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transparency in its natural state, but 

 when exposed to light, its skin gradually 

 becomes darker, and at last gains an olive 

 tint. Its nasal organs appear large ; and 

 it is abundantly furnished with teeth, 

 from which it may be concluded that it is 

 an animal of prey ; yet in its confined 

 state it has never been known to eat, and 

 it has been kept alive for many years by 

 occasionally changing the water in which 

 it was placed. The proteus was first 

 discovered in Illyria by the late Baron 

 Zois ; but it has been reported that some 

 individuals of the same species have been 

 recognized in the calcareous strata in 

 Sicily." 



The proteus has been found of various 

 sizes, from that of the thickness of a 

 quill to that of the thumb, but its form 

 of organs has always been the same. It 

 is a perfect animal of a peculiar species, 

 and it adds one instance more to the 

 number already known, of the wonderful 

 manner in which life is produced and 

 perpetuated in every part of our globe, 

 even in places which seem the least suited 

 to organized existences. And the same 

 Infinite Power and Wisdom which has 

 fitted the camel and the ostrich for the 

 deserts of Africa, the whale for the Polar 

 seas, and the morse and the white bear 

 for the Arctic ice, has given the proteus 

 to the deep and dark subterraneous lakes 

 of Illyrica, an animal to whom the pre- 

 sence of light is not essential, and who 

 can live indifferently in air and in water, 

 on the surface of the rock, or in the 

 mud. The organization of the spine of 

 the proteus is analogous to that of one of 

 the sauri, the remains of which are found 

 in the older secondary strata. The pro- 

 blem of the reproduction of the proteus, 

 like that of the eel, is not yet solved, but 

 ovaria have been discovered in animals 

 of both species. 



This name is also given to a species of 

 infusoria. Of these, the most singular, 

 says Dr. Roget, is the proteus, which 

 cannot, indeed, be said to have any de- 

 terminate shape ; for it seldom remains 

 the same for two minutes together. It 

 looks like a mass of soft jelly, highly 

 irritable and contractile in every part ; 

 at one time wholly shrunk into a ball, at 

 another stretched out into a lengthened 

 riband ; and again, at another moment, 

 perhaps, we find it doubled upon itself 

 like a leech. If we watch its motions for 

 any time, we see some parts shooting 

 out, as if suddenly inflated, and branch 

 ing forth into star-like radiations, or 

 assuming various grotesque shapes, while 

 other parts will, in like manner, be as 

 quickly contracted. Thus the whole 

 figure may, in an instant, be completely 



changed, by metamorphoses as rapid as 

 they are irregular and capricious. 

 PROTHE'EITE. A mineral species, recently 

 discovered, occurring in the valley of the 

 Zillerthal, in the Tyrol. 

 PRO'TOGINE. The name given to a granite 

 composed of felspar, quartz, and talc or 

 chlorite ; the talc supplying the place of 

 mica. Mr. Bakewell observes that this 

 name has been improperly given, whereas 

 talcy or chloritic granite would at once 

 convey a distinct idea of its nature. 

 PRUI'NOSE. (from pmina, Lat. a frost, or 

 rime.) In entomology, applied to the 

 clothing of insects when covered with a 

 minute dust, scarely discoverable by the 

 lens. 

 PSAMMO'BIA. A small bivalve found in the 



cyclas limestone of Burwash. 

 PSEU'DO. (\frfvdoe, Gr. false.) A term 

 generally used as a prefix to, and in com- 

 position with, other words ; it implies a 

 sense of spuriousness, as, for example, a 

 pseudo-tuber is a false tuber ; pseudo- 

 galena is false galena ; a pseudo-volcano 

 is a coal mine in a state of combustion. 

 PSILOME'LLANE. Another name for un- 



cleavable manganese ore. 

 PTERODA'CTYLE. } (from Trrepbv, a wing, 

 PTERODA'CTYLUS. $ and ^aKrvXoc, a 

 finger, Gr.) An extinct genus of winged 

 reptiles, belonging to the family Iguanida. 

 It is found fossil in the' Jura limestone 

 formation, in the lias at Lyme Regis, and 

 in the oolitic slate of Stonesfield. " The 

 structure of these animals," says Prof. 

 Buckland, " is so exceedingly anomalous, 

 that the first discovered pterodactyle was 

 considered by one naturalist to be a bird ; 

 by another, a species of bat ; and by a 

 third, as a flying reptile. The form of its 

 head and length of neck, resembled that 

 of birds, its wings approached to the pro- 

 portion and form of those of bats, and its 

 body and tail approximated to those of 

 ordinary mammalia. The pterodactylus 

 forms an extinct genus of the order Sau- 

 rians, in the class of reptiles ; adapted by 

 a peculiarity of structure to fly in the air. 

 The pterodactyles are considered by Cu- 

 vier to rank among the most extraordinary 

 of all the extinct animals that have come 

 under his consideration. Eight species 

 have been discovered, of sizes varying 

 from that of a snipe to that of a cormo- 

 rant. They had a short tail, an extreme- 

 ly long neck, and a very large head ; their 

 eyes were of enormous size, apparently 

 enabling them to fly by night ; the beaks 

 were long, like those of a crocodile, and 

 furnished with sixty sharp-pointed teeth. 

 Their most remarkable character con- 

 sisted in the excessive elongation of the 

 second toe of the fore-foot, which was 

 more than double the length of the trunk, 



