526 



RAPHIDIID.E RAT. 



common radish of our gardens, of which there are 

 many varieties. The seed-leaves are an ingredient 

 in salads, and the green pods are used as a pickle. 



R APHID 1 ID jE (Leach). Snake-fly. A curi- 

 ous family of Neuropterous insects, belonging to the 

 section FUicornes, having the antennae setaceous and 

 multi-articulate, the head narrowed behind, the pro- 

 thorax very long and narrow, forming a slender neck ; 

 the wings large, and disposed, when at rest, like the 

 roof of a house ; the tarsi are four-jointed. The 

 family, according to Latreille, comprises two genera, 

 Raphidia, Linnaeus, and Mantispa, Illiger. The lat- 

 ter, however, agrees only with the former in the posi- 

 tion and neuration of the wings, whilst in the rap- 

 torial structure of the fore legs, and more especially 

 in the structure of the mouth, as ascertained by dis- 

 sections made by the writer, it most certainly belongs 

 to the family Mantid<E. Raphidia, therefore, consti- 

 tutes the only genus in the family, and is distin- 

 guished especially by its long and slender neck, 

 simple fore-legs, as well as by the long ensiform 

 ovipositor of the female. Mr. Stephens describes 

 six British species, varying very slightly from each 

 other ; the type being the R. ophiopsis of Linnaeus, 

 .the body of which is about half an inch long ; the 

 wings are large and numerously veined. The insect 

 when alive is extremely active, its long cylindric neck 

 giving it the power of moving its head in all direc- 

 tions, whence the English name of the^roup. The 

 larvae are long, narrow, and fleshy, rather broader in 

 the middle of the body ; the head large, square, and 

 depressed ; the legs, six in number, short, and armed 

 with two terminal hooks. This larva is very active, 

 rolling itself up when disturbed, and twisting itself in 

 various directions ; its food, as well as that of the 

 perfect insect, consists of small insects. The pupa is 

 at first quiescent, with the limbs laid along the breast, 

 but subsequently appears to obtain the power of loco- 

 motion previous to assuming the perfect state. (See 

 the Memoirs of M. Percheron, in the " Magasin de 

 Zoologie;" and of Mr. G. R. Waterhouse, in the 

 " Transactions of the Entomological Society of Lon- 

 don.") The larva resides in crevices in the bark of 

 trees, and it is upon the trunks and amongst the 

 foliage that the perfect insects are found. They 

 chiefly appear in the month of June, and are said to 

 prefer the neighbourhood of streams. According to 

 Mr. Curtis, the ovipositor is exceedingly dissimilar to 

 those of any other insects ; it appears to be formed 

 by two canals united, with a space between, being 

 composed of transverse rings, which enable the insect 

 to propel the eggs to the apex, where they are re- 

 ceived and deposited by two minute appendages, in 

 clusters like flyblows. 



RASPBERRY is the Rubus idceus of Linnaeus. 

 A wild British shrub, but long cultivated in our gar- 

 dens for its fruit. The raspberry belongs to Rosacece, 

 and several new varieties have been originated by 

 the Dutch gardeners, who excel in the culture of this 

 fruit. 



RAT (Mus, Linnaeus, or rather perhaps MUHID^, 

 the rat family). A genus of rodent mammalia, nu- 

 merous in species, and beyond all possibility of num- 

 bering in some of'them. One or another of the spe- 

 cies is familiar to every body ; and they are among 

 the greatest an'ynal pests in dwellings, storehouses, 

 and magazines of provisions. They are all lively 

 animals, and some of them are very pretty ; but there 

 is a "Cain's mark" set upon the whole race, and 



" whosoever findeth them " endeavours to " slay " 

 them. Not only this, but there are more, engines 

 made for the capture of animals of this genus than 

 for those of any other ; and " rat-traps " and " mouse- 

 traps," though not perhaps the very first contrivances, 

 of art, certainly had their origin at a very early stage. 

 As a domestic pest, the smaller species, the common 

 domestic mouse, which Linnaeus took as the type of 

 the genus, appears to have claimed the earliest atten- 

 : tion ; as we nnd it made a character in some of the 

 j ancient Grecian fables ; and in the Batrachomyomuchia, 

 or " Battle of the Frogs and Mice," which is usually 

 ascribed'to Homer, and which is perhaps the finest 

 burlesque satire on wars and heroes that ever was 

 written, we find them named after the different kinds 

 of stores and provisions upon which they levied their 

 contributions. In the original strife of these mighty 

 combatants, the folly of the mice in being persuaded 

 to go into the pond, for which nature had not fitted 

 them, brings very forcibly to our mind the invasion 

 of Russia by Napoleon, and the fatal consequences 

 of his temerity. There is also something peculiarly 

 fine in the final destruction of the mice by the crabs, 

 which are aquatic animals, and of the frogs by the 

 storks, which are land ones. The fable of the lion 

 and the mouse, in which the monarch of the forest is 

 compelled to beg of this little animal to release him 

 from the net of the hunter, is also full of point. Thus 

 the ancients were, in one respect at least, superior to 

 us in their study of animals. They studied the man- 

 ners, and by this means contrived to make every 

 animal suggest a moral lesson ; we, on the other 

 hand, merely study the forms : and thus, though such 

 of us as are naturalists can as naturalists say much 

 more about them than the ancients could have done, 

 yet they have now far less interest in the eyes of 

 those who are not naturalists than they had then. 

 Thus, though in some respects we have gained, and 

 gained greatly, yet there are others in which we have 

 lost ; although we ourselves are of course fully con- 

 vinced that, upon the whole, we have gained. 



Taken to the full extent which is included by 

 Cuvier, the rat family is a very numerous one, com- 

 prehending not fewer than fourteen or fifteen genera. 

 These have all some resemblances to each other, but 

 most of them differing so much from the true rats in 

 their dispositions and manners, that the same general 

 description cannot be made to apply to them all. 

 Under the title ARCTOMYS in this work there will be 

 found some notice of the marmots ; under AVICOLA 

 some of the field-mice ; and various others under 

 their names ; so that we shall confine most of what 

 we have to say in the present article to the rats and 

 'mice properly so called. 



Viewing them thus, the outline of those characters 

 which are common to them will be stated after we 

 [ notice some of theif habits. They belong to a vege- 

 table-eating family, and yet they are all more or less 

 partial to animal substances; and some of them attack 

 living animals, without much regard to size, but when 

 they do so it is still in accordance with the general 

 gnawing character of the rodentia. They do not kill, 

 but begin to eat the living body ; and there are in- 

 stances of rats having in this way inflicted terrible 

 lacerations upon infants and persons otherwise help- 

 less, when neglected by.those who ought to take care 

 of them. This has sometimes been pushed to such 

 lengths as to become ludicrous. Mice and rats are 

 known to be very fond of fat bacon, and indeed of 



