BROSS^EA BRUCHID^. 



C33 



land of Scotland, and more abundant at Shetland 

 than Orkney. Like most of the family which inhabit 

 high latitudes, it is rather hard and harsh in the 

 recent state ; but when salted and dried it is a 

 valuable fish to those northern people who depend 

 chiefly on the sea for their food, though it is far 

 inferior to ling both in size and in quality. It grows 

 to the length of about two feet, is dusky on the back, 

 dull yellow on the sides, and white on the belly. 

 The fins have white margins, and the pectorals and 

 tail are rounded off at their extremities. The lateral 

 line is a little curved ; the body, from the vent to the 

 caudal fin, compressed ; and there is a plait or furrow 

 on the neck. It is found on the same banks which 

 are frequented by cod and ling, and taken by the hook 

 in the same manner. This fish has sometimes been 

 confounded with the Torsk, which is a species of cod, 

 but it does not appear to be met with on any part of 

 the British shores. See the name of the family for 

 the characters and differences of the whole. 



BROSS^EA. (G. de la Brosse, physician to Louis 

 XIII., and founder of the Jardin des Plantes at 

 Paris), so called in honour of, by Linnaeus. There 

 is only one species, a hothouse evergreen shrub, 

 having scarlet flowers, and it is but imperfectly known 

 to British botanists. 



BROTULA, a genus of fishes belonging to the 

 cod family, and bearing, in some of its characters, a 

 slight resemblance to the tusk, but having the dorsal 

 and the anal fins united, and forming the caudal, 

 which terminates in a point. There is only one 

 species known ; it has six beards or filaments on the 

 head, and is a native of the West Indian seas. 



BROUGHTONIA (R. Brown). An orchideous 

 plant, native of Jamaica, having fine scarlet flowers. 

 It is said to be rare in British collections, in conse- 

 quence of being difficult of cultivation. 



BROUSSONETI A (Ventenat), named in honour 

 of the French naturalist Broussonet. A genus of two 

 species, said to be natives of Japan. The flowers are 

 dioecious, and belong to the order Urticece. This 

 plant was heretofore called Morus papyrifera, or 

 Paper Mulberry, and is remarkable for the use made of 

 its bark in the manufacture of paper by the Chinese, 

 and of cloth by the Otaheitans. " The fruit is little 

 larger than peas, surrounded with long purple hairs, 

 when ripe changing to black purple colour, and full 

 of sweet juice. In China and Japan it is cultivated 

 as we do osiers, for the sake of the young shoots, 

 from the bark of which the inhabitants make paper. 

 The bark being separated from the wood, is steeped 

 in water, and the inner bark separated from the outer, 

 the former making the whitest and best paper. The 

 bark is then slowly boiled, then washed, and after- 

 wards put on a wooden table, and beaten into a pulp. 

 This pulp being put in water, separates like grains of 

 meal. An infusion of rice and the root of inanihot 

 is next added to it. From the liquor so prepared, 

 the sheets of paper are poured out one by one, and 

 when pressed and dr_y, the operation is finished. The 

 juice of this tree is sufficiently tenacious to be used 

 in China as a glue in gilding either leather or paper. 

 The finest and whitest cloth worn by the principal 

 people at Otaheite, and in the Sandwich Islands, is 

 made of the bark of this tree. The cloth of the bread- 

 fruit tree is inferior in whiteness and softness, and 

 worn chiefly by the common people." Enc. of 

 Plants 



We may here observe, that, notwithstanding the 

 strongest objections made against the natural system 

 have been raised on the apparent desociation of the 

 order Urtice<z, yet, that there is a strong affinity cannot 

 be denied, particularly in the instance of so many of 

 the genera possessing the same tenacity of fibre. 

 The common mulberry possesses so fine a web of 

 silky fibres in its leaves, as has induced an expe- 

 rimental philosopher to conceive that the produce of 

 the silk-worm is a vegetable, and not an animal sub- 

 stance. 



BROWALLI A (Linnaeus). Named in honour of 

 John Browallius, bishop of Abo. A genus containing 

 three species of tender annuals. The flowers are 

 didynamous, and belong to the Jussieuan order 

 Scrophularince. These plants are treated like other 

 tender annuals, i. e. raised from seeds, sowed in a 

 hot-bed in the spring, and afterwards potted or 

 planted in the open borders, to flower in summer. 



BROWNEA (Jacquin), named in compliment to 

 Patrick Brown, M. D., author of a History of Jamaica. 

 A genus of three species of splendid monadelphous 

 plants, natives of the West Indies, and belonging to 

 the natural order LeguminoscB. Generic character : 

 calyx double ; exterior sheath bifid, the interior funnel- 

 shaped, five-cleft, and coloured ; petals five, inserted 

 in the calyx, longly clawed ; stamens attached to the 

 base of the tube ; style filiform ; pod flat and cimeter- 

 shaped ; seeds covered with fungous fibres. These 

 plants are not yet very common in botanical collec- 

 tions ; but, for the beauty of their flowers, they are 

 well worth cultivation. 



BRUCEA (Le Heretier). A genus of plants 

 named to commemorate James Bruce, the Abys- 

 sinian traveller. They are ornamental evergreen 

 shrubs, belonging to the class and order Dicecia 

 Pentandria, and to the order Terebinthace<E. There 

 are three species ; one a native of Abyssinia, where 

 it was discovered by Bruce, the others natives of 

 India. 



BRUCHID^E (Leach). A family of coleopterous 

 insects, belonging to the section Tetramera, and divi- 

 sion Rhyncophora, nearly corresponding with the 

 Linnrean genus Bruchus. The upper lip is distinct, 

 the head is produced in front into a broad large 

 and flattened snout ; the palpi are very evident and 

 filiform ; the antennae not clavate, but filiform or ser- 

 rated, and the eyes notched ; the elytra likewise do 

 not conceal the extremity of the body. The larva; 

 of these insects are fleshy grubs, resembling those of 

 the nut-weevil ; they are produced from eggs depo- 

 sited by the females in the tender germs of various 

 leguminous or other plants, such as the palm, &c. 

 These eggs are not hatched until the grains have 

 acquired some size, so as to afford a sufficient supply 

 of food to the inhabitant, until it is ready to assume 

 its pupa state, which it does within the now hollow 

 seed, out of which, when it arrives at the perfect 

 state, it makes its escape by eating a small hole, the 

 lid of which it detaches in the shape of a cap. It is 

 an insect of the family Bruchus granarius, which 

 destroys our peas, an egg being often deposited in 

 every seed in a pod. Sometimes this vegetable is 

 damaged to so great an extent, as to become un- 

 wholesome, as was the case in 1780, when the public 

 authorities in France prohibited the sale of peas in 

 the markets, being attacked by this or some similar 

 insect. The Bmchus Pisi of Linnaeus, in like man- 



