C ARD UUS C ARN ASSI E RS. 



705 



From this cause Italy was the first European country 

 where the canary was reared. At first their educa- 

 tion was difficult, as the proper manner of treating 

 them was unknown ; and what tended to render them 

 scarce was, that only the male birds were brought 

 over no females." 



CARDUUS (Linnaeus). The thistle, an exten- 

 sive genera of well-known annual and perennial 

 weeds. Linnaean class and order, Syngenesia JEqnali 

 natural order, Compositcc. Generic character : scale 

 of the anthodium prickly ; receptacle bristly ; pappus 

 sitting and downy, falling off. Notwithstanding the 

 hostile appearance and bad character of thistles in 

 general, there are some few of them ornamental, 

 growing to a considerable height, and bearing crimson- 

 coloured flowers. Their use in the economy of nature 

 is not very apparent. None of our domestic cattle, 

 except the ass, relish them, but some of them are 

 nibbled by both hares and rabbits while young and 

 tender. Their seeds form a winter feast for many small 

 birds, and they are the cause of the farmer ploughing 

 much deeper to extirpate them than he would other- 

 wise do, which, though oppressive to himself and 

 his cattle for a time, turn ultimately to his advantage, 

 in having a deeper tilth, and cleaner and heavier 

 crops. 



CAREX (Linnaeus). A numerous genus of rigid 

 herbaceous and grass-like perennials, mostly inhabiting 

 waste sandy soils, bogs, or marshes. They differ 

 from the common grasses in being monoecious, that 

 is.Mn having their male and female flowers not alto- 

 gether in the same calyx, but on different parts .of 

 the same plant. Sometimes, but rarely, the carex is 

 dioecious, male flowers being on one plant and females 

 on another. Hence they are not ranked with the 

 true Gramince, but in the natural order Cyperacecs. 



CARINARIA (Lamarck). This singularly elegant 

 mollusc has been considered by many authors a spe- 

 cies of the genus Argmiaitta, from which it essentially 

 differs, as the following description clearly points 

 out. The shell is symmetrical, extremely thin, a 

 little compressed, without a regular spire, but its 

 summit slightly recurved backward ; the aperture 

 oval and very retired ; the substance of the shell is 

 semi-transparent, and of a glossy appearance, and 

 may be at once distinguished from the Argonauta, by 

 having a single keel, and the apex or spire never 

 entering the aperture. It only partially protects the 

 body of the animal, which is lengthened backwards 

 from the nucleus into a true tail, furnished at its ex- 

 tremity with a vertical fin ; the head is very distinct, 

 with two long conical tentacula ; it has two sessile 

 eyes, the respiratory organs and the nucleus entirely 

 enveloped by a mantle, with lobed edges. In De 

 Blainville's system, this genus is placed in the second 

 class Paracepfial&phora, fifth order Nuclcobranchiata, 

 first family Ncctopoda. Three species are known, 

 the C. vitrea, so called from its glass-like texture ; 

 the C. fragi/is, from its extreme delicacy ; and the 

 C. cymbium, or boat-shaped carinaria, which is not 

 larger than a grain of sand, and can only be seen 

 by the aid of a magnifying power ; one inhabiting 

 the African seas, another the Mediterranean, and the 

 third, considerably larger, is found in the Eastern 

 ocean. 



At one time this mollusc was incomparably rare, and 

 large prices given for it, but one of its species has lat- 

 terly been more frequently met with. Many specimens 

 are now existing of the shell and its inhabitants, and one 

 NAT. HIST. VOL. I. 



beautifully displayed in spirits may be seen in the 

 splendid museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. 

 CARNASSIERS. The third order into which 

 Cuvier divides the mammalia, or those animals which 

 suckle their young. Though etymologically, this 

 word has very nearly, if not altogether, the same 

 meaning as the old name carnivora ; and thus it ap- 

 pears as if the same word were applied in two different 

 senses. Yet as the French term is not identical, 

 either in spelling or in sound, with the Latin, and as 

 a better arrangement is obtained by using the one 

 word for a large class, and the other for a smaller 

 division or sub-class of the same, the apparent ano- 

 maly of the words is more than compensated by the 

 advantage of the arrangement. 



Under the general name carnassiers, Cuvier includes 

 all mammalia, of which the principal food is animal 

 matter ; though it is impossible to draw the line with 

 perfect precision, in as much as there are few animals 

 of any class which do not occasionally eat animal 

 matter ; and there is perhaps no animal of any class, 

 but which might be made to exist, at least in part, on 

 vegetable matter. But as Cuvier's classification is 

 structural, and allows a considerable degree of lati- 

 tude as to the use of the [structure, it is exceedingly 

 convenient, and at the same time as precise as the 

 nature of the subject will probably admit. The fol- 

 lowing is a brief outline of his general characters of 

 the class : 



The numerous animals which it comprehends, all 

 have the extremities divided into fingers or toes fur- 

 nished with nails ; and they all have three kinds of 

 teeth, namely, cutting teeth in the front of their 

 ia\vs, canines at the middle part, and cheek_ teeth or 

 grinders behind these. 



These animals, however, have no grinding motion 

 like the ruminantia, the greater part, of the quadru- 

 mana and all animals which live much upon vegetable 

 ibod. Their jaws have a hinge motion only, that is 

 :hey close one upon the other, and close very firmly ; 

 3ut the articulation of the lower jaw is so tight that, 

 t cannot be moved from side to side. There are 

 considerable varieties in them, arising principally 

 Tom differences in the cheek teeth. These cheek 

 eeth are of three different forms ; sometimes they 

 are nearly flat on their summits, with only low blunt 

 tubercles ; sometimes again they have the tubercles 

 more elevated and sharper at the points ; and there 

 are still others which have trenchant tubercles, by 

 which means they are adapted for cutting and tearing 

 at the same time. The first of these three forms is 

 adapted for bruising or dividing vegetable matter ; 

 and one may observe, that when a dog gets a piece 

 of hard bread, he takes it as far back between his 

 a\vs as possible, in order to reduce it to a state fit to 

 )e swallowed. The second kind are more exclusively 

 fitted for insect food, which requires not to be chewed 

 or torn, but merely to have its crust, or other tough 

 or hard covering broken, so that the fluids of the 

 stomach may act upon that part of it which is digest- 

 .ble. Those of the third form are adapted for tearing 

 lesh ; and in proportion as these predominate, the 

 owner is found to feed more upon the flesh of warm 

 flooded animals, and less upon vegetable matter of 

 ny kind. 



Their brain, though it is considerably furrowed or 



onvoluted, does not appear to be so well developed 



s in man, or in the quadrumana ; there is no division 



f bone between the temporal foss and the orbit of 



3 F 



