| up and rushed headlong upon him. 
572 BUFFONIA. 
muzzle, when young, is but thinly covered with 
hair, the withers are high, the tail short. This 
buffalo is found in abundance, or rather, used to 
be found, in Southern Africa, and thence stretches 
into the interior along the east coast as far as 
has hitherto been explored ; and this is its only 
known locality. All travellers are agreed it is 
dangerous to intrude incautiously into the haunts 
of the buffalo, as it is easily irritated, and rushes 
with blind fury against the object of offence, 
bearing all before it. In its native regions it is 
| killed in pitfalls, like many of the larger game, 
by the natives, but the European makes use of 
the rifle alone. The following account of a buf- 
| falo-hunt is very characteristic of the animal. A 
party of boors had gone out to hunt a herd of 
buffaloes, which were grazing on a piece of marshy 
ground. As they could not conveniently get 
| within shot of the game without crossing a part 
of the marsh, which did not afford a safe passage 
for horses, they agreed to leave their steeds in 
charge of their Hottentots, and to advance on 
| foot, thinking that if any of the buffaloes should 
turn upon them, it would be easy to escape by 
retreating across the quagmire, which, though 
passable for man, would not support the weight 
of a heavy quadruped. They advanced accord- 
ingly, and under covert of the bushes, approached 
the game with such advantage, that the first vol- 
ley brought down three of the fattest of the herd, 
and so severely wounded the great Bull leader, 
that he dropped on his knees, bellowing furiously. 
Thinking him mortally wounded, the foremost of 
the huntsmen issued from the covert, and began 
reloading his musket as he advanced to give him 
a finishing shot ; but no sooner did the infuriated 
animal see his foe in front of him, than he sprang 
i The man 
throwing down his heavy gun, fled towards the 
| quagmire ; but the beast was so close upon him, 
|| that he despaired of escaping in that direction, 
and turning suddenly round a clump of copse- 
wood, began to climb an old mimosa tree which 
stood at the one side of it. The raging beast, 
however, was too quick for him, bounding for- 
ward with a roar, which my informant described 
as being one of the most frightful sounds he ever 
heard, he caught the unfortunate man with his 
horns, just as he had nearly escaped his reach, 
| and tossed him into the air with such force, that 
the body fell dreadfully mangled into a cleft of 
the tree. The buffalo ran round the tree once or 
twice, apparently looking for the man, until 
weakened with the loss of blood, he again sunk 
on his knees. The rest of the party recovering 
from their confusion, then came up and despatched 
it, though too late to save their comrade, whose 
body was hanging in the tree quite dead. 
BUFFONIA. A small genus of herbaceous 
plants, ofthe carnation tribe. The annual or slen- 
der-leaved species, Buffonia annua or Buffonia ten- 
urfolia, is a rare and curious annual weed of the 
sea-coasts of England. Its root is slender and 
BUGLOSS. 
fibrous; its stem is smooth, round, and about six 
inches high ; its leaves are awl-shaped and three- 
ribbed; and its flowers are white, solitary, erect, 
and small, and appear in June.—The perennial 
species, Buffonia perennis, was introduced about 
thirty years ago from France. It is perennial- 
rooted, and carries a white flower in June and 
July. Two other species have been scientifically 
described. The genus is named after the cele- 
brated naturalist Buffon. 
BUG (Buieut). See Apuis. 
BUGLE,—botanically Ajuga. A genus of or- 
namental herbaceous plants, of the labiate fa- 
mily. The common creeping species, Ajuga rep- 
tans, grows wild in moist situations, particularly 
in moist woods and coppices, in Britain. An old 
account of it succinctly describes it, as “a low 
weed with two kinds of stalks; round creeping 
ones, which strike root at the joints ; and upright 
square ones, hairy on two of the opposite sides, 
alternately from joint to joint bearing loose spikes 
of blue labiated flowers, of which the upper lip 
is wanting; the leaves are somewhat oval, soft, 
slightly cut about the edges, and set in pairs at 
the joints.” The flowers are scentless, and bloom 
in May and June. The plant is hairier in moun- 
tainous situations than in valleys. Two varieties 
of it, the white-flowered and the red-flowered, A. 
r.alba and A. 7. rubra, are recognised in syste- 
matic botany ; and the former of these abounds 
in the Isle of Wight. 
dicinal reputation among the peasantry of France; 
yet, except some little astringency in its roots, it 
possesses no property which can apologize for 
that reputation. Its old names among the Bri- 
tish peasantry are sicklewort, middle-compound, 
and herb-carpenter.—The alpine species, Ajuga | 
alpina, grows wild on the mountains of England, | 
and is a beautiful perennial, of similar height, 
habits, and colour of flower to the common creep- | 
ing species.—The pyramidal species, Ajuga pyra- 
midalis, grows wild on the mountains of Scot- 
land, has only about half the height of the two |. 
preceding species, and produces a purple flower | 
in May and June.—The ground pine species, | 
Ajuga chamepitys, is an annual weed of the sandy 
fields of England, and bears yellow flowers from 
April till July.—tThe first, the second, and the 
third of these native species, and also the orien- 
tal and the Genevese, long ago introduced from 
respectively the Levant and Switzerland, are 
somewhat commonly cultivated as ornamental 
flowering plants in British gardens. Five other 
hardy exotic species are sometimes met with in 
Britain ; and six or seven additional but unin- 
troduced species have been botanically described. 
BUGLOSS. See Ankaner. 
BUGLOSS (VirEr’s),—botanically Hehium. A 
large genus of ornamental and extensively diffused 
plants of the borage family. One species is a na- 
tive of Great Britain ; about sixty species have 
been introduced from foreign countries; and 
about twenty other species are known to botan- 
This plant has a high me- | 
