1071 



rirUTA. 



in tin' young bin)*, ami resembling duwii in the early 

 iU growth. The tail is black ; the under parts pure white, 

 more especially the under tail coverts, which afford the beautiful 

 plume*. Then are sometimes of a grayuh aUte-oolour in the Indian 

 specie* ; but the white of the African feather* U nut BO clear and 

 brilliant a* that of tho Indian plumes, to which a decided and jiwt 

 preference u given. The natural colour of the leg* ia duakT black, 

 but in liring birds these limbs are generally whitened by the dust 

 shaken out of the plumage and other excrement 



Geographical Distribution of the Marabou. Nearly the whole of 

 Tropical Africa to the Cape of Good Hope, where it U not common. 

 (Teiuminck.) Banks of the Nile. (Riippell.) Neighbourhood of the 

 large towns of the interior. (Denham.) Western coast (Smeathman.) 



Habit*. Food, Ac. Nearly resembling those of the White Stork, 

 like which it is privileged, on account of its utility as a scavenger in 

 freeing the villages and towns of offensive substances, like its Indian 

 congener. Its omnivorous voracity is well described by Deuham. 

 Wh.-re carrion and filth are scarce, reptiles, small birds, and small 

 quadrupeds fall victims to its appetite. These are usually swallowed 

 entire. Smeathman gave to Dr. Latham an anecdote of a domesticated 

 individual which roosted very high among the silk-cotton trees, and 

 would descry the servants bringing the dishes to the dinner-table, from 

 a distance of two or three miles from its perch. It stood behind its 

 master's chair waiting to be fed, and occasionally helped itself, not- 

 withstanding the guardianship of the servants who carried switches 

 to prevent its Matching the meat, which it nevertheless sometimes 

 contrived to do : in this way it had been known to swallow a boiled 

 fowl at a single mouthful. licsides the pouch, the skin at the back of 

 the neck can be inflated so as to have somewhat the appearance of a 

 counterpoise to the former. When the sun is nhiiiiog upon the bird 

 we have observed this latter pouch, if pouch it may be called, very 

 prominent, apparently from the rarefaction of the air. The bird flies 

 high and roosts high, probably for the purpose of taking in a large 

 area of observation, to enable it to perceive those objects on which it 

 feeds. Hay not these pouches assist, balloon-like, in supporting or 

 balancing the great head and bill ? Living specimens of the White 

 aud Black Stork, the Marabou, Jabiru, and American Maguari are 

 now in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, Kegent's Park. 



CICUTA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Umbtlli- 

 ftnt, the sub-order Orthotpcrnett, and the tribe Amminaz. It has a 

 calyx of 5 leaf-like teeth ; the petals obcordate, with an inflexed 

 jMiint; the fruit subdidymous; the carpels with 5 equal broad 

 flattened ridges, the lateral marginal ; the vittic solitary. 



C. rirota, the Water-Hemlock, is a wild poisonous plant found 



CILIA. 



107S 



Watrr-IIrmluck (Cicvla rirwa). 

 1, s Bower ; 2, s young fruit. 



divided internally into several low chambers filled with a milky or 

 yellowish juice. The stem is erect, hollow, cylindrical, striated, and 

 2 or 3 feet high. The leaves, especially the lower out-*, are decom- 

 posed or thrice-pinnated ; the leaflets are narrow, lanceolate, deeply 

 ami irregularly toothed. The umbels are usually destitute of invo- 

 lucre, or if they have one it is nothing but a single linear bract ; the 

 jartial umbels have several such bracts. The flowers, which are 

 white, have the ordinary umbelliferous structure. They are succeeded 

 by globular double fruit, crowned by the style and five teeth of the 

 calyx, and showing on each of their convex faces five salient niin|>lc 

 angles. Its medicinal properties are similar to those of common 

 Hemlock [CoNifu], but more energetic. Its roots have been mistaken 

 by children and country folks for parsnips, and have been eaten with 

 fatal consequences. 



CIDARIS, a genus of Star-Fishes belonging to the family Echii.iilir. 

 It has a globose body ; mouth and anus nearly equal ; ambulacra 

 continuous from mouth to anus, which are both central, the former 

 below, the latter above; the spiuiferous tubercles perforate, the spinel 

 of several forms. 



C. juijiillata, the Piper, is a British species, and is the most elegant 

 of our native sea-urchins, but at the same time the rarest It is found 

 off the island of Zetland. It is always found in company with the 

 Tusk (Oatlta brotmut), a fish that is never found but on rocky ground. 

 It is covered with two sorts of spines ; one set long, the other xliort. 

 The longer ones are ordinarily an inch or an inch aud a half in ; 

 In Zetland it is said they have been caught with the spines a foot lung. 



(Forbes, JirUM Star-Fufiet.) 



CI'LIA, in Anatomy, small moving organs found on the surface of 

 the tissues of most animals, resembling hair*, and requiring the use of 

 the microscope to be distinctly observed. They are mostly found on 

 tissues which are in contact with water, or which produce fluid 

 secretions. They are constantly in a state of active movement, and 

 impart to the fluid with which they are in contact the same inoti.ni. 

 This is called vibratory or ciliary motion. The best time for 

 observing Cilia with the microscope U when their movement begin! 

 to slacken. Their figure is generally that of slender conical or some- 

 times flattened filaments, which are broad at the base or root and 

 gradually taper to the point Their size differs greatly on ditl<-n-nt 

 parts of the same animal. " The largest I have measured," says 

 Dr. Sharpey, " are those on the point or angle of the branchial laminJI 

 in the Jluccinum undalum ; they are at least j, 1 ,, of an inch long. I 

 have not attempted to determine the exact size of the smallest, but 

 Purkinje and Valentin state it at 0.000075 of an inch, while they make 

 the largest they have met with only 0-000908 of an inch, wlii, h U 

 considerably less than I have found them; bat they had no oppor- 

 tunity of examining marine animals, in which generally speaking tin- 

 largest cilia are met with. In the sea-inussel the darker coloured 

 cilia are about ^ij-, of an inch long, the others con*ideralilv 

 The substance of the Cilia is for the most part transparent and col. air- 

 less, in some however a slight colouring may be observed. They 

 assume also various forms, and Khreuburg has described compound 

 Cilia in the Inftuoria, In the Ciliograde Mediate the Cilia consist of 

 rows of broad flattened organs, each of which is mode up of several 

 simple filaments joined together by a connecting membrane through- 

 out their whole length. In most coses the Cilia are arranged in 

 regular order. On the gills of the mussel they are placed in straight 

 rows ; in many of the Jnfiuoria they are arranged in circles or spiral 

 lines. In some instances they are erect, but in others they are placed 

 at right angles to the surface on which they are seated. 



The movement of the Cilia is not very rapid, and may be easily 

 observed with a lens of ,' 5 inch focus. Their most obvious movement. 

 is of a fanning lashing kind, the Cilium being bent in one direction 

 aud returning to it again. In addition to this movement IV 

 Quekett detected another in the Cilia of the gill-rays of the common 

 mussel. This consists of a slight movement of the Cilia on themselves, 

 each Cilium turning on its own axis through the space of a quai 

 a circle, with a movement like that of the feathering of an oar in 

 rowing. This observation of Mr. Quekett' s is of importance, as it 

 explains how it is that the Cilia are capable of propelling bodie 

 their points which could not be effected by the first-observed up ami 

 down movement When the surface of an organ is examined on 

 which are seated a large number of Cilia, a wave-like motion in the 

 whole is observed, which arises from the regularity with which each 

 Cilium is affected with the movement. 



The Cilia were first observed as present on the external suri 

 the bodies of infusory animalcules. Loeuwenhock seems to be one of 

 the earliest observers who described the presence of the Cilia in 

 animalcules. In his ' Continuatio Arconorum Natuno ' he decril s 



in many places the nature of the Cilia in the common poly, 

 animalcules as well as in the wheel-animalcules. He also point, d 

 out the probable use of these organs, for he says, " Moreover it is 

 necessary that these animals, and in general all such as arc fi.v 

 cannot change their place, should be provided with an apparatus for 

 stirring up motion in the water, by which motion they obtain any 

 matters that float in the water for their nourishment aud growth, and 

 for covering their bodies." Since the period that Leeuwenbodc 

 occasionally by the sides of ditches and ponds. It is a perennial plant, wrote they have been observed in almost every species of //,/- 

 with a large Bothy white root covered externally with fibres, ana , and seem to be the active organs by uuaus of which these a:. 



