1103 



GROSSULARITE. 



GRUIDCE. 



1100 



stalks, anatropal, style 2- 3- or 4-cleft. Berry crowned with the 

 remains of the flower, 1-celled, the cell filled with pulp; seeds nume- 

 rous, suspended among the pulp by long filiform cords; testa 

 externally gelatinous, adhering firmly to the albumen, which is horny; 

 embryo minute, with the radicle next the hilum. 



Notwithstanding the great dissimilarity in the appearance of these 

 plants and Indian Figs, the two orders were formerly confounded, 

 and are still accounted by many writers conterminous, chiefly on 

 account of their both having inferior pulpy fruit and parietal placentas. 

 They are natives of the mountains, hills, and woods and thickets of the 

 temperate parts of Europe, Asia, and America, but unknown in Africa. 

 In North America they are particularly abundant, and on the moun- 

 tains of Northern India they contribute to give a European character 

 to that remarkable region. In the tropics of Asia and the South Sea 

 Islands they occur in the form of Polyosma, a genus which derives its 

 name from the excessive fragrance of its flowers. 



To this order belongs the genus Ribes, of which the Gooseberry 

 and Currant are different species. The Black Currant is tonic and 

 stimulant, and has fragrant glands upon its leaves and flowers. FRiBES.1 



GROSSULARITE. [GARNET.] 



GROUND-HOG. [AARD-VABK.] 



GROUND-IVY. [NEI>ETA.] 



GROUNDLING. [Courris.] 



GROUNDSEL. This commonest of annual weeds is the plant 

 called Senecio tulgarit by botanists, which was originally a native of 

 Europe and the north of Asia, but which has followed the steps of 

 man in his progress of colonisation till it has established itself in 

 almost every place where there is a European settlement. It forms 

 one species in the largest genus of plants yet known, no fewer than 

 five hundred and ninety-five others being distinguished by M. De 

 Candolle in his ' Prodromus.' Although in the eyes of man a worth- 

 lew weed, Groundsel contributes largely to the support of small birds, 

 which feed upon its fruit, or seeds as they are commonly but 

 incorrectly called. [SENECio.l 



GROUSE. [TETRAOXID.E.] 



GROUSE, RUFFED. [BONASIA.] 



GRUB, a name applied to the chrysalis or pupa state of insects; it 

 is also sometimes applied to the larvtf state. [PupA.] 



GRUID^E, a family of Birds, including those known by the name 

 of Cranes, and closely allied to the Ardeidce, a family embracing the 

 Spoon-Bills, Herons, Bitterns, and Storks. 



Willughby thus generally defines his section of Cloven-Footed 

 Piscivorous Water-Fowl : " These have very long necks ; their bills 

 also are long, strong, ending in a sharp point to strike fish, and fetch 

 them from under stones or brinks : long legs to wade in rivers and 

 pools of water : very long toes, especially the hind toe, to stand more 

 firmly in rivers ; large crooked talons, and the middle serrate on the 

 inside, to hold eels and other slippery fishes the faster, or because they 

 sit on trees. Lean and carrion bodies, because of their great fear and 

 watchfulness." He makes the section to consist of the Herons, 

 Bitterns, 4c., Storks, "the Ibit of Bellouius" (Belon), and the 

 S poem-Bills. 



Ray places at the head of the Aves Aquaticce, the " Fissipedes " 

 (Cloven-Footed), "quao circa aquas versantur, iistamen non innatant" 

 (which haunt the waters, but do not swim in them). The first section 

 of these, consisting of the " Maximo;, singulares et sui generis," con- 

 tains the Cranes (Gnu, including the 0. Indica and G. Balearica, the 

 JctbiriLs, the (jCtriania, and the Ankima). Then come the "Aves 

 oquaticic, fissipedes, piscivonc, ranivorac, et serpentivonc," the Storks 

 and the Ibis niyra. Next to these are arranged the Ardearum genus 

 (Herons and Bitterns), and then the A rdece Exotica;, including the 

 Soco, &c., and the Spoon-Hills. 



The Stork, the Heron, the Spoon-Bill, &c., with a heterogeneous 

 crowd of other birds, are brought under Brisson's 17th order. 



The genus Ardea, in the 12th edition of the 'Systema Natura?,' 

 embraces the Herons, the Bitterns, and the Cranes (including the 

 Balearic Crane and the Demoiselle, Anthropoides) ; the Jabiru, Boat- 

 Bill, and Spoon-Bill are generically distinguished under the names of 

 Afyctcria, Cancroma, and Pla.ta.lea,. They form part of Liund's 4th 

 order, Grallce. 



Dr. Latham's 7th order, Grallce, embraces the Ardeidce and Gruidce 

 among the rest of the Wading Birds. 



The same families are scattered through M. Lace'pode's Oiseaux de 

 Rivage (Grallatoret). 



M. Durae'ril's 5th order of birds, Echassiera (Waders), contains his 

 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th families. The Oyster-Catcher is included 

 in the 16th (Pretsirottres, or Ramphosteues) ; the Open-Beak, Bec- 

 Ouvert (Anattomut of Illiger),' the Heron, the Stork, the Crane, the 

 Jabiru, and Ibit (Tantalus), form the 17th family, the Cultirostres, or 

 Ramphocopet. The Spoon-Bill and Boat-Bill belong to his 1 8th family, 

 the Lattroilrei, or Ramphrtplatei. 



Among the Grallatores of Illiger the Herodii contain the genera 

 Griu, Ciconia, Ardea, Eurypyga, Scopus, Cancroma, and Anastomus. 

 The genera Tantalia and Ibit form the Palcali, and Platalea is placed 

 among the ////ynbaim. 



Cuvier's Echassiers comprehend the. Brevipennes, the Pressimstrcs, 

 the Cultiroilra, the Longirottret, and the Macrodactyles. 



The CuUirotlra consist of the Cranes, the Boat-Bills, the Herons, 

 AT. Him. mv. VOL. ii. 



the Storks, the Jabirus, the Ombrettes, the Open-Beaks, the Tantali, 

 and the Spoon-BiHs. 



M. Vieillot's Echassiers are divided into two tribes : the 1st, the 

 Di-tridactylous ; the 2nd, the Tetradactylous. The 6th family of 

 these Waders (Latirostres) consists of the Spoou-Bills and Boat-Bills; the 

 7th (Herodions) comprehends the Ombrette, the Open-Beak, the 

 Herons, the Storks, the Jabirus, &c. ; and the 8th (^Erophones), the 

 Cranes (Grus and Anthropoides). 



The Ardeidce and Gruidce are placed by M. Temminck under his 

 2nd family of Grattes (Waders). 



In M. De Blainville's method the Ardeidce and Gruidce are compre- 

 hended under the Ciconiens, his 3rd family of Grallatores, and in 

 the same method as further developed by M. Lherminier, the 23rd 

 family (first sub-class, or Normal Birds) consists of the Cranes (Gnu 

 of Pallas) ; and the 24th family (same sub-class) of the Herodii of 

 Illiger. 



Mr. Vigors considers that the Grallatores are naturally divided into 

 these five families : Gruidce, Ardeidce, Scolopacidce, Rallidce, Chara- 

 driadcE ; and he places the Ardeidce in the normal group and the 

 Gruidce in the aberrant group. He remarks that the species that 

 enter into the family of Gruidce, most of which were comprised 

 originally in the genus Ardea .of Linnaeus, are. separated from the 

 remainder of that group by their food, which is chiefly vegetable ; 

 by their manners, which approach nearer to those of the land-birds ; 

 and by the formation of their bills and feet, the former of which 

 are more obtuse at the end, and the latter shorter than is observable 

 in the true Arclece. In these characters, Mr. Vigors observes, as well 

 as in their general appearance, more particularly with respect to their 

 plumage, they have a near alliance with the Strut/tionidce. Psophia 

 [AGAMI] of Linnseus is the first genus of this family to which 

 Mr. Vigors calls our attention. This genus, in the comparative 

 shortness of the bill, is considered by Mr. Vigors to be connected 

 with the Anthropoides of M. Vieillot, the Numidian Demoiselle; 

 while he regards the Crowned Crane of Africa (the Balearic Crane of 

 authors, Ardea pavoninct of Linnaeus) as uniting this genus to the 

 true Grus of the present day. "If the genus Dicholophus of M. 

 Illiger," continues Mr. Vigors, "be found to belong to the Wading 

 Birds, of which I have little doubt, its situation will most probably 

 be in the present family, to which it bears a nearer resemblance in 

 plumage and general structure than to any other division of the order. 

 In this case it will form a more immediate link than any group at 

 present known in the family with the Ckaradriadce, which meet it at 

 the corresponding extreme of the order; its shorter and more elevated 

 hind toe forming the passage between the fully tetradactyle foot of 

 the Gruidce and the tridactyle foot of the Charadriadce." We have 

 seen [CAKIAMA] that the habits of Dicholophus are not those of the 

 Wading Birds, although in the whole of the visceral arrangement a 

 close affinity may be observed to the Gruidce, 



Mr. Vigors remarks further that Cuvier has noticed the union that 

 takes place between the last groups alluded to by Mr. Vigors and 

 those of the Ardeidce by means of the genera Aramus of Vieillot and 

 Ewypyija, of Illiger. These, he observes, lead to the extensive 

 assemblage of species contained under Ardea (Linn.) and Ciconia 

 (Briss.), both of which groups are connected by their general form 

 and habits, but differ by some minute yet strongly-marked generic 

 distinctions. Intermediate between Ardea, and Ciconia appear those 

 forms which display so remarkable a dilatation of the bill, namely, 

 Cancroma, Phcenicopterus, and Platalea of Liuntcus. The two last of 

 these groups, continues Mr. Vigors, are equally distinguished by a 

 greater development of the membrane that connects the toes than is 

 observable in the other Waders, which join them on each side ; and 

 in one of them, the Phcenicopterus, this character, he remarks, is 

 carried so far to the extreme as to have occasioned some systematists 

 to place the birds of that genus among the Natatores. [DUCKS.] 

 " But," says Mr. Vigors in conclusion, " the whole of the family have 

 a membrane more or less extensive at the base of the toes ; and if we 

 compare the feet of the common Ciconia alba, of the Platalea, and 

 the Phcenicopterus together, we shall see a gradual increase of this 

 membrane in extent until it reaches the extreme in the latter genus. 

 Among the groups that are allied to Ciconia there are many that 

 resemble it in general character, but deviate from it in the form of 

 the bill. Among these we may particularise Scopus (Linn.), distin- 

 guished by its more compressed and furrowed mandibles ; the Mycteria 

 (Linn.), where the point of the bill turns upwards ; and the Anasto- 

 mus (111.), where the mandibles, united at the base and at the point, 

 leave an open space in the centre. The genus Tantalus (Linn.) bears 

 an evident affinity to the same group, and has consequently been 

 united to it in the arrangement of every systematic naturalist. It 

 differs chiefly by the downward curvature of the bill. To this genus 

 may be united the Ibis of M. LaccSpede, which, in its more slender 

 bill, bears an affinity to Eurypyga, from whence we commenced our 

 inquiries into the family." The same author unites the Scolopacidce 

 with the Ardeidce by means of Numenius of Brisson, as approaching 

 Ibis most closely in its bill. 



Prince Bonaparte makes the Herodii the 3rd family of the order 

 Grallce, and includes under it the genera Grus, Ciconia, Ardea, and 

 Aramus: his 4th family (Falcati) consists of the genera Tantalus 

 and Ibis, (' Specchio Comparative.') 



4 B 



