Papular JBtrttmtarg ol girimatrtr feature. 119 



whose dominions this little bird is doomed 

 to such a cruel fate, would pass an edict to 

 forbid the perpetration of the barbarous 

 deed 1 Then would I exclaim, O king of 

 men, thy act is worthy of a royal heart. 

 That kind Being, who is a friend to the 

 friendless, shall recompense thee for this." 



CHALCID.^. A family of Lizards, long 

 and serpent-like in form, and gradually pre- 

 senting us with a transition from one to the 

 other class of reptiles. The body is usually 

 cylindrical, and extremely elongated ; some- 

 times destitute of limbs, and mostly with the 

 limbs only a little developed, or merely ru- 

 dimentary. 



For descriptions of the species (eighteen in 

 number, and all in the British Museum), 

 see the very admirable descriptive catalogue 

 of the Lizards in the Museum Collection, by 

 John Edw. Gray, Esq., F. R. S., published 

 in 1845, in 289 closely printed pages, wherein 

 all the species are well characterized. 



CHALCIDID^E. A family of Ily jienop- 

 terous insects, composed of a great number 

 of parasitic species, distinguished generally 

 by their very minute size, and many of them 

 displaying splendid metallic colours. So 

 exceedingly minute are some that they are 

 reared within the eggs of other insects, but 

 the majority infest other larvae or pupae. 

 Many kinds of insect are subject to them, ; 

 but they are mostly destructive to the vari- 

 ous Lepidoptera ; and there are some species, 

 especially those having the ovipositor long 

 and exserted, which deposit their eggs in va- 

 rious kinds of galls, formed by Cynipidie,&ic.; 

 their progeny attacking and subsisting upon 

 the larvae inclosed within. 



Mr. Haliday and Mr. F. Walker, F. L. S., ' 

 have studied this very extensive family of 

 insects. The latter has published a mono- 

 graph of them ; and there are many very 

 beautifully engraved plates, executed by 

 Mr. Ingall, of the Bank of England, in the 

 " Entomological Magazine " and the " En- i 

 tomologist " of Mr. Newman. There is a ! 

 large collection of them in the British Mu- i 

 seum. Mr. Darwin brought home many 

 I from the voyage of II. M, S. Beagle ; Mr. ! 

 E. Doubleday found many new species 

 during his travels in N. America ; while, I 

 even in high latitudes, Mr. George Barnston, I 

 now of Tadousae, found undeacribed species 

 of these minute insects . 



" The green myriads in the peopled grass." 



! CHAMA. A genus of large bivalve shells, 



the characters of which are, that they are 



commonly smooth, though in some places a 



little rugose ; and in a few species there are 



numerous spines. The valves of the shell 



are equal, elate, and convex ; and the mouth 



gapes, as in the oyster. The Chama gigas 



or Giant Chama, is the largest and heaviest 



shell yet discovered. It is found in the 



Indian Ocean. " Many enormous cockles " 



; (Chama ffigas), Captain Flinders observes, 



i " were scattered upon different parts of the 



i reef. At low water, this cockle seems most 



| commonly to lie half open ; but frequently 



closes with much noise ; and the water within 



the shells then spouts up in a stream, three 

 or four feet high : it was from this noise and 

 the spouting of the water that we discovered 

 them, for in other respects they were scarcely 

 to be distinguished from the coral rock. A 

 number of these cockles were taken on board 

 the ship, and stewed in the coppers ; but 

 they were too rank to be agreeable food, and 

 were eaten by few." It is also called Tridacna. 

 We have seen an immense pair in the church 

 of St. Sulpice in Paris, where they serve to 

 hold " holy water." 



CHAMELEON. A lizard-like Reptile, 

 whose peculiar faculty of changing colour 

 has for ages amused the uninformed, and 

 furnished matter of speculation to the phi- 

 losopher. The species included in the Cha- 

 meleonidce, or chameleon-tribe, are distin- 

 guished by several very remarkable pecu- 

 liarities. Their bodies are much compressed, 

 or flattened sideways ; and the back is sur- 

 mounted by a sharp ridge. Two of the toes 



ND8.) 



are directed backwards, opposing the three 

 anterior ones ; and the tail is prehensile. 

 The tongue is a hollow tube, with a swollen 

 fleshy extremity ; and it is capable of being 

 darted out instantaneously to a great dis- 

 tance, and of being as rapidly drawn in. 

 This organ is furnished with a glutinous 

 saliva ; by which the insect prey that serve 

 for the support of these extraordinary rep- 

 tiles are attached to it. The eyes of the 

 Chameleon are capable of being moved in- 

 dependently of each other; and they are 

 constantly covered with a sort of eyelid, in 

 which there is a small aperture correspond- 

 ing with the pupil. It is a creature of a 

 harmless nature, feeding on insects, and is 

 capable of enduring a long abstinence ; hence 

 arose the popular idea of the Chameleon 

 being nourished by air alone. It is found 

 in many parts of the world, and particularly 

 in India and Africa : it is also sometimes 

 seen in the warmer parts of Spain and Por- 

 tugal. 



The cause of the different changes of colour 

 which the Chameleon undergoes is not even 

 yet well understood. It is said that "the 

 rete mitscosum, or coloured layer of the skin, 

 contains two kinds of pigment, situated in 

 different layers ; the deeper-seated layer is 

 of a deep green or violet red colour, the 

 superficial pigment is of a greyish colour ; 

 the deep-seated pigment is contained in 

 branched cavities, and is moveable, pro- 

 ducing by its partial accumulation and va- 

 rying proportions with the superficial layer 

 the changes of colour for which the Chame- 

 leon has in all ages been remarkable." Dr. 

 Shaw thus writes : " The general or usual 



