Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/431

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the trapezia, and by Alblnus the cucullaris. Cowper calls it the trapezius, or cucullaris. See Trapezius. SCAPUS, among botanifts, a peculiar kind of Salfc, which fupports the parts of fructification of a plant. It does not grow from any part of the main ftalk, but rifes immediately from the root. See Stalk. SCAR crow, in zoology, the name of a bird of the larus, or fea gull kind, called by authors larus niger, or the black gull, and by the Germans brandvogel and meyvogcl. It is a very long winged bird, and is all over black, and of the fize of the common blackbird. Its legs are fhort and red. It is common about the fea coafts, and feeds on infects. It is a well rafted bird. Rays Ornithol. p. 296. SCARAB./EUS, the beetle. This is an extremely numerous genus of infects; and in order to have a diftinct idea of the differences of the fpecies, they are arranged by Lifter into a fort of method. The firft general diftinction is into thofe which live on land, and thofe which live in the water; of each of which there is a very great number. Thofe beetles which live on land have fome of them antennae laminated at the end, others have them fharp pointed. The outer wings, or cafes of the wings, in fome are perfect, in others they feem mutilated. Some have the antennae inferred into a fort of promufcis. Thefe were called by the antients gur- guliones, and in fome there is only one juncture in this, in the middle, in others feveral near the end. Some have a fharp pointed inftrument at their head ; thefe are called ci- mtces. See the article ClMEX.

Of the water beetles there arc two principal kinds, one fort living in fait water, the other in frefh.

Of thofe beetles, the extremity of whofe antenna; are formed like a comb, there are ten fpecies mentioned by Mr. Ray. 1. The great reddifh beetle with the tail bending downwards, known among us under the name of the chaffer. This is too well known to need a defcription; it is common among trees and bufhes at the end of May, and feems particularly fond of the maple. 2. The greyifh yellow woolly beetle. This Teems nearly allied to the former fpecies, but is but about half as big. Thefe are very common in the fouthern parts of England in the month of June ; they fly about elms in vaft (warms; they are very rare in the northern counties. 3. The greenifh black beetle with reddifh. brown cafes of the wings. This is of the fize of a horfe bean, and is found among rofe trees in May. 4. The great purplifh black beetle with ferrated legs. This is one of our largeft beetles, and is very common on heaths, and in other places, in the month of March ; it flies about in the evening, and makes a great noife ; it is ufually infefted with a great number of yellow lice, and is thence called the loufy beetle. 5. The large black beetle with two yellow undulated fafciae on the cafes of the wings. This is fometimes found without the fafcias ; it fometimes flies, but rarely. It is found about hu- man dung, and probably feeds on.it, for it has always a very ftrong fcent of it. 6. The green beetle with red cafes for the wings. This is about the fize of a horfe bean, and is found in woods in the month of June. 7. The fmall beetle, called the ladybird. 8. The lady bird with only two large black fpots, one on each of the cafes of the wings. This is common among bufhes in the beginning of June. 9. The yellow beetle with black fpots. This is much fmaller than the lady bird; its colour is a pale yellow, or lemon colour, and it has tour black fpots, of an oblong fquare fi- gure, on the cafes of the wings. 10. The reddifh beetle with two fpots on the moulders, and feven white marks on each of the cafes of the wings. This is about the fize of the com- mon lady bird, and is found in June near rivers, among the jufhes, and in cyperus graffes. Ray's Hift. Infect, p. 384. Of thofe beetles which have antennae terminating in flender points, there are a great number of fpecies, which may be fubdivided into fome other general claffes : fome of them have whole and perfect cafes to their wings, and have long horns; thefe are by fome called Capricorn beetles; of thefe there are feveral fpecies. See the article Capricorn. Some beetles are covered with a very hard crufr, and have fcarce any wings underneath it. Thefe are generally very flow creepers, and of thefe we have in England three fpecies. 1. The fhort purplifh black beetle with gibbous moulders. This feems to be the fame with the cat beetle, or fcarabams feliformis of Mouffet, and others. This is not unfrequently found on heaths in March, and at that time is often found in coitu. The male is confiderably fmaller than the female. This creature feeds on the yellow gallium, and when fa- tigued will carl out at its mouth a yellowifh liquor, which is of a pungent tafte like pepper. 2. The flow (linking black beetle, called the blatta fart'ula by Pliny and others. This is of a deep dufky black colour, not at all glo(Ty or •mining. This is common in cellars, and other damp places, in the month of April. 3. The great purplifh beetle with a caft of green. This is common in gardens, and in April is always infefted with a great number of lice. Some beetles which have wings very rarely ufe them, but run , very fwiftly along the ground ; of thefe we have two fpecies common among us. 1. The black beetle with fulcatcd wings. This is a very common infect, and is frequent in path- Suppl. Vol. II.

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ways in April. 1. The black beetle with ftriated wings, and with yellow legs and horns. This alfo is common in path- ways in fummer.

All thefe beetles have the antennae laminated at the ends. Of the other kind, which have them go off to a flender and taper point, there are alfo many kinds : of thefe fome have only Chore cafes for their wings, as if they had been cutoff" near the root. The general characters of this clafs of beetles are, that they have oblong and flender bodies, and have two appendages forming a kind of fork at the tail. Of this kind are the common earwig, or forficub, and the fta- phylinus, which is a large and long black beetle, with a fharp fork at its tail, and with a naked body. It is of a deep and dufky black, not at all gloffy ; it has very large yellow wings, folded under the fmall thecse on the back; it turns up its tail in a threatning pofture when attempted to be caught, and throws out a fort of white bladders at it ; it runs very nimbly, and is a very voracious creature, feed- ing on other beetles, or on any infects it can catch. Some beetles are all over foft, and have no membranaceous wings. The bodies of thefe beetles feem covered with a cruftaceous fubftance, but it is foft, and yields to the pref- fure of the finger like a bladder; thefe all eat herbaceous or vegetable food; we have two fpecies of them. 1. The oil beetle, a bluifh black fhining beetle, called ptofcarabaits by Mouffet. This is found in meadows in great abundance, and feeds on the leaves of feme of the fpecies of ranunculus.

2. The fhort legged black fmooth beetle. This has fcarce any antenna?, and when tired, rolls itfelf up into a round ball. This is found in May feeding on the aperine, or common cleaver^; but Lifter fufpects whether this be not a worm ftate of fome beetle, rather than a perfect beetle.

Some beetles have long heads, fhaped like the trunks of other infects, and in thefe the horns are lodged : thefe were call- ed by the antients gurgulibnes, Ray's Hift. Infect, p. 391. See the article Gurgulio.

Some' beetles have a forceps at the head, Indented on each fide in the manner of a faw. Of this kind we have only one known fpecies in England ; this is the green beetle with ten white fpots on the cafes of the wings. This is found in June in the northern parts of England. It is a very vora- cious animal, deftroying great numbers of other infects, par- ticularly caterpillars.

Some beetles have a very remarkable property of leaping, and this of a very peculiar kind ; for they do not leap, like other infects, by means of their hinder legs, but by means of their breaft. There are forric general marks by which this genus of beetles may be diftin^uifhed from others; thefe are, 1. they are always of an oblong and flatted figure. 2. Their head is always joined in a very nice manner to the moulders.

3. Their legs are extremely fhort and flender.

Of this kind of beetles wchave in England only two known fpe- cies. 1. The chefnut coloured leaping beetle. This is found frequently in corn-fields, and elie where. 2. The greenifh black beetle with horns pectinated on one fide. This is a fcarce fpecies, but is found in dry places in March. Ray's Hift. Infect:, p. 3S7. ScARABiEUS, in ichthyology, a name given by Gaza to that fpecies of fparv.s, which is called by others the cantbsrus. It is diftinguifhed by Artfidi, by the name of the filver eyed fparus with yellow longitudinal and parallel lines on the fides. See the article Sparus. ScARAEiEUS tardipes, the Jlow beetle. We have a very lingu- lar account of the longevity of this animal, and that with- out food, given by Mr. Baker from his own obfervation. In the year 1737 he found feveral beetles of this kind plung- ing themfelves in the mud at the bottom of an old ciftern ; thefe were about an inch in length, and of a rufty black colour, and had long jointed antennas: they had no wings, but only a thick fhell, covering the whole body, and di- vided along the middle with a fiffurc, refembling the meet- ing of the two cafe wings in other beetles ; the tail turned up a little, and the legs were long, but moved (lowly. Mr. Baker chufing one of the largeft of thefe, threw it into a cup of fpirit of wine, in a little time it appeared to be dead, and was fhut up in a fmall box, and laid by, but fome months after it was found alive and well : it was then plunged again into fpirits of wine, and left a much longer time; and after being taken out as dead, and put in the fame box again for fome time, when it was found again come to life. It had now twice efcaped from being plunged in fpirits, and lived three months (hut up without any fuftenance. After this the beetle was kept a month or two without fuftenance under a glafs, and at the end of this time again put into fpirit of wine, and left there a whole night ; after this, however, it again recovered, and feemed the next day as well as before. He lived, in the whole, two years and an half, without any vifible food or drink. Several things were at times offered him by way of food, as bread, fruits, &'c. and water fet in his way, but he never touched either. It feems very probable that this creature received a fufticient nourifhment from the particles floating in the air ; I and it is very poflible that lizards, makes, &c. when they live fo long without any vifible food, are fuppUed in the fame Z z z man-