HI.Kl'HAUIS. 



1!I.1NI)-\VHUM. 





JL flmlit may however be readily distinguished frum any of the known 

 British specie* by the absence of the appendages on the head. 



S. Yarrtilii, the Created or YarreH's Bli-miy. Thin s)>ecieg may be 

 known by iu elongated even shape, the uniform length of the rays of 

 the dorsal fin, the form of the tail (which has the external rays 

 shortest, the others increasing in length to the middle, thus being 

 somewhat lanceolate in shape), and the four appendages of the head 

 which are all fimbriated. Two of these appendages are placed one 

 over each eye, and connected by a transverse fold of skin ; behind 

 these are placed the other pair, which are of a larger size. The fin 

 rays are, dorsal 51, pectoral 14, ventral 3, anal 36, and caudal 16. 



This specie* was formerly confounded with B. palmiconiu* and 

 & galeritu, but Valenciennes has pointed out its distinctive characters 

 and named it after the distinguished British icthyologist whose name 

 it now bears. A specimen of this very rare British fish was exhibited 

 amongst the earliest specimens in the Aquavivarium in the Regent's 

 Park, and is still alive (July, 1853). Many other species of Blenny 

 have been exhibited in the tanks of the establishment. All the specie* 

 are remarkable for the facility with which they use the ventral fins 

 for enabling them to cling to and move about upon the rocks and 

 stones by which they are surrounded. 



BLE'PH AR IS, a genus of Acanthopterygious Fishes, which according 

 to Curier belongs to the seventh family of that tribe, called Scombt- 

 roidtt. They may be distinguished by their having long filaments to 

 their second dorsal, and to their anal fin rays; ventral* much prolonged, 

 the spines of the first hardly piercing the skin ; body elevated, the 

 profile with the ordinary degree of curvature. 



BLE'PSIAS, a genus of Acanthopterygious Fishes, belonging to the 

 section having hard cheeks. Of this genus but one species, Jlillotui, is 

 known, which belongs to the Aleutian Islands. Generic characters : 

 head compressed, cheeks mailed, fleshy barbels under the lower jaw, 

 gills with five rays ; one dorsal fin divided into three unequal lobes ; 

 ventral fin very small. 



BLESS-BOC. [AHTILOFE*.] 



BLETHI'SA (Bonelli), a genus of Insects belonging to the order 

 Coteoptera, by some authors associated with the family Harpalidce, 

 and by others with the laphrid<e. The former ia probably more 

 correct, as doubts may be entertained that the latter family is a 

 natural one. Head Urge, eyes slightly prominent, mandibles 

 obscurely toothed ; palpi with the two terminal joints of equal 

 length, the terminal rather ovate, truncated at the apex ; mentum 

 emarginate anteriorly, the emargination with an obscure bifid lobe; 

 antemue short, the three basal and base of the fourth joints naked ; 

 thorax rather short, rounded at the sides; elytra elongated, very 

 convex and impressed with numerous small excavations ; anterior 

 tarsi of the male with four slightly-dilated joints. 



Of this beautiful genus but one species has been found in this 

 country, Blethua mvltipunctata ; and apparently only two others are 

 yet known on the continent. The species just named frequents 

 marshy situations, and is often found crawling upon willow-trees ; it 

 is about half an inch long, and of a rich bronze or brassy hue, by 

 which characters, combined with the numerous indented points on 

 the elytra, it may easily be distinguished. 



HLKTIA.agcnus of plants belonging to the natural order Orchidacr. 

 The corms of Jilelia rerccunda are said by Dr. P. Browne to have a 

 bitterish flavour, and when dry to be used with advantage as a stomachic. 



BLETTING. All ripe fruits after they have been kept for some 

 time begin to decompose, and the spots formed on the fruit during 

 this process have been called by Professor Lindley ' Blets.' During 

 the whole time of the growth of the fruits of plants various important 

 chemical changes go on in their tissues, especially whilst ripening. 

 These changes have been examined with great care by Berard. At 

 firxt the flesh of most fruits consists of fibrous or cellular tissue, 

 wliicli is mostly composed of lignine. The liquid of fruits is sap, 

 lii.-h exists between the cells in the intercellular passages. Thin 

 liquid, besides a great quantity of water, contains sugar, gum, malic 

 acid, inalate of lime, colouring matter, a peculiar vegeto-auimal 

 substance (protein), and an aromatic secretion proper to each fruit. 

 In such fruiU as the grape there is tartrate of potash and lime ; in 

 the lemon and the gooseberry, citric acid. As the process of ripening 

 goes on, the quantity of water diminishes, and the sugar increases. 

 This sugar is formed at the expense of the lignine, and is either in a 

 concrete state, as in the grape, fig, and peach, or fluid, as in most 

 fruits. It is after this period that Bletting comes on, and changes 

 take place in the fruit which render it unfit for the ordinary uses of 

 man. Bletting is attended with the formation of carbonic acid, the 

 nitrogmised substance enters into a state of putrefaction, and the 

 sugar undergoes fermentation. These processes are undergone most 

 rapidly when the fruit is exposed to the action of the oxygen of the 

 atmosphere. The fruits in which these changes have been most 

 accurately observed are the pear and the apple. A jargonelle pear 

 was found to have sustained a loss of its constituents iu the following 

 proportion : 



Rip*. HI. tied. 



Lignine . . . 2'19 . . . l-."> 



Sugar , . . 11-62 . . . 877 

 Water . . . 83-88 . . . 6273 

 It acquired rather more malic acid, gum, and nitrogenised matter. 



The fact has been observed by Dr. Hassall that in all blotted fruit* 

 there exists a low form of t'unytu, which he considers the cause of the 

 decay. }( f.nmd, on inoculating sound fruits, even while growing 

 on the tree, that he could produce immediately the process of decay, 

 and wherever this was indicated by bletting, there he discovered the 

 fibres of tin- fungus with the microscope. This appearance of the 

 fungus however is only in accordance with what we knuw of the 

 habits of fungi, whose sporules, being i-\ .liffused through 



the air, immediately spring up where a fitting nidus is found for their 

 growth. \\Y timl that as soon as a fruit becomes ripe its const 

 commence union with the oxygen of the air, forming carbonic acid 

 gas, and it is during this state of their elements that the fungus finds 

 a soil ready for its development. 



Whichever view be taken of the rotting of fruits, their preservation 

 must be conducted on the same principle, for what will exclude 

 oxygen will exclude the sporules of fungi. As a simple process it has 

 been recommended to place at the bottom of a bottle a paste t 

 of lime, sulphate of iron, and water, and then to introduce the fruit, 

 which has been pulled a few days before ripening. The fruits should 

 be kept from the bottom of the bottle and as much as possible from 

 each other, and the bottle should be closed by a cork and c< 

 In this way peaches, prunes, and apricots may be kept from 20 days 

 to a month ; pears and apples for three months. Dr. Hassall recom- 

 mends that fruits should be washed over with a composition consisting 

 of water one pound, shell-lac and borax two ounces. 



(Lindley, Introducl ion to Botany; Hassall, Transaction* of Micro- 

 icopical Society, voL i.) 



BLl'GHIA, a genus of plants named after Captain William I 

 R.N., master of the Bounty in the celebrated mutiny, belongs 

 natural order X<i/iintlacnr. It has a 5-parted calyx, 5 petals, a vi-ry 

 short style, 3 stigmas, and a solitary seed with a very large arillus. 

 Only one species of this genus has been described, the B. tapida, 

 Akee-Tree. It is a native of Guinea, from whence it has been intro- 

 duced into the West Indies and South America. It is a tree attaining 

 a height of 30 or 40 feet It has pubescent leaves, with three or four 

 pairs of ovate-lanceolate veined leaflets. The fruit of this tree is a 

 berry of a reddish or yellowish colour, about the size of a hen's egg. 

 The aril of the seed is pulpy, and of a grateful subacid flavour, and is 

 eaten in Africa and the West Indies. This tree does not produce 

 flowers in this country. It inay however be easily cultivated. It 

 grows well in a mixture of loam and peat. Cuttings will strike in 

 sand under a hand-glass. They should not be deprived of any of 

 their leaves. (London, Encyclopedia of Plantt.) 



HI. I X I > \V( IHM, the English name for a species of Reptile belonging 

 to the family of Anyuid<r, Les Orvets of the French, and the gemi* 

 A ngu.it of Linnscus. It is also called in England Slow-Worm. The 

 Blind-Worm (Anguufragilu), is common throughout Europe, Its 

 length varies from about 11 inches to somewhat more than a foot, 

 and instances have been given of its attaining more than double that 

 length. The eyes are small (whence one of its names), and the 



are red. The head is small, the t. . tli 

 are minute and numerous, the neck is 

 j.'ii.lrr, and thence the body enlarges, 

 continuing of equal bulk to the tip of 

 the tail, which ends bluntly, and is as 

 long as the trunk, or body part. The 

 scales are very smooth, whining, of a 

 silvered yellow on the upi>er parts, 

 and dusky beneath ; tbc sides ore of a somewhat reddish cast. 

 Down the back extend three black lines, which change with age into 

 different series of black specks, and at length disappear. '1 lie- 

 general colour of the bock may be described as cinereous, with 

 somewhat of a metallic lustre, and marked with very fine lines of 

 minute black specks. The dusky belly and the reddish sidesj are 

 marked like the back. 



The Blind-Worm feeds on earth-worms, insects, &c. ; and the slow- 

 ness of its motion has obtained for it another of its names. Though 

 y innocuous, it has the character of possessing the most deadly 

 venom, and is persecuted accordingly. Pennant quotes Dr. Borlose as 

 assisting this idle and groundless notion, by mentioning a vai 

 this serpent with a pointed tail, and adding that he hod been informed 

 that a man lost his life by the bite of one in Oxfordshire. Now, if 

 the serpent that bit the man in Oxfordshire had a pointed tail, it 

 could not have been a blind-worm ; and if the story of the death be 

 true, he most probably lost his life by the bite of a black or dusky- 

 viper, as Pennant suggests. [Vn-Eii.] The country people still hold 

 this harmless reptile in utter abhorrence, and wage an exterminating 

 war against it : but the reader may be assured that the ' blind-v. 

 sting ' exists only in imagination. The animal is very brittle. Laurenti 

 and others assert that when captured it throws itself into su< -h ividit y 

 that it sometimes breaks in two. A smart blow with a switeh d 

 it ; and from this fragility Linnecus gave it the specific name which it 

 still retains. Cuvier is of opinion that the Anyuit eryx of Linnaeus is 

 only a young blind-worm, which has the dorsal lines well marked, and 

 that the Anyuit cliriciu, which Daudin makes an Eryx, is nothing 

 more than an old blind-worm with a truncated tail. The Blind-Worm, 

 or Slow-Worm, of the old English authors is the Long Cripple ol 1 1.. 

 Cornish, according to Borlaae .Ormsla and Koppar-Orm of the ' Fauna 



Head of Blind-Worm. 



