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A treatise on amphibious animals; the department of natural history which treats of the Amphibia.

mbracing many varieties varying in color and in composition. It occurs in monoclinic crystals; also massive, generally with fibrous or columnar structure. The color varies from white to gray, green, brown, and black. It is a silicate of magnesium and calcium, with usually aluminium and iron. Some common varieties are t…

ole, with apparent meaning, which on further attention proves to be meaningless. [Written also amphigouri.]

creature (Amphioxus lanceolatus), two or three inches long, found in temperature seas; -- also called the lancelet. Its body is pointed at both ends. It is the lowest and most generalized of the vertebrates, having neither brain, skull, vertebræ, nor red blood. It forms the type of the group Acrania, Leptocardia, etc.…

litude is eastern or ortive: at the setting, it is western, occiduous, or occasive. It is also northern or southern, when north or south of the equator.

, as the dilated end of a vessel or duct; especially the dilations of the semicircular canals of the ear.

Immorality; also, the nectar conferring immortality. -- a. Ambrosial; immortal.

To occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder. [Obs.] Camillus set upon the Gauls when they were amused in receiving their gold. Holland. Being amused with grief, fear, and fright, he could not find the house. Fuller.

ining small cavities, occupied, wholly or in part, by nodules or geodes of different minerals, esp. agates, quartz, calcite, and the zeolites. When the imbedded minerals are detached or removed by decomposition, it is porous, like lava.

of an albuminous substance, giving a blue color with iodine and sulphuric acid; -- called also waxy or lardaceous degeneration.

A contraction for are and am not; also used for is not; -- now usually written ain't. [Colloq. & illiterate speech.]

To rebaptize; to rechristen; also, to rename. [R.] Whitlock.

A branch of a river that reënters, or anastomoses with, the main stream; also, less properly, a branch which loses itself in sandy soil. [Australia]

native to America. Transferred to England it became an obstruction to navigation. Called also waterweed and water thyme.

s are misplaced in regard to each other, esp. one by which an event is placed too early; falsification of chronological relation.

A figure by which a speaker appeals to his hearers or opponents for their opinion on the point in debate. Walker.

Boa family (Eunectes murinus), which lives near rivers, and preys on birds and small mammals. The name is also applied to a similar large serpent (Python tigris) of Ceylon.

The process of anæsthetizing; also, the condition of the nervous system induced by anæsthetics.

A white or flesh-red mineral, of the zeolite, occurring in isometric crystals. By friction, it acquires a weak electricity; hence its name.

A disease of the roots of turnips, etc.; -- called also fingers and toes.