The Pharisees are represented in the New Testament as a hypocritical, proud, and arrogant people, pretending to be emphatically the separated,' trusting to themselves that they alone were righteous, and despising all other men. This was their character as a body; but there were among them individuals free from these bad qualities, such as Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathæa, Gamaliel, and, as some think, Simeon, who uttered the hymn called 'Nunc dimittis,' to whom must be added Josephus, their historian. (Josephus, Antiq., xiii. 9, 18; xvii. 3; xviii. 2; De Bell. Jud., ii. 7; De Vitâ suâ; Suidas, Papirator; Prideaux, Connection.) PHARMACOLITE, native arseniate of lime; it occurs crystallized and fibrous, and there is a variety, called haidingerite, which differs in crystalline form and composition. The primary form of pharmacolite is an oblique rhombic prism. Cleavage parallel to the oblique diagonals of the terminal planes. Fracture uneven. Hardness 2.0 to 2.5; easily scratched. Colour white. Lustre vitreous. Transparent; translucent; opaque. Specific gravity 2:640 to 2.8. Fibrous pharmacolite occurs in white diverging needles and small globular and botryoidal masses, which are frequently coloured by arseniate of cobalt. When heated by the blowpipe, pharmacolite emits the alliaceous smell, and fuses with difficulty into a white enamel; it dissolves in nitric acid without effervescence. This mineral is found at Andreasberg in the Harz, and in Thuringia, and at Wittichen, near Fürstenberg in Germany, and some other places. The pharmacolite of Wittichen was analyzed by Klaproth (1), and that of Andreasberg by John (2); the results were Haidingerite.-Primary form a right rhombic prism. Cleavage parallel to the short diagonal of the terminal planes, very distinct. Hardness 20 to 2.5. Colour white, and streak the same. Lustre vitreous. Translucent; transparent. Specific gravity 284. It accompanies the pharmacolite of Baden, and was found by Dr. Turner to consist of arseniate of lime 85.68, water 14:32. PHARMACOPOEIA, a book published by the colleges of physicians with the sanction of government, containing directions for the preparation of medicines. PHARYNX is the cavity in which the food is received in its passage from the mouth to the oesophagus or gullet. In man it is somewhat funnel-shaped, having its widest part above, where it is fixed to the base of the skull. The nasal passages, the mouth, and the air passages, open into the pharynx in front; behind, it is attached to the spinal column; and at its sides it is bounded by the deep vessels and muscles of the neck. It is lined by a mucous membrane, but is chiefly composed of layers of strong muscular fibres, called the constrictors of the pharynx, by whose successive contractions the food received from the mouth is gradually forced from above downwards into the esophagus. PHASCALOTHE'RIUM. [MARSUPIALIA, vol. xiv., 466.] p. PHASCO'GALE. [MARSUPIALIA, vol. xiv., p. 456.] PHASCOLA'RCTOS. [MARSUPIALIA, vol. xiv., p. 461.] PHASCO'LOMYS, M. Geoffroy's name for the Wombat. [MARSUPIALIA, vol. xiv., p. 463, et seq.] PHASE (pois, phasis, appearance). When a phenomenon changes its character gradually, any particular state which it is necessary to distinguish is called a phase. Thus we have the phases of the moon, meaning the different forms which the enlightened part takes during the month; the phases of the weather, meaning the succession of heat and cold, wet and dry, &c. PHA'SEOLUS, a genus of plants of the tribe Phaseoleæ, in the natural family of Leguminosa. The name is said to be derived from phaselus, a little boat, which the pods are thought to resemble; but it may be that the meaning of 'boat' is derived from the resemblance of a boat to the form of a bean. Two species are very well known in this country, P. vulgaris, the common Kidney bean, and P. multiflorus, the Scarlet runner; their unripe pods being much esteemed as legumes, and also for pickling. The ripe seeds are however employed on the Continent, and form the haricots of the French. The genus is however one of which the species are indigenous in tropical parts both of the Old and New World. Several are cultivated in India, and are some of the principal articles of the agriculturist's attention, as the ripe seeds of several species form pulses which are much used by the natives as a portion of their diet, and some of which, like the Kidney bean, abound in nutritious matter. The genus Phaseolus is characterised by having a bellshaped two-lipped calyx. The corolla is papilionaceous, and has the keel, as well as the diadelphous stamens and the style, spirally twisted. The Legume is compressed or cylindrical, with two valves, and is many-seeded, with more or less conspicuous cellular partitions between the seeds. The hilum of the seed is oval oblong. The plants are herbaceous or suffrutescent in habit. The leaves are pinnately trifoliolate, the leaflets with partial stipules. Racemes axillary. Pedicels usually in pairs, single flowered. Phaseolus vulgaris (Kidney Bean) is said to be a native of India, but Dr. Royle states that seeds were brought to him from Cashmere, and he is therefore inclined to consider that it was introduced into Europe from the most northern parts, such as Caubul and Cashmere, and that this accounts for our being able to cultivate it at a lower temperature than other species of the genus. P. multiflorus, or the Scarlet runner, is a native of South America. Both are delicate, and cannot be safely planted in the open air till the beginning of May. In a stove or pit, green pods of the dwarf kinds may be gathered all the winter, and they have this advantage, Mr. Loudon observes, over forced productions of the fruit kind which require to be ripened, that the pods are as good from plants in the stove in midwinter, as from those in the open garden in midsummer. The Kidney bean is an article of field culture in France, America, and in most warm countries. Speechley suggests that it might become an object of field culture in this country, and be useful in times of scarcity more especially, as on good land it will flourish and grow luxuriantly even in a dry parching season, in which respect it differs from most other culinary In India several species of Phascolus are extensively cultivated: PHARMACY, in a comprehensive sense, means the department of natural science which treats of the collection, preparation, and preservation of medicines, and also of the art of dispensing them according to the formulæ or prescriptions of medical practitioners. It is however more commonly used in a limited sense, as a branch of chemical science, and termed pharmaceutical chemistry, or the application of the laws of chemistry to those substances which are employed for the cure of diseases, so as to render them more commodious, or their administration more easy, and their action more perfect and certain. It should not be understood as merely depending upon some mechanical processes, such as trituration, rasping, or other means of subdivision, or even the simpler chemical actions involved in the processes of infusion or decoction, but as requiring a knowledge of vegetable physiology, and an acquaintance with the chemical constitution of the substances to be prepared. In many continental nations this department is the subject of very strict legal enactments, and forms an important part of medical police, especially as regards the dispensing of poisonous drugs; while in Britain any one who chooses may affix the terms chemist and druggist to his name, and may deal in the most useful or dangerous in-vegetables. gredients, without that previous education which would fit him to be the appropriate assistant of the physician, whose most judicious plans are often frustrated by the ignorance or carelessness of those to whom the compounding of his prescriptions is entrusted. [MATERIA MEDICA.] PHA'RNACES. [PONTUS.] PHAROS. [ALEXANDRIA.] PHARSA'LIA. [CÆSAR; THESSALY.] P. C., No. 1110. Phaseolus Mungo, or Moog, is one of the dry leguminous grains of India, which are of great value whenever the periodical rains fail and rice cannot be grown, and famine is the consequence. It requires a strong rich dry soil, and is raised in the greatest quantities on rice lands during the cold season, In from seventy-five to ninety days VOL. XVIII.-I it is ready to cut, and yields about thirty-fold. The ripe | was made bishop of Nuceria, over which diocese he presided grain is well tasted, nutritious, and is considered whole- twenty-three years. He died in 1537. some. P. Mar., Kala Moog of the natives, and black Gram of the English, is like the former, but distinguished by its black seeds, and is, like it, found in a cultivated state: it takes about the same time to ripen, and yields nearly the same pro duce. P. radiatus, called by the natives Mash and Oorud, is, like the two former, found in a cultivated state, and is the most esteemed of all the Indian leguminous plants. Besides using it as an article of diet, the natives make bread of the meal for some of their religious ceremonies. P. aureus, or Sona Moog of the Bengalees, is found in a cultivated state in the Bengal presidency, but is not known on the Coromandel Coast. It is sown, like the others, about the end of October or beginning of November, and reaped in February on the beginning of March. P. aconitifolius, Moth of the natives, is cultivated in the north-western provinces, and used for feeding cattle. PHASES OF THE MOON. [MOON.] PHASIANE'LLA. [TROCHIDE.] PHASIA'NIDE. [PAVONIDE; PHEASANTS.] PHASIS (Paris), the principal river in antient Colchis, and called at present the Faz, and sometimes the Rion, rises in Armenia, according to Strabo (xv. 498), and among the Moschi, according to Pliny (Hist. Nat., vi. 4). It flows in a westerly direction into the Black Sea. It was navigable in antient times for large ships for thirty-eight miles from the coast, and for smaller vessels as far as the fort of Sarapana (Sharapan), on the boundaries of Colchis and Iberia, from which place goods were conveyed by waggons in four days to the river Cyrus. (Strabo, xv. 498; Plin., Hist. Nat., vi. 4.) There are no antient remains at Sharapan. The Phasis was sometimes considered as the boundary between Asia and Europe (Herod., iv. 45), and was regarded in the time of Augustus as the northern boundary of the Roman dominions in that part of Asia. (Strabo, vi. 288.) The Phasis received many afluents, of which the principal were the Glaucus and the Rion, by the latter of which names the Phasis itself is sometimes called. The Glaucus appears to be the modern Quirilla, which comes from Elburz. From the junction of the Rion and Quirilla the river is navigable for boats at all seasons, has no obstructions, and is from twenty to thirty feet deep, with a current of about two miles and a half an hour. It flows through a level country, which is lower than the banks of the river. There is a bar at the mouth of the Phasis, with only six feet water, the only circumstance that prevents the river being entered by the largest vessels. The navigation of the Phasis is now entirely in the possession of the Russians. At Poti, near the mouth of the Phasis, the Russians have a station or castle. Kootais on the Rion is the seat of the Russian government of Imirétia. In antient times there were one hundred and twenty bridges over the Phasis (Strabo, xv. 500; Plin., Hist. Nat., vi. 4), and many towns upon it, of which the most important were Æa, the old capital of the Eetes, which is celebrated in the legends of the Argonautic expedition [ARGONAUTS], and Phasis (Poti), situated at its mouth. There are no remains of antiquity on the Phasis. On the banks of the river there were in antient times, as is also the case at the present day, great numbers of pheasants, which are said by Martial Epig., xiii. 72) to have been brought into Greece by the Argonauts, and to have been called Phasiani, from this river. The Phasis was noted in antient times for the excellence and purity of its waters, Arrian, in his Periplus of the Euxine Sea,' informs us that water taken from it will preserve its goodness for ten years; and though this is doubtless an exaggeration, it serves to show in what high estimation its waters were held at that time. [GEORGIA, p. 176.] (London Geog. Journal, vol. iii., p. 33, &c.) PHAVORINUS VARINUS, a native of Favera, a place near Camerinum in Italy, whence he called himself Favorinus, in Greek Phavorinus (aßwpivos). His family name was Guarino, which he turned into Varinus (Bapivog). He is also called Camers, from the town of Camerinum. The precise time of his birth is unknown, but it was probably some years after the middle of the fifteenth century. He is represented, about 1490, as a pupil of Angelo Poliziano, and as exquisitely skilled in Greek and Latin. He devoted himself to the service of the church, and joined the order of the Benedictines. In 1512 he became librarian to Giovanni de' Medici, afterwards pope Leo X.; and in 1514 he Phavorinus, assisted by two other eminent scholars, Charles Antenoreus and Aldus Manutius, edited, in 1496 Cornu Copiæ et Horti Adonidis,' consisting of seventeen grammatical tracts in Greek, selected from thirty-four antient grammarians. In 1517 he published a collection of apophthegms from Stobæus, which he dedicated to Leo X. But the work by which he is chiefly known is his Greek Lexicon, which, after the labour of many years, he completed in the lifetime of Leo X. It was published at Rome in 1523, fol., and reprinted at Basle in 1538, fol., under the direction of Joachim Camerarius, with several improvements. The last edition, still further improved, was printed at Venice, in 1712, by Antony Bortoli, in a neat type and in a handsome form. The first edition is beautifully printed and the paper is excellent; but the edition of 1712 is by far the best for all the purposes for which a lexicon is consulted. This very useful lexicon is compiled from the various preceding lexicons, grammars, &c., or, as the title expresses, 'from many and different books. The words are given in alphabetical order, and all the definitions and explanations are in Greek, which Phavorinus is said to have spoken and written as well as a native Greek. Henry Stephens appears to have been greatly indebted to the work of Phavorinus in the compilation of his Greek Lexicon, though he nowhere acknowledges his obligation. (Fabricius, Bibliotheca Græca; Roscoe, Life of Leo X.; Quarterly Review, vol. xxii.) PHEASANTS. If we owe to America that useful and sapid bird the Turkey, we are indebted to Asia for those equally desirable additions to our homesteads, preserves, and farm-yards, the Peacocks, the Pheasants, and our common Poultry. The views of Mr. Vigors and some other ornithologists with regard to the Phasianide are sketched in the article PAVONIDE. Mr. G. R. Gray arranges the Phasianide as the second family of Rasores, Cracidæ being the first; and he divides the Phasianidæ into the subfamilies Pavoninæ, Phasianinæ, Gallina, and Meleagrinæ. The Pavonina and Meleagrine are noticed in the article PAVONIDE. The Phasianine consist of the genera Argus, Phasianus, Syrmaticus, Thaumalea, and Gennæus. The Galline comprehend the genera Euplocamus, Monaulus, Lophophorus, Gallis, and Tragopan. Phasianus. (Linn.) Generic Character.-Bill of mean length, strong; upper mandible convex, naked at the base, and with the tip bent downwards. Nostrils basal, lateral, covered with a cartilaginous scale; cheeks and region of the eyes destitute of feathers, and covered with verrucose red skin. Wings short, the first quills equally narrowed towards their tips, the fourth and fifth the longest. Tail long, regularly wedgeshaped, and composed of eighteen feathers. Feet having the three anterior toes united by a membrane as far as the first joint, and the hind toe articulated upon the tarsus, which, in the male birds, is furnished with a horny coneshaped sharp spur. (Gould.) The type of this genus is generally considered to be the Common Pheasant, Phasianus Colchicus, Linn., a bird which, though not originally British, is completely naturalised in our islands, and indeed appears to adapt itself with great facility to most countries where ordinary care is taken to preserve it and the temperature is not too low for its constitution. The species is too well known to need description, but an account of its introduction into Europe generally and into our own country particularly, together with a summary of its habits, will be expected, and we shall endeavour to lay before the readers some information on these points. If we are to listen to the tales which form that period of history which borders upon fable, we owe this ornament to our preserves and tables to Jason and his companions, who brought it from Colchis, in the good ship Argo. Martial thus notices its introduction into Europe (lib. xiii., ep. 72): Phasianus loquitur— Argiva primum sum transportata carinâ; Ante mihi notum nil nisi Phasis erat.' In Greece it soon became known under the name of paolavós (Phasianus) and paoiavikóg opvic (Phasian bird). (Aristoph., Clouds, 110; Birds, 68.) Indeed it had become sufficiently celebrated in the time of Aristophanes to form a proverb,-Not if you would give me the pheasants which | Leogoras feeds,' says Strepsiades, in the Clouds (109, 110). | make their appearance towards the end of May or beginning Aristotle writes succinctly but clearly of the habits of the | of June. pheasant as a well-known bird (Hist. Anim., v. 31; vi. 2); nor is Athenæus silent concerning so delicate a dish, which appears to have become more common as luxury waxed strong, nor regarding the royal conduct of Ptolemy, who, though he kept them and provided them with hens (voμáðaç öpvilas) for multiplication, being aware of their excellence for the table, appears not to have tasted them. From the same author it would appear that the antients, contrary to the opinion of modern epicures, thought the cock birds the best. (Deipn., xiv., Ixix., p. 654.) It is the Phasianus of the antient Italians (Pliny, Nat. Hist., x., xlviii.; xi., xxxvii.), but seems to have only been within reach of the wealthy. Thus Martial (xiii., xlv., Pulli gallinacei), 'Si Libycæ nobis volucres et Phasides essent, and again, in the epigram addressed to Bassus (iii. 58), which gives so pretty a picture of a genuine rural Roman villa, and so agreeably fills the imagination with country sights and sounds, Vagatur omnis turba sordida cortis, The pheasant has now been spread over the whole of temperate Europe, and the greater part of the old Continent; and it is probable that it will be introduced with success wherever the face of the country and the supply of food are congenial to it, and the temperature does not vary too much from that of its native river, the modern Rion, along whose banks Mingrelia, formerly Colchis, extends, and lies between 42 and 43° N. lat., and 41° 19′ and 42° 19' E. long. [GEORGIA, vol. xi., p. 176; PHASIS.] It is even said to be common in Siberia, a much colder climate, which would prove the facility with which it adapts itself to temperature; and an attempt has, we believe, been made to introduce it into North America, a locality well suited to its habits. The south of Europe owed the pheasant, in all probability, partially to the Greeks, and more proximately to the Romans; it is the Fasiano of the modern Italians, and Faisan of the French. More doubt hangs about its introduction into Great Britain, and the time of that introduction. We are told that the price of one was fourpence in the time of our first Edward (A.D. 1299). In The Forme of Cury,' which is stated to have been compiled by the chief mastercook of King Richard II., we find a receipt for to boile Fesant, Ptruch (partridges), Capons, and Curlew,' which carries us back to 1381. We read of the 'Fawkon and the Fesaunt both,' · in the old ballad of the Battle of Otterbourne.' At the 'Intronazation of George Nevell,' archbishop of York, in the reign of our fourth Edward, we find among the goodly provision, Fessauntes, 200.' In the Northumberland Household-Book,' begun in 1512, Fesauntes' are valued at twelve pence each. In the charges of Sir John Nevile, of Chete, at Lammas Assizes, in the twentieth year of the reign of King Henry VIII., we find twelve pheasants charged twenty shillings; and they seem to have rapidly increased in price, as, among the expenses of the same Sir John Nevile, for, as he writes it, 'the marriage of my son-in-law, Roger Rockley, and my daughter Elizabeth Nevile, the 14th of January, in the seventeenth year of the reigne of our soveraigne lord King Henry VIII.,' is the following: Item in Pheasants 18, 24 shillings. We trace the birds in 'A. C. Mery Talys, printed by John Rastell, where we read of Mayster Skelton, a poyet lauryat, that broughte the bysshop of Norwiche ii. fesauntys. Rastell began to print as early as 1517, and ceased in 1533. In Turbervile's Booke of Falconrie' the Fezant' and 'Feasants'-for, with the licence of the time, it is spelled both ways-are mentioned as the subjects of hawking, and so the bird may be traced as a dish for the table, or the object of field sports, down to the present time. Habits, Reproduction, &c.-Hen pheasants in this country begin to lay in April, and deposit from eight or ten to fourteen olive-brown eggs, in a rough nest on the ground. Sometimes two will lay in the same nest. The young Where the country is favourable, it is easy to get up a head of pheasants, with the aid of good keepers; but it is more difficult to keep them at home, for they are wandering birds, and will often leave the place where they are bred, in search of food more agreeable to them and localities more congenial to their habits. Warm covers and water are absolutely necessary; and if they are plentifully supplied with grateful food, but few of them will become vagrants. Jerusalem artichokes, potatoes, and buckwheat, as well as barley, are favourites. Small stacks of the latter grain in the straw are frequently placed about the preserves, and there the pheasants may be seen scratching at their feeding-time; but this mode of supply is objectionable, as the poacher soon finds out the several points of attraction, and avails himself of them accordingly. Mr. Yarrell states that one good mode of inducing them to stop at home is to sow, in summer, beans, peas, and buckwheat mixed together, leaving the whole crop standing on the ground. The strong and tall stalks of the beans carry up and sustain the other two, and all three together afford, for a long time, food and cover. (Hist. of British Birds.) The same author tells us that at the end of autumn he has found the crops of the birds distended with acorns, of so large a size that they could not have been swallowed without great difficulty. In December, 1834, we saw eight ripe acorns and a ripe hazel-nut taken out of the crop of a hen pheasant from Sussex. The acorns had begun to germinate with the heat and moisture of the crop, and they were sent up to the gardens of the Zoological Society in the Regent's Park, and there planted. For autumnal and winter home-feeding we have seen potatoes used with excellent effect, not only in keeping the birds from wandering, but in increasing their weight and fatness. Carts loaded with raw potatoes were, from time to time, driven into the covers, and the potatoes were scattered about by hand. The pheasants soon found them out and throve accordingly, without being collected together at particular spots, as they too often are to their destruction. They are very general feeders; neither blackberries, sloes, nor haws come amiss to them, and grain, seeds, and tender leaves find their way into the pheasant's crop as well as insects. Mr. Selby observed that these birds sought after the root of the acrid bulbous crowfoot (Ranunculus bulbosus, Common Buttercup) in May and June, and a friend informed Mr. Yarrell that they also feed on the Pilewort Crowfoot (Ranunculus ficaria). Mr. Selby further states that the bulb of the garden tulip is an article of diet which the pheasant omits no opportunity of obtaining, and which, however deeply buried, the bird is almost certain to reach by means of its bill and feet. The size to which these birds attain when well fed is considerable. In the catalogue of Norfolk and Suffolk birds, by the Rev. Revett Sheppard and the Rev. William Whitear (Linn. Trans., vol. xv.), the weight of a cock pheasant killed at Campsey Ash, where the birds were well fed with potatoes, buckwheat, and barley, is stated at four pounds and a half. Some winters since,' says Mr. Yarrell, my friend Mr. Louis Jaquier, then of the Clarendon, produced a brace of cock pheasants which weighed together above nine pounds. The lighter bird of the two just turned the scale against four pounds and a half; the other bird took the scale down at once. The weights were accurately ascertained, in the presence of several friends, to decide a wager, of which I was myself the loser.' Among the diseases and disorders to which the pheasant, in common with other gallinaceous birds, is subject, the fatal gapes holds a prominent place. The cause of this disease is an intestinal worm, which adheres to the internal surface of the trachea, and causes death by suffocation, sometimes arising from inflammation of the part, and not unfrequently by actual obstruction. This entozoon is Syngamus trachealis (Distoma lineare of Rudolphi, Fasciola Trachea of Montagu), and a most curious animal it is. The bifurcation of the anterior extremity was taken by earlier observers for a double head, and thence probably came the name Distoma (double-mouth); but this bifid termination is in reality due to the two sexes. The female is long; and the short male is affixed to her for life by means of an integument which holds him to her, but which, if cut open, exhibits an otherwise free and distinct animal. In the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, Nos. 199, 200, 201 (Preparations of Natural History in Spirit), exhibit this destructive worm. The first shows several specimens such hen pheasants are incapable of producing eggs, from from the trachea of a chicken; the second consists of a derangement of the generative organs; sometimes an origismall portion of the trachea of a bird laid open, and exhibit-nal internal defect, sometimes from subsequent disease, and ing one of this species which has lost its original pink sometimes from old age. He adds that he has seen this colour and become blanched in the spirit; and in the third disorganisation and its effects among birds in the Gold, is to be seen the trachea of a partridge completely choked Silver, and Common Pheasants; in the Partridge, the Peaup by them. Mr. Selby observes that many recipes for the fowl, the Common Fowl, the Crowned Pigeon, the Kingcure of this fatal malady (which is provincially called the fisher, and the Common Duck in the latter species he Nax in Northumberland) have been suggested, but that states that the change, in two instances, went on even to none of them seem to be effectual, except the one recom- the assumption of the two curled feathers above the tail. mended by Montagu, namely, fumigating by tobacco, found But we must not forget that Blumenbach, in his interestto be an infallible specific when administered with due care ing paper De anomalis et vitiosis quibusdam nisus formaand attention. The mode of administering this remedy is tivi aberrationibus commentatio,' read before the Göttingen by putting the young pheasants, turkeys, chickens, or par- Royal Society, in July, 1812, has entered fully and particutridges affected into a common wooden box, into which the larly into this subject. The species in which he had known fumes are blown by means of a tobacco-pipe. That this the change of plumage to be observed were Columba Enas, often succeeds is true, but we cannot confirm its infallibility Phasianus Gallus, Colchicus, and pictus, Pavo cristatus, 'n all cases: a pinch of common salt, put far back into the Otis tarda, Emberiza paradisea and longicauda, Pipra rumouth of the patient so as to reach the upper part of the picola, and Anas Boschas. Alluding to the eggs which trachea, is a neater and less operose method of cure. With have been sold as Cock's Eggs, he observes, that to him it reference to this, it has occurred to us that we never heard seems most probable that such specimens have been laid by of any pigeons being affected with the gapes, and the fond- hens which had either assumed the plumage of cocks from ness of these birds for salt is well known. We have heard their youth up, or upon whom the change had come in their of a sparrow being attacked by this entozoon, but we did old age. Though such phenomena are usually gallinaceous, not see the case. they are not confined to that family; for he relates that Professor Erhard sent to him an egg laid by a Canary Bird, that sang loudly and excellently, having all the appearance of a cock bird. The egg was one-half less than the usual size, but of the ordinary form and colour. Our limits will not allow us to quote this important memoir further; but we would particularly recommend to the attention of the reader who is studying this branch of physiology, the second, third, and fourth sections, respectively entitled Fabric androgynæ phænomena-Generatio hybridaAnimalia in varietates sic dictas degenerantia.—(Commentationes Societatis Regiæ Scientiarum Gottingensis Recentiores, Classis Physicæ, tom. ii.) The assumption of the plumage of the cock pheasant by the female, when, through old age or organic defect, she is no longer capable of reproducing the species, is by no means uncommon, not more rare indeed, if so much, as it is in the peafowls [PAVONIDE, vol. xvii., p. 334], common poultry, &c.; indeed John Hunter (Animal Economy) remarks that this change has been principally observed in the common pheasant. It has been observed,' says Hunter, by those who are conversant with this bird when wild, that there every now and then appears a hen pheasant with the feathers of a cock; all however that they have described on the subject is, that this animal does not breed, and that its spurs do not grow. Some years ago one of these was sent to the late Dr. William Hunter, which I examined, and found it to have all the parts peculiar to the female of that bird. This specimen is still preserved in Dr. Hunter's museum. Dr. Pitcairn having received a pheasant of this kind from Sir Thomas Harris, showed it as a curiosity to Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander. I, happening to be then present, was desired to examine the bird, and the following was the result of my examination:-I found the parts of generation to be truly female, they being as perfect as in any hen pheasant that is not in the least prepared for laying eggs, and having both the ovary and oviduct. As the observations hitherto made have been principally upon birds found wild, little of their history can be known; but from what took place in a hen pheasant in the possession of a friend of Sir Joseph Banks, it appears probable that this change of character takes place at an advanced period of the animal's life, and does not grow up with it from the beginning. This lady, who had for some time bred pheasants, and paid particular attention to them, observed that one of the hens, after having produced several broods, moulted, when the succeeding feathers were those of a cock, and that this animal was never afterwards impregnated. Hence it is most probable that all the hen pheasants found wild, having the feathers of a cock, were formerly perfect hens, but have been changed by age, or perhaps by certain constitutional circumstances. Having bought some pheasants from a dealer in birds, among which were several hens, I perceived, the year after, that one of the hens did not lay, and that she began to change her feathers. The year following she had nearly the plumage of the cock, but less brilliant, especially on the head; and it is more than probable that this was an old hen, nearly under circumstances similar to those before described.' The alternative above alluded to has been proved (Phil. Trans., 1827) by Mr. Yarrell, whose dissections demonstrate this change and its causes, and whose observations show that it is not uncommon. He states that certain constitutional circumstances producing this change may and do occur at any period during the life of the fowl, and that they can be produced by artificial means. The same author, in his excellent History of British Birds,' now in course of publication, observes that these cock-plumed hens are usually called by sportsmen and gamekeepers 'Mule Pheasants,' a designation which he considers to be correct, since some of our dictionaries show that the term Mule is derived from a word which signifies barren, and That hen pheasants which have begun to put on the livery of the male are not always incapable of producing eggs, is a fact for which we are indebted to Sir Philip Grey Egerton, Bart., well known for the acuteness of his observations in many departments of natural history. Sir Philip informs us that about four years ago a hen pheasant at Oulton Park, Cheshire, which had nearly assumed the plumage of the cock, laid a nest full of eggs, from which she was driven by the curiosity of persons who came to gaze at so strange a sight. She then laid another nest full of eggs, sat upon them, and hatched them; but the young all died soon after they were excluded. This is a very curious case, and seems to show that though the capacity of producing eggs still remained, the organic defect was sufficient to prevent the production of a healthy offspring. Varieties.-White and Pied: the Ring-necked and Bohemian Pheasants appear to be considered as varieties by Mr. Yarrell; Temminck and Sir W. Jardine consider the former to be completely distinct. The English reader will find the reasons for the latter opinion stated at length in that useful work 'The Naturalist's Library' (Ornithology), vol. iii. HYBRIDS. Various instances of the common Pheasant breeding with other gallinaceous birds are on record. Edwards has figured a bird supposed to have been produced between a pheasant and a turkey. Three or four of these were discovered in the woods near the house of Henry Seymour, Esq., of Handford, Dorsetshire, and he shot one in October, 1759, the bird which he sent to Edwards. Mr. Yarrell (British Birds) observes that he has twice been shown birds that were said to be the produce of the Pheasant and the Guinea Fowl, and the evidence of the plumage was in favour of the statement. We have seen such a bird, and its feathers corroborated the allegation that it had been so produced. In the article BLACK COCK will be found accounts of hybrids between the Cock Pheasant and the Grey Hen. Mr. Eyton, in his valuable work on the Rarer British Birds, adds to the account of the hybrid shot near Merrington, figured in that work, and noticed in our article, that the brood to which it belonged consisted of five: one remained in the possession of J. A. Lloyd, Esq., of Leaton Knolls; the other three, with the old Grey Hen, fell victims to a farmer's gun, and were destined to the table. Mr. Eyton further states that he had also seen another specimen killed near Corwen in Merionethshire, then in the collec tion of Sir Rowland Hill, Bart. Mr. Thompson of Belfast sant is by no means rare, as is well known to those whose describes (Magazine of Zoology and Botany) another hy- homesteads border upon pheasant preserves: the produce of brid shot at Lochnaw, Wigtonshire, where it had been this union is called a Pero. Many of these, some of them seen several times on the wing by persons who supposed it very fine birds, have been kept together in the Gardens of to be a wild turkey. In the surrounding plantations Phea- the Zoological Society in the Regent's Park, but they never, sants and Black Grouse were numerous; but this individual, as far as we have been able to learn, exhibited any inclinawhich was preserved for Sir Andrew Agnew, Bart., M.P., tion to breed. They are generally considered, as Mr. Yarwas the only one of the kind observed. Mr. John Lead-rell observes, to be unproductive among themselves, all being beater, in 1837, exhibited a hybrid between the Pheasant half-bred; but the case is different when they are paired and Black Grouse, shot near Alnwick, at a meeting of the either with the true pheasant or the common fowl. Edward Zoological Society. This the Duke of Northumberland Fuller, Esq., of Carleton Hall near Saxmundham, has represented to the British Museum. Dr. Edward Moore corded that his gamekeeper had succeeded in rearing two (Magazine of Natural History, 1837) notices another hy- birds from a barn-door hen, having a cross from a pheasant, brid of this kind shot near Plymouth by the Rev. Mr. and a pheasant cock, which he presented to the Zoological Morshead, and Mr. Yarrell (British Birds) records his Society. On the same evening when these three-quarterobligation to the Rev. W. S. Hore, of Stoke near Devon- bred pheasants were noticed, hybrids between the Pheasant port, for the knowledge of two other specimens killed in and Common Fowl, the Common Pheasant and the Silver Devonshire: one a fine male, in his own collection; the Pheasant, and the Common Pheasant with the Gold Pheaother believed to be at this time in the collection of Dr. sant, were placed on the Society's table for exhibition. Rodd, of Trebartha Hall in Cornwall. To conclude this (Zool. Proc., 1836.) part of the subject in the words of Mr. Yarrell:-'The last of thirteen examples of hybrids between the Pheasant and Black Grouse here recorded was killed in Northumberland, for a knowledge of which I am indebted to Mr. Selby, of Twizell House. This bird was shot early in December, 1839, by Lord Howick, in a large wood belonging to Earl Grey, a few miles to the east of Felton, and, having been sent to Twizell, I was not only immediately made acquainted with the occurrence, but Mr. Selby has since supplied me with a coloured drawing of the bird, from which the representation at p. 311 was executed.' (History of British Birds, May, 1840.) The union between the common hen and the cock phea Before we leave the True Pheasants, we must notice some of the magnificent Indian species, which exhibit such a prodigality of splendour and beauty in their plumage as almost realises the birds which we read of in fairy tales. Such are the well-known gorgeous Gold Pheasant (Phasianus pictus, Linn.-Genus Thaumalea, Wagler, Chrysolophus, J. E. Gray, Nycthemerus, Sw.), the equally wellknown delicately pencilled Silver Pheasant (Phasianus Nycthemerus, Linn.-Genus Gennæus, Wagler, Nycthemerus, Sw., Euplocomus, J. E. Gray), and the noble Reeves's Pheasant (Phasianus veneratus, Temm.-Genus Syrmaticus, Wagler). Of these forms we have endeavoured to give some representation as far as our means will permit.' a, Silver Pleasant; b, Gold Pheasant; c, Reeves's Pheasant (Syrmaticus Reevesii)-males. The two first of these (natives of China) are common in almost every aviary, and there is no reason why they should not thrive well if turned out in our preserves; the second species has, we believe, been so turned out with success: the last is also found in China, but, as it would seem, on the very confines of the empire. It is very rare in Pekin. Dr. Latham's description was taken from Sir John Anstruther's drawings, and from some writing under them in the Persian language it appeared that the bird was called Doomdurour, or Long-tail, and it was found on the snowy mountains of Surinagur. nued to live for some time in the Garden in the Regent's Park. Tail-feathers from it were exhibited to the Society in 1831, measuring each about five feet six inches in length. A second male specimen was also sent to their menagerie by the same liberal donor in 1834. Hybrids were obtained, one of which is, we believe, still alive at the Garden, from one of these birds and the common Pheasant. To Mr. Reeves we are indebted for the first individual ever brought alive to Europe. It was a male, and conti Then there are the beautiful Diard's Pheasant (Phasianus versicolor, Vieill.), which haunts the Japanese woods, and exhibits the manners and habits of our common Pheasant; the rare and elegant Soemmering's Pheasant (Phasianus Soemmeringii, Temm.), also a native of Japan: but our limits warn us, and we shall proceed to notice some |