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The prickly fruit or seed of certain plants (as some species of Echinospermum and Cynoglossum) which cling to the clothing of those who brush by them.

That portion of the spermatospore which is not converted into spermatoblasts, but carries them.

The name of several plants of the genera Spermacoce and Diodia, of the Madder family.

The sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus). It has in the top of its head a large cavity, containing an oily fluid, which, after death, concretes into a whitish crystalline substance called spermaceti. See Sperm whale.

l form of candle employed as a standard in photometric measurements; usually, a candle of spermaceti so constructed as to burn at the rate of 120 grains, or 7.8 grams, per hour. -- To curse by bell, book and candle. See under Bell.

ive the small animals upon which they feed. (b) The Denticete, including the dolphins and sperm whale, which have teeth. Another suborder (Zeuglodontia) is extinct. The Sirenia were formerly included in the Cetacea, but are now made a separate order.

An oily hydrocarbon, C16H32, of the ethylene series, obtained from spermaceti.

A white, waxy substance, forming the essential part of spermaceti.

d to exist in a series of compounds homologous with the ethyl compounds, and derived from spermaceti.

Of, pertaining to, or derived from, spermaceti. Cetylic alcohol (Chem.), a white, waxy, crystalline solid, obtained from spermaceti, and regarded as homologous with ordinary, or ethyl, alcohol; ethal; - - called also cetyl alcohol.

The varicose dilatation of the spermatic vein.

Any structure having the appearance of a cord, esp. a tendon or a nerve. See under Spermatic, Spinal, Umbilical, Vocal.

The division of Cetacea in which the teeth are developed, including the sperm whale, dolphins, etc.

The faculty of multiplying in two ways; -- by ova fecundated by spermatic fluid, and asexually, as by buds. See Parthenogenesis.

the same species, and to animals in which the ovum is produced by one individual and the sperm cell by another; -- opposed to monoecious.

A subclass of algæ including all the red or purplish seaweeds; the Rhodospermeæ of many authors; -- so called from the rosy or florid color of most of the species.

unite by conjugation, forming a zygospore. The gametes of higher plants are of two sorts, sperm (male) and egg (female); their union is called fertilization, and the resulting zygote an oöspore. In Zoöl., gamete is most commonly used of the sexual cells of certain Protozoa, though also extended to the germ cells of hig…

One of several western American species of the genus Spermophilus, of the family Sciuridæ; as, the gray gopher (Spermophilus Franklini) and the striped gopher (S. tridecemlineatus); -- called also striped prairie squirrel, leopard marmot, and leopard spermophile. See Spermophile.

Heath grouse. -- Gray mill or millet (Bot.), a name of several plants of the genus Lithospermum; gromwell. -- Gray mullet (Zoöl.) any one of the numerous species of the genus Mugil, or family Mugilidæ, found both in the Old World and America; as the European species (M. capito, and M. auratus), the American striped…

A plant of the genus Lithospermum (L. arvense), anciently used, because of its stony pericarp, in the cure of gravel. The German gromwell is the Stellera. [Written also gromill.]