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Any carnivorous animal of the genus Lutra, and related genera. Several species are described. They have large, flattish heads, short ears, and webbed toes. They are aquatic, and feed on fish. Their fur is soft and valuable. The common otter of Europe is Lutra vulgaris; the American otter is L. Canadensis; other species…

A tube, or duct, for the passage of ova from the ovary to the exterior of the animal or to the part where further development takes place. In mammals the oviducts are also called Fallopian tubes.

Producing young from rggs; as, an oviparous animal, in which the egg is generally separated from the animal, and hatched after exclusion; -- opposed to viviparous.

The organ with which many insects and some other animals deposit their eggs. Some ichneumon files have a long ovipositor fitted to pierce the eggs or larvæ of other insects, in order to lay their own eggs within the same.

springs and is merely awakened to activity by the spermatozoön; -- opposed to spermism or animalculism.

ry (called encasement theory), current during the last century, that the egg was the real animal germ, and that at the time of fecundation the spermatozoa simply gave the impetus which caused the unfolding of the egg, in which all generations were inclosed one within the other. Also called ovist.

The male of bovine quadrupeds, especially the domestic animal when castrated and grown to its full size, or nearly so. The word is also applied, as a general name, to any species of bovine animals, male and female. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field. Ps. viii. 7.

The means of nutriment to animals or plants; food; nourishment; hence, that which feeds or sustains, as fuel for a fire; that upon which the mind or soul is nourished; as, intellectual pabulum.

A bird or other animal having thick toes.

A path, as over mountains, followed by pack animals.

A cushionlike thickening of the skin one the under side of the toes of animals.

Reproduction by young or larval animals.

Any uneasy sensation in animal bodies, from slight uneasiness to extreme distress or torture, proceeding from a derangement of functions, disease, or injury by violence; bodily distress; bodily suffering; an ache; a smart. "The pain of Jesus Christ." Chaucer.

See To pair off, under Pair, v. i. Pairyng time, the time when birds or other animals pair.

ier half of the "Stone Age;" the remains belonging to it are for the most part of extinct animals, with relics of human beings.

An animal resembling, or allied to, the paleothere.

The science of extinct animals, a branch of paleontology.

A solid crystallizable fat, found abundantly in animals and in vegetables. It occurs mixed with stearin and olein in the fat of animal tissues, with olein and butyrin in butter, with olein in olive oil, etc. Chemically, it is a glyceride of palmitic acid, three molecules of palmitic acid being united to one molecule of…

ancreatic juice; also, a preparation containing such a ferment, made from the pancreas of animals, and used in medicine as an aid to digestion.

body of a violin; fiddle-shaped; as, a panduriform leaf; panduriform color markings of an animal.