Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/685

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hiouthcd buccumm. 9. The ftriated buccinum with prickly nta, io. Ihe reticulated buccinum, with oblong tubercles. II. I he red-mouthed (potted buccinum, with an irresrularlv itnatcd clavicle. °

OF thofe -.buccina which have lefs erefl clavicles and crooked roltra, there are the following known fpecies: I. The rouoh tuccinum, called the Swifs-ftdl. 2 . The diftortion or gri- mace (hell, w.th a ftriated lip and columella. 3. The buccinum with its l.p elevated above the reft of the furface. 4. The (mooth-lippcd buccumm. 5. The fmoother bodied buccinum ■ thefe are ail of the grimace kind. 6. The rough buccinum, with elevated tubes or pipes. 7. The tuberous buccumm, ■with a donated wide mouth, and a long crooked and fur- lowed roftrum. S. The yellowifh tuberous ftriated bucci- num, with a deprefled clavicle, and with furrowed lips and ■columella. 9. The yellow buccinum, with an erect clavicle and a red mouth. 10. The ftriated buccinum, with. oblong tubercles, it. The ftriated gold-yellow buccinum-. 12. The buccinum with brown, yellow, and white ftria;. Hift. Nat. Eclair, p. 263.

It appears from the writings of the antients, that the famous purple dye, wh.ch they obtained from a (hcll-fifh was not pe- culiar to any one fpecies ; but was found in feveral of the imaller kinds of buccina ; fome of which they called murices, from the hollow fpincs, or long and (lender proceflts, which run in different directions from their (hells. Mr. Reaumur when on the coafts of Poitou, found certain eggs of fifties, arranged in regular order, and in great num- bers, on the rocks and faked banks, which had the fame property with the purple-dying liquor of the buccinum ; and which, as it is not yet known to what particular filh they be- long, or what ufes they may hereafter be brought to ferve, it may be proper to defcribe here.

Each egg is of an elliptic fpheroidal figure, the fmallcft part of which is about a twelfth of an inch in diameter, and the largeft about one fifth, and it is attached to the rock or fand by a pedicle refembling that of a fruit ; this is about a twelfth of an inch long, and a fouith part of its length in diameter. Ihe eggitfelf is hollow, and is filled with the ftaining li- quor ; its furface is only a membrane in the nature of parch- ment : at the end, oppofite to that where the pedicle is fixed, there is a hole or aperture, refembling the mouth of a glafs- bottle ; but that the liquor may not run out at this, it is flopped with a tranfpai-cnt fubftance, which ferves as a cork to it; this however is placed exaflly in a contrary dircftion to the corks of our bottles ; for the larger end is on the infide, io that all the force the included liquor can have on it, can be only to ftop up the mouth the more firmly: befide this alfo, it is cemented down all round by a fort of glue. This egg contains two liquors, the one white and the other yellow ; as the common eggs have their yolk and white : but the yellow liquor .n this, is not colic-Bed all into one body ; but fwims about freely in the white in eight diftina drops. I he glutinous liquor by which the pedicles of thefe eggs are fattened to the ftone or faud, is of fuch force, that it is not eafy to pull them off without breaking the eggs -, but by help of the thin blade of a knife, they may be taken off •without injury. As there are always a great number of the lucernes of the fmaller kinds, about the places where thefe eggs are found, Mr. Reaumur was led to believe that they were the eggs of this fifth ; in favour of which fuppofition, the colour they afford in common with that fifh, is alfo no final] argument ; what made this opinion appear lefs probable to him, was the largenefs of thefe e™ s in proportion to thofe n"'u i butwe arc fo wdl affiled of the largenefs of many men-fifties e gg s > >n proportion to their own fize, that this feems but a weak argument againft fo 'probable an opinion Mem. Acad. Par. 171 1.

Pliny feems to derive the name buccinum from buccina, a kind of mufical inftrument-' ; but it is more probable that inftru- ment took its name from the (hell to which it bore a refem- blance, and of which it might probably have been anticntly made ».— [> Plin. Hift. Nat. 1. 9. c. 36. b Phil. Tranf. N». 282. p. 1277.]

Buccina are of fome ufe in phvfic; when calcined they have a drying cauftic quality. Lifter., Ap. Phil. Tranf. No. 197. p. 645. See Tab. of Shells, N 3 . 9. and Tab. of Follils, Clafs 9.

Buccinum lapiiofum is a figured ftone, fhaped like the former and probably only a petrifaction of the fllcll above-mentioned Mcrcat. Metalloth. Arm. 9. loc. 36. c. 33. p. 301. Ray fpeaks of a buccinum which not only petrified, hut after petrifaction was converted into a pyrites. Ray, Phil. Lett p. 202. See Pyrites, Cycl. and Suppl.

TRUMPETER, {Cycl.) in zoology, a name given in En- land, to a particular (pedes of pigeon, called by Moore the columba tibicen. This fpecies is of the middle fize of the common pigeon,

■ and made conliderably like it ; but it is pearly-eyed ; is of a mottled black, and is feathered down the le a s and feet, and is turn-crowned like the nun, and fome of the other fpecies ; fometimes like the finnikin, but much larger : this feems to be the beft fort as being the moft melodfous. The heft cha- laacr to know them by, is a tuft of feathers growing at ihe SuPPi,. Vol. It.

.TRU

robt of the Beak; and the larger this tuft is, tlic more flier are efteemed. I he reafon of their name is, that they imi- tate in their cooing the found of the trumpet; but to be often entertained with their melody, it is neceffary to feed them frequently with hemp-feed: Moore's Columbarium, p. 45.

Trumpeter, in a man of war, one whofe office is always to at- tend the captain's command, and be ready at the entertain- ment of ftrangers. In the time of an engagement his proper

_ ^ftatinn is on the poop.

TRUNGIBIN, in natural hiftory, a name given by Rawwolf, Tournefort, and others ; to a fort of manna collefted from the alhcigi mamorum, as the common manna is from theafh ; and ufed in the eaftem parts of the world as a purge. It is what we call the manna perjicum, and tho' in itlelf a very fine and clean kind of manna, yet it is ufually fo carelefly collefled, and mixed with lo much filth, that it requires to be given in three times the dofe of ours, in order to purge,' The name feems very evidently to be a corruption of the Urcniabin or leren-jabm of the Arabians, which was the word ufed by alt

article Leaf.

, hollow, flen-

der, and oblong body ; joined to the fore-part of the heads of many infefls, and ferving them for fucking the blood or juices of the animals or vegetables, on which they feed. ' The Trunks of flies ferve for diftinguifhing many genera of thofe little animals, from their different form and other accidents. Some of thefe arc a tube formed all of one Am- ple piece, and others compofed of feveral (horter pieces, nicely joined together : fome are thin and as it were ftlelly, others thick and fleftiy ; thofe of fome flies are terminated by a fort of broad foot, or by a fort of thick lips ; and thofe of others have no lips, or at leaft no fenfible ones ; and others are made in form of a fpiudle hollowed at the end. It is often neceffary to have recourfe to the microfcope, to diftmguifh with nicety and exaftnefa between thefe ; and how ind.ed is it poffible to do any thing without the help of glafles, in the diftinflions of the parts of animals, the whole bodies of which are fo very minute.

Without the afliftance of glafles, however, it is eafy to diftin- guilh among the flies of different genera, three different man- ners of carrying this organ when in a ftate of inaflion. Many dies have Trunks which they can molten, when they are not ufing them ; thefe are fixed in the fore-part of the creature's head, where there is a cavity deftined to receive them when they are not in ufe. In many fpecies, this cavity is no more than a mere finus or hole, in the fore-part of the head ? but in others it is more nicely contrived, the anterior part of the head lengthening itfelf, and forming a kind of arched vault fur its reception. Other flies hzveTrunks, which in the time of inaction are turned, or fomewhat folded from above down- wards j the Trunks of bees are of this kind. Ibid. There are others alfo, which have their Trunks contained en- tirely in a fort of cafe, where they lie ftrait at length, with- out being either turned or folded ; but they arc able to en- cline them in any direction, in regard to the pofition of their legs : of this kind are the Trunks of the cicada:, gnats, bV. Among the butterfly clafs, a great number are furnifhed with | a Trunk ; but there are alfo a great number that have it not : the fly of the filk-worm, and many, as well larger as fmaller kinds, are without this, (as it feems necefl'ary) organ,' by which they fuck the juices from flowers; and which is the only way of their taking in nnurifhment. Thofe fpecies which have it, ftiew it to the firft view ; it is placed in the middle of the head directly between the two eyes. And tho' in feveral fpecies it is very long, yet it takes up even in thefe but very little room ; when it is not in ufe, ic.is always rolled up in a fpiral form, in the manner of the fpring of a' watch ; and even the fliorteft of them are thus turned as well as the longeft. Some of them make only one or two turns of this kind, others of a middling length make four ; and finally the longeft of all frequently make eight turns. In the rolled ftate, we can fee only a fmall part of one of the outer turns of the fpiral ; the origin and extremity, with a great part of the intermediate fpires, being hid under a remarkable fort of hood or mitre; which is formed of two hairy bodies, follow- ing the contour of the eyes, and arifing from their under-part in form of pieces of the fkin of fome animal, with the hair upon it. Thefe are moveable at the pleafure of the animal, and feem intended by nature only as a cafe, for the defence of this tender and Decenary organ to the creature. Reaumur* Hift. Inf. vol. 1. P.i. p. 287.

T Ins is the cafe in moft of the fpecies, but in fome others the office of thefe hairy bodies is fupplied by two rounded and very prominent parrs, which in the fame manner follow the contour of the lower part of the eyes, and fill up a great part of rhe frent of the head ; leaving only a fort of channel or furrow between them as a place for the Trunk. Thefe parts the French naturalifts call the beards of the but- terflies, and in fome fpecies they are of a very Angular figure ; extremely different from thofe which have been here defcribed . If one is defirous to know in what manner this Trunk is ufed, he need only follow a butterfly to a flower, and there ob- fcrve its motions. As foon as it is fettled on the verge, it un- Y y y y rols