highly animal condition," &c. &c. "It is worthy of remark, that very lately the Ascidians have again played a part in that much-vexed question of the distinction between animals and vegetables." This part of the subject is pursued, with much ability, in the work from which the foregoing is extracted, and to which we beg to refer our readers. TUNNY. (Thynnus vulgaris.) This Acanthopterygious fish has been known and celebrated from a very remote period, and at present forms a valuable source of profit to the inhabitants of the northern coasts of the Mediterranean and the island of Sicily, where in the summer season they resort in vast shoals, and are taken in large nets, or by means of what the Italians call the tonnaro. Though bearing a general resemblance to the Mackerel in form, it is a far larger and stouter fish. Each jaw is furnished with a row of small sharp-pointed teeth, slightly curved inwards; the tongue and inside of the mouth very dark coloured; the cheeks are covered with long, narrow, pointed scales; the operculum smooth the dorsal and anal fins are each followed by nine small finlets; and the tail is crescentshaped. The upper part of the body is very dark blue; the belly a light gray, spotted with silvery white: the first dorsal fin, pectorals, and ventrals, black; the second dorsal and anal, nearly flesh-colour, with a silvery tint; the finlets above and below yellowish, tipped with black. Mr. Yarrell, quoting the MS. of Mr. Couch, states that "the Tunny TUPAIA. A genus of remarkable insectivorous animals, of which there are only three species at present known, and these are found in Sumatra and Java. Their habits are diurnal, and they feed on fruit and insects; but instead of being decidedly terrestrial, they lead the life of Squirrels, whose appearance they greatly resemble, and whose sprightliness and activity they almost rival. They have soft glistening hair and a long bushy tail; and were it not for their long, pointed muzzle, they could not be easily distinguished at a distance from Squirrels. The name of Banxring is as often given to this animal as Tupaia. TURBO TURBINIDÆ. A genus and family of Gasteropodous Mollusca, characterized by having a shell of a regular turbinated form, with an entire and rounded mouth. The largest and perhaps the best-known species is the Turbo marmoratus; but there are numerous others; and we cannot, perhaps, give a clearer or more interesting account of the genus than is to be found in the "Popular Conchology" of Agnes Catlow: "Shell rather turretted, base not flattened; mouth round; lips not united; outer lip thin; an operculum, shelly and solid. Animal, head having two pointed tentacula, with eyes at the base; foot short. Thirty-four species recent, and four fossil. The shells of this genus, if placed upon their mouths, will stand steadily in that position, with the axis very much inclined. They are brought from China, India, Africa, &c. The Turbo TUNNY. (TAYNNUS VULGARIS.) littoreus, or common Periwinkle, is used by mankind as an article of food, and is found appears on the Cornish coast in summer and on the shores of England in great numbers. autumn; but is not often taken, because it In Sweden, where they also abound, they does not swallow a bait, or at least the serve to prognosticate the approaching state fishermen use no bait that is acceptable to of the weather; the peasants having observed it; and its size and strength seldom suffer that whenever the periwinkles ascend the it to become entangled in their nets. It rocks it is a sure sign of a storm being near, feeds on Pilchards, Herrings, and perhaps as their instinct teaches them to place themmost other small fishes; but the Skipper selves out of the reach of the dashing of the (Esox saurus) seems to be a favourite prey; waves; on the contrary, when they make a for it not only compels it to seek another descent upon the sand it is an indication of element for safety, but will also spring to a a calm. In hot countries some species are considerable height after it, usually across often seen on the trees near the coast, and its course, at the same time attempting to on the rocks elevated above the surface of strike down its prey with its tail." the water; they remain stationary on the The Tunny sometimes acquires an im- latter during the hottest hours, even when it mense size, some having been taken which is painful to walk on them from their great measured nine feet in length, and weighed heat: they leave the water early in the five hundred pounds: the specimens, how-morning, but return at night. These cirever, do not usually exceed from three to four feet. The flesh is considered very delicious, though very solid food; as firm as Sturgeon, but of a finer flavour. It is dressed in a variety of ways in France; served as a ragout, as soup, plain broiled or fried, made into pies, or pickled and eaten cold, as we eat pickled salmon. [See BONITO.] cumstances prove that, although marine, many species are amphibious. These shells are often highly iridescent; and the mouth in some species, as the Turbo chrysostomus, is of a deep and beautiful golden colour." TURBOT. (Pleuronectes maximus.) Of all our Flatfishes this is both the best and one of the largest; and when we consider that the number brought to Billingsgate market alone amounts to about 90,000 in one year, it will be seen that, although they are sometimes scarce and dear, the piscivorous epicures of the metropolis need be under no apprehension of being deprived of such de-sembling an ecl, called the Gore-bill (Garlicious fare. The Turbot is an inhabitant of the Northern and Mediterranean seas, where it often arrives at a very large size. TORBOT. (PLEURONECTES MAXIMUS) warm weather has driven the fish into deeper water, and upon banks of a rougher surface, where trawling is no longer practicable, the fishermen have then recourse to their manyhooked lines. The hooks are baited with the common Smelt, and a small fish refish]. Though very considerable quantities of this fish are now taken on various parts of our own coasts, from the Orkneys to the Land's End, yet a preference is given in the London market to those caught by the Dutch, who are supposed to have drawn not less than 80,000l. a year for the supply of this market alone; and the Danes from 12,000l. to 15,000l. a year for sauce to this luxury of the table, extracted from one million of lobsters, taken on the rocky shores of Norway,-though our own shores are in many parts plentifully supplied with this crustacean, equal in goodness to those of Norway." TURDUS: TURDIDE. A genus and family of Passerine birds, embracing the various species of Thrushes, &c. [See THRUSH.] The TURKEY. (Meleagris gallipavo.) It has a broader and squarer form than any rica, where it still associates in large flocks, Turkey came originally from North Ameothers of the genus; and is of a dark brown though it is fast decreasing in its wild state, on the upper surface, marbled with blackish being only found in remote and unfrespots of different sizes; and white beneath: quented spots. It is about three feet and a the scales are so small as to be scarcely ob- half in length; being somewhat larger than servable, but the skin is of a wrinkled ap- the domestic variety. The general colour of pearance, and covered with pretty numerous the plumage is black, variegated with bronze and moderately large pointed tubercles or and bright glossy green, in some parts abrupt spines, those on the upper or coloured changing to purple: the quills are green side being far larger than those on the undergold, black towards the end, and tipped with side: the lateral line forms an arch over the pectoral fins, and from thence runs straight to the tail. It generally lies in deep water, preying on worms, crustacea, and marine insects, as well as on small fishes: it is taken in great quantities about the northern coasts of England, as well as those of France, Holland, &c., and is baited for with pieces of herring, haddock, &c., but more particularly with the river lamprey, vast quantities of which are said to be purchased of our fishermen by the Dutch. It is stated in the Encyclopædia Britannica, that "The only fishery, perhaps, which neither the Scotch nor the English follow up with the same success as the Dutch, is that of the Turbot; the finest of which are supposed to be taken upon the Flemish banks. The Turbot fishery begins about the end of March, when the Dutch fishermen assemble a few leagues to the south of Scheveling. As the warm weather approaches, the fish gradually advance to the northward, and during the months of April and May they are found in great shoals on the banks called the Broad Forties. Early in June they have proceeded to the banks which surround the small island of Heligoland, off the mouth of the Elbe, where the fishery continues to the middle of August, when it terminates for the year. The mode of taking the Turbot is as follows:- At the beginning of the season the trawl-net is used; which being drawn along the banks, brings up various kinds of Flatfish, as Soles. Plaice, Thornbacks, and Turbots; but when the white; the tail consists of eighteen feathers. brown, mottled, and tipped with black; the tail-coverts are waved with black and white: on the breast is a tuft of black hairs, eight TURKEY. (MELEAGRIS GALLIPATO.) inches in length: in other respects it resembles the domestic bird, especially in having a bare carunculated head and neck, a fleshy dilatable appendage hanging over the bill, and a short blunt spur or knob at the back part of the leg. Tame Turkeys, like every other animal in a state of domestication, vary consider ably in colour, but the prevailing one is dark gray, inclining to black, with a little white towards the end of the feathers; some are black and white; others perfectly white; there is also a beautiful variety of a fine deep copper colour, with the greater quills pure white, and the tail of a dirty white: but in all of them the tuft of black hair on the breast is prevalent. The young males do not put out the tuft on the breast till they are about three years old. Great numbers are bred in Norfolk, Suffolk, and other counties, whence they are driven to the London markets in flocks of several hundreds. The drivers manage them with facility, by means of a bit of red rag tied to a long rod, which, from the antipathy these birds bear to that colour, effectually drives them forward. The females lay their eggs in the spring, generally in a retired and obscure place, as the male will often break them. They are usually from fourteen to eighteen in number, white mixed with reddish or yellow freckles: the female sits with so much perseverance, that if fresh eggs be introduced into the nest immediately upon the young being hatched, she will long continue the business of incubation; but in this climate she has seldom more than one hatch in a season. Young Turkeys require great care in rearing, being subject to a variety of diseases from cold, rain, and dews; but as soon as they are sufficiently strong, the hen abandons them entirely, and they are capable of enduring the utmost rigour of our winters. The motions of the male, when agitated with desire, or inflamed with rage, are very similar to those of the Peacock: he erects his tail, and spreads it like a fan, whilst his wings droop and trail on the ground, and he utters at the same time a dull, hollow sound; he struts round and round with a solemn pace, assumes all the dignity of the most majestic of birds, and every now and then bursts out abruptly into a most unmusical gurgle. The familiar name of this bird, it is said, originated in an erroneous idea that it originally came from Turkey. The OCELLATED TURKEY. (Meleagris ocellata.) This magnificent species is a native of Honduras, whence it has been brought alive to this country and preserved in the aviary of the Earl of Derby. It is a much more splendid bird than the common Turkey, and among other characters may be distinguished by the eye-like marks on the tail and upper coverts. TURKEY BUZZARD. (Cathartes aura.) This is a rapacious bird belonging to the Vulturidae family, and often called the TURKEY VULTURE. It inhabits a vast range of territory in the warmer parts of the American continent, but in the northern and middle states of the Union it is partially migratory, the greater part retiring to the south on the approach of cold weather. The Turkey Buzzard is two feet and a half in length, and with wings extended upwards of six feet in breadth. The bill from the corner of the mouth is almost two inches and a half long, of a dark horn colour for upwards of an inch from the tip, the nostril a remarkably wide slit or opening through it: the tongue is concave, cartilaginous, and finely serrated on its edges; eyes dark, and bright; the head and neck are furnished with a reddish wrinkled skin, beset with short black hairs; from the hind head to the neck feathers the space is covered with down of a sooty black colour; the fore part of the neck is bare as far as the breast-bone, the skin on the lower part or pouch very much wrinkled, but is not discernible without removing the plumage which arches over it; the whole lower parts, lining of the wings, rump, and tail-coverts, are of a sooty brown; the plumage of the neck is large and tumid, and, with that of the back and shoulders, black; the scapulars and secondaries are black on their outer webs, skirted with brown, and the latter slightly tipped with white; primaries plain brown: coverts of the secondaries tawny brown, centred with TURKEY BUZZARD.-(OATEARTES AURA.) black. The tail is twelve inches long, rounded, and of a brownish black; inside of wings and tail, light ash. The whole body and neck beneath the plumage are thickly clothed with a white down; the plumage of the neck, back, shoulders, scapulars, and secondaries, is glossed with green and bronze, and has purple reflections; the thighs are feathered to the knees; feet considerably webbed middle toe three inches and a half in length; claws dark horn colour; legs pale flesh colour. Much contention has arisen between certain naturalists with respect to the olfactory powers possessed by this bird; and there are some very amusing strictures on this subject in Mr. Waterton's Essays, in which the writer (who is a warm advocate for its existence in a high degree) seems to have by far the best of the argument. It appears. however, that their food is carrion, in search after which they are always soaring in the air. They continue a long time on the wing, and with an easy swimming motion mount and fall, without any visible motion of their wings. They have a wonderful sagacity (says Catesby) in smelling; no sooner is there a dead beast, but they are seen approaching from all quarters of the air, wheeling about and gradually descending and drawing nigh their prey, till at length they fall upon it. They are generally thought not to prey on any thing living, though I have known them kill lambs, and snakes are their usual food. Their custom is to roost many of them together on tall dead pine or cypress trees, and in the morning continue several hours on their roost, with their wings spread open, that the air, as I believe, may have the greater influence to purify their filthy carcasses. They are little apprehensive of danger, and will suffer a near approach, especially when eating. In Mr. Darwin's Journal we read that "the Turkey-buzzard is a solitary bird, or, at most, goes in pairs. It may at once be recognized from a long distance by its lofty, soaring, and most elegant flight. It is well known to be a true carrion-feeder. On the west coast of Patagonia, among the thicklywooded islets and broken land, it lives exclusively on what the sea throws up, and on the carcasses of dead scals. Wherever these animals are congregated on the rocks, there the Vultures may be seen. . . . They certainly may be called gregarious, for they seem to have pleasure in society, and are not solely brought together by the attraction of a common prey. On a fine day a flock may be observed at a great height, each bird wheeling round and round without closing its wings, in the most graceful evolutions. This is clearly done for sport sake, or perhaps is connected with their matrimonial alliances." This bird is also abundantly found in Jamaica, where it goes by the name of the John Crow Vulture. Its history is given in Mr. Gosse's entertaining volume, from which we shall make a few extracts. The first relates to the disputed question of scent. Those who ascribe the power which the Vulture possesses of discerning from a distance its carrion food, to the sense of seeing or the sense of smelling, exclusively, appear to me to be both in error. It is the two senses, exerted sometimes singly, but generally unitedly, which give the facility which it possesses of its appropriate food from far distancing shall relate one or two occurrences which seem to me to be instances in which the sense of seeing and the sense of smelling were soinetimes separately and sometimes unitedly exerted by the Vulture in quest for food. "A poor German immigrant, who lived alone in a detached cottage in this town, rose from his bed after a two days' confinement by fever, to purchase in the market some fresh meat for a little soup. Before he could do more than prepare the several ingredients of herbs and roots, and put his meat in water for the preparation of his pottage, the paroxysm of fever had returned, and he laid himself upon his bed exhausted. Two days elapsed in this state of helplessness and inanition by which time the mass of meat and pot-herbs had putrefied. The stench becoming very perceptible in the neighbourhood, Vulture after Vulture as they sailed past were observed always to descend to the cottage of the German, and to sweep round, as if they had tracked some putrid carcass, but failed to find exactly where it was. This led the neighbours to apprehend that the poor man lay dead in his cottage, as no one had seen him for the two days last past. His door was broken open; he was found in a state of helpless feebleness, but the room was most insuffer ably offensive from something putrefying, | which could not immediately be found, for the fever having deprived the German of his wits, he had no recollection of his uncooked mess of meat and herbs. No one imagining that the kitchen pot could contain any thing offensive, search was made every where but in the right place: at last the pot-lid was lifted, and the cause of the insupportable stench discovered in the corrupted sonp-i meat. Here we have the sense of smelling directing the Vultures, without any assistance from the sense of sight, and discovering unerringly the locality of the putrid animal matter, when even the neighbours were at fault in their patient search." The next instance is one in which the senses of hearing, seeing, and smelling were all exercised; but not under the influence of the usual appetite for carrion food, but where the object was a living, though a wounded animal. "A person in the neighbourhood of the town, having his pastures much trespassed on by vagrant hogs, resorted to his gun to rid himself of the annoyance. A pig which had been mortally wounded, and had run squealing and trailing his blood through the grass, had not gone far before it fell in the agonies of death. At the moment the animal was perceived to be unable to rise, three Vultires at the same instant descended upon it, attracted no doubt by the cries of the dying pig, and by the scent of its reeking blood; and while it was yet struggling for life, began to tear open its wounds and devour it." Mr. Gosse further says, that the common opinion is erroneous, which attributes to the Vulture a confinement of appetite to flesh in a state of decomposition. Flesh is his food; and that he does not pounce upon living prey like the falcons, is because his structure is not adapted for predatory warfare, and not because he refuses recent, and even living flesh when in his power. If the John Crow Vulture discovers a weakling new-born pig apart from the rest, he will descend, and seizing it with his beak, will endeavour to drag it away; its cries of course bring the mother, but before she can come, the Vulture gives it a severe | nip across the back, which soon ensures the pig for his own maw. If a large hog be lying in a sick condition beneath a tree, the Vulture will not hesitate to pick out its eyes, having first muted upon the body, that it may discover whether the animal be able to rise; the contact of the hot faces arousing the hog if he be not too far gone. Cattle also he will attack under similar circumstances." The Aura Vultures are often to be observed soaring in companies, particularly previous to a thunder-storm. This occurrence is commonly remarked, because at almost all other times this species is seen solitary, or, at most, scouring the country in pairs. They appear to delight in the hurly solution may be made by dissolving one pound of hard soap in twelve gallons of the soap-suds left after washing. Köllar very highly recommends watering the leaves of plants with an infusion of wormwood, which prevents the flea-beetles from touching them. Sprinkling with road-dust also, while the young plants are still wet with dew, is also strongly recommended. TURNIX. A genus of Gallinaceous birds the Quails, containing closely allied to burly of transient equalls, gathering together, and sweeping round in oblique circles, as the fitful gust favours them with an opportunity of rising through the blast, or winging onwards through the misty darkness of the storm. The effect which this imparts to a tropical landscape at a time when thick clouds are upon the mountains, and all vegetation is bending beneath the sudden rush of the tempest, as gust gathers louder and louder, is particularly wild and exciting. Ordinarily, however, in the evening, when the sea-breeze is lulling, and the fading day-several species, one of which (T. Andalusica), beam is changing like the hues of the dying this country; to which it is a very rare and the Andalusian Quail, has been shot in dolphin, they delight to congregate, and career at an immense height. At this time stray visitor. they soar so loftily, that they are scarcely discernible as they change their position in wheeling from shade into light, and from light into shade. They seem as if they rose upward to follow the fading daylight, and to revel in the departing sunbeams, as, one after the other, the varying lines are withdrawn, or irradiate only the upper heavens." TURNIP-FLEA. (Haltica nemorum.) The generic description of this small Coleopterous insect will be found under the article HALTICIDE, which refers to the "flea-beetles" generally. The Turnip fles, or more properly Turnip Flea-beetle, is one of these HALTICE, which lays waste our turnipfields, devouring the seed-leaves of the plants as soon as they appear above the ground, and continuing their ravages upon new crops throughout the summer. It is stated in Young's Annals of Agriculture,' that the loss in Devonshire alone, in one season, from the destruction of the turnip crops by this little insect, was estimated at one hundred thousand pounds sterling. We could scarcely believe that so small a creature was capable of causing perceptible injury to vegetation; but what these beetles want in size, is made up by their numbers and voracity; the extent of the injury is also much increased by the circumstance of their attacking, when young, many vegetables, and not gnawing the young leaves, like most other insects, only on the edge, but eating their surface, piercing them like a sieve, and disturbing the cellular tissue; thus preventing their growth, and finally causing the total destruction of the plant. The ravages of the Turnip Fea-beetle have naturally attracted great attention, and have caused many and various experiments to be tried with a view of checking them. The chief object of the farmer should be to accelerate as much as possible the growth of the turnip as soon as it appears above ground, and to keep the insects from the crop until the plants are in the rough leaf, when they are secure from danger. Many practical men consider that the careful and systematic use of lime will, in a great degree, obviate the evil, and indeed there is good reason to expect that it will effectually protect plants from the various kinds of fleabeetles, if dusted over them, when wet with dew, in proper season. Watering plants with alkaline solutions, it is said, will kill the insects without injuring the plants. The TURNSTONE. (Strepsilas interpres.) A small Grallatorial bird, met with in almost every part both of the northern and southern hemispheres. They reside on the sea shores, and on the gravelly borders of lakes and rivers; are most abundant in the northern parts of Europe, less frequent in the temperate regions, and extremely rare to the south. The Turnstones have a short bill, thick at the base, and narrowing gradually to the point; and with this they turn over the stones on the sea-shore, in quest of the small molluscous and crustaceous animals which they feed. They breed in high latitudes, and migrate towards the tropics for the winter season; visiting our shores in August, and departing towards the north in the spring. They lay four eggs of an olive colour, spotted with black. on TURRILITES. A genus of fossil shells, They occurring only in the chalk marl. are spiral and turreted; whorls contiguous and apparent; septa sinuous and lobate, perforated by a siphon; aperture rounded, with the outer lip expanded. TURRITELLA. A genus of Mollusca, the shell of which is very long, and pointed at the apex, with numerous whorls, usually transversely striped; aperture round; lips thin, and disunited at the upper part; operculum horny. The animal is furnished with two long tentacula, with eyes at the base. The shells of this genus are all marine, and many of the species found in the Eastern scas attain a very large size, but none are known to possess vertical ribs or thickened bands. There are about a dozen species recent, and as many fossil. TURTLE. (Chelonia.) The Marine Tortoises, or Turtles (Chelonida), as they are usually called, differ from the Testitudinata, or Land Tortoises, in many essential points, although their exterior, like that of the latter, is composed of a strong bony covering or shield, in which are imbedded the ribs, and which is coated externally by hard horny plates. Their distinguishing characteristics are the compressed and paddle-like form of the feet, particularly the anterior pair, which they use as oars, and by their means can move through the water in any direction, with considerable rapidity. Their progression on land is however, by this conformation, rendered much more difficult, so that it is only with laborious efforts they are enabled to |