BOM 



BOMBAZINE Rapids, lie on a rivei- in Lincoln coun- 

 ty, and dillrict of Maine in America, and are navigable for 

 boats witli fonie lading, at a middling pitch of water. They 

 took their name from Bombazine, an Indian warrior, who 

 was Ilain by the Englilh in attempting to crofs them. 



ijOMiiA/, INE, a lak.e,fevcn or eight miles long, in the town- 

 fliip of C:ilUctun, county of Rutland, and ftatc of Vermont. 

 BOMDELLA, in Euli/mology, a fpecies of Bombvx, of 

 a middle fize, that inhabits Aullria, tlie wings of which are 

 cinereous, fprinkled with fufcous. Fabr. Mant. This is 

 Tin^a Bomhycella of the Vienna catalogue. (Wien. Schniet- 

 terl. 



COMBERG, Daniel, in Biography, one of the early 

 printers, was a native ot Antwerp, and lettled at Venice, 

 wheie, in i^itj, he printed a foho edition of the Hebrew 

 B'ble. See Biule. He alfo began an edition of the Tal- 

 mud, in 1520, and completed it fome years afterwards in 

 eleven volumes folio. Each of the three imprefTions of this 

 immenfe work is faid to have co(t him ico,ooo crowns. His 

 whole property was devoted to the imprelhons of valuable 

 editions of Hebrew Bibles and rabbinical works, for which 

 purpofe he employed a great number, as fome fay, more 

 than 100 of learned Jews. Bomberg was himfelf a Hebrew 

 fcholar. He died about the middle of the i6th century. 



BOMBIC Acid. The lilk worm has a fmall rcfervoir 

 near the anus, from which, when full grown, or efpecially 

 when in the chryfalis (late, a minute quantity of an acid liquor 

 is feen to ooze out. If the entire aniir.al is bruiftd, it gives a 

 liquor containing the ufual foft animal matters, together 

 with a native acid. Alcohol feparates the former, and leaves 

 the latter in iolution, which, by evaporation, furnifiies a 

 very four pungent yellow fluid, which fliews all the marks 

 of an acid by reddening bkie vegetables, and uniting with 

 alkalies and fome earths. The difcovercr, Chauflicr, con- 

 siders it as peculiar, and hence it has obtained a feparatc 

 place in the lill of animal acids ; but from analogy with the 

 experiments on \.\\e formic acid, and other circumllanccs, the 

 fcparate exillence of the boiiibic acid is very qiieftiouable. 

 No other chemill has yet undertaken to confirm or difpnte 

 the orioinai ilatement. Mem.de I'Acad. de Dij.m. 1783. 



BOiVIBICHIE, in GfugmjJ.y, a town of Afia in Syria, 

 44 miles E. N. E. of Aleppo. 



BOMBINA, in Eii/oi!io!ogy, a large fpecies of Cur cu- 

 l.io, dcfcribed by Eabricius, as a native of Cayenne. The 

 colour of this inleft is ferruginous brown, and tlie wing-cafts 

 ilrialed, with black elevated tubercles. 



BoMiiiNA, in Zoology, a fpecies of Ran A, or frog, the 

 belly of which is orange, fpotted with /l-;y-bhK-, and the 

 pupil of the eye triangular. Blumenb. This kind appears 

 to be extremely variable in point of colour and markings. 

 In the tenth edition of the lJ;\n. Sylt. Nat. it is defcribed 

 as the Riina varirgntn. Iloefel, in his " Hilf ory of Frogs 

 and Toads," calls it Biifo igtieus, (bufo vulgo igneus di(ftus). 

 It is like wife La fonnante, and le couleur dc feu, of Lacepede, 

 and Ratia ignsa, or fire-frog, of Dr. Shaw. 



The permanent varieties, if they may be fo expreffed, of 

 this particular fpecies, do not feem to be very conxftly af- 

 certained. Gmelin, upon the authority of preceding wri- 

 ters, conllitutes the following varieties: /3 has tiic belly black, 

 with clear white fpots and ip.:ckles ; ■)■ is of a fufcous co- 

 lour; and is diftinguidied by its loud fonorous voice. 



This is the fmallell of the European kinds of either the 

 frog or toad. The general habit refembles that of a toad, but 

 it is faid to hap and Iwim with as much or even greater facihlv 

 than the common frog. Dr. Shaw obferves, that he places 

 it among the frogs inilead of toads, on account of its depofit- 

 iijg its ova in cluilered heaps ; not in firings like the latter 



BOM 



animals. In Germany, Italy, and other European countries, 

 which this creature inhabits, it is known to delight in marfliy 

 places. The found of the male, which alone is vocal, is 

 clear and fharp, and is thought by fome to refemble, in a 

 very peculiar manner, that of a man giggling with laughter. 

 This, indeed, is not the univerfal opinion ; fome authors com- 

 pare it to the tone of a bell, or the note of a cuckow, for 

 which reafon it has obtained the name of bombycina. 



This animal, according to Dr. Shaw, may be confidered 

 rather as an aquatic than tenellrial fpecies ; being rarely 

 found on land, but chiefly inhabiting tuibid Ifagnant waters, 

 in which, in the month of June, it depohts its fpawn, the ova 

 being much lari'^er in proportion than in mod others of the 

 genus. The tadpoles are hatched towards the end of June, 

 and are of a pale yellowilh brown colour ; and, when young, 

 are often obfervcd to hang from the furface of leaves, &c. 

 by a glutinous thread proceeding from the fmall tube or 

 fucker beneath the lower lip. They arrive at their full fize 

 towards the clofe of September, and at that period are re- 

 markable for tlie flelhy or muicular appearance of the tail, 

 which is ilronger in proportion than in mod other tadpoles. 

 About the beginning of Odober they affume their complete 

 or ultimate form ; and when the tail has fo far decreafed as 

 to be ilill a quarter of an inch in length, that remaining por- 

 tion becomes entirely obliterated in the fpace of about twelve 

 hours. The iire-frog is a lively aAive animal; leaping and 

 fwimming admirably well. When furprifed on land, or un- 

 able to elcape, it Iquats clofe to the gi-ound ; at the fame 

 time turning back its head and limbs in a lingular manner, 

 and if farther tcized and irritated, evacuates from the hinder 

 part of the thighs, a kind of faponaceous frwthy fluid, of no 

 bad fccnt, but which, in fome circumflances, has been found 

 to excite a flight feiilation of acrimony in the eyes and nof- 

 trils. This fpecies is obferved to breed at the age of three 

 years, and may be fuppofed to live about ten ; but this is 

 not entirely afcertained. 



It ought not to tfcape remark, that the triangular form 

 of the pupil of the eye, which Gmelir. and others ctnilider as 

 the moll llriking criterion of this fpecies, can only be ob- 

 ferved in a full light, for when examined in the fliade its fhape 

 is circular. 



BOMBOESKJE, in Zoology, the SciURUS AsiATicus 

 ill Le Bruyn's it. p. 434, t. 2 54. 



BOMBUS, in Mfi'lidiu. See Flatulency. 



BoMBUS, ill Mufir, an artificial motion with the hands, 

 imitating, in cadence and harmony, the buzzing of bees. 

 The word is originally Greek, and lignifies the buz or noife 

 of bees, gnats, and the like. In this fenfe, lomhiis xa^.^^. 

 one of the fpecies of applaufe ufcd by the ancient auditories. 



BOMBYCILLA Bohkmica, in Ormlhulng\i, the name 

 under which BrifTon dcfcribes the Bohemian chatterer, y/;;/- 

 pelis Giirrulus. The fame author likcwile calls an American 

 variety of this bird Bomhycilla Carolincnfis. 



BOMljYClNUM, in Ancient Writers, properly denoted 

 a fpecies of filk, brought from A..fryriaard the ifland of Cos. 

 In which fenfe it Hood dillinguifhed from Sericum, another 

 fort of lilk brought from tiic Indies. 



BoMRYCiNUM velamentum. See Velamentum. 



BOMBYLIUS, \\\ Entoniolog-;, a genus of Dipterous 

 inlects, dillinguiflied by the following charafter: beak or 

 fucker very long, fetaccous, flraight, nnA coidilling of two 

 unequal valves, with.in which three fetaceous briitles are con- 

 tained ; feelers two, (hort and hairy : antennx fubulate, and 

 connected at the b:if"e. I^inn. Gmel. &c. 



The antennx of the infccls in this genus are (liort, and 



contain three articulations, the lirll of which is long, the 



fecund fhort, and the third or iail conical, and terminating 



- in 



