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Situated below the costas, or ribs; as, the subcostal muscles.

Imperfectly crystallized.

Situated above, or on the outside of, the ribs.

Mournful; -- said of a species of music among the ancient Greeks. Busby.

Capable of, or taking place by, alternate contraction and dilatation; as, the systaltic action of the heart.

Influenced in its contraction by heat or cold; -- said of a muscle.

A virgin; a woman pure and chaste; also, a nun. How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! Pope.

A group of butterflies including those known as virgins, or gossamer-winged butterflies.

A whipstock.

Taking away or removing. [Obs.] Where the heart is forestalled with misopinion, ablative directions are found needful to unteach error, ere we can learn truth. Bp. Hall.

y 300 species are Australian or Polynesian, and have terete or vertically compressed leaf stalks, instead of the bipinnate leaves of the much fewer species of America, Africa, etc. Very few are found in temperate climates.

A white crystalline solid, from ammonia by replacement of an equivalent of hydrogen by acetyl.

A crystalline ketone, CH3COC6H5, which may be obtained by the dry distillation of a mixture of the calcium salts of acetic and benzoic acids. It is used as a hypnotic under the name of hypnone.

elike or bristlelike spines or prickles of some animals and plants; also, a needlelike crystal.

Needle-shaped; slender like a needle or bristle, as some leaves or crystals; also, having sharp points like needless. A*cic"u*lar*ly, adv.

Having a terminal fructification; having the fruit at the end of the stalk.

One of the small pedestals, for statues or other ornaments, placed on the apex and at the basal angles of a pediment. Acroteria are also sometimes placed upon the gables in Gothic architecture. J. H. Parker.

A crystalline substance, C9H13O3N, obtained from suprarenal extract, of which it is regarded as the active principle. It is used in medicine as a stimulant and hemostatic.

A semipellucid, uncrystallized variety of quartz, presenting various tints in the same specimen. Its colors are delicately arranged in stripes or bands, or blended in clouds.

compact variety of carbonate of lime, somewhat translucent, or of banded shades of color; stalagmite. The name is used in this sense by Pliny. It is sometimes distinguished as oriental alabaster.