INDEX. 



-.01 



Vigogna, the llama described by Buffon, 

 ii. 512 n. 



^^iolet carpenter-bee, her excavations 

 into wood for a nest, described, iv. 339 

 n. ; teeth, 340 n. ; eggs and young, ib. 



t'iper, the class discriminated, iv. 165 

 11. ; manner of its motion, 157, 158 ; 

 the, of Great Britain, 170 ; resorts, 

 ib. ; properties, ib. ; eggs, 171 ; ab- 

 stinence, ib. ; food, ib. 173 n. ; torpid- 

 ity during the winter, 171; how taken, 



172 ; salad-oil a cure for its bite, ex- 

 periment showing this, 172, 173; the 

 method of cure preK-nbed by Celsus, 

 173, 174 n. ; the viper widely diffused, 



173 n. ; with difficulty destroyed, ib. ; 

 flesh said to be medicmal, 174, 175. 



Vision, errors in, i. 350—352 ; does not 

 give us an idea of distance without 

 the aid of touch, 352, 353 ; experiment 

 on this subject, 353— 315 ; near-sight- 

 edness of, 356; at diSerent ages, ib. ; 

 rendered indistinct, by excessive 

 brightness of the object, ib. ; why, ib. 

 357. 



Voices of birds, observations on the, iii. 

 7, 8 ; of the various singing birds, de- 

 Bcribed, 229— 2:j2 n. : of American 

 singing birds, 245—251 n. 



VolcanoK!^, i. 66 ; their cause, 67 ; enu- 

 meration of, 68—77 and 68, 69 n. ; 

 volcanic zone, surrounding Greece, 

 Italy, &c. 68 n, ; other groups, 69 n. ; 

 whether they proceed from deep re- 

 gions, fi7, 68. 



Vorticellse, wheel animals of the poly- 

 pus kind, iv. 425 n. 



Vulture, its relative position among 

 birds, iii, 70 ; distinctive qualities, 71 ; 

 account of the appearance and habits 

 of the, 71 n. ; sense of smell or sight, 

 72 n. and 73 n. ; climate, ib. ; varieties, 

 the golden particularized, 71, 72, 76 ; 

 parts of the animal, 73 ; service of, in 

 Egypt, ib. ; habits there, ib. ; in Ame- 

 rica, 74; skill in tearing a body to pieces 

 and manner of feeding, ib. 75 ; sloth 

 and voracity, 75 ; hostility to the cro. 

 codile, ib. ; nests, 76; the king of the 

 vultures, described, 76, 77 ; percnop- 

 terus, carriim-eater, ii. 253, 251 n. ; 

 their acuteness of vision, 254 n. 



W 



Wadan, a kind of buffalo, i. 544 n. 

 Wagtails, classification of, iii. 265 n. ; 



habits, ib. ; the white, their haunts, 



266 n. ; flocks, ib. ; migrations, ib. ; 



gaiety, ib. ; nest and young, 267 ii. ; 



Kritish species, ib. 

 Walfischoas, the Icelandic name for the 



food of the whale, iii. 466. 

 Wall-bees, iv. 342. See Bee. 

 Walrus fossil, ii. 490 n. 

 Wanderow, a kind of baboon, an ar- 



f<miit of the, ii. 426 and n. 



Wapiti, the stag of North Amer'ta, de 

 scribed, ii. 81 n. 



Warbler, pensile and superb, two birds 

 of the wren species, iii. 263 n. 



Warine, a Brazilian monkey, ii. 440. 



Washington, bird of, a species of sea 

 eagle," its flight described, iii. 61 n. ; 

 weight, ib. 



Wasp, very different from the bee, iv. 

 344, .345 ; the, described, 345; voracity 

 and fierceness, ib. 346; distinctions of 

 the communities of the, 346 ; account 

 of the formation of its nest, ib ; ma. 

 terials, ib, 347; dome, 347; tomb, 

 ib.; pillars and stories, ib. 348; cell, 

 348 ; worms and their processes, ib ; 

 formidable to other insects and vora- 

 cious, ib. 349 ; effects ot winter on the, 

 349, 350 ; the solitary wasp, 351—353 ; 

 its apartment, 353 ; egg, 354 ; provi- 

 sions, ib. ; death, ib. ; emerging of the 

 young, ib. ; account of the wasp of 

 the West Indies, 355 ; of the vespa 

 Britannica, or tree- wasp, 356 n. ; its 

 nest described, 351 n. ; is a paper- 

 maker, 352 n. ; that of Cayenne, 353 n. 



Water,!. 116; its penetrating nature, 

 ib. 1 17 ; its subservience to vegeta- 

 tion, 118; its composition, 118 n. ; 

 rain-water, 119; spring-water, 120 

 and n. ; river- water, 121 ; stagnant, 

 ib. ; sea-water, ib. ; mineral and me- 

 dicinal, 122 and n. ; impurities in, 124 ; 

 operation of cold and heat on water, 

 lii5^128; compression of, li8; fluid- 

 ity, 130; science of, or hydrostatics, 

 l3l ; paradoxes in, 131 — 136 ; its as- 

 cent in fine glass tubes, 136 ; cause of, 

 ib. n. ; evaporation of, 139 n. ; in a 

 slate of vapour a component part of 

 air, 209 n. 



Water-fly, an account of the, iv. 276. 



Waler.fowl, characteristics of, iii. 362; 

 toes, ib. ; legs and feathers, 31)3; oil 

 and skin, ib.; classification of, 364, 36h. 



Water-hen, the, distinguished from the 

 coot, iii. 358 ; the bird described, ib. 

 — 360 ; its habitudes, ib. 



Waterton, his account of the habits of 

 the sloth, ii. 537 — 541 n. ; his account 

 of his jumping on the back of a cro. 

 codile confirmed by many other in- 

 stances, iv. 124, 125 n. 



Waving line of beauty, Darwin'3 

 theory concerning our ideas of, L 320, 

 327 n. 



Wax, how collected by the bee, iv. 320 ; 

 the two kinds of, 334 and n. 



Wax-working bees distinguished, iv. 

 319 n. 



Weasel kind, animals of the, their 

 characteristics, ii. 252 — 255 ; fur, 255, 

 274 ; their odorous glands, 256 ; habi. 

 tildes and shape, ib. 257 ; size, 25S, 

 259. 



Wea-sel, its size and proportions, ii. 

 259 ; description of the, ib. ; its nox 



