BORAGINA'CE)E, Borage-Worts, the Borage Tribe, a natural order of regular-flowered Monopetalouc Dicotyledons, which are readily dis-• tinguished froin all others by having their ovary deeply divided into four lobes, from the middle of which arises a single style. They are moreover characterised by their flowers being arranged in a gyrate, Feuill6e says, "I have had the pleasure of seeing the frigates give chase to the ;boobies. When they return in bands towards evening from their fishing, the frigates are in waiting, and dashing upon them compel them all to cry for succour, as it were, and, in crying, to dis gorge some of the fish which they are carrying to their young ones. Thus do the frigates profit by the fishing of the boobies, which they then leave to pursue their route." Lcguat in his voyage thus writes —" The boobies come to repose at night upon the Island Rodriguez, and the frigates, which are large birds, so called from their lightness and speed in sailing through the air, wait for the boobies every evening on the tops of the trees. They rise on the approach of the latter very high in the air and dash down upon them like a falcon on his prey, not to kill them but to make them disgorge. The booby, struck in this manner by the frigate, gives up his fish, which the frigate catches in the air. The booby often shrieks and shows his unwillingness to abandon his prey, but the frigate mocks at his cries, and rising dashes down upon him anew till he has compelled • the booby to obey." William Dampier observes that he remarked that the man-of-war birds and the boobies always left sentinels near their young ones, especially while the old birds were gone to sca on their fishing expe ditions ; and that there were a great number of sick or crippled man of-war birds which appeared to be no longer in a state to go out for provision. They dwelt not with the rest of their species, and whether they were excluded from their society or had separated themselves voluntarily, they were dispersed in various places waiting apparently for an opportunity of pillage. Ile adds that one day be saw more than twenty on one of the islands (the Alcranes), which from time to time made sorties to procure booty. The man-of-war bird that sur
prised a young booby without its guard gave it a great peck upon the back to make it disgorge (which it instantly did) a fish or two as big as one's wrist, which the old man-of-war bird quickly swallowed. He further speaks of the persecution of the parent boobies by the able bodied frigates, and says that he himself saw a frigate fly right against a booby, and with one blow of its bill make the booby give up a fish just swallowed, upon which the frigate darted with such celerity that be seized it before it reached the water. Catesby and others mention similar encounters. Nuttall says, " The boobies have a domestic enemy more steady, though less sanguine in his persecutions, than man ; this is the frigate pelican or man-of-war bird, who with a keen eye descrying his humble vassal at a distance, pursues him without intermission, and obliges him by blows with its wings and bill to surrender his finny prey, which the pirate instantly seizes and swallows. . . . . The booby utters a loud cry, something in sound betwixt manner before they expand. The Common Borage is often taken as', the type of this order, and in fact represents not only its peculiarities, of structure, but sensible properties ; for all the known species agree, in having an insipid juice, and their surface covered over with stiff; white hairs, which communicate a peculiar asperity to the skin, whence.' these plants were formerly called Aspertfolice, or 'rough-leaved.' In' the structure of their ovary these plants are closely allied With'. Lantiacete. Their regular flowers and the absence of volatile oil in their leaves, and five stamens, at once distinguish them. They also resemble Nolanacar, but from these they are distinguished by their gyrate inflorescence. The species are principally natives of the tem perate countries of the northern hemisphere. The properties of this order are not active. Nevertheless several have been used in medicine; one species yields alkanet, and many of them are cultivated. It con taina 53 genera and about 600 species. [Asctrusa ; Ecznum; Pulana Nand ; STLINIIAMMARIA ; ; 317090119; ; BORAGO ; C170(11.0691:7]L)