124 



ANOSTOMA ANT. 



Lyall. They arc exceedingly abundant in the fresh 

 water formations, which are exposed in the gypsum 

 quarries near Paris, and have also been detected 

 sparingly, in similar deposits, in other parts of France ; 

 and a tooth referrible to this genus has been dis- 

 covered in the quarries at Binsted, in the Isle of 

 Wight, which also belongs to the same period ; and 

 it is not improbable that future researches will point 

 out various other localities of this highly interesting 

 fossil. 



ANOSTOMA (Lamarck, Cuvier). Helix rin- 

 gens ( Linnaeus). Tomogerus (De Montfort). In De 

 Blainville's system of Malacology, this shell is classed 

 with the family Limacinca, of the order Plumobran- 

 chiata, in the class Parncephalaphora. 



The animal inhabiting this extraordinary shell is 

 not as yet known ; but it may reasonably be pre- 

 sumed to differ in many respects from that of the 

 well-known Helix, with which it was classed by 

 Linnaeus ; though De Blainville is of ppinion that it 

 probably differs but little. The structure of the shell 

 clearly indicates that on the completion of the final 

 whorl, with its reflected and dentated lip, the animal 

 would then be compelled to carry its dwelling with 

 the spire downwards ; while in a younger stage of 

 growth, nothing appears to contradict its carrying 

 the spire uppermost, and inclined to one side, like all 

 the Helices and their congeners. 



The shell is orbicular, globose, rather flattened, 

 and, consequently, somewhat carinated. It has an 

 obtuse convex spire ; but its most remarkable dis- 

 tinction from every other species of shell is the last 

 whorl, which, in adult examples, turns upwards, 

 nearly reaching the level of the summit, and rising 

 in a perpendicular direction from what must have 

 been the base at one period of growth. The aperture 

 is rather oblong than round, and horizontally attached 

 to the body-whorl on the upper side, presenting two 

 strongly defined teeth or plaits on the columella, 

 with three, or sometimes more, on the right side. 

 The outer lip is reflected on the side not affixed to 

 the spire ; and, in one of the species, there is a very 

 small puncture on either side of the lip, not noticed 

 by Lamarck. It may not unaptly be compared in 

 form to that of an antique Etruscan lamp. 



Anostoma globosa. 



There are two species described, the Anostoma 

 globosa and the adepressa. The former is here 

 figured in two points of view. They are terrestrial 

 shells inhabiting the East Indies, and are extremely 

 rare. The name is derived from avot , upward, and ropa., 

 a mouth, (the mouth turned upward,) which is so ad- 

 mirably descriptive of its peculiar structure, that it 

 appears singular De Blainville should have adopted 

 De Montfort's name, Tomogerus, without he wished, 

 by so doing, to distinguish it, beyond all manner of 

 doubt, from the genus Aiiastomus, established by 



Illiger in ornithology, and Cuvier's Anastomut in 

 Icthyology, with which it might possibly be con- 

 founded by persons ignorant of the derivation of its 

 name, or from a similarity of sound to many ears. 



ANOTTA (Linnaeus). Called by botanists Bixa 

 orcllana, a South American genus of three species of 

 lofty trees ; class and order Polyandria Monogynia. 

 Natural order Bixincce. Generic character : calyx of 

 five sepals ; sepals imbricated in opening, knobbed at 

 the base ; deciduous petals inversely egg-shaped ; 

 stamens below the germen ; filaments like threads ; 

 anthers ovate ; style elongated, the top like a thin 

 tongue ; capsule like an egg or heart, rough, two- 

 valved, valves furrowed, seed contained in a farina- 

 ceous pulp ; albumen fleshy ; seed-leaves foliaceous 

 and flexuose. 



ANSER Goose. A well-known genus of flat- 

 billed and web-footed birds, belonging to the family 

 of Anatidce, and usually ranged between the swans 

 and the ducks. Considered as a genus they are, per- 

 haps, the least aquatic of the family, and teed more 

 upon vegetable substances. By the semipalmated 

 goose, of which the feet are very imperfectly webbed, 

 they are connected, in some respects, with the swans 

 and also with the cranes. The chief structural 

 peculiarity is the convolutions at the bronchial end 

 of the trachea. But in the cranes and swans, 

 these, if extensive, are imbedded within the bones ; 

 whereas in the semipalmated goose they pass outside 

 the muscles, and along the side of the animal just 

 below the wing, without any defence save the com- 

 mon integuments. The investigations of Mr. Yarrell 

 show that these convolutions are not always of the 

 same form ; that they are sometimes on the right side 

 of the bird, and sometimes on the left ; and that, 

 whatever side they are on, the clavicle on that side 

 is enlarged, and has upon its inner surface a project- 

 ing point to which the trachea is attached. If these 

 variations in the internal structure of the bird are 

 general or common, it is rather unusual, as the struc- 

 ture of the internal parts is generally understood to 

 be uniform in the same species. 



At the other end of the genus, the geese approach 

 the ducks, in the Egyptian goose, which, in the form 

 of the trachea, in the male at least, has an enlarge- 

 ment of bone similar to that in the fresh-water ducks, 

 or those of the first division. See ANAS. In the 

 latter bird the habit is found to correspond with the 

 structure ; for the Egyptian goose is, in some respects, 

 as much a duck as the sheldrake : it has even the 

 bright colours of the ducks, which are not found in 

 any of the geese properly so called. 



Besides the two species that have been mentioned, 

 it is not known that any of the geese have an enlarge- 

 ment of the trachea; and they are seldom in 

 the habit of finding their food under water. If the 

 expression can be admitted, they are more of grazing 

 birds than any others with which we are acquainted. 

 Their leading characters are : the bill of moderate 

 length, narrowed to the tip, and the upper mandible 

 rased at the base, so as to make the height there 

 more than the breadth, and having a nail on the tip ; 

 the body thick and heavy ; and the legs strong, and 

 articulated near the centre of gravity. For the ge- 

 neral appearance and characteristics of the species, 

 see GOOSE. 



ANT(yorMca.) A very common, very numerous, 

 and highly interesting genus of insects, with the ap- 

 pearance of which every one is so well acquainted, 



