K.*lil 



BABOON. 



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B 



1>.U!IA'XA, genus of plants belonging to the natural order 

 " Iridacttr. It derives ita singular name from Babianer, which 

 the Dutch colonists call theie planto, becaune their round subterranean 

 item* are greedily eaten by baboon*. It differ* from (fladtuitu in 

 iU round leather-coated seeds, and in the flow-era baring the tube of 

 /j-iu, iunl from Ixia in their having the irregular limb of (,'ladioltu. 

 Fourteen or fifteen specie* are known, among which are some of the 

 handsomest of the Cape Bulboiu Plants, aa they are commonly though 

 incorrectly called. Of these all have narrow, plaited, sword-shaped 

 leaves, rising from a conn us which in covered with rigid, netted, 

 brown Males ; Una part, which is sometime* called the bulb, some- 

 time* the root, but which is in reality a short underground stem, is 

 propagated by one or more young buds near its point, which shoot up 

 at the season of growth, feed upon the old cormus till they have sucked 

 it quite dry, and by that time become new corini themselves elevated 

 upon the point of the original one. In this way the underground 

 cormi gradually rise towards the surface of the earth, and afford an 

 instance of vegetable progression which by some has been adduced as 

 extremely remarkable, but which is in fact, if the phenomenon be 

 rightly considered, precisely analogous to the progression of the stem 

 of a tree into the air by the formation of fresh branches year after year. 



The flowers of Babiana are yellow, purple, and even scarlet, of 

 considerable size, and extremely handsome. They are produced in 

 perfection, provided the plante are so cultivated as to be exposed 

 abundantly to air, light, warmth, and moisture, when in a state of 

 growth, and preserved cool and dry while in a state of repose. It is 

 in the plains of the Cape of Good Hope that these plants are found, 

 whore they are exposed for two or three months, at the most, to rain ; 

 and where, during the remainder of the year, they are buried beneath 

 a soil so dry that even succulent plants themselves can scarcely con- 

 trive to exist upon it. 



Jiabiatia iul/,hurcu, one of the commonest species, grows about a 

 foot high, with oblong, plaited, hairy leaves, and a one-sided spike of 



Havana tulpjturea. 



A, a diminUhrd flfruro of the flowering ipike ; I!, one of the cormi, (bowing 

 how they frradualljr amend bjr rising annually upon the remain* of cormi of 

 former reui. 



four or five flowers. The latter are about two inches long, of a pale 

 sulphur-yellow, with a short sky-blue tube and eye ; the segments 

 are oblong, slightly wavy, nearly equal in size, and spreading nearly 

 equally r..nu.l three short erect stamens The style and stigma are 

 sky-blue ; the latter very narrow and channeled. 



BABINGTONI TK, a mineral which occurs crystallised. Its primary 

 form is a doubly oblique prism ; the colour is black or greenish-black ; 



64-4 



-Jl :! 

 19-6 



'J U 



1-8 



u -:i 

 O'U 



the fracture uneven ; hardness, 5'5 to C'O ; lustre, vitreous ; it in 

 faintly translucent ; the specific gravity is 3'5. It has been found at 

 Arendal in Norway, the Shetland Isles, and in the United States at 

 Charles-town, Massachusetts. The following U the analysis by Arppe 

 of a specimen from Areudal : 



Silica 



Protoxide of Iron 



Lime 



M.I./U. -.c 



Protoxide of Manganese 



Alumina 



Volatile matter 



BABIROU'SSA is sometimes called the Horned Hog by tm . 

 from the great length and curved form of its upper tusks, wliicli 

 through the upper lip and grow upwards and backwards hk. tin- 

 horns of the Ituminantia. It is a species of wild hog whic-h n 

 the woods of Java, Celebes, and others of the larger Sunda Isles. 

 From its more slender proportions and longer limbs, compared with 

 other species of the same genus, this animal has been likewise called 

 the Stag-Boar, and was not altogether unknown to the ancients ; at 

 least it seems probable that it is the Sut tctracerot of .-Elian < 111 . 

 cap. 10), and is plainly referred to by Pliny (lib. viii., cap. 52). [Si 



BABOON (Cynoccphalut, Cuvier), a genus of Quadrumtina, or i 

 Handed Mammals, which forms the last link in the chain that unites 

 the Simiadte, properly so called, with the lower animals. The zoolo- 

 gical or technical name of this genus, Cynocrpkalut, is from a Greek 

 word used by Aristotle and other ancient writers to designate Un- 

 common species of Egypt and Arabia, the C. JIamadryat of iinxlern 

 writers, and is plainly derived from the marked resemblance which 

 the head and face of these animals bear to those of a dog, ;m.l ulii. h. 

 in truth, constitutes the most distinctive character of the genus. Thu 

 origin of the common name Baboon is a subject of greater d 

 Skinner and other British etymologists are content with deriving it 

 from our vernacular word Babe, without considering that the German 

 Pavian, the Dutch Baviaan, the French Babouin, and the Italian 

 Babbuino, are manifestly but so many different modes of writing the 

 same term. A more probable origin of all these terms appears to be 

 the Italian Babbuino, from which is likewise derived, according to the 

 opinion of Aldrovandus, the vulgar Latin word Papio, applied by the 

 writers of the 15th and 16th centuries to these animals, and which is 

 itself a diminutive of the common Italian word Babbo, which answers 

 to our Papa. 



Though the Baboons differ widely from the other groups of quadru- 

 iiiauous animals, and may bo readily distinguished at sight even by 

 those who are not much in the habit of observing them, yet it has 

 been found not a little difficult to form such a simple definition of the 

 genus as will comprehend all the species properly belonging to it, and 

 also distinguish them from those which appertain to the proximate 

 genera, Macacut and Cercopitheciu. The most marked and prominent 

 of the characters which more immediately distinguish the Baboons 

 from the other Simiada consists in the great prolongation of the face 

 and jaws, and in the truncated form of the muzzle, which gives the 

 whole head a close resemblance to that of a large dog, and from which, 

 as already observed, the Greeks and Romans very appropriately deno- 

 minated them Cynocephali, or Dog-Headed Monkeys. In the ordinary 

 (Ju<ul runuina, which have the head and face round, as in the human 

 species, the hose is flat, and the nostrils situated about half-way 

 between the mouth and the eyes, the whole bearing no unapt 

 resemblance to that of a man who has lost the greater part of his 

 nose : but in the Baboons this organ is prolonged uniformly with tin- 

 jaws ; it even surpasses the lips a little in length, and the nostrils 

 open at the end of it exactly as in the dog. Hero there is a marked 

 difference in form and development from what we observe in the Apes 

 and other higher groups of Quadrumana. The great length 

 face detracts from the sue of the skull ; the organs of mastication are 

 strongly developed to the prejudice of the brain and intellectual 1'mi.-- 

 tions; the facial angle, which has boon generally regarded as a pretty 

 accurate measure of the mental capacity, is reduced to 80, whilst it 

 is never less than 45 in the Monkeys, and among the Apes amounts 

 even to 60 or 65 ; and the character of the Baboons, as might be 

 readily suspected from these indications, is less docile and intelligent 

 than that of the kindred genera. To the same prolongation of the 

 face, and preponderance of the anterior part of the head, is to be 

 attributed, at least in a great measure, the fact that the Baboons lea* 

 frequently assume an erect posture than any of the other Quadrumana, 

 and are less capable of maintaining it for any length of time. The 

 weight of the long nose, to which the small size of the skull forms but 

 a very inefficient counterbalance, fatigues the muscles of the neck, 

 and constantly tends to make the aiiimal seek for support upon all 

 fours, as may be observed in a dog or a bear ; an<l in l';n t the Baboons 

 are but very little superior to these animals in the facility with which 

 they maintain themselves in an upright posture. 



