Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/450

444 BUONONCINI BDEOKHABDT died Jan. 11, 1646. He became a member of the academy della Crusca, assisted in editing its celebrated dictionary, and edited the poems of his uncle. His principal works are two comedies, LafieraanA La 7'ancia, which were published in 1726 'under the auspices of the abb6 Salvini. BIOXOACIAI. See BONONCINI. Bt'PALUS, a Greek sculptor, who flourished in Chios in the latter part of the 6th century B. C. He was the son of the statuary An'ther- mus, and executed some fine works,, several of which in the time of Augustus adorned the temples of Rome. He and his brother Athenis made the use of Parian marble more general, and were the first to group figures in sculpture. They caricatured Hipponax, who revenged him- self upon them in his satires. Bt'PIIAGA, a genus of birds. See OXPECKEK. Bl'RMO, an island and village of Italy, in the lagoon and 5 in. N. E. of Venice; pop. 5,700. The soil is mostly devoted to garden- ing, and there are manufactories of lace. About half the inhabitants live by fishing. Bl'RBAGE, or Bnrbadge, Richard, an English actor, died in London, March 13, 1619. lie was the son of the actor James Burbage, who was the first to receive in 1574 a royal license as a player. Richard acquired celebrity by his association with Shakespeare, and by his admi- rable performance of Richard III. and other Shakespearian characters. In the royal license granted in 1603, his name was inserted with that of Shakespeare. Flecknoe calls him a " delightful Proteus," and Sir Richard Baker describes him as the best actor of his day. He is believed to have excelled also as a painter, and to have painted the Felton portrait of Shakespeare. BURBOT, or Eel-punt, a name given, both in England and the United States, to the fresh-wa- ter species of the genus lota, of which the ling is the salt-water representative. The anterior dorsal is small, the posterior and the (single) anal long ; there are barbels on the chin, as in many others of the cod family. The European burbot (L. vulgaris) is from one to two feet long, and ordinarily weighs about 3 Ibs. ; head flat and smooth ; jaws equal ; gape large, with small teeth ; body compressed posteriorly ; tail Bnrbot (Lota vnlgnris). oval ; color yellowish brown, clouded and spot- ted with darker, lighter beneath. It conceals itself under stones, like the eel, watching for young fishes and insects brought within its roach by the current ; it is very tenacious of life. The flesh is firm, white, and well flavored. The spotted burbot (L. maculosci) of the lakes and rivers of northern America is of about the same size, and with similar habits. The eel- pout {L. compressa) of New England is smaller. (See LINO.) BlIRCKHARDT, Johann Karl, a German astron- omer, born in Leipsic, April 30, 1773, died in Paris, June 22, 1825. He studied at the univer- sity of Leipsic, and at Gotha under Zach, by whom ho was recommended in 1797 to Lalande at Paris, where he was appointed in 1799 ad- junct professor in the bureau of longitudes, and after the death of Lalande, in 1807, became director of the observatory of the military school. He distinguished himself by his calcu- lations of the orbits of comets, translated into German the first two volumes of the Mecanique celeste of Laplace (Berlin, 1801-'2), published many astronomical tables, and wrote valuable memoirs for the academy of sciences, one of which, on the comet of 1770, won a prize. His lunar tables (1812) are considered among the best of their kind. BFRCKHARDT, Johann Lndwig, a Swiss travel- ler, born in Lausanne, Nov. 24, 1784, died in Cairo, Oct. 17, 1817. After studying at Leip- sic and Gottingen, he went to England in July, 1806, where an introduction from Blumenbach made him acquainted with Sir Joseph Banks, who, with the other members of the African as- sociation, accepted his offer to explore Africa. He studied Arabic for several years in London and Cambridge, and in 1809 sailed for Malta, where he disguised himself as an Arab mer- chant, assuming the name of Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdallah. Thence he proceeded to Syria, and joined a caravan to Aleppo, where he re- mained for some time, gaining such a knowl- edge of the eastern character, customs, and languages, that afterward in times of trial and danger he was able to pass not only as a genuine but as a learned Mussulman. In the latter half of 1810 he visited Palmyra, the Lebanon, Her- mon, and other localities, and explored the Hauran, where he found many vestiges of an- cient cities and Greek inscriptions. In January, 1811, he undertook excursions into the desert toward the Euphrates, and on one of these oc- casions was robbed. In February he again re- paired to Damascus, made another journey into the Hauran, transmitted an account of his dis- coveries there to England, and on June 18 de- parted for the Dead sea. He explored its shores, visited many interesting localities in its vicinity, and subsequently the ruins of Petra, which no modern European traveller bad explored before him. Proceeding toward Akaba, he joined a small caravan, crossed the desert of Et-Tih, and, passing a short distance to the north of Suez, journeyed on to Cairo. He then visited the principal ruins of the Nile and the temple of Ipsambul. On March 2, 1814, he joined at Esneh a caravan of about