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pulmonary cavity. They are generally more or less covered and protected by a calcareous shell, which may be univalve, bivalve, or multivalve.

An order of lamellibranchs having but one muscle for closing the shell, as the oyster.

An edible fungus (Morchella esculenta), the upper part of which is covered with a reticulated and pitted hymenium. It is used as food, and for flavoring sauces. [Written also moril.]

A short piece of ordnance, used for throwing bombs, carcasses, shells, etc., at high angles of elevation, as 45º, and even higher; - - so named from its resemblance in shape to the utensil above described. Mortar bed (Mil.), a framework of wood and iron, suitably hollowed out to receive the breech and trunnions of a mo…

The hard pearly internal layer of several kinds of shells, esp. of pearl oysters, river mussels, and the abalone shells; nacre. See Pearl.

try when discovered by Europeans. -- Mound maker (Zoöl.), any one of the megapodes. -- Shell mound, a mound of refuse shells, collected by aborigines who subsisted largely on shellfish. See Midden, and Kitchen middens.

Having numerous ribs, or costæ, as the leaf of a plant, or as certain shells and corals.

Having many or several cells or compartments; as, a multilocular shell or capsule.

ving numerous spiral coils round a center or nucleus; -- said of the opercula of certain shells.

Any mollusk which has a shell composed of more than two pieces.

Many-valved; having more than two valves; -- said of certain shells, as the chitons.

A genus of marine gastropods, having rough, and frequently spinose, shells, which are often highly colored inside; the rock shells. They abound in tropical seas.

A kind of shell limestone, whose strata form the middle one of the three divisions of the Triassic formation in Germany. See Chart, under Geology.

- Music pen, a pen for ruling at one time the five lines of the musical staff. -- Music shell (Zoöl.), a handsomely colored marine gastropod shell (Voluta musica) found in the East Indies; -- so called because the color markings often resemble printed music. Sometimes applied to other shells similarly marked. -- To f…

Any one of many species of marine bivalve shells of the genus Mytilus, and related genera, of the family Mytidæ. The common mussel (Mytilus edulis; see Illust. under Byssus), and the larger, or horse, mussel (Modiola modiolus), inhabiting the shores both of Europe and America, are edible. The former is extensively used…

A genus of bivalve mollusks, including the common long, or soft-shelled, clam.

A genus of marine bivalve shells, including the common mussel. See Illust. under Byssus.

A pearly substance which lines the interior of many shells, and is most perfect in the mother-of-pearl. [Written also nacker and naker.] See Pearl, and Mother-of-pearl.

The umbones of a bivalve shell.

r allied genera (family Naticidæ.) They burrow beneath the sand, or mud, and drill other shells.