Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/246

 240 BREAM BRECCIA palatine bones and tongue, but with minute teeth on the jaws, vomer, and pharyngeals ; branchial rays 6 ; a membranous elongation at American Bream (Pomotis vulgaris). the angle of the operculum. This beautifully colored species is common in fresh ponds, and is an excellent edible fish ; the length rarely exceeds 8 inches. The color above is greenish brown, with rusty blotches irregularly dis- tributed, in some specimens arranged longi- tudinally ; undulating deep blue lines longi- tudinally across the gill covers; opercular membrane black, with a bright scarlet blotch at its posterior portion ; abdomen whitish or yellowish ; dorsal, anal, and caudal fins dark brown ; ventrals and pectorals yellowish. The body is compressed ; the back curves very gradually as far as the posterior extremity of the dorsal fin, and then abruptly gives place to the fleshy portion of the tail ; the eyes are large and circular ; nostrils double, the an- terior tubular ; mouth small, teeth minute and sharp ; the lateral line assumes the curve of the back ; the scales of the body are large, and dentated at the base, small at the base of the fins; the pectorals are long, and the caudal emarginate. The bream builds a circular nest along the shore, by removing the weeds and excavating the sand to a depth of half a foot and an extent of two feet ; sometimes 20 or 30 occur within the space of a few rods, and often in very shallow water ; over the nest the fish hovers, protecting its eggs and young for weeks ; it darts against other fishes which come near, and is so intent on its guard duty that a spectator can approach very near, and even handle it. This species is found from Ken- European Bream (Abramis brama). tucky to the Canadian lakes. The name of bream is given in Great Britain to several ma- rine species of the family sparidce, as to the cant/iarvs griseug, Cuv., and to two species of pa y elites ; also to some malacopterygians of the carp family, as the abramis brama, or carp bream. The last named, the best known Eu- ropean fish of this name, is from 2 to 2 ft. long, proportionally very deep and thin ; yel- lowish white in color, growing darker by age, with a flesh-colored tinge below. It is found generally on the continent and in Great Britain, in lakes and the deepest parts of still rivers, and affords excellent sport to anglers, but its flesh is coarse and insipid. BREATH. See RESPIRATION. BRKATIIITT, an E. county of Kentucky; area, 600 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 5,672, of whom 181 were colored. It is diversified by hills and forests, and intersected by the north and middle forks of the Kentucky river. Iron and coal are found. The chief productions in 1870 were 166,729 bushels of Indian corn, 8,205 of oats, 4,066 of wheat, 112,224 of potatoes, and 11,653 Ibs. of wool. There were 835 horses, 1,494 milch cows, 3,024 other cattle, 7,629 sheep, and 9,055 swine. Capital, Jackson. BREBEUF, Jean de, a French Jesuit mission- ary in Canada, born at Bayeux, March 25, 1593, killed in the Huron country, March 16, 1649. He came to America with Champlain in 1626, and proceeded to the Huron country, but was soon recalled by the disasters of the colony, and in 1629 was carried to England as a prisoner. Returning in 1 632, be again visited the Huron country, extending his labors to the Neutres on the Niagara. He appreciated the peculiar character of the Indian mind, and thoroughly acquired their language. His in- fluence and success were accordingly great. In the war waged by the Iroquois against the Hurons, the town of St. Louis, where he labor- ed, was taken in 1649, and the missionary and his associate Lalemant were captured and put to death at St. Ignatius with the most fearful tortures. His head is preserved in the base of a silver bust at the convent of the hospital nuns, Quebec. Of his writings we have a Huron translation of Ledesma's catechism, published in Champlain's Voyages (Paris, 1632, 1640; Quebec, 1870); the Huron Relation in the Jesuit Relations of 1635 and 1636, em- bracing a treatise on the Huron language, translated by Gallatin in the memoirs of the American antiquarian society ; and some let- ters published by Carayon, Paris, 1870. BRECCIA (Italian), a compound rock com- posed of angular fragments, which appear to have once existed in other formations. If the fragments, before being reunited, have been rolled into the forms of pebbles, the new rock is called conglomerate or puddingstone. These and breccias are of frequent occurrence among the stratified rocks. The Potomac marble, .of which fine specimens are seen in the capitol at Washington, is a breccia of marble, sandstone, and other minerals found in the new red sand- stone formation, where it crosses the Potomac. Its various components having different degrees