713 



CALAMOPHILUS. 



CALAPPA. 



711 



shales which alternate with coal. CiUamites Suckovii occurs in most 

 European and American Coal-Fields. Calamita arenaceui occurs in 

 the Bunter Sandstein. We have found traces of a Ccdamitea in the 

 Red Marl series of Worcestershire. [COAL PLANTS.] 



CALAMOPHILUS, a genus of Birds belonging to the family 

 Parolee and the tribe Imessores, sub-tribe Dentirottres. C. biarmicus 

 of Yarrell is the Parus biarmicus of Pennant and other writers. This 

 bird is common in Great Britain, and is known by the name of the 

 Bearded Tit. [PARID^.] (Yarrell, British Birds.) 



CALAMO'PORA, the generic title applied by Goldfuss to many 

 Palaeozoic Corals, for some of which Lamarck employed the name of 

 fofotittt. 



CA'LAMUS, a genus of Palms the different species of which yield 

 the Rattan Canes of commerce. Although a genuine palm, yet from 

 the slender stems and general habit, it has more the look of some tall 

 grass, and has been considered as one of the links in the chain of 

 organisation which connect the Grasses with the Palms. Blume gives 

 the following account of the flowers and fruit : Polygamous-dioecious, 

 or dioecious ; spathes several, incomplete ; flowers sessile, in spikes; 

 calyx 3-toothed or trifid ; petals 3, united at the base ; stamens 

 6 ; filaments subulate, connected at the base into a cup ; anthers 

 arrow-shaped, fixed by the back. The rudiment of an ovary : 

 female : ovary 3-celled, surrounded by a staminiferous cup, which 

 is usually sterile ; style scarcely any ; stigmas 3, distinct or com- 

 bined ; berry protected by scales overlapping each other downwards, 

 1-seeded ; seed surrounded by a succulent flesh ; albumen uneven 

 in the circumference, even in the inside, or near even in the circum- 

 ference and ruminated internally ; embryo at the base ; leaves pinnated. 



The species are principally found in the hotter parts of the East 

 Indies, where they grow in the forests, climbing over trees and bushes 

 to a greater extent than any other known plants. The stem of 

 Calamiu vertu is described as being 100 feet long, that of C. Mongtu 

 300 to 400 feet, of C. rudentum upwards of 500 feet, and of C. txtrntiu 

 as much as 600 feet ; Rumphius even states that one kind attains the 

 extraordinary length of 1200 feet (vol. v. 100). It is closely covered 

 over by the tubular bases of the leaves, through which it is drawn by 

 the cane-gatherers when green ; afterwards it is dried in the sun, and 

 then is ready for market. These canes are extensively used for the 

 sake of the hard flinty coating of their stems, which are readily split 

 into strips, from which the bottoms of chairs and similar articles are 

 manufactured. It is not possible to say from what particular species 

 the canes of the shops are obtained, it being probable that many are 

 gathered indiscriminately ; C. Jtolang has however been said to furnish 

 the stouter, and C. Scipionum the slenderer sorts. The flesh that 

 surrounds the seeds of this genus is a delicate article of food ; limpid 

 water flows from the stems when cut through ; and finally the young 

 shoots of some of them, while still tender, are roasted or boiled, 

 chopped small, and being fried with pepper and gravy, are said to 

 furnish a very delicate dish. 



It is not a little remarkable that notwithstanding the polished 

 surface of the stem, almost all the other parts except the fruit should 

 be furnished with stiff hairs and even prickles. The prickles are 

 usually hooked backwards to enable the plants to raise themselves 

 upon the trees among which they grow hi their native forests ; and 

 to assist them in this operation the terminal pinnae of the pinnated 

 leaves are shortened, hardened, and also hooked backwards. Several 

 species are copiously described hi Rumphius's ' Herbarium Amboi- 

 nense,' (vol. v.) under the name of Palmijuncus. Dragon's Blood or 

 Djurnang, is the produce of a species of Calamus. Those which chiefly 

 yield it are the C. petr&ut (Lour.), C. rudentum (Lour.), C. vena 

 (Lour.), and C. Draco (Willi), of which the last three were by 

 LinuaSus reckoned mere varieties of the C. Rotang (Linn.). They are 

 natives only of Hindustan, Cochin China, and the Moluccas. The 

 ripe fruits are covered with a reddish-brown dry resinous substance, 

 which is the Dragon's Blood. In this state they are collected, and 

 allowed to remain in rice-mills till the resin drops off. The resin is 

 afterwards melted, either by the natural warmth of the ah- or by arti- 

 ficial heat, and then moulded into the different forms in which it 

 occurs in commerce. Another mode of obtaining it is as follows : 

 The ripe fruits are shaken in bags, and the resin so obtained is formed 

 into pieces about the size of a bean, which are then wrapped up in 

 leaves ; this kind is much prised in the East Indies. A second sort is 

 procured by throwing together the fruits after they have been treated 

 in the foregoing manner, melting them in the sun or with a slow fire, 

 and collecting what exudes, which is then formed into small four- 

 cornered cakes. A third sort is obtained from what remains after the 

 two foregoing processes, being run out and formed into round cakes, 

 which contain hard portions of the fruit. According to other 

 accounts, the finest sort is procured by exposing the fruits to the 

 vapour of boiling water, and scraping off the soft resin as it exudes. 



CALA'NDRA, a genus of Coleopterous Insects belonging to the 

 section RAynchophora, and family Cwculionida. It has the following 

 characters : Antenna; eight-jointed, geniculated, and inserted behind 

 the middle of the rostrum (that is, towards the base) ; the six joints 

 following the basal one are short, the apical joint forms a large knob, 

 generally somewhat hatchet-shaped, having the apex soft and spongy ; 

 rostrum long, and slightly bent downwards ; thorax rather long and 

 depressed, narrower in front than behind ; body somewhat depressed 



and pointed at the apex ; elytra shorter than the abdomen ; legs 

 short, tibiae armed with a spine ; tarsi four-jointed, the penultimate 

 joint bilobed. 



The well-known Corn- Weevil (C. yranaria), which commits so 

 much havock in our granaries, belongs to this genus : it is about 

 one-sixth of an inch long, or rather less ; of a pitchy-red colour ; the 

 thorax is coarsely punctured, and the wing-cases are deeply striated ; 

 the striae are minutely punctured ; the legs and antennae are red. 



This little insect bores a hole into the grain with its proboscis, in 

 which an egg is deposited ; the egg turns to a little grub or larva, 

 which devours the whole of the inside of the grain, leaving the husk 

 entire. This quantity of food is just sufficient to mature the grub : it 

 theu turns to the pupa, and afterwards to the weevil, which easily 

 breaks through the husk, and is then at liberty to proceed as its parent 

 did. When wheat is suspected to contain these little weevils or their 

 grubs, that which is affected may be easily discovered by throwing 

 the whole into water ; that which is good will sink, while the rest 

 will float. 



Another species of Calandra (C. Oryzce, Linn.) closely resembling the 

 corn-weevil, from which however it may be distinguished by its having 

 four red spots on its elytra, attacks the rice grain in the same way as 

 the one above mentioned does that of the wheat. 



C. Palmarum, a large species, being about an inch and a half 

 in length, lives during its larva state on the pith of the palms of South 

 America. It is of a dull, velvet-like black, and has the proboscis fur- 

 nished with a brush of black hairs on the upper part near the apex. 



The larva of this species, which is called by the natives the Ver 

 Palmiste, is considered by them a great dainty. 



CALAPPA, a genus of Brachyurous Decapod Cruttacea, separated 

 by Fabricius, and formerly embracing the genus Hepatna of Latreille, 

 though now restricted to the following form. 



Generic Character : External and internal antennae similar to those 

 of the Crab (Cancer) properly so called, third articulation of the pedi- 

 palpi (pieds-niachoires exte"rieurs) terminated somewhat like a pointed 

 hook ; chelae equal, very large, compressed, with their upper edge, 

 which is notched or crested, very much elevated, and fitting exactly 

 to the external border of the shell or carapace, so as to cover the 

 entire region of the mouth ; the rest of the feet short and simple ; 

 carapace short, convex, wider posteriorly than anteriorly, and forming 

 behind a vaulted shield, under which the posterior legs are hidden 

 when the animal is in a state of repose; eyes mounted on short 

 pedicles, and at a short distance from each other. 



The genus is well marked by the peculiarities of the shell and 

 chelae, with which last, as with a shield, the Calappce cover the 

 inouth and anterior parts, at the same time contracting up their feet 

 beneath the posterior vaults of the shell, under whose hard protection 

 their vulnerable parts are comparatively secured from the attacks of 

 their enemies. They are called by the French, Migranes, and also 

 Coqs de Mer, from their crested chelae, as well as Crabes Honteux, 

 from their appearing to hide their heads and smaller limbs behind 

 their large chelae. Their geographical distribution is wide. The 

 species are recorded as inhabiting the seas of the Indian Archipelago, 

 and of Australia, the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the seas of South 

 America, &c. The proximate form is found in the genus CL'l/tra 

 of Leach. [CElHRA.] 



We select as an example C. granulala, an inhabitant of the Medi- 

 terranean Sea, and found, according to M. Risso, most frequently in the 

 fissures of rocks 

 near Nice, where 

 these crabs reach 

 to the depth 

 of 90 feet. The 

 same zoologist 

 says, that the 

 females deposit 

 their eggs in 

 aummer ; and 

 that there is a 

 variety whose 

 shell is six- 

 toothed poste- 

 riorly, and 

 whose general 

 colour is pale 

 rose, with whit- 

 ish feet and 

 brown nails. 



The following 

 is Desmarest's 

 description of 

 C. granulata : 

 Carapace verru- 

 coae, marked 

 with four longi- 

 tudinal sutures; 



Oalappa grannlata. 

 The Crab with the limbs exscrtcd ; ti, the riglit chela. 



and having on each side before it begins to dilate seven teeth, three 

 short and obtuse, and four more strong and pointed upon the borders 

 of the enlarged part, with two other smaller ones entirely behind ; 



