liATnLlTKS. 



ItAISKU. 



i..., 



plant, with long creeping items, leave* variously lobed and angled, 

 and pale purple flowen about an inch long. It in impatient of cold, 

 and consequently unfit fur cultivation in the northern part* ( tli. 



Sweet 1'otato (llatalat edulif). 



world ; but it is a productive agricultural plant in many warm 

 countries. It is partially cultivated in the south of Spain and of 

 France, whence its roots are sent to the markets of Madrid and Paris, 

 where they ore held as a delicacy. They however have the great fault 

 of keeping badly, being very apt to become mouldy and to decay, 

 union extraordinary pains ore token to preserve them dry. They 

 are sometimes raised in the hothouses of the curious in this country. 

 B. Jalapa has none of the properties of the plant after which it is 

 named. [CONVOI.VULACE.K.] 



BATOLI'TES, a genus of Fossil Shells established by Mpntfort, and 

 placed by him among his Coguilla I'niralta CVouonn/a. Montfort 

 states that these shells acquire a very great length, and that they 

 constitute masses of rock in the High Alps. [BmosTKiTEs; Hir- 

 ITKITFS.] 



BATUA'i H1A, FOSSIL. The number of Fossil Reptilia rcfcrrible 

 to this division is gradually enlarging, though still very small. To 

 the Anourous Batrachian we must, with Jager and Professor Owen, 

 refer the Labyrinthodons of the New Red-Sandstone Series of 

 Warwickshire and Wirtemberg (which include the Cheirothtria 

 whose foot-print* ornament the Red-Sandstones of England and 

 Germany) ; while the tertiary fossil of Oeningen (which Schem -h/er 

 imagined to be a human skeleton) is determined by Cuvier to be 

 analogous to the Newt of Europe and the Mcnopoma of North 

 America. Remains of Frogs and Salamanders occur in the Tertiary 

 Brown Coal-Beds of the Rhine Valley. [AMPHIBIA.] 



I'.ATK ArHITK, a mineral, which is a variety of Olivine. [OLIVIXK.] 



P.ATKAi 'II' ISI'KUM K.K. a tril* <,f plants referred by some writers 

 to the order Pucarnr. It in regarded by Harvey as on aberrant group 

 "f I'/ilorotprrmea leading through Kctocarpacut to Mtltmatpcrmnt. 

 [Aixj.r_] The species have a polyKiphonoim frond composed of a 

 primary thread, unrounded by parallel accessory ones. The vesicles 

 are terminal or lateral and clustered. 



The principal genus of this family is Jiatrachotpermum, which have 

 got this name from B^rpcurof, a frog, and <rWp/ia, a seed, on account 

 of their gelatinous fronds giving them the appearance of the ova of 

 the Amphibia. The species are flexible, ami have a gelatinous cha- 

 racter. The surface is covered with innumerable little hairs, looking 

 like cilia, which give them a very beautiful appearance under the 

 ope. They mostly inhabit pure and running waters where the 

 force of the stream is not considerable. On removing them from the 



water the bain, which are expanded whilst immersed, collapse, and 

 they appear like massns of jelly without any traces of orgauisut 



Several specie* of this genus have been described by Dr. Hassall as 

 inhabiting streams in the neighbourhood of London. B. monilifurme 

 is figured in Lindley's 'Vegetable Kingdom.' i.. -jo : and Hawaii has 

 figured some of his new species in his ' British Fresh-Water Algae.' 

 BATRACHOBPKBJCUk [Ran* BO 



HAITI'S, the J/.-M. j :. title proposed by Dolman to replace the name 

 Agnotltu which Brongniart gave to some minute trilobate Cnutacta 

 wliirli occur in tin- Silurian Liincxtones of Norway, Wales, to. 



1: A I HI '.VIA, a genus of plant* belonging to the natural order 

 LeguminotiT, Linn:i us applii -.1 tli.- 11:11111- very happily to conn 

 rate the merits of the two Bauhiiut, for the genus is remarkable for ita 

 leaves being generally divided into two twin lobes. 



The species are usually twining plants, found in the woods of l.oi 

 countries, and often stretching from tree to tree like living cables, 



forming with other planU 

 an almost inmirmomi; 

 obstacle to the traveller 

 who would (.ciictrate the 

 recesses of a tropical forest. 

 Some of them however art- 

 small trees, as !'<. 

 li. inn-fill: i. which in. lanuuca 

 is called Mountain I. 

 because ita wood is sheathed 

 with Mack. Tli. 

 are often very beautiful, 

 for which reason they have 

 l"iii; been cultivated in the 

 hot -houses of Kurope ; Imt 

 they ore too impatient of 

 the wretched treatment 

 they usually receive in 

 stoves to flourish ami pro- 

 duce their noble blossoms. So long as these plants are crompc<! in 

 earthern pots we must not hope to see in Europe those noble (lowers 

 which are described by the travellers who have visited the forests of 

 America and India. 



The bark of K. ractmota and jmrr itforn has been employed in 

 making ropes. A brownish-coloured gum is said by Roxburgh to be 

 yielded by U. rettua. A gum is also collected l'i.n. il<i in 



the Deyra Doon, which is called Sem-ke-gond. The flowers and buds 

 of B. tomentoia ore dried, and used in India as remedies in dysentery. 

 Their astriugency is probably due to the presence of tannin, and one 

 species, 1). raritgata, has a sufficient quantity of this substance in ita 

 bark to render it useful in tanning. The leaves of various Buuhiniaa 

 are used in Brazil under the names of Unha de Boy, or Ox-Hoof, as 

 demulcent remedies. 



BDE'LLIUM, commonly called a gum, but in reality a 

 the origin of which has been a subject of doubt It would appear that 



then are - veral kind- t' I'.di -Ilium, the not 1 two "1" ulii''ii i-ecmi 



now to be ascertained ; the others are matters of controversy. The 

 Bdellium of the ancients, said by Pliny (xii. 9) to be brought from 

 Bactria and other parts of Asia, still comes from Asia. The Bdellium 

 of Africa is yielded by the Baltamodendron Africannm. Dr. Royle 

 says that Indian lidellium is produced by a species of Batximwltndnm, 

 called b\ hi. lioxliurgh Amyris Commiphora (' Fl. Ind.' ii., p. 244), 

 Amyrit Agailocha ('Calcutta Catalogue,' p. 28), the native nm. 

 which is OooguL (Royle, 'Illustrations of the Flora of the Mima 

 layah,' part vi., p. ITfl.) The opinion of its being obtained from a 

 palm, cither the Lonlartu domcttica (Goertn.) or the Borattm jl 

 furmu, is very improbable. This substance occurs in masses of 

 variable si/e and shape, sometimes as large as a walnut, in oblong or 

 angular pieces of u yellow, red, or brownish colour. The clearest 

 pieces are transparent ; the odour is weak and j>cculiar ; the taste 

 bitter, balsamic, and resembling myrrh or Venice turpentine. It is 

 tolerably brittle at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere, but 

 with a slight increase of heat the finer kinds may be kneaded between 

 the fingers. Ita specific gravity is 1 -:i7 1. 



ReaeinMing myrrh in appearance, it also resembles it in its effects 

 upon the human system, and in often fraudulently suhxiitnti d for 

 it; it is however weaker, while it is more disagreeable and acrid. 

 BALgAMoi:\i>!toN.] It was formerly iiscd in many compounds and 

 plasters, such as Diachylon. It is now disused in Britain ; but is to be 

 Found intermixed with gum-Arabic. 



The Sicilian Ildcllinm is produced by the Dni^-im II iff 

 [Decand.), the f,-r of Lamarck, or perhaps the /'. /""; 



I.inn.l, according to Boccone (' Musco di Piante Rare della Sicilia,' 4c., 

 torn. xv. i, which L'niwaon the islands and shores of theMediterrni 



The Egyptian Bdellium is conjectured to be produced by the Bo- 

 rauui JtaltUi/ormit (Linn.), the Chanueropi Htmiiu, or the llyphant 

 cucipkera (Pen.) 



The Bdellium mentioned in the second chapter of Genesis is 

 ly a mineral, and has no reference to the substances above 

 mentioned. 



BEACHES, RAISED, a term introduced into modern Ueology to 

 characterUc a very numerous class of gravelly, sandy, and shelly 



