Bulla

“ Closely pressed against the hinder wall of this bulla is a sort of bony clamp, which seems to keep the bulla in its place, and running obliquely along the surface of the swelling is an indistinct groove, corresponding to which, in the interior of the drum, is a bony wall, dividing the drum cavity into an inner and an outer compartment, these two divisions being formed from separate bones, as an examination of a very young skull will show. ”

“ The more decidedly convolute species with hidden spires are the Atys, Montf. B. Naucum, fig. 250. B. Lignaria, fig. 251, is Scaphander of Leach. The light, thin species, with extremely wide aperture, fig. 248, is Bullæa aperta, Lam. The genus Bullinula of Dr. Beck, consists of those species which have more produced spines, fig. 253. The Bullæ are marine, and inhabit all climates. The fossil species occur in tertiary beds.
BULLÆA. Lam. Bulla aperta, Auct. fig. 248.
BULLÆANA. ("Bulléens, Lam.") A family belonging to the first section of Lamarck's order, Gasteropoda, containing the genus Bulla. ”

“ AKERA. A genus of extremely light, horny shells, resembling Bulla, from which it differs, in the outer lip being separated from the body whorl, which is elastic. Ex. Bulla fragilis, fig. 247.
ALÆA. Jeffrey's. A genus of minute land shells, resembling Vertigo, but separated because they are dextral, while Vertigo is sinistral. ”

“ P. quadrata, S. Wood.—Bullæa and P. scutulum.—Zetland, etc., 10 to 100 fath., R. Striated.
23. P. catena, Mont.—Bulla and Bullæa c., angustata, and punctata,—Brit. co. generally, Mr., 0 to 40 fath. With chain-like sculpture.
24. P. punctata, Clark.—Bulla and Bullæa.—Devon, Swansea, Aberdeen, Clare. In sand, 60 fath., Mc. With punctured sculpture.
25. P. pruinosa, Clark.—Bulla and Bullæa.—Devon, Northumb., Hebrides, etc. Mud, 20 to 70 fath. N. Eu.
Scaphander.
26. S. lignarius, Linn. (Bulla.) —B. oblonga.—Brit. co. generally. 1 to 50 fath. ”

“ Bullae form on the skin, and the discoloured patches become enlarged; sensation is lost, muscular power diminished, with wasting, contraction of tendons, and all the signs of impaired nutrition. The nails become hard and clawed ”

“ The bush broke, causing the mule to fall back forcibly against the inner bank, with myself sandwiched between the adamantine wall of the mountain and the well-shod heels of the mule. The animal, being as much scared as myself, started up the trail at a gallop. I had saved my life but lost my mule. I have no taste for overtaking runaway mules on a steep and interminable up-grade. It is a taste which must be acquired. But then, of course, the mule would turn after his first alarm and tear down to the stable. ”

“ We never, I confess, became quite reconciled to the habit all mules have of keeping on the side of the path next to the precipice—except when they meet animals coming from the opposite direction, when they instinctively crowd closely to the over-hanging mountain—but we soon learned that the mule had as much care for his safety as we had for our own, and then the danger, we at first so much dreaded, became more apparent than real. ”

“ Once again the herd came towards me, and I saw that I was not mistaken, but that a mule really was among them, a mule of a delicate light brown color, with dark back-stripe, and which I thought had the biggest head and the longest ears I had ever seen. Mules are more suitable for rough mountain-riding than horses, are surer-footed, and less likely to fall into abysses—a fact worth consideration. To be sure they are obstinate, and I have known a mule be beaten half to death rather than take another step, not because it was overladen or the way was hard, but simply because it would not. ”

“ If he has just eaten and his body is rounded out like a well-filled balloon, his voice is deep and rumbling; if, on the other hand, he has not taken food for a day or so and his skin hangs in folds and wrinkles on his framework of bones, he speaks with a soft, flute-like tone.
As I stepped to the front, followed by Bulger, and took my place beside the heap of oysters, a deafening outcry went up, in which the deep roars of the inflated Wind Eaters were mingled with the soft flute-like tones of the fasting ones. ”

“ Why? Simply because a mule is—a mule. No one has yet written a theory of the evolution of mules. We all know a mule is a blend of horse and donkey, and that reproduction of the species is mercifully withheld by the grace of heaven, but further than that we do not go.
When the war began our C.O. was talking about mules. We had not crossed the water [27] then. He said: “I will not have any mules. No civilised man should have to look after a mule. When I was in Pindi once, a mule ... Mr. Jenks”—our worthy Transport Officer—“there will be no mules in this regiment.” ”

“ A wicked mule is a beau-idéal fiend; the way he tucks his head under his body and sends all his legs out at once, like a spider, is wonderful to see; and when all four mules do it, it is like a fancy sketch in Punch. They drive none but wild mules along this road, and after three months they sell them, for they become too tame for their work. ”

“ As we have seen, most bulbuls are inoffensive, respectable birds, that lead a quiet, domesticated life. The cock and hen are so wrapped up in one another as to pay little heed to the outer world. Not so the black bulbuls. These are the antithesis of everything bulbuline. They are aggressive, disreputable-looking creatures, who go about in disorderly, rowdy gangs. The song of most bulbuls consists of many pleasant, blithe tinkling notes; that of the black bulbul, or at any rate of the Himalayan black bulbul, is scarcely as musical as the bray of the ass. ”

“ But we do not know whether this generation ever proceeded from the union of a male with a female mule, or whether the production were not effected by the junction of a male with a mare, or a male-ass with a mule. There are two kinds of males, the first is the great mule, which proceeds from the junction of a male-ass with a mare, and the small mule, proceeding from the horse and the she-ass, which we shall call bardeau, to distinguish it from the other. ”

“ Mules have been lost by feeding on cut straw and corn meal; in no other instance have I known disease in them, except by inflammation of the intestines, caused by the grossest [Pg 186] exposure to cold and wet, and excessive drinking cold water, after severe labor, and while in a high state of perspiration. It is not improbable a farmer may work the same team of mules for twenty years, without having a farrier's bill presented to him. ”

“ In the fields the buffalo has usually a complete suit of grey mud, and during the quiet evening hour goggles at you through the clouds of flies which surround his flapping ears and brutal nose, the only parts that can be seen of him above the surface of the mud-hole or the running water of the river. ”

“ We met an everlasting procession of guides, porters, mules, litters, and tourists climbing up this steep and muddy path, and there was no room to spare when you had to pass a tolerably fat mule. I always took the inside, when I heard or saw the mule coming, and flattened myself against the wall. I preferred the inside, of course, but I should have had to take it anyhow, because the mule prefers the outside. A mule’s preference—on a precipice—is a thing to be respected. Well, his choice is always the outside. ”

“ One sees a plant growing beneath the water, and in the soft, oozy bottom, near the edge, are the deep prints made by the fore feet of a big buffalo bull. About the soft, moist earth around the pool, and in the buffalo trail are the foot-tracks of the buffalo that have tramped around the pool, some of those nearest the edge having tilled with water. ”

“ Now, a white mule is an old mule, and the older the mule, the bigger the fool, and when they peeped over the top of that hill, only to butt into a goggle-eyed demon, they did what mules always do. When I first saw them I was looking at the north end of that funeral procession. The next instant I was looking at the south end. And as the thing turned over once to adjust itself to different direction, a venerable old darky shot out of the rear end of that hearse, followed by a two-dollar coffin, and everything in that two miles of vehicles turned tail at the same time. ”

“ As soon as the mule finds that he cannot drink without this trouble, he very naturally pushes his nose into the water above where his mouth is split, and drinks until the want of breath forces him to stop, although he has not had sufficient water. The animal, of course, throws up its head, and the stupid teamster, as a general thing, drives the mule away from the water with his thirst about half satisfied. ”

“ The Wind Eaters were not long in getting accustomed to the, to them, at first, startling sight of “crimson tongues darting from the mouths of black clouds.” In fact, they soon learned to like the odor of the delicate morsels as they lay broiling on the embers, and when the air was chilly, didn’t hesitate to form a circle around Bulger and me as we sat eating our dinner and enjoy the warmth, and to them, curious spectacle at the same time. ”

“ Observe, for instance, a farmer's mule, or a poor man's mule working in the city. These persons, with rare exceptions, feed their mules very little grain, and they are generally in low flesh. And yet they last a very long time, notwithstanding the rough treatment they get. When you feed a mule, you must adjust the proportions of his body to the strength of his limbs and the kind of service he is required to perform. Experience has taught me, that the less you feed a mule below what he will eat clean, just that amount of value and life is kept out of him. ”

“ At Empire I found my conveyance awaiting me—a light wagon and a pair of playful mules; little fellows with coats of satin and gentle eyes. Some fellow would say they had “sinews of steel,” but these mules were not built that way; they were the natural sort. I dearly love a mule, and were I a poet, would write a sonnet to a mule’s eye. I admire a mule’s eye; always feel interested in that portion of his anatomy, and, as one likes to be in the vicinity of that which is pleasing, so I, when I have any business with a mule, find his head the attractive feature. These mules behaved remarkably well ”

“ A mule's desperate plunges to escape generally aid us to get him into the water, for he loses his balance and is easily pushed in. But his look of dazed surprise is comical when, after such a plunge, in which he sinks below his head, he arises, snorts, blows the water out of his nostrils, and begins to look about him. ”

“ The place you select for calling may be a tiny bog in a vast forest, or a little, nameless beaver-meadow by a lake or river. It is like many other such places, near or far, and the bull may come from a distance, crossing lakes, rivers, bogs and dense forest on his way; but he never seems to make a mistake or to be at a loss in locating the call. On a still night I have heard a bull answer me from a mountain five or six miles away; yet in the morning there he was, waiting expectantly for his mate near the bit of open shore where I had called him ”

“ I was riding a mule that had tender feet, having just recovered from the bite of a spider, that had occasioned the loss of one of its hoofs, and when it came near to a place where it could escape the deep mud by going over a stony part it would slacken its pace and look first at the mud, then at the stones, evidently balancing in its mind which was the lesser evil. ”

“ You can ascertain almost as much from the general appearance of the animal as from an examination of the mouth. The mule, if he be long-lived, has the same effect in changing his general appearance from youth to old age as is shown on the rest of the animal creation. ”

“ Be careful, also, that it does not draw the sides of the animal's mouth up into wrinkles, for the bit, working against these, is sure to make the animal's mouth sore. The mule's mouth is a very difficult part to heal, and once it gets sore he becomes unfit for work. Your bridle should be fitted well to the mule's head before you attempt to work him in it. Leave your bearing-line slack, so as to allow the mule the privilege of learning to walk easy with harness on. ”

“ A mule, however, will eat almost any thing rather than starve. Straw, pine boards, the bark of trees, grain sacks, pieces of old leather, do not come amiss with him when he is hungry. There were many instances, during the late war, where a team of mules were found, of a morning, standing over the remains of what had, the evening before, been a Government wagon. When two or more have been kept tied to a wagon, they have been known to eat each other's tail off to the bone, And yet the animal, thus deprived of his caudal appendage, did not evince much pain. ”

“ Mules are not subject to this disease. Some persons assert that they are, but it is a mistake. These persons mistake for founder in the chest what is nothing more than a case of contraction of the feet. I have repeatedly seen veterinary surgeons connected with the army, on being asked what was the trouble with a mule, look wise, and declare the complaint chest founder, swelling of the shoulders, &c. ”

“ Judge of the surprise, indignation and disgust which took possession of the crowd, when they saw that infamous mule walk off like a pet lamb with that confiding victim of their pleasantry, and disappear in the distance without so much as giving a snort, a kick, or even a parting look behind him at the friends and companions of his youth! The owner of the mule watched him until he disappeared over the hill, then invited all hands in to take another drink. ”