228 



of Natural 



RHIPIDURA ALP.ISCAPA, or WHITE- 

 SHAFTED FANTAIL. This bird inhabits Van 

 Diemen's Land and Soutli Australia. It is 

 generally seen in pairs, among trees : while 

 in the air it assumes a number of lively and 

 beautiful positions ; at one moment mount- 

 ing almost perpendicularly, spreading out 

 its tail constantly to the full extent, and 

 frequently tumbling over in the descent. It 

 is a very tame bird, allowing near approach 

 without showing the least timidity, and 

 will even enter houses in the bush, in pursuit 

 of gnats and other insects. In the breeding 

 season it is not so familiar. Its neat is 



WaiTE-SHAFTED Ft 

 (KHIPII3UHA. ALB1S 



very elegant, resembling a wine glass in 

 shape ; and is generally composed of the 

 inner bark of a Eucalyptus, neatly lined 

 with the down of the tree-fern intermingled 

 with flowering stalks of moss, and outwardly 

 matted together with the webs of spiders, 

 which not only serve to envelope the nest, 

 but also strengthen its attachment to the 

 branch on which 'it is constructed, which is 

 always within a few feet of the ground. Eggs 

 two in number. Our figure is derived from 

 the beautiful work of Mr. Gould's, and shows 

 the bird flying over its nest. 



FASCIOLA, or FLUKE. (Fasciola [Dis- 

 tuma] hepatira.) A parasitical animal, 

 known to infest the liver of the sheep, and 

 believed to greatly aggravate the symptoms 

 of that much-dreaded disease called the rot. 

 It is also found in other ruminants, the 

 Horse, the Hog, and even in Man. It is 

 from three quarters of an inch to an inch 



and a quarter in length ; its form being that 

 of an oval leaf, pointed at the posterior ex- 

 tremity, and with a anrrow portion at the 

 anterior. It has two suckers, one at the 

 base of this narrow portion, which leads to 

 two branched tubes : behind this sucker 



there is an erectile tentaculum, which ap- 



?iears to be the male organ ; behind which 

 s the second sucker. As in many of the 

 Mollusca, all the individuals appear to be 

 bisexual. The eyes are placed on the most 

 conspicuous part of the head, and, like the 

 eyes of birds, they are provided with horny 

 rings, by means of which they command a 

 great range of focal lengths. The power of 

 multiplication in these parasites is immense; 

 iind the ducts of a single liver have been 

 found to contain more than a thousand, 

 while the germs are quite innumerable. It 

 is probable that these Flukes, or at all events 

 the germs of them, exist in the water, or on 

 the plants of humid and marshy places ; for 

 it seems that even the healthy sheep drop a 

 few of them in the winter months ; and the 

 diseased ones vast numbers ; and thus the 

 rotten sheep taint both the flock and the 

 pasture. 



FASCIOLARIA. A genus of Univalves 

 found in the Indian seas, the Antilles, &c., 

 some of which are very beautiful. Shell 

 fusiform, and not very thick ; spire of mo- 

 derate length, conical, consisting of few, 

 rounded, or angulated whorls ; aperture 

 wide, terminating in a long, straight, open 

 canal ; columellar lip with several oblique 

 folds ; operculum horny, pyriform. 



FATHER-LASHER. (Cottus bubalis.) An 

 Acanthopterygious fish, seldom exceeding 

 eight or ten inches in length, generally found 

 on the rocky coasts of this island, and which 

 is immediately recognized by its large and 

 formidable head, armed with long spines; by 



means of which it immediately combats every 

 enemy that attacks it, inflating its cheeks and 



