BAT 



C 29 ] 



BEL 



tained the name of oolite from its being 

 composed of small rounded grains, or 

 particles, supposed to resemble the roe 

 of a fish. Bath-stone consists of minute 

 globules, cemented together by yellowish 

 earthy calcareous matter, and contains a 

 considerable portion of broken shells. 

 When first quarried, Bath-stone is soft, 

 but it soon becomes hard by exposure to 

 the atmosphere. 



BATH-OOLITE. See Bath-stone. 



BATIIA'CHIA. (from /3arpa%o, a frog, 

 Gr.) The fourth order in Cuvier's ar- 

 rangement of the class Reptilia ; it com- 

 prises frogs, toads, salamanders, and 

 sirens. 



BA'TRACHITE. (from /3arp'%toe, Gr. 

 latrachites, Lat ) A fossil of the colour 

 of a frog ; a fossil frog ; a fossil resem- 

 bling a frog, either in form or colour. 



BEACH. The shore of the sea ; the 

 strand. 



BE'ACHY. Having beaches. 



BEAK. 



1 . In conchology, the continuation of the 

 body of univalves in which the canal is 

 situate. 



2. In ornithology, the bill, or horny 

 mouth of a bird. 



3. In botany, applied to an elongation of 

 the seed-vessel ; proceeding also from 

 the permanent style ; also to naked 

 seeds. 



BE'AKED. Pointed ; terminating in a bill- 

 like point or process ; having the form of 

 a bill. 



BEARD. (from barla, Lat. larle, Fr. 

 bar&a, It.) 



1. The hair which grows on the lower 

 lip and chin. 



2. In botany, a bristle-shaped projection, 

 growing out from the glume or chaff, in 

 corn and grasses ; called also the awn. 



3. In conchology, the process by which 

 some univalves adhere to rocks, &c. 



BE'ARDED. Having a beard ; awned. 



BED. A stratum of considerable thickness. 

 It is desirable that the geological student 

 should draw a distinct line between the 

 words bed and stratum. Whenever a 

 layer, or stratum, is of the thickness of 

 two yards, or more, it should be denomi- 

 nated a bed, but otherwise a stratum. 

 There are sometimes found many dis- 

 tinct strata in the thickness of an inch ; to 

 denominate these as beds would be ab- 

 surd. Let it therefore be kept in mind 

 that the words bed and stratum are not 

 synonymous. 



BE'ETLE. A coleopterous insect, the sca- 

 rabseus of Linnaeus. Remains of beetles 

 have been found in the oolite : wing 

 covers of beetles occur in the shale of the 

 Danby coal-pits, in the eastern moorlands 



. of Yorkshire. 



BE'ETLE. To jut out ; to hang over : thus 

 rocks are said to beetle. 



BE'ETLE-STONE. A name given to coprol- 

 ites, from their falsely imagined insect 

 origin. 



BEHE'MOTH. A huge animal spoken of in 

 Scripture, supposed by some to mean the 

 elephant, by others the ox, and by Bo- 

 chart the hippopotamus. 



BE'LEMNITE. (from fltXtfivov, Gr. a 

 dart.) An extinct genus of chambered 

 molluscous animals, having a straight ta- 

 pering shell. Belemnites are found in 

 the secondary formation only, the lowest 

 stratum containing their remains being 

 the muschel-kalk, and the highest the 

 upper chalk of Maestricht. M. De Blain- 

 ville has given a list of ninety-one au- 

 thors, from Theophrastus downwards, 

 who have written on the subject of belem- 

 nites. The most intelligent of these 

 agree in supposing these bodies to have 

 been formed by cephalopods allied to the 

 modern sepia. That fossil which is 

 called a belemnite was a compound in- 

 ternal shell, made up of three essential 

 parts, which are rarely found together in 

 perfect preservation. The belemnite is 

 one of the most common fossils of the 

 chalk, it resembles an elongated conical 

 stone, of a crystalline, radiated struc- 

 ture, and is generally of a brown colour : 

 some limestones on the continent of Eu- 

 rope are almost wholly composed of 

 them. Ink-bags, resembling those of the 

 Loligo have been found in connection with 

 belemnites in the lias at Lyme Regis ; 

 these, in some instances, are nearly a 

 foot long, and prove that the animal to 

 which they belonged must have been of 

 great size. The fact of these animals 

 having been provided with a reservoir of 

 ink, affords an a priori probability that 

 they had no external shell, but recent 

 discoveries decide the question ; two 

 specimens having been found each con- 

 taining an ink-bag within the anterior 

 portion of the sheath, and, consequently, 

 all the species of belemnites may hence- 

 forth with certainty be referred to a 

 family in the class of Cephalopods. 

 Eighty-eight species of belemnites have 

 already been discovered ; and the vast 

 numerical amount to which individuals of 

 these species were extended, is proved by 

 the myriads of their fossil remains that 

 fill the oolitic and cretaceous formations. 

 BucJcland. BaJcewell. Mantell. 



BELE'MNO-SE'PIA. The name proposed to 

 be given by Professor Bucklaud, in con- 

 currence with M. Agassiz, to a new fa- 

 mily of cephalopods, to which family may 

 be referred every species of belemnites. 



BELLE'ROPHON. An extinct cephalopod, 

 found in the mountain limestone, the 



