BARBICORNIS BARLERIA. 



299 



surface ; and it is probable that the same extends to 

 all or most of the bottom fishes. It does not appear, 

 however, that, at any period of their history, the same 

 mistake was fallen into in the case of the intestinal 

 parasites of barbel as in those of eels. Subsequent 

 inquiry has proved, what analogy pointed out, and 

 inquiry would have showed at any time, if it had been 

 made, that eels are spawning fishes, and remarkably 

 prolific ones ; but it was long said and written that 

 they brought forth their young alive, and the worms 

 were mistaken for the young. Barbel was always 

 accounted a spawning fish. It is not one of the most 

 prolific, neither is it one of the least so. 



Barbel. 



There are many species of barbel in the rivers, both 

 of the eastern continent and the western. Some of 

 the Italian species approximate to gudgeons, but 

 retain the filaments at the mouth. There are one or 

 two species in the Nile, and two or three in the 

 Ganges ; nor is there any doubt that, if sought for, 

 they even would be found in most of the rivers of the 

 warmer parts of the world. Their habits are, how- 

 ever, all nearly the same, so far as is known ; and the 

 chief distinctions are those of form, size, and colour, 

 so that the description of one may in some measure 

 serve as the description of all. They are nowhere 

 first-rate or favourite fishes, and in some places they 

 are despised, partly, no doubt, on account of the pre- 

 judice respecting their poisonous quality, but chiefly 

 because the same rivers produce fishes of much better 

 quality. See CYPRINOIDES. 



BARBICORNIS(Godart). A very singular genus 

 of butterflies, considered as belonging to the family 

 of the Polyommatida;, having the antennae feathered 

 throughout the whole length, and not clubbed at the 

 tip. The genus consists of a single Brazilian species. 



BARIDIUS (Schonherr). A genus of coleop- 

 terous insects, of the section Tetramcra and family of 

 the weevils. Schonherr enumerates fifty-two species, 

 all of which are exotic. 



BARIS (Germar). A genus of coleopterous insects, 

 of the section Tctramera, and family of the weevils. 

 They are of small size and reside in decaying wood ; 

 the fore-legs are inserted at some distance from each 

 other, the antennae are twelve-jointed. Curtis gives 

 twelve British species, some of which, including the 

 Curculio lignnriits of Marsham, Mr. Stephens places it 

 in the genus Rhyncolus. 



BARK is the name given to the ou*er covering of 

 trees and shrubs. This member of the stem is visible as 

 soon as the plumelet escapes from the seed, and exists 

 on the roots as well as on the stem ; it is then called 

 the cuticle, and ever after remains (on the generality 

 of trees) on the exterior. Immediately beneath the 

 cuticle there is a bed, or layer of greenish cellular 

 matter, called parenchyma, and which, in the early 

 stages of the growth of the tree, appears to be of 



much service in the conduction of the fluids of the 

 system. The bark is thickened by new layers an- 

 nually added to its inner surface, which layers are 

 called liber, because, in the early ages of the world, 

 it was used as a substitute for paper to write upon. 

 In some instances these lavers of liber are so distinct 

 as to be easily separated from each other, and num- 

 bered, and by which the age of the tree may be 

 known a new bark being added in every year. The 

 inner bark of many plants, as the lime, or linden tree, 

 is made into packing mats ; that of the Laurus cinna- 

 momum, is the rich spice of commerce called cinna- 

 mon, and the whole bark of many trees, shrubs, and 

 herbs, is useful either for the filaceous texture, or the 

 concentrated qualities of the plant which it contains. 



As the annual growth of the stem takes place within 

 the bark, the first formed layers are consequently 

 either stretched horizontally, as in the beech, or irre- 

 gularly rent into vertical fractures, as is that of the 

 oak. As the growth increases, the rents become 

 wider and wider, and, on close inspection of the frac- 

 tured parts, the annual growth may be distinctly seen. 

 From the circumstance of many trees discharging 

 their bark every third or fourth year, as the grape- 

 vine, the plane, Arbutus AndracJine, &c., and being 

 rejected when useless by the oak, elm, &c., we may 

 safely conclude that bark is an excrementitious mem- 

 ber of a tree ; each layer having only a temporary 

 function, and which, when performed, is cast off, if 

 not actually, at least virtually, from the living parts. 

 Indeed, we know that, if not cast off, or rent, or 

 sufficiently stretched to make room for the vital part 

 within, it actually becomes a constrictive burden, 

 insomuch that fertility ceases, health is injured, and 

 the very life endangered. To save a tree so circum- 

 stanced, incisions should be made with the point of a 

 pruning knife from the top to the bottom of the stem, 

 quite through the bark ; thus assisting nature, in her 

 own way, to overcome an unnatural induration of the 

 outer layers, caused, perhaps, in the first place, by an 

 unusually warm summer. So well understood is this 

 practical expedient in the culture of fruit trees, that 

 old stunted individuals are sometimes entirely strip- 

 ped of all their rough scabrous bark, to the manifest 

 relief and renovation of the vigour of the tree. The 

 last formed layer of liber is all that is absolutely ne- 

 cessary to be preserved in disbarking a hide-bound 

 tree. Nor is any danger to be apprehended from 

 such an expedient, unless it be performed in the 

 winter, and on trees having a resinous or gummy sap. 



The bark of some trees is remarkably thin, as the 

 beech ; others remarkably thick, as the cork tree. 

 It is said that, in Spain, where the cork trees abound, 

 they grow the better for being disbarked j and that, 

 so quickly is the bark renewed, that it is, or may be> 

 stripped off every seventh year. 



Whatever maybe the predominating quality of the 

 tree or shrub, a considerable portion of it is generally 

 found on the bark, and hence the many kinds of bark 

 used in medicine and in the arts. 



BARLERIA (Linnaeus). A genus of twelve spe- 

 cies of evergreen shrubs, natives of India. Linnaean 

 class and order, Didynmnia angiospermia ; natural order, 

 Acanthace<E. Generic character : calyx, four parted, 

 equal, the fourth segment often bifid ; corolla, funnel 

 shaped ; limb five cleft, segments deeply cut ; stamens, 

 anthers oblong, erect ; the lower ones frequently 

 divided at the base ; style protruding, filiform ; stigmas 

 thickish ; capsule four angled, two celled, two seeded 



