73 



OCYPODID^. 



CENANTHE. 



and furnished at its extremity with a pencil of long hairs. Length 

 2 inches, French. 



It is found in Syria, Egypt, Cape de Verd, &c. 



Ocypoda hipped, 

 a, pincers ; i, under side of male in detail. 



(Milne-Edwards.) 



Gtlatimitt. Carapace much wider than that of Ocypoda, more 

 convex, and much narrower backwards. Stomachal region very small, 

 and genital region generally very large. Disposition of the front and 

 of the internal antennic nearly the same us in the preceding genus : 

 ocular peduncles, on the contrary, very narrow, and the cornea which 

 terminates them not occupying more than ita fifth part ; upper border 

 of the orbits much less projecting than the lower ; not divided into 

 two portions an in the Ocypoda, and convex nearly throughout its 

 length ; external extremity of those cavities largely open, and com- 

 municating with a furrow which is obliquely directed behind and 

 downwards. External antennae much more developed than in the 

 preceding genus. The external jaw-feet have the same form as the 

 Ocypoda;. The anterior feef, in general, very small in the female ; 

 but, in the male, one of them acquires enormous dimensions. Some- 

 times it is the right, sometimes the left claw which grows to this great 

 cize, being, in certain instances, twice as large as the body. The 

 claws of the smaller anterior foot are enlarged and lamellar towards 

 the end and a little contorted ; those of the great anterior foot are 

 arched, elevated, and slightly dentated on the edges. 



Gclatimtu annnlipri. (Indian Bens.) Milnc-Kdward*. 

 a, under tide of brad ; '/, abdomen ; r, antenna;. 



M. Milne-Edwards, who gives the above character, states that Mr. 

 Thomas Bell had informed him that some Gclasimi have at a certain 

 age, if not always, a stylet at the extremity of the ocular peduncle, 

 on the side of the great claw, whilst the eye of the opposite side 

 always retains the ordinary form. It inhabits the warm countries in 

 both hemispheres. 



The Gelasimi live in holes near the edge of the sea, in pairs, and the 

 great claw of the male is used to stop the entrance of the hole. The 

 species are numerous. 



G. tfarionu. Length about 8 lines ; width about an inch, French. 

 It is a native of Manilla. 



Gelatimtu ifartonis. 



Fouil Ocypodiam. The fossil species which most resembles 

 Gdarimut Mai-acoani seems to be Q. nitidus, figured by M. Desmarest in 

 his ' Histoire Naturelle des Crustace's Fossiles,' but the lateral edges of 

 the carapace in the fossil are quite smooth, and the front is termi- 

 nated by a very short sharp point. Neither the geological nor geo- 

 graphical locality appears to be known. The specimen is in the Paris 

 museum. 



OCYPTERUS. [LANIAD^.] 



OCYROE. [ACALEPHJI] 



ODATRIA. [MoMTOBiDJi.] 



ODERIT, a Mineral. It is probably Black Mica; for, like that 

 substance, it may be split into thin leaves. [MiCA.] It is opaque, 

 black, and has very little lustre. Its colour is-probably owing to 

 some foreign substance, which may cause the dinerence between its 

 appearance and that of common mica. It occurs in Sweden. 



ODONTIS. [MONODONTA; TROCHIDA.] 



ODONTOPTERIS. [COAL PLANTS.] 



ODOSTO'MIA, Fleming's name for a genus established from several 

 small species of land sheila Turbo plicatus, T. spircUw, T. unidentatus, 

 &c. of Montagu. It has the following characters : Shell conical ; 

 aperture ovate ; peristouie incomplete retrally, and furnished with a 

 tooth on the pillar. Operculum ovate-acute, subspiral, corneous, 

 transversely striated, placed on a simple lobe. Forbes and Hanley in 

 their ' History of British Molhisca,' describe upwards of 20 species as 

 British. The species are difficult to distinguish. 



(EDE'MEHA, a genus of Beetles belonging to the third family of 

 Heteromerous Coleoptera, the Stenelytra. (E. cterulea is a very common 

 British Insect. 



(EDF.S. [CULICIDES.] 



(EDICXEMUS. [C'HARADBIAD*.] 



^CENANTHE, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Umbdlifera. One of the species, (E. pimpinelloides, appears to have 

 been the OlrdfOri of Theophrastus and Dioscorides. . The species of 

 this genus are readily known, independently of other characters, by 

 their fruits being, by the contraction of the rigid pedicels, strongly 

 compacted into heads, the upper side of which is rnuricated by 

 the stiff straight long styles. The fruits have on each face five 

 convex obtuse ridges, of which the marginal ones are a little the 

 largest. 



The species are all inhabitants of damp meadows or watery places, 

 and are common in Europe. The most important is (E. crocata, an 

 inhabitant of ditches, banks of rivers, and similar situations. This 

 plant, which Dr. Christison reckons the most energetic of the narcotico- 

 acrid poisonous plants of its class, has a root of many fleshy fingers, 

 looking exactly like a dahlia-root in miniature, but abounding in an 

 orange-coloured fetid juice, which is also plentiful in other parts of 

 the plant, and in which the deleterious qualities reside. The stem 

 grows from two tp five feet high, is much branched, round, and hollow ; 

 the leaves are of a dark shining green, doubly pinnate, with wedge- 

 shaped leaflets variously and deeply cut; the umbels are large and 

 convex, of many general and a still greater number of partial rays ; 

 the bracts of the involucre are variable in number and size ; the flowers 

 are white, tinged with purple. Cases of accidental poisoning with this 

 plant, in consequence of its roots being mistaken for ground-nuts, 



