BRAN. 417 BRANCHING. Bran suffered so in the fight that he died in Glen Loch, and was buried there. BRAN, The Bi.e.ssed. The name of the hero of the poem Mi/iiiritin, by Taliesen. He was the knifrht who found a vessel of decoration and nivstic connections similar to those of the Holy Grail. BRANCA, bran'ki,A.scA.Nio( 1840-190,3). An Italian statesman. He studied law at the Uni- versity of Naples, became known as a journalist jtnd economist, and in 1870 was elected to the •Cliambcr of Deputies, where in 188.5 he joined the party of the opposition. In 18iU-92 he was Minister of Public Works, in lS!M!-i)8 of Finance, jind again in HlOO-01 of Public Works. He pub- li^lied Le credit et la banquc internationale in is:i. BRANCH. See Bbanchixg. BRANCH, Jonx (1782-1863). An American politician. He was born in North Carolina,
- ind graduated at the State University in
1801. He was State Senator from ISH to 1S17, Governor of North Carolina from 1817 to 1820, and from 1823 to 1829 served in the United States Senate. He then was Secretary of the Xavy under President Jackson from 1829 to 1831, a Democratic member of Congress from 1831 to 1833, and Governor of the Territory of Florida from 1844 to 1845. BRANCHIATA, bran'kl-a'ta (Xeo-Lat. neut. pi. of hranchiatus, having gills, from Lat. hruiichia', Gk. Ppdyx'a, hranchia, gills). One of the two great branches or sub-types into which the Arthropoda (qv.) are divided, the other being the Tracheala. They are characterized by the presence of gills in some form, though it may be only as thin portions of the body-integument. They have no trache:ie or tracheal tubes of any i.ort. and breathe air only as it is present in Avater. Jfany of the very small forms, and some of the larger ones, apparently have no distinct gills, but receive the oxygen which they need through a part or all of the body-surface. In accordance with their manner of breathing, the Branchiata live in water either fresh or salt; and the exceptions to this rule are to be found only among the higher groups, where certain species have special structural features that enable them to live a greater or less time on land, usually, however, in damp places. The classifica- tion of the Branchiata is one of the perplexing problems of zoology; for while the one class Crustacea (q.v.) is well defined, there are a few other living, and many fossil forms, which pre- sent the greatest dillicultics. BRANCHID.a;, br.'u.i'kide (Gk. BpayxlSai. Brnnrhidni, also called Didymi, Al(ivfwi, Di- dymoi, or Didyma, AiSvua) place on the seacoast of Ionia, a little south of Miletus and near Panormus, celebrated for its temple and oracle of Apollo Didymeus. The hereditary min- isters of this oracle, which was one of the most famous of the Greek world, were the Milesian Branchidsp, wlio traced their descent from Bran- chus, a favorite of Apollo. When the oracle was instituted is not known, but its first period of great celebrity was in the Sixth Century n.c. The temple and oracle were destroyed, either (ac- cording to Herodotus) by Darius at the time of the destruction of Miletus (n.c. 494). or (ac- cording to Strabo, Plutarch, and Pausanius) by Xer.xes some years later. The temple was after- wards rebuilt, but on so grand a scale that it was never fully completed, and always renuiined without a roof; its ruins contain some beautiful specimens of the Ionic order of architecture. Con- sult Gelzer, De liranchidin (Leipzig, I8G9) ; O. Kayet, L'architecture ioniqiie en lonie: Le tem- ple d' A poU on Didymien (Paris, 1876). BRANCHING (Fr. Iranchc, branch. It. Sp. hraiwu. branch, t.-hiw, from Low Lat, branca-, claw, possibly from Lat. 6r«[c]c/iiH»i, arm, claw). There are two general types of branch- ing, known as the 'dichotomous' and the 'mono- podial.' In the former, the apex of the axis forks, the old axis ending at the point of branch- ing. In some cases tlirce branches may arise in this way, resulting in 'trichotomy,' or even more tlian three branches may arise by the divi- sion of a growing tip, but the term dichotomy is a general one, covering all cases of branches arising in this way, without reference to the number. Thallus bodies are particularly inclined to dichotomous branching, and hence its chief display is among the alg.e and fungi, the liver- worts, and the prothallia of ferns. Among seed- plants there are cases which resemble dichotomy, as in the branching of the lilac, but this is 'false dichotomy,' because, although two brandies seem to arise from the apex of an axis in forking fashion, they are really lateral branches, the ape.x of the old axis remaining between them undivided but arrested in growth. Bbanchiko; a, dichotomous; b, monopodial] c, sympodial. In monopodial branching the branches arise laterally from the axis. This type is character- istic of the seed-plants, but it is found in the lower groui)s as well. In this ease the tip of the main axis may continue to grow vigorously, and a centra! shaft may develop, as in the pines and firs; such a habit is called 'cxcnrrent,' the main .•^haft 'running through' the whole branch sys- tem. In other cases, as in the elm, some of the lateral branches are more vigorous than the main axis, which is presently lost sight of, and the trunk seems to be replaced above by a set of large divergent limbs, a habit called 'deliques- cent,' meaning that the main axis is 'dissolved' into branches. Sometimes what appears to be the main axis is really a series of strong lateral branches which simulate it. A strong lateral branch appears just Iiehind the tip of the axis, pushes it aside in its growth, and continues the
