GUM-TRAGACANTH. [ASTRAGALUS.] GUM-TREE. [EUCALYPTUS.]

GUMS. [DENTITION; TEETH.]

GUNNELL. [MURENOIDES.] GURHOFFIAN. [DOLOMITE.] GURNARD. [TRIGLA.] GUTTIFERÆ. [CLUSIACEE.]

GUYAQUILLITÈ, a form of Fossil Resin found in South America. It is soluble in alcohol.

GYALL, the name of the Indian Jungle Bull, Bos frontalis of Lambert. [BoVIDE.]

GYMNADE'NIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Orchidacea and the tribe Ophrydineæ. It is distinguished from the genus Orchis by the glands of the pollen masses being without a pouch. There are two British species, G. conopsea and G. alhida. G. conopsea has a 3-lobed lip; the lobes equal, entire, obtuse; the lateral sepals spreading, spur filiform, twice as long as the germen; root-knobs, palmate. The stem is a foot high; leaves linearlanceolate. G. Breyerii is a native of South America at the river Magdalena. It has blue flowers; leaves with two or three pairs of unequal leaflets, the extreme ones oblong, elliptical, unequal-sided, middle pair obovate, lower ones roundish; peduncles umbellate.

G. verticale is a native of Mexico and St. Domingo. The flowers are blue with vertical petals. The leaves with three or six pairs, but usually five pairs of oblong coriaceous mucronate leaflets, the outer ones obovate, which are as well as the branches very smooth.

G. sanctum is a tree 20 feet high, a native of South America, particularly in the island of St. Domingo, Mexico, and Brazil. GYMNARCHUS, a genus of Malacopterygious Apodal Fishes. The body is long and scaly; the gill opening before the pectoral fins; dorsal fin running the whole length of the back; tail ending in a point; head naked and conical; mouth small, with a single row of cutting teeth. G. Niloticus is the only species; it inhabits

the Nile.

GYMNEMA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Asclepiadacea. It has a sub-urceolate 5-cleft corolla, the throat usually crowned by five scales or teeth inserted in the recesses between the segments of the corolla. The stamineous corona is wanting. The anthers terminate by a membrane, the pollen masses are erect, fixed by the base. The follicles smooth. Seeds comose, generally marginate. The species are usually twining shrubs, natives of the East Indies, the tropical parts of Australia, and Equinoctial Africa. The leaves are opposite, membranous, and flat. The umbels interpetiolar and cymose. In the greater number of species the stamens are not usually naked, but are furnished with a gland-like body or fleshy tuft at the base of each filament.

G. lactiferum, Cow-Plant, or Milk-Bearing Gymnema, has an erect stem, or rather twining; the leaves are on short petioles, ovate, bluntly acuminated, usually unequal-sided; the umbels many-flowered, shorter than the petioles; the throat of the corolla crowned by five fleshy tubercles; the tube furnished with double pilose lines running from the tubercles. It is a native of Ceylon, where the milk of the plant is sometimes substituted for cow's milk, and the leaves are boiled with food.

G. tingens is a native of Pegu. It has a twining glabrous stem, cordate leaves, acuminated to oval; the umbels or corymbs often twin, at first shorter than the petioles, and at length spirally elongated; the glands of the filaments one-half shorter than the stamens; follicles cylindrical, spoon-shaped; stigma simple, oval, mutic, crowning the tube of the corolla, and therefore exceeding the stamens. The flowers are largish, numerous, and of a pale-yellow colour. The calyx 5-cleft to the base. From the leaves of this plant a green dye is prepared by the Burmese. Seventeen species of this genus are enumerated, none of them of any particular interest.

(Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom; Don, Dichlamydeous Plants.) GYMNETRUS, a genus of Fishes belonging to the group of Riband-Shaped Acanthopterygii. It has the following characters: Body elongated, compressed; a single dorsal fin extending the whole length of the back; ventrals consisting each of a single ray, only sometimes very long and dilated at the end; no anal fin; teeth pointed, small. The species of this genus have very rarely been obtained entire. They have generally been taken dead, and consequently have been crushed and mutilated. Of the species of this genua, Mr. Yarrell says, "three probably belong to the Mediterranean, two to the seas of the North of Europe, and two to India. One northern species, besides one of those apparently belonging to India, has been taken on the shores of this country. That of the north has occurred more than once in Scotland; that of India once on the coast of Cornwall."

G. Hawkenii (Bloch), Hawken's Gymnetrus, the Oared Gymnetrus, the Ceil Conin of Cornwall. This species has been taken in Cornwall. The following description has been drawn up by Mr. Couch from a drawing and notes of a specimen taken in a net at Mount's Bay in 1791 "The length without the extremity of the tail, which was wanting, was 8 feet; the depth 101⁄2 inches; thickness 2 inches;

elevated front; eye large; pectoral fin round; no anal fin; the dorsal fin reaches from above the eye to the tail. The ventrals are formed of four long red processes, proceeding from the thorax, and ending in a fan-shaped appendage, of which the base is purple, the expansion crimson. The back and belly are dusky-green; the sides whitish; the whole varied with clouds and spots of a darker green; the fins crimson." A very fine specimen of this fish caught off the coast of Northumberland, was exhibited in London at the time the discovery of the Great Sea-Serpent was announced, and was supposed to explain the nature of this discovery.

The Gymnetrus arcticus of Cuvier, the Vaagmaer, or Deal-Fish, has been referred to the genus Trachypterus. [TRACHYPTERUS.] GYMNOCEPHALUS. [CORACINA.]

GYMNO CLADUS (from yúuvos, naked, and κλáɔ̃os, a branch), a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Leguminosae. It has diocious flowers; the calyx tubular, 5-cleft; the petals five, equal, oblong, exserted from the tube; the stamens ten, inclosed; the legume oblong, thick, filled with pulp inside. There is but one species, G. Canadensis, the Kentucky Coffee-Tree. It is an upright deciduous tree, with compound alternate, stipulate, bipinnate leaves, and white flowers in terminal racemes. The branches of this tree are without any appearance of buds, which, during the winter, gives it the aspect of a dead tree, and hence the Canadian name 'chicot,' or stump-tree. The wood is hard, compact, and of a fine rose colour. In America it is used in cabinet-making and carpentry. It has the property of rapidly converting its sap-wood into heart-wood, so that the smallest trees may be converted to useful purposes. The seeds were at one time roasted and ground as a substitute for coffee in Kentucky and Tennessee; but they are not often used in this way at the present day. The pods, preserved in the same way as the tamarind, are said to be wholesome and aperient. This tree grows well in Great Britain, but does not ripen its seeds. It is best propagated by imported seeds, but it will also grow freely from cuttings of the roots. It requires a rich, deep, free soil. (Loudon, Encyclopædia of Trees and Shrubs.) GYMNODACTYLUS. [GECKOTIDE.] GYMNODERUS. [CORACINA.]

GYMNOGASTER. [See SUPPLEMENT.]

GYMNOGENS, or GYMNOSPERMS, one of the divisions under which the vegetable kingdom is now classified. The name is derived from the seeds being naked, that is to say, unprotected by a pericarpal covering, and fertilised by the pollen coming in direct contact with the ovule, not by the intervention of the apparatus called stigma and style. In this respect Gymnosperms are analogous to those reptiles which, in the animal kingdom, have eggs that are impregnated by the male after they have been deposited by the mother. The plants comprehended in this class have nearly an equal relation to flowering and flowerless plants. With the former they agree in habits, in the presence of sexes, and in their vascular tissue being complete; with Ferns and Club-Mosses, among the latter, some also accord in habit, in the peculiar gyrate vernation of the leaves of some Cycads, in their spiral vessels being imperfectly formed, and in the sexes being less complete than in other flowering plants; the females wanting a pericarpal covering, and receiving fertilisation directly through the foramen of the ovule, without the intervention of style or stigma, and the males sometimes consisting of leaves imperfectly contracted into an anther bearing a number of pollen-cases upon their surface. So great is the resemblance between Club-Mosses and certain Conifers, that there is no obvious external character except size by which they can be distinguished. Gymnogens are known from most other Vasculares by the vessels of their wood having large apparent perforations or discs. [CONIFERA.] It is not however on this account to be understood that they differ in growth from other Exogens; on the contrary they are essentially the same, deviating in no respect from the plan upon which Exogenous Plants increase, but having a kind of tissue peculiar to themselves. At this point of the vegetable kingdom there is a plain transition from the highest form of organisation to the lowest. Gymnogens are essentially Exogens in all that appertains to the organs of vegetation; they have concentric zones in their wood, a vascular system in which spiral vessels are found, and a central pith, but they are analogous to reptiles in the animal kingdom. The two most remarkable of the orders are Conifers and Cycads. Of these the former is connected with Club-Mosses among Acrogens by means of the extinct genus Lepidodendron, and their branches are sometimes so similar to those of certain Lycopods themselves as to leave no doubt of their relation. Compare, for instance, Lycopodium phlegmaria, and Cunninghamia sinensis. Some Cycads have the gyrate vernation of the leaves of true Ferns, along with the inflorescence of Conifers; and their mode of forming their trunk, although essentially the same as that of Exogens, yet resembles the growth of Acrogens in lengthening by a terminal bud only. While however the class of Gymnogens is thus distinctly marked by the most important physiological peculiarities, it approaches the highest forms of vegetation by that portion of it which bears the name of Joint-Firs (Gnetacea)—plants with all the structure of their class, but with the manner of growth of Chloranths (Chloranthacea) and Beefwoods (Casuarinacea). (Lindley Vegetable Kingdom.')

The following figure of Juniperus Oxycedrus will show the pecu

liarities of this class:-Fig. 1 is a male catkin; fig. 2, a scale from it having anthers on its under side; fig. 3, a female cluster of flowers seated at the end of a scaly peduncle; fig. 4, a longitudinal section of the same, showing the naked ovules seated within the scales; fig. 5 is a ripe fruit, composed of three scales, become fleshy and consolidated, and burying the seeds within their centre; fig. 6 is the same fruit divided transversely, to show how the seeds are placed within the ripe fruit; fig. 7 is a seed; fig. 8, a longitudinal, and fig. 9, a transverse section of the same. [CYCADACEE; TAXACEE; GNETACEE; CONIFERE.J

GYMNOPS, a genus of Birds established by Cuvier and described by him as having a bill strong as that of the Orioles; the nostrils round, without scales or any membranous appendage, and a great part of the head denuded of feathers. He refers to Gracula calva, Gmel., Mino Dumontii, Less., and Gracula cyanotis, Lath. (Merops cyanotis, Sh.), as examples.

GYMNOSPERMS. [GYMNOGENS.]

GYMNO'TUS, a genus of Fishes belonging to the section Apodes. It has the following generic characters :-Gills partially closed by a membrane, and opening before the pectorals; the vent placed very far forwards; body without any perceptible scales, and without dorsal fin; anal fin extending the greater part of the length of the body.

G. electricus (Linn.), from the resemblance it bears to an eel, and the electric power which it possesses, has been called the Electric-Eel. It is about 5 or 6 feet in length; the head is rather broad and depressed; the muzzle is obtuse: the body, compared with that of the common eel, is stouter and shorter in proportion; the anterior part is nearly cylindrical, but towards and at the tail it is compressed; the pectoral fins are small and rounded; the anal fin commences at a short distance behind the line of the pectoral fins, and extends uninterruptedly to the tail; there is no caudal fin. Its colour is brownish-black.

The Electric-Eel is said to communicate shocks so violent that men and even horses are overpowered by them. This power is dependent on the will of the animal, but decreases in strength if frequently repeated, unless at considerable intervals. The organs by which this

shock is produced are minutely described by Hunter in the 65th volume of the Philosophical Transactions." All the species of Gymnotus inhabit the rivers of South America. [ELECTRICITY OF ORGANIC BEINGS.]

The genus Cerapus of Cuvier contains such species of Gymnotus of the older authors as have the tail lengthened and tapering, and the body compressed and furnished with scales. They also inhabit South America.

GYMNU'RA, a genus of Animals belonging to the family Talpida and the order Fera of Dr. Gray. The only species of this genus was first described by Sir Stamford Raffles. It was afterwards more accurately examined by Dr. Horsfield and Mr. Vigors, who figured it in the Zoological Journal.'

Sir Stamford Raffles referred the species to the Linnæan genus Viverra, and recorded it as Viverra Gymnura. But although he did not nominally raise the animal to the importance of a genus, he gave so clear and accurate a description of its generic characters that Dr. Horsfield and Mr. Vigors do not hesitate to attribute the first indication of the group to him; and they proceed to give the generic character of Gymnura:

2 6

2-2

8-8

7-7

Incisors, ; canines (Laniarii), ; molars, = 44. Incisors, 2 above, remote, very large, subcylindrical, rounded at the apex; 6 below, the four intermediate approximate, rather short, inclined (proclives) compressed, the anterior surface (pagina) convex, the interior flat, edge rounded (scalpro rotundato), the two lateral abbreviated, acute. Canines (Laniarii), 2 on each side above, remote from the incisors and shorter than them, the anterior ones the longest; 1 on each side below, very large, conical, subarcuate, looking inwards. Molars, 8 on each side above, remote from the canines, the three anterior unicuspid, the first elongated and sectorial; the second and third abbreviated; the fourth with an elongated conical point and a posterior and exterior abbreviated lobe or step (gradu) at the base; the fifth with the exterior cusp very long, and the interior one abbreviated; the sixth and seventh very large, multicuspid, the cusps sub-abbreviated and rounded; the eighth smaller and more fashioned for triturating (subtritorius), the cusps rather obtuse; 7 below, the three anterior unicuspid, compressed; the first and second shorter; the third sub-elongated; the fourth with an elongated cusp, an anterior lobe, and another posterior lobe (gradu) abbreviated; the fifth, sixth, and seventh very large, multicuspid, the cusps rather elevated and acute.

Head elongated, acuminated, narrowed, compressed on the sides, flattish above. Muzzle (rostrum) obtuse, elongated, stretched forward (protensum), much surpassing the lower jaw in length. Nostrils lateral, prominent, with the margins convoluted. Tongue rather smooth, large. Auricles rounded, somewhat prominent, naked. Eyes small. Whiskers (vibrissæ) elongated.

Body rather robust, ground of the fur (cordaris) soft, but with distant erect sub-elongated harsh hairs. Tail rather long, smooth, attenuated, naked, scaly, with a few scattered hairs in youth.

Feet moderate, plantigrade, pentadactyle, the fore feet with a rather short thumb, the three intermediate fingers rather long and sub-equal; the hind feet with a very short great toe, the three intermediate toes very much elongated, and the external toe moderate. Claws moderate, narrow, curved, compressed, very acute, retractile. Such is the character given by Dr. Horsfield and Mr. Vigors to Gymnura, and they state their opinion that the nearest affinity to this genus appears to be met with in Tupaia (Raffles). From that group however they say that Gymnura is sufficiently distinguished, besides the difference in the system of dentition, by the elongation of the rostrum, the comparative robustness of the body, the setose character of the hairs, which are sparingly mingled with the soft fur, the smali retractile claws, and the nakedness of the tail. In general appearance they hold that the group bears a strong resemblance to some species of the Marsupial genus Didelphis.

G. Rafflesii, the Bulau or Tikus, has the body, feet, stripe above the eyes, scattered occipital hairs, and the basal half of the tail, black; the head, the neck, the scattered hairs of the back, and the other half of the tail, white. (Horsfield and Vigors.)

An adult specimen examined by Horsfield and Vigors measured

Ft. In. Lines.

1 2

.

M. Lesson ('Manual,' 1827), places the 94th genus, Gymnura, between the dogs with hyæna's feet (Canis pictus, Desm.; Hyaena picta, Temm.), and Viverra, Linn., the first sub-genus of which he makes to consist of the true Civets. He says of Gymnura,

"We form this genus in conformity with the opinion (d'après l'avis) of M. Desmarest, in order to place in it an animal closely approximating to the Civets, and perhaps approximating still nearer to the Paradoxuri, which are plantigrade. We place it provisionally among the digitigrades. It has a pointed muzzle, a soft tongue, rounded ears, erect and naked, compressed claws, curved and sharp, a naked tail, and the following dental formula:

6-6

"Incisives,; canines, molars,
molars, =40.

"In the upper jaw the two middle incisives are the largest, and separated (écartées) one from the other; the two lateral ones are very small; the canines are moderate. The first molar has two points, the second one only; the fourth and fifth have four tubercles, the sixth has only three.

"In the lower jaw the canines are long.

"Species, Gymnura Raflesii, Viverra Gymnura, Raffles. This species, from the East Indies, has the muzzle, which exceeds the lower jaw by an inch, pointed; the eyes are small, the moustaches long; the tail, which is naked, like that of a rat, is only 10 inches long, and the head and body measure 1 foot. The fur consists of two sorts of hair, a short under fur (bourre) very thick and soft, and a long harsh hair; the body, legs, and first half of the tail are black; the head, the neck, and the shoulders are white; a black band passes over the eyes. Habits unknown."

Gymnura Rafflesii. Horsfield and Vigors.

M. Lesson does not state from what specimen he has taken his descriptions, which vary from those of Dr. Horsfield and Mr. Vigors, in some instances essentially; but the latter state the ample materials from which they defined their characters. Cuvier says, "The genus Gymnura of Messrs. Vigors and Horsfield 'Zool. Journal,' iii. pl. 8) appears to approach Cladobates in its teeth, and the shrews (musaraignes) in its pointed muzzle and scaly tail. It has five unguiculated toes on all its feet, and rather stiff bristles (soies assez rudes) projecting forth from the woolly hair. It cannot be well classed tillits anatomy is known."

The term Gymnura has been applied to designate a genus of SeaDucks [DUCKS]; and Spix uses the word Gymnuri as the name of a family of South American Monkeys.

GYNA'NDRIA, one of the classes in the artificial system of botany invented by Linnæus, the character of which is to have the stamens and pistil consolidated into a single body. The principal part of the class consists of Orchidaceous Plants, forming in it the order Monandria.

GYNOCARDIA. [FLACOURTIACEE.] GYPAETOS, Storr's generic name for the Lämmergeyer, or Bearded Griffin (Gypaetos barbatus), a bird of prey which may be considered as intermediate between the Eagles and the Vultures. [VULTURIDE.]

GYPOGE'RANUS (Illiger), a genus of Birds embracing the wellknown Secretary Bird. Mr. Bennett, in the Tower Menagerie,' remarks that the singular conformation of this bird, so different in many respects from that of the order to which both in its leading characters and in its habits it obviously belongs, rendered it for a long time the torment of ornithologists, who puzzled themselves in vain to assign it a definite place in the system, and could not agree even with regard to the grand division of the class to which it ought to be referred. "Thus" continues the author, "M. Temminck was at one time inclined to refer it to the Gallinaceous order; and M. Vieillot, after repeatedly changing his mind upon the subject, at last arranged it among the Waders, with which it has absolutely nothing in common except the length of its legs. It appears however to be now almost universally admitted that its closest affinity is with the Vultures, with which it agrees in the most essential particulars of its organisation, and from which it differs chiefly in certain external characters alone, which unquestionably give to it an aspect exceedingly distinct, but are not of themselves of sufficient importance to authorise its removal to a distant part of the classification. stitutes in fact one of those mixed and aberrant forms by means of which the arbitrary divisions of natural objects established by man are

NAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. II.

It con

so frequently assimilated to each other in the most beautiful, and occasionally in the most unexpected manner." Mr. Swainson, in the first volume of his Classification of Birds,' places the "Secretary Vulture of Africa" among the Vulturida; but in the second volume of the same work (1837), he makes it a genus of the Aquilina, a subfamily of the Falconida.

Dr. Sparrman first saw this bird (a drawing of which, given by M. Vosmaer under the denomination of Sagittarius, he alludes to) in the neighbourhood of the warm baths of Hottentot Holland. "It is not," he says, a very shy bird, but when scared begins at first to endeavour to save itself by alternately hopping and scudding along very swiftly, and afterwards does it more effectually by flight. In external appearance, in some respects it resembles the eagle, and in others the crane, two birds certainly very unlike each other; though in my opinion it ought to be referred to neither of these genera. The Hottentots give it a name most suitable to its nature, namely, as translated into Dutch, Slangen-Vreeter (or Serpent-Eater); and in fact it is for the purpose of confining within due bounds the race of serpents, which in Africa is very extensive, that nature has principally destined this bird. It is larger than our crane, with legs 24 feet long, and the body in proportion less than the crane's. Its beak, claws, stout thighs covered with feathers, and short neck, are like those of the eagle and hawk kind." Then follows a particular description of the bird, after which the Doctor continues thus: "This bird has a peculiar method of seizing upon serpents. When it approaches them it always takes care to hold the point of one of its wings before it, in order to parry off their venomous bites; sometimes it finds an opportunity of spurning and treading upon its antagonist, or else of taking it up on its pinions and throwing it into the air; when by this method of proceeding it has at length wearied out its adversary, and rendered it almost senseless, it then kills it and swallows it without danger. Though I have very frequently seen the Secretary Bird, both in its wild and tame state, yet I have never had an opportunity of seeing this method it has of catching serpents; however I can by no means harbour any doubt concerning it, after having had it confirmed to me by so many Hottentots as well as Christians; and since this bird has been observed at the menagerie at the Hague to amuse and exercise itself in the same manner with a straw. If, finally, this serpent-eater is to be referred to the Accipitres, or the Hawk kind, the name of Falco Serpentarius appears to be the most proper to distinguish it by in the 'Systema Naturæ.' It has even been remarked that these birds, when tame, will not disdain now and then to put up with a nice chicken."

Sparrman, it is true, did not himself see the scene which he describes; but that his account is correct in the main will not be doubted when we present the reader with a translation of the testimony of an eye-witness of one at whose relations the devoted admirers of Buffon were too apt to smile increduously, but whose accuracy is now generally allowed to be unimpeachable. We give it entire, because even in those parts which are not directly illustrative of the habits of the bird, the difference between the actual observer, the field zoologist, who had studied nature in her own wilderness, and the cabinet theorist, who had only viewed her through the false medium of his own brilliant but delusive imagination, is strikingly displayed. Le Vaillant, in one of his journeys in the Namaqua country, arrived at a spring at the very moment when a Secretary was drinking there: he killed it at the first shot, and gave to the well the name of the Secretary's Fountain. His narrative then proceeds as follows:

"The Dutch have named this bird the Secretary on account of the tuft of plumes which it carries at the back of the head; for, in Holland, clerks (gens de cabinet), when they are interrupted in their writing, stick the pen among their hair behind the right ear, so as to imitate in some degree its crest. Buffon, speaking of it, says that it has only been known at the Cape recently; and the proof which he adduces is, that Kolbe and other succeeding writers say nothing of it. This is advancing a groundless assertion (un fait faux), and endeavouring to prove it by another as true as the first. The Secretary is known in the colonies both under the name of Secretaris and that of Slang-Vreeter. It is under this last denomination that Kolbe speaks of it; and he certainly knew it, at least from the relation of others, because he exactly enumerates all the kinds of food which it habitually takes. It is true that, in his description, he translates the Dutch word Slang-Vreeter by the French word Pélican, and that consequently he makes a single species out of two very different ones. But Kolbe was no naturalist, and his work contains so many other errors that it would be astonishing not to find this. I have been more surprised, I confess, to see that our modern naturalists, even those who have spoken of the Secretary in the greatest detail, make no mention of three bony and blunt protuberances which it has at the bend and last joint of the wings, but infinitely less apparent than in the Jacana or in the Kamicki. This omission has appeared strange to me, in Buffon particularly, who has not described it from the relation of others, but from an individual which he had before his eyes, and which I believe was in the cabinet of Mauduit. It is nevertheless an essential omission, because it deprives the Secretary of one of its principal distinctive characters, and beca the protuberances of which I speak form one of the arms of th

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as I shall presently show. I shall permit myself moreover to make a remark on what Buffon has written. According to him the Secretary differs from other birds in its timid nature; and its timidity is even such, says he, that when attacked by its enemies it has no other resource for its preservation excepting flight. This is an error. Those who have been able to study this bird know that, living especially on reptiles, it is continually at war with them; that it seeks them everywhere, and attacks them courageously. For this assertion I cite the testimony of Querhoent, and bring forward in proof of it the fact which I have witnessed.

"In descending from a mountain into a very deep bog (fondrière) I perceived, nearly perpendicularly below me, a bird which raised and lowered itself very rapidly, with very extraordinary motions. Although I well knew the Secretary, and had killed many of these birds at Natal, it was impossible for me to recognise it in the vertical situation in which I found myself, and I only suspected that it was one from its bearing. Having found means, by favour of some rocks, to approach sufficiently near, noislessly and without being discovered, I found that this bird was a Secretary combating a serpent. The fight was very sharp on both sides, and the skill (la ruse) equal on the part of each of the combatants. But the serpent, which perceived the inequality of its strength, employed that adroit cunning which is attributed to it, in order to save itself by flight and regain its hole; while the bird, divining its intention, stopped it at once, and throwing itself before the serpent by one spring cut off its retreat. Wherever the reptile essayed to escape there it always found its enemy. Then, uniting skill with courage, it erected itself fiercely to intimidate the bird, and presented, with a frightful hiss, a menacing gape, inflamed eyes, and a head swollen with rage and poison.

"Sometimes this offensive resistance suspended hostilities for an instant; but the bird soon returned to the charge; and covering its body with one of its wings as with a shield, struck its enemy with the other, with the bony protuberances of which I have already spoken, and which, like small clubs, overpowered it the more surely, inasmuch as it presented itself to the blows. In effect, I saw it reel and fall extended: then the conqueror threw himself upon it to finish his work; and with one blow of the bill split its skull.

"At this moment, having no further observations to make, I killed it. I found in its crop (for it has one, which nobody has stated), on dissecting it, eleven rather large lizards, three serpents as long as one's arm, eleven small tortoises very entire, many of which were about two inches in diameter, and, finally, a quantity of locusts (sauterelles) and insects, the greater part of which were sufficiently whole to deserve being collected and to be added to my specimens. The lizards, the serpents, and the tortoises had all received the stroke of the bill on the head. I observed besides, that independently of this mass of aliments the craw (poche) of the animal contained a species of pellet, as large as a goose's egg, and formed of the vertebræ of serpents and lizards which the bird had devoured previously, scales of small tortoises, and the wings, feet, and corselets of different Scarabæi. Doubtless when the undigested mass is become too large, the Secretary, like other birds of prey, vomits it and gets rid of it. It results from the superabundant quantity of nourishment which this specimen had secured, that in attacking the serpent of the bog, it was not hunger which had stimulated it to the combat, but the hatred and antipathy which it bears to these reptiles. Such an aversion as this is of an inappreciable advantage in a country where the temperature wonderfully favours the multiplication of an infinity of noxious and venomous animals. In this point of view the Secretary is one of nature's real benefactions; and indeed its utility and the services rendered by it are so well recognised at the Cape and in its neighbourhood, that the colonists and Hottentots respect it and do not kill it; herein imitating the Dutch, who do not kill the stork, and the Egyptians, who never injure the ibis.

"The Secretary is easily tamed, and when domesticated, every kind of nourishment, cooked or raw, agrees with it equally. If care be taken to feed it well, it not only lives amicably and peaceably with the poultry, but when it sees any dispute going on it runs to separate the combatants and to restore order. It is true that if it be permitted to suffer from hunger, it provides for itself, and then falls without scruple upon the ducklings and chicks. But this abuse of confidence, if abuse of confidence it can be called, is nothing but the imperious effect of want, and the pure and simple exercise of that necessity which devotes the half of all that breathes to the appetite of the other half. I have seen tame Secretaries at many houses. The eggs ordinarily amount to from two to three, nearly as large as those of a goose, and white like those of a hen. The young remain a long time before they quit the nest, because their legs being long and slender, they sustain themselves with difficulty. They may be observed, even up to the age of four months, unable to progress except by leaning on their heels; which gives them a strikingly clumsy and ungraceful air. Nevertheless, as their toes are not so long nor their claws so curved as the other birds of prey, they walk with much more facility than those. So that when they have attained the age of seven months they may be seen to develop easy and graceful movements which suit well with their noble bearing. Buffon, quoting the Dutch naturalist, says, that when the latter was drawing his Secretary, the curious bird came to look upon the paper with outstretched neck and

upstanding crest, as if admiring its likeness, &c. Certainly the Secre tary is sufficiently interesting on account of its instinct and natural qualities, without requiring to be gifted by its historian with an admiring taste for drawing and a sort of pride at seeing itself represented. If Vosmaer's Secretary approached him, stretching out its neck and raising its crest, it was, in my opinion, neither from curiosity nor delight, but only from a sort of habit which is common to many other birds. We know that the majority of them, when they are familiar and domesticated, love to have their polls scratched; that this titillation seems to give them pleasure; and that they present themselves to the first comer and stretch out their neck to beg for this service. We see this in Europe with reference to the peacock and the parrakeet.

"The Secretary is found on all the arid plains in the neighbourhood of the Cape. I have found it in the east, on the whole line of coast, in Caffraria, and even far inland. But in the west, although this part of Africa presents deserts still more arid than those of the east, and although it consequently offers to the bird the different sorts of food which are congenial to it, I have never met with one beyond the country of the Great Namaquas. I will add only one word on this interesting animal: it has not the bill of a gallinaceous bird, as Vosmaer says it has; but a true bill of a bird of prey. Nor has it, as Buffon declares, the leg bare of feathers like the shore birds (oiseaux de rivage). For the rest, I refer to my 'Ornithology,' where I shall enter into greater details on the subject of the Secretary." (Le Vaillant, Second Voyage dans l'Intérieur de l'Afrique,' &c., tom. ii.) M. Lesson quotes the account of Mr. Smith, who relates that one day he saw a Secretary take two or three turns on the wing at a little distance from the place where he was. The bird soon settled, and Mr. Smith saw that it was attentively examining an object near the spot where it had descended. After approaching it with great precaution the Secretary extended one of its wings, which the bird continually agitated. Mr. Smith then discovered a large serpent raising its head, and appearing to wait the approach of the bird to dart upon it; but a quick blow of the wing soon laid it prostrate. The bird appeared to wait for the serpent's raising itself, in order to repeat the blow; but this the serpent, it seems, did not attempt, and the Secretary walking towards it, seized it with the feet and bill, and rose perpendicularly into the air, whence the bird let the serpent fall on the ground, so that it might be securely destroyed.

Gmelin placed the Secretary at the head of the genus Falco, immediately after the genus Vultur.

Duméril, Temminck, De Blainville, Latreille, Vigors, and Illiger place it in the order of Rapacious Birds.

Baron Cuvier arranges the form among the Falcons.
M. Vieillot places it among the Grallatores.

M. Lesson makes the third and last family of his Diurnal Birds of Prey consist of Gypogeranus; the first consists of the Vulturidæ, and the second of the Falconida.

Mr. Swainson makes the Secretary the third and last type of the family Vulturida.

Mr. Ogilby, at a meeting of the Zoological Society of London (July, 1835), observed that a Secretary (Gypogeranus) in Mr. Rendall's collection offered some peculiarities when compared with the common Cape animal, which at first induced Mr. Ogilby to believe that it might be a distinct species, and in this opinion he was in some degree confirmed by Mr. Gould; but he stated that a more attentive comparison of specimens from both localities (Mr. Rendall's having been sent from the Gambia), had considerably shaken his original opinion. Mr. Ogilby remarked however that still greater differences are indicated by Sonnerat in his figure and description of the Secretary of the Philippine Islands, and which, as far as the former was aware, had not been noticed by more recent naturalists. Whether or not the Secretaries of these three localities, the Cape of Good Hope, the Gambia, and the Philippines, may eventually turn out to be really distinct, or only varieties of the same species, must, he further remarked, be left for future observation; but, as it would be at least useful to direct the attention of travellers, collectors, and zoologists to the subject, he stated the principal marks which appeared to distinguish each, giving them provisionally specific names derived from the localities which they respectively inhabit as follows:

1. G. Capensis, with the plume of long cervical feathers commencing upon the occiput, spreading irregularly over the upper part of the neck, narrow throughout the greater part of their length, as if the beard had been cut on each side close into the shaft of the quill, and spreading only at the point. Inhabits the Cape of Good Hope.

2. G. Gambiensis, with the cervical crest commencing some distance below the occiput, arranged in two regular series, one on each side of the neck, with the intermediate space clear, and composed of long spatule-shaped feathers, much broader throughout than in the last species, though similarly decreasing in width towards the root. In both these species the two middle feathers of the tail are considerably longer than the others. Inhabits Senegambia.

3. G. Philippensis, with the cervical crest spread irregularly from the occiput to the bottom of the neck, the longest feathers being those situated the lowest, which is just the reverse of what is observed in G. Gambiensis, and with the two exterior tail-feathers the longest, so that the tail appears forked. This is apparent not only in Sonnerat's