BCEHMERIA. 



[ 107 ] 



BONE. 



Fr. wat. ; length 1-940 to 1-720" (PL 30. 

 fig. 18 a). 



Bodo socialis, E. (PI. 30. fig. 18, b, c). 

 Fr. wat. ; length 1-3000". 



BIBL. Ehrenberg, Inf. j Dujardin, Inf. j 

 Pritchard, Inf. ; Kent, Inf. 254. 



B(EHME'KIA. Jacq. A genus of Urti- 

 caceous plants closely allied to our common 

 Stinging Nettle, and characterized, like that 

 and other species of Urtica, by containing 

 tenacious liber-fibres. Two species are em- 

 ployed in the East Indies on this account. 

 B. nivea, Gaudichaud, yielding the fibre from 

 which Chinese grass-cloth (PL 28. fig. 25) is 

 manufactured, is a native of China, where it 

 is largely cultivated, also in Sumatra, where 

 it is called Caboose, and at Pulo Penang, 

 where it is called Kami. JB. Puya, Wallich, 

 yields the Pooah or Puya fibre of Nepaul 

 and Sikkim (PI. 28. fig. 26), which has long 

 been extensively used in India, and is said to 

 equal the best European flax when properly 

 dressed j being ordinarily roughly prepared, 

 it is dirty and bad-coloured, but makes ex- 

 cellent sail-cloth and cordage. 



BIBL. Hooker, Jn. of Bot. i. & iii. 



BOLACOT'RICHA, Berk.&Broome. A 

 genus of Mucedines (Hyphomycetous Fun- 

 gi), containing one species, B. grisea, found 

 growing upon dead cabbage-stalks, old mats 

 made of Typha, &c., in tufts forming large, 

 effused, grey patches. Messrs. Berkeley and 

 Broome express themselves doubtfully as to 

 its real affinities. In habit it approaches 

 Myxotrichum, but differs in its simple threads 

 and large spores, while the spores are not in 

 chains as in Sporodum, or minute and linear 

 as in Tricholechonium. The threads are pale 

 purple under the microscope, strongly curved 

 at the tips like tendrils. 



BIBL. Berkeley and Broome, Ann. Nat. 

 Hist. ser. 2. vii. p. 97, pi. 5. fig. 4. 



BOLE'TUS, Bill. A genus of Polyporei 

 (Hymenomycetous Fungi), consisting of pi- 

 leate Fungi,or 'toad-stools,' often of large size, 

 growing in woods. See BASIDIOSPOBES. 



BOLIVI'NA, D'Orb. A subdivision of 

 the Bulimine Foraminifera, in which the 

 peculiar infolded notch-like aperture is re- 

 tained ; but the chambers grow bilaterally 

 alternate (Enallostegian), instead of triserial 

 and obliquely spiral (Helicostegian), as in 

 Bulimina proper. The shell is delicate and 

 porous. B.punctata and B. costata are the two 

 leading forms. Varieties are common in all 

 seas, and date from the Cretaceous period. 



BIBL. D'Orbigny, For. Foss. Vien. 239 ; 

 Carpenter, Introd. For. 196. 



BOMBA'CEJS. A subdivision of the fa- 



mily of Dicotyledonous plants called Stercu- 

 liaceae, some genera of which are called Silk- 

 cotton trees, from the long hairs which enve- 

 lope their seeds, as in the true cotton plants. 

 These hairs (from Chorisiaspeciosa, Bombax, 

 sp. var., JSriodendron, sp. var.) cannot be 

 spun, but are used for stuffing cushions, &c. 

 The Adansmia, or Baobab-tree, produces a 

 pulpy fruit, which contains a considerable 

 proportion of starch. The wood of some 

 kinds, as of Bombax pentandra and Pachyra 

 ( Carolinea) minor, is remarkable for its light- 

 ness and almost corky texture, resulting from 

 being composed almost exclusively of paren- 

 chymatous cellular tissue, with scattered po- 

 rous ducts and true wood-cells. See WOOD. 

 BONE. It need scarcely be stated that 



Fig. 63. 



Magnified 90 diameters. 



Segment of the transverse section of a human meta- 

 carpal bone, a, outer surface of the bone, Avith the 

 outer laminae ; b, inner surface next the medullary ca- 

 nal, with the inner laminae; c, orifices of the divided 

 Haversian canals, with their laminae; d, interstitial 

 laminae ; e, lacunae, with their canaliculi. 



