tfl 



BETEL. 



by tho tun, or to be injured much by insect*. It a increased by 

 Mad*, which it yield* in abundance. [Burr, in ART* ASH He. Div.] 



BETEL, the leaf of an intoxicating kind of pepper. [PlPBB.1 



BETEL- NTT J'ALM. [ABICA.] 



BETH Y'U'S. a genus formed by Cuvier, anil placed by him under 

 hi* second order of Bird* (Ltt Famtnamjr), in the firat tribe (Denti- 

 natret), and in the firat family (Lantadtr). He Bays that there ii but 

 one species known (Laiutu Lrrrnanta of Shaw, Lanitu picatut of 

 Latham), and that the Great Shrike (/xiniru rom'niu of Shaw) approacheii 

 it, though L. cnrrimu lias the bill more compressed. 



Vieillot ha* changed the generic name to Cittopii, and Illiger make* 

 it a Tanyara. 



The genus U thui characterised by Vieillot : Bill short, robust, 

 swollen, a little compressed towards the end ; upper mandible notched 

 and curved at tho point : gape ciliated ; the third and fourth quills 

 longest ; outer toes united at their hue. 



Le Vaillant has figured this bird (plate 60) under the name of Pie 

 Pie (ireiche. White and black are the only colours of its plumage, 

 distributed like those of the magpie which it is said to resemble in 

 inini.-itiin 1 in (itryana and Brazil, where it is a native. 



BETHY'I.rs, a genus of Hymenopterous Insects of the family 

 Prottotrupufa. Its principal distinctive characters are antennae geni- 

 culated, 13-jointed in both Rexes; the head U depressed and the 

 prothoraz very elongate and almost triangular. The wings have only 

 one large marginal cell, not closed ; abdomen conical ; legs short, 

 femora thick. 



These little four-winged flies, which are remarkable for their large 

 depressed heads, are not very unlike ants in their appearance, and are 

 found in flowers and sometimes on the leaves of shrubs, to which they 

 resort in search of small caterpillars, which they store up in cells to 

 nourish their future progeny. The principal haunts of these insects 

 are dry sandy situations. 



BETONIOA. [BETOKT.] 



BETONY, the common name of the Stac/iyi Brtonira [STACHYS], 

 which was formerly described under the name of Jielonica officinal*. 



BETUL A, a genus of trees or shrubs, belonging to the natural order 

 Krinlaffir. It is characterised by its flowers growing in catkins, the 

 scales of which are thin and three-lobed, and by the scales subtending 

 three flat fruits, each furnished with two styles, and expanded into a 

 thin wing on either side ; these fruits are what are rulgularly called 

 birch-seeds. The species are, with one exception, found beyond the 

 tropic in the northern hemisphere ; the species of the southern 

 hemisphere is a little evergreen plant called B. antarctica, of which 

 little is recorded except that it inhabits Tierra del Fuego. 



The more remarkable species of this genus may be conveniently 

 disposed according to their prevailing geographical distribution. 



European Birchet. 



B. alba, the Common Birch. Branched erect, when young covered 

 with a short close down never smooth, and wartcd ; leaves with a 

 somewhat rhomboidal form, ovate, generally doubly serrated, with 

 downy footstalks, acute, but not tapering to the point ; catkins pen- 

 dulous. A native of Europe from the most northern to the most 

 southern countries, in the latter however not appearing except on 

 mountains at a considerable elevation ; on .Etna it does not occur 

 below 4782 feet above the sea, according to Philippi. It is also found 

 eastward in Asia, as far at least as the Altai Mountains. Although 

 this species is not much valued for its timber, it is extremely useful 

 for many other purposes. Russia skins are said to be tanned with the 

 empyreumatic oil of He bark, from which the peculiar odour of such 

 leather is derived. Cordage is obtained from it l>y tho Laplanders, 

 who also prepare a red dye from it ; the young shoots serve to uiirih 

 their cattle, and vinegar is obtained from the fermented sap. The 

 inhabitants of Finland use the leaves for tea, and both in Lapland and 

 Greenland strips of the young and tender bark are used as food. From 

 the timber are manufactured hoops, yokes for cattle, bowls, wooden 

 spoonx, and other articles in which lightness without much durability 

 is sufficient ; baskets and hurdles are often made of parts of its shoots ; 

 and from its rising sap, extracted by means of openings cut into its 

 alburnum in the spring, and fermented, a kind of wine is obtained 

 which is of an agreeable quality, but will not keep. During the siege 

 of Hamburg by the Russians in 1814, almost all the birch-trees of the 

 neighbourhood were destroyed by the Bashkir* and other barlwrian 

 wildit-nt in the Russian service, by being tapped for their juice. 



The Birch naturally grows in poor sandy soil, on which it thrives 

 fnlly as well as in that of a more fertile kind. It is said to attain 

 sometimes the height of TO feet, with a diameter of 2 feet ; in England 

 it does not acquire such considerable dimensions. As it approaches 

 both its northern and southern limits it gradually decreases in nine, 

 conformably to the laws which regulate vegetable development. Its 

 bark is said to be very durable. 



B. prndula, the Weeping Birch. Branches drooping, when young 

 perfectly smooth, and marked with little pearly specks ; leaves with 

 a somewhat rhomboidal form, ovate, either doubly or singly serrated, 

 acute, but not tapering tn the point, sometimes slightly hairy ; catkins 

 pendulous. Very common in different parts of Europe, along with 

 the last, in the properties of which it appears to participate, and with 

 which it i often improperly confounded. It differs from the Common 



HETULA. vj 



Birch not only in ita weeping habit, I nit also in its young ahoota being 

 quite smooth, bright chestnut brown when ripe, and then covered 

 with little white warts. The Betvla pontica of the nurseries is a 

 slight variety, with a few straggling hairs on the leaves and leafstalks, 

 and a less drooping habit 



Common Birch (Detiita alba}. 



1, The inilde of a barren scale, with the anthers attached ; 1, inside of a 

 fertile Male, with the ovaiics attached ; 3, an ovary cut through perpendicu- 

 larly ; 4, inside of a Kale, with three ripe fruits ; 3, a rip* fruit of the natural 

 size ; 6, the same mafrnilied ; 7, a transverse section, and 8, a perpendicular 

 section of the same ; 9, a ripe seed ; 10, an embryo. 



B. pubctceiu, the Downy Birch. Branches erect, covered all over 

 with very close down; leaves heart-shaped, ovate, ta]T-pointe<l, 

 doubly and sharply serrated, very downy. A smaller species than tin- 

 first, found in the bogs of Germany : a variety of it U called Hrtula 

 urticifolia in gardens. 



}1. mi mi. the Dwarf Birch. Leaves orbicular, crenatvd, with strongly 

 marked veins on the under side; catkins upright A small bush, 

 found in Lapland and the mountainous parts of other northern 

 countries ; it even stretches across the whole continent of Asia as far 

 as Unalaschka. To the people of the south this plant has no value. 

 but to the Laplanders it affords a large part of their fuel ; and its 

 winged fruits are reported to be the favourite food of the ptarmigan. 

 The place of this is occupied in America by a species called flf'ulu 

 glandulosa. 



Arialic Birchrt. 



B, ]Skj)iattr, Indian Paper Birch. Leaves oblong, acute, with naarly 

 simple nerratures, somewhat heart-shaped at the base; their stalks, 

 veins, and twigs hairy ; ripe catkins, erect, cylindrical, oblong ; bracts 

 smooth, woody, two-parted, blunt, much longer thiui the fruit, which 

 has narrow wings. A tree fouud on the Alps of Gurwal and Kumaon, 

 where it was discovered by Dr. Wallich, who informs us that its thin 

 delicate bark furnishes the masses of flexible laminated matter, of 

 which great quantities are brought down into the plains of India for 

 lining the tubes of hookahs. The Sanscrit name of the substance in 

 Boorja. (Wall. ' riant. As. Rar.,' vol. ii. p. 7.) The bark of this species 

 is of u pule einnamon colour. It U nearly allied to B. papyracea. 



B. atumiiKita, the Tapering- Leaved Birch. Leaves ovate, lanceolate, 

 somewhat simply serrated, taper-pointed, smooth, .lotted beneath, 

 leafstalks and twigs quite smooth ; ripe catkins, very long, pendulous, 

 cylindrical, crowded ; their rachis and the bracts, which are auricled 

 at the base, downy. Found on many of the mountains of Nepaul, 

 and in the great valley of that country, following the course of nvers. 



U. nitidn. Shining Birch. 



a. ri/lix^rnttffhya. Cylindrical Spiked Bireh. These two last species 

 are found in Kumaon. 



American flirrlifi. 



B. popuHfolia, tho Poplar-Leaved or White American Birch, Catkins 

 pendulous ; branches perfectly hairless, drooping, very much covered 



