NATURAL HISTORY 



735 



of October. A good beer may be brewed from 

 the beet, and it yields a spirit of good quality. 

 From the white beet the French, during the wars 

 with Napoleon I., succeeded in preparing sugar. 

 Since that time, with the increase of chemical 

 ami technical knowledge, the making of beet- 

 sugar has become an important industry in 

 France. Germany, Austria, Russia, Belgium, 

 Holland, and some parts of the United States. 

 It ha- even l>een tried in Kngland, and the failure 

 mpts to produce beet-sugar on a large 

 seale there seems to have been mainly due to 

 artificial conditions of trade competition. 



Hcctle. A name of ten used as synonymous 

 with the term Coleoptera, but restricted by 

 to include all those insects that have their 

 protected by hard cases or sheaths, called 

 elytra. Beetles vary in size from a mere point 

 to the bulk of a man's fist, the largest, the ele- 

 phant beetle of South America, being four inches 

 long. The so-called " black beetles ' T of kitchens 

 and cellars are not properly beetles at all, but 



aid of the order Orthoptera. 

 Begonia. An extensive genus of succu- 

 "inmed herbaceous plants, order Begoni- 

 acece, with fleshy oblique leaves of various colors, 

 an*l showy unisexual flowers, the whole perianth 

 ;. They readily hybridize, and many 

 ieties have been raised from the tuberous- 

 rooted kin. Is. From the shape of their leaves 

 they have been called elephant's ear. Almost all 

 the plants of the order are tropical, and they 

 have mostly j>ink or red flowers. 



I :< Madonna. A European plant (Atrdpa 

 lit lltiilonna), or deadly nightshade. It is native 

 in Britain. All parts of the plant are poisonous, 

 and the incautious eating of the berries has often 

 produced death. The inspissated juice is com- 

 monly known by the name of extract of bella- 

 donna. It is narcotic and poisonous, but is of 

 value in medicine, especially in nervous 

 ailment-. It has the property of causing the 

 j>upil of the eye to dilate. The fruit of the plant- 

 is a dark brownish-black shining berry. The 

 i unifies "beautiful lady," and is said to 

 have been given from the use of the plant as a 

 cosmetic. 



Betel /'/, . A .-pecies of pepper, Chavlca 

 Betel, a <>r climbing plant, native of the 



East Indies, native order /'/'/* ramr. The 

 leaves are employed to inclose a piece of the 

 areca or betel nut' and a little lime into a pellet, 

 which is e\ti -ii-ivelv chewed in the East. The 

 l*-llet i-. In. i .-ii.d ai-rid. but has aromatic and 

 instrument pvpirtir^. It t m-. the saliva, gums 

 and lips : i brick n-d. and blackens the 



Itin-h (liifi'ila). A genus of trees, order 



iMulnnw, which comprises only the birches 



which inhabit Europe, Northern 



nid North America. The common birch 



is indigenous throughout the north, and on high 



Mfl HI the 



hardy, and only one or t\\<> other species of 



trees appro:* t<> the north ; 



are two varieties native- of Britain, Bcttila alba, 



ami liiti'ila <iH><> OT \\'pii 



latter iiitiful tne. The woo,! 



birch, which If liulit in color, and firm and tough 



ire. is used for ch:> 

 and the woodwork of furniture generally, also 



for fish-cases and hoops, and for smoking hams 

 and herrings, as well as for many small articles. 

 In France wooden shoes are made of it. The 

 bark is whitish in color, smooth and shining, 

 separable in thin sheets or layers. Fishing-nets 

 and sails are steeped with it to preserve them. 

 In some countries it is made into hats, shoes, 

 boxes, etc. In Russia the oil extracted from it 

 is used in the preparation of Russian leather. 

 and imparts the well-known scent to it. In Lap- 

 ' land bread has been made from it. The sap, 

 from the amount of sugar it contains, affords a 

 kind of agreeable wine, which is produced by 

 the tree being tapped during warm weather in 

 the end of spring or beginning of summer, when 

 the sap runs most copiously. The dwarf birch, 

 Betula nana, a low shrub, two or three feet high 

 at most, is a native of all the most northerly 

 regions. Betula lenta, the cherry-birch of Amer- 

 ica, and the black birch (Httfihi tu't/ra) of the 

 same country, produce valuable timber, as do 

 other American species. The largest of the>e 

 is the yellow birch (Betula lutea or cxcclsa), which 

 attains the height of eighty feet. It is named 

 from its bark being of a rich yellow color. The 

 paper birch of America (Betula papyracfa) has 

 a bark that may be readily divided into thin 

 sheets almost like paper. From it the Indian 

 bark canoes are made. 



Bird -catching Spider. A name ap- 

 plied to gigantic spiders of the genera .1 

 and Epeira, more especially to the 37 //;/' 

 cularia, a native 01 Surinam and elsewhere. 

 which preys upon insects and small birds, which 

 it hunts for and pounces on. It is about two 

 inches long, very hairy, and almost black; its 

 feet when spread out occupy a surface of nearly 

 a foot in diameter. 



Bird of Paradise. The name for mem- 

 bers of a family of birds of splendid pi u ma ire 

 allied to the crows, inhabiting New (luin 

 the adjacent islands. The family indudoel. \, n 

 or twelve genera and u number of species, some 

 of them remarkably beautiful. The largest 

 species is over two feet in length. The kingbird 

 of paradise (Paradista regie), is possibly the 

 most beautiful species, but is rare. It has a mag- 

 nificent plume of feathers, of a delicate yellow 

 color, coming up from under the wings, and 

 falling over tne back like a jet of water. The 

 feathers of the rnnnlistti nmjor and /'<m/<//.s7 

 minor are those chiefly worn in plumes. The-e 

 splendid ornaments arc confined to the male 

 bird. 



Birds. A class of animals comprising all 

 oviparous vertebrates which are Hot he : 

 feathers, furnished with a bill, and oruair. 

 flight. They have warm blood, and a complete 

 double circulation. They are all bij>ed>; the 

 body is inclined before their feet, the thighs 

 reeled forward, and tin- toes elongated. 

 forming a broad su parting bane. The head 

 and neck are more or less prolon^'d. the latter 

 very flexible, and generally containing twelve 

 or more \ertebra-. The- posterior extremities 

 present five principal modifications, affording 

 characters which di>tim:uish five pni 

 In the tir-1 order the toot ha^ three tor 

 and one behind, all armed with lone, strong, 

 crooked, and more or less retractile talons, 



