STE 



STI 



by hooks, instead of being placed in a 

 dish. 



STEINHEILITE. Blue quartz; a 

 variety of iolite, from Orayervi in Fin- 

 land. 



STELLA'TJ5 (stella, a star). Ga- 

 liacecB. The Madder tribe of dicotyle- 

 donous plants, characterized by their 

 square stems, and by their verticillate 

 leaves without stipules, presenting a 

 star-like appearance. 



STELLE'RID^ {stella, a star). A 

 family of anenterous echinoderms, in 

 which the radiated form is most complete 

 and general, and in which the species 

 have consequently received the common 

 appellation of star-fishes, or sea-stars. 

 They constitute the third order of the 

 Actinozoaria of De Blainville. 



STENELY'TRANS ((rrevo?, narrow, 

 ^XvTpov, a wing-case). A family of cole- 

 opterous insects, comprising those in 

 which the elytra become narrow at the 

 posterior part of the body. 



STENO'GRAPH Y (arevo^, contracted, 

 Ypd^o), to write). Brachygraphy. The 

 art of short-writing, or the representa- 

 tion of words by means of a few simple 

 characters. Various modes of steno- 

 graphy have been successively employed ; 

 the best is that which employs the fewest 

 arbitrary signs. 



STEPPES. A Russian name applied 

 particularly to the extensive plains which 

 lie on the north-west of Asia. The greater 

 part of what is properly called the steppes 

 forms a considerable portion of the coun- 

 try known as Independent Tartary. 



STERELMI'NTHA (tTTepeor, solid, 

 f\juiv9, an intestinal worm). Intestinal 

 worms which have no true abdominal 

 cavity, as the tape-worm. These are the 

 parenchymatous entozoa of Cuvier. 



STEREOGRA'PHIC (crrepeor, solid, 

 7pa0a), to write). The term applied to 

 that mode of projecting a sphere upon a 

 plane, in which the eye is at a point in 

 the sphere, and the plane of projection 

 is the great circle of which the eye is-at 

 the pole, or a plane parallel to it. See 

 Projection. 



STEREO'METER {arepeof, solid, ne- 

 rpov, a measure). An instrument fox 

 determining the specific gravity of liquid, 

 porous, and pulverulent, as well as of 

 solid bodies. 



STE'REOSCOPE (o-repeip, solid, otko- 

 TTfo), to see). An instrument consisting 

 of two plane mirrors, inclined with backs 

 to each other, at an angle of 90°; per- 

 spective drawings of an object are placed 

 316 



at the sides of the mirrors, and at equal 

 distances from them in the same hori- 

 zontal line ; the spectator placing his head 

 against the edges of the two mirrors, 

 will see a single image of the solid repre- 

 sented by the drawings. 



STE'REOTYPE {arepeoi, solid, t^ttop, 

 a type). The art of printing from cast 

 plates of type metal, instead of from 

 moveable types. 



STERNO'XI {arepvov, Sternum, ofi;f, 

 sharp-pointed). A tribe of coleopterous 

 insects, in which the sternum is pro- 

 longed into a point at both extremities. 



STIBIUM. The old name for the ore 

 of antimony. Hence we meet with the 

 terms stihious and stibic, for the anti- 

 monious and the antimonic, acids. 



STIGMA (o-Ti'Co), to prick). The upper, 

 spongy, and secreting extremity of the 

 style in plants. From its property of 

 absorbing the fecundating matter con- 

 tained in the pollen-grain, it has been 

 termed the pistillary spongelet. 



STILBITE. A crystallized simple 

 lustrous mineral, usually white, one of 

 the zeolite family, frequently included in 

 the mass of the trap rocks. It corre- 

 sponds in composition with felspar, but 

 contains in addition 6 atoms of water. 



STILPNOSIDE'RITE. A mineral 

 allied to meadow iron-ore, said to con- 

 tain phosphoric acid, occurring together 

 with brown iron in Saxony and Bavaria. 



STING OF PLANTS. A modifica- 

 tion of the hair of plants, stiff and pun- 

 gent, giving out an acrid juice when 

 touched, as in nettle. 



STINKSTONE. Swinestone. A va- 

 riety of compact lucullite (a sub-species 

 of limestone), emitting a fetid odour on 

 friction. It occurs in beds in secondary 

 limestone, alternating occasionally with 

 secondary gypsum and beds of clay. 



STIPES. A term applied to the stem 

 of endogenous trees, to the stalk which 

 supports the pileus of the mushroom, 

 &c. 



STI'PITATE {stipes, a stalk). Stalked ; 

 that which is furnished with a stalk, as 

 the pappus of some composite plants. 

 The term does not apply to the petiole of 

 a leaf, or to the peduncle of a flower. 



STIPULE {stipula, the husk of straw). 

 A small leaf-like organ, attached to the 

 base of the petiole of the leaf in many 

 plants. In pinnate leaves there is often 

 a pair of stipules at the base of eacli 

 leaflet, as well as two at the base of the 

 common petiole; the subordinate pairs 

 are called stipels. Hence the terms sti- 



