I and the whole 'curtilage, to 

 eight or ten f>xrUndi*meter. From the mode 

 ijlrl fl i tlMir work, tbo reader will be prepared for the state- 

 nt U the male and female live in separate apartments; and 



appear* that, excepting at the abort season of oourtahip, 

 UMV have nrj tittle or no intercourse. Pennant gire* them a very 

 MiVriii"- character. " The whole race," says that zoologist, " U so 

 malrruWcit H u> constantly reject all ocietr with one another. They 

 wfll fcrht, kill, and derour their own species, as well as other lesser 

 a*im*L ' BO may be said to bo carnivorous a* well a* granivorous. If 

 K happen* that two male* meet in March of a female, a battle ensue*; 

 ^.f^.tf matt* a abort attachment to the conqueror, after which 

 the QMMotinn nouns She bring! forth two or three times in a year, 

 and produce* from 1 to 18 young one* at a birth : their growth if very 

 qoiek, aad at about the age of three weeks the old one forces them 

 Vt of the borrows to take care of themselves. She shows little affeo- 

 Uon lor them ; for if any one digs into the hole, the attempts to save 

 herself by burrowing deeper into the earth, and totally neglects the 

 amfvty of her brood ; on the contrary, if she is attacked in the season 

 of courtship she defends the male with the utmost fury." 



The fr* rut of these animnlt commences in August. Grains of 

 com, ears of corn, peas and brans in the pods, all Bud their way into 

 their cheek-pouches, which will hold a quarter of a pint EnglUh. 

 This forage is carefully cleaned in their burrows, and the husks and 

 chaff earned out. When all is in order, they stop up the entrance 

 and prepare for their hybemation, which lasts during the whole of 

 the severe season ; the provision they have made having been col- 

 lected for the purpose of their support before their torpidity actually 

 commences, and also in the spring and summer before the season has 

 produced a supply for them in the fields. If all tales be true, they are 

 a bold gsptirstiiii. and will jump at a horse if he tread near them, and 

 hang by its DOM so as to be disengaged with difficulty. Their voice 

 i* aaid to be like the barking of a dog. Fierce as they are, they quail 

 before their deadly enemy the pole-cat, which, chasing them into their 

 hnlss. destroys them unrelentingly. Notwithstanding this check, 

 they are said to be so numerous in some seasons as to occasion a 

 dearth of corn. 



The fur of the animal is said to be valuable ; and the peasant, when 

 he goes a Hamster-nesting ' in the winter, not only possesses himself 

 of the skin of the plunderer, but of the plunder, which is said com- 

 monly to amount to two bushels of good grain in each magazine. 

 Booon, quoting Subter, says that in Ootha, where these animals were 

 proscribed on account of their vast devastations among the com, 

 11.M4 of their skins were delivered at the Hotel-de-Ville of the 

 capital in one year. 64,429 in another, and 80,130 in a third. 

 There are four or five other species of this genus. 

 rtnfessor Kaup records Vricttut ntlgari* fouilii, from the Epple- 

 anaimsand. 



CRICHTONITE. [Truxuni.] 

 CRICKET, FIELD. [QBTLLIDJL] 

 CRICKET, HOUSE. [OBTLUDA] 

 CRICO'PORA, a genus of Corals formed by BUinviUe out of a sub- 

 division of the MiUfforida, including some fossil species, which chiefly 

 occur in tb* Oolitic Formations. C. ilnminca u found near Scar- 

 borough ; C. eonritoM near Bath. 

 CRINOIDEA. ptftCBimTB*,] 



CRINUM, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Ammrfllititcftt. It has a tubular long perianth, with a spreading 

 lefliiml or equal limb ; 6 stamens, spreading or decliuate, inserted 

 into the orifice of the tube ; the ovules hardly separable from their 

 fleshy pUoenUe ; the capsule membranous, bursting irregularly ; the 

 seeds globose, with a fleshy testa, giving them the appearance of 

 mall tube*. The species are handsome plants, and many of them 

 form UM greatest ornaments of our gardens. 



f. Anaiirnm, Poison Bulb (Radix Inzicaria. Rumph.), hoi a cylin- 

 drical bulb bore ground ; the leave* lanceolate, smooth at the edge, 

 longer than the scape, flowers on stalked umbels, the segments long, 

 , raflexed ; the ovary inferior ; the style as long as the stamens, 

 ; the fruit membranaoeous, subglobose. The bulbs of thin 



plant are powerfully emetic, and are used in IlinilimUn for the purpose 

 of producing vomiting after poison has been taken, especially that of 

 UM AnWarU. It is a native of th.- Ivwl Indies. 



A mmuKli ha* a very large bulb with a long red neck, the leaves 

 brad, gUoeoos, smooth at th* edge ; tho ninbela many-flowered ; 

 UM tab* shorter than the limb. This plant is a native of the East 

 Indies, bat is now common in our greenhouses. Many of the species 

 nave been lately introduced. They grow best in a rich loam mixed 

 with a little rotten dung. They should be potted In large poto, where 

 they will flower abundantly. They may be propagated by suckers 

 tram UM route, or they may b* raised from seed. Should tin- plant 

 show any indisposition to put out suckers it should be cut down near 

 to UM root, when It will put oat plenty. 



(Luvttey. Flont Mafic* ; Loudon,' B*e,ctop<rdw of Plant,; 

 Herbert, AmarfUUacanu Pla*H.) 



< ItlOCKKAtlTKM Tb* disooidally xpiral Amm.mili,!,,, whose 

 whorls do not touch each other, receive this generic title. The species 

 oooar in UM Oolitic and bower Cretaceous Strata. [ AMMOXITCR.] 



CUIOCE'Kin.K (Leach), a family of Coleopterous Insects, of the 



sub-section Ettpoda mid section Tclramrra, distinguished by th 

 lowing characters : Mandibles truncated at the apex, or presenting 

 two or three notches ; labium generally entire, or but slightly emargi- 

 nated; antenna of moderate length, filiform, somewhat thickened 

 towards the apex; the joints mostly of au obcouic form ; tarai with 

 the penultimate joint bilobed ; femora often thick, especially towards 

 the apex. 



The principal genera contained in this family are Donacia, 

 Jlirmonia, Ptaurittti, Crioceru, Zcugopkora, Authenia, and MtffacelU. 

 The species of the genus Crioceru have the posterior femora of the 

 same thickness as the others ; the antenna; gradually enlarged towards 

 the apex, the joints of whioh are scarcely longer than broad ; the eyes 

 are emarginated on the inner side : the thorax is narrower than the 

 elytra, short, and usually of a somewhat cylindrical form : the elytra 

 i! all nM ' 



About eight species of this genus have been found in England, of 

 which the most common is the Crioceru Atparayi, sometimes called 

 the Asparagus Beetle, which is nearly a quarter of an inch in length, 

 and of a blue-black colour ; the thorax is red, with two black spots ; 

 the elytra are yellow, with the suture, two transverse bauds, and a 

 spot at the base, black. 



This pretty little beetle is found in abundance in the south of Eng- 

 land on asparagus plant* ; the larva) are of a greenish hue, rcucmblo 

 little masses of jelly, and inhabit the same situations as the perfeut 

 insect They subsist upon the leaves and soft part of the stalk of tho 

 asparagus plant. 

 CRIOCERUS. [ECPODA.1 

 CHISIA. [CELLARI.KA ; POLYZOA.] 

 CRISTATELLA. [POLYZOA.] 



CRITHMUM, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural m-.W 

 i'mbellifertft. The margin of the calyx is obsolete ; petals roundjah, 

 entire, involute, ending in an obovate segment ; transverse section of 

 fruit nearly terete ; mericarps with 5 elevated sharp rather winged 

 ribs, lateral ribs a little broader than the rest, and margin 

 pericarp spongy, with large cells; seed semi-terete, constituting a 

 free nucleus which is covered with copious vittaj iu every part. 

 A suffruticose glabrous fleshy herb ; petioles sheathing at tho base ; 

 leaves bipinnate ; leaflets oblong linear ; umbels compound ; involucre 

 and involucels of many leaves ; flowers white. 



C. mari/imum, Samphire, U a well known native of rocky sea- 

 shores and cliffs along the Black Sea, in Tauria, the Mediterranean 

 Sea ; and of Europe, along the shores of the Western Ocean, from 

 Spain to Britain, and of the Canary Islands ; in Britain on the rocky 

 sea-shore and cliffs. The root U branched and creeping extensively ; 

 the plant is greenish, salt, and pungently aromatic in flavour; 

 the leaves biternate, the stems ascending ; the flowers are white, 

 anthem yellow. Samphire is a favourite ingredient in pickles. It i 

 generally gathered in places where it is found wild, and the allusion 

 to the practice by Shakespere in his description of the clifis of 

 Dover is well known. The plant is also used medicinally. Samphire 

 is cultivated artificially in many places for the purposes of diet. 



CROCIDOLITE, a Silicate of Iron of a lavender-bluo or leek 

 colour. It is colled Blue Asbestus. It comes from Southern Africa. 

 CROCODILE. [CROCODILIDJL] 



CROCODrLIDJs, Crocodile-Tribe, Crocodiles, a family of Saurians, 

 comprising the largest living forms of that order of Roptili--. 

 Dumoril and others distinguish tho family by the appellation of 

 Aspidiot (shielded) Saurians ; while many modern zoologists have 

 consiiloml them as forming a particular order. They form the Lori- 

 calaot Merrcia and Fitzingur, and the EtnydatoMnant of Do Blaimill.-. 

 Cuvior in his. 'Regne Animal' describee the peculiarity .< of th 

 family. The tail U flattened at the sides ; there arc five an tori 

 four posterior toes, of which th throe inner ones only on each foot 

 are armed with claws ; all the toes are more or less joined by 

 membranes. There is a single row of pointed teeth in each jaw, and 

 the tongue is fleshy, flat, and attached very nearly up to the edges, 

 which made the ancients believe that the Crocodile wanted that 

 organ. The intromittent male organ of generation is single ; the 

 opening of the vent longitudinal. The back and tail are covered by 

 great and strong squared scales, elevated into a ridge on th. n- iiiul.ll.'. 

 ply duntilnU-d croHt on tho tail, at the bam- of wlii.-h 

 tho crest becomes double. The scales of the belly are ftp. 

 delicate, and smooth. Tho nostrils are opened at the end of the 

 muzzle by two small crescent-shaped slits, closed by small valves, 

 and lead by a long and straight canal pierced in *.! palatine and 

 sphennidal bones to the bottom of the back port of the mouth. As 

 the lower jaw is prolonged behind the skull, the upper jitw has the 

 appearance of mobility, and so the ancients wrote ; but it only moves 

 in concert with the whole of the head. The external ear is shut at 

 will liy means of two fleshy lips ; and the eye has three lids. Under 

 the throat are two small glandular orifices, whence issues a musky 

 secretion. 



The vertebra; of the neck bear upon each other by means of small 

 false ribs, which render lateral motion difficult. Crocodiles there- 

 fore change their direction not without trouble, and they may be 

 easily avoided by doubling, and escaping while they are employed iu 

 the laborious operation of turning round. They have no true 

 clavicles ; but their coraooid npophyses are attached to the sternum, 



