the news of his preferment. Dr. Balguy azote for about 
half an hour, wrote a ihort note to lord North, the then 
premier, expreffi ve of his gratitude to the king, and dating, 
that, not thinking his health and his time of life equal to 
the duties of that facred office, he begged permiflion to de¬ 
cline it ; and then retired again to his bed, without appear¬ 
ing the lead elated at this mark of the royal favour. In 1783, 
he publifhed the brd edition of his excellent difcourfes, 
which being dedicated to the king, he therein mentions, 
with great modedy, the honour his majedy had intended 
him and his reafons for declining to accept it. His refufal 
of epifcopacy he furvived fourteen years. He lived to 
January 19, 1795, on which day he finilhed a life for the 
greater part very diligently and mod ufefully employed. 
He was never married. 
BALHA'RY, a town of Hindodan, in the Myfore 
country, fixty-eight miles north of Chittledrug, and fif¬ 
ty-fix fouth-ead of Bifnagar. 
BA'I.l, or Little Java, one of the Sunda idands, 
twenty-five leagues long, and fifteen wide, fertile and well 
peopled. The principal productions are cotton, rice, gin¬ 
ger, and cloves. The number of inhabitants is laid to be 
600, qoo ; it is lituated on the ead fide of a drait, called 
the Strait of Bali, or the Strait of Ballabann, or the Strait 
of Java. Lat. 7. 12. S. Ion. 113. 28. E. Greenwich. 
BALIKES'RI, a town of European Turkey, in the 
province of Natolia, fifty-two miles north-ead of Perga- 
1110. Lat. 39. 45. N. Ion. 45. 36. E. Ferro. 
BALINCAIL'ACH, a cape on the wed coad of the 
Scotch ifiand of Benbecula. 
BA'LIOL, or Ballioi., (Sir John de,) founder of 
Baliol-college in Oxford, was the fon of Hugh Baliol, of 
Bernard-cadle, in the diohefe of Durham ; and was a per- 
fon very eminent for his power and riches. During the 
conteds and wars between Henry 111 . and his barons, he 
firmly adhered to the king. In 1263, he began the foun¬ 
dation and endowment of Baliol-college, which was after¬ 
wards perfeded by his widow. He died in the year 1269. 
Baliol, Balliol, orBoiLUOL, (John), the brother 
©f Alexander king of Scotland, and competitor with Ro¬ 
bert Bruce for that crown. See Scotland. 
BA'LIS, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in Syria, on the 
frontiers of Diarbekir, on the wed bank of the Euphrates, 
twenty leagues ead of Aleppo. 
BALISO'RE, a fea-port town of Afia, in the Ead In¬ 
dies, to the north-wed of the bay of Bengal. It is about 
four miles from the fea by land, but twenty by the river ; 
feated in a very fruitful foil, producing rice, wheat, aro¬ 
matic feeds, tobacco, &c. The inhabitants make feveral 
forts of duffs of cotton, filk, and a kind of grafs. N.lat. 
21. 30. E. Ion. 85. 20. 
BALIS'TA, a mountain of Liguria. 
BALIS'TES, f in ichthiology, a genus of fidies be¬ 
longing to the order of amphibia nantes. The charafterif- 
tics by which this genus is didinguilhed, are, a rough Ikin, 
and the belly armed with prickles. The body is comprelT- 
ed on the fides, and furniffied with fhort prickles, fo that 
this filh is unpleafant to the touch. Where the body ends, 
and the head begins, is not exactly didinguifhed. The 
mouth is narrow, with teeth in each jaw. The opening 
of the gills is very narrow, and placed above the pectoral 
fin ; the cover of the gills is wanting, and the concealed 
membrane is furnidied with 'two cartilaginous rays. The 
belly and back go off to a {harp edge. On the back are 
two fins, the foremod of which in forne fpecies is between 
the eyes ; and as, in fuch cafe, it confids but of one prickle, 
it has been called a horn. This fiffi has the faculty of in¬ 
flating its belly with wind. From under the fkin rifes a 
hard bone, whofe extremity (hews itfelf diagonally above, 
armed with fmall prickles. The appearance of this bone, 
which much refentbles the arm of the balifta of the an¬ 
cients, has given the name balijles to this genus of fidies. 
Thefe fidi are ravenous; fome grow, to a confiderable fize; 
forne are ornamented with beautiful colours ; but the 
greater part of them are reckoned poilonous. There is 
B A L 
onfy one fpecies known in the feas of Europe, called the 
fea-kog. Clufius fird defcribed the little -unicorn ; Marc- 
grave the fea-unicorn, the old wife, and the Chinefe balijles. 
After this, Lider defcribed the long, the prickly, the fork, 
tailed, and the black, balides. Artedius arranged them, 
and gave them the name of balijles for the reafon men¬ 
tioned before ; but he omits the fea-unicorn, and the lit¬ 
tle unicorn. Seba fome time after difeovered the fnout- 
ed balijles. Nieuhod' the two-horned balijles and the fpotted 
balijles, or long fle-ffh, which Gronovius has exactly de- 
Icribed. Klein brought forward a new fpecies, which- 
Gronovius fays was found in the Indies, and calls it ca~ 
prifeus. Gronovius afterwards defcribed two other kinds, 
one from Curacoa, and the other from America. Ladlyj 
Linnaeus defcri’bes two others, the wartedtcnA the papillous 
balides, making in all eighteen fpecies. Yet Linnteus 
places ten of them under other clafiincations, allowing to 
this genus only eight fpecies, which are as follow : 
1. The monoceros, or fea-unicorn: the didinguifliing cha- 
raflers of which are—the horn riling between the°eyes, 
and the fifty-one radii in the anal fin. There are alfo fif¬ 
teen radii in the peftoral fin ; twelve in that of the tail, 
and forty-eight in the fecond of the back. This fidi is 
compreffed at the iides ; it is thin, and very rough to the 
hand. The ground-colour is grey, marked with brown. 
The head is large and Hopes oft' to the fnout ; the mouth 
is dm all ; of the jaws, the lower is the longed ; each jaw- 
lias eight teeth, large towards the roots, and terminating 
in a point; the lips are moveable. The eyes are on the 
top of the head, and have a black pupil in a yellow iris. 
Before the eyes are two oblong apertures. Before and bel 
hind the peftoral fins are the gills, the apertures of which 
are narrow and in a tranfverfe direction. The two fides, 
whereon the lateral line is not eafily perceived, go off fharp 
at top and bottom. The cavity of the belly is large ; and 
the anus nearer to the aperture of the mouth than to the 
tail fin. The ray, which ferves indead of a ventral fin, 
is hid in the outer {kin ; and that which reprefents the fird 
dorfal fin is bent back ; the two outer edges of this lad 
are toothed, underneath it is fadened to the back by a par¬ 
ticular (kin. All the fins are yellow ; only that of the tail 
has two brown dripes. The radii on the dorfal and anal 
fins are fimple, but thofe on the tail and belly fins are 
branched. This fidi is found in the waters of China, Ta- 
pan, and Brafil; it is taken with a hook or a net. It "rows 
to the length of a foot and more ; but is not much edeem- 
ed, becattfe it is very thin, and its deffi is tough. It lives 
on fmall cray-fidt, &c. At Brafil it is called acaramucu. 
In China, and in Carolina, there is a variety of this fidi 
with fpots on the body which bear fome refemblance to 
Chinefe characters ; hence Ofbeck calls it the lettered ba¬ 
lijles ; but Catefby calls it the Bahama unicorn, becaufe he 
found it in that ifland. This fi(h grows to the lemnh of 
three feet; has but two teeth in each jaw ; its flefh fs faid 
to be poifonous ; though nothing of a noxious quality, nor 
any thing wor{e than coral and fhell-fidi, have been found 
in its domach. 
2. The tomentofus, little unicorn, or little old wife. This 
differs from the fea-unicorn by the fmall points in the tail, 
which are bent backward ; and from other fifties of this 
genus by the fingle ray which reprefents the fird dorfal fin 3 
this ray is toothed at each corner near the root. There are 
nine radii to the peCtoral fin, twenty-feven in the anal, nine 
in that of the tail, and in the fecond thirty-one. The body 
is fmall, rough, compreffed on the fides, and floped off 
at top and bottom. The mouth is fmall; the jaws are of 
an equal length, the upper of which has ten fmall teeth, 
and the lower eight. The nodrils, which are double, are 
clofe to the eyes ; and the aperture of the gills is not far 
from the peCtoral fin. The front and back are brown ; on 
the back is a furrow wherein the fidi can bury its horn. 
The fide is yellow above, and grey lower down. The 
belly is yellow, with black oblong "feales, rough to the 
touch. This fifti forms an intermediate clafs as it were 
between the fea-hedgehog with four teeth and the balides, 
It 
