BERIS BETHYLLUS. 



All the species of barberries are more or less orna- 

 mental. The Berberis aristata is a hardy evergreen 

 shrub, found in Nepal. Berberis tinctorirr, a native of 

 India, yields a yellow colouring matter, which is used 

 in dyeing. Berberis Siberica (Siberian barberry), is 



Berberis epinu dium, Siberica. 



a curious species known among the Mongol Tartar 

 under the name of Yellow-wood, and applied by them 

 both to superstitions and medicinal purposes. It is a 

 native of the Altai mountains, growing in the crevices 

 of the highest rocks, and was introduced into Britain 

 by Sir Joseph Banks in 1790. It produces grey or 

 a^h-coloured berries, possessing acid properties. The 

 barberries with pinnated leaves, generally shrubs of 

 great beauty and interest, have been lately referred 

 to a separate genus denominated Mahimia. Leon- 

 tice, or CaulophyUum thatictroides, another plant of this 

 order, is remarkable as being an instance of a plant 

 in which the seeds are not inclosed in any covering 

 whatever. Mandiana domestira is an elegant shrub, 

 found in Japan. Epimedium Alpinnm, or Alpine bar- 

 renwort is a plant of the barberry tribe, which is 

 found in a few places in Britain. It is a small ele- 

 gant plant, with handsome dark red flowers, which 

 grows in mountain thickets, and furnishes a consi- 

 derable quantity of honey. 



BERIS (Latreille). A genus of dipterous insects, 

 belonging to the section Notacantha and family Xylo- 

 phagida 1 . These insects, of which there are about a 

 dozen British species, are of small size, lively colours, 

 sluggish in their motions, frequenting aquatic plants, 

 and distinguished by the basal joint of the posterior 

 tarsi being greatly dilated, and the scutellum armed 

 with six or eight spines. In the species forming the 

 genus Achna of Meigen, the scutellum is only fur- 

 nished with four spines. The antennae have been 

 described as only three-jointed, but the third joint, as 

 it is termed, is distinctly annulated and composed of 

 eight distinct articulations. These organs are but a 

 little longer than the head. Musca clavipcs of Lin- 

 nteus is the type. 



BEROSUS (Leach). A genus of coleopterous 

 insects, belonging to the section Pentamera, and family 

 Hydrophilidoe. These insects are of small size, and 

 reside, like the rest of the family, in stagnant waters 

 and ponds, in which, from the imperfect ciliation of 

 the hind legs, they swim but slowly. The genus is 

 distinguished by having the clypeus entire, the an- 

 tenna eight-jointed, the eyes very prominent, and the 

 elytra are broader at the base than the thorax. Four 

 British species, the Ijtjiiscus luridus being the typr. 



BERYL. A very beautiful mineral, frequently. 

 though improperly, called Aquamarine. Its principal 

 colour is green, from which it passes on the one side 

 into blue, and on the other into yellow. The beryl 

 occurs massive, and it is often crystallised in long- 

 equiangular six-sided prisms. The crystals are some- 

 times jointed like basalt, having a concave surface at 

 one extremity, and a convex surface at the other. 

 They are seldom single ; generally many occur to- 

 gether, and these cross each other in different direc- 

 tions. A very fine specimen, in the collection of 

 minerals at the British Museum, is delineated in the 

 accompanying figure. 



Beryl. 



The beryl was the tenth stone in the breast-plate 

 of the Jewish high-priest, whereon Zebulon was en- 

 graven. When pure, it is cut into ring-stones, seal- 

 stones, brooches, intaglios, and necklaces, but it is not 

 so highly valued as the jewellers' emerald. The darkest 

 green varieties are set upon a steel-coloured foil, and 

 the pale ones are either placed, like the diamond, on a 

 black ground, or upon a silvery foil. Figures are some- 

 times engraved on it. In the royal library at Paris, 

 there is a portrait of Julia, the daughter of Titus, 

 engraved on a very large green-coloured beryl. The 

 largest ones are said to be in much esteem among 

 the Turks for the handles of stilettos. The beryl, 

 which is now classed with the rhomboklal-cmerald, is 

 found in its most beautiful varieties in veins that 

 traverse the granite mountain Adon-Tschalon, in 

 Asia, from which quarter nearly all the abundant 

 supplies of Russian beryl are obtained. It also occurs 

 along with arsenical pyrites, in a kind of serpentine 

 rock near Nertschinsk, in the mountain Tygirek 

 (Mountain of Snow), in the Altain range, &c. It 

 also occurs in Europe and the United States of 

 America. In our own island it is found in alluvial 

 soil, along with rock-crystal and topaz, in the upper 

 parts of Aberdeenshire. In Ireland, imbedded in 

 granite, near Lough Bray, in the county of Wicklow, 

 and near Cranebane, in the same county. 



BERYTUS (Fabricius ; Ncides, Latreille). A 

 pretty genus of hemipterous insects, belonging to the 

 sub-order Heteroptera, or bug tribes, and family Co- 

 reidae. The species are of a very narrow and elegant 

 form, having very long legs and elbowed antennae, 

 which give them much the resemblance of Tipiike, 

 whence the type was termed by Linnaeus, C'nnex tipu- 

 larius. The author of this article has captured the 

 Ber. elcgam, in some profusion upon the Ononit 

 arvcnsis, at the back of the Isle of Wight, upon the ten- 

 der shoots of which the insect in all its states feeds. 



BETHYLLUS (Latreille ; Omaha, Jurine). A 

 genus of hymenopterous insects, belonging to the sec- 

 tion Pnpivora and family Proetotripedae. This genus 

 is at once distinguished by its large and flattened head, 



