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One of the orders of Nemertina, characterized by the presence of a peculiar armature of spines or plates in the proboscis.

A small bunch or bundle; a fascicle; as, a fascicule of fibers, hairs, or spines.

A band of minute tubercles, bearing modified spines, on the shells of spatangoid sea urchins. See Spatangoidea.

A kind of mineral of the spinel group.

An accessory organ such as a tendril, stipule, spine, and the like. [R.] Gray.

Zinc spinel; automolite.

A precious stone of any kind, as the ruby, emerald, topaz, sapphire, beryl, spinel, etc., especially when cut and polished for ornament; a jewel. Milton.

The spine of a hog. [Obs.]

ianus) about two feet long, allied to the porcupines but with harsh, bristly hair, and no spines; -- called also ground rat. -- Ground pigeon (Zoöl.), one of numerous species of pigeons which live largely upon the ground, as the tooth-billed pigeon (Didunculus strigirostris), of the Samoan Islands, and the crowned pig…

hes, found in Devonian and carboniferous strata; -- so named from their round, sculptured spines.

rless caterpillars ornamented with green and other bright colors, and often with a caudal spine. See Sphinx, also Tobacco worm, and Tomato worm. Tobacco Hawk Moth (Macrosila Carolina), and its Larva, the Tobacco Worm.

of Asia and Africa, having the hair on the upper part of its body mixed with prickles or spines. It is able to roll itself into a ball so as to present the spines outwardly in every direction. It is nocturnal in its habits, feeding chiefly upon insects.

Pertaining to, or like, the spine of a herring; especially, characterized by an arrangement of work in rows of parallel lines, which in the alternate rows slope in different directions. Herringbone stitch, a kind of cross-stitch in needlework, chiefly used in flannel. Simmonds.

Having the spines of the dorsal fin unsymmetrical, or thickened alternately on the right and left sides.

Rough with bristles or minute spines.

Having the dorsal fin spines symmetrical, and in the same line; -- said of certain fishes.

tion from the head or thorax of an insect, or the head of a reptile, or fish. (d) A sharp spine in front of the fins of a fish, as in the horned pout.

s Phrynosoma, of which nine or ten species are known. These lizards have several hornlike spines on the head, and a broad, flat body, covered with spiny scales. They inhabit the dry, sandy plains from California to Mexico and Texas. Called also horned lizard. -- Horned viper. (Zoöl.) See Cerastes.

land. It was about twenty feet long, protected by bony plates in the skin, and armed with spines.

or other element, of a vertebra developed from the ventral side of the centrum, as hæmal spines, and chevron bones. -- Hy`pa*po*phys"i*al, a.