C H A F F E R C H A L C I D I D M. 



or flattened sideways (hence their name). Their fins 

 are very much elevated and covered with scales, so 

 like the rest of the body, that they seem a continuation 

 of it. There are a few small spines on the anterior 

 edge of the dorsal, and the ventral fins are very long. 

 The height of the fish, seen sideways, exceeds the 

 length. There are several species of them, all natives 

 of the Indian seas ; and they are called sea-bats, and 

 other fanciful names by the sailors. Some of them 

 are found in the Red Sea. 



CHAFFER. The common English name whereby 

 various species of beetles are called, evidently adopted 

 from the German Kafer, which is, however, employed 

 as synonymous with the whole of the coleopterous 

 insects to which we have applied the name of beetle. 

 In Germany, however, from the great richness of the 

 language, a distinct name is applied to every species 

 of coleoptera ; but in England, owing to the poverty 

 of our tongue, and the small degree of attention 

 hitherto paid to the subject, but very few insects have 

 obtained vernacular names ; and amongst these we 

 find the term chaffer almost exclusively applied to 

 beetles belonging to the Linnaean genus Scnrabceus. 

 Thus the Melolontha vulgaris (Scar abacus vulgaris of 

 Linnaeus) is commonly called the cock-chaffer, whilst 

 the Cetonia aurata (Scarabceus auratus, Linnaeus) has 

 received the name of the rose-chaffer, &c. Of these, 

 the first-named insect is by far the most obnoxious, 

 from its destructive powers, whilst in the larva state, 

 to grass, &c., devouring the roots. As, however, the 

 name chaffer is not exclusively applied to this insect, 

 it will be more convenient to defer its account until 

 we arrive at its systematic place, under the article 

 MELOLONTHID.'E. See also COLEOPTEUA. 



CHAILLETIACEJ3. A natural order of dico- 

 tyledonous plants, allied to TerebinthacecE, Rosacea, 

 and AquilarinecE, containing three genera, and seven 

 known species. Its essential botanical characters 

 are : calyx persistent, five-cleft, coloured within, 

 with an imbricated aestivation ; petals five, alternate 

 with the segments of the calyx, and arising from the 

 bottom of it ; stamens five, alternate wiih the petals ; 

 anthers roundish ; ovary free, hairy, from two to 

 three-celled ; styles two or three, short, free or 

 coalescing ; fruit dry, two or three-celled drupes ; 

 seeds solitary, without albumen ; embryo thick, with 

 a short, superior radicle, and fleshy cotyledons. 



The plants belonging to this order are trees or 

 shrubs, with alternate, stipulate, ovate leaves, and 

 axillary white Mowers. They are natives of tropical 

 regions, and are found in South America, and in the 

 islands of Madagascar and Timor. The genera of 

 the order are ChaUlctia, Lciicosia, and Tapura. 



Chailletia Toxicaria, or rat-bane, is a branching 

 shrub, from six to twelve feet high, which grows on 

 the mountains near Sierra Leone. It bears small 

 white flowers, and yields a fruit the size of a pigeon's 

 egg, which possesses poisonous properties. The 

 kernel is used by the negroes for poisoning rats and 

 mice. In other respects the properties of the order 

 are not known. 



CHALCEDONY. A mineral much in request 

 in ancient times, and which appears to have derived 

 its name from Chalcedon, a miner who first disco- 

 vered it. Its basis is usually of a semi-opaque 

 character ; and if we may judge from the descriptions 

 given by Pliny and some other of the early authors, 

 it would rather appear that the gems they describe 

 under this name were of a mare beautiful character 



than those we now employ. There are four woll- 

 known forms of the chalcedony ; the first resembling 

 a common flint, and is usually found in masses of 

 two or three inches in diameter. Under this head we 

 may place the oriental chalcedonies, which are the 

 only ones of any value. They are found in vast 

 numbers on the banks of the rivers in all parts of the 

 East Indies. The second form is of a milky colour, 

 and is of little value. It is principally found in South 

 America. The third form is exceedingly dark and 

 cloudy, and was known to the ancients by the name 

 of smoky jasper. It is at the present time much used 

 in Germany, and worked into the handles of knives. 

 The fourth kind is usually of a yellow or red colour. 

 It comes from the East Indies, and the Italians 

 employ great quantities in the manufacture of their 

 rosaries. 



The dendritic chalcedonies, or rnocko gems, are 

 much prized as ornamental stones. The arborisations 

 are black, red, brown, or green. The black are the 

 most common, and most distinct ; the red, on the 

 contrary, are rarer, and are less distinct, and are 

 named corallines, from the resemblance of the den- 

 dritic delineations to coral ; and the green are rare, 

 and much esteemed. These arborisations appear in 

 some cases to be owing to iron, in others to man- 

 ganese and iron. Dutens, Von Moll, Daubenton, 

 Blumenbach, and Dr. Maculloch, maintain that many 

 of them are of a true vegetal >le nature. Dutens 

 says, that if the plants contained in chalcedony are 

 extracted, and the fragments thrown on burning 

 charcoal, a bituminous smell is exhaled ; and Von 

 Moll maintains, that chalcedony sometimes contains 

 brown and green moss. 



Lenz affirms, that the chalcedony found in the 

 amygdaloid of Deuxponts, contains musci of different 

 kinds, such as lichen rangiferinus, confervas, and 

 byssi. And Bliirncnbach says, in a letter to Baron 

 Von Moll, that though he had hitherto disbelieved 

 ;he occurrence of vegetable bodies in the dendritic 

 variety of chalcedony, named mocko-stone, yet he 

 must now admit that it does sometimes contain 

 3lants, apparently of the nature of conferva. He 

 observed these in specimens from Iceland and 

 Catherinenburg. The same celebrated naturalist 

 maintains, that he found, in the interior of an agate, 

 the fructification of an unknown plant, somewhat 

 resembling the Sparganium erectnm, 



CHALCIDIDjE. A family of very minute 

 ivmenopterous insects, belonging to the section 

 Pupivora of Latreille, and forming Liunaeus's section 

 Ichnenmones minuti. This family is distinguished 

 )y the wings being almost entirely destitute of 

 nervures, and the antennas, which are strongly 

 ;lbo\ved at the extremity of the long basal joint, are 

 hort, and composed of not more than thirteen joints. 

 These minute creatures are amongst the most erlective 

 agents to be found amongst the insect tribes employed 

 n the parasitic destruction of their larger brethren, 

 he females being unceasingly employed in searching 

 or and depositing their eggs in the bodies of other 

 nsects, almost every order being alike subject to their 

 attacks. It is, however, to the destruction of the 

 arvse of lepidopterous insects that their labours are 

 or the most part devoted. A very common instance 

 of their proceedings may be observed in the chrysalis 

 of the nettle-toitoiseshell butterfly (Vanessa urtica-), 

 which is often to be seen, as it were, bored through 

 with numerous small holes, whence, instead of the 



