CYPHONID^E CYPRINOID^E. 



233 



adorned the temples and crowned the statues of the 

 gods. Boats were made from the plant, and its root 

 was frequently chewed. 



Scir})iia is another genus of the order, some of the 

 species of which are applied to economical uses. 

 Scirpus laciwtris, lake club-rush or bull-rush, is frequent 

 on the margins of lakes and ponds in Britain. Its 

 stems constitute a considerable article of trade in 

 consequence of being used for mats, chair-bottoms, &c. 

 They are employed by coopers to fill up the spaces 

 between the seams of casks. Scirpus mantimus, 

 another British species, is eaten by cattle. Its roots 

 have been ground and used instead of flour in times 

 of scarcity. Scirpus tuberosus, the water-chestnut of 

 the Chinese, yields tubers which are eaten either 

 boiled or raw. Many other species of the genus are 

 used for domestic purposes, such as stuffing cushions, 

 and forming the wicks of candles. 



Eleocharis ccespitosus, scaly-stalked spike-rush, is 

 abundant in moist heaths in this country. It is called 

 Dfert.-hair in the Highlands, and in spring yields an 

 abundant food to sheep on the mountains. 



The genus Carex furnishes numerous species which 

 grow in swamps, bogs, fens, and marshes, and which 

 are often with great difficulty distinguished by bota- 

 nists. The known British species amount to sixty- 

 three. With the exception of a few species, they are 

 of little use or beauty. In Kent the larger species 

 are used for tying hops to the poles. In Italy they 

 are put between the staves of wine casks, and are 

 used for the purpose of covering Florence flasks. 

 The roots of Carex arenaria, disticha, hirta, are slightly 

 aromatic, and possess diaphoretic and demulcent 

 properties. They are used as a substitute for sar- 

 saparilla, and are commonly known by the name of 

 German sarsaparilla. The first of these species is 

 common on the shores of Britain, and is useful in 

 binding together the loose sand. Carex sylvatica, 

 when carded and dressed, is used by the Laplanders 

 to protect their feet from cold. Carex Fraseri is the 

 handsomest species of the genus, resembling at a 

 short distance, when in flower, some of the lily tribe. 



The various species of Eriophrium receive the 

 name of cotton grass, on account of the silky tufts of 

 a wool-like substance which cover their seeds, and 

 which render some of them peculiarly conspicuous in 

 almost all marshy grounds in this country. 



CYPHONID^E. A sub-family of coleopterous 

 insects. See CABRIONID^:. 



CYPRESS. See CUPRESSUS. 



CYPRICARDIA (Lamarck), CHAMA (Gmelin). 

 This genus of shells has been separated from the 

 CharruE, by Lamarck ; it nearly approximates to the 

 genus Cardita in form, but may be easily distinguished 

 from it by having three teeth beneath the apices, like 

 those of the C. Venus, in addition to the callous 

 lengthened tooth or ridge ; the ligament is very long, 

 but slightly or not at all projecting, the abdominal 

 impression sometimes placed anteriorly. The animal, 

 according to Poli, is nearly similar to that of the Car- 

 dita, in consequence of which modern authors have 

 made this genus a sub-division of the genus Carditn. 

 The species appear to inhabit rocks, only occasionally 

 covered by the influx of the tides, in the warm lati- 

 tudes. The genus is placed in the third class, Ace- 

 phalophora, second order Rudista, sixth family Sub- 

 mytilacea. 



CYPRINA (Lamarck), VENUS (Linnaeus). This 

 f$enus of molluscs appears intermediate with the 



genera Cyclas and Venus. The Cyprince are, in gene- 

 ral, of a large size, much resembling the Vcneres. but 

 are distinguished from them by having one impressed 

 lateral tooth on the front side, sometimes obsolete, the 

 callosities of the hinge are large, arched, terminated 

 near the apices by a cavity, sometimes very deep ; 

 the ligament is external, partly fixed beneath the 

 apices. From the molluscs of this genus possessing 

 a lateral tooth, though it is sometimes obsolete, and 

 their being covered with an epidermis, they may be 

 conjectured to inhabit rivers at their junction with 

 the sea. The form of the shell is regular, longi- 

 tudinally substriated, equivalve, inequilateral, the 

 summits very much recurved forward and often con- 

 tiguous ; the muscular impressions sub-circular, very 

 distant, united by a straight ligula, marginal, and 

 a little sinuous towards the anterior ; the impression 

 of the retractor muscle, anterior to the foot, very large 

 and united to that of the adductor muscle ; the shell 

 possesses an epidermis, and in substance it is thick 

 and heavy. The animal has been described by Fa- 

 bricius, but it requires a further knowledge of its 

 organisation to enable us to adopt his definition, 

 which is very obscure ; it is, however, by analogous 

 reasoning placed in the third class Acephalop/iora, 

 second order Rudista, eighth family Conchacea, Not 

 more than two or three recent species are known, 

 and about seven fossil. It inhabits northern climates, 

 and one species is a native of Iceland. 



CYPRINOID^E The Carp family. The first of 

 the five families into which Cuvier divides his first 

 order of soft-finned fishes, or those which have 

 abdominal fins, that is, which have the ventral fins 

 attached to the abdomen behind the pectorals, and 

 unconnected with the bone of the shoulder. 



This family have the mouth small, the jaws feeble, 

 with little opening, and very often without teeth, but 

 with teeth on the pharynx, which compensate a little 

 for their absence from the jaws. Their bodies are 

 scaly, and they have not the soft dorsal fin which is 

 found in the salmon family. They are the least 

 carnivorous of all the finny tribes. They are all 

 inhabitants of the fresh water, and there is such 

 resemblance among them, that it is often difficult to 

 distinguish the one from the other. Most of them 

 are esculent, but their flesh is not of the first quality. 

 Cuvier divides them into eight genera : Ciprinus, the 

 carp; Cobitis, loche ; Anableps ; Pacilia; Labias ; 

 Fundulus ; Molinesia; and Cyprinodon ; some short 

 account of each of which will be given in its place in 

 the alphabetical order of this work. 



The genus Cyprinus is farther divided into eleven 

 sub-genera: Carp, properly so called, which is the 

 typical sub-genus ; Barbus, the barbel, of which an 

 account will be found in the article BARBEL ; Gobio, 

 the gudgeon : Tinea, the tench ; Cirrhinus ; Abrama, 

 the bream ; Lubes ; Catastomus ; Leuciscus and 

 Gonorhynchus. Some account of such of these as 

 have any interest for the general reader, will also be 

 found, either under their generic names, or their 

 English ones, where they have any ; and, therefore, 

 the remainder of this short notice may be restricted 

 to a very brief mention of carp, properly so called. 



CARP (Cyprinus). These have the dorsal fin longer 

 than the other, with a toothed spine for the second 

 ray of the dorsal and caudal fin. Some have fleshy 

 beards, or filaments at the angles of the upper jaw, 

 and others are without. 



COMMON CAHP (Cyjmnm carjrid). This species 



