CUCKOO F L O W E R - C U C U L L I A. 



r CUCKOO FLOWER is the Lychnis _ 

 LinncEus, a common British plant found in moist 

 meadows. It belongs to the tenth class and fifth 

 order of the sexual system, and to the natural order 

 Caryophyllca:. The Cardamine pratcnsis, another com- 

 mon plant in moist meadows, is also called cuckoo 

 flower, but the plants are in no way connected except 

 in habitat. 



CUCUJID.E (Stephens; PLATYSOMA, Latreille). 

 A family of coleopterous insects of small extent and 

 iignivorous habits, placed between the Xylophaga and 

 the Longicorncs, having the tarsal joints entire and not 

 bilobed; the antennae are of an equal thickness, or 

 slender at the tips ; in some species, however, the three 

 terminal joints are incrassated ; the jaws are robust 

 and exserted, and the body very much depressed and 

 of an oblong form. These insects are of small size, 

 and are found beneath. the bark of trees, where also 

 the larva? reside. Their situation appears to be much 

 nearer to some of the Necrophagous Pentamera, such 

 as Ips, than to the Longicorn Tctramcra. The genera 

 are Cuciijns, Dendrophagus and Ulcoiota, to which Mr. 

 Stephens has added that of Trogosita of Fabricius. 

 The typical genus has the antenna? shorter than the 

 body, with the basal joint shorter than the head. 

 There are several British species, but their synonymy 

 is very confused. The males of Ulcoiota Jlavipcs have 

 the mandibles armed with a remarkable curved horn. 



CUCULIN/E (Latreille). A subdivision of the 

 insects composing the family Apidte, or true long- 

 tongued bees, distinguished by the non-possession of 

 organs for the gathering of pollen, and consequently 

 compelled to resort to the ne?ts of other bees for the 

 deposition of their ecgs. Hence, like the cuckoo, 

 they may be regarded as a kind of parasite. The 

 iarva? of all bees are nourished by a paste formed of 

 pollen and honey, but in nearly one-third of the 

 genera of th<jse insects the females are destitute both 

 of pollen brushes and pollen plates. Having, there- 

 fore, with ii'iich artifice succeeded in introducing its 

 eggs in tlie/ already provisioned nests of other work- 

 ing bees, -he female cuckoo bee is enabled, with- 

 out the toil of constructing a nest, to ensure for its 

 proireny as much benefit as though it had been espe- 

 cially provided for, since the parasite larva is supposed 

 to hatch before the larva which is the true inhabitant 

 of the cell, and of course it immediately devours the 

 supply of pollen paste, so that when the real inhabit- 

 ant is hatched, its food being consumed, it is of course 

 starved to death. But this parasitic kind of connec- 

 tion exists in other groups besides those included by 

 Latreille in the family C'ltculines: thus some of the 

 humble bees* (Bombits] are in like manner destitute 

 of pollinigerous organs, and compose the genus Psi- 

 ihyrus of St. Fargeau (Apathm, Newman ; Pseu- 

 dobombus, Stephens) ; whilst other genera, not only 

 amongst the Apidcz, but also in the Andrenida; (short 

 tongued bees), and even in the Fossorial Injmnwptera, 

 are similarly circumstanced. As, however, the struc- 

 ture of these parasite bees (except as regards their 

 polUHigro6 organs) is in many cases too nearly iden- 

 tical f with that of the bees, in the nests of" which 

 they are parasitic (compare Sombus and Psithi/rus, 

 which Mr. Curtis thinks should not be even gene- 



For an account of the genus Bom/ms, or the humble bees, 

 see HLTMBLK HICK. 



t 'The quotation from Mr. Selby, given in p. 193, relating- to 

 the cuckoo, may, to a certain extent, be applied with equal 

 force to these cuckoo bees. 



rically separated), we do not feel inclined to adopt 

 the step taken by Mr. Newman of uniting them all, 

 whether Apidce or Andrcnidcc, together tinder the name 

 of A pathiti -s, although, for convenience' sake, we have 

 followed the steps of Latreille in keeping the Cucu- 

 lin< as a distinct group. See APID;E. The genera 

 introduced by Latreille into this subdivision are, 

 Ammohates, Pliilcremits, Epcolus, Nomada, Pasties, 

 jMelecta, Crocisa, and Oxcea. 



CUCULL^E A (Lamarck ; ARCA cccur.i.us, Lin- 

 nieiis). This genus nearly resembles the Linnaean 

 Arl-s, from which modern naturalists have generally 

 separated it. De Blainville, however, in this instance 

 as in many others, with a view to conform as closely 

 as possible to the system established by that illustrious 

 naturalist, and not to multiply genera uselessly, has 

 made it a subdivision of the genus Area; in this we 

 do not coincide altogether, as there are some manifest 

 distinctions of structure which indicate a different 

 inhabitant. The shape is more gibbous, or trapezi- 

 form ; the anterior side truncated obliquely, and at 

 the hinge (which in young shells is similar to that of 

 the Ark\ by growth or age, becomes displaced, or 

 appears obsolete, exhibiting parallel ribs, which termi- 

 nate it and give the teeth a more horizontal appear- 

 ance than in the Arks, as they are now defined by 

 Lamarck. But the most remarkable distinction, and 

 one from whence its name of hooded has been derived, 

 are the ear-shaped testaceous appendages, placed 

 internally at an angle with the anterior surface, on 

 one side of the muscular impression of the valves ; 

 these form a species of chamber or division, and are 

 not to be found so situated in any other species of 

 mollusc. The shell is equivalve, inequilateral, rhom- 

 boidal, heart-shaped, truncated at one end, and very 

 globose ; the umbones distant and separated by the 

 angular groove or area of the ligament, which is alto- 

 gether external ; the hinge linear, straight, with small 

 transverse teeth, having at its extremity from two to 

 five parallel ribs. Lamarck does not, mention that 

 the valves are marked with minute and strong longi- 

 tudinal stria?, one valve often overlapping the opposite 

 one, and that the margins of them are crenulated. 

 From this difference in the size of the valves, many 

 collectors have supposed examples with the ligament 

 broken, not true pairs ; but it is a character peculiar 

 to this genus, and also to some of the Arks, though 

 not constantly observable in either. It is a circum- 

 stance rarely occurring in other bivalves, and one 

 only to be accounted for hypothetically, by supposing 

 the animal to complete the enlargement of his dwell- 

 ing on one side first, and not on both simultaneously ; 

 and this is rendered the more probable, as it is found 

 riot to be a constant characteristic. It closely allies 

 this genus with them, and is a proof of the truth 

 exhibited, and the necessity of combining a know- 

 ledge of the animal with the distinctions furnished 

 by its dwelling, in order to constitute a correct 

 system of classification. This is the science of mala- 

 cology. 



CUCULLI A (Schrank). A genus of lepidopterous 

 insects belonging to the section Nocturna, and family 

 Noctuida;, having the upper wings long and lancet 

 shaped, acute at the tips, the abdomen elongated, 

 and the spiral tongue as long as the antenna;. These 

 moths are called sharks by the English collectors. The 

 generic name is given to them in allusion to the 

 hooded thorax. The species are very diiHeiilt to 

 discriminate, from their great resemblance in the pre- 



