BOTYS BOX TREE. 



f.17 



themselves towards the sun, with nock stretched out, 

 every feather erect, and tail and sunward wing spread 

 wide. An observer, unaccustomed to the sight, 

 would fancy they were dying, or that something very 

 bad was the matter : this is a habit common to many 

 of the Sylviadce. 



When they became fully able to take care of them- 

 selves, ihey were turned into a large cage, containing 

 various other birds of this family; and here they 

 unexpectedly found a protector. A tree pipit (An- 

 thus arboreus), which had long been in confinement, 

 fed and tended them with all the care of a parent. 

 They had for some weeks picked up their own food, 

 but still had no objection to be fed ; and it was often 

 an interesting sight to see the pipit (so incongruous 

 a species), with food in his mouth, looking up ear- 

 nestly at the active young bottletits, and waiting 

 patiently till one of them could find leisure to come 

 and take It. 



This interesting little family had thriven so well, 

 that we began to fancy we should be overstocked 

 with them. Some were given away, and soon after 

 one of them died of obesity ; then another, and ano- 

 ther, till the stock was at length reduced to four : 

 this number continued for some time, till one morning, 

 without any apparent cause, three of them were found 

 lying dead". The sole remaining one survived the 

 others two or three months, and at length died when 

 it hud nearly finished moulting. It is worthy of 

 remark, that this individual would hardly ever touch 

 meat, of which all the others were very fond ; and to 

 this, we think, may be attributed its comparative 

 longevity. It fed principally on bread and milk, and 

 upon crumbled bun and bruised hemp-seed ; would 

 sometimes just taste a little fruit, but did not eat it 

 like the true titmice ; and it was at all times very 

 active and lively, and out of its cage troublesomely 

 tame. 



The writer of this has described the habits of these 

 birds in confinement somewhat in detail, as he is not 

 aware of any previous instance of their being kept in 

 a cage ; nor, as the birds which are captured old will 

 never live, are there many who will take the trouble 

 to keep them, as they must necessarily be reared 

 from the nest. It is only thus, however, that the 

 writer has been able to satisfy himself that this spe- 

 cies should be arranged separately from Parus, though 

 previous observation of it in its wild haunts had 

 long led to the supposition. Now, however, he is 

 fully convinced, from a due consideration of the 

 many peculiarities of its structure, manners, habits, 

 food, the character of its plumage, and various other 

 minor particulars, that it cannot properly range in the 

 same minimum division with the true titmice, and 

 thut consequently Dr. Leach was perfectly right, in 

 removing this very singular species from the genus 

 Parus, and forming of it a separate division. 



BOTYS (Latreille). A genus of lepidopterous 

 insects belonging to the nocturnal division of moths, 

 and to the family PyraUdas. The body is long and 

 slender, the antennae short and simple in both sexes. 

 The wings form a triangle when shut, the tongue is 

 very apparent and serves for the ordinary purposes 

 of a tubular haustellum. The larvae are naked, with 

 sixteen legs, and the pupa is inclosed in a cocoon of 

 silk spun within a rolled up leaf. The type of the 

 genus is the Pyralis urticata of Linnaeus, a pretty and 

 common British species, known to collectors by the 

 name of the small magpie moth. The thorax and tip 

 of the body are yellow, the wings white with bauds of 



black spots. The larva resides in folds of the leaves 

 of the nettle, bindweed, &c. It remains nine months 

 in the cocoon previous to assuming the pupa state. 



BOURBON PALM. Is the Latania borbonica 

 of Commelin. This fine ornamental palm belongs 

 to Dicecia Monadclphia of the sexual system, and to 

 its own order of course. Generic character : spadix 

 many leaved ; calyx three-leaved ; petals three ; sta- 

 mens from fifteen to twenty ; drupe coated, containing- 

 three seeds. The fronds are plaited like a fan ; the 

 terminal lobe is longest, which makes the whole 

 appear as if winged. 



BOUVARDIA (Salisbury). A genus of three 

 species, and three varieties of green-house shrubs, 

 natives of Mexico. Class and order Tetrandria 

 Monogynia, and natural order Rubiacece. Generic 

 character : calyx four parted, with intersecting teeth ; 

 corolla, tubular, limb four-cleft, filaments are joined 

 to the tube, anthers as high as the top of the tube ; 

 style simple, stigma two-lobed ; capsule, two-celled, 

 seeds margined. Some of these are beautiful plants ; 

 particularly the B. tnphylla and B. versicolor. 



BO WIG A (Haworth). A genus of two species 

 of half shrubby plants, natives of Southern Africa. 

 They belong to the class and order Hexandria Mono- 

 gynia, and the natural order Hemcrocallidece. The 

 flowers are very curious in structure, and the plants 

 are easily managed. 



BOX ELDER. The English name of a tree 

 formerly called the Ash-leaved Maple. It was then 

 Acer negundo, but has been made a new genus by 

 Moench, under the name Negundo Fraxinifollum ; 

 and by Decandolle, as Ncgundinm Amcricanum. IP 

 ornamental planting the tree is useful ; it not only 

 grows quickly, but its foliage is of a light yellowish 

 green, contrasting well with deeper tinted trees. It 

 has, however, two defects : the timber is inferior, 

 and so brittle, that the tree is frequently demolished 

 by high winds. There is a variety of it called N. 

 crispa, or curled leaved, cultivated in nurseries for 

 the ornamental planter. The tree is raised from 

 seed like the common maple. 



BOX THORN is the Lycium of Linnaeus. A 

 genus of handsome shrubs and climbers from the 

 south of Europe and other parts of the world. Glass 

 and order, Pcntandria Monogynia, and natural 

 order, Solancce. Generic character : calyx bell- 

 shaped, five-toothed, often cut in the sides ; corolla 

 funnel-shaped ; 'stamens inserted in the tube of the 

 corolla ; filaments hairy at the base ; berry two- 

 celled, many seeded. Some of these plants, especially 

 those from the Cape, arc fine flowering plants. L. 

 Barbarum, though a native of Barbary, succeeds in 

 the open air in England ; and, from its quick growth, 

 is useful for covering arbours and the like. Some of 

 the species bear thorns on their branches ; hence the 

 English name. 



BOX TREE. This well-known plant is the 

 Buxus sempervircns of Linnaeus, who placed it in the 

 twenty-first class, and fourth order of his system, viz., 

 Monoecia Tetrandria. In the natural system it is 

 associated with EuphorbiacecB. There are four species ; 

 three are exotics, and the fourth, B. sempervirens, is 

 indigenous to England, and of which there are two 

 varieties, the narrow-leaved and the subshrubby. 



BRABEJUM (Linnaeus), is the African Almond. 

 It belongs to Polygamia Monoecia, and to the highly 

 ornamental order Proleacece. This is an elegant 

 flowering plant ; the racemes of blossoms are aptly 

 compared to a sceptre. 



