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THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



coarser varieties are cultivated where no other 

 cereal can be grown. Some species of the genus, 

 three of which arc natives of Britain, are mere 

 grasses. Pot or Scotch barley is the grain de- 

 prived of the husk in a mill. Pearl barltij is the 

 grain polished and rounded and deprived of 

 busk and pellicle. Patent hurley is the farina 

 obtained by grinding pearl barley. Ifarlcy- 

 imttr, a decoction of pearl barley, is used in 

 medicine as possessing emollient, diluent, and 

 rant qualities. 



Barnacle. The name of a family of ma- 

 rine crustaceous animals. They are enveloped 

 by a mantle and shell, composed of five principal 

 valves and >everal smaller pieces, joined to- 

 gether by a membrane attached to their circum- 

 ference;' and they are furnished with a long, 

 flexible, fleshy stalk or peduncle, provided with 

 muscles, by which they attach themselves to 

 ships' bottoms, submerged timber, etc. They 

 feed on small marine animals, brought within 

 their reach by the water and secured by their 

 tentacula. Some of the larger species are edible. 

 According to an old fable, these animals pro- 

 duced barnacle geese. 



Barnacle Goose. A summer visitant of 

 the northern seas, in size rather smaller than the 

 common wild goose, and having the forehead 

 and cheeks white, the upper body and neck 

 black. A fable asserts that the crustaceans 

 called barnacles (see preceding article) changed 

 into geese, and various theories have been 

 framed to account for its origin. Max Miiller 

 supposes the geese were originally called Hiber- 

 niculce or Irish geese, and that barnacle is a 

 corruption of this; but the resemblance of a 

 barnacle to a goose hanging by the head may 

 account for it. The Brent Goose is also some- 

 times called the Barnacle Goose, but the two 

 should be discriminated. 



Basalt. A well-known igneous rock occur- 

 ring in the ancient trap and the recent volcanic 

 series of rocks, but most abundantly in the 

 former. It is a fine-grained, heavy crystalline 

 rock, consisting of felspar, augite, and magnetic 

 iron, and sometimes contains a little olivine. 

 Basalt is amorphous, columnar, tabular, or 

 globular. The columnar form is straight or 

 curved, perpendicular or inclined, sometimes 

 nearly horizontal; the diameter of the columns 

 from three to eighteen inches, sometimes with 

 transverse semispherical joints, in which the 

 convex part of one is inserted in the concavity 

 of another; and the height from five feet to 150. 

 The forms of the columns generally are pen- 

 tagonal, hexagonal, or octagonal. When decom- 

 posed it is found also in round masses, either 

 spherical or compressed and lenticular. These 

 rounded masses are sometimes composed of 

 concentric layers, with a nucleus, and sometimes 

 of prisms radiating from a center. Fingal's 

 Cave, in the island of Staffa, furnishes a remark- 

 able instance of basaltic columns. The pillars 

 of the Giant's Causeway, Ireland, composed of 

 this stone, and exposed to the roughest sea, for 

 ages, have their angles as perfect as those at a. 

 distance from the waves. Basalt often assumes 

 curious and fantastic forms, as for example, 

 those masses popularly known as "Sampson's 

 Ribs" at Arthur's Sent, Edinburgh, and "Lot" 



and "Lot's Wife" near the southern coast of 

 St. Helena. 



Bass. The name of a number of fishes of 

 several genera, but originally belonging to the 

 perch family, distinguished from the true perches 

 by having the tongue covered by small teeth 

 and the preoperculum smooth. Labrax iu/xts, 

 the only British species, called also sea-dace. 

 and from its voracity, sea-wolf, resembles some- 

 what the salmon in shape, and is much esteemed 

 for the table, weighing about fifteen pounds. 

 Labrax lincutnx, or striped bass, an American 

 species, weighing from twenty-five to thirty 

 pounds, is much used for food, and is also known 

 as rock-fish. Both species occasionally ascend 

 rivers, and attempts have been made to cultivate 

 British bass in fresh-water ponds with success. 

 Two species of black bass, American fresh-water 

 fishes, are excellent as food and give fin< 

 to the angler. The former is often called the 

 large-mouthed black bass, from the size of its 

 mouth. Both make nests and take great (are 

 of their eggs and young. The Centropristit 

 nigricans, an American sea-fish of the" perch 

 family, and weighing two to three pounds, is 

 known as the sea-bass. 



Bat. One of the group of wing-handed, fly- 

 ing mammals, having the fore-limb peculiarly 

 modified so as to serve for flight, and constitut- 

 ing the order Cheiroptera. Bats are animals of 

 the twilight and darkness, and are common in 

 temperate and warm regions, but are most 

 numerous and largest in the tropits. All Kuro- 

 pean bats are small, and have a mouse-like 

 skin. The body of the largest British species, 

 Vespertilio noctula, is less than that of a mouse, 

 but its wings stretch about fifteen inches. Dur- 

 ing the day it remains in caverns, in the crevices 

 of ruins, hollow trees, and such-like lurking- 

 places, and flits out at evening in search of food, 

 which consists of insects. Several species of 

 the same genus are common in North America. 

 Many bats are remarkable for having a singular 

 nasal cutaneous appendage, bearing in some 

 cases a fancied resemblance to a horse-shoe. 

 Two of these horse-shoe bats occur in Britain. 

 Bats may be conveniently divided into two sec- 

 tions: the insectivorous or carnivorous, com- 

 prising all European and most African and 

 American species; and the fruit-eating, belong- 

 ing to tropical Asia and Australia, with several 

 African forms. An Australian fruit-eating bat, 

 commonly known as the kalong or flying-fox, is 

 the largest of all the bats; it does much mis- 

 chief in orchards. At least two species of South 

 American bats are known to suck the blood of 

 other mammals, and thence are called "vam- 

 pire-bats" (though this name has also bem 

 given to a species not guilty of this habit). The 

 best known is the Desmfrlux rufun of Bra/il, 

 Chile, etc. As winter approaches, in cold cli- 

 mates bats seek shelter in caverns, vaults, 

 ruinous and deserted buildings, and similar re- 

 treats, where they cling together in large clus- 

 ters, hanging head downwards by the feet, and 

 remain in a torpid condition until the returning 

 spring recalls them to active exertions. BaN 

 generally bring forth two young, which, while 

 suckling, remain closely attached to the mother's 

 teats, which are two, situated upon the dust. 



