Btctinitarj? at &nunatrtt 



are covered by what approach very nearly to 

 real hairs." 



The number of exotic Butterflies is very 

 great both in orders and in genera : and 

 students are referred [we limit ourselves to 

 British books] to Dr. Horsneld's elaborate 

 work on those of Java, but especially to the 

 truly admirable work on the Genera of Di- 

 urnal Lepidoptera, by Edward Doubleday, 

 F.L.S., illustrated by William Hewitson, 

 and continued by Mr. Westwood since Mr. 

 Doubleday's death. Our space prevents us 

 from even alluding to the numerous genera of 

 those gorgeous insects detailed in this splen- 

 did book. It is, however, but bare justice 

 to say that a more beautiful work has 

 rarely been published. For a very excellent 

 work on the British Butterflies, with coloured 

 illustrations of the Insects in their various 

 stages, and figures of the plants on which the 

 Caterpillars feed, we can also heartily recom- 

 mend Humphrey's British Butterflies, partly 

 edited by Mr. Westwood. Butterflies, by thfir 

 forms, contrasts of colour, and other pecu- 

 liarities, not only charm the eye, but have 

 afforded valuable information to artists. 

 The great Van Dyck and our countryman 

 Stothard are known to have been indebted 

 to Butterflies for many fine hints on colour, 

 both in harmony and contrast. In the 

 present work we must confine ourselves to 

 the British Genera as much as possible. [See 

 PAPILIO ; POXTIA ; MEMT.^A ; ARGYNNIS : 

 LIMEXITIS ; VANESSA ; APATURA LYC^ENA ; 



POLYOMMATUS ; TllKCLA ; HlPl'AUClilA ; 



HESPERIA ; PARNASSUS, &c.] 



BUZZARD. (Falco bitteo of Linnaeus.) This 

 bird is supposed to he the most common in 

 England of all the hawk tribe. It has a thick 

 heavy body ; measures about twenty-two 

 inches in length, and the full expansion of its 

 wings is about fifty. It is usually of a ferru- 

 ginous brown above, and yellowish white be- 

 neath, with large longitudinal spots and 

 dashes: the tail is barred with black and ash- 

 colour; the tip is dusky white. It breeds in 

 extensive woods, generally fixing on the old 

 nest of a crow, which it enlarges, and lines 

 with wool and other soft materials. It lays 

 two or three eggs, which are sometimes wholly 

 white, and at others spotted with yellow ; 

 and when the female happens to be killed 

 during the time of incubation, the cock 

 hatches and rears the brood. The young 

 accompany the old birds for some time after 

 quitting the nest ; a circumstance unusual 

 in other birds of prey, which always drive 

 off their young as soon as they can fly. The 

 Buzzard is very sluggish and inactive, re- 

 maining perched on the same bough for the 

 greatest part of the day, and always found 

 near the eame place. It feeds on birds, frogs, 

 insects, moles, and mice. By modern natu- 

 ralists it is placed in the genus Buteo. [For 

 Honey Buzzard, see PERXIS.] 



BYRRHUS : BYRRHID^E. A genas and 

 family of Coleoptera. The insects belonging 

 to this genus have an ovate body, convex or 

 sub-globular in some species, with the elytra 

 covered by a short pile, and the head is re- 

 tracted under the thorax. Byrrhus pilula 

 is about the size of the common Lady-bird : 



its colour is a dull brown, with a few obscure 

 blackish lines down the wing-shells : it is of 

 an extremely convex shape, and, when dis- 

 turbed, contracts its limbs, and lies in an 

 inert state, like an oval seed or pill, while 

 thus counterfeiting death as a means of 

 escape from danger. It is found on various 

 plants in gardens and elsewhere. 



BYSSOARCA. A sub-genus of Mollus- 

 cous animals, affixed by byssiform filaments 

 to other bodies, a particular muscle being 

 protruded through the gaping part of the 

 shelly valves. 



BYSSOMYA. A genus of Acephalous 

 Molluscs, which live in the fissures of rocks, 

 attached by a byssus : sometimes the animal 

 buries itself in the sand or lodges in small 

 stones, &c. 



CACHALOT. {Physeter macrocephalus*) 

 The Spermaceti Whale ; the head of which 

 nearly equals the rest of the body in length, 

 and surpasses it in bulk. It is an object of 

 great commercial importance on account 

 of the oil and spermaceti which it yields. 

 Mr. Beale has published a most admirable 

 and readable work on it. [See WiiALE." 1 



CACHICAME. [See ARMADILLO.] 



CACTORNIS. A snbgemis of Passerine 

 birds, closely allied to Geospiza, but differ- 

 ing from it in the beak being elongated, 

 somewhat like that of a Quiscalus, and very 

 sharp-pointed. The typical specks is C'ac- 



Ol.IMBINO CAOT08 BIRD. 

 (OAOTOBNI8 SCAKDEN8.) 



tontis scandens. The male is of a sooty black, 

 the female brownish and spotted. This 

 species was found by Mr. Darwin in the 

 Galapagos ; its most favourite resort is the 

 Opuntia Galapageia, a species of the Cacti 

 tribe ; about the fleshy leaves of which they 

 hop and climb, even with their back down- 

 wards, whilst feeding with their sharp beaks, 



