A treasury of natural history; or, a popular dictionary of animated nature ... To which are added, a syllabus of practical taxidermy, etc / [Samuel Maunder].

Samuel Maunder

Date:: 1848

Credit: A treasury of natural history; or, a popular dictionary of animated nature ... To which are added, a syllabus of practical taxidermy, etc / [Samuel Maunder]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$1 j 38 CCIjp Crca^ury of i^atural Slt^tory; has been done towards it by the aid of modem Science. [See To.xonox and Glyptodon.] ARNEE. {Bos Ai-ni.) A large and for- midable quadruped) conspicuous for courage, strength, and ferocity ; and closely allied to the ivdld ordinary Buffalo. It inhabits the high lands of Hiudostan, and is remarkable for its enormous horns, which often measure from four to six feet in length. They incline outwards and backwards, and then, arching gradually towards each other as they proceed to the points, form a bold crescent: they are rough with numerous ridges and furrows. In Bengal and the. neighbouring provinces tills animal is knoivn by the name of Arna. ARTAilUS. A genus of birds, one of the species of which was placed by the older i writers among the Shrikes. [See Woon- i SWjU.L01Y.] ARTICULATA. The term applied by Cuvier to a primary divisiou of the animal kingdom. The animals composing it not only present an internal structure which is essentially different from that of the other three divisions—^ the Vkutkekata, Mol- LU.SCA, and Radiata—but are distinguished by external characters so definite and evi- dent as not to be mistaken. The skeleton is not internal, as in the Vertebrata, but is seldom altogether absent, as in the Mollusca. Their entire body is divided into segments ; the series of articulated rings which encircle the body supplying the place of a skeleton, and being in general hard enough to furnish the necessary resisting fulcra to the muscles of locomotion ; whence they are capable of performing the several actions of walking, leaping, swimming, or flying. • There are also some which are not furnished with feet, but have only soft and membranous articu- lated limbs, by which they can merelj^ crawl. In some articulated animals, their nng-like appearance results merely from a certain number of transverse folds, which furrow the skin, and encircle the body ; but in the greater number, the animal is enclosed in a kind of case, formed by a series of rings, so united one to another as to allow them a certain degree of movement. In most ani- mals of this sub-kingdom, each ring in its complete state possesses a pair of nervous ganglia, united on the eentral line ; and these ganglia are connected together by a double cord of communication, which runs along the ventral or lower surface of the body. The bulk of the body in the Articu- lata is made up of the muscles, by whicli the several segments, and tlieir various append- ages, are put in motion ; and these muscles arc arranged >vith so much regularity and exactness on the two sides of the central ' line, that the lateral symmetry of the Ar- i ticulata is most exact. With the exception of a few of the very lowest species, all the Articulata arc luniished with a distinct head, and with jaws for the prehension and reduc- tion of the food : these jaws, however, do not open vcrlically, as in the Vertebrata, but laterally, and there arc frequently several ])airs of them, one behind the other. All i the actions of the Articulata are performed 1 with great energy; and at the time of tlte most rapid increase of the body, the demand for food is so great, that a short suspension of the supply proves fatal. The members of tliis great dirision are dis- tributed into flvecla.sses, principally founded on the organs of locomotion. 1. ThcA.v.VE- LlD.sj, or Red-blooded Worms; characterized by the presence of a distinct circulating sys- tem, and of respiratory organs i the exten- sion of tlie body into numerous segments ; and by the possession of a well-develoiied nervous sj-stem. 2. The Cibripedes, which ' seem, ns it were, to connect the Articulata with the Mollusca. The body is furnished with articulated cirrhi, arranged in pairs, ' while in many it is provided with a multi- . valve shell. 3. Crustacea, or Crabs, Lob- sters, &c. These have articulated limbs, ’ more or less complicated, attached to the i sides of the body. Their blood iswhite,their ; respiration aquatic, and among them alone, i of all the Articulata, do we And a distinct ' auditory apparatus. They have transverse | jaws ; two compound eyes ; and nil are fur- , nished with antenme or articulated filaments ' attached to the head, of which there are ge- | nerally four. 4. Abachxida, or Spiders, ; Mites, &c. In common with a great number ' of the Crustacea, these have the head and thorax joined into a single piece with arti- culated limbs on each side : their mouth is armed with jaws, but they have no antenna:. 5. IxsECTS ; the most numerous in species of any throughout the Animal Kingdom. They are characterized by the division of the body into three distinct portions, — the head, thorax or corselet, and abdomen ; by the possession of antennic on the head ; of three pairs of legs, and, in general, of one or two pairs of wings; and by their respiring by means of trachea:, which are elastic ves- sels that receive the air by orifices termed stigmata, pierced in their sidc.s, and which are distributed by minute ramifications ovyr every part of the body. *> ARVTCOLA. A genus of Rodent Mam- malia. [See Vole.] ASCARED.®. A familj' of Kntozoa, or Intestinal Worms, which hve in the bodies of other animals. Tliey are thus character- ized : body round, elastic, and tapering to- vv'ards each extremity ; head with three vesicles ; tail obtuse or subulate ; intestines spiral, milk-white, and pellucid. There are j numerous species, generally deriving their specific name from the animal they cliicfly infest; for the intestinal canal of most ani- mals is affected by some species or other. As examples we shall take — 1. Ascaris vermi- cularis (the Thread or Maw-worm), which is found, in considerable numbers, chiefly in the intestinum rectum of children, where they occasion very troublesome symptoms, and arc not easilj' expelled. They arc vivi- parous, and about half an inch long : txxly a little dilated in the middle, and wrinkled at the sides, pellucid and anpilar, hut gradu- ally tapering and terminating in a fine point. 2. Ascaris Itimbricoides: long round worm: oviparous, hcail slightly incurved, with a transverse contraction beneath it: mouth triangular: inhabits the intestines of ema-$