L I L 



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L I M 



LI'LY E'NCRINITE. (The encrinites monili- 

 formis.) So called, because the arms, 

 when folded, resemble the head of the 

 lily. This is one of the most beautiful 

 of the fossil crinnoidea, hitherto found 

 only in the muschelkalk of the new red 

 sandstone group. Mr. Parkinson states 

 that, independently of the number of 

 pieces which may be contained in the 

 vertebral column, and which, from its 

 probable length, may be very numerous, 

 the fossil skeleton of the superior part of 

 the lily encrinite consists of at least 

 twenty-six thousand six hundred pieces. 

 The body is supported by a long verte- 

 bral column attached to the ground by 

 an enlargement of its base. It is com- 

 posed of many cylindrical thick joints, 

 articulating firmly with each other, and 

 having a central aperture, like the spinal 

 canal in the vertebra of a quadruped, 

 through which a small alimentary cavity 

 descends from the stomach to the base of 

 the column. From one extremity of the 

 vertebral column to the other, and 

 throughout the hands and fingers, the 

 surface of each bone articulates with that 

 adjacent to it, with the most perfect 

 regularity and nicety of adjustment. 

 " So exact and methodical is this arrange- 

 ment," says Prof. Buckland, in his 

 Bridgewater Treatise, " even to the ex- 

 tremity of its minutest tentacula, that it 

 is just as improbable, that the metals 

 which compose the wheels of a chronometer 

 should for themselves have calculated 

 and arranged the form and number of the 

 teeth of each respective wheel, and that 

 these wheels should have placed them- 

 selves in the precise position, fitted to 

 attain the end resulting from the com- 

 bined action of them all, as for the suc- 

 cessive hundreds and thousands of little 

 bones that compose an encrinite, to have 

 arranged themselves, in a position subor- 

 dinate to the end produced by the com- 

 bined effect of their united mechanism ; 

 each acting its peculiar part in harmo- 

 nious subordination to the rest, and all 

 conjointly producing a result which no 

 single series of them acting separately, 

 could possibly have effected." The pelvis 

 of the lily encrinite resembles in shape a 

 depressed vase, and, by some, it is sup- 

 posed that its upper part was closed by 

 an integument, in the centre of which 

 was placed the mouth. The encrinite 

 differs from the pentacrinite in having its 

 plates, or vertebrae, rounded, whereas in 

 the pentacrinite they are pentagonal. 



LI'MA. (lima, Lat. a file.) A genus of 

 shells, placed by Cuvier in the family 

 Ostracea, order Acephala testacea ; and 

 by Lamarck in the family Pectenides. 

 Lima differ from pectens in the greater 



length of their shell in a direction per- 

 pendicular to the hinge ; they have also a 

 wide opening for the passage of a byssus, 

 by which they are attached. The lima is 

 a longitudinal, neaiiy equivalved, eared 

 bivalve, with " m the beaks separated by a 

 cavity. Hinge toothless. The hinge- 

 pit, which receives the ligament, partly 

 internal and partly external. The lima is 

 a marine shell, found at depths varying 

 to thirty fathoms, moored by a byssus. 

 Lamarck describes five fossil species of 

 lima found in the neighbourhood of Paris, 

 namely, L. spathulata, L. balloides, L. 

 obliqua, L. dilatata, L. fragilis. 



LI'MAX. (Umax, Lat. a snail.) The 

 cochlea terrestris, or snail, so called from 

 its sliminess. 



LIMB, (from limbus, Lat.) 



1. An edge or border, as the sun's limb, 

 the moon's limb, &c. 



2. An extremity of the body, as the arm 

 or leg. 



3. In botany, the outer spreading portion 

 of a monopetalous corolla. 



LI'MBILITE. (from Limbourg, in Swabia.) 

 A compact mineral of a honey-yellow 

 colour, supposed to be a decomposed 

 olivine. On exposure to the action of 

 the blow-pipe, it fuses into a compact, 

 shining, black enamel. 



LIME. The oxide of calcium, one hundred 

 parts consisting of 72 of calcium, its me- 

 tallic basis, and 28 of oxygen. Lime does 

 not exist in a pure state in nature, it has 

 so strong an affinity for carbonic acid as 

 to absorb it from the atmosphere, when 

 it becomes converted into carbonate of 

 lime, constituting the different kinds of 

 marble, chalk, and limestone, and form- 

 ing extensive strata, and the largest 

 mountain ranges. Lime is a white or 

 light grey earth, fusible only by the heat 

 of a galvanic battery, or of a gas blow- 

 pipe ; it is exceedingly caustic, and if 

 water be sprinkled upon it, great heat is 

 produced, the water unites with the lime, 

 forming a hydrate of lime. Lime is 

 partially soluble in water, and there is a 

 singular circumstance connected with 

 this, namely, that cold water dissolves a 

 larger proportion than hot water. 



LI'MESTONE. A genus of minerals com- 

 prising many species. Mr. Bakewell ob- 

 serves, "however various in external 

 appearance limestone may be, it is, if 

 pure, essentially composed of 57 parts of 

 lime and 43 carbonic acid ; but in some 

 rocks the limestone is intermixed with 

 magnesia, alumine, silex, or iron. The 

 specific gravity of limestone varies from 

 2-50 to 2-80. All limestones may be 

 scraped with a knife. They are infusible ; 

 but when impure, by an intermixture 

 with a portion of other earths, they vi- 



