Popular Bictmiiart? at gmmatrtr flature. 251 



is to prevent the wave from turning it upside 

 down ? It is only upon the upper surface 

 that the living crust is spread, which forms 

 the Fungia, so that should accident reverse 

 its position the creature would inevitably 

 perish. The arrangement adopted to prevent 

 such an occurrence is simple enough, but 

 not on that account less beautiful. The 

 living film that coats its laminated surface 

 has the faculty of secreting little bubbles of 

 air within its substance ; the bubbles so 

 produced, although disseminated as it were 

 at random, are sufficiently buoyant to act 

 as floats, and thus provided, let the wave 

 wash it ever so far, still the lightest side 

 keeps uppermost, the floats prevent it from 

 being reversed, and the creature settles down 

 in a right position upon the smooth bottom 

 of the sea." We may mention that our 

 figure of the thick-tentacled Fungia (F. cra- 

 sitcntacuJata) is derived from one of the 

 French Voyages of Discovery, and shows the 

 animals projecting from their coral home. 

 The collection of corals and zoophytes in the 

 British Museum, now most wondrously in- 

 creased, contains many fine specimens of this 

 very beautiful and distinct genus. As an 

 ornament on a mantelpiece or on a table, 

 under a bell glass, nothing perhaps is so 

 pleasing as a fine and symmetrical specimen 

 of this coral. 



GADFLY. ((Estrtts bovis.) The Gadfly, 

 or Ox Gadfly, is a Dipterous insect, about 

 the size of a common Dee, with pule brown 

 wings : it is of a pale yellowish brown colour, 

 with the thorax marked by four longitudinal 

 dusky streaks, and the abdomen by a black 

 bar across It, the tip being covered with 

 orange-coloured hairs. The genus is re- 

 markable for its larvae residing beneath the 

 skin, or in different parts of the bodies of 

 quadrupeds. When the female of this species 

 is ready to deposit her eggs (which chiefly 

 happens in August or December), she fastens 

 on the back of a heifer or cow, and piercing 

 the skin with the tube situated at the top 

 of the abdomen, deposits an egg in the 

 puncture ; an operation which she repeats 

 on many parts of the animal's back. Here 

 the several eggs hatch, and the larvae by 

 their motion and suction cause so many 

 small swellings or abscesses beneath the 

 skin, which growing gradually larger, ex- 

 hibit tubercles of an inch or more in di- 

 ameter, with an opening at the top of each, 

 through which may be observed the larva 

 (a whitish oval maggot, which in time be- 

 comes brown) imbedded in a purulent fluid. 

 There the larvae remain till the middle of 

 the next summer, when they force them- 

 selves out from their respective cells, and, 

 fulling to the ground, each creeps beneath 

 the first convenient shelter, and lying in an 

 inert state becomes contracted into an oval 

 form, but without casting the larva skin, 

 which dries and hardens round it. Having 

 remained in the chrysalis state more than a 

 month, it forces open the top of its coat, or 

 pupa armour, and emerges in its perfect 

 form. [Mr. Bracy Clark', F.L.S., has paid 

 particular attention to the study of the 

 family OSstridue: we refer our readers for 



further information to the articles BREEZE- 

 FLY : CESTEUS.] 



GADUS: GADID^E The Gadtdce, or 

 Cod tribe, are a family of Fishes belonging 

 to the Malacopterygious (or soft-finned) 

 order. They include the Cod, Haddock, 

 Whiting, Ling, and others ; and are distin- 

 guished by the following characters : a 

 smooth, oblong body, covered with small, 

 soft, deciduous scales ; head scaleless ; eyes 

 lateral ; jaws and anterior part of the vomer 

 furnished with several ranges of unequal, 

 pointed teeth ; the gills large, seven-rayed, 

 and opening laterally ; and a small beard or 

 cirri at the tip of the lower jaw. Almost 

 all the species have two or three dorsal fins, 

 one or two anal, and one distinct caudal 

 fin ; and they have a large, strong, swimming- 

 bladder, frequently dentated or lobed at its 

 borders. They live for the most part in the 

 seas of cold or temperate climates ; and from 

 their size and their tendency to congregate in 

 particular localities, as well as from the 

 wholesomeness and good flavour of their 

 flesh, they are of first-rate importance to 

 man. [See COD, &c.] 



GALAGO. (.OalaffoorOtolicnus.') A genus 

 of small quadrumanous animals, inhabiting 

 different parts of Afriea,and subsisting chiefly 

 on insect food. They have great eyes ; large 

 membranous cars, which double down when 

 at rest ; hind limbs of a disproportionate 

 length j and a long and tufted tail. The 



SENEGAL OALAOO. (G ALASO 9ENEOA.LEK SIS.) 



best known species are the GREAT GALAGO 

 (Gtilfiyv crassicaudatus), which is as large aa 

 a Rabbit; and the SENEGAL GALAGO (Ga- 

 lago Senegdlensis), or gum animal of Senegal, 

 the size of a Rat. " These pretty animals 

 have at night all the activity of birds, 

 hopping from bough to bough on their hind 

 limbs only. They watch the insects flitting 

 among the leaves, listen to the fluttering of 

 the moth as it darts through the air, lie in 

 wait for it, and spring with the rapidity of an 

 arrow, seldom missing their prize, which is 

 caught by the hands. They make nests in 

 the branches of trees, and cover a bed with 

 grass and leaves for their little ones. They 

 are a favourite article of food in Senegal." 



GALATH^A. A genus of long-tailed 

 Crustacea. In the British seas four species 

 are recorded as native : their porcelain 

 texture, their sculptured carapace and wide 

 tail, joined to their pleasing colours, espe- 

 cially when alive, render them very at- 



