almost made up of
fragments of spines, teeth and scales of ganoid fish. Another well-known
bed, formerly known as the "Bristol" or "Lias" Bone Bed, exists in the
form of several thin layers of micaceous sandstone, with the remains of
fish and saurians, which occur in the Rhaetic Black Paper Shales that
lie above the Keuper marls in the south-west of England. It is
noteworthy that a similar bone bed has been traced on the same
geological horizon in Brunswick, Hanover and Franconia. A bone bed has
also been observed at the base of the Carboniferous limestone series in
certain parts of the south-west of England.

BONE-LACE, a kind of lace made upon a cushion from linen thread; the
pattern is marked out with pins, round which are twisted the different
threads, each wound on its own bobbin. The lace was so called from the
fact that bobbins were formerly made of bone.

BONER (or BONERIUS), ULRICH (fl. 14th century), German-Swiss writer of
fables, was born in Bern. He was descended of an old Bernese family,
and, as far as can be ascertained, took clerical orders and became a
monk; yet as it appears that he subsequently married, it is certain that
he received the "tonsure" only, and was thus entitled to the benefit of
the _clerici uxoriati_, who, on divesting themselves of the clerical
garb, could return to secular life. He is mentioned in records between
1324 and 1349, but neither before nor after these dates. He wrote, in
Middle High German, a collection of fables entitled _Der Edelstein_ (c.
1349), one hundred in number, which were based principally on those of
Avianus (4th century) and the _Anonymus_ (edited by I. Nevelet, 1610).
This work he dedicated to the Bernese patrician and poet, Johann von
Rinkenberg, advocatus (_Vogt_) of Brienz (d. c. 1350). It was printed in
1461 at Bamberg; and it is claimed for it that it was the first book
printed in the German language. Boner treats his sources with
considerable freedom and originality; he writes a clear and simple
style, and the necessarily didactic tone of the collection is relieved
by touches of humour.

_Der Edelstein_ has been edited by G.F. Benecke (Berlin, 1816) and
Franz Pfeiffer (Leipzig, 1844); a translation into modern German by K.
Pannier will be found, in Reclam's _Universal-Bibliothek_ (Leipzig,
1895). See also G.E. Lessing in _Zur Geschichte und Literatur_
(_Werke_, ix.); C. Waas, _Die Quellen der Beispiele Boners_ (Giessen,
1897).