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The tropic bird. Boatswain's mate, an assistant of the boatswain. Totten.

A large tropical fish (Orcynus pelamys) allied to the tunny. It is about three feet long, blue above, with four brown stripes on the sides. It is sometimes found on the American coast.

ch of the animal, where they live several months and pass through their larval states. In tropical America one species sometimes lives under the human skin, and another in the stomach. See Gadfly.

A genus of plants of the order Nyctoginaceæ, from tropical South America, having the flowers surrounded by large bracts.

A very heavy wood of a reddish color, imported from Brazil and other tropical countries, for cabinet-work, and for dyeing. The best is the heartwood of Cæsalpinia echinata, a leguminous tree; but other trees also yield it. An interior sort comes from Jamaica, the timber of C. Braziliensis and C. crista. This is often d…

g an elongated spiral shell, often of large size. The species are numerous ingabundant in tropical America.

of the genus Thamnophilus, and allied genera; -- called also batarg. Many species inhabit tropical America. -- Bush tit (Zoöl.), a small bird of the genus Psaltriparus, allied to the titmouse. P. minimus inhabits California.

One of the seeds or large beans of a tropical vine (Entada scandens) used for making purses, scent bottles, etc.

ica. Calabar bean, The of a climbing legumious plant (Physostigma venenosum), a native of tropical Africa. It is highly poisonous. It is used to produce contraction of the pupil of the eye; also in tetanus, neuralgia, and rheumatic diseases; -- called also ordeal bean, being used by the negroes in trials for witchcraft…

utensil, made from the dry shell of a calabash or gourd. Calabash tree. (Bot.), a tree of tropical America (Crescentia cujete), producing a large gourdike fruit, containing a purgative pulp. Its hard shell, after the removal of the pulp, is used for cups, bottles, etc. The African calabash tree is the baobab.…

A name formerly given to various fevers occuring in tropics; esp. to a form of furious delirium accompanied by fever, among sailors, which sometimes led the affected person to imagine the sea to be a green field, and to throw himself into it.

northern limit of the sun's course in summer; hence, the sign of the summer solstice. See Tropic.

A genus of tropical plants, with large leaves and often with showy flowers. The Indian shot. (C. Indica) is found in gardens of the northern United States.

A tenacious, elastic, gummy substance obtained from the milky sap of several plants of tropical South America (esp. the euphorbiaceous tree Siphonia elastica or Hevea caoutchouc), Asia, and Africa. Being impermeable to liquids and gases, and not readly affected by exposure to air, acids, and alkalies, it is used, espec…

sign of zodiac, into which the sun enters at the winter solstice, about December 21. See Tropic. The sun was entered into Capricorn. Dryden.

A tree (Anacardium occidentale) of the same family which the sumac. It is native in tropical America, but is now naturalized in all tropical countries. Its fruit, a kidney-shaped nut, grows at the extremity of an edible, pear-shaped hypocarp, about three inches long. Casbew nut, the large, kidney-shaped fruit of the ca…

the Myriapoda; esp. the large, flattened, venomous kinds of the order Chilopoda, found in tropical climates. they are many-jointed, and have a great number of feet. [Written also centipede (

One of a tropical family of snakelike lizards (Chalcidæ), having four small or rudimentary legs.

One of the Chromidæ, a family of fresh-water fishes abundant in the tropical parts of America and Africa. Some are valuable food fishes, as the bulti of the Nile.

A tropical fish of the Atlantic ocean (Dutes auriga); -- called also charioteer. The name refers to a long, lashlike spine of the dorsal fin.