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27 



ruginous brown, varied with white and 

 black ; between the disc and the hinder mar- 

 gin is an ocellus with a black iris and a bluish 

 pupil : body black above, cinereous beneath ; 

 antennae black. The female is considerably 

 larger than the male, but the colours are not 

 so deep, nor are the reflected hues so bril- 

 liant. The Caterpillar is a bright green, with 

 greenish-yellow horns, reddish at the tip, 

 and has reddish bristles at the tail. It feeds 

 on the oak, ash, and willow. The Chrysalis 

 is of a pale green hue. The perfect insect 

 seldom makes its appearance before July ; is 

 by no means scarce ; and in various parts of 

 the South and West of England very beauti- 

 ful specimens are often taken. There are 

 other species of the genus Apatura, but the 

 above is the only one found in Britain. 



APE. (Pithecus.) The words APE, MON- 

 KEY-, and BABOON were formerly applied in- 

 discriminately to any of the Quadrumanous 

 Mammalia ; it will therefore be right to 

 state, before we proceed further, that the 

 ArK.s, or SIMILE, may be properly divided 

 into four sections ; viz Apes, or such as are 

 destitute of a tail : Baboon*, or such as have 

 muscular bodies, elongated muzzles, and 

 whose tails are usually short : Monkeys, 

 whose tails are in general long : and Sapa- 

 jous, or Monkeys with prfhensHe tails, which 

 can at pleasure be twisted round any object, 

 and thereby in many instances answer the 

 purpose of an additional hand to the animal. 

 It is, however, to the first of these only that 

 our attention is in this place to be directed. 



The genus Ape (Pithecus) comprises those 

 quadrumanous animals which most closely 

 approach to the human species in anatomi- 

 cal structure, and which, in popular lan- 

 guage, are termed monkeys without tails or 

 cheek-pouches. As Buffon justly observes 

 of the whole, they are not quadrupeds, but 

 quadrumana ; not four-footed, but four- 

 handed animals. They chiefly inhabit the 

 vast forests of India and Africa, and are nu- 

 merous in the peninsula of Malacca, and the 

 great islands of the Indian Ocean ; living in 

 trees, and feeding on fruits, leaves, and in- 

 sects ; but though frugiverous in a state of 

 nature, yet, from the resemblance of their 

 teeth to those of the human species, it is very 

 evident that their diet may be almost as 

 various as that of Man. They generally live 

 in troops, and some of the species are said to 

 construct a sort of hut of leaves, as a defence 

 against the weather : it is also asserted that 

 they use clubs to defend themselves when 

 attacked. 



The Apes are in general fierce and untract- 

 able ; though some of them appear to be of 

 a grave and gentle disposition ; neither petu- 

 lant nor mischievous, like the monkeys, pro- 

 perly so called. Their arms are so long as 

 almost to touch the ground when the ani- 

 mals stand erect on their hind legs ; the fin- 

 gers and toes are long, flexible, deeply sepa- 

 rated from one another, and admirably 

 adapted for prehension : thus they are ena- 

 bled to spring from tree to tree with surpris- 

 ing agility, even when loaded with their 

 young, who cling closely to them on every 

 appearance of danger. Apes have the power 



of assuming a nearly erect position ; though 

 on the ground this is by no means conve- 

 nient, as they stand upon the outer edges, 

 being unable to apply the palms of the pos- 

 terior hands fairly against the soil, and re- 

 quire a staff, or other support, to maintain 

 this attitude, except when they have been 

 taught to stand erect by man. [See CHIM- 

 PANZEE ; OKANO-OUTANG ; SIAMANO ; GIB- 

 BON, &c.] 



APH ANIPTERA. An order of Apterous 

 Haustellate insects, having rudimental elytra 

 or wings in the perfect state. It is composed 

 entirely of the different species of Fleas, form- 

 ing the family PULICID.E ; the common Flea 

 (Pulex irritans) being the type of the order. 

 The legs are long, the posterior formed for 

 leaping ; the coxae are very large ; the fore 

 legs are singularly placed, appearing to 

 arise from the front of the head, the coxae 

 defending the sides of the rostrulum. This 

 peculiarity is caused by the prothoracic 

 epimera being detached from the body, and 

 extended obliquely beneath the head : the 

 femora are short, but strong ; the tibiae 

 very setose ; and the tarsi five-jointed, termi- 

 nated by a pair of strong claws. The female 

 flea dei>osits a dozen eggs, of a white colour, 

 and rather viscous texture, from which are 

 hatched long worm-like grubs, destitute of 

 feet, which are very active in their motions, 

 winding themselves in a serpentine manner 

 through the substance in which they may 

 be deposited : the head of the larva is pro- 

 tected by a firm skin, and bears two antennae, 

 but no eyes. The body consists of thirteen 

 segments, bearing little tufts of hair, and the 

 last is armed with a pair of small hooks. 

 When full grown, which occurs in summer 

 in about twelve days, the larvae enclose 

 themselves in a small cocoon of silk, often 

 covered with dust, and attached to adjoining 

 substances : in this it passes into the pupa 

 state, and in about twelve days more emerges 

 a perfect flea. 



In hot countries these insects are exceed- 

 ingly troublesome : but in the West Indies 

 and South America there is an insect be- 

 longing to the family having habits different 

 to those of the common flea, which is even 

 still more obnoxious ; this is the Chigoe 

 (Pulex penetrans), which lives in the open 

 country, and attacks the naked feet both of 

 men and dogs. [See FLEA and CHIGOE.] 



APHIS : APHID^. A genus and family 

 of Homopterous insects, comprising the very 

 numerous and obnoxious species of Plant- 

 lice, a tribe of insects analogous, in regard to 

 the vegetable world, to the animal parasites 

 of the order ANOPLURA, or lice. The antennae 

 are of great length ; the ocelli, three in 

 number, form a large triangle ; the eyes are 

 entire, prominent, and semiglobose ; the 

 abdomen is short and convex, generally 

 furnished with a tubercle on each side near 

 the extremity. Some are winged, and some 

 are wingless, without distinction of sex : the 

 wings are very much deflexed at the side 

 of the body, being almost perpendicular in 

 repose ; the fore wings much larger than 

 the posterior, with strong nerves : the legs 

 are very long and slender, formed only for 



