Tasmanian rodent quadruped, inhabiting the banks both of salt and fresh waters. They are admirable swimmers and divers, and exceedingly shy.
Bebee´ru. See Greenheart.
Bebel (bā´bl), Ferdinand August, German Socialist, born in 1840, died in 1913. He became a master turner in Leipzig, was elected to the Reichstag or Diet of the new German Empire in 1871, in which he was prominent until his death. He opposed the leadership of Prussia in Germany and the establishment of the empire, and showed himself favourable to the Paris Commune and the International. Found guilty of treasonable practices, he was condemned to two years' imprisonment in a fortress in 1872, with six months' ordinary imprisonment for insulting the Kaiser. His influence kept on increasing as leader of the Social Democrats in Germany and in the German Parliament, where he spoke strongly against militarism and the emperor's naval policy. His works include Die Frau und der Socialismus (Woman and Socialism), in which he went so far as to attack marriage as an institution; Die Socialdemokratic und das allgemeine wahlrecht; Für Volkswehr gegen Militarismus; Aus meinem Leben; &c.
Bec, a celebrated abbey of France, in Normandy, near Brionne, founded in the eleventh century, now represented only by some ruins. Lanfranc and Anselm were both connected with this abbey.
Beccafi´co, a European bird (Sylvia hortensis), the garden-warbler. These birds are much esteemed as dainties in the autumn, when they have fattened on figs and grapes.
Beccafu´mi, Domen´ico, Italian painter, born near Sienna in the latter half of the fifteenth century, enriched the churches of Sienna with many noble frescoes and other paintings. He drew and coloured well, and possessed strong inventive powers. He died at Sienna in 1551, and was buried in its cathedral.
Beccaria (bek-a˙-rē´a˙), Cesare Bonesana, Marchese di, Italian economist and writer on penal laws, born 1738, died 1794. He is principally known from his treatise, On Crimes and Punishments, which was speedily translated into various languages, and to which many of the reforms in the penal codes of the principal European nations are traceable. He became professor of political economy at Milan, where he died.
Beccaria (bek-a˙-rē´a˙), Giovanni Battista, an Italian natural philosopher, born 1716, died 1781; was appointed professor of experimental physics at Turin, 1748; author of a treatise on Natural and Artificial Electricity, Letters on Electricity, &c. He contributed several articles to the Transactions of the Royal Society of London, and was commissioned in 1759 to measure an arc of the meridian in the neighbourhood of Turin.
Beccles (bek´lz), a municipal borough in Suffolk, England, 33 miles N.N.E. from Ipswich, on the right bank of the Waveney; has a fine church of the fourteenth century, and a good trade coastwise. Pop. (1921), 7077.
Becelære, town of Belgium, province of West Flanders. It was the scene of fighting in the third battle of Ypres (1917), and in the battle of Flanders (1918).