CYCLOSTOMA. 



CYGNIN^E. 



270 



or from the cytoblast. In their course they exhibit various anas- 

 tomosing branches. Many of the streams are so minute that, under 

 the highest magnifying power, they exhibit the appearance of a line 

 without any breadth, merely rendered to a slight extent irregular by 

 the individual granules. 



The cause of these movements in the interior of the cells of plants 

 has been the subject of much discussion. Although not observed 

 in every instance, there appears to be reason for the inference that 

 they are universally present, and th*t they are but the result of 

 the living processes going on in the cell, and perhaps the mode by 

 which nutrition is effected. " After the most careful research," says 

 Schleiden, " with the best instruments, I have been unable to -perceive 

 a trace of the presence of vibratile cilia as a cause of the motion." 

 And indeed if cilia had been discovered, the inquiry would then 

 assume the form of the cause of movement in cilia. If this question 

 be answered we get at an ultimate fact applicable alike to movements 

 in granules, cilia, cytoblasts, or cells. One fact presents itself in all 

 these cases, which seems worthy of every consideration, and that is 

 the presence of some form of proteinaceous matter. In the fluid 

 which circulates in the vegetable cell some form of proteio is always 

 present. The cytoblast or nucleus, and the primordial utricle in all 

 cells are composed of protein. Cilia take their origin in all cases in 

 a prote'naeeous basis, and their movements appear to be but the 

 result of an irritability, which in every case finds its origin in a 

 proteinaceous compound. [CELLS ; HISTOLOGY ; TISSUES, VEGETABLE.] 



(Schleiden, Principles of Scientific Botany, translated by Lankester ; 

 Microscopical Journal, vols. i. and ii. ; Huxley, On the Identity of 

 S'ructure of Plan's and Animals, Proc. Roy. Inst., 1853; Varley, 

 Transactions of Microscopical Society.) 



CYCLOSTOMA. [HELICIMS.] 



CYDIPPE. [ACALEPH.E; BEROE.] 



CYDO'NIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 P omacece. 



C. vulgaris, Quince, a small tree with dark smooth branches. 

 Leaves ovate, obtuse at the base, quite entire, cottony on the under 

 aide. Flowers large, solitary, with a cottony calyx and bright pink 

 petals. The fruit a turbinate or roundish angular pome, covered 

 with a thin cottony down, extremely austere, but having a peculiar 

 fragrance. 



There are two varieties Apple-Quince and Pear-Quince. The seeds 

 are the parts used in medicine, on account of the mucilage which they 

 yield. The seeds are more numerous in the small hard than in the 

 large fleshy fruits. They generally occur in large irregularly-shaped 

 masses, as they easily adhere to each other, owing to the mucus which 

 invests them. When moistened in the mouth or in water, they give 

 out a large quantity of mucilage, which is white, and not coagulable 

 by boracic acid. One part of these seeds will render 40 to 50 parts 

 of water so mucilaginous that it will possess the thickness of a syrup. 

 They should be set to digest in cold water, otherwise the mucilage 

 acquires the odour of hydrocyanic acid. Indeed the actual presence 

 of, or tendency to form, hydrocyanic acid, may be demonstrated by 

 distillation. (Btockmann.) Many seeds yield a yellow-coloured muci- 

 lage. If allowed to remain in a fluid state the solution soon spoils, 

 but by careful evaporation the mucilage may be brought to a dry 

 state ; or, as proposed by Zier, the mucilage may be precipitated from 

 its watery solution by alcohol. Ten ounces of seeds yield two ounces 

 of dried mucilage, two grains of which, with distilled water, produce 

 one ounce of mucilage of proper consistence for use. In whatever 

 way obtained, the mucilage possesses demulcent qualities, and may be 

 employed cither internally or as a lotion, which is especially appli- 

 cable to the faces of those who suffer from the cold winds of winter 

 and spring. 



CYGNIX^E, a sub-family of Web-Footed Birds, belonging to the 

 family Anntidrr, order Antera of Linnaeus, including the Swans. 



Mr. Swainsou makes the genus Cyynta the first of his .sub-family 

 Anserinte, with the following character: Size large. Base of the 

 bill tumid, fleshy, and naked. Neck remarkably long. Feet short. 

 Hinder toe simple. (' Classification of Birds.') 



The Prince of Canino, in his ' Birds of Europe and North America," 

 arranges the Anseres as his fifth order of birds. The Anatidce stand 

 as the first order of the A nitres, and cdmprise the sub-families Oyy- 

 nince, Amerina:, Anatince, Fuliyulnue, and Meryina. The Cyynince 

 consist of the single genus Cygnus, of which the Prince records C. 

 Olor, G. immutdbilis, C. musicus, and C. Hewickii as European species, 

 and C. Americanos and C. Succinator as American species. The 

 nfe in the Prince's method are immediately followed by the 

 A nterina. 



(July two true Swans are recorded by Linn&us, and those as varie- 

 ties of Anns Cygmu, namely, variety a, C. ferus, and variety 0, C. 

 mamuftus. Since his time the researches of zoologists have added con- 

 siderably to the catalogue. 



The peculiarities of organisation in this sub-family deserving of 

 notice are the great length of the neck, consisting of 23 vertebra;, and 

 the cavity in the sternum for the reception of a considerable portion 

 of the trachea. 



The generic character of Oyynui is as follows : Beak of equal 

 breadth throughout its length ; higher than wide at the base ; 

 depressed at the point; both mandibles furnished along the sides 



with transverse serrated lamellae. Nostrils oblong, lateral, near the 

 middle of the beak. Neck slender and very long. Legs short, the 

 hind toe small and free. (Yarrell.) 



C. ferns (Ray). Male. Pure white, with occasionally a buff tinge 

 on the top of the head. Bill black, and depressed anteriorly, quad- 

 rangular at the base, and yellow, which tint extends forward along 

 each lateral margin of the upper mandible beyond the aperture of the 

 nostrils, which are black ; bare space between the base of that man- 

 dible and the eye also yellow, which colours the back part of the 

 lower mandible. Iris brown. Feet black. Length, with neck stretched, 

 about 5 feet ; across expanded wings, about 8 feet. Female. Similar 

 to the male, but smaller, and the neck more slender. Young. Those 

 that we have seen, when about a week old, have been covered with a 

 gray down above and a whitish down below, with flesh-coloured feet, 

 or rather of a dusky flesh-colour ; the bill flesh-coloured, and rather 

 dusky above anteriorly. Mr. Yarrell states that at ten weeks old the 

 bill is dull flesh-colour, the tip and lateral margins black ; the head, 

 neck, and all the upper surface of the body, pale ash-brown ; the 

 under surface before the legs of a paler brown ; the portion behind the 

 legs dull white ; the legs, like the bill, of a dusky flesh-colour. This 

 description was taken from young birds in the Garden of the Zoological 

 Society, London, in the middle of August. In the middle of Octo- 

 ber the same zoologist found the bill black at the end, with a reddish- 

 orange band across the nostrils, and the base and lore pale greenish- 

 white ; the general colour pale grayish-brown ; a few of the smaller 

 wing-coverts white, mixed with others of a pale buffy-brown, and the 

 legs black. He also observes that the young Hoopers bred in 1839 

 had almost all their brown feathers at the autumnal moult of 1840, 

 and that before their second winter was passed they were entirely 

 white. (' British Birds.') 



This is the C. musicus of Bechstein, and, as there are now more 

 than one wild species well defined, the Prince of Cauino and others 

 adjpt that specific name instead of the original C. ferus ; but the 

 propriety of this may be doubted. It is the Cygne Sauvage of the 

 French ; Cigno and Cigno Salvatico of the Italians ; Singschwan and 

 Nordbstliche Singschwan of the Germans ; Vild Svane of the Danes ; 

 Hooper, Elk, and Whistling Swan, of the British ; and Alarch Gwylt 

 of the Welsh. 



Head of Hooper ( Cygnut fmu). 



This bird is found in the northern regions of Europe and Asia, 

 residing in summer within the arctic circle, Iceland, and Scandinavia- 

 Winter visiter to the British Islands (where however it has been 

 known to breed in the Shetland and Orkney Islands and in Suther- 

 landshire), Holland, France, Provence, and Italy, and, according to 

 Mr. Bennett, going as far south as Barbary and Egypt. Eastward it 

 extends as far as Japan. This species is in all probability the Swan 

 so celebrated by the ancient poets for its dying song. 



The note of this Wild Swan resembles the word ' hoop ' uttered 

 several times successively. They fly in a wedge-like figure, uttering 

 this note as they proceed, and when heard from above it is not unmu- 

 sical. The apparatus for producing these sounds was known to Aldro- 

 vandi, Sir Thomas Browne, Willughby, Ray, Latham, and others. 

 Mr. Yarrell, who has paid so much attention to the tracheae of birds , 

 has thus well described it : 



" The cylindrical tube of the trachea or windpipe passes down the 

 whole length of the long neck of the bird in the usual manner, but 

 descends between the two branches of the forked bone called the merry- 

 thought, to a level with the keel of the breast-bone or sternum. The 

 keel of the breast-bone is double, and receives between its two plates or 

 sides the tube of the trachea, which, after traversing nearly the whole 

 length of the keel, turns suddenly upon itself, passing forwards, up- 

 wards, and again backwards till it ends in the vertical bone of divari- 

 cation from whence the two long branchial tubes go off, one to each 

 lobe of the lungs. The depth of the insertion is not so considerable 

 in females or young males." 



'The Hooper, like the rest of the Swans, feeds on aquatic plants and 

 insects, can keep the head under water for some time, but never dives. 

 The large nest is constructed on the ground with flags, rushes, leaves, 

 and marshy plants. The eggs, six or seven in number, are whitish, 

 tinged with yellowish-green. Length of egg, 4 inches ; breadth, 2 ij inches. 



