Search the Dictionary

Any fossil foraminifer of the genus Rotalia, abundant in the chalk formation. See Illust. under Rhizopod.

ng numerous species, many of them of large size. They are characteristic of the Paleozoic formations. The radiating septs, when present, are usually in multiples of four. See Cyathophylloid.

A general principle concerning the formation or use of words, or a concise statement thereof; thus, it is a rule in England, that s or es , added to a noun in the singular number, forms the plural of that noun; but "man" forms its plural "men", and is an exception to the rule.

lation. To run the world back to its first original. South. I would gladly understand the formation of a soul, and run it up to its "punctum saliens." Collier.

), the New Red Sandstone system of some geologists; -- so called because, in Europe, this formation contains beds of salt. The saliferous beds of New York State belong largely to the Salina period of the Upper Silurian. See the Chart of Geology.

Abnormal formation of flesh.

te family and having a chambered boat-shaped shell. Scaphites are found in the Cretaceous formation.

The formation belonging to the middle of the three subdivisions of the Corniferous period in the American Devonian system; -- so called from Schoharie, in New York, where it occurs. See the Chart of Geology.

A person sent out to gain and bring in tidings; especially, one employed in war to gain information of the movements and condition of an enemy. Scouts each coast light-armèd scour, Each quarter, to descry the distant foe. Milton.

ent in origin; -- said of minerals produced by alteertion or deposition subsequent to the formation of the original rocks mass; also of characters of minerals (as secondary cleavage, etc.) developed by pressure or other causes.

nder the treasury department, and in time of war it aids the war department in securing information concerning the movements of the enemy.

rt from spiritual or common use; as, to secularize a church, or church property. At the Reformation the abbey was secularized. W. Coxe.

f the cells or division formed by segmentation, as in egg cleavage or in fissiparous cell formation.

into segments as a result of growth; cell cleavage; cell multiplication; endogenous cell formation. Segmentation cavity (Biol.), the cavity formed by the arrangement of the cells in segmentation or cleavage of the ovum; the cavity of the blastosphere. In the gastrula stage, the segmentation cavity in which the mesobla…

Seed-bearing; producing seed; pertaining to, or connected with, the formation of semen; as, seminiferous cells or vesicles.

In european geology, a name given to the middle division of the Upper Cretaceous formation.

Condition of being serrate; formation in the shape of a saw.

A genus of fossil trees principally found in the coal formation; -- so named from the seallike leaf scars in vertical rows on the surface.

Of or pertaining to signals, or the use of signals in conveying information; as, a signal flag or officer. The signal service, a bureau of the government (in the United States connected with the War Department) organized to collect from the whole country simultaneous raports of local meteorological conditions, upon com…

A genus of very large extinct ruminants found in the Tertiary formation of India. The snout was prolonged in the form of a proboscis. The male had four horns, the posterior pair being large and branched. It was allied to the antelopes, but very much larger than any exsisting species.