Couscous

“ Conjoined and posterior to the coxa of the second cephalic subsegment we will find a large plate (a) articulating with the cephalic scutum by suture; this I take to be the primitive sternum and episternum of the third cephalic subsegment atrophied and fused together; to it the true maxilte are articulated. These consist each of, first an elongated crooked plate (the coxa) articulating with two plates, the exterior of which (the femur) is armed with a tubercle, as in the mandibles, posterior legs, &c.; the inner plate is the tibia ”

“ These are long or short, weak or strong, according to the habit of the insect. Each leg consists of the following joints or parts: The coxæ (Fig. 24) , which move like a ball and socket joint in the close-fitting coxal cavities of the body-rings. Next to these follow in order the broad tracanter, the large, broad femur (Fig. 2, g′, 1) , the long, slim tibia (Fig. 2, g′, 2) , frequently bearing strong spines at or near its end, called tibial spurs, and followed by the from one to five-jointed tarsi (Fig. 2, g′, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3) . ”

“ It ought, therefore, to represent the coxal gland of this appendage, just as the thymus, tonsils, etc., represent the coxal glands of the rest of the mesosomatic appendages. In the thyroid gland we again see a ductless gland of immense importance to the economy, not a useless organ, but one, like the other modified coxal glands, whose removal involves far-reaching vital consequences. Such a gland, on my theory, was in the arthropod a part of the external genital ducts which opened on the basal joint of the operculum. ”

“ The Cossacks alone esteem them, and intermarry with them; and these unions sometimes produce women of very great beauty, although nothing is more hideous than a Calmuck. High, prominent, broad cheek bones, widely separated from each other; a flat and broad nose; coarse, greasy, jet black hair; scarcely any eyebrows; and enormous prominent ears, constitute no very inviting portrait. Their persons are indescribably filthy, and their habits loathsome. They eat raw horseflesh, and may be seen tearing it like wild beasts from large bones which they hold in their hands. ”

“ But the Cossack's eyes were fixed on something else.
A Chukchee, dressed in fur and with a spear in his hand, lay face downwards across the pathway. A little farther on a head showed from under a snowdrift, the whites of the eyes shining and the hair dishevelled by the gale; a hand like a claw, clotted with blood, protruded from lower down the drift. Streaks of blood mingled with the red evening glow. ”

“ The Posterior Coxæ are only conspicuously enlarged in some particular species (dung beetles) . There are two of them placed on the sides of the breast next to the abdomen, under the hinder thighs. In some they are placed remote and distinct from it, in others they lie close; being moveable in some, in others they are fixed. The use of these parts we are ignorant of. [19]
The Abdomen consists of a number of annuli or rings, and contains the greatest part of the intestines and other viscera; being united to the trunk, and formed with holes on the sides, through which the insect breathes. ”

“ The Cossacks, unarmed and with their horses unsaddled just as if they were at home, spent their time some in fishing, some in drinking, and some in hunting. Only the horse of the man on duty was saddled, and with its feet hobbled was moving about by the brambles near the wood, and only the sentinel had his Circassian coat on and carried a gun and sword. The corporal, a tall thin Cossack with an exceptionally long back and small hands and feet, was sitting on the earth-bank of a hut with his beshmet unbuttoned. ”

“ If you will take a bilious looking eel and compress him lengthwise till the becomes a stubby bunch, put on him a pair of yellow goggle eyes that stare madly as if at ghosts, and seem, withal to be sadly afflicted with strabismus, you will have the beginnings of a cusk. Then he must have a broad fin that begins at the back of his neck, promenades his spine to and including his tail and returns beneath him to the spot where some people wear neckties. ”

“ The Sting-rays. In these the head is surrounded and inclosed by the pectoral fins; the disk is somewhat rounded; the tail is long, and drawn out to a fine point; it is quite destitute of fins, but is armed near its base with a long and sharp, flattened, bony spine, the two sides of which form thin edges, cut into close, acute teeth,—a most formidable weapon. We have one British species, commonly called the Fire-flaire, of which Mr. Couch thus speaks. "The manner in which it defends itself shows its consciousness of the formidable weapon it carries on its tail. ”

“ There are no repugnatorial glands. In the male none of the legs are modified as gonopods, but the coxa of each of the legs of the second pair is furnished with a conical penis, which during copulation, it may be supposed, is inserted into the genital orifice of the female, which occupies a corresponding position in that sex. The young when first hatched has only three pairs of legs and five segments. ”

“ There an armed and mounted Cossack, on leave from the cordon, rides up to a hut and, leaning towards the window, knocks. In answer to the knock the handsome head of a young woman appears at the window and you can hear caressing, laughing voices. There a tattered Nogáy labourer, with prominent cheekbones, brings a load of reeds from the steppes, turns his creaking cart into the Cossack captain’s broad and clean courtyard, and lifts the yoke off the oxen that stand tossing their heads while he and his master shout to one another in Tartar. ”

“ The cuscuses are sleepy animals, with soft, woolly fur, which in this species is curiously variegated in colour.
The remarkable tenacity of life possessed by the cuscus is fully attested to by Dr. Wallace. He says: "They move about slowly, and are most difficult to kill, owing to the thickness of their skins and tenacity of life. A heavy charge of shot will often lodge in the skin and do them no harm, and even breaking the spine or piercing the brain will not kill them for some hours. The natives everywhere eat their flesh; and as their motions are so slow, easily catch them by climbing ”

“ Sub-Fam. 1. Phalangerinae.—The genus Phalanger embraces five species, sometimes called by the generic name of Cuscus. They are largish animals with short ears; only the end of the tail is naked. Of these animals only one species is found in Australia itself, the rest inhabiting the islands lying to the north. The Spotted Cuscus, Ph. maculatus, is in spite of its vegetarian diet, and perhaps on account of its spots, spoken of as the "Tiger Cat." Mr. Aflalo remarks of it that though provided with a prehensile tail, it is little better as a climber than the tailless Koala. ”

“ The GOLDEN CUCKOOS (Chrysococcyx) , as a most gorgeous group have been appropriately called, inhabit the equatorial regions of Asia, Africa, and Australia. These birds are distinguished by their comparatively small, slender body, long wings, and tail. The beak, which is of medium size, exactly resembles that of the Common Cuckoo; the tarsi are short, and the toes long; the wing is pointed, the tail rounded at its sides, and the compact, large-feathered plumage dyed with hues of more than metallic brilliancy. ”

“ Surely, I thought, a beast who can produce such a roar can swallow not only one but several cows at once. How brave my father seemed to me as, still muttering, he reloaded his old gun with another cartridge. But here something happened. The great beast holding a cow in his teeth as a cat [54] does a mouse, jumped over the seven-foot fence of the corral and ran off into the darkness, pursued by our wolf hound. With what sounded like the Cossack war cry, father followed, while I, too, made my way some distance after, this distance gradually increasing on the snow covered trail. ”

“ The coxal glands are well developed, and lie beneath the endosternite, opening near the first coxae.
The nervous system is much concentrated and of the usual Arachnid type. The median abdominal nerve has a ganglion towards its extremity, supplying, according to Bernard, [251] the muscles which move the tail. The heart is extremely long, and varies little in width. It has nine pairs of ostia [252] —two in the thorax and seven in the abdomen. The generative glands are paired, and in the male there are large seminal vesicles. ”

“ The cuscus is the New Guinea representative of the Australian phalangers, or “opossums,” as they are popularly called, and is a gentle nocturnal creature that feeds mainly on fruit. It has a face something like a lemur’s, and a very long prehensile tail, the terminal third of which is pink and destitute of fur. The dense fur is of a creamy yellow colour mottled with dark brown.
Formerly most of the men of Torres Straits produced scars in elaborate patterns on their shoulders, and the practice is still maintained by certain tribes on the neighbouring coast of New Guinea. ”

“ It stands on the ends of its five toes, each of which is terminated by comparatively small hoofs, and the heel-bone is a little distance from the ground. Beneath comes the wonderful cushion, composed of membranes, fat, nerves, and blood-vessels, besides muscles, which constitutes the sole of the foot. The fore-foot is larger than the hind one, and as the creature does not require to climb, or to lift its fore-limb very high, there is no collar-bone. In the young there is more hair on the body than might have been expected, and they have a set of milk teeth. ”

“ The Cossacks finished their task round the cordon and gathered in the hut for supper. Only the old man still stayed under the plane tree watching for the vulture and pulling the string tied to the falcon’s leg, but though a vulture was really perching on the plane tree it declined to swoop down on the lure. Lukáshka, singing one song after another, was leisurely placing nets among the very thickest brambles to trap pheasants. In spite of his tall stature and big hands every kind of work, both rough and delicate, prospered under Lukáshka’s fingers. ”

“ Like most of the sakis, the couxia is not at all a good-tempered animal, and is apt to give way to sudden fits of fury. So savagely will it bite when enraged, that it has been known to drive its teeth deeply into a thick board. ”

“ In the pig they are wholly wanting.
The Coccygeal Vertebræ.—These vertebræ, few in number (and sometimes ankylosed) in the human being, form in the latter a small series, the coccyx; which is inclined forwards, that is to say, towards the interior of the pelvis. In quadrupeds, on the contrary, their number is large; they are not ankylosed, and they form the skeleton of the caudal appendix.
The first coccygeal vertebræ—that is, those which are next the sacrum—present characters which are common to those of other regions: they have a body, a foramen, and processes. ”

“ All the coxae large, free, entirely covering the sternal surfaces of the three thoracic segments, as well as the base of the abdomen. The sternal sclerites of the thoracic segments little developed, being weak and consisting of pieces that do not form a continuous exo-skeleton; tegmina and wings extremely variable, sometimes entirely absent. The wings possess a definite anal region capable of fan-like folding; rarely the wing is also transversely folded. The three pairs of legs differ but little from one another. ”

“ In this story the old Cossacks, centuries dead, have a genuine resurrection of the body. They appear before us in all their amazing vitality, their love of fighting, of eating and drinking, their intense patriotism, and their blazing devotion to their religious faith. Never was a book more plainly inspired by passion for race and native land. It is one tremendous shout of joy. These Cossacks are the veritable children of the steppes, and their vast passions, their Homeric laughter, their absolute recklessness in battle, are simply an expression of the boundless range of the mighty landscape. ”

“ I dissected a cyst as perfectly as possible, and placed them in spirits; at the same time regretting that I had no means of preserving the joint with the cyst attached entire. Similar worms are said to exist in the stomach and intestines of the animal. These cysts, I understand, are not uncommon; some persons have asserted that they have never killed a kangaroo without them, whilst others declare they are more common in males than in females, [113] and are found in two kangaroos out of three. ”

“ Judging from all the evidence available, it is probable that when the arthropod stock arose from the annelids, simultaneously with the formation of appendages, the segmental somatic nephric organs of the latter extended ventrally into the appendage, and thus formed a segmental set of excretory organs, which were partly somatic, partly appendicular in position, and might therefore be called coxal glands. ”

“ The second cavity would in reality represent four segments belonging to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th locomotor appendages, i.e. the very four segments which in the Eurypteridæ are concentrated together to form the endognaths, and we should be justified in putting this interpretation on it, because, according to Kishinouye, its ventral portion forms the coxal gland, and, according to Lankester, the coxal gland sends prolongations into the coxa of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th locomotor appendages. ”

“ In the Annals of Natural History for November, 1848, Professor M‘Coy has given a corrected outline of the carapace, or bony cephalo-thoracic casing, of the Coccosteus. See also Miller’s Foot-prints, fig. 11.
These fishes are from a few inches to two feet in length; six species have been discovered; and their remains are the most abundant of the Ichthyolites of the Old Red. Patches of detached scales, and isolated osseous plates, are very frequent in the sandy cornstones, and the subcrystalline masses of limestone. ”