801 



CECILIID^. 



CEDRELACE.E. 



state, one where the grain is uninjured, to which they may attach 

 themselves." 



In a field of 15 acres (planted partly with white and partly with 

 red wheat), which Mr. Kirby carefully examined, and which was 

 much attacked by these insects, he calculated that the havoc done by 

 them would amount to five combs ; he observed that the white wheat 

 was most effected. 



CECILIIEL (properly CjECILIID^E), a family of Reptiles, which 

 some naturalists have considered as belonging to the Batrachians, but 

 which Cuvier, following Linnaeus, places in his third and last family 

 (Les Serpents Nus) of the Ophidians, observing that those who placed 

 it among the Batrachians did so without knowing whether the form 

 underwent a metamorphosis or not. In the ' British Museum Catalogue' 

 of Amphibia it stands as a family of the third order of that class 

 (Peeiidopft idia). The following synopsis of the genera ie given in the 

 same work : . 



A. Muzzle pitted. 



1. Ccecilia : the pit under each nostril. 



2. Sipltonopt : the pit before each eye ; body with broad rings. 



3. Ichthyophit : the pit before each eye ; body with narrow rings. 



IS. Muzzle not pitted. 



4. Rliinatrema. 



Cacilia was named by Linnams from the supposed blindness of the 

 species. The eyes in fact are exceedingly small, and nearly hidden 

 under the skin. Cuvier observes that in some species these organs 

 are wanting altogether; and the following in his description of the 

 genus : The skin is smooth, viscous, and striated with annular folds. 

 It would appear altogether naked, but on dissection scales well 

 formed are found in its thickness ; but these scales are delicate, and 

 disposed regularly in many transverse rows between the wrinkles of 

 the skin, as Cuvier himself saw with certainty in C. glutinota, 

 C. aU>iventri, and other species. The head is depressed ; the 

 vent is round, and very near the end of the body ; the ribs are too 

 short to circumvent the trunk, and the articulation of the bodies of 

 the vertebra is effected by facets with hollow cones, the depression 

 in which is filled with a gelatinous cartilage, as in the Fishes and in 

 some of the Batrachians. Their skull is united to the first vertebra 

 by two tubercles, as in the Batrachians, a mode of union approached 

 by the Amphitbteiut only among Serpents. Their maxillary bones 

 cover the orbit, which is only pierced in the form of a small hole, 

 and the temporal bones cover the temporal fossa, so that the head 

 when examined from above presents only a continuous bony shield. 

 Their os hyoides, composed of three pairs of arches, may have led to 

 the supposition that in early youth the bones supported gills. The 

 maxillary and palatal teeth are arranged on two concentric lines, as 

 in the Prutei, but are often sharp and curved backwards, as in the 

 true serpents. The opening of the nostrils is at the back of the 

 palate, and the lower jaw has no moveable pedicle, while the tym- 

 panic bone is dovetailed (enchasse} with the other bones into the 

 shield of the skull. The only ossiculum auditus, or auditory bone, 

 is a small plate upon the fenestra ovalis, as is the case with the 

 Salamanders. 



Skull of a specie* of Cacilia. 



The auricle of the heart in these animals is not divided sufficiently 

 deep to be regarded as double, but the second lung is as small as it 

 usually is in the other serpents. The liver is divided into a great 

 number of transverse leaves (feuillets). In their intestines Cuvier 

 states that there is to be found a quantity of vegetable matters, 

 vegetable earth, and sand. 



The following species are given in the ' British Museum Catalogue :' 



C. gracilu, a native of South America. It is the C. vermiformit of 

 Shaw. 



C'. tcntaculata. It is the C. albiventrit of Daudin. 



C. compreaicauda, a native of Guyana. 



C. roitrala, a native of South America. 



C. oxyura, from Malabar. 



C. tqualtatoma, from Africa. 



There are two species of Siphonops : 



X interrupla (C. annulata, Mikan). It is a native of the Brazils. 



N. Mtjcicana is a species found in Mexico. 



The genus Ichthyophi* has but one species, the /. ylulitivsut 

 i ' '. '/hitinoia of Linnaeus). It is a native of Ceylon. 



NAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. I. 



The C. birittata of Cuvier constitutes the genus Khinairema. 

 The only species, R. biviltatum, is a native of Cayenne. 



Ctrcilia biritlata, Cuvier (Rh'matrema livittatum, Dumcril). 



CECROPIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order 

 Artocarpacea. C. peltata yields from its juice caoutchouc. The burk is 

 astringent. The stems are hollow; and its light porous wood is 

 used by the natives of the countries where it grows to give light by 

 friction. It is a native of South America. 



CECROPS, a genus of Entomostracous Cruttacea, the type of the 

 Cecropitkt, a family of the Patcilopoda. [PosciLOPODA.] 



CEDAR-BIRD. [BOMBYCILLA.] 



CEDAR-TREES. [ABIES.] 



CEDRELA, a genus of plants, the type of the natural order 

 Cedrelace<e. It has the following characters : Calyx 5-toothed ; 

 petals adnat to the torus ; stamens 5, distinct ; capsule 5-celled, 

 5-valved ; seeds numerous, on each side of the dissepiment ending in 

 a wing. 



C. Toona, Bastard Cedar, has lanceolate leaflets, acuminate, entire, 

 pale glaucous beneath. It is a native of the East Indies, where it is 

 called Toon. It has an erect trunk of great height and size, with 

 smooth gray bark. The flowers are very numerous, small, white, 

 fragrant, like honey. The seeds aro numerous, imbricated, 

 winged. The bark is a powerful astringent, and is said to be a good, 

 substitute for Peruvian Bark in the cure of periodic diseases. Dr. 

 Blume used it in Java with much success in the various forms of 

 fever, dysentery, diarrhoea, &c. Horsfield also used it in dysentery. 



C. odorata has leaflets ovate-lanceolate, entire, on short stalks. It is 

 a native of Barbadoes and the Caribbee Islands. It is a large tree with 

 a rough bark. The fruit is about the size of a partridge-egg. When 

 fresh the bark and berries smell like assafoetida. The trunk is 

 hollowed out into canoes. The wood is of a brown colour and has 

 a fragrant odour, from which circumstance it is called Cedar in the 

 British West India Islands. It is frequently cut into shingles for 

 covering houses, but it is not adapted for ship-building on account of 

 ito being subject to the attacks of worms. It is not adapted for casks, 

 as it gives its odour to whatever is placed in contact with it. 



C'. febrifuga (Soymidia febrifuge) has leaflets ovate-oblong, acu- 

 minated, quite entire. It is a native of Java. Its bark is said to 

 have a better effect on some of the fevers of India than cinchona. It 

 is also a powerful astringent. The wood is good for many purposes. 



CEDRELA'CE^E, a natural order of plants, belonging to the 

 Syncarpous group of Polypetalous Exogens. The species are timber- 

 trees : the timber is usually compact, scented, and beautifully 

 veined ; the leaves are alternate, pinnated, without stipules ; the 

 flowers are in terminal panicles. The essential characters of the order 

 are : Calyx 4-5-cleft, petals 4-5, longer than the sepals ; stamens 8-10, 

 the filaments either curled into a tube or dinstinct, and inserted into 

 a hypogynous disc ; the style and stigmas simple ; the cells of the 

 ovary equal in number to the petals or flower, with the ovules 4 or 

 often more, imbricated in two rows ; the first capsular with the valves 

 separable from the dissepiments, with which they alternate; the 

 seeds flat, winged ; albumen thin or none. This order is nearly related 

 to ifeliacece, from which it is chiefly distinguished by its winged and 

 indefinite seeds. 



The dotted leaves of some species connect this order with Auran- 

 liacetf. It contains 9 genera and about 25 species. 



An essential oil called Wood-Oil is found in C/Ut/ro.rylon Swietenia, 



3 P 



