A P I 



[19 ] 



A P Y 



APIOCRI'NITE. } The pear 



APIOCRI'NITES ROTUNDUS. $ encrinite, 

 so named from the remains of the animal 

 possessing a pear-like form. The Apio- 

 crinites rotundas, or Pear encrinite has 

 been plentifully found in the neighbour- 

 hood of Bradford, near Bath, and at 

 Pfeffingen, in Germany. In reference to 

 this species of encrinite, Professor Buck- 

 land thus writes : " When living, their 

 roots were confluent, and formed a thin 

 pavement at this place, over the bottom 

 of the sea, from which their stems and 

 branches rose into a thick submarine 

 forest, composed of these beautiful zoo- 

 phytes. The stems and bodies are occa- 

 sionally found united, as in their living 

 state ; the arms and fingers have almost 

 always been separated, but their dislo- 

 cated fragments still remain, covering 

 the pavement of roots that overspreads 

 the surface of the subjacent oolitic lime- 

 stone rock. 



APO'DA. An order of animals belonging 

 to the class Echinodermata ; division 

 Radiata. They are distinguished from 

 Pedicellata by the absence of the vesicu- 

 lar feet, which peculiarly belong to animals 

 of that order. 



A'POGEE. (apogee, Fr. apogeo, It. apo- 

 ffteum, Lat. from airb and yaia, Gr.) 

 That point of an orbit furthest from the 

 earth. The apogee of the sun is that 

 part of the earth's orbit which is at the 

 greatest distance from the sun. 



APOPHY'LHTE. A mineral whose consti- 

 tuent parts are silica 50-76, lime 22'39, 

 potash 4-18, water 17-36, and a trace of 

 fluoric acid. This substance is called 

 also Ichthyophthalmite, and Fish-eye 

 stone. It occurs both massive and re- 

 gularly crystallized. It is found in 

 Sweden, in secondary traprocks in Scot- 

 land and the Hebrides, and in Iceland, 

 whence the finest specimens are ob- 

 tained. 



APO'PHYSIS. (a7r60u<ri, Gr. apophyse, 

 Fr.) A process of a bone, and part of 

 the same bone ; herein differing from 

 epiphysis, which is a process attached to 

 a bone, and not a part of the same bone ; 

 an excrescence. 



APPE'NDAGE. Something added to another 

 thing, without being necessary to its 

 essence. In botany, applied to additional 

 organs of plants, which are not universal 

 or essential ; neither is any one plant fur- 

 nished with them all. Botanists distin- 

 guish seven kinds of appendages, namely, 

 stipules, floral leaves, thorns, prickles, 

 tendrils, glands, and hairs. 



APPE'NDANT. (from appendo, Lat.) Hang- 

 ing to something else, but not forming an 

 integral part. 



APPE'NDANT. That which belongs to 



another thing, as an accidental, or ad- 

 ventitious, part. 



APPE'NDICLE. (appendicula,Ija.t.) A small 

 appendage. 



APPENDI'CULATE. Appendicled, or ap- 

 pended. Applied to flowers furnished 

 with some addition distinct from the 

 tube ; to petioles with leafy films at the 

 base; to seeds furnished with hooks, 

 scales, &c. 



A'PPETENCY. (appetentia, Lat. appetence, 

 Fr.) The disposition of organized bodies 

 to select and imbibe such portions of 

 matter as serve to support and nourish 

 them. Webster. 



APPOSI'TION. (appositio, Lat. apposition, 

 Fr. addizione, It. ) The addition of new 

 matter. 



APPRE'SSED. (appressus, Lat.) In bo- 

 tany, applied to leaves pressed to the 

 stem ; also to peduncles. 



A'PPULSE. (appulsus, Lat. appulse, Fr. 

 appulso, It.) 



1. The act of striking against anything. 



2. The approach of any planet to a con- 

 junction. 



A'PSIDES. (apsides, Fr. from a^t'g, Gr.) 

 The plural of apsis.) Those two points 

 in the orbit of a planet, one of which is 

 the farthest from, and the other the 

 nearest to the sun. The motion of the 

 apsides may be represented, by supposing 

 a planet to move in an ellipse, while the 

 ellipse itself is slowly revolving about 

 the sun in the same plane. This motion 

 of the major axis, which is direct in all 

 the orbits except that of the planet 

 Venus, is irregular, and so slow, that it 

 requires more than 109,830 years for the 

 major axis of the earth's orbit to accom- 

 plish a sidereal revolution. 



A'PSIS. (ai|/''c. Gr. apsis, Lat.) A term 

 used indifferently for either of the two 

 points of a planet's orbit, where it is at 

 the greatest or least distance from the sun 

 or earth ; and hence the line connecting 

 those points is called the line of the 

 apsides. The apsis at the greatest dis- 

 tance from the sun is called the aphelion, 

 and at the greatest distance from the 

 earth is called the apogee ; while that at 

 the least distance from the sun is termed 

 the perihelion, and at the least distance 

 from the earth, theperigee. 



A'PTER. > (from a, priv. and Trrtpov, a 



A'PTERA. $ wing.) Insects which have 

 no wings, forming, according to the Lin- 

 nsean system, the seventh order of in- 

 sects. 



A'PTEROUS. Destitute of wings ; wingless. 



A'PULUM. The name of a metallic substance 

 obtained from alumina. 



APY'ROUS. (from a, priv. and irvp, Gr. 

 apyre, Fr.J Capable of resisting the 

 action of fire. 



