nted in rows and secured by
ordinary wire to holdfasts or pegs in the ground. Each picket is connected
to all around it, top and bottom, by lengths of barbed wire.

In England, where the use of barbed wire has also become common, the Barbed
Wire Act 1893 enacted that, where there is on any land adjoining a highway
within the county or district of a local authority, a fence which is made
with barbed wire (_i.e._ any wire with spikes or jagged projections), or in
which barbed wire has been placed, and where such barbed wire may probably
be injurious to persons or animals lawfully using the highway, the local
authority may require the occupier of the land to abate the nuisance by
serving notice in writing upon him. If the occupier fails to do so within
the specified time, the local authority may apply to a court of summary
jurisdiction, and such court, if satisfied that the barbed wire is a
nuisance, may by summary order direct the occupier to abate it, and on his
failure to comply with the order within a reasonable time, the local
authority may execute it and recover in a summary manner from the occupier
the expenses incurred.

BARBEL (_Barbus vulgaris_), a fish of the Cyprinid family, which is an
inhabitant of the rivers of central Europe, and is very locally distributed
in England. It has four barbels (Lat. _barba_, beard; fleshy appendages
hanging from the mouth), and the first ray of the short dorsal fin is
strong, spine-like and serrated behind. It attains a weight of 50 lb on the
continent of Europe. The genus of which it is the type is a very large one,
comprising about 300 species from Europe, Asia and Africa, among which is
the mahseer or mahaseer, the great sporting fish of India.

BARBE-MARBOIS, FRANCOIS, MARQUIS DE (1745-1837), French politician, was
born at Metz. He began his public career as intendant of San Domingo under
the old regime. At the close of 1789 he returned to France, and then placed
his services at the disposal of the revolutionary government. In 1791 he
was sent to Regensburg to help de Noailles, the French ambassador, in the
negotiations with the diet of the Empire concerning the [v.03 p.0386]
possessions of German princes in Alsace and Lorraine. Suspected of treason,
he was arrested on his return but set at liberty again. In 1795 he was
elected to the Council of the Ancients, where the general moderation of his
attitude, especially in his opposition to the exclusion of nobles and the
relati