YEN 



C 454] 



V E R 



tain cavities found in the brain are 

 also called ventricles. 



VE'NTEICOSE. } 1. In botany, applied 



VE'JSTTEICOTJS. j to parts of plants 

 which are distended, bellied, or 

 swelling out in the middle. 

 2. In conchology, applied to shells, 

 inflated, or swelling in the middle. 



VENTEI'CTTLITE. A zoophyte found 

 fossil in flints and in the chalk. 

 The ventriculite, when living, 

 must have been of a cyathiform 

 figure, and composed of a tough, 

 jelly-like substance, capable of ex- 

 pansion and contraction. The gen- 

 eral form of the animal appears to 

 have been that of a hollow inverted 

 cone, having numerous ramose 

 fibres proceeding from the base, by 

 which it was attached to other 

 bodies. Externally, it was compo- 

 sed of a reticulated integument, 

 which seems to have been capable 

 of expanding and contracting ac- 

 cording to the impressions it re- 

 ceived ; and, internally, it posses- 

 sed a surface covered with the 

 apertures of numerous tubuli ; in 

 all probability the openings of 

 vessels, by which nutrition was 

 effected. The smaller extremity 

 was attached to the rock by root- 

 like processes; the outer tissue 

 consisted of a net work of cylindri- 

 cal, perhaps tubular, fibres ; the 

 inner surface of the funnel-like 

 cavity was studded with polypi- 

 ferous cells or openings. The spe- 

 cimens enveloped in flint are usually 

 of a cyathiform or turbinated shape, 

 while those imbedded in chalk are 

 more frequently expanded into a 

 broad circular disk. When con- 

 tracted into a cylindrical form, the 

 ventriculite is from one to six 

 inches in length : when expanded, 

 its diameter generally exceeds nine 

 inches : the thickness of its sub- 

 stance is rarely more than 0'2 inch. 



VE'NTJS. (from Venus, the goddess of 

 beauty.) A genus of exceedingly 

 beautiful marine bivalves. Equi- 



valve, inequilateral, subglobose, 

 transverse shells, the frontal mar- 

 gin flattened, with incumbent lips; 

 hinge with three teeth, all of them 

 approximate, the lateral ones di- 

 vergent at the tip. The middle 

 tooth, which is sometimes bifid, is 

 placed straight, and the one on 

 each side obliquely. 



Cuvier places Venus in the family 

 Cardiacea. The common clam is a 

 true Venus. 



VEBDE-ANTI'Q.UE. A very beautiful 

 marble, highly prized, and used 

 for ornamental purposes. It is an 

 aggregate of serpentine and white 

 crystallized marble, irregularly 

 mingled. 



VE'EETJCOSE. j (yerrucosus, full of warts, 

 VE'EETJCOTJS. ) from verruca, Lat.) 



1. In entomology, applied to the 

 surface of insects, when studded 

 with large smooth elevations, re- 

 sembling warts. 



2. In conchology, applied to shells 

 beset with excrescences resembling 

 warts. 



3. In botany, applied to the surface 

 of stems, beset with hard tubercles 

 or warts. 



VEBSICO'LOUEED. Displaying different 

 colours, indeterminately restricted. 

 VE'ETEBEE. } (vertebra, Lat.) A bone 

 VE'BTEBBA. ) of the spinal column, 

 or back-bone. The different ver- 

 tebras composing the back-bone are 

 distinguished into curvical, dorsal, 

 and lumbar. The vertebral column 

 or spine, from the constancy with 

 which it has been found in all 

 animals of this type, and from the 

 uniformity of plan with which, 

 amidst endless variations, it is mo- 

 delled, has been chosen as the dis- 

 tinctive character of all that greal 

 assemblage of individuals denomi- 

 nated Vertebrata. In man, the 

 number of vertebra is twenty-four, 

 namely, seven curvical, twelve dor- 

 sal, and five lumbar. In differenl 

 animals the number of vertebras 

 varies exceedingly; the vertebra] 



