otanically as
_Callistemon_, and belongiug to the myrtle family (Myrtaceae). They take
their name from the resemblance of the head of flowers to a
bottle-brush. They are well known in cultivation as greenhouse shrubs;
the flower owes its beauty to the numerous long thread-like stamens
which far exceed the small petals. _Callistemon salignus_ is a valuable
hard wood.

BOTTLENOSE WHALE (_Hyperoodon rostratus_), a member of the sperm-whale
family, which is an inhabitant of the North Atlantic, passing the summer
in the Spitzbergen seas and going farther south in winter. It resembles
the sperm-whale in possessing a large store of oil in the upper part of
the head, which yields spermaceti when refined; on this account, and
also for the sake of the blubber, which supplies an oil almost
indistinguishable from sperm-oil, this whale became the object of a
regular chase in the latter half of the 19th century. In length these
whales vary between 20 ft. and 30 ft.; and in colour from black on the
upper surface in the young to light brown in old animals, the
under-parts being greyish white. There is no notch between the flukes,
as in other whales, but the hinder part of the tail is rounded.
Bottlenoses feed on cuttle-fishes and squills, and are practically
toothless; the only teeth which exist in the adult being a small pair at
the front of the lower jaw, concealed beneath the gum during life.
Examples have frequently been recorded on the British coasts. In
November 1904 a female, 24 ft. long, and a calf 15 ft. long were driven
ashore at Whitstable. (See CETACEA.)

BOTTOMRY, a maritime contract by which a ship (or bottom) is
hypothecated in security for money borrowed for expenses incurred in the
course of her voyage, under the condition that if she arrive at her
destination the ship shall be liable for repayment of the loan, together
with such premium thereon as may have been agreed for; but that if the
ship be lost, the lender shall have no claim against the borrower either
for the sum advanced or for the premium. The freight may be pledged as
well as the ship, and, if necessary, the cargo also. In some cases the
personal obligation of the shipmaster is also included. When money is
borrowed on the security of the cargo alone, it is said to be taken up
at _respondentia_; but it is now only in rare and exceptional cases
that it could be competent to the shipmaster to pledge the cargo, except
under a general bottomry obl