213 



PARTHENOPID.E. 



PASSER. 



214 



o.** Four last pair of feet without spines. 

 Ex. L. angulifrom. Inhabits the Gulf of Naples and coasts of Sicily. 



aa. Carapace nearly quite smooth above. 



Ex. L. Measana. It inhabits the volcanic rocks of the coasts of Sicily. 

 B. Carapace much wider than it is long. 



6. Upper surface of the hands rough with spiues, which are 

 more or less ramose, and having their upper and internal 

 borders armed with spines like each other, and neither com- 

 pressed nor united into a crest. 

 Ex. L. echinatut. It is found on the coasts of Pondicherry. 



46. Upper surface of the hands more or less smooth, and never 

 with ramose spines ; their upper and external borders 

 armed with teeth, which are compressed, and so disposed 

 as to form a crest. 



Ex. L. lerratia. It inhabits the Indian Ocean. 

 Partltenope. This genus, as limited by modern authors, consists 

 but of one species, distinguished principally by the disposition of the 



Parthcnope horrida. 



external antenna?, whose basilary joint is not soldered to the neigh 

 bouring parts, but nearly reaches the front, and whose second joint, 

 more than half as short as the first, is lodged in the gap of the lower 

 orbital angle ; the smallnesa of this gap, which makes the orbit com- 

 municate with tha antennary fosset ; the regularly triangular form of 

 the carapace ; and the existence of seven distinct joints in the abdomen 

 of both sexes. 



vrnicala. 



P. korrida. Carapace pentagonal, wider than it is long, horizontal, 



trongly embossed, and tuberculous above ; rostrum short, triangular, 



ind armed below with a strong interantennary tooth ; orbits circular, 



with a fissure on the upper border; latero-anterior borders of the 



carapace very oblique, and armed with spines ; anterior feet very large, 



of unequal size, and covered with large spiniferous tubercles ; claws 



ess compressed and less inflected than iu Lambrus. The four succeeding 



>air of feet armed to the origin of the tarsus with sharp and very largo 



ipines, forming one row above and two below. 



It is a native of the Indian and Atlantic oceans. 



Cryptopodia (Edwards). M. Milne-Edwards is of opinion that this 



iingular genus establishes in some respects the passage from Lambrus 



a (Ethra, [CEiHRA] ; and, in fact, he observes, the form of its feet is 



the same as in the first ; while the carapace presents, as in the last, 



ateral expansions which extend above those organs and hide them. 



Fabricius therefore placed these Crustaceans among his Partheuopes, 



Lamarck among the (Ethrce, and Bosc among the CalappiE and Maitx. 



Ex. C. fornicata. Inhabits the Indiau Ocean. 



PARTRIDGE. [PERDICID.E.] 



PARTRIDGE-WOOD, a kind of Wood much esteemed for cabinet- 

 work on account of its beautiful variegated and hatched appearance, 

 is commonly said to be furnished by lleitteria coccinea of botanists, 

 a small inelegant tree, about 20 feet high, found in Martinique by the 

 side of torrents ; but this appears to be a mistake which has arisen 

 out of the name given to Heinteria in that colony. In the corrupt 

 French of Martinique it is called Bois Perdrix, a name which, as 

 Jaequin tells us, does not signify Partridge- Wood, but Partridge-Pea, 

 bois being used for pois ; and the name is given to the plant, not 

 because of the variegated wood resembling a partridge's wing, but 

 because the wild pigeons are fond of the berries. Partridge-Wood is 

 said by Guibourt, who does not however give any authority for the 

 statement, to be really a product of Cayenne, where it forms a tree 

 60 feet high, and is called Boco. Of this plant, called by Aublet 

 Jiocoa provacensa, an account will be found in that author's ' Plantea 

 de la Guiane Francaise,' Supp., p. 38, t. 391 ; but it is now wholly 

 unknown to botanists, its very name being omitted even in the most 

 complete botanical systems. Aublet says it is found in the woods of 

 Caux ; and he supposes that its hard heart-wood would be a good 

 material for the blocks or pulleys used in machinery; but he says 

 nothing of its being exported to Europe. 



PAHTULA, a genus established by Fdrussac for a form of the 

 family Colimacea, Lam. (Awiculacea, of FiSrussac). 



PARUS. [PiBiDi.] 



PASENG. [CAPRE.E.] 



PASIPH^EA. [PALEMONID*.] 



PASITHEA (Lea), a genus of Pyramidal Shells allied to Mctania. 



PA'SPALUM (from one of the Greek names for Millet), a genus of 

 Grasses, which, like some species of Panicum, forms one of the small 

 grains cultivated in tropical countries as food for the poorer classes of 

 the community. The genus is characterised iu habit by having a con- 

 tinuous spiked rachis, on one side of which the spikelets are attached. 

 The glume is 2-valved, 1-flowered, closely pressed to the two plane 

 converse palea 1 . Seed adhering to the paleoo. 



P. tcrobiculatum, the Koda of the natives of India, is cultivated 

 over almost all parts of India. It delights in a light, dry, loose soil, 

 but will grow in a very barren one. The seed is an article of diet 

 with the Hindoos, particularly with those who inhabit the mountainous 

 parts of the peninsula, as well as in the most northern parts of the 

 country, or where the soil is barren and unsuited to the cultivation of 

 those grains which are more beneficial. Dr. Roxburgh states that the 

 boiled grain is as palatable as rice. Uc distinguishes from this another 

 species, which Linmeus called Paspalum Kara, but it appears to be 

 only a variety growing in moist .situations. Both species are much 

 relished by cattle either in a green or dry state. 



PASQUE FLOWER. [ANEMONE.] 



PASSA'LODON, a genus of Fossil Placoid Fishes. 



PASSENGER PIGEON. [COLCMBID.K.] 



PASSER, a genus of Birds belonging to the Frinyillidce, a family 

 of Conirostral Insessores. It has the following characters : Beak 

 strong, conical, longer than deep ; the upper mandible slightly curved ; 

 the lower mandible compressed, and smaller than the upper. Nostrils 

 lateral, basal, rounded, partly concealed by the short feathers on the 

 base of the mandible. Wings with the second quill-feather rather the 

 longest. Legs with the tarsi nearly as long as the middle toe ; claws 

 sharp and curved, that of the hind toe rather larger than that of the 

 middle toe. Tail nearly square. 



P. dometticus (Fringilla domettiea, Linn. ; Pyryita, domeitica, Cuv.). 

 This well-known bird, the constant attendant on civilised man 

 wherever it is found, is the Moineau and Passereau of the French, 

 Passero of the Italians, Gorrion of the Spanish, Haus-Sperliug of the 

 Germans, Huis-Musch of the Netherlanders, Grasparf of the Swedes, 

 Graaee-Spurre of the Danes, Huus-Kaald of the Norwegians, Common 

 Sparrow and House-Sparrow of the English, and Aderyn and Golfan 

 of the Welsh. 



Belon makes it the Si-pot/ftis of the Greeks and Passer of tho 

 Romans, but it is by no means dear that this was the species meant. 

 The Cisalpine Sparrow (I'ynjita flalica, Vieill. ; Friiuiilln r'/W/n'e, 

 Ti'iiiin. ; Passuro, Passera, Passero Commune, and Passero Tettajuolo 



