



BOOST. 





Eebinoderms (Erki*odtrmalo<u Rodiaria) of Lamarck. This tontli 

 order conaUU of the Footless Echinodernis, iunl Itvntllia forma its 

 sixth genus. Carter ay that Burllia has iin oral body and a pro- 

 boscis formed of a folded fleshy plate (lame) itiaoeptible of great 

 elongation and forked at iU extremity. The vent is at the opposite end 

 of the body ; the intestine ia very long, being folded several times, and 

 near the rent are two ramified organa for the purpose of respiration. 

 The eggs are contained in an oblong sac which has it* opening near the 

 bane of the proboscis. 



The animal is described as living deep in the aand, and projecting 

 ita proboscis till it arrives at the water when it ia high, or till it 

 reached the air when the water is low. 



The cut represents BootUia ririda, which is found in the Mediter- 



/tuiirl'ia riii'li*. 

 I'.i'V'iU:. a n inn- ^-hen to tip- K-'.-k Sn ,'. of Uu Ki-t Indi. -. 



BONGARDIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order 

 Berberidarea. [BERBEBIDACE.*:.] 



BONITO, the name of Fishes belonging to the family Scombtrida. 

 They resemble the Tunny. The Bonito is the Thynniu pflumyt, Cuv. ; 

 the Belted Bonito, Pdamyi Santa, Cuv.; the Plain Bonito, Atu-in 

 nUgoru, Cuv. [TiiYNNUS.] 



BONPLAND1A, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order 

 Rularta. The only species described, B. trifoliata, yields the Angos- 

 tura Bark. The genus is now referred to Galipaa. [OALIP^A.] 



BONSlMiKKITK, a mineral belonging to the group of double 

 hydrous Silicates of Alumina, to which the term Zeolitet has been 

 applied. The following is the analysis of this mineral by Bonsdorf, 

 after whom it is named : 



Silica 45-05 



Alumina 30-05 



Magnesia, with a trace of Manganese . . 11-00 



Protoxide of Iron fi-30 



Water 10-60 



lOO'OO 



It occurs crystallised in regular six-sided prisms, the lateral edges of 

 the prism being usually replaced by so many planes that the prism 

 appears almost cylindrical. The cross fracture is conchoidal. The 

 texture foliated, the foliations being perpendicular to the axis of the 

 prism. The colour is a greenish-brown or dark olive-green. Lustre 

 of the faces like that of talc, of the cross fracture waxy. Opaque 

 in thick plates, translucent in thin plates. This mineral is found in 

 a red granite, at Birkopsokern near Abo in Finland. 



15i IX I 'S MKMU'Cl'S, a kinil of weed, formerly supposed to posse* 



iial properties. [ClIKXOPODIfM.] 

 BOOBY, the English name for a genus of Pcitcanida: (Dyiponu of 



Illiger, Morn* of Vieillot, Les Fous of the French), separate.! 

 good reason from the true Pelicans by Brisson under the name of 



.SWrt. 



The term Booby is more particularly applied by navigators to that 

 species (Sula ftaea, of Brisson) which inhabits the desolate islands 

 and coasts where the climate is warm or even temperate tin-. 

 the greater part of the globe. The apparent stupid wliios 



is proverbial ; calmly waiting to be knocked on the head as t! 

 on shore, or perching on the yard of a ship till the sailor climbs to 

 their resting-place and takes them <>fT with his hand, they fall an easy 

 prey to the most artless bird-cateh. >-. Kven Byron's shipwrecked 

 wretches, though 



" Stagnant on the sen 



They Ujr like carcase*," 



" caught two boobies and a noddy;" and the inei.leiit actually did 

 occur in Bligh's celebrated boat-voyage, consequent on the mutiny on 

 board the Bounty, when he and his boat's crew were in a most 

 deplorable state. 



"Monday, the 25th," says Bligh, "at noon, some noddies came so 

 near to us that one of them was caught by hand. ... In the. 

 evening, several boobies flying very near to us, we had the good 

 fortune to catch one of them. ... I directed the bird to b< 

 for supper, and the blood to be given to throe of the people wli. 

 the most distressed for want of food. The body, with the entrails, 

 beak, and feet, I divided into eighteen shares. . . . Tuesday, the 

 26th. In the morning we caught another booby, so that Providence 

 appeared to be relieving our wants in an extraordinary manner. The 

 people were overjoyed at the addition to their dinner, which was 

 distributed in the same manner as on the pr< "ing, giving 



the blood to those who were the most in want of food." 



I lumpier says that in the Alcrane Islands (Alacranes), on the coast 

 of Yucatan, the crowds of these birds were so great that he could nut 

 pass their haunts without being incommoded by their pecking, lie 

 observed that they were ranged in pairs, and conjectured that they 

 were male and female. He succeeded in making some fly away by 

 the blows he bestowed on them, but the greater part remained iii 

 spite of his efforts to compel them to take flight. De Gennes, in his 

 voyage to the Straits of Magalhaens, says that in the Maud of 

 Ascension there were such quantities of Boobies that the sailors 

 killed five or six at a time with one blow of a stick. The Vicomte de 

 Querhoent says that the French soldiers killed an immense quantity 

 at this same island, and that their loud cries when disturbed at night 

 were quite overpowering. 



Thin apparent exception to the general rule of self-preserving 

 instinct is so remarkable, that we are led to look for some cause, and 

 perhaps this U to be found in the structure of the animal ; for 

 according to many writers whose veracity cannot be questioned, the 

 Boobies stay to be taken and killed after they have become familiar 

 with the effect produced by the blows or shot of their persecutors. 

 In the case of most other animals, which, from not knowing his 

 power, have suffered man to approach them to their destru 

 alarm has been soon taken, the idea of danger has been speedily 

 associated with his appearance, and safety has been sought in flight ; 

 but the wings of the Booby are so long and its legs so short 

 when once at rest on level ground the bird bos great difficulty in 

 bringing the former into action, and when so surprised it 1 

 resource but to put on a show of resistance with its 1 n -;ik. whi'-- 

 be sure generally despised by the aggressor. 



In the cases recorded l>y Bligh the birds wore probably fatigue. 1 l.y 

 wandering too far from the rocky shores, which are their ordinary 

 haunts. There they are generally to be seen constantly on tl 

 over the waves which beat at the foot of the crags, intent on fishing. 

 Though so well furnished with oars, they are said to swim but wlilmn, 

 and never to dive. Their mode of taking their prey i* l>y < 

 down IV' >n i on high with unerring aim upon those fishes which fro- 

 Client the surface, and instantly rising again into the air. They walk 

 with difficulty, and when at rest on land their attitude is "nearly 

 vertical, and they lean on the stiff feathers of the tail, like the 

 cormorants, as a third point of support. The ledges of rock* m- elill* 

 covered with herbage ore the places generally selected for the nest, 

 and there in great companies they lay their eggs, each hen bird <i. -po- 

 siting from two to three. The young birds for some days after their 

 exclusion are covered with a down, so long and thick that tiny 

 resemble powder-puffs made of swan's down. 



The Boobies seldom wander more than twenty leagues from l.m,l. 

 to which they usually return every evening, and their appearance is 

 considered by mariners as a sure token of their vicinity to some 

 island or coast. 



The colour of the Sula futca, or Brown Booby, is blackish-brown, or 

 ashy-brown above and whitish beneath ; the primaries are black, nnd 

 the naked skin about the face is reddish ; the orbits and base of the 

 bill are yellow, and the point of the bill is brown ; the legs are of a 

 straw colour. 



In length the Brown Booby is about 2 feet 5 inches, the bill 

 measuring 4 J inches or thereabout, and the tail 10 inches : the young 

 birds are spotted with white and brown. 



It is almost impossible to open the pages of the old voyagers who 

 have fallen in with these Boobies without finding some entertaining 



