C H E I L O D A C T Y L E S C H E 1 R O P T E R A. 



elegant, and contrived with so much art and design, 

 that it is impossible not to acknowledge them the 

 work of infinite power and wisdom to which nothing- 

 is hid, nothing impossible." It has been a common 

 error that these insects were bred spontaneously from 

 the cheese, and epicures accordingly do not hesitate 

 to eat them with great goiit, thinking them formed 

 from the best part of the cheese, whereas they are 

 produced from eggs deposited therein by the parent 

 lly. These larvae are long, cylindrical, and composed 

 of twelve rings, the first of which is furnished with 

 two small bent hooks of a black colour, which serve 

 not only as teeth, but for feet also, the insect having 

 no other organs employed as legs. The terminal 

 segment of the body is covered with a variety of pro- 

 minent tubercles and little cavities like wrinkles, of 

 which we shall presently see the use. In our article 

 CERCOPID.* we have alluded to the leaping power of 

 this insect, and our figure will give an idea of the 

 manner in which it prepares to make a spring. 



1, the cheese-hopper preparing to spring. 

 2, the insect's natural size. 



3. 4, the fly to which it is transformed : natural size and 

 magnified. 



When this larva prepares to leap it first erects itself 

 on its anus, in doing which it is greatly aided by the 

 prominent tubercles of the terminal ring, which enable 

 it to maintain an equilibrium. It then bends itself 

 into a circle, and having brought the head towards 

 the tail it stretches out the two hooks of the mouth, 

 fixing them into the two cavities at the extremity of 

 the body. It then contracts the body from a circular 

 to an oblong figure, the contraction extending in a 

 manner to every part of the body. It now suddenly 

 and with very great violence lets go its hold, the 

 noise produced by its hooks being very perceptible, 

 and in this manner the leap is effected, being in fact 

 similar to the mode employed by the salmon when 

 they wish to pass over a cataract or salmon leap, as 

 it is termed. Swammerdam saw one, whose length 

 did not exceed a quarter of an inch in length, leap 

 out of a box six inches deep, that is to a height more 

 than twenty-four times greater than the length of its 

 own body, but they will leap much higher. Here we 

 cannot but admire the powers given by nature to j 

 different creatures, and their limitations, to answer 

 different purposes, and not for mischief to mankind. 

 If for instance a power of motion, proportionally 

 equal to that possessed by this insect, had been given 

 to the serpent tribes, how much more terrible would 

 they not have been rendered then, than they are 

 with their present capabilities? A viper would throw 

 itself nearly a hundred feet upon the traveller, and 

 the rattle-snake several hundred. Swammerdam, 

 after giving a minute account of the external and 

 internal anatomy of this creature, observes, " Now let 

 the sharpest geniuses, and men of the greatest pene- 

 tiation and learning, judge if a creature on the fabric 



of which there plainly appears so much art, order, 

 contrivance, and wisdom, nay, in which is seen the 

 hand itself of the Omnipotent God, could possibly be 

 the production of chance or rottenness." The female 

 fly is provided at the extremity of the body with a 

 very fine retractile borer wherewith she pierces the 

 cheese, and is thereby enabled to deposit her eggs in 

 the wound thus made. Shortly after \\hich the grubs 

 are hatched, and feeding upon the cheese cause it to 

 decay ; the fine powder which we perceive, and 

 which is so highly prized by the gourmand, being 

 nothing else but the excrement of these grubs, which, 

 when they have acquired their full size, desert the 

 cheese, and in three or four days they lose all motion, 

 grow stiff, become hard, and contract their bodies into 

 an oval mass not more than half their previous length, 

 within which the real pupa is inclosed, this insect 

 undergoing the coarctate kind of metamorphosis, like 

 the majority of dipterous insects. Alter remaining 

 some time in this state, the chrysalis becomes of a 

 black colour, and the inclosed nyrnph breaks that 

 part of the outer covering \\ hich defends its head into 

 two parts, and at the same time throws off from every 

 part of the body a thin and slight membrane which 

 it leaves within the old case. At first the wings are 

 scarcely perceivable, the insect, however, runs about 

 very quickly, and shortly afterwards the wings are by 

 degrees extended until they assume their full size, 

 when the insect is fitted for pursuing its duties, which 

 almost entirely consist in the reproduction of the 

 species. The fly is about the size of the common 

 domestic fly, of a shining blackish green colour, the 

 wings transparent and shining, and the legs varied 

 with ochreous and black. 



CHEILODACTYLES. A genus of spitious 

 finned fishes, belonging to Cuvier's third family Scein- 

 o'ides, and bearing some resemblance to the perch 

 family. They have the body oblong, the mouth small, 

 numerous spinous rays in the dorsal fin, and the infe- 

 rior rays of the pectorals continued in a membrane. 

 There are several species, the greater number of which 

 are inhabitants of the eastern seas. 



CHEILODIPTERA. A genus of spinous finned 

 fishes, belonging to the perch family. They are all 

 of very small size, and found in the warmer seas of 

 the east. 



CHEIMATOBIA (Stephens). A genus of lepi- 

 donlerons insects, belonging to the family Gcometridfe, 

 and remarkable for their appearance in the winged 

 state in the depth of winter. Of these the type is 

 the Phal. geom. brumata of Linnaeus, an insect of 

 very plain appearance, measuring about an inch in 

 expanse, of an ashy brown colour, with nearly obsolete 

 darker waves. It is very common in the neighbour- 

 hood of London, and may be seen flitting about the 

 leafless hedges at dusk or by lamp-light, in moderate 

 weather. 



CHEIROPTERA winged hands. The first 

 family, or sub-order, of Cuvier's groat order Carnaxsiert, 

 or mammalia, which feed upon animal matter. Their 

 most remarkable characters, and the one from which 

 they obtain their name, is that ot'having the extremities, 

 the arms especially, furnished with membranes, by 

 means of which the animals are enabled to fiy ; 

 although, in a manner much more awkward than that 

 of birds. A particular account of the action of those 

 singular creatures, as well as of the habits of the lead- 

 ing species, has already been given in the article 

 BATS. Hence it will be necessary, in this phw, to 



