TEE 



[431 ] 



TEH 



After various opinions had been 

 offered respecting the true origin 

 and nature of these fossils, Woifart 

 advanced the opinion that they 

 were the casts of marine shells. 

 "While spiriferaB and orthoceratites 

 have disappeared, Terebratulse ap- 

 pear to have existed through all 

 the changes which have affected 

 our planet. They form, an abun- 

 dant genus discovered in the grau- 

 wacke series, not fewer than thirty 

 species having been already deter- 

 mined by Sowerby, Goldfuss, and 

 others, as contained therein. Among 

 the organic remains of the carbon- 

 iferous limestone, twenty-one 

 species of Terebratulse are enumer- 

 ated. From the red sandstone 

 group nine species have been ob- 

 tained. From the oolite, including 

 the lias, the immense number of 

 sixty species have been determined. 

 From the cretaceous group fifty-four 

 species have been extracted. 

 TEREBRA'TTJLITE. A fossil terebra- 



tula. 



TEBEDI'NA. (from teredo, Lat.) A 

 genus of acephalous testacea, be- 

 longing to the family Inclusa, or, 

 according to Lamarck, Tubicolaria. 

 The valves are equal and inequi- 

 lateral, with a little hollow on the 

 inside of each valve, and a small, 

 free, shield-shaped piece on the 

 hinge. 



TERE'DO. (teredo, Lat. a little worm 

 that eateth wood; re/w^wi/, from 

 re/jew, to bore, Gr.) A genus of 

 marine bivalves, belonging to the 

 family Inclusa, in Cuvier's ar- 

 rangement, and to Tubicolaria, in 

 Lamarck's. The Teredo is con- 

 tained in the lower end of a cylin- 

 drical tubular shell, generally open 

 at both ends, two opercula being 

 adapted to the upper end: it is 

 capable of penetrating wood. One 

 species, Teredo gigantea, has been 

 found in mud at the bottom of the 

 ocean ; it attains to a great size, 

 one specimen measuring five feet 



four inches in length, with a cir- 

 cumference, at the base, of nine 

 inches. 



TERE'DO NAVA'LIS. The ship-worm. 

 The name given to a species of 

 Teredo from the circumstance of its 

 insinuating itself into the timbers 

 of the bottoms of ships, even 

 although the oak is perfectly 

 sound : it very soon completely 

 destroys the timbers it attacks. 

 This destructive creature was 

 brought originally, by our ships, 

 from tropical climates, but it has 

 now become an inhabitant of most 

 of the harbours of this country. 

 The teredo navalis, or ship-worm, 

 will destroy every thing constructed 

 of timber that is under the surface 

 of the water. Their object is not 

 to devour the wood, but to make 

 for themselves a cell, in which they 

 may be safe from their enemies. 

 They bore in the direction of the 

 grain of the timber, deviating only 

 to avoid the track of others. For- 

 tunately these animals cannot exist 

 in fresh water. 



TE'RMINAL. (from terminalia, Lat.) 

 In botany, applied to flowers and 

 umbels proceeding from the ex- 

 tremity of the stem or branches. 

 TE'RNA FO'LIA. In botany, leaves 

 growing three together in a whorl. 

 This term, it must be remarked, is 

 very different in its signification 

 from ternate. 



TE'RNABY. (ternarius, Lat.) Pro- 

 ceeding by threes; consisting of 

 three. Applied to things arranged 

 in order by threes : thus, in botany, 

 a flower is said to have a ternary 

 division of its parts when it has 

 three sepals, three petals, three 

 stamens, or twice or thrice as many. 

 TE'RNATE. (from ternus, Lat.) A 

 term in botany, applied to com- 

 pound leaves that consist of three 

 leaflets on a petiole : the leaf of 

 the strawberry affords a familiar 

 example of a ternate leaf. 



