384 



ECHINOPHORA EDENTATA. 



one of the humble bees. The head of this insec 

 is yellow, and the base of the wings reddish. I 

 makes a loud buzzing noise when on the wing. I 

 settles on flowers in woods. The larva, according 

 to Reaumur, resides in cow-dung ; the body is yellow 

 shining, and conical, with a small claw and two fleshy 

 horns at the head. In the chrysalis case (formed o 

 the indurated skin of the larva), which is also of a 

 conical form, the extremity of me body exhibits two 

 distinct spiracles. 



We are inclined to believe that this account which 

 Latreille, indeed, adopted, is founded in error, the 

 fly in question belonging to a group of the family which 

 so far as has hitherto been satisfactorily observed, is 

 entirely composed of species parasitic upon other 

 insects, in a similar manner to the ichneumons. 



The fly is rather uncommon ; we have, however, 

 met with it in the winged state at Coombe Wood. 



ECHINOPHORA (Linnaeus). A genus of hardy 

 herbaceous perennials, one of them a native of Eng- 

 land, and known by the name of sea parsnep. They 

 belong to the natural order UmbellifercB. 



ECHINOPS (Linnaeus). A genus belonging to 

 the natural order Composite, commonly called the 

 globe-thistle. They are raised from seeds, and are 

 suitable for filling up vacant places in the shrubberies 

 of the flower garden. 



ECHITES (Linnaeus). A genus of tropical climb- 

 ing plants, some of which live in our greenhouses, 

 but the most ornamental are stove plants. Class and 

 order Pentandria Monogynia, natural order Apocyneee. 

 Generic character : calyx five parted ; corolla funnel 

 shaped ; stamens included or exserted ; anthers con- 

 nected in a circle round the stigma ; five scales round 

 the germen; style simple; stigma thick and with the 

 anthers form a cone. The echites are valued for their 

 flowers ; they grow well in loam and moor earth, and 

 are propagated by cuttings. 



ECHIUM (Linnaeus). An extensive genus of 

 shrubs and herbs, the former chiefly African, the lat- 

 ter European. Class Pentandria, order Monogynia, 

 natural order Boraginece. Generic character : calyx 

 five parted ; corolla, bell shaped ; limb of several un- 

 equal segments ; stamens of different lengths ; nut 

 angular. This genus is of easy culture, and propa- 

 gated by cuttings, layers, or seeds when they are 

 produced. 



EDENTATA Toothless. The sixth order into 

 which the mammalia are arranged by Baron Cuvier. 

 The name is, perhaps, about the best that could be 

 adopted in the present state of zoological science ; 

 but still it is a name, the foundation of which is a nega- 

 tive, and therefore it is not one which can convey 

 much information. Further than this, it is not quite 

 accurate, as the greater part of the animals included 

 in it are not entirely destitute of teeth even in the 

 jaws, and of those which are the most destitute in those 

 parts, the greater number are supplied with appen- 

 dages which answer the purpose of teeth, and not a 

 few with teeth on the palate. 



Still the animals which are comprehended in this 

 order are of difficult arrangement in any other way ; 

 and they have so few characters in common to all the 

 families and genera, that perhaps the best course to 

 he adopted was that in which the name of the order 

 is not tied down to any particular character of any 

 one of its divisions ; but rather made the explanation, 

 or expression, of the circumstance in which they all, 

 generally, differ the most from the other animals 



which have the feet divided into distinct toes, and in 

 which all the animals of this division, how much soever 

 they may differ from each other, yet perfectly agree. 

 Some, indeed, have a greater and some a smaller 

 number of toes ; but in all of them the toes, whatever 

 may be their number, are distinct ; and they are, in 

 general, armed with claws, which are powerful in 

 proportion to the size of the animals. 



Cuvier describes them as being, in his system of 

 arrangement, the last order of the animals that is 

 the mammalia with toes, and having no teeth in the 

 anterior part of the mouth. He also admits that the 

 only character, of a positive kind, which' will apply to 

 them all, is that of having very large claws, not arti- 

 culated to the toes in the same manner as in the pre- 

 datory animals, but a sort of shoes with which the 

 toes are specially and separately furnished, and by 

 which their extremities are protected. 



Viewing them with reference to their structure and 

 habits, the animals of this order may be said to form 

 a supplemental class of mammalia, less adapted to the 

 present condition of the earth than to some different 

 one which we may suppose to have existed formerly. 

 Among the monumental animals which are found in 

 the earth, there are some which combine in the same 

 specimen organs which, in the living races, belong 

 only to animals of different classes. We find, for 

 instance, that there have been creatures with wings of 

 more than " eagle-spread," and with claws appended 

 to those wings, more formidable than those of the most 

 powerful carnivorous animals of the present time, 

 while the armature of the jaws appears to have been 

 sufficient for all predatory purposes on the part of the 

 owners. We are therefore led to suppose that these 

 hooked claws to the wings may have been organs of 

 suspension, by means of which the animals fixed them- 

 selves for rest upon the tall plants by which their 

 remains are accompanied, and which appear to have 

 sjrown where the surface of the earth was covered 

 with water. None of the existing edentata are fur- 

 nished with any organs of flight ; and their motions 

 upon the earth are, in general, but slow ; still many 

 of them have, in the structure of the skeleton, trace* 

 of the bird character. Some of them have the same 

 articulation of the shoulder, others an approximation 

 io the same structure of the pelvis, and there are 

 others still which have only a single passage for all 

 excretory purposes. 



None of them can strictly be said to be the inhabi- 

 ants of the surface of the earth ; they are either 

 climbers or burrowers ; or in the case of at least one 

 species, they are aquatic. The greater number feed 

 upon insects and other small earth animals, which 

 require no biting and little or no mastication. They 

 lave in general the tongue extensile, so that it is the 

 nstrument used in the capture of their food. The 

 ew that are vegetable feeders are, in their habits, the 

 ery reverse of those ordinary mammalia which feed 

 on the same substances ; they browse the foliage of 

 rees, and not the herbage of the ground. 



In their whole aspect they are peculiar ; and their 



overing, though varied in the different genera, has 



et a common character. Their hair partakes of the 



lature of whalebone, and many of them are covered 



with scales or crusts. In their reproductive system 



hey fall into both the grand divisions of placental and 



marsupial animals ; some bring their young to ma- 



urity internally, and others advance them only so far 



n that way. They, in fact, present so many differ- 



