BOM 



BON 



the wind kind, much the same as the 

 bassoon, an<i used as a base to the haut- 

 boy. 



BOMBAZINE, a name given to two 

 sorts of sturls, the one of silk and the 

 other, crossed, of cotton. 



BOMBAX, in botany, English silk cot- 

 ton, a gt-nus of the Monadelphi.t P >lyan- 

 dria. Natural order of Columniferae ; 

 Malvaceae, Jussieu. Essential character: 

 calyx five-cleft ; stamina five or more ; 

 capsule woody, five celled, fivt -valvecl ; 

 seeds woolly ; receptacle five-cornered. 

 There are four species, of which we shall 

 notice the B ceiba as being the most in- 

 teresting: it grows to a great size in both 

 Indies; it is one of the tallest trees in 

 those countries ; the wood is very light, 

 and not much valued, except for (anoes : 

 their trunks are so large, as, when hol- 

 lowed, to make very large ones. In Co 

 lumbus's first voyage it was relaU d, that 

 a canoe was seen at the island of Cuba, 

 made of one of these trees, which was 

 ninety -five palms long, of a proportional 

 width, and capable of containing one hun- 

 dred and fifty men. The canoes now made 

 in the West Indies from this tree fre- 

 quently carry from fifteen to twenty hogs- 

 heads of sugar, from six to twelve hun- 

 dred weight each, the average about 

 twenty-five tons burthen. When sawn 

 into boards, and then well saturated with 

 lime-water, the wood bears exposure to 

 the weather many years ; it is also form- 

 ed into laths for roofs, curing pots, and 

 hogshead heading. When the tree de- 

 cays, it becomes a nest for the macaca 

 beetle, the caterpillar of which, gutted 

 and fried, is esteemed by many persons 

 one of the greatest delicacies. 



BOMBIC acid, in chemistry. The 

 silk worm forms an acid liquor, which was 

 supposed so be an acid of a peculiar na- 

 ture, and accordingly received, in the 

 new nomenclature, the name of bombic 

 acid ; but Mr. Murray thinks that this and 

 some other acids formed by insects, as 

 that by the ant, which is named formic 

 acid, are acetic acid, slightly disguised. 



BOMBYLIUS, in natural history, a ge- 

 nus of insects of the order Diptera : the 

 generic character is, mouth furnished 

 with a very long porrected, setaceous, 

 bivalve trunk, composed of horizontal 

 valves, including setaceous piercers. The 

 insects of this genus have somewhat the 

 appearance of the smaller kinds of hum- 

 ble bees; thickly covered with erect 

 downy hair : they fly with much rapidity, 

 and may sometimes be observed to 

 hang, as if suspended, over a flower, in 

 the manner of some of the spinges, 



rapidly vibrating their wings, and dart- 

 ing off on the least disturbance to ~3 

 considerable distance. There are forty- 

 eight species, according to Gmelin. 

 The .ZEqualis, in the spring and early 

 summer, is often seen in gardens and 

 fields ; and is easily distinguished by its 

 downy bee-like body, and its straight 

 sharp-pointed proboscis. Its body is co- 

 vered with cinereous hair, and the 

 wings are blackish along the whole length 

 of the outer margli. The Pygmaeus has 

 the wings half black, and the other half 

 dotted with black : thorax brown, with 

 a white base arid tip : the abdomen hairy, 

 ferruginous : legs ferruginous : B. aureus 

 is hairy ; thorax brown; abdomen gold- 

 en, from which it derives its name, ft is 

 found in Barbary. The head is covered 

 with golden coloured hairs ; the sides of 

 the thorax are lined with golden-coloured 

 hairs ; abdomen with tufts of hairs ; 

 wings brownish at the base, the tip whit- 

 ish, with six black dots ; legs testaceous. 



This genus is separated into three divi- 

 sions, viz. A. distinguished by two hairy 

 feelers : attennae united at the base : B. 

 sucker with three incumbent bristles ; no 

 feelers ; attennae approximate : C. attennae 

 distant, the last joint subulate, and two 

 feelers, 



BOMBYX. See PHAUENA. 



BO'S A fides, or BONA fide, among law- 

 yers, is as much as to say, such a thing 

 was done really, without either fraud or 

 deceit. 



A man is said to possess any thing bo- 

 na fide, who is ignorant of that thing's 

 being the property of another: on the 

 contrary, he is said to possess a thing 

 mala fide, who is conscious of its being the 

 property of another. 



BO.NA notabilia, are such goods as a 

 person dying has in another diocese be- 

 sides that wherein he dies, amounting to 

 the value of 51. at least ; in which case the 

 will of the deceased must be proved, or 

 administration granted in the court of the 

 archbishop of the province, unless, by 

 composition or custom, any dioceses are 

 authorised to do it, when rated at a great- 

 er sum. 



BONA patria, an assise of countrymen, 

 or good neighbours, where twelve or 

 more are chosen out of the country to 

 pass upon an assise, being sworn judicial- 

 ly in the presence of the party. 



BOXD, an obligatory instrument, or 

 deed, in writing, whereby one binds him- 

 self to another to pay a certain sum of 

 money, or perform some certain acts ; as 

 that theobligorshall make a release, ex- 

 ecute a sufficient conveyance of his estate, 



