316 



Natural 



situated at the hinder part of the back : the 

 body is gelatinous and transparent ; and the 

 mouth is furnished with a kind of muscular 

 tube or proboscis, and a rough tongue. In 

 their general form and structure they corre- 

 spond very closely with those of the Cari- 

 naria, which has a thin shell, in form not 

 unlike that of the Argonaut. They all in- 

 habit either the tropical seas, or those of 

 moderately warm climates. The best known 

 genera are Carinaria, Atlanta, and Firola. 

 Figures of the shells and animals of all these 

 will be found in the admirably useful work 

 of Mrs. Gray, "Figures of Mollusca." 



HETEROPTERA. The name given to 

 a section of the order of insects called HE- 

 MIFTERA, distinguished by the anterior wings 

 being tough at their bases and membra- 

 nous only towards their points. By far the 

 greater number of them feed upon the 

 juices of plants ; some, however, prey upon 

 smaller insects, and others suck the juices 

 of larger animals. They chiefly inhabit 

 tropical regions, and are mostly ornamented 

 with beautiful colours and markings, which 



LEaOBD PLANT BOO. 

 (PENTATOMA B/OF1PES.) 



often vie with the most splendid of the 

 Beetle tribe : those, however, whose habits 

 are aquatic, are of a black or obscure co- 

 lour. Most of the terrestrial species emit 

 a powerful odour when suddenly alarmed or 

 touched ; this is occasionally of an agree- 

 able nature, but more commonly (as in the 

 case of the Bug Cimex lectularivs) disgust- 

 ingly offensive. As an example we give a 

 cut of the Pcntatoma rufipes, a common spe- 

 cies in this country. [See HOMOPTEEA.] 



HIMANTOPUS, or LONG-LEGGED 

 PLOVER. A genus of Grallatorial birds, 

 distinguished by the great length of their 

 legs ; from which circumstance they are 

 sometimes called Stilt-Birds. 



One species is occasionally found in this 

 country ; the LONG-LEGGED PLOVER, (Hi- 

 mantopus candidus, or Charadrius Himantp- 

 pm of Linnaeus.) White has recorded its 

 appearance in the neighbourhood of his 

 favourite Selbourne ; and we believe our 

 readers will be better pleased with the ac- 

 count so graphically pourtrayed by him in 

 a letter to Pennant, than by any other de- 

 scription we perchance might offer. " In the 

 last week of last month (April, 1799), five of 

 these most rare birds, too uncommon to have 

 obtained an English name, but known to 

 naturalists by the terms Himantopus, Loripes, 

 and Charadrius Ifimantopus, were shot upon 

 the verge of Frinsham pond, a large lake 

 belonging to the Bishop of Winchester, and 

 lying between Wolmer forest and the town 



of Farnham, in the county of Surrey. The 

 pond-keeper says there were tliree brace in 

 the flock ; but that after he had satisfied his 

 curiosity, he suffered the sixth to remain un- 

 molested. One of these specimens I pro- 

 cured, and found the length of the legs to be 

 so extraordinary, that, at first sight, one 

 might have supposed the shanks had been 

 fastened on to impose on the credulity of the 

 beholder : they were legs in caricatura ; and 

 had we seen such proportions on a Chinese 

 or Japan screen, we should have made large 

 allowance for the fancy of the draughtsman. 

 These birds are of the Plover family, and 

 might with propriety be called Stilt Plovers. 

 Brisson, under that idea, gives them the ap- 

 propriate name of I'echasse. My specimen, 

 when drawn and stuffed with pepper, 

 weighed only four ounces and a quarter, 

 though the naked part of the thigh mea- 

 sured three inches and a half. Hence we 

 may safely assert that these birds exhibit, 

 weight for inches, incomparably the greatest 

 length of legs of any known bird. The ./fa - 

 mingo, for instance,'is one of the most long- 

 legged birds, and yet it bears no manner of 

 proportion to the Himantopus ; for a cock 

 Jlnmingo weighs at an average about four 

 pounds avoirdupois : and his legs and thighs 

 measure usually about twenty inches. But 

 four pounds are fifteen times and a fraction 

 more than four ounces and one quarter ; and 

 if four ounces and a quarter have eight inches 

 of legs, four pounds must have one hundred 

 and twenty inches and a fraction of legs, 

 viz. somewhat more than ten feet, such a 

 monstrous proportion as the world never 

 saw 1 If you should try the experiment in 

 still larger birds, the disparity would still 

 increase. It must be matter of great curio- 

 sity to see the Stilt Plover move ; to observe 

 how it can wield such a length of lever with 

 such feeble muscles as the thighs seem to be 

 furnished with. At best one should expect 

 it to be but a bad walker ; but what adds to 

 the wonder is, that it has no back toe. Now 

 without that steady prop to support its steps, 

 it must be liable in speculation to perpetual 

 vacillations, and seldom able to preserve the 

 true centre of gravity. The old name of 

 Himantopus is taken from Pliny ; and, by an 

 awkward metaphor, implies that the legs 

 are as slender and pliant as if cut out of a 

 thong of leather. Neither Willoughby nor 

 Ray, in all their curious researches, cither 

 at home or abroad, ever saw this bird. Mr. 

 Pennant never met with it in all Great 

 Britain, but observed it often in the cabinets 

 of the curious at Paris. Hasselquist says 

 that it migrates to Egypt in the autumn ; 

 and a most accurate observer of nature has 

 assured me that he has found it on the banks 

 of the streams in Andalusia. Our writers 

 record it to have been found twice in Great 

 Britain. From all these relations it plainly 

 appears that the Long-legged Plovers are 

 birds of South Europe, and rarely visit our 

 island ; and when they do, are wanderers 

 and stragglers, and impelled to make so 

 distant a northern excursion from motives 

 and accidents for which we are not able to 

 account. One thing may fairly be deduced, 

 that these birds coine over to us from the 



