Phrynichus

“ He whines in his barbarian tongue and repeats the lament of Philomela with good reason, for even if the votes were equally divided, he would have to perish. [73]
[The Leader comes forward and addresses the audience.]
Chorus Leader
The sacred chorus owes the city its opinion and its wise lessons. First I demand that equality be restored among the citizens, so that none may be disquieted. If there be any whom the artifices of Phrynichus have drawn into any error, [74] let us allow them to offer their excuses and let us forget these old mistakes. ”

“ Opisthosoma without post-anal sclerite and posterior caudal elongation: with frequently a pair of small lobate appendages on the sternum of the 3rd somite. Respiratory organs, as in Urotricha.
Family—Phrynichidae (Phrynichus, Damon) . ” Admetidae (Admetus, Heterophrynus) . ” Charontidae (Charon, Sarax) . (Family ?) —*Graeophonus.
Remarks.—The Pedipalpi are confined to the tropics and warmer temperate regions of both hemispheres. Fossil forms occur in the Carboniferous. The small forms known as Schizomus and Hubbardia are of special interest from a morphological point of view. ”

“ Yes, by Jove; for they have got up late to-day; since they always summon him at mid-night, with lamps in their hands, and humming dear old songs from Phrynichus' Phœnissae, [55] with which they summon him.
Sos. Therefore, if need requires, we will pelt them [56] at once with stones.
Bdel. Nay, you wretch, if any one irritate the race of old men, it is like to a wasps' nest; for they have also a very sharp sting in [57] their loins with which they sting; they buz and bounce and strike like sparks. ”

“ Pliny says of the Phœnix:—“Æthiopia and India, more especially produce birds of diversified plumage, and such as quite surpass all description. In the front rank of these is the Phœnix, that famous bird of Arabia; though I am not sure that its existence is not a fable.
“It is said that there is only one in existence in the whole world, and that that one has not been seen very often. We are told that this bird is of the size of an eagle, and has a brilliant golden plumage around the neck, whilst the rest of the body is a purple colour ”

“ While, therefore, there can be little doubt that the class represented by the Ornithorhynchus is the posterity of the Sauropsida (birds and reptiles) , yet the imperfect knowledge of the development of the Ornithorhynchus, and the total absence, so far, of fossil remains, make it impossible to designate which particular order of Sauropsida ought to be considered as the progenitor of the Ornithorhynchus, and through it of the rest of the Mammalia. In seeking the origin of the pouch-bearing mammals, we meet with the same difficulties, though not in the same degree. ”

“ Mention, however, must be made of the friar-birds, Tropidorhynchus, of which nearly a score of species, five of them belonging to Australia, have been described. With their stout bills, mostly surmounted by an excrescence, they seem to be the most abnormal forms of the family, and most of them are besides remarkable for the baldness of some part at least of their head. They assemble in troops, sitting on dead trees, with a loud call, and are very pugnacious, frequently driving away hawks and crows. ”

“ The difficulty which at this time presents itself in regard to the limits of the Fringillidae arises from our ignorance of the anatomical features, especially those of the head, possessed by many exotic forms.
Taken as a whole, the finches, concerning which no reasonable doubt can exist, are not only little birds with a hard bill, adapted in most cases for shelling and eating the various seeds that form the chief portion of their diet when adult, but they appear to be mainly forms which predominate in and are highly characteristic of the Palaearctic Region ”

“ And the Sun himself loved to caress his plumage of gold and crimson.
As for men, they also had adored him in time past, and had built temples in his honor. They also were puny mortals, scarcely longer of life than the birds themselves. The Phœnix had seen many generations of men grow up, do good or evil deeds, and die, sometimes leaving grand monuments upon the earth, sometimes disappearing from knowledge like the very birds, leaving scarcely a trace behind. ”

“ Spurs and beaks are structures which are hardly represented among mammals, while so characteristic of birds. They are however both found in the Monotremata. In both Echidna and Ornithorhynchus the male has a peculiar hollow horny spur borne on a sesamoid bone articulated to the tibia. The jaws in Ornithorhynchus are cased in horny beaks similar to those of birds, and are provided with horny pads which act as teeth.
(f) Horny plates of a ridged or roughened character occur upon the anterior portion of the palate, and of the mandibular symphysis in all three genera of recent Sirenia ”

“ The shape of the body is generally very stout. The limbs are short, notably so in Glyphoglossus, Breviceps, Rhombophryne, Hemisus, Stereocyclops and Cacopus. Others, for instance most species of Microhyla, Phryniscus, Callula, and Sphenophryne, are of a very slender build; and their limbs, instead of being short and well adapted to digging, are long and may even be provided with typical adhesive discs, supported by T-shaped phalanges, especially in the two genera last named, and in Scaphiophryne and Phrynomantis. ”

“ From the body is generated a worm which develops into the new phœnix. The young bird then conveys his father's body to Heliopolis and burns it upon the altar there (Tacitus, Ann., vi. 28) . According to Horapollo (ii. 57) the phœnix casts himself upon the ground and receives a wound, from the ichor of which springs his successor. But the most familiar version of the birth and death of the phœnix is that in which the bird burns itself upon a nest or pyre of odoriferous woods, and the young phœnix springs from the ashes. ”

“ This bird, though forming a well-marked genus, is in many respects, even in plumage, allied to Furnarius and Opetiorhynchus,—for instance, in the streak over its eyes, in the red band on its wings extending obliquely from the body to the third primary, and to some of the species of these genera in its rather plumose feathers. In its general manners, the same resemblance, together with some differences, always struck me. It lives entirely on the ground, and generally in dry sterile situations, where it haunts the scattered thickets, and often flies from one to another. ”

“ It is a remarkable fact that so many of the species belong to genera which are wholly Neotropical, and that the specially South American families of Icteridæ, Tyrannidæ, Dendrocolaptidæ, Pteroptochidæ, Trochilidæ, and Conuridæ, should supply more than one-third of the species; while the purely South American genus Phrygilus, should be represented by four species, three of which abound in Tierra del Fuego. ”

“ Slowly, almost imperceptibly, as it becomes accustomed to its new position, it begins to elongate; the fringes creep softly out, spreading gradually all their ramifications, till one end of the animal seems crowned with feathery, crimson sea-weeds of the most delicate tracery. It is much to be regretted that these lower marine animals are not better known. ”

“ Phrynosoma, with about a dozen species, the “horned toads” of California to Texas, and through Mexico. Some of these comical-looking little creatures are viviparous, others deposit their eggs in the ground. They are well concealed by the colour of their upper parts, which in most cases agrees with the prevailing tone of their surroundings, mostly arid, stony or sandy localities; the large spikes on the head protect them from being swallowed by snakes. ”

“ Shallow, sandy parts of the coasts seem to be the places on which it may be looked for. It has been found on many localities of the British, and generally European coasts, in North America, the West Indies, Brazil, Peru, Tasmania, Australia, and Borneo. It rarely exceeds a length of three inches. A smaller species, in which the dorsal fringe is distinctly higher and rayed, and in which the caudal fringe is absent, has been described under the name of Epigionichthys pulchellus ”

“ Family 7.—RHINOPHRYNIDÆ. (1 Genus, 1 Species.)
The Rhinophrynidæ are Toads with imperfect ears and a tongue which is free in front. The single species of Rhinophrynus, is a native of Mexico.
Family 8.—PHRYNISCIDÆ. (5 Genera, 13 Species.)
The Phryniscidæ, or Toads with imperfect ears and tongue fixed in front, are widely distributed over the warmer regions of the earth, but are most abundant in the Neotropical region and Australia, while only single species occur in the Old World. The genera are:—
Phryniscus (7 sp.) , from Costa Rica to Chili and Monte Video; Brachycephalus (1 sp.) , Brazil ”

“ Philippe de Thaun says: “The phœnix lives five hundred years and a little more, when it will become young again and leave its old age.” It was said to be sometimes seen in Egypt, and only one was believed to exist at a time. When it is advanced in age and its time of change is at hand, it hides itself away somewhere in Arabia, and makes itself a nest of the rarest spices, which, by the heat of the sun or other secret agency, and the fanning of the sacred bird’s own wings, soon rises into flames and consumes it. ”

“ The Prionus damicornis is a native of many parts of America and the West Indies, where its larva, a grub about three and a half inches in length, and of the thickness of the little finger, is in great request as an article of food, being considered by epicures as one of the greatest delicacies of the New World. We are informed by authors of the highest respectability, that some people of fortune in the West Indies keep negroes for the sole purpose of going into the woods in quest of these admired larvæ, who scoop them out of the trees in which they reside. ”

“ Several other species also share with Oreoprhyne parkopanorum the combination of a cartilaginous connection between the scapula and procoracoid and absence of toe webbing. Of these, Oreophryne anamiatoi, Oreophryne asplenicola, Oreophryne flava, Oreophryne graminus, Oreophryne notata, Oreophryne pseudasplenicola, and Oreophryne streiffeleri are easily distinguished from Oreoprhyne parkopanorum in having the fifth toe obviously longer than the third. ”

“ It does not appear, however, to be in any considerable degree a fruit-eater, but is decidedly carnivorous, and almost rapacious; preying on Reptiles, particularly the various species of Phrynosoma, or Horned Frogs, as they are called with but little propriety, which abound in Western North America. ”

“ The structure of the soft parts, both in this species of Opetiorhynchus, and the two following ones, so closely resemble that of Furnarius and Uppucerthia, that one description will almost serve for the whole; those differences that do exist being not more than are generally found in species of the same genus ”

“ This genus ranges throughout Northern Africa to the Punjab. One species, A. vulgaris, extends into Spain and Portugal. The dorsal scales are small and almost smooth, but those on the tail are strongly keeled; the ventrals are much broader than long, and are arranged in eight to ten rows. The fringes on the digits are but feebly developed in the shape of lateral denticulations. The adults are grey-brown with faint longitudinal stripes, and with more conspicuous black and pale spots; in the breeding season larger blue-eyed spots appear on the sides near the limbs. ”

“ These egg-laying mammals show relationship towards the reptiles both in structure and in methods of reproduction.
A Pliocene species of Ornithorhynchus (O. maximus) has been recorded from the Deep-leads of Gulgong, « 287 » New South Wales, and the same beds have yielded the remains of Echidna (Proechidna) robusta. Remains of another species, Echidna, (P.) oweni, have been described from the Pleistocene Cave-breccias of the Wellington Valley Caves, New South Wales; and Ornithorhynchus agilis is found in deposits of similar age in Queensland. ”

“ Nature had placed along the Phoenician coast, or at any rate along a great portion of it, an inexhaustible supply of certain shell-fish, or molluscs, which contained as a part of their internal economy a colouring fluid possessing remarkable, and indeed unique, qualities. Some account has been already given of the species which are thought to have been anciently most esteemed. They belong, mainly, to the two allied families of the Murex and the Buccinum or Purpura. ”

“ The Crinoidea are characterized by having a fixed base, a column or stem composed of numerous separate articulated pieces of a solid calcareous substance, supporting on its summit a vase, or receptacle, formed by a series of closely adjusted plates, which contain the body, or viscera. The upper part of the receptacle is covered by a plated integument, on one side of which an aperture or mouth is placed. From the upper margin proceed five articulated tentacula or arms, which subdivide into branches that in some species are very numerous and of extreme tenuity. ”

“ The new species was diagnosed as differing from P. inflata in having less webbing on the feet, a poorly developed supratympanic fold, a more pustulate dorsum, and marked differences in dorsal pattern, color, and nature of antebrachial banding. The significance of the webbing was questioned by Shannon and Humphrey. The nature of the supratympanic fold and dorsal pustules changes with age (Duellman, 1956a:31) . Phrynohyas inflata is known to attain a snout-vent length of 95 mm. Dermal structures that undergo ontogenetic change are of little importance in comparing a juvenile with a large adult. ”

“ As the skin slowly splits through the wrigglings of the apparently uncomfortable occupant, it is gradually pushed backward—that is, upward—till it is in a shrivelled condition, and the body of the insect is nearly free. But the chrysalis thus brought to light is provided with little hooks on the end of its 'tail' by which it can attach itself to the irregularities of the crumpled coat. Its conical abdomen is also very flexible, and it can, by bending this, seize hold of a ridge in the skin, holding it between the segments. ”