HBtctt'onarp of 3mmatctt 



365 



is grayish ; the fur of two sorts, one entirely 

 white, and the other, which is coarser, black, 

 except at the base ; the under parts white. 

 Its motions are quick, and resemble those of 

 a Rabbit ; and it seeks its food by night, 





subsisting wholly on vegetables ; inhabits 

 the level country ; and is not esteemed as 

 food. It has very generally obtained the 

 name of Viscacha ; and it has also been 

 figured in Griffith's edition of Cuvier's 

 Regne Animal under the name of the Diana 

 Marmot. 



L AGRIID^E. A family of small Coleop- 

 terous insects, found in woods and hedges, 

 and upon plants, counterfeiting death when 

 alarmed, like the Cantharidse. The head 

 and thorax are narrow ; the elytra soft and 

 flexible ; and the antennae filiform. Their 

 bodies are soft, and although they creep but 

 awkwardly, they are active on the wing. 

 The larvae are found in the winter, under 

 dead oak leaves, upon which they feed : 

 when disturbed, they roll themselves up, 

 with the head bent towards the tail ; and 

 they assume the pupa state without forming 

 any cocoon. The species are few in number, 

 but widely dispersed. 



LAMB. The young of the SHEEP. 



| LAMBRUS. A genus of short-tailed 

 Crustacea, most of the species of which are 

 tropical : many of them have very long 

 fore-legs, and are curiously covered with 

 knobs and spines. 



The Eurynume as^era is the only member 

 of this group found in the British seas. 



L AMELLIBRANCHIATA. An order of 

 acephalous (headless) molluscs, in bivalve 

 shells ; all the species being aquatic. In 

 these the mouth is not situated upon a pro- 

 minent part of the body, nor assisted in its 

 choice of food by organs of special sensation 

 in its neighbourhood ; but the entrance to 

 the stomach is buried between the folds of 

 the mantle. The shell of these animals is 

 composed of particles of carbonate of lime, 

 exuded from the surface of the mantle, and 

 contained in the cavities of cells, or between 

 layers of membrane ; and a constant relation 

 is preserved between the size of the animal 

 and that of its shell. The valves are con- 

 nected together in various ways. In the 

 first place, they are jointed by a hinge ; which 

 is sometimes formed by the locking of a con- 

 tinuous ridge on one valve into a groove in 

 the other, and sometimes by little projections 

 which fit into corresponding hollows in the 

 opposite valve. Near the hinge is fixed the 



ligament ; which is composed of an elastic 

 animal substance, and answers the purpose 

 of binding the valves together, and at the 

 same time keeping them a little apart, which 

 may be regarded as their natural position. 

 The Lamellibranchiata have usually more 

 power of motion than the other Acephala ; 

 but they do not in general attain any great 

 size. They are distributed over the whole 

 globe, principally frequenting the shores or 

 shallows ;*but the largest kinds are only 

 found in warm latitudes. 



LAMELLICORNES. The name by which 

 an extensive section of Coleoptera tribe is 

 distinguished. With respect to the size of 

 the body, and the variety of forms exhibited 

 in the head and thorax, it is one of the most 

 beautiful of the coleopterous order ; while 

 those species which in their perfect state 

 live upon fresh vegetable substances display 

 metallic colours of great brilliancy : the 

 majority, however, are of an uniform black 

 or brown colour. All have wings ; and they 

 crawl but slowly on the ground. They feed 

 on manure and other decomposed sub- 

 stances ; but some species subsist on the 

 roots of vegetables, and in their larva state 

 do great injury to the cultivator. The an- 

 tennae are always short ; they usually con- 

 sist of nine or ten joints, and are terminated 

 in a club, generally composed of the three 

 last, which are lamellar, and are either 

 arranged like a fan, a comb, or the leaves 

 of a book. The larvae have the body long, 

 nearly semi-r.ylindrical, soft, often trans- 

 versely wrinkled, whitish-coloured, twelve- 

 jointed, with the head scaly, armed with 

 strong jaws and six scaly feet. A general 

 idea of their form may be obtained from that 

 of the grub which produces the common 

 Cockchafer. Some species do not change to 

 pupae until they have passed three or four 

 years as larva ; they form for themselves in 

 their retreats, with the earth or the debris 

 of the materials they have gnawed, a cocoon 

 of an ovoid form, or in the shape of an elon- 

 gated ball, of which the particles are fastened 

 together with a glutinous secretion. 



LAMELLIPEDES. The term applied to 

 the third section of the order Conchifera 

 Dimyaria, containing Bivalves, with the foot 

 of the animal broad and thin ; as in the genus 

 Cardiacea, &c. 



LAMPREY. (Petromyzon marinus.} This 

 fish has a long and slender body, nearly cy- 

 lindrical, resembling an eel ; and its skin, 

 which has no scales, is covered with a glu- 

 tinous mucus. The Marine or Sea Lamprey 

 sometimes grows to a very large size (three 

 feet in length) ; the British specimens, how- 

 ever, are generally far inferior in magnitude. 

 The usual colour of the Lamprey is a dull 

 brownish olive, clouded with yellowish- white 

 variegations ; the back darker than the other 

 parts, and the abdomen paler : the fins are 

 tinged with dull orange, and the tail with 

 blue. The mouth is of a round form, re- 

 sembling that of a leech, and, like it, pos- 

 sesses the power of sucking and adhering 

 to stones or other substances with extra- 

 ordinary tenacity. The tongue, which move* 



