CEUTORHYNCHUS. 
the leaves——The broad-leaved species, C. latifolr- 
um, brought from Trinidad in 1818, and carrying 
white flowers in June and July, is ornamental. 
Most of the species are very decidedly poisonous. 
CEUTORHYNCHUS. A numerous genus of 
small coleopterous insects, of the weevil tribe. 
Their larve infest the roots of cruciferous plants, 
and occasion serious damage to one or two crops 
of the field, and to several crops of the garden; 
and were the nature of their depredations pro- 
perly investigated, they might probably be found 
to be exterminable by means of lime or of some 
other caustic manure. The ceutorhynchi have 
| by no means been duly studied; and they well 
deserve the examination and the preventive care 
of nurserymen and gardeners. ‘Their name al- 
| ludes to the circumstance of their rostrum being 
usually inflexed beneath the breast, and in con- 
sequence concealed. Their body is very short 
and thick; and when, on being alarmed, they 
draw in their rostrum and their legs, and allow 
themselves to drop to the ground, they can 
| scarcely be distinguished from seeds, or small 
particles of earth. One species, C. pollinarius, 
abounds on the common nettle, Uriica dioica, 
during spring and summer, and may be regarded 
as a sort of type of the whole genus. The larva 
of another species, C. contractus—an insect scarcely 
a line in length, of an uniform black colour, with 
punctured and slightly metallic blue elytra— 
. occasions the knobs which may frequently be 
| seen on the roots of the wild mustard, Sinapis 
arvensis; and the perfect insect itself of this 
species, is sometimes associated with the turnip 
| flea-beetle in feeding upon the seed-leaves of 
newly-sprung turnip plants. One of the most 
multitudinous species, C. asszmzlis, occasions the 
| knobs which appear on the roots of the very 
| troublesome weed, wild radish, Kaphanus raphan- 
astrum, and probably infests some useful plants. 
CHABRAIA. A genus of ornamental plants, 
of the jacobea division of the composite family. 
The changeable-flowered species, C. runeinata, is 
a handsome annual, quite recently introduced 
from Chili, and grown, in 1844, in the garden of 
the Royal Botanical Society. Its stem is branch- 
ing, and about 18 inches in height; its leaves 
are deeply lobed, and have their lobes pointing 
to the base; and its flowers are French-white and 
double, and appear in June. The whole plant, in 
fact, very much resembles the well-known double 
| jacobea or elegant senecio. 
CHAROPHYLLUM. See Cuzrvin. 
CHAITERIA. A small genus of exotic grasses, 
of the agrostis tribe. Three perennial and one 
annual species were, about 25 years ago, intro- 
duced to Britain ; but they possess little interest. 
The name is formed from a word signifying an 
awn or bristle. Another small genus, of the 
same tribe and similar character, bears the name 
of cheeturus; and a hardy annual species of this, 
C. fasciculatus, was introduced in 1816, from 
Spain. . 
CHAFF-CUTTER. folk 
CHAFER. See CockcHareEr. 
CHAFF. The husks of corn, separated from 
the solid grain by thrashing and winnowing; 
also, the straw of oats, barley, and wheat, or the 
hay of clover and grasses, cut into very small 
pieces, as food for horses and cattle. See the 
articles Barn, Farm-Yarp, and Cuarr-CurTEr. 
CHAFF-CUTTER. A machine for cutting 
straw and hay into short chaff-like pieces, to 
facilitate their use as food for horses. and cattle. 
It is also called a chaff-engine, a straw-cutter, a 
hay-cutter, and a straw and hay chopper. 
The only chaff-cutter in use till toward the 
close of last century, was simply a plain box 
or trough, fixed on four legs and provided with 
a large lever-mounted knife or blade. 
Salmon’s chaff-cutter, invented in 1797, was a 
cumbrous and complicated machine, yet long 
maintained considerable celebrity as a. valuable 
substitute for the old trough chaff-cutter. Jn 
this machine, two wheels were connected to- 
gether by bolts inserted in their felloes; knives 
were fixed on the inside of the rims, with the 
edges adjusted at an angle of 45° from the plane 
of the wheel’s motion; a box was fixed in front 
of the wheels, to hold the straw or hay, and to 
let the ends of it project within the action of the 
knives; springs were placed to press the knives 
forward, and wedges to prevent an excess of | 
pressure; two spiked rollers in the box were 
turned from the outside by ratchet-wheels so as 
to keep the straw at rest during the stroke of 
the knives; and the feeding-arm was provided 
with such adjustments and apparatus that no | 
fewer than twenty different lengths of chaff 
might, at pleasure, be obtained. 
Passmore’s chaff-engine, or the Doncaster chaff- 
cutter, patented in 1804, was somewhat similar 
to Salmon’s, but much less cumbrous in its form, 
and considerably simplified in its mechanism. It 
was, for many years, the type of most of the 
chaff-cutters of the midland and eastern counties 
of England; and “even at the present day,” says | 
Mr. J. A. Ransome in his recent work on the 
Implements of Agriculture, “few of the machines 
in general use are found more effective.” 
Lester’s chaff-cutter, or the Lester . engine, 
patented in 1800 and 1801, was a very simple 
machine, and seems to have suggested the main | 
principles on which the great majority of the 
many chaff-engines of recent years have been | 
formed. Its cutter or large curved knife was 
fixed upon a fly-wheel, and made one stroke or 
cut at each revolution; the fly-wheel turned on | 
a cranked spindle which, by means of a small 
hook or catch, communicated motion to a ratchet- 
wheel attached to the end of one of the feeding 
rollers; this geering could be so managed as, at 
the will of the operator, to lift either two, three, 
or four teeth at each revolution, and make cor- 
responding differences upon the length of the 
pieces of straw presented to the cutter; and the 
straw to be cut was pressed down and carried 
