Antonius Musa, physician to Augustus, wrote a treatise on the excellencies of _Betonica_, which he affirmed would cure forty-seven different ailments. Franzius went so far as to assert that the wild beasts of the forest, aware of its surpassing virtues, availed themselves of its efficacy when they were wounded.----At a time when a belief in witchcraft was rife in England, it was generally understood that the house where _Herba Betonica_ was sown, was free from all mischief. In Yorkshire, the Water Betony was formerly called Bishop’s Leaves. In Italy, at the present day, there are several proverbs relating to the virtues of Betony, one of which is, “May you have more virtues than Betony;” and another, “Known as well as Betony.” =BIGNONIA.=--One of the native names of the _Bignonia Indica_, or Indian Trumpet-flower, is _Kâmadûti_, or the Messenger of Love. Under the name of _Patala_, the _Bignonia suaveolens_ is specially consecrated by the Indians to the god Brahma. The name of _Patala_, however, is given in the Sanscrit to Durgâ, the wife of Siva, probably on account of the colour of her idols, which assimilate to the colour of the flowers of the Bignonia. =BILBERRY.=--The origin of the Bilberry or Whortleberry (_Vaccinium Myrtillus_), according to the mythology of the ancients, is as follows:--Œnomaüs, father of the lovely Hippodamia, chose for his attendant the young Myrtillus, son of Mercury. Proud of his skill, he stipulated that all his daughter’s suitors should compete for the prize in a chariot race with him. Pelops, who was eager to obtain the beautiful Hippodamia, promised Myrtillus a large reward if he would take out the linch-pin of his master’s chariot. Myrtillus was not proof againt the offer: in consequence, the chariot was overturned, and Œnomaüs mortally injured; but as he expired, he implored Pelops to avenge him, which he did by throwing the treacherous attendant into the sea. The waters having borne back his body to the shore, Mercury changed it to the shrub called after his name, _Myrtillus_, a name formerly given to the plant producing the Myrtle-berry, a fruit largely imported in the middle ages, and used in medicine and cookery--of the same genus as the English Bilberry, which is often found growing on the sea-shore. The Scotch name of this shrub is Blaeberry, the praises of which are often sung in Northern ballads. “Will ye go, lassie, go to the braes of Balquhidder, Whare the Blaeberries grow ’mong the bonny blooming Heather?” Bilberries are held by the astrologers to be under Jupiter. (See also WHORTLEBERRY.)