Cfje Creagurg ot Natural 



377 



into sea water, and in their movements in 

 swimming much resembled a tadpole ; their 

 tails were merely long transparent fibres." 



Our figure represents a species, Anthosoma 

 Smithii, which derives its generic name from 

 its body resembling the blossom of a flower. 

 In Dr. Baird's British Entomostraca figures 

 and descriptions of the Britisli species are 

 given. 



LESTRIS. A genus of Palmipede birds, 

 distinguished from the true Gulls by their 

 membranous nostrils being larger and open- 

 ing nearer to the point and edge of the beak; 

 the tail also is pointed. The females are 

 larger than the males, which is the reverse 

 of what is observable in the genus Larus ; 

 and they lay but two eggs, of a dark colour. 



LESTRIS PARASITICUS ; the ARCTIC GULL. 

 This species is common in the northern parts 

 of Europe, Asia, and America. Numbers of 

 them frequent the Hebrides in the breeding 

 season ; and they are also to be seen in the 

 Orkneys, and on the coast of Yorkshire. 

 They make their nest of moss, on the dry 

 grassy tufts in boggy places, and lay two 

 eggs of an ash colour, spotted with black. 

 The length of the Arctic Gull is twenty-one 

 inches the bill is dusky, pretty much 

 hooked at the end, but the straight part is 

 covered with a sort of cere : the nostrils are 

 narrow, and placed near the end. In the 

 male the crown of the head is black ; the 

 back, wings, and tail are dusky ; and the 

 whole under side of the body is white : the 

 legs are small, scaly, and black. The female 

 is entirely brown. They are ravenous and 

 ferocious to such a degree, that they pursue 

 other gulls of a less vigorous and determined 

 nature, whenever they observe them to have 

 a prize worth contending for, and compel 

 them to drop or disgorge their prey ; which 

 the pursuer usually catches as it falls. Mr. 

 Fisher, in his Journal of a Voyage to the 

 Arctic regions, in H. M. SS. Hecla and 

 Griper (1820), gives the following information 

 on this subject : " Several Arctic Gulls were 

 seen to-day for the first time. This bird is 

 commonly called by our Greenland seamen 

 the Boatswain, and sometimes Dirty Allen, 

 a name somewhat analogous to that by which 

 it is characterized by the Danes, viz. Stroudt-' 

 jager, or Dung-bird. All these names have 

 had their origin from a mistaken notion 

 that these birds lived on the excrements of 

 the lesser gulls, which, on being pursued, 

 either from fear, or to relieve themselves 

 from the persecution of fierce enemies,voided 

 something to satiate the voracious appetites 

 of their pursuers, and by that means escape 

 from further molestation. The fallacy of 

 this opinion is now, however, pretty gene- 

 rally known. That the Arctic Gulls do 

 pursue those of their own genus which they 

 can master (particularly the Kittiwakes) is 

 an incontestable fact ; but the object of their 



pursuit is not the excrement, but the prey 

 that the pursued is at that time possessed of, 

 and which at length they are forced to drop, 

 to secure their own safety ; which they effect 

 during the time that their enemy is em- 

 ployed picking it up, although that is done 

 in a very short period, for they manage the 

 business with such dexterity, that the object 

 dropped is generally caught before it reaches 

 the water." 



LESTRIS CATARACTES ; the SKUA GCTLL. 

 This is the most formidable of all the Gull 

 kind, preying not only on fishes, but also on 

 the smaller kinds of water-fowl, and, as some 

 assert, even on young lambs. It is a stout 

 bird, two feet in length, and between four 

 and five from tip to tip of the extended 

 wings. The bill is dark, strong, much 

 hooked, sharp at the tip, and covered to 

 the nostrils with a kind of cere. The whole 

 upper plumage is of a deep brown, edged 

 with a dull rust colour; the under parts 

 being considerably lighter : the tail is white 

 at the root, the shafts are of the same colour, 

 and the webs of deep brown : the legs and 

 toes are covered with coarse black scales ; 

 and the claws are strong and hooked. This 

 fierce species is met with in the high lati- 

 tudes of both hemispheres, where they are 

 much more common than in the warm or 

 temperate parts of the globe. They are un- 

 commonly courageous in defence of their 

 young, and attack, with eagle-like courage 

 and ferocity, any animal that dares to dis- 

 turb them ; nay, those persons who are 

 about to rob their nests, aware of the recep- 

 tion they are likely to meet with, hold a 

 knife or other sharp instrument over their 

 heads, upon which the enraged bird rushes, 

 to its own destruction. By many people 

 their feathers are preferred to those of the 

 goose ; and in some parts they are killed in 

 great numbers merely for the sake of them. 



LEUCISCTJS. A genus of Malacoptery- 

 gious fishes, of the genus Cyprinidce. It 

 contains many species, chiefly distinguished 

 from others of the Carp tribe by the com- 

 parative shortness of the dorsal and anal 

 fins, and a deficiency of barbules about the 

 mouth. [For examples of this genus, see 

 BLEAK : CHUB : DACE : ROACH, &c.] 



LEUCOPHASIA ; called by HUbner Lep- 

 toria. A genus of Butterflies distinguished 

 from the other " Whites " by the narrow 

 elongated wings, rounded at the end. There 

 are few species in this genus ; we particular- 

 ize the British 



LEUCOPHASIA SINAPIS ; or WOOD WHITE 

 BUTTERFLT. In certain woods and copses 

 this insect is to be met with at the end of 



(LEOCOPHASIA SINAP13.) 



