Search the Dictionary

ants and numerous invertebrates, the bony portions of many large and remarkable fishes of extinct groups. See the Diagram under Geology.

An extinct eocene bird from New Mexico, larger than the ostrich.

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.

To perish in any manner; to cease; to become lost or extinct; to be extinguished. Letting the secret die within his own breast. Spectator. Great deeds can not die. Tennyson.

A genus of large extinct Devonian ganoid fishes. In some parts of Ohio remains of the Dinichthys are abundant, indicating animals twenty feet in length.

A genus of large extinct Eocene mammals from Wyoming; -- called also Uintatherium. See Illustration in Appendix.

A genus of extinct, ostrichlike birds of gigantic size, which formerly inhabited New Zealand. See Moa. [Written also Deinornis.]

An order of extinct mesozoic reptiles, mostly of large size (whence the name). Notwithstanding their size, they present birdlike characters in the skeleton, esp. in the pelvis and hind limbs. Some walked on their three-toed hind feet, thus producing the large "bird tracks," so-called, of mesozoic sandstones; others wer…

A large extinct proboscidean mammal from the miocene beds of Europe and Asia. It is remarkable fora pair of tusks directed downward from the decurved apex of the lower jaw.

An extinct Quaternary marsupial from Australia, about as large as the hippopotamus; -- so named because of its two large front teeth. See Illustration in Appendix.

The extinction of life in the human body; separation of the soul from the body; death. We expected Immediate dissolution. Milton.

A large, extinct bird (Didus ineptus), formerly inhabiting the Island of Mauritius. It had short, half-fledged wings, like those of the ostrich, and a short neck and legs; -- called also dronte. It was related to the pigeons.

A small extinct triassic mammal from North Carolina, the earliest yet found in America.

An extinct, long-necked, marine, cretaceous reptile from Kansas, allied to Plesiosaurus.

losely related to the European stag. See Moose, and Wapiti. Irish elk (Paleon.), a large, extinct, Quaternary deer (Cervus giganteus) with widely spreading antlers. Its remains have been found beneath the peat of swamps in Ireland and England. See Illustration in Appendix; also Illustration of Antler. -- Cape elk (Zoö…

An extinct group of marine reptiles, embracing both the Ichthyosauria and the Plesiosauria, now regarded as distinct orders.

A genus of extinct Cretaceous fishes; -- so named from their spear-shaped teeth. They were allied to the pike (Esox).

An extinct marine reptile from the coal measures of Nova Scotia; -- so named because supposed to be of the earliest known reptiles.

One of the gigantic ostrichlike birds of the genus Æpiornis, only recently extinct. Its remains have been found in Madagascar. [Written also Æpyornis.]

An extinct order of Merostomata, of which the genus Eurypterus is the type. They are found only in Paleozoic rocks. [Written also Eurypterida.]