CON 



CON 



containing the seeds the fifteenth order in 

 Linnreus's Fragmenta Methodi Naturalis, 

 and the fifty-first of his natural orders. 

 The Coniferse are plants whose female 

 flowers, placed at a distance from the 

 male, either on the same or distinct roots, 

 are formed into a cone. 



" The Coniferse/' says Professor Buck- 

 land, " form a large and very important 

 tribe among living plants, which are cha- 

 racterised not only by peculiarities in 

 their fructification, (having their seeds 

 originally naked, and not enclosed within 

 an ovary ; for which reason they have 

 been arranged in a distinct order, as 

 Gymnospermous Phanegoramise,) but 

 also by certain remarkable arrange- 

 ments in the structure af their wood, 

 whereby the smallest fragment may be 

 identified. The recognition of these pecu- 

 liar characters in the structure of the 

 stem, is especially important to the geo- 

 logical botanist, because the stems of 

 plants are often the only parts which are 

 found preserved in a fossil state. A 

 transverse section of any coniferous 

 wood, in addition to the radiating and 

 concentric lines, exhibits under the mi- 

 croscope a system of reticulations by 

 which coniferae are distinguishable from 

 other plants. It appears that the coni- 

 ferse are common to fossiliferous strata of 

 all periods ; they are least abundant in 

 the transition series, more numerous in 

 the secondai'y, and most frequent in the 

 tertiary series. All the trees of this 

 order secrete resin, have branched trunks, 

 and linear, rigid, entire leaves : species 

 are found in the coldest as well as in the 

 hottest regions." 



CONI'FEROUS. (conifere, Fr.) Bearing 

 fruit in the form of a pine-apple, or cone. 



CO'NIFORM. Conical ; in the form of a 

 cone. 



CO'NILITE. A genus of molluscous uni- 

 valves, placed both by Lamarck and De 

 Blainville in the family Orthocerata. It 

 is conical, straight, or slightly curved. 



" The difference between conilites and 

 baculites, is that the external sheath of 

 the latter is thin, and not filled up with 

 solid matter, from the point of the alveole 

 to the apex, as in the former." Sowerby. 



CO'NITE. An ash- coloured mineral, be- 

 coming brown by exposure to the atmo- 

 sphere. 



CO'NJUGATE. (conjugatus, Lat.) A pin- 

 nate leaf having only one pair of leaflets ; 

 leaves that consist of one pair of pinnae 

 or leaflets. 



CO'NNATE. (connatum, Lat.) Applied to 

 leaves, when two leaves are so united at 

 their base as to have the appearance of 

 one leaf. 



CO'NOID. (from K&VOQ and tldoe, Gr.) 



Resembling a cone in form ; sugar-loaf 

 shaped. 



CONSOLIDATE, (from consolider, Fr. ren- 

 dreferme.} To form into a compact and 

 solid body ; to unite into a solid mass. 



CONSOLIDATED, (consolidatus, Lat. cow 

 solide, Fr.) Made firm, solid, compact. 



CONSOLIDATION, (consolidation, Fr. con- 

 solidazione, It.) The act of making into 

 a compact and solid mass. 



CONSTRINGENT. (constringens, Lat.) 

 Having the power or quality of compress- 

 ing, binding, or contracting into a smaller 

 compass. 



CONTEMPORANEITY. (contemporaneity, 

 Fr.) The state of being contemporary 

 with. This word is used by J. Phillips : 

 " it becomes a very curious problem to 

 determine what are the lines of contem- 

 poraneity in the oolitic system." 



CONTEMPORANEOUS. ) (contemporain, Fr. 



CONTE'MPORARY. $ coetaneo, It.) 

 Existing at the same period. 



CONTE'MPORARY. One who lives at the 

 same time with another. 



CONTE'RMINOUS. (conterminus, Lat.) 

 Bordering upon ; contiguous ; touching 

 at the boundaries. 



CONTERRA'NEOUS. (conterraneus, Lat.) 

 Of the same country. 



CONTIGU'ITY. (contiauite, Fr. contiguita, 

 It.) Actual contact. 



CONTINI/ITY. (continuitas, Lat. continuite, 

 Fr. continuita, It.) Uninterrupted con- 

 nection, without the intervention of any 

 space. 



CONTINUOUS, (continu, Fr.) Joined to- 

 gether, without interruption or inter- 

 vention. 



CONTO'RSION. ) (contorsion, Fr. contorsio, 



CONTO'RTION. $ Lat. contorsione, It.) A 

 twisting, or writhing ; wry motion ; 

 flexure. 



CONTO'RTED. (contortus, Lat.) Twisted ; 

 ravelled ; wound. In conchology, twisted 

 on each other in an oblique direction. 



CONTRA'CTILE. Having the power of con- 

 tracting itself ; having the power of con- 

 traction. 



CONTRA'CTIBLE. Capable of contraction. 



CONTRA'CTIBLENESS. The quality of un- 

 dergoing contraction. 



CONTRACTILITY. The inherent property 

 by which bodies contract. 



CONVE'RGE. (convergo, Lat. converger, 

 Fr.) To tend to one point from different 

 quarters. 



CONVERGENT. J T di Qne int< 



CONVERGING. $ 



CO'NVEX. (convextis, Lat. convene, Fr. 

 convesso, It.) Rising on the exterior 

 into a circular or spherical form ; the 

 opposite to concave. 



CO'NVEXED. Protuberant in a spherical 

 form. 



