DITTANY OF CRETE. 



DODO. 



360 



to him by Captain Vidal occurred in fine sand, at various distances 

 from the coast, in lat. 55, at great depths from 60 to 120 fathoms. 

 After speaking of the animals preserved in spirit, and stating that 

 Captain Vidal noted the depth at which each specimen was taken, 

 Mr. Berkeley remarks that the so-called Dcntalium did not occur at 

 any less depth than 63J fathoms, and twice (on one occasion off St. 

 Kilda) it occurred at 171 fathoms. Nothing could be concluded as 

 to habit, from the manner in which the shells were imbedded in the 

 tallow (with which the lead was armed) ; but this was of the less 

 consequence, says Mr. Berkeley, because it had appeared, from Mr. 

 Lowe's information, that the animals are found in great numbers 

 together, in masses of a conglomerate (if it may be so called) of mud 

 and various marine substances, the broader end only appearing above 

 the surface. Mr. Berkeley infers, from the great difference in the 

 diameter, that the narrow or posterior end is gradually absorbed in 

 the course of growth. 



Mr. Berkeley is of opinion that, notwithstanding the resemblance 

 of the shell to that of true Dentalia, it is most nearly allied to 

 Serpula ; but evidently distinct, in having an unattached shell (for 

 there is no evidence to lead to a suspicion that it is attached, even in 

 infancy), and especially in possessing a posterior as well as anterior 

 aperture. He thinks that other species of so-called Dentalia may be 

 found to belong to the genus Ditrupa. One at least, he observes, 

 does so belong, namely, Denialium Gadus, Mont. (D. coarctatvm, 

 Lam.). He thinks it highly probable that other minute British 

 Dentalia will prove to possess an animal of like structure, though 

 possibly, even in that case, it would bo requisite to place them in a 

 distinct genus. - 



Ditrupa lubulala, magnified. 



a, the animal ; i, one 'of the branohitD ; c, a portion of the anterior part of 

 the mantle j rf, operenlnm. (' Zool. Journ.' vol. v.) 



DITTANY OF CRETE, the common name of the woolly labiate 

 Plant called Origanum Dictamnut or Amaracw Dictamnm. 



DIURIS, a genus of curious Orchidaceous Plants, from Australia. 

 DIVERS. [COLYJJBID*.] 

 DIVI DIVI. [O.SALPINIA.] 



DIVI LADNER, the Forbidden Fruit of the Ceylonese. It is 

 produced by a species of Tdbernmnontana. 



DOCK, the common name of many perennial tap-rooted species of 

 the genus liumex. They do not multiply by division of the root, but 

 their seeds are dispersed in such abundance that they become a 

 serious nuisance in cultivated laud if they are not extirpated. The 

 only two methods of doing this are either by tearing or digging them 

 up, which is so slow as scarcely to be adopted in practical husbandry, 

 or by constantly hoeing up their young shoots ; by the latter means 

 they usually may be destroyed in a single summer. [RuMEX.] 



DOCLEA. [MAIADA] 



DODDER. [CuscuTAtE.E.] 



DODECAOY'NIA, the name of any order in the Linnxan classifi- 

 cation of plants wherein the number of styles is twelve. 



DODECA'NDRIA, the twelfth class in the Linntcan classification 

 of plants. It contains species having twelve or about twelve stamens, 

 provided they do not adhere by their filaments. 



|)DDO (IHdiu), a genus of extinct Birds, of whose existence in 

 the 16th and 17th centuries there is abundant evidence. As this is 

 one o^ the few instances in which any history has been left of the 

 extinction of a race of animals, we proceed to draw attention to 

 the more prominent facts. 



It appears that Vasco de Gama, after having doubled the Cape of 

 Good Hope (Cabo Tormentoso, or Cape of Storms) in 1497, discovered 

 at 60 leagues beyond it a bay, Angra de San Blaz, near an isle, where 

 he saw a very great number of birds of the form of a goose, but with 

 wings like those of the bats, which the sailors called Solitaries. On 

 r.'turn in 1499, the Portuguese touched again at San Blaz, 

 where they took a great number of these birds, and comparing them 

 to swans, called the island llha des Cisnes (Isle of Swans). lu the 



voyage to the East Indies in 1598 by Jacob van Neck and Wybrand 

 van Warwijk (small 4to., Amsterdam, 1648), there is a description 

 of the Walgh-Vogels in the island of Cerne, now called Mauritius, as 

 being as large as our swans, with large heads, and a kind of hood 

 thereon ; no wings, but in place of them three or four black little 

 pens (pennekens), and their tails consisting of four or five curled 

 plumelets (pluymkens) of a grayish colour. The breast is spoken of 

 as very good, but it is stated that the voyagers preferred some turtle- 

 doves that they found there. The bird appears with a tortoise 

 near it in a small engraving, one of six which form the prefixed 

 plate. 



In the frontispiece to De Bry ('Quinta Pars India! Orientalis,' c., 

 M.DCI), surmounting the architectxiral design of the title-page, will 

 be found, we believe, the earliest engravings of the Dodo. A pair 

 of these birds stand on the cornice on each side, and the following 

 cut is taken from the figure on the left hand. 



Dodo (Gallus gallinaccus pcrcgrinw. 



In De Bry's ' Descriptio Insulse de Cerne a nobis Mauritius dicta' 

 is the following account : " Cserulean parrots also are there in great 

 numbers, as well as other birds ; besides which there is another 

 larger kind, greater than our swans, with vast heads, and one half 

 covered with a skin, as it were, hooded. These birds are without 

 wings, in the place of which are three or four rather black feathers 

 (quarum loco tres quatuorve pennso nigriores prodeuut). A few 

 curved delicate ash-coloured feathers constitute the tail. These birds 

 we called \Valck-Vogel, because the longer they were cooked the 

 more unfit for food they became (quod quo longius seu diutius 

 elixarentur, plus lentescerent et esui ineptiores fierent). Their bellies 

 and breasts were nevertheless of a pleasant flavour (saporis jucundi) 

 and easy of mastication. Another cause for the appellation we gave 

 them was the preferable abundance of turtle-doves which were of a 

 far sweeter and more grateful flavour." It will be observed that the 

 bill in De Bry's figure is comparatively small. 



Clusius in his 'Exotica' (1605) gives a figure, here copied, which, 

 he says, he takes from a rough sketch in a journal of a Dutch 

 voyager who had seen the bird in a voyage to the Moluccas in tho 

 year 1598. 



from Clusius. 



The following is Willughby's translation of Clusius, and the section 

 is thus headed : " The Dodo, called by Clusius Galim tjaUinaccm 

 pereyrinius, by Nieremberg Ci/gnus citcullatits, by Bontius Vronte"\- 

 "This exotic bird, found by the Hollanders iu the island called 

 Cygnsea or Cerne (that is the Swan Island) by the Portuguese, 

 Mauritius Island by the Low Dutch, of 30 miles compass, famous 

 especially for black ebony, did equal or exceed a swa:i in bigness, 

 but was of a far different shape ; for its head was great, covered as 

 it were with a certain membrane resembling a hood: beside, its bill 

 was not flat and broad, but thick and long ; of a yellowish colour 

 next the head, the point being black. The upper chap was hooked ; 

 iu the nether had a bluish spot in the middle between the yellow and 



