726 



Ctrarfurg of Datura! f&t 



China. The shell is oval, cylindrical, and 

 spirially striated; spire very short; aperture 

 narrow, and as long as the shell ; columella 

 with three oblique plaits ; outer lip thin. 



VOLE. (Arvicola.) Under the word RAT 

 will be found a description of the Bank Vole 

 or Water Rat. The species we have now to 

 describe is called the FIELD VOLE or SHOUT- 

 TAILED FIELD MOUSE (Arvicola agrestis) ; a 

 small Rodent animal, which is exceedingly 

 prolific, and whose depredations in the field, 

 the rick-yard, and the granary are highly 

 injurious to the agriculturist. This little 

 creature is of a reddish-brown colour, mixed 

 with grey, on its upper parts, and ash-colour 

 beneath ; feet and tail dusky. Length of 

 the head and body, four inches ; tail about 

 one inch and a quarter. The head is large ; 

 muzzle very obtuse ; the body thick ; the 

 tail not more than one-third the length of 

 the body, sparingly covered with hair. The 

 female forms her nest of dried grass, and 

 produces six or seven young at a time. The 

 nature of the Field Vole's food is decidedly 

 vegetable, as we might indeed infer from 

 the following interesting facts, related by 

 Mr. Jesse in the first series of his ' Glean- 

 ings : ' " An extraordinary instance of the 

 rapid increase of Mice, and of the injury 

 they sometimes do, occurred a few years ago 

 in the new plantations made by order of the 

 Crown in Dean Forest, Gloucestershire, aud 

 in the New Forest, Hampshire. Soon after 

 the formation of these plantations, a sudden 

 and rapid increase of Mice took place in 

 them, which threatened destruction to the 

 whole of the young plants. Vast numbers 

 of these were killed ; the Mice having eaten 

 through the roots of five-year-old oaks and 

 chestnuts, generally just below the surface 

 of the ground. Hollies also, which were five 

 or six feet high, were barked round the bot- 

 tom ; and in some instances the Mice had 

 crawled up the tree, and were seen feeding 

 on the bark of the upper branches. In the 

 reports made to Government on the subject, 

 it appeared that the roots had been eaten 

 through wherever they obstructed the runs 

 of the Mice. Various plans were devised_ for 

 their destruction ; traps were set, poison 

 laid, and cats turned out ; but nothing ap- 

 peared to lessen their number. It was at 

 last suggested, that if holes were dug, into 

 which the Mice might be enticed or fall, 

 their destruction might be effected." Holes, 

 it appears, were accordingly made in Dean 

 Forest, about twenty yards asunder, and 

 from eighteen to twenty inches in depth, 

 hollowed out much wider at bottom than at 

 the top ; so that the animal, when once in, 

 could not easily get out again. In these 

 holes at least thirty thousand Mice were 

 found in the course of three or four months ; 

 and it was calculated that a much greater 

 number than these were taken out of the 

 holes, after being caught, by stoats, weasels, 

 kites, hawks, owls, crows, magpies, &c. The 

 Field Vole either burrows itself, or takes 

 possession of the excavations made by the 

 mole and other burrowing animals. 



VOL VOX. The name given to certain 

 infusorial animalcules which swarm in our 



stagnant waters. They are globular bodies, 

 revolving on their axis, and containing more 

 minute globes, each of which also, iu all 

 probability, contains an embryo race. 



VULPES. [See Fox.] 



VULSELLA. A genus of Conchiferous 

 Mollusca, the shells of which are brought 

 from the Indian Ocean and the seas of New 

 Holland, and are generally found buried in 

 sponge. They are oblong, longitudinal, 

 nearly equivalve, and irregular ; hinge with 

 a prominent callosity in each valve, showing 

 an impression of a conical and arched pit 

 for the ligament : the interior is iridescent. 



V U L T U R I D ^E. A family of diurnal 

 Accipitrine birds, characterized by an elon- 

 gated beak, curved only at the tip, and by 

 having a greater or less proportion of the 

 head, and sometimes of the neck, denuded 

 of feathers. In general, the birds belonging 

 to this family are of a cowardly nature, 

 living on dead carcases and offal ; their 

 gullet dilates into a considerable crop, which, 

 when distended with garbage, projects above 

 the furcular bone. When gorged with food 

 the bird is reduced to a state of stupidity, 

 and a fetid humour is discharged from the 

 nostrils. 



" The Vultures," as Mr. Swainson has re- 

 marked, " are the great scavengers of nature 

 in hot latitudes, where putrefaction is most 

 rapid, and most injurious to health ; and the 

 disposition of their numbers is regulated by 

 an all-wise Creator according to their useful- 

 ness. They are sparingly scattered over the 

 south of Europe ; in Egypt they are more 

 numerous ; but in tropical America, although 

 the species are fewer, the individuals are 

 much more plentiful. No sooner is an ani- 

 mal dead than its carcase is surrounded by 

 numbers of these birds, who suddenly ap- 

 pear, coming from all quarters, in situations 

 where not one had just before been seen. 

 The nakedness of the head, and frequently 

 of the neck, is most apparent in those whose 

 geographic range is limited to the New World, 

 at the head of which division stand two re- 

 markable species, the celebrated Condor of 

 the Andes, and the Papa, or King Vulture, 

 of the Brazilian forests. The first is well 

 known for the loftiness of its flight and its 

 amazing strength, while the latter is the 

 only species whose colouring is not dark or 

 sombre." We shall now describe a European 

 species. 



The GRIFFON VULTURE. (Vultur fulvus.) 

 This bird inhabits the mountainous parts of 

 the north of Europe, Silesia, Dalmatia, the 

 Tyrol, Spain (where, near Gibraltar, it is 

 abundant), the Alps, the Pyrenees, Turkey, 

 and the Grecian Archipelago. Its nest is 

 usually formed upon the most elevated and 

 inaccessible rocks, or upon the loftiest trees 

 of the forest. Its eggs, generally two or three 

 n number, are of a dull greenish or grayish 

 vhite, slightly marked with pale reddish 

 spots, and with a rough surface. " Like all I 

 the other birds of its tribe," says Mr.Benuet, 

 it feeds principally upon dead carcases, to 

 which it is frequently attracted in very con- 

 siderable numbers. When it has once made I 



