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mily Cervidæ. The males, and in some species the females, have solid antlers, often much branched, which are shed annually. Their flesh, for which they are hunted, is called venison.

The separation of ripened leaves from a branch or stem; the falling or shedding of the leaves.

Branching so that the stem is lost in branches, as in most deciduous trees. Gray.

A stone or mineral on or in which are branching figures resembling shrubs or trees, produced by a foreign mineral, usually an oxide of manganese, as in the moss agate; also, a crystallized mineral having an arborescent form, e. g., gold or silver; an arborization.

A division of the Turbellaria in which the digestive cavity gives off lateral branches, which are often divided into smaller branchlets.

A member of the Chamber of Deputies. [France] Chamber of Deputies, one of the two branches of the French legilative assembly; -- formerly called Corps Législatif. Its members, called deputies, are elected by the people voting in districts.

A group of fishlike animals including the Marsipobranchiata and Leptocardia.

oma, etc. They have permanent gill openings, but no external gills; -- called also Cryptobranchiata. [Written also Derotrema.]

forms and relations of parts, but not of their textures. -- Descriptive geometry, that branch of geometry. which treats of the graphic solution of problems involving three dimensions, by means of projections upon auxiliary planes. Davies & Peck (Math. Dict. ) -- De*scrip"tive*ly, adv. -- De*scrip"tive*ness, n.…

n a square between two vertical lines. The theory of determinants forms a very important branch of modern mathematics.

), the common British starfish (Asterias rubens); -- also applied to a sponge with stout branches. [Prov. Eng., Irish & Scot.] -- Devil's riding-horse (Zoöl.), the American mantis (Mantis Carolina). -- The Devil's tattoo, a drumming with the fingers or feet. "Jack played the Devil's tattoo on the door with his boot he…

That branch of natural philosophy which treats of the properties of sound as affected by passing through different mediums; -- called also diaphonics. See the Note under Acoustics.

That branch of logic which teaches the rules and modes of reasoning; the application of logical principles to discursive reasoning; the science or art of discriminating truth from error; logical discussion.

That branch of philology which is devoted to the consideration of dialects. Beck.

To separate into two parts; to branch dichotomously; to become dichotomous.

nt, as when the seed develops the root and the stem, the initial stem develops the leaf, branches, and flower buds; or in animal life, when the germ evolves the digestive and other organs and members, or when the animals as they advance in organization acquire special organs for specific purposes.

r lover of the fine arts; popularly, an amateur; especially, one who follows an art or a branch of knowledge, desultorily, or for amusement only.

An order of lamellibranchiate mollusks having an anterior and posterior adductor muscle, as the common clam. See Bivalve.

or taught by Diophantus, the Greek writer on algebra. Diophantine analysis (Alg.), that branch of indeterminate analysis which has for its object the discovery of rational values that satisfy given equations containing squares or cubes; as, for example, to find values of x and y which make x2 + y2 an exact square.…

A sinker attached to a fishing line; also, a line having several branches, each with such a sinker, used in deep-sea fishing. [Local, U. S.]