DIPLOLEPIS-DIPPER. 



28.5 



and grow to good-sized shrubs. Some of the species 

 are cultivated for their fruit in the eastern parts of 

 Asia, and the D. cbenum yields the valuable timber 

 called ebony. 



DIPLOLEPIS. A name introduced by Geoffroy 

 for the gall-flies, which LimiEeus had previously termed 

 Cynips. The former name, notwithstanding its incor- 

 rect application, having been adopted by the French 

 entomologists, has occasioned much confusion between 

 these insects and those of the family Chalridida:, which 

 Geoffroy misnamed Cynips. See the articles CHAL- 

 CIDID^: and CYNIPID.S. 



DIPLOPTERA (Latreille). A division of sting- 

 ing hymenopterous insects, comprising the various 

 species of wasps, and distinguished by having the 

 upper wings folded longitudinally when at rest. The 

 antennae are generally elbowed and thickened at the 

 tips : the eyes are notched on the inside. The collar 

 is produced behind on each side as far as the base of 

 the wings, ihe upper pair of which have two or three 

 closed submarginal cells ; the body is smooth and 

 polished without hairs (as in the bees) and, generally, 

 of a black colour, more or less spotted with yellow or 

 brown. The character upon which this division is 

 founded, and from which it received its name (doubled 

 wing), is one of those curious instances where we find 

 a peculiarity of organisation which cannot, so far as 

 we are enabled to perceive, have the slightest influence 

 upon the habit of the species, and yet it is so con- 

 stant that we look in vain throughout the whole of 

 the extensive order Hymenoptera for any other in- 

 stance of folded wings except in the group in ques- 

 tion : and yet, if we look at the habits of the species, 

 we find them to be sufficiently diversified to induce 

 us to suppose that we might here find sufficient cause 

 for such a marked peculiarity : but this is not the case. 

 Thus, we find the Odyneri perfectly resembling the 

 CrabronidcE and Cercmdes in the economy of burrow- 

 ing into sand and wood, in order to form the cells in 

 which they lay up a provision for their progeny, which 

 are to be hatched from eggs deposited at the same 

 time with the food ; whilst, on the other hand, in the 

 true wasps, we have a social economy, similar to that 

 of the hive. 



The Diploptera then, in respect to their habits, 

 form two groups ; but Latreille has established two 

 sections from the structure of the antennae, which in 

 the first {Masarides) have the terminal joints soldered 

 together, so as to form a club ; whereas in the second 

 ( Vespides), including both the Odyneri and Vespae, the 

 antennae have the joints distinct and composed, as 

 usual, of thirteen joints in the males, and twelve in 

 the females. 



DIPLOTHEMIUM (Martius). Is a genus of 

 Brazilian palm, to which country it is confined ; nor 

 is its history much known. 



DIPPER Cinclus. A genus of birds belonging 

 to the dentirostral division of Cuvier's great order 

 Passeres, and to the thrush family in that order. The 

 singular appearance and very peculiar habits of these 

 birds render them objects of much attraction, not 

 merely to professed ornithologists, but to all who are 

 fond of observing the children of nature in their wild 

 state. Accordingly these birds have received a great 

 many popular names ; and systernatists have been as 

 much puzzled, in what part of their artificial cabinets to 

 give them a place. The fact of these birds having sepa- 

 rate names in both the ancient and both the modern 

 languages, which are spoken in Britain, is sufficient 

 to prove the attention which they must have attracted 



even at a very early period. This bird is tho Mwy- 

 alchen y dwfr of the Welsh, and the Gobha uisge of 

 the Scotch Highlanders ; in England it is the water 

 ouzel, the penrith ouzel, the water crake, the water 

 crow, the water colly, and a variety of other names ; 

 and with the Scotch it is the water pyet, the water 

 craa, and various other names. In fact, in this 

 country alone, it has got as many names as might 

 suffice for a tolerably well-stocked aviary. 



The generic characters are, the bill of mean length, 

 sharp in the cutting edges, straight, elevated in the 

 culmen, rounded at the extremity, and with the point 

 of the upper mandible bent over that of the lower. 

 The nostrils are lateral at the base of the bill, longi- 

 tudinal, and in great part covered with membrane. 

 There are three toes to the front and one to the rear ; 

 the tarsi are short, but longer than the middle toe. 

 The wings are short and rounded, the first quill being 

 short and merely a supporter to the second, and the 

 third and fourth the largest in the wing. It is doubt- 

 ful whether there is any more well made out species 

 than one. Several have 'mdeed been mentioned, but 

 without sufficient grounds, as it should seem ; and that 

 which is mentioned as being an inhabitant of the 

 peninsular Crimea on the north of the Black Sea, and 

 named after Professor Pallas, by Temminck, differs 

 from that met with in this country only in the colour, 

 being all over of a rich, reddish brown, while our 

 one is pied. The habits of the two are, however, 

 described as being so nearly alike, and so little is 

 known of the one named after Pallas, that a descrip- 

 tion of the one which, though not common in any 

 part of Britain, is pretty widely distributed over it, 

 will suffice for popular purposes. 



Cinclus aquations, the dipper, is very generally dis- 

 persed over Europe, seems capable of enduring all 

 climates, and is understood to be resident all the year 

 round in most of the localities in which it inhabits. 

 With us, it may be described as being chiefly a moun- 

 taineer ; but it is not so on many parts of the conti- 

 nent, for it is found in Holland, in Jutland, and in 

 many of the comparatively flat districts on the south 

 of the Baltic and in Russia. It is also met with in 

 the south, as in Spain, Italy, and the island of Sar- 

 dinia, being particularly abundant by the banks of 

 the smaller streams in the Pyrenees and the Alps. It 

 is not, however, confined to the south and middle 

 parts of Europe, for it is met with in the Faro islands, 

 and it is not improbable that it may occur in Iceland. 

 It occurs also in northern and central Asia, from 

 Siberia to the north of Persia, though, from the habits 

 about to be described, it is not found in the dry 

 deserts. 



The dipper bears some resemblance in its general 

 shape to the common wren, only the tail is shorter in 

 proportion. The whole length, if we take the average 

 of full-grown birds, is about eight inches, the stretch 

 of the wing about ten or eleven, and the weight about 

 two or three ounces. The colours arc, the head and 

 back part of the neck amber brown ; the back and 

 scapulars black, but with blackish grey on the margins 

 of the feathers ; the throat, a small patch on the eyes, 

 the sides of the neck, and the upper part of the breast, 

 white ; the lower part of the breast and the rest of 

 the under part of the body is chestnut-brown, passing 

 into dark brown nearly black toward the vent, and 

 having the under tail-coverts of nearly the same grey 

 as the margin of the feathers on the back. The bill 

 is blackish brown ; and the tarsi and toes grey, some- 

 times inclined more to yellow, and sometimes to 



