677 



BUBOX. 



BUD. 



marked to the primaries, but show more white on their outer webs. 

 There are six liver-brown bars on the tail, the last of which is nearly 

 an inch from its end. Under-surface : Chin white, succeeded by a 

 belt extending from ear to ear of liver-brown feathers, having pale 

 yellowish-brown margins. Behind the belt there is a gorget-shaped 

 mark of pure white. The rest of the lower surface of the body is 

 crossed by very regular transverse bars of white, alternating with bars 

 of equal breadth (three lines) of liver-brown, shaded with chocolate- 

 brown. The yellowish-brown base of the plumage is likewise partially 

 visible : there is a white mesial line on the breast, and when the long 

 feathers covering the abdomen are turned aside, a good deal of white 

 appears about the vent. The outside thigh-feathers are yellowish- 

 brown, with distant cross bars of liver-brown ; and the legs and feet 

 we brownish-white with brown spots. The linings of the wings are 

 white, with bars of liver-brown, margined by yellowish-brown. The 

 insides of the primaries are bright buff, crossed by broad bars of clove- 

 brown. On the under surface of the secondaries the clove-brown bars 

 are much narrower. The under tail-coverts are whitish, with distant 

 bars of liver-brown. The under surface of the tail has a slight tinge 

 of buff-colour, and is crossed by mottled bars of clove-brown." 



The bird preys, according to Richardson, on the American hare, 

 Hudson's Bay squirrel, mice, wood-grouse, &c., and builds its nest of 

 sticks on the top of a lofty tree, hatching in March. The young, two 

 or three in number, are generally fully fledged in June. The eggs are 

 white. 



Wilson observes that it has been known to prowl about the farm- 

 house and carry off chickens from roost. " A very large one," says 

 that author, " wing-broken, while on a foraging excursion of this kind, 

 was kept about the house for several days, and at length disappeared, 

 no one knew how. Almost every day after this, hens and chickens 

 also disappeared, one by one, in an unaccountable manner, till in eight 

 or ten days very few were left remaining. The fox, the minx, and 

 weasel were alternately the reputed authors of this mischief, until one 

 morning the old lady herself rising before day to bake, in passing 

 towards the oven surprised her late prisoner regaling himself on the 

 body of a newly-killed hen ! The thief instantly made for his hole 

 under the house, from which the enraged matron soon dislodged him 

 with the brush-handle, and without mercy dispatched him. In this 

 snug retreat were found the greater part of the feathers, and many 

 large fragments of her whole family of chickens." 



There are specimens in the Gardens of the Zoological Society in the 

 Regent's Park. 



BUBON. [GALBASUM.] 



BUCCINUM, the name of a genus of Molluscous animals, to which 

 the common Whelk belongs. Forbes and Hanley place it amongst 

 the Prosobranchiate Gasteropoda, and the tribe Muricida. The fol- 

 lowing are its characters : Shell ovate, more or less ventricose, 

 turreted ; surface smooth or spirally striated, spirally grooved or lon- 

 gitudinally plicated, invested with an epidermis. Aperture ovate, 

 emargiuate, or very shortly canaliculated below ; canal wide, truncated 

 dorsally, more or less tumid ; columella smooth, inner lip expanded, 

 outer lip usually thin and smooth within. Operculum corneous, 

 oblong, its nucleus lateral. Animal bulky ; head broad, depressed, 

 bearing two somewhat flattened tentacula set well apart, their tips 

 subulate, their bases thickened for half their lengths by the connate 

 sustentacula, which bear the rather small eyes ; proboscis ample ; 

 tongue armed with teeth, ranged three in a row, the axil one broad 

 and quadrate, with many crenations, the laterals scythe-shaped, with 

 denticulated bases. Male organ very large, sickle-shaped. 



Messrs. Forbes and Hanley say " We retain the old name Buccinum 

 originally applied to whelks in general, for that group of shells of 

 which, the common Buccinum undatum may be regarded as the type. 

 They constitute a very natural assemblage, though one of no great 

 e*xtent, and are mainly inhabitants of the boreal and arctic regions of 

 both northern and southern hemispheres. The relation of the distri- 

 bution of this form of mollusk to climate is strikingly shown when we 

 compare ouch a shell as the Buccinum cyanrum of Greenland with the 

 Buccinum antarcticurn of the Falkland Islands, one of the most striking 

 instances that can be cited of the representation of species by similar 

 species in regions far apart, but subject to similar physical conditions. 



" Several zoologists have of late united the Buccinum undatum and 

 its allies with Futut antv/uus and similar shells, under the old generic 

 name of Tritonium, originally proposed by Otho Frederic Muller. 

 Independent of the very serious objection which applied to this name 

 on account of its having become obsolete, whilst the too similar word 

 Triton and even Tritoniwn itself were used in the meantime for a very 

 different assemblage of Muricidte, and one presenting good natural 

 marks of distinction, we are inclined still, provisionally at least, to 

 keep up the distinction between the Fun of the north and Buccinum, 

 since shell, animal, and operculum present marks of distinction, which, 

 though in the end they may prove to be of no more than sectional 

 value, yet in the present state of our knowledge deserve to be con- 

 sidered of importance. Unfortunately, the name Buccinum has even 

 of very late years been applied to such a heterogeneous assemblage of 

 shells, that it is difficult to disentangle those to which we restrict the 

 names from a number of very different forms having no true generic 

 affinity with them. 



" These Molluaks appear to have commenced their existence during 



the later Tertiary epoch. At present they have the power of enduring 

 very variable conditions of depth and locality, though the geographic 

 range of the group is limited, however widely may extend the areas of 

 some species." 



B. undatum (Linnaeus), the common Whelk. It has more or less 

 coarse spiral striae, and usually with broad longitudinal folds; the 

 beak short. Forbes and Hanley, amongst other synonyms for this very 

 widely distributed species, give the following : B. striatum, Pennant; 

 B. canaliculatum vulgare, Da Costa; B. Borinanuin, Chemnitz; B. cari- 

 natum, Turton ; B. acuminatum, Broderip ; B. Anglicanum, Fleming ; 

 B. Labradorense, Reeve ; B. imperiale, Reeve ; S. pyramidale, Reeve ; 

 B. tenerum (fossil), Sowerby ; Tritonum nndatum, Muller; T. Hum- 

 phreysianum, Loven ; Murex undatus, Clark. As would be supposed 

 from these synonyms, the Whelk is one of the most variable of shells. 

 It is also one of the most widely distributed. It is found on almost 

 every British shore, varying greatly however in its characters according 

 to its locality. In most parts of the country it is used as an article of 

 diet. Great numbers are to be seen exposed for sale in London. 

 The process of cooking consists in simply boiling, and they are eaten 

 with vinegar and pepper. They are not however very digestible. 

 Dr. Johnston mentions that at the enthronisation feast of William 

 Warham, archbishop of Canterbury, in 1504, no fewer than 8000 

 Whelks were supplied at five shillings for a thousand. 



" This species," say the authors of the ' British Mollusca,' " first 

 appeared in the British seas during the age of the coralline crag, and 

 persisted through all succeeding epochs, becoming more and more 

 abundant. It is found from low-water mark to as deep as one 

 hundred fathoms. It has a wide latitudinal range, now extending 

 throughout the Celtic, Boreal, and Icy Seas, and along the coast of 

 Boreal America from Cape Cod to Greenland. According to Midden- 

 dorff it finds iU" way through the Siberian seas into the Sea of Ochotsk. 

 This great range in time and space accords with its capacity for 

 variation and adaptation to circumstances. During the Pleistocene 

 epoch it had found its way into the Mediterranean, and occurs fossil 

 in the Sicilian newer Pliocene beds, but is now extinct in that region." 



B. Dalei (Sowerby) has a polished white shell without folds ; the 

 body half as long as the spine. It is the Halia Flemingiana of Mac- 

 gillivray, the Tritonium ovum of Middendorff. The animal belonging 

 to this shell is unknown. Messrs. Forbes and Hanley regard this 

 shell as British, though exceedingly rare. It is an inhabitant, of the 

 Icy Seas, and ranges from Greenland to Behring's Strait. 



B. Humphreysianum (Bennett). This species is faintly variegated, 

 almost smooth, without folds, the body longer than the spine. The 

 animal is unknown, and the shell is rare. It has been found on the 

 British coasts, but like the last it appears to be an arctic species 

 lingering in our Fauna. 



B. futiforme (Broderip) has an oblong subfusiform shape, is of a 

 pure white, decussated by narrow longitudinal ribs and spiral costellas ; 

 the beak rather long, recurved. It has been found in Ireland in the 

 neighbourhood of Cork and off the coast of Wexford. It is a very 

 rare shell. 



BUCCO. [BABBETS.] 



BUCEROS. [HoBSBH-u] 



BUCHOLZITE, a mineral closely allied to Sillimanite. According 

 to Thomson it is composed of 



SQica ' . . 46-4 



Alumina 52'9 



A specimen from Chester, Pennsylvania, gave Erdmanu 



Silica 40-1 



Alumina 58'9 



Protoxide of Manganese . . . . (a trace) 

 It is found at Fassa, in the Tyrol, and in several districts in the 

 United States. 



BUCIDA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Combre- 

 taceie. One of the species, B. Bucerai, yields a bark which is used in 

 tanning. 



BUCK. [CERVID.E.] 



BUCK-BEAN. [MENYANTHES.] 



BUCK'S-HORN. [Rncs.] 



BUCK-THORN. [RHAMNUS.] 



BUCK-WHEAT. [FAOOPTBUM.] 



BUCKLANDIA, a fossil plant from the Stonesfield Oolite, sup- 

 posed to belong to the natural order Liliaceae. 



BUCKLANDITE, a mineral containing silica, alumina, lime, 

 protoxide of iron, protoxide of manganese, and water. It is a variety 

 of Epidote, with iron. [EPIDOTE.] 



BUCKU. [DIOSMA.] 



BUD, or LEAF-BUD, in Vegetable Physiology, is the organised 

 rudiment of a branch. Whatever becomes a branch is, when first 

 organised, a bud; but it does not therefore follow that all buds 

 become branches ; on the contrary, owing to many disturbing causes, 

 buds are subject to transformations and deformities which mask 

 their real nature. 



A Leaf-Bud is constructed thus : In its centre it consists of u 

 minute conical portion of delicate cellular tissue, and over the surface 

 of this are arranged rudimentary leaves, in the form of scale*. These 

 scales are closely applied to each other ; those on the outside are the 

 largest and thickest, and the most interior are the smallest iv.ul most 



