977 



CHEIROSTEMON. 



CHELONIA. 



978 



half deep, bright red inside, covered externally with a russet down ; 

 it is deeply divided into five lobes, and is marked on the outside at 

 the base with five prominences, which correspond with an equal 

 number of little pits filled with a slightly viscid whitish fluid. There 

 is no corolla. There are five stamens combined into a central column- 

 like tube, from the apex of which proceed five long slender sharp- 

 pointed processes, which are all curved one way, coloured red, and 

 look very much like what one might imagine to be the claws of a 

 demon's hand ; on the convex side these processes bear the anthers. 

 The fruit is a large woody 5-celled 5-valved capsule, with from fifteen 

 to twenty seeds in each cell. 





Hand-Tree (Clieiroatemon platanoidfi.) 



a, fruit opened ; 6, section of young fruit, showing the disposition of the 

 needs ; c, pistil and bracts ; d, flower opened to show the tube of the stamens 

 and the*ttve anthers (all these figures are about one-sixth less thnn the natural 

 size ; those which follow are, some of the natural size, and others slightly 

 mainlined) ; e, /, g, seeds ; A, t, sections showing the situation of the embryo ; 

 k, the embryo, placed to show the cotyledons. 



The singular form of the stamens and their large size have rendered 

 this tree an object of curiosity and veneration in Mexico from time 

 immemorial. The native Mexicans call it by the unpronounceable 

 name of Macpal Cochiquauhitl, which the Spaniards translate Arbol 

 de Manitaa, and the English Hand-Tree. What made it a greater 

 object of admiration was, that in all Mexico only one tree was known, 

 which was near the town of Toluca, about sixteen leagues west of 

 the city of Mexico. The flowers of this plant were so constantly 

 gathered by the Indiana a objects of veneration that the fruit never 

 ripened, and it was not till the year 1801 that cuttings transferred to 

 the Botanic Garden at Mexico struck root, and began to multiply 

 this vegetable wonder. The original tree must be much more ancient 

 than the conquest of Mexico, for it has been distinctly described by 

 the Spanish historians. Tbe people of Toluca imagine that the tree 

 is one and indivisible, that no other was ever created, nor any other 

 ever propagated. Seeds however have been produced from the young 

 plants in the Botanic Garden, Mexico, whence they may now be 

 procured without difficulty. Plants of it were thus obtained some 

 years since by Mr. Lambert, of Boyton House, in Wiltshire, and they 

 are not uncommon in large collections. Notwithstanding the belief 

 of the Mexicans to the contrary, it is really found wild in Guatemala, 

 where whole forests of it were observed near the city of that name 

 by one of the pupils of Professor Cervantes. The Hand-Tree is said 



HAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. I. 



to form a very large tree, which preserves its leaves all the year 

 round, and forms a fine shady canopy, flowering in November, 

 December, and January. 



(Hernandez, Hist. Plant. Nor. Hisp,, vol. ii., ed. 2, p. 531 ; Vetan- 

 court, Theatr. Alexic. ; Larreategui, Dissert., June, 1795 ; Tilesius in 

 Act. Pelrop., 5, 321, t. ix. ; Humb. and Bonpl., PI. jKquinoct., i. 85.) 



CHEIROTHE'RIUM. The footprints on the Red-Sandstone of 

 Hildburghau?en were referred by Kaup to a mammiferous animal 

 under the above title. To the same origin many similar remains in 

 England have been referred. Professor Owen is of opinion that the 

 animal was reptilian, and that it may be regarded as identical with 

 the Laliyrinthodon of the same formations, of which the teeth are 

 very characteristic. The animal was probably a Batrachian Reptile. 

 The footprints occur with ripple marks, and what are called rain 

 marks, on the flaggy red-sandstones of the Mersey and also in 

 Dumfriesshire. 



CHELIDO'NIUM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural 

 order Papaveracete. C. maju* is the only species. It is a glaucous 

 rather hairy annual, with small yellow flowers, a siliquose capsule, 

 and orange-coloured juice. It is not at all uncommon in waste places in 

 this country; it is commonly called Celandine, and possesses no 

 useful properties worth naming. 



CHE'LIFER, a genus of Arafhnida remarkable for the resemblance 

 which the species composing it bear to scorpions. Hence Lamarck 

 styled the order in which he placed them 'les Faux Scorpions," 

 associating them with Galeodes. They belong however to the 

 Trachearian division of the class Arachnida. The mandibles of 

 C'/irlifi r are short, with didactylous extremities. The palpi are two, 

 very long, and fine pointed, resembling arms, and having claws at 

 their extremities. The maxilla; are connivent and two in number. 

 The eyes are two in the Chdifera proper, as distinguished by Hermann 

 from the species of the genus Oiiisium of Leach, which have four ; 

 they are placed at the sides of the thorax. The body is ovate, 

 anteriorly acute, and depressed. The feet are eight. 



These curious animals are very small, and resemble miniature 

 scorpions deprived of their tails. They run fast, moving backwards, 

 forwards, and often sideways like crabs. They live under stones, in 

 crevices of rocks by the sea-side, under bark of trees, and in houses 

 among old papers and old furniture. They feed upon insects. They 

 are found in all parts of Europe. 



CHE'LMON. [CH-ETODON.] 



CHE'LODUS, a genus of Fossil Mammalia proposed by Kaup. It 

 is of the rodent type, allied to the beaver and porcupine, and occurs 

 in Tertiary Beds at Eppelsheim, near Mainz. 



CHE'LONARIUM. [ELATERID.E.] 



CHELONE. [CHELOSIAN-S.] 



CHELONIA (XMjini, a Tortoise), Tortoises and Turtles, a 

 numerous and highly interesting order of Reptiles, generally con- 

 sidered the first by herpetologists. They are also termed Testudiuata 

 (from Testudo, the Latin name for a Tortoise), and are distinguished at 

 the first glance by the double shield in which their body is normally 

 inclosed, whether they are terrestrial, fresh-water, or marine. They 

 were all comprised by Linna;us under his genus Teatwdo. 



The following account of the organisation of these animals is 

 principally derived from Cuvier. 



Skeleton. The surface of the skull in these reptiles is continuous, 

 being without any moveable articulations, as is the case with the 

 Serpents and the Tailed Batrachians. But whilst this character 

 prevails in all the genera of which the order is composed, many of 

 those genera differ much in their cranial structure, and it becomes 

 necessary to point out these differences, which are much greater than 

 those which exist in the crania of the Crocodiles. 



In the Land-Tortoises the head is oval and obtuse anteriorly ; the 

 interval between the eyes is large and 'convex; the aperture of the 

 nostrils is large, higher than it is wide, and a little depressed back- 

 wards. The orbits, which are large, are nearly round, complete 

 throughout, directed sideways and a little forwards. The parietal 

 region terminates backwards in a large projecting occipital spine, and 

 has on each side two large temporal fossa 1 , under which are enormous 

 tympanic cavities ; behind these cavities, and a little above, project 

 two large mastoidean protuberances, and beneath them are the 

 apophyses, which serve for the articulation of the under jaw. These 

 ipophyxes descend vertically, and are not directed backwards as in 

 the Crocodiles. Underneath, the basilary region is flat, the palatine 

 concave ; aud upon the anterior part of this last the osseous posterior 

 nostrils open, there being no palatine roof, and the palatine part of 

 ihe maxillaries being open up to the anterior fourth of the muzzle ; 

 a disposition rendered necessary by the mode of respiration in these 

 animals, and which as much resembles that of the Frogs aa it differs 

 from that of the Crocodiles. The occipital region is in its totality 

 vertical, although the occipital spine, the mastoidean protuberances, 

 and the articular condyle of the skull, which is a veiy projecting 

 tubercle, render it very unequal. 



The first remarkable feature in the composition of the head of the 

 Tortoises is the absence of nasal bones. In the recent animal the 

 external bony nostrils are narrowed by cartilaginous lamina;, which 

 represent these bones ; but in the skeleton is found immediately at 

 ,heir upper border the anterior frontal bone, which takes its ordinary 



