C R I C O S T O M A T A C R I N O I D E A. 



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" dc gustibus non est disputant! urn," is nevertheless ( 

 liked by some persons), they become from their num- ! 

 bers a perfect nuisance, flying into the candles and 

 ilnsliin"- into people's faces, according to White. In 

 families, at such time?, they are like Pharaoh's plague 

 of frogs, in their bed chambers, and upon their beds, 

 and in their ovens, and in their kneading troughs. 

 The strong chirping noise which the males make is , 

 occusioned by a brisk attrition of their wings, the j 

 glassy parts above mentioned acting like the parch- 

 ment covering of a tambourine. This noise is chiefly 

 produced at dusk, and during the night, although 

 occasionally it may be heard during the day. The 

 insect, however, is certainly a nocturnal one. As their 

 presence in a house is regarded by some persons 

 as ominous of ill luck, whilst others as firmly believe 

 them to be prognostics of good, they may be espe- 

 cially referred to as a proof of the absurdity of those 

 superstitious feelings which we trust the diffusion of 

 knowledge is fast driving away. Their food, according 

 to White, consists of crumbs of bread, yea^t, salt, and 

 any kitchen offal or sweepings. Latreille, however, 

 savs they thrive well in houses infested by cock- 

 roaches, "upon which they feed, and they will certainly 

 eat their own species when placed in confinement, 

 but we should scarcely think this natural. They are 

 very fond of moisture, preferring the moist mortar of 

 new buildings ; they will also gnaw holes in wet 

 woollen stockings and aprons hung to dry; and one of 

 the best modes of catching them is to place phials or 

 (.(her vessels half filled with beer, milk, broth, or the 

 like, for being always eager to drink, they will crowd 

 into the vessel and be drowned. They bring forth 

 their young at all times of the year, as young ones 

 may be found even in the winter months swarming on 

 the hearth not larger than fleas. 



The field cricket, Achctn campcstris, is a much 

 rarer animal than the former ; it is of a black colour, 

 with the base of the wing-covers yellow, the head is 

 lartre, and the hind thighs red underneath. It burrows 

 at the side of footpaths in hot situations exposed to the 

 sun, making deep holes, at the mouth of which it sits, 

 in order to seize upon stray insects which are its food. 

 The mole cricket is a curious animal, deriving its 

 name from the similarity both of its structure and 

 habits to the mole. The antenna? are short and 

 slender, and the fore legs very broad and notched, 

 being very powerful and well adapted for burrowing 

 under ground ; the abdomen is terminated by two 

 long slender and hairy bristles. This insect, which, 

 with sonic trifling variations in structure, is found all 

 over the globe, is an inch and a half or two inches 

 long, nearly cylindric, and of a brown colour. 



it is a noxious animal, committing much injury in 

 gardens and cultivated ground, burrowing a short 

 distance beneath the surface, with the assistance of its 

 large palmated fore legs. In this manner it loosens 

 the roots of vegetables, upon which indeed it is said 

 to subsist. Latreille however thinks, that it feeds 

 upon underground insects or worms. The noise 

 made by the male insect (and which is only heard 

 during the night or at twilight), is said to be agreeable. 

 The female forms in the month of June or July a 

 subterranean chamber of an oval form, quite smooth 

 internally, and about six inches deep, in which it. 

 deposits" from two to four hundred eggs. The nest 

 with its curved entrance somewhat resembles a flask 

 with a bent neck. The young when hatched live for 

 some time in society. 



CRICOSTOMATA (genus Turbo of Linnaeus). 

 This is the name given to the second family of the 

 second order Asiphonobranchiala, of the second class 

 Paracephalophara. It may be observed that this family 

 is scarcely to be distinguished from the Linnusan 

 Truchtix, which in fact is blended by almost insensible 

 distinctions with his genus Turbo, and it is only, 

 therefore, with a view of assimilating his labours as 

 much as possible with the modern school, that the 

 family Cricostomata has been established. This is only 

 one of many instances which this work will exhibit of 

 the veneration justly paid to that great naturalist's 

 judgment, from which present authors presume not to 

 ditt'er, without pointing out conclusive reasons, and 

 manifest cause for so doing. 



A general description of these shells is, that they 

 are of a variable form, but the aperture always nearly 

 circular, and completely closed by a calcareous or 

 horny opereulum, the whorls of the spire few in num- 

 ber, and the summits sub-lateral. 



The animal consequently is variable in form, but 

 this applies rather to its exterior and some of its pro- 

 portions, than in anything material in its organisation, 

 which is the same in all the family. The animal ap- 

 pears always phytophagous ; a small portion of them 

 naturally breathe air, and the greater number of the 

 aquatic species are marine. The various genera of this 

 family will be noticed in their alphabetical arrangement. 

 CRINOIDEA. There is perhaps no result more 

 extraordinary in the annals of modern research, than 

 the discovery of the very remarkable and various 

 changes which this our planet has evidently under- 

 gone, as indicated by the successive development 

 ;uid subsequent destruction of beings once animated, 

 whose existence could never have been even suspected 

 by us, had not their remains been still preserved in a 

 fossil state. Whole tribes of animals seem to have 

 been called into being, and after having for a certain 

 period peopled the earth, appear to have gradually 

 ceased to exist, in consequence of certain unknown 

 causes which must for ever elude our inquiries, giving 

 place to others of totally different forms, which in the 

 course of subsequent ages were in like manner destined 

 to pass away, their situations in the chain of animal 

 life being replaced by other and possibly more 

 perfect creatures, until we at length arrive at a point 

 at which the inhabitants of this earth differed but 

 slightly from the varied productions of the present 

 time. Among these none are more remarkable thaa 

 the remains now under consideration, not only on 

 account of their curious forms, the beauty of their 

 articulations, and the complicated nature of their 

 structure, but also from their having evidently been. 

 among the earliest inhabitants of this world. Hence 

 the}' are so far removed from the present order of 

 animated nature, that although immense ranges of 

 rocks may literally be said to be formed of the mine- 

 ralised remains of different species entombed in them, 

 but five or six fragments of one of these numerous 

 species have hitherto been found in the recent state. 

 Their fossil columns and joints, however, from their 

 frequent occurrence and singular forms, attracted the 

 notice of naturalists at an early period, and they 

 consequently acquired names founded either upon 

 certain superstitious ideas, or upon a fa'ncied resem- 

 blance to other bodies, and the uses to which such 

 bodies were applied. Thus we find them termed 

 "giants' tears," " rosary beads," "fairy stones,'' "wheel 

 i stones," " entrochites," while the star shape of the 



