I is the genius, we are told, of the true phoenix, when years. And they say that he only comes when his sire dies. And he is, if he is like his picture, of size and shape as follows: part of his plumage is gold coloured, and part crimson; and he is for the most part very like to the eagle in outline and bulk. And this bird, they say, devises as follows, but they say what is to me beyond belief: that setting out from Arabia, he brings his sire to the temple of the sun; that he covers him with myrrh, and buries him in the temple of the sun: and that he conveys him thus: first he forms an egg of myrrh as large as he is able to bear, and afterwards tries whether he can carry it; and when he has made the trial, upon this he hollows out the egg, and puts his sire into it, and covers with other myrrh that part of the egg where he had made the hole and put in his sire; and when his sire lies inside, the weight [of the egg] is the same [as it was before it was hollowed out), and having covered him up, he conveys him to Egypt into the temple of the sun. Such are the things which they say this bird performs.' Such is the story as After the time of Tacitus the fable of the phenix, told in Herodotus, and it is substantially the same as what peated or alluded to by the following classicni auth a was afterwards, though with various embellishments, re- besides those already referred to:- Achiles Tatrus ( peated and believed for more than a thousand years. It Leuc. et Clit., lib. iii., cap. 25, p. 147. ed. Mitsebarka would be tedious and useless to quote the words of each Aristides (Orat., tom. 1., p. 107, ed. Jebb, et ibi S -author who forms a link in the chain: it will be sufficient liast), Artemidorus (Oneirocrit., lib. iv., cap. 49, p. 2.8. to mention that, between the times of Herodotus and Taci- ed. Rigalt), Ausonius (Eidyll, 18, v. 6, p. 535: ad tus, the fable of the 'Phoenix' is told more or less fully and cir- Eidyll, 11, v. 16, p. 454, ed. Toll.). Claudian (Erdy",1, cumstantially by the following classical writers: Antiphanes De Phoenice;' in Prim. Consul. Stilich., lib. 11., v. 474 (iv roig 'Opоnarpios, ap. Athen., Deipnos, lib. xiv., sec. 70, sq.; Epist., i. Ad Seren.,' v. 15), Dion Cassius (Pat p. 655), Chæremon (ap. Tzetz., Chil, v. 395), Lucan (Phars, Rom., lib. 58, cap. 27), Diogenes Laertius (De Vit. Pu lib. vi., v. 680), Mart al (Epigr., v. 7), Mela (De Situ Orb., losoph., lib. ix., cap. 11, secs., 9 and 79), Lamprid us in lib. ii, cap. 8), Ovid (Metam., lib. xv., v. 391, sq.; Amor., Heliogab., cap. 23), Lucian (Hermot., cap. 53; Narig, can lib. i., el. 6, v. 51), Pliny (Hist. Nat., lib. x., cap. 2; lib. 44; De Morte Peregr., cap. 27). Oppian (De Aucupa xi, cap. 44; lib. xiii., cap. 9), Seneca (Epist., 42. sec. 1), 28, ed. Schneid., p. 182), Photius (Biblioth., cod. 126, p and Statius (Sile., lib. ii, 4, 36; lib. iii., 2, 114). The 305), and Solinus (Polyhist., xxxii. 11). Of these pass passage in which Tacitus notices the Phonix is very re- perhaps the only one curious enough to be parteng markable, and deserves to be quoted at length as being noticed is that in Lampridius, who tells us that He AP the most authentic account of it that has been preserved | balus promised his guests a phoenix for supper: he as and also as showing that so cautious and accurate a man as however obliged to be content with a dish of the to »»«# he is always considered to be entertained no kind of doubt of phoenicopters (or flamingos). as to its real existence and its periodical appearance in Egypt. In the consulship of Paulus Fabius and Lucius Vitellius,' says he (in Murphy's translation, Annal., lib. vi., cap. 28) A.U.C. 787, A D. 34, the miraculous bird, known to the world by the name of the phoenix, after disappearing for a series of ages, revisited Egypt. A phenomenon so very extraordinary could not fail to produce abundance of curious speculation. The learning of Egypt was displayed, and Greece exhausted her ingenuity. The facts, about which there seems to be a concurrence of opinions, with other circumstances, in their nature doubtful, yet worthy of notice, will not be unwelcome to the reader. That the phoenix is sacred to the sun, and differs from the rest of the feathered species in the form of its head and the tincture of its plumage, are points settled by the naturalists. Of its longevity the accounts are various. The common persuasion is that it lives five hundred years' [Herodotus, Övid, Seneca, and Mela, locis cit.; Philostratus (in Vita Apollon. Tyan., iii, 49, ed. Olear., p. 134 and 135), Ælian (Hist. Animal., lib. vi., cap. 58), Aurelius Victor (De Caesar, cap. 4, sec. 12; Epit., cap. 4. sec. 10), Horapollo an Hieroglynh., No. 34, p. 41); St. Clement of Rome (Epist. ad Corinth, cap. xxv., p. 98, ed. Jacobson), St. Cyril of Alexandria (Catech, xviii. 8)]; though by some writers the date is extended to one thousand four hundred and sixty-one.* The several æras when the phoenix has been seen are fixed by tradition. The first, we are told, was in the reign of Sesostris: the second, in that of Amasis; | and in the period when Ptolemy, the third of the Macedonian race, was seated on the throne of Egypt, another phoenix directed its flight towards Heliopolis, attended by a group of various birds, all attracted by the novelty, and gazing with wonder at so beautiful an appear ance. For the truth of this account we do not presume to answer. The facts lie too remote; and covered, as they are, with the mists of antiquity, all further argument is suspended. From the reign of Ptolemy to Tiberius, the intermediate space is not quite two hundred and fifty years. | From that circumstance it has been inferred by many that the last phoenix was neither of the genuine kind nor came from the woods of Arabia. The instinctive qualities of the species were not observed to direct its motions. It Man 'isfan Thần, Hist. Nat., lib. x.. cap. 2) says that it lived five hun dred and time years; Soon is, five li adred and forty; Martial, one thousand; Chæremon, seven thousand and six | But it is not only in heathen authors that this fable s to be found; it is mentioned and believed by the 3. a st Rabbinical writers, and by the early fathers of the Chist church. Ezekiel, the Jewish tragic writer (vol. ix. P 135, col. b), describes the phoenix in his Exagge Euseb., Præpar. Evangel., lib. ix., cap. 29, p. 446, ed. C. 1688); and Kimchi informs us (ap. Bochart, Hieroz.. pert lib. vi., cap. 5, p. 818) that in the passage of Job quoted a' some of the Rabbis read, the Phoenix, instead of sand. The very words of several of these writers mis seen in Bochart (loco cit.); but the only Rabbinical a tion to the story worth noticing is preserved by R.bb 0. in his Berescith Rabba,' cap. 19 (ap. Bochart, or e. who says that the reason why the phoenix lives so long, 471 is in a manner exempt from death, is because it was !• only animal that did not eat of the forbidden fruit in P dise. A somewhat similar bird seems to have been ku = to the Arabians under the name of Anka. Mr Lane, **, * notes to his new translation of the Tales of a Tuluá and One Nights' (ch. 20, note 22), tells us, on the aut vor, 1 of Kaswini, that the anka is the greatest of birds; that a carries off the elephant as the kite carries off the tn us that, in consequence of its carrying off a bride, God, at · prayer of a prophet named Handhalah, banished it t island in the circumambient ocean, unvisited by men. -the equinoctial line; that it lives one thousand and see hundred years; and that when the young auka has grow up, if it be a female, the old female bird burns hersei!. if a male, the old male bird does so. Many of the early fathers believed the story so firmly *&. they did not hesitate to bring it forward as a proof of thi resurrection; and that, not as an argumentum ad homin = when disputing with heathens, but seriously, and in addressed to converts to Christianity. St. Clement is first who uses this argument (loco cit.), in which he s lowed by St. Cyril and Tertullian (locis cit ), and Ep 1 nius (Ancor., sec. 84, p. 89). The passage in St. Cyrilom: also contains two or three additional embellishment-i v serve as a specimen. God knew men's unbelief,' 5, 19 (in Mr. Church's translation, Oxford, 1838), * and prov for this purpose a bird called a phoenix. Tisd Clement writes, and as many more relate, the only c its race, going to the land of the Egyptions at revil to five hundred years, shows forth the resurrection, at 1not in desert places, lest the mystery which comes to pas bulâ,' Havn., 1825, 1827, 8vo.; Martini's edition of Lactantii 'Carmen de Phoenice,' 8vo., Lunæb., 1825; Salmasius, Exercit. Plin., p. 385, seq.; Creuzer, Symbolik und Mythologie,' &c., vol. i., p. 438, sq.; Münter, Sinnbilder und Kunstvorstellungen der alten Christen,' 4to., Altona, 1825, p. 94, sq.; Métral, Le Phénix, ou l'Oiseau du Soleil,' Paris, 1824; from one or other of which works the writer, to avoid the appearance of pedantry and ostentation, freely and willingly confesses that all the above references have been taken, except three; and of those three, two were furnished him by a friend. No, in Catalogue of Character. (nɔne in Bayer.) '(Piazzi) Lacaille. C. Astron. Society. Magnitude. should remain unknown, but in a notable city, that men might even handle what they disbelieve. For it makes itself a nest of frankincense and myrrh and other spices; and entering into this when its years are fulfilled, it evidently dies and moulders away. Then from the mouldering flesh of the dead a worm springs, and this worm, when grown large, is transformed into a bird; and do not disbelieve this, for thou seest the offspring of bees also fashioned thus out of worms, and from eggs which are most moist thou hast seen the wings and bones and sinews of birds issue. Afterwards this phoenix, becoming fledged and a perfect phoenix, as was the former one, soars up into the air PHOENIX, a southern constellation of Bayer, which may such as it had died, showing forth to men a most evident be best described as close to (but farther from the south resurrection from the dead. The phoenix indeed is a won- pole than) the bright star in Eridanus (Achernar). Its drous bird, yet is irrational, nor sings psalms to God; it principal stars are as follows:flies abroad through the sky, but it knows not the only-begotten Son of God. Is then a resurrection from the dead given unto this irrational creature, which knows not its maker; and to us, who ascribe glory to God and keep His commandments, shall there no resurrection be granted?' The story is also, mentioned at greater or less length by Alcimus Avitus (De Orig. Animæ, i. 14, sec. 3), St. Ambrose (Hexaem., lib. v., cap. 23; In Psalm exviii., Serm. 19), St. Augustin (De Nat. et Orig. Anımæ, tom. vii., lib. iv., col. 1203; Serm., 18, tom. x., col. 1308), Epiphanius (Physiol., tom. ii, p. 203), Eusebius (De Vita Constant., lib. iv., cap. 72), Isidorus Hispalensis (Orig., lib. xii., cap. 7), Lactantius (Carm. de Phoenice), St. Gregory of Nazianzum (Orat., 37, p. 598), and Ruffinus (in Symb. Exposit., p. 548). Origen seems to doubt its truth (Cont. Cels., lib. iv., cap. 98, p. 229), and Photius blames St. Clement for his credulity in mentioning it (Biblioth., cod. 126, p. 305); but these two are fas far as the writer is aware) the only two of the antient authors who do not believe it. This however ought not to lessen the authority of the fathers on other matters, nor should it be made a subject of reproach against them that they were not proficients in a branch of knowledge which has been a peculiar study of modern times.' (See Mr. Newman's preface to Mr. Church's Translation of St. Cyril, Oxf., 1838.) It would be almost impossible to enumerate all the more modern authors who, during the middle ages, expressed their belief in the existence of the Phoenix, for the list would include almost all the writers on natural history, besides a great number of others. Perhaps the most curious circumstance relating to it is what is told us by Camden (Britannia, p. 783, ed. Lond., 1607), viz. that Pope Clement VIII. sent, in 1599, to Lord Tyrone, the chieftain of the Irish rebels, a Phoenix's feather. This was mentioned in his work only eight years after the event took place, but we are not informed how the Pope procured the feather, or what had become of it at the time when Camden wrote.* Patricius Junius (Patrick Young), in his note on the passage of St. Clement, published 1633, argues in favour of the existence of the Phoenix, and says, Malo curn Clemente, Tertulliano, Origene, &c., errare, quam Maximum' (i.e. Max. Mart. Lib. ad Petrum cont. Severi Dogmata) 'et ejus sequacium opinionem sequi.' Sir Thomas Browne, in his 'Vulgar Errors,' (of which the first edition was published in 1646), thinks it necessary to state at some length his reasons for disbelieving the existence of the Phonx (book iii., ch. 12); and in 1552 he was attacked for this and other pieces of incredulity by Alexander Ross, in a work entitled Arcana Microcosmi; or, The Hid Secrets of Man's Body discovered,' &c. With respect to the Phoenix, the writer is not surprised at its seldom inaking its appearance, its instinct teaching it to keep out of the way of the tyrant of the creation-man; for had Heliogabalus, that Roman glutton, met with him, he had devoured him, though there were no more in the world!' (Arca. Micr., p. 202.) Alexander Ross, who was really a person of some sense and learning, was probably one of the last believers in the Phoenix, which is now given up entirely to the poets; indeed, since the appearance of the Rejected Addresses, almost abandoned even by them. Of modern writers, besides Bochart and Sir Thomas Browne, the following are best worth consulting:-Henrichsen, 'Commentatio de Phoenicis Fa It must be the fellow to this feather that Beckford saw in the Escurial, and ich was said to come from the wing of the Archangel Gabriel. He describes held in terrestrial regions, full three feet long, and of a blushing hue, more writing the above sentence, he has found at Oxford a very learned scholar к a (68) 30 5 31 2 (76) 151 5 (94) 161 3 PHOENIX, a genus of palms, which has been so named from one of its species, the date-tree, having been called so by the Greeks: this name is thought by some to be derived from Phoenicia, because dates were procured from thence. The genus is common in India and in the north of Africa, and one of the species grows in Arabia, the lower parts of Persia, and along the Euphrates to Syria. The genus is characterised by having flowers dioecious, sessile, in a branched spadix, supported by a simple spathe; calyx urceolate, 3-toothed; corol 3-petalled; stamens 6 or 3; filaments very short, almost wanting; anthers linear; (female) calyx urceolate, 3-toothed; corol 3-petalled, with the petals convolute; pistil with three ovaries, distinct from each other, of which one only ripens; stigmas hooked; drupe oneseeded; seeds marked on one side with a longitudinal furrow; albumen reticulate; embryo in the back of the seed; palms with stems of a moderate height and ringed, or marked with the seams of the fallen leaves; fronds or leaves pinnate; pinnæ or leaflets linear, with the spadix bursting among the leaves, surrounded with an almost woody twoedged sheath; flowers yellowish-white; fruit soft, edible, of a reddish yellow colour. Phoenix dactylifera, or the date-tree, is one of the best known and probably the earliest known of the palms, and though belonging to a family which abounds and flourishes most in tropical regions, itself attains perfection only in comparatively high latitudes. It is no doubt the species to which the name Palma was originally applied, as we may infer from its being common in Syria, Arabia, the lower parts of Persia, as well as Egypt and the north of Africa, whence it has been introduced into the south of Europe, and cultivated in a few places, not only as a curiosity, but on account of its leaves, which are sold twice in the year, in spring for Palm Sunday, and in September for the Jewish Passover; and also, from the name not being applicable to the other species known to the antients, as it is considered that the bunches of dates were likened to the fingers of the hand, as appears from the present specific name, dactylifera, from the Greek dactylus, a finger. It is the palm-tree of Scripture, and was emblematic of Judæa, as we see in coins with the inscription of Judæa capta. It is found in oases in the desert, and round Palmyra, which is supposed to have been named from its presence. This appears indeed to be only a translation of the Oriental name, which is Tadmor, supposed to be a corruption of Tamar (from tamr, a date), | and the fruit ripens in May. The leaflets are wrought into a city built in the desert by Solomon. The date-tree is mats for sleeping on, and the common petioles are spit in's therefore a subject of classical as well as of scriptural in- three or four, and used for making baskets. The small trunk terest, besides its fruit forming a large portion of the food is generally about fifteen or eighteen inches long, and about of a great part of the Arab race, and also a considerable six in diameter. It encloses in its substance a large quantity article of commerce. of farinaceous substance, which the natives use for food .n The date-palm being dioecious, that is, the stamens and times of scarcity. To procure this meal, the small trunk pistils, or the male and female parts being not only in dif- split into six or eight pieces, and dried and beaten in woolea ferent flowers, but even on different plants, the crops entirely mortars till the farinaceous part is detached from the fibres; fail, or the fruit is worthless and unfit for food, if fertiliza- it is then sifted, to separate them: the meal is then fit for tion is in any way prevented. To ensure this, the Arabs use. The only further preparation which this meal underhave long been in the habit of hanging the clusters of male goes is the boiling it into a thick gruel, or canji. It seems flowers on the trees which bear only female ones, and there- to possess less nourishment than common sago, which is fore the date-tree is one of those which led to a knowledge obtained in a similar manner from another palm, and of the sexes of plants. less palatable when boiled, but it has saved many lives in times of scarcity. The extensive importance of the date-tree is, says Dr. Clarke, one of the most curious subjects to which a traveller can direct his attention. A considerable part of the inhabitants of Egypt, Arabia, and Persia subsist almost entirely on its fruit. They make a conserve of it with sugar, and even grind the hard stones in their hand-mills for their camels. In Barbary they form handsome beads for paternosters of these stones. From the leaves they make couches, baskets, bags, mats, brushes, and fly-traps; the trunk is split and used in small buildings, also for fences to gardens, and the stalks of the leaves for making cages for their poultry. The threads of the web-like integument at the bases of the leaves are twisted into ropes, which are employed in rigging small vessels. The sap is obtained by cuiting off the head of the palm and scooping out a hollow in the top of the stem, where, in ascending, it lodges itself. Three or four quarts of sap may be obtained daily from a single palm, for ten days or a fortnight, after which the quantity lessens, until, at the end of six weeks or two months, the stem is exhausted, becomes dry, and is used for firewood. This liquor is sweetish when first collected, and may be drunk as a mild beverage, but fermentation soon takes place, and a spirit is produced, which is distilled, and forms one of the kinds of aruk (arrack), or spirit of Eastern countries. Such being the importance and multiplied uses of the datetree, it is not surprising that in an arid and barren country it should form so prominent a subject of allusion and description in the works of Arab authors, and that it should be said to have 300 names in their language. Many of these are however applied to different parts of the plant, as well as to these at different ages. Phoenix sylvestris is a species common in the arid parts of India, and there commonly called khujjoor by the natives, and the date-tree by Europeans, which it resembles in appearance. In its parts of fructification it is like the following species, but differs in growing to be a tree, with a tail pretty thick trunk and large yellowish or reddish fruit. It yields tarri, or palm wine, commonly called toddy. The mode of obtaining this is by removing the lower leaves and their sheaths, and cutting a notch into the centre of the tree near the top, from which the liquor issues, and is conducted by a small channel, made by a bit of the palmyratree leaf, into a pot suspended to receive it. This juice is either drank fresh from the tree, or boiled down into sugar, or fermented for distillation, when it gives out a large portion of spirit, often called paria aruk. Mats and baskets are made of the leaves. Sugar has always been made from this species, and accounts of it have been given by Drs. Roxburgh and Buchanan Hamilton. Date-sugar is not so much esteemed in India as that of the cane, and sells for about one-fourth less. It has been imported in considerable quantities into this country of late, but is not distinguished from the cane sugar. Dr. Roxburgh calculated, forty years ago, that about 100,000lbs. were made annually in all Bengal. At the age of seven or ten years, when the trunk of the tree is about four feet high, it begins to yield juice, and continues productive for twenty or twenty-five years. The juice is extracted during the months of November, December, January, and February, during which period each tree is reckoned to yield from 120 to 240 pints of juice, averaging 150 pints. Every twelve pints or pounds is boiled down to one of goor or jagari, and four of goor yield one of good sugar in powder, so that the average produce of each tree is about seven or eight pounds of sugar annually. P. furinifera is a dwarf species of this genus, which is a native of dry ground or sandy hills, not far from the sea on the Coromandel coast. It flowers in January and February, PHOETHORNIS. [TROCHILIDE.] PHOLADA'RIA, Lamarck's name for a family belong. ing to the division of Dimyarian Conchifers, which he has termed Crassipèdes, and consisting of the genera Pholas ar Gastrochana; but M. Deshayes, in the last edition of te Animaux sans Vertèbres, remarks that this family can no longer remain in the same state as that which Lamarck 2signed to it. The Gastrochanæ, he observes, are, as he ha. already stated, true Fistulance, and if either of the gene-a, Gastrochana, or Pholas, be elected, the other must disap pear. [GASTROCHENA.] He suggests that the genus Pa alone should remain, unless the evident relations whi connect it with Teredo and Teredina should render t necessary to unite all three genera into one natural fam ¡y. [PHOLAS] PHOLADIDEA. [PHOLAS, p. 109.] PHOLADOM'YA. Qu'est-ce que le genre Pholadomie de quelques auteurs Anglois? C'est ce que nous ignorons, il paroît qu'il est établi avec une coquille fossile cunéiforme. très-large et très-baillante en avant.' We will endeavour to answer the question thus put by M. de Blainville in La Malacologie.' The genus Pholadomya is a most interesting form, for the knowledge of which we are indebted to Mr. G. B. Sowerby, who described it from a recent species brought from t island of Tortola by Mr. Nicholson, and in the possession of Mrs. Mawe, from whom it passed into Mr. Broderip's cullertion, and consequently is now in the British Museum. The discovery of this recent species led at once to t more perfect knowledge of several fossils, whose genus, as Mr. Sowerby observes, in his Genera (No. xix.), was before exceedingly doubtful, insomuch that from a considerat.. of their external appearance alone, authors had been 2duced to place them in several genera, to none of wha they really belonged; and he refers to Sowerby's Minera Conchology, t. 197, 225, 226, 227, 299, and 327, where se veral of the species are figured under the names Cardit. producta, obtusa, lyrata, deltoidea, and margaritacea; 2: 1 Lutraria lyrata, ovalis, ambigua, and angustata. These occur in several rocks of the oolitic series, particularly te cornbrash, inferior oolite, and fullers' earth; as well as: the lias, the London clay, and the Sutherland coal-fie.¿, also in the dark-coloured clay at Alum Bay. Generic Character.-Shell very thin, rather hyalire. transverse, ventricose; inside pearly; posterior side short sometimes very short, rounded; anterior side more or less elongated, gaping; upper edge also gaping a little. H with a small, rather elongated, triangular pit, and a mezginal lamina in each valve, to the outer part of wh.ets s attached the rather short external ligament. Muiser 4: impressions two: these, as well as the muscular impress. of the mantle, in which there is a large sinus, are indist (G. B. Sowerby.) The same zoologist remarks that this shell is the only stance known to him in which the umbones are so app. mated as to be worn through by the natural action of i animal in opening and closing its valves. He further serves that the general aspect of this shell is between, of Pholas and Anatina of Lamarck, but most of the f species have been arranged as Lutrariæ. We have ea. it,' says Mr. G. B. Sowerby, Pholadomya with referer.ce its resemblance to shells of two Linnean genera, thei lades and Myce. It is related to Panopera in the elias.. ters of the hinge, but may be distinguished from that ge by its thin, semitransparent, pearly shell; from Photos a: Anatina, by its external ligament, and its want of externa and internal accessory valves; and lastly, fem the L marckian Mya, by not having the unequal teeth of that genus.' M. Deshayes, with his usual acuteness, saw at once the value of Mr. G. B. Sowerby's characters, and incorporated the genus Pholadomya in the new edition of Lamarck's Animaux sans Vertebres, placing the form between Solecurtus of De Blainville and Panopea. But since the publication of the observations of the zoologists above given, Mr. Samuel Stutchbury has favoured us with a sight of the animal of the only recent species known that on which Mr. G. B. Sowerby founded his generic description of the shell. This valuable specimen is now in the hands of Professor Owen, to whom we are indebted for the following description. Animal of Pholadomya. Pholadomya presents all the family characters of the Inclusa or Enfermés, but differs generically from all those, the organization of which has hitherto been described, by the presence of a fourth aperture leading to the interior of the mantle, that is to say, besides the linear slit for the protrusion of the narrow foot at the anterior part of the ventral aspect of the mantle and the two siphonic tubular passages, there is, at the under or ventral part of the base of the united siphons, a small round aperture, which is continued upon a truncated pyramidal papilla projecting into the pallial cavity, forming a valvular obstruction to the exit of fluids, but admitting their entry. This doubtless relates to some curious and peculiar feature in the economy of the mollusk: the foot is compressed, inch long, 3 lines broad; the siphonic tube 2 inches long, inch in diameter, bifid at the extremity; the labial appendages short; the two branchiae of each side conjoined, and those of the right united to those of the left side along their posterior fourth. More of the anatomy I have not at present worked out; but there is enough, I think, here stated to serve as an answer to M. de Blainville's question. Example, Pholadomya candida (G. B. Sowerby). Description.-Shell transversely oblong, very short posteriorly, rounded; median part marked with divaricated, decussate striæ, which.are decurrent from the umbo; anteriorly elongated, subquadrate. (G. B. S.) Pholadomya candida, Locality.-Marine, and, most probably, in deep water. The specimen from which Mr. Sowerby characterised the genus was thrown upon the beach at Tortola after a hurricane. M. Deshayes, in his Tables, makes the number of living species one, and that of the foss species (tertiary) the same. In the last edition of the Animaux sans Vertèbres, he records but three fossil species-Pholadomy obtusa, Sow.; angulifera, Desh.; and producta, Sow.; the first being Cardita obtusa, 'Min. Con.; the second Mya angulifera; and the third Cardita? producta, and Pholadomya producta of the same work. Our catalogues however contain numerous species. Thus we have, for example, Pholadomya Murchisoni, from the Inverbrora coal-pits and beds overlying coal upon the shore (Murchison On the Coal-field o Brora in Sutherlandshire,' &c., Geol. Trans., vol. ii., 2nd series); Pholadomya margaritacea, from the arenaceous limestone or sandstone of Bognor, and another marked with an asterisk, indicating that it was either not in the possession of the author or not examined by him, from the Shanklin sand (Mantell, Tabular Arrangement of the Organic Remains of the County of Sussex, Geol. Trans., vol. iii., 2nd series); Pholadomy decussata, Murchisoni, ovalis, producta, nana, deltoidea, simplex, obsoleta, acuticostata, and obliquata, from the Speeton clay, cornbrash, Bath oolite, calcareous grit, Kelloway's rock, and Oxford clay, &c. (Phillips, Description of the Strata of the Yorkshire Coast); Pholadomya ambigua from the lias, an unnamed species from the inferior oolite, lyrata from the fuller's earth, and producta and lyrata from the cornbrash (Lonsdale, On the Oolitic District of Bath,' Geol. Trans., vol. iii., 2nd series); and Pholadomya deltoidea, from the Oxford oolite, and other unnamed species from the gault and lower green-sand. (Fitton, 'On the Strata below the Chalk,' Geol. Trans., vol. iv., 2nd series). PHOLEO'BIUS, Dr. Leach's name for a part of the genus Saricava of authors. [LITHOPHAGIDE, vol, xiv., p. 50.] PHOLARITE-Hydrated Silicate of Alumina. This substance occurs in small pearly scales, which are usually convex. These are white, soft, and friable, and they adhere to the tongue. This substance occurs in the department of Allier in France, in the coal formation of Fins. PHOLAS, a name given by Linnæus to a genus of conchifers, placed by Lamarck in his family Pholudaria. [PHOLADARIA.] Generic Character.-Animal more or less thick and elongated, rarely shortened; mantle reflected on the dorsal part, for the purpose of tying together the valves and the accessory pieces; anterior aperture rather small; foot short, oblong, and flattened; siphons often elongated and united into a single, very extensible, and dilatable tube; mouth small, with very small labial appendages; branehiæ elongated, narrow, slightly unequal on each side, united on the same line nearly throughout their length, and prolonged even into the siphon. Shell delicate, milky white, rather transparent, covered sometimes with a thin epidermis, oval, elongated, inequilateral, gaping posteriorly, and especially at the antero-inferior part; umbones hidden by a callosity; hinge toothless, ligament doubtful ?;* a flat, recurved, spoon-shaped process enlarged at its extremity, elevating itself within each valve below the umbo; muscular impressions very distant, the posterior one large, oblong, elongated, always very visible, the anterior one small, rounded, but little distinct, both more or less approximated to the edge, particularly the anterior edge, of the shell, and joined by a pallial impression, which is long, narrow, and deeply excavated backwards. Many accessory pieces or none? sometimes a calcareous tube enveloping all the parts, but leaving an aperture backwards. (Rang.) M. Rang remarks that if the species which compose the genus Pholas were better known, they might be divided into many well characterised groups according to the number and disposition of the accessory pieces, which vary considerably; but unfortunately these accessory pieces are well known in a small number of species only. Besides, he observes, the genus is so imperfectly ascertained, although found in great abundance on the coasts of France, that a, valves shut, the umbones towards the spectator; b, inside view of valve, naturalists are not yet agreed as to the pumber of mus showing the impressions and the umbo worn through. P. C., No. 1116. See post, pp. 107. 103. VOL. XVIII.-P d trochanæ, to the internal wall of the cavity which they inhabit. M. Rang had not been able to verify this fact in relation to living species; but M. des Moulins showed him several fossils from Mérignac, in which he completely recognised this important character, which more firmly es ablishes the generally admitted relationship between the Pholades, the Teredine, and the Fistulana. M. Rang further remarks that there are some species of Pholais which seem to lead to Teredo. These shells inhabit stones, madrepores, wood, and sometimes mud or sand (vase). When the reflux of the sea leaves them, and the animals are disquieted, they eject through their siphon to a cons derable distance the water contained in their mantle, and which bathes the gills. (Manuel de l'Histoire Naturelle des Mollusques.) We believe,' says Mr. G. Sowerby, that all the shells of this genus are furnished with a greater or less number of accessory valves, which appear to be caused by the dep tion of shelly matter (within the epidermis, and connects i with the valves by that membrane), wherever such valves were necessary for the security of the inmate; they are consequently very various in form, and placed in different sitations in the different species, though in most cases they are placed near the hinge, and have ever been considered to be substitutes (in these shells) for the permanent ligament of other bivalves: we must, for the present, with hold our assent from this opinion, because, on account of the situation in which they live, the animals inhabiting these shells can have very little occasion to open their valves. Whether or not there is any permanent ligament in this genus, as we have never observed the animal alive, we cannot undertake to determine: Turton says it has none; Pholas Dactylus (animal and shell); the lower or ventral parts are pre- Lamarck, on the contrary, speaks of the accessory valves sented to the spectator. a, mantle; b, foot; c, tube; dd, shell. covering and hiding the ligament. As far as we can form an opinion from dried specimens, we cannot consider the substance to which these valves are attached as the ligament, but as part of the adductor muscle; nevertheless we think we can in some species perceive a very small internal h ment, attached to two unequally sized small curved teeth (one in each valve), placed in the same situation as the hinge teeth of common bivalves. The adductor muscie Anima of a Pholas (Julan-Pholas clavata? Lam.) from Adanson-side forms two principal impressions, one of which is placed on view. 1 2. 3. Shell of Pholas Dactylus. 1. Accessory valves: a, anterior pair; b, central piece; c. posterior piece. 2, Exterior view of shell, side view. 3, Internal view of valve: a, Spoonshaped process. cular impressions. Lamarck places the Pholades among the Dimyaria, and M. de Blainville sees but a single muscular impression: but M. Rang, speaking for himself, says that he has no doubt that these shells have two muscular impressions, which he has positively traced in Pholas cos tata, in following the pallial impression from its departure from the posterior muscular impression, which is always sufficiently evident, to the point where the former terminates anteriorly. There a small irregularly rounded impression may be very well distinguished. It has, continues M. Rang, been equally observed by M. Charles des Moulins in the same species, but science owes to that naturalist an observation relative to the Pholades perhaps even more important; it is, that these shells sometimes are seen accompanied b a calcareous tube, applied, like that of the Gas the reflected margin, over the umbones, and the other alt Dr. Leach divided the Linnæan Pholades into sever: 1 genera; but as his distinctions consisted principally in the number of the accessory valves, Mr. G. B. Sowerby has not adopted any of his genera: they may, according to M:. Sowerby's opinion, appear to be calculated for divisions of the genus, but are not sufficiently strong for generic distinetions. Mr. Sowerby admits indeed that some species (Pholas claratu, Lam., for instance) may, on account of the r being closed at both ends, be distinguished generica.iy, because this circumstance implies a difference in the habits of the animals by which they are formed: this character therefore, he remarks, has been seized by Dr. Leach, an 1 upon it the doctor founded his genus Martesia, an example |