700 



Crralurj) of Natural l^t 



one side, boiled, and pressed with a weight 

 of stones : then stretched open by slips of 

 bamboo, dried in the sun, and afterwards 

 in smoke, when it is fit to be put away in 

 bags, but requires frequent exposure to the 

 sun. [See HOLOTHUKIA.] 



TRERON. A genus of Pigeons with thick- 

 ish bills, to which by some writers the DODO 

 is considered to have been nearly allied. 



TRICHECHUS. [See WALRUS.] 



TRICHOGLOSSUS. A genus of the Parrot 

 family. 



TRICHOGLOSSUS SWAINSONII, or SWAIN- 

 SON'S LORIKEET. This bird, whose habitat 

 is the south-eastern portion of the Australian 

 continent, is thus described in Mr. Gould's 

 splendid work : Head, sides of the face and 

 throat blue, with a lighter stripe down the 

 centre of each feather ; across the occiput a 

 narrow band of greenish yellow ; all the 

 upper surface green, blotched at the base of 

 the neck with scarlet and yellow; wings 

 dark green on their outer webs ; their inner 

 webs black, crossed by a broad oblique band 

 of bright yellow ; tail green above, passing 

 into blue on the tips of the two central 

 feathers ; under surface of the tail greenish 

 yellow ; chest crossed by a broad band, the 

 centre of whicli is rich scarlet, with a few 

 feathers fringed with deep blue, and the 

 sides being rich orange-yellow margined with 

 scarlet ; under surface of the shoulder and 

 sides of the chest deep blood-red ; abdomen 

 rich deep blue, blotched on each side with 

 scarlet and yellow ; under tail-coverts rich 

 yellow, with an oblong patch of green at 

 the extremity of each feather ; bill blood- red, 

 with the extreme tip yellow ; nostrils and 

 bare space round the eye brownish black ; 

 irides reddish orange, with a narrow ring 

 of dark brown near the pupil ; feet olive. 

 The flowers of the various species of Euca- 

 lypti furnish this bird with an abundant 

 supply of food ; and as those trees which are 

 covered with newly expanded blossoms af- 

 ford the greatest quantity of nectarine juice 

 and pollen, to them they chiefly resort for 

 their subsistence. Three or four species, in- 

 deed, are often seen on the same tree, and 

 often simultaneously attacking the pendent 

 blossoms of the same branch. 



TRICHODON. (Trifhodon StelUri.') The 

 only species belonging to the genus Tricho- 

 don (.which stands among the Thoracic Per- 

 cidece in Cuvier's system) inhabits the 

 most northern part of the Pacific, being 

 found both on the American and Kamts- 

 chatdale coasts, and abounding particularly 

 at Unalaschka. It buries itself in the sands 

 at low water, and is dug up by the native 

 with their hands. "The females deposit 

 their roes in holes in the sand, where the 

 males fecundate them, and it would appear 

 I that the parents look after their offspring, 

 1 as they are often dug up in the same pits 

 with their little ones." 



TRICHOPTERA. The name of an order 

 of insects specially founded by Kirby for 

 the case-worm flies j which are characterized 

 by four hairy membranous wings, bearing 



considerable resemblance in their nervures 

 to the Lepidoptera ; the under ones folding 

 longitudinally. [See PHKVOANEA.] 



TRIDACNA, or CLAMS. A genns of 

 Conchiferous Mollusca, some of the species of 

 which are of gigantic size, and all are more 

 or less beautiful, of a delicate white colour 

 tinged with buff. They are equivalve, ra- 

 diately ribbed, the ribs adorned with vaulted 

 foliations, waved at the margins, with a 

 large anterior hiatus close to the umbones, 

 for the passage of a large byssus, by which 

 the animal fixes itself on marine substances, 

 rocks, and with the most extraordinary 

 tenacity ; hinge with a ligament partly ex- 

 ternal ; two laminar teetli in one val'-e, one 

 in the other. The shells of some of the 

 Tridacna gigas weigh 5001 bs., and are used 

 in some Catholic countries as receptacles for 

 the holy water used in churches. The ani- 

 mal is correspondingly large. 



TRIGLA. A genus of fishes belonging 

 to the second family of Acantlioi>tf>-,/<jii, 

 which in Cuvier's system comprehends a 

 number of fishes of which the appearance of 

 the head is singular, being variously mailed, 



OORNA.RD. (TRIUI.A.) 



or defended by spines or scaly plates of hard 

 matter ; but they have many characters 

 in common with the Pcrciche. Their princi- 

 pal distinction consists in the suborbital 

 bone being more or less extended over the 

 cheek and articulated with the operculum. 

 Our figure represents one of the principal 

 genera, the Gurnards, so called from the 

 sounds which they utter with their gill-lids 

 when taken out of the water. They have 

 an immense suborbital plate, to which the 

 operculum or gill-lid is articulated by an 

 immovable suture, so as to be incapable of 

 separate motion. They have the head ver- 

 tical in the sides, hard and rough bones, two 

 distinct dorsals, three free rays under the 

 pectorals, twelve caeca, and an air-bladder of 

 two lobes. Their pectorals are very large, 

 but not sufficiently so for raising them out 

 of the water, like those of the Flying-fishes. 

 There are many species found in the tem- 

 perate seas. [See GUKNAKD.] 



TRIGONIA. A genus of Conchiferous 

 Mollusca, of which there is only one species 

 recent, which is found in the deep seas of 

 New Holland; but many fossil. The ani- 

 mal is characterized as having the mantle 

 open along its length ; no posterior tubes ; 

 foot powerful and trenchant. The shell is 

 equivalve, inequilateral, transversely fur- 



