MOLORCHUS MONKEY. 



rates with the surface by a vertical gallery, from 

 whence it excavates various other passages. That 

 they are very destructive to vegetation where they 

 take up their abode is certain, although it is a matter 

 of dispute whether it be by feeding upon the roots, or 

 merely by burrowing round them, that this injury 

 is produced. M. Feburier, who has paid much at- 

 tention to these insects, and has published a long 

 account of them in the Nouveau Cours d'Agriculture, 

 vol. v., p. 163, gives the following reasons for be- 

 lieving that the insect is carnivorous: Its galleries 

 are more numerous in places where the ground con- 

 tains the fewest insects, which of course it is com- 

 pelled to hunt after more extensively ; and in gardens 

 where the vegetables are planted in regular rows, 

 and in which the weeds are carefully extracted, the 

 galleries of the mole-cricket do not run from plant 

 to plant, but pass indiscriminately at the sides of the 

 plant or over its roots, destroying them only where 

 they happen to be very tender, and to lie in its way. 

 Moreover, if the beds be manured in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the mole-crickets, they soon make 

 their way to the manure, especially if it be cow- 

 dung, although there be no trace of vegetable to be 

 seen in it. It has indeed been said that this pro- 

 ceeding had for its object the deposition of its eggs 

 in a situation where, subjected to greater heat, they 

 would hatch the more quickly ; but on the other 

 hand it is certain, that they prefer hard ground for the 

 reception of their nests, and that, if the beds are not 

 hard enough, they will burrow into the paths ; hence 

 M. Feburier concludes that it is only for the pursuit 

 of the insects which frequent the manure that they 

 approach it. Having placed several individuals 

 together, one of them was devoured by the 

 rest ; and the structure of the mouth seems also to 

 indicate carnivorous habits. Mr. Gould also fed a 

 mole-cricket for several months on ants. On the 

 other hand, from some observations published in the 

 second number of the Revue Agricole, we learn that 

 dahlias and some other plants have been ascertained 

 to be attacked by these mole-crickets at the roots, 

 and not only perforated, so as to allow a passage to 

 the insect, but the interior of the stems also consumed 

 to a considerable height, and the plant entirely cut 

 asunder. M. Turpen, also, having placed three 

 mole-crickets in a box of earth with a leaf, during 

 the day they buried themselves, but on opening the 

 box at night tiiey were found occupied in devouring 

 the leaf, and the same was observed the two next 

 nights ; but on the fourth the largest individual killed 

 and devoured the other two ; hence it is beyond a 

 doubt, that the mole-cricket is both herbivorous and 

 carnivorous, and that we have good reason for attri- 

 buting to it at least a great proportion of the mischief 

 which is laid to its charge. The situation where they 

 reside may be known not only by the yellow and lan- 

 guid appearance of the vegetables, as well as by the 

 little elevated ridge of mould which they cast up like 

 the field-mouse rather than the mole, in the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood of their central burrow. Various 

 plans have been suggested for their destruction, but 

 they seem to be quite impracticable to any extent, 

 especially as the reproductive powers of the insect 

 are very great. It must, however, be regarded as a 

 rare insect in this country. 



MOLORCHUS (Fabricius). A genus of coleop- 

 terous insects, belonging to the section Tetramera, 

 and sub-section Longicornes, having the elytra very 



255 



short like those of a StaphyKnus, and considered by 

 Latreille and some other authors as synonymous with 

 the Linnsean genus Necydalis, which see. 



MOMORDICA (Linnaeus). A genus of climb- 

 ing plants, natives chiefly of India. They are mostly 

 annuals, and belong to Cucurbitacea:. The M. clate- 

 rium, or squirting cucumber, belongs to this genus, 

 and is found in the south of Europe ; none of them- 

 are cultivated. 



MONEYWORT is the Lysimachia mimmularia of 

 Linnaeus, a handsome British creeping herbaceous 

 plant found in damp meadows, and sometimes culti- 

 vated as an ornamental plant. 



MONKEY. The general English name of by far 

 the greater number of the quadrumana, or handed 

 animals, whether we regard number of species, num- 

 ber of individuals in a species, or differences of form. 

 With the APES and BABOONS, notices of which will 

 be found under their respective names in the alpha- 

 betical order, the monkeys, in their various families, 

 comprehend the whole of the four-handed animals 

 properly so called ; for, though the Jcmitrs, the Loris, 

 the Galago, and the Tarrier, and even Aye-Aye, 

 which belongs to a totally distinct order, are in 

 some respects handed animals, they are quite dis- 

 tinct from the true quadrumana in their food and in 

 many of their habits. Under the article ATELES 

 there will be found an account of one group of the 

 American monkeys, namely, the spider-monkey, and 

 those allied to it, which are remarkable for the vast 

 production of their extremities, their slenderness, the 

 awkwardness of their motion upon the ground, and 

 their extreme agility upon trees. In the article 

 MAMMALIA, more especially in the department of it 

 which relates to organs of climbing, there will be 

 found some remarks on the general analogies of the dif- 

 ferent groups ; and we shall devote this article to what 

 remain of the monkeys in addition to the explanations 

 formerly given, as by this means we shall save space, 

 and, described in juxtaposition, both the agreements 

 and the differences of the several families will be 

 more clearly understood than if they were described, 

 even at greater length, in articles widely separated 

 from each other by the alphabetical arrangement. 



Monkeys of all families are forest animals, gene- 

 rally living in trees, among the branches and twigs 

 of which they make their way with very extraordinary 

 celerity. Much of the food of the whole of them is 

 vegetable, consisting not of leaves, but of fruits, 

 succulent or farinaceous, with which the forests of 

 tropical countries abound ; but there are few, and 

 perhaps none, which do not add insects to their 

 vegetable food ; and so fond are they of this addition, 

 that they may often be found hunting for insects in 

 the fur of each other in a manner which but ill 

 accords with our notions of cleanliness. 



Formed for a particular purpose in nature, namely, 

 that of getting from branch to branch of trees with 

 the greatest expedition and ease, the whole of them 

 are what we would call unshapely animals. The 

 position of their eyes, which are directed forwards 

 in all the species, and the rude resemblance which 

 their faces have to human beings, together with the 

 hands, which, though most unlike the human hands, 

 are still grasping instruments, further increase the 

 repulsive feeling which we have in looking upon 

 them. No man likes to be caricatured ; and as the 

 monkeys are vulgarly considered as a sort of general 

 caricatures of the whole human race, their appearance 



