B A S 
and covered with very fmall fcales. On the back 
there are two foft fins, each about an inch in length, 
and the fame in breadth ; there are alfo two more 
at the gills, two on the beliy, and one behind the 
vent; and the tail is broad and furcated. This 
fifh has no Englifh name; nor is it certain where 
it is caught: it is, however, mentioned on the 
authority of Sir Hans Sloane* 
B ARRACOL. A Venetian term for a fpecies 
of ray fifh, called by Bellonius and Gefner, mira- 
letus ; and, by others, raia oculata Isevis. Artedi 
calls it a ray with a fmooth back and belly, having 
the eyes furrounded with a feries of fpines, and a 
triple row on the tail. 
BARSE. An Englifh name for the common 
perch; and alfo the Saxon name now in ufe for 
the fame fifh. 
BASILICUS. A nnme given by fome of the 
ancient naturalifis to the regulus criftatus, or golden- 
crowned wren. 
BASILICUS, or BASILISK. A ferpent of 
the moft malignant nature ; it's breath, and even 
look, being efteemed mortal. It is alfo faid to 
proceed from a cock's egg brooded on by a fer- 
pent. Thefe, and other ftories, equally ridicu- 
lous, are related by Galen, Pliny, Diofcorides, and 
Erafiftratus. Kirchmayer and Vandcr Weil, how- 
ever, have detedted the folly and impofture of the 
ancient traditions concerning it. 
We meet with the Bafiliflc in holy writ ; but the 
Hebrew word Pethen, which is tranflated Bafiliflc, 
fignifies, according to the beft interpreters and 
commentators, an Afp. In the LinnEcan fyftem 
the Eafiliflv is a fpecies of the lacerta. 
BASKET-FISH. A very fingular filk fome- 
times caught in the North American feas, though 
not veiy frequent in any part of the world. Mr, 
Hooke, whom the Royal Society complimented 
with afiigning it a name, calls it pifcis echinoftel- 
laris vifciformis. It's body refembles an egg-fifh, 
or echinus marinus; and it's arms are like the ftar- 
filh: the divifion of the branches having more the 
appearance of mifletoe than any other natural pro- 
dudlion we are acquainted with. 
This fifn fpreads itfelf, from a pentagonal mouth- 
piece or root, in the centre of which the mouth is 
placed into five main lim,bs or branches ; and each 
of thefe, at it's firft ifiliing out of the body, is divid- 
ed into mo, making ten in all. Each of thefe ten 
again divides itfelf into two, making twenty in all; 
and fo on, till a fourteenth divifion is obtained, when 
they form upwards of eighty thoufand limbs. Af- 
ter this ftage they become too minute to be traced 
farther by the eye ; but it is very probable that 
even thefe are fucceflively fubdivided. 
The ramifications between the joints of the Baf- 
ket-Fifh are not all of them of an equal length; 
though, for the moft part, they are pretty nearly lb. 
The arms, or branches, which in their natural ftate 
are by no means very ftrong, on being dried, be- 
comic fo extremely brittle, that the fmalleft force is 
capable of deftroying them. 
This curious creature is ibmetimes found on the 
fhoals of Nantucket, an ifland on the coaft of New 
England; but, what is very remarkable, it is never 
feen there unlefs when caught by a bait-hook, laid 
for fome other fifli : this it clafps fall:, and encir- 
cles vvith all it's arms, when it afcends to the fur- 
face of the water, in the fhape of a wicker-bafket, 
from Vv'hich circumftance it receives it's name; 
but when it has been fome time out of it's native 
element, it becomes quite flat* 
BAT 
The numerous arms with which this fifli is fuf- 
niihed are evidently intended to affift it in catch- 
ing it's prey; and it probably extends them to their 
full length while under the water, and enfolds in them 
every thing fit for food that happens to fwim over, 
Irnall mackrel having fometimes been found in- 
clofed in the arms of the Balket-Fifh. 
It is evident that this fifh is of the ftella arbo- 
refcens, or branched ftar-fifk kind; but whether 
the fame with that commonly known under the ap- 
pellation of caput Medufse, is uncertain* 
The body of this fifti, from what is related of 
it's protuberance, and it's refemblance to the 
echini marini, may probably form the afteropodium 
in it's foffil ftate, 
BASSANUS. A fpecies of the pelican. 
BASSE. The Englifh name of the fea-wolf, 
the lupus pifcis of naturalifts, fo called from it's 
voracious appetites. It weighs about fifteen pounds, 
and refembles a trout in it's fliape, except that it's 
head is proportionably larger. The irides are 
filvery; the mouth is large; the teeth are fituated 
in the jaws, and are very fmall; and the fcales, which 
are of a middling fize, are remarkably thick fet, 
and adhere clofeiy to one another. The firft dor- 
fal fin has nine ftrong fpiny rays, of which the fore- 
moft is the fhorteft, and the middlemoft the high- 
eft; and the fecond dorfal fin confifts of thirteen 
rays, the firft fpiny, and the others foft. The pec- 
toral fins are furniftied with fifteen loft rays ; the 
ventral with fix rays, the firft ipiny ; and the anal 
fin has fourteen rays, the three firft fpiny, and the; 
others foft. The back is of a duflcy colour tinged 
with blue ; the belly is white ; and the tail is flightly 
forked. When young, the back is variegated with 
fmall black fpots, which difappear as it advances in 
age. 
The Bafte is extremely well tafted, and very 
wholefome. It is found in the feas furrounding 
the Britifh ifles, but is feldom known to enter the 
mouths of rivers, though evidently a fpecies of the 
perch. 
BAT. A genus of animals which feem to fill 
up the chafm between quadrupeds and birds. In- 
deed, fome naturalifts have found animals of this 
kind fo much partaking of the nature of both, 
that, in defcribing a Bat, they have been at a lols in 
which rank to place it ; and have feemed to doubtj 
whether they were defcribing a bird or a beaft. 
Thefe uncertainties, however, no longer exift; for 
Bats are now univerfally ranked with quadrupeds, 
to which their viviparous nature, their hair, their 
teeth, and feveral other habitudes, evidently enti- 
tle them. Pliny, Gefner, and Aldrovandus, who 
placed them among birds, did not confider that 
they v/ere deftitute of every character of that order 
of animals, except the power of flying. Indeed, 
when this animal is feen at the duik of the even- 
ing, fupporting itfelf in the air with an aukward 
and feemingly conftrained motion, it has, m fome 
meafure, the appearance of a bird ; but naturalifts, 
who have examined it with due attention, watched 
it's habits, and infpedled it's conformation, are of a 
very different opinion. 
The Bat icarcely refembles a bird in any one 
particular, except in that of fupporting itlelf in the 
air. Like the quadrupeds, it brings forth it's young 
alive, and fuckles them ; it's lungs are formed like 
theirs ; and it's inteftines and flceleton bear a com- 
pleat refemblance to thofe of quadrupeds. In 
,many refpe6ts it even appioximates the human 
race ; fo much, indeed, as to have led fome votaries 
S of 
