312 GLOSSARY. 



Feluxe. — The Cat-family. 



Feral. — Having become wild from a state of cultivation or domes- 

 tication. 



Flora. — The totality of the plants growing naturally in a country, 

 or during a given geological period. 



Florets. — Flowers imperfectly developed in some respects, and 

 collected into a dense spike or head, as in the Grasses, the 

 Dandelion, &c. 



Fcetal. — Of or belonging to the foetus, or embryo in course of 

 development. 



Foraminifera. — A class of animals of very low organisation, and 

 generally of small size, having a jelly-like body, from the surface 

 of which delicate filaments can be given off and retracted for the 

 prehension of external objects, and having a calcareous or sandy 

 shell, usually divided into chambers, and perforated with small 

 apertures. 



Fossiliferous. — Containing fossils. 



Fossorial. — Having a faculty of digging. - The Fossorial Hymen- 

 optera are a group of Wasp-like Insects, which burrow in sandy 

 soil to make nests for their young. 



Frenum (pi. Fbena). — A small band or fold of skin. 



Fungi (sing. Fungus). — A class of cellular plants, of which Mush- 

 rooms, Toadstools, and Moulds, are familiar examples. 



Furcula. — The furked bone formed by the union of the collar-bones 

 in many birds, such as the common Fowl. 



Gallinaceous Birds. — An order of Birds of which the common 

 F( wl, Turkey, and Pheasant, are well-known examples. 



Gal us. — The genus of birds wh ch includes the common Fowl. 



Ganglion. — A swelling or knot from which nerves are given off as 

 from a centre. 



Ganoid Fishes. — Fishes covered with peculiar enamelled bony 

 scales. Most of them are extinct. 



Germinal Vesicle. — A minute vesicle in the eggs of animals, from 

 which the development of the embryo proceeds. 



Glacial Period. — A period of great cold and of enormous extension 

 of ice upon the surface of the earth. It is believed that glacial 

 periods have occurred repeatedly during the geological history of 

 the earrh, but the term is gen-rally applied to the close of the 

 Tertiary e; och, when nearly the whole of Europe was subjected 

 to an arctic climate. 



