GLOSSARY 



OF 



TERMS USED IN CONCHOLOGY. 



ACUMINATED, terminated in a sharp point. 



ANTERIOR, (in Univalves,) the part which 

 forms the spire : (in Bivalves,) see Mar- 

 gin. 



APERTURE, the orifice or opening of the 

 shell. It is called angular, when its cir- 

 cumference has several angles ; bimargin- 

 ated, when the right lip forms a double 

 margin ; coarctate, contracted ; compressed, 

 flattened ; gaping, when one of the ex- 

 tremities is wider than the other; linear, 

 when narrow, and the length greatly 

 exceeds the breadth ; transverse, when the 

 breadth is greater than the length. 



APEX, the tip, or small end of a shell. 



ARTICULATED, (applied to Multiyalves,) 

 when the different pieces of which the 

 shell is composed, are so strongly united, 

 that they appear to form one shell : (when 

 applied to Bivalves,) see Teeth. 



AURICULATED, having ears. 



BASE, (applied to Multivalves,) the part on 

 which the shell is supported: (to Uni- 

 valves,) the most elevated part of the 

 shell, opposite to the spire. 



BEAK. Beaked, having the extremity of 

 the base of the shell elongated and con- 

 tracted in the form of a beak. 



BEARDED, when the epidermis is of a 

 bristly or hairy nature. 



BIFID, forked. 



BYSSUS, a hair-like substance, formed by 

 some of the animals of Bivalves, by which 

 they attach themselves to extraneous 

 bodies. 



CALLOUS, indurated. 



CALLUS, a thick excrescence. 



CANAL, the prolongation of the mouth in a 

 kind of groove or gutter, as in the Murex 

 and Strombus. 



CANALICULATED,channeledorgrooved. 



CARDINAL, see Teeth. 



CARINATED, having the form of a boat's 

 keel. 



CARTILAGE, see Ligament. 



CARTILAGINOUS, resembling a liga- 

 ment. 



CHAMBERED, when the shell is internally 

 divided by partitions parallel to the aper- 

 ture. 



CILIATED, surrounded with parallel fila- 

 ments. 



CLAVATE, club-shaped. 



COLUMELLA, that part of the shell round 

 which the whorls turn. 



COMPRESSED, (in Bivalves,) when the 

 valves are nearly flat, or flattened. 



CONCAMERATED, see Chambered. 



CONVOLUTE, when the whorls turn round 

 a lengthened cone, nearly vertical to each 

 other. 



