CTENODUS. 



CUCULID^E. 



IV. Gray is of opinion that this sub-genus appears to be most 

 nearly allied to the Lemmings (Lemmu), with which it agrees in 

 teeth and form, but differs from them hi only having four free toes 

 on each of the feet and a very obscure clawless wart in place of the 

 thumb, and in the claws of all the feet being short and incurved, 

 those of the hinder ones being covered with a tuft of rigid hair, more 

 especially to be distinguished in the two inner toes, each of which 

 also has a double, small, deeply pectinated, bony plate on its inner 

 side. The tail is very short, scarcely longer than the fur of the back, 

 covered with long bristly hair. The outtins; teeth incurved, tha 

 lower rounded in front, the upper concavely truncated. The upper 

 grinders are probably like the lower, which are laminar and with a 

 2-lobed crown, the anterior lobe being transverse, narrow, round on, 

 the outer, and narrow and sharp on the inner side ; the hinder lobed, 

 larger, and rounded, the lobe of the two anterior ones being rather 

 wider than long, and that of the last as long as it is wide. (Gray.) 



C. MoMonii, Hassan's Comb- Rat. The fur is soft and silky ; upper 

 parts fulvous brown ; the hair very thin, pale lead-coloured at the 

 base, pale fulvous at the end, with very short blackish tips, especially 

 upon the head ; chin, throat, inner side of limbs, and beneath, whitish, 

 with the same lead-coloured base to the hairs. Head rather small, 

 and densely hairy ; muzzle very small, black ; mouth rather small ; 

 cutting teeth exposed, rounded and smooth in front, white ; the 

 whiskers very long, twice as long as the head, rigid, black, with two 

 or three slender long bristles over the eyebrows ; eyes moderate, 

 rather nearer the ears than the end of the nose ; the ears rounded, 

 externally covered with dense short fur like the body, internally 

 rather naked, black, with a distinct helix. Limbs short ; the feet 

 covered with shortish rather adpressed hair ; the fore feet short ; the 

 toes free, the two middle ones nearly equal, the inner rather shorter, 

 and the outer shortest of all ' r the claws short, subequal, incurved, 

 black, not so long as the hinder ones ; the hinder feet large with 

 naked soles ; toes free, the three inner equal, the outer rather the 

 shortest, the two inner toes with two series of four or five bony 

 laminae placed side by side, forming a comb-like process, and covered 

 with some very stiff bristly incurved hair ; the tail very short, cyluv 

 drical, ending in a parcel of rather rigid black-tipped hairs. Size and 

 shape about that of a half-grown guinea-pig. Length (stuffed speci- 

 men) from nose to base of tail 9 inches ; of the tail 1 inch (the 

 longest bristle extends beyond the tip) ; of the hind feet, 1 }, inch ; of 

 the ears, j" ; of an inch. (Gray.) Locality, Cape of Good Hope. 



" I am not aware," says Dr. Gray, speaking of the comb-like 

 appendage, " of the same kind of process being found on the toes of 

 any of the Mammalia. It most nearly resembles the pectinated edge 

 of the daws of the middle toes of the feet of the Goatsuckers and 

 Herons : it may probably be used for the same purpose to olear their 

 coats of intruding insects, and this idea is strengthened by the fact of 

 the two living animals in the collection of the Zoological Society, said 

 to come from Barbary, continually scratching themselves with their 

 hind claws. Some of the Lemmings, to which these animals are 

 most nearly allied, are peculiar for having a very curious conforma- 

 tion in the claw of the index finger of the hand." 



Dr. J. E. Gray refers to two specimens in the British Museum, 

 one of which is marked in the hand-writing of his late uncle, 

 Dr. E. W. Gray. " C. B. Spei Masson, 1744, appears to be a variation 

 of No. 1," which last Dr. Gray thinks is probably the other specimen 

 in the British Museum, which is rather larger. 



The species is named after Mr. Francis Masson, who was one of his 

 Majesty's gardeners, and published a p\per in ' Phil. Trans.,' Ixvi. 

 (1775), giving an account of three journeys . from Cape' Town to the 

 southern parts of Africa, undertaken for the discovery of new plants 

 towards the improvement of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. 



The description of this curious animal is taken from Dr. Gray's 

 ' Spicilegia Zoologica,' where there is a figure of the species. 



CTE'NODUS, a genus of Fossil Fishes, from the Coal Formation 

 of Yorkshire and Lancashire, and the Limestone of Burdie-House. 

 (Aga.- 



CTENOID FISHES, a great division of Fishes, thus named by 

 Agaaaiz, from the pectinated appearance of the retral edges of the 

 scales, which are of a horny substance, not bony nor enamelled. 

 Abundant in the actual creation, they are rare as fossils in all but the 

 more recent strata. 



CTENO'LEPIS, a genus of Fossil Fishes, from the Oolite of 

 Stonesfield. (Agassiz.) 



CTENOMYS, a genus of Rodent Animals. [>!URIDJ;.] 



CTENO'STOMA (Klug), a genus, of Coleopterous Insects of- the 

 section Oeodephaya and family Cicmdelidrt. The species have the 

 following distinguishing characters : The basal joints of the anterior 

 tarsi dilated in the male sex, the third with an obliquely elongated 

 portion on the inner side ; body narrow and long ; thorax long, some- 

 what globular in the middle, and suddenly constricted towards the 

 base and apex ; antennae setaceous ; palpi long and distinct ; mentum 

 furnished with a tooth-like process in the anterior and emarginated 

 part. 



Ctenottoma macilentum (Klug), is about half an inch in length, and 

 of a brassy-black colour ; the elytra are distinctly punctured, and 

 have a transverse yellowish farsia in the middle ; the legs are 

 yellowish. 



NAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. II. 



This species is from Buenos Ayres. Eight or nine other species 

 are known, all of which inhabit South America: several are from 

 Brazil. 



CiitioMnrna tiiactletittim. 

 a, denotes the natural length. 



Under this head may be noticed three other genera which are 

 closely allied to the one just described Therate, Tricondyla, and 

 t'olliurut. 



The species of these three genera are at once distinguished from 

 those of Ctenostoma by their having no tooth-like process in the emar- 

 gination of the mentum. The principal characters of the geuus 

 T/ieratet (Latreille) are as follows : Tarsi nearly the same in both 

 sexes, the third joint shorter than the two basal joints, and notched 

 at the extremity ; fourth joint very short and heart-shaped ; internal 

 maxillary-palpi very small, and consisting of one joint only. 



The species of this genus are of an intermediate form between 

 Ctenoftomn and Cicindela : they are shorter and broader in propor- 

 tion than those of the former, and hence approach the latter ; but the 

 thorax is of that same globular form (though short) as observed in 

 Ctentjitoma. 



Only four or five species are known, and these are from Java and 

 Guinea : their colouring is very brilliant. 



Theratet labiata is of a brilliant blue colour, with violet reflections ; 

 the elytra are nearly double the width of the thorax; the labrum, 

 femora, and. abdomen, are of a reddish-yellow colour. 



The species of the genus Tricondyla (Latreille) very much resemble, 

 in form and general appearance, those of Ctmostoma ; but they may 

 be distinguished by their having the joints of the targi nearly equal 

 in length, the three basal joints of the anterior tarsi of the males 

 dilated, the third being prolonged obliquely on the inner side, and 

 the palpi being less conspicuous from their comparatively smaller size. 



Of this genus three species are known : they inhabit the islands 

 north of Australia. 



The technical characters of the genus Collluriu are : fourth joint 

 of all the tarsi prolonged on the inner side in both sexes ; thorax 

 elongate, nearly cylindrical, and constricted near the base and apex ; 

 body elongate, nearly cylindrical, broader towards the posterior part ; 

 antennae short, slightly thickened towards the apex. 



All the species of this genus as yet discovered (which amount to 

 only four or five) are found in the southern parts of Asia, and in tha 

 islands north of Australia. 



Colliurta emaryinata (Dejean), is about an inch in length, and of a 

 dull blue colour ; the elytra are coarsely punctured, and truncated at 

 their apex ; the legs are black, with the exception of the thighs, 

 which are red. 



CUBAN, a native Sulphuret of Copper and Iron. 



CUBE-ORE, a native hydrous Arsenate of the Peroxide of Iron. 

 It crystallises in cubes, and is found in the mines of Cornwall, Franca 

 and Saxony. [PHABMACOstDEBiTE.] 



CUBE-SPAK, a name by which Anhydrite is known. [ANHYDRITE 



CUBEBA. [PIPER.] 



CUBICITE. [ANALCIME.] 



CUBOIDES. [ACALEPH*.] 



CUCKOO. [CUCULID*.] 



CUCKOO-FLOWER. [CARDAMINE.] 



CUCKOO-PINT. [AROIDEA] 



CUCUBALUS, a genus of Jelly-Fishes. [AcALEPH*.] 



CUCU'BALUS, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Caryojihyllaceas. It has a 5-toothed naked calyx ; 5-clawed petals ; 

 10 stamens; 3 styles; capsule a globose 1-celleil berry; reniform 

 seeds. There is but one species of this genus, C. baccifer, the Berry- 

 Bearing Campion. It differs but little from the species of Silene 

 except in its berried capsule, which is black. It is a native of Europe, 

 and has been found wild in Great Britaiu. It has been undoubtedly 

 introduced, but is scarcely naturalised. (Babington, Manual.) 



CUCUL^EA. [POLYODONTA.J 



CUCU'LID^E, the Cuckoo-Tribe, or Cuckoos, a family of Soansorial 

 Birds, placed by Cuvier and Lesson next to the Wrynecks, Yunx, and 



