SBtctionarn at gfoimatttt $ature. 



63 



the attention of the passenger ; at a distance 

 of nearly three miles you may hear this | 

 snow-white bird tolling every four or live j 

 minutes like the distant convent bell. From I 

 six to nine in the morning the forests resound 

 with the mingled cries and strains of the 

 feathered race, after this they gradually die 

 away. From eleven to three, all nature is 

 hushed as in a midnight silence, and scarce 

 a note is heard, saving that of the campaiiero 

 of the pi-pi-yo ; it is then that, oppressed by 

 the solar heat, the birds retire to the thickest 

 shade, and wait for the refreshing cool of the 

 evening." 



BELLEROPHON. A genus of fossil 

 shells, the animals of which are unknown, 

 but which are now generally supposed to 

 have been allied to Carinaria, the structure 

 of whose shell it resembles. 



BELLU JE. The sixth order of the Mam- 

 malia ; the characters of which are, that 

 their fore-teeth are obtusely truncated, their 

 feet hoofed, and their food vegetables. The 

 genera of the Horse, Hippopotamus, Hog, 

 and Rhinoceros belong to this order. 



BELOXE. A genus of fishes remarkable 

 for the bright green colour of their bones. 

 The jaws are much extended, and furnished 

 with small teeth, without any others in the 

 mouth, except in the pharynx. The body 

 is very long, and covered with scales which 

 are scarcely visible, except one keeled row 

 on each side, near the under edge of the fish. 

 [See GARFISH.] 



BELUGA. (Delphimts leucos.) A Ceta- 

 ceous animal, of the size of the Grampus. 

 It chiefly inhabits the seas of the Arctic re- 

 gions, but is sometimes met with even on 

 the British coasts. [See WHALE.] It is also 

 the Russian name for the largest species of 

 Sturgeon (Accipenscr huso\ 



BELYTA. A genus of Hymenopterous 

 insects, being a species of minute four-winged 

 flies, which frequent sandy situations. 



BEMBEX : BEMBECID^E. A genus 

 and family of Hymenopterous insects, pe- 

 culiar to hot climates, and, in some instances, 

 very much resembling wasps both in size 

 and colour. Bembex rostrata, an insect 

 about the size of a wnsp, is the type of this 

 family, and is remarkable for having the 

 lower parts of the mouth produced into a 

 long trunk or proboscis. The female form 



I oblique cylindrical burrows in sandy banks, 

 with a cell at the end of each, and having 

 collected five or six flies, and placed them in 

 her cell, she deposits a single egg in it ; then 

 having carefully closed its mouth, she pro- 



I ceeds in the same manner with another cell. 

 These flies are no sooner hatched than the 

 larva devours them ; it then changes into 

 the pupa state, and shortly after to the per- 

 fect insect. 



BEMBIDITD^S. A family of minute 

 carnivorous beetles, which generally fre- 

 quent damp situations, such as the banks of 

 rivers, ditches, &c. They are usually of a 

 bright blue or green metallic colour, having 

 two or four pale yellow spots on the elytra. 



BERXACLE or BARNACLE GOOSE. 

 (Bernicla leucopsis\ A bird which inhabits 

 the arctic regions, and in its autumnal and 

 brumal migrations visits the more temperate 

 regions of England, France, Germany, Hol- 

 land, &c. It frequents the north-west coasts 

 of this country, and some parts of Ireland, in 

 large docks during the winter, but is rarely 



3KKNACUZ 00038. (BBRNIOLA. I.EOOOFSIS.) 



seen in the south except in very severe 

 weather. About February it retires to the 

 north to breed, and is then found in Russia, 

 Lapland, Iceland, Spitzbergen, and other 

 high latitudes. 



The length of the Bcrnacle is rather more 

 than two feet. The bill is black, with a red- 

 dish streak on each side, and between it and 

 the eyes is a small black streak ; the i rides 

 dusky-brown ; the forehead, sides of the 

 head, and the throat, are of a pure white ; 

 the rest of the head, neck, and shoulders 

 black, the upper part of the plumage i 

 marked with blue, grey, black and white ; 

 and the legs are black. 



The history of this bird has been rendered 

 singularly remarkable by the marvellous 

 accounts which were related in the darker 

 ages concerning its growth ; it being a re- 

 ceived opinion that the Bcrnacle was pro- 

 duced in a kind of cirripede, the le.pas 

 anatifera of Linnneus, growing on rotten 

 ship-timber and other kinds of wood, and 

 trees which lay under water on the coasts 1 

 Among these is Gerard, a famous botanist in 

 his day, whose account is too absurd to give 

 in detail, but perhaps a short extract may 

 be tolerated : " When it is perfectly formed, 

 the shell gapeth open, and the first thing 

 that appeareth is the aforesaid lace or string ; 

 next cometh the legs of the bird hanging 

 out ; and as it groweth greater, it openeth 

 the shell by degrees till at length it has 

 all come forth, and hangeth only by the bill. 

 In short space after it cometh to full matu- 

 rity, and falleth into the sea, where it 

 gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowl, 

 bigger than a mallard, and lesser than a 

 goose, having black legs, and bill or l>eak 

 and feathers black and wlute, spotted in 

 such manner as our magpie 1 " Again, Sir 

 Robert Murray, in his account inserted in 

 the Philosophical Transactions, says that he 



o 2 



