BOB 



BOBAC, in Zoology. The bobak of the French and 

 Englifh writers is a fort of Marmot with fmall, and fome- 

 what oval ears ; tail hairj' ; a claw upon the fore thumb ; 

 and the body grey above, and yellowilli beneath. Gmelin 

 calls this animal arSomys hohcic. 



There appear to be two varieties of this fpecies, if not 

 more. The bobac of Rzaczindci (Nat. Hill. Pol. p. 235.) 

 defcribed by Briffon, in his Hiftory of Quadrupeds, under 

 the name of marmolta polonica, is of yellowifh colour, inclining 

 to reddiih upon the head ; but the bobac defcribed by Pallas 

 is of a greyi(h brown colour, with only the under parts yel- 

 low. In every refpeft, except the colour of the hair, thcfe 

 two varieties agree. 



This creature is rather larger than the rabbit, meafuring 

 about fixteen inches from the nofe to the bafe of the tail, 

 the latter of which is four inches and an half in length ; fo 

 that the whole animal meafures above twenty inches. Dr. 

 Pallas, to whom we are chiefly indebted for an account of 

 the bobac, tells us, that it is a native of the high, but 

 milder and funny fides of mountainous countries, which 

 abound with fiflile, or free-llone rocks, where it is found 

 in di'y fituations, and fuch as are full of fprings, woods, or 

 fand. It abounds in Poland and Rufila, among the Carpa- 

 thian hills : it fwarms in the Ukraine, about the Borifthenes, 

 efpecially between the Sula and Supoy ; and then again 

 between the Borifthenes and the Don, and along the range 

 of hills which extend to the Volga. It is found about the 

 Yaik and the neighbouring rivers ; and inhabits the fouthern 

 defert in Great Tartary, and the Altaic mountains, eafl of 

 the Irtis. It ceafes to appear in Siberia, on account of its 

 northern (ituation, but is found again beyond the lake Bai- 

 kal, and about the river Argun and the lake Dalay, in the 

 funny mountains about the Lena, and very frequently in 

 Kamtfchatka, but rarely reaches as high as latitude 55°. 



The bobac is not conlidered as an article of food by the 

 Mahometan tartars. The Coflacks and the Calmucks, on 

 the contrary, hunt and kdl them for eating ; the fleth, how- 

 ever, is very fat, and not in much efteem for the goodnefs 

 of its flavour. In its manners of life the bobac refembles 

 thofe of the Alpine marmot, with which it has been appa- 

 rently fometimes confounded. It inhabits deep burrows, in 

 focieties of from twenty to twenty-four in each receptacle. 

 Their habitation is lined with the fintft hay ; and it is faid, 

 the quantity found in every iuch receptacle is fufficient for 

 a night's provender ior a horfe. In the morning, or the 

 middle of the day, when the fun (In'nes, they go abroad in 

 fearch of food, always taking the precaution lo ftation one 

 of the party at the entrance of their cell as a centinel, who 

 announces the lead approach of danger with a whilUe ; and 

 all, if within hearing, are thus enabled to provide for 

 themfelves in the bell manner circumftances may require, 

 either by returning for (heker to tlieir cell, or remaining at 

 a diftance till the danger is over. The marmot, when at- 

 tacked, rears itfclf upon the haunches, and defends itfelf 

 with the fore paws. It eats with the fore paws, in the fame 

 pofture. The bobac is an animal of a mild and gentle dif- 

 pofition, and may be eafily domefticated. They are torpid 

 throughout the winter, unlefs kept in a warm room. They 

 breed early in the fpring, and are faid to produce fix or 

 eight young. The fat of this creature is ufed for dreffing 

 furs and leather. 



BOBAN, in Geography, a town of Arabia, 32 miles S. 

 of Saade. 



BOBART, Robert, in Biography, curator of the bo- 

 tanical garden at Oxford, which had been lately inllituted 

 by lord Danby, pnblilbed, in 1648, " Catalogns plantarum 

 horti medici Oxonienfis," 8vo. The catalogue gives the 

 names of about iCoo plants, many of them from Canada, 



BOB 



firft the Latin, then the Engli(h names, in alphabetical 

 order. This was re-publi(hed in 16 jf^, confiderably un- 

 proved and enlarged to more than double its bulk ; Bobart 

 being aflilled in the work, as he acknov.-kdges, by Dr. Phi- 

 lip Stevens and Wm. Brown, M.A. Bcfides the trivial 

 names of the plants, there were now added thofe from Ge- 

 rard, Parkinfon, and Bauhine, which were not in the firft 

 edition. Bobart ditd iu 1679, ^'^ the age of 81 years. 



Bobart, Jacob, who fuccecded his father, as curator 

 of the garden, publilhed, in 1699, ^^^ ^\^r&. volume of 

 Morrifon's " Plantarum hiftoria univerfalis OxonienCs, feu 

 herba-um diftributio nova, per tabulas cognitionis, ex na- 

 ture libro detefta," fol. ; making up by his own induftry 

 and fagacity what was deficient in the loofe and imperfect 

 /Icetches left by the author at his deceafe. There is an in- 

 genious paper by this writer in the Pliilufophical Tranfac- 

 tions for the year l68j, on the effefts of the great froft, 

 which happened the preceding winter, on trees ar.d other 

 plants. Many oak, elm, afli, walnut, and other trees, 

 were found, he fays, with large rents or clefts in different 

 parts of their trunks, in the large branches, and in fuch 

 parts of their rooto as were not funk deep into the earth. 

 Parts, he adds, that were fo knotted, that they could not have 

 been fplit but with great difficulty with beetles and wedges, 

 were rent afunder by the force of the ice contained within 

 them, making, at the time of burfting, a noife like the ex- 

 plofion of gunpowder. It was fuppofed, that the trees 

 which fuffercd were difeafed, that fome of the veffels were 

 diftended or burU, and that the effect was produced by the 

 freezing of the fap or other juices contained in thefe cavities. 

 Philof. Tranr abr. vol. iii. p. 89. Haller. Bib. Botan. 



BOBARTIA, in Botany, (named in honour of James 

 Bobart, formerly profeffor of botany at Oxford), a genus 

 formed by Linnajus for a plant faid to grow in the Eaft In- 

 dies, with the following effential charafter : — Glumes of the 

 calyx numerous ; the exterior ones (hort, univalved ; the in- 

 terior longer, bivalved ; glume of the corol. fingle, fiiorter 

 than thofe of the calyx, fitting on the germ, (hrivclhng. 

 This generic charadler was firfl publilhed in the Amcenitates 

 Academicas, vol. i. p. 113. (Lugd. Bat Ed.) ; and in the 

 Species Plantarum a reference is given to Scheucher, Gram. 

 369. Reichard added another fuppofed fynonym from Plu- 

 kenet tab. 30. fig. 7. Schreber, JufTieu, La Mark, and Bofc, 

 have all taken it up from Linnsus ; and La Mark, in his 

 Illuftrations, has copied Plukenet's figure. WiUdenow, in 

 his new edition of the Species Plantarum, has abohlhed the 

 genus ; afferting, on the authority of Schumacher (Aft. 

 Soc. Nat. Hafn.), that Linnzus drew up the charadter of 

 his bobartia from a mutilated fpecimen of morasa fpathacea, 

 firft completely defcribed by Thunberg, and adopted by 

 Linnxus the younger in the Supplementum Plantarum, 

 p. 99. 



The miftaken fynonyms of Scheucher and Plukenet are 

 referred by Willdenow to cyperus arenaria of Retz,of which 

 Plukenet's figure, copied by La Mark, is faid to be a good 

 reprefentation. A figure of moraea fpadicea is alfo given by 

 La Mark under its proper genus. 



Bobartia. See alfo Rudbeckia Purpurea. 



BOBBIN, in Commerr.e, a term denoting about |- of a 

 hundred of undiefTed flax. 



BOBBING, or Bobbin, a little piece of wood turned 

 into a cylindric form, whereon thread is wound, to be ufed 

 in the weaving of bone-lace. 



The French alfo give the denomination bobitie to what 

 among us is more properly called ifpool or quill. In which 

 they are alfo followed bv fevcnil Englilh. 



In this general fenfe, bobbins arc ufed to wind thread, 



worlleJ, hair, cotton, filk, gold, and filver; and they are 



4K.1 of 



