BILIFULVINE. 



80 ] 



BLATTA. 



duces no change upon them. Nitric acid has 

 but Httle effect upon them, except when the 

 action is very intense, when they are decom- 

 posed. Yirchow suggests that biUfulvine 

 hokls an intermediate place between hnema- 

 toidine and melauine. Virchow notices the 

 occuiTcnce of these crystals upon the walls 

 of the cysts of Echijiococci in the liver. We 

 have also found them there, and in the liquid 

 contents of the cysts. In this instance, two 

 kinds of crystals were met with (PL 9. fig. 15); 

 some of these were rhombs (a), others were 

 twisted and elegantly curved bundles of nee- 

 dles (6). When first examined, they were 

 yellowish-red, but after remaining a day or 

 two in the liquid of the cysts, they became 

 almost perfectly yellow. Mlien mounted in 

 balsam, the rhombs remained unaltered, 

 whilst the Jong filamentous groups of needles 

 lost all colour, leaving a barelv distinguish- 

 able transparent skeleton. Both kinds were 

 insoluble in acetic acid, but soluble in potash 

 with a yellow colour. 



In morbid bile, crystals of cholesterine, 

 globules of fat, and small bundles of needles 

 of margarine are also occasionally found. 



See HiEMATOIDINE. 



BiBL. Berzelius, Lehrb. der Chemie, ix. 

 p. 285; Simon, Handbuch d. Angewandt. 

 medizin. Chemie; Lehmann, Phys. Chem. 

 Syden. Soc.) ; Virchow, Ann. d. Pharm. und 

 Chem. 1851 {Chem. Gaz. x.); Griffith, Pract. 

 Man. on the Blood, &c. 



BILIFULVINE. See Bile. Fig- 60. 



BISPORA, Corda.— A genus of 

 Torulacei (Coniomycetous Fungi), 

 characterized by its uniseptate spores 

 forming sim[)le and solitary bead- 

 like chains at the apices of short, 

 slender, erect filaments, destitute of 

 septa, arising from a creeping my- 

 celium. It was separated from To- 

 rula by Corda on account of the 

 double character of the spores. Ac- 

 cording to Fresenius, the chains of 

 spores are pedicellate as above de- 

 scribed, and the growth of the chains 

 appears to take place by division of 

 the terminal cell or spore. 



B. m.onilioides, Corda, of which 

 fig. 60 represents the chains of spores 

 without the pedicels, is British {To- Magnified 

 rula, Auct.). On sticks. ^^^^ ^'^'''' 



BiBL. Corda, Icones Fungorum, vol. i. 

 pi. 2. fig. 143; Fresenius, Beitr. zur Myco- 

 logie. Heft 2. p. 57. pi. 6. figs. 46-54. 



BITARTRATE OF POTASH. See 

 Potash. 



)-( 



r/ 



Bispora 

 moni- 

 lioides. 



BLASIA, Micheh. — A genus of Pelhe^ 

 (Hepaticaceae). The British species, B. pu- 

 silla, L., occurs on moist heaths, not uncom- 

 monly in the mountainous parts of England, 

 Scotland and Ireland. In addition to the 

 antheridia and pistillidia, and the sporanges 

 developed from the latter, this plant produces 

 gemmcB of two kinds. One kind is formed 

 in receptacles hollowed out of the nerve, 

 furnished with a long tubular beak, whence 

 the gemmae escape when mature. The se- 

 cond kind are described as black spherical 

 masses of granular or pulpy substance, and 

 occur within the epidermis on the under side 

 of the frond, often covered by the scales. 



BiBL. Hooker, Brit. Jungermannice, t. 82 

 -84 ; Eng. Botany, t. 1328 ; Brit. Flora, ii. 

 part 1. 130. 



BLASTOTRICHUM, Corda.— A genus 

 of Dematiei (Hyphomycetous Fungi), of 

 curious habit, growing in and out of water 

 upon aquatic plants. B. confervoides, Corda 

 (fig. 61), forms felted tufts of an agreeable 

 rose - colour upon 

 living and dead 

 parts of aquatic 

 Euphorbia, in au- 

 tumn. The fila- 

 ments are very 

 much branched, the 

 branchlets dichoto- 

 mous and subulate; 

 the spores rose-co- 

 lour, containing a 

 gelatinous nucleus 

 within. The spores 

 are irregularly di- 

 vided and some re- 

 main imperfect, but 



Fig. 61. 



Blastotrichum confervoides. 



Fragment of fertile filament. 

 Magnified 200 diameters. 



both these and the perfectly septate repro- 

 duce the plant when sovati. The form oc- 

 curring above the surface of the water is 

 of closer habit than the submerged, in 

 which the filaments are longer and more lax. 



BiBL. Corda, Icones Fung. ii. p. 10. pi. 9. 

 fig. 50. 



BLATTA. — A genus of Orthopterous 

 Insects, of the family Blattidae. 



Blatta orientalis is the common house 

 black-beetle or cockroach. The head and 

 the various organs of the mouth are figured 

 in PI. 26. fig. i, the upper and front view ; 

 fig. 2 the under view; fig. 22 the parts of the 

 mouth separate. 



Head oval, and concealed beneath the 

 large plate of the protothorax. Antenna 

 (fig. 1 a, broken off") very long, setaceous, 

 pubescent and with very numerous joints; 



