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y spinose, shells, which are often highly colored inside; the rock shells. They abound in tropical seas.

an the common duck, often raised in poultry yards. Called also musk duck. It is native of tropical America, from Mexico to Southern Brazil.

A large genus of tropical American trees and shrubs, nearly related to the true myrtles (Myrtus), from which they differ in having very few seeds in each berry.

A genus of leguminous trees of tropical America, the different species of which yield balsamic products, among which are balsam of Peru, and balsam of Tolu. The species were formerly referred to Myrospermum.

A tropical fruit. See Sapodilla. [Written also nisberry.]

existing genus of tetrabranchiate cephalopods. About four species are found living in the tropical Pacific, but many other species are found fossil. The shell is spiral, symmetrical, and chambered, or divided into several cavities by simple curved partitions, which are traversed and connected together by a continuous a…

; especially, one of a race of black or very dark persons who inhabit the greater part of tropical Africa, and are distinguished by crisped or curly hair, flat noses, and thick protruding lips; also, any black person of unmixed African blood, wherever found.

hard smooth shell, and a yellowish or bluish color. The seeds grow in the prickly pods of tropical, woody climbers of the genus Cæsalpinia. C. Bonduc has yellowish seeds; C.Bonducella, bluish gray. [Spelt also neckar nut, nickar nut.]

aving a hard bony achene. Several species are found in the United States and many more in tropical regions. -- Nut tree, a tree that bears nuts. -- Nut weevil (Zoöl.), any species of weevils of the genus Balaninus and other allied genera, which in the larval state live in nuts.

ee (Myristica fragrans), a native of the Molucca Islands, but cultivated elsewhere in the tropics.

A genus of tropical corals, usually branched, and having a very volid texture.

A genus of polished marine gastropod shells, chiefly tropical, and often beautifully colored.

A genus of tropical orchidaceous plants, the flower of one species of which (O. Papilio) resembles a butterfly.

arance. About one hundred species occur in the United States, but several thousand in the tropics.

with ornamental peltate and palmately cleft foliage, growing as a woody perennial in the tropics, and cultivated as an herbaceous annual in temperate regions; -- called also castor-oil plant. [Sometimes corrupted into palmcrist.]

d are gathered and highly esteemed as food by the natives. An allied species inhabits the tropical Atlantic and swarms in June or July.

nt, like trypsin, present in the juice of the green fruit of the papaw (Carica Papaya) of tropical America.

A tree (Carica Papaya) of tropical America, belonging to the order Passifloreæ. It has a soft, spongy stem, eighteen or twenty feet high, crowned with a tuft of large, long-stalked, palmately lobed leaves. The milky juice of the plant is said to have the property of making meat tender. Also, its dull orange-colored, me…

An annual asteraceous herb (Spilances oleracea) grown in tropical countries as a pungent salad, and also used medicinally.

Partridge wood (a) A variegated wood, much esteemed for cabinetwork. It is obtained from tropical America, and one source of it is said to be the leguminous tree Andira inermis. Called also pheasant wood. (b) A name sometimes given to the dark-colored and striated wood of some kind of palm, which is used for walking s…