608 



tip ;' r the tarsi rather long ; three toes to the front 

 and one to the rear, the inner front toe united to the 

 middle one as far as the second articulation, and the 

 external as far as the third ; the wings short and 

 rounded. They nestle on the ground near the 

 water, and have the nest under a projecting bank, 

 so formed that it is protected from the rain. It is 

 composed of a few straws and stalks, lined with downy 

 matters. The eggs are four or five in number, of a 

 grey colour, spotted with brown. The female bird 

 sits with great constancy, and the male is assiduous 

 in supplying her wants, and in feeding the young 

 when they appear. In the pairing time the male has 

 an agreeable little song, and the female often repeats 

 a sort of call-note ; but at other times they are re- 

 markable for their taciturnity. They are very pretty 

 little birds, feeding upon insects, and perfectly inoffen- 

 sive in their manners. Though their wings are short, 

 their flight is rapid and straight forward. They are 

 perched sometimes in trees and bushes, and sometimes 

 on stones and elevated points of the earth ; but their 

 colour is so like that of the bright green trees, that 

 they are seen only in the latter situations. There is 

 only one determined species 



GREEN TODY (T. viridis). The upper parts are 

 altogether of a most brilliant green colour ; the fore- 

 head is yellowish-green ; the quills and tail-feathers 

 brown, with green borders ; the throat and fore-neck 

 are of a bright red, with a gloss of bright orange, and 

 the extremity of each feather fringed with white ; 

 there are white feathers at the angles of the gape, 

 which extend toward the ear-coverts, where they 

 rise into a tuft of pure aquamarine blue. The under 

 part of the body is whitish, passing into bright rose- 

 colour on the flanks ; and the under coverts of the 

 tail are greenish-yellow ; the bill is yellowish-grey, 

 with the tip black ; and the feet are reddish. The 

 total length of the bird is three inches and a half. 



TOFIELDIA (Hudson). A genus of herbaceous 

 perennials, natives of the northern parts of Europe 

 and America. The flowers are hexandrous, and the 

 plants are ranked among the MelanthacecE. The 

 species should be planted in moist peat-earth, and are 

 increased by division. 



TOMICUS (Latreille). A genus of coleopterous 

 insects, belonging to the section Tetramcra, subsection 

 Xylophaga, and family Scolytida;, comprising the de- 

 structive little insects known under the name of 

 Typographer, or printer beetles. See the article 

 BOSTRICHIDJE. 



TOPAZ. A mineral which derives its name 

 from Topazos, a small island in the Red Sea. It is 

 principally found of a wine-yellow colour, but is in 

 some instances of a violet-blue. A single specimen 

 of the latter colour, which is very rare, was sold for 

 1500 ducats at Vienna. The topaz occurs in Europe, 

 Asia, and America. Those found in Brazil, which 

 are so much esteemed in commerce, are dug in the 

 district of Villa-Rica. 



TORMENTILLA (Linnaeus). A British genus 

 of creeping perennial herbs, commonly called sept- 

 foil, belonging to Rosacece, This genus was formerly 

 in repute for allaying the pain of toothache, but is now 

 neglected. 



TORTOISE. See CHELONIA. 



TORTRICID.E (Stephens ; PHALJENA TORTRIX, 

 Linnaeus). A family of small lepidopterous insects, 

 belonging to the section Nocturna, or moths, dis- 

 tinguished by the peculiar position and outline of the 



TOFIELDIA TORTRICIDJ!. 



wings when at rest, the anterior pair being broad, 

 and, when closed, forming a triangle dilated on each 

 side anteriorly, and very slightly deflexed, thus 

 somewhat resembling a bell. The palpi are gene- 

 rally only two in number ; the head seldom deeply 

 crested ; the antennae short and simple. 



The family is exceedingly numerous, not only in 

 species, but also in individuals, many of which " reside 

 in the larva state within a leaf twisted or convoluted, 

 by the larva itself, though some few reside within the 

 pulpy substance of fruits, or even the medulla of 

 plants. The caterpillar is usually naked, slender, 

 with sixteen legs, and is very active, running with 

 great rapidity either backwards or forwards." (Ste- 

 phens' Brit. Ent. Trans, iv., p. 63). These little 

 moths are seldom ornamented with metallic or bril- 

 liant* colours, but they are, nevertheless, prettily 

 varied with tints of grey, brown, buff, &c. Many of 

 the species seem to be more especially attached to 

 forest trees, the oak, birch, elm, &c., being occasionally 

 very much infested with them. This is particularly 

 the case with the oak, which in some summers is 

 completely denuded of its leaves, over a great extent 

 of ground, by the Tortrlx inridana, a pretty little 

 species, generally about three-fourths of an inch in 

 expanse, having the anterior wings of a fine pale 

 green colour, the anterior margin being whitish, and 

 the posterior wings brownish. The female lays her 

 eggs upon the leaves of the oak, which the cater- 

 pillar ingeniously curls up, fastening the curls of the 

 leaf with silken threads, and thus constructing not 

 only an abode in which it resides, and which fits the 

 size of its body, but also securing a magazine of food, 

 in the midst of which it takes its station, and in 

 which, after having attained its full size, it becomes a 

 pupa. When ready to escape, it protrudes the head 

 part of the chrysalis out of one end of the whorl of 

 the leaf, and then makes its escape. So numerous is 

 it at certain times, that, by beating an oak brush, 

 whole showers of the moths are shook into the air/ 



Two other species, being the largest of the family, 

 also feed upon the oak. These are the Tortrix 

 prasinana of Linnaeus, and the T. quercana, constitut- 

 ing the genus Hylophila, Hubner (Halias Treitschke, 

 Curtis) ; the latter of which varies in the expanse of 

 the wings from an inch and two thirds to two inches. 

 These are also of a green colour, with narrow oblique 

 white bars on the upper wings. The caterpillars are 

 not inclosed in a roll of leaves, and are naked, sub- 

 cylindrical, and fleshy. They construct a very curious 

 boat-shaped cocoon on the undersides of the oak leaves. 



The species of the genus Carpocapsa comprises 

 various species, which, in the larva state, feed upon 

 the fleshy pulp of different fruits, Carpocapsa pomo- 

 nella being the insect of which the grub is so often 

 found in the inside of apples and pears, of which it 

 causes the destruction, by depriving the stalk of its 

 support. Several species of the genus Ortliottznia 

 (Tortrix turionella, Linnaeus, T. resinella, Linnaeus) 

 reside in the larva state in the interior of the cones 

 of firs of various kinds, which they greatly injure. 



The family comprises more than three hundred 

 British species, divided into a great number of genera, 

 established upon minute structural differences, which 

 it would require far too great space to detail, or even 

 to give the list of the genera, which are by no means 

 fully established at present, the observations made 

 under the article TINEJD^E being equally applicable 

 to the 



