456 THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 



CoMPOSiTiE or CoMPOSiTOUs Plants. — Plants in which the inflores- 

 cence consists of numerous small flowers (florets) brought together 

 into a dense head, the base of which is enclosed by a common 

 envelope. {Examples, the Daisy, Dandelions, etc.) 



CoNFERViE. — The filamentous weeds of fresh water. 



Conglomerate. — A rock made up of fragments of rock or pebbles, 

 cemented together by some other material. 



Corolla. — The second envelope of a flower usually composed of col- 

 ored, leaf-like organs (petals), which may be united by their edges 

 either in the basal part or throughout. 



Correlation. — The normal coincidence of one phenomenon, character, 

 etc., with another. 



Corymb. — A bunch of flowers in which those springing from the lower 

 part of the flower-stalks are supported on long stalks so as to 

 be nearly on a level with the upper ones. 



Cotyledons. — The first or seed-leaves of plants. 



Crustaceans. — A class of articulated animals, having the skin of the 

 body generally more or less hardened by the deposition of cal- 

 cereous matter, breathing by means of gills. (Examples, Crab, Lob- 

 ster, Shrimp, etc.) 



CuRCULio. — The old generic term for the Beetles known as Weevils, 

 characterized by their four jointed feet, and by the head being 

 produced into a sort of beak, upon the sides of which the antennse 

 are inserted. 



Cutaneous. — Of or belonging to the skin. 



Degradation. — The wearing down of land by the action of the sea or 

 of meteoric agencies. 



Denudation. — The wearing away of the surface of the land by water. 



Devonian System or Formation. — ^A series of Palaeozoic rocks, in- 

 cluding the Old Red Sandstone. 



Dicotyledons or Dicotyledonous Plants. — A class of plants charac- 

 terized by having two seed-leaves, by the formation of new wood 

 between the bark and the old wood (exogenous growth) and by 

 the reticulation of the veins of the leaves. The parts of the flowers 

 are generally in multiples of five. 



Differentiation. — The separation or discrimination of parts or organs 

 which in simpler forms of life are more or less united. 



Dimorphic. — ^Having two distinct forms — Dimorphism is the condition 

 of the appearance of the same species under two dissimilar forms. 



DicECious. — Having the organs of the sexes upon distinct individuals. 



Diorite. — A peculiar form of Greenstone. 



Dorsal. — Of or belonging to the back. 



