433 



BEE-EATER. 



BEGONIACE^E. 



431 



continent, Java, &c., and Australia (Paramatta), none of the genus 

 having been found in America, where their place appears to be 

 supplied by the Motmots (Prionites, Illiger). Their brilliant plumes, 

 of colours which change according to exposure to light, the prevalent 

 hues being azures and greens, remind the observer of the kingfisher's 

 gorgeous dress. A familiar example of the genus occurs in the bird 

 whose English name is at the head of this article the Guepier 

 vulgaire of the French, the Mangia-Api and Lupo d'Api of the 

 Italians, the Me'poif/ of the Greeks, and Merops Apia/tier of Linnaeus. 



Bee-Eater (iltropi ^piaster). 



In the south of Europe it is frequent in the summer. Sicily, 

 Sardinia, Italy, the south of France, and Germany possess it, and 

 on the southern border of Russia it is numerous. It is found in 

 Turkey and in the Grecian Islands, and in autumn migrates towards 

 Egypt. It breeds in holes in the banks of the Don and the Volga, 

 laying from five to seven white eggs in a nest composed of moss, &c. 

 Hasselquist says that it is found in the plains of Galilee, and that it 

 is called Varuar by the Arabs ; and Temminck, that the individuals 

 found at the Cape of Good Hope differ in nothing from those killed in 

 Europe. Ray, in his edition of Willughby, observes, " It is not 

 (infrequent in the Campagn of Rome : for that we saw it there to 

 be sold in the market more than once. It is not found in England 

 that we know of. Bellonius writes that it is so common in Candy 

 that it is seen everywhere in that island. Aristotle tells us that it 

 feeds upon bees, whom all other writers of the history of animals do 

 tlirri'in follow. But it feeds not only upon bees, but also upon 

 Cicada,' beetles, and other insects. Yea, as Bellonius relates, upon 

 the seeds of the nipplewort, bastard parsley, turnip, &c., not abstaining 

 from wheat and other grain. From its exact agreement in the shape 

 and miiki- of its body, bill, and feet with the kingfisher, we suspect 

 that it likewise preys upon fish. 



"Bellonius, in the first book of his observations, writes thus 

 concerning the Merops. Flying in the air it catches and preys upon 

 bees, as swallows do upon flies. It flies not singly but in flocks, and 

 especially by the side of those mountains where the true thyme grows. 

 Its voice is heard afar off, almost like the whistling of a man. Its 

 singular elegance invites the Candy boys to hunt for it with 6V' 1 '"/". 

 as they do also for those greater swallows called Swifts, after this 

 manner : Bending a pin like a hook, and tying it by the head to the 

 end of a thread, they thrust it through a Cicada (as boys bait a hook 

 with a fly), holding the other end of the thread in their hand. The 

 Cicada so fastened flies, nevertheless, in the air, which the Merops 

 spying, flies after it with all her force, and catching it, swallows pin 

 and all, wherewith she is caught." 



The passage in Aristotle, mentioning the Merojis as one of the 

 enemies most destructive to bees, is in the 40th chapter of the 9th 

 book of his ' History of Animals;' and there are others in the 1st 

 chapter of his (ith book, and in the 13th chapter of his 9th, wlirrcin 

 he notices the peculiarity of its making it nest in holes in the 

 Ciirth. 



The species, although not common, may be considered as an occa- 

 sional visitant to tliirt country. The first record of its appem M i- 



in the third volume of the ' Transactions of the Linntcan Society,' 



WAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. I. 



from which it appears that on "July 2, 1794, the president communi- 

 cated an account of Merops Apiaster, the Bee-Eater, having been shot 

 (for the first time in Great Britain) near Mattishall, in the county of 

 Norfolk, by the Rev. Mr. George Smith. The identical specimen was 

 exhibited by permission of Mr. Thomas Talbot, of Wymondham. A 

 flight of about twenty was seen in June, and the same flight probably 

 (much diminished in number) was observed passing over the same 

 spot in October following." Since then four or five specimens have 

 been recorded to have been shot in the counties of Suffolk and 

 Norfolk, one in Dorsetshire, three in Devonshire, one in Cornwall 

 and one in Ireland. (Yarrell, British Birds.) 



BEECH. [FAGUS.] 



BEESHA, a genus of Grasses nearly allied to Banibusa, with which 

 it is actually combined by some botanists, but from which it differs, 

 according to the concurrent testimony of all authors, in. the other- 

 wise incredible circumstance of its seeds being inclosed in a fleshy 

 pericarp. 



Two species are known, both of which have the aspect of the spine- 

 less bamboos. Of these Beesha baccifera. is found on the mountains 

 of Chittagong in India, where it is called Pagu Tulla, growing in dry 

 places on the sides of hills, where the upper stratum of soil is sandy. 

 According to Roxburgh's ' Flora Indica,' the circumference of the- 

 stems near the base is 12 or 13 inches, and their height from 50 to 70 

 feet " beautifully erect, and without the least flexure or inequality 

 of surface ; bare of branches, except near the extremity. It perishes 

 after yielding its fruit. It yields more or less Tabasheer, of a silicious 

 crystallisation ; sometimes it is said the cavity between the joints is 

 nearly filled with this, which the people call Choona, or Lime." 

 (' Flora Indica,' ii. 197.) 



Beetha FOJC is a smaller species, not above 18 feet high. It is found 

 in Amboyna and other parts of the Malayan Archipelago, where it is 

 applied to many useful purposes. It is the Arundarbor cratium of 

 Kmnphius's ' Herbarium of Amboyna.' 



BEET. [BETA.] 



BEETLE. This term has frequently been used as the name com- 

 mon to the species of the family *SVvr /"//" ><l:i , 1 nit it is more commonly 

 and properly used to designate those insects which are covered by a 

 strong horny substance, the abdominal part of the body being pro- 

 tected by two sheaths under which the wings are folded. Hence the 

 trnn is synonymous with Ciilmptera. [COLEOITEUA.] 



BEGONIA. [BEGOXIACE*.] 



BEGONIA 'CEyE, Beyoniadu, a natural order of Exogens, consisting 

 of three genera, Beyoiiui, Eupetalum, and Dipludininm. The species are 

 1 59, and are found exclusively in the dampest parts of the tropics in both 

 the New and Old World, particularly in Asia and America. They have 

 perfectly unisexual flowers, with a superior calyx, generally coloured 

 pink, consisting in the sterile flowers of from 2 to 4 pieces, and in the 

 fertile flowers of from 5 to 8 pieces. The stamens are numerous ; tho 



1, A atci-ilc flower ; 2, a fertile one ; :!, tuc same in bud ; 4, the l|alf-grown 

 ovary and BtipnaK ; 5, fruit ; (i, the same cut through horizontally. 1 , 7, seeds 

 the natural size ; 8, one seed magnified ; !>, the same cut through to show the 

 embryo in its natural position in the albumen ; 10, an embryo separate. 



style simple ; tho stigmas three, often forked, and having a wavy or 

 twisted appearance. These latter originate from a 3-cornered 3-culled 

 ovary containing a multitude of little seeds, which changes to a thin- 

 sided capsule with 3 extremely unequal wings. The leaves are always 



2 P 



