LOXIAPJE. 



This bird U Losia wriroetra of I.inmcus ; Baooo in Croee, Crociono, 

 and Croaiero, of the lUlUni ; Bee CroU<$ and Bee CroM Commun of 

 the French ; Kichten Kreunchnabel, or Kreutnohnabel, and Mittlerer 

 Oebirgs-und-FichU-n-KreuUachnabel, of the German*: Kruisvink of 

 the Netherlander. ; Mindre Korsnabb of the ScandinaTiani ; Crowbill. 

 Common Crowbill, or Shell-Apple, of the English; and Gylfingroes of 

 the Welsh. 



Willughby. who notice* iU change of colour, uye that it U a most 

 Toracioo* bird ; much delighted and feeding very fat with hemp-seed. 

 "It aUo." he adds, " loves fir-kernel*. . . . They say that with one 

 troke of its bill it will in a trice divide an apple in halves, that it 

 may feed upon the kernel*, by that means doing a great deal of mis- 

 chief in orchard*." Mr. Townson, who kept some, states that the 

 degree of the lateral power of these birds is surprising ; that they are' 

 fund of exercising it for mere amusement ; and are therefore not a 

 little mischievous. " My pets," says the last-mentioned author, 

 " would often come to my table whilst I was writing, and carry off 

 my pencils, little chip-boxes in which I occasionally kept insects, and 

 other similar objects, and tear them to pieces in a minute. Their 

 mode of operation is by first pecking a little hole ; in this they insert 

 their bill, and then split or tear the object by the lateral force. When 

 I treated them, as I often did, with almonds in their shells, they got 

 at the kernel in the same manner ; first pecking a hole in the shell, 

 and then enlarging it by wrenching off pieces by the lateral power." 

 Mr. Tamil who, in his paper in the ' Zoological Journal,' from which 

 we hare taken the organisation of the bill, observes that, notwith- 

 standing Buflbn's assertion to the contrary, they can pick up and eat 

 the smallest seeds, and shell or husk hemp and similar seeds gives 

 the following interesting account of the habits of a pair in captivity. 

 We must premise that Willughby also remarked that when kept in 

 cages they climb up and down the sides with their bills and feet, after 

 the manner of parrots. " My friend Mr. Morgan," says Mr. Yarrell, 

 ' kept a pair of these birds for some time, and had opportunities for 

 observing their curious habits. They were impatient under confine- 

 ment, and restless, climbing over the wires of their cage, by the use of 

 their beak and claws, like parrots. One of their principal occupations 

 was twisting out the ends of the wires of their prison, which they 

 accomplished with equal ease and dexterity. A short fiat-headed nail 

 that confined some strong net-work was a favourite object on which 

 they tried their strength ; and the male, who was usually pioneer in 

 every new exploit, succeeded by long-continued efforts in drawing the 

 nail out of the wood, though not without breaking off the point of his 

 beak in the experiment. Their unceasing destruction of cages at 

 length brought upon them sentence of banishment. During the period 

 of their captivity a complete change took place in the colour of their 

 plumage, without the shedding of a single featlier." 



The nest is generally placed in the fork of a lofty branch in fir and 

 other trees ; it U built of moss, lichens, and other such materials, and 

 lined with feathers. Eggs four or five, grayish or dirty white, with 

 irregular bright blood-red patches at the larger end, and smaller 

 specks dispersed over the remaining portions. Temminck says that 

 in Livonia it builds in the month of May, but the general period of 

 nidification mentioned by authors is during the winter or very early 

 in spring. Whilst they are at work on the fir-cones their note is a 

 gentle twitter, and they may be seen climbing about the branches 

 like parrots; but they are said besides to Lave a pleasant song, 

 which is only poured forth in the winter months, or at the season of 

 incubation. 



M. Brebm declares that the nidification and laying of eggs takes 

 place in all seasons, and he attributes this peculiarity to the com- 

 parative abundance or scarcity of food. It appears to be certain that 

 Crossbill* nuke their nests in December, as well as in March, April, 

 and May. 



Localities. Germany, Poland, Sweden, Ac., America (.'), and Japan, 

 in which but locality it U called Isuga. Prince C. L. Bonaparte 

 notes it a* very rare and] accidental in Italy, appearing only in 

 the coldest winters near Home ; but as not rare in Philadelphia in 

 the winter. It can only be considered as an occasional visitant to the 

 British Island*. Willughby says, "Sometimes they come over to us, 

 and in the western part of England, especially Worcestershire, make 

 bad work, spoiling a great deal of fruit in our orchards." About the 

 commencement of the present century a large flight came to the south 

 of Ireland in the autumn, and did much damage to the apples, Ac. ; 

 numbers of these birds were taken and kept in cages at that time. 

 Mr. Selby notices the immense flocks that visited England and Scot- 

 land in 1821. They spread themselves through the country, and were 

 to be seen in all woods and plantations where the fir-tree abounded. 

 Their first appearance was in the early part of June, and the greater 

 pert of the flocks seamed to consists of females snd the young of the 

 year (the male* rmssnalns; the red plumage assumed from the first 

 moult to the end of that year). Many of the females killed by Mr. 

 Selby showed plainly, from the denuded state of their breast*, that 

 they had been engaged in incubation some time previous to their 

 arrival ; which circumstance, he observes, agrees with the account 

 riven of the early period at which they breed in higher latitudes. 

 They continued in Britain till towards the autumn, but kept moving 

 northward, for Mr. Selby found them in September particularly 

 abuidant in all the fir-tracts of Scotland after they had nearly disap- 



peared south of the Tweed. Since that time (he writes in 1825) none 

 had come under his observation. He alludes to the great havoc they 

 commit in the apple and pear orchards in their occasional visits to the 

 south, by splitting the fruit in halves for the sake of the inclosed pips. 

 Mr. Hoy, of Stoke by Nayland, in Suffolk, who gives an interesting 

 account op the habits of these birds, says that from 1821 to the 

 middle of May, 1822, Crossbills were very numerous in that county, 

 and, he believes, extended their flights into many parts of England. 

 (I.oudon, ' Magazine of Nat Hist,' January, 1834.) Mr. Knapp notioes 

 its occasional visits in small parties, and the damage it does to 

 the orchard. He says that a pair was brought to him very early in 

 August, and the breasts of the female being nearly bare of feather*, 

 as is observed in sitting birds, he thinks it is probable that she had a 

 nest in the neighbourhood. There are a few instances recorded of its 

 breeding here. 



The flesh of the Common Crossbill is well flavoured. Mr. Gould 

 saw in the bird-market of Vienna multitudes of Crossbills exposed 

 for sale with swallows, martins, and many others of the smaller birds, 

 for the purposes of the table ; of these the Crossbill appeared to be 

 especially in request from its superiority of size and its sweet and 

 well-tasted flesh, to the good qualities of which Mr. Gould bears 

 testimony. The same author notices it as seeming to be of all the 

 small birds the least distrustful of man, and states that when flocks 

 arrive in this country numbers are taken by a bird-limed twig attached 

 to the end of a fishing-rod. 



LOXOCLASB, a Mineral belonging to the anhydrous silicates of 

 Alumina. It has nearly the form of Felspar, but is distinguished by 

 a cleavage parallel with the longer diagonal. It contains 8 per cent 

 of soda and 3 per cent of potash. It is found at Hammond in the 

 state of New York, in company with Pyroxene, Graphite, and 

 Calcspar. 



LOXONE'MA (Phillips), a group of spiral (ituttropoda. The species 

 occur in Silurian, Devonian, oud Carboniferous strata. (Pal- 

 PiariU of ]>cronthirt.) 



LOYDI A, or LLOYDIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural 

 order Liliaeea. The perianth is persistent and patent; stamens 

 inserted at the base of the perianth ; anthers erect ; style filiform ; 

 stigma trigonous ; seeds angular above, flat beneath. 



L. Krotina is native of Welsh mountains. It is a rare plant, but is 

 found on Mount Snowdon. The root-leaves are semicylindricol ; stem- 

 leaves dilated below and sheathing ; flowers mostly solitary, nectary 

 a transverse plait The height of the plant is 5 or 6 inches. Stem 

 and leaves springing separately from the root ; stem-leaves several, 

 short; flowers white, with reddish lines internally. 



(Babington, Manual of British Botany.) 



LUCA'NIDjfi, the family of Stag-Beetles, a name popularly applied 

 to these insects on account of the very large and powerful mandibles 

 with which the moles are furnished. These iu the genera Clii/uo- 

 gnathtu and J'holulotut equal the entire length of the body, and in the 

 Litcanut cerru* of our own country are very formidable instruments 

 of offence. They live during the day iu the trunks of trees and old 

 wood, and take flight at dusk. The females are sluggish, and not so 

 numerous as the males, which fight with great ferocity among them- 

 selves for possession of their mates. The larva, which is supi>o*ed to 

 have been the animal called Count by the Romans, and esteemed by 

 them as a delicacy, lives in the willow and the oak, and remains 

 untransformod for several years. When full grown it forms a cocoon 

 of the dust of wood which it bos ground down by its powerful 

 jaws, and after remaining some time as a pupa it undergoes its final 

 transformation to pass a very brief portion of its life as a perfect 

 insect. Some of the foreign genera of Stag-Beetles are remarkable 

 for their brilliant colouring. In Britain we have four species, which 

 belong to as many genera. (Westwood, Introduction to the Modern 

 f'lauiiitation of Intecti.) 



LUCE. [Esocin*.] 



LUCEKN. [MEDICAOO.] 



U I'KliNAKI AII.K, a family of Helianthoid Antho:oa, including 

 the single genus Lwrnaria, which is characterised amongst all other 

 Polyps by its species having the tentacles arranged iu little tufts. 

 The body is somewhat campanulate, and fixed when at rest by a 

 narrow disc or stalk ; the mouth is quadrangular, in the centre of an 

 umbellar expansion ; the tufts of teutacula are arranged around 

 the expanded margin of the mouth. 



Three species ore described by Dr. Johnston as inhabiting the 

 British coasts. 



L. fatcicularii has the peduncle of the body produced ; tufts of 

 tentacula in pairs, about a hundred in each. Professor E. Forbes says 

 it is common in Zetland, and has been found on various parts of the 

 British coast When irritated in the dark it gives out brilliant flashes 

 of bluish phosphorescent light. 



L. auricula has a campanulate disc, with eight tufte of tentacula 

 with intermediate tubercles. 



L. campanulata has a sub-sessile campanulate body, eight tufts of 

 tentacles, without intermediate tubercles. It inhabits sea-weed at 

 low-water mark. It has been taken at Torbay, Berwick, the Isle of 

 Wight, and other parts of the English coast. 



1 >r. Johnston gives the following account of this species : 



"It U about an inch in height, of a uniform liver-brown colour 



