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C Y P R I P E D I U M - C Y R T A N D R A C E X.. 



has four beards to the mouth, the lateral line a little 

 bent, and the tail forked. It is not understood to be 

 a native of England, but to have been introduced as 

 a pond-fish about the latter part of the fifteenth 

 century. It is found native in the lakes and ponds of 

 the south of Europe, and it is much more common in 

 France and in Germany than in this country. Its 

 flesh is tolerably good, and it is serviceable as a 

 pond-fish, because it is remarkably tenacious of life, 

 and therefore can be carried over land from one 

 place to another. Instances are mentioned of its 

 having been carried alive from Straslmrg to Paris, 

 by keeping a little humid moss in contact with the 

 gill-lids ; and, indeed, it will live a long time without 

 even that simple operation. 



Carp is not a fish of the troubled waters, and its 

 motions are as restrained as those of the element in 

 which it lives. Placid streams, which creep along 

 without anv perceptible current, the moats and 

 trenches of* ruined castles, shaded and mantling 

 ponds, which are left to the operations of nature, and 

 in which aquatic plants accumulate, are the favourite 

 localities of carp. It feeds quietly upon those sub- 

 merged vegetables ; and from the quietness of its 

 Jiabits, and the little fatigue which it undergoes, it 

 lives to a great age, not less, it is said, than a hundred 

 years, by which time its back is understood to get 

 entirely white. It is not timid, but rather fond of 

 society, and capable of being so far educated, as to 

 come and be fed at stated hours, on being whistled to 

 by its master. The stilly part of the Rhine, near 

 Strasburg, contains immense numbers of carp, in 

 which a considerable trade is carried on with Paris ; 

 and it is found as far to the eastward as Persia ; but 

 it is understood to prefer more temperate climate?, 

 and does not grow to so large a size in very warm 

 countries. Specimens have been mentioned of nearly 

 four feet in length, but it is rare to meet with one 

 more than two. Though the carp feeds a good deal 

 upon vegetable matter, it also eats worms and aquatic 

 insects, and, as is sometimes said, it swallows the mud 

 at the bottom of .its haunts for the sake of the larvae, 

 and seeds which are contained in that. Hence the 

 flavour of its flesh varies, much depending on the 

 nature of its food. Carps spawn in June, and are 

 very prolific. 



Besides the common carp, there are mentioned, 

 the King of the Carps (Rex cyprinorum], but it is 

 doubtful whether this is a species ; yet its scales are 

 remarkably large, often an inch in length, and it 

 appears to be more northerly than the other ; also, 

 the Ann-Carolina Carp, of Lacepede, a Chinese spe- 

 cies, very handsome and beautifully coloured ; and 

 the Green-violet, of the same author ; but little is 

 known respecting them. 



Of those which are without beards to the jaw, the 

 most celebrated is 



The GOLDEN CARP (Cyprinus auratus'). This is 

 the well-known gold fish from China, and needs no 

 description. A silver fish from Asia is also men- 

 tioned, but it is possible that this may be nothing 

 more than the former discoloured by age. 



CYPRIPEDIUM (Linnaeus), is one of the most 

 interesting of the Orchidetz. The C. calceolus is a 

 native of Britain, and one of the most curious of her 

 productions. Generic character : sepals patulate and 

 distinct, the upper ones often united like a helmet, 

 the two lateral ones divaricating ; labellum inflated ; 

 upper part of the column trifid, lateral lobes bearing 



anthers, middle one sterile and glandular ; pollen 

 granular. This, as well as the American species, 

 should be planted in moor earth, in a frame or shady 

 border, and defended from severe frost and heavy 

 rain. They sometimes ripen seeds, by which they 

 may be increased. 



CYPRIS (Muller). A genus of minute crusta- 

 ceous animals belonging to the sub-class Enlonuistracn 

 and order Branchiupoda (which see). These little 

 creatures swim about with great velocity in standing 

 and fresh waters, their bodies being inclosed in a kind 

 of bivalve case united by a hinge, which enables them 

 to close their shells on the approach of danger. They 

 have only six legs, and the antennae are terminated 

 by a whorl of hairs like a pencil ; the body is with- 

 out distinct articulation, terminated posteriorly by a 

 soft tail. According to Jurine, who has observed 

 these insects with much attention, the antennas are 

 employed in swimming, and the two fore legs are 

 used when the animal creeps upon the surface of 

 aquatic plants. He says that the second pair of legs 

 are employed in establishing a motion in the fluid, 

 whereby small particles of food are directed to the 

 mouth ; the tail is divided by two fillets, which are 

 folded together when coming out of the shell ; the 

 eggs are enclosed in two large bags at the sides of 

 the body beneath the shell : the female is occupied 

 for about twelve hours in depositing them upou 

 aquatic plants. As in the Cyclops, J urine observed 

 that several generations are capable of being pro- 

 duced without more than a single coupling having 

 previously taken place. There are numerous species, 

 inhabitants of our standing waters. The allied genus, 

 Cythera of Muller, has eight legs, and the antenna.' are 

 not terminated by a brush ; the species of this genus 

 are confined to the salt water of tho ocean. 



CY11ENA, (Lamarck). A genus of shells, united 

 to the genus Cyclas by de Bluinville, of which he 

 makes it a subdivision with considerable propriety. 

 These shells are iound in rapid rivers and streams ; they 

 are thick and .solid, shells, sometimes of great size ; 

 the apices eroded or carious, covered with a green or 

 brownish epidermis, and admirably constructed to 

 endure the rough treatment they experience from 

 their peculiar habitations ; their classification will be 

 seen under the article Cyclas. 



CYRTAN BRACED, a natural order of dicoty- 

 ledonous plants, containing only a few genera and 

 species. By Don and some other botanists it is 

 denominated Didywcarpe<e. It is closely allied to 

 Gcsneriece, from which, however, it differs in its deeply- 

 lobed placentas, its siliquose fruit, and the want of 

 albumen. It also bears a strong .ifiinity to Bignoni- 

 acefe and Pedalineee, from which it is distinguished by 

 its herbaceous growth, its minute, indefinite, wingless 

 seeds, its one-celled ovary, and the membranous tex- 

 ture of its fruit and placentae. Its essential characters 

 are : calyx bell-shaped, five-cleft or five-leaved, equal ; 

 corolla tubular, irregular, five-lobed, somewhat two- 

 lipped, the lobes imbricated in aestivation; stamens 

 four, didynamous, of which two are sometimes sterile ; 

 anthers two-celled ; ovary superior, elongated, sur- 

 rounded by an annular disc, one-celled, with two 

 many-seeded placentas, each of which consists of two 

 diverging plates ; style filiform ; stigma two-lobed, 

 and consisting of two plates ; fruit capsular or suc- 

 culent, the former siliquose and two-valved, one-celled, 

 with double longitudinal placentas, which often cohere, 

 so as to give the appearance of two cells ; seeds very 



