papular JStrttonarg of ^ntmatett $ature. 179 



and Cyphonocephahis, from India, and Jfic- 

 ter.i/ttr* and r/tmiints, from the Eastern 

 Islands, the active researches of Indian 

 officers and colonists will make these pretty 

 and singular insects more common. 



DIDELPHID^E. A family of quadrupeds 

 belonging to the order Marsupiuliu, and con- 

 sisting of the genus Didefyhis, or Opossum. 

 They are restricted to America. They are 

 characterized by having ten incisors above 

 and eight below, the canines being one on 

 each side of either jaw, and the molars seven, 

 the four last, or true molars, being crowned 

 with sharp tubercles. The limbs are short ; 

 the feet plantigrade ; and the toes, which 

 are five on each foot, armed with sharp, 

 strong, curved claws, except the inner toe or 

 thumb on the hinder feet, which is opposable 

 and destitute of a nail. The tail, except at 

 the base, is scaly and naked ; and it is usu- 

 ally more or less prehensile. In some species 

 the pouch is entirely wanting, being indi- 

 cated only by a slight fold of the skin. [See 

 OPOSSUM.] 



DIDUNCULUS. A genus of birds found 

 in the South Sea Islands. [See GNATHO- 

 DON.] 



DIDITS. A genus of birds now extinct. 

 [See DODO.] 



DIMERA. A section of the order ITom- 

 optera, comprising much smaller insects 

 than those included in the section Trimera, 

 and distinguished from them by having only 

 two joints in the tarsi ; with antennae longer 

 than the head, and composed of from six to 

 ten filiform joints ; whilst they differ from 

 the Monomera by the winged individuals 

 possessing four wings, the anterior being 

 ordinarily of the same membranous texture 

 as the posterior. The section consists of the 

 families Psyllidce, Aphidce, and Aleyrodidce. 



DIMYARIA. The name given to the 

 second order of Concfiiferce, or Bivalve Shells. 

 It contains a great number of families, which 

 may be grouped into four divisions, arising 

 partly from the shape of the foot of its 

 molluscous inhabitant, but chiefly from the 

 more or less perfect manner in which the 

 valves close upon each other. Sometimes 

 the term Bimusculosa is given to this order. 



DINGO, or AUSTRALIAN DOG. This 



species of the canine race has a very wolf- 

 like appearance. The ears are short and 

 erect ; the tail rather bushy ; the hair, which 



PAMII.IAHIS AU8TRA 



DIKOO. ( 



is of a reddish dun colour, is long, thick, and 

 straight. This dog is extremely fierce, and 



has the same sort of snarling and howling 

 voice as the larger kind of dogs have in ge- 

 neral ; though by some it has been erro- 

 neously_ said neither to bark nor growl. 

 There is good reason, however, to believe 

 that the Dingo is the descendant of a race 

 once domesticated, which has returned to 

 its wild state. 



DINORNIS. A genus of birds allied to 

 the Ostrich tribe, now only found in a fossil 

 state in New Zealand, whence many bones 

 have been sent to this country. One of the 

 species must have been at least fourteen 

 feet high, and it is believed that some speci- 

 mens may have been still higher. Our 

 space will not allow of our entering into the 

 interesting details of comparative anatomy, 

 which Professor Owen has given in his 

 elaborate Memoir in the Tranactious of the 

 Zoological Society to which the reader is 

 referred. It is known to the natives by the 

 name of Moa. 



DINOTUERIUM. A genus of extinct 

 herbivorous quadrupeds, of gigantic dimen- 

 sions ; but aa only fragments of this huge 

 creature have yet been found, the size of the 

 entire animal cannot be accurately given. 



sxtrti. OF DiuoTHEarmf QIOANTBUM. 



A skull of one was disinterred at Epplesheim, 

 in Hesse Darmstadt, in 1836, measuring about 

 four feet in length and three in breadth ; 

 from which, according to the calculations 

 of Cuvier and Kaup, the Dinotherium is 

 supposed to have attained the length of 

 eighteen feet. Dr. Buckland, who paid great 

 attention to the remains of this immense 

 specimen of extinct Mammalia, is decidedly 

 of opinion that it was an aquatic animal. " It 

 is mechanically impossible," he observes, 

 " that a lower jaw, nearly four feet long, 

 loaded with such heavy tusks at its extremity 

 could have been otherwise than cumbrous 

 and inconvenient to the quadruped living 

 on dry land. No such disadvantage would 

 have attended this structure in a large ani- 

 mal destined to live in water ; and the 

 aquatic habits of the family of Tapirs, to 

 which the Dinotherium was most nearly 

 allied, render it probable that, like them, 

 it was an inhabitant of fresh-water lakes 

 and rivers," &c. The Doctor subsequently 



