Volume 4, Slice 1 Part 3 (1/2)

(J. P. Pe.)

BISON, the name of the one existing species of European wild ox, _Bos (Bison) bonasus_, known in Russian as _zubr_. Together with the nearly allied New World animal known in Europe as the (North) American bison, but in its own country as ”buffalo,” and scientifically as _Bos (Bison) bison_, the bison represents a group of the ox tribe distinguished from other species by the greater breadth and convexity of the forehead, superior length of limb, and the longer spinal processes of the dorsal vertebrae, which, with the powerful muscles attached for the support of the ma.s.sive head, form a protuberance or hump on the shoulders. The bisons have also fourteen pairs of ribs, while the common ox has only thirteen. The forehead and neck of both species are covered with long, s.h.a.ggy hair of a dark brown colour; and in winter the whole of the neck, shoulders and hump are similarly clothed, so as to form a curly, felted mane. This mane in the European species disappears in summer; but in the American bison it is to a considerable extent persistent.

The bison is now the largest European quadruped, measuring about 10 ft.

long, exclusive of the tail, and standing nearly 6 ft. high. Formerly it was abundant throughout Europe, as is proved by the fossil remains of this or a closely allied form found on the continent and in England, a.s.sociated with those of the extinct mammoth and rhinoceros. Caesar mentions the bison as abounding, along with the extinct aurochs or wild ox, in the forests of Germany and Belgium, where it appears to have been occasionally captured and afterwards exhibited alive in the Roman amphitheatres. At that period, and long after, it seems to have been common throughout central Europe, as we learn from the evidence of Herberstein in the 16th century. Nowadays bison are found in a truly wild condition only in the forests of the Caucasus, where they are specially protected by the Russian government. There is, however, a herd, somewhat in the condition of park-animals, in the forest of Byelovitsa, in Lithuania, where it is protected by the tsar, but nevertheless is gradually dying out. In 1862 the Lithuanian bisons numbered over 1200, but by 1872 they had diminished to 528, and in 1892 there were only 491. The prince of Pless has a small herd at Promnitz, his Silesian estate, founded by the gift of a bull and three cows by Alexander II. in 1855, his herd being the source of the menagerie supply.

Bison feed on a coa.r.s.e aromatic gra.s.s, and browse on the leaves, shoots, bark and twigs of trees.

The American bison is distinguished from its European cousin by the following among other features: The hind-quarters are weaker and fall away more suddenly, while the withers are proportionately higher.

Especially characteristic is the great ma.s.s of brown or blackish brown hair clothing the head, neck and forepart of the body. The shape of the skull and horns is also different; the horns themselves being shorter, thicker, blunter and more sharply curved, while the forehead of the skull is more convex and the sockets of the eyes are more distinctly tubular. This species formerly ranged over a third of North America in countless numbers, but is now practically extinct. The great herd was separated into a northern and southern division by the completion of the Union Pacific railway, and the annual rate of destruction from 1870 to 1875 has been estimated at 2,500,000 head. In 1880 the completion of the Northern Pacific railway led to an attack upon the northern herd.

The last of the Dakota bisons were destroyed by Indians in 1883, leaving then less than 1000 wild individuals in the United State.

A count which was concluded at the end of February 1903, put the number of captive bisons at 1119, of which 969 were in parks and zoological gardens in the United States, 41 in Canada and 109 in Europe. At the same time it was estimated that there were 34 wild bison in the United States and 600 in Canada.

In England small herds are kept by the duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey, Bedfords.h.i.+re, and by Mr C.J. Leyland at Haggerston Castle, Northumberland.

Two races of the American bison have been distinguished--the typical prairie form, and the woodland race, _B. bison athabascae_; but the two are very similar. (R. L.*)

BISQUE (a French word of unknown origin, formerly spelt in English ”bisk”), a term for odds given in the games of tennis, lawn tennis, croquet and golf; in the two former a bisque is one point to be taken at any time during a ”set” at the choice of the receiver of the odds, while in croquet and golf it is one extra stroke to be taken similarly during a game. The name is given, in cookery, to a thick soup, made particularly of crayfish or lobsters.

BISSELL, GEORGE EDWIN (1839- ), American sculptor, son of a quarryman and marble-cutter, was born at New Preston, Connecticut, on the 16th of February 1839. During the Civil War he served as a private in the 23rd Connecticut volunteers in the Department of the Gulf (1862-1863), and on being mustered out became acting a.s.sistant paymaster in the South Atlantic squadron. At the close of the war he joined his father in business. He studied the art of sculpture abroad in 1875-1876, and lived much in Paris during the years 1883-1896, with occasional visits to America. Among his more important works are the soldiers' and sailors'

monument, and a statue of Colonel Chatfield, at Waterbury, Connecticut; and statues of General Gates at Saratoga, New York, of Chancellor John Watts in Trinity churchyard, New York City; of Colonel Abraham de Peyster in Bowling Green, New York City; of Abraham Lincoln at Edinburgh; of Burns and ”Highland Mary,” in Ayr, Scotland; of Chancellor James Kent, in the Congressional library, Was.h.i.+ngton; and of President Arthur in Madison Square, New York City.

BISs.e.xT, or BISs.e.xTUS (Lat. _bis_, twice; _s.e.xtus_, sixth), the day intercalated by the Julian calendar in the February of every fourth year to make up the six hours by which the solar year was computed to exceed the year of 365 days. The day was inserted after the 24th of February, i.e. the 6th day before the calends (1st) of March; there was consequently, besides the _s.e.xtus_, or sixth before the calends, the _bis-s.e.xtus_ or ”second sixth,” our 25th of February. In modern usage, with the exception of ecclesiastical calendars, the intercalary day is added for convenience at the end of the month, and years in which February has 29 days are called ”biss.e.xtile,” or leap-years.

BISTRE, the French name of a brown paint made from the soot of wood, now largely superseded by Indian ink.

BIT (from the verb ”to bite,” either in the sense of a piece bitten off, or an act of biting, or a thing that bites or is bitten), generally, a piece of anything; the word is, however, used in various special senses, all derivable from its origin, either literally or metaphorically. The most common of these are (1) its use as the name of various tools, e.g.

centre-bit; (2) a horse's ”bit,” or the metal mouth-piece of the bridle; (3) in money, a small sum of money of varying value (e.g.

threepenny-bit), especially in the West Indies and southern United States.

BITHUR, a town in the Cawnpore district of the United Provinces of India, 12 m. N.W. of Cawnpore city. Pop. (1901) 7173. It is chiefly notable for its connexion with the mutiny of 1857. The last of the peshwas, Baji Rao, was banished to Bithur, and his adopted son, the Nana Sahib, made the town his head-quarters. It was captured by Havelock on the 19th of July 1857, when the Nana's palaces were destroyed.