10 



C H E L I F E 11 1 D K C H E L O N E. 



give only a synoptic table, for the sake of reference 

 to the different genera. There are two tribes in the 

 family, the bats properly so called, and the Hying bats 

 and the first admits of sub-division into two groups. 

 FIRST TRIBE. Bats properly so called. 

 First group, chiefly animal feeders. 

 Genus 1, Vampires. Teeth; incisors , canines \ 

 grinders f. Canines in lower jaw angular, roots 

 touching. 



Genus 2, Phyllostoma. Teeth ; incisors |, canines ?, 

 grinders g. Canines in lower jaw parallel. 



Genus 3, Glassophagus. Teeth ; incisors , canines \ 

 grinders . Canines in lower jaw parallel. 



Genus 4, Morops. Teeth ; incisors , canines |, 

 grinders $. Inferior membranes verv lonir, tail of mean 

 length. 



Genus 5, VespertUio. Teeth ; incisors $, canines 

 grinders |. 



Genus 6, Plccotus. Teeth ; incisors $, canines *, 

 grinders f. 



Genus 7, Nycteris. Teeth ; incisors $, canines |, 

 grinders |. 



Genus 8, Rldnopoma. T^eth; incisors , canines \ 

 grinders . 



Genus 9, Molassus. Teeth, incisors jjj, canines jj 

 grinders . 



Genus 10, Myopterus. Teeth ; incisors , canines |. 

 grinders *. 



Genus 1 1, Taphazoug. Teeth ; incisors $, canines |, 

 grinders | 



Genus 1*2, Nuctilio. Teeth; incisors \, canines *, 

 grinders 3. 



Genus 13, Nictivorous. Teeth ; incisors |J, canines 

 grinders . 



Genus 14, Stenoderrna. Teeth ; incisors |, canines , 

 grinders 4 



Genus lo, Ithinolophus. Teeth ; incisors f, canines \, 

 grinders . 



Genus 16, Mcgadcrma. Teeth ; incisors 5, canines |. 

 grinders |. 



Second group, in great part at least, feeders upon 

 vegetable substances. 



Genus 17, Pteropus. Teeth; incisors ^, canines |, 

 grinders f . 



Genus l8,Cephalvtus. Teeth; incisors |, canines |, 

 grinders |. 



Genus 19, Cynoptera. Teeth ; incisors |, canines , 

 grinders ^. 



Genus 20, Harpya. Teeth ; incisors , canines *, 

 grinders ^. 



Genus 21, Macroglossut. Teeth ; incisorsf, canines |, 

 grinders ^. 



SECOND TRIBE. 



One genus, Galcopithecus, Teeth ; incisors , 

 canines |, grinders -J-. 



In the above tabular statement, the whole of the 

 incisive and canine teeth arc mentioned, but only half 

 the grinders, or. those on one side of each jaw, the 

 upper number referring, in all the statements, to the 

 upper jaw, anu the under number to the lower. 



CHELIFERIDiE. A family of small annulose 

 animals, belonging to the class Arachnida, and to our 

 order Adelarthrosomata, having very much the ap- 

 pearance of minute scorpions destitute of tails, the 

 body being oval, depressed, and narrowed in front ; 

 the palpi as long or longer than the body, in the form 

 of arms, each terminated by a double claw ; the logs 

 are of equal size, and shoit, being terminated by two 

 hook?, and the eyes (two or four in number) are 



placed at the sides of the tliorax ; the breast is not 

 furnished with the remarkable toothed appendages to 

 be observed in the scorpions. These animal*, brinii 

 destitute of lungs, breathe by means of lateral trachea; 

 or spiracles along the sides of the body. By Linnuiiis 

 the only species of the family known to him, was at 

 first arranged with the rnites (Acarus), and afterwards 

 with the harvest-men (Phalanghan), from all of which 

 however it is abundantly distinguished, and accord- 

 ingly Geoffroy established for its reception the genus 

 C/iclifer, whilst Fabricius placed it amongst the 

 scorpions. Illiger again, neglecting the step taken 

 previously by Geoffroy, formed the genus Obisium 

 for this group ; and still more recently Dr. Leach 

 has not only adopted the genus Chelifer of Geoffroy, 

 but also that of Obisium for several of the species 

 which differ from the true chclifers in some respects, 

 a step which appears to us to have been improperly 

 taken, as it is evident that Illiger's genus was strictly 

 synonymous with Geoft'roy's, both having the Cliclifer 

 cnncroidcs for the type. 



As a family, these little animals are highly inter- 

 esting in respect to the general distribution of the 

 class to which they belong, exhibiting, as they do, 

 the appearance of one group, whilst they in reality 

 belong to another quite distinct. They are found, in 

 general, in moist situations in moss under stones, 

 flower-pots in gardens, and in unfrequented parts of 

 buildings ; they also get into old books, herbariums, 

 &c., where they feed upon other more minute insects, 

 such as Atropos lignarius, acari, and occasionally even 

 venturing to attack the domestic fly, of which circum- 

 stance various notices will be found in the Magazine 

 of Natural History. We have likewise captured the 

 largest species, which we have hitherto seen of the 

 group, under the bark of trees in Windsor forest, in 

 the act of devouring even the hard-cased beetle 

 (Bitoma cretiata}, Goetze also has fed them with 

 aphides. 



According to Linneeus, these animals occasionally 

 introduce themselves beneath the skin, producing a 

 painful swelling, and on the information of Dr. 

 Bcrgius, he states that a peasant had his thigh 

 pierced during the night by one of these insects, 

 which formed by the morning a pustule of the size of 

 a nut, which was very painful. These insects creep 

 rather quickly, and will, when disturbed, run sideways 

 like a crab. Roesel states that the female lays small 

 eggs, of a greenish-white colour, which she forms into 

 a mass side by side, and, according to the elder 

 Hermann, she carries this mass about with her be- 

 neath the body, like some spiders. 



The family comprises only the two genera men- 

 tioned above, of each of which there are various 

 British species. The type of the family, Phalangium 

 cancroides of Linnaeus, seldom exceeds one-eighth of 

 an inch in length. 



CHELONE (Linnaeus). A genus of American 

 ornamental perennial herbs, of late years introduced 

 into our flower gardens. Linnaeaa class and order 

 Didytiamw. angiospermia ; natural order Scrophularia. 

 Generic character: calyx five-parted, persisting; 

 corolla bell-shaped, bellying, limb two-lipped, the 

 upper one two, and the lower three-fobed ; sta- 

 mens, rudiments of five, smooth or bearded ; anthers 

 ncumbent and oblong ; style bearing a headed 

 or bilamcllated stigma; capsule two-celled, two- 

 valvcd ; margins of the valves inflexed ; seeds mar- 

 rinated or naked. The chelones are pretty showy 



