BULLRUSH. 



BUPHAGA. 



Gasteroptera Meckcli. 



that the fossil Bntta, from the environs of Paris, confounded with the 

 latter, should be named B. Uruguiirci. 



De Blainville places under his family of Acerata, the genus 

 Gasteroptera, whose body is divided into two parts, the posterior being 

 globular and joined by a peduncle to 

 the anterior portion, which ia small, 

 but enlarged on each side into a con- 

 liderable muscular expansion trans- 

 versely oval, and cut or hollowed out 

 in the middle, both above and below, 

 rendering the expansion bilobated, as 

 it were, and an organ for swimming, 

 in place of a foot for creeping. The lateral gill is uncovered ; there 

 ia no shell. Example, G. Meckeli, from the Sicilian seas. 



BULLRUSH the English name of Typha Mifolia and T.angmtifolia, 

 two wild marsh plants bearing long black cylindrical masses of flowers. 

 The name is also sometimes applied to Scirpus lacttstris, a tall rushy- 

 looking plant from which the bottoms of chairs, mats, kc., are often 

 manufactured. [TTPHA; SCIRPUS.] 



BULLRUSHWORTS. [TYPHACE.E.] 



BULL-TROUT. [SALMO.] 



BULLY or BULLET-TREE. [Mrausops.] 



BUMASTES, a genus of Trilobites thus named by Sir R. Murchison, 

 includes the B. Barriensis, or Ban- Trilobite, which occurs in the Upper 

 Silurian Strata. 



BUMELIA, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order 

 Sapotacar. Many of the species are used in medicine. B. nigra has 

 a bitter and astringent bark, which is used in fevers. The wood is 

 very hard. B. retina has a milky fruit. The fruit of B. lycioidft ia 

 austere, with some sweetness, and is said to be useful in diarrhoea. The 

 flowers of B. grarcolenn have a heavy unpleasant odour. (Lindley, 



BU'NIUM, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order 

 Umbdliferce, the sub-order (Jrthoipermtce, and the tribe A mminta. It 

 has an obsolete calyx ; obcordate petals, with a broad obtuse indexed 

 point ; an oblong fruit, the carpels with 5 filiform equal ridges ; the 

 interstices with 1 or 3 vittso ; the stylopodium conical. The species 

 are perennial herbs with usually tuberose and globose roots, square 

 stems, compound leaves, and white flowers. 



B. jlexuofum, the Pig-Nut, has a general involucre of 1-3 leaves, par- 

 tial more numerous ; fruit oval, narrowing upwards, crowned with the 

 elongated stylopodinm and erect styles, interstices with 3 vittse. This 

 species is the B. denudatum of De Candolle : it is a native of the 

 west and south of Europe, and plentiful in Great Britain. It has a 

 nearly globular root, of a black or chestnut colour on the outside and 

 white inside. It has an aromatic sweet taste, and is frequently dug 

 up and eaten by children. It is called in this country by many names, 

 as Earth-Nut, Ar-Nut, Kipper-Nut, Hawk-Nut, Jur-Nut, Earth Chest- 

 nut, and Ground-Nut. The synonyms are almost as numerous in the 

 French and German languages. Pigs are very fond of this nut, and 

 get fat when they are allowed to feed on them. When boiled they 

 are a pleasant and nutritious food. Roasted, they are preferred by 

 some people to chestnuts, and are often in this country and on the 

 Continent added to soup or broth. 



B. Bulbocagtanum of Linn<eus is a different species from the latter, 

 though often confounded with it. Its general and partial involucres 

 are composed of numerous leaves, the fruit oblong, crowned with the 

 short stylopodium and reflexed styles, the interstices with single vittse. 

 This plant has been discovered in chalky fields in Cambridgeshire 

 and Herts, and is probably more generally diffused. George Don 

 enumerates in the 'Gardener's Dictionary' sixteen species of Bwiiimn. 



(BaMngton, Manual of Brit. lint.) 



BUNTER SANDSTEIN, the lowest arenaceous member of the 

 Triaasic system of strata, as understood in Germany (the lowest part of 

 our Mesozoic Series). The three parts are 

 Keuper above, marly. 

 Muschelkalk in middle, calcareous. 

 Bunter Sandstein below, arenaceous. 



This classification is applicable to England by retrenching the middle 

 term. Sir R. Murchison is of opinion that part of the Bunter 

 'in (Ores Bigarrd of France) belongs to the Palscozoic Series, 

 but no proof of this is yet published. 



BUNTING is the common name applied to a number of small 

 Birds belonging to the order Insessorft and the family Emberizidcc. 

 The Common Bunting, the Yellow Bunting, the Cirl Bunting, and 

 the Ortolan Bunting, all British birds, are species of the genus 

 ''-.a [KMIIKIII/.A] ; whilst the Snow Bunting and the Lapland 

 Bunting, also British, are referred by Yarrell to the genus Plectra- 



phone*. [Pl.KCTROPHANES.] 



BU'PALUS, a genus of Insects belonging to the order Ltpuloptera 

 and the family deometrufa. It has the following characters : _ Palpi 

 very short ; antennae in the males pectinated on each side to the apex, 

 in the females simple ; wings erect during repose ; the anterior wings 

 in t!i; males having a protuberance atthebaae; larva smooth, and 

 "d with ten legs. 



/(. )iiiiiiirin*, Hi- 1',.,1-dered White Moth, is a beautiful moth, which 

 when the wings are expanded measures rather more than an inch in 

 width. Ito wings on the upper side are of a dusky brown colour, and 



adorned with numerous pale yellow spots ; and beneath clouded with 

 the same dusky colour and having two brown stripes. The caterpillar 

 is green, with a white longitudinal stripe down the middle of the 

 back, and four other stripes of a yellowish colour placed two on each 

 side of this. It feeds xipon the finus sylrestrii and P. abies, in the 

 neighbourhood of which species of firs the moth is not uncommonly 

 seen flying during the day-time. 



(Stephens, Illustrations of British Entomology.) 



BU'PHAGA (Buphagus, Brisson), a gemis of Birds, whose form in 

 some points resembles that of the Mentlidce (Blackbirds), while its 

 habits approach those of the Sturnida (Starlings) ; but the form not- 

 withstanding presents such strong points of difference that most 

 ornithologists agree in viewing it as the type of a family, Buphagidce, 

 of which at present it is the only genus. The following is Temminck's 

 generic character :-^Bill strong, large, obtuse, nearly quadrangular ; 

 lower mandible stronger than the upper ; both swollen towards the 

 point. Nostrils basal, oval, half closed by a vaulted membrane. 

 Feet moderate ; shank (tarsus) longer than the middle toe ; three 

 toes before, one behind, the lateral toes equal, the external toe con- 

 joined at the base, the internal one divided; claws hooked, compressed. 

 Wings moderate ; the first quill very short, the second nearly the 

 length of the third, which is the longest. 



The species live principally upon those parasitic insects the larva; 

 (maggots) of which are hatched under the skin of some of the larger 

 ruminants and birds, a mode of life which is followed by some of the 

 Crows (Corrida) and the Pastors. Th'e quadrupeds on whom the 

 Buphaga waits are principally those of the ox-family, the antelopes, 

 and the camels, and generally the other ruminants both wild and 

 tame. Fixed on the backs of these by his cramp-irons of claws the 

 Beef-Eater, as he has been called by the English, and Pique-Boouf by 

 the French, digs and squeezes out with his foreceps of a beak the 

 larva that lies festering under the tough hide of the quadruped. 



Le Vaillant gives the following account of the habits of Bnphaga 

 Africana, which is distributed through Southern Africa, and found 

 also at Senegal : The bill of the Pique-Bceuf is fashioned as a pair of 

 solid pincers to facilitate the raising up out of the hides of quadrupeds 

 the larvse of the gadflies, which are there deposited and nourished : 

 the species therefore anxiously seeks out the herds of oxen, of buffa- 

 loes, of antelopes of all the quadrupeds, in short, upon which these 

 gadflies deposit their eggs. It is while steadied by a strong gripe of 

 the claws in the tough nnd hairy hide of these animals that with 

 strong blows of the bill and powerful squeezes of the skin at the place 

 where the bird perceives an elevation which indicates the presence of 

 a maggot, he extracts it with effort. The animals accustomed to the 

 treatment bear with the birds complacently, and apparently perceive 

 the service which they render to them in freeing them from these 

 true parasites, which live at the expense of their proper substance. 

 The Pique-Boeufs however are not the only birds that perch upon the 

 backs of quadrupeds and large birds, for many other omnivorous 

 species have the same habit ; but these last content themselves with 





Beef Eater (Buphnya ft yt/u-oi-liyncha), male. 



only taking away the parasites which are attached to the skin of those 

 animals, not having in their bills the necessary strength for extirpating 

 the larvae which are lodged beneath it; an oflice which the Conus 

 albicollu (Le Corbivau) executes as well as the Pique-Bamfs. 



