L I T 



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L O L 



eat, Gr. lithophaye, Fr.) Molluscs which 

 eat holes in stones and rocks. While the 

 lithodomi penetrate rocks by chemical ac- 

 tion, dissolving the stony matter.lithophagi 

 mechanically perforate, or bore into them. 

 They belong to Lamarck's family of Li- 

 thophagidge. 



LITHOPHA'GID^. A family of terebrating 

 bivalves. 



LI'THOPHYTE. (from \i9og, a stone, and 

 0yrov, a plant, Gr. lithopkyte, Fr.) 



1 . A stony plant ; a coral. 



2. The animal which secretes coral. 

 LITHO'XYLE. (from \iQoQ, stone, and 



%v\ov, wood, Gr.) Silicified wood. 

 LI'TTORAL. (littoralis, Lat.) Pertaining 

 to the shore. 



LI'TUITE. A fossil shell found in the tran- 

 sition limestone together with the Ortho- 

 ceratite. The lituite is a chambered shell, 

 partially coiled up into a spiral form at 

 its smaller extremity, its larger end being 

 continued into a straight cube of con- 

 siderable length, separated by transverse 

 plates, outwardly concave, and sepa- 

 rated by a siphuncle. Professor Buck- 

 land. 



LITU'OLA. A multilocular univalve ; a ge- 

 nus of microscopic foraminifera, partly 

 spiral, the last turn being straight at the 

 end. They are found both recent and 

 fossil ; of the latter, Lamarck describes 

 two species. 



LITU'OLITE. A fossil lituola. 



LI'ZARD. (lezard, Fr. lucertola, It. la- 

 certus, Lat.) In Cuvier's arrangement 

 the lizards form the second genus of La- 

 certinida. They are distinguished by the 

 tongue, which is thin, extensible, and ter- 

 minating in two threads. The extremity 

 of the palate is armed with two rows of 

 teeth, which are generally either recur- 

 vated or conical. Lizards have usually a 

 single perforated eye-lid, which, when 

 closed by its orbicular muscle, exhibits 

 merely a horizontal slit. The body is 

 naked, with four feet and a tail ; and they 

 possess the property of reproducing the 

 tail should it be lost. 



LOAM, (lehm, Germ.) An earthy mix- 

 ture, in which sand and clay form large 

 proportions: when the compound con- 

 tains much calcareous matter it is usually 

 called marl ; a mixture of sand and clay. 

 Any soil which does not cohere so strongly 

 as clay, but more strongly than chalk, is 

 designated loam. 



LOA'MY. Containing loam ; of the nature 

 of loam. 



LO'BATE. ^ 1. In entomology, when the 



LO'BATED. > margin is divided by deep, 



LO'BED. J undulating, and successive 

 incisions. 



2. In botany, applied to leaves, when the 

 margins of the segments are rounded ; 



according to the number of lobes, the leaf 

 is termed bilobate, trilobate, &c. 

 LOBE, (lobus, Lat. lobe,Fr. Joio, It.) 



1. A rounded portion of certain bodies, 

 as the lobes of the brain, the lobe of the 

 ear, the lobes of the lungs, liver, &c. 



2. In botany, the cotyledon of the seed is 

 also called the lobe. 



LO'BULE. The diminutive of lobe; a little 

 lobe. 



LOCOMO'TION. (from /ocwsand motio, Lat.) 

 The power of moving at will from one 

 place to another ; of transferring the 

 whole body from one place to another. 

 The power of locomotion constitutes the 

 most general and palpable feature of dis- 

 tinction between animals and vegetables. 

 Excepting a few among the lower orders 

 of the creation, such as molluscs and zoo- 

 phytes, all animals are gifted with the 

 power of spontaneously changing their 

 situation. 



LOCOMO'TIVE. Having the power of trans- 

 ferring itself from one place to another. 



LOCUH'CIDAL. In botany, a particular 

 kind of dehiscence. Some fruits open 

 by the dividing of each carpellum at its 

 midrib, so that the dissepiments stick to- 

 gether, and to two halves of contiguous 

 carpella ; this is called loculicidal dehis- 



LODE, (a mining term.) A word used to 

 signify a regular vein or course, whether 

 metallic or not ; but most commonly it 

 signifies a metallic vein. When the sub- 

 stances forming the lodes are reducible to 

 metal, the lodes are said to be alive ; 

 otherwise, they are termed dead lodes. 



Loess. (Germ.) An alluvial tertiary de- 

 posit, consisting of calcareous loam, oc- 

 curring in patches between Cologne and 

 Basle. It encloses freshwater and land 

 shells, as well as some few mammiferous 

 remains. Mr. Lyell observes, " the loess 

 is found reposing on every rock, from the 

 granite near Heidelberg to the gravel of 

 the plains of the Rhine. It overlies al- 

 most all the volcanic products, even those 

 which have the most modern aspect ; and 

 it has filled up, in part, the crater of the 

 Rodenberg; at the bottom of which a 

 well was sunk in 1833, through seventy 

 feet of loess. Here, as elsewhere, it is a 

 yellow loam, with calcareous concretions, 

 and has not the character of a local al- 

 luvium. 



LOLI'GO. (loliffo, Lat.) A genus of the 

 family of Sepiae. In the loligo is found 

 that peculiar provision for defence, the 

 ink-bag, a bladder- shaped sac, containing 

 a black and viscid ink, the ejection of 

 which, by rendering the surrounding 

 water dark and opaque, defends the ani- 

 mal from the attacks of its enemies. In 

 the lias of Lime Regis, ink-bags of the 



