对峙2
对峙2
简介
对峙2Elephas Indicus. Cuv.
The species to which the beautiful pair in the Menagerie belong has all the habits of its group. It is characterized by the clear fulvous brown colour of the upper surface of the body and outer side of the limbs, gradually becoming lighter on the under and inner surfaces, and deepening in its shade towards the tail, the greater part of which is nearly black. The muzzle and the hands are bluish black. The male has the whole of the forehead, the sides of the cheeks, and the under part of the lower lip covered with a white fur, which in the female is of a blackish gray and much less developed; her general colour is also of a lighter tinge. This remarkable difference would lead us to question the specific identity of the two animals, were we not assured by M. F. Cuvier that he had verified the fact by what is usually regarded as an unequivocal test. Mr. M’Leay has, however, thrown considerable doubt upon the accuracy of the inference thus attempted to be drawn, by exhibiting to the Linnean Society a female, in wh对峙2The foregoing description of the horns, it should be observed, is taken from those of the year before last, which were of the genuine or normal form. Those of the last year, which are represented in the cut prefixed, were from some cause or other remarkably different, that of the right side especially exhibiting a singular monstrosity in the production of additional branches of[189] irregular form. Whether this was the effect of disease or of advancing age, or whether it arose solely from some temporary and accidental cause, will probably be determined by the growth of the present year, which is not yet sufficiently advanced to enable us to ascertain its probable form.
正文预览
第2章 上了贼船
Ovis Aries. Linn.—Var. Guineensis.
If the Boas furnish the most terrible examples of the tremendous powers of destruction possessed by a few of that division of the Serpent tribe, whose bite is unattended with the effusion of venom, the Rattlesnakes afford a no less remarkable instance of the dreadful malignity of the poison with which others of the tribe are so abundantly supplied. This poison is secreted by a gland of considerable size situated beneath the eye, the excretory duct of which terminates on each side at the base of a long and tubular fang in the upper jaw, which is concealed while the animal is at rest in a fold of the gum, but is capable of being instantaneously[240] erected when he is irritated, and affords at the same time the means of inflicting the wound and of insinuating into it the deadly fluid with which it is charged. In the Rattlesnakes these two fangs are the only visible teeth implanted in the upper jaw; but behind each of them are several rudiments of others by which they are from time to time replaced. Their other
Plyctolophus sulphureus. Vieill.
ting addition having been made to the stock of the Menagerie by the acquisition of a couple of Spotted Hy?nas; a brief notice of which we subjoin, as well as their portraits by way of tail-piece, they having arrived during the progress of the present sheet through the press, and consequently too late for insertion in their proper place.
been the result of the dismemberment of this single group.
nd gives him that air of mild tranquillity, which, together with the dignified majesty of his deportment, has unquestionably contributed not a little towards the general impression of his amiable qualities.
Having in the preceding article terminated the series of Mammiferous Quadrupeds at present existing in the Tower Menagerie, we must next direct our attention to the illustration of the Birds, a Class which, although fully entitled to the second place in the arrangement of the Animal Kingdom, is separated by a wide and almost unoccupied interval from that which unquestionably claims the foremost rank.
Viverra Rasse. Horsf.
Happily the appetite of these gigantic snakes bears[238] no proportion to their means of gratifying it, as a full meal is uniformly succeeded by a state of torpor, which frequently lasts for a month or six weeks, or, during the cold season, even for a longer period. Those in the Tower, which are kept in a state of artificial warmth, usually feed about every five or six weeks, and a fowl or a rabbit generally suffices for a meal. These are held by the keeper within view of the serpent to ascertain whether he is inclined to take his prey or not. About three years ago Mr. Cops, while thus engaged in offering a fowl to one of the Boas, had nearly met with a serious accident; the snake, which was almost blind from the approaching change of its skin, missing the fowl, and seizing upon the keeper’s thumb instead, around which and its own head it instantaneously threw two coils, and then, as if surprised at the unexpected resistance, cast an additional fold round his neck, and fixed itself by its tail to one of the p
展开更多
