738 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



till late in the summer, and the fruit, which is 

 deep purple or almost black in color, does not 

 ripen till autumn. 



Brazil -wood. A kind of wood yielding a 

 red live, obtained from several trees of the genus 

 Ccnalpinia, order Leguminosce, natives of the 

 We>t Indies and Central and South America. 

 The best kind is Ctrxalpinia cchintitti: other vari- 

 et ies are ( 'd*dlpin id braxiliinxix. ( 'dsdlpinia crista, 

 and Cdtdlpinid Sappan. The wood is hard and 

 h.-avy, and as it takes on a line polish it is used 

 by cabinet-makers for various purposes, but its 

 principal use is in dyeing red. The dye is obtained 

 by reducing the wood to powder and boiling it in 

 water, when the water receives the red coloring 

 principle, which is a cryst alii/able substance 

 called brazil in. The color is not permanent un- 

 less fixed by suitable mordants. 



Bread -fruit. A large, globular fruit of a 

 pale- green color, about the size of a child's head, 

 marked on the surface with irregular six-sided 

 depressions, and containing a white and some- 

 what fibrous pulp, which, when ripe, becomes 

 juicy and yellow. The tree that produces it 

 grows wild in Otaheite and other islands of the 

 South Seas, whence it was introduced into the 

 Indies and South America. It is about 

 forty feet high, with large and spreading branches 

 and has large, bright-green leaves deeply divided 

 into seven or nine spear-shaped lobes. The fruit 

 is generally eaten immediately after being gath- 

 ered, but is also often prepared so as to keep for 

 some time either by baking it whole in close 

 underground pits or by beating it into paste and 

 storing it underground, when a slight fermenta- 

 tion takes place. The eatable part lies between 

 the skin and the core, and is somewhat of the 

 consistence of new bread. Mixed with cocoa- 

 nut milk it makes an excellent pudding. The 

 inner bark of the tree is made into a kind of 

 cloth The wood is used for the building of 

 boats and for furniture. The jack, much used 

 in India and Ceylon, is another member of this 

 genus. 



Bread -nuts. The seeds of the Brosimum 

 (ilicdxtrutn, a tree of the same order as the bread- 

 fruit. The bread-nut tree is a native of Jamaica. 

 Its wood, which resembles mahogany, is useful 

 to cabinet-makers, and its nuts make a pleasant 

 food, in taste not unlike hazel-nuts. 



Brussels Sprouts. One of the cultivated 

 varieties of cabbage, having an elongated stem 

 four or five feet high, with small, clustering, 

 green heads like miniature cabbages. They are 

 cultivated in great quantities near Brussels, as 

 well as in other parts of the world. 



Buckwheat or Brank. A plant with 

 branched herbaceous stem, somewhat arrow- 

 shaped leaves, and purplish-white flowers, grow- 

 ing to the height of about thirty inches, and 

 bearing a small triangular grain of a brownish- 

 black without and white within. The shape of 

 its seeds gives it its German name Buchweizen, 

 "beech-wheat," whence the English name. The 

 plant was first brought to Europe from Asia by 

 the Crusaders, and hence in France is often 

 called Saracen corn. It grows on the poorest 

 soils. It is cultivated in China and other east- 

 ern countries as a bread-corn. In Europe buck- 

 wheat has been principally cultivated as food 



for oxen, swine, and poultry; but in Germany 

 it serves as an ingredient in pottage, puddings, 

 and other food, and in America buckwheat cakes 

 are common. 



Bull-dog. A variety of the common dog. 

 remarkable for its short, Broad mux/le. and the 

 projection of its lower jaw, which causes the 

 lower front teeth to protrude beyond the upper. 

 The head is massive and broad; the lips are 

 thick and pendulous: the ears pendent at tin- 

 extremity; the neck robust and ,-liort ; the 

 body long and stout; and the legs short mid 

 thick. The bull-dog is a slow-motioned 

 cious animal, better suited for savage combat 

 than for any purpose requiring activity and 

 intelligence. For this reason he is often employ- 

 ployed as a watch-dog. It was formerly used 

 as its name implies for the barbarous sport 

 of bull-baiting. The bull terrier was originally 

 from a cross between the bull-dog and the 

 terrier. It is smaller than the bull-dog, lively, 

 docile, and very courageous. 



Bull-frog. A large species of frog found 

 in North America, eight to twelve inches long, 

 of a dusky-brown color mixed with a yellowish- 

 green, and spotted with black. These frogs live 

 in stagnant water, and utter a IOW T , croaking 

 sound resembling the lowing of cattle, whence 

 the name. 



Bull-head. The popular name of certain 

 fishes. One of these, the Cottus gobio, a British 

 fish, is about four inches long, with head very 

 large and broader than the body. It is often 

 called also Miller' s-thumb. The armed bull- 

 head is found in the Baltic and northern seas; 

 the six-horned bull-head is a North American 

 species. In America this name is given to a 

 species of Cat-fish and Horned-pout. 



Bustard. A bird belonging to the order 

 Cursores, or runners, but approaching the 

 waders. The great bustard is the largest Euro- 

 pean bird, the male often weighing thirty pounds, 

 with a breadth of wing of six or seven feet. The 

 bustard is now rare in Britain, but abounds in 

 the south and east of Europe and the steppes of 

 Tartary, feeding on green corn and other vege- 

 tables, and on earth-worms. Its flesh is es- 

 teemed. All the species run fast, and take 

 flight with difficulty. The little bustard occa- 

 sionally visits Britain. The Australian species 

 is a magnificent bird highly prized as food. 



Butterfly. The family of the butterflies 

 is a very extensive one, and naturalists differ 

 much as to the manner of subdividing it. One 

 of the most remarkable and interesting circum- 

 stances connected with these beautiful insects 

 is their series of transformations before reaching 

 a perfect state. The female butterfly lays a 

 great quantity of eggs, which product- larva-, 

 commonly called caterpillars. After a short life 

 these assume a new form, and become chrysalids 

 or pupae. These chrysalids are attached to ot her 

 bodies in various ways, and are of various forms ; 

 they often have brilliant golden or argentine 

 spots. Within its covering the insect develop-, 

 to emerge as the active and brilliant butterfly. 

 These insects in their perfect form suck the 

 nectar of plants, but take little food, and are 

 all believed to be short-lived, their work in t he- 

 perfect state being almost confined to the propa- 



