Basutoland See Lesotho
bat Any member of about 900 species (order Chiroptera) of the only mammals to have evolved true flight. Their wings are evolutionary modi-
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Bat Mitzvah ► Bathurst Island I 177
fication of the forelimbs, with greatly elongated fingers joined by a mem¬ brane that extends down the side of the body. Most bats use echolocation to orient themselves and find prey. Found worldwide, they are particu¬ larly abundant in the tropics. Wingspreads vary among species from 6 in. (15 cm) to 5 ft (1.5 m). Nearly all species roost during the day (in caves, crevices, burrows, building, or trees) and feed at night. Most are insecti- vores, consuming enough insects to affect the balance of insect popula¬ tions. Others feed on fruit, pollen, nectar, or blood (vampire bats). Some may live more than 20 years. The guano of bats has long been used for agricultural fertilizer. See also free-tailed bat, fruit bat.
Bat Mitzvah See Bar Mitzvah
Bataan Death March \bo-'tan\ (April 1942) Forced march of 70,000 U.S. and Filipino prisoners of war (World War II) captured by the Japa¬ nese in the Philippines. From the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula, the starving and ill-treated prisoners were force-marched 63 mi (101 km) to a prison camp. Only 54,000 prisoners lived to reach the camp; up to 10,000 died on the way and others escaped in the jungle. In 1946 the Japanese commander of the march was convicted by a U.S. military com¬ mission and executed.
Bataille \ba-'tay\, Georges (b. Sept. 10, 1897, Billom, France—d. July 9, 1962, Paris) French librarian and writer. He trained as an archi¬ vist and worked at the Bibliotheque Nationale and at the Orleans library. He wrote a number of novels under pseudonyms before publishing Le Coupable (1944; Guilty) under his own name. His novels, essays, and poetry show a fascination with eroticism, mysticism, violence, and an ideal of excess and waste. In 1946 he founded the influential literary review Critique , which he edited until his death.
Batak \ba-'tak\ Any member of any of several closely related ethnic groups of central Sumatra, Indon. The Batak are descendants of a pow¬ erful Proto-Malayan people who until 1825 lived in relative isolation in the highlands surrounding Lake Toba in Sumatra. They have their own written language. In their traditional religion, ancestors, plants, animals, and inanimate objects are considered to possess souls or spirits; today about a third of the 3.1 million Batak adhere to traditional beliefs, while the rest profess Christianity or Islam.
Batavian Republic Republic of the Netherlands after it was con¬ quered by France in 1795. Its government, set up in 1798, was bound to France by alliance. In 1805 Napoleon renamed it the Batavian Common¬ wealth and placed executive power in the hands of a dictator. In 1806 it was replaced by the Kingdom of Holland under the rule of Louis Bonaparte; it was incorporated into the French empire in 1810.
bat-eared fox Species ( Otocyon megalotis) of large-eared fox found in open, arid areas of eastern and southern Africa. It has 48 teeth (six more than any other canine) and, except for its unusually large ears, looks like the red fox. It grows to a length of about 32 in. (80 cm), including a 12-in. (30-cm) tail, and weighs 7-10 lbs (3-4.5 kg). It lives alone or in small groups and feeds primarily on insects, especially ter¬ mites.
Bateman, Hester orig. Hester Needham (b. 1709, London,
Eng.—d. 1794, London) British sil¬ versmith. In 1760, after the death of her husband, John Bateman, she took over the family business. Until 1774 she generally executed designs com¬ missioned by other silversmiths. After that time her shop became well known for its tableware, such as spoons, sugar bowls, saltcellars, and tea¬ pots. Bateman’s designs were restrained and graceful, characterized by beaded edges. In addition to domestic silver, she produced large presen¬ tation pieces. See photograph opposite.
Bateson, Gregory (b. May 9, 1904, Grantchester, Eng.—d. July 4, 1980, San Francisco, Calif., U.S.) British-born U.S. anthropologist. Son of British biologist William Bateson, he studied anthropology at Cam¬ bridge University but soon thereafter moved to the U.S. His most impor¬ tant book, Naven (1936), was a groundbreaking study of cultural symbolism and ritual based on fieldwork in New Guinea. From 1936 to
Bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis)
MARK BOULTON FROM THE NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY COLLECTION/PHOTO RESEARCHERS-EB INC.
1950 he was married to Margaret Mead, with whom he studied the con¬ nection between culture and personality, publishing Balinese Character in 1942. His interests broadened to include problems of learning and communication among schizophrenics. His last book, Mind and Nature (1978), synthesized many of his ideas.
Bateson, William (b. Aug. 8, 1861, Whitby, Yorkshire, Eng.—d. Feb. 8, 1926, London) British biologist.
In 1900, while studying inheritance of traits, he was drawn to the research of Gregor Mendel, which explained perfectly the results of his own plant experiments. He was the first to translate Mendel’s major work into English. With Reginald Crundall Punnett, he published the results of a series of breeding experi¬ ments that not only extended Men¬ del’s principles to animals but also showed that, contrary to Mendel, certain features were consistently inherited together, a phenomenon that came to be termed linkage (see linkage group). In 1908 he became Britain’s first professor of genetics, and in 1909 he introduced the term genetics. He opposed Thomas Hunt Morgan’s theory of chromosomes.
Gregory Bateson was his son. See also Carl Erich Correns; Hugo de Vries; Erich Tschermak von Seysenegg.
Bath City (pop., 1995 est.: 84,000), southwestern England. Situated on the River Avon, it was founded as Aquae Sulis by the Romans, who were attracted to its hot mineral springs. The Anglo-Saxons arrived in the 6th century ad, followed by the Normans c. 1100. In the Middle Ages it was a prosperous centre for the cloth trade. When the Roman baths were rediscovered in 1755, Bath had already revived as a spa; its popularity is reflected in the works of Jane Austen, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and Tobias Smollett. It was rebuilt and extended in the Palladian style during the 1 8th century. Bath today retains many of its 18th-century structures.
Ba'th \'bath\ Party or Baath Party Arab political party that advo¬ cates formation of a single Arab socialist state. It was founded in Dam¬ ascus, Syria, by Michel 'Aflaq and Salah al-Dln al-Bltar in 1943 and in 1953 merged with the Syrian Socialist Party to form the Arab Socialist Ba'th Party. It espoused nonalignment and opposition to imperialism and colonialism. It gained control of Syria in 1963 after the failure of a short¬ lived union with Egypt and of Iraq in 1968 after a series of coups there; the Iraqi branch of the party was toppled as a result of the Second Per¬ sian Gulf War (2003). The party also has branches in other Middle East¬ ern countries. See also Pan-Arabism; Hafiz al-Assad; Saddam Hussein.
William Bateson, drawing by Sir Will¬ iam Rothenstein, 191 7; in the National Portrait Gallery, London
COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON
Silver coffee pot by Hester Bateman, 1773-74; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
COURTESY OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON
batholith Large body of igneous ROCK formed beneath the Earth’s sur¬ face by the intrusion and solidifica¬ tion of magma. Batholiths are usually composed of coarse-grained rocks (e.g., granite or quartz diorite) and often have an irregular shape, with side walls that incline steeply. They may have a surface exposure of 40 sq mi (100 sq km) or more and may be 6-9 mi (10—15 km) thick. A well- known batholith is located in the Sierra Nevada range of California.