LAM 



LAN 



outlet of which is tlie great river St. 

 Laurence ; lake Baikal, in Asiatic Russia, 

 which sends forth a large stream, which 

 joins the Yenesei. 



4. Those which receive streams of 

 water, and often great rivers, but have 

 no visible outlet whatever, as the Caspian 

 Sea and lake Aral, both in the west of 

 Asia. These are both salt lakes, and 

 were, perhaps, formerly connected with 

 the Black Sea. 



LA'MANTINE. The sea- cow; a living 

 species of the herbivorous Cetacea, or 

 Whale tribe, which inhabits the mouths 

 of rivers on the coasts of Africa and 

 South America. 



LAME'LLA (dim. of lamina, a plate). 

 The lamellce of the agaric are those pa- 

 rallel plates, or gills, in which the spo- 

 rules lie ; collectively, they constitute 

 the hymenium. But the terra lamellar is 

 applied to any part which is surmounted 

 by little plates, or lamellae, as the style 

 of many plants. 



LA'MELLATED {lamella, a little 

 plate). A term applied to shells whose 

 substance is composed of lamellae, or 

 very thin plates, which do not present a 

 solid surface, as in the pearl-oyster. 



LAME'LLIBRANCHIA'TA {lamella, 

 a little plate, branchice, gills). A class of 

 bivalve conchiferous moUusca, which 

 respire by gills in the form of vascular 

 plates of membrane attached to the 

 mantle. The common oyster and mussel 

 are examples of this best known class of 

 acephalous mollusca. 



LAMELLICO'RNES {lamella, a little 

 plate, cornu, a horn). A family of the 

 pentamerous Coleoptera, characterized by 

 the peculiar conformation of the an- 

 tennae, which terminate in a lamellated 

 mass. They include the scarabaei, and 

 the lucani or stag-beetles. 



LAMELLI'FEROUS {lamella, a little 

 plate, fero, to bear). Having a structure 

 consisting of thin plates or leaves, like 

 paper. 



LAME'LLTFORM {lamella, a little 

 plate, forma, shape). Shaped like a thin 

 plate or leaf. 



LAME'LLIROSTRES {lamella, a little 

 plate, rostrum, a beak). The name given 

 by Cuvier to the great family of the Ana- 

 tidcB, comprising the duck, the goose, the 

 swan, &c. 



LA'MINA. The Latin term for a 

 plate, as of metal. In Geology, the word 

 lamincB denotes the smaller layers of 

 which a stratum is composed. 



LA'MINARITES. The name given 

 191 



by Brongniart to a species of fossil fucus, 

 found in the secondary strata of Aix, 

 near La Rochelle. 



LAMP-BLACK. A species of char- 

 coal, produced by collecting the smoke 

 from a lamp ; but it is generally obtained 

 by burning resinous substar.ces, as the 

 dregs of pitch, or pieces of fir-wood, in 

 furnaces, and collecting the smoke in a 

 close-boarded chamber. 



LAMPIC ACID. An acid obtained 

 by Sir H. Davy from the combustion of 

 ether. It is merely acetic acid, com- 

 bined with some etherous matter. 



LAMPY'RIDiE (Ad/xTro), to shine). A 

 family of Coleopterous insects, of the 

 section Malacodermi, named from the 

 genus lampyris, to which belongs the 

 familiar species noctiluca, or the glow- 

 worm, remarkable for its emission of 

 phosphorescent light. 



LANA PHILOSOPHICA. Philoso- 

 phical wool, flowers of zinc, or the snowy 

 flakes of white oxide of zinc, which arise 

 and float in the air from the combustion 

 of that metal. 



LAN'CEOLATE {lancea, a lance). 

 Lance-shaped ; narrowly elliptical, taper- 

 ing to each end, as the leaves of many 

 plants. 



LA'NDSLIP. A portion of land which 

 has slipped away, owing to the disturb- 

 ance of an earthquake, or from being 

 undermined by the washing away of its 

 lower beds by water. 



LANE'S CH ARGI NG- JAR, or 5j9arA- 

 measurer. An apparatus for ascertaining 

 the intensity of an electrical charge, by 

 measuring' the length of the spark, and 

 thus at the same time determining the 

 power of a machine ; and also for obtain- 

 ing a number of successive charges of 

 equal intensity. 



LA'NIADiE {laniiis, the shrike). The 

 Shrikes; a family of the Insessores, or 

 Perching birds, or the Excurtrices of 

 Macgillivray, in which the bill is ab- 

 ruptly hooked at the end, and the notch 

 is sometimes so deep as to form a promi- 

 nent tooth on each side. See Denti- 

 rottres. 



LANIA'RIFORM {lanio, to cut or 

 tear, forma, shape). Shaped like the 

 canine teeth of the Carnivora, which are 

 called laniaries from their office. 



LANTA'NUM {^avOavta, to be con- 

 cealed). A newly-discovered metal, so 

 named from its properties being con,' 

 cealed by those of cerium, with which it 

 is found united. It occurs in the cerite 

 of Bastuas. 



