Search the Dictionary

Ligniform asbestus; also, fossil wood.

Any fossil foraminifer of the genus Rotalia, abundant in the chalk formation. See Illust. under Rhizopod.

An extinct tribe of fossil corals, including numerous species, many of them of large size. They are characteristic of the Paleozoic formations. The radiating septs, when present, are usually in multiples of four. See Cyathophylloid.

(Bot.), the plant love-a-mist. See under Love. -- Saint Cuthbert's beads (Paleon.), the fossil joints of crinoid stems. -- Saint Dabeoc's heath (Bot.), a heatherlike plant (Dabæcia polifolia), named from an Irish saint. -- Saint Distaff's Day. See under Distaff. -- Saint Elmo's fire, a luminious, flamelike appeara…

The fossil track of a saurian.

Any fossil cephalopod shell of the genus Scaphites, belonging to the Ammonite family and having a chambered boat-shaped shell. Scaphites are found in the Cretaceous formation.

es or principles of science; as, a scientific classification; a scientific arrangement of fossils.

A tubular structure found in Potsdam sandstone, and believed to be the fossil burrow of a marine worm.

a screw. -- Screw thread, the spiral which forms a screw. -- Screw stone (Paleon.), the fossil stem of an encrinite. -- Screw tree (Bot.), any plant of the genus Helicteres, consisting of about thirty species of tropical shrubs, with simple leaves and spirally twisted, five-celled capsules; -- also called twisted-ho…

-- Serpent star (Zoöl.), an ophiuran; a brittle star. -- Serpent's tongue (Paleon.), the fossil tooth of a shark; -- so called from its resemblance to a tongue with its root. -- Serpent withe (Bot.), a West Indian climbing plant (Aristolochia odoratissima). -- Tree serpent (Zoöl.), any species of African serpents be…

A fossil serpula shell.

A genus of fossil trees principally found in the coal formation; -- so named from the seallike leaf scars in vertical rows on the surface.

of large aquatic herbivorous mammals, including the manatee, dugong, rytina, and several fossil genera.

s of beautiful, pearly, spiral gastropod shells having a deep slit in the outer lip. Many fossil species are known, and a few living ones are found in deep water in tropical seas.

Any one of numerous species of fossil brachipods of the genus Spirifer, or Delthyris, and allied genera, in which the long calcareous supports of the arms form a large spiral, or helix, on each side.

iceous spicules which occur abundantly in the texture of sponges, and are sometimes found fossil, as in flints.

A genus of fossil whales belonging to the Phocodontia; -- so called because their are serrated, like a shark's.

An extinct order of amphibians found fossil in the Mesozoic rocks; called also Stegocephali, and Labyrinthodonta.

The fossil root stem of a coal plant of the genus Sigillaria.

A fossil shell of the genus Strombus.