BATRACHIANS.--A class of animals allied to the Reptiles, but undergoing a
peculiar metamorphosis, in which the young animal is generally aquatic and
breathes by gills. (Examples, Frogs, Toads, and Newts.)
BOULDERS.--Large transported blocks of stone generally embedded in clays or
gravels.
BRACHIOPODA.--A class of marine Mollusca, or soft-bodied animals, furnished
with a bivalve shell, attached to submarine objects by a stalk which passes
through an aperture in one of the valves, and furnished with fringed arms,
by the action of which food is carried to the mouth.
BRANCHIAE.--Gills or organs for respiration in water.
BRANCHIAL.--Pertaining to gills or branchiae.
CAMBRIAN SYSTEM.--A series of very ancient Palaeozoic rocks, between the
Laurentian and the Silurian. Until recently these were regarded as the
oldest fossiliferous rocks.
CANIDAE.--The Dog-family, including the Dog, Wolf, Fox, Jackal, etc.
CARAPACE.--The shell enveloping the anterior part of the body in
Crustaceans generally; applied also to the hard shelly pieces of the
Cirripedes.
CARBONIFEROUS.--This term is applied to the great formation which includes,
among other rocks, the coal-measures. It belongs to the oldest, or
Palaeozoic, system of formations.
CAUDAL.--Of or belonging to the tail.
CEPHALOPODS.--The highest class of the Mollusca, or soft-bodied animals,
characterised by having the mouth surrounded by a greater or less number of
fleshy arms or tentacles, which, in most living species, are furnished with
sucking-cups.
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