ページの画像
PDF
ePub
[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]

Bombay is an insurance company with a capital of 200, 000%.
sterling.

The seamen from the port of Bombay are considered to be the best among the natives of India. It is usual for ships of considerable burthen to be under the charge of European commanders and officers.

The western coasts of India are infested by numerous piratical vessels, and to keep these in check it has been necessary for the East India Company to maintain a considerable naval force at this station. The expense of maintaining this force is included among the charges of government in the Bombay presidency, and this forms one among other reasons why its revenues are invariably so greatly below its expenditure. The navy is thus maintained, not for the exclusive benefit of Bombay, but for the protection of an extensive and profitable commerce from which every part of British India derives benefit.

The travelling distances between Bombay and the most considerable cities and towns in India are given by Major Rennell as follows:

Ajmeer, 650 miles; Allahabad, 977; Ahmedabad, 321; Ahmednuggur, 181; Arcot, 722; Aurungabad, 260; Baroach, 221; Bassein, 27; Bednore, 452; Bijanaghur, 398; Calcutta, 1301; Canoge, 889; Cashmere, 1233; Cuttock, 1034; Cochin, 780; Delhi, 880; Dowlatabad, 258; Goa, 292; Golconda, 475; Gwalior, 768; Hydrabad, 480; Jug gernauth, 1052; Indore, 456; Lahore, 1010; Lucknow, 923; Madras, 758; Masulipatam, 686; Mirzapore, 952; Moorshedabad, 1259; Moultan, 920; Mysore, 630; Nagpore, 552; Oude, 1013; Oojein, 486; Patna, 1145; Pondicherry, 805, Poonah, 98; Seringapatam, 622; Sumbhulpore, 826; Surat, 177: Tellecherry, 615.

BOMBAY, PRESIDENCY OF. Bombay is the seat of one of the three presidencies into which the British empire in India is divided. Together with the presidency of Fort Saint George, or Madras, it is subordinate to the Governor-General of India, whose residence is in Calcutta. The territory under the immediate jurisdiction of the governor and council of Bombay is situated between the 14th and 24th degrees of N. lat. and the 71st and 77th degrees of E. long.; and comprehends the following districts:

Ahmedabad,
Kaira,
Surat,

[blocks in formation]

North of the Island of Bombay.

Northern Concan, South of the Island of Bombay.
Southern Concan,

Poonah,

Ahmednuggur,

The following statement of the extent and population of the districts comprehended in the presidency of Bombay was given in evidence before a committee of the House of Commons which sat in 1831, to inquire concerning the affairs of India.

[merged small][ocr errors]

English
Square Miles. Population.

Among the population thus stated, which is composed of different races of people speaking different languages, and who, up to a recent date, have lived under different systems of religion, laws, and government, the greatest variety must necessarily exist. The number of resident Europeans in this presidency is smaller, when compared with its area and native population, than the number of Europeans in Bengal and Madras.

On the subject of education, the same general remarks as are made in regard to Bengal (vol. iv. p. 233), apply equally to Bombay. By a recent report from the Sudder Dewannee Adawlut, it is stated that in the British territories dependant on Bombay there are 1705 schools, at which 35,153 scholars were receiving instruction. Twentyfive of these schools, containing 1315 scholars, were maintained by the government of the company, and the remaining 1680 were mere village schools, with 33,838 scholars. The proportion of the population attending upon the schools is thus shown to be exceedingly small, besides which it may be said that the village-system of education is of the lowest description, and the same that has been handed down from time immemorial. The books read are some silly stories, and the writing acquired goes little beyond the ability of signing the name.

The sums annually chargeable on the revenues of India for the support of native schools within the presidency was thus given in 1832, from the records of the company :-

[blocks in formation]

equal to 9939/. 10s. sterling.

Rupees.
3,600

11,385

12,720

500

• 4,800

50,000

15,250

180

960

99,395

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

Ahmednuggur

Darwar

[ocr errors]

1,350

not stated

373

2,022

1,600 4,600

1,850

6,770

20,870
12,430

9,950

The number of villages in these districts is stated to be
454,431 15,492, while the number of village schools is only 1185,
229,527 showing only one school for more than thirteen villages.
528,073 The chief obstacle in the way of establishing new schools
484,735 is stated to be the difficulty of obtaining qualified teachers:
640,857 many of those at present employed are indeed far from
(484,717 answering this description; but this is an obstacle which,
1650,000 if the government were so disposed, might surely be ma-
417,976 terially lessened, or indeed removed, in the course of a few
[684,193 years, by the establishment of normal schools in the chief
778,183 town of each district.
736,284

A literary society has been established for many years in
Bombay. Three quarto volumes of its transactions were
6,251,546 printed between 1819 and 1823. In 1819 the society be-
came a branch of the Royal Asiatic Society of London.
There is also a Geographical Society recently established
at Bombay.

387,264 Our information concerning the state of crime throughout the Bombay presidency, is very insufficient. Returns have 6,638,810 been made from the greater part of the districts, stating VOL. V.-P

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

59,4381

The above is exclusive of the district
of the Northern Concan, from which
there are no returns; its area and
population are estimated at

5,500 64,938

[ocr errors]

the number of persons who have been charged with the
commission of offences during the five years ending with
1829. The returns made for the last year of this series are
more complete than those for the earlier years, and enable
us to offer the following abstract of the number of offenders,
and the punishments awarded to those of them who were

convicted on trial. Not any statement is given as to the nature of the crimes, nor as to the connexion between the crimes and the punishments awarded The inconvenience of this deficiency has been felt by the home government, and we perceive that instructions have been given to supply the omissions in future returns.

Abstract of the Proceedings of the Criminal Courts and the Police under the Presidency of Bombay, in the year 1829.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

(Rennell s Memoir of a Map of Hindustan; Mill's History of British India; Tables of the Revenue, Population, Commerce, &c., of the United Kingdom and its Dependencies, parts iii. and iv.; M'Pherson's History of the European Commerce with India; Niebuhr's Description of Bombay, vol. ii., Copenhagen ed.; Vincent's Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, part ii.; Reports of Committees of both Houses of Parliament appointed to inquire concerning the Affairs of the East India Company in 1831 and 1832.) BOMBAZINE. This word is derived from the Greek bombyx (Bóμßvě), denoting both a silk-worm and the silk spun by that insect.

Bombazine is the name of a fabric woven of worsted and silk; the warp being the silk, the weft (also called shoot) the worsted. The worsted is thrown on the right side, which has a twill upon it. The manufacture of bombazine originated in Norwich, and is now almost entirely confined to that city, to Kidderminster, and Halifax in Yorkshire. The weaving of worsted stuffs was originally introduced into England in the reign of Henry I. by a Dutch colony, who, being driven from Holland by an inundation, settled at Wursted or Worsted (hence the name), in Norfolk. The first charter granted to the city of Norwich by Henry I. enabled the Flemings, who had long frequented the city for the purchase of wool, to settle there and vest their property with greater security in the manufacture of worsted stuffs. Norwich became in consequence one of the most flourishing cities in England, and during the reign of Edward III. the government thought fit to protect the worsted weaving and wool trade by many statutes, writs, and proclamations, and by granting great privileges to foreign artificers settling in the city.

for mourning and for exportation. It must however always continue in demand while custom prescribes it as the mourning dress appropriate to females.

The capital employed in Norwich during the most flourishing period of the bombazine trade amounted to about 300,000l. At the present moment the capital employed does not reach 100,000l. (Communication from Norwich.)

BOMBELLI, RAPHAEL, a Bolognese mathematician of the sixteenth century. We know nothing of his birth, life, or death, except his work on Algebra, published in 1572 (Hutton), or in 1579 (Montucla, Bossut, Wallis, Dechâles, De Thou's Catalogue, &c.), or in both (Lacroix, Biog. Univ.) The book itself is very scarce. Bombelli is principally known as the first who attempted the solution of what is called the irreducible case in cubic equations. He gave the geometrical solution which depends upon the trisection of an angle, and observed that the latter problem may be reduced to a cubic equation. He is also the first who attempted the actual extraction of the cube root in the result of Cardan's (or Tartalea's) well-known formula. Bombelli states that he discovered a manuscript of Diophantus in the Vatican Library, and with another had translated the greater part for publication. He says, that he found frequent references to Indian authors, from which he learned that algebra was known to the Hindoos earlier than to the Arabs. This assertion has been much quoted and frequently censured: Cossali caused all the Vatican manuscripts now existing (three in number) to be closely examined, but without finding any thing to confirm Bombelli's assertion; which remains a puzzle, since there is no suspicion of deceit, and the work of Diophantus is in reality full of questions akin to those treated in the Hindoo Viga Ganita. But as Bombelli is said, in the Toulouse edition of Diophantus, to have misinterpreted the questions from that writer which he inserted in his own algebra, it is possible that he may have not well understood the Greek. [ALGEBRA, DIOPHANTUS.] For further information, see Hutton's Mathematical Tracts, vol. ii., p. 252; Montucla, Hist. des Math., vol. i, p. 598; also Cossali, Storia di Algebra. If there be any mention of Bombelli in Kästner's History or Murhard's Bibliography, we cannot find it.

BOMBIC ACID. The silkworm, especially in the chrysalis state, contains an acid liquor, and hence the name of bombic acid. It was discovered from the circumstance of blue paper, which had been accidentally laid near these insects while changing to the state of chrysalis, being found covered with red spots, as if drops of acid had been spilled upon it.

When the insect is subjected to pressure it also yields a liquor from which alcohol precipitates mucilage, oil, and glutinous matter, and leaves bombic acid in solution; by evaporating this there is obtained an acid pungent fluid of an amber colour, which reddens vegetable blue colours, and forms salts with the alkalies, earths, and metallic oxides, which have been called bombiates.

In 1467 an act was passed for the true making of worsteds
in Norwich and Norfolk, authorising the weavers yearly to
elect eight wardens, with the power to survey all worsteds,
and make such regulations as were judged to be for the
good of the craft. In 1575 the Dutch elders presented in
court in Norwich a new work called bombazines, praying
to have the search and seal of them to their use, exclusive
of the Walloons, who, on their parts, insisted that all white |
works belonged to them; but the Dutch, as first inventors,
had their petition granted them. From this time the bom-
bazine trade gradually increased, and the article was largely
exported to various parts of Europe, especially to Spain, and
the Spanish colonies in South America, where it was used as
the dress of some of the religious orders, and of the women.
The mantilla, an indispensable article of female attire among
the Spaniards, was universally made of black bombazine.
It has however of late been greatly superseded by black silk.
The great increase in the manufacture of bombazine took
place soon after the introduction of spinning wool into yarn
by machinery. It is worthy of remark that an invention,
which was in the first instance so obstinately opposed by the
operatives, and which is even now ignorantly condemned by
many as destructive of the interests of the poor, was, in
reality, the cause of the increase of the bombazine trade,
and of the consequent employment of many thousand hands.
In order to prove this, it is necessary to state that yarn
was originally spun by the hand: the wool, after combing,
was given out to the spinners by persons who weekly
went the round of the country for this purpose, and re-
ceived it when spun into yarn. It was required that a
given weight of wool should be converted into not less than
a given number of hanks or skeins of yarn, containing 560
yards, but it was at the same time desirable this number
should be exceeded as much as possible, in order to procure
a finer article. The yarn, when received from the various
spinners, was found to be uneven in size from the mode of
spinning, and from the different hands employed upon the
same parcel. The bombazines were consequently equally
uneven. Upon the introduction of spinning machinery, the
wool was sorted and the yarn spun of an even thickness,
but of various sizes. This change enabled the bombazine
manufacturer to dye the yarns of various colours, and to
produce an even, soft, and elegant article, fitted in hue
and texture for all seasons. A large demand was imme-
diately created for coloured bombazines; and this manu-
facture alone employed in Norwich, in the years 1814.
1815, and 1816, about 12,000 hands, an increase which could
not have been obtained by any other means than by the
use of mill-spun yarn.

The changes of fashion have thrown the coloured bomba-
zine out of use, and the article is now made only in black

This acid product has not been examined of late years, and is scarcely noticed by modern authors. Neither its nature nor that of its salts is accurately known; and it is not even certain that it is a peculiar acid. It is probable that a re-examination would show that it is similar to the formio acid, or acid of ants.

BO'MBUS (entomology), the generic name of those insects commonly called humble-bees: this latter name was derived (Messrs. Kirby and Spence conjecture) from the German hummel or hummel-biene, a name probably given to these insects from the humming sound which they emit. The Bombi belong to the order Hymenoptera and family Apida, and, as regards the English species, are by far the largest of the tribe. They may be distinguished by the fol lowing characters :-body thickly covered with hair; head with a longitudinal groove and an indentation extending across from the upper part of the eyes; in this indentation the three stemmata are placed, being arranged nearly in a straight line; and it is from the central stemmatum that the longitudinal groove has its origin, whence it extends downwards; antenna with twelve joints; labrum with its surface uneven; mandibles with several longitudinal grooves on the upper side; posterior tibiæ compressed, smooth, margined with strong recurved hairs,* and armed with spines at the apex.

These recurved hairs (corbicula) form, as it were, a little basket, in which the Bombi carry to their nests the farina which they collect from flowers. P 2

side of the second segment, the three following segments B. floralis, yellow: abdomen with a black spot on each with their bases black.

The above are the peculiarities of the females. In the males the antennæ are thirteen-jointed and considerably longer than those of the other sex; the hinder tibiæ want the corbicula; the mandibles are bidentate at the apex and each furnished with a tuft of curved hairs; they differ likewise in possessing no sting and in the structure of their claws, but these two last characters are common to the whole tribe of Apida.

The neuter bees resemble the females in every respect excepting size; in this they are inferior to the males, which latter are rather less than the females.

Kirby, in his monograph on the bees of this country, enumerates thirty-seven species as belonging to his section **e. 2:' this section, with the exception of a few species [PSYTHIRUS], now constitutes the genus of which this article treats.

The prevailing colours of the species are yellow, red, and black; and as these colours are disposed with a certain degree of uniformity, we have arranged the following, which form the principal part of the British species, under three heads, viz., those which have the apex of the body more or less red, those which have that part white, and those in which the ground-colour of the body is yellow or buff: by this arrangement much repetition in the descriptions is avoided.

SECTION 1,-apex of the body red.*

B. lapidarius (female), black: the male is rather long and narrow; head and anterior and posterior portions of the thorax yellow.

This species, well known by the name 'red-tailed bee,' is one of the largest and commonest of the genus; the females are to be seen in the spring and summer months; in the autumn, when the males make their appearance, they

are less common.

B. Raiellus (female), smaller and shorter in proportion than the last, from which it may moreover be distinguished by having red hair on the hinder tibiæ.

B. Derhamellus, colour ashy-brown; thorax and abdomen each with a black fascia; most probably the male of the last described.

B. subinterruptus (female), black: anterior portion of the thorax yellow; abdomen with a subinterrupted fascia of the same colour towards the base.

B.pratorum, black: anterior portion of the thorax yellow. B. Burrellanus (male), yellow: thorax with the central portion black; abdomen with a black fascia near the middle. B. Cullumanus (male), like the last, but the fascia of the abdomen is very narrow, occupying only one segment.

B. Donovanellus (female), black: thorax with the anterior portion yellow; abdomen with the basal portion yellow. In the male the anterior portion of the thorax is obscurely coloured.

SECTION 2,-having the apex of the abdomen white. B. terrestris.-This is the largest and most common of the yellow and black humble-bees; it has the anterior margin of the thorax and the segment next the basal one of the abdomen of a yellow or buff colour; the rest of the body is black, with the exception of the apex, which is sometimes of a dirty yellow colour and at others white.

The neuters of all the species are very variable in size, but in this there appears to be the greatest extreme; we have specimens which are scarcely as large as the common hive-bee.

B. Hortorum, black: thorax with the anterior and posterior portions yellow; abdomen with the base yellow; rather less than the preceding species.

B. Tunstallanus (female), black: thorax with the anterior and posterior margins narrowly edged with yellow. The insect described by Kirby under the name of Latreillella has lately been discovered by Mr. Pickering to be the male of this species; it is of a pale yellow colour, with the central portion of the thorax and two indistinct fascia towards the base of the abdomen black.

B. Jonellus (male), yellow: thorax and abdomen each

with a black fascia.

B. lucorum (male), yellow: thorax with the central portion black; abdomen with the two basal segments yellow, and the two following black, the remainder white.

SECTION 3,-ground-colour of the body yellow or buff.
B. Muscorum, yellow: thorax orange.

By this we mean the colour of the hair with which the body is covered, the body itself being quite black in all the species,

the abdomen reddish yellow, the latter with a black fascia B. Beckwithellus, pale buff colour: thorax and apex of in the middle.

B. Curtisellus, like the last, but the abdomen is black, with the base of reddish-yellow.

part blackish; abdomen with three obscure black fascia.
B. Fosterellus: thorax buff-coloured, with the anterior
rieties of the same species
Obs. We have reason to believe the four last to be va-

cia; abdomen with two black fascia; the apex red inter-
B. sylvarum, yellowish white: thorax with a black fas-
spersed with white.

B. fragrans, bright yellow; thorax with a black fascia. largest; B. fragrans, Tunstallanus, and Hortorum, are the Of the above species B. terrestris and Lapidarius are the next in size; all the rest of the species are nearly of a size, with the exception of B. pratorum, which see description.

more detailed descriptions we refer our readers to Kirby's For the habits of the species see HUMBLE-BEE, and for Monographia Apum Angliæ.

BOMBY'CIDE (entomology), a family of the order Le-
pidoptera, belonging to the section Lepidoptera-nocturna
of Latreille.

sessing only rudimentary maxillæ, remarkably small palpi,
The principal characteristics of this family are their pos-
and bipectinated antennæ.

pearance in the day-time as well as in the evening. The
Some of the species fly very rapidly, and make their ap-
caterpillars of most of the species are hairy (some produce
great irritation to the hand when touched), and assume
pupa is simple.
the pupa state in a cocoon spun for its protection. The

[graphic]

d

e

a and b Bombyx mori; c the eggs; d the pupa; e silkworm or caterpillar. This species, which was originally from China, is of a white One of the most interesting of the family is the Bombyx mori, well known as the moth to which the silkworm turns.

or cream-colour, with a brown fascia and two or more waved

lines of a deeper colour crossing the upper wings. In this
country the eggs of this moth hatch early in May; the
becomes light, and in its tints much resembles the perfect
caterpillar or silkworm is at first of a dark colour, but soon
food is the mulberry, though it will likewise eat the lettuce
insect, a circumstance common in caterpillars. Its proper
not thrive equally well, and the silk yielded is of a poor
and some few other plants; on the latter however it does
quality.

The silkworm is about eight weeks in arriving at maturity,
during which period it changes its skin four or five times.
part of the body slightly, and remains in perfect repose. In
When about to cast its skin it ceases to eat, raises the fore.
this state it is necessary that it should continue for some

C

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

The moth is short-lived: the female, in many instances, dies almost immediately after she has laid her eggs; the male survives her but a short time.

little time, in order that the new skin, which is at this time | previously dissolved a portion of the cocoon by means of a
forming, may become sufficiently mature to enable the cater-fluid which it ejects.
pillar to burst through the old one. This operation, which
is apparently one of considerable difficulty, is performed
thus:- the fore-part of the old skin is burst; the silkworm
then by continually writhing its body (but not moving from
the spot) contrives to thrust the skin back to the tail, and
ultimately to disengage itself altogether: this last part of
the operation however is the most difficult, since it is no
uncommon occurrence for them to die from not being able
to disengage the last segment of the body from the old
skin.

Those who have reared silkworms must have observed how large the head is in proportion to the body in those which have just changed their skins: this circumstance is worthy of observation, for in it will be found a most beautiful contrivance.

When the larva of an insect has just changed its skin, every part is soft, and in many cases (such as caterpillars) the greater portion of the body still remains in this flexible state; but the skin of the head and some few other parts, in all instances, soon become hardened, after which it never grows. The same happens with those larvæ which have the body in a great measure covered with hard plates, which circumstance leaves no parts to enlarge but such as are flexible. In the instance of a caterpillar the body increases in size rapidly after change of skin, but the head, it will be observed, does not enlarge, and although the body may have increased very much it does not appear that the skin has grown; it seems only to be stretched with the increase of size of the inner parts. In the case of those larvae which have the body covered with hard plates, it is the skin between the plates that stretches to allow of growth in the inner parts, so that just before changing skin all the plates are considerably separated.

From the above we conclude that the external covering of insects does not grow at all, except at the time of repose previous to the casting off the old skin, after which operation the head, and those parts which soon become hard, are sufficiently grown to last until the next change; and also that the soft parts of the external covering will bear stretching to a certain extent and no further, when it becomes necessary that they should change that covering for a larger one. With respect to the silkworm and other caterpillars, an unobserving person would not readily understand how the head, which is much larger than the one the case of which has just been cast off can have come out of it; but if the silkworm be examined just before it is about to change its skin, it will be seen that such is not exactly the case, for part of the new head may be seen thrust out behind the old one, so that the fore-part only is inclosed by the latter.

When full grown the silkworm commences spinning its web in some convenient spot, and as it does not change the position of the hinder portion of its body much, but continues drawing its thread from various points and attaching it to others, it follows that after a time its body becomes in a great measure inclosed by the thread. The work is then continued from one thread to another, the silkworm moving its head and spinning in a zigzag way, bending the fore part of the body back to spin in all directions within reach, and shifting the body only, to cover with silk the part which was beneath it. As the silkworm spins its web by thus bending the fore part of the body back, and moves the hinder part of the body in such a way only as to enable it to reach the farther back with the fore part, it follows that it incloses itself in a cocoon much shorter than its own body, for soon after the beginning the whole is continued with the body in a bent position. From the foregoing account it appears that with the most simple instinctive principles all the ends necessary are gained. If the silkworm were gifted with a desire for shifting its position much at the beginning of the work it could never inclose itself in a cocoon; but by its mode of proceeding, as above explained, it incloses itself in a cocoon which only consumes as much silk as is necessary to hold the chrysalis.

It is a curious fact that all those animals which are most useful to man are likewise most manageable. There is scarcely a caterpillar which is so easily reared as that which turns to the silkworm-moth. [SILK.]

BOMBYCILLA (zoology). The name of a genus of tooth-billed birds (Dentirostres). Cuvier places the genus among the Dentirostral genera of his second order Passereaux; Latreille also arranges it under that order, but does not allow it to belong to the Dentirostres, and classes it among his first family, that of the broad-billed birds (Latirostres). Temminck, considering it to be an omnivorous bird, finds a place for it, under the name of Bombycivora, in his second order Omnivores. Vieillot's second order (Sylvan Birds, Sylvicola) contains two tribes; and in the sixteenth family (Baccivori, or berry-eaters) of the second tribe (Anisodactyli), the genus in question will be found. Vigors places it in the second tribe Dentirostres of his second order, Insessores or perching-birds; and, after some hesitation, and expressing his doubt whether its natural situation is not in the family Merulidæ, is inclined to arrange it provisionally among the Pipridæ, his last family of Dentirostres. Bonaparte makes it a genus of his family Sericati. Swainson, in Fauna Boreali-Americana, arranges it under his Bombycillinæ, a sub-family belonging to the aberrant group of his Ampelidæ, or fruit-eaters; but, in giving his table of Ampelida, he expresses considerable doubts on the true nature of the aberrant divisions. Linnæus at one time made it a butcher-bird (Lanius), and afterwards an Ampelis. Brisson classed it among the thrushes (Turdus), and Illiger among the crows (Corvus).

The birds of this genus are known by the English names of Wax wings or Waxen chatterers; and the following are the principal generic characters according to Temminck:

Bill short, straight, elevated; upper mandible curved towards its extremity, with a strongly marked tooth. Nostrils basal, ovoïd, open, hidden by strong hairs directed forwards.

Feet, with three toes before and one behind, the exterior
toe connected (soudé) with the middle one.

Wings moderate, the first and second quills longest.
Only three species have been recorded. The first has a
wide geographical range; the second is confined to North
America, and the third is Oriental.

EUROPEAN WAX-WING or CHATTERER.

This elegant species, which is also known by the English names of the Bohemian Chatterer, Bohemian Wax-wing and Silk-tail, is Le Jaseur de Bohême (Buffon, &c.), Grand Jaseur (Temminck) and Geay de Boheme of the French; Garrulo di Boemia of the Italians; Röthlichgrauer Seidenschwantz (Meyer), Europäischer Seidenschwanz and Der Gemeine Seidenschwanz (Bechstein) of the Germans; Garrulus Bohemicus of Gesner, Bombycilla, Schwenck., Ampelis, Aldrovand, Bombycilla Bohemica of Brisson; Ampelis garrulus of Linnæus; Bombyciphora garrula, Brehm; Bombyciphora poliocalia of Meyer; Bombycivora garrula of Temminck, and Bombycilla garrula of Vieillot.

In addition to the nomenclature above given, the bird is said to be named by the Italians in some localities BeccoFrisone, in others Galletto del bosco; and by the birdcatchers of Bologna Uccello del mondo novo; by the Germans Zinzerelle, Wipstertz, Schnee-vogel and SchneeLeschke, and by those in the neighbourhood of Nuremberg Beemerle and Behemle; by the Swedes Siden-swantz; by the Bohemians Brkoslaw; and by the Poles Jedwabniczka and Jemiolucha.

That the Bohemian Chatterer was known to the antients there can be little doubt; but a great deal of obscurity prevails as to the names by which it was distinguished. Some have taken it to be the Incendiaria Avis of Pliny (Book x, During the time of spinning the cocoon the silkworm c. 13), the inauspicious bird, on account of whose appeardecreases in length very considerably, and after it is com-ance Rome more than once underwent lustration, but more pleted, it is not half its original length; at this time it especially in the consulship of L. Cassius and C. Marius, becomes quite torpid, soon changes its skin, and appears in when the apparition of a great owl (Bubo) was added to the the form of a chrysalis. The time required to complete the horrors of the year. Others have supposed that it was the cocoon is about five days. In the chrysalis state the animal bird of the Hercynian forest (Book x, c. 47), whose feathers remains from a fortnight to three weeks; it then bursts its shone in the night like fire. Aldrovandus, who collected case and comes forth in the imago state, the moth having the opinions on this point, has taken some pains to show

1

« 前へ次へ »