LAMFYRIR 



writ, Heed not produced in front, hidden beneath the thorax ; 

 . in the male eex very Urge; antenna) short; females apterous. 

 . . this geons belongs the Glow- Worm (lamjiyrit nortilca, Latr.). 

 This insect rather more than half an inch in length, of a blsckuh 

 colour, the thorax is margined with dusky-red, the legs and the edges 

 of the emmeuls of the body of the same colour. The female 

 iiseanllii the male, but is quite destitute of wings, and the terminal 

 segments' of the abdomen beneath are yellowish ; the thorax ia semi- 

 oireokr; the body ie very soft, of an oblong form, pointed at the 

 extremity, and composed of 10 segment* The male Glow -Worm is 

 aid to emit the phosphorescent light in a slight degree, but it is 

 chiefly the females from which the brilliant light proceeds which we so 

 often see on banks, beneath hedges, and in various other situations. 

 Thfc light proceeds from the under part of the abdomen and near 

 Ike tip, and it eroean that the animal baa the power of varying ite 

 lateMity. Glow-Worms will live, we are informed by Lutn-illi', a 

 long time in vscuo, and in different kinds of gases, the nitrous acid, 

 muriatic and sulphurous gases excepted, for in these they scon 

 expire. When placed in hydrogen gas they sometimes detonate. If 

 the luminous portion of the abdomen be removed, it retains ite 

 luminous property for some time, and when apparently extinct it 

 may be reproduced by softening the matter with water. The insects 

 emit a brilliant light if immersed in warm water, but in cold water 

 it is extinguished. The females being apterous, and consequently 

 restricted in their powers of locomotion, and the insect being 

 nocturnal, it is supposed that the light emitted by the female is for 

 the purpose of attracting the other sex. The larva have been kept 

 alive for a considerable time, bv the writer of this article, during 

 which they lived upon snails, killing those of the largest size ; some- 

 times they would seize a snail whilst crawling, and when the animal 

 retired within ite shell, they would still keep their hold, and allow 

 themselves to be carried into the shell with the snail, and although 

 they became enveloped in the mucous secretion, it very seldom 

 appeared to adhere to their bodies. Upon being touched or disturbed 

 in any way they emitted the phosphoric light, but not to so great 

 degree as the perfect insect 



I.AMI'YIUS. [LANPTRIDJL] 



LANAKKITE, a Mineral consisting of sulphate-carbonate of lead. 

 It ocean in long slender crystals, single or aggregated into fibrous 

 messes. The primary form is an oblique rhombic prism. Colour 

 greaush, yellowish, or grmyUh. Streak white. Hardness 2*0 to 2'5. 

 Lustre nearly resinous, but pearly on the cleavage planes. Trans- 

 parent, translucent Specific gravity 6'8 to 7. It is found at Lead 

 Hills in Scotland. A massive variety has been met with in Siberia. 

 The following is its analysis by Brooke : 



Sulphate of Lead 63-1 



Carbonate of Lead ... . . 46-9 



100 



LANCELET. [BRAXCHIOSTOMA.] 



LANCE'OLA, a genus of Cnatatea established by Mr. Say on a 

 single species, LaactoU pdayica, two females of which only he appears 

 to have seen taken on the coast of America in the Gulf Stream. 

 M. Pss.ms.rset is of opinion that the genus belongs to the Amphiixxla 



from Hs vesicular oblong branchue, to the number of ten, placed at 

 the internal base of the feet, except those of the first and seventh 

 pairs, and that it especially approaches Pkrmtma in its caudal appen- 

 dages, which consist of three pain of lanceolate styles, which are 

 double and supported by depressed linear peduncles annexed to the 

 sides by three rings which compose the tail. Its mouth, provided 

 with two Inarticulate filiform palps and bifid jaw-feet, bean analogy 

 to that of the C/oporfo. Its general form is that of the genus Praniza 

 (which M. Dsemsrest oonsiden to be an Isopod) ; Ha antenna), com- 

 posed of four joinU, have the hut joint not divided, and the inferior 

 antruue are the longest The superior antenna: have their base hidden. 

 The eyes are elongated; the front is concave; the feet are 14 in 

 number, and simple ; the two first pain are compressed, and the sixth 

 is the longest The head is short and transverse. Thbody is soft, 

 and covered with membranous integument*; the tail is depressed, 

 narrower Una the body, and its terminal segment is attenuated 

 between the posterior caudal styles. 



LAMM'KAB. rawsMra] 



LAMiAKIA. [MUOOmU.] 



LAJNiSDOKPIA. [KniZANTiir.r.] 



I. AM AD.K, a family of Birds including the Shrikes, or Butcher- 

 Birds (!**, Una.). 



Ilnaaoi places bis genus Laniia at the end of his first order, 

 Atcipitrm, immediately following the Owls (Strvr). The Pica form 

 the succeeding order. 



Covier makes the Pws-OrUcbes (Lanitu, Linn.) the first great genus 

 of Us jPssliroHrst, his second order ; the Oiseaux de I'roie (A ccipitru, 



Vsjonobserves that in the characters of the notched, depressed, 

 and angular bill, and the strong bain or vibriem that surround ite 

 bsM, as will as in their manner*, the J/MncaptAi partially correspond 

 with the Lamiuda, from the earlier families of which they chiefly 



they chiefly 



in their inferior power and robustness. Entering among the 

 K&I by the genus 7>raMMU (Cuv.), which unites them with the 

 ' [ M**it*fUm, mod from which he would separate it chiefly 



LANIAD^E. mi 



on account of the strength of the bill, wherein the character of a 

 Shrike is more conspicuous than that of a Flycatcher, Vigors proceeds 

 by means of Ptarit (Cuv.) and Artamm (Vicill.) to JHcrttriu (VieilU, 

 the Fork-Tailed Shrikes of the Old World, where the base of tli. bill 

 is still depressed and wide, as in the groups just quoted, but the apex 

 gradually more compressed. Hence, he remarks, we are led by some 

 intervening forms to the atill more compressed bills of Sparacta (111.) 

 and the true Lanitu of author*, which by its short, compressed, and 

 Btrongly-dentated bill exhibit* the type of the family. " Here," con- 

 tinues the author, "we are met by some conterminous groups, among 

 which Fakuncului (Vicill.) ia conspicuous ; and hence we descend by 

 intermediate gradations to the more lengthened and slender-billed 

 Vanga (Cuv.), together with Prionopt, Laniariui, and Thamnophiltu 

 of M. Vieillot, which bring us in contact with the Thrushes. The 

 extremes of the family will be found in the Oraucaltu and OMtpyrit 

 of M. Cuvier, which by their bills, in some degree depressed at the 

 base, lead back to Tyrannut and the other broad-billed groups which 

 commence the family. This last-mentioned genus, Cehltpyrit, has 

 latterly been arranged among the Thrushes; but I feel inclined rather 

 to leave it in its original station among the Shrikes, from the pecu- 

 liarity of its tail-coverts, which form themselves into a kind of pufled- 

 out cluster on the back. This character seems to prevail among the 

 Laniadce more generally and in a greater degree than in other birds : 

 in one species of the family, the Puff-Backed Shrike of Africa, now 

 rendered so familiar to our cabinets from our connection with the 

 Cape, Una singular protuberance ia carried to so groat an extent as to 

 form on apparently artificial appendage to the back. In the genus 

 before us this peculiarity seems even still further developed in the 

 well-known conformation of the same tail-coverts, their shafts being 

 elongated and projected beyond the webs in stiff and sharpened 

 points. On looking to the general affinity which the extremes of this 

 family bear to the Muiicapida, and through them to the Fisairostrol 

 Birds of the last preceding tribe, we may perceive the character of 

 feeding on the wing carried on to tho 1'yranni, the fork-tailed 

 llicriiri, and more particularly to the Arlami, or the Pie-Grieches 

 Hirondelles of the continental writers; while the depressed bill of 

 the same Fiseirostral tribe is partially preserved in the groups just 

 mentioned, together with that of CMepyris, which meets them at the 

 opposite extreme of tho circle of affinity." [M EUL'LID* ; MUSCICATLDJS.] 



In allusion to the rapacious habits of the Ltmiada, Mr. Swainson 

 observes, that the comparisons which have been drawn between them 

 and the Falcons are no less true in fact than beautiful in analogy, 

 remarking that many of the J-'akonida ait on a tree for hours watching 

 for such little birds as come within reach of a sudden swoop, when 

 those birds of prey pounce on the quarry, seize it in their talons, bear 

 it to their roost, and devour it piecemeal. These, he adds, are 

 precisely the manners of the true Shrike; yet with all this, the struc- 

 ture of the Falcons and Shrikes, and their more intimate relations, 

 are so different that they cannot be classed in the same order, though 

 they illustrate that system of symbolic relationship termed analogy, 

 which, in Mr. Swauuon'a opinion, pervades creation ; but the two 

 groups are, he remarks, in nowise connected, aud there is conse- 

 quently no affinity between them. The following, according to him, 

 are the very decided external characters of the typical groups : 



The short and strong bill is abruptly hooked at the end, and the 

 notch is so deep as to form a small tooth, more or less prominent, on 

 each side. This projection, Mr. Swainson remarks, is analogous to the 

 teeth of quadrupeds, so far as it enables the bird to take a firm grasp 

 of its food, and is used to divide it into pieces : the claws also, aa 

 instruments of capture, are peculiarly flue and sharp in the typical 

 group, and this character pervades more or less the whole family. 

 The mode of darting suddenly on their prey (rather than hunting or 

 searching for it) is moat prevalent in those groups which are nearest 

 related to the Flycatchers, whose general weakness however confines 

 their depredations to the smaller insects larger and more powerful 

 tribes being the food of the typical Shrikes. 



Mr. Swainson arranges the Laniadie in five divisions or sub- 

 families : 1, The Tyrannina, or Tyrant-Shrikes; 2, the Ctblepyrina, 

 or .Caterpillar-Shrikes ; 3, the Dicrurinoe, or Drongo-Shrikes ; 4, the 

 Thamnophilina; or Bush-Shrikes; and 5, the Laniana; or True 

 Shrikes. According to Mr. Swainson's views the first three of these 

 sub-families constitute the aberrant circle, or that in which the 

 character of the Shrike is least conspicuous. Tho fourth is the sub- 

 typical; and in the fifth the laniue structure is most perfectly 

 developed. 



Tyranniwt. 



Sub-Family Character. Bill very straight, short, depressed ite whole 

 length ; the culmon not arched, but the tip abruptly hooked. Nostrils 

 and rictus defended by bristles. Feet short, small, and slender; 

 lateral toes equal, or nearly so ; claws bug, slender, fully curved, and 

 very acute. 



Locality. America only. 



Q<men.Ptilogonyi, 8w. ; Chrj/tolophta, Sw. ; Saurophayiu, Sw,, 

 with its sub-genus Megattoma, Sw. ; Tyranniu, Vieill., with its sub- 

 genus Miivuliu, Sw. ; aud Tyrannula, Sw. 



Mr. Swainson observes that the connection between the family af 

 Shrikes and that of the Flycatchers (M utcicapidai) by means of the 



