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lines ; and near the vent two oblong perforations. Lcjke 

 11 apud Klein. Its habitation miknown. 



BIFORMIS, an appellation given to Bacchus, either be- 

 caufe he is rcprefented fomctimej as a young man, fome- 

 times as old ; fometinie:. with a beard, and fometimes with- 

 out one ; or bccaufe wine, of which he is the fymbol, ren- 

 ders men forrowful and frantic, or gay and pleafant. 

 BIFRONS, a perfon double-fronted, or two-faced. 

 BiFRONS is more pccuharly an appellation of Janus, wjio 

 was reprefented by the ancients with two faces, as being 

 fuppofcd to look both backw.irds and forwards : though 

 other reafons for it are recited by Plutarch. Sometimes lie 

 was painted with four faces, quadrifrons, as rcprefenting the 

 four feafons. 



BiFRONS, in Entomology, a fpecies of Brfntus, that in- 

 habits Cayenne. This infcft is black, with Itriated wing. 

 cafes, having glabrous yellow fpots. Fabricius. 



BiFRONS, a fpecies of Ichneumon, dcfcribed^ by Lin- 

 tixus : it is an European infeft of a black colour, with the 

 front white, with a black i'pot beneath the antennoe : tip of 

 the petiole, and two firft fegmcnts of the abdomen, with the 

 legs reddidi. Muf. Leflv. 



BiFRONS, in Natural H'ljlnry, a fpecies of Nereis, de- 

 fcribed by O. Fabricius, and Miil!. as a native of the north 

 fea. It is dcpreifed : peduncles with a fimple fetigerous 

 papilla, cirrated above ; thofe in the middle alfo branched. 

 This creature is continually in motion; about an inch long, 

 and of a fulvous or browniih colour : head white : eyes four : 

 cirri feven : body attenuated at both ends, and confilUng of 

 fifty -fix joints. 



BIFURCATUS, in Entomohgy, a fpecies of Cimex 

 (Oilongiis), that inhabits Germany. It is blackiih : abdo- 

 men pale yellow, and bifurcated. Scbieffer. Anttnns con- 

 fiil of four jointe. 



BIGA, a chariot for racing, drawn by two horfes a-brca(l. 

 The word ought rather to be written iigx, in the plural ; 

 q. d. iijug'e, two horfes being joined by a jiigum, or yoke. 

 Bigs Hands contradillinguilhed Irom tr'igec, quadn^ic, SiC. 

 Big c are of very ancient itanding : all the heroes in Homer, 

 Heliod, Vi'-gil, 5cc. fought in them. The invention of 

 biga: is attributed by Pliny (N. H. vii. 56.) to the Phry- 

 gians ; by Ifidore, (xvii. 35.) to Cyriilenes of Sicyon, who 

 firft yoked two horfes together. They were firft introduced 

 ir.to the Olympic games in the 93d olympiad, or about the 

 year 408, B. C. It appears, however, that the Greek heroes 

 who celebrated the firft Nemxa)i games in honour of Arche- 

 morus, were- borne on bigx. Bigx were the chariots firft 

 ufcd in the Circcnfian games ; then triga, and afterwards 

 quadrigte. The moon, night, and the morning, are by my- 

 thologifts fuppofed to be carried in bigi, the fun in quad- 

 rigx. Statues in bigae were at firft only allowed to the gods, 

 then to conquerors in the Grecian games; under the Roman 

 emperor?, the like ftatucs, with bigae, were decreed and 

 granted to great and weil-deferving men, as a kind of half 

 tri'imph, being eretted in moft public places of the city. 

 Figures of bigae were alfo ftruck on their coins, and thofe 

 on which were a bigae, and a Janus with a double face, were 

 termed Bigati nummi. 



Tiie drivers of bigae were called bigarii ; a marble buft of 

 one Floru?, a ilgarius, is ftill teen at Rome. 



B1G.I, or Bignta, in H^ritcrs of the Middle and Bail arous 

 Age, a cart with two wheels, drawn often with one horfe. 

 It was more frequently called birota. 



BicA, in Geography, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the 

 provi'^ce of N.itolia, 16 miles S.of A-taki. 



BicA, a river of North Wales, which joins the Severn in 

 the county of Montgomery. 



BIGAMY, a double marriage, or the poflkflion of two 



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wives at the fame time. Among the ancient Romans, thofe 

 convicted of bigamy were branded with a note of igno.mir.v ; 

 and, in Fiance, they were anciently punilhed with death, 

 oce Polygamy. 



Bigamy, in the Caiirm Law, is where a perfon either 

 manits two virgins fucccffively ; or once narries a widow. 

 '1 he former kind of bigamy they call nal, and the latter 

 interpretalive. Each of tlicfe the canoniiU account impedi- 

 ments to be a clerk, or to hold a biflioprick without a dif- 

 penfation : a point of difcipline founded on that of St. Paul, 

 " I..ct a bidiop be tlie hufoand of one wife," 1 Tim. chap. iii. 

 ver. 2. Apoft. Conft. 17, 18. By a canon of the council 

 of Lyons, A. D. 1274, held under pope Gregory X. fuch 

 were elkaiud " omni privilegio clericali nudati et coercion! 

 fori fecularis addicti." 6 Decretal, i. 12. This canon was 

 adopted and explained in England by ftat. 4Edw. I. ft. 3. 

 c. 5. ; and bigamy, in confcqutnce of it, became no uncom- 

 mon counter-plea to the claim of the benefit of clergy. 

 M. 4oEdw. III. 42. M. .11 Hen. IV. 11.48. M. 

 13 Hen. IV. 6. Staunf. P. C. 134. The cognizance of 

 the plea of bigamy was declared by ftat. 18 Edw. III. 

 ft. 3. c. 2. to belong to the court Chriftian, like that of 

 baitardy. But by ftat. 1 Edw. VI. c. 12, §.6. bigamy 

 was declared to be no longer any impediment to the claim of 

 clergy. See Dal. 21. Dyer, 201. 



The Romanlfts make a third kind of bigamy, by interpre- 

 tation ; as, when a perfon in holy orders, or that has taken 

 on him fome monaftic order, marries. — This the bifliop can 

 difpenfe withal, at leaft on fome occafions. 



There is alfo a kind of fpiritual bigamy j as when a per- 

 fon holds two incompatible benefices, v. gr. two biftiopricks, 

 two vicarages, two canon ries_/u3 eodem teBo, &c. 



By the ecclcfiallical law of England, a fecond marriage, 

 while the iormer hufijand or wife is hving, is fimply void, 

 and a mere nullity ; neverthelefs, the legiflature has thought 

 it juft to make it felony, by reafon of its being fo great a 

 violation of the public economy and decency of a well- 

 ordered ftate. For the circumftances attending this crime, 

 and the punifhment of it, fee Polygamy. 

 BIGARELLA, in ^6/a/y. SeePRUNUS. 

 BiGARELLA, in Geography, a town of Italy, in th£ duchy 

 of Mantua, 7 miles E. N. E. of Mantua. 



BIGATI, in Antiquity, a kind of ancient Roman filver 

 coins, on one fide whereof was reprefented a higa, or chariot 

 drawn by two horfes. The bigatus was properly the Ro- 

 man denarius, whofe imprcfiion, during tiie times of the 

 common-wealth, was a chariot driven by Viftory, and drawn 

 either by two horfes, or four, according to which it was 

 either denominated ligatus, or quadrigatus. Bigati therefore 

 were of different values, according to the fpecies of denarii, 

 &c. Several of thofe called confular medals are alfo ligati. 

 In lieu of horfes, the chariot is reprefented on fome ligati, 

 as drawn by two dcers, efpecially in the medals of the family 

 of Axfia : on thofe of the family of Crcpereia, by two h:p' 

 popotnmi, who draw, or rather bear Neptupe on their tails. 



BIGBERRY, or Bigbury lay, in Geography, lies on 

 the fouth coaft of Devon, and is formed by the Bolt Tail on 

 the eaft, and Stoke-point on the weft, in the direftion nearly 

 of N. W. by W. The entrance into Plymouth found is 

 round Stoke point to the N. W. 



BIG-BONE Creek, an American creek in Woodford 

 County, Kentucky, which falls into the Ohio from the eaft, 

 in about N. lat. 39^ 17'. W. long. 85'' 54'. It is fmall, but 

 has three brauches ; the rorthwcfttrr.moft interlocks with 

 Bank Lick creek, vihich falls into Licking river. It is 

 noticed on account cf the large bones and fait licks in its 

 vicinity. 



BiG-Bo.s£ Licks lie on each fide of the above-mentioned 

 "J creek, 



