the name of Spider-flies, and live almost exclusively upon some
quadrupeds and birds. They run very quickly, and fly sideways.
Some, or the Coriacea, Latr., have the head distinct, and articulated with the anterior extremity of
the thorax. They form the genus
Hippobosca, Linnaeus.
Hippobosca proper, has wings, distinct eyes, and antennae in the shape of tubercles, with three setae on their
upper side. H. equina, Linn., the Horse- or Forest-fly, a species common in some places on Horses, which it
infests, especially fixing itself in great numbers beneath the tail.
Ornithomyia, Latr., has the antennae in the shape of villose plates, and the nerves of the wings extending to
the hind edge.
These insects form, in the monograph of Leach, four genera.
Feronia (,Nirmomyia, Nitzsch.), distinct by the antennae-like tubercles, and the claws of the tarsi double, and
not treble.
Ornithomyia, with ocelli and tridentate claws, plate-like antennae, and wings of large size, and rounded.
Stenepteryx, similar to Feronia, but with very long acute wings.
Oxypterum, with acute wings, but with the antennae in the form of teeth, eyes small, ocelli wanting. They live
on various species of Birds. Hippobosca avicularia, Linn.
Strebla, Wied., has the wings incumbent on the body, with longitudinal nervures united by some transverse
nervures. The eyes are very small, and situated at the posterior angles of the head. Found on a South American
species of Bat.
Melophagus, Latr. (Melopkila, Nitzsch.), destitute of wings, and with the eyes scarcely distinct. Hippobosca
ovina, [the common Sheep-tick].
A species of Melophagus, which lives on the Stag, exhibiting rudiments of wings, and with the thorax a little
larger than the head, forms the subgenus Lipoptena, Nitzsch. Near Melophagus ought also to come the genus
Braula, Nitzsch., of which the only known species lives on the Honey-bee, and is absolutely blind. Its thorax
is divided into two transverse parts, and the last joint of the tarsi is furnished with a row of small bristles.
Reaumur had long ago figured this, or a closely-allied animal.
The. other Pupiparae, PhthiromyicE, Latr., have the head very small, or almost obsolete, forming near
the anterior and dorsal extremity of the thorax a small body, which is elevated vertically. They
compose the genus
Nycteribia, Latr. {Phthiridium, Hermann), —
And have neither wings nor balancers, and more nearly resemble Spiders than Hippoboscse. They live on Bats.
Linnaeus places the only species with which he was acquainted with the Pediculi. See the article Nycteribia, in
the Encyclopedic Methodique, and in the Nouv. Dictionn. d'Hist. Naturelle, [and also my memoir in the Transac-
tions of the Zoological Society of London, in which I have described numerous species].
638
FOURTH GREAT DIVISION OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
\
THE RADIATA (Radiated Animals, or Zoophytes).
[Neither of these names is literally applicable, for all the animals in the division are
not radiated ; and the very name Zoophyte, “ plant-animal,” is a contradiction. In
England, the term Zoophyte is much more restricted than in France, but it is equally
inapplicable, excepting, perhaps, to those species, about which there are still disputes
as to whether they are animals or vegetables.]
These animals have no mesial plane, but may be variously divided into symmetrical
parts, radiating from one or more axes. Their organs of motion, when they have any,
are moveable spines attached to the skin, or flexible papillae, capable of inflation. They
have no true system of circulation, and their nervous system is always obscure, and
sometimes cannot be traced. Some have a mouth and vent, others only one opening,
and others, ugain, appear to be nourished through pores. Some are of distinct sexes ;
some bisexual, and some are produced by buds or division. [Some very minute ones,
as Volvox, consist of a globular tunic inclosing a vast number of smaller globes, each
of which is also a tunic inclosing another generation.] Many grow in clusters upon
stalks, or Polypidoms — dwellings of polypi, which are sometimes leathery or horny, and
sometimes calcareous. [The individuals produce the polypidoms, and are connected
with it ; and when they are alive, it is probably always covered with an epidermis.]
According as their organization is more or less complicated, they are divided into five
classes : —
1. Echinodermata [Spiny Skins], have, besides these, the intestine and organs of
respiration, reproduction, and partial circulation, floating in a large cavity. The Ho-
lothurice are united to them ; because, although they have no spines on the skin,
the internal structure is even more complicated.
2. Entozoa [Intestinal Worms], inhabit the viscera of other animals. They are
long and flattened ; have no visible organs of circulation or respiration ; and some have
a distinct alimentary canal, while others have not. [A species which infests the intes-
tines of the Eel was, for a long time, regarded as the young of that animal.]
3. Acalepha [Sea Nettles], are round and radiated, with only one opening to the
body, and no organs of respiration or circulation. They approach the Polypi, only
their organic tissues are more developed.
4. Polypi [Many Tentacula, once consideredas plants] . These are gelatinous animals,
with a mouth and digestive organs more or less complicated. Many of them live in
clusters upon branched or expanded polypidoms, which made them be considered as
animal plants. [Individually they are minute, and some of them microscopic ; but still
they fabricate vast reefs of hard rock, consisting of salts of lime cemented by animal
PEDICELLATA.
639
matter. The Thethya and Sponges have been joined to this class, though their
I animals have not yet been observed.
5, Infusoria [Animalculse] , the most minute members of the Animal Kingdom, and
for the most part microscopic. Some have a very complicated organization, and some
appear to be mere particles of animated jelly. [They exist in countless myriads,
principally in stagnant water, and some are so tenacious of life, that, after having
been for some time dried to powder, they revive again when moistened.]
THE FIRST CLASS OF THE RADIATA.
THE ECHINODEEMATA.
These have a well- organised skin ; sometimes a sort of skeleton ; a digestive and a
vascular system ; and a sort of radiating nerves. There are two orders : those with
feet, or vesicular appendages answering the same purpose, and those without.
THE FIRST ORDER OF THE ECHINODERMATA,
PEDICELLATA.
These have the skin pierced with numerous small holes, through which protrude cylindric
tentacula, terminating in suckers. These are extended or retracted by a humour distinct from
that of the intestines, discernible in some of the species, and answer the purpose of feet, by
which they perform their locomotion, or adhere to the rocks. Vessels from these continue to
unite in a trunk for each row, which trunk terminates near the mouth. The order consists of
three very natural families.
THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE PEDICELLATA,—
The Asterias [Star-fish], —
So called, because the body is generally in the form of a star with five rays. Some, however, as
A. discoidea, have the body a pentagon, with straight sides ; others, as A. membranacea, have a re-
entering angle in each side ; and others, again, as A. tesselata, have the sides concave.
The frame-work of the body is composed of horny pieces, variously arranged. In those which have
distinct rays, there is a longitudinal groove in the upper surface of each
ray, perforated on both sides, for allowing the action of the feet ; and
all the surface is covered with pores leading to small tubes which admit
water, probably for the purpose of respiration. On the central disc, but
toward one side of it, there is a stony plate, and below it a canal filled
with calcareous matter ; and it is probable that this is the apparatus by
which the hard matter of the body is elaborated. There is a sort of verte-
brated osseous column in each ray ; and some of the species have osseous
plates, and spines on the sides of the rays. Internally, they have one
stomach, with two branched coeca extending to each ray; each ray,
also, contains two ovaries, and it is understood that they propagate by self-impregnation. The rays
are easily reproduced, for the central disc and one ray will reproduce all the others. The mouth, which
is the only opening to the alimentary organs, is on the under side of the central disc. According to
Tiedemann, the principal nerve surrounds the mouth, and sends off a filament to each arm. Such are
Fig:. 13S. — Asterias.
ECHINODERMATA.
640
the general characters of the genus Asterias, the Star-fish, properly so called ; and, in proportion as
they deviate from the Five-rayed Star, their cceca and ovaries are more numerous.
A. ruhens, is very common in the European seas. A. glacialis, is much larger, often a foot in diameter; and
it has tufts of fleshy tubes round the bases of the spines on the body. A. aurantia, is still larger, and has the
edges of the rays paved with osseous plates, bearing strong and moveable spines. Some, as A. paposa, have
more than five rays. Some have the rays solid, and without the groove, and they are called OpMurce, because
their rays have some resemblance to the tails of Serpents. These move by flexures of the rays, which have spines
on the sides in some, and are covered with imbricated scales in others. In them the pores are between the bases
of the rays. The only feet which these have are in fine short grooves round the mouth. By some authors they
have been made a separate genus. Some have the rays branched, and of them some have the division near the
end of the rays, and seldom repeated; but in others it begins at the base, and each divti^on is branched again
and again, till the whole resembles a bunch of Serpents’ tails ; each branching is into so many lateral parts : there
are two points at the base of each ray. Those branched ones have been called Gorgonocephalce, or Medusa’s
Heads.
Alecto, or Comatula, have five large articulated rays proceeding from a stony plate on the upper part of the
disc ; their rays are often divided into two or three branches, and both rays and disc are furnished with articu-
lated threads. The cavity of the body has a star-shaped mouth, and a tubular opening, both on the under side.
Encrinus [the Encrinites], —
Resemble the last, but have the plate on the disc prolonged to a stem of many articulations. They are named
from the form of the stem, and the number of rays. Pentacrinus europceus, is the only species in the European
seas ; but there are others in the tropical oceans. In a fossil state they are exceedingly numerous, and varied in
their appearance. The fossil Entrochites are portions of the stems or branches of Encrinites.
THE SECOND FAMILY OF THE PEDICELLATA.
The Echinus [Sea Hedge-hogs, or Sea Eggs],
These have the body covered with a crust of calcareous matter, in segments nicely adapted to each
other, and perforated by regular rows of holes for the membranous feet. The crust is also pierced by
a number of smaller holes with four membranous tubes, which seem to be the breathing apparatus ;
and where not perforated, the crust is armed with broad spines, articulated upon tubercles, and move-
able. The mouth is furnished with five flat, calcareous teeth, in a very complicated apparatus, and
having strong muscles ; and, as these wear away at their cutting edges, they extend by growth at the
opposite extremity. The intestine is long, and attached spirally to the interior of the crust. The five
ovaries, which are edible, are arranged round the vent, in the separate openings. Their motions
are slow ; and they feed upon the smaller shelled Mollusca and Crustacea, which they seize with their
membranous feet. Great numbers of them, including many not now found alive, are met with in a
fossil state, especially in the chalk, where they are usually filled with flint earth, the same as the i
sponges.
They are either regular or irregular, — the regular ones having the mouth in the middle of the under
side, and the vent opposite ; and the others are irregular in proportion as they deviate from this
character.
Echinus, properly so called. — Figure generally an oblate spheroid, with two bands of apertures, dividing the i
surface from the mouth to the vent into segments, resembling those formed by the meridians on a globe. Some I
have the spines stout, with smaller ones at the base, and others have them slender. Among the latter, is E. escu-
lentus, found in the European seas. It is about the size of an ordinary apple, closely set with short spines, gene-
rally of a violet colour. The ovaries are of the same colour ; and in the spring months they are edible, and have
a very agreeable flavour.
They vary in shape, and in the number and arrangement, and also the form of the spines. Some are depressed,
some compressed, some have the spines unequal, and one species, E. atratus, has the spines unequal and trun- j!
cated, resembling small paving-stones. |
None of the irregular ones have the two apertures of the body opposite to each other in the middle j
of the under and upper sides. The spines upon them are straight and slender ; and the chief distinc- |
tions are the number, arrangement, and extent of the holes for the feet.
Chironeus, have the general form of the last, but the mouth and vent are both on the under side. *
Nucleolites, have the vent above, but near the margin. i
Galerites, have a flat base, and a conoidal body, with the mantle in the centre of the disc, and the vent near its
margin. |ji
Scutella, have the openings as in the last, but the form of the body much depressed, and disc-like. Some have |
no openings to the crust but the pores, and in others again these seem to be obliterated, or at all events do not '
PEDICELLATA. 641
penetrate into the cavity. Rotula has one of the margins toothed like a wheel ; and some have large pores, and
some not.
Cassidulus, are oval, with the vent above the margin on one side, and the lines of pores incomplete. They are
distinguished by the number and extent of the lines of pores, Avhich in some species form only a rosette on
j the back.
Clypeaster, have the vent near the margin, the body depressed, the base concave, and the outline sometimes
angular and sometimes round.
j Fibularia, small in size, mostly globular, with the openings on the under side, and a rosette of pores above.
Spatangus, have the openings below, and the rosette on the back. Some have the outline round or oval, and
j sometimes with a deep groove on one side, making the section heart-shaped.
- Of the last, two specimens are found in the European seas ; and the last, especially, has branched tentacula
surrounding the mouth, in which character it bears some resemblance to Holothuria. The other irregular ones
are chiefly fossil, and abound in various marine strata, especially in the chalk formation.
! THE THIRD FAMILY OF THE PEDICELLATA.
The FIolothuria (Sea-slug).
' These have the body oblong, with a leather-like covering, and an aperture at each end. The mouth
j is without teeth, or has only bony plates instead ; but it is surrounded by curiously-branched tenta-
' cula, which the animal can, at pleasure, retract entirely ; and it is also furnished with sacs for the
secretion of saliva. The reproductive organs are also situated near the mouth, composed of a number
of ramified culs-de-sac, all opening into one oviduct. The impregnating parts are understood to be
!i some very elastic chords near the other extremity of the animal ; thus each individual is bisexual.
; The intestine is long, convoluted, and fixed to the covering of the body by a kind of mesentery,
i! Along the intestine there is also a double system of complicated vessels, which appear to be the organs
' of circulation. The opposite extremity is not less curious ; for, besides the vent, it contains the respi-
I; ratory organ, or gill, which is in the shape of a hollow tree very much branched, and the animal can
i receive or expel water by means of this apparatus, which possibly thus assists it in its locomotion, as
well as supplies air from the inhaled water. In the breeding season the ovaries become very much
extended, and contain a reddish matter, which is understood to be the spawn, or eggs. These animals
jj are exceedingly sensitive, as is the case with the Leeches among Annelida: ; and when disturbed, they
I sometimes contract so violently that the integuments are ruptured, and the intestines protrude. The
subdivisions are made according to the arrangement of the feet.
( Thus, in some, as in H. phantapus, which inhabits the European seas, and has the body almost scaly, all the feet
i are on a soft disc in the middle of the body ; and when they crawl, the extremities are turned up. When extended,
the tentacula of these are very large.
Some, as H. squamata, a small species of the European seas, — but there are much larger ones in hot climates, —
have all the under surface soft, with numerous feet ; and the upper surface convex, sometimes supported by bony
plates, and the opening of the mouth in the form of a star.
In others, again, the body is cartilaginous, flattened horizontally, and sharp at the edges, with the mouth and
feet on the inferior surface. Of these, H. regalis, found in the Mediterranean, is more than a foot long, three or
four inches broad, and crenulated at the edges.
Others still, have the body cylindrical, and capable of being inflated with water. All the Under side is furnished
with feet, and the remaining parts roughened in various ways. H. tremula, common in the European seas, the
Mediterranean especially, is an instance of this peculiarity of form. It is of a black colour ; more than afoot
long when inflated with water ; has the back bristled with soft conical points, and the mouth furnished with twenty
branched tentacula.
Yet, in others, the feet are arranged in five rows, like the ridges on a melon, of which the European species,
; H. penacta, is more than a foot long, and of a brown colour.
There ax’e also some, as H. papillosa^ which have the body equally furnished with feet round its whole surface.
[The Holothuria of the European seas, even of the Mediterranean, are not very numerous, neither
are they brilliant in colours ; but in more tropical seas, where coral reefs rise within a moderate distance
of the surface, as in the Red Sea, and the seas to the north and east of Australia, they are exceedingly
I numerous, and many of them splendidly coloured ; so that, together with other Radiata of this and of
I other orders, they make the sea-bottom, when seen by the light of an almost vertical sun, as gay as a
i tropical garden. The Holothuriae resemble cucumbers ; and various Actiniae, when their tentacula are
expanded, have as gay an appearance as the flowers of almost any plants. Many of this species are
esculent, and of a very gelatinous nature. When properly prepared, the Chinese are exceedingly fond
I T T
642
ECHINODERMATA.
of them as a principal ingredient in restorative soups. The Malays cateli and dry them in great quan-
tities for the Chinese markets, where they fetch a high price, and are called tre-pang.']
THE SECOND ORDER OF THE ECHINODERMATA.
APODA.
The number of known species in this order is but few. They resemble Holotburise, but want
the feet ; and their leather-like skin is quite unarmed.
Molpadia, —
Have the form of the body and the internal structure similar to those of Holothuria, but they have no
feet or tentacula, and the bony parts of the mouth are less complicated than in the Echini.
M. holothurioides, of the Atlantic ocean, was the only species known to Cuvier.
Minyas, —
Have the body without feet, but of a spheroidal form, and furrowed like a melon.
M, cyanea, is a beautiful species, of a dark blue colour, inhabiting the warmer parts of the Atlantic ; the mouth
in this genus has neither tentacula nor bony plates.
Priapulus, — ,
Have the body eylindrical, with deep annular rugte, and terminated anteriorly by an elliptical and longi-
tudinally wrinkled mass, in the centre of which is the mouth, with numerous teeth arranged in quin-
eunx, and having the points turned backwards. The muscular system resembles that of Holothuria.
P. vulgaris, the only known species, inhabits the northern seas, and is from two to three inches in length.
Lithodermis, —
Have the body oval, compressed in the hinder part, and covered above with an extremely hard granu-
lated erust ; the mouth has tentaeula, but Cuvier diseovered no seeond opening to the body.
Only one species, L. cuneus, from the Indian seas, about two inches long, and of a blackish colour, was known |
to Cuvier. •
SiPHUNCULUS, )
Have the body long and cylindrical, and wrinkled both longitudinally and across ; the mouth is an
— extensile and retraetile proboseis ; the intestine straight for nearly
the whole length of the body, and then returning in a spiral upon j
itself. In these, and indeed in most of the order, there are threads
^whieh appear to be nerves, and in this genus the breathing apparatus \
Fig. 139.— siphuncuius. sides, and open near the vent.
There are a good many species, most of which live in the sand, though some small ones perforate submarine ;
rocks, and lodge in the cavities. S. edulis, which is eaten by the Chinese in the Oriental islands, occurs also in |
the salt lakes of Languedoc. They are used by the fishermen as bait. Some Indian species are nearly two feet
long. They used to be classed with worms, but their organization is quite different.
Bonellia, —
Have the body oval ; the proboscis very extensile, and forked at the extremity : their intestinal canal
is long and convoluted. What appear to be the organs of respiration are situated near the vent ; and
the ovary is an oblong sac which opens near the base of the proboscis. They inhabit the sand at a , I
considerable depth, and can elevate their proboscis to the water, or even to the air, where the water is
very shallow.
B. viridis, of a green colour, and is found in the Mediterranean.
Thalassema, I
Have the body oval or oblong, and the proboscis in the form of laminae, resembling the bowl of a spoon,
but not forked. The intestinal canal resembles that of the preceding genus, but they have only one
abdominal thread. j
They are distinguished into Thalassema proper, which have two lateral hooks placed considerably in advance.
APODA.
G43
and no thread-like appendag-es at the posterior extremity, of which T. Neptuni is an example ; and Echiurus, which
have bristly hairs at the posterior extremity. They inhabit the sands, and are much sought after by fishermen
as bait. Sternaspis, has bristles as in the last, and a disc of a horny texture, and surrounded with hairs on the
anterior part of the body. The habits of all these are very much the same.
THE SECOND CLASS OF THE RADIATA.
THE ENTOZOA, or Intestinal Worms.
'i'his class is remarkable for by far the greater number being inhabitants of the
internal parts of other animals, in which alone they can continue their species, — so
that it must be regarded as their natural habitat ; and they must have a use in the
economy of nature with which we are quite unacquainted. There is scarcely one
animal, especially of the vertebrated classes, which is not infested by several kinds ; and
those which inhabit one animal, are rarely found in one of another genus. They are
met with most abundantly in the alimentary canal, and the ducts which empty their
contents into it ; but they occur also in the cellular tissue, and in the parenchyma of
the most closely invested viscera, such as the liver and the brain. They are most fre-
quent in diseased states of the viscera, and they themselves occasion disease, or, at all
events, annoyance ; but they occur even in healthy states. The difficulty of con-
ceiving how they could get into places so obscure, and apparently so well protected,
and the fact of their never having been found alive except in the interior of living
animals, caused it for a long time to be believed that they were products of spon-
taneous generation. It has been found, however, by actual observation, that most of
them either produce ova or living young ones, and that many of them have the sexes
in different individuals. Though some of them attain a very large size, we must sup-
pose that the germs are exceedingly minute, and capable of being transmitted through
capillary vessels, and apertures too small for being discerned by the naked eye ; and,
from the early age at which they are found in some animals, there is reason to con-
clude that the germs have been in these anterior to their birth, [though how trans-
mitted through the placental decidua is, and probably must remain, an unexplained
and unexplainable mystery. As is the case with all mysteries, the Intestinal Worms,
more especially those which inhabit the human viscera, have led to a great deal of
mystification and quackery, and nostrums innumerable are recommended to the public ;
nor are there wanting fabricated imitations of some of the more formidable species,
usually prepared from the intestines of other animals.]
The Entozoa are true parasites, and cannot assimilate matter for their own growth
and nourishment unless they receive it from the body of a living animal. They have
no vestige of breathing apparatus, which shows that they must receive their nourish-
ment aerated by the breathing of the animals upon which they are parasitic. This
supersedes all necessity of a circulating system ; and the traces of a nervous one are
so very obscure that many naturalists have doubted its existence. When we find
the character and the form of these animals in any species, we include it along with
those which it most resembles, though it should not be parasitical within the body of
any other animal. The injury which these Intestinal Worms occasion to the animals
T T 2
ENTOZOA.
644
upon which they live, when their numbers become excessive, are well known ; and we
may mention, that the best remedy for those infesting the human intestines, appears
to be animal oil mixed with spirits of turpentine,
j The class admits of division into two orders, of which the organization is so dif-
ferent that they might, perhaps, be considered as two distinct classes ; or, at all events,
subclasses. These are, — Entozoa Nematoidea, or Cavitied Entozoa, which have the
j intestine floating in a distinct abdominal cavity, and commencing at a mouth and ter-
minating at a vent ; and Entozoa Paeenchymata, which have the viscera obscure,
generally in the form of vascular ramifications, and sometimes not at all discernible.
THE FIRST ORDER OF THE ENTOZOA.
NEMATOIDEA. .
The members of this order have an external skin, more or less provided with muscular
fibres, and striated transversely. They have an intestinal canal running distinctly through
the whole length, and attached to the skin or tunic of the body by many filaments, which
appear to transmit nourishment. There is no circulation ; but, in some species, there are
two cords extending from a ring round the mouth, which are understood to be nerves. Re-
productive organs are apparent in all, and in some they are
greatly developed ; nor is the reproductive energy of the ;
animals under circumstances favourable to its developement ' ■
Fig;. 140.— Pentastoma teenoides. less activc than the Organs would indicate. This order forms
only one family, but contains several genera.
Filar: A (Thread-worm), — j
Has the body long, slender, and thread-like, resembling that of the Gordii among Annelidse, but i
with mere marks on the body instead of the rings. The mouth is a circular opening at the anterior
extremity. They are not found in the open cavities, but are imbedded in the parenchyma of the
cellular tissues, between the coats of the viscera, and in other situations : they often exist in numerous j
bundles, contained in a common cyst or tunic. They are not confined to the larger animals, but are |
found in insects and their larvae, and even in various Mollusca. i
The most common, or at all events the most dreaded by Man, is the Guinea Worm, F. Medinensis, This trou- ;
blesome animal is very common in hot climates, where it insinuates itself under the skin, generally of the leg, and
is said to gnaw to the length of ten feet, or more. According to the accounts it will, if undisturbed, remain in the 1
body for a long time without causing much uneasiness ; but, if it is disturbed, it is said to cause the most excru- i
ciating pain, especially if it finds its way to a very sensitive part of the body. When it shows itself externally, it is ,
extracted very slowly for fear of breaking it, as, if that takes place, its position in the body retreats more inwardly,
and causes great agony and convulsions. It is about the size of the tube of a Pigeon’s quill, and has the tail ter-
minated by a sharp trunk. The sexes are in separate animals, but the mode of propagation is a little obscure. j
Trichocephalus, — i
Have the body round, thread-like in the anterior part, and terminating in a round mouth; and the
i posterior part of the body is considerably thicker. ,
! T. dispar, is the most common species. It is from an inch to two inches in length, and thick for about the last
I third. The thick part of the male is spirally convoluted, and the organ of generation is conspicuous. In the
female it is more straight, and has a simple opening. It is one of the worms of most frequent occurrence in the
human intestines ; and, in some diseases, it multiplies very rapidly. ]
Trichostoma, have the anterior part of the body tapering gradually to the mouth ; and Oryuris, has the tail ^
slender and thread-like. One species of the latter, 0. curvata, from an inch to three inches long, is found in the |
coecum of the Horse.
Cncullanus, has the body cylindrical, but thinner in the anterior portion. Tlie head is blunt, and enveloped in
a sort of hood. This genus has hitherto been found in the intestines of Fishes only. One species, C. lacustris, is ,
common in the Perch, the Pike, and other Fishes. It is about an inch long, about the thickness of a thread, and
NEMATOIDEA. 645
appears red from the blood with which the intestine is usually gorged. An analogous species, found on the Eel,
was long mistaken for the young of that animal.
Ophiostomus, have the body formed as in the preceding, but the mouth cleft across, which gives the appeax’ance
of two lips. O. cystidicola, is found in the air-bladder of some Fishes.
Ascaris (the Ascarides), —
Have the body round, and slender toward each extremity. The mouth is furnished with three fleshy
tubercles, among which there is a short tube, which the animal can protrude as occasion requires.
The species are numerous, and inhabit the intestines of many animals. The females, which are far more
numerous than the males, have the intestinal canal straight, and an ovary divided into two branches, which is
several times longer than the body, and opens by a single oviduct at about one-fourth of the length from the
anterior extremity. The males have also a single vessel, very long, and with the external organ, which is near
the tail, sometimes double. Two white filaments, one extending along the back, and another along the belly,
have been considered as nerves ; and two thicker ones, extending along the right and left sides, have been con-
sidered as muscles, as a circulating system, and even as a breathing apparatus. Some species, as A.lumbricdides,
have the head without lateral membranes. This species is found, without any remarkable difference, in Man, in
the Ox, the Hog, and all the varieties of the Horse family ; it has sometimes occurred fifteen inches in length. It
is naturally of a white colour ; and, from what has been said of its reproductive organs, its power of multiplication
is excessive. It occasions disease, and even death, especially in children, or in all cases where it ascends from
the intestines into the stomach. A. vermicularis, which has a small membrane on each side of the head, is very
common in children, and also in adults, when afflicted with certain diseases. It chiefly inhabits the rectum, at
the extremity of which it causes intolerable itching. Its length is not more than half an inch, and its body is
thickest in the anterior part. It is an exceedingly active little animal, and derives its name from the Greek verb,
“ to leap, or move.”
Strongylus,—
Have the body round, and the vent of the male inclosed in a sort of purse variously formed, which is
regarded as the sheath of the organ of generation, which can be protruded from it. The female is
Muthout this apparatus, and thus more nearly resembles the Ascarides.
Some species have the mouth ciliated, or toothed, among which is S. equinus, which is about two inches long,
with a hard spherical head, small soft spines round the mouth, and three lobes in the caudal appendage. It is
very common in the intestines of the Horse ; and, so far as is known, in those of all the solipede family of pa-
chydermatous animals. Sometimes it makes its way to the arteries, and there occasions aneurisms, and other
unpleasant diseases.
Other species have the mouth with tubercles, or papillae, and among these one of the most remarkable is
S. gigas, the largest worm which is known to inhabit the intestines of any animal. It grows to the length of two
or three feet, and is as thick as the little finger. It is usually found in the kidneys of various animals, as the
Wolf, the Dog, the Marten, and even Man ; where it is coiled up, and inflates the organ, causing great pain.
Sometimes small ones pass off" with the urinary discharge. It is not, however, confined to the kidneys, but is
met with in other viscera. Its usual colour is a fine red ; the mouth has six papillae ; the intestine is straight,
with cross furrows ; the ovary is simple, and three or four times the length of the body. It is understood to have
a posterior opening, and also one near the mouth. M. Otto has considered a slender white thread, which passes
along the abdomen, as being the nervous system.
Spiropterus, have been separated from the Ascarides. They have the termination of the body spiral, with two
wing-like membranes, between which is the reproductive organ. One species is occasionally found in the human
bladder, and another in the stomach of the Mole,— to the villous coat of which it attaches itself by a small tubercle.
Pkgsoloptera, has a small bladder between the wing-like membranes. Sclerottoma, has the mouth furnished
with six small scaly plates. It is found in the Horse and the Hog, Liorhynchus, has the mouth in the form of a
small proboscis, with which it penetrates the cavity of the viscera.
Pentastoma, have the body flattened, and sharp in the sides, and the transverse rugse crenulated. The skin is
thin and weak ; the head broad and flat, with the mouth beneath, and a longitudinal slit on each side, from which
issue the hooks whereby the animal adheres. The intestine is straight, and the reproductive organs long and
tortuous. A white filament surrounding the mouth, and two filaments which proceed from it, appear to be the
nervous system. One species, P. tcenio'ides, occurs in the frontal sinuses of the Horse and Dog, and attains a
length of about six inches. Prionoderma, resemble the former, only the mouth is terminal, and has two
small hooks.
Cuvier includes the following genera of intestinal worms in this order, but gives it as his opinion that,
when they are better known, they will require subdivision as a distinct family.
Lern,®a, —
Have the body resembling the former both in its external and its internal organisation ; but it is pro-
longed into a sort of neck of a horny consistency, at the end of which is the mouth, variously armed
with plate-like appendages. It insinuates the mouth and these appendages into the gills of fishes.
ENTOZOA.
6-16
remains fixed there, and lives upon their blood. They contain two cords, sometimes of equal length
and at others long, and even doubled, which appear to be ovaries.
Lerneea, properly so called, have the body oblong- ; the neck long- and slender, and the head surrounded by a sort
of horns. L. branchialis, is the best known ; it infests the common Cod, and other fishes of the same family.
Its neck and head, the latter furnished with three hooks, are dark brown. It fixes itself firmly in the gills, and
adheres with the body bent in the form of the letter S. L. acularis, which is more slender, and has two long and
two short horns, attaches itself to the eyes of Herrings and other fishes. L. multicornis has been found on the
gills of a Serranus in the eastern seas.
Penella, have the head inflated ; the neck horny, with two short hooks on the nape ; the body long, furrowed
across, and ending in slender filaments resembling the plume of a feather. P. filosa, which is seven or eight
j inches long, insinuates itself into the flesh of the Sword-fish, the Tunny, and other species, and causes them such
j torment that they often dash themselves on the shore.
Splir/rion, have hooks at the mouth ; the head extended longitudinally like a hammer ; the neck slender ; and
I the body flattened and heart-shaped.
Anchorilla, attaches itself to the gills of fish by means of a single hook on the under part, which is directed
backwards.
Branchiella, has two protuberances supporting the hook, by which it attaches itself. [One species, B. Salmonia,
infests Salmon, while they are in the sea, but drops oft’ after they come into the fresh water.]
Clavella, attach themselves by the mouth only ; and Cuvier was of opinion that these two groups may be united
with the Lerneomyzce, or Sucking Lernaea, of De Blainville.
Cliondr acanthus, besides the hooks at the mouth, have the edges of the body variously notched, or toothed :
some have a sort of two arms on each side ; some have many branched ones ; and others have a slender neck, and
deep notches in the sides of the body.
Nemertus, which may one day require to be made a separate order, are very soft-mouthed, slender, and long,
with the anterior extremity blunt, and the mouth large. The intestine extends the whole length of the body, and
i is accompanied by the ovaries, which open near the mouth. One species, N. Barlasii, is more than four feet long;
j it lurks in the sand, and sucks various Mollusca out of their shells. It occurs on the coast of Cornwall.
I Tubularia and Cerchrotula, of Renieri, and OpMocephalus of Quoy and Gaymard, appear to be analogous ; but
! little concerning them is known.
THE SECOND ORDER OF THE ENTOZOA.
PARENCHYMATA.
This order includes all these Entozoa which have the body filled with a parenchyma, or
pulpy matter, either in a cellular tissue, or simply in the cavity, in which there is no alimentary
apparatus to be discovered, except a few canals, which carry nourishment to all the parts, and
which, in the majority of cases, originate in external suckers. The ovaries are also imbedded
in the parenchyma ; there is no abdominal cavity, no intestine, and no vent ; and the signs of
a nervous system are few and doubtful. The order admits of division into four families.
THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE PARENCHYMATA.
The Acanthocephala.
These have a prominence, which appears to act as a sort of proboscis, and they attach themselves to
the coats of the intestines by means of the recurved spines with which the proboscis is beset. They form
but one genus,
Echinorhynchus, —
Which have the body round, in some instances long, and in others shortened to a kind of sac. The
proboscis, by the hooks on which they attach themselves, is extensile, and contains a papilla, which
may be an organ of absorption ; but the animal appears to absorb moisture by its whole surface. The
only vestiges of internal viscera are two small cceca attached to the base of the proboscis, and a longi-
tudinal thread which some regard as a nerve, and others not. Some species have an oviduct, but in
others the ova are diffused through the parenchyma. In the males, the organs are more distinct ; and
they most likely impregnate the ova after they are excluded. They often perforate the coats of the in-
testines, and are found in their substance, or adhering to their external surfaces.
I
PARENCHYMATA.
647
E. gigas, is the largest known species ; it is found in the Hog and the Wild Boar, and the females are sometimes
fifteen inches long. E. Jueruca is a smaller species, with only one row of spines on the proboscis. It has been
fonnd in the liver of the Cat.
THE SECOND FAMILY OF THE PARENCHYMATA,—
The Tremadotea, —
Have the under part furnished with cup-like discs, or suckers, by which they adhere. Those which are
parasitical in other animals, may all be included in one genus,
Fasciola, —
But it admits of subdivision, according to the form and arrangement of the suckers.
Festucaria, with only one sucker upon or under the anterior part. They ai’e found in various birds, reptiles,
and fishes.
AmpMstoma, with a sucker at each end, in various vertebrated animals.
Caryophyllceiis, have the head broad, winged at the margin, with a two-based sucker underneath, and sometimes
another on the opposite end of the body. One species is known, and it infests fresh-water fishes, especially the
Bream.
Distoma, has a sucker at the anterior extremity, and another on the under part, a little farther back. The species
of this genus, or rather subgenus, are very numerous, and inhabit many animals ; some of them even the wrinkled
membrane surrounding the eyes of birds ; but there appear to be others in salt water or fresh, which are not para-
sitical upon any animal.
Distoma hepatica [the Fluke, so called from its shape, is but too well known as infesting the liver of the Sheep,
and if not occasioning “ the rot,” at least greatly aggravating its symptoms, and accelerating its progress.] It is
also found in other ruminants, in the Horse, the Hog, and even in Man. It is from three quarters of an inch to
an inch and a quarter in length, and its form is that of an oval leaf, pointed at the posterior extremity, and with
a narrow portion at the anterior. The first sucker is at the base of this narrow portion, and leads to two branched
tubes. Behind the sucker, there is an erectile tentaculum, which appears to be the male organ ; and behind this
is the second sucker. The mineral vessels are convoluted through the middle portions ; and the ovaries are also
diffused through the body, and open near the male organs. As in many of the Mollusca, all the individuals appear
to be bisexual, and have a mutual coitus. [The eyes are placed on the most conspicuous part of the head, and
like the eyes of birds, they are provided with horny rings, by means of which they command a great range of
focal lengths. Some naturalists have considered the ramified tubes which proceed from the sucker as circulating
vessels ; but this seems a mistake, as the convoluted vessels which the same naturalists have looked upon as in-
testines, are the seminal vesicles and ovaries. The power of multiplication in these animals is immense ; and
the ducts of a single liver have been found to contain more than a thousand, while the germs are quite innumerable.
Though they accompany the rot in sheep, they do not appear to cause it, neither does their multiplication appear
in aircases to render it more mortal, for sheep have died of rot with not more than a dozen of Flukes in the liver,
while others have been alive with hundreds. Those sheep which are in the best condition, always have Flukes in
them in the autumn ; but they are also the ones most subject to the rot. It is probable that these Flukes, or at
all events the germs of them, exist in the water, or on the plants of humid and marshy places ; at all events, even
the healthy sheep drop a few of them in the winter months ; and the deceased ones vast numbers ; and thus the
rotten sheep taint both the flock and the pasture.] Echinotoma, have hooks on a projecting tubercle.
Holostoma, —
Have one half of the under surface of the body concave, and acting as a sucker. They are found in
some Mammalia and birds.
Hexastoma, have the body flattened underneath, with six suckers on the under part. They are found in fishes,
in reptiles, and even in the human body, in very peculiar situations.
Cyclocotula, —
Have eight cups ranged in a circle on the lower part of the body backwards, and a small proboscis in
front. One small species, C. heloni, has been found parasitical upon the common Sea-pike, Belone
Tristoma, is another subgenus, which resembles the Flukes. The body is broad and flat, with a pedunculated
sucker on the under part, and two small ones anteriorly a little in advance of the mouth. There is a circular
ramified vessel, the function of which is not well known, embedded in the parenchyma of the body. T. coccinea,
about an inch broad, and of a bright red colour; attaches itself to the gills of the Sword Fish, and other large
species.
Hectocotylus, is one of the most singular genera in this family. The individuals are long worms, thick, but
compressed in the fore part, and having the whole of the under surface covered with suckers, arranged in pairs ;
and there is a sac at the posterior extremity, containing the folds of the oviduct. Some of the species are tour or
five inches long, and they are chiefly parasitical upon the Cuttle-fishes.
648
ENTOZOA.
Apsidogaster, should best occupy this place in the system. It has the under-side formed into projecting laminae
by four rows of little furrows. One small species, found on Mussels.
Planaria.
This genus, though not inhabitants of the interior of other animals, but of the waters, are yet so
similar to the Flukes in appearance and organisation, that this was the best station for them. Some
inhabit fresh water and others salt.
Their body is depressed, parenchymatous, and has no distinct abdominal cavity. The mouth,
which is in the middle of the lower part of the body, or a little nearer the tail, is, as in the Fluke,
dilated into a sort of proboscis, and leads to ramified vessels. They are bisexual, and in their manner
of reproduction have very much similarity to the Flukes, and they appear also to be similar in the
structure of their eyes. They are exceedingly voracious, and will even feed upon their own species.
They multiply rapidly in the ordinary way, and also by division of the body — even spontaneous divi-
sion, as is alleged. Mutilated parts are also very readily reproduced, and a partial division of the
body will even produce an animal with two heads or two tails, according as the anterior or posterior
end is cleft. Several species inhabit the fresh waters ; but larger ones are met with on the sea-shores.
[Their appendages vary ; but it is not easy to say what is specific and what accidental.]
M. Duges separates from the true Planaria, Prostoma, which have an opening at each end of the
body ; and Derastoma, in which there is one opening, nearer the anterior than in Planaria.
THE THIRD FAMILY OF THE PARENCHYMATA,—
T^nioidea (The Tape-worm Family).
This family includes all the Intestinal Worms which have two or four suckers on the head. The
space between these is, in some cases, marked by a pore ; and in others, drawn out into a sort of pro-
boscis, naked, or armed with spines. In some instances, there are four little probosci armed in this
manner.
T^nia,- —
The Tape-worms, commonly so called, form the most numerous genus, and are, unfortunately, but too
well known. They have the body long — often exceedingly so, flat, and composed of a number of
joints, or articulations, more or less marked ; they are thinner anteriorly, and generally have a square
head, with four small suckers. Some have thought that they have discovered canals ramifying from
the suckers, and winding along the joints of the body. Each joint has two pores, differently situated
in the different species, which appear to be the orifices of ovaries, situated in the thick parts of the
joints, sometimes simple and sometimes ramified. The Tape-worms are among the most cruel enemies
of those animals in which they breed, as they completely absorb their nourishment and exhaust their
substance. Some have no projecting part among the four suckers. Among these is
Tcenia lata, or Taenia vulgaris, the Common Tape-worm, which has the joints broad and fiat, with a double
pore in the middle of each flat side. They are often twenty feet long, and specimens of more than a hundred feet
have been observed. The principal part of the length is about an inch broad ; but the portion toward the head
is considerably narrower. They are exceedingly annoying, and so tenacious of their hold that the most violent
remedies are sometimes unable to expel them.
Other species have the prominence between the suckers, but with little radiating points. Of these,
Taefiia solium, the Solitary Worm, is one of the most annoying to the human species. The joints, with the
exception of those in the anterior part, are longer than in the Common Tape-worm, and they have the pores alter-
nately on the opposite sides. The most common length is four or five feet ; but much longer ones are some-
times met with. The detached joints are called cucurbitini. That only one can exist in one human body at
the same time is a vulgar error. Of all Intestinal Worms, they are the most dangerous, and the most difficult
to expel.
Several genera, or subgenera, are distinguished from the true Taenia by the form of the head, and others by a
vesicle at the termination of the body. About five genera have the head different.
Tricuspidaria, —
Have the head formed into tubes, and each side has, instead of a sucker, three very sharp-pointed
spines.
Only one species, T. nodulosa, is known. It infests the Perch, the Pike, and various other fishes.
Bothryocephalus, —
Have two longitudinal grooves on the head instead of suckers. They infest various fishes, and
some birds.
PARENCHYMATA.
649
Dibathryorhynchus, —
Have two little probosci, or tentacula, on the head, bristled with small hooks.
Fla VI CEPS, —
Have four tentacula, with curved spines, with which they penetrate the substance of animals. Some
have the body retractile into a membrane, and others not. One, which infests the Skate family, is
several inches long, and has the head shaped like a flower.
Tetrarhynchus, —
Resembles the head and the first two joints of the preceding. One species of it infests the tongue of
the Turbot. Tentacularia differ only in wanting the spines on the tentacula.
Those which have the head with four suckers, but the body terminating in a sort of bladder, and
the joints very obscure, are also with propriety separated from the true Tape-worms.
Cysticercus, —
Or Hydatids, have the bladder supporting one body and head. They are very numerous, and found in
the membranous and cellular substances of many animals. They are very common in Ruminants, and
many other Mammalia, as in the Hare, the Rabbit, the Hog, various species of the Quadrumana, and
even in Man.
One species, C. cellulosa, occurs in vast numbers among the muscular fibres of the Hog, and produces, or
accompanies, the disease in that animal which is known by the name of the Measles, and renders the flesh both
unpalatable and unwholesome. It is small, breeds rapidly, and finds its way to all parts of the body, even to the
heart and the eyes. It is said, however, that they have never been found in the Wild Boar, which proves that
they, or the disease which favours their developement, are induced by the very artificial manner in which tame
Hogs are bred. Those found in the Quadrumana and in Man are very analogous. Acrostoma, found in the
amnios of the Cow, is very nearly allied.
Coinurus, have several bodies and heads attached to the same bladder. C. cerebralis, is well known as infecting
the brain of the Sheep, consuming the substance, and occasioning the disease called the “staggers,” in which the
animal totters round and round toward the affected side, but without any alleviation of its suffering. Other
species infest the Ox and other ruminants, and they all produce the same sort of effect ; but, as scarcely any
ruminant is so susceptible of change by artificial means as the Sheep, they are most severe upon it. In some
instances the bladder is as large as an egg, with thin walls, susceptible of contraction ; but the bodies and heads
are small, and can be almost entirely withdrawn into it.
ScoLEX, Linn.
The body round, contracted to a point posteriorly, and have a variable head, with two or four suckers.
The inflated part is very contractile. Most of the species are small, and live on fishes.
THE FOURTH FAMILY OF THE PARENCHYMATA,—
The Cestoidea, —
Comprises those which are destitute of external suckers. This consists of only a single genus, —
Ligula.
These are the simplest in their organization of all the Entozoa. The body is like a long, flat ribbon,
with one longitudinal stria, and numerous cross ones ; and the internal parenchyma appears to contain
nothing but the ova distributed through its substance. They are chiefly found in the abdomen of birds
and fresh-water fishes, whose bowels they envelope and contract in such a manner as to destroy them;
and at certain periods they perforate the abdomen, and leave it.
One species, L, abdominalis, infests the Bream ; and, in some parts of Italy, it is considered agreeable food.
[It will be perceived that the whole of the Entozoa are remarkable for the great developement of
their reproductive system ; and not a few of them for the great and rapid growth of the individual ;
and this is exactly what analogy would lead us to suppose. Living, not only in the bodies, but upon
the living, or already assimilated substance of other animals, the labours which they have to perform are
few and simple, compared with those of most of the animal creation. They have but little use either
for locomotion or sensation ; and they have probably less for circulation, respiration, or digestion,
excepting in the Planarii and any others which do not live in the bodies of other animals. As their
habitations are obscure, their habits are equally so ; and the purpose which they answer in the economy
of nature is quite a mystery.]
650
ACALEPHA.
1
THE THIRD CLASS OF THE RADIATA,—
THE ACALEPHA,—
Includes all those Radiated Animals which swim in the waters of the ocean ; and in
which we can still perceive vessels, though these vessels are, in truth, little else than
intestinal tubes, ramified through the parenchyma of the body. They admit of a natural
division into two orders, — Simple and Hydrostatic.
THE FIRST ORDER OF THE ACALEPHA.
THE ACALEPHA SIMPLICIA.
These float and swim in the water, by alternate contraetions and dilatations of the body,
although their substance is merely gelatinous, and without any apparent fibres. The apparent
vessels found in some of them are only hollows in the gelatinous substance originating from the
stomach, and offering no proof of a true circulation. There are obvious points of resemblance
among them all ; but still they admit of division into genera and subgenera.
Fig. 141. — Medusa.
Medusa, —
Have a central disc, more or less convex, on the upper surface, something like the head of a mushroom,
and termed the umbrella. The contractions and dilatations of this disc con-
tribute to the locomotion of the animal ; [but they are not powerful enough for
stemming rapid currents of the water.] The margins of the umbrella, and those
of the mouth, or of the suckers which supply the place of a mouth, in the middle
of the under surface of the disc, are furnished with tentacula, very much varied
in form and size, and these variations are the basis of many subdivisions of the
genus. [They are very numerous ; and the small ones give the seas in which they
abound the appearance of being crowded with flakes of half-melted snow. Some
of these show fine prismatic colours ; and in not a few the gelatinous matter which fills the integument
of the disc is of so acrid a nature as to irritate and blister the skin, even after it has been dried.]
Medusa, properly so called, includes all those that have a true mouth on the under side of the disc ; but this
mouth is sometimes a simple opening, and at other times placed on a peduncle.
^quorea, includes those in which the mouth is simple, and not on a peduncle, or furnished with arms or ten-
tacula. When there are no tentacula round the disc, they form the Phorcynia of Lamarck. When the disc is
furnished with tentacula all round, they are the ^quorea strictly so called, and one of the most numerous in the
warm seas. Some have the under surface covered with laminae, and others have the margins of the umbrella
diversified by furrows.
Pelagia, comprehends those which have the mantle produced into a peduncle, or divided into arms or ten-
tacula.
In all these subgenera, there are no lateral cavities ; but in the majority of those with a simple mouth, there are,
in the substance of the umbrella, four organs inclosed in furrowed membranes, which, at certain seasons of the
year, are tinged with a dark-coloured substance, understood to be the germs of the young. They are lodged in four
cavities, which open near the mouth, or the sides of the peduncle ; and as small animals are sometimes entangled
in them, some have regarded them as mouths, and others as organs of respiration. That they are not mouths is
evident, and the respiration appears to be performed by the mai-gin of the umbrella. The tentacula, whether on
the margin of the umbrella, or round the mouth of the animal, vary not only in different species, but in the
different ages of the same species.
Cyanea, —
Includes all the species which have a central mouth, and four lateral ovaries.
C. aurita, is one of the most common and widely distributed species. With age, it acquires four very long
arms ; the margin of the umbrella is finely ciliated all round ; and within it are observed reddish vessels origin-
SIMPLICIA.
651
ating in the stomach, and proceedings by ramifications toward the circumference. Another species, C. chrysaora,
has the margin furnished with long tentacula, and rows of brown or yellow spots, forming rays on the convex
surface. It is very common, and there are great varieties in the spots.
Cuvier distinguishes under the name of
Rhizostoma, —
Those Medusae which have no central opening or mouth, and which are thence supposed to draw their
nourishment by suction by the ramifications of the peduncle, or by the tentacula. They have four
ovaries or more.
Rhizostoma, properly so called, have a central peduncle, more or less ramified according to the species. The
vessels which, arise in the small pi-otuberances of the peduncle, unite in a cavity at its base ; and from this, other
vessels are ramified to all parts of the umbrella, or disc. The most common species is the blue Rhizostoma, which
is often left on sandy shores by the ebbing tide. The umbrella is sometimes two feet in diameter. The peduncle
is composed of four pairs of arms, which are very much branched and toothed, and each is furnished with two
auricles or appendages at the base, which are also toothed. A fine network of vessels, occupying the thickness of
the margin, extends all round the umbrella. According to the observations of MM. Audouin and Milne Edwards,
these MeduscE are social, or at least they are always met with in numerous shoals, swimming in the same direction,
and with the body obliquely inclined.
The Cephece of Peron differ from the other Rhizostoma only by having filaments intromixed with the denta-
tions, or papillae of the peduncle. The Cassiopei '
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