f9 



COLOCASIA. 



COLOPHONIA. 



70 



C. Vrginus, Ogilby, " with very long glossy black hair over the 

 whole body and extremities, and a long snowy-white tail, tufted at 

 the end;" described from two imperfect skins without heads or 

 hands. It is probable that this animal is only a variety or identical 

 with C. polycomos. 



C. Guereza, Ruppell, with the head, face, neck, back, limbs, and 

 basal half of the tail, covered with short black hair ; the temples, 

 chin, throat, and a 

 band over the eyes, 

 white ; the sides, 

 flanks from the- 

 shoulders downwards, 

 loins and buttocks, 

 clothed with long 

 flowing white, which 

 hangs down on each 

 side like a loose gar- 

 ment ; the tip of the 

 tail tufted with dirty- 

 white. Locality, Abys- 

 sinia. There is a spe- 

 cimen, ' one of Dr. 

 Ruppell's, in the Bri- 

 tish Museum. 



C. fcrruyinonu, 

 Geoffrey. Crown 



black ; back of a deep 

 bay colour ; outside 

 of the limbs black ; 

 cheeks, under part of 

 the body, and legs, 

 very bright bay; tail 

 black. Locality, Sierra 

 Leone. 



C. fuliyinotut. 

 Smoky-blue above, 



dirty yellowish-gray beneath ; cheeks, throat, tail, and extremities, 

 brick-red. (Ogilby.) Locality, the Gambia. Mr. Ogilby observes 

 that the face in short, the head round, and the whole form and habit 

 of the animal similar to those of the Semnopithcci. The teeth, he 

 adds, are of the usual form and number, and there are large and 

 very distinct cheek-pouches. " I was the more particular,"' says 

 Mr. Ogilby, " in making this last observation, because the organs in 

 question had not been previously recorded as existing in the Colobi, 

 and because M. Geoffrey St. Hilaire, in his valuable lectures, of which 

 it is a matter of great regret that so small a portion has been given 

 to the public, even doubts their existence." In the ' British Museum 

 Catalogue ' this species is given as a synonym of the following : 



C. Temminckii, Kuhl, " with the hands, face, and tail, purplish-red ; 

 rest of the members clear-red ; belly reddish-yellow ; head, neck, back, 

 shoulders, and outer face of the thighs, black." Habitation unknown. 

 Described from a specimen formerly in Bullock's Museum, aud now 

 in that of Leyden. 



COLOCASIA, at genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 A racetf. The species are excessively acrid ; the leaves of C. esculenta 

 excite a violent salivation aud burning sensation in the mouth. Not- 

 withstanding this property many of the species are used as food by 

 the natives' of the south of Europe. The leaves and roots of 

 C. e*culenta, C'. Jfimalenrit, C. Antiquorum, and C. nuceronata, under 

 the names of Cocoa-Nut, Eddoes, and Yams, when boiled or roasted, 

 are common articles of diet in hot countries. Whole fields of 

 C. maerorhua are cultivated in the South Sea Islands under the nama 

 of Tara or Kopeh roots. In the Himalayas the species which is called 

 C. llimalennt farms a chief portion of the food of the Hill Tribes. 

 Medicinally the root is stimulant, diaphoretic, and expectorant. The 

 whole of the species are remarkable for containing & milky juice. 

 They are cultivated in Portugal, Greece, aud Egypt. 



COLOCYNTH. [Cucums.] 



COLON. The alimentary canal below the stomach is divided into 

 the small and great intestines. The former consist of the duodenum, 

 jejunum, and ilum ; the latter of the colon and rectum. The Colon 

 commences a little above the right groin, in the right iliac fossa 

 [ABDOMEN], in the form of a dilated pouch, which is called the caput 

 <xi)i, or more commonly the coecum, from its blind rounded extremity. 

 The ileum opens obliquely into the left side of this pouch, its inner 

 or mucous membrane projecting so as to form the ileo-ccacal valve, 

 which, permitting the contents of the small intestine to pass into the 

 Colon, suffices to prevent their return, except in peculiar cases of 

 diseased action. Near the same part of the ccccum opens alw> a 

 slender contorted intestine about two inches long, likewise blind, 

 which is called the appendix vermiformis, from its resemblance in 

 the human subject to a worm. The use of this appendage is 

 unknown : in some animals, as the sheep, it is much larger, and is 

 l.ly of more importance than in man. From the right iliac 

 i the Colon passes upwards along the side to the under surface 

 of the liver. Hence it turns to the left, stretching over the upper 

 part of the belly just below and in front of the Hb.m.nli, to which 

 it is connected by tb<j common attachment of l,tli organs to the 



omentum, a loose pendulous membrane, formed by a double fold of 

 the peritoneum, and spread like an apron in front of the small intes- 

 tines. Having reached the opposite side of the abdomen, the Colon 

 passes downwards to the left iliac fossa ; thence, taking two sudden 

 turns to the right and downwards, it descends into the pelvis over 

 the last lumbar vertebra, and becomes continuous with the rectum. 

 The double turn just mentioned is the sigmoid flexure ; the trans- 

 verse part is called 

 the arch of the Colon ; 

 and the ascending and 

 descending or lateral 

 parts, as they lie im- 

 mediately over the 

 loins, are called tho 

 right and left lumbar 

 portions. The central 

 space thus nearly en- 

 circled by the Colon 

 is occupied by the 

 \ convoluted heap of 



small intestines. The 

 length of the whole 

 intestinal canal is six 

 or seven times that 

 of the body in man, 

 the Colon constituting 

 about a fifth part. In 

 graminivorous animals 

 its length is propor- 

 tionably greater ; in 

 those which feed ex- 

 clusively on flesh it is 

 less. 



The Colon is en- 



'uereza. veloped in the serous 



membrane called the 



peritoneum, which forms the external covering of all the abdominal 

 viscera. [ABDOMEN.] This outer tunic passing entirely round it, meets 

 behind, and forms a duplicature called the mesocolou, which attaches 

 it, more loosely at the arch than at the sides, to thg spine and loins, and 

 serves as a medium for the passage of nerves and vessels, and the 

 lodgment of absorbent glands. Between the peritoneal coat and the 

 interior mucous lining there is a layer of muscular fibres, some of 

 which encircle the bowel in scattered bands, and serve to diminish its 

 calibre; others, more regularly arranged in three distinct longitu- 

 dinal bands, contract its length ; and. their combined actions, taking 

 place successively in different parts of the intestine, but on the whole 

 propagated from, above downwards, agitate its contents backwards and 

 forwards, and urge them ultimately into the rectum. 



The Colon is amply supplied with blood-vessels, nerves, lymphatics, 

 and duots, which pour out the mucus that lubricates the interior as 

 well as various excrementitious^ matters here separated from the 

 blood as being injurious or useless. The canal is not smooth and 

 uniform like the small intestines, but bulges out between the bands 

 of muscular fibre into various prominences more or less regular in 

 their form, in which the faeces lodge for a time and become deprived 

 of much of their moisture as they are rolled onwards by the peristaltic 

 action. Hence arises their tabulated or globular form, more observable 

 in some of the lower animals, as the horse and sheep, than in man. 

 It is in the Colon that the faeces acquire their peculiar odour, which 

 is not perceived above the ileo-ccecal valve. It is in this part of the 

 i alimentary canal that the fluid part of the food is chiefly absorbed, 

 j being no longer needed to keep the nutritive particles in suspension. 

 I The lymphatic vessels of the Colon are consequently found distended 

 with a transparent fluid, and not the milk-like chyle absorbed by 

 those of the small intestines. [LACTEALS ; LYMPHATICS.] 



COLOPHO'NIA (in French the wood is called Bois de Colophane), 

 a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Surseracea;. It has 

 an urceolar bluntly 3-lobed calyx ; 5 roundish-ovate petals inserted 

 under the disc, imbricated in the bud ; 6 stamens, one half shorter 

 than the petals, equal in length to the calyx ; : the diso 6-lobed. It is 

 to a genus thus defined that De Candolle refers the tree producing the 

 Bois de Colophane of the island of Mauritius, and calls it C'. Mauritiana. 

 In his description of the tree he says the fruit is unknown. Lindley, 

 in his ' Flora Medica,*' gives Colophonta Mauritiana, De- Cand.,. 

 Surtera. paniculata, Lam., Amyris Zeylanica, Retz., and Baltoamo- 

 dendron Zeykmicum, De Cand., as synonyms of Canarium commune. 

 This last is described as a small tree, with 7-11 leaflets on long stalks, 

 ovate-oblong, acute or shortly acuminated, quite entire, smooth ; 

 stipules oval; the panicles of flowers terminal, divaricating; th 

 flowers 2-3 together, almost sessile, when young covered over by 

 broad ovate concave eilky bracteola ; the calyx silky externally ; the 

 drupes oblong, black. The bark of this plant yields a limpid oil, 

 with a pungent turpentine smell,, which congeals into buttery 

 camphoraceous substance. It possesses the same properties as 

 Copaiba. Don says : " When the nuts are mature they contain a 

 fwri't ki>riH;l, which does not become rancid, and which resembles 

 a sweet chestnut; they are eaten both raw and dressed by the 



