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An order of sponges in which the skeleton consists of horny fibers. It includes all the commercial sponges.

in or leather, usually open at the back, worn, esp. by cowboys, to protect the legs from thorny bushes, as in the chaparral; -- called also chapareras or colloq. chaps. [Sp. Amer.]

An almost impenetrable thicket or succession of thickets of thorny shrubs and brambles. Chaparral cock; fem. Chaparral hen (Zoöl.), a bird of the cuckoo family (Geococcyx Californianus), noted for running with great speed. It ranges from California to Mexico and eastward to Texas; -- called also road runner, ground cuc…

ernum united with the dermal plates so as to form a firm shell. The jaws are covered by a horny beak. See Reptilia; also, Illust. in Appendix.

One of the round, or oval, horny plates on the inner sides of the legs of the horse, and allied animals.

A white amorphous horny substance forming the harder part of the outer integument of insects, crustacea, and various other invertebrates; entomolin.

One of several prickly or thorny shrubs found in Palestine, especially the Paliurus aculeatus, Zizyphus Spina-Christi, and Z. vulgaris. The last bears the fruit called jujube, and may be considered to have been the most readily obtainable for the Crown of Thorns.

An order of insects having the anterior pair of wings (elytra) hard and horny, and serving as coverings for the posterior pair, which are membranous, and folded transversely under the others when not in use. The mouth parts form two pairs of jaws (mandibles and maxillæ) adapted for chewing. Most of the Coleoptera are k…

The coral or skeleton of a zoöphyte, whether calcareous of horny, simple or compound. See Coral.

Formed of a mixture of horny and calcareous materials, as some shells and corals.

Of a texture resembling horn; horny; hard. Sir T. Browne.

Converted into horn; horny.

hoof of the horse and allied animals. It takes an important part in the secretion of the horny walls.

The horny covering of the end of the bill of birds.

One of a group of extinct reptiles having the jaws armed with a horny beak, as in turtles, and in the genus Dicynodon, supporting also a pair of powerful tusks. Their remains are found in triassic strata of South Africa and India.

A horny excrescence upon the beak of birds.

Having the bill cleft beyond the horny part, as in the case of swallows and goatsuckers.

The horny inferior surface of the lingua of certain insects.

A thorny evergreen shrub (Ulex Europæus), with beautiful yellow flowers, very common upon the plains and hills of Great Britain; -- called also gorse, and whin. The dwarf furze is Ulex nanus.

s and rays there are five, or more, on each side. -- Gill rakes, or Gill rakers (Anat.), horny filaments, or progresses, on the inside of the branchial arches of fishes, which help to prevent solid substances from being carried into gill cavities.