BROMUS. 



BROUSSONETIA. 



670 



them remarkably handsome and sweet-scented; but the fruit is 

 in no case of any value except in the genus Ananasaa. Bromdiacece 

 may be shortly described as scurfy-leaved hexandrous endogens, with 

 distinct calyx and corolla, an inferior ovary, and seeds whose embryo 

 lies ill mealy albumen. They are known from Amaryllidacete by the 

 last circumstance, by their hard scurfy leaves, and epiphytal habit ; 

 from Burmanniacece, by their leaves not being equitant, nor their fruit 

 winged ; and from Taccacece by all their habit, and their fruit being 

 3-celled, with central placentae. 



The green fruit of the wild Pine-Apple, as well as Bromdia 

 Plnyuin and others, are used as anthelmintics and diuretics in the 

 West Indies. The leaves of Tillandsia usneoide* are used for stuffing 

 mattresses. A gum flows from the spike of Paya lanuginosa. A dye 

 is extracted from the root of Billbergia tinctoria. Muslin has been 

 manufactured from the fibres of the common Pine-Apple. Many 

 species are cultivated in the hot-houses of this country, the most 

 beautiful of which belong to the genera Bromdia and Billberyia. They 

 all grow readily in decayed tan. No species has been yet seen wild 

 in any part of the Old World. The order contains 23 genera, and 

 170 species. 



BROMUS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order 

 (i/'niiiinacece, and the tribe Festucece. It has unequal many-flowered 

 herbaceous glumes, the lower being 1-nerved, the upper 3- to 5-nerved. 

 The flowers are lanceolate, compressed. The outer palea short, 

 (usually) founded on three nerves from below the tip. The styles 

 below the summit of the fruit lateral. The sheaths of the leaves 

 divided half way down. 



The species are generally known under the name of Brome-Grass. 

 Four of the species are common in Great Britain. 



B. erectut has an erect stem two or three feet high, and grows on dry 

 sandy and chalky soils. It is known from the other species by the 

 outer palea being indistinctly 7-nerved and one-third longer than the 

 smaller glume. 



B. caper has its outer palea hairy and 5- to 7-ribbed, with the leaves 

 broad and hairy. The stem reaches a height of four or five feet. It 

 grows in damp woods and thickets. 



B ttenlii is a common plant in waste places, and is known by its 

 outer palea having 7 distinct equidistant ribs. It has large flat broad 

 pubescent leaves, and a stem from one to two feet high. It grows in 

 waste places. 



B. diandrui is remarkable for its erect panicle. It ia a rare plant. 



Some of the species, as B. purgam and B. catharticu*, are purga- 

 tive, whilst B. mottii is said to possess poisonous properties. 



(Babington, Manual of British Botany ; Lindley, Vegetable 

 Kingdom.) 



BRONGNIARTIN. [GLAUBEBITE.] 



BRONZITE, a native Silicate of Magnesia. It occurs in massive 

 aggregations of columnar crystals. The cleavage is parallel to the 

 lateral planes and both diagonals of a rhombic prism. Colour brown, 

 ash-gray, or dark-green, streak lighter ; fracture uneven ; hardness 

 between 4'0 and 5'0. The lustre is vitreous, pseudo-metallic on the 

 cleavage-planes ; translucent in thin laminae ; opaque in mass. 

 Specific gravity 3'3. It is found in Upper Styria, the Harz, in 

 Bayreuth, the Tyrol, and the Lizard district of Cornwall. 



BROOK-BEAN. [MENYANTHES.] 



BROOKITE, a native Oxide of Titanium. It is met with in thin 

 hair-brown crystals attached by one edge. Its hardness is .v.~> to 6. 

 Its crystals are secondaries to a rhombic prism. It is found in 

 Dauphiny, and on Snowdon in Wales. It ia also said to occur in the 

 United States of America, 



BROOM. [CYTISUS.] 



BROOM-RAPE. [OROBANCHE.] 



BRORA COAL. Beds of very poor Coal, lying in the midst of the 

 Oolitic deposits in the district of Brora in North Scotland, and near 

 Scarborough in Yorkshire, are thus termed. This Coal has been 

 conjectured to be composed principally of Er/uiteta. 



BRO'SCUS, a genus of Coleopterous Insects, belonging to the section 

 of the Carabida, called Simplicimani by Latreille. In Latreille's 

 work, however, this genus retains the name of Cephalotes (given to it 

 by Bonelli, from the circumstance of the species possessing an unu- 

 sually large head), which has been expunged by many naturalists 

 owing to its having been previously used to designate a genus in some 

 other branch of Natural History. 



The insects of this genus are remarkable for the almost total absence 

 of the indented stria; on the elytra generally observed in the insects 

 of the tribe to which they belong, and for the large and strong man- 

 dibles, the elongate form of the body, and the somewhat heart-shaped 

 thorax, which is much attenuated posteriorly. 



It has the following characters : Palpi with all their joints of nearly 

 equal thickness, the terminal joint of the maxillary palpi rather short 

 and truncated ; the antennae, if extended backwards, reaching to the 

 base of the thorax ; mandibles unidentate internally ; labrum entire ; 

 anterior tarsi of the males with the three basal joints dilated. 



The species are generally found under stones, and often accompa- 

 nied by fragments of numerous other insects devoured by them. 

 When taken in the hand they will often pretend to be dead, extend- 

 ing their limbs stiffly, and it U then with difficulty they can be made 

 to move. 



Only one species of this curious genus is a native of this country, 

 Bmcu cephaloi.es. It is of a dull-black colour, and varies from 

 three-quarters to an inch in length : its form is elongate ; the head is 

 nearly equal to the thorax in bulk ; the elytra are nearly smooth, the 

 longitudinal stria; being scarcely discernible. It seems to be confined 

 to the sea-coast, where it is frequently found under stones or rubbish. 



In Stephens's arrangement of British Insects this genus is classed 

 among the Harpalidce. About six or seven exotic species have been 

 discovered. 



BRO'SIMUM, a genus of Vrticacece, one species of which is 

 believed to be the Cow-Tree, or Palo de Vacca of South America. 

 [COW-TREE.] 



BRO'SMIUS, a genus of Fishes belonging to the section Subbrachial 

 Malacopterygii, and family Gadidtf. Generic characters : Body elon- 

 gate, and furnished with a single dorsal fin which extends from near 

 the head to the tail ; the anal fin is also of considerable length, and 

 extends from the vent to the tail ; ventral fius small and fleshy ; chin 

 furnished with but one barbule. This genus was established by 

 Cuvier; it is the genus Gadus of Pennant ('British Zoology '), and 

 Broimius of Fleming (' British Animals'). 



But one species of Brosmius has been found on our coast, and that 

 appears to be confined to the northern parts ; it is the B. vulgaris of 

 Cuvier, commonly called the Torsk, and in the Shetlauds the Tusk 

 and the Brismak ; in this latter locality it is abundant, and forms 

 when barreled or dried a considerable article of commerce. In 

 Yarrell's ' History of British Fishes ' we are informed that this 

 species also occurs plentifully in " Norway, as far as Finmark of the 

 Faroe Islands, and the W. and S. coast of Iceland," and other parts. 



The Torsk (Brosmitis tulgarii], 



The following, is Pennant's description of this fish: "Length 

 twenty inches, and depth four and a half ; head small ; upper jaw a 

 little longer than the lower ; both jaws furnished with a multitude of 

 small teeth ; on the chin was a small single beard ; from the head to 

 the dorsal fin was a deep furrow ; the dorsal fin began within six inches 

 of the tip of the nose, and extended almost to the tail ; pectoral fins 

 srnull and rounded ; ventral short, thick, and fleshy, ending in four 

 cirrhi ; the belly from the throat grows very prominent ; anal fin 

 long, and reached almost close to the tail, which is small and circular ; 

 colour of the head dusky ; sides and back yellow, belly white ; edges 

 of the dorsal, anal, and caudal fins white, the other parts dusky ; 

 pectoral fins brown." When eaten fresh it is rather tough ; hence it 

 is preferred dried, and is prepared in the same manner as ling and 

 cod. Faber says, " It is thrown up dead in incredible numbers on the 

 coasts of the Faroe Islands, and the south coast of Iceland, after a 

 storm." (Yarrell, British Fishes.) 



BROSS^EA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order 

 Ericacece. The fruit of B. coccinea, like that of Gauhheria procum- 

 bent and Arctoitaphylos alpina, is succulent and grateful to the taste, 

 and sometimes used as food. 



BRO'TULA, a genus of Fishes, of the order Subbrachial Malacop- 

 leryyii and family Gadidte, chiefly distinguished by the dorsal and 

 anal fins being united with the caudal and forming one fin, which 

 terminates in a point. This only species known (B. barbatus of 

 Cuvier) is from the Antilles. The genus is closely allied to Brosmius. 



BROUSSONE'TIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural 

 order l/'rticacea and sub-order Morece. There is but one species, B. 

 papyri/era. It is from the inner bark of this plant that the Japanese 

 and the Chinese manufacture a kind of paper, and the South Sea 

 Islanders the principal part of their clothing. It forms a small tree 

 with soft brittle woolly branches, and large hairy rough leaves, 

 either heart-shaped and undivided, or cut into deep irregular lobes. 

 Some of the individuals are sterile, others fruitful. The flowers of 

 the sterile trees grow in catkins, which fall soon after their anthers 

 have all shed their pollen ; these catkins are composed of little 

 greenish-purple membranous calyxes, each seated in the axil of a 

 hairy bract and containing four elastic stamens. The flowers of the 

 fruitful trees are collected into round green heads, and consist of a 

 calyx like that of the sterile tree, with a small simple pistil occupying 

 its centre, and having a long downy stigma. The heads gradually 

 push forth little oblong greenish bodies ; these are the ripening fruits, 

 which at maturity have a bright scarlet colour, and are of a pulpy 

 consistence, with a sweetish insipid taste. 



B. papyri/era, the Paper Mulberry, is not uncommon in the 

 shrubberies of this country, where it proves perfectly hardy ; but it 

 is liable to be broken by winds, and soon becomes an unsightly object. 

 Its wood, like that of many other arborescent Urtieacea, ia soft, 

 spongy, and of no value. In the tenacity of the woody tissue of its 



