Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/730

 BLENNY BLERE were used for the culture of hemp, the man- sion being converted into a storehouse for the crops. In 1811 he endeavored to recover from Gov. Alston, Burr's son-in-law, $22,500, a balance of some $50,000, for which he al- leged Alston was responsible. Unless this was paid he threatened to publish a book which he had prepared exposing the whole conspiracy. He afterward bought 1,000 acres of land near Port Gibson, Mississippi, for a cotton plantation; but the war of 1812 pros- trated all commercial enterprises. Becoming continually poorer, in 1819 he removed with [ his family to Montreal, where he practised law for a time. He sailed for Ireland in 1822, to prosecute a reversionary claim still existing there. In this he failed; nor did he meet with any success in his application for aid to the marquis of Anglesey, whom he had for- merly known. He endeavored to procure em- ployment from the government of Portugal, and from the South American republic of Co- lombia ; projected some improvements in fire- arms ; and tried to obtain a situation as com- panion to an infirm kinsman. During the later years of his life he was supported by a maiden sister, who had a small estate, which she left to his wife and children. His wife, the daugh- ter of Governor Agnew of the Isle of Man, was a woman of much talent. About 1822 she published a volmue of poems, " The Deserted Isle," and in 1824 "The Widow of the Rock, and other Poems," which contain many fine passages. In 1842 she returned to America, and petitioned congress for a grant of money for the spoliation of her former home. The petition was presented by Henry Clay, and a committee of the senate reported favorably upon it ; but she died before the bill was acted upon, and was buried in New York by sisters of charity. Blennerhassett had three sons, the youngest of whom, JOSEPH LEWIS, became u lawyer in Missouri, and furnished the original documents for the "Blennerhassett Papers, with a Memoir," by William H. Safibrd (8vo, New York, 1864). I!LKY> Y, a name given to several spiny-rayed fishes of the goby family, but especially to the genus lilennius (Cuv.). They have the body covered with a thick coating of mucus, in which are imbedded small soft scales; the ventral fins are in advance of the pectorals, and generally have only two rays; head blunt and rounded ; dorsal fin long, generally with the edge interrupted ; teeth slender, in a single row. The species are small in the true blen- nies, 2|- to 5 inches long, living in small shoals ; active and tenacious of life, they crawl out of water in crevices of rocks, hiding among the weeds till the next tide. Several species are described in northern Europe, distinguished from each other and from allied genera by the number of the fimbriated appendages about the head. One called the butterfly fish or the eyed blenny (B. ocellaru) has a dark brown spot on the dorsal fin. The genus pholis, called in England the shanny, has no appendages on the head. The B. ttrpentinw of our coast attains a length of 18 inches; the Eyed Blenny (Blennius ocelloris). American shanny resembles the European. The gunnels (gunneUug, Flem.) are also blen- nies, with an elongated body, velvet-like teeth, very long and low dorsal fin, and ventrals ex- ceedingly small ; one species, called the butter fish, attains the length of a foot. In the ge- nus zoarces (Cuv.) the dorsal, anal, and caudal fins are united, which, with the elongated body, have obtained for it the name of eel- pout. The ventrals are under the throat and small. This genus includes the viviparous blenny, Z. nitipants of Europe and Z. anguil- laris of this country. The young are brought forth alive, and able to provide for themselves as soon as excluded ; they appear to be pro- duced of a size proportionate to the mother. From the green hue of the bones when boiled, a common English name for it is " green-bone." In this blenny the ovarian bag of the mature eggs is a double sac, having a disk of consider- able size at the upper part, where the sperma- tozoa may come. into contact with the yolk membrane. The American species attains a length of 3$ feet, and is occasionally caught by cod-fishers, who call it ling and conger eel ; it is of a light salmon color, with irregular olive blotches. The blennies feed upon mol- lusks and crustaceans, and the flesh of the young of the larger species is very good. They use their ventral fins almost as legs to climb on the rocks; the small size of the branchial openings, preventing the rapid escape of water from and the entrance of air into the gill chamber, enables them to live several hours out of water. They are said to have no air bladder or rudimentary lung. lll.Kui:. a town of France, in the department of Indre-et-Loire, on the left bank of the Cher, 15 m. E. S. E. of Tours; pop. in 1866, 3,561. In the vicinity stands the castle of Chenon- ceaux. Originally a simple manor house, it was enlarged during the reign of Francis I. to its present dimensions. Henry II. purchased it in 1535, and gave it to Diana of Poitiers, who, before completing the magnificent em- bellishments which she had commenced, was