BEE. 



[ 95 ] 



BIBLARIUM. 



rocks at or ^v^tlu^ low water-mark, or creep- 

 ing among the roots of Bai/ida {^Cellitlaria) 

 aviculan'a. Cells 1-24" long. 



BiBL. Johnst. Br. Zooph. x. 371 ; Gosse, 

 Mar. Zool. ii. 15 ; Busk, Catal. (Brit. Mus.)} 

 Hincks, Pohjz. U5. 



BEE. See Apis. 



BEKR. — The fermentation by which this 

 liquid is produced results from the Lirowth 

 of the yeast-plant, a microscopic Fungus. 

 See Yeast and Fermentation. 



\Yhen ammonia is added to beer, a preci- 

 pitate of the ammonio-phosphate of mag- 

 nesia falls, resembling that subsiding from 

 urine under the same circumstances (PI. 13. 

 fig, 3). This, in the sugar-beer as now 

 made, is almost absent ; and the beer is de- 

 prived of an important element of nutrition. 



BEGGIA'TOA, Trevis.— A genus of Os- 

 ciJlatoriacere (or properly Schizomycetes), 

 distinguished by the free, rigid, sheathless 

 fibres, enveloped in mucus, and the w^hite 

 granular eudochromes. Five species : found 

 in warm mineral and sulphur springs. 



BiBL. Rabenhorst, Fl. Ah/, ii. p. 04. 



BELBA, Heyden (Dmnaus, Koch). — A 

 genus of Arachnida, of the order Acarina 

 and family Oribatea. 



Char. Cephalothorax ribbed; abdomen 

 separated from the thorax, rounded as if 

 bulbous ; legs long, geniculate, with one 

 claw. 



The species live on moss, under stones, &c. 



B. (jenicuiata. Beneath the bark of the 

 pear-tree, &c. 



BiBL. Walcken. Apttres, iii. (Gervais), 

 p. 256 ; Koch, Uehers. <§-c. ; Murray, Econ. 

 Entom. 215. 



BENZOIC ACID.— This acid is well 

 known as occurring naturally in benzoin 

 and some other resins. It is found in ani- 

 mal secretions (urine) as a product of the 

 decomposition of hippuric acid. It is also 

 a product of the oxidation ofproteine com- 

 poimds. It is but slightly soluble in cold, 

 more readily in hot water and in alcohol, 

 also in ether. 



Its ciystals belong to the right-rhombic 

 prismatic system. It is readily sublimed ; 

 and the crystals thus produced form shining 

 delicate needles. When crystallized from a 

 solution, it usually forms dendritically ar- 

 ranged superimposed plates, with angles of 

 90°, sometimes narrow six-sided needles or 

 piisms; occasionally the angles are trun- 

 cated, so that the inclination of the edges 

 amoimts to an angle of 135'^. 



It is not unfrequently obtained from urine 



when not fresh, in attempts to procure hip- 

 puric acid. It may be distinguished from 

 hippm-ic acid by its much greater solubility 

 in ether, by its crystallization in thin plates, 

 and their form (PI. 11. fig. 13). 



BERGMEHL.— The German expression 

 for mountain-flour. A powdery or more or 

 less coherent mineral, consisting principally 

 of the siliceous valves of the Diatomaceae. 

 In some countries it is mixed with articles of 

 food in times of scarcity. See Diatomace^. 



BERKELEY'A, Greville.— A genus of 

 Diatomacese (Cohort Naviculefe). 



Distinguished by the navicular frustules 

 being immersed in the branches of the gela- 

 tinous frond, which is rounded at the base. 



The valves are exceedingly thin, brittle 

 and transparent. No markings have been 

 detected upon them ; but there can scarcely 

 be a question that they exist. 



B.frac)iUs(V\. 19. fig. 8). Filiform branches 

 mostly simple, crowded ; valves lanceolate, 

 obtuse ; length 1-330". British. 



Branches about 1-4" in length. Found 

 upon marine plants and rocks. 



B. adriatica. Branches lax, subdivided, 

 attenuate and flagelliform ; valves narrowly 

 lanceolate, almost linear, somewhat obtuse ; 

 length 1-200", 



BiBL. Grev. Crj/pt. Fl. tab. 294 ; Ralfs, 

 Arm. N. H. 1845, xvi. p. 110; Kiitzing, 

 Bacill., and Sp. Ala. ; Smith, Br. Dial. ii. 

 67. 



BET'ULA,L.— TheBirch-tree(Dicotyle- 

 donous Plants,N. O. Betulacese), remarkable 

 for its peculiar silvery peridenn. See Babe-. 

 The bark of B. nigra contains reservoirs filled 

 with an aromatic oil and also a peculiar resin, 

 called Birch Camphor, which is used in the 

 manufacture of Russia leather. 



BE YRICHTA, M'Ooy.— An extinct ge- 

 nus, belonging probably to the Ostracoda, 

 very abundant throughout the palaeozoic 

 rocks, and presenting a great variety in their 

 small oblong and deeply lobed valves. 

 Forty-two species are recorded from the 

 Silurian, two from the Devonian, and seven 

 from the Carboniferous rocks. 



BiBL. Jones, Ann. N. H. 1855, xvi. 81 & 

 163; 3fn. Mic. Jn. 1870, 191. 



BIBLA'RIUM, Ehr.— A genus of fossil 

 Diatomaceae. 



Distinguished from Tetracifclvs by the 

 frustules being single, which difi'crence pro- 

 bably depends upon the species only having 

 been found bv Ehreuberg in the fossil state. 



Twelve species (Pis. 50. fig. 39; 18. figs. 

 38-48). Fossil in Siberia and Oregon. 



