The treasury of natural history, or, A popular dictionary of zoology / by Samuel Maunder.

  • Maunder, Samuel, 1785-1849.
Date:
1870
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treasury of natural history, or, A popular dictionary of zoology / by Samuel Maunder. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    pial animal, and was followed by another French naturalist, who called the creature in consequence Thylacotheriuin, from two Greek words signifying ‘‘pouched wild beast.” Agassiz gave it another name, while a writer in the Athenaeum, reviewing the disputation of the s&vans about its place in the system, jocularly called it Bothcratiotherium, a title gravely objected to by a learned Frenchman in a paper read at the Academy of Sciences, and published in their “ Comptes Rendus.” The name here given is that of Bluinville, adopted by Professor Owen, and therefore, it is to be hoped, settled. The quadrupeds, to which these remains belonged, seem by their teeth to have been particularly adapted for | living upon insects, like our shrews, and we I may mention that remains of beetles occur in the oolitic slute of Stonesfield, where they were found. The teeth have many sharp points, well fitted to crush the hard bodies of the beetles on which they probably de- pended for their chief supply ot food. ANDRIAS SCHEUCHZERI. The scien- j tific appellations of an extinct Salamander whose foss.l remains were discovered in the tertiary strata at (Eningen, so early as the year 1726. The bones were first considered to be human, and were accordingly described by Scheuchzer under the title of Homo Di- ' Irani testis. The animal, however, does not appear to have been much larger than the Great Salamander now living in .Japan. [See Sikbollma, in this Supplement.] ; APATEON. The generic name given by Hermann von Meyer of Frankfort to those species of gigantic reptiles to which the better-known name of Archegosaurus has been applied by Prof. Gohlfuss of Bonn. Their fossil remains occur in the coal mea- sures. At first it was supposed that the animals thus represented belonged to the fishes, but the lu-t-named palaeontologist de- monstrated that they were more properly to be regarded as primaeval lizards, in which were strangely blended characters common alike to frogs and toads in their early con- dition. to crocodiles, and to lizards properly so called. From the investigations of Prof. Owen, and those of the authors above named, it would seem that wc hate in /Ipateon a remarkable transition between the reptilian and piscine classes ; and so equally is the balance of characters manifested, that it has been seriously proposed to consider these I two vertebrate divisions as only one great | natural group. I- or further particulars con- sult Gwen’s Paleontology. AQUARIUM or AQUA-VIVARIUM. A receptacle of water, either fresh or suit, where, by preserving the fluid in a pure state by artificial means, or by the action ot plants growing in it, animals are kept ulive. During the la-t two or three years the visi- tors to the Z ological Gardens have been much gratified with the tunks of water, both fresh and salt, in which are displayed the ■ inhabitants of our streams, lakes, and seas, in a living and thriving state. From the work of one who has contributed much in pro- moting the introduction of marine aquaria, we derive the information which follows, j Mr. Gosse published ir 1854, a most heau- 1 tilully illustrated and excellent book, “ The ! Aquarium ; an Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Seas.” He shows that tlie animals cannot be preserved in health for a single . duy except by the help of plants to produce | oxygen, the principle in water which sup- I perts life. “ By their means, however, no- ! thing is easier than to have an Aquarium on almost as 6fnall a scale as we please ; ai d any visitor to the sea-side, though there for ever so brief a 6tay, may enjoy with the leust possible trouble the amenities of zoo- logical study in u soup-plate, or even in a tumbler. It is easy to knock otr with a 1 hammer, or even to dislodge with a strong clasp-knife, a fragment of rock on which a minute seu-w’eed is growing, proportioning the surfaces of leaf to the volumes uf water, — and you have an Aqunrium. A wide- mouthed phial affords a capital opportunity for studying minute Zoophytes, Bryozon, Nudibruneh Mollusca, &c., as they may he examined through the dear glass sides with perfect ease, by the aid of a pocket lens. The influence of light should be allowed to operate on the sea-weed, to promote the ela- boration of oxygen, but ut the same time, if j the weather be warm, care must be taken that the subjects he not killed by the sun’s heut. Mr. Warrington, an uble chemist and j naturalist, lias done much by his experi- I ments to promote the keeping of Aquaria. | I This gentlemun found that the decay ol the | older leaves of the plunts produced turbidity , in the water, ami tliut a green scum begun to | grow on the sides of the vessel and on the \ surface of the water. When the water wn6 fresh lie introduced a few common pond snuil8 (Lymncea); these greedily fed on the decaying vegetable matter and on the green scum, and quicklv restored the water to u healthy state. When the water is salt, some of the little winkles (Littorinie) answer the same purpose, and effectually act the part of scavengers by clearing away the decaying matter, as well as the young ulgte which are produced in plenty, and which, but for the winkle mowing them down with its mouth, w-ouhl soon cover the inside of the vessel, and prevent its contents from being seen. It is necessary that the Aquarium be placed where the sun’s rays can fall most freely on the leaves, as the free access of light to the plants is indispensable for the production of oxygen. Mr. Gosse remarks, that the dif- ference between the profusion of oxygen- bubbles produced on a sunny day, and the paucity of those seen in u dark cloudy day, or in a northern aspect, is very marked.” Pieces of rock, and corals or shells, should be placed in the Aquarium, to which the plants und unimuls inuy attach themselves, and into their crevices fish and crustaeeu may also tuke refuge. Artificial rocks may he mude of Koinuu, Portland, or some other cement which hardens in the water, and into this, when soft, pieces of branching corals muy be fixed, or fragments of stone with sea-weeds attached to them, so that the tufts may droop elegantly. When cement is i