238 



Ercatfurjj of Batumi $ 



they trod and stirred the mashed biscuits, 

 and junked fish, with which we fed them; 

 and plied their long lithe necks, scooping 

 with their heads reversed, and bent inwardly 

 towards their trampling feet. The bill being 

 crooked, and flattened for accommodation to 

 this reversed mode of feeding, when the head 

 is thrust down into the mud-shoals and the 

 sand drifts, the upper bill alone touches the 

 ground. The structure of the tongue, of 

 which Professor Owen has given so minute 

 and interesting a description, is admirably 

 adapted for a mode of feeding altogether pe- 

 culiar. The spines with which the upper 

 surface is armed, are arranged in an irre- 

 gular and alternate series, and act with the 

 notches on the edge of the upper mandible, 

 on which they press when the bird feeds 

 with the head reversed. In this reversed 

 position, the weight and size of the tongue 

 becomes a very efficient instrument for en- 

 trapping the food. The bird muddles, and 

 clutters the bill, and dabbles about, and the 

 tongue receives and holds as a strainer what- 

 ever the water offers of food. There is no- 

 thing of the Heron character in the Fla- 

 mingo. Extraordinary length of neck and 

 legs is common to both, but a firm erect 

 posture is its ordinary standing attitude. 

 The neck is never curved inward and out- 

 ward, convex and concave, like a Crane's, 

 but its movements are in long sweeping 

 curves, which are pe_euliarly pleasing, when 

 the bird is preening its plumage." 



FLEA. (Pulex irritants.) The common 

 Flea, a troublesome insect of the order Apha- 

 niptera, is well known in every quarter of the 

 globe for its agility, its caution, and its in- 

 vincible pertinacity in feasting on the blood 

 of man and various animals. Like the 

 major part of the Insect race of other tribes, 

 the Flea is produced from an egg, in the 

 form of a minute worm or larva, which 

 changes to a chrysalis, in order to give birth 

 to the perfect animal. The female drops 

 her eggs, at distant intervals, in any favour- 

 able situation : they are very small, of an 

 oval shape, of a white colour, and a polished 

 surface. From these, in the space of six 

 days, are hatched the larvae, which are des- 

 titute of feet, of a lengthened, worm-like 

 shape, beset with distant hairs ; the head 

 furnished with a pair of short antennae, and 

 the tail with a pair of slightly curved forks 

 or holders ; their colour is white, with a red- 

 dish cast, and their motions quick and tor- 

 tuous. In the course of ten or twelve days 

 they attain their full growth, and are then 

 nearly a quarter of an inch long : at this 

 period they cease to feed, and, casting their 

 skin, change to an oval-shaped chrysalis, 

 exhibiting the immature limbs of the in- 

 cluded insect, which in twelve days emerges 

 in its perfect form : in winter, however, the 

 time required for this evolution is consider- 

 ably more. It now begins to exert its lively 

 motions, and employs its sharp proboscis in 

 obtaining nourishment from the juices of 

 the first bird or quadruped to which it can 

 gain access. Nothing can exceed the po- 

 lished elegance of the shelly armour with 

 which the Flea is covered, or the elasticity 



of its surprising leaps. When examined 

 with a microscope it will be observed to have 

 a small head, large eyes, and a roundish 

 body : it has two short hairy antenna;, com- 

 posed of five joints ; and at a small distance 

 beneath these is the proboscis, which is 

 strong, sharp-pointed, tubular, and placed 

 between a pair of jointed guards or sheaths. 

 Its suit of sable armour appears to be neatly 

 jointed, and beset with a multitude of sharp 

 spines. Its legs are six in number ; the 

 joints of which are so adapted, that it can 

 fold them up one within another, and in 

 leaping they all spring out with prodigious 

 force. [See CHEOOE.] 

 FLITTERMOUSE. [See BAT.] 



FLOUNDER. (PUuroncctes flesus.) A 

 well-known flat-fish, very similar to the 

 Plaice, but generally smaller and of more 

 obscure colours ; the upper side being of a 

 dull brown, and the under of a dull white : 

 the body is covered with very small scales, 

 and along the back runs a row of small sharp 

 spines : the tail is slightly rounded. The 

 Flounder is an inhabitant of the Northern, 

 Baltic, and Mediterranean seas ; it is also 

 very common about our own coasts : and it 

 even frequents our rivers at a great distance 

 from the salt water. Though inferior to 

 some others of the genus, its flesh is iu con- 

 siderable esteem. 



ir/OONDER. (PLEURONECTES TLESUS.) 



The ARGUS FLOUNDER (Plenronc.ctcs Ar- 

 gus') is a very elegant species, native of the 

 American seas, and of the same general 

 form with the Turbot. It is of a yellowish 

 white colour on the upper side, marked by 

 numerous eye-shaped spots, consisting of 

 bright blue circles with yellow centres : the 

 whole skin is also marked both on the body 

 and fins with small blue and brown specks, 

 and is covered with small scales : the under 

 side is of a whitish or pale gray colour : the 

 lateral line is arched over the pectoral fins, 

 and is thence continued straight to the tail, 

 which is rounded at the tip. 



FLUSTR A. A genus of Corallines, found 

 at the bottom of the sea on certain coasts, 

 some parts being covered with them, but met 

 with more especially on hard ground, in a 

 few fathoms water. Their generic name 

 is derived from the Saxon Flustrian, to 

 weave : hence they arc familiarly termed 

 sea-mats. They consist of calcareous 

 branches, sometimes forming leaves or sterns, 

 with numerous cells, united in clusters like 

 a honeycomb. The aperture of the cells is 

 formed by a semicircular lid, convex ex- 

 ternally and concave internally, which folds 



