624 



BRADYPUS BRAMBLING. 



they are lurking about with a view to deposit their 

 eggs in the bodies of such insects. 



The genus Agathis has the lower parts of the mouth 

 produced into a rostrum. Such of the other genera 

 as present any feature of interest will be treated of in 

 their place in the alphabet. 



BRADYPUS (Sloth). A genus of mammalia, 

 constituting the tardigrada, or " slow-going animals " 

 of Cuvier's order Edentata, or "toothless animals," as 

 they have no cutting teeth. 



Their grinders are cylindrical, and their canine 

 teeth longer than the grinders, and pointed. They 

 subsist wholly upon vegetable food the leaves of 

 trees ; and they inhabit the trees constantly, living 

 suspended by their claws with the back undermost, 

 and seldom or never coming to the ground. They 

 are very singular animals, and in some respects com- 

 bine the characters of the apes and other four-handed 

 animals with those of the ruminants ; but it does not 

 appear that any of them ruminate, and though their 

 stomachs are divided into four sacs, these have not 

 the same distinct appearance and character as those 

 of the animals which do ruminate, though, like them, 

 they are adapted for digesting green vegetable matter. 



The females have two pectoral mammae, like the 

 apes. The phalanges of the toes are united within 

 the skin, so that there appears no division of the feet 

 except the claws, which are very large and strong, 

 and much hooked. The state of repose of these im- 

 mense claws, when they are not grasping, is that of 

 being turned flat down upon the palm or sole ; and 

 there are stops on the joints that prevent their open- 

 ing further than to form a hook by which the animal 

 is suspended. Their hind feet are articulated obliquely 

 to the legs, so that the outer edges of them, and not 

 the soles, come to the ground when the animals 

 attempt to walk. The articulation of the toes are 

 perfect hinges, having motion in one plane only, and 

 at a certain age the first phalanges are united to the 

 metacarpal and metatarsal bones ; so that altogether 

 the extremifus of the feet have much less motion 

 than those of any other animals. The fore and hind 

 legs too, are not so very disproportioned to each 

 other as those of the long-armed apes, but still the 

 arm and fore-arm are both so much longer than the 

 thigh and leg that the animals cannot use them with 

 advantage upon the ground. The whole of the hind 

 legs are articulated more for motion across the mesial 

 plane of the body than for motion in that plane, which 

 is the proper walking motion of animals upon the 

 ground, and supporting the weight of the body. The 

 articulation which gives the cross motion is the proper 

 climbing one, as the legs are adapted for being 

 pressed close together, or of being extended far apart, 

 so that they may take hold of a branch at some 

 distance. 



There are only two existing species of these sin- 

 gular animals, the Ai and the UNAU, under which 

 names particular descriptions will be found ; but it 

 appears that at some former period of the history of 

 South America (probably the same at which those 

 large animals, whose bones are now found in the 

 more northerly parts of both continents, inhabited 

 the swampy marshes there), there were animals of 

 the same or similar structure, of much larger dimen- 

 sions, as their remains are still to be found. See the 

 articles MEGALTHKRIUM and MEGALONYX. 



BRADYTUS (Stephens). A genus of coleop- 

 terous insects belonging to the section Pentamera, 

 family Carabidce and subfamily Harpalictes, and nearly 



allied to Amara and Zabrus. From the former, with 

 which it has been associated by some of the conti- 

 nental authors, it is distinguished by having the men- 

 tal tooth entire and the body convex, and from the 

 latter by having the thorax transverse and narrowed 

 behind. The species are about a quarter or one-third 

 of an inch in length, and are found in sandy and open 

 situations. They are less agile than the majority of 

 the subfamily. There are four British species in the 

 genus, of which the Carabus fcrrugineus of Linnaeus 

 is the type. 



BRAKE is the Pteris aquilitta of Linnaeus : it 

 belongs to an extensive family of ferns, comprising 

 thirty-four species, all foreign except one, which is 

 the brake or bracken of our British wastes. 



BRAMA, a genus of acanthopterygeous, or 

 spinous finned fishes, belonging to the family of 

 Squammipennes, or those which have the fins, the anal 

 and the dorsal, in great part at least, covered by scales. 



There is only one known species, found chiefly in 

 the Mediterranean, thongh it sometimes ranges into 

 the Atlantic. The dorsal and anal fins are a little 

 elevated at their anterior margins, and have a few 

 spinous rays there ; but the principal part of these 

 fins is but little produced, and almost entirely covered 

 with scales. There are seven rays in the gill-flaps; 

 the profile is elevated, the muzzle short ; the mouth 

 vertical when closed, and they have teeth in the jaws 

 and the palate. The stomach is short, the intestinal 

 canal simple, and with five small caeca. They are 

 esculent fishes. But they are much annoyed by 

 intestinal worms, which injure their condition as food. 



BRAMBLE is the Rubus fruticosus of Linnaeus. 

 This well-known plant needs no description ; but 

 it may be observed, that it belongs to a numer- 

 ous family, natives of all the tropical parts of the 

 world. There are sixty-three species, and several 

 varieties. The fruit are provincially called " black- 

 berries," and are used for different purposes of the 

 housewife. The dew berry and cloudberry are, like 

 the bramble, wild and eatable ; arid the excellent 

 cultivated raspberry is an allied species. The long 

 shoots of the common bramble are used by basket- 

 makers and thatchers. 



BRAMBLING, BRAMBLE-FINCH, or 

 MOUNTAIN CHAFFINCH (Spiza montana ; 

 Fringllla montifringilla, Linnaeus). This handsomely 

 variegated chaffinch much resembles, in form and 

 size, the common, or white-winged species, but is a 

 trifle larger. The bill is of a lemon yello\v, tipped 

 with black, but changes in the summer to dark bluish 

 grey. Irides, dark hazel. The crown of the head, 

 cheeks; and back, a glossy black, inclining to blue ; 

 in the winter fringed with yellowish brown edgings, 

 which conceal the black, but which gradually fall off 

 on the approach of the breeding season. The feathers 

 of the back are, at the base, ash-coloured, so that 

 when the bird (in summer plumage) leans forward, 

 the back seems of this colour, spotted with black, 

 but appears, when in an upright position, wholly 

 black. The nape of the neck ash-colour, with two 

 longitudinal black lines. Rump white, bordered with 

 black on each side. The throat, breast, lesser wing 

 coverts (or the small feathers on the angle of the 

 wing), and th& termination of the greater wing-coverts, 

 bright reddish orange, the last mentioned forming a 

 band across the wing, as in the chaffinch. The base 

 of the lesser wing-coverts dull white, forming another 

 band, concealed generally by the plumage above ; 

 remainder of the wing black, the scapulars having 



