Search the Dictionary

uirrel. (Zoöl.) (a) One of numerous species of burrowing rodents of the genera Tamias and Spermophilus, having cheek pouches. The former genus includes the Eastern striped squirrel or chipmunk and some allied Western species; the latter includes the prairie squirrel or striped gopher, the gray gopher, and many allied W…

Lindley, because the ovules are fertilized by direct contact of the pollen. Same as Gymnosperm.

A climbing plant of the genus Cardiospermum, having round seeds which are marked with a spot like a heart. Loudon.

A white, semisolid, spermaceti-like hydrocarbon, C16H34, of the paraffin series, found dissolved as an important ingredient of kerosene, and so called because each molecule has sixteen atoms of carbon; -- called also hexadecane.

ense, the greatly modified arm of Argonauta and allied genera, which, after receiving the spermatophores, becomes detached from the male, and attaches itself to the female for reproductive purposes.

scrotum or in the coverings, especially in the serous sac, investing the testicle or the spermatic cord; dropsy of the testicle.

The fusion of a female germ cell (ovum) with a male germ cell (in animals, a spermatozoön) to form a single new cell endowed with the power of developing into a new individual; fertilization; fecundation.

are the I. tinctoria, or common indigo plant, the I. Anil, a larger species, and the I. disperma. -- Indigo purple, a purple obtained from indigo. -- Indigo red, a dyestuff, isomeric with indigo blue, obtained from crude indigo as a dark brown amorphous powder. -- Indigo snake (Zoöl.), the gopher snake. -- Indigo w…

One of the higher alcohols of the paraffine series obtained from spermaceti as a white crystalline solid. It is so called because it occurs in the ethereal salt of lauric acid.

o the sex that begets or procreates young, or (in a wider sense) to the sex that produces spermatozoa, by which the ova are fertilized; not female; as, male organs.

Any one of several species of ground squirrels or gophers of the genus Spermophilus; also, the prairie dog. Marmot squirrel (Zoöl.), a ground squirrel or spermophile. -- Prairie marmot. See Prairie dog.

A white waxy substance, found in small quantities in spermaceti as an ethereal salt of several fatty acids, and regarded as an alcohol of the methane series.

he membranes surrounding the ovum, by which nutrition is assisted and the entrance of the spermatozoa permitted.

The spermatic fluid of fishes.

of a mineral acid. -- Mineral tallow, a familiar name for hatchettite, from its fatty or spermaceti-like appearance. -- Mineral water. See under Water. -- Mineral wax. See Ozocerite. -- Mineral wool, a fibrous wool-like material, made by blowing a powerful jet of air or steam through melted slag. It is a poor condu…

A climbing plant of the genus Menispermum; -- so called from the crescentlike form of the seeds.

A genus of trees of Southern India and Northern Africa. One species (Moringa pterygosperma) is the horse-radish tree, and its seeds, as well as those of M. aptera, are known in commerce as ben or ben nuts, and yield the oil called oil of ben.

g which are balsam of Peru, and balsam of Tolu. The species were formerly referred to Myrospermum.

A spermatocyte or spermoblast.

and the like. (b) The fiber itself. -- New Zealand tea (Bot.), a myrtaceous shrub (Leptospermum scoparium) of New Zealand and Australia, the leaves of which are used as a substitute for tea.