THE 
ANIMAL KINGDOM, 
ARRANGED IN CONFORMITY WITH ITS ORGANIZATION. 
BY THE BARON CUVIER, 
PERPETUAI, SECRETARY TO THE HOYAI, ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ETC ETC ETC 
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, 
AND ABRIDGED 
FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS, &c. 
BY H. M’MURTRIE, M.D, &c. &c. 
NEW YORK: 
G, & C. & H. CARVILL; 
MDCCCXXXII. Entered according to the act of congress, in the year 1831, by G. & C. & H. 
Carvill, in the clerk’s office of the southern district of New York. 
Philadelphia: 
Printed by James Kay, Jun. &. Co. 
Printers to the American Philosophical Society. 
No. 4, Minor Street. TO 
TEACHERS OF YOUTH 
IN 
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
riu's aa?orit, 
FOR THE USE OF THEIR PUPILS, 
IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 
IN THE FIRM BELIEF 
THAT WHILE IT WILL BE FOUND TO AMUSE, AS WELL AS INSTRUCT, 
TO INVIGORATE THE MEMORY, EXERCISE THE JUDGMENT, AND 
BRING ALL THE INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES INTO A STATE 
OF THE GREATEST ACTIVITY, IT WILL ALSO TEND TO 
PRODUCE THAT ELEVATION OF CHARACTER 
WHICH INEVITABLY RESULTS 
FROM 
THE STUDY OF NATURE. REMARKS. 
In presenting this abridgement of the well known “ Animal 
Kingdom” of the Baron Cuvier to those who are charged with 
one of the most honourable and responsible offices of the 
Republic, that of directing the education and forming the 
minds of those into whose keeping its future prosperity and 
happiness must be inevitably committed, I beg leave to 
anticipate the possible charge of interested adulation, by de- 
claring that I have no pecuniary concern in the work, which 
is, exclusively and entirely, the property of its enterprising 
publishers. 
To say that I am not interested in its adoption by our 
Teachers, would be false, for I must confess I look anxiously 
for that event, but from other motives than the “ auri fames.” 
The schools of continental Europe have long been supplied 
with works on the Natural Sciences, more particularly so call- 
ed, expressly prepared for that purpose by order of Govern- 
ment, while here they are as yet among the desiderata. A 
little reflection will soon convince every intelligent mind, that 
an elementary course of Zoology may be pursued by the pupil, 
without interfering with the usual matters to which alone his 
attention is at present directed, and that of course the argu- 
ment of (i time lost” falls to the ground. But when care- 
ful investigation shall have convinced it, that while of all 
studies the one in question tends most powerfully to strengthen 
the memory, exercise the judgment, discipline the mind, and 
bring every intellectual faculty of the pupil into a state of the 
greatest activity, it also tends to elevate his moral character to VI 
REMARKS 
that lofty standard which is the necessary result of that train of 
thought and inquiry which finally leads him from the creature to 
the Creator, it will admit it to be “time gained’’ and with the 
most usurious interest. The vast number and variety of facts 
to be retained in this study, and the necessity of classing them 
in the mind, begets a habit of mental activity, analysis, and 
order, that is of incalculable value to the possessor in the com- 
mon business of life, enabling him to disentangle and arrange 
the most confused and chaotic matters with certainty and 
despatch. 
In compressing the four large volumes of my edition of the 
u Animal Kingdom” into its present form, I have endeavour- 
ed to retain the whole of what I consider its great and leading 
points, and as much of such of the details of the organization, 
instincts and habits of the animals of which it treats, as could 
with propriety be presented to the consideration of those 
youthful minds for whose use it is intended. The whole has 
been sedulously, and I hope so thoroughly expurgated, that 
it may be placed in the hands of females, without the slightest 
fear of their encountering a word or idea that could offend the 
most fastidious delicacy, or sully that purity of imagination 
and thought which forms one of the brightest ornaments of the 
sex. 
H. M’MURTRIE. 
Pine Street, Philadelphia, 
December 1831. EXPLANATIONS. 
It is always customary with writers on Natural History to 
affix to every genus and species the name of its founder and 
describer, and for the sake of brevity, when it is long, to 
signify the same either by the first letter or syllable, where 
that name is well known, and by putting it in full in the op- 
posite case. Thus SIMIA, Lin., or L. means that Linnaeus 
is the founder of the genus Simia, and S. troglodytes, L. 
means that he first described that particular species of Ourang. 
Most frequently, however, the contracted name refers to the 
discoverer and describer of the species which precedes it. 
L. or Lin. stands for . Linnaeus. 
Fab., . . . Fabricius. 
Lat., . . . Latreille. 
Geoff., . . . Geoffroy. 
Illig., . . . Illiger. 
Cuv., . . . Cuvier. 
Fr. Cuv., . • Frederick Cuvier. 
Buff, . . . Buffon. 
Pall., . . . Pallus. 
Lam., . . . Lamarck. 
Gm., . . . Gmelin, 
&c. &c. &c. INTRODUCTION. 
AS correct ideas respecting natural history are not very generally 
formed, it appears necessary to begin by defining its peculiar ob- 
ject, and establishing rigorous limits between it and neighbouring 
sciences. 
In our language and in most others, the word nature is vari- 
ously employed. At one time it is used to express the qualities a 
being derives from birth, in opposition to those it may owe to art; 
at another, the entire mass of beings which compose the universe ; 
and at a third, the laws which govern those beings. It is in this 
latter sense particularly that we usually personify Nature, and, 
through respect, use its name for that of its Creator. 
Physics, or Natural Philosophy, treats of the nature of these 
three relations, and is either general or particular. General phy- 
sics examines abstractedly each of the properties of those movable 
and extended beings we call bodies. That branch 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. Its 
different divisions are termed Statics, Hydrostatics, Hydrodynamics, 
Mechanics, &c. &c., according to the nature of the particular bo- 
dies whose motions it examines. Optics considers the particular 
motions of light, whose phenomena, which, hitherto, nothing but ex- 
periment has been able to determine, are becoming more numerous. 
Chemistry, another branch of general physics, exposes the laws 
by which the elementary molecules of bodies act on each other; the 
combinations or separations which result from the general tendency 
of these molecules to re-unite; and the modifications which the va- 
rious circumstances capable of separating or approximating them 10 
INTRODUCTION 
produce on that tendency. It is purely a science of experiment, 
and is irreducible to calculation. 
The theory of heat and that of electricity belong either to Dyna- 
mics or Chemistry, according to the point of view in which they are 
considered. 
The ruling method in all the branches of general physics consists 
in insulating bodies, reducing them to their greatest simplicity, in 
bringing each of their properties separately into action, either by 
reflection or experiment, and by observing or calculating the results; 
and finally, in generalising and connecting the laws of these pro- 
perties, so as to form codes, and, if it were possible, to refer them 
to one single principle into which they might all be resolved. 
The object of Particular Physics, or of Natural History—for 
the terms are synonymous—is the special application of the laws 
recognised by the various branches of general physics to the numer- 
ous and varied beings which exist in nature, in order to explain the 
phenomena which each of them presents. 
Within this extensive range, Astronomy also would be included; 
but that science, sufficiently elucidated by Mechanics, and completely 
subjected to its laws, employs methods differing too widely from 
those required by Natural History, to permit it to be cultivated by the 
students of the latter. 
Natural History, then, is confined to objects which do not allow of 
exact calculation, nor of precise measurement in all their parts. 
Meteorology also is substracted from it and united to general phy- 
sics; so that, properly speaking, it considers only inanimate bodies 
called minerals, and the different kinds of living beings, in all of 
which we may observe the effects, more or less various, of the laws of 
motion and chemical attraction, and of all the other causes analysed 
by general physics. 
Natural History, in strictness, should employ similar methods with 
the general sciences; and it does so, in fact, whenever the objects 
it examines are sufficiently simple to allow it. This, however, is 
but very rarely the case. 
An essential difference between the general sciences and Natural 
History is, that in the former, phenomena are examined, whose con- 
ditions are all regulated by the examiner, in order, by their analysis, 
to arrive at general laws; whereas in the latter, they take place under 
circumstances beyond the control of him who studies them for the 
purpose of discovering amid the complication, the effects of known INTRODUCTION. 
11 
general laws. He is not, like the experimenter, allowed to subtract 
them successively from each condition, and to reduce the problem 
to its elements—he is compelled to take it in its entireness, with all 
its conditions at once, and can perform the analysis only in thought. 
Suppose, for example, we attempt to insulate the numerous pheno- 
mena which compose the life of any of the higher orders of animals; 
a single one being suppressed, every vestige of life is annihilated. 
Dynamics have thus nearly become a science of pure calculation, 
Chemistry is still a science of pure experiment; and Natural History, 
in a great number of its branches, will long remain one of pure 
observation. 
These three terms sufficiently designate the methods employed in 
the three branches of the natural sciences; but in establishing be- 
tween them very different degrees of certitude, they indicate, at the 
same time, the point to which they should incessantly tend, in order 
to attain nearer and nearer to perfection. 
Calculation, if we may so express it, thus commands Nature, and 
determines her phenomena more exactly than observation can make 
them known; experiment compels her to unveil; while observation 
pries into her secrets when refractory, and endeavours to surprise 
her. 
There is, however, a principle peculiar to Natural History, which 
it uses with advantage on many occasions; it is that of the conditions 
of existence, commonly styled final causes. As nothing can exist 
without the re-union of those conditions which render its existence 
possible, the component parts of each being must be so arranged as 
to render possible the whole being, not only with regard to itself 
but to its surrounding relations. The analysis of these conditions 
frequently conducts us to general laws, as certain as those that are 
derived from calculation or experiment. 
It is only when all the laws of general physics and those which 
result from the conditions of existence are exhausted, that we are 
reduced to the simple laws of observation. 
The most effectual method of obtaining these is that of compa- 
rison. This consists in successively observing the same bodies in the 
different positions in which nature places them, or in a mutual com- 
parison of different bodies; until we have ascertained invariable 
relations between their structures and the phenomena they exhibit. 
These various bodies are kinds of experiments ready prepared by 
Nature, who adds to or deducts from each of them different parts, 12 
INTRODUCTION. 
just as we might wish to do in our laboratories; showing us, herself, 
at the same time their various results. 
In this way we finally succeed in establishing certain laws by which 
these relations are governed, and which are employed like those 
that are 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 exist- 
ence, would complete the system of the natural sciences, in render- 
ing sensible in all its parts the mutual influence of every being. To 
this end, should those who cultivate these sciences direct all their 
efforts. 
All researches of this nature, however, pre-suppose means of dis- 
tinguishing clearly, and causing others to distinguish, the bodies they 
are occupied with; otherwise we should be continually confounding 
them. Natural History then should be based on what is called a 
System of Nature; or a great catalogue, in which all created beings 
have suitable names, may be recognised by distinctive characters, 
and be arranged in divisions and subdivisions, themselves named and 
characterised, in which they may be found. 
In order that each being may be recognised in this catalogue, it 
must be accompanied by its character: habits or properties which 
are but momentary cannot, then, furnish characters—they must be 
drawn from the conformation. 
There is scarcely a single being which has a simple character, 
or can be recognised by one single feature of its conformation; a 
union of several of these traits are almost always required to dis- 
tinguish one being from those that surround it, who also have some 
but not all of them, or who have them combined with others of 
which the first is destitute. The more numerous the beings to be 
distinguished, the greater should be the number of traits; so that to 
distinguish an individual being from all others, a complete descrip- 
tion of it should enter into its character. 
It is to avoid this inconvenience, that divisions and subdivisions 
have been invented. A certain number only of neighbouring beings 
are compared with each other, and their characters need only to 
express their differences, which, by the supposition itself, are the 
least part of their conformation. Such a re-union is termed a genus. 
The same inconvenience would be experienced in distinguishing 
genera from each other, were it not for the repetition of the opera- 
tion in uniting the adjoining genera, so as to form an order, the INTRODUCTION. 
13 
orders to form a class, &c. Intermediate subdivisions may also be 
established. 
This scaffolding of divisions, the superior of which contain the 
inferior, is called a method. It is in some respects a sort of dic- 
tionary, in which we proceed from the properties of things to arrive 
at their names; being the reverse of the common ones, in which we 
proceed from the name to arrive at the property. 
When the method is good, it does more than teach us names. If 
the subdivisions 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 reducing the properties of 
beings to general rules, of expressing them in the fewest words, and 
of stamping them on the memory. 
To render it such, we apply an assiduous comparison of beings, 
directed by the principle of the subordination of characters, which 
is itself derived from that of the conditions of existence. The parts 
of a being possessing a mutual adaptation, some traits of character 
exclude others, while on the contrary, there are others that require 
them. When, therefore, we perceive such or such traits in a being, 
we can calculate before hand those that co-exist in it, or those that 
are incompatible with them. The parts, the 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 called the important characters, dominating characters; the 
others are the subordinate characters, all varying in degree. 
This influence of character is sometimes determined rationally, 
by the consideration of the nature of the organ. When this is im- 
practicable, we have recourse to simple observation; and a sure mark 
by which we may recognise the important characters, and one which 
is drawn from their own nature, is their superior constancy, and 
that in a long series of different beings, approximated according to 
their degrees of similitude, these characters are the last to vary. 
That they should be preferred for distinguishing the great divisions, 
and that in proportion as we descend to the inferior subdivisions, we 
can also descend to subordinate and variable characters, is a rule 
resulting equally from their influence and constancy. 
There can be but one perfect method, which is the natural method. 
We thus name an arrangement in which beings of the same genus 
are placed nearer to each other than to those of the other genera; the 14 
INTRODUCTION. 
genera of the same order nearer than those of the other orders, &c, 
&c. This method is the ideal to which Natural History should tend; 
for it is evident that if we can reach it, we shall have the exact and 
complete expression of all nature. In fact, each being is determined 
by its resemblance to others, and difference from them; and all these 
relations would be fully given by the arrangement in question. In 
a word, the natural method would be the whole science, and every 
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 in all ages 
been made the most general principle of distinction; and that natu- 
ral beings have always been separated into two immense divisions, 
the living and the inanimate. 
Of Living Beings, and Organization in general. 
If, in order to obtain a correct idea of the essence of life, we 
consider it in those beings in which its effects are the most simple, 
we quickly perceive that it consists in the faculty possessed by cer- 
tain corporeal combinations, of continuing for a time and under a 
determinate form, by constantly attracting into their composition a 
part of surrounding substances, and rendering to the elements, por- 
tions of their own. 
Life then is a vortex, more or less rapid, more or less complicated, 
the direction of which is invariable, and which always carries along 
molecules of similar kinds, but into which individual molecules are 
continually entering, and from which they are continually departing; 
so that the form of a living body is more essential to it than its 
matter. 
As long as this motion subsists, the body in which it takes place is 
living—it lives. When it finally ceases, it dies. After death, the 
elements which compose it, abandoned to the ordinary chemical 
affinities, soon separate, from which, more or less quickly, results the 
dissolution of the once living body. It was then by the vital motion 
that its dissolution was arrested, and its elements were held in a tem- 
porary union. 
All living bodies die after a certain period, whose extreme limit 
is fixed for each species, and death appears to be a necessary conse- 
quence of life, which, by its own action, insensibly alters the struc- 
ture of the body, so as to render its continuance impossible. INTRODUCTION. 
15 
In fact, the living body undergoes gradual, but continual changes, 
during the whole term of its existence. At first, it increases in 
dimensions, according to proportions, and within limits, fixed for 
each species and for each one of its parts; it then augments in den- 
sity in the most of its parts:—it is this second kind of change that 
appears to be the cause of natural death. 
If we examine the various living bodies more closely, we find they 
possess a common structure, which a little reflection soon causes us 
to perceive is essential to a vortex such as the vital motion. 
Solids, it is plain, are necessary to these bodies, for the mainte- 
nance of their forms; and fluids for the conservation of motion in 
them. Their tissue, accordingly, is composed of network and 
plates, or of fibres and solid laminaa, within whose interstices are 
contained the fluids; it is in these fluids that the motion is most con- 
tinued and extended. Foreign substances penetrate the body and 
unite with them; they nourish the solids by the interposition of their 
molecules, and also detach from them those that are superfluous. 
It is in a liquid or gaseous form that the matters to be exhaled tra- 
verse the pores of the living body; but in return, it is the solids which 
contain the fluids, and by their contraction communicate to them 
part of their motion. 
This mutual action of the fluids and solids, this transition of mole- 
cules, required considerable affinity in their chemical composition; 
and such is the fact—the solids of organized bodies being mostly 
composed of elements easily convertible into fluids or gases. 
The motion of the fluids needing also a constantly repeated action 
on the part of the solids, and communicating one to them, required 
in the latter both flexibility and disability; and accordingly we find 
this character nearly general in all organized solids. 
This structure, common to all living bodies; this areolar tissue, 
whose more or less flexible fibres or laminae intercept fluids more or 
less abundant; constitutes what is called the organization. As a 
consequence of what we have said, it follows, that life can be enjoyed 
by organized bodies only. 
Organization, then, results from a great variety of arrangements, 
which are all conditions of life; and it is easy to conceive, that 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, the general move- 
ment of life must cease. 
Every organized body, independently of the qualities common to 16 
INTRODUCTION. 
its tissue, has a form peculiar to itself, not merely general and exter- 
nal, but extending to 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—it constitutes its 
species and renders it what it is. Each part co-operates in this 
general movement by a peculiar action, and experiences from it 
particular effects, so that in every being life is a whole, resulting from 
the mutual action and re-action of all its parts. 
Life, then, in general, pre-supposes organization in general, and 
the life proper to each individual being pre-supposes an organization 
peculiar to that being, just as the movement of a clock pre-supposes 
the clock; and accordingly we behold life only in beings that are 
organized and formed to enjoy it, and all the efforts of philosophy 
have never been able to discover matter in the act of organization, 
neither per se, nor by any external cause. In fact, life exercising 
upon the elements which at every moment form a part of the living 
body, and upon those which it attracts to it, an action contrary to 
that which, without it, would be produced by the usual chemical 
affinities, it seems impossible that it can be produced by these affini- 
ties, and yet we know of no other power in nature capable of re- 
uniting previously 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 whose origin we can 
trace, have at first been attached to a body similar in form to their 
own, but which was developed before them—in a word, to a parent. 
So long as the offspring has no independent existence, but partici- 
pates in that of its parent, it is called a germ. 
The place to which the germ is attached, and the cause which 
detaches it and gives it an independent life, vary; but this primitive 
adhesion to a similar being is a rule without exception. The sepa- 
ration of the germ is called generation. 
Every organized being re-produces others that are similar to itself, 
otherwise, death being a necessary consequence of life, the species 
would become extinct. 
Organized beings have even the faculty of reproducing, in degrees 
varying with the species, particular parts of which they may have 
been deprived—this is called the power of reproduction. 
The development of organized beings is more or less rapid, and INTRODUCTION. 
17 
more or less extended, as circumstances are more or less favourable. 
Heat, the abundance and species of nutriment, with other causes, 
exercise great influence, and this influence may extend to the whole 
body in general, or to certain organs in particular: thence arises the 
impossibility of a perfect similitude between the offspring and parent. 
Differences of this kind, between organized beings, form what 
are termed varieties. 
There is no proof, that all the differences which now distinguish 
organized beings are such as may have been produced by circum- 
stances. All that has been advanced upon this subject is hypothe- 
tical. Experience, on the contrary, appears to prove, that, in the 
actual state of the globe, varieties are confined within rather narrow 
limits, and go back as far as we may, we still find those limits the 
same. 
We are thus compelled to admit of certain forms, which, from 
the origin of things, have perpetuated themselves without exceeding 
these limits; and every being, appertaining to one or other of these 
forms, constitutes what is termed a species. Varieties are acciden- 
tal subdivisions of species. 
Species should be defined, the re-union of individuals descended 
one from the other, or from common parents, or from such as resem- 
ble them, as strongly as they resemble each other. Rut although this 
definition is strict, it will be seen that its application to particular 
individuals may be very difficult, where the necessary experiments 
have not been made. 
Thus then it stands—absorption, assimilation, exhalation, develop- 
ment and generation are functions common to all living bodies; birth 
and death the universal limits of their existence; an areolar, con- 
tractile tissue, containing within its laminae fluids or gases in motion, 
the general essence of its structure; substances almost all suscepti- 
ble of conversion into fluids or gases, and combinations capable of 
an easy and mutual transformation, the basis of their chemical com- 
position. Fixed forms that are perpetuated by generation distinguish 
their species, determine the complication of the secondary functions 
proper to each of them, and assign to them the parts they are to 
play on the great stage of the universe. These forms are neither 
produced nor changed by their own agency—life supposes their ex- 
istence, its flame can only be kindled in an organization already 
prepared, and the most profound meditation and lynx-eyed and deli- 18 
INTRODUCTION. 
cate observation can penetrate no farther than the mystery of the 
pre-existence of the germs. 
Divisions of organized beings into Animals and Vegetables. 
Living or organized beings have always been subdivided into ani- 
mate beings, that is, such as are possessed of sense and motion, and 
into inanimate beings, which are deprived of both these faculties, 
and are reduced to the simple faculty of vegetating. Although the 
leaves of several planks shrink from the touch, and the roots are 
steadily directed towards moisture, the leaves to light and air, and 
though parts of vegetables appear to oscillate without any apparent 
external cause, still these various motions have too little similarity 
to those of animals, to enable us to find in them any proofs of per- 
ception or will. 
The spontaneity in the motions of animals required essential mo- 
difications even in their purely vegetative organs. Their roots not 
penetrating the earth, it was necessary they should be able to place 
within themselves a supply of aliment, and to carry its reservoir 
along with them. Hence is derived the first character of animals, 
or their alimentary canal, from which their nutritive fluid penetrates 
all other parts through pores or vessels, which are a kind of internal 
roots. 
The organization of this cavity and its appurtenances required 
varying, according to the nature of the aliment, and the operation it 
had to undergo, before it could furnish juices fit for absorption; 
whilst the air and earth present to vegetables nought but elaborated 
juices ready for absorption. 
The animal, whose functions are more numerous and varied than 
those of the plant, consequently necessitated an organization much 
more complete; besides this, its parts not being capable of preserv- 
ing one fixed relative position, there were no means bv which exter- 
nal causes could produce the motion of their fluids, which required 
an exemption from atmospheric influence; from this originates the 
second character of animals, their circulating system, one less essen- 
tial than that of digestion, since in the more simple animals it is 
unnecessary. The animal functions required organic systems, not 
needed by vegetables—that of the muscles for voluntary motion, and 
serves for sensibility; and these two systems, like the rest, acting 
only through the motions and transformations of the fluids, it was INTRODUCTION. 
19 
necessary that these should be most numerous in animals, and that 
the chemical composition of the animal body be more complex than 
that of the plant; and so it is, for one substance more (azote) enters 
into it as an essential element, whilst in plants it is a mere acciden- 
tal junction with the three other general elements of organization, 
oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. This then is the third character of 
animals. 
From the sun and atmosphere, vegetables receive for their nutri- 
tion water, which is composed of oxygen and hydrogen; air, which 
contains oxygen and azote; and carbonic acid, which is a combina- 
tion of oxygen and carbon. To extract their own composition from 
these aliments, it was necessary they should retain the hydrogen 
and carbon, exhale the superfluous oxygen and absorb little or no 
azote. Such, in fact, is vegetable life, whose essential function is 
the exhalation of oxygen, which is effected through the agency of 
light. 
Animals also derive nourishment, directly or indirectly, from the 
vegetable itself, in which the hydrogen and carbon form the principal 
parts. To assimilate them to their own composition, they must get 
rid of the superabundant hydrogen and carbon in particular, and 
accumulate more azote, which is performed through the medium of 
respiration, by which the oxygen of the atmosphere combines with 
the hydrogen and carbon of their blood, and is exhaled with them in 
the form of water and carbonic acid. The azote, whatever part of 
the body it may penetrate, seems always to remain there. 
The relations of vegetables and animals to the surrounding atmos- 
phere are therefore in an inverse ratio—the former reject water and 
carbonic acid, while the latter produce them. The essential func- 
tion of the animal body is respiration; it is that which in a manner 
animalizes it; and we shall see that the animal functions are the more 
completely exercised, in proportion to the greatness of the powers 
of respiration possessed by the animal. This difference of relations 
constitutes the fourth character of animals. 
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; there is a fourth element peculiarly requisite to 20 
INTRODUCTION. 
that of an animal; but this tissue is composed of variously formed 
meshes, and these elements are variously combined. 
There are three kinds of organic materials or forms of texture, 
the cellular membrane, the muscular fibre, and the medullary matter, 
and to each form belongs a peculiar combination of chemical ele- 
ments, as well as a particular function. 
The cellular substance is composed of an infinity of small fibres 
and laminae, fortuitously disposed, so as to form little cells that com- 
municate with each other. It is a kind of sponge, which has the same 
form as the body, all other parts of which traverse or fill it, and 
contracting indefinitely, on the removal of the causes of its tension. 
It is this power that retains the body in a given form and within cer- 
tain limits. 
When condensed, this substance forms those laminre called mem- 
branes; the membranes, rolled into cylinders, form those more or 
less ramified tubes named vessels; the filaments called fibres are 
resolved into it, and bones arc nothing but the same thing indurated 
by the accumulation of earthy particles. 
The cellular substance consists of a combination well known as 
gelatine, characterised by its solubility in boiling water, and forming, 
when cold, a trembling jelly. 
We have not yet been able to reduce the medullary matter to its 
organic molecules; to the naked eye, it appeal's like a sort of soft 
bouillie, consisting of excessively small globules; it is not suscepti- 
ble of any apparent motion, but in it resides the admirable power of 
transmitting to the mind the impressions of the external senses, and 
conveying to the muscles the orders of the will. It constitutes the 
greater portion of the brain and the spinal marrow, and the nerves 
which are distributed to all the sentient organs are, essentially, mere 
fasciculi of its ramifications. 
The fleshy or muscular fibre is a peculiai sort of filament, whose 
distinctive property, during life, is that of contracting when touched 
or struck, or when it experiences the action of the will through the 
medium of the nerve. 
The muscles, direct organs of voluntary motion, are mere bundles 
of fleshy fibres. All vessels and membranes which have any kind 
of compression to execute are armed with these fibres. They are 
always intimately connected with the nervous threads, but those 
which belong to the purely vegetative functions contract, without INTRODUCTION. 
21 
the knowledge of the individual, so that, although the will is truly a 
means of causing the fibres to act, it is neither general nor unique. 
The fleshy fibre has for its base a particular substance called 
Jibrine, which is insoluble in boiling water, and which seetns natu- 
rally to assume this filamentous disposition. 
The nutritive fluid or the blood., such as we find in the vessels 
of the circulation, is not only mostly resolvable into the general 
elements of the animal body, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and azote, 
but it also contains fibrine and gelatine, almost prepared to contract 
and to assume the forms of membranes or filaments peculiar to 
them, all that is ever wanted for their manifestation being a little 
repose. The blood also contains another combination, which is 
found in many animal fluids and solids, called albumen whose cha- 
racteristic property is that of coagulating in boiling water. Besides 
these, the blood contains almost every element which may enter into 
the composition of the hotly of each animal, such as the lime and 
phosphorus which harden the bones of vertebrated animals, the iron 
from which it and various other parts receive their colour, the fat 
or animal oil which is deposited in the cellular substance to supply 
it, &e. All the fluids and solids of the animal body are composed 
of chemical elements found in the blood, and it is only by possessing 
a few elements more or less, that each of them is distinguished; 
whence it is plain, that their formation entirely depends on the sub- 
straction 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 else- 
where. 
These operations, by which the blood nourishes the fluid or solid 
matter of all parts of the body, may assume the general name of 
secretions. This name, however, is often appropriated exclusively 
to the production of liquids; while that of nutrition is more espe- 
cially applied to the formation and deposition of the matter necess- 
ary to the growth and conservation of the solids. 
The composition of every solid organ, of every fluid is precisely 
such as fits it lor the part it is to play, and it preserves it as long as 
health remains, because the blood renews it as fast as it becomes 
changed. The blood itself by this continued contribution is changed 
every moment, but is restored by digestion, which renews its matter 
by respiration, which delivers it from superfluous carbon and hydro- 
gen, by perspiration and various other excretions, that relieve it 
from other superabundant principles. 22 
INTRODUCTION. 
These perpetual changes of chemical composition form a part of 
the vital vortex, not less essential than the visible movements and 
those of translation. The object of the latter is, in fact, but to pro- 
duce the former. 
Of the forces which act in the Animal Body. 
The muscular fibre is not only the organ of voluntary motion, for 
we have just seen that it is also the most powerful of the agents 
employed by nature to produce those transmutations so necessary 
to vegetative life. Thus the fibres of the intestines produce the 
peristaltic motion, which causes the alimentary matter therein con- 
tained to pass through them; the fibres of the heart and arteries are 
the agents of the circulation and through it of all the secretions, &,c. 
Volition contracts the fibre through the medium of the nerve; and 
the involuntary fibres, such as those we have mentioned, being also 
animated by them, it is probable that these nerves are the cause of 
their contraction. 
All contraction, and generally speaking, every change of dimen- 
sion in nature, is produced by a change of chemical composition, 
though it consist merely in the flowing or ebbing of an imponderable 
fluid, such as caloric ; thus also are produced the most violent move- 
ments known upon earth, explosions, &c. 
There is, consequently, good reason to suppose that the nerve 
acts upon the fibre through the medium of an imponderable fluid, 
and the more so, as it is proved that this action is not mechanical. 
The medullary matter of the whole nervous system is homoge- 
neous, and must be able to exercise its peculiar functions wherever 
it is found; all its ramifications are abundantly supplied with blood 
vessels. 
All the animal fluids being drawn from the blood by secretion, 
we can have no doubt that such is the case with the nervous fluid, 
and that the medullary matter secretes it. 
On the other hand, it is certain that the medullary matter is the 
sole conductor of the nervous fluid; all the other organic elements 
restrain and arrest it, as glass arrests electricity. 
The external causes which are capable of producing sensations 
or causing contractions of the fibre are all chemical agents, capable 
of effecting decompositions, such as light, caloric, the salts, odorous 
vapours, percussion, compression, &.c. &c. INTRODUCTION. 
23 
It would appear then that these causes act on the nervous fluid 
chemically, and by changing its composition; this appears the more 
likely, as their action becomes weakened by continuance, as if the 
nervous fluid needed the resumption of its primitive composition, to 
fit it for a fresh alteration. 
The external organs of the senses may be compared to sieves, 
which allow nothing to pass through to the nerve, except that species 
of agent which should affect it in that particular place, but which 
often accumulates it so as to increase its effect. The tongue has its 
spongy papillae which imbibe saline solutions ; the ear, a gelatinous 
pulp which is violently agitated by sonorous vibrations; the eye, 
transparent lenses which concentrate the rays of light, &c. &c. 
It is probable, that what are styled irritants, or the agents which 
occasion the contractions of the fibre, exert this action by producing 
on the fibre, by the nerve, a similar effect to that produced on it by 
the will; that is, by altering the nervous fluid, in the way that is re- 
quisite to change the dimensions of the fibre which it influences: 
but with this process the will has nothing to do, and very often the 
me is entirely ignorant of it. The muscles separated from the body 
preserve their susceptibility of irritation, as long as the portion of 
the nerve that remains with them preserves the power of acting on 
them—with this phenomenon the will has evidently no connexion. 
The nervous fluid altered by muscular irritation, as well as by 
sensibility and voluntary motion, and the same necessity exists for 
the re-establishment of its primitive composition. 
The transmutations necessary to vegetable life are occasioned by 
irritants ; the aliment irritates the intestine, the blood irritates the 
heart, &.c. These movements are all independent of the will, and 
generally (while in health) take place without the knowledge of the 
individual; in several parts, the nerves that produce them are even 
differently arranged from those that are appropriated to sensation or 
dependent on the will, and the very object of this difference appears 
to be the securing of this independence. 
The nervous functions, that is, sensibility and muscular irritability, 
are so much the stronger at every point, in proportion as their ex- 
citing cause is abundant; and as this cause or the nervous fluid is 
produced by secretion, 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 circulating system, tiie blood is propelled 24 
INTRODUCTION. 
through the arteries which convey it to its destined parts, by means 
of their irritability and that of the heart. If these arteries be irri- 
tated, they act more strongly, and propel a greater quantity of blood ; 
the nervous fluid becomes more abundant and augments the local 
sensibility ; this, in its turn, augments the irritability of the arteries, 
so that this mutual action may sometimes be carried to a great ex- 
tent. It is called orgastn, and when it becomes painful and perma- 
nent, inflammation. The irritation may also originate in the nerve 
when exposed to the influence of acute sensations. 
This mutual influence of the nerves and fibres, either intestinal or 
arterial, is the real spring of vegetative life in animals. 
As eacli external sense is permeable only by such or such sensible 
substances, so each internal organ may be accessible only to this or 
that agent of irritation. Thus, mercury irritates the salivary glands, 
cantharides irritate the bladder, &c. These agents are called spe- 
cifics. 
The nervous system being homogeneous and continuous, local 
sensations and irritation debilitate the whole, and each function, by 
excessive action, may weaken the others. Excess of aliment 
weakens the power of thought, while long continued meditation 
impairs that of digestion, &c. 
Excessive local irritation will enfeeble the whole body, as if all 
the powers of life were concentrated in one single point. 
A second irritation produced at another part may diminish, or 
divert, as it is termed, the first: such is the eflcct of blisters, pur- 
gatives, &c. 
Brief as our sketch has been, it is sufficient to establish the poss- 
ibility of accounting for all the phenomena of physical life, from the 
properties it presents, by the simple admission of a fluid such as we 
have defined. 
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 acting powers, nothing remains 
but to give a summary idea of the functions of which life is composed, 
and of their appropriate organs. 
The functions of the animal body are divided into two classes: INTRODUCTION. 
25 
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, i. e., nutrition and generation. 
Sensibility resides in the nervous system. 
The most general external sense is that of touch ; it is seated in 
the skin, a membrane that envelopes the whole body, which is tra- 
versed in every direction by nerves whose extreme filaments expand 
on the surface into papillae, and are protected by the epidermis and 
other insensible teguments, such as hairs, scales, &c. &c. Taste 
and smell are merely delicate states of the sense of touch, for which 
the skin of the mouth and nostrils is particularly organized: the first, 
by means of papillae more convex and spongy; the second, by its 
extreme delicacy and the multiplication of its ever humid surface. 
We have already spoken of the ear and the eye. In fine, sensations 
more or less painful may originate in every part of the body through 
accident or disease. 
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 by the 
nerves to the central masses of the nervous system, which, in the 
higher animals, consists of the brain and spinal marrow. The more 
elevated the nature of the animal, the more voluminous is the brain 
and the more is the sensitive power concentrated there ; the lower 
the animal, the more the medullary masses are dispersed, and in the 
most imperfect genera, the entire nervous substance seems to melt 
into the general matter of the body. 
That part of the body, which contains the brain and principal 
organs of sense, is called the head. 
When the animal has received a sensation, and this has occasioned 
volition, it is by the nerves, also, that this volition is transmitted to 
the muscles. 
The muscles are bundles of fleshy fibres whose contractions pro- 
duce all the movements of the animal body. The extension of the 
limbs and every elongation, as well as every flexion and abbreviation 
of parts, are the effects of muscular contraction. The muscles of 
every animal are arranged, both as respects number and direction, 
according to the movements it has to make ; and when these motions 
require force, the muscles are inserted into hard parts, articulated 26 
INTRODUCTION. 
one over another, and may be considered as so many levers. These 
parts are called bones in the vertebrated animals, where they are 
internal, and are formed of a gelatinous mass, penetrated by particles 
of phosphate of lime. In the Mollusca, the Crustacea, and Insects, 
where they are external, and composed of a calcareous or horny 
substance that exudes between the skin and epidermis, they are 
called shells, crusts and scales. 
The fleshy fibres are attached to the hard parts by means of other 
fibres of a gelatinous 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 motion, which are also restrained by cords or envelopes, 
attached to the sides of the articulations, called ligaments. 
It is from the various arrangements of this bony and muscular 
apparatus, and the form and proportion of the members therefrom 
resulting, that animals are capable of executing the innumerable 
movements that enter into walking and leaping, flight and natation. 
The muscular fibres, appropriated to digestion and the circulation, 
are independent of the will; they receive nerves, however, but the 
chief of them are subdivided and arranged in a manner which seems 
to have for its object their independence of the will. It is only in 
paroxysms of the passions and other powerful affections of the soul, 
which break down these barriers, that its empire is perceptible, 
and even then it is almost always to disorder these vegetative func- 
tions. It is, also, in a state of sickness only that these functions 
are accompanied with sensations: digestion is usually performed un- 
consciously. 
The aliment divided by the jaws and teeth, or sucked up when 
liquids constitute the food, is swallowed by the muscular movements 
of the hinder parts of the mouth and throat, and deposited in the 
first portions of the alimentary canal that is usually expanded into 
one or more stomachs; there it is penetrated with juices fitted to 
dissolve it. Passing thence through the rest of the canal, it receives 
other juices destined to complete its preparation. The parietes of 
the canal are pierced with pores which extract from this alimentary 
mass its nutritious portion ; the useless residuum is rejected. 
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 that encircle it are analogous to those which adhere to the 
internal surface of the skin, called the fleshy pannicle.. Throughout INTRODUCTION. 
27 
the whole interior of this canal there is a transudation which has 
some connexion with the cutaneous perspiration, and which becomes 
more abundant when the latter is suppressed; the absorption of the 
skin is even very analogous to that of the intestines. It is in the 
lowest order of animals that the useless residuum is rejected by the 
mouth, their intestines resembling a sac, with but the one opening. 
Even among those where the intestinal canal has two orifices, 
there are many in which the nutritive juices being absorbed by the 
parietes of the intestine, are immediately diffused throughout the 
whole spongy substance of the body: such, it would appear, is the 
case with all Insects. But from the Arachnoides and Worms up- 
wards, the nutritive fluid circulates in a system of closed vessels, 
whose ultimate ramifications alone dispense its molecules to the 
parts that are nourished by it; the vessels that convey it are called 
arteries, those that bring it back to the centre of the circulation, 
veins. The circulating vortex is here simple, and there double and 
even triple (including that of the vena portae); the rapidity of its 
motion is often assisted by the contractions of a certain fleshy appa- 
ratus called a heart, which is 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 
from the intestines, white or transparent, and is then termed chyle; 
it is poured into the veins where it mingles with the blood, by two 
peculiar vessels called lacteals. Vessels similar to these lacteals, 
and forming with them an arrangement called 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 fit to nourish the parts, it must experience 
from the circumambient element the modification of which we have 
previously spoken. In animals possessing a circulating system, one 
portion of the vessels is destined to carry the blood into organs in 
which they spread it over a great surface to obtain an increase of 
this elemental influence. When that element is air, the surface is 
hollow, and is called lungs; when it is water, it is salient, and is 
termed branchiae. There is always an arrangement of the organs 
of motion for the purpose of propelling the element into, or upon, 
the organ of respiration. 
In animals destitute of a circulating system, air is diffused through 
every part of the body by elastic vessels called trachea; or water 
acts upon them, either by penetrating through vessels, or by simply 28 
INTRODUCTION. 
bathing the surface of the skin. The respired, or purified blood is 
properly qualified for restoring the composition of all the parts, and 
to effect what is properly called nutrition. This facility, which the 
blood possesses, of decomposing itself at every point, so as to leave 
there the precise kind of molecule necessary, is indeed wonderful; 
but it is this wonder which constitutes 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 fluids the apparatus is more complex and various. 
Sometimes the extremities of the vessels simply spread themselves 
over large surfaces, whence the produced fluid exhales; at others it 
oozes from the bottom of little cavities. Before these arterial ex- 
tremities change into veins, they most commonly give rise to parti- 
cular 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 form, by interlacing, particu- 
lar bodies called conglomerate or secretory glands. 
In animals that have no circulation, in Insects particularly, the 
parts are all bathed in the nutritive fluid: each of these parts draws 
from it what it requires, and if the production of a liquid be neces- 
sary, proper vessels floating in the fluid take up by their pores the 
constituent elements of that liquid. 
It is thus that the blood incessantly supports the composition of 
all the parts, and repairs the injuries arising from those changes 
which are the continual and necessary consequences of their func- 
tions. The general ideas we form with respect to 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 transmutations necessary to effect it. 
Besides the glands which separate from the blood those fluids that 
are destined for the internal economy, there are some which detach 
others from it that are to be totally ejected, either as superfluous, 
or for some use to the animal, as the ink of the cuttle-fish, and the 
purple matter of various Mollusca, See. 
There is a process or phenomenon, infinitely more difficult to 
comprehend than that of the secretions—the production of the germ. 
We have even seen that it is to be considered as almost incompre- 
hensible ; but the existence of the germ being admitted, the subject 
presents no particular difficulties. As long as it adheres to the INTRODUCTION. 
29 
parent, it is nourished as if it were one of its organs, and when it 
detaches itself, it possesses its own life, which is essentially similar 
to that of the adult. 
The germ, the embryo, the foetus, and the new-born animal, have 
never, however, exactly the same form as the adult, and the differ- 
ence is sometimes so great, that their assimilation has been termed a 
metamorphosis. Thus, no one not previously aware of the fact 
would suppose that the caterpillar is to become a butterfly. 
Every living being is more or less metamorphosed in the course 
of its growth ; that is, it loses certain parts, and developes others. 
The antennas, wings, and all the parts of the butterfly were enclosed 
beneath the skin of the caterpillar ; this skin vanishes along with the 
jaws, feet, and other organs, that do not remain with the butterfly. 
The feet of the frog are enclosed by the skin of the tadpole ; and 
the tadpole, to become a frog, parts with its tail, mouth, and bran- 
chiae. The child, at birth, loses its placenta and membranes ; at a 
certain period its thymus gland nearly disappears, and it gradually 
acquires hair, teeth, and beard ; the relative size of its organs is 
altered, and its body augments in a greater ratio than its head, the 
head more than the internal ear, &c. 
The place where these germs are found, and their germs them- 
selves are collectively styled the ovary; the canal through which, 
when detached, they are carried into the uterus, the oviduct; the 
cavity in which, in many species, they are compelled to remain for 
a longer or shorter period previous to birth, the uterus. 
Of the Intellectual Functions of Animals. 
The impression of external objects upon the individual, the pro- 
duction of a sensation or of an image, is a mystery into which the 
human understanding cannot penetrate; and materialism an hypo- 
thesis, so much the more conjectural, as philosophy can furnish no 
direct proof of the actual existence of matter. The naturalist, 
however, should examine what appear to be the material conditions 
of sensation, trace the ulterior operations of the mind, ascertain 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. 
To enable a being to perceive, there must be an uninterrupted 30 
INTRODUCTION. 
communication between the external sense and the central masses 
of the medullary system. It is then the modification only expe- 
rienced by these masses that the mind perceives: there may also be 
real sensations, without the external organ being affected, and which 
originate either in the nervous chain of communication, or in the 
central mass itself; such are dreams and visions, or certain acci- 
dental sensations. 
By central masses, we mean a part of the nervous system, that is 
so much the more circumscribed, 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 of 
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 produces the image of the sensation 
experienced. We trace to without the cause of that sensation, and 
thus acquire the idea of the object that has produced it. By a 
necessary law of our intelligence, all ideas of material objects are 
in time and space. 
The modifications experienced by the medullary masses leave 
impressions there which are reproduced, and thus recal to the mind 
images and ideas; this is memory, a corporeal faculty that varies 
greatly, according to the age and health of the animal. 
Similar ideas, or such as have been acquired at the same time, 
recal each other; this is the association of ideas. The order, ex- 
tent and quickness of this association constitute the perfection of 
memory. 
Every object presents itself to the memory with all its qualities or 
with all its accessary ideas. 
Intelligence has the power of separating these accessary ideas 
of objects, and of combining those that are alike in several differ- 
ent objects under a general idea; the object of which no where 
really exists, nor presents itself per se—this is abstraction. 
Every sensation being more or less agreeable or disagreeable, 
xperience and repeated essays soon show what movements are re- 
uired to procure the one and avoid the other; and with respect to 
his, the intelligence abstracts itself from the general rules to direct 
he will. 
An agreeable sensation being liable to consequences that are not 
so, and vice versa, the subsequent sensations become associated with INTRODUCTION. 
31 
the idea of the primitive one, and modify the general rules framed 
by intelligence—this is prudence. 
From the application of these rules to general ideas, result cer- 
tain formulae, which are afterwards easily adapted to particular cases 
—this is called reasoning. 
A lively remembrance of primitive and associated sensations, and 
of the impressions of pleasure or pain that belong to them, consti- 
tutes imagination. 
One privileged being, man, has the faculty of associating his gene- 
ral ideas with particular images more or less arbitrary, easily im- 
pressed upon the memory, and which serve to recal the general ideas 
they represent. These associated images are styled signs; their 
assemblage is a language. When the language is composed of 
images that relate to the sense of hearing or of sounds, it is termed 
speech, and when relative to that of sight, hieroglyphics. Writing 
is a suite of images that relate to the sense of sight, by which we 
represent the elementary sounds, and by 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. 
Although, with respect to the intellectual faculties, the most per- 
fect animals are infinitely beneath man; it is certain that their intel- 
ligence performs operations of the same kind. They move in 
consequence of sensations received, are susceptible of durable affec- 
tions, and acquire by experience a certain knowledge of things, by 
which they are governed independently of actual pain or pleasure, 
and by the simple foresight of consequences. When domesticated, 
they feel their subordination, know that the being who punishes them 
may refrain from so doing if he will, and when sensible of having 
done wrong, or behold him angry, they assume a suppliant and depre- 
cating air. In the society of Man they become either corrupted or 
improved, and are susceptible of emulation and jealousy: they have 
among themselves a natural language, which, it is true, is merely the 
expression of their momentary sensations, but Man teaches them to 
understand another, much more complicated, by which he makes 
known to them his will, and causes them to execute it. 
To sum up all, we perceive in the higher animals a certain degree 
of reason, with all its consequences, good and bad, and which ap- 
pears to be about the same as that of children ere they have learned 
to speak. The lower we descend from Man the weaker these facul- 
ties become, and at the bottom of the scale we find them reduced 32 
INTRODUCTION. 
to signs (at times equivocal) of sensibility, that is, to some few slight 
movements to escape from pain. Between these two extremes, the 
degrees are infinite. 
In a great number of animals, however, there exists another kind 
of intelligence, called instinct. This induces them to certain actions 
necessary to the preservation of the species, but very often alto- 
gether foreign to the apparent wants of the individual; often also 
very complicated, and which, if attributed to intelligence, would sup- 
pose a foresight and knowledge in the species that perform them 
infinitely superior to what can possibly be granted. These actions, 
the result of instinct, are not the effect of imitation, for very fre- 
quently the individuals who execute them have never seen them 
performed by others: they are not proportioned to ordinary intelli- 
gence, but become more singular, more wise, more disinterested, in 
proportion as the animals belong to less elevated classes, and in all 
the rest of their actions are more dull and stupid. They are so 
entirely the property of the species, that all its individuals perform 
them in the same way without ever improving them a particle. 
The working Bees, for instance, 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 solitary Bee, and the Wasp also, form highly complicated nests, 
in which to deposit their eggs. From this egg comes a worm, which 
has never seen its parent, which is ignorant of the structure of the 
prison in which it is confined, but which, once metamorphosed, con- 
structs another precisely similar. 
The only method of obtaining a clear idea of instinct is by admit- 
ting the existence of innate and perpetual images or sensations in 
the sensorium which cause the animal to act in the same way as 
ordinary or accidental sensations usually do. It is a kind of perpe- 
tual vision or dream that always pursues it, and it may be considered, 
in all that has relation to its instinct, as a kind of somnambulism. 
There is no visible mark of instinct in the conformation of the 
animal, but, as well as it can be ascertained, the intelligence is always 
in proportion to the relative size of the brain, and particularly of its 
hemispheres. 
Of Method, as applied to the Animal Kingdom. 
From what has been stated with respect to methods in general, w® INTRODUCTION. 
33 
have now to ascertain what are the essential characters in animals, 
on which their primary divisions are to be founded. It is evident 
they should be those which are drawn from the animal functions, that 
is from the sensations, and motions; for both these not only make 
the being an animal, but in a manner establish its degree of ani- 
mality. 
Observation confirms this position by showing that their degrees 
of development 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 vegetative functions, as the brain and the trunk of the nervous 
system do for the animal ones. Now we see these two systems 
become imperfect and disappear together. In the lowest class of 
animals, where the nerves cease to be visible, the fibres are no longer 
distinct, and the organs of digestion are simple excavations in the 
homogeneous mass of the body. In insects the vascular system even 
disappears before the nervous one; but, in general, the dispersion of 
the medullary masses accompanies that of the muscular agents: a 
spinal marrow, on which the knots or ganglions represent so many 
brains, corresponds to a body divided into numerous rings, supported 
by pairs of limbs longitudinally distributed, &c. 
This correspondence of general forms, which results from the 
arrangement of the organs of motion, the distribution of the nervous 
masses, and the energy of the circulating system, should then be the 
basis of the primary divisions of the animal kingdom. We will 
afterwards ascertain, in each of these divisions, what characters 
should succeed immediately to those, and form the basis of the pri- 
mary subdivisions. 
General distribution of the Animal Kingdom into Four Great Di- 
visions. 
If, divesting ourselves of the prejudices founded on the divisions 
formerly admitted, we consider only the organization and nature of 
animals, without regard to their size, utility, the greater or less 
knowledge we have of them, and other accessary circumstances, we 
shall find there are four principal forms, four general plans, if it may 
be so expressed, on which all animals seem to have been modelled, 
and whose ulterior divisions, whatever be the titles with which natu- 
ralists have decorated them, are merely slight modifications, founded 34 
INTRODUCTION. 
on the development or addition of certain parts, which produce no 
essential change in the plan itself. 
In the first of these forms, which is that of Man, and of the ani- 
mals most nearly resembling him, the brain and principal trunk of 
the nervous system are enclosed in a bony envelope, formed by the 
cranium and vertebrae; to the sides of this intermedial column are 
attached the ribs, and bones of the limbs, which form the frame 
work of the body; the muscles generally cover the bones, whose 
motions they occasion, while the viscera are contained within the 
head and trunk. Animals of this form we shall denominate 
Animalia Vertebrata, 
Or vertebrated animals. They have, all, red blood, a muscular 
heart, a mouth furnished with two jaws, one situated either above or 
before the other, distinct organs of sight, hearing, smell and taste 
placed in the cavities of the face; never more than four limbs, the 
sexes always separated, and a very similar distribution of the me- 
dullary masses and the principal branches of the nervous system. 
By a closer examination of each of the parts of this great series 
of animals, we always discover some analogy, even in species the 
most remote from each other; and may trace the gradations of one 
same plan from Man to the last of the Fishes. 
In the second form there is no skeleton; the muscles are merely 
attached to the skin, which constitutes a soft contractile envelope, in 
which, in many species, are formed stony plates, called shells, whose 
position and production are analogous to those of the mucous body. 
The nervous system is contained within this general envelope along 
with the viscera, and is composed of several scattered masses con- 
nected by nervous filaments; the chief of these masses is placed on 
the oesophagus, and is called the brain. Of the four senses, the 
organs of two only are observable, those of taste and sight, the lat- 
ter of which are even frequently wanting. One 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 secretion are nearly as complex as in the Vertebrata. 
We will distinguish the animals of this second form by the appella- 
tion of INTRODUCTION. 
35 
Animalia Mollusca, 
Or soft animals. Although, as respects the external configura- 
tion of the parts, the general plan of their organization is not as 
uniform as that of the Vertebrata; there is always an equal degree 
of resemblance between them in the structure and the functions. 
The third form is that remarked in Worms, Insects, &c. Their 
nervous system consists of two long cords, running longitudi- 
nally through the abdomen, dilated at intervals into knots or gan- 
glions. The first of these knots, placed over the oesophagus, and 
called brain, is scarcely any larger than those that are along the ab- 
domen, with which they communicate by filaments that encircle the 
oesophagus like a necklace. The covering or envelope of the body 
is divided by transverse folds into a certain number of rings, whose 
teguments are sometimes soft, and sometimes hard; the muscles, 
however, being always situated internally. Articulated limbs are 
frequently attached to the trunk; but very often there are none. 
We will call these animals 
Animalia Articulata, 
Or articulated animals, in which is observed the transition from 
the circulation in closed vessels, to nutrition by imbibition, and the 
corresponding one of respiration in circumscribed organs, to that 
effected by tracheee or air-vessels distributed throughout the body. 
In them, the organs of taste and sight are the most distinct; one 
single family alone presenting that of hearing. Their jaws, when 
they have any, are always lateral. 
The fourth form, which embraces all those animals known by the 
name of Zoophytes, may also properly be denominated 
Animalia Radiata, 
Or radiated animals. We have seen that the organs of sense and 
motion in all the preceding ones are symmetrically arranged on the 
two sides of an axis. There is a posterior and anterior dissimilar 
face. In this last division, they are disposed like rays round a cen- 36 
INTRODUCTION. 
tre; and this is the case even when they consist of but two series, 
for then the two faces are similar. They approximate to the homo- 
geneity of plants, having no very distinct nervous system or particu- 
lar organs of sense; in some of them, it is even difficult to discover 
a vestige of circulation; their respiratory organs are almost univer- 
sally seated on the surface of the body, and the lowest of the series 
are nothing but a sort of homogeneous pulp, endowed with motion 
and sensibility. FIRST GREAT DIVISION OF THE ANIMAL 
KINGDOM. 
ANIMALIA VERTEBRATA. 
The bodies and limbs of vertebrated animals being supported by 
a frame-work or skeleton composed of connected pieces that are 
movable upon each other, their motions are certain and vigorous. 
The solidity of this support enables them to attain considerable size, 
and it is among them that the largest animals are found. 
The great concentration of the nervous system, and the volume of 
its central portions, give energy and stability to their sentiments, 
whence result superior intelligence and perfectibility. 
Their body always consists of a head, trunk and members. 
The head is formed by the cranium which contains the brain, and 
by the face which is composed of two jaws and of the receptacles of 
the senses. 
The trunk is supported by the spine and the ribs. 
The spine is formed of vertebras, the first of which supports the 
head, that move upon each other, and are perforated by an annular 
opening, forming together a canal, in which is lodged that medullary 
production from which arise the nerves, called the spinal marrow. 
The spine, most commonly, is continued into a tail, extending 
beyond the posterior members. 
The ribs are a kind of semicircular hoops which protect the sides 
of the cavity of the trunk; they are articulated at one extremity with 
the vertebrae, and most generally at the other with the sternum: 38 
ANIMALIA VERTEBRATA. 
sometimes, however, they do not encircle the trunk, and there are 
genera in which they are hardly visible. 
There are never more than two pairs of members, but sometimes 
one or the other is wanting, or even both. Their forms vary ac- 
cording to the movements they have to execute. The superior 
members are converted into hands, feet, wings or fins, and the infe- 
rior into feet or fins. 
The blood is always red, and appears to be so composed as to 
sustain a peculiar energy of sentiment and muscular strength, but in 
various degrees, corresponding to their quality of respiration : from 
which originates the subdivision of the Vertebrata 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. In some species, however, the eyes are 
obliterated. 
The nerves reach the medulla through the foramina of the ver- 
tebrae or those of the cranium ; they all seem to unite with this 
medulla, which, after crossing its filaments, spreads out to form the 
various lobes of which the brain is composed, and terminates in the 
two medullary arches called hemispheres, whose volume is in pro- 
portion to the extent of the intelligence. 
There are always two jaws, the greatest motion is in the lower 
one, which rises and falls ; the upper jaw is sometimes immovable. 
Both of these are almost always armed with teeth, excrescences of 
a peculiar nature, which in their chemical composition are very 
similar to that of bone, but which grow by layers and transudation; 
one whole class, however, that of Birds, has the jaws invested with 
horn, and the genus Testudo, in the class of Reptiles, is in the same 
case. 
The intestinal canal traverses the body, experiencing various 
enlargements and contractions, having appendages and receiving 
solvent fluids, one of which, the saliva, is discharged into the mouth. 
The others, which are poured into the intestine only, have various 
names: the two principal ones are the juices of the gland called the 
pancreas, and bile, a product of another very large gland named the 
liver. 
While the digested aliment is traversing its canal, that portion of 
it which is fitted for nutrition, called the chyle, is absorbed by par- 
ticular vessels styled lacteals, and carried into the veins ; the residue ANIMALIA YERTEBRATA. 
39 
of the nourishment of the parts is also carried into the veins by vess- 
els analogous to these lacteals, and forming with them one same 
system called the lymphatic system. 
The blood which has served to nourish the parts, and which has 
just been renewed by the chyle and lymph, is returned to the heart 
by the veins—but this blood is obliged, either wholly or in part, to 
pass into the organ of respiration, in order to regain its arterial na- 
ture, previous to being again sent through the system by the arteries. 
In the three first classes this respiratory organ consists of lungs, that 
is, a collection of cells into which air penetrates. In Fishes only, 
and in some Reptiles, while young, it consists of branchiae or a series 
of laminae, between which water passes. 
In all the Vertebrata, 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 called 
the spleen, and which, after being united in a trunk called the venae 
porta, is again subdivided at the liver. 
Subdivision of the Vertebrata into Four Classes. 
We have just seen how far vertebrated animals resemble each 
other; they present, however, four great subdivisions or classes, 
characterised by the kind or power of their motions, which depend 
themselves on the quantity of their respiration, inasmuch as it is 
from this respiration that the muscular fibres derive the strength of 
their irritability. 
The quantity of respiration depends upon two agents: the first is 
the relative amount of blood which is poured into the respiratory 
organ in a given instant of time; the second is the relative amount 
of oxygen which enters into the composition of the surrounding 
fluid. The quantity of the former depends upon the disposition of 
the organs of circulation and respiration. 
The organs of the circulation may be double, so that all the 
blood which is brought back from the various parts of the body by 
the veins, is forced to circulate through the respiratory organ, pre- 
vious to resuming its former course through the arteries; or they 
may be simple, so that a part only of the blood is obliged to pass 
through that organ, the remainder returning directly to the bo dy. 
The latter is the case with Reptiles, The quantity of their respi- 40 
ANIMALIA VERTEBRATA. 
ration, and all their qualities which depend on it, vary with the 
amount of blood 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 on by the portion of oxygen it contains, so 
that the quantity of their respiration is perhaps less than that of 
reptiles. 
In the Mammalia the circulation is double, and the aerial respi- 
ration simple, that is, it is performed in the lungs only; their quan- 
tity of respiration is, consequently, 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 element. 
The quantity of respiration in Birds is even superior to that of 
Quadrupeds, not only because they have a double circulation and an 
aerial respiration, but also because they respire by many other cavi- 
ties besides the lungs, the air penetrating throughout their bodies, 
and bathing the branches of the aorta, as well as those of the pul- 
monary artery. 
Hence result the four different kinds of motion for which the four 
classes of vertebrated animals are more particularly designed: 
Quadrupeds, in which the quantity of respiration is moderate, are 
generally formed to walk and run, both motions being characterized 
by precision and vigour; Birds, which have more of it, possess the 
muscular strength and lightness requisite for flight; Reptiles, where 
it is diminished, are condemned to creep, and many of them pass a 
portion of their lives in a kind of torpor; Fishes, in fine, to execute 
their motions, require to be supported in a fluid whose specific gra- 
vity is nearly as great as their own. 
All the circumstances of organization peculiar to each of these 
four classes, and those especially which regard motion and the ex- 
ternal sensations, have a necessary relation with these essential 
characters. 
The Mammalia, however, have particular characters in their 
viviparous mode of production, in the mammae by which they suckle 
their young, &c. 
The other classes, on the contrary, are oviparous, and if we com- 
pare them to the first, we shall find such numerous points of resem- 
blance as announce a peculiar system of organization in the great 
general plan of the Vertebrata. MAMMALIA. 
41 
CLASS I. 
MAMMALIA. 
The Mammalia are placed at the head of the animal kingdom, 
not only because it is the class to which Man himself belongs, 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 combined in order 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 designed 
in general for walking on the earth; but with vigorous and continued 
sieps. The forms of the articulations of their skeleton are, conse- 
quently, strictly defined, which determines all their motions with the 
most rigorous precision. 
Some of them, however, by means of limbs considerably elon- 
gated, and extended membranes, raise themselves in the air; others 
have them so shortened, that they can move with facility in water 
only, though this does not deprive them of the general characters of 
the class. 
The upper jaw, in all these animals, is fixed to the cranium; 
the lower is formed of two pieces only, articulated by a projecting 
condyle to a fixed temporal bone; the neck consists of seven verte- 
brae, one single species excepted which has nine; the anterior ribs 
are attached before, by cartilage, to a sternum consisting of several 
vertical pieces; their anterior extremity commences in a shoulder- 
blade that is not articulated, but simply suspended in the flesh, often 
resting on the sternum by means of an intermediate bone, called a 
clavicle. This extremity is continued by an arm, a fore-arm, and a 
hand, the latter being composed of two ranges of small bones called 
the carpus, of another range called the metacarpus, and of the 
fingers, each of which consists of two or three bones, termed pha- 
langes. 
With the exception of the Cetacea, the first part of the posterior 
extremity, in all animals of this class, is fixed to the spine, forming 42 
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 
anterior part of the girdle, and the ischium, the posterior. At the 
point of union of these three bones is situated 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 termi- 
nated by parts similar to those of the hand, i. e. by a tarsus, meta- 
tarsus and toes. 
The head of the mammalia is always articulated by two condyles, 
with the atlas, the first vertebra of the neck. 
The brain is always composed of two hemispheres, united by a 
medullary layer, called the corpus callosum, containing the ventri- 
cles, and enveloping four pairs of tubercles, named the corpora 
striata or striated bodies, the thalami nervorum opticorum or beds 
of the optic nerves, and the nates, and testes. Between the optic 
beds is a third ventricle, which communicates with a fourth under 
the cerebellum, the crura of which always form a transverse promi- 
nence under the medulla oblongata, called the pons Varolii, or 
bridge of Varolius. 
The eye, invariably lodged in its orbit, is protected by two lids 
and a vestige of a third, and has its crystalline fixed by the ciliary 
processes—its sclerotic is simply cellular. 
The ear always contains a cavity called the tympanum, or drum, 
which communicates with the mouth by the 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 incus 
or anvil, malleus or hammer, the os orbiculare or circular bone, and 
the stapes or stirrup; a vestibule, on the entrance of which rests the 
stapes, and which communicates with three semicircular canals; and 
finally, a cochlea, which terminates by one canal in the vestibule, and 
by the other in the tympanum. 
Their cranium is subdivided into three portions; the anterior is 
formed by the two frontal and ethmoidal bones, the middle by the 
two ossa parietalia and the os ethmoides, and the posterior by the 
os occipitis. Between the ossa parietalia, the sphenoidalis and the 
os occipitis, are interposed the two temporal bones, part of which 
belong properly to the face. 
In the foetus, the occipital bone is divided into four parts: the sphe- 
noidal into two halves, which are again subdivided into three pairs 
of lateral wings; the temporal into three, one of which serves to 
MAMMALIA. MAMMALIA. 
43 
complete the cranium, the second to close the labyrinth of the ear, 
the third to form the parietes of the tympanum, &c. These bony 
portions, still more numerous in the earliest period of the foetal ex- 
istence, are united more or less promptly, according to the species, 
and the bones themselves finally become consolidated in the adult. 
Their face consists of the two maxillary bones, between which pass 
the nostrils; the two intermaxillaries are situated before, and the two 
ossa palati behind them; between these descends the vomer, a bony 
process of the os ethmoides; at the entrance of the nasal canal are 
placed the ossa nassi; to its external parietes adhere the inferior 
turbinated bones, the superior ones which occupy its upper and pos- 
terior portion belonging to the os ethmoides. The jugal or cheek 
bone unites the maxillary to the temporal bone on each side, and 
frequently to the os frontis; finally, the os unguis, and pars plana of 
the ethmoid bone occupy the internal angle of the orbit, and some- 
times a part of the cheek. In the embryo state these bones also 
are much more subdivided. 
Their tongue is always fleshy, connected with a bone called the 
hyoides, 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 enclosed, without any adhesion, in 
a cavity formed by the ribs and diaphragm and lined by the pleura; 
the organ of voice is always at the upper extremity of the trachea; 
a fleshy curtain, called the velum palati, establishes a direct com- 
munication between their larynx and nasal canal. 
Their residence on the surface of the earth rendering them less 
exposed to the alternations of cold and heat, their tegument (hair) 
is but moderately thick, and in such as inhabit warm climates, even 
that is rare. 
The Cetacea, which live exclusively in water, are the only ones 
that are altogether deprived of it. 
The young are nourished for some time after birth by a fluid (milk) 
peculiar to animals of this class, which is produced by the mammae 
at the time of parturition, and continues to be so as long as is necess- 
ary. 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. 44 
MAMMALIA. 
Division of the Mammalia into Orders. 
The variable characters which form 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 manduca- 
tion, which determine the nature of their aliment, and are all closely 
connected, not only with every thing relative to the function of di- 
gestion, but also with a multitude of other differences relating even 
to their intelligence. 
The degree of perfection of the organs of touch is estimated by 
the number and the pliability 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 completely envelopes the end of the toe, blunts its 
sensibility, and renders the foot incapable of seizing. 
The opposite extreme is when a nail, formed of one single lamina, 
covers only one of the faces of the extremity of the finger, leaving 
the other possessed of all its delicacy. 
The nature of the food is known by the grinders, to the form of 
which the articulation of the jaws universally corresponds. 
To cut flesh, grinders are required as trenchant as a saw, and 
jaws fitted like scissars, having no other motion than a vertical one. 
For bruising roots or grains, flat-crowned grinders are necessary, 
and jaws that have a lateral motion; in order that inequalities may 
always exist on the crown of these teeth, it is also requisite that 
their substance be composed 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, inasmuch as their feet preclude the possibility of 
their seizing a living prey. 
Animals with unguiculated fingers were 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 pliability 
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 
finger for the purpose of seizing minute objects, constituting what is 
properly called a hand; a faculty which is carried to its highest per- MAMMALIA. 
45 
fection in man, in whom the whole anterior extremity is free and 
capable of prehension. 
These various combinations, which strictly determine the nature 
of the different mammalia, have given rise to the following orders: 
ORDER I. 
BlMANA(l). 
Man forms but one genus, and that genus the only one of its 
order. As his history is the more directly interesting to ourselves, 
and forms the point of comparison to which we refer that of other 
animals, we will speak of it more in detail. 
We will rapidly sketch every thing that is peculiar in each of 
his organic systems, amidst all that he shares in common with other 
Mammalia; we will examine the advantages he derives from these 
peculiarities over other species; we will describe the principal varie- 
ties of his race and their distinguishing characters, and finally point 
out the natural order in which his individual and social faculties are 
developed. 
Peculiar Conformation of Man. 
The foot of Man is very different from that of the Monkey; it is large; 
the leg bears vertically upon it; the heel is expanded beneath; the 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 be opposed to them. 
This foot, then, is peculiarly well adapted to support the body; but cannot 
be used for seizing or climbing, and as the hands are not calculated for 
walking, Man is the only true bimanous and biped animal. 
The whole body of Man is arranged with a view to a vertical position. 
Were he to desire it, Man could not, with convenience, walk on all fours; 
his short and nearly inflexible feet, and his long thigh, would bring the 
knee to the ground; his widely separated shoulders and his arms, too far 
extended from the median line, would ill support the upper portion of 
his body. The great indented muscle, which, in quadrupeds, suspends, 
as in a girth, the body between the scapulae, is smaller in Man than in any 
one among them. The head is also heavier, both from the magnitude of 
the brain and the smallness of the sinuses or cavities of the bones; and yet 
(1) Animals with two hands. 46 
MAMMALIA. 
the means of supporting it are weaker, for he has neither a cervical ligament, 
nor are his vertebra so arranged as to prevent their flexure forwards; the 
x’esult of this would be, that he could only keep his head in the same line 
with the spine, and then his eyes and mouth being directed towards the 
earth, he could not see before him;—in the erect position, on the contrary, 
the arrangement of these organs is every way perfect. 
The arteries which are sent to his brain, not being subdivided as in many 
quadrupeds, and the blood requisite for so voluminous an organ being car- 
ried into it with too much violence, frequent apoplexies would be the con- 
sequence of a horizontal position. 
Man, then, is formed for an erect position only. He thus preserves the 
entire use of his hands for the arts, while his organs of sense are most 
favourably situated for observation. 
These hands, which derive such advantages from their liberty, receive 
as many more from their structure. The thumb, longer in proportion than 
that of the Monkey, increases its facility of seizing small objects. All the 
fingers, the annularis excepted, have separate movements, a faculty possess- 
ed by no other animal, not even by the Monkey. The nail, covering one 
side only of the extremity of the finger, acts as a support to the touch, 
without depriving it of an atom of its delicacy. The arms to which these 
hands are attached, are strongly and firmly connected by the large scapula, 
the strong clavicle, &c. 
Man, so highly favoured as to dexterity, is not at all so with respect to 
force. His swiftness in running is greatly inferior to that of other animals 
of his size. Having neither projecting jaws, nor salient canine teeth, nor 
claws, he is destitute of offensive weapons; and the sides and upper parts 
of his body being naked, unprovided even with hair, he is absolutely with- 
out defensive ones. Of all animals, he is also the longest in attaining the 
power necessaiy to provide for himself. 
This very weakness, however, is but one advantage more—it compels 
him to have recourse to that intelligence within, for which he is so emi- 
nently conspicuous. 
No quadruped approaches him in the magnitude and convolutions of the 
hemispheres of the brain, that is, in the part of this organ which is the 
pi’incipal instrument of the intellectual operations. The posterior portion 
of the same organ extends backwards; so as to form a second covering to 
the cerebellum; the vei*y form of his ci’anium aixnounces this magnitude of 
the brain, while the smallness of his face shows how slightly that portion of 
the nervous system which influences the external senses predominates in 
him. 
These external sensations, moderate as they all are in Man, are neverthe- 
less extremely delicate and well balanced. 
His two eyes are directed fonvards; he does not see on two sides at once, 
like many quadrupeds, which produces more unity in the result of his sight, 
and concentrates his attention more closely on sensations of this kind. The 
ball and iris of his eye vary but little; this l’estrains the activity of his sight 
to a limited distance, and a determined degree of light. His external ear, BIMAN A. 
47 
possessing- but little mobility or extent, does not increase the intensity of 
sounds, and yet, of all animals, he best distinguishes the various degrees of 
intonation. His nostrils, more complicated than those of the Monkey, are 
less so than those of all other genera; and yet he appears to be the only 
animal whose sense of smell is sufficiently delicate to be affected by un- 
pleasant odours. Delicacy of smell must have some influence on that of 
taste, and independently of this Man must have some advantage in this re- 
spect over other animals, those at least wrhose tongues are covered with 
scales. Lastly, the nicety of his tact results, both from the delicacy of his 
teguments, and the absence of all insensible parts, as well as from the form 
of his hand, which is better adapted than that of any other animal for suiting 
itself to every little superficial inequality. 
Man is pre-eminently distinguished in the organ of his voice; of all the 
Mammalia, he alone possesses the faculty of articulating sounds, its probable 
causes being the form of his mouth and the great mobility of his lips. 
From this results his most invaluable mode of communication, for of all the 
signs which can be conveniently employed for the transmission of ideas, 
variations of sound are those which, can be perceived at the greatest dis- 
tance, and are the most extensive in their sphere of operation. 
The whole of his structure, even to the heart and great vessels, appears 
to have been framed with a view to a vertical position. The heart is placed 
obliquely, on the diaphragm, and its point inclines to the left, thereby oc- 
casioning a distribution of the aorta, differing from that of most quadrupeds. 
The natural food of man, judging from his structure, appears to consist 
of the fruits, roots, and other succulent parts of vegetables; his hands offer 
him every facility for gathering them; his short, and but moderately strong 
jaws on the one hand, and his canini being equal in length to the remaining 
teeth, and his tubercular molares on the other, would allow him neither to 
feed on grass nor to devour flesh, were these aliments not previously pre- 
pared 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 infinite multiplication of his species. 
To complete the hasty sketch of the anatomical structure of Man requi- 
site for this introduction, we will add, that he has thirty-two vertebra;, of 
which seven belong to the neck, twelve to the back, five to the loins, five 
to the sacrum, and three to the coccyx. Seven pairs of his ribs are united 
with the sternum by elongated cartilages, and are called true ribs; the five 
following pairs are denominated false ones. His adult cranium is formed 
of eight bones; an occipitalis, two ossa temporis, two parietalia, and the 
frontal, ethmoidal and sphenoidal bones. The bones of his face are four- 
teen in number, two maxillaries, two ossa malae, each of which joins the 
temporal to the maxillary bone of its own side by a kind of handle called 
the zygomatic arch; two nasal bones, two ossa palati behind the palate, a 
vomer between the nostrils, two turbinated bones of the nose in the nos- 
trils, two lachrymals (unguis) in the internal angles of the orbits and the 48 
MAMMALIA. 
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 tubercu- 
lated molares, five on each side. At the extremity of the Spine of his sca- 
pula, is a tuberosity called the acromion, to which the clavicle is attached, 
and over its articulation is a point called the coracoid process with which 
certain muscles are connected. The radius revolves upon the ulna, owing 
to the mode of its articulation with the humerus. The carpus has eight 
bones, four in each range; the tarsus has seven; those of the remaining 
parts of the hand and foot may be easily counted by the number of fingers 
and toes. 
Scarcely has the body gained the full period of its growth in height, be- 
fore it begins to increase in bulk; fat accumulates in the cellular tissue, the 
different vessels become gradually obstructed, the solids become rigid, and, 
after a life more or less long, more or less agitated, more or less painful, 
old age arrives with decrepitude, decay, and death. Man rarely lives be- 
yond a hundred years, and most of the species, either from disease, acci- 
dent, or old age, perish long before that term. 
The child needs the assistance of its mother much longer than her milk, 
from this it obtains an education both moral and physical, and a mutual 
attachment is created that is fervent and durable. The nearly equal num- 
ber of the two sexes, the difficulty of supporting more than one wife, when 
wealth does not supply the want of power, all go to prove that monogamy 
is the mode of union most natural to our species. From the long period of 
infantile weakness springs domestic subordination, and the order of society 
in general, as the young people 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 insu- 
lated 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, he appears to possess nothing resembling instinct, no 
regular habit of industry produced by innate ideas; his knowledge is the 
result of his sensations and of his observation, or of those of his predecess- 
ors. Transmitted by speech, increased by meditation, and applied to his 
necessities and his enjoyments, they have originated all the arts of life. 
Language and letters, by preserving acquired knowledge, are a source of 
indefinite perfection to his species. It is thus he has acquired ideas, and 
made all nature contribute to his wants. 
There are very different degrees of development, however, in Man. 
The first hordes, compelled to live by fishing and hunting, 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 
Physical and Moral Development of Man. 49 
destroyed the game, advanced but slowly. Their arts were limited to the 
construction of huts and canoes, to covering themselves with skins and the 
fabrication of arrows and nets. They observed such stars only as directed 
them in their journeys, and some few natural objects whose properties 
were of use to them. They domesticated the Dog, simply because he had 
a natural inclination for their own 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 also some leisure, which 
they employed in extending the sphere of their acquirements. Some in- 
dustry was then employed in the construction of dwellings and the making 
of clothes: the idea of property was admitted, and consequently that of 
barter, as well as wealth and difference of conditions, those fruitful sources 
of the noblest emulation and the vilest passions: but the necessity of search- 
ing for fresh pastures, and of obeying the changes of the seasons, still 
doomed them to a wandering life, and limited their improvements to a very 
narrow sphere. 
The multiplication of the human species, and its improvement in the arts 
and sciences, have 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 ne- 
cessary occupations, at4the same time that the hope of acquiring, by industry, 
a comfortable existence for self and posterity, has given a new springto emu- 
lation. The discovery of a representative of property or a circulating me- 
dium, by facilitating exchanges and rendering fortunes more independent 
and susceptible of being increased, has carried this emulation to its highest 
degree, but by a necessary consequence it has also equally increased the 
vices of effeminacy and the furies of ambition. 
The natural propensity to reduce every thing to general principles, and 
to search for the causes of every phenomenon, has produced reflecting men, 
in every stage of society, who have added new ideas to those already 
obtained, nearly all of whom, while knowledge was confined to the few, 
endeavoured to convert their intellectual superiorityinto the means of domi- 
nation, by exaggerating their own merit, and disguising the poverty of their 
knowledge by the propagation of superstitious ideas. 
An evil still more irremediable, is the abuse of physical power: now that 
man only can injure man, he is continually seeking to do so, and is the only 
animal upon earth that is forever at war with his own species. Savages 
fight for a forest, and herdsmen for a pasture, and as often as they can, 
break in upon the cultivators of the earth to rob them of the fruits of their 
long and painful labours. Even civilized nations, far from being contented 
with their blessings, pour out each other’s blood for the prerogatives of 
pride, or the monopoly of trade. Hence, the necessity for governments to 
direct the national wars, and to repress or reduce to regular forms the 
quarrels of individuals. 
BIMANA. 50 
MAMMALIA. 
The social condition of man has been restrained, or advanced by circum- 
stances more or less favourable. 
The glacial climates of the north of both continents, and the impenetrable 
forests of America are still inhabited by the savage hunter or fisherman. The 
immense sandy and salt plains of central Asia and Africa are covered with a 
pastoral people, and innumerable herds. These half civilized hordes as- 
semble at the call of every enthusiastic chief, and rush like a torrent on 
the cultivated countries that surround them, in which they establish them- 
selves, but to be weakened by luxury, and in their turn to become the prey 
of others. This is the true cause of that despotism which has always crush- 
ed and destroyed the industry of Persia, India, and China. 
Mild climates, soils naturally irrigated and rich in vegetables, are the 
cradles of agriculture and civilization, and when so situated as to be shel- 
tered from the incursions of barbarians, every species of talent is excited; 
such were (the first in Europe) Italy and Greece, and such is, at present, 
nearly all that happy portion of the earth. 
Varieties of the Human Species. 
Three races appear very distinct—the Caucasian or white, the Mongolian 
or yellow, and the Ethiopian or negro. 
The Caucasian, to which we’belong, is distinguished by the beauty of the 
oval formed by his head, varying in complexion and the colour of the hair. 
To this variety, the most highly civilized nations, and those which have 
generally held all others in subjection, are indebted for their origin. 
The Mongolian is known by his high cheek bones, flat visage, narrow 
and oblique eyes, straight black hair, scanty beard and olive complexion. 
Great empires have been established by this race in China and Japan, and 
their conquests been extended to this side of the Great Desert. In civiliza- 
tion, however, it has always remained stationary. 
The Negro race is confined to the south of mount Atlas; it is marked by 
a black complexion; crisped or woolly hair, compressed cranium, and a flat 
nose. The projection of the lower parts of the face, and the thick lips, 
evidently approximate it to the monkey tribe; the hordes of which it con- 
sists have always remained in the most complete state of utter barbarism. 
The race from which we are descended has been called Caucasian, be- 
cause tradition and the filiation of nations seem to refer its origin to that 
group of mountains situated between the Caspian and Black seas, whence, 
as from a centre, it has been extended like the radii of a circle. Various 
nations in the vicinity of Caucasus, the Georgians and Circassians, are still 
considered the handsomest on earth. The principal ramifications of this race 
may be distinguished by the analogies of language. The Armenian or Sy- 
rian branch, stretching to the south, produced the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, 
the hitherto untameable Arabs, who, after Mahomet, were near becoming 
masters of the world; the Phenicians, Jews and Abyssinians, which were Ara- 
bian colonies; and most probably the Egyptian. It is from this branch, BIMANA. 
51 
always inclined to mysticism, that have sprung the most widely extended 
forms of religion—the arts and literature have sometimes flourished among 
its nations, but always enveloped in a strange disguise and figurative style. 
The Indian, German, and Pelasgic branch is much more extended, and 
was much earlier divided, notwithstanding which, the most numerous affini- 
ties may be observed 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 mother 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 other dialects; and finally, 
the Sclavonian, from which spring those of the north-east, the Russian, 
Polish, Bohemian, &c. 
It is by this great and venerable branch of the Caucasian stock, that 
philosophy, the arts, and the sciences have been carried to the greatest 
perfection, and remained in the keeping of the nations which compose it 
for more than three thousand years. 
It was preceded in Europe by the Celts, who came from the north, whose 
tribes, once very numerous, are now confined to its most eastern extremity, 
and by the Cantabrians, who passed from Africa into Spain, now confound- 
ed with the many nations whose posterity have intermingled in that pen- 
insula. 
The ancient Persians originate from the same source as the Indians, and 
their descendants to the present hour bear great marks of resemblance to 
the people of Europe. 
The predatory tribes of the Scythian and Tartar branch, extending at 
first to the north and north-east, always wandering over the immense plains 
of those countries, returned only to devastate the happier abodes of their 
more civilized brethren. The Scythians, who, at so gemote 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, all swarmed from this prolific branch. The Finlanders and Hun- 
garians are tribes of the same division, which have strayed among the 
Sclavonic and Teutonic nations. Their original country, to the north and 
north-east of the Caspian sea still contains inhabitants who have the same 
origin, and speak similar languages, but mingled with other petty nations, 
variously descended, and of different languages. The Tartars remained 
unmixed longer than the others in the country included between the mouth 
of the Danube to beyond the Irtisch, from which they so long menaced 
Russia, and where they have finally been subjugated by her. The Mon- 
goles, however, have mingled their blood with that of those they conquered, 
many traces of which may still be found among the inhabitants of lesser 
Tartary. 
It is to the east of this Tartar branch of the Caucasian race that the Mon- 52 
MAMMALIA. 
golian race begins, whence it extends to the eastern ocean. Its branches, 
the Calmucs, &c. still wandering shepherds, are constantly traversing the 
desert. Thrice did their ancestors under Attila, Genghis, and Tamerlane, 
spread far the terror of their name. The Chinese are the earliest and 
most civilized branch not only of this race, to which they belong, but of all 
the nations upon earth. A third branch, the Mantchures, recently con- 
quered, 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 be considered, in a great measure, as originating from this race; 
and such also is esteemed the fact, with regard to the original inhabitants 
of various islands of that Archipelago. With the exception of a few Chi- 
nese literati; the different nations of the Mongoles are universally addicted 
to Buddism, or the religion of Fo. 
The origin of this great race appears to have been in the mountains of At- 
lai, but it is impossible to trace the filiation of its different branches with 
the same certainty as we have done those of the Caucasian. The history 
of these wandering nations is as fugitive as their establishments, and that of 
the Chinese, confined exclusively to their own empire, gives us nothing 
satisfactory with respect to their neighbours. The affinities of their lan- 
guages 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, are somewhat allied to the Chinese, at least in their mo- 
nosyllabic structure, and the people who speak them have features some- 
what resembling other Mongoles. The south of this peninsula, however, is 
inhabited by Malays, whose forms approximate them much nearer to the In- 
dians, whose race and language are extended over all the coasts of the islands 
of the Indian Archipelago. The innumerable little islands of the southern 
ocean are also peopled by a handsome race, nearly allied to the Indians, 
whose language is very similar to the Malay; in the interior of the largest 
of these islands, particularly in the wilder portions of it, is another race 
of men, with black complexions, crisped hair, and negro faces, called Al- 
fourous. On the coast of New Guinea, and in the neighbouring islands, 
we find other negroes, nearly similar to those of the eastern coast of Africa, 
named Papuas; to the latter, are generally referred the people of Van-Die- 
men’s land, and those of New Holland to the Alfourous. 
These Malays, and these Papuas are not easily referable to either of the 
three great races of which we have been speaking, but can the former be 
clearly distinguished from their neighbours, the Caucasian Hindoos and the 
Mongolian Chinese? As for us, we confess we cannot discover any suffi- 
cient characteristics in them for that purpose. Are the Papuas Negroes, 
which may formerly have strayed into the Indian ocean ? We posess neither 
figures nor descriptions sufficiently precise to enable us to answer this 
question. 
The northern inhabitants of both continents, the Samoiedes, the Lap- 
landers, and the Esquimaux, spring, according to some, from the Mongolian BIMAN A. 
53 
race, while others assert that they are mere degenerate offsets from the 
Scythian and Tartar branch of the Caucasian stock. 
We have not yet been able to refer the Americans to any of the races of 
the eastern continent; still, they have no precise nor constant character 
which can entitle them to be considered as a particular one. Their copper 
coloured complexion is not sufficient; their generally black hair and scanty 
beard would induce us to refer them to the Mongoles, if their defined fea- 
tures, projecting nose, large and open eye, 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 analogy has as yet been 
obtained, either with each other, or with those of the old world. 
ORDER II. 
QUADRUMANA(l). 
Independently of the anatomical details which distinguish it from 
Man, and which have been given, this family differs from our spe- 
cies in a very remarkable way. All the animals belonging to it 
have the toes of the hind feet free and opposable to the others, and 
the toes are all as long and flexible asfingei’s. In consequence of 
this, the whole species climb trees with the greatest facility, while it 
is only with pain and difficulty they can stand and walk upright; their 
foot then resting on its outer edge only, and their narrow pelvis 
being unfavourable to an equilibrium. They all have intestines 
very similar to those of man; the eyes directed forwards. The brain 
has three lobes on each side, the posterior of which covers the cere- 
bellum, and the temporal fossae are separated from the orbits by a 
bony partition. In every thing else, however, they gradually lessen 
in resemblance to him, by assuming a muzzle more and more elon- 
gated, a tail and a gait more like that of quadrupeds. Notwithstand- 
ing this, the freedom of their arms and the complication of their 
hands allow them all to perform many of the actions of man as well 
as to imitate his gestures. 
They have long been divided into two genera, the Monkeys and 
the Lemurs, which, by the multiplication of secondary forms, have 
now become two small families, between which we must place a 
(1) Animals with four hands. 54 
MAMMALIA. 
third genus that of the Ouistitis, as it is not conveniently referable to 
the one or the other. 
Simia, Lin. 
The Monkeys are all quadrumana, which have four straight incisors in 
each jaw, and flat nails on all the extremities; two characters which ap- 
proximate them them more nearly to Man, than the subsequent genera; 
their molars have also blunt tubercles like ours, and their food consists 
chiefly of fruits. Their canine teeth, however, being longer than the rest, 
supply them with weapons we do not possess, and which require a hollow 
in the opposite jaw, to receive them when the mouth is closed. 
They may be divided, from the number of their molar teeth, into two 
principal subgenera, which are again subdivided into numerous groups. 
The 
Or those of the eastern continent, have the same number of grinders as 
Man, but otherwise differing from each other by characters, which have 
formed the grounds of the following subdivisions. The 
Monkeys, properly so called, 
The Ourangs(l), are the only monkeys of the ancient continent which 
have no callus on the seat. Their nose is not prominent, they have no 
cheek-pouches, nor a vestige of a tail. Some of them have arms long 
enough to reach the ground when standing—their legs, on the contrary, 
are very short. 
S. satyrus, L. (The Ourang-Outang.) Of all animals, this Ourang is 
considered as approaching most nearly to Man in the form of hishead, height 
of forehead, and volume of brain; but the exaggerated descriptions of some 
authors respecting this resemblance, are partly to be attributed to the fact 
of their being drawn from young individuals only; and there is every reason 
to believe, that with age, their muzzle becomes much more prominent. 
The body is covered with coarse red hail*, the face bluish, and the hinder 
thumbs very short compared with the toes. His lips are susceptible of a 
singular elongation, and possess great mobility. His history has been 
much disfigured by mingling it with that of the other great monkeys, that 
of the Chimpanse in particular. After a strict and critical examination, I 
have ascertained that the Ourang-Outang inhabits the most eastern coun- 
tries only, such as Malabar, Cochin China, and particularly the great island 
of Borneo, whence he has been occasionally brought to Europe by the way 
of Java. When young, and such as he appears to us in his captivity, he is 
a mild and gentle animal, easily rendered tame and affectionate, which is 
Simia, Erxl.—Pithecus, Geoffr. 
(1) Orang is a Malay word signifying1 reasonable being, which is applied 
to man, the ourangoutang, and the elephant. Outang means wild, or of the 
woods; hence, Wild Man of the Woods. QUADRUMANA. 
55 
enabled by his conformation to imitate many of our actions, but whose 
intelligence does not appear to be as great as is imported, not much sur- 
passing even that of the Dog. 
There is a monkey in Borneo, hitherto known only by his skeleton, called 
the Pongo, which so closely resembles the Ourang-Outang in the propor- 
tions of all his parts, that we are tempted to consider him an adult—if not 
of the species of the Ourang-Outang, at least of one very nearly allied to it. 
/He is the largest monkey known, and in size is nearly equal to Man. 
The arms of the remaining Ourangs reach only to the knee. They have 
no forehead, and the cranium retreats from the crest of the eye-brow. The 
name of Chimpaxses might be exclusively applied to them. 
S. Troglodytes, L. (The Chimpans6) is covered with black or brown hair. 
Could any reliance be placed on the accounts of travellers, this animal 
must be equal or superior to man in stature, but no part of it hitherto seen 
in Europe indicates this extraordinary size. It inhabits Guinea and Congo, 
lives in troops, constructs huts of leaves and sticks, arms itself with clubs 
and stones, and thus repulses men and elephants. Naturalists have gene- 
rally confounded it with the Ourang-Outang. When domesticated he soon 
learns to walk, sit, and eat like a man. We now separate the Gibbons 
from the Ourangs. 
Hieobates, Illig. 
The Gibbons have the long arms of the true Ourangs, and the low fore- 
head of the Chimpans£, along with the callous seat of the Guenons, differ- 
ing however from the latter in having no tail or cheek-pouch. They all 
inhabit the most remote parts of India. 
S. lar. L. (The Black Gibbon) is covered with coarse black hairs, and 
has a whitish circle round his face. There are several other species. 
Cercopithecus, Erxl. 
The long-tailed monkeys haye a moderately prominent muzzle (of 60°); 
cheek-pouches; tail; callosities on the seat; the last of the inferior molars 
with four tubercles like the rest. Numerous species, of every variety of 
size and colour, abound in Africa, live in troops, and do much damage to 
the gardens and fields under cultivation. They are easily tamed. 
Simia rubra, Gm. (The Patras.) Red fawn colour above, whitish 
below; a black band over the eyes, sometimes surmounted with white— 
from Senegal. The 
Differs from the Long-tailed Monkeys, by having an additional small 
tubercle on the last of the inferior molares. These animals inhabit eastern 
countries, and their long limbs and very long tail give them a very peculiar 
appearance. Their muzzle projects very little more than that of the Gib- 
bons, and like them, they have callosities on the seat. They appear, 
Semnopithectjs, Fred. Cuv. 56 
MAMMALIA. 
likewise, to have no cheek-pouches; their larynx is furnished with a sac. 
The one longest known is the 
Sim. nemxus, L. Remarkable for its lively and varied colouring; body 
and arms grey; hands, thighs and feet black; legs of a lively red; the tail 
and a large triangular spot upon the loins, white; face orange; he has a 
black and red collar, and tufts of yellow hairs on the sides of the head; 
inhabits Cochin China. 
All the animals of this denomination have a fifth tubercle on their last 
molars, and callosities and cheek pouches like a Guenon. The limbs are 
shorter and thicker than in a Semnopithecus; the muzzle more projecting, 
and the superciliary ridge more inflated than in either the one or the other. 
Though docile when young, they become unmanageable when old. They 
all have a sac which communicates with the larynx under the thyroid car- 
tilage, and which, when they cry out, becomes filled with air. 
Sim. silenus and leonina, L. (The Maned Macaque.) Black; ash-col- 
oured mane and whitish beard which surround the head. From Ceylon. 
Some of the Macaques are distinguished by a short tail. 
M. rhesus. (The Pig-tailed Baboon.) Greyish; a fawn-coloured tinge 
on the head and crupper, sometimes on the back; face flesh-colour; tail 
reaching below the hamstrings. From Bengal. 
Macacos, or Macaques. 
Inuus, Cuv. 
The Inui are mere Macaques, which have a small tubercle in lieu of a 
tail. 
Cynocrphaetts, C.(l) 
The Dog headed-Monkeys, together with the teeth, cheek-pouches and 
callosities of the Inuus, Cuv., have an elongated muzzle truncated at the 
end, in which the nostrils are pierced, giving it a greater resemblance to 
that of a dog than of any other monkey; their tail varies in length. They 
are generally large, ferocious and dangerous animals, found mostly in 
Africa. 
C. papio, Desm. (The Guinea Baboon.) Yellow, vergingmore or less 
on a brown; tufts of the cheeks fawn-coloured; face black; tail long. They 
are found of various sizes, owing probably to the difference of age. When 
full grown, frightful from their ferocity and brutality. From Guinea. The 
Of all the Monkeys, have the longest muzzle (30°); their tail is very short; 
they are brutal and ferocious; nose as in the preceding. 
Sim. maimon and mormon, Lin. (The Mandrill.) Greyish brown, in- 
Mandru-is, 
(1) Cynocephalus, dog’s head. QUADRUMANA. 
57 
dining to olive above; cheeks blue and furrowed. The nose in the adult 
male becomes red, particularly at the end, where it is scarlet, which has 
been the cause of its being deemed, erroneously, a distinct species. It is 
difficult to imagine a more hideous or extraordinary animal. He nearly at- 
tains the size of a man, and is a terror to the negroes of Guinea. Many 
details of his history have been mixed up with that of the Cliimpanse, and 
consequently with that of the Ourang-Outang. 
Have four grinders more than the others—thirty-six in all; the tail long; 
no cheek-pouches; seat hairy; no callosities; nostrils opening on the 
sides of the nose, and not underneath. All the great Quadrumana of 
America belong to this division. 
The tails of some of them are prehensile—that is, their extremity can 
twist round a body with sufficient force to seize it as with a hand. They 
are more particularly designated by the name of Sapajous. 
At their head may be placed the Alouattes (Mycetes, Illig.), which are 
distinguished by a pyramidal head, the upper jaw of which descends much 
below the cranium, as 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 the larynx, and gives to their voice 
astonishing power, and a most frightful sound. Hence their name of 
Howling Monkeys. The prehensile portion of the tail is naked beneath. 
There are several species, whose distinguishing characters are not yet 
well ascertained, for the colour of the fur on which they are established 
varies with the age and sex. 
Simla seniculus, Buff. (Red Howling Monkey.) It is often sent to us 
from the forests of Guiana, where it lives in troops; size that of a large fox; 
colour, a reddish chesnut, rather deeper at the head and tail. 
The Common Sapajous have the head flat, and the projection of the 
muzzle very moderate—facial angle 60°. 
In some of them, the anterior thumbs are either totally, or nearly so, hid- 
den under the skin, and the prehensile part of the tail naked beneath. M. 
Geoff, has formed them into a genus by the name of Ateles. 
The Monkeys of America 
Lagothrix, Geoff.—Gastrimargus, Spix. 
Head round, a thumb like the Alouattes; tail partly naked. Such are the 
L. Humboldii, Geoff., the Capparo, and the Grison or the Silver-haired 
Monkey; Monkeys from the interior of South America, said to be remark- 
able gluttons. 
The other Sapajous have a round head, distinct thumbs, and the tail hairy, 
though prehensile. The species are more numerous than those of the 
Alouatte, and are characterised with nearly as much difficulty. 
Some of them have the hairs on the forehead of a uniform length, such 
as the 
Sim. appella, L. (The Sajou); and the S- capucina, L. (The Capuchin.) 58 
MAMMALIA. 
Both of them of different browns; in the first, the circumference of the face 
is blackish; in the second it is whitish; but the shade of colour in all the 
rest of their bodies varies between a brownisli black and a fawn-colour, 
sometimes even a white. The shoulders and breast are however generally 
lighter and the calotte and hands darker. 
Others, again, have the hairs of the forehead so disposed as to form a 
kind of aigrette, such as the 
Sim. fatuellus, Gm. (The Horned Sajou.) This animal has a tuft of 
black hairs on each side of the forehead. 
The disposition of these Monkeys is mild and gentle, their motions quick 
and light, and they are easily tamed. Their name of Weeping Monkeys is 
derived from their soft plaintive voice. 
In the Saimibi the tail is depressed, and almost ceases to be prehensile; 
the head is very much flattened; in the interorbitar partition of the skeleton 
there is a membranous space. There is only one known; the 
Simia sciurea, Buff. (The Siamiri.) Size of a Squirrel; of a yellowish 
grey; fore-arms, legs, and the four extremities of a yellowish fawn-colour; 
end of the nose black. 
Those of the American monkeys, whose tails are not at all prehensile, are 
called S akis. Several of them have that appendage long and tufted, whence 
they have been also termed Fox-tailed Monkeys: their teeth project for- 
wards more than those of the others. They are the Pithecia of Desmarets 
and Illigei'. 
Simia pithecia, L. (The Yarke.) Blackish; circumference of the face 
whitish. 
Spix distinguishes those species whose tails, although tufted, are shorter 
than the body, by the name of BnACHiunus. His Br. Ouaraki has a fawn- 
coloured body; head, neck, arms and feet black. 
In some, also, the Caelitiiiiix, Geoff, or Sagouins, Fr. Cuv. the tail is 
slender, and the teeth do not project. The Saimiri were associated with 
them for a long time, but the head of the Sagouins is higher, and their 
canine teeth much shorter. Such is the 
Call, personata, Geoff. (The Masked Monkey.) A yellowish grey; head 
and hands black. The 
NocTHontrs, Fred. Cuv. 
Only differs from the Sagouins in its great nocturnal eyes, and in the 
ears, which are partly hidden under the hair. One species only is known, 
Nodh. irivirgata, Fred. Cuv. (The Douroucouli.) Ash-coloured above, 
yellowish beneath; a black vertical line on the middle of the forehead, and 
one on each temple. It is a nocturnal animal of South America. 
They are all from Guiana or Brazil. 
A small genus, similar to the Sakis, and for a long time confounded with 
them in the great genus of monkeys. In fact, like the generality of the 
Ouistitis. QUADRUMANA. 
59 
American monkeys, they have the head round; visage flat; nostrils lateral; 
no cheek-pouches, and, like the Sakis in particular, the tail not prehensile. 
They have only, however, twenty grinders, like the monkeys of the east- 
ern continent; all their nails are compressed and pointed, those of the hind 
thumbs excepted, while their anterior ones are so slightly separated from 
the fingers, that it is with hesitation we assign to them the name of quad- 
rumana. They are pretty little creatures, of agreeable forms, and easily 
tamed. 
M. Geoffroy distinguishes the Ouistitis, properly so called, which he 
names Jaccuus and whose peculiar characters are pointed inferior incisors, 
arranged on a curved line, equal to the canines. Their tail is annulated 
and well covered with hairs; the ears generally ornamented with a tuft. 
Sim. jacchus, Lin.; in Paraguay the Titi. (The Common Ouistiti.) Tail 
tolerably well tufted, coloured in rings of brown and white; body greyish- 
brown; two large tufts of white hairs before the ears. From nearly every 
part of South America. 
Lemur, Lin. 
The Lemurs, according to Linnxus, comprehend all the Quadrumana which 
have in either jaw incisors differing in number from four, or at least diffe- 
rently directed from those of the Monkeys. This negative character 
could not fail to embrace very different beings, while it did not even 
unite those which should be combined. Geoffroy has established several 
divisions in this genus which are much better characterized. The four 
thumbs of these animals are well developed and opposable, and the first 
hind finger is armed with a pointed, raised nail; all the other nails are flat. 
Their fur is woolly; and their teeth begin to exhibit sharp tubercles catch- 
ing in each other as in the Insectivora. 
Six incisors in the lower jaw compressed and slanting forwards, four in 
the upper that are straight, the intermediate ones being separated from 
each other; trenchant canines; six molares on each side above, six below; 
ears small. They are very active animals, which, from their pointed heads, 
have been called Fox-nosed Monkeys. Their food is fruit. Their species are 
very numerous, and are only met with in the island of Madagascar, where 
they appear to replace the Monkeys, none of which it is said are to be found 
there. Nearly all the difference that exists between them is in the colour. 
Lemur.—Makis, properly so called. 
Ixdris.—Licuanotus, Illig. 
Teeth like the preceding-, except that there are only four below. 
One species only is known; it has no tail; is three feet high; black; face 
grey; the Lemur Indri of Sonnerat, Voy. I, pi. 86. The inhabitants of 
Madagascar tame and train it like a dog for the chase. 60 
MAMMALIA. 
Loris.—Stenops, Illig. 
The Lazy Monkeys, as they are called, have teeth like the Makis, the 
grinders excepted, the points of which are more acute; the short muzzle 
of a mastiff; body slender; no tail; large eyes; tongue rough. 
They feed on insects, occasionally on small birds and quadrupeds, their 
gait is excessively slow, and mode of life nocturnal. Two species only are 
known, both of them from the East Indies: one is the 
Lem. tardigradus, L. (The Slow Loris, or Sloth of Bengal.) Fawn- 
coloured grey, a brown streak along the back; two of the upper incisors 
sometimes wanting. The second species is called the Slender Loris. 
Galago, Geoff.—Otolincus, Illig. 
The teeth and insectivorous regimen of the preceding; elongated tarsi 
which produce a disproportion in the dimensions of their hind feet; a long 
tufted tail; large membranous ears and great eyes, which announce noc- 
turnal habits. 
There are several species known, all from Africa. It appears also that 
we should refer to them an animal of that country (Lemur potto, Gm.), 
whose gait is said to be as slow as that of the Loris and Sloths. 
Tarsius. 
Elongated tarsi, and all the other details of form belonging to the pre- 
ceding division; but the space between the molars and incisors is occupied 
by several shorter teeth; the middle superior incisors are lengthened and 
resemble canini. The muzzle is very short, and the eyes still larger than 
hose of the Galago. They are nocturnal animals, and feed on insects. 
*• rom the Moluccas. Lemur spectrum, Pall. 
ORDER III. 
CARNARIA(l). 
This order consists of a considerable and varied assemblage of 
unguiculated quadrupeds, possessing like Man and the Quadru- 
mana the three sorts of teeth, but which have no opposable thumb 
to their fore-feet. Their food is animal, and the more exclusively 
so, as their grinders are the more trenchant. Such as have them 
wholly or partly tuberculous, take more or less vegetable aliment, 
(1) Flesh eating- animals. CARNARIA. 
61 
and those in which they are bristled with points live principally on 
Insects. The articulation of their lower jaw, being transversely 
directed and hinge-like, allows of no lateral motion; it can only 
open and shut. 
Although the convolutions of the brain are still tolerably well 
marked, it has no third lobe, nor does it cover the cerebellum any 
more than in the following families; the orbit is not separated from 
the temporal fossa in the skeleton; the cranium is narrowed and the 
zygomatic arches widened and raised, in order to give more strength 
and volume to the muscles of their jaws. Their predominant sense 
is that of smell, and their pituitary membrane is generally spread 
over numerous bony laminae. The fore-arm has still the power of 
revolving in nearly all of them, although with less facility than in 
the Quadrumana, and they never have the thumb of the anterior 
extremities opposed to the other toes. On account of the substan- 
tial nature of the aliment, and to avoid the putrefaction it would 
undergo by remaining too long in an elongated canal, their intes- 
tines are less voluminous. 
There is a great variety in their forms and in the details of their 
organization, which produces analogous differences in their habits, 
and to such an extent as makes it impossible to arrange their ge- 
nera on one line, and compels us to form them into several families, 
which are variously connected by multiplied relations. 
FAMILY I. 
CHEIROPTERA. 
This family still retains some affinity with the Quadrumana. 
Their distinguishing character consists in a fold of the skin, which, 
commencing at the sides of the neck, extends between their four 
feet and toes, supports them in the air, and even enables such of 
them to fly as have their hands sufficiently developed for that pur- 
pose. This disposition required strong clavicles and large scapulae 
to give the necessary solidity to the shoulder, but it was incompati- 
ble with the rotation of the fore-arm, which would have diminished 
the force of the stroke requisite for flight. They have all four great 
canini, but the number of their incisors varies. They have long 
been divided into two genera, founded upon the extent of their or- 62 
MAMMALIA. 
gans of flight. The first of these, however, requires several subdi- 
visions. 
Vespertilio, Lin. 
The arms, fore-arms and fingers of the Bats are excessively lengthened, 
forming, with the membrane that occupies their intervals, true wings, pos- 
sessing even a greater extent of surface than those of Birds—they conse- 
quently fly very high, and with great rapidity. The thickness of their 
pectoral muscles is proportioned to the motions they have to execute, and 
there is a ridge in the middle of the sternum like that of Birds, to which 
they are attached. The thumb is short and armed with a claw, by which 
they are enabled to creep and to suspend themselves. Their hind feet are 
weak and are divided into five toes, almost always of equal length, armed 
with trenchant and pointed nails. Their eyes are excessively small, but 
their ears are frequently very large, and together with the wings form a 
vast membranous surface, which is almost naked, and so extremely sensi- 
ble that it is probable they guide themselves through all the sinuosities of 
their labyrinths, even after their eyes have been plucked out, solely by the 
diversity of the impressions of the air. They are nocturnal, and in our 
climate pass the winter in a state of stupor. During the day they suspend 
themselves in obscure places. They generally produce two young ones 
at a birth, which cling to their mammae, and whose size is considerable in 
proportion to that of the mother. This genus is very numerous, and offers 
many subdivisions. We must begin by separating from it the 
Pteropus, Bris. 
Trenchant incisors in each jaw, and grinders with flat crowns; the food, 
consequently, consists chiefly of fruit, of which it destroys considerable 
quantities; it also successfully pursues birds and small quadrupeds. It is 
the largest Bat known, and the flesh is eaten. It inhabits the East Indies. 
They have never been found out of the south of Asia or the Indian Ar- 
chipelago. 
a. Without tails, and four incisors in each jaw. 
P. edulis, Geoff. (The Black Roussette.) Blackish brown, deepest be- 
neath, wings nearly four feet from tip to tip. From the Moluccas and the 
straits of Sunda, where they are found in great numbers during the day 
suspended to the trees. 
b. With a small tail and four incisors in each jaw. 
M. Geoffroy was the first who described the species of this subdivision. 
One of them grey and woolly, Pter. scgypticus, is found in the caves of 
Egypt. 
The Pteropi being taken away, we have the true Bats left, which are 
all insectivorous, and have three grinders on each side in each jaw, bristled CARNARIA. 
63 
with conical points, they are preceded by a variable number of false 
molars. Their index never has a nail, and, one subgenus excepted, the 
membrane is always extended between the two legs. 
They should be divided into two principal tribes. The first has three 
ossified phalanges in the middle finger of the wing, but the remainder, in- 
cluding the index itself, consists of but two. 
The tribe of true bats is now divided into numerous subgenera such as 
JYTolossus, Nodilio, Vampirus, &c. &.C., distinguished by the absence or 
presence of a tail, the fact of its being free above the membrane or in- 
volved in it, the presence of a membrane on the nose, number of incisors, 
&c. &c. 
The Galeopitheci differ generically from the Vespertilios, in the fingers, 
all ai'med with trenchant nails, which are not longer than the toes, so that 
the membrane which occupies their intervals, and extends to the sides of 
the tail, can only act as a parachute. The canini are denticulated and 
short like the molars. There are two upper denticulated incisors widely 
separated from each other, below there are six, split into narrow strips, 
like a comb, a structure altogether peculiar to this genus. The animals 
belonging to it are found in the Indian Archipelago, on the trees, among 
which they pursue Insects, and perhaps Birds. If we can judge by the 
injury the teeth sustain from age, they use fruit also. 
One species only is well ascertained, the Flying Lemur. Fur greyish 
red above, reddish below; spotted and striped with various shades of grey 
when young. From the Molucca islands, straits of Sunda, &c. 
All the other Carnaria have the mammae situated under the ab- 
domen. 
Galeopitiiecus, Pall. 
FAMILY II. 
INSECTIVORA. 
The animals of this family, like the Cheiroptera, have grinders 
studded with conical points, and lead a nocturnal or subterraneous 
life. Their principal food is Insects, and in cold climates many of 
them pass the winter in a torpid state. Unlike the Bats, they have 
no lateral membranes, although they always have clavicles. Their 
feet are short and their motions feeble. In walking they all place 
the whole sole of the foot on the ground. 
They differ from each other by the relative position and propor- 
tions of their incisors and canini. 64 
MAMMALIA. 
Some have long incisors in front, followed by other incisors and 
canini, all even shorter than the molars, a kind of dentition of 
which the Tarsiers, among the Quadrumana, have already given us 
an example, and which somewhat approximates these animals to the 
Rodentia. Others have large separated canini, between which are 
placed small incisors, the most usual disposition of these parts among 
the Quadrumana and the Carnaria; and these two systems of dental 
arrangement are found in genera, otherwise very similar in the te- 
guments, shape of the limbs, and mode of life. 
Erinaceus, Lin. 
The body of the Hedgehog is covered with spines instead of hairs. The 
skin of the back is furnished with such muscles, as, by inclining’ the head 
and feet towards the abdomen, enable the animal to shut himself up in it, 
as in a purse, presenting his spines on all sides to the enemy. The tail is 
very short, and there are five toes to each foot. There are six incisors in 
each jaw, the middle ones being the longest, and on each side three false 
molars, three bristled with points, and a small one studded with tu- 
bercles(l). 
E. europxus, L.; Buff. (The Common Hedgehog.) Ears short; com- 
mon in the woods and hedges; passes the winter in its burrow. To 
Insects, which constitute its ordinary diet, it adds fruit, by which at a cer- 
tain age its teeth become worn. The skin was formerly used to dress 
hemp. 
Centenes, Illig. 
The body of the Tenrec is covered with spines like the Hedgehog. It 
does not however possess the faculty of rolling itself so completely into a 
ball: there is no tail; the muzzle is very pointed, and the teeth are very 
different. There are four or six incisors, and two great canini in each 
jaw. Behind the canini are one or two small teeth, and four triangular and 
bristled molars. Three species are found in Madagascar, the first of which 
has been naturalized in the Isle of France. It is a nocturnal animal, which 
passes three months of the year in a state of lethargy, although inhabiting 
the torrid zone. Brugiere even assures us that it is during the greatest 
heats that they grow torpid. 
Erinaceus ecaudalus, L. (The Tenrec.) Covered with stiff spines; only 
four notched incisors below. It is the largest of the three, and exceeds 
the Hedgehog in size. 
(1) Pallas has noted as an interesting fact, that the Hedgehog eats hun- 
dreds of Cantharides without inconvenience, while a single one produces 
the most horrible agony in the Dog and the Cat. 65 
CARNAR1 A. 
Cladobates, Fr. Cuv. 
This is a new genus from the Indian Archipelago. The teeth have much 
affinity with those of the Hedgehog; their middle upper incisors, however, 
are proportionally shorter, and the four lower ones elongated; there is 
also no tubercular one behind. The animal is covered with hair, has a 
long shaggy tail, and, contrary to the habits of other Insectivora, climbs 
trees with the agility of a Squirrel; the pointed muzzle, however, makes 
the animal easily distinguishable even at a distance. 
Sorex, Lin. 
The Shrews are generally small, and covered with hair. Under this, and 
upon each flank, there is a small band of stiff, thickly set setse, from be- 
tween which oozes an odorous fluid, the product of a peculiar gland. The 
two middle upper incisors are hooked and dentated at their base, the lower 
ones slanting and elongated: five small teeth on each side follow the first, 
and two only the second. There are moreover in each jaw three bristled 
molars, and in the upper one the last is a small tuberculous tooth. This 
animal lives in holes it excavates in the earth, which it seldom leaves till 
evening, and lives on worms and insects. 
Sor. araneus, L. (The Common Shrew.) Grey above; ash-coloured 
beneath; tail square, and not so long as the body by one-third; teeth white; 
ears naked and exposed; common in the fields, &c. There are several 
other species, one of which (the Rat-tailed Shrew) the Egyptians were in 
the habit of embalming. 
Mygale, Cuv 
The Desmans differ from the Shrews in two very small teeth placed be- 
tween the two great lower incisors, and in their two upper incisors which 
are flattened and triangular. Behind these incisors are six or seven small 
teeth and four bristled molars. Their snout is drawn out into a little flexi- 
ble proboscis, which they keep constantly in motion. Their long tail, 
scaly and flattened on the sides, with their feet of five fingers all united by 
membranes, evidently proclaim them to be aquatic animals. Their eyes 
are very small, and they have no external ears. 
Sorex moschatus, L. (The Russian Muskrat.) Nearly as large as a 
Shrew; above blackish, beneath whitish; tail not so long as the body by 
one-fourth. Southern Russia. 
Chrysochloris, Lacep. 
Animals of this genus, like those of the preceding one, have two incisors 
above and four below; but their grinders are long, distinct and almost all 
shaped like triangular prisms- Their muzzle is short, broad, and recurved, 
and their fore-feet have only three nails, of which the external, that is very 
large, much arcuated and pointed, serves them as a powerful instrument 66 
MAMMALIA. 
for excavating and piercing the earth; the others regularly decrease in size. 
The hind feet have five of an ordinary size. They are subterraneous ani- 
mals, whose mode of life is similar to that of Moles. To enable them to 
dig the better, their fore-arm is supported by a third bone placed under 
the cubitus. 
C. asiaticus. (The Golden Mole.) A little smaller than the European 
Mole; no apparent tail; is the only known quadruped that presents any 
appearance of those splendid metallic tints which brighten and adorn so 
many Birds, Fishes and Insects. Its fur is a green, changing to a copper 
or bronze; there is no conch to the ear, and the eye is not perceptible. 
No one is ignorant of this curious animal, the Mole, whose form so per- 
fectly qualifies it for a subterraneous mode of life. A very short arm 
attached to a long1 scapula, supported by a powerful clavicle and furnished 
with enormous muscles, sustains an extremely large hand, the palm of 
which is always directed either outwards or backwards; the lower edge of 
this hand is trenchant, the fingers are scarcely perceptible, but the nails in 
which they terminate are long, flat, strong and sharp. Such is the instru- 
ment employed by the Mole to tear the earth and throw it behind it. Its 
sternum, like that of Birds and Bats, has a process which gives to the pec- 
toral muscles the size that is required for their functions. To pierce and 
raise up the earth, it makes use of its long pointed head, whose muzzle is 
armed at its extremity with a peculiar little bone, and whose muscles are 
extremely powerful. There is even an additional bone in the cervical 
ligament. It has but little power behind, and moves as slowly above 
ground as it advances rapidly under it. Its sense of hearing is very acute, 
and the tympanum very large, although there is no external ear; its eyes 
are so small and so hidden by the hair, that for a long time their existence 
was positively denied. The jaws are weak, and the food consists of 
Worms, Insects, and some soft roots. There are six incisors above and 
eight below. The canini have two roots, which causes them to partake of 
the nature of false molars; back of them are four false molars above and 
three below, after which are three bristled molars. 
T. europaea, L.; Buff. (The Common Mole.) Pointed muzzle, hair 
soft and black; individuals are found white, fawn-coloured and piebald— 
a vexatious animal in cultivated grounds. 
Talpa, Lin. 
CoNDYLURA, Illig. 
In the animals belonging to this genus, the two kinds of dentition peculiar 
to the Insectivora seem to be combined. In the upper jaw are two large 
triangular incisors, two extremely small and slender ones, and on each side 
a strong canine. In the lower one are four incisors slanting forwards, and 
a pointed but small canine. The superior false molars are triangular and 
separated, the inferior trenchant and denticulated. 
In their feet and the whole of their exterior they resemble the Mole, but CARNARIA. 
67 
their tail is longer, and what more particularly serves to distinguish them 
from the former is, that their nostrils are surrounded with little movable 
cartilaginous points, which, when they separate, radiate like a kind of star. 
One species particularly is found in North America—Sorex cristatus, L. 
(The Radiated Mole) similar to the Mole of Europe, the nose excepted, 
but having a tail more than double the length of that of the latter. 
SCALOPS, CUV. 
Teeth very similar to those of the Desmans, except that the small or false 
molars are less numerous, the muzzle is simply pointed, like that of the 
Shrew; their hands are widened, armed with strong- nails fitted to excavate 
the earth, and exactly similar to those of Moles: in fact their mode of life 
is the same; their eyes are equally as small, and their ears quite as much 
hidden. The only species known is the 
S. aquaticus. It appears to inhabit a great part of North America, along 
rivers, &c. Its external resemblance to the common Mole of Europe(l) 
is so great, that it is easy to mistake the one for the other. 
FAMILY III. 
CARNIVORA. 
Although the term carnivorous is applicable to all unguiculated 
animals, not quadrumanate, that have three sorts of teeth, inasmuch 
as they all use more or less animal aliment, there are, however, 
many of them, the two preceding families especially, which are 
compelled by weakness and the conical tubercles of their grinders 
to live almost entirely on Insects. It is in the present family that 
the sanguinary appetite for flesh is joined to the force necessary to 
obtain it. There are always four stout, long, and separated canini, 
between which are six incisors in each jaw, the root of the second 
of the lower ones being placed a little more inwards than the others. 
The molars are either wholly trenchant, or have some blunted tu- 
berculous parts, but they are never bristled with conical points. 
These animals are so much the more exclusively carnivorous, as 
their teeth are the more completely trenchant, and the proportions 
of their regimen may be calculated from the extent of the tubercu- 
lous surface of their teeth, compared with that which is trenchant. 
The Bears, which can subsist altogether on vegetables, have nearly 
all their teeth tuberculated. 
(1) It is the Common Mole of the United States. Am. Ed. 68 
MAMMALIA. 
The anterior molars are the most trenchant; next comes a molar, 
larger than the others, usually furnished with a larger or smaller 
tuberculous heel; then follow one or two small teeth, that are per- 
fectly flat. It is with these small teeth in the back part of the 
mouth that the Dog chews the grass he sometimes swallows. We 
will call, with M. Fr. Cuvier, this large upper molar, and its cor- 
responding one below, carnivorous teeth; the anterior pointed ones, 
false molars; and the posterior blunted ones, tuberculous teeth. 
It is easy to conceive that those genera which have the fewest 
false molars, and whose jaws are the shortest, are those best adapted 
for biting. 
It is upon these differences that the genera can be most surely 
established. 
It is necessary, however, that the consideration of the hind foot 
should be added to them. 
Several genera, like those of the two preceding families, in walk- 
ing, or when they stand erect, place the whole sole of the foot on 
the ground, a fact proved by the total want of hair on that part of it. 
Others, and by far the greater number, walk on the ends of the 
toes, by raising up the tarsus. They are much swifter, and to this 
first difference are added many others of habits, and even of inter- 
nal conformation. In both the clavicle is a mere bony rudiment 
suspended in the muscles. The 
PLANTIGIIADA 
Form this first tribe, in which the whole sole of the foot is placed 
on the ground in walking, a circumstance which gives them a 
greater facility in standing vertically upon their hinder feet. They 
partake of the slowness and nocturnal life of the Insectivora; most 
of those that inhabit cold countries pass the winter in a state of tor- 
por. They all have five toes to each foot. 
Ursus, Lin. 
Bears have three large molars on each side in each jaw, altogether tuber- 
culous, and of which the posterior upper, and anterior lower are the 
longest. They are preceded by a tooth a little more trenchant, which is 
one of the carnivorous teeth of this genus, and by a variable number of very 
small false molars, which are sometimes shed at a very early period. This 
almost frugivorous sort of dentition is the reason why, notwithstanding 
their great strength, they seldom eat flesh unless from necessity. 
They are large, stout-bodied animals, with thick limbs, and a very short 
tail: the cartilage of the nose is elongated and movable. They excavate CARNARIA. 
69 
dens or construct huts, in which they pass the winter in a state of somno- 
lency more or less profound, and without food. It is in these retreats that 
the female brings forth her young. 
The species are not easily distinguished by apparent characters. 
U. amencanus, Gm. (The North American Black Bear.) A very dis- 
tinct species, with a flat forehead, smooth and black fur, and fawn-coloured 
muzzle. We have always found the small teeth behind the canini more 
numerous in this Bear than in the European species. Individuals have 
been seen that were entirely fawn-coloured. Its usual food is wild fruits; 
it devastates the fields, and, where fish is abundant, proceeds to the shores 
for the purpose of catching it. It is only for want of other aliment that it 
attacks quadrupeds. The flesh is held in great esteem. Various species 
are known, such as the Polar Bear, Thibet Bear, Malay Bear, Thick-lipped 
Bear, and our Grisly-Bear. 
Procyon, Storr. 
The Raccoons have three back tuberculous molars, the superior of which 
are nearly square, and three pointed false molars in front, forming a con- 
tinuous series to the canines, which are straight and compressed. The 
tail is long, but the remainder of the exterior is that of a Bear in miniature. 
They rest the whole sole of the foot on the ground only when they stand 
still; when they walk, they raise the heel. 
P. lotor. (The Raccoon.) Greyish brown; muzzle white; a brown 
streak across the eyes; tail marked with brown and white rings. This 
animal is about the size of a Badger, is easily tamed, and remarked for a 
singular habit of eating nothing it has not previously dipped in water. 
From North America—lives on eggs, Birds, &,c. 
Ailurus, Fred. Cuv. 
The Panda appears to approximate to the Raccoon in its canini, and what 
is known of its other teeth; with this exception, that it has only one false 
molar. The head is short; tail long; walk plantigrade; five toes with re- 
tractile claws. One species only is known, the 
A. refulgens, Fred. Cuv. Size of a large Cat; fur soft and thickly set; 
above of the most brilliant cinnamon red; behind more fawn-coloured; be- 
neath of a deep black. The head is whitish, and the tail marked with 
brown rings. From the north of India. 
Ictides, Valen. 
The Benturong is somewhat related to the Raccoon by its teeth, but the 
three upper back molars are much smaller and less tuberculous, the last 
one in each jaw particularly, which is very small and nearly simple. It is 
covered with long- hair, and has a tuft at each ear. The tail is long, hairy, 
and has a propensity to curl, as if prehensile. From India. 
Id. albifrons, Fr. Cuv. Grey; tail and sides of the muzzle black; size 
that of a large Cat. From Bootan. 70 
MAMMALIA. 
Nasua, Storr. 
The Coatis, to the teeth, tail, nocturnal habit, and slow dragging gait of 
the Raccoon, add a singularly elongated and flexible snout. The feet are 
semi-palmate, notwithstanding which they climb trees. Their long claws 
are used for digging. They inhabit the warm climates of America, and 
their diet is nearly the same as that of the Marten of Europe. 
Viverra nasua, L. (The Red Coati.) Reddish fawn colour; muzzle 
brown; tail with brown rings. 
This is perhaps the only proper place for the singular genus of the Kin- 
KAJous or Potto, Cuv. which, to a plantigrade walk, adds a long prehen- 
sile tail like that of the Sapajous, a short muzzle, a slender and extensible 
tongue, two pointed grinders before, and three tuberculous ones behind. 
Only one species is known, the Viverra caudivolvula, Gm. From the 
warm parts of America and from the great Antilles, where it is called Potto; 
size of a Polecat; hair woolly, and of a grey or yellowish brown; habits 
nocturnal; of a mild disposition, and lives on fruit, milk, honey, blood, &c. 
Meles, Storr. 
The Badgers, which Linnaeus placed with the Raccoons in the genus 
Ursus, have a very small tooth behind the canine, then two pointed molars 
followed in the upper jaw by one that we begin to recognize as carnivorous 
from the trenchant vestige it exhibits on its outer side; behind this is a 
square tuberculous one, the largest of all. Below, the penultimate begins 
to show a resemblance to the inferior carnivorous teeth, but as there are 
two tubercles on its internal border as elevated as its trenchant edge, it acts 
as a tuberculous one; the last below is very small. 
The slow movements of the Badgers and their nocturnal habits are like 
those of the preceding animals; their tail is short, the toes are much en- 
veloped in the skin, and they are otherwise peculiarly distinguished by a 
sac under the tail, from which oozes a fatty, fetid humour. The long claws 
of their fore-feet enable them to dig with great effect. 
M. europsea. (The European Badger.) Greyish above, black beneath, 
a blackish band on each side of the head(l). 
Linnaeus also placed the Gluttons among the Bears, but they approximate 
much nearer to the Weasels in their teeth as well as in their habits, the 
only relation they have to the former consisting in their plantigrade mo- 
tion. They have three false molars above and four below, immediately 
antecedent to the carnivorous teeth, which are well characterized, and be- 
hind them two small tuberculous ones, the upper being more broad than 
long. Their superior carnivorous tooth has only one small tubercle on the 
Gulo, Storr. 
(1) The American Badger. Mel. hudsonius is a different species.—Am, 
Ed. CARNARIA. 
71 
inner side, and in fact, the whole dental system is nearly the same as that 
of the Weasels. The tail is of a middling size, with a plait or fold beneath 
in place of a sac, and the port of the animal is very similar to that of the 
Badger. 
The most celebrated species is the Glutton of the north, the Ursus gulo, 
L. (The Common Glutton.) About the size of the Badger; usually of a 
fine deep maronne colour, with a disk on the back of a darker brown; 
sometimes, however, the shades are lighter. It inhabits the most glacial 
regions of the North, is considered very sanguinary and ferocious, hunts 
during the night, does not become torpid during the winter, and masters 
the largest animals by leaping upon them from the top of a tree. Its vora- 
city has been ridiculously exaggerated by some authors. The Wolverene 
of North America (Ursus luscus, Lin.) does not appear to differ from it in 
any constant character—its colours, however, are generally lighter. 
Hot climates produce some species which can only be placed near the 
Gluttons, as they differ from them merely in having one false molar less in 
each jaw, and in a long tifil. Such are the animals, termed by the inhabit- 
ants of South America Ferrets, which, having the teeth of our Ferrets and 
Polecats, have, in fact, similar habits—they are distinguished from them 
however, by their plantigrade motion. 
Viverra vittata, L. (The Grison.) Black; top of the head and neck 
grey; a white band, reaching from the forehead to the shoulders. 
Ratelus, F. C. 
The Ratels have a false molar in each jaw less than the Grison, and their 
upper tuberculous tooth is but slightly developed, so that in the teeth they 
approach the Cat, while their whole exterior is that of the Grison or Bad- 
ger. The legs are short; feet plantigrade, and five toes to each; nails very 
strong, &c. &c. 
One species only is known, the Viverra mellivora, Sparm. Size of the 
European Badger; grey above; black beneath, with a white line that sepa- 
rates the two colours; sometimes it is nearly all white above. It inhabits 
the Cape of Good Hope, and digs up the earth with its long claws, in 
search of the honey-combs of the wild bees. The 
DIGITIGRADA 
Form the second tribe of the Carnivora. The animals which 
compose it walk on the ends of their toes. 
In the first subdivision there is only one tuberculous tooth behind 
the upper carnivorus; these animals, on account of the length of 
their body, and the shortness of their legs, which permit them to 
pass through the smallest openings, have been styled vermiform. 
They are not torpid during the winter. Linnaeus placed them all 
in one genus, that of 72 
MAMMALIA 
Or the Weasels, which we will divide into four subgenera. 
Mustela, Lin., 
Putorius, Cuv. 
The Polecats are the most sanguinary of all; the lower carnivorous tooth 
has no inner tubercle, and the superior tuberculous one is more broad than 
long; there are only two false molars above and three below. These ani- 
mals are externally recognised by their muzzle, which is shorter and thicker 
than that of the Weasel. They all diffuse a most horrible stench. 
Mustela putorius, L. Buff. (The Common Polecat.) Brown; flanks 
yellowish; white spots on the head; the terror of poultry yards and warrens. 
M. luireola, Pall. (The Mink or Norek.) It frequents the shores of 
rivers, &c., in the north and east of Europe from the Arctic Ocean to the 
Black Sea, and lives on frogs and crabs. The feet are slightly palmated 
at the base of the toes, but the teeth and round tail approximate it 
nearer to the Polecat than the Otter. It is of a reddish brown; the circum- 
ference of the lips and the under part of the jaw white; it exhales a musky 
odour, and is much esteemed for its well known fur. It is the Mink of the 
United States. 
The true Weasels differ from the Polecats in having an additional false 
molar above and below, and in the existence of a small internal tubercle 
on their inferior carnivorous tooth, two characters which somewhat diminish 
the cruelty of their nature. 
M. martes, L. (The Common Marten.) Brown, a yellow spot under 
the throat. Inhabits the woods. Siberia produces the 
M. zibellina, Pall. (The Sable.) Highly valued for its rich fur, 
brown, spotted with white about the head, and distinguished from the 
preceding ones by the extension of the hair to the under surface of the 
toes. It inhabits the coldest mountains, and the hunting to obtain it, in 
the midst of winter and tremendous snows, is a perilous and painful under- 
taking. It is to the pursuit of this animal that we owe the discovery of the 
eastern countries of Siberia. 
North America also possesses several Martens indicated by naturalists 
and travellers, under the indefinite names of Pekan, Vison, Mink, &c. 
One of them, the White Vison of the furriers, Mus. leutreocephala, 
Harl., has as hairy feet and almost as soft a fur as the Sable, but is of a light 
fawn colour, and almost white about the head. 
That which we call the Pekan; Must, canadensis, Gm., and which comes 
from Canada and the United States; is of a brownish colour, mixed with 
white on the head, neck, shoulders and top of the back; nose, crupper, tail 
and limbs blackish. 
Musteea, Cuv. 
The Skunk, like the Polecat, has two false molars above and three be- 
Mephitis, Cuv. CA11NARIA. 
73 
low, but the superior tuberculous one is very large, and as long as it is 
broad, and the inferior carnivorus has two tubercles on its internal side, 
circumstances which ally it to the Badger just as the Polecat approximates 
to the Grison and Glutton. Independently of this, the anterior nails of 
the Skunk, like those of the Badger, are long and fitted for digging; they 
are moreover semi-plantigrade, and the resemblance extends even to the 
distribution of their colours. The whole family are l’emarkable for their 
fetid exhalations, but the Skunk is pre-eminently distinguished by its 
most horrible and suffocating stench. 
Skunks are generally marked with white stripes on a black ground, but 
the number of stripes appears to vary in the same species. The most 
common species of North America is the 
M. putorius. (The American Skunk.) Black, with stripes of white, 
larger or smaller, and more or less numerous; the tail is black, and the tip 
white. The odour it produces resembles that of the Polecat, mingled with 
a strong smell of garlic—nothing is more nauseous. 
Lutra, Storr. 
The Otters have three false molars in each jaw, a strong heel to the su- 
perior carnivorus, a tuberculus on the inner side of the inferior one, and 
a large tuberculous tooth above that is nearly as long as it is broad. The 
head is compressed, and the tongue demi-asperate. They are otherwise 
distinguished from all the preceding subgenera by palmated feet, and a 
horizontally flattened tail, two characters which render them aquatic. 
Their food is fish. 
L. vulgaris. (The Common Otter.) Brown above, whitish round the 
lips, on the cheeks and the whole inferior surface of the body. It is 
sometimes found spotted and whitish. From the rivers of Europe. 
Several otters differ but little from the above. That of Carolina, L. 
lataxina, Fr. Cuv., becomes a little larger, is sometimes more deeply co- 
loured, and has a brownish tint beneath; very frequently, however, there 
is no difference even in the shades of colour. 
Mustela lutra brasiliensis, Gm. (The American Otter.) Brown or fawn- 
coloured; throat white or yellowish; a little larger than the European Ot- 
ter; the body is also longer, and the hair shorter. It is distinguished by 
the end of the nose, which is not naked as in most animals, but is covered 
with hair like the rest of the chanfrin. From the rivers of both Americas. 
Mustela lutris, L. (The Sea-Otter.) Size, double that of the European 
species; body much elongated; tail one-third the length of the body; the 
hind feet very short. There is sometimes white about the head. It has 
only four incisors below, but the molars are like those of the other Otters. 
Its blackish velvet looking fur is extremely valuable to obtain which the 
English and Russians hunt the animal throughout the northern parts of 
the Pacific ocean. 74 
MAMMALIA. 
In the second subdivision of the Digitigrada there are two flat 
tuberculous teeth, behind the superior carnivorous tooth, which is 
itself furnished with a large heel. They are carnivorous, but do not 
exhibit a courage proportioned to their powers, and frequently feed 
on carrion. 
Dogs have three false molars above, four below, and two tuberculous teeth 
behind each of the carnivori; the first of these upper tuberculous teeth is 
very large. Their superior carnivorus has only a small inner tubercle, but 
the posterior portion of the inferior is altogether tuberculous. The tongue 
is soft; the fore-feet have five toes, and the hind ones four. 
C. familiaris, L. (The Domestic Dog). Distinguished by his recurved 
tail, otherwise varying infinitely, as to size, form, colour and quality of the 
hair. He is the most complete, singular and useful conquest ever made 
by man; the whole species has become his property; each individual is 
devoted to his particular master, assumes his manners, knows and defends 
his possessions, and remains his true and faithful friend till death—and all 
this neither from constraint nor want, but solely from the purest gratitude 
and the truest friendship. The swiftness, strength and scent of the Dog 
have rendered him Man’s powerful ally against all other animals, and were 
even, perhaps, necessary to the establishment of society. Of all animals, 
he is the only one which has followed Man through every region of the 
globe. 
Some naturalists think the Dog is a Wolf, and others that he is a domesti- 
cated Jackal, and yet those dogs which have become wild again in desert 
islands resemble neither the one nor the other. The wild dogs, and those that 
belong to savages, such as the inhabitants of New Holland, have straight 
ears, which has occasioned a belief that the European races, which approach 
the most to the original type, are the Shepherd’s Dog and Wolf Dog,- but 
the comparison of the crania indicates a closer affinity in the Mastiff and 
Danish Dog, subsequently to which come the Hound, the Pointer, and the 
Terrier, differing between themselves only in size and the proportions of 
the limbs. The Greyhound is longer and more lank; its frontal sinuses are 
smaller, and its scent weaker. The Shepherd’s Dog and the Wolf Dog re- 
sume the straight ears of the wild ones, but with a greater cerebral devel- 
opment, which continues to increase together with the intelligence in the 
Barhet and the Spaniel. The Bull Dog, on the other hand, is remarkable 
for the shortness and strength of his jaws. The small pet-dogs, the Pugs, 
Spaniels, Shocks, &c. are the most degenerate productions, and exhibit the 
most striking marks of that power to which man subjects all nature. 
The dog is born with his eyes closed; he opens them on the tenth or 
twelfth day; his teeth commence changing in the fourth month, and his 
full growth is attained at the expiration of the second year. The dog is 
old at fifteen years, and seldom lives beyond twenty. His vigilance, bark, 
and susceptibility of education are well known to every one. 
Castis, Lin. CARNARIA. 
75 
C. lupus, L. (The Wolf.) A large species with a straight tail; legs 
fawn-coloured, with a black stripe on the fore-legs when adult; the most 
mischievous of all the Carnaria of Europe. It is found from Egypt to Lap- 
land, and appears to have passed into America. Towards the north, in 
winter, its fur becomes white. It attacks all our animals, yet does not ex- 
hibit a courage proportioned to its strength. It often feeds on carrion. Its 
habits and physical development are closely related to those of the Dog. 
C. jubatus, Cuv.; Agoura-Gouazou, Azzar. (The Red Wolf.) A fine 
cinnamon-red: a short black mane along the spine. From the marshes of 
South America. 
C. aureus, L. (The Chacal or Jackal.) Less than the preceding; the 
muzzle more pointed; of a greyish brown; thighs and legs of a light fawn 
colour; some red on the ear; the tail scarcely reaching further than the 
heel. It is a voracious animal, which hunts like the Dog, and in its con- 
formation and the facility with which it is tamed, resembles the latter more 
closely than any other wild species. Jackals are found from the Indies 
and the environs of the Caspian sea, as far as, and in Guinea; it is not cer- 
tain, however, that they are all of one species. Those of Senegal for in- 
stance, C. anthus, Fr. Cuv., stand higher, appear to have a sharper muzzle, 
and the tail a little longer. 
Foxes may be distinguished from the Wolf and Dog by a longer and more 
tufted tail, by a more pointed muzzle, by pupils which during the day 
form a vertical fissure, and by the upper incisors being less sloping. They 
diffuse a fetid odour, dig burrows, and attack none but the weaker animals. 
This subgenus is more numerous than the preceding one. 
C.vulpes,h. (The Common Fox.) More or less red; tip of the tail white; 
found from Sweden to Egypt. Those of the north have merely a more 
brilliant fur. 
The prairies of North America produce a little Fox, C. velox, Harl. and 
Say; which lives in burrows. 
C. cinereo-argenteus, Schreb. (The Tri-coloured Fox of America.) Ash- 
coloured above; white beneath; a cinnamon-red band along the flanks. 
From all the warm and temperate parts of the two Americas. 
C. argentalus. (The Silver or Black Fox.) Black; tips of the hairs 
white, except on the ears, shoulders and tail, where they are of a pure 
black. The end of the tail is all white. From North America. Its fur is 
most beautiful, and very costly. 
The interior of Africa produces Foxes remarkable for the size of their 
ears, and the strength of the hairs of their mustachios; they are the Mesa- 
lotis of Illiger. 
Finally, we may place after the Dogs, as a fourth subgenus, distinguished 
by the number of toes, which is four to each foot, the 
Hyaena venatica, liursch. (The Wild Dog of the Cape.) It has the 
dental system of the Dog and not that of the Hyena; a long and thin form; 
the fur mottled, with white and fawn colour, grey and black; size of the wolf; 
large ears with black tips, &c. It is gregarious, and frequently approaches 
Cape Town, devastating its environs. 76 
MAMMALIA. 
Vi VEERA. 
The Civets have three false molars above and four below, the anterior of 
which sometimes fall out; two tolerably large tuberculous teeth above, one 
only below, and two tubercles projecting forwards on the inner side of the 
inferior carnivorus, the rest of that tooth being more or less tuberculous. 
The tongue is bristled with sharp and rough papilla:. Their claws are 
more or less raised as they walk, and near the buttock is a pouch more or 
less deep, where an unctuous and frequently an odorous matter oozes from 
peculiar glands. They are divided into four subgenera. 
In the true Civets there is a deep pouch divided into two sacs, filled with 
an abundant pommade of a strong musky odour, secreted by glands which 
surround it. This substance is an article of commerce, and is used by the 
perfumers. It was more employed when musk and ambergrease were 
unknown. The pupil of the eye remains round during the day, and their 
claws are only semi-retractile. 
V. civetta, L. (The Civet.) Ash-coloured, irregularly barred and spot- 
ted with black; the tail less than the body, black towards the end, withfour 
or five rings near its base; two black bands encircling the throat, and one 
surrounding the face; a mane along the whole length of the spine and tail 
that bristles up at the will of the animal. From the hottest parts of Africa. 
Viveriia, Cuv. 
Gexetta, Cuv. 
In the Genets the pouch is reduced to a slight depression formed by the 
projection of the glands, and has scarcely any visible excretion, although 
an odour is diffused from it that is very perceptible. In the light the 
pupil forms a vertical fissure, and the nails are completely retractile, as in 
the Cat. 
V genetta, L. (The Common Genet.) Grey spotted with brown or 
black, the muzzle blackish; white spots on the eyebrows, cheeks and each 
side of the end of the nose; tail the length of the body, annulated with 
black and white, the black rings being from nine to eleven in number. 
Found from the south of France to the Cape of Good Hope, frequents the 
edges of brooks, near springs, &c. The skin forms an important article of 
trade. 
Has the teeth and most of the characters of the Genets, with which it 
was a long time confounded; it is however more stout-limbed; the feet are 
semi-palmate, and the walk nearly plantigrade, but what particularly dis- 
tinguishes it is the spiral inclination of the tail, which is not prehensile. 
Only one species is known, the 
P. typus, Fr. Cuv. (The Pougoun£ of India.) A yellowish-brown, with 
some spots of a deeper brown than the rest; the feet, muzzle and part of 
the tail blackish; eye-brows white, and a white spot under the eye. 
Paradoxuiujs, Fr. Cuv. CARNARIA. 
77 
The pouch is voluminous and simple. The hairs are annulated with 
light and obscure tints, which determine their general colour on the eye. 
The Mangouste of Egypt, so celebrated among the ancients under the 
name of Ichneumon, is grey, with a long tail terminated with a black tuft; 
it is larger than our Cat, and as slender as a Marten. It chiefly hunts for 
the eggs of the Crocodile, but also feeds on all sorts of small animals; brought 
up in houses, it hunts Mice, Reptiles, &c. Ry the Europeans at Cairo it is 
called Pharaoh’s Rat; by the natives, Nems. The ancient tradition of its 
jumping down the throat of the Crocodile to destroy it, is entirely fabulous. 
There are other species. 
Mangusta, Cuv.—Hekpestes, Illig. 
Ryz-eita, Illig. 
The Surikates have a strong resemblance to the Mangoustes, even to the 
tints and transverse streaks of the hair, but are distinguished from them and 
from all the Carnivora of which we have hitherto spoken, by having only 
four toes to each foot. They also are higher on their legs, and they have 
not the small molar immediately behind the canine tooth. 
One species only is known, a native of Africa—Viv. tetradactyla, Gm., a 
little less than the Mangouste of India. 
Ckossahchus, Fred. Cuv. 
The muzzle, teeth, pouch, and walk of the Surikates, the toes of the 
Mangoustes. 
One species only is known—Crossarchus obscurus, Fred. Cuv., from Sierra 
Leone, of the size of the Surikate; greyish brown; cheeks a little paler, and 
a hairy tail. 
The last subdivision of the Digitigrada has no small teeth of any 
kind behind the large molar of the lower jaw. The animals con- 
tained in it are the most cruel and sanguinary of the class. They 
form two genera. 
Hyjena, Storr. 
The Hyenas have three false molars above and four below, all conical, blunt 
and singularly large; their superior carnivorous tooth has a small tubercle 
within and in front, but the inferior has none, presenting only two stout 
trenchant points: with these powerful arms they are enabled to crush the 
bones of the largest prey. The tongue is rough and each foot has four toes 
like that of the Surikate. So powerful are the muscles of the neck and 
jaw, that it is almost impossible to wrest any thing from between their teeth 
that they have once seized, and, among the Arabs, their name is the sym- 
bol of obstinacy. It sometimes happens that an anchylosis of the cervical 
vertebrae is the consequence of these violent efforts, and this has caused it 
to be said that they have only one single bone in the neck. They are 78 
MAMMALIA. 
nocturnal animals, inhabiting caves; are extremely voracious, and feed 
chiefly on dead bodies, which they seek for even in the grave. A thousand 
superstitious traditions are connected with them. Three species are known, 
one of which is the 
H. vulgaris, Buff. (The Striped Hyena.) Grey; blackish or brown 
stripes crosswise; a mane along the whole of the nape of the neck, and black, 
that stands erect when the animal is angry. It is found from India to Abys- 
sinia and Senegal. The brown and spotted Hyenas are the two others. 
Felis, Lin. 
Of all the Carnaria the Cats are the most completely and powerfully armed. 
Their short and round muzzle, short jaws, and particularly their retractile 
nails, which, being' raised perpendicularly, and hidden between the toes, 
when at rest, by the action of elastic ligament, lose neither point nor edge, 
render them most formidable animals, the larger species especially. They 
have two false molars above, and two below: their superior carnivorous tooth 
has three lobes, and a blunted heel on the inner side; the inferior, two 
pointed and trenchant lobes, without any heel: they have but a very small 
tuberculous tooth above, without any thing to correspond to it below. The 
species of this genus are very numerous and various with regard to size 
and colour, though they are all similar with respect to form. We can only 
subdivide them by referring to the difference of size and the length of the 
hair, characters of but little importance. 
At the head of the genus we find 
F. leo, L. (The I.ion.) Distinguished by its uniform tawny colour, the 
tuft of hair at the end of the tail, and the flowing mane which clothes the 
head, neck, and shoulders of the male. Of all beasts of prey, this is the 
strongest and most courageous. Formerly scattered through the three parts 
of the old world, it seems at present to be confined to Africa and some 
of the neighbouring parts of Asia. The head of the Lion is more square 
than that of the following species. 
Tigers are large, short haired species, most commonly marked with vivid 
spots. 
F. tigris, Buff. (The Royal Tiger.) As large as the Lion, but the body 
is longer, and the head rounder; of a lively fawn colour above; a pure white 
below, irregularly crossed with black stripes; the most cruel of all quadru- 
peds, and the scourge of the East Indies. Such are his strength and the 
velocity of his movements, that during the march of armies he has been 
seen to seize a soldier, while on horseback, and bear him to the depths of 
the forest, without affording a possibility of rescue. 
F. onga, L. (The Jaguar.) Nearly the size of the Royal Tiger, and 
almost as dangerous; a bright fawn colour above; the flank longitudinally 
marked with four rows of ocellated spots, that is with rings more or less 
complete, having a black point in the middle; white beneath, transversely 
striped with black. Sometimes individual specimens are found black, whose 
rings, of a deeper hue, arc only perceptible in a particular light. CARNARIA. 
79 
F.pardus, L.; tlie Pardalis of the ancients. (The Panther.) Pawn 
coloured above; white beneath; with six or seven rows of black spots, re- 
sembling' roses, that is, formed by the assemblage of five or six simple 
spots on each flank; the tail is the length of the body, minus that of the 
head. 
F. leopardus, L. (The Leopard.) From Africa; similar to the Panther, 
but has ten rows of smaller spots. 
F. discolor, L.; Buff. (The Couguar or Puma.) Red, with small spots 
of a slightly deeper red which are not easily perceived. From both Ame- 
ricas, where it preys on Sheep, Deer, &c. 
Among the inferior species, we should distinguish the Lynxes, which 
are remarkable for the pencils of hair which ornament their ears. 
Four or five different kinds of them are known in commerce. The most 
beautiful, which are as large as the Wolf—F. cervaria, Temm., come from 
Asia by the way of Russia, and have a slightly reddish-grey fur, finely spot- 
ted with black. 
Others from Canada and the north of Sweden—F. borealis, Temm., have 
the fur very much tufted, extending even under the feet; of an ash-coloured 
grey, and with scarcely any spots. 
We find also in North America the 
F. rufa, Quid. (The Bay Lynx.) A reddish fawn or greyish colour, 
mottled with brown; brown waves on the thighs; tail annulated with black 
or brown; rather smaller than the Lynx. 
F. caracal, L. (The Caracal.) Of an almost uniform vinous red. From 
Persia, Turkey, &.c. It is the true Lynx of the ancients. 
The inferior species, which are deprived of the pencils on the ears, are 
more or less similar to our common Cat; such is 
F. pardalis, L.; Buff. (The Ocelot.) Rather lower on its legs than 
most of the others; grey, with large fawn-coloured spots bordered with 
black, forming oblique bands on the flank. From America. 
F. catus, L. (The Domestic Cat.) This animal is originally from the 
forests of Europe. In its wild state, it is of a greyish brown, with darker 
transverse undulations; below pale; the insides of the thighs and of all the 
feet, yellowish; three bands on the tail, its inferior third blackish. In a 
domestic state it varies, as is well known, in colours, in the length and 
fineness of the hair, but infinitely less so than the Dog; it is also much less 
submissive and affectionate. The 
AMPHIBIA 
Will form the third and last of the small tribes into which we di- 
vide the Carnivora. Their feet are so short and so enveloped in 
the skin, that the only service they can render them on land, is to 
enable them to crawl; but as the intervals of the fingers are occu- 
pied by membranes, they are excellent oars; and in fact, these ani- 
mals pass the greater portion of their time in the water; never 80 
MAMMALIA. 
landing, except for the purpose of basking in the sun, and suckling 
their young. Their elongated body; their very movable spine, 
which is provided with muscles that strongly flex it; their narrow 
pelvis; their short hair, that adheres closely to the skin, all unite to 
render them good swimmers; and all the details of their anatomy 
confirm these first indicia. 
We have as yet distinguished two genera only, Phoca and Tri- 
chechus. 
Piioca, Lin. 
Seals have six or four incisors above, four or two below, pointed canini and 
grinders to the number of twenty, twenty-two, or twenty-four, all trench- 
ant or conical, and without any tuberculous part whatever; five toes to all 
the feet, the anterior ones regularly decreasing in length from the thumb 
to the little toe, while in the hinder feet the thumb and the little toe are the 
longest, and the intermediate ones the shortest. The fore-feet are envel- 
oped in the skin of the body as far as the tarsus, the hinder ones almost to 
the heel. Between the latter is a short tail. The head of a Seal bears a 
resemblance to that of a Dog, whose intelligence and soft expressive look 
it also possesses. It is easily tamed, and soon becomes attached to its 
keeper, or those who feed it. The tongue is smooth and sloped at the 
end, the stomach simple, csecilm short, and the intestinal canal long, and 
tolerably regular. These animals live on fish; always eat in the water, and 
close their nostrils when they dive by a kind of valve. They remain a 
long time under water; there is a large venous sinus in the liver, which must 
assist them in diving by rendering respiration less necessary to the motion 
of the blood. Their blood is very abundant and very black. 
Phoca, properly so called, or without external ears. 
The true Phocse have pointed incisors; all the toes enjoy a certain de- 
gree of motion, and are terminated by pointed nails planted on the edge 
of the membrane, which unites them. 
They are subdivided, from the number of their incisors. The Caeoce- 
fhaia, Fr. Cuv- have six above and four below; such is the 
Phoca vitulina, L. (The Common Seal.) From three to five feet in 
length; of a yellowish grey, more or less shaded and spotted with brown, 
according to its age; sometimes brownish, with small yellow spots. When 
very old it becomes whitish. Common on the coast of Europe in great 
herds. It is also found far to the north; we are even assured that it is this 
species which inhabits the Caspian sea, and the great fresh water lakes of 
Russia and Siberia, but this assertion does not appear to be founded on 
an exact comparison. In fact, the European seas contain several Phocae, 
which have long been confounded, some of which are perhaps mere varie- 
ties of the others. CARNAIIIA. 
81 
Four incisors above, and four below, the molars deeply notched into three 
points. 
One species only is known, and that is from the Austral seas—Ph. lep- 
tonix, Blain. Size of the barbata; greyish above; yellowish beneath; nails 
small. 
Stenoruiitcus, Fred. Cuv. 
Four incisors also, above and below, but their grinders are obtuse cones, 
with a slightly marked heel before and behind. There is one of them in 
the Mediterranean. 
Ph. monachus, Gm. (The Monk.) From ten to twelve feet in length, 
of a blackish brown, with a white belly. It is particularly found among 
the Grecian and Adriatic Islands, and is, most probably, the species best 
known to the ancients. 
Peeagus, Fred. Cuv. 
Four superior incisors, and two inferior; grinders compressed, slightly 
trilobate, supported by thick roots. Such is the 
Ph. cristata, Gm. (The Hooded Seal.) Seven or eight feet long; a 
piece of loose skin on the head, which can be inflated at the pleasure of 
the animal, and is drawn over the eyes when it is menaced, at which times 
the nostrils also are inflated like bladders. From the Arctic ocean. 
Finally, the Macrorhinus, Fr. Cuv., has the incisors of the preceding, 
obtuse conical molars, and the muzzle resembling a short movable probos- 
cis or snout. The largest seal known is of this subgenus; the 
Ph. leonina, L. (The Elephant Seal.) From twenty to twenty-five feet 
in length; brown, the muzzle of the male terminated by a wrinkled snout, 
which becomes inflated when the animal is angry. It is common in the 
southern latitudes of the Pacific Ocean, at the Terra del-Fuego, New Zeal- 
and, Chili, &c. It constitutes an important object of the fisheries, on ac- 
count of the oil in which it abounds. The 
Stemmatopus, Fred. Cuv. 
Are worthy of being formed into a separate genus; because, indepen- 
dently of the projecting external ears, the four superior middle incisors have 
a double cutting edge, a circumstance hitherto unknown in any animal; the 
external ones are simple and smaller, and the four inferior bifurcated. All 
the molars are simply conical, and the toes of the forefeet almost immova- 
ble; the membrane of the hind feet is lengthened out into a slip beyond 
each toe; all the nails are flat and slender. 
Ph. jubata, Gm.; Sea-Lion of Steller, Pernetty, &c. From fifteen to 
twenty feet, and more, in length; fawn coloured; the neck of the male 
covered with hairs that are more frizzled and thickly set than those on the 
rest of the body. It might be said to be found in all the Pacific Ocean, 
L 
Otaries, Peron, Seals with external ears, 82 
MAMMALIA. 
were it not that those from the straits of Magellan seem to differ from such 
as are taken at the Aleutian islands. 
Trichechus, Lin.(l) 
The Morse resembles the Seal in its limbs, and the general form of the body; 
but differs widely from it in the teeth and head. There are no incisors nor 
canini in the lower jaw, which is compressed anteriorly to pass between 
two enormous canini or tusks, which issue from the upper one, and which, 
project downwards, being sometimes two feet long, and of a proportionable 
thickness. The enormous size of the alveoli, requisite for holding such 
tremendous canini, raises up the whole front of the upper jaw, giving it 
the shape of a huge inflated jowl, the nostrils looking upwards, and not 
terminating the muzzle. The molars are all short, obliquely truncated 
cylinders; there are four of them on each side, above and below, but, at a 
particular age, two of the upper ones fall out. Between the canini are 
two incisors, similar to the molars, which most authors have not recognised 
as such, although they are implanted in the intermaxillary bone. Between 
these again, in the young animal, are two more small, pointed ones. 
The stomach and intestines of the Morse are very similar to those of the 
Seal. It appears that fucus constitutes part of its food, along with animal 
matters. One species only is as yet ascertained, the 
Trich. rosmarus, L. (The Sea Cow.) It inhabits the Arctic seas, sur- 
passes the largest Ox in size, attains the length of twenty feet, and is cover- 
ed with a short yellowish hair. It is sought for on account of its oil and 
tusks; the ivory of which, although rough grained, is employed in the arts. 
The skin makes excellent coach braces. 
ORDER IV. 
MARSUPIALIA. 
So many are the singularities in the economy of the Marsupialia 
or pouched animals, as they are termed, which we formerly placed 
at the end of the Carnaria as a fourth family of that great order, 
that it appears to us they should form a separate and distinct one, 
particularly as we observe in them a kind of representation of three 
very different orders. 
The first of all their peculiarities is the premature production of 
(1) Irichechus, from Tg/£ (hair), a name invented by Artedi for the Sea 
Cow. 83 
their young, whose state of development at birth is extremely small. 
Incapable of motion, and hardly exhibiting the germs of limbs and 
other external organs, these diminutive beings attach themselves to 
the mammae of the mother, and remain fixed there until they have ac- 
quired a degree of development similar to that in which other animals 
are born. The skin of the abdomen is almost always so arranged 
about the mammae as to form a pouch in which these imperfect little 
animals are preserved as in a second uterus; and to which, long 
after they can walk, they always fly for shelter at the approach of 
danger. Two particular bones attached to the pubis, and inter- 
posed between the muscles of the abdomen, support the pouch. 
These bones are also found in the male, and even in those species 
in which the fold that forms the pouch is scarcely visible. 
Another peculiarity of the Marsupialia is, that notwithstanding a 
general resemblance of the species to each other, so striking, that for 
a long time they were considered as one genus, they differ so much 
in the teeth, the organs of digestion and the feet, that if we rigor- 
ously adhered to these characters, we should be compelled to sepa- 
rate them into several orders. They carry us by insensible grada- 
tions from the Carnaria to the Rodentia, and there are even some 
animals which have the pelvis furnished with similar bones; but 
which, from the want of incisors or of all kinds of teeth, have been 
approximated to the Edentata, where, in fact, we shall leave them, 
under the name of Monotremata. 
The first subdivision of the Marsupialia is marked by long canini, 
and small incisors in both jaws, back molars bristled with points, 
and all the characters in general of the insectivorous Carnaria; the 
animals that compose it are also perfectly similar to the latter in 
their regimen. 
Didelphis, Lin. 
The Opossums, which of all the Marsupialia have been the longest known, 
form a genus peculiar to America. They have ten incisors above, the 
middle ones being rather the longest, and eight below; three anterior 
compressed grinders and four posterior bristled grinders, the superior ones 
triangular, and the inferior oblong, which, with the four canini, make in all 
fifty teeth, the greatest number hitherto observed in Quadrupeds. Their 
tongue is papillated, and their tail prehensile and partly naked. Their 
hinder thumb is long and very opposable to the other four toes, from which 
circumstance these animals are sometimes styled Pedimana,- they have no 
nail. Their extremely wide mouth, and great naked ears give them a 84 
MAMMALIA. 
very peculiar physiognomy. They are fetid and nocturnal animals, whose 
gait is slow; they remain on trees, and there pursue Birds, Insects, &c., 
though not despising fruit. 
The females of certain species have a deep pouch in which are the 
mammae, and in which they can enclose their young. 
Did. virginiana, Penn. (The Opossum.) Almost the size of a Cat; fur, 
a mixture of black and white; ears, one side black, and the other white; 
head nearly all white. Inhabits all America; steals at night into villages; 
attacks fowls, eats their eggs, &c. The young ones at birth, sometimes 
sixteen in number, weigh only a grain each. Although blind and nearly 
shapeless, they find the mammae by instinct, and adhere to them until they 
have attained the size of a Mouse, which happens about the fiftieth day, at 
which epoch they open their eyes. They continue to return to the pouch 
till they are as large as Rats. 
Other species possess no pouch, having a mere vestige of it in a fold of 
the skin on each side of the abdomen. They usually carry their young on 
their backs, the tails of the latter being entwined around that of the 
mother. 
Did. nudicauda, Geoff. (The Bare-tailed Opossum.) Fawn-coloured; 
tail very long, and naked even at its base; two whitish spots over each eye, 
one beneath. 
Finally, there is one known with palmated feet, which must be aquatic; 
it is not ascertained whether it has a pouch or not—it is the 
Chibonectes, Illig.(l) 
Did. palmata, Geoff. Brown above, with three transverse grey bands, 
interrupted in the middle, and white below; larger than a Norway Rat. 
All the other Marsupialia inhabit eastern countries, New Holland parti- 
cularly, a land, whose animal population seems chiefly to belong to this 
family. 
The Thylacini are the largest of this first division. They are distin- 
guished from the Opossums by the hind feet having no thumb; a hairy, 
non-prehensile tail, and two incisors less in each jaw; their molars are of 
the same number. They consequently have forty-six teeth; but the ex- 
ternal edge of the three large ones is projecting and trenchant, almost 
like the carnivorous tooth of a Dog; their ears are hairy, and of a medium 
size. One species only is known, the 
Did. cynocephala, Harris. Size that of a Wolf, but stands lower; grey; 
transverse black stripes on the crupper. It is very carnivorous, and pur- 
sues all small quadrupeds. From Van Dieman’s Land. 
Thxlacinus, Teram.(2) 
(1) Chinoredes, i. e. swimming- with hands 
(2) Thylacinus, from purse. MAIISUPIALIA. 
85 
The same number of teeth as the Thylacini, but the middle incisors are 
longer than the others, and the back molars more bristled, circumstances 
which approximate them more closely to the Sarigues. They are also 
allied to them by their small size; their tail however is not prehensile; 
their hind thumb, though very short, is still very apparent. 
Did. penicillata, Shaw. Ash coloured; tail furnished with long black 
hairs; size that of the Norway Rat; lives on the trees in New Holland, and 
pursues insects. 
Phascogaee, Temm. 
Dasyurus, Geoff.(l) 
Two incisors and four grinders in each jaw less than the Opossums, so that 
they have only forty-two teeth; their tail, every where covered with long 
hairs, is not prehensile. The thumb of the hind foot is reduced to a tu- 
bercle, or has even totally disappeared. They are from New Holland, 
where they feed on Insects and dead bodies; they penetrate into houses, 
where their voracity is very inconvenient. Their mouth is not so wide, 
their muzzle not so pointed as those of the Opossums; their hairy ears 
are also shorter. They do not climb trees. 
Did. ursina, Harr. (The Ursine Opossum.) Long rough black hairs, 
with some irregularly placed white spots; the tail half as long as the body, 
almost naked underneath. Inhabits the north of Van Dieman’s Land, and 
is nearly the size of the Badger. 
The thumb of the hind foot short, like the first Dasyuri, and the two 
following toes united by the membrane as far the nails; the thumb and the 
little toe of their fore feet are simple tubercles, so that there seem to be 
but three toes. They have ten incisors above, the external ones separate 
and pointed, and only six below; but their molars are the same as in the 
Opossums, so that they have forty-eight teeth. Their tail is hairy, and not 
prehensile. The great claws of their fore feet announce their habit of 
digginginthe earth; and the tolerable length of their hind ones, a swift- 
ness of gait. 
P. namtus, Geoff. The muzzle much elongated; ears pointed; fur a 
greyish brown. At the first glance it resembles a Tenrec. 
The species belonging to the second subdivision of the Marsu- 
pialia have two broad and long incisors in the lower jaw with pointed 
and trenchant edges sloping forwards, and six corresponding ones in 
the upper jaw. Their superior canini are also long and pointed, 
but all their inferior ones consist of teeth so small that they are fre- 
Pehamex.es, Geoff. (2)—Thyeacis, Illig. 
(1) Dasyurus, hairy tail, (2) Pera, purse, Meles, badger. 86 
MAMMALIA. 
quently hidden by the gum; they are sometimes altogether wanting 
in the lower jaw of the last subgenus. 
Their regimen is chiefly frugivorous. The thumb is very large 
in all of them, and so widely separated from the toes that it seems 
to slant backwards almost like that of the Birds. It has no nail, and 
the two following toes are united by the skin as far as the last pha- 
lanx. It is from this circumstance that these animals have received 
the name of Phalangers. 
Piialangista. 
Phaxangista, Cuv.—Baeantia, Illig-.(1) 
The true Phalangers have not the skin of the flank extended; four back 
molars in each jaw, with four points in two rows; in front a large one, co- 
nical and compressed, and between it and the superior canine two small and 
pointed ones, to which correspond the three very small lower ones, of 
which we have just spoken. Their tail is always prehensile. 
The tail in some of them is in a great measure scaly. They live on trees 
in the Moluccas, where they feed on Insects and fruit. At the sight of a 
Man they suspend themselves by their tail; and ifhe gaze at them steadily 
for some time, they fall through lassitude. They diffuse a very unpleasant 
odour, notwithstanding which their flesh is eaten. 
There are several of them known, of various sizes and colours, all of 
which are embraced under the Didelphis orientalis of Linnscus. 
Ph. ursina, T. (The Ursine Phalanger.) Nearly the size of the Civet, 
fur close, and of a blackish brown; the young ones a fawn-coloured brown. 
From the woods of the island of Macassar. 
In others, which have hitherto been found in New Holland only, the tail 
is hairy to the tip. 
Ph. vulpina. (The Fox-like Phalanger.) Size of a stout Cat; greyish- 
brown, paler beneath; tail nearly all black. 
The Flying Phalangers have the skin of the flanks more or less extended 
between the legs, like the Flying Squirrels among the Rodentia, which 
enables them to sustain themselves momentarily in the air, and make greater 
leaps. They also are only found in New Holland. 
Some of the species have inferior canini, but they are very small. Their 
superior canini and their three first molars, above and below, are very 
pointed; each of their back molars has four points. 
Ph. pygmxa. (The Flying Dwarf Phalanger.) Of the colour and 
nearly the size of a Mouse; the hairs of the tail regularly arranged on its 
two sides like the web of a quill. 
Petatjrus, Shaw.—Puaxixgista, Illig. 
(1) Balantia. from fiot,\ctvriov purse or pouch. MARSUPIALIA. 
87 
Other species have no inferior canini, while the superior ones are very 
small. Their four back molars present four points, but they are slightly 
curved into a crescent, which is very nearly the form of those of the 
Ruminantia. In front, there are two above, and one below, less compli- 
cated. By this structure they are rendered still more frugivorous than all 
the preceding species. 
Ph. petaurus. (The Great Flying Phalanger.) Resembles the Taguan 
and the Galeopithecus in size; its fur is soft and close; its tail long and 
flattened; brownish-black above, white beneath. They are of various 
shades of brown; some are variegated, and others perfectly white. 
Our third subdivision has the incisors and superior canini of the 
second. The two toes of the hind feet are also similarly united; 
but the posterior thumbs and inferior canini are wanting. It con- 
tains but a single genus. 
Hypsiprymnus, Illig.(l) 
The Potoroos are the last animals of this family which retain any trait of the 
general characters of the Carnaria. Their teeth are nearly the same as 
those of the Phalangers, and they still have pointed canini above. What 
particularly distinguishes these animals is their hind legs, which are much 
larger in proportion than the fore ones, that have no thumbs, and the two 
first toes united as far as the nail; so that, at a first glance, it seems as 
though there were but three toes, the middle one having two nails. They 
frequently walk upon two feet, at which times they employ their long and 
strong tail to support themselves. They have then the form and habits of 
the Kanguroos, from which they only differ in their superior canine tooth. 
They are frugivorous. 
Hyps, minor. (The Kanguroo Rat.) Size of a small Rabbit; of a mouse- 
grey. From New Holland, where it is called Potoroo. It is the only spe- 
cies known. 
The fourth subdivision only differs from the third in the absence 
of all canini whatsoever, it is the 
Macropus, Shaw.—Halmaturus, Illig.(2) 
The Kanguroos have all the characters we have assigned to the preceding 
genus, except that the superior canine is wanting, and that their middle 
incisors do not project beyond the others. The inequality of their legs is 
still greater, so that on all fours they can only walk slowly and with diffi- 
culty; they make vigorous leaps however with their hind feet, the great 
(1) T^nrgvpvos; i. e. raised behind. 
(2) Halmaiurus, tail fit for leaping1. 88 
MAMMALIA. 
middle nail of which (almost in the shape of a hoof) also serves them for 
purposes of defence; for, by supporting themselves on one foot and their 
enormous tail, they can inflict a severe blow with that which is at liberty. 
They are very gentle herbivorous animals, their grinders presenting mere 
transverse ridges. 
M. major, Shaw. (The Gigantic Kanguroo.) Sometimes six feet in 
height. It is the largest of the New Holland animals; was discovered by 
Cook in 1779, and is now bred in Europe- Its flesh is said to resemble 
venison. The young ones, which at birth are only an inch long, remain in 
the maternal pouch even when they are old enough to graze, which they 
effect by stretching out their necks from their domicile, while the mother 
herself is feeding. These animals live in troops, conducted by the old 
males. They make enormous leaps. It appears that we have hitherto con- 
founded under this name several species of New Holland and its neighbour- 
ing countries, whose fur, more or less grey, only varies by a trifling differ- 
ence of shade. 
The fifth subdivision has two long incisors in the lower jaw but no 
caninij in the upper, two long incisors in front, a few small ones 
on the sides, and two small canines. It comprehends but one genus. 
Koala, Cuv. 
The Koalae have a short, stout body; short legs, and no tail. The toes of 
their forefeet, five in number, when about to seize any object, separate into 
two groups; the thumb and index on one side, and the remaining three on 
the other. The thumb is wanting on the hind foot; the two first toes of 
which are united like those of the Phalangers and the Kanguroos. One 
species only is known: 
K. cinerea. (The Koala.) Ash coloured; passes one part of its life in 
trees, and the other in burrows which it excavates at their foot. The 
mother carries her young one for a long time on her back. 
Finally, our sixth division of the Marsupialia, or the 
Phascolomys, Geoff.(l) 
Consists of Animals which are true Rodentia in the teeth and intestines, 
their only relation to the Carnaria consisting in the articulation of their 
lower jaw; and in a rigorously exact system, it would be necessary to class 
them with the Rodentia. We should even have placed them there, had 
we not been led to them by a regular uninterrupted series from the Oposs- 
ums to the Phalangers, from the latter to the Kanguroos, and from the Kan- 
guroos to the Phascolomys. 
(1) Phaacolomys, a pouched rat, from ytto-Kuhov and/uwc. MARSUPIALIA. 
89 
They are sluggish animals, with large flat heads, and bodies that look as 
if they had been crushed. They are without a tail; have five nails on each 
of the fore feet, and four, with a small tubercle, in place of a thumb, on each 
of the hind ones, all very long and fit for digging. Their gait is excess- 
ively slow. They have two long incisors in each jaw, almost similar to 
those of the Rodentia; and each of their grinders has two transverse ridges. 
They feed on grass. One species only is known, the 
Phas. ursinus. (The Wombat.) Size of a badger; fur abundant, of a 
more or less yellowish brown. It is found in King’s Island to the south of 
New Holland, where it lives in its burrow. Its flesh is excellent. 
ORDER V. 
RODENTIA. 
We have just seen, in the Phalangers, canini so very small, that 
we cannot consider them as such. The nutriment of these animals, 
accordingly, is chiefly derived from the vegetable kingdom. Their 
intestines are long; and the Kanguroos, which have no canini what- 
ever, subsist upon vegetables only. The Pbascolomys might stand 
first in that series of animals of which we are about to speak, and 
which have a system of mastication still less complete. 
Two large incisors in each jaw, separated from the molars by an 
empty space, cannot seize a living prey nor tear flesh; they cannot 
even cut the food, but they serve to file, and by continued labour 
to reduce, it into separate molecules, in a word to gnaw it; hence 
the term Rodentia or Gnawers, which is applied to animals of this 
order. It is thus that they successfully attack the hardest substances, 
frequently feeding on wood and the bark of trees. The more easily 
to accomplish this object, the incisors have no thick enamel except 
in front, so that their posterior edges wearing away faster than the 
anterior, they are always naturally sloped. Their prismatic form 
causes them to grow from the root as fast as they wear away at the 
edge; and this tendency to increase in length is so powerful, that if 
one of them be lost or broken, its antagonist in the other jaw having 
nothing to oppose or comminute, becomes developed to a most 
monstrous extent. The lower jaw is articulated by a longitudinal 
condyle, in such a way as to allow of no horizontal motion, except 
from back to front, and vice versa, as is requisite for the action of 90 
MAMMALIA. 
gnawing. The molars also have flat crowns, whose enamelled 
eminences are always transverse, so as to be in opposition to the 
horizontal motion of the jaw, and to increase the power of tritu- 
ration. • 
The genera in which these eminences are simple lines, and the 
crown is very flat, are more exclusively frugivorous; those in which 
the eminences of the teeth are divided into blunt tubercles are om- 
nivorous; while the small number of such as have no points more 
readily attack other animals, and approximate somewhat to the 
Carnaria. 
The form of the body in the Rodentia is generally such, that the 
hinder parts of it exceed those of the front; so that they rather leap 
than walk. In some of them this disproportion is even as excessive 
as it is in the Kanguroos. 
The inferiority of these animals is visible in most of the details of 
their organization. Those genera however which possess stronger 
clavicles have a certain degree of dexterity, and use their fore feet 
to convey their food to the mouth. 
Some of them even climb with facility: such is the 
Sciurus, Lin. 
Squirrels are distinguished by their strongly compressed inferior incisors, 
and by their long tail furnished with hairs. They have four toes before, 
and five behind. The thumb of the fore foot is sometimes marked by a tu- 
bercle. They have in all four grinders, variously tuberculated, and a very 
small additional one above in front, that very soon falls. The head is large 
and the eyes projecting and lively. They are light and active animals, 
living on trees, and feeding on fruits. 
Sciuntrs, CuVf 
In the Squirrel, properly so called, the hairs of the tail are arranged on 
the sides, so as to resemble a feather. There are a great many species in 
the two continents. 
Sc. vulgaris, Buff. (The Common Squirrel.) The back of a lively red; 
belly white; ears terminated by a tuft of hair. Those of the north, in win- 
ter, become of a beautiful bluish ash colour, producing the fur called min- 
ever when taken only from the back, and vair (by the French) when it 
consists of the whole skin. 
The American species have no pencils to their ears. Such are 
Sc. cinereus, L. (The Grey Squirrel of Carolina.) Larger than that of 
Europe; ash coloured, with a white abdomen. 
It is probable that we shall have to separate from the Squirrels certain RODENTIA. 
91 
species which have cheek-pouches like the Hamsters, and pass their lives 
in subterraneous holes, the Tamia of Illiger. For instance the 
Sc. slrialus, L. (The Ground Squirrel.) Which is found throughout 
all the north of Asia and America, particularly in the pine forests. The 
tail is more scantily supplied with hairs than that of the European Squirrel; 
the ears smooth, and skin brown, with five black stripes and two white 
ones. 
We ought also, most probably, to distinguish the Guerlinguets, a species 
with a long, and almost round tail. 
They are found in both continents. 
The following have been separated already. 
Pteromts.(I) 
Or the Flying Squirrels, to which the skin of the flank, extending be- 
tween the fore and hind legs, imparts the faculty of supporting themselves 
for a moment in the air, and of making very great leaps. There are long 
bony appendages to their feet, which support a part of this lateral mem' 
brane. 
There is a species in North America. 
Sc. voluccella, L. (The American Flying Squirrel.) Reddish-grey above; 
white beneath; size less than that of the preceding; tail three-fourths as 
long as the body. It lives in troops in the prairies of North America. 
M. Geoffroy has very properly separated from this genus the 
Cheikomts.(2) 
Or the Aye-Ayes, whose inferior incisors, much more compressed, and 
above all, more extended from front to back, resemble ploughshares. 
Each foot has five toes, of which four of the anterior are excessively elon- 
gated, the medius being more slender than the others; in the hind feet the 
thumb is opposable to the other toes; so that they are in this respect among 
the Rodentia, what the Opossums are among the Carnaria. The structure 
of their head is otherwise very different from that of the other Rodentia, 
and is related to the Quadrumana in more points than one. 
There is only one species of the Aye-Aye known. It was discovered at 
Madagascar by Sonnerat. It is the Cheir. madagascariensis. (The Aye- 
Aye.) Size of a Hare, of a brown colour, mixed with yellow; tail long and 
thick, with stout black bristles; ears large and naked. It is a nocturnal 
animal, to which motion seems painful; it burrows under ground, and uses 
its slender toe to convey food to its mouth. 
Linnaeus and Pallas united in one single group, under the name of 
All the Rodentia furnished with clavicles, which they could not distinguish 
Mus, Lin. 
(1) Pteromys, Winged Rat. 
(2) Cheiromys, a rat with hands. 92 
MAMMALIA. 
by some very sensible external character, such as the tail of the Squirrel or 
that of the Beaver, from which resulted the utter impossibility of assigning 
to them any common character; the greater number had merely pointed 
lower incisors, but even this was subject to exceptions. 
Gmelin has already separated from them the Marmots, Dormice, and the 
Jerboas; but we carry their subdivisions much further, from considerations 
founded on the form of their grinders. 
Arctomys, Gm.(l) 
The Marmots, it is true, have the inferior incisors pointed like those of 
the greater number of animals comprehended in the great genus Mus; but 
their grinders, like those of the Squirrel, amount to five on each side above 
and four below, all bristled with points; accordingly, some species are in- 
clined to eat flesh and feed upon insects, as well as grass. There are four toes 
and a tubercle in place of a thumb to the fore feet, and five toes to the 
hind ones. In other respects these animals are nearly the direct reverse 
of the Squirrels, being heavy, having short legs, a middle sized or short 
hairy tail, and a large flat head, passing the winter in a state of torpor, 
and shut up in deep holes, the entrance of which they close with a heap of 
grass. They live in societies, and are easily tamed. Two species are 
known in the eastern continent. One is 
Arct. alpinus. (The Alpine Marmot.) Large as a Hare; tail short; fur 
yellowish grey, with ash coloured tints about the head. It lives in high 
mountains, immediately below the region of perpetual snow. 
America also produces some species. 
Arct. monax, Buff. (The Maryland Marmot.) Grey; tail blackish, as 
well as the top of the head. 
Arct. empetra, Pall. Less than the preceding; grey; red beneath. 
Spermofhiltts, Fred. Cuv. 
We apply this name to those Marmots that have cheek pouches. The 
superior lightness of their structure has caused them to be called Ground 
Squirrels. Eastern Europe produces one species: 
A. citillus. (The Souslik or Zizel.) A pretty little animal, of a greyish 
brown, watered or mottled with white, the spots very small, which is 
found from Bohemia to Siberia. It has a peculiar fondness for flesh, and 
does not spare even its own species. 
North America has several species of them, one of which is remarkable 
by the thirteen fawn coloured stripes which extend along the back on a 
blackish ground. It is the Thirteen striped Souslik, Arct. 13-lineaius, Harl.; 
or Sciurus 13-lineatus, Mitchell; or Arct. Hoodii, Sabine.' 
There is one of the Rodentia which it appears we must approximate to 
the Marmots, that is remarkable for living in large troops in immense bur- 
(1) Ardomys, Bear-Rat. 93 
RODENTIA. 
rows, which have even been styled villages. It is called the Prairie Dog or 
Barking Squirrel, the latter appellation arising from its voice, which resem- 
bles the bark of a small Dog. It is the Arct. ludovicianus of Say, Jour, to 
the Rocky Mountains, I, 451. 
Myoxus, Gm.(l) 
The Dormice have pointed lower incisors, and four grinders, the crown 
of each of which is divided by enamelled lines. 
They are pretty little animals, with soft fur, a hairy and even tufted tail 
and a lively eye, which live on trees like Squirrels, and feed on fruit. They 
become torpid in winter like the Marmots, and pass through it in the most 
profound lethargy. 
M. glis, L. (The Fat Dormouse.) Size of a Rat; ashy grey-brown 
above, whitish underneath; of a deeper brown around the eyes; tail very 
hairy the whole of its length, and disposed somewhat like that of a Squir- 
rel, and frequently a little forked at the extremity. It inhabits the south 
of Europe, and nestles in the hollows 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 delicacy of the very highest 
description. 
We should place near the Dormice, the 
Four grinders also, but formed in a peculiar way; the upper ones con- 
sisting of two blades, bent into the shape of a V, and the under ones of one 
blade only that is bent, and of another that is simple. The fur of several 
species is harsh and intermixed with flattened spines or prickles, like 
sword blades. From America. One of them is, 
Ech. chrysuros, Schreb. (The Golden-tailed Echimys.) More than twice 
the size of the Brown Rat; it is a beautiful animal, of a chesnut brown colour; 
white belly; an elongated crest of hairs, and a white longitudinal band on 
the head; the tail is long and black; the posterior half yellow. From 
Guiana. 
Others, again, have merely the ordinary kind of hair, more or less rough. 
The most remarkable is the 
Ech. dadylicus, Geoff. (The Long-toed Echimys.) "Which is still larger 
than the Chrysuros, 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; its fur is a 
yellowish grey, and the hairs on its nose form a crest directed in front. 
Echimys, Geoff. (2) 
Hydbomys, Geoff. 
The Hydromys have many external points of relation to the Echimys, but 
they are distinguished from all other Rats by their hind feet, two-thirds of 
(1) Myoxus, Rat with a pointed nose. 
(2) Echimys, or Spiny Rat. Am. Ed. 94 
MAMMALIA. 
which are palmated; their two molars have also a peculiar character in the 
crown, which is divided into obliquely quadrangular lobes, whose summits 
are hollowed out like the bowl of a spoon. They are aquatic. 
The Houtias have four molars every where with flat crowns, the enamel 
of which is folded inwards so that it forms three angles on the external edge, 
and one only on the internal edge of the upper teeth, and the inverse in the 
lower ones. The tail is round and scantily pilose; they have, like the Rats, 
five toes to the hind foot, and four with the rudiment of a thumb to the fore 
feet; their form is that of a Rat; as large as a Rabbit or Hare. Two species 
are known: one is the 
Cap. prehensilis, Poeppig. Brown, with a whitish throat; tail red, as long 
as the body, and partly naked at the end. Both species inhabit the island 
of Cuba, and together with the Agoutis, at the time of the discovery, consti- 
tuted the principal game of the Indians. 
Capromys, Desmar. 
Mrs, Cuv. 
The true Rats have three molars every where, of which the anterior is 
the largest; its crown is divided into blunt tubercles, which, by being worn, 
give it the shape of a disk, sloped in various directions; the tail is long and 
scaly. These animals are very injurious from their fecundity, and the 
voracity with which they devour every thing that comes within their 
reach. There are three species which have become quite common in our 
houses, viz. 
M. musculus, L. (The Common Mouse.) Universally known. 
M. rattus, L. (The Black Rat.) Of which no mention is made by the 
ancients, and which appears to have entered Europe in the middle century. 
It is more than double the size of the Mouse in each of its dimensions. 
The fur is blackish. Several individuals have been occasionally found con- 
nected by the interlacing of their tails; constituting what the Germans 
style the King of Rats. 
M. decumanus, Pall. (The Norway or Brown Rat.) Which did not pass 
into Europe till the eighteenth century, and is now more common in large 
cities than the Black Rat itself. It is larger than the latter by one-fourth, 
and differs from it also by its reddish-brown hair.(l) 
These two large species appear to have originated in the East, and have 
been transported in ships, together with the Mouse, to all parts of the 
globe. 
Geubillus, Desm. 
The Gerbils have molars that differ very little from those of Rats, merely 
(1) It 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. 95 
RODENTIA. 
becoming sooner worn, so as to form transverse elevations. Their superior 
incisors are furrowed with a groove; their hind feet are somewhat longer in 
proportion than those of Rats in general, and their thumb and little toe 
slightly separated. Their tail is long and hairy. The sandy and warm parts 
of the eastern continent produce several species. 
G. indicus. (The India Gerbil.) Size of the fat Dormouse; fawn-co- 
loured above, whitish beneath; tail longer than the body, and blackish at 
the end. The 
Merioxes, Fred. Cuv. 
Which we separate from the other Gerbils, have the hind feet still lon- 
ger; the tail nearly naked, and a very small tooth before the superior mo- 
lars; characters which approximate them to the Jerboas. Their upper 
incisors are grooved like those of the Gerbils, and their toes also are similar. 
There is a small species in North America, the 
Mus. canadensis, Penn. (The Jumping Mouse.) Size of a Mouse; fawn- 
coloured grey; tail longer than the body. A very active animal, that shuts 
itself up in its burrow, and passes the winter in a state of lethargy. 
Cricetcs, Cuv. 
The Hamsters have nearly the same kind of teeth as Rats, but their tail 
is short and hairy, and the two sides of their mouth are hollowed into sacs 
or cheek pouches, in which they transport the grain they collect to their 
subterraneous abodes. 
C. vulgaris. (The Common Hamster.) Larger than the Rat; of a red- 
dish-grey above, black on the flanks and underneath, with three whitish 
spots on each side. The feet, a spot under the throat, and another under 
the breast white; some individuals are all black. This animal, so agreeably 
varied in colour, is one of the most noxious that exist, gathering large 
quantities of grain with which it fills its burrow that is sometimes seven feet 
deep. It is common in all the sandy regions, that extend from the north 
of Germany to Siberia. 
This last country produces several small species of Hamsters described by 
Pallas. 
The Arvicola:, like the Rats, have three grinders every where, but with- 
out roots, each one being formed of triangular prisms, placed on two alter- 
nate lines. They may be subdivided into several groups, viz. 
Arvicola, Lacep. 
The Ondatras or Musk Bats having- semi-palmated hind feet, a long scaly 
and compressed tail, of which one species only is well known: 
F. vulgaris. (The Canadian Musk-Rat or Ondatra.) As large as a Rab- 
bit, of a reddish-grey. In winter they construct, on the ice, a hut of earth, 
Fiber, Cuv. 96 
MAMMALIA. 
in which several of them reside together, passing through a hole in the 
bottom, for the roots of the acorus on which they feed. They neither dive 
nor swim well. It is this habit of building which has induced some authors 
to refer the Ondatra to the genus Castor. The second subdivision is that of 
Arvicola, Cuv.— Illig. 
Our common Field Rats, which have a hairy tail, about the length of the 
body, and simple or not palmated feet. 
A. arvalis. (The Campagnol.) Size of a Mouse; of a reddish-asli colour; 
tail not so long as the body. It inhabits holes which it excavates in the 
earth, where it collects grain for the winter. The multiplication of this 
animal is sometimes so excessive as to cause much injury. 
Or the Lemmings, Cuv. have very short ears and tail, and the toes of the 
fore feet peculiarly well formed for digging. 
G. lemmus. (The Lemming.) A northern species, as large as a Rat, 
with black and yellow fur, very celebrated for its occasional migrations in 
innumerable bodies. At these periods they are said to march in a straight 
line, regardless of rivers or mountains; and while no obstacle can impede 
their progress, they devastate the country through which they pass. Their 
usual residence appears to be the shores of the Arctic ocean. 
G. hudsonius; Mus. hudsonius, Gm., Schreb. (The Lemming of Hudson’s 
Bay.) A light pearly-ash colour; without tail or external ears; the two mid- 
dle toes of the fore foot of the male seem to have double claws, which is 
owing to the skin at the end of the toe being callous and projecting from 
under the nail, a deposition of the part hitherto unknown, except in this 
animal. It is the size of a Rat, and lives under ground, in North America. 
GEORYfcHTTS, Illig. 
Otomys, Fred. Cuv. 
The Otomys are nearly allied to the Field Rats, and have also three grin- 
ders, but they are composed of slightly arcuated laminae arranged in file. 
Their incisors are grooved with a longitudinal furrow, and the tail is hairy, 
as well as the ears, which are large. 
0. capensis, Fred. Cuv. (The Cape Otomys.) Size of a Rat; fur marked 
with black and fawn coloured rings; tail a third shorter than the body. 
The Jerboas have nearly the same kind of teeth as the true Rats, except 
that there is sometimes a very small one immediately before the upper mo- 
lars. The tail is long and tufted at the end; the head large; the eyes large 
and prominent; but their principal character consists in their posterior ex- 
tremities, which, in comparison with the anterior, are of a most immode- 
rate length, and above all, in the metatarsus of the three middle toes, which 
is formed of one single bone, resembling what is called the tarsus in Birds. 
Dims, Gm. RODENTIA 
97 
It is from this disproportion of the limbs that they were named by the an- 
cients Biped Rats, and in fact they seldom move otherwise than by great 
leaps on their hind feet. There are five toes to each of the fore feet, and 
in certain species, besides the three great toes to the hind feet, there are 
small lateral ones. They live in burrows, and become torpid during the 
winter. 
D. sagitta. The Jerboa has only three toes, and is the size of a Rat; a 
light fawn colour above; white beneath; tuft of the tail black, the tip white. 
Is found from Barbary to the north of the Caspian sea. 
Helamys, F. Cuv.—Pedetes, Illig.(l) 
The Jumping Hares, like the Jerboas, have a large head and great eyes, 
a long tail, and the anterior part of the body extremely small, in compari- 
son to the posterior, although the disproportion is much less than in the 
true Gerboas. The peculiar characters of the Helamys are four grinders 
every where, each one composed of two laminse; five toes to the fore-feet, 
armed with long and pointed nails, and four to their great hind ones, all 
separate, even to the bones of the metatarsus, and terminated by large nails, 
almost resembling hoofs. This number of toes is the inverse of that most 
common among the Rats. Their inferior incisors are truncated, and not 
pointed like those of the true Jerboas, and of the greater part of the ani- 
mals comprised under the genus of Rats. One species only is known, the 
H. Caffer. It is the size of a Hare, of a light fawn colour, and has a long 
tufted tail, with a black tip. Inhabits deep burrows at the Cape of Good 
Hope. 
The Rat-Moles have also been very properly separated from the Rats, al- 
though their grinders are three in number, and tuberculous, as in the true 
Rats, and the Hamsters, and are merely a little less unequal. Their inci- 
sors, however, are two large to be covered by the lips, and the extremities 
of the lower ones are trenchant, rectilinear, and transverse, not pointed. 
Their legs are very short; each foot has five short toes, and as many flat and 
slender nails. Their tail is very short, or rather there is none; the same 
observation applies to their external ear. They live under ground like the 
Moles, raising up the earth like them, although provided with much infe- 
rior means for dividing it; but they subsist on roots only. 
S. typhus. (The Zanni, Slepez, or Blind Rat-Mole.) A singular animal, 
which, from its large head, angular on the sides, its short legs, the total 
absence of a tail and of any apparent eye, has a most shapeless appearance. 
The eye is not visible externally, and we merely find beneath the skin a 
little black point, which appears to be organised like one, but which can- 
not serve for the purpose of vision, since the skin passes over it without 
opening or even growing thinner, and being as much covered with hair as 
Spalax, Gulden. 
(1) Pedetes, jumper; Helamys, Junjping-Rai. 98 
MAMMALIA. 
any other part. It is rather larger than our Rat; its fur is smooth, and of an 
ash-coloui1, bordering on a red. This is the animal, in the opinion of Oli- 
vier, to which the ancients alluded when they spoke of the Mole as being 
perfectly blind. 
From the Rat-Moles themselves should have been separated the 
Batiiyergus, Illig.—Orycteres, Fr. Cuv. 
Which, with the general form, feet, and truncated incisors of that genus, 
have four grinders throughout. Their eye, though small, is visible, and 
they have a short tail. 
B. maritimus. (The Maritime Rat-Mole.) Nearly the size of a Rabbit; 
the supex-ior incisors furrowed with a groove, and the hair of a whitish grey. 
Geomys, Rafin.—Pseudostoma, Say. 
Which have four compressed prismatic molars throughout, the first double, 
the remaining three simple; the upper incisors furrowed with a double 
groove in front; five toes to each foot; the three middle anterior nails, that 
of the medius particularly, very long, crooked, and trenchant. They are 
low animals, and have very deep cheek-pouches, which open externally, 
enlarging the sides of the head and neck in a singular manner. One spe- 
cies only is known, 
G- bursarius. (The Canada Hamster.) Size of a Rat; fur of a reddish- 
grey; tail naked, and but half the length of the body. Inhabits deep bur- 
rows in the interior of North America. 
The Diplostomae are almost precisely similar to the Geomys, but they have 
no tail. 
These animals are also from North America. The species before us is 
reddish, and ten inches in length. 
We now pass to larger Rodentia than these of which we have 
hitherto spoken, but of which several still have well defined clavicles. 
Of this number is the 
Diplostoma, Rafin. 
The Beavers are distinguished from all other Rodentia by their horizon- 
tally flattened tail, which is nearly of an oval form, and covered with scales. 
They have five toes to each foot: those of the hinder ones are connected by 
membranes, and that next to the thumb has a double and oblique nail. 
Their grinders, to the number of four throughout, and with flat crowns, 
appear as if formed of a doubled bony fillet, or so as to show one sloping 
edge at the internal extremities of the upper row, and three at the exter- 
nal; in the Ipwer ones it is exactly the reverse. 
Beavers are large animals, whose life is completely aquatic; their feet and 
tail aid them equally in swimming. As their chief food is bark, and other 
Castor, Lin. RODENTIA. 
99 
hard substances, their incisors are very powerful, and grow as rapidly from 
the root, as they are worn away at the point. With these teeth they cut 
trees of every description. 
They have large glandular pouches which produce a highly odorous oily 
substance, employed in medicine under the name of Castor. 
C. fiber, Buff. (The Beaver.) Larger than the Badger, and of all quad- 
rupeds the most industrious in constructing a dwelling, to effect which these 
animals act in concert. They are found in the most solitary parts of North 
America. 
Beavers choose water of such a depth as is not likely to be frozen to the 
bottom, and, as far as possible, running streams, in order that the wood 
which they cut above, may be carried downwards by the current to the spot 
where it is to be used. They keep the water at an equal height, by dams 
composed of branches of trees, mixed with clay and stones, the strength of 
which is annually increased, and which finally, by the progress of vegetation, 
becomes converted into a hedge. Each hut serves for two or three families, 
and consists of two stories; the upper is dry for the residence of the animals, 
and the lower under water for their stores of bark, 8cc. The latter alone is 
open, and the entrance is under water, having no communication with the 
land. The huts are a kind of rude wicker-work, being made of interwoven 
branches and twigs of trees plastered with 'mud. There are always several 
burrows along the bank, in which they seek for shelter when their huts are 
attacked. They only reside in these habitations during the winter; in the 
summer they separate, and live solitary. The Beaver may be easily tamed, 
and accustomed to feed on animal matters. It is of a uniform reddish brown 
colour, and the fur, as is well known, is in great demand for hatters. It is 
sometimes found flaxen coloured, at others black, or even white. 
Myopotamus, Commer. 
The Couias resemble the Ileaver in size, in their four nearly similarly com- 
posed molars, in their powerful yellow-tinted incisors, and in their five-toed 
feet, the hinder ones of which are palmated; but their tail is round and 
elongated. They are aquatic animals also. One only is known, the 
M. coipus. (The Couia.) Which lives in burrows along the banks of 
rivers throughout a great part of South America. 
The Porcupines are known at the first glance by the stiff and sharp spines, 
or quills (as they are called), with which they are armed, like the Hedge- 
hogs among the Carnaria. Their grinders are four throughout, with flat 
crowns, variously modified by plates of enamel, between which are de- 
pressed intervals. Their tongue is bristled with spiny scales, and their cla- 
vicles are too small to rest upon the sternum and scapula, being merely 
suspended by ligaments. They live in burrows, and have many of the 
habits of the Rabbits. To their grunting voice, and thick truncated muz- 
zle, are they indebted for being compared to the Pig, and for their corres- 
ponding French appellation of porc-epic. 
Hystrix, Lin. 100 
MAMMALIA. 
Porcupines, properly so called, 
Have the head more or less convex or vaulted, by the development of 
the bones of the nose. They have four toes before, and five behind, all 
armed with stout nails. 
II. cristata. (The Common Porcupine.) Inhabits the south of Italy, 
Spain, and Sicily; it is also found in Barbary. The spines are very long, 
and annulated with black and white; a mane composed of long hairs occu- 
pies the head and neck. The tail is short, and furnished with hollow trun- 
cated tubes, suspended to slender pedicles, which make a noise when 
shaken by the animal. 
Atuerurets, Cuv. 
Where neither the head nor muzzle is inflated, and in which we observe 
a long non-prehensile tail; the toes are like those of the true Porcupines. 
Hyst. fasciculata, L. Puff. (The Pencil-tailed Porcupine.) The upper 
part of the spines on the back grooved, and the tail terminated by a bundle 
of flattened horny slips, constricted from space to space. 
Eretisox, F. Cuv. 
The Ursons have a flat cranium; the muzzle short, and not convex; the 
tail of a middle size, and the spines short, and half hidden in the hair. One 
species only is known, the 
Hyslrix dorsata, L. (The Urson.) From North America. 
Stnetiieres, F. Cuv. 
The muzzle short and thick; the head vaulted in front, and the spines 
short; the tail long, naked at the extremity, and prehensile, like that of an 
Opossum or Sapajou. There are only four toes, all armed with claws; 
they climb trees. 
Hares have a very distinctive character in their superior incisors, which are 
double, that is, each of them has a smaller one behind it. Their molars, 
five every where, are individually 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. The inside of their mouth, 
and the under part of the feet are lined with hairs like the rest of the body. 
Lefus, Lin. 
Or the true Hares, have long1 ears; a short tail; the hind feet much longer 
than the fore ones; imperfect clavicles, and the infra-orbitary spaces in the 
skeleton reticulated. The species are so numerous and similar, that it is 
difficult to characterise them. 
L. Americanus, Gm. (The American Rabbit.) Nearly similar in size and 
colour to the European species; feet reddish; no black on either ears or tail. 
Nestles in the hollows of trees, up which it sometimes ascends as far as the 
branches. Flesh soft and insipid. 
Leptjs, Cuv. RODENTIA. 
101 
Lagomts, Cuv.(l) 
Moderate ears; legs nearly alike; the hole below the eye simple; clavicles 
nearly perfect, and no tail; they often utter a sharp cry. They have hitherto 
been found in Siberia only, and it is to Pallas that we are indebted for their 
discovery. 
The fossil bones of an unknown species of Lagomys have been discovered 
in the osseous breccia of Corsica. 
After the two genera of Porcupines and Hares, come the Rodentia, 
united by Linnaeus and Pallas under the name of Cavia; but to which it is 
impossible to affix any other common and positive character than that of 
their imperfect clavicles, although the species of which they are composed 
are very analogous to each other, both in body and habits. They are all 
from the western continent. 
Hydrochcerus, Erxleb.(2) 
Four toes before and three behind, all armed with large nails, and united 
by membranes; four grinders throughout, of which the posterior are the 
longest, and composed of numerous, simple and parallel laminae; the an- 
terior laminae, forked towards the external edge in the upper, and towards 
the internal one in the lower teeth. Only one species is known, the Capy- 
bara, which inhabits Guiana. 
Cavia, Illig. 
The Cobayes, or Guinea-Pigs, are miniature representations of the Cabiais; 
but their toes are separated, and each of their molars has only one simple 
lamina, and one that is forked on the outside in the upper ones, and on the 
inside in the lower. It is found in the woods of Brazil and Paraguay. 
Chloromys, Fr. Cuv.(3) 
The Agoutis have four toes before and three behind; four grinders through- 
out, almost equal, with flat crowns irregularly furrowed, rounded borders 
notched on the internal edge in the upper jaw, and on the external one in 
the lower. In disposition, and in the nature of their flesh, they resemble 
Hares and Rabbits, which they may be said to replace in the Antilles and 
hot parts of America. 
Ccelogenys, Fr. Cuv.(4) 
The Pacas, in addition to teeth very like those of the Agoutis, have a very 
small toe on the internal edge of the fore foot, and one on each side, equally 
small on their hinder one, making five toes everywhere. 
There is one species or variety fawn coloured, and another brown, both of 
which are spotted with white, the Cavia paca, L. 
(1) Lagomys, i. e. Rat-Hares. (2) Hydrochcerus, water-pig. 
(3) Chloromys, yellow rat (4) Ccelogenys, hollow cheek. 102 
MAMMALIA. 
Finally, there remains an animal perhaps nearly allied to the Cavias, and 
possibly more so to the Lagomys or the Rats, which we are unable to dis- 
pose of, on account of our ignorance of its teeth; I mean the Chinchilla, 
thousands of whose skins are to be had, but of which we have never yet 
been able to procure the entire body. It is about the size of a small Rabbit; 
is covered with long, close and fine hair, the softest that is known among 
common furs. This quadruped inhabits the mountains of South America. 
ORDER VI. 
EDENTATA. 
The Edentata, or quadrupeds without front teeth, will form our 
last order of unguiculated animals. Although united by a character 
purely negative, they have, nevertheless, some positive mutual re- 
lations, and particularly large nails, which embrace the extremities 
of the toes, approaching more or less to the nature of hoofs: a slow- 
ness, a want of agility, obviously arising from the peculiar organi- 
zation of their limbs. There are, however, certain intervals in these 
relations, which render it necessary to divide the order into three 
tribes. The first of these is the 
TARDIGRADA. 
They have a short face. Their name originates from their ex- 
cessive slowness, the consequence of a construction truly heteroc- 
lite, in which nature seems to have amused herself by producing 
something imperfect and grotesque. The only genus now in exis- 
tence is 
The Sloths have cylindrical molars, and sharp canini longerthan those molars, 
two mammae on the breast, and fingers united by the skin, and only marked 
externally by enormous compressed and crooked nails, which, when at rest, 
are always bent towards the palm of the hand, or the sole of the foot. The 
hind feet are obliquely articulated on the leg, and rest only upon their outer 
edge; the phalanges of the toes are articulated by a close ginglymus, and 
the first, at a certain age, becomes soldered to the bones of the metacarpus 
or metatarsus, which also, in time, for want of use, experience the same fate. 
To this inconvenience in the organization of the extremities isddded another, 
not less great, in their proportions. The pelvis is so large, and their thighs 
Bradypus, Lin. EDENTATA. 
103 
so much inclined to the sides, that they cannot approximate their knees. 
Their gait is the necessary effect of such a disproportioned structure. They 
live in trees, and never remove from the one they are on until they have 
stripped it of every leaf, so painful to them is the requisite exertion to reach 
another. It is even asserted that to avoid the trouble of a regular descent, 
they let themselves fall from a branch. The female produces but a single 
young one at a birth, which she carries on her back. 
Bradypus tridactylus, L. (The Ai.) A species in which sluggishness, 
and all the details of the organization which produce it, are carried to the 
highest degree. The thumb and the little toe, reduced to small rudiments, 
are hidden under the skin, and soldered to the metatarsus and metacarpus; 
the clavicle, also reduced to a rudiment, is firmly united to the acromion. 
The arms are double the length of the legs; the hair on the head, back and 
limbs is long, coarse and non-elastic, something like dried hay, which gives 
it a most hideous aspect. Its colour is grey, the back being frequently spot- 
ted with white and brown. It is as large as a Cat, and is the onlymammifer- 
ous animal known which has nine cervical vertebra. 
Fossil skeletons of two Edentata of great size have been discov- 
ered in America, one of which, the Megatherium, has a head very 
similar to that of the Sloths, but deficient as to canini, and approach- 
ing in other parts of the skeleton, partly to the Sloths, and partly to 
the Ant-eaters. It is twelve feet long, and six or seven high. The 
other, the Megalonyx, is rather smaller, and the toes are the only 
parts of it that are well known, but they strongly resemble those of 
the preceding. 
The second tribe comprehends the 
Or the Ordinary Edentata with a pointed muzzle. Some of them 
still have cheek teeth. They form two genera. 
EDENTATA ORDINARIA, 
Dasypus, Lin. 
The Armadillos are very remarkable among1 the Mammalia, by the scaly 
and hard shell formed of compartments resembling little paving stones, 
which covers their head and body, and frequently their tail. This sub- 
stance forms one shield over the forehead, a second very large and convex 
over the shoulders, a third on the croup similar to the second, and between 
the two latter several parallel and movable bands, which allow the body to 
bend. The tail is sometimes furnished with successive rings, and at others, 
like the legs, merely with tubercles. These animals have large ears, and 
sometimes four, and at others five great nails before, but always five behind. 
They dig burrows, and live partly on vegetables, and partly on insects and 104 
MAMMALIA. 
dead bodies. They all belong to the hot, or at least to the temperate parts 
of America. 
They may be divided into subgenera from considerations drawn from the 
structure of their fore feet and the number of their teeth. Most of them 
have only four toes to the anterior feet, the two middle ones of which are 
the longest. These subgenera are 
Cachicamus, Cuv. (to which belongs the 9-banded. Armadillo): Apara, 
Cuv. (3-banded Armadillo); Excoubertus, Cuv. (6-banded Armadillo); Ca- 
bassous, Cuv. (The Tatouay); Priodon, Fr. Cuv. (The Giant Armadillo); 
and the Ceamyphorus, Harl., of which only one is known, the C. truncatus, 
Harl. 
It appears that the fossil bones of a Tatou of gigantic size, being ten feet 
long exclusive of the tail, have been found in America. See Cuv. Oss. Foss. 
Y. part 1, p. 191, note. 
The animals of this genus were for a long time confounded with the Ant- 
Eaters on account of their using the same kind of food, having a similar head, 
and a tongue somewhat extensible; but they are distinguished from them by 
being furnished with grinders and flat nails, formed for digging and not 
trenchant. The structure of their teeth differs from that of all other quad- 
rupeds; they are solid cylinders traversed like reeds, in a longitudinal di- 
rection, with an infinitude of little canals. There is only one species known. 
Oryct. capensis. (The Cape Ground-Hog.) It is an animal aboutthe size 
of the Badger or larger; stands low; has short hair, and is of a brownish-grey. 
The tail is not so long as the body, and is covered with equally short hairs. 
It has four toes before, and five behind. Inhabits burrows, which it exca- 
vates with great facility. The flesh is eaten. 
Orycteropus, Geoff.(l) 
The other ordinary Edentata have no grinders, and consequently 
no teeth of any description. They also form two genera. 
Myrmecophaga, Lin. 
The Ant-Eaters are hairy animals with a long muzzle terminated by a 
small toothless mouth, from which is protruded a filiform tongue suscepti- 
ble of considerable elongation, and which they insinuate into Ant-hills and 
the nests of the Termites, whence these insects are withdrawn by being en- 
tangled in the viscid saliva that covers it. The nails of the fore feet, strong 
andtrenchant, and varying in number according to the species, serve to tear 
up the nests of the Termites, and afford the means of defence. 
They all inhabit the hot and temperate parts of the western continent, 
and produce but a single young one at a birth, which they carry on their 
back. 
(1) Oryderopusy feet fitted for digging. EDENTATA. 
105 
The Pangolins, or Scaly Ant-Eaters as they are called, are destitute of 
teeth, have a very extensible tongue, and live on Ants and Termites like 
true Ant-Eaters; but their body, limbs and tail are clothed with large tren- 
chant scales arranged like tiles, which they elevate in rolling themselves into 
a ball, when they wish to defend themselves from an enemy. There are 
five toes to each foot. Their stomach is slightly divided in the middle, and 
there is no caecum. They are confined to the eastern continent. 
Manis, Lin. 
The third tribe of the Edentata comprehends those animals, de- 
signated by M. Geoffroy, under the name of 
MONOTREMATA. 
The singularities of their skeleton are very a sort 
of clavicle, which is common to both shoulders, being placed before 
the ordinary clavicle, and analogous to the fourchette in birds. Fi- 
nally, besides their five nails to each foot, the males have a spur on 
the hinder ones, perforated by a canal which transmits the liquid 
secreted by a gland situated on the inner surface of the thigh. It 
is asserted that the wounds it inflicts are envenomed. These ani- 
mals have no external conch to their ears, and their eyes are very 
small. 
The Monotremata are only found in New Holland, and have been 
discovered since the settlement of the English. Two genera of them 
are known. 
Echidna, Cuv. 
The elongated slender muzzle of the Spiny Jlnt-Eaters, terminated by a 
small mouth, contains an extensible tongue similar to that of the Ant-Eaters 
and Pangolins, and, like them, they feed on Ants. They have no teeth, but 
their palate is furnished with several rows of small recurved spines. Their 
short feet have each five very long and stout nails fitted for digging; and the 
upper surface of the body is covered with spines like that of the Hedgehog. 
It appears, that, when in danger, they also possess the faculty of rolling- 
themselves into a ball. There are two species. 
E. hystrix. (The Spiny Echidna.) Completely covered with large 
spines. 
E. setosa. (The Bristly Echidna.) Is covered with hair, among which 
the spines are half hidden. Some naturalists consider it as a mere variety 
from age. 
Ornithorhynchus, Blumenb.—Platypus. Shaw. 
The elongated, and at the same time singularly enlarged and flattened muz- 106 
MAMMALIA. 
zle of the Ornithorhynchi presents the closest external resemblance to the 
bill of a Duck, and the more so as its edges are similarly furnished with small 
transverse laminae. There is a membrane to the fore feet, which not only 
unites the toes, but extends far beyond the nails; in the hind feet the mem- 
brane terminates at the root of the nails; two characters, which, with the 
flattened tail, make them aquatic animals. The Ornithorhynchi inhabit the 
rivers and marshes of New Holland in the neighbourhood of Port Jackson. 
Two species only are known, one with smooth, thin, reddish fur, the 
Omithorhynchus paradoxus, Blumenb., and the other with blackish-brown, 
flat and frizzled hair. Probably these are only varieties of age. 
ORDER VII. 
PACHYDERMATA.(l) 
The Edentata terminate the series of unguiculated animals, and 
we have just seen that there are some of them whose nails are so 
large, and so envelope the extremities of the toes, as to approximate 
them in a certain degree to the hoofed animals. They still, however, 
possess the faculty of bending these toes round various objects, and 
of seizing with more or less force. The total deficiency of this 
faculty characterizes the hoofed animals. Their forms and habits 
present much less variety than those of the Unguiculata, and they 
can hardly be divided into more than two orders, those which rumi- 
nate, and those which do not; but these latter, which we designate 
collectively by the term Pachydermata, admit of subdivision into 
families. 
The first is that of the Pachydermata which have a proboscis and 
tusks. 
FAMILY I. 
PROBOSCIDIANA. 
The Proboscidians have five toes to each foot, very complete 
in the skeleton, but so encrusted by the callous skin which surrounds 
(1) Thick-skinned animals. 107 
PACHYDERMATA. 
the foot, that their only external appearance is in the nails attached 
to the edge of this species of hoof. They have no canini or incisors 
properly so called, but in their incisive bone are implanted two 
tusks, which project from the mouth, and frequently attain to an 
enormous size. The magnitude requisite for the alveoli of 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 continued out into a cylin- 
drical trunk or proboscis, composed of several thousands of small 
muscles, variously interlaced, extremely flexible, endowed with the 
most exquisite sensibility, and terminated by an appendage resem- 
bling a finger. This proboscis is to the Elephant what the hand is 
to the Monkey. 
But one living genus of the Proboscidiana is known, that of 
Elefiias, Lin. 
Or the Elephant, which comprehends the largest of the terrestrial Mammalia. 
Their food is strictly vegetable. 
The Elephants of the present day, clothed with a rough skin nearly des- 
titute of hair, are only found in the torrid zone of the eastern continent, 
where hitherto only two species have been ascertained. 
E. indicus, Cuv. (The Elephant of India ) An oblong head; the crown 
of the grinders presenting transverse undulating fillets, which are sections 
of the lamina which compose them worn by trituration. This species has 
rather 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 in the 
south of India. They have been used from the earliest ages as beasts of 
draught and burden. The females have very short tusks, and in this respect 
many of the males resemble them. 
E. africanus, Cuv. (The African Elephant.) A round head; convex 
forehead; large ears; the crowns of the grinders divided into lozenges. 
Found from Senegal to the Cape of Good Hope. The tusks of the female 
are as large as those of the male, and the weapon itself, generally speaking, 
is larger than in the Indian species. The African Elephant is not now tamed, 
though it appears that the Carthaginians employed it in the same way that 
the inhabitants of India do theirs. 
The second genus of the Proboscidiana is the 
Mastodon, Cuv. 
The Mammoth has been completely destroyed, nor is there a single individual 
living. It had the feet, tusks, trunk, and many other details of conforma- 
tion in common with the Elephant; but differed from it in the grinders. 
M. giganteum. The Great Mastodon, in which the sections of the points 108 
MAMMALIA. 
are lozenge-shaped, is the most celebrated species. It equalled the Ele- 
phant in size, but with still heavier proportions. Its remains are found ina 
wonderful state of preservation, and in great abundance throughout all parts 
of North America. They are infinitely more rare in the eastern continent. 
The M. angustidens was a third less than the great Mastodon, and much 
lower on its legs. Its remains are found throughout the greater part of 
Europe and of South America. In certain places, the teeth, tinged with 
iron, become of a beautiful blue when heated, forming what is called the 
oriental turquoise. 
FAMILY II. 
PACHYDERMATA ORDINARIA, 
Or the ordinary Pachydermata, have four, three or two toes. 
Those in which the toes make even numbers have feet somewhat 
cleft, and approximate to the Ruminantia in various parts of the 
skeleton, and even in the complication of the stomach. They are 
usually divided into two genera. 
Hippopotamus, Lin. 
These animals have a very massive and naked body; very short legs; the 
belly reaching to the ground; an enormous head terminated by a large inflat- 
ed muzzle, which encloses the apparatus of their large front teeth; the tail 
short; the ears and eyes small. They live in rivers, upon roots and other 
vegetable substances, and exhibit much ferocity and stupidity. One species 
only is known. 
H. amphibius. (The Hippopotamus.) Now confined to the rivers of the 
middle and south of Africa. 
Sus, Lin. 
Hogs, properly so called, have twenty-four or twenty-eight grinders, of 
which the posterior are oblong with tuberculous crowns, and the anterior 
more or less compressed, and six incisors in each jaw. 
S. scropha, L. The Wild Hog, which is the parent stock of our Domestic 
Hog and its varieties, has prismatic tusks that curve outwards and slightly 
upwards; the body short and thick; straight ears; the hair bristled and black; 
the young ones striped black and white. It does great injury to fields in 
tlie vicinity of forests, by tearing up the ground in search of roots. Natural- 
ists now separate from the Hogs the subgenera Phacockserus, and Dicotyle or 
the Peccaries. 
Here may come a genus now unknown in the living creation, 
which we have discovered, and named PACHYDERMATA. 
109 
It presents the most singular affinities with the various tribes of thePachy- 
dermata, and approximates in some respects to the order of the Ruminantia. 
The bones of this genus have hitherto only been found in the gypsum 
quarries near Paris. We have already ascertained five species. 
A NOPLOTIIERItTM. 
The ordinary Pachydermata which have not cloven feet, compre- 
hend, in the first place, three genera, very similar to each other in 
their grinders, but their incisors vary. 
The species of this genus, in this particular, even vary among themselves. 
They are large animals; each foot is divided into three toes, and the bones 
of the nose, which are very thick and moulded into a sort of arch, support 
a solid horn which adheres to the skin, and is composed of a fibrous and 
horny substance, resembling agglutinated hairs. They are naturally stupid 
and ferocious, frequent marshy places, and feed on herbs and branches of 
trees. They are found in India, Java, Africa and Sumatra. 
Eh. indicus, Cuv. (The Rhinoceros of India.) It has but one horn, and 
the skin is remarkable for the deep folds into which it is thrown behind and 
across the shoulders, and before and across the thighs. It inhabits the East 
Indies, and chiefly beyond the Ganges. 
Eh. afiicanus, Cuv. (The Rhinoceros of Africa.) Furnished with two 
horns; has no fold of of the skin, nor any incisor teeth, its molars occupying 
nearly the whole length of the jaw. 
Various fossil species are found in Siberia, Tuscany and Germany. 
Rhinoceros, Lin. 
Hyrax, Herm. 
The Damans, as they are termed, have long been placed among the Roden- 
tia, on account of their small size; if, however, we examine them closely, we 
shall find, the horn excepted, that they are Rhinoceroses in miniature, at least 
they have similar molars; but their upper jaw is furnished with two strong 
incisors curved downwards, and at an early age with two very small canini; 
the lower one has four incisors, but no canini. 
PalvEotiierium, Cuv. 
This is also a lost genus, with the same grinders as the two preceding, six 
incisors, and two canini in each jaw, like the Tapirs, and three visible toes 
to each foot; they had also, like the Tapirs, a short fleshy proboscis. We 
discovered the bones of this genus pele-mele with those of the Anoplothe- 
rium in the gypsum quarries near Paris. They also exist in many other 
parts of France. Eleven or twelve species are known already. 
Is another lost genus, which appears to be closely allied to the preceding 
Lophiodon, Cuv. 110 
MAMMALIA. 
one. Ten or twelve species have been extracted from our old fresh water 
formations, the same in which the Palaeotherium is found. 
To these genera should succeed the genus 
Tapir, Lin. 
The nose resembles a small fleshy proboscis; there are four toes to the four 
feet, and three to the hind ones. For a long time but a single species was 
known, 
T. americanus, L. (The American Tapir.) Size of a small Ass; skin 
brown and nearly naked; tail moderate; neck fleshy, forming a sort of crest 
on the nape. Common in wet places, and along the rivers of the warm parts 
of South America. The flesh is eaten. Within a few years a second spe- 
cies has been discovered in the eastern continent. 
Fossil Tapirs are also scattered throughout Europe; and among others is 
a gigantic species, which in size must have nearly equalled the Elephant; 
it is the Tap. giganteus, Cuv. 
FAMILY III. 
SOLIPEDES. 
The Solipedes are quadrupeds which have only one apparent toe, 
and a single hoof to each foot, although under the skin, on each 
side of their metatarsus and metacarpus, there are spurs represent- 
ing two lateral toes. One genus only is known, that of 
The Horse has six incisors in each jaw. The male has also two small ad- 
ditional canini in the upper jaw, and sometimes in both, which are almost 
always wanting in the female. Between these canini and the first molar is 
that unoccupied space which corresponds to the'angle of the lips, where the 
bit is placed, by which alone, Man has been enabled to subdue and tame this 
powerful animal. 
E. caballus, L. (The Horse.) This noble associate of Man, in the chase, 
in war, and in the works of agriculture, the arts and commerce, is the most 
important and carefully attended of all the animals he has subdued. It does 
not seem to exist in a wild state at the present time; those places excepted, 
where Horses formerly domesticated have been set at liberty, as in Tartary 
and America, where they live in troops, each of which is led and defended 
by an old male. 
E. hemionus. (The Dzigguetai.) A species which,as to its proportions, 
is intermediate between the horse and the Ass, and lives in troops in the 
Equus, Lin. pachydermatA. 
111 
sandy deserts of central Asia. It is of an isabella or cream colour, with a 
black mane, and a dorsal line of the same colour; the tail is terminated by a 
black tuft. It is probably the Wild Mule of the ancients. 
E. asinus. (The Ass.) Known by its long ears, the tuft which termi- 
nates the tail, and the black cross on the shoulders, which is the first indi- 
cation of the stripes which distinguish the following species. Originally 
from the great deserts of central Asia, it is still to be found there in a wild 
state, and in innumerable troops, ranging from north to south according 
to the season; hence it thrives but poorly in the more northern climates. 
The hoarseness of its voice, or bray, depends upon two small peculiar cavi- 
ties situated at the bottom of the larynx. 
E. zebra. (The Zebra.) Nearly the same form as the Ass; the whole 
animal regularly marked with black and white transverse stripes, originally 
from the whole south of Africa. 
E. guaccha. (The Couagga.) Resembles the Horse more than the Zebra, 
but comes from the same country. The hair on the neck and shoulders is 
brown, with whitish transverse stripes; the croup is of a reddish grey; tail 
and legs whitish. The name is expressive of its voice, which resembles the 
barking of a Dog. 
E. montanus. (The Onagga.) An African species, smaller than the Ass, 
but having the beautiful form of the Couagga; its colour is a very light bay, 
with black stripes, alternately wider and narrower, on the head, neck and 
body. Those behind slant obliquely forwards; legs and tail white. 
ORDER VIII. 
RUMINANTIA. 
The term Ruminantia indicates the singular faculty possessed by 
these animals of masticating their food a second time, by bringing 
it back to the mouth after a first deglutition. This faculty depends 
upon the structure of their stomachs, of which they always have 
four, the three first being so disposed that the food may enter into 
either of them, the oesophagus terminating at the point of commu- 
nication. 
Camei/us, Lin. 
The Camels approximate to the preceding order rather more than the 
others. They not only always have canini in both jaws, but they also have 
two pointed teeth implanted in the incisive bone, six inferior incisors and 
from eighteen to twenty molars only; peculiarities, which, of all the llumi- 112 
MAMMALIA 
nantia, they alone possess. Instead of the large hoof flattened on its inter- 
nal side which envelopes the whole inferior portion of each toe, and which 
determines the figure of the common cloven-foot, they have but one small 
one, which only adheres to the last phalanx, and is symmetrically formed 
like the hoofs of the Pachydermata. 
Cameeus, Cuv. 
Camels, properly so called, have the two toes united below, nearly to the 
point, by a common sole, and the back furnished with lumps of fat. They 
are large animals of the eastern continent, of which two species are known, 
both completely reduced to a domestic state. 
C. bactrianus. (The Two-Humped Camel.) Originally from central 
Asia, and which descends to the south much less than the 
C. dromedarius. (The One-Humped Camel.) Which has spread from 
Arabia into all the north of Africa, a great part of Syria, Persia, &c. 
Auchenia, Illig’. 
In the Lamas the two toes are separate; they are without humps. But 
two distinct species are known, the Lama and the Paco, both from the wes- 
tern continent, and much smaller than the two preceding ones. 
Moschus, Lin. 
The Musks are much less anomalous than the Camels, differing from the 
ordinary Ruminantia only in the absence of horns, in having a long canine 
tooth on each side of the upper jaw, which in the male issues from the 
mouth, and finally in having a slender peronacus, which is not found even 
in the Camel. These animals are remarkably light and elegant. 
M. moschiferus, L.; Buff. (The Musk.) This is the most celebrated 
species, and the size of a goat, has scarcely any tail, and is completely 
covered with hairs so coarse and brittle that they might be termed spines. 
All the rest of the Ruminantia, the males at least, have two horns, 
that is to say, two prominences of the frontal bones which are not 
found in any other family of animals. 
In some, these prominences are covered with an elastic sheath 
composed as if with agglutinated hairs, which increases by layers 
and during life; the name of horn is applied to the substance of this 
sheath, and the sheath itself is called the come creuse or horn mould. 
The prominence it envelopes grows with it, and never falls. Such 
are the horns of Oxen, Sheep, Goats and Antelopes. 
In others, the prominences are only covered with a hairy skin* 
continuous with that of the head; nor do the prominences fall, those 
of the Giraffe excepted. RUMINANTIA. 
113 
Finally, in the genus of the Stags, the prominences covered fora 
time with a hairy skin, similar to that on the rest of the head, have at 
their base a ring of bony tubercles, which, as they enlarge, compress 
and obliterate the vessels of that skin. It becomes dry and is thrown 
off; the bony prominences, being laid bare, at the expiration of a 
certain period separate from the cranium to which they were at- 
tached; they fall and the animal remains defenceless. Others, 
however, are re-produced generally larger than before, and destined 
to undergo the same fate. These horns, purely osseous, and sub- 
ject to periodical changes, are styled antlers. 
Cekvus, Lin. 
The Stags, consequently, are the only Ruminantia which have heads armed 
with antlers; the females, however, the Rein-Deer alone excepted, are al- 
ways without them. The substance of these antlers, when completely 
developed, is that of a dense bone, without pores or sinus. 
C. alces, L. (The Moose.) As large as a Horse and sometimes larger; 
stands very high; the muzzle cartilaginous and inflated; a sort of goitre, or 
pendulous swelling, variously shaped, under the throat; hair always very 
stiff and of a more or less deep ash-colour. Their horns increase with age 
so as to weigh fifty or sixty pounds, and to have fourteen branches to each 
horn. The Moose lives in small troops, and inhabits the marshy forests of 
the north of both continents. Its skin is valuable for various purposes. 
C. tarandus, L., Buff. (The Rein-Deer.) Size of a Stag, but has shorter 
and stouter legs; both sexes have antlers, divided into several branches, at 
first slender and pointed, and terminating by age in broad denticulated 
palms. There are various species of this genus, such as the Fallow-Deer, 
Common Stag, Virginia Deer, Axis, Roebuck, &c. 
Camelopardalis, Lin. 
The Giraffe is characterized in both sexes by conical horns, always covered 
with a hairy skin, and which are never shed. On the middle of the chan- 
frin is a tubercle or third horn, broader and much shorter, but likewise ar- 
ticulated by a suture. It is moreover one of the most remarkable animals 
in existence, from the length of its neck and the disproportioned height of 
its fore legs. Only one species is known, 
C. girafa, F. Cuv. (The Giraffe.) It is confined to the deserts of Af- 
rica, and has short grey hair sprinkled with fawn coloured angular spots, 
and a small fawn coloured and grey mane. It is the tallest of all animals, 
for its head is frequently elevated eighteen feet from the ground. Its dis- 
position is gentle, and it feeds on leaves. The 
RUMINANT!A WITH HOLLOW HORNS 
Are more numerous than the others, and we have been compelled 114 
MAMMALIA. 
to divide them into genera from characters of but little importance, 
drawn from the form of their horns and the proportions of their 
different parts. To these M. Geoffroy has advantageously added 
those afforded by the substance of the frontal prominence or the 
bony nucleus of the horn. 
Antilope. 
The substance of the bony nucleus of the horns of the Antelopes is solid, 
and without pores or sinus, like the antlers of the Stag. They resemble 
the Stags moreover in the lightness of their figure and their swiftness. It 
is a very numerous genus, which naturalists have divided, and principally 
according to the form of the horns. 
The most remarkable species are the Gazelle, Springbuck, Plunging An- 
telope, Rock-Springer, Algazel, Chamois, Gnou, &c. 
The three remaining genera have the bony core of the horns 
principally occupied with cells, which communicate with the frontal 
sinuses. The direction of their horns furnishes the characters of 
the divisions. 
Capra, Lin. 
The horns of the Goats are directed upwards and backwards; the chin gene- 
rally furnished with a long beard, and the chanfrin almost always concave. 
C. aegragus, Gm. (The Wild Goat.) Appears to be the stock of all the 
varieties of our Domestic Goat. It is distinguished by its horns, trenchant 
in front, very large in the male; short, or altogether wanting in the female, 
which is also sometimes the case in the two species of Ibex. It lives in herds 
on the mountains of Persia (where it is known by the name of paseng), and 
perhaps on those of other countries, even in the Alps. The oriental bezoar 
is a concretion found in its intestines. 
C. ibex, L. (The Ibex.) Large horns, square in front, marked with 
transverse and prominent knots. It inhabits the most elevated summits of 
the highest ranges of mountains in the whole of the eastern continent. 
The horns of Sheep are directed backwards, and then incline spirally, more 
or less forwards: the chanfrin is more or less convex, and there is no beard. 
Ov. ammon, L. (The Argali of Siberia.) The male has very large horns, 
with the base triangular, angles rounded, flattened in front, and striated 
transversely; those of the female are compressed and falciform. To this 
genus belong the Mouflons of America, Africa and Sardinia. This animal 
inhabits the mountains of all Asia, and attains to the size of the Fallow Deer 
It is from the Mouflon or the Argali that we are supposed to derive the 
innumerable races of our woolly animals, which, next to the Dog, are most 
subject to vary. 
Ovis, Lin. 115 
RUMINANTIA. 
The horns of the Ox are directed laterally, inclining upwards or forwards, 
in the form of a crescent; it is a large animal, with a broad muzzle; short 
and thick body, and stout legs. 
B. taurus, L. (The Common Ox.) Its specific characters are a flat fore- 
head, longer than broad, and round horns, placed at the extremities of the 
salient line or ridge which separates the forehead from the occiput. 
B. urus, Gm. (The Aurochs.) Generally, but erroneously, considered 
as the wild stock of our horned cattle. It is distinguished from them by 
its convex forehead, which is wider than it is high, by the insertion of its 
horns below the occipital crest, by the length of its legs, by an additional 
pair of ribs, by a sort of curly wool, which covers the head and neck of the 
bull, forming a short beard under the throat, and by its grunting voice. It 
is a savage animal that has now taken refuge in the great marshy forests of 
Lithuania, of the Krapacs and of Caucasus, but which formerly inhabited 
all the temperate parts of Europe. It is the largest quadruped proper to 
Europe. 
B. bison, L. (The Buffaloe or Bison of America.) The bony head very 
similar to that of the Aurochs, and covered like it, the neck and shoulders 
also, with frizzled wool, which becomes very long in winter; its legs and 
tail are shorter. Inhabits all the temperate parts of North America. 
B. bubalus, L. (The Buffalo.) Originally from India, and brought into 
Egypt, Greece and Italy during the middle century; has a convex forehead 
higher than wide, the horns directed sideways, and marked in front by a 
longitudinal ridge. This animal is subdued with difficulty, but is extremely 
powerful, and prefers the marshy grounds, and coarse plants on which the 
Ox could not live. Its milk is good, and the hide very strong, but the flesh 
is not esteemed. 
There is a race of them in India, whose horns include a space of ten feet 
from tip to tip: it is called Ami in Hindostan. 
B. grunniens, Pall. (The Yack.) A small species, with the tail com- 
pletely covered with long hairs like that of the Horse, and a long mane on 
the back. This animal, of which rElian has spoken, is originally from the 
mountains of Thibet. Its tail constitutes the standards still used by the 
Turks to distinguish the superior officers. 
B. moschatus, Gm. (The Musk Ox of America.) The horns approxi- 
mated and similarly directed, but meeting on the forehead in a straight line; 
those of the female are smaller and more widely separated; the forehead is 
convex, and the end of the muzzle furnished with hairs. 
Bos, Lin. 116 
MAMMALIA. 
ORDER IX. 
CETACEA. 
The Cetacea are mammiferous animals without hind feet; their 
trunk is continued by a thick tail, terminating in an horizontal, car- 
tilaginous fin, and their head is united to the trunk by a neck, so 
thick and short, that no diminution of its diameter can be perceived, 
and composed of very slender cervical vertebrae, which are partly 
anchylosed or soldered together. The first bones of the anterior 
extremities are shortened, and the succeeding ones flattened and en- 
veloped in a tendinous membrane, which reduces them to true fins. 
Their external form is altogether that of Fishes, the tail fin excepted, 
which in the latter is vertical. They always therefore remain in the 
water; but as they respire by lungs, they are compelled to return 
frequently to its surface to take in fresh supplies of air. Independ- 
ently of this, their warm blood, their ears, with external, though 
small, openings, their viviparous production, the mammas with which 
they suckle their young, and all the details of their anatomy suffi- 
ciently distinguish them from Fishes. 
To the genera of the Cetacea hitherto admitted, we add others 
formerly confounded with the Morses. 
FAMILY I. 
CETACEA HERBIVORA. 
The teeth of Herbivorous Cetacea have flat crowns; this determines 
their mode of life, and the latter induces them to leave the water fre- 
quently, to seek for pasture on shore. They have two mammae on 
the breast, and hairy mustachios; two circumstances which, when 
observed from a distance as they raise the anterior part of the body 
vertically from the water, may give them some resemblance to hu- 
man beings, and have probably occasioned those fabulous accounts 
of Tritons and Sirens which some travellers pretend to have seen. 
Manatus, Cuv. 
The Lamantins, or rather the Manati, have an oblong body, terminated by 
an elongated oval fin; the grinders, eight in number throughout, have a CETACEA 
117 
square crown, marked with two transverse elevations. Vestiges of nails 
are discoverable on the edges of their fins, which they employ with tolera- 
ble dexterity in carrying their young, and in creeping; hence the comparison 
of these organs with hands, and the name of Manatus applied to the animal, 
of which Lamantin is a corruption. From their manner of living, they are 
also called Sea Cows, Mermaids, &c. 
They are found near the mouths of rivers in the hottest parts of the At- 
lantic Ocean, and it appears that those of the American rivers are specifically 
different from those of Africa. They grow to the length of fifteen feet. 
Their flesh is used as food. 
Halicore, Illig.(l) 
Grinders composed of two cones laterally united; the teeth implanted in the 
incisive bone are permanent, and increase to such an extent as to become 
true pointed tusks, but covered by thick fleshy lips, bristled with musta- 
chios. The body is elongated, and the tail terminated by a crescent-shaped 
fin. One species only is known, the 
Hal. dugong; Siren; Sea Cow,he. (The Dugong.) It inhabits the Indian 
Ocean, and is frequently confounded by travellers with the Manatus. 
Stellerus, Cuv. 
The Stelleri appear to have but a single compound grinder on each side, 
with a flat crown, and bristled with plates of enamel. Their fins have not 
even the little nails observed on those of the Manatus. According to Stel- 
ler, the first, and hitherto the only one who has described them, their sto- 
mach also is much more simple. 
One species only is known, which is confined to the north part of the 
Pacific Ocean. 
FAMILY II. 
CETACEA ORDINARIA. 
The Ordinary Cetacea are distinguished from the preceding by 
the singular apparatus from which they have received the name of 
Blowers. As a large quantity of water passes into their huge mouths 
along with their prey, some way was necessary by which they could 
get rid of it; accordingly, it passes through the nostrils by means of 
a peculiar disposition of the velum palati, and is accumulated in a 
sac situated at the external orifice of the cavity of the nose, whence, 
(1) Halicore, Maid of the Sea. 118 
MAMMALIA. 
by the compression of powerful muscles, it is violently expelled 
through a narrow opening on the top of the head. It is in this way 
they produce those jets d’eau observed by navigators at so great a 
distance. Their nostrils, continually bathed in salt water, could not 
be lined with a membrane sufficiently delicate to enable them to de- 
tect odours, and accordingly, they have none of those projecting 
laminrn found in the nasal cavities of other animals; the olfactory 
nerve is deficient in several, and if there be any which enjoy the 
sense of smell, it must be in a very slight degree. Their larynx, of a 
pyramidal form, penetrates into the posterior nares to receive air 
and conduct it to the lungs, without compelling the animal to raise 
its head and throat above the water for that purpose: there are no 
salient laminse in the glottis, and the voice is reduced to a simple 
lowing. They have no vestige of hairs, but their whole body is 
covered with a smooth skin, under which is that thick layer of blub- 
ber abounding in oil, the principal object for which are they pursued. 
The stomach is divided into five and sometimes into seven distinct 
sacs; instead of one single spleen, they have several, small and glo- 
bular; those which are possessed of teeth, have them all conical and 
alike; they do not chew their food, but swallow it rapidly. 
Two small bones, suspended in the flesh, are the only vestiges of 
posterior extremities. 
Several have a vertical fin on the back, composed of a tendinous 
substance, but unsupported by bone. Their eyes, flattened in front, 
have a thick and solid sclerotica; the teguments of the tongue are 
soft and smooth. 
They may be again divided into two small tribes: those in which 
the head bears the usual proportion to the body, and those in which 
it is immoderately large. The first comprehends the Dolphins and 
the Narwhals. 
Delphinus, Lin. 
The Dolphins have teeth in both jaws, all simple, and almost always conical. 
They are the most carnivorous, and, in proportion to their size, the most cruel 
of their order. 
The Dolphins, properly so called, have a convex forehead, and the muz- 
zle forming a kind of rostrum, or snout, in front of the head, more slender 
than the rest. 
DE1PHIIT08, Cuv. CETACEA. 
119 
The Porpoises[ 1) have no rostrum, but a short and uniformly convex 
muzzle. 
Phocsuta, Cuv. 
The Narwhals have no teeth properly speaking, but mere long, straight 
and pointed tusks, implanted in the intermaxillary bone, and directed in 
the line of the axis of the body. The form of their body and that of their 
head greatly resemble that of the Porpoises. One species only is well 
known, the 
M. monoceros, L. (The Narwhal.) The tusk of this animal, which is 
spirally furrowed and sometimes ten feet in length, was for a long time 
called the horn of the Unicorn. It has, it is true, the germs of two tusks, 
but it is very seldom that both become equally developed. That of the left 
side usually attains its full growth, while the other always remains hidden 
in its alveolus. 
Monodon, Lin. 
The other Cetacea have the head so large as to constitute one 
third or one half of the length of the whole body; but neither the 
cranium nor the brain participate in this disproportion, which is 
altogether owing to an enormous development of the bones of the 
face. 
Physeter, Lin. 
The Cachalots^2) are Cetacea with a very voluminous head, excessively en- 
larged, particularly in front, in whose upper jaw there is neither whalebone 
nor tooth, or if any, very small, and not projecting; the lower jaw, narrow, 
elongated, and corresponding to a furrow in the upper one, is armed on 
each side with a range of cylindrical or conical teeth, which, when the mouth 
is closed, enter into corresponding cavities in the upper jaw. The supe- 
rior portion of their enormous head consists almost entirely of large cavities, 
separated and covered by cartilages, and filled with an oil which becomes 
fixed as it cools, well known in commerce by the name of spermaceti, a 
substance for which they are principally sought; the body not having much 
fat, and consequently yielding but little oil. These cavities, however, are 
very distinct from the true cranium, which is rather small, is placed under 
their posterior portion, and contains the brain as usual. 
The odorous substance, named ambergris, appears to be a concretion 
(1) Porpoises from porcus piscis, hog-fish. 
(2) Physeter, as well as physalus, signifies blower. Cachalot is the name 
used by the Biscayans; from cachau, which in the Cantabrian dialect means 
tooth- 120 
formed in the intestines of the Cachalot, particularly during1 certain states 
of disease. 
The species of the Cachalots are far from being well ascertained. 
MAMMALIA. 
The Whales are equal in size to the Cachalots, and in the proportional 
magnitude of the head, although the latter is not so much enlarged in front; 
but they have no teeth. The two sides of their upper jaw, which is keel- 
shaped, or furnished with thin, compact, transverse laminse, called whale- 
bone, formed of a kind of fibrous horn, fringed at the edges, which serve to 
retain the little animals on which these enormous Cetacea feed. Their 
lower jaw, supported by two osseous branches arched externally and to- 
wards the summit, and completely unarmed, lodges a very thick and fleshy 
tongue, and when the mouth is closed, envelopes the internal part of the 
upper jaw, and the whalebone with which it is invested. These organs do 
not allow whales to feed on such large animals as their size might induce 
us to imagine. They live on fish, but principally on worms, Mollusca, and 
Zoophytes, selecting, it is said, the very smallest, which become entangled 
in the filaments of the whalebone. 
JBal. mysticetus, L. (The Common Whale.) It has long been consid- 
ered the largest of all animals; but from the late observations of captain 
Scoresby, it appears that it scarcely ever exceeds seventy feet, a length 
frequently surpassed by the wrinkle-bellied whales. It has no dorsal fin. 
To procure its fat or blubber, which is sometimes several feet in thickness, 
and contains immense quantities of oil, whole fleets are annually equipped. 
Formerly sufficiently bold to venture into our seas, it has gradually retired 
to the extreme North, where the number is daily diminishing. Besides oil, 
it produces black and flexible whalebone, eight or ten feet in length, each 
individual having from eight to nine hundred strips on each side of the 
palate. One hundred and twenty tuns of oil are obtained from a single 
whale. Shell-fish attach themselves to its skin, and multiply there as on a 
rock, and some of the Balanus family even penetrate into it. 
Lin. 
OF THE OVIPAROUS VERTEBRATA. 
Although the three classes of the Oviparous Vertebrata differ 
greatly from each other in their quantum of respiration, and in all 
that relates to it, viz. the power of motion and the energy of the 
senses, they present several common characters when opposed to 
the Mammalia, or Viviparous Vertebrata. 121 
OVIPARA. 
Oviparous production consists, essentially, in this—the young ani 
mal is not attached to the parietes of the oviduct, but remains sepa- 
rated from it by its most external envelope. Its aliment is prepared 
before hand, and enclosed in a sac attached to its intestinal canal; 
this is what is called the vitellus, or yolk of egg, of which the young 
animal is a sort of appendage, at first imperceptible, which is nour- 
ished and augmented by absorbing the fluid of that yolk. Such of 
the Ovipara as breathe with lungs have the egg furnished with a 
highly vascular membrane, which appears to serve for the purposes 
of respiration; it is connected with the bladder, and is analogous to 
the allantoid of the Mammalia. It is neither found in Fishes nor in 
the Batrachians, which latter, when young, respire, like Fishes, by 
branchiae. 
CLASS II. 
AYES. 
Birds are Oviparous Vertebrata, with double systems of circula- 
tion and respiration, organized for flight. 
Their lungs, undivided and attached to the ribs, are enveloped by 
a membrane pierced with large holes, which allow the air to pass 
into several cavities of the chest, lower part of the abdomen, arm- 
pits, and even of the interior of the bones, so that not only is the 
surface of the pulmonary vessels bathed in the ambient fluid, but 
that also of an infinitude of vessels in other parts of the body. Thus, 
in certain respects, Birds respire by the branches of the aorta, as 
well as by those of the pulmonary artery, and the energy of their ir- 
ritability is in proportion to their quantum of respiration.(l) The 
whole body is so constructed as to profit by this energy. 
Their anterior extremities, destined to sustain them in flight, could 
neither serve them for standing, nor for prehension; they are bipeds 
then, and pick up objects from the earth with their mouth; their 
(1) Two common Swallows consume as much pure air as a Guinea-Pig. 122 
AVES. 
body, consequently, is inclined before their legs, the thighs directed 
forwards, and the toes elongated, to form a sufficient base for it. The 
pelvis is very much extended in length, in order to furnish points of 
attachment to those muscles which support the trunk upon the thighs. 
There is even a suite of muscles reaching from the pelvis to the toes, 
passing over the knee and heel, so that the simple weight of the 
bird flexes the toes; it is thus that they are enabled to sleep in secu- 
rity, while perched on one foot. 
The neck and the beak are elongated to reach the ground, but 
the former has the requisite flexibility for bending backwards when 
at rest,—consequently, it has many vertebra?. The trunk, on the 
contrary, which serves as a point d’appui to the wings, has but little 
mobility; the sternum, particularly, to which are attached the 
muscles which lower the wings in flight, is of great extent, and has 
its surface still more enlarged by a salient process in its middle. It 
is originally composed of five pieces. The greater or less degree of 
the ossification of the notches, and the extent of the interval they 
leave between them and the principal bone, denote a relative strength 
of wing and power of flight. The Diurnal Birds of Prey, the Swal- 
lows and the Humming-birds, lose, as they grow old, all traces of 
these unossified spaces. 
The fourchette produced by the junction of the two clavicles, 
and the two powerful stretches formed by the coracoid apophyses, 
keep the shoulders apart, notwithstanding the efforts requisite for 
flight, that act in an opposite direction; the greater the power of 
flight, the more open and strong is the fourchette. The wing, sup- 
ported by the humerus, fore-arm and hand, the latter of which is 
elongated and has one finger and vestiges of two others, is furnished 
throughout its length with a range of elastic quills, which greatly 
extends the surface that resists the air. Those which belong to the 
hand are termed primaries, and there are always ten; those attached 
to the fore-arm are called secondaries, but their number varies; 
weaker feathers appended to the humerus are called scapulars; the 
bone, which is analogous to the thumb, is also furnished with what 
are termed spurious quills. Along the base of the quills is a range 
of feathers named coverts. 
The bony tail is very short, but has a range of large quills, which, 
when spread out, assist in supporting the bird; they are generally 
twelve in number, sometimes fourteen, and in the Gallinaceas 
eighteen. AYES. 
123 
The legs have a femur, a tibia and a fibula, which are connected 
with the femur by an articulation with a spring, which keeps up the 
extension without any effort on the part of the muscles. The tarsus 
and metatarsus are represented by one single bone, terminating be- 
low in three pulleys. 
Most commonly there are three toes before, and a thumb behind; 
the latter being sometimes deficient. In the Martins it is directed 
forwards. In the Climbers, on the contrary, the external toe and 
the thumb are directed backwards. The number of articulations 
increases in each toe, commencing with the thumb, which has two, 
and ending with the external toe, which has five. 
Birds are generally covered with feathers, the kind of tegument 
best adapted for defending them from the rapid variations of tempe- 
rature to which their movements expose them. The air cavities 
which occupy the interior of their body, and even supersede the 
marrow in the bones, increase their specific lightness. The sternal, 
as well as the vertebral portion of the ribs is ossified, in order to 
give more power to the dilatation of the chest. To each rib is an- 
nexed a small bone, which soon becomes soldered to it, and is 
directed obliquely towards the next one, thereby giving additional 
solidity to the thorax. 
The eye is so constructed, in Birds, as to distinguish, with equal 
facility, objects at a distance, or in its immediate vicinity; a vascular 
and plaited membrane, which stretches from the bottom of the globe 
to the edge of the crystalline, probably assists in effecting this, by 
displacing that lens. The anterior surface of the ball is also 
strengthened by a circle of bony pieces, and besides the two ordi- 
nary eye-lids, there is always a third one placed at the internal angle, 
which, by a remarkable muscular apparatus, can be drawn over the 
eye like a curtain. 
The breadth of the osseous openings of the nostrils determines 
the strength of the beak; and the cartilages, membranes, feathers 
and other teguments which narrow down those apertures, influence 
the power of smell, and the nature of the food. 
There is but little muscular substance in the tongue, which is sup- 
ported by a bone articulated with the hyoid; in most Birds this or- 
gan is not very delicate. 
The feathers, as well as the quills, which only differ in size, are 
composed of a stem, hollow at base, and of laminae, which are them- 
selves furnished with smaller ones; their tissue, lustre, strength, and 124 
AYES. 
general form vary infinitely. The touch must be feeble in all such 
parts as are covered with them, and as the beak is almost always 
corneous, and has but little sensibility, and the toes are invested with 
scales above, and a callous skin underneath, that sense can have 
but little activity in this class of animals. 
Birds moult twice a year. In certain species, the winter plumage 
differs in its colours from that of summer; in the greater number, the 
female differs from the male in an inferior vividness of tints, and 
when this is the case, the young of both sexes resemble the former. 
When the adult male and female are of the same colour, the young 
ones have a livery peculiar to them. 
The brain of Birds has the same general characters as that of other 
Oviparous Yertebrata, but is distinguished by its very great propor- 
tionate size, which often surpasses even that of this organ in the 
Mammalia. 
The rings of the trachea are entire; there is a glottis at its bifur- 
cation most commonly furnished with peculiar muscles, which is 
called the inferior larynx; this is the spot where the voice of birds is 
produced; the immense volume of air contained in the air sacs con- 
tributes to its strength, and the trachea, by its various forms and 
motions, to its modifications. The superior larynx, which is ex- 
tremely simple, has but little to do with it. 
The horny substance which invests the two mandibles, performs 
the office of teeth, and is sometimes so jagged as to resemble them; 
its form, as well as that of the mandibles which support it, varies 
extremely, and according to the kind of food used by each species. 
The digestion of Birds is in proportion to the activity of their life, 
and the force of their respiration. The stomach is composed of 
three parts: the crop, which is an enlargement of the oesophagus; a 
membranous stomach, in the thickness of whose parietes are a mul- 
titude of glands whose juices humect the aliment; and finally, the 
gizzard, armed with two powerful muscles, united by two radiated 
tendons, and lined internally with a kind of cartilaginous velvet. 
The food is the more easily ground there, as Birds constantly swal- 
low small stones, in order to increase its triturative power. 
In the greater part of the species which feed exclusively on flesh 
or fish, the muscles and villous coat of the gizzard are greatly atten- 
uated; and it seems to make but a single sac with the membranous 
stomach. 
The dilatation of the crop is also sometimes wanting. AVES. 
125 
The egg, detached from the ovary, where it consists merely of 
yolk, imbibes that external fluid, called the white, in the upper part 
of the oviduct, and becomes invested with its shell at the bottom of 
the same canal. The chick contained within it is developed by in- 
cubation, unless the heat of the climate suffices for that purpose, as 
is the case with the egg of the Ostrich. The young Bird lias a lit- 
tle horny point at the extremity of the beak, with which it splits open 
the shell, and which falls off a few days after it is hatched. 
The industry and skill exhibited by Birds in their variously con- 
structed nests, and their tenderness and care in protecting their eggs 
and young, are known to every one; it is the principal part of their 
instinct. Their rapid transitions through different regions of the air, 
and the vivid and continual action of that element upon them, enable 
them to anticipate atmospheric changes, to an extent of which we 
can form no idea; and caused the ancients, in their superstition, to 
attribute to them the power of prescience or divination. It is un- 
questionably on this faculty, that depends the instinct which acts 
upon the Birds of passage, prompting them to seek the south on the 
approach of winter, and the north on the return of spring. They 
have memory, and even imagination—for they dream. They are 
easily tamed, may be taught to render various services, and retain the 
air and words of songs. 
Division of the Class of Birds into Orders. 
Their distribution is founded, like that of the Mammalia, on the 
organs of manducation or the beak, and on those of prehension, that 
is on the beak, and particularly on the feet. 
The first that arrest our attention are the palmated feet, or those 
in which the toes are connected by membranes, which distinguish 
all Swimming Birds. The position of these feet behind; the length 
of the sternum; the neck, often longer than the legs to enable it to 
reach below; the dense, polished plumage, impermeable to water, all 
concur with the feet in making good navigators of the Palmipedes. 
In other Birds, which most commonly are partially web-footed, at 
least between the external toes, we observe elevated tarsi; legs divest- 
ed of feathers at their lower extremities; a long thin shape, and in fine, 
all the requisites for wading along the shores of rivers to seek their 
food. Such, in fact, is the regimen of the greater number; and al- 
though some of them inhabit dry grounds, they are called Shore- 
Birds, or Waders. 126 
AYES 
Among the true land birds, the Gallinaceae, like our domestic 
Cock, have a heavy carriage, a moderate beak, the upper mandible 
of whicli is arched; the nostrils partly covered by a soft and inflated 
scale; the toes almost always indented on the edges, and short mem- 
branes between the bases of the anterior ones. They fly heavily, 
and but a short distance at a time. Their chief food is grain. 
Birds of prey have a hooked beak, the point of which is sharp, 
and curved downwards; the nostrils pierced in a membrane which in- 
vests the whole base of that beak, and feet armed with vigorous talons. 
They live on flesh, pursue other birds, and are consequently, for the 
most part, vigorous in flight. The greater number have still a slight 
web between the external toes. 
The Passerinae comprise many more species than all the other 
families; but their organization presents so many analogies that they 
cannot be separated, although varying greatly in size and strength. 
Their two external toes are united at the base, and sometimes for a 
part of their length. 
Finally, the name of Scansorias, or Climbing Birds, has been given 
to those whose external toe, like the thumb, is directed backwards, 
because the greater number profit by a conformation so favourable 
to a vertical position, to climb trees. 
Each of these orders is subdivided into families and genera, and 
principally from the conformation of the beak. 
ORDER I. 
ACCIPITRES, Lin. 
Birds of Prey are known by their hooked beak and talons, pow- 
erful weapons, with which they pursue other Birds, and even the 
weaker Quadrupeds and Reptiles. They are among Birds what 
the Carnivora are among Quadrupeds. The muscles of their thighs 
and legs indicate the strength of their claws; their tarsi are rarely 
elongated; they have, all, four toes; the nail of the thumb and that of 
the internal toe are the strongest. 
They form two families, the diurnal and the nocturnal. ACCIPITRES. 
127 
FAMILY I. 
DIURN JE. 
The eyes of the diurnal Birds of prey are directed sideways; they 
have a membrane called the cera, or cere, covering the base of the 
beak, in which the nostrils are pierced; three toes before, one behind, 
without feathers, the two external ones almost always united at base 
by a short membrane; the plumage dense, the quills strong, and great 
power on the wing. Their sternum is broad and completely ossified 
in order to give more extended attachments to the muscles of the 
wings, and their fourchette semicircular and widely separated, the 
better to resist the violent flexions of the humerus necessary to a 
rapid flight. 
Linnaeus comprehended them all under two genera, which are so 
many natural divisions, the Vultures and the Falcons. 
Vultuk, Lin. 
The Vultures have eyes flush with the head, and reticulated tarsi, that is, 
covered with small scales; an elongated beak, curved only at the end, and a 
greateror less portion of the head, or even of the neck divested of feathers. 
The strength of their talons does not correspond with their size, and they 
make more use of their beak than of their claws. Their wings are so long 
that in walking they keep them in a state of semi-extension. They are a 
cowardly genus, feeding oftener on carrion than on a living prey; when they 
have fed, their crop forms a great protuberance above the fourchette, a fetid 
humour flows from their nostrils, and they are almost reduced to a state of 
stupid insensibility. 
Vult. gryphus, L. (The Condor.) Blackish; a great part of the wing 
ash coloured; collar silky and white; the male, in addition to his superior 
caruncle, which is large and entire, has another under the beak, like the 
cock. This species has been rendered famous by exaggerated reports of 
its size; it is, however, but a little larger than the Laemmer-geyer, to which 
it assimilates in habits. It is found in the most elevated mountains of the 
Andes in South America, and flies higher than any other bird. 
The genus Yultur is now divided into Vultur proper, Cathartes( our Tur- 
key Buzzard), Percnopterus (the Urubu or Carrion Crow of the south), and 
Gypactos, to which last belongs the Lsemmer-geyer, the largest bird of prey 
in the eastern continent. 
The Falcons form the second, and by far most numerous division of the 
diurnal birds of prey. Their head and neck are covered with feathers; 
Falco, Lin. 128 
AVES 
their eye-brows project, which occasions the eye to appear sunk, and gives 
to their physiognomy a character very different from that of the Vultures: 
the greater number prey on living animals, but they differ in the courage 
with which they pursue it. Their first plumage is often very differently 
coloured from that of the adult, which is only assumed in their third or 
fourth year, a circumstance which has occasioned a great multiplication of 
species. The female is generally one-third larger than the male, which, 
on this account, is styled a tarsel or tercel. We should, first of all, subdivide 
this genus into two great sections. 
NOBLE BIRDS OF PREY. 
The true Falcons constitute the first, and, in proportion to their size, are 
the most courageous, a quality which is derived from the power of their 
arms and wings; their beak, curved from its base, has a sharp tooth on each 
side of its point, and the second quill of their wings is the longest, the first 
nearly equalling it, which renders the whole wing longer and more pointed. 
From this, also, result peculiar habits: the length of the quills of their wings 
diminishes their vertical power, and compels them, in a calm state of the 
atmosphere, to fly obliquely forwards, so that when they wish to rise 
directly upwards, they are obliged to fly against the wind. 
F. communis, Gm. (The Common Falcon.) As large as a Hen, and dis- 
tinguished by a triangular, black moustache on the cheek, larger than that 
of any other species of the genus; it varies as to colours according to its age. 
It is this celebrated species which has given its name to that kind of hunt- 
ing in which birds of prey are used. It inhabits the whole north of the 
earth, and builds in the most elevated and inaccessible cliffs. 
Falcons, properly so called. 
Hiehovalco, Cuv. (1) 
The Gerfalcons have wing quills similar to those of the other Noble birds, 
which they perfectly resemble in disposition; but their beak has only an 
emargination like that of the Ignoble ones. Only one species is well known. 
F. candicans. (The Gerfalcon.) One fourth larger than the Falcon, and 
the most highly esteemed by falconers. It is chiefly obtained from the 
north; its usual plumage is brown above, with an edging of paler points on 
each feather, and transverse lines on the coverts and quills. 
The second section of the great genus Falco is that of the 
So called, because they cannot be easily employed in falconry; a tribe 
much more numerous than that of the Nobles, and which it is also necessary 
IGNOBLE BIRDS OF PREY. 
(1) Hierax, Iliero-falco, Sacred Falcon, &c. names connected with the 
superstitions of the Egyptians respecting certain birds of prey. Gerfalcon 
is a corruption of Hierofalco- ACC1PITRES. 
129 
to subdivide considerably. The fourth quill of their wings is almost always 
the longest, and the first is very short, which produces the same effect as 
if their wing were obliquely truncated at the tip, whence, exteris pari- 
bus, result diminished powers of flight; their beak also is not so well armed, 
there being no lateral tooth near its point, but a mere slight emargination 
about the middle of its length. 
Aariu, Briss. 
The Eagles which constitute the first tribe, have a very strong beak, 
straight at base and only curved towards the point. Among them we find 
the largest species of the genus, and the most powerful of all the birds of 
prey. 
The Eagles are now subdivided into Aquila proper (to which belongs our 
Ring-tailed Eagle), the Halisetus of Savigny or Fisher Eagles of Cuvier (the 
Pygargus and our Bald Eagle), Pandion (the Osprey), Circaetus, llarpyia 
(where we find the “ Great Harpy of America” that possesses such 
strength of beak as to be able to cleave a man’s skull), and Morphnus, differ- 
ing in certain peculiarities of the tarsi, claws, and wings. 
The Goshawks, which form the second division of the Ignobles, like the 
last three tribes of Eagles, have wings shorter than their tail; but their beak 
is curved from its base, as in all those which are to follow. We particu- 
larly designate as Gosuawks those which have rather short and scutellated 
tarsi. 
The name of Spahrowiiawk, (Nisus, Cuv.) is generally appropriated to 
those whose tarsi are higher and scutellated; but the transitions from one 
division to the other are almost insensible. 
F. nisus, L. (The Common Sparrowhawk.) Coloured like the Gos- 
hawk, but its legs are longer, and it is a third less in size. It is employed 
however by falconers. 
Asttth, Bechst. 
The Kites have short tarsi, and weak toes and nails, which, added to a 
beak equally disproportioned to their size, render them the most cowardly 
species of the whole genus; they are distinguished by their excessively long 
wings, and their forked tail, which give them great powers of flight. 
F.furcatus, L. (The Fork-tailed Kite.) White; wings and tail black; 
the two external quills of the latter very long; larger than the preceding. 
It attacks reptiles. 
Mnvus, Bechstein. 
PerniSj Cuv. 
The Honey-Buzzards, with the weak beak of the Kites, have a very pecu- 
liar character in the space between the eye and the beak, which, in all the 
rest of the genus Falco, is naked, and simply furnished with a few hairs, 
but in these is covered with a dense plumage, the feathers of which are cut 130 
AVES 
like scales; their tarsi are half feathered above and reticulated: their tail is 
equal, wings long, and their beak curved from its base like all those which 
follow. 
Buteo, Bechstein. 
The Buzzards have long wings; the tail equal; the beak curved from its 
base; the space between it and the eyes naked; the feet strong. 
The Harriers differ from the Buzzards in their elevated tarsi, and in a 
kind of collar on each side of their neck, formed by the tips of the feathers 
which cover their ears. Finally, the 
Circus, Bechstein. 
Seupentahics, Cuv. 
The Snake-Eater or Secretary, is an African bird of prey, whose tarsi are 
at least double the length of those of the preceding ones, which caused 
some naturalists to place it among the Grallatorise, or Waders; but its legs, 
completely invested with feathers, its hooked and cleft beak, projecting 
eye-lids, and all its anatomical details place it in the present order. It inha- 
bits the dry and open grounds in the vicinity of the Cape, where it hunts 
reptiles on foot; its claws consequently become much worn. Its chief 
strength lies in the leg. 
FAMILY II. 
NOCTURNE. 
Nocturnal birds of prey have a large head; great eyes, directed 
forwards, surrounded by a circle of slender feathers, the anterior of 
which cover the cera of the beak, and the posterior, the opening of 
the ear. Their enormous pupil permits the entrance of so many 
rays of light, that they are dazzled by that of day. Their cranium, 
which is thick, but formed of a light substance, is excavated by large 
sinuses, which communicate with the ear, and which probably as- 
sist in strengthening the sense of hearing; but the organs of flight 
are not very vigorous; their fourchette is weak; their feathers being 
soft, and covered with a fine down, make no noise in flying. They 
can direct their external toe either forwards or backwards. These 
birds are chiefly on the wing during twilight, and when the moon 
shines. When attacked in the day time, they do not fly off, but 
stand more erect, assume odd postures, and make the most ludicrous 
gestures. 
Their prey is wholly animal, consisting of Mice, small Birds, and' ACCIPITRES. 
131 
Insects. Small birds have a natural antipathy to them, and fre- 
quently assemble from all quarters to attack them. They form but 
one genus, 
The Owls may be divided by their tufts, the size of their ears, the extent 
of the circle of feathers which surrounds their eyes, and some other char- 
acters. 
Strix, Lin. 
Otus, Cuv. 
The Homed Owls, or those which have two tufts of feathers on the fore- 
head, (vulg. horns) which they can erect at pleasure; the conch of their 
ear extends in a semicircle from the beak to the top of the head, and is fur- 
nished in front with a membranous operculum. Their feet are feathered 
down to the nails. Such is 
Str. otus, L. (The Common Owl.) Fawn coloured, with longitudinal 
brown spots on the body and underneath; wings and back vermiculated 
with brown; horns half the length of the head; eight or nine bands on 
the tail. 
The genus Strix . as already stated, now forms several subgenera such as 
Otus, Symium, Bulo, Scops, and Noctua. To the last belongs the 
Str. nyctea, L. (The Snowy Owl.) This bii’d almost equals the Grand 
Due in size. Its snow-white plumage is marked with transverse brown 
spots, which disappear with age. It inhabits the north of both continents, 
builds upon high rocks, and pursues Hares, Grouse, &.c. 
ORDER II. 
PASSERINiE. (1) 
This order is the most numerous of the whole class. 
The birds which compose it have neither the violence of the Birds 
of Prey, nor the fixed regimen of the Gallinacese, nor of the Water- 
birds ; Insects, fruit, and grain constitute their food, which consists 
the more exclusively of grain, in proportion to the largeness of 
their beak, and of Insects, as it is the more slender. Those which 
have strong beaks pursue even small birds. Among them we find 
the singing birds, and the most complicated inferior larynx. 
(1) Passerine; from Passer a sparrow. 132 
AYES 
The proportional length of their wings, and their power of flight 
are as various as their habits. 
Our first division is founded upon the feet; we then have recourse 
to the beak. 
The first and most numerous comprehends those genera in which 
the external toe is united to its fellow by one or two phalanges only. 
FAMILY I. 
DENTIROSTRES. 
In this family the beak is emarginate on the sides of the point. 
It is in this family that vve find the greatest number of insectivorous 
birds, though almost all of them likewise feed on berries and other 
soft fruits. In the Shrikes, or 
Lanius, Lin. 
The beak is conical or compressed, and more or less hooked at the point. 
Shrikes live in families, and fly irregularly and precipitately, uttering 
shrill cries; they build on trees, lay five or six eggs, and take great care of 
their young. They have a habit of imitating, on the spot, a part of the songs 
of such birds as live in their vicinity. The upper part of the females and of 
the young is marked with fine transverse lines. 
Lan. collurio, Gm. (The Butcher Bird.) Top of the head and rump ash 
coloured; back and wings fawn coloured; whitish above; a black band over 
the eye; wing-quills black edged with fawn colour, those of the tail black, 
the lateral ones white at base. It destroys small Birds, young Frogs and 
great numbers of Insects, which it sticks upon tire thorns of bushes, in order 
to devour them at leisure, or to find them again when wanted. 
The subdivisions of tills genus are Vanga, Ocypterus, Barita, &.C., differ- 
ing chiefly in the arrangement of the beak. 
The Fly-Catchers have a horizontally depressed beak, furnished with hairs 
at its base, and the point more or less hooked and emarginated. Their 
general habits are those of the Shrikes, and they live on small Birds or In- 
sects, according to their size. The weakest of them gradually approach the 
form of the Wagtails. 
This genus is now divided into various sub genera, such as Tyrannus, 
JMuscipeta, Muscicapa, Gymnocephalus, he. The species are very numerous. 
Muscicapa, Lin. 
AairELis, Lin. 
The Crown-Birds have the depressed bcalc of the Flycatchers, but it is 
somewhat shorter in proportion, tolerably broad and slightly ax'cuatcd. PASSERINE. 
133 
Those in which it is the most pointed and strong, have still a decidedly 
insectivorous regimen: they are called Piatjiiau from then' note—the Que- 
buea, Vieill. They inhabit America, where they pursue Insects, in flocks. 
They are now distributed into several subgenera, such as Tersina, Ceble- 
pyris, Bomlycilla (the Chatterers), Procnias, &c. 
Edolius, Cuv. 
Belongs also to the great series of the Flycatchers; the beak is depressed 
and emarginate at the end; its upper ridge is acute; but what distinguishes 
it, is, that both mandibles are slightly arcuated throughout their length; the 
nostrils are covered with feathers, and there are, besides, long hairs form- 
ing mustachios. 
The species are numerous in the countries bordering on the Indian Ocean. 
They are generally of a black hue, have a forked tail, and live on Insects; 
some of them, it is said, sing as sweetly as the Nightingale. 
The Tanagers have a conical beak, triangular at base, slightly arcuated at its 
ridge, emarginate near the end; wings and flight short. They resemble the 
Finches in habits, and feed on grain as well as on berries and insects. The 
greater number are remarkable for their bright colours. 
Tanagra, Lin. 
Turdtjs, Lin. 
The Thrushes have a compressed and arcuatedbeak, but its point is not hook- 
ed, and its emarginations do not form such deep notches as in the Shrikes; 
as we have already stated, however, there are gradual transitions from one 
genus to the other. 
Their regimen is more frugivorous, generally feeding on berries. Their 
habits are solitary. 
T. polyglottus, L. (The Mocking-Bird.) From North America; ash- 
coloured above, paler beneath, with a white band on the wing. It is cele- 
brated for the astonishing facility with which it imitates die notes of other 
birds, and even all kinds of sounds. 
Buffon has very properly separated from the Thrushes, the 
Myothera, Illig. 
The Jlnt-Catchers are known by their long legs and short tail. They live on In- 
sects, and chiefly on Ants. They are found in both continents. 
M. rex. (King of the Ant-Catchers.) The largest of all, and stands the 
highest; its tail, on the other hand, is the shortest, and at the first glance it 
might be taken for a Wader; it is about the size of a Quail, and its grey plu- 
mage is agreeably chequered. It is more solitary than the others. 
We must also separate from the Thrushes: 
Cinclus, Beclist. 
Or the Water-Thrushes, winch have a compressed, straight beak, withman- 134 
AYES 
dibles of an equal height, nearly linear, and becoming sharp near the point; 
the upper one hardly arcuated. 
Africa, and the countries bordering on the Indian Ocean, produce a genus 
of birds neighbours of the Thrushes, which I call 
PlIILEDON. 
Their beak is compressed, slightly arcuated throughout its length, and 
emarginate near the point; nostrils large, and covered by a cartilaginous scale; 
their tongue terminated by a pencil of hairs. 
The birds of this genus are closely allied to those of the preceding one. 
Their beak is nearly that of a Thrush; their nostrils are round and smooth. 
Their distinguishing mark consists in broad strips of naked skin on each 
side of the occiput, and a bald spot on the cheek. 
Eulabes, Cuv. 
Gracula, Cuv. 
Is another genus allied to the Thrushes. The species inhabit Africa and the 
countries bordering on the Indian Ocean. Their beak is compressed, very 
little arcuated, and slightly emarginate; its commissure forms an angle like 
that of the Starling. They have the habits of Starlings, and like them, pur- 
sue insects in flocks. 
Pyrriiocorax, Cuv. 
The compressed, arcuated, and sloped beak of the Thrushes; but their nos- 
trils are covered with feathers, as in the Crows, to which they were for a 
long time united. There is one in Europe. 
I can find no character sufficient to warrant removing from the Thrushes 
Oriolus, Lin. 
Or the Orioles, whose beak, similar to that of the Thrushes, is merely a little 
stronger; the feet a little shorter, and the wings a little longer in proportion. 
The same strong beak as the Orioles; the nostrils round, without scales or 
surrounding membrane; a great part of the head naked. 
Some of them have prominences on the beak. In these the tongue is 
pencillated as in Pliiledon. 
Gymnops, Cuv. 
Mjenura, Shaw. 
These Birds evidently belong to the order of the Passerine, and approach 
the Thrushes in their beak, which is triangular at base, elongated, slightly 
compressed, and emarginate near the point. They are distinguished by the 
great tail of the male, wliich is very remarkable for the three sorts of feath- PASSERINE. 
135 
ers which compose it, viz. the twelve common ones with very fine and widely 
separated barbs; two more in the middle only one side of which is furnished 
with thickly set barbs, and two external ones curved into the figure of an S, 
or like the arms of a lyre, whose internal barbs, large and thickly set, form 
a kind of broad riband, while those that are external are very short, becom- 
ing longer only near the tip. The female has only twelve ordinary quills. 
The singular species, Msenura lyra, inhabits the rocky districts of New 
Holland; its size is somewhat less than that of the Pheasant. 
Motacilla, Lin. 
The Warblers form an excessively numerous family, known by the beak, 
which is straight, slender, and similar to a bodkin. When slightly depress- 
ed at base, it approaches that of the Flycatchers; when compressed, and its 
point is curved a litde, it leads to the straight beaked Shrikes. 
A straight beak, slender throughout, slightly compressed before; the up- 
per mandible a little curved near the point. The most celebrated of this 
subgenus is 
Mot. luscinia, L. (The Nightingale.) A reddish brown above; whitish 
grey beneath; the tail somewhat redder. Every one knows this songster of 
the night, and the varied melody with which it fills the woods. It builds 
on trees, and does not begin to sing until the young ones are hatched. The 
male, then, as well as the female, is occupied in providing them with food. 
The other sub genera are Saxicola (the Wheat-ear); Sylvia (our Blue-Bird); 
Regulus; Troglodytes (Wrens); Motacilla (the Wag-tails); Jhnthus (Meadow- 
Larks). 
We will terminate this family of the Dentirostres with some birds 
distinguished from all preceding ones by their two external toes, 
which are united at base for about a third of their length, a circum- 
stance whch approximates them to the family of the Syndactyli. 
Cukbuca, Bechst. 
The Manakins have a compressed beak, higher than it is broad, and emar- 
ginated; large nasal fossae. Their feet and tail are short; the general propor- 
tions of their form have long caused them to be considered as very similar 
to the Titmouse. At their head, but in a separate group, should be placed 
Pipra, Lin. 
Rupicola, Briss. 
The Rock Manakins, or Cocks of the Rock, which are large birds, and have 
a double vertical crest on the head, formed of feathers arranged like a fan. 
The adult males of the two American species, Fipra rupicola, and Pip. 
peruviana, are of a most splendid orange colour; the young of an obscure 
brown. They live on fruit, scratch the ground like the common Hen, and 136 
AYES. 
construct their nests with pieces of dry wood, in the depths of rocky caverns. 
The female lays two eggs. 
Eurylaimus, Horsf. 
Toes similar to those of the Manakins and the'Rock Manakins; but the beak, 
as strong as that of the Tyrants, is enormously broad and depressed, the base 
even surpassing the width of the forehead. The point is a little hooked, 
and slightly emarginate on each side; the ridge is blunt. 
These birds inhabit the archipelago of India. The ground of their plu- 
mage is black, variegated with patches of bright colours, and they have 
something of the air of the Bucco, a genus of a very different order. They 
live near water, and feed on insects. 
FAMILY II. 
FISSIROSTRES. 
The Fissirostres form a family, numerically small, but very distinct 
from all others in the beak, which is short, broad, horizontally flat- 
tened, slightly hooked, unemarginate, and with an extended commiss- 
ure, so that the opening of the mouth is very large, which enables 
them to swallow with ease the Insects they capture while on the wing. 
They are most nearly allied to the Fly-catchers, and to the Proc- 
niae in particular, whose beak only differs from theirs in being emar- 
ginate. 
They are separated, like the Birds of Prey, into two divisions, the 
Diurnal and the Nocturnal. The genus 
Hirundo, Lin. 
Or the Swallows, comprehends the diurnal species, all of which are remark- 
able for their dense plumage, extreme length of wing, and velocity of flight. 
Among them we distinguish 
Of all Birds, these have the longest wings in proportion to their size, and 
the greatest powers of flight. Their tail is forked; their extremely short 
feet have this very peculiar character: the thumb is directed forward almost 
as much as the other toes, and the middle and external ones consist each of 
tliree phalanges like the internal one. The shortness of their feet, together 
with the length of their wings, prevents them, when on the ground, from 
rising, and consequently they pass their lives, if I may so express it, in the 
air, pursuing, in flocks and with loud cries, their Insect prey through the 
highest regions of the atmosphere. They nestle in holes of walls, or fissures 
in rocks, and climb along the smoothest surfaces with great rapidity. 
CrrsELts, llliger. 137 
PASSERINSE. 
The Swallows proper have the toes and sternum disposed like those of the 
Passerinse generally. In some of them the feet are invested with feathers 
down to the nails; the thumb still exhibits a disposition to incline forward; 
the tail is forked, and of a moderate size. 
There are some in which the tail is nearly square. Others have naked toes. 
Hibcndo, Cuv. 
Caprimulgus, Lin.(l) 
The Goatsuckers have the same light, soft plumage, shaded with grey 
and brown, that characterizes the nocturnal birds. Their eyes are large; 
the commissure of the beak extending still higher up than that of the Swal- 
low, and furnished with stiff mustachios, is capable of engulphing the largest 
insects, which are retained there by a glutinous saliva; the nostrils, formed 
like small tubes, are at its base. Their wings are long; their feet short, 
with feathered tarsi, and their toes united at base by a short membrane. 
Goatsuckers live solitarily, and never venture abroad, except at twilight, and 
in the night during fine weather. They hunt Phalensc and other nocturnal 
insects, and lay a small number of eggs on the bare ground, without taking 
any pains in the construction of a nest. The rushing of the air into their 
immense mouth, while on the wing, produces a very peculiar humming sound. 
America produces several of these birds with a round or square tail, one 
of which, C. vociferus (The Whip-Poor-Will), is celebrated on account of its 
loud and peculiar cries in the spring of the year. 
FAMILY III. 
CONIROSTRES. 
The Conirostres comprehend genera with a strong beak, more or 
less conical, and unemarginate; the stronger and thicker their beak, 
the more exclusively is grain their food. The first genus to be 
distinguished is, 
The Larks are known by the nail of their thumb, which is straight, strong, 
and much longer than the others. They are granivorous birds, and pul- 
verators. They build on the ground, and generally keep there. 
The beak of the greater number is straight, moderately stout and pointed. 
Alauda, Lin. 
(1) Caprimulgus, Goatsucker, JEgothelas, names which derive their origin 
from the whimsical idea, entertained by the people, of their sucking Goats 
and even Cows. 138 
AVES 
Parus, Lin. 
The Titmouse has a slender, short, conical and straight beak, furnished with 
little hairs at the base, and the nostrils concealed among the feathers. It 
is a genus of very active little birds, which are continually flitting and climb- 
ing from branch to branch, suspending themselves therefrom in all sorts of 
positions, rending apart the seeds on which they feed, devouring insects 
wherever they see them, and not sparing even small birds when they hap- 
pen to find them sick and are able to put an end to them. They lay up 
stores of seeds, build in the holes of old trees, and lay more eggs than any 
of the Passerinse. 
Emberiza, Lin. 
The Buntings have a very distinct character in their conical, short and 
straight beak, the upper mandible of which is narrow, sinks into the lower, 
and has a projecting, hard tubercle on the palate. They are granivorous, 
and unsuspicious birds, which run into every snare that is laid for them. 
E. hortulana, L. (The Ortolan.) The back olive-brown; throat yellow- 
ish; the inner side of the two external feathers of the tail white. Builds 
in hedges; is very fat and common in autumn. 
Fringilla, Lin. 
The Sparrows have a conical beak, more or less thick at base; but its com- 
missure is not angular. They feed generally on grain, and are for the most 
part voracious and noxious. We subdivide them into 
Ploceus (The Weavers), Pyrgita (Sparrows), Fringilla (Finches), Cardu- 
elis (Goldfinches), Linaria (Linnets) to which belongs the Canary Bird, 
Vidua (Widows), Coccothraustes (Grossbeaks), Pitylus, and Pyrrhula or 
(Bullfinches). 
Loxia, Bliss. 
The Crossbills have a compressed beak, and the two mandibles so strongly 
curved, that their points cross each other, sometimes on one side sometimes 
on the other. Tliis singular beak enables them to tear out the seeds from 
under the scales of the pine-cones. The European species is very common 
wherever there are evergreen trees; it is, 
Loxia curvirostra, L. (The Crossbill.) The plumage of the young male 
is of a vivid red, with brown wings; that of the adult, and of the female, is 
greenish above, yellowish beneath. 
We cannot remove from the Bullfinches and the Crossbills 
CoRYTHUS, CuV. 
The point of whose completely arched beak curves over the lower mandible. 
The most known species is 
Loxia enucleator, L. The Pine Grosbeak inhabits the north of both con- 
tinents, and lives in the same way as the Crossbill. It is red, or reddish, 
the feathers of the tail and wings black edged with white. PASSERINE. 
139 
The Colies also approximate considerably to the preceding birds. Their 
beak is short, thick, conical, and somewhat compressed, its two mandibles 
being arcuated, but without extending beyond each other; the quills of 
their tail are cuneiform, and very long; their thumb, as in Cypselus, is 
capable of being directed forwards like the other toes; their fine and silky 
feathers are generally cinereous. They inhabit Africa and India, climb 
something in the manner of Parrots, live in flocks, build many of their nests 
on the same bush, and sleep suspended to its branches in crowds, with the 
head downwards. They feed on fruit. 
Here also come the 
Colius, Gm.(l) 
BurHAGA, Briss. 
The Beef-Eaters form a small genus in which the beak is of a moderate 
length, cylindrical at the beginning, and inflated (both mandibles) near the 
end, which terminates in a blunt point. They use it to compress the skin 
of cattle in order to force out the larva: of the CEstrus lodged in it, on which 
they feed. 
One species only is known, and that, is from Africa; brownish, with a mode- 
rate sized cuneiform tail; as large as a Thrush. It is the Buphaga africana. 
Cassicus, Cuv. 
A large and exactly conical beak, thick at base, and very sharp at the point; 
small round nostrils, pierced on the sides; the commissure of the mandibles 
forms a broken line, or is angular like that of the Starlings. They are 
American birds, whose manners are similar to those of the last mentioned 
ones, living like them in flocks, frequently constructing their nests close 
together, and sometimes with much art. They feed on grain and Insects, 
and do great injury to cultivated grounds. They are now divided into 
Cassicus proper, Icterus, &c. Among the latter we distinguish a species 
with a somewhat shorter beak, the 
Icteruspecoris, Tem. (The Cow Bunting.) A violet black; head and 
neck a brown grey. Lives in flocks among cattle; but the most peculiar 
trait in its habits is that, like the Cuckoo, it lays its eggs in other bird’s nests. 
Stuknus, Lin. 
The Starlings have a beak that is depressed, especially near the point. 
We can find no sufficient character to enable us to distinguish 
from the Conirostres with certainty and precision, the different gen- 
era of the family of the Crows, all of which have a similar internal 
structure and external organs, only differing in a (generally) 
(1) Ko\oioi, the Greek name of a small species of Crow. 140 
AYES. 
greater size, which sometimes enables them to hunt small birds: their 
strong beak is most commonly compressed on the sides. 
These genera are three in number, the Crows, Birds of Paradise, 
and the Rollers. 
The Crows have a strong beak, more or less laterally flattened, nostrils 
covered with stiff feathers, which incline forwards. They are very cunning, 
their sense of smell is extremely acute, and they have, generally, a habit of 
purloining articles totally useless to them, such as pieces of money, &c., 
and even of hiding them. 
We more particularly call Crows or Ravens, the large species whose 
beaks are the strongest in proportion, and in which the ridge of the upper 
mandible is the most arcuated. Their tail is either round or square. 
C. corax, L. (The Raven.) Is the largest of the Passerine which inhabit 
Europe. Its size is equal to that of the Cock. Its plumage is entirely black, 
the tail is rounded, and the back of the upper mandible arcuated near the 
point. It is a more solitary bird than the other species, flies well and high, 
scents carrion at the distance of a league, and feeds also on fruit and small 
animals. It sometimes carries off poultry, builds on the tops of high trees 
or rocky cliffs, is easily tamed, and may be taught to speak tolerably well. 
It appears to be found in every part of the globe. 
C. corone, L. (The Crow.) A fourth smaller than the Raven; the tail 
more square, and the beak less arcuated above. 
C. frugilegus, L. (The Rook.) Still smaller than the preceding, with a 
straighter and more pointed beak. The circumference of the base of the 
latter, except when very young, is divested of feathers, which is probably 
occasioned by its habit of thrusting it into the ground in search of food. 
The Jackdaw is also a Corvus. 
Corvus, Lin. 
Pica, Cuv. 
The upper mandible is more arcuated than the other, and the tail long 
and cuneiform. 
Corvus pica, L. (The Magpie of Europe.) A beautiful bird, of a silky 
black colour, with purple, blue, and gold reflections; the belly is white, and 
there is a large spot of the same colour on the wing. Its eternal chattering 
has rendered it notorious. 
The two mandibles of the Jays are but little elongated, terminating in a 
sudden, and nearly equal curve; when the tail is cuneiform, it is not very 
long, and the loose and slender feathers of the forehead stand more or less 
erect when the bird is angry. 
Garrulus, Cuv. PASSERINE. 
141 
The Nutcrackers have the two mandibles straight, equally pointed, and 
without any curve. There is only one species known. 
Corvus caryocatades, L. (The Common Nutcracker.) Brown; the whole 
body spotted with white. It builds in the hollows of trees, in dense moun- 
tain forests, climbs trees and perforates their bark like the Woodpeckers, 
feeds on all kinds of fruit, insects, and small birds. 
Caryocatactes, Cuv. 
Coracias, Lin. 
The Rollers have a strong beak, compressed near the point, which is a 
little hooked. The nostrils are oblong, placed at the edge of the feathers, 
but without being covered by them; the feet short and stout. They belong 
to the eastern continent, and are like the Jays in their habits andin the loose 
feathers on the forehead. Their colours are vivid, but rarely harmonious. 
Paradise a, Lin. 
The Birds of Paradise, like the Crows, have a strong, straight, compressed 
beak, without any emarginations, and with covered nostrils; but the influ- 
ence of the climate they inhabit, an influence extended to birds of several 
other genera, gives a velvet tissue to the feathers which cover these nostrils, 
and frequently a metallic lustre, at the same time that it singularly developes 
those which cover several parts of the body. They are natives of New 
Guinea and of the adjoining islands, are said to live on fruits, and to be par- 
ticularly fond of aromatics. 
The feathers on the flanks of some of them are silky, and singularly ex- 
tended into bunches longer than the body, which give such a hold to the 
wind that they are very often swept away by it. There are also two bearded 
filaments adhering to the rump, which are as long as, and even longer than 
the feathers on the flanks. 
P. apoda, L. Size of a Thrush, maronne; top of the head and neck yellow; 
circumference of the beak and throat of an emerald green. It is the male 
of this species which is ornamented with those long bundles of yellowish 
feathers employed by the ladies as plumes. 
FAMILY IY. 
TENUIROSTRES. 
This family comprehends the remaining birds of the first division; 
those in which the beak is slender, elongated, sometimes straight, 
and sometimes more or less arcuated, and without any emargination. 
They are to the Conirostres what the Motacillae are to the other 
Dentirostres. 142 
AYES. 
The Nuthatches have a straight, prismatic, pointed beak, compressed near 
the point, which they employ like the Woodpeckers to perforate the bark 
of trees, and in withdrawing the larvae contained in it; but their tongue is 
not extensible, and although they climb in every direction, they have but 
one toe behind, which, it is true, is a strong one. The tail is of no use in 
supporting them, as is the case with the Woodpeckers and True Creepers. 
Sitta, Lin. 
Certiiia, Lin. 
Or the Creepers, have an arcuated beak, but that is the only common char- 
acter they possess. The True Creepers, so called from their habit of 
climbing trees like Woodpeckers, in doing which they make use of their 
tail as a prop or supporter, are known by the quills of the tail, which are 
worn, and terminate in a stiff point, like those of the same birds. They are 
divided into various subgenera. 
Trochilus, Lin. 
The Hummingbirds, so celebrated for the metallic lustre of their plumage, 
and chiefly for those plates, brilliant as precious stones, which are formed 
by scaly feathers of a peculiar structure, on their throat or head, have a long 
slender beak, enclosing a tongue, which they can protrude at will, like that 
of the Woodpeckers (and by the same mechanism), which is split almost 
to its base, forming two filaments, employed, as is asserted, in taking up the 
nectar from flowers. They also, however, feed on small insects, for we 
have found their stomach filled with them. Their very small feet, broad 
tail, excessively long and narrow wings, short humerus and large sternum, 
which is without emargination, all contribute to form a system adapted for 
great power of flight; similar to that of the Swallows. The narrowness of 
their wing is caused by the rapid abbreviation of its quills. By these means, 
they balance themselves in air with nearly as much facility as certain Flies, 
and it is thus that they hum about flowers and fly with more proportionate 
rapidity than any other bird. They live singly, defend their nests with 
courage, and fight desperately with each other. 
Upupa, Lin. 
The Hoopoes have an ornament on the head formed of a double range of 
long feathers, which they can erect at will. The subgenera are Promerops 
and Epimachus. 
The second and smallest division of the Passerinas comprehends 
those in which the external toe, which is nearly as long as the mid- 
dle one, is united to it as far as the penultimate articulation. We 
make but a single group of them, the PASSERINE. 
143 
SYNDACTYLY, 
Which has long been divided into several genera. 
Merops, Lin. 
The Bee-eaters have an elongated beak, triangular at base, slightly arcuated 
and terminating in a sharp point. There is a double emargination on each 
side of the hind part of the sternum. Their long, pointed wings, and short 
feet render their flight similar to that of Swallows. They pursue insects in 
great flocks, especially bees, wasps, &c. and it is remarkable, that they are 
never stung by them. 
The Motmots have their feet and carriage, but differ in the beak which is 
stronger, the edges of both mahdibles being serrated, and in their tongue, 
which, like that of the Toucans, is barbed. They are beautiful birds, as 
large as the Magpie; the plumage on the head loose as in the Jays, and a 
long cuneiform tail; the stems of the two middle quills being stripped of 
their webs for a short distance near the extremities, gives to the whole a 
singular appearance. They fly badly, are solitary, build in holes, feed on 
insects, and even on small birds. 
Prionites, Illig. 
Alcedo, Lin. 
The Kingfishers have shorter feet than the Bee-eaters, and the beak much 
longer, which is straight, angular, and pointed; the tongue and tail are very 
short. They feed on small fish which they capture by precipitating them- 
selves into the water from some branch where they have remained perched, 
watching for their prey. They nestle like Bee-eaters in holes on the banks 
of streams, and are found in both continents. 
The Todies are small birds of America resembling the Kingfishers in their 
general form as well as in their feet and elongated beak, but the latter is 
horizontally flattened, and obtuse at the point. The tarsus also is higher, 
and the tail not so short. They feed on flies and build on the ground. 
Todus, Lin. 
The Homhills are large birds of Africa and India, whose enormous dentated 
beak is studded with excrescences which sometimes equal in size the beak 
itself, and which are always of considerable extent above. This renders 
them very remarkable, and allies them to the Toucans; while, at the same 
time, their carnage and habits approximate them to the Crows, and their 
feet to the Bee-eaters and the Kingfishers. The shape of these excrescen- 
ces on the beak varies with age, and in the very young bird they are not 
even visible; the interior is generally cellular. They live on all sorts of food, 
eat soft fruits, hunt mice, small birds, reptiles, and do not even despise 
carrion. 
Buceros, Lin. 144 
AVES. 
ORDER III. 
SCANSORIJE. 
This order is composed of those birds whose external toe is di- 
rected backwards like the thumb, by which conformation they are 
the better enabled to support the weight of their bodies, and of which 
certain genera take advantage in clinging to and climbing upon 
trees. It is from this that they have received the common name of 
Climbing Birds, which in strictness is not applicable to all of them, 
as there are many true Climbers which by the disposition of their 
toes cannot belong to this order, instances of which we have already 
seen in the Creeper and Nuthatch. 
The Scansori® usually nestle in the hollows of old trees; their 
powers of flight are middling; their food, like that of the Passerinsc, 
consists of insects or fruit, in proportion as their beak is more or 
less stout; some of them, the Woodpeckers for instance, have pecu- 
liar means for obtaining it. 
The Jacamars are closely allied to the Kingfishers by their elongated sharp- 
pointed beak, the upper ridge of which is angular, and by their short feet, 
the anterior toes of which are almost wholly united; these toes, however, 
are not precisely the same as those of the Kingfishers; their plumage more- 
over is not so smooth, and always has a metallic lustre. They are solitary 
birds, that live in wet forests, feed on insects, and build on low branches. 
The American species have a longer and perfectly straight beak. 
Galbula, Briss. 
The Woodpeckers are well characterized by their long, straight, angular 
beak, the end of which is compressed into a wedge, and fitted for split- 
ing the bark of trees; by their slender tongue, armed nearthe tip with spines 
that curve backwards, which by the action of the elastic horns of the hyoid 
bone can be thrust far out of the beak, and by their tail, composed of ten 
quills with stiff and elastic stems, which acts as a prop in supporting them 
wlfile they are climbing. They are Climbers par excellence: they wander 
over trees in every direction, striking the bark with their beaks, and insin- 
uating them long tongue into its cracks and crevices to obtain the larvae of 
insects, on which they feed. Fearful and wary, they pass most of their time 
in a solitary manner, but at a certain season they may frequently be heard 
Picus, Lin. 145 
SCANSORI^. 
tapping loudly and rapidly on a dry branch. They build once a year in 
holes of trees, and each sex alternately broods upon the eggs until they are 
hatched. 
The Wrynecks have the protractile tongue of the Woodpeckers, which is 
also moved by the same kind of mechanism, but the spines are wanting; 
their straight and pointed beak is nearly round, and without any angles; the 
quills of their tail are like those of Birds in general. Their mode of life is 
that of the Woodpeckers, except that they climb but seldom. 
Yunx, Lin. 
The Cuckoos have a middling, well cleft, compressed, and slightly arcuated 
beak; the tail long. They live on Insects, and are Birds of passage. 
They are celebrated for the singular habit of laying their eggs in the nests 
of other insectivorous Birds, and, what is not less extraordinary, these latter, 
which are often a considerably smaller species, take as much care of the 
young Cuckoo as of their own true offspring, and that too, even when its 
introduction has been preceded, which often happens, by the destruction 
of their eggs. The rationale of this phenomenon is unknown. 
Cuculus, Lin. 
Malcoha, Vaill. 
A very stout beak, round at base, and arcuated near the point, with a large 
naked space about the eyes. The nostrils of some are round, and placed 
near the base of the beak, in others they are narrow and situated near its edge. 
They are natives of Ceylon; and, as it is said, live chiefly on fruit. 
Scythrops, Lath. 
The beak still longer and stouter than that of Malcoha, and grooved on each 
side with two shallow longitudinal furrows; circumference of the eyes 
naked; nostrils round. These birds approach the Toucans in their beak; 
but their simple tongue, which is not ciliated, separates them. One species 
only is known, which is as large as a Crow, whitish, with a grey mantle; 
found in New Holland. 
The Barbets have a thick conical beak, inflated on the sides of its base, and 
furnished with five bundles of stiff hairs directed forwards; one behind the 
nostril, one on each side of the base of the lower jaw, and the fifth under 
its symphysis. The wings are short, and their proportions are heavy, as is 
also their flight. They live on Insects, and will attack small Birds; they also 
eat fruit. They build in the hollows of trees. 
Bucco, Lin. 
Trogon, Lin. 
The Couroucoui, along with the hairy fasciculi of the Barbets, have a short 146 
AVES 
beak, which is more broad than high, and curved from the base, its upper 
ridge arcuated and blunt. Their small feet, feathered nearly down to the 
toes, long broad tail, fine light and dense plumage, give them quite a dif- 
ferent air. Some part of their plumage usually has a metallic lustre, 
the remainder being coloured more or less vividly. They build in hollow 
trees, live on insects, and remain in a solitary and quiet mood on low 
branches in the centre of marshy forests, never being seen on the wing ex- 
cept during the morning and evening. They are found in both continents. 
Ceotopiiaga, Lin. 
The JLni are known by their beak, which is thick, compressed, arcuated, 
entire, elevated, and surmounted with a vertical and trenchant crest. 
Two species are known, Crotophaga major and Croto ani, both from the 
hot and low districts of America. Their tarsi are strong and elevated, the 
tail long and rounded, and the plumage black. 
These Birds feed on Insects and grain, and live in flocks, several couples 
laying their eggs, and even brooding over them in the same nest, which, 
together with the branches that support it, is of a size proportioned to the 
number of couples that have constructed it. They are easily tamed, and 
may be taught to speak, but their flesh has a disagreeable odour. 
Ramphastos, Lin. 
The Toucans are easily distinguished from all other Birds by their enormous 
beak, which is almost as thick and as long as their body, light and cellular in- 
ternally, arcuated near the end, and irregularly indented along its edges; and 
by their long, narrow, and ciliated tongue. They are confined to the hat 
climates of America, where they live in small flocks, feeding on fruit and 
Insects; they also devour other Birds’ eggs, and their callow offspring. The 
structure of their beak compels them to swallow their food without mastica- 
tion. When they have seized it, they toss it into the air to swallow it with 
more facility. 
Psittacus, Lin. 
The Parrots have a stout, hard, solid beak, rounded on'all sides and en- 
veloped at base by a membrane in which the nostrils are pierced, and a thick 
fleshy and rounded tongue; two circumstances which give them the great- 
est facility in imitating the human voice. Their inferior larynx, which is 
complicated and furnished on each side with its three muscles, also contri- 
butes to this facility. They feed on all sorts of fruit, climb among the 
branches of trees by the aid of their beak and claws, and build in hollow 
trees. Their voice is naturally harsh and disagreeable, and they are almost 
universally ornamented with the brightest colours, hardly any of them being 
found beyond the torrid zone. They exist however in both continents, the 
species of course differing in each. Every large island even has its pecu- 
liar species, the short wings of these birds not allowing them to cross any 
great extent of water. The Parrots, consequently, are very numerous: they SCANSORIHL. 
147 
are subdivided by the forms of their tails and some other characters. To 
these subdivisions belong the Macaws, Paroquets, Cockatoos, Stc. 
There are two African birds, closely allied to each other, and 
generally placed among the Scansoriae, which appear to me have 
some analogy with the Gallinaceie, and especially with the Hoccos. 
They have the tail and wings of the Hoccos, and like them perch 
on trees; the beak is short, and the upper mandible gibbous; there 
is a short membrane between the fore-toes, but the external one, it 
is true, is often directed backwards like that of the Ululae. Their 
nostrils, also, are simply pierced in the horn of the beak, the edges 
of the mandibles are dentated, and the sternum (at least that of the 
Touraco) has not those large emarginations, so common in the Gal- 
linacese. There are two genera of these birds: the first is, 
Or the Touracos, in which the beak does not mount on the forehead, and 
the head is furnished with an erectile tuft. The most common species, 
Cuculuspersa, L., is found in the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope. It 
is a beautiful green, with part of the quills of the wings crimson. It builds 
in hollow trees, and feeds on fruit. The second is the 
Cokytiiaix, Illig. 
Musophaga, Iscrt. 
Or the Flaintain-eaters, so called because their principal food is the fruit of 
the banana. They are characterised by the base of the beak forming a 
disk, which partly covers the forehead. The species known is 
JVI. violacea, Vicill. Circumference of the eyes naked and red; violet- 
coloured plumage; occiput and primary quills of the wings, crimson; a white 
line passes below the naked space round the eye. Inhabits Guinea and 
Senegal. 
ORDER IV 
G ALLIN ACEiE.—Gallinje, Lin. 
These birds are so called from their affinity with the Domestic 
Cock, and like it, generally have the upper mandible arched, the 
nostrils pierced in a broad membranous space at the base of the beak 
and covered by a cartilaginous scale; a heavy carriage, short wings, 
and the bony sternum diminished by two emarginations, so wide and 148 
AVES 
deep that they occupy nearly the whole sides, its crest being trunca- 
ted obliquely forwards so that the sharp point of the fourchette is 
only joined to it by a ligament, circumstances which, by greatly im- 
pairing the strength of the pectoral muscles, render it difficult for 
them to fly. Their tail generally consists of fourteen quills, and 
sometimes of eighteen. With the exception of the IIocco they all 
lay their eggs on the ground, on a few carelessly arranged blades of 
straw or grass. 
This order is chiefly composed of one very natural family, remark- 
able for having furnished us with most of our domestic poultry, and 
abundance of excellent game. 
Alector, Merr.(l) 
The Hoccos are large Gallinacese of America, which resemble Turkeys, with 
a broad, rounded tail, formed of large and stiff quills. They live in the woods, 
feed on buds and fruit, perch and build on trees, are very social, and easily 
domesticated. 
The remaining genera belonging to this division are Ourax (Stone Bird), 
Penelope (The Guans or Yacous), Ortalida, and Opislhocomus. 
Pavo, Lin. 
The Peacocks are characterized by an aigrette or crest on the head, and by 
the coveils of the tail of the male being larger than its quills, and capable 
of being erected so as to form a circle. The shining, lax and silky barbs of 
these feathers, and the ocellated spots that decorate their extremities, are 
well known in the 
P. cristatus, L. (The Common Peacock.) This superb bird, originally 
from the north of India, was introduced into Europe by Alexander. Its 
magnificent plumage is even surpassed in brilliancy by that of the wild ones. 
Meleagris, Lin.(2) 
The Turkeys have their head and upper part of the neck invested with a 
plumeless and papillated skin; an appendage under the throat, and another 
conical one on the forehead, which, in the male, when excited by passion, 
becomes so inflated and long, as to hang over the point of the beak. From 
the lower part of the neck of the adult male hangs a tuft or tassel of stiff 
hairs; the coverts of the tail, shorter and stiffer than in the Peacock, can be 
erected and displayed in the same way. The tarsi of the male are armed 
with weak spurs. But one species was known for a long time. 
Meleagris gallo-pavo, L. (The Common Turkey.) Introduced into Eu- 
(1) Alector is the Greek name of the Cock. 
(2) Meeeagris is the Greek name of the Guinea-Hen, erroneously ap- 
plied by Linnaeus to the Turkey. GALLINACEiE. 
149 
rope from America in the sixteenth century. The size of this noble bird, 
and the goodness of its flesh, have rendered it extremely common. The 
Wild Turkey of America is of a greenish brown, with a copper gloss. 
A second species, however, M. ocellata, Cuv. has lately been described, al- 
most equal to the Peacock in the brilliancy of its colours, and particularly 
in the sapphire coloured spots surrounded with circles of gold and ruby, 
which decorate the tail. It was captured in the bay of Honduras. 
The Guinea-fowls, or Pintados, have a naked head, fleshy wattles at the 
bottom of the cheeks, a short tail, and the cranium generally surmounted 
with a callous crest. 
N. meleagris, L. (The Common Guinea-Hen), originally from Africa, 
has a slate-coloured plumage, every where sprinkled with small, white, 
round spots. In a wild state they live in large flocks, and prefer the vici- 
nity of marshes. There are two species. The great genus 
Numida, Lin. 
Or that of the Pheasants, is characterized by the cheeks being partly desti- 
tute of feathers, and covered with a red skin, and by the tectiform tail, in 
which the feathers are variously disposed. 
This great genus is now divided into various subgenera, such as Gallus 
(our common Cock and Hen) of which several wild species are known, 
Pheasants properly so called (Common Pheasant of Europe, Gold and Silver 
Pheasants of China, &c.), Tragopan, &c. 
Piiasianus, Lin. 
This also is a great genus, characterized by a naked and most generally red 
band, which occupies the place of the eye-brow. It is divided into subge- 
nera as follows. 
Tetrao, Lin. 
Tetiiao, Lath. 
The feet of Grous are covered with feathers, and are without spurs. 
Those to which this name is more particularly applied have a round or 
forked tail and naked toes. 
In some the feathers on each side of the neck of the males are turned up 
like a mantlet, or two scrolls: their habits have an affinity with those of the 
Turkey. Such are 
Tetr. umbellus and togatus, Gm.; called Partridge in New England, and 
Pheasant in Pennsylvania. Found in the mountain forests. 
Tetr. cupido, Gm. (The Pinnated Grous.) Variegated with brown and 
fawn colour; tail brown; tarsi feathered down to the toes; the feathers on 
the bottom of the male’s neck turn up into two pointed scrolls, beneath 
which is a naked skin, which he inflates like a bladder; his voice sounds 
like a trumpet. Found on extensive plains, and is such delicious food that 
laws have been passed to preserve them. The name of 150 
AVES 
Laqotus, 
Or Ptarmigan, is more particularly applied to those species which have 
a round or square tail and whose toes are feathered as well as the legs. 
Tetr. albus, Gm., called of Hudson’s Bay. (The White Ptarmigan.) 
From the whole North; is larger, and its summer plumage more red; its belly 
remains white. 
Perdix, Briss. 
Partridges have the tarsi naked like the toes. Among them the 
Is distinguished by a longer and stronger beak; a larger tail, and, generally 
speaking, by stout spurs. 
Francoeinus, Tem. 
Have a somewhat weaker beak; the spurs of the males are cither short, 
or mere simple tubercles; they are deficient in the female. 
Common Partridges 
Coturnix. 
Quails are smaller than Partridges, with a slenderer beak and shorter tail; 
no red eye-brow nor spurs. 
The Partridges and Quails of America 
Have a stouter, shorter, and more convex beak; the tail is somewhat 
larger. They perch on bushes, and, when disturbed, even on trees. Se- 
veral of them migrate like the Quails of Europe. There are some other 
subgenera. 
Tinamus, Lath. 
Or the Tinamous is a genus of American birds very remarkable for a slen- 
der and long neck, (although their tarsi are short) covered with feathers, the 
tips of whose barbs are slender and slightly curled, which gives a very pe- 
culiar air to that part of their plumage. The beak is long, slender, and 
blunt at the end; somewhat arched, with a little groove on each side; the 
nostrils aro 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 the toes is very short. Their thumb, re- 
duced to a spur, cannot reach the ground. The circumference of the eye 
is partly naked. They either perch on low branches of trees, or hide among 
tall grass; they feed on fruits and insects, and their flesh is good. Their 
size varies from that of the Pheasant down to that of the Quail, some of 
them are even still smaller. 
The Pigeons may be considered as forming a slight transition from the 
Gallinacex to the Passerine. Like the former, then- beak is vaulted, the 
Columba, Lin. GALLINACEiE. 
151 
nostrils perforated in a broad membranous space, and covered with a carti- 
laginous scale, which even forms a bulge at the base of the bill; the bony 
sternum is deeply and doubly emarginated, although somewhat differently; 
the crop extremely dilated, and the lower larynx furnished with but a single 
proper muscle; but there is no other membrane between the base of their 
toes than that which results from the continuity of the edges. Their tail is 
composed of twelve quills. They fly well, live in a state of monogamy, 
build on trees or in fissures among rocks, and lay but few eggs at a time, 
generally two; it is true they lay frequently. The male assists his mate in 
the business of brooding. They nourish their young by disgorging mace- 
rated grain into their crop. They form but one genus, which naturalists 
have attempted to divide into several subgenera, from the greater or less 
strength of the bill and the proportions of the feet. 
They are the Columbi-Gallines (the Crowned Pigeon of India, almost as 
large as a Turkey); Columbaproper (Cushat, Stock Dove, Turtle Dove, Ring 
Dove, &c.); and Vinago, of which latter there are but few species, and all 
inhabiting the torrid zone of the eastern continent. 
ORDER V. 
GRALLATORIiE.—Grall.e, Lin. 
The birds of this order derive their name from their habits, and 
from the conformation which causes them. They are known by the 
nudity of the lower part of their legs, and most generally by the 
height of their tarsi; two circumstances which enable them to enter 
the water to a certain depth without wetting their feathers; to wade 
through it and seize Fish by means of their neck and bill, the length 
of which is usually proportioned to that of the legs. Those which 
are furnished with a strong bill feed on Fish and Reptiles, while such 
as have a weak one consume Worms and Insects. A very few 
feed partially on grain, and they alone live at a distance from rivers, 
&c. The external toe is most commonly united at its base with 
that of the middle one, by means of a short membrane; sometimes 
there are two similar membranes, and at others they are entirely 
wanting and the toes are completely separated; it sometimes also 
happens, though rarely, that they are bordered all along, or palma- 
ted to the very end; in fine, the thumb is deficient in several genera; 
circumstances, all of which have an influence on their mode of life, 
which is more or less aquatic. Almost all these birds, the Ostriches 152 
AVES. 
and Cassowaries excepted, have long wings, and fly well; during 
which action they extend they legs backwards, differing in this from 
all others, which fold them under the belly. 
In this order we establish five principal families, and some insu- 
lated genera. 
FAMILY I. 
BREVIPENNES. 
These birds, although similar in general to the other Grallatoriae, 
differ from them greatly in one point—the shortness of the wings, 
which renders flight impossible. The beak and regimen give them 
numerous affinities with the Gallinaceae. 
It appears as if all the muscular power which is at the command 
of nature, would be insufficient to move such immense wings as 
would be required to support their massive bodies in the air. The 
sternum is a simple buckler, and is deficient in that ridge which is 
found in all other birds. The pectoral muscles are thin and delicate, 
but the posterior extremities regain what the wings have lost—the 
muscles of the thighs, and of the legs in particular, being enormously 
thick and stout. 
The thumb is always deficient. They form two genera. 
STRUTnio, Lin. 
The Ostriches have wings furnished with loose and flexible feathers, but still 
sufficiently long to increase their speed in running. Every one knows the 
elegance of these slender-stemmed plumes, the barbs of which, although 
furnished with little hooks, always remain separate, contrary to what takes 
place in most other birds. Their beak is horizontally depressed, of a mod- 
erate length, and blunt at the end; their tongue short, and rounded like a 
crescent; their eye large, and the lid fringed with lashes; their legs and tarsi 
very long. 
But two species are known, each of which might form a separate genus. 
Struthio camelus, L. (The Ostrich of the Eastern Continent.) But two 
toes, the external of which is one half shorter than its fellow, and has no nail. 
This bird, so highly celebrated from the earliest ages, abounds in the sandy 
deserts of Arabia and Africa. It attains the height of six or eight feet, 
lives in great troops, lays eggs, each weighing nearly three pounds, which, 
in very hot climates, it is contented with exposing in the sand to the warmth 
of the sun, but over which, out of the tropics, it broods with great care, 
defending them courageously every where. The Ostrich feeds on grass, 153 
GRALLATORIiE. 
grain, &c., and so obtuse is its sense of taste that it swallows pebbles, pieces 
of iron, copper, &c. When pursued it dashes stones behind it with great 
violence. No animal can overtake it in the race. 
Struth. rhea, L. (The American Ostrich.) Is about one half smaller, with 
more thinly furnished feathers, of a uniform grey colour; and particularly 
distinguished by its three toes, all having nails. Its plumage is greyish, 
browner on the back: a black line along the back of the neck in the male. 
It is as common in the southern parts of South America, as the preceding 
one is in Africa. When taken young, it is easily tamed. Several females, 
it is said, lay in the same nest, or rather the same hole, yellowish eggs, 
which are hatched by the male. It is only eaten when very young. 
Casuarius, Briss. 
The Cassowaries have wings still shorter than those of the Ostrich, and 
totally useless, even in running. There are three toes to all the feet, each 
furnished with a nail? the barbs of their feathers are so poorly provided 
with barbulse, that at a distance they resemble pendent hairs. Two species 
are known, each of which might also constitute a genus. 
Casuarius vulgaris, L. (The Cassowary. )The beak laterally compressed; 
head surmounted by a bony prominence, covered with a horny substance; 
skin of the head and top of the neck naked, of an azure-blue and a fiery red 
colour, with pendent caruncles like those of the Turkey; some stiff stems 
in the wings, without barbs, which the bird uses as weapons in combat; 
nail of the internal toe much the strongest. It is the largest of all birds, 
next to the Ostrich, and differs considerably from it in its anatomy. It feeds 
on fruit and eggs, but not grain. The female lays a small number of green 
eggs, which like the Ostrich she abandons to the solar heat. Found in 
different islands of the Archipelago of India. 
Cas. Novas-Hollandisc, Lath. (The Cassowary of New Holland.) A de- 
pressed beak; no helmet on the head; a little naked skin about the ear; 
plumage brown and more of it; more barbs to the feathers; no caruncles, 
or spurs on the wing; nails of the toes about equal. Its flesh resembles 
beef. Its speed is greater than that of the swiftest greyhound. The young 
ones are striped with brown and black. 
FAMILY II. 
PRESSIROSTRES. 
This family comprises genera with long legs, without a thumb, 
or in which the thumb is too short to reach the ground. The bill 
is moderate, but strong enough to penetrate the earth in search of 
worms; hence we find those species in which it is weakest frequent- 
ing meadows and newly ploughed grounds to obtain that sort of food 154 
AYES. 
with more facility. Such as have stronger beaks, also feed on 
herbs, grain, &c. 
Otis, Lin. 
The Bustards, in addition to the massive carriage of the Gallinacex, have a 
long neck and legs, and moderate beak; its superior mandible being slightly 
arcuated and arched, which, as well as the very small membranes between 
the base of the toes, again recall the idea of the Gallinacex. But the naked- 
ness of the lower part of their legs, their whole anatomy, and even the fla- 
vour of their flesh, place them among the Grallatorix; and as they have no 
thumb, the smaller species approximate closely to the Plovers. Their tarsi 
are reticulated, and their wings short; they fly but seldom, hardly ever 
using their wings, except to assist themselves in running. They feed in- 
differently on grain and herbs, worms and insects. 
0. tarda, L. (The Great Bustard.) Back of a bright fawn colour, 
crossed with numerous black streaks, the remainder greyish. This spe- 
cies builds on the ground among the grain. 
Ciiaradrius, Lin. 
The Plovers have no thumb; the beak is moderate, compressed, and enlarged 
at the point. 
They may be divided into two subgenera; viz. (Edicitemus, Tem. (The 
Thick-knee), in which the end of the beak is inflated above as well as be- 
neath, and the fossae of the nostrils only extend half its length: and Ciiaha- 
nmus, Cuv. The beak of the True Plovers is only inflated above?and has 
two-thirds of its length occupied by the nasal fossae, which render it weaker. 
They live in large flocks, and frequent low grounds, where they strike the 
earth with their feet, in order to set in motion the worms on which they 
feed. One is 
Char, pluvialis, L. (The Golden Plover.) Blackish; the edges of its 
feathers dotted with yellow; white belly. It is the most common of all, and 
is found throughout the whole globe. 
The Lapwings have the same kind of beak as the Plovers, and are only dis- 
tinguished from them by the presence of a thumb; but it is so small that it 
cannot reach the ground. 
Vanellus, Bechst.—Tringa, Lin. 
Kematopus, Lin.(l) 
The Oyster-catchers have a somewhat longer beak than the Plovers or the 
Lapwings; it is straight, pointed, compressed into a wedge, and sufficiently 
strong to enable them to force open the bivalve shells of the animals on 
which they feed. They also seek for worms in the earth. Their legs are 
(1) Blood-coloured feet. GRALLATORLE. 
155 
of a moderate length, their tarsi reticulated, and their feet divided into 
three toes. 
It is impossible to avoid placing near the Plovers and Oyster-catchers, the 
Whose beak, more slender, but equally conical, is arcuated, has no groove, 
and is moderately cleft; the wings are shorter, and their legs, which are 
longer, are terminated by three toes without membranes and without a 
thumb. 
As far as we can judge from their exterior, it is here that we can most 
conveniently place the 
Cursorius, Lac. 
Microdactylus, Geoff. —Dicholophus, Illig.( 1) 
Whose beak is longer and more hooked, the commissure extending under 
the eye, which gives them something of the physiognomy and disposition 
of birds of prey, and approximates them somewhat to the Herons. Their 
extremely long and scutellated legs are terminated by very short toes, 
slightly palmated at base, and by a thumb which cannot reach the ground. 
One species only is known, and that is from South America, the Micro, 
cristatus, Geoff. It is larger than the Heron, and feeds on lizards and in- 
sects, which it hunts for on high grounds and along the edges of forests. 
FAMILY III. 
CULTRIROSTRES. 
This family is recognized by the thick, long, and strong beak, 
which is most generally trenchant and pointed, and is almost wholly 
composed of the birds comprised in the genus Ardea of Linnaeus. 
In a great number of species, the trachea of the male forms various 
curves. 
We subdivide it into three tribes, the Cranes, the true Herons, 
and the Storks. The first tribe forms but one great genus. 
The Cranes have a straight beak, but slightly cleft; the membranous fossa 
of the nostrils, which are large and concave, occupy nearly one half of its 
length. Their legs are scutellated, and the toes moderate; the external 
ones but slightly palmate, and the thumb hardly reaching to the ground. 
Grus, Lin. 
(1) Microductylus, short-finger. Dicholophus, crest in two rows. 156 
AVES. 
A more or less considerable portion of the head and neck is destitute of fea- 
thers in nearly all of them. 
We first find Psophia, Lin., or the Trumpeters, which have a shorter 
beak than the other species; the head and neck are merely invested with 
down, and the circumference of the eye is naked. They live in the woods 
and feed on grain and fruit. 
The species best known is from South America, and is called the Trum- 
peter, from its faculty of producing a low, deep sound. It is a very grateful 
bird, and as susceptible of attachment to man as a dog. It is even said to 
be so docile as to take the command of the poultry-yard. It flies badly, but 
runs fast, and builds on the ground at the foot of a tree. Its flesh is eaten. 
Certain Cranes foreign to Europe, with a shorter beak than is found in 
those that belong to it, should come next. Such is the Croivned Crane from 
Africa. 
The Common Cranes have a beak as long as the head, or longer: to which 
belongs the common species celebrated for its migrations. 
Between the Cranes and Herons we must place 
Jlrd. helias, L. (The Sun-Bird.) It is about the size of a Partridge, and 
its long slender neck, broad and open tail, and rather short legs give it a 
very different appearance from that of any other Wader. Its plumage 
shaded in bands and lines with brown, fawn-colour, red, grey and black, re- 
calls to our minds the colouring of the most beautiful of the nocturnal Le- 
pidoptera. It is found on the banks of the rivers in Guiana. 
The second tribe is more carnivorous, and is known by its stron- 
ger beak and larger toes: we may place at its head. 
Cancroma, Lin. 
The Boat-bill, which would closely approach the Herons in the strength 
of the beak and in the regimen resulting therefrom, but for the extraor- 
dinary form of that organ, which we shall find, however, by close examina- 
tion, to be nothing more than the beak of a Heron or Bittern, very much 
flattened. In fact, it is very wide from right to left, and is formed like two 
spoons, the concave sides of which are placed in contact. The mandibles 
are strong and trenchant, the upper one having a sharp tooth on each side 
of its point; the nostrils, situated near its base, are continued on in two par- 
allel grooves to near the point. There are four toes to the feet, long, and 
almost without membranes, and accordingly we find that these birds perch 
upon trees on the banks of rivers, whence they precipitate themselves upon 
the fish, which constitute their customary food. Their gait is slow, and in 
their attitudes they resemble the Herons. The species known is, 
Cancr. cochlearia, L. (The Boat-bill.) Size of a hen; whitish; grey or 
brown back; red belly; a white forehead, followed by a black calotte, which, 
in the adult male, is changed into a long tuft: inhabits the hot and marshy 
parts of South America. 
Then come GRALLATORIjE. 
157 
Or the Herons, the cleft of whose beak extends to beneath the eyes, a small 
nasal fossa continuing' on in a groove close to its point. They are also dis- 
tinguished by the internal edge of the nail of the middle toe, which is 
trenchant and denticulated. Their legs are scutellated; the thumb and toes 
tolerably long, the external web considerable, and the eyes placed in a naked 
skin which extends to the beak. They are melancholy birds, which build 
and perch on the banks of rivers, where they destroy great numbers of fish. 
The true Herons have a very slender neck, ornamented below with long 
pendent feathers. 
The name of Crab eaters (Crabiers) has been applied to the smallest 
Herons, with shorter feet. 
The feathers on the neck of the Bitterns are loose and separated, which 
increases its apparent size. They are usually spotted or striped. 
The adult Night-Heron, with the port of the Bitterns, and a beak pro- 
portionally thicker, has a few slender feathers on the occiput. 
The third tribe, besides having a thicker and smoother beak than 
is found in the second, has tolerably strong and almost equal mem- 
branes between the base of the toes. 
Ardea, Cuv. 
ClCONIA, CUV. 
The Storks have a thick beak, moderately cleft; no fossa or grooves; the 
nostrils pierced towards the back arid near the base; an extremely short 
tongue. Their legs are reticulated, and the anterior toes strongly palma- 
ted at base, particularly the external ones. The light and broad mandibles 
of their beak, by striking against each other, produce a clash which is al- 
most the only sound that proceeds from these birds. 
To this genus belongs the celebrated White Stork, and the Black Stork. 
We next distinguish the Bare Necked Storks, and then the Pouched Storks 
so called from an appendage under the throat resembling a sausage. There 
are two species one from Senegal, the other from India. 
Mycteria, Lin. 
The Jabirus, separated from Ardea by Linnseus, are closely allied to the 
Storks, and much more so than the latter are to the true Herons. Their 
peculiar character consists in a beak slightly curved upwards near the ex- 
tremity. 
Scopus, Briss.(l) 
The Umbres are only distinguished from the Storks by a compressed beak, 
(1) Scopus, from Ikotto;, sentinel. 158 
AYES. 
whose trenchant ridge is inflated near the base, and whose nostrils are con- 
tinued by a groove, which runs parallel with the ridge to its end, the latter 
being slightly hooked. Only one species is known, Scop, umbretta, which 
is the size of a Crow, and of an umber colour. The occiput of the male is 
tufted. Found throughout Africa. 
The genus Hians, Lacep., is only separable from the Storks by a char- 
acter of but little consequence, and that of Dromas, Payk., is very similar 
to it, but the under part of its compressed beak is perforated by oval nos- 
trils and its edges join closely. In Hians they do not. 
Tantalus, Lin. 
The Wood-Pelicans have the feet, nostrils and beak of the Stork; but the 
back of the beak is rounded, its point curved downwards, and slightly 
emarginated on each side: a part of their head and sometimes of the neck, 
is destitute of feathers. 
T. loculator, L. (The Wood-Pelican of America.) Is the size of a Stork, 
but more slender; white; quills of the wings and tail black; beak and feet, 
as well as the naked skin of the head and neck, blackish. It inhabits both 
Americas, arriving in each country about the rainy season, and frequents 
muddy waters, where it chiefly hunts for eels. 
Platalea, Lin. 
The Spoonbills approximate to the Storks in the whole of their structure; 
but their bill, whence they derive their name, is long, flat, broad through- 
out, becoming widened and flattened, particularly at the end, so as to form 
a spatula-like disk; two shallow grooves, originating at its base, extend al- 
most to the end, but without being parallel to its edges. The nostrils are 
oval, and situated at a short distance from the origin of each groove. The 
expansion of their bill deprives it of all its strength, and renders it fit for 
nothing but turning up mud, or capturing small fish or aquatic insects. 
FAMILY IY. 
LONCxIROSTRES. 
The family is composed of a multitude of Waders. Their gene- 
ral character is a long, slender, and feeble bill, the use of which is 
restricted to searching in the mud for worms and insects; the differ- 
ent gradations in the form of this bill serve to divide them into 
genera and subgenera. 
According to his own principles, Linnaeus should have united 
most of these birds in the great genus 159 
GRALLATORliE. 
Which we divide as follows, according to the variation in the form of the 
bill. The 
Scolopax, Lin. 
Ibis, Cuv. 
Separated by us from the Tantalus of Gmelin, because the bill, though 
arcuated like that of Tantalus, is much more feeble, and has no emargina- 
tion near its point; the nostrils also, perforated near the back of its base, are 
severally prolonged in a groove which extends to the end. 
Ibis religiosa, Cuv. (The Sacred Ibis) is the most celebrated species. 
It was reared in the temples of ancient Egypt, with a degree of respect 
bordering on adoration; and, when dead, it was embalmed. This, accord- 
ing to some, arose from its devouring serpents, which otherwise might have 
infested the country; others again are of opinion that it took its origin from 
some relation between its plumage and one of the phases of the moon; 
while a third class of authors attribute it to the fact that its appearance an- 
nounced the overflow of the Nile. Found throughout Africa. 
lb. rubra. (The Red Ibis.) A bird found in all the hot parts of America, 
remarkable for its bright red colour; the tips of the wing-quills are black. 
The Curlews have the beak arcuated like that of the Ibis, but it is more 
slender, and round throughout: the tip of the upper mandible extends be- 
yond the end of the lower one, and projects a little downwards in front of 
it. The toes are palmated at base. 
Numexius, Cuv. 
The Snipes have a straight beak, the nasal furrows extending to near its 
point which is a little inflated externally to reach beyond the lower mandi- 
ble, and on the middle of which there is a simple groove; this point is soft 
and very sensible, and when dried, after death, assumes a punctured appear- 
ance. Their feet are not palmated. A peculiar character of these birds 
consists in their compressed head and large eyes placed very far back, which 
gives them a singularly stupid air, an indication which is confirmed by their 
habits. 
Our common Woodcock (Scol. minor) belongs to this genus, as does also 
the Red-breasted Snipe, &c. 
S coxorax, Cuv. 
ItHYXCHAiA, Cuv. 
Birds of India and Africa, whose nearly equal mandibles are slightly arcu- 
ated at the end, and in which the nasal fossa: extend to the tip of the upper 
one, which has no third groove. Their feet are not palmated. 
Limosa, Bechst. 
The Godwits have a straight beak, longer than the Snipes, and sometimes 160 
AVES. 
even slightly arcuated near the top. The nasal groove extends close to the 
tip, which is blunt and somewhat depressed; no third groove or punctation 
on its surface. The external toes are palmated at base. Their form is 
more slender, and their legs are longer than those of Snipes; they frequent 
salt marshes and the sea-shore. 
The bill of the Sandpipers is depressed at the end, and the nasal fossae 
are very long as in the Godwits, but this bill is not usually longer than the 
head; their slightlybordered toes have no membranes at base, and their thumb 
can hardly reach the ground; their moderately long legs and short figure 
give them a heavier carriage than that of the Godwits. They are also 
much smaller. 
Caeidris, Cuv. 
Arenaria, Bechst.—Caeidris, Vig. 
The Sanderlings resemble the Sandpipers in every point but one, viz. they 
have no thumb, as is the case with the Plovers. 
Peeidna, Cuv. 
The Pelidnx are merely small Sandpipers, with a bill somewhat longer 
than the head. The edging of their feet is insensible. 
The Ruffs are true Sandpipers in their bill and carriage; the membrane 
between their external toes, however, is nearly as extensive as in Totanus, 
Limosa, &c. 
One species only is known, the Tringa pugnax, L. It is somewhat 
smaller than a Snipe, and celebrated for the furious combats that take place 
among the males. At this period the head is partly covered with red pa- 
pills, the neck is surrounded with a thick collar of feathers, so variously 
arranged and coloured, and projecting in such fantastic positions, that no 
two individuals can be found alike; even before this epoch there is so much 
diversity in their plumage, that many imaginary species have been described 
by naturalists. 
There are some small birds in America resembling the Sandpipers, whose 
feet are semi-palmated anteriorly (the Hemipaeama, Bonap.). 
Machetes, Cuv. 
Distinguished from them by its depressed bill, widenedat the end almost 
like that of the Spoonbill, the only known species of which, 
Eurinorhynchus griseus, Nils., is one of the rarest in existence; for only 
a single individual has been found: it is grey above, white beneath, and 
hardly as large as a Pelidna. 
Eurinorhxnchus, Nilson. 
Phaearopus, Briss. 
Small birds, whose bill, though flatter than that of the Sandpipers, is GRALLATORIiE. 
161 
similarly proportioned, and has the same grooves; the toes also are bordered 
with wide membranes like those of Fulica. 
Strepsieas. 
The TAim-stones stand rather low; the bill is short, and the toes are with- 
out membranes, like those of the true Sandpipers; but this bill is conical, 
pointed, without any depression, compression, or inflation, and the nasal 
fossae do not extend to more than half its length. The thumb barely 
reaches the ground. Their bill, which is stronger and stiffer in proportion 
than that of the preceding birds, enables them to overturn stones, beneath 
which they find worms. 
Totanus, Cuv. 
The beak of these birds is slender, round, pointed and solid; the nasal 
fossae do not extend beyond the half of its length, and the upper mandible 
is slightly arcuated near the end. Their form is light and their legs long; 
but a small part of their thumb rests on the ground; their external web is 
well marked. Each of the species is found throughout almost the whole of 
the globe. 
Among the species foreign to Europe, we should particularly notice that 
of North America, with the large beak and semipalmated feet, Scolopax 
semipalmata, L. which has a short and thick beak, plumage brown-grey above, 
whitish beneath; brownish spots on the neck and breast; toes well bordered 
with equal and considerable membranes. 
Him:antopus,(1) Briss. 
The bill round, slender and pointed, even more so than that of a Totanus, 
and the nasal grooves occupy but half its length. The excessive length 
and tenuity of the legs which are reticulated and destitute of a thumb, and 
the weakness of their bones, which is so extreme as to render walking pain- 
ful to them, are what principally distinguish the species of this subgenus, 
and give rise to their name. This is perhaps the only place for the 
Recurvirostra, Lin., 
Or the Jlvosets, although their feet, which are webbed to near the ends of 
the toes, almost entitle them to a situation among the Palmipedes; but their 
high tarsi and half naked legs, their long, slender, pointed, smooth, and 
elastic bill, together with the mode of life resulting from this conformation, 
equally approximate them to the Snipes. What particularly characterises, 
and even distinguishes them from all other birds, is the strong upward curve 
of their beak. Their legs are reticulated, and their thumb much too short 
to reach the ground. 
(1) Himantopus, feet like a string, (alluding to their weakness) is the 
name given to this bird in Pliny. 162 
AVES. 
FAMILY V. 
MACRODACTYLI. 
This family is furnished with very long toes, fitted for walking on 
the grass of marshes, and even for swimming, in those numerous 
species, especially, in which they are bordered with a membrane. 
There are no membranes, however, between the bases of their toes, 
not even between the external ones. The beak, more or less com- 
pressed on the sides, is lengthened or shortened according to the 
genus, never, however, becoming as slender or as weak as that of 
the preceding family. The body of these birds is also singularly 
compressed, a circumstance which is owing to the narrowness of the 
sternum; their wings are moderate or short, and their flight feeble 
They all have a long thumb. 
They have been divided into two tribes according to the armature 
or non-armature of their wings; but this character is liable to excep- 
tions. 
Jacanas, Briss.—Parra, Lin. 
The Jacanas are greatly distinguished from the other Grallatoriae by having 
four very long toes, separated down to their root, the nails of which, that 
of the thumb in particular, are also extremely long and pointed, from which 
peculiarity, they have received their vulgar name of Surgeons. The beak 
is similar to that of the Lapwings in its moderate length, and in the slight 
inflation of its end. Their wing is armed with a spur. They are noisy and 
quarrelsome birds, which inhabit marshes of hot climates, where they walk 
with great facility by means of their long toes. 
Palamedea, Lin. 
The Kamichi resemble the Jacanas, but on a very large scale, in the two 
strong spurs of each of their wings, in their long toes and strong nails, that 
of the thumb in particular, which is long and straight as in the Larks; but 
their beak, whose aperture is small, is but slightly compressed, and is not 
inflated; the upper mandible, also, is somewhat arcuated. Their legs are 
reticulated. A distinct genus, 
Chauna, Illig., 
Has been made of the Parra chavaria,~L.; Cha'i'a of Paraguay, which has no 
horn on the vertex, and whose occiput is ornamented with a circle of erec- 
tile feathers. The head and upper part of the neck are only covered with 
down, and it has a black collar. It chiefly feeds on aquatic plants; and the GRALLATORLE. 
163 
Indians of Carthagena always kept some of them among their Geese and 
Chickens, as it is sufficiently courageous, according to them, to repulse even 
the Vulture. A singular circumstance attending this bird is, that air is 
every where interposed between the skin and muscles, even on the legs, in 
such a quantity as causes it to crackle under the finger. 
Of the tribe whose wings have no armature, Linnaeus comprises 
in his genus Fulica such as have their beak prolonged into a sort of 
shield, which partly covers the forehead; and in his genus Rallus, 
those in which this peculiarity does not exist. 
The Rails, which, in other respects, have a strong, mutual resemblance, pre- 
sent bills of very different proportions. 
Ral. crex, L. Fawn coloured brown, spotted with black above; greyish 
beneath; flanks streaked with black; red wings. It lives and builds in the 
fields, running through the grass with great celerity. Its name, Crex, ex- 
presses the sound of its note. It has been called the Quail-King, because 
it arrives and departs with those birds, and leads a solitary life on the same 
grounds, from which arose the conjecture that it was their leader. It feeds 
on grain, as well as on worms and insects. 
Rallus, Lin. 
The Coots may be divided as follows, from the form of the beak and the ap- 
pliances of the feet. 
Fulica, Lin. 
Gallinula, Briss. and Lath. 
Or the Water-Hens. The beak very similar to that of the Ground Rail, 
from which these birds are distinguished by the shield on the forehead and 
by very long toes furnished with a very narrow border. 
The beak higher in proportion to its length; very long toes, without any 
very sensible border; the frontal shield large, rounded in some, and square 
above in others. These birds stand on one foot, using the other to convey 
their food to the beak. Their colours are usually fine shades of blue, violet, 
and aqua-marina. Such is 
Fulica porphyrio, L.; a beautiful African bird, now naturalized in several 
islands and coasts of the Mediterranean. Its beauty would render it an or- 
nament to our pleasure grounds. 
Pob.phyb.io, Briss. 
Fuiica, Briss. 
The True Coots, in addition to a short beak and a large frontal shield, 
have their toes much widened by a festooned border that renders them excel- 
lent swimmers, in consequence of which their lives are passed in ponds and 164 
AVES. 
marshes. Their polished plumage is not less adapted to this kind of life 
than their conformation, and these birds establish an evident link between 
the order of the Grallatoriac and that of the Palmipedes. There is but one 
in Europe, 
F. atra, Gm. (The Coot.) The shield of a deep slate colour; edge of 
the wings whitish; in the nuptial season the shield becomes red: found 
wherever there is a pond. 
We will terminate this sketch of the Grallatorise with three genera, 
which it is difficult to associate with any other, and which may be 
considered as forming separately so many small families. 
Chionis, Foster.—Vaginalis, Lath. 
Or the Sheath-Bills. Their legs are short, almost like those of the Gallina- 
cese; their tarsi scutellated, their bill stout and conical, having a hard sub- 
stance enveloping its base, which, it appears, the bird has the power of 
raising and depressing. 
Only one species is known, and that is from New Holland, Fag. Chionis, 
Lath. It is the size of a Partridge, with entirely white plumage. It haunts 
the sea-coast, where it feeds on the dead animals thrown up by the waves. 
Glareola. 
The beak of the Pratincoles is short, conical, arcuated throughout, has a 
large opening, and resembles that of the Gallinaceae. Their excessively 
long and pointed wings remind us of the Swallows, or of the Palmipedes of 
the high seas; their legs are of a moderate length, their tarsi scutellated, and 
their external toes somewhat palmated; their thumb touches the ground. 
Aquatic worms and insects constitute their food. 
Our last genus will be that of 
Phcenicopterus, Lin. 
Or the Flamingos, one of the most extraordinary and insulated of all birds. 
The legs are excessively long; the three anterior toes are palmated to their 
ends, and that of the hind one is extremely short; the neck, quite as long 
and slender as the legs, and the small head furnished with a beak whose 
lower mandible is an oval longitudinally bent into a semi-cylindrical canal, 
while the upper one, oblong and flat, is bent crosswise in its middle, so as 
to join the other exactly. The membranous fossae of the nostrils occupy 
nearly all the side of the part which is behind the transverse fold, and the 
nostrils themselves are longitudinal slits in the base of the fossae. The edges 
of the two mandibles are furnished with small, and very delicate transverse 
laminae, which, with the fleshy thickness of the tongue, creates some affinity 
between these birds and the Ducks. Were it not for the length of their tarsi, 
and the nudity of their legs, we might even place them among the Palmipe- 
des. They feed on shell fish, insects, and the spawn of fishes, which they GRALLATORIiE. 
165 
capture by means of their long1 neck, turning the head on one side to give 
more effect to the hook of the upper mandible. They construct their nest 
of earth in marshes, placing themselves astride of it to hatch their eggs, a 
position to which they are forced to resort by the length of their legs. The 
species known, 
Ph. ruler (The Red Flamingo), is from three to four feet in height; ash 
coloured, with brown streaks, during the first year; in the second there is a 
rosy hue on the wings, and in the third it acquires a permanent purple-red 
on the back, and rose-coloured wings. The quills of the wing are black; 
the beak yellow, with a black tip, and the feet brown. 
This species is found in all parts of the eastern continent below 40°. 
We have also an American species, the Ph. ruler of Temminck. 
ORDER VI. 
PALMIPEDES. 
These birds are characterized by their feet, formed for natation, 
that is to say, placed far back on the body, attached to short and 
compressed tarsi, and with palmated toes. Their dense and polished 
plumage saturated with oil, and the thickly set down which is next 
to their skin, protect them from the water in which they live. They 
are the only birds whose bill surpasses—which it sometimes does to 
a considerable extent—the length of their feet, and this is so, to ena- 
ble them to search for their food in the depths below, while they 
swim on the surface. Their sternum is very long, affording a com- 
plete guard to the greater part of their viscera, having, on each side, 
but one emargination or oval foramen, filled up with membrane. 
This order admits of a tolerably precise division into four families. 
FAMILY I. 
BRACHYPTERiE. 
A part of this family has some external affinities with that of the 
Gallinulae. Their legs, placed further back than in any other birds, 
renders walking painful to them, and obliges them, when on land, to 
stand vertically. In addition to this, as most of them have but feeble 
powers of flight, and as some of them are wholly deprived of that 166 
AVES 
faculty, we may consider them as exclusively attached to the surface 
of the water: their plumage is extremely dense, and its surface fre- 
quently polished, presenting a silvery lustre. They swim under wa- 
ter, using their wings with almost as much effect as though they 
were fins. 
Colymbus, Lin. 
The only particular character of the Divers is a smooth, straight, compressed 
and pointed bill, and linear nostrils; but the differences in the feet have 
caused them to be subdivided. 
The toes of the Grebes, instead of being palmated, arejwidened like those 
of the Coots, the anterior ones only being united at base by membranes. 
The middle nail is flattened, and the tarsus strongly compressed. The 
semi-metallic lustre of their plumage has caused it to be occasionally em- 
ployed as fur. Their tibia, as well as that of the succeeding subgenera, 
is prolonged above into a point which gives a more efficient insertion to 
the extensors of the leg. 
These birds live on lakes, &c., and build among the rushes. In certain 
circumstances, it appears that they carry their young ones under their tvings. 
Their size and plumage are so much changed by age, as to have caused an 
improper multiplication of species. M. Meyer reduces those of Europe 
to four. 
Col. cristatus, Gm. (The Crested Grebe) is the size of a duck; blackish- 
brown above, silver-white beneath; a white band on the wing; it acquires 
with age a double black tuft, and the adults have, in addition, a broad red 
colerette on the upper part of the neck edged with black. 
Podicefs, Lath. 
Mehgus, Briss.—Eudttes, Illig*. (1) 
The true Divers have the feet of ordinary Palmipedes, along with all the 
forms of the Grebes, that is, the anterior toes are united to their ends by 
membranes, and are terminated by pointed nails. They are northern birds, 
which rarely breed in France, where they arrive in winter, at which season 
is occasionally seen on the coast 
Col. glacialis, L. (The Great Northern Diver.) The adult is two feet 
six inches in length, its head and neck black, changing to a green with a 
whitish collar; back, a blackish brown dotted with whitish; white beneath; 
the lower mandible, which has a slight curve upwards, is marked by a 
groove beneath. 
The Guillemots have a bill, which, though of the general form of the pre- 
Uria, Briss. 
(1) Mergus (diver), the Latin name of some sea-bird difficult to determine. 
Eudytes, a Greek word composed by Illiger, has the same meaning1. PALMIPEDES. 
167 
ceding, is covered with feathers down to the nostrils; there is also an emar- 
gination at the point which is somewhat arcuated. Their chief character, 
however, consists in the absence of the thumb. Their wings, much shorter 
than those of the Divers, scarcely enable them to flutter. They feed on fish, 
crabs, &c. and are found among rocky precipices when they breed. 
Alca, Lin. 
The Auks are known by the very much compressed, vertically raised bill 
which has a trenchant back, and is usually grooved transversely; and by the 
feet which are completely palmated, and have no thumb like those of the 
Guillemot. All these birds inhabit the northern seas. We may divide the 
genus into two subgenera. 
Fratercula, Briss. 
Or the Puffins, whose bill, shorter than the head, is as high and higher at 
base than it is long, which gives it a very extraordinary form; a folded skin 
usually covers its base. The nostrils placed near the edge are mere slits. 
Their small wings can just sustain them for a moment; they live upon the 
ocean and breed on the rocks. 
The most common species, Alca arctica, L., is the size of a Pigeon, and 
has a black calotte and mantle; w'hite beneath. It sometimes breeds among 
the cliffs on the English coast, and is very common on those of France dur- 
ing the winter. 
Aica, Cuv.(l) 
The true Auks have a more elongated bill, resembling in form the blade 
of a knife; it is covered with feathers as far as the nostrils. Their wings 
are decidedly too small to support them, and therefore they never at- 
tempt to fly. 
The Penguins are even less capable of flying than the Auks. Their little 
wings are covered with mere vestiges of feathers, which at the first glance 
resemble scales; their feet, placed farther behind than those of any other 
bird, 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 thumb directed inwards, 
and their three anterior toes are united by an entire membrane. They are 
only found in the Antarctic Seas, never going on shore except to breed. 
They can only reach their nests by drawing themselves along on their 
bellies. The difference in their bill authorizes their division into several 
subgenera. 
Aptejnodytes, Forst. 
(1) Aka, Aik, Auk, the name of these birds in the Feroe Islands, and in 
the north of Scotland. That of Penguin, first given to the Aptenodytes of 
the south by the Dutch, indicates the oily nature of their fat. 168 
AVES. 
Apt. patagonica, Gm. (The Great Penguin.) Is the size of a Goose, 
slate-coloured above, white beneath; ablack mask surrounded with a lemon- 
coloured cravatte. Found in large troops near the straits of Magellan, and 
as far as New Guinea. The flesh, though black, is eatable. 
Catahrhactes, Briss. 
The Gorfus{ 1) have the bill stout, but little compressed, pointed, 
rounded on the back, and its point somewhat arcuated; the groove which 
arises from the nostril terminates obliquely on the inferior third of its edge. 
FAMILY II. 
LONGIPENNES. 
This family includes those birds of the high seas, which from their 
immense strength of wing are to be met with in every latitude. 
They are known by the freedom or nullity of the thumb, by their 
very long wings, and by their bill which is not notched but hooked 
at the point in the first genera, and simply pointed in the others. 
Procellaria, Lin. 
The Petrels have a bill hooked at the end, the extremity of which seems to 
consist of a distinct piece articulated with the remainder. Their nostrils are 
united and form a tube laid on the back of the upper mandible; there is a 
nail planted in the heel, but no thumb. Of all the Palmipedes, these re- 
main most constantly at a distance from land, and when a tempest super- 
venes, they are forced to seek shelter on reefs and ships, from which 
circumstance they derive their name of Storm Birds: that of Petrel—Little 
Peter—has been given to them on account of their habit of walking on the 
water, which they effect by the aid of their wings. They make their nests 
in holes of rocks, and eject on those who attack them an oily fluid with 
which their stomach seems to be always filled. The greater number inhabit 
the Antarctic Seas. 
Proc. gigantea, Gm. (The Giant Petrel) is only found in the South 
Seas. It is the largest of all the species, surpassing the Goose in size. Its 
plumage is blackish, though there are some varieties in which it is more or 
less white. 
Certain small species, with a somewhat shorter bill and rather longer legs 
(1) Gorfu, a corruption of goir fugel, the name of the Great Auk in the 
Feroe Islands. Catarrhactes is the Greek name of a very different bird, 
which could fly well, and precipitated itself from a height on its prey. It 
was most probably a species of Gull. PALMIPEDES. 
169 
and black plumage, the Thaiassidroma, Vigors, are particularly designated 
by sailors under the name of “ Mother Carey’s Chickens.” 
The most common, Proc. pelagica, Briss. is scarcely larger than a Lark; 
stands high; all brown except the rump which is white, and a white line on 
the end of the great wing-coverts. When it seeks shelter on a vessel, it 
may be considered as the forerunner of a hurricane. 
We separate, withBrisson, under the name of 
Or Puffins, those in which the end of the lower mandible is curved down- 
wards along with that of the upper one, and in which the nostrils, although 
tubular, do not open by one common orifice, but by two distinct holes, 
Their bill also is proportionally longer, 
Proc. puffinus, Gm. Cinereous above; whitish beneath; wings and tail 
blackish: the young is darker. Its size is that of a Crow, Very common in. 
almost every sea. 
Puffinus, 
The Albatross is the most massive of all aquatic birds. The large, strong 
and trenchant bill is marked with sutures, and is terminated by a stout hook, 
which seems to be articulated with it. The nostrils resemble short rolls 
laid on the sides of the beak; there is no thumb, not even the small nail that 
is observed in the Petrels. They inhabit the South seas, and feed on Mob 
lusca, &c. 
D. exulans, L., is the species best known to navigators, who, on account 
of its size, white plumage, and black wings, and because it is particularly 
common beyond the tropic of Capricorn, have called it The Cape Sheep, 
The English also style it the Man of War Bird, &c. It is the great ene- 
my of the Flying-fish. It constructs a high nest of earth, and lays a num- 
ber of eggs, which are considered good food. 
Diomedea, Lin.(l) 
Larus, Lin. 
The Gulls have a compressed, elongated, pointedbill, the superior mandible 
arcuated near the end, and the inferior forming a salient angle beneath. 
The nostrils, placed near its middle, are long, narrow, and bored quite 
through; their tail is full, their legs tolerably long, and their thumb short. 
They are cowardly and voracious birds, which swarm along the sea coasts, 
feeding on fish, the flesh of dead bodies, &c. They breed in the sand, or 
in clefts of rock, laying but few eggs. When they fly into the country, 
bad weather may be expected. 
(1) Diomedea, the ancient name of certain birds of the Island of Diomedes, 
near Tarentum, which were said to receive the Greeks favourably, and to 
attack the barbarians. As to the word Albatross, I find that the early Por- 
tuguese navigators called the Boobies and other oceanic birds Mcatros, or 
Mcairass. 170 
AYES. 
Lar. cyanorhynchus, Meyer. (The Common Gull.) When old, of a 
beautiful white, with a light ash coloured mantle; the primary quills of the 
wing partly black, with white spots at their tips, the feet and bill lead co- 
loured. Feeds on shell fish. 
Sterna, Lin. 
The Terns, or Sea-Swallows, derive this latter appellation from their excess- 
ively long and pointed wings and from their forked tail, which render their 
flight and carriage analogous to those of Swallows. Their bill is pointed, 
compressed, and straight, without curve or projection; the nostrils, placed 
near its base, are oblong and pierced quite through; the membranes which 
unite their toes are deeply emarginate, consequently they swim but seldom. 
They fly over the waves in every direction and with great rapidity, uttering 
loud cries, and skilfully raising from the surface of the water the Mollusca 
and small Fish on which they feed. They also penetrate to the lakes and 
rivers of the interior. There are several species. 
We may also distinguish from the other Terns, 
The Noddies, 
Whose tail is not forked, and is nearly as long as the wings. There is a 
slight projection under their bill, the first indication of that in the Mauves. 
But one species is known, 
St. stolida, L. (The Noddy), which is a blackish brown, top of the head 
whitish. Celebrated for the blundering manner in which it throws itself on 
vessels. 
The S/cimmers resemble the Terns in their small feet, long wings and forked 
tail, but are distinguished from all birds by their extraordinary bill, the up- 
per mandible of which is shorter than the other, both being flattened so as 
to form simple blades, which meet without clasping. Their only mode of 
feeding is by skimming their aliment from the surface of the water with the 
lower mandible, which they effect while on the wing. One species, 
Ehym. nigra, L. (The Black Skimmer), is white, with a black mantle 
and calotte; a white band on the wing; outside of the external quills of the 
tail white; bill and feet red; hardly as large as a Pigeon. From the vici- 
nity of the Antilles. 
Rhynchops, Lin. 
FAMILY III. 
TOTIPALMATJE. 
The birds of this family are remarkable for having the thumb 
united with the toes by one single membrane, a mode of organization 171 
PALMIPEDES. 
that renders their feet complete oars, notwithstanding which, they 
perch upon trees, being almost the only Palmipedes who do so. 
They all fly well and have short feet. Linnaeus separated them into 
three genera, the first of which it was necessary to subdivide. 
The Pelicans comprise all those in which the base of the bill is found to have 
some part destitute of feathers. Their nostrils are fissures, the apertures 
of which are scarcely perceptible. The skin of their throat is more or less 
extensible, and their tongue very small. Their thin gizzard, with their 
other stomachs, forms a large sac. 
The bill of the True Pelicans is very remarkable for its extreme length, 
its straight, very broad and horizontally flattened form, for the hook which 
terminates it, and for the lower mandible whose flexible branches sustain a 
naked membrane, susceptible of being dilated into a large sac. 
P. onocrotalus, L. (The Common Pelican.) As large as a Swan, en- 
tirely white, slightly tinged with flesh colour; the hook of the bill of a 
cherry-red; is more or less disseminated throughout the eastern continent, 
breeds in marshes, and feeds exclusively on living Fish. It is said to trans- 
port both food and water in its sac. 
Pelecanus, Lin. 
Phaeackocohax, Briss. 
The Carmorants[\) have an elongated and compressed beak, the end of 
the upper mandible hooked, and that of the lower one truncated; the tongue 
is very small, and the skin of the throat less dilatable; the nostrils resemble 
a small unpierced line, and. the nail of the middle toe is notched like a saw. 
Pel. carbo, L. (The Cormorant.) Black-brown, undulated with jet black 
on the back, and mixed with white near the end of the bill and front of the 
neck; circumference of the throat and the cheeks, white, in the male, which 
also has a tuft on the occiput. Its size is that of the Goose. It breeds in 
holes among the rocks or upon trees, and lays three or four eggs. 
Tachypetes, Vieill. 
The Frigate Birds differ from the Cormorants in their forked tail and short 
feet, the membranes of which are deeply emarginated; in an excessive length 
of wing, and in a bill both of whose mandibles are curved at the point. So 
powerful are their wings, that they fly to an immense distance from all land, 
principally between the tropics, darting upon the Flying Fish and striking 
the Boobies to make them disgorge their prey. 
One species only is well known, the Pelecanus aquilus, L., whose plumage 
(1) Cormorant from Cormoran, a corruption of Corbeau marin, on account 
of its black colour. It is in fact the Aquatic Crow of Aristotle. Phalacro- 
corax (Bald Craw) is the Greek name of this bird, indicated by Pliny, but 
is not employed by Aristotle. 172 
AVES. 
is black, the under part of the throat and neck more or less varied with white* 
and the bill red. Its wings, when expanded, are said to measure from ten 
to twelve feet. 
The Boobies[ 1) have a straight, slightly compressed, pointed bill, the 
point slightly arcuated; its edges are serrated, the teeth inclining backwards; 
the nostrils are prolonged by a line which extends to near the point. They 
are called Boobies on account of the excessive stupidity with which they 
permit themselves to be attacked by men and birds, the Frigate Birds par- 
ticularly, which, as already stated, force them to yield up the fish they have 
captured. The most common is 
Felecanus bassanus, L. (The Common Booby.) White; the primary 
quills of the wings and the feet black; the beak greenish; nearly as large 
as the Goose. It is called the Bassan Booby from a small island in the gulf 
of Edinburgh, where it is very abundant although it lays but a single egg. 
Sci-a, Briss. 
The Darters have the body and feet very similar to those of a Cormorant; a 
long neck and small head, with a straight, slender, pointed beak, whose 
edges are denticulated; the eyes and nudity of the face, as in the Pelicans; 
their habits also are similar, perching on trees. 
Several species or varieties are known from the hot climates of both con- 
tinents. They are not larger than the Duck, but they have a longer neck. 
Plotus, Lin.(2) 
Phaeton, Lin. 
The Tropic Birds are known by two very long and narrow feathers that flow 
-from their tail, which at a distance resemble so many straws. There is no 
naked part about the head. Their bill is straight, pointed, denticulated, and 
tolerably strong; their feet short and their wings long; their powers of flight 
are consequently great, and as they rarely quit the torrid zone, their pre- 
sence announces to the mariner his vicinity to the tropics. On land, where 
they seldom resort except to breed, they perch on trees. 
FAMILY IV. 
LAMELLIROSTRES. 
In this family we find a thick bill, invested with a soft skin rather 
than with true horn; its edges are furnished with laminae or little 
teeth; the tongue is broad and fleshy, the edges notched. The wings 
(1) Sula is the name of the common species at the Feroe Islands. 
(2) Plotus, orplautus, signifies* in Latin, flat-foot. 173 
PALMIPEDES. 
are of a moderate length. They pass more of their time on fresh 
waters than at sea. The great genus 
Anas, Lin. 
Comprises those Palmipedes, the edges of whose large and broad bill are 
furnished with a range of thin salient laminae, placed transversely, which 
appear destined to allow the water to pass off when the bird has seized its 
prey. They are divided into three subgenera, whose limits, however, are 
not very precise. 
Ctgnus, Meyer. 
The bill of the Swans is of an equal breadth throughout, higher at base 
than it is wide; the nostrils about the middle of its length; the neck is very 
long. They are the largest birds of the genus, and feed chiefly on the seeds 
and roots of aquatic plants. Their intestines and caeca in particular are con- 
sequently very long. There is no inflation of the trachea. Two species 
are found in Europe. 
Anasolor, Gm. (The Red-billed or Domestic Swan.) Beak red, edged 
with black, surmounted at base by a rounded protuberance; the plumage 
snow-white. When young, the beak is lead-coloured and the plumage grey. 
This is the species, when domesticated, that forms the ornament of our ponds 
and grounds. Its elegance of form, graceful movements and snow-white 
plumage have rendered it the emblem of innocence and beauty. It feeds 
both on fish and vegetables, flies extremely high and with great swiftness, 
using its wings, which are a powerful weapon, in striking its enemies when 
attacked. It breeds among the reeds in ponds, and lays six or eight eggs 
of a greenish-grey. 
An. cygnus, Gm. (The Black-billed Swan.) Bill black with a yellow 
base; the body white tinged with a yellowish grey—when young, all grey. 
An. plutonia, Sh. (The Black Swan) has been lately discovered in New 
Holland; it is the size of the common species, but its carriage is less grace- 
ful and elegant; it is all black, the primary quills excepted, which are white, 
and the bill with the naked skin on its base, which is red. 
Anser, Briss. 
Geese have a moderate or short bill, narrower before than behind, and 
higher than wide at base; their legs, being longer than those of the Ducks, 
and placed nearer the centre of the body, increase their facility in walking. 
Several of them feed on seeds and plants. There is no inflation at the root 
of the trachea, nor is there any curve in that organ in any of the species 
known. 
Have a bill as long as their head; the ends of the lamella extend to its 
edges, appearing like pointed teeth. 
Geese, properly so called, 174 
AVES. 
An. anser, L. (The Common Goose), which has acquired all sorts of colours 
in our poultry-yards, originates from a wild species that is grey, with a 
brown mantle undulated with grey and an orange-coloured beak, the Arts, 
cinereus, Meyer. 
An. hyperborea, Gm. (The Snow-Goose.) White; feet and bill red; tips 
of the wing-quills black. It sometimes wanders into the temperate parts of 
Europe during the prevalence of heavy gales in winter. The young bird 
is more or less grey. 
Bernacees 
Are distinguished from the Common Geese by a shorter and slenderer 
bill, the edges of which conceal the extremities of the laminae. 
An. bernicla, Gm. (The Brant.) The head, neck, and quills of the wings 
are black, the mantle a brown-grey; a spot on each side of the upper part 
of the neck, and the under part of the tail, white; the bill black and feet 
brown. 
An. segyptiaca, Gm. (The Egyptian Goose), remarkable for the lustre of 
its colours and the small spur attached to its wings, also belongs to this sub- 
genus; it is sometimes domesticated, but always retains a propensity to re- 
turn to its wild state. It is the Chenalopex or Fox-Goose, held in veneration 
among the ancient Eyptians on account of its attachment to its young. 
Anas, Meyer. 
Ducks, properly so called, have the bill broader at base than it is high, 
and wider at the end than towards the head; the nostrils nearer to its back 
and base. Their legs being shorter than those of Geese, and placed farther 
back, renders walking more difficult to them than to the latter. 
The species of the first division, or those whose thumb is bordered with 
a membrane, have a larger head, a shorter neck, the feet placed farther 
back, smaller wings, a stiffer tail, more compressed tarsi, longer toes, and 
the membrane of the feet more entire. They walk with more difficulty, 
feed more exclusively on fish and insects, and dive more frequently. 
Ducks are now distributed into various subgenera: such as Oidemia (the 
Scoter, Velvet Duck, Black Duck); Clangula (Long tailed Duck); Soma- 
teria (Eider Duck); Fuligula (Red-head, Pochard Duck, Tufted Duck); 
Rhynchaspis, (The Shoveller); and Tadorna (The Shieldrake, Muscovy 
Duck), originally from South America where it perches on trees, and the 
An. boschas, L. (or Mallard), the stock of our common tame Duck, Teal, &c. 
Mergus, Lin. 
The genus of the Mergansers comprehends those species in which the bill, 
thinner and more cylindrical than that of the Ducks, is armed along its 
edges with small pointed teeth resembling those of a saw and directed 
backwards; the tip of the upper mandible is hooked. Their carriage and 
even plumage are those of Ducks, properly so called; but their gizzard is 
less muscular. The inflation of the lower larynx in the males is enormous, 175 
PALMIPEDES. 
and partly membranous. They live on lakes and ponds, where they are 
very destructive to fish. 
Merg. merganser, L. (The Goosander), is the size of a Duck, and has 
red feet and a bill of the same hue. The head of the old male is of a deep 
green, the feathers on its summit forming a sort of toupee; the mantle is 
black, with a white spot over the wing; underneath and the neck white 
slightly tinged with rose-colour. 
CLASS III. 
REPTILIA. 
The disposition of the heart in Reptiles is such, that at each con- 
traction, a portion only of the blood it has received from the differ- 
ent parts of the body is transmitted to the lungs, the remainder 
returning to those parts without having passed through the pulmo- 
nary organs, and without having respired. 
The result of this is, that the action of oxygen upon the blood is 
less than in the Mammalia, and that if the quantity of respiration in 
the latter, in which all the blood is compelled to pass through the 
lungs before it returns to the rest of the body, be expressed by a 
unit, that of Reptiles will be expressed by a fraction of a unit, so 
much the smaller, as the quantity of blood transmitted to the heart 
at each contraction is less. 
As it is from respiration that the blood derives its heat and the 
fibre its susceptibility of nervous irritation, the blood of reptiles is 
cold, and the muscular energy less than that of Quadrupeds, and 
much less than that of Birds; thus we find their movements usually 
confined to crawling and swimming; for, though at certain times 
several of them jump and run with considerable activity, their habits 
are generally lazy, their digestion excessively slow, and their sensa- 
tions obtuse. In cold or temperate climates almost all of them pass 
the winter in a state of torpor. Their brain, which is proportionally 
very small, is not so essentially requisite to the exercise of their ani- 
mal and vital faculties, as to the members of the two first classes; 
their sensations seem to be less referred to a common centre, for 176 
REPTILIA. 
they continue to live and to exhibit voluntary motions, long after 
losing their brain, and even after the loss of their head. A commu- 
nication with the nervous system is also much less necessary to the 
contraction of their fibres, and their muscles preserve their irrita- 
bility after being severed from the body much longer than those of 
the preceding classes; their heart continues to pulsate for hours 
after it has been torn away, nor does its loss prevent the body from 
moving for a long time. 
The smallness of the pulmonary vessels permits Reptiles to suspend 
the process of respiration without arresting the course of the blood; 
thus they dive with more facility, and remain longer under water 
than either the Mammalia or Birds. 
No Reptile hatches its eggs. The young Batrachians, on quitting 
the egg, have the form and branchiae of Fishes, and some of the 
genera preserve these organs, even after the development of their 
lungs. 
The quantity of respiration in Reptiles is not fixed like that of 
the Mammalia and Birds, but varies with the proportion of the 
diameter of the pulmonary artery compared to that of the aorta. 
Thus Tortoises and Lizards respire more than Frogs, &c.; and 
hence a much greater difference of sensibility and energy than can 
exist between one of the Mammalia and another, or between Birds. 
The comparison, however, of their quantity of respiration and of 
their organs of motion, has enabled M. Brogniart to divide them 
into four orders, viz. 
The Chelonia, or Tortoises., whose heart has two auricles, and 
whose body, supported by four feet, is enveloped by two plates or 
bucklers formed by the ribs and sternum. 
The Sauria, or Lizards, whose heart has two auricles, and whose 
body, supported by four or two feet, is covered with scales. 
The Ophidia, or Serpents, whose heart has two auricles, and 
whose body always remains deprived of feet. 
The Batrachia, whose heart has but one auricle, and whose body 
is naked, most of which pass, with age, from the form of a Fish re- 
spiring by branchiae, to that of a Quadruped breathing by lungs. 
Some of them, however, always retain their branchiae, and a few 
have never more than two feet. REPTILIA. 
177 
ORDER I. 
CHELONIA. 
The Chelonia, better known by the name of Tortoises, have a 
heart composed of two auricles, and of a ventricle divided in two 
unequal cavities, which communicate with each other. 
These animals are distinguished at the first glance by the double 
shield in which the body is enveloped and which allows no part to 
project except their head, neck, tail, and four feet. The shell (or 
upper shield) is formed by the ribs, of which there are eight pair, 
widened and reunited by denticulated sutures, and with plates ad- 
hering to the annular portion of the dorsal vertebra, so that all these 
parts are rendered fixed and immovable. The inferior shell is 
formed of pieces, usually nine in number, analogous to a sternum. 
A frame composed of bony pieces, which have been considered as 
possessing some analogy with the sternal or cartilaginous portion of 
the ribs, and which in one subgenus always remains in a cartilagi- 
nous state, surrounds the shell, uniting and binding together all the 
ribs which compose it. The vertebrae of the neck and tail are con- 
sequently the only ones which are movable. 
The lungs have considerable extent, and are situated in the same 
cavity with the other viscera. The thorax, in most of them, being 
immovable, it is by the play of its mouth that the Tortoise respires, 
which it effects by keeping the jaws closed, and alternately raising 
and depressing the os hyoides. The former of these motions per- 
mits air to enter through the nostrils, the tongue then closes the in- 
ternal orifice of those apertures, when the latter forces the air into 
the lungs. 
Tortoises have no teeth; their jaws are invested with horn like 
those of Birds; the Chelydes excepted, where they are covered with 
skin only. 
They possess great tenacity of life, and instances are on record 
in which they have been seen to move for several weeks after losing 
their head. They require but little nourishment, and can pass whole 
months and even years without eating. 
The Chelonia were all united in the genus 178 
REPTILIA. 
They have since been divided into five subgenera, chiefly from the forms 
and teguments of their shell, and of their feet. 
Testudo, Lin. 
Testudo, Brog. 
The Land Tortoises have the shell arched and supported by a solid, bony 
frame, most of its lateral edges being soldered to the sternum; the legs, as 
if truncated, with very short toes, which are closely joined as far as the 
nails, all susceptible of being withdrawn between the bucklers; there are 
five nails to the fore-feet, the hind ones have four, all stout and conical. 
Several species live on vegetable food. 
Emys, Brongn. 
The Fresh-water Tortoises have no other constant characters by which 
they can be distinguished from the preceding ones, than the greater sepa- 
ration of the toes, which are terminated by longer nails, and the intervals 
occupied by membranes; even in this respect there are shades of difference. 
They likewise have five nails before and four behind. The form of their 
feet renders their habits more aquatic. Most of them feed on Insects, small 
Fishes, &c. Their envelope is generally more flattened than that of the 
land Tortoises. 
Among the fresh-water Tortoises we should remark The Box-Tobtoises, 
the sternum of which is divided by a movable articulation into two lids, 
which, when the head and limbs are withdrawn, completely encase the ani- 
mal in its shell. 
The envelope of the Sea Tortoises is too small to receive their head, and 
particularly their feet, which are very long (the anterior ones most so), and 
flattened into fins. The toes are all closely united in the same membrane, 
the two first ones of each foot being alone furnished with pointed nails, one 
or other of which at a certain age is usually lost. The pieces of their ster- 
num do not form a continuous plate, but are variously notched, leaving 
considerable intervals which are filled with cartilage only. The ribs are 
narrowed and separated from each other at their external extremities; the 
circumference of the shell, however, is surrounded with a circle of pieces 
corresponding to the ribs of the sternum. 
Test, my das, L. (The Green Tortoise) is distinguished by its greenish 
plates, thirteen in number, which are not arranged like tiles; those of the 
middle range are almost regular hexagons. It is found from six to seven 
feet long, and weighing from seven to eight hundred pounds. Its flesh is 
highly esteemed, and furnishes a wholesome and palatable supply of food 
to the mariner in every latitude of the torrid zone. It feeds in large troops 
on the sea-weed at the bottom of the ocean, and approaches the mouths of 
rivers to respire. The eggs it deposits in the sand to receive the vivifying 
influence of the sun, are excellent food; its shell is of no value. 
Chelonia, Brongn. 179 
Merrem has recently distinguished, by the name of Sphahgis, those Che- 
lonise whose shell is destitute of plates, and merely covered with a sort of 
leather. Such is 
Test, coriacea, L. A very large species of the Mediterranean. Its shell 
is oval and pointed behind, exhibiting three projecting longitudinal ridges. 
CHELONIA. 
The Chelydes resemble fresh water Tortoises in their feet and nails; and 
their most dominant character consists in their mouth, which opens cross- 
wise, being unarmed with the horny beak common to the other Cheloniac, 
and similar to that of certain Batrachians, the Pipa in particular. 
Test, fimbria, Gm. The shell studded with pyramidal elevations, and the 
body edged all round with a pinked fringe. It is found in Guiana. 
Cheiys, Dum. 
Trionyx, Geoff. 
The Soft-shelled Tortoises have no scales, the shell and sternum being 
simply enveloped by a soft skin; neither of those shells is completely sup- 
ported by bones, as the ribs do not extend to the edge of the upper one, 
and are united with each other only for a portion of their length, the parts 
analogous to the sternal ribs being simple cartilage, and the sternal pieces 
partially notched as in the sea-tortoises, not covering the whole lower sur- 
face. The horn of their beak is invested externally with fleshy lips, and 
their nose is prolonged into a little snout. Their tail is very short. They 
live in fresh water, and the flexible edges of their shell aid them in 
swimming. 
Test, ferox, Gm. (The Soft-shelled Tortoise of America) inhabits the 
rivers of Carolina, Georgia, the Floridas, and of Guiana. It remains in am- 
bush under roots of reeds, &c. whence it seizes birds, reptiles, &.C., devours 
the young Alligators, and is devoured in turn by the old ones. Its flesh is 
highly esteemed. 
ORDER II. 
SAURIA.(l) 
The Saurians have a heart like that of the Chelonia, composed of 
two auricles and a ventricle, sometimes divided by imperfect par- 
titions. 
Their ribs are movable, partly connected with the sternum, and 
rise and fall in respiration. 
(1) From trtLvpo; Lizard, animals analogous to Lizards. 180 
REPTILIA. 
Their lung extends more or less towards the posterior extremity 
of the body; it frequently penetrates very far into the lower part of 
the abdomen, whose transverse muscles pass under the ribs, and 
even towards the neck, to clasp it. Those in which this organ is 
very large, possess the singular faculty of changing the colours of 
their skin according to the excitement produced in them by their 
wants or passions. 
Their eggs are enveloped by a covering more or less hard, and 
the young always retain the form in which they quit them. 
Their mouth is always armed with teeth, and their toes, with very 
few exceptions, are furnished with nails; their skin is covered with 
scales, more or less compact, or at least with scaly granules. They 
all have a tail more or less long, and generally very thick at base; 
most of them have four legs, a few only having but two. 
FAMILY I. 
CROCODILIDA. 
This family contains the single genus 
Crocodilus, Br. 
Crocodiles are large animals, with a tail flattened on the sides, five toes be- 
fore and four behind, of which only the three internal ones on each foot are 
armed with nails, all more or less united by membranes; a single range of 
pointed teeth in each jaw; the tongue fleshy, flat, and adhering close to its 
edges; a circumstance which induced the ancients to believe that they had 
none; the back and tail covered with very stout, large, square scales or 
plates, relieved by a ridge along their middle; a deeply notched crest on 
the tail, which is double at its base. The plates on the belly are smooth, 
thin, and square. Their nostrils, which open on the end of the muzzle by 
two small crescent-shaped fissures closed by valves, communicate with the 
extremity of the hind part of the mouth, by a narrow canal which traverses 
the palatine and sphenoidal bones. 
The lower jaw being continued behind the cranium, the upper one ap- 
pears to be movable, and has been so described by the ancients; it only 
moves, however, with the entire head. 
They have the power of closing the external ear by means of two fleshy 
lips, and there are three lids to their eyes. 
The vertebra: of the neck rest on each other through the medium of small 
false ribs, which renders all lateral motion difficult, and does not allow these SAURIA. 
181 
animals to deviate suddenly from their course; consequently it is easy to 
escape from them by pursuing a zig-zag direction, or by running round them. 
Their eggs are as large and hard as those of a Goose; the females keep 
careful watch over them, and tenderly protect their young for some months. 
They inhabit fresh water, are extremely ferocious and carnivorous, cannot 
swallow under water, but drown their prey, and place it in some submerged 
crevice of a rock, where they allow it to putrefy before they eat it. 
The species, which are more numerous than they were thought to be 
previous to my observations, are referable to three distinct subgenera, viz. 
Gavials, true Chocodii.es, and Alligators. To the latter belongs 
Croc. Indus, Cuv. It inhabits the southern parts of North America, for- 
ces itself into the mud in severe winters, and remains torpid. The female 
deposits her eggs in alternate layers with beds of earth. 
FAMILY II. 
LACERTINIDA.(l) 
This family is distinguished by the tongne, which is thin, extensi- 
ble, and terminates in two threads, like that of the Coluber and 
Viper; the body is elongated; the gait rapid; each foot has five toes 
separate and unequal, the hind ones particularly so, all armed with 
nails; the scales on the belly and round the tail are arranged in 
transverse and parallel bands; the tympanum is level with the head, 
or but slightly sunk and membranous. A production of the skin 
with a longitudinal slit which is closed by a sphincter, protects the 
eye, under whose anterior angle is the vestige of a third eye-lid; the 
false ribs do not form a complete circle. 
The species being very numerous and various, we subdivide them 
into two great genera. 
Monitor. 
This genus contains species of the largest size; they have two teeth in both 
jaws, but none in the palate; the greater number are recognized by their 
laterally compressed tail, which renders them more aquatic. The vicinity 
of water sometimes brings them in the neighbourhood of Crocodiles and 
Alligators, and it is said that by whistling they give notice of the approach 
of these dangerous animals. This report is most probably the origin of the 
term Sauvegarde or Monitor applied to some of their species, but the fact is 
very uncertain. 
Lac. nilotica, L. Strong conical teeth, the posterior of which become 
(1) Lacerta, a Lizard. 182 
REPTILI A. 
rounded by age; brown, with pale and deeper coloured dots, forming vari 
ous compartments, among which we observe transverse rows of large ocel- 
lated spots that become rings on the tail. It attains a length of five and six 
feet. The Egyptians pretend it is a young Crocodile hatched in a dry 
place. It was engraved upon the monuments of that country by its ancient 
inhabitants, and possibly, because it devours the eggs of the Crocodile. 
Lacerta, properly so called, 
Or true Lizards, form the second genus of the Lacertians. The extremity 
of their palate is armed with two rows of teeth, and they are otherwise 
distinguished by a collar, under the neck, formed of a transverse row of large 
scales, separated from those on the belly by a space covered with small ones 
only, like those under the throat; and by the circumstance that a part of the 
cranium projects over their temples and orbits, so as to furnish the whole 
top of the head with a bony buckler. 
They are very numerous. 
FAMILY III. 
IGUANIDA. 
This third great family of Saurians possesses the general form, 
long tail, and free and unequal toes of the Lacertians; their eye, 
ear, &c. are also similar, but their tongue is fleshy, thick, non-ex- 
tensible, and only emarginated at the tip. 
They maybe divided into two sections; in the first, or that of the 
Agamians, there are no palatine teeth. In this section we place 
the following genera. 
Stellio, Cuv 
In addition to the general characters of the family of the Iguanida, the tail 
is encircled by rings composed of large and frequently spiny scales. It is 
divided by naturalists into various subgenera. 
Agama, Daud. 
The A gams bear a great resemblance to the common Stellios, particularly 
in their inflated head; but the scales of their tail, which are imbricate and 
not verticillate, distinguish them from that genus. Their maxillary teeth 
are nearly similar, and there are none in the palate. This genus is also di- 
vided into various subgenera. 
IsTIURUS, CUV. 
The distinguishing character of this genus consists in an elevated and tren- SAURIA. 
183 
chant crest, which extends along a part of the tail, and which is supported 
by high spinous apophyses of the vertebrae; tins crest is scaly like the rest 
of the body; the scales on the belly and tail are small, and approach some- 
what to a square form; the teeth are strong, compressed, and without den- 
ticulations: there are none in the palate: there is a series of femoral pores. 
The skin of the throat is smooth and lax, but without forming a dewlap. 
Draco, L.(l) 
The Dragons are distinguished at the first glance, from all other Saurians, 
by their first six false ribs, which, instead of encircling the abdomen, extend 
outwards in a straight line, and support a production of the skin, forming 
a kind of wing that may be compared to that of a Bat, but which is not 
connected with the four feet; it acts like a parachute in supporting them, 
. when they leap from one branch to another, but has not sufficient power 
to enable them to rise like a Bird. They are small animals, completely in- 
vested with little imbricated scales, of which those on the tail and limbs are 
carinated. Their tongue is fleshy, but slightly extensible, and somewhat 
emarginate. A long pointed dewlap hangs under their throat. 
All the known species are from the East Indies. 
It is perhaps to this tribe of Agamians that we should approxi- 
mate a very extraordinary reptile which is only to be found among 
the fossils of the old Jura limestone formation. 
It had a short tail, an extremely long neck, and a very large head; the 
jaws armed with equal and pointed teeth; but its chief character consisted 
in the excessive elongation of the second toe of the fore-foot, which was 
more than double the length of the trunk, and most probably served to 
support some membrane which enabled the animal to fly, like that upheld 
by the ribs of the Dragon. 
Ptehodactvlus, Cuv. 
The second section of the Iguanian family, that of the Iguanians 
proper, is distinguished from the first by having teeth in the palate. 
Iguana, Cuv. 
In Iguana, properly so called, the body and tail are covered with small im- 
bricated scales; along the entire length of the back is a range of spines, or 
(1) The term J'psucuv, draco, generally designated a large Serpent; Dragons, 
with a crest or beard, are spoken of by ancient writers, a description which 
can only apply to the IguanaLucian is the first who mentions Flying 
Dragons, alluding, no doubt, to the pretended Flying Serpents treated of 
by Herodotus. St Augustine, and other subsequent authors, ever after de- 
scribed Dragons as having wings. 184 
REPTILIA. 
rather of recurved, compressed, and pointed scales; beneath the throat a 
pendent, compressed dewlap, the edge of which is supported by a cartila- 
ginous process of the hyoid bone; a series of porous tubercles on their thighs 
as in the true Lizards; the head covered with plates. Each jaw is surround- 
ed with a row of compressed, triangular teeth, whose cutting edge is den- 
ticulate; two small rows of the same on the posterior edge of the palate. 
Ig. tuberculata, Laur. (The Common American Iguana.) Yellowish 
green above, marbled with pure green; the tail annulated with brown, &c.; 
from four to five feet in length, and common in South America where its flesh 
is esteemed delicious, although unwholesome. It lives mostly on trees, 
occasionally visits the water and feeds on fruit, grain, and leaves; the female 
lays her eggs in the sand, they are the size of those of a Pigeon, agreeable 
to the taste and almost without wliite. 
The remaining genera are Ophyressa, Basiliscus, Polychrus, Echphimotus, 
Opiums, and Anolius, the last of which is remarkable for the skin of the 
toes, which is spread out into a disk, that enables them to cling to various 
surfaces. 
It is to this family of the Iguana) with palatine teeth, that belongs 
an enormous fossil reptile known by the name of the Maestricht 
Animal, and for which the new name of Mosasaurus has recently 
been coined. 
FAMILY IV. 
GECKOTIDA. 
This family is composed of nocturnal Lizards which are so similar 
that they may be left in one genus. 
The Geckos are Saurians which do not possess the elongated graceful form 
of those of which we have hitherto spoken, but on the contrary are flattened, 
the head particularly. Their feet are moderate, and the toes almost equal; 
their gait is a heavy kind of crawling; very large eyes, whose pupil becomes 
narrowed at the approach of light like that of a Cat, render diem nocturnal 
animals, which secrete themselves during the day in dark places. Their 
very short eye-lids are completely withdrawn between the eye and the orbit, 
which gives them a different aspect from other Saurians. Their tongue is 
fleshy and non-extensible; their tympanum somewhat sunk; their jaws every 
Gecko, Daud.(l)—Askalarotes, Cuv. 
(1) Gecko, a name given to a species in India, in imitation of its ciy, just 
as another one is termed Tockaie at Siam, and a third Geitje at the Cape} 
cltkclmCuIik, the Greek name of the Geckotte, Lacep. SAURIA 
185 
where furnished with a range of very small closely-jointed teeth; their palate 
without teeth; their skin is studded above with very small granular scales, 
among which are often found larger tubercles, and beneath, covered with 
scales somewhat smaller, which are flat and imbricated. 
This genus is numerous and disseminated throughout the warm portions 
of both continents. The melancholy and heavy air of the Gecko superadd- 
ed to a certain resemblance it bears to the Salamander and the Toad, have 
rendered it the object of hatred, and caused it to be considered as veno- 
mous, but of this there is no real proof. 
The toes of most of them are widened along the whole or part of their 
length, and furnished beneath with regular plaits of skin, which enable them 
to adhere so closely, that they are sometimes seen crawling along ceilings. 
They are now divided into the Platidadyli, Hemidactyli, Thecadadyli, 
&c. &c., according to the different arrangement of the toes. 
We are compelled to establish 
FAMILY V, 
CHAMiELEONIDA, 
For the single genus, 
Or the Chameleons, which is very distinct from all other Saurian genera; 
and is not even easily intercalated in their series. 
Their skin is roughened by scaly granules, their body compressed, and the 
back—if we may so express it—trenchant; tail round and prehensile; five 
toes to each foot, but divided into two bundles, one containing two, the 
other three, each bundle being united by the skin down to the nails; the 
tongue fleshy, cylindrical, and susceptible of great extension; teeth trilobate; 
eyes large, but nearly covered by the skin, except a small hole opposite 
to the pupil, and possessing the faculty of moving independently of each 
other; no visible external ear, and the occiput pyramidically elevated. Their 
first ribs are joined to the sternum; the following ones are extended each 
to its fellow on the opposite side, so as to enclose the abdomen by an entire 
circle. Their lungs are so enormous, that when inflated, their body seems 
to be transparent, a circumstance which induced the ancients to believe that 
they fed on air. They live on insects which they capture with the viscid ex- 
Cham,eleo,(1) 
(1) Xct/uttiKscov (Little Lion), the Grecian name of this animal. Aristotle, 
who uses it, has also given an excellent description of it. Hist. An. Lib. 
II, cap. ix. 186 
tremity of their tongue, the only part of their body which seems to be endow- 
ed with quickness of motion, as in every thing else they are remarkable for 
their excessive slowness. The great extent of their lungs is probably the 
cause of their faculty of changing colour, which takes place, not as is 
thought in conformity with the hue of the bodies on which they rest, but 
according to their wants and passions. Their lungs, in fact, render them 
more or less transparent, compel the blood in a greater or less degree to 
return to the skin, and even colour that fluid more or less vividly in propor- 
tion to the quantity of air they contain. They always remain on trees. 
Lac. africana, Gm. (The Common Chameleon.) The hood pointed and 
relieved by a ridge in front; the granules on the skin equal and close; the 
superior crest indented as far as half the length of the back, the inferior to 
the anus. The hood of the female does not project so much and the 
denticulations of her crests are smaller. From Egypt, Barbary, and even 
the south of Spain, and India. 
REPTILIA. 
FAMILY VI. 
SCINCOIDEA. 
The Scincoideans are known by their short feet, non-extensible 
tongue, and the equal scales which cover the body and tail, like tiles. 
Four short feet; the body and tail almost one continued and uniform piece; 
no enlargement of the occiput; without crest or dewlap, and covered with 
uniform, shining scales, arranged like tiles, or those of a Carp. Some of 
them are fusiform; others, more or less elongated, resemble Serpents, the 
Anguis particularly, to which they are related by several internal affinities, 
and which they connect with the family of the Iguanida, by an uninterrupted 
suite of transitions. Their tongue is fleshy, but slightly extensible and 
emarginate; the jaws every where furnished with small, closely set teeth. 
In the eye, ear, &c., they bear a greater or less resemblance to the Iguanse 
and Lizards; the feet are furnished with free andunguiculated toes. 
Scincus, Daud. 
Seps, Daud. 
Seps only differs from Scincus in the more elongated body, which is exactly 
similar to that of an Anguis, and in the still smaller feet, the two pairs of 
which are further apart. Their lungs begin to exhibit some inequality. 
Bipes, Lacep. 
A small genus, only differing from Seps in the entire absence of fore feet, 
having the scapulae and clavicles concealed beneath the skin, the hind feet 
alone being visible. There is but a step from it to Angitis. 187 
Ciialcides, Dautl. 
SAUR1A. 
Elongated Lizards resembling Serpents; but the scales, instead of being 
arranged like tiles, are rectangular, forming transverse bands, which do not 
encroach on each other like those on the tails of ordinary Lizards. 
Chirotks, Cuv. 
Similar to Chalcides in their verticillate scales, and still more so to the Am- 
phisbsense in the obtuse form of their head; but distinguished from the former 
by the absence of hind feet, and from the latter by the presence of the an- 
terior feet. One species only is known, which is found in Mexico. 
ORDER III. 
OPHIDIA.(l) 
Serpents are reptiles without feet, and consequently those which 
best merit that appellation. Their extremely elongated body moves 
by means of the folds it forms when in contact with the ground. 
They are divided into three families. 
FAMILY I. 
ANGUINA.(2) 
The Angues still have an osseous head, teeth, and tongue, similar 
to those of a Seps; their eye is furnished with three lids, &c., and, 
in fact, if we may so express it, they are Seps without feet; they are 
all comprised in the genus 
Anguis, Lin. 
Characterized externally by imbricated scales, with which they are com- 
pletely enveloped. They have been separated into four subgenera; in the 
three first we still find beneath the skin the bones of the shoulder and pelvis. 
This genus is now subdivided into Pseudopus, Ophisaurus, Anguis proper, 
and Acontias. 
(1) O<pif, a Serpent. (2) Anguis, the Latin generic term for Serpents. 188 
REPT1L1A. 
FAMILY II. 
SERPENTIA. 
The true Serpents, which are by far the most numerous, comprise 
the genera without a sternum, and in which there is no vestige of a 
shoulder, but where the ribs still surround a great part of the circum- 
ference of the trunk, and where the body of each vertebra is still 
articulated by a convex surface to a cavity in the succeeding one. 
The third eye-lid and the tympanum are deficient; but the malleus of 
the ear exists under the skin, and its handle passes behind the 
tympanum. There is still a vestige of a posterior limb, concealed 
under the skin, in several of this family, and which in some of them 
shows its extremity externally in the form of a small hook. 
We subdivide them into two tribes. 
That of the Ami>hisbjEN,e, as in the preceding reptiles, still has 
the lower jaw supported by a tympanal bone directly articulated with 
the cranium, the two branches of this jaw soldered together in front, 
and those of the upper one fixed to the cranium and to the inter- 
maxillary bone, circumstances which prevent that dilatation of the 
mouth which obtains in the succeeding tribe, and which occasions 
a uniformity of the head and body, a form which enables them to 
move backwards or forwards with equal facility. The bony frame 
of the orbit is incomplete behind, and the eye very small; the body 
is covered with scales, the trachea long, and the heart very far back. 
They are not venomous. 
They form two genera, one of which is allied to Chalcides and 
Chirotes, and the other to Anguis and Acontias. 
L.(l) 
The whole body surrounded with circular ranges of quadrangular scales, 
like the Chalcides and the Chirotes among the Saurians; a few conical teeth 
in the jaws, but none in the palate. There is but one lung. 
Two species have long been known, Amph. alba, Lacep., and Amph. fuli- 
ginosa, L., both from South America. They feed on Insects, and are often 
found in Ant-hills, which has occasioned a belief among the people that the 
large Ants are their purveyors. They are oviparous. 
(1) From and Ca.huv, walking both ways. The ancients attributed 
two heads to it. OPH1DIA. 
189 
The body covered with small imbricated scales like Anguis, with which 
they were long classed; the projecting muzzle furnished with plates; tongue 
long and forked; the eye resembling a point hardly visible through the skin; 
one of the lungs four times larger than the other. They are small Serpents, 
at the first glance resembling earth-worms; they are found in the hot por- 
tions of both continents. 
Typhlops, Sclin.(l) 
In the second tribe, that of the Serpentes, or Serpents properly 
so called, the tympanal bone or pedicle of the lower jaw is movable, 
and is itself always suspended to another bone, analogous to the 
mastoid process, attached to the cranium by muscles and ligaments, 
which allow it some motion. The branches of this jaw are not so 
closely united with each other, and those of the upper one are merely 
connected with the intermaxillary bone by ligaments, so that they 
can separate to a greater or less extent, which enables these animals 
so to dilate their mouths as to swallow bodies larger than themselves. 
Their palatine arches participate in this facility of motion, and 
are armed with sharp pointed teeth which curve backwards, the 
most predominant and constant character of the tribe. Their tra- 
chea is very long, their heart very far back, and most of them have 
but one large lung with a vestige of another. 
Serpents are divided into venomous and non-venomous; and the 
former are subdivided into such as are venomous with several max- 
illary teeth, and those which are venomous with insulated fangs. 
In such as are not venomous, the branches of the upper jaw as 
well as those of the lower one, and the palatine arches, are every 
where furnished with fixed and solid teeth; there are then four equal 
rows of these teeth in the upper part of the mouth, and two below. 
Tortrix, Oppel. 
Distinguished from Anguina, even externally, inasmuch as the scales which 
form the range along the belly and under part of the tail are a little larger 
than the others, and the tail itself is extremely short. They have but one 
lung. 
In those non-venomous Serpents, on the contrary, where the 
mastoid bones are detached, and the jaws are susceptible of great 
(1) Tt/<pxa>4, tuqkivh, blind, were the names of the Anguis (slow-worm) 
among the Greeks. 190 
REPTILIA. 
dilatation, the occiput is more or less enlarged, and the tongue 
forked and very extensible. 
They have long been divided into two principal genera, Boa and 
Coluber, distinguished by the simple or double plates on the under 
part of the tail. The genus 
Boa, Lin.(l) 
Formerly comprized all those Serpents, venomous or not, the under part 
of whose body and tail is furnished with uninterrupted, transverse scaly 
bands, and which have neither spur nor rattle at the end of the tail. As 
they are rather numerous, even after deducting the venomous species, the 
others have been again subdivided. 
The Boa, properly so called, has a compressed body, thickest in the 
middle, a prehensile tail, and small scales on the head, at least on its poste- 
rior portion. It is in this genus that are found the largest Serpents on the 
globe; certain species attain a length of thirty or forty feet, preying on 
Dogs, Deer, and even Oxen, which they manage to swallow entire, after 
having crushed them in their folds and covered them with saliva. This 
operation requires much time and an enormous dilatation of their jaws and 
throat. Their small lung is but half the length of the other. 
Boa constrictor, L. Known by a broad chain, which extends along the 
back, formed alternately by large, blackish, irregularly hexagonal spots, 
and by pale oval ones, the two ends of which are emarginate. 
The celebrated Anaconda is a true Boa. 
Coluber, Lin. 
This genus comprised all those Serpents, venomous or not, whose sub-cau- 
dal plates are divided in two, that is, which are arranged by pairs. 
Independently of the subtraction of the venomous species, their number 
is so enormously great, that naturalists have had recourse to all sorts of 
characters to subdivide them. 
In the subgenus Python we find the Col. javanicus, Sh., which has been 
found thirty feet in length. Sunda Islands. 
Serpents which are venomous par excellence, or those with iso- 
lated fangs, have their organs of manducation constructed on a very 
peculiar plan. 
Their superior maxillary bones are very small, attached to a long 
(1) Boa, the name of certain Italian Serpents of great size, most pro- 
bably the four striped Coluber, or “ Serpent of Epidaurus” of the Latins. 
Pliny says they were thus named, because they sucked the teats of Cows. 
The Boa, 120 feet long, which it is pretended was killed in Africa by the 
army of Regulus, was probably a Python. See Pliny, lib. VIII, cap. xiv. OPH1DIA. 
191 
pedicle, analogous to the external pterygoid apophysis of the sphenoid 
bone, and are very movable; in them is fixed a sharp pointed per- 
vious tooth, through which flows a liquor secreted by a large gland, 
situated under the eye. It is this liquor which, poured into the 
wound made by the tooth, produces effects, more or less violent, 
according to the species of the reptile in which it is secreted. This 
tooth, when the animal does not wish to use it, is concealed in a 
fold of the gum, and behind it are several germs destined to replace 
it, in the event of its being broken in a wound. These venomous 
teeth have been termed by naturalists movable fangs, but in fact it is 
the maxillary bone which moves; there are no other teeth in it, so 
that in this kind of dangerous serpents only the two rows of palatine 
teeth are to be seen in the upper part of the mouth. 
All these venomous species, whose mode of production is well 
known, bring forth living young ones, as their eggs are hatched 
without being laid, from which circumstance is derived their com- 
mon name of Vipers, a contraction of viviparous. 
Venomous serpents with isolated fangs have external characters 
very similar to those of the preceding ones, but in the greater num- 
ber the jaws are very dilatable, and the tongue very extensible. The 
posterior portion of their head being broad, generally gives them a 
ferocious aspect, which is a partial indication of their disposition. 
They form two great genera, Crotalus and Vifera, the second of 
which has been variously subdivided, and some smaller ones which 
group around them. 
Crotalus, Lin. 
Rattlesnakes are pre-eminently conspicuous for the intensity of their venom. 
As in Boa, there are transverse simple plates under the body and tail; but 
their most distinguishing character is the rattle which terminates the tail. It 
is formed by several scaly cornets loosely fitted into each other, which move 
and produce the peculiar noise from which they receive their name when- 
ever they crawl or shake that part of the body. The number of these cor- 
nets increases with age, an additional one being always found after each 
moult. There is a little round indentation or pit behind each nostril. All 
the species whose habitat is well ascertained are from America. The dan- 
ger resulting from the bite of these noxious reptiles is in proportion to the 
warmth of the climate or of the season; their natural disposition, however, 
is tranquil, and they are rather slow and heavy in their motions, never bi- 
ting unless provoked, or to kill the prey on which they feed. 
Their principal food consists of Birds, Squirrels, &c. It has long been 
supposed that it possesses the faculty of rendering them powerless by its 192 
REPTILIA. 
breath, or even of charming them, a9 it is called, by which they are com- 
pelled to leap into its mouth; this, however, is not so, and the reptile in 
question seizes its prey while under the agitation and terror produced by 
its appearance. 
In most of the species there are scales on the head similar to those on 
the back. 
The C. horridus or the Diamond Rattlesnake, the C. durissus or the 
Banded Rattlesnake, and the C. miliaris or the Ground Rattlesnake, a smaller 
species, but the most dangerous of the three, all inhabit the United States. 
The most common is the durissus,■ the miliaris, although furnished like the 
others with an apparatus of three or four cornets at the end of the tail, can 
make no noise with them. The plates on the head are arranged as in the 
genus Coluber. 
Vipera, Daud. 
The Vipers, most of which were confounded with the Colubers by Linnaeus, 
on account of their double sub-caudal plates, require to be separated from 
them from the circumstance of their having poisonous fangs. There are 
also some serpents which naturally belong to this division, whose sub-cau- 
dal plates are either wholly or partially simple- They are all distinguished 
from the Rattlesnakes by the absence of the pits behind the nostrils. 
Vip. brachyura, Cuv. (The Minute Viper.) The intensity and activity 
of its poison render it one of the most terrible of the genus. The genus of 
the Vipers is now variously subdivided. To one of these subgenera, Naia, 
belongs the celebrated 
Col. haje, L. Greenish bordered with brownish. The jugglers of Egypt, 
by pressing on the nape of the neck with their finger, throw it into a kind 
of catalepsy which renders it stiff and immovable, or turns it into a rod, as 
they term it. Its habit of raising itself up when approached, induced the 
ancient Egyptians to believe that it was the guardian of the fields it inhab- 
ited. They made it the emblem of the protecting divinity of the world, 
and sculptured it on each side of a globe upon the gates of their temples. 
It is indubitably the serpent described by the ancients under the name of 
the Asp of Egypt, Asp of Cleopatra, &c. 
In addition to these two tribes of Serpents, properly so styled, a 
third has lately been recognized, in which the organization and ar- 
mature of the jaws are nearly the same as in the non-venomous ser- 
pents, but where the first maxillary tooth, larger than the others, is 
perforated for the transmission of the poison, as in the venomous 
serpents with isolated fangs. 
These Serpents form two genera, Bungarus and Hydrus, dis- 
tinguished, like those of the two neighbouring families, by the cover- 
ing of the abdomen and the under part of the tail. OPHIDIA. 
193 
FAMILY III. 
NUDA. 
Our third and last family of the Ophidians, that of the Naked Ser- 
pents, consists of but one very singular genus, which several natu- 
ralists have thought fit to refer to the Batrachians, although we are 
ignorant as to the fact of its undergoing any metamorphosis. It 
is the 
So called because its eyes, excessively small, are nearly hidden beneath the 
skin, and sometimes are wanting. The skin is smooth, viscous and fur- 
rowed by annular plaits or wrinkles; it is apparently naked, but on dissec- 
tion we find in its thickness, perfectly formed though delicate scales, 
regularly arranged in several transverse rows between the folds of the skin. 
Cjecilia, Lin.(l) 
ORDER IV. 
BATRACHIA. (2) 
The Batrachians have a heart composed of but one auricle and 
one ventricle. They all have two equal lungs, to which at first are 
added branchiae, that have some affinity with those of Fishes, and 
which have cartilaginous arches on each side of the neck attached 
to the hyoid bone. Most of them lose these branchiae, and the ap- 
paratus which supports them, when they attain a state of maturity. 
Three genera only, Siren, Proteus, and Menobranchus, retain them 
for life. 
As long as these brancliia remain, the aorta is divided at its origin 
into as many branches on each side as there are branchiae. The 
branchial blood is brought back by veins which unite near the back 
in one arterial trunk, as in Fishes. It is from this trunk, or imme- 
diately from the veins which form it, that arise most of the arteries 
(1) Csccilia, from top\«4> is the Latin name of the Slow-worm (Orvet), 
which in several parts of Europe is still called blind, although it has very 
fine eyes. 
(2) From (Frog), animals analogous to Frogs. 194 
REPTILIA. 
which nourish the body, and even those which conduct the blood to 
be oxygenated in the lungs. 
In those species, however, which lose their branchiae, the attend- 
ant arteries are obliterated, with the exception of two, which unite 
in a dorsal artery, giving, each, a small branch to the lungs. It is 
the circulation of a Fish metamorphosed into that of a Reptile. 
Batrachians have neither scales nor shell; a naked skin invests their 
body, and, one genus excepted, they have no nails. 
The envelope of the ova is membranous. These eggs become 
greatly enlarged in the water. The young do not only differ from 
the adult in the presence of the branchias; their feet are developed 
by degrees, and in several species there are a beak and tail, which 
they subsequently lose, and intestines of a different form. 
Some species are viviparous. 
Frogs have four legs in their perfect state, but no tail. Their head is flat, 
muzzle rounded, and the opening of their jaws large; the tongue, in most of 
them, is soft, and not attached to the bottom of the gullet, but to the edges 
of Hie jaw, and folds inwards. There are but four toes to the anterior feet; 
the hind ones frequently exhibit the rudiment of a sixth. 
There are no ribs to their skeleton, and a prominent cartilaginous plate 
supplies the place of a tympanum, and renders the ear visible externally. 
The eye is furnished with two fleshy lids, and a third, which is transparent 
and horizontal, concealed under the lower one. 
The hind feet of the Tadpole are very gradually and visibly developed; 
the fore feet are also developed, but under the skin, through which they 
subsequently penetrate. The tail is gradually absorbed. The beak falls 
and discloses the true jaws, which at first were soft and concealed beneath 
the skin; and the branchiae are annihilated, leaving to the lungs alone the 
function of respiration in which they participated. The eyes which at first 
could only be discerned through a transparent spot in the skin of the Tad- 
pole, are now visible with their three lids. Tadpoles reproduce their limbs 
almost like Salamanders. 
The period at which each of these changes takes place varies with the 
species. 
In cold and temperate climates, the perfect animal passes the winter un- 
der ground, or in the mud under water, without eating or breathing, though 
if we prevent it from respiring during the summer for a few minutes by 
keeping its mouth open, it dies. 
Rana, Lin. 
Tree-Frogs only differ from Frogs in the extremities of their toes, each of 
which is expanded into a round, viscous pellet, that enables them to adhere 
Hxla, Laur. BATRACHIA. 
195 
to the surface of bodies and to climb trees, where in fact they remain all 
summer, living upon insects. They spawn, however, in water, and enter 
the mud in water like other Frogs. There is a pouch under the throat of 
the male, which dilates whenever he cries. 
Rana arborea, L. (The Common Tree-Frog.) Green above, pale be- 
neath; a black and yellow line along each side of the body. They are adult 
in four years. The Tadpole completes its metamorphosis in the month of 
August. 
Buro, Laur. 
Toads have a thick, bulky body covered with warts or papillae; a thick 
lump behind the ears pierced with pores, from which issues a milky and 
fetid humour; no teeth; the hind feet but slightly elongated. They leap 
badly, and generally avoid the water. They are hideous and disgusting 
animals, whose bite, saliva, &c., are considered, though erroneously, as poi- 
sonous. 
There are now several subgenera, such as Rhinellus, Otilophis, Pipa, &c. 
Salamandra, Brongn. 
Salamanders have an elongated body, four feet and a long tail, which gives 
them the general form of Lizards, with which Linnaeus placed them: but 
they have all the characters of Batrachians. 
In their adult state, respiration is performed as in Frogs and Tortoises. 
Their tadpoles at first breathe by means of branchiae resembling tufts, three 
on each side of the neck, which are subsequently obliterated; they are sus- 
pended to cartilaginous arches, vestiges of which remain in the hyoid bone 
of the adult. A membranous operculum covers these openings, but the 
tufts are never enclosed by a tunic, and always float externally. The fore 
feet are developed before the hind ones; the toes appear successively in the 
first and the last. 
Saxamandra, Laur. 
The terrestrial Salamanders in a perfect state have a round tail, and in- 
habit the water only during their tadpole condition, which is but a short 
period, or when the female is ready to bring forth. The eggs are hatched 
in the oviduct. 
Aquatic Salamanders always retain the vertically compressed tail, and 
pass nearly the whole of their existence in the water. The experiments of 
Spallanzani on their astonishing power of reproduction, have rendered 
them celebrated. If a limb be amputated, another is reproduced in its stead 
with all its bones, muscles, vessels, &c. and this takes place several times 
in succession. Another not less singular faculty, discovered by Dufay, is 
the power they possess of remaining enclosed in ice for a considerable time 
without perishing. 
Triton, Laur. 196 
REPTILIA. 
Skeletons of a salamander three feet in length have’ been discovered 
among the schist of CEningen. One of them is the pretended Fossil Man 
of Scheucher. 
Immediately after the Salamanders come several very similar ani- 
mals, some of which are considered as having been always destitute 
ofbranchi®, that is, they probably lose them at as early a period as 
our terrestrial Salamanders; the others, on the contrary, retain them 
for life, a circumstance, however, which does not prevent their hav- 
ing lungs like the Batrachians, so that they may be considered as 
the only vertebrate animals which are truly amphibious. 
The former (those in which no branchi® are visible) constitute 
two genera. 
Form of a Salamander; eyes apparent, the feet well developed, and an ori- 
fice on each side of the neck. Besides the range of small maxillary teeth, 
there is a parallel row of them on the front of the palate. Such is the rep- 
tile termed 
Sal. gigantea, Barton. (The Hellbender.) From fifteen to eighteen 
inches long; a blackish blue; inhabits the lakes and the rivers of the inte- 
rior of North America. 
Menopoma, Harlan. 
An orifice on each side of the neck, but the body excessively elongated; the 
legs and feet, on the contrary, but very slightly developed; the palatine teeth 
form two longitudinal ranges. 
Among those which always retain their branchiae, the 
Amphiuma, Garden. 
Axolotus 
Is in every respect similar to the larva of an aquatic Salamander, having 
four toes before, five behind, three long tufted branchiae, &c. The maxil- 
lary teeth are like velvet, and those on the vomer in two bands. 
But four toes to all the feet; a range of teeth in the intermaxillaries, and an- 
other, parallel, but more extended, in the maxillaries. 
The species most known, Menobranchus lateralis, Harl.; Triton lateralis, 
Say, inhabits the great lakes of North America, attaining, as it is said, the 
length of two and three feet. It was first obtained from Lake Champlain. 
Menobranchus, Harl. 
Proteus, Laurent. 
But three toes before and only two behind. 
Hitherto but a single species has been discovered, Proteus anguinus, BATRACHIA. 
197 
Laur. More than a foot long, about the thickness of a finger, with a verti- 
cally compressed tail and four small legs. 
Finally, there are some which are possessed of fore feet only, the hind 
ones being entirely deficient. They form the genus 
Sieen, Lin. 
Sirens are elongated animals, almost anguilliform, with three branchial tufts; 
they have no hind feet, nor is there even a vestige of a pelvis. Their head 
is depressed, the opening of their mouth small, their muzzle obtuse, eye 
very small and ear concealed; the lower jaw is armed with teeth all round, 
and there are none in the upper one, but there are several rows of them ad- 
hering to two plates fixed under each side of the palate. 
S. lacertina, L. Blackish, and attains the length of three feet; four toes 
to each foot; tail compressed into an obtuse fin. It inhabits the marshes of 
Carolina, the rice swamps particularly, where it lives in the mud, occasion- 
ally going on shore or into the water. It feeds on lumbrici, insects, &c. 
There are two much smaller species. 
CLASS IY. 
PISCES. 
The class of Fishes is composed of oviparous Yertebrata with a 
double circulation, but in which respiration is altogether effected 
through the medium of water. For this purpose, on each side of 
the neck, they have an apparatus called branchiae, or gills, which 
consist of laminae suspended on arches that are attached to the hyoid 
bone, each composed of numerous separate laminae and covered 
with a tissue of innumerable blood-vessels. The water which the 
fish swallows, escapes between these laminae through the branchial 
openings, and by means of the air it contains, acts upon the blood 
that is continually arriving in the branchiae from the heart, which only 
represents the right auricle and ventricle of warm-blooded animals. 
This blood, having received the benefit of respiration, is poured into 
an arterial trunk situated under the spine, which, exercising the 
functions of a left ventricle, distributes it to every part of the body, 
whence it returns to the heart by the veins. 
The entire structure of the Fish is as evidently adapted for natation, 198 
PISCES. 
as that of the Bird for flight. Suspended in a liquid of nearly the 
same specific gravity as its own body, there was no necessity for 
large wings to support it. In a great number of species, immedi- 
ately under the spine there is a bladder filled with air, which, by 
compression or dilatation, varies the specific gravity of the fish and 
assists it to rise or descend. Progression is effected by the motions 
of the tail, which, by striking the water alternately right and left, 
forces them forward; the branchias, by impelling the water back- 
wards, may also contribute to this effect. The limbs being thus of 
but little use, are greatly reduced; the parts analogous to the bones 
of the arms and legs are extremely short, or even completely con- 
cealed; rays, more or less numerous, which support membranous 
fins, form a rude representation of the fingers and toes. The fins 
which correspond to the anterior extremities are termed pectorals, 
and those which answer to the posterior ones, ventrals. Other rays 
attached to particular bones placed on or between the extremities 
of the spinous apophyses support vertical fins on the back, under the 
tail, and at its extremity, which, by being raised or lowered, increase 
or diminish the surface which strikes against the water. The su- 
perior fins are called dorsal, the inferior anal, and that at the end of 
the tail caudal. The rays are of two kinds; some of them consist 
of a single bony piece, usually hard and pointed, sometimes flexible 
and elastic, divided longitudinally—these are called spinous rays; 
others are composed of a great number of small articulations, and 
generally divided into branches at their extremity—they are the 
soft, articulated, or branched rays. 
There is as much variety among Fishes, with respect to the number 
of limbs, as among Reptiles. Most generally there are four; some 
have but two, and in others they are totally wanting. The bone 
which is analogous to the scapula, is sometimes held among the 
muscles as in the higher animals, and at others is attached to the 
spine, but most commonly it is suspended on the cranium. The 
pelvis rarely adheres to the spine, and very frequently, instead of 
being behind the abdomen, is before it, and connected with the hu- 
meral apparatus. 
Besides the usual parts of the brain which are arranged as in 
Reptiles one after the other, Fishes have knots or ganglions at the 
base of their olfactory nerves. 
Their nostrils are simple cavities at the end of the muzzle almost PISCES. 
199 
always perforated by two holes, and regularly lined by a plated pi- 
tuitary membrane. 
The cornea of their eye is very flat, and there is but little aqueous 
humour, but the crystalline is very hard and almost globular. 
The sense of taste in Fishes can have but little energy, as a great 
portion of the tongue is osseous, and frequently furnished with teeth 
and other hard parts. 
The body in most of them is covered with scales, and none pos- 
sess organs of prehension; the fleshy cirri of some may supply the 
imperfection of the other organs of touch. 
Teeth are found in their intermaxillary, maxillary, lower jaw, 
vomer, bones of the palate, on the tongue, on the arches of the 
branchiae, and even on bones behind these arches, attached like them 
to the hyoides, called pharyngeal bones. 
The varieties of these combinations, as well as those of the form 
of the teeth placed at each point, are innumerable. 
Besides the apparatus of the branchial arches, the hyoid bone is 
furnished on each side with rays which support the branchial mem- 
brane. A sort of lid composed of three bony pieces, the operculum, 
the suboperculum, and the interoperculum, unites with this membrane 
in closing the great opening of the gills; it is articulated with the 
tympanal bone, and plays on one called the preoperculum. In many 
of the Chondropterygii this apparatus is wanting. 
Fishes form two distinct series, that of Fishes properly so styled, 
and that of the Chondropterygii, otherwise called Cartilaginous 
Fishes. 
ORDER I. 
AC ANTHOPTER YGII. (1) 
The Acanthopterygii form the first and by far the most numerous 
division of ordinary Fishes. They are recognized by the spines 
which occupy the place of the first rays of their dorsal, or which 
alone support the first fin of the back, where there are two; sorne- 
(1) Spiny-fins. 200 
PISCES. 
times, instead of a first dorsal, there are only a few free spines. The 
first rays of their anal are also spines, and there is generally one to 
each ventral. 
FAMILY I. 
PERCOIDES. 
This family is so called because its type is the Common Perch. 
It comprehends fishes with oblong bodies, covered with scales that 
are generally hard or rough, and whose operculum or preopercu- 
lum, and frequently both, have dentated or spinous edges, and whose 
jaws, the fore-part of the vomer, and generally the palatine bones, 
are furnished with teeth. 
The species are extremely numerous, particularly in the seas of 
hot climates; their flesh is generally wholesome and agreeable. 
In the first subdivision we find seven rays in the branchiae, two 
fins on the back, and all the teeth small and crowded. 
The true Perches have the preoperculum dentated; the bony operculum 
terminated by two or three sharp points and a smooth tongue. Sometimes 
the sub-orbital and the humeral are slighty dentated. North America pro- 
duces several species. 
Pekca, Cuv. 
Labrax, Cuv. 
Distinguished, from the Perches by scaly opercula terminating in two spines, 
and by a rough tongue. 
The United States produce a large and beautiful species, Labr. lineaius, 
Cuv. (The Ltock-fish), with longitudinal blackish stripes. 
The remaining genera of this division are Lates, Centropomus, Grammis- 
tes, Aspro, &c. &c. differing in various particulars relative to the operculum 
and preoperculum, armature of the jaws, &c. 
A second subdivision comprises Percoides with two dorsal fins, 
and long and pointed teeth mingled with the small and crowded ones. 
There are two genera, Ambassis, Lucio-Perca or Perch-Pike. 
A second division comprises Percoides with seven branchial 
rays and one dorsal. They are subdivided in nearly the same way ACANTHOPTERYGII. 
201 
as the preceding ones, as by their teeth which are either hooked or 
all small and crowded; notches and spines on the opercula, &c. 
In the subdivision, furnished with hooked teeth, we find, 
Serranus, Cuv. 
Preoperculum dentate; the bony operculum terminating in one or several 
points. This genus contains a vast number of species, and is divided into 
several subgenera. 
We now pass to Percoides with seven branchial rays, and a sin- 
gle dorsal, the teeth small and crowded. 
They are distributed under the genera Acerina, JRypticus, Centropristis 
(to which belongs our Black Perch) and Gristes. 
The genus Perca, as defined by Artedi and Linnasus, terminates 
here; but there remains a number of fishes which approach it, al- 
though peculiar characters compel naturalists to arrange them in 
separate genera, such as Cirrhites, Chironemus, Pomotis, (our Pond- 
Perch) Centrarchus, &c. &c. 
PoMOTIS, Cuv. 
Fishes, with a compressed and oval body, characterized by a membranous 
prolongation at the angle of the operculum. They inhabit the rivers, &c. 
of America, where they are called Pond-Perch. 
We now pass to those Percoides which have more than seven 
rays to the branchiae. Three genera are known, all of which pre- 
sent the following peculiarity: their ventrals have a spine and .seven 
or more soft rays, while in other Acanthopterygii there are never 
more than five soft rays. 
Holocentrum, Artedi. 
The scales of these beautiful fishes are brilliant and dentated; operculum 
dentated and spinous; preoperculum dentated with a stout spine at the an- 
gle, which is directed backwards. They are found in the hot parts of both 
oceans. 
The brilliancy, shape and scales of the Holocentra, but the preoperculum 
has a dentated double border, and there is no spine at the angle. They in- 
habit the hot parts of both oceans. v, 
Myripristis, Cuv. 202 
PISCES. 
Beryx, Cuv. 
Differs from Myripristis in having but a single short dorsal, with but a few 
small spines, almost hidden in its anterior edge; ten soft rays in the ventrals. 
All the Percoides of which we have hitherto spoken, have their 
ventrals inserted under the pectorals; there are some genera, how- 
ever, in which they are differently located. 
In the Jugulares, they are placed on the throat further forwards 
than the pectorals. 
Trachinus, Lin. 
A compressed head, approximated eyes, and an oblique mouth; the first 
dorsal very short, the second very long; pectorals large, and a stout spine 
on the operculum. They generally remain concealed in the sand; wounds 
inflicted by the spines of their first dorsal are much dreaded, but their flesh 
is esteemed. Several species are found in the Atlantic, &.c. 
Track, draco, L. (The Dragon Weaver.) Grey and reddish, with 
blackish spots; blue streaks and yellow tints; thirty rays to the second dor- 
sal; flanks obliquely striated. 
One of the most remarkable genera of the Jugulares is that of 
Uranoscopus, Lin. 
So called because the eyes are placed on the superior surface of the nearly 
cubical head, and look upwards: the mouth is cleft vertically; the lower 
part of the preoperculum is crenate, and there is a stout spine to each 
shoulder; but six rays in the branchiae. In the mouth and before the tongue 
is a long and narrow slip, which can be protruded at the will of the fish, and 
serves, it is said, to attract small ones, while it remains concealed in 
the mud. They are commonly termed Star-gazers. 
In a third division of the Percoides, the ventrals are inserted fur- 
ther back than the pectorals: they are the Abdominales. The first 
genus is 
So named because several of the inferior pectoral rays are free, and form so 
many filaments; the ventrals are not very far back, and the pelvis is still 
suspended to the bones of the shoulder. They are allied to the Percoides 
by the teeth, either small and crowded, or bent back like those of a wool- 
card, which arm their jaws, vomer, and palate; but their snout is convex, 
and the vertical fins scaly as in many of tire Scienoides: the two dorsals are 
separated, the preoperculum is dentated and the mouth deeply cleft: they 
are found in all the seas of hot climates. 
Pol. paradiseus, L. (The Mango Fish.) So called from its fine yellow 
PoLYNEMUS, L. ACANTHOPTERYGII. 
203 
colour: has seven filaments on each side, the first of which are twice the 
length of the body. It is the most delicious fish found in Bengal. 
In the succeeding genera the ventrals are altogether behind, and 
the pelvis no longer adheres to the bones of the shoulder. 
The genera are Sphyrsma, Paralepis, and Mullus, (or the Surmullet of 
Europe.) 
FAMILY II. 
BUCCiE LORICATE. 
The family of the Mailed-Cheelcs, contains a numerous suite of 
fishes to which the singular appearance of their head, variously 
mailed and protected, gives a peculiar aspect that has always caused 
them to be arranged in special genera, although they have many 
close affinities with the Perches. Their common character consists 
in the sub-orbital being more or less extended over the cheek and 
articulated behind with the preoperculum. The Uranoscopus is 
the only one of the preceding family which has any thing like it, but 
the sub-orbital of the latter, although very broad, is connected be- 
hind with the temporal bones, and not with the preoperculum. 
Linnaeus divided them into three genera, Trigla, Cottus, and 
it has been found necessary, however, to subdivide them, 
and to add some of his Gasterostei. 
Trigla, Lin. 
The above character strongly marked; an enormous sub-orbital completely 
covering the cheek, and even articulated by an immovable suture with the 
preoperculum, so as to allow of no separate motion; sides of the head nearly 
vertical, giving it a form approaching that of a cube, or parallelopiped, the 
bones hard and rough. There are two distinct dorsals, and three free rays 
under the pectoral. Several species, when caught, utter sounds which 
have procured for them in France their vulgar name of Grondins,- in Eng- 
land they are called Gurnards. 
The best of these divisions is the 
Dactylopterus, Lacep. 
So celebrated under the name of Flying Fishes; the subpectoral rays are 
much more numerous and longer; and intead of being free, as in the prece- 
ding ones, they are united by a membrane so as to form a supernumerary 204 
PISCES. 
fin, longer than the fish, which supports it in the air for some time. Thus 
they are seen flying above the surface of the water, in order to escape from 
Dolphins and other varacious fishes; they fall into it again, however, in a 
few seconds. 
D. volitans, the Mediterranean species, is a foot long; brown above; 
reddish beneath; fins black, variously marked with blue. 
I). orientalis, Cuv., is a neighbouring species from the Indian Ocean. 
Cottus, Lin. 
Head broad, depressed, mailed, and variously armed with spines or tuber- 
cles; two dorsals; teeth front of the vomer, but none on the palatines; six 
rays in the branchiae, and only three or four in the ventrals. The inferior 
pectoral rays, as in Trachinus, are not branched. 
Those that inhabit fresh water have a nearly smooth head, and but one 
spine to the preoperculum; their first dorsal is very low. The most com- 
mon species is 
C. gobio, L. (The River Bull-head.) A small blackish fish, four or five 
inches in length. 
The salt water species are more spinous, and when irritated their head 
becomes still more inflated. Such is 
C. scorpius, L. (The Father-Lasher.) Three spines on the preoper- 
culum. 
Other groups have lately been observed, which are partly allied 
to Cottus and partly to Scorpaena. One of them is the 
Hemitkiftertjs, Cuv. 
The head depressed, and two dorsals as in Cottus; no regular scales on the 
skin, but teeth in the palate. The head is bristly and spinous, and has seve- 
ral cutaneous appendages. The first dorsal is deeply emarginate, a circum- 
stance which has led some authors to believe they had three. 
But one species is known, (from North America,) Cottus tripterygius, 
which is taken along with the Cod. From one to two feet long, tinged with 
yellow and red, varied with brown. 
The head, like that of a Cottus, mailed and roughened, but compressed on 
the sides; body covered with scales; several rays in the bran chi a, and but a 
single dorsal. If we except the armature of the cheek, and the tubercles, 
which frequently give them an odd appearance, they closely approximate 
to certain Percoides, such as the Acerinse and the Centropristes; but though 
the inferior rays of their pectorals, as in Cottus, are articulated, they are 
simple and not branched. 
The remaining genera allied to or separated from Scorpasna are Pterois, 
Blepsias, Apistus, Agriopus, Pelor, Gasterosteus (Stickle-backs of Europe) 
and the 
Scorp.ena, Lin. ACANTHOPTERYGII. 
205 
Monocentris, Bl. Schn. 
A singular genus; the body is short, thick, and completely mailed with 
enormous angular, rough, and carinated scales; four or five stout free spines 
supply the place of the first dorsal; each ventral consists of an immense 
spine, in the angle of which a few soft and almost imperceptible rays are 
concealed; head bulky and mailed; front gibbous; mouth large; short crow- 
ded teeth in the jaws and palatines, but none in the vomer; eight rays in the 
branchiae. But one species is known; the 
Mon. japonica, Bl. Schn. Six inches long, of a silvery white. From the 
sea of Japan. 
After this family we place the 
A small oval fish, whose whole body, above and beneath, is studded with 
thick cones of a heavy substance. There are four of them on the back, and 
ten on the belly, arranged in two series, with smaller intermediate ones. 
It was discovered in the Atlantic, by Peron. 
Oreosoma, Cuv. 
FAMILY III. 
SCIENOIDES. 
This family is closely related to the Percoides, and even presents 
nearly similar combinations of external characters, particularly in the 
indentations of the preoperculum, and in the spines of the opercu- 
lum; but both vomer and palatines are without teeth; the bones of 
the cranium and face are generally cavernous, and form a muzzle 
more or less gibbous. The vertical fins are frequently somewhat 
scaly. 
Some of the Scienoides have two dorsals, and others have but 
one; among the former we first find the genus, 
ScIjENA. 
Whose common characters consist of a gibbous head, supported by caver 
nous bones, two dorsals, or one deeply emarginate, whose soft part is 
much longer than the spinous; a short anal, a dentated preoperculum, an 
operculum terminating in points, and seven branchial rays. If it were not for 
the absence of the palatine teeth, these fishes would resemble the Perches. 
Naturalists divide it into various subgenera. Some of the species, such 
as the King-fish (an Umbrina) inhabit the American seas. 
The Scienoides, with a single dorsal, are subdivided according to 
the number of their branchial rays. 206 
PISCES. 
These divisions are Haemulon, Pristoma, and Diugramma. 
The Scienoides with a single dorsal and less than seven branchial 
rays, are still more subdivided: in some of them the lateral line ex- 
tends to the caudal; in others it is interrupted. 
Those Scienoides which have less than seven branchial rays and 
an interrupted lateral line, form several genera of small oval fishes, 
prettily coloured, which may be distinguished by the armature of 
their head. They are manifestly related to the genus Chastodon, 
and resemble, externally, several of our fishes with labyrinthian 
branchiae. 
The genera are Amphiprion, Premnas, Pomaeentrus, &c. 
FAMILY IY. 
SPAROIDES. 
The Sparoides, like the Scienoides, have a palate destitute of 
teeth. Their general figure and several details of their organization 
are the same; they are also covered with scales more or less large, 
but they have none on the fins. Their muzzle is not gibbous, nor are 
the bones of their head cavernous; there are neither indentations in 
their preoperculum, nor spines on their operculum. They never 
have more than six rays in the branchiae. They are divided accord- 
ing to the form of their teeth. 
In the first tribe, that of Sparus, Cuv. the sides of the jaws are 
furnished with round molars like paving-stones; we subdivide it into 
Sargus, Pagrus, Chrysophris, and Pagelus, differing in certain dental pecu- 
liarities. The celebrated Sheephead of the Philadelphia market belongs to 
the first named genus. 
In the second tribe there is but one genus, 
Dentex, Cuv. 
Characterized by conical teeth even on the sides of the jaws, generally in 
one range, some of the anterior of which are drawn out into large hooks. 
They would be rather closely allied to the genus Haemulon, were it not that 
the indentation of tire preoperculum is wanting, and that they have one ray 
less in their branchiae. The cheek is scaly. Two species are found in the 
Mediterranean. ACANTHOPTERYGII. 
207 
A third tribe is also composed of a single genus, 
Cantharus, Cuv. 
Teeth short and crowded, or bent and crowded all round the. jaws: those 
of the external row being the strongest; body elevated and thick; muzzle 
short; jaws not protractile. Two species are found in the Atlantic and 
Mediterranean. 4 
In a fourth tribe the teeth are trenchant. It comprises two genera, 
Boops and Oblada. 
FAMILY V. 
MENIDES. 
The Menides differ from the preceding families in the extreme ex- 
tensibility and retractility of their upper jaw, which is owing to the 
length of the intermaxillary pedicles which withdraw between the 
orbits. Their body is scaly, as in Sparus, in which genus they have 
hitherto been placed. 
There are four genera: viz. Mxna, Smaris, Cassio and Gerres. 
FAMILY VI. 
SQUAMIPENNES. 
So called, because the soft, and frequently the spinous parts of 
their dorsal and anal fins are covered with scales, which encrust 
them, as it were, and render it difficult to distinguish them from the 
mass of the body. This is the most remarkable character of these 
fishes, the body of which is generally much compressed, and the in- 
testines long. They were comprised by Linnasus in the genus 
Ch^todon. 
So named from their teeth, which in length and tenuity resemble hairs, col- 
lected in several close rows like a brush. Their mouth is small; their dorsal 
and anal fins are so completely covered with scales similar to those on the 
back, that it is extremely difficult to ascertain where they commence. These 
fishes are very abundant in the seas of hot climates, and are adorned with 
the most beautiful colours, circumstances which have caused many to be 208 
PISCES. 
figured, and rendered them common in our cabinets. They frequent rocky 
shores, and are eaten. 
This genus is now divided into various subgenera, the most remarkable of 
which is 
Chelmon, Cuv. 
Separated from Chactodon on account of the extraordinary form of the snout, 
which is long and slender, only open at the extremity, and formed by a most 
excessive prolongation of the intermaxillary and lower jaw. Their teeth 
are very fine and crowded, rather than like hairs. 
One species, Cliset. rostratus, L., has the faculty of spurting drops of water 
on the insects it perceives on the shore, and thus bringing them within 
reach. It is a common pastime of the Chinese at Java. 
The following genera, which we place next to Chretodon on ac- 
count of their scaly fins, differ greatly from it, however, in the teeth 
with which their palatines and vomer are furnished. The genus 
Is connected with this family by the scales covering the vertical fins, which 
have but a small number of spinous rays concealed in their anterior edges; 
but they have slender, bent teeth in the jaws and palatines, an elevated 
profile, very short snout, a forehead descending vertically, and a mouth, 
when shut, that is almost vertical; the scales extend on to the maxillaries; 
there are seven rays in the branchiae; a dorsal and low anal, but commencing 
in a salient point. 
But one species is known, Sparus Raii, Bl., it inhabits the Mediterranean, 
and sometimes strays into the ocean; an excellent fish, of a burnished steel 
colour, which attains a large size, but is infested with various species of in- 
testinal worms. 
Brama, Bl. Schn. 
A long and scaly anal, the dorsal short and elevated; head obtuse; the eye 
large; a small spine on the operculum; small crowded teeth on the jaws, 
vomer and palatines. From the Indian Ocean. 
Pemtheris, Cuv. 
The body short and compressed, the dorsal placed on the last half of the 
body, with very stout spines, the soft part, as well as that of the anal which 
corresponds to it, scaly; the snout depressed, short; lower jaw projecting 
beyond the upper one; the small crowded teeth very short in both jaws, 
the extremity of the vomer, palatines, pterygoids, and on the tongue; six 
rays in the branchiae, inferior edge of the infra-orbital and preoperculum, 
finely serrate. 
Toxotes, Cuv. ACANTIIOPTERYGII. 
209 
The species known, Toxotes jaculator, Cuv., is celebrated for the same 
faculty that distinguishes the Chxt. roslratus. By spurting drops of water 
on Insects which frequent aquatic plants, they are beaten down and brought 
within its reach. It can force the water to a height of three or four feet, 
and rarely misses its aim. 
FAMILY VII. 
SCOMBEROLDES. 
Our seventh family is composed of a multitude of fishes with small 
scales, a smooth body, and whose tail and caudal fin in particular 
are extremely powerful. 
This family is of the greatest utility to man, by the size and fla- 
vour of its species, and their inexhaustible reproduction, which brings 
them periodically into the same latitudes, where they constitute the 
object of the most extensive fisheries. 
Scomber, Lin. 
The first dorsal entire, while on the contrary, the last rays of the second, as 
well as those of the anal which correspond to them, are detached, forming 
what are termed false or spurious fins, ov pinnse spurise. The genus is sub- 
divided as follows: 
Scomber, Cuv. 
The Mackerels have a fusiform body covered with uniformly small and 
smooth scales; two little cutaneous crests on the sides of the tail; an empty 
space between the first and second dorsal. 
Sc. scombrus, L. (The Common Mackerel.) Blue back, varied with 
black, undulating streaks; five false fins above and beneath. 
Thxnnus, Cuv. 
A soft corslet round the thorax, formed by scales larger and smoother than 
those on the rest of the body; a cartilaginous carina between the two little 
crests on the sides of the tail; the first dorsal extends close to the second. 
Sc. thynnus, L. (The Tunny.) This fish has been taken in the Mediter- 
ranean, from a very ancient date, and by its abundance constitutes a great 
source of wealth to Provence, Sardinia, Sicily, &c. It is said to attain the 
length of fifteen and eighteen feet, and has nine spurious fins above, and 
as many beneath; the pectorals are one-fifth of its whole length. There are 
some other subgenera. 210 
PISCES. 
These fishes belong to the family of the Scomberoi'des, and approach the 
Tunnies particularly, in their excessively small scales, in the carinx on the 
sides of their tail, in the power of their caudal fin, and in their whole internal 
organization. Their distinguishing character consists in the beak, (whence 
their name of Sword-fish,) or ensiform point or tusk, which terminates their 
upper jaw; a powerful weapon, with which they attack the largest sea ani- 
mals. This beak is chiefly composed of the vomer and intermaxillaries, 
being strengthened at its base by the xthmoid, frontals, and maxillaries. 
Their branchise are not pectinated; each of them being formed of two large 
parallel laminae, the surface of which is reticulated. They swim with aston- 
ishing swiftness, and their flesh is excellent. 
Xiphias gladius, L. (The Sword-Fish.) The point horizontally flattened 
and trenchant like the broad blade of a sword; sides of the tail strongly cari- 
nated. It has but one dorsal, which rises from before and from behind; the 
middle of it becoming worn with age gives it the appearance of being double. 
It is one of the largest and best fishes of the European seas, frequently at- 
taining the length of fifteen feet. It is more common in the Mediterranean 
than in the Atlantic Ocean. A parasitic crustaceous animal penetrates into 
its flesh and sometimes renders it so furious that it dashes itself on shore. 
Xiphias, Lin. 
Centronotus, Lacep. 
A genus of Scomberoides characterized by the spines, which, in the Acan- 
thopterygii in general, form the anterior portion of the dorsal, or a first 
separate dorsal, but in them are free and unconnected by a common mem- 
brane; they all have ventrals. They are subdivided into four sub genera. In 
Nauchates, Rafin. 
The dorsal spines are free; body fusiform; a carina in the sides of the tail 
as in the Tunny, and two free spines before the anal fin. 
The common species is blue with broad vertical bands of a much deeper 
blue. The vulgar name of Pilot-Jish owes its origin to the fact, that it follows 
vessels to seize upon what may fall from them; and as a similar habit is ob- 
served in the Shark, it has been said that the former acts as a guide or pilot 
to the latter; it is not above a foot long. 
There are various other genera belonging to this family, such as Rhyn- 
chobdella, Notacanthus, Seriola, Nomeus, Caranx, Vomer, Zeus (The Com- 
mon Dory), &c. &c. ACANTHOPTERYGII. 
211 
FAMILY VIII. 
TJENIOIDES.(l) 
This family is closely connected with the Scomberoides, and its 
first genus is even intimately allied with Gempilus and Thyrsites; the 
fishes which compose it are elongated, flattened on the sides, and 
have very small scales. 
In the first tribe we find the muzzle elongated, the mouth cleft and 
armed with strong, pointed and trenchant teeth, and the lower jaw 
advancing beyond the upper one: it comprises but two genera, 
Lepidopus, Gouan. 
Whose special character consists in the reduction of the ventrals to small 
scaly plates. The thin and elongated body is furnished with a dorsal above, 
which extends throughout its length, with a low anal beneath, and terminates 
in a well formed caudal; there are eight rays in the branchise. 
The same form of body, muzzle, and jaws, as in Lepidopus; similar pointed 
and trenchant teeth, and a dorsal extending along the back, but the ventrals 
and caudal are wanting, and the tail is drawn out into a long, slender, and 
compressed filament. In lieu of the anal there is merely a suite of small 
and hardly perceptible spines on the under edge of the tail; the branchiae 
have but seven rays. They resemble beautiful silver ribands. 
Trichiurus, Lin. 
A second tribe comprehends genera in which the mouth is small, 
and but slightly cleft. 
Gymnetrus, Bl. 
The body elongated and flat, as in all the preceding divisions, and totally 
deprived of the anal fin; but there is along dorsal whose lengthened anterior 
rays form a sort of panache, but they are easily broken; the ventrals, when 
not worn or broken, are very long, and the caudal, composed of very few 
rays, rises vertically from the extremity of the tail, which ends in a small 
hook. 
The Arctic ocean produces two species, called in Norway the King of 
the Herrings; one of which is said by some to have one hundred and twenty 
rays, and by others one hundred and sixty, and to attain the length of ten 
feet; the other has more than four hundred rays, and is eighteen feet in 
(1) Riband-like. 212 
PISCES. 
length. The ventrals consist of a long filament dilated near the extremity. 
They are also found in India. 
Stylepiiokus, Shaw. 
A vertical caudal, as in Gymnetrus, but shorter; the extremity of the tail, 
instead of being curved into a small hook, is prolonged into a slender cord 
longer than the body. But one specimen is known. 
In a third tribe the snout is short, and the mouth cleft obliquely. 
Cepola, Lin. 
A long dorsal and anal, both reaching to the base of the caudal, which is 
tolerably large; no rise in the cranium; snout short; lower jaw curved up- 
wards; the teeth prominent, and the ventrals sufficiently developed. 
A short head, surmounted with a high osseous crest; to whose summit a long 
and stout spine is articulated, bordered behind with a membrane and a low 
fin, whose rays are nearly all simple, extending from this spine to the point 
of the tail, which has a distinct, but veiy small caudal. 
Lophotes, Giorna. 
FAMILY IX. 
THEUTYES. 
Our ninth family is as closely allied to the Scomberoides as the 
preceding one, but in other points, such as the armature, which is 
found in several genera on the sides of the tail, or in others, the 
horizontal spine before the dorsal, &.c. It contains but very few 
genera; they all have a compressed, oblong body, a small mouth, 
but slightly or not at all protractile, each jaw of which is armed with 
a single range of trenchant teeth; palate and tongue without teeth, 
and a single dorsal. They are herbivorous, feeding on fucus and 
other marine plants. 
Siganus, Forsk. 
These fishes have a remarkable character—unique, in icthyology—in their 
ventrals, which are furnished with two spinous rays, one external, the other 
internal; the three intermediate ones branching as usual. They have five 
branchial rays, and a horizontal spine before the dorsal. The styloid bones 
of their shoulder curve as they lengthen, so as to unite at their extremities 
with the first interspinal of the anal. Numerous species are found in the 
Indian Ocean. ACANTHOPTERYGII. 
213 
The remaining genera are Acanthurus, (Surgeons) Prionurus, Naseus, 
Axinurus, and Priodon. 
FAMILY X. 
This family is distinguished by 
LABYRINTHIFORM PHARYNGEALS. 
By this we mean, that part of the superior pharyngeals of these fishes 
are divided into small irregular lamellae, more or less numerous, 
intercepting cells containing water, which thus flows upon and hu- 
mects the branchiae, while the animal is removed from its proper 
element. By this it is enabled to quit the rivulet or pool, which 
constitutes its usual abode, and crawl to a considerable distance 
from it, a singular faculty, not unknown to the ancients, and which 
induces the people of India to believe that they fall from heaven. 
The two most remarkable genera of this family are the following. 
It is in this genus that we find the greatest degree of complication in these 
labyrinths; the third pharyngeals, however, have teeth arranged like paving 
stones, and thex*e are others behind the cranium. Their body is round and 
covered with strong scales, their head broad, muzzle short and obtuse, and 
mouth small; the lateral line is interrupted at its posterior third. 
An. testudineus, Cuv., called the Paneiri or Tree-Climber,- highly celebrat- 
ed, because it not only leaves the water, but, according to Daldorf, even 
climbs up the shrubs on its banks; this latter assertion, however, is denied. 
Found throughout all India, and the only species known. The 
Anabas, Cuv. 
Resembles the preceding genus in most of its characters, and particularly 
in the cellular conformation of the pharyngeals, which are adapted to retain 
water. These fishes also creep to a considerable distance from their liquid 
abodes, but what particularly distinguishes, and even separates, them from 
all other Acanthopterygii, is the absence of spines in the fins, the first ray 
of their ventrals at most excepted, and even that, though simple, is not 
sharp and stiff. The jugglers of India exhibit this fish out of water, and 
even the children amuse themselves by forcing it to crawl upon the ground. 
In the markets of China the larger species are cut up alive for distribution. 
They may be divided by the number of their dorsal rays. 
OPHICEPHALUS, Bl. 214 
PISCES. 
FAMILY XI. 
MUGILOIDES. 
Our eleventh family of the Acanthopterygii is composed of the 
genus 
Mugil, Lin. 
These fishes present so many peculiarities in their organization, that they 
may be considered as forming a distinct family; their body is almost cylin- 
drical, covered with large scales, and furnished with two separate dorsals, 
the first of which has but four spinous rays; the ventrals are inserted a little 
behind the pectorals. There are six rays in the branchiae; their head is 
somewhat depressed, and covered with large scales or polygonal plates, 
their muzzle very short. Their transverse mouth, in consequence of a pro- 
minence in the middle of the lower jaw, which corresponds with a depress- 
ion in the upper one, forms an angle, the teeth being excessively tenuous, 
and frequently almost imperceptible. 
They resort to the mouths of rivers in large troops, and are continually 
leaping out of the water; the European seas produce several species hitherto 
very imperfectly ascertained; their flesh is esteemed. 
M. cephalus, Cuv. (The Common Mullet.) Distinguished from all the 
other species of Europe by its eyes, which are half covered by two adipose 
veils, adhering to the anterior and posterior edge of the orbit. 
There are two other genera, Tetragonurus and Jltherina, (the Aphyes 
of the ancients). 
FAMILY XII. 
GOBIOIDES. 
The Gobioides are known by the length and tenuity of the dorsal 
spines. 
Blennies have a strongly marked character in the ventral fins, which are 
placed before the pectorals and consist of only two rays. The body is 
elongated and compressed, and has but a single dorsal almost entirely com- 
posed of simple but flexible rays. They live in small troops among the 
rocks on the coast, leaping and playing, and are capable of living without 
water for some time. A slimy mucus is smeared over their skin, to which 
they owe their Greek name of Blennius. They are now distributed in va- 
rious subgenera, such as Myxodes, Salarias, Clinus, &c. 
Blennitjs, Lin. 215 
ACANTIIOPTERYGII. 
So very similar are these fishes to the Blenny, that I would willingly name 
them Blennies without ventrals. 
A. lupus, L. (The Sea-Wolf) is the most common species; it inhabits 
northern seas, and is frequently seen on the coast of Europe; six or seven 
feet long; brown, with clouded bands of deep brown; the flesh resembling 
that of an Eel. This fish is valuable to the Icelanders, who salt and dry the 
flesh for food, employ the skin as shagreen, and the gall as soap. The 
Anarrhichas, Lin.(l) 
Commonly called Gobies or Sea-Gudgeons, are instantly recognized by the 
union of their thoracic ventrals, either along the whole of their length, or 
at least at their base, forming a single hollow disk more or less infundibuli- 
form. The spines of the dorsal are flexible, the branchial apertures provi- 
ded with five rays only, and generally but slightly open. They are small 
or moderate sized fishes, which live among the rocks near the shore. They 
prefer a clayey bottom, where they excavate canals in which they pass the 
winter. In the spring they prepare a nest in some spot abounding with 
fucus, which they afterwards cover with roots of the Zostera; here the male 
remains shut up, and awaits the females, who successively arrive to deposit 
their eggs; he exhibits much care and courage in defending and preserving 
them. This genus also is variously subdivided. 
Gobius, Lin. 
Callionymus, Lin. 
Fishes of this genus have two strongly marked characters, one in their bran- 
chiae, which have but a single aperture, consisting of a hole on each side of 
the nape, and another in their ventrals, which are placed under the throat, 
are separate, and larger than the pectorals. Their head is oblong and de- 
pressed, their eyes approximated and directed upwards, their intermaxilla- 
ries protractile, and their preopercula elongated behind and terminating in 
some spines. Their teeth are small and crowded, but there are none in the 
palate. They are pretty fishes with a smooth skin, whose anterior dorsal, 
Supported by a few setaceous rays, is sometimes very elevated. The second 
dorsal is elongated as well as the anal. 
It is with some hesitation that I close this family with a genus 
which will one clay probably form the type of a separate family; I 
mean the 
Ciiirus, Stell. 
Fishes with a tolerably long body, furnished with ciliated scales; a small 
(1) Jlnarrhichas, Climber, a name invented by Gesner because this fish is 
said to climb upon rocks and shoals by the aid of its fins and tail. 216 
PISCES. 
unarmed head; slightly cleft mouth, provided with small, unequal, conical 
teeth; the spines of whose dorsal are almost always very delicate, the fin 
itself extending the whole length of the back. Their distinguishing char- 
acter consists in several series of pores, similar to the lateral line, or, as it 
were, in several lateral lines. They frequently have an appendage on the 
eye-brow, as is the case with certain Blennies, but their ventrals consist of 
five soft rays, as usual. The species known are from the sea of Kamschatka. 
FAMILY XIII. 
PECTORALES PEDICULATI. 
This family consists of certain Acanthopterygii whose carpal 
bones are elongated so as io form a sort of arm, which supports 
their pectorals. It comprises two genera, which are closely ap- 
proximated, although authors have generally placed them at a dis- 
tance from each other, and which are closely allied to the Gobioides. 
Lophius, Lin.(l) 
The general character of this genus, independently of the semi-cartilaginous 
skeleton and the naked skin, consists in the pectorals being supported by 
two arms,*as it were, each of which is formed of two bones mat have been 
compared to the radius and ulna, but which in reality belong to the carpus, 
and which in this genus are longer than in any other; in the ventrals being 
placed very far before these pectorals; in opercula and branchiostegous rays 
enveloped in the skin, and, finally, in the only opening of the gills being a 
hole situated behind the said pectorals. They are voracious fishes, which 
survive a long time out of water, on account of the smallness of their bran- 
chial apertures. 
L. piscatorius, L.; Sea-Devil; Galanga, &c. (The Angler.) A large fish, 
of from foui- to five feet in length, inhabiting the seas of Europe, whose 
hideous figure has rendered it celebrated. 
FAMILY XIV. 
LABROIDES. 
This family is easily recognized; the body is oblong and scaly; a 
single dorsal is supported in front by spines, each of which is gene- 
(1) Lophius, a name made by Artedi, from xoqnt (pinna), on account of 
the crests of their head. The ancients called them /Zurpcixoi, and Rana, or 
Frog. 217 
ACANTHOPTERYGJI. 
rally furnished with a membranous appendage; the jaws are covered 
with fleshy lips; there are three pharyngeals, two upper ones attached 
to the cranium, and a large lower one, all three armed with teeth, 
now resembling a pavement and then pointed or laminiform, but 
generally stronger than usual. 
Labrus, Lin. 
A very numerous genus of fishes wfiich strongly resemble each other in 
their oblong form; their double fleshy lips, from which they derive their 
name, one adhering immediately to the jaws and the other to the suborbi- 
tals; their crowded branchix with five rays; their conical maxillary teeth, 
the middle and anterior of which are the longest, and their cylindrical and 
blunt pharyngeal teeth arranged like a pavement, the upper ones on two 
large plates, the lower on a single one which corresponds to the two others. 
Our Blackjish or Tautog is a true Labrus. This genus is divided into nine 
subgenera, differing in the teeth, mouth, &c. &,c. The most remarkable 
is the 
Epibuxtjs, Cuv. 
Remarkable for the excessive protractility of their mouth, which by a 
see-saw motion of their maxillaries, and the sliding forwards of their inter- 
maxillaries, instantly becomes a kind of tube. They employ this artifice to 
capture the small fry which pass within reach of this singular instrument. 
But a single species is known; Sparus insidiator, Pal., of a reddish co- 
lour. From the Indian Ocean. 
Chromis, Cuv. 
The lips, protractile intermaxillaries, pharyngeals, dorsal filaments, and 
port of a Labrus; but the teeth of the pharynx and jaws resemble those of 
a card, and there is a range of conical ones in front. The vertical fins are 
filamentous, those of the belly being even frequently extended into long 
threads; the lateral line is interrupted. 
C. vulgaris, The common or black Coracinus of the ancients. A small 
chesnut-brown fish, taken by thousands in the Mediterranean. 
Scartjs, Lin. 
A genus of fishes with remarkable jaws (that is, their intermaxillary and 
premandibular bones), which are convex, rounded, and furnished with teeth, 
arranged like scales upon their edge, and upon their anterior surface; these 
teeth succeed each other from behind, forwards, so that those of the base 
are the newest, and in time form a row on the edge. They have the ob- 
long form of aLabrus, large scales, and an interrupted lateral line; they 
have three pharyngeal plates, two above and one below, furnished with 
teeth as in a Labrus; but these teeth are transverse blades, and not like 
rounded paving stones. 218 
PISCES. 
A species blue or red, according to the season, is found in the Archipe- 
lago, which is the Scarus creticus, Aldrov. and which late researches have 
convinced me is the Scarus, so highly celebrated among the ancients; the 
same that Elipertius Optatus, commander of a Roman fleet, during the reign 
of Claudius, went to Greece in search of, for the purpose of distributing it 
through the sea of Italy. It is an article of food in Greece at the pre- 
sent day. 
Numerous species are found in the seas of hot climates. The form of their 
jaws and the splendour of their colours have caused them to receive the 
vulgar appellation of Parrot-fishes. 
FAMILY XV. 
FISTULARIDiE. 
The fishes of this family are characterized by a long tube, in the 
fore-part of the cranium, formed by the prolongation of the aeth- 
moid, vomer, preopercula, interopercula, pterygoidals and tympa- 
nals, and at the extremity of which is the mouth, composed as usual 
of the intermaxillaries, maxillaries, and the palatine and mandibu- 
lary bones. 
Some of them, the Fistulari®, have a cylindrical body, in others, 
the Centrisci, it is oval and compressed. 
Fistularia, Lin. 
The name of these fishes, in particular, is derived from the tube common to 
the whole family. The jaws are at its extremity, slightly cleft in a nearly 
horizontal direction. This head, thus elongated, constitutes the third or 
fourth of the total length of the body, which is itself long and thin. There 
are six or seven rays in the branchiae, and some bony appendages extend 
behind the head, upon the anterior part of the body, which they strengthen 
more or less. The dorsal is opposite to the anal. 
Centriscus, Lin. 
In addition to the tubular snout of the family, the fishes of this genus have 
an oval or oblong (not elongated) body, compressed on the side, and tren- 
chant beneath; branchiae composed of but two or three slender rays; a first 
spinal dorsal and small ventrals behind the pectorals. The mouth is very 
small, and cleft obliquely. 
The second division of common fishes, or that of the Malacop- 
terygii, contains three orders, characterized by the position of the 
ventrals or by their absence. PISCES. 
219 
ORDER II. 
MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES(l). 
In this order the ventrals are suspended to the under part of the 
abdomen and behind the pectorals, without being attached to the 
bones of the shoulder. It is the most numerous of the three, and 
comprehends most of the fresh-water fishes. We subdivide it into 
five families. 
FAMILY I. 
CIPRINIDiE. 
Tho Ciprinidas are recognized by the slightly cleft mouth; the 
weak jaws, generally edentated, and whose border is formed by the 
intermaxillaries; by the deeply dentated pharyngeals which compose 
the trifling armature of the jaws, and by the smaller number of the 
branchial rays. Their body is scaly, and they have no adipose dor- 
sal, such as we shall find in the Siluri and in the Salmons. Their sto- 
mach has no cul-de-sac, neither are there any csecal appendages to 
their pylorus. Ofall the fishes they are the least carnivorous. 
Cyprinus, Lin. 
A very numerous and natural genus, easily distinguished by the small mouth, 
edentated jaws, and the three flat rays of the branchiae. The tongue is 
smooth; the palate provided with a thick, soft, and singularly irritable sub- 
stance commonly termed a “ carp’s tongue.” The pharynx presents a 
powerful instrument of mastication, consisting of stout teeth attached to the 
inferior pharyngeals, which are so arranged as to be able to squeeze ali- 
mentary matters between them, and of a stony disk set in a wide cavity un- 
der a process of the sphenoid. These fishes have but one dorsal, and their 
body is covered with scales which most commonly are very large; they live 
in fresh water, and are perhaps the least carnivorous of the whole class, 
feeding chiefly on seeds, grass, and even ooze. 
They are variously subdivided. To Cyprinus proper, or the true Carps, 
belongs the well known 
(1) Malacopterygii, soft-finned. 220 
PISCES. 
Cyp. auratus, L. (The Golden Carp or Gold and Silver Fish.) Dorsal 
and anal spines dentated as in the Common Carp. This fish is at first 
blackish and by degrees assumes that splendid golden red which charac- 
terizes it; some, however, are of a silver colour, and others again are marked 
by various shades of the three colours. Individuals are found without a 
dorsal, others have a very small one; the caudal of a third is very large and 
is divided into three or four lobes; the eyes of a fourth are excessively dis- 
tended; all these accidental changes, which are the result of domestication, 
may be variously combined. 
To the other subdivisions belong the Dreams, Gudgeons, Tenches, 
Suckers, &c. 
Cobitis, Lin. 
The head small, body elongated, invested with small scales and covered 
with mucus; ventrals very far back and above them a single small dorsal; 
the mouth at the extremity of the snout, but slightly cleft, without teeth, 
but encircled by lips fitted for sucking, and with cirri; but three rays in 
the branchiae, the apertures of which are small; the inferior pharyngeals 
strongly dentated. 
The fishes of this genus, for a long time and very improperly united with 
the Cobites, possess very peculiar characters; the cornea and iris of their 
very prominent eyes, which are placed under a roof formed on each side by 
the frontal, are divided into two portions by transverse bands, so that the 
organ of sight has two pupils, and appears to be double, although it has but 
one crystalline and one vitreous humour, and but one retina, a peculiarity 
of which there is no other example among vertebrated animals. 
But a single species is known; the Jlnableps tetrophtalmus, Bl.; it inhabits 
the rivers of Guiana. 
Anableps, Bl. 
FAMILY II. 
ESOCES. 
We find no adipose fin in this family. The edge of the upper 
jaw is formed by the intermaxillary, or when it is not completely so 
formed, the maxillary is edentated and concealed in the thickness of 
the lips. The fishes which compose it are extremely voracious. 
With the exception of the Microstomas, all those that are known 
have the dorsal opposite to the anal. Linnasus united them in the 
genus MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES. 
221 
The Pikes, properly so called, have small intermaxillaries furnished with little 
pointed teeth in the middle of the upper jaw, of which they form the two- 
thirds, those on the sides of the jaw being edentated. The vomer, pala- 
tines, tongue, pharyngeals and rays of the branchiae, bristled with teeth 
resembling those of a card; a series of long pointed teeth on the sides of the 
lower jaw. 
E. Indus, L. (The Common Pike.) Well known as one of the most 
voracious and destructive of all fishes, but whose flesh is highly esteemed. 
This species, which inhabits Europe, is found in the fresh waters of North 
America, where two other species are also to be met with; the flanks of the 
one, Esox reticularis, Lesueur, are marked with brownish lines, sometimes 
resembling net-work; the other, Esox estor, is sprinkled with round black- 
ish spots. 
This genus is also subdivided into several sub genera. The most remar- 
kable is the 
Esox, Lin. 
Belone, Cuv. 
The whole edge of the upper jaw, which as well as the lower one is ex- 
tended into a long snout, formed by the intermaxillaries,—both furnished 
with small teeth, no others in the mouth, and those of the pharynx en pave. 
The body is elongated and covered with scales, which are not very appa- 
rent, one longitudinal carinated range near the lower edge excepted. The 
bones are very remarkable for their colour, which is a beautiful green. 
B. vulgaris. (The Gar-Fish.) Two feet long; green above, white be- 
neath; found on the coast of France, where its flesh is much esteemed, not- 
withstanding the colour of the bones. Neighbouring species inhabit all 
seas. The bite of one of them, which is said to attain a length of eight feet, 
is considered dangerous. 
Exocetus, Lin. 
These well known, or Flying-fishes, as they are called, are instantly distin- 
guished among the Abdominales by the excessive size of their pectorals, 
which are sufficiently large to support them in the air for a few moments. 
Their head and body are scaly, and a longitudinal range of carinated scales 
forms a salient line on the lower part of each flank, as in the Hemiramphi, 
&c. The head is flattened above and on the sides; the dorsal placed above 
the anal; the eyes large, the intermaxillaries without pedicles and constitu- 
ting the whole edge of the upper jaw; their two jaws are furnished with 
small pointed teeth, and their pharyngeals with teeth like a pavement. 
They do not fly far: rising in the air to avoid their voracious enemies, they 
soon fall into the sea, their wings merely acting as parachutes. Birds pur- 
sue them through the air and Fishes through the water. They are found in 
all the seas of hot and temperate climates. 
E. exilens, Bl. Common in the Mediterranean, and easily recognized by 222 
PISCES. 
the length of its ventrals, placed posterior to the middle of the body; the 
fins of the young are marked with black bands. 
E. volitans, Bl. Common in the Atlantic Ocean, and has small ventrals 
placed anterior to the middle of the body. 
The American seas produce species with cirri, which are sometimes sim- 
ple, sometimes double, and even ramous. 
Next to the family of the Esoces we place a genus of fishes, which, 
though varying but little from the former, has some anatomical dif- 
ference. It will most probably give rise to a particular family. It 
is the Mormyrus, Lin. They are found in the Nile. 
FAMILY III. 
SILURIDiE. 
This family i9 distinguished from all others of the order by the 
want of true scales, having merely a naked skin or large osseous 
plates. The intermaxillaries, suspended under the ethmoid, form 
the edge of the upper jaw, and the maxillaries are reduced to sim- 
ple vestiges, or are extended into cirri. The first ray of the dorsal 
and pectoral is, almost always, a strong articulated spine, and there 
is frequently an adipose one behind, as in the Salmon. 
A numerous genus, easily recognized by its nudity, the mouth cleft in the 
extremity of the snout, and in the greater number of the sub genera, by the 
strong spine which forms the first ray of the pectoral. It is so articulated 
with the bone of the shoulder that the fish can either depress it, or raise it 
perpendicularly, when it is immovable, constituting a dangerous weapon, 
wounds from which are considered as poisoned, an idea arising from the fact 
that tetanus frequently ensues. They are usually called Cat-Jish. 
S. glanis, L. The largest fresh water fish found in Europe, and the only 
one of this extensive genus that it possesses; it is smooth, black, greenish, 
spotted with black above, with yellowish white beneath; head large; with 
six cirri; it sometimes exceeds six feet in length, and weighs three hundred 
pounds. It inhabits the rivers of Germany and Hungary, the lake of 
Haarlem, &c., and conceals itself in the mud to watch for prey. The flesh, 
which is fat, is employed in some places for the same purposes as lard. 
There are various subgenera. 
Silerus, Lin. 
Malafterurus, Lacep. 
Is distinguished from Silurus, properly so called, by the absence of the radi- MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES. 
223 
ated fin on the back, there being nothing but a small adipose one on the 
tail, and by the total deficiency of a spine in the pectorals, whose rays are 
entirely soft. The head as well as the body is covered with a smooth skin; 
the teeth are small and crowded, and arranged in a broad crescent both 
above and below; there are seven rays in the branchiae, and the jaws and 
viscera resemble those of a Silurus. 
M. electricus, the Raasch or Thunder of the Arabs. The only species 
known; it has six cirri, and the head is not so big as the body, which is en- 
larged forwards. This celebrated fish, like the Torpedo and Gymnotus, has 
the faculty of communicating an electric shock. The seat of this power 
seems to be in a particular tissue, situated between the skin and the mus- 
cles, and presenting the appearance of a fatty cellular tissue abundantly 
furnished with nerves. From the Nile and the Senegal. 
The remaining genera of this family are Aspedro and Loricaria. 
FAMILY IV. 
SALMONIDES. 
The Salmonides, according to Linnaeus, form but a single great 
genus, clearly characterized by a scaly body, with a first dorsal, 
whose rays are all soft, followed by a second one small and adipose, 
that is formed of skin filled with fat, and unsupported by rays. It 
comprises fishes with numerous casca and a natatory bladder; nearly 
all of them ascend rivers, and are highly esteemed. They are 
naturally voracious. The structure and armature of the jaws are 
singularly various. 
Salmo, Lin. 
The Salmon, properly so called, or rather, the Trout, has a great portion 
of the edge of the upper jaw formed by the maxillaries; a range of point- 
ed teeth in the maxillaries, intermaxillaries, palatines and mandibularies, 
and a double one on the vomer, tongue, and pharyngeals; so that of all 
fishes it is the most completely furnished with teeth. In the old male 
the end of the lower jaw is bent up towards the palate, where a cavity re- 
ceives it when the mouth is closed. The ventrals are opposite to the mid- 
dle of the first dorsal, and the adipose to the anal. There are ten branchial 
rays or thereabout. The body is usually spotted, and the flesh good. These 
fishes ascend rivers to spawn, leaping over cataracts, &c., and are even 
found in the brooks and small lakes of the highest mountains. 
S. salar, L. (The Salmon.) The largest species of the genus, with red 
flesh and irregular brown spots, which soon disappear in fresh water; the 
cartilaginous hook formed by the lower jaw is inconsiderable even in the 224 
PISCES. 
old male. From all the Arctic seas, whence it enters the rivers in the spring. 
The value of this fishery in all northern countries is well known. 
Besides these Salmons and Trouts which are found in Europe, several 
others have been described by American naturalists, but they havenotbeen 
sufficiently compared with the former. 
In one of the various subdivisions of this great genus (Osmerus) we find 
the Smelt. 
A genus of small fishes with a very elevated and compressed body, support- 
ed by the ribs; their mouth is directed upwrards; their humerals form a 
trenchant crest in front, terminated below by a small spine, and the bones 
of the pelvis form another, also terminated by a small spine in front of the 
ventrals. There is a series of small fossulae along each side of the pelvic 
crest which has been considered as a festooned duplicature of the sternum, 
whence the name of Sternoptyx. They are taken in the warm parts of the 
Atlantic Ocean. 
Sternoptyx, Herman. 
FAMILY Y. 
CLUPEiE. 
This family is easily recognized; there is no adipose fin; the up- 
per jaw is formed, as in the Trouts, by intermaxillaries without pe- 
dicles in the middle, and by the maxillaries on the sides; the body 
is always covered with numerous scales, and in the greater number 
we find a natatory bladder and many casca. A part only of the 
family ascend rivers. 
Clepea, Lin. 
The Herrings have two well marked characters in the narrow and short in- 
termaxillaries, that constitute but a small portion of the upper jaw, the sides 
of which are completed by the maxillaries, so that these sides are alone pro- 
tractile; and in the inferior edge of the body, which is compressed, and 
where the scales form notches resembling those of a saw. The maxillaries 
besides, are divided into three parts. The branchiae are so much cleft, that 
all the fishes of the genus are said to die instantly when taken from the 
water. The sides of the branchial rays next to the mouth are pectiniform. 
Of all fishes, these have the finest and most numerous bones. 
C. harengus, L. (The Common Herring.) This celebrated fish leaves 
the Arctic seas every summer and descends in autumn on the western coast 
of France in numberless legions, or rather in solid shoals of incalculable ex- 
tent, spawning on the way, and arriving at the mouth of the British chan- 
nel in the middle of winter, in a very extenuated condition. Whole fleets MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMINALES. 
225 
are occupied in this fishery, the extent and importance of which are too 
well known to need a comment. The best are those taken in the North; 
such as are caught on the coast of Lower Normandy are lean, dry, and of 
a disagreeable flavour. 
To this division or Clupea proper, belong the Sprat, White-Bait, Pilchard* 
and Sardine. 
Axosa, Cuv. 
Differs from Clupea, properly so styled, in an emargination of the middle 
of the upper jaw; all the other characters are those of the Pilchard and 
Sardine. 
Jl. vulgaris. (The Shad.) A much larger and thicker fish than the 
Herring, attaining a length of three feet, and distinguished by the absence 
of sensible teeth and by an irregular black spot behind the gills. It ascends 
the rivers in spring, and is then highly esteemed; when taken at sea it is 
dry and of a disagreeable flavour. 
Next to the true Clupeee come some genera, which approach 
them in the trenchant and indented abdomen. They are Odontog- 
nathus, Pristigaster, Notopterus, Engraulis (the Anchovy), Me- 
galops, Elops, Hyodon, &,c. &c. 
ORDER III. 
MALACOPTERYGII SUBRACHIATI. 
This order is characterized by centrals inserted under the pecto- 
rals; the pelvis is also directly suspended to the bones of the shoul- 
der. It contains almost as many families as genera. 
FAMILY I. 
GADITES. 
This family is almost wholly composed of the great genus 
Gadus, Lin. 
Recognized by the ventrals, which are pointed and attached to the throat. 
The body is moderately elongated, slightly compressed, and covered with 
rather small and soft scales; the head is well proportioned, but without 226 
PISCES. 
scales; all the fins are soft; the jaws and front of the vomer armed with 
pointed, unequal, moderate or small teeth, disposed in several rows, and 
resembling1 a card or rasp; the branchiae are large and have seven rays. 
Most of the genus have two or three fins on the back, and a distinct cau- 
dal. The stomach forms a strong and large sac. The natatory bladder is 
large, strong, and frequently dentated on the sides. 
The greater number of these fishes inhabit cold or temperate seas, and 
constitute the object of important fisheries. Their white flesh, easily sep- 
arated in layers, is generally esteemed as light, wholesome, and sapid. 
They are subdivided into several subgenera. In Morrhua, we have 
Gadus morrhua, L. (The Cod.) From two to three feet long; back 
spotted with yellowish and brown; it inhabits the whole Northern Ocean, 
and multiplies so excessively in north latitudes, that whole fleets are annu- 
ally dispatched to capture it. 
Gadus xglefinus, L. (The Haddock.) The back brown, belly silvery, 
and lateral line black; a blackish spot behind the pectoral; quite as numer- 
ous in northern latitudes as the Cod, but not so much esteemed. 
In the subgenera of Gadus we find the Whiting, Hake, Ling, &c. 
FAMILY II. 
PLANI. 
The second family of the Malacopterygii Subrachiati, commonly 
called Flat-fishes, comprises the great genus 
Pleuronectes, Lin.(l) 
These fishes present a character, which, with respect to vertebrated ani- 
mals, is perfectly unique: it is the total want of symmetry in the head, where 
both eyes are on one side, which always remains uppermost when the ani- 
mal is swimming, and which is always deeply coloured, while that on which 
the eyes are wanting is always whitish. The remainder of the body, 
although, generally speaking, formed as usual, participates a little in this 
irregularity. Thus the two sides of the mouth are not equal, and the two 
pectorals are rarely so. Their body is strongly compressed and vertically 
elevated; the dorsal extends along the whole back; the anal occupies the 
under part of the body, and almost seems to be continued forwards by the 
ventrals, which are frequently united with it. There are six rays in the 
(1) Pleuronedes, a name formed by Artedi from rrxeopct the flank, and v»x- 
t»c a swimmer, because they swim on the side. The ancients gave them dif- 
ferent names according to the species, such as Passer, Rhombus, Ru- 
glossa, &c. MALA COPTER YGII SUB RAC HI ATI. 
227 
branchiae. They are taken along the coasts of almost all countries, and 
furnish a wholesome and delicious article of food. 
Individuals are sometimes captured whose eyes are placed on the side 
opposite to that in which they are generally seen, they are then said to be 
contoumds or reversed, others again have both sides of the body coloured 
alike, when they are called doubles or doubled; it is most generally the 
brown side which is thus reproduced, though it sometimes happens to the 
white one. 
The subdivisions of this genus include the Plaice, Flounder, Sole, Turbot, 
Holibut, &c. 
FAMILY III. 
DISCOBOLI. 
These fishes, so called on account of the disk formed by their 
ventrals, form two genera. 
Lepadogastkr, Gouan. 
The small fishes which compose this genus are remarkable for the following 
characters. Their ample pectorals having reached the inferior surface of 
the trunk, assume stouter rays, curve slightly forwards, and unite with each 
other on the throat by a transverse membrane directed forwards, which is 
formed by the union of the ventrals. The body is smooth and without 
scales, the head broad and depressed, the snout salient and protractile; the 
branchiae, but slightly cleft, are furnished with four or five rays, and they 
have but a single soft dorsal opposite to a similar anal. 
This genus is well marked by the ventrals, whose rays, suspended round 
the pelvis, and united by a single membrane, form an oval and concave 
disk, used by the fish as a sucker to attach itself to rocks. The mouth is 
wide, and its jaws and pharyngeals furnished with small and pointed teeth; 
opercula small: branch!® closed below, and provided with six rays; pecto- 
rals very large, and uniting almost beneath the throat, as if to embrace the 
disk of the ventrals. 
Cyclopterus lumpus, L. (The Lumpsucker.) The first dorsal so envel- 
oped in a thick and tubercular skin, that it has the appearance, externally, 
of being a simple dorsal hump; there are three ranges of thick conical tu- 
bercles on each side of it. It feeds on Medusae and other gelatinous ani- 
mals, particularly in the North. Its flesh is soft and insipid; heavy and with 
scarcely any means of defence, it becomes the prey of the Seal, Shark, See. 
The male is said to keep careful watch over the eggs. 
Cycloptertjs, Lin. 228 
PISCES. 
This genus, as well as that of Pleuronectes, might form a particular family 
in the order of the Malacopterygii Subrachiati. The fishes of which it con- 
sists are remarkable for a flattened disk placed upon their head, composed 
of a certain number of transverse, cartilaginous laminae, directed obliquely 
backwards, dentated or spiny on their posterior edge, and movable, so that 
by creating a vacuum between them, or by hooking onto various bodies by 
means of the spines, they are enabled to attach themselves firmly thereto, 
a circumstance which gave rise to the fabulous saying, that the Remora 
possessed the power of suddenly stopping a vessel in the middle of its 
swiftest course. 
The species are not numerous; the most common one that inhabits the 
Mediterranean, Echcn. remora, L. well known by the name of Remora, is 
the shortest, and has but eighteen lamina: in its disk. 
Echeneis, Lin. 
ORDER IV. 
MALACOPTERYGII APODES. 
This order may be considered as forming but a single natural 
family, that of the 
ANGUILLIFORMES, 
Fishes with an elongated form, a thick and soft skin which almost 
renders its scales invisible, and but few bones. The great genus 
Murjena, Lin. 
Is recognized by the little opercula concentrically surrounded by the rays, 
all of which are enveloped in the skin, which only opens at a considerable 
distance back by a hole or species of tube, an arrangement which, by more 
completely protecting the branchiae, allows these fishes to remain some 
time out of water without perishing. Their body is long and slender; their 
scales, as if encrusted in a fat and thick skin, are only distinctly visible after 
desiccation; they have neither ventrals nor caeca. This genus has been 
successively separated into five or six genera, which naturalists are com- 
pelled to subdivide still more. 
Eels are distinguished by the two-fold character of pectoral fins and of 
branchiae opening under them on each side. 
Anguilla. MALACOPTERYGII APODES. 
229 
The dorsal commencing close to the pectorals, or even on them; the up- 
per jaw longest in all the known species. 
Mur. conger, L- (The Conger Eel.) Found in all the seas of Europe; 
it attains the length of five or six feet and the thickness of a man’s leg; dorsal 
and anal edged with black; lateral fine dotted with whitish. It is not in 
much request for the table. 
CONGEB, CUV. 
Murjena, Thunb. 
The Mur sense, properly so called, have no vestige of pectorals; their bran- 
chiae open on each side by a small hole; their opercula are so thin, and 
their branchiostegal rays so slender and concealed under the skin, that able 
naturalists have denied their existence. 
M• helena, L. Common in the Mediterranean; a fish much esteemed by 
the ancients, who fed it in ponds expressly constructed for that purpose. 
The history of Vxdius Pollio, who caused his transgressing slaves to be 
flung alive into these ponds as food for the Mursenae, is well known. It at- 
tains a length of three feet and more, is mottled with brown and yellowish, 
and is excessively voracious. 
It is immediately after this great genus of the Muraenae that should 
be placed a newly discovered fish, which is one of the most singular 
of the whole class; I mean the 
Saccopharynx, Mitch. 
Whose trunk, susceptible of being so inflated as to resemble a thick tube, 
terminates in a very long and slender tail, surrounded by an extremely low 
dorsal and anal, which unite at its point. The mouth, armed with sharp 
teeth, opens far behind the eyes, which are placed close to the very short 
point of the snout. The branchial aperture consists in a hole under the 
pectorals, which are very small. 
This fish attains a large size, and appears to be voracious. It has only 
been seen in the Atlantic Ocean, floating on the surface by the dilatation of 
its throat. 
Gymnottjs, Lin.(l) 
The gills partly so closed by a membrane, as in Anguilla, but opening be- 
fore the pectorals. 
G. eledricus, L. (The Electrical Gymnotus); which, from its almost uni- 
form shape and obtuse head and tail, has also been called the Eledrical Eel. 
It is from five to six feet long, and communicates such violent shocks that 
(1) Gymnotus, or, properly speaking, Gymnonotus (Bare-back), a name 
given to these fishes by Artedi. 230 
PISCES. 
men and horses are struck down by them. This power is dependent on 
the will of the animal, which gives it what direction it pleases, and renders 
it effective, even at a distance, killing fishes therewith, so situated. It is, 
however, dissipated by use, and to renew it, the Gymnotus requires rest 
and nourishing food. The organ which is the seat of this singular faculty, 
extends along the whole under side of the tail, occupying about half its 
thickness; it is divided into four longitudinal fasciculi, two large ones above 
and two smaller ones below, and against the base of the anal fin. The lit- 
tle cells, or rather the little prismatic and transverse canals formed by the 
two kinds of laminae that unite the bundles, are filled with a gelatinous mat- 
ter, and the whole apparatus receives a proportionably large number of 
nerves. 
Gymnarchus, Cuv. 
The body scaly and elongated, and the gills slightly open before the pecto- 
rals as in Gymnotus; but a fin, with soft rays, occupies the whole length of 
the back; and there is none behind the anus, nor under the tail, which ter- 
minates in a point. The head is conical and naked, the mouth small, and 
furnished with a single row of small trenchant teeth. 
G. niloticus. The only species known; discovered in the Nile by M. 
Riffault. 
Leptocepiialus, Penn. 
The branchial aperture before the pectorals; body compressed like a riband; 
head extremely small, with a short and somewhat pointed snout; pectorals 
almost imperceptible, or totally wanting; the dorsal and anal hardly visible, 
and uniting at the point of the tail. The intestines occupy but an ex- 
tremely narrow line along the inferior edge. 
L. morisii, Gm., inhabits the coast of France and England. Several other 
species, however, are found in the seas of hot climates, all of them as thin 
as paper and transparent as glass, so that even the skeleton is not visible. 
The profound study of their organization is one of the most interesting to 
which travellers can devote themselves. 
Ophidium. Lin. 
Dorsal and anal fins united with that of the tail, and terminating the body 
in a point; the body so elongated and compressed that it has been compared 
to a sword, and invested like that of an Eel with small scales planted in the 
thickness of the skin. The Opliidii, however, differ from Eels in their well 
cleft branchiae, which are furnished with a very apparent operculum and a 
membrane with short rays. Their dorsal rays are articulated, but not 
branched. 
Ammodytes, Lin. 
An elongated body like that of the preceding fishes, provided with a fin, MALACOPTERYGII APODES. 
231 
having articulated but simple rays, occupying a great part of the back, with 
a second behind the vent, and with a third which is forked at the end of 
the tail; these three fins, however, are separated by free spaces. The snout 
is acute; the upper jaw susceptible of extension, and the lower one, when 
at rest, longer than the other. 
ORDER V. 
LOPHOBRANCHII(l). 
All the fishes of which we have hitherto spoken, have not only a 
bony or fibrous skeleton, and complete and free jaws, but their 
branchiae are uniformly composed of laminae, or are pectiniform. 
In this order, however, we likewise find the jaws free and complete; 
but it is eminently distinguished by the gills, which, instead of 
resembling, as usual, the teeth of a comb, are divided into small 
round tufts, arranged in pairs along the branchial arches, a struc- 
ture of which no other fishes present any example. They are 
enclosed beneath a large operculum, tied down on all sides by a 
membrane which leaves only a single small orifice for the exit of the 
water, and exhibiting in its thickness only vestiges of rays. These 
fishes are also recognized by the scutellated plates of mail which 
cover their body, and usually render it angular. They are generally 
small, and almost without flesh. 
Syngnathus, Lin.(2) 
The Syngnathi constitute a numerous genus characterized by a tubular 
snout, formed, like that of the Fistularidse, by the prolongation of the 
ethmoid, vomer, tympanals, preopercula, subopercula, &c., and terminated 
by an ordinary mouth, but one that is cleft almost vertically on its extremity. 
The respiratory aperture is near the nape? and the ventrals are wanting. 
There is a peculiarity in the production of these fishes, whose ova slip into 
a pouch formed by an inflation of the skin and are hatched there; this pouch, 
in some, is situated under the abdomen, and in others under the base of the 
tail; it splits spontaneously for the passage of the fry. 
(1) Tufted gills. 
(2) From <rin> and >va’9-oc (united jaws), a name composed by Artedi, who 
thought that the tube of the snout of these fishes was formed by the union 
of their jaws. 232 
PISCES. 
There are three subgenera, viz. Hippocampus (the Sea-horse), Solenosto- 
mus, and Pegasus. 
ORDER VI. 
PLECTOGNATHI(l). 
We have now passed from the preceding five orders of bony or 
fibrous fishes, with free and complete jaws, to the sixth, which may 
be approximated to the Chondropterygii, with which it is allied by 
the imperfection of the jaws, and the tardy induration of the skele- 
ton; this skeleton, however, is fibrous, and its whole structure is that 
of ordinary fishes. The most distinguishing character of the order 
consists in the maxillary bone being soldered to the side of the in- 
termaxillary, which alone constitutes the jaw, and in the mode in 
which the palatine arch is connected with the cranium, which, being 
by a suture, consequently renders it immovable. Besides this, the 
opercula and rays are concealed under a thick skin, through which 
only a small branchial fissure is visible. Of ribs, nothing is to be 
found but very small vestiges. There are no true ventrals. 
This order comprises two very natural families, characterized by 
their mode of dentition. 
FAMILY I. 
GYMNODONTES(2). 
The Gymnodontes have jaws, which, instead of teeth, are fur- 
nished with an ivory substance, internally divided into laminas, whose 
ensemble resembles the beak of a Parrot, and which in fact consists 
of true teeth united, that succeed each other as fast as they are de- 
stroyed by trituration. The opercula are small, and there are five 
rays on each side, all of which are but imperfectly seen. They live 
on Crustacea and fucus, their flesh is mucous, and that of several 
species is considered poisonous, at least in certain seasons. 
(1) Cheeks united by suture. 
(2) Naked teeth. PLECTOGNATHI. 
233 
Two of the genera, Tetraodon and Diodon, have the faculty of 
swelling themselves up like a balloon, by filling their stomach (or 
rather a sort of very thin and extensible crop, which occupies the 
whole length of the abdomen, and adheres closely to the peritoneum, 
a circumstance which has occasioned it to be considered at one 
time as the peritoneum itself, and at another as a species of epi- 
ploon) with air. When thus inflated, they roll over, and float on the 
surface, with the abdomen upwards, unable to direct their course; 
but they are extremely well defended while in this position by the 
erection of the spines with which their skin is everywhere furnished. 
Diodon, Lin. 
So called because the jaws are undivided and formed of one piece above 
and another below. Behind the trenchant edge of each of these pieces, is 
a round portion, transversely furrowed, which constitutes a powerful instru- 
ment of mastication. The skin is everywhere so armed with stout pointed 
spines, that when inflated, they resemble the burr of a chestnut tree. A 
number of species inhabit the seas of hot climates. 
Tetraodon, Lin. 
Jaws divided in the middle by a suture, so as present the appearance of 
four teeth, two above and two below; spines small and low. Several spe- 
cies are said to be poisonous. 
Cepiialus, Sh. 
Jaws undivided as in Diodon; but the body, compressed and spineless, is 
not susceptible of inflation, and the tail is so short and high that this fish 
resembles one whose posterior portion has been truncated, producing a 
singular appearance, that is amply sufficient to distinguish it. A thick layer 
of a gelatinous substance is spread under the skin. 
C. brevis, Sh. (The Short Sunfish.) Four feet and more in length, 
and weighing upwards of three hundred pounds; the skin is very rough, and 
of a fine silver colour. European seas. 
We also make a separate genus of these fish.es, whose upper jaw is divid- 
ed as in Tetraodon, and the lower one single, as in Diodon. An enormous 
dewlap almost as long as the body and twice as high, is supported before 
by a very large bone which represents the pelvis and approximates them 
to certain Balistes. Their fins are those of a Diodon, their body is rough 
as in Tetraodon, and the surface of their dewlap is covered with numerous, 
small, rough crests, placed obliquely. 
T. bursarius, Reinw. The only species known; it was discovered in the 
Indian Ocean by M. Reinward. 
Triodon, Cuv. 234 
PISCES. 
FAMILY II. 
SCLERODERMI(l). 
The second family of the Plectognathi is easily distinguished by 
a conical or pyramidical snout, prolonged from the eyes and termi- 
nated by a small mouth, armed with a few distinct teeth in each jaw. 
The skin is usually rough or invested with hard scales; the nata- 
tory bladder is oval, large, and strong. 
Balistes, Lin. 
The body compressed; eight teeth in a single row in each jaw, generally 
trenchant; the skin scaly or granulated, but not exactly osseous; the first dor- 
sal composed of one or more spines articulated with a particular bone which 
is attached to the cranium, marked by a furrow into which they are received; 
the second dorsal long, soft, and placed opposite to a nearly similar anal. 
These fishes abound in the torrid zone, near rocks and on the surface of 
the water, where they display their brilliant colours. Their flesh, which is 
but lightly esteemed at all times, becomes, it is said, poisonous during the 
period in which they feed on the coralline Polypi: fucus is all that I met 
with in those I opened. 
B. capriscus, L. (The Mediterranean File-Fish.) Brownish-grey, spot- 
ted with blue, or greenish. Its flesh is not esteemed. 
Ostracion, Lin. 
The head and body of these fishes, instead of scales, are covered with regu- 
lar bony plates solvered in such a manner as to form a sort of inflexible 
shield, which invests them, so that the only movable parts are the tail, fins, 
mouth, and a sort of small lip with which the edge of their gills is furnished, 
all passing through holes in this coat of mail. 
CH0NDR0PTERYGII(2). 
The second series of the class of fishes, or the Chondropterygii, 
can neither be considered as superior nor inferior to that of the 
Ordinary Fishes, for several of its genera approach the Reptiles in 
the conformation of the ear while in others the organization is so 
simple, and the skeleton so much reduced, that we might be ex- 
cused for hesitating to place them among vertebrate animals. It is 
(1) Rough-skinned. 
(2) Cartilaginous-finned. 235 
CHONDROPTERYGII. 
therefore a suite somewhat parallel to the first, as the Marsupialia, 
for instance, are parallel to the other unguiculated Mammalia. 
The skeleton of the Chondropterygii is essentially cartilaginous: 
that is, it contains no osseous fibres, the calcareous matter being 
deposited in small grains, and not in filaments; hence the absence 
of sutures in their cranium, which is always formed of a single piece, 
but in which, by means of projections, depressions, and holes, re- 
gions analogous to those in the cranium of other fishes may be dis- 
tinguished. It sometimes happens that movable articulations, which 
are found in other orders, are not met with in this one; part of the 
vertebrae of certain Rays, for instance, being united in a single body. 
Some of the articulations of the bones of the face also disappear, 
and the most apparent character of this division consists in the ab- 
sence of the maxillaries and intermaxillaries, or rather in their re- 
duction to mere vestiges concealed under the skin, while their 
functions are fulfilled by bones analogous to the palatines, and even 
sometimes by the vomer. The gelatinous substance, which in other 
fishes fills the intervals of the vertebras, and only communicates with 
them by a small hole, forms a long cord in several of the Chon- 
dropterygii, which traverses the bodies of almost all the vertebrae, 
without scarcely varying in diameter. 
This series is divided into two orders*—-the Chondropterygii whose 
branchiae are free, like those of ordinary fishes; and those in which 
they are fixed, that is to say, attached to the skin by their external 
edge in such a manner that the water can only escape from their 
intervals through holes on the surface. 
ORDER I. 
STURIONES, OR CHONDROPTERYGII BRANCHES 
LIBERIS, 
Or Chondropterygii, with free Iranchice, which are still closely 
allied to the ordinary fishes in their gills, which have but a single 
wide opening, and are furnished with an operculum, but without 
rays in the membrane. This order comprises but two genera. 236 
PISCES. 
The general form of the Sturgeon is similar to that of the Shark, but the 
body is more or less covered with bony plates in longitudinal rows; the ex- 
terior portion of the head is also well mailed; the mouth, placed under the 
snout, is small and edentated; the palatine, soldered to the maxillaries, con- 
verts them into the.upper jaw, and vestiges of the intermaxillaries are found 
in the thickness of the lips. This mouth, placed on a pedicle that has three 
articulations, is more protractile than that of a Shark. The eyes and nostrils 
are on the side of the head, and cirri are inserted under the snout. The 
labyrinth is perfectly formed in the cranial bone, but there is no vestige of 
an external ear. A hole perforated behind the temple is a mere spiracle, 
which leads to the branchiae. 
The Sturgeon ascends certain rivers in great numbers, and is the object of 
important fisheries; the flesh of most species is agreeable, their ova are con- 
verted into caviar, and their natatory bladder into isinglass. Western Eu- 
rope produces 
A. ruthenus, L. (The Sterlet.) Seldom more than two feet in length; 
plates of the lateral rows more numerous and carinated, those of the belly 
flat. It is considered a delicious fish, and its caviar is reserved for the 
Kussian court. There is reason to believe that it is the Elops and the Aci- 
penser, so highly celebrated among the ancients. 
A. huso, L. (The great Sturgeon.) Blunter plates and a shorter snout 
and cirri than those of the Common Sturgeon; the skin also is smoother. 
It is frequently found to exceed twelve and fifteen feet in length, and to 
weigh more than twelve hundred pounds. One specimen was captured 
whose weight amounted to near three thousand pounds. The flesh is not 
much esteemed, and is sometimes unwholesome; but the finest isinglass is 
made from its natatory bladder. It is also found in the Po. North America 
has several species of this genus which are peculiar to it. 
Acipenseh, Lin.(l) 
Spatularia, Sh. 
These fishes are recognized at once, by the enormous prolongation of their 
snout, to which its broad borders give the fignre of a leaf. Their general 
form and the position of their fins remind tire observer of a Sturgeon, but 
their gills are still more open, and the operculum is prolonged into a mem- 
branous point which extends to near the middle of the body. The mouth 
is well cleft and furnished with numerous small teeth. 
But a single species is known, the Paddle-fish of the Mississippi. 
Chimjera, Lin. 
The Chimsra: are closely allied to the Sharks in their general form and in 
the position of their fins, but all their branchiae open externally by a single 
(1) Acipenser is the ancient name; Sturio, whence Sturgeon, is modern, 
and is probably the German name Stoer latinized. CHONDROPTERYGII BRANCHIIS LIBERIS. 
237 
apparent hole on each side, although if we penetrate more deeply, we 
find that they are attached by a large part of their edges, and that in fact 
there are five particular holes terminating in the bottom of the common 
aperture. A vestige of an operculum, however, is concealed under the 
skin. The jaws are still more reduced than in the Shark, for the palatine 
and tympanic bones are also mere vestiges suspended to the sides of the 
snout, and the vomer is the only representative of the upper jaw. Hard 
and indivisible plates supply the place of teeth, four on the upper jaw and 
two on the lower. The snout, supported like that of a Shark, projects 
forwards and is pierced with pores arranged in tolerably regular lines; the 
first dorsal, armed with a strong spine, is placed over the pectorals. They 
produce very large coriaceous eggs with flattened and hairy borders. 
C. monstrosa, L. (The Arctic Chimaera.) Two or three feet long, of a 
silvery colour, and spotted with brown. From the Northern and Euro- 
pean seas. 
ORDER II. 
Or the Chondropterygii with fixed branchise, instead of having 
those organs free on the external edge, and opening all their inter- 
vals into a large common orifice, as is the case in all the fishes of 
which we have hitherto spoken, have them adhering by this external 
edge in such a manner that they permit the water to escape through 
as many holes pierced in the skin as there are intervals between 
them, or, at least, that these holes may terminate in a common duct, 
through which the water is ejected. Another circumstance pecu- 
liar to these fishes is the presence of little cartilaginous bows, fre- 
quently suspended in the muscles opposite to the external edges of 
the branchiae, and which may be termed branchial ribs. 
CHONDROPTERYGII BRANCHIIS FIXIS, 
FAMILY I. 
SELACHII. 
This family, hitherto comprized under two genera, Squalus and 
Raia, has many common characters. The palatines and post-man- 
dibularies, alone armed with teeth, supply the place of jaws, the 
usual bones of which are reduced to mere vestiges; one single bone 
suspends these apparent jaws to the cranium, representing at once 238 
PISCES. 
the tympanal, jugal and temporal bones, and the preoperculum. 
The hyoid bone is attached to the single pedicle just mentioned, and 
supports branchiostegal rays, as in ordinary fishes, although they 
are not so very visible, externally; it is followed by the branchial 
arches, as usual, but neither of the three pieces compose the oper- 
culum. These fishes have both pectorals and ventrals: the latter 
are situated behind the abdomen. Their membranous labyrinth is 
enclosed by the cartilaginous substance of the cranium; the sac, 
which constitutes part of it, contains mere amylaceous masses, and 
not stones. 
Sqtjaltjs, Lin. 
The Sharks form a first great genus distinguished by an elongated body, a 
thick fleshy tail and moderate pectorals, so that the general figure ap- 
proaches that of ordinary fishes; the branchial openings correspond with 
the sides of the neck, and not with the under surface of the body, as we shall 
see is the case with the Rays; the eyes also are on the sides of the head. 
The snout is supported by three cartilaginous branches connected with the 
anterior part of the cranium, and the rudiments of the maxillaries, inter- 
naaxillaries, and premandibularies are evident in the skeleton. 
Several are viviparous. The others produce ova invested with a yellow 
and transparent horn, the angles of which are prolonged into horny cords. 
The little branchial ribs are apparent, and there are also small ones along 
the sides of the spine, which is completely divided into vertebrae. The ge- 
nus is very numerous and authorizes various subdivisions. 
Cahchabias, Cuv. 
A numerous and by far the most celebrated tribe; with trenchant, pointed 
teeth, most commonly dentated on the margin. The first dorsal is far be- 
fore the ventrals, and the second about opposite to the anal. The spiracles 
are wanting; the nostrils are placed under the middle of the depressed snout, 
and the last branchial apertures extend over the pectorals. 
Sq. carcharias, L. (The White Shark.) This species attains the length 
of twenty-five feet, and is recognized by its teeth, which in the upper jaw 
nearly form isosceles triangles with rectilinear and dentated sides. The 
lower ones consist of narrow points placed on wider bases, terrific weapons, 
which are the dread of mariners. It would appear that it inhabits every 
sea; but its name has frequently been applied to other species with tren- 
chant teeth. 
Seeache, Cuv., 
In addition to the form of the Squali, and the spiracles of the Galei, is 
furnished with branchial openings that are nearly large enough to encircle 
the neck, and with small conical and unemarginate teeth. CHONDROPTERYGI1 BRANCHIIS FIXIS. 
239 
The common species, Sq. maximus, L. (The Basking Shark), has no- 
thing of the ferocity of the Shark, although it surpasses it in size as well as 
all other Squali. Individuals have been captured that were more than 
thirty feet in length. It inhabits the Arctic Seas, but is sometimes driven 
on the coast of France by the strength of the north-east winds. There are 
several other subgenera. 
A second genus may be formed of the 
Which to the characters of a Carcharias, adds a form of head of which there 
is no other example in the animal kingdom. It is horizontally flattened and 
truncated before, the sides extending transversely in branches, which give 
it a resemblance to the head of a hammer; the eyes are placed at the ex- 
tremity of the branches, and the nostrils on their anterior edge. 
The most common species of the European seas, Sq. zygoena, is some- 
times twelve feet long. 
Zygoena, Cuv. 
Spiracles, but no anal, as in the third division of the Squali, but differing 
from all of them in the mouth, which is cleft in the end of the snout and 
not beneath, and in the eyes, which are placed on its dorsal surface and not 
on the sides. The head is round, the body broad and horizontally flattened, 
the pectorals large and extending forwards, but separated from the body by 
a fissure where the branchial orifices are pierced; the two dorsals are behind 
the ventrals, and the caudal is attached both above and beneath. The 
Squat, angelus (The Angel-Fish) attains a considerable size in the Euro- 
pean seas. Its skin is rough, and the edges of the pectorals are furnished 
with small spines. 
Sqtjatina, Dumer. 
Pristis, Lath.(l) 
The Saw Fish forms a fourth genus. To the elongated form of the Squali 
it unites a body flattened before and branchiae opening below, as in the Rays; 
but its peculiar chaaracter consists in a very long depressed snout resembling 
the blade of a sword, armed on each side with stout, bony, trenchant and 
pointed spines,planted like teeth. This beak, from which these fishes de- 
rive their name, is a most powerful weapon, and with it they attack the 
largest Whales. The true teeth of their jaws resemble small paving stones, 
like those of a Mustelus. 
The common species, Pristis antiquorum, Lath., attains a length of twelve 
or fifteen feet. 
(1) Ufid'ui, saw; the Greek name of this fish. 240 
PISCES. 
Raia, Lin.(l) 
The Rays form a less numerous genus than the Squali. They are recognized 
by the horizontally flattened body which resembles a disk, from its union 
with the extremely broad and fleshy pectorals which are joined to each 
other before or to the snout, and which extend behind the two sides of the 
abdomen as far as the base of the ventrals. The eyes and spiracles are 
seated on the dorsal surface, the mouth, nostrils, and orifices of the bran- 
chiae on the opposite one. The dorsal fins are almost always on the tail. 
The ova are brown, coriaceous, and square, the angles extended into points. 
In the various subdivisions of this genus, we find the Sting-Ray, Spotted 
Torpedo, Thornback, Skate, &c. The most remarkable subgenus is 
Torpedo, Dum. 
The tail short, but still tolerably fleshy; disk of the body nearly circular, 
the anterior border being1 formed by two productions of the snout which in- 
cline side-wise in order to reach the pectorals; the space between these 
pectorals, head and branchiae is filled on each side with a singular apparatus 
formed of little membranous tubes placed close together like a honeycomb, 
subdivided by horizontal diaphragms into small cells filled with a sort of 
mucus, and traversed by numerous nerves proceeding from the eighth pair. 
It is in this apparatus that resides the electric or galvanic power which has 
rendered the Torpedo so celebrated; violent shocks are experienced by 
touching it, and it is most probable that the same power is employed to 
bewilder its prey. The body is smooth, the teeth small and sharp. 
FAMILY II. 
SUCTORII.—CYCLOSTOMI, Dumer. 
The Suctorii, as regards the skeleton, are the most imperfect of 
fishes, and even of all vertebrate animals. They have neither pec- 
torals nor ventrals; their elongated body is terminated before by a 
circular or semicircular fleshy lip, and the cartilaginous ring which 
supports it results from the soldering of the palatines to the mandi- 
bularies. The bodies of all the vertebrae are traversed by a single 
tendinous cord filled with a mucilaginous substance without strangu- 
lations, which reduces them to the condition of cartilaginous rings, 
scarcely distinct from each other. The annular portion, a little 
more solid than the rest, is not however cartilaginous throughout 
the whole of its circle. They have no ordinary ribs; but the small 
(1) Raia in Latin, Bar it and Brtcc in Greek, are the ancient names of 
these fishes. CHONDROPTERYGII BRANCHI1S FIX1S. 
241 
branchial ones, which are hardly perceptible in the Squali and Rays, 
are here greatly developed and united with each other, forming a 
kind of cage, while there are no solid branchial arches. The bran- 
chiae, instead of being pectinated as in all other fishes, resemble pur- 
ses, resulting from the junction of one face of a branchia with the 
opposing one of its neighbour. The labyrinth of the ear is en- 
closed by the cranium, and the nostrils open externally by a single 
orifice, in front of which is a blind cavity. 
Petromyzon, Li n. (1) 
The Lampreys have seven branchial openings on each side; the skin of the 
tail above and beneath is turned up into a longitudinal crest which supplies 
the place of a fin, but in which the rays resemble scarcely visible fibres. 
The maxillary ring of the True Lamprey is armed with strong teeth, and 
the interior disk of the lip, which is very circular, is furnished with tuber- 
cles covered with an extremely hard shell, and similar to teeth. There are 
two longitudinal rows of small teeth on the tongue, which moves backwards 
and forwards like a piston; by this, that suction is produced which distin- 
guishes this animal. Water reaches the branchice from the mouth by a par- 
ticular membranous canal, placed under the oesophagus and perforated with 
holes, that may be compared to a trachea. These fishes habitually fix 
themselves by suction to stones and other solid bodies; they attack the 
largest fishes in the same way, and are finally enabled to pierce and de- 
vour them. 
P. marinus, L. (The Sea Lamprey.) Two or three feet in length, 
marbled with brown on a yellowish ground; two large approximated teeth 
on the upper part of the maxillary ring. It ascends the mouths of rivers in 
the spring, and is highly esteemed. 
P.Jhivialis, L. (The River Lamprey.) From a foot to eighteen inches 
in length; silvery, blackish and olive on the back; first dorsal veiy distinct 
from the second; two large separated teeth on the upper part of the maxil- 
lary ring. Inhabits rivers, &c. 
Myxine, Lin. 
But a single tooth on the upper part of the maxillary ring, which is alto- 
gether membranous; lateral dentations of the tongue strong, and arranged 
in two rows on each side, so that the jaws of these fishes seem to be lateral 
like those of Insects or the Nereides, which induced Linnaeus to place them 
in the class of Vermes; the rest of their organization, however, is analogous 
(1) Lamproye, Lampreda, Lamprey, corruptions of Lampetra, which is 
itself modern, and, according’ to some, derived from Lambendo, petras. 
Petromyzon is the Greek translation of the same, by Artedi. 242 
pisces. 
to that of the Lampreys: the tongue also acts like a piston, and the spine 
of the back is in the form of a cord. The mouth is circular and surrounded 
with eight cirri; in its upper margin is a spiracle which communicates with 
its interior. The body is cylindrical, and furnished behind with a fin that 
surrounds the tail. There are no vestiges of eyes. The eggs become 
large. These singular animals pour out such an abundance of mucus through 
the pores of their lateral line, that the water of the vases in which they are 
kept seems to be converted into a jelly. They attack and pierce other 
fishes like the Lampreys. 
They are subdivided according to the external orifices of their branchiae. 243 
SECOND GREAT DIVISION OF THE ANIMAL 
KINGDOM. 
ANIMALIA MOLLUSCA. (1) 
The Mollusca have neither an articulated skeleton nor a verte- 
bral canal. Their nervous system is not united in a spinal marrow, 
but merely in a certain number of medullary masses dispersed in 
different points of the body, the chief of which, termed the brain, is 
situated transversely on the oesophagus, and envelopes it with a 
nervous collar. Their organs of motion and of the sensations have 
not the same uniformity as to number and position, as in the Verte- 
brata, and the irregularity is still more striking in the viscera, par- 
ticularly as respects the position of the heart and respiratory organs, 
and even as regards the structure of the latter; for some of them 
respire elastic air, and others salt or fresh water. Their external 
organs, however, and those of locomotion, are generally arranged 
symmetrically on the two sides of an axis. 
The circulation of the Mollusca is always double; that is, their 
pulmonary circulation describes a separate and distinct circle. 
The blood of the Mollusca is white or bluish, and it appears to 
contain a smaller proportionate quantity of fibrine than that of the 
Yertebrata. There are reasons for believing that their veins fulfil 
the functions of absorbent vessels. 
Their muscles are attached to various points of their skin, form- 
ing tissues there which are more or less complex and dense. Their 
(1) Soft animals. 244 
MOLLUSCA. 
motions consist of various contractions which produce inflexions 
and prolongations of their different parts, ora relaxation of the same, 
by means of which they creep, swim, and seize upon various ob- 
jects, just as the form of these parts may permit; but as the limbs 
are not supported by articulated and solid levers, they cannot ad- 
vance rapidly, or per saltum. 
The irritability of most of them is extremely great, and remains 
for a long time after they are divided. Their skin is naked, very 
sensible, and usually covered with a humour that oozes from its 
pores. No particular organ of smell has ever been detected in them, 
although they enjoy that sense; it may possibly reside in the entire 
skin, for it greatly resembles a pituitary membrane. All the Aca- 
lepha, Brachiopoda, Cirrhopoda, and part of the Gasteropoda and 
Pteropoda, are deprived of eyes; the Cephalopoda on the contrary 
have them at least as complicated as those of the warm-blooded 
animals. They are the only ones in which the organ of hearing has 
been discovered, and whose brain is enclosed within a particular 
cartilaginous box. 
Nearly all the Mollusca have a development of the skin which 
covers their body, and which bears more or less resemblance to a 
mantle; it is often however narrowed into a simple disk, formed into 
a pipe, hollowed into a sac, or extended and divided in the form 
of fins. 
The Naked Mollusca are those in which the mantle is simply 
membranous or fleshy; most frequently, however, one or several la- 
minae, of a substance more or less hard, is formed in its thickness, 
deposited in layers, and increasing in extent as well as in thickness, 
because the recent layers always overlap the old ones. 
When this substance remains concealed in the thickness of the 
mantle, it is still customary to style the animals Naked Mollusca. 
Most generally, however, it becomes so much developed, that the 
contracted animal finds shelter beneath it; it is then termed a shell, 
and the animal is said to be testaceous; the epidermis which covers 
it is thin, and sometimes desiccated. 
The variety in the form, colour, substance and brilliancy of shells, 
is infinite; most of them are calcareous; some are horny, but they 
always consist of matters deposited in layers, or exuded from the 
skin under the epidermis like the mucous covering, nails, hairs, horns, 
scales, and even teeth. The tissue of shells differs according to the MOLLUSCA. 
245 
mode of this deposition, which is either in parallel laminae or in 
crowded vertical filaments. 
All the modes of mastication and deglutition are visible in the 
Mollusca; here the stomachs are simple, there multiple, and are 
frequently provided with a peculiar armature. 
The Mollusca in general appear to be animals that are but slightly 
developed, possessed of but little industry, and which are only pre- 
served by their fecundity and vital tenacity. 
Division of the Mollusca into Six Classes. 
The body of some resembles a sac open in front, containing the 
branchiae, whence issues a well developed head crowned with long 
and strong fleshy productions, by means of which they crawl, and 
seize various objects. These we term the Cephalopoda. 
That of others is closed; the appendages of the head are either 
wanting or are extremely reduced; the principal organs of locomo- 
tion are two wings or membranous fins, situated on the sides of the 
neck, and which frequently support the branchial tissue. They 
constitute the Pteropoda. 
Others again crawl by means of a fleshy disk on their belly, some- 
times, though rarely, compressed into a fin, and have almost always 
a distinct head before. We call these the Gasteropoda. 
A fourth class is composed of those where the mouth remains 
hidden in the bottom of the mantle, which also encloses the branchiae 
and viscera, and is open either throughout its length, at both ends, 
or at one extremity only. Such are our Acephala. 
A fifth comprises those, which, also inclosed in a mantle and with- 
out an apparent head, have fleshy or membranous arms, furnished 
with cilia of the same nature. We term these Brachiopoda. 
Finally, there are some, which, although similar to the other Mol- 
lusca in the mantle, branchiae, &.C., differ from them in numerous 
horny and articulated limbs, and in a nervous system more nearly 
allied to that of the Articulata. They will constitute our last class, 
or that of the Cirrhopoda. 246 
MOLLUSCA. 
CLASS I. 
CEPHALOPODA. 
Their mantle unites under the body, forming a muscular sac 
which envelopes all the viscera. In several, its sides are extended 
into fleshy fins. The head projects from the opening of the sac; it 
is rounded, furnished with two large eyes, and crowned with longer 
or shorter conical and fleshy arms or feet, capable of being flexed 
in every direction, and extremely vigorous, the surface of which is 
armed with suckers or cups, which enable them to adhere with great 
tenacity to every body they embrace. These feet are their instru- 
ments of prehension, natation, and walking. They swim with the 
head backwards, and crawl in all directions with the head beneath 
and the body above. 
The Cephalopoda have two branchise within the sac, one on each 
side, resembling a highly complicated fern leaf; the great vena cava, 
having arrived between them, divides into two branches, which pour 
their contents into two fleshy ventricles, each of which is placed at 
the base of the branchias on its own side, and propels the blood into it. 
is effected by the water which flows into the sac and 
issues through a funnel placed at its opening. 
Between the base of the feet we find the mouth armed with two 
stout horny jaws resembling the beak of a parrot. 
These animals are remarkable for a peculiar and intensely black 
excretion, with which they darken the surrounding water when they 
wish to conceal themselves. It is produced by a gland, and held in 
reserve by a sac, variously situated, according to the species. 
Their brain, which is contained in a cartilaginous cavity of the 
head, gives off a cord on each side which produces a large ganglion 
in each orbit, whence are derived innumerable optic filaments; the 
eye consists of several membranes, and is covered by the skin which 
becomes diaphanous in that particular spot, sometimes forming 
folds which supply the want of eyelids. The ear is merely a slight 
cavity, on each side near the brain, without semicircular canals or 247 
CEPHALOPODA. 
an external Meatus, where a membranous sac is suspended which 
contains a little stone. 
The skin of these animals, of the Octopi particularly, changes 
colour in places, by spots, with a rapidity which greatly surpasses 
that of the Chameleon. 
These animals are voracious and cruel; possessed both of agility 
and numerous modes of seizing their prey, they destroy immense 
quantities of Fish arid Crustacea. Their flesh is eaten; their ink is 
employed in painting, and the Indian, or China ink is supposed to 
be made from it. 
The Cephalopoda comprise but a single order, which is divided 
into genera, according to the nature of the shell. 
Those which have no external shell, according to Linnams, form- 
ed but the single genus. 
Sepia, Lin. 
Or the Cuttle-fish, which is now divided into a variety of subgenera, the most 
interesting of which are the two following. 
Akgonatjta, Lin. 
These Mollusca are always found in a veiy thin shell, symmetrically fluted 
and spirally convoluted, the last whorl so large that it bears some resem- 
blance to a galley of which the spine is the poop. The animal makes a 
consequent use of it, and in calm weather whole fleets of them may be ob- 
served navigating the surface of the ocean, employing six of their tentacula 
as oars, and elevating the two membranous ones by way of a sail. If the 
sea becomes rough, or they perceive any danger, the Argonaut withdraws 
all its arms, concentrates itself in its shell, and descends to the bottom. 
Several species are known, closely resembling each other both in the ani- 
mal and the shell, which were united by Linnaeus under the name of Jlrgo- 
nauta argo, or the Paper Nautilus. 
Sepia, Lam. 
The Sepise, or Cuttle-fish properly so called, have two long arms and a 
fleshy fin extending along the whole length of each side of the sac. The 
shell is oval, thick, convex, and composed of numerous and parallel calca- 
reous laminae, united by thousands of little hollow columns, running perpen- 
dicularly from one to the other. This structure rendering it friable, causes 
it to be employed for polishing various kinds of work; it is also given to 
birds in aviaries, for the purpose of whetting their beaks. 
Nautilus, Lin. 
In this genus Linnxus united all spiral, symmetrical and chambered shells, 248 
MOLLUSCA. 
that is to say such as are divided by septa into several cavities; their inha- 
bitants he supposed to be Cephalopoda. 
This genus is now divided into Spirula and Nautilus proper. 
Probably belong to this family, but it is impossible to ascertain the fact, as 
they are only found among fossils; every thing, however, proves them to 
have been internal shells, thin and double, that is, composed of two cones 
united at base, the inner one much shorter than the other, and divided into 
chambers by parallel septa, which are concave on the side next to the base. 
A siphon extends from the summit of the external cone to that of the in- 
ternal one, and continues thence, sometimes along the margin of the septa 
and sometimes through their centre. The interval between the two tes- 
taceous cones is filled with a solid substance here composed of radiating 
fibres, and there of self-involving conical layers, the base of each being on 
the margin of one of the septa of the inner cone. 
Of all fossils Belemnites are the most abundant, particularly in chalk and 
compact limestone. 
The Belemnites 
The Ammonites, 
Or the Cornua-Ammoni, also fossil, are distinguished from the Nautili by 
their septa, which, instead of being plane or simply concave, are angular 
and sometimes undulated, but most frequently slashed on the edge like the 
leaf of an acanthus. The smallness of their last cell seems to indicate that, 
like the Spirula, they were internal shells. They are very abundant in the 
strata of secondary mountains, where they are found varying from the size 
of a lentil to that of a coach wheel. Their subdivisions are based upon the 
variation of their volutes and siphons. 
The Nummulites, Lam. 
Commonly called Nummulites, lenticular stones, &c. are only found among 
fossils, and present, externally, a lenticular figure without any apparent 
opening, and a spiral cavity internally, divided by septa into numerous small 
chambers, but without a siphon. They constitute the most universally dif- 
fused of all fossils, forming entire chains of calcareous hills and immense 
bodies of building stone. PTEROPODA. 
249 
CLASS II. 
PTEROPODA. 
The Pteropoda, like the Cephalopoda, swim in the ocean, but 
being deprived of feet, can neither fix themselves to other bodies, 
nor crawl. Their organs of locomotion consist of fins placed like 
wings on the two sides of the mouth. But few and small species 
are known. 
Clio, Lin. 
Body oblong, membranous, without a mantle; head formed of two round- 
ed lobes, whence originate small tentacula; two small fleshy lips, and a little 
tongue on the front of the mouth; the fins covered with a vascular net-work 
which acts as branchiae. Some authors consider them as possessing eyes. 
Clio borealis, X,. This species, which is the most celebrated, is found in 
astonishing numbers in the arctic seas, furnishing, by its abundance, food for 
the Whales, although each individual is hardly an inch long. 
Cymbttlia, Peron. 
A cartilaginous or gelatinous envelope resembling a galley, or rather a sabot 
or wooden shoe, bristling with small points disposed in longitudinal rows. 
The animal has two large wings composed of a vascular tissue, which are 
its branchiae and fins; between them, on the open side, is a third and smaller 
lobe with three points. 
Pneumodermon, Cuv. 
The Pneumoderma begin to be a little farther removed from the Clios. 
Their body is oval, without a mantle and without a shell; the branchial are 
attached to the surface and composed of little lamina arranged in two or 
three lines so disposed as to form an H on the part opposite to the head. 
Limacina, Cuv. 
The body terminates in a spirally convoluted tail, and is lodged in a very 
thin shell formed by one whorl and a half, umbilicated on one side, and 
flattened on the other. The animal uses its shell as a boat, and its wings as 
oars, whenever it wishes to navigate the surface of the deep. 
Clio helicina. Almost as common on the arctic seas as the Clio borealis, 
and is considered as forming the chief source of food for the Whale. 250 
MOLLUSCA. 
There are three other genera in this class, Hyalea, Cleodora, and Pyrgo, 
a very small fossil shell. 
CLASS III. 
GASTEROPODA. 
The Gasteropoda constitute a very numerous class of the Mol- 
lusca, an idea of which is afforded by the Slug. 
They generally crawl upon a fleshy disk, situated under the ab- 
domen, which sometimes however assumes the shape of a sulcus, or 
that of a vertical lamina. The back is furnished with a mantle 
which is more or less extended, takes various forms, and in the 
greater number of genera, produces a shell. Their head, placed 
anteriorly, is more or less visible, as it is the more or less involved 
under the mantle; its tentacula are very small, situated above the 
mouth and do not surround it, varying in number from two to six; 
sometimes they are wanting; their function is that of touch, or at 
most that of smell. The eyes are very small, here adhering to the 
head, and there to the base, side, or point of the tentaculum; some- 
times they are wanting. The position, structure, and nature of their 
respiratory organs vary, and afford the means of dividing them into 
several families; they never, however, have more than a single aortic 
heart, that is to say, one placed between the pulmonary vein and 
the aorta. 
Several are entirely naked; others have merely a concealed shell, 
but most of them are furnished with one that is large enough to re- 
ceive and shelter them. 
The shell is formed in the thickness of the mantle. Some of 
them are symmetrical and consist of a single piece; others are non- 
symmetrical, which, in those species where they are very concave, 
and where they continue to grow for a long time, become obliquely 
spiral. 
If we figure to ourselves an oblique cone, in which other cones, 
always wider in one direction than in the others, are successively GASTEROPODA. 
251 
placed, it will be easily seen that the convolution of the whole takes 
place on the side which enlarges the least. 
This part, on which the cone is rolled, is termed the columella; 
it is sometimes solid, and sometimes hollow. When hollow, its 
aperture is called the umbilicus. 
The whorls of the shell may either remain in one plane, or incline 
towards the base of the columella. 
In this last case the preceding whorls rise above each other, form- 
ing the spire, which is so much the more acute, as the whorls 
descend more rapidly, and the less they increase in width. These 
shells with a salient spine are said to be turbinated. 
When, on the contrary, the whorls remain nearly in the same 
place, and do not envelope each other, the spine is flat, or even con- 
cave. These shells are said to be discoidal. 
When the top of each whorl envelopes the preceding ones, the 
spire is hidden. 
The part through which the animal appears to come out is named 
the aperture. 
When the whorls remain nearly in the same plane, while the ani- 
mal crawls, its shell is vertical, the columella crosswise on the 
hind part of its back, and its head passes under the edge of the 
opening opposite to the columella. 
When the spire is salient, it inclines from the right side in almost 
every species; in a very few only does it project from the left when 
they are in motion; these are said to be reversed. 
It is observed that the head is always on the side opposite to that 
to which the spire is directed. Thus it is usually on the left, and 
in the reversed on the right. 
The organs of respiration, which are always situated in the last 
whorl of the shell, receive the ambient element from under its edge, 
sometimes because the mantle is entirely detached from the body 
along this edge, and sometimes because it is perforated there. 
It sometimes happens that the margin of the mantle is prolonged 
in a canal, in order to allow the animal to seek the ambient element 
without protruding its head and foot from its shell. 
Most of the aquatic Gasteropoda, with a spiral shell, have an 
operculum, a part sometimes horny, sometimes calcareous, attached 
to the posterior part of the foot, which closes the shell when its oc- 
cupant is withdrawn into it and folded up. 252 
MOLLUSCA. 
Their organs of digestion vary as much as those of respiration. 
This class is so numerous that we have been compelled to divide 
it into a certain number of orders, which we have founded upon the 
position and form of the branchize. 
ORDER I. 
PULMONEA. 
The Pulmonea are distinguished from the other Mollusca by re- 
spiring elastic air through a hole opening under the margin of the 
mantle, and which they dilate and contract at will; they have no 
branchiae, but a mere net-work of pulmonary vessels which creep 
over the parietes of the respiratory cavity and chiefly on its ceiling. 
Some of them are terrestrial; others are aquatic, but are compelled 
to visit the surface from time to time for the purpose of opening the 
orifice of their pectoral cavity, or to respire. 
The Terrestrial Pulmonea have generally four tentacula; in 
two or three only, of a very small size, the lower pair are not to be 
seen. 
Those which possess no apparent shell, form in the Linnxan system the 
genus 
Limax, Lin. 
Which is now divided into Limax, Avion, Lima, Vaginulus, Testacella, and 
Farmacella. These animals are known by the common name of Slugs. 
In the terrestrial Pulmonea with complete and apparent shells, 
the edges of the aperture in the adult are usually tumid. 
Helix, Lin. 
To this genus Linnseus referred all those species in which the aperture of 
the shell, somewhat encroached upon by the projection of the penultimate 
whorl, assumes a crescent-like figure. 
Helix pomatia, L., common in the gardens and vineyards of France, with 
a reddish shell marked with paler bands, an animal which in some places is 
considered a delicious article of food. The genus is now variously subdi- 
vided. The animals are what we term Snails. 253 
GASTEROPODA PULMONEA. 
The Aquatic Pulmonea have but two tentacula; they are con- 
tinually compelled to rise to the surface for the purpose of breath- 
ing, so that they cannot inhabit very deep water; they are usually 
found in fresh water or salt ponds, or at least in the vicinity of the 
sea coast and of the mouths of rivers. Some of them have no shell, 
such as those of the genus Onchidium. 
The aquatic Pulmonea, with complete shells, were also placed 
by Linnaeus in his genera Helix, Bulla and Voluta, from which 
it has been found necessary to separate them. 
In the first were comprised the two following genera, where we 
find the internal edge of the aperture crescent-shaped, as in Helix. 
Planorbis, Brug. 
The Planorbes are distinguished from the Helices by the slight increase of 
the whorls of their shell, the convolutions of which are nearly in one plane, 
and because the aperture is wider than it is high. It contains an animal 
with long, thin filiform tentacula, at the inner base of which are the eyes, 
and from the margin of whose mantle exudes a quantity of a red fluid, which 
is not, however, its blood. In stagnant waters. The 
Lam. 
Has, like a Bulimus, an oblong spire and the aperture higher than it is 
wide; but the margin, like that of a Succinea, is not reflected, and there is 
a longitudinal fold in the columella, which runs obliquely into the cavity. 
The shell is thin; the animal has two compressed, broad, triangular tentacula, 
near the base of whose inner edge are the eyes. 
They inhabit stagnant waters in great numbers; they also abound with 
the Planorbes in certain layers of marl or calcareous strata, which they evi- 
dently prove were deposited in fresh water. 
Piiysa, Drap. 
The Physac have a shell very similar to that of a Lymnaeus, but without the 
fold in the columella and reflected edge, and very thin. When the 
animal swims or crawls, it covers its shell with the two notched lobes of its 
mantle, and has two long, slender and pointed tentacula, on the greatly en- 
larged internal base of which are the eyes. They inhabit springs, 8tc. 
Auricula, Lam. 
Differing from all the preceding aquatic Pulmonea in the columella, which 
is marked with wide and oblique flutes. Their shell is oval or oblong, the 
aperture elevated as in Bulimus, and the margin tumid. 
Projecting folds in the columella, as in the Auriculae, but the margin of the 
Conovulus, Lam. 254 
MOLLUSCA. 
aperture is not tumid, and the internal lip is finely striated; the general form 
of the shell is that of a cone, of which the spire forms the base. They in- 
habit the rivers of the Antilles. 
ORDER II. 
NUDIBRANCHIATA. 
The Nudibranchiata have no shell whatever; neither are they fur- 
nished with a pulmonary cavity, their branchiae being exposed on 
some part of the back. They are all marine animals, frequently 
swimming in a reversed position with the foot on the surface, con- 
cave like a batteau, and employing the margin of their mantle and 
their tentacula as oars. In the 
Doris, Cuv. 
The branchiae are arranged in a circle round an opening in the posterior 
part of the back, under the form of little arbusculae, the whole resembling 
a sort of flower. The mouth is a small proboscis, situated under the ante- 
rior margin of the mantle, and furnished with two little conical tentacula. 
The species are numerous, and some of them large. They are found in 
eveiy sea, where their ova, resembling gelatinous bands, are diffused over 
stones, sea-weeds, &c. 
Plocamoceros, Leuck. 
The anterior margin of their mantle is ornamented with numerous branched 
tentacula. 
PoLYCERA, CUV. 
The branchiae, as in Doris, on the hind part of the body, but more simple, 
and followed by two membranous laminae, which cover them in moments of 
danger; anterior to the claviform tentacula, similar to those in Doris, are 
four, and sometimes six others, simply pointed. 
Tritonia, Cuv. 
The body and superior tentacula, as in Doris; but the orifices through which 
the peculiar liquid is excreted, are on the right: the branchiae, which re- 
semble little trees, are arranged along the sides of the back, and the mouth, 
provided with broad membranous lips, is armed inside with two horny and 
trenchant lateral jaws, which may be compared to a pair of sheep-shears. GASTEROPODA NUDIBRANCHIATA. 
255 
Two rows of branchiae resembling branching tufts along the back, and a very 
large membranous and fringed veil on the head, which shortens as it curves 
under the mouth; this latter is a membranous proboscis without jaws; on the 
base of the veil are two compressed tentacula, from whose margin projects 
a small conical point. 
T. fimbria, L. Grey, spotted with white; a beautiful species from the 
Mediterranean. 
Tkethys, Lin. 
SCYLLJEA, Lin. 
Body compressed; the foot narrow and marked with a furrow which enables 
it to clasp the stems of the fuci; no veil; the mouth resembling a little pro- 
boscis; orifices as in Thethys; the compressed tentacula terminated by a 
cavity, from which issues a little uneven point, and two pairs of membranous 
crests on the back, the internal surface of which is furnished with pencils 
of filaments, which are the branchiae. The middle of the stomach is invested 
with a fleshy ring, internally armed with horny and trenchant laminae like 
knives. 
S. pelagica, L. Common on all the floating fucus of almost every sea. 
Body elongated; four very small conical tentacula, and on each side three 
branchiae, each of which are formed of long slips arranged like the sticks 
of a fan, which also aid them in swimming. They are beautiful little ani- 
mals that inhabit the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, prettily coloured with 
blue and nacre; they swim on their back with great swiftness. 
The remaining genera of this order are Laniogerus, Eolidia, Cavolina, &c. 
Glauctts, Forster. 
ORDER III. 
INFEROBRANCHIATA. 
The Inferobranchiata have nearly the same form and organiza- 
tion observed in Doris and Tritonia, but their branchiae, instead of 
being placed on the back, resemble two long series of laminae, situ- 
ated on the two sides of the body, under the projecting margin of 
the mantle. 
PlITLLIDIA, CUV. 
The mantle naked, usually coriaceous, and without any shell; the mouth, a 
small proboscis, each side of which is furnished with a tentaculum; two others 256 
MOLLUSCA. 
project from above two small cavities in the mantle. Several species inha- 
bit the Indian Ocean. 
Diphyelidia, Cuv. 
The bran chi a; similar to those of the Phyllidise, but the posterior part of the 
mantle more pointed; on each side of the semicircular head a pointed tenta- 
culum and a slight tubercle. 
ORDER IV. 
TECTIBRANCHIATA. 
The branchiae along the right side or on the back, composed of 
laminae more or less divided, but not symmetrical; they are more 
or less covered by the mantle, in which a small shell is generally 
contained. They approach the Pectinibranchiata in the form of 
the organs of respiration, and like them inhabit the Ocean. 
Pletjrobkatvciius, Cuv. 
The body equally overlapped by the mantle and by the foot, as if it were 
between two shields. In some species a little, oval, calcareous lamina is 
contained in the mantle, and a horny one in that of others; the mantle is 
emarginated above the head. The branchiae are attached along the right 
side in the furrow, between the mantle and the foot, forming a series of 
pyramids divided into triangular laminulse. The mouth, a small proboscis, 
is surmounted by an emarginated lip and by two tubular and cleft tentacula. 
Various species inhabit both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, some 
of which are large and marked with the most beautiful colours. 
PleurobranchjEA, Meckel. 
The branchiae situated as in Pleurobranchus; but the foot projects but little, 
and on the fore part of the former are four short, distant tentacula, forming 
a square that reminds the observer of the anterior disk of the Acerae. There 
is no vestige of a shell. 
Pleurob. Meckdii. The only species known; from the Mediterranean. 
Aplysia, Lin. 
The margin of the foot turned up into flexible crests, surrounding the back, 
and even susceptible of being reflected over it; the head supported by a 
neck more or less long; two superior tentacula excavated like the ears of a 
quadruped, with two flattened ones on the edge of the lower lip; the eyes GASTEROPODA TECTIBRANCHIATA. 
257 
above the former. The branchiae are on the back, and consist of highly 
complicated lamellae attached to a broad membranous pedicle, covered by 
a small membranous mantle, in the thickness of which is a flat and horny 
shell. A limpid humour, secreted by a particular gland, and which in cer- 
tain species is said to be extremely acrid, is exuded through an orifice be- 
low on the right, and from the edges of the mantle oozes an abundant liquid 
of a deep purple colour, with which, when in danger, the animal tinges 
the water for a considerable extent. The ova are deposited in a kind of 
long, interlaced glairy net work, of extreme tenuity. In the seas of Europe 
we have the 
Jipl. fasciata, black, margined with lateral red crests, one of the large 
species; and Jipl. punctata, Cuv., lilac, sprinkled with greenish points. 
The Dolabellse only differ from Aplysiae in the position of the branchiae and 
their surrounding envelope; they are at the posterior extremity of the body, 
which resembles a truncated cone. They are found in the Mediterranean 
and in the Indian Ocean. 
Dolabella, Lam. 
Notarohus, Guv. 
The lateral crests united and covering the back, a longitudinal emargination 
excepted, that leads to the branchiae, which have no mantle to cover them, 
but are otherwise like those of the Aplysiae; the rest of their organization is 
always the same. 
Akera, Muller. 
The branchiae covered as in the preceding1 genera, but their tentacula are so 
shortened, widened and separated, that they seem to be totally wanting, or 
rather to form a large, fleshy, and nearly rectangular shield, under which 
are the eyes. The shell, of such as have any, is more or less convoluted, 
but with little obliquity, and is without a projecting spire, emargination, or 
canal; the columella, projecting convexly, gives a crescent-like figure to the 
aperture, the part opposite to the spire being always the broadest and most 
rounded. 
M. de Lamarck names those in which the shell is concealed in the thick- 
ness of the mantle, Bull tea. It has but very few whorls, and the animal is 
much too large to be drawn into it. 
Bullaea aperta, Lam. The animal is whitish, and about an inch long; the 
fleshy shield, formed by the vestiges of its tentacula, the lateral swellings 
of its foot, and the mantle occupied by the shell, seem to divide its upper 
surface into four lobes. Its thin, white, semi-diaphanous shell, is nearly all 
aperture, and its gizzard is armed with three very thick rhomboidal pieces 
of bone. It is found in almost every sea, where it lives on oozy bottoms. 
The 258 
MOLLUSCA. 
Gastropteron, Meek. 
Appears to be an Akera, the margin of whose foot is extended into broad 
wings, used in natation, which it effects on its back. It has no shell, nor 
has the stomach any armature; a slight fold of skin is the only vestige of a 
branchial operculum that is perceptible. 
Gastroplax, Blainv.—Umbrella, Lam. 
The animal is large and circular, the foot projects considerably beyond the 
mantle, and its upper surface is studded with tubercles. The viscera are in 
a round, superior, and central part. The mantle is only visible by its 
slightly projecting and trenchant edges, along the whole of the front and of 
the right side. The lamellated pyramidal branchiae, like those of Pleuro- 
branchus, are under this slight margin. Under this same margin and for- 
wards, are two tentacula, longitudinally cleft, as in Pleurobranchus, at whose 
internal base are the eyes; between them is a kind of proboscis. There is 
a large concave space in the anterior margin of the foot, the edges of which 
are susceptible of being drawn up like the mouth of a purse, and at the 
bottom of which is a tubercle pierced by an orifice, which perhaps is 
the mouth, and surmounted by a fringed membrane. The inferior surface 
of the foot is smooth, and serves the animal to crawl on, as in the other 
Gasteropoda. 
The shell is stony, flat, irregularly rounded, thickest in the middle, with 
trenchant edges, and marked with slightly concentric striae. 
ORDER V. 
HETEROPODA, Lam. 
The Heteropoda are distinguished by their foot, which, instead of 
forming a horizontal disk, is compressed into a vertical muscular 
lamina, which they use as a fin, and on the edge of which, in seve- 
ral species, is a dilatation forming a hollow cone, that represents the 
disk of the other orders. Their branchiae, composed of plumiform 
lobes, are situated on the hind part of the back, directed forwards, 
and immediately in their rear are the heart and a small liver, with 
part of the viscera. Their body, a gelatinous and transparent sub- 
stance lined with a muscular layer, is elongated and usually termi- 
nated by a compressed tail. There is a muscular mass belonging 
to the mouth, and a tongue furnished with little hooks. They 
usually swim on their back with the foot upwards. They have the GASTEROPODA HETEROPODA. 
259 
faculty of distending their body by filling it with water, in a way 
not well understood. Forskahl comprised them all in his genus 
Pterotrachea, 
Which is now divided into Carinaria, Atlanta, Firola, Timorienna, Mono- 
phora, Phylliroe. The Argonauta vitrea of authors must be the shell of a 
Carinaria, but the animal is not yet known. 
ORDER VI. 
PECTINIBRANCHIATA. 
This order forms, beyond all comparison, the most numerous divi- 
sion, inasmuch as it comprises the whole of the spiral univalves, and 
several that are simply conical. Their branchiae, composed of nu- 
merous lamellae or strips laid parallel with each other, like the teeth 
of a comb, are attached on one, two, or three lines, according to 
the genus, to the ceiling of the pulmonary cavity, which occupies 
the last whorl of the shell, and which has a large opening between 
the edge of the mantle and the body. 
In two genera only, Cyclostoma and Helicina, do we find, instead 
of branchiae, a vascular net-work, covering the ceiling of a cavity, 
that is otherwise similar; they are the only ones that respire the na- 
tural air; all the others respire water. 
All the Pectinibranchiata have two tentacula and two eyes, some- 
times placed on particular pedicles, and a mouth resembling a more 
or less elongated proboscis. 
Their tongue is armed with little hooks, and by slow and repeated 
rubbing acts upon the hardest bodies. 
The greatest difference in these animals consists in the presence 
or absence of the little canal formed by a prolongation of the edge 
of the pulmonary cavity of the left side, and which passes through a 
similar canal or ernargination in the shell, to enable the animal to 
breathe without leaving its shelter. There is also this distinction 
between the genera—some of them have no operculum; the species 
differ from each other by the filaments, fringes, and other ornaments 
of the head, foot, or mantle. 
These Mollusca are arranged in several families according to the 260 
MOLLUSCA. 
form of their shell, which appears to bear a constant relation to 
that of the animal. 
FAMILY I. 
TROCHOIDA. 
This family is known by the shell, the aperture of which is entire, 
without an emargination or canal for a siphon of the mantle, as the 
animal has none, and is furnished with an operculum or some organ 
in place of it. 
Trochus, Lin. 
The external margin of the angular aperture approaching more or less to 
a perfect quadrangular figure, and in an oblique plane, with respect to the 
axis of the shell, because the part of the margin next to the spine projects 
more than the rest. Most of these animals have three filaments on each 
edge of the mantle, or at least some appendages to the sides of the feet. The 
Solarium:, Lam. 
Is distinguished from all other Trochi by a very broad conical spire, at 
the base of which is an extremely wide umbilicus, in which may be seen 
the internal edges of all the whorls, marked by a crenated cord. 
Evomphalus, Sower'oy. 
Fossil shells resembling a Solarium, but wanting the dentations on the 
internal whorls of the umbilicus. The genus 
Turbo, Lin. 
Comprehends all the species with a completely and regularly turbinated 
shell, and a perfectly round aperture. Close observation has caused them 
to be greatly subdivided. 
These subdivisions are Delphinula, Pleurotoma, Turritella, Scalaria and 
Cyclostoma. The last is terrestrial and found under moss and stones in 
woods. The Valvata, another subgenus, is found in stagnant water. 
It is here that we must place the completely aquatic shells, or 
those respiring by branchi®, which belong to the old genus Helix; 
i. e., those in which the penultimate whorl forms, as in the Helices, 
Lymnaeae, &c., a depression which gives the aperture more or less 
of the figure of a crescent. 
The three first genera are still closely allied to Turbo. GASTEROPODA PECTINIBRANCHIATA. 
261 
Paludina, Lam. 
This genus has lately been separated from the Cyclostomx, because there 
is no ridge round the aperture of the shell; because there is a small angle 
to that aperture as well as to the operculum; and finally, because the ani- 
mal, being provided with branchiae, inhabits the water, like all other genera 
of this family. It has a very short snout and two pointed tentacula; eyes at 
the external base of the latter, but on no particular pedicle, and a small 
membranous wing on each side of the fore part of the body. The anterior 
edge of the foot is double; and the wing of the right side forms a little ca- 
nal which introduces water into the respiratory cavity, the incipient indica- 
tion of the siphon in the following family. 
The Ocean produces some shells which only differ from the Paludinse in 
being thick. They form the 
Littorina, Feruss. 
Of which the common species, Le Vigneau—Turbo littoreus, L., abounds 
on the coast of France, where it is eaten. The shell is round, brown, and 
longitudinally streaked with blackish. The 
Piiasianella, Lam. 
An oblong or pointed shell, similar to that of several Bulimi and Lymnaeae; 
the aperture also higher-than it is wide, and furnished with a strong oper- 
culum; base of the columella sensibly flattened, but no umbilicus. 
They inhabit the Indian Ocean, and are much sought for by collectors on 
account of the beauty of their colours. The animal is provided with two 
long tentacula, with eyes placed on two tubercles at their external base, and 
with double lips that are emarginated and fringed, as well as the wings, 
each of which has three filaments. 
A round, ventricose shell, with a short spire, as in most of the Helices; the 
aperture higher than it is wide, and provided with an operculum; the colu- 
mella umbilicated. 
They inhabit the fresh or brackish waters of hot countries. The animal 
has long tentacula, and eyes placed on pedicles at their base. 
AMruLLARiA, Lam. 
Heiicista, Lam. 
Judging by the shell, the Helicinae are Ampullariae in which the margin 
of the aperture is reflected. 
A thicker shell; the aperture, higher than it is wide, enlarges opposite to 
the spire; the columella without plicae or umbilicus; length of the spire very 
various. 
The Melania: inhabit rivers, but are not found in France; the animal has 
Melania, Lam. 262 
MOLLUSCA. 
long- tentacula, the eyes being on their external side, and at about the third 
of their length. 
Tornatella, Lam. 
The shell is elliptical, the spire but slightly salient, the aperture lengthened 
into a crescent and widened below, and the base of the columella marked 
by one or two large plicae or oblique callosities. 
Pyramidella, Lam. 
The spire is turreted, the aperture crescent-like and wide, and the base of 
the columella obliquely contorted and marked with sharp spiral plicae. 
The form of the animal separates the Janthinae from all the preceding 
genera. Their shell, however, is similar to that of the terrestrial Limaces, 
the columellar margin being also indented, but slightly angular at the ex- 
ternal edge, and the columella somewhat extended beyond the half oval, 
which, without this prolongation, would be formed by that edge. 
The animal has no operculum, but the under surface of its foot is furnish- 
ed with a vesicular organ resembling a bubble of foam, but composed of a 
solid substance, which prevents it from crawling, but allows it to float on 
the surface of the water. The head, a cylindrical proboscis, terminated by 
a vertically cleft mouth, and armed with little hooks, has a bifurcated tenta- 
culum on each side. 
The common species, Helix janlhina, L-, has a pretty violet shell, and is 
very abundant in the Mediterranean. When the animal is touched, it dif- 
fuses a thick fluid of a deep violet colour that dyes the surrounding water. 
Janthina, Lam. 
Nerita, Lin. 
The columella of the Neritae being in a straight line, renders the aperture 
semicircular or semi-elliptical. This aperture is generally large in com- 
parison with the shell, but is always furnished with an operculum which 
completely closes it. The spire is almost effaced, and the shell semi-glo- 
bular. The genus now forms several subdivisions. 
FAMILY II. 
CAPULOIDA. 
Recent researches have convinced us that it is to the Trochoida 
that we must approximate this family, which contains five genera, 
four of which are taken from the Patellas. They all have a widely 
opened,scarcely turbinated shell, with neither operculum, emargi- GASTEROPODA PECTINIBRANCHIATA. 
263 
nation nor syphon; the animal resembles the other Pectinibranchi- 
ata. There is but one branchial comb transversely arranged on the 
roof of the cavity, and its filaments are frequently very long. 
Pileopsis, Lam. 
A conical shell with a recurved and spiral summit, which has long caused 
it to be placed among the Patellae; the branchiae are in one range under 
the anterior margin of the branchial cavity; the proboscis is long, and there 
is a closely plaited membranous veil under the neck; the eyes are at the ex- 
ternal base of the conical tentacula. The 
Hipponyx, Defr. 
Would appear from the shell to be a fossil Pileopsis, very remarkable, how- 
ever, for a bed, formed of calcareous matter, on which it rests, and which 
probably exuded from the foot of the animal. 
The shell oval, with an obtuse horizontal point, directed obliquely backwards 
and laterally, the aperture forming the base of the shell, which is half closed 
beneath and behind by a horizontal plate. The abdominal sac which con- 
tains the viscera is on this plate, the foot beneath, and the head and branchiae 
forwards. The latter consists of a range of long filaments attached under 
the anterior margin of the branchial cavity. The eyes are at the external 
base of two conical tentacula. The genus 
Crepideea, Lam. 
Appears to consist of Crepidulse in which the transverse plate occupies half 
the aperture; their shell, however, is more like that of a Patella. They are 
only found fossil. 
Pileolus, Sowerby, 
The shell resembles a Crepidula, except that the summit is symmetrical and 
laid on the posterior margin, and that the horizontal plate is less salient. 
The animal is also provided with an additional, irregularly shaped, testaceous 
plate, horizontally connected with the superior surface of the muscular disk 
of its foot, and covered by the abdominal sac, which it partially supports. 
It is probably analogous to an operculum, but does not exercise its functions, 
being in a measure situated internally. The animal has long tentacula, at 
whose external base are pedicles which support the eyes. They inhabit 
the rivers of hot countries. In the 
Navicexla, Lam. 
We observe a conical shell, in the hollow of which is a little lamina that 
projects inwards, resembling1 the commencement of a columella, and that 
Caxyptieea, Lam. 264 
MOLLUSCA. 
interposes itself between a fold of the abdominal sac. The branchiae are 
composed of a range of numerous filaments, long and slender, like hairs. 
Siphon aria, Sowerby. 
The shell of the Siphonariae, which have been recently separated from the 
Patellae, at the first glance seems very similar to a flattened Patella, with 
radiating sulci; but its margin projects rather more on the right side, and it 
is excavated beneath by a slight furrow, which terminates at this promi- 
nence of the margin, to which there is a corresponding lateral hole in the 
mantle, for the introduction of water into the branchial cavity, placed on 
the back, that is closed on every other point. The respiratory organ con- 
sists of a few small lamella;, arranged in one transverse line on the roof of 
that cavity; the tentacula seem to be wanting, the head being merely fur- 
nished with a narrow veil. 
Sigaretus, Adans. 
The shell is flattened, its aperture ample and round, and the spire very 
moderate, its whorls rapidly enlarging and seen within, but concealed dur- 
ing the life of the animal in the thickness of a fungous shield, which projects 
considerably beyond it, as well as the foot, and which is the true mantle. 
Before this mantle are an emargination and a semi-canal, which serves to 
conduct water into the branchial cavity, and which form the passage to the 
following family, but of which there are no impressions on the shell. The 
tentacula are conical, with the eyes at their external base. 
The shell, resembling1 that of a Sigaretus, with the head and abdomen, 
which it covers, supported by a foot four times its size, cut square behind, 
and forming before a fleshy, oblong bundle that constitutes nearly one half 
of its mass. The animal has a flat head, two tentacula and a broad bran- 
chial comb on the roof of its dorsal cavity. 
Cryptostoma, Blainv. 
FAMILY III. 
BUCCINOIDA. 
This family has a spiral shell, in the aperture of which, near the 
extremity of the columella, is an emargination or a canal for trans- 
mitting the siphon or tube, which is itself but an elongated fold of 
the mantle. The greater or less length of the canal, when there is 
one, the size of the aperture, and the form of the columella, furnish 
the grounds of its division into genera, which may be variously 
grouped. GASTEROPODA PECTINIBRANCHIATA. 
265 
Conus, Lin. 
So called from the conical shape of the shell; the spire, either perfectly flat, 
or but slightly salient, forms the base of the cone, the apex being at the 
opposite extremity; the aperture is narrow, rectilinear, or nearly so, extend- 
ing from one end to the other without enlargement or fold, either on its 
edge or on the columella. The thinness of the animal is proportioned to 
the narrowness of the aperture through which it issues; its tentacula and 
proboscis are highly protractile; the eyes are placed on the outer side of the 
former, and near the point; the operculum, situated obliquely on the hind 
part of the foot, is too narrow and short to close the whole of the aperture. 
The shells of this genus, being usually ornamented with the most beauti- 
ful colours, are very common in cabinets. The seas of Europe produce 
very few. 
Lin. 
The spire projecting but little, and the aperture narrow and extending from 
one extremity to the other; but the shell, which is protuberant in the mid- 
dle, and almost equally narrowed at both ends, forms an oval, and the 
aperture in the adult animal is transversely wrinkled on each side. The 
mantle is sufficiently ample to fold over and envelope the shell, which at a 
certain age it covers with a layer of another colour. The animal has 
moderate tentacula, with the eyes at their external base, and a thin foot 
without an operculum. 
The colours of these shells, also, are extremely beautiful; they are ex- 
tremely common in cabinets, though with very few exceptions they all in- 
habit the seas of tropical countries. 
Ovula, Brug. 
The shell is oval, and the aperture narrow and long, as in Cypraea, but with- 
out plicae on the side next to the columella; the spire is concealed, and the 
two ends of the aperture equally emarginated, or equally prolonged in a 
canal. The animal has a broad foot, an extended mantle which partly folds 
over the shell, a moderate and obtuse snout, and two long tentacula, on 
which, at about the third of their length, are the eyes. 
An oblong shell, with a narrow aperture, without plicae or wrinkles, and in- 
creasing regularly in width to the end opposite the spire, which is more or 
less salient, according to the species. The animal is not known. The 
Terebellum, Lam. 
Varies as to the form of the shell and that of the aperture, but is recognized 
by the emargination without a canal which terminates it, and by the salient 
and oblique plicae of the columella. From this genus Brugieres first separa- 
ted the 
Voluta, Lin. 266 
MOLLUSCA. 
So named from the oblong and elliptical shape of the shell, the aperture 
of which is narrow, long and emarginated opposite to the spire, which is 
short; the plicae of the columella are numerous, and resemble striae; the 
whorls are sulciform. These shells are quite as beautiful as the Cyprsese. 
The animal has a large foot, the anterior part of which (before the head) 
is separated by an incision on each side; its tentacula are slender, and the 
eyes are on their side about the middle of their length. The proboscis 
and siphon are tolerably long; but it has no operculum. 
The remainder of the genus Voluta was afterwards divided into five, by 
M. de Lamarck. They are Volvaria, Voluta, Marginella, Mitra and 
Cancellaria. 
Oliva, Brug., 
This genus comprises all the shells furnished with an emargination or a 
short canal inflected to the left, and in which the columella is destitute of 
plica:. 
Brugieres has divided them into the four genera of Buccinum, Purpura, 
Cassis, and Terebra, part of which have been again subdivided by Messrs 
de Lamarck and Montfort. The 
Buocinum, Lin. 
Buccinum, Brug. 
Includes the emarginated shells without any canal, whose general form, 
as well as that of the aperture, is oval. The animals, all such as are known, 
are deprived of the veil on the head, but are furnished with a proboscis, two 
separated tentacula, on the external side of which are the eyes, and a horny 
operculum. Their siphon extends out of the shell. 
The side of the columella is covered by a more or less broad and thick 
plate, and the emargination is deep, but without a canal. The animal re- 
sembles that of a true Buccinum, and there are gradual transitions among 
the shells, from one sub genus to the other. 
Nassa, Lam. 
E burn a, Lam. 
A smooth shell without a plicate.d margin, and a widely and deeply um- 
bilicated columella. The general form of their shell js closely allied to that 
of the Oliva. Their animal is unknown. 
Ancillaria, Lara. 
The same smooth shell, and at the lower part of the columella a marked 
lip; there is no umbilicus, neither is the spire sulcated. The animal of 
several species resembles that of the Oliva:, the foot being still more de- 
veloped. GASTEROPODA PECTINIBRANCHIATA. 
267 
Those in which projecting ribs, that follow the direction of the whorls, 
render the margin undulated; the inferior whorl is ample and ventricose. 
Doeicm, Lam. 
IIaiifa, Lam. 
The Harpse are easily recognized by the projecting, transverse ribs on 
the whorls; the last of which forms a lip on the margin. The shell is beau- 
tiful, and the animal has a very large foot, pointed behind, and widened in 
its anterior portion, which is distinguished by two deep emarginations. The 
eyes are on the sides of the tentacula, and near their base. It has neither 
veil nor operculum. The 
Is known by its flattened columella, which is trenchant near the end op- 
posite to the spire, and which, with the external margin, forms a canal there, 
sunk in the shell, but not salient. The animal resembles that of a true 
Buccinum. 
The remaining subgenera are Concholepas, Cassis, Cassidaria and Terebra. 
Purpuha, Brug. 
Cerituium, Brug. 
A shell with a turriculated spire; the aperture is oval, and the canal short, 
but well marked, and reflected to the left or backwards. The animal has 
a veil on its head, and is furnished with two separated tentacula, on the 
side of which are the eyes, and with a round, horny operculum. Many are 
found fossil. 
Murex, Lin. 
This genus comprises all those shells in which there is a salient and straight 
canal. The animal of each subgenus is furnished with a proboscis, long 
approximated tentacula, on the external side of which are the eyes, and with 
a horny operculum; the veil on the head is wanting, and, the length of the 
siphon excepted, it otherwise resembles that of the Buccina. Brugiere 
divides them into genera, which have been since subdivided by Messrs La- 
marck and Montfort. The 
Mu rex, Brug. 
Includes all those which have a salient and straight canal, with varices 
across the whorls. 
Raneeea, Lam. 
Characterized by opposing- varices, so that the shell is bordered with them 
on both sides. Their canal is short, and their surface studded with mere 
tubercles; margins of the aperture plicated. The 268 
MOLLUSCA. 
Comprises all shells with a salient and straight canal, which are destitute 
of varices. 
Ftrsus, Brug- 
Turns ineela, Lam., 
Also consists of shells with a straight canal, but without varices, distin- 
guishable by the large transverse plicae on their columella, which extend 
the whole length of the aperture, and which closely approximate them to 
the conical Volute; they only differ from the latter in the elongation of 
their aperture into a sort of canal. The genus 
Includes those shells with a canal that is either straight or inflected towards 
the right, of which the external margin of the aperture dilates with age, but 
still preserves a sinus near the canal, under which passes the head of the 
animal when it extends itself. 
In most of them the sinus is at some distance from the canal. They are 
subdivided by M. de Lamarck into two subgenera, Strombus and Pte- 
BOCEHA. 
Strombus, Lin. 
ORDER VII. 
TUBIJLIBRANCHIATA. 
The Tubulibranchiata should be detached from the Pectinibran- 
chiata, with which they are very closely allied, because the shell, 
which resembles a more or less irregularly shaped tube, only spiral 
at the commencement, attaches itself to various bodies. 
A tubular shell whose whorls, at an early age, still form a kind of spire, but 
then continue on in a tube more or less irregularly contorted, or bent like 
the tubes of a Serpula. This shell usually attaches itself by interlacing with 
others of the same species, or is partly enveloped by Lithophytes: the ani- 
mal, having no power of locomotion, is deprived of a foot, properly so called; 
but the part which in ordinary Gasteropoda forms the tail, is here turned 
under it, and extends to beyond the head, where its extremity becomes in- 
flated and furnished with a thin operculum; when the animal withdraws 
into its shell, it is this mass which closes the entrance; it is sometimes seen 
with various appendages, and in certain species the operculum is spiny. 
Vermetus, Adans. GASTEROPODA TUBUGIBRANCIIIATA. 
269 
The Magili have a longitudinally carinated tube, which is at first regularly 
spiral, and then extends itself in a line more or less straight; although the 
animal is unknown, it is highly probable that it should be placed near the 
Vermeti. The 
Magilus, Montf. 
Siliquaria, Brug. 
Resembles Yermetus 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 this 
shell which follows its contour, and which corresponds to a similar cleft in 
that part of the mantle which covers the branchial cavity. Along the whole 
side of this cleft is a branchial comb, composed of numerous, loose and tab- 
ular-like lamella;. 
ORDER VIII. 
SCUTIBRANCHIATA. 
The Scutibranchiata comprise a certain number of Gasteropoda, 
similar to the Pectinibranchiata, in the form and position of the 
branchiae, as well as in the general form of the body. Their shells 
are very open, without an operculum, and most of them without the 
slightest turbination, so that they cover these animals, and particu- 
larly their branchiae, in the manner of a shield. The 
Is the only genus of this order in which the shell is turbinated; it is distin- 
guished from that kind of shell 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 tire 
true Halyotes, the sh<fll is perforated along the side of the columella by a 
series of holes; when the last hole is not terminated, it gives to that part the 
look of an emargination. The animal is one of the most highly ornamented 
of all the Gasteropoda. A double membrane, cut into leaves and furnished 
with a double range of filaments, extends, at least in the most common spe- 
cies, round the foot and on to the mouth; outside its long tentacula, are two 
cylindrical pedicles which support the eyes. The mantle is deeply cleft on 
the right side, and the water, which passes through the shell, penetrates 
through it into the branchial cavity; along its edges we observe three or 
four filaments which the animal can protrude through these holes. The 
mouth is a short proboscis. 
Halyotis, Lin. 270 
MOLLUSCA. 
In the following genera, w hich are separated from the Patella?, 
the shell is perfectly symmetrical, as is also the position of the heart 
and branchiae. In the 
Fissurella, Lam., 
We perceive a broad fleshy disk under the abdomen, as in the Patellae, a 
conical shell placed on the middle of the back, but not always completely 
covering it, and perforated at its summit by a small orifice, which affords a 
passage to the water required for respiration; this orifice penetrates into the 
cavity of the branchiae, situated on the fore part of the back; a cavity other- 
wise widely opened above the head. A branchial comb is symmetrically 
arranged on each side; the eyes are on the external base of the conical ten- 
tacula, and the sides of the foot are furnished with a range of filaments. 
There are two other genera, Emarginula and Parmophorus. 
ORDER IX. 
CYCLOBRANCHIATA. 
The branchise of the Cyclobranchiata resemble small lamella?, or 
little pyramids forming a cordon more or less complete under the 
borders of the mantle, very nearly as in the Inferobranehiata. 
Their heart varies as to situation. But two genera of this order are 
known, in both of which the shell never approaches in the least to 
the turbinated form. 
Patella, Lin 
The entire body covered with a shell, formed of a single piece, in the form 
of a broad-based cone; a cordon of little branchial lamellae under the margin 
of the mantle; the head is furnished with a thick and short snout, and two 
pointed tentacula, on the external base of w'hich are the eyes; the mouth is 
fleshy, and contains a spiny tongue, which inclines backwards, and is re- 
flected deeply in the interior of the body. 
A range of testaceous and symmetrical scales along the back of the mantle, 
but not occupying its whole breadth; edges of the mantle coriaceous, and 
furnished either with a naked skin or little scales, which give it the appear- 
ance of shagreen, or with spines, hairs, or setaceous fasciculi. Under these 
edges, on each side, is a range of lamellar, pyramidal branchiae; and before, 
a membranous veil on the mouth supplies the want of tentacula. 
Chiton, Lin. GASTEROPODA CYCLOBRANCHIATA. 
271 
A few small species are found on the coast of France; very large ones 
abound in the seas of hot climates. 
CLASS IV. 
ACEPHALA. 
The Acephala have no apparent head; but a mere mouth con- 
cealed in the bottom, or between the folds of their mantle. The 
latter is almost always doubled in two, and encloses the body as a 
book is clasped by its cover; but it frequently happens, that, in con- 
sequence of the two lobes uniting before, it forms a tube; sometimes 
it is closed at one end, and then it represents a sac. This mantle is 
generally provided with a calcareous bivalve, and sometimes multi- 
valve, shell, and in two genera only is it reduced to a cartilaginous, or 
even membranous nature. The brain is over the mouth, where we 
also find one or two other ganglia. The branchiae usually consist 
of large lamellae covered with vascular meshes, under or between 
which passes the water; they are more simple, however, in the 
genera without a shell. From these branchiae the blood proceeds 
to a heart, generally unique, which distributes it throughout the sys- 
tem, returning to the pulmonary artery without the aid of another 
ventricle. 
The mouth is always edentated, and can only receive the mole- 
cules brought to it by the water. 
All the Acephala are aquatic. 
ORDER I. 
ACEPHALA TESTACEA. 
Testaceous Acephala, or Acephala with four branchial leaflets, 
are beyond all comparison the most numerous. All the bivalves, 
and some genera of the rnultivalves belong to this order. Their 272 
MOLLUSCA. 
body, which contains the liver and viscera, is placed between the 
two laminae of the rnaRtle; forwards, and still between these laminae 
are the four branchial leaflets, transversely and regularly striated by 
the vessels: the mouth is at one extremity, and the heart towards 
the back; the foot, when it exists, is inserted between the four bran- 
chiae. On the sides of the mouth are four triangular leaflets, which 
are the extremities of the two lips, and serve as tentacula. The 
foot is a mere fleshy mass, the motions of which are effected by a 
mechanism analogous to that which acts on the tongue of the Mam- 
malia. Its muscles are attached to the bottom of the valves of the 
shell. Other muscles, which sometimes form one mass and some- 
times two, cross transversely from one valve to the other to keep 
them closed, but when the animal relaxes these muscles, an elastic 
ligament placed behind the hinge opens the valves by its contraction. 
A considerable number of bivalves are provided with what is 
termed a byssus, or a bundle of threads more or less slender, which 
issues from the base of the foot, and by which the animal adheres 
to various bodies. It uses its foot to direct the threads and to 
agglutinate their extremities; it even reproduces them when cut, 
but the nature of the production is not thoroughly ascertained, 
lleaumur considered these threads as a secretion, spun and drawn 
from the sulcus of the foot; Poli thinks they are mere prolongations 
of tendinous fibres. 
The shell consists essentially of two pieces, called valves, to which 
in certain genera are added others, connected by a hinge that is 
sometimes simple and sometimes composed of a greater or smaller 
number of teeth and plates, which are received into corresponding 
cavities. 
There is usually a projecting part near the hinge called the summit. 
Most of these shells fit closely when the animal approximates 
them, but there are several which exhibit gaping portions either be- 
fore or at the extremities. 
FAMILY I. 
OSTRACEA. 
1 he mantle is open, without tubes or any particular aperture. 
The foot is either wanting in these Mollusca or is small; they are 273 
ACEPHALA TESTACEA. 
mostly fixed by the shell or byssus to rocks and other submerged 
bodies. Those which are free, seldom move except by acting on 
the water by suddenly closing their valves. 
In the first subdivision there is nothing but a muscular mass 
reaching from one valve to the other, as seen by the single impress- 
ion left upon the shell. 
It is thought proper to class with them certain fossil shells, the 
valves of which do not even appear to have been held together by a 
ligament, but which covered each other like a vase and its cover, 
and were connected by muscles only. They form the genus 
Acarda, Brug.—Ostracita, La Peyr., 
Of which M. de Lamarck makes a family that he names Rudista. The 
shells are thick, and of a solid or porous tissue. They are now divided into 
the Badiolites, Sphaerulites, Calceola, Hippurites, Batolithes. 
As to the well known living testaceous Acephala, Linnaeus had 
united in the genus 
Ostrea, 
All those which have but a small ligament at the hinge, inserted into a little 
depression on each side, and without teeth or projecting plates. 
Ostrea, Brug. 
The true Oysters have the ligament as just described, and irregular, in- 
equivalve, and lamellated shells. They adhere to rocks, piles, and even to 
each other, by their most convex valve. 
The animal,—Peloris, Poli,—is one ofthe most simple of all the bivalves, 
possessing nothing remarkable but a double fringe round the mantle, the 
lobes of which are only united above the head, near the hinge; but there is 
no vestige of a foot. 
Pecteit, Brag. 
The Pectens, very properly separated from the Oysters by Brugieres, al- 
though they have the same kind of hinge, are easily distinguished by their 
inequivalve semi-circular shell, almost always regularly marked with ribs 
which radiate from the summit of each valve to the edge, and furnished 
with two angular productions called ears, which widen the sides of the hinge. 
The Limse differ from the Pectens in the superior length of their shell in 
a direction perpendicular to the hinge, the ears of which are shorter, and 
the sides less unequal, thus forming an oblique oval. The ribs of most of 
Lima, Brug. 274 
MOLLUSCA. 
them are relieved with scales. The Lima swim with rapidity by means of 
their valves. 
Certain fossils may be placed here which have the hinge, ligament, 
and central muscle of the Ostreas, Pectines, and Limae, but are dis- 
tinguished by some of the details of the shell. They are Hinnita, 
Plagiostoma, Pachytes, Dianchor a, and Podopsis. 
Although multivalve, we should approximate the 
Axomia, Brug. 
To the Ostreae. The Jlnomix have two thin, unequal, irregular valves, the 
flattest of which is deeply notched on the side of the ligament, which is 
similar to that of the Ostreae. The greater part of the central muscle tra- 
verses this opening to be inserted into a third plate, that is sometimes stony 
and sometimes horny, by which the animal adheres to foreign bodies, and 
the remainder of it (the muscle) serves to join one valve to the other. The 
animal,—Echiox, Poli, has a small vestige of a foot, similar to that of a 
Pecten, which slips between the emargination and the plate that closes it, 
and perhaps serves to direct water to the mouth, which is close to it. 
These shells are found attached to various bodies like the Ostreae. They 
are found in every sea. 
Placuna, Brug. 
A small genus allied to the Anomix, in which the valves are thin, unequal, 
and frequently irregular, as in the latter, but both entire. 
Spondylus, Lin. 
A rough and foliaceous shell like the Ostreae, and frequently spiny; but 
the hinge is more complex; besides the cavity for the ligament, analogous 
to that of the Ostreae, there are two teeth to each valve that enter into 
fossae in the opposite one; the two middle teeth belong to the most convex 
valve, which is usually the left one, and which has a projecting heel, flat- 
tened, as if sawed through behind the hinge. 
The Spondyli are eaten like Oysters. Their shells are frequently tinged 
with the most brilliant colours. They adhere to all sorts of bodies. 
A simple pit for the ligament as in the Ostrex, where the Mallei were left 
by Linnxus, on account of their having the same irregular and inequivalve 
shell, but distinguished by a notch on the side of this ligament for the pass- 
age of a byssus. 
The most known species, Ostrea malleus, L., which ranks among the num- 
ber of high-priced and rare shells, has the two ends of the hinge extended 
and forming something like the head of a hammer, of which the valves, 
Malleus, Lam. ACEPHALA TESTACEA. 
275 
elongated in a transverse direction, represent the handle. It inhabits the 
Archipelago of India. 
Vulsella, Lam. 
A little salient plate inside of the hinge of each side, from one of which to 
the other extends the ligament, otherwise similar to that of the Ostreae. 
By the side of this plate is a notch for the byssus, as in the Mallei. The 
shell is elongated in a direction perpendicular to the hinge. 
The most known species inhabit the Indian Ocean. 
Perna, Brug. 
Several parallel cavities across the hinge, opposed to each other in the two 
valves, and lodging as many elastic ligaments; the irregular and foliaceous 
shell marked on the anterior side and under the hinge by a notch traversed 
by the byssus. The Pernae were also left by Linnaeus among the Ostreae. 
This genus is now subdivided. 
In the second subdivision of the Ostracea, as well as in almost all 
the bivalves which follow, besides the single transverse muscular 
mass of the preceding genera, there is a fasciculus which is placed 
before the mouth, and extends from one valve to the other. It is 
apparently in this subdivision that we must place the 
Large inequivalve shells, as irregular as those of the Ostrex, and more so; 
no teeth to the hinge; the ligament partly external and partly internal. 
They differ from the Ostrex in having two muscular impressions. The ani- 
mal is not seen to produce a byssus. 
They have lately been discovered in the Upper Nile. 
Etiieria, Lam. 
An equivalve shell with a rectilinear hinge, frequently extended into wings 
by its extremities, furnished with a narrow and elongated ligament, and 
sometimes with small notches near the mouth of the animal; in the anterior 
side, a little beneath the angle of the side of the mouth, is a notch for the 
byssus. The anterior transverse muscle is excessively small. 
Mytilus margaritiferus, L., has nearly a semicircular shell, greenish with- 
out, and ornamented with the most beautiful nacre within. The latter is 
employed in the arts, and it is from the extravasation of this substance that 
are produced the oriental or fine pearls, taken by the divers at Ceylon, in 
the Persian Gulf, &c. 
Avicula, Brug. 
Pinna, Lin. 
The Pinna have two equal valves, forming a segment of a circle, or resem- 276 
MOLLUSCA. 
bling a half-opened fan, which are closely united by a ligament along one 
of their sides. The animal, the Chimera, Poli, is elongated, like its shell; 
the lips, branchiae, and other parts are in the same proportion. 
The byssus of several species of Pinna is as fine and brilliant as silk, and 
is employed in fabricating the most precious stuffs. Such is the 
P. nobilis, L., which is moreover recognized by the valves being rough- 
ened with recurved and semitabular plates. It remains half buried in the 
sand, and anchored by its byssus. In the 
The valves are equal and transverse, that is to say, the hinge occupies the 
longest side. It is furnished with a large number of small teeth, which in- 
terlock with each other, and, as in the subsequent genera, with two fasci- 
culi of transverse and nearly equal muscles, inserted into the extremities of 
the valves, which serve to close them. 
Arca, Lin. 
Trigonia, Brug. 
Remarkable for the hinge, which is furnished with two plates en chevron, 
crenulated on both faces, each of which penetrates into two cavities, or 
rather between four plates of the opposite side, similarly crenulated on their 
internal surface. 
The living Trigoniae resemble the Cardiae in the form of their shell, and 
the ribs which furrow it: its interior is composed of nacre. 
The fossil Trigoniae are different. Their shell is flattened on one side, 
oblique, longest in a direction perpendicular to tire hinge, and traversed in 
a contrary direction by series of tubercles. 
FAMILY II. 
MYTILACEA. 
In the second family of the testaceous Acephala, the mantle is 
open before. 
All these bivalves have a foot, used in crawling, or at least serv- 
ing to draw out, direct, and place the byssus. They are commonly 
known under the generic name of Muscles. 
The true Mytili or Sea-Muscles have a closed shell, with equal, convex and 
triangular valves. One of the sides of the acute angle forms the hinge, and 
is furnished with a long, narrow ligament. The head of the animal is in the 
acute angle; the other side of the shell, which is the longest, is the anterior 
one, and allows the passage of the byssus; it terminates in a rounded angle, 
Mytiliis, Lin. ACEPHALA TESTACEA. 
277 
and the third side ascends towards the hinge, to which it is joined by an 
obtuse angle. The animal—Callitiuche, Poli, has the edges of its mantle 
provided with branched tentacula near the rounded angle, as it is there that 
the water enters required for respiration. Before, and near the acute an- 
gle is a small transverse muscle, and a large one behind, near the obtuse 
angle. Its foot resembles a tongue. 
Myt. edulis, L. This common Muscle is frequently seen suspended in 
extended clusters, along the whole coast of France, to rocks, piles, &c. &c. 
It forms a considerable item of food, but is dangerous if eaten to excess. 
Some of them are found fossil. In the 
The anterior angle rounded like the posterior; the hinge of the thin and 
moderately convex shell has no appearance of a tooth whatever, being 
merely furnished with a ligament which extends along the whole of its 
length. The animal,—Ltmnjka, Poli, has no byssus; its foot, which is very 
large, compressed and quadrangular, enables it to crawl upon the sand or 
ooze. The posterior extremity of its mantle is provided with numerous 
small tentacula. The Anodontes inhabit fresh water. 
Several species are found in France, one of which—Mytilus cygneus, is 
common in ponds, &c., with oozy bottoms. Its light and thin shells are 
used for milk-skimmers, but its flesh is not eaten on account of its insipidity. 
Anodontea, Brug. 
Unio, Brug. 
These Mollusca resemble the Anodonteae both in their animal and shell, with 
the exception of their hinge, which is more complex. There is a short ca- 
vity in the anterior part of the right valve, which receives a short plate or 
tooth from the left one, and behind it is a long plate which is inserted be- 
tween two others on the opposite side. They also inhabit fresh water, pre- 
ferring running streams. 
Numerous species, remarkable for size or form, inhabit the rivers and 
lakes of the United States. Messrs Say and Barnes, who have described 
them, have established some new subgenera among them. 
There are certain Marine Mollusca which have a similar animal, and about 
the same kind of hinge, that should be placed near the Unios; the summits 
of the shell, however, are more convex, and it is marked by projecting ribs 
extending from the summits to the edge. They form the 
Cardita, Brug. 
Which are more or less oblong or codiform, the inferior margin, in some, 
gaping. 
Carditac, in which the tooth under the summit is divided into two or three. 
Their form is oblong1, and their sides unequal. 
Cypricardia, Lam. 278 
MOLLUSCA. 
M. de Blainville also separates the 
Where the shell is thin, and the lateral plate considerably effaced, which 
may cause their approximation to Venus. 
One of them is known which excavates coralline masses to form its habi- 
tation. The 
Coraleiopiiaga, Blainv. 
Venericardia, Lam. 
Only differs from the Carditae in the circumstance that the posterior plate 
of their hinge is shorter and more transverse, which caused their approxi- 
mation to Venus; their form is almost round. Judging from the impressions 
of its muscles on them, their animal must resemble that of the Carditae and 
Unios. 
Both of them approach the Cardia in their general form and the direction 
of their ribs. I suspect that this is also the place for the 
Crassatella, Lam. 
Which has sometimes been approximated to Mactra, and at others to 
Venus; the hinge has two slightly marked lateral teeth, and two very strong 
middle ones, behind which, extending to both sides, is a triangular [cavity 
for an internal ligament. The valves become very thick by age, and the 
impression made by the margin of the mantle, leads to the belief that there 
are no protractile tubes. 
FAMILY III. 
CHAMACEA. 
The mantle closed and perforated by three holes, through one of 
which passes the foot; the second furnishes an entrance and exit to 
the water requisite for respiration: the two latter are not prolonged 
into tubes as in the subsequent family. It only comprises the genus 
Ciiama, Lin., 
Where the hinge is very analogous to that of a Unio, that is to say, the left 
valve near the summit is provided with a tooth, and further back with a sa- 
lient plate, which are received into corresponding fossae of the right valve. 
This genus has necessarily been divided. In the 
The shell is greatly elongated transversely, and equivalve; the superior angle 
which answers to the head and summit, very obtuse. 
Tridacna, Brug., ACEPHALA TESTACEA. 
279 
The animal is very singular, inasmuch as it is not, like most of the others, 
placed in the shell, but is directed, or, as it were, pressed out before. The 
anterior side of the mantle is widely opened for the passage of the byssus; 
a little below the anterior angle is another opening which transmits water 
to the branchiae. 
1'here is but a single transverse muscle, corresponding to the middle of 
the margin of the valves. In Tbidacna, Lam., or the Tridacnae properly 
so called, the front of the shell as well as of the mantle has a wide opening 
with notched edges for the transmission of the byssus, which latter is evi- 
dently tendinous, andcontinues uninterruptedly with the muscular fibres. 
Such is the celebrated and enormous shell of India, the Chama gigas, L.; 
which is decorated with broad ribs relieved by projecting semi-circular 
scales. Specimens have been taken that weighed upwards of three hundred 
pounds. The tendinous byssus which attaches them to the rocks, is so thick 
and stout that the axe is required to sever it. The flesh, though tough, is 
edible. 
FAMILY IV. 
CARDIACEA. 
The mantle is open before, and there are, besides, two separate 
apertures, which are prolonged in tubes, sometimes distinct, and at 
others united in one single mass. There is always a transverse mus- 
cle at each extremity, and a foot generally used for crawling. It 
may be considered as a general rule, that those which are furnished 
with long tubes, live in ooze or in sand. This mode of organization 
may be recognized in the shell by the more or less depressed con- 
tour described by the insertion of the edges of the mantle previous to 
its uniting with the impression of the posterior transverse muscle. 
Cardium, Lin, 
The Cardia, like many other bivalves, have an equivalve, convex shell, 
with salient summits curved towards the hinge, which, when viewing it side- 
wise, gives it the figure of a heart; hence its name of Cardium, Heart, &c. 
The animal,—Cerastes, Poli,—has generally an ample aperture in the 
mantle, a very large foot forming an elbowin the middle and with its point 
directed forwards, and two short or but moderately long tubes. 
Donax, Lin. 
The Donaces have nearly the same kind of hinge as the Cardia, but their 
shell is of a very different form, being a triangle, of which the obtuse angle 
is at the summit of the valves, and the base at their edge, and of which the 280 
MOLLUSCA, 
shortest side is that of the ligament, or the posterior side, a rare circum- 
stance in this degree, among bivalves. They are generally small, and pret- 
tily striated from the summits to the edges; their animal— Poli, 
is furnished with long tubes which are received into a sinus of the mantle. 
The 
Separated from Yenus by Brugieres, like the Cardia and Donaces, has two 
teeth in the middle of the hinge, and before and behind, two salient and 
sometimes crenulated plates; but the shell, as in several species ofVenus, is 
more or less rounded, equilateral, and transversely striated. The animal 
has moderate tubes. The external tint is usually grey or greenish. The 
Cyclades inhabit fresh water. 
Cyclas, Brug. 
CoitBis, Cuv. 
Marine testaceous Acephala, transversely oblong, which have also stout 
middle teeth, and well marked lateral plates; their external surface is fur- 
nished with transverse ribs so regularly crossed by rays, that it may be com- 
pared to wicker-work. In the 
There are in the middle, one tooth on the left and two teeth on the right, 
frequently forked, and at some distance before and behind, on the right 
valve, a plate, which does not penetrate into a cavity of the opposite one. 
There is a slight plica near the posterior extremity of the two valves, which 
renders them unequal in that part, where they are somewhat open. 
The animal of the Tellinae—Peroxjea, Poli,—like that of the Donaces, 
has two long tubes, which withdraw into the shell, and are concealed in a 
duplicature of the mantle. 
Their shells are generally transversely striated, and decorated with beau- 
tiful colours. 
Tellina, Lin. 
Lucina, Brug. 
Separated lateral teeth, as in the Cardia, Cyclades, &c., that penetrate be- 
tween the plates of the other valve; in the middle are two teeth, frequently, 
but slightly apparent. The shell is orbicular, and without any impression 
of the retractor muscle of the tube; that of the anterior constrictor, however, 
is very long. 
The living species are much less numerous than those that are fossil; the 
latter are very common in the environs of Paris. 
Venus, Lin. 
This genus comprises many Testacea whose general character consists in 
the teeth and plates of the hinge being approximated under the summit, in 
a single group. They are usually more flattened and elongated, in a direc- 281 
ACEPHALA TESTACEA. 
tion parallel to the hinge, than the Cardia. The ribs, when there are any, 
are almost always parallel to the edges, being directly the reverse of their 
arrangement in the Cardia. 
The animal is always furnished with two more or less protractile tubes, 
sometimes united, and with a compressed foot, which enable it to crawl. 
This genus is now divided into Petricola, Crassina, Cytherea, Capsa, Cor- 
bula, Mactra, &c. The common Clam is a true Venus. 
FAMILY Y. 
INCLUSA. 
The mantle open at the anterior extremity, or near the middle 
only, for the passage of the foot, and extended from the other end 
into a double tube, which projects from the shell, whose extremities 
are always gaping. Nearly all of them live buried in sand, stones, 
ooze or wood. Those of the genus 
Mya, Lin., 
Have but two valves to their oblong shell, the hinge of which varies. The 
double tube forms a fleshy cylinder, and the foot is compressed. The 
different forms of the hinge have furnished Messrs Daudin, Lamarck, &c. 
with various subdivisions, Lutraria, Myaproper, Anatina, Solemya, See. 
Here also we find a group of some small and singular genera, 
such as 
Byssomia, Cuv. 
Where the oblong shell, which has no marked tooth, has the opening for 
the foot at about the middle of its edge and opposite the summits. The 
Byssomix penetrate into stone, oorals, &c. 
A species which is provided with a byssus, abounds in the Arctic Ocean. 
The shell gaping, to allow the passage of the foot, near the middle of its 
edges; but the tooth of the hinge is better marked than in the preceding 
genus. Ranges of salient spines are frequently observed on the hind part 
of the shell. They are found in sand, among Zoophytes, &c. 
Hiatella, Daud. 
Solen, Lin. 
The shell only bivalve, oblong or elongated, but the hinge always furnished 
with salient and' well marked teeth, and the ligament external. In the 
Solens properly so called, the shell is cylindrically elongated, and has two or 282 
MOLLUSCA. 
three teeth in each valve near the anterior extremity, where the foot issues. 
The latter is conical, and enables the animal to bury itself in the sand, 
which it excavates with considerable rapidity on the approach of danger. 
The Pholades have two broad valves, convex towards the mouth, narrow 
and elongated on the opposite side, and leaving a large oblique opening at 
each extremity; their hinge, like that of a true Mya, is furnished with a 
plate projecting from one valve into the other, and with an internal ligament 
running from that plate into a corresponding cavity. Their mantle is re- 
flected externally upon the hinge, where it sometimes contains two or three 
supernumerary calcareous bodies. The foot issues through the aperture 
on the side next to the mouth, where it is widest, and from the opposite one 
project the two tubes, which are united and susceptible of inflation in every 
direction. 
The Pholades inhabit canals which they excavate, some in ooze and others 
in stone, like the Lithodomi, Petricolse, &c. They are much sought for on 
account of their agreeable flavour. 
Pholas, Lin. 
Teredo, Lin. 
The mantle extended in a tube much longer than the two small, rhomboi- 
dal valves, and terminated by two short tubes, the base of which is furnish- 
ed on each side with a stony and movable kind of operculum or palette. 
These Acephala, while quite young, penetrate and establish their habita- 
tions in submerged pieces of wood, such as piles, ships’ bottoms, &.C., 
perforating and destroying them in every direction. It is thought, that 
in order to penetrate as fast as it increases in size, tire Teredo excavates the 
wood by means of its valves; but the tubes remain near the opening by 
which its entrance was effected, and through which, by the aid of its pa- 
lette, it receives water and aliment. The gallery it inhabits is lined with a 
calcareous crust which exudes from its body, and which forms a second 
kind of tubular shell for it. It is a noxious and destructive animal in the 
sea ports of Europe. 
Teredo navalis, L. This species, which is the most common, and is said 
to have been introduced into Europe from the torrid zone, has more than 
once threatened Holland with ruin by the destruction of its dikes. It is 
upwards of six inches in length and has simple palettes. 
Fistulana, Drug. 
Separated from Teredo; the external tube is entirely closed at its larger 
end, and is more or less like a bottle or club. The Fistulanae are some- 
times found buried in submerged fragments of wood or in fruits, and the 
animal, like that of a Teredo, has two small valves, and as many palettes. 
Recent specimens are only obtained from’ the Indian Ocean, but they are 
found fossil in Europe- We should approximate to them the ACEPHALA TESTACEA. 
283 
Gastroch;ena, Spengler. 
Where the shells are deprived of teeth, and their edges being wide apart 
anteriorly, leave a large oblique opening, opposite to which there is a small 
hole in the mantle for the passage of the foot. The double tube, w'hichcan 
be retraced completely within the shell, is susceptible of being greatly elon- 
gated. It appears that they are certainly furnished with a calcareous tube. 
They inhabit the interior of Madrepores, which they perforate. 
Two genera of Acephala furnished with tubes, have been de- 
tected among fossils, but the first of them, the 
Has a little cuilleron on the inside of each of its valves, and a small, free 
shield-shaped piece on the hinge. In the second, 
Teredlna, Lam., 
One of the valves is clasped by the tube, leaving the other, however, free. 
A single living species is found in the Madrepores of the Sicilian seas, which 
has been described by M. Audouin. 
Clavagella, Lam., 
Some naturalists think we should also place in this family the 
Aspergillum, Lam. 
The shell of which is formed of an elongated conical tube, closed at its 
widest extremity by a disk perforated with numerous small tubular holes; 
the little tubes of the outer range being longest, form a kind of corolla 
round it. The reason for approximating them to the Acephala with tubes 
is found in the fact that there is a double projection on one part of the cone 
which really resembles the two valves of the Acephala. The affinity be- 
tween these little tubes and those which envelope the tentacula of certain 
Terebella, formerly caused this animal to be referred to the Annulata. 
The species most known, Jlsper. javanum, is seven or eight inches in 
length. 
ORDER II. 
ACEPHALA NUDA. 
The naked Acephala are not numerous, and are sufficiently re- 
moved from the ordinary Acephala, to form a distinct class, were 
such a division considered requisite. Their branchiae assume va- 
rious forms, but are never divided into four leaflets; the shell is MOLLUSCA. 
284 
replaced by a cartilaginous substance which is sometimes so thin 
that it is as flexible as a membrane. We divide them into two 
families. 
FAMILY I. 
SEGREGATA. 
This family comprises those genera in which the individuals that 
compose them are insulated and without any mutual organic con- 
nection, although frequently living in society. In the 
Biphora, Brug.—Thalia, Brown,—Salpa and Dagysa, Gmelin. 
The mantle and its cartilaginous envelope are oval or cylindrical, and open 
at the two extremities. Muscular bands embrace the mantle and contract the 
body. The animal moves by taking in water at the posterior aperture, and 
forcing it out through that near the mouth, so that it is always propelled 
backwards, a circumstance which has led some naturalists into error by 
causing them to mistake the posterior opening for the true mouth. It usu- 
ally swims on its back. The branchiae form a single tube or riband, furnish- 
ed with regular vessels, placed obliquely in the middle of the tubular cavity 
of the mantle, in such a manner that it is constantly bathed by the water as 
it traverses that cavity. The mantle and its envelope when exposed to the 
sun exhibit the colours of the rainbow, and are so diaphanous, that the whole 
structure of the animal can be seen through them: in many they are furnish- 
ed with perforated tubercles. The animal lias been seen to come out from 
its envelope without appearing to suffer pain. 
These animals are very abundant in the Mediterranean and the warmer 
portions of the ocean, and are frequently phosphorescent. 
Ascidia, Lin.—Theyton of the Ancients. 
The mantle and its cartilaginous envelope, which is frequently very thick, 
resemble sacs everywhere closed, except at two orifices, which correspond 
to the two tubes of several bivalves. The branchiae form a large sac, at the 
bottom of which are the mouth and the visceral mass. The envelope is 
much larger than the mouth, which is fibrous and vascular, and on which, 
between the two tubes, is one of the ganglions. These animals attach 
themselves to rocks and other bodies, and are deprived of all power of lo- 
comotion; the chief sign of vitality which they exhibit, consists in the absorp- 
tion and evacuation of water through one of their orifices; when alarmed 
they eject it to a considerable distance. They abound in every sea, and 
some of them are eaten. 
Some species are remarkable for the long pedicle which supports them. ACEPHALA NUDA. 
285 
FAMILY II. 
AGGREGATA. 
The second family consists of animals more or less analogous to 
the Ascidiae, but united in a common mass, so that they seem to 
communicate organically with each other, and in this respect to 
connect the Molluscawith the Zoophytes; but independently of their 
peculiar organization, these animals, according to the observations 
of Messrs Audouin and Milne Edwards, at first live and swim sepa- 
rately, only becoming united at a certain subsequent period, a fact 
which is in direct opposition to this opinion. 
Botryllfs, Gasrt. 
An oval form, fixed on various bodies, and united by tens or twelves, like 
the rays of a star. The branchial orifices are at the external extremities of 
these rays, and the opening terminates in a common cavity, which is in the 
centre of the star. If an orifice be irritated, but a single animal contracts? 
if the centre be touched they all contract. These Very small animals at- 
tach themselves to certain Ascidije, Fuci, &c. 
In some particular species, three or four stars appeared to be piled one 
on the other. 
The Pyrosomse unite in great numbers, forming a large hollow cylinder, 
open at one end and closed at the other, which swims in the ocean by the 
alternate contraction and dilatation of the individual animals which compose 
it. The latter terminate in a point on the exterior, so that the whole ex- 
ternal surface of the tube is bristled with them,- the branchial orifices are 
pierced near these points. A Pyrosoma may thus be compared to a great 
number of stars of Botrylli strung together, the whole of which is movable. 
The Mediterranean and the Ocean produce large species, the animals of 
which are arranged with but little regularity. They exhibit a phosphores- 
cent appearance during the night. 
A smaller species is also known where the animals are arranged in very 
regular rings. 
Pyrosoma, Peron. 
The species of the remainder that are known are all fixed, and till 
now have been confounded with the Alcyonia. The visceral bundle 
of each individual is more or less extended into the common cartila- 
ginous or gelatinous mass, more or less narrowed or dilated in cer- 286 
MOLLUSCA. 
tain points; but each orifice always forms a little six-rayed star on 
the surface. We unite them all under the name of 
POLYCLINUM. 
Some of them are extended over bodies like fleshy crests. Others project 
in a conical or globular mass; or expand into a disk comparable to that of 
a flower or of an Actinia; or are elongated into cylindrical branches sup- 
ported by slender pedicles, &c.; or form parallel cylinders. 
CLASS Y. 
BRAGHIOPODA. 
The Mollusca Brachiopoda, like the Acephala, have a bilobed 
mantle which is always open. Instead of feet they are provided 
with two fleshy arms, furnished with numerous filaments, which they 
can protrude from, and draw into the shell. The mouth is between 
the base of the arms. 
All the Brachiopoda are invested with bivalve shells, fixed and 
immovable. But three genera are known. 
Lingula, Brug. 
Two equal, flat, oblong valves, the summits of which are at the extremity 
of one of the narrow sides, gaping at the other end, and attached between 
the two summits to a fleshy pedicle, which suspends them to the rocks; the 
arms become spirally convoluted previously to entering the shell. It ap- 
pears that the branchiae consist of small leaflets, disposed around the inter- 
nal face of each lobe of the mantle. 
But a single species, Lingula anatina, Cuv., is known. It inhabits the 
Indian Ocean, and has thin, horny and greenish valves. 
Terebratula, Brug. 
Two unequal valves united by a hinge; the summit of one, more salient than 
the other, is perforated to permit the passage of a fleshy pedicle which at- 
taches the shell to rocks, madrepores, other shells, &c. Internally, a small 
bony piece of frame-work is observed, that is sometimes very complex, 
composed of two branches which articulate with the unperforated valve and 
that support two arms edged all round with a long, close fringe, between 
which, on the side next to the large valve, is a third, simply membranous 287 
BRACHIOPODA 
and much longer appendage, usually spirally convoluted, and edged, like 
the arms, with a fine andulose fringe. The mouth is a small vertical fiss- 
ure between these three large appendages. The principal part of the 
body, situated near the hinge, contains the numerous muscles which reach 
from one valve to the other, and between them are the viscera, which oc- 
cupy but little space. 
Numberless Terebratulse are found fossil or petrified, in certain secondary 
strata of ancient formations. The living species are less numerous. 
The shell of some is transversely broader or longer, in a direction per- 
pendicular to the hinge, with an entire or emarginated contour, with two 
or several lobes; some of them are even triangular; the surface is smooth, 
sulcated in radii, or veined; they are thick or thin, and even diaphanous. 
In several of them, in lieu of the hole in the summit of the thin valve, there 
is a notch, and this notch is sometimes partly formed by two accessory pie- 
ces, &c. It is probable that when better known their animals will present 
generic differences. Already in the 
Two large cones have been recognized, formed of a spiral thread, which 
appear to have supported the animal. In 
Spibifeb, Sowerby, 
Thecidea, Def. 
The pedicle seems to have been incorporated with the small valve. 
he Orbiculx have two unequal valves, one of which, that is round and coni- 
cal when viewed by itself, resembles the shell of a Patella; the other is flat 
and fixed to a rock. The arms of the animal,—Criopus, Poli,—are ciliated 
and spirally recurved like that of the Lingulae. 
Oruioula, Cuv. 
C rani a, Brug. 
Should be approximated to the Orbiculx. The arms of the animal are 
also ciliated, but the shells have deep and round internal muscular impress- 
ions, that have caused it to be compared to the figure of a skull. 
One of them inhabits European seas; JLnomia craniolaris, L. Several are 
fossil; such as the Cran. antiqua, and the others of which M. Haeninghaus 
has given an excellent Monograph. 288 
MOLLUSCA. 
CLASS VI. 
CIRRHOPODA. 
[Lepas and Triton, Lin."| 
The Cirrhopoda, in several points of view, are intermediate be- 
tween this division and that of the Articulata. Enveloped by a 
mantle, and testaceous pieces which frequently resemble those seen 
in several of the Acephala, their mouths are furnished with lateral 
jaws, and the abdomen with filaments named cirri, arranged in pairs, 
composed of a multitude of little ciliated articulations, and corres- 
ponding to a sort of feet or fins similar to those observed under the 
tail of several of the Crustacea. Their heart is situated in the dor- 
sal region, and the branchiae on the sides; the nervous system forms 
a series of ganglions on the abdomen. These cirri, however, may 
be considered as analogous to the articulated appendages of certain 
species of Teredo, while the ganglions in some respects are mere 
repetitions of the posterior ganglion of the bivalves. The position 
of these animals in the shell is such, that the mouth is at the bottom 
and the cirri near the orifice. These animals are always fixed. 
Linnaeus comprised them all in one genus, Lepas, which Bru- 
gieres divided into two, that have in their turn been subdivided. 
Anatifa, Brug. 
A compressed mantle, open on one side and suspended to a fleshy tube, va- 
rying greatly as to the number of testaceous pieces with which it is furnish- 
ed; twelve pair of cirri, six on each side, those nearest to the mouth being 
the thickest and shortest. The branchiae are elongated pyramidal appen- 
dages that adhere to the external base of the whole of the cirri, or of part 
of them. 
The two principal valves, of the most numerous species (Pentalasmis, 
Leach), resemble those of a Mytilus. The Anatifae adhere to rocks, piles, 
keels of vessels, &.c. 
Balanus, Brug. 
The principal part of the shell of the Balani consists of a testaceous tube CIRRHOPODA. 
289 
attached to various bodies, the aperture of which is more or less closed by- 
two or four valves. This tube is formed of various pieces, which appear 
to be detached, and separated in proportion as the growth of the animal 
requires it. The branchise, mouth, articulated tentacula, and the tube, 
differ but little from those of the Anatifx. In Balaxus properly so called, 
the tubular portion is a truncated cone formed of six projecting pieces, 
separated by as many depressed ones, three of which are narrower than 
the others. Their base is usually formed of a calcareous lamina, and fixed to 
various bodies. The four valves of their operculum close the orifice exactly. 
The rocks, shells, &c., on the coast of Europe, are, in a manner, covered 
with a species of Balanus, the Lepas balanus, L. 
Naturalists have separated the Acastae, most of which are found in sponge, 
the Coniae, Blainv., the Asemae, Ranzani, the Pyrgomae, Savigny, the Octho- 
size, Ranzani, the Creusiae, Leach, and the Diadema, Ranz. 290 
THIRD GREAT DIVISION OF THE ANIMAL 
KINGDOM. 
ANIMALIA ARTICULATA. 
This third general form is as well characterised as that of the 
Vertebrata; the skeleton is not internal as in the latter, neither is it 
annihilated as in the Mollusca, the articulated rings which encir- 
cle the body, and frequently the limbs, supply the place of it, and 
as they are usually hard, they furnish to the powers of motion all 
requisite points of support, so that here, as among the Vertebrata, 
we find the walk, the run, the leap, natation and flight. Those fa- 
milies only are restricted to reptation which are either deprived of 
feet, or in which the articulations are membranous and soft. This 
external position of the hard parts, and the internal one of the mus- 
cles, reduce each articulation to the form of a sheath, and allow it 
but two kinds of motion. When connected with the neighbouring 
parts by a firm joint, as happens in the limbs, it is fixed there by two 
points, and can only move by gynglymus, that is, in one single 
plane, a disposition which requires a greater number of joints to 
produce a same variety of motion. A greater loss of muscular 
power is also the result, and consequently more general weakness 
in each animal, in proportion to its size. 
But the parts which compose the body are not always articulated 
in this way; most generally they are only united by flexible mem- 
branes, or they fit into each other, and then their motions are more 
various, but have not the same force. ARTICULATA. 
291 
The system of organs in which the Articulata resemble each other 
the most, is that of the nerves. 
Their brain, which is placed on the oesophagus, and furnishes 
nerves to the parts adhering to the head, is very small. Two cords 
which embrace the oesophagus are extended along the abdomen, 
and united at certain distances by double knots or ganglia, whence 
arise the nerves of the body and limbs. Each of these ganglia 
seems to fulfil the functions of a brain to the surrounding parts, and 
to preserve their sensibility for a certain length of time, when the 
animal has been divided. If to this we add, that the jaws of these 
animals, when they have any, are always lateral and move from 
without inwardly, and not from above downwards, and that no dis- 
tinct organ of smell has hitherto been discovered in them, we shall 
have expressed all that can be said of them in general. The exis- 
tence however of the organs of hearing, the existence, number and 
form of those of sight, the kind of respiration, the existence of the 
organs of circulation, and even the colour of the blood present great 
differences, which must be noticed in the various subdivisions. 
Distribution of the Articulata into four Classes. 
The Articulata, whose mutual relations are as varied as numer- 
ous, present however four principal forms, either internal or ex- 
ternal. 
The Annulata, Lam., or Red-blooded Worms, Cuv., consti- 
tute the first. Their blood, which is generally red, like that of the 
Yertebrata, circulates in a double and closed system of arteries and 
veins, sometimes furnished with one or several visible hearts or 
fleshy ventricles. Respiration is performed in organs which are 
sometimes developed externally, and at others remain on the surface 
of the skin or dip into its interior. Their body, more or less elon- 
gated, is always divided into numerous rings, the first of which, 
called the head, scarcely differs from the rest, except in the presence 
of the mouth and the principal organs of the senses. The branchiae 
of several are uniformly distributed along their body or on its mid- 
dle; in others, which are generally those that inhabit tubes, they are 
all placed anteriorly. They never have articulated feet, but most 
of them, in lieu thereof, are furnished with setae or fasciculi of stiff 
and movable hairs. The organs of their mouth sometimes consist 292 
ARTICULATA. 
of jaws, more or less strong, and at others of a simple tube, those of 
the external senses in fleshy and sometimes articulated tentacula, 
and in certain blackish points, considered as eyes, but which do not 
exist in all the species. 
The Crustacea, constitute the second form or class of articula- 
ted animals. They are provided with articulated and more or less 
complex limbs, attached to the sides of the body. Their blood is 
white: it circulates by means of a fleshy ventricle placed in the back, 
which receives it from the branchiae, situated on the sides of the 
body, or under its posterior portion, and to which it returns by a 
ventral and sometimes double canal. In the last or lower species, 
the heart or dorsal ventricle is itself extended into a tube. They 
all have antennae or articulated filaments inserted in the fore-part of 
the head, usually four in number, several transverse jaws and two 
compound eyes. A distinct ear is only to be found in some species. 
The Arachnides form the third class of the Articulata. Their 
head and thorax, as in many of the Crustacea, are united in one 
single piece, furnished, on each side, with articulated limbs; but 
their principal viscera are inclosed in an abdomen connected to the 
posterior portion of that thorax. Their mouth is armed with jaws, 
and their head furnished with ocelli, that vary as to number, but 
the antennas are always wanting. Thgir circulation is effected by 
a dorsal vessel, which gives off arterial branches, and receives venous 
ones from them; but their mode of respiration varies, some of them 
still having true pulmonary organs which open on the sides of the 
abdomen, while others receive air by tracheae, like Insects. In both 
of them, however, we observe lateral openings or true stigmata. 
The Insecta constitute the fourth class of the Articulata, and 
the most numerous of all the animal kingdom. With the exception 
of some genera, the Myriapoda, in which the body is divided into 
numerous and nearly equal parts, it is always divided into three por- 
tions: the head, furnished with the antennae, eyes and mouth; the 
thorax, to which are appended the feet and wings, when they exist; 
and the abdomen* which is suspended behind the thorax and contains 
the principal viscera. Those which have wings only receive them at 
a certain age, and frequently pass through two more or less different 
forms before they assume that of the winged insect. In all their 
states they respire by tracheae; that is, by elastic vessels which re- 
ceive air through stigmata pierced on their sides, and distribute it ARTICULATA. 
293 
by infinite ramifications to every part of the body. A vestige only 
of a heart is perceptible, consisting of a dorsal vessel which experi- 
ences an alternate contraction and dilatation, but to which no branch 
has ever been discovered, so that we are forced to believe that nu- 
trition is effected in this class of animals by imbibition. It is, pro- 
bably, this sort of nutrition which necessitated the kind of respiration 
proper to Insects; for as the nutritive fluid is not contained in vess- 
els, and could not be directed towards pulmonary organs in search 
of air, it was requisite that this air should be diffused throughout 
the body to reach the fluid. This is also the reason why Insects 
have no secretory glands, but are provided with mere spongy vess- 
els, which, by the extent of their surface, appear to absorb the pe- 
culiar juices they are to produce, from the mass of the nutritive fluid. 
Insects vary infinitely as to the form of the organs of the mouth, 
and those of digestion, as well as in their industry and mode of life. 
The Crustacea and Arachnides were long united with the Insecta 
under one common name, and resemble them in many points of 
their external form, in the disposition of their organs of motion, and 
of the sensations, and even in those of manducation. 
CLASS I. 
ANNULATA. 
The Annulata are the only invertebrate animals that have red 
blood. It circulates in a double system of complicated vessels. 
Their nervous system consists in a double knotted cord, like that 
of Insects. 
Their body is soft, more or less elongated, and divided frequently 
into a considerable number of segments, or at least of transverse 
plicae. 
They nearly all inhabit the water—the Lumbrici or Earth-w'orms 
excepted; several penetrate into holes at the bottom, or construct 
tubes there with the ooze or other matters, or even exude a calca- 
reous substance, which envelopes them with a sort of tubular shell. 294 
ANNULATA. 
Division of the Annulata into three Orders. 
i 
This class, which contains but few species, presents a sufficient 
basis of division in its organs of respiration. 
The branchiae of some resemble tufts or arbusculae, attached to 
the head or anterior part of the body: they, nearly all, inhabit tubes. 
We will call them the Tubicola. 
Those of others resemble trees, tufts, laminae or tubercles in 
which vessels ramify, and are placed on the middle of the body: 
most of them inhabit mud or swim in the ocean, the smaller por- 
tion being furnished with tubes. We name them the Dorsibran- 
CHIATA. 
Others again have no apparent branchiae, and respire, either by 
the surface of the skin, or as some authors opine, by the internal 
cavities. Most of them live free in mud or water; some of them 
only, in humid earth. They are the Abranchiata. 
The genera of the first two orders are all furnished with stiff setae, 
of a metallic colour, that issue from their sides, sometimes simply, 
and at others in fasciculi, which serve in lieu of feet; but there are 
some genera in the third order which are deprived of that support. 
The head of the Annulata of the two first orders is generally fur- 
nished with tentacula or filaments, to which, notwithstanding their 
fleshy nature, some modern naturalists give the name of antennae; 
and several genera of the second and third are marked with black 
and shining points, usually considered as eyes. The organization 
of their mouth varies greatly. 
ORDER I. 
TUBICOLA. 
Some of the Tubicola form a calcareous, homogeneous tube, pro- 
bably the result of transudation, like the shell of the Mollusca, with 
which however they have no muscular adhesion; others construct 
one by agglutinating grains of sand, fragments of shells and particles 
of mud, by means of a membrane, also unquestionably transuded; TUBICOLA. 
295 
the tube of others again is entirely membranous or horny. To the 
first belongs the genus 
The calcareous tubes of the Serpulae twine round and cover stones, shells, 
and all submarine bodies. The section of these tubes is sometimes round, 
and sometimes angular, according to the species. 
The body of the animal is composed of numerous segments; its anterior 
portion is spread into a disk, armed on'each side with several bundles of 
coarse hairs, and on each side of its mouth is a tuft of branchiae, shaped like 
a fan, and usually tinged with bright colours. At the base of each tuft is a 
fleshy filament, one of which, either on the right or left, indifferently, is 
always elongated, and dilated at its extremity into a variously formed disk 
which serves as an operculum, and seals up the orifice of the tube when the 
animal has withdrawn into it. 
Serp. contortuplicata. The most common species; its tubes are round, 
three lines in diameter, and twisted. The operculum is infundibuliform, 
and the branchiae are frequently of a beautiful red colour, or variegated 
with yellow, violet, &c. Vases or other objects thrown into the sea are soon 
covered by its tubes. 
Seepela, Lin. 
Sabella, Cuv. 
The same kind of body, and similar flabelliform branchiae, as the Serpulae; 
but the two fleshy filaments adhering- to these branchiae both terminate in 
a point, and without forming an operculum; sometimes they are even want- 
ing. The tube of the Sabellae is most commonly composed of granules of 
clay or mud, and is rarely calcareous. 
The species known are large, and their fan-like branchiae remarkable for 
their delicacy and brilliancy. 
Sab. protula, Cuv. A large and splendid species inhabiting the Mediter- 
ranean. Its tube is calcareous like that of the Serpulae, its branchiae orange 
coloured, &c. 
Teeebella, Cuv. 
The Terebellae, like most of the Sabellae, inhabit an artificial tube, but it is 
composed of grains of sand and fragments of shells; their body, moreover, has 
fewer rings, and their head is otherwise decorated. Numerous filiform and 
extremely extensible tentacula surround their mouth; their branchise, placed 
on the neck, are not infundibuliform, but resemble arbusculae. 
Amphitkite, Cuv. 
The Jlmphitrites are easily recognized by the golden coloured setae, arranged 
like a crown, or the teeth of a comb, in one or two rows, on the anterior 
part of their head, where they probably serve as a means of defence, or 
perhaps enable the animal to crawl, or to collect the materials of its tube. 296 
ANNULATA. 
Numerous tentacula encircle the mouth, and on each side of the fore part 
of the back are pectiniform branchiae. 
Some of them construct light tubes of a regularly conical figure, which 
they carry about with them. Their gilded setae form two combs, whose 
teeth incline downwards. Their capacious and frequently flexed intestine 
is usually filled with sand. 
On the superior part of each articulation, is inserted a fasciculus of fine setae, 
and on the inferior a simple seta, and on the anterior extremity two fasci- 
culi of strong golden coloured setae. Under these setaceous appendages 
is the mouth, preceded by a sucker surrounded by numerous soft filaments, 
which may very possibly be branchiae, and accompanied by two fleshy ten- 
tacula. The knotted medullary cord is seen through the skin. They live 
buried in mud. Hitherto, the genus 
Svphostoma, Otto. 
Dentalium, Lin. 
Has always been placed in this vicinity. The shell is an elongated, arcua- 
ted cone open at both ends, and has been compared to the tusk of an ele- 
phant in miniature. The recent observations of M. Savigny and those of 
M. Deshayes especially, have, however, rendered this classification ex- 
tremely doubtful. 
ORDER II. 
DORSIBRANCHIATA. 
The organs of the Dorsibranchiata, and the branchias in particu- 
lar, are equally distributed along the whole of the body, or at least 
of its middle portion. 
At the head of the order we will place those genera in which the 
organs are most completely developed. 
Branchiae, resembling1 small trees, on the rings of the middle part of the 
body only; the mouth, a fleshy and more or less dilatable proboscis, and 
neither teeth, tentacula, nor eyes visible. The posterior extremity not only 
wants the branchiae, but the setaceous fasciculi with which the rest of the 
body is furnished; the cirri totally deficient. 
Arm. piscatorum, Lam. Very common in the sand on the sea shore, 
where it is disinterred by the fishermen, who use it as bait. It is about a 
Arenicola, Lam. DORS1BRANCHIATA. 
297 
foot long, of a reddish colour, and diffuses an abundant yellowish liquid 
when touched. It has thirteen pairs of branchiae. 
A pair of more or less complex, tufted or plumose branchiae on each ring of 
the body, and to each of the feet two fasciculi of separate setae, and two 
cirri; no jaws to the proboscis. The Amphinomes are divided by M. Sa- 
vigny into Cheoeia, Peeione, Ecphrosine and Hipponoe. 
Amphinome, Brug. 
Eunice, Cuv. 
The branchiae are also plumose, but the proboscis is well armed with three 
pairs of differently formed horny jaws; each foot is furnished with two cirri 
and a bundle of sets, there are five tentacula above the mouth and two on 
the nape. In some species only do we find two small eyes. 
Eun. gigantea, Cuv. The largest of the known Annulata, being upwards 
of four feet in length. From the sea of the Antilles. 
After these genera with complex branchiae, we may place those 
where they are reduced to simple laminas or slight tubercles, or in 
which they are even replaced by cirri. 
Some of them are still allied to the Eunices, by the strong arma- 
ture of their proboscis, and their azygous antennas. Such is the 
Lysidice, Sav. 
Where, with jaws similar to those of the Eunices, and even more nume- 
rous and frequently azygous, the only branchiae consist of three tentacula 
and the cirri. 
The jaws of the Aglaurae are also numerous and azygous, consisting of 
seven, nine, &c.; but their tentacula are either wanting or completely con- 
cealed; the branchiae are also reduced to cirri. 
Aglaura, Sav. 
Nereis, Cuv. 
The true Nereides have an even number of tentacula, attached to the sides of 
the base of the head, and a little further forwards two others that are biarti- 
culate, between which are two simple ones. Their branchiae consist of small 
laminae between which is spread a net-work of vessels; each foot is also 
furnished with two tubercles, two fasciculi of setae, one cirrus above, and an- 
other beneath. 
In the vicinity of these Nereides are grouped several genera in 
which ihe body is also slender, and the branchiae are reduced to 298 
ANNULATA. 
simple laminae, or even simple filaments or tubercles. The jaws or 
tentacula are wanting in some of them. 
Phyelodoce, Sav. 
The Phyllodoces, like the true Nereides, have an even number of tenta- 
cula on the sides of the head, and four or five small additional ones before. 
They are furnished with eyes; their large proboscis, which is studded with 
a circle of very short fleshy tubercles, presents no jaws, and, what particu- 
larly distinguishes them, their branchiae resemble broad leaves, arranged in 
a single row on each side of the body, and overlapping each other; finely 
ramified vessels are distributed over them. 
Axciopa, Aud. and M. Edw. 
The mouth and tentacula nearly similar to those of the Phyllodoces; but 
the feet, independently of the tubercle which supports the setae and the 
two foliaceous cirri or branchiae, are furnished with two branchial tubercles 
which occupy their superior and inferior edges. 
The body slender; two very long tentacula which have the appearance of 
antennae; eyes in the head and on each side of every segment of the body; 
branchiae in the form of a simple filament. They are small worms from the 
Arctic Ocean that inhabit membranous tubes. 
Sno, Fab. and Gtn. 
Syeeis, Sav. 
An odd number of tentacula articulated like the beads of a rosary, as well 
as the superior cirri of the feet, which are simple and have but a single bun- 
dle of setae. It appears that there is some variety relative to the existence 
of the jaws. 
Geycera, Sav. 
The Glyceras are recognized by their head, which is a fleshy and conical 
point, resembling a small horn, and divided at the summit into four 
scarcely visible tentacula. The proboscis of some still presents jaws; in 
others, they are said to be imperceptible. 
The proboscis of the Phyllodoces, but no tentacula; two bundles of widely 
separated setae on each foot, between which is a cirrus. 
Nefhthys, Cuv. 
The tentacula wanting; but a single small forked tubercle, from which issues 
a little bundle of setae, on each articulation of the elongated body. If there 
be any external organ of respiration, it can only consist of an upper lobe of 
this tubercle. 
Lumbrinera, Blainv. DORSIBRANCHIATA. 
299 
The teeth and tentacula wanting; two ranges of lamellated cirri on the 
back of the elongated body; anterior feet furnished with notched crests not 
found on the others. 
Aricia, Sav. 
Hesioxe, Lam. 
A short thick body composed of but few and feebly marked rings; a very 
long cirrus, that probably exercises the functions of branchiae, on the top 
of each foot, which has another beneath with a bundle of setae; a large pro- 
boscis with neither tentacula nor jaws. 
Several species are found in the Mediterranean. 
Ophelina, Sav. 
The body thick and short, with feebly marked rings and scarcely visible 
setae; long cirri in lieu of branchiae on two thirds of its length; palate of the 
mouth with a dentated crest; the lips surrounded with tentacula, of which 
the two superior are the largest. 
The branchiae consisting of a very long filament; two small bundles of setae 
to each of the articulations of the body, which are numerous and compact; 
a series of long filaments round the nape. The slightly marked head has 
neither tentacula nor jaws. 
Cirriiatulus, Lam. 
Palmyra, Sav. 
The Palmyrse are recognized by their superior fasciculi, the setae of which 
are large, flattened, flabelliform, and glisten like highly polished gold; their 
inferior fasciculi are small; their cirri and branchiae feebly marked. They 
have an elongated body, two extended tentacula, and three very small ones. 
Palm, aurifera, Sav. The only species known; it is from one to two 
inches in length, and is found at the Isle of France. 
This genus is easily known by the two longitudinal ranges of broad mem- 
branous scales that cover the back, to which, through a very groundless 
assimilation, the name of elytra has been given, and under which, their bran- 
chiae, in the form of fleshy crests, are concealed. 
Their body is usually flattened, and shorter and broader than in the other 
Annulata. Their extremely thick and muscular oesophagus is susceptible 
of being protruded like a proboscis. M. Savigny distinguishes 
Aphrodita, Lin. 
Where there are three tentacula, a small crest between two of them, and 
where the jaws are wanting’. 
A species is found on the coast of France, which, with respect to its co- 
Haeithea, Sav. 300 
ANNULATA. 
louring, is one of the most splendid of all animals—the Aphrodita aculeata, 
L. It is oval, from six to eight inches in length, and from two to three in 
breadth. The scales on its back are covered and concealed by a sort of stuff 
resembling tow, which arises from the sides. From the latter also spring 
groups of stout spines, which partly transfix the tow, and fasciculi of flexu- 
ous setae of a splendid golden colour, whose changeable tints rival those of 
the rainbow. They are not inferior in beauty to the plumage of the Hum- 
mingbird, or to the lustre of the richest gems. Further down is a tubercle 
from which arise three groups of spines, of as many different diameters, and 
finally, a fleshy cone. There are forty of these tubercles on each side, and 
between the two first are two small fleshy tentacula. There are fifteen 
pairs of wide, and sometimes inflated scales on the back, and fifteen small 
branchial crests on each side. 
Poitnoe, Sav. 
Where there is none of this tow on the back; they have five tentacula, 
and their proboscis is furnished with strong and horny jaws. 
This is the only situation we can assign to a new and very singu- 
lar genus which I call 
Chaetopterus, Cuv. 
The mouth has neither jaws nor proboscis, and is furnished above with a 
lip to which are attached two tentacula. Next comes a disk with nine pairs 
of feet, followed by a pair of long silky fasciculi resembling wings. The 
lamellated branchiae are rather beneath the body than above it, and extend 
along its middle. 
Chsetopterus pergamentaceus, Cuv. This species, which is found at the 
Antilles, is from eight to ten inches in length, and inhabits a tube resemb- 
ling parchment. 
ORDER III. 
ABRANCHIATA. 
The Abranchiata have no apparent external organ of respiration 
whatever, and appear to respire, some, like the Lumbrici, by the 
entire surface of the skin, and others, like the Hirudines, by internal 
cavities. They have a closed circulating system, usually filled with 
red blood, and, like all the Annulata, a knotted nervous cord. 
Some are also provided with setae which enable them to crawl, and ABRANG HI ATA. 
301 
others are deprived of them. This has caused their division into 
two families. 
FAMILY I. 
ABR AN CHI AT A SETIGERA. 
This first family comprises the Lumbrici and Naides of Linnseus. 
Lumbrictjs, Lin. 
The Earth-worms, as they are commonly called, characterized by a long, 
cylindrical body, divided by rugae into a great number of rings, and by an 
edentated mouth, necessarily required to be subdivided. 
Ltjmbricus, Cuv. 
Eyes, tentacula, branchiae and cirri, all wanting. The nervous cord is no- 
thing more than a crowded suite of numerous little ganglia. 
Every one knows the Common Earth-worm—Lumbricus terrestris, L.— 
with a reddish body, that attains nearly a foot in length, and which is com- 
posed of upwards of one hundred and twenty rings. Under the sixteenth 
ring are two pores, the use of which is unknown. 
This animal traverses the soil in every direction, and swallows a quantity 
of earth. It also eats roots, ligneous fibres, animal fragments, &c. 
The Naides have an elongated body, the rings of which are less distinct than 
in the Lumbrici. They inhabit holes made by them in the ooze, from which 
one half of their body projects and is constantly in motion. Black points 
are observed on the head of some of them, which may be taken for eyes. 
They are small worms, whose power of reproduction is as astonishing as 
that of the Hydrae. Several species are found in the rivers, &c. of France. 
Nais, Lin. 
Climena, Sav. 
The Clymenae also appear to belong to this family. Their thick body has 
but few rings, which are mostly furnished with stout setae; a little higher, 
and near the back, is a bundle of finer ones. There are neither tentacula 
nor appendages to the head. Their posterior extremity is truncated and 
radiated. They inhabit tubes. 302 
ANNULATA. 
FAMILY II. 
ABRANCHIATA ASETIGERA. 
The second family consists of two great genera, both of which 
are aquatic. 
Hirudo, Lin. 
Leeches have an oblong, sometimes depressed, transversely plicated body; 
the mouth is encircled by a lip, and the posterior extremity furnished with 
a flattened disk, both of which are well adapted for adhering to bodies by 
a sort of suction, and are the principal organs of locomotion possessed by 
these animals; for after extending itself, the Leech fixes its anterior extre- 
mity and approximates the other, which in its turn adheres, to allow the for- 
mer to be carried forward. In several we observe on the under part of the 
body two series of pores, the orifices of as many small internal pouches, 
considered by some naturalists as organs of respiration, although they are 
usually filled with a mucous fluid. The intestinal canal is straight, inflated 
from space to space for two-thirds of its length, where there are two caeca. 
The blood swallowed is preserved there, red and unchanged, for several 
weeks. 
Several of them form their eggs into a cocoon, and envelope them with 
a fibrous excretion. 
They have been subdivided from characters principally drawn from the 
organs of their mouth. In the 
Or the Leech properly so called, the superior lip of the anterior cup or 
sucker is divided into several segments; the aperture is transverse and con- 
tains three jaws, each edge of which is armed with two rows of very fine 
teeth, which enables it to penetrate’ through the skin without causing 
a dangerous wound. It is marked with ten small points, considered as eyes. 
We all know the medicinal or Common Leech—Ilirudo medicinalis, L., 
that useful instrument for the local abstraction of blood. It is usually 
blackish, with yellowish streaks above, and yellowish with black spots be- 
neath. It is found in all stagnant waters. The remaining divisions are 
Haemopsis (The Horse Leech), Bdella, Nephelis, &c. &c. 
Sanguisuga, Sav. 
Gordius, Lin. 
The body resembling a thread, the only mark of the articulations being 
slight,transverse plicae; it has neither feet, branchiae, nor tentacula. Inter- 
nally, however, a nervous system is perceptible in a knotted cord. Perhaps 
it will be necessary in the end to place them among the cavitary Intestina, 
like the Nemertes. ABRANCHIATA. 
303 
They live in fresh water, in the mud, and in inundated grounds which 
they perforate in every direction. 
The different species are not yet well distinguished; the most common, 
Gordius aquations, L., is several inches in length, almost as fine as a hair, 
and brown, with blackish extremities. 
CRUSTACEA, ARACHNIDES, AND INSECTA: 
OR ARTICULATED ANIMALS WITH ARTICULATED FEET. 
These last three classes of the Articulata, which were united by 
Linnaeus under the general name of Insecta, are distinguished by at 
least six articulated feet. Each articulation is tubular, and contains 
the muscles of the succeeding one, which always moves by gyngly- 
mus, that is, in but one direction. 
The first articulation, w’hich attaches the foot to the body, and 
which is composed of two pieces, is called the coxa, or hip; the 
following one which is, usually, nearly in a horizontal position, the 
femur, or thigh; and the third, generally vertical, the tibia or leg. 
To these ensues a suite of small ones which touch the ground, form- 
ing the true foot, or what is denominated the tarsus. 
The hardness of the calcareous or horny envelope of the greater 
number of these animals, is owing to that of the excretion which is 
interposed between the dermis and epidermis, or what is termed in 
man the mucous tissue. This excretion also contains the bril- 
liant and varied colours with which they are so often decorated. 
They are always furnished with eyes, which are of two kinds: 
simple eyes or ocelli, which resemble a very minute lens, generally 
three in number, and arranged in a triangle on the summit of the 
head; and compound eyes, where the surface is divided into an in- 
finitude of different lenses called facets, to each of which there is a 
corresponding filament of the optic nerve. These two kinds may 
be either united or separated according to the genus. 
Other organs w'hich for the first time are here presented to us, 
and which are found in two of these classes (the Crustacea and the 
Insecta), the antennas, are articulated filaments, varying greatly in 304 
CRUSTACEA, ARACHNIDES, INSECTA. 
form, and frequently according to the sex, attached to the head, ap- 
pearing to be peculiarly devoted to a delicate sense of touch, and 
perhaps to some other kind of sensation of which we have no idea, 
but which may refer to the state of the atmosphere. 
These animals enjoy the sense of smell and that of hearing. Some 
authors place the seat of the first in the antennae, others, in the ori- 
fices of the tracheae, and Marcel de Serres, &c. in the palpi; neither 
of these opinions, however, is corroborated by positive and conclu- 
sive facts. As to the second, it is only in the Crustacea Decapoda 
and some few of the Orthoptera, that we can find a visible ear. 
The mouth of these animals presents a great analogy, which ex- 
tends to those which can only feed by the suction of liquid aliment. 
Those called Tritores or Grinders (broyeurs), on account of their 
having jaws fitted for triturating their food, always present them in 
lateral pairs, placed one before the other; the anterior pair are es- 
pecially called mandibles; the pieces which cover them before and 
behind are named labia:, and the front one, in particular, labrum. 
The palpi are articulated filaments attached to the jaws or to the 
lower lip, and appear to be employed by the animal in recognizing 
its food. The form of these various organs determines the nature 
of the regimen with as much precision as the teeth of quadrupeds. 
The ligula, or tongue, commonly adheres to the lower lip. Some- 
times, in the Bees and other Hymenopterous Insects, it is consider- 
ably elongated, as are also the jaws, forming a sort of false probos- 
cis ( promuscis) at the base of which is the pharynx, and frequently 
covered by a sort of sub-labrum, styled by M. Savigny the epipha- 
rynx. At other times, in the Hemiptera and Diptera, the mandi- 
bles and maxillae are replaced by scaly pieces in the form of setae, 
which are received in an elongated tubular sheath, that is either 
cylindrical and articulated, or formed with more less of an elbow, 
and terminated by a kind of lips. In this case they constitute a true 
proboscis. In others that also live by suction, the Lepidoptera, the 
maxillae alone are greatly elongated and united, producing a tubular 
setiform body, resembling a long, slender, and spiral tongue; the 
remaining parts of the mouth are considerably reduced. Sometimes 
again, as in many of the Crustacea, the anterior feet approach the 
maxillae, assume their form, and exercise part of their functions—the 
latter are then said to be multiplied. It may even happen that the 
true maxillae become so much reduced, that the maxillary feet sup- CRUSTACEA, ARACHNIDES, INSECTA. 
305 
ply their place in toto. Whatever be the modifications of these 
parts, however, they can always be recognized and referred to a 
general type. 
CLASS I. 
CRUSTACEA. 
The Crustacea are articulated animals, with articulated feet, re- 
spiring by means of branchiae, protected in some by the borders of 
a shell, and external in others, but which are not inclosed in special 
cavities of the body, and which receive air from openings in the 
surface of the skin. Their circulation is double, and analogous to 
that of the Mollusca. The blood is transmitted from the heart, 
which is placed on the back, to the different parts of the body, 
whence it is sent to the branchiae, and thence back again to the 
heart. These branchiae, sometimes situated at the base of the feet, 
or even on them, and at others on the inferior appendages of the 
abdomen, either form pyramids composed of laminae in piles, or bris- 
tled with setae, or tufted filaments of simple ones, and even appear 
in some cases to consist wholly of hairs. 
The Crustacea are apterous or deprived of wings, furnished with 
compound eyes, though rarely with ocelli, and usually with four an- 
tennae. They have mostly—the Paecilopoda excepted—three pairs 
of jaws, the two superior ones, designated by the name of mandibles, 
included; as many foot-jaws, the last four of which, however, in a 
great many instances, become true feet; and ten feet properly so 
called, all terminated by a single small nail. The mouth, as in In- 
sects, presents a labrum and a ligula, but no lower lip properly so 
called, or comparable to that of the latter; the third pair of foot-jaws, 
or the first, closes the mouth externally, and replaces that part. 
Their envelope is usually solid, and more or less calcareous. 
They change their skin several times, and generally preserve their 
primitive form and natural activity. They are mostly carnivorous 
and aquatic, and live several years. They do not attain their adult 306 
CRUSTACEA. 
state until after casting their skin a certain number of times. With 
the exception of a few in which these changes somewhat influence 
their primitive form and modify or augment their locomotive or- 
gans, they are at birth, size apart, such as they are always to re- 
main. 
Division of the Crustacea into Orders. 
The situation and form of the branchiae, the mode in which the 
head is articulated with the trunk, the mobility or fixedness of the 
eyes, the organs of manducation, and the teguments, constitute the 
basis of our divisions, and give rise to the following orders. 
We divide this class into two sections, the Malacostraca, and 
the Entomostraca. 
The first are usually furnished with very solid teguments, of a 
calcareous nature, and with ten or fourteen feet, generally unguicu- 
lated. The mouth, situated in the ordinary place, is composed of 
a labrum, tongue, two mandibles (frequently furnished with palpi), 
and two pairs of maxillae covered by the foot-jaws. In a great 
number each eye is placed on an articulated and movable pedicle, 
and the branchiae are concealed under the lateral margins of the 
upper or lower shell; in the others they are usually placed under 
the post-abdomen. This section consists of five orders: the Deca- 
poda, Stomapoda, Lsemodipoda, Amphipoda, and the Isopoda. 
The four first embrace the genus Cancer of Linnaeus, and the last 
his Oniscus. 
The second, the Entomostraca, or “ Insects with shells” of Muller, 
is formed of the genus Monoculus, Lin. Here the teguments are 
horny and very thin, while a shell, resembling a buckler, composed 
of from one to two pieces, covers or incloses the body of the greater 
number. The eyes are almost always sessile, and frequently there 
is but one. The feet, the number of which varies, are mostly fitted 
for natation, and without a terminal nail. Some of them, having 
an anterior mouth, composed of a labrum, two mandibles—rarely 
furnished with palpi, a tongue, and one, or at most two pairs of jaws, 
of which the external ones are naked or are not covered by the foot- 
jaws, approximate to the preceding Crustacea. In the other Ento- 
mostraca, which seem to approach the Arachnides in several 
particulars, the organs of manducation are sometimes simply formed 
by the coxae of the feet, projecting and arranged like lobes bristling CRUSTACEA. 
307 
with small spines round a large central pharynx. At others they 
either compose a little siphon or beak, used for suction, as in seve- 
ral Arachnides and Insects, or they are wholly (or nearly so) 
invisible externally, either because the siphon is internal, or because 
the suction is produced in the manner of a cup. 
The Entomostraca are thus dentated or edentated. The first 
will form our order of the Branciiiopoda, and the second that of 
the Pjecilopoda. 
FIRST GENERAL DIVISION. 
MALACOSTRACA. 
The Malacostraca naturally divide themselves into those whose 
eyes are placed on a movable pedicle, and those in which they are 
sessile and fixed. 
a. Eyes placed on a movable and articulated pedicle. 
ORDER I. 
DECAPODA(i). 
The head, in the Decapoda, is closely joined to the thorax, and 
covered with it by a shell, entirely continuous, but that most fre- 
quently exhibits deep lines dividing it into various regions which in- 
dicate the places occupied by the principal internal organs. The 
mode of their circulation presents characters which distinguish them 
from the other Crustacea. 
These animals grow but slowly, and live a long time, ft is 
among them that we find the largest and most useful species, but 
their flesh is not easily digested. The body of some Palinuri attains 
the length of a metre. Their claws are efficacious weapons, and 
(1) Ten-Footed. CRUSTACEA. 
308 
have such power in large individuals, that they have been seen to 
seize a Goat, and drag it from the shore. They usually inhabit wa- 
ter, but do not instantly perish when deprived of it; some species 
even pass a part of their lives on land. Even they are compelled to 
fix their domicil, either in burrows, or in cool, damp places. The 
Decapoda are voracious and carnivorous. Certain species even pe- 
netrate into cemeteries, and devour the dead. Their limbs are 
regenerated with surprising promptitude, but it is requsite that the 
fracture be at the junction of the articulations, and when accident 
determines it otherwise, they know how to apply a remedy. When 
they wish to change their skin, they seek a retired and solitary spot, 
in order to be sheltered from their enemies, and to remain at rest. 
When the change is effected, their body is soft, and has a more ex- 
quisite flavour. A chemical analysis of the old shell proves it to 
be formed of the carbonate and phosphate of lime, united in differ- 
ent proportions with gelatine. 
FAMILY I. 
BRACHYURA(l). 
Tail shorter than the trunk, without appendages or fins at the ex- 
tremity, and doubled under in a state of rest, when it is received in 
a fossula on the chest. Triangular in the males, and only furnish- 
ed at base with four or two appendages, in the form of horns, the 
superior of which are the largest, it becomes widened, and convex 
in the females, presenting beneath four pairs of double hairy fila- 
ments, destined to support the ova, and analogous to the sub-caudal 
natatory feet of the Macroura, and others. 
This family may constitute but one genus, that of 
Cancer, Lin. 
Or the Crabs. Naturalists, however, have now divided them into the Swim- 
mers, Arcuated, Quadrilateral, Orbicular, Triangular, he. differing in shape, 
the number and form cf the spines or teeth, the relative proportion of the 
eyes and their pedicles, &c. Each of these sections are again divided into 
numerous genera. 
Among the most noted of these we find the Land Crabs of intertropical 
(1) Short-tailed. DECAPODA. 
309 
countries. Their habits are a constant source of interest to travellers, 
but by abstracting from their accounts all improbable and doubtful facts, 
their history will be as follows. The greater portion of their life is passed 
on land, where they secrete themselves in holes, from which they never 
issue but at night. Some inhabit cemeteries. Once in the year they col- 
lect in immense bands and pursue a direct course to the sea, heedless of all 
obstacles; after depositing their ova, they return much enfeebled. It is 
said that they seal up the mouth of their burrow during the time they are 
casting their shell. 
FAMILY II. 
MACROURA(l). 
In the Decapoda Macroura, the end of the tail is provided with 
appendages which most frequently form a fin on each side; the tail 
itselfis at least as long as the body, extended, exposed and simply 
curved towards its posterior extremity. Its under surface usually 
presents in both sexes five pairs of false feet, each terminated by 
two laminae, or as many filaments. This tail is always composed 
of seven distinct segments. The branchiae are formed of vesicular, 
bearded and hairy pyramids, arranged in several of them, either in 
two rows, or in separate fasciculi. The antennae are generally 
elongated and salient. The ocular pedicles are usually short. 
The external foot-jaws are mostly narrow and elongated, resembling 
palpi, and do not wholly cover the other parts of the mouth. The 
shell is narrower and more elongated than that of the Brachyura, 
and usually terminates by a point in the middle of the front. 
With De Geer and Gronovius, we will arrange them in a single genus, 
that of 
A ST ACTS, 
Which we divide in the following manner. Some, by the proportions, 
figure, and uses of their feet, of which the first, or at least the second pair, 
are in the form of claws, and by the subcaudal situations of their ova, evi- 
dently approach the preceding Crustacea, and approximate still more 
closely to those commonly known by the names of Crawfish, Lobster, and 
Shrimp. 
The feet of the others are very slender, and are furnished with an exte- 
(1) Long-tailed. 310 
CRUSTACEA. 
rior and elongated appendage or branch, which seems to double their num- 
ber. They are exclusively adapted for natation, and none of them termi- 
nates in a forceps. The ova are situated between them, and not under the 
tail. 
This genus is now divided into four sections each consisting of nume- 
rous subgenera. In one of these (Pagurus) we find the Hermit (Cancer 
Bernhardus, L.) which inhabits univalve shells, stopping the aperture with 
its right claw, which is the largest. It is common in European seas. In an- 
other (Jlstacus, Fab.) we find the Jlstacus marinus or Common Lobster. 
The fresh water species are known by the name of Craw-fish. Among these 
also we find the Shrimp (Crangon) and the Prawns (Palasmon). 
ORDER II. 
STOMAPODA. 
The branchiae of the Stomapoda are exposed and attached to the 
five pairs of sub-abdominal appendages, exhibited to us by that part 
of the body, called tail, in the Decapoda, and which here, as inmost 
of the Macroura, are fitted for natation, or are fin-feet. Their shell 
is divided into two portions, the anterior of which supports the eyes 
and intermediate antennas, or composes the head, without giving ori- 
gin to the foot-jaws. These organs, as well as the four anterior feet, 
are frequently approximated to the mouth on two lines that converge 
inferiorly, and hence the denomination of Stomapoda affixed to this 
order. 
The teguments of the Stomapoda are thin, and in several nearly 
membranous or diaphanous. The shell is sometimes formed of two 
shields, of which the anterior corresponds to the head and the pos- 
terior to the thorax, and sometimes of a single piece, which how- 
ever is free behind, usually exposing the thoracic segments, bearing 
the three last pairs of feet and having an articulation before that 
serves as a base to the eyes and intermediate antennas; these latter 
organs are always extended and terminated by two or three threads. 
The eyes are always approximated. The formation of the mouth is 
essentially the same as in the Decapoda; but the palpi of the man- 
dibles, instead of being laid on them, are always vertical. The 
foot-jaws are deprived of the flagelliform appendage presented to us 
by the same parts in the Decapoda. They have the form of claws STOMAPODA. 
311 
or of small feet, and, at least in several—the Squill®,—their exter- 
nal base as well as that of the two anterior feet properly so called, 
exhibits a vesicular body. 
The Stomapoda are all marine Crustacea. Their favourite habi- 
tat is in the intertropical latitudes, and they are not found beyond 
the temperate zones. Of their habits we are totally ignorant; that 
those which are furnished with claws use them in seizing their prey, 
in the manner of those Orthoptera called Mantes, we cannot doubt. 
Hence their vulgar appellation of Sea-Mantis: they are the Cran- 
gones and Crangines of the Greeks. According to Risso they pre- 
fer sandy bottoms in deep water. Other Stomapoda, those of our 
second family, being less favoured with natatory appendages, and 
having a much flatter and more superficially extended body, are ge- 
nerally found on the surface of the water, where they move very 
slowly. We will divide the Stomapoda into two families. 
FAMILY I. 
UNIPELTATA. 
In this family the shell consists of a single shield, of an elongated 
quadrilateral form, usually widened and free behind, covering the 
head, the antennas and eyes excepted, which are placed on a com- 
mon anterior articulation, and at least the first segments of the body. 
Its anterior extremity terminates in a point, or is preceded by a small 
plate with a similar end. All the foot-jaws, the second of which 
are very large, and the four anterior feet are closely approximated 
to the mouth on two inferiorly converging lines, and have the form 
of claws with a single finger or mobile and flexed hook. With the 
exception of the second feet all these organs are furnished at their 
external origin with a little pediculated vesicle. The other six feet, 
at the base of whose third segment is a lateral appendage, are linear, 
terminated by a brush, and simply natatory. The lateral antennae 
have a scale at their base, and the stem of the intermediaries is com- 
posed of three filaments. The body is narrow and elongated; the 
ocular pedicles are always short. 
This family is composed of but one genus, that of 
Which is now divided into the True Squillx, Gonodadylus, Coronis, &c. 
Squilla, Fab., 312 
CRUSTACEA. 
FAMILY II. 
BIPELTATA. 
In this family we find the shell divided into two shields, the ante- 
rior of which, very large and more or less oval, forms the head, and 
the posterior, corresponding to the thorax, transverse and angular 
in its circumference, supports the foot-jaws and feet. These latter, 
with the exception at most of the two posterior and two last foot-jaws, 
are slender and filiform, usually very long and accompanied by a 
lateral ciliated appendage. The other four foot-jaws are very small 
and conical. The base of the lateral antennae exhibits no scale; 
the intermediaries are terminated by two threads. The ocular pe- 
dicles are long. The body is much flattened, membranous, and 
diaphanous; the abdomen small and its posterior fin without spines. 
It comprises but a single genus, the 
Phyllosoma, Leach, 
Of which all the species inhabit the Atlantic Ocean and Oriental seas. 
MALACOSTRACA. 
b. Eyes sessile and immovable. 
The Branchiopoda are the only Crustacea of which we shall 
henceforward have occasion to speak, that exhibit eyes placed on 
pedicles. But independently of the fact that these pedicles are 
neither articulated nor lodged in special cavities, the Branchiopoda 
have no shell and are otherwise removed from the preceding Crus- 
tacea by various characters. All the Malacostraca of this division 
are also deprived of a shell; their body, from the head downwards, 
is composed of a suite of articulations of which each of the first 
seven is furnished with a pair of feet, the following and last ones, 
seven at most, forming a sort of tail terminated by fins or styliform 
appendages. The head presents four antennse, the two intermediate 
superior, two eyes, and a mouth composed of two mandibles, a 
tongue, two pairs of jaws, and a sort of lip formed by two foot-jaws 
that correspond to the two superior ones of the Decapoda; here, as 
in the Stomapoda, the flagrum no longer exists. The four last STOMAPODA. 
313 
foot-jaws are transformed into feet, sometimes simple and at others 
constituting a claw, but almost always with a single toe or hook. 
All these Crustacea are small, and mostly inhabit the sea-coast 
or fresh water. Some are terrestrial, and others are known which 
are parasitical. 
ORDER III. 
AMPHIPODA. 
The Amphipoda are the only Malacostraca with sessile and im- 
movable eyes, whose mandibles, like those of the preceding Crus- 
tacea, are furnished with a palpus, and the only ones whose sub- 
caudal appendages, always very apparent, by their narrow and 
elongated form, their articulations, bifurcations, and other incisures, 
as well as by the hairs or cilia with which they are provided, resem- 
ble false or natatory feet. In the Malacostraca of the following 
orders, these appendages have the form of laminae or scales; here 
these hairs and cilia appear to constitute the branchiae. Many of 
them, like the Stomapoda and the Lcemodipoda, have vesicular burs® 
either between their feet or at their external base, the use of which 
is unknown. 
The first pair of feet, or that which corresponds to the second 
foot-jaws, is always annexed to a particular segment, the first after 
the head. The antennas, which, with a single exception—thePhro- 
nimae,—are four in number, project, gradually taper into a point, 
and consist, as in the preceding Crustacea, of a peduncle and a 
single stem, or one furnished at most with a little lateral branch, and 
usually composed of several joints. The body is generally com- 
pressed and curved beneath posteriorly. The terminal appendages 
of the tail are most frequently styliform and articulated. Most of 
them swim and leap with facility and always laterally. Some in- 
habit springs and rivulets; most of them however live in salt water. 
Their colour is uniform, verging on reddish or greenish. 
They may all be comprised in a single genus, that of 314 
CRUSTACEA. 
Which is now divided into various 6ubgenera, 6uch as Phronima, Hyperia, 
&c. Among the most interesting of these is the 
Gammakus, Fab., 
The C. longicornis, called Pernys, on the coast of Rochelle, lives in holes, 
which it forms in the mud, that is covered with hurdles, called houchots by 
the inhabitants. The animal does not make its appearance till the begin- 
ning of May. It wages everlasting war against the Nereides, Amphinomae, 
Arenicolae, and other marine Annulata, which inhabit the same locality. A 
curious spectacle is presented by these Crustacea when the tide is coming 
in; myriads of them may then be seen moving in every direction, beating 
the mud with their great arms, and diluting it in order to discover their prey: 
is it one of the above mentioned Annulata they have discovered, which 
is ten or twenty times larger than themselves? they unite to attack and de- 
vour it. The carnage never ceases until the mud has been thoroughly 
turned up and its inequalities levelled. They do not even spare Mollusca, 
Fishes, or dead bodies on the shore. They mount upon the hurdles which 
contain Muscles, and fishermen assert that they will cut the threads that 
keep them there, in order to precipitate them into the mud, where they may 
devour them at their leisure. 
Corophxum, Lat. 
ORDER IV. 
LJEMODIPODA.(l) 
The Lsemodipoda are the only Malacostraca with sessile eyes, in 
which the posterior extremity of the body exhibits no distinct bran- 
chiae, and which are almost deprived of a tail, the two last feet be- 
ing inserted in that extremity, or the segment which connects them 
with it being merely followed by one or two very small joints. They 
are also the only ones in which the two anterior feet, that corres- 
pond to the second foot-jaws, form part of the head. 
They all have four setaceous antenna; supported by a triarticu- 
lated peduncle, mandibles without palpi, a vesicular body at the 
base of at least the four pairs of feet, beginning at the second or 
third pair, those of the head included. The body, usually filiform 
or linear, is composed of eight or nine segments, including the head 
and some small appendages in the form of tubercles at its posterior 
(1) Throat-footed. LCEMODIPODA. 
315 
and inferior extremity. The feet are terminated by a stout hook. 
The four anterior, the second of which are the largest, are always 
terminated by a monodactyle forceps or a claw. In several, the 
four following ones are shortened, less articulated, without the ter- 
minal hook, or are rudimental, and nowise adapted for the ordinary 
uses of similar parts. 
The females carry their ova under the second and third segments 
of the body, in a pouch formed of approximated scales. They are 
all marine Crustacea. 
We may unite them in a single genus which, by the law of priority, 
should be called 
Cyamus, Lat. 
Now divided into Leptomera, Naupredia, Caprella, and Cyamus proper. 
ORDER V. 
ISOPODA. (1) 
The Isopoda approach the Lcemodipoda by the absence of the 
palpi of the mandibles, but are removed from them in several other 
respects. The two anterior feel are not attached to the head, and 
belong, as well as the following ones, to a particular segment. 
They are always fourteen in number, unguiculated, and without any 
vesicular appendage at their base. The under part of the tail is 
furnished with very apparent appendages resembling leaflets or vesi- 
cular bursas, the two first or external of which, either partially or 
wholly, usually cover the others. The body is generally flattened, 
or is wider than it is thick. The mouth consists of the same pieces 
as in the preceding Crustacea; but here, those which correspond 
to the two superior fcot-jaWs of the Decapoda, exhibit an appear- 
ance of a lower lip terminated by tw7o palpi, still more than in the 
latter. The two mediate antennae are almost obliterated in the last 
Crustacea of this order, which are all terrestrial, and also differ from 
the others in their respiratory apparatus. Most of them are aqua- 
(1) Equal-footed. 316 
CRUSTACEA. 
tic. Those which are terrestrial, like all other Crustacea which 
live out of water, still require a certain degree of almospheric hu- 
midity to enable them to breathe, and to preserve their branchiae in 
a proper state for the exercise of that function. 
This order according to the system of Linnaeus embraces the 
genus 
Oniscus, Lin., 
Which is now divided into six sections. Those of the first are parasitical. 
The subgenera are numerous. Some are aquatic and others terrestrial. 
Among the latter we have the 
The true Onisci have eight joints in their lateral antenna:, but their base is 
covered, and the two external appendages of the extremity of the tail are 
much larger than the others. These animals are vulgarly called Clous-d- 
porte, and by syncope Cloporte, Forcelets, de Saint-Antoine, Wood lice, &c. 
They inhabit retired and obscure places, cellars, fissures in walls, old build- 
ings, under stones, &c., &c. They feed on decaying vegetable and animal 
matters, and seldom issue from their retreat, except in rainy weather. 
They move but slowly, unless they are alarmed. The ova are inclosed in a 
pectoral pouch. The young, at birth, have one thoracic segment less than 
the adult, and consequently have but twelve feet. 
Oxiscxts, Lin. 
SECOND GENERAL DIVISION. 
ENTOMOSTRACA. 
Under this denomination, which is taken from the Greek, and sig- 
nifies Insects with shells, Othon Frederick Muller comprises the 
genus Monoculus of Linnaeus, to which we must add some of his 
Lerneae. 
These animals, mostly microscopic, are all aquatic, and mostly in- 
habit fresh water. Their feet, the number of which varies, and that 
sometimes extends to beyond a hundred, are usually fitted for nata- 
tion only, being sometimes ramified or divided, and sometimes fur- 
nished with pinnulse or formed of lamellae. Their brain is formed 
of one or two globules. The heart has always the figure of a long 
vessel. The branchiae, composed of hairs or setae, singly or united, ENTOMOSTRACA. 
317 
in the form of barbs, combs or tufts, constitute a part of those feet 
or of a certain number of them, and sometimes of the upper mandi- 
bles. Hence the origin of our term Branchiopoda, affixed to these 
animals, of which at first we formed but a single order. Nearly all 
of them are provided with a shell composed of one or two pieces, 
very thin, and most generally almost membranous and nearly dia- 
phanous, or at least with a large anterior thoracic segment, fre- 
quently confounded with the head, which appears to replace the 
shell. The teguments are usually rather horny than calcareous, 
thereby approximating these animals to the Insectaand Arachnides. 
ORDER I. 
BRANCHIOPODA(l). 
A mouth composed of a labrum, two mandibles, a ligula, and one 
or two pairs of jaws, and branchiae, the first of which, when there 
are several, are always anterior, characterize this order or the sixth 
of the class. 
These Crustacea are always errant and are generally protected 
by a shell resembling that of a bivalve, and furnished with four or 
two antennae. Their feet, with a few exceptions, are wholly nata- 
tory. Their number varies, being but six in some, while in others 
it amounts to twenty, forty-two, or more than a hundred. Many of 
them have but one eye. 
Most of these animals, as we have already stated, being nearly 
microscopical, it is evident that the application of one of the char- 
acters we have employed—that of the presence or absence of the 
palpi of the mandibles—with respect to them, presents almost insu- 
perable difficulties. The form and number of the feet, that of the 
eyes, the shell, the antennae, furnish us with more visible marks, 
and such as are within the observation of every one. 
This order in the systems of De Geer, Fabricius and Linnaeus, a 
single species excepted—M. polyphemus,—contained but the single 
genus 
(1) Gill-footed. 318 
CRUSTACEA. 
Monoculus, Lin. 
Which is now divided into two great sections and various subgenera. 
ORDER II. 
PiECILOPODA(l). 
The Paecilopoda are distinguished from the Branchiopoda by the 
diversity in the form of their feet, among the anterior of which an 
indeterminate number are ambulatory, or fitted for prehension; 
while the others, lamelliform or pinnate, are branchial and natatory. 
It is principally, however, by the absence of the usual mandibles and 
jaws that they are removed from all other Crustacea. Sometimes 
these parts are replaced by the spinous haunches of the first six pairs 
of feet; and sometimes the organs of manducation consist either of 
an external siphon in the form of an inarticulated rostrum, or of 
some other apparatus fitted for suction, but concealed or slightly 
apparent. 
Their body is almost always, either wholly, or for the greater por- 
tion, invested with a shell in the form of a shield, consisting of a 
single plate in most of them, and of two in others, which always 
presents two eyes when those organs are distinct. Two of their 
antennas—Chcliceree, Lat.—form a forceps in several, and fulfil its 
functions. Most of them have twelve feet, and nearly all the re- 
mainder have either ten or twewty-two. Their usual habitat is on 
aquatic animals, and most commonly on Fishes. 
We divide this order into two families. 
FAMILY I. 
XYPHOSURA. 
This family is distinguished from the second by several characters: 
there is no siphon; the haunches of the first six pair of feet are 
covered with small spines and perform the office of jaws; there are 
(1) Various-footed. PiECIL' 
319 
twenty-two feet; the first ten, with the exception of the two anterior 
ones in the males, are terminated by a dydactyle forceps, and in- 
serted, as well as the two that follow, under a large semi-lunar 
shield. They are wandering animals, and form the genus 
Limules, Fab. 
The species are known in commerce by the name of the Molucca Crab. 
These animals are sometimes found two feet in length, they inhabit the 
seas of hot climates, and most generally frequent their shores. They appear 
to me to be proper to the East Indies and the coast of America. The spe- 
cies found in France—L. cyclops—is commonly called the Casserole, (1) 
from its having some resemblance to the form of that utensil, and because 
when the feet are removed its shell is used to hold water. Savages employ 
the stylet of the tail to point their arrows, which, thus armed, are much 
dreaded. Their eggs are eaten in China. When these animals walk, their 
feet are not seen. Fossil specimens are found in certain strata of a mode- 
rate antiquity. 
FAMILY II. 
SIPHONOSTOMA 
The Siphonostomae have no kind of jaws whatever. A sucker or 
siphon, sometimes external and in the form of an acute inarticulated 
rostrum, and at others concealed or but slightly visible, fulfils the 
functions of a mouth. There are never more than fourteen feet. 
The shell is very thin and composed of a single piece. They are 
all parasitical. 
This family is now divided into two tribes, the Calagides, com- 
prising Argula and Caligus (or the Fish-Louse), and the Lernei- 
formes, which consists of two genera also. They are Dichelestium 
and 
These animals terminate the Crustacea, and are distinguished from all others 
of that class by their lieteroclitical form. To the naked eye they seem 
nothing more than two lobes united in the form of a horse-shoe, which en- 
closes two others. By the aid of glasses, however, we discover that 
Nicothoe. 
(1) The King-crab of our fishermen, or the Horse-shoe. Very common 
on the coast of New Jersey. 320 
CRUSTACEA. 
the two large lobes are formed by the great expansion of the sides of the 
thorax, which resembles wings, are almost oval, and thrown behind; that 
the two others are clusters of eggs, &c. 
Nicothoe astaci, Aud. and Edw. The only species known; it is about 
half a line long and three lines broad,the thoracic enlargement included. It 
is rose-coloured, paler on the oviferous sacs; the expansions yellowish. It 
adheres closely to the branchiae of the Lobster, and penetrates deeply be- 
tween the filaments of those organs. 
TRILOBITES. 
According to Brongniart and various other naturalists, it is in the 
vicinity of the Limuli and other Entomostraca with numerous feet, 
that we should place these singular fossil animals, originally con- 
founded under the common name of Entomolithus paradoxus, and 
now designated by that of Trilobites. By this hypothesis we have 
to admit as a positive or at least highly probable, fact, the existence 
of locomotive organs, although, notwithstanding the most careful 
investigation, no vestige of them has been discovered. Presuming, 
on the contrary, that these animals were deprived of them, 1 thought 
that their natural position was in the neighbourhood of the Chitones, 
or rather that they constituted the original stock of the Articulata, 
being connected on the one hand with these latter Mollusca, and 
on the other, with those first mentioned, and even with the Glomeres, 
to which some Trilobites, such as the Calymenes, appear to ap- 
proximate, as well as to the Chitones, inasmuch as by contracting 
they could also become spherical. Be this as it may, these animals 
appear to have been annihilated by some ancient revolution of our 
planet. 
The Trilobites, one heteromorphous genus excepted, that of Ag- 
nostus, have, like the Limuli, a large anterior segment in the form 
of an almost semicircular or lunated shield, followed by from about 
twelve to twenty-two segments, all transversal except the last, and 
divided by two longitudinal sulci into three ranges of parts or lobes, 
whence their name of Trilobites. Some naturalists call them 
Entomostracites. 
They are divided by Mr Brongniart into the following genera: 
Agnostus, Calymene, Asaphus, Ogygia and Paradoxides. ARACHNIDES. 
321 
CLASS II. 
ARACHNIDES 
The Arachnides, which compose the second class of articulated 
animals provided with movable feet, are, as well as the Crustacea, 
deprived of wings, are not subject to changes of form, or do not ex- 
perience any metamorphosis, simply casting their skin; but they 
differ from them as well as from Insects in several particulars. Like 
the latter, the surface of their body presents apertures or transverse 
fissures called stigmata, for the introduction of air, but they are few 
in number—eight at most, and usually but two—and confined to 
the inferior portion of the abdomen. Respiration is also effected 
either by means of air-branchiae, fulfilling the functions of lungs that 
are contained in sacs, of which these stigmata are the apertures, or by 
radiated tracheae. The visual organs merely consist of ocelli, or 
simple eyes, which, when numerous, are variously grouped. The 
head, usually confounded with the thorax, in place of the antennae, 
has two articulated pieces in the form of small didactyle or mono- 
dactyle chelae, improperly compared to the mandibles of Insects, 
and so denominated, moving in a contrary direction to the former, or 
from above downwards, still however co-operating in the business 
of manducation, and replaced in the Arachnides, where the mouth 
has the form of a siphon or sucker, by two pointed blades which act 
as lancets. A kind of lip, or rather ligula, produced by a pectoral 
prolongation; two jaws formed by the radical joint of the first seg- 
ment of two small legs or palpi, or by an appendage or lobe of that 
same joint; a part concealed under the mandibles, composed of a 
projection in the form of a rostrum, produced by the union of a 
very small clypeus terminated by an extremely small triangular la- 
brum, and of an inferior longitudinal carina, usually very hairy, are 
the parts which, with the pieces termed mandibles, constitute with 
some modifications the mouth of most of the Arachnides. The legs, 
like those of Insects, are commonly terminated by two hooks, and 
even sometimes by one more, and are all annexed to the thorax, or 322 
ARACHNIDES. 
rather cephalo-thorax, which, except in a small number, is only 
formed of a single segment, and is frequently intimately united to 
the abdomen. This latter part of the body is soft, or but slightly 
defended, in most of them. 
Most of the Arachnides feed on Insects which they either seize 
alive, or to which they adhere, abstracting their fluids by suction. 
Others are parasitical, and live on vertebrated animals. Some of 
them however are only found in flour, on cheese, and even on vari- 
ous vegetables. Those which live on other animals frequently 
multiply thereto a great extent. Two of the legs, in some species, 
are only developed by a change of the tegument. 
Division of the Arachnides into Orders, 
Some have pulmonary sacs, a heart with very distinct vessels, 
and six or eight simple eyes. They compose our first order, or 
that of the Puemonarl®. 
The others respire by tracheae, and have no organs of circulation, 
or if they have, the circulation is not complete. The tracheae are 
divided near their origin into various branches, and do not, as in 
Insects, form two trunks which run parallel to each other through- 
out the whole length of the body and receive air from various points 
by means of numerous stigmata. Here, but two, at most, are dis- 
tinctly visible, and they are situated near the base of the abdomen. 
The number of ocelli is at most but four. They constitute our se- 
cond and last order, or that of the Trachearee. 
ORDER I. 
PULMONARIJE. 
We here find a well marked circulating system and pulmonary sacs, 
always placed under the abdomen, announced externally by trans- 
verse openings or fissures (stigmata), of which there are sometimes 
eight, four on each side, and at others four, or even two. The 
number of ocelli is from six to eight, while in the following order it 
never exceeds four, and is most generally but two; sometimes they 323 
PULMONARIiE. 
are hardly perceptible, or even annihilated. The organ of respira- 
tion is formed of little laminae. The heart is a large vessel which 
extends along the back, and gives off branches on each side and 
anteriorly. There are always eight legs. The head is alwavs con- 
founded with the thorax, and presents at its anterior superior ex- 
tremity two mandibles—so called by authors, the chelicerse of La- 
treille, terminated by two fingers, one of which is movable, or by 
a single one resembling a hook or claw that is always movable. 
The mouth is composed of a labrum, of two palpi, sometimes re- 
sembling arms or claws, of the two or four jaws, formed, when there 
are but two, by the radical joint of these palpi, and moreover, where 
there are four, by the same joint of the first pair of feet, and of a 
ligula consisting of one or two pieces. 
FAMILY I. 
ARANEIDES. 
This family is composed of the genus Aranea, Lin., or the Spi- 
ders. They have palpi resembling little feet, without a forceps at 
the end, terminated at most by a little hook. Their frontal cheli- 
cerae (the mandibles of authors) are terminated by a movable hook, 
flexed inferiorly, underneath which, and near its extremity, which is 
always pointed, is a little opening, that allows a passage to a veno- 
mous fluid contained in a gland of the preceding joint. There are 
never more than two jaws. The thorax usually marked with a de- 
pression in the form of a V, indicating the space occupied by the 
head, consists of a single segment, posteriorly to which, by means 
of a short pedicle, is suspended a movable and usually soft abdomen; 
it is always furnished with from four to six closely approximated 
cylindrical or conical, articulated mamillae with fleshy extremities, 
which are perforated with numberless small orifices for the passage of 
silky filaments of extreme tenuity proceeding from internal reservoirs. 
Their legs, identical as to form, but of different sizes, are composed 
of seven joints, of which the two first form the hip, the third the 
thigh, the fourth and fifth the tibia, and the two others the tarsus: 
the last is terminated by two hooks usually pectinated, and in seve- 
ral by one more, which is smaller and notdentated. The intestinal 
canal is straight, consisting of a first stomach, composed of several 324 
ARACHNIDES. 
sacs, and then of a second stomach or dilatation surrounded with 
silk. 
The nervous system is composed of a double cord occupying the 
median line of the body, and of ganglions which distribute nerves to 
the various organs. 
With respect to the simple eyes, or ocelli, Mr Dafour remarks 
that they shine in darkness like those of Cats, and that the Araneides 
most probably enjoy the faculty both of nocturnal and diurnal 
vision. 
The abdomen becomes so putrid and decomposed after death, 
that its colours and even its form are soon destroyed. M. Dufour, 
by means of a rapid desiccation, the mode of which he points out, 
has succeeded in remedying this evil to a great degree. 
The silk, according to Reaumur, is first elaborated in two little 
reservoirs, shaped like tears of glass, placed obliquely, one on each 
side, at the base of six other reservoirs, resembling intestines, situated 
close to each other, flexed six or seven times, proceeding from a 
little beneath the origin of the abdomen, and terminating in the pa- 
pill* by a very slender thread. It is in these last mentioned vessels 
that the silk acquires a greater degree of firmness and other proper- 
ties peculiar to it; they communicate with the preceding ones by 
branches, forming a number of geniculate turns, and then various 
pieces of net-work. The newly spun filaments, when first drawn 
from the mamill*, are adhesive, and a certain degree of desiccation 
or evaporation is required to fit them for their destined purposes. 
When the temperature is propitious, however, a single instant is 
sufficient, as the animal employs them the moment they escape from 
the apparatus. Those white and silky floccuJi that may be observed 
floating about in spring and autumn in foggy weather, are certainly 
produced—as we satisfactorily ascertained by tracing them to their 
point of origin—by various young Araneides; they are mostly the 
larger threads which are intended to afford points of attachment to 
the radii of the web, or those that compose the chain, and which, 
becoming more ponderous by the access of moisture, sink, approach 
one another, and finally form little pellets: we frequently observe 
them collected near the web commenced by the Spider, and in 
which it resides. 
It is also very probable that many of the young animals, not hav- 
ing as yet a sufficient supply of silk, limit their structure to throwing 325 
out simple threads. It is, I think, to the young Lycos® that we 
must attribute those which intersect the furrows of ploughed grounds, 
whose numbers are rendered so apparent by the reflection of light 
after sunrise. By chemical analysis, these threads exhibit the same 
characters as the web of the spider:—they are not then formed in 
the atmosphere, as, for want of proper observation, ex visu, that ce- 
lebrated naturalist, M. Lamarck, has conjectured. Gloves and 
stockings have been made with this silk; but it was found impossible 
to apply the process on a large scale, and as it is subject to many 
difficulties, is rather a matter of curiosity than utility. This sub- 
stance, however, is of much greater importance to the little animal 
in question. With it, the sedentary species, or those which do not 
roam abroad in search of their prey, weave webs of a more or less 
compact tissue, whose form and position vary according to the pe- 
culiar habits of each of them, and that are so many snares or traps, 
where the insects on which they feed become entangled, or are 
taken. No sooner is one of them arrested there by the hooks of 
its tarsi, than the Spider, some times placed in the centre of his net, 
or at the bottom of his web, or at others lying in ambush in a pecu- 
liar domicil situated near and in one of the angles, rushes towards 
his victim and endeavours to pierce hirn with his murderous dart, 
distilling into the wound a prompt and mortal poison; should the 
former resist too vigorously, or should it be dangerous to the latter 
to approach it, he retreats, waiting until it has either exhausted its 
powers by struggling, or become more entangled in the net; but 
should there be no cause of fear, he hastens to bind it by involving 
the body in his silken threads, with which it is sometimes completely 
enveloped. 
Lister says that Spiders dart their threads in the same way that 
the Porcupine darts his quills, with this difference, however, that in 
the latter, according to the popular belief, the spines are detached 
from the body, whereas in the former, these threads, though pro- 
pelled to a considerable distance, always remain connected with it. 
The possibility of this has been denied. Be it as it may, we have 
seen threads issuing from the mamillae of several Thomisi form 
straight lines, and when the animals moved circularly, producing 
movable radii. A second use to which thi3 silk is applied by all 
female Araneides, is in the construction of the sacs destined to con- 
tain their eggs. The texture and form of these sacs are variously 
PULMONARIiE. 326 
ARACHNIDES. 
modified, according to the habits of the race. They are usually 
spheroidal; some of them resemble a cap or tymbal, others are 
placed on a pedicle, and some are claviform. They are sometimes 
partially enveloped with foreign bodies, such as earth, leaves, &c.; 
a finer material, or sort of tow or down, frequently surrounds the 
eggs in their interior, where they are free or agglutinated and more 
or less numerous. 
I have ascertained that a single wound from a moderate sized 
Spider will kill our common Fly in a few minutes. It is also cer- 
tain that the bite of those large ones of South America, which are 
there called Crab-Spiders, and are placed by us in the genus My- 
gale, kills the smaller vertebrated animals, such as Humming-Birds, 
Pigeons, &c., and produces a violent fever in Man; the sting of 
some species in the south of France has even occasionally proved 
fatal. We may therefore, without believing all the fabulous stories 
of Baglivi and others respecting the bite of the Tarantula, mistrust 
Spiders, and particularly the larger ones. 
Various insects of the genus Sphex, Lin., (Wasps) seize upon 
them, pierce them with their sting, and transport them into holes 
where they have deposited their eggs, as a source of food for their 
young. Most of them perish in winter, but there are some which 
live several years—such are the Mygales, the Lycosae, and probably 
several others. 
M. Leon Dufour, who has published many excellent memoirs on 
the anatomy of Insects, who has especially studied those of Valencia, 
among which he has detected several new species, and to whose 
labours the science of Botany is not less indebted, has paid particu- 
lar attention to the respiratory organs of spiders, and it is from him 
that we have taken our divisions, which consist of those that have 
four pulmonary sacs—with as many external stigmata, two on each 
side, and closely approximated—and of such as have but two. The 
first, according to our method, form but the single genus 
Mygale. 
Their eyes always situated at the anterior extremity of the thorax, and usu- 
ally closely approximated; feet and chelicerae robust. Most of them have 
but four fusi(l), of which the two lateral or external, situated somewhat 
(1) Filieres, i. e. the papillae or fusi through which the thread passes. 327 
PULMONARIiE. 
above the others, are longest, and consist of three segments, exclusive of the 
prominence that forms their peduncle. They weave silken tubes in which 
they reside, and which they conceal either in holes excavated by them for 
that purpose, or under stones, bark of trees, or between leaves. 
This genus now forms several divisions, characterized by the number of 
fusi, the relative difference in the length of the legs and the situations of 
the palpi. In the 
Or the true My gales, the hairs which decorate the under part of their tarsi 
form a thick and broad brush, projecting beyond the hooks, and usually 
concealing them. 
This division is composed of the largest species of the family, some of 
which, when at rest, cover a circular space of from six to seven inches in 
diameter. They sometimes seize upon Humming-Birds. They establish their 
domicil in the clefts of trees, under the bark, in the fissures of rocks, or on 
the surface of leaves of various plants. The cell of the Mygale avicularia 
has the form of a tube, narrowed into a point at its posterior extremity. It 
consists of a white web, of a close, very fine texture, semi-diaphanous, and 
resembling muslin. 
South America and the Antilles produce other species, called by the 
French colonists Araignees-crabes, or Crab-spiders. Their bite is reputed 
to be dangerous. A very large species—M. fasciata—is also found in the 
East Indies. A species, nearly as large as the avicularia, inhabits the Cape 
of Good Hope. 
In the following Mygales, the superior extremity of the first joint of the 
chelicerae presents a series of spines, articulated and movable at base, and 
forming a sort of rake. The tarsi are less pilose underneath than in the 
preceding division, and their hooks are always exposed. 
These species, in the dry and mountain districts of the south of Europe 
and of some other countries, excavate subterraneous galleries, which are 
frequently two feet in depth, and so extremely tortuous, that, according to 
Dufour, it is frequently impossible to trace them. At the mouth, they con- 
struct a movable operculum with earth and silk, fixed by a hinge, which, 
from its form, nicely adjusted to the aperture, its inclination, its weight, 
and the superior position of the hinge, spontaneously shuts, and completely 
closes the entrance of their habitation, forming a kind of trap-door, which 
is scarcely distinguishable from the surrounding earth. Its inner surface 
is lined with a layer of silk, to which the animal clings, in order to keep its 
door shut and prevent intruders from opening it. If it be slightly raised, 
it is a sure indication that the owner is within. Unearthed, by laying open 
the gallery front of the entrance, it becomes stupified, and allows itself to 
be captured without resistance. A silken tube, or the nest properly so 
called, lines the inside of the gallery. There are several species. 
The remaining subgenera are Atypus, Eriodon, &c., differing in the in- 
sertion of the palpi, the ligula, number of eyes, &c. 
Mtgaie, Walck., 328 
ARACHNIDES. 
We now pass to Araneides with but one pair of pulmonary sacs, and as 
many stigmata. They all have palpi formed of five joints, inserted into 
the external side of the jaws near their base, and most frequently in a sinus; 
a ligula extending between them either nearly square, triangular or semi- 
circular and six fusi at the extremity. 
With the exception of a few species, which enter into the genus Mygale, 
they compose that of 
Aranea, Lin. 
A first division will comprehend the Arane.® Sedentarije, or sedentary 
spiders. They make webs, or throw out threads to ensnare their prey, 
and always remain in these traps, or their vicinity, as well as near their eggs. 
Their eyes are approximated anteriorly and are sometimes eight in number, 
of which four or two are in the middle and two or three on each side, and 
sometimes six. 
Some, which, from the circumstance of their always moving forwards, we 
term the Rectigraba?, weave webs and are stationary; their legs are eleva- 
ted when at rest; sometimes the two first and two last are the longest, and 
at others those of the two anterior pairs, or the fourth and the third. The 
general arrangement of the eyes does not form the segment of a circle or a 
crescent. 
They may be divided into three sections: the first, or that of the Tubite- 
lae, has cylindrical fusi approximated into a fasciculus directed backwards; 
the legs are robust, the two first or the two last, and vice versa, longest in 
some, and the whole eight nearly equal in others. 
Clotho, Walck. 
A singular subgenus. The chelicerae are very small, can separate but 
little, and are not indented; very small hooks; the shortness of the body and 
length of the legs produce a resemblance to the Crab-Spiders or Thomisi. 
The relative length of these organs differs but little; the fourth pair, and then 
the preceding one are merely somewhat longer than the first; the tarsi, only, 
are furnished with spines. The eyes are further from the anterior margin 
of the thorax than in the following subgenus, and are approximated and 
arranged as in the genus Mygale of Walckenaer; three on each side form a 
reversed triangle; the two others form a transverse line in the space com- 
prised between the two triangles. The jaws and the ligula are proportion- 
ably smaller than those of the same subgenus; a short projection or slight di- 
latation on the external side of the jaws, gives insertion to the palpi; the jaws 
terminate in a point; the ligula is triangular and not nearly oval as in Drassus. 
The two superior or most lateral fusi are long, but what, according to Du- 
four, particularly characterises the Clothos, is, that there are two pectini- 
form valves which open and shut at the will of the animal, in place of the 
two intermediate fusi. 
But a single soecies is known, the Clotho Durandii, Lat. M. Dufour pulmonaria:. 
329 
found it in the mountains of Narbonne, in the Pyrennees and among the 
rocks of Catalonia. To this latter naturalist we are indebted not only for 
our knowledge of the external characters of this spider, but for many curi- 
ous observations relative to its habits. “She constructs,” says he, “ a shell 
resembling a calotte an inch in diameter, on the under surface of large 
stones or in the fissures of rocks. Its contour presents seven or eight 
emarginations, the angles of which are alone attached to the stone by silken 
fasciculi, the margin being free. This singular tent is admirably woven. 
The exterior resembles the very finest taffeta, formed, according to the age 
of the animal, of a greater or less number of layers. Thus, when the young 
Uroctea first commences her establishment, she merely forms two webs 
between which she seeks for shelter. Subsequently, and I believe at each 
change of tegument, she adds a certain number of layers. Finally, she lines 
an apartment with a softer and more downy material which is to enclose the 
sac of eggs and young ones. Although the exterior shell is more or less soiled 
by foreign bodies which serve to conceal it, the chamber of the industrious 
architect is always extremely neat and clean. There are four, five, or six 
egg-pouches or sacculi in each domicil; they are lenticular, more than four 
lines in diameter, and formed of a snow-white taffeta lined with the softest 
down. The ova are not produced till the latter end of December or the 
beginning of January; the young are to be protected from the rigour of 
winter and the incursions of enemies—all is prepared; the receptacle of 
this precious deposit is separated from the web that adheres to the stone by 
soft down, and from the external calotte by the various layers I have men- 
tioned. Some of the emarginations in the edge of the pavilion are com- 
pletely closed by the continuity of the web, the edges of the remainder are 
merely laid on each other, so that by raising them up, the animal can issue 
from its tent or enter it, at pleasure. When the Uroctea leaves herhabi- 
tation for the chase, she has nothing to fear, she only possesses the secret 
of the impenetrable emargination, and has the key to those which alone 
afford an entrance. W’hen her offspring are able to provide for themselves, 
they leave their native dwelling, to establish elsewhere their individual 
habitations, while the mother returns to it and dies—it is thus her cradle and 
her tomb.” 
There are several other genera of this section, such as Drassus, Segestria, 
Clubiona, &c., in the last of which, as well as in the following ones, we find 
eight eyes. They form two families, the Terrestrial and Aquatic. Some 
(Clubiona) construct silken tubes under stones; and others (Aranea proper), 
a web with a tube, in our houses, along hedges, &c. 
In the second section of the sedentary and rectigrade spiders,that of the 
IyEauiTELiK, the external papillae are nearly conical, project but little, are 
convergent, and form a rosette; the legs are very slender. The jaws in- 
cline over the lip, and become narrower at their superior extremity, or at 
least do not sensibly widen. 
Most of them have the first pair of legs longest, and then the fourth. The 330 
ARACHNIDES. 
abdomen is more voluminous, softer, and more coloured than in the pre- 
ceding tribes. Their webs form an irregular net composed of threads 
which cross each other in every direction and on several planes. They 
lie in wait for their prey, display much anxiety for the preservation of their 
eggs, and never abandon them till they are hatched. They are short-lived. 
There are several genera such as Scytodes, Theridion, Episinus, &c., dif- 
fering in the number of eyes, and the mode of their arrangement; the shape 
of the thorax, &c. 
In the third section of the sedentary rectigrade spiders, the Orbitelje, 
the external fusi are almost conical, slightly salient, convergent, and form 
a rosette, the legs are slender, as in the preceding section, but the jaws 
are straight and evidently wider at their extremity. 
The first pair of legs, and then the second, are always the longest. 
There are eight eyes thus arranged: four in the middle forming a quadri- 
lateral, and two on each side. 
The Orbitelas approach the Inequitelae in the size, softness, and diversity 
of colour of the abdomen, and in their shortterm of existence; but their 
web is a regular piece of net-work, composed of concentric circles inter- 
cepted by straight radii diverging from the centre, where they almost always 
remain, and in an inverted position, at the circumference. Some conceal 
themselves in a cell or cavity which they have constructed near the margin 
of the web, which is sometimes horizontal, and at others perpendicular. 
Their eggs are agglutinated, very numerous, and inclosed in a voluminous 
cocoon. 
The threads which support the web, and which can be extended one- 
fifth of their length, are used for the divisions of the micrometer. 
Luttfhia, Lat. 
The Linyphise are well characterized by the disposition of their eyes: 
four in the middle form a trapezium, the posterior side of which is widest, 
and is occupied by two eyes much larger and more distant; the remaining 
four are grouped in pairs, one on each side, and in an oblique line. The 
jaws are only widened at their superior extremity. 
They construct on bushes a loose, thin, horizontal web, attaching to its 
upper surface, at different points, or irregularly, separate threads. The 
animal remains at its inferior portion, and in a reversed position. 
The four posterior eyes placed at equal intervals on a straight line, and 
the two lateral ones of the first line nearer to the anterior edge of the tho- 
rax than the two comprised between them, so that this line is arcuated pos- 
teriorly. The tarsi of the three last pairs of legs terminate by one small 
nail. The first joint of the two posterior ones has a range of small setae. 
The body of these animals, as well as in the following subgenus, is elon- 
gated and nearly cylindrical. Placed in the centre of their web, they ad- 
UiOBORus, Lat. PULMONARIAL. 
331 
vance their four anterior legs in a straight line, and extend the two last in 
an opposite direction; those of the third pair project laterally. 
These Arachnides construct webs similar to those of other Orbitelx, but 
they are looser and more horizontal. They will completely envelope the 
body of a small coleopterous insect in less than three minutes. 
The eyes placed four by four on two nearly parallel lines, and separated 
by almost equal intervals; jaws long, narrow, and only widened at their su- 
perior extremity. The chelicerx are also very long, in the males especially. 
The web is vertical. 
Tetraghatha, Lat. 
Epeira, Walck. 
The two eyes on each side approximated by pairs, and almost contiguous; 
the remaining four forming a quadrilateral in the middle. The jaws dilate 
from their base, and form a rounded palette. 
The cucurbitina is the only species known whose web is horizontal; that 
of the others is vertical, or sometimes oblique. 
Some place themselves in its centre in a reversed position, or with their 
head downwards; others construct a domicil close by it, either vaulted on 
all sides, or forming a silky tube composed of leaves drawn together by 
threads, or open above, and resembling a cup or the nest of a bird. The 
web of some exotic species is formed of such stout materials that it will ar- 
rest small Birds, and even impede the progress of a Man. 
Their cocoon is usually globular; that of some species, however, is a trun- 
cated oval, or very short cone. 
The natives of New Holland and those of some of the South Sea Islands, 
for want of other food, eat a species of Epeira, closely allied to the Jlranea 
esuriens, Fab. They are numerous. 
We now come to Spiders that are sedentary, like the preceding, but 
which have the faculty of moving sideways, forwards and backwards, in a 
word, in all directions. They constitute our section of the Laterigrad.®. 
The four anterior legs are always longer than the others; sometimes the 
second pair surpasses the first, and at others, they are nearly equal; the ani- 
mal extends them to the whole of their length on the plane of position. 
The chelicerse are usually small, and their hook is folded transversely, as 
in the four preceding tribes. Their eyes, always eight in number, are fre- 
quently very unequal, and form a segment of a circle or crescent; the two 
posterior lateral ones are placed farther back than the others, or are nearer 
to the lateral margin of the thorax. The jaws, in most of them, are inclined 
on the lip. The body is usually flattened, resembling a Crab; the abdomen 
is large, rounded, and triangular. 
These Arachnides remain motionless on plants, with their feet extended. 
They make no web, simply throwing out a few solitary threads to arrest 
their prey. Their cocoon is orbicular and flattened. They conceal it be- 
tween leaves, and watch it until the young ones are hatched. 332 
ARACHNIDES. 
The Laterigradae form several genera, such a9 Micrommata, Setielops, &c. 
Other Aranese whose eyes, always eight in number, extend more along 
the lengthof the thorax than across its breadth, or at least almost as much 
in one direction as the other, and which form either a truncated curvilinear 
triangle or oval, or a quadrilateral, constitute a second general division, or 
the Vagabond®, which I have thus named to distinguish them from those 
of the first, or the Sedentaria:. 
Two or four of their eyes are frequently much larger than the others; 
the thorax is large and the legs robust; those of the fourth pair and then 
the two first, or those of the second pair, are usually the longest. 
They make no web, but watch for their prey and seize it, either by hunt- 
ing it down, or by suddenly leaping upon it. 
This division forms two sections, each consisting of several genera. In 
the first, or that of the Citigrad®, we find the genus 
The eyes of the Lycosse form a quadrilateral, but one as long as or longer 
than it is wide? the two posterior eyes are not placed on an elevation. The 
first pair of legs is evidently longer than the second, but shorter than the 
fourth, which, in this respect, surpasses all the others. The internal extre- 
mity of the jaws is obliquely truncated. The ligula is square but longer 
than it is broad. 
Almost all the Lycosac keep on the ground, where they run with great 
swiftness. They inhabit holes accidentally presented to them, or which they 
excavate, lining their parietes with silk, and enlarging them in proportion 
to their growth. Some establish their domicil in chinks and cavities in 
walls, where they form a silken tube covered externally with particles of 
earth or sand. In these retreats they change their tegument, and as it ap- 
pears, after, closing the opening, pass the winter. There also the females 
lay their eggs. When they go abroad they carry their cocoon with them, 
attached to the abdomen by threads. On issuing from the egg the 
young ones cling to the body of the mother, and remain there until they 
are able to provide for themselves. 
The JLycosae are extremely voracious, and courageously defend their 
dwelling. 
A species of this genus, the Tarentula, so called from Tarentum, a city of 
Italy, in the environs of which it is common, is highly celebrated. The 
poisonous nature of its bite is thought to produce the most serious conse- 
quences, being frequently followed by death or Tarentism, results which 
can only be avoided by the aid of music and dancing. Well informed 
persons, however, think it more necessary in these cases to combat the ter- 
rors of the imagination than to apply an antidote to the poison; medicine at 
all events presents other means of cure. 
In the second section of the Vagabundac, that of the Saltighad.®, the 
eyes form a large quadrilateral, the anterior side of which, or the line 
formed bv the first ones, extends across the whole width of the thorax; this 
Lycosa, Lat. PULMONAKIvE. 
333 
part of the body is almost square or semi-ovoid, plane or but slightly con- 
vex above, as wide anteriorly as in the rest of its extent, and descending 
suddenly on the sides. The legs are fitted for running and leaping. The 
thighs of the two fore legs are remarkable for their size. 
The Araignee a chevrons blancs of Geoffroy, a species of Salticus very com- 
mon in summer on walls or windows exposed to the sun, moves by jerks, 
stops short after a few steps and raises itself on its fore legs. If it discover 
a fly, or particularly amusquito, it approaches softly, and then darts upon 
the victim with a single bound. It leaps fearlessly and perpendicularly on 
a wall, being always attached to it by a thread, which lengthens as it ad- 
vances. This same filament also supports it in the air, enables it to ascend 
to its point of departure, and allows it to be wafted by the wind from one 
place to another. Such, generally, are the habits of the species that be- 
long to this division. 
Several construct nests of silk resembling oval sacs open at both ends, be- 
tween leaves, under stones, &c. Thither they retire to change their tegu- 
ment and to seek shelter in bad weather. If danger menaces them there, 
they leave it at once and escape with speed. 
The females construct a sort of tent, which becomes the cradle of their 
posterity, and in which the young ones, for a time, live in common with the 
mother. There are several subgenera. 
FAMILY II. 
PEDIPALPI. 
In the second family of the Pulmonariae, we find very large palpi, 
resembling projecting arms, terminated by a forceps or a claw; di- 
dactyle chelicerae, one finger of which is movable, and an abdomen 
composed of very distinct segments, without fusi at the extremity. 
The whole body is invested with a firm tegument; the thorax con- 
sists of a single piece, and exhibits three or two simple eyes, ap- 
proximated or grouped, near the anterior angles; and near the mid- 
dle of its anterior extremity, or posteriorly, but in the median line, 
two others equally simple and approximated. There are four or 
eight pulmonary sacs. Those which form the genus 
Tarantula, Fab., 
Have their abdomen attached to their thorax by a pedicle, or portion of 
their transverse diameter; it has no pectinated laminae at its base, nor sting1 
at its extremity. Their stigmata, four in number, are situated near the ori- 
gin of the venter, and are covered with a plate. Their chelicerse (mandi- 
bles) are simply terminated by a movable hook. Their ligula is elongated, 334 
ARACHNIDES. 
very narrow, and concealed. They have but two jaws, which are formed 
by the first joint of their palpi. 
They all have eight eyes, of which three, on each side and near the an- 
terior angles, form a triangle; and two near the middle at the anterior mar- 
gin are placed on a common tubercle or little elevation, one on each side. 
The palpi are spinous. The tarsi of the two anterior legs differ from the 
others, being formed of numerous setaceous or filiform joints, and without 
a tei’minal nail. 
They are confined to the hottest portions of Asia and America. Their 
habits are unknown to us. They now constitute two subgenera, Phhtncs, 
Oliv. and Theltphoxus, Lat. 
The others have their abdomen intimately united to the thorax 
throughout its entire width, presenting, at its inferior base, two 
movable pectiniform laminae, and terminated by a knotted tail 
armed with a terminal sting. Their stigmata, eight in number, are 
exposed, and arranged four by four along the abdomen; their che- 
licerae are terminated by two fingers, of which the exterior is mov- 
able. They form the genus 
Scorpions have an elongated body, suddenly terminated by a long slender 
tail formed of six joints, the last of which terminates in an arcuated and ex- 
cessively acute point or sting, which affords issue to a venomous fluid con- 
tained in an internal reservoir, forming a long square, and usually marked in 
the middle by a longitudinal sulcus, presenting on each side, and near its an- 
terior extremity, three or two simple eyes, forming a curved line, and near 
the middle of the back two others, also simple, which are approximated. 
The palpi are very large, with a forceps at the extremity resembling a 
hand; their first joint forms a concave and rounded jaw. 
These Arachnides inhabit the hot countries of both hemispheres, live on 
the ground, conceal themselves under stones and other bodies, most com- 
monly in ruins, dark and cool places, and even in houses. They run with 
considerable swiftness, curving their tail over their back. They can turn 
it in every direction, and use it for the purposes of attack and defence. 
With their forceps they seize Onisci and various insects, Carabici, Orthop- 
terx, &c., on which they feed, pierce them with their sting by directing it 
forwards, and then pass their prey through their chelicerae and jaws. They 
are particularly fond of the eggs of Spiders and of Insects. 
The wound occasioned by the sting of the europseus is not usually dan- 
gerous. That of the Scorpion of Souvignargues, of Maupertius, of the spe- 
cies which I have named Roussatre (occitanus), and which is larger than the 
preceding one, according to the experiments of Dr Maccary courageously 
tried upon himself, produces serious and alarming symptoms; the older the 
animal the more active seems to be the poison. The remedy employed is 
Scorpio, Lin., Fab. PULMONARIaE. 
335 
the volatile alkali, used externally and internally. There are several 
species. 
ORDER II. 
TRACHEARIAE. 
The Arachnides which compose this order differ from those of 
the preceding one in their organs of respiration, which consist of 
radiated or ramified tracljeae(l), that only receive air through two 
stigmata; in the absence of an organ of circulation; and in the num- 
ber of their eyes, which is but from two to four. The want of suffi- 
ciently general anatomical observations, has prevented the limits of 
this order from being rigorously determined. Some of these 
Arachnides, the Pycnogonides for instance, exhibit no stigmata; 
their mode of respiration is unknown. 
The Tracheariae are very naturally divided into those which are 
furnished with cheliceras, terminated by two fingers, one of which is 
movable, or by one that is equally so; and into those where these 
organs are replaced by simple laminas, or lancets, which with the 
ligula constitute a sucker. Most of these animals, however, being 
very small, great difficulties necessarily accompany these investiga- 
tions, and it is readily perceived that such characters should only be 
resorted to when it is impossible to avoid it. 
FAMILY I. 
PSEUDO-SCORPIONES. 
In this family we find the thorax articulated, its first segment much 
the largest, and resembling a corselet; the abdomen is very distinct 
and annulated, and the palpi very large and in the form of legs or 
claws. There are eight legs with two equal hooks at the extremity 
of the tarsi, the two anterior ones, at most, excepted, and two appa- 
(1) The tracheae are vessels which receive the aerial fluid and distribute 
it to every part of the interior of the body, and thus remedy the want of 
circulation. 336 
ARACHNIDES. 
rent cheliceras terminated by two fingers and two toes, formed by 
the first joint of the palpi. They are all terrestrial, and have an 
oval or oblong body. This family comprehends but two genera. 
Galeodes, Oliv.—Solpuga, Licht., Fab. 
Two very large chelicerae, with strongly dentated vertical fingers, one su- 
perior, fixed, and frequently furnished at its base with a slender, elongated, 
pointed appendage, and the other movable; large projecting palpi in the 
form of feet or antennx, terminated by a short, vesicular joint, resembling 
a button without a terminal hook; the two anterior feet of an almost similar 
figure, equally unarmed, but smaller. 
Their body is oblong, generally soft, and bristled with long hairs. The 
last joint of the palpi, according to M. Dufour, contains a particular organ 
formed like a disk, of a nacre-white, and which never protrudes unless the 
animal is irritated. The two anterior feet may be considered as second 
palpi. The abdomen is oval, and composed of nine annuli. 
It is supposed that the ancients designated these animals by the names of 
Phalangium, Solifuga, Tetragnatha, &c. M. Poe discovered a species in 
the environs of Havana, but the others are peculiar to the hot and sandy 
countries of the eastern continent. They run with great celerity, erect 
their head when surprised, and show signs of resistance; they are considered 
venomous. 
Chelifer, Geoff.—Obisium, Illig. 
The palpi elongated in the form of an arm, with a hand terminated by a 
didactyle forceps; all the legs equal, terminated by two hooks; the eyes 
placed on the sides of the thorax. 
These animals resemble small Scorpions destitute of a tail. Their body 
is flattened, and the thorax nearly square, with one or two eyes on each side. 
They run swiftly, and frequently retrograde or move sideways like Crabs. 
FAMILY II. 
PYCNOGONIDES. 
The trunk, in this family, is composed of four segments, occupy- 
ing nearly the whole length of the body and terminated at each 
extremity by a tubular joint, the anterior of which is the largest, 
sometimes simple, and sometimes accompanied by cheliceras and 
palpi, or only one kind of these organs, that constitutes the mouth. 
There are eight legs in both sexes, formed for running, but the fe- 
male is furnished with two additional false ones, placed near the 
two anterior, and solely destined to carry her eggs. TRACHEARIiE. 
337 
The Pycnogonides are marine animals, analogous either to the 
Cyami and the Caprellae, or to the Arachnides of the genus Phalan- 
gium, where Linnaeus placed them. Their body is commonly linear, 
with very long legs, composed of eight or nine joints, terminated 
by two unequal hooks which appear to form but one, and the small- 
est of which is cleft. The first segment of the body, which replaces 
the head and mouth, forms a projecting tube, cylindrical or in the 
form of a truncated cone, with a triangular aperture at its extre- 
mity. The chelicerae and palpi are placed at its base. The former 
are cylindrical or linear, simply prehensile, and composed of two 
joints, the last of which is a forceps, the inferior finger or the one that 
is fixed being sometimes shorter than the other. The palpi are fili- 
form, and consist of five or nine joints, with a terminal hook. 
Each of the following segments, the last excepted, bears a pair of 
legs; but the first, or the one articulated with the mouth has a tuber- 
cle on the back, on which are placed two eyes on each side, and 
beneath, in the females only, two additional small folded legs, bear- 
ing the eggs which are collected around them in one or two pellets. 
The last segment is small, cylindrical and perforated by a little ori- 
fice at the extremity. No vestige of stigmata can be perceived. 
They are found among marine plants, sometimes under stones 
near the beach, and occasionally also on the Cetacea. 
The chelicerse and palpi wanting; length of the feet hardly greater than 
that of the body, which is proportionably thicker and shorter than in the 
following genera. They live on the Cetacea. 
Pycnogonum, Brun., Mull., Fab. 
The palpi wanting, as in the Phoxichili; but the legs are very long, and 
there are two chelicerx. 
Phoxichilus, Lat. 
Nymphon, Fab. 
The Nymphones resemble the Phoxichili in the narrow and oblong form of 
their body, the length of their legs; and in the presence of chelicerx; but 
they have, besides, two palpi. 338 
ARACHNIDES. 
FAMILY III. 
HOLETRA. 
The trunk and abdomen are here united in one mass, under a 
common epidermis, or at most, the thorax is divided by a strangu- 
lation, and the abdomen, in some, merely exhibits an appearance 
of annuli, formed by the plicae of the abdomen. 
The anterior extremity of their body frequently projects in the 
form of a snout or rostrum; most of them have eight legs, and the 
remainder six. 
This family consists of two tribes. In the first or the Phalai?- 
gita, Lat., we observe very apparent chelicerae which either project 
in front of the trunk, or are inferior, and always terminating in a 
didactyle forceps, preceded by one or two joints. 
They have two filiform palpi, composed of five joints, the last of 
which is terminated by a small nail; two distinct eyes; two jaws 
formed by the prolongation of the radical joint of the palpi, and 
frequently four more, which are also a mere dilatation of the hip of 
the two first pairs of legs. The body is oval or rounded, and co- 
vered, the trunk at least, with a firmer skin; there is also an appear- 
ance of annuli or plicae on the abdomen. The legs, of which there 
are always eight, are long, and distinctly divided, like those of In- 
sects. At the origin of the two posterior legs, at least in several 
—Phalangium—are two stigmata, one on each side, but hidden by 
their hips. 
Most of them live on the ground, at the foot of trees, and on 
plants, and are very active; others conceal themselves under stones 
and in moss. 
Phalangium, Lin., Fab. 
The chelicerae projecting, much shorter than the body; eyes placed on a 
common tubercle. Their legs are very long and slender, and when de- 
tached from the body show signs of irritability for a few moments. 
There are soTne other genera, viz. Siro, Macrocheles and Trogulus. 
In the second tribe of the Holetra, that of the Acarides, we 
sometimes find chelicerae, but they are simply formed of a single 
forceps, either didactyle or monodactyle, and are hidden in a sternal 
lip; sometimes there is a sucker formed of united lancets; or finally trachearia;. 
339 
the mouth consists of a simple cavity without any apparent appen- 
dages. This tribe is composed of the genus 
Acartjs, Lin. 
Most of these animals are very small or nearly microscopical. They are 
observed everywhere. Some of them are errant, and of these some are 
found under stones, leaves, bark of trees, in the earth, in water, dried meat, 
old cheese, and putrescent animal matters. Others are parasitical, living 
on the skin or in the flesh of various animals, which they often, by their 
excessive multiplication, reduce to a state of great debility. The origin 
of certain diseases, such as the itch, is attributed to particular species. The 
experiments of Ur Galet prove that if the Acari of the human psora be 
placed on the body of a perfectly healthy person, they will inoculate him 
with the virus of that disorder. Various species of Acari are also found 
on Insects, and some of the Coleoptera that feed on cadaverous substances 
are frequently covered with them. They have even been observed in the 
brain and eye of Man. 
The Acari, or Mites, as they are vulgarly termed, are oviparous, and ex- 
cessively prolific. Several of them at first have but six legs, the remaining 
two being developed shortly after. Their tarsi terminate in various ways, 
according to their habits. 
Some—Acarides, Lat.—or the Acari proper, have eight legs, solely des- 
tined for walking, and chelicerx. 
The chelicerse monodactyle, or terminated by a movable hook; salient 
palpi, pointed at the end, with a movable appendage or species of finger 
under their extremity, two eyes, each placed on a little immovable pedicle. 
The body is divided into two parts, the first of which, or the anterior, is very 
small, and bears the two first pair of legs, together with the eyes and mouth. 
Tromb. holosericeum, Fab. Very common in gardens in the spring; blood- 
red; abdomen nearly square, posteriorly narrowed, with an emargination; 
the back loaded with papillae, hairy at base, and globular at the extremity. 
There are various other subgenera, such as Erytur.zeus, Gamasus, Chey- 
ietus, Ohibata, Uropoda, &c. 
Here we find our Common Ticks. The most remarkable is that of the 
subgenus 
Trombidixtm, Fab. 
Ixodes, Lat. Fab. 
The palpi forming1 a sheath to the sucker, and with it constituting a pro- 
jecting and short rostrum, truncated and slightly dilated at the extremity. 
The Ixodes are found in thick woods abounding in brashes, briars, &c.; 
they hook themselves to low plants by the hind legs, keeping the others 
extended, and fasten on Dogs, Oxen, Horses and other Quadrupeds, and 
even on the Tortoise, burying their suckers so completely in their flesh, 340 
ARACHNIDES. 
that they can only be detached by force, and by tearing out the portion that 
adheres to it. They lay a prodigious quantity of eggs, and sometimes in- 
crease to such an enormous extent on the Ox and Horse, that they perish 
from the exhaustion. Their tarsi are terminated by two hooks inserted in 
a palette, or united at base on a common pedicle. 
The ancients designated these Arachnides by the term Ricinus. They 
are our Ticks. 
CLASS III. 
INSECTA. 
Insects, which form the third class of articulated animals provided 
with articulated legs, have, besides, a dorsal vessel analogous to the 
vestige of a heart, but totally destitute of any branch for the circu- 
lation. They respire by means of two principal trachea;, extending, 
parallel to each other, throughout the whole length of the body, hav- 
ing centres, at intervals, from which proceed numerous branches, 
corresponding to external openings or stigmata, which admit air. 
They all have two antennae and a distinct head. The nervous sys- 
tem of most Insects—the Hexapoda—is generally composed of a 
brain formed of two opposing ganglions, united at base, giving off 
eight pairs of nerves and two single ones, and of twelve ganglions, 
all inferior. By counting the eight pairs of the brain, and the ten 
spinal bridles, which may also be considered as so many pairs of 
nerves, we shall have in all forty-five pairs, exclusive of two solitary 
nerves, or from twelve to fourteen more than are found in the hu- 
man subject. In our general remarks on points common to the 
three classes of articulated animals provided with articulated feet, 
we mentioned the various opinions of physiologists with respect to 
the seat of the sense of hearing and of smell. We will merely add, 
in regard to the former, that certain little nervous frontal ganglions 
seem to confirm the opinion of those who, like Scarpa, place it in 
the origin of the antennae. I have detected two small orifices near 
the eyes of certain Lepidoptera, which, perhaps, are auditory canals. 
If, in several Insects, particularly those furnished with filiform, or INSECTA. 
341 
long, setaceous antennae, they (the antennae) are organs of touch, 
it seems to us difficult to account for the extraordinary development 
they acquire in certain families, and more particularly in the males, 
if we refuse to admit that they are then the seat of smell. The palpi 
also, in some cases, as when they are greatly dilated at the extremity, 
may possibly be the principal organs of smell, part of which sense 
may also perhaps belong to the ligula. 
The digestive system consists of a preparatory or buccal appara- 
tus, intestinal canal, biliary vessels, also called hepatic vessels, those 
styled salivary, but which are less general, free and floating vessels, 
the epiploon or corps graisseux, and probably of the dorsal vessel. 
This system is singularly modified, according to the difference of the 
aliment, or forms a great number of particular types, of which we 
shall speak when treating of families. We will merely say a word 
with respect to the buccal apparatus and the principal divisions of 
the intestinal canal, beginning with the latter. In those where it is 
the most complicated, as in the carnivorous Coleoptera, we observe 
a pharynx, cesophagus, crop, gizzard, stomach or chylific ventricle, 
and intestines. 
Some few, and always apterous Insects, such as the Myriapoda, 
approximate to several of the Crustacea, either in the number of the 
annuli of their body and in their legs, or in some points of analogy 
in the conformation of the parts of the mouth; but all the others 
never have more than six legs, and their body, the number of whose 
segments never extends beyond twelve, is always divided into three 
principal parts, the head, trunk and abdomen. Among the latter 
Insects, some are found without wings, that always preserve their 
natal form, and merely increase in size and change their skin. In 
this respect they bear some analogy to the animals of the preceding 
classes. Nearly all the remaining Hexapoda have wings; but these 
organs, and even frequently the feet, do not make their appearance 
at first, but are only developed after a series of changes, more or 
less remarkable, styled metamorphoses, of which we shall soon 
have to speak. 
The head bears the antennae, eyes, and mouth. The composition 
and form of the antennas are much more various than in the Crus- 
tacea, and are frequently more developed or longer in the males than 
in the females. 
The eyes are either compound or simple; the first, according to 342 
the baron Cuvier, Marcel dc Serres and others, are formed: 1, of 
a cornea, divided into numerous little facets, which is so much the 
more convex, as the insect is more carnivorous; its internal surface 
is covered with an opaque, and variously coloured, but slightly fluid 
substance, usually, however, of a black or deep violet hue; 2, of a 
choroides, fixed by its contour and edges to the cornea, covered 
with a black varnish, exhibiting numerous air vessels, arising from 
tolerably large trunks of tracheae in the head, whose branches form 
a circular trachea round the eye: it is frequently wanting, how- 
ever, as well as the choroides, in various nocturnal insects; 3, of 
nerves arising from a large trunk, proceeding directly from the 
brain, which then opens, forming a reversed cone, the base of which 
is next to the eye, and each of whose rays or threads traversing the 
choroides and lining matter of the cornea, terminates in one of its 
facets; there is no crystalline nor vitreous humour. 
Several, besides these compound eyes, have simple ones, or ocelli, 
the cornea of which is smooth. They are usually three in number, 
and are disposed in a triangle on the top of the head. In most of 
the Aptera and in the larv® of those that are winged, they replace 
the former, and are frequently united in a group; those of the 
Arachnides seem to indicate that they are fitted for the purpose of 
vision. 
The mouth of the hexapodous insects is generally composed of 
six principal parts, four of which are lateral, are disposed in pairs, 
and move transversely; the other two, opposed to each other in a 
contrary direction, occupy the space comprised between the former: 
one is placed above the superior pair, and the other beneath the 
inferior. In the triturating insects (broyeurs), or those which feed 
on solid matters, the four lateral parts perform the office of jaws, 
the other two being considered as lips; but, as we have already ob- 
served, the two superior jaws have been distinguished by the pecu- 
liar appellation of mandibles, the others alone bearing that of maxillae 
or jaws; the latter are also furnished with one or two articulated 
filaments called palpi, a character never exhibited, in this class, by 
the mandibles. Their extremity is often terminated by two divisions 
or lobes, the exterior of which, in the Orthoptera, is called the 
galea. We have already said that the upper lip was called the 
labrum. The other, or the labium properly so styled, is formed of 
INSECT A. INSECTA. 
343 
two parts; the one, inferior and solid, is the mentum or chin; the 
other, which is usually provided with two palpi, is the ligula. 
In the Suctoria, or those that live by the suction of fluid aliment, 
these various organs of manducation present themselves under two 
kinds of general modifications. In the first, the mandibles and the 
jaws are replaced by little laminas in the form of setae or lancets, 
forming, by their union, a sort of sucker, which is received into a 
sheath, supplying the place of a labium, and is either cylindrical or 
conical, and articulated in the form of a rostrum, or fleshy or mem- 
branous, inarticulated, and terminated by two lips constituting a 
•proboscis. The labrum is triangular and arched, and covers the 
base of the sucker. 
In the second modification, the labrum and mandibles are nearly 
obliterated, or are extremely small: the labium is no longer free, 
and is only distinguishable by the presence of two palpi, to which 
it gives insertion: the jaws have acquired a most extraordinary 
length, and are transformed into tubular filaments, which, being 
united at their edges, compose a sort of spiral proboscis called the 
tongue, but which, to avoid all equivocation, it would be better to 
call spirignatha; its interior exhibits three canals, the intermediate 
of which is the duct of the alimentary juices. At the base of each 
of these filaments is a palpus, usually very small, and but slightly 
apparent. 
The Myriapoda are the only insects in which the mouth presents 
another mode of organization—-it will be explained in treating of 
that order. 
The trunk of insects, or that intermediate portion of their body 
which bears the legs, is generally designated by the term thorax, or 
corselet by the French. It is composed of three segments, not well 
distinguished at first, the relative proportions of which vary consi- 
derably. Sometimes, as in the Coleoptera, the anterior, much the 
largest, separated from the following one by an articulation, mova- 
ble, and alone exposed, appears at the first glance to constitute the 
entire trunk, and is called the thorax or corselet; sometimes, as in 
the Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, &c., it is much shorter than the 
ensuing one, has the appearance of a collar, and, with the two 
others, forms a common body, attached to the abdomen by a pedi- 
cle, or adhering closely to it across its whole posterior width, and 
is also called thorax. These distinctions were insufficient, and M. 344 
INSECTA* 
Kirby having already employed the denomination of metathorax, 
to designate the after-thorax, that of prothorax and mesothorax, the 
ternary division once established, naturally presented itself to the 
mind, and the celebrated professor Nitzsch was the first to employ 
it. Some naturalists have since designated the prothorax or ante- 
rior segment, that which bears the two first feet, by the term collar, 
collare. Wishing to retain the denomination of corselet, but to 
restrain its application within proper limits, we will employ that 
term in all those cases where this segment is much larger than the 
others, and where these latter are joined to the abdomen, and seem 
to constitute an integral part of it—a disposition proper to the 
Coleoptera, Orthoptera, and several of the Hemiptera. When 
the prothorax is short, and forms with the succeeding segments a 
common and exposed mass, the trunk composed of the three will 
retain the name of thorax. We will also continue to style pectus 
the inferior surface of the trunk, dividing it according to the seg- 
ments, into three arese, the ante-pectus, medio-pectus, and post-pec- 
tus. The median line will also constitute the sternum, which we 
divide into three parts: the ante-sternum, medio-sternum, and post- 
sternum. 
The teguments of the thoracic segments, as well as of those of 
the abdomen, are usually divided into two annuli or semi-annuli, the 
one dorsal or superior, the other inferior, laterally united by a soft 
and flexible membrane, which, however, is but a portion of the same 
tegument that in many Insects, the Coleoptera particularly, is less 
firm. At the point of junction between these annuli we observe a 
little space of a more solid texture, or of the consistence of the an- 
nulus itself, which bears a stigmata, so that the sides of the abdomen 
present a longitudinal series of small pieces, or each segment seems 
to be quadripartite. Other equally corneous pieces occupy the in- 
ferior sides of the mesothorax and metathorax and immediately un- 
der the origin of the elytra and wings, which are supported by 
another longitudinal piece. The relations of these parts, the size 
and form of the first joint of the coxae, the manner in which they 
are articulated with the semi-annulus to which they belong, the ex- 
tent and direction of that semi-annulus varying, furnish the thorax, 
thus considered, with a combination of characters, which in a sys- 
tematic point of view are of great importance. 
As Insects inhabit all kinds of dwellings, they are provided with INSECTA. 
345 
all sorts of locomotive organs, winga and feet, which, in several, act 
asjins. 
The wings are membranous, dry, elastic organs, usually diapha- 
nous, and attached to the sides of the back of the thorax: the first, 
when there are four, or when they are unique, on those of its second 
segment, and the second on those of the following or of the meta- 
thorax. They are composed of two membranes laid one on the 
other, and are traversed in various directions by more or less nu- 
merous nervures, which are so many tracheal tubes, now forming a 
net-work, and then simple veins. The Libellulse, Apes, Vespae, 
Papiliones, &c., have four wings; but those of the latter are co- 
vered with small scales, which at the first glance resemble dust, and 
give them the magnificent colours in which they are dressed. They 
are easily removed with the finger, and that portion of the wing be- 
comes transparent. By the aid of glasses we discover that these 
scales are of various figures, and implanted in the wing by means of 
a pedicle, arranged gradually and in series, like tiles on a roof. 
Before the superior wings of these Insects are two species of epau- 
lettes—pterygoda—w'hich extend posteriorly along a portion of the 
back on which they are laid. The wings of some Insects remain 
straight, or are doubled transversely. Those of others are folded 
or plaited longitudinally like a fan. Sometimes they are horizontal, 
and sometimes inclined in the manner of a roof; in several they cross 
on the back, and in others they are distant. Directly under them, 
in the Diptera, are two small movable threads with a claviform ter- 
mination, which, according to the general opinion, seem to replace 
the two wings that are wanting. They are called halteres. Other 
two-winged and more extraordinary Insects have also two halteres, 
but situated at the anterior extremity of the thorax, which to distin- 
guish from the others we will call prohalteres. Above these ap- 
pendages is a little membranous scale formed of two pieces united 
by one of their edges and resembling a bivalve shell—it is the alula 
or cueilleron. The same appendage is also observed under the ely- 
tra (at their base) of some aquatic Coleoptera. 
Many Insects, such as the Melolonthae, Cantharides, &c., in lieu 
of the two superior or anterior wings, are furnished with two species 
of scales, more or less solid and opaque, which open and close, and 
beneath which, when at rest, the wings are transversely folded. 
These scales or icing cases are called elytra. The Insects provided 346 
INSECTA. 
with them are named Coleoptera, and in such they are never absent, 
though this is sometimes the case with respect to the wings. In 
other Insects the extremity of the scale is completely membranous, 
or like the wing: they are styled Hemiptera. 
The scutel or scutellum is usually a small triangular piece, situa- 
ted on the back of the mesothorax, and between the insertions of 
the elytra or of the wings. Sometimes it is very large, and then it 
covers the greater part of the superior portion of the abdomen. In 
various Ilymenoptera, behind the scutellum and on the metathorax, 
we find a little space called the post-scutellum. 
The ambulatory organs of locomotion consist of a coxa formed of 
two pieces, a femur, an uniarticulated tibia, and of a tarsus, which 
is divided into several phalanges. The number of its articulations 
varies from three to five, a difference which greatly depends upon 
the proportional changes experienced by the first and penultimate 
joints. Although their supputation may sometimes prove embar- 
rassing, and this numerical series may not always be in exact accord- 
ance with the natural order, it furnishes a good character for the 
distinction of genera. The last joint is usually terminated by two 
hooks. The form of the tarsi is subject to some modifications, ac- 
cording to the habits of the animal. Those of aquatic species are 
usually strongly ciliated and flattened, and resemble oars. 
The abdomen, which forms the third and last part of the body, is 
confounded in the Myriapoda, with the thorax: but in all other In- 
sects, or those which have but six feet, it is distinct. It contains 
the viscera, &c., presenting nine or ten segments or annuli, some 
of which, however, are frequently concealed or considerably reduced. 
The last annuli of the abdomen, in several females, form a retrac- 
tile or always projecting ovipositor more or less complicated, which 
acts like an auger. A sting is substituted for it in many of the fe- 
male Ilymenoptera. The female lays her eggs, and deposits them 
in the way best adapted for their preservation, and in such a manner 
that the moment the larvre make their appearance, suitable aliment 
is always within their reach. Frequently she collects provisions for 
them. This maternal solicitude often excites our surprise, and more 
particularly unveils the instinct of Insects. In the numerous socie- 
ties of several of these animals, such as the Ant, Termes, Wasp, 
Bee, &c., those individuals which form the greater portion of the 
community, and by whose labour and vigilance the wdiole cornmu- INSECTA. 
347 
nity are maintained, have been considered as being of.neither sex. 
They have also been designated by the terms of labourers and mules. 
It is now known, however, that they are females not fully developed. 
1 he ova are sometimes hatched in the abdomen of the mother; 
she is then viviparous. The number of generations in a year de- 
pends on the duration of each of them. Most commonly there is 
but one or two. 
A female Papilio, or Butterfly, lays her eggs, from which are 
hatched, not Butterflies, but animals with an elongated body, divided 
mto rings, and a head furnished with jaws and several small eyes, 
having very short feet, six of which are anterior, scaly, and pointed, 
the rest varying in number and membranous, being attached to the 
posterior annuli. These animals, called Caterpillars, live in this 
state for a certain period, and repeatedly change their skin. An 
epoch, however, arrives, when from this skin of a caterpillar issues 
a totally different being, of an oblong form and without distinct 
limbs, which soon ceases to move, and remains a long time appa- 
rently desiccated and dead under the name of a chrysalis. By 
close examination we may discover on the external surface of this 
chrysalis, lineaments which represent all the parts of the Butterfly, 
but under proportions differing from those they are one day to pos- 
sess. After a longer or shorter period, the skin of the chrysalis 
splits, and the Butterfly, humid and soft, with flabby short wings, 
issues from it—a few moments, however, and it is dry, the wings 
enlarge and become firm, and the perfect animal is ready for flight. 
It has six long legs, antennae, a spiral proboscis, and compound 
eyes—in a word, it has no resemblance whatever to the caterpillar, 
from which it has originated, for it is ascertained that these various 
changes are nothing more than the successive development of parts 
contained one within the other. 
This is what is styled the metamorphosis of Insects. In their first 
condition they are called larvae, in their second pupce, nymphs or 
chrysalides, and in the third perfect insects. 
All Insects do not pass through these three states. Those which 
are apterous issue from the ovum with the form they are always to 
preserve: they are said to be without a metamorphosis. Of those 
that have wings, many experience no other change than that of re- 
ceiving them: these are said to undergo a semi-metamorphosis. 
Their larva resembles the perfect insect, with the single exception 348 
1NSECTA. 
of the wings, which are totally wanting. The nymph only differs 
from the larva in possessing stumps or rudiments of wings, which 
are developed at its final change of tegument, and render the animal 
perfect. Such are the Cimices, Grylii, &c. Finally, the remain- 
ing Insects provided with wings that are said to undergo a complete 
metamoiphosis, are at first larvae, resembling caterpillars or Worms, 
and then become motionless nymphs, but presenting in that state all 
the parts of the perfect insect contracted, and as if wrapped in a 
bandage. 
Tn the nymph of the Coleoptera, Neuroptera, Hyinenoptera, &.C., 
these parts, though closely approximated and in contact with the 
body, are free; but they are not so in that of the Lep.idoptera and of 
many Diptera. An elastic or solid skin is moulded over the body 
and its external parts, forming a kind of case for it. 
That of the chrysalides of the Lepidoptera merely consisting of a 
simple pellicle applied to the external organs, following their con- 
tour in every direction, and forming, for each of them, so many 
moulds, like the envelope of a mummy, allows us to recognize and 
distinguish them; but those of Flies and Syrphi, formed of the dried 
skin of the larva, resemble an egg-like shell. It is a species of cap- 
sule or case in which the animal is shut up. 
Many larvae, before they pass into their pupa state, prepare a co- 
coon in which they enclose themselves, either with silk which they 
draw from the interior of their bodies by means of the spinning ap- 
paratus of their lip, or other materials which they collect. The 
perfect Insect issues from the nymph through a fissure or slit which 
opens on the back of the thorax. In the pupae of Flies one of the 
extremities is detached, like a cap, to allow the egress of the 
animal. 
The larvae and pupae of those Insects which experience a semi- 
metamorphosis only differ from the same in a perfect state, in the 
absence of wings. The other external organs are precisely alike. 
But in such as undergo a complete metamorphosis, the form of the 
body of the larva has no constant relation with that it is to possess 
in its perfect state. It is usually more elongated; the head is fre- 
quently very different, as well in its consistence as in its figure, hav- 
ing mere rudiments of antennae or perhaps none at all; there are 
never any compound eyes. 
There is also a great disparity in the organs of manducation, as INSECTA. 
349 
may be easily seen by comparing the mouth of a caterpillar with 
that of the Butterfly, or the mouth of the larva of a Fly with that of 
the perfect Insect. 
Several of these larvae are destitute of feet; others, such as the 
Caterpillars, have many, all, the six first excepted, membranous, 
and without terminal hooks. Some Insects, such as the Ephemerae, 
exhibit a singular anomaly in their metamorphosis—the animal ar- 
rived at its perfect state undergoes another change of tegument. 
The Insects which constitute our three first orders preserve for 
life their natal form. The Myriapoda, however, exhibit a kind of 
metamorphosis. At first they have but six legs, or, according to 
Savi, are altogether destitute of them; the others, as well as the 
segments on which they depend, are developed by age. 
But few vegetable substances are protected from the voracity of 
Insects; and as those which are necessary or useful to Man are not 
spared by them more than others, they become very injurious, par- 
ticularly during seasons which favour their multiplication. Their 
destruction greatly depends upon our vigilance and knowledge of 
their habits. Some of them are omnivorous—such are the Termites, 
Ants, &c., whose ravages are but too well known. Several of those 
which are carnivorous, and all the species which feed on dead ani- 
mal matters, &c., are a benefit conferred on us by the Author of 
Nature, and somewhat compensate for the inconvenience and injury 
we experience from the others. Some are employed in medicine, 
the arts, and our domestic economy. 
They have numerous enemies: Fishes destroy many of the aquatic 
species; Birds, Bats, Lizards, &c., deliver us from a part of those 
which inhabit the air or earth. Most of them endeavour to escape 
by flight or running from the dangers that surround them, but some 
have recourse to stratagem or arms. 
Having undergone their ultimate transformation, and being pos- 
sessed of all their faculties, they continue their species:—this aim 
once accomplished, they soon cease to exist. Thus, each of the 
three finer seasons of the year produces species peculiar to it. The 
females and males of those which live in societies, however, enjoy 
a longer term of life. Individuals hatched in autumn shelter them- 
selves from the rigours of winter, and reappear in spring. 
The species, like those of plants, are circumscribed within geo- 
graphical limits. Those of the western continent for instance, a 350 
1NSECTA. 
very few, and all from the North, excepted, are strictly peculiar to 
it; such also is the case with several genera. The eastern conti- 
nent, in turn, possesses others which are unknown in the western. 
The Insects of the south of Europe and north of Africa, and of the 
western and southern countries of Asia, have a strong mutual re- 
semblance. The same may be said of those which inhabit the 
Moluccas, and more eastern islands, those of the Southern Ocean 
included. Several northern species are found in the mountains of 
southern countries. Those of Africa differ greatly from the oppo- 
site portions of America. The Insects of Southern Asia, from the 
Indies on the Sind eastward, to the confines of China, are very 
much alike. The intertropical regions, covered with immense and 
well watered forests, are the richest in Insects of any on the globe; 
Brazil and Guiana are particularly so. 
All general systems or methods relative to Insects are reduced 
essentially to three. Swammerdam based his on their metamor- 
phoses; that of Linnceus was founded on the presence or absence of 
wings, their number, consistence, superposition, the nature of their 
surface, and on the deficiency or presence of a sting. Fabricius 
had recourse to the parts of the mouth alone. In all these arrange- 
ments the Crustacea and Arachnides are placed among the Insects, 
and in that of Linna3us, the one generally adopted, they are even the 
last. 
I divide this class into twelve orders: the three first of which are 
composed of apterous Insects, undergoing no essential change of 
form or habits, merely subject to simple changes of tegument, or 
to a kind of a metamorphosis, which increases the number of legs, 
and that of the annuli of the body. The organ of sight in these 
animals is usually a mere (more or less considerable) assemblage 
of ocelli resembling granules. 
Certain English naturalists have formed new orders, based upon 
the wings; I see no necessity, however, for admitting them, that of 
the Strepsiptera excepted, the name of which appears to me to be 
erroneous(l), and which I will call Rhipiptera(2). 
In the first order or the Myriapoda, there are more than six feet 
—twenty-four and upwards—arranged along the whole length of 
the body, on a suite of annuli, each of which bears one or two pairs, 
(1) Twisted wings. The parts taken for elytra are not so. See this order. 
(2) Wings folded like a fan. 351 
INSECTA. 
and of which the first, and in several even the second, seem to form 
a part of the mouth. They are apterous(l). 
In the second or the Thysanotjra, there are six legs, and the 
abdomen is furnished on its sides with movable parts, in the form 
of false feet, or terminated by appendages fitted for leaping. 
In the third or the Parasita, we find six legs, no wings, and no 
other organs of sight than ocelli; the mouth, in a great measure, is 
internal, and consists of a snout containing a retractile sucker, or in 
a slit between two lips, with two hooked mandibles. 
In the fourth or the Suctoria, there are six legs, but no wings; 
the mouth is composed of a sucker inclosed in a cylindrical sheath, 
formed of two articulated portions. 
In the fifth or the Coleoptera, there are six legs, and four wings, 
the two superior of which have the form of cases, and mandibles and 
maxillae for mastication: the inferior wings are simply folded cross- 
wise, and the cases, always horizontal, are crustaceous. They ex- 
perience a complete metamorphosis. 
In the sixth or the Orthoptera, there are six legs; four wings, 
the two superior in the form of cases, and mandibles and jaws for 
mastication, covered at the extremity by a galea; the inferior wings 
are folded in two directions, or simply in their length, and the inner 
margins of the cases, usually coriaceous, are crossed. They only 
experience a semi-metamorphosis. 
In the seventh or the Hemiptera, there are six legs and four 
t . 
wings, the two superior in the form of crustaceous cases, with mem- 
branous extremities, or similar to the inferior, but larger and firmer; 
the mandibles and jaws are replaced by setae forming a sucker, en- 
closed in a sheath composed of one articulated, cylindrical or 
conical piece, in the form of a rostrum. 
In the eighth or the Neuroptera, there are six legs, four mem- 
branous and naked wings, and mandibles and jaws for mastication; 
the wings are finely reticulated, and the inferior are usually as large 
as the superior, or more extended in one of their diameters. 
In the ninth or the Hymenoptera, there are six feet, and four 
membranous and naked wings, and mandibles and jaws for mastica- 
tion; the inferior wings are smaller than the others, and the abdo- 
men of the female is almost always terminated by a terebra or sting. 
(1) Destitute of wings and scutellum. 352 
INSECTA. 
In the tenth or the Lepidoptera, there are six legs, four mem- 
branous wings, covered with small coloured scales resembling dust; 
a horny production in the form of an epaulette, and directed back- 
wards, is inserted before each upper wing, and the jaws are replaced 
by two united tubular filaments, forming a kind of spirally convo- 
luted tongue. 
In the eleventh or the Rhipiptera, there are six legs, two 
membranous wings folded like a fan, and two crustaceous movable 
bodies, resembling little elytra, situated at the anterior extremity of 
the thorax; the organs of manducation are simple, setaceous jaws, 
with two palpi. 
In the twelfth or the Diptera, there are six legs, two membra- 
nous extended wings, accompanied, in most of them, by two movable 
bodies or halteres, placed behind them; the organs of manducation 
are a sucker composed of a variable number of setas inclosed in an 
inarticulated sheath, most frequently in the form of a proboscis ter- 
minated by two lips. 
ORDER I. 
MYRIAPODA. 
The Myriapoda commonly called Centipedes, are the only animals 
of this class which have more than six feet in their perfect state, and 
whose abdomen is not distinct from the trunk. Their body, desti- 
tute of wings, is composed of a (usually) numerous suite of annuli, 
most commonly equal, each of which, a few of the first excepted, 
bears two pairs of feet mostly terminated by a single hook; these 
annuli are either entire or divided into two demi-segments, each 
bearing a pair of those organs, and one of them only exhibiting two 
stigmata. 
The Myriapoda in general resemble little Serpents or Nereides, 
their feet being closely approximated to each other throughout the 
whole extent of the body. The form of these organs even extends 
to the parts of the mouth. The mandibles are bi-articulated and 
immediately followed by a quadrifid piece in the form of a lip with 
articulated divisions, resembling little feet, which, from its position. 353 
MYRIAPODA. 
corresponds to the ligula of the Crustacea; next come two pairs of 
little feet, the second of which, in several, resemble large hooks, 
that appear to replace the four jaws of the last mentioned animals, 
or the two jaws as well as the lower lip of Insects: they are a sort 
of buccal feet. The antennae, two in number, are short, somewhat 
thicker towards the extremity, or nearly filiform and composed of 
seven joints in some; in others they are numerous and setaceous. 
Their visual organs are usually composed of a union of ocelli, and 
if in others they present a cornea with facets, the lenses are still 
larger, rounded, and more distinct, in proportion, than those of the 
eyes of Insects. The stigmata are frequently very small, and their 
number, owing to that of the annuli, is usually greater than in the 
latter, where it never exceeds eighteen or twenty. The number of 
these annuli and that of the feet increase with age, a character 
which also distinguishes the Myriapoda from Insects, the latter ab 
ovo always having the number of segments peculiar to them, and all 
their legs with hooks, or true legs, being developed at once, either 
at the same epoch or when they pass into their pupa state. The 
Myriapoda live and increase in size longer than other Insects. 
From this ensemble of facts, we may conclude, that these animals 
approach the Crustacea and Arachnides on the one hand, and the 
Insects on the other; but that as respects the presence, form and di- 
rection of the branchiae, they belong to the latter. 
We divide them into two families, perfectly distinct both in their 
organization and habits, and forming two genera according to the 
system of Linnaeus. 
FAMILY I. 
CHILOGNATHA. 
The body generally crustaceous and frequently cylindrical; the 
antennas somewhat thicker near the end or nearly equal, and com- 
posed of seven joints; the two thick mandibles without palpi, very 
distinctly divided into two portions by a median articulation with im-, 
bricated teeth, implanted in a cavity of its superior extremity; a 
species of lip—ligula—situated immediately above, that covers them, 
is crustaceous, plane, and divided on its exterior surface by longitu-. 354 
1NSECTA. 
dinal sutures and emarginations into four principal areas, tubercu- 
lated on their superior margin, the two intermediate of which, 
narrower and shorter, are placed at the superior extremity of another 
area, serving as a common base: the feet very short, and always ter- 
minated by a single hook. 
The Chilognatha move very slowly, or slide along, as it were, and 
roll themselves spirally or into a ball. The first segment of the 
body, and in some the following one, is the largest, and has the form 
of a corselet or little shield. It is only at the fourth, in some, and 
at the fifth or sixth in others, that the duplication of the feet com- 
mences; the first two or four feet are even entirely free to their ori- 
gin, where they merely adhere to their respective segments by a 
median or sternal line. The last two or three rings are without 
feet. A series of pores is observed on each side of the body, which 
were considered as stigmata, but, according toSavi,they are simply 
designed to afford a passage to an acid fluid of an extremely disa- 
greeable odour, which appears to serve as a means of defence; the 
respiratory apertures, for whose discovery we are indebted to him, 
are situated on the sternal part of each segment, and communicate 
internally with a double series of pneumatic sacs strung together 
like a rosary, extending along the body, from which proceed tracheal 
branches that ramify over the other organs. According to an ob- 
servation of Straus, the sacs or vesicular tracheae are not, as usual, 
connected with each other by a principal trachea. 
These Insects feed on dead and decomposed animal and vegetable 
matters; they deposit in the ground a large number of eggs. Ac- 
cording to the system of Linnaeus they form but one genus, that of 
IuiiUS, Lin. 
Some have a crustaceous body without terminal appendages, and antenna 
enlarged near the end. 
Giomeris, Lat. 
Resembling Onisci; oval, and rolling into a ball; the body convex above, 
and concave underneath, with a range of little scales analogous to the 
lateral divisions of the Trilobites along each of its inferior sides. These ani- 
mals are terrestrial, and live under stones in hilly places. 
Iclcs, Lin. 
The body of the true luli is cylindrical and very long, and has no ridge 
or trenchant edge on the sides of the annuli; they roll themselves up spirally. MYRIAPODA. 
355 
The larger species live on land, particularly in the woods and sandy 
places, and diffuse a very disagreeable odour. The smallest ones feed on 
fruit, or the roots and leaves of esculent vegetables. Others are found 
under the bark of trees, in moss, &c. There are two other genera, viz. 
Polydesmus and Pollyxenus. 
FAMILY II. 
CHILOPODA. 
The antennae of the Chilopoda are more slender towards the ex- 
tremity, and consist of fourteen joints and upwards. Their mouth 
is composed of two mandibles furnished with a little palpiform ap- 
pendage, which seem to have been soldered in the middle, and ter- 
minate like the bowl of a spoon with dentated edges; of a quadrifid 
lip, of two palpi or little feet, and of a second lip formed by a second 
pair of feet, dilated and united at base, and terminated by a stout 
movable hook, whose inferior extremity is perforated by a hole which 
affords an issue to a venomous fluid. 
The body is depressed and membranous. Each of its rings is 
covered with a coriaceous or cartilaginous plate, and most gene- 
rally bears but a single pair of feet; the last is usually thrown back- 
wards, and elongated into a kind of tail. The organs of respiration 
are wholly, or partly, composed of tubular tracheae. 
These animals run very fast, are carnivorous, avoid the light, and 
conceal themselves under stones, logs, in the ground, &c. They 
are much dreaded by the inhabitants of hot climates, where they are 
very large, and where their venom is possibly more active. The 
Scolopendra morsitans is styled in the Antilles the malfaisante. 
Some of them exhibit phosphorescent properties. 
The Chilopoda, which, in the system of Leach, form the order 
Syngnatha, from these last characters, the nature of the respiratory 
organs and the feet, may be thus divided: 
Some have but fifteen pairs of feet, and their body viewed from above 
presents fewer segments than when seen from beneath. 
The body covered with eight scutelliform plates. The under partof the 
SctrriGEKA, Lam. 356 
1NSECTA. 
body is divided into fifteen semi-annuli, each bearing1 a pair of feet, termi- 
nated by a very long, slender, multi-articulated tarsus; the last pairs are more 
elongated; the eyes large and compound. 
Their antennae are slender and tolerably long; the two palpi salient and 
furnished with small spines. The body is shorter than in the other genera 
of the same family, and the joints of their feet are proportionably longer. 
They are extremely agile animals, and frequently part with some of their 
feet when seized. 
The stigmata lateral; body divided above and beneath into a similar 
number of segments, each bearing a pair of feet; the superior plates alter- 
nately longer and shorter, and overlapping each other close to the extremity. 
The others have at least twenty-one pairs of feet, and the segments both 
above and underneath are equal in size and number. 
Lithobius, Leach. 
Scolopendra, Lin. 
Those which form the two feet that immediately follow the two hooks 
forming1 the exterior lip, present but twenty-one pairs, and whose antennx 
have seventeen joints, constituting the genera Scolopendra and Cry tops of 
Leach. There are eight distinct eyes, four on each side in the first, and 
that in which the largest species are found; in the second, they are null or 
but very slightly visible. 
ORDER II. 
THYSANOURA. 
This order consists of apterous Insects, supported by six feet, 
that experience no metamorphosis, and have, in addition, particular 
organs of motion either on the sides or the extremity of the abdomen. 
FAMILY I. 
LEPISMENJE, Lat. 
Setiform antennas divided from their origin into very numerous 
and small joints; mouth furnished with very distinct and salient 
pajpi; each side of the under part of the abdomen provided with a THYSANOURA. 
357 
range of movable appendages, in the form of false feet; abdomen 
terminated by articulated setae, three of which are the most remark- 
able; body always covered with small shining scales. 
It comprises but one genus, the 
Lepisma, Lin. 
The body of these animals is elongated and covered with small scales, 
frequently silvery and brilliant, from which circumstance the most common 
species has been compared to a little Fish. The antennae are setaceous and 
usually very long. The feet are short and frequently have very large and 
strongly compressed coxae resembling scales. 
Several species conceal themselves in the cracks and intheframe work of 
windows, under damp boards, in wardrobes, &c. Others retire under stones. 
These Insects run with great velocity; some of them by means of their 
caudal appendages are enabled to leap. They are divided into two sub- 
genera, Mxcuilis, Lat. and Lepisma, Lin. 
FAMILY II. 
PODURELLJE, Lat. 
Antennae quadriarticulated; no distinct or salient palpi; abdomen 
terminated by a forked tail folded under the venter when at rest, and 
used for leaping. The Podurellae form but one genus in the Lin- 
naean system. 
Podura, Lin. 
These Insects are very small, soft and elongated, with an oval head and two 
eyes, each composed of eight granules. Their legs have but four distinct 
joints. The tail is soft, flexible, and formed of an inferior piece, movable 
at base; to the extremity of which are articulated two appendages suscepti- 
ble of being approximated, separated, or crossed—they are the teeth of the 
fork. They have the faculty of elevating their tail, and then forcing it 
suddenly against the plane of position, as if they let go a spring, thus rais- 
ing themselves into the air, and even leaping like the Pulices, but to a less 
height. They usually fall on their back, with their tail extended poste- 
riorly. The middle of the venter exhibits a raised oval portion divided by 
a slit. 
Some keep on trees and plants, under old pieces of bark, or stones; others 
on the surface of stagnant waters, and sometimes on that of snow during a 
thaw. Several unite in numerous societies on the ground, and at a distance 358 
INSECTA. 
resemble little heaps of gunpowder. We divide them into Poduba and 
Smtnthuuds, Lat. 
ORDER III. 
PARASITA. 
The Parasita, so called from their parasitical habits, have but six 
legs, and are apterous, like the Thysanoura; but their abdomen is 
destitute of articulated and movable appendages. Their organs of 
vision consist of but four or two ocelli; a great portion of their 
mouth is internal, exhibiting externally, either a snout or projecting 
mammilla containing a retractile sucker, or two membranous and 
approximated lips with two hooked mandibles. According to Lin- 
naeus, they form but one genus, that of 
Pediculus, Lin. 
Their body is flattened, nearly diaphanous, and divided into twelve or ele- 
ven distinct segments, three of which belong to the trunk, each bearing one 
pair of legs. The first of these segments frequently forms a sort of thorax. 
The stigmata are very distinct. The antennae are short, equal, composed 
of five joints, and frequently inserted in a notch. There are one or two 
small ocelli on each side of the head. The legs are short, and terminated 
by a very stout nail, or two opposing hooks, which enable these animals 
to cling with great facility to the hairs of Quadrupeds, or to the feathers of 
Birds, whose blood they suck, and on whose bodies they pass their lives. 
They attach their ova to these cutaneous appendages. These Insects al- 
ways live on the same Quadrupeds and on the same Birds, or at least on 
animals of these classes, which have analogous characters and habits. 
Two species frequently live on the same Bird. Their gait in general 
is very slow. 
This genus now forms several subgenera. They include the various 
species of Lice found on Man, Birds, &c. INSECTA. 
359 
ORDER IV. 
SUCTORIA. 
The Suctoria, which constitute the last order of the Aptera, have 
a mouth composed of three pieces, enclosed between two articu- 
lated laminae, which, when united, form a cylindrical or conical 
proboscis or rostrum, the base of w’hich is covered by two scales. 
These characters exclusively distinguish this order from all others, 
and even from that of the Hemiptera, to which, in these respects, it 
approximates the most closely, and in which these Insects were 
placed by Fabricius. The Suctoria, besides, undergo true meta- 
morphoses, analogous to those of several Diptera, such as the 
Tipulas. 
This order consists of a single genus, that of 
Pulex, Lin. 
The body of the Flea is oval, compressed, invested by a firm skin, and 
divided into twelve segments, three of which compose the trunk, that is 
short, and the others the abdomen. The head is small, strongly compressed, 
rounded above, and truncated and ciliated before; it is furnished on each 
side with a small rounded eye, behind which is a fossula, in which we dis- 
cover a little movable body furnished with small spines. The legs are 
strong, the last ones particularly, fitted for leaping, and spinous; the coxa 
and femur are large; the tarsi is composed of five joints, the last terminating 
in two elongated hooks; the two anterior legs are inserted almost under 
the head, the rostrum being placed midway between them. 
The female lays a dozen of white and slightly viscid eggs; the larvae 
have no feet, are much elongated, resemble little worms, and are extremely 
lively, rolling themselves into a circle or spirally, and crawl with a serpen- 
tine motion; they are first white and then reddish. Their body is com- 
posed of a scaly head, without eyes, bearing two very small antennae, and 
of thirteen segments, with little tufts of hairs, the last one terminated by 
two kinds of hooks. Some small movable pieces are observed in the mouth, 
by which these larvae push themselves forwards. After remaining twelve 
days under this form, they enclose themselves in a little silky cocoon in 
which they become pupae, and from which, in about the same time, they 
issue in their perfect state. 
There are various species that live on Quadrupeds, Birds, &c. 360 
-1NSECTA. 
ORDER V. 
COLEOPTERA 
Coleopterous Insects have four wings, the two superior of which 
resemble horizontal scales, joining in a straight line along the inner 
margin; the inferior wings are merely folded transversely and co- 
vered with others, which form cases or covers for them,-usually de- 
nominated the elytra. 
Of all Insects, these are the most numerous and the best known. 
The singular form and brilliant colouring of many species, the vo- 
lume of their bodies, the greater solidity of their teguments, which 
facilitates their preservation, the numerous advantages, which the 
study derives from the various forms of their external organs, &c., 
have secured to them the particular attention of naturalists. 
Their head presents antennae of various forms, and almost always 
composed of eleven joints; two compound eyes, but none simple; 
and a mouth consisting of a labrum, two mandibles, usually of a 
scaly substance, two jaws, each furnished with one or two palpi, and 
of a labium formed of two pieces, the mentum and the ligula, and 
accompanied by two palpi, commonly inserted into the latter. 
Those of the jaws, or when they have two, the exterior ones, never 
consist of more than four joints; those of the lip usually have three. 
The anterior segment of the trunk, or that which is before the 
wings, usually called the thorax, bears the first pair of legs, and is 
much larger than the two other segments. The latter are intimately 
united with the base of the abdomen, and their inferior portion or 
pectus gives insertion to the second and third pairs of legs. The 
second, on which the scutellum is placed, is narrowed before, and 
forms a short pedicle which fits into the interior of the first, and 
serves as a pivot, on which it moves. 
The elytra and wings arise from the lateral and superior edges 
of the metathorax. The elytra are crustaceous, and when at rest, 
join along their internal margin, and always horizontally. They 
almost always conceal the wings, which are wide and transversely 
folded. Several species are apterous, but the elytra still exist. 
The abdomen is sessile or united to the trunk in its greatest width. 
It is composed externally of six or seven annuli, membranous above, COLEOPTERA. 
361 
or less solid than underneath. The number of joints in the tarsi 
varies from three to five. 
1 he Coleoptera undergo a complete metamorphosis. The larva 
resembles a worm, having a scaly head, a mouth analogous to that 
of the perfect insect in the number of its parts, and usually six feet. 
Some few species are destitute of them, or have merely simple 
mammillae. 
The pupa is inactive and takes no nourishment. The habitations, 
mode of life, and other habits of these Insects, in both states, vary 
greatly. 
I divide this order into four sections, according to the number of 
joints in the tarsi. 
The first comprises the Pentamera, or those in which all the 
tarsi consist of five joints, and is composed of six families. 
FAMILY I. 
CARNIVORA. 
Two palpi to each maxilla, or six in all; antennas almost always 
filiform or setaceous, and simple. 
The maxillse are terminated by a scaly hook or claw, and the in- 
terior side is furnished with cilia or little spines. The ligula is fixed 
in an emargination of the mentum. The two anterior legs are in- 
serted on the sides of a compressed sternum, and placed on a large 
patella; the two posterior have a stout trochanter at their origin; 
their first joint is large, appears to be confounded with the post- 
pectus, and forms a curvilinear triangle, with the exterior side ex- 
cavated. 
These Insects pursue and devour others. Several have no wings 
under their elytra. The anterior tarsi in most of the males are 
dilated or widened. 
The larvae also are very carnivorous. Their body is usually cy- 
lindrical, elongated, and composed of twelve rings; the head, which 
is not included in this supputation, is large, squamous, armed with 
two stout mandibles, recurved at the point, and presents two short 
and conical antennas, two maxillae divided into two branches, one 
of which is formed by a palpus, a ligula bearing two palpi, shorter 362 
INSECTA. 
than the others, and six ocelli on each side. The first annulus is 
covered by a squamous plate; the others are soft, or have but little 
firmness. Each of the three first bears a pair of legs, the extremity 
of which curves forwards. 
These larvae differ according to the genus. In those of the Ci- 
cindelae and of the Aristus bucephalus, the top of the head is very 
concave in the middle, whilst its inferior portion is convex. They 
have two ocelli, on each side, much larger, and similar to those of 
the Lycosae. The superior plate of the first segment is large, and 
forms a semicircular shield. There are two hooked mammillas on 
the back of the eighth annulus; the last has no remarkable ap- 
pendage. 
In the other larvae of this family which are known to us, those of 
Omophron excepted, the head is weaker and more equal. The 
ocelli are very small and similar. The squamous piece of the first 
ring is square, and does not project from the body. There are no 
mammillae on the eighth; and the last is terminated by two conical 
appendages, exclusive of a membranous tube formed by the prolon- 
gation of the end of the body. These appendages, in the larvae of 
Calosoma and Carabus, are horny and dentated. In those of Har- 
palus and Licinus, they are fleshy, articulated and longer. The body 
of the larva of a Harpalus is somewhat shorter, and the head a little 
larger. The mandibles of both approach the form of those of the 
perfect Insect. 
Some are aquatic, others terrestrial. 
The latter have legs exclusively adapted for running, the four 
posterior of which are inserted at equal distances; mandibles com- 
pletely exposed; the terminal piece of the maxillae straight inferiorly, 
and only curved at its extremity; and most frequently an oblong 
body with projecting eyes. All their tracheae are tubular or 
elastic. 
They are divided into two tribes. The first or the CicindeleTjE, 
Lat., comprises the genus 
Cicindela, Lin., 
In which the extremity of the maxillae is provided with a little nail articu- 
lated with it by its base. 
The head is large, with great eyes, and very projecting and dentated 
mandibles; the very short ligula is concealed behind the mentum. The la- COLEOPTERA. 
363 
bial palpi are distinctly composed of four joints, and generally pilose, as 
well as those of the maxillae. 
This great Linnaean genus now forms various subgenera, such as Mantico- 
ra, Megacephala, &c. The true Cicindela or 
Cici3tdei,a, Lat. 
Are usually of a darker or lighter green, mixed with various brilliant 
metallic tints; the elytra are marked with white spots. They prefer dry, 
warm situations, run with considerable swiftness, take wing the moment 
they are approached, but alight at a short distance. If pursued they have 
recourse to the same means of escape. 
The larvae of two species indigenous to France, the only ones that have 
been observed, excavate in the earth a deep cylindrical hole, an operation 
which they effect with their mandibles and feet. To empty it, they place 
the detached particles on their head, turn about, climb up the ascent little 
by little, resting at intervals and clinging to the walls of their domicil by 
means of their two dorsal mammillae; when they arrive at the mouth of the 
aperture they throw down their burden. While in ambuscade, the plate 
of their head exactly closes the entrance of their cell, and is on a level with 
the ground. They seize their prey with their mandibles, and even dart 
upon it, and by a see-saw motion of their head precipitate it to the bottom 
of the hole. Thither also they quickly retreat on the least intimation of 
danger. If they are too confined, or the soil is not of a proper nature, they 
construct a new habitation elsewhere. Such is their voracity that they 
devour other larvae of the same species, which have taken up their abode 
in their vicinity. When about to change their tegument or to become pupae, 
they close the opening of their cell. 
The American species of Cicindela are numerous and beautiful. 
The second tribe, or the Carabici, Lat., comprehends the genus 
Where the maxillae simply terminate in a point or hook, without an articu- 
lated extremity. 
Their head is usually narrower than the thorax, or, at most, of the 
same width; their mandibles, those of a few excepted, have no dentations 
or but very few; the ligula usually projects, and the labial palpi exhibit but 
three free joints. Many of them are destitute of wings, only having elytra. 
They frequently diffuse a fetid odour, and eject an acrid and caustic liquid. 
Geoffroy believed that the ancients designated Carabici under the name of 
Buprestes, Insects which they considered as highly poisonous, particularly 
to Oxen. 
The Carabici conceal themselves in the ground, under stones, chips, 
bark of old trees, &c., and are mostly very active. Their larvae have the 
Carabus, Lin. 364 
INSECTA. 
same habits. This tribe is very numerous, and forms a most difficult 
study. 
The Carabici are now variously subdivided. Each section consisting of 
numerous genera. We find, 
1. The TnuNCATirpEirxEs, so called because the posterior extremity of 
their elytra is almost always truncated. The head and thorax are narrower 
than the abdomen. The ligula is most commonly oval or square, and is 
rarely accompanied on the sides by salient divisions. 
This section consists of Anthia, Graphipterus, Aptinus, Brachinus, Casno- 
nia, &c. &c. 
2. The BirAiiTiTi, which in relation to their habits might also be styled 
Fossores, is composed of Carabici with elytra either entire or slightly sinu- 
atedat their posterior extremity; having frequently granose and geniculate 
antennae; abroad head, large thorax, usually shaped like a cup or almost 
semi-orbicular, and separated from the abdomen by an interval which causes 
the latter to appear pediculated; the legs generally but slightly elongated, 
their tarsi usually short, and similar in the two sexes, or nearly so, without 
any brush beneath, and simply furnished with ordinary hairs or cilia. The 
two anterior tibiae are dentated, and in several palmated or digitated; the 
mandibles frequently strong and dentated. There is a tooth in the emar- 
gination of the mentum. They all keep on the ground, conceal themselves 
either in holes which they excavate, or under stones, and frequently only 
leave their retreat at night. They are usually of a uniform black. The 
larvae of the Ditomus bucephalus, the only one that has been observed, has 
the form and mode of life of the larvae of the Cicindelae. They are more 
particularly proper to hot countries. 
The genera are Enceladus, Siagona, Pasimachus, Scarites, &c. &c. 
3. The Quamumais'i includes those, otherwise similar to the last in the 
pointed termination of the posterior extremity of their elytra, in the males 
of which the four anterior tarsi are dilated; the three or four first joints are 
in the form of a reversed heart or triangular, and nearly all terminated 
by acute angles; they are usually furnished underneath (the Ophoni ex- 
cepted) with two ranges of papillae or scales, with an intermediate linear 
space. 
The body is always winged, and generally oval and arcuated or convex 
above; the thorax is wider than it is long, or at most nearly isometrical, 
square or trapezoidal. The head is never suddenly contracted posteriorly, 
and the antennae are equal throughout, or slightly and insensibly thickened 
near the extremity. The mandibles are never very strong. The exterior 
palpi are terminated by an oval or fusiform joint, longer than the preceding 
one. The tooth of the emargination of the mentum is always entire, and in 
some is wanting. The legs are robust, the tibiae spiny, and the hooks of 
the tarsi simple. The intermediate tarsi, even in the females, are short, COLEOPTERA. 
365 
and, with the exception of the dilatation, nearly formed like the anterior. 
These Carabici prefer sandy and hot localities. 
Here we have, Acinopus, Daptus, Harpalus, &c. 
4. The Simplicimani approaches the preceding in the manner in which 
the elytra are terminated; but the two anterior tarsi alone are dilated in the 
males, without however forming a square or orbicular palette; sometimes 
the three first joints are much wider, and in this case the succeeding one 
is always smaller than its antecedent; sometimes the latter and the two pre- 
ceding ones are larger, almost equal, and in the form of a reversed heart or 
triangular: the first joints of the four following tarsi are more slender and 
elongated, almost cylindrical, or in the form of an elongated and reversed 
cone. 
The genera are Zabrus, Pogonus, Feronia, &c. 
5. The Patellimani, distinguished from the Simplicimani, by the man- 
ner in which the two anterior tarsi of the males are dilated, the first joints 
—usually the three first, then the fourth, and sometimes only the two first 
—all of which are sometimes square, and at others only in part, the re- 
mainder being cordiform, or resembling a reversed triangle, but always 
rounded at their extremity, and not terminated as in the preceding sections 
by acute angles, form an orbicular palette or long square, the inferior sur- 
face of which is usually furnished with brushes or crowded papillae, without 
any intermediate vacancy. 
The legs are generally slender and elongated, and the thorax is fre- 
quently narrower than the abdomen, throughout its whole length. Most 
of them frequent the shores of rivers, or other aquatic localities. 
The genera are, JDolichus, Agoutis, Chlsenius, Dicselus, &c. &c. 
6. The Ghanbipalpi, whose anterior tibiae have no emargination on the 
internal side, or which present one that begins close to their extremity, or 
that does not extend on their anterior face, and forming a mere oblique and 
linear canal. The ligula is often extremely short, terminated in a point in 
the middle of its summit, and accompanied by pointed paraglossae. The 
mandibles are robust. The last joint of the exterior palpi is usually larger, 
compressed into the form of a reversed triangle, or securiform in some, and 
almost into that of a spoon in others. The eyes are prominent. The 
elytra are entire or simply sinuous at their posterior extremity. The abdo- 
men, compared with the other parts of the body, is voluminous. They are 
generally large Insects, are ornamented with brilliant metallic colours, run 
very fast, and are extremely carnivorous. 
In this section we have Pamborus, Cychrus, Scaphinotus, Procerus, Cala- 
soma and 
Cakabus, Lin. Fab. 
Or Carabus properly so called. The labrum is simply emarginate or 
bilobate; tooth of the emargination of the mentum entire. 366 
INSECTA. 
Count Dejean describes one hundred and twenty-four species, which he 
has arranged in sixteen divisions. The first thirteen comprise those whose 
elytra are convex or arched, and the three last, those in which they J are 
plan e. 
The greater number of these species inhabit Europe, Caucasus, Siberia, 
Asia Minor, Syria, and the north of Africa to the thirtieth degree of north 
latitude. Some few are also found at the two extremities of America, and 
it is probable that others may be found in the intermediate mountains(l). 
The Pentamerous Aquatic Carnivora form a third tribe, that of 
the Hydrocanthari, Lat. The feet of these Insects are fitted for 
natation; the four last are compressed, ciliated or laminiform, and 
the two last at a distance from the others; the mandibles are almost 
entirely covered; the body is always oval, the eves but slightly promi- 
nent, and the thorax much wider than long. The terminal hook of 
the maxillae is arcuated from its base; those at the extremity of the 
tarsi are often unequal. 
They compose the genera Dyfiscus and Gyrinus of Geoflroy. 
They pass their first and last stage of existence in the fresh and pla- 
cid waters of lakes, marshes, ponds, &c. They are good swim- 
mers, and rise occasionally to the surface of their liquid abodes in 
order to respire; this they easily effect by keeping their legs motion- 
less, and permitting themselves to float. Their body being reversed, 
they elevate its posterior extremity a little above the water, raise 
the extremity of their elytra, or depress the end of the abdomen, in 
order that air may enter the stigmata, which are covered by them, 
whence it finds its way to the tracheae. They are excessively vora- 
cious, and feed on small animals inhabiting the same element, which 
they never leave excepting during the night, or at its approach. 
When taken from the water they diffuse a nauseating odour. They 
are frequently attracted into houses by the light of candles, &c. 
Their larvae have a long and narrow body composed of twelve 
rings, the first of which is the largest; a stout head, provided with 
two powerful mandibles, curved into an arc, and perforated near the 
(1) Of the species that inhabit North America, we have as yet only dis- 
covered the C. Beauvoisi, carinatus, Lherminier?, lineatopunctatus (serratus, 
Say), sylvosus and vinctus. The mountains of New Hampshire, and Maine 
particularly, probably contain several others, and it is to be hoped that 
some friend of the science, within reach of those localities, will soon enable 
us to enlarge our catalogue of this interesting genus, as well as that of 
others found in the same localities.—Jim. Ed. COLEOPTERA. 
367 
pointj small antennas, palpi, and six simple, approximated eyes on 
each side. They have six tolerably long legs, frequently fringed 
with hairs, and terminated by two small nails. They are active, 
carnivorous, and respire either at the extremity or by a kind of fins 
resembling branchiae. When about to enter into their pupa state 
they leave the water. 
This tribe consists of two principal genera. 
Dytiscus, Geoff. 
The Dytisci have filiform antennae [longer than the head, two eyes, the an- 
terior legs shorter than the following ones, and the last most commonly 
terminated by a compressed tarsus ending in a point. By means of their 
legs fringed with long hairs, the two last particularly, they are enabled to 
swim with great velocity. They dart upon other Insects, aquatic Worms, &c. 
In most of the males the three first joints of the four anterior tarsi are 
widened and spongy underneath; those of the first pair particularly are very 
remarkable in the larger species, these three joints forming there a large 
palette, the inferior surface of which is covered by little bodies, some in 
the form of papilla;, and others, larger, in that of cups or suckers, &c. The 
body of the larva is composed of from eleven to twelve annuli, and covered 
with a squamous plate; this larva is long, ventricose in the middle, and 
slender at each end, particularly behind, where the last annuli form an 
elongated cone furnished on the sides with a fringe of floating hairs, with 
which the animal acts on the water, and propels its body forwards; the lat- 
ter is usually terminated by two conical, bearded and movable filaments. 
These larvae suspend themselves on the surface of the water by means of 
two lateral appendages at the extremity of their body, which they keep 
above it. When they wish to change their position, they communicate a 
sudden vermicular motion to their body, and strike the water with their 
tail. They feed more particularly on the larvae of the Libellulae, and those 
of the Culices and Aselli. When the period of their metamorphosis has 
arrived, they issue from the water, and having gained the shore, penetrate 
into the earth, which must, however, be constantly moistened, or very hu- 
mid. They then excavate an oval cavity, and shut themselves up in it. 
According to Rcesel, the eggs of the D. marginalis are hatched from ten 
to twelve days after they are laid. In four or five days after this epoch, 
the larva is already five lines in length, and undergoes its first change of 
tegument. The second ensues at the expiration of a similar period, and 
the animal is then double its former size. Its final length is two inches. 
They have been observed, in summer, to enter into their pupa at the end of 
fifteen days, and to become perfect insects in fifteen or twenty more. 
This great genus is now divided into several, Dytiscus proper, Colymbetes, 
Hygrobia, &c. 
The second genus of the Hydrocanthari, or the 368 
1NSECTA. 
Gvrinus, Lin. 
Comprises those in which the antennae are clavate and shorter than the 
head; the two first leg's are long and project like arms; the remaining four 
are compressed, wide, and pinnate. There are four eyes. 
The body is oval and usually very glossy. The second joint of the an- 
tennae, which are inserted in a cavity before the eyes, is prolonged exteri- 
orly in the form of an auricle, and the following joints are very short, 
crowded, and united in one almost fusiform and slightly curved mass. The 
head is sunk in the thorax almost to the eyes, which are large, and divided 
by a border, in such a way that two are above and two underneath. The 
labrum is rounded and strongly ciliated before. The palpi are very small, 
and the interior of those attached to the maxillse are wanting, or are not 
developed in several, and particularly the larger species. The thorax is 
short and transversal. The elytra are obtruse and truncated at their pos- 
terior extremity, leaving the extremity exposed, which ends in a point. 
The two anterior legs are long, slender, folded in two, and when contracted, 
almost at a right angle with the body;; they are terminated by a very short, 
strongly compressed tarsus, the inferior surface of which, in the males, is 
furnished with a fine compact brush. The four others are broad and ex- 
tremely thin, the joints of their tarsi forming little leaflets arranged like a 
flounce. 
The Gyrini are usually small, or of a moderate size. They are to be 
found from the very beginning of spring until the end of autumn, on the 
surface of stagnant waters, and even on that of the Ocean, where, frequently 
collected in troops, they appear like brilliant points, swimming and wheel- 
ing with great agility in all sorts of curves, and in every direction, whence 
the name of Puce aquatique and Tourniquet given to them by authors. 
Sometimes they remain motionless, but the instant any one approaches, 
they escape, by swimming, and dive with great celerity. Their four last 
legs serve them as oars, and the two before for seizing their prey. Placed 
on water, the superior surface of their body is always dry, and when they 
dive, a little bubble of air, resembling a silvery globule, remains fixed to 
its posterior extremity. When seized, a lacteous fluid oozes from their 
body which spreads over it, and which, perhaps, produces that disagreeable 
and penetrating odour they then diffuse, and which remains attached to the 
fingers for a long time. Sometimes they remain at the bottom of the water 
clinging to plants: there, also, it is probable they secrete themselves to pass 
the winter. 
FAMILY II. 
BRACHELYTRA. 
In the second family of the Penlamerous Coleoptera we find but 
one palpus to the maxillae, or four in all; the antennae, sometimes of COLEOPTERA. 
369 
equal thickness, and at others slightly enlarged at the end, are usually 
composed of lenticular or graniform joints; the elytra are much 
shorter than the body, which is narrow and elongated, and the coxae 
of the two anterior legs are very large; near the extremity of the 
abdomen are two vesicles which the animal protrudes at will. 
These Coleoptera compose the genus 
Staphylinus, Lin. 
The Staphylini have been considered as forming the passage from the Co- 
leoptera to the Forjiculae, the first genus of the following order. They 
commonly have a large, flattened head, stout mandibles, short antennae, a 
thorax as wide as the abdomen, and the elytra truncated at the extremity, 
but still covering the wings, which preserve their usual extent. The semi- 
annuli of the top of the abdomen are as scaly as those of the venter. The 
vesicles of the extremity consist in two conical and pilose points, which are 
protruded and retracted at the will of the animal; a subtile vapour escapes 
from them, which, in some species, has a strong odour of sulphuric ether. 
These Insects, when touched, or while they run, elevate the extremity 
of their abdomen and flex it in every direction. They also use it to push 
their wings under the elytra. The tarsi of their two anterior legs are fre- 
quently broad and dilated, and their coxae, as well as those of the interme- 
diate legs, are very large. They are usually found in earth, and other mat- 
ters; some live in mushrooms, rotten wood, or under stones; others are only 
met with in aquatic localities. Some very small ones keep on flowers. 
They are all voracious, run with great swiftness, and take wing very 
promptly. 
The larva bears a close resemblance to the perfect Insect: it has the 
figure of an elongated cone, the base of which is occupied by the very large 
head; the last ring is prolonged into a tube, and is accompanied by two 
conical and hairy appendages. It feeds on the same matters as the perfect 
Insect. 
This genus is very extensive and is now divided into six sections, viz. 
The Fissieabra, where we find the true Staphylini, the Loxgipaepi, the 
Denticrura, the Defressa, and the Microcephala. Each of these sec- 
tions consists of various genera. The species are excessively numerous. 370 
INSECTA. 
FAMILY III. 
SERRICORNES(l). 
In the third family of pentameroua Coleoptera, as in the preced- 
ing and following families of the same order, we find but four palpi. 
The elytra cover the abdomen, which, with some other characters, 
distinguish the Insects which compose it from the Brachelytra just 
mentioned. The antennae, with some exceptions, are equal through- 
out, or smaller at the extremity, dentated, either like a saw or a 
comb, or even like a fan, and in this respect are most developed in 
the males. The penultimate joint of the tarsi is frequently bilobate 
or bifid. These characters are rarely found in the following family, 
that of the Clavicornes, to which we arrive by such insensible gra- 
dations, that to define its limits rigorously, becomes a very difficult 
matter. 
Some, in which the body is always firm and solid, and most com- 
monly oval or elliptical, with partly contractile legs, have the head 
plunged vertically into the thorax up to the eyes; and the praster- 
num, or median portion of the thorax, elongated, dilated or reaching 
to beneath the mouth, usually distinguished on each by a groove in 
which the antennae—always short—are lodged, and prolonged pos- 
teriorly into a point, which is received into a depression of the ante- 
rior extremity of the mesosternum. These anterior legs are at a 
distance from the anterior extremity of the thorax. They form a 
first section, or that of the Sternoxi. 
Others, whose head is enclosed posteriorly by the thorax, or at 
least covered by it at base, but in which the praesternum is not di- 
lated, and does not project anteriorly in the manner of a chin-cloth, 
and is not usually terminated posteriorly in a point received into a 
cavity in the mesosternum, and in which the body is most commonly 
either entirely or partially soft and flexible, constitute a second sec- 
tion, that of the Malacodermi. 
A third and last, that of the Xylotrogi, will comprise those 
Serricornes, in which the posterior extremity of the praesternum is 
not similarly prolonged, but whose head is completely exposed and 
separated from the thorax by a strangulation or species of neck. 
(1) Saw-horned. COLEOPTERA. 
371 
We will divide the Sternoxi into two tribes. In the first, or that 
of the Buprestides, the posterior projection of the prmsternum is 
flattened, and not terminated in a laterally compressed point, that is 
simply received into a depression or emargination of the mesoster- 
num. The mandibles frequently terminate in an entire point, with- 
out any fissure or emargination. The posterior angles of the thorax 
are either but very slightly or not at all prolonged. The last joint 
of the palpi is most commonly nearly cylindrical, hardly thicker than 
the preceding; the others are globular or ovoid. Most of the tarsial 
segments are generally wide or dilated, and furnished beneath with 
pellets. These Insects never leap, a character which eminently 
distinguishes them from those of the following tribe: they compose 
the genus 
Buprestis, Lin. 
The generic appellation of Richard, given to these Coleoptera by Geoff- 
roy, intimates the richness of their lively. Several of the European spe- 
cies, and many that are foreign to that countiy, besides their size, are 
remarkable for a brilliant polished gold colour on an emerald ground; in 
others, an azure blue glistens over the gold, or there is a union of several 
other metallic colours. Their body, in general, is oval, somewhat wider 
and obtuse, or truncated before, and narrowed behind from the base of the 
abdomen, which occupies the greater part of its length. The eyes are oval, 
and the thorax is short and wide. The scutel small or null. The extremity 
of the elytra is more or less dentated in many. The legs are short. 
They walk very slowly, but fly well in hot and dry weather. When about 
to be seized, they let themselves fall to the ground. At the posterior extre- 
mity of the abdomen of the females is a coriaceous, laminiform, conical ap- 
pendage composed of three parts, the last annuli of the abdomen; it is pro- 
bably an instrument with which they deposit their ova in dry wood, the 
habitat of their larvse. Several small species are met with on leaves and 
flowers; most of the others, however, are found in forests and wood-yards: 
they sometimes appear in houses, where they have been transported, in 
wood, in the state of a larva or chrysalis. 
B. gigas, L. Two inches long; thorax cupreous, mixed with brilliant 
green, and two large smooth spots of burnished steel; elytra tridentate at 
the extremity, cupreous in the middle, bronze-green on the margin, with 
impressed puncta, and elevated lines and rugae. Cayenne. 
This beautiful and extensive genus is now divided into four genera, viz. 
Buprestisproper, Trachys, Jlphanisticus and Melasis. Numerous species are 
found in this country. 
The second tribe or that of the Elaterides, which only differs 372 
INSECTA. 
essentially from the first in the posterior stylet of the praesternum, 
which terminates in a laterally compressed point, frequently some- 
what arcuated and unidentate, that sinks at the will of the animal 
into a cavity of the pectus, situated immediately above the origin of 
the second pair of legs; and in the circumstance, that these Insects 
when placed on their back have the faculty of regaining their origi- 
nal position by bounding upwards. Most of them have mandibles 
emarginated or cleft at the end, palpi terminated by a triangular or 
securiform joint, much larger than those which precede it, and the 
joints of the tarsi entire. This tribe only comprises the genus 
The body is usually narrower and more elongated than that of the Bupres- 
tides, and the posterior angles of the thorax are prolonged into a sharp 
point, in the form of a spine. 
The common French name of these Insects is Scarabtes a ressort, and their 
Latin one, Notopeda, Elater. When placed on their back, finding it imposs- 
ible to regain their natural position on account of the shortness of their 
legs, they bound perpendicularly upwards until they fall on their feet. To 
execute this motion, they press the latter close to the body, lower their 
head and thorax, which has a free downward motion, then approximating 
this last to the postpectus, they forcibly press the point of the prsesternum 
against the margin of the hole situated before the mesosternum, into which 
it sinks suddenly, as if by a spring. The thorax and its lateral points, the 
head and elytra, being violently propelled against the plane of position, 
particularly if it be solid and smooth, concur by their elasticity in causing 
the body to bound upwards. The sides of the prsesternum are distinguished 
by a groove, where the antennae, which are pectinated or bearded in seve- 
ral males, are partly lodged. The females have a species of elongated 
ovipositor with two lateral pieces pointed at the end, between which is the 
true oviduct. 
The Elaterides are found on flowers, plants, and even on the ground; 
they lower their head in walking, and if any one approaches, let themselves 
fall, pressing their legs against their body. 
The various subgenera of this tribe may be referred to two principal 
divisions. Those where the antennae can be entirely received into the in- 
ferior cavities of the thorax constitute the first. 
The second division includes all those whose antennx are exterior or 
exposed. 
Elater, Lin. 
Elater, properly so called. 
The antennae of the males are simply serrated. 
E■ nodilucus, L. Bather more than an inch long1; dusky-brown, with a 
cinereous down; a convex, yellow, round, shining spot on each side of the COLEOPTERA. 
373 
thorax near its posterior angles; elytra marked with lines of small punctures. 
From South America. 
During the night, the thoracic spots diffuse a very strong light, suffici- 
ently bright to enable one to read the smallest character, particularly if 
several of the Insects be placed in the same vase. By it also the women 
of the country pursue their work; and ladies even use it as an ornament, 
placing it in their hair during the evening paseo. The Indians fix them to 
their feet to light them in their nocturnal journeys. 
North America is extremely rich in this genus. The Insect is usually 
called a Snap-bug. 
Our second section, or that of the Malacodermi, is divided into 
five tribes. In the first, or the Cebrionites, so named from the 
genus Cebrio of Olivier, on which all the others depend, the man- 
dibles terminate in a simple or entire point, the palpi are of equal 
thickness or more slender at the extremity, the body is rounded and 
convex in some, oval or oblong, but arcuated above, and inclined 
anteriorly in others. It is usually soft and flexible; the thorax is 
transversal, widest at base, and its lateral angles acute, or in seve- 
ral even prolonged into spines. The antennae are generally longer 
than the head and thorax. The legs are not contractile. 
Their habits are unknown. Many of them are found on plants in 
aquatic localities. They may all be united in one genus, that of 
Cebrio, Oliv. Fab. 
Some, which establish a connexion between this and the proceeding tribe, 
which are even of as firm and solid a consistence as the Sternoxi, whose legs 
are never fitted for leaping, and whose body is generally an oblong oval, 
with the antennae of the males either pectinated, flabellated, or serrated, 
the palpi filiform or somewhat elongated at the extremity, and the pos- 
terior angles of the thorax prolonged into an acute point, present man- 
dibles projecting beyond the labrum, narrow, and highly arcuated or in the 
form of hooks. The labrum is usually very short, and emarginated or 
bilobate. 
There, as in the Elaterides, the praesternum terminates posteriorly in a 
point, received into a cavity in the mesosternum. 
The antenna:, which in the males of some species are long, are composed 
of eleven pectinated or serrated joints. The last joint of the palpi is almost 
cylindrical or forms a reversed cone. 
This genus is now cut up into several, such as Physodactylus, Jinelastes, 
Sandalus, Rhipicera, &c. 
The second tribe of the Malacodermi, or that of the Lampyrides, 
is distinguished from the first by the enlarged termination of the 374 
INSECTA. 
palpi, or at least those of the maxillae, by their always soft, straight, 
depressed, or but slightly convex body, and by the thorax, some- 
times semicircular, and at others nearly square or trapezoidal, that 
projects over the head, which it either entirely or partially covers. 
The mandibles are usually small, and terminate in a slender, arcu- 
ated, very acute point, that is generally entire. The penultimate 
joint of the tarsi is always bilobate, and the crotchets of the last have 
neither dentations nor appendages. 
The females of some are apterous, or have but very short elytra. 
When seized, these Insects press their feet and antennae against 
their body, and remain as motionless as if they were dead. Seve- 
ral, thus situated, curve their abdomen underneath. They comprise 
the genus 
Lampyris, Lin. 
Antennae closely approximated at base, the head either exposed and pro- 
longed anteriorly in the manner of a snout, or for the greater part, or en- 
tirely, concealed under the thorax; eyes of the males large and globular; 
mouth small. Such are the characters of a first division of this tribe, which 
we will subdivide into those in which neither sex is phosphorescent, and 
those in which the females at least are possessed of that faculty. Both sexes 
of the former are provided with wings, have their head exposed, and fre- 
quently narrower and extended anteriorly, or in the form of a snout, and 
the thorax widened posteriorly with pointed lateral angles. The two or 
three ultimate annuli of their abdomen are destitute of that pale yellowish 
or whitish tint, that is always found on this part of the body in the true 
Lampyrides, and which announces their phosphorescence. The elytra, in 
several, widen behind, and are sometimes strongly dilated and rounded 
posteriorly, in the females particularly. They are densely punctured, and 
frequently reticulated. 
The genera are Lycus, Dictyoptcra and Omalisus. 
The other Lampyrides of our first division are distinguished from the 
preceding ones, not only by the want of a snout, by their head, which, in 
the males almost entirely occupied by the eyes, is entirely or for the greater 
part concealed under a semicircular or square thorax, but also by a very 
remarkable character, either common to both sexes, or peculiar to the fe- 
males, that of being phosphorescent, whence the names of Glow-worms, Fire- 
flies, &c., given to these Insects. 
Their body is extremely soft, the abdomen particularly, which has the 
appearance of being plaited. The luminous matter occupies the inferior 
part of the last two or three annuli, which differ in colour from the rest, 
and are usually yellowish or whitish. The light they diffuse is more or less 
vivid, and greenish or whitish, like that of the different kinds of phospho- 
rus. It seems that they can vary its action at pleasure, a fact particularly COLEOPTERA. 
375 
observable when they are seized or held in the hand. They live a long 
time in vacuum and in different gases, the nitrous acid, muriatic and sul- 
phurous gases excepted, in which they soon expire. Placed in hydrogen 
gas, they, sometimes at least, detonate. They continue to live after the 
excision of the luminous portion of their abdomen, and the part thus sepa- 
rated preserves its luminous property for some time, whether it be submitted 
to the action of various gases, be placed in vacuum, or left exposed to the 
air. The phosphorescence depends on the softness of the matter, rather 
than on the life of the animal. When apparently extinct it may reproduced 
by softening the matter with water. The Lampyrides emit a brilliant light 
when immersed in warm water, but in cold water it becomes extinguished: 
this fluid seems to be the only dissolving agent of the phosphoric matter. 
They are nocturnal Insects. 
In our second division of the Lampyrides, the antennae are very remote 
at base; the head is neither prolonged nor narrowed anteriorly in the form 
of a snout, and the eyes are of an ordinary size in both sexes. 
This division consists of the genera Drilus, Telephorus, Silis, &c. 
In the third tribe of the Malacodermi, or the Melyrides, we find 
the palpi most commonly short and filiform; mandibles emarginated 
at the point; the body usually narrow and elongated; the head only 
covered at base by a flat or but slightly convex thorax, generally 
square, or elongated and quadrilateral; joints of the tarsi entire, and 
the hooks of the last one unidentated or bordered with a mem- 
brane. The antennae are usually serrated, and, in the males of 
some species, even pectinated. 
Most of them are very active, and are found on flowers and 
leaves. 
This tribe, which is a mere division of the genera Cantharis and 
Dermestes of Linnasus, will form the genus 
Melyris, Fab., 
Now consisting of the subgenera Malachius, Dasytes, Stc. &c. 
The fourth tribe of the Malacodermi, that of the Clerii, is dis- 
tinguished by the ensemble of the following characters. Two of 
their palpi at least project and are clavate. The mandibles are den- 
tated. The penultimate joint of the tarsi is bilobate, and the first 
is very short or but slightly visible in several. The antennse are 
sometimes nearly filiform and serrated, and at others insensibly en- 
larged near the extremity. The body is usually cylindrical, the 376 
1NSECTA. 
bead and thorax narrower than the abdomen, and the eyes emargi- 
nated. 
Most of these Insects are found on flowers, the remainder on the 
trunks of old trees or in dry wood. Such of the larvae as are known 
are carnivorous. 
This tribe will comprise the genus 
Clerus, Geoff. 
Now divided into Cylidrus, Pillus, Priocera, &c. &c. 
The maxillary palpi of the Cleri, properly so called, are terminated by a 
compressed joint in the form of a reversed triangle; the last of those that 
belong to the labium, which are larger than the others, is securiform. The 
antennal club is hardly longer than wide, and is composed of crowded 
joints; the third is longer than the second. The maxillae terminate in a 
projecting and fringed lobe. The thorax is depressed anteriorly. 
These Insects are found on flowers; their larvx devour those of certain 
Bees. 
C. apiarius. Blue; elytra red; traversed by three bands of deep blue, 
the last of which occupies the extremity. The larva devours that of our 
domestic Bee, and does much injury to hives. 
C. alvearius. Almost like the preceding, but with a bluish-black spot on 
the scutel. It inhabits the nests of the Mason Bees—Osmia—of Reaumur, 
and feeds on their larvx. 
Cierus proper. 
The type of the fifth tribe of the Malacodermi, or the Ptiniores, 
consists of the genus Ptinus of Linnaeus, and of some other genera 
depending on, or which most closely approach it. The body of these 
Insects is of a tolerably firm consistence, sometimes almost ovoid or 
oval, and at others nearly cylindrical, but generally short and round- 
ed at the two extremities. The head is nearly globular or orbi- 
cular, and almost entirely received into a strongly arched or vaulted 
thorax, resembling a hood. The antennae of some are filiform, or 
diminished towards the end, and are either simple, flabelliform, pec- 
tinated, or serrated; those of others terminate suddenly by three 
larger and much longer joints. The mandibles are short, thick, and 
dentated under the point. The palpi are very short and terminated 
by a larger and almost ovoid joint, or like a reversed triangle. The 
tibia are not dentated, and the spurs at the extremities are very small. 
There is but little variety in their colours, which are always dark. 
They are very small. When touched they counterfeit death, lower 377 
COLEOPTERA. 
their heads, incline their antennae, and contract their feet; in this 
apparent state of lethargy they remain for some time. Their mo- 
tions are generally slow, and those that are winged rarely take to 
flight to escape. Their larvae are very noxious to us, and bear a 
great resemblance to those of the Scarabaeides. Their body, fre- 
quently curved into an arc, is soft and whitishj the head and feet are 
brown and squamous. Their mandibles are strong. With frag- 
ments of various substances, which they detach by gnawing, they 
construct a shell in which they become nymphs. Other species es- 
tablish their domicil in the country, in old wood, and under stones; 
their habits are the same. 
Such are the characters of the genus 
In some, the head and thorax, or the anterior half of the body 13 narrower 
than the abdomen; the antennae are always terminated in the same manner, 
simple or but slightly serrated, and at least almost as long as the body. 
The antennae of the true Ptini are inserted between the eyes, which are 
protuberant or convex. Their body is oblong. 
They are generally found in houses, and chiefly in granaries and inhabit- 
ed places. Their larvae destroy our herbaria and desiccated specimens of 
animals. The antennx of the males are longer than those of the females, 
and in several species, these latter are apterous. 
P. fur, L. One line and a half in length; light brown; antennx as long 
as the body; a pointed projection on each side of the thorax, and between 
them two others, rounded and covered with a yellowish down; two trans- 
verse, greyish bands on the elytra, formed by hairs. 
According to De Geer, it feeds on Flies and other dead Insects that fall 
in its way. The larvx are very injurious to herbaria and other collections 
of natural history. 
The remaining subgenera are Gibbium, Ptilinus, &c. We may more 
particularly notice the 
Ptinus, Lin. 
The antennae are terminated by three larger or longer joints, but the two 
penultimates are in the form of a reversed and elongated cone, and that of 
the end is oval or nearly cylindrical; they consist of eleven joints. 
Several species of this genus inhabit the interior of our houses, where, in 
their larva state, they are very noxious, attacking the timbers, furniture, 
books, &c. and piercing little round holes in them similar to those made 
by a very small gimblet. The larvae of other species of Anobium attack 
flour, wafers, cabinets of Birds, Insects, &c. 
Both sexes frequently summon each other by reiterated and rapid strokes 
Anobium, Fab. 378 
1NSECTA 
of their mandibles against the wood they inhabit, and mutually answer the 
signal. Such is the cause of that noise, resembling the accelerated tick of a 
watch, which is so often heard, and which is superstitiously called the death- 
watch. 
A. tesselatum, Fab. Three lines in length; a dead dusky brown, with 
yellowish spots formed by hairs; thorax smooth; elytra not striated. 
A. pertinax. Blackish; thorax with a yellowish spot at each posterior 
angle, and near the middle of its base a compressed eminence divided an- 
teriorly by a depression; elytra with punctured strise. According to De 
Geer, it will permit itself to be roasted to death by a slow fire, rather than 
exhibit the least sign of life when it is seized. 
There are other species. 
The third and last section of the Serricornes, forming also a last 
tribe, that of the Xylotrogi, is distinguished from the two preced- 
ing ones, as we have already stated, by the entire freedom of the 
head; and consists of the genus 
Lymexylon, Fab. 
Now consisting of Alraclocerus, Hylecoetus, Lymexylon, Cupes and lxhysodes. 
FAMILY IV. 
CLAVICORNES(l). 
In the fourth family of the pentamerous Coleoptera, as in the third, 
we find four palpi, and elytra covering the superior surface of the 
abdomen,or its greater portion; but it differs in the antennas, which 
are almost always thicker at the extremity, that even frequently 
forms a perfoliaceous or solid club; they are longer than the maxil- 
lary palpi, and their base is exposed, or barely covered. The legs 
are not natatory, and the joints of the tarsi, at least those of the 
posterior ones, are usually entire. 
In their larva state, at least, they feed on animal matters. 
We will divide this family into two sections: the common charac- 
ters of the first of which are, antennae always composed of eleven 
joints, longer than the head, not forming from the third a fusiform 
or nearly cylindrical club, and their second joint not dilated in the 
(1) Club-horned. COLEOPTERA. 
379 
form of an auricle; last joint of the tarsi, as well as its hooks, of a 
moderate length, or small. 
These Clavicornes are terrestrial, while those of our second sec- 
tion are aquatic or shore Insects, thus leading to the Palpicornes, 
most of which inhabit water, and whose antennas never consist of 
more than nine joints. 
The first section will comprise several small tribes. The first, 
that of the Paxpatores, in a natural series, should be placed near 
the Pselaphii and Brachelytra. Their antennae, which are, at least, 
as long as the head and thorax, slightly enlarge towards the extre- 
mity, or are nearly filiform; their two first joints are longer than the 
following ones. The head is distinguished from the thorax by an 
ovoid strangulation. 
The maxillary palpi project, are long and inflated at the extremity. 
The abdomen is large, oval or ovoid, and embraced laterally by the 
elytra. The legs are elongated, thighs clavate, and tarsial joints 
entire. 
These Insects remain on the ground, under stones and other bo- 
dies. Some—the Scydmseni—frequent wet places. We will unite 
them in a single genus, that of 
Mastigus. 
joints of the antennx nearly in the form of a reversed cone, the first very 
long1 and the last ones hardly thicker than the others; the two last joints of 
the maxillary palpi forming an oval club; thorax almost ovoid; abdomen 
oval. 
In all the following Clavicornes the head is generally sunk in the 
thorax, and the maxillary palpi are never at the same time so much 
projected and clavate; the ensemble of their physiognomy also ex- 
hibits other differences. 
The genus Hister forms our second tribe, which we will name the 
Histeroides. Here the four posterior legs are more remote from 
each other at base than the two anterior, a character alone that 
distinguishes this tribe from all others of the same family. The legs 
are contractile, and the outer side of the tibiae is dentated or spinous. 
The antennae are always geniculate, and terminated by a solid club 
composed of crowded joints. The body is extremely firm, and usually 
forms a square or parallelopiped; the prassternum is frequently di- 
lated anteriorly, and the elytra are as often truncated. The man- INSECTA. 
380 
dibles project, are strong, and frequently unequal as to size. The 
palpi are almost filiform, or slightly enlarged near the end, and ter- 
minated by an oval or ovoid joint. 
These animals feed on cadaverous matters and decomposing ve- 
getable substances, such as old mushrooms, &c.: some establish 
their domicil under the bark of trees. Their gait is slow, and their 
colour a brilliant black or bronze. Such of their larva? as have 
been observed—those of the cadaverinus—feed on the same sub- 
stances as the perfect Insect. Their body is glabrous, soft, and of 
a yellowish white, the head and first segment excepted, the dermis 
of which is brown or reddish; it is provided with six short legs, and 
is terminated posteriorly by two articulated appendages, and an anal 
and tubular prolongation; the squamous plate of the first segment 
is longitudinally canaliculated. 
This tribe, as we have already stated, will consist exclusively of 
the genus 
Hister, Lin. 
Now consisting of Hister proper, Hololepta, Jlbrxus, &c. 
The legs of the other Clavicornes are inserted at an equal distance 
from each other. Those in which these organs are not contractile, 
and the tarsi at most can only be flexed on the tibise, whose mandi- 
bles are most commonly salient and flattened or not thick, and whose 
praesternum is never dilated anteriorly, will constitute five other 
tribes. 
In the third tribe of this family, that of the Silpbales, we find 
five distinct joints in all the tarsi, and the mandibles terminating in 
an entire point without emargination or fissure. The antennae ter- 
minate in a club that is most commonly perfoliaceous and consisting 
of from four to five joints. The internal side of the maxillae, in 
most of them, is furnished with a horny tooth. The anterior tarsi 
are frequently dilated, at least in the males. The exterior margin 
of the elytra of the greater number is marked by a groove with a 
well raised border. 
This tribe is composed of the genus 
Silpha, Lin. 
Now variously divided. The most interesting of these genera are COLEOPTERA. 
381 
Their instinctive habit of burying the bodies of Moles, Mice, and other 
small Quadrupeds, have procured for them the names of enterreurs andporte- 
morts. When they find a dead animal of the above description, they work 
under it and excavate a hole of sufficient dimensions to contain the body, 
which they gradually drag into it; in this body they deposit their ova, and 
thus the larva find their food in the very nidus in which they are hatched. 
They are long, and of a greyish white colour; the anterior segments are 
covered superiorly with a small fulvous-brown, squamous plate, and the 
posterior with little elevated points. They are furnished with six feet and 
strong mandibles. When about to pass into the state of a chrysalis, they 
penetrate deeply into the earth, where they construct a cell, which they 
line with a viscid substance. 
North America possesses one, the N. grandis, which surpasses all others 
in size and beauty. 
Necrophorus, Fab. 
Silpha, Lin. Fab. 
The body of a true Silpha is almost scutiform and depressed, or but 
slightly elevated; thorax semicircular, truncated or very obtuse before; ex- 
terior margin of the elytra strongly recurved and canaliculated; palpi fili- 
form, their last joint almost cylindrical, and in several, terminating in a 
point. Most of them live in carrion, and thus diminish the quantity of its 
noxious effluvia. Some climb on plants, and particularly on the stems of 
wheat, where they find little Helices on which they feed. Others remain 
on high trees and devour caterpillars. The larvas are all equally active, 
live in the same manner, and frequently in large societies. They bear a 
great resemblance to the perfect Insect. Their body is flattened, and con- 
sists of twelve segments, with acute posterior angles; the posterior ex- 
tremity is narrower and terminated by two conical appendages. 
Argyrtes, Froeh.—Mycetophagus, Fab. 
The body tolerably thick, convex, and arcuated superiorly, not scutiform; 
thorax somewhat wider than long, and a little narrower before; exterior 
margin of the elytra inclined and not canaliculated, last joint of the maxil- 
lary palpi thicker and ovoid. 
Certain Clavicornes, which seem to approach Argyrtes in their 
habits an<l other characters, but whose mandibles are cleft or biden- 
tated at the extremity, will compose our fourth tribe, that of the 
Scaphidites. Their tarsi consist of five very distinct and entire 
joints. The body is oval, narrowed at both ends, arcuated or con- 
vex above, and thick in the middle; the head low, and received pos- 
teriorly into a trapezoidal thorax, widest behind, the margin of which 
is but slightly or not at all recurved. The antennae are usually at 382 
INSECTA. 
least as long as the head and thorax, and terminated in a quadriar- 
ticulated and elongated club. The last joint of the palpi is conical. 
The legs are elongated and slender. With the exception of some 
species—the Cholevse—the tarsi are nearly similar in both sexes. 
This tribe consists of the genus 
SCAPHIDIUM. 
In the true Scaphidia, the five last joints of the antennae are almost globular, 
and compose the club. The maxillary palpi project but little, and gradu- 
ally taper to a point, the penultimate joint not being thicker than the last 
at their junction. The body is navicelliform; the margin of the thorax 
slightly recurved, and the elytra truncated. They inhabit mushrooms. 
But few species are known; one from Cayenne and the rest from the north 
of Europe. 
The subgenera are Choleva and Myloechus. 
The fifth tribe, or that of the Nitidularm, approximates to the 
fourth in the scutiform and bordered body, but the mandibles are 
bifid or ernarginated at the extremity; the tarsi seem to consist of 
but four joints, the first and last, in some, being only visible beneath, 
where they merely form a slight projection, and the penultimate in 
the remainder being very small, in the form of a knot, enclosed be- 
tween the lobes of the preceding ones. The antennal club is always 
perfoliaceous, consists of three or four joints, and is usually short or 
but little elongated. 
The palpi are short and filiform, or somewhat thickest at the ex- 
tremity. The elytra in several are short or truncated. The legs 
are but slightly elongated, and their tibise frequently widened at the 
end; the tarsi are furnished with hairs or pellets. The habitation 
of these Insects varies with the species; they are found on flowers, 
in mushrooms, putrified meat, and under the bark of trees. They 
form the genus 
Nitidula. 
In some, the antennal club consists of but turo joints, and the anterior part 
of the head projects in the manner of a semicircular flattened clypeus, 
covering the mandibles and other parts of the mouth. 
Colobictjs, Lat. 
In this and the following subgenus, the tarsi, from the point where they 
are movable, seem to consist of but four joints, of which the three first, 
much shorter than the last, are entire, and simply furnished underneath COLEOPTERA. 
383 
with a greater or smaller number of hairs; the first, as in several of the 
Cleri of Fabricius, is only visible underneath, where it forms a little projec- 
tion; it is also pilose. 
The remaining subgenera are Thymalus, Ips, Cercus and Byturus. 
Those that compose our sixth tribe, that of the Engidites, ana- 
logous to the Nitidulariae in the emargination of the extremity of 
their mandibles, are distinguished from them by their not projecting, 
or but very little and simply on the sides, beyond the labrum. 
Their body is oval or elliptical, and the anterior extremity of the 
head slightly extended into an obtuse or truncated point. The tarsi 
consist of five distinct joints, entire, and at most, slightly pilose un- 
derneath; the penultimate is somewhat shorter than the preceding 
one. The antennas terminate in a perfoliaceous triarticulated club; 
the elytra completely cover the abdomen, and the palpi are some- 
what thicker at the extremity. Some very small species inhabit the 
interior of houses, and are frequently found on windows. 
We will unite them all in a single genus, that of 
Dacne. 
Thejr antennx terminate abruptly in a very large orbicular or ovoid and 
compressed club, composed of crowded joints, of which the middle one at 
least is much wider than it is long; the third is longer than the second and 
fourth. 
We now come to certain tribes in which the prsesternum is fre- 
quently dilated anteriorly in the manner of a chin-cloth, and which 
differ from the preceding ones in their feet, which are either wholly 
or partially contractile; the tarsi may be free, but the tibiae at least 
can be flexed on the thigh. The mandibles are short, and generally 
thick and dentated. The body is ovoid, thick, and covered with 
deciduous scales or hairs of various colours. The antennae are 
straight and usually shorter than the head and thorax. The head 
is plunged into the thorax as far as the eyes. The thorax is but 
slightly or not at all bordered, trapezoidal, and wider posteriorly; 
the middle of its posterior margin is frequently somewhat prolonged 
or lobate. The larvae are pilose, and mostly feed on the exuviae or 
carcasses of animals. Several are very injurious to entomological 
collections. 
Those then in which the legs are not completely retractile, the 384 
INSECTA. 
tarsi being always free, and the tibiae elongated and narrow, form 
our seventh tribe, that of the Dermestini, and the great genua 
Dermestes. 
In Dermestes, properly so called, the antennae are similar, or differ but very 
slightly in both sexes; the length of the last joint is never much greater 
than that of the preceding ones. 
Certain species do great injury among furs, and devastate our collections 
of natural history. De Geer calls them dissectors, and in fact the Dermestes 
lardarius cuts to pieces the Insects of the cabinet into which it has pene- 
trated. The others devour the dead bodies of all kinds of animals. 
D. lardarius, L. Black; base of the elytra cinereous and dotted with 
black. The larva is elongated, insensibly tapered from head to tail, of a 
chesnut-brown above, white beneath, furnished with long hairs and two 
squamous horns on the last annulus. 
There are various other Dermestini arranged in different genera, such as 
Jlttagenus, Megatoma, Jlnthrenus, &c. 
The eighth tribe, that of the Byrrhii, differs from the preceding 
in the perfect contractility of the legs; the tibiae are susceptible of 
being flexed on the thighs, and the tarsi on the tibiae, so that when 
thus folded and pressed against the body, the animal seems to be 
inanimate and entirely destitute of feet. The tibiae are usually 
broad and compressed. The body is short and convex. 
This tribe is chiefly composed of the genus 
Byrrhus, Lin. 
The mentum of the true Byrrhii is of an ordinary size and interlocked (at 
least partially) by the pracsternum, whose anterior extremity is dilated. 
In some, the antennae enlarge insensibly, or terminate in an elongated 
club formed of from five to six joints. 
B. pilula, L. From three to four lines in length; black beneath, black- 
ish-bronze or soot-colour and silky above, with little black spots mingled 
with lighter ones arranged in lines. 
All the Byrrhii remain on the ground in sandy localities. 
It is impossible to describe the Clavicornes of our second section, 
although a very natural one, but by the reunion of several characters. 
The body of these Insects is generally ovoid, and their head 
plunged to the eyes in a trapezoidal thorax, with a recurved lateral 
margin, and terminating posteriorly in acute angles; the praester- 
nurn is dilated anteriorly and the legs are imperfectly contractile. 
They are found in the water, under stones in the vicinity of shores. COLEOPTERA. 
385 
and frequently in the mud: some of them—Dryops—are allied to 
the Gyrini by the structure and shortness of their antennae. 
I will divide this section into two tribes. The Insects which com- 
pose the first or the Acanthopoda are remarkable for their flatten- 
ed and tolerably wide tibiae, armed anteriorly with spines: for their 
short quadriarticulated tarsi, the hooks of which are of the usual 
size; and for their depressed body. The prsesternum is dilated. 
The antennae are a little longer than the head, arcuated, and form- 
ed of eleven joints, the last six constituting an almost cylindrical 
and slightly serrated club; the second is short and not dilated. 
This tribe is composed of the single genus 
Heterocerus, Bose. Fab. 
These Insects are found in the sand or mud, along the borders of rivulets, 
marshes, &c., issuing from their holes when disturbed by the trampling of 
feet. The form of their tibiae enables them to turn up the earth, and con- 
ceal themselves in it; their tarsi can be flexed upon the tibiae. There also 
reside their larvae, which were first discovered by M. Miger. 
The second tribe, or that of the Macrodactyla, comprises Cla- 
vicornes with simple, narrow tibiae and long tarsi, all—one genus 
excepted (Georissus), well distinguished from every other of the 
tribe, by its antennae of nine joints, of which the three last form an 
almost solid club—composed of five distinct joints, the last of which 
is large, with two stout terminal hooks. The body is thick or con- 
vex. The thorax is less rounded, and most commonly terminates 
on both sides in acute angles. 
The principal type of this tribe is the genus 
Dryops, Oliv., 
In Dryops proper, the antenna:, shorter than the head, are received into a 
cavity situated under the eyes, and are almost covered by the second joint, 
which is large, dilated, in the form of an almost triangular palette, and 
projects in the manner of an auricle, whence the name of Dermeste a oreilles, 
given to the most common species by Geoffroy. The palpi are not salient* 
There are three subgenera: viz. Elmis, Macronychus, Georissus. 386 
INSECTA. 
FAMILY Y. 
PALPICORNES.(l) 
In our fifth family of pentamerous Coleoptera, as in the fourth, 
we observe antennae terminating in a club, usually perfoliaceous, but 
consisting of nine points at most in all, and inserted under the late- 
ral and projecting edges of the head; they are never much longer 
than the latter and the maxillary palpi, and frequently even shorter 
than the last mentioned organs. The mentum is large and scuti- 
form. 
The body is usually ovoid or hemispherical, convex or arched. 
The legs in several are adapted for natation, and then consist of but 
four very distinct joints, or of five, the first of which is much shorter 
than the second; all the joints are entire. 
Those in which the legs are natatory, the first joint of the tarsi 
is much shorter than the following ones, and the maxilta are en- 
tirely corneous, will form our first tribe, that of the Hydrophilii, 
which embraces the genus 
Linnaeus merely made these Insects a division (the first) of his genus Dytis- 
cus, but their anatomy is essentially different. In the true Hydrophilus the 
sternal spine is strongly prolonged behind. The last joint of the two an- 
terior tarsi of the males is dilated in the form of a triangular palette. The 
scutellum is large. 
The larvae resemble a sort of soft, conical, and elongated worm, furnish- 
ed with six feet, and a large squamous head, more convex underneath than 
above, armed with strong and hooked mandibles. They respire by the 
posterior extremity of the body, are very voracious, and do great injury to 
fish ponds by devouring the spawn. 
H.piceus, Fab. An inch and a half long; oval; of a blackish-brown, 
polished, or as if covered with a varnish; antennal club partly reddish; some 
slightly marked striae on the elytra, the posterior extremity of which is 
rounded laterally, and prolonged into a small tooth at the internal angle. 
It swims and flies well, but walks badly. When held loosely in the hand, 
its sternal spine sometimes inflicts a wound. 
The extremity of the female is provided with two fusi, by means of 
which she constructs an ovoid cocoon, surmounted with a point, resembling 
Hydrophiltjs, Geoff. 
(1) Palpi-horned. COLEOPTERA. 
387 
an arcuated brown horn. Its external tissue is a gummy paste, which, 
though fluid at first, subsequently hardens, and becomes impervious to 
water. The ova it contains are arranged symmetrically, and kept in situ 
by a sort of white down. These cocoons float on the water. 
The larva is depressed, blackish and rugose, and has the faculty of throw- 
ing back its brown, smooth, round head. This enables it to capture the 
little Mollusca which navigate the surface of the water, its back serving as 
a point d’appui or anvil on which it mashes the shell in order to devour the 
animal it contains. The body of these larva becomes flabby as soon as they 
are caught. They swim with great facility, and are provided with two 
fleshy appendages which serve to maintain them on the surface of the water, 
head downwards, when they come there to respire. According to M. Miger, 
the larva of other Hydrophilii are deprived of these appendages, and neither 
swim nor suspend themselves like those of which we have been speaking. 
The females of these species swim with difficulty, and carry their ova under 
the abdomen enclosed in a silken web. 
There are many other genera of Hydrophilians, such as Hydrochus, Odhe- 
bius, Spercheus, &c., differing in form, the arrangement of the antenna, &c. 
Our second tribe, or the consists of terrestrial 
Palpicornes, with tarsi composed of five very distinct joints, the first 
of which is at least as long as the second. The maxillary palpi are 
somewhat shorter than the antennae, with the third joint longer, in- 
flated, and in the form of a reversed cone. The maxillary lobes are 
membranous. 
The body is nearly hemispherical, the posterior extremity of the 
praesternurn is prolonged into a point, and the tibiae are spinous; 
those that are anterior are palmated or digitated in the large spe- 
cies. The antennae always consist of nine joints, or of eight, if the 
last be considered as an appendage of the penultimate. 
These Insects are small, and inhabit cow-dung and other matters; 
certain species are found near the shores of rivers, &c. They 
compose the genus 
SPHiERIDIUM, Fab. 
From which, however, we must separate several species, a division already 
effected by Olivier. Dr Leach only considers as such those in which the 
anterior tarsi of the males are dilated. Such is 
S. 4-maculatum. It is of a shining1 black and smooth; the scutellum is 
elongated, and the legs are very spinous; a blood-red spot at the base of 
each elytron, and their extremity reddish. In some individuals these spots 
diminish or disappear. 388 
IN8ECTA 
FAMILY VI. 
L AMELLICORNES. (1) 
In our sixth and last family of pentamerous Coleoptera, we find 
the antennas inserted into a deep fossula under the lateral margin 
of the head; they are always short, usually consist of nine or ten 
joints, and are always terminated in a club usually composed of the 
three last, which are lamellar, sometimes fiabelliform or disposed 
like the leaves of a book, opening and closing in a similar way, 
sometimes concentrically contorted and fitting in each other, the 
first or inferior then being semi-infundibuliform and receiving the 
others, and sometimes arranged perpendicular to the axis and form- 
ing a sort of comb. 
The body is generally ovoid or oval, and thick. The exterior 
side of the two anterior tibiae is dentated, and the joints of the tarsi, 
with the exception of those of some males, are entire and without 
brush or pellet beneath. 
The anterior extremity of the head most commonly projects or is 
dilated in the manner of an epistoma. The mentum is usually large, 
covers the ligula or is incorporated with it, and bears the palpi. 
The mandibles of several are membranous, a character observed in 
no other coleopterous Insects. The males frequently differ from 
the females, either by prominences on the thorax or head in the 
form of horns or tubercles, or by the largeness of their mandibles. 
This family is very numerous, and with respect to the size of the 
body, the variety of forms exhibited in the head and thorax, sexually 
considered, is one of the most beautiful of the order, and frequently 
also as regards the species, which in their perfect state live upon 
vegetable substances, by the splendour of the metallic colours with 
which they are ornamented. Most of the other species, however, 
feeding on decomposed vegetable aliment, such as dung, tan, &c., 
are usually of one uniform black or brown hue. Some of the Co- 
prophagi, however, do not yield even in this respect to the former. 
They are all furnished with wings, and their gait is heavy. 
The body of the larvae is long, almost semicylindrical, soft, fre- 
quently rugose, whitish, and divided into twelve annuli, with six 
(1) Horns foliated. COLEOPTERA. 
389 
squamous feet; the head is squamous and armed with stout mandi- 
bles. Each side of the body is furnished with nine stigmata; its 
posterior extremity is thicker, rounded, and almost always doubled 
under it, so that the back being arcuated or convex, the animal can- 
not extend itself in a straight line, crawls badly on a level surface, 
and falls backwards or on its side every instant. An idea of their 
form may be obtained from that of the larva, so well known to gar- 
deners by the name of ver blanc, which is that of the Melolontha 
1). 
Some of them require three or four years to become pupae; they 
construct in their place of residence an ovoid shell, or one resem- 
bling an elongated ball, composed of earth or the debris of substan- 
ces they have gnawed, the particles of which are cemented by a 
glutinous matter produced from their body. Their aliment consists 
of the dung of various animals, mould, tan, and roots of vegetables, 
(frequently such as are necessary to Man,) of which they sometimes 
destroy immense quantities, to the great loss of the cultivator of 
the soih 
We will divide this family into two tribes. In the first or that of 
the Scakabaudes, we find the antennae terminating in a foliaceous 
and generally plicatile club, and composed in others of joints that 
fit into each other, either in the form of a reversed cone or nearly 
globular. The mandibles are identical or almost similar in both 
sexes, but the head and thorax of the males exhibit peculiar projec- 
tions or eminences; sometimes also their antennae are more devel- 
oped. This tribe corresponds with the genus 
Scarabjetjs, Lin. 
This genus is now divided into several small sections established on charac- 
ters drawn from the organs of manducation, antennas, and habits. 
The Coprophagi or the Scarab aeides of our first section, usually have 
their antennae composed of nine joints, and of eight in the others, the three 
last forming the club. 
Among the most interesting of the various genera which composed this 
section is the 
Ateuchus, Web. Fab., 
Two species of Ateuchus were worshipped by the ancient Egyptians, 
and formed a part of their system of hieroglyphics. They are sculptured in 
(1) Our common grubs, which are so abundant in dung-hills, gardens, 
&c., are larva: of various species of Lamellicornes. 390 
INSECTA. 
various positions, and sometimes of gigantic dimensions, on all their monu- 
ments. They were also figured separately and on the most precious 
materials, such as gold; they used them as seals and as amulets, which were 
suspended to the neck and buried with the mummies. The Insect itself 
has been found in some of their coffins. The 
A. sacer; which is found not only in all Egypt, but in the south of France, 
in Spain, Italy, and the south of Europe generally, has hitherto been 
considered the object of this superstitious distinction; but another species 
discovered in Sennar by M. Caillaud of Nantes, appears from its more bril- 
liant colours, and the country in which it is found, the original residence of 
the Egyptians, to have first attracted their attention. 
The remaining genera are Sisyphus, Coprobius, Oniticellus, Coprisproper, 
Jlphodius, &c. &c. 
The Ahenicoli, with the Apliodii andPsammodii, are the only ones whose 
elytra entirely cover the posterior extremity of the abdomen, so that the ab- 
domen is completely concealed; but they are distinguished from the latter 
by several characters. The lab rum is coriaceous, and most frequently juts 
out beyond the epistoma. The mandibles are corneous, and usually salient 
and arcuated. The terminal lobe of the maxillae is straight, and has no inward 
curve. The third and last joint of the labial palpi is always very distinct, 
and at least almost as long as the preceding one. With some few exceptions 
their antennae are composed of ten or eleven joints. 
These Insects make deep holes in the ground, fly particularly during the 
evening, after sun-set, and counterfeit death when seized. 
The Xxlopuili comprise the Geotrupes of Fabricius, and some of his 
Cetoniae. Here the scutellum is always distinct, and the elytra do not 
cover the posterior extremity of the abdomen. The tarsial crotchets of seve- 
ral are unequal. The antennae always consist of ten joints, the three last 
forming a foliaceous club, of which the intermediate leaflet is never com- 
pletely concealed or encased by the two others. The labrum is not salient, 
and its anterior extremity at most is exposed. The mandibles are entirely 
corneous, and jut out beyond the sides of the head. The maxillae are cor- 
neous or of a solid consistence, straight and commonly dentated. The 
ligula is covered by an ovoid or triangular mentum narrowed and truncated 
at its extremity, the angles of which are frequently dilated. All the legs 
are inserted at an equal distance from each other. Here we find 
The body is thick and convex, and the outer side of the mandibles sinuous 
or dentated. The equatorial countries of both hemispheres produce very 
remarkable species of this subgenus. 
S. Hercules, L. Five inches long; black; elytra greenish-grey mottled 
with black: a recurved and dentated horn on the head of the male, and a 
second one, long, projecting and pilose beneath, with a tooth on each side 
of the thorax. South America. Some travellers call it the Mouche cornue. 
This section also includes Phileurus, Rutela, Orydes, &c. &c. 
Scarabjrus proper,—Geotrupes, Fab. COLEOPTERA. 
391 
The Phtllophagi consist of Scarab aides whose mandibles are covered 
above by the epistoma, and concealed beneath by the maxilla; their outer 
side is alone exposed, without however overlapping; their outer side pre- 
sents none of the sinuses or dentations observed there in Rutela and other 
analogous subgenera. The anterior edge of the labrum is exposed; it is some- 
times in the form of a reversed and wide triangle, and most frequently trans- 
versely laminiform, and emarginated in the middle. The number of the 
antennal joints is not constant, and varies from eight to ten/the same remark 
applies to those of the club, and in several, with respect to this, the two sexes 
differ greatly. The ligula is entirely covered by the mentum, or incorpor- 
ated with its anterior face, and the elytra are completely joined along the 
whole of the suture, characters which distinguish these Insects from those 
of the fifth section. 
In the Anthobii the antenna are composed of nine or ten joints, the 
three last of which alone form the club in both sexes. The lobe terminat- 
ing the maxilla is frequently almost membranous, silky, penicilliform, cori- 
aceous, and dentated along the inner edge in others. The labrum and 
mandibles are more or less solid in proportion as they are more or less ex- 
posed. The Anthobii live on flowers or leaves. 
Some of these Insects inhabit the north of Africa and other countries 
situated on the Mediterranean; most of the others are found in the higher 
portions of western Asia. 
The genera that compose this section are Glaphyras, Amphicoma, An- 
thipna, &c. 
The sixth and last section of the Scarab aides, that of the Melito- 
phiei, is composed of Insects in which the body is depressed, most com- 
monly oval, brilliant, and without horns, and the thorax is trapeziform, or 
nearly orbicular; an axillary part, in the greater number, occupies the space 
comprised between the posterior angles and the exterior of the base of the 
elytra. The sternum is frequently extended into a point or projecting 
horn. The hooks of the tarsi are equal and simple. The antenna consist 
of ten joints, the three last of which form a club, always foliaceous. The 
labrum and mandibles are concealed, laminiform, flattened, and membran- 
ous, or nearly so. The maxilla terminate in a silky, penicilliform lobe 
without horny teeth. The mentum is commonly ovoid, truncated superiorly, 
or almost square, and the middle of the superior margin more or less con- 
cave or emarginate. The ligula is not salient. 
The larva live in rotten wood. The perfect Insect is found on flowers, 
and frequently on trunks of trees, that give out a fluid which they suck. 
This section is susceptible of being separated into three principal divi- 
sions, the first of which corresponds to the genus Trichius, Fab.; the second 
to that of Goliath, Lam.; and the third to Cetonia, Fab., but reduced and 
simplified. 
In the first—Trichides—the mentum is either isometrical, or longer than 
wide, and leaves the maxilla exposed. It comprises the 392 
INSECTA. 
T. nobilis. About an inch long; golden-green above; cupreous with 
yellowish-grey hairs beneath. On umbelliferous plants. 
The female of the T. hemipterus and those of some other species of North 
America are remarkable for the horny ovipositor at the posterior ex- 
tremity of their abdomen, by which they effect a lodgement for their ova. 
These species are generally found on the ground, where they move very 
slowly. There are two other genera, Platygenia and Cremastocheilus. 
The second division, Goliathides, is distinguished from the preceding by 
the mentum, which is much longer, wider, and covers the maxillae. 
Thichius, Fab. 
A subgenus which, according to M. de Lamarck, is composed of large 
and beautiful species, some of which inhabit Africa and the East Indies, and 
the others, tropical America. Messrs Lepeletier and Serville have separa- 
ted the latter from it under the generic appellation of Inca. The epimera 
is not prominent. The inner sides of the thighs of the two anterior legs are 
furnished at base with a tooth and an emargination. The middle of the 
superior margin of the mentum is strongly emarginated; this part in the 
true Goliaths presents four lobes or teeth, two superior and the two others 
lateral. The labial palpi are inserted on its edges in the emarginations of 
these latter lobes. All the known species are large. 
In the third division of the Melitophili, a section corresponding to the 
family of the Cetoniidae, Mac Leay, the sternum is prolonged more or less 
into an obtuse point between the second pair of legs; the epimera or axil- 
lary piece is always apparent above, and occupies all the space that sepa- 
rates the posterior angles of the thorax from the base of the elytra; the tho- 
rax usually becomes widened posteriorly, and has the form of a triangle 
truncated anteriorly or at the point. The mentum is never transversal, and 
its superior edge is more or less emarginated in the middle. The terminal 
lobe of the maxillae is silky or penicilliform. The body is almost ovoid, and 
depressed. 
This division comprises the genus 
Goliath, Lam. Kirb.—Cetonia, Fab. Oliv. 
Cetonia, Fab., 
Or what we commonly term Goldbeaters. Those of Europe are pro- 
vided with a scutellum of an ordinary size. Such are the 
C. aurata. Nine lines in length; brilliant golden-green above; cupreous- 
red beneath; white spots on the elytra. Common on flowers, and frequently 
on those of the Rose and Elder. 
In the second tribe of the Lamellicornes or the Lucanides, so 
called from the genus Lucanus of Linnseus, the antennal club is 
composed of leaflets or teeth arranged perpendicularly to its axis in 
the manner of a comb. These organs always consist of ten joints, COLEOPTERA. 
393 
the first of which is usually much the longest. The mandibles are 
always corneous, most commonly salient and larger, and even very 
different in the males. The maxillae, in most of them, are termi- 
nated by a narrow, elongated and silky lobe; those of others are 
entirely corneous and dentated. The ligula in the greater number 
is formed of two small silky pencils projecting more or less beyond 
an almost semi-circular or square mentum. The anterior legs are 
most frequently elongated, and their tibiae dentated along the w hole 
of the outer side. The tarsi terminate by two equal and simple 
hooks with a little appendage terminated by two setae between them. 
The elytra cover the whole of the abdomen above. 
We will divide it into two sections, corresponding to the genera 
Lucanus and Passalus of Olivier. 
In the first we find the antennae strongly geniculate, glabrous or 
but slightly pilose; the labrum very small or confounded with the 
epistoma; maxillae terminated by a membranous or coriaceous, very 
silky, pencilliform lobe without teeth, or at most with but one; and 
a ligula either entirely concealed or incorporated with the mentum, 
or divided into two narrow, elongated, silky lobes extending more 
or less beyond the mentum. The scutellum is situated between the 
elytra. 
The first section will form the genus 
Lucanus. 
The larva of the L. cervus, which inhabits the interior of the Oak for seve- 
ral years previous to its final metamorphosis, is considered as the Cossus of 
the Romans, or that verminiform animal which they regarded as a delicious 
article of food. 
L. cervus, L. (The Stag-Beetle). The male two inches in length, and 
larger than the female? black, with brown elytra; head wider than the body; 
mandibles very large, arcuated, with three very stout teeth; two of which 
are at the end and diverge, the other is in the inner side, all furnished with 
small ones. The female, called Doe, has a narrower head and much smaller 
mandibles. It flies at night in the heat of summer. Its size and mandibles 
vary. It is to one of these varieties that we must refer the Lucane chevre of 
Olivier, or the L. capreolus of Fabricius. The Lucanus, so called by Lin- 
naeus, is a species from North America, and very distinct from the preceding. 
The subgenera are Sinodendron, JEsalus, Lamprima, &c. 
The Lucanides of our second section have their antennae simply 
arcuated, or but slightly geniculate and pilose; the labrum always 394 
INSECTA. 
exposed, crustaceous, and transversal; the mandibles strong and 
much dentated, but without any very remarkable sexual difference; 
the maxillm entirely corneous, with at least two strong teeth; the 
ligula equally corneous or very hard, situated in a superior emargi- 
nation of the mentum, and terminated by three points; the abdomen 
pediculated, presenting the scutellum above, and separated from 
the thorax by a strangulation of considerable interval. They form 
the genus 
Passales, Fab. 
Restricted by M. Mac Leay to those species in which the club of the anten- 
na consists of but three joints, where the labrum forms a transversal square, 
and the maxillae have three strong terminal teeth, and two on the inner 
side in place of the anterior lobe. 
These Insects are foreign to Europe, and as it would appear, to Africa, 
being chiefly found in the eastern parts of Asia, and particularly in America. 
Madame Merian says, that the larva of the species figured by her lives on 
the roots of the sweet potato. The perfect Insect is not uncommon in the 
sugar-houses. 
In the second general section of the Coleoptera, or the Hetero- 
mera, we dud five joints in the four first tarsi, and one less in the 
two last. They all feed on vegetable matters. 
In some, where the elytra are generally solid and hard, and the 
hooks of the tarsi are almost always simple, the head is ovoid or 
oval, susceptible of being received posteriorly into the thorax, or 
sometimes narrowed behind, but not abruptly, and without a neck 
at its base. Many of these Heteromera avoid the light. This divi- 
sion will comprise the three following families. 
FAMILY I. 
MELASOMA. 
This family consists of unmixed black or cinereous coloured In- 
sects, (from which is derived the name of the division,) mostly 
apterous, and frequently with soldered elytra. Their antennae, 
entirely or partly granose, almost of equal thickness throughout or 
slightly inflated at the extremity, and the third joint wholly elongated, 
are inserted under the projecting edges of the head. The mandi- 
bles are bifid or emarginated at the extremity; the inner side of their COLEOPTERA. 
395 
maxill® is furnished with a corneous tooth or hook, all the joints of 
the tarsi are entire, and the eyes oblong and but very slightly pro- 
minent, a circumstance which, according to M. Marcel de Serres, 
indicates their nocturnal habits. Almost all these Insects live on 
the ground, either in sand, or under stones, and frequently in cel- 
lars, stables, and other dark places about our habitations. 
Our first division of this family, which in the Linnrean system 
forms the genus Tenebrio, is founded on the presence or absence 
of wings. 
Of those which are deprived of these organs, and in which the 
elytra are generally soldered, some have the palpi almost filiform, 
or terminated by a moderately dilated joint, and do not form a dis- 
tinctly securiform or triangular club. They will compose a first 
tribe, that of the PimebiarIjE, so named from the genus 
These Heteromera are proper to the countries situated round the basin of 
the Mediterranean, to western and southern Asia, and to Africa. They 
are not found in India, or at least none have as yet been discovered there. 
The Pimeliaris consist of numerous genera, the chief of which are, Ero- 
dius, Zophosis, Tentyria, Aids, Tagenia, &c. 
PlMELIA, Fab. 
The second tribe of the Melasoma, that of the Blapsides, re- 
ceives its denomination from the genus Blaps of Fabricius. 
The maxillary palpi terminate by a manifestly securiform or tri- 
angular joint. This tribe is formed of a single genus, that of 
In Blaps properly so called, the thorax is almost square and plane, or but 
slightly convex. The abdomen is oval, truncated transversely at base, and 
more or less elongated. The elytra of most of them are narrowed and pro- 
longed into a point, those of the males especially. The third joint of the 
antennae is cylindrical and much longer than the following ones; the latter, 
or at least the three antepenultimate ones, are granose; the last is ovoid and 
6hort. 
B. laevigata, Fab. This species might constitute a particular subgenus. 
Its body is much shorter than that of the others, and extremely Convex or 
gibbous. The antenna: are granose from the fourth joint. The anterior 
tibiae terminate in a stout point or spine formed by a spur. 
It is stated by Fabricius that the Turkish women inhabiting Egypt, where 
the Insect is very common, eat the Blaps sulcata, cooked with butter, in 
order to become fat. The same author also says that it is used as a remedy 
for the head-ach, and the sting of a Scorpion. 
Blaps. 396 
INSECTA. 
The remaining Blapsides are distributed under various genera, such as 
Gonopus, Asida, Pedinus, Blaptinus, &c. 
We now come to Melasoma, provided with wings. Their body 
is usually oval or oblong, depressed or but slightly elevated; their 
thorax square or trapezoidal, and its posterior extremity as wide as 
the abdomen. The palpi are larger at the extremity; the last joint 
of the maxillary palpi has the figure of a reversed triangle, or is se- 
curiform; the mentum is but slightly extended in width, and leaves 
the base of the maxillas exposed. 
These Insects compose the third and last tribe of the Melasoma, 
that of the Tenebrionites, formed of the single genus 
As originally arranged by Fabricius, and to which we will annex his Opa- 
trum and Orthocera; they will serve for types of as many particular divisions. 
1. Those in which the body is oval; the thorax nearly trapezoidal, arcu- 
ated laterally, or forming a semioval, truncated anteriorly, wider than the ab- 
domen, at least at its posterior margin, but slightly or not at all bordered; 
in which the maxillary palpi terminate by a securiform joint or one of an 
analogous figure, and where the antenna insensibly enlarge. 
Here we have Crypticus and Opatrum. 
2. Those in which the body is narrow and elongated, almost of the same 
width posteriorly or wider; where the thorax is nearly square, and at least 
almost as long as it is broad, and where the antenna form a thick club, or 
are abruptly dilated at the extremity. 
To this division belong Corticus, Ortkocerus, Toxicum, &c. 
3. Those in which the body is equally narrow and elongated, and the 
thorax almost square, but where the antenna are of the ordinary thickness, 
and are not abruptly terminated by a club. 
The two anterior thighs are stout, and the tibia narrow and curved, or 
arcuated. 
The genera are Calcar, Upis, Tenebrio proper, and Heterotarsus. The 
Tenebrionites are very common under bark of trees, on old walls and the 
uninhabited parts of houses. 
Tenebrio, 397 
COLEOPTERA. 
FAMILY II. 
TAXICORNES. 
In this second family of the heteromerous Coleoptera, we find 
no small corneous tooth on the inner side of the maxillae. All 
these insects are winged, their body is most commonly square, their 
thorax trapezoidal or semicircular, and concealing or receiving the 
head. The antennae, usually inserted under a marginal projection 
of the sides of the head, are short, more or less perfoliate or granose, 
enlarge insensibly, or terminate in a club. The legs are only adapt- 
ed for walking, and. all the joints of the tarsi are entire, and termi- 
nated by single hooks; the anterior tibiae are frequently broad and 
triangular. Several males have the head furnished with horns. 
Most of them inhabit the fungi on trees, or under the bark; some 
live on the ground, under stones. 
In some, the head is completely exposed, and never entirely re- 
ceived into a deep notch in the anterior of the thorax. This last is 
sometimes trapezoidal or square, and at others almost cylindrical; 
its sides, as well as those of the elytra, do not extend remarkably 
beyond the body. 
This division will form the tribe of the Diaperiales, the type of 
which is the genus 
Diaperis. 
In Diaperis properly so called, the maxillary palpi terminate in an almost 
cylindrical joint, hardly thicker than the penultimate; and the anterior 
tibise, hardly or not at all wider than the following1 ones, are narrow, almost 
linear, and slightly dilated at the extremity. 
The remaining genera of this tribe are Phaleria, Hypophlaeus, Tetrato- 
ma, Eledona, ike. 
Our second tribe of the Taxicornes, the Cossyphenes, consists 
of Insects analogous in form to the Pelti-s of Fabricius, and to seve- 
ral Nitidulse and Cassidas: it is ovoid or sub-hemispherical, and 
overlapped in its contour by the dilated or flattened sides of the tho- 
rax and elytra; the head is sometimes entirely concealed under that 
thorax, and at others received into an anterior emargination of the 
same part. The last joint of the maxillary palpi is larger than the 
preceding ones, and securiform. 398 
INSECTA. 
This tribe is composed of the genus 
Some of them have a flat body, of a solid consistence, in the form of a shield, 
and antennae terminated by a club composed of four or five joints; they are 
peculiar to the eastern continent and to New Holland. Such are those 
which form the 
Cossyphus, Oliv. Fab. 
Cosstphus, Oliv. Fab. 
Or Cossyphus properly so called, where the almost semicircular thorax 
presents no anterior emargination, and entirely conceals the head; where 
the antennas are short, and terminate abruptly in an oval mass of four joints, 
most of which are transversal; the second of the whole number and the 
following1 ones are almost identical. 
These Insects inhabit the East Indies, southern part of Europe, and north 
of Africa. 
FAMILY III. 
STENELYTRA. (1) 
The third family of heteromerous Coleoptera only differs from the 
second in the antennae, which are neither granose nor perfoliate, and 
whose extremity, in the greater number, is not thickened. The 
body is most frequently oblong, and arcuated above, and the legs 
are elongated as in many other Insects. With the exception of their 
antennae and size, the males resemble the females. These Hetero- 
mera are usually much more agile than the preceding ones; several 
conceal themselves under the bark of old trees, while most of the 
others are found on leaves and flowers. 
In some, the antennas are approximated to the eyes, and the head 
is not prolonged in the manner of a proboscis, but terminated at 
most by a very short snout. They will form our four first tribes. 
Those of the first or the Helopii, have their antennas covered at 
base by the margin of the head; they are generally filiform or slightly 
thickened towards the extremity, generally composed of almost cy- 
lindrical joints attenuated at base, of which the penultimate ones 
are frequently a little shorter, and in the form of a reversed cone, 
and the last is usually almost ovoid; the third is always elongated. 
(1) Compressed wing cases. COLEOPTEKA. 
399 
The extremity of the mandibles is bifid; the last joint of the maxil- 
lary palpi is larger and securiform, or in the figure of a reversed 
triangle; the eyes are oblong, and reniform or emarginated. None 
of the legs are fitted for leaping; the penultimate joint of the tarsi, 
or at least of the last ones, is almost always entire or not deeply 
emarginate$ their terminal hooks are simple, or without fissure or 
dentation; the body is most commonly arcuated above, and always 
solid and firm. 
Such of the larvae as are known to us are smooth, filiform and 
glossy, with very short legs, like that of a Tenebrio. They are 
found in old wood, and the perfect Insect lives under the bark of 
trees. 
This tribe mostly corresponds to the genus 
Helops, Fab. 
In Helops properly so styled, most of the joints of the antennae are almost 
obconical or cylindrical, and attenuated at base. The thorax is transversal, 
or hardly as long- as it is wide, either square, trapezoidal, or cordiform, 
abruptly narrowed posteriorly, terminated by pointed angles, and always 
exactly applied to the base of the elytra. 
The remaining genera of this tribe are Epitragus, Cnodalon, Campsia, &c. 
The second tribe, that of the Cistelides, is very closely allied 
indeed to the first, but the insertion of the antennae is not covered, 
the mandibles terminate in an entire or unemarginate point, and the 
hooks of the tarsi are pectinated inferiorly. Several of these In- 
sects live on flowers. This tribe forms the genus 
Cistela, Fab. 
In Cistela properly so called, the head projects in the manner of a snout, 
and the labrum is hardly wider than it is long; most of the joints of the 
antennae are either obconical, triangular, or even serrated; the last is always 
oblong. The body is ovoid or bordering on an oval. 
The other genera are Lystronichus, MycetopTiagus, and Mlecula. 
The third tribe, that of the Serropalpides, is remarkable, as in- 
timated by its name, for the maxillary palpi, which are frequently 
serrated, very large, and inclined. The antennae are inserted in an 
emargination of the eyes, exposed, as in the preceding tribe, and 
most usually short and filiform. The mandibles are emarginated 
or bifid at the extremity, and the hooks of the tarsi are simple. 400 
INSECTA. 
The body is almost cylindrical in some, and oval in others; the head 
is inclined, and the thorax trapezoidal. The anterior extremity of 
the head does not project, and the posterior thighs not inflated, 
characters which distinguish these Insects from various Heteromera 
of the ensuing tribe. The penultimate joint of the tarsi, or at least 
of the four anterior ones, is most commonly bilobate, and in those 
where it is entire, the posterior legs at least are fitted for leaping; 
in this case they are long and compressed, the tarsi small, almost 
setaceous, and their first joint elongated; the anterior ones are fre- 
quently short and dilated. 
The type of this tribe is the genus 
DircjEa, Fab. 
In Dircaea properly so called, the maxillary palpi are not serrated, and their 
last joint projects more on the inner side than the preceding ones. The 
thorax is insensibly lowered on the side. The scutellum is very small. 
Here we have Orchesia, Hallomenus, Mtlandrya, Hypulus, &c. 
The fourth tribe, that of the (Edemerites, is connected with the 
third by several characters, such as having the antennas inserted 
near the eyes, and their origin exposed, the mandibles bifid at the 
end, the penultimate joint of the tarsi bilobate, and the maxillary 
palpi terminated by a larger and securiform joint; but if we except 
the Nothi, approximated by the form and breadth of the thorax, and 
by some other characters to certain Heteromera of the preceding 
tribe, and yet distinguished from them by their strongly inflated 
posterior thighs, and their bicleft tarsial hooks, the CEdemerites pre- 
sent a union of characters which will not allow us to confound them 
with the other Heteromera. The body is elongated, narrow, almost 
linear, and the head and thorax are somewhat narrower than the 
abdomen. The antennae are longer than the two latter, serrated in 
some—Calopus—filiform or setaceous, and composed of long and 
almost cylindrical joints in the others; the anterior extremity of the 
head is more or less prolonged into a little snout, and somewhat 
narrowed behind; the eyes are proportionally more elevated than 
in the preceding Heteromera. The thorax is at least as long as it 
is broad, almost square, or nearly cylindrical, and slightly narrowed 
behind; the elytra are linear or subulate posteriorly, and frequently 
flexible. These Insects are found on flowers or trees. Their me- 
tamorphoses are unknown. COLEOPTERA. 
401 
These Heteromera will be comprised in a single genus, the 
Where the posterior thighs are strongly inflated in one of the sexes, where 
the antennae are usually long and smaller at the extremity, and the elytra 
suddenly narrowed near the end. 
There are several subgenera. 
The fifth and last tribe of the Stenelytra, that of the Rhynchos- 
toma, is composed of Insects, some of which, such as the first, are 
evidently related by the ensemble of their characters to the CEde- 
merae, while the others, in a natural series, appear to belong to the 
family of the Rhynchophora. The head is considerably prolonged 
anteriorly in the form of an elongated snout or flattened proboscis, 
bearing the antennae at its base and before the eyes, which are al- 
ways entire or unemarginate. These Insects form a single genus, 
that of 
CEdemera, Oliv. 
Mycterus. 
In Mycterus properly so called, the body is ovoid, solid, covered by a silky 
down, and the thorax trapeziform. The abdomen is square, long, rounded 
posteriorly; the antennae are composed of joints, mostly obconical, the com- 
plete number of which seems to be twelve, the eleventh or last being ab- 
ruptly narrowed and acuminated, and the maxillary palpi are terminated 
by a larger joint in the form of a reversed triangle. 
The subgenera are Stenostoma and Rkinosimus. 
FAMILY IY. 
TRACHELIDES. 
In our second general division and fourth family of heterome- 
rous Coleoptera, the head is triangular or cordiform, and borne on 
a sort of neck or pedicle, abruptly formed, beyond which, being as 
wide at this point as the thorax, or wider, it cannot enter the cavity 
of the latter. The body is most commonly soft, the elytra are flexi- 
ble, without striae, sometimes very short, and a little inclined in 
others. The maxillae are never unguiculated. The joints of the 
tarsi are frequently entire, and the hooks of the last bifid. 
Most of the perfect Insects live on different plants, devour their 
leaves, or suck the nectar of their flowers. Many, when seized, 402 
INSECTA. 
curve their head and fold up their feet as if they were dead; the 
others are very active. 
We will divide this family into six tribes, forming as many genera. 
In the first, or that of the Lagriaree, the body is elongated and 
narrower before; the thorax either almost cylindrical or square, or 
ovoid and truncated; the antennae, inserted near an emargination of 
the eyes, are simple, filiform, or insensibly enlarged towards the end, 
most frequently and at least partially granose, the last joint being 
longer than the preceding ones in the males; the palpi are thicker 
at the extremity. 
The species indigenous to France are found in woods, on various 
plants; their body is soft, their elytra are flexible, and like the Me- 
loes, the Cantharides, when taken, counterfeit death. 
This tribe is formed of the genus 
Those species, in which the antennae gradually enlarge, and are either 
wholly or partly almost granose, with the last joint ovoid or oval; in which 
the head projects but little before, and is prolonged and insensibly rounded 
behind; and where the thorax is almost cylindrical or square, compose the 
genus Lagbia properly so called. 
Lagria, Fab. 
The second tribe, that of the Pyrochroides, approaches the first 
in the tarsi and the anterior elongation and narrowing of the body, 
but it is flattened, and the thorax is almost orbicular or trapezoidal. 
The antennae, at least in the males, are pectinated or plumousj the 
maxillary palpi are slightly serrated, and terminated by an elongated 
and almost securiform joint; the labial palpi are filiform; the abdo- 
men is elongated, entirely covered by the elytra, and rounded at the 
extremity. 
These Heteromera, which are found in the spring in woods, and 
whose larvae live under the bark of trees, form the genus 
In Pyrochroa properly so called, the antennae are simply pectinated and 
shorter, the eyes are remote from each other, and the thorax is almost orbi- 
cular and transversal. 
In the third tribe, that of the Mordellonje, so far as respects the 
form of the joints of the tarsi and of their hooks, and of that of the 
antennae and palpi, we find no common and constant character. 
Pyrochroa, Geoff. COLEOPTERA. 
403 
These Insects, however, are easily distinguished from other Hete- 
romera of the same family, by the general conformation of their 
body, which is elevated and arcuated; the head is low, the thorax 
trapezoidal or semicircular, and the elytra are very short or nar- 
rowed, and terminate in a point, like the abdomen. They form the 
genus 
In Mordella properly so called, the antennae are of equal thickness through- 
out, and somewhat serrated in the males; all the joints of the tarsi are entire, 
and the hooks of the last present one or two indentations beneath. The 
eyes are not emarginate. 
The subgenera are Ripiphorus, Myodites, Pelocotoma, and Jlnaspis. 
Mordelea, Lin. 
In the fourth tribe, that of the Anthicides, we find the antennae 
simple or slightly serrate, filiform, or a little thicker towards the 
extremity, most of the joints being nearly obconical and almost 
similar, with the exception of the last, which is somewhat larger 
and oval. The thorax is sometimes obovoid, narrowed and trun- 
cated posteriorly, sometimes divided into two knots, and at others 
semicircular. Some of these Insects are found on various plants, 
but the greater number live on the ground. They run with great 
quickness. Their larvae are perhaps parasitical. 
They will compose the genus 
In Notoxus properly so called, the antennae enlarge insensibly and are al- 
most entirely composed of obconical joints, and the thorax is obovoid, nar- 
rowed and truncated posteriorly, or divided into two globular points. 
The two last tribes of this family and of the section of the Hete- 
romera present certain common characters, such as mandibles ter- 
minating in a simple point, &c. In a perfect state they are all 
herbivorous, but several, in their first state, or that of larvae, are 
parasitical. 
The Horiales, composing the fifth tribe, differ from those which 
constitute the sixth, or the Cantharidix, in their hooks, which are 
indented and accompanied (each) by a serrated appendage. These 
Insects have filiform antennae, as long, at most, as the thorax, a 
small labrum, strong and salient mandibles, filiform palpi, square 
thorax, and very robust posterior legs, at least in one of the sexes. 
Notoxus, Geoff. 404 
INSECTA. 
This tribe is composed of the genus 
These Insects inhabit the intra-tropical countries of South America and of 
the East Indies. 
Horia, Fab. 
The sixth and last tribe, that of the Cantiiaridle, is distinguished 
from the preceding one by the hooks of the tarsi, which are deeply 
cleft, and seem to be double. The head is usually large, wider, 
and rounded posteriorly. The thorax is commonly narrowed be- 
hind, and approaches the form of a truncated heart; in others it is 
almost orbicular. The elytra are frequently somewhat inclined la- 
terally, or tectiform, flattened, and rounded. These Insects simu- 
late death when they are seized, and several, thus situated, produce 
a caustic yellowish liquid of a penetrating odour, from the articula- 
tions of their feet; the organs which secrete it have not yet been 
detected. 
Various species—Meloes, Mylabres, Cantharides—are employed 
externally as epispastics. This tribe is formed of the genus 
Meloe, Lin. 
Which has been divided into several others. 
In Meloe properly so called, the antennae are composed of short and 
rounded joints, the intermediate of which are the largest, and sometimes 
so disposed, that these organs present in this point, in several males, an 
emargination or crescent. The wings are wanting, and tire elytra, oval 
or triangular, with a portion of the inner margin crossing each other, only 
partially cover the abdomen, particularly in the females, where it is ex- 
tremely voluminous. 
They crawl along the ground, or upon low plants on the leaves of which 
they feed. A yellowish or reddish oleaginous liquid exudes from the articu- 
lations of their legs. 
In some districts of Spain, these Insects are used in place of Cantharides, 
or are mixed with them. They are also employed by the Farriers. They 
were formerly regarded as a specific in hydrophobia. I suspect that our 
Meloes are the Buprestes of the ancients, Insects to which they attributed 
very noxious qualities, and which, according to them, killed the Oxen that 
accidentally swallowed them while grazing. 
Among the divisions of this genus the most noted is the 
Caxthams, Geoff. Oliv.—Meloe, Lin.—Lytta, Fab. 
All the joints of the tarsi entire, and the thorax almost ovoid, slightly 
elongated, narrowed anteriorly and truncated posteriorly, by which this COLEOPTERA. 
405 
subgenus is distinguished from the preceding one. The head is a little 
wider than the thorax. The antennae of the males are sometimes irregular 
and even semipectinated. 
C. vesicatorius. (The Spanish Fly.) From six to ten lines in length, of 
a glossy golden-green, with simple, regular, black antennx. This Insect is 
well known from its medical uses. 
It appears in France, near the time of the summer solstice, and is more 
particularly found about the Ash and Lilac, on the leaves of which it feeds; 
it diffuses a highly penetrating odour. The larva lives in the ground and 
gnaws the roots of plants. In the United States of America, the species 
called by Fabricius the vitatta, (our Potato-Jly), and which abounds on the 
potato plants, is applied to the same uses as the one of which we are 
speaking. 
The third general section of the Coleoptera, that of the Tetra- 
mera, consists exclusively of those in which all the tarsi are quad- 
riarticulated. 
All these Insects live on vegetable matters. The feet of their 
larvae are usually very short, and they are even wanting or are re- 
placed by mammillae in a great number. The perfect Insect is 
found on the flowers or leaves of plants. 
FAMILY I. 
RHYNCHOPHORA(l). 
This family is distinguished by the entire prolongation of the head, 
which forms a sort of snout or proboscis. 
The abdomen is bulky in most of them, the antennas geniculate, 
and frequently clavate. The penultimate joint of the tarsi is almost 
always bilobate. The posterior thighs are dentated in several. 
The larvas have an oblong body, and resemble a small, very soft, 
white worm; their head is squamous, and they are destitute of feet, 
or in lieu of them there are merely small mammillae. They gnaw 
various parts of plants. Several live exclusively in the interior of 
their fruit or seeds, and frequently do us much injury. Their chry- 
salides are enclosed in a shell. Many of the Rhynchophora, when 
very abundant within certain limits, are even very noxious in their 
perfect state. They tap the buds or leaves of various cultivated 
(1) Long-snouted. 406 
1NSECTA. 
vegetables, useful or necessary to man, and feed on their paren- 
chyma. 
Bruchus, Lin 
In Bruchus proper, the antennae are filiform and frequently serrated or 
pectinated; the eyes are emarginated. The posterior legs are usually very 
large. 
The females deposit an egg in the yet diminutive and tender germ of 
various leguminous cerealia, of the Coffee-tree, Palms, &c., where the 
larva lives and is metamorphosed. To obtain an issue the perfect Insect 
detaches a portion of the epidermis in the form of a cap, thus producing 
those holes but too often found in peas, beans, dates, &c. The perfect 
Insect is taken on flowers. 
The labrum is apparent, the anterior elongation of their head short, broad, 
depressed, and in the form of a snout; the palpi are very visible and fili- 
form, or larger at the extremity. 
B. pisi, L. Length two lines; black; base of the antennae and part of 
the legs fulvous; elytra dotted with grey. A very noxious little Insect, 
that in certain seasons has occasioned much damage in North America. 
Those, in which the three or four last joints are united into a club, form 
the genus 
They attack the leaves or most tender parts of plants. Most of the females 
roll up these leaves into a tube or cornet, in which they deposit their eggs, 
thus preparing a domicil for their young ones, which also furnishes them 
with food. 
Those, in which the antennae are filiform, or where the last joint alone 
forms the club; where the proboscis, frequently longer in the males than in 
the females, and often differently terminated, always projects forwards; in 
which all the other parts of the body are usually much elongated, and the 
penultimate joint of the tarsi is bilobate, form the genus 
Attelabus, Lin. 
These Insects are peculiar to hot climates. Their body is linear, and the 
antennae, filiform or slightly enlarged towards the extremity, are composed 
of eleven joints. 
Sometimes the antennae are distinctly geniculate, the first joint being 
much longer than the following ones. They form the genus Curculio of 
Linnaeus. 
We will divide them into the Brevirostres and the Longirostres, according 
as the antennae are inserted near the extremity of the proboscis, and even 
with the origin of the mandibles, or further back, either near its middle or 
close to its base. 
The Brevirostres of this naturalist, according to the system of Fabricius, 
are divided into two genera. 
Brentus. COLEOPTERA. 
407 
Braciivcertjs. 
Where all the joints of the tarsi are entire and without brush or pellet be- 
neath. Their short and but slightly geniculate antennae present externally 
but nine joints, the last of which forms the club. They are destitute of 
wings, and their body is very scabrous or uneven. These Insects are 
peculiar to the south of Europe and to Africa, live on the ground and ap- 
pear very early in the spring. The women of Ethiopia use one species as 
a sort of amulet; they pass a string through its body and hang it round their 
neck. 
CuRCULIO. 
Where almost the whole under part of the tarsi is furnished with short and 
stiff hairs, forming pellets, and their penultimate joint is deeply bilobate. 
Their antennae are composed of eleven joints, or even of twelve if we count 
the false one, which sometimes terminates them, the last of which form the 
club. 
As this genus, although much more restricted than in the Linnean sys- 
tem, still comprises numerous species discovered since the time of that 
naturalist, various savans, Germar and Schoenherr in particular, have divided 
it into many others. 
C. imperialis, Fab. (The Diamond-Beetle). A brilliant golden-green 
with two black and longitudinal bands on the thorax; ranges of golden- 
green impressed points on the elytra, with black intervals. 
The Longirostres, or those whose antennae are inserted beyond the origin 
of the mandibles, and frequently near the middle of the proboscis, which 
is usually long, comprise, with some exceptions, the genera Lixus, Rhyn- 
chaenus, and Calandra of Fabricius. 
In the two first the antennae present ten joints at least, but most commonly 
eleven or twelve, of which the three last at least form the club. 
Lixus, Fab. 
The Lixi almost resemble the Cleoni in their organs of manducation, as 
well as in the elongated fusiform club of then* antennae, the narrow and 
elongated figure of their body, and the armature of then* tibiae. 
The llhynchaeni present no such ensemble of characters. 
Sometimes the legs are contiguous at base, and there is no sternal fossula 
for the reception of the proboscis. 
Some never leap, and their antennae are composed of eleven or twelve 
joints. The subgenera are numerous. 
The remaining Longirostres have generally nine joints at most in the 
antennae, and the last, or two last at most, form a club with a coriaceous 
epidermis and spongy extremity. They feed, at least while in the state of 
larvae, on seeds or ligneous substances. 
Fab. 408 
INSECTA. 
They may be united in the single genus 
In Calandra properly so called, the antennx are strongly geniculate, but 
inserted near the base of the proboscis; their eighth joint forms an ovoid or 
triangular club. 
C. granaria. But too well known; its body is elongated and brown; 
thorax as long as the elytra and punctured. Its larva, known by the name 
of weevil (genre), is the destroyer of our granaries. 
C. oryzsc. Similar to the preceding, but with two fulvous spots on each 
elytron. It attacks rice. 
C. palmarum. Length an inch and a half; club of the antennx truncated; 
entirely black, with silky hairs at the extremity of the proboscis. It lives 
on the pith of the Palms of South America. The inhabitants of that coun- 
try consider its larva, called the vcr-palmiste, as a great delicacy. 
There are several subgenera. 
Calandka. 
FAMILY II. 
XYLOPHAGI(l). 
In our second family of tetramerous Coleoptera, we find the head 
terminating as usual, without any remarkable projection, in the form 
of a proboscis or snout. The antennae are thicker near the extre- 
mity, or perfoliate at base, always short, and consist of less than 
eleven joints in a great number. The joints of the tarsi are usually 
entire, the penultimate being sometimes widened and cordiform in 
others; in this case the antennae always terminate in a club, either 
solid and ovoid, or trifoliate, and the palpi are small and conical. 
These Insects mostly live in wood which is perforated and chan- 
nelled in various directions by their larvae. When they happen to 
abound in forests, those of Pines and Firs particularly, they destroy 
in a few years immense numbers of trees, which are rendered use- 
less for any purpose of art. Others do great injury to the Olive, 
and some again feed on Mushrooms. 
We will divide this family into three sections. 
1. Those in which the antennae are composed of ten joints at 
most, sometimes terminating in a stout club, most commonly solid, 
(1) Wood-eaters. COLEOPTERA. 
409 
and sometimes consisting of three elongated leaflets; and at others 
forming a cylindrical and perfoliate club from their base, and in 
which the palpi are conical. The anterior legs of the greater num- 
ber are dentated and armed with a stout hook, and the tarsi, of 
which the penultimate joint is frequently cordiform or bilobate, are 
susceptible of being flexed on them. 
Some have very small palpi, the body convex and rounded above, or al- 
most ovoid, the head globular and plunged into the thorax, and the antennae 
solid or trilamellate, and preceded by five joints at least. 
These Xylophagi form the genus 
Scolytus, Geoff. 
In Scolytus properly so called, the antenna are straight, beardless, and in- 
serted close to the inner margin of the eyes, which are narrow, elongated, 
and vertical. 
The others have large and very apparent palpi of unequal lengths. 
Their body is depressed and narrowed before; their antenna sometimes 
consist of two joints, the last of which is very large, flattened, and almost 
triangular or nearly ovoid, and sometimes of ten, and are entirely perfoliate. 
The labium is large; the elytra are truncated, and tarsi short, with all the 
joints entire. These insects are all foreign to Europe, and compose the 
genus 
Paussus, Lin. 
Where the antennae consist of but two joints, with the last large and com- 
pressed. 
2. A second section will comprise those Xylophagi, whose an- 
tennae consist of but ten joints, and in which the palpi, at least those 
of the maxillae, do not gradually taper to a point, but are of equal 
thickness throughout, or dilated at the extremity. The joints of 
their tarsi are always entire. 
We will divide them into principal genera, according to the mode 
in which the antennae terminate. The three last joints form a per- 
foliate club in the first, or 
In Bostrichus proper, the body is more or less cylindrical, the head round- 
ed, almost globular, and capable of being received into the thorax as far 
as the eyes; the thorax is more or less convex before, and forms a sort of 
hood; the two first joints of the tarsi, as well as the last, are elongated. 
Bostrichus. 410 
INSECTA. 
B. capucinus. Five lines in length, with a red abdomen and elytra of the 
same colour. Very common in old wood in timber yards. 
The second genus of this division, or 
Monotoma, 
Is distinguished from the first by the solid and globuliform club—the tenth 
joint—of the antennae. 
The body is elongated, depressed, and frequently forms a parallelopiped; 
the anterior part of the head is narrowed, and projects somewhat in the 
manner of a triangular and obtuse snout. The palpi are very small, and, 
as well as the mandibles, not salient. 
3. The Xylophagi of the third division have eleven very distinct 
joints in the antennae; their palpi are filiform, or thicker at the ex- 
tremity in some, and smaller in others; all the joints of the tarsi are 
entire. 
Those in which the club of the antennae consists of but two joints form 
the genus 
Lyctus. 
In Lyctus proper, the margin of the head covers the whole or greater part 
of the first joint of the antennae. The mandibles are not salient. 
In the other Xylophagi with antennae composed of eleven joints, the 
three or four last form the club, or the last is alone larger than the preced- 
ing ones. They are subdivided thus: 
Sometimes the mandibles are covered or project but little, as in 
In Mycetophagus proper, the club of the antennae commences at the sixth 
or seventh joint; the last is almost ovoid. 
There are several subgenera, such as Triphyllus, Dasycerus, Silva- 
nus, &c. 
Sometimes the mandibles are entirely exposed, salient and robust. The 
body is generally elongated, narrow and depressed. These Insects form 
the genus 
Mycetopiiagus, Fab. 
In Trogosita proper, the mandibles are shorter than the head and crossed; 
the ligula, almost square, is not prolonged between the palpi, and the 
maxillx have but a single lobe. 
Trogosita, Oliv. COLEOPTERA. 
411 
FAMILY III. 
PLATYSOMA(l) 
Our third family of the Tetramera approaches the second, so far 
as relates to the internal anatomy, the tarsi, and habits; but the an- 
tennae are of equal thickness throughout, or more slender towards 
the extremity. The mandibles are always salient, the ligula is bifid 
or emarginated; the palpi are short, the body is depressed and elon- 
gated, and the thorax almost square. These Insects are found 
under the bark of trees, and may be reduced to a single genus, the 
Cuccjus, Fab. 
Where the antennae, much shorter than the body in several, are composed 
of obconical or turbiniform and almost granose joints, the first of which 
is shorter than the head. 
There are two subgenera, Dendrophagus and Uleoiota. 
FAMILY IV. 
LONGICORNES(2). 
Here, the under part of the three first joints of the tarsi is fur- 
nished with a brush; the second and third are codiform; the fourth 
is deeply bilobate, and there is a little nodule resembling a joint at 
the base of the last. The ligula, placed on a short and transversal 
mentum, is usually membranous, cordiform, emarginated or bifid, 
corneous and forming the segment of a very short and transversal 
circle in others. The antennae are filiform or setaceous, most com- 
monly as long at least as the body; they are sometimes simple in 
both sexes, and sometimes serrated, pectinated, or flabelliform in 
the males. The eyes of a great many are reniform and surround 
them at base. The thorax is trapezoidal or narrowed before, in 
those where the eyes are rounded and entire, or but slightly emar- 
ginated; even in this case the legs are long and slender, and the tarsi 
elongated. 
As almost all their larvae live in the interior of trees, or under 
their bark, they are destitute of feet, or have but very small ones. 
(1) Flat-bodied. 
(2) Long-horned. 412 
INSECTA. 
Their body is soft, whitish, thickest anteriorly, and the head squa- 
mous and provided with stout mandibles, but without any other 
projecting part. They do much injury to trees, the large ones par- 
ticularly, perforating them very deeply, or boring holes in them in 
every direction. Some of them attack the roots of plants. The 
abdomen of the females is terminated by a tubular and horny ovi- 
positor. These Insects produce a small sharp sound by the rubbing 
of the pedicle of the base of their abdomen against the interior of 
the parieties of the thorax. 
We will in the first place divide the Longicornes into two sections. 
In those of the first, the eyes are either strongly emarginated or 
lunate, or elongated and narrow; the head is plunged into the tho- 
rax, as far as those organs, without being distinguished from it by 
an abrupt contraction of its diameter, forming a kind of neck; in 
several it is vertical. 
These Longicornes are subdivided into two principal sections or 
small tribes. 
1. The Pbionii, characterized as follows: the labrum null or very 
small and indistinct; the mandibles stout, or even very large, parti- 
cularly in most of the males; the internal lobe of the maxillae null or 
very small; the antennae inserted near the base of the mandibles or 
the emargination of the eyes, but not surrounded by the latter at 
base; the thorax most frequently trapezoidal or square, crenated or 
dentated laterally. 
The first genus, or 
Parandba, Lat. 
Where, as in the following, the antennae are simple, almost granose, com- 
pressed, of equal thickness throughout, and as long as the thorax at most, 
is distinguished from that genus, as well as from all others of the same 
family, by its corneous ligula, which is in the form of the segment of a very 
short, transversal circle without emargination or lobes. The body is a 
parallelopiped, and depressed, and the thorax square, rounded at the pos- 
terior angles, and without spines or teeth. These Insects are peculiar to 
America. 
The Spondyles, which approximate to the Parandrse in their antenna: and 
the exiguity of their maxillary lobes, are removed from them by their ligula; 
the latter, as in all the following Longicornes, is membranous and cordiform 
Spondylis, Fab. 413 
COLEOPTERA. 
The Spondyles are also distinguished from the following genera by their 
almost globular thorax, the margin of which is neither recurved nor furnish- 
ed with teeth or spines. 
Their larvse live in the interior of European Pines and Firs. 
In the third and last genus of this tribe, or 
Prionus, Geoff. Fab. Oliv. 
The antennae are longer than the head and thorax, serrated or pectinated in 
some; simple, attenuated near the extremity, and with elongated joints in 
others. The body is generally depressed, and the thorax square or trape- 
zoidal, and either dentated or spinous, or angular laterally. 
These Insects only fly towards evening or at night, and always remain 
on trees. Certain species foreign to Europe are remarkable for their great 
size, and that of their mandibles. The larva of the P. cervicomis, which 
lives in the wood of the Gossampinus, is eaten 
2. The Cerambycini have a very apparent labrum extending 
across the whole width of the anterior extremity of the head; their 
two maxillary lobes are very distinct and salient; their mandibles of 
an ordinary size, and similar or but little different in both sexes; 
their eyes always emarginated and surrounding, at least partially, 
the base of the antennae, which are usually as long as the body or 
longer; the thighs, or the four anterior ones at least, are commonly 
in the form of an ovoid or oval club, narrowed into a pedicle at base. 
The various genera of modern entomologists may all be united in 
the genus. 
C. heros, Fab. Length one inch and a half; black; extremity of the elytra 
brown and prolonged into a small tooth at the suture; thorax extremely 
rugose and with a pointed or spiniform tubercle 'on each side; antennx 
simple. Common in all the warm and temperate parts of Europe. The 
larva bores deep holes in the Oak, and is perhaps the Cossus of the ancients. 
Cerambyx. 
We will terminate this tribe with Insects, which, in relation to 
their palpi, form of their head, thorax and elytra, as well as in their 
proportions, present remarkable exceptions or anomalies. 
We will commence with those in which the form of the thorax is 
very analogous to that of the preceding ones. 
Oerium, Meg. 
Is characterized as follows: the head rounded, and not prolonged anteriorly 414 
INSECT A. 
in the manner of a snout; palpi filiform, the last joint terminating in a point; 
antennx long and setaceous; thorax long, narrow, almost cylindrical, or 
forming a truncated oval. 
Differs from the preceding' one in the head, which is narrowed and pro- 
longed anteriorly in the manner of a snout; in the palpi of which the last 
joint is rather thicker than the preceding ones, and truncated at the end; 
in the antennae, shorter than the body, slightly dilated and somewhat ser- 
rated at the extremity; and in the almost orbicular thorax. 
Rhinotbagus, Dalm. 
The only one of this tribe in which the elytra are either very short, and 
squamiform, or prolonged, as usual, to the extremity of the abdomen, but 
abruptly contracted a little beyond their origin, then much narrowed, and 
terminating in a point, or subulate. Their abdomen is long, narrow, con- 
tracted, and as if pediculated at base. The wings are folded at their ex. 
tremity. 
Necydalis, Lin. 
Certain insects generally proper to the African islands, New Hol- 
land, New Ireland and New Zealand, ambiguous in several respects, 
and which, in a natural order, should perhaps be placed between 
the Lamiarise and the Lepturetas, will terminate the division of the 
Cerambycini. 
Their palpi are almost filiform, the last joint almost cylindrical 
and somewhat attenuated towards the base; their thorax is usually 
smooth or but slightly uneven, without acute tubercles, and becomes 
widened posteriorly, or presents the form of a trapezium or trun- 
cated cone, as in the last tribe of this family; the abdomen in 
the greater number is almost in the form of a reversed triangle, and 
the elytra are truncated at the extremity. 
These Insects form four genera. Distickocera, Tmesisternus, 
Tragocerus, and Leptocera. 
The Longicornes of our third tribe, that of the Lamiari.*, are 
distinguished by their vertical head, and by their palpi, which are 
filiform or hardly larger at the extremity, and terminated by a joint 
more or less ovoid and tapering to a point. The outer lobe of the 
maxillae is slightly narrowed at the end, and curved on the inner 
division. The antennae are most frequently setaceous and simple, 
and the thorax, exclusive of the lateral tubercles or spines, is nearly 
of an equal width throughout. Some species are apterous, a char- 
acter exhibited by no other division of this family. COLEOPTERA. 
415 
Distinguished from all the Longicornes, by the thorax, each side of which 
is terminated by a movable tubercle, terminating in a point, or by a spine. 
The body is flattened, and the thorax transversal; the antenna: arelongand 
slender, and the anterior legs longer than the others; the elytra are trun- 
cated at the end and terminated by two teeth, the exterior of which is the 
strongest. 
A. longimanus; known by the vulgar name of the Cayenne Harlequin. 
The thighs and tibiae of the two anterior legs are very long and slender. 
The movable tubercles of the thorax are terminated by a strong spine, and 
the elytra are beautifully variegated with grey, red, and black. 
All the remaining Lamiariae compose but the single genus 
Acrocinus, Ulig. 
Lamia, 
Which we will separate into two sections: those in which the sides of the 
thorax are sometimes tuberculous or rugose and sometimes spinous, and 
those in which it is smooth and cylindrical. 
They are arranged under various subgenera, such as Jlcanthocinus, Tetra- 
opes, Monochamus, Saperda, &c. 
In the fourth and last tribe, that of the Lepturet-e, we find Lon- 
gicornes in which the eyes are rounded, entire, or scarcely emargi- 
nated, and where, in this case, the antennae are inserted before, or 
at most at the anterior extremity of this slight emargination. The 
head is always inclined posteriorly behind the eyes in several, or 
abruptly narrowed at its junction with the thorax, in the manner of 
a neckj the thorax is conical or trapezoidal and narrowed before. 
The elytra become gradually narrower. 
This tribe forms the genus 
Leptura, Lin., 
With the exception of certain species which belong- to the preceding- tribes 
and to the Donaciae. In Leptura proper the head is abruptly narrowed 
immediately behind the eyes. The antennae, inserted near the anterior 
extremity of their internal emargination, are remote at base. The two emi- 
nences from which they rise are almost confounded in one plane. The 
thorax is almost always smooth or without lateral tubercles. 416 
INSECTA. 
FAMILY Y. 
EUPODA. 
Our fifth family of the tetramerous Coleoptera is composed of 
Insects, the first of which so closely approach the last Longicornes 
that they were confounded both by Linnasus and Geoffroy, and the 
last are so closely allied to the Chrysomelae, the type of the follow- 
ing family, that the first of those naturalists places them in that ge- 
nus. The organs of manducation present the same affinities. Thus 
in the first, the ligula is membranous, bifid or bilobate, as in the 
Longicornes; their maxillae also greatly resemble those of these 
latter; but in the last this ligula is almost square or rounded, and 
analogous to that of the Cyclica. 
The maxillary lobes, however,' are membranous, or but slightly 
coriaceous, whitish or yellowish; the external one is widened near 
the extremity, &c. The posterior thighs are strongly inflated in a 
great many, and hence the denomination of the family. 
All these Insects have wings, and are found on the stems or leaves 
of various plants, but, so far as regards a great number of species 
that inhabit France, on those of the Liliacese particularly. The 
larvae of some—the Donaciae—attack the internal part of the roots 
of aquatic plants, on which we find the perfect Insect. Those of 
several others live exposed, but. they cover themselves with matters 
with which they form a sort of case or scabbard, like that of the 
Cassidae. 
We will divide this family into two tribes: 
The first, that of the Sagrides, is composed, as its name indi- 
cates, of the genus 
The mandibles terminate in a sharp point. The ligula is profoundly emar- 
ginale or bilobate. The Sagrac properly so called, originally designated 
by the name of Alurnsc, are exclusively confined to certain parts of southern 
Africa, Ceylon and China. Their palpi are terminated by an ovoid joint, 
the divisions of the ligula are short, the thorax is cylindrical, the antennae 
are almost filiform, longer than the head and thorax, with their inferior 
joints shorter than the others, and the four anterior tibiae tolerably thick, 
but slightly elongated, angular and straight. These Insects have a uniform 
Sagra. 417 
COLEOPTERA. 
but very brilliant colour, green, golden, or a fulgid-red, with a slight mix- 
ture of violet. 
There are three subgenera, Megalopus, Orsodacna and Psammoecus. 
The second tribe, or that of the Criocerides, is distinguished 
from the preceding by the mandibles, the extremity of which is 
truncated or presents two or three teeth, and by the ligula. which is 
entire or but slightly emarginated. 
It is composed of the genus 
Crioceris, Geoff. 
Which is now divided into Donacia, Hxmonia, Petauristes, Cnoceris pro- 
per, &c. 
FAMILY VI. 
CYCLICA. 
In our sixth family of the Tetramera, where the three first joints 
of the tarsi are still spongy, or furnished with pellets beneath, with 
the penultimate divided into two lobes, and where the antennae are 
filiform or somewhat thicker towards the end, we observe a body 
usually rounded, and in those few where it is oblong, with the base 
of the thorax of the width of the elytra and maxillae, whose exterior 
division, by its narrow, almost cylindrical form and darker colour, 
has the appearance of a palpus; the interior division is broader and 
destitute of the little squamous nail. Theligula is almost squareor 
oval, entire or widely emarginated. 
These Insects are generally small, and are frequently ornamented 
with brilliant and metallic colours; their body is smooth or destitute 
of hairs. They are mostly slow and timid, letting themselves fall 
to the ground the moment we attempt to seize them, or folding their 
antennae and feet close to their body. Several species are good 
jumpers. The females are extremely prolific. 
If we take into consideration the different habits of their larvae, 
we will find that the Cyclica are divided into four principal sections: 
In the first, or the Cassidaro:, the antennae are inserted in the 
superior part of the head, and are approximated, straight, short, 
filiform and almost cylindrical, or gradually enlarged towards the 
extremity. The mouth, altogether underneath, and with short and 418 
1NSECTA. 
almost filiform palpi, is sometimes arched and sometimes partly re- 
ceived into the cavity of the praesternum. The eyes are ovoid or 
round. The legs are contractile and short, and the tarsi flattened; 
the lobes of the penultimate joint completely enclose the last. 
The body being flat above, these Insects, owing to the disposition 
of their tarsi, are enabled to glue themselves to the surface of leaves 
and to remain there without motion; besides this, the body is most 
commonly orbicular or oval, and overlapped all round by the thorax 
and elytra. The head is concealed under the thorax, or received 
into its anterior emargination. Their colours are various, and are 
prettily distributed in the form of spots, points, and streaks. Such 
of their larvae as are known to us cover themselves with dirt. 
The Cassidariae are composed of two genera. In the first, or 
Hispa, Lin. 
The body is oblong, the head is entirely exposed and free, and the thorax 
forms a trapezium. The mandibles have but two or three teeth; the exte- 
rior maxillary lobe is shorter than the inner one; the antennae are filiform 
and pectinated anteriorly. The Hispae properly so called, have short man- 
dibles terminated by two or three small and almost equal teeth. America 
produces a great number of species. In some the superior surface of the 
body, and even a portion of the antennae, are densely spinous. 
Cassida, Lin. Fab. 
The Cassidse are distinguished from the Hispse by the following characters. 
The body is orbicular or almost ovoid, and in some few nearly square. 
The thorax, more or less semicircular, or forming the segment of a circle, 
entirely conceals and covers the head, or encloses it in an anterior emargi- 
nation. The elytra, frequently elevated in the region of the scutellum, 
project beyond the body. The mandibles present four teeth at least, and 
the exterior maxillary lobe is at least as long as the inner one. 
In the second tribe, or the Chrysomelinje, the antennae are re- 
mote, and inserted before the eyes, or near their internal extremity. 
These Insects never leap. Those species in which we find the 
above mentioned characters, form, as in the earlier entomological 
works of Fabricius, two genera. The first, or 
Cryptocephalus, 
Is composed of Chrysomelinx, in which the head is plunged vertically 
into an arched or hood-like thorax, in such a manner that the body, most 
commonly in the form of a short cylinder, or almost ovoid and narrowed COLEOFTEltA. 
419 
anteriorly, when viewed from above, appears as if truncated at that ex- 
tremity and destitute of a head. The antenna: of some are more or less 
serrated or pectinated; those of others are long and filiform. The last 
joint of the palpi is always ovoid. 
Chrysomela. 
The body is usually ovoid or nearly oval, and the head salient, projecting, 
or simply inclined; where the antennae are simple, about half the length of 
the body, and most frequently granose and insensibly enlarged towards 
the extremity. 
C.populi, L. Lengthfrom five to six lines; oval, oblong, and blue; ely- 
tra fulvous or red, and the inner angle of their extremity marked with a 
black dot. On the Willow and Poplar; its larva lives on the same trees, 
and frequently in society. 
In the third and last tribe of the Cyclica, that of the Galerucitae, 
we find antennae always at least as long as the half of the body, of 
equal thickness throughout, or insensibly thicker towards their ex- 
tremity, inserted between the eyes, at but little distance from the 
mouth, and usually approximated at base, and near a small longitu- 
dinal carina. The maxillary palpi, thickest about the middle, ter- 
minate in two joints, in the form of a cone, but opposed or united 
at base, the last short, and either truncated or obtuse or pointed. 
The body is sometimes ovoid or oval, and sometimes almost he- 
mispherical. In several, and particularly the smaller species, the 
posterior thighs are very stout, which enables them to leap. 
This tribe is composed of the genus 
Which is divided into two principal sections; those which are destitute of 
the power of leaping or the Isopoda, and the Jumpers or the Anisopoda. 
G. calmariensis. Three lines in length; yellowish or greenish above; three 
black spots on the thorax; another with a stripe of the same colour on each 
elytron.—This species, together with its larva, is found on the Elm; in cer- 
tain seasons, when unusually abundant, it strips these trees of their foliage, 
and does as much mischief as certain caterpillars. 
The jumping Galerucitae, or those whose posterior thighs are inflated 
and which are distributed by Fabncius among the genera Chrysomcla, Gale- 
ruca and Crioceris, are united in one, that of Jlltica or Haltica, in the systems 
of Geoffroy, Olivier and Illiger. These Insects are very small, but are orna- 
mented with various or brilliant colours; they jump with great quickness 
and to a very great height, and frequently destroy the leaves of those plants 
on which they feed. Their larvae devour the parenchyma, and there un- 
dergo their metamorphosis. Certain species, those particularly which are 
Galeruca, 420 
INSECTA. 
commonly termed garden fleas, are very injurious in both stales to our 
kitchen gardens. Of all countries, South America furnishes the greatest 
number. 
Altica, Lat. 
In the true Alticae the head is salient, and the posterior tibiae are truncat- 
ed at their extremity and without any particular prolongation or forked 
spine; the tarsus originates from this extremity, and its length is not equal 
to half that of the tibia. 
A. oleracea. About two lines in length; oval, elongated; green or bluish; 
a transverse impression on the thorax; elytra finely punctured. On vege- 
tables. It is the largest of the European species. 
FAMILY VII. 
CLAVIPALPI. 
The Insects of our seventh and last family of the Tetramera are 
distinguished from all those of the same section, having, like them, 
the under part of the three first joints of the tarsi furnished with 
brushes and the penultimate bifid, by their antennas, which are ter- 
minated in a very distinct and perfoliated club, as well as by their 
maxillas, armed on the inner side by a nail or corneous tooth. In 
some few, the joints of the tarsi are entire, but they are removed 
from the other Tetramera with analogous tarsi by their body, which 
is almost globular and contracts into a ball. 
Their body is most commonly of a rounded form, and frequently 
even very convex and hemispherical; the antennae are shorter than 
the body, the mandibles emarginated or dentated at the extremity, 
and the palpi terminated by a large joint; the last joint of the max- 
illary palpi is very large, transversal, compressed, and almost lunate. 
The form of their organs of manducation shows them to be gnawers, 
and in fact the species indigenous to Europe are found in the Boleti 
which grow on the trunks of trees, under their bark, &c. 
Some have the penultimate joint of the tarsi bilobate, and do not 
contract themselves into a ball. 
They may be reunited in the single genus 
Erotylus, Fab. 
fn the Erotyli properly so called, the intermediate joints of the antennae are 
almost cylindrical, and the club, formed by the last ones, is oblong; the in- 
terior and corneous division of their maxillae is terminated by two teeth. COLEOPTERA. 
421 
They are peculiar to South America. 
In the fourth section of the Coleoptera, that of the Trimera, 
there are but three joints to all the tarsi. The Trimera form three 
families. Those of the two first are closely related to the last of 
the Tetramera. Their antennae, always composed of eleven joints, 
terminate in a club formed by the three last, which is compressed 
and in the form of a reversed cone or triangle. The first joint of 
the tarsi is always very distinct; the penultimate is usually bilobate, 
and the last, which presents a knot at base, is always terminated by 
two hooks. The elytra entirely cover the abdomen and are not 
truncated. 
FAMILY I. 
FUNGICOLJE. 
In our first family of this section we observe antennas longer than 
the head and thorax united, an oval body, and a trapezoidal thorax. 
The maxillary palpi are filiform or a little thicker at the end, but 
are terminated by a very large and securiform joint. The penulti- 
mate joint of the tarsi is always deeply bilobate. 
This family may be reduced to one great genus. 
Eumorphus, 
In the Eumorphi proper, the club of the antenna is abrupt, compact, 
strongly compressed, and in the form of a reversed triangle. The maxil- 
lary palpi are filiform, and the two last joints of the labials united form a 
triangular club. 
They are all peculiar to America and the East Indies. 
FAMILY II. 
APHIDIPHAGI. 
This family consists mostly of Insects which have an almost hem- 
ispherical body, and a very short, transversal, and almost lunate 
thorax. Their antennae terminate in a compressed and obconical 
club, composed by the three last joints, and are shorter than the 
thorax. The last joint of the maxillary palpi is very large and se- 422 
1NSECTA. 
curiform, and the penultimate joint of the tarsi is profoundly 
bilobate. 
In the other Trimera of the same family, the joints of the tarsi 
are simple, and the penultimate at least is slightly bifid, which, with 
some other characters, distinguishes these Insects from the Fun- 
gicola3. 
In Coccinella proper, the body is almost hemispherical, the thorax very 
short, almost lunate, the margin not recurved or but very slightly, and the 
penultimate joint of the tarsi profoundly bilobate. 
Various species of this genus are extremely common on the trees and 
plants of our gardens, and frequently in our houses; they are known by the 
names of Cow-bug, Lady-bug, &c. They feed on Aphides, their larvae, 
which in form and their metamorphoses greatly resemble those of the Chry- 
somelae, employing the same aliment. 
There, the body is much flattened, in the form of a shield, and the head 
is concealed under an almost semicircular thorax. The antenna: present 
distinctly but nine joints, and terminate in an elongated club. The joints 
of the tarsi are entire. The praesternum forms a sort of chin-cloth ante- 
riorly. Such are the characters of the genus 
COCCINELLA. 
They are found under the bark of trees, and under stones. 
Clyeeastek, Andersch. 
FAMILY III. 
PSELAPHII. 
These Insects, which constitute our third and last family of the 
Trimera, in their short and truncated elytra that only cover part of 
the abdomen, bear a certain resemblance to the Bachelytra, and 
particularly to the Aleocharae. This last part of their body, how- 
ever, is much shorter, wide, very obtuse and rounded posteriorly. 
The antennae, terminated by a club or thicker towards the extre- 
mity, sometimes consist of but six joints. The maxillary palpi are 
usually very large, and all the joints of the tarsi are entire; the first, 
much shorter than the following ones, is scarcely visible at the first 
glance, and the last is most commonly terminated by a simple hook. 
They are found on the ground under the debris of vegetable mat- 
ters: some inhabit certain ant-hills. 
Those which have eleven joints in the antennas form the genus COLEOPTERA. 
423 
In the last of the Pselaphii we observe this peculiarity—their antennx con- 
sist of but six joints, or even one. They form the genus 
Pselaphus, Herbst. 
Clavigek, 
Where the antennse consist of six distinct joints. These Insects have no 
apparent eyes. The maxillary palpi are very short, without distinct articu- 
lations, and with two terminal hooks. The two first joints of the tarsi are 
very short; the third and last is very long1, with a single hook at the 
extremity. 
These Pselaphii are found under stones in barren localities, and even in 
the hills of certain small, yellow Ants. 
ORDER VI. 
ORTHOPTERA (1) 
In the Insects of this order, we find the body generally less indu- 
rated than in the Coleoptera, and soft, semi-membranous elytra fur- 
nished with nervures, which, in the greater number, do not join at 
the suture in a straight line. Their wings are folded longitudinally, 
most frequently in the manner of a fan, and divided by membranous 
nervures running in the same direction. The maxillas are always 
terminated by a dentated and horny piece covered with a galea, an 
appendage corresponding to the exterior division of the maxillae of 
the Coleoptera. They have also a sort of tongue or epiglottis. 
The Orthoptera undergo a semi-metamorphosis, of which all the 
mutations are reduced to the growth and development of the elytra 
and wings, that are always visible in a rudimental state in the nymph. 
As both this nymph and the larva are otherwise exactly similar to 
the perfect Insect, they walk and feed in the same way. 
The mouth of the Orthoptera consists of a labrum, two mandi- 
bles, as many maxillae, and four palpi; those of the jaws always have 
five joints; whilst the labials, as in the Coleoptera, present but three. 
The mandibles are always very strong and corneous, and the ligula 
is constantly divided into two or four thongs. The form of the an- 
tennae varies less than in the Coleoptera, but they are usually com- 
(1) Straight-winged. 424 
INSECTA. 
posed of a greater number of joints. Several, besides their reticu- 
lated eyes, have two or three ocelli. The inferior surface of the 
first joints of the tarsi is frequently fleshy or membranous. Many 
females are furnished with a true perforator formed of two blades, 
frequently enclosed in a common envelope, by means of which they 
deposit their eggs. The posterior extremity of the body, in most of 
them, is provided with appendages. 
All thfi known Orthoptera, without exception, are terrestrial, 
even in their two first states of existence. Some are carnivorous 
or omniverous, but the greater number feed on living plants. 
We will divide the Orthoptera into two great families. 
In those which compose the first, all the legs are similar, and only 
adapted for running,—they are the Cursoria or runners. In those 
which constitute the second, the posterior pair of thighs are much 
larger than the others, thereby enabling them to leap. Beside this, 
the males produce a sharp or stridulous noise—they are the Salta- 
toria or jumpers. 
FAMILY I. 
CURSORIA. 
In this family the posterior legs, as well as the others, are solely 
adapted for running. Almost all these Insects have their elytra and 
wings laid horizontally on the body; the females are destitute of a 
corneous ovipositor. They form three genera: in the first or the 
Forficula, Lin. 
There are three joints in the tarsi; the wings are plaited like a fan, and 
folded transversely under very short and crustaceous elytra with a straight 
suture; the body is linear, with two large, squamous, mobile pieces, which 
form a forceps at its posterior extremity. 
These Insects are very common in cool and damp places, frequently 
collect in troops under stones and the bark of trees, are very injurious to 
our cultivated fruits, devour even their dead congeners, and defend them- 
selves with their pincers, which frequently vary in form, according to the 
sex. It has been thought that they insinuate themselves into the ear, and 
to this they owe their name of Ear-wigs. 
Blatta, Lin. 
Cockroaches have five joints lo all the tarsi. The wings are only plaited ORTHOPTERA. 
425 
longitudinally, the head is concealed under the plate of the thorax, and the 
body oval, orbicular and flattened. 
The Blattae are very active nocturnal Insects, some of which live in the 
interior of our houses, particularly the kitchen, in bake-houses and flour 
mills; the others inhabit the country. They are extremely voracious, and 
consume all sorts of provisions. 
Mantis, Lin. 
Here also we find five joints in all the tarsi, and wing's simply plaited lon- 
gitudinally; but the head is exposed and the body narrow and elongated. 
They also differ from the Blattae in their short palpi terminating in a 
point, and in their quadrifid ligula. 
These Insects, which are only found in southern and temperate climates, 
remain on plants or trees, frequently resemble their leaves and branches in 
the form and colour of the body, and are diurnal. Some of them are ra- 
pacious and others herbivorous. Their eggs are usually enclosed in a 
capsule formed of some gummy substance which hardens by exposure to 
the air, and divided internally into several cells; it is sometimes in the form 
of an oval shell, and at others in that of a seed, with ridges and angles, and 
even bristled with little spines. The female glues it on a plant or other 
body raised above the earth. 
M. religiosa, L. So called from the position to which it raises its anterior 
legs or arms, which resembles that of supplication. The Turks entertain a 
religious respect for this animal, and another species is held in still greater 
veneration by the Hottentots. 
In the others, the anterior legs resemble the following ones. The eyes 
are simple, very indistinct, or null; and the first segment of the trunk is 
shorter, or at most as long as the following one. 
These Insects have singular forms resembling twigs of trees or leaves. 
They appear to feed exclusively on vegetables, and like several Grylli are 
coloured like the plants on which they live. There is frequently a great 
difference between the sexes. 
They form the subgenus 
Which has been again divided into others. 
Spectrum, Stoll, 
FAMILY II. 
SALTATORIA. 
The posterior legs of the Insects which compose our second fa- 
mily of the Orthoptera, are remarkable for the largeness of their 
thighs, and for their spinous tibiae, which are adapted for saltation. 426 
INSECTA. 
The males summon their mates by a striduloua noise, vulgarly 
termed singing. This is sometimes produced by rapidly rubbing 
against its antagonist an interior and more membranous portion of 
each elytron which resembles a piece of talc. It is sometimes ex- 
cited by a similar motion of their posterior thighs upon the elytra 
and wings, acting like the bow of a violin. 
The greater number of the females deposit their eggs in the earth. 
This family is composed of the genus 
Grylltts, Lin. 
This great genus which formerly comprised the various Insects commonly 
termed here Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katy-dids, &c., is now divided into 
various genera and subgenera. Among the most noted of these we have 
Where the tibiae and tarsi of the two anterior legs are wide, flat and 
dentated, resembling hands, or are adapted for digging. The other tarsi are 
of the ordinary form, and terminated by two hooks; the antennae are more 
slender at the end, elongated and multiarticulated. 
G. vulgaris. (The Mole-Cricket). Length one inch and a half; brown 
above, reddish-yellow beneath; anterior tibiae with four teeth; wings double 
the length of the eyltra. This species is but too well known by the mis- 
chief it effects in gardens and cultivated grounds. It lives in the earth, 
where its two anterior legs, which act like a saw and shovel, or like those 
of a Mole, open a passage for it. It cuts and separates the roots of plants, 
but not so much for the purpose of eating them as to clear its road, for it 
feeds, as it appears, on Worms and Insects. The cry of the male, which is 
only heard at night, is soft and agreeable. 
In June and July, the female digs a rounded, smooth, subterranean cavity, 
about six inches in depth, in which she deposits from two to four hundred 
eggs; this nest, with the gallery that leads to it, resembles a bottle with a 
curved neck. The young remain together for some time. 
Gb.yli.o-Talp a, Lat. 
Acrydium proper. 
They fly by starts, and to a considerable height. The wings are fre- 
quently very prettily coloured, particularly with red and blue, as observed 
in several species that inhabit France. The thorax, in some of those that 
are foreign to Europe, frequently exhibits crests and large warts, in a word, 
a singular variety of forms. 
Certain species, called by travellers Migratory Loeusts{ 1), sometimes 
(1) The pupil must not allow himself to be deceived by names. This 
Insect is what we commonly call a Grasshopper. The Locust, so called in 
this country, is a totally different Insect, and belong to another order. See 
Hemiptera, genus Cicada or Telligonia. Am. Ed. 427 
unite in incaculable numbers and emigrate, resembling in their passage 
through the air, a thick and heavy cloud; wherever they alight all signs of 
vegetation quickly disappear, and a desert is speedily created. Their 
death frequently forms another scourge, as the air becomes poisoned by 
the frightful mass of their decomposing bodies. 
M. Miot, in his excellent translation of Herodotus, has given it as his 
opinion, that the heaps of bodies of winged Serpents which that historian 
states he saw in Egypt, were nothing more than masses of this species of 
Acrydium. In this I perfectly agree with him. 
These Insects are eaten in various parts of Africa, where the inhabitants 
collect them for their own use and for commerce. They take away their 
elytra and wings and preserve them in brine. 
A considerable part of Europe is frequently devastated by the 
A. migratorius. Length two inches and a half; usually green, with ob- 
scure spots; elytra light brown spotted with black; a low crest on the thorax. 
The eggs are enveloped in a frothy and glutinous flesh-coloured matter, 
forming a cocoon, which the Insect is said to glue to some plant. Common 
in Poland. 
The south of Europe, Barbary, Egypt, &c., are frequently devastated in 
like manner by other species, some of which are rather larger. 
ORTHOPTERA. 
ORDER VII. 
HEMIPTERA.(l) 
The Ileiniptera, according to our system, terminate the numerous 
division of Insects which are provided with elytra, and of all those, 
are the only ones which have neither mandibles nor maxilla? pro- 
perly so called. A tubular, articulated, cylindrical, or conical ap- 
pendage curved inferiorly, or directed along the pectus, having the 
appearance of a kind of rostrum, presents along its superior surface, 
when raised, a groove or canal from which may be protruded three 
rigid, scaly, extremely fine, arid pointed setae, covered at base by a 
ligula. These setae, when united, form a sucker resembling a sting, 
sheathed in the tubular apparatus we have just described, where it 
is kept in situ by the superior ligula placed at its base. The infe- 
rior seta consists of two filaments which are united into one at a 
(1) Half-winged, the Ryngota, Fab. 428 
INSECTA. 
little distance from their origin, so that in reality the sucker is com- 
posed of four pieces. 
The mouth of Hemipterous Insects is only adapted for extracting 
fluids by suction; the attenuated stylets of which the sucker is form- 
ed, pierce the vessels of plants and animals, and the nutritious fluid, 
being successively compressed, is forced into the internal canal, and 
thus arrives at the oesophagus. The sheath of this apparatus is at 
these times frequently bent into an angle, or becomes geniculate. 
These Insects, like other Suctoria, are furnished with salivary 
vessels. 
In most of the Insects which compose this order, the elytra are 
coriaceous or crustaceous, the posterior extremity being membran- 
ous and forming a sort of an appendage to them; they almost always 
decussate; those of the other Hemiptera are simply thicker and 
larger than the wings, semi-membranous, like the elytra of the Or- 
thoptera, and sometimes opaque and coloured, sometimes transparent 
and veined. There- are a few longitudinal plicas in the wings. 
Several have ocelli, of which, however, there are frequently but 
two. 
The Hemiptera exhibit the same forms and habits in their three 
states. The only change they experience consists in the develop- 
ment and growth of the volume of the body. 
I divide this order into two sections. 
In the first, that of the Heteroptera, Lat., the rostrum arises 
from the front; the elytra are membranous at the extremity, and the 
first segment of the trunk, much larger than the others, alone forms 
the thorax. The elytra and wings are always horizontal or slightly 
inclined. This section is composed of two families. 
FAMILY I. 
GEOCORISiE. 
In this family the antennas are exposed, longer than the head, and 
inserted between the eyes, near their internal margin. There are 
three joints in the tarsi, the first of which is sometimes very short. 
It forms the genus 
Cimex, Lin. 
This genus (an example of which may be found in our common Squash- HEMIPTERA. 
429 
bug) is now divided into forty or more subgenera. We all know but too 
well that of Cimex proper. 
In Cimex proper the body is very flat, but the antennae terminate ab- 
ruptly in the form of a seta. 
C■ lectularius, L. It is pretended that this Insect, vulgarly termed the 
Bed-bug, did not exist in England previous to the fire of London in 1666, 
and that it was transported thither in timber from America. With respect 
to the continent of Europe, however, we find that it is mentioned by 
Dioscorides. It has also been asserted that this species sometimes acquires 
wings. It likewises harasses young Pigeons, Swallows, &c.; but that which 
lives on these latter birds appears to me to be a different species. 
FAMILY II. 
HYDROCORISiE. 
In our second family of the Hemiptera, the antennae are inserted 
and concealed under the eyes; they are shorter than the head, or 
hardly as long. 
All these Insects are aquatic, carnivorous, and seize others with 
their anterior legs, which flex on themselves and act as pincers. 
They sting severely. 
Their tarsi present but one or two joints. Their eyes are in ge- 
neral remarkably large. 
Or the Aquatic Scorpions. This genus is now variously divided. In 
Nepa proper, the anterior tarsi have but one joint, and the four posterior 
ones two, and where the antenna appear forked. The rostrum is curved 
beneath; the coxa of the two anterior legs are short, and their thighs much 
wider than their other parts. 
Their body is narrow and elongated and almost elliptical. Their abdomen 
is terminated by two seta which enable them to respire in the oozy and 
aquatic localities at the bottom of which they live. Their eggs resemble the 
seed of a plant of an oval figure, crowned with a tuft of hairs. 
The other subgenera of t\\eNepides are Galgulus, Naucoris, Belostoma, &c. 
The others—-Notonectides—have their two anterior legs simply curved 
underneath, with thighs of an ordinary size, and the tarsi pointed and 
densely ciliated, or similar to those of the posterior ones. Their body is 
almost cylindrical or ovoid, and tolerably thick or less depressed than in the 
preceding Insects. Their posterior legs are densely ciliated, resemble oars, 
and are terminated by two very small and rather indistinct hooks. They 
Nepa, Lin. 430 
INSECTA. 
swim or row with great swiftness, and frequently while on their back. 
They compose the genus 
Notonecta, Lin. 
Which has been divided into Cohixa and Notonecta proper. 
The second section of the Hemiptera, that of the Homopteka, 
Lat., is distinguished from the preceding one by the following char- 
acters: the rostrum arises from the lowest portion of the head, near 
the pectus, or even from the interval between the two anterior legs: 
the elytra—almost always tectiform—are of the same consistence 
throughout and semimembranous, sometimes almost similar to the 
wings. The three segments of the trunk are united en masse, and 
the first is frequently shorter than the second. 
All the Insects of this section feed exclusively on vegetable juices. 
The females are provided with a scaly ovipositor, usually composed 
of three dentated blades, and lodged in a groove with two valves. 
They use it as a saw to produce openings in plants in which they 
deposit their eggs. The last Insects of this section experience a 
sort of complete metamorphosis. 
I will divide it into three families. 
FAMILY I. 
CICADARIiE. 
This family comprises those which have triarticulated tarsi, and 
usually very small, conical, or fusiform antennae, composed of from 
three to six joints, the extremely attenuated seta which terminates 
them included. The females are provided with a serrated ovi- 
positor. 
Some—Singers—have antennae composed of six joints, and three 
ocelli. 
These Insects, (our Locusts), of which the elytra are almost always trans- 
parent and veined, differ from the following ones, not only in the composi- 
tion of their antennae and the number of the ocelli, but in the absence of 
the faculty of leaping, and in the music of the males; which, in heat of 
summer, the epoch of their appearance, produce that loud and monotonous 
Cicada, Oliv.—Tettigonia, Fab. HEMIPTERA. 
431 
sound which has induced authors to designate them by the name of Canta- 
trices or Singers. 
The organs by which it is effected are situated on each side of the base 
of the abdomen; they are internal, and each one is covered by a cartilaginous 
plate, which closes like a shutter. The cavity which encloses this appa- 
ratus is divided into two cells by a squamous and triangular septum. When 
viewed from the side of the abdomen, each cell presents anteriorly a white 
and plaited membrane, and lower down, in the bottom, a tight, thin, trans- 
parent membrane, which Reaumur terms “ le mirior.” If this part of the 
body be opened above, another plaited membrane is seen on each side, 
which is moved by an extremely powerful muscle composed of numerous, 
straight, and parallel fibres, and arising from the squamous septum. This 
membrane is the tymbal. The muscles, by rapidly contracting and relax- 
ing, act on the tymbals, alternately tightening and restoring them to their 
original state. Such is the origin of these sounds, which can even be pro- 
duced after the death of the Insect, by jerking the muscle. 
The Cicadae live on trees or shrubs, of which they suck the juices. The 
female, by means of an ovipositor enclosed in a bilaminated, semitubular 
sheath, and composed of three narrow, elongated, squamous pieces, two of 
which terminate in the form of a file, pierces the dead twigs to the medulla, 
in which she deposits her eggs. As the number of the latter is considera- 
ble, she makes several holes, indicated externally by as many elevations. 
The young larvae however leave their asylum to penetrate into the earth, 
where they grow and experience their metamorphosis. Their anterior 
legs are short, have very stout thighs armed with teeth, and are adapted for 
digging. The Greeks ate the pupae, which they called Tettigometra, and 
even the perfect Insect. 
The C. orni, by wounding the tree from which its specific name is de- 
rived, produces that peculiar honey-like and purgative juice called manna. 
C. orni, L. About an inch long; yellowish; pale beneath, the same 
colour mixed with black above; margin of the abdominal segments, russet; 
two rows of blackish points on the elytra, those nearest their inner margin 
the smallest. South of France, Italy, &c. 
The other Cicadariae—Mutes—have but three distinct joints in 
the antennas, and two small ocelli. Their legs are usually adapted 
for leaping. Neither of the sexes is provided with organs of sound. 
The elytra are frequently coriaceous and opaque. Several fe- 
males envelope their eggs with a white substance resembling cotton. 
Some of them—Fulgorellsc—have the antennae inserted immediately un- 
der their eyes, and the front frequently prolonged in the form of a snout, 
the figure of which varies according to the species. By this we distinguish 
the genus 432 
INSECTA. 
Fulgora, Lin. Oliv. 
Now variously subdivided. 
In the last of the Cicadariae, the antennae are inserted between the eyes; 
they compose the genus 
ClCADELLA. 
Which is divided into Membracis, Tragopa, Darnis, &c. &c. 
FAMILY II. 
APHIDII. 
The second family of the homopterous Hemiptera, or the fourth 
of the order, is distinguished from the preceding one by the tarsi, 
which are composed of but two joints, and by the filiform or setace- 
ous antennas, which are longer than the head, and have from six to 
eleven joints. 
Those individuals which are winged always have two elytra and 
two wings. 
These Insects are very small; their body is usually soft, and their 
elytra are nearly similar to the wings, or only differ from them in 
being larger and somewhat thicker. They are astonishingly pro- 
lific. 
Here the antennae are composed of from ten to eleven joints, the last of 
which is terminated by two setae. 
They possess the faculty of leaping-, and form the genus 
Psylla, Geoff.—Chermes, Lin. 
These Hemiptera, also called pseudo-aphides, or faux-pucerons, live on the 
trees and plants from which they derive their nourishment; both sexes are 
furnished with wings. Their larvae usually have a very flat body, broad 
head, and the abdomen rounded posteriorly. Their legs are terminated by 
a little membranous vesicle accompanied beneath with two hooks. Four 
wide and flat pieces, which are the sheaths of the elytra and wings, 
distinguish the nymph. Several in this state, as well as in the first, are 
covered with a white substance resembling cotton, arranged in flakes. 
The remaining Aphidii have but six or eight joints in the antennas; 
the last is not terminated by two setas. 
Sometimes the elytra and wings are linear, fringed with hairs, and 
extended horizontally on the body, which is almost cylindrical; the HEMIPTERA 
433 
rostrum is very small or but little distinct. The tarsi are terminated 
by a vesicular joint without hooks. The antennae consist of eight 
graniform joints. Such are the Insects which form the genus 
Thrifs, Lin. 
They are extremely agile, and seem to leap rather than fly. When we irri- 
tate them beyond a certain point, they turn up the posterior extremity of 
their body in the manner of the Staphylini. They live on flowers, plants, 
and under the bark of trees. The largest species scarcely exceed one line 
in length. 
Sometimes the elytra and wings, oval or triangular, and without 
a fringe of hairs along the margin, are inclined or tectiform. The 
rostrum is very distinct. The tarsi are terminated by two hooks, 
and the antennae have but six or seven joints. Such is the genus 
Aphis, Lin. 
In Aphis properly so called, the antennae are longer than the thorax, and con- 
sist of seven joints, the third of which is elongated; the eyes are entire, 
and there are two horns or mammillae at the posterior extremity of the ab- 
domen. 
Almost all Aphides live in society on trees and plants, of which they 
suck the juices with their trunk. The two horns observed at the posterior 
extremity of the abdomen in a great number of species are hollow tubes 
from which little globules of a transparent, honey-like fluid frequently ex- 
ude, on which the Ant eagerly feeds. 
The wounds inflicted on the leaves or tender twigs of plants, by Aphides, 
cause those parts of the vegetable to assume a variety of forms, as may be 
observed on the shoots of the Lime tree, the leaves of Gooseberry bushes, 
Apple trees, and particularly those of the Elm, Poplar and Pistachio, in which 
they produce vesicles or excrescences enclosing colonies of Aphides, and 
frequently an abundant saccharine fluid. Most of these Insects are covered 
with a farinaceous substance, or cotton-like filaments, sometimes arranged 
in bundles. The larvx of the Hemerobii, those of several Diptera, and of 
Coccinellse, destroy immense numbers of Aphides. 
A. quercus, L. Brown; remarkable for its rostrum, which is at least 
thrice as long as the body. 
A. fagi, L. Completely covered with white down resembling cotton. 434 
INSECT A. 
FAMILY III. 
GALLINSECTA. 
In this last family there are but five joints in the tarsi, with a 
single hook at the extremity. The male is destitute of a rostrum, 
and has but two wings, which are laid horizontally on the body, 
one over the other; the abdomen is terminated by two setae. The 
female is apterous and provided with a rostrum. The antennae are 
filiform or setaceous, and most commonly composed of eleven 
joints. 
They constitute the genus 
Coccus, Lin. 
The bark of various trees is frequently covered with a multitude of little 
oval or rounded bodies, in the form of fixed shields or scales, in which, at 
the first glance, no external organs indicative of an Insect are perceptible. 
These bodies are nevertheless animals of this class and belong to the 
genus Coccus. Some are females, and the remainder young males, the 
form of both being nearly similar. An epoch, however, soon arrives in 
which all these individuals experience singular changes. They then be- 
come fixed; the male larvae for a determinate period, requisite for their 
ultimate metamorphosis, and the females for ever. If we observe the latter 
in the spring, we shall find that their body gradually increases to a great 
volume, and finally resembles a gall-nut, being sometimes spherical, and at 
others reniform or scaphoid. The skin of some is smooth and level, that 
of the remainder presents incisures or vestiges of segments. They slip 
their eggs between the skin of their abdomen, and a white down which 
covers the spot they occupy. Their body then becomes desiccated and 
forms a solid crust or shell which covers their ova. Other females protect 
theirs by enveloping them with a white substance resembling cotton. 
Those which are spherical form a sort of box for them with their body. 
The young Cocci have an oval body, much flattened and furnished with 
the same organs as that of the mother. They spread themselves over the 
leaves, and towards the end of autumn approach the branches, on which 
they place themselves to pass the winter. 
The Gallinsects appear to injure trees by a superabundant sudoresis 
through the punctures they make in them, and of course those who culti- 
vate the Peach, Orange, Fig and Olive are particularly on their guard against 
them. Certain species fix themselves to the roots of plants. Some are 
valuable for the rich red colour they furnish to the art of dyeing. Further 
researches on these Insects might eventuate in the discovery of others which 
would prove of similar utility. 435 
HEM1PTERA. 
C. cacti, L. (The Cochineal Insect.) Female of a deep brown, covered 
with white dust, flat beneath, convex above, and bordered; the annuli are 
tolerably distinct at first. The male is of a deep red, with white wing-s. 
This Insect is cultivated at Mexico, on a species of Opuntia, and is cele- 
brated for the crimson dye it furnishes, which, by being1 combined with 
the solution of tin in nitro-muriatic acid, produces a scarlet. It is also from 
this Insect that we obtain carmine. It is one of the richest productions of 
Mexico. 
ORDER VIII. 
NEUROPTERA(l). 
The Neuroptera are distinguished from the three preceding or- 
ders by their two upper wings, which are membranous, generally 
naked, diaphanous, and similar to the under ones, in texture and 
properties. They are distinguished from the eleventh and twelfth 
by the number of these organs, as well as by their mouth, fitted for 
mastication or furnished with mandibles and true maxillae, or in other 
words organized as usual, a character which also removes this order 
from the tenth or that of the Lepidoptera, where, besides, the four 
wings are farinaceous. The surface of these wings in the Neurop- 
tera is finely reticulated, and the under ones are most commonly as 
large as those above them, but sometimes wider, and sometimes nar- 
rower and longer. Their maxillae and the inferior portion of their 
labrum or the mentum are never tubular. The abdomen is destitute 
of a sting and rarely furnished with an ovipositor. 
Their antennae are usually setaceous, and composed of numerous 
joints. They have two or three ocelli. The trunk is formed of 
three segments, intimately united in a single body, distinct from the 
abdomen, and bearing the six legsj the first of these segments is 
usually very short, and in the form of a collar. The number of 
joints in the tarsi varies. The body is usually elongated, and with 
rather soft or but slightly squamous teguments; the abdomen is al- 
ways sessile. Many of these Insects are carnivorous in their first 
state and in their last. 
(1) Nerve-winged. 436 
Some merely experience a semimetamorphosis, the rest a com- 
plete one; but the larvae always have six hooked feet, which they 
usually employ in seeking their food. 
I will divide this order into three families, which will successively 
present to us the following natural affinities: 
1. Carnivorous Insects, subject to a semimetamorphosis, with 
aquatic larvae. 
2. Carnivorous Insects, subject to a complete metamorphosis, 
with aquatic or terrestrial larvae. 
3. Carnivorous or omnivorous terrestrial Insects, subject to a 
semimetamorphosis. 
4. Herbivorous Insects, subject to a complete metamorphosis, 
with aquatic larvae, which construct portable dwellings. 
We will end with those species in which the wings are the least 
reticulated, and which resemble Phalaena or Tineites. 
INSECTA. 
FAMILY I. 
SUBULICORNES, Lat(l). 
The antennas are subulate, and hardly longer than the head; they 
are composed of seven joints at most, the last of which is setaceous. 
The mandibles and the maxillae are completely covered by the lab- 
rum and labium, or by the anterior and projecting extremity of the 
head. 
The wings are always reticulated and distant, sometimes laid ho- 
rizontally and sometimes placed perpendicularly; the inferior are as 
large as the superior, or sometimes very small and even wanting. 
The ordinary eyes are very large and prominent in all of them; and 
they .all have two or three ocelli situated between the former. The 
two first periods of their life are passed in the bosom of the waters, 
where they prey on living animals. 
The lame and pupa; which approximate in form to the perfect 
Insect, respire by means of peculiar organs situated on the sides or 
extremity of the abdomen. They issue from the water to undergo 
their ultimate metamorphosis. 
(.1) Awl-shaped horns. NEUROPTEHA. 
437 
In some the mandibles and maxillae are corneous, very strong, and cover- 
ed by the two lips; the tarsi are triarticulated; the wings areequal, and the 
posterior extremity of the abdomen is simply terminated by hooks or lami- 
niform or foliaceous appendages. They form the genus 
Libellula, Lin. Geoff. 
Or Dragon Flies. The light and graceful figure of these Insects, the beau- 
tiful and variegated colours with which they are adorned, their large wings 
resembling lustrous gauze, and the velocity with which they pursue the 
Flies, &c., that constitute their food, attract our attention and enable us to 
recognize them with facility. Their head is large, rounded, or in the form 
of a broad triangle. They have two great lateral eyes and three ocelli situ- 
ated on the vertex; two antennae, &c. The female deposits her eggs in the 
water. 
The larvae and the chrysalides inhabit the water until the period of their 
ultimate metamorphosis, and, with the exception of wings, are tolerably 
similar to the perfect Insect. Their head, however, on which the simple 
eyes are not perceptible, is remarkable for the singular form of the piece 
which replaces the lower lip. It is a kind of mask that covers the mandi- 
bles, maxillae, and almost the whole under part of the head. 
Having attained the period of their ultimate metamorphosis, the nymphs 
issue from the water, climb along the stems of plants, fix there, and divest 
themselves of their skin. 
Libelluea, Fab. 
Or Libellula proper, where the wings are extended horizontally when 
at rest. The head is almost globular, with very large, contiguous or closely 
approximated eyes, and a vesicular elevation on the vertex, with an ocellus 
on each side; the other or anterior ocellus is much larger. 
iEsHNA, Fab. 
The JEshnae resemble the Libellulae proper in their mode of bearing their 
wings, and in the form of their head, but their two posterior ocelli are 
placed on a simple transverse elevation in the form of a carina. The in- 
termediate lobe of the labium is also larger, and the two others are distant 
and armed with a very stout tooth and spiniform appendage. The abdo- 
men is always narrow and elongated. 
The abdomen is terminated by five appendages, but one of them is trun- 
cated at the end. 
JE. grandis. One of the largest species of this family, being nearly two 
inches and a half (French) in length; fulvous-brown; two yellow lines on 
each side of the thorax; abdomen spotted with green or yellowish; wings 
iridescent. . It darts with amazing rapidity over meadows, and along the 
shores of rivers, &c., pursuing Flies in the manner of the Swallow. 438 
INSECTA. 
Where the wings are elevated perpendicularly when at rest, the head is 
transversal, and the eyes are distant. 
The other Subulicornes have an entirely membranous or very soft mouth, 
composed of parts that are rather indistinct. Their tarsi consist of five 
joints; their inferior wings are much smaller than the superior, or even 
wanting, and their abdomen is terminated by two or three setae. 
They form the genus 
Agrion, Fab. 
Ephemera, Lin. 
So called from their short term of life, in their perfect state. Their body 
is extremely soft, long1, tapering1, and terminated posteriorly by two or three 
long and articulated setae. The antennae are very small and composed of 
three joints, the last of which is very long, and in the form of a conical 
thread. The wings of those Insects are always placed perpendicularly, or 
slightly inclined posteriorly, like those of an Agrion. 
The Ephemera usually appear at sun-set, in fine weather, in summer and 
autumn, along the banks of rivers, lakes, &c., and sometimes in such in- 
numerable hosts that after their death the surface of the ground is thickly 
covered with their bodies; in certain districts cart-loads of them are collected 
for manure. The descent of a particular species—the albipennis—re- 
markable for the shortness of its wings, recals to our minds a heavy fall of 
snow. 
These Insects (our May-Flies) collect in flocks in the air, flitting about 
and balancing themselves in the manner of the Tipulas, with the terminal 
filaments of their tail divergent. 
The continuation of their species is the only function these animals have 
to fulfil, for they take no nourishment, and frequently die on the day of 
their metamorphosis, or even within a few hours after that event. Those 
which fall into the water become food for Fishes, and are styled manna by 
fishermen. 
If however we trace them back to that period in which they existed as 
larvae, we find their career to be much longer, extending from two to three 
years. In this state, as well as that of seminymphs, they live in water, fre- 
quently concealed, at least during the day, in the mud or under stones, 
sometimes in horizontal holes divided interiorly into two united canals, each 
with its proper opening. These habitations are always excavated in clay, 
bathed by water, which occupies its cavities; it is even supposed that the 
larvae feed on this earth. 
The seminymph only differs from the larva in the presence of the cases 
which enclose the wings. When the moment of their development has ar- 
rived, it leaves the water, and having changed its skin, appears under a new 
form—but, by a very singular exception, it has still to experience a second 
change of tegument. 
The ultimate exuvium of these Insects is frequently found on trees and 439 
walls; they sometimes even leave them on the clothes of persons who may 
be walking in their vicinity. 
NEUROPTERA. 
FAMILY II. 
PLANIPENNES. (1) 
This family comprises those Neuroptera in which the antennae, 
always multiarticulated, are much longer than the head, without 
being subulate or styliform. Their mandibles are very distinct; 
their inferior wings almost equal to the superior ones, and extended 
or simply folded underneath at their anterior margin. 
Their wings are almost always much reticulated and naked; their 
maxillary palpi are usually filiform or somewhat thicker at the ex- 
tremity, shorter than the head, and composed of from four to five 
joints. 
I will divide this family into five sections, which, by reason of 
the habits of the Insects that compose them, form as many small 
sub-families. 
1. The ofLatreille, which have five joints to all the 
tarsi, and the anterior extremity of their head prolonged and nar- 
rowed in the form of a rostrum or proboscis. 
They constitute the genus 
Panorpa, Lin. Fab. 
Where the antenna are setaceous and inserted between the eyes; the cly- 
peus is prolonged into a conical, corneous lamina, arched above to cover 
the mouth; and the mandibles, maxilla and labium are almost linear. They 
have from four to six short, filiform palpi. 
Their body is elongated, the head vertical, the first segment of the trunk 
usually very small, in the form of a collar, and the abdomen conical or al- 
most cylindrical. 
There is much difference between the two sexes in several species. 
Their metamorphoses have not yet been observed. 
P. communis, L. From seven to eight lines in length; black; rostrum 
and extremity of the abdomen russet; wings spotted with black.—On 
hedges and in woods. 
2. The Myrmeleonides, which also have five joints in the tarsi, 
(1) Flat-winged. 440 
1NSECTA. 
but their head is not prolonged anteriorly in the form of a rostrum 
or snout; their antennaj gradually enlarge or have a globuliform 
termination. 
Their head is transverse, vertical, and merely presents the ordi- 
nary eyes, which are round and prominent; there are six palpi, those 
of the labium usually longer than the others, and inflated at the ex- 
tremity. The palate of the mouth is elevated in the form of an 
epiglottis; the first segment of the thorax is small; the wings are 
equal, elongated, and tectiform; the abdomen is most frequently 
long and cylindrical, with two salient appendages at its extremity 
in the males. The legs are short. 
They are found in the warm localities of the southern countries, 
clinging to plants, where they remain quiescent during the day. 
Most of them fly well. The nymph is inactive. 
These insects form the genus 
Myrmeleon, Lin. 
In Myrmeleon proper, the antennae enlarge insensibly, are almost fusiform, 
are hooked at the extremity, and much shorter than the boby; the abdomen 
is long and linear. 
M. formicarium, L. About an inch long; blackish spotted with yellow- 
ish; wings diaphanous, with black nervures picked in with white; some 
obscure spots, and one whitish, near the extremity of the anterior margin. 
The number of Ants destroyed by the larva of this species, which is the 
most common one in Europe, has obtained for it the name of Formica-leo, 
Lion-ant, or Fourmilion. Its abdomen is extremely voluminous in compa- 
rison to the rest of the body. Its head is very small, flattened, and armed 
with two long mandibles in the form of horns, dentated on the inner side 
and pointed at the extremity, which act at once as pincers and suckers. 
Its body is greyish or of the colour of the sand in which it lives. Although 
provided with six feet, it moves very slowly and almost always backwarks. 
Thus, not being able to seize its prey by the celerity of its motions, it has 
recourse to stratagem; and lays a trap for it in a funnel-shaped cavity which 
it excavates in the finest sand, at the foot of a tree, old walls, or acclivities 
exposed to the south. It arrives at the intended scene of its operations by 
forming a ditch, and traces the area of the funnel, the size of which is in 
proportion to its growth. Then, always moving backwards, and describing 
as it goes, spiral convolutions, the diameter of which progressively dimin- 
ishes, it loads its head with sand by means of one of its anterior feet, and 
jerks it to a distance. In this manner, and sometimes in the space of half 
an hour, it will remove a reversed cone of sand the base of which is equal 
in diameter to that of the area, and the height to about three-fourths of the 
same. Hidden and quiescent at the bottom of its retreat, with nothing visi- NEUROPTERA. 
441 
ble but its mandibles, it awaits with patience till an Insect is precipitated 
into it; if it endeavour to escape, or be at too great a distance for it to seize, 
it showers upon it such a torrent of sand by means of its head and mandi- 
bles, as propels it stunned and defenceless to the bottom of the hole. 
Having exhausted its juices by suction, it jerks away the carcass. 
"When about to pass into the state of a chrysalis, it encloses itself in a 
perfectly round cocoon, formed of a silky substance of the colour of satin, 
which it covers externally with grains of sand. , 
There is a genus separated from it by Fabricius called Jlscalaphus. 
3. The Hemerobiki of Latreille, which are similar to the Myr- 
meleonides in the general form oi l»eir body and wings; but their 
antennae are filiform, and they have but four palpi. 
They form the genus 
The body of the true Hemerobiiis soft, and the globular eyes are frequently 
ornamented with metallic colours; the wings are large, and their exterior 
border is widened. They fly slowly and heavily; several diffuse a strong 
odour, with which the finger that has touched them remains for a long 
time impregnated. 
The female deposits ten or twelve eggs on leaves; they are oval, white, 
and secured by a very long and capillary pedicle. Some authors have 
mistaken them for a species of mushroom. The larvae bear a considerable 
resemblance to those of the preceding division; they are, however, more 
elongated and errant. Reaumur calls them Lions des Pucerons, because 
they feed on Aphides. They seize them with their horn-like mandibles, 
and soon exhaust them by suction. Some form a thick case for themselves 
of their remains, which gives them a very singular appearance. The 
nymph is enclosed in a silken cocoon of an extremely close tissue, the 
volume of which is very small when compared with that of the Insect. The 
fusi of the larva: are situated at the posterior extremity of the abdomen, like 
those of the larva: of the Mynneleonides. 
H. perla, L. Green-yellow; eyes golden; wings transparent with entirely 
green nervures. 
Hemerobius, Lin. Fab. 
In others the first segment of the thorax is large, and the wings 
are laid horizontally on the body; the palpi are filiform, and the last 
joint is conical or almost cylindrical, and frequently shorter than the 
preceding one. The larvae are aquatic. They form the genus 
Semblis, Fab. 
Which is composed of three subgenera, viz. Corydalis, Chauliodes, and 
Sialis. 442 
INSECTA. 
4. A fourth division, that of the Termitinje, will comprise Neu- 
roptera subject to a semi-metamorphosis. They are all terrestrial, 
active, carnivorous, or gnawers, in all their states. With the ex- 
ception of the Mantispae, very distinct from all the Insects of this 
order, by the form of their anterior legs, which resemble those of a 
Mantis, the tarsi consist of four joints at most, which removes them 
from the preceding genera of the same family. The mandibles are 
always corneous and strong. The inferior wings are nearly as large 
as the superior ones, and without folds, or smaller. 
Mantispa, Illig. 
Where there are five joints to all the tarsi, and the two first legs are 
formed like those of a Mantis or adapted for prehension. The antennx of 
these Insects are very short and granose, and their eyes large. The pro- 
thorax is very long, and thickened anteriorly, and the wings are tectiform. 
Where the tarsi are composed of four joints and the wings are tectiform. 
The head is elongated and narrowed posteriorly, the thorax long, narrow, 
and almost cylindrical. The abdomen of the female terminates by a long 
external oviduct, formed of two laminae. 
Rfiaphidia, Lin. Fab. 
Termes, Hemerobius, Lin. 
Where all the tarsi are likewise composed of four joints; but the wings are 
very long, and laid horizontally on the body; the head is rounded, and the 
thorax almost square or semicircular. 
The body of these Insects is depressed, and their antennae are short and 
formed like a chaplet. The mouth is almost similar to that of the Orthoptera, 
and the labium is quadrifid. They have three ocelli, one of which, on the 
forehead, is indistinct; the two others are situated, one on each side, near the 
inner margin of the ordinary eyes. Their wings are commonly somewhat 
diaphanous, coloured, furnished with extremely fine and crowded nervures, 
and not very distinctly reticulated. Their abdomen has two small, conical, 
biarticulated points at the extremity; the legs are short. 
The Termites, peculiar to the countries situated between the tropics, or 
to those which are adjacent, are known by the name of White Ants, Poux 
de bois, Caria, &c. The appalling destruction caused by these Insects, 
particularly in the state of larvae, in those parts of the world, is but too 
well known. These larvae, the working Termites or labourers, bear a close 
resemblance to the perfect Insect; but their body is softer and apterous, 
and their head, which appears proportionally larger, is usually destitute of 
eyes, or has but very small ones. They live in society, and form communi- 
ties, so numerous as to defy all calculation, which live under cover in the 
ground, trees, and all sort of ligneous articles, such as tables, chairs, furni- NEUROPTERA. 
443 
ture of all kinds, and the planks, timbers, &c. &c. which form parts of houses. 
There they excavate galleries, which form so many roads, all leading to the 
centre of their domicil, and these bodies thus mined, and retaining nothing 
but a superficial bark or covering, coon crumble into dust. If compelled 
by any insurmountable obstacle to leave their dwellings, they construct 
tubes or ways which still keep them from sight. The nests or domicils of 
several species are exterior, but have no visible opening. Sometimes they 
are raised above the surface of the ground, in the form of pyramids or tur- 
rets, occasionally surmounted with a capital or very solid roof, which, by 
their height and number, resemble a little village. Sometimes they form 
a large globular mass on the branches of trees. Another sort of individuals, 
the neuters, also called soldiers, defend the domicil. They are distinguished 
by their stouter and more elongated head, the mandibles of which are 
also longer, narrower and considerably crossed. They are much less nu- 
merous than the others, and remain near the surface of the habitation, are 
the first that present themselves in case of an attack, and pinch with con- 
siderable strength. It is also said that they force the labourers to work. 
The seminymphs have rudiments of wings, and in other respects resemble 
the larvae. 
Having become perfect Insects, the Termites leave their original retreat, 
and fly off" at evening or during the night in incalculable numbers. At 
sunrise, they lose their wings, which are dried up, fall to the ground, and 
are mostly devoured by Birds, Lizards, and the rest of their enemies. 
In the remaining Termetinse the tarsi are biarticulated, and the labial 
palpi indistinct and very short. The antennae consist of about ten joints, 
the first segment of the trunk is very small, and the inferior wings are 
smaller than the others. They form the genus 
Psocus, Lai. Fab. 
And are very small Insects with a short and extremely soft body that 13 
frequently inflated, or as if hump-backed. Their head is large, their an- 
tenna: setaceous, and the maxillary palpi salient. Their wings are tecti- 
form and but slightly reticulated or simply veined. They are extremely 
active, and live under the bark of trees, in wood, &c. The following spe- 
cies is commonly found in books and collections of Insects and plants. 
P.pulsatorius. Usually apterous; yellowish white; eyes and some small 
spots on the abdomen, russet. It was thought to produce that faint noise 
resembling the tick of a watch frequently heard in our houses, and of which 
we have spoken while on the genus Anobium—thence the origin of its spe- 
cific name. 
5. The Perlides, in which the tarsi are triarticulated, and the 
mandibles almost always partly membranous and small. The infe- 
rior wings are wider than the others, and doubled at their inner 
margin. 444 
1NSECTA. 
They comprise the genus 
Their body is elongated, narrow and flattened; the head is tolerably large, 
the antennas are setaceous, and the maxillary palpi very salient. The first 
segment of their trunk is nearly square, and the wings are crossed and laid 
horizontally on the body; the abdomen terminates as usual by two articu- 
lated setas. 
Their larvae are aquatic and inhabit sheaths or cases, which they construct 
in the manner of those formed by the Insects of the ensuing family, and in 
which they pass into the state of nymphs. 
Pkrla, Geoff. 
FAMILY III. 
PLICIPENNES(l). 
In this family the mandibles are wanting, and the inferior wings 
are usually wider than the others, and plaited longitudinally. It is 
formed of the genus 
These Neuroptera at a first glance, have the appearance of little Phalac- 
na;, and hence the name of Mouchcs papillonacees or papilionaceous flies, 
bestowed upon them by Reaumur. The body is most frequently bristled 
with hairs, and, with the wings, forms an elongated triangle, like several of 
the Noctuae and Pyrales. The first segment of the thorax is small. The 
wings are simply veined, usually coloured, or almost opaque, silky or pilose 
in several, and always strongly tectiform. The legs are elongated, are 
furnished with small spines and have five joints in all the tarsi. 
These Insects chiefly fly at night or during the evening, diffuse a disa- 
greeable odour, frequently penetrate into houses, where they are attracted 
by the light, and are extremely quick and agile in all their motions. The 
smaller species flit about in flocks over ponds and rivers. 
Their larvae, always, like the Tineae, inhabit tubes that are usually cylin- 
drical, covered with various substances which they find in the water, such 
as blades of grass, bits of reeds, leaves, roots, seeds, grains of sand, and 
even little shells, and frequently arranged symmetrically. They connect 
these various bodies with silken threads, the source of which is contained 
in internal reservoirs similar to those of Caterpillars, and that are also pro- 
duced by fusi situated in the lip. The interior of the habitation forms a 
tube which is open at both ends for the intromission of water. The larva 
PmiYGANEA, Lin. Fab. 
(1) Folded-wings. 445 
NEUROPTERA 
always transports its domicil along with it, protrudes the anterior extremity 
of its body while progressing, never quits its dwelling, and when found to 
do so, returns to it voluntarily when left within its reach. 
When about to become nymphs, they fix their tubes to different bodies, 
but always in water, and close the two orifices with a grating, the form 
of which, as well as that of the tube itself, varies according to the species. 
In fixing their portable dwelling, they so manage it that the aperture, 
which is at the point d’appui, is never obstructed. 
The nymph is furnished anteriorly with two hooks, which cross each 
other and somewhat resemble a rostrum or snout. With it, when the pe- 
riod of its last metamorphosis has arrived, it perforates one of the grated 
septa in order to procure egress. 
Hitherto immovable, it now walks or swims with agility, by means of its 
four anterior feet, which are free, and furnished with thick fringes of hairs. 
The nymphs of the large species leave the water altogether, and climb on 
various bodies, where their final change is effected. The small ones 
simply rise to the surface, where they are transformed to winged Insects, in 
the manner of the Culices and various Tipularix; their exuvium serves them 
for a boat. 
There are several sub genera. 
ORDER IX. 
HYMENOPTERA(l). 
In this family we still find four membranous and naked wings, and 
a mouth composed of mandibles, maxillae and two lips; but these 
wings, of which the superior are always largest, have fewer ner- 
vures than those of the Neuroptera, and are not veined; the abdo- 
men of the females is terminated by an ovipositor or sting. 
Besides their compound eyes they are all provided with three 
ocelli. Their antennae vary, not only according to the genus, but 
even in the sexes of the same species; generally, however, they are 
filiform or setaceous. The maxillae and labium are usually narrow, 
elongated, and fixed in a deep cavity of the head by long muscles, 
form a semitube inferiorly, are frequently folded up at their extre- 
mity, and better adapted for the transmission of nutritious fluids than 
for mastication; in several they form a proboscis. The ligula is 
(1) Membrane-winged. 446 
INSECTA. 
membranous, either widened at its extremity, or long and filiform, 
having the pharynx at its anterior base, and being frequently covered 
by a sort of sub-labrum or epipharynx. They have four palpi, two 
maxillary and two labial. The thorax consists of three united seg- 
ments, of which the anterior is very short and the two last are con- 
founded in one. The wings are laid horizontally on the body. The 
abdomen is most commonly suspended by a little thread or pedicle 
to the posterior extremity of the thorax. The tarsi consist of five 
entire joints, none of them being divided. The ovipositor and sting 
are generally composed of three long and slender pieces, two of 
which serve as a sheath to the third in those which are provided 
with an ovipositor, and one alone, the superior, has a groove under- 
neath for lodging the two others. In those where this ovipositor is 
transformed into a sting, this offensive weapon and the oviduct are 
serrated at the extremity. 
The Hymenoptera undergo a complete metamorphosis. Most 
of their larvae resemble worms and are destitute of feet; such, for 
instance, are those of our second and following families. Those of 
the first have six hooked feet, and frequently from twelve to sixteen 
others that are simply membranous. These latter have been named 
pseudo-caterpillars. Both kinds have a squamous head provided 
with mandibles, maxillas, and a lip; at the extremity of the latter is 
a fusus for the transmission of the silky material that is to be em- 
ployed in constructing the cocoon of the nymph. 
Some feed on vegetable substances, while others, always destitute 
of feet, devour the carcases of Insects, together with their larvae, 
nymphs, and even eggs. 
To remedy their want of locomotive powers, the mother furnishes 
them with provisions, sometimes by transporting aliment into the 
nests she has prepared for them, which are frequently constructed 
with so much art as to excite our wonder and surprise, and some- 
times by depositing her eggs in the body of the larvae and nymphs 
of Insects, on which her progeny are to feed. 
Other larvae of Hymenoptera, also destitute of feet, require more 
elaborated and frequently renewed supplies of aliment, both vegeta- 
ble and animal. These are reared in common by neuters forming 
communities, of which they have the sole care; their labours and 
mode of life will always continue to excite our admiration and as- 
tonishment. HYMENOPTERA. 
447 
Almost all Hymenopterous Insects, in their perfect state, live on 
flowers, and are usually most abundant in southern climates. Their 
period of life, from their birth to their ultimate metamorphosis, is 
limited to a year. 
I will divide this order into two sections. 
The first, or that of the Terebrantia, is characterized by the 
presence of an ovipositor in the females. 
I divide this section into two great families. 
FAMILY I. 
SECURIFERA(l). 
Our first family is distinguished from the following ones by a sess- 
ile abdomen, or the base of which is joined to the thorax throughout 
its whole thickness, that seems to be a continuation of it, and to have 
no separate motion. 
The females are provided with an ovipositor that is most com- 
monly serrated, and which not only enables them to deposit their 
eggs, but likewise to prepare a place for their reception. The 
larvae always have six squamous feet, and frequently others that are 
membranous. 
This family is composed of two tribes. 
In the first, that of the vulgarly termed Saw- 
jlies, we observe elongated and compressed mandibles; a trifid or 
sort of digitated ligula; an ovipositor formed of two serrated, point- 
ed blades, united and lodged in a groove under the anus. The 
maxillary palpi are all composed of six joints, and the labials of 
four; the latter are always the shortest. The wings are always di- 
vided into numerous cells. This tribe forms the genus 
Tenthredo, Lin. 
The cylindrical abdomen of these Insects which is rounded posteriorly, 
composed of nine annuli, and so closely joined to the thorax that the two 
seem to be continuous; the ragged appearance of their wings; the two little 
rounded, granular, and usually coloured bodies situated behind the scutel- 
lum, together with their heavy port, cause them to be easily recognized. 
The abdomen of the female presents at its inferior extremity a double, 
(1) Hatchet bearers. 448 
INSECTA. 
movable, squamous ovipositor that is serrated, pointed, and lodged between 
two concave laminae, forming its sheath or case. 
It is by the alternate action of the teeth of this ovipositor, that the In- 
sect makes a number of little holes in the branches, and various other parts 
of trees and plants, in each of which it first deposits an egg, and then a 
foaming liquid, the use of which, it is presumed, is to prevent the aperture 
from closing. The wounds made in this way become more and more con- 
vex by the increasing size of the egg. Sometimes these excrescences 
assume the form of a gall-nut, either ligneous or soft and pulpy, or resemble 
a little fruit, according to the nature of the parts of the plant that are affect- 
ed by them. These tumours then form the domicil of the larvae which in- 
habit them either solitarily or in society. There they undergo their meta- 
morphosis, and issue from them through a circular opening made in their 
parietes by the teeth of the Insect. Generally speaking, however, these 
larvx live exposed on the leaves of the trees and plants on which they feed. 
T. scrophularise, L. Five lines in length; black; antennae fulvous and 
somewhat thickest at the extremity; annuli of the abdomen, the second and 
third excepted, margined posteriorly with yellow; tibiae and tarsi fulvous. 
It resembles a Wasp. 
The larva has twenty-two feet; white, with black head and points. It 
feeds on the leaves of the Scrophularise. 
There are various subgenera belonging to this tribe, such as Cimbex, 
Hylotoma, &c. 
The second tribe, that of the Urocekata, Lat., is distinguished 
from the preceding one by the following characters: the mandibles 
are short and thick; the ligula is entire; the ovipositor of the females 
is sometimes very salient and composed of three threads, and some- 
times capillary and spirally convoluted in the interior of the ab- 
domen. 
This tribe is composed of the genus 
Sirex, Lin. 
The antennae are filiform or setaceous, vibratile, and formed by from ten 
to twenty-five joints. The head is rounded and almost globular; thelabrum 
very small; the maxillary palpi are filiform with from two to five joints, and 
the labials with three, the last of which is the thickest. The body is almost 
cylindrical. The anterior or posterior tarsi, and in several the colour of 
the abdomen, differ according to the sex. The female deposits her eggs 
in old trees, most commonly in Pines. Her ovipositor is lodged at base 
between two valves, forming a groove. 
In Sirex proper, the antennae are inserted near the front and consist of 
from thirteen to twenty-five joints. The extremity of the last segment of 
the abdomen is prolonged into a sort of tailor horn, and the ovipositor is 
salient and formed of three filaments. These Insects, which are tolerably large, more particularly inhabit the 
Pine forests of cold and mountainous countries, produce in flying a hum- 
ming like that of a Bombus, &c., and in certain seasons have appeared in 
such numbers as to strike the people with terror. 
HYMENOPTERA. 
449 
FAMILY II. 
PUPIVORA(l). 
In the second family of the Hymenoptera we find the abdomen 
attached to the thorax by a simple portion of its transversal diame- 
ter, and even most frequently by a very small thread or pedicle, in 
such a manner that its insertion is very distinct, and that it moves 
on that part of the body. The females are provided with an ovi- 
positor. 
The larvae are destitute of feet and mostly parasitical and carni- 
vorous. 
I divide this family into six tribes. 
In the first, that of the Evaniaees, Lat., the wings are veined, 
and the superior ones, at least, are lobatej the antennae filiform or 
setaceous, and composed of thirteen or fourteen joints; the mandi- 
bles dentated on the inner side; the maxillary palpi composed of six 
joints, and the labials of four. The abdomen is implanted on the 
thorax, in several under the scutellum, and has an ovipositor usually 
salient and formed of three filaments. 
This tribe appears to form but the single genus 
Fcbnus. 
Sometimes the ovipositor is concealed, or but very slightly salient, and 
resembles a little sting. The ligula is trifid, a character which approximates 
these Insects to the preceding Hymenoptera. 
In the second tribe, that of the Ichneumonides, the wings are 
also veined, the superior ones always presenting complete or closed 
cells in their disk. The abdomen originates between the two pos- 
terior legs. The antennae are generally filiform or setaceous, rarely 
clavate, vibratile, and multiarticulated, being composed of sixteen 
joints at least. In most of them the mandibles have no tooth on the 
(1) Pup*e-ea£ers. 450 
INSECTA. 
inner side, and terminate in a bifid point. The maxillary palpi, 
always apparent or salient, consist most commonly of but five joints. 
The ovipositor is formed of three threads. 
This tribe embraces almost the whole genus 
These Insects destroy the posterity of the Lepidoptera, so noxious to the 
agriculturalist under the form of caterpillars, just as the quadruped so call- 
ed is said to destroy that of the Crocodile by breaking its eggs, and even 
by introducing itself into the body of the animal in order to devour its en- 
trails. 
Some authors have called them Mouches tripiles, on account of the three 
seta: which compose their ovipositor, and Mouches vibrantes, because their 
antennae are continually vibrating. These organs are frequently curled 
(contournees), and have a white or yellowish annular spot in the middle. 
The body is most frequently narrow and elongated or linear, with the ovi- 
positor sometimes exterior and resembling a tail, and sometimes very short 
and concealed in the interior of the abdomen, which then terminates in a 
point, whilst in those whei'e the ovipositor is salient, it is thicker, and as if 
clavate and truncated posteriorly. Of the three pieces which compose this 
instrument the intermediate is the only one that penetrates into the bodies in 
which these Insects deposit their eggs* its extremity is flattened, and some- 
times resembles the nib of a pen. 
The females, anxious to lay, are continually flying or walking about, in 
order to discover the larva:, nymphs, and eggs of Insects, and even Spiders, 
Aphides, &c., destined to receive their ova, and when hatched, to sustain 
their offspring. In this search they exhibit a wonderful degree of instinct, 
which reveals to them the most secret retreats of its objects. Those which 
are provided with a long ovipositor deposit the germs of their race in the 
fissures or holes of trees, or under their bark. In this operation the ovi- 
positor proper is introduced almost perpendicularly, and is completely dis- 
engaged from its semi-scabbards, which remain parallel to each other, and 
supported in the air, in the line of the body. Those females in which the 
ovipositor is very short, and but slightly or not at all apparent, deposit their 
ova in the body of larva:, caterpillars, and nymphs, which are exposed or 
very accessible. 
The larvae of the Ichneumonides, like all the others of the succeeding 
families, are destitute of feet. Those which, in the manner of intestinal 
worms, inhabit the bodies of larvae or caterpillars, where they sometimes 
form communities, only attack the adipose substance—corps graisseux—or 
such of the internal parts as are not necessary to their existence. When 
about to become nymphs, however, they perforate their skin in order to 
Ichneumon, Lin.(l) 
(1) This genus comprises upwards of twelve hundred species, and its study 
is extremely difficult. IIYMENOPTEHA. 
451 
open a passage, or put them to death, and there tranquilly undergo their 
ultimate metamorphosis. Such also are the habits of those which feed on 
nymphs or chrysalides. Nearly all of them spin a silken cocoon, in which 
they become nymphs. These cocoons are sometimes agglomerated, either 
naked, or enveloped in a sort of tow or cotton, in an oval mass, frequently 
found attached to the stems of plants. The symmetrical arrangement of 
the cocoons of one species forms an alveolar body, resembling the honey- 
comb of our domestic Bee. The silk of these cocoons is sometimes of a 
uniform yellow or white, and sometimes mixed with black or filaments of 
two colours. Those of some species are suspended to a leaf or twig, by 
means of a long thread. 
There are various subgenera belonging to this tribe. 
In the second tribe, the we find but a single nervure 
in the inferior wings. The antennae are of equal thickness through- 
out, or gradually enlarge, but without forming a club, and consist 
of from thirteen to fifteen joints. The palpi are very long. The 
ovipositor is convoluted spirally in the interior of the abdomen, and 
has its posterior extremity lodged in a groove of the venter. 
The Gallicolas form the genus 
These Insects seem to be hump-backed, having a small head and a thick 
and elevated thorax. Their abdomen is compressed, carinated or trenchan 
inferiorly, and truncated obliquely, or obtuse, at the extremity. That of 
the females contains an ovipositor which seems to consist of a single, long, 
and extremely slender or capillary thread convoluted spirally near the base 
or towards the origin of the venter, and of which the terminal portion is 
lodged under the extremity between two elongated valvulse; each of which 
forms a semi-scabbard or sheath for it. The extremity of this ovipositor is 
grooved, and has lateral teeth resembling the barbs on the head of an arrow; 
with these the Insect widens the aperture it has effected in different 
parts of plants for the purpose of receiving its eggs. The juices of those 
plants are diffused in the wounded spots and form excrescences or tumours 
called galls. The one most commonly known, or the gall-nut, Aleppo gall, 
is employed with a solution of the sulphate of iron to produce a black dye. 
The form and solidity of these protuberances vary according to the 
nature of the parts of the plants that have been wounded, such as the 
leaves, petioles, buds, bark, roots, &c. Most of them are spherical; some 
resemble fruits. Others are fibrous or hairy, like that called the bcdeguar, 
mousse chevelue, &c., which is observed on the wild Rose-trees. Some of 
them resemble artichokes, others mushrooms, &c. &c. The eggs enclosed 
in these excrescences increase in size and consistence, and finally produce 
larvae destitute of feet, but frequently provided with mammillae in place of 
Cynips., Lin. 452 
1NSECTA. 
them. Sometimes they live there solitarily, and sometimes in society, 
feeding on their internal parietes without interfering with their develop- 
ment, and remaining five or six months in this condition. There also some 
undergo their metamorphosis, to effect which, others issue forth and de- 
scend into the earth where they remain till their final change is completed. 
The round holes observed on the exterior of the gall intimate the exit of 
the Insect. Several Insects of the following family are also sometimes 
found in it, but this has been by destroying the natural inhabitants, of whose 
domicil they have taken possession, in the manner of the Ichneumons. 
Certain species are apterous. One species deposits its ova in the pollen 
of the earliest of the wild Fig-trees. The modern Greeks, in pursuance of 
a method transmitted to them from antiquity, pierce several of these figs, 
and place them on their late bearing trees of the same genus; the Cynips 
soon leave their old dwelling and come out loaded with the fecundating 
dust, insinuate themselves into the eye of the fruit borne by the latter, fe- 
cundate its seeds, and accelerate the period of its maturity. This operation 
is termed caprification. 
C. gallx tinclorise. Very pale fulvous; covered with a silky and whitish 
down, with a blackish-brown and glossy spot on the abdomen. In the 
round, hard and tuberculous gall found on a species of Oak in the Levant, 
which is employed in commerce. By breaking this gall we may frequently 
obtain the perfect Insect. 
The fourth tribe, that of the Chalcidije, Spin., only differs es- 
sentially from the preceding one in the antennae, which are 
geniculate, those of the Euchares alone excepted, and which, from 
the elbow, form an elongated or fusiform club, of which the first 
joint is frequently lodged in a groove. The palpi are very short. 
The number of joints of the antennae never exceeds twelve. 
We may refer the various genera established in this tribe to the 
genus 
Chalcis, Fab. 
These Insects are very small, and are decorated with extremely brilliant 
metallic colours. Most of them enjoy the faculty of leaping-. The ovi- 
positor, like that of the Ichneumons, is salient and frequently composed of 
three threads? the larvse are also parasitical. Some of them, on account of 
their extreme minuteness, live in the interior of the almost imperceptible 
ova of Insects. Others inhabit galls and the chrysalides of the Lepidoptera. 
I suspect that they do not spin a cocoon. 
There are various subgenera. 
In the fifth tribe, that of the Oxiuri, Lat., we observe species 
similar to the preceding in the absence of nervurea in the inferior HTMENOPTEKA. 
453 
wings, and in which the abdomen of the females is terminated by a 
tubular and conical ovipositor, sometimes internal, exertile and pro- 
truding like a sting, and sometimes external and forming a sort of 
tail or terminal point. The antennas are composed of from ten to 
fifteen joints, and are either filiform or somewhat largest near the 
end, or clavate in the females. The maxillary palpi of several are 
long and pendent. 
We reduce the various genera of which it is composed to one, the 
Bethylus, Lat. Fab. 
The habits of these Insects are probably those of the Chalcidise; but as 
most of them are found on the sand or low plants, I suspect that their larvae 
live in the ground. 
In the sixth tribe, or the Chrysides, Lat., the inferior wings, as 
in the three preceding tribes, are not veined; but their ovipositor is 
formed by the last rings of the abdomen in the manner of the tubes 
of a spy-glass, and terminates in a little sting. The abdomen, 
which in the females appears to consist of but three or four rings, is 
concave or flat beneath, and can be flexed on the pectus, in which 
state the Insect is globular. 
This tribe comprises the genus 
The lustre and richness of the colours which decorate these Insects may- 
challenge a comparison with those of the Humming-birds, and have entitled 
them to the common appellation of Golden Wasps, or Guepts dories. They 
are seen walking about in a continued state of agitation, and with hasty 
motions, on walls and fences exposed to the burning ardour of the sun. 
They are also found on flowers. Their body is elongated and covered with 
a firm tegument. Their antennae are filiform, geniculate, vibratile, and 
composed of thirteen joints in both sexes. The mandibles are narrow, ar- 
cuated, and pointed. The ligula is most frequently emarginated. The 
thorax is semi-cylindrical, and presents several sutures or impressed and 
transverse lines. The abdomen of the greater number forms a semi-oval 
truncated at base, and at the first glance seems suspended to the thorax by 
its whole width; the last ring is frequently marked by large punctures and 
terminates by dentations. 
The Chrysides deposit their ova in the nests of the solitary Mason Bees, 
or in those of other Hymenoptera. Their larvae devour those of the latter. 
This genus now forms several subgenera, such as Pamopes, Stilbum, 
Elampus, &c. 
Chrysis, Lin. 454 
1NSECTA. 
The second section of the Ilymenoptera, that of the Aculeata, 
differs from the first in the absence of the ovipositor. A concealed 
and retractile sting composed of three pieces usually supplies the 
place of it in the females, and in the neuters of species which form 
communities. Sometimes, as in certain Ants, the sting is wanting, 
and the Insect defends itself by the ejaculation of an acid liquid con- 
tained in special glandular reservoirs. 
The Ilymenoptera of this section always have their antennas sim- 
ple, and composed of a constant number of joints, namely, of thirteen 
in the males, and twelve in the females. The palpi are generally 
filiform, those of the maxillae, frequently the longest, having six 
joints, and those of the labium four. The mandibles are smaller, 
and frequently less dentated in the males than in the opposite sex. 
The abdomen, united to the thorax by a thread or pedicle, is com- 
posed of seven rings in the males, and of six in the females. The 
four wings are always veined. 
The larvm are always destitute of feet, and feed on aliments pre- 
sented to them by the females or neuters, consisting either of the 
bodies of Insects, the juices of fruits, or a mixture of pollen, stamina 
and honey. 
This section is divived into four families. 
FAMILY I. 
HETEROGYNA.(l) 
The first family of our second section is composed of two or 
three kinds of individuals, the most common of which, the neuters 
and females, are apterous, and but rarely furnished with very distinct 
ocelli. 
Their antennm are always geniculate, and the ligula is small, 
rounded and concave, or cochleariform. 
Some form communities in which we find three kinds of indivi- 
duals, of which the males and females are winged, and the neuters 
apterous. In the two last the antennae gradually enlarge, and the 
length of their first joint is at least equal to that of the third of the 
whole organ; the second is almost as long as the third, and lias the 
(1) Those in which the females differ from the males or are heterogynous. HYMENOPTERA, 
455 
form of a reversed cone. The labrum of the neuters is large, cor- 
neous, and falls perpendicularly under the mandibles. 
These Ilymcnoptera compose the genus 
Or that of the Ants, so highly celebrated for their foresight, and so well 
known, some by their depredations in our houses, where they attack our 
sugar and preserved viands, communicating to them at the same time a 
musky and disagreeable odour, and others by the injury they do to our 
trees, by gnawing their interior in order to form domicils for their colonies. 
The abdominal pedicle of these Insects is in the form of a scale or knot, 
either double or single, a character by which they are easily recognized. 
Their antennae are geniculate, and usually somewhat largest near the extre- 
mity; the head is triangular, with oval or rounded and entire eyes, and the 
clypeus large; the mandibles are very strong in the greater number, but 
vary greatly as to form in the neuters; the maxillae and labium are small; 
the palpi are filiform, and those of the maxillae the longest; the thorax is 
compressed laterally, and the almost ovoidal abdomen furnished, in the fe- 
males and neuters, sometimes with a sting, and sometimes with glands that 
secrete a particular acid called formic. 
They form communities which are frequently extremely numerous. 
Each species consists of three kinds of individuals: males and females which 
are furnished with long wings, less veined than those of the other Hymen- 
optera of this section, and very deciduous; and neuters, destitute of wings, 
which are merely females with imperfect ovaries. The males and females 
are merely found within the domicil in transitu. They leave it the moment 
their wings are developed. The females wander to a distance from 
their birth-place, and having detached their wings by means of their feet, 
found a new colony. Some of those however which are in the vicinity of 
the ant-hills are arrested by the neuters, who force them to return to their 
domicil, tear off their wings, prevent them from leaving it, and force them 
to deposit their eggs there—it is thought, however, that they are violently 
expelled the moment that operation is effected. 
The neuters, which are distinct, not only by the want of wings and ocelli, 
but also by the size of their head, the strength of their mandibles, their 
more compressed and. frequently knotted thorax, and their proportionally 
longer legs, have the sole charge of all the economy of the habitation, and 
the rearing of the young. The nature and form of their nests or ant-hills 
vary according to the particular instinct of the species. They usually es- 
tablish it in the ground; in its construction some only employ particles of 
earth, and almost entirely conceal it; others seize on fragments of various 
bodies and with them raise conical or dome-like hillocks over the spot in 
which they are domiciliated. Some establish their dwelling in the trunks 
of old trees, the interior of which they perforate in every direction in the 
manner of a labyrinth, in which the detached particles are also employed. 
Formica, Lin. 456 
INSECTA. 
Various and apparently irregular galleries lead to the particular residence 
of their young. 
The neuters roam abroad in search of provisions, appear to inter-commu- 
nicate the success of their labours by the senses of touch and smell, and to 
aid and assist each other. Fruit, Insects, or their larvae, dead bodies of 
small quadrupeds and birds, &c., constitute their food. They feed the 
larvae with their mouths, transport them in fine weather to the external su- 
perficies of the hill, in order that they may receive additional warmth, and 
take them down again on the approach of night or bad weather, defend 
them from their enemies, and look to their preservation with the greatest 
fidelity, particularly when the hill is disturbed. They pay equal attention 
to the nymphs, some of which are enclosed in a cocoon, and the others 
naked; they tear open the envelope of the former when the moment of their 
ultimate metamorphosis has arrived. The name of eggs is vulgarly applied 
to the larvae and nymphs. 
Most Ant-lulls are wholly composed of individuals of the same species. 
Nature, however, has deviated from this plan with respect to the F. roussa- 
tre or Amazon-ant, and that which I have called the sanguinea. Their 
neuters, by open violence, procure auxiliaries of their own caste, but of 
different species, which I have designated by the names of noir-cendrie and 
mineuse. When the heat of the day begins to lessen, and exactly at the 
same hour, at least for several days, the Amazons or Legionaries quit their 
nest, advance in a solid column, more or less numerous or according to the 
extent of the population, and march upon the Ant-hill they wish to attack. 
They soon penetrate into it notwithstanding the opposition of the inhabit- 
ants, seize the larvae and nymphs of the neuters peculiar to the invaded 
community, and transport them in the same warlike order to their own 
domicil, where they are attended to in common with the posterity of their 
conquerors, by other neuters of their own species in a perfect state that 
have either been metamorphosed there, or tornfrom their original dwelling. 
Such is the composition of the mixed Ant-hills. 
It is well known that the Ant is extravagantly fond of a saccharine liquid 
that exudes from the bodies of the Aphides and Gallinsects. Four or five 
species convey both these Aphides and their eggs, particularly in bad weather, 
to the bottom of their nests, and even fight for the right of possession. 
Some construct little galleries of earth, leading from the Ant-hill, which 
extend throughout the entire length of trees to the very branches that are 
loaded with these Insects. 
Both males and females perish towards the close of autumn, or on the 
first approach of winter. The labourers pass the winter in their hill in a 
torpid state. 
This great genus is now divided into various subgenera. 
The remaining Heterogyna are solitary Insects. Each species 
is composed of but two kinds of individuals, winged male* and ap- HYMENOPTERA. 
457 
terous females; the latter are always armed with a powerful sting. 
The antennae are filiform or setaceous, and vibratile; their first and 
third joints are elongated, and the length of the first is never equal 
to the third of the total length of the whole organ. 
They form the genus 
Mutilla, Lin. 
These Insects are found in hot and sandy localities. The female runs 
with great quickness, and is always seen on the ground. The males fre- 
quently alight on flowers, but their mode of life is unknown. 
FAMILY II. 
FOSSORES.(l) 
The second family of this section comprises those Hymenoptera 
armed with a sting, in which all the individuals of both sexes are 
furnished with wings, and live solitarily; in which the legs are ex- 
clusively adapted for walking, and in several for digging. The 
ligula is always more or less widened at its extremity, and never 
filiform or setaceous. The wings are always extended. 
They compose the genus 
Most females of this genus place beside their eggs, in the nests they have 
constructed, most commonly in the earth or in wood, various Insects or 
their larva, and sometimes Arachnides, previously pierced with their sting, 
to serve as food for their young. The larva are always destitute of feet, 
resemble little worms, and undergo a metamorphosis in the cocoon they 
have spun previous to becoming nymphs. The perfect Insect is usually 
very active and lives on flowers. The maxilla and lip are elongated and in 
the form of a proboscis in many. 
The numerous sub genera derived from the great genus Sphex, are now 
distributed into seven principal sections, viz. the Scolietae, Sapigytes, Sphe* 
gides, Bembecides, Larrates, Nyssones and Crabronites. 
Sphex, Lin. 
(1) Diggers. 458 
INSECTA. 
FAMILY III. 
DIPLOPTEIIA. 
The third family of the Aculeata is the only one of that section, 
in which with but few exceptions we find the superior wings folded 
longitudinally. The antennae are usually geniculate and clavate, or 
thickest at the end. The eyes are emarginated. The prothorax is 
prolonged behind, on each side, to the origin of the wings. The 
body is glabrous or nearly so, and black, more or less maculated 
with yellow or fulvous. 
Many of these Insects form temporary communities composed of 
three sorts of individuals, males, females, and neuters. Such of the 
females as survive the severity of the winter commence the nest and 
take care of the larvae. They are subsequently assisted by the neu- 
ters. We will divide the Diploptera into two tribes. The type of 
the first, that of the Masarides, Lat., is the genus 
The antennx at the first glance seem to be composed of but eight joints, 
the eighth, with the following ones, forming an almost indistinctly articu- 
lated club, rounded or very obtuse at the end. The ligula is terminated by 
two threads which can be withdrawn into a tube formed by its base. There 
are but two complete cubital cells in the superior wings. The middle of 
the anterior margin of the clypeus is emarginated and receives the labrum 
in the notch. 
Masaris, Fab. 
The second tribe of the Diploptera, that of the Vesparije, is com- 
posed of the genus 
Where the antenna: always present thirteen distinct joints in the males and 
terminate in an elongated, pointed, and sometimes—in the males—hooked 
extremity: they are always geniculate, at least in the females and neuters. 
The ligula is sometimes divided into four plumose filaments, and sometimes 
bilobate with four glandular points at the end, one on each lateral lobe, and 
the remaining two on the intermediate one, which is larger, widened, and 
emarginated or bifid at its extremity. The mandibles are strong and den- 
tated. The clypeus is large. The females and neuters are armed with an 
extremely powerful and venomous sting. Several of them form communi- 
ties composed of the three sorts of individuals. 
The larvae are vermiform, destitute of feet, and enclosed separately in a 
Vespa, Lin. HYMENOPTERA. 
459 
cell where they sometimes live on the bodies of Insects placed thereby the 
mother at the time she deposited the egg-, and sometimes on the nectar of 
flowers, juices of fruits and animal matters, elaborated in the stomach of 
the mother, or that of the neuters, who feed them daily. 
Wasps properly so called, unite in numerous societies composed of males, 
females and neuters. The two last detach particles of old wood or bark 
with their mandibles, moisten and reduce them into a pultaceous mass re- 
sembling that of paper or pasteboard, and construct combs or nests with it 
that are usually horizontal, and suspended above by one or more pedicles; 
on the inferior side is a range of vertical cells in the form of hexagonal and 
truncated pyramids. These cells are approximated exclusively to the use 
of the larvae and nymphs, a cell to each. The number of combs that com- 
pose this nest varies. It is sometimes exposed, and at others surrounded 
by an envelope, pierced with a common and almost always central opening, 
which sometimes corresponds to a series of holes which communicate with 
the interior; the combs adhere to the parietes of the envelope, whether 
they be in the open air or concealed in the earth or hollows of trees. The 
figure of these structures varies according to the species. 
The females commence the business alone, and lay eggs that produce 
neuters or labourers, which assist in enlarging the nest and taking care of 
the succeeding young ones. The community is solely composed of these 
two kinds of individuals until the beginning of autumn, at which period the 
young males and females make their appearance. All the larva and nymphs 
which cannot complete their ultimate metamorphosis before the month of 
November are put to death and dragged from their cells by the labourers, 
which perish along with the males on the approach of winter. Some of 
the females survive, and in the spring become the founders of a new colony. 
Wasps feed on Insects, viands of various sorts, or fruit, and nourish their 
larva with the juices of these substances. The latter, which on account 
of the inferior situation of the mouths of their cells are placed with their 
head downwards, shut themselves up and spin a cocoon when about to be- 
come nymphs. 
FAMILY IY. 
ANTHOPHILA, Lat.(l) 
The fourth and last family of the Aculeata, in the faculty of col- 
lecting the pollen of flowers, usually possessed by the two posterior 
legs, presents a peculiar character which distinguishes it from all 
other families of Insects. The first joint of the tarsi of those legs 
(1) Lovers of flowers. 460 
INSECTA. 
is very large, strongly compressed, and forms a square palette or a 
reversed triangle. 
The maxillae and lips are most commonly very long, and compose 
a sort of proboscis. The ligula is most frequently shaped like the 
head of a lance, or resembles si very long thread, the extremity of 
which is downy or hairy. The larvae feed exclusively on honey and 
the pollen of flowers. The perfect Insect feeds on the honey of the 
latter only. 
These Hymenoptera embrace the genus 
Or that of the Bees, which I will divide into two sections. 
In those of the first or the Andhenette, Lat., the intermediate division 
of the ligula is cordiform or lanceolate, shorter than its sheath, and bent 
underneath in some, and almost straight in others. 
These Insects live solitarily, and consist of but two kinds of individuals, 
males and females. Most of the females collect the pollen of flowers with 
the hairs of their posterior legs, and with the aid of a little honey form it 
into a paste (bee-bread), with which they feed their larvae. They excavate 
deep holes, and frequently in hard ground, along the borders of roads, or 
in the fields, in which they place this paste along with an egg; they then 
close the aperture with earth. 
They form various genera, such as Hylaeus, Colletes, &c. 
The second section of the Anthophila, that of the Apiahi;e, Lat-, com- 
prises those species in which the mediate division of the ligula is at least as 
long as the mentum or its tubular shield, and is filiform or setaceous. The 
maxillae and labium are much elongated and form a sort of proboscis which, 
when at rest, is geniculate and bent under. 
The Apiariae either live solitarily or form communities. 
The former never consist of more than the ordinary number of individuals, 
and each female provides singly for her young. The posterior legs of their 
females are neither furnished with a brush on the inner side of the first 
joint of the tarsi, nor with a particular depression on the exterior side of 
their tibiae; this side, as well as the same of the first joint of the tarsi, is most 
commonly and densely covered with hairs. 
One of the most common genera of this section, vulgarly called Humble- 
Bees, is the 
Apis, Lin. 
The Xylocopse resemble large Ilombi. Their body is usually black, 
sometimes partially covered with a yellow down; the wings are frequently 
violet, cupreous or green, and brilliant. The male, in several species, 
differs considerably from the female. Their eyes are large and approxi- 
mated superiorly. Their anterior legs are dilated and ciliated. 
Xyeocopa, Lat. Fab. HYMENOPTERA. 
461 
X. violacea, L. About one inch in length; black, with violet-black wings, 
a russet ring round the antennae of the male. The female bores a long 
vertical hole in the body she has selected, usually old dry wood exposed 
to the sun, and parallel to its surface. It is divided into several cells by 
horizontal septa formed with agglutinated raspings of wood. She then, 
commencing with the lowest, deposits an egg and some paste in each of 
them. She sometimes bores three canals in the same piece of wood. 
There are several other genera of solitary Apiarix. 
The last ofthe Apiariae form communities composed of males and females, 
and a considerable number of neuters or labourers. In the internal face of 
the posterior tibix of these latter individuals is a smooth depression, in 
which they place the pellet of pollen collected with the silken down or 
brush attached to the inner side of the first joint of the tarsi of the same 
leg. The maxillary palpi are very small and formed of a single joint. The 
antennx are geniculate. 
Sometimes the posterior tibix are terminated by two spines, as in 
Where the labrum is transversal, the pseudo-proboscis is much shorter 
than the body, and the second joint of the labial palpi terminates in a point, 
bearing the two others on its outer side. 
These Insects(l) are well known to children, who frequently put them 
to death in order to obtain the honey contained within their body. They 
inhabit subterranean nests in communities of fifty or sixty, and sometimes 
of two or three hundred individuals. The society is dissolved on the ap- 
proach of winter. It is composed of males, distinguished by their small 
size, reduced head, narrow mandibles, bearded, and terminated by two 
teeth, and frequently by a difference of colours; of females, which are 
larger than the others, furnished with mandibles formed like a spoon, as is 
also the case with those of the neuters or labourers; the latter, as to size, are 
intermediate between the males and females. 
Such of the ordinary females as have escaped the severity of the winter 
take advantage of the first fine weather to construct their nests. One spe- 
cies—Apis lapidaria—establishes itself on the surface of the earth under 
stones, but all the others form their habitation in it, frequently descending 
to a depth of one or two feet, in the way we are about to describe. Dry 
plains, fields, and hills are the localities they select. These subterranean 
cavities, which are of considerable extent and wider than high, have the 
figure of a dome. The ceiling is constructed with earth and with moss, 
carded by these Insects, which they transport there, fibre by fibre, entering 
the cavity backwards. A coating of coarse wax is laid over its walls. Some- 
times a simple opening, designedly left at the bottom of the nest, serves 
Bombtjs, Lat. Fab. 
(1) They are commonly confounded with the Xylocopx, and are also 
called Humble-Bees. 462 
INSECTA. 
for an entrance, and then again a winding passage covered with moss, and 
a foot or two long, leads to the domicil. The bottom of the cavity is lined 
with a layer of leaves, for the accommodation of the brood. The females 
first place brown, irregular, mamilliform masses of wax there, called palte 
by Reaumur, and which, on account of their shape and colour, he compares 
to truffles. Their internal cavities are destined to enclose the eggs and 
larvae. There the latter live in society until the moment has arrived when 
they are to become nymphs; they then separate and spin ovoid and silken 
cocoons, laid vertically against each other. In this state the Insect is always 
reversed, or, like the female nymphs of the common Bee, with the head 
downwards; we always find these cocoons perforated inferiorly, when the 
perfect Insects have left them. Reaumur says that the larvae feed on the 
wax which forms their dwelling; according to Huber, it merely protects 
them from cold and wet, their aliment consisting of a tolerably large quan- 
tity of pollen moistened with honey, with which the labourers carefully 
supply them; when it is consumed they perforate the cover of their cells, 
furnish them with more, and shut them up again. They even enlarge them 
when the increased growth of the larva; causes them to be too much confined. 
We also find in these nests three or four small bodies composed of brown 
wax, or the same matter as the patee, and shaped like tumblers or almost 
cylindrical pots, always open, and more or less filled with good honey. 
These reservoirs of the honey are not always placed in the same situation. 
The larvae are hatched in four or five days after the eggs have been laid, 
and complete their metamorphosis in the months of June and July. The 
labourers remove the wax that clogs their cocoon to facilitate their issue, 
and assist the female in her work. The number of cells which serve as 
habitations to the larvae and nymphs increases, and they form irregular 
combs placed in stories, on the edges of which we particularly observe the 
brown patee of Reaumur. According to Huber, the labourers are ex- 
tremely fond of the ova of the female, and sometimes, in her absence, even 
break open the cells in which they are deposited, in order to suck the 
milky fluid they contain! a most extraordinary fact, which seems to belie 
the known attachment of the labourers for the germs of that race of which 
they are the protectors and guardians. The wax produced by them, ac- 
cording to this same naturalist, has the same origin as that of our domestic 
Bee, or is merely elaborated honey that also transudes through the intervals 
of some of the abdominal annuli. 
Sometimes the social Apiarise have no spines at the extremity of their 
posterior tibiae, as in 
Aris, Lat. 
Or that of the Bee properly so called, where the first joint of the poste- 
rior tarsi of the labourers forms a long square, and is furnished on the inner 
side with a silken down divided into transverse or striated bands. 
Apia mellijica, L. (The Honey-Bee). Blackish; scutellum and abdomen HYMENOPTERA. 
463 
of the same colour; a transverse greyish band, formed of down, at the base 
of the third and following abdominal annuli. 
The true Bees are much smaller and more oblong than the Bombi. Their 
body is merely furnished with down in particular places, and its colours 
vary but little. Their communities consist of labourers or neuters, usually 
from fifteen to twenty thousand in number, and sometimes extending to 
thirty thousand; of from six to eight hundred males, and in some hives of a 
thousand and more, called Drones, and commonly of a single female, con- 
sidered by the ancients as the king or head of the community, and styled a 
queen by us. 
The labourers, smaller than the others, have their antennae composed of 
twelve joints, and the abdomen of six annuli; the first joint of the posterior 
tarsi, or the square piece, is dilated in the form of a pointed palette, at the 
exterior angle of their base, and densely covered on its inner side with short 
fine, silky down; they are armed with a sting. The female presents the 
same characters, but the abdomen of the labourers is shorter. Their man- 
dibles are spoon-shaped, and not dentated. In the outer side of their pos- 
terior tibia is that smooth depression edged with hairs, called the corbeille 
or basket. 
The males and females are the largest; their mandibles are hairy and 
emarginated under the point; the proboscis is shorter, particularly in the 
males. These latter differ from the former and from the labourers in their 
antennae, which consist of thirteen joints; in their more rounded head and 
larger eyes, elongated and united above; in their smaller and more hairy 
mandibles, in the absence of a sting, in the four short anterior legs, of 
which the two first are arcuated, and finally in the square piece which has 
neither palette nor silken brush. 
The interior of the abdominal cavity of the females and labourers presents 
two stomachs, the intestines, and poison sac. A tolerably large aperture 
situated at the superior base of the proboscis, under the labrum, andclosed 
by a little triangular piece called langue by Reaumer, the epipharynx of 
Savigny, transmits the aliment and leads to a slender oesophagus that tra- 
verses the interior of the thorax, and thence passes to the anterior stomach, 
or rather crop, which contains the honey. The following stomach, accord- 
ing to Reaumur, contains the pollen or wax-like matter, and has its surface 
marked by annular and transverse rugae; in the manner of hoops. This 
abdominal cavity of the females contains two large ovaries composed of 
numerous sacculi, each of which encloses from sixteen to seventeen eggs. 
According to the observations of Huber, Jun., the inferior semi-annuli 
of the abdomen of the labourers, the first and last excepted, have each, on 
their internal surface, two pouches in which the wax is secreted and mould- 
ed into laminae, that afterwards ooze out through the intervals between the 
rings. 
These observations on the internal anatomy of the Bee, with the excep- 
tion of some few modifications, will apply to the Bombi properly so called. 
Wax, according to the experiments of the same naturalists, is nothing more 464 
than elaborated honey, and the pollen mixed with a little of that substance 
only serves as food for these Insects and their larva:. 
We have seen that the labourers or working1 bees resemble the females 
in several particulars. Certain curious experiments have proved that they 
are of one sex, and that they are merely females that have not been fully 
developed in consequence of the nature of the food given to them while in 
the state of larvae. 
The substance of which their combs are composed, being ill adapted to 
resist the effects of the weather, and as they do not construct a nest or ge- 
neral envelope, these Insects can only establish their colonies in cavities 
where their work finds a natural shelter. The labourers, which are alone 
charged with the work, form those laminae composed of two opposing rows 
of hexagonal alveoli with a pyramidal base formed of three rhombs. These 
alveoli have received the name of cells, and each lamina that of comb. They 
are always perpendicular, parallel, fixed at top or by one of the edges, and 
separated by spaces which allow the Bees to pass between them. The 
cells are thus placed horizontally. Distinguished geometricians have de- 
monstrated that their form is the most economical with respect to the ex- 
penditure of wax, and the most advantageous as to the extent of the space 
contained in each cell. Bees, however, know how to modify this form ac- 
cording to circumstances. They cut away and fit their faces piece by piece. 
These cells, with the exception of that proper to the larva and nymph of 
the female, are almost equal; some contain the brood, and the remainder 
the honey and pollen of flowers. Some of the cells containing honey are 
open, and the remainder, or those held in reserve, are sealed up with a flat 
or slightly convex lid. The royal cells, which vary in number from two to 
forty, are much larger, almost cylindrical, somewhat narrower at the end, and 
have little cavities on their external surface. They usually hang from the 
margin of the combs, in the manner of stalactites, so that the larvae con- 
tained in them are in a reversed position. Some of them weigh as much 
as one hundred and fifty of the ordinary cells. The cells of the males are 
of an intermediate size, between those of the preceding and those of the 
labourers, and placed here and there. Bees always continue their combs 
from above downwards. They stop the little chinks and apertures of their 
domicil with a species of mastich, which they collect from different trees, 
called propolis. 
Bees take care to furnish their larvae with patee in quantities proportioned 
to their age, and on which they cling with their bodies curved into an arc. 
Six or seven days after they are hatched, they prepare to undergo their 
metamorphosis. Shut up in their cells by the labourers who close the ori- 
fice with a convex lid, they line the pai'ieties of their domicil with a tissue of 
silk, spin a cocoon, become nymphs, and, at the expiration of about twelve 
days, issue forth in their perfect state. The labourers immediately clean out 
the vacant cells, in order that they may be prepared for the reception of 
another egg. This is not the case however with the royal cells; they are 
INSECTA. HYMENOPTERA. 
465 
destroyed and new ones constructed if necessary. The eggs containing 
males are produced two months later, and those producing females soon 
after the latter. 
Dreadful combats sometimes take place among Bees. At a particular 
epoch the labourers put the drones to death, extending the carnage even 
to the larvae and nymphs of that sex. 
Bees have enemies both external and internal, and are subject to various 
diseases. 
The true Bees are only found in the eastern continent; and those of 
southern and eastern Europe, and of Egypt, differ from those that inhabit 
France, which have been transported to America and other places, where 
they are now naturalized. 
ORDER X. 
LEPIDOPTERA. (1) 
The tenth order of Insects terminates the series of those which 
are furnished with four wings, and presents characters exclusively 
peculiar to it. 
Both sides of the wings are covered with small, coloured scales, 
resembling farinaceous dust, that are removed by merely coming in 
contact with the finger. A proboscis, to which the name of lingua 
or tongue has been affixed, rolled spirally between two palpi, cov- 
ered with scales or hairs, forms the most important part of the mouth, 
and is the instrument with which these Insects extract the nectar 
from flowers, their only aliment. In our general observations upon 
the class of Insects, we have seen, that this proboscis or trunk is 
composed of two threads, representing the maxillae, each 
bearing, near its external base, a very small (superior) palpus in the 
form of a tubercle. The apparent (inferior) palpi, those which 
form a sort of sheath to the proboscis, replace the labial palpi of the 
triturating Insects; they are cylindrical or conical, usually turned 
up, composed of three joints, and inserted in a fixed labium, which 
forms the paries of the portion of the buccal cavity, inferior to the 
proboscis. Two little Arid scarcely distinct, corneous, and more or 
less ciliated pieces, situated, one on each side, on the anterior and 
(1) Scaly-winged. 466 
IN6ECTA. 
superior margin of the front of the head, near the eyes, seem to be 
vestiges of mandibles. Finally, we observe, and in equally exiguous 
proportions, the labrum or upper lip. 
The antennae vary and are always multiarticulated. Two ocelli 
are observable in several species, but concealed between the scales. 
The three segments of which the trunk of the hexapoda is composed, 
are united in one single body; the first is very short, and the two 
others are confounded together. The scutellum is triangular, but 
the apex is directed towards the head. The wings are simply 
veined, and vary in size, figure and position; in several, the inferior 
ones are plaited longitudinally near their inner margin. At the 
base of each of the superior wings is a kind of epaulette, prolonged 
posteriorly, that corresponds to the piece called tegula in the Hy- 
menoptera. As it is more developed here, I will call it ptcrygoda. 
The abdomen, composed of from six to seven annuli, is attached to 
the thorax by a very small portion of its diameter, and presents nei- 
ther sting nor ovipositor analogous to that of the Hymenoptera. In 
several females, however, as in Cossus, the last rings become nar- 
rowed, and extended to form an oviduct resembling a pointed and 
retractile tail. The tarsi always have five joints. There are never 
more than two kinds of individuals, males and females. 
The females usually deposit their ova, frequently very numerous, 
on the vegetable surfaces which are to nourish their larvae, and soon 
after perish. 
The larvae of Lepidopterous Insects are well known by the name 
of caterpillars. They have six squamous or hooked feet, which 
correspond to the legs of the perfect Insect, and from four to ten 
additional membranous ones, the two last of which are situated at 
the posterior extremity of the body; those which have but ten or 
twelve in all, have been called, from their mode of progression, geo- 
wetrse. Several of these geometrae, when at rest, remain fixed to 
the branches of plants by the hind feet alone, where, in the form, 
colour and direction of their body they resemble a twig; they can 
support themselves in this position for a long time, without exhibit- 
ing the slightest symptom of life. So fatiguing an attitude must re- 
quire prodigious muscular force, and in fact Lyonet counted four 
thousand and forty-one muscles in the caterpillar of the Cossus lig- 
niperda. 
The body of these larvae is generally elongated, almost cylindri- 467 
LEPIDOPTEUA. 
cal, soft, variously coloured, sometimes naked, and sometimes co- 
vered with hairs, tubercles and spines. It is composed of twelve 
segments or annuli, exclusive of the head, with nine stigmata on 
each side. Their head is invested with a corneous or squamous 
dermis, and presents on each side six shining granules, which ap- 
pear to be ocelli; it is also furnished with two very short and conical 
antennse, and a mouth composed of strong mandibles, two maxilla?, 
a labium and four small palpi. The silk they employ is elaborated 
in two long and tortuous internal vessels, of which the attenuated 
superior extremities terminate in the lip. A tubular and conical 
mammilla is the spindle through which the threads are spun. 
Most caterpillars feed on the leaves of plants; some gnaw their 
flowers, roots, buds and seeds; others attack the ligneous or hardest 
part of trees, softening it by means of a fluid which they disgorge. 
Certain species attack our woollens and furs, thereby doing us much 
injury: even our leather, bacon, wax and lard are not spared by 
them. Several confine themselves exclusively to a single article of 
diet; others are less delicate, and devour all sorts of matters.(l) 
Some of them form societies, and frequently live under a silken 
tent, spun by them in common, which even shelters them during the 
winter. Several construct sheaths for themselves, either fixed or 
portable. Others make their abode in the parenchyma of leaves, 
where they form galleries. The greater number are diurnal. The 
others never issue forth but at night. The severity of winter, so 
fatal to almost all Insects, does not affect certain Phalaenae, which 
only appear in that season. 
Caterpillars usually change their skin four times, previously to 
passing into the state of a nymph or chrysalis. Most of them 
spin a cocoon in which they enclose themselves. A frequently red- 
dish liquor which lepidopterous Insects eject at the moment 
of their metamorphosis, softens or weakens the extremity of the co- 
coon, and facilitates their exit; one of these extremities also is ge- 
nerally thinner than the other, or presents a favourable issue by the 
peculiar disposition of the fibres. Other caterpillars are contented 
with connecting leaves, particles of earth, or of the substances on 
which they have lived, and thus forming a rude cocoon. The chry- 
(1) One of the most evident proofs of the divine providence is the per- 
fect coincidence of the appearance of the caterpillar with that of the plant 
on which it is to feed. 468 
INSECTA. 
salides of the diurnal Lepidoptera, ornamented with golden spots, 
whence the term chrysalis, are naked and fixed by the posterior 
entremity of the body. The nymphs of the Lepidoptera present a 
special character, of which we have spoken in our general observa- 
tions on the class of Insects. They are swathed or resemble mum- 
mies. Those of several Insects of this order, particularly of the 
Diurnae, undergo their metamorphosis in a few days; they even fre- 
quently produce two generations in the course of the year. The 
caterpillars or chrysalides of others, however, remain during the 
winter in one of these states, and only appear as perfect Insects in 
the spring or summer of the following year. Generally speaking, 
the eggs laid in the fall are not hatched till the ensuing spring. The 
Lepidoptera issue from their envelope in the usual manner, or 
through a slit which is effected on the back of the thorax. 
The larvae of the Ichneumonides and Chalcidites deliver us from 
a great portion of these destructive animals. 
We will divide this order into three families, which correspond to 
the three genera of which it is composed in the system of Linnaeus. 
FAMILY I. 
DIURNA. 
This family is the only one in which the exterior margin of the 
inferior wings does not present a rigid, squamous seta or kind of 
bridle for retaining the two superior ones. These latter, and even 
most frequently the former, are raised perpendicularly when the In- 
sect is at rest. The antennae are sometimes terminated by a globu- 
liform inflation or little club, and are sometimes almost of equal thick- 
ness throughout or even more slender, and form a hooked point at 
the extremity. This family comprises the genus 
The larvx always have sixteen feet. The chrysalides are almost always 
naked, are attached by the tail, and most commonly angular. The perfect 
Insect, always provided with a proboscis or trunk, flies during the day only, 
and the colours which ornament the under part of the wings do not yield 
in beauty to those which decorate their superior surface. 
Papilio, Lin. 
These Insects are now divided into two sections. Those of the first have LEPIDOPTERA. 
469 
but a single pair of spurs or spines to their tibiae, which are found on their 
posterior extremity. Their four wings are raised perpendicularly when at 
rest. Their antennae are sometimes inflated at the extremity, globuliform, 
or in a little club truncated and rounded at the summit, and sometimes 
almost filiform. 
This section includes a great variety of subgenera, and includes the 
Knights, so called by Linnaeus. Those with red spots on the breast are his 
Trots or Trojans, and those in which it is wanting, his Achivi, or Greeks. 
The genus Papilio of Linnaeus is now cut up into 28 subgenera, for the 
details of which see the great edition of this work. 
The second section of the Diurnal Lepidoptera is composed of species 
in which the posterior tibiae have two pairs of spines, one at their ex- 
tremity, and the other above; such also is the case in the two following 
families. The inferior wings are usually horizontal when at rest, and the 
extremity of their antennae very often forms a strongly hooked point. 
Their caterpillars, of which however but few are yet known, bendleaves 
together, and spin an extremely thin cocoon of silk (in the cavity), in which 
they become chrysalides; the latter are smooth or without angular eleva- 
tions. They compose two subgenera: 
Or the P. plebei urbicolx of Linnaus, in which the termination of the an- 
tenna is distinctly globuliform or clavate-, and the inferior palpi are short, 
broad, and densely covered with scales anteriorly; and the 
Hesperia, Fab. 
Ubaxia, Fab: 
Where the antenna, at first filiform, become attenuated or setaceous at 
the extremity, and where the inferior palpi are elongated and slender, with 
the second joint strongly compressed, and the last much smaller, almost 
cylindrical and naked. 
FAMILY II. 
CREPUSCULARIA. 
In this family, near the origin of the external margin of their in- 
ferior wings, we observe a rigid squamous seta, in the form of a 
spine or bristle, which passes into a hook on the under surface of 
the superior wings, maintaining them, when at rest, in a horizontal 
or inclined position. This character is also visible in the ensuing 
family, but the Crepuscularia are distinguished from the latter by 
their antennae, which form an elongated club, either prismatic or 
fusiform. 470 
1NSECTA. 
The caterpillars have always sixteen feet. The chrysalides are 
destitute of the points or angles observed in most of those of the di- 
urnal Lepidoptera, and are usually enclosed in a cocoon or con- 
cealed, either in the earth, or under some body. These Lepidoptera 
frequently appear only in the morning or evening. They compose 
the genus 
Sphinx, Lin. 
So named from the attitude of several of the caterpillars, which resembles 
that of the fabled monster so called. 
I will divide this subgenus into four sections. The first, or that of the 
Hespehi-Sfhinges, consists of Lepidoptera, which evidently connect the 
Hesperia: with Sphinx proper. The antennae are always simple, thickened 
in the middle or at the extremity which forms a hook, narrowed into a point 
at the end, and without a tuft of scales. They all have a very distinct pro- 
boscis; the inferior palpi are composed of three very apparent joints. In 
some, the second is elongated and strongly compressed, the third slender, 
almost cylindrical and nearly naked; these palpi resemble those of the 
Urania:; in others, they are shorter but wider, almost cylindrical, and well 
furnished with scales. The antennae of the latter are only inflated at the 
extremity. 
This section is composed of Agarista, Coronis and Castnia. 
Those of our second section, or the Sfhingides, always have the antennae 
terminated by a little flake of scales; the inferior palpi broad, or compressed 
transversely, densely covered with scales, and the third joint usually in- 
distinct. 
Most of the caterpillars have an elongated, smooth body, thickest at the 
posterior extremity, which is furnished with a horn, and its sides striped 
obliquely or longitudinally. They live on leaves, and are metamorphosed 
in the earth without spinning a cocoon. 
Where the antennae, commencing from the middle, form a prismatic club, 
simply ciliated, or transversely striated on one side in the manner of a rasp. 
They have a very distinct proboscis and fly with great velocity, hovering 
over flowers with a humming noise. In the chrysalides of some species 
the sheath of the proboscis projects in the manner of a snout. 
S. Atfopos, L. Superior wings variegated with deep and yellowish- 
brown, and light-yellowish;' inferior wings yellow, with two brown bands; 
a yellowish spot with two black dots on the thorax; abdomen yellowish, 
with black annuli, and without a terminal brush. This is the largest 
species in France. The spot on the thorax resembling a death’s head, 
and the sharp sound it produces (attributed by Reaumur to its rubbing 
Sphinx proper. LEPIDOPTERA. 
471 
the palpi against its proboscis) have frequently produced considerable 
alarm among the people in certain years when it was unusually abundant. 
The caterpillar is yellow, with blue stripes on the side, and the tail re- 
curved and zig-zag. It feeds on the Potato-vine, Jasmin, &c., and be- 
comes a chrysalis near the end of August. The perfect Insect appears in 
September. 
Our third division, that of the Sesiades, comprises those in which the an- 
tennae are always simple, fusiform and elongated, and frequently termina- 
ted, as in the preceding subgenera, by a little bundle of setae or scales; in 
which the inferior palpi, slender and narrow, have three very distinct joints, 
the last tapering to a point; and where the extremity of the posterior tibiae 
is armed with very stout spines. The abdomen in most of them is termi- 
nated by a sort of brush. 
The caterpillars feed on the internal part of the stems or roots of plants, 
like those of the Hepiali and Cossi, are naked, without a posterior horn, 
and construct their cocoons in these stems with the debris of the substance 
on which they have fed. 
Where the antennae are terminated by a little tuft of scales. The wings 
are horizontal and marked with transparent spots. The scales of the pos- 
terior extremity of the abdomen form a brush. Several of these Insects bear 
a close resemblance to Wasps or other Hymenoptera, to Diptera, &c. 
The fourth and last section of the Sphinges, that of the Zygjeitides, 
is composed of Lepidoptera, in which the antennae, always terminated in a 
point destitute of a tuft, are sometimes simple in both sexes, fusiform or 
resembling a ram’s horn, &c. The wings are almost tectiform, and exhibit 
transparent spots in many. There is no terminal brush to the abdomen. 
The spurs of the posterior extremity are generally small. 
The caterpillars live exposed on various leguminous plants. They are 
cylindrical, usually pilose, without a posterior horn, similar to those of dif- 
ferent species of Bombyx, and form a fusiform or ovoid cocoon of silk, 
which they attach to the stems of plants. 
Sesia. 
ZyGjENA. 
The Zygxnse are not found in the western continent. Their antenna: 
are simple in both sexes, and terminate abruptly in a fusiform club, or one 
resembling a ram’s horn; their inferior palpi extend beyond the clypeus, 
and are pointed at the extremity. 472 
INSECTA. 
FAMILY III.. 
NOCTURNA. 
In the third family of the Lepidoptera, with some few exceptions, 
we also find the wings bridled, when at rest, by a bristle or bundle 
of setae arising from the exterior margin of the lower ones, and pass- 
ing into a ring or groove in the under part of the upper ones. 
The wings are horizontal or inclined and sometimes rolled round 
the body. The antennae gradually diminish in thickness from base 
to point, or are setaceous. 
This family, according to the system of Linnaeus, forms but the 
single genus 
Or that of the Moths. These Lepidoptera seldom fly but at night or after 
sunset. Several have no proboscis. Some of the females are destitute of 
wings, or have but very small ones. The caterpillars most commonly spin 
a cocoon; the number of their feet varies from ten to sixteen. The chry- 
salides are always rounded, or without angular elevations or points. 
The classification of this family is very embarrassing, and with respect to 
it our systems are as yet merely imperfect essays or rude sketches. It is now 
divided into ten sections, each consisting of numerous genera, differing in 
various details of form and habits, both in the larva or caterpillar state, and 
that of the perfect Insect. They are all nocturnal. These sections are 
1. The Hefialites. The caterpillars are rare, and remain concealed in 
the heart of the plants on which they feed; their cocoon is mostly formed 
of particles of the matter that nourishes them. The margin of the abdo- 
minal annuli of the chrysalis is dentated or spinous. The antennae of the 
perfect Insect are always short, and most frequently present but one sort 
of small, short, rounded and crowded teeth. Those of the four others are 
always terminated by a simple thread; but they are furnished inferiorly in 
the males with a double line of setae. The proboscis is always very short, 
and but slightly apparent. The wings are tectiform and usually elongated. 
The last abdominal annuli of the females form an elongated oviduct or sort 
of tail. The caterpillars of these Insects are very injurious to several kinds 
of trees and other useful vegetable productions. 
Here we have Hepialus, Cossus, Stygia, Zeuzera, 8tc. 
PlIAL/ENA, Lin. 
2. The Bombiciteb are distinguished from those of the preceding one LEPIDOPTERA. 
473 
and the third, by the following characters: the proboscis always very short, 
and merely rudimental; wings either extended and horizontal or tectiform, 
but the lower ones extending laterally beyond the others; antennae of the 
males entirely pectinated. 
The caterpillars live in the open air, and feed on the tender parts of plants. 
Most of them form a cocoon of pure silk. The margin of the abdominal 
annuli is not dentated in the chrysalis. 
Bombtx propel’. 
B. mori, L. Whitish, with two or three obscure and transverse streaks; a 
lunated spot on the superior wings. 
The caterpillar is well known by the name of Silk-worm.. It feeds on the 
leaves of the Mulberry, and spins an oval cocoon of a close tissue with very 
fine silk, usually of a yellow colour, and sometimes white. A variety is 
now preferred, which always yields the latter. 
The Bombyx which produces it is originally from the northern provinces 
of China. According to Latreille, the city of Turfan, in Little Bucharia, 
was for a long time the rendezvous of the western caravans, and the chief 
entrepot of the Chinese silks. It was the metropolis of the Seres of Upper 
Asia, or of the Serica of Ptolemy. Driven from their country by the Huns, 
the Seres established themselves in Great Bucharia and in India. It was 
from one of their colonies, Ser-hend (Ser-indi), that Greek missionaries, in 
the reign of Justinian, carried the eggs of the silk-worm to Constantinople. 
At the period of the first crusades, the cultivation of silk was introduced 
into the kingdom of Naples from the Morea, and several centuries after- 
wards, under the administration of Sully particularly, into France. It is 
well known that silk was formerly sold for its weight in gold, and that it 
is now a source of great wealth to France. 
3. The Pseudo-Bombyces, are composed of Lepidoptera, in which, as 
well as in the following ones, the inferior wings are furnished with a bridle 
which fixes them to the superior, when at rest. They are then entirely 
covered by the latter, both being tectiform or horizontal, but with the inner 
margin overlapped. The proboscis, towards the latter end of the tribe, 
begins to lengthen, and, in the last subgenera, even scarcely differs from 
that of other Lepidoptera, except in being somewhat shorter. The anten- 
na are entirely pectinated or serrated, at least in the males. All their 
caterpillars live on the exterior parts of plants. 
There are eight subgenera, Sericaria, Notodonta, Orgyia, &c. 
4. The Afosura are removed, as we have observed in the general 
divisions of this family, by a unique character, viz. the absence of the anal 
feet of the animal in its larva state. The posterior extremity of the body 
terminates in a point, which in several is forked, or even presents two long, 
articulated, and movable appendages, forming a sort of tail. With respect 474 
1NSECTA. 
to their proboscis, palpi, and antenna, these Insects are but slightly re- 
moved from the preceding ones. 
5. The NocTUiKxiTES, Lat., are similar to the preceding Insects in the 
figure and. relative size of the wings, and in their position when at rest, but 
present the two following distinguishing characters: a horny, and most 
commonly long, spirally rolled proboscis; inferior palpi abruptly terminated 
by a very small or much more slender joint than the preceding one; the 
latter much wider, and strongly compressed. 
The body of the Noctuaslites is more covered with scales than with a 
woolly down. Their antennae are usually simple. The back of the thorax 
is frequently tufted, and the abdomen forms an elongated cone; they fly 
with great rapidity. Some of them appear during the day. 
Their caterpillars usually have sixteen feet; the others have two or four 
less, but the two posterior, or anals, are never absent, and in those which 
present but twelve, the anterior pair of the membranous ones are as large 
as the next. Most of these caterpillars enclose themselves in a cocoon to 
complete their metamorphosis. 
Here we have Erebus and Nodua. 
6. The Phalajx® Tortrices, L., are closely allied to the two preceding 
sections. The superior wings, of which the exterior margin is arcuated at 
base and then narrowed, their short and wide figure forming a truncated 
oval, give a very peculiar appearance to these Insects. They have a dis- 
tinct proboscis, and their inferior palpi are usually almost similar to those 
of the Noctuse, but somewhat salient. 
They are small and prettily coloured; their wings are tectiform, but flat- 
tened almost horizontally, and always laid on the body. In this case the 
upper ones are slightly crossed along the inner margin. 
Their caterpillars have sixteen feet, and their body is closely shorn or 
but slightly pilose. They twist and roll up leaves of trees, connecting 
various points of their surface at different times by layers of silken threads 
running in one direction, and thus form a tube in which they reside, and 
feed in tranquillity on their parenchyma. Others form a nest by connecting 
several leaves or flowers with silk. Some of them inhabit fruits. 
The posterior extremity of the body is narrow in several. Their cocoon 
has the figure of a bateau, and is sometimes of pure silk, and at others 
mixed with foreign matters. 
The Tortrices compose the subgenus Pyraxis, Fab. 
7. The Geometry comprise Lepidoptera in which the body is usually 
slender, the proboscis either nearly wanting, or generally but slightly 
elongated, and almost membranous. The inferior palpi are small, and al- 
most cylindrical. The wings are ample, extended, or tectiform and flat- 
tened. The antenna of several males are pectinated. The thorax is always LEPIDOPTERA. 
475 
smooth. The caterpillars usually have but ten feet; the others present 
two more, and those at the extremity always exist. Their peculiar mode 
of progression has caused them to be styled Geometrx, or JYIeusurers. 
When about to advance, they first cling with their anterior or squamous 
feet, then elevate their body so as to form a ring, in order to approximate 
the posterior extremity of the body to the anterior, or that which is fixed; 
they cling with the last feet, disengage the first, and move the body for- 
wards, when they recommence the same operation. Their attitude when at 
rest is singular. Fixed to a branch of some plant by the last feet only, their 
body remains extended in a straight line in the air, and absolutely motion- 
less. So closely does the skin resemble the branch in its colour and ine- 
qualities, that it is easy to confound them. In this way and at an angle of 
forty-five degrees, or more, with the limb to which they are attached, these 
animals remain for hours and even days. 
The chrysalides are almost naked, or their cocoon is extremely thin, and 
poorly furnished with silk. 
This section, exclusive of the caterpillars, contains but one subgenus, or 
PUAL2ENA proper. 
8. The DEiToinEs, Lat., consist of species very analogous to true Pha- 
lsns, but whose caterpillars have fourteen legs, and roll up leaves. In the 
perfect Insect the inferior palpi are elongated and recurved. Its wings 
and body, on the sides of which the former are extended horizontally, 
form a sort of delta, marked by a re-entering angle in the posterior side, or 
appearing to be forked. The antenns are usually pectinated or ciliated. 
The Deltoides form the subgenus IIerminia, Lat. 
9- The Tineites comprise the smallest species of this order. Their 
caterpillars are always closely shorn, furnished with sixteen feet at least, 
and rectigrade, living concealed in dwellings fabricated by themselves, either 
fixed or movable. Here the wings form a sort of elongated and almost 
flattened triangle, terminated by a re-entering angle; such are the Pyra- 
lides of Linnaeus; they have four distinct and usually exposed palpi. There, 
the superior wings are long and narrow, sometimes moulded on the body, 
and forming a sort of rounded roof to it, sometimes almost perpendicularly 
decumbent and laid on the sides, and frequently raised or ascending pos- 
teriorly like the tail of a cock. In both cases the inferior wings are always 
wide and plaited. These species also frequently have the four palpi ex- 
posed. 
All the caterpillars, whose habitations (sheaths) are fixed or immovable, 
are the Pseudo-Tinex of Reaumur; those which construct portable ones, 
which they transport with them, are true Tines. 
The substances on which they feed, or on which they reside, furnish the 
materials of the structure. 
Of those sheaths which are composed of vegetable matters, many are 
very singular. Some, like those of the Adels, are covered exteriorly with 476 
1NSBCTA. 
portions of leaves laid one over the other, and forming a sort of flounce: 
others are in the form of a bat, and sometimes dentated along one of their 
sides. The material of some of them is diaphanous, and as if cellular or 
divided by scales. 
The caterpillars of the true Tinese, commonly called Moths, clothe them- 
selves with particles of woollen stuffs, which they cut with their jaws and 
on which they feed, hairs of furs, and those of the skins of animals in zoolo- 
gical collections, united by silk. They know how to lengthen their sheath, 
or to increase its diameter by slitting it and adding a new piece. In these 
tubes they undergo their metamorphosis, after closing the orifices with silk. 
The Pseudo-Tineae content themselves with mining the interior of the 
vegetable and animal substances on which they feed, and forming simple 
galleries, or if they construct sheaths either with those matters or silk, they 
are always fixed, and are mere places of retreat. 
These caterpillars, which perforate in various directions the parenchyma 
of the leaves on which they feed, have been called Miners. They produce 
those desiccated spaces in the form of spots and undulating lines, frequently 
observed on leaves. Buds, fruits, and seeds of plants, frequently those of 
wheat, and even the resinous galls of certain Conifers, serve for aliment 
and habitations to others. These Insects are frequently ornamented with 
the most brilliant colours. In several species the superior wings are deco- 
rated with golden or silver spots, sometimes even in relief. 
Agiossa, Lat. 
Where the four palpi are exposed, and the wings form a flattenedtriangle; 
there is no emargination in the extremity of the upper one. 
A. pinguinalis. Superior wings agate-grey, with blackish stripes and 
spots. Found in houses on the walls. 
Its caterpillar is naked, blackish-brown, glossy, and feeds on fatty or bu. 
tyraceous substances. Reaumur called it the Fausseteigne-des cuirs, be- 
cause it also feeds on leather and the covers of books. It constructs a tube 
which it places against the body on which it feeds, and covers it with gra- 
nules. 
Galleiiia, Fab. 
Where the scales of the clypeus form a projection that covers the palpi; 
and the superior wings, proportionally narrower than in Aglossa, andemargin- 
ated in the posterior edge, are, as well as the inferior ones, strongly inclined 
and turned up posteriorly like the tail of a cock, as in many species of the 
following subgenera. 
O. cereana, Fab. About five lines in length; cinereous; head and thorax 
paler, and little brown spots along the internal margin of the superior wings. 
Reaumur designates its caterpillar by the name of fausse-teigne de la cire 
It ravages hives by penetrating into the combs, constructing, as it pro. 
gresses, a silken tube covered with granules, which are formed of the wax LEP1DOPTEKA. 
477 
on which it feeds. The cocoons of their chrysalides are sometimes found 
collected in piles. 
Tixea. 
Where the proboscis is very short and formed of two little membranous 
and separated threads. The head is crested. 
P. tapezana, Fab. Upper wings black; their posterior extremity, as well 
as the head, white. 
The caterpillar attacks cloth and other woollen stuffs, on which it lies 
concealed in a semi-tubular sheath formed of their particles, which it 
lengthens as it advances. 
T. pellionella, Fab. Upper wings silver grey, with one or two black dots 
on each. The caterpillar inhabits a felted tube on furs; it cuts the hairs at 
base and rapidly destroys them. The 
T. Jlavifrontella, Fab., ravages cabinets of natural history in the same way. 
T. granella, Fab. Its upper wings are marbled with grey, brown and 
black, and turned up posteriorly. The caterpillar—fausse-teigne des bits— 
connects several grains of wheat with silk, and forms a tube from which it 
occasionally issues to feed upon those seeds. It is very noxious. 
10. The FissiPEJTNiB are closely related to the preceding Insects, so far 
as relates to the narrow and elongated form of the body and upper wings, 
but are removed from them, as well as from all others of this order, by the 
four wings, or at least two, being split longitudinally in the manner of 
branches or fingers with fringed edges, and resembling feathers. The 
wings resemble those of Birds. They constitute the subgenus 
Pterophobtts. 
The caterpillars have sixteen feet, and live on leaves or flowers without 
constructing a tube. 
ORDER XI. 
RHIPIPTERA. 
This order was established by M. Kirby under the name of Stre- 
siptera (twisted wings), on certain Insects remarkable for their 
anomalous form and irregular habits. 
From the two sides of the anterior extremity of the trunk, near 
the neck and the exterior base of the two first legs, are inserted two 
small, crustaceous, movable bodies, in the form of little elytra, di- 
rected backwards, that are narrow, elongated, clavate, curved at 478 
INSECTA. 
the extremity, and terminate at the origin of the wings. As elytra, 
properly so called, always cover the whole or the base of the’latter 
organs and arise from the second segment of the trunk, these bodies 
are not true wing-cases, but parts analogous to those (pterygoda) 
we have already observed at the base of the wings in the Lepidop- 
tera. The wings of the Rhipiptera are large, membranous, divided 
by longitudinal and radiating nervures, and fold longitudinally in the 
manner of a fan. The mouth consists of four pieces, two of which, 
the shortest, appear to be so many biarticulated palpi; the others 
inserted near the internal base of the preceding ones, resemble little 
linear laminae, which are pointed and crossed at their extremity like 
the mandibles of various Insects; they bear a greater similitude to 
the lancets of the sucker of the Diptera than to true mandibles. 
The head is also furnished with two large hemispherical, slightly 
pediculated, and granular eyes; two almost filiform and short an- 
tennas, approximated at base on a common elevation, consisting of 
three joints, the two first of which are very short, and the third very 
long, and divided down to its origin into two long, compressed, lan- 
ceolate branches, laid one against the other. The ocelli are want- 
ing. The form and divisions of the trunk are very similar to those 
of several Cicadariee, Psyllae, and Chrysides. The abdomen is 
almost cylindrical, consists of eight or nine segments, and is termi- 
nated by pieces also analogous to those observed at the extremity 
of the above mentioned Hemiptera. 
These Insects, in their larvae state, live between the abdominal 
scales of several species of Andrenae and Wasps of the subgenus 
Polistes. They frisk about with a simultaneous motion of the wings 
and halteres. Although they appear to be removed in several res- 
pects from the Hymenoptera, I still think it is to some of those In- 
sects, such as the Eulophi, that they are most nearly allied. 
M. Peck has observed one of the larvae—Xenos PecJcii—which 
is found on Wasps. It forms an oblong oval, is destitute of feet, and 
is annulated or plaited; the anterior extremity is dilated in the form 
of a head, and the mouth consists of three tubercles. These larvae 
become nymphs in the same place, and, as it appeared to me, when 
examining the nymphs of the Xenos Rossi, another Insect of the 
same order, within their own skin, and without changing their form. 
Nature has perhaps furnished the Rhipiptera with the two false 
elytra of which we have spoken, to enable them to disengage them- RHIPIPTERA. 
479 
selves from between the abdominal scales of the Insects on which 
they have lived. They are a sort of CEstri to Insects, and we shall 
soon find a species of Conops that undergoes its metamorphosis in 
the abdomen of the Bombi. The Rhipiptera form two genera. 
The first one observed and instituted by M. Kirby. The superior branch 
of the last segment of the antennae is composed of three little joints. The 
abdomen is retractile and fleshy. 
But a single species is known; it lives on the Andrenae. 
Stylops, Kirb. 
Xenos, Ross. 
Here the two branches of the antennae are inarticulated. The abdo- 
men, with the exception of the anus, which is fleshy and retractile, is cor- 
neous. 
Two species of this genus are known, one of which lives on the Wasp 
called gallica, and the other on an analogous Wasp of North America, the 
Polistes fucata, Fab. 
ORDER XII. 
DIPTERA(l). 
The distinguishing characters of dipterous Insects consist in six 
feet; two membranous, extended wings, with, almost always, two 
movable bodies above them called halteres; a sucker composed of 
squamous, setaceous pieces, varying in number from two to six, and 
either enclosed in the superior groove of a probosciform sheath ter- 
minated by two lips, or covered by one or two inarticulated laminae 
which form a sheath for it. 
Their body, like that of other hexapoda, is composed of three 
principal parts. The number of ocelli, when any are present, is 
always three. The antennas are usually inserted on the front and 
approximated at base; those of the Diptera of our first family resem- 
ble those of the nocturnal Lepidoptera in form and composition, and 
frequently in their appendages, but in the following and greater 
number of families they consist of but two or three joints, the last 
(1) Two winged. 480 
INSECTA. 
of which is fusiform or shaped like a lenticular or prismatic palette, 
furnished either with a little styliform appendage, or a thick hair or 
seta, sometimes simple and sometimes hairy. Their mouth is only 
adapted for extracting and transmitting fluids. When these nutri- 
tive substances are contained in particular vessels with permeable 
parietes, the appendages of the sucker act as lancets, pierce the 
envelope, and open a passage to the fluid, which, by their pressure, 
is forced to ascend the internal canal to the pharynx, situated at the 
base of the sucker. The sheath of the latter, or the external part 
of the proboscis, merely serves to maintain the lancets in situ, and 
when they are to be employed it is bent back. The base of the 
proboscis frequently bears two filiform or clavate palpi, composed, 
in some, of five joints, but in the greater number of one or two. 
The wings are simply veined, and most frequently horizontal. 
The use of the halteres is not yet well known; the Insect moves 
them very rapidly. In many species, those of the last families par- 
ticularly, and above the halteres, are two membranous appendages 
resembling the valves of a shell, and connected by one of their sides, 
called (ailerons or cuillcrons) alulae. One of these pieces is united 
to the wing and participates in all its motions, but then the two parts 
are nearly in the same plane. The size of these alulae is in an in- 
verse ratio to that of the halteres. The prothorax is always very 
short, and frequently we can merely discover its lateral portions. 
The abdomen is frequently attached to the thorax by a portion 
only of its transversal diameter. It is composed of from five to nine 
apparent annuli, and usually terminates in a point in the females; in 
those where the number of annuli is less, the last ones frequently 
form a sort of ovipositor presenting a succession of little tubes slid- 
ing into each other like the joints of a spy-glass. Their usually 
long and slender legs are terminated by a tarsus of five joints, the 
last of which has two hooks, and very often two or three vesicular 
or membranous pellets. 
Many of these Insects are noxious both by sucking our blood 
and that of our domestic animals, by depositing their eggs on 
their body in order that their larvae may feed on them, and by infect- 
ing our preserved meats and cerealia. Others in return are highly 
useful to us by devouring noxious Insects, and consuming dead bo- 
dies and animal substances left on the surface of the earth, that poi- 
son the air we breathe, and by accelerating the dissipation of 
stagnant and putrid water. 481 
The term of life assigned to the perfect Aptera is very short. 
They all undergo a perfect metamorphosis, modified in two princi- 
pal ways. The larvae of several change their skin to become 
nymphs. Some even spin a cocoon, but others never change their 
tegument, which becomes sufficiently solid to form a case for the 
nymph, resembling a seed or an egg. The body of the larva is first 
detached from it, leaving on its internal parietes the external organs 
peculiar to it, such as the hooks of the mouth, &,c. It soon as- 
sumes the form of a soft or gelatinous mass, on which none of the 
parts that characterize the perfect Insect can be seen. After the 
lapse of a few days, those organs become defined and the Insect is 
a true nymph. It extricates itself from confinement by separating 
the anterior extremity of its case which comes off like a cap. 
The larvae of the Diptera are destitute of feet, though appendages 
that resemble them are observable in some. This order of Insects 
is the only one in which we find larvae with a soft and variable head. 
This character is almost exclusively peculiar to the larvae of those 
which are metamorphosed under their skin. Their mouth is usually 
furnished with two hooks that enable them to stir up alimentary 
substances. The principal orifices of respiration, in most of the 
larvae of the same order, are situated at the posterior extremity of 
their body. Several of them, besides, present two stigmata on the 
first ring, that which immediately follows the head or replaces it. 
We will divide the Diptera into two principal sections. In those 
which compose the first, the head is always distinct from the thorax, 
the sucker is enclosed in a sheath, and the hooks of the tarsi are 
simple or dentated. The metamorphosis of the larvae into nymphs 
is always affected after they have left the mother. In the first sub- 
division we find Diptera whose antennae are multi-articulated. 
DIPTERA. 
FAMILY I. 
NEMOCERA. 
in this family the antennae usually consist of from fourteen to six- 
teen joints, and from six, or nine, to twelve, in the others. They are 
either filiform or setaceous, frequently hairy, particularly in the 
males, and much longer than the head. The body is elongated, 
the head small and rounded, the eyes large, the proboscis salient, 482 
and either short and terminated by two large lips, or prolonged into a 
siphon-like rostrum, with two exterior palpi inserted at its base, 
usually filiform or setaceous and composed of four or five joints. 
The thorax is thick and elevated; the wings are oblong; the halteres 
are entirely exposed and apparently unaccompanied with alulae. 
The abdomen is elongated, and most commonly formed of nine an- 
nuli; it terminates in a point in the female, but is thicker at the end 
and furnished with hooks in the males. The legs are very long and 
slender, and are frequently used by these Insects to balance them- 
selves. Several, particularly the smaller ones, collect in the air in 
numerous swarms, and, as they flit about, form a sort of dance. 
They are found at almost every season of the year. Some of the 
females commit their ova to the water; others deposit them in the 
earth or on plants. 
The larvae, always elongated and resembling worms, have a squa- 
mous head, always of the same shape, the mouth of which is fur- 
nished with parts analogous to maxillae and lips. They always 
change their skin to become nymphs. The latter, sometimes naked, 
and sometimes enclosed in cocoons constructed by the larvae, ap- 
proximate in their figure to the perfect Insect, present their external 
organs, and complete their metamorphosis in the usual manner. 
They have frequently, near the head or on the thorax, two organs 
of respiration resembling tubes. This family is composed of the 
genera Culex and Tipula of Linnaeus. 
Some, in which the antennae are always filiform, as long as the 
thorax, densely pilose, and composed of fourteen joints, have along, 
projecting, filiform proboscis, containing a piercing sucker consist- 
ing of five setae. They constitute the genus 
1NSECTA. 
Or the Mosqueloes, where the body and leg's are elongated and hairy; the 
antenna: densely pilose, the hairs forming tufts in the males; th’e eyes large 
and closely approximated or convergent at their posterior extremity; the 
palpi projecting, filiform, hairy, as long as the proboscis, and composed of 
five joints in the males, shorter and apparently with fewer articulations in 
the females. The proboscis is composed of a membranous, cylindrical 
tube, terminated by two lips forming a little button or inflation, and of a 
sucker consisting of five squamous threads which produces the effect of a 
sting. The wings are laid horizontally, one over the other, on the body, 
with little scales. 
The torment we experience from these Insects, particularly in the vicinity 
Culex, Lin. DIPTERA. 
483 
of low grounds and water, where they are most abundant, is well known. 
These Insects also feed on the nectar of flowers. 
The female deposits her eggs on the surface of the water, and places them 
side by side in a perpendicular direction; the entire mass resembles a little 
bateau floating on that element. Each female lays about three hundred 
eggs in the course of the year. These Insects frequently survive the most 
intense cold. Their larvae swarm in the green and stagnant waters of ponds 
and ditches, particularly in spring, the period at which those females lay 
their eggs who have passed through the winter. They suspend themselves 
on the surface of the water in order to respire, with their head downwards. 
These larvae are very lively, swim with considerable velocity, and dive from 
time to time, but soon return to the surface. After some changes of tegu- 
ment, they then become nymphs, which still continue to move by means 
of their tail and its two terminal fins. These nymphs also remain on the 
surface of the water, but in a different position from that of the larvse, their 
respiratory organs being placed on the thorax; they consist of two tubular 
horns. It is in the water also that the perfect Insect is developed. Its 
exuviae form a sort of float or resting place, which keeps it from submer- 
sion. All these metamorphoses occur in the space of three or four weeks, 
and several generations are produced in the course of the year. 
In the other Nemocera, the proboscis is either very short and 
terminated by two large lips, or in the form of a siphon or rostrum, 
but directed perpendicularly or curved on the pectus. The palpi 
are bent underneath, or turned up, but in that case, from one to 
two joints only. 
Linnaeus comprises them in his genus 
Tipula. 
Which is now variously divided and subdivided. It includes the various 
species of the Crane-fly. 
All the following Diptera, a small number excepted, have their 
antennas composed of three joints, the first of which is so short, that 
it may be excluded from the supputation; the last isannulated trans- 
versely, but without distinct divisions. It is frequently accompanied 
with a seta, usually lateral, and situated on the summit in others 
presenting two joints at base, sometimes simple and sometimes silky 
The palpi never have more than two joints. 
Some, a few excepted, whose larvae divest themselves of their 
skin previous to becoming pupae, always have a sucker composed 
of six or four pieces; the proboscis, or at least its extremity, that is 
to say, its lips, is always salient. The palpi, when they exist, are 484 
INSECTA. 
exterior, and inserted near the margin of the oral cavity, close to 
which arises the sucker. 
The larvae, even of those in which the skin forms a cocoon for 
the pupa (Stratiomis), retain their primitive form. 
This subdivision will comprise three families. 
FAMILY II. 
TAN YSTOM A. (1) 
The Diptera of this family are distinguished from those of the two 
following ones by the last joint of the antennas, which, exclusive of 
the seta which may terminate it, presents no transverse division; the 
sucker is composed of four pieces. 
Their larvae resemble long and almost cylindrical worms, with a 
constant and squamous head, always provided with hooks or retrac- 
tile appendages, by which they are enabled to gnaw or suck the 
alimentary matters on which they feed. They change their skin to 
undergo their second metamorphosis. The nymphs are naked, and 
exhibit several of the external parts of the perfect Insect, which is- 
sues from its exuviae, through a slit in the back. 
In our first division we find species whose proboscis, always en- 
tirely (or nearly) salient, with the exterior envelope or the sheath 
of the sucker solid or almost corneous, projects more or less in the 
form of a tube or siphon, sometimes cylindrical or conical, and 
sometimes filiform, and terminates without any remarkable enlarge- 
ment, the lips being small or confounded with the sheath. The 
palpi are small. 
Some, that are rapacious, have an oblong body, the thorax nar- 
rowed before, and the wings incumbent; their proboscis is most 
commonly short or but slightly elongated, and forms a sort of ros- 
trum. The antennae are always approximated, and the palpi ap- 
parent. 
Asilus, Lin. 
Where the proboscis is directed forwards. They fly with a humming 
noise, are carnivorous, voracious, and according to their size and power, 
seize on Flies, Tipulse, Bombi or Coleopterae, which they then exhaust by 
(1) Long-mouthed. DIPTERA. 
485 
suction. Their larvae have a small squamous head, armed with two mova- 
ble hooks, live in the earth, and there become nymphs, whose thorax is 
furnished with dentated hooks, and the abdomen with small spines. 
Closely allied to Asilus in the form of the body and the position of the 
wing's, but with the proboscis perpendicular or directed backwards. The 
head is rounded and almost globular; the eyes very large. 
These Insects are small and live on prey and the nectar of flowers. The 
last joint of their antennae is always terminated by a biarticulated or short 
stilet, or by a seta. 
The remaining Tanystoma of our first division usually have a short, wide 
body, the head applied directly to the thorax, the wings distant and the 
abdomen triangular. In a word, their general appearance is that of our 
domestic Fly. Their proboscis is frequently long. 
Empis, Lin. 
Cyrtus, Lat. 
Intermediate between Empis and Bombylius. The wings are inclined on 
each side of the body; and the alulae very large and covering the halteres; 
the head is small and globular, the thorax very high or gibbous, the abdo- 
men vesicular and rounded, or almost cubical; the antennae are closely ap- 
proximated, and the proboscis is directed backwards or wanting. 
Bombylius, Lin.—Bombyliers, Lat. 
Where the wings are extended horizontally on each side of the body, and 
the halteres are exposed. The thorax is higher than the head, or gibbous 
as in Cyrtus; the antennas are closely approximated, and the abdomen is 
triangular or conical; the proboscis is directed forwards. The proboscis is 
generally very long and most slender at the extremity. Their legs are long 
and attenuated. They fly with great velocity, hover over flowers without 
alighting on them, introduce their trunk into their calyx to obtain their 
nectar, and produce a sharp humming sound. 
Similar to Bombylius; but where the body is depressed, or but slightly ele- 
vated and not gibbous, with the head as high and as broad as itself. The 
antennae are always short, and distinct from each other, and always termin- 
ated by a subulate or punch-like joint. The proboscis, except in a small 
number, is generally short, extending but little beyond the head, frequently 
even withdrawn into its oral cavity, and terminated by a little inflation 
formed by the lips. The palpi are usually concealed, small, filiform, and 
each, at least in several, adhering to one of the threads of the sucker. The 
abdomen is less triangular than that of the Bombylii, and partly square. 
These Insects are generally hairy. Their habits are very analogous to 
Anthrax, Scop. Fab. 486 
INSECTA. 
those last mentioned. They frequently alight on the ground, on walls ex- 
posed to the sun, and on leaves. 
Our second general division of the Tanystoma is characterized by 
a membranous proboscis, usually with a short stem, projecting but 
slightly and terminated by two very distinct and raised or ascending 
lips. 
The form of the head in the larvae of the last Diptera of this divi- 
sion is variable. 
In some—Leptides—the wings are distant and exhibit several 
complete cells. The antennae are not terminated en palette. The 
palpi are filiform or conical. 
Sometimes these palpi are withdrawn into the oral cavity. The 
antennae have a fusiform termination or one resembling an elongated 
cone, with a little articulated stilet at the end. 
Thereva, Lat. 
T.plebeia. Black, with cinereous hairs; abdominal annuli margined with 
white. On plants. 
Sometimes the palpi are exterior. The last joint of the antennas 
is either almost globular or reniform, or nearly ovoid or conical, and 
terminated by a long seta. 
The tarsi are furnished with three pellets. They form the genus 
Which is divided into several sub genera. We may notice the 
L. vermileo. Resembling a Tipula; yellow; four black streaks on the 
thorax; the abdomen elongated, with five ranges of black spots; wings im- 
maculate. 
The larva is almost cylindrical; its anterior portion is much the smallest, 
and there are four mandibles on the opposite extremity. It resembles a 
stick-like geometra (caterpillar), and is equally rigid when withdrawn from 
its domicil. It bends its body in every direction, advances and moves about 
in the sand, and excavates there an infundibuliform cavity, at the bottom of 
which it secretes itself either entirely or partially. If an Insect be preci- 
pitated into the trap it rises suddenly, clasps it with its body, pierces it with 
the stings or hooks of its head, and sucks it. It flings away the carcass as 
well as the sand, by bending its body, and then suddenly relaxing it, like a 
bow. 
The pupa is covered with a layer of sand. 
Leptis. 
The other Tanystoma of our second division have their wings in- DIPTERA. 
487 
cumbent on the body. The antennae terminate in a palette, almost 
always accompanied by a seta. The palpi of the greater number 
are'flattened or laminiform, and laid on the proboscis. 
These characters, a body compressed on the sides, a triangular 
head, slightly projecting in the manner of a snout, the abdomen 
curved underneath, and long slender legs furnished with little spines, 
particularly distinguish the genus 
Dolichopus, Lat. Fab 
Which now forms a small tribe. These Insects are frequently green or 
cupreous. The legs are long and very slender. They are found on walls, 
trunks of trees, &.c. Some of them run along the surface of the water 
with great celerity. 
FAMILY III. 
TABANIDES. 
Our third family of the Diptera is characterized by a salient pro- 
boscis, usually terminated by two lips with projecting palpi, by the 
last joint of the antennae being annulated, and by a sucker composed 
of six pieces: it comprises the genus 
Or the Horse-flies. These Diptera are very similar to large Flies, and well 
known by the torment they occasion to cattle, by piercing their skin in 
order to suck their blood. Their body is usually but slightly pilose. 
Their head is as wide as the thorax, almost hemispherical, and with the 
exception of a small space, particularly in the males, occupied by two eyes, 
generally of a golden-green, with purple spots or streaks. Their antennas 
are about the length of the head, and are composed of three joints, the 
last of which is the longest, terminates in a point, has neither seta nor stilet 
at the end, is frequently lunate above its base, and with from three to seven 
transverse and superficial divisions. The proboscis of the greater number 
is almost membranous, perpendicular, of the length of the head or some 
what shorter, almost cylindrical, and terminated by two elongated lips. 
The two palpi, usually incumbent on it, are thick, pilose, conical, 
compressed and biarticulated. The sucker inclosed in the proboscis is 
composed of six small pieces, in the form of lancets, which, by their num- 
ber and relative situation, correspond to the parts of the mouth in the Co- 
leoptera. The wings are extended horizontally on each side of the body. 
The alulae almost completely cover the halteres. The abdomen is triangu- 
lar and depressed. The tarsi are furnished with three pellets. 
Tabanus, Lin. 488 
These Insects begin to appear towards the. close of spring, are very com- 
mon in the woods and pastures, and produce a humming noise when on the 
wing. They even pursue Man in order to suck his blood. Beasts of bur- 
den, having no means of repulsing them, are most exposed to their attacks, 
and are sometimes seen covered with blood from the wounds they inflict. 
The Insect mentioned by Bruce, under the name of Tsaltsalya, which is 
dreaded even by the Lion, may possibly belong to this genu3. 
T. bovinus, L. An inch long; body brown above, grey beneath; eyes 
green; tibiae yellow; transverse lines and triangular spots of pale yellow on 
the abdomen; wings transparent, with russet-brown nervures. 
The larva lives in the ground. It is elongated, cylindrical, and attenua- 
ted towards the head, which is armed with two hooks. The nymph is 
naked, and ascends to the surface of the soil when about to divest itself of 
its skin, in order to assume the form of a Tabanus, and protrudes the half 
of its body above it. 
INSECTA. 
FAMILY IY. 
NOTACANTHA.(l) 
The fourth family of the Diptera, as well as the preceding one, 
presents antennae of which the third and last joint is divided trans- 
versely in the manner of a ring, or which are even composed of five 
very distinct joints; but the sucker is formed of only four pieces, 
and the proboscis, the stem of which is usually very short, is almost 
entirely retracted within the oral cavity. The membranous nature 
of that organ and its turned up lips, its similarly raised and clavate 
palpi, the relative disposition of the wings which are usually crossed, 
the form of the abdomen which is rather oval or orbicular than tri- 
angular, and finally the scutellum which is frequently armed with 
teeth or spines, also distinguish the Notacantha from the Tabanides. 
But few of their larvrn have been observed. Such as have been 
discovered are described and figured by Swammerdam, Reaumer 
and Reesel, are aquatic, and approximate to those of the Athericera 
in their soft head, varying in form, and in their habit of becoming 
pupae under their own skin; but they retain their primitive form and 
proportions, thus differing from those of the latter. 
Other larvae of the Notacantha—Xylophagus—live in the carious 
and diseased parts of trees. 
1) Spiny-backed. DIPTERA. 
489 
We divide the Notacantha into three principal sections. 
Those of the first—Mydasii, Lat.—never have teeth or spines 
in the scutellum. Their body is oblong, and the abdomen forms an 
elongated and conical triangle. The wings are distant. Their an- 
tennas, from which we draw their most distinguishing character, are 
sometimes composed of five distinct joints, the two last of which form 
a club in some, and the extremity of a cylindrical stem with a subu- 
late termination in others, and sometimes of three joints, the last of 
which is largest, almost cylindrical, tapers to a point and is divided 
into three annulij thus these organs are always divided into five. 
In some the antennae are much longer than the head, consist of 
five joints, are terminated in an elongated club formed by the two 
last, with an umbilicus at the end from which issues a very short 
seta. The posterior thighs are stout, and dentated or spinous on 
the inner side. The tarsi have but two pellets. The posterior cells 
of the wings are complete or closed before the margin, or narrow 
or elongated, oblique or transverse. 
These Insects compose the genus 
Which is divided into two subgenera. Ceyhaeoceka, Lat., where the 
proboscis is in the form of a long and projecting siphon, and Mydas, Fab. 
or Mydas proper, where that organ, as is usual in this family, terminates by 
two large lips. 
Mydas, 
In the others, the antennae are scarcely longer than the head, cy- 
lindrical, and tapering to a point at their extremity. The tarsi are 
furnished with three pellets. The posterior cells of the wings are 
longitudinal and closed by their posterior margin. 
Chihomyza, Wied. 
Where the antenna are composed of five well separated joints, the two 
last of which are the smallest. 
Pachystomus, Lat. 
Where the antenna are composed of three joints, the last of which is divided 
into as many rings. 
In the second section, that of the Decatoma, Lat., we find anten- 
nae always composed of three joints, the last of which, the longest, 
without stilet or seta, and divided into eight rings, is clavate in 490 
INSECTA* 
some, and almost cylindrical or in the form of an elongated cone in 
the others. The wings are usually incumbent on the body. The 
tarsi are furnished with three pellets. 
These Insects may be united in one generic section. 
In Xylophagus proper, the body is narrow and elongated, and the antennae 
are evidently somewhat longer than the head, and terminated by an almost 
cylindrical joint. The head is short, transversal, and without any particular 
elevation anteriorly. 
Xylophagus. 
In the third section—Stratiomydes, Lat.,—we also find antennas 
consisting of three joints, the last of which, exclusive of the stilet or 
seta, presents at most five or six rings. This stilet, or that seta, 
exists in almost all of them, and in those where they are wanting, 
the third joint is elongated and fusiform, and always divided into five 
or six rings. The wings are always incumbent one on the other. 
In several of those species where the antennae terminate in a some- 
what oval and globular club, and always furnished with a stilet or a 
seta, the scutellum is not spinous. 
This section comprises the genus 
Stkatiomys, Geoff. 
In Stratiomys, properly so called, the antennae are much longer than the 
head, the first and last joint being greatly elongated; the latter is fusiform, 
or resembles a narrow and elongated club, narrowed at both ends, consist- 
ing of at least five distinct rings, without an abrupt stilet at the extremity. 
The two rings that compose it are not distinguished from the others by any 
sudden contraction. 
The body of the larvae is long, flattened, invested by a coriaceous or firm 
skin and divided into annuli, of which the three last form a tail terminated 
by numerous plumose hairs which radiate from the extremity. They in- 
habit water. 
Our second general division of the Diptera, which are provided 
with a sucker enclosed in a sheath, and whose antennae consist of 
but three or two joints, comprises those whose proboscis, usually 
bilabiate, long, geniculate, and bearing the palpi a little above the 
elbow, is most commonly entirely contained in the oral cavity, and 
when always salient, has a sucker composed of only two pieces. 
The last joint of the antennas, always accompanied by a stilet or seta, DIPTERA. 
491 
never exhibits annular divisions. The palpi, when at rest, are con- 
cealed. 
FAMILY Y. 
ATHERICERA. 
Here the proboscis is usually terminated by two large lips. The 
sucker is never composed of more than four pieces, and frequently 
presents but two. 
The larvm have a very soft, extremely contractile, annulated body, 
narrowest and most pointed anteriorly. The head varies as to 
figure, and its external organs consist of one or two hooks, accom- 
panied in some genera by mammillas, and probably in all by a sort 
of tongue destined to receive the nutritious juices on which they 
feed. They usually have four stigmata, two situated on the first 
ring, one on each side, and the two others on as many circular, 
squamous plates, at the posterior extremity of the body. It has 
been observed that these latter, at least in several, were formed of 
three smaller and closely approximated stigmata. The larva has 
the faculty of enveloping these parts with the marginal skin, which 
forms a sort of purse. They never change their skin. That which 
invests them when first hatched becomes indurated, and thus forms 
a sort of cocoon for the pupa. It becomes shortened, assumes an 
ovoidal or globular figure, and the anterior portion, which in the 
larva was the narrowest, increases in diameter, oris sometimes even 
thicker than the opposite extremity. Traces of the annuli, and 
frequently vestiges of the stigmata are observed on it, although the 
latter no longer serve for respiration. The body is gradually de- 
tached from the skin or cocoon, assumes the figure of an elongated 
and extremely soft ball, on which none of its parts are perceptible, 
and soon passes into the state of a pupa. The Insect issues from 
its shell, by removing with its head the anterior extremity, which flies 
off like a cap, that part of the cocoon being so disposed as to facili- 
tate this result. 
But few of the Athericera are carnivorous in their perfect state. 
They are generally found on trees, leaves and flowers. 
Their proboscis is always long, membranous, geniculate near the 
base, terminated by two large lips, and encloses the sucker in a su- 492 
INSECTA. 
perior groove. The upper piece of this sucker, which is inserted 
near the elbow, is broad, arched and emarginated at its extremity; 
the three others are linear and pointed, or setaceous; to each of the 
two lateral ones, representing the maxillae, is annexed a little mem- 
branous, narrow palpus, slightly widened and rounded at the end; 
the inferior seta is analogous to the ligula. The head is hemis- 
pherical, and mostly occupied by the eyes, that of the males parti- 
cularly. Its anterior extremity is frequently prolonged in the man- 
ner of a snout or rostrum, receiving the proboscis underneath when 
it is doubled. Several species resemble Bombi and other Wasps. 
This tribe will comprise but the single genus 
Syrphus. 
In Syrphus, properly so called, the abdomen is gradually narrowed from 
base to point. 
The larvx feed exclusively on Aphides of all kinds, frequently holding 
them in the air, and soon exhausting them by suction. Their body forms 
a sort of elongated cone, and is very uneven, or even spinous. When 
about to become pupx, they fix themselves to leaves, &c. with a kind of 
glue. The body is shortened, and its anterior portion, which was pre- 
viously the most slender, then becomes the thickest. 
The sucker of all the remaining Athericera consist of but two 
setae, the superior representing the labrum, and the inferior the 
ligula. 
They form three other small tribes which will correspond to the 
genera CEstrus and Conops of Linnaeus, and to the Musca, Fab. as 
originally composed. 
We will begin with the tribe of the (Estrides consisting of the 
genus 
CEstrus, Lin. 
Which is very distinct, as in place of the mouth we find but three tubercles, 
or slight rudiments of the proboscis and palpi. 
These Insects resemble large and densely pilose Flies, and their hairs are 
frequently coloured in bands like those of the Bombi. Their antenna are 
very short; each is inserted in a fossula over the front, and terminated by 
a rounded palette with a simple seta on the back near its origin. Their 
wings are usually remote; the alula are large and conceal the halteres. 
The tarsi are terminated by two hooks and two pellets. 
These Insects are rarely found in their perfect state, the time of their 
appearance and the localities they inhabit being very limited. As they 493 
DIPTERA. 
deposit their egg9 on the body of various herbivorous quadrupeds, it is in 
woods and pastures that we must look for them. Each species of CEstrus 
is usually a parasite of one same species of some mammiferous animal, and 
selects for the location of its eggs the only part of its body that is suitable 
for its larvae, whether they are to remain there, or pass from thence to the 
spot suited for their development. The Ox, Horse, Ass, Rein-deer, Stag, 
Antelope, Camel, Sheep and Hare are the only quadrupeds yet known, 
which are subject to be inhabited by the larvae of the CEstri. They seem 
to have an extraordinary dread of the Insect when it is buzzing about them 
for the purpose of depositing its eggs. 
The domicil of the larvae is of three kinds; we may distingush them by 
the names of cutaneous, cervical, and gastric, as some live in the lumps or 
tumours formed on the skin, others in some part of the interior of the head, 
and the rest in the stomach of the animal destined to support them. 
CE. bovis, De Geer. From six to seven lines in length, and densely pi- 
lose; thorax yellow, with a black band; abdomen white at base, with a ful- 
vous extremity; wings somewhat obscure. 
The female deposits her eggs under the hide of healthy Oxen and Cows, 
of not more than two or three years of age. The consequence of this ope- 
ration are tumours or lumps, on the internal pus of which the larva feed. 
Horses also are subject to them. 
The Rein-Deer, Antelope, Hare, &c., also nourish various larva of CEstri, 
but of a different species. 
CE. ovis, L. Five lines in length, and but slightly pilose; head greyish; 
thorax cinereous, with elevated black points; abdomen yellowish, finely 
spotted with brown or black; legs pale-brown; wings transparent. The 
larva inhabits the frontal sinus of the Sheep. That of the species called 
trompe, Fab., is found in the same parts in the Rein-Deer. 
CE. equi, Lat.; Clarck. But slightly pilose, and of a fulvous brown; ab- 
domen paler; two points and a band on the wings, black. The female de- 
posits her ova on the legs and shoulders of Horses; the larvae inhabit their 
stomach. 
The third tribe of the Athericera, that of the is the 
only one of that family in which the proboscis is either always sali- 
ent and siphoniform, cylindrical or conical, or setaceous. The re- 
ticulation of the wings is the same as in our first division of the 
Muscides. 
Most of these Insects are found on plants. They form the genus 
Conops, Lin. 
In Conops, properly so called, the two last joints of the antennae formed a 
club, with a terminal stilet. 
C. nifipes; Fab. Black; abdominal annuli edged with white; base of the 
abdomen and legs fulvous; edge of the wings black. 494 
INSECTA. 
It undergoes its metamorphosis in the abdomen of a living Bombus, and 
issues from between its rings. 
Our fourth and last tribe, that of the Muscides, is distinguished 
from the three preceding ones by a very apparent, always membra- 
nous and bilabiate proboscis, usually bearing two palpi (the Phorae 
alone excepted), susceptible of being entirely retracted within the 
oral cavity; and by a sucker composed cf two pieces. The antennae 
always terminate en palette with a lateral seta. 
This tribe will comprise the genus 
Musca, Lin. 
Or that of the Flies. Antenna inserted near the front, palpi placed on the 
proboscis, and retiring1 with it into the oral cavity, and transverse nervures 
in the wings, characterize a first section of the Muscides, which will in- 
clude eight principal groups or sub-tribes. 
These groups are composed of various subgenera—we will merely parti- 
cularize that of 
Musca, properly so called, or the true Fly, where the abdomen is trian- 
gular, and the eyes are contiguous posteriorly, or closely approximated in 
the males. 
Here come most of those Flies whose larvae feed on carrion, meat, &c.; 
others of the same subgenus inhabit dung. They all resemble soft, whitish 
worms without feet, thickest and truncated at the posterior extremity, and 
becoming gradually smaller towards the opposite one, which terminates in 
a point furnished with two hooks, with which they divide their aliment, and 
accelerate its decomposition. The metamorphosis of these Insects is effect- 
ed in a few days. The posterior extremity of the abdomen of the females 
is narrowed and prolonged in the manner of a tube or ovipositor, by which 
she can insert her eggs. 
M. vomitoria, L. A large species; front fulvous; thorax black; abdomen 
glossy-blue with black streaks. 
This-Insect enjoys the sense of smell to a high degree, announces its 
presence in our dwellings by a loud humming, and deposits its ova on meat. 
Deceived by the cadaverous odour arising from the Arum dracunculus, L. 
when in flower, it also leaves its eggs there. When the larva is about to 
become a pupa, it abandons the putrescent matters in which it has lived, 
which might then prove injurious to it, and penetates, if possible, into the 
earth, or is metamorphosed in some dry and retired spot. 
M. csesar, L. Body, a glossy golden-green; legs black. The female de- 
posits her eggs on carrion. 
M. domestica, L. The thorax of the Common Fly is of a cinerous-grey 
with four black streaks; abdomen blackish-brown spotted with black, and 
yellowish-brown above. DIPTERA. 
495 
In the Diptera of which we have hitherto spoken, we have found 
a sucker received into the superior canal of a tubular sheath, more 
or less membranous, geniculate at base, most frequently terminated 
by two lips, and accompanied by palpi. The antennae, except one 
subgenus or Phora, have always appeared to be inserted near the 
front. The larvae of these Diptera, although susceptible of being 
hatched in the venter of the mother, live abroad and feed on various 
substances, vegetable or animal. These Insects have formed our 
first general section, which is divided into five families. Those of 
the second differ in all these respects. 
This second section will -form our last family of the Diptera. 
FAMILY VI. 
PUPIPARA.(l) 
These insects, at least the Hippoboscm, were distinguished by 
Reaumur, under the analogous appellation of Nymphipara. 
Their head, viewed from above, is divided into two distinct areae 
or parts. One posterior, and more particularly composing the head, 
gives origin to the eyes and receives the other part in an anterior 
emargination. The latter is also divided into two portions, the 
posterior large and coriaceous, bearing the antennae on its sides, 
and the other constituting the apparatus of manducation. The in- 
ferior and oral cavity of the head is occupied by a membrane; from 
its extremity issues a sucker arising from a little bulb or projecting 
pedicle, composed of two closely approximated threads or setae, and 
covered by two coriaceous, narrow, elongated, and pilose laminae 
which form its sheath. 
The body is short, tolerably broad, flattened and defended by a 
solid skin almost of the consistence of leather. The head is more 
intimately -united to the thorax than in the preceding families. The 
antennae, always situated at the lateral and anterior extremities of 
the head, sometimes form a tubercle bearing three setae, and some- 
times little hairy laminae. The eyes vary as to size; in some species 
they are very small. 
(1) Bom in the pupa state. 496 
INSECTA. 
The thorax presents four stigmata, two anterior and two poste- 
rior. 
The wings are always distant and accompanied by halteres. 
Their edge is more or less fringed with ciiia. The skin of the ab- 
domen is formed of a continuous membrane, so that this part of the 
body is susceptible of being distended and of acquiring a conside- 
rable volume, as necessarily happens in those female Hippoboscas, 
where the larvae are hatched and continue to reside until the period of 
their transformation into pupae. At this epoch the larvae are pro- 
duced in the form of a soft, white egg, almost as bulky as the ma- 
ternal abdomen; the skin hardens and becomes a firm shell, at first 
brown, then black, round, and frequently emarginated atone end, 
and presenting a glossy plate or operculum which is finally detached 
in the manner of a cap to allow the egress of the perfect Insect. 
These Insects, which have been called by some authors Mouches- 
Araignees, live exclusively on Quadrupeds or Birds, run very fast, 
and frequently sideways. 
Some—Coriaces, Lat.—have a very distinct head articulated 
with the anterior extremity of the thorax. They form the genus 
The Hippobosca proper is furnished with wing's; and has very distinct eyes 
occupying all the sides of the head; antennae in the form of tubercles, 
with three setae on the back. 
H. equina, L. Brown mixed with yellowish. Found on Horses and 
Oxen, usually under their tail. 
There are other subgenera. 
The head of the other Pupipara—Phthiromyies, Lat.—is very 
small or almost wanting. It forms a minute, vertical body near the 
anterior and dorsal extremity of the thorax. 
They constitute the genus 
Hippobosca, Lin. Fab. 
Nycteribia, Lat. 
These Insects have neither wings nor halteres, and resemble Spiders still 
more than the preceding ones. They live on Bats. Linnaeus arranged one 
species, and the only one he knew, with the Pediculi. 497 
FOURTH GREAT DIVISION OF THE ANIMAL 
KINGDOM. 
ANIMALIA RADIATA. 
The Radiated Animals, or Zoophytes, as they are termed, 
include a number of beings whose organization, always evidently 
more simple than that of the three preceding divisions, also presents 
a greater variety of degrees than is observed in either of them, and 
seems to agree in but one point, viz. their parts are arranged round 
an axis and on one or several radii, or on one or several lines ex- 
tending from one pole to the other. Even the Entozoa or Intestinal 
Worms have at least two tendinous lines, or two nervous threads 
proceeding from a collar round the mouth, and several of them have 
four suckers situated round a probosciform elevation. In a word, 
notwithstanding some irregularities, and some very few exceptions— 
those of the Planaria and most of the Infusoria—traces of the radi- 
ating form are always to be found, which are strongly marked in the 
greater number, and particularly in Asterias, Echinus, the Acale- 
pha, and the innumerable host of the Polypi. 
The nervous system is never very evident, and when traces of it 
have been apparently visible, it was also arranged in radii; most 
frequently, however, there is no appearance of it whatever. 
There is never any true circulating system. The Holothuria are 
provided with a double vascular apparatus, one portion of it being 
attached to the intestines and corresponding to the organs of respi- 
ration, and the other merely serving to inflate the organs which 498 
ANIMALIA RADIATA. 
supply the want of feet. In the great number of Zoophytes it is 
easily proved that there are no vessels whatever. 
In some genera, such as Holothuria, Ursinus, and in several of 
the Entozoa, we observe a mouth and a distinct intestinal canal. 
Others have an intestinal sac, but with a single opening. In the 
greater number there is merely a cavity excavated in the substance 
of the body which sometimes opens by several suckers; and finally 
there are some in which there is no mouth visible, and which can 
only be nourished by porous absorption. 
The sexes of several of the Entozoa or Intestinal Worms can be 
distinguished. The greater number of the other Radiata are ovi- 
parous; some are reproduced by buds or division. 
The compound animals, of which we have already seen some ex- 
amples in the last of the Mollusca, are greatly multiplied in certain 
orders of the Radiata, and their aggregation produces trunks and 
expansions forming all sorts of figures. It is to this circumstance, 
together with the simple nature of the organization in most of the 
species, and the radiating disposition of their organs, which reminds 
us of the petals of flowers, that they owe their name of Zoophytes 
or Animal-plants, by which we merely mean to express this appa- 
rent affinity, for as Zoophytes enjoy the sense of touch and the power 
of voluntary motion, mostly feed on matters which they have swal- 
lowed or sucked, and digest them in an internal cavity, they are cer- 
tainly animals in every point of view. 
In Asterias and Ursinus, called Echinodermes by Brugiere on 
account of their spines, we find a distinct intestine floating in a large 
cavity, and accompanied by other organs, for respiration, &,c., and 
a partial circulation. 
The Entozoa or Intestinal Worms, which form the second class, 
have no very evident vessels in which a distinct circulation is car- 
ried on, nor separate organs of respiration. Their body is usually 
elongated or depressed, and their organs arranged longitudinally. 
The third class comprises the Acalepiia or Sea Nettles. They 
have neither true circulating vessels nor organs of respiration. 
Their form is usually circular and radiating, and their mouth is al- 
most always their only aperture. They only differ from Polypi in 
the greater development of the tissue of their organs. The Aca- 
lepha Hydrostatica, which we place at the end of this class, when 499 
ANIM ALIA RADIATA. 
better known, will perhaps form a separate one; as yet however we 
only conjecture the functions of their singular organs. 
The Polypi, which compose the fourth class, are those little ge- 
latinous animals whose mouth surrounded with tentacula leads to a 
stomach sometimes simple and sometimes followed by intestines in 
the form of vessels. To this class belong those innumerable com- 
pound animals with a fixed and solid stem which were considered as 
marine plants. 
The Thethyioe and Sponges are usually placed at the end of this 
class, although Polypi have not yet been discovered in them. 
The Infusoria, or the fifth and last class of the Zoophytes, are 
those minute beings whose existence we have only discovered by 
means of the microscope, and which swarm in stagnant waters. 
Most of them have merely a gelatinous body destitute of viscera, al- 
though we commence the series with more compound species pos- 
sessed of visible organs of locomotion and a stomach: these also 
may hereafter constitute a separate class. 
CLASS I. 
ECHIN ODERM ATA. (1) 
The Echinodermata are the most complicated animals of this di- 
vision. Invested with a well organized skin, frequently supported by 
a sort of skeleton, and armed with points, or movable and articulated 
spines, they have an internal cavity in which distinct and floating 
viscera may be perceived. A sort of vascular system, which it is 
true does not extend throughout the body, keeps up a communica- 
tion with various parts of the Intestine, and with the organs of res- 
piration, which are generally very distinct. Threads are also seen 
in several, which may act as nerves, but which are never arranged 
with the regularity and fixed order of those in the animals of the 
two preceding divisions of the Invertebrata. 
(1) Hedge-hog1 (i. e. spiny) skinned. 500 
ECHINODERMATA. 
We divide the Echinodermata into two orders: those furnished 
with feet or at least with vesicular organs, so called on account of 
their fulfilling similar functions; and those in which they are wanting. 
ORDER I. 
PEDICELLATA. 
The Pedicellata are distinguished by organs of motion exclusively 
peculiar to them. Their skin is pierced with a number of little 
holes, arranged in very regular series, through which pass cylindri- 
cal and membranous tentacula, each one terminated by a little disk 
which acts like a cupping-glass. That portion of these tentacula 
which remains within the body is vesicular; a humour is effused 
through their entire cavity, and is either propelled at the will of the 
animal into the exterior and cylindrical portion, which it distends, 
or returns to the interior vesicle, when the former sinks and becomes 
relaxed. It is by thus elongating and shortening their hundreds of 
little feet or tentacula, and by fixing them by their cup-like extremi- 
ties, that these animals effect their progressive motion. Vessels 
proceeding from these feet extend to trunks which correspond to 
their ranges, and which terminate near the mouth. They form a 
system distinct from that of the intestinal vessels observed in some 
species. 
Linnmus divided them into three very natural, but numerous ge- 
nera, and composed of such various species, that they may be consi- 
dered as forming three families. The 
Asterias, Lin. 
Or Starfish, have been so called because their body is divided into rays 
(generally five), in the centre of which, and underneath, is the mouth. 
The framework of their body is composed of small osseous pieces, vari- 
ously combined, the arrangement of which merits examination. Their 
power of reproduction is very great, as they not only reproduce the rays 
which have been separately removed, but a single one with the central ray 
remaining will reproduce all the others; for this reason their figure is fre- 
quently irregular. 
Echinus, Lin. 
The Echini, or Sea-Urchins, as they are termed, have the body invested by PEDICELLATA. 
501 
a shell or calcareous crust, composed of angular pieces which join each 
other exactly, and perforated by innumerable holes, for the transmission of 
the membranous feet, disposed in several very regular ranges. The sur- 
face of this crust is armed with spines, articulated on little tubercles, that 
move at the will of the animal, whose motions, conjointly with the feet 
situated between them, they effect. Other membranous tubes, much finer 
and frequently divided at the extremity, probably serve to convey water 
into the interior of their shell, and then to remove it. The mouth is pro- 
vided with five teeth, set in an extremely complex, calcareous framework, 
resembling a pentagonal lantern, furnished with various muscles, and sus- 
pended in a large aperture of the shell. These teeth, which resemble long 
ribands, become indented inferiorly as fast as they are worn away at the 
point. The intestine is very long, and attached, spirally, to the interior 
parietes of the shell by a mesentery. A double vascular system extends 
along this canal, and partly on the mesentery; there are also particular ves- 
sels for the feet. Five ovaries empty themselves by separate orifices; 
they form the edible portion of these animals. 
The Echini chiefly feed on small shell-fish, which they seize with their 
feet. Their motions are very slow. Shells of Echini are very abundant in 
the ancient strata, principally those of chalk, where they are usually filled 
with silex. 
The Echini are divided into regular and irregular, and form several sub- 
genera. 
E- esculentus, L. The common Echinus is of the form and size of an 
apple, completely covered with short, radiating, and usually violet spines. 
Its ovaries, which are reddish, and of an agreeable flavour, are edible in 
the spring. 
Holothtjbia, Lin. 
The Holothuriae have an oblong coriaceous body open at each end. At 
the anterior extremity is the mouth, surrounded with complicated tentacula 
susceptible of being entirely retracted. At the opposite end is the aper- 
ture in which the organ of respiration terminates. It is in the form of an ex- 
tremely ramified hollow tree, which is filled with water, or emptied, at the 
will of the animal. The mouth is edentate, or merely furnished with a cir- 
cle of bony pieces; it receives saliva from certain sac-like appendages. 
The Holothurix are divided according to the arrangement of their feet. 
H. tremula, Gm. Blackish, and when completely extended more than a 
foot long; its back is bristled with soft and conical points, and its mouth 
provided with twenty ramous tentacula. This species is very common in 
European seas, the Mediterranean particularly. 502 
ECHINODERMATA. 
ORDER II. 
APODA. (1) 
Our second order of the Echinodermata, or the Apoda, comprises 
but a small number of animals closely related to the Holothuriae, 
but which want the vesicular feet of the preceding order. Their 
body is invested with a coriaceous unarmed skin. Several points of 
their internal structure are not well understood. In 
Molpadia, Cuv. 
As in Ilolothuria, we find a coriaceous body forming a thick cylinder, open 
at both ends, and a tolerably similar internal organization; but independ- 
ently of the want of feet, the mouth is destitute of tentacula, and is provided 
with an apparatus of bony parts, but less complicated than that of the 
Echini. 
Minyas, Cuv. 
Where the body is also destitute of feet and open at both extremities; but 
its form is that of a spheroid depressed at the poles, and furrowed like 
a melon. T can find no armature about the mouth. 
M. cyanea, Cuv. A beautiful species of a deep blue colour that inhabits 
the Atlantic ocean. 
Lithodekmis, Cuv. 
Where the body is oval and compressed posteriorly; its surface has the 
appearance of being covered with a layer of stony granules, which form 
an extremely indurated crust. The mouth is surrounded with tentacula, 
and the intestines seem to be analogous to those of the Holothuriae. 
L. cuneus, Cuv. Blackish, and two inches in length. From the seas of 
India, and the only species known. In the 
SlPUNCULTJS, Gm. 
The body is cylindrical and elongated, the skin thick and wrinkled in both 
directions. The mouth is provided with a sort of a proboscis susceptible of 
retraction and protrusion by the action of large internal muscles. 
These animals are found in the sands of the sea, like the Arenicol«e and 
Thalassemse, and like them are used as bait by the fishermen. 
S. edulis, Cuv. This species is eaten by the Chinese inhabitants of Java, 
who procure it from the sands by means of slender bamboos prepared for 
the purpose. Other and rather small species—Sip. laevis, Sip. verrucosus, 
Cuv.—perforate submarine rocks and live in their cavities. 
(1) Footless. APODA 
503 
Bonellia, Rolando. 
Here the body is oval and furnished with a proboscis formed of a double 
lamina susceptible of gTeat elongation and forked at the extremity. The 
intestine is very long and frequently flexed, and we observe two ramified 
organs which may serve for respiration. The ova are contained in an ob- 
long sac opening near the base of the proboscis. The Bonellix live at a 
considerable depth in sand, extending their proboscis to the wrater and even 
to the air above its surface when the tide is low. 
B. viridis, Rol. It inhabits the Mediterranean. 
There are some other genera. 
CLASS II. 
ENTOZOA, Rud. 
The Entozoa or Intestinal Worms are remarkable, because the 
greater number inhabit the interior of other animals, and there only 
can live. There is scarcely a single animal that is not the domicil 
of several kinds, and those which are observed in one species are 
rarely found in many others. They not only inhabit the alimentary 
canal and the ducts that empty into it, such as the hepatic vessels, 
but even the cellular tissue, and the parenchyma of the most com- 
pletely invested viscera, such as the liver and brain. 
In the Intestinal Worms we find neither tracheae, nor any other 
organ of respiration, and they must receive the influence of oxygen 
through the medium of the animal they inhabit. They present no 
trace of a true circulation, and we merely perceive vestiges of nerves 
so extremely obscure, that many naturalists have doubted their ex- 
istence. 
When those characters are found united in an animal with a form 
similar to that of this class, we place it here, although it may not in- 
habit the interior of another species. 
We will divide the Entozoa in two orders, which are perhaps 
sufficiently different in organization to form two classes, if we had 
the observations requisite to determine their limits. These orders 
are the Entozoa Nematoidea, Rud., which have an intestinal canal 504 
ENTOZOA. 
floating in a distinct abdominal cavity, a mouth, &c., and the Ento- 
zoa Parenchymata, where the parenchyma of the body contains 
obscurely terminated viscera, most commonly resembling vascular 
ramifications, and sometimes not visible. 
ORDER I. 
NEMATOIDEA, Rud. 
This order comprises those whose external skin, more or less 
furnished with muscular fibres, and usually striated transversely, 
contains an abdominal cavity in which is a distinct intestinal canal, 
extending from the mouth to the extremity, arid where the sexes are 
usually distinct. The intestine is connected with the neighbouring 
parts and the general envelope of the body by numerous threads, 
considered by some writers as vessels for the conveyance of the 
nutritious fluid, and by others as tracheae, but without any proof of 
the fact. It is impossible to detect any true circulation in these 
animals, but in several there appear to be one or two nervous cords 
arising from a ring which surrounds the mouth, and extending the 
whole length of the body along the internal surface of the envelope. 
Filaria, Lin. 
Where the body is elongated, slender, filiform, and perforated at the ante- 
rior extremity by a round oral aperture. The Filariae in their external ap- 
pearance are very similar to the Gordii. They are chiefly found in those 
cavities of animals which do not open externally, such as the cellular mem- 
brane, and even in the thickness of the membranes and the parenchyma of 
the viscera; there we sometimes find them in bundles and countless num- 
bers, enveloped in species of capsules. They are found in Insects and their 
larvae, and even in the visceral cavity of several Mollusca. The most cele- 
brated species of this genus 
F. medinensis, Gm., (the Guinea Worm), is very common in hot cli- 
mates, insinuates itself under the skin of man, generally that of the leg, 
where, if credence be given to the reports of certain authors, it acquires a 
length of ten feet and more. It is about as thick as the barrel of a Pigeon’s 
quill. Its pointed and hooked tail constitutes its distinguishing character. 
TrICHOCEPH ALUS. 
Where the body is round, thickest posteriorly, and as slender as a thread NEMATOIDEA. 
505 
anteriorly. This slender partis terminated by a round mouth. The most 
common species is the 
T. dispar, Rud. From one to two inches in length, of which the thickest 
portion forms but the third. This part, in the male, is convoluted spirally. 
It is one of the most common Worms in the great intestines of Man, where, 
in certain diseases, it becomes prodigiously multiplied. 
Here the body is round, and most slender posteriorly. The head is obtuse 
and invested with a sort of hood that is frequently striated; the mouth is 
round. 
They have hitherto been found in Fish only. The most common species 
is that which inhabits the Perch and also infests the Pike, &c. It is vivipar- 
ous, about an inch long, as thick as a thread, and of a red colour, owing to 
the blood with which its intestine is usually filled. 
ClTCULLANUS. 
The same kind of body as the preceding, but distinguished by a trans- 
versely cleft mouth, and consequently furnished with two lips. 
Ophiostoma. 
Ascaris, Lin.(l) 
The Ascarides have a round body, attenuated at each extremity, and a 
mouth furnished with three fleshy papillae, between which an extremely 
short tube occasionally projects. This genus is very numerous in species 
which are found in all kinds of animals. 
Two white threads, one of which extends along the back, and the other 
along the abdomen, are considered by Messrs Otto and Cloquet as the ner- 
vous system of these animals; two other and thicker threads, one on the 
right and the other on the left, are considered by some as muscular, and by 
others as vascular, or even as tracheae. 
In some, the head is destitute of lateral membranes. The most common 
species, the 
A. lumbricoides, L., is found without any essential difference in Man, the 
Horse, Ass, Zebra, Hemiona, Ox and Hog. It has been seen more than fif- 
teen inches in length. Its natural colour is white. 
Other species are furnished with a little membrane on each side of the 
head. Such is 
A. vermicularis, L. Very common in children. It is not more than five 
lines in length, and is thickest anteriorly. 
(1) ia-tutpn, the name of the small species that is found in Man, is derived 
from to leap, to move. 506 
ENTOZOA. 
Strongylus, Mull. 
Here the body is round. In some of these Strongyli tire mouth is ciliate or 
dentated. Such is that winch infests the Horse, or the 
S. equinus, Gm. It is also found in the Ass and Mule. 
The mouth of others is merely surrounded by tubercles or papilla. Such 
particularly is the 
S. gigas, Rud., the most voluminous of all known intestinal Worms; it 
is upwards of two or three feet in length, and as thick as the little finger. 
The most singular circumstances attending this Strongylus is that it is most 
usually developed in one of the kidneys of various animals, such as the 
Wolf, Dog, Mink, and even Man, where it lies doubled up, distending that 
organ, destroying its parenchyma, and probably occasioning the most ex- 
cruciating agony to the animal in which it resides. It sometimes inhabits 
other viscera. Its usual colour is a beautiful red; the mouth is surrounded 
with six papillae; the intestine is straight and transversely rugose, the ovary 
simple, three or four times the length of the body, communicating exteriorly 
by a hole a little distance posterior to the mouth, and, as it appears, open 
at the other extremity. An extremely attenuated white thread that extends 
along the abdomen is considered by M. Otto as the nervous system. 
The internal and external organization of the body is nearly the same as in 
the Nematoidea, but it is prolonged anteriorly by a corneous neck, at the 
extremity of which is a mouth variously armed and surrounded, or followed 
by productions of different forms. This mouth and its appendages are in- 
sinuated into the skin of the gills of fishes, and fix the animal there. The 
Lerneae are also distinguished by two cords, sometimes moderate, and at 
others very long, or even much doubled, that are pendent from the sides of 
the tail, and which may possibly be ovaries. 
L. branchialis, L. The most known species; it attacks the Codfish and 
other Gadi, and is from one to two inches in length. Its mouth is surround- 
ed by three ramous horns, which, as well as the neck, are of a deep brown. 
Its more inflated body is bent into an S, and the two cords are contorted 
in a thousand different ways. Its horns become rooted, as it were, in the 
gills of fishes. 
Lin. 
ORDER IJ. 
PARENCHYMATA. 
The second order of the Entozoa comprises those species in 
which the body is filled with a cellular substance, or even with a 507 
PARENCHYMATA. 
continuous parenchyma, the only alimentary organ it contains being 
ramified canals, which distribute nourishment to its different points, 
and which, in most of them, originate from suckers visible exter- 
nally. The ovaries are also enveloped in this parenchyma or that 
cellulosity. There is no abdominal cavity, nor intestine properly 
so called; and if we except some equivocal vestiges in the first fami- 
lies, there is nothing to be found which bears a resemblance to 
nerves. 
We may divide this order into four families. 
FAMILY I. 
ACANTHOCEPH ALA.( 1) 
The Parenchymata of this family attach themselves to the intes- 
tines by a prominence armed with recurved spines, which also ap- 
pears to act as a proboscis. They form the single genus 
Echinorhynciius, Gm. 
Where the body is round, sometimes elongated, and sometimes in the form 
of a sac, provided anteriorly with a prominence in the form of a probos- 
cis armed with little hooks bent posteriorly, and susceptible of being re- 
tracted or protruded by the action of particular muscles. These worms 
cling to the intestines by means of their proboscis, and frequently penetrate 
through them, so that individuals are sometimes found in the thickness of 
their tunics, and even in the abdomen, adhering to their external parietes. 
E. gigas, Gm. The largest species known; it inhabits the intestines of 
the Hog and Wild Boar, where the females attain a length of fifteen inches. 
FAMILY II. 
TREMADOTEA, Rud. 
Our second family comprises those which are furnished under- 
neath the body, or at its extremity, with organs resembling cupping- 
glasses, by which they adhere to the viscera. They may all be 
united in one genus, or the 
(1) Thorn-headed. 508 
ENTOZOA. 
Which may be subdivided according to the number and position of their 
organs of adhesion. 
Fasciola, Lin. 
Distoma. 
Here there is a sucker at the anterior extremity of the mouth, and a cup, 
a little posterior to it, on the venter. The species are very numerous, and 
some are found even in the plaited membrane of the eyes of certain Birds. 
Others, however, appear to inhabit fresh and salt water. The most cele- 
brated is 
D. hepatica. It is very common in the hepatic vessels of Sheep, but is 
also found in those of various other lluminantia, and of the Hog, Horse, and 
even of Man. Its form is that of a small oval leaf, pointed posteriorly, 
with a narrowed portion anteriorly, at the end of which is the first sucker, 
which communicates with a sort of esophagus, from which arise canals that 
ramify throughout the body, conveying the bile on which this animal feeds. 
The species that infest Sheep become greatly multiplied when they graze 
in low and wet grounds, rendering them dropsical, and finally killing them. 
There are several other genera, 
FAMILY III. 
TJENIOIDEA. 
In our third family of parenchymatous Intestinal Worms, we place 
all those species in which the head is provided with two or four 
suckers placed around its middle, which is itself sometimes marked 
with a pore, and sometimes furnished with a little proboscis, naked 
or armed with spines. Sometimes there are four little trunks thus 
armed. 
The most numerous genus is 
Taenia, Lin. 
The body of the Tape-worm is often excessively elongated, flat, composed 
of joints more or less distinctly marked, and narrowed anteriorly, where we 
generally find a square head hollowed by four small suckers. 
Observers have thought that they could perceive canals which arose 
from these suckers, and crept along the margin of the joints of the body. 
Each of the latter has one or two pores differently situated, according to the 
species, which appear to be the orifices of ovaries that arc placed in the 
thickness of the joints, where they are sometimes simple, and at others 
ramous. The Taeniae are among the most cruel enemies of the animals in 
which they are developed, and which are apparently exhausted by them. PARENCHYMATA. 
509 
T. lata, Rud. (The Common Tape-worm.) The joints are broad, short, 
and furnished with a double pore in the middle of each side. It is very 
frequently twenty feet in length, and it has been found upwards of a hun- 
dred. The large ones are nearly an inch wide, but the head and anterior 
portion of the body are always very slender. This species is extremely 
inj urious and tenacious. The most violent remedies frequently fail to expel 
it. In Man. 
T. solium, L. Ver solitaire of the French. Its joints, the anterior ones 
excepted, are longer than they are wide, and have the pore [placed alter- 
nately on one of their edges. It is usually from four to ten feet in length, 
but much larger ones are sometimes met with. The vulgar idea that but 
one of these animals is found at a time in the same individual is very far 
from being true. Its detached joints are styled cucuriitini. It is one of 
the most dangerous of the intestinal worms and the most difficult to expel. 
From these ordinary Taeniae, on account of the form of their head, 
are distinguished various others, forming the Tricuspidaria., &c. 
Naturalists have also distinguished from the ordinary Taenae those 
which, with a similar head, that is one with four suckers, have the 
body terminated posteriorly by a bladder. Their joints are not as 
distinctly marked as in the preceding ones. The genus 
Vulgarly termed Hydatids, is composed of those inrwhich the bladder sup- 
ports but a single body and one head. They are particularly developed in 
the membranes and cellulosity of animals. 
C. cellulosas. This species is the most celebrated of the whole number, 
and lives between the fibres of the muscles of the Hog, producing the dis- 
ease called measles. It is small, and multiplies prodigiously in this disgust- 
ing disease, penetrating into the heart, eyes, &c. Similar animals have, it 
appears, been observed in certain Monkeys, and even in Man. 
Cysticercus, Rud 
FAMILY IV. 
CESTOIDEA. 
The fourth family comprises those which are destitute of external 
suckers. 
But one genus is known. 
Ligula, Bloch. 
Of all the Entozoa, these appear to be the most simply organized. Their 
body resembles a long riband; it is fiat, obtuse before, marked with a lon- 510 
ENTOZOA- 
gitudinal stria, and finely striated transversely. No external organ what- 
ever is perceptible, and internally we find nothing but the ova, variously 
distributed in the length of the parenchyma. 
They inhabit the abdomen of certain Birds, and particularly of various 
fresh-water Fishes, enveloping and constricting their intestines to such a 
degree as to destroy them. At certain periods they even perforate the 
parietes of their abdomen to leave it. One of them, the 
L. abdominalis, Gm., inhabits the Bream. In some parts of Italy these 
worms are considered agreeable food. 
CLASS III. 
ACALEPHA.(l) 
Our third class comprises Zoophyta which swim in the waters of 
the ocean, and in whose organization We can still perceive vessels, 
which, it is true, are generally mere productions of the intestines 
excavated in the parenchyma of the body. 
ORDER I. 
SIMPLICIA. 
The simple Acalepha float and swim in the ocean by the alternate 
contractions and dilatations of their body, although their substance 
is gelatinous and without any apparent fibres. The species of ves- 
sels observed in some of them are hollowed out of their gelatinous 
substance; they frequently and evidently originate from the stomach, 
and do not occasion a true circulation. 
Medusa, Lin. 
The Medusae are furnished superiorly with a disk more or less convex, re- 
sembling the head of a mushroom, and called the umbella. Its contractions 
(1) Nettles, from 8IMPLICIA. 
511 
and dilatations assist the locomotion of the animal. The edges of this um- 
bella, as well as the mouth, or tine suckers more or less prolonged into 
pedicles which supply the want of it, in the middle of the inferior surface, 
are furnished with tentacula of various forms and very different sizes. 
These various degrees of complication have given rise to numerous divisions. 
The two following genera, which were formerly joined with the 
Medusae, might also constitute a small family in this order, on ac- 
count of the internal cartilage which supports the gelatinous sub- 
stance of the body. 
Porpita, Lam. 
Where this cartilage is circular and its surface marked with concentric 
strix crossed by radiating strix. The superior surface is merely invested 
with a thin membrane that projects beyond it; the inferior is covered with 
a great number of tentacula, the exterior of which are the longest, and fur- 
nished with little cilia, each terminated by a globule. They sometimes 
contain air; those in the middle are the shortest, simplest and most fleshy. 
In the centre of all these tentacula is the mouth, in the form of a little sa- 
lient proboscis. It leads to a simple stomach surrounded by a sort of glan- 
dular substance. One species is known, of a beautiful blue xolour, that 
inhabits the Mediterranean and seas of hot climates. 
Velella, Lam. 
Where, as in Porpita, there is a mouth in the inferior surface in the form 
of a proboscis, surrounded with innumerable tentacula, the exterior of which 
is the longest, but the latter are not ciliated, and a still more important 
character is, that the cartilage, which is oval, has on its superior surface a 
vertical and tolerably elevated crest. This cartilage is diaphanous, and is 
merely marked with concentric strix. A species of this genus also is known, 
of the same colour as the Porpita and inhabiting the same seas. It is eaten 
fried. 
ORDER II. 
H YDROSTATIC A 
The Hydrostatic Acalepha are known by ono or more bladders 
usually filled with air, by means of which they suspend themselves 
in their liquid element. Excessively numerous and variously shaped 
appendages, some of which probably serve as suckers, and the others 512 
ACALEPHA. 
perhaps as ovaries, and some longer than the rest as tentacula, 
are attached to these vesicles and compose the whole apparent or- 
ganization of these animals. They have no apparent mouth, or one 
which can be decidedly considered as such. 
Physalia, Lam. 
The Physalise resemble an extremely large oblong bladder elevated supe- 
riorly into an oblique and wrinkled crest, and furnished beneath, near one 
of its extremities, with numerous, cylindrical, fleshy productions, variously 
terminated, that communicate with the bladder. Those in the middle give 
origin to more or less numerous groups of little filaments; the lateral ones 
are merely divided into two threads, one of which is frequently very long. 
There appears to be an extremely small orifice in one of the extremities of 
the bladder, but internally no other intestine is found, but another bladder 
with thinner parietes. There is no nervous, circulating, nor glandular 
system. The animal swims on the surface of the sea when it is calm, em- 
ploying its crest as a sail. When living, it is also furnished with extremely 
long filaments, more slender than the others, which are sprinkled, as it 
were, with pearls or drops. Its touch is said to sting and burn like that of 
the Sea-nettle. They are found in all the seas of hot climates. 
These Acalepha are evidently allied to the Physalize, but their bladder is 
proportionally much smaller, has no crest, and is frequently accompanied 
by lateral bladders; their various and numerous tentacula are suspended 
vertically under the bladder, like a garland or cluster. 
Physsophora, Forsk. 
It is directly after these hydrostatic Acalepha that vve may place 
the 
A very singular genus, where two different individuals are always found to- 
gether, one encased in a cavity of the other, but susceptible of being sepa- 
rated without destroying the life of either. They are gelatinous, diaphan- 
ous, and move nearly in the manner of a Medusa. The receiver produces 
from the bottom of its cavity a chaplet which traverses a semi-canal in the 
received, and appears to be composed of tentacula, and suckers, like those of 
the preceding genera. 
This genus has been divided by Messrs Quoy and Gaymard according to 
the relative form and proportions of the two individuals. 
Diphyes, Cuv. POLYPI. 
513 
CLASS IY. 
POLYPI. 
Our fourth class of the Radiata, or Zoophytes has been thus 
named because the tentacula which surround their mouth give them 
a slight resemblance to an Octopus called Polypus by the ancients. 
The number and form of these tentacula vary. The body is always 
cylindrical or conical, frequently without any other viscus than its 
cavity, and frequently also with a visible stomach, to which adhere 
intestines or rather vessels excavated in the substance of the body 
like those of the Medusae; in this latter case we usually find ovaries 
also. Most of these animals are capable of forming compound be- 
ings, by shooting out new individuals, like buds. They are also, 
however, continued by eggs. 
ORDER I. 
CARNOSI. 
The first order comprises fleshy animals that usually fix them- 
selves by their base, several of which, however, have the power of* 
crawling on that base, or even of detaching it altogether, and swim- 
ming or suffering themselves to be carried away by the current. 
Most commonly, however, they merely expand the oral aperture. It 
is surrounded with a greater or less number of tentacula, and opens 
into a stomach en cul-de-sac. Between this internal sac and the 
external skin we find a tolerably complex, but still obscure organi- 
zation, chiefly consisting of fibrous and vertical leaflets, to which the 
ovaries, that resemble tangled threads, are attached. The intervals 
of these leaflets communicate with the interior of the tentacula, and 
it appears that water penetrates into and issues from them by small 
orifices in the circumference of the mouth; the Actinias, at least, 
sometimes ejaculate it in this manner. 514 
POLYPI. 
The fleshy body of these Polypi is frequently ornamented with bright 
colours, and exhibits numerous tentacula placed round the mouth in seve- 
ral ranges, like the petals of a double flower, and hence their common 
name of Sea-Anemones. They are extremely sensible to the influence of 
light, and expand or close in proportion to the fineness of the day. 
When they retract their tentacula, the opening through which those organs 
pass contracts and closes over them like the mouth of a purse. 
Their power of reproduction is scarcely inferior to that of the Hydra; 
parts that have been amputated shoot out again, and the animal may be 
multiplied by division. These Zoophytes, when hungry, dilate their mouth 
to a great extent. They devour all sorts of animals, especially Crus- 
tacea, Shell-fish, and small Fishes, which they capture with their tentacula, 
and soon digest. 
A. equina, L. The skin soft and finely striated, usually of a fine purple 
colour frequently spotted with green; it is smaller than the senilis, with 
longer and more numerous tentacula. This species covers all the rocks on 
the French coast of the British channel, ornamenting them as if with the 
most splendid flowers. 
Actinia, Lin. 
The Lucernarise should apparently be approximated to the Actinias, but 
their substance is softer; they fix themselves to fuci and other marine 
bodies by a slender pedicle, and their superior portion dilates like a parasol, 
in the centre of which is the mouth. Numerous tentacula united in bundles 
are arranged round its edges. 
Lucernahia, Mull. 
ORDER II. 
GELATINOSI. 
The gelatinous Polypi, unlike the preceding ones, are not invested 
with a firm envelope, neither is there a ligneous, fleshy, nor corne- 
ous axis in the interior of their mass. Their body is gelatinous and 
more of less conical; its cavity supplies the want of a stomach. 
Hydra, Lin. 
Of all the animals of this class, these are reduced to the greatest degree of 
simplicity. A little gelatinous horn, whose edges are provided with fila- 
ments that act as tentacvda, constitutes their whole apparent organization. 
The microscope discovers nothing in their substance but a diaphanous 
parenchyma filled with more opaque granules. Notwithstanding this, they GELAT1NOSI. 
515 
swim, crawl, and even walk by alternately fixing their two extremities in 
the manner of Leeches or of the caterpillars called Geometry. They agi- 
tate their tentacula and use them for seizing their prey, which can be seen 
being digested in the cavity of their body. They are sensible to the action 
of light, and seek it, but their most wonderful property is that of being con- 
stantly reproduced by the indefinite excision of their parts, so that we can 
multiply them at will by means of division. Their natural increase is by 
shoots which push out from various points of the body of the adult, and at 
first resemble branches. 
There are several other genera belonging to this order, such as Corine, 
Vorticella, &c. 
ORDER III. 
CORALLIFERI. 
The Coralliferi constitute that numerous suite of species which 
were long considered as marine plants, and of which the individuals 
are in fact united in great numbers to constitute compound animals, 
mostly fixed like plants, either forming a stem or simple expansions, 
by means of a solid internal substance. The individual animals, 
more or less analogous to the Actinias or Hydras, are all connected 
by a common body, and are nourished in common, so that what is 
eaten by one goes to the nutrition of the general body, and of all 
the other Polypi. Their volition is even in common, at least it is 
certainly so in the free species, such as the Pennatulas, which are 
seen swimming by the contractions of their stems, and the combined 
motions of their Polypi. 
The name of Coral has been given to the common parts of these 
compound animals; it is always formed by deposition, and in layers 
like the ivory of teeth, but is sometimes on the surface, and some- 
times in the interior of the compound animal. This difference of 
position has given rise to the following families. 
FAMILY I. 
TUBULARII. 
Those of the first inhabit tubes of which the common gelatinous 
body traverses the axis, like the medulla of a tree, and that are 516 
POLYPI. 
open, either on the summit or sides, to allow the passage of the 
Polypi. 
Their more simple Polypi appear to be chiefly analogous to the 
Hydrse and Cristatellae. 
Simple tubes of a stony substance, each containing a Polypus. These 
tubes are parallel, and united from space to space by transverse laminae, 
which has caused them to be compared to the pipes of an organ. The 
most common species, 
T. musica, L.; is of a beautiful red; its polypi are green, and formed like 
Hydrae. Very abundant in the archipelago of India. 
Tubipora, Lin. 
Tubularia, Lin. 
Simple or branched tubes of a horny substance, from the extremities of 
which issue the Polypi. 
Sertubaria, Lin. 
The Sertulariae have a corneous stem, sometimes simple, sometimes ramous, 
on the sides of which are cells, extremely various in form, that are occu- 
pied by the Polypi, all connected witli a gelatinous stem that traverses the 
axis, like the medulla of a tree. They increase by ova or buds, which are 
developed ii) cells larger than the rest, and of a different form. The vari- 
ous directions of their cells have caused them to be subdivided. 
FAMILY II. 
CELLULARII. 
Where each Polypus is adherent in a corneous or calcareous cell 
with thin parietes, and only communicates with the others by an ex- 
tremely tenuous external tunic, or by the minute pores which tra- 
verse the parietes of the cells. These Polypi bear a general re- 
semblance to the Hydra;. 
Celltjlaria, Lin. 
Where these cells are so arranged as to form branching stems in the man- 
ner of the Sertularije, but without a tube of communication in the axis. Their 
substance also is more calcareous. 
Flustra, Lin. 
We here find a great number of cells united like honey-combs, sometimes CORALLIFERI. 
517 
covering various’ bodies, and sometimes forming stems orleaves, of which, 
in certain species, one side only is furnished with cells, and in others, both: 
their substance is more or less corneous. 
Cellepora, Fab. 
Masses of small calcareous vesicles or cells, crowded one against the other, 
and each perforated by a little hole. 
Tubulipora, Lam. 
Masses of little tubes, of which the aperture is as wide as the bottom, or 
wider. 
Bodies exist in the ocean that resemble the Corals of which we 
have been speaking, both in substance and their general form, but 
in which Polypi have not yet been discovered. Their nature is 
consequently doubtful, and great naturalists, such as Pallas and 
others, have considered them as plants; others, however, consider 
them as having very small cells, and as being inhabited by coralli- 
ferous Polypi. In this case they belong to the present order. 
Those, in which the interior is filled with corneous threads, still 
present some analogy to the Ceratophyta. In the 
Corallina, Lin. 
We observe articulated stems placed on species of roots, and divided into 
branches, also articulated, on the surface of which no pores can be seen, 
and in which no Polypi have hitherto been discovered. 
C. officinalis, L. The bottom of the sea on certain coasts is completely 
covered with this coral, the joints of which are oboval and the ramusculi 
arranged like pinnate leaves, bearing other branches similarly disposed- 
It is white, reddish, or greenish. It was formerly employed in pharmacy 
on account of its calcareous nature. 
Of all these productions without apparent Polypi, which are conjectur- 
ally referred to the Coralliferi, few are more singular than the Acetabula, or 
Acetabulum, Lam. 
Where we find a slender and hollow stem supporting a round thin plate, 
like a parasol, with radiating stria, crenulated at the edge and having a lit- 
tle smooth disk surrounded with pores in the centre. No Polypi can be 
discovered in them. The rays of the disk are hollow and contain greenish 
granules, a circumstance which led Cavolini to consider them as plants. 
One of them—Tubularia acetabulum, Gm., is found in the Mediterranean. 518 
POLYPI. 
FAMILY III 
CORTICATI. 
This family comprises genera in which all the Polypi are con- 
nected by a common, thick, fleshy or gelatinous substance, in the 
cavities of which they are received, and which envelopes an axis 
varying in'form and substance. The Polypi of those that have been 
observed are somewhat more complex than the preceding ones and 
approximate more closely to the Actinm. Internally we observe a 
stomach from which eight intestines originate, two that are pro- 
longed into the common mass, and two that are shorter, and seem 
to supply the place of ovaries. 
They are subdivided into four tribes. In the first, or the Ceka- 
Tophyta, the internal axis has the appearance of wood or horn, 
and is fixed. Two genera of them are known, and both extremely 
numerous. 
Antipatiies, Lin. 
Commonly termed Black Coral, where the ramous and ligneous-like sub- 
stance of the axis is enveloped with a bark so soft, that it becomes destroy- 
ed after death, when it resembles branches of dry wood, &c. 
Where, on the contrary, this horny or ligneous substance of the axis is 
enveloped by a bark, the thickness of which is so penetrated by calcareous 
granules, that it dries on the axis, retaining its colours, which are frequently 
extremely vivid and beautiful; it is soluble in acids. 
Gorgonia, L. 
In the second tribe, that of the Litiiophyta, the internal axis 
is of a strong substance and fixed. In 
This axis is ramous, and has no cells or cavities on its surface. The ani- 
mal bark which envelopes it is mixed with calcareous granules, as in the 
Gorgoniac. 
Isis, Lin. 
Madrepora, Lin. 
The stony portion of Madrepores is either ramous, or forms rounded mosses, 
or leaves, but is always furnished with lamellae which unite concentrically in 
points where they represent stars, or which terminate in lines more or less 
serpentine. While alive, this stony portion is covered with a living1 bark. CORALLIFEIU. 
519 
soft, gelatinous, and completely covered with rosettes of tentacula which 
are the Polypi or rather the Actinia:, for they usually have several circles 
of tentacula, and the lamella: of the stars correspond in some respects to the 
membranous lamina: of the body of the Actiniae. The bark and Polypi 
contract on the slightest touch. 
Millepora, Lin. 
Here the stony portion is extremely various in form, and the surface 
merely marked with little holes or pores, or even without any apparent ori- 
fices. 
In the third tribe, or the Natantes, the axis is stony but not 
fixed. 
A common body, free from all adhesion, of a regular and constant form, 
and susceptible of locomotion by the contractions of its fleshy portion and 
the combined action of its Polypi. This body is fleshy, and contracts or 
dilates in its various parts by means of the fibrous layers that enter into its 
composition; its axis encloses a simple stony stem; the Polypi have gene- 
rally eight dentated arms. Most of the species diffuse a vivid phospho- 
rescent light. 
The Pennatulae, properly so called, have given their name to the whole 
genus, which name has been derived from their own resemblance to a 
quill. The portion destitute of Polypi is cylindrical, and terminates in an 
obtuse point. The other part is furnished on each side with wings or 
lamina:, more or less long and broad, supported by spines or rigid setae 
which arise from their interior and roughen one of their edges, without, 
however, being articulated with the stony stem of the axis; it is from be- 
tween their laminae that the Polypi protrude.] 
Pennatula, Lin. 
Small, porous and stony bodies, which nuturalists have thought 
may be approximated to the Millepora, are found among fossils and 
in the ocean. If they were enveloped by a rind of bark containing 
Polypi, they would be movable Coralliferi, and should rather be 
placed near the Pennatulse. Such are the 
Oyttlites, Lam., which have the form of eggs, hollow, and frequently 
perforated at both ends: the Lunulites, which are orbicular, convex, stri- 
ated, and porous on one side, and concave on the other: and the Oiibdiites, 
that are orbicular, flat, or concave, porous on both sides or on the edges. 
If the Dactxxopora be free, as in the opinion of Lamarck, it will also be- 
long to this subdivision; it is a hollow ovoid, open at both ends, and with 
two envelopes, both perforated by meshes like the lietepora. 520 
POLYPI. 
In the fourth tribe the animal rind or bark encloses a mere fleshy 
substance without an axis either osseous or horny. In 
Alcyonitjm, Lin. 
As in the Pennatulie, we observe Polypi with eight denticulated arms, and 
intestines prolonged into the common mass of the ovaries: but this mass is 
not supported by an osseous axis; it is always fixed to the body; and where 
it is drawn out into trunks and branches, nothing is found internally, but a 
gelatinous substance traversed by numerous canals surrounded with fibrous 
membranes. The bark is harder and excavated by cells, into which the 
Polypi withdraw more or less entirely. 
After the Alcyonia are also placed the 
Or Sponges; marine, fibrous bodies, whose only sensible portion appears to 
be a sort of tenuous gelatine which dries off, scarcely leaving a trace of it, 
and in which neither Polypi nor other moving parts have yet been disco- 
vered. Living Sponges are said to exhibit a sort of tremulousness or con- 
traction when they are touched; it is also affirmed that the pores, with their 
superficies, are perforated, and present a sort of palpitation; the existence 
of these motions, however, is contested by M. Grant. 
Sponges assume innumerable shapes, each according to its species, and 
resemble shrubs, horns, vases, tubes, globes, fans, &c. 
Every one knows the S. officinalis, or common Sponge, which is found 
in large brown masses, formed of extremely fine, flexible, and elastic fibres, 
perforated with numerous pores and little irregular canals, all of winch in- 
tercommunicate. 
SroNGiA, Lin. 
CLASS V. 
INFUSORIA. 
Naturalists usually close the catalogue of the animal kingdom 
with beings so extremely minute as to be invisible to the naked eye, 
and which have only been discovered since the invention of the mi- 
croscope has unveiled to us, as it were, a new world. Most of 
them present a gelatinous body of the greatest simplicity, and for 
these, this is undoubtedly the situation; but authors have placed INFUSORIA. 
521 
among the Infusoria, animals apparently much more complicated, 
and which only resemble them in their minuteness, and the dwelling 
in which they lire usually found. 
They will constitute our first order, though we must still insist 
upon the doubts relative to their organization, which are not yet dis- 
sipated. 
ORDER I. 
ROTIFERA.(l) 
The Rotifera are distinguished by a greater degree of coinplica-- 
tion. Their body is oval and gelatinous; we can distinguish in it a 
mouth, a stomach, and an intestine. It most commonly terminates 
posteriorly in a tail that is variously constructed, and anteriorly it 
bears a singular organ, variously lobate, with denticulated edges, and 
of which the denticulations vibrate successively in such a manner as 
to give the organ itself the appearance of one or more dentated and 
revolving wheels. One or two prominences on the neck have even 
appeared to some observers to be furnished with eyes. This re- 
volving organ does not serve to direct their aliment to the mouth; it 
may be supposed to have some connexion with the function of res- 
piration. In 
The body is unarmed; the tail is composed of articulations which enter one 
into the other, and is terminated by two threads. 
It is on one of these—the Furcularia or Rotifere des toits—that Spallanzani 
performed his famous experiments. Covered with dust in the spouts on 
the roofs of houses it becomes desiccated, and after remaining' in that state 
for several weeks, reacquires life and motion on being humected with a lit- 
tle water. 
There are two other genera, viz. Tubicolaria and Brachionus. 
Furcularia, Lam. 
(1) Wheel-bearers, 522 
INFUSORIA. 
ORDER II. 
HOMOGENEA. 
The body of the Homogenea presents neither viscera nor other 
complication, and is frequently destitute of even the appearance of 
a mouth. 
The first tribe comprises those which, with a gelatinous body 
more or less contractile in its different parts, still present external 
organs consisting of cilia more or less strong. 
When they have the form of a horn, (cornet), from which the cilia issue 
as in the Polypi called Vorticellae, we have the Ureolaria: when the 
body is flat, and these cilia are at one extremity, Trichoda: when they 
surround the whole body, Leucophra: when some of them are stout, 
and represent species of horns, Kerona: and when these pretended 
horns are elongated into threads, Himanlopes. 
The second tribe consists of those which exhibit no external or- 
gan whatever, if we except a tail. In 
Cercaria, Mull. 
The oval body is in fact terminated by a thread. 
Vibrio, Mull. 
Where the body is round and slender like a bit of thread. 
It is to this genus that belong the 
V. glutinis et aceti, or the pretended Eels that are seen in vinegar and 
paste. Those that inhabit the former are frequently perceptible to the naked 
eye. It is asserted that they change their skin, consist of two sexes, pro- 
duce living young ones in summer, and eggs in autumn. Freezing will not 
kill them. The others make their appearance in diluted paste. 
In Enchelis, Mull, the body is softer, oblong, and less determined than that 
of a Vibrio. In Cyclidium it is flat and oval. In Paramecium it is flat and 
oblong. In Kolpoda it is flat and sinuous. In Gonium it is flat and angular, 
and in Bursaria hollow like a sac. The most singular genus of the whole 
is the 
No determinate form can be assigned to them; their figure changes every 
instant, and is sometimes rounded, sometimes divided and subdivided into 
thongs, in the most odd and singular manner. 
Proteus, Lin. HOMOGENEA. 
523 
The Monades, viewed under the microscope, resemble points moving with 
great rapidity, although destitute of any apparent organ of motion. 
Monas, Mull. 
Volvox. 
A globular body revolving on its axis and frequently containing smaller 
globules, which are doubtless the continuation of the race. 
THE END. SYSTEMATIC INDEX. 
Introduction, 9 
Distribution of the Animal 
Kingdom, 33 
VERTEBRATA, OR VERTE- 
BRATED ANIMALS, 37 
Mammalia, 41 
Man, 45 
Monkeys, 54 
Bats, 62 
Hedge-hogs, 64 
Shrews, 65 
Desmans, 65 
Moles, 67 
Bears, 68 
Raccoons, 69 
Coatis, 70 
Badgers, 70 
Gluttons, 70 
Weasels, 72 
Polecats, 72 
Otters, 73 
The Dog, 74 
The Wolf, 75 
The Jackal, 75 
Foxes, 75 
Civets, 76 
Genets, . 7 6 
The Mangouste, 77 
Hyaenas, 77 
Cats, 78 
The Lion, 78 
Tiger, 78 
Panther, 79 
Lynx, 79 
Seals, 80 
The Morse, 82 
Opossums, 83 
Phalangers, 86 
Potoroos, 8 7 
Kanguroos, 87 
Squirrels, 91 
The Aye-Aye, 91 
Marmots, 92 
Rats, 94 
Jerboas, 96 
Jumping-Hares, 97 
Rat Moles, 97 
The Beaver, 98 
The Couia, 99 
Porcupines, 99 
Hares, 100 
Guinea Pig, 101 
Sloths, 103 
Megatherium, 103 
Armadillos, 103 
Ant-Eaters, 104 
Echidnae, 105 
Ornithorhynci, 106 
The Elephant, 107 
The Mammoth, 107 
Hippopotamus, 108 
The Hog, 108 
Anoplotherium, 109 
Rhinoceros, 109 
Damans, 109 
Palseotherium, 109 
The Tapir, HO 
Horses, 110 526 
SYSTEMATIC INDEX. 
Camels, 111 
The Musk, 112 
The Stags, 113 
The Giraffe, 113 
Antelopes, 114 
Goats, 114 
Sheep, 114 
The Ox, 115 
Manati, 116 
Dugong, 117 
Dolphins, 119 
Porpoises, 119 
The Narwhal, 119 
Cachalots, 119 
The Whale, 120 
OVIPAROUS VERTEBRATA, 120 
Birds, 121 
Vultures, 127 
Falcons, 127 
Eagles, 129 
Hawks, 129 
Buzzards, 129 
Owls, 131 
Shrikes, 132 
Fly-catchers, 132 
Crown-Birds, 132 
Tanagers, 133 
Thrushes, 133 
Ant-catchers, 133 
Orioles, 134 
Warblers, 135 
Manakins, 135 
Swallows, 136 
Larks, 137 
Titmouse, 138 
Buntings, 138 
Sparrows, 138 
Crossbills, 138 
Colies, 139 
Beef-eaters, 139 
Starlings, 139 
Crows, 140 
Magpie, 140 
Jays, 140 
Nutcrackers, 141 
Rollers, 141 
Birds of Paradise, 141 
Nuthatches, 142 
Creepers, 142 
Hummingbirds 142 
Hoopoes, 142 
Bee-eaters, 143 
Mot-mots, 143 
Kingfishers, 143 
Todies, 143 
Hornbills, 143 
Jacamars, 144 
Woodpeckers, 144 
Wrynecks, 145 
Cuckoos, 145 
Barbets, 145 
Toucans, 146 
Parrots, 146 
Touracos, 147 
Plaintain-eaters, 147 
Hoccos, 148 
Peacocks, 148 
Turkeys, 148 
Guinea-fowls, 149 
Pheasants, 149 
Grouse, 149 
Partridges, 150 
Quails, 150 
Tinamous, 150 
Pigeons, 150 
Ostriches, 152 
Cassowaries, 153 
Bustards, 154 
Plovers, 154 
Lapwings, 154 
Oyster-catchers, 155 
Cranes, 155 
The Sun Bird, 156 
The Boat-bill, 157 
Herons, 157 
Storks, 157 
Jabirus, 157 
Umbres, 157 
Wood-Pelicans, 158 
Spoonbills, 158 
The Ibis, 159 
Curlews, 159 
Snipes, 159 527 
SYSTEMATIC INDEX. 
God wits, 159 
Sandpipers, 160 
Ruffs, 160 
Turnstones, 161 
Avosets, 161 
Jacanas, 162 
Kamichi, 162 
Rails, 163 
Coots, 163 
Sheath bills, 164 
Pratincoles, 164 
Flamingoes, 165 
Divers, • 166 
Guillemots, 167 
Auks, 167 
Puffins, 167 
Penguins, 167 
Gorfus, 168 
Petrels, 168 
The Albatross, 169 
Gulls, 169 
Terns, 170 
Noddies, 170 
Skimmers, 170 
Pelicans, 171 
Cormorants, 171 
Frigate-Birds, 171 
Boobies, 172 
Darters, 172 
Tropic Birds, 172 
Swans, 173 
Geese, 173 
Ducks, 174 
Mergansers, 175 
Reptiles, 175 
Tortoises, 177 
Crocodiles, 180 
Lizards, 181 
Aganeae, 182 
Dragons, 183 
Iguana, 184 
Mosasaurus, 184 
Geckos, 184 
Chameleons, 185 
Scincoideans, 186 
Serpents, 187 
Batrachians, (Frogs, Sala- 
manders, 193 
Fishes, 197 
Perches, 200 
Gurnards, 203 
Flying-fishes, 203 
Stickle-backs, 204 
Scienoides, 205 
Sparoides, 206 
Mackerels, 209 
Tunnies, 209 
« Swordfish, 210 
Pilot-fish, 210 
Txnioides, 211 
Theutyes, 212 
Mullets, 214 
Blennies, 214 
Gobies, 215 
The Angler, 216 
Tautog, 217 
Fistularidae, 218 
Carps, 219 
Pikes, 220 
Flying-fishes, 221 
Catfish, 222 
The Salmon, 223 
Herrings, 224 
The Shad, 225 
The Cod, 226 
Flat-fishes, 226 
Discoboli, 227 
Eels, 228 
Sea-Horse, 232 
Gymnodontes, 232 
Paddle-fish, 236 
Chimera, 237 
Sharks, 238 
Angelfish, 239 
Saw-fish, 239 
Rays, 240 
The Torpedo, 240 
Lampreys, 241 
Myxine, 241 528 
SYSTEMATIC INDEX. 
MOLLUSCA, 243 
Cephalopoda, 246 
Cuttle-fish, 247 
Nautilus, 247 
Belemnites, 248 
Ammonites, 248 
Nummulites, 248 
Pteropoda, 249 
Clio, 249 
Cymbula, 249 
Limacina, 249 
Gasteropoda, 250 
Slugs, 252 
Snails, 252 
Planorbis, 253 
Lymnseus, 253 
Physa, 253 
Auricula, 253 
Conovulus, 253 
Doris, 254 
Tritonia, 255 
Thethys, 255 
Scyllsea, 255 
Glaucus, 255 
Phyllidia, 255 
Pleurobranchus, 256 
Aplysia, 256 
Dolabella, 257 
Notarchus, 257 
Akera, 257 
Gastropteron, 258 
Umbrella, 258 
Trochus, 260 
Turbo, 260 
Paludina, 261 
Littorina, 261 
Phasianella, 261 
Ampullaria, ‘ 261 
Melania, 261 
Tornatella, 262 
Pyramidella, 262 
Jantliina, 262 
Nerita, 262 
Pileopsis, 263 
Hipponyx, 263 
Crepidula, 263 
Pileolus, 263 
Navicella, 263 
Calyptraea, 263 
Siplionaria, 264 
Sigaretus, 264 
Cryptostoma, 264 
Conus, 265 
Cyprxa, 265 
Ovula, 265 
Terebellum, 265 
Yoluta, 265 
Oliva, 266 
Buccinum, 266 
Cerithium, 267 
Murex, 267 
Strombus, 268 
Yermetus, 268 
Magilus, 269 
Siliquaria, 269 
Halyotis, 269 
Fissurella, 270 
Patella, 270 
Chiton, 270 
Acephala, 271 
Acarda, 272 
Ostrea, 273 
Pecten, 273 
Lima, 273 
Anomia, 274 
Placuna, 274 
Spondylus, 274 
Malleus, 274 
Vulsella, 275 
Perna, 275 
Etheria, 275 
Avicula, 275 
Pinna, 275 
Area, 276 
Trigonia, 276 
Mytilus, (Muscles) 276 
Anodontea, 277 
Unio, 277 
Cardita, 277 
Cypricardia, 277 
Coralliophaga, 278 
Venericardia, 278 SYSTEMATIC INDEX. 
529 
Crassatella, 278 
Chama, 278 
Tridacna, , ; 278 
Cardium, 279 
Donax, 279 
Cyclas, 280 
Corbis, 280 
Tellina, 280 
Lucina, 280 
Venus, 280 
Mya, 281 
Byssomia, 281 
Hiatella, 281 
Solen, 281 
Pholas, 282 
Teredo, 282 
Fistulana, 282 
Teredina, 283 
Clavagella, 283 
Aspergillum, 283 
Biphora, 284 
Ascidia, 284 
Botryllus, 285 
Pyrosoma, 285 
Polyclinum, 286 
Brachiopoda, 286 
Lingula, 286 
Terebratula, 286 
Orbicula, 287 
Cirrhopoda, 288 
Anatifa, 288 
Balanus, 288 
ARTICULATA, 290 
Annueata, 293 
Serpula, 295 
Sabella, 295 
Terebella, 295 
Amphitrite, 295 
Syphostoma, 296 
Dentalium, 296 
Arenicola, 296 
Amphinome, 297 
Eunice, 297 
Nereis, 297 
Alciopa, 298 
Spio, 298 
Lumbrinera, 298 
Ophelina, 299 
Cirrhatulus, 299 
Palmyra, 299 
Aplirodita, 299 
Chxtopterus, 300 
Lumbricus, (Earth Worms) 301 
Nais, 301 
Climena, 301 
Hirudo, (Leeches) 302 
Gordius, 303 
Crustacea, 305 
Crabs, 308 
Lobsters, 310 
Shrimps, 310 
Prawns, 310 
Squilla, 311 
Phyllosoma, 312 
Gammarus, 314 
Cyamus, 315 
Oniscus, 316 
Monoculus, 318 
Limulus, (King-crab) 319 
Argula, 319 
Caligus, 319 
Nicothoe, 320 
Trilobites, 320 
Arachnides, 321 
Spiders, 323 
Tarantula, 333 
Scorpio, 334 
Galeodes, 336 
Chelifer, 336 
Pycnogonides, 336 
Phalangium, 338 
Acarus, (Mites) 339 
Ticks, 340 
Insecta, or Insects, 340 
Myriapoda, 352 
lulus, 355 
Scolopendra, 356 
Lepisma, 357 
Podura, 357 
Lice, 358 
Fleas, 359 SYSTEMATIC INDEX* 
530 
Coleoptera, 360 
Cicindela, 363 
Carabus, 363 
Dytiscus, 367 
Gyrinus, 368 
Staphylinus, 369 
Buprestis, 371 
Elater, 372 
Cebrio, 373 
Fire-flies, 374 
Melyris, 375 
Clerus, 376 
Ptinus, 377 
Lymexylon, 378 
Mastigus, 379 
Hister, 380 
Silpha, 380 
Nitidula, 382 
Dacne, 383 
Dermestes, 384 
Byrrhus, 385 
Heterocerus, 385 
Dryops, 385 
Hydrophilus, 386 
Sphseridium, 387 
Scarab seides, 389 
Goldbeaters, 392 
Stag-Beetle, 393 
Passalus, 394 
Pimelia, 395 
Blaps, 395 
Tenebrio, 396 
Diaperis, 397 
Cossyphus, 398 
Helops, 399 
Cistela, 399 
Dircsea, 400 
CEdemera, 401 
Mycterus, 401 
Lagria, 402 
Pyrochroa, 403 
Mordella, 403 
Notoxus, 403 
Horia, 404 
Meloe, 404 
Spanish Fly, &.c. 405 
Bruchus, 406 
Attelabus, 406 
Brentus, 406 
Brachycerus, 407 
Curculio, 407 
Lixus, 407 
Rhynchsenus, 407 
Calandra, 408 
Scolytus, 409 
Paussus, 409 
Bostrichus, 409 
Monotoma, 410 
Lyctus, 410 
Mycetophagus, 410 
Trogosita, 410 
Cucujus, 410 
Prionii, 412 
Cerambycini, 413 
Lamiarise, 414 
Lepturete, 415 
Sagra, 416 
Crioceris, 417 
Hispa, 418 
Cassida, 418 
Cyptocephalus, 4I9 
Chrysomela, 419 
Galeruca, 419 
Altica, 420 
Erotylus, 420 
Eumorphus, 421 
Lady-bug, 422 
Clypeaster, 422 
Pselaphus, 423 
Claviger, 423 
Orthoptera, 423 
Ear-wigs, 424 
Cock-roaches, 424 
Mantis, 425 
Grasshoppers, &c. 426 
Crickets, 426 
Hemiptera, 427 
Cimex, 428 
Bed-bug, &c. 428 
Aquatic Scorpions, 429 
Nepa, 429 
Notonecta, 430 SYSTEMATIC INDEX. 
531 
Cicada, 430 
Locusts, 430 
Fulgora, 432 
Cicadella, 432 
Psylla, 433 
Thrips, 433 
Aphis, 433 
Gallinsects, 434 
Cochineal, 435 
Neuroptera, 435 
Dragon Flies, 437 
Ephemera, 438 
Panorpa, 439 
Lion-Ant, 440 
Hemerobius, 441 
Semblis, 441 
Mantispa, 442 
Rhaphidia, 442 
Termes, 442 
Psocus, 443 
Perla, 444 
Phryganea, 444 
Hymenoptera, 445 
Saw-flies, 447 
Sirex, 448 
Fcenus, 449 
Ichneumon, 450 
Cynips, 451 
Chalcis, 452 
Bethylus, 453 
Chrysis, 453 
Ants, 455 
Mutilla, 457 
Sphex, 457 
Masaris, 458 
Wasps, 459 
Bees, 460 
Lepidoptera, 465 
Papilio, 468 
Hesperia, 469 
Urania, 469 
Sphinx, 470 
Sesia, 471 
Zygaena, 471 
Moths, 472 
Hepialites, 472 
Pseudo-Bombyces, 473 
Aposura, 473 
Noctuaelites, 474 
Geometry, 474 
Deltoides, 475 
Tineites, 475 
Fissipennes 477 
Rhipiptera, 477 
Sty lops, 479 
Xenos, 479 
Diptera, 479 
Musquetoes, 482 
Crane-flies, 483 
Asilus, 484 
Empis, 485 
Cyrtus, 485 
Bombylius, 485 
Anthrax, 485 
Thereva, 486 
Leptis, 486 
Dolichopus, 487 
Horse-flies, 487 
Mydas, 489 
Xylopliagus, 490 
Stratiomys, 490 
Syrphus, 492 
GSstrus, 492 
Conops, 493 
Flies, 494 
Hippobosca, 496 
Nycteribia, 496 
RADIATA, 497 
Echixodebmata, 498 
Starfish, 499 
Sea-Urchins, 499 
Holothuria, 500 
Molpadia, 502 
Minyas, 502 
Sipunculus, 502 
Bonellia, 503 
Entozoa, 503 
Filaria, 504 
Trichocephalus, 504 
Cucullanus, 505 
Ophiostoma, 505 SYSTEMATIC INDEX. 
Ascaris, 5.05 
Strongylus, 506 
Lernea, 506 
Echinorhynchus, 507 
Fasciola, 508 
Tape worm, 508 
Hydatids, 509 
Ligula, 509 
Sea-Nettles, 510 
Medusa, 510 
Poi’pita, 511 
Velella, 511 
Physalia, 512 
Diphyes, 512 
Poutfi, 513 
Actinia, 514 
Lucernai’ia, 514 
Hydra, 514 
Vorticella, 515 
Tubipoi’a, 516 
Tubularia, 516 
Sertularia, 516 
Cellularia, 516 
Flustra, 516 
Cellepora, 517 
Tabulipora, 517 
Corallina, 517 
Acetabulum, 518 
Black coral, 518 
Gorgonia, 518 
Isis, 518 
Madrepores, 518 
Millepora, 519 
Peixnatula, 519 
Alcyonium, 520 
Sponges, 520 
Infusoria, 523 
Furculai’ia, 521 
Tubicolaria, 521 
Bracliionus, 521 
Cercaria, 522 
Vibrio, 522 
Proteus, 522 
Monas, 523 
Volvox, 523