76 CCELIOXYS- 



loins. The first movement is leaning back on the 

 collar and lifting the feet one step upwards, next by 

 a sudden spring of the body towards the tree he jerks 

 up with his hands at the same instant that part of the 

 collar on the opposite side of the stem, by which he 

 gains a higher hold. These alternate movements 

 enables the climber to raise himself to the height 

 of forty or fifty feet or more in a few minutes. The 

 empty vessel which is slung at his back while he 

 ascends is exchanged for the full one at top, and the 

 last brought down to be emptied. The climber de- 

 scends by reversing the movements he employed in 

 ascending with considerable celerity and in perfect 

 security. Without this mode of climbing it would be 

 impossible to get either toddv or the nuts when 

 wanted, applying ladders to such lofty trees is totally 

 out of the question, for they could not be used in such 

 woods. 



The cocoa-nut plant is raised from the nut and 

 kept in hothouses, but requiring much room are in- 

 convenient in such collections. 



CCELIOXYS (LatreilleV A germs of hymenop- 

 terous insects, belonging the division Aculeata, sub- 

 division Mellifera, and family of the bees, having the 

 scutellum bidentate, the wings with only two complete 

 sub-marginal cells, and the body destitute of pollini- 

 gerous organs ; the abdomen, moreover, is of a conical 

 shape (whence the derivation from the Greek of the 

 generic name) ; in the males, also the extremity of this 

 part of the body is toothed, and in the females it is 

 cleft and gaping. From the want of organs for col- 

 lecting pollen, these insects are evidently parasitic ; 

 indeed the Count St. Fargeau states, that it is chiefly 

 in the nests of several of the woolly-bellied bees, 

 Megachile, Anthidium, Osmia, &c., that, cuckoo-like, 

 they lay their eggs. The genus, although containing 

 not more than a dozen species, is distributed over the 

 different parts of the world. They are often to be 

 found on flowers. There are three or four British 

 species, including the type, Apis conica of Linnaeus, 

 the female of which differs so much from the male, 

 that it was considered by that author, as well as 

 Fabricius, as a distinct species. It is of a black 

 colour, with the abdominal segments margined with 

 white. 



CCELOGYNE (Lindley). An orchideous genus 

 from the East Indies. Linnaean class and order 

 Gynandna Monandria; and natural order Orchidece. 

 Generic character : sepals distinct, spreading, the 

 exterior ones oblongly egg-shaped, interior linear ; 

 labellum hollow, three-lobed, fringed, double crested, 

 and articulated with the column ; column kneed and 

 winged ; stigma two-lipped. This, like its congeners, 

 has curious flowers, grows well in loose turfy moor 

 earth, and does better in a frame or pit than in a 

 house. It may be increased by division of the root. 



COFFEA (Linnams), is the tree which yields the 

 fruit, of which the favourite beverage, coffee, is made. 

 Linnaean class and order Pentandna Monogynia; 

 natural order Rubiacece. Generic character : calyx 

 small and five-toothed ; corolla funnel-shaped ; throat 

 naked ; stamens protruding ; stigma divided ; berry 

 two-seeded. This celebrated plant is named from a 

 place where it grows spontaneously, namely, near the 

 town of Caffa, in Arabia. It is now extensively 

 cultivated in many of the European colonies, both 

 in the East and West Indies; and indeed in 

 every climate suitable to its growth. The tree is 

 middle sized, of a light regularly branched habit, 



COLEOPTERA. 



and formal outline. The berries are collected by 

 hand, dried, and manufactured till fit for use. The 

 coffee plant thrives well in our stoves, and if allowed 

 plenty of pot-room and water, with the necessary 

 temperature, flowers and fruits abundantly. It is 

 increased by cuttings, which, according to Mr. Sweet, 

 come into flower sooner than seedlings. 



COLCH1CUM (Linnaeus), is the meadow saffron 

 of English writers. It belongs to the sixth class and 

 third order of the sexual system, and to the natural 

 order Melanthacece. The meadow saffron or colchi- 

 cum are bulbous rooted plants, and found in many 

 parts of Europe. Their flowers have a strong external 

 resemblance to those of the crocus, though they differ 

 much in botanical character. One is a native of 

 Britain, producing the flower in autumn, and followed 

 by its large foliage in the spring. They are chiefly 

 met with in meadows of diluvial soil ; but are not 

 esteemed by farmers as a pasture plant, from the 

 supposition that the leaves are injurious to dairy cows. 

 A powerful medicine is prepared from the bulbs. 

 The garden varieties and species are increased by 

 seeds or offsets. 



COLEOPTERA (Aristotle, Linnaeus; ELEUTHE- 

 RATA, Fabricius). An order of insects of very great 

 extent, having the wings inclosed in a case, composed 

 of a pair of scaly pieces, meeting along the back in a 

 straight line. The wings themselves are of a large 

 size, and of a membranaceous texture, and when un- 

 employed are shut up in several transverse folds, the 

 first of which occurs beyond the middle, These 

 scales are termed elytra, and shutting upon the back, 

 they conceal the upper surface of the abdomen, as well 

 as the wings, from view. The insects themselves are 

 for the most part known by the name of beetles, 

 although the term is not exclusively applied to them. 

 Thus The blister-fly (Cantharis) is a coleopterous in- 

 sect, as well as the turnip-fly (Haltica nemorum). If 

 we examine a butterfly, a bee, or a dragon-fly, we 

 shall at once perceive that the elytra of the latter do 

 not exist as such, but that their place is occupied by 

 a pair of large wings, of similar consistence with the 

 following, and being equally with the latter destitute 

 of folds. Comparing these insects with any coleop- 

 terous insect, as for instance a cockchaffer, it will be 

 easy to perceive the latter distinguished by the 

 following character. Wings two, membranaceous, folded 

 transversely beneath tivo horny elytra, which character 

 precisely corresponds with the Greek name Coteoptera, 

 and the Latin one of Vaginipennes, given by the 

 Latin naturalists to these insects. As, however, we 

 attend to more minute differences of structure, we 

 perceive the necessity of still more rigorously fixing 

 the limits of our groups, by the employment of other 

 characters, without which we should confound the 

 locust, the grasshopper, the cicada, and the cimex, 

 with the coicoptera ; and indeed in the early works 

 of the great Swede, Linnaeus united the two former 

 insects, together with the generality of those which 

 form the modern order of Orthoptcra, with the beetles. 

 And even in his last work, we still find the earwig 

 united with them, although the others were separated 

 to form the ill-assorted order of Hemiptera, which 

 order Linnaeus had at first well defined, to comprise 

 only those species which have an elongated tubular 

 rostrum, articulated and bent beneath the breast. 

 Now the coleoptera, as well as the orthoptera, differ 

 from these in having the mouth formed of jaws and 

 other organs for mastication. If therefore to the 



