B IT C 



[62] 



B IT L 



In this country the brown-coal 

 is represented by the strata of 

 bituminous wood, called Bovey- 

 coal, which exhibits a series of 

 gradations from the most perfect 

 ligneous texture to a substance 

 nearly approaching the characters 

 of pit-coal. 



BBU'CTTE. Called also Chondrodite 

 and Hemiprismatic Chrysolite. 

 This mineral was named Brucite, 

 after Bruce, an American mineral- 

 ogist; it occurs massive and in 

 small grains ; colours from a pale 

 yellow to a brownish red ; it 

 possesses a vitreous lustre, is 

 translucent, with a fracture im- 

 perfectly conchoidal. It contains 

 a small portion of fluoric acid, and 

 scratches glass. It is found in 

 America, Scotland, and Finland. 

 It consists of magnesia, silica, 

 fluoric acid, about four per cent, 

 oxide of iron, potash, and water. 



BRYOZO'A. See Polywa. 



BucA'iiDitrM. An acephalous bivalve, 

 having powers of locomotion. 



BT^CCAL. (lucca, Lat. the cheek; 

 luccale, Fr. as glaudes luccales, 

 art&re luccale. j. Pertaining to the 

 cheek. 



BU'CCINUM. (buccinum j Lat.) The 

 whelk. An ovate elongated uni- 

 valve ; opening oblong, notched in 

 the lower part, and with no canal ; 

 columella convex, full and naked. 

 Parkinson. 



Linnaeus places this genus, the 

 Buccinum, or Whelk, in the order 

 Gasteropoda, class Mollusca : it 

 comprises all the shells furnished 

 with an emargination inflected to 

 the left, and in which the columella 

 is destitute of plicae.. Many fossil 

 species have been discovered, the 

 greater number in the crag ; some 

 in the London- clay; six species 

 have been found in the environs of 

 Paris. De Blainville places the 

 buccinum in the family Ento- 

 mostomata. The greater part of 

 this genus may be considered 



littoral; they are found however at 

 depths varying to ten fathoms. 



BT/CCINITE. The fossil remains of 

 the luccinum. The greater part of 

 the genus buccinum is littoral. 



BUCCINOI'DA. The third family in 

 the order Pectinibranchiata, divi- 

 sion Mollusca. 



B'UCKLANDITE. (So named, by Levy, 

 after Prof. Buckland.) This rare 

 mineral, like Babingtonite, occurs 

 at Arendal, in Norway,- and was 

 distinguished and described by 

 Levy. It is of a dark brown or 

 nearly black colour, opaque, having 

 a vitreous lustre with an uneven 

 fracture. It greatly resembles 

 augite. 



BU'FONITE. (from lufo, Lat.) Fossil 

 teeth of fishes belonging to the 

 family of Pycnodonts ; they occur 

 in great abundance throughout the 

 oolite formation. These bufonites 

 have been also called Serpent's - 

 eyes, Batrachites, and Crapaudines, 

 from the notion of their having 

 been formed in the heads of ser- 

 pents, toads, and frogs ; and, from 

 presumed virtues which it was 

 thought they possessed, they were 

 worn in rings and as amulets. 



BTJLI'MUS. A fossil ovate or oblong 

 subturrited shell : the opening 

 entire, oblong, and longitudinal, 

 and this is the chief characteristic 

 of this genus. The bulimus is a 

 land shell. It is found both recent 

 and fossil. Many species have 

 been distinguished. Parkinson. 



BU'LLA. An ovate, gibbous, and 

 cylindrical univalve : the fossil 

 occuring in tertiary formations : 

 the spire not standing out, but 

 concealed : the opening the length 

 of the shell : the lip acute. The 

 recent bull a is marine, and found 

 in sands and sandy mud, at depths 

 varying to twelve fathoms. Par- 

 kinson. De la Beche. 



BU'LLITE. The fossil remains of the 

 bulla. 



