C I 



417 



B I 



the honour of his birth, and to prove that he was born in 

 Sicily, where he undoubtedly spent a great part of his life 

 (see Lorenzo Crasso* Histor'ia de Poeti Greci, p. 90) ; but 

 not only is his name mentioned by Moschus in connexion 

 with the SmyrnaBan river Meles, but we have also the 

 express testimony of Suidas (voc. Oeoicpiroc) that he was 

 born at a village called Phlosse, near that city. His longest 

 Idyll is a lament over Adonis; it is interesting to the 

 English reader from its similarity in point of subject to the 

 earliest of Shakspeare's poems, which however was pro- 

 bably suggested by Golding's translation of Ovid's Meta- 

 morphoses, as there does not appear to have been any trans- 

 lation of Bion extant in Shakspeare's time. (See Malone's 

 Shahspeare, vol. i. p. 381., vol. xx. p. 10.) Bion's poems 

 are generally published along with Theocritus and Moschus. 

 The best edition is that of L. F. Heindorf, Berlin, 1810. 

 We are not acquainted with any good English version of 

 Bion. There is a German translation by J. H. Voss, Tu- 

 bingen, 1808. Several other Bions are mentioned by Dio- 

 genes Laertius, but nothing is known about them. 



BIPAPILLA'RIA (zoology), a genus of marine molluscs 

 established by Lamarck upon a species figured and de- 

 scribed in the manuscript notes of P6ron. The following is 

 Lamarck's definition : body free, naked, of a shape be- 

 tween oval and globular, terminated posteriorly by a tail, 

 and having at its superior extremity two conical papillae, 

 which are equal, perforated, and furnished with tentacula, 

 three of which are to be found at each opening. The 

 species . Bipapillaria Australis, on which the genus is 



founded, was seen on the west coast of New Holland. 

 Lamarck places this animal next to Ascidia, which is fixed, 

 observing that the two openings are analogous to those of 

 that genus. Blainville also arranges it thus, but observes 

 that it is too little known to warrant any certainty that it 

 differs from Ascidia. 



BIPES (zoology), a genus of reptiles differing from Seps, 

 inasmuch as that in Bipes the hind feet alone are visible, 

 there being a total absence of the anterior extremities ex- 

 ternally, though the clavicles and scapulse (shoulder-blades) 

 are in their proper situation, but hidden under the skin. 

 [See SKPS.] 



Cuvier^ dlssecied one of the species (Bipes lepidopodus 

 of Lacepede), and found that, though its posterior and only 

 apparent pair of feet had the external form of two oblong 

 and scaly plates or processes,, the integument covered a 

 femur (thigh-bone), a tibia and fibula (leg-bones), and four 

 metatarsal, or finger-bones, but no phalanges (terminal 

 finger-hones). He also states that one of the lungs is less 

 by one-half than the-other. 



This genus, an example of one of those beautiful gra- 

 dations by which nature glides from one type of form into 

 another, is intermediate between the saurians (lizards) and 

 the ophidians (serpents). [See CHAJ.CIDES and CHIROTES.] 

 * A single series of pores before the vent. 



Sub-genus PYGOPUS. 

 Of this sub-genus, Pygopus lepidopodus (Bipes lepido- 

 podus, Lacepede) is an example. 



[Pygopua lepidopodus.*) 



Lacepede describes the body and tail of this species as 

 being nearly cylindrical, very slender, and a little like those 

 serpents called by the French Orveti, of which our common 

 blind-worm or slow-worm (Anguis fragilis, Linn.) is an 

 example ; and which, though without limbs, have some of 

 the rudiments of such members in the skeleton. (See 

 BLIND-WORM.) The upper part of the head of Pygopus 

 lepidopodus is covered by seven large scale-plates disposed 

 around an eighth, which is a little larger than the others. 

 Each eye u surrounded by small scaly globules. The gape 

 is sufficiently large, and the teeth are equal and small. 

 The Hat long tongue is without a notch. The auditory 

 orifice is near the commissure of the lips. The scales 

 which cover the upper part of the body are lozenge-like, 

 striated and small, especially those which cover the most 

 elevated part of the back ; but the scales of the under part 

 of the belly and the tail are hexagonal and smooth, and 

 those of the two middle longitudinal ranks are larger than 

 those of the lateral ranks. There are, before the vent, ten 

 hollow tubercles pierced at the summit or apex (le bout), 

 and so arranged as to present two portions of a circle, the 

 concavity of which is turned towards the throat. At each 

 extremity of the curve formed by these tubercles is to be 

 seen a foot, in which no finger is to be distinguished ex- 

 ternally, and which is surrounded by very small scales on 

 its lower part, and by scales a degree less small on its 

 ipper surface.t 



From this disposition of the scales Lacepede gave the 

 species its name. 



The colour is greenish, varied with some very small 

 black blotches. 



The following are the dimensions given by Lacepede. 

 Each foot ten millimetres long, and four broad. Length of 

 ?be tail 320 millimetres, and total length of the animal 470. 



Lacepede's observation, though he prefaces it very mo- 

 lestly, is well worthy of attention. ' This reptile,' says he, 

 like the other species of Bipes, ranks between the ovi- 

 parous quadrupeds and the serpents ; it is related to the 

 latter by its general form, as well as by the figure, pro- 

 portion, and distribution of the scales, while it approaches 



Our cut it taken from the plate in the Annatel du Museum, which illus- 

 trates Lacrpede's memoir; but Cuvier st.-ilea that LarepMe'stiyure was taken 

 from an individual whose tail had been broken and reproduced ; and he fur- 

 ther observed, that in all this class thw proportion of the tail is not to be de- 

 pended on ox a character. 



t These paddles or umd-onrs indicate that the haunts of the animal must 

 1* miry places, through which such a structure of the posterior limbs would 

 materially assist its progression. 



the former by its .auditory apertures, and by the hollow 

 tubercles near the anus.' 



There is a Brazilian species, Pygopus r.ariocacc.a (see 

 Spix, xxviii. 2) ; but Cuvier thinks that another species re- 

 corded by Spix (Pygopus striatus, xxviii. 1) is only the 

 immature state of the animal. 



In the sub-genus Bipes of Merre'm, Scelotes of Fitzinger, 

 there is no series of pores before the vent, and the feet are 

 each terminated by two unequal processes or fingers. Of 

 this the small species found at the Cape of Good Hope, 

 Anguis bipes of Linnaeus, Lacerta bipes of Gmelin, is an 

 example. Cuvier observes, that the Gronovian or Mono- 

 dactylous Seps of Daudin, on which Merrem founded his 

 genus Pygodactylus, was only an ill-preserved individual 

 and that this subgenus (Pygodactylus) ought to be ex- 

 punged, as Merrem himself had allowed. Cuvier also 

 states that the Seps sexlineata of Harlan (Sc. Nat. Phil, iv., 

 pi. xviii., f. 2) is only a variety of this species. 



In the sub-genus Lialis of Gray, the head is elongated, 

 the front flat, covered with small sub-imbricated scales, and 

 the irides linear and vertical. The auditory opening is 

 oblong and conspicuous. 



The body is sub-cylindrical and attenuated. The dorsal 

 scales are ovate, convex, and smooth. The two interme- 

 diate series of ventral scales are largest. There are two 

 feet, posterior, obsolete, and acute, furnished with from two 

 to three scales at the base. The vent is sub-posterior, and 

 the projanal scales small. The sub-anal pores are disposed 

 in pairs on each side. 



Mr. Gray observes that this genus is very nearly allied to 

 Pygopus of Merrem, but may be readily distinguished from 

 it by the characters above given. In Pygopus, too, the head 

 is short, more rounded in front, and covered with regular 

 shields, the pupil is sub-circular, and the feet are broad, 

 ovate, blunt, and covered with three rows of scales. The 

 vent has five large oblong scales in front of it, and the sub- 

 anal pores form a continuous series. 



Lialis Burtonis (Gray), on which the sub-genus was 

 founded, is of a pale ashy brown above, very minutely dotted 

 with black, and beneath of a pale cocoa-brown. A white 

 stripe passes on both sides from the upper lip above the 

 eyes by the nap_e, and another broader one from the upper 

 lip along the sides to the point of the tail. In the young- 

 state the lateral stripes of the neck are obsolete. The 

 locality of the species is New South Wales (on the autho- 

 rity of Dr. Mair) ; and Mr. Gray, whose generic and specific 



NO. 257. 



[THE PENNY CYCLOP/EDIA.] 



VOL. IV. 3 II 



