L O A S E JE L O C U S T I D ,E. 



.55 



tfame of agile or nimble lizards, which is a property 

 common to them all. It. is rather a bold animal ; and 

 it is sometimes said to swallow mice and other small 

 animals. When attacked it defends itself with great 

 resolution ; if its swiftness is not sufficient for enabling 

 it to escape the danger, it will snap and bite readily 

 at a stick ; and when a dog attempts to seize it, it 

 will bound upwards, and fasten on the nose of the 

 dog during its descent. In many places it is supposed 

 to be poisonous ; and in not a few it is looked upon 

 as endowed with supernatural powers of mischief. 

 It. is however perfectly innocent both as to the poison 

 anil io the league with the powers of darkness, and 

 carries on all its operations bv mechanical action, and 

 in the light of the sun. The species and varieties 

 (for the one is not clearly distinguished from the 

 other) are however very many; and the manners of 

 all are so much alike, that we must pass them over. 

 There is, however, one of which some notice may be 

 given, inasmuch as it occurs more abundantly in 

 Europe than any of the others. This is 



THE NIMBLE LIZARD. (/,. agi/is of Linnaeus L. 

 vclox of Pallas, and the scaly lizard of Pennant.) This 

 species is exceedingly numerous in France, Austria, 

 and other parts of the Continent, in some of which 

 its liesh is in much request as an article of food ; and 

 was once prescribed on account of supposed medi- 

 cinal qualities, which of course it does not po 

 It is so abundant in the neighbourhood of the Aus- 

 trian capital, that Laurenti recommends it as food 

 for the poor, and says "that during the season of its 

 appearance, it would furnish by no means a scantv 

 supply. It is usually termed the grey lizard of the 

 walls, because it is seen very much upon dry walls in 

 gardens during the summer months. In length it 

 varies from five to six inches. The scales on the 

 upper part are of small size and six-sided ; the neck 

 is nearly of the same thickness as (he body ; and the 

 tiiil tapers to a point. This is a very lively and at 

 the same time a most inoffensive animal, and there 

 is something not unpleasant in the account given of 

 its domestic economy. The couple remain for along 

 time together, passing their winter in one sleep, and 

 their summer in joint activity. The eggs are round, 

 about a third of an inch in diameter ; and though it 

 is not understood that any incubation is practised by 

 either parent, yet both are attentive to the young, 

 seeking fiod for them, carrying them out to the sun 

 when it is clear and warm, and removing them to 

 shelter when it is dark and cold. These attentions 

 are continued until the young have acquired sufficient 

 strength to enable them to provide for themselves ; 

 and whenever this takes place, they are expelled from 

 the paternal abode, and sent to seek habitations of 

 their own. They have not long, however, to con- 

 tinue this operation during the first year of their 

 lives ; for the time of hybernating comes on soon 

 after they come to maturity. 



Such is a slight outline of the natural history, and 

 a brief notice of some of the leading species of what 

 may, perhaps, be regarded as the most interesting of 

 all the families which compose the class of REPTILES. 



LOASEJ3. A small natural order of plants, con- 

 taining five genera and twelve species. Loasa and its 

 typical allies are American herbs, with often scandent 

 stems and tendrils, more or less covered with stiff 

 hairs, and frequently furnished with stings. The 

 leaves are opposite or alternate, without stipules, and 

 simple, but often variously lobed and cut. The inflo- 



rescence is axillary, terminal, or lateral ; and the 

 peduncles are flowered. The flowers are large and 

 elegant, regular and united. 



This order contains the following genera, viz. 

 Bartonia, Blumenbachia, Loasa, Styphantkuf, and 



LOBARIA (Miiller). A genus of molluscs, not 

 possessing the smallest rudiment of shell. This genus 

 established by Miiller, was previously called Doridium 

 and BuUidinm by Meckel, and Accra by Cuvier. 



LOBELIA (Linnams). A very extensive genus 

 of beautiful herbs, natives of almost all parts of the 

 world. Class and order Pcntandria Monogynia, and 

 natural order, to which the genus gives a title, viz. 

 Lobeliacece. Generic character : calyx of five teeth ; 

 corolla tubular, irregular, cut lengthwise ; limb two- 

 lipped, the upper two, and the lower three-clt ft ; an- 

 thers united and bearded ; slyle simple ; a ciliated 

 indusium under the stigma ; capsule two-celled. 



LOBELIACE^E. A natural order of plants, con- 

 taining the following genera, viz. Lobelia, Monopsis, 

 Clintonia, Lechenaitltia, and Cyphia. Of these, there are 

 ninety species, chiefly lobelias, almost all fine flower- 

 ing plants. Some of the species are medicinal ; but 

 some are dangerous if incautiously used. From the 

 anthers of Lobelia being united in a cylinder round 

 (he style, like those of the class Syngcncsia, Linnseus 

 placed the genus in that class, in gin order called Mn- 

 nogaitiia ; but modern botanists refer it to his fifth 

 clas and natural order as above. 



LOCUSTID^E (Leach). A family of orthopterous 

 insects, belonging to the section Saltatoria, or those 

 furnished with hind legs formed for leaping, and forming 

 a portion of the great genus (rn/1/it.i of Linnaeus, but 

 distinguished by the shortness of the antennae, which 

 are filiform, prismatic, or ensiform : the males have the 

 base of the wing covers (tegmina), not furnished with 

 a circular spot of membranous texture, and the chir- 

 rupping noise which they make is produced by rubbing 

 the hind femora against the margins of the wing 

 covers ; the females are not furnished with an elon- 

 gated exserted ovipositor ; the wings and wing covers 

 are not horizontal as in the crickets, but laterally de- 

 flexed like the roof of a house ; the ocelli are distinct, 

 and three in number; the upper lip is notched; the 

 jaws are robust, horny, and dentated ; the abdomen 

 is conical and compressed at the sides. These insects 

 are exceedingly active, leaping to great distances, 

 and flying with equal agility, and at considerable 

 heights, feeding voraciously upon vegetables, to which 

 they are sometimes very destructive. 



We have already alluded in our article GRYLLUS 

 to the changes of nomenclature to which this and the 

 other groups of the Linnsean genus have been sub- 

 jected, and to which we conceive a more appropriate 

 series of names cannot be adopted than those which 

 we have employed, by which the too renowned locust 

 of the Scriptures retains its generic name of Locusta. 

 There are indeed many small British species con- 

 generous with this celebrated insect, but they are of 

 too diminutive a size when compared with their tro- 

 pical brethren, to commit those devastations for which 

 the real locust is distinguished. This species, the 

 Locmta migratoria (Gn/llus migratorius, Linnaeus), 

 and several others nearly allied to it, but of a still 

 larger size are occasionally produced in immense 

 swarms, and of which both as regards their migra- 

 tions and the ravages which they produce, accounts 

 are recorded in so niany works of natural history and 



