718 



Crrarftirn nf Datura! f& 



colours of the typical Uranice are, it is 

 true, indicative of diurnal flight, and give 

 them, in conjunction with their form, all 

 the appearance of a butterfly, to which the 

 tailed hind wings add considerably ; but 

 there are other species (Nyctalemon 'Orontes 

 and Patroclus and Sematura Lunus, &e.) 

 which in their more sober colouring would 

 be considered as moths, and some of these 

 seem so nearly related to Coronis, whilst 

 Urania is in several respects so close to 

 Ayarista(in its larva, palpi, and antennae), 

 that I am induced to unite them into one 

 family, a step which seems to be supported 

 by the neuration of the wings." ..." The 

 flight of Urania Fernandince is diurnal, and 

 exceedingly swift, somewhat like that of 

 Apatura Iris, sporting about the topmost 

 branches of forest trees ; and when it alights, 

 its four wings are expanded horizontally. 

 Agarista consists of New Holland bisects, 

 having much more the appearance of nioths, 

 but with filiform antenna; slightly thickened 

 in the middle, and terminated in a point." 



URANOSCOPUS. A very remarkable 

 but repulsive-looking genus of the Percidce 

 family (of Acanthopterygious fishes) ; one 

 species of which, Uranoscopiu scaber, fami- 

 liarly called the STAK-GAZEK, inhabits the 

 Mediterranean. This name has been given 

 to them on account of the eyes being placed 

 on the upper surface of the nearly cubical 

 head, and directed towards the heavens. 

 Their pre-operculum is toothed on the lower 

 part ; their mouth is cleft vertically ; they 

 , and 



have a strong spine on each shoulder 

 only six rays on each gill. Behind the t 

 is a narrow slip which they can protrude, 



only six rays on each gill. Behind the tongue 



is a narrow slip whic 



and with which they attract small fishes, 



while the mud effectually conceals them 

 from their prey. They have an immensely 

 large gall-bladder. 



URCHIN. The Hedgehog [which see]. 



URIA. [See GUILLEMOT.] 



UROCERATA. The name given to a 

 tribe of Hymenopterous insects, comprising 

 the genus Sirex, which deposit their eggs in 

 old fir trees, &c. [See SIREX.] 



UROMASTIX. A genus of Saurian rep- 

 tiles belonging to the Iguana group, and 

 distinguished from others of the same family 

 by all the body-scales being small, uniform, 

 and smooth ; but those of the upper surface 

 of the tail are large and spinous, though 

 there are none underneath it. 



TJROPELTIS. A genus of Serpents, found 

 in America, distinguished externally by a 

 very small head and pointed muzzle ; the 

 tail short, and obliquely truncated above, is 

 flat and beset with little scales at the trun- 

 cation ; and they have a range of scales 

 under the tail, a little larger than the rest, 

 with a double range beneath its truncate 

 portion. 



TJROPTERA. A subsection of minute 

 Crustaceans, of the order Amphipoda, which 

 reside in the bodies of various Acalephae and 

 some other zoophytes. They have the head 

 generally large, the antennae often short, 



and the body soft ; all the legs except the 

 fifth pair simple, the anterior either short 

 or small, and the tail either furnished at the 

 tip with lateral swimmerets, or terminated 

 by appendages or dilated points, bidentate 

 or forked at the extremity. 



URSAL. A species of Seal, about eight 

 feet in length, inhabiting the shores of the 

 North Pacific Ocean, It is said to be one of 

 the most pugnacious and ferocious of the 

 whole tribe. There is a remarkable dispro- 

 portion in the number of the sexes in this 

 species ; each family consisting of but one 

 male with a crowd of females ; and if one fa- 

 mily encroaches on the station of another, a 

 desperate fight generally ensues. [See SEAL.] 



URSID^E. A family of Plantigrade 

 Mammalia ; comprising the true Bears, the 

 Badgers, the Racoons, and the Wolverines. 

 They are characterized by a plantigrade 

 walk ; grinders more or less tuberculuted ; 

 stature generally large ; carnivorous and 

 frugivorous ; claws formed for digging ; tail 

 generally short. [The reader is referred to 

 the articles above-named, as BEAR, BADGER, 

 &c., for particulars of the various genera 

 belonging to the Ursula.] 



URSUS. [See BEAK.] 



URUS. (Bos Urus.) The Aurochs, a 

 species of Bovine animals still existing in 

 Lithuania, though till recently supposed, by 

 most naturalists, to have become extinct. 

 The distinction between the species Bos 

 taunts and Bosurtts is thus carefully marked 

 by Cuvier : " The forehead of the ox is flat, 

 and a little concave ; that of the aurochs 

 protuberant, although less so than the buffa- 

 lo's ; the forehead is square in the ox, its 

 height, taking its base between the orbits, 

 being very nearly equal to its breadth ; in 

 the aurochs it is much wider than high, in 

 the proportion of three to two. The horns 

 are attached in the ox to the extremities of 

 a salient line, the most elevated of the head, 

 that which separates the occiput from the 

 forehead ; in the aurochs this line is placed 

 two inches farther backward than the roots 

 of the horns : in the ox the plane of the 

 occiput makes an acute angle with that of 

 the forehead : in the aurochs this angle is 

 obtuse : finally, the plane of the occiput is 

 square in the ox, but represents a half circle 

 in the aurochs." 



A noble stuffed specimen of the Aurochs, 

 and a skeleton of the same animal, were 

 lately presented to the British Museum by 

 the Emperor of Russia, while more recently 

 he has forwarded to the Gardens of the 

 Zoological Society in the Regent's Park, 

 young specimens of the male and female. 

 These fine animala died, but had they at- 

 tained maturity they would have proved a 

 most attractive addition ; thev were taken 

 in July, 1846, in the forest of Bieloviege, in 

 Grodnau, where a herd of about a thousand 

 head is preserved with great difficulty by 

 300 families, who are stationed there by the 

 Emperor to take charge of them. They feed 

 oil grass, and on the bark of trees, in gnaw- 

 ing which, however, they frequently destroy 

 their teeth. 



