Manolete executing a natural pass, a close pase with his left hand.
BARNABY CONRAD
Common bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)
H.M. BARNFATHER/BRUCE COLEMAN LTD.
Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana)
RICHARD PARKER
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
294 I Biilow ► bungee jumping
English-French-Russian alliance against Germany (see Entente Cordiale; Triple Entente) and increased international tension with the first of the Moroccan crises.
Bulow \'biE-lo\, Hans (Guido), baron von (b. Jan. 8, 1830, Dres¬ den, Saxony—d. Feb. 12, 1894, Cairo, Egypt) German conductor and pianist. He studied piano with Clara Schumann’s father. His meetings with the composers Franz Liszt (1849) and Richard Wagner (1850) led to his decision to give up law for music, and with their help he launched a renowned career as conductor and pianist, studying with Liszt from 1851 and marrying his daughter Cosima in 1857. He was appointed court con¬ ductor to Louis II and later director of the Munich Conservatory. He con¬ ducted the premieres of Wagner’s operas Tristan und Isolde (1859) and Die Meistersinger (1868). Cosima abandoned von Biilow for Wagner, whom she married in 1870; nonetheless, von Biilow continued to pro¬ mote Wagner’s music. He was one of the first conductors to conduct from memory; his interpretations were noted for their integrity and emotional power.
bulrush Any of the annual or perennial grasslike plants constituting the genus Scirpus, especially S. lacustris, in the sedge family, that bear soli¬ tary or much-clustered spikelets. Bulrushes grow in wet locations, includ¬ ing ponds, marshes, and lakes. Their stems are often used to weave strong mats, baskets, and chair seats. Bulrushes may act as a filter, absorbing poisonous metals and toxic microorganisms, thus helping to reduce water pollution. In Britain, the term bulrush refers to either of two CATTAILS ( Typha latifolia and T. angustifolia).
Bultmann \'bult- 1 man\ / Rudolf (Karl) (b. Aug. 20, 1884, Wiefelst- ede, Ger.—d. July 30, 1976, Marburg, W.Ger.) German Protestant theo¬ logian and New Testament scholar. The son of a Lutheran pastor, he studied at the University of Tubingen and later taught many years at Marburg (1921-51). He established his reputation with his analysis of the Gospels in History of the Synoptic Tradition (1921). Influenced by his colleague Martin Heidegger, he held that Christian faith should focus less on the his¬ torical Jesus and more on the transcendent Christ, and he examined the New Testament in mythical terms. During the Nazi era he supported the anti-Nazi Confessing Church. His postwar books included Kerygma and Myth (1953), History and Eschatology (1957), and Jesus Christ and Mythology (1960).
Bulwer, Sir (William) Henry Lytton (Earle) later Baron Dalling and Bulwer of Dalfing (b. Feb. 13, 1801, London, Eng.—d. May 23, 1872, Naples, Italy) British diplomat. In the diplomatic service from 1829, he negotiated the Ponsonby Treaty (1838), which was advantageous to British trade with the Ottoman Empire. As ambassador to the U.S. (1849-52), he negotiated the controversial Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, which was intended to resolve (but in fact aggravated) Anglo- American disputes in Latin America. In 1856 he played a major part in the negotiations following the Crimean War. His brother was the novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
Bulwer-Lytton, Edward (George Earl) later 1st Baron Lyt¬ ton (of Knebworth) (b. May 25, 1803, London, Eng.—d. Jan. 18, 1873, Torquay, Devonshire) British politician, novelist, and poet. His first novel, Pelham, was published in 1828. He entered Parliament as a Lib¬ eral in 1831, retired in 1841, and returned in 1852 as a Tory. In the interim he wrote his long historical novels, including The Last Days of Pompeii, 3 vol. (1834), and Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings (1848). He was created a peer in 1866. The opening to his 1830 novel Paul Clifford (“It was a dark and stormy night...”) led to an annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Prize, in which entrants vie to create the most overwritten first sentence to a hypothetical novel.
bumblebee Any member of two genera constituting the insect tribe Bombini (family Apidae, order Hymenoptera), found almost worldwide but most common in temperate climates. Bumblebees are robust and hairy, average about 0.6-1 in. (1.5-2.5 cm) in length, and are usually black with broad yellow or orange bands. Bombus species are nest builders, often nesting in the ground, commonly in deserted bird or mouse nests. They live in organized groups, with a queen, drones, and workers (see caste). Psithyrus species are social parasites (see parasitism); they lay their eggs in Bombus nests, where the eggs and larvae are cared for by Bombus workers.
Bunau-Varilla \bLE-no-va-re-'ya\, Philippe (-Jean) (b. July 26, 1859, Paris, France—d. May 18, 1940, Paris) French engineer. He worked
for the French Panama Canal Co. (1884-89) until the project failed. He helped to instigate the revolution that resulted in Panamanian indepen¬ dence and was appointed by the provisional government to negotiate a treaty with the U.S. for the construction of a canal. In 1903 he signed a treaty with U.S. Secretary of State John Hay assuring the construction of the Panama Canal under U.S. control.
bunchberry Creeping perennial herbaceous plant ( Cornus canadensis), also called dwarf cornel, of the dogwood family. The small and incon¬ spicuous yellowish flowers, grouped in heads surrounded by four large and showy white (rarely pink) petal-like bracts, give rise to clusters of red fruits. Bunchberry is found in acid soils, bogs, and upland slopes in Asia and from Greenland to Alaska, and south as far as Maryland, New Mexico, and California.
Bunche VboqchV Ralph (Johnson) (b. Aug. 7, 1904, Detroit, Mich., U.S.—d. Dec. 9, 1971, New York,
N.Y.) U.S. diplomat. He earned graduate degrees at Harvard Univer¬ sity and taught at Howard University from 1928. After studying colonial policy in Africa, he collaborated with Gunnar Myrdal in An American Dilemma (1944), a study of U.S. race relations. He worked in the U.S. war and state departments during World War II. In 1947 he became director of the trusteeship department of the UN Secretariat. His work in forging a truce between Palestinian Arabs and Jews earned him the 1950 Nobel Prize for Peace. As UN undersecre¬ tary for political affairs, he oversaw UN peacekeeping forces around the Suez Canal (1956), in the Congo (1960), and in Cyprus (1964). He also served on the board of the NAACP for 22 years.
Bundelkhand Vbun-dsl-.kondV Historic region, central India. Long inhabited by various dynasties, it was finally settled by the Bundela Rajputs in the 14th century. For centuries afterward they engaged in war¬ fare with the Muslim power of Delhi. After a period of Mughal rule, the Marathas extended their influence, but by 1817 the British government had acquired all territorial rights over the region. After Indian indepen¬ dence was achieved, Bundelkhand in 1948 merged into Vindhya Pradesh, which in turn merged with Madhya Pradesh in 1956.
Bundestag Vbun-d3s-,tak\ Lower house of the German bicameral leg¬ islature. It represents the nation as a whole and is elected by universal suffrage under a system of mixed direct and proportional representation. Members serve four-year terms. The Bundestag in turn elects the chan¬ cellor. The term was formerly used to refer to the federal Diet of the Ger¬ man Confederation (1815-66), known as the Reichstag under the Weimar Republic (1919-34). Its building burned down in 1933 (see Reichstag fire), and its members were not allowed to meet again for the duration of the Nazi regime (1933-45). The Reichstag was reconstituted as the Bunde¬ stag in the governmental reorganization of 1949. Its membership was again reorganized after German unification in 1990.