206 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



and persists to this day. Champlain gives a poor picture of it on his 

 map of 1612, which is no doubt one of the earliest made of the Amer- 

 ican Beaver. 



Blaireau, or Blereaux,. — French name for the European Badger, used by 

 Champlain in his list of 1632 in the form espèces de Blereaux, and Le 

 Jeune used it in the same way. There are no species of Badger' in 

 eastern America, but the nearest representatives is the Wolverene, or 

 Carcajou, which I believe Champlain here had in mind. This is fully 

 confirmed by La Hontan's mention of " Carcaious, an Animal not 

 unlike a Badger." 



Blé sauuaige. — French name meaning "Wild Wheat, applied to a wild plant 

 of Eastern Canada. Cartier mentions it in 1534 as " wild corn lilve 

 rye," which appears to refer to the Squirrel Tail Grass (Hordeum 

 jubatum), which might well be termed Wild Rye, an abundant and 

 conspicuous plant in the regions where Cartier saw it. It is, of 

 course, the Corn of Hakluyt's translation of Alphonse of 1542, and the 

 Wild Come like harleij of the English voyage of 1597 to the Magdalens. 

 But Fernald's recent paper would suggest that it was Kljimus (nriiariits. 



Blue. — French descriptive name applied to the Blueberry of Canada by 

 Champlain, and by Lescarbot as bleues, though Denys curiously omits 

 it. It is called Bluet by both Canadian and Acadian French to this 

 day. These were, of course, the hurts, of Haie in 1583. 



Borz- — Used in Hakluyt's translation of Roberval's voyage of r542, for a 

 tree which is without doubt the Birch. 



Bouclée. — French name for one of the R,aies, or Skates, of Europe, extended 

 by Denys, in 1672 ,to an Acadian species, which in all probability is 

 the common Barn Door Skate. No doubt this is the 'lliornbacke of 

 the English, 

 if . 



Boulle, Bouille, Bouleau, Boulleau. — French name for Birch, extended to the 

 American species, and used without distinction of kinds, but espe- 

 cially for the Canoe, or Paper, Birch. Used by Cartier, in 1534, as 

 haul, and in 1535 as bricz, (a probable misprint for boiilz) and by all 

 others thereafter. Compare also Bor::. 



Branchu. — See Canard. 



Brant. — See Cravan, and Outarde, and Bernache. 



Braume or Brème. — Mentioned by Cartier in 1535, and by Le Clercq in 1691. 

 The Europaan Breme does not occur in America, and it is possible that 

 Cartier was giving a rather conventional list of fishes influenced by 

 the supposition that those of Europe occurred also in Canada. According 

 to Montpetit the name Brème is now applied to the common black- 

 eared pond fish, usually called sunflsh in Acadia, a very common little 

 golden yellow perch-like fish, and it was to this, no doul)t. that Father 

 Le Clercq applied the name. 



