|3rjpuTar 3tctt0narj) of xJmmatctr $aturr. 



the spring and early in summer. They 

 swim well on the back, and when they bur- 

 row iii the sand they raise their tails in the 



AFT73 PROTTUCTU9 



water. Their food principally consists of tad- 

 poles. When first hatched they have only one 

 eye, four oar-like legs, with whorls of hairs, 

 the second pair being the largest : the body 

 has then no tail, and the shell only covers 

 the front half of the body : the other organs 

 are gradually developed during succeeding 

 moultings. These creatures are the common 

 food of the Wagtails. We give the species 

 Apus productus as an example. 



AQUTLA. [See EAGLE.] 



ARACHNID A. A class of Articulated 

 animals, including Spiders, Mites, and Scor- 

 pions, all ranked by Linnaius under Insects; 

 but though having a great analogy with 

 them, and being equally fitted to live in the 

 air, are distinguished from them by their 

 number of limbs, their internal structure, 

 and habits. All the Arachnida are desti- 

 tute of antennae, and have the head united 

 with the thorax: they have generally eight 

 legs, though some species have six, and 

 others ten ; they have no wings ; most of 

 them breathe by means of air-sacs, instead 

 of by prolonged tracheae ; and in the greater 

 part there is a complete circulatory system. 

 Most of the Aracbnida are carnivorous, and 

 are furnished with appropriate organs for 

 their predatory life ; but in general they 

 confine themselves to sucking the juices of 

 insects ; and in order to enable them to cap- 

 ture and subdue animals otherwise capable 

 of effectual resistance, Nature has furnished 

 them with a poisonous apparatus. [See 

 SPIDER.] 



ARACARI. (Ptcrof/lossm.') A genus of 

 birds, which, like the Toucans breed in the 

 hollows of decayed trees, which they enlarge 

 and render commodious by means of the 

 beak ; and it is from this habit that the 

 Brazilians give them the name of Tacataca, 

 in imitation of the sound made by clipping 

 the decayed wood. We may here mention 

 two species described and figured in Mr. 

 Gould's truly elegant monograph of the Tou- 

 cans. 



ARACARI TOUCAN. (Pteroglosswiplu- 

 ricinctiui.) This bird, as depicted and de- 

 scribed by Mr. Gould, is twenty inches in 

 length, of which the bill is four inches and a 

 half ; a broad band of black advances from 

 the nostrils along the whole of the culmen, 

 and forms a narrow belt down the sides of 

 the upper mandible at its base ; the elevated 

 basal margin of the bill is yellow ; the sides 

 of the upper mandible beautiful orange- 

 yellow, fading into yellowish white towards 

 the tip ; under mandible wholly black, with 

 a yellow basal ridge ; head, neck, and chest 

 black ; the whole of the upper surface, except 



I the rump, which is scarlet, dark olive green ; 

 breast marked with two broad bands of 

 black, the upper separated from the throat 

 by an intervening space of yellow dashed 

 with red ; a similar but broader space sepa- 

 rates the two bands of black, the lower of 

 which is bounded by scarlet, advancing as 

 far as the thighs, which are brownish olive ; 

 under the tail coverts light yellow ; naked 

 space round the eyes ; tarsi and feet dark 

 lead-colour. It is a native of Brazil. 



The CURL - CRESTED ARACARI 

 (PterogloKsus ulocomus), is one of the most 

 rare and beautiful of its tribe. Its length 

 from the tip of the bill to the end of its tail 

 is eighteen inches : the crown of the head is 

 covered with an elegant crest of curled fea- 

 thers without barbs, which are of an intense 

 glossy black, but as they approach the occi- 

 put they become straight, narrow, and spa- 

 tulate ; the feathers on the cheeks are of a 

 yellowish white colour, tipped with black ; 

 the back of the head and upper tail coverts 

 are of a deep blood-red ; the breast is a deli- 

 cate yellow, with slight crescent-shaped bara 

 of red ; the back, tail, and thighs are olive 

 green ; the quills brown, the tarsi lead-co- 

 loured : the beak of this species is lengthened, 

 both mandibles being edged with thickly-set 

 white seratures j the upper has an orange- 

 coloured culmen, bordered by a stripe of dull 

 blue extending nearly to the tip, below 

 which, the sides of the mandibles are fine 

 orange-red ; the under mandibles is straw 

 colour, becoming orange at the tip, and a 

 narrow band of rich chesnut encircles both 

 mandibles at the base. During life the colour- 

 ing of the bills is generally very vivid, but 

 after death the bright hues fade, so as often- 

 times to become nearly obsolete. 



ARACHNOTHERES, or SBIDER- 

 CATCHERS. Small birds, very similar to 

 the Sun-birds in respect to their long, arcu- 

 ated beak : they inhabit the Indiau Archi- 

 pelago, and live on spiders. 



ARANEA. [See SPIDKB.] 



ARC A, or ARK SHELL. The Arcadce, a 

 family of Bivalve Shells, found in the At- 

 lantic and Pacific Oceans, the Mediterra- 

 nean, &c., are distinguished by their great 

 number of teeth, resembling those of a fine 

 saw, and forming either a straight or curved 

 continuous line. They bury in the sand 

 near the coasts, and are also sometimes found 

 attached to rocks, coral, &c. The Area is 

 nearly equivalye, inequilateral, heart- 

 shaped, valves ribbed, and in some species 

 gaping at the lower part. A few have one 

 valve larger than the other ; and many have 

 a velvety or shelly epidermis, frequently 

 ending in a deep fringe. 



ARCHER-FISH. [See TOXOTUS.] 

 ARCHES [MOTHS]. A name given by 



collectors, to Moths of the genera folia and 



Xylophasia. 



ARCTIA CAJA, or TIGER MOTH. 



There are few more striking Insects among 

 the niyht-Jlying Lepidoptera than the various 

 species of Arctive, or Tiger Moths. The one 

 we have here selected is well known and 



