BRACHYPUa 



r.KAIiYlTS. 



Although local in it* residence. Dr. Horsfwld found the 

 bird rery numerous on Mount Prahu, which, he says, iii the luxu- 

 riance of its vegetation and gloomy thicket*, it probably not surpassed 





Mountaineer Warbler (Brachyptrryx montana). 

 The upper figure represents the female ; the lower, the male. 



in any portion of the globe. In his daily excursions he uniformly 

 observed and occasionally surprised it in its short sallies among the 

 openings of the forest. It was chiefly found on the lowest branches 

 of trees or on the ground. As the shortness of its wings incapacitate* 

 it for elevated or distant flights, its motions are low, short, and made 

 with great exertion. It lives in the thickest coverts, feeding on the 

 larvte of insects, worms, ic., and there it forms its neat on the ground. 

 "It utters," says Dr. Horsfield, "almost without interruption, a varied 

 song. Its common note is a quickly reiterated babbling, resembling 

 that of the C'nrruca garrula of Brisson, and other birds of this family : 

 it also has a protracted plaintive note, but it sometimes rises to 

 higher and melodious warblings, which, in the general silence of these 

 elevated regions, afford an inexpressible sensation of delight to the 

 mind of the solitary traveller." 



This bird is the Ketek of the Javanese and Mountaineer Warbler 

 of Latham. 



(Horafield, Zoological lirtrarrhrt m Java and the neighbouring 

 lilamU, and Trantartioru of Ike Linnitan Society, vol. xiii.) 



BRACHYITS. [BRACHYPODIN.S ; CHALOIDKS.] 



BRACH V TKI.KS, a genus of Quadrnmana, separated from Atela 

 by Spix, on account (among other differences) of the very small 

 development of the thumb. I ATK.I.ES.] 



BRACK KX. [PTKRM.1 



liliA'CON, a genus of Insects of the order Hymenopttra and family 

 /eknntmonidfr. The insect* of this genus are remarkable for the 

 hiatus which there exists between the mandibles and the rlyprus. 

 The maxilla; are prolonged inferior]}- ; the second cubital cell of the 

 v. :iu- it tolerably large and square ; the ovipositor is long. 



I'.UACT, the last leaf or set of leaves that intervenes between the 

 true leaves and the calyx of a plant. When the time arrives for n 

 plant to fructify, a change comes over its constitution, and parts are 

 expanded, which, although under ordinary circumstances they would 

 have become leave*, yet at this peculiar time arc less developed, and 

 appear in the form of scales or half-formed leaves. Of these the exter- 

 nal are bracts, the next combine with each other and become calyx, 

 the next assume the form of petals, and so on. Therefore whatever 

 intervenes between tbe tnie leaves and the calyx i bract 



I'.llAliY ITS, a mentis of Mammals belonging to the order Krlmlala 

 of (,'uvier, and together with the genus / po.-iui' 



a small family to which Cnvier gave the appellation of 7W<//v"'"'". 

 from the peculiar conformation of their extremities, and the remark- 

 able slowness of their pace. Both these genera were formerly inrlmli 'I 

 by Limucus in the same group, under the common name of llradypw, 



or Sloth ; but later zoologists have separated them, on account of 

 certain anomalies in their organic structure. It must however be 

 confessed that the two genera of Sloths are closely approximated to 

 one another in many essential details both of structure and economy ; 

 and this fact is the more remarkable and interesting since the modifi- 

 cations upon which their generic distinction has been founded are 

 greater, and, as we might naturally presume, more influential, than 

 those which frequently characterise two different families. 



The order Edentata comprises a number of genera, perhaps the 

 most singular and anomalous among Mammals, differing widely from 

 all other quadrupeds, but unfortunately possessing so few natural 

 affinities or relations of rninnblonce among themselves, that the 

 order Edentata is sometimes regarded as the most arbitrary and arti- 

 ficial of all the primary groups into which Cuvicr and Geoffroy have 

 divided the Mammalia. The family Tardigrade, or Sloths, ar. 



illy deserving of attention, as well from the singularity of their 

 physical structure, and the mistakes which have hitherto prevailed 

 among naturalists concerning the habits and manners of these singular 

 animals, as on account of the relation which they present in their 

 osteological details to the Megatherium, the most curious and anoma- 

 lous of extinct animals. This family is distinguished from the other 

 Edrnfat<r\>y a short round head, and the presence both of molar and 

 canine teeth, the incisors alone being deficient ; but above all by the 

 great length and singular structure of their arms, which, adapting 

 them to a mode of progression altogether peculiar to themselves, and 

 consequently disqualifying them for the exercise of that spo. 

 locomotion common to ordinary quadrupeds, have caused them to be 

 considered as the most miserable and unfortunate of beings, imperfect 

 monsters of creation, equally remarkable for their distrusting appear- 

 ance and helpless condition. 



Sloth (Bradypia tridactyltti). 



To enable us clearly to comprehend the nature and functions !" 

 animals, it mil be necessary to enter into a short description of parU of 

 their osteological structure. The view hem given of the skeleton "I ;!,- 

 Sloth (Bradypiu tridactyliu) seems to indicate a distortion of certain 

 parts and proportions altogether opposed to freedom of motion, at 

 least of that kind of motion with which we are familiar in ordinary 

 quadrupeds. The arm and fore-arm token together are nearly twice 

 as long as the leg and thigh, so that if the animal attempts to walk on 

 all-fours it is obliged to trail itself painfully ami slowly on its elbows, 

 ami if it stands upright on tin- liiml Ic^-s the itruiH are so long that 

 the fore fingers touch the ground. This disproportion between the 

 anterior and posterior extremities, obviously deprives these animals 

 of the power of moving on a plain surface with that speed which is so 

 admirable in the generality of quadrupeds ; and accordingly we are 

 assured by all observers, that their mode of progression under these 

 circumstances is of the most slow and painful nature. The Sloths 

 however are not terrestrial animals, but live entirely among the thick 

 branches of trees in the moat extensive and solitary forests. This 

 remarkable disproportion of their fore-arms is common to another 

 genus of arboivul mammals, the real apes, in which, far from retarding 

 their motions, this peculiar structure is of the most essential import 

 once in adding to their agility. But the Sloths partake of n< 

 the accessory advantages which the Apes possess. They have no 

 opposeable thumb ; their fun," '. and so perfectly rigid th;it, 



the joints ossify at a very early jM-riod of the animal's life, 1> 

 them totally incapable of individual motion, whilst they are ut tin* 

 same time so completely enveloped in the common integuments of 

 the hand that nothing is to be seen externally except the immense 



