PHACOCH^RUS PHALANGIIDA'. 



431 



operation, though the refuse which is cast overboard 

 forms also a part of their attraction. These birds 

 display none of that pugnacity of disposition which 

 is so conspicuous among the fulmars of the north, but 

 appear to live in the greatest harmony with each 

 other. 



The species which Wilson describes upon this 

 occasion were a little larger in size, and browner in 

 the colour, than those which are met nearer the shores 

 of the eastern continent. Their general structure 

 and also the forms of the tails are the same, however, 

 and therefore, though they have been considered by 

 some as a different species, the grounds of distinction 

 are but slight. 



There is, however, another species found in the 

 Atlantic, and also occasionally on the British shores, 

 though but rarely. They are rather larger than the 

 even-tailed ones seen in the east parts of the Atlantic, 

 and they have the tail very spreading and forked, 

 but not very deeply. They are also different in their 

 colours, the upper plumage being brownish ; some of 

 the scapular feathers and more of the wing coverts 

 being whiter than in the species which have not the 

 tail forked. Except in the termination of the tail, 

 and that was slightly forked in some which Wilson 

 examined, this bird agrees very exactly with Wilson's 

 birds in size and in shape ; and, as he observed some 

 of them with much more white upon the body than 

 others, it is very possible that they are identically the 

 same ; that the larger species or variety is chiefly 

 found on the richer pasture of the gulf stream ; and 

 that the few stragglers which have appeared on the 

 west coast of Britain may have followed in the wakes 

 of ships from near the American shores. There is 

 another circumstance which increases the probability 

 of this: the greater number of those stragglers have 

 been seen in the winter, and therefore they may be 

 presumed to have followed the ships late in the sea- 

 son, when their breeding operations were over, and 

 they were more dispersed upon the water?. 



Of the species or the conduct of those birds upon 

 the Pacific, we have but little information ; and that 

 ocean is so much wider than the Atlantic, and so 

 rarely crossed in comparison, that information re- 

 specting its birds, and its natural history gencrallv, is 

 not so easily obtained. 



PHACpCH/ERUS Warty Hog. A genus of 

 the hog family, which has been separated from the 

 others in consequence of certain peculiarities of its 

 structure ; but we shall notice those differences, and 

 also the other distinctions of genus or sub-genus which 

 are to be met with in the family under Sus, the name 

 of the typical senus. 



PHALACRUS (Paykull). A genus of minute 

 beetles. See ANISOTOMIDY*E. 



PHAL^ENA. Linmeus divided the lepidop- 

 terous insects into three genera only, Papilio, Sphinx, 

 and Phalccna, or butterflies, hawk-moths, and moths 

 properly so called, the last named genus being cha- 

 racterised merely as follows : ' Antenna) setaceous, 

 gradually attenuated from the base to the tips, wings 

 at rest generally deflexed, flight nocturnal." These 

 characters, it is true, have the merit of uniting toge- 

 ther a great mass of species, although it is very diffi- 

 cult to draw the line between some of the less typical 

 sphinges and some of the moths. Still, however, the 

 step was so evidently natural, that it has been re- 

 tained by most subsequent authors. It was however 

 necessary even for Linnaeus himself, from the number 



of species belonging to the genus, to establish sections 

 as follows : 



I. Attacus, with the wings horizontally extended. 



II. 1. Boinbyx, tongueless, with the wings re- 



versed. 



2. Bombyx, tongueless, wings depressed, back 



not crested. 



3. Eonbyx, tongueless, wings depressed, back 



crested. 



4. Bombyx, with a spiral tongue, back not 



crested, wings deflexed. 



5. Bombijx spii'ilingues, back crested, wings 



deflexed. 



III. 1. Koctuce, tongueless. 



2. Noctua, spiral-tongued, back not crested, 



IV. 1. Geometra, antennae pectinated, posterior 



wings rather angulose. 



2. Geometra, antennae pectinated, wings 



rounded. 



3. Geometra, thread-horned, wings angulose. 



4. Geometra, thread-horned, wings rounded. 

 V. Turtrix. 



VI. Pyralis. 

 VII. Tinea. 

 VIII. Alucita. 



These eight primary divisions have constituted, in 

 the works of most modern authors, the chief primary 

 divisions of the nocturnal lepidoptera. By some au- 

 thors, however, the name Phaleena has been em- 

 ployed in a manner which must surely be contrary 

 to every true principle of scientific nomenclature, 

 namely, as a family name, Phalocnida:, for the thread- 

 horned Geometra' of Linnaeus. We have, however, 

 already in the article Gcnmctrulae noticed the addi- 

 tional incorrectness of this step, and shall therefore 

 terminate this article by regarding the term Phaltcna 

 as synonymous with that of Nocturne/, or moth, and 

 referring the reader to the articles under these two 

 heads, as well as to that upon the Gcomctricke. 



PH ALANGIID^). A family of arachnidous in- 

 sects, belonging to the division Trachcaria, and order 

 Adelarthrosonwta (see vol. i. p. l!-'6), and distinguished 

 by having the antennal claws very distinct and termi- 

 nated by a didactyle claw. They have two filiform 

 palpi of five joints, the last of which is terminated by 

 a small hook, two maxilla; formed by the elongation 

 of the basal joint of the palpi, two eyes, and occa- 

 sionally four other maxillae composed of the dilated 

 basal joint of the fore legs. The body is short 

 and of an oval or rounded form, the abdominal 

 portion exhibiting the appearance of segments. The 

 legs, eight in number, are always very long and 

 divided as in insects. 



These curious creatures are known under the com- 

 mon name of harvest-men or harvest-spiders. They 

 live on the ground amongst grass, under stones, &c., 

 and are exceedingly active, the great length and slen- 

 derness of their legs enabling them to proceed with 

 very great rapidity. These insects are evidently ra- 

 pacious, and feed upon other insects. Their relations 

 are very interesting, appearing to be intermediate 

 between the spiders and mites. Some of the exotic 

 insects belonging to this family are amongst the most 

 extraordinary of annulose beings ; the species of Go- 

 ni/leptes, in their threatening form and the singular 

 spines with which the legs, c., are armed, well merit 

 the specific names, horridus, &c., which have been 

 given to them, whilst others, figured by Dr. Pertz in 

 the "Delectus Animalium Articulatorum Brasilia;/' 



