188 



CRYPTOCEPHALUS CUCKOO. 



fearful that his truth would be doubted if he were to 

 relate some of the scenes he had witnessed ; and he 

 has actually confided his information to such only as 

 know his integrity, leaving future travellers to conHrrn 

 his assertions. We can fully appreciate this feeling, 

 and honour it ; but were all mankind to be actuated 

 by similar delicacy, no progress would be made in 

 elucidating the phenomena of nature science must 

 cease to advance, and ignorance become perpetu- 

 ated. First impressions are readily received, and fre- 

 quently remain deeply impressedi but a well consti- 

 tuted mind hesitates to admit them, without having 

 minutely weighed the mass of evidence for or against 

 them, and exercising a sound discretion as to its 

 worth. 



It would be travelling far out of our prescribed 

 path, to enumerate the thousand instances we might 

 easily adduce, in which a description of nature and 

 her operations would be treated at first sight as the 

 idle dream of a disturbed imagination, or a tale of 

 poetic fancy. This applies to every portion of crea- 

 tion, but to none more universally than to entomo- 

 logy; in which the insect transformations, their habits, 

 and their ordained purposes, have become additional 

 proofs of omnipotent wisdom, through the laborious 

 investigations of a host of eloquent writers on the sub- 

 ject, from an early period, down to those of the vene- 

 rable Kirby and others of our own time. With such 

 examples, we dare not reject any thing as impossible 

 to the Architect of nature ; but we are slow to give 

 implicit credence to all we hear, unsupported by the 

 clearest concurring testimony. 



Cephalopoda the name given to these animals by 

 Lamarck, Cuvier, and other modern naturalists is de- 

 rived from two Greek words.implying the feet socalled, 

 being placed on the head. Cryptodibranchiata means 

 the animal's two branchiae being concealed. Ceplialopod 

 is, however, the commonly received term, and is more 

 expressive, as indicating a character which readily 

 strikes the senses, without requiring any additional 

 information from anatomical examination, to guide the 

 first step towards a system of classification. 



CRYPTOCEPHALUS (Geoffrey). A genus of 

 coleopterous insects of considerable extent, belonging 

 to the family CHRYSOMELID*:, which see," having the 

 antennae long and slender, head small' and vertical, 

 the body short, thick, and cylindric, and legs formed 

 for walking. They are of a small size, seldom reach- 

 ing half an inch in length. Their form is not elegant, 

 but they are compensated by the beautiful colours 

 and markings with which they are adorned. They 

 are found upon flowers in the hot sunshine, and feed, 

 both in the larva and perfect state, upon vegetable 

 matters ; destroying the young buds, they do not cut, 

 but macerate, and occasion them to dry up" arid 

 fall. When disturbed they have recourse to artifice 

 by folding their antennae and legs close to the body, 

 and counterfeiting-death. At a late meeting of the 

 Entomological Society of France a larva found in an 

 ants' nest, enclosed in a solid case, was described, and 

 which was considered to be that of a species of this 

 genus. M. Gene of Turin has also published some 

 interesting observations upon the larva? of the Crypto- 

 cephalus. Dejean, fourteen years ago, enumerated 

 seventy species, since which the number has greatly 

 increased. There are about twenty inhabitants of 

 this country, amongst which the type, Chrysomela 

 sericea of Linnaeus, is one of the prettiest species, 

 being of a fine silky golden green colour with black 



antenna? ; it is about one-third of an inch long, '.nd it 

 found upon umbelliferous plants in June. 



CRYPTOSTEGIA(R. Brown) is an East Indian 

 genus belonging to Penlundna Digi/nia, and to 

 the natural order Apocynea:, according to Sweet and 

 Sprengel, but to Asclepiade<e, according to Lindley. 

 The C. grandiflora is a beautiful climber, and thrives 

 well in the common mixture of loam and rnoor earth, 

 and mav be propagated by cuttings struck in sand. 



CRYPTOSTEMMA (R. Brown). A genus of 

 syngcnesious annuals from the Cape of Good Hope, 

 and belonging to the natural order Composites, The 

 species require to be treated likti tender annuals, that 

 is sown on a gentle hot-bed, and, when strong enough, 

 planted out in the open borders in May. They are 

 handsome flowers, and deserve to be in every flower 

 garden. 



CRYPTOSTOMA (Leach). A mollusc whose 

 body is tongue-shaped, in a great degree formed by a 

 very long arid thick foot, narrower in front, chan- 

 nelled on both sides, and extending considerably 

 beyond the twisted visceral mass, which is very small, 

 rather convex on the upper side, and about a third of 

 it covered with an internal shell extremely similar in 

 every respect to the Sigarctus properly so called ; the 

 mouth is very small and concealed beneath the anterior 

 and superior fold of the foot, towards which its four 

 grooves diverge ; from this very singular position of 

 the rnouth the genus has been named. There arc 

 two tentacula pedunculated at their base, eyes iiat 

 ascertained, and one great branchial comb. There 

 are only two species of this genus described, both 

 from India, but it is not improbable some species of 

 Lamarck's genus Sigarctus will be discovered to 

 belong to it. It is placed in the second class Para- 

 cephalophora, second order C/iismobraiichiuta, family 

 Limdcineq. 



CRYPTOSTYLIS (R. Brown). A genus of New 

 Holland gynaudrious plants introduced into this coun- 

 try about ten years since. Like other Orchidtc, the 

 flowers are curiously shaped, and of a dark brown 

 colour. The bulbs or rather tubers are connected in 

 a bundle, and thrive best planted in a frame, or, 

 according to Mr. Sweet, on a warm border, where, if 

 they are only protected from frost iu winter, they will 

 survive and flower finely. Their favourite soil is 

 turt'v moor earth, loam, and sand. 



CTENISTES (Reichenbach). A very minute 

 genus of coleopterous insects belonging to the family 

 Pselaplndce, having the palpi as long as the head, with 

 the extremity of the second, third, and fourth joints 

 armed laterally with an acute spine. They are 

 nearly allied to Bryajcis. 



CT ENOPHORA (Meigen). A handsome genus 

 of dipterous insects belonging to the section Nevio- 

 cera and family Tipulidce or crane flies, distinguished 

 by having the antenna? beautifully feathered in the 

 males ; these organs moreover are thirteen-jointed in 

 both sexes. In other respects they are very nearly 

 allied to the daddy-long-legs, or true tipula. They 

 are found in damp situations, amongst herbage, &c. 

 The larva? resemble those of the Tipula;, and live in 

 the decaying matter of trees, &c., where they change 

 into pupa?, having the body armed with hooks. There 

 are eight British species, the type being the Tipula 

 pectmicormt t Linnaeus. 



CUCKOO (Cuculus, auctorum). A most interest- 

 ing genus of zygodactylous or yoke-footed birds, or of 

 those which have the toes situate two before and two 



