BUX 



BYR 



shank being driven in by a steady stroke, 

 its extremity expands on striking- against 

 the bottom of the hole, and it becomes 

 firmly rivetted into the button. To these 

 foil-stones are also frequently added, in 

 which case, they are usually attached with 

 isingiass-glue. Steel studs are also often 

 rivetted into buttons of this and various 

 other kinds. 



The practice of wearing buttons con- 

 sisting merely of a mould covered with 

 the same kind of cloth as the garment 

 itself be;ng at present extremely general, 

 it may, perhaps, be proper to remark, that 

 this is prohibited on pain of pecuniary 

 penalties, from 40s. to 51. per dozen, by 

 several statutes, which have been made at 

 different times, for the promotion of this 

 manufacture,audunderwhich several con- 

 victionshavetaken place with inafewy ears. 

 BUTTRESS, a kind of butmtnt built 

 archwise, or a mass of stone or brick, 

 serving to support the sides of a building, 

 wall, &c on tlit outside, where it is either 

 very high, or has any considerable load to 

 sustain on the other side, as a bank of 

 earth, 8cc. 



BUXBAUMIA, in botany, a kind of 

 moss, of which there are only two species. 

 Both are to be found in the dissertation 

 of the younger Linnaeus on mosses 



BUXUS, in botany, a genus of the Mo- 

 noecia Telrandria class and order, Natu- 

 ral order of Tricoccx. Euphorbias. Jus- 

 sieu. Essential character: male calyx 

 three leaved; petals three ; styles three; 

 capsule three-beaked; three-celled; seeds 

 two. There is but one species ; viz. B. 

 sempervirens, box-tree, is well known in 

 its dwarf-state, and as a shrub about three 

 feet in length. The wood is of a yellow 

 colour, very hard and ponderous. It is 

 the only one of the European woods which 

 will sink in water. The leaves are ovate 

 in the common sort, hard, smooth, glossy, 

 evergreen, very dark gr.-en above, and 

 pale green underneath, like those of myr- 

 tle, but blunt and emarginate at the end; 

 from the axils of the leaves come out the 

 small herbaceous flowers, in round bun- 

 ches ; a female flower occupying the 

 middle of the bunch, being surrounded 

 by several males. 



The female flower is succeeded by a 

 capsule of a globular form, very smooth, 

 shining, tricoccous, and before it opens 

 having three beaks, resembling a tripod; 

 the cocculi or grains are of the consistence 

 of paper, two-valved, and opening vvith 

 an elastic spring 1 ; receptacle central, 

 three-sided, and short ; in each cell is a 

 pair of seeds, ovate, growing more slen- 



der upwards ; triangular-compressed, ob- 

 liqnely truncate at the end, of a blackish 

 brown colour. The wood of the box-tree 

 sells at a very high price, by weight, be- 

 ing very hard and smooth, and not apt to 

 warp. It is a native of most parts of Eu- 

 rope, from Britain southwards. 



BY-LAWS, or BTE-LAWS, private and 

 peculiar laws for the good government of 

 a city, court, or other community, made 

 by the general consent of the members. 

 All by-laws are to be reasonable, and for 

 the common benefit, not private advan- 

 tage of any particular persons, and must 

 be agreeable to the public laws in being. 

 If made by corporations, they are to be 

 approved by the Lord Chancellor or Chief 

 Justice, or justice of assize, on pain of 

 40/. if against the good of the public. But 

 it is said a corporation cannot make by- 

 laws without a custom for it, or the king's 

 charter : nor may they make any by-law 

 to bind strangers that live out of their 

 corporation, or to restrain a person from 

 working in or setting up his trade, though 

 it may be for the order and regulating of 

 trades ; and notwithstanding such a by- 

 law may inflict a reasonable penalty, 

 which may be recovered by distress or 

 action of debt, yet none can be imprison- 

 ed upon it, as it is contrary to Magna 

 Charts. 



BYRLAW, or BURLAW, laws in Scot- 

 land, are made and determined by neigh- 

 bours elected by common consent in byr- 

 law courts. The men chosen as judges 

 are called byrlaw or burlaw-men, and take 

 cognizance of complaints between neigh- 

 bour and neighbour. 



BYRRHUS, in natural history, a genus 

 of insects of the orderColeoptera: generic 

 character: antennae longer than the head, 

 clavate,the club perfoliate; feelers equal, 

 subclavate? jaw and lip bifid. There arc 

 about 12 species, found in different parts 

 of Europe. The B. scrophularia is a small 

 insect, of the size of the lady-bird ; its 

 colour is dark brown, clouded with bro- 

 ken or irregular white bands, and the 

 edges, constituting the line of division be- 

 tween the wing sheaths, are red. This 

 insect is found more frequently on the 

 plant called scrophularia aquatica than 

 elsewhere. B. pilula is a larger species, 

 equalling or rather exceeding the size of 

 the common lady-bird; it is of an extreme- 

 ly convex shape, and when disturbed 

 contracts its limbs, and lies in an inert 

 state, resembling the appearance of a 

 seed or pill. It is found on various plants, 

 and about garden grounds, Sec. The an- 

 tennse in this species are longer than in 



