B I S 



B I S 



been mailc by the aboriginal inhabitants to reduce the bison 

 to obedience. Catesby. however, says that thee animals 

 have been known to' breed with tame rattle that were be- 

 come wild, but that the calve* being o too, were neglected, 



and though,' he continues, it is the general opinion, that 

 if m-laiming these animals were impracticable (of which no 

 trial has been made), to mix the breed with tame cattle 

 would much improve the breed, yet nobody has had the 

 curiosity nor have given themselves any trouble about it.' 

 Pennant states that the experiment has been made, and 

 that it has failed, for he thus writes in his Arctic Zoology- 



Attempts have been made to tame and domesticate the 

 wild bison, by catching the calves and bringing them up with 

 the common kind, in hopes of improving the breed. It has 

 not yet bean found to answer : notwithstanding they had the 

 appearance for a time of having lost their savage nature, 

 yet they always grew impatient of restraint, and, by reason 

 of their great strength, would break down the strongest 

 inclosure, and entice the tame cattle into the corn-fields. 

 They have been known to engender together, and to breed ; 

 but I connot learn whether the species was meliorated by 

 the intercourse. 



A very One American bison bull was shown a few years 

 ago in this country as the ' bonassus,' and under that name 

 found its way into the epilogue of the Westminster Play as 

 one of the wonders of the day. It was afterwords pur- 

 chased by the Zoological Society of London ; but it had been 

 enfeebled by confinement and disease, and died soon after 

 the Society .became possessed of it. The Hudson's Bay 

 Company supplied its place by presenting a young cow, 

 which has lived for some years in its present quarters at 

 the Garden in the Regent's Park. 



BISSA'GOS, THE, or BIJUGA ISLANDS, lie on the 

 west coast of Africa, between 11 40' and 1 50' N. lat., and 

 15 30' and 16 30' W. long., opposite the mouth of the 

 river Bulola or Rio Grande. They form a group of about 

 twenty islands, enclosed by a reef. Most of them are in- 

 habited, but some are nearly bare rock, and only visited oc- 

 casionally. The largest, Marshi, is above fifteen miles long. 

 The islands Carachc, Corbele, Cazegut, Gallinas. Orango, 

 Canyabac, and Bulama are much smaller. On Bulama the 

 English formed a settlement in 1 792 ; but it was abandoned 

 in 1793, on account of its unhcalthiness. 



These islands, which are of volcanic origin, have an 

 excellent soil, composed chiefly of decomposed lava and 

 vegetable matter. They are mostly covered with wood, but 

 there are some natural savannahs, and a few clear spaces, 

 affording ample pasturage for innumerable elephants, deer, 

 buffaloes, and other wild animals. The inhabitants culti- 

 vate some maize, and have plantations of bananas and 

 palms; but their chief wealth consists of cattle and goats. 

 It is remarkable that the hippopotamus is found in the 

 straits which divide the islands of Canyabac and Bulama 

 from the continent; there is no fresh-water river within 

 several miles. 



The inhabitants, called Bijuga, are a warlike and trea- 

 cherous people, as Captain Beaver learned by experience. 

 They are always armed, generally with a musket, knife- 

 dagger, spear, and sometimes a sword. The women do the 

 Inbourof domestic economy, except that the males climb 

 the palms to get the calabashes for collecting the palm- 

 wine, and bring them away. The men attend only to hunt- 

 ing and fishing : they frequently rob when they can find 

 their way across to the main. The two sexes eat separately. 



(Life of Captain Heaver, by Smyth ; and Capt. Belcher, 

 in the Journal of the. Gener. Society.) 



BISSEXTILE, or BISSEXTUS DIES, the name given 

 in the Roman Calendar, after its reformation by J. Caesar, 

 tn the intercalary day which was inserted every fourth year 

 between the 94th and 25th of February. The 24th of' Fe- 

 in nary was expressed according to the Roman reckoning, 

 sexto Calcndas Marti!,' i. c. the sixth day before the Ca- 

 lends, or first of March. When the intercalary day was in- 

 serted, it was also called ' sexto Calendas Martii ;' and as 

 the name was thus repeated, this day was called the bissex- 

 tw diet, or the sixth day twice over. In legal reckoning as 

 to the birth of a child, the 24th and following day in the 

 bissextile year were considered m the Roman law as one 

 day. (See Dig. I. tit. t. :t ) In Greek, this day was called 

 )t<fio\<fu>t i;/i''ii. which signifies the same as "inter 

 day. By the statute 21 Hen 111., the bissextile day and 

 the day immediately preceding were to be considered le- 

 gally as one day (computetur dies ille ct dies proximo pre- 



cedent pro uno die). At present February has twenty-nine 

 davs in leap jcar. [See ^ EAR.] 



BI'STON (entomology), a name given by Dr. Leach to a 

 genus of moths of the family Geomttrider. The principal 

 distinguishing characters of this genus are as follows : 

 Palpi short, and three-jointed ; antenna; rather long, and 

 distinctly pectinated in the males, each joint being furnished 

 with a ciliated branch, and these branches longest on the 

 central joints (in the females these branches are wanting, 

 or nearly so); body thick; wings present in both sexes, 

 not very thickly covered with scales, and hence slightly 

 transparent, especially in the females. The larva has ten 

 legs, and is elongate, cylindrical, and tuberculated, and has 

 the head more or less notched in front ; it assumes the pupa 

 state underground at the roots of trees. 



There appears to be an analogical resemblance between 

 these moths and the Notodonlidee, their larvae showing 

 that they are not otherwise allied. The imago state of the 

 species however may be distinguished by the different tex- 

 ture of the wings, and structure of the antenna;. 



Three species of this genus have been discovered in this 

 country : B. prodromaria, the oak-beauty ; H. betulariut, 

 the pepper-moth ; and B. hirtarius, the brindled-beauty. 

 The first of these has the antenna) Inpert mated to the 

 apex, and the two latter have the antenna? simple at the 

 apex, in the males: 



B. prodromaria has the wings of an ash colour, or ap- 

 proaching to white, finely sprinkled with black : each of the 

 upper wings has two transverse bent fasciae of a brown co- 

 lour, more or less margined with black, and the under wings 

 have one fascia of the same description. When the wings 

 are expanded it measures from an inch and a half to two 

 inches in width. 



The caterpillar feeds upon the oak, poplar, &c. The 

 moth is rare, but is found in the month of March in the 

 trunks of oak trees in the neighbourhood of London and 

 elsewhere. 



B. betulariui has received the name of pepper-moth 

 from its being of a white colour, and, as it were, peppered 

 with black almost uniformly over the win us. 



This moth is about the same size as the last, and is not 

 uncommon in the month of June in woods near Jxmdon, 

 and in other parts. Its caterpillar feeds upon the oak, 

 willow, poplar, elm, &c. 



B. hirlarius is of a brown colour, dotted with grey, with 

 three or four transverse, black, bent lines on each wing, 

 and a whitish fascia near the hinder margin : it is common 

 amongst poplar and lime-trees, and is about an inch and 

 three quarters in expanse. In the females the wings have 

 a greenish hue. 



BISTORT. [See POI.YOONUM.] 



BISTRE, a brown pigment made from the root of differ- 

 ent kinds of wood, but that of beech is preferred by some 

 who have given directions for making it. 



In the 'Handmaid to the Arts,' vol. i. p. 176, the follow- 

 ing process is recommended: Put the soot of any wood (of 

 beech when it can be procured) into water, in the propor- 

 tion of two pounds to a gallon, and boil them for half an 

 hour. Then, after the fluid has stood some time to settle, but 

 while it is yet hot, pour off the clearer part from the earthy 

 sediment nt the bottom ; and if on standing any longer it 

 form another earthy sediment, repeat the same method ; 

 but this should be done only while the fluid remains hot. 

 Evaporate the fluid to dryness; and what remains will be 

 good bistre, if the soot was of the proper kind. It is then 

 mixed with a little gum-water and made into small cakes. 



According to Dr. M'Culloch, bistre is a very variable 

 article, and is often unfit for use, and he concludes from his 

 experiments, that this is owing to its too nrar alliance to tar, 

 and hence the disagreeable gumminess which it frequently 

 possesses. He has proposed a process for removing the 

 defects which he has pointed out, by preparing it from the 

 pilch of distilled wood. (Trans. Geiil. N" . vol. li. p. 1.) 



liLSTRMV. (BESZTERCZE, B1DEKE). a circle in 

 Transylvania, bounded on the mirth by Hungary and on 

 the east by Galieia : it contains an area of about 1200 square 

 miles, rather less than that of Gloucestershire, and the po- 

 pulation, which in 1791 amounted to 55,000, is at present 

 about 107,500. It lies at a considerable elevation above the 

 level of the sea, and the larger portion of it is covered with 

 the Carpathian mountains. The principal river by which 

 it is watered is the ' Greater Szamos,' which rises within the 

 borders of the circle below Mounts Wurful-Omului and Lo- 



